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How To Use Pinterest To Build Your Online Audience And Generate Free Website Traffic

How To Use Pinterest To Build Your Online Audience And Generate Free Website Traffic

by | Aug 8, 2020

Give Pinterest a chance

Pinterest… it’s been around since 2010 but in recent years has been swamped by the buzz over newer platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.  However – Pinterest has never gone away and quietly, in the background, it’s growing rapidly and becoming a platform you ignore at your peril. 

Read on to discover exactly why you should be taking notice of Pinterest in 2020 and beyond.

pinterest marketing for beginners training

Pinterest Facts

Here’s a few things you may not know about Pinterest:

 

✔️It’s the second biggest search engine (after Google/YouTube)  2 billion searches per month

✔️There are 400 Million Active Monthly Users on Pinterest (50% outside US) – as of August 2020

✔️A Pinterest pin lasts around 1700 times LONGER (3.5 months) than an Instagram or Facebook (90 mins) post.

✔️ 85% access Pinterest on a mobile device

✔️ 84% of weekly users use Pinterest to help decide what to buy

✔️ 77% of users found a new brand or product via Pinterest

✔️ 40% of Pinterest users have household income over $100k

✔️ 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded – it’s a level playing field

✔️ 48% of pinners use Pinterest for shopping (compared with 14% on Facebook)

Mindset change required!

As mentioned above, Pinterest is a search engine – not a social media platform.  That’s where people get confused, because back in 2010 Pinterest WAS considered a social media platform, meaning you had to work to build up your followers, encourage interaction and engagement, and all the other stuff required by social media –  much of which can be somewhat of a drain on energy and resources.

The important thing to remember is that Pinterest users are there to find things –  perhaps just inspiration and ideas, but often very specific answers to questions – exactly as we’d search on Google.  When you keep this in mind, you’ll begin to see why Pinterest is a valuable marketing channel, with the added bonus of being a visual search engine.  I’ve talked before about the power of visual content –  the human brain is wired to react to visual stimuli way ahead of text, and everything on Pinterest is visual (image, gif, video).  Starting to get the idea?

Repeat after me….. PINTEREST IS A SEARCH ENGINE  🤣

Pinterest and me

I first joined Pinterest in 2011 – back then it was still considered a social network, and at the time, my business was mainly focussed on social media management and training. I was active on Pinterest for 3 or 4 years but began to lose interest – until last year (2019)

Since then I’ve completely revised my Pinterest strategy in line with its search engine functionality.  I’ve learned that keywords are vitally important throughout the platform (bio, board titles/descriptions, pin titles/descriptions), as is pin design – and most importantly, that Pinterest is NOT purely for design-led businesses.

Bloggers in particular can be extremely successful on Pinterest with the right strategy.  I now get a significant amount of web traffic from Pinterest – although Facebook is still currently my primary “social” source.  I know, Pinterest isn’t social media, but Google seems to think it is – at least the Analytics platform. 

 

Will Pinterest work for my business?

There’s a very easy way to find out.  Go to Pinterest (you’ll have to create an account if you don’t have one –  or ask a Pinterest user to do the search for you)  and type a few keywords related to your business into the search.

You’ll see that the search auto-populates (as it does in Google) with related keywords;  you will also see a page of results. These are images called pins, each of which links (or should link) to a specific web page.

Are any of the pins related to your business niche?  If not, then fair enough, Pinterest may not be suitable for you –  but if there’s a reasonable number of relevant pins,  you should definitely consider getting started with a Pinterest business account.

DOWNLOAD MY FREE GUIDE "PINNING TO WIN"

Getting results from Pinterest

Pinterest works well for both product & service-based businesses – it’s traditionally been thought of as only appropriate for design-related and creative niches – but that’s an outdated viewpoint.  People come to Pinterest to find solutions to their problems.  They’re probably searching for the type of help that you provide…

If you’re NOT in a creative niche, now’s the time to get involved, because fewer businesses like yours have cottoned on to the power of Pinterest as yet.  It’s a golden opportunity.

To sum up, Pinterest is a brilliant way to drive traffic to your lead magnets, blog posts, podcasts, YouTube channel, product pages (if you’re an online retailer). Basically, Pinterest is a source of free, organic website traffic… with no algorithm reducing the reach of your links or pushing you way down the feed because you’re a business. (Facebook, I’m looking at you!)

Pinterest boards and pins frequently appear in Google searches – double whammy!

Pinterest can be used as a brand awareness tool and source of referral traffic for big brands and small businesses.  Remember one of the points at the top of this article?   97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded – meaning that small businesses can compete with the big guys on a level playing field.

Now, do you think it could be worth learning how to use Pinterest to promote your business?

pinning to win free guide to pinterest marketing

But I’m not a graphic designer…

Neither am I. We don’t need to be.  It’s true that Pinterest requires high quality visual content, whether that’s images, gifs or videos, but the good news is that there are plenty of easy ways to produce your own, using free (or low-cost) online tools. 

A couple of my online go-tos are Canva and Easil, but there are many others,  or of course you could use software such as PowerPoint (vastly underestimated as a design tool!)

Once you understand that Pinterest images need to be portrait format in a 2:3 ratio, you’ll be able to set up templates that you can edit over and over by simply swapping out the images, colours, and text to create new pins. 

In fact, both Canva and Easil have lots of pre-made Pinterest templates –  I’d suggest using these to begin with, (obviously changing the images etc. to match your brand) until you have enough experience to start designing your own.

Ready to get started?

I hope you’re now convinced that Pinterest is worth further investigation. I have just the thing –  my free guide “Pinning To Win” gives you a basic understanding of Pinterest as a marketing platform, and also includes a discount code for £20 off my online training “Power To The Pin” meaning you get this for £27 instead of £47.

Here’s a quick video summary of what’s included in the training:

DOWNLOAD MY FREE GUIDE "PINNING TO WIN"

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed and unsure about creating your own visual content for Pinterest or elsewhere,  I’d love to welcome you to my free Facebook Group VISUAL MARKETING IDEAS FOR YOUR BUSINESS, where I share lots of tips, tutorials, free resources and more for making the most of online design tools.

Boost your Social Media Engagement with these Viral Content Templates

PIN IT

free guide pinterest marketing for beginners

Keep In touch

If you’d like to receive occasional emails with useful hints and tips for your online marketing, simply add your details on the right and click SEND.
Unsubscribe at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every email. Your details will be stored in my email marketing software but will never be sold to third parties. For full information on how your data is processed, please see the Privacy Notice.

Copyright © 2019 Naomi Jane Johnson t/a Value Added Video
Privacy Notice :: Terms :: Disclaimer

Why Ignoring Visual Content Will Cost You Sales

Why Ignoring Visual Content Will Cost You Sales

by | May 30, 2020

Stand Out And Deliver

Lockdown may be easing now but some things haven’t changed – and aren’t likely to in the foreseeable future…

We live in an increasingly fast-paced world.  People nowadays expect instant answers and solutions to whatever they’re seeking.

Social media newsfeeds move rapidly, meaning that you have only a small window of opportunity to get your content noticed.  Equally, if someone lands on your website and doesn’t find what they want within 5 seconds or less, they’ll click away and may never return, losing you a potential sale.

If your social media updates don’t have a strong visual trigger, they’ll most likely be ignored.

You need to provide eye-catching visual content that makes people take notice – and images are a vital part of this.

Images Sell – Fact

It’s been proven in various studies that social media updates including an image generate much higher engagement rates.

Take a look at this infographic from Wishpond, showing the power of images on Facebook.

 

The Impact of Photos on Facebook Engagement

by WeAreWishpond.

 

Studies (originally by 3M) have shown that the human eye responds up to 80,000 times faster to images than it does to text – that alone should be enough to convince you of the power of visual content.

the eye processes visual content up to 60,000 times faster than text

Visual Content Sharing

It’s no coincidence that these two visual content platforms have grown so rapidly.  Instagram is currently the fastest growing social network with over 1 billion monthly active users (MAU) – and Pinterest has 376 MAU as of Q1 2020.

Take a look at this Steamfeed article for an insight into why Instagram has become so popular.

Incidentally, don’t be misled into thinking that Pinterest is a social network.  Its primary function is as a search engine, and a very powerful one too.

Pinterest Facts

I first joined Pinterest in 2012 – back then it was still considered a social network, and at the time, my business was mainly focussed on social media management and training. I was active on Pinterest for 3 or 4 years but began to lose interest – until last year (2019)

Since then I’ve completely revised my Pinterest strategy in line with its search engine functionality.  I’ve learned that keywords are vitally important throughout the platform (bio, board titles/descriptions, pin titles/descriptions), as is pin design – and most importantly, that Pinterest is NOT purely for design-led businesses.

Bloggers in particular can be extremely successful on Pinterest with the right strategy.  I now get a significant amount of web traffic from Pinterest – although Facebook is still the primary source for me.

Content Brings Traffic

You need content (visual and written) to encourage visitors to your website, for example a Facebook page post, an Instagram image or a Pinterest pin.

An early marketing strategist coined the acronym AIDA – attention, interest, desire, action…  the crucial first step is ATTENTION –  that’s down to your visuals!

Then, you need content to let them get to know, like and trust you.

Posting regular blogs and videos will be a valuable contribution. If they like what you publish, they’ll come back for more.

It’s an ongoing process; you need to be publishing content social media updates on a daily basis, or several times a day – and blogging regularly (I’d suggest at least once a month, but find your own comfort level).

Ideally, you should be creating a range of content such as videos, gifs, slideshares, infographics, as well as static images, on a regular basis.

Don’t forget that one piece of content (e.g. a blog post) can be repurposed into other forms such as video, slideshare, downloadable checklist etc.

When you understand how to extract the maximum value from your content, it won’t seem like such hard work.

Making It Easy

You don’t need to hire a graphic designer, spend ££££s on software or hours studying YouTube videos in order to create attention-grabbing visual content.  I will add a caveat here –   I’d always recommend working with a graphic designer for something crucial such as a business logo, printed brochures etc. 

But for everyday visual content such as images, short videos and gifs that will be shared online – there is a myriad of online design tools that make it incredibly simple to produce excellent results. 

Ready To Get Started?

All types of content are essential to marketing these days but it’s time-consuming to create those images and videos if you’re new to the whole concept of content marketing.

Take a look at my Online Visibility Essentials package, your instant solution to getting noticed –  a collection of eye-catching graphics and videos to share on your website and social media. It’s designed for busy business owners just like you, to save you lots of time and effort!

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed and unsure about creating your own visual content, I’d love to welcome you to my free Facebook Group VISUAL MARKETING IDEAS FOR YOUR BUSINESS, where I share lots of tips, tutorials, free resources and more for making the most of online design tools.

DIY Templates

I’d suggest you look at this bundle of over 100 visual content templates. Created by a viral marketing strategist, they are tested and proven to generate high engagement; having used them myself for the last 6 months, I can certainly confirm their effectiveness.

I only recommend products I’ve purchased, tested myself and been completely satisfied with – I am an affiliate for the Viral Templates so when you purchase from my link, I receive a commission.  The video below features a few of the images I have personally created using these templates.

PIN IT

ignoring visual content will cost you sales

Keep In touch

If you’d like to receive occasional emails with useful hints and tips for your online marketing, simply add your details on the right and click SEND.
Unsubscribe at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every email. Your details will be stored in my email marketing software but will never be sold to third parties. For full information on how your data is processed, please see the Privacy Notice.

Copyright © 2019 Naomi Jane Johnson t/a Value Added Video
Privacy Notice :: Terms :: Disclaimer

Secrets Of Social Media Engagement

Secrets Of Social Media Engagement

by | Jan 2, 2020

Social Media Engagement- the Holy Grail of Online Marketing

I’m a driven visual content creator.  This is something I’ve discovered only in the last couple of years or so.  Thinking back, I can’t recall many days during this time when I haven’t created at least one image, video or gif to share on social media. It’s something I feel called to do, whether or not I actually need to.

And guess what – I would never call myself a graphic designer. I’m in awe of those who do have serious design skills, but I’ve learned to take advantage of the raft of free and low-cost resources now available, and adapt them to my own needs. Most of the designs I create are based on templates.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, is my motto! 

So when I heard about a new package of visual content templates, I was immediately keen to investigate.  It took me just a few minutes to browse through the information and make the purchase. 
Show Me The Templates

The Template Bundle

These content templates are delivered by Katya Varbanova in conjunction with Jamie Nudelman. They’ve spent years creating and testing content to discover exactly what drives engagement and has the potential to go viral. 

I want to let you know that my early results look promising –  I created an image using one of the templates, shared it on Pinterest, and within a few hours it had 5.5k impressions.  That’s more than the vast majority of my Pinterest content! 

Take a look at the short video below for a quick look around the templates…  they are optimised for Canva and easily editable whether or not you  have a paid account. 

Show Me The Templates

AIDA

I’m not talking about the opera…

AIDA is an acronym, first used in the 1800s to describe the marketing journey.

A = Attention
I = Interest
D = Desire
A = Action

Attention is what you need to start the process of a potential client deciding they need what you offer.  Getting someone’s attention is the crucial “rate-limiting” step.

The human eye responds to visual content up to 60,000 times faster than it does to text….  can you see where I’m going with this?

You need eye-catching, attention-grabbing visual content to stand any chance of success with your marketing.  It’s that simple. 

And when you use these templates,  creating attention-grabbing visual content becomes very simple!

Show Me The Templates

Here are a few images I’ve created with the templates (click to view full size):

Why not join my Visual Marketing Ideas Facebook Group too?  
I share lots of tips, resources and tools to create fabulous graphics, videos and gifs – members also get access to exclusive discounts. 

I’d love to see you there!

 

PIN IT

This is the Pinterest graphic that reached 5.5K impressions within a few hours. 

Keep In touch

If you’d like to receive occasional emails with useful hints and tips for your online marketing, simply add your details on the right and click SEND.
Unsubscribe at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every email. Your details will be stored in my email marketing software but will never be sold to third parties. For full information on how your data is processed, please see the Privacy Notice.

Copyright © 2019 Naomi Jane Johnson t/a Value Added Video
Privacy Notice :: Terms :: Disclaimer

Facebook Marketing – You’re Doing It Wrong!

Facebook Marketing – You’re Doing It Wrong!

by | Dec 1, 2019

Facebook… the mere mention of it triggers strong opinions, whether or not you’re a small business owner.

Hardly surprising, given the controversy surrounding the world’s largest social network in recent years.

Despite this, business owners still flock to Facebook with high hopes of selling their products and services –  only to find the reality is less appealing.

No-one is buying. No-one even stops to look. No-one cares.

What’s that about?

Sorry to break it to you but you’re doing it all wrong.

This is not 2012 –  simply posting a picture on Facebook and telling people how wonderful your product or service is, will not entice them to buy.  You’ll be lucky if anyone actually sees your post, assuming you’ve done the “right thing” and shared it on your Facebook business page.

No, I’m not crazy (well, no more than usual) but you might just want to read further to find out what on earth I’m on about…

Your Clients Don’t Care About You.

It’s true – they only care about how you will solve their problems. Once you realise this, marketing becomes easier because you’ll stop talking about “I” or “We” and focus more on “You” (the most powerful word in the English language) .

your clients don't care about you

It’s pointless sharing a post on Facebook, listing your products or services with a poor-quality image and absolutely no explanation or reason why anyone would be interested.  As an admin of several Facebook groups, I’m amazed at how many of these posts I see every day. It’s rather soul-destroying.

The Facebook Algorithm

Ah – the technical term that we all know these days, at least if we’ve spent any time on Facebook.   It’s a bit of a mystery, which makes it intriguing;  I bet you’ve read all sorts of articles on the topic of “beating the algorithm”. 

Unfortunately, you can’t beat it, but when you use strategies that work WITH it, by optimising your Facebook activity so that potential clients easily see the benefits they’ll get from working with you –  THAT is where the magic happens.

Let’s explore this in more detail…

Facebook Pages

Facebook pages for business launched in November 2011.  In the early days, everything was hunky dory – you’d post on your page and hundreds of people would see your updates in their newsfeed.  You’d probably even sell stuff quite easily!

Things began to change as more and more businesses jumped in –  nowadays there are 90 million small businesses using Facebook. And Facebook has 2.45 billion worldwide active users.

It would be impossible to show all posts from a page to all the Facebook users who have liked that page – there is simply not enough space in the newsfeed, and it would contain nothing but page posts.  Obviously, that wouldn’t be a good experience for users who primarily sign up to Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family.

Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly emphasised that the whole ethos of Facebook is friends, family, community – it’s NOT about promotion of businesses.  Understandably, Facebook wants businesses to pay for ads.   There’s no such thing as a free lunch!

Side Note:  Facebook Ads are an amazing tool to get your business in front of thousands of your target clients, including those who are already interested in what you offer.  But jumping in without a strategy will almost certainly end in disaster –  it’s worth getting help from an expert or you could try my £25 training!

Therefore, the algorithm restricts posts from business pages, only showing those that have had plenty of engagement (likes, comments, shares) and are clearly popular.

It’s estimated that currently (late 2019), organic page reach is under 5% – meaning that less than 5% of the people who have liked a page, will see that page’s posts in their newsfeed.   A pretty grim prospect for page owners – although you should see it as a challenge to produce more engaging posts….

And you could try an additional strategy I’m going to talk about next.

Your Facebook Profile

It used to be the case that Facebook’s Terms stated that you must not use a personal profile for “commercial gain”.  Nowadays however, Terms state that you must:

  • Use the same name that you use in everyday life.
  • Provide accurate information about yourself.
  • Create only one account (your own) and use your timeline for personal purposes.

While I’m by no means suggesting that you fill your personal timeline with posts urging people to buy from you (that’s never going to work!) –  you should certainly be letting people know about your business and what you offer potential clients.   That’s in addition to personal posts about your everyday activities, whether or not business-related.

You’ve heard the saying “people buy from people” –  if your Facebook followers get the chance to see behind the scenes, to meet the person behind the business –  doesn’t it make sense that they’ll be far more likely to buy from you?

This is particularly important for small or micro businesses – if YOU are the business, there’s no point trying to pretend otherwise.  Authenticity is a valuable commodity!

The benefit of sharing business-related updates on your personal profile are many –  the big one being that your posts are far more likely to be seen when they’re not coming from a business page.

With me so far?  OK – there are a few things you’ll need to do in order to get your profile ready.

Optimise Your Facebook Profile

There are 8 areas you should work on to encourage potential clients to get in touch with you.

 

  1. Your Intro – 101 characters to describe what you do, your target clients and exactly how you help them. Appears immediately under your profile cover image.
  2. Your Bio – if you wish, add your place of residence, your social media profile links, website and any other links (such as Facebook Groups you manage)
  3. Your Workplace – this is essential.  Hyperlink it to your Facebook page so that people can immediately click through to learn more.
  4. Your Profile Image – a clear head shot. Don’t be tempted to use a logo, nor a picture of your dog, cat or other pet. Remember, people buy from people! Add a description behind the image too –  make it all about your business.
  5. Your Cover Image – this is your opportunity to get creative with an image related to your business and how you help clients. Change it from time to time to reflect specific products/services/promotions.  As with the profile image, add a description.
  6. Your Featured Image(s) – here you can upload up to 9 images that appear in a grid layout.  All of these could be business-related and each one has a description.  Alternatively, use one large image to fill the space – again, business-related with a description behind it.
  7. Allow Followers – this is a feature within your Facebook settings > Privacy > Public Posts.  Setting this to Public means that people who are not your Facebook friends can follow you and see your public posts, meaning you’ll reach a wider audience. You always have the option to limit your posts to friends only, or restrict them even further if you wish.
  8. Your “Other Name”. This is the text that appears on your profile cover image in desktop view, and in brackets underneath your cover image in mobile view. Use keywords relevant to your business – e.g. mine says “Video and Facebook Ads”. When you add this, your profile/name appears whenever someone types those keywords as part of a comment in groups you belong to.  Magic – an instant referral for you!

Here’s a short video tutorial explaining how to add keywords (“Other Name”) to your Facebook profile:

Facebook Groups

As previously mentioned, Facebook’s focus is firmly on friends, family and community.  At the start of 2019 they emphasised the importance of Groups – and there have been several major updates to Groups since.  (interestingly, hardly anything has been said about business pages)

Groups tie in nicely with your personal profile strategy –  although you can now join some Groups as your page, you’ll have a far better experience when you join as your profile.   People buy from…..  you know the rest.

Join a few groups where your ideal clients are likely to be – participate in discussions, answer questions, add value.  Start your own conversations if you have something worth saying.

All of this will raise your profile and you will start to be noticed by other members –  they might check out your profile and guess what, they’ll see exactly how you can help them because you took the time to make it crystal clear.  Soon they’ll be contacting you to find out more.

What’s Next?

Despite the length of this post, I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible with Facebook when you use it strategically.  Forget what you’ve been told by “experts” in the past – nowadays it’s about harnessing all the tools on offer, not sticking rigidly to posting twice a day on your business page.

I’m not saying you should give up posting on your page altogether – quite the opposite,  it’s important that any visitors see an active presence – and of course aim to keep your updates engaging and relevant.

Want more in-depth advice on getting the best from Facebook?

Facebook Focus: Power Up Your Profile, my comprehensive online training programme, is exactly what you need!

4 modules, delivered over the course of 30 days, going step-by-step through all the important profile areas to update, an in-depth tutorial showing how to create a compelling cover image, plus lots of tips and advice on what and what not to post –  taught by someone who generates the majority of their new business via Facebook using these exact strategies.

This affordable programme is ideal for small or micro-business owners, network marketers, solopreneurs, consultants, coaches, therapists or artisans. 

FACEBOOK FOCUS: POWER UP YOUR PROFILE

Questions or comments? I’d love to hear your feedback, go ahead and post below!

PIN IT

Keep In touch

If you’d like to receive occasional emails with useful hints and tips for your online marketing, simply add your details on the right and click SEND.
Unsubscribe at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every email. Your details will be stored in my email marketing software but will never be sold to third parties. For full information on how your data is processed, please see the Privacy Notice.

Copyright © 2019 Naomi Jane Johnson t/a Value Added Video
Privacy Notice :: Terms :: Disclaimer

What’s Your ESP? 5 Ways To Find Out

What’s Your ESP? 5 Ways To Find Out

by | Jul 14, 2019

Not sure? Here’s how to find out…

What did you think when you saw “ESP”?  Extra-sensory perception?  That’s certainly the common use of the abbreviation.  Or did you wonder if I meant “USP” – unique selling proposition?

What I’m going to talk about has nothing to do with the supernatural (well, maybe just a little) –  and it’s definitely related to your USP – but with a clever twist.

ESP = Emotional Selling Proposition.   What on earth does that mean?

USEFUL INFO?  SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI

Marketing – it’s all about emotion.

Every business needs clients, customers or whatever you prefer to call them – the people that buy your products or services.   These people don’t care what you do.  All they care about is how you will solve their problems.

I’m a scientist, so I like scientific explanations –  here you go:

There are three sections to the brain:  outer (new), middle, and reptilian.

The youngest part of the brain is the outer layer. It is responsible for such things as processing the written language, complex thinking, calculating, and rationalizing your decision.

The middle section of the brain processes emotional responses.  It gives you a gut feeling on your decision.

The oldest part of the human brain is the reptilian area (known as the amygdala)

The amygdala is responsible for instinct and survival.  Its main focus is to avoid pain – you’ve heard of “fight or flight”. This area makes our decisions.

The brain accounts for only 2% of our body weight, but uses 20% of the body’s energy.  Our bodies are optimised to conserve energy – hence the brain will only activate all its regions when it’s a case of survival –  and avoiding pain…

When writing marketing copy, creating graphics or videos, we need to think about what drives a customer to buy – and crucially, what initially attracts their attention.  We need to get the reptilian brain activated!

Accentuate the…. negative??

You’d think focussing on the positive aspects of your product or service would be the best place to start, wouldn’t you?

You certainly need to do that, but NOT at the beginning of your marketing piece.  Remember “fight or flight” and the reptilian brain?

Start with a negative.  Focus on the pain – not necessarily physical pain, but the bad feelings someone might have when they NEED what you offer.

Start by asking a question like “Are you struggling with xxxxx?”

Then;  “When you work with us, you’ll feel relieved because xxxxx”  (that’s the simplified version, you’d want to flesh it out a bit!)

Negative emotions are the most powerful trigger to the reptilian brain.

Your Ideal Client

I’m sure you’ll know what I mean –  you’ve probably heard countless times that you can’t market to everyone. Try to do that, and you end up attracting no-one.

Looking at this from an emotional standpoint, it becomes a bit more straightforward than the usual method of researching and creating a very specific “avatar” –  although it’s definitely still a good idea to do that.

When you think about your prospects (potential clients), what are they struggling with right now?  What would they do anything to fix?  Crucially, what EMOTIONS are they experiencing in their current situation?

Worry? Fear? Panic? Stress? Frustration?

Identify the problem and demonstrate the solution.

Almost certainly they will be feeling one of those negative emotions – which is why they are looking for a solution.  Your job is to identify this and describe exactly why your product or service is the answer. 

The way you do this is to start by portraying the negative emotions.  Think about the questions you’re most commonly asked, and imagine the emotions that prompt those questions.   As an example, an accountant might say “Are you feeling frustrated because you’re paying too much tax?”  or “Are you confused over who you can claim as a dependent for tax purposes?”

Now, offer a bit of reassurance –  show them you understand their problem completely.   And then demonstrate how the problem will be solved when they buy your product or service, by portraying the positive emotions that will result:   relief, peace of mind, sleeping better – and so on.

Finally, tell them what to do next (the all-important Call To Action that is so often forgotten).

When you follow this process, you’ll find marketing a whole lot easier because you’ve identified your ESP!

Your prospects will feel able to trust you –  you’ve demonstrated that you understand exactly what their problem is and shown them a simple solution.   Now it’s your responsibility to follow up and close the sale.

Putting it into practice…

Here’s another thing about the amygdala… because it’s the most primitive area of the brain, it responds in a primitive way.  Our ancestors were hunters – their survival depended on quick response to any threat (that fight or flight thing again!)    Threats tend to move – think sabre-toothed tigers…

What I’m getting to is that the human brain is hard-wired to respond to movement.  What moves and can be used in our marketing?  Video of course –  and let’s not forget gif images.  There’s a lot more to gifs than those silly ones you see on social media –  they can be a great promotional tool for your business.

I hope this has given you a few ideas and ways to improve your marketing strategy.  As always, I welcome feedback so please feel free to leave a comment below.

Need Help?

Want a bit of help identifying your ESP?  Book a 15 minute free, no-obligation call with me HERE.  We’ll explore the emotions your potential clients might be feeling, and discuss your solutions.

Or ask me about a bespoke whiteboard explainer video for your business that focuses on situations and emotions, ideal for getting your prospects excited about working with you.

Here’s an example:

Did you know that gifs could be used to promote your business?   They are image files, so they’re really easy to share on social media, embed in emails or even add to your website.

is your marketing boring?  

Ask me about having one created for your business.

Why not say hello on my Facebook page too? 

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