Episode 027: Winter is Coming – Auditing Your Messaging

Are you reaching or connecting with your ideal clients within their first interaction with you? I’m talking about the messaging you’re offering on your website, your social media, and even your brochures! The language you use is so valuable in connecting with clients, which is why I’ve deemed it as part two of this three-part series. In this episode, we’re exploring how you can audit your messaging to ensure that you’re connecting to your ideal customers.

The Business-First Creatives Podcast is brought to you by CRM and Dubsado expert Colie James. Join Colie each week as she discuss how to build a business that brings you joy and a paycheck! From business advice with fellow entrepreneurs to sharing automation tips and tricks, Colie and her guests are sharing industry trends and resources, along with a little bit of sarcasm.

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This episode is part one of a three part series, Winter is Coming!
Listen to part one in episode 26!

Here are the highlights…

[:23] Recap of Episode 26

[1:06] Homework: Listen to Episode 9

[1:50] Identify Your Top 3 Clients for 2022 & Research
1. How did you find me and why did you hire me?
2. What did you love most about the service I provided?
3. What would you like to do differently in your next session/service?

[3:49] Use the data to review your client process and language.

[5:10] Are there any hidden testimonials in the responses?

Connect with Colie on Instagram

Mentioned in This Episode

Episode 26

Episode 9

Episode 1

Review the Transcript:

Hey guys, welcome back. This is part two of a three part series. Lovingly entitled Winter is Coming . So in episode one of this three part series, I talked all about doing an offer audit, and at the end I wanted you to have three columns. Now, if you haven’t done this, I do highly recommend that you go back and you listen to episode one.

In episode one, I wanted you to have three offer columns at the end of your homework. The first column is every offer that you had in 2022. The second column is everything that you offered in 2022 that you intend to offer again in 2023. And then your third column was that experimentation column, things that you wanna try out, things that you’re not sure about, things that you want to perhaps offer as a new offer in your business for 2023.

Those are the three columns. That was the entirety of the offer audit. Now the second audit that I want you to perform in your business is your messaging audit. Now, if you have not listened to episode nine of the podcast, this is when I had Nadine from CanDo! Content, talking about the amazing ideas that can come from conducting customer research in your business.

I know that’s a scary thought guys, some of us don’t like to ask for feedback because we’re afraid of what our clients will say. Some of us just don’t have the time. So if you haven’t listened to episode nine of the podcast, your homework right now is to pause this episode. Go listen to episode nine and then come back, , and we’re back.

No seriously. After you’ve listened to that episode, I do want you to identify your top three clients that you worked with in 2022. Okay? Top three clients in 2022. I want you to send them an email, send them a scheduler, and ask them three very basic questions. Now, this is like the. To then perhaps invite them for an interview, because I really think that in order to get the rich data that you need to use your customer research in meaningful ways, in your messaging, in your communication, on your website, on your social media.

I do really think that these need to be done in an interview style. I feel like if you’re having a conversation with the clients, you will be able to dig deep into areas where they say something that surprised. and I have found that, you know, the best ideas come from that. So identify your top three clients from 2022, and we are going to ask them three basic questions. Number one, how did you find me and why did you hire me? Number two, what did you love most about the service I provide? And number three, what would you like to do differently in your next session? Now, if you’re not a photographer, maybe you don’t do a session, maybe you have a different service, but basically you’re asking what would they want to change the next time that you work together?

Now these three questions are intended to be open-ended so that your client feels comfortable in kind of talking through, you know, how they saw your service and what they got from it. That is why I think that interview style will really help you because if they’re not expanding, like if they just say, Oh, you were just so great to work with.

Yeah, guys, you might need to ask a few follow up questions, but once you. These three interviews conducted, I want you to take the data that they give you and I want you to examine your website, your social media. And the emails that you are sending your leads, are you using the same type of language that these three customers are using?

So, for example, I mean, my clients for photography tend to use words like it was, it was so much fun. There was no stress. Everyone loved being photographed, you know? I’m telling you, if you guys look at my website, it, it’s no surprise that I use the words no stress over and over again because when I have conducted these interviews on my own, these are the things that my clients tend to say about me and my service over and over again.

That I felt like I was part of the family. That the kids really look forward to the photo sessions, every year. I mean, if you read my. I would say a good chunk, at least 50% are things that I have gotten from either these formal interviews where I’m actually asking my clients for feedback or what they’ve told me in their email responses or when we’ve talked on the phone.

Okay. If you’re not using the same words that your clients are using, those are some changes that you’re gonna need to make throughout your messaging. Okay, next. Once you have these key pieces of information, I want you to look through what they’ve given you and see if there is a testimonial hidden in there.

When you flat out ask your clients for a testimonial, sometimes they get a little stuck. Sometimes they don’t know what to say, but if you’re asking them about how they felt about the service that you provided, a lot of the times your clients will give you the perfect testimonial without you. If you get the perfect testimonial from any of these three clients that you initially interview, I want you to immediately make it into a quote card, slap it up on Instagram, put it on your website, and we’re also gonna save that little nugget for your email communication with leads.

Okay, last. I talked about it in episode one of your offer audit, but I wanna talk about it now because messaging is a big part of talking about the benefits of your offer. So in episode one of this podcast, I talked about making sure that you not only list the features of your service, but also the benefits.

So if a client mentions that they finally printed pictures for their. And that their kids love to flip through their albums, like these are all benefit. Of having your photos taken, kids feeling confident, looking at the pictures on the wall. All of these things are benefit. In my case, I make everyone feel comfortable in front of the camera, so that is definitely a benefit.

Yes, I’m gonna be in your house for about two hours. Yes, I’m gonna give you an online gallery of 70 plus images, but also I’m going to make the experience so fucking. That your kids are going to ask for the next photo session. When is Ms. Coley coming over? When are we getting our photos taken? Again, this is definitely a benefit of hiring me as your family photographer, so you need to figure out what benefits you are providing your clients in addition to the actual features that come with the service.

All right, guys. I hope that this episode has been super helpful. If you have gone through the offer audit in episode one of this three part series and now the messaging audit, stick around for episode three. See you soon.