The foundation for your business

Most new businesses emerge from someone’s skill and a belief that they can help other people doing what they love and are expert in.  But, to grow a successful business you need more than passion and dedication.  You need a strong foundation.

Your bank manager will tell you need a business plan – and they want to see numbers.  The kind of business plan a bank wants is only part of an actual business plan.  It’s all very well working out how many sales you need to make to cover the business overheads and pay yourself a salary you can actually survive on, but who are these people who will pay you for your services?

A comprehensive business plan is built on some essential cornerstones.

1: Your ideal client

Who is this person who needs your help?  What are their current problems that you can help them with?  What is it costing them not to fix them?

2: Your offer

How will what you do address their problem?  What changes will they see when you’ve helped them?  What impacts will this have on the bottom line?

3: Connections

How will you find these ideal clients?  Where do they hang out – online and offline?  What do they read/watch/listen to?

4: Systems

Random action results in feast and famine – not a comfortable lifestyle!  What do you have in place to reach out to your ideal clients, get their attention, get to know them and present your solution to their problem?

This might include networking meetings, social media (and you’ll need a workable strategy for that), content generation, PR and a whole range of other activities that bring you into the awareness of people who will either engage your services or become an advocate for you to others.

None of these things are about your core skill – that’s a given, but without these foundation blocks, your business will wobble and be in danger of collapsing.

They’re all part of marketing – and without a good marketing strategy, you don’t have a business!  Marketing encompasses everything from research and development, market research, produce/service creation, customer service, promotion and sales – in fact, it underpins everything your business does.

What does your content do for you?

Your reputation is being shaped in rooms you're not in — by people who've only ever searched your name – or your business’s name.  So what are you doing to ensure that they get the impression you want them to get?

Every time you hit your keyboard, you’re shaping your reputation – whether that’s a headline for your website, a social media post, a blog article or an email (or any number of other written communications).  How much thought goes into those communications – before you hit the post/send/publish button?

No idea?  You need a system

There are dozens of content generation systems out there – and, of course, a variety of AI tools that can help.  My advice – keep it simple, but use a matrix approach to turn one idea into many pieces of content.

A matrix pairs your main skill areas with the subjects that sit under those headings – or with an approach.  So, for example:

Main subject:       Copywriting

Subjects:              Style, tone, written English, using AI, content management

And there are five posts or articles (or podcasts, videos, value-led emails, etc.  right away.

Four more skill areas, with 5 posts each – and you’ve got another 20 posts.

And, I bet you have more than one thing to say about each of those things!  On day 21 revisit your first post and write something else about it.  You’re the expert, share your knowledge and skill.

But I’m giving away my IP for nothing!

This is always the first response I get when I suggest sharing your expertise; “If I tell people how to do it, they won’t need me.”

Yes, there are some people who will try and follow your advice – and a few will succeed, but we’re talking about a tiny percentage.  Why?

Let’s look at it from another perspective.  I’d put money on the fact that you’ve downloaded free giveaways with lots of valuable information – in an area you’re not an expert in.  You intend to read them and take action, but given the choice between what you do best and what you love doing and learning to do something you don’t really want to do – you actually don’t do anything.

You might read through a checklist or document and intend to do something with it – but it never happens.  So, there’s still a gap in your business that you’re not addressing as well as you could. 

What you need is an expert to support you in that area that you’ve been avoiding.  And who better than someone who has already shown they know their stuff?

Does this sound familiar? 

If you’ve been through this process – lots of other people will have too – except the kind of expert they need is you.  The more you demonstrate you know your stuff, the more likely it is that you’ll be the first person they think of when the light dawns that they need your kind of help. If you’re getting brain freeze from the whole idea of content creation – give me a call and let’s see if I can improve on anything AI can produce.

But creating content is hard

If you’re getting brain freeze from the whole idea of content creation – give me a call and let’s see if I can improve on anything AI can produce.

Is this what you were looking for?

Websites have changed so much over the years – both to reflect latest designs and also to satisfy user behaviours.

There was a time when visitors would actually read 300 words of copy – not any longer!  If the headline doesn’t give them the information they want, they’ve gone.

The days of intriguing headlines that require the visitor to make an effort to find out if the copy will give them what they want are pretty much ancient history.  People want instant gratification.

What does this mean for your website?

The first headline they see needs to tell the visitor – ‘We’ve got what you want’ – or, better still – ‘You’ll get the information you came here for easily and quickly’.

And, put your phone/email right in your banner where they can see it – so they don’t have to start clicking around your site to find out how to get in touch.

And, don’t fall into the trap of putting a ‘phone us’ button.  That works fine if you’re browsing on the phone, but not if you’re using a desktop/laptop.  By all means create a button, but put the phone number on it where it can be seen.

Don’t distract people with images that move, or that don’t deliver your message clearly.  A bunch of happy people sitting around doesn’t say ‘Your solutions are here’ – they’re just eye candy (and probably scream ‘I’ve been playing with AI software’). 

With the wealth of AI tools, you can get help with clear, reader-focused headlines AND images that underline your message.

Don’t waste time with telling your business’s life story – that will work really well on your About page.  Give me easy links, with benefits, to your core services or products.

Keep copy brief and focused on the reader – so, in ‘you’ language, not ‘we’ language.  There’s a big difference in response to ‘We do this’ (low) to ‘You can have that’ (high).

Be proud of your brand

If you’re at the design stage of your logo – or planning a revamp – make sure that you have a version that reproduces clearly in the relatively narrow brand banner that’s at the top of every page of your website. 

If the logo is too small your brand looks like more of an apology than something you’re proud of.  If your current logo doesn’t work when reduced in size, you either need to ask your logo designer to produce something that will work or you need to get creative about how your logo appears on your website. 

A good looking website ticks the first box on your user’s list, but the message must be crystal clear and navigating to what they want should be a no-brainer, not an exercise in problem solving!