For the last few months, I’ve been writing about how NOT to stand out in business. How to get it wrong and how to make your marketing expensive or ineffective or both. I’ve shown you how NOT to make any emotional connections with your potential clients.

If you’ve missed any of the previous posts, you can read about how NOT to do the StandOut Strategies of Certainty, Connection and Contribution here. Now, let’s look at how NOT to live the fourth strategy – Growth.

How NOT to Grow Your Business

“We guarantee to get you onto the first page of Google!”

How many times have you seen or heard that promise? How often does it actually happen?

Many people believe that SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a dark art. Those who charge for SEO services would certainly like you to believe that. They want you to think that it’s a very dark art and one to which only they have all the answers. Which is why they want you to pay them for their time and expertise.

My client Simon is a consultant. He sells his time and expertise. He was looking for more clients, so had started paying a considerable sum of money every month to an SEO ‘expert’. I should point out that this was before I started working with Simon on his marketing!

When Simon came to me for help, as I do with all new clients, I asked him to Take the Test on my website. This showed us the StandOut Strategy that was best for Simon – the one that would help him to outshine his competitors. It showed him the best language to use in his marketing, which would help him form strong emotional connections with his potential clients. This is the language that will really help him convert prospects into clients.

“Let’s look at changing the wording of your website, to incorporate the emotions your clients want to feel, when they work with you,” I suggested.

Simon’s response surprised me. “We can’t change the content. It’s all set by my SEO expert, so I appear on the first page of Google, for a particular phrase.”

“How many new clients have come through finding your website, for that phrase?” Simon’s answer didn’t impress me. “Lots … of enquiries,” he said. “But actually, only one of those enquiries has become a client.”

Without going into all the details, what was happening here, was that Simon’s SEO ‘expert’ was promising Growth to her clients. She was telling Simon that she could help him grow his business, through bringing traffic to his website. She was telling people that SEO was tricky, but that she could make it easy for them – for a fee. She was asking clients to write website copy that only spoke to search engines and not to people. There was no emotional connection in the wording on Simon’s website. She could get people to the top of Google for a particular phrase, but beyond that, she couldn’t deliver the growth that she was promising.

If your StandOut Strategy is Growth and you promise to help your clients grow – themselves and/or their businesses – then make sure that you do actually deliver the growth that they’re looking for. Otherwise, they’re going to look for support elsewhere.

How NOT to do Growth

When Growth is the StandOut Strategy you use to promote your business, you need to use it in all your marketing and indeed, throughout your business. If anyone in your business doesn’t live and speak Growth, they might accidently put off clients who are looking for Growth. Here’s what to avoid doing and saying.

• Being average – good enough will not be good enough for your clients, and it shouldn’t be enough for your business. Always look at what more your clients can do and what more they can achieve. They want to be challenged and they’re paying you to challenge them.
• De-motivation – “That will be too difficult; aim for something easier.” This sort of language will send your clients running from your business. Their ideas might not be realistic or achievable – not yet, anyway. Encourage them to start the journey and encourage them to keep moving forward.
• Hesitation – be confident in all your written and spoken marketing. “I can help you” is what potential clients want to hear. Not “I think I might be able to help, but I’m not sure.”
• Setting goals for them – don’t tell clients what their goals should be. Unless they buy into their own goals and take ownership of them, they won’t be driven to achieve them. Inspire your clients to set their own growth goals.
• Relying on luck – “Better luck next time” is not a phrase that clients want to hear from you. Growth is not about luck – it’s about planning and taking action.

Clients who want Growth need you to inspire, empower and encourage them. It’s not about driving them hard or doing the work for them. It’s about challenging them to do more, always being encouraging and supportive. Tell success stories in the marketing you use, to keep a steady flow of ideal clients coming to you.

Next month – how NOT to do Significance.