Small Business Talk
The Podcast to Grow your Business Faster
Talking to Nobody
Show Notes
Have you listened to episode 200? It was so good. We had so many guests. We had nine guests. And we were talking about future proofing your business. We were talking about all the different ways that we can futureproof business, and each of the guests had a different perspective. From being innovative to making sure you were up with technology to watching your mind, to making sure that you’re a good business person and have a great business.
Should we be aiming for 500? A lot of guests suggested that but let’s see about that.
Anyway, we’re on episode 201 today, so I thought the topic would be talking to nobody. Got a couple of different spins on that. But basically, if you’re talking to nobody, it could be about your content. It could be that you’re putting lots and lots of content out there. You’re not getting any engagement. The platforms are not pushing it out because they love engagement.
Not Getting Enough Engagement
If you’re not doing their particular ways that they like to do it. If you’re trying to take people off the platform, if you’re adding links to your content, you definitely not playing it by their rules and you won’t get any engagement. So, if you’re saying very low engagement, no engagement, then what I mentioned above are the reasons for it.
Content is the King
Think about the content that you’re actually putting out. Is it addressing people’s pain points? Is it specific? Do you have a clear message or is it a bit oh, could be this way. I could be that way. And people are not really sure. I always like to use the analogy of Facebook. Facebook started in one university in one campus in America. Once they got that sorted, then they went to a second campus and then they went to other universities. And after that was world domination. They didn’t start with world domination. They built up to it by speaking specifically to one person, to that student that was in the dorm. Right there. And then and then they got their audience wider.
Make Your Message Clear and Precise
People think that if they only talk to one person, then they can’t talk to anybody else. That is very wrong. Let’s take for example you having a picture of a board and you’ve got the bull’s eye right in the middle of that board. If you’re aiming for that bull’s eye, chances are you might get the bull’s eye or you might hit a little bit further out. But if you’re aiming for the outside, you’ve got no chance of hitting that bull’s eye. So if your message is very specific and very clear, then people are going to resonate with it. You’re going to get people that are a little bit further out of that bull’s eye that will also resonate with it. And then you might get a little bit further and further, but people are going to understand what you’re talking about.
Some people are going to be driven away by that, and that’s actually perfect because you don’t want to be spending your time and energy on people that are not interested. They’re never going to be your clients because they are not interested with what you’re selling and don’t have the need for your solution. So think about what your message is.
Who Do You Need to be Talking About?
Sometimes it’s easy to visualize a person who is your best customer, the person that pays on time, the person that’s happy with your services, the person that takes your advice, does your suggestions. Who is that person? Put a name on that person. Think about that person when you’re doing your copy, when you’re doing content, when you’re doing anything related to your business. Is that going to work for that person?
You might be saying, I have several of those people. Well, that’s quite. If you’ve got several, then you need to do it in different ways. But you can’t put all of that into one piece of content. If you’re talking to parents and then you’re talking to children and then you’re talking to teachers, they’re three completely different things.
And the way that you would talk to each of those three segments are different. Sometimes your people can be closely related. Other times that can be a long way away. It’s a start with one of your categories. Get that sorted and then think of the others and you might find this some categories that no longer serve you. So maybe they need to be pushed off to the side, put into a side hustle, or maybe it’s something you just don’t do anymore as we have to adapt and business changes.
Adapting to Changes
Sometimes, we’ve got to let go of a few of those products or services so that we can have others. I’ve done that with my coaching business. I was originally doing coaching for transition for people, particularly women that were transitioning from empty nesting. They had children at home who had moved out, but now I’ve transitioned back into marketing coaching. I’m back doing marketing, coaching, but I’m coaching. Coaches had a market themselves. So sometimes as businesses grow, evolve and change, you need to get rid of some of those products so that you can bring in others.
It’s the same with your customers. Have their needs changed or are you spending all your time searching for new customers? If you’re only looking for new customers, you might find that your loyal customers drop off because you’re not looking after them anymore.
Are you being on point with your content? Are you making sure that it’s going to work for you and your customers? Are their pain points the same as they used to be? Is that something you need to change? Think about it. When was the last time you actually spoke face to face with a customer, a loyal customer that’s been with you for a long time?
Take it Slowly But Surely
There are a couple of ways we can think about talking to nobody. So if you’re not getting an engagement, if you’re not getting that buy in, and if you’re trying to talk to too many people at once, if you’re always trying to be that somebody for everybody, you’ll tend to find that you will definitely be nobody.
Is your message clear or are you trying to be in every place? A good way to make sure that you take it slowly is to start focusing on one platform. So, if you’re spread across multiple platforms in your social media, start by doing your content for one.
Pick the one where your customers may like best. And then think of that one piece of pillar content. What can you do that can then be used on those other platforms? But you’d writing it all, you’re saying it all, you’re recording it for that one customer and that one platform the way they like it.
So, if it’s video, then it can be transcribed into a blog. Then from those blogs you can connect snippets and maybe use it as a shorter video or use that written content and then make posts and images. There are a lot of ways you can use your pillar content, but make sure you’re being very focused and concentrating on what it is that you’re talking about as opposed to trying to spread yourself while shooting.
Talking to Nobody
Think about the way that you can really hone your message. Make sure it is clear. Make sure that you are speaking to that one person and get your marketing absolutely on point. Then you can think about how you can do other things
Listen to the full episode of Small Business Talk episode 201.
You can also find the video versions of the Small Business Talk Episodes on YouTube.
