“So, What Do You Do?” Keys to Taking Your “30 Second Commercial” from Boring to Brilliant

May 27, 2010 By 5 Comments

Recently I worked with a client on crafting what’s referred to as a “30 second commercial” or “elevator pitch” if you will.  Often, business owners don’t give this much thought—after all, on the surface the topic doesn’t seem too exciting—and they simply state their title or occupation when they are asked what it is they do.

If you’re not familiar with this concept, it works like this: when you are in business and you meet someone new and give a brief introduction of who you are and what you do in your business, it is often referred to as a 20 or 30 second “commercial.” It’s not enough to say “I’m a nutritionist” if that’s what you happen to be.  It’s like ho-hum, I’m a nutritionist.  It’s kind of boring, right?

Compare that to this: “I create tailored nutrition and supplement regimens for women so that they can feel healthier, look younger and enjoy a life filled with energy and strength.”

Big difference, right?

Notice we included an emphasis on benefits and results there too—this is key when you are explaining your business to others or even in the copy on your website or in your marketing materials.

To make it easy for you, here is a simple template you can follow when creating your 30-second introduction:

I work (teach/educate/inspire/create, etc.)

with___________________________________________

(your niche)

who struggle with (want/can’t/are)

______________________________________________

(your niche’s problem)

and who want (would like/need)

______________________________________________.

(your solution)

Getting really descriptive is also helpful when you are doing business online, because of the importance of using keywords in order to be found in searches. It may seem like Marketing 101, but before you get into the real nitty gritty of how to make your online presence profitable, you’ll want to have this marketing basic down pat in order to set yourself up for success.

So, take some time to make sure your commercial is benefit-oriented, concise and clear. (Could your 8-year-old nephew figure out what it is you do if you practiced it on him?)  Most importantly, your goal should be for someone who hears it to eagerly reply, “tell me more” instead of “so what?”

Get this down, and grabbing someone’s attention becomes a lot easier—and your first impression a lot more memorable!

Photo credit: nDevilTV

Filed Under: Small Business Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Stepping Up to Platinum: This Weekend’s Private Client Retreat

May 23, 2010 By 2 Comments

I spent the last two days with my private Platinum client Patti in Philadelphia at her first business retreat. She is working with me for the year and this was our “kick off” retreat—we will have our second one towards the end of our time together next winter.

Patti owns The Original Basket Boutique in Houston, and we focused on where her business has been up to this point—as well as on her business strategy going forward.  (You can check out her blog here.) Some of the areas we dove deep into included her mindset, her social media strategy, time management and organization, marketing, and of course, money!

I am very excited for her and can’t wait to watch her soar!  I absolutely love getting to work with clients this way and to be able to be a part of their business growth and success.  Patti’s definitely got what it takes and I’m thrilled to work with her at this level.  There’s just something about clients who step up to a long-term, intense program like this—they’re serious about their success and ready to give it their all.  It’s truly a joy to see.

The best thing is, not only do I get to now experience others’ growth through the Platinum coaching relationship, I know first-hand how powerful it can be because of the progress I’ve made with my own coach. It’s great to be able to pass the wisdom along! :)

Have you ever worked with a mentor or coach at a high level one on one?  How has it influenced the course of your business or impacted your own success?

Filed Under: Mentoring and Coaching Tagged With: , , ,

Blog Basics: What’s a Gravatar and Why Would I Want One?

May 14, 2010 By 2 Comments

Comments are an integral part of having a blog, and they are essentially what help make blogging a form of social media—by facilitating conversation back and forth between a blog’s author and their readers.

If you are not familiar with what a Gravatar is, maybe this will help—have you ever left a comment on a blog and next to your comment you notice a box has appeared with a grayed-out silhouette of a person?  Sadly, that means it is a Gravatar-enabled blog, and you, my friend are sans Gravatar. :(

What’s a Gravatar?  It’s a small photo that accompanies your comments or posts on blogs around the web.  It allows millions of blogs, sites and forums to grab an avatar for the person who is commenting, without them having to upload their pic every single time.  (It uses the emails of people who comment on your blog to display their Gravatar.) Plus, it’s just nice to relate to someone’s face rather than a mysterious and anonymous gray guy (or gal).

So don’t be shy, let us see your face when you come by to comment.  You can get your own Gravatar here.

Oh, and if you use WordPress and want to enable your own blog to show others’ Gravatars, here’s a link to a plugin for that.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , ,

3 Tips for Making Standout Friend Requests

May 13, 2010 By 10 Comments

I am always amazed at how many friend requests I receive on social media sites that contain absolutely no context.  In some cases there may be mutual friends that we share in common, but beyond that there is often no other clue as to why the other person wants to connect with me.

Many times it will not make or break whether I accept the request, but it is always nice to know the reason why someone is reaching out.  Because it is such a simple thing to do, I encourage people to take the brief moment it requires to explain a bit about what has prompted their request.

With that in mind, here are a few tips that will help you stand out from the pack:

Always personalize.

This applies especially to a site like LinkedIn.  There, you can send your request with the option of leaving the canned, generic response in the message body.  This is something along the lines of “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”  It’s pretty unremarkable, right?  However, the majority of requests I receive use it!  It seems to say that the person couldn’t be bothered to add a personal touch to their message.  At the very least, address your request using the person’s first name.

Explain why you want to connect.

This is probably the most important part of a request.  Online, it’s common to associate with people you might not necessarily know “in real life.”  This is all the more reason to let the other person know why you think it’s a good idea to connect.  A simple message saying you noticed you have several mutual friends, or you admire their work, or that you are interested in finding out more about their industry will suffice.

As long as you are shedding some light on your motives, the other person will usually be more than happy to accept.  It’s just good social etiquette.

Follow up after the acceptance.

This tip is for bonus points.  Don’t let your interaction stop after your request has been accepted.  Take the time to comment on or send a message regarding your newly formed connection.  This can go a long way towards making you stand out from the rest in the other person’s mind. They are more likely to remember someone who expressed appreciation for your new-found relationship–instead of simply boosting their number of connections, never to be heard from again.

Now that’s building “social capital.” :)

Photo credit: ROFLRAZZI.COM

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Recent Facebook Changes: Open Graph, “Like” Button, Demise of “Fan” Terminology

May 6, 2010 By 15 Comments

At their recent F8 Conference, Facebook and their CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a lot of announcements regarding changes they’ve made, and I’ve been getting some questions about them.

Truth be told, some of what was announced was a bit complex for the casual, everyday business owner user of Facebook—so you’re not alone if you heard about it and kinda went “huh?”

Rather than blog some lengthy analysis of all the ins and outs of what’s been recently changed, I thought I’d give a breakdown of the more important nuggets a small business owner should be aware of.

1) You No Longer “Fan” a Page

What were once known as “Fan Pages” are now referred to as “Official” Pages, to distinguish them from Community Pages which I’ll address below.  It will take a little getting used to, as everyone had come to throw around the “fan” terminology when discussing their business’ presence on Facebook.  Now, you “Like” a Page instead.

Not a fan of this new terminology? Many people aren’t.  I’ve taken to referring to fans as “supporters” now—which sadly has a little less pizazz in my mind. :)   I was one of the people who believed “fan” fit because of the idea that you were building a community or fanbase around your business.

But alas, such is the evolution of social media.

If you were using Facebook’s Fan Box widget on your site, the Fan button automatically changed to Like when they rolled out the change.  However, if you are using a custom badge or button you will most likely want to change it or find a new one with the new terminology.

Need some ideas for how to word inviting people to support your Page?  If you don’t love saying “Like us on Facebook,” perhaps say “Join us on Facebook,” “Visit us on Facebook” or “Support our Page.”

2) The Facebook “Open Graph” and the “Like” Button

Previously, Facebook Connect was a tool that allowed software, websites, mobile devices and more to integrate with Facebook and send information between them.  Facebook Connect is now being phased out, because at the recent F8 Conference, Facebook announced the launch of something called “The Open Graph.” In his keynote speech, Mark Zuckerberg said that this would allow people to “have instantly social and personalized experiences everywhere they go.”

This new platform will allow websites to share information with each other easily.  For example, if you connect to a site like Yelp via your profile on Facebook, Yelp will then have access to information you’ve made available publicly about your favorite bands or cuisine, and will be able to take that into consideration when giving you information about concert venues or restaurants. This is probably the most controversial (creepy?) aspect of the new changes.

Also announced at the conference was the introduction of the universal “Like” button that can be added to any website. For example, you can like (or “recommend”) a CNN.com article to share it with your friends on Facebook.  The Like button will then also show you which of your Facebook friends have also already liked the same article.  When you like something, this activity will show up on your Facebook Wall and in the News Feed.

If you are a WordPress user, you can now install a plugin in order to add the Like button to your own blog, and you can get that here.  (You can see I’ve also added it here on my own blog for each post.)

3) Pages and Profiles More Connected

You may have also noticed that Facebook has now made the link between Pages and your profile more connected.  Profile information such as your city, hometown, interests, etc. can now be linked to Pages.  You’ll see that your Info tab has changed and that the sections there now link to Pages that reflect your interests.

This is probably my least favorite tweak that Facebook has made (I’m just not loving the way they’ve automatically reorganized all of my interests, education info, etc.), but it’s important to note that users have the ability to control their privacy for these connections. You can edit the information by visiting “Edit my Profile” under your picture and adjust your privacy from the Privacy Settings menu.

4) The Introduction of Community Pages

Facebook also recently introduced the concept of “Community Pages” which you can also create from the same page as Official Pages, except on the right-hand side.  Community Pages are for “unofficial” Pages that are created by Facebook users in support of certain causes and topics. Of these Pages, Facebook says “Generate support for your favorite cause or topic by creating a Community Page. If it becomes very popular, it will be adopted and maintained by the Facebook community.”

Mashable has a nice explanation of these types of Pages in their blog post here.

Your Turn

As with social media in general, it seems the only constant with Facebook is change—whether we like it or not. :)   I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the changes and whether they’ve affected you at all…or you’re just going with the flow.  Let me know in the comments!

Photo credit: jolieodell

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , ,