The temptation to be cute and clever – to use clever wording, cute analogies and metaphors, clever design techniques – can be overwhelming.

There’s just one problem.

Cute and clever tend to create confusion on the part of your audience.

And a confused audience is a vanishing audience.  A confused audience leaves your website, walks past your storefront, and glazes over when you’re talking to them. 

A confused audience doesn’t buy.

Don’t believe me?  Let me give you a two actual examples – one from a physical storefront, and one from a website.

This morning, I drove past a new business whose sign reads “Union Kitchen and Tap.”  What do they sell?

Take a look at http://www.bluebell.com.  (The link will open in a new window.)   Any clue how to navigate through the site?

I could go on – it’s painfully easy to find examples of websites, advertisements, and brick-and-mortar storefronts that fall into this trap.

And it’s painfully easy to find any number of designers and copywriters who fall into this trap.   Hey, it’s understandable – these are creative people doing creative work, and these types of clever tricks are certainly creative.

Creativity is great in art and literature. 

When you see a great work of art or read a powerful story, it’s supposed to make you think – maybe even make you feel a little uncomfortable.  It’s supposed to challenge you in some way.

But when the goal is to effectively convey a powerful message about the real value of your work, then cute and clever tricks aren’t what you want or need.  You don’t want your audience feeling uncomfortable or challenged; you want them to feel safe and as if you understand them and their needs.

You want concise clarity.  You want – no matter how dull and boring it may feel – to work within the bounds of what people expect to see and hear. 

It’s so much more effective and powerful to present the value of your work simply and clearly, without the ruffles and fanfare of cute and clever. 

Oh – Union Kitchen and Tap?  My first thought was, Hey, cool, a kitchen design and supply store!

Nope.  It’s a restaurant.

What’s your experience as a customer with cute and clever?  How about as a business owner?

Business plans.  Marketing plans.  Project plans.

Everyone says you’re supposed to make plans.  

It’s such commonly accepted wisdom that no one ever stops to ask why.

Of course there are times when you need a plan.  When you’re preparing to launch a new product or service, conduct a workshop, or roll out a new website – without a plan, you’re likely to forget something important.

You make those plans when you’re clear about where you want to go and how you’re going to get there.

When you’re unsure how to get where you want to go, but feel certain you have to have a complete, end-to-end plan before you can take even the smallest next step – that’s fear speaking.

Fear whispers, “If you don’t know how, you’ll fail.”

Fear-based planning stifles your intuition and creativity and keeps you immobilized.

What if it was okay not to know?

When you’re out for a walk on a cool, foggy morning, you can see only a few feet ahead. 

When you’re driving a winding mountain road, you can see only as far as the next curve around the hill.

But you don’t stop going.  Instead, you follow the natural trajectory of the path as it appears in each moment.

What would it be like to do that in your work? 

What if you just took the next step, no matter how small it might seem?

What if, when you’re not sure what that next step is, you were to pause and listen deeply until you did know?

What if, instead of planning, you trusted what was to come?

This may surprise you, coming from someone who’s constantly haranguing everyone to discover and declare their uniqueness – but there is actually a time when uniqueness is a mistake, and being part of the crowd is your best bet.  A time when being unique doesn’t make you more visible – it actually makes you invisible.

It’s a very important time. 

Can you guess when that time is?

It’s at the beginning of your customers’ hunt for the services or products you offer. 

Because that’s when they’re thinking generically.  They’re thinking in common terms; in mundane terms; in ways that will bring them a wide range of choices.

There’s nothing wrong with that.  In fact, there’s everything right with that.  They want a problem solved, and they’re searching for a solution in their language.

And their language is not likely to be an expression of your uniqueness.

So when you’re initially trying to catch their attention, you have to do it with words and actions that make you just like the people they think they’re looking for – even if that means putting yourself into a crowd of others offering similar services.

Because if someone is looking for a cat, they’re going to look in the pet store or at the humane society, or perhaps at a local cat-breeder.

They’re not going to go to the stable and check out the barn cats – even if a barn cat is actually exactly what they want and need.

So the time to be unique is after you’ve caught their attention.

Unless you’re independently wealthy, you can’t afford to be proud or stubborn about this.  (I speak from a certain amount of painful personal experience here!)  You can’t decide that – for instance – you don’t think small businesses really need to be “branded,” and therefore refuse to talk about what you do in terms of “branding” … even though that actually is how your customers think about it.

Your clients may universally love you – but they have to find you in order to love you.

It’s your responsibility to help them them find you – by speaking their language. 

Even if you don’t really think it describes what you do.

Otherwise, you’re solving a problem they don’t think they have, because you’re talking about it in words they’re not using.

And that’s a short route to struggle and frustration.

Agree?  Disagree?  Thoughts?  Please leave your comments and questions!

I have a confession to make.

I’ve never clicked on Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.

Why?  Because I don’t know what it will do.  When I’m searching for something on Google, I don’t want to waste my time going somewhere that doesn’t get me closer to my goal.

Several years ago, I worked with a web designer who wanted to create a series of interlocking bubbles to represent the different aspects of the client’s business.  For the home page.  Just looking at the design sketches made my head hurt.  It would have been a confusing nightmare for site visitors.

The impulse to be unique and different is great.  The difference and uniqueness of your work and how you do it make you stand out from others doing similar work.  Obviously, we all need that!

But when that impulse to be different leads you into difference just because you can, or just because it’s cool or cute, then you create problems.  If your site visitors don’t get it, they won’t stick around and try to figure it out – any more than I’ve ever stuck around to figure out Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.  So if your navigation, for instance, doesn’t follow the norms we’ve come to expect, your visitor won’t explore.  He’ll leave.

Watch your own reactions to sites that don’t make sense to you.  Be mindful of how they make you feel, what you choose to explore, and what you choose to click away from.  Be aware of the emotional reactions you have to these sites, especially the ones you give up on as too confusing or unclear to bother with.

Then set aside your pride of ownership and take a look at your own site with that same mindfulness and honesty.  What do you see and experience?

The place to be unique and different is in tone, personality, and – most importantly – your ability to understand your best clients’ problems so you can offer solutions that make compelling sense to them.  Be unique and different in the value you offer your clients, not in the ways you make it hard for them to perceive and understand that value! 

Google knows people won’t leave their website.  And they’re known for being quirky.  Search is their primary offering, and everyone knows how to search on Google.  They’re not jeopardizing any aspect of their business with the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.

So even though that button appears to break the rules I’m describing, it actually doesn’t.  They’re perfectly clear and unambiguous about the value they offer:  search.  The “I’m Feeling Lucky” button is an expression of their personality, and it doesn’t obscure the primary message one iota.

And as small businesses – as businesses of any size – that’s what we all have to do:  know, without any doubt or confusion, the value we offer to our clients.

When you know what that value is, and you can explain it in words that speak directly to your clients’ needs, wants, and fears, you’ll stop feeling like you need those cute, cool, or “interesting” features on your website.  You’ll feel confident in your natural ability to communicate the value of your offer, commanding your clients’ attention and earning their business.

Now, I’ve piqued my curiosity enough that I think it’s time I experimented with “I’m Feeling Lucky”…

Thoughts?  Ideas?  Agreement – or disagreement?  Leave a comment and let’s talk about it!

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post.  Instead, I’ve been busy making long-overdue changes to the website.  Finally!

You’ll find content updates scattered throughout the main pages, including a reorganization of my Services offerings.

The biggest change, in terms of both structure and content, is that I’ve brought my archived articles into a blog format of their very own.  I may be crazy not to have simply integrated them here!  But I still think that the articles are more in-depth “how to” material, with practical action steps for people to take – whereas here we have more opinion-related materials.

(That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.  For now, anyway.)

In the process of organizing those articles – which you can now search or browse by topic, as my readers have been asking me about for ages! – I realized I also needed to re-organize this blog to bring it into synch.  So the blog and the articles now have the same categories and tags – with a couple of extras over here to account for posts like this (“News”).

Another nice change is that you can now leave comments on the articles – something else readers have been asking about for a while now.  So I invite you to go take a look – hunt up your favourite article, if you have one – leave a comment or a question on any of them that catch your attention – and if you’re not signed up to get the articles in your email, you can do that as well!

Enjoy!

(And with any luck, now that that’s all taken care of, I can get back to a more regular blogging schedule…)

Talking with a potential client about the price I was quoting for his writing project, I heard these words:

“But I provide all the content!  I give you all the content, you just write it!” 

The implication was clear:  he’s doing all the work, so I should charge less.

That’s like telling a master jeweller that – because you brought him the gold and diamonds for your ring – you did all the work, so he shouldn’t charge you for his craftsmanship in shaping the piece into an expression of his artistry and your personality.

It’s like telling a professional chef that – because you brought her all the ingredients for the dinner she cooked – you did all the work, so she shouldn’t charge you for her understanding of how to meld the ingredients, bringing out the sublime flavor and aroma to delight your senses.

It’s like telling your website designer and technical developer that – because you provided all the information about style, color, page flow, and wording – she shouldn’t charge you for her expertise in creating a design that represents what your business is and does, or for her technical knowledge of how to create a smoothly-working site.

Service providers function at many different levels and offer many different styles.  Not every service provider is a fit for every person seeking services – and nor should they be; that would be impossibly boring for all of us. 

This means there are some service providers whose style and expertise fit what you want, and others whose style and expertise aren’t a fit for your needs. 

When you’re looking for services, it’s crucial to understand what you really want, and to keep looking until you find it.  And if you provide services, it’s crucial to listen to that small voice telling you when someone isn’t actually looking for what you offer.

Do you want to hire someone who will rework your materials into something acceptable?  That’s fine, if that’s what you want and can afford. 

Or do you want to hire someone who can see, hear, and feel beyond the immediate obviousness of your raw materials into who you are?  Someone whose creation for you will be a true expression of your personality, of what matters to you?

The prices will be different.  And so will the results.

It’s your choice.

But don’t insult the craftsperson by telling them you’re doing all the work because you brought the raw materials.

Recently I’ve noticed how some people are using generosity as a promotional tool.

If reading that made you feel an internal “eww,” “ick,” or “ugh,” welcome to the club.  Being the recipient of that type of generosity creates those reactions for me, plus a strong urge to vacate the premises (whether that be website, mailing list, or whatever).

Content marketing works.  There’s real power in giving things away.  So I suppose it’s inevitable that these realities – these marketing truths – have been corrupted into something quite different from the original intent.

But let’s be clear. 

Content in “content marketing” refers to value

It doesn’t mean thanking me for my participation in a survey by offering to add me to your list so I can receive weekly free motivational quotes. 

Giving in “power of giving things away” refers to value

It doesn’t mean giving me your library of articles to send to my subscribers, as long as I keep your author byline and website link intact. 

In the last two weeks, I was the recipient of both those expressions of “generosity.” 

In the first case, the person involved literally told me, via email, that she believed that “givers get,” so she was offering to put me on her free list.

In the second case, it was an offer made in email from someone whose list I’d just signed up for.   I’m still trying to understand what value his articles would provide for my audience; both my area of focus and my audience are quite different from his!

Now, of course when we use generosity as part of our marketing strategy, we do so with the hope and expectation that some of the people to whom we’re giving will come back and buy from us.

But when we lose focus on the value part, the message we send is just another tired, slightly sleazy marketing ploy.  

It’s got to be done in a spirit of true generosity. 

To me, that means three things.

1. As a group, I expect that a certain percentage of the people I give things to will ultimately buy from me.
2. To individuals in that group, I give freely and without expectation that any single person to whom I give will be one of the ones who buys from me.
3. Everything I give is given in the hopes that it will be helpful.  Whether it’s an article, a blog post, a half-hour free consult on the phone, a meeting for coffee and brainstorming – whatever it might be – I give it with no other motivation than to be helpful in that moment, for that person.

When generosity comes with an expectation or a string attached, it’s not generosity any more.

It sends a completely different – and probably not very effective – message to your audience.

What’s been your experience with generosity – for yourself, and in what you see others doing?

In the spirit of generosity, and expecting that you’ll find this useful and perhaps choose to buy from me, I’d like to point you to a free download of the first chapter of my just-released program The Art & Science of Great Testimonials: a step-by-step guide to powerful social proof. You can download the sample material here: http://www.svahaconcepts.com/great_testimonials_sample. And you can read the full program description at http://www.svahaconcepts.com/great_testimonials.

Networking. 

As small business owners, we have to do it – whether online or in person, and whether with enjoyment or resistance.

But when we do it, what is it we’re really trying to accomplish?

I imagine you’ve experienced those crazed networkers who – quite literally in some cases – charge into events with a box of business cards under one arm and dash through the room all evening handing them out to everyone in sight.  (I’m not joking.  I’ve seen this done.)

Obviously, that’s not going to create the results they want.  Unless, of course, they’re trying to get rid of a boxful of unwanted business cards.

It’s easy to think that networking is about finding clients.  You meet someone, you talk, you connect, and they hire you.  Lovely!

And yes, sometimes that happens. 

But not often.

Here’s the thing:  networking is really about finding referral partners, not clients.

It’s about making connections with people who do business with your potential clients.  It’s about understanding what these people do, so you build your own list of people whose services and products you trust, and can recommend to others. 

And it’s about being very sure that these people understand exactly what you do, so they know when to refer people to you.

I wrote about becoming more effective at getting referrals in a recent newsletter article,  “The Path to Referrals,” as well as in a recent blog post,  “One simple step = more referral business.” 

It’s a common misconception that referrals come primarily from happy past customers.  Sure, some of them do – but most of them will come from your network of people who never have, and probably never will, purchase anything from you. 

And developing that network is where your networking can be most effective.  Don’t ignore opportunities to connect with potential clients when you’re networking - but don’t make that your primary focus.

Agree?  Disagree?  What’s your experience with networking?  Leave a comment and let’s talk!

I’m in the middle of writing an article about how to talk with your referral partners. 

And I realized that there’s one step that most people don’t do, or don’t do effectively.

It’s an important step, it’s a very simple step, and it also doesn’t fit with the rest of my article – so here it is as a blog post.

Ask specifically

That’s all there is to it. 

But that may not be quite enough for you to take action, so let me explain a little further. 

Consider these two requests. 

1. If you know anyone who would enjoy this blog post, please forward the link to him or her.
2. Who’s the first person you can think of who needs more referral business?  Forward the link – they’ll love you for it!

If you noticed your reaction to each of those in turn, you probably found that the first one created a feeling of general agreement.  Of course you’ll do that; you’re a nice person.  Just as soon as someone mentions needing more referral business, you’ll point them at this blog post.  (What are the odds you’ll remember?)

However, I’d bet that someone specific – by name – came to mind for you when reading the second request.  Even if a specific name didn’t pop into your head, I’d still bet that you spent more time thinking about it – almost involuntarily – than you did after reading the first request.

The mind can’t resist a question that asks for something very specifically and clearly.  Your audience will automatically think of someone specific if you ask them to.  And the chances that they’ll then refer your work to that person are obviously significantly higher than if they never think of the person in the first place.

Asking specifically has two components

First, ask them to think of one person.  Just one.  And phrasing it as “Who’s the first person who comes to mind?” is more powerful than just saying, “Who’s one person who comes to mind?”

Second, be specific about the criterion you use.  In this case, it’s “needs more referral business.”  Whatever criterion you select, it must be relevant to the topic at hand.  If you’re making a request to forward your article or a blog link, the request should have to do with the topic you wrote about.  If it’s a request during a conversation at a networking event, the request should have to do with what you were talking about.

That’s all there is to it.

What was your last experience with asking for referrals?  Tell us about it in the comments section!

I got an email from American Express on Thursday.  Seems my account had been compromised and there were fraudulent charges on my card.

Theft, in other words.

But this isn’t a story about theft, or even about my overwhelming curiosity about how in the world did they know those charges aren’t mine?  (Kind of creepy, really, even though it’s nice that they do know.) 

In fact, it’s not a story about American Express at all, though I will say that their customer service is superb.

It’s about the ways businesses communicate with their customers.

There was one charge on my account that I couldn’t place.  It wasn’t very much – a $6.50 purchase through PayPal.  But apparently credit card thieves use small charges like that to test whether they’ve got a “live” card number or not, which is why the AmEx representative wanted me to verify it.

I couldn’t place it.  The company name wasn’t familiar to me.  The item purchased?  Not a clue from the transaction record.

I told AmEx it wasn’t mine, because I didn’t have any idea what it was.  Later that night, though, it suddenly dawned on me:  I’d bought a knitting pattern online over the weekend.  Oh, yeah.  I called AmEx back and told them to release that transaction from the fraud inquiry.

The point here is that you want to be crystal clear about who you are in every instance when you’re communicating with a customer – and especially when that communication has anything to do with money!  If I hadn’t remembered what that charge was and called back to reclaim it as something I should pay for, the author of the pattern would have been out his fee. 

The chances that this will happen to your business – that your customer’s credit card will be hacked and that a payment to you will be denied – are obviously very slim.  And of course in this instance, $6.50 isn’t all that much.

But there’s much more at stake than just a $6.50 transaction. 

Because ultimately this is about credibility and visibility.

You want to be viewed as a serious business – and you want your customers to know who you are. 

Whether it’s your caller ID when you call them, the entry on their credit-card statement, your email address, or any other touch-point, you want them to be absolutely clear on who you are.  And you want them to be absolutely clear that who you are is wholly professional.

Where are your communication touch-points?

Are they completely clear?

And what are your experiences with other unclear communication from other businesses?