Launch With Words

Why should your small business value blog posts and customer storytelling on your website? In this episode of the second season of the Launch With Words Podcast, Bridget is joined by writer Todd Jones for an episode about storytelling, email lists, and differentiation.

Follow Todd Jones at @tejones on Twitter and check out his website at https://www.copyflight.com/.

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00:26.38
Bridget Willard
Hey welcome to season 2 episode 2. I am sitting here with my good friend Todd Jones. Todd Jones is a writer among other amazing things. Hey Todd want to say hi to our audience.

00:42.48
Todd E Jones
Howdy!

00:44.13
Bridget Willard
Okay, so um, you write for small businesses. All kinds of small businesses of a variety of backgrounds you want to hit off some of those industries.

00:55.65
Todd E Jones
Well probably my biggest content right in client right now is MainWP.com which is a WordPress plugin that helps consultants and agencies manage multiple sites. It's hosted. You can host it on your It's not a SaaS in the sense that it's on. Ah, third party servers. It's one you and put on your own server which is why the people who actually use the plugin really like it so that is a big ah client for me and then I do a a local business size like a hyperlocal top thing. You've seen those kind of sites and we talk about a lot of different things and so it it really is geared toward both the the residents of the Conway area where I live and small businesses as well and so I started a email newsletter last year that I call local digital. And it's kind of the business armor that if you will and I had been written writing emails each month from sometime early last year I can't remember when we started and I was I was telling you before we got on I had enough stuff there that I was able to do a little ebook. Getting started in digital marketing for the local small business so it was a lot of fun I may refine it and sell it later.

02:16.44
Bridget Willard
Nice. So what do you find is the biggest struggle for your small businesses that you interact with?

02:24.91
Todd E Jones
Um, yeah, there was a variety of reasons I think you know I was talking to my friend Laura who runs the little bakery that I was at before I came back to the office and get on to get on with you and it's kind of a specialized bakery. They do like keto and gluten-free type stuff and so and I was getting the cacao drink cacao you know chocolate cacao and the other stuff that they have there as well and you know you can just tell from talking to her. She's like she's busy, right? She's being front for 12 hours a day or whatever she like when I got what I pulled up.

02:47.39
Bridget Willard
Um.

03:02.70
Todd E Jones
She was unloading out of her SUV all the stuff she'd been buying for the store. They're busy I mean just just for the local business. We don't understand sometimes how busy or some people in our business, our industry, don't understand how busy they are from. From beginning the end and they do everything right? So she was playing distributor right? there going out and getting stuff for the to the for the shop while while the other ladies were actually manning the shop so she's got good employees. She can do that she can run off and she has to go different places to get the things they need to make the items they make.

03:22.87
Bridget Willard
Mm.

03:40.19
Todd E Jones
You know and then um, they don't consider themselves writers. You know it's 1 thing to write a text to somebody or write an email maybe but writing writing in a professional setting. You know like on ah like on their own company blog or something like that. That's not a skill that they have. And why cases it's not what they want to have really they they're they're they're happy doing what they want what they do Um, sure.

04:02.16
Bridget Willard
Yeah I mean but at the end of the day they want people to continue coming into their store to continue using their service buying their products. So how do we explain or advocate for Ah, words on their website? You know this podcast called Launch With Words because I believe you know the internet is blind. You and I know that so it's the words that matter. We all like to use pictures, but when it comes to search, SEO, um, ranking and people finding you -- it's those words.

04:22.57
Todd E Jones
A Ah yeah.

04:35.47
Todd E Jones
Um, yeah, yeah.

04:40.66
Bridget Willard
Make a difference. So how do you explain to a business owner the importance of spending either their own time or hiring someone to do this writing?

04:50.13
Todd E Jones
Well, yeah, and that's a billion dollar question right? and I think twelve thirteen years ago is helping a nonprofit and I I told them say look google doesn't see pictures Google sees words and and that was ah that's a very simplistic way of saying that. You know it's reading the the words behind what you see on the website I saw the other day somebody and I don't remember who it was it could have been you I don't know basically said I mean this is a very generalized thing too. But basically the more words you have on your site. The more you know Google has something to pick up basically but we know the nuances and those complications a little bit more than that. But when you boil it down to it. Yeah I mean the more words you have on your site the the more likely Google is to pick that up now it it comes down to.

05:29.25
Bridget Willard
Yeah, yeah.

05:47.44
Todd E Jones
Yeah, I'm thinking about this all the time cause I've started branched out into this whole. How do I help local businesses and because they're there. Um you and I have interacted in a software world for years now right? um.

06:01.20
Bridget Willard
Right.

06:04.91
Todd E Jones
So it's easier for them to understand that they need to write content for their website for the most part because they're basically an online business and the way they're gonna get found is from people searching online. You talk about blue bar bakery in Conway Arkansas that's largely word ofmout.

06:11.68
Bridget Willard
Right.

06:24.80
Todd E Jones
Um, do they they have a Facebook page and they put Facebook content in they're working through on their their business website and their their emphasis right now is their there wouldn't do a Shopify site and I totally understand because you can sell the stuff in their store. So I get that and a lot of lot of businesses around here that have a site. That are are like that are Shopify driven so they can do the eCommerce side of it. You know it's it's ah the businesses that we're dealing with here. They just have a different totally different model than you know, somebody like MainWP.

06:57.82
Bridget Willard
Yeah.

07:00.24
Todd E Jones
You know some SaaS website out there. You go there. It's a it's a calm. It really is a variation of marketing channels in the sense of word of mouth using social media which social media is changing rapidly and and what we used to do twelve years ago doesn't work as well now. Um. Um, um, I'm trying to emphasize email marketing. You know, get people to use to build an email list and start doing that because that is I'm say this the most effective way to pull your people back to your website email marketing when.

07:30.26
Bridget Willard
Well right? and and that's that's so my whole point with words right? So when you're using Facebook instagram whatever that's somebody else's platform and they could go out of business or they could shut down or whatever or they could just flag you or.

07:38.44
Todd E Jones
Um, exactly oh. Yeah, absolutely.

07:49.51
Bridget Willard
Or or or or it's not yours in the WordPress world. We talk about this a lot and that's our kind of a mantra is you need to own your own content and a small business owner's like well it's hard enough for me to do that. Okay, that's fine.

08:03.57
Todd E Jones
A.

08:06.99
Bridget Willard
But maybe set aside 15% of your you know, gross profit toward marketing and maybe repurpose some of those things that you're putting on Facebook on your website so that it lives longer because the internet has a long memory.

08:10.12
Todd E Jones
Now a.

08:20.70
Todd E Jones
Yeah, yeah, I mean and that's what I tried to emphasize with the email newsletter and subsequently the ebook is like there are 2 things you need to own and these are not negotiable your website and your email list that made that is your hub that is your home your home plate. And that's what you need to have everything else should direct people in and so've I've added email list to that and email list is an interesting thing because you own the list. No matter what platform you have so let's say you're using constant of contact today and you want to switch to Mailer Light the list goes with you right.

08:56.88
Bridget Willard
Right.

08:59.41
Todd E Jones
You You may leave and go to another platform but the list goes with you So you on the list. It doesn't matter what tool you're using to send emails to the list is yours and the the really cool thing about people who use Square or something like that to to take payment. Is they you can get the emails from that.

09:07.80
Bridget Willard
Right.

09:15.14
Bridget Willard
M.

09:19.19
Todd E Jones
And suddenly you have it's It's more of a marketing list a customer list versus email like what we know the Opt-in list you know, but it is a list unless and I've had local companies that send me an email saying hey you've got.

09:26.53
Bridget Willard
Right.

09:35.45
Todd E Jones
10 stars that's about to expire. You can get 20% off on your next coffee purchase. Well guess where I'm going to get coffee next you know I go there and get my 20% off or by free coffee or whatever and I think that's very important so there's a lot of ways to execute this. We we certainly think about it.

09:38.69
Bridget Willard
Right.

09:55.35
Todd E Jones
As a consultant the ways we're used to thinking about it. It's it's a different It's a little different game when you get into the local business. You know I'm still stand by the principles that you need to own your website and your email list and everything else should be sending them there I like the idea of repurpose that. You know I've heard you and can Kim Dole talk about that word if you follow Ross Simmons on Twitter from foundation inc he will call it remixing and I like that because what you're doing is and really what you should do is put it on your website first and then remix it for other platforms. That's really what.

10:31.41
Bridget Willard
Right.

10:34.31
Todd E Jones
You know what? you're talking about is like hey you put this on Facebook you can put it on your website too. That's absolutely true true what your yeah exactly you should really put it on your website first and then you can remix it for different platforms. 1 of the things that I've discovered in the last year not done a really good job of it.

10:38.22
Bridget Willard
Which should be the other way round. Yes.

10:53.75
Todd E Jones
But the audiograms that people will use for basically promoting a podcast episode so you could take you probably know about all this but you could take this episode. You say there's something that Todd said that was really profound I'm gonna pull that out and make an audiogram and then I'm gonna put it on you know, um.

11:00.21
Bridget Willard
Mm.

11:11.20
Bridget Willard
Yep. Or Instagram because that's the perfect place to put that because Instagram doesn't allow you to share links and I'm all about getting people traffic to your website and do that with these stories I know you're really into stories use cases those kinds of things. Um I have a.

11:13.47
Todd E Jones
Facebook or LinkedIn or whatever with a link back to the episode. Yeah yeah, yeah, ah absolutely.

11:32.00
Bridget Willard
Big background of construction which is why the pure premium content backs are very construction heavy at the moment. Um, but like that's completely untapped.

11:39.89
Todd E Jones
Contract contractors. It seems to me to be an untapped area and and when I see people who work and when I see people who work with them I tend to not like how they do things. So for the most part. So yeah.

11:54.89
Bridget Willard
They're raking them over the coals and there's ah and there's it's the same way with the travel Industry. It's really it makes me sad. Um, it's ah what you know? what? a lot of people talk to me about when I tell them about my premium content packs is they. They say well isn't that an issue with duplicate content and I'm I'm always saying like that's the wrong problem and so I'll tell them what's worse than duplicate content. No content and that's the problem that small businesses have whereas franchises.

12:23.50
Todd E Jones
Um, and and a.

12:29.33
Bridget Willard
Have the money and the resources they hire Pr agencies that write fluff bullshit articles that say absolutely nothing and they're terrible and they pay $2000 an article for like these tiny 300

12:34.35
Todd E Jones
Um, ah yeah, yeah.

12:48.95
Bridget Willard
Word articles to say nothing go to any like ah RE/MAX. I was just talking about RE/MAX. RE/MAX they're their articles say nothing. They they're just so thin. They're very thin and.

12:54.85
Todd E Jones
All of my the real estate industry. You know.

13:04.31
Bridget Willard
I was writing just for RE/MAX I would have I would have so much more in those articles but they're not. They're outsourcing it and then those articles can go on. Um when I was working at Trip Designs, They they had ah the travel agency they had.

13:13.80
Todd E Jones
An earth.

13:22.26
Bridget Willard
Bought into this multisite website and then they would they would get the syndicated content. It was crap content. Like it would be all about cruises. We didn't want to sell cruises. So I started writing articles to buff that up. It's the same with my real estate client.

13:26.87
Todd E Jones
1

13:34.50
Todd E Jones
It has. Now.

13:40.18
Bridget Willard
I started writing articles to buff that up and the thing is that you and I know that we can reuse. So we're of the generation of, you know, "reduce, reuse, recycle." So that's why I say repurpose So you.

13:50.36
Todd E Jones
A.

13:56.83
Bridget Willard
Maybe you're not a great writer that's fine. I wasn't a great writer. Dr Bussio from Eighth grade would have could I sometimes I wish I could so send him all my books like I did this you know? I'm not. I write to teach. Okay, so and I started doing this because I worked at a contractor.

14:09.73
Todd E Jones
The ah.

14:16.31
Bridget Willard
And and I wanted people to know we are still in business. That is the primary reason why I think it's very important for local businesses to do that and then they have something to share in social that goes back to their own website right.

14:19.39
Todd E Jones
Um, yeah.

14:31.19
Todd E Jones
Yeah I.

14:34.50
Bridget Willard
So if you're not a good writer podcasting. If you're not a good writer video and then send that to Temi.com and then have your secretary fix all the grammar errors and then throw it up on your website right? so.

14:36.42
Todd E Jones
Um, yeah.

14:43.77
Todd E Jones
Well yeah, or even better find you a good writer and hire them to to hammer out your content for you? Yeah yeah.

14:51.87
Bridget Willard
Well I mean a worst case scenario because that's literally what I did. I was the secretary that wrote those. I was building the WordPress website, writing on the blog. I was doing that. That's how I had this career right? I just had a hidden talent.

15:02.50
Todd E Jones
Anyway, yeah. Death.

15:11.63
Bridget Willard
But but Todd I know we only have a few minutes left and I really want to touch on the storytelling part. Like these mom and pop businesses that have been in business. Their family businesses like how can they extract those stories. For their own advantage on their website.

15:33.90
Todd E Jones
There's a couple things that I would you know talk tell people to do and and I say when it comes to website copy and and I'm talking about the pages but this this also goes with the content as well. There's 2 stories you want to tell at least two stories. The first one is your own story is maybe it's your origin story. Maybe it's stories stories throughout the the life of the company. There's there's a Ford dealership in town that says they've been in business a hundred years. Imagine the stories in 100 years that they have. The second story you want to tell is your customer story and that is what we typically call case studies I don't like to call them case studies because case studies usually end up written boring make it a customer success story does it have to be.

16:20.30
Bridget Willard
Ah.

16:23.41
Todd E Jones
This long drawn out thing. But if you've got a customer. Ah if you have what my friend Brittany Hodak would call a superfan. Take that superfan and tell their story of how um you know you as a business help them accomplish. Whatever it is now. Course you if it's B2C. It's like you know. Okay, we have there's ah, there's a good food feet store in little rock and I think it's a chain but they do these good feet commercials and I'll laugh them sometimes because they seem to be a little cheesy but it's so effective because it's got somebody and. And they're telling this story about how their feet hurt. They went to the good feet store. They couldn't hardly walk. They couldn't enjoy the the girl couldn't enjoy the hiking that she enjoyed and she went to the good feet store. She got the shoes and now you know got got it fixed it. It made her. Feel better and now she's back to hiking and in nature like she loves or whatever you know and it's just simple. It's It's if you if you're looking for a simple framework for that. It's before during and after that's it no need to complicate it before during after what was going on before.

17:23.33
Bridget Willard
Um, yeah.

17:39.59
Todd E Jones
What made you decide to choose you know your product or your service and then how did things improve for you afterwards, very simple. So those are the 2 stories you need to tell they're not 1 story each. There's there's tons of stories you can pull out of that.

17:45.61
Bridget Willard
Yeah.

17:55.15
Todd E Jones
And there there I follow Kendra Hall's stories that stick um and and we don't have time to go in debt to that but she talks about four stories I actually did a video you've seen it because you commented on it. Um, but those are 2 of the four stories. The customer story. And you can start with your origin story. You know why in the world. Did you decide to start this contract business. Funny ah funny, not really funny, but there's a story kinder tells in the book about a contractor and how he used to love to build things as a kid and they used that. As a why story if you will for his business and it's a very big business in the southwest. So yeah, there's you know if you're like what is your why story? What your your origin story your why lot times are the same sometimes they're not but what is that why? Story? What is that origin story?

18:40.22
Bridget Willard
Yeah, yeah.

18:50.27
Todd E Jones
You know and that is you know and I say put that on your about page at least the highlights of it and you can always do it a more in depth as a blog post or a series of blog posts and then customer stories.

19:00.63
Bridget Willard
Right? right? because yeah because we do business with people that we know like and trust and in the service based industry I mean yeah, you're going to get it. Maybe you're going to go to this bakery you like their scones. You don't need to know.

19:08.15
Todd E Jones
Um, the his. I like Laura.

19:18.58
Bridget Willard
Or you like the person right? But but sometimes it doesn't matter what their story is. But in the service-based business I feel like that's even more important because we're gonna be spending time with them. They're gonna be doing our hair. Ah, they're gonna be redoing our roof like. This is personal. Service is personal. Yeah.

19:38.60
Todd E Jones
Is it. It's differentiation. So your story. Okay, there's hundreds of bakers in you and your you know depend on how big your city is San Antonio slightly bigger in Conway. So what we're pushing about 70,000 what are you about seven hundred eight hundred thousand couple million

19:53.20
Bridget Willard
Um, we're one point seven. We're the seventh largest city in the United States.

19:56.82
Todd E Jones
Okay, okay, there's thousands of bakeries in San Antonio there are thousands of hairdressers, thousands of roofers, thousands of contractors. And in San Antonio how do you stand out? And you know what what makes you different. You know, um.

20:09.40
Bridget Willard
Yeah, yeah.

20:16.58
Todd E Jones
You know, maybe you are the the in your town. You probably have more than one um place like Blue barn but you know that owner you know makes a difference that kind of thing. So yes, woman on woman on.

20:26.58
Bridget Willard
Yeah, if you're veteran owned that's gonna relate to the veterans I mean these are important stories. Yeah I mean it that we have to tell it and we cannot rely upon the overlords of the internet.

20:35.52
Todd E Jones
Minority on. Yeah.

20:45.23
Bridget Willard
To rule our story but I ah have enjoyed this extremely I think we could have broken this into 3 more episodes who knows I might have you back this season. Ah, thank you so much Todd how can people find you on the internet?

21:00.68
Todd E Jones
Ah, well I'm a really active on Twitter my handle is @tejones so you can stalk me there or if you want to know more about my brand messaging services I guess you might call it, that's copyflight.com. So that's the 2 main places to find me.

21:21.45
Bridget Willard
Awesome! That sounds great. Well thanks for being here.

21:25.91
Todd E Jones
Thanks for let me come and hang.

Why should your small business value blog posts and customer storytelling on your website? In this episode of the second season of the Launch With Words Podcast, Bridget is joined by her writing partner Warren Laine-Naida for an episode about customer stories, customer delight, and solving problems. 

Follow Warren at @warrenlnaida on Twitter and check out his website at warrenlainenaida.net.

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Brought to you by Bridget Willard of Launch With Words

00:20.21
gidgey
Hey thanks for joining this second season of the launch with words podcast I'm your host Bridget Willard I'm joined today by my writing partner Warren Lane Nighta welcome thanks for being on my podcast.

00:31.40
Warren Laine-Naida
Um, hello hey thank you for asking me.

00:39.39
gidgey
So small business owners. We know they need to write for their blog. We know they need to use that content for social media. Ah Google profile business profile formerly known as Google my business Google maps Google places.

00:53.20
Warren Laine-Naida
Yeah.

00:58.32
gidgey
So what? What are some things that you really wish ah small business owners could do like what? what do you wish that they would do. Oh.

01:07.84
Warren Laine_Naida
Oh That's that's a really easy ah question I have this with my clients pretty much in a regular basis. Um I don't think most small businesses look. At the stories around the products or around the services that they are selling. There's sort of a tunnel vision. Um, and there's there's so many ways to think about the products. Um and these are the stories. These are the use cases. This is what differentiates them from their competitors. Um, and I think that's always kind of a sticking point. Um with my clients. Yeah, that's the quick answer.

01:56.60
gidgey
Well okay, so when I hear and I'm like the biggest Bruce is like I don't give a crap about the story I want to know if the product works but that's a difference ah between a story and a use case or a case study. So.

02:10.78
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, yeah.

02:12.89
gidgey
For me a story is this hypothetical. It was a dark and stormy night I tried this beauty cream ten days later I looked amazing and I had a boyfriend so that story to me I don't care or why you started your company I don't care I know some people care. But let's talk about the case study because case studies are marketing gold. How can we get those case. Studies.

02:36.47
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, yeah, um, you mean specifically for the products. Okay, so yeah.

02:43.22
gidgey
Yeah I did this I Then did I do this and now they reuse this service and these are the results.

02:51.39
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, okay, well I um, you know the way I go about it is kind of a mashup between those two things I I don't I'm not a big case study person I think people are smarter than case studies. Um, at the same time I think people love a story and I think that's really what they want. Okay I mean if you look at the Netflix numbers that will tell you that people want stories over case studies. Um, so I try to combine that and I think probably like the most recent example I I had was with a client who sells a very exciting product industrial air filters and it's really kind of hard to get that sort of um, you know. Fun story going around a product like that. So you know what we did and what I was really you know pushing my client to do was to really look at the benefits of this like why? why? buy industrial air filters. And you know straight away the answer comes like well you know it keeps the workplace clean and it's like well why is that a good thing you know so you know we sort of we tried to. We tried to look at 3 different um use cases of this. You can call them case. Studies be legs. Ah yes, we've got the happy worker you know. But the happy worker you know is not just going to be happy in the workplace. They're also going to be happy at home. You know and the happy worker might be the factory worker but they also might be the happy worker in the hospital in the schools. You've got a lot of different people. Um, and so you know this this this story we have 3 different you know people? um and you know it went all the way from you know the the clean factory floor to you know um, good health clean health. And um, and then especially when it came to covid was health and protection so security so we had clean workplace. We had happy healthy people and we had an element of security and those are three stories that you know you could easily tell. Um, and then the case studies you know, just you know, dovetailed right? to that you know, um, how many days did the healthy worker lose compared to the and the unhealthy worker or the happy worker to the unhappy worker. Um.

05:26.85
Warren Laine_Naida
How many man hours were lost or women hours were lost so you know this this this air filter. Um, in the end can come down to you know you say as a business owner saving money because your workers are happier and healthier and not you know, sick and grumpy.

05:41.93
gidgey
Well yeah I mean but when I when I hear the word story I think of fiction. Maybe that's my problem. Yeah.

05:44.13
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, yeah.

05:48.97
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, that yeah, that's well I I think there's there's nothing stranger. Um you know, ah than than truth. Ah and you know if you can mix the fiction and the truth because that's all advertising is you know I mean most. Advertising most marketing has very very little to do with truth. It's not what we what we? What we get. It's what we want and that is all about storytelling. That's really you know I don't think. You know I think you mentioned something about ah was it your hair or or lipstick or something and getting a boyfriend. You know the reality of that is probably far removed. Um you know from what you really Want. Um and I think these sorts of stories they sell everything from Fitness Club Memberships to. Trousers to cars and they always have you know? Um, what we think is going to happen to us is is you know our dream The fiction. Um, and I think you know it's It's important to find that sort of middle ground. Um, especially with small businesses because. You know they don't have the big budget. They they're not going to be making you know long-term commitments into this. They want to keep something short and sweet. You know, no, but but.

07:08.52
gidgey
Yeah, they don't have money for Don Draper so I mean that's why they're listening to this podcast of trying to figure out how to do it themselves like when you're yes, psychology is a big basis in advertising. And if you buy this ferrari you're going to get that hot Chick. We know sex sells right? We know that you know if I rentse and repeat my hairal be cleaner or like all this stuff right? But you you'll also have to stray away from false claims. Ah.

07:39.44
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, yeah, you do and you don't need to have false claims because I mean there's you know if I think this is the important part especially for for small businesses and storytelling is that you just need to be truthful. You know.

07:51.89
gidgey
Yeah, yeah.

07:55.51
Warren Laine_Naida
And small businesses are very very connected with their um customers much more so than large businesses. They probably know their customers names they know where they live. They know how many kids they have so the stories are are real life and um, you know the fiction. Ah, the wishes. The desires are very tangible and it could be something very so very small like you know well they would like to you know, have a product that enables them simply to save money and if they save money they'll have more money for something. They really want. Shell make them Happy. So I think this you know we can. We can think fiction but we can put it into very very easy. You know you know real life. Um connections. Um.

08:47.75
gidgey
Yeah I like to call that specific hypotheticals because like it's yeah so if I go and buy your shirt at $37 fifty cents instead of one that's eighty seventh and I have more money to go to brunch with my girlfriends.

08:52.65
Warren Laine_Naida
Oh yes, yes.

09:04.62
Warren Laine_Naida
Exactly so the shirt makes you happier simply because now you've got $50 to go and have brunch. Um, but back to your yeah it it is I think I am back to your to your first question I I think it's you know it's it's maybe.

09:06.11
gidgey
You know? yeah.

09:10.33
gidgey
Yeah I mean that's real life right.

09:23.60
Warren Laine_Naida
You know for the for the small business that don't have the capacity to to come up with um you know the storytelling they do have access to to things that everyone else has you know they've got access to a website with a blog. They've got access to social media and you know every small business probably has in a week. You know half an hour where they can connect on social media and ask the questions of the people who are following them like what what makes you Happy. You know what would you like to see from our products. How do our products change your life and then to write stories about that in in so in in their blog. Um, you know and I think that's a very simple easy way to. Combine storytelling with case studies because over time you're going to hear more and more success Stories. You're going to hear more and more questions from from people that you can then answer So It's a self-perpetuating process.

10:28.69
gidgey
I Mean it's great. Always to ask your customers What they think and how they feel um maybe that's a way to incorporate customer reviews.

10:36.30
Warren Laine_Naida
It's really important. Yeah, um, and I you know the the customer reviews are also you know on 1 part on 1 hand, there's success stories. Um, they're advertising for people who've never heard of your product on the other. But it also allows. Um you know any business to see how they can do better. You know it's like the what happened next part of any story you know so they bought the shirt they went to brunch what happened next? Um, and. Yeah I think you know we're constantly. Ah you know, evolving these these stories that that we have with products um and they can be happier sad stories. Um, but there's always a story there. Um, and I think you know if if there isn't then it's really hard to connect to a product. Because we need to visualize ourselves. Um with the product and how this benefits us and we can only do that by you know, either you know, imagining it or seeing exactly where our needs are um.

11:41.98
gidgey
In the in the launch with words starter pack. We have some prompts for these kinds of things including case studies and videos that kind of thing. What would be a good way for a small business owner to.

11:49.86
Warren Laine_Naida
Yeah.

11:58.62
gidgey
You know they're going to sit down spend 2 hours once a month writing something like this. What what would be some of their first steps. What should they have with them if it were if it were a cooking show and everything was ready. What should they have with them when they sit down at their computer to write.

12:00.17
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, yeah.

12:08.76
Warren Laine_Naida
Um.

12:14.88
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, um, have with them as in as in content or have in have with them as in direction yet both? Okay so I mean I.

12:25.63
gidgey
Yes, yeah.

12:33.95
Warren Laine_Naida
I think it's really important that they ask themselves 3 questions and and these 3 questions will then you know will help in in the creation of their of their content. Um, the first thing is you know they need to be able to put themselves in in the pants or of the customer and say. What problem does my product solve. How will my product make this customer happy make their life better because this is you know this is really why we why we buy anything why we do anything. You know, even if we're if we're looking at a Netflix thing. The problem is we're either bored or lonely or unhappy or we want to excite them so everything we do is to solve a problem so they need to identify how this problem is solved immediately. um and then they need to um to show um you know exactly where this product can be purchased. Okay is it something downloadable. Can they get a free sample who's using it you know and what does it cost and what does it cost does not have to be financial outlay. It could be any outlay of resources. So. How easy is it to get this. You know. Is it going to cost you something how long will it take for you to get it. Um, so I think you know and that these 3 things are very easily transferable into an image or a banner. Or a very small social media post. You know? So I think the first thing they have to have in their hand is the answer to these 3 questions. Um and that tells the whole story right? there you can then go, you know you can extrapolate that to you know to further levels. Um, but if you you need to have these the answers to these 3 questions. Otherwise you know everything else is just you know Gibber jabber.

14:31.26
gidgey
And what would you say to the small business owner goes. Okay, well I know what that is but I'm not that great of a writer quote unquote I barely passed high school.

14:42.34
Warren Laine_Naida
Well, you know I'm pretty sure that um you know the snake oil salesman of yesteryear. Um, never even went to high school but they were extremely successful because they were able to you know they had this empathy. They knew what people wanted to hear. And probably they were these people themselves I mean you have to start somewhere you know?? Um, so you know if you're not a very good writer. Maybe you're a good um orator. Maybe you can do a podcast. Maybe you're really Great. You know in your parking lot with these inflatable flying things and you could do a video you know.

15:04.80
gidgey
Yeah, so.

15:18.20
gidgey
Yeah, um.

15:21.37
Warren Laine_Naida
Maybe you can take a picture. It's got to be something if you can't do any of those things then you probably don't have a small business to begin with you know? yeah.

15:28.94
gidgey
Right? right? and and the thing is that if you're really comfortable with audio or video that can be transcribed because of course the podcast and the product is called launch of words the words are really important and I say this a lot because the internet is blind. There's a lot of people that put.

15:35.90
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, oh yes.

15:41.33
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, yes.

15:48.18
gidgey
Ah, image overlay on text when that's not accessible at all as Annamiica Bovalai wrote in our special chapter for our book that's coming out very very very soon as soon as I get my act together with Kindle ah, which is on my list today.

15:50.26
Warren Laine_Naida
No.

16:02.58
Warren Laine_Naida
Um.

16:07.53
gidgey
Ah, the only online marketing book you need for your school by Warren Leida and Bridget Willard that's us um I didn't even think about promoting it but just like that's the whole reason is to put these tools in their hands.

16:17.19
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, you just did. Yeah.

16:23.44
gidgey
Because you as a business owner you know your business more than anybody else and it's true I remember being a secretary I was one office wall away from the customer pain points that was so epic for content generation.

16:28.52
Warren Laine_Naida
Yep.

16:38.76
Warren Laine_Naida
Yeah, yeah.

16:41.22
gidgey
When I started doing social media because I knew exactly what the customer's pain points were and our sales process pain points I knew both now that I'm a vendor I have to extract that from my cut from my clients. You know it's not.. It's not there I'm not overhearing it. Okay, so um I recommend to my small business owners to keep a journal so that they can gather that with them so they have those things ready so that when they are sitting down at friday.

17:08.48
Warren Laine_Naida
Um.

17:17.39
gidgey
Two o'clock to do this. They're they're not like okay, what am I writing about you know you're gonna bake the Jenny Cake is Jenny's story Jenny got her lashes done. She's confident. She got the job interview. That's the Jenny Story with the eyelashes.

17:34.30
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, yeah.

17:35.90
gidgey
Right? Ah, Mark started going to yoga. His posture is better. His back pain is less. He met friends. that's that's Mark's story is that what you're saying.

17:47.72
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, yeah I mean there is no business person who is out of touch with customers because every business person is themselves a customer.. There is no B Two B there only B to C. Everyone who sells buys Everyone who buys sells. Yeah, is always going to be someone selling and someone buying. Okay, so even the small business owner. No small business owner and say I'm out of touch with my customers I mean this is just impossible unless they themselves are purchasing nothing anywhere you know.

18:13.36
gidgey
Mm.

18:23.73
gidgey
Ever. Ah.

18:25.75
Warren Laine_Naida
Um I don't think ever I don't think it matters if you are buying if you are buying you know turnips or a shirt or waiting in line to order lunch. It's the same thing you have a need. What is the need. It's the resolution of a problem. It doesn't matter what it is So I mean I think.

18:41.70
gidgey
Okay.

18:45.75
Warren Laine_Naida
You know, even you know doesn't matter what level business person you are you are going to have access to information from from customers. You're going to have faqs you're going to have emails. You're going to have heard from customers. You're going to have sat in the meeting and listened to someone who's who's heard from customers like olgilvi David olgavi said you know. The customer is not not an idiot. The customer is your wife so you always have a connection with people who are purchasing or selling. Um, you just need to be um, you know, empathetic enough to understand what that message is that they're telling you.

19:06.42
gidgey
Right.

19:24.56
Warren Laine_Naida
And it's I think it's usually quite simple. You know they're they're happy. They're sad you know or they're somewhere in the middle or maybe the complete disinterested. Well there is a problem that's a potential you know solution. So you know? Yeah yeah.

19:35.60
gidgey
Ah, awesome I mean that's it but everybody has problems ghost solve it. So ah, we wanted to keep these short. So let me know ah let the audience know Warren how people can find you on the internet.

19:44.52
Warren Laine_Naida
Yeah.

19:53.11
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, ah yeah, well I'm pretty much everywhere on the internet you can find me by looking for Warren Lane hyphen nia um otherwise I'm on Twitter at Warren L Naida um

19:54.67
gidgey
Or how you would prefer for them to find you on the internet.

20:11.92
Warren Laine_Naida
And yeah I'm pretty much actually'm the only Wornley Nia in the world. Um, so it's kind of an easy guy to find. Ah.

20:19.60
gidgey
And you have 1 book out 1 book coming out and a third book coming out this year so on http://amazon.com also look for Warren Lane hyphen nida l a INEHyphenN a I d a okay I'm gonna.

20:26.64
Warren Laine_Naida
Um, you go to Amazon yeah.

20:34.88
Warren Laine_Naida
Or if they look for you. They're going to find me there. you go thank you Bridget you have a great day.

20:39.33
gidgey
Yeah, vice versa. Thanks Warren.

Why should your small business value blog posts on your website? It’s simple. Your blog posts are a 24/7 workforce. Your website is that extra salesperson -- the 12th man to Seahawks fans -- who is always there cheering you on. Your office may be closed, but Google will serve up results -- from social media, your website, and Google My Business.

(00:03):
Welcome to the Launch With Words podcast, with your host, Bridget Willard. We're going to talk about all things. Content, blogging, articles, videos. Whatever has words and goes on your website.

(00:22):
Hey, Hey! This is the last episode of Season One of the Launch With Words podcast. Thank you for joining me in on these 10 very short episodes 'cause I know you don't have time to just be listening to podcasts. We're not really commuting to work anymore. We're going from our bedroom to the other side of our bedroom. We are going from, uh, our den to the kitchen table. You know, some of us are working in the parking lot at Starbucks.

(00:52):
I feel ya. I feel ya right there. So, Hey, let's talk about the best person on your team for the price. That's right. Your website. Your website, for the price, is the best sales person you have even better is if you are building up your internal sales library by publishing blog posts.

(01:17):
If this is your first episode of the Launch With Words, podcast, I would encourage you to go back and listen to the rest of them. Wherever you're listening now, you'll be able to find all 10 episodes. It is based upon my WordPress plugin called: Launch with Words and the starter pack is completely free. It comes with blogging prompts to help you get in. Get it done. Get it published. And go back to closing those sales. Right?

(01:54):
So let's talk about blog posts. Blog posts are available when Jenny asks her neighbor, Sue, "Hey Sue, do you know any plumbers in the area? I think I have a slab leak." They're at dinner. It's 7:00 PM on a Friday. You're not open, but she could go. "Yeah. I went to Billy. Bob was plumbing in Schertz and they're the best. So they go to BillyBobPlumbing.com.

(02:24):
I don't know if that's a real place. And she looks at your website. It talks about slab leaks. You have a blog post about it. How much time it takes. Who's going to lay the concrete when it's over. What kind of piping is the best. Preventing slab leaks from happening again. Helping you with your homeowner's insurance claim. And, and you're like, "Yes! Yes. I'm going to fill out their website for them right now." And then guess what? Saturday morning, she's going to get a call from Billy Bob and say, "Hey, really glad that you called let's schedule a time to look at this. Is it leaking right now or you just suspect it?" You know, that is the way to use your website and those blog posts for your benefit. Blog posts, as we've mentioned before, are not just influencers telling you about the lipstick they like from Cover Girl.

(03:21):
This is the way to inform clients. This is the way to answer pre-sales questions. This is the way to establish the fact that you're a legitimate business. You are in business for the future. You are not going anywhere. You're not a fly by night. Your website isn't on Wix or Weebly or Webflow or Squarespace about to shut down because you're not getting the domain name renewals from GoDaddy, right? This is a business that pays somebody to have a WordPress website. That has a contact form with a customized email that says, "Hey, we'll get back to you. Our regular service hours are 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM." You know? That kind of thing. Legitimacy. Legitimacy in every single part of the customer journey. It takes 7 to 10 touch points to make a sale. That's whether they saw you on Facebook or whether they saw you at that chamber of commerce mixer or whether they saw a tweet by you, or whether they saw a friend at a dinner party recommend your business.

(04:41):
Neighbors are asking neighbors, especially in the service-based industry. It's the same for hairdressers. It's the same for yoga instructors. We do business with people that we 1, 2, 3: Know, Like, and Trust. Know, like, trust. Know, like, and trust. I do business with you because I know you. You do business with me because you know me and you know me because you like me and you like me because you trust me. Right? I'm trying not to be like "getting to know you getting to know all about you, getting to like you, getting to hope you like me." You know, I don't want you to copy my problems. I love "The king and I."

(05:26):
But listen, I have had a great time recording this 10 part series.

(05:34):
I really want to know. Did you publish a blog post because of one of these podcasts? Send me an email. [email protected]. I actually answer those emails. I don't have a virtual assistant. I don't have AI. It's really me. It's really me here sitting at my desk, recording in San Antonio, Texas. It's really me trying to give you as many tools as I can for free so that you can be a successful business.

(06:05):
You know why? Because if we small businesses, don't stick together. How else are we going to make it? You're trying to compete against a franchise. You know? You're not a franchise massage parlor. You're not a franchise yoga chain. You're not a franchise coffee shop. You're not a franchise plumber. You know? They're, they're paying tons of money, you know? And calling you, Bubba, right? With their butt crack. You know what that's, that's the money that franchising hats, you can make a website on WordPress. If you want to do it yourself, do it on WordPress.com. Get one of their plans.

(06:50):
It's the best way to do it. We're pressed.com is so easy. And yes, you can install Launch With Words on WordPress.com. As long as you have the appropriate package, get your domain name, take your business seriously because you're not going to pay 40% labor burden on your website. You're not paying that extra salary. That website is not going to get sick with the flu. That website doesn't have to take its kids to ballet. That website does not go on vacation.

(07:28):
If you have even more budget, like $1,500 to up and up, I would recommend hiring a WordPress developer. Um, my best friend, Rhonda Negard of FatDogCreatives.com has website packages starting around $4,000. I keep telling her to raise it to five. She won't listen to me. So why don't you reach out to Rhonda Negard before she listens to me and raises her prices? I'm telling you if you like my website, you will love the work that Rhonda Negard does. She's also working on greater:SATX's website. So she also did some work for Credit Human. She also did some branding for WPwatercolor. I mean, it goes on and on and on. It goes on and on.

(08:19):
Why do I work with Rhonda Negard? Because she cares about my business. She cares enough about my business that will, she will say, "Bridget, why aren't you doing a podcast?" Like she's kind of responsible for this. "Why aren't you doing a podcast?" Well, because I, it just, I couldn't figure out what to do. And now I realized what I'm doing. I want to talk to you. I'm taking a little bit extra time on this last episode.

(08:49):
I want to tell you what I'm using. I'm using my MacBook. It's a 2015. I'm using, uh, Mar um, uh, a podcasting mic. I gone to Amazon for $47 called Marantz MPM-1000. I'm using Zencastr.com I'm hosting on Castos.com. I am transcribing with Temi.com. And I just want to tell you, this is all possible.

(09:21):
I started my content marketing journey in 2004 by writing Bible studies on webpages in HTML. I didn't even know blogging was possible. 2007: I started blogging on WordPress.com. Even a free account, you know, like. But spend some extra money. Get don't. Get your domain name. Get, uh, get something looking good. It doesn't have to be fancy. It needs words. Spend some time set aside two hours a month to blog and install this starter pack. And then let me know when you've done it. It's been 10 minutes. It's been a great season.

(10:05):
Season Two. I don't know if it's going to happen. But if it does, you will find out more about it if you go to LaunchWithWords.com LaunchWithWords.com and that is LaunchWithWords.com.

(10:21):
Thanks for listening to Launch With Words, a podcast by BridgetWillard.com. If you liked this podcast, why not go ahead and share it with your friends, small business owners, peers, your brother? I really appreciate your attention. If you have any ideas, contact me on my website, follow me at @BridgetMWillard on Twitter. And I hope to see you on the next episode or the next season.

(10:56):
What's your favorite, um, tune from "The King And I?" I just love that they're all sitting around. She has her big fluffy dress. And she's singing, "getting to know you getting to know about you getting to like you getting to hook you like me... Something, some thing, something, something, something, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh."

More Episodes

https://launch-with-words.castos.com/

Get the Launch With Words Plugin for free on WordPress

https://wordpress.org/plugins/launch-with-words/

Blogging. I know. It feels like you’re supposed to write about how transformative the meal was at Brasserie Mon Chu Chu to your email list of 1,000 people. But don’t think of lifestyle blogging, unless you are one. You’re a small business. Everything you write and publish educates your current, past, and future clients. And blog posts can be reused. Listen in for more!

Timestamps

(00:03):
Welcome to the Launch With Words podcast, with your host, Bridget Willard. We're going to talk about all things, content, blogging, articles, videos, whatever has words and goes on your website.

(00:21):
Hey. Hey! We know you've seen those Netflix movies and situational dramas and comedies where the lifestyle blogger is writing about her experience at Brasserie Mon Chu Chu in San Antonio's historic Pearl District. And how, uh, eating the filet mignon was like an orgasm in her mouth and the senses the senses and the music took her back to her time in Paris in 2017. Uh, but enough about me. Blogging. Is it just something that 20 somethings do when they're trying to be a lifestyle blogger blogging? Is it just something that people do to express their feelings?

(01:11):
Blogging is publishing articles on your website. You're at episode nine of this ten-part series, season one of Launch With Words podcast. So, uh, maybe this is your first episode. Maybe you need to go back and listen to the rest.

(01:29):
But I hope that you understand that blogging shouldn't be taken lightly. It shouldn't be dismissed. And definitely you should not avoid publishing on your blog for fear of feeling childish or juvenile or silly or ridiculous. Why? Because your blog posts educate and inform past, current, and future clients. You know, it's so much easier to get a client back or to have return business from a client than to get a new one. You know? And you want to be seen as that person who is an expert in your field. That's why you started your business, right?

(02:11):
So here's the thing. Once you publish those blog posts, um, they're on the internet basically forever until you delete your site. And then still there's like the Way Back Machine, but that's another episode. Um, we talked about the internet having a long memory in a previous episode.

(02:30):
So another thing that you could do with your blog posts is make them into an eBook. So, uh, I, what I did, for example, is I took my Keys to Being Social series that was written over eight years. I took those blog posts, put them into a Google doc, spent about a year editing them with my friend, Sarah Pressler, and turned them into a book called Keys To Being Social on Amazon, available on Kindle and also paperback. I did this because I realized that I had a gift of teaching people how to use social media in a way that makes sense to them based upon what they already know: good manners. Good manners, right? And going through each thing, and then how that works itself out, right?

(03:27):
So maybe you are a mobile notary and your goal is to teach people that not every notary will do a self-proclaimed affidavit. Not every notary at The UPS Store will notarize something for a living will or the last will and Testament. That you specialize in this, uh, situation. That you will come to the home or office for loan signing docs. The UPS notary is not going to do that. That's not their main, that's not their main source of revenue. That's an extra service, that's a value add for The UPS Store. Right? But you as a mobile notary have that you as a yoga instructor, have your apparel have, um, the ways to modify for being plus-sized. Have like beginners -- a heart for beginners, right?

(04:29):
You as a general contractor, understand when people want to make their homes suitable for them not just to flip. Some people actually want to buy a home and live in it until they die. And that's a completely legitimate way of homeownership.

(04:47):
And so it makes sense then to customize the bathroom so that things are centered and the tile is perfect. And that there's a lot of natural light and things like that. Right? You have those options. And, and as that professional, as that small business owner, you can, you know, gain your audience. A lot of people say "Write for your audience." You know? "Figure out who your audience is."

(05:17):
You know, what? Write for you. Write for what you're passionate about. You know why? Because there's always going to be an audience to find out whatever you're passionate about.

(05:27):
I mean, if, if you, if you are a general contractor who's passion it is to make homes ADA compliant so that they, so that people can age in place, then write about the importance of being able to age in place. Write about the importance of having, you know, uh, wheelchair accessible bathrooms, ramps for your mother-in-law or your dad that you're going to have to take care of. Us gen X-ers we're taking care of our parents, baby boomers have already been taking care of their parents. Right?

(06:00):
So, so I know this is a little bit longer than some of the other episodes, but you have that content. Okay? Now repurpose it. Repurpose it as an ebook. So maybe you take those three to five articles you wrote about aging in place. Right? Combine them together. Use Canva or, you know, Google docs, whatever. And put it in as a PDF that people can download once they sign up to your email marketing list. Then you have a lead generation tool, right? You can go and contact them through, um, however you deal with leads in Salesforce or your proprietary software or email marketing with MailChimp. Right now, you have another way to capture people.

(06:48):
You can also repurpose your blog posts into videos. Right? You can, you can take those exact blog posts, copy the text, put them in lumen5.com and they will make a video for you. If you pay, then you can remove the watermark and get the colors, right? But for free, you can do a lot of those videos. Then you have them on YouTube. Then you can share them on social media, right? It's another way for people to consume your content.

(07:20):
You can make a podcast. It doesn't have to be a weekly podcast. For example, this podcast is going to be one season of ten episodes. And if I decide to do a second season, it will be ten episodes 'cause that's all I'm willing to commit to. Because I have other things to do, like write more content packs. Right? And handle client work.

(07:40):
So repurposing what you've already done is smart, efficient, and helps you cast a wider net for the people who have aligning passions with your business, your goals, and what makes you unique.

(08:00):
Thanks for listening to Launch With Words, a podcast by BridgetWillard.com. If you liked this podcast, why not go ahead and share it with your friends, small business owners, peers, your brother? Oh, I really appreciate your attention. If you have any ideas, contact me on my website. Follow me at @BridgetMWillard on Twitter. And I hope to see you on the next episode or the next season.

More Episodes

https://launch-with-words.castos.com/

Get the Launch With Words Plugin for free on WordPress

https://wordpress.org/plugins/launch-with-words/

So much of our small business marketing efforts go back to our websites. What will we post on social media? Answer: what’s on your website? What will we send in our email marketing campaigns? Answer: what’s on your website? Blog posts. Blog posts are often looked down upon like they’re the red-headed stepchild of the Internet. But blog posts are your “invisible” salesperson. They work while you’re sleeping. They inform and persuade. So, don’t send out that next Constant Contact or Mailchimp email without including a link to your latest blog post. 

(00:03):
Welcome to the Launch With Words podcast, with your host, Bridget Willard. We're going to talk about all things, content, blogging, articles, videos, whatever has words nd goes on your website.

(00:21):
Hey there, thanks for joining me for episode seven. We're going to talk about email marketing. So you're using Active Campaign MailChimp, maybe even Constant Contact, but what are you sending in those email marketing campaigns? What are you sending in those emails? You should definitely send them links to your blog posts. Maybe even send them the blog post in its entirety. Tess Wittler recommends that we send a little bit of a story, our content, and maybe a tip, a coupon, some kind of call to action, but it really shouldn't be a month worth of your efforts. It shouldn't be a Christmas letter talking about Bobby and Jenny and Suzy and tae kwon do, ballet, and little league.

(01:15):
It could be. It could be if your company is sponsoring little league, but you don't want to be super personal. You, you want to be valuable, right? So keeping in that constant, um, cadence of publishing on your blog posts, and then following up with an email marketing -- maybe three to seven days later -- is a great way to remind people of your blog posts.

(01:46):
Warren Laine-Naida says that being invited to a user's email inbox is an honor. It's like being invited into their home. So when you have a customer or someone interested, subscribing, give them value. Now they may delete those emails. I delete tons of emails every single day, but that doesn't mean I'm not interested. It doesn't mean that I don't see that Jason Resnick is in my email box. It just means I cannot devote the time to deal with it.

(02:23):
And then don't forget that people save emails as well. I just got an email about three months ago from Goodyear tire service for my oil change. I, I haven't deleted it, but I haven't done anything with it. Doesn't mean that the email marketing campaign wasn't successful.

(02:45):
And a lot of my peers and small business owners look at email open rates that are 20% or 30% and think that it's a failure. It's not. This is not high school. This is not university. Having 20% open rate with email is awesome. 25, even better. 30 is amazing. 60% tells me you have an amazing list of people that only care about your product or service. And that's gold. That's marketing gold.

(03:17):
So pair, pair your email marketing campaigns with your blog posts. You want people to come and, you know, in waves. You don't, you don't open your doors at 9:00 AM and expect all of your customers for that day to be waiting. No. So give it a little time. Maybe send that out, um, like I said, four to seven days. Or maybe you're the kind of person who sends it out immediately to your email list and then shares it on social media, four to seven days later. One day on Twitter. Two days later on LinkedIn. Five days later on your Facebook Page. That's totally fine.

(04:06):
But the email marketing piece is super important. It's important because those people have specifically requested that you be in contact with them. They want to read information from your website. They want to know that you do bathroom remodels. They've want to know that you work on foreign vehicles. They want to know that you do eyelashes and brows. Right? So it's really important, really important. And I would urge you to kind of add this in. Maybe it's too much right now. Maybe adding email marketing is just totally overwhelming for you. That's fine. But think about it. Think about starting that. Think about a subscribing form. Think about sharing your blog posts another way to the audience that actually wants to read them.

(05:16):
Thanks for listening to Launch With Words, a podcast by BridgetWillard.com. If you like this podcast, why not go ahead and share it with your friends, small business owners, peers, your brother? Oh, I really appreciate your attention. If you have any ideas, contact me on my website. Follow me at @BridgetMWillard on Twitter. And I hope to see you on the next episode or the next season.

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“Shoeless Joe,” and the movie from that book have both been misleading people for years. “If you build it, he will come.” That’s the biggest load of malarkey. That doesn’t work for “Field of Dreams” in the real world. No one comes to a concert, book launch, website, or restaurant unless they know about it. They only know your product or service exists because you tell them. Which means -- you need to market the thing. 

(00:03):
Welcome to the launch with words podcast, with your host, Bridget Willard. We're going to talk about all things. Content, blogging, articles, videos, whatever has words and it goes on your website.

(00:21):
Hey, welcome to episode six. "If you build it, he will come." Famous quote from the book, "Shoeless Joe" and the movie about the same thing, "Field of Dreams." The field of dreams is simply that. It's just a dream. Because guess what?

(00:40):
You can't build anything -- a stadium, a team, a restaurant, a product, a service -- without telling people. There's no way. It's insanity for us to think that just because we have a website, that people will know about it for one thing. And or that they will magically happen upon a website. It's not something in the mall that we walked by. But even, even a store in the mall, isn't magic. It happens to be next to other stores and they market together. Whether it's Norton Simon, or, you know, some kind of outlet mall, that it's not by chance. All of that is intentional marketing.

(01:28):
So if you think that writing a book will automatically get you book sales, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's not going to happen. If you think that producing a CD and selling them and you know, making your dreams come true. And just thinking that people will happen to do it. This is not going to happen.

(01:52):
Um, some of these things sounds so obvious. It sounds like I'm patronizing you. I'm not trying to patronize you. I have been consulting with high-end C-suite and entrepreneur clients for over 15 years. Or yeah, basically. So guess what? You have to tell people about it. You have to tell people. It's really not that difficult.

(02:25):
It takes work. It takes work to tell people that you have a thing.

(02:29):
It takes some humility and mixed with bravery to tell them that you built a thing. You know? You have to care. You have to care about your business more than your employees. You have to care about your business more than the marketer that you hire. You really do, because you're going to be part of it. But you also have to dedicate the time and the budget. So many of the customers that I've talked to, of the people that I've consulted with say, well, I don't really have marketing budget. Oh okay. But do you have money? Like, do you want your business to succeed? Or do you want to be just another cliche restaurant that closes because nobody knew it existed. I mean, this is the reality. This is absolutely the reality.

(03:22):
And I love that I have this five to seven minutes with y'all and I could just say stop being so bleeping stupid. Stop being naive. Stop being lazy. Really. Because you're not foolish. You're not stupid. And surely you're not naive. You're an industry expert. That's why you started your business. You know how to get clients. That's why you're still in business. But that half-life of referral by referral, by referral that just, uh, just, you know, magically happen. I mean, whether you bought your dad's company, inherited your mom's company, bought a business that was existing. You think you're going to keep those customers just because they were already there?

(04:15):
No. Loyalty has to be both created and maintained. And you maintain customer loyalty -- one of the reasons, one of the ways -- is by having good marketing. You have to tell people what's going on. You have to let them in. You have to let them to what you're doing. And this goes back to the previous episode about showing some vulnerability and writing about who you are and why you're in business.

(04:43):
Everybody wants to make money. Of course, we're making money. I've bills; you have bills. You know, and I don't. I'm not ashamed to be a capitalist. I'm not ashamed to have income goals, you know? But at the same time, no, it's not just about money.

(05:01):
I do what I do because I'm good at it, because people value it, because people are willing to pay money for it, and because people need it. And at the intersection of those four things is your purpose and your why.

(05:20):
You have to tell people what is the worst thing that could happen? You know, you, you really, you really don't want to be a boarded-up business -- online or in reality. And when you don't use social channels, you know, it just looks like you're not in business. And when you're not active online, people aren't don't remember you because you're not top of mind. And they forget who you are. You know, they forget who you are.

(05:56):
It's not out of malice. It's just that we can only remember so much at a time. Who's that one guy that does that one thing? Oh man, I forgot his name. Oh, I can't find him on Twitter. I don't even know how to search. Right? You know. Is so-and-so still in business. You don't even know how many times that's asked.

(06:23):
You have to tell people and you have to keep telling people. And that's where your blog comes into play, too. You use your blog to talk about your customers, to talk about your solutions, to talk about your products and to talk about your team.

(06:39):
And then as you publish that cadence, that metronome helps your SEO efforts because -- Why? You're telling Google that you're alive, you're showing a pulse. And that's what matters. Not just to the algorithms, not just a Google, but to people who are trying to remember you. Somebody asks them who the best British 4x4 mechanic is in Orange County. What's that guy's name again? You forget because they're not doing this [snapping]. And when you stop doing this [stopps snapping], you're dead.

(07:25):
Thanks for listening to Launch With Words, a podcast by BridgetWillard.dot com. If you like this podcast, why I go ahead and share it with your friends, small business owners, peers, your brother. Oh, I really appreciate your attention. If you have any ideas, contact me on my website. Follow me at @BridgetMWillard on Twitter. And I hope to see on the next episode or the next season.

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So many people are afraid of publishing on the internet because “screenshots are forever.” That’s a good mentality if you’re hesitant to start sexting with the guy you met on Tinder. However, that mentality holds you back in business. See, as small business owners, we can use this to our advantage. As we continue to publish online, we build a net part of the internet. It’s a connected network of pages and references to our names, our businesses, and our expertise. Don’t worry how many views your blog post gets. Worry about not publishing again. 

(00:03):
Welcome to the Launch With Words podcast, with your host, Bridget Willard. We're going to talk about all things. Content, blogging, articles, videos, whatever has words and goes on your website.

(00:21):
Hey, thanks for tuning in for the fifth episode in this first season. We're going to talk about the internet having a long memory. Now, if you are SnapChatting and sexting with the guy you met on Tinder, Bumble, Match, whatever -- or the gal -- then the internet, having a long memory should be a concern for you.

(00:45):
However, if you're building your business, don't let that mentality interfere with publishing your blog posts. It's so easy to think that it doesn't matter, but every connection you make matters when you're publishing. You're building the net part of "inter-net." It's an interworking network. Right? It's a network. It's a web. It's connections. It is a digital version of how we do business online. It's a digital version of how we do business in person. It's a representation of your expertise, of your length in business, of your personality, of your company, of your name, the personal branding of, of you.

(01:43):
So when you're hesitant to blog, because you don't think it's important, I would remind you of my favorite Chinese proverb: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today."

(02:03):
Start today, start writing 300 to 500 word blog posts, and then don't stop the writing. Publish. Publish those blog posts. Tell people who you are. What makes you different? Why do people want to hire you? Right? Why are you the best roofing contractor? Why should they buy a Trane air conditioning unit from you? If it's a Trane, does it matter who installs it? Why should they buy a Honda Civic from your dealership and not the one 20 miles away?

(02:48):
Why should they hire you? Why should they hire you to build a website? What makes you special? What makes you unique? Do you know a lot about a certain industry? Are you an expert in mortgages? Do you work with only financial services? This is, this is what matters.

(03:12):
We want to know who you are as customers and with the Shop Local movement, becoming more of the commonality with millennial purchasers -- who are 40, by the way -- they want their money to go to a business that recognizes their own goals. If you're not supporting a nonprofit, you should, and then blog about why you do that. These kinds of goals matter. You know?

(03:45):
So when I encourage my clients and friends to write and publish, write and publish, write and publish, I do this because it takes a long time for results to show. People said to me,when I moved to Texas, "Wow, Bridget you've really become a success overnight."

(04:08):
Or when I changed my career from being, uh, an office manager /secretary/accountant, to working at a advertising agency in the franchise development world, "wow, that's an overnight success."

(04:24):
Well, it doesn't feel like an overnight success to me when I've been doing this work since 2009. It doesn't feel like an overnight success to me when I've been working since I was 14 years old. It doesn't feel like an overnight success to me when I've made intentional decisions to lower my cost of living, to focus my mind on my health, to focus my efforts on my business, instead of dating, instead of friendships, instead of trying to keep relationships alive, that shouldn't be alive. Right? Those are my reasons for moving last year. And when I talk about it on my blog, people understand. They relate. They know who I am. They know that I care about my business, which tells them that I'm going to care about theirs. Right?

(05:19):
It seems like too personal to talk about why you moved and how you found businesses, but you're going to find a blog post on BridgetWillard.com about exactly that. It seems weird that I would talk about reading self-help books, but that's who I am. And that's the journey that I am.

(05:37):
Because people buy from other people. You want to undo the big box stores, the Sams, the Walmarts, the Amazons? You do that by revealing more of who you are. By becoming vulnerable. By showing expertise and being not, and sorry, and not being afraid of criticism. Because here's the thing. If a customer reads your blog post or sees your photo and they don't like you, or they think you need plastic surgery, or they don't like that you lease a Honda Civic like I do, then they're not your customer. It's not a good fit. Is that bad? No, we can't do work with everyone. Right?

(06:31):
So I want to know. Send me an email at [email protected]. I want to know. Say, "Bridget. I listened to episode five. I w I just wrote this blog post. Uh, will you read it? Will you give me some feedback?" I'll be happy to do that for no charge. I will be happy to do that because I want you to do what's best for your business and what's best for your business is to publish on your own blog.

(07:06):
Thanks for listening to Launch With Words, a podcast by BridgetWillard.com. If you like this podcast, why go ahead and share it with your friends, small business owners, peers, your brother. Oh, I really appreciate your attention. If you have any ideas, contact me on my website. Follow me at @BridgetMWillard on Twitter. And I hope to see you on the next episode or the next season.

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There is one reason why writing for your business blog is hard. Because it puts us in the mindset of school and the pass-fail mentality. Once you realize that this isn’t a term paper, you’ll realize that writing for your business blog is easy. This isn’t school. It’s your business. You know it -- very well. So what should you write about? Listen for some tips and ideas. 

(00:03):
Welcome to the Launch With Words podcast, with your host, Bridget Willard, we're going to talk about all things. Content, blogging, articles, videos, whatever has words and goes on your website.

(00:22):
Hey, thanks for joining on this episode. A lot of business owners ask me, "Hey, Bridget, what should I write about for my business blog? What, what? I don't have anything to say," they might say. And I know a lot of my peers. I know you feel this way. You got it in your head that it's 8th with Mr. Bussio. Sorry, not sorry. Love the teacher, but it's not a seven paragraph essay, a five-paragraph essay, a term paper midterms in college. It's not a pass or fail mindset. So if you get yourself out of that mentality and say, hey, I started this business because I have expertise. I have authority. And I have experience talking to my clients and selling this product, this service, right?

(01:26):
So what should you write about? You should write about the things your customers ask. For example, I highly recommend keeping a journal on your, on your desk. When people ask you a question, uh, you write that question down. That should be a blog post. We're talking 300 to 500 words. This is not difficult to do. You can literally sit down, start to finish within two hours, have a blog post. Do that once a month for your business. And you will be so happy that you did that. And we'll talk about more about that part in the episode about the internet having a long memory.

(02:18):
So your customers questions, fantastic blog fodder. Fantastic. Write those down. Okay. If you don't want to write them down, go through your emails. If you have a SaaS or a service that has a support ticket system, go through some of those. Another thing to write about for your small business blog are the questions that come up frequently. So that might be different, but, but during the pre-sales process, what other questions? So pre-sales questions.

(02:58):
Another thing to write about are things you wish people understood about your industry or your service. Those are fantastic articles that give you humanity, that give your business some humanity. And we need humanity. Why? Because we do business with those that we know, like, and trust.

(03:25):
It takes seven to 1ten touches to make a sale that doesn't change with podcasts and social media and blogging and YouTube, and TikTok. That doesn't change. What changes is, how we reach our customers and how we interact with them. So pre-sales questions, things you wish people knew.

(03:50):
Another thing to write about are case studies use cases. How, how is someone going to use this product or service? How does that fit into their life? Right? We like to talk about the features of our thing and how amazing it is, but really we're solving a problem which is so annoying. I know, I feel you. I feel you deeply on this.

(04:19):
"Oh, you have to tell people that you solve a problem." Well, no shit. Of course I'm solving a problem. That's why I have customers. But you it's about the empathy. Right? You get into their shoes and you go, oh, okay. I see why Twitter Spaces would be good after a podcast to, for questions and answers, right. Or I see how we would use a tilt-up repair. If we have a fire. You know? It just depends, right. You know, the best use cases, but your customers, they are not as intimate with your product and services as you are. And they never will be until you let them into your world.

(05:03):
So those are three great ideas. Pre-sales questions. Um, oh my gosh. Happens to everybody, right? Pre-sales questions, right? Use cases and how to pair your products with one another. Those are great ideas.

(05:24):
I am just riffing with this podcast. I'm doing it on the first take. I'm doing it as if you're on a Zoom meeting with me, we're making eye contact, and you're asking me these questions. Why? Because I have been consulting for marketing since 2009 from FinTech services to big data, construction, real estate, franchise development -- eaching within those personal conferences, the WordPress Industry. I have seen and worked with all kinds of small businesses. And I put that down for you in less than seven minutes or maybe seven minutes because you know what? You are busy. So get back to work.

(06:15):
Thanks for listening to launch with words, a podcast by BridgetWillard.com. If you liked this podcast, why not go ahead and share it with your friends, small business owners, peers, your brother. I really appreciate your attention. If you have any ideas, contact me on my website. Follow me at @BridgetMWillard on Twitter. And I hope to see you on the next episode or the next season.

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Not everyone has to be a great writer. We’re not all Ernest Hemingway. That’s fine. There are plenty of tools and tricks that you -- the business owner -- can employ in order to get started. From voice typing in Google Docs (or Siri in Apple’s Notes) to paying for Jarvis.ai or Bertha.ai, you have options. You can even write the technical and hire an editor. What you are isn’t a writer -- you’re the industry expert. This is the point of business blogging. 

(00:02):
Welcome to the Launch With Words podcast with your host, Bridget Willard. We're going to talk about all things, content, blogging, articles, videos. Whatever has words and goes on your website.

(00:21):
Hey, thanks for joining me for another episode of the Launch With Words podcast. What if I'm not a good writer? What if I'm not a good writer? Well, most likely you're not a good writer. You're also probably not a good singer, which is why we have karaoke and showers and privacy of your own vehicle.

(00:41):
Business blogging isn't about being Ernest Hemingway. It's not about being a good writer. Business blogging is about elevating yourself as the industry expert, as a person who knows what you're talking about as somebody who is approachable and friendly. Um, business blogging. Isn't about being a good writer.

(01:03):
"But, Bridget," you say, "I had a hard time with high school." That's okay. High school was 30 years ago for me and I'm learning every day, but we have tools. We have so many tools. It's 2021, and there is no reason why you should not be blogging for your business.

(01:25):
Let's get started with some tools. Okay? First of all, if you don't like typing, we have Siri, Alexa, and Google. And all of them are very happy to take notes for you. Within Google Docs, voice typing is a command in tools. It's native. Open up your Chromebook, your laptop, your phone, click on voice typing. And, uh, you, you have to imagine yourself as the boss talking to a secretary. That's the only trick, right? So you'll have to say what if I'm not a new writer question mark, new paragraph. It's okay. If you're not a writer, semi-colon none of us are period. It's fine. If you have to say it that way, or you could just vomit it out and say, Hey, Siri, start a note. And she will say, what would you like your note to say. You can say, I just want to talk about why epoxy injection is so important for standing up for, um, tilt up construction and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

(02:33):
Hand it to, uh, an editor, give it to a friend, have your partner look at it, um, secretary somebody in your office. There, there's options, right?

(02:45):
So you're aiming for 300 to 500 words. This is basically the same amount of words. That's your typical five paragraph essay, um, content marketing, um, blogging, which has always also called content marketing for business. Content marketing or blogging for business is about giving answers, being helpful, being clear, being witty, being funny, showing your personality. Okay? So what you're gonna do is, um, think about, and I talk about this in my book and in the plugin.

(03:22):
What are some questions that your customers always ask you? I challenge you as a business owner, keep a journal, a notebook, that sits on your desk or Evernote or whichever tool you like in order to keep, uh, in order to, um, keep in one spot ideas for blogs. Because the customer's always asking you, for example, how do I distribute a podcast on castos.com? Um, it's hosting, but how do I distribute that? So that is a question that comes from a customer, which means that is something you can answer in a blog post. All right, Then do you have an internal sales library, but that's another episode. All right.

(04:08):
So more tools, jarvis.ai, bertha.ai just released that works within WordPress. Um, you can also hire an editor and as far as grammar goes, Google docs, Microsoft Word, they have grammar checkers, but also the Grammarly Chrome extension is free. Um, Grammarly has free options that we'll make suggestions for you based upon tonality even. Maybe you don't want to be in for formal for your blog, right? That's fine. Um, so you have options with grammar, spelling, and tonality, which is what a great writer would be considered. Right?

(04:58):
So for example, one of the tools I love is Hemingwayapp.com. Now Hemingway is, is known for short sentences, but upon just reading "The Old Man And The Sea," it's not just short sentences, it's a cadence. They're short. There'slong. They're short. They're long. There's a rhythm to it, it keeps you reading. You want to know what is happening with this old man, and will he make it back? Will he make it back with even some of the fish left, right? You're in that suspense because of the way the writing is.

(05:35):
So business blogging, isn't prose, but it's also, it also just can have those kinds of tools. Now, if you're writing within WordPress itself, Yoast SEO and Rank Math also have readability and, uh, keyword helpers. So with all of those tools, there's no reason why you can't set aside two minutes once a month. I mean, two hours once a month to write your blog posts, you don't have to be a good writer. You have to be good at your job, which is why you started your business. Right? [laughs] I think it is.

(06:17):
Thanks for listening to Launch With Words, a podcast by BridgetWillard.com. If you liked this podcast, why go ahead and share it with your friends, small business owners, peers, your brother. [laughs] Oh, I really appreciate your attention. If you have any ideas, contact me on my website. Follow me at Bridget@MWillard on Twitter. And I hope to see you on the next episode or the next season.

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