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Category: Marketing

What is Project Beacon? – Google’s mysterious gift

Have any of you received a mysterious package from Google courtesy of Project Beacon?

A small device which self activates as soon as you open the box, feels slightly disconcerting as the simple instructions indicate it is already broadcasting to local phone traffic in your area. It’s enough to make your head spiral: To what means and to whose benefit? Does it comply with the new GDPR regulations, where is this information stored or analysed? Can I opt out of it? How do I switch if off? So many questions and so little information, so we decided it was time to dig a little deeper.

Overview shot of what you receive in the package from Google's Project Beacon

What is Project Beacon?

Our technology has become so ingrained within our daily lives our mobile phones are more like appendages and Google knows it. You can’t deny it, throughout the day we will all find ourselves on it at some point, whether it is to search for something, read a review, get directions and so on.

Google have developed a seemingly innocuous battery powered device, Project Beacon that makes location-based searching and interaction a little easier and more accurate.

The small, thumb sized column emits one way signals that are readable by nearby Bluetooth low energy devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Allowing your phone to better identify its location and to send or receive information which currently takes the form of targeted advertising, confirming arrival at a particular location and engagement.

Image of stats being captured on a laptop and mobile phone

How will using Project Beacon benefit your business?

This device could enable businesses to track how many handsets visited their store. This will help your business show up on individual personal maps, help filter out inaccurate reviews for people who have not even visited your business, help identify popular times and typical visit durations for the business.

A simpler way to say it is that with a beacon, your phone will now know exactly where you are, as opposed to guessing where you are.

However, this is not the first or last beacon device out there, there is already the Amazon Beacon, the Apple iBeacon,  among others which are all doing similar things among varying levels. There are also companies like Estimote who develop apps to help you interpret the data you are gathering. Here are some case studies of how some organisations have been getting on with them such as the Guggenheim in New York and FC Barcelona.

Image of stats being captured on a tablet and mobile phone

How to avoid a beacon

If you would rather not be party to a big brother state of having your personal technology track your every move then you must look at your own device settings and opt out of the Location Services.

Technically the Beacon device cannot be switched off without being taken part. However, if you would like to opt out you can send it back to Google free of charge.

Banner image courtesy of Pexel, Computer images courtesy of Estimote.

Something Inventive 30: Happiness is a lemonade

In this episode Al and Ben review their time at Bath Digital festival, Ben shares his experience of London Podcast festival including how to make dollars. Rounding off with a look at .UK domains.

If you have any feedback, ideas or topics you’d like covered on our podcast we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch via our contact page, leave a voicemail on 0800 881 5805 or mention @RatherInventive on Twitter.

Listen on Apple Podcasts app

Something Inventive is an entertaining and lively podcast on creativity and the web. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or search for ‘Something Inventive’ in your favourite podcast player.

Episode sponsored by our SEO report

Check out our laser focused SEO report. If you need to build up your traffic then this report is for you! Mention our podcast when your order and get 10% off.

Show notes

 

The Hosts

Al Osmond (@inventiveal) – An unusual mix of logical thinker with a creative eye
Ben Kinnaird (@benkinnaird) – Knower of Social media, SEO and ‘the Web’

Be part of the show

Tweet a service or product you’d like to promote, mentioning @RatherInventive and the hashtag #podvert and we’ll read it out over the coming episodes.

If you like the show please give us a rating in iTunes and we’ll read out your comment. You can do this from the podcast player on Apple.

Thanks for listening!

—
Audio edited by Donalize – ‘Goofy Vocal Groove‘ intro music by Dave Girtsman–Image courtesy of Pexel.

Something Inventive 29: Bath Digital Festival Special – Part two

In this episode as well as giving you a round op of the days events we also feature an interview with Jim Morrison the festival director and ask him pointed questions such as ‘why are the workshops so far apart’.

Part one available here

If you have any feedback, ideas or topics you’d like covered on our podcast we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch via our contact page, leave a voicemail on 0800 881 5805 or mention @RatherInventive on Twitter.

 

 

Listen on Apple Podcasts app

Something Inventive is an entertaining and lively podcast on creativity and the web. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or search for ‘Something Inventive’ in your favourite podcast player.

Episode sponsored by our SEO report

Check out our laser focused SEO report. If you need to build up your traffic then this report is for you! Mention our podcast when your order and get 10% off.

Show notes

  • Bath Digital Festival 2018
  • Secrets Of Successful Calls-To-Action and Landing Pages
    • It’s about motivation – Convert action and urgency
    • Test. Test. Test.
    • Exit pop ups can bring in more clicks for email signup
    • (In their tests) video less effective on landing page when the offer is simple
      Gertie Goddard, Noisy Little Monkey
  • Revealing The Mysterious World Of Marketing Automation
    • Lead nurturing campaign: Early research -> CTA -> landing page -> Follow up emails
    • Lucid chart for high level flowcharting of user experience
      James Mulvaney, Noisy Little Monkey
  • The Psychology Of Sales Emails
    • Nurture people towards a close: Attract -> Convert -> Close
    • It’s all about them. Use the word you more than we/me and yse their name in the email subject line
    • Use video as part of proposal process
    • Use a PS, often people skip straight to this
      John Payne, Noisy Little Monkey
  • Evershare.io – Where Fans Can Buy A Share in a Song
  • Why Your Business Needs a Blog
    • Share the why (your story) in your blog. To help with this describe what you do to a friend or colleague then ask them to summarise it back to you. This is your story.
    • Give stories to customers so they can share them and convert others
    • People use Instagram because they are looking for images they can step into or a person they can be.
      Sal Godfrey, Sal’s Kitchen
  • The Tech is Not Enough
    • Bring the audience to you. Find out how to help them
    • Understand: who will face this challenge? Who do they trust for recommendations? How can I reach them?
    • Maximise content: what do you have already? What can you easily create? Video has 130% additional engagement. What else does your audience need? Create stock image library of product images or shareable content
    • Maximise engagement: look for a slow burn acceleration. Ask questions? Polls! What are there anxieties/fears/hopes? Pick the right tone of voice. Listening to customers and adding features that add value.
    • Make your tech shine. Move from spec (what is it made from) -> Features (what does it do) -> Benefits  (how does that help me) -> Value/Impact (why customer busy).
      Emily Perkins, OggaDoon
  • Bristol and Bath Cyber meet up
    • Company of the lovely chap Ben met at the bar www.showup.global
    • Shout out to these guys for an interesting event with free beer!
  • Successful CTA and Landing Pages
    • Simple, clear, targetted, bold
    • Dont be afraid to lose your site nav on landing pages
    • On exit popups were more effective than bottom-right panels
  • Designing for a better World
    • Draw up your own goals and aims, as an agency or freelancer
    • It’s ok to say no to a project but keep it professional
    • Its ok to work for an ‘evil’ company if you are trying to change them for the better
    • Check your pension and what it is funding!
  • Digital Brands__ready
    • 50% of purchases are on phones
    • Traditional shopping model totally altered by peer reviews and trust
    • 81% read reviews before buying a product. 1 in 3 comment or interact with brand in some way. 79% wont buy from again if mobile experience was bad
  • Lean Content – Jo Duncan
    • Simple, Single Channel, Straightforward content
    • Really, really put yourself in your customers shoes. Feel what they feel.
    • 80% planning / 20% doing
  • Why you need a blog
    • Write new posts once a week or 2 weeks ideally
    • Give people a story to talk about and to share
    • 300 – 1000 words perhaps
  • Bring a product to market
    • People want problems solved, but not get sold to
    • Who does your audience trust?
    • How-to’s, guides and manuals really important.
  • Equality in workplace discussion
    • Returnships – for people returning to work after career break – new concept
    • Offer fair paternity/maternity policies, dont get stuck in traditional policy
    • Home or flexi working opens up new potential workforce
  • Really interesting anecdote; when a successful male recruiter used his colleagues’ computer while she was on holiday it mistakenly added her email signature to his emails. He found that he got loads more negative responses from recruiters in particular.

The Hosts

Al Osmond (@inventiveal) – An unusual mix of logical thinker with a creative eye
Ben Kinnaird (@benkinnaird) – Knower of Social media, SEO and ‘the Web’

Be part of the show

Tweet a service or product you’d like to promote, mentioning @RatherInventive and the hashtag #podvert and we’ll read it out over the coming episodes.

If you like the show please give us a rating in iTunes and we’ll read out your comment. You can do this from the podcast player on Apple.

Thanks for listening!

—
Audio edited by Clare Harris – ‘Goofy Vocal Groove‘ intro music by Dave Girtsman–Image courtesy of Bath Digital Festival

Hey, looking for constructive feedback? Then SayHola

How do you ask for feedback from your customers?

I don’t mean to sound negative but, these days, in this saturated business environment, only those businesses who listen to and act upon the feedback received from customers have any chance of succeeding. It is this feedback that gives one company the edge over another.

But how do you ask for feedback?

Look someone in the eye and ask them what they think of your service or product, and they are likely to say something along the lines of ‘wonderful, fabulous, best bacon roll I’ve ever tasted’ or something similar.

But are they being truthful?

No one likes to give negative or ‘constructive’ feedback directly. Many people are just too polite or too busy to criticise openly. Saying everything is ‘fine’ is easy, even if it’s untrue. I do it myself, all too often, and then kick myself for not giving that business the opportunity to grow and improve. If customers answer the same way – that everything is ‘great’ or ‘lovely’ every time, there’s nothing you can do with that. There’s no room for improvement.

You need to know that your coffee tastes weak or your web design is not up to scratch, otherwise you’ll start to lose business and you won’t know why. But more importantly, you need this feedback to convince new customers to buy from you. They don’t know you, your product or your reputation – why should they buy from you? A good review can explain why your product is the best and remove all doubt from a potential customer’s mind.

So, what can you do, as a business, to ensure that you get the feedback that really matters? You improve by asking the right questions, of the right people, at the right time.

Let me introduce SayHola, an independent review site that allows your customers to feed back to you. A SayHola review can tell you why customers decided to buy from you, how they use your product and most importantly, why they love it. By adding this to your website, you can improve conversion by showing you understand your customer’s needs.

Simply sign up with SayHola, send your customer a request to review with the link, which they click on to leave feedback about your business. Really, it couldn’t be simpler. It gets straight to their inbox, and they leave an honest review, and you can receive the feedback that really matters.

Here’s the process:

  1. You send your customer to SayHola and they click on the thumbs up or down to say if they are happy with your service.
  2. If they pick thumbs up, they are then presented with the opportunity to write a testimonial for you. If they select thumbs down, then we change the question slightly to ask how to improve the experience.
  3. After they submit their feedback an email will then be sent to you with the details of and rating of the review which you can choose to share publicly.
  4. If you also use Google My Business, Facebook or Twitter then your customer will be taken to another page to provide additional reviews on these services.

If you want the opportunity to ask for your customers’ views on your service or product, then sign up for a free trial of Sayhola.

Something Inventive 29: Bath Digital Festival Special – Part one

Al and Ben have been on location at the Bath Digital Festival, soaking up talks and workshops on everything to do with technology, marketing and business. We thought we’d do something fun for this episode and have to recorded our experience through-out the two days in video as well as audio.

We hope you like it. Part two available here

If you have any feedback, ideas or topics you’d like covered on our podcast we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch via our contact page, leave a voicemail on 0800 881 5805 or mention @RatherInventive on Twitter.

 

 

Listen on Apple Podcasts app

Something Inventive is an entertaining and lively podcast on creativity and the web. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or search for ‘Something Inventive’ in your favourite podcast player.

Episode sponsored by our SEO report

Check out our laser focused SEO report. If you need to build up your traffic then this report is for you! Mention our podcast when your order and get 10% off.

Show notes

  • Bath Digital Festival 2018
  • Janusz Stabik, Grow Your Digital Agency
    • Compete on knowledge not price.
    • Grow to sell even if you don’t sell it – Think franchise
    • Review your strategy (where we’re going and how we’re going to get there) every 90 days
  • New frontiers in digital creativity – Nick Ellis, Halo
    • Purpose is the why. Know this and you will deliver valuable insight
    • Blogs are ‘b****cks’ on the whole
    • Hear your audience, listen to your instinct
  • Jamie Ellul, Supple Studio
    • Just say yes!
    • Follow your passion and the paper (aka money) will follow!
  • Kate Gorringe,Mr B & Friends  7 golden rules:
    • 1. Be creative, not digital first.
    • 2. Stop colouring in wireframes.
    • 3. Blend real and virtual worlds.
    • 4. This rule was skipped over…
    • 5. Let your imagination run wild.
    • 6. Never forget your brand purpose.
    • 7 be a cynic.
  • Pedigree SelfieStix case study
  • Build a Computer Game – Charlie Coggans, Mayden Academy
    • Great fun building a HTML, CSS and Javascript game
  • Digital PR and SEO @stekenwright
    • Don’t forget about Bing (it helps answers Alexa queries)
    • Google looks for EAT in your site, and sites linking to you; Expertise, Authority and Trust
    • Good content can beat inbound links
  • Secrets of Social Media -Paul Wickers – Huggg
    • Look for the Human story, not just data journeys – and meet the real people
    • People remember how they feel more than other factors
    • For every success story, there are multiple failure stories
  • Swoon Gelato
    • Social media is extremely time-consuming
    • Peoples attention span dropped from 14 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2018
    • Try and turn a negative into a positive on social media
  • Lightning Talks
    • Talk to customers
    • People learn in different ways
    • Limit your time in fixing a tough problem to 2-3 hours (timeboxing)
  • Digital Creativity
    • Your brand is co-owned by you and your customer
    • Purpose before profit
    • Don’t just colour in wireframes to create your site design
  • Immersive Stories
    umm, there’s lots of clever people researching the future of AI right now

 

The Hosts

Al Osmond (@inventiveal) – An unusual mix of logical thinker with a creative eye
Ben Kinnaird (@benkinnaird) – Knower of Social media, SEO and ‘the Web’

Be part of the show

Tweet a service or product you’d like to promote, mentioning @RatherInventive and the hashtag #podvert and we’ll read it out over the coming episodes.

If you like the show please give us a rating in iTunes and we’ll read out your comment. You can do this from the podcast player on Apple.

Thanks for listening!

—
Audio edited by Clare Harris – ‘Goofy Vocal Groove‘ intro music by Dave Girtsman–Image courtesy of Bath Digital Festival

The stickiness factor – How video will help your SEO ranking

We have all been there, trying to get our site to be number one on the google search engine and have felt that no matter what we do, Google seems to move the goal post. However, there are many things you can do to make your site appeal to the search engine algorithms and to get your site up to speed with the ever-adapting requirements.

Google loves video content

I will let you into a little secret; ever since Google has owned YouTube there has been a significant increase in how video affects their search engine ranking. In fact, I would be bold enough to say that Google prefers a video to a 2000 word blog. Why? Because watching a video is easier than reading an essay. Don’t get me wrong, written words very much have their place and are an important part of getting your website to rank but it has been speculated that by having a video on your landing page you are 53% more likely to  be on the first page of Google, blogs that include a video are 57% more likely to be read and this is projected to grow, as technology and the digital era continues to develop to be 75% by 2020.

Search engines will always favor sites with quality and relevant content as it increases the amount of time that is spent on the site, reduces the bounce rate and increases the number of pages visited per session. This is often referred to as the ‘stickiness’ factor, the longer you can keep your customers engaging with your site the better Google will rank it.

A video can speak a million words

As the saying goes if a photograph can speak a thousand words, what can a 60-second video speak? 1.5 million words to be precise. In a matter of seconds you can convey a vast amount of information in such a short space of time. In this time you are able to build a rapport, integrity for your product and an honest connection. In a world where many of us find it hard to put down mobile phones, a video should be at the top of your marketing toolkit.

After Google, the second largest search engine on the internet is, in fact, Youtube with 1000’s of hours of content being uploaded daily, and 30 million viewers engaging a day. Why not tap into this network? Quality content will only draw traffic back to your website and help boost your SEO, which will help push you up the search engine rankings.

If it’s possible, you should also try to transcribe your videos, highlighting keywords which are relevant to your site. The Google algorithms can index this content which helps them to determine that video is relevant to your site which will also help boost your SEO ranking.

Finally, make sure you also share your videos on your social accounts, it’s easy to do and the more social signals you gather i.e. likes and shares will only help build your site’s reputation on Google.

 

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Something Inventive 28: Fake it until you break it

In this episode Al and Ben talk about the emergence of deep fakes, which are video and audio fakes that are so good that they can used to put Nicholas cage in almost every film imaginable.

If you have any feedback, ideas or topics you’d like covered on our podcast we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch via our contact page, leave a voicemail on 0800 881 5805 or mention @RatherInventive on Twitter.

Listen on Apple Podcasts app

Something Inventive is an entertaining and lively podcast on creativity and the web. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or search for ‘Something Inventive’ in your favourite podcast player.

Episode sponsored by our SEO report

Check out our laser focused SEO report. If you need to build up your traffic then this report is for you! Mention our podcast when your order and get 10% off.

Show notes

 

The Hosts

Al Osmond (@inventiveal) – An unusual mix of logical thinker with a creative eye
Ben Kinnaird (@benkinnaird) – Knower of Social media, SEO and ‘the Web’

Be part of the show

Tweet a service or product you’d like to promote, mentioning @RatherInventive and the hashtag #podvert and we’ll read it out over the coming episodes.

If you like the show please give us a rating in iTunes and we’ll read out your comment. You can do this from the podcast player on Apple.

Thanks for listening!

—
Audio edited by Donalize – ‘Goofy Vocal Groove‘ intro music by Dave Girtsman–Image courtesy of Pexel.

Don’t stretch yourself too thin on social media – Do one and do it well

With so many social media platforms to choose from, it is easy to get carried away and take on more than you can chew. Before signing up to a new account, think about whether this is an effective way of engaging with your customers.

Rather than signing up for every social media platform possible, start by going – what Business Insider refers to as – platform native and just focus on one or two accounts. Think about what kind of presence you would like to have and the types of product or service you offer? What services most of your audience use? Whether your product is best represented as video, in photos, text, audio or a mix of all of these. Whatever you decide, try to limit yourself to 5 accounts as no full-time employee would ever have enough time to effectively manage more than this.

Remember, social media is a two-way street and should be used as a tool for engagement rather than a soapbox. By focusing your efforts it will allow you to have more time to build a relationship with your readers and develop your brand which will, in turn, create a more authentic network based on quality interaction rather than a quantity of disengagement. Otherwise, you can risk becoming annoying and just add to the stream of noise, which will only push away your potential customers. It is really important to try and engage your audience and to get them to respond and react to your content in some way.

Here are my tips on getting the most out of your social media accounts.

Plan your posts

First and foremost make sure you create a social media strategy and outline your tone of voice, how you would like your brand to be perceived and what kind of content you would like to post. Make a document, a simple excel spreadsheet which lists relevant links, shareable content which you can reference.

Be consistent

Post regularly to maintain the interest of your following but don’t spread yourself too thin. Remember quality over quantity. Research the optimum times of engagement for your particular audience to get the most out of your post. CoSchedule recently compiled their own data and compared them with 23 studies from other social media platforms to find the optimum time to post your content.

Be a professional

Don’t treat your business accounts like your personal account. What your friends and family might find interesting and be supportive of, may not be what your potential customer will find interesting.

Use images and video

Where you can include images and video as this will help catch your audience’s eye and help them digest the information more easily.

Build alliances

Build business alliances that complement your own business but are not a direct competitor. Engage and support each other’s posts to share networks and audience reach. You never know when you might need an ally.

At a certain point, once your account has got to a certain size you will encounter trolls. Don’t take it personally and don’t fall into the trap of entertaining them. Always handle them professionally and know when to respond publicly, when to let it go or to delete their comment (if you can).

Know when to switch off

Don’t fall into the trap of syncing your phone to your social media accounts as before you know it you will come 24/7 and taking work home with you is never healthy.

Educate and entertain

Don’t use your social media platform as a sales platform, capture your audience more creatively and provide useful insights, educational information or entertainment.

Here are some of our earlier blogs which might be able to help you:

Check your spelling

Grammar matters, so check and double check as a small typo can not only be embarrassing but can also cause a whole world of hurt. Have you ever left the L out of Public Service…. Well these days you simply have no excuse as there are free programmes out there like Grammarly which will make sure those cheek blushing moments don’t happen.

Analyse your impact

Create some realistic goals of what you would like to achieve through social media so you can evaluate and justify the amount of time and money you put into creating content. There are many free tools such as Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, Buzzsumo, Google Marketing Platform, Google Alerts and so on which can you help you. If your posts are not performing particularly well, evaluate them and work out whether you can improve them or is it time to call it quits.

 

Once you have established a good presence on one platform then consider whether you could replicate that on another platform. Remember, don’t spread yourself too thin, keep it simple and stay consistent.

 

Image Credit: Group of people, dressed in black, in stretching stances Courtesy of Pexels

Interview: QuantumRE Founder Matthew Sullivan

Recently Ben got the opportunity to interview Matthew Sullivan on how his company QuantumRE, is helping people release the equity in their home using a system based on the blockchain (this is the same technology used by Bitcoin).

He had a fascinating career before this even working on ventures with Richard Branson.

 

Image Credit: QuantumRE Founder Matthew Sullivan

The Power of GIFS – Why you should use them within your marketing

In the most basic form, a GIF is a series of still images or a short piece of video compiled together into a short animation on a continuous loop that is suitable for online platforms. It was first developed in 1987 but never quite took off until the early 2000’s. So why is the GIF so compelling and mesmerising in this digital era?

In an instant world, we want instant content, instant feedback and instant understanding. A GIF is easy to consume; within a matter of seconds. We can easily punctuate an emotion, highlight a personality or explain a process within a blink of an eye.

Growing increasingly popular on social media and blog posts, the GIF can have a profound impact on your marketing.. The New York times recorded that Tumblr had 23 million GIFs posted to it’s site a day and when Facebook first started to support GIFs within their messaging app 5 million animations were being sent each day.

Here are 5 reasons how you could use a GIF within your marketing

1. Use GIFs to highlight your company’s culture

2. Animate your email marketing

3. Sneaky preview of a video

4. Show off a product or offer

5. Use GIFs as a call to action

The advantages

  • GIFs are simple to make whether you want to use a short video clip or a collection of still images there are various sites online where you can access free software and customise your GIF within a matter of seconds. Some sites we would recommend are gifmaker , giphy and giphy capture.
  • Unlike Flash animation, viewers do not need to have special plug-ins on their web browsers, which means that your GIF will simply automatically play and you won’t risk it being blocked via the user’s web browser.
    Due to the nature of the GIF it can be compressed without too much distortion allowing you to keep the file size small which allows you to minimise any delay it would have on the page speed.
  • They are easy to make, use and to embed on your site as you simply treat them like a still image.

… and the disadvantages

  • With everything in life, less is most definitely more so don’t get too carried away and try to cram as many onto one page as you can as it will slow down your page loading speed if you embed large numbers of them whilst making your web pages look cheap and unprofessional.
  • GIFs are ideal for social media and webpages but as they are capped by a colour depth of 256 bit they can give a blocky, pixelated, low quality appearance if shown on a high definition screen.
  • Dithering is a term which helps to band gradients of colour in a GIF to prevent harsh colour contrasts however, it can restrict compression and make the final file size pretty large, which will ultimately slow down your website.
  • It is key to try and work out the right speed and the number of frames you would like to use as if there is not enough frames the GIF can be too jerky and irritating.

 

Finally a simple note of caution, if you are a company and are wanting to post GIFs regularly be cautious of using copyrighted work on social media. To be safe, we would always recommend you create your own.

So maybe it’s about time you added the GIF to your marketing toolkit.

 

GIFs Courtesy of Giphy

Is blogging worth the effort? Three reasons it is worth the slog and how it benefits your marketing

How can you compete with the online market but still provide a personal service? Despite being seen as old hat; regular, relevant blogging can perform well for you.

As we strive for faster, better connected, portable technology the world of business is rapidly changing and more of us are dipping online for our every purchase. Organisations are losing the ability to meet customers face to face to build genuine rapport, to create a memorable service and add that personal touch. Yet, it might surprise you to know that many of us still seek friendly, personable approach from the platform of our online avatars.

Here are three ways blogging could help your business:

1. You build trust with your customers

Whether it’s an informative article or a more informal account of what is happening in your business. The more information you share online through articles on your site, the more this will help capture your audience. By writing and sharing something of true value you are instinctively building trust with your customer by proving that you know what you are talking about. You could even start a conversation with your customers by asking your readers a question or by simply allowing them to feedback and comment on your posts. Allowing you to build a rapport and gain valuable feedback and an insight into what your customers are looking for.

2. You can become an industry leader in your business

Informative and educational articles are where you will capture today’s audience. If we want to know something we ask Google, from ‘how to fix our washing machine’ to learning how to perfect a certain recipe in a matter of seconds. By sharing helpful tips and tricks, insider knowledge will make you more memorable and possibly prompt a return visit or even a recommendation. In taking the time to share this information your business will gain more credibility when you are competing against the bigger more corporate businesses.

3. It can boost your SERP (Search Engine Ranking Position)

Uploading regular, valuable content to your website will also help boost your website up the Google ranks. Search engines favour sites with fresh, relevant content as it increases the amount of time that is spent on the site, reduces the bounce rate and increases the number of pages visited per session. What better way to create regular content than blogging. It provides new content for the search engines to index whilst providing those all-important keywords to increase your visibility online. Don’t forget all of the content you are gathering could be translated into a video at a later date!

 

Not sure where to start and need some inspiration for own blog?

If you love the idea of a blog but don’t feel confident in your writing skills – or simply don’t have time – then you should consider whether a professional writer can take the stress away and help keep you on top of your content schedule.

Our Rather Inventive copywriters have worked in a range of different industries and sectors, such as interiors, education and engineering and they regularly deliver unique and relevant content suitable for each of our customer’s markets.

Here’s are a few of our clients who use blog articles as a key element of their marketing:

  • Selmach Machinery has started using their blogs as a way to storyboard their how-to and overview videos.
  • Tileflair shares in-depth knowledge and understanding of their product range to help equip their customer’s to make a decision on what would be best for them.
  • Auspicious Kitchens uses blogging as a way to share tips and advice while also showcasing their level of experience and knowledge.
  • Gemini Refurb uses blogs to help answer customer questions and to get them thinking about their options.

Building relationships with your customers can only lead to success, so it’s worthing investing in.

Image courtesy of Pexels

Interview: Minx Media Founder Heidi Chamberlain-Jones

For this interview Ben heads over to Herefordshire to meet with Heidi Chamberlain-Jones the force behind Minx Media, a business development consultancy but also the founder of Eat Sleep Live Herefordshire a much needed destination marketing company and events portal for the area.

They talk about why online directories are still relevant, the importance of mixed marketing for businesses and what’s great about Herefordshire.

 

Image Credit: Minx Media Founder Heidi Chamberlain-Jones and Ben Kinnaird

Prepare your business for road bumps

With more than 600,000 small businesses set up in the UK each year, it’s almost expected that many will fail – with some sources quoting up to 80% of small businesses failing within the first year. But prepare yourself for some road bumps and your business could stay the course.

Whatever the precise failure rate is, it is not insignificant. It’s tough work keeping a business afloat and it takes a special kind of person to weather the storm. Someone who is not put off by the failure stats (or they feel safe in the knowledge that their venture will be different). But it also takes someone who knows that there will be many bumps along the way and is prepared for them.

Whatever your reason for setting up your small business, you need to be aware of the risks. Whether you want to be free from the shackles of a corporation, or feel you have a specialist skill or you feel highly motivated to sell a particular product or service, perhaps you are a woman returning to work and looking for a new opportunity to be self-employed – you will need to be the type of person who can overcome hurdles and obstacles and push through when things get tough.

On a recent interview for our podcast we asked Matt Watson from Stakify how he overcame hurdles in business. “Well, it’s always a struggle when you’re trying to start a business … The reason I keep going more than anything is that I’m passionate about what I do, I’m passionate about the problem I want to solve, and I don’t want to fail – failure is not an option so we ask how can we keep moving forward. Whatever the hurdle is we’ve got to figure it out, keep going.”

But how do you ensure that your business will be a rip-roaring success rather than simply a means of throwing away your savings and spending long hours at tasks you are tragically unprepared for? There are some obstacles that most businesses will face at some point, and it’s your passion to see the business survive that will help you over them.

In another interview with Gina GeoGhegan, of Wild Fizz Kombucha, we asked her what it takes to get through the tough times. “If the sole reason is cash, you know ‘I wanna be a millionaire’, then don’t do it – you need to have passion. It’s the passion that takes you through, that makes you, on a Saturday night at 3am, with a newborn child, to try to figure out how you’re gonna pay for the next production line. That’s what keeps you going. You have to really love it. You have to believe in what you’re doing, and you have to love it.”

Just like in life, it is these roadblocks that can either make your business stronger and more resilient, or it can break you, and you end up as one of the business failure stats. But you can take steps to avoid the latter. The first of which is to recognise that setbacks are inevitable and to see them as opportunities to grow.

“…you will discover, time and time again, that what matters most is not what these obstacles are but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our composure. You will learn that this reaction determines how successful we will be in overcoming—or possibly thriving because of—them. Where one person sees a crisis, another can see opportunity. Where one is blinded by success, another sees reality with ruthless objectivity…” Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle is the Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage

When you experience a setback, you can get bogged down or you can grow. What distinguishes a successful business from a failure is whether you get discouraged and contemplate giving up or you embrace the setback, learn from it and move on.

One crucial step in helping your business succeed is to be aware of the main problems that will tip the balance between a successful business and a failure. These could be…

Finding customers – A tricky one for new businesses. If you don’t know where your customers are likely to hang out, then you can’t tempt them with your product or service. There are multiple ways to place your offer in front of your ideal customer, find the one that works for your business. Read this excellent tutorial on how to use Facebook to find clients.

Lack of capital – While some small business owners assume they need access to a considerable sum in the beginning, others think that this can lead to uncontrolled spending and poor decisions. Staying as debt-free as possible helps you to avoid tying the company up and allows your business to grow at a manageable rate. Keep overhead and operating expenses to a minimum in the first couple of years.

Getting paid – When you’re running a small business, your primary focus is going to be on acquiring new customers and clients, but this can be to the detriment of your accounts receivable. Be organised and invest in accounting and invoicing software to ensure your customers are being invoiced and are paying you on time. Stay in control and maintain cash reserves if you can.

Employees – Your employees are the face of your business so make sure you choose wisely. Just one great member can be the making of your business and adversely one harmful team member can be the downfall of it. When you have the best team possible, make sure they know that they are important to the business by offering regular praise and acknowledgement. They will need constant motivation to perform at peak level.

Marketing – There’s little point dipping your toe into numerous marketing ponds and hoping something will bite, this just wastes your time and money. You’re much better off with only one or two channels that you feel most comfortable with, and mastering these.

Also, once you have customers, you must do what is necessary to keep them. So create long-term customers and keep them happy with regular contact such as email marketing so that you spend less on attracting more customers.

Burn out – As a business owner, you probably spend way too many hours at work, which can become exhausting. Study after study has shown that too long hours at work can adversely affect productivity and can lead to burn out very quickly. Schedule in plenty of time out and then you can face adversity with a fresh perspective. Start with a sustainable working week – aim for 40 hours.

Scaling revenue – In such a competitive marketplace you must find ways to scale your revenue by creating upsells, raising your prices and marketing your product or service as a premium brand. Focus on constant growth to move forward and upward.

Learn the lessons – With every failure or setback there is a lesson, make sure you understand what it is. There are also many others who have experienced setbacks in their business who are willing to share this with others. Socialise with people who’ve been there, done that, and learned the key lessons. But also read, listen to audio books and podcasts to see how others have overcome their hurdles.

Everyone who has successfully run a business, from the multi-millionaire author to the successful small business entrepreneur – has experienced obstacles. There will always be one lurking around the corner. Know that it will happen at some point, have a strategy for dealing with it and you’ll be better equipped to keep your business on solid ground.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Invest in the seeds of your evergreen marketing

It is easy to get bogged down into the constant struggle of reeling in profitable business. And in a tight economy, it’s understandable why we might tighten our belt and trim off the frills. But it’s worth remembering that marketing is one of the key strategies for getting in that new business and building the foundations for eventual sales.

Obviously you need to be sensible, so think about your evergreen marketing; by evergreen marketing I am talking about a marketing idea or concept that will last beyond the next couple of hours, weeks or even years, perennially providing you with new strands of business.

The top four evergreen strategies I would recommend investing in are:

Video

One of the top marketing tools to give your customers value or deliver a personal touch, I cannot express how much I value video. Working around the clock on platforms like Vimeo, YouTube you are able to hook business from worldwide markets.

Whether it is a how to guide, vlog, casestudy, testimonial or product overview it will certainly benefit your business. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated, less is always more and you may even be surprised at how affordable it is.

If you don’t have the capacity to create a short video, think about making a slideshow animation from images or using animated GIFS to help catch your audience’s eye.

Website Facelift

In a world of instant gratification and with many of us carrying a computer in our pockets it seems ludicrous if you do not have an online presence. A handful of pages is better than nothing. The absolute basics should be a clear message about who you are, what you can deliver and how to get in touch with you. This is often the first glimpse into your business so make the effort and make sure it gives a professional vibe.

With current online web design sites such as Squarespace or WordPress their really is no excuse. Even hiring a professional web designer is a reasonable cost for most busineses. Giving your site a facelift does not have to be expensive and often needs just a review of the text, images and search optimisation.

Don’t have a website? At the very least make sure you have an online presence using a Facebook Business page or Google My Business profile. How else will your customer’s find you?

Blogging

Informative and educational articles is where you will capture today’s audience. If we want to know something we ask Google.. delving into a world where at a click of a button we can find out how to fix our washing machine or learn how to perfect a certain recipe.

Whether it’s an informative article or a more informal account of what is happening in your business. The more information you share online through articles on your site, the more this will help capture your audience. By writing and sharing something of true value you are instinctively building trust with your customer by proving that you know what you are talking about. Sharing helpful tips and tricks will make you more memorable and possibly prompt a return visit or even a recommendation.

It will also help boost your website up the Google ranks as the search engine robots favour sites with quality and relavent content as it increases the amount of time that is spent on the site, reduces the bounce rate and increases the number of pages visited per session.

Don’t forget all of the content you are gathering could be translated into a video at a later date!

Case studies

You can huff and puff until the cows go home but nobody can sell your business more than your previous clients. When investing in a new venture or purchase the majority of people these days will search online and read the reviews to help them determine which company they would like to go with. If you are good at what you do, be open. Contact your previous customers and ask them if they would mind giving you a review or sharing some feedback. You never know you might find that you learn something from the feedback which could streamline your business further. Whether it is a short statement, written or filmed interview it will add an extra layer of authenticity whilst reminding them that you still exist and could even prompt further work.

It is important to be careful about what you invest in but don’t be afraid to invest in marketing ideas that are fun or novel as often that is the stuff that hooks in your audience. We are all bored and numb to so many of the mainstream marketing campaigns so think of how you can be different and about what your customers would find helpful.

 

Image credit: Adrenalin by Artem Bali from Pexels

Whitespark’s guide to optimising Google My Business

An informative look at tweaking and improving your Google My Businesses from Whitespark so you get the best chance in local search.

One area I think that’s important to me is to being found are reviews.

For local businesses, it’s no longer enough to rank. Your presence in the SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Position) has to stand out in order to attract new customers. Reviews play a critical part in a business’ ability to differentiate from the competition and can impact rankings.
…
The Impact of Reviews:

– Listings with reviews instantly stand out because they have the golden stars.

– Google showcases your reviews in the branded KP (Knowledge Panel) and also adds review highlights.

– Google also features a section of reviews around the web giving your total reviews and average rating, which means if you have reviews from other third party sites (or even on your website) then your KP will expand further.

– Reviews can bring in more business and provide valuable feedback.

 

However, I wasn’t aware of this new review condition from Google.

You cannot review gate – if you are using a review platform or any review software to encourage customer feedback, you have to provide all users the option to leave online reviews. No moving the negative/unhappy experiences to a different landing page.

 

I find a lot of the information from Whitespark valuable, I recommend you signup to their newsletter if you are interested in performing well in local search.

5 ways to be memorable

There are plenty of reasons why brands and businesses fail, don’t let a lack of differentiation be your failure. Make yourself memorable and you will stand out.

The last thing you want is to be forgotten as soon as you’ve met a potential client. You want to remain in their head for as long as possible so that if they ever need your service or product, you’ll be the first to mind.

Whether you’re simply networking or actively selling something, you want to know that you won’t be forgotten as soon as you walk away. So, how can you be memorable?

1.   Don’t try to be better, be different

There’s little point trying to be better. Everyone is trying to be better. Whether it’s being more efficient, more sophisticated or more professional, there will always be someone who does this better than you. It’s just too difficult to make an impact this way.

Instead, do what you can to stand out from the crowd – do things differently to what everyone else is doing.

How do you make car parts interesting and different? I hear you ask. Or personal finance? Just take a look at Brittney Castro, who raps about her niche – personal finance! If she can do something different with a subject as dry as personal finance, then you can certainly put an interesting spin on your photography, website development or kitchen design business.

Think Apple. They don’t do anything particularly better, but they do things differently. They don’t do what every other mobile device company does. They forge their own path, and people love them for it.

You may think it a bit risky to try to do things differently with your business. After all, you may put people off with an off-the-wall approach, right? But, in a world where an abundance of choice is available for everything we could possibly need or want, the only way to stand out is to do things differently.

2.   Don’t follow the herd

Closely related to ‘doing things differently’ rule is to show your individuality. We’re all unique. We have different lives, different backgrounds and different connections. So, when we create a business around our unique experiences, skills, and values, our brand or business should be unique too. Yet, there are so many doing the same things. They’re scared of showing their real selves.

Trying to hide the traits that make you unique will not make you memorable. Yet, we do it to blend in, much as we did at school, where to show our uniqueness meant certain harassment. But if we want to be memorable we can no longer think this way.

Richard Branson is one for showing his uniqueness. His many crazy publicity stunts, such as attempting to fly around the world in a hot air balloon or drive across the English Channel in an amphibious car wearing a tuxedo, as well as his non-conventional approach to business, has earned him the name of being one of the world’s best-known entrepreneurs.

We must strive to celebrate our uniqueness. Do crazy stunts, wear colourful stripy socks to work, grow a perfectly trimmed beard if that’s what you want to do. Wear flowery dresses rather than a neat boring suit. Share what makes you different, unique and human and you will be remembered.

3.   Show your passion

Show the love you have for your work. Positivity and passion speaks volumes and if you have a real, honest enthusiasm for your work, you will not easily be forgotten.

Showing passion is a huge advantage for a business competing in a crowded market. If you’re passionate about what you do, and you show confidence in how you express it – you’ll stand out.

4.   Be synonymous with a niche

I used to call myself a copywriter, which encompasses many different types of work. People would glaze over, either with boredom or with a lack of understanding of what a copywriter actually does. But for the last year I’ve been predominantly doing business blogging, which is what I love doing most of all. So, I now tell people this is what I do. It gets me a lot more attention because it’s so specific. It doesn’t mean I won’t do general copywriting but I specialise in blogging – and have lots of enthusiasm for it.

When you’re telling people what you do, be specific. Be synonymous with one thing in your field. Be a champion for a niche category in your industry. So instead of being a photographer, be a newborn baby photographer. What you call yourself defines how people will remember you. Don’t tell people you work in marketing, that’s a very broad subject. Tell them you are a branding expert. To stand out from all the other marketing people you have to define yourself by your area of expertise.  Put yourself in a different box to everyone else in your industry and you will be more memorable.

5.   Be a good listener

Your customers crave attention, we all do, and we all want to feel like we matter. By showing your interest in learning about them and their lives, hearing their aspirations and their ideas, you are telling them that they matter, and you will stand out from the crowd as someone who really listens.

People can smell a fake a mile off so if you’re pretending to listen, when in fact you’re just waiting for the next opportunity to speak, you are like the majority of people – and therefore will not be memorable. Show an interest in what others are saying and think about your response. People appreciate sincere conversation.

These days the key to getting attention in the business world is to be remembered.  You want to be the name at the front of people’s minds and on the tip of their tongues. So, distinguish yourself from the crowd, make a powerful impression and stick in the memories of people you meet. Present yourselves in such a way as to be unforgettable.

Image credit: Pixabay

Something Inventive 23: From Audio Books to Zero Reach

Al and Ben discuss the benefit of audio in learning, Some advice on GDPR, and my interview with Sophia who entered the Dragons Den.

If you have any feedback, ideas or topics you’d like covered on our podcast we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch via our contact page, leave a voicemail on 0800 881 5805 or mention @RatherInventive on Twitter.

Listen on Apple Podcasts app

Something Inventive is an entertaining and lively podcast on creativity and the web. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or search for ‘Something Inventive’ in your favourite podcast player.

Episode sponsored by Ticked Off Marketing Checklist

Simple marketing tasks to act on right away. Each task includes examples, downloads or the steps needed to complete it, plus a big button to tick it off when you’re done. Sign up for a free 7 day trial at ticked-off.com with just your email and no credit card.

Show notes

 

The Hosts

Al Osmond (@inventiveal) – An unusual mix of logical thinker with a creative eye
Ben Kinnaird (@benkinnaird) – Knower of Social media, SEO and ‘the Web’

Be part of the show

Tweet a service or product you’d like to promote, mentioning @RatherInventive and the hashtag #podvert and we’ll read it out over the coming episodes.

If you like the show please give us a rating in iTunes and we’ll read out your comment. You can do this from the podcast player on Apple.

Thanks for listening!

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Audio edited by Donalize – ‘Goofy Vocal Groove‘ intro music by Dave Girtsman – Image Credit: Listen by Jim Simonson

Educate to compete

Jon is a kitchen designer and he is struggling. There are so many other kitchen design businesses in his area that he is finding it difficult to compete.

There are few industries these days that aren’t saturated with new businesses. In 2017, there was a total of 5.7 million businesses in the UK. With so many businesses in operation, a good many of them are likely to be in your sector or industry. So, what can you do to get you noticed?

Unless you are a big fish in your ocean then you won’t have the means to advertise enough to be noticed among all the other businesses. Small firms like yours will not have the resources to out spend the bigger businesses in promoting itself. But, what you can do is out educate them by creating useful and practical content.

Why teach?

When readers learn something new, their brain recognises the content as rewarding and their dopamine levels increase. This makes them want to seek out more content in the future to repeat these feelings of pleasure, and if it’s your content they’re reading they’ll appreciate you for it. It also makes them want to share this valuable resource with others.

Teaching helps your customers

Jon is good at what he does, building quality kitchens, using only the best sustainable materials. He has noticed recently that some of the clients that come to him have little idea about where to start choosing their dream kitchen. He decides to offer them some tips and guidelines in the form of blogposts. He writes about where customers can find out about the different options available to them, he creates case studies of previous clients and how they created their dream kitchen, and he writes about the best materials to use as well as many other topics that he thinks his readers might want to learn about.

By educating his readers about kitchens, Jon benefits in two ways. Firstly people are interested in what he has to teach them so they keep coming back, and they share Jon’s website with all their friends. Secondly, customers have a better idea of what they want when they come to him because his blog posts have given them the guidance they need.

Teaching helps your business

By teaching others about your industry, you show yourself to be knowledgeable; an authority in your subject. Nothing brings more respect than being considered an expert. To teach what you know to your readers, and offer some practical utility puts you at the forefront of your industry and gives you a distinct advantage.

Tileflair are tiling experts – they know everything there is to know about tiles and tiling. Every month they publish blog posts about how to install tiles, how to use them in décor and they give ideas for interior styling using floor and wall tiles. People visit their website because they offer this service for free. This bring them respect in their industry and among their customers, but it also inspires their readers to buy tiles from them.

The more you become known as a business that teaches, the more people will see you as an expert, and a resource, the more opportunities you’ll get for exposure. It is this exposure that helps lift your head up above the crowds of other businesses identical to yours and will nurture those all-important relationships with your business community.

Teaching shows you as an expert

Readers want actionable advice. Once they know you can offer this, they will come to you to learn, and if you deliver again and again your business will benefit.  Some of those people may sign up for your service or email list because they want to repay you for the content that helped them, or they’ll want to share your practical advice with others. Either way, you win.

At Rather Inventive we are practicing what we preach. We’ve create many blog posts that inform and teach readers the vital parts of marketing. So, how can you educate your audience? How can you share your knowledge and experience so that they’ll want to visit you again?

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Image Credit: Cea+ Art Rotterdam

Elevenerife! Let your testimonials sweep your customers away

I am sure you have encountered them, people who brashly sell themselves and tell you how great they are… at everything! If you have been to Tenerife they have undoubtedly been yachting at Elevenerife!

It is incredible how some people still get swept away with this but if you look closely and listen carefully, it’s usually nothing more than overcooked fluff. Over time, their initial supporters learn the hard way and will eventually notice they are not quite what they have projected themselves to be.

For some people, it comes easily to shout about how awesome they are but if you are like me, then you might struggle with doing that convincingly. What if you could get someone else to promote you instead?

Reconnect with your customer

Gathering customer testimonials not only allows you to reconnect and stay fresh in your consumer’s mind but creates more credibility for you and your business. Being able to peruse other customer feedback and evaluate your company and product automatically increases the confidence of your audience and instils a stronger chance of investment when they do make contact with you.

The following testimonial was collected as part of our project feedback request with the client.

“I felt totally supported by RI throughout the [web] project and I thought we worked really well as a team to achieve the final result. The overall knowledge, skills and experience that RI has is impressive and I was delighted with the high level of customer service throughout the project from all members of the team.”
Abbots Hill School for Girls

Text is good but video is better

Text-based testimonials are good but in a generation who are skimming through the lines and reading less, you are more likely to get noticed with a video. Having real people in your testimonials and not airbrushed stock images is more likely to draw in and immerse your audience. By being able to see the person reviewing your service humanises your business and helps create that personal connection. By indirectly showing them how you can help their business, solve their problems and hear why other people thought you were the best choice will only strengthen your allure.

Testimonial video from Matt at Witley Jones

There is virtually no cost in posting a testimonial online, whether in text form on LinkedIn or on a video platform like YouTube. With the click of a button your videos can be easily shared and within seconds you can appeal to a multitude of your customer segments. Remember, what goes on the internet stays on the internet and your testimonial will be working around the clock reaching out across the continents to viewers from all walks of life.

Why not contact one of your customers to see if they would like to share their thoughts with you?

Find out how we can help you use video effectively in your business.

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Image Credit: Win by Lisa Risager

Do you have customers or an audience?

Coldplay doesn’t have to convince people to buy tickets to see them in concert, they do what they’re good at, giving people listening pleasure. And they let those people – their audience – voluntarily come to them.

You probably spend loads of your budget each month running ads and sending emails trying to reach people, to interrupt people as they’re watching TV, reading a magazine or travelling on the underground.

This type of advertising relies on clever wording and catchy images to capture attention, and those viewing the ads may or may not turn into a customer. But this type of marketing doesn’t offer customers any inherent reason to engage.

Forget customers, you need an audience

An audience will not need convincing with ads, they will come to you. They will return to you periodically to find out what you’re up to. They’ll want to hear your message – rather than try to avoid it bombarding their day – because they are getting something of value.

These are the people you should be striving to attract to your business, those who will give you their attention willingly. You don’t have to twist their arm with special offers and incentives, they’ll want to find out what you offer and will seek out that information.

So, how do you create an audience?

It could be through blog posts, podcast recordings, white papers, downloadable guides, infographics, free books, Youtube videos – anything that benefits others. This is how you build an audience, and this audience will happily give your permission to market to them, if they are getting valuable content out of it too.

To build an audience you don’t have to sell, you need to give them something they’ll appreciate, something they don’t want to live without. Whether it’s good music or valuable information. So, do what you need to do to get that information out there.

You’ll know if you have an audience, because you won’t need to try to get their attention – they’ll already be listening to what you have to say.

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Photo Credit: Party fans raised their hands, Anthony DELANOIX

Something Inventive 21: Getting more personal in 2018

Ben and Al discuss whether marketing has lost it’s personal touch, LinkedIn tips and Website design trends.

If you have any feedback, ideas or topics you’d like covered on our podcast we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch via our contact page, leave a voicemail on 0800 881 5805 or mention @RatherInventive on Twitter.

Listen on Apple Podcasts app

Something Inventive is an entertaining and lively podcast on creativity and the web. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or search for ‘Something Inventive’ in your favourite podcast player.

Episode sponsored by Ticked Off Marketing Checklist

Simple marketing tasks to act on right away. Each task includes examples, downloads or the steps needed to complete it, plus a big button to tick it off when you’re done. Sign up for a free 30 day trial at ticked-off.com with just your name and email and no credit card.

Show notes

The Hosts

Al Osmond (@inventiveal) – An unusual mix of logical thinker with a creative eye
Ben Kinnaird (@benkinnaird) – Knower of Social Media, SEO and ‘the Web’

Be part of the show

Tweet a service or product you’d like to promote, mentioning @RatherInventive and the hashtag #podvert and we’ll read it out over the coming episodes

Thanks for listening!

—
Audio edited by Donalize – ‘Goofy Vocal Groove‘ intro music by Dave Girtsman – Image Credit: My What A Big Nose You Have by Gavin Mawditt – Gift of the Gav

How to build business relationships using the Benjamin Franklin effect

When I left school, I worked as a shop assistant for a company that was struggling to stay afloat. The owner, an imposing but respected figure, whose mass of hair seemed incongruous to his immaculate suit, never stood still for long enough to talk to his staff and always seemed a little unapproachable. One day, to my surprise, he took me into his office and personally asked for my help in supporting him in the shop through a difficult time.

Before he asked me, I didn’t think much of him, but with this one small request, he turned me from an apathetic member of floor staff into a dedicated employee. I would have done anything to help him make a success of the store.

Many of us cringe at the idea of asking anyone for a favour, and most managers wouldn’t dream of asking staff, perhaps worrying that it will make them seem desperate. But why?

Is it because we worry that others will think us rude, presumptuous, needy or annoying if we ask for a favour? I didn’t think this of my boss – in fact I thought him humble, courageous and gracious and I liked and respected him so much more than I had before. This is known as the ‘Benjamin Franklin effect’.

Benjamin Franklin had a powerful adversary in Pennsylvania who took a dislike to him so Franklin asked the man if he could borrow a book from his library. The man was flattered and lent it. Franklin returned it one week later with a thank you note. The two remained firm friends from that day on. My manager knew how to build business relationships using the ‘Ben Franklin effect’; I liked him more because I was doing him a favour.

Psychologists tested the Ben Franklin effect in 1969. They figured that it works because of ‘cognitive dissonance’, where we find it difficult to reconcile doing someone a favour and disliking them, so we decide that we must like them. We feel more powerfully obligated to self-justify our behaviors, than to carry out a particular behaviour as a result of the thought.

But there’s more. It is thought that the desire to build bridges by the person asking for the favour, which we perceive to carry a high risk of rejection, means that the person asking must be very keen to be friends, that they respect or like us or are acknowledging our resources, skills or abilities.

This brings in another psychological phenomenon called the ‘liking’ effect. We all want to be liked. So much so, that we will go out of our way for someone who really likes us. Hence the reason car salesmen are super-friendly. They’re trying to show that they really like us so that we’ll buy a car from them. Franklin’s rival respected the risk that Franklin was taking by asking for the book, and took that as Franklin’s intention to build bridges, but he also, on some level, wanted to be liked, so he happily obliged in lending the book.

When Franklin asked his favour, he was also acknowledging that his rival had the resources that Franklin didn’t have. When my manager asked me, he was recognising that I had the skills to help him, he as putting me on an equal footing with him, which was very flattering and gave me a perceived sense of power.

How can you use this in your business?

If you’re a good businessman then you’ll already know that the success of your business comes from developing positive relationships with associates, employees, customers and investors; those who can help your business and buy your product or service.

Asking for help from these people has the effect of connecting with them and acknowledging that they have the means – whether it be the skills or the ability, or simply the like-ability – to help you. It will make them feel important to your business. It will make them feel empowered and they will be more loyal to you.

The important thing is, as Franklin writes in his autobiography, “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.” So, we are more likely to get people doing us favours, if they have already done so than someone who owes us a favour.

It might seem counterintuitive to ask for assistance or favours from your employees, clients and business associates but to do so, in a personal way, will make them feel empowered.

Start by personally asking small favours of staff and clients such as ‘Tell me what you think of this video/article/product.’ Or ‘Please leave a testimonial’. Do this and you will not only gain a loyal supporter of your business, but they will do you many more favours, thus doing more for building your business relationships than you thought possible.

 

 

Image Credit: Ben Franklin Steamboat Springs by David_Jones

Has Marketing Lost It’s Personal Touch? The Benefits of Video

A great video can help you capture your audience on a more sociable level and show off your company’s personality and product quality without drowning them in large chunks of text. As the saying goes, a picture can speak 1000 words so imagine how many you could say when it is moving. On the practical side of things, it can also help draw more traffic to your site via SEO and quickly showcase your services and products without having to write big blocks of text.

In a generation where we are all becoming more self-sufficient and can replace skilled professionals with apps and digital devices, video is not as out of reach as you might think. You would be amazed at what can be achieved with a DSLR or a mobile phone even.

I am sure many of you will agree that standing out in your marketing is getting harder, and it is important to ensure you stand out for the right reasons. Whether you attempt to film in-house or get a professional in, a video will certainly help you stand out but you need to ensure it has a clear story, is cleanly shot and the content is of interest.

I must admit, I am becoming numb to a lot of the clever marketing strategies as I find a lot of it has lost the personal touch. For me I much more inclined to invest in the people, the company ethos and quality over anything else.

Video can help you open this door, without the pressure of a dogged sales person breathing down your collar pushing for an impulsive decision or worst engaging in the uncomfortable standoff, of ‘I am not interested’. A video can provide that personal touch and allow the viewer to look behind the curtain and indirectly get the information they need to inform their decision. By being able to communicate through moving image, sound and movement you are able to resonate with an individual on multiple levels leaving a much longer, lasting impression. It can be replayed and digested at the customers own pace.

Like many of us, I am guilty of being attached to digital technology long into the evenings after working hours so your 2min video is not only giving your customers a low pressure, friendly insight into your business but it is also working around the clock capturing and luring in potential business. Reaching out to a wider audience worldwide and to places which you wouldn’t have expected to capture.

By allowing your customer to have a more voyeuristic experience and the time to contemplate their decisions often in the comfort of our own homes ensures a more committed customer.

There are loads of different styles of video used in marketing case studies, knowledge focus, testimonials, interviews, highlights etc so evaluate what would be appropriate to your business.

Let us know what video has worked for you?

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