Why You Are Not Getting Their Attention: Expectations vs. Reality

Why You Are Not Getting Their Attention: Expectations vs. Reality

Like many of you, I ventured down the entrepreneurial path a few years ago with really high hopes and an almost guaranteed conviction that everything would fall into place. Sooner did you realize that all those amazing projections was but one side of the coin. After several months you just couldn’t figure out why potential customers just couldn’t figure out the need you were filling for them nor even cared.

I have been there many times.

I have had multiple reasons to explain this in the past ranging from poor marketing, little or no ad budget, bad copy, insufficient market share, etcetera…

But today, something else clicked.

Interestingly, this is not the first time my mind has brushed over this reality. It just didn’t seem like enough reason until today.

One main reason why you are unable to get the attention of the audience you seek is because majority of them don’t read and don’t care either.

Let that sink in a bit.

Let me explain…

Digression ***

A common statement in Nigeria is that if you want to hide anything from the black man, put in in a book. Many people have challenged that claim citing the many graduates we have here and the great feats a lot of them are achieving. That is true.

However, we still have a whole lot of Africans and indeed Nigerians who will drop any piece of textual content that is more than a few paragraphs long just because it’s ‘too long’.

end of Digression****

To this day many business owners are trooping to Lagos and Abuja from within Nigeria and beyond to launch their businesses. Isn’t it curious that in these states where great deals are closed everyday, we still have extremely broke people there? Why?

The gap, is knowledge.

The people who break new grounds in business and make monumental impact are avid readers. These folks read everyday. They are in tune with current trends that matter to and help them achieve their goals and aspirations.

At the other end of the table are those who believe that they do not need to learn anything new. So they have zero interest in books or in increasing their knowledge. As a result they are ignorant about the opportunities you are bringing to the table. Worse yet, they are scared to even check it out.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin

Think about this… Why else do only few people grow in your area?

We can therefore make the safe argument that the easiest way to truly grow your business is to run it in an environment with the larger population of individuals and businesses that are educated enough to buy into your products and services.

If the people you are trying to sell your product or service are uneducated about how your offering can help them and are unwilling to read so as to learn, you are backing the wrong horse.

So, which part of Nigeria or Africa are you right now? Is your product or service getting the attention of the right crowd?

Or

Are you making noise in the minds of the wrong crowd?

You might realize that your current location is your main hindrance to scaling your business or to landing that job/ client you need to get to your next level.

Remember, if they are not educated enough and clearly don’t care about knowing more, you probably will be wasting away trying to convince them.

MOVE!!!

Let’s discuss…

Did the above make sense to you?

Can we fix it?

What recommendations would you offer?

Comment below.

PS: Feel free to email me if you would like to have a session with me to chart a Digital Marketing cause for your business.

Facebook Text Formatting is Awesome

Facebook Text Formatting is Awesome

A few weeks ago while going through my facebook feed, I stumbled upon a facebook post that was well formatted much like a well written word document. I was at first taken aback and after much thought concluded that it must be some third party mobile application that was responsible for this. So I ran to the playstore to find this amazing app.

But there was none.

Turns out facebook in their most recent update now allows you to format posts making them nicer and more appealing to the eyes particularly for long form posts.

I tried it out and it is really an amazing new feature!

Notice the presence of Bold text and italics.

You can add H1 and H2 header texts as well as list to your long form content.

What else do you need to write the perfect content that’s great for the eyes?

Okay, there’s a caveat though…

The feature is only exclusive to facebook groups at this time and doesn’t work on mobile devices, yet. Little wonder I couldn’t figure it out on my phone or directly on my timeline.

Time will tell if this great feature will be expanded across board.

If you have used this new feature, tell us what you think about it.

If you found this post valuable, kindly share. It will mean the world to us.

 

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Getting More Reads on Your Website

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Getting More Reads on Your Website

In such a social media era like ours, it is still somewhat of a mystery how some websites manage to keep getting views on their sites while others literally struggle. It almost feels like there is this magic wand that the successful websites have that the struggling one don’t. Hopefully, what I’m about to share will help you gain the needed insight and command your own wand, driving more eyes to your website.

The Number 1 Rule of Owning a Website

Few business owners understand this, but the main purpose of a website is to get seen. When you get seen more than once and by multiple eyes, you are said to be generating leads. It is from these leads that clients come and business flows. However, like many have observed, the trend is to sell, sell, sell; after all we are in our online marketing filled world. This can tricky and sometimes hard to think beyond just creating an offer using a landing page and selling instantly. Who doesn’t want to make it Big? I’m talking about the long haul here.

Websites like Techpoint and BusinessInsider and many others like them have understood that the money is in the numbers. I by that I mean repeat numbers. How many stores do you know are still open for business without leads walking in frequently each day?

When businesses like Techpoint share their website content, chances are that people who like the content will share them on social media leading to much more reads and leads, which is their number 1 goal. That is what your aim should be- to get people excited by your content that they end up sharing instantly. Do you see the point?

  • What is your own business goal?
  • Have you determined the steps you must take to reach that goal?
  • Where does your website fit in in the series?
  • What can you share to get people to click the link that leads to your website content?

Have a click bait

A Click Bait is best described as content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page- google

Again going back to what Techpoint, BusinessInsider, TechCrunch and your favorite websites do, reflect on what they write that makes you unconsciously click to read more. That sentence or two is the click bait. And because their content is good, you always go back, thereby increasing their google rankings and open rates. What do they get in return? More leads, that’s right. You’re getting it!

In case you are wondering, Click baits can be text, video or both.

Before jumping into creating any content, first think about what you want to share; what you want your business to be known for- it could be ;

  • Your culture
  • Trends you are passionate about
  • Businesses you love
  • Causes you support

It could be anything really. The idea is that you write for those people who are as passionate about that topic/ cause/ idea as you are. Then think about the choice of words that will get them to click to read more. See some suggestions from contentrow. Notice how enticing the contents are.

There’s a caveat here though – you must have something relevant to share that’s rich and informative and resonates with a specific audience segment, not the whole internet. Otherwise, your rankings will reduce. Meaning you have to be in this for the long haul. You may want to hire a freelancer or a team of copywriters to help you out here.

Notify visitors of new content

Have an automation system in place that automatically notifies your readers/ leads that you have put up new content. I personally recommend Onesignal.

While it requires some setting up to have it active and in play, you will be very happy to have it on your side when you push out content. Onesignal sends out automatic notifications to subscribers the moment updates are shared. I personally love it for it’s simple setup process.

You might consider other tools however, but Onesignal is free. So what’s there to lose?

Conclusion

We all will be happy if our website got thousands of views each day.  I know I would. With a strategy in place and the appropriate tools as discussed above, it is possible. But it begins with you knowing why you are creating content and for who? I hope the tips above are helpful to you.

If so kindly share your thoughts in the comments below.

If you have other thoughts to add do share.

Thanks for reading.

Please share this content.

Canva- Graphic Design on Steroids!

Canva- Graphic Design on Steroids!

One skill that many entrepreneurs and small businesses struggle with daily is how to create graphics that do justice to their brands especially with their little or absent graphics skills. So it was with great applause that canva was welcome to the online community. The web-app has gone ahead to be invaluable to many businesses including me myself.

I especially love the canva app for its speed of turn-around. I literally create my designs in under 10 minutes and they are ready to serve. This is something that’d typically take me perhaps 30 minutes to an hour in traditional stand alone apps.

Now canva has a mobile app which is so brilliant. The accompanying image was designed right from my mobile phone. Interestingly I have somehow forgotten I have other traditional apps I use. 

Canva is not the only webapp that creates graphics. I tried my hands on CTDesign another mobile app that create cool graphics. The learning curve however may not be palatable for most users- it does have cool features though – however not as amazing as canva. I must be objective here. Canva is awesome!

If you have yet to check it out, do so. I endorse fully.

Especially with the rise of instagram and the massive appeal of images, there has never been a better time to create eye popping graphics that project your brand to the right audience in an appealing form. My handle has literally gotten more engagement because I can now design and post on the go without having to think about when I can get on my PC to plan, think and design a graphic.

I hope you take advantage of this super cool tool and utilize it in your business going forward.

 

Peace.

G.O