Facebook is NOT Advertising, it’s Marketing… Do You Know The Difference?

Jul25

I have a personal Facebook page and I like lots of different businesses on it, some of which use it brilliantly for their marketing and others of which are SO bad that I’ve ended up Unliking them. In fact,off the top of my head I can think of half a dozen people who have some businesses, are fabulous people, have fabulous products and who absolutely suck at marketing and I’m sure repel more sales than they make!

So what makes someone BAD at Facebook marketing? Well, the answer to that is easy, you get nothing but posts in your timeline telling you about a product they are trying to sell. These people are normally quite sporadic about their marketing attemps as well, you don’t get anything for days on end and then you get a product every few minutes… Yep, I’m sure you have Liked and probably Unliked these people!

So what really works on Facebook? The main aim is to generate interest, not sales but interest – Yes, thats right, forget about sales and concentrate on generating INTEREST!!! One of the people I follow on Facebook is The Donkey Sanctuary – their marketing is great, lots of pictures of cute Donkeys doing well, interspersed occasionally with sob stories of Donkeys needing help that makes you want to give them cash and also general updates – brilliant! The last few days they did a great idea, they asked people to vote between two pictures (of Donkeys of course) and the winning one would be their cover photo for the next month – Brilliant! It is SO simple because everyone loves expressing their opinion, especially when all they have to do is click like to choose between 2 pictures – its so simple but why does it work so well? FB has changed a LOT recently and I’m sure you’ve noticed that on the right hand side it tells you what your friends are doing, including what they are liking – Claire has just Liked a Picture on the The Donkey Sanctuary – this means all my friends see that I’ve liked a picture and they can look at it, some of my many animal loving friends will look at it and some of them will Like the page as a result – and THEIR friends will see that they’ve like a page, and then probably a few pictures etc, etc, the Interest is generated on and on and on……

How can you use Facebook in this way? Don’t just keep spouting your new products, get people involved and spreading the word – If you design Stationery or Jewellery, why not get your Likers to come up with a name for it? People LOVE to share their opinion, remember that! Get people to choose your next cover photo, get them to come up with a new cake flavor or to tell you their favourite – get them sharing and your page will be talked about but don’t fall into the trap of asking people to share and Like – your numbers may well go up but your sales definitely won’t !!!

 

Claire x0x

 

Has Coaching turned into Pyramid Selling ?……

Jun26

I am so disillusioned by much of the coaching/mentoring industry at the minute, I listened to 3 different teleseminars recently from coaches I like/d and none of them had anything new to say about marketing but were all promoting their amazing VIP programmes which promised to transform my business and provide the answer to to life, the universe and pretty much everything, and I clicked through curious to find out more about these amazing life-changing programmes and after reading the ‘squeeze’ page (the marketing term for one of those long, promise everything sell, sell, sell web pages) came to the price which each time was in the region of 10k ! Really????  The pages gave me a breakdown of all the added value aspects to the sign-up so that I thought I was getting a good deal, such as a one hour phone call with the coach, valued around £500 (valued by them!) and various other things but 10k??? Really?

I have no doubt that if I joined one of these coaching programs I would learn a couple of new things but I’m also pretty sure than one of the BIGGEST tips they’d tell me would be to develop my own VIP coaching program and stick a price tag of 10k on it, which to me is a form of pyramid selling, they are not helping you with your business, they are just telling you to do like they did and rip people off.

The most I have ever ‘invested’ in a marketing program was around 3K which I paid for a 3 day super intensive program with one of the leading Marketing people in the UK – was it worth it? Hell yes, because he taught me unique and fabulous told and techniques. Not only that but he has walked the talk and grown businesses himself and helped people build multi-million businesses. Are these 10k people teaching anything unique or fabulous? No – they are teaching you how to get people to part with vast sums of money so you can tell them how to do the same.

Could I have a 10k coaching and get people to sign up? Yes definitely, do I think its ethical? No ! Personally I would rather keep giving away good free information, working with people for a reasonable amount of money and sleep well at night. Will this ever make me rich? No, almost definitely not, but am I happy with my decision? Hell yes!

Dont be fooled by these ridiculous price tags, these people are NOT going to change your life, you can do that all by yourself and you will be 10k better off in the process.

 

 

Claire x0x

 

 

Is Your Offline Strategy As Good As Your Online One?

May28

The first thing a bride does when she gets engaged is get on the internet and start planning her wedding so your online presence is crucial, unfortunately though it seems too many people put all their efforts into online and nothing at all into the offline aspect, which is fine if you are selling everything through an online shop but if you are selling any service at all such as photographer, wedding planner, event decorator, cake maker, etc then you need to do some work offline as well.

Brides love to talk! Its a fact, they spend hours and hours on the internet then they head to the wedding dress shop and try on dresses. Now I know they don’t always buy local but they generally DO visit the local stores even if its just to have a look and while they are there they chat to the salespeople. They ask for recommendations for different services and if you are someone they are thinking of using they often ask if they’ve ever heard of you and they do this at all the places they visit. Unfortunately if the bride keeps getting told that no one has heard of you then it starts to put doubt about your service in the mind of your bride.

It is really important that in business you get to know your local complimentary services, make friends with them, introduce yourself, go and chat to them and get to know their businesses, if you take an interest in them then they will take an interest in you and make yourself memorable. If you arrange a meeting with them to have a look at their business turn up with doughnuts or cake so they remember you, although don’t put sticky fingers all over the wedding dresses otherwise you’ll get remembered for completely the wrong reasons!

Your local people, even in this very internet driven world can be some of your closest allies when it comes to getting business, make sure you harness this valuable resource, not only will it pay dividends quickly but it also comes cheap, after all a packet of doughnuts is pretty cheap for getting new customers icon smile Is Your Offline Strategy As Good As Your Online One?

 

Claire xox

 

If you want help in getting more clients and growing yourself and your business into the dream-team you’ve always imagined then get in contact today claire@bombshellacademy.com

What Can You Learn From Clinton Cards Demise?

May9

I was really sad to hear this morning that Clinton Cards have gone into administration, which more than likely means they will disappear from our High Streets. As with lots of hot topics I had a look at Twitter to see what people were saying about it and I was sad but not surprised….  One tweet said it was no wonder they were going bust because they charged £3.50 for a card that elsewhere was being sold for 70p and another said Why would anyone buy a card from Clintons that cost more than the present?  There was a definite trend!

Clinton Cards seem to have made the big mistake of sticking to what they were doing even though their market had completely changed. Yes, we used to spend money on cards but that was because it was all we knew but then online cards came along and the supermarkets started everything but the kitchen sink and that included cards WAY cheaper than the card shops.

Clinton Cards unfortunately have failed to seek the advice of the people that could have told them the ket to their prosperity and that is…..their customers, and now its too late.

If you want to know what you are doing wrong or right then the people you should be regularly asking and I repeat REGULARLY, not every few years or when your profits start to dip (this could be leaving it too late) but ask them every time they buy from you, ask them every time you bring out a new range of products or decide to discontinue something – how many times have you heard loads of people say….. “Why did they stop doing X, I loved it” In fact there have been many occasions of products being discontinued, customers going mad and the product  being re-introduced ! What a waste of time and money that could have been avoided if they had just asked the customers opinion in the first place!

So – ask your customers their opinion regularly, give them an incentive for completing the questionnaire or survey etc and USE the information!

You can’t exist without your customers, give their opinion the respect it deserves !

 

Claire x0x

 

If you need help with your business, attracting new customers and making more profit then get in contact today, email me.. claire@bombshellacademy.com

Are You Spending Too Much Time Concentrating On The Numbers?

Apr20

One of my pet hates (Yes, another pet hate!) is when new businesses go all out to gain Twitter followers and Facebook ‘Likes’ – they are obsessed and seem to think this is the way to get business as quickly as possible, I see it all the time and so this Blog is to tell all those people that are guilty of this to STOP!!!!!

Facebook Likes and are all very well and good but unfortunately they do NOT equal sales. It is definitely a case of quality and not quantity that is important. If you have 1000 likes on your FB page and in actual fact only 2 of those are actually interested in what you are selling and the rest are just liking you because they think that you will like them and buy something off them then you might as well just have 2 likes!

The people you want to Like you are the ones that are going to tell others about you, spread the word and become your free salesforce, the other ones you want are the ones that are interested in you because they actually intend to buy a product like yours and when you build a relationship you can be the one that they buy from.

Unfortunately with Facebook and Twitter we seem to have lost a little direction when it comes to sales. The key to EASY sales is to build relationships. Let people follow you because they are interested in what you do, engage with them and build that relationship, let them like you and by keeping in their mind you can easily change them from an interested person into a buying customer…..  Only yesterday I saw a post on Facebook about a lovely wedding dress that someone was thinking of buying, it was strapless and they needed something to cover the top. I instantly commented that I knew a lovely lady called Kay that specialised (note SPECIALISED) in just such a thing, she is @wraporKay on Twitter and because I follow her, like her tweets, like her products and tweet with her she instantly came to mind and I passed on her details – in all likelihood a sale for her and how easy was that?

Don’t focus on getting follows and Likes from people that you have no intention of engaging with, concentrate on the few, get interested in them and they will do your building and growing for you icon smile Are You Spending Too Much Time Concentrating On The Numbers?

 

Claire xox

 

If you need help building and growing your business get in contact today claire@bombshellacademy.com

Do You Tell Your Customers Who You Are?

Mar27

This blog post was inspired by the lovely Steven Carter Hewson, otherwise known as @carterhewson on Twitter if you want to check him out! How did he inspire me? Well he posted on Twitter that he had written a personal Blog put he was undecided whether to publish it or not – everyone, including me said Yes, go for it!

When we are in business its easy to put on your business head and keep it stuck there day in and day out, but in reality one of the big reasons your clients chose to work with you is not because of the price or anything else, its because of YOU!!!

People want to know who you are, more so now than at any other time people want to know all about the person. Its why reality programmes are so popular now, on X Factor its not the best singer that is voted for its the one with the best story. ITs why Facebook and other Social Media is not only so popular but also such an important and fantastic sales tool!

Your clients want to know WHO you are, they want to know all about you because they are buying from YOU, not from your company or your business but from YOU! Have you ever heard the expression people buy from people? Well its true. People want to buy from the person that they think is most like them, they want someone that has similar ideas and views as them, similar morals, similar sense of humour etc – you don’t have to be an exact copy of them, now that would just be spooky and weird but they think if you are LIKE them then you will do a fantastic job for them because you will instinctively KNOW what they want and how to please them.

So – don’t be afraid to show your customers and potential customers who you are. Reveal a bit about yourself to them – tell them about your dog, your family, your favourite foods etc. Of course on the flipside keep in mind that you ARE showing yourself to customers and potential customers -you don’t want to start revealing that you are into satan worship or anything, unless of course these similar people are your target market (probably not! lol)

Reveal some, but don’t reveal TOO much is the key!

 

Claire x0x

If you need help building your business and attracting more clients the easy way then get in touch for your FREE Breakthrough session….. Email me now claire@bombshellacademy.com

 

Do You Know If Your Business is Offering Pain or Gain?

Mar26

In a post the other day I mentioned that customers primarily only buy for 2 reasons – Pain (avoidance) and Gain. Now in the Wedding Industry we are mainly on the happy side of things and the customers are buying for Gain, but WHAT are they gaining – a new dress, a cake, a photographer? Well yes all those things but the psychology behind it is a whole lot more.

When I talk about Pain and Gain what is meant? Well Gain is when people perceive they will gain from the purchase, they will gain things like peer admirations, higher standing in their social circle (why many people buy certain cars), makes you look better, makes you healthier etc. And Pain is reasons such as looking bad amongst your peers, losing money, losing health etc etc. The reason women spend billions on beauty products is to look better, but also because they don’t want to look old. The reason we all fork out on insurance is because we want to avoid the nighmare of NOT having it!

So what are your brides buying? Fancy stationery yes but more than that they are buying romance, one-upmanship on every other wedding they’ve been to, something that will add to the perfect day. In some way they believe that al the small things will make them look good, make the day happier and if they start married life with a perfect day then the marriage will be perfect too…..

Wedding planning is a perfect example of something that is booked because of the avoidance of pain – they don’t want anything to go wrong! And so is photography to some extent, yes the gain is that they have gorgeous images to remember the day but the pain avoidance is that they wont FORGET how they felt that day!

So, when you are marketing to your brides, instead of telling them what your selling, tell them what they want to buy – tell them what problem you are going to solve for them, tell them what they are going to gain from your product or service and tell them what pain they will avoid by working with you……

 

Claire x0x

 

If you want help with your business, I can offer marketing, mentoring and coaching all rolled in to one. Book your first FREE Breakthrough session, email me now claire@bombshellacademy.com

 

Sometimes You DO Get Something For Nothing…..

Mar23

Me and my 4 month old daughter, well mainly me, are BIG fans of everything made by the company JellyCat – their range is awesome, unique, tactile, cute and all the soft toys look like they have real character. They are NOT cheap toys but they are made well and I reckon worth the money.

The other day I had a lovely surprise in the post and it was a JellyCat book about Cordy Roy Elephant. The JellyCat range of characters all have books to go along with them that tells a story of the character. They are lovely stories with pictures and the child can sit with the toy and read the story. Back to the book, I received the book in the post from JellyCat because I’d entered a competition or something somewhere, thats not the important bit, the important bit is that I was SO thrilled with this book – they normally retail around the £5 mark so its not a cheap freebie but by receiving this book they now have a definite sale of a Cordy Roy Elephant at around £20 and not only that they have a guaranteed life long customer (who will probably spend a fortune over the years)  and a raving fan that will tell loads of people about how fab they are.

How can you incentivise your waivering customers? If you add up the cost of freebies you have to be realistic about whether you can afford it but you must think ahead and work out whether you can gain long term from these same customers over the years ahead. Its why the supermarkets are so keen for your loyalty to the extent that they send you voucers worth quite a lot of money, they know that in your lifetime you will spend a LOT of money with them and if they can get your loyalty its worth it.

As a wedding supplier you probably only think you are getting a one off sale with your brides but if you are a photographer, after the wedding you can do pregnancy, newborn, family photos etc – the lifetime value of that one bride is enormous!  And there are many other types of products and services that can benefit from that lifetime loyalty.

 

Claire xox

If you need help building your business or attracting more customers then get in contact to arrange a FREE initial Breakthrough Session. Email Now Claire@bombshellacademy.com

 

 

 

Stay As You Are or Change Things?

Mar19

One of the biggest things I’ve learnt through my NLP training and counselling is how to change. Change is SO important and yet it is pretty easy to do, the trouble is we are all programmed to be scared of change. When I was a drugs counsellor I would see clients all the time that were in a dreadful situation and yet often they didn’t seem that keen to change. This is because their life, no matter how bad it seemed was actually working for them! We are programmed as human beings to survive, its our number one priority and so when things are bad we tend to stick to them, because we ARE surviving. Its the same in business, sometimes we get to the point where business is not good and we are literally living hand to mouth but we are reluctant to change things because although its not good we ARE surviving. If we change anything it might be the straw that breaks the camels back and we might NOT survive so we stay as we are, furiously treading water until we are exhausted. The sad part is, if we DID change and try something new then the probability is that the change will be GOOD!  The key is to change things that have little or no risk, don’t take long or require too much effort and cost little or no money. BUT you must give it a good go, don’t try to implement a new newsletter and then be disappointed after sending once thinking nothing has changed, you must be persistent!

The best way to convince yourself of change (no matter what it is ) is to have a brainstorming session for change Vs no change.

Pros of Change

 Cons of Change
Pros of NON Change

 

 Cons of NON Change

 

Once you’ve filled in all the boxes, best done over quite a long period of time because you keep on thinking of things then take a look at them. Lets take one of the most common ‘change’ issues – weight loss! Now people tend to focus on the Pros of Change when it come to weight loss, I’ll be fitter, healthier, look better etc, etc which is all GREAT stuff but isn’t enough to get you to change amazingly enough, the box you SHOULD concentrate on is the Cons of NON Change, so if it was me filling it out - I’ll probably be even bigger next year, I could get heart problems, diabetes, I wont be able to get up the stairs without being out of breath, I wont look good when picking my daughter up from school, my child might be bullied for having a fat Mum…. and worse case scenario……. I could die young because of my weight and not see my daughter grow up and leave her without a Mum…….. now THAT would make me change and would be WAY more effective to get me to change that the fact that I would wear a smaller dress size!!!

So – if you want to change concentrate on the Cons of NON Change, once you are on a roll the Pros of Change are the things that will keep you going, its all about PAIN and GAIN !!! And its the same for your customers when thinking about buying your products……….. Stay tuned, I’ll cover that in the next post!

 

Claire x0x

 

P.S – Need FREE marketing help and coaching? Enter my competition now, you’ll be glad you did icon smile Stay As You Are or Change Things?