Four Steps to an Awesome Marketing Campaign by Saunders and Lee

FOUR STEPS TO AN AWESOME MARKETING CAMPAIGN Buzz Piece

Marketing your business requires more than bragging or shouting loudly.

Blogging

It’s about being credible and proving your expertise, and about engaging with people who will hopefully want to do business with you.

Newsletters CRM

It takes patience and perseverance, but follow these four simple steps and you’ll do more for your business. You’ll turn your marketing headache into an awesome marketing campaign that will actively engage with people and form those all important relationships.

Nikki Saunders & Louise Lee Builders of Awesome Businesses info@saundersandlee.com tel: 01223 803 666 / 020 3326 7314 © www.saundersandlee.com

Step 1:

Buzz Piece

Create a Buzz Piece – it sure is handy! Creating a buzz piece makes every aspect of your marketing easier and far more effective. It acts like a high powered magnet, drawing new clients to your business because you’re no longer using a sales pitch approach.  Cold calls become less chilly, and you’ll get more yeses when you offer them a complimentary copy of your buzz piece.  When you offer someone your buzz piece at a networking event, you’ll make far more of an impact, and develop better opportunities than by handing out your business card alone.  To win more project proposals send a copy of your buzz piece with your quotation – it will add credibility and distinguish you from others.  Having a downloadable version on your website shows visitors that you’re an expert in what you do. It’s an example of your work, full of useful information to engage your readers. Once you’ve written your buzz piece you can set it to work. Not the easy peasy work, but the hard work of helping you win new clients and getting them to engage with your business. A buzz piece sure is handy!

What’s the right topic for my Buzz Piece? A compelling buzz piece is simply an information piece which can be written in a variety of formats that best suit your business, for example: How to guide / List of tips / Explanations of a best practice / Overview of survey results / Checklist / Special report You’ve probably seen them on the internet, and it’s likely that you’ve downloaded some because the subject matter was relevant and of interest to you:

Often a compelling title will have helped you decide. It’s the headline, and it must gain peoples’ attention. It doesn’t have to be particularly clever or witty – it can be straightforward and still be appealing. Titles that begin with “How to…” or contain a number are often winners.

What should I put in my buzz piece? Your buzz piece shouldn’t be a sales pitch—it’s a gift to people who can influence the success of your business so it needs to contain high value information that readers will take action on. Don’t be worried about giving away your secrets – people will come to you because you are the expert in the field.

And then what? You’ve whetted the reader’s appetite so don’t forget to include your bio at the end. This is your chance to tell the reader about you and your company and the services you provide. You can invite them to call you, visit your website, ask for samples, etc. You’ve given them some valuable information so you’ve earned the right to do a bit of a sales pitch! So, when someone visits your website, and your business is relevant and interesting, they’ll take the first step of engaging with you by downloading your buzz piece. So how do you continue to keep their interest?

Step 2:

Blogging

Write a Blog Your blog is the perfect way to keep up momentum with prospects and continue the excellent work of your buzz piece. Your blog is the visible heartbeat of your business, so you want it to keep beating! Whether it’s you or someone else who’s doing the blogging, it’s a good idea to create a clearly defined strategy on content, tone and frequency. This ensures your blog has structure and, more importantly, purpose. It may be entertaining to read a chit chatty rambling blog, but your readers won’t be impressed by that. They’re interested in your expertise; it’s what they want to hear about so give it to them.

Become Blogtastic Whether you’re new to blogging or an old hand, it’s important to create a blogging calendar so you can decide how frequently you’ll be blogging and about what. Blogging is much easier when your content is planned out. Knowing what you’re going to write and when you’re going to publish it helps you stay on track. It sounds simple enough – perhaps so simple you may think you don’t need one. However an editorial calendar has a large impact on your organisation and productivity.

FREE

*** Request your editorial calendar template from us today ***

See page 10 for further details.

Be prepared This may sound snoringly dull but winging it is not the best option. If you’re up against client deadlines, your blog post will get pushed to the side in favour of paying work. Writing a well constructed, interesting post is more time-consuming than you may think, so it’s good to plan, and write, in advance. And having a vault of posts is invaluable. Keeping up your marketing momentum is what keeps your business going so make the time to plan and write!

What should I write? One off posts are great, but a series of blogs are far better because they bring readers back. You don’t have to appeal to everyone, just your target audience. Think about the “ah ha!” moments you give your clients – these are the topics that are likely to be of interest to your target audience.

And then what? The aim of your blog is to get prospects to commit a small amount of information (name and email) and sign up to your newsletter. Providing this information shows that they trust you and what you say and it’s the next step in building a relationship with them.

Step 3:

Newsletters

Well done you! You’ve got a prospect to sign up to your newsletter! This means you can now send them your beautifully designed newsletter, and you can also discover what interests them (assuming they’re a social animal) by connecting with them on your super whizzy CRM system – read more about this on page 8.

Still dull, but still important Before you rush into writing a newsletter, it’s a good idea to include it in your editorial calendar. You can then think about how often you’re going to be able to publish it, and how many articles you’re going to need each time you do. And don’t forget to create a clearly defined strategy on content, tone and frequency so that anyone else can pick up the reins.

Bring out the editor in you As you think about what’s going to go in it start sketching out a design. For example having a side bar allows you to include a short overview of an item or items, with links to your website or to a downloadable PDF. Start looking at the newsletters you receive and think about why you do or don’t like their layout. Do you want to include pictures? If so remember to factor in time to find the perfect image. You don’t want to be remembered for your cheesy stock business images unless you’re a photographer whose business it is to shoot cheesy stock business images! While you’re thinking about your content, remember why your subscribers have subscribed. It’s because you impressed them with your buzz piece and your blog so your newsletter should have the same look and feel and continue to deliver the information they want to hear about. Your newsletters can include more in-depth information than your blog provides (you don’t want to give everything away on your blog). Up to date research and reviews of products/best practices/how-to’s; all the stuff that shows you’re up to date, on the ball and current. Profiling staff members is a great way to involve readers, and they can start to get to know who makes your business what it is. While you’re thinking about your content, think big and bold and don’t worry too much about what everyone else is writing about. The internet can feel like a very noisy place, but you’re still unique and clearly have something to say that people want to hear – they’ve subscribed after all! © www.saundersandlee.com

Here is the news... Now that you’ve decided on the content for your newsletter you need to choose a delivery method. We love MailChimp; it’s a great piece of kit which is easy to use as a newbie, but also has the all singing functionality that a pro marketer would need. It also links with a variety of innovative CRMs so that your lists can be automatically synced from CRM to MailChimp. Sending email campaigns (newsletters) can be a bit of a minefield (spam laws and the like) but don’t be put off because MailChimp’s help guides will get you started in no time. To give yourself a fighting chance of sending out your campaign on time, it’s a good idea to take your sketched design and turn it into a Campaign Template. This will save you an astonishing amount of time each time you publish and will mean you don’t have to keep re-inventing the wheel. Deviate from the template path and your fonts will go funky, your links will uncouple and before you know it you’ll have a multi-lane pile up on your hands. As with many things, creating the infrastructure is key.

www.mailchimp.com

Step 4:

CRM

What is CRM? Most businesses spend their time striving to be more efficient which is why it’s worth spending time thinking about everything you do and how it can be joined up. Take your customer database for example. You know you should have one, but you rarely look at it. And it’s only ever up to date once a year when guilt gets the better of you and you spend a week updating everyone’s records. CRMs don’t need to be this painful. There are now so many super Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems which link to pretty much anything. For example, Nimble CRM will import your contacts from your email, LinkedIn, Twitter, Outlook… ad infinitum. All you then need to do is go through your imported contacts and confirm the links to the social networks that Nimble has identified them to be part of. And this is where it gets clever… You can begin to see what all those prospects who signed up to receive your newsletter are talking about. You can set Nimble to track a host of key words and, when your contacts include these in their social comments, you’ll receive a notification that means you can begin to join in conversations with them. You can offer them information based on what they really, really want. When it comes to business, Nimble makes social media relevant. When you go through your contacts and link them to their social media (if Nimble hasn’t done it automatically) you must also add tags. The purpose of tags is so that you can segment people into groups and send them appropriate information. When creating your tags, it is best to break them down into their component parts. To use the pie example: Some of your contacts like Fish Pie and some like Fish Stew. If you were to use these tags you will only be able to search for people who like Fish Pie or Fish Stew. However, if you break down each of these tags into two you will have the following: Louise Lee: Tag 1 – Fish. Tag 2 – Pie Nikki Saunders: Tag 1 – Fish. Tag 2 – Stew Now you can search for everyone who likes Pies and Stews, regardless of whether they have fish in! © www.saundersandlee.com

So, stage 1 with Nimble is going through all of your contacts, linking them to their social media and adding any other information you know about them and want to record. The second stage is to add appropriate tags.

And then what? Then you become sociable. You find out what your new subscribers are doing, what they’re talking about, whether there is any way you can add value to their lives by joining in the social chatter. This isn’t about cosying up and sharing kitten photographs – we’re assuming they’re professionals who are using social media in a professional capacity. Who are they connected with? Are their connections part of your target audience? A powerful CRM will be able to do all this and a huge amount more.

The Four Simple Steps to building your Awesome Marketing Campaign

Buzz Piece Blogging Newsletter

CRM

Marketing your company doesn’t have to be a headache, or be about bragging and shouting.

Using these four simple steps, you’ll do for your business and develop an awesome marketing campaign. Not only will you prove that you’re credible and that you’re an expert in your field, most importantly you will actively engage with the right people and form those all important relationships. © www.saundersandlee.com

Who we are and what we do When you work with us you’ve got a team that loves building awesome businesses. We thoroughly enjoy working with micro businesses who want more from their business but are unsure how to achieve it. Perhaps you want help with your newsletter marketing campaigns – we’ll design and set up your campaign templates, auto responders, contact lists … and on it goes. We’ll also create an achievable publication calendar that you’ll have no problem sticking to. Or perhaps you’re seeking help crafting and designing your buzz piece, special reports, case studies, etc and setting them up as beautiful documents or online publications. We’ll be happy to discuss ideas and get a prompt quotation to you on a project. Quite simply our passion is working with any micro business so that they become efficient, effective and awesome. Examples include bespoke rug design and manufacturing, private practice psychologists, market researchers, insight and marketing professionals and HR consultants.

Our offer to you Remember on page 4 when we said about creating a calendar so you can schedule and plan your blogging and newsletter writing? Well, to save you time we’ve created an Editorial Calendar for you. It’s an extremely effective tool that we hope will inspire you to structure and schedule your awesome editorial campaigns. *** Just give us a call or send us an email and we’ll forward it on to you *** Nikki Saunders & Louise Lee Builders of Awesome Businesses tel: 01223 803 666 | 020 3326 7314 email: info@saundersandlee.com web: saundersandlee.com

Nikki Saunders Client Services Director nikki@saundersandlee.com tel: 020 3326 7314 For 20 years I worked on multi-agency projects involving the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Armed Forces, Central Government and Law Enforcement at senior level. Working to military timings with highly sensitive information revealed my talent for listening to a client’s requirements and interpreting these into tactical actions to deliver detailed projects with exceptional accuracy. My background and passion is all about building strong relationships with people, whatever their area of expertise, and this led me to achieve an Advanced Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling. Since then I've realised that being a builder of awesome businesses isn’t just about having a firm knowledge of technology, systems and processes. It’s also about having an in-depth knowledge of people, and understanding how changes will impact and affect them. © www.saundersandlee.com

Louise Lee Client Services Director louise@saundersandlee.com tel: 01223 803 666 Since 1991 I’ve been exclusively helping businesses and individuals improve the way they do things. This passion began in 1991 at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office where I discovered that no one should be indispensable and I realised that for a business to thrive it needs slick, simple processes that are understood by everyone. Over the years I found a talent for finding solutions to business problems while keeping many plates spinning. My experience comes from working with board level directors in diverse industries including graphic design, global leadership training and central government. This experience means I provide results driven solutions to micro businesses – whatever their area of expertise. I have a passion for researching cloud based systems and apps that offer more efficient ways of getting things done. 11

Summary Buzz Piece Once you’ve written your Buzz Piece you can set it to work. Not the easy peasy work, but the hard work of helping you win new clients and getting them to engage with your business. So, when someone visits your website and your business is relevant and interesting, they’ll take the first step of engaging with you by downloading your buzz piece. But how do you continue to keep their interest?

Blogging Keeping up your marketing momentum is what keeps your business going so make the time to plan and write your blog on a regular basis. Ideally your blog should be linked directly to your website. And don’t forget that all important editorial calendar—it will keep you focused and your creative juices flowing!

Newsletters Newsletters rarely write themselves and usually require a reasonable amount of research to ensure you’re hitting the mark. They always seem like a fun thing to do when things are quiet but they really should be taken seriously and done regularly if you’re going to stay ahead of the game.

CRM With CRM you can become sociable. You find out what your new subscribers are doing, what they’re talking about, whether there is any way you can add value to their lives by joining in the social chatter. This isn’t about cosying up and sharing kitten photographs – we’re assuming they’re professionals who are using social media in a professional capacity. Who are they connected with? And are their connections part of your target audience? © www.saundersandlee.com