Writing to Promote Yourself or Your Business

Recently a four-color, glossy handtag advertisement was delivered in our neighborhood. The business owner clearly wanted to make an impression on people to entice them as potential customers for his business. He had one major problem: incorrect grammar and spelling throughout the ad! Whether the mistake was made by the owner or the printer, the result was the same. It showed a lack of professionalism and attention.
   Perhaps no one else cared about the misspelled words and lack of punctuation or incorrect grammar. But it certainly drew my critical attention. I wanted to call the owner and ask why I should trust my car to him when he couldn't pay close enough attention to his advertising to make sure it was correct. Did he repair cars with the same carelessness? Who knows? Would you trust your car to someone who produces sloppy work?
   When you communicate with people, it is important to make sure your work is good. Excellent is even better, but for some folks good is good enough. At least that shows you care enough about yourself, your business and the other person to do the right thing. Poor communication skills send the wrong message to people. You can come across as uncaring, unprofessional, lazy, or unable to perform the work. The message tells people something about you and your abilities. Make sure your message is really reflecting what you want it to say.
   The way to avoid poor communications is to make sure you take the time to think things through, write carefully, have someone read and edit your work, and review the final draft several times before placing something in the public view. If you don't have time to do it right the first time, you don't have time to redo it, either!
   If you cannot write or don't want to write, hire someone who will do the work for you. Your business or personal success can turn on your ability to communicate clearly.
   Good luck and have a terrific day!
Patricia

How to Get Your Customers' Attention

Are you searching for more ways to get your customers' attention? There are a few things you need to know before you make decisions, especially decisions involving spending your hard-earned dollars.
First, people tend to look online instead of the telephone book. Most people look for online sources and recommendations first. Printed copies of the Yellow Pages are out-of-date the moment they leave the printer's business; people are now trained to look online for everything; most businesses advertising in the Yellow Pages fail to give a reason for choosing them over a competitor.
Old habits die hard, however.
There are effective ways to stay in contact with your current customers and to entice new customers to come through your front door. The way you communicate with your potential customers makes a difference in how and who you will attract. One key to attracting attention is to tell stories. People love stories, stories are more interesting than a sales event, and stories set you apart from other businesses.
If you watch television, you'll see that the company Drivetime is running new commercials that tell stories about their potential customers. These ads grab your attention because they are different: instead of promoting a sales event, they promote problem solving for ordinary people. People who need a car but have some trouble in their financial background. We get caught up in wanting these folks to get what they need so they can go to work. We get involved whether we intend to or not because the story is compelling. That's an effective use of television air time.
You can use similar methods for finding new customers. Being creative doesn't have to cost a lot of money; but it does require a fresh look at how to use your resources wisely.
Need help with some communications?
Send me an email and let me know what you're thinking.
Have a terrific day!
Patricia

Keeping Up with the People Next Door

  When you want to share something with your customers, do you consider what your competitors or other business owners are doing? It is an exciting time to keep in touch with your customers because you have many choices that you can tailor to your own taste. For instance, if you want to use social media to connect with people on a more casual and frequent basis, you can use a few techniques or go full out and hire a social media manager.
  You might want to just send a Tweet every day or week, or post some updates on a Facebook page. You could start a blog to share your musings or educational or technical information. I follow a blogpost for writers in a writing community. This helps inspire me as a writer and it also leads to additional book sales for the author.
  You could be a plumber who wants to teach people about the use, or not using, drain clog cleaners. You could instruct people on how to shut off water in their house or apartment in an emergency, or how to find the main shut-off valve outside the house. These are quick ways to stay in touch with people while passing on useful information.
   Monthly newsletters are a terrific way to send a soft touch to your customer base. The newsletter doesn't have to contain anything about your business other than your name. The best way to ensure people will pay attention to you is send them something to brighten their day, make them smile, give them a little bit of information in a generic form, and offer a special event notification.
  Staying in touch is crucial to your business. If you need help or more tips, contact me. I will be delighted to help you.
Have a terrific day!
Patricia

Thriving rather than surviving

Some people hate January because it's cold, dreary, no fun holidays with bright lights or romance, the nights are long and the days short. Take another look at this month and change your mind about you can accomplish.
This is the time for some quiet thought and reflection. If you didn't write your yearly goals, get them written now. Where are you and where do you want to be? How do you get where you want to be and what is your timeline? These principles apply to your physical, spiritual, financial, personal, psychological, family, business and community life. If you don't plan your life, it will slip away like quicksilver. Don't just let things happen to you, plan how you choose to live!
If you do not know how to communicate your ideas and feelings to the people around, get some help. Remember that we're never too young or too old to continue our lifelong learning.
When my daughter was in elementary school one of her teachers started the class on a project of developing a lifelong notebook. The exercise required the children to think about what they wanted to learn and what interests and passions they possessed that needed more information. Just for fun, I made my own lifelong notebook and wrote about all the things that interest me, the things I wanted to study, the skills I wanted to sharpen, and a rough road map of where  and what I wanted to be when I grow up.  I love reading those notes now and measuring my progress against my ideas. My goal this year is to continue growing and learning and to let go of things that waste my time and energy.
I hope you see that you can learn new skills, engage in interesting learning and apply everything you learn to a more informed, passionate life lived to the fullest.
Have a wonderful day!
Patricia