Rev & Reach Episode 4 Transcript

00:08
LORI: Hello everybody, I’m Lori Jo Vest. Thank you so much for joining us for episode four of Rev and Reach. And today’s subject is you versus your customers. And the thing that we find really interesting in that clickbait title is that we run into a lot of situations where clients really want to serve what they want more than serving what their customers or their prospects want when it comes to social media. So they, you know, you might be looking at somebody who, I’ll give you an example and I think this is a really good one: dentists. We love our dental clients and sometimes we have to rein them in because they like to share the things that dentists like to look at.

And some of it’s not so great. You know, the before and after photos where you look at the Instagram feed and all you see is the before photos and it’s a little frightening. We love that transformation. But when it comes to social media, people want to see the finished smile. They want to see how wonderful that person looks now. Then if they want to, they can go peek at how bad they used to look. I guess is what, what I’m going to say here. So Kiley, tell us a little bit more about how, why it’s so important to turn your ego aside and dig into what your customers want.

01:33
KILEY: I think the biggest reason is that it’s obvious and when somebody that’s in your customer base or an audience member has been paying attention, they can tell what content is for them and what content is for you. When you haven’t done your research and when you’re not really paying attention to what type of content it is that your audience wants to see and that they find valuable, you’re losing people, you’re losing followers, you’re losing prospects, you’re losing potential sales.

So doing that research, being very intentional about it and then crafting your content towards what the research says will work what your consumer behaviors indicate is what they’re interested in is so important not just for ROI, but for building that bridge and that connection between you and your audience so they feel valued and like you’re paying attention.

02:30
LORI: Absolutely. And they won’t respond. If you are, for example, a 30 year old woman with young children and the person who’s creating marketing content for you is a 45 year old single man, that can be a little challenging. However, it’s worth the effort. Don’t make assumptions.

We see a lot of cases where you’ve got a marketing team making assumptions about what the audience likes or doesn’t like. In reality, research will tell you what they like and what they don’t like. There’s a lot of digital tools out there you can use and there’s a lot of value in even using some of the AI tools that are out there now to see, you know, what is your audience doing, where are they going, what are they reading, what are they ingesting, what are they really hot about, what trends are they on. So that when you are crafting content for your brand or your company, you are thinking as if you were them, not necessarily, you know, you and what you want to show them. Right?

3:41
KILEY: Exactly. I think a really good example of that that we’ve seen before is, you know, people love content that’s like the faces behind the brands, right? Behind the scenes and things like that. It shouldn’t be the baseline of content and it shouldn’t be the majority of what you’re pushing out. And here’s why.

As fun as it might be to be in charge and have the reins to the brand, social media channels and, you know, like your boss bro brought in donuts today or oh, you know, you’re dressing up for Halloween and how fun, as fun as it might be to share those things, and it is sometimes, you know, like it’s a very easy thing to throw on your Instagram story for extra views, you know, on a given day. It shouldn’t be a part of your regular marketing mix that sort of behind the scenes, you know, oh, like a day in the life with donuts and with, you know, oh, we’re matching and you know, things like that.

Because your audience doesn’t care. It serves them no purpose. It might, you know, if they know you personally. Like Lori’s example of the dental clinics. Oh, you know, oh, that’s my favorite hygienist. And oh, how cute, you know, things like that, it’s fun. It builds that bridge. It helps, you know, kind of connect the audience to what you guys do on a daily basis. However, it does not do anything for inclining a new prospect to choose your brand.

Whatever your industry is, it does not serve any purpose to why a given audience member should choose you. And ultimately that’s how we get ROI by persuading prospective customers and new consumers that you are the best at what you do. You should be their selection and that you’re worth their dollars, your audience’s dollars. Right? Because ultimately, you know, you’re selling something and everybody’s dollars are precious. So why should any audience member trust that what you are offering them will improve their life?

5:45
LORI: Right. I’ve got to say now one of the things- some of the things that we’re referencing here happen more commonly in small to mid sized businesses where social media is still seen as, you know, my college kid’s roommate has a great Instagram channel for their, you know, lure tying business or whatever. And so he should do the social media for our business when in reality, you know—or maybe just the front desk, maybe it’s a doctor’s office and they say, oh, we’ll have the front desk do the social, take a picture of a patient, you know, oh look, we had a, you know, we have this really cool little puppet we use. Or maybe, doesn’t the lobby look pretty today? Look at our Christmas tree—and you have people doing your social media that aren’t marketers. And when you are looking for ROI from digital marketing, you can’t just hand the reins over to the youngest person on the team because they have a really cool Instagram channel for their personal stuff or to someone who is doing it as kind of an afterthought.

Because when you do those two things, you are guaranteeing you will get no ROI from your social media. Because ROI requires thought. And one of the biggest things to think about is what your audience wants to know. What do they want? Not, you know, maybe what they need can be sprinkled in there, but what they want is more important.

07:12
And let’s talk about that, Kiley. One of the things—and you’ll hear us say this over and over because I feel like we’re constantly reminding people—people, your audience is full of human beings that are biologically driven for connection. So right off the bat, smiling faces, right? We have a client right now that’s material handling and we use photos of their technicians. We don’t just show the equipment, we show the people. The sales reps share things. It’s just awesome. It’s all people. So that serves the audience, right?

KILEY: Yeah, I think so. I think that’s a really good point to make and a really important distinction. There is a difference between, oh, you know, the fun donut content that I mentioned earlier and using the faces, using the happy people behind the brand or the happy customers in a way that does serve the audience.

And like Lori said, we’ve said it before, we’ll probably say it in most of our episodes here, that content with smiling faces and not stock images, real smiling faces that are somehow involved in the community of your brand, perform, I mean, so much better than all other types of content. Better than graphic content, stock images, any- anything of the sort. Smiling faces is the way to go. And there’s a way to use those and prioritize them in your regular mix that will serve your audience and will continue to build that bridge, but also indicate to them why whatever it is that you’re selling is something that is gonna improve their life or whatever.

You know, whatever it is that, like- we’ll go back to the dental example, why receiving this new smile will improve their overall quality of life every day for the rest of their life. You know what I mean? There’s so many ways, no matter- you could throw any industry at us, I think, at this point, and we would be able to give you an example of how to build your content in a way that serves your audience versus serving what you think is fun.

Or as Lori said, what the youngest person on your team thinks is trending on TikTok and why. Somebody might think it’s funny, they might think it’s funny, but they’re probably not gonna buy your product or service because you made a funny TikTok. It really is the difference between social and social media marketing, which is another thing that we say pretty regularly.

09:41
LORI: Yeah, yeah, we’re gonna repeat ourselves a lot, but hopefully, you know, we kind of want to spread the word on how to do it right. And one of the reasons that I think it’s so important is because there are so many people that do social media by having just an afterthought or, you know, the college kid or the youngest person on the team or the lowest budget.

When they do that, they come back to us and say, social media doesn’t work. Oh, you aren’t doing it right. And I’m not saying there’s a right way to do it, because there isn’t. There’s a lot of ways to do it. However, there’s a right way to do it for your brand or your product that will help you get results. I’m very confident in saying that. I don’t know any business that I can think of off the top of my head that would be not appropriate on social media because there’s just so much you can do, you know?

10:35
So let’s talk a little bit about the StoryBrand book, Kiley. You mentioned it before we got on this recording, that it’s an amazing book that basically turns you into a person who in your copy and content will look out for your customer as opposed to just providing them with what you think they like. It’s just a- makes a great case. Tell us more about that. We did it in a book club at our company.

KILEY: Yeah, in our, in our company book club. I think it was one of the first books we read actually, it may have been just the second. And it really, I would say it changed the way that I write social media copy and think about social media copy for all of our clients. And I spend a lot of time doing our PopSpeed Digital Marketing’s social media and a lot of our internal marketing, and changed the way I think about that as well. And I think that- it’s Building a StoryBrand, I believe, and I highly, highly recommend it. It’s been one of my favorites that we’ve read, and it basically kind of outlines this template, this step by step process of getting your social media marketing and really your overall digital marketing to a place where you are serving your audience first and foremost.

I won’t spoil the template. You’ll have to read the book. But it really- it does provide a very regimented step by step guide on how to get there, which we all found very helpful. Because it’s so easy for us to sit here and say, right, you know, you need to tailor your content to your audience and you need to pivot how you’re doing A, B and C.

LORI: Blah, blah, blah.

KILEY: Exactly. Without a step by step guide on how to do that, which is not something that we can cover in a 30 minute podcast episode, it’s really hard and it’s really daunting. This book, again, I’ll repeat myself once again, really changed the way that we do things and it changed the way that we view each of our clients’ audiences. Right?

12:34
So for us, it’s a little different than just being an internal social media manager for one specific brand. We have 15 to 20 audiences that we need to think about on a daily basis. So it forced us to pull our brains out of, oh, you know, for today I’m going to write and create content for this particular client. Let me get in their headspace and into their voice. To now, we’re okay, let me get in the frame of mind of their audience as opposed to speaking the voice of the brand, which is important. You know, each brand has a voice, and it’s important to maintain that consistency.

However, now our writing is really tailored and really focused to, okay, based on, you know, what did well last month and what consumers seem to be interested in as of late or what time of year it is, what do we think that our audience needs to hear today? And really using that sort of benchmark in the way that we create content, whether it’s writing or, you know, if we are creating graphics or if we’re planning fundraising events for our nonprofit clients, pretty much from A to Z of the digital marketing work that we do for each of our clients, our—because of that book, I think—our energy and our focus is set towards our audiences now, which I think is so important. And I think we’ve seen big upticks. I think our dental implant client is a prime example that we’ve seen increases in leads, and really qualified leads as well, since we’ve started crafting our content specifically with them in mind.

14:19
Lori alluded to it earlier, I think it’s really important, that client, it’s such an easy example for us to pull from all the time, because It encompasses all of our best tips, in one single industry, really. But for them, it’s- you know, we go back to what we talked about in episode one, where you see so many people, whether it’s dentists or in the healthcare space or, you know, cosmetic or aesthetic surgeries and things of that nature, where if you’re the doctor or if you’re the health care professional, of course you got into it because you’re fascinated by the medical aspect of this. Right? What you need to keep in mind when you’re creating your content is that nobody else is. And the majority of people are probably a little bit grossed out by the behind the scenes of what it is you do every day and don’t care to see it.

What they want to see is the end result that will improve their quality of life. Which I just, you know, again, there’s a million examples and we could pull from any industry, but this one just makes our lives too easy with the connections.

15:26
LORI: Yeah, I’m going to add to this because I think it’s so important. Just the StoryBrand advice, some of it included being a guide for your client to help them get the results that they want. And that piece right there is so important, I would say in marketing, in sales, in customer service. The way you get and keep a client, keep them loyal and happy, is by figuring out what they need and want and guiding them to getting that end result. And that’s what you’re doing.

So for example, if you’re a dentist—we keep talking about them, but again, they’re such an easy example—if you’re a dentist, people want—people who are having problems with their teeth or in pain—they want to know that you know about that. That you know that it’s hard to go to a dentist because you know it’s going to hurt. So you may do some content around pain relief and easing their fears.

They also want to know that what you do is going to be done- that they’re going to be treated well. There’s proof in the form of testimonials, right? They want to know that it’s going to look amazing and that it’s going to be custom for them. That it’s not going to be just something stuck in there that doesn’t look right.
16:45
Again, testimonials, you know, happy smiles of the patient after they’ve had the process. Right? So basically looking at what that customer needs and being able to guide them through the process of getting their desired end result. Not yours, theirs. Yours is that they buy. Theirs is that they get that brand new smile, that they get to have an amazing experience as a volunteer, that they got to contribute with a donation.

I mean, their desires are not the same as yours. So that’s where we get this, you know, you versus your customers or you versus your clients kind of thing. Because in a lot of cases we’ve had—especially, you know, again, small to mid sized businesses—where the ownership may not be tuned in to that, you know, sales and marketing aspect of running a business. Maybe they got into business because they are really good at making, you know, designer suits. Or making- they design suits and do them custom for people. And that’s amazing. And so they are so focused on that that they don’t think they should ever have to do a coupon. They don’t think they should ever have to. And what that is, is that is getting stuck in your ego and that creates that us versus the customer or you versus the customer attitude. And that can’t be there because you want something they have: money.

KILEY: Exactly. Exactly.

LORI: And in order to convince them to give it to you, you’ve got to prove to them that you’re worth it. Right? And that you’re gonna help them.

KILEY: I think that’s such a good point too. And it really ties this whole episode together because it is- your content should, from the rear view, from your point of view, be laid out as a win-win situation.

LORI: Yeah.

KILEY: You’re making money off of your customers. Obviously that’s why any business in the world exists, to make money. We get it. But let your customers know what they are getting out of it. It is about them. So you can make the money on your side.

LORI: Yep, that’s what it is. What I would say is instead of us versus them, you go around to their side and see what you would want from you. You know? In order to get good topics. And also strategy, just going back to the age old advice, your audience research should be a huge part of planning for what you do in social.

19:12
I mean, Kiley, tell us a little bit about the kind of research you do for our strategies because I know you’re deep in that right now. What kind of research do you do and where do you find it?

KILEY: I would say a brunt of the research there, I mean, there’s so much research that goes into a strategy, but the most time consuming aspect is that audience research first and foremost, especially when we’re kind of diving into a new industry that we might not be totally familiar with is we want to know age demographics, we want to know, you know, is it, is it more tailored to males or females? Who’s more likely to be interested? We want to know location- where is it extra hot and where do we really want to target. If, whether that obviously applies to, if it’s not a local business. But things of that nature. Really researching who our target audience is, and then completing the research of what the best ways to reach them are. Whether they’re primarily on Facebook, if it’s a younger audience, maybe they’re mostly on TikTok. Whether or not YouTube will be a good place for them, Twitter, even. But just the right way to reach them and who they are. And then that puts us in a position to build content that not only will reach them, but will entice them.

We’ve been using a new- it’s an AI system, but it’s really good at kind of streamlining the research process and it provides qualified sources and I’ve been using that quite a bit. Honestly, with reputable sources really just putting in the time in Google searches is helpful. Doing research on individual platforms is helpful. Places like HubSpot or Hootsuite very often have great articles on who to reach, why to reach them, where to reach them, everything like that. So it’s time consuming, but I think results speak for themselves. Right? If you put in the time and energy to research your audiences in the strategy phase before you’ve really kind of jumped in headfirst into the content creation standpoint, you’ll be amazed by how much time and stress and, you know, annoyance it’ll save you once you’re in that publishing content phase.

Because you’ve done the work, you know who your audience is, you know how to reach them, you know what they want to see. And of course, will you be pivoting along the way? Yeah, for sure. Could your audience grow? Of course. Will behaviors change? Yeah, they change every day. But when you have that baseline and that foundation of research because you’ve put in the time, it makes the world of a difference to really launch yourself and launch your efforts and initiatives off in that story brand, sort of your audience comes first mindset, as opposed to trying to pivot and get there along the way once you’ve already started.

LORI: Absolutely, yeah. I think there’s a lot to be said for spending that time up front. And then I would add to that, the during phase. Like when you are- don’t just throw the stuff, the content out there and just keep throwing it out there and not going back to see what works and what doesn’t. And always be open to trying new things because your audience may be into some trend right now that you can jump on that could be fun, or they may not. Don’t jump on the wrong trends. But there’s something to be said for having a test and learn to see on an ongoing basis which audiences respond.

23:03
If you’re using Meta, you can target age groups, you can target special interests, that maybe align or are related to your audience. There’s a lot you can do to reach the right people and also kind of change your messaging. Experiment with video versus stills, with carousels, with different calls to action, with different types of art, maybe it’s smiles, maybe it’s really bold, colorful graphics. I mean there’s a lot of different ways to get attention. And pay attention to that back end to see what does better.

And what we found—again, here we go—we have a client that is 100 organic right now. We don’t recommend it. We do not recommend it, right? We’re still working, trying to get them to get a little budget. But what we see is sometimes exponentially like 8 to 10 times more people, impressions, on the content that has photos of their team versus anything else. Testimonial graphics, anything else that we do for them. When it’s real and it’s their people, it gets exponentially more impressions. So those are the kind of things that if you pay attention to them, you will reach more of your audience.

24:17
So I think that’s what we’ve got. We’re coming up on 27 minutes here, Kiley. So we’ve given a lot of information today, which I’m really happy to do. It’s kind of why we’re here. Please know that we are a small agency that is growing and taking on new clients. So if you are interested in hearing more about us, you can visit our website at popspeeddigital.com, there’s a contact form so you can get in touch. I am also an Open Networker on LinkedIn, and I think, Kiley, you are too.

So connect with us there. We’d be happy to do a half hour audit of your social media presence. Just free, no obligations, just to talk through what you’re currently doing and what you might do that would make it better. So that’s what we’ve got for you today. We will talk to you again soon.