Okay so I’m no copywriter (although I did once gain a client out of a copywriter who noticed grammatical errors on my website and emailed me!) 

 But I do know, writing great blogs and fabulous web content is pretty pointless unless you are directing people to it.

Recently I was running a BWN workshop on Blogging For Business and this topic came up. “I am writing a blog, but no one is reading it, what do I do?”

Well here’s the thing, unless you find an effective way to market your blog, you might as well go and talk to the tree at the end of your garden. The tree will apparently feel good (he enjoys your carbon dioxide) but doubtful it’s liable to buy anything from you – if it does now THAT one would be easy to market!

You see you need to interact to the right people.

In the right way.

At the right time of day.

Saying the right kind of things that hook people in to wanting to know more.

And most importantly make it easy for them to find it again, and again, and again.

It could sound daunting but if you get it right, you will have people interacting with you, visiting your website regularly, appreciating you as an expert in your field and starting to love you and all that you do.

And pretty soon amazing things can happen thanks to blogging.
I personally include, new customers, speakers engagements and press opportunities but my personal fave to date, is having @StephenFry say “Great Blog” and when I DM’d him and asked if I could quote him, he said “go ahead.”

Sigh world’s best Tweeter thinks I’m great – Love it!

What could it do for you?

I am now running Business Clinics once a month at HSBC Business Banking Centre in Colchester for your chance to be one of just 10 business women at that table - get in touch.

This month - social media.

October is likely to be social media and a second one on Marketing - Creating & Actioning Your Plan.

mandie@mandieholgate.co.uk

Okay so I’m no copywriter (although I did once gain a customer out of a copywriter who noticed grammatical errors on my website and emailed me!)

But I do know, writing great blogs and fabulous web content is pretty pointless unless you are directing people to it.

Recently I was running a BWN workshop on Blogging For Business and this topic came up. “I am writing a blog, but no one is reading it, what do I do?”

Well here’s the thing, unless you find an effective way to market your blog, you might as well go and talk to the tree at the end of your garden. The tree will apparently feel good (he enjoys your carbon dioxide) but doubtful it’s liable to buy anything from you – if it does now THAT one would be easy to market!

You see you need to interact to the right people.

In the right way.

At the right time of day.

Saying the right kind of things that hook people in to wanting to know more.

And most importantly make it easy for them to find it again, and again, and again.

It could sound daunting but if you get it right, you will have people interacting with you, visiting your website regularly, appreciating you as an expert in your field and starting to love you and all that you do.

And pretty soon amazing things can happen thanks to blogging.

I personally include, new customers, speakers engagements and press opportunities but my personal fave to date, is having @StephenFry say “Great Blog” and when I DM’d him and asked if I could quote him, he said “go ahead.”

Sigh world’s best Tweeter thinks I’m great – Love it!

What could it do for you?

I am now running Business Clinics once a month at HSBC Business Banking Centre in Colchester for your chance to be one of just 10 business women at that table - get in touch.

This month - social media.

October is likely to be social media and a second one on Marketing - Creating & Actioning Your Plan.

mandie@mandieholgate.co.uk

It was a real privilige that Nick Looby the speaker this week at a BWN event stopped mid flow as it were to say "Mandie I just the love the energy at your events. The BWN is the most motivitional group I have ever spoke at, even I come away feeling motivated." I can't begin to tell you how chuffed I was to hear him say that.

The Business Womans Network speaking about Public Speaking skillsEspecially when you know the kind of organisations that Nick Looby from Feet on the Ground speak for. Here is Nick making us laugh and giving us some great ideas about what to do with your hands when it comes to public speaking.

I love YouTube - the way you can share with people that couldn't be there great things. The way you can bring things to life.

A Blog is a great way to interact with people but for some industries there is nothing more powerful than seeing things in action. If you bake gorgeous cakes, shows us you baking a cake - teach us how easy it is.

If you dance, don't talk about your classes, bring a lesson alive and put it on Youtube.

If you delivered a course, share a snap shot so that everyone wishes they had dropped everything to be there.

Some of my clients say things like "I can't do that becuase if I do then they will do it for themselves and not bother coming to me."

In actual fact the opposite is the case.

People see you as the expert and want to know more. Its a way of ensuring that people are remembing you and what you can offer them.

It's a visual way to interact with people - and there is nothing nicer than walking into a sea of strangers only to have someone tap you on the shoulder and say "Hi, I saw you on YouTube great to finally meet you." Its a great open liner.

And if you doubt it works - for one business women she complained to me because the Business Womans Network site came up before her site because of the promotion I had done of her on YouTube and then on Social media.

Because that's the key, it's no good making these little golden nuggets of information and film without telling the world how to access them.

Keep them short, interesting, relevant, useful and fun and people will come back time and time again.

At the BWN events we quite often film the business women talking about their business or the BWN. Now remembering the fact that the average person knows 250 people (Okay so there is nothing average about you, but you get the idea.) then if you can get people seeing you again on line then that ups that figure quite dramatically.

Lorraine Robinson talking about her business at a BWN event got over 500 hits on Youtube.Lorraine Robinson talking about her business at a BWN event got over 500 hits on Youtube.

Say you are at a networking event with 25 people attending, thats a potential 6250 people your business is getting in front of. Then Like Lorraine Robinson we record you forever and put you on YouTube and Lorraine has had 531 views that is now a potential 13275 people that Lorraine has been able to get in front of.

If you then add in the number of people that see the link on social media and the numbers can start to get scaringly big.

Wow big numbers right?

So the next time you think - I'm not sure about social media, YouTube. Think of the potential reach that you can cover?

Now that has got to be good business, right?

To learn more about blogging - because I could talk for Britain on this subject get in touch, or come along to one of my workshops, courses, or Business Clinics.

Contact me for more info.

Hearing the fabulous Steve Clarke speak again yesterday reminded me of the times we have worked together and heard the same thing said time and time again. And then this morning talking with my web designer she was beseeching the joys of chasing clients for it too. It is something that can be a worry to every business owners at some stage or another. It’s the dreaded copy.

What is it about producing copy for your website that fills so many with dread?

Having heard every procrastinators excuse with my coaching clients I think I know.

You see your website is there permanently - when you meet someone if they get the wrong meaning of what you say you can adjust it, you can reflect and correct the misunderstanding.

However your website is there even when you are in the bath or working with a client. But as I always say there is a key to producing great copy and it does not involve my arch enemy Ron. Have you met Ron?

Ron is the procrastinators best friend. He lurks in every office if he gets the chance.

It’s “later Ron”. Because like tomorrow "Later Ron" never comes around. But lets be honest we could all come up with a 10000 excuses why it needs to wait until later wrong.

But don’t worry there is a cure – and its called DIN – Do It Now!

If producing copy really is a nightmare in your head heres a few ideas for you

• 
  
  Realistically analyse what needs to be done. To do this sit down with your web designer and talk through the style of your website. What are you looking to achieve? Who is your target audience? What impact are you aiming to have?  And listen to their advice when it comes to less is more.


• 
  
  Estimate how long it is going to genuinely take. Over estimate a little to allow for life getting in the way, and that phone ringing.


• 
  
  Turn off email alerts, social media and any other easy to call upon distraction.


• 
  
  Research what you need to. Check out other successful businesses websites in your profession.


• 
  
  Collate information. Run through in your mind what your customers love about what you deliver? What do they expect to see? What are the things new clients say when the process with you begins?  These can be the words you use to emotional hook new clients. So ensure you know what they are.


• 
  
  Collect testimonials – they are great snippets to lure in an interested reader.


• 
  
  Work in short chunks – there is nothing wrong with having a break. Creativity needs space to emerge. Heard about that guy in the bath and his Eureka moment?


• 
  
  If you don't like sitting in front of a laptop, get creative. Mind mapping is a great way to draw out the process. Pens and a pad away from the office could work for you. Record yourself saying what you want to say.


• 
  
  Don’t over analyse what you write  – ie, get on with it!

The fact is, if you get the right web designer you will be able to have a level of control over your site forever, which means that if you don’t like what you write you can change it at a later date. After all your website needs to be an organic thing that constantly draws people to it. But here’s the thing if you don’t get SOMETHING  to your web designer you have NO presence on line at all. So what’s worst, something slightly less than perfection or a blank page?

As Steve reminded every one at The Business Womans Network yesterday Good is good enough. And he is so right.

Here is a great reason why;

One of my clients became my client because while on my website she noticed there was a grammatical error and emailed me to say she could copy write my website for me. Had that error not been there, would she have become my client?

So come on Do it Now – you never know where it might lead.

"Believe in yourself and in your dream,
Though impossible things may seem
Someday, somehow you'll get through
To the goal you have in view.
Mountains fall and seas divide,
Before the one who in his stride
Takes a hard road by day
Sweeping obstacles away
Believe in yourself and in your plan
Say not -I cannot -I can
The prizes of life we fail to win
Because we doubt the power within..."
- anon

Let me tell you about an hour and half of my life I won’t get back.

Last week I wanted to transfer some money from my bank account to my credit card – simple right?

Except 4 phone calls and 7 staff later I had failed. Why?

Because I came up against a “system” a “We don’t do it like that here.” When I hear those words I do wonder about customer services.

They say those words for the millionth time and I find myself wondering. Do they come off the phone and say to their line manager “Is there another way we could do this, I just let another customer down” or do they come off the phone and not give it another thought.

I think the reason this gets to me is because I have worked for big business, and I never gained the “computer says no” mentality. I worked for a very large insurance company and I can remember on one occasion a baker was having the grand launch of his new bakery and needed a copy of the public liability certificate to get the premises signed off by the Fire Safety Officer, and yet the day before the big launch day he had not received it. Despite the Insurance Company promising to post it.

I remember I spoke to this man and promised I would head up to the post room and personally fax (Ok showing my age!) a copy for him immediately. When I got off the phone I advised my section leader where I was going and got told to put it in the tray the girls will collect it tonight and get that off in the morning. Which I knew was not good enough. In my mind, I could see the sad baker’s face, the balloons, the ribbon never to be cut, and the fire safety officer frowning at the baker, I could not let that happen. Or rather I would not let that happen..... I sneaked out of the department and up the back stair well to the post room and faxed it; and on return faced my first telling off in the business world. Would I do it again? Yes. Do I regret it? No.

You see unlike many of the people I seem to come across on the phone in “customer service” departments I genuinely care about the people I engage with. I know that if my job was theirs I would be able to say what I had to say in a nicer way and make customers aware of “How things can be rectified.” Instead of concentrating on the “We don’t do it like that” mentality.

The best one is when they tell you "You have failed security today" and go to put the phone down on you. You have given them your name, date of birth, address, your partners full details, you have told them about transactions on your account, where you took the account and how long you held that said account, but because you could not remember your husband’s left little toe measurements they can’t help you. Okay so a slight exaggeration but the number of passwords you have to remember no wonder you forget them once in a while! And they must have that happen more than once a day and there must be a nicer way to interact than with the attitude of “sorry, I’m off”.

The reason I mention this is because something I am incredibly in awe of is that in the small business world you would not dream of treating people like that. I wonder how big business would cope if suddenly they found themselves working under the same demands and pressures of the SME.

They would quickly appreciate the value of true customer care, of valuing every call and treating every person you interact with as you wish to be treated. And on that note however incredibly frustrating and unhelpful staff are over the phone I am always friendly and end up laughing at the absurdity of it all. Usually starting with “Hi, you will not believe how many people I have spoken to and given my security details to so far” You see I firmly believe that I will treat everyone as I wish to be treated. Perhaps big corporations should start to consider that – I believe we in the world of small businesses and sole traders call that USP.

First off when you undercharge - you undervalue your worth.

And if you do that guess what? Your clients will too.

Secondly you may find that if you don’t charge the right amount you are very busy with clients but not actually making any money. Your business is then not a business but a hobby (and an expensive one at that!) and so you will need to find a new way of making money, because everybody needs money. As nice as it would be to work for that feel good feeling in your heart, you can’t take that to your nearest store and exchange it for goods.

Far better to make money out of your hobby wouldn’t you agree?

Another important point to remember is you will not have the time to grow your business and concentrate on working on your business plan (please tell me you have one of those!).

It can get to the stage especially when you are giving so much value to your clients that you can almost resent your customers, because they are taking all your time and you are getting no monetary appreciation of your worth.

Even if you place little value on monetary value the fact is we all need a level of money to ensure our own survival and happiness, I know happiness comes from within but you still need money if you are going to thrive in this society that we live in.

Studies have shown that we pay what we think we should pay. People do not naturally go for the cheapest because we question why it is so cheap.

What’s wrong with it?

“I bet it won’t last 5 minutes!”

People will actually pay hundreds of pounds for a plain white t shirt?

Why when you get a good quality one from Mark and Spencers? Because they perceive a value in it.

The perfect example is Apple, they have created such a high level of perceived value that people carry Apple products like a badge of honour. A standard of excellence. Its all a perception. MP3 player or an iPod? They both do the same. Its back to perception.

So you need to perceive your value.

It is important that you understand the value of what you do.

So thinking about your current clients ask yourself;

What do you give to your clients?

Does it improve their lives?

How long have they been suffering?

Not had the answered they needed?

How much time have they spent on trying to find something that works?

In doing this you can begin to get an understanding of the worth you are to your customers.

Now think about your profession.

How many years have you been researching and learning?

How much money have you spent on courses, books and CPD?

And then think about what does it cost for you to live?

What do you need to earn to survive?

If you think about how much money you need to make you can then think about how many clients you ideally treat a week and then you can start to think what is the ideal amount to charge.

Always think in the ideal. Think about what your perfect business would look like. Think about and visualise a perfect day. How many clients do you see, do you schedule time to meditate, shop, garden, answer emails, meet friends, GROW YOUR BUSINESS every day?

It is important when thinking about charging the right price that you think about how much time you actually give each client.

You may work in hour slots but you are not just charging for that hour. Unless that customers just dropped from the sky you will have spent time and money on a website, networking, events, social media, marketing to attract new customers, etc. So for that one hour you spend with your client there will be many hours that it took to get that client to your door. Do you know how much that all costs?

The fact is if you value your true worth so will your customers and they will accept your prices because they value your worth.

And thinking on that subject something that comes up with many business women that I work with is “Am I worth it?” that feeling of guilt that I’m not worthy of success, money and accolades – mmmm note to self a blog for another time I think.

For more ideas and help on this subject feel free to get in touch. Its always great to hear from you.

I feel very strongly about the stigma attached to mental health illnesses, and so having suffered terribly and nearly losing my life to severe depression in 2004 and 2005 I often speak very openly about this. My suicide attemps, my self harming and how awful it was.

If you are suffering, don't suffer alone, talk to someone, get help, and accept that this is an illness like any other - if you broke your leg would you expect to still drive a car? So don't be so hard on yourself. There are so many people out there that genuinely care about you - starting with me.

Gazette Article About Me and Depression 

Daily Express Article about Me, Mental Health and Getting My Life Back

Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Why is this statement so important for business women?

First of all when you say what you mean, people understand you right? And how essential is that in business. But the problem is what you think you are saying is not necessarily what the other person is hearing. You may place a level of importance on one aspect of what you do and talk about that all the time and completely miss what your customers truly see as the benefit of working with you.It’s important when telling people about your business that they understand what your business can do for them. So if you are in doubt, ask a trusted client or business colleague who does know your business well, and ask them “Do I explain what we do succinctly?”

As Einstein said “If you can’t explain it simply you don’t understand it well enough.”

And if you are not getting your message across well in person, is it the same online? In other areas of your marketing? And What impact is that going to have on your marketing and more importantly your sales?

Ask questions so that you can establish the level of understanding the other party has on what you have said. Not just when networking, if you are putting together a proposal for a potential client, use their language and their words back at them to check you understand what they want from you to make them feel understood, but check you understand the meaning of that word too. It is better to feel foolish for half a minute than to completely miss what the customer wants when it really counts and it comes to delivering.

And then to the second half of this statement, “mean what you say”. People quickly lose interest in someone who does not deliver what they say they will. It may not seem a big deal if you don’t send a reply to an email you promised the same day but what does that say about your attitude to that person? How special is that person likely to feel as a potential customer?

So if you say you are going to do something. Do it! This is critically important. We all say things in the heat of the moment “Yeh sure count me” “No worries that will be on your desk by 5” but if you don’t mean what you say, how is that impacting on your credibility? What does it say about your attention to detail and to delivering a great job on time?

If it is really not possible be honest, people appreciate honesty. Ironically in this technologically advanced age we do like dealing with humans and within reason people accept that things have to change. But still for me Say what you Mean and Mean what you say is key.

If you dedicated yourself to doing this for the next month, do you think this could have an impact on your business?

Let me know how you get on. The best results get to comment on my blog with links to their websites.

The other day a business woman said to me “I’m working all the hours I can but I’m not making as much money as I want to, and I can’t see how to change this”.

This is a very good point. For many of us when we set up our businesses we go about things a bit backwards. We come up with the products, the website, the marketing strategy, we think about how our business is going to “fit” into our lives but we don’t think about what we actually want from our businesses.

And as your business starts to take off this can become critically important if you are not getting what you want out of your business. As for this lady who was not getting the financial success she wanted.

(And by the way, that can quickly turn into frustration and anger that taints how you feel about your business.)

The fact is this business woman’s pricing was not right. When we looked at what she wanted to earn, we were able to see that it was impossible for her to create that level of income with her current pricing structure.

So ask yourself does my pricing structure create the income that I want to?

Does it allow me to invest and grow my business as I wish?

If it does not, a word of caution, if you are already established for what you do, changing your pricing structure can be a dangerous time. By now your customers already have a perceived level of value in your products and services. Moving the goal posts can leave your customers feeling disgruntled and unappreciated.

If your haircut has always cost you £40 and at the end of the appointment your hairdresser says “That will be £300 please” how are you going to feel?

So help your customers perceive your value. Help them appreciate what you offer is incredibly good value and worth paying that bit extra for and explain the reasons why.

Just think you walk into an electrical store and there are 3 identical cameras on sale. They appear to all do the same. The first one is £35, the second is £99 and the third is £200. Which one do you purchase?

Where is your level of perceived value?

You see when we buy we are often put off by the cheapest item, because we question its quality, on the other hand the dearest can be dismissed because we can’t perceive how much more we are getting for the additional £101 – so when thinking of your pricing structure consider this.

And lastly consider this as it will really help you with your pricing structure….

If you wish to work 40 hours a week, how many customers, widgets, clients will you need to see to get the level of income a week that you require?

In doing this you start to see your pricing structure created before your eyes.

And don’t be put off by the fact that you are charging more, if there is perceived value people will love you and buy from you.

If you went into the best photographical store in the country and there was a camera for £300 would you consider it worth its money?

Next time I will share with you some great ways to get your customers spending more with you – You will love it.