Nurturing your Audience
This week, I want to talk about Nurturing your audience.
When I first started in marketing, “nurture” wasn’t a word we used. We talked more about understanding your audience, and what was relevant to them.
Almost 20 years later, I entered the entrepreneur world and learned a whole new lingo. I also saw how people were talking about things like wanting to have high engagement with their audience, yet what they were doing wasn’t quite hitting the mark.
Here’s the deal - I worked in numerous advertising and marketing agencies, and I learned client service from some of the best people around. And here’s the #1 rule: it’s not about you.
Your business is about you. But for your clients, it’s about them.
Are you truly serving them, or are you serving yourself?
Below are recent examples I’ve experienced or know others have experienced. This may feel like tough love, but it’s not meant to be shaming. We all have our own zone of genius and experiences. Client service, is part of mine, so I share this to help you <3
Do you show up on time for your calls and meetings? If you’re late, do you apologize?
How do you show up, what impression are you making? Yes, we’re all working from home right now, and have gotten extremely casual. But there’s a difference between showing up “real”, and looking like you just rolled out of bed. Maybe that doesn’t matter to you, but does it matter to your audience?
Personally, I’m old-school and a first impression is still a first impression.
Are you meeting timelines? When you give a client timing for a project, do you deliver on time? Same question, but for timing that is listed on your website.
When you don’t meet that timing do you apologize, or do you make excuses? If you give a client timing, and don’t meet it because you’re behind in your work - that’s not your client’s problem. That’s YOUR problem. And it’s not a good excuse.
You want them to engage with you. Are you engaging with them?
Do you respond when they comment on your social media?
We all miss comments here and there, but overall, are you on top of it?
Are you going onto their social and interacting with them?
How are you communicating to them broadly?
Are you spamming them with email? Seriously, one person sent me three long emails in one day. No thanks. That’s an automatic unsubscribe for me.
Are you ‘yelling’ at them in email? I got one just today that’s part of someone’s sequence telling ‘all the things you’re doing wrong.’ Guess what? It’s hard enough running a business. I don’t need someone trying to market to me through negativity.
What do you do when someone isn’t ready to work with you? Do you thank them and let them know you’ll be there when they’re ready?
I’m not saying you can’t offer payment plans or other offerings, that’s smart. Rather when you get a hard no twice, how are you handling it?
Again, I’m not sharing this to make anyone feel bad. The reality is two of these examples resulted in the client not wanting to work with the person again, and sharing their experience with others. That doesn’t have to be the case with small adjustments :)
As always, if you have any questions, reach out and let me know!