What’s in it for me?

Crowd funding has become mainstream.  It’s used for funding everything from product development to medical treatment. 

Typically crowd funding platforms give you space to pitch your project – and then how you will reward your investors. 

Just because you’re doing this online, don’t fool yourself into seeing the people who are giving you money as anything except investors.  They may have an emotional reason for investing (because they like you and want to help you or because they like your idea and want to see it come to fruition), but they’re putting hard cash into your business, even if it’s only £5.

Clearly when you’re pitching a business project you need to spend time working out how to pitch your project so it’s attractive and gets people engaged.  Images, videos and simple plans all help to get your message across.  However, don’t skimp on the rewards part of the equation – it’s just as important.

What do your investors want?

It depends on how much you’re asking for.  If it’s small amounts and you’re hoping for lots of people investing a little, then you might have to factor in buying in promotional items if you don’t have anything suitable already in-house.

Some people run a ‘thank you’ wall on their website, but that alone may not be enough to attract even small investors.  An ‘I invested in ...’ coaster or mug might be a better reward.

If you’re developing a product offering ‘first off the production line’ items for beta testing may be a good place to start for mid-range investors.  Clearly that depends on the retail price you plan to charge when your product is done.  You might offer a voucher for a substantial discount (worth more than their investment) if the product is something that they’re likely to want.

If you’re getting funding to run an event then either free or discounted tickets are on obvious reward, but for higher investments you might offer an event VIP experience.

Get creative and don’t forget, you can always offer actual shares in your business so the investor gets ongoing dividends on your profits.  If you decide to do that, remember that you’re giving away some of your business’s profits – forever!

Put a system in place

When your campaign finishes thank them for their investment and let them know when they can expect to receive their rewards.

Don’t forget your investors – keep in touch, send them progress reports and let them know if there are setbacks or delays.  They’ll support you if you keep them in the picture.

When your project reaches fruition ensure that sending out your investors’ rewards is somewhere near the top of the list of things to do.  Remember – without them, you couldn’t have got your project off the ground.

Getting into print

When you’re running a small business getting press coverage can be a challenge.  If you’ve got a good story then you might get some footage in the local newspaper, but it’s unusual for a business to be able to generate really newsworthy stories on a regular basis.

So, if you’re not signing contracts with the great and the good every week or winning gongs left, right and centre, how do you get your name in print?

Research pays off

It’s no good getting your business featured in Cow Herders Monthly if you’re selling widgets for sheep farmers, unless a few cow herders are also sheep farmers.  So do some research and these are the key activities for your research campaign:

What do your ideal clients read regularly?  You might have to ask a few of them to find out if they read industry journals, local press, national newspapers, business magazines or something else.  Find out if they are online or hard copy publications.

What kind of information are they looking for?  What articles appeal to them?  What do they want to know more about?  What do they enjoy reading about?

Do the editors accept unsolicited articles?  When you’ve built your list of publications – usually between 7-12 publications – you need to get in touch with the editor, or for bigger publications with the section editor.  A phone call will work better than an email. 

Don’t waste time, but be friendly and helpful.  Ask them first if they accept unsolicited material – if the answer is ‘no’ thank them and cross them off your list.  If they say ‘yes’ share your research about what your target audience have said they want to read and ask if they would be interested in an article around this subject. 

If they say ‘yes’ ask how many words, what they are happy to put in the author bio at the end, when their deadline is and how they want to receive it (get the right email address).

Read the publication before you write.  Just writing an article without understanding the publication is the quickest route to NOT getting published.  You’ll need to look at the style of articles in the magazine and ensure you match it.  If you write a chatty, informative piece and their style is formal and statistic-focused, you won’t get into print.

Supply appropriate images.  If you have relevant images – that are NOT stock photos (even copyright free stock photos) – include these as attachments and list at the foot of the article any images by file title and, if relevant, a descriptive caption.  If you don’t have images, don’t worry, the publication will get their design department to ensure your article looks good.

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If you do a good job you’ve opened the door for future articles, most editors like writers that they can rely on for delivering good articles, on time, in the right format and that their readers will like.

Jam packed!

If I had a pound for every marketing flyer or promo card I’ve been given that is packed with loads of information I’d be very rich.

When I meet small business owners, especially start ups they are often seduced by the low cost online options to create your own marketing flyers at a fraction of the cost of paying a graphic designer and printer.  The problem is that, whatever your expertise is, if it’s not marketing, you’re probably not going to understand how to structure effective marketing material.

Stuffing a small space with everything about your business is the fastest route to the recycling bin!  In fact, even a large space like a banner, isn’t an invitation to jam in as much as possible.  Big items are intended to be read from a distance so the font size needs to be correspondingly large – and too much information just gives the viewer information overload.

With marketing ‘less is more’ is the key to success!

There are a number of decisions you have to make along the way to designing a piece of marketing material – whether that’s a business card or a pop-up banner.  This is just a guide to help you make more informed decisions.

1: What’s the message?

Every item you create to promote your business, your products or services, must have a purpose.  If your first answer to the question is ‘to tell people about my business’, I’d advise you to think more deeply.

A single strong message will get your marketing piece read where lists of products or services or paragraphs of text just don’t cut it.  Get focused!

2: Create a compelling headline

What will grab the attention of your readers?  It needs to be something that either intrigues, shocks or otherwise makes them WANT to read more of your message.  If the headline doesn’t work, they’ll never get to the rest of it.

3: Make your images work hard

You probably know that images give text life and energy, but there are good images and – er – images.  If you’ve ever looked at an image on someone’s flyer or website and wondered what it has to do with their business, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

If you’re in property a row of houses may seem obvious, but if you’re selling a training programme for property people an image of you in a room full of delegates would be more appropriate.  If you’re a masseur a pile of pebbles may be a soothing or tranquil image, but someone with hands massaging them is much more focused.

You may have to get creative, but avoid eye-candy images and go for the ones that help tell your story.

4: Colour me corporate

If you’re not a designer, the palette of hundreds of colours and shades can be very, very tempting.  If you have a brand, stick to those colours – maybe with some shades of the main colour.  If your brand is black and white, stick to it or choose a single spot colour and use only that in everything you produce.

5: Don’t forget your CTA

When you’ve said what you have to say don’t forget your call to action (CTA).  What do you want people to do when they’ve read your piece?  Tell them to do it and give them the information to do it.

If that sounds obvious you might be surprised at how many marketing flyers say ‘call us for more info’ and don’t have a phone number on them.  OK there may be a website address, but why make people work hard to take the action you want?

If you don’t want people to call (you may not have the ability to field a high number of calls), ask them to email or direct them to the website to download something useful and get them on your marketing list.

If this all seems like a lot to tackle then get a graphic designer to help you.  That’s what they’re experts at – but they will need you to do items 1, 2 and 5 – they can’t work in a vacuum.

Getting expert help will give you marketing material that tells people you’re a professional, rather than someone who is trying to do things on the cheap.  What’s more focused marketing gets results!

Does your LinkedIn profile sell you well?

If I had a pound for every business person I’ve met who tells me that ‘LinkedIn doesn’t work’ I would be rich and wouldn’t need to work (that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t, I love what I do!)

When I look at these people’s profile, I understand why LinkedIn doesn’t work for them.  Their summary and experience is usually bland, corporate, lifeless and, often, set up more like a CV than a marketing pitch.

Just because LinkedIn is a business platform that doesn’t mean you need to write boring content.

Let’s be honest, people are on LinkedIn to make the connections that, eventually, will lead to finding new clients.  You don’t want to bore people to death, you want to be memorable.  So what will make you stand out?

The answer is not rocket science.  Your profile needs to be written to engage people who visit it quickly and effectively.

Don’t follow LinkedIn’s advice!

The LinkedIn structure points you down the employment street.  The whole profile has been set up like a CV.  However, if you’re a business owner, or you are the person in your organisation responsible for marketing, business development or extending reach, you don’t want a profile that sounds like you’re trying to impress a potential employer.

The key differences:

• Instead of your job title under your name – use the 120 characters to write something that helps visitors to self-identify.
• Instead of a ‘welcome to my profile’ message in your summary – write something that explains the benefits of your business to potential clients.
• Instead of corporate copy under your current job role in the Experience section – write something interesting about why you love your role and how what you do helps customers.

Messages written with life and energy will make you stand out from most people on LinkedIn who major on bland and boring!

What about the company page?

If you’re a big multi-national then the company page is important, because that’s where people will go who want to connect with your business.  If you’re a one man band or a small consultancy, the likelihood is that people will look for YOU.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a company page, but don’t get in a knot if you only have a handful of followers.

The same applies to your company page as to your personal profile.  It needs to be interesting, energetic and as far as possible from a bland, corporate message as possible.

Making messages memorable

If you travel on the London Underground regularly – or even irregularly – you may read the ads on the carriage walls, for something to do.  How many of them stick in your mind past the trip out of your destination station?

A couple of years ago a mattress maker – Eve – came up with some really amazing ads, with compelling copy.  Not what you would expect from a mattress maker (which isn’t the most exciting of products) – but innovative (I wish I’d written it) and quirky.

Not only were people talking about the ads on social media, but many months after the ads ended people remember the ad – AND the name of the company.

That’s the result you are aiming for – engaging your reader to the point where they don’t forget you.