How can I make my products and services stand out?

Corey Winter 0:01
Welcome to 10 minutes to being boss, a buy side show for creative business owners where we give you actionable insights, tools and tactics on Korea winter. And here's your host, Emily Thompson.

Emily Thompson 0:13
All right, Cory, I'm gonna start with a question for you, you ready for this?

Corey Winter 0:16
Go for it,

Emily Thompson 0:17
how much time you spend scrolling social media?

Corey Winter 0:20
Oh, god, that's a scary thought. I actually, you know, that that feature that iPhones have where you can actually like, see how much time you spend on those apps? Yeah, I've never looked at it because I'm afraid of what the answer will be. Like, I know, after I get off work every day, I do that to like, unwind. And I know it's usually like at least an hour or two before I'm done unwinding.

Emily Thompson 0:42
Mm hmm. Okay, so do you feel then? Cuz it sounds like maybe a little more than you should? Do you then feel that maybe? Do you ever feel inundated with marketing? And in that, do you ever feel sort of numb to it? Also, yes. Okay. No, did continue. Alright,

Corey Winter 1:02
well, I have a question for you then. And this comes from a community member? How can I make my product and services shine through the avalanche of online offerings and products right now? There are a lot of resources, courses, products, etc, available, and I'm having a hard time sifting through them myself. What can I do to stand out?

Emily Thompson 1:22
It's almost as if I knew this question was coming. Right, I think we can all agree that our social media feeds our inboxes. And probably that's all because at the moment, that's all any of us are looking at is because we can't do anything else is inundated with advertising for all kinds of things. And I think that it's definitely becoming more heightened. And it's something I've even I've compared it recently, in some conversations that I've had with bosses in the community and elsewhere, especially in the product business. Me running Almanac, I experienced this where during the holiday season, there's so much marketing that's happening, people are pushing products, bogos deals, all kinds of things because they want your business during the holiday season. And there comes in the beginning it works. But there comes a point in every holiday season, when you can tell that people just start numbing to what's happening in their social media feeds and their inboxes like open rates go down, click through rates go down all of these things, because people just become numb to it. Because they're such a was it barrage, bearish was that word.

Corey Winter 2:37
It's definitely not bearish. It's

Emily Thompson 2:41
there's so much so much marketing going at you that you grow numb to it. And I feel like we're in a period right now. Everyone's currently stuck at home. Everyone's assuming that you're just sitting around not doing shit looking for something to do. And because of that, people are creating things people are launching things people are marketing, marketing marketing, because they think you have nothing better to do than buy right now. So I've been likening this to like the holiday season that like numbness of the holiday season times like 87, basically where we have become so desensitized to what is happening in the just in the world of business, because so much is happening that we've just really started shutting it off. However, so many creatives that I know are in a place where they are needing to launch and maybe have created something do they do have a product or service is going to serve during this time, or that is simply available during this time. And they are looking for authentic ways to offer these products or services, these resources, whatever it may be in an authentic way that's not tone deaf, and will allow them to stand out amongst all of the noise. So my suggestions are to not watered down your actions. Oftentimes whenever we're launching new things, we think that we need to get 100,000 people to love everything you've ever done so that they buy, when in reality, you just need to focus on 10 people who are going to buy you or 20 people or 50 people it's not 100,000 it's just a couple and whenever you can sort of Ansel D scale down scale, scale backward down, thank you downscale. See, this is why you're there, Cory because you just had to fill in my blanks. This is this is gonna become a new game that everyone can play. It's Emily fill in the blanks. Um, so we're going to downscale you're going to downscale your efforts to focus on fewer people instead of a time so you're not shouting, you're just chatting. And whenever you're chatting, people are listening when you're shouting, no one cares. So that's like number one for me is to get focused. on just a couple of people, not everyone, part of that, too, is getting personal. So both with those couple of people that you're going to be talking to and think about the people who were on your Instagram account, who are consistently like thumbs up in your Instagram stories, the people who are already showing up in the places where you are showing up, and you also showing up in the places where you feel most natural, because in those places, you are going to more easily have these sort of close knit conversations with people, it's going to be sincerely more easy for you to make those connections. So get really personal with people really, really, really personal with people. You draw that line wherever you need to draw that line, but get personal,

Corey Winter 5:47
how many times a day do you go to the bathroom? Right?

Emily Thompson 5:50
No gory, no, show up in the places where you feel most natural as well. And then I also want you to be very clear. This happens all the time in marketing in general. And I think right now where everyone's feeling a little bit ungrounded, it can be even more prevalent, where people are talking about the thing that they've created, and the thing that they've done everything they want you to buy, but they're not actually being clear as to what it is that they have created, like, what is it? And what are the problems that it's here to solve? And what action do you actually want people to do next, I find this one to be the most prevalent and the most obnoxious is you've created this thing, but you haven't told people what to do. So do you want them to go buy it? Do you want them to sign up for your newsletter to access it, the user is talking about this thing that you've created, but no one knows where to go to get it. So be really clear, crystal clear, and concise, especially in times like this, where people's attention spans is at quite a bit shorter than usual, be very clear and concise about what it is, what problem it solves, why they should care. And what you want people to do next, wherever it is that you're showing up. So if you're talking to people in DMS, tell them to go to your website, if you are posting on social media, actually all roads to pretty much always just lead to your website, tell people to go to your website, find that thing that they want, and do the thing that you want them to

Corey Winter 7:16
do. Yeah, and I think sometimes we get lost when creating the content as these business owners where we don't actually think about how users are seeing the content. So step back from being the business owner, step back from being the person that made the advertisement and see how a user would see the advertisement. And as a user, see what your call to action should be to attract people.

Emily Thompson 7:39
Amen to that one of my favorite ways of doing this is to write the content for the thing, and then walk away for like three days, if I can remove myself from the content for three days. And so maybe you've scheduled up your social media, or you've pre written all of your emails, or whatever it may be, walk away from it for a couple of days, and then come back to it with fresh eyes, I usually end up finding places where I could have used a more clear word, or I forgot to put a call to action in that thing. Or I could clarify something. There's always like little tweaks that you can make, but only whenever you remove yourself from the marketing of it, you go away, you think about it, and you come back and relook I also want to add that in hard times sort of crazy, weird, strange times like these businesses sort of fall within two categories with their marketing. And by marketing, I mean sort of soft sells, or even just like Top of Mind marketing. So let's say you're just sharing memes, like that is very top of like, you're just creating some you're creating some brand awareness basically. Or if you are hard selling, so you were telling someone I created this thing, I want you to go buy it. There are sort of two camps here and one is entertaining and one is adding value entertaining does add value. But I want to almost think of like live work differences here, or buy the thing versus just laugh at this thing. Think about that. Whenever you are creating your marketing for something and add a little bit of both. If you're not marketing, one thing in particular, I think it's fine to choose one of those like, I know a couple of people right now who are just entertaining. Like usually they're selling they're giving lots of value in their marketing, but like things are hard and sometimes coming up with a really engaging serious thing for the thing you're selling is hard. So let's just make people laugh. I think that's completely fine too. Whenever marketing things think about adding value, but also entertaining.

Corey Winter 9:34
Yeah, like really you can sum it up as Are you trying to make people feel good right now because we call use that? Or are you trying to help people help themselves?

Emily Thompson 9:43
Oh, yeah. All right, which actually kind of gets me to the next one. Be sensitive, because we are all in sort of tender times I keep telling everyone I'm tender. Mostly just David David's talking to you. I'm like I can't right now I'm tender.

Corey Winter 9:57
Is there a different word for that

Emily Thompson 9:59
that you I know if that is the word I'm using is the most accurate word that I can use. Anyway, everyone needs to be a little bit more sensitive. Be aware also that everyone's emotions right now are more heightened. This is not a time for scare tactics or scarcity, tactics and marketing, this is a time to simply show up and help. Because it real selling is just helping. You're helping people, you're telling people how they can help themselves by using the thing that you offer. Just help. No shady shit here is not a time for those sorts of tactics. Lastly, the thing that I want to sort of be the overarching flavor of this entire thing is that when marketing things, especially in difficult times, and when you really wanting to shine above the noise, just be a human who created something for other humans, and be proud of that thing that you created and show up in the ways that you know is going to help other people by accessing or using or having this product or service that you've created. I think this is a time of humanizing everyone and everything. And I think that is the key to authentically selling in these crazy times. We're living

Corey Winter 11:20
Yeah, so for all of the robots out there listening, get off the internet.

Emily Thompson 11:26
A True that. Amen. All right. And last up, I do have to say this is such a good question, and one that has come up many, many times in many conversations that I've had lately. So highly relevant, and so much so it's even going to be making an appearance at the beating boss conference, which I'm super excited about. So Tara McMillan is joining us for a keynote where she's going to be talking about marketing tactics during Strange Times. And I cannot wait to hear the fantastic things that come out of her brain around this subject. So if this is something that you are interested in something you are curious about something you're wanting more insight on. I invite you to come join us for the being boss conference being held online April 19 20th. And 21st is going to be such an amazing experience. Especially not really especially they're all going to be amazing but including this session about marketing when things are just crazy because here's the thing guys business has to go on has to but we do have to change the way that we do it. And you can join us for the being boss conference by going to being boss dot club slash conference.

Corey Winter 12:41
Have questions and looking for answers. Joined bosses from around the world and the being boss community and be a part of an ongoing conversation about cultivating a boss mindset, creating healthy boundaries, some real life business tactics and more. Learn more and join us that big boss club slash community