Entries from December 2012 ↓

Most marketing strategies concentrate on email, direct mail, social media, print marketing and web marketing.

That’s good news for us professional copywriters as it means there’s plenty of work to be had.

But there is one other stream of customers that’s not been mentioned – referrals.

Referrals (or word of mouth marketing) are worth their weight in gold. After all, people are coming to you as a direct result of someone else recommending your products and services.

As a result, they already know about the quality of your work, your level of customer service and what makes you stand out from other providers – so most of the hard work has already been done for you.

So how to you get more of them?

Sowing the referral seeds

Put simply, there are no short cuts to generating referrals.

If you want people to talk about you favourably to others, you’ve got to provide them with good reason.

1. Above and beyond

Every contact you have with a customer before, during and after making a sale has to be perfect.

You must constantly exceed their expectations and make them feel valued.

That’s easier said than done, especially when faced with one of ‘those’ customers, but it will be worth it in the end.

2. Staying in touch

Once you’ve completed a sale and your customer’s gone away happy, it’s very tempting to move onto the next person. But what about the relationship you’ve just spent weeks (months or even years) developing with the person that’s just walked out the door?

The relationship is far too valuable to let slide, so make sure you keep in touch with regular newsletters, offers and great information.

How about offering an incentive for referrals – perhaps a discount on future purchases for every person they introduce to you?

How ever you decide to approach it, keeping the relationship going is vital  – after all, if they’ve bought from you once, the chances are they will again.

3. Engage

Marketers band around the term ‘Engaging with your audience’ quite frequently. So what exactly do they mean?

Well, if you want someone to buy from you and develop a long lasting relationship with your company, there has to be something in it for them. You could argue that the product/service they buy is enough, but today’s customers are far cannier than that and expect much more.

Offering them useful, relevant and interesting content will help you engage with them. They see it as getting something for nothing; you see, it as a way of maintaining contact and keeping your company’s name firmly lodged in their mind.

But more than that, if your content is really useful to them, you will be opening up the opportunity of it being shared with their friends and colleagues. Facebook ‘Likes’, re-tweets and other social media sharing tools will help spread the word about your company – and that can’t be bad.

So you see, if you want to boost and encourage referrals, you must engage with your customers and go above and beyond what they would expect.

Take some time out to review your current procedures; what efforts do you make to retain customers and stay in touch? How many referrals do you receive?

Perhaps it’s time to give some of these suggestions a try.

The art of website copywriting is a complex one.

Many website’s that have been written in-house tend to make the same mistake.

No, we’re not talking about bad grammar or blaring typos (although that may be true in some cases), the problem is with the actual content itself.

You see, although your website exists to bring your company to the attention of your market place, it isn’t there to shout about you.

Confused?

Think about it this way. Imagine you’re out looking for a new pair of shoes. As you walk down the High Street you spot a gorgeous looking shop with oodles of ‘must have’ shoes in the window.

Its upmarket feel and the immaculately displayed shoes, boost and sandals seduce you. Before you know it you’ve walked through the door and an assistant is approaching you.

You expect them to greet you, ask how you are and what you’re looking for – are you looking for shoes for a special occasion….really, a Ball? How wonderful, what’s your dress like? You know, niceties like that.

But what they actually do is tell you all about the company, how long they’ve been trading, what car the MD drives and how they believe they are the most unique shoe retailer in the country.

I don’t know about you, but I would be out of there faster than a fast thing.

The same thing goes for your website.

Your Home Page is likely to be the page that most visitors arrive at, so it’s the first impression they’ll get of your company. But rather than reading about how amazing your company is, it needs to be focused 100% on the needs of your customers.

Why should they buy from you?

No, not because you’ve been in business since 1889….They should buy from you because you offer unique shoes, shoes that will make them feel special, shoes that people will stop and stare at, shows that will show the world how successful they are, shoes that will make people stop and stare wishing they could be just like them.

OK, a bit OTT, but you get the picture.

The copywriting on your home page must be all about the benefits your customers will enjoy if they buy your product (or service). It must communicate to your reader that you’re a company that puts its customers first.

Over to you

Take a look at your Home Page – who is the main focus on, you or your customers?

If it’s you, it’s time to change your copy – if you need a hand, get in touch with a professional copywriter and get your copy working for you.

Writing is a profession that needs a thick skin.

Ask any fiction, non-fiction writer or commercial copywriter about their journey to the top and they’ll tell you a whole raft of stories of rejection, self-doubt and the pig-headed determination they had to show to make it.

The same goes for guest blogging.

There is one thing that you must remember – just because you spent hours lovingly crafting and shaping your blog post doesn’t mean it will be instantly accepted by grateful open arms.

Common reasons for rejection

After you receive that dreaded email that says ‘thanks, but no thanks’, you have to work out why.

There are a number of common reasons for rejection, such as:

• Poor spelling and grammar
• Not sticking religiously to the submission guidelines
• Writing about a subject that’s inappropriate for that blog
• Sending an unsolicited post rather than pitching first
• Writing in a style that doesn’t suit the blog
• Your email landing in their inbox on a really, really bad day

OK, there’s nothing you can do about the last one, but the rest can be avoided easily enough.

Before you even start writing your pitch email with your ideas, make sure you research the blog well and read some of the previous guest posts that have been accepted.

Get a feel for their style and content to make sure yours will fit in.

Choose a subject that fits within the blog’s niche and make sure you proofread it within an inch of its life before you send it (assuming you’re asked to send in a post).

 Coping with rejection

When you receive that dreaded email saying ‘nope’, it’s very tempting to sulk, file the post away in a dusty folder somewhere on your desktop and crawl away licking your wounds.

Don’t.

OK, so they didn’t like it – why didn’t they?

The first thing to do is ask for feedback (assuming they didn’t give a reason in their rejection email). Of course, no everyone will respond, but if they do, take it on board and learn from it. Plus, if they allow it, review and re-write your post in line with their comments and resubmit.

Just because they didn’t want your post doesn’t mean it should be thrown away and forgotten about. Try a different a blog and ask to guest blog for them – don’t let it go to waste.

If you want to prevent the rejection emails make sure you:

• Pitch your ideas first
• Show evidence that you’ve read their blog and understand what their readers want
• Offer ideas that fit within the niche of the blog
• Follow their guidelines to the letter

Don’t forget, the blog owner has the right to say yes or no – the content on their blog affects their reputation.