Have you ever noticed when you are writing content for a blog, social media post, email, book or another media that you either come across as super dull or you spew every thought that pops into your head and you give way too much information?

I am guilty of both. In my quest to be as honest as possible about the good AND the bad parts of owning and running my business sometimes my content can be dull, preachy, uninteresting and/or excessive. (hopefully not all at the same time)

How do you know what kind of content you should be sharing and what you should avoid? Take the time to define your marketing voice and refer to that definition whenever you are in doubt.

Many people try to emulate a conversational tone as much as possible. They use contractions, abbreviations and slang just as they would if they were speaking to you face-to-face. I simply can not do that. I revere the written word and the thought of not taking the time to write text out makes me feel like I am cheating you by not take a few extra seconds to spell words out. (Curse you, Twitter for every time your character limit has caused me to abbreviate a word!)

Might that come across as pretentious sometimes? Probably, but that is part of my voice definition because I am not willing to compromise that particular standard. If that causes some people to not be interested in me, it is okay with me because I need to stay true to my personality.

Write down some DOs and AVOIDs for your marketing voice. Remember - there are not any wrong answers when creating your voice. The only wrong way to create your voice is to ignore it when you have finished it.

Here are a few thoughts to consider when creating your voice:

• Will you comment on politics?
• Will you use profanity?
• What subjects are off limits?
• What emotion are you trying to emit to your followers?
• Are there specific words you want to avoid or replace with branded words?

Define your voice as much as you need to make it clear to you and whoever else may be writing your marketing materials. In a future post I will address injecting your personality into your writing.

Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne


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In my last post I discussed why you may not want to host your event for free and now I will give you some options to avoid offering your events for free.

The reason I jumped on the $10 class mentioned in the last post was that comparable classes were at least $50 so $10 was a smoking hot deal to me. And charging that very low fee ensured people would attend for the organizer.

Another strategy I have seen recently (but have not tried) is an upfront ticket charge that is refunded upon attendance. This is most useful for a workshop that leads into a more-expensive offer that converts well. For example, I have a Stress-free Social Media Management workshop in which I teach you how to create an easy-to-follow plan and which tools to use to save you time. Some people who take that class would rather pay me than do it themselves even after I show them how to simplify it. If I refunded ten $50 tickets and one person signed up for an $1800-per-year service I would still be ahead $1300.

Now you may think no one would pay for what you are offering and you may be right. Maybe you need to change the way you are presenting your offer. Suppose you are in direct sales and you are hosting a business opportunity meeting and looking to attract people to your house to convince them to start selling the products as part of your downline. Most people are not willing to pay for a sales pitch (or even come for free) so you need to repackage it.

Gather several people from other direct sales companies (even competing companies) and create a Home-based Business Workshop. Check with your library or other organizations from which you can reserve a large room for a low cost and charge for tickets. Each participating business will bring a table to display their offer, make a 15-minute presentation and be required to sell at least 20 tickets that are priced to cover the facility fee. It will have more perceived value because attendees have one-stop access to get information on many options and they had to pay to attend.

What if your event is focusing on your current customers, perhaps an educational meeting that may lead into an offer for a specific product or service? A hybrid offer may be a good choice. Set a ticket price for your event such as $25 and collect that fee from people who are not currently your customer. Email your current clients and let them know you would like to offer them a free ticket as a thank you if they would like to come. Be sure to let them know space is limited and ask them not to sign up if they are unable to attend.

A quick post script thanks to a great comment on my last post from Scott D Lewis: If you have decided free is the only way to go, create a fairly comprehensive questionnaire that helps you decide if the potential attendee is serious or a lookie-Lou. The mere act of answering 10-15 questions will discourage most people who are not really interested and the people who complete the questionnaire now have some skin (time) in the game and are more likely to show up.

Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne

Check out my upcoming workshops here!