Archive for Attracting Clients – Page 8

Business Blogs and the Parisbas Tennis Open

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Is your blog like my tennis, a hit or a miss? Are you writing posts that are clear winners for your readers? Are you serving valuable, relevant content within the lines of your readers’ needs?

This week I’m watching the world’s best players battle it out on the courts at the Parisbas Tennis Open in Indian Wells, California. I’ve noticed a few things that applies to content marketing.

Persistence and control is the name of the game. With me, I get impatient in a rally, and with a burst of aggression I’ll end the point with a whopping drive… clear out of the court.

I know people who blog like that. They write 600-900 words every few weeks, then wonder why they aren’t getting search traffic.

Blogging for your business doesn’t work that way. Steady as you go, writing at least twice a week, at least 350 words, focusing on the key words that drive results for your business, mixing information with stories, always keeping the reader in mind.

Business blogging is like tennis: you want to keep the ball in play. The “ball” is the conversation you have with your ideal clients, your readers. What problems can you solve for them? Keep the dialogue alive. You can’t do that when your blogging is inconsistent.

If you want to get found on the Web, you need plenty of content that’s relevant to your readers. The more you create new content, and publish on your blog, the better the possibilities your ideal clients will find you.

Get found, then get known by your readers. You are priming the pump towards getting new clients. Persistence pays.

If you’re an executive coach or leadership consultant who’s too busy with clients to manage your blog and content marketing tasks, consider outsourcing. Click here for information over on my site, Content for Coaches. I can help make your newsletters, blog, and Web pages rank high with both search engines AND your clients.

Categories : Attracting Clients, Getting Read, Writing Great Blog Content
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LinkedIn Power Tips: Give Before You Receive

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012

If you’ve noticed, LinkedIn is quickly becoming the social networking site for professionals to connect and do business. Maybe Facebook is better left for your family and friends? Just wondering… I’ve invited Chris Buffaloe of SerenityVA.com to share tips on using the LinkedIn recommendations feature. (photo courtesy jannoon028)

The value of referrals, recommendations, or testimonials cannot be underestimated. Recommendations are similar to testimonials of your good name, good product(s), or expertise. They enhance your credibility as an expert similar to how quality content, quality presentation of that content and frequency of content enhances your page rank and authority status for your website. They also raise your credibility.

Recommendations in LinkedIn are social proof. They tell a LinkedIn (LI) candidate that the person is qualified or recognized as a valued colleague that has or will add value to your business. As you interact with connections, you become more familiar with their areas of expertise and perhaps are able to use this knowledge in your business execution.

Once you can recommend a connection, you proceed with some expectation that they will reciprocate. However, do not expect that all people that you have recommended will in turn write a recommendation for you. As you proceed in building your connections, keep in mind that your connections are your referral sources – focus on those contacts that have the potential to directly (or indirectly) enhance your business or expertise. Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Social Media Stuff
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The Pros of LinkedIn vs. Facebook for Professionals

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

You’re probably already on Facebook, sharing photos of your kid’s first birthday party and links to your favorite articles, recipes and videos. After all, Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. But when it comes to using social media for your business, do you really want your professional network colliding with your personal life? (photo courtesy Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot)

There is, of course, the option of creating a Facebook page solely for business purposes, which is a good way to separate your personal and professional networks. These types of Facebook pages, however, are often most successful when running a B2C business, and your clients consist of consumers who use Facebook on a regular basis.

LinkedIn, on the other hand, is great for B2B service providers looking for a more professional social media platform. It’s a social networking site designed for the career- and business-minded professional. Users range from recent college grads to CEOs, all looking to expand their professional network so they can improve their career or business. (You can also have a business page on LinkedIn, as Patsi does here for Content for Coaches.)

Here, we’ll examine the benefits of LinkedIn vs. Facebook for professional service providers, such as executive coaches and lawyers. Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Social Media Stuff
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The Ladder of Emotional Values: Pleasure Reigns

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

What emotions are people seeking to satisfy online? What can we understand about human motivations and values in order for content marketing to work?

Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs tells us we are motivated to satisfy our basic needs first (food, shelter, clothing), before we seek to obtain satisfaction for social, intellectual and spiritual needs.

A similar hierarchy of emotional values exists. As incoming information from web and blog pages enters the brain and is processed, our emotional centers assign values to offers.

Brain science, along with studies on decision making from behavioral economics, has shown that people often don’t use logical reasoning. Instead they go with their gut reactions. They make decisions based on feelings.

Later, when that leads to a buying decision, people justify their actions with rational logic and intellectual “alibis.”

At the lowest level, people have a desire for security. The next thing they seek is comfort. At the top of the ladder, people will pay the most to satisfy a desire to experience pleasure.

Although these values are all emotional, rationality plays a part. Online, an offer must work properly for consumers to feel secure. A marketing offer also provides comfort through ease of purchase, and also by providing reasons to defend the purchase to friends and family. But rationality is never the deciding factor. Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Brain Based Content Marketing, Online Persuasion, Writing for the Web, Writing Great Blog Content
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4 Content Marketing Goals for a Coach Website

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, January 26th, 2012

How should content marketing be used on the home page of your website? What makes good website copy? More specifically, if you’re a professional service provider, like an executive coach, a consultant, a lawyer, health care or financial adviser… how do you create a website that attracts clients and gets potential new leads?

No matter what business you’re in, your content must achieve four things. Here are four goals for your online content:

  1. Connect immediately (by speaking to your readers’ challenges or problems)
  2. Answer questions and educate (by suggesting solutions)
  3. Provide choices without confusion (by providing 3-4 places to read more)
  4. Compel readers to take action (simple sign-up form or contact link)

That’s a basic outline that you could follow, not just for websites, but for your blog and other content marketing pieces. Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Writing for the Web
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A Checklist for 2012 Content Marketing Plans

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, January 19th, 2012

2012 Content Marketing – how did we get here so fast?  I’ve been reviewing my 2011 blog posts, email broadcasts, videos, and taking stock. I hope you’re doing the same, so you’ll get an idea of what’s needed for your own business in 2012. (Photo courtesy Rawich/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Here’s a checklist for reviewing your 2011 content marketing results so you can know where to spend your time and energy in 2012:

  • What were your most effective blog posts in terms of numbers of page views?
  • Which posts generated the most comments?
  • What email promotional subject lines got the best open rates? (Checkout this previous blog post for Subject Line Tips)
  • Which email newsletters titles got better open rates?
  • Which white paper or special report got good download rates?
  • Where did your most qualified leads come from?
  • Which teleseminar topics got the most registrations?
  • What were the press releases that got the most clicks?

You should also be taking a look at the quality of your writing, especially for your blog. Although it’s a bit dated, a tried and true review of some sophisticated blog writing concepts is Sonia Simone’s review of the best of Copyblogger for 2008.  (I warned you, it’s a bit dated, but the concepts are proven and stand the test of time.)

What about you?  What are your favorites?  Most importantly, how did you do in 2011, and what are your plans for 2012?

If you’re still having trouble, check out my recent post on ready to publish articles.  Content marketing is easier when you can outsource some of the writing and researching to qualified writers. A great way to short-cut the time needed to research, write and publish quality online content is to find a good writer to supply articles.

Now, I’ve got to get back to my own review.  2011 was a great year, let’s see how much better we can do in 2012.  Happy writing!

 

 

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, On Writing Better
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Content Marketing Tip: Start with Ready-to-Publish Articles

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, December 29th, 2011

Content marketing is easier when you can outsource some of the writing and researching to qualified writers. A great way to short-cut the time needed to research, write and publish quality online content is to find a good writer to supply articles.

For example, as a former executive coach and psychologist, I write for other coaches and consultants who are too busy with clients to write their own newsletters and blogs. You can find good writers in just about any field.

While this has created a good business for me, doing what I love, I don’t see many people using other people’s content for optimal results. Furthermore, when they do use writers, they don’t personalize it to make it their own.

Content marketing doesn’t work as well without unique and personalized copy.  Some people use canned articles ‘as is’. They don’t take the time to add their own stories, to explain how it is for them in the work they do.

You need to connect the dots for readers.

  • Tell them why this article and these ideas are important to them.
  • Tell them about the work you do with your clients.
  • Tell them how they can learn more about what you’re publishing.

In my ebook Content Marketing with Blogs, I talk about the 4 Es: educate, entertain, engage and enrich the lives of people each time you write and publish on your blog. When you write, think about elements of each goal: Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Writing for the Web
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5 Reasons Content Marketing is Getting Harder

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

I hate to be a purveyor of gloom, there’s too much of that around these days. But I’ve been thinking about this and want to share my thoughts with you.

Here are some reasons content marketing is getting more challenging. There exists:

  1. A shift away from focusing on your products and services (what you know well)
  2. A shift towards the reader/customer and their needs (what you may not know very well)
  3. A business environment that is changing rapidly (what is unknown)
  4. More people online in your field writing about the same things (some better, some worse)
  5. A huge volume of content about everything possible, creating information overload for readers

This makes it harder for you to grab readers’ attention and get through to them. However, readers are still hungry for solutions and are looking for trustworthy professionals to work with.

I know this because I’ve experienced it personally. In spite of the recession, people are still hiring consultants to help them with their content marketing strategies and with writing quality content for business marketing.

As marketing guru Seth Godin writes:

“With 80 million other blogs to choose from, I know you could leave at any moment (see, there goes someone now). So that makes blog writing shorter and faster and more exciting.” Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Online Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
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Social Proof: Are You Using Client Recommendations?

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, August 5th, 2011

This weekend I got a call from a person who wanted to buy a subscription to executive coach articles to use for his newsletter. What sealed the deal? The testimonials from other subscribers.

Recommendations, testimonials and client stories are a powerful persuasion tactic. It’s one of the key persuasion triggers that get people to take action. It’s called social proof.

Robert Cialdini wrote about six weapons of influence in his landmark book Influence. Social proof is one of the most powerful mechanisms for triggering buying decisions. Here’s why:

Customer ratings and reviews are one of the ways we decide and choose to buy products online. I use them all the time to click and buy: I glance at the number of gold stars other people have given a book on Amazon, or a pair of tennis shoes on Nike.

If there are two pairs of shoes I’ve selected for my size and price, I’ll go with the one that has 5 stars over 4. Think about it: I don’t know these people, they may have feet completely different to mine, they may not play tennis as often as I do.

Yet when I see a customer rave review and 5 stars, I’m all in.

We are heavily influenced by social persuasion, we can’t help it. Our brains respond to our strong need to belong and fit in, and it all happens in our unconscious minds.

Do these same persuasion tactics work for sites and businesses that aren’t selling physical products? Does social validation work for businesses selling services and experiences? Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Online Persuasion
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Online Persuasion: How to Write to Create Desire

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, July 15th, 2011

When writing online, how can you appeal to readers’ emotions on a business-oriented site? Online persuasion works best when you appeal to both the logical and emotional centers in the brain.

If you want to write content that persuades readers – both thinking type and feeling type processors – to take action, you write about emotional triggers AND provide reasons to act.

Many online content marketers misunderstand what it means to “appeal to emotions.”  How exactly do you bypass the conscious thinking brain and instantly connect with readers’ emotional centers, out of their conscious awareness?

It’s easier than you might think. Stephen Denning writes about this in his book The Secret Language of Leadership, and these lessons for leadership communications are applicable to writing web content.

Here’s a diagram of how many business professionals traditionally write content when they want to persuade people to take action:

The traditional communication approach follows this sequence:

Define the problem ► Analyze it ►Recommend a solution

Effective content marketers, however, follow a unique, almost hidden pattern:

Grab the audience’s attention ► Stimulate desire ► Reinforce with reasons

When language follows this sequence, it can inspire enduring enthusiasm for a cause and spark action.

Grab Attention:

  • Write headlines that draw the reader in
  • Use images that evoke curiosity, humor, or desire
  • Format your content for easy reading

Stimulate Desire: Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Online Persuasion, Pathway to Profits, Writing Great Blog Content
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