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8 Ways To Make Your Clients Love You

August 1, 2016 by Elizabeth Leave a Comment

8 Ways To Make Your Clients Love You

.make clients love youWouldn’t you just swell up in pride when a client delights in you and says, “We appreciate You” or “Good to have you onboard!” These are not polite diplomacy remarks. These are real comments, given by some genuine clients, for being awesome.

Now look at these compliments – How would you feel if you get one of these – ?

  • Because you are a star!!! Thanks for your work on this. 🙂
  • Look forward to some more excellent work from you 🙂
  • You were a soldier in this.

These are just some of the compliments from my clients. Don’t assume it may take a long time for you to make your clients love you. For me, I have delighted clients from the first project on! I have been freelancing only about a year and in this (very) short span of time, I have managed to create a great rapport with all my clients.

Follow these simple tips if you want to get more and better freelance jobs.

Tip #1. Be Passionate

About your work.

Maybe you got into the freelance business out of necessity. I know I did. I wanted to be a full-time parent and it was only after I started writing, I discovered my passion for it.

Pro Tip: Work with all your heart and all your mind, and it will show in your work. 

If you have any kind of mind block for your assignment, your client, or maybe you are simply bored — as a ripple effect, all of these aspects will trickle down to your work and that is never a good thing.

Your clients want to work with people who are like them. And if they are passionate about their business, and you are not – it simply would not work.

If you are compelled to freelance but are not “feeling” anything for it, try to be grateful for the many benefits freelancing offers – the flexibility and the freedom is great compared to the million others who have to work inside tiny cubicles, all day, all week.

Tip #2. Treasure Your Clients

So maybe you are passionate about your work and you have great clients to work with. It’s when you start taking them for granted, things start to fall apart. You start missing deadlines or you fail to update them about your impromptu mid-week break. These are simple things that can spell DOOM for your freelance writing career. Don’t do these things to lose your client.

When you treasure your clients, you care about their business. You care how much your work will affect their business. You wouldn’t be in it for the money. That will show your clients what a treasure you are to keep! 

Pro Tip: Never Take your Clients For Granted

don't take clients for granted

Tip #3. Be Accountable

When you accept to work on a certain project or assignment, make sure you are 100% committed. If, for any reason, you cannot deliver your best or deliver anything at all – you need to keep your clients in the loop about it. If you work on hourly basis, don’t cheat on your productivity. If you say yes to a client, then be sure to deliver and do it quick.

Pro Tip: Be honest about what you can and cannot do. 

Tip #4. Be Quick to Deliver

For clients, time is money. The faster you deliver, the sooner it will help your clients. When your clients give you a deadline and you deliver before time, you earn a ton of brownie points! You get more work because the client appreciates your delivery timelines. When you work with this attitude, your productivity hits the fan and you get more and better freelance jobs.

Pro Tip: Deliver before the deadline. 

Tip #5. Deliver the Best

Exercise caution when you want to be quick to deliver. Do it only when you really can. Of course, doing it regularly has its perks, but delivering half-baked assignments will probably get you fired. Quick or not, persuade your soul to deliver only the best work, each time, every time.  

Tip #6. Be Dependable

When you only deliver the best each time, and within stipulated timelines, your clients learn to depend on you. Say Yes every time they come to you with an assignment. Even if it means for you to burn the midnight oil, burn it! …and deliver so they keep coming back for you.

Pro Tip: Work extra hours, only if you can. 

be a proactive freelancer!

Tip #7. Be Proactive

When you have completed a deliverable, be sure to be enthusiastic and ask your client if they have more work to give you. You don’t have to wait around for your client, you can take the first step. This will show your client that you are proactive and ready for more work.

Pro Tip: Ask for more work. 

Tip #8. Build Relationship

Care to know their birthdays, their children’s birthdays, anniversaries. Be tuned to what your client is feeling. Share some of your personal stories. When there is a real and a genuine connection, your client will never forget you. You will be the first person they think of when things need to get done.

Pro Tip: Get on a video call at least once a month.

Do you have some sure fire ways to make clients love you? Share how you do it in the comments below.


Writer Elizabeth AlexElizabeth Alex is a freelance content writer for hire. Follow her on her website, Honestliz.com, Facebook and Twitter.


 

 

Filed Under: Freelancing, Inspiration Tagged With: connection, copywriting tips, customer service, freelance writing from home, leadership qualities of freelancers, marketing tips, work from home

Ten Mistakes Freelancers Make When Starting A Business Doing What They Love

June 6, 2016 by jennifer mcgahan 2 Comments

Ten Mistakes Freelancers Make When Starting A Business Doing What They Love

business doing what you love

Freelancers who start businesses doing what they love are some of the most heart-centered entrepreneurs on the planet.

Not only do they truly love and benefit from practicing their craft or delivering their gifts, others feel it and want to be around that energy. Customers are naturally attracted, like moths to a flame.

But heart-centered entrepreneurs can be a bit starry-eyed about their core business at their own expense.

They get swept up in perfecting their thing, and set themselves up for some unique pitfalls. Because they love their craft so much, they forget the business.  Their more dispassionate colleagues avoid these things.

I’m not telling you to suppress your emotions or enthusiasm. If you’re fired up about building your dream by going into business with a hobby or interest, go for it! The world needs more passionate people like you. But take it from someone who has made every one of the following mistakes, it’s so worth checking these boxes. You’ll feel better about your work, and be able to serve customers better, too.

1. Forgetting the legal stuff.

Helping people accomplish their dreams through your gifts is a heady feeling — almost like being in love. But don’t forget contracts and milestones. Once, I lost a month’s work by digging into a project a little too much enthusiasm, but no real commitment from the client. You can imagine the result. No payment from the client, and my copywriter/marketer’s broken heart. (I had invested more than time and energy than my client. I invested my heart and mind.) I put everything in to a job that really had no future because the client was not invested… and I never got paid.  Now, contracts make me feel more comfortable and excited to move ahead.

2. Falling behind on your books.

Book keeping is right up there with the legal concerns. I used to avoid book keeping whenever possible. But it’s just not possible to ignore it forever. The longer you let things slide, the more work it takes to get your books in ship shape again. If you’re like me and would rather poke a dull ice pick into your eye than file things and keep records, then get someone very competent to do this for you.

The trick is being patient and diligent as you set up your books. You have to participate in the process up front if you want it done right — and if you want your book keeper to be able to work without you in the future. It’s worth the time and the bloodshed involved when, for example, you have to re-file your taxes because the records sent to your accountant turned out to be wrong, as I experienced not too long ago. “Trust but verify” comes to mind here. Take it from me. Make a date with your money and stick to it.

3. Underestimating the importance of being profitable.

If it’s a hobby you love, perhaps you’ve been doing it on your own free time; or in service to an organization or client; or on a volunteer basis. (As an example, I started writing copy for charities and schools.)

You finally decide to hang out your shingle, and serve your clients. Now make sure that you are charging more than you make. Otherwise you will not be in business for long.

If you’re like many heart-centered entrepreneurs, you’re tempted to give away or barter your gifts. Don’t do it. Every time you give it away, you devalue your gift and make it more difficult to internalize and own the energy of prosperity that is rightfully yours. Just because you love it doesn’t mean you can’t charge what you’re worth.

Remember, you’re in business to make money.

Mistakes freelancers make4. Not getting the help you need.

I know very few floral designers who love HTML, nor fitness trainers who love creating e-newsletters. At first, you may have to create some marketing or IT pieces going on your own, but as soon as possible you must get assistance with the tasks you hate the most.

Three reasons for this:

  • Bad energy: Doing crap you dislike drains you and prevents you from wanting to keep at your business.
  • Time suck: Handing over work that others can do better frees you to leverage your real talents and save precious time.
  • Blocked resources: Someone out there can do it way better than you. I had to admit I’m not great at graphic design, even though I know good design when I see it. It was worth every penny to let an expert take over my latest website and logo redesign.

5. Lack of self discipline.

Yoo hoo, all you work-from-home entrepreneurs… The endless distractions can easily derail your intentions. A key ingredient of a great entrepreneur is someone who can focus on what needs to be done first to move them forward the farthest.

Whether that means focusing on time management, or discerning next best steps, strengthening this muscle will set you apart from every other wannabe business owner. If you don’t get a handle on setting goals and taking steps to achieve them, you will be like most of the small businesses that fail in the first five years.

You will make no progress and you will give up.

There have been months in that past when I put a hundred other things before my copywriting business…my family, my workouts, shopping, housecleaning, cooking… I’ve begun to integrate the important stuff (family and workouts) and just do the rest of it when my energy is not at its highest level.

Now, for example, even though the HEB market is least busy during weekday mornings, I use this precious time to write, not to get groceries. Mornings are power hours for writing and exercising — the most important activities of my day, and the ones that propel my business forward.

As soon as I understood that in my bones, and made a pact with myself to keep that time sacred, my business started to move ahead.  I can always shop, and battle the crowds later!

6. Isolation.

If what you love doing most is a social thing, or if you work with people directly, then you’re probably doing OK here. For businesses like writing, graphic design, jewelry creating, or app design; working in solitude (though often necessary) can deplete our best resources.

People are what make your business profitable. Bottom line. They are your customers and colleagues and they shoot your business ahead the more you get your work and gifts “out there.”

My business mentor Lisa Sasevich frequently says “Showing up matters.” Since working with her, I’ve learned to make myself presentable and to take my place at the table.

Community is the key to happiness and success.

Another great friend, Amy Cole, the LinkedIn expert in my circle, suggested I join BNI and show up weekly. Since doing that, I’ve become more clear about how to serve other small businesses and make my network more profitable.

Flying solo from behind your computer, or in your own private workshop is necessary for many heart-centered entrepreneurs. However, a thriving business requires that you make time to get out of your comfort zone and mingle with people. That’s what it means to work “ON” your business rather than “IN” your business. You must practice networking at least 10% of your time in order to grow.

freelancers can't do it alone for long7. The love for your craft dies and you feel like quitting.

Agh, this one hurts. It happens, though, so you’re smart to be on the lookout for it.

Here’s your first clue. Your heart starts looking around for something new to love. What previously gave you joy has now become “work” and so you start slacking off looking for a new fulfilling activity.

This happens a lot with creative types. I should know. I used to love the fiber arts until I realized I didn’t know how to make things out of fabric, build a business around it, and still love it. Making a doll, a purse, or a fiber journal stopped being fun because it stopped being my hobby. Uh oh.

Lesson learned. I still play with fiber and fabric, but I do it because I need the downtime and the open creativity. Same with my art journals. I love creating art, but I found I did not love the business of creating art. Huge difference!

It helps to rub shoulders with people who are doing what you love to do, in order to keep your audience engaged and interested.

8. Lack of marketing strategy.

Now, this may sound harsh, but I love you, so I’m gonna say it. I’m the first to stand up for the tiniest of micro-niches out there. If you love making dollhouses out of playing cards, then I truly believe you can build a business out of it, and even gain a decent following. But it’s going to take some time and some effort in marketing your dream.

Here’s where your passion serves you. You love it, so your enthusiasm and your personality will be the center you work from.

It may take a little while, but steady efforts to grow your community will eventually pay off — if you spend time marketing yourself and your product.

Another requirement is market research, even for a small business. Sometimes I meet entrepreneurs who have a great idea, but they don’t know who their market is, or what drives them. Invest the time to understand your ideal customer. If you make water bottles, understand if your customer is drinking water from it on the subway, or on a hike in the mountains. Know why they want to own a special water bottle (e.e. is it the design, or the function?) and what they see is the primary benefit.

Test things. As you build the business you love from the hobby or product you love, get it out there  in front of potential customers before you invest a lot of money in advertising or production. Daymond John from Shark Tank says if you can sell 50 items from the back of your van in the parking lot of a mall in two hours, then call him. He wants to talk to you!

9. Endless tinkering.

Here’s when you know you have a problem. Your numbers and goals are less important than the enjoyment of the work. If you are lucky enough to build up a business from that thing you absolutely love doing, AND your market sustains a regular income, you may be very happy to simply coast along with no growth, testing new things and expecting a loyal customer base to keep things going. But, if you are struggling so much that you’re thinking of moonlighting as a barista at the coffee bar to fund your business, you may have to rethink your business.

I know you love it. That’s great. But there is a little mindset shift that has to take place when you go into business. You can’t love it so much that you tinker, or tweak every little thing. You can’t expect customers to tolerate the intricacies you adore about your art, craft, service, or hobby. Sure, set aside time to experiment with new techniques, but at some point you have to go fast and far with what you know and what you’ve already mastered.

The key is to pick one thing that’s working and keep drilling down into those results. Practice getting better at conversion in those channels.

Document what you know and set goals for growth. Dig in to the business and every now and then stand apart from your “love” and observe it with a critical eye. Tell yourself it’s nothing personal. It’s only business.

even happiness is scalable
heap of yellow balls with smiley faces

10. Neglecting scalability.

This goes hand-in-hand with that common demon heart-centered entrepreneurs battle often…they say YES to everything. They take every one-off job (who would refuse new business?) and try to make each and every customer happy by catering to individual requests.

Sadly, it’s a no-win situation. Repeatability and systems will set you free to love not only your passionate hobby, but also to love the business you are trying to build.

You can still swoon over traditional Bohemian cooking, coffee roasting, or blending things in a Blendtec. You can start a business doing anything your heart desires these days, so follow your heart…and take account of these ten mistakes.

Open 10 doors and build a heart centered freelance business from Jen McGahan

Is there a pitfall you’ve experienced that I didn’t mention? Please share. Comments always welcome.

Need help making sure you’re targeting the right new customers for your business? I help freelancing business owners just like you. Set up a time to chat. 

Filed Under: Freelancing, Home Business Tagged With: entrepreneurs, heart-centered entrepreneurs, LinkedIn, loving what you do, marketing tips, networks, profitability in small business, scalability in small business, starting a business you love

Three Ways A Customer Struggles, And One Way To Always Relieve It

November 19, 2014 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

Three Ways A Customer Struggles, And One Way To Always Relieve It

three ways a customer strugglesOn a very rainy night in Austin, and at the last minute, I was invited to attend a parenting event, hosted by an education consultant I knew. The topic was helping parents devise healthy ways to communicate with their teenagers.

In spite of the weather and the inconvenience, of course I went. Lord knows I have plenty to learn. Why the room wasn’t standing room only is beyond me. The ingenious tactic for making logical conversation with teenaged children was worth the dangerous drive over hill and dale.

[Hint: It’s in the book Parenting Teens with Love and Logic, by Jim Fay and Foster Cline. It’s changing my life.]

Although it was a small group of six parents, we each had our own reasons for being there. Without inviting each complicated story into her presentation, our group facilitator summed up a common problem in a way we could all agree on.

  1. Everyone struggles.
  2. There are three categories all struggles fall into.
  3. It’s good to allow others to struggle appropriately.
  4. There are ways we can help.

Now, the first and the third statements are easy enough to intuit.

“Everyone struggles.” Got it? Even people who make it look easy, have some skeletons rattling in the closet.

a healthy struggle!“It’s good to allow others to struggle appropriately.”

(Or, where I come from, “No pain, no gain.”)

Natural consequences usually do the trick unless the other person is in real danger, and/or is so clueless, they don’t even know it. Not that your teenager would ever be that brainless.

The second and fourth statements required a trained psychologist to guide the way. I was clueless on the three ways people struggle, and I certainly was not sure I could help. Half the time, my teenagers don’t even want me to speak!

The three reasons for human struggle seem so simply divided, that you might think it’s silly to find a way to mush them all into a blog post about marketing. I mean, this conversation was about parent-child dialogue, and making connections with teenagers, who are a little insane, let’s be frank.

What do teenage struggles have to do with marketing to your customers?

Connect the dots with me and you’ll see how valuable this parenting lesson could be in your business. Back to those three reasons people struggle…

People struggle because of:

  1. Their own choices.
  2. Others’ choices.
  3. The hazards of life and nature (natural disasters, death, illness, war).

So there’s really only one way we can ease our own struggles and help others with theirs.

Help them see that door #1 is the key to happiness. Your choices cause struggle… and you get to choose how you respond to your struggles!  

Even if numbers 2 and 3 are making you miserable, if you frame the struggle within choices you control, then you will always enjoy freedom.

Did you learn this growing up? I guess I knew it intuitively on my wiser days, but I never heard it stated this clearly. This simple truth was obvious in hindsight, though.

As you remember any difficult situation, you’ll see that how you chose to view an unsolvable problem, or another’s unforgettable words… or that storm that ruined your wedding, or the election you lost, or the promotion that went to the guy who stole your work, or the beloved who left too soon…

You make a decision to project an emotion — or not — onto everything that “happens to you.” Your attitude about the event made all the difference to your happiness, or lack thereof.

I'll carry this around for life

You get the choice to behave, perceive, resist, or participate. All you, baby. Free choice.

As a marketer, your job is to respect the choices of your customers.

And by respect, I’m not talking about leaving them alone to fend for themselves. It’s helping people make better, easier choices.

As a marketer, too, your job is to point out the choices available to your customer. Remind her that she has a choice and show her what each option looks like.

  • Sometimes the choice will be between two products you offer, or a degree of services or access, for example.
  • Sometimes the choice will be between you and one of your competitors. The best salespeople I’ve ever known are intimately familiar with their competition’s similar products. The really amazing sales people I’ve known even send their prospects down the street if they can’t provide a good solution — even though amazing salespeople usually come up with a great solution!
  • Sometimes the choice is No.
  • The worst, and most common choice in certain fields, is no choice at all. This is horrible choice, as you may know. Go for No.

You have a duty to help them make the right choice. You can’t do that if you have the wrong product, or if you dislike your solution, or if you don’t understand (or even value) the genuine struggle your customer is dealing with.

You can help anyone make a choice they’ll love, just by recognizing that they have an authentic choice to make and that your marketing influences that choice. Put that way, it’s pretty cool marketing your own business, don’t you think?

Working with a lot of self-employed business people who do what they do really well, I sympathize that so many don’t have the knack for marketing their own stuff. It’s simple, but not easy, when you get into a funk in your head about whether your stuff is good, or “worth the money,” or unique, whether you’re tooting your own horn, or any of the other reasons you talk yourself out of really serving customers in the here and now with what you’ve got…

Cuz that’s all you’ve got. May as well make the best of it, right? The truth of the matter — it’s probably pretty good!

So marketing is simple, just not easy all the time… Recognize that people have a choice. And you want them to know in their bones that choice is YOU!

Help them make that choice. Really help them.

Here’s the magic pill: It comes down to relieving a struggle of some sort.

If you can’t name the struggle, then go back to the drawing board. Empower and celebrate your customer to make a clear choice, and (sale or no sale) you’ll have an advocate for life. Yes, your customer struggles, and as savvy consumers, their eyes and ears are wide open, in search of relief.

Back to the teenager discussion. That fourth part, the resolution to the problem, is too involved to cover here. (Maybe it’s another blog post.) But the moral of the story is similar.

When you empower another person to make a decision based on good information, genuine care, and respect for their health and happiness; your marketing will do its job well.

Helping your customer make easier decisions begins with good copywriting. On the web, in person, and in video, the words you use provide clarity and spur action. Spend just one minute for each of 21 days, and learn the fundamentals of  copywriting. Sign up for the FREE course by clicking here.

 

Filed Under: Copywriting Tagged With: attitude, choice, customer pain, customer struggles, empowering customers, empowering others, fixing customer rpoblems, giving customer choices, helping clients, helping customers, marketing tips, marketing yourself, relieving struggle, struggle, your job as marketer

Gmail Tabs Disrupt The Email Marketing Universe –And Why It’s A Good Trend

August 17, 2013 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

What’s all this hoopla over Gmail tabs? Do you love ’em or hate ’em? Maybe you don’t even use Gmail and don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. It’s been over a month now since Google changed up Gmail with tabs separating the inbox into four sections: primary, promotional, forums and updates.

It’s no longer one big happy inbox. Google is going to try to divide and conquer your inbox for you, while slipping in some ads, of course!

My email list's Gmail p/cIf your list includes a large percentage of Gmail clients, you may be wondering if the change will have an effect on your responses. Check out this pie chart of how my email list breaks down… 

That’s a lot of green. So am I worried? Not so much… Email’s user experience is always in flux.

Gmail tabs are actually pretty slick for the consumer, even though some users hate the change. 

  • You can select which tabs you want to use (although tabs aren’t even supported in some email clients where folks open gmail, like the iPhone).
  • You can proactively move emails to the correct tab, so that all future emails go to the correct place.
  • You can refuse to play along and accept Google’s designation of all your emails.
  • Or you can even opt out and go back to your old Gmail. Your choice.

From an marketing stance, Gmail tabs have email marketers in a serious tizzy lately. Call the waah-mbulance! (Tweet this.)

The big fuss is that your emails might fall under the promotions tab with all those other nasty emails, boring newsletters, spam and general crap your subscriber gets but doesn’t want to read. If your list has a large percentage of Gmail clients, then this change could disrupt business as usual. 

Gmail tabs are a disturbance in the email marketing "Force"So there’s a disturbance in the force.

But (don’t taze me, bro’) what’s wrong with that? I know for myself, when I’m in “all business” mode, I clearcut everything in my path, even email I’d otherwise probably read. Say you get a courtesy email from your bank that your balance dropped below your preset limit. You’re likely to delete that shoe sale email just below it.  The firehose of emails forces you to react, sometimes reading no further than the subject line, and often with one fell swoop. But when emails are neatly grouped your readers may put more thought into absorbing your message. If your reader saves the promotions tab to read when they have a little time or when they want to read it, your email will get the attention it deserves. 

Unless, of course, your emails kind of stink. In that case, no tab feature or lack thereof will get people to read your email after the first time or two.

Marketers lose all perspective when they think people are going to fall all over themselves to open their email before first taking care of the more pressing things…that one from the boss, or their son’s soccer coach or even those emails that are a complete waste of time but impossible to resist, like the one from the neighbor who’s always sending jokes lampooning ridiculous politicians. The very best emails are the ones from people so real, they make it to this insider’s short list. That’s what you should shoot for.

However, if you already sort your own inbox or use different email addresses for different function, then you know how convenient it is to group emails “of a type” together within specific and separate categories. For example, you might have a place for shopping, informational newsletters, social media alerts, work, and friends&family.

Wouldn’t you rather your reader have the option of sorting their emails by order of importance, relevance, or time needed? I would. I’m all for automated inbox sorting. From both marketer and consumer standpoints.

What’s getting email marketers all up in arms is the idea that Google is making those choices for their customers, https://www.helpscout.net/blog/new-gmail-tabs/ instead of the other way around. (Newsflash: Google already does that with personalized search results.)

But when you follow that line of reasoning down the path a ways, it starts to smell funny. Like maybe some email marketers would prefer to trick their reader into accidentally opening something they don’t want to read right now. Which is a sure-fire way to get your email instantly deleted anyway.

Either you get your reader’s attention in the inbox — whichever tab you fall into — or you don’t.

Here I go again, beating the drum about making good connections with your writing, giving people something they need and can use. Just being yourself and simply talking to your reader like a friend…again. Isn’t that what makes a reader want to open your email in the first place?

You are in business to make money or your organization needs funding to survive; so you need for people to see and open your emails. But you also want them to engage with you and your business. You get clicks and conversions by providing value and relevance on a consistent basis, and not wasting your customer’s time.

After getting many Gmail users and email marketers’ takes on Gmail’s new tabs feature, my advice — similar to this smart guy’s — is this: Chill out a little.

Email is still a great way to engage with your best prospects and leads, if you stick to the fundamentals.

Let’s wait and see how Gmail tabs pan out before we give up completely. Those little suckers may even make us better at email. (Tweet this.)

Stay flexible, and good luck!

Want some copywriting tips to get people seeking out your emails you send? You won’t be worrying about Gmail tabs if you know how to make connections with your writing. Click this link for access to a free online course.

Filed Under: Email Tagged With: Email is dead?, email mrketing, Gmail tab benefits, Gmail tabs, Gmail tabs controversy, google Gmail, inbox, marketers' laments, marketing tips, small business email, sorting email, Tabs

Sharing Small Business Love

June 22, 2013 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

Sharing Small Business Love

Working with small business is a blessing and a hoot.

When you find your niche that you love working with, you know that sense of pride and comfort.

The other day I got this heady feeling of “belonging” in a place where I did not really fit in. Has that ever happened to you? You’re a square peg in the midst a bunch of round holes, and instead of feeling out of place you feel somehow…privileged. 

Thursday I attended Marketo’s Marketing Nation Roadshow here in Austin. Marketo’s reports and articles are helpful for navigating trends and practices in online marketing, so when they invited me to the “Jumpstart Tour,” I figured it would be fun and insightful. 

An added bonus was getting to meet and chat with other marketers and hear about their concerns and ideas.

Happy to serve small businessWhat I didn’t expect was realizing how much I enjoy working with people in smaller businesses, including owners, partners, start-up founders, and direct sales people. 

I was with marketers from companies much larger than my own. We’re talking marketing departments that dwarf the size of entire companies I work with! There was talk of silos and product managers; how to work with IT departments and get permission from above to send email to segments of a vast email list.  

At the end of the day, the keynote speech by Morgan Stewart, from Trendline Interactive, ended with a final plea to show you CARE about your customers.

Isn’t that what we’re always talking about? How ironic is it that large businesses strive to do that, too?

“It comes down to this,” Morgan said. In a successful email marketing campaign, you show customers that your company “gives a crap” (his words) if you: 

  • listen
  • make the customer’s interests primary
  • share information, experiences 
  • do something unexpected
  • celebrate them as their engagement grows

These things are par for the course to the small business person. Often, we know our customers by name, so yeah, we get this stuff. I couldn’t let the weekend come and go without telling you this story about small business love…

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: copywriting for small business, email marketing, marketing tips, Morgan Stewart, small biz, small business, Trendline Interactive

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