Social Search Results in Google

Recently, I have begun to notice something interesting in my Google search results. At the bottom of the page for some searches, I get a section of results categorized as “results from people in your social circle.” These are specialized search results that provide links to articles that people I know (or at least follow) have written. Other than being pretty darn cool, this is an exciting way to continue to grow your business brand.

Build Your Brand Through Personal Search Results

Imagine a scenario where you connect with all of your customers, plus more than a few prospects, via things like Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, Gmail, etc. When those people search for something related to your business, you hope that your page is optimized enough to appear in those search results. But if you are connected with these people, if they follow you or have e-mailed back and forth with you, for instance, you have a good chance of having your relevant page show up in the social circle area. Think of how nice it is for your brand when your image pops up with an article related to what they are searching for. This is a way that you can provide personalized results to customers and prospects that you connect with.

Of course, to show up in those results, you need to connect with people. You need to be active on social networks. You need to engage. Sure, there is a lot of hype surrounding social media, but having your page pop up in a special section on Google search results is not hype. It is marketing and branding gold.

Have you ever patted yourself on the back for being a good at multi tasking? I have, plenty of times. But I am beginning to wonder if it is truly something to be proud of.

The fact is, multi tasking is often the wrong answer to the problem. The problem, of course, is that you have way too much to do. So you try to do it all at once.

For me, this typically means simultaneously checking my email, my Twitter feed, working on an article, doing research, and maybe sprinkling in some marketing work. The problem with this approach is that everything ends up taking longer. For instance, this post would take me maybe 4 or 5 times as long to write if I spend a minute on a couple of paragraphs and then check some email and then come back for a few more paragraphs.

The answer is simple. Instead of multi tasking, you should be micro focusing. This is not really that hard to do, even for multi tasking veterans like me (and you?). Micro focusing means spending time on just one thing and focusing on just that. Revolutionary, I know.

If you have a day that is full of tasks, do yourself a favor and separate those tasks out at the beginning of the day and give each a time limit. The time limit is very important. If you do not stick to it, your tasks will start to get muddled again and you will find yourself multi tasking. The more you plan your day out, the better. If you need some wiggle room, just plan in some miscellaneous time.

One thing that I found that really helped me to stick to this is to set a timer. I might give myself a half an hour to work on a blog post, for instance. When the timer goes off, time is up. If you find yourself constantly running out of time, it is because you haven’t been realistic about how long something is going to take you. Either that or you have been sneaking a look at Twitter again.

Give yourself a break and get more done by learning the power of micro focusing. You can still get the experience of multi tasking without all the downside. Simply move between tasks quickly. But while you are on any given task, give it your full attention.

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Hello, I am Bradford Shimp. I write this blog and run a web design and marketing company call Broad River Creative. Follow me on Twitter, but be sure not to check for my updates while you are working on something else.

photo credit: daveograve@

In part two of my conversation with Desiree Scales, we discuss social media and how small business can benefit from getting involved on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Follow Desiree on Twitter at twitter.com/desireescales.

Visit Desiree’s web site at www.bellawebdesign.com.

–

Call for Interviews: I am looking to interview business owners, authors, experts, and interesting people on a regular basis. If you would like to tell your story on this podcast, please contact me.

Credits: This podcast was recorded using Skype and Pamela. Thanks to Joe Magennis and Desiree Scales for technical advice. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Editing done with Audacity.

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of AllBizAnswers.com.

On this podcast, I am joined by Desiree Scales, founder of Bella Web Design, in Atlanta, Georgia. Desiree left her job at a major airline over 10 years ago to start her own business and hasn’t looked back. Today, she balances the demands of business with the importance of her family. She has purposefully created a business that she can run from home, but has used a creative business model to allow the business to scale up easily.

The is part one of a conversation that I had with Desiree. In this section, we learn the story behind Bella Web Design and gain some insight into how she manages her business. In part two, we will hear Desiree’s thoughts on social media for small business.

Follow Desiree on Twitter at twitter.com/desireescales.

Visit Desiree’s web site at www.bellawebdesign.com.

–

–

Call for Interviews: I am looking to interview business owners, authors, experts, and interesting people on a regular basis. If you would like to tell your story on this podcast, please contact me.

Credits: This podcast was recorded using Skype and Pamela. Thanks to Joe Magennis and Desiree Scales for technical advice. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Editing done with Audacity.

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of AllBizAnswers.com.

That is what Jason Markow had in mind when he started #FAILweek. He wanted businesses to look at their failures not for the failure, but for what can be learned from it. And in encouraging people to share failures, the hope is that others who come behind can more easily learn fr0m our mistakes.

The Potential

The failure I am going to share here is only a half failure. It is the story of what could have been, and maybe a little about the potential that is still there.

I little over a year ago, I was just getting going with my blog and was getting more and more active on Twitter. I still didn’t really know anybody on Twitter. That all changed when I sent out a tweet something to the effect of “I feel like an idea wrangler.” This tweet was read by Neal Rohrbach, a truly amazing and creative guy. Something about what I said hit home with him. We had “met” prior to this on a Twitter chat called #sbbuzz and had gotten along. So Neal, being the go-getter that he is, got inspired and registered a domain name. IdeaWranglers.com wasn’t available, so he registered IdeaAnglers.com instead. The rest, as they say, is history.

When Neal let me know what he did on a whim, I was surprised and excited. At the time, I was also buying up all kinds of domains and dreaming of the businesses that I was going to start with them. In Neal,  I found someone with similar passions, and most importantly, the same heart to help others, especially entrepreneurs. So when I found out what he did, I naturally said, okay, lets see where this takes us.

Where it took us was a partnership. We wanted to develop Idea Anglers to be a site that helped small business owners. We wanted to make money at the same time. A membership site seemed to be the natural fit. So Neal created a site and a great logo (he is a graphic designer, among other things). I brainstormed concepts. We pre-launched and immediately got some good traction. Everyone liked the idea, or more accurately, the story of two strangers meeting on Twitter and launching a business.

The Failure

The idea was the problem. We never really nailed down exactly what we wanted to do. I take the blame for this, since that was primarily my department. I tend to have too many ideas. Turns out, I needed the kind of help that Idea Anglers would eventually offer. Unfortunately, I needed it before Idea Anglers was there to help.

What we ended up with was two very creative people trying to build a broad-based solution for entrepreneurs. We never found the kind of focus we needed, I now realize. Secondly, we both had full time jobs plus side projects we were already working on. We were very busy, so we didn’t have the kind of time we needed to get things launched. So very little time plus not knowing what to focus on when we did find the time meant we couldn’t push it forward fast enough. The fact that we pushed it as far as we did is a testament to what can be accomplished when you work together on something with shared passion.

There were lots of good things. Neal and I got along really well, and still do. I found out that you can really establish meaningful friendships with people that you meet online. Also, it is possible to meet business partners online. Knowing that, what we should have done was narrowed down a focus really fast and then sought to bring more people in to help run things, people who had more time and more focused expertise.

The Education

Idea Anglers is not dead. It is just on vacation. Neal has a great new job that keeps him even busier than before. I am trying to build a business of my own, plus grow this blog. Idea Anglers still fits into my vision of helping small businesses, but it will play a very specific role when I am ready for it.

The lessons I learned are many.

First of all, there is nothing wrong with trying. I got a great friendship out of this. I also saw how opportunities can open up if you just go after them.

Second, it is possible to build meaningful relationships online. My goal this year is to increase those friendships and build on the ones that I have started.

Third, collaboration is better than working at something alone. Idea Anglers would have never gone anywhere if it was just an idea in my head. By bouncing things back and forth with another party, you can move things forward. The key is to have a focus and goals.

Going from here, I have plans. Perhaps too many plans, still. I appreciate more the importance of focus, so I am focusing on fewer things. I want to help small businesses in a lot of ways, perhaps eventually having a full-service coaching/consulting agency. But for now, I am just focusing on one area where I can be of service, helping small businesses with web sites and online marketing. Of course, I am also focusing on this blog and making it better and more dynamic.

I am also going to explore collaboration more and get better at reaching out. I value things like Twitter so much more when I am having meaningful interactions there. I want to build on that. I still want to build some things with other people. This time, however, I am going to go in with a plan and spend time up front building a focus and specific goals.

And maybe there is one more lesson. Neal and I are both very creative. We thrive on the ideas. If we wanted to build a membership site, what we should have done was bring in an expert in that. A good expert can really help you focus your ideas and broad thoughts, no matter what they are. When you are having trouble moving forward, but you know you have good ideas, I really suggest getting some expert help.

So that is my story of failure. It wouldn’t be a good story if there wasn’t something to learn from it. How have you used failure as a learning tool for success? Because that is all failure is, another tool that you can use to build your dreams. Its nothing to be afraid of, really.

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Bradford Shimp helps small businesses build web sites and online presence. Follow him on Twitter @bradfordshimp.

While social networks like Facebook and Twitter make communication easy, they don’t make you good at it. If you want to grow your contacts and get business via social networks, you need to learn how to effectively use them to communicate.

Make it Past the Threshold

Before you can become the Cicero of social media, you first need to learn the tools. Each new social network has a learning curve. Some, like Twitter, have easy entry but still take lots of use to master. Others, such as LinkedIn, are a little more difficult to get going on.

It is essential that you learn how to use your social network(s) of choice. Without knowledge of how the tool works, you won’t be able to use it properly. A tool misused can cause more damage than good. So, before you try to use social networks to get sales, use them for fun. Play around in the sandbox until you have the feel of things.

Remember, each social network is a little different. What is appropriate on one may not be appropriate on another. As communicator, it is up to you to figure out what is accepted where. If you are talking in a crowded bar, it is perfectly fine to raise your voice and even shout. In fact, this is probably necessary just so the person next to you can hear you. But you wouldn’t use that same voice in the library. Social networks are different venues with different rules as well. The best way to learn them is to get active on the network, primarily as a listener at first.

Get a Focus

Once you find a social network of choice and get a feel for how it works, you can start using it to communicate with potential customers. In order to cultivate a group of appropriate listeners, you need to gain a focus.

There are two main things to focus on. The first is what you are going to talk about. If you want to sell washing machines, you should spend the larger percentage of your time talking about washing machines. This will attract people who are also interested in washing machines, and you can start to build a focused audience.

The second area of focus is who you are going to talk to. When you first get started, you will probably be happy add anyone to your network. But as you start to think about how to communicate effectively, you’ll realize that you need a group of active listeners. These are the people who will be interested in what you have to say.

You can attract some of these listeners just by talking about your focus subject. Others, you will have to go out and find. Use tools likes Search.Twitter.com and Twellow.com to find people on Twitter who are interested in your topic. On other social networks, you can join groups and forums to find people with an interest in your topic.

Once you start to develop a group, you need to learn to focus on them. Its not just having them that is important. You need to talk to them.

Engage the Audience

Social communication is two-way communication. If you think its just about pushing out your message and hoping it will be heard, you didn’t spend enough time learning the platform. The beauty of social networks are that they make personal communication possible on a large scale.

If you want to communicate effectively on social networks, you need to learn the importance of listening and responding. In fact, you should spend as much time responding as you do starting conversations. You can do this whether or not you have people asking you direct questions. On LinkedIn, for example, there is a whole section devoted to questions and answers. On a feed oriented network, like Facebook and Twitter, just pay attention to what people are saying and asking, and then respond.

When you do put out content, try to word it in such a way that it will start conversations. For instance, I see a lot of quotes on Twitter. Why not add a “what do you think about that?” type of question at the end of the quote. The goal when you push content is to get people to respond in some way. Sometimes, you’ll want them to visit your site and buy your product. Other times, you’ll just want to start conversations by asking questions.

Conversations

The beauty of social networks is that they make conversations easy. Conversations can lead to many things. You can have a conversation with a customer in which you solve an issue they are having. They can then have a conversation with a friend about how helpful you were. That friend could have a conversation with her spouse about how they should hire you. And then it comes back to you in the form of a sale and a new relationship.

The power of social networks is that these conversations are happening on an expansive scale. Its not one on one anymore. Instead, many people can listen in and hear what a good job you did. You can engage with a large number of customers and future customers all at once. The word can spread faster and farther than ever. Don’t doubt the power of conversation in helping you get and keep customers.

It all starts with you learning how to effectively communicate on social networks. Have any questions?

Except for the rare instance, commercials are painful and boring and an interruption of the engagement of our brains with the content. They break up good content. Even good commercials grow old really fast. Commercials are shouting at us. Listening to a talk show interrupted by commercials is like having a quite conversation with an old friend in a coffee shop when a bunch of really loud and obnoxious teenagers walk in.

If you don’t want your business to be perceived as loud and obnoxious, don’t employ interruption marketing techniques. Prospects are people too. So engage them like human beings, in conversation.

Does this mean that you can’t sell to people? Not at all. It just means that you have to sell yourself first, before you sell your product. People want to be able to trust you. They also want to feel connected.

You can not build trust and connectedness by talking at prospects. Instead, you must engage with them. Share something of yourself, show your humanity, and encourage feedback.

Share Something of Yourself

What this means, in this business sense, is that you should share your knowledge. As a small business owner, you have developed an expertise. Refine that expertise and provide content that speaks to the end users, your customers and prospects. This can take shape in the form of a blog, a newsletter, a series of videos, a Twitter account, or any other way of delivering content.

In order to start conversations with prospects, you need to provide some meat for the conversation. Don’t expect people to just call you up and start talking because of your static web presence. Instead, you need to have an active web presence, one that provides content and engages people.

Show Your Humanity

Prospects are not going to have conversations with you as a business. Instead, they will engage you as a person. So don’t be afraid to let your personality show through your conversation marketing efforts. In fact, by letting your personality hang out, you will attract people around you that you will enjoy, which will make doing business with them that much sweeter.

Encourage Feedback

In order for a real conversation to take place, there has to be back and forth between two parties. This is about you being accessible. Make it easy for prospects to join you in conversation. If you are blogging, encourage comments and respond to them. Also, establish a presence on a few social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t just wait for responses to your content. Search out people who fit within your area of interest and respond to what they are saying. Be willing to talk, just for the sake of it. Every conversation will not lead to a sale. But by being out there, you gain exposure and opportunity.

You also need to learn how to bring a conversation back to a sale. Don’t rush it, but don’t ignore it either. When you engage, look to be helpful. When you have conversations with the right kind of people, you will be able to recognize selling opportunities. Don’t be shy. Keep engaging in the same style. Be honest, provide value, and be yourself. Its okay to tell someone in conversation that you may have the answer to their need. You would do it in a normal conversation, and you need to do it online.

After all, conversation marketing is just talking if it doesn’t lead to sales. Just recognize that what does lead to sales is trust and connection. You can’t build that by talking at prospects. Instead, talk with them and provide the answers that they need.

photo credit: pterjan

One key aspect of being seen as an expert is this; you need to know your stuff. I am talking depth here. For instance, it is not enough to be able to spout the talking points about the latest car in the showroom. Instead, you should know the history of the car, the quirks and the hidden bonuses. Most of all, you should know who that car is built for, so you can qualify and direct customers accordingly.

Being well-versed gives you the flexibility and knowledge to truly help customers. The opposite of well-versed is just knowing one solution and pushing that solution on all of your customers. Its like saying you are in marketing but all you do is sell ads in the paper. You can get really good at selling ads in the paper, but you shouldn’t go around calling yourself an expert in marketing.

Being well-versed is also about truly caring for your customers. By spending your time to research and learn about their needs and the solutions to those needs, you are putting yourself in a position where you can truly help. I am reminded of Desiree Scales, who runs a successful web design business in Atlanta. She also spends a lot of her time using and learning social media, such as Twitter. She is showing her customers how to use these tools to become more successful. This is very helpful to her customers, and it helps Desiree become more than a service provider in their eyes. She is now an essential expert. For every Desiree, there are loads of web design firms that are happy with their success and who don’t spend any time expanding their horizons, and thus their businesses.

Being well-versed is also good for you and your business. Exploring the edges around your core business will help you see new opportunities and discover greater passions. Its a great way to grow your business. As you learn, you can offer complimentary services to an already happy customer base. You will also attract more and more business as you write and speak about the topics you explore. Expert status attracts business, plain and simple.

So don’t be myopic with your business. Expand your horizons in an attempt to better serve your ideal customers. Get your hands around some truly useful knowledge, and start sharing it and incorporating it into your business. The more you know, the more you can help customers.

Recommended Reading

I am constantly on the prowl for good business books. Right now, I am reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love Gary’s take on passion and business. This book will give you a kick in the butt to get up and get moving as you pursue your passions and your business.

If you are interested in Crush It, you can get it through Amazon by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

Get Unique Content Weekly with The All Biz Answers Insider Newsletter

–

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

My topic last night was on cold calling, or more specifically, alternatives to it. I am not a big fan of the cold call, but I realize that it is often hard for businesses to do away with it. If a small business wants to stop cold calling, it can. I believe you will actually be better off for it. However, it does takes some effort. The biggest thing is that you need to put a system in place to get leads, to talk to prospects, and exponentially grow sales.

Below, you will find the interview questions and my answers, along with a link to the transcript for the whole chat. It is hard to give deep, thoughtful answers to a whole bunch of questions in a short time frame via Twitter. I hope my answers where enough to whet appetites to go out and learn more.

To that end, I will be offering in depth discussion on sales topics with my Sales Tactics newsletter. If you do want to learn more, please subscribe. I think you will benefit from it. You can find a link to the newsletter and other goodies in my resources section in the menu bar up on top of this page.

Here are the questions and answers from the chat. Also, if you want to get the full transcript, it is available here. You will want to scroll to the bottom of that PDF and then read up.

Is cold calling dead?

• No. Many businesses still use it. However, it is losing its effectiveness.
• Cold calling relies on interruption. Today, people have access to info when they need it, so are less likely to put up with cold calling.
• People are far less likely to trust someone based on a cold call, and trust is very important.

What is the difference between cold and warm calling?

• Warm calling is making sales calls after making preliminary contact.
• Warm calling works best when it is tied to another form of marketing, such as educational or event marketing.
• Warm calling can refer back to a marketing piece, a form filled out at a trade show, or any form of previous contact.

Here is an article on warm calling.

What is permission based marketing?

• Permission marketing is when prospects sign up to receive messages from you.
• Instead of you interrupting their day with messages they don’t care about, you are invited to speak to them.
• Permission marketing is about having prospect qualify themselves.

Here is an article on permission marketing.

How do you get permission from someone to market to them?

• You need a complete marketing plan to gain a constant stream of permission.
• The basic concept is to provide something of value in return for getting permission to market further.
• Permission can include signing up for a newsletter, coming to an event, or requesting more information.

Cold calling brings results, why should I stop?

• Cold calling is a numbers game. For every yes, you have 10 or more nos that are closed doors.
• Using permission marketing, you can keep the conversation open, even with people who aren’t buying right now.
• By building marketing around conversations and education, you can create a steady stream of leads that will grow virally.

Why should businesses make the extra effort to educate customers?

• By educating, you set yourself up as the expert. This allows you to set the course of the relationship.
• Educating allows you to “sell without selling.” Prospects thank you for the info and go to you first to buy.
• When you create educational marketing, you can re-purpose it in many ways.

Here is an article on educational marketing/selling.

How can Twitter help businesses avoid cold calling?

• Twitter is a great place to communicate, attract fans, and build relationships.
• Your followers have given you permission to talk to them. Just don’t be all sales talk, all the time.
• From conversations on Twitter, you can move into a sales process.
• Twitter opens the door to a ton of prospects. It is your job to attract qualified prospects by providing quality content.

Here is an article on social media and sales.

Why is building an email list the most important thing businesses should be doing?

• An email list built on permission is a group of people who have pre-qualified themselves as real prospects.
• With regular email, you can build trust with prospects and up sell current customers.
• An email list is a database of prospects you can dip in to when you need to add sales.
• Put out a good newsletter and good value for signing up, and your email list will continue to grow.
• Unlike cold calling, you will be able to communicate 1 to many, but with a much larger trust factor.

Here is an article about creating a newsletter.

How can we use events to bring in loads of new customers?

• Events allow you to invite prospects to something they will value, without directly selling to them.
• Make your event specific, and it will attract ideal, pre-qualified, prospects.
• You can build a huge level of trust quickly by providing a quality event. People will be inclined to buy from you.

Here is an article about using events to bring in sales.

Should a small business have a blog/email newsletter?

• Yes. Providing regular content for customers/prospects has several benefits.
• It will bring in more traffic to your site and provide visitors with instant value.
• It will educate prospects and build trust, making them inclined to buy from you and trust you.
• It will make you better at your business. Creating content on your niche will inevitably make you an expert.

What kind of conversations should businesses be having with their customers/prospects?

• Conversations should be about much more than making the sale.
• You should seek to educate, to answer questions, to ask questions.
• The biggest thing is to build trust and provide endless value.

Here is a link to a series of articles on conversation marketing.

Recommended Reading

I am constantly on the prowl for good business books. Right now, I am reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love Gary’s take on passion and business. This book will give you a kick in the butt to get up and get moving as you pursue your passions and your business.

If you are interested in Crush It, you can get it through Amazon by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

Get Unique Content Weekly with The All Biz Answers Insider Newsletter

–

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

This is important. The world’s attention span is shrinking, at least when it comes to advertising. You need to know what message you want to get across and be able to do it simply. If you can, people will still listen. If not, they will just be annoyed by your marketing efforts.

Can I Have Your Attention for a Few Milliseconds?

Everyone is saying that the human attention span is shrinking. People have less time and just won’t give you the time you need to make your sales/marketing pitch. Well, we all actually have the same amount of time.

The thing is, from a marketing standpoint, you just can’t get as far with traditional methods. Thus, marketers blame people for short attention spans. But from the people side of things, we are actually just fine, thank you very much. People are still capable of giving attention to things that they care about. There are just more sophisticated ways of connecting with what we care about, so we are able to focus on them more and tune the rest out. Yes, this does have some negative consequences, especially if we become insular and don’t listen to other points of view. But from an advertising standpoint, who needs it?

Well, we are still influenced by marketing, just in different ways. One of the big shifts is that people will not spend a whole lot of time considering an option before moving on. When a Google search brings back thousands of sites, people will scroll through several quickly until finding one that appeals to them. The ones that catch the most attention are able communicate their message quickly, both visually and with its content.

Your job as a small business owner is simple. Keep things simple. The more focused and clear your message is, the better. If you can’t put your entire marketing message in one simple 140 characters or less post on Twitter, you have too much fluff.

Master the format of short and quick, and you have a much better chance of someone hearing out the rest of your story. Make your introduction your message, and elaborate if you need to. Its even better if you can boil down your message so that it needs no elaboration.

Here’s a hint. Every time you look at your marketing message, don’t think of what you can add to it, but rather what you can cut out of it.

Refine Your Message to its Core Truth

You probably know what an elevator pitch is. Its your sales pitch boiled down into a very short message. You should be able to be compelling in a very short time window, say the length of an elevator ride.

The elevator pitch isn’t just for the go-getter salesman and the super busy CEO. Normal people are just as busy and guard their time just as closely as any CEO.

Think of it this way. If you want to show respect, package your message in such a way that it can be consumed quickly by your target audience. Chances are, it will be consumed while the prospect is in the middle of something else. If its just fluff, it will be skipped. If its compelling, you have a chance to grab the attention of that prospect for a few more seconds.

Here is where you marketing message needs to fit. It needs to fit in a voice mail. It needs to fit in a Google text ad. It needs to fit in a Twitter update. It needs to fit on a business card.

Some businesses hold to the idea that they can just sit down with someone and then they can sell them. Yes, but its getting harder and harder to get people to sit down with you. If you need a lot of time to sell a prospect, you could be in trouble. My suggestion would be to switch to educational marketing. Even then, you need to bait the hook and get people interested in listening to you with short messages.

Here’s a hint. To refine your marketing message, write it up. Take as many words as you think you need. Now, delete all but the most important words. Start by cutting out your ifs, ands, and buts. Then move to your fluffy adjectives and verbs. Cut down to the core words, and then try to craft them into one or two sentences.

Say More, Annoy Less

The holy grail of marketing, in my book anyway, is to be able to talk openly with prospects without them being annoyed by you. There are a lot of aspects to this, like getting permission and providing value. One of the biggest parts is saying more when you do communicate.

Wait, didn’t I just tell you to cut down your marketing message to its barest essentials? Yes, that was me. I don’t want you to say more as in more words. I want you to say more as in make every single word count.

If you can have people hanging on every word you write or say, you won’t be thought of as annoying. This means limiting your sales pitches and making them count when you do make them.

If your words matter to the people that hear them, you are going to win. If they are seen as annoying dribble, you are going to lose.

You decide what you want to do. Either take the time to craft a concise and powerful marketing message, and build an information and education campaign around it, or don’t. As the options for people continue to increase, they will be tuning more and more noise out. Don’t be the noise. Instead, be the trusted insider. And when you are, never waste people’s time with excess. Get to the point, and stay there.

Here’s a hint. Disguise your marketing message as a public service announcement. You can inform and sell at the same time. If people digest your marketing message as information, they are more likely to be predisposed to buy.

So, I’ve just taken over a thousand words to tell you to keep it short. See, its a process to learn to be brief and get to the point. You won’t be able to do it right away, but with time and practice, you will be an expert at marketing zingers that speak volumes. Good luck!

Recommended Reading

I am constantly on the prowl for good business books. Right now, I am reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love Gary’s take on passion and business. This book will give you a kick in the butt to get up and get moving as you pursue your passions and your business.

If you are interested in Crush It, you can get it through Amazon by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com