Consultant Marketing Website Time

Every marketing conversation I have with a consultant sooner or later gets around to their website. The status reports I’ve hard in the last week fit into these untidy categories:

  • “I’m between an old one and a new one. I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around the right words.”
  • “I really haven’t looked at it for a while, besides I don’t get any business that way.”
  • “It needs work, but my webmaster keeps telling me she can’t write for my audience and I just don’t have time and I can’t find anyone who can.”

For consultants it is always time to work on their web site. Always.

Lack of Consistency

When I review sites for clients I find one overwhelming problem, a lack of consistency.

The website is inconsistent in its overall viewpoint floating back and forth between being all about the Consultant, his or her process and certifications and the problem to be solved.

Then, too, there is no consistency with their social media profiles, particularly Linked In.

The wrong conversation

Most believe a website should answer the question, “What do you do?”

WRONG!

The question you should be answering should be “What can you do for me?”

That simple shift will allow you to find the right words, the ones that will generate business and a way for you to evaluate a writer for your site.

Time is not on your side

ProBrandr , the way you can inject your Brand into your Linked In profile in just one evening is based on over 25 years of monitoring how people respond to on-line postings. Time is not on your side. Here’s how things stack up for your website:

Panel 1: You have 3 seconds to tell the kind of people you work with what you can do for them. Here’s what I say:

“Consultant Marketing and Brand advisor

I guide consultants and consulting organizations to become
more memorable and more profitable.

503 957-7901”

The statement you make here should:

  1. Identify the clients you work with
  2. State the outcome(s) you deliver
  3. Give them a way to contact you

Everything else you say on that panel is extraneous. Yes, you need navigation but that is not considered informational in and of itself.

Profitable point of view

Your website should be all about clients and client outcomes. Consider including outcome information directed to each audience you serve, client testimonials, information about you and your team and a way for prospects to contact you.

The question they want an answer to is “What can you do for me?” They are looking for someone who has the expertise to solve their problem for a reasonable fee in a way that is understandable to them, and won’t upset staff and operations.

Your Website should make them feel comfortable in contacting you, not to be pitched but to be listened to.

And so it goes moving from Credibility to Cash.

Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com Product: https://www.ProBrandr.com

The Brand Timeline

Recently, while developing my product called Brandr I realized that most folks don’t understand that Brand has three time components: Now, Later and Long term.

Now, the Short term

This is the part of branding known as brand Identity. It is made up of:

  1. Name
  2. Logotype elements
  3. Graphics
  4. Positioning Line

Although it contains visual and verbal elements It may also include other sensory triggers like a sound or a smell a color or a touch. Some examples:

  • The sound of a Coke being poured into a glass over ice.
  • The smell of Cinnabuns in a shopping mall
  • The green of Frog tape.
  • The way OXO kitchen gadgets fit the hand.

You can take all that in and build a memory in 3 to 5 seconds. Of course, that is literally all the time you have in today’s world. After that your target has moved on from your landing page or your self-introduction.

So much for Now

Later and long term are an entirely different story. Your brand is less about identity and more about the product or service. The way you and your company deal with customers or clients is key. It is less about what you do and more about how and why.

Brain Science

Our human brains naturally parse things into three categories:

  1. What you do
  2. How you do it
  3. Why you do it.

The most important of these is why.

Why operates at the emotional level down in the oldest part of the brain where all decisions are made. That part of your mind is not verbally oriented and in fact does not understand words. It is attuned to feelings., That’s why when you can’t make a decision you will often say, “It just doesn’t feel right.”

This is where empathy resides and the basis for Trust. Logic doesn’t live here. To a great extent each of us have the ability to determine if our why matches up with, complements or is opposed to others. When we are compatible it leads to great teamwork, Trust and long-term acceptance.,

How is your process.

How is the way you get things done. If you are a coach active listening may be critical. Consultants need to know how to analyze problems in ways that point toward solutions. Experts need to demonstrate their knowledge in understandable ways.

Your how needs to combine both visual and verbal memory builders. One of my clients uses a white board to explain his knowledge of the complexities of Supply Chain in ways that make it understandable. Another is the repair person that dons booties over their shoes when they enter your home. Or the computer technician that makes sure your view of operations on the computer doesn’t change while explaining what she is doing step by step.

What do you do?

That question demands an answer in words and is the one we ask first in most cases. Words that paint a picture will serve you best.  That’s because we are visually oriented. The letters in our languages are evolved from pictographs and carry some hidden visual meaning in most cases. That’s why we prefer stories to lists and videos to  step by step directions 

Credibility to Cash

Combining Visual and Verbal in the Now , Later and Long Term will allow you to build an enduring brand.

Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, a beBee ambassador, a BeeKonnected ambasador,founder as well as founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com