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Small Business Marketing Secrets Newsletter

SEO TIP

If you're going to Search Engine Optimize a page, you should have anywhere from 150 to 350 words of solid copy on the page.

After you calculate the proper ratio of keywords to copy, use your writing skills to insert your keywords seamlessly throughout the text.

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Freeman Wehmhoff Gatlin PLLC

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WEB WRITING, COPY WRITING & SEO WRITING ARTICLES FROM
Small Business Marketing Secrets

“At least a fart will make you stand out in a crowd.”

Okay, the quote might be a bit crude but the idea is still important. So many business people I talk to are so worried about their image that they absolutely have wrung every last bit of personality out of all their marketing. And then they wonder why no one notices them.

Usually their answer is, “well, that kind of marketing doesn’t work for our business.”

And usually, they are wrong.

I won’t deny there are types of marketing that won’t work for certain industries. You can’t do B to B on MySpace.com. You can’t sell industrial products with sensationalism. And humor is a definite no-no when selling funeral services. (Although I’ve actually seen it tried.)

The greatest enemies in marketing are boredom and empty promises. If you bore people, they aren’t going to force themselves to read or listen to your marketing. They are going to tune you out or turn you off.

And if you make empty promises or meaningless guarantees (that are safe for your business because they guarantee you can't lose any money), well, you should know what that gets you. Nothing.

I’m also not a big fan of using humor in any kind of marketing. When it works, it works fabulously. Geico has been so successful with their “so easy a caveman could do it” commercials that they are exploring spinning off a TV show based on the commercials. However, I’m not sure how successful they’ve been in increasing actual sales.

Contact me for a quote on writing powerful website copy that turns visitors into buyers
Contact me for a quote on effective search engine optimization that puts you ahead of your competitors

And with humor, you run the risk of people “not getting it.” Or worse yet, insulting them. No, I’m not a big fan of using humor.

Not when there are so much better methods with little risk available to you. Such as honesty. Believe it or not, real down to earth honesty and openness can be a miraculous sales tool.

Americans generally believe most business people are crooked and will lie and cheat at the drop of a hat to get a sale. The Worldcom, Tyco and Enron debacles didn’t help our image any.

Therefore, an amazingly honest assessment of your product or service would get a lot of attention. Imagine you’re a printer and you ran an ad that said:

“If you’re looking for the cheapest printer in the Twin Cities, we’ll give you a list of them.”

And if you need the absolutely best quality printing available, we will give you a list of those printers too.

But if what you are really looking for is a good printer at a reasonable cost who will take care of everything for you so you don’t have to worry about it, then please give us a call at 612-XXX-XXXX.

We promise we’ll answer the phone. Because we’ve decided to set ourselves apart by giving “over-the-top” service. So if that’s what you need, contact us. And we’ll do whatever it takes to make your printing experience worry-free.

Of course, if you are going to say that, you have to make good on the offer. You must have two lists ready for anyone who calls or walks in your door and asks for them. That alone will stun people.

And you have to put policies in place that the customer is always right and whatever they want, they get.

Make certain all your employees know the policy and understand what it means. And empower them so they don’t have to run for permission every time they run into a new situation. And give them training in people skills.

Case in point:

My wife and I went to the new Lunds in Northeast Minneapolis the other day. We asked questions in the meat department and were greeted with friendly, courteous answers.

We were looking at the bread display in the bakery section. A young man opened the case with three French loaves in his arms and told us with a big smile, “these loaves are fresh out of the oven!” And sure enough, they were warm and crunchy, just like super fresh bread.

And we found a display with cardboard envelopes that you can put your carving knives in and they will sharpen up to three knives at a time for free. Amazing.

When we got home, my wife wanted to know if she had to take the knives to that particular Lunds. So she checked the Lunds website and they had a phone number for food questions from 9:00am to 9:00pm.

When she called, she said, “this isn’t a food question but do you know if I have to take my knives to the same Lunds to get them sharpened?”

And the friendly answer came back immediately, “not at all. You can take them to any Lunds or Byerlys.”

Obviously, Lunds has filled their stores, their company, their marketing materials, and their employees with a single, simple message. Non-stop friendly and helpful service. Now that’s marketing.

Great marketing requires a commitment to actually make good on the promises you make to potential customers. To look at every aspect of your business and make certain your marketing isn’t just ads and brochures. It must saturate the very bones of your business.

I used to work for a businessman who stopped every morning on his way in the door and pulled any weeds he saw in the grass in front of the business. He would insist on reading everything that went out the door and would dress-down any employee who tried to send out anything with a spelling mistake.

Fanatic? Maybe. But his insistence on high standards eventually seeped throughout the entire company and saturated everything that we did.

Commit totally to the promises in your marketing and watch the changes you see in your business, your employees, your customers and your sales.

You'll find plenty more articles on web writing, web marketing, search engine optimization and a host of other helpful business subjects in the Articles section of this site.

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