Your pitch - are you a ‘we’ or a ‘you’.

Your pitch - are you a ‘we’ or a ‘you’.

That’s to say, in your promotional materials – web, brochure, blog, e-mails, correspondence etc – do you wax lyrical about yourselves, your skills, your corporate longevity, the latest XY 31/B casting machine you have just installed and so on.

Or do you tell your audience, customers, prospects, readers how much they’ll benefit in terms of their own success, security, value, loyalty by buying the product or service from you.

[This as a 'we' copy example - but not quite. This landing page knows it is 'we we'ing' - but in order to emphasise the 'you' as you'll see below.]

There may well be a place and justification for corporate specifications to be stacked up and compared by the reader, but it’s not the headline, front page news you thought it was. You might be excited about your new XY31/B casting machine, but why should I be.

The lead proposition prospective clients want to know is – have you thought about us, the client, do you really know what we need? And why we need it? And how, with it, our lives / businesses will improve?

[Agreed, this is B2C, but there is no reason why B2B should ignore it - your prospects and customers are people too.]

Empathy.

Corporate websites, particularly B2B, are often overlooked linguistically. The message is too often ‘we’ ‘we’ ‘we’, set amongst a list of ISOs and professional associations. Yes, important, but it ‘docks the sale’ not ‘floats the boat’.

Most towns and cities have a particular street where all the estate Agents, Solicitors or Building Societies have offices / outlets. The Internet and the Inbox are the same. Drive past and try to spot the difference. Which do you choose? What distinguishes one from another?

Well it’s branding, headline, message.

Your branding is the ultimate corporate ‘we’. But your headline and proposition can change, pitch, consider, with that all important empathy turning the ‘we’ into the ‘you’.

Your business will enjoy a positive difference and increased inbound activity if you use ASPIRUS Words to review it and your e-mail CRM.

To find out more about WORDS and MARKETING services from ASPIRUS Words, just click one of the two images below:

Are your CRM prospects tired of blank e-mails too ?

Have you considered how much easier your busy life would be if you could actually see the gist of the e-message in the browser to support the subject.

In the brain sharing business communities where many heads, thoughts, techniques, support services really are better than trying to do it all yourself, you might just miss an e-mail that really would have been useful to consider.

But when so many of them look like this:

…understandably you’ll move on.

What have you missed though. And, heaven forbid if your own e-mail marketing fails to strike a cognitive chord with your intended reader because they fail to be moved by a blank screen.

It really is easy to get it right as you’ll see, it just needs a little ASPIRUS thinking.

Too many e-designers of marketing departments use HTML designs with big picture graphic intros to head the proposition. Even using template design platforms such as Mail Chimp and Dot Mailer can deliver 'nothing' if you lead with a picture or corporate graphic...

...you / they get a blank box with a red X in the corner.

It really is natural to want to have a logo, branding and visuals in the message - after all a picture does paint a thousand words, doesn't it. But the words can only be visualised if the e-mail is opened and the images enabled.

Your audience is less likely to open your e-mail if they can't instantly see relevance. The only way to achieve this and lift open rates is to lead with text - the right words - saying the right thing - to the right people.

The right words

The right message

The right audience

Satisfy all three and your open rates will increase dramatically.

By making an articulate, clear offer on Injection Moulding tooling to IM tooling buyers - WITHOUT a blank box with a red X in it we achieved a fabulous and relevant open rate. Click to enable images ...

and you can do all your branding a product / service visualisation just half a scroll down the screen.

To find out more about WORDS and MARKETING services from ASPIRUS Words, just click one of the two images below:

Up to speed or just chugging along

On a speed awareness course last week (46 in the 40 limited A14 road works at Kettering, 11.30 at night, quiet road…) the group of about 20 was asked … on a scale of 1 to 10 how good a driver do you think you are? Where 1 is ‘leave your keys and walk home’ and 5 is the average driver’.

Now, this was interesting for a number of reasons. When I have been asked the ‘on a scale of 1 – 10’ self-awareness question before to measure, for example, health, sporting activity, pensions adequacy, or just to feedback on the quality of hotel staff – I and I’m sure you have been told how poor the 1 is and how exemplary the 10 is.

But this course left its delegates to consider the values of 6 to 10 – just how good is 10 and how do you realistically measure it? Is excellence achievable?

This utterly mixed bag of social, age, sex, occupationally occupied and retired driving offenders answered 4, 5, 6 and a couple went as far as 7 – but nobody dared admit levels of perfection beyond that … and I’m an exemplary driver, it was just bad luck / one of those things / a lapse of concentration that I got caught.

In driving, the rules are clear and they even put signals and signs up all over the place to remind you and keep you on the straight and narrow…

…but in business management, there are no rules and signs, or if you see one (from the bank or solicitor) it’s probably too late.

Now try this question from the business driving seat:

On a scale of 1 -10 where 1 means you shouldn't be running a business and 5 means you’re just chugging along ‘but know you could do better – it’s just one of those things, but you haven’t been caught out … yet!’:

How well do you run your business?

Is it as profitable as it should / could be?

Are you generating enough qualified enquiries?

Are you converting the right type of client or customer?

Are you maximising the profitable returns on business turnover?

How good are you at stepping back to review the way you manage your affairs?

(And here’s a possible 10…) How much does business success equate to lifestyle achievement?

We can help you make a profitable difference to the business you run in exchange for a little of your time – time to work ON your business rather than just IN it.

At a recent seminar I was introduced to the magic 7, aka the & Step Profit Multiplier

These are 7 determinable, manageable, changeable points each of which a relatively small change in business and marketing attitude / effort will increase the profitability of your business. Changing all 7 could (and we do mean could) increase your profits by 86%.

‘Hmmm’ – I hear you say (amongst other un-bloggable comments) and so did I when I first saw it. But it is very difficult to look at the platform without at least being intrigued and at best being inspired.

One thing the first 4 keys and the 6th have in common is that they can and are all affected (and manipulated) by WORDS - the words you use to represent your business, how you package them and how you deliver them.

Could words alone take my 5 score, to a 10 … well via the 7 it just might.

Well, we’re OK with the theory, but in practice every business (even within a sector) is different. We have different keys representing different pivotal opportunities where positive change equals growth.

It is precisely because of these differences that, in Kent, intime PROFIT are introducing a 7 Step Business Builder programme. This assumes / accepts that you are a business owner wanting to unlock the hidden profitability of the business you run. The Business Builder then starts with an initial interview with an intime PROFIT (ITP) Partner at which ITP and the business owner / manager effectively vet each other’s suitability. The Business Builder member then joins a programme alternating a series of Boardroom events with One-to-One meetings.

Great opportunities here for businesses in Kent, but what about everybody else?

At ASPIRUS Words we focus on the quality of the message and its delivery. We work with clients who are good at what they are doing - the service is perfect; the mechanics are tip top; and the figures all add up ... 'if only more people knew about us'. 

Our clients businesses are driven by their owner whose lifestyle is directly affected by profitable turnover. Often it is their personality that differentiates them from the competition and it's that personality that we write into every element of the message. 

From the website to the brochure; from the e-mail campaign to mailshots and general correspondence; and across social media too, the message is congruent and represents the personality and passion of your business.

Take a look at our website for a better idea of what we do and how - just click on the image above.

Back to driving, but in tandem with driving your business. Just as Stopping Time is made up of Thinking Time and Braking Time, so Sustainable Profitability is a combination of Thinking Time and its affect on Profit.

If you want to take a little time out to think, click the image above, call us on 02476 609 104 or e-mail  rodney@aspiruswords.com

02476 609 104

www.aspiruswords.com