Between the winter doldrums, the hide and seek game with warmer weather and the spring holidays, the first quarter and more of this year has disappeared! The good news is we still have many months of the year left, and nicer weather (we can hope) to come.
I recently did some “spring cleaning” of my email and computer files. It was an interesting look back and made me realize that although I have met , and followed up with, many people through business networking, I have only connected with a small handful. In fact, it may be a good illustration of the 80/20 principle, which I discuss below.
After blogging for more than six years, I realize that keeping it up is the hardest part (kind of like maintaining your weight!). But I know I have to keep it up because the blog is the source of fresh content on any website. Find solutions to what I term blogger’s block in the Communications Tip section below.
And finally, I have a question for you: Do you know of any company or organization that needs to create new marketing materials or refresh old ones? If so, I would be grateful for your referral.
Happy Spring!
Deborah
Why you should pay attention to the 80/20 principle
On my personal Facebook page, I seem to interact with a just a handful of people. It’s always the same friends who like my posts, answer my questions or comment on pictures. On Twitter, it’s similar. As I mention in the note above, of the dozens of people that I have followed up with after a networking event, I am currently in touch with a few.
It occurred to me that these experiences illustrate the 80/20 principle (also known as the Pareto Principle), which states that about 80% of output comes from around 20% of input. The principle applies to most everything in business: You will get 80% of your sales from 20% of customers or as Vilfredo Pareto originally found, 80% of the land in Italy is owned by 20% of the population.
We constantly ignore this principle as we try to reach 100% of our audience or customer base. The reality is that we only are successful with about 20%. This percentage is usually the open or response rate for enewsletters and donation appeals. Therefore, it would be much more productive to better understand who the members of your 20% are because they are your core (and best) customers or supporters.
And then there’s the Facebook issue. As you probably know, Facebook has made it harder for posts to be noticed because it is looking for ad revenue, inventing new algorithms frequently in order to stymie organic posts from appearing in news streams. In response, many organizations are putting in a lot of effort into figuring how to circumvent the need to pay for play. Is it worth it? How much of your business is coming from Facebook? In my opinion, unless 80 percent of your business (readers, supporters) is coming from there, don’t spend the time and effort.
Do you know where your supporters are coming from? You can track website visitors quite easily using Google Analytics. Knowing where you are getting the most traction will save you from additional (and perhaps, wasted) effort.
If you look back at your sales or donation history, are you able to pinpoint where the sales/donations/support came from? For example, you may say that you serve all types of businesses, but in reality, your core is made up of medium-sized technology businesses. That knowledge might help you redefine your target market. You may want to refine you marketing materials so that they are geared towards this smaller but more active and important portion of your target audience.
The 80/20 principle should make your marketing simpler and yet more effective.
Workshops and presentations
I am available for customized on-site and one-on-one specialized training on blog writing. Please contact me if you are interested in obtaining details.
The next How to Write Your Blog workshop is not yet scheduled.
Communications tip: Eliminate blogger's block
All of us eventually hit a wall when we blog. We lose motivation, we face burnout and we run out of ideas. You have blogger's block but does this mean you should give up blogging? Of course not! I came up with some solutions as I wracked my brain trying to come up with my next blog post and decided to give myself some advice. Here’s a link to the post: 7 Solutions to Blogger’s Block.
Deborah Brody Marketing Communications Services
▪ Writing and editing of marketing materials ▪ Communications and social media consulting ▪ Communications and social media audits ▪ Customized blog training and workshops
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