• Innovative Strategies That Create More Profits

Category: Revenues Private

How Your Brand Can Create A Competitive Advantage

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A strong, recognizable brand can help your business succeed, which is why creating an effective brand identity

is not only essential but critical. But how can you make a brand identity to give you a competitive advantage?

This blog post will give you some basic ideas and insights to get you started thinking about your brand and how to create it.

A brand plan document is also essential so everyone in the company and outside vendors

communicates your strategy similarly. You will have an internal (how well the company knows itself)

and external (how well the company connects and relates to others) identity.

If they are both the same, you will have a strong brand. Source: blog.tbhcreative.com

Why do only some companies have a brand strategy? 

First, most business leaders feel they already have too many issues. Besides lack of time,

many want to avoid putting their budget into jeopardy when there isn’t enough money

to do the things they already feel are required. Yes, it can take time and lots of thought.

Some CEOs neglect brand identity because they need to understand its importance.

And it is getting more critical every day. Also, they must have all the information they need to apply

their knowledge to a brand strategy program. But, consumers’ attention span is getting shorter and shorter every day.

Also, technology is making the barrier to entry for new companies and products more accessible.

And even legacy brands need help to stay relevant in the marketplace.

A strong brand identity is not a luxury. It is crucial for businesses to differentiate themselves from competitors.

But it will help you acquire clients, earn more profits and stay top of mind with clients.

 What Is A Brand Identity?

“Brand identity is the collection of all elements that a company creates to portray

the right image to its consumer.” (a quote from “99 designs.com).

 

Brand identity, defined by ” proofbranding.com,” combines all the elements a company

creates and projects to represent an image and entice a feeling when people interact.

It’s the process of shaping and molding the impact your products and services leave on a customer.

Essentially, your brand identity is the personality of your business and a promise to your customers.

Here is another definition from feedough.com. Brand identity is the company’s side of the story.

It’s how the company feels that the consumers should perceive it. Efforts like developing a brand

outlook, personality, and design are some strategies used to make the brand uniquely

identify itself in the crowd of competitors. It’s an aggregate of brand name,

tagline, brand voice, brand positioning, brand associations, and brand personality.

 

The Process Of Creating A Brand Strategy

 

Creating a brand strategy can be complicated and take some time to prepare. However, having a

brand strategy is critical if your goal is to be viable and profitable. You need to take

some basic steps from Mike Moser’s book,” Together We Stand,” to get started with your brand strategy.

Step One: Make a list of your core brand values. These are internal core values.

Matters your company considers integral to its existence. They should be simple,

believable, and unassailable. Some examples would be innovation, honesty,

trust, commitment, simplicity, fairness, Etc. Then, select 3-4 that reflect your core value.

 

Step Two: Create and fine-tune your external core values for your brand message.

These will be part of your key message that captures your company’s reason for being.

Put them in writing. For example, quality, integrity, knowledge, innovation,

and passion. The fewer you have, the more you can focus on them,

Step Three: Create and refine your core brand message. This message captures the

critical reason your copay exists. Other messages will also support your key brand message.

Step Four: Determine your brand personality. Your brand personality will

determine your company’s tone and attitude to deliver your core brand message.

Step Five: Clarify and prioritize your brand icons. A brand icon is anything unique

to your brand that brings up an image of your brand in the customer’s mind.

 

Steps one through four will help your brand values and messages. Step five will help you evaluate

and choose appropriate colors, typefaces, layouts, music, and signage for your brand signage.

Finally, prepare a step-by-step guide for your brand. Put all the critical information

on one sheet of paper so everyone in the company and anyone you use

outside the company to help you with messaging will be on the same page.

 

Why Is Brand Identity Important?

 

Besides the rationale that brand identity makes the brand unique and identifiable in the market,

here are some other important aspects of brand identity from feedough.com. While brand identity is the

outward expression of the brand, brand image is how the customers perceive it. Identity is vital

for the business as it creates the brand image. However, it’s a task for the marketer

to make customers form an idea of the brand similar to its identity.

Brand identity helps the brand develop its unique stance and differentiate itself from others.

This differentiation also helps create a positioning strategy and get a loyal customer base in the market.

Consistency is the most critical aspect of branding, and brand identity gives rise to consistency.

A consistent outward expression is essential to be perceived as the brand.

A brand identity is the visual identity and representation tool to express the brand’s personality.

For smaller businesses, according to tomango.co.uk, a good brand identity positions you in your

customer’s minds as providing quality worth paying for. If you want to attract more

customers prepared to spend more money, getting your identity right gets

them through the door, primed and ready to splash the cash.

 

Without A Brand Strategy, You Can Face Some Problems. 

 

According to proofbranding.com, you could have some of these problems if you don’t have a brand strategy.

You may make decisions without a clear understanding of who you are and your “mission,”

so you make decisions that don’t reflect your values. Your pathway to meeting your objectives

needs to be clarified because you may need a corporate and marketing strategy and plan.

 

You may not have all of your employees working from the same page and representing your

company with the same brand story to every customer. Your communications programs –

from your website to your content marketing- which may be confusing prospects and customers.

 

Conclusion 

 

The bottom line: Even though Apple products are quality-wise on the same level as the competition,

Apple can charge a premium price. In the minds of its customers, its effects are worth more

than many other technology brands. This perception has a lot to do with brand identity. So what can you learn from Apple?

By creating a robust and unique brand identity, you, too, can attract high-paying customers.

 

Do you currently have a brand strategy? Are you thinking about creating one? Love to hear your thoughts.

Cheers,     Jim Zitek

Harborcapitalgroupinc.com

Where Innovative Strategies Fix Revenue Problems

What Is Marketing Strategy?

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What Is A Marketing Strategy?

The word strategy is often misused and overused.

We are going to talk about how marketing strategy creates revenues in this article.

 However, I wanted to start this discussion with some simple definitions of strategy so everyone would be on the same page.

A strategy is a tool or method used to identify and solve a problem or exploit an opportunity

and devise a way to achieve the desired goal, often on a longer-term basis.  

A business strategy is using this tool to identify a problem that is preventing the company from reaching a specific goal (i.e.product, revenues)

or preventing the company from moving forward on an opportunity it believes may be available. 

The method for doing this is to turn the “goal” into a reachable, measurable objective.

Then diagnose the problem or opportunity to create an insightful solution.

The solution, based on the company’s resources (time, money. talents), dictates what the company will do and will not do to achieve the objective.

Then you translate your general policy into a coherent execution plan. This business strategy is the company’s story.

 

A Marketing Strategy Is How You Tell Your Story. 

 

A business strategy is from the company’s point of view; a marketing strategy is from the customer’s point of view.

So, marketing strategy uses the business strategy to guide the marketing strategy.

Still, it uses the same process of defining an achievable and measurable objective, a diagnosis of how to reach that objective.

Then it creates coherent programs and tactics to achieve that objective. 

But, marketing strategy is more than just advertising – it’s about connecting with the customer.

Marketing strategy comprises three major components; targeted marketing, the business offering, and achieving a competitive advantage.

Then you design a cohesive execution plan. Once implementation starts, you need to measure and consistently improve your results.

A marketing strategy enables the company to communicate with prospects and turn them into customers.

It’s about connecting with the customer.

Marketing strategy contains the company’s value proposition, brand, and positioning, product differentiation,

and other information designed to implant the brand’s offering into the mind of the targeted consumer.

Today, social media marketing is becoming a significant part of marketing strategy.

It’s a hugely compelling way to drive traffic, build brand awareness, and take advantage of the many digital opportunities available.

According to sixads.com, about 54% of social media users use social platforms to research products and brands,

and 89% of consumers who follow a particular brand will purchase from that brand.

Marketing Problems and Challenges

 

While marketers face many problems, Investopedia identifies the following four challenges as the most common. 

Fierce competition from competitors and no clear product differentiation

Not reaching the right prospects in your targeted market (traffic but few conversions)

Inconsistent messages preventing you from building a brand that lives in the prospect’s mind

Potentially poor use of resources because of hit-and-miss programs instead of a well-thought-out marketing strategy.

A strategy forces you to define a clear, reachable, and achievable objective and pathway to achieve that objective.

 

Too often, marketing companies focus on what they do — warning:

Prospects don’t care what you do; they care about what you do for them.

A marketing strategy focuses on what you do for targeted customers.

A strategy will also keep you from trying “this and that,” which is often a waste of time and resources.  

 

A marketing strategy aims to achieve a sustainable, competitive advantage over the competition.

You accomplish this by deeply understanding the target customers’ real needs and wants.

Regardless of the communication tool used, marketing is judged by how effectively it communicates the company’s core value proposition.   

How To Create A Marketing Strategy 

 

A marketing strategy is a detailed plan of a company’s promotional efforts across various platforms and channels.

It includes objectives, target audience profiles, content creation steps, key performance indicators, and other components.

Hubspot.com identifies the following components as part of a marketing strategy.

In addition,  I cover many other components and objectives like positioning, creating differentiation, value propositions, brand creation, etc., in other articles.

 

Marketing Objectives

 

Start with the marketing program’s overall objective to determine how the marketing strategy creates revenues.

Then the objectives for each strategy element and the objectives of each communications program or tactic you plan to use.

All of these must be in sync with the business and marketing strategy.

Again, make them achievable and measurable. With every objective, be as specific as possible. 

Marketing Budget

Your budget depends on the programs you want to implement, but it also depends on the targeted market or niche selected.

You can start with a definite value proposition to a targeted small niche market and expand the target market as profits increase.

 

You can develop your marketing programs more quickly if you have the resources (time, talent, and money)

and an agreed-upon strategy. Also, the marketing budget must sync with your plan’s objectives and tactics. 

 

Competitive Analysis

Knowing your competition is critical when creating your marketing strategy.

For example, compare your business model against your competitors.

This analysis will give you information and a visual perspective and make sharing this information with all your employees easy.

Analyzing each business model element will enable you to look for weaknesses and opportunities to exploit. 

Client/Prospect Analysis

Marketing is about knowing your prospects and clients. Not just geographic, psychographic, and location, but what’s in their mind.

Clients and prospects may already have perceptions and opinions about your products and services

and those of your competitors. You want to find out if they do and what they are. 

This information is what your marketing will be about – creating a preferred space in their mind for your product.

In today’s competitive world, you need to own a piece of real estate in your prospect’s mind.

Once you understand your position and your competitors’ positions, you can begin to create your marketing programs, including:

developing and maintaining your band,

differentiating your product from the competition  

positioning your product well in the prospect’s mind.

You are ready to begin designing and creating the message you want to send your prospects,

including advertisements, brochures, websites, white papers, video messages, content marketing, blogs, podcasts, publicity, and more.

 

Monitor Your Marketing Programs

 

Marketing performance measures marketing campaigns’ success and shows

how well campaigns are tracking toward key performance indicators. They are also essential elements of any campaign,

and marketing teams need them to understand whether their marketing strategy is successful.

 

 Following are some metrics Amazon suggests for different channels that you should consider:

They will help you make better decisions about optimizing your programs and budgets.

 

Email marketing: as email opens, email forwards, and unsubscribes

Digital marketing: click-through rate, cost-per-action (CPA), and impressions

Social media: follower count, impressions or reach, and engagement rate.

Website: total traffic, bounce rate, new customers, returning customers, time spent on site and traffic sources, as well as conversions.

Content marketing: blog traffic, amount of content shared, content downloads, qualified leads

through lead generation form and the progress of prospects throughout the sales funnel.

Video: impressions and total viewing time, followers, comments. etc

Sales: with direct sales, sales team response time, sales call volume, and sales call reviews

Revenue: how much revenue each channel generates the cost of that revenue, repeat sales, client turnover, and profits. 

SEO: organic traffic, average keyword rankings, keyword search volume, and 

Quality: Quality Score, reviews, and monthly recurring revenue.

Conclusion

 

Marketing strategy enables you to communicate your core value proposition effectively

and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

You can only sell your products or services by appealing to those most likely to buy those products and services.

Marketing strategy is a powerful way to target prospects in your niche or globally. 

The research required to create your marketing strategy helps you understand your prospects and customers

and enables you to deliver products and services people want.

However, you need to keep up with the many changes constantly occurring in the marketplace. 

With today’s digital information sources and availability, small businesses can

access hyper-detailed information about prospective customers.

You will be able to get other behavior like online activity, buying activity, video activity,

and if they get their information from phone apps or a laptop computer.

 

Marketing strategy helps you create, differentiate, position your brand,

and convert those leads into customers. It also helps maximize your return on investment and also helps minimize the sales cycle.

If you are iterated in growing your business and market share, a marketing strategy is a must-do and worth more than the time it takes.

 

You might want to check out these two articles for more information. What is a Business Strategy?

And How your  Value Proposition defines your website’s success.

Table of Contents: Marketing Straregy

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This Post is the table of contents for the Revenues module. Please review the articles you want to look at and click on the article. It will take you to that article. You can then click back to this page and select another article you want to read or re-read, You also have the option to simply read all of the articles as they were posted on this module. 

If you have questions, you can email us from the contact page and post your questions there. Also, if you have a suggestion for an article you or others would like information about, email us, and we will look into it. You can email us at https://https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com/contact-us.

Marketing Strategy

Marketing Mastery: Unveiling the Strategy Behind Success

Why Is Marketing Strategy Important?

Why Marketing Strategies Are So Important

Your Value Proposition Is The Key To Revenue and Profit Generation.

Why Customer Lifetime Value Is So Critically Important

 Follow Up, Then Follow Up Again

Work Your Customer List First

Reverse The Customer’s Risk And Increase Sales

 

Website

How To Turn Your Website Into A Selling Machine

Outbound Marketing

Outbound Marketing – Its Importance and Benefits

How To Use Your Website to Build  An Enormous eMail List

Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing – Its Importance and Benefits

Using LinkedIn,  Inbound And Outbound Marketing Program

Messaging

Positioning Is The Battle For Your Mind

Positioning: A Competitive Breakthrough

What Does Customer-Centered Mean?

How Empathy Improves Marketing Results 

How to find your perfect market niche

Differentiation Is The Key To Profits

SEO

What you need to know about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Are Search Engines Missing Your Website?

Whiteboards

In Our Video World, Whiteboard Animation Is Growing Rapidly

Why Create A Whiteboard Animated Video

Elements of A Whiteboard Animated Video

Direct Mail

Important Ways To Improve Your Direct Mail Marketing[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

 Follow Up, Then Follow Up Again

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Each time you do a mailing, follow it up with a summary of the offer with another mailing or postcard for the people who didn’t receive the first one. Give them some sense of urgency and a Call-to-action. Then, five days later, follow with a phone call if possible. This process will boost response.

Because you are following up, you will be able to inform them of the available new or additional products.

Let them know you appreciate their initial business and that you are trying to keep them informed. This continuous follow-up will deepen their comfort level. And they will begin to see you as a friend. Adding this personal touch will pay off big at the cash register.

When you plan your follow-up, it can be by email, phone, or mail. Regular mail is more expensive but is unusual compared to text and email.

Never let a customer walk away and never contact them again. If you assume they are not interested, think again. It may be they didn’t want to buy on that day, but today they are ready. Maybe they need more information; perhaps they didn’t have time and wanted to mull it over a while. Maybe they have saved up some money.

If you show them how simple it can be, take care of most of the transaction, and simplify the process, more of them will buy from you.

Try following up several times with different ways to follow up. Let us know what happened or if you found a better way to followup up.

Work Your Customer List First

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Work Your Customer List First

The first thing you should do to improve revenues and profits is to work on your customer list. However, there are situations where going outside may be more lucrative. It all depends on your situation.

Once you determine the lifetime value of your customer, you’ll want to spend as much money as you need to, but never more than a lifetime value of the customer, to get as many new customers as you can.

For example, if the lifetime value of a customer is $50 per year and you don’t do anything to sell them a second time, you have a limited budget. However, if you can upsell them to $75 and you can get them to three purchases a year ($225), all of a sudden, you have four times the marketing budget.

When you have four times the budget, you can run ads when your competitors can’t, you can offer lucrative sales commissions, you can do promotions when competitors can’t, they don’t understand where the profit is, but you do.

Next, you can “out package” your competition. 

You can add more products or more value to your proposition to get new clients. Find and talk to a joint venture partner and explain the concept of “lifetime value.” By explaining the concept of “ lifetime value, “ you can convince them to give you (either free, for cost, or less than cost) products and services with a high perceived value and high-profit margin.

They will give you these products because you will be able to convince them that for every ten people you give their product to, as a bonus for buying your product, they’ll get two or three new clients with potential long-term, ongoing revenues. This idea will enable both of you to do incredible deals. You both get more clients with a potentially good lifetime value.  

However, you’ve got to give them the information they need to embrace the idea. Walk them through your proposal and acknowledge and identify all the inherent negatives and fears and then overcome those fears. When they understand how the backend works, it will make sense to them.

Another Strategy Is To Joint Venture With A Competitor

The idea is to acquire a competitor’s customer list that they don’t recognize as valuable. Ask them to give you the names of their inactive customers or ask for the customers who have canceled. Or that they couldn’t convert. Offer to reciprocate with a dollar amount per name or share of the profits.

Your competitors may have spent thousands of dollars building their list. For you to share your profits with them will save you time and money. And for them, they would never have tried to reactivate these people or customers. So from what they saw as lost customers or prospects, they could now make thousands of dollars quickly.

Conclusion

These are ideas to think about. You can modify the types of companies and products (offerings) in many different ways. If you use this strategy.

Let us know how it works.

Why Marketing Strategies Are So Important

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Most people think the thing to do when cash is tight is the cut down on their marketing budget, assuming they don’t have the money for marketing. That’s the wrong approach. People often think this way because their marketing‘s not generating the kind of revenues they thought. This negative thinking is shortsighted. You have to rethink what you’re doing.

Marketing is the lifeblood of any business. Without effective and measurable marketing, all companies will suffer. Refocus your efforts on marketing your business, and you’ll have a better chance of success.

Your company has to be seen as the only logical solution to your customer’s problem to build success. That’s a marketing challenge, not a quality challenge or a product development challenge.

Competition is a fact of life. But start focusing on marketing as the most crucial purpose in your business. It is possible that marketing alone will give you the revenues and profits needed to meet your goals.  

The essential function of a business is marketing and innovation. Everything else is an expense. Innovation is defined here as offering more value to a customer. Your primary job then is to attract customers. 

The Problem 

Most business people spend their careers in one or perhaps two fields at most, and their experts in this field create a form of myopia or tunnel vision. All they know is the basic approach to business and marketing the people in their industry practice. They probably have no familiarity with different successful techniques and strategies that drive other industries.

One Solution

Suppose you learn 10 or 15 ways other industries market and added them to their own very myopic marketing. In that case, they could transcend and catapult their company above their competitors. And instantly turn their tunnel vision into a funnel vision Dash funneling profits directly to their bottom line.

This section on marketing strategy will cover strategies different industries use to generate revenues. You will want to try one at a time and then measure and test your results so you can keep improving them.  

How To Turn Your Website Into A Selling Machine

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Unless you are an eCommerce company, entrepreneurs want their website to make the company look “professional.” That’s great, but websites are the number one selling tool that most companies have, so they should be used by everyone to sell its products and services. It can both look “professional” and sell our products and services.

For starters, you need to look at your website’s structure to make sure you have structured a persuasive story. Following is a website structure that will guide you to a successful website.

According to Yoast, Site structure refers to how you organize your website’s content. A website often consists of content on a variety of related topics. The site structure deals with how this content is grouped, linked, and presented to the visitor. If you structure your website well, it will benefit from this structure; users will find their way more easily, and Google can better index your website.

Layout each section on paper first, so you don’t have to make any changes later during and after development. There are nine sections in this discussion. Colors and images are fine, and you need to use them, but it’s words that sell.

Don MIllier, author and CEO of storybrand.com, has a simple, straightforward way to look at your website, making sense and is easy to use. Look at your website and compare it to this list,

1 Header

First impressions are important. The first 10 seconds the customer lands on your page are the most critical. They decide to stay or leave. Others say 20 seconds is what you have or the first 100 words.

Don’t be cute or clever. Be simple, clear. You need to answer three questions; first, what do you offer? How will it make the customer’s life better? What do they need to do to buy it? This is where you get your CTA.

Don’t be passive-aggressive aggressive with CTA. like “learn more.” The customer needs something to accept or reject. You can even have two CTA‘s in the header. Images are good and happy people are hard to beat.  But, if you sell cakes, show great cakes.

2 The Problem or Situation

This is the failure section. Stories love tension. Most stories start with a character who wants something. Then challenges are placed between the character and what the character wants. The closing of the distance makes the story work—a positive scene, followed by a negative scene.

What is the cost of not doing business with you? What is not having a clear, powerful messaging costing you? How many customers can’t hear your offer in the sea of marketing noise? Your lack of clarity may already be costing you a great deal?.

If there are no stakes in the story, there is no story. How about the pains of losing to competition, not reaching potential, confusion, lost business, missed opportunities, wasted time.

But a little bit of this goes a long way. Maybe show a box with a logo and a sentence or so telling about some pains.  Maybe underneath the box, three columns with some points that you want to make.

4 Value proposition

It is a good idea to put this section after stakes position after negotiation; stories love the contrast. Contrasting scenes work well. What value will the customer receive if they do business with you? Tell customers everything they get:  can they save money, save time, reduce risk, get quality, simplify their life.

Be specific. The visual. Maybe a box again with 123 and the different points that you want to make. It would be best if you had a headline on top of the visual; otherwise, people won’t read it.

5 The guide

Provide an incredible return on their investment. Focus on the customer,  Lose sleep over your customer’s success.

The Guide is an empathetic and authoritative person to help the customer get where he wants to be. He understands their challenge and helps people achieve it.

A couple of ways to show this are testimonials, logos of companies you’ve worked with. A simple statistic, many people you’ve helped tons of people for example

Don’t overdo authority. Make sure you don’t use too much authority and not enough empathy. Three testimonials will show both. Keep testimonials short and to the point.

The same is true for overcoming objections, involving problems, solving problems, adding value. Keep testimonials short; statistics is another way. Show the years you’ve been in business, awards you’ve received, and clients you have served.

5 The Plan

This tells customers the path they need to take to buy the product or service. It may not be obvious to them how to do it. Use three steps. Keep the plan visibly simple.

6 The Explanatory paragraph

Most people don’t stay on the website because there are too many useless words at the top. With this structure, they are already hooked by the time they get here.

This is where the SEO comes from. This explanatory paragraph needs to follow the story outline. One, identify who your customer wants to become, two identify what they want, three, define the problem setting them back, four, position you as their guide, five, share a plan they can use to solve the problem, which includes your product—six calls to action.

Another option. Overcome your client’s objections. List the top five reasons or excuses why they don’t want to work with you. Craft a sentence or two to overcome each objection. Note you can do both of these on the same page.

7  Videos

Videos are becoming very popular. Many sites have them now, and you will need to look at them as a quick way to get your message across quickly and with impact. A

8 Price choices

If you have several price options, you will want to put them after giving them enough information that visitors could make a buying decision.

9  Other Information

All of the above information may not be enough for everyone. Some will want to know more. Here is where this information goes. Those very interested will continue to read on, but most will have exited by this point. They could come back another time, however.  Also, some people will have questions, and this is the place to answer those questions in either narrative format or even a list of questions and answers.

Conclusion

You want a professional-looking site, but you also need a website that delivers a sales message. This structure will help you get both. You don’t have to go one through nine; you can vary the order depending on your message. However, you need to start with a problem and the solution to get the visitor to spend any time looking at your story.\

Does your website have a readable structure? What improvement could you make?

How Your “About” Page Helps You Increase Revenues

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Your “About” page is the second most important page on your website because it shows why you are qualified to do the work you have promised. Once visitors see what you do on your home page, they jump to your about page to see what you are all about. It also sets the tone and authority level for the rest of your website.

 This critical page is necessary for content conversion and then increases revenues because it is the beginning of building trust with your prospects. 

Because your About Page is important, it has to reflect your personality and the way you see things.

The following basic elements are a guide for the content you need to include. Many of the suggestions are from an article in Inc magazine written by Jeff Haden. Another good reference is Hubspot. 

Your about page could be about “Us” (your team or company) or about “Me” a single person, or about “your brand.” Stay consistent; first person (I, or we), second person (you), or third person (he/she/they) throughout your story.

Also, if you want to connect with people, be transparent and honest. If not, they will sense it as they go through your story and dismiss you if they feel you are not being truthful.

Most people find it hard to write about themselves, so ask people you know how they would describe you and what you offer.

Start your story by stating your goal right away, Let them know where you stand and why what you offer is important to them. 

Start with your keyword in the headline

Your headline should include your keyword. You can have a subhead that states the problem, solution, result, and benefit. For example, you could use “About” or Your Name and then have a subhead that contains your core story.

The important thing is that you have to make your point early. By the time they get to the bottom half of the page, many people drop off. Also, your about page can also help you with your Google ranking and organic traffic, so having it SEO optimized is also important.  Neil Patel has lots of examples of how to use your About page.

Move to what the customers need

Generally, people go to your About page because there is some interest or problem they want to solve. For example, reach product-market fit, find new customers, or increase revenues. So, address that problem and show them how you can help solve their problem better than anyone else.

Your About page may say it’s about you and it is. But, what the readers want to know is if you can solve their problem and deliver the results they want. Start with your core story (strategy) and tell them what you do and what they can expect, Be specific, but brief.

Tell them what kind of customers you have

Tell them who your customers are, so they can determine if they fit the way you do business or not. You can also mention who your customers are. For some, those names or companies will be important in their decision.

Also, give them facts not fluff. Don’t tell them how outstanding you are, give them facts, and let them judge for themselves. If you don’t have facts, don’t make them up. Talk about your vision why you do what you do and what you hope to accomplish. If they agree, they may want to come along. Like Simon Sinek says, people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

To Get Conversions and increases in revenues, you need a CTA

You also need a Call to Action (CTA) on your page. For example, what do you want them to do once they have read your page? Do you want them to sign up for your blog, get your lead magnet, watch a video? 

Don’t try to be something you are not

The page has to be condensed around your story. However, don’t write a long, boring, detailed history of your life. 

Often, smaller companies pretend to be bigger than they are. If you are passionate about what you do, they will see it and feel it. Focus instead on how you can help them. For example, because you are smaller, you can give them more attention, get things done faster, and possibly save them money.

 Tell them where you started your journey and some important milestones you achieved along the way. Provide some background about you and what led you to this business. You can tell them about the challenges you faced and why you do what you do today. 

Use real photos. 

Real people in real places. Don’t use stock photos as everyone can spot stock photos, and they take away from your authenticity. You can also use infographics. They can tell a powerful story in a short amount of space. And color helps.

Keep testimonials short and to the point

Have testimonials that make a specific point. Distill them down to just a few sentences. Also, make sure they speak to your story. Also, testimonials can be used to answer anticipated objections in a positive and believable way.

Certifications and awards are important 

If you are in a profession where certifications are required and important, use them. Important awards are also important. But you can easily overdo them. If you have a lot of awards and think they are important, have a special awards page. Remember, this section is about giving you credibility, not glorifying you. 

Your About page must load quickly

Studies have shown that for every second it takes to load your page, There is a 7 percent decrease in conversion rates.

 Always stay in beta

Don’t write this page and forget it. As things change, keep coming back and improving this page. Keep making it more persuasive. You will be able to and it’s very important.  

Some additional questions you should ask yourself

What makes Us different?

How did you evolve to what you are/do today? And how can that help your clients?

Conclusion

Most people do not realize how important the About page can be and therefore put little effort into it. But, it is the second most read page on your site and it needs to be very persuasive in order to start to build a relationship with your prospects. Take the time to prepare and optimize this page and it will help you convert prospects and increase your revenues and profits.

Some additional questions you should ask yourself

What makes Us different?

How did you evolve to what you are/do today? And how can that help your clients?

If you have any questions about this information or about me, send me a message Here

Storytelling In Businesses Is An Effective Sales Tool

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

Why don’t more entrepreneurs use stories to explain their businesses?

The reason maybe they don’t understand the important benefits of storytelling in business

or how compelling stories are. But, defining and crafting a story takes time. Another misconception

is that stories are what the marketing department does.

True. But every employee should be able to tell the company’s story.

But your story needs to start long before there is a marketing department.

If it doesn’t, you could be trying to wordsmith your sales communications later for short-term

tactical gains because you don’t have a competitive advantage. Why?

Most companies have competitors, and everyone may be selling a similar product

at the same price with the same service.

Here is what Ben Horowitz, at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, says:

“The mistake people make is thinking the story is just about marketing, No.

The story is the strategy. If you make your story better, you make your strategy better.”

The story is the engine that drives successful companies. And with today’s technology,

you can tell your story, many times for free, to individuals anywhere in the world.

That makes stories more important than ever.

 

Benefits Of A Storytelling Strategy

 

Stories will help you build and grow your company and your brand.

According to Kevin Smith, the world’s most valuable, innovative, and fastest-growing companies

know the story behind the brand regardless of age, industry, or size. (Airbnb, Apple, Facebook, Tesla, etc.) delivers success.

 

Or Simon Sinek, author of “Start With Why,” put it another way,

“Remember, people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it, And what you do simply proves what you believe.”

 

The following are some of the benefits you will get from a well-crafted story.

 

Stories help you develop and sell your idea. 

Stories simplify big ideas in a way that sticks in one’s mind.

Data can persuade people, but data doesn’t inspire them to act.

Stories help you attract and keep talent and then improve efficiency by keeping everyone on the same page.

Stories help you transfer your beliefs to your audience.

Stories help you keep all employees on the same page and focused on the same mission.

Stories give your company a short- and long-term advantage over competitors.

Facts are essential, but sories connect and motivate people.

People remember stories but not many facts.

 

Stories help you build a brand.

 

Stories  will build a foundation of trust, but a customer’s personal experience will cement

that trust into something that lasts,

Buyers often look to the story to justify the purchase.

Stories can raise the value and, therefore, the price you can charge.

You need a better story if you can’t get a higher price for your brand.

 

Stories help you market your brand to potential customers.

When done right, stories can significantly boost lead generation by many times normal.

Stories grow your sales pipeline — stories make it easier for your ideal customer to recognize your value.

Stories shorten your sales cycle and increase the sale ratio

Stories build your sales pipeline — stories make it easier for your ideal customer to understand your value

Stories Improve the quality of your sales forecast because they attract better-qualified prospects

 

If you are looking to take your startup to the next level, stories are a great way to accomplish that.

Jim Zitek 

 Innovative strategies that create more profits

Do You Know When To Scale?

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

The goal of every founder is that moment when you have product-market fit

and you are ready to scale the business, But understanding when that moment has arrived is difficult.

Many startups jump the gun and begin to scale too quickly and end up just burning cash.

Net; getting the timing right is critical. If you have discovered a pathway to repeatable revenues,

you are beginning to get organic revenues (proving product-market fit) and are convinced you are ready to scale.

In general, you are correct about product-market fit,

But these early sales are most likely from early adopters.

You still have one or two obstacles to get over. According to Steve Blank, if you are introducing

a new product in a new market, you don’t have a market. You have to create the market.

So, as you run out of early adopters, about 16 percent of the market, you will have to educate

buyers who are unfamiliar with you, your product, and its benefits. That will take some time and money to accomplish.

Therefore, after that early revenue peak, your new revenues are likely to begin slowing down rather

than speeding up until you have the mainstream market educated.

So timing is critical because marketing costs from scaling up are rising, and revenues are not.

A lot of companies have been caught in this trap.

If you are introducing a new product into an existing market, your goal is

to take sales away from your competitors. The market is there.

Therefore, you should be able to keep revenues growing with your better product.

However, you still have to cross the chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers,

and they are more skeptical than the early adopters, and it takes time to convince them to switch over to your product.

Therefore, your Scaling should be more in sync with your revenue growth.  Unless, of course, money is no object.

For startups, timing is an essential element that you must always be conscious of.

 On the other hand, Scaling isn’t the same as increasing sales.

Scaling also means enhancing and improving your capacity and capability; scaling requires a well-thought-out plan

(written down) that includes all of your sales and marketing, operational systems,

the technology that will help with both revenue generation and operations,

financial requirements necessary to scale, and potential risks.

At the same time, Scaling also requires that you continue to focus on your customers.

It would be best if you thought like Amazon, which puts billions into infrastructure

and operations to take care of its customers. Is your goal to have your startup scale?

If yes, do you have the profit margins and market size to scale?

If not, you can still have a great business, but it will be hard to attract investors.