Episode 210: 2 Ways Great Marketing Can Fail
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Podcast Transcript
Intro:
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Media Books Podcast.
In this podcast episode, I'm going to talk about two ways even great marketing can fail a business.
Okay, so let's say you're doing everything right.
You listen to your coaches, your mentors, you watch the YouTube video on setting up a website and there is no way more content is going to solve your problems.
So what is the problem?
Let's talk about two possible reasons why your marketing may not be the reason that you are not getting those sales and revenue numbers that you want.
Marketing News:
So first I want to talk about a bit of news.
I've been trying to incorporate these into the podcast episodes because there is so much changing right now, especially with marketing and it feels like every day there's a new algorithm you have to follow or a new tool.
So reserving just the first part of podcast episodes lately for that kind of content.
Today I am talking about something that, I mean, it's AI, of course, but it is something that actually is going to make setting up your own website way more simple.
So Squarespace is our preferred website development app.
I talk a lot about why Squarespace versus WordPress.
Essentially, when it comes down to it, Squarespace is one of the most user-friendly web design platforms out there and it doesn't require a lot, if any, technical day-to-day upkeep.
So that's why we prefer it and they are constantly coming out with new features that make it even easier to design your own website.
So when it comes to Squarespace, they're awesome.
We're big fans and it's the web design platform that we exclusively use. And they have recently adopted AI to help you write content for your website. Now it is in beta version, which they're still working on, but frankly, I find that it works great as is or the fact that it's just an introductory tool.
It is super helpful.
And so how it works is, if you've ever used a web design app or builder, you have the page that you're working on and you can add a text block.
That's basically a movable widget where you can say, this is where I want to write the text.
When you have that text block, there is going to be a little lightning bolt on the far left where you click on it.
There are out pops, a little like search bar.
You can write your prompt and then it'll generate a prompt and you can insert it right into that block.
Now, if you are a web designer who also does copy and things like that, this is insanely helpful.
If you are an accountant, a bookkeeper, if someone who doesn't have web design or copy experience and you are trying to DIY your own website, it's even more helpful.
So here's the, okay, we have website templates, right?
In media books, we have website templates where you can go in as an accountant and the website template has all the pages that we would recommend for your firm.
Now usually there are other website templates out there, but they'll be for like product based businesses or podcasters who don't necessarily have services.
And so the idea with these templates is to provide you with the structure that you need.
Now these templates that we have also have prompts that say, this is where you should write about service number one.
This is where you should write about service number two.
Here's where you should write an eye catching slogan.
This is where you can write about yourself.
Be sure to keep it to this many paragraphs.
So we guide you through the process as you are putting together your website.
Now with this tool, those prompts that we've already have in place just made it even more useful.
And so let's go through an example.
Let's say homepage, very first block.
We call this above the fold when it's the first screen that you see when you land on a website.
What you're going to do is you'll click on the prompt that we have for you.
It may say something like write an eye catching slogan.
And so what you'll do is you'll click on the little lightning bolt and say, write an eye catching slogan for my accounting firm.
And then it'll generate a result.
And if you don't like that first result, you can click generate and it'll do it again and again.
But I'm like the prompts that we've already have put in place is just going to make it so much more helpful because you are going to know, you're going to have even more information as far as what you should write into this like search bar chat GPT thing.
So if you want to learn more about Squarespace's AI that they've implemented, I included like their how to, that gives you more detail in our show notes.
You can also find our website templates in the show notes of this podcast episode.
2 Ways Great Marketing Can Fail:
Occasionally, I will come across a business owner who is doing all the right things.
They are constantly marketing.
They have a strategy.
They seem to be great accountants, but they are just not getting any new clients.
And so most of the time, when we dig into why the reason is, despite their great marketing, we can pinpoint it down to one of two areas.
And I want to talk about those two areas in this podcast episode and hopes that when you see kind of your overall plans for the year, whether that's increase your revenue, whether that's get more clients, whether that's maybe you don't want more clients, you want to just upsell these current clients or you want to build stronger relationships with your current clients.
These are two areas that you want to look in and make sure the dial on them is appropriately measured.
Because once these two are measured, then yes, you are going to find that these clients and the revenue just come in.
But sometimes we don't pay as much attention to these as we should.
We blame marketing.
We blame a tip we found online.
We think social media just doesn't work.
It does work.
You just need to make sure all these parts of your business are aligned.
So the first area is that you have the wrong niche or audience.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, if you have a great marketing, but you're not growing your client list or revenue the way you want, it very well may come down to the type of nature or audience you have.
So for example, let's say you have a love and passion for dog walkers.
You love dogs and the idea of being a dog walker sounds amazing, but it's not for you or whatever.
And you create all this great content.
You talk about how dog walkers should separate their personal and business expenses, how they can deduct specific tennis shoes that they reserve for these walks.
And you even have services that help them establish prices.
However, it is very possible that there are not enough professional dog walkers out there that need your services or maybe there may be there's a ton, but it's something that they do as a side hustle and it's not their full time gig.
And so they need, you know, they don't really resonate as much as they could with your marketing content.
Now, I realized that was a bit of a crazy example, but really this is this is about more than just supply and demand.
You may think, well, yeah, obviously, I know there's not a lot of dog walkers out there, but I'm sure there's plenty of people in my industry or there's plenty of businesses out there that do need my services.
That's absolutely true.
We just want to make sure we're picking the right one.
This is about so much more than supply, demand and market share.
And so there's another example that I think kind of illustrates this really well.
Let's say you have a real desire to help nonprofits.
So you market the heck out of your services and you actually, let's say you build a really big, great audience and really there should be an ROI.
There's a certain point after a certain number of followers where you kind of have to have some self-evaluation and think, okay, why are people not booking a call?
However, a lot of nonprofits do not have big budgets, especially for things like bookkeeping.
And if your services are not also priced appropriately, then you can build as big as you want, but your niche may not be able to buy at the possible price point that you have.
Maybe you need to come up with a service offering that is more appropriate for what they can afford versus what you can provide.
And so what I'm saying here is that everything needs to work together.
That is going to be one of the tricky parts of being a business owner.
Yes, you need to make sure the marketing is in order, in order to sell, but you also need to make sure your business plan has all the parts of your business working together.
Niche, marketing, pricing, operations, all of those things when they're working together, that's when you're going to start seeing what those results and niche is one of those very important barriers.
And if you're saying, if you're saying, I don't have a niche, the audience that you're talking to, if your message is so general and you don't have any niche and you have no idea who you're talking to, then that's the problem.
Your niche, you don't have one.
Your audience, and you say, maybe you're saying, I don't want to have a niche, okay, your audience, whoever you're talking to, how you talk to a small mom and pop restaurant is going to be very different than how you talk to, you know, a corporation that you want to work for.
We need to make sure that we're talking, we know who we're talking to in order to tailor the message so they feel heard.
The second way that even great marketing can end up with not the results that you want is you need to focus more on selling.
Selling is different than marketing.
Marketing is talking to everyone in your audience, although it should always feel like you are talking to each person individually.
Selling is when the conversation actually turns one to one.
You're now tailoring your message, you are giving your attention towards this one person and you're trying to figure out what their pain points are, how you can help them, whether it's a good fit for you, whether it's a good fit for them.
Let's consider the journey of one of your potential customers.
First they discover you.
This can be via referral, social media, your website, whatever.
Then they start to follow you.
They subscribe to an email campaign, social media, whatever.
Then they decide to book a call with you.
That conversation, that relationship has now turned one on one and you need to switch from marketing to a sales brain.
Now, marketing is one thing, but sales is actually a skill that you should spend time developing, especially as a business owner.
Now, we're not just talking about selling to potential clients.
You're also going to want to develop the skill if you're talking to potential partners.
If you're talking to employees, you want to sell people on how great your business is and that they should want to work for you.
If you have not worked on this skill that brings you through the finish line, then the issue very well may not be your marketing.
I want to talk about some signs that sales is the area that you need to focus on.
First, you get a lot of inquiries, but no bookings.
People send you a message.
They ask about your services.
You talk for a little bit, but they never actually schedule that call.
Maybe you have consultations, but you don't know much about them at the end of the call.
You don't know why they are trying to hire you.
You never hear back.
If you leave a consultation and you don't know much about the person on the other end and you also don't know what their biggest pain points are, then that's on you.
That's on the person trying to make the sale.
The conversation should not be about how great you are and all the things you can do.
That's what your website's for.
The conversation should really revolve around them and their business.
If you talk on all your marketing and your website and social media about how you're going to help them and your business is all about their success and you want to do better for them, make the call about them.
And so, okay, story time.
Here's the last real big sign that sales is something you need to focus on.
I have, what was it, like half a year ago, I had someone, it was an inquiry, come to me and say, hey, I'm thinking about this niche, but I really don't know.
And so, I don't know if I should start my marketing because I'm still debating on whether this is the right niche for me.
Totally understandable.
Fair question.
We were going back and forth and she said, well, you know, I'm actually, I'm going to one of their conferences in a couple weeks.
And so, you know, maybe that'll help.
Absolutely!
And I get all excited.
If you go to a conference for a potential niche, this is going to be one of the biggest ways to tell whether this is the right niche for you.
One of the biggest ways to work on your sales skills.
So, if you go to this conference and let's say you're the only accountant or the only bookkeeper at a conference for real estate agents.
You leave and you did not get anyone's email, you didn't book any calls, you didn't connect with anyone.
Then yes, one of the two reasons why your marketing is not going to work is because you need to focus on sales or a different niche.
Going to a conference where it is nothing but your audience and it doesn't necessarily need to be a conference.
I have one client who's fantastic.
She's very personal.
She's great at sales.
She's adventurous.
She goes to all of these, I don't know, event fairs, like farmers market things.
And she likes to do product based businesses.
She goes to all these events and she connects with people and she puts it on her stories and she now has a waitlist because she goes to so many events.
She knows how to sell.
She knows that her marketing is on point and she's picked the right niche.
All those things have aligned together.
But if you're going to a place, a conference, a farmer's market wherever where it is nothing but your target audience and you don't leave with anything for your business, going in with the intention of getting something for your business, then the issue is very likely going to be sales or the niche that you've picked.
Because in this environment, there's really nothing to do with marketing.
One is just you and the other person across the booth unless it's your business card that has the wrong phone number or the wrong email and then they couldn't get a hold of you.
I mean, this is getting into another podcast episode topic.
But other than that, it's just you and the other person.
So if you are debating on whether your marketing is failing or is it the wrong niche or is it the wrong, you don't have the sales skills, go to a conference and see if you can get bookings.
That is one great sign that you may need to focus on your sales skills.
So I'm not trying to make this whole entire podcast episode about sales, but before we head out, I do want to give you one tip on how to improve your sales skills because it's not talked about a whole lot.
And while we primarily do marketing, I realize that this is kind of something that goes hand in hand.
So I do want to give you one tip before you leave and that is to ask better questions.
You have probably heard this before.
If you spent any time trying to learn sales, but ask better questions.
When you ask better questions, you are going to show that you have a real interest in their business.
It's definitely something that they are going to want.
They are going to want an accountant who understands and wants to understand their business, be able to respond to their pain points when you ask more questions.
So when you ask better questions, you can figure out what it is that is truly bugging them.
And you keep talking about how you're going to save them time and money, but time and money is not the reason that they're hiring you.
They're hiring you because they don't know, you know, they don't understand gap and they just want someone to take this technical stuff off their plate.
Yeah, you may save them time and money, but that's not the pain point.
And because you didn't ask that question, you know, you didn't really have a very productive consultation.
So if they have any reservations, you can address those head on third, give them more time to talk.
So when you ask questions, you may laugh, but it gets the other person talking, especially open ended questions and people love talking about themselves.
This is why podcasts have blown up anyways.
When they talk more, they're going to feel like the call actually went really well.
Rarely do we feel good when we're in a conversation with when the other person just dominates it.
Also, if you are nervous, this is a great way to get the other person talking so you have time to calm down and take things slow.
This was really the biggest tip for me when I first started trying to sell.
I was so nervous going into these calls, reminding myself, ask questions, get them talking so I can just sink into the call and breathe was really just a game changer because then I was able to kind of calm down.
I was slowed down my brain, think through things and actually respond and do better.
I get marketing is challenging and sometimes it feels like there is a million theories or coaches out there telling you, you're doing it wrong.
You're the reason you're not making sales.
You very well may be doing everything right in your marketing, but there are other pieces that also need to be in the right place in order to land a sale.
ShowNotes:
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:30 - Squarespace AI
5:50 - The 2 Ways Great Marketing Can Fail
7:00 - Wrong Audience or Niche
10:15 - Focus on Selling
11:50 - Signs you should focus on sales
15:40 - My tip on improving your sales skills
*Links included in the show notes may be affiliate links and subject to compensation by MediaBooks
