When you think about working around the house, you think about hard tools – a hammer, screwdriver and everyone ought to own a cordless drill. When you own a business, you need to gather a completely different set of tools. What’s exciting about business today is how many tools are available online, and many are free.

Here at AHPConnect, we want to help everyone find the best tools available for any type of marketing, both online and offline. If you have a great tool or resource you’d like to recommend, just leave a comment here and one of our team members will review your input and the best will get added to our Marketing Resource Page.

Everyone is different.  Some people like to read, others would rather watch a movie and still others might enjoy good music while jogging or riding a bike. Customers are like this too. Some want to download and read a research paper, while others prefer video or they’ll scan a web page for the key points.

As business owners, each of us needs to learn what our customers prefer and we need to explore different ways we can provide this information to them. Here at the Association of Home Professionals we share tips on ways to communicate more effectively.

How Many Words to Tell Your Story?

We don’t expect every member to write a book but we do want to help you tell your story. There are lots of choices so keep exploring and you’re sure to find one or more that will work for you.

• Blog posts range from something as short as 1 to 2 sentences, to a few (3 to 5) paragraphs.
• Articles are longer (print shorter due to cost) and most often run from 400 to 1,000 words.
• Reports, i.e. the numerous “Free Reports” on the web, range from as few as 3 pages to more than 20 pages but look carefully at the width of their margins and line spacing.
• Books typically start at 20 pages for an eBook, while print books start at 150 pages.

Regardless of the length of your writing, there are numerous techniques to make your content more readable. In fact one of these tips prompted me to write this post. From www.pharmout.com, I learned that it is best “… to constrain line length in a report to 9-12 words (oops, not doing this here). This is the optimal length that the human eye can track, without wandering off. ” They recommend using wide margins and an 11 pt font size to achieve this objective for their scientific reports which can get lengthy. They also mentioned making the the inter-line space wider than normal to help the eye identify lines of text and read across them easily.

In addition to doing the work, our handyman explained why the damage to the deck occurred and what the necessary repairs were. He also explained how we could prevent the same problem from recurring. At the same time, our handyman pointed out other areas that need work and advised what he felt was the best solution for fixing them. (Learn more about link).

Satisfied Home Owner, Anywhere USA

Testimonials can tell people who you are, what you do,  how you helped them. If you ask your clients to share testimonials like this, covering all different aspects of your business, you would have some really good copy to use in your marketing materials.

Here are some of the messages that testimonials can communicate effectively:

• Testimonials can be full of keywords
• Testimonials describe what you do, i.e. home repairs
• Testimonials illustrate who you do work for, i.e. home owners
• Testimonials show the value, appreciation and impact for the customer, i.e. how to prevent the same problem from reccuring
• Testimonials can show how the results affect the customer, i.e. can now enjoy our deck
• Testimonials provide insight into how you work, i.e. explained things

You can enhance your testimonials by including one/more of the following:

• Share insight into the relationship with the customer
• Include a “learn more link” which could expand on the testimonial with a case study, more photos or a video or provide a more complete description of the product or services provided
• Include the name of the consumer or business for greater credibility
• Include an address which enhances local search results

When customers take the time to provide feedback, take the opportunity to share it with others by including these testimonials in your marketing materials:

• Web sites should have an area to hilight customer testimonials, and software that moves these quotes around the site is even better
• Offer customers the opportunity to leave feedback on your blog
• Customer testimonials are great in company brochures
• Case studies (written or before and after photo stories) and other forms of marketing collateral are great pieces for customer mailings, business presentations, etc.

Little Kids Ask Until They Get What They Want

Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, can I have an ice cream? Can I, Can I, Can I, Can I? Please, Please, Please, Please. I’ll be good for a whole year. I promise. Just give me a dollar. I won’t ask again for a long time. Pleaseeeeee!

Regular, repeated mailings are the way to create big predictable results. When you mail every 30 days for a year you will cause a dramatic growth in your business.

People respond to repetition. If you are a parent you know how hard it is to refuse repeated requests for an ice cream or a desperately wanted toy.

If you are not a parent, I’m sure you remember asking, even begging for a toy, a treat or permission to stay up past your bedtime, until your parents finally gave in. Your customers and prospective customers are similar. They need to be asked repeatedly too.

Who You Should Ask

You should be asking 3 groups of people to do one of 3 things:

1. The first group is your house customer list (your own list of existing customers). You should be asking your existing customers repeatedly to contact you about some offer you make to them for your products and services. A clear offer with an easy way to contact you should be made, like: We will give you 5000 full color postcards for $299, simply give us a call at 800-628-1804 to set up getting your postcards.Or some other offer you reasonably believe they will be interested in based on your personal knowledge of them and preferably based on their actual previous buying behavior.
2. The second group is your house prospect list (prospects you have caused to inquire about your products and/or services through your own marketing efforts). This group of people is interested in your service but hasn’t made the decision to go for it yet. They will be the most likely to respond to a special when you offer it to them.
3. The third group of people are people who can reasonably be expected to be interested in your products and/or services, but who have never purchased anything from you and have never inquired about your products and/or services either. The likely reason they haven’t contacted you is that they don’t know that you even exist. You remedy that by contacting them with a series of postcards offering free information about how they can benefit from your products and services. If this list of people is properly selected and if you make an offer that a reasonable person will find very, very difficult to refuse, then your response rate will be high.

That is the whole game in a nutshell. Create or get a list of people who have demonstrated they are interested in the type of product or service you offer. AND/OR Get a list of people extremely likely to be interested even if they haven’t already proved they are by buying from you or one of your competitors.

Once you have these lists of people contact them with postcards which offer them the benefits of your products and services and keep making them offers until they inquire and/or buy from you and then ask them to buy more on a regular basis.

If you do what you have just read about you will have more business than you can shake a stick at. You will have a smile on your face just like the little kid with a belly full of ice cream he/she convinced mom to buy.

What Really Makes Your Postcard Mailing Successful?

The biggest single factor in the success of your postcard mailings is who you send your postcards to. You need a list of people or businesses to send your postcard offer to. This can be a list of existing customers or prospects who have inquired as a result of any of your marketing efforts or a list which you purchase. The list must contain the names of people who are likely to be interested in the benefits of your products or services.

If you send a postcard offering a free 6 pack of beer with the purchase of 2 large pizzas to a list of purchasers of a “pay-per-view” boxing match (a list which you purchased from your local cable TV company), you are more likely to get a big response than if you sent the same offer to a list of the ladies auxiliary bridge club.

This concept is known as targeting. You either have a list (existing from your own records or the records of a person or business willing to cooperate with you by letting you use the list), buy a list (of people who are likely to be interested in your product or service because they have purchased a related product or service, such as a magazine subscription on a topic related to your product or service), or a list can be compiled using characteristics about your target market.

When you don’t pay enough attention to the list you select to mail to, you get a list which is poorly “targeted”. This means the people on it are not likely to be interested in your products and services.

• A “good list” is a list which is a good match for interest in your products and services.
• A “bad list” is a list which is a bad match for interest in your products and services.
• House List, Response List, Compiled List

The 3 basic kinds of lists that you can use in order of their effectiveness are:

1. Your own list of prospects and customers. This is a list that you collected with your own personal marketing efforts. This is known as a house list. These people are most likely to respond to your offers because they have responded in the past. You own this list.

2. A response list is a list of people that have actually done something. They have either purchased something from the people who put together the list that their name came from or inquired in response tosome offer. The last way they could have arrived on the list is to have asked to be on the list. Presumably if they are on a response list the people on the list have some level of interest in the topic or purpose of the list. This type of list is less effective than your house list is likely to be. They have not previously responded to you, but have responded to someone in a related area (if you have purchased a correctly targeted list). This is a list you can purchase from the owner of the list or a list broker.

3. A compiled list is a list of people who were selected to be on the list because they possess the characteristics that you asked the list broker to screen for. Examples of characteristics used to target correctly may include age, sex, geographic location, income level etc. The characteristics are more fixed characteristics than response list characteristics, which are behavioral characteristics. This type of list is likely to be the least effective of the 3 list types. This list you can purchase from a list broker.

TIP: PostcardMania SM is expert in helping you to determine which list you should use to maximize the response to your postcard mailings.

• What happened yesterday? Almost 10 emails bounced and several folks emailed saying they had to resend emails to me … scary when one is your bookkeeper.
• Talked to my bookkeeper today and learned she’s sent me a report several times over the last few weeks … and I still didn’t have the reports?
• After an extended conversation with Michael at HostMySite, about more technical solutions than I care to recall, here is what I learned and what I changed.

You might have MORE THAN ONE “Junk Email” folder

Where is Your Email?

• Given the huge & growing SPAM problems, your email host (delivers email to your computer) is likely filtering out quite a bit of SPAM … and holding it on their server, i.e. the missing junk email folder I never knew about until today.
• When I can’t find a “missing email” I have only been searching Outlook’s “junk email” folder and of course, I wasn’t finding most of the missing emails
• We turned off ALL filtering of SPAM at HostMySite, i.e. they were keeping all “SPAM-High” emails on their server. Everyone uses a different algorithm to try and determine probability of SPAM and just like SEO algorithms, they’ll keep changing.
• Here’s what I hope will now happen”
  • All emails will get forwarded to my laptop and Outlook and hopefully most of the extra mails will go to Outlook’s “junk email” folder, as follows:
    • Host-My-Site – will run algorithms and flag emails in subject line as HIGH (21/higher), MED (10-20), LOW (5-9) or not flagged as SPAM (1-4)
    • SPAM-High – previously never saw these, and I just go one from the president of Mr Handyman so I know I’ve been losing lots of important emails.
    • SPAM-Med and SPAM-Low will mostly be dumped into Outlook’s junk mail foder like they’ve always been

I think it’s working. I’ve already gotten one SPAM-HIGH email in my inbox, from the president of Mr Handyman! Now I know I’ve been loosing lots of important email, and you might be too!

PS I just reviewed the 15 missing emails from my bookkeeper (only save 30 days on the server, and she was on vacation for 10 of those days) hoping to find a clue as to why so many are being flagged SPAM-HIGH. Only 2 had attachments, and none appear to have many links. HostMySite said that Yahoo is somehow flagging the emails indicating that they didn’t originate from a trusted source, so my bookkeeper has to go back to her technical support.

Could you be writing your way out of business? It’s a possibility…if you lack the ability to communicate well in your written marketing materials, which include everything from your website and collateral to e-mail and other correspondence. Potential clients can be turned off by grammar and style mistakes, or they just may not get your message if it’s unclear or buried in an avalanche of words.

You may be someone who can sell ice to Eskimos, but more times than not, your prospects get their first impression of your organization through something written. If their initial reaction isn’t positive, it won’t matter how fantastic your product or service is, or how great your sales skills are; you aren’t likely to get the chance to show it.

Several years ago, I met an IT company owner whose website home page was inadvertently turning clients off. This guy’s technical skills were phenomenal, and his customer service was top-notch…but his writing skills left something to be desired. His entire website was riddled with errors, but the most glaring was in a large, bold letters on the first page visitors saw: “We’ll meat all your IT needs.”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a burger once in a while, but there’s no telling how many potential clients chose not to investigate this company’s services after seeing the word “meet” misspelled. The message sent goes deeper than merely, “oops, a typo,” It speaks to the company’s ability to be detail-oriented and to double-check its work, surely two qualities you want in an IT services provider.

I think you get the drift. I could provide many more examples of writing missteps unwittingly made by companies in their quest to attract clients. Instead, I’ll move on to offer some tips to ensure that the things you write attract rather than repel potential clients.

It’s About Them…Not You
“I” and “we” may be the most overused words in marketing material. That’s not good, since your audience’s priority will always be discovering what’s in it for them. You’ll see a subtle yet important difference when you write for your audience rather than to it.

• I provide superlative writing and editing services.
• Your written materials will be enhanced when you take advantage of my superlative writing and editing services.

The first bullet is all about me, while the second is focused on my potential clients. Which message do you think is more likely to bring me new business?

Less Is More
This is a message I communicate all the time. While you care deeply about your product or service, your audience is not as engaged…so the more succinct your written materials are, the better.

• Get quickly to the point.
• Use reader-friendly bullet points.
• Remove content that’s unnecessary based on an objective party’s opinion.

Potential clients are often looking for reasons not to spend money…so sometimes you shoot yourself in the foot if you offer too much for them to contemplate.

KIS
This is my acronym—Keep It Simple—because I don’t like “stupid,” which is part of the KISS Principle. Outside of academia, writing should not be used to showcase your vocabulary. Consider the following word sets:

• missive & letter
• preclude & prevent
• allay & alleviate
• superfluous & unnecessary

The words in each bullet mean the same thing…but the first ones are a bit less common, so they’re more likely to be misunderstood. Use simple language so you don’t “lose” anyone.

Hyphenate
The poor hyphen; so many of you don’t use it. Here are a few phrases that warrant hyphenation:

• first-class customer service
• next-generation product
• third-party relationship

See the trend? When a noun is modified by the previous two words, they should be hyphenated.

Let’s Hear It for the Comma
The poor comma seems to have become an afterthought, based on the work I’ve been seeing lately. I don’t understand why, because commas are excellent tools for guiding readers through text. (Take the comma out of the preceding sentence and read it aloud; it loses flow and emphasis.)

When should you use commas? A good rule of thumb is to include a comma where you would pause if you were speaking, but here are a few other tips:

• Separate items in a simple or complex series. You must consider grammar, messaging and format when you write. (Note no “second comma” is necessary.) Good writing will attract new clients, present your company in a positive light, and ensure you’re not inadvertently turning away potential business.
• Separate coordinate adjectives. I provide prompt, quality services. (If “and” can be inserted between the adjectives, and they can be switched without changing the sentence’s meaning, they’re coordinates.)
• After introductory phrases. To be successful in business, your marketing materials must be well written.

Looks Matter
While it’s true you can’t judge a book by its cover, an attractive cover is going to encourage more readers to open its pages. The same can be said for business writing; how your writing looks is going to have an effect on its readability, and thus, its power.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you write various types of business communications:

• Keep your paragraphs short. Long blocks of text are disconcerting. If you find yourself going on and on in the same paragraph, take at look at how you can break it into two.
• Use subheads. When you add bolded headings, it enhances the reading process by providing a content “road map.”
• Remember that space is your friend. Don’t feel the need to cram as much copy as you can onto a page, whether it’s to be printed or on a website. As any designer will tell you, white space is an element unto itself.
• Choose simple fonts. With all the choices available, it can be tempting to try out “funky” fonts once in a while. If you can’t contain yourself, limit your experimentation to personal correspondence. Leave it to a graphic designer to add creative elements to your written communication.

These suggestions apply to all business communications, even e-mail. You want to set a positive tone with readers, both with your words and the way they are presented.

Business writer/editor Adrienne Moch has nearly 30 years of experience in the communications arena. Since 2004, she’s helped clients put their best foot forward in all their written materials, using the skills she obtained as a newspaper reporter and editor, corporate communications specialist, and PR professional. Learn more and sign up for her quarterly online newsletter, The Write Stuff, at www.adriennemoch.com.

In her “spare time,” Adrienne serves as president of the San Diego chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). This dynamic organization offers networking, peer support, advocacy and more, specifically focused on women business owners. Learn more at www.nawbo-sd.org.

Business owners should consider their web developer a business partner. They know what is possible technically, and you as the business owner can stay focused on your target audience (customers and prospective customers), the value you have to offer them and your business objectives for creating the site. The tension between developer and business owner provides a great check and balance on what gets implemented.

Given the interaction between function and content, a solid project plan is critical to completing a web site on schedule and staying within budget. Kim Beasley, Pro Member Services, does an excellent job at laying out the project steps and hilighting all the decisions and content I need to provide at each step. Together, Kim and I are building the new web sites (one for home owners, one for home profesisonals) that will enable me to launch the new Association of Home Professionals. Kim’s expertise in membership web sites, Word Press anything and SEO are invaluable toools to help me achieve my business goals of connecting home owners and home professionals in possitive, win-win relationships.

Not to be forgotten, I have to also say thanks to Darren Rowse at ProBlogger. He is currently running a 31 day course, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. It was today’s lesson, Pay Special Attention to a Reader, that prompted me to recognize my web developer. My thanks to Darren!

gobbledygookgrader.com

You must be wondering what this is all about, but it’s VERY real. I’ve tried it out on a few of my blog posts and learned a few things. I’m writing at too high an education level, i.e. I’ve read that we should write our blog posts for either 6th or 8th grade reading level. It also suggests better placement of links within the article, although it is geared towards press releases.

… I omitted some of the report to save space here

Try one of your blog posts – click here to go to gobbledygookgrader!

Many bloggers work hard doing keyword research to identify the best words to use in our writing,  i.e. to get more search value for the time we’re investing.

How funny it seemed to read about those words we should NOT use. Why? These GobbledyGook words should not be used because … they’re overused and don’t communicate well. They are the subject of recent research by marketing guru David Meerman Scott (The New Rules of Marketing & PR) and he calls them meaningless phrases.

How did David come up with these phrases? He analyzed 711,123 press releases?Now that is dedication! You can read more about the research and what David learned at Dow Jones Insight.