3 PET PEEVES ABOUT ADVERTISING,
THAT'LL MAKE YOUR BUSINESS FAMOUS
Article by Sashka Hanna-Rappl
Photo Credit: Dasha & Mari
Magazine: Issue #29
Ugh!...
5 more Burpees and then I’m done for today. Then I’m one step closer to not only my goal of keeping my ONE body healthy BUT I’m one step closer towards my Vision of living a long and healthy life with my gorgeous kids and grandkids one day.
Ugh!...
Keeping fit and eating healthy is not something I particularly loooove doing. In fact, it’s my stinky sandwich in life, and I eat it to become a better person and live a longer life. Sometimes you’ve just got to do the not-so-nice-things in order to achieve your goals and vision - because as the saying goes "If it were easy - everyone would be doing it". There needs to a challenge - don’t you agree?
The same applies to running your gorgeous business. There are some real dreary yucky things that one has to do to get your business famous and have paying clients. And even though they’re not the most exciting things to do, they’re certainly effective in the long-run.
I’d love to share my pet advertising peeves with you today to help your business become famous. You ready?
Let’s go!
Disclaimer: All my pet peeves below do to some degree require you to:
a. give it all you’ve got to make things work or
b. outsource the task to professionals who specialize in this area, so that you can concentrate on what you’re good at.
Pet Peeve #1 - Email Marketing
Years ago, the revelation offline was direct marketing. Do you remember receiving cool flyers or gimmicks in the post? And when the novelty wore off, the things would just be thrown to the trash. This still happens today to some extent but not as extensive as a few years ago. Today, direct marketing online is still very much alive - in the form of Email Marketing.
There are still companies BUYING addresses to send to prospective clients via email. Or there are those special marketers who find it necessary to trawl the internet to find email addresses to send one bulk email about their services or products. YUCK! This is one sure way NOT to get your business famous but rather spammed.
So how CAN you use Email Marketing to help your business get famous?
1. Do NOT buy any addresses. If someone wants to keep in contact with your business - give them the CHOICE by letting them opt-in for one of your freebies or eBook online, where the consumer gives you their address with their consent.
2. Do NOT trawl the web searching directories for email addresses. Not only is this time consuming. But you’re wasting your time. Consumers buy from brands that have a reputation or a brand image that is qualitative. When you act like this, the consumer will find you salesy and slime…which is everything you’re not…
3. By all means construct an email campaign that is going to benefit your reader. The golden rule in online marketing is give give give give give give give give give give before you ask. By giving I mean: via your emails, social media campaigns, blogs and/or speaker engagements etc. GIVE your knowledge to your prospective clients - let them be infected by your passion for what you do. Ignite that fire in them, and they will automatically want to follow you, because of your added value.
4. Use automated email systems that can assist you and not replace you.
Pet Peeve #2 - Inconsistency
If there’s one thing that confuses me beyond my imagination, it’s when businesses have a website and logo. The website is from a few years ago - perhaps responsive, but often not - the content is company-centered and not consumer-centered, the visuals are blurry. There isn’t anything nice to look at.
Then what happens is you go onto social media and find the business is advertised differently. There are mainly shared posts from other companies. The newsfeed is boring and focused only on the business. And you’d never guess that the company is the same as the one on the website. Perhaps you meet the business owner in person. Their message is different to the message on their website and social media platforms. The mixed communication is consistent throughout all online platforms. And this inconsistency, loses your customers. Hence not making you famous.
So what CAN you do to keep your message CONSISTENT online and get your business famous?
Design a brand guide for yourself: In there ensure you always use the following
1. Logo (in black or white and color) if you have a dark background you can use your logo in white. if you have a light background you can use your color or black logo
2. Logo is positioned always in the same spot for easy recognition (the consumer needs to see your presence at least 20 times to sink in that you’re a brand)
3. Ensure that the tone-of-voice that you write in on your website carries through to your blog to your social media platforms - and inevitably how YOU talk. Be you.
4. Ensure that you’re always speaking in a consistent „visual“ language for example: using nature or people or colors.
5. Typography: Ensure your font family is always consistent - fancy fonts are great but if you can’t use them everywhere then forget about them.
6. Apply all this to your social media platforms too.
Pet Peeve #3 - Understanding Social Media
Hiding behind a computer screen and screaming out your opinion and hurting someone’s feelings is a big No-No.
It’s important to understand that if your business becomes famous - you become famous - and you want to be the go-to expert not only because you give invaluable advice but because you’re a charismatic personality too (Note: This is applicable whether you’re an intro-or extrovert).
How can you become famous on social media?
By Advertising yourself:
1. Through videos
2. Through podcasts
3. As the go-to-expert in a particular area
4. By socializing on the different platforms and communicating as a human being and not an automated response.
Becoming famous in your area of expertise requires tenacity, personality, purpose and a vision. And I believe you have it, otherwise you wouldn’t be searching the web for useful information to propel you and your business forward.
If you’ve enjoyed this article, please leave your comments below, I’d love to hear from you and I DO read every single one of your comments.
It’s a Sign is a compilation of self-improvement articles written by entrepreneurs seeking to bring holistic solutions to everyday problems. Read more articles from this feature.
Sashka Hanna-Rappl is an irreverent Branding & Marketing Maestro and a passionate transformational speaker. She's on a mission to inspire businesses to create unforgettable brands and to upgrade their business' level of excellency. Register for her free video training The Breakthrough Secrets To Advertising And Selling Online and create your unforgettable brand today.