If you want to build a house, do you start with a hammer? No, you start with your vision of the house – the floor plan, the interior and exterior style, the materials, and even the landscaping. The hammer is simply one of many tools to help you execute your vision.

Same goes with using social media for business. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – these are merely tools to help you fulfill your vision. If you are using these tools with no particular vision, you are likely hammering your followers/friends/connections with scattered thoughts and comments that lead nowhere. Or worse – chasing would-be fans away.

I took a very unscientific poll on Facebook to learn what caused my varied friends to either hide or unfollow people in their networks. Most of my network consists of professionals over 35. Most are college educated. Quite a few are independent business owners. Here are some reasons they have wanted to “mute” someone:

• Inflammatory political rhetoric
• Profanity
• Too many games and quizzes
• Feeling like a target for someone’s business
• Negativity and toxic ranting
• Promotions or invitations that are irrelevant (inviting you to a next-day workshop many states away, for example)
• “TMI” – Sharing personal details that are better kept private (or, the “ewwww” factor)
• Automated feeds from Twitter. This presented two different turn-offs: One is when Tweet jargon shows up in other arenas, for example, using @ and # symbols, short-hand words like “ur” for “your,” and “RT,” which feel alien on Facebook or LinkedIn. The second reason automated feeds are a turn off is that they can feel sterile and impersonal.

Okay, reality check: Go read your own feeds. How do you stack up? If you aren’t sure what turns off your network of friends, go ahead and ask them.

On the flip side, here is what my polltakers adore – and even crave –  in their social media feeds:

• Positive, uplifting messages
• Humor, cleverness
• Interesting videos
• Celebrations of success
• Opportunities to lend personal support
• Inspiring stories or thoughts
• Photos of your real life
• Insightful observations
• Thought-provoking musings on pop culture
• Playfulness
• Sharing of depth, what really matters
• Discoveries of common interests and ideas – making genuine connections across the globe

Seems most of us want to be entertained, inspired, informed. We want to make meaningful connections that offer a glimpse into another human being’s world. We don’t want rhetoric, negativity, and most of all, we don’t want to be in the crosshairs of some machine-gun marketer, broadcasting their message across the social media landscape with no regard for accuracy on target. Most said they don’t mind – and even like – some marketing. But not if that’s the only dance in your repertoire.

Consider your networks. How well do you know them? What do your “peeps” want to hear from you? And what turns them off?

And equally important, what is your purpose? Assuming you use social media to grow your business, what is your company’s vision? How can social media – remember, it’s just a tool – facilitate your overarching mission? And it’s time to become super aware of your impact on the feeds to which you contribute. Keep hammering the wrong kind of messages out and you will lose your audience.

The level of success you have using social media to grow your business will involve a blend of clarifying your purpose, honing your personal style, and finding a way to serve your readers through engaging conversation and sharing what matters to them.

And I hope you have fun along the way!

The trick to writing riveting and persuasive marketing copy is simply this: Know – and I mean really know, your audience – and get over there into their shoes and talk with them, not at them.

This age-old marketing truism makes a lot of sense and it works. And yet, I encounter so many blogs, websites, brochures, letters and other marketing vehicles plastered with “we” language. This is particularly true with professional service businesses… after all, you are selling yourself or the people in your firm, so it seems natural to convey your expertise and services by saying, “we” and “I.”

Let’s look at an example comparing the traditional selling statement (the kind that sends most marketing copywriters into a loud groan, and leaves your prospects yawning) against a more riveting, grabbing alternative.

Audience:
Small business owners seeking financial advice

Groaner:
“Acme & Associates is a results-oriented financial consulting firm that advises businesses in meeting the challenges of today’s economic uncertainty.”

Grabber:
“If you are like most business owners, you are passionate about your clients’ success and expect your financial advisor to be equally passionate about your bottom line.”

I’m sure you can see the compelling differences between the “Groaner” and the “Grabber.” The Groaner example conveys a posture of, “It’s all about us and we are assuming that you care!”  And you aren’t going to resonate with your audience by taunting them with the ever-so-vague and generic “challenges.”  Notice that this example does not actually use the term “we,” and yet it takes a “we” stance, loud and clear. So it’s not just your word selection, but your stance and tone of writing that matters.

The second example – the “Grabber” – literally steps over to the reader’s side of the table. Clearly, the message is that it’s all about your reader and shows an understanding of what is important to your reader as a business owner.

You may prefer a more formal writing style. Your style is a reflection of you, and I encourage you to write in a way that feels most natural and comfortable. But I do stand firm on this: The effectiveness of “you” language still applies, no matter what your preferred writing style is.

Great Trick: Name Your Audience

Start every writing project by naming your audience – actually write it at the top of the page, as I did in the above example (be sure to delete it before you send the final out for real!). This is a trick I learned from a very effective English professor I had in college. He took points off our grade if we had not named our audience. I still use this technique today – when you can clearly define who you are writing for, you have a much better chance of hitting the mark. The more specific the better.

Let’s face it, your readers are inundated with distractions and plenty of reading material… if you want their attention, you have to cut through to the heart of the matter. And that means speaking to your reader’s heart. Whether you are selling life coaching, accounting services or engineering design, your clients are human beings with worries, fears, dreams, hopes, and desires. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “This is business, let’s keep that ‘emotional stuff’ out of it.” If you speak to your audience at the level of their humanness, they are going to pay attention.

This approach doesn’t mean you need to eradicate all use of “I” or “we.” You need to talk about yourself — just be sure the overall flavor of your persuasive copy leans more toward being you-oriented.

Now. Go write some brilliant marketing copy!

I’d love to see your examples — feel free to run a few paragraphs by me here in the comments and I’m glad to provide pointers.

Into which camp does your business fall?

• You don’t have a logo, but wish you did
• You don’t have a logo, and could care less
• You have a logo, but have a hunch it’s not quite “it”
• You have a logo that you love

Whether you are thrilled, disgruntled or mystified by the whole logo piece of your business, it’s certainly not something to ignore (ahem, I know you wouldn’t dare do that!). Even if you are all set with your logo, you may still want to tighten up the way you use it.

If your business thrives 100% on word-of-mouth referrals and you have no desire to grow beyond current capacity, certainly you can function quite well without a logo. But most entrepreneurial businesses want to grow, and in fact need to grow in order to keep pace with clients’ growing needs and to outpace the competition. There are many small businesses providing the same professional services as you… having a notable image can contribute to helping you stand out from the pack.

Point blank: Your logo is the visual spark that burns recognition of your business into the minds of your audience. It is the quickest, simplest way to convey your essence – your logo tells your story without a wordy account.

One of the most brilliant logos is:

I don’t even have to tell you the name of the company, you know it instantly (unless you have been asleep for the past 38 years!). This simple symbol swiftly conjures up what Nike is all about: “Just Do It.”

Whether you have an established logo or are newly considering logo design for your business, the following lessons from Nike and other companies with exemplary branding will raise the bar on how your logo serves your company’s image:

1. Always Deliver on Your Brand’s Promise.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, your logo is worth a thousand deeds – make sure your business deeds jibe with the image you are portraying externally. Your logo is not your brand. It is merely a visual reflection of your brand. Your brand includes every element of your business, from the way you answer the phone to your unique method of service delivery to your approach to building business relationships. As you deliver your “brand message” consistently over time, your logo becomes even more powerful because it links their experience of you with the image you use repeatedly.

2. Don’t Short Change Your Image.

I am astounded when entrepreneurs who invest thousands of dollars into equipment, training, entertaining clients, traveling, and many other facets of running a business, take the cheap route with their logo. They hire the neighbor’s “artsy” sister-in-law, or create a do-it-yourself icon with the desktop publishing program that came with their PC. Please, please, please… hire a real graphic designer. Pay the bucks to get this done right. You want your logo to be a masterpiece, not a monster piece.

3. Be Cool About Color Selection.

If your audience tends to be more conservative, you’ll probably want to reflect that. Pick your top ten ideal clients and see what colors they favor. But only let this information guide you – ultimately, you must live with your logo a good long time, so go with colors that please you. There are no hard and fast rules, but ultimately, your logo will strike a balance between what you like and how your audience perceives your company. Talk to your designer about how color selection can impact printing costs.

TIP: Make sure your logo reproduces well in black and white, also. You don’t want your nice logo fading out when the client photocopies or faxes your document. (Faxing? Gasp! I know — who faxes these days?!)

4. Make it Unique – Back Away from the Clipart!

The entire point of creating a logo is to set you apart from the crowd. Spend the money on a designer who will create a one-of-a-kind logo just for your business. Clipart logos are risky – there is a chance that another company uses a similar image. But also, clipart looks like… well, clipart. A little on the kitsch side.

5. Supersize It.

Make sure your designer provides you with a small, medium and large version of your logo. If you need to put it on a business card, it needs to be legible at the smaller size. And if you ever need to put it on a large sign, you’ll want a logo pre-sized for that. Simply upsizing the small version will result in poor quality and often distortion.

6. Be Consistent.

The Nike swoosh has remained consistent since 1972. Repetitive use and strategic placement over all this time means – this simple little graphic is really all Nike needs to convey the company’s message. If they had re-done the logo 5 times since then, well… we can only guess how famous they would be. By the way, I find the Nike logo story fascinating and charming. Check out this Wikipedia article to learn the shocking cost of it’s now-famous “swoosh”!

7. Call your Lawyer First.

Okay, this may be the most unsexy step in the process of creating a logo for your business, but I implore you to invest the time and expense to make sure that your company name is truly yours. Have a trademark attorney conduct a thorough search on your company name before you go to the expense of creating an image around it. How awful it would be for you if you spend years building equity in your company name and brand, only to learn that another company wants to sue you for trademark infringement! Avert this nightmare by getting a lawyer involved. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, try Legal Zoom (this is what I did for both my trademark and forming an LLC) Real lawyers may frown on this practice, but if you have an uncomplicated situation, you may prefer the do-it-yourself route.

I bet you didn’t realize that designing a logo could be so complex! Please resist the temptation to skirt around these issues – put the time and money into creating a logo that builds your image and raises the bar for your business. You may not want to tattoo your logo onto your forehead, but this simple little icon is the most important outfit your business wears.

Many entrepreneurs ask me, “How do I get started? Where do I begin with marketing?”

I often see businesses spend a great deal of time and money on logos, websites, mailers and other tangible items, only to regretfully discover later that they somehow missed the mark. And now, businesses are jumping onto the social media bandwagon – often, just because it seems like the thing to do.

To create a business-generating marketing program, the first direction to go is inward. Before you create your outward-reaching promotional materials, you’ve got to get a fix on your internal Core Marketing Message – in other words, what value are you selling, and why should anyone care?

Once you walk through the process of identifying your Core Marketing Message Platform, it becomes much easier to create all of the “goodies” of marketing – logo direction becomes clear, the website flows, taglines pop to mind, your Twitter stream makes sense, marketing strategies hum. Your Platform is exactly that, the springboard for everything else.

So before you think about colors, design, what to write in your brochure or website, start with the following questionnaire.

TIP: Your answers don’t have to be perfect. Just jot down the first thoughts that come to mind and go back later to refine it until your Platform rings true for you.

WHO is your target market? 

Think of your best clients – list the qualities that make them ideal. This is your wish list, so no holding back. If it’s important that they are pleasant to work with and have the means to pay you well – say so now! What is their specific title or profession? Can they be categorized easily? List every important quality you can come up with. Consider geography, gender, age, income level, values, interests, etc.

EXAMPLE: My target market is small business owners who provide professional services such as accounting, architecture, engineering, IT, coaching, consulting. They operate their businesses with a high degree of integrity, they value building relationships with their clients and they are interested in growing their companies. Also, they are happy to pay my fees, are enjoyable to work with and they appreciate a good laugh!

What PROBLEMS do your potential buyers face?

List 5 distinct problems, issues, pains, predicaments, challenges, worries, fears – even if they seem unrelated to the services you offer. Write these succinctly and clearly.

How does your service SOLVE these problems?

For each of the 5 problems/pains listed, spell out your solution. What results do you produce? What transformation occurs? What can your clients expect to get out of your work with them? Don’t just list your services here. Instead, specify the end-result benefit they will receive.

EXAMPLE: If the problem is, “They never have enough time,” your response to that might be, “My services take the pressure off my clients and give them less to deal with.” (Notice that this could apply in just about any industry!) The solution is not your service per se, it is the time-saving result your service translates into.

What EMOTIONAL gratification do your clients get from your services?

Sounds corny, but no matter what your business is, if you are serving people, you need to be able to tap into the emotions that motivate them.

EXAMPLE: Your clients feel a sense of “pride” because they have improved skills; “confidence” that they will provide better outcomes for their own customers; “relief” that they will more easily meet some legal requirement, “joy,” etc.

What are the UNIQUE advantages of your service over your competition? 

Let’s talk about differentiation – what makes you stand apart from others providing a similar service? What makes you memorable, special? This includes your distinct blend of past experience, your personal philosophies and ways of working with people, your approach, your values, and simply, just the way you are. Your secret sauce! One great place to start – what are some compliments you frequently hear from other people?

TIP: It can feel uncomfortable to boldly claim your own special qualities. It helps to take the focus off of your modest self and consider your clients – how do they benefit from your specialness? Put yourself in the shoes of the Jimmy Stewart character in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” What would be different about the world if you were not here? Seriously ask yourself this question, and your special attributes will emerge for you.

What is your PARTY line?

Now that you are thinking so deeply about your business, your clients, and how your services bring value to them… take a stab at writing a direct, 25-word-or-less description that clearly conveys WHAT you do and WHOM you serve. Bring in some of the emotional gratification you provide and the uniqueness of who you are. This one-liner is the answer to the question you get asked at a party, “So, what do you do?” Your response should come easily and confidently – and should open the door for further conversation (if you are talking with an ideal client OR someone who can make a referral).

Example: “I coach and collaborate with forward-thinking business leaders & entrepreneurs who crave an energizing work-life blend that reflects their true essence and yields unbounded success.”

Practice this line a lot, memorize it so that it rolls off your tongue quickly and easily.

Now – not to confuse you, but I don’t advocate using this sentence verbatim. What? Yah, I know I am contradicting myself here! My preferred method of answering the “What do you do?” question is to have more of a natural conversation, where I begin to get to know them and learn what their challenges are… this is a way to begin knowing if they are a possible client or referrer. Then I can tailor my response to them by invoking elements that I know will appeal to that person specifically. For example, if I have learned their profession, I can include that in my party line. Let’s say they are an accountant. I can now say, “I coach and collaborate with forward-thinking business leaders, such as accountants, who crave….” 

So, in practice, I don’t use my memorized party line, I make up something that fits the conversation naturally. However – having the one-liner memorized and ready to roll is terrific for situations where you just don’t have time for a longer conversation. Or those networking meetings where you are asked to stand up and give a 1-minute spiel about your business. Please… be yourself, be natural, and be prepared!

You have now created the essence of your Core Marketing Message. Take some time to continue honing and refining. When you read through it, you should feel that it hits the mark and it paints a picture of your ideal business.

As you write letters, brochures, website content and other communications, draw from this Platform – speak to your market as if you know them personally; appeal to your market’s pains and predicaments; show them how you solve these problems; highlight the emotional gratification they will feel when they use your services; show them clearly what makes you and your offerings unique.

I’d love to hear from you as you go through this process – How is it working for you? Where are you stuck? What new clarity and insight has this exercise brought to you?