Engagement Is Not About The Ring

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Business Communications, customer engagement, customer experience, customer service, customers, engagement, meathead, online content, rob lowe, super creepy, technical writing

Today’s business is all about the engagement. However, there’s no need to worry about carat, clarity and cut here. This engagement is about the relationship with your customers and prospective customers.

Engagement goes beyond customer service and the customer experience. At the end of the day, the customer wants to feel good about the services employed and the products bought. They also want to remember it as a positive experience.

Usually nothing makes more of a difference in marketing and selling than the relationship. Did you ever experience a time while when a salesman approached you and within thirty seconds, you knew you wanted to get as far away from that guy as you could? There was probably something about his style, his personality or his presence that rubbed you the wrong way. It wasn’t a good fit and maybe you left the store without purchasing what you wanted.

It’s the same with on-line content. You have only one initial impression to bring that customer further into your site. Is your landing page content encouraging visitors to click through and find more information? Or are they only too eager to click away and find another site that provides better, clearer, and more helpful information?

Don’t be like the super creepy salesman and turn customers away. Discover what your customers need and want, and engage them from the start.

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Death! Murder! Read Me!

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attention span, audience, blog, business writing, communication, connection, context, death, Happy Birthday, hook, murder, purpose, reader, setting, social media, sound bite, technique, Twitter, writer, writing

Hooking the reader. This has become one of the most important elements in writing, especially in an age of abbreviated attention spans. Social media has upped the ante on being interesting and relevant. Tweets are 140 characters. Most blog posts are between 300-600 words. News segments are edited to :30 sound bites.

In teaching writing to my students, they learn ‘hooking the reader’ is one of the first components under setting context. The hook could be your title, your first sentence or a thought at the close of your first page. Wherever it is, the hook needs to come within the first 30 to 90 seconds of your reader’s attention.

Reader’s do not read your work if they lose interest.

If you don’t capture a reader’s attention immediately, s/he’ll turn the page, click on another link or look elsewhere. So how do you set context and keep a reader in an age where attention spans that are shorter than length of the Happy Birthday song?

You want to provide a connection between the writer (you) and the reader. You can do this by bringing the reader into a piece of writing at the onset and directing one’s attention throughout the piece. How do you do this?

• analyze the audience and tailor the message to that audience;
• bond with the reader;
• use terminology the reader is familiar with; and/or
• create a tone and style the reader will respond

You will most likely find success if you address the reader directly (as an individual or a group) with an interesting thesis, cause and effect, or compelling fact/opinion in the first paragraph.

And remember, if you’re bored with what you write or can’t find the hook, there’s no doubt your reader will have the same problem.

Managing Change to Grow

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growth, marketing, change, internet, 2015, online content, marketing mix, C-Suite executives, customers, website, digital age, research, conversions, sales, strategy, Marketing Sherpa, buying process, results, Internet marketing

It’s January – time for the New Year’s resolutions and change.

Change affects everything in a business, from improving product offerings to streamlining operations. Just like other departments—from operations to finance to quality assurance—marketing also continues to evolve. In our digital age, marketing products and service is more complicated than ever before.

If you’re still marketing the old-fashioned way and waiting to send information to your customers, your marketing programs may prove less than effective.

Customers no longer wait for you. Engagement starts on the Internet when customers begin their research on your company, your competitors and your products.

Nearly 70% of the sales process is complete before a new customer ever contacts a company. This means by the time a customer comes to you, s/he already has hardened expectations. Customers have more control than ever before, and only want to hear from you when they have a need. They can avoid you by hiding behind technology. They can delete your information instantly.

If you wait until you have personal contact with a new customer to begin your marketing process, you may be too late. So how do you get in front and stay there when your customers have the control?

To ensure customers are reading the right content information, your website is ground zero. Consumers read and research, they ask around, and they analyze their needs against key stats and facts. Your marketing has to be focused and your technology flawless, and it must be available when your customer is ready to engage.

Customers look for three things in your marketing content:
1. Does your company have a product or service that meets their need?
2. Can you demonstrate what you do in a way that proves you are worth consideration?
3. Is your company easy to engage?

Customers will continue to drive their buying process deeper into the sales process. As a result, changing and improving your relevant on-line content marketing is more important than ever. How are you changing your marketing mix?

Source: Marketing Sherpa

 

Barkeep, I’ll Have Another

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2014, 2015, ascot, blood, business, champagne, chocolate, consulting, creative writing, critiques, distillery, Fred Minnick, hated it, ladies, loved it, Milwaukee, New Year, NPR, renaissance, rewriting, sweat, teaching, tears, whiskey, wit, women, writing

My 2014 turned out to be pretty great despite a rocky start clouded with uncertainty. Guided by determination while putting a clamp on procrastination, I turned my focus to writing, teaching and consulting. Because of hard work and practice, my choices appear to be paying off. I wake up happy each day and look forward to the work spread across my desk and the people and students I help. Since it all went so well last year, I believe I’ll try it again in 2015.

Anyone who has ever committed to a writing career – or as a passionate hobby – knows it is hard. Although we wish it, it’s not easy even when you’re good at it. There’s writing, rewriting, editing, critiques, blood, sweat, and tears. People tell you it’s the worst thing they’ve read; people tell you it’s the best thing they’ve read. You develop a thick skin, take another shot at the rewrite and send the work out into the world, hoping those who like it will outnumber those who do not. And while it’s out there you think of two more edits you could have done. It’s all part of the process.

At Fred Minnick’s book signing and whiskey tasting in Milwaukee, June 2014

When a good writer succeeds, I’m thrilled to share the story. I have a personal connection to this NPR feature, as writer Fred Minnick is a former associate of mine whom I like to call a friend. This gentleman possesses a sharp mind and wit. While he cuts his path in the world with his storytelling, he’s also having a bit of fun at the distilleries and whiskey tastings. It’s making me rethink my choice of fiction writing to focus on chocolates and champagne… Anyway, please click on this link, which will lead you to a wonderful NPR segment discussing women leading a whiskey renaissance.

Be prepared: it’s probably been a long time since you’ve heard someone in an ascot sound this good.

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/12/29/371652827/ladies-lead-whiskey-renaissance-as-distillers-and-new-tipplers