How do you connect with your best clients and potential customers?

How do you connect in a more personal way to your best clients and potential customers?

Why do so many of us miss the opportunity to really make a connection with our writing? I’ve spent the last three years writing blogs and articles for my clients and for my communities. Over 85,000 people read my blogs every month. With all this writing, you would think everyone in my target market would know who I am, and how I might help them succeed in their business. How do I help connect the dots for my readers?

Why do certain writers connect with their target and others miss by a mile? I thought it might be helpful to share an exercise that helps you hit closer to you market than you thought possible. The problem with this method is that you must be honest with yourself . . .  you must be willing to explore your life for opportunities to connect in a different way than almost everyone in your business. I know this is hard because most marketers prefer to send me emails with the same subject line.  They push the same overused emotional triggers and wonder why they get a response rate of less than 1% for all their email. So you get 5% that is great, I bet it’s not because you are using the same ideas over and over again.

You have a goldmine of information that belongs to you and only you.  It’s available to you as a marketing person if you’re willing to explore your own life.  Heresy, you say, “explore my own life?” We are talking about going to dark places best left unexplored.  I can make you a promise.  If you get good at this, you will change your life.  It’s hard work but you may be surprised by how easy it becomes once you develop this capability.

Since we receive so many marketing messages every day, we must become effective at being heard above the noise.  One of the best ways to do this if you’re a small or midmarket business leader is you begin sharing who you are with your market. People always respond to a good story. You must become a great storyteller.  Sharing your stories provides you with the connectivity to your best clients and customers.  People choose to deal with people who are like them and have similar experiences.  Its hasn’t ever changed, it may never change. What changes is how we share the story, not the story itself. Authenticity makes you unstoppable!

I work with leaders around the world.  They all share stories about their lives with their communities. They find a way of connecting with people where they are, and then the good ones help the people get to where they want to go. Does your marketing share the possibilities with its readers? Can they see how your product or service can help them live their dreams?  Charles Revson once said, “We don’t sell lipsticks. We sell dreams. “ The problem was he was half right. Good marketing gets you only so far.  At some point, we must deliver on our promise.  In today’s connected world it’s more critical than ever to deliver what you promise.  If you don’t social media will make you pay and pay some more.

How many times have you bought something only to be disappointed with the results you received? Take time to think about your purchases of the last week, how many would you share with a good friend?  I bet it’s the exception, not the rule.

Want to stand out in your clients? Deliver what you promise. You biggest competition is not your competitor but the disappointment people feel when another thing falls short of the promise. Next week, I begin sharing what I’ve learned about how to connect with your audience through better stories.  These are not going to be stories you make up, but stories that come from your past and your experiences with other people. The stories from your life that your target audience wants to hear about.

Want to learn more about building trust with your best clients and potential customers you might also enjoy How Do You Build Trust?

See you next week.