Melanie
The Monday Morning Marketing podcast is brought to you by Esther of IPA Group, bringing premiere online promotion to your business.
Esther
And Melanie of STOMP Social Media Training, who empowers business owners to manage social media and marketing for themselves. And welcome back to another episode of the Monday Morning Marketing podcast. Today we're talking about five old school ways to market your business.
Melanie
So as you know, we're called the Monday Morning Marketing podcast. So we don't just talk about social media, and we thought it was only fair to give a bit of air time to the other styles of marketing. So how many of these do you do already? So name us the first one, Esther.
Esther
Word of mouth.
Melanie
Yeah, that's actually a marketing style, isn't it?
Esther
Yeah, it is. It's one of the probably first ones, I mean, before the telephone, definitely before internet, how did people know who to go to for what they needed? It was by other people telling them, Oh, your man up the road does that.
Melanie
And I think it's still one of the most valuable ones.
Esther
Yeah, I would agree with you. Very much so.
Melanie
I would take a personal recommendation over a customer testimonial in many respects, actually. Because I think when you hear somebody's actual feedback on lead times, on personal experience, and not just the end result, I think you get a better rounder picture of that product or that service.
Esther
Absolutely. Your customer can be the one giving that word of mouth either through their testimonial. So maybe somebody has seen their testimonial on your Google business profile, for example, and someone that they know goes to them directly and says, So what do you really think?
Melanie
Yeah, spill the tape. Yeah.
Esther
Get the low down from everyone because your friends and your family can recommend you. But if they haven't used your services, then it's harder for them to actually be able to say, Oh, yeah, definitely go to Melanie, or definitely go to Esther. When people turn around and go, Right, so what are they like to work with? Silence. It's a bit harder. But if it's somebody that you know and a friend, we get a lot of ones that we met online, first of all, that formed a relationship with and everything, and they started working with us. From them, from another country, their friends have now started working with us just based purely on the fact that they trust their friend to tell them the truth about how it is to work with us.
Melanie
Yeah, no, I agree. I don't think people put enough emphasis on the importance of word of mouth. I think everybody who works with you should be treated as an ambassador. The hope is that they have such a good experience because you know the end of the funnel is follow up after care, that thing, that they should become an advocate for your business and speak about your business nicely and happily. So if you can leave everybody saying something and speaking highly of your business, then that's I actually think slightly better than well thought out, well managed testimonials that you see on websites as helpful as they are. You know that somebody sat down and curated that. Whereas when you speak to somebody and you can see the smile on the face and you can see their body language and you can actually see the flush in their cheeks and the sparkling in their eyes when they speak happily and excitedly about somebody's product or service.
Esther
Yeah, definitely. A way that people can really get to know about what you do, it leads us on to the next one, which is networking. Good old fashioned, going to a networking event and doing your elevator pitch, talking about your sofa a couple of minutes.
Melanie
Which is the third one.
Esther
That is the third one. Sorry, I jumped ahead of myself. But maybe even at the networking event, being invited to speak for 10, 20 minutes about what you do and go in into more in-depth.
Melanie
That's not on the list.
Esther
Thanks. No, it's not. It's not.
Melanie
Would.
Esther
You stop? Well, no, because it's part of the networking event. If you go to a networking event and it's an hour long and there's 10 people, each person could speak for five minutes easily, and that's more than your elevator pitch. Yeah.
Melanie
Easily, yeah. So networking. That has been horribly neglected for the last couple of years. And even when we could network, normally it was via a Zoom or Skype or whatever. And that just wasn't as good. That just wasn't as good. Sometimes people, and I suppose in some ways for the introverts out there, it was actually more helpful because you were forced into a room with somebody.
Esther
Rather than standing as a wallflower.
Melanie
Exactly. So in some ways, I can imagine online networking helped some businesses, especially if you were that wallflower. But real networking, face to face networking, you get to see people normally at their finest, hopefully when they're a bit more prepared and ready, and they'll have their brochures with them, they'll have their business cards. You get people on rather than off.
Esther
Well, funny you should say that because I was at a networking event recently and then person one and nobody had business cards with them because we'd gotten away from it, from doing it for so long over COVID and doing it online. But just nobody was prepared. And they're like, Oh, I haven't had new ones printed because I didn't need them for two, three years. So we were missing a trick there. But it is something that when you actually have to physically leave your premises and go to a different location, it puts you in a different frame of mind as well. Because if you just sat in your living room or your kitchen or your office on a Zoom, you could just go, Well, I'll just not bother going today because I've got so much other work I could be doing. What's the point? Whereas if you have committed to going physically in person and maybe even paid to go to a networking event, you're going to do it and you're going to get your business.
Melanie
Out there more. Most networking is done standing up, isn't it? Effective networking is done standing up. You've got that whole emphasis of the body movement as well. Whereas when you're sat down in front of a Zoom, you're slouched nine times out of 10.
Esther
Or in your pyjamas.
Melanie
Yeah, well, half in your pyjamas. But now you've brought up the elevator pitch. I want to touch on that a little bit. And this is something that has also been horribly neglected for a while, I think. Or we're still using the old one, and it does need updating. So if you've got the opportunity to be the second person to talk, you can then spin your response because you have a better understanding of who's in front of you. And the hope is then you can give back what they're looking for, ultimately. Fingers crossed.
Esther
I've been to events where they try to mix it up themselves by going, Okay, you've only got 30 seconds. You're only going one floor up, so to speak. You've got 30 seconds, go. Or there's Melanie and I help out on the USA BIS Party Twitter chat, and there's a question that every single Tuesday, it's on, and there's a question, tell us what you do in seven words or less. Now that is a tricky one for a lot of people. But if you can hone it down, then you'll be easier to then expand it. Whereas if you're waffling and waffling and waffling, then nobody's really going to get the gist of what you actually do.
Melanie
If you don't know how to say it clearly, you don't know it well enough.
Esther
Exactly. Like Melanie says, hone it for your audience, have two or three or four, whatever written down. Melanie does training. So if she's at an event and somebody says what they do and they mention not using social media effectively, Melanie can use that as her speech. If she's somewhere else that they're mentioning that, Oh, I'd really love to have a mentor. She can use that in her elevator pitch. If I go to one's and they're looking for websites, I use that side of it. If they need graphic design, I use that side of it. If they need social media management, I use that side of it. Listen, most importantly in your marketing, in all types of marketing, is to listen.
Melanie
I guess the downside is that we're so busy trying to go to these events and networking and trying to push our elevator pitch that we're spending more time waiting for them to stop talking rather than listening, which is not quite the same thing.
Esther
No, especially if there's somebody there counting the seconds that you've got left and you're flustered and you know, oh, I'm up next in 10 seconds. But if you practise it before you go, or you have it written, the bullet points on a little piece of paper in your hand bag in your pocket, just to calm yourself down as well. Because like Melanie says, we have gotten out of the habit of doing it as well. And we really need to take a deep breath and go write, what do I want to tell people? What do I want them to take away from this? So point number 4, enter awards.
Melanie
That's such a valuable resource. Such a valuable resource. And a lot of things come from entering awards as well. So I know that it's scary entering awards, having somebody scrutinise your business, scrutinise your application. It can be a little confronting. But do you know how valuable this could be if you use it wisely? Everybody fails. I failed numerous times. Esther failed numerous times. It's not a sign that you failed per se. It's just you weren't the right person this time.
Esther
This time.
Melanie
Around, exactly. This time. It's really important that you get some visibility to your business. Now, I know we frequently talk about social media, but we want to talk about the traditional type. By entering awards, you then get promoted as nominated, maybe then through to the quarterfinals, semi finals, and maybe a finalist. Sometimes you just get nominated straight to finalist. It just depends on the type of award. But during that process, most awards will give you a graphic that you can put your business name or your headshot or whatever, both, on the graphic to say, I've been nominated, or I've now become a finalist, anything along those lines. And then they share that graphic and you can share that graphic. So you're promoting the awards and they're promoting you as a nominator as a finalist. And that gets people over to your socials and over to your website.
Esther
Absolutely. And Melanie and I have both been nominated and got to the finalists for the Digital Women Awards.
Melanie
For 2023.
Esther
For 2023, we got to the finalists for the podcast in 2022 as well. We unfortunately didn't win, but we're nominated and through to the finalists again with the podcast for this year. Melanie is also a finalist for Educator and Trainer of the Year with Digital Women awards. Plus, she's already won an award in 2023.
Melanie
Yes, I did. I was very fortunate. I won the Prestige Awards, the Republic of Ireland Prestige awards as being the best social media service provider in 2023. So that was quite an honour. And it was really nice to get in my ten year m, yeah, my tenth year. So hopefully I'm on a bit of a roll. Fingers crossed.
Esther
Yeah. And there are lots of awards out there that you can nominate your sofa or somebody else can nominate you for. It's not just a blowing your own trumpet thing. There are ones like, we won one a couple of years ago for IPA group for best web design that somebody else put us forward for. And it was a total surprise and a total shock and just really fabulous. So you can use those, like Melanie says, to promote yourself. And one final fifth way to use that award or nomination even is through a press release. See how I did that?
Melanie
Yes, very good. Great segue. So yes, press releases are amazingly a valuable resource and they're not properly used by an awful lot of small businesses. They're more seen as a corporate thing and I completely disagree with that. I think the reason why is that most small businesses or sole traders think, Well, it's an advertorial. I have to pay for it. There is the option to do an advertorial and you can pay for it. But if you have something that's coming up that's matching a theme for the channel, the magazine, the online paper, whatever it is, and you give them a decent hook and give them a couple of days lead time. So don't tell them on the day that the event is running, but give them at least three to four days of notice and you give them a press release that you've created. Now you can find lots and lots of forms online, templates that you can use as a press release and make sure you send it to the right person. My side hustle is a journalist and I get frequently an awful lot of press releases that just aren't appropriate for me.
I look at the title. This sounds awful, doesn't it?
Esther
Everybody does it. All the editors and journalists that I know always say the same thing.
Melanie
I look at the title of the email and if it's not up my alley, if it's not suitable for me, if I get something about blockchain or something like that, that's not me. That's Simon. I don't even bother forwarding it to him because I pretty much know that they've...
Esther
Also sent it.
Melanie
To him. Yeah, block sent it to everybody. But if they haven't, tough, because I've just deleted it. Make sure you send it to the right person and it might be sufficient enough to pique their interest for them to actually look at the email.
Esther
If you're sending it to your local newspaper, for example, print paper, if it's a good news story for something local, they would probably run it.
Melanie
They'd love that.
Esther
You're having an event like Melanie says, or you've won an award.
Melanie
But you need to give them notice for that thing, though, don't you? Because they'll want to have a photo.
Esther
Yes. You can always send them in the photograph as well.
Melanie
But they.
Esther
Might want you to go into the office or send a photographer to you or to the event. It each other, there are so many ways and so many things that newspapers are crying out for information because people think that they've got all the news covered, they've got everything sorted, but they don't. There's always going to be room for the local small businesses to have their happy story published.
Melanie
Yeah. So have a look at your local paper and go through the sections and see if there's a section there that you'll be relevant for. Think of all the special days coming up. We got International Women's Day, you've got Summer sales, Spring sales, that stuff. So if your business fits into those particular time slots, if you like, or any special days coming up, just give them a bit of notice. And as long as you haven't done pages and pages of writing, they'll slot you in.
Esther
Yeah, absolutely. And don't forget to put your contact details in it because.
Melanie
That's one thing that... And website. Yeah.
Esther
Always put as much contact information as possible as how you want to be contacted. So, guys, these are just five old school ways. There are many more and we will be talking about them in future episodes, but just bear them in mind and use them, utilize them to their full potential. Because I'm sure you're going, Oh, yes, people talk about me all the time, and old clients are always sending people my way. But is there a way that you can make it better? Think about that, okay? Let us know how you get on with these five old school ways and which other ones you prefer using. You can find us on all social media channels. You can even find us on our ETSY shop where you can download some of our material there. Don't forget to share us out as well, guys. Like I said, we are up for an award and we would love to have more ears listening to us and getting their information from us. We'll be back next week with more Monday morning marketing.
Melanie
But until then, bye bye. Bye. Have a great week. I don't know, old school ways. Are we going to go with old school ways?
Esther
Yeah.
Melanie
Yeah? Yeah. What's wrong with it? Are we dating ourselves here?
Esther
Oh, no. No.
Melanie
Are you sure? No. I'm not.
