It’s funny – I have watched the meteoric rise of business bloggers and their teams and their audience numbers and whilst it really is well done for them – I don’t wish in anyway shape or form to have 100k subscribers. How can I have the kind of relationship with you guys – like replying personally to your emails, and answering your problems if there is 100k of you? I simply can’t. I choose quality over quantity – because for me it’s all about personal rapport.
So this makes me think about you and where you are marketing your business. Our franchises, for example, can build £1m revenues from 50 clients. Just 50. We don’t want mass market appeal. We want personalised quality and bespoke service delivery.
So how many dedicated loyal repeat users do you need to really make your business fly? If you focused on quality, not quantity how quickly could you build your business to the revenues you need to make a really exceptional living from it?
Let me give you an example. I have a subscriber who runs a superb sports practice. She is evil but superbly effective and actually I use her as do my team to stay in peak shape. She sees about 20 clients a week – and an increase of 50% in volume would be transformative. So, therefore, she needs just 10 more clients. 10.
Therefore mass marketing and 1000’s of followers isn’t what she is going for, it’s not what she wants. She wants just 30 people she can keep fit for life.
Therefore she doesn’t need to spend £1000’s on mass marketing – she needs to build a loyal band of merry followers to keep buying her services to have exactly the quality of relationship she wants with them and to have the business she wants.
Here are my top tips for getting exactly the result you want from exactly the marketing you do:
1. Define your avatar – we know at Diamond very specifically what kind of clients we want and what kind of franchisees we wish to partner with. So we direct marketing to them and them only – targeted specific and relevant marketing.
2. Personalise as much as you can – respond to current client demand, tailor your service to itch their particular scratch and really respond to need. In this time of mass marketing and volume sales, how different and refreshing is it when you come across something that when you hear their marketing message you go ‘That message is for me’
3. In this, almost anti-globalization era local is really important too. Big business, as well as small business, really wants to support local services and product providers to big up where you are from and big up your story. Make your story local, employ locally, and support other local businesses.
4. Keep it personal – keep yourself at the forefront of your business. People LOVE people and you are your biggest asset so put yourself at the front of your business and shine. People want to work with people they like. Be authentic, be real, be YOU.
5. Size really isn’t anything (well bar in once instance and then it is – sorry guys but it’s true). It is not the size of your list or the amount of hits on your website or likes. It’s the interaction and value to it. How many people have you truly helped? How much loyalty and trust have your built? That’s where to the true value lies – not in the 1000’s of contacts.
It’s cool to be small. It’s cool to be bespoke. It’s cool to be local. So keep it real. Keep it focused and build relationships not mass market. It’s the very best way to grow a sustainable and loyal tribe of followers, and then buyers of you and your business.
Trust that helps.