Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Another Great Reason to NOT Respond to Reviews

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My June newsletter was about what to do when you receive a review that’s not awesome. It SUCKS to get a bad review, especially when you know there were specific circumstances that lead to it (we aren’t always on our A game, they may have had a bad day, it was an impossible experience, etc.) A good friend of mine responded with another excellent point…

Gwen Montoya always points out that when you respond to a bad review, you are not just responding to that person; you are responding to future clients, who will see this interaction weeks/months/years down the line, and formulate an impression of you and your business based on how you handled this client’s comments.

This is SUCH an excellent point I wanted to make sure to share with you. It can be tempting to respond to a review and state your case. And occasionally you may decide that’s the right fit. BUT before you hit post on that response, think about Gwen’s point. What’s this going to look like to potential clients down the road?

My guess is most of the time you may be better off asking great clients to leave positive reviews for you to counter balance the one bad review.

How do you respond to reviews? Do you?

You’re Using Social Media Wrong

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Norm, Kenzie & Tucker!I’ve had a few too many conversations lately with clients and potential clients who have been spending a lot of time (and money and effort) on social media with no results.

I really wish I were surprised by this, but I’m not. Social media marketers really want Facebook to be the next big get rich quick scheme. And it’s not. That’s because it’s not a sales funnel. It’s a lead nurturing tool.

Everything I do on social media has the ability to bring people to my website to learn more about me. All of my profiles are fully filled out and tell people that I run Yellow Dog Consulting with my yellow dog Norm. Now, not every social media post is about marketing or my business, but if they like something I say, they may just head over to my site to learn more about this twisted mind of mine. I don’t expect someone to see a tweet, come to my site and hire me. It hasn’t happened yet.

BUT, when I’m out networking I use social media in my follow up. I connect with everyone I meet on LinkedIn. I follow everyone who has their Twitter handle on their card. And I may even check out their Instagram to see if they’re as obsessed with something as I am (#mydailynorm). I might drop it after a week or two if I don’t love it, but more often than not, I start to engage with them. No sales. No obnoxious message. I’m just a real live person having a conversation with them.

In a few months I may see them at another networking event and we decide to get coffee. And when the time is right, maybe the hire me.

Social media isn’t about getting the sale, it’s about growing and nurturing the relationship. Becoming human so when the time comes, they know who you are.

8 Simple Ways The White House Marketing Emails Could Be Better

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Over the past few weeks I ended up on the official White House newsletter list. Despite your feelings about this presidency – they can’t write a decent email to save their lives and it’s driving me crazy!

First off, I would love to share a link so you can read the most recent email, but they don’t give you an option to view the email in your browser if it’s not displaying correctly. So, that’s a bummer for them. And means a screen shot for you…

A short and sweet email is always a good thing, and that’s the purpose of this recent email, reminding people to watch the Presidents first address to the Joint Sessions of Congress. Here’s  simple things they could have done to make this email work better for them:

  1. Link the Logo to their website – I was pretty surprised at this simple error – any time you use an image in a newsletter it should link to your website or the blog post you’re referencing or any other appropriate link.
  2. Don’t start with ALL CAPS – start by greeting. A friendly “Hi Elizabeth – ” wouldn’t hurt. But they just jump right in with TONIGHT. (No need to yell, just ask nicely, we learned this in Kindergarten)
  3. Clarify the Time -I live in Portland so the address wasn’t at 9 PM it was at 6 PM AKA 9 PM Eastern. A really easy thing to clarify. (And for an administration who claims to be inclusive of middle America this wasn’t good)
  4. That giant link – You should always properly link to what you’re talking about (see #1) but highlighting the entire sentence isn’t necessary. And if I were designing this email I’d probably have created a bright red (or blue) button for people to click on to take the survey.
  5. Say Thank you – or not, but that’s how the email ends, I didn’t cut off the closing statement, that’s where it ends. Be Sure to Tune In Tonight!
  6. Better Social Media Sharing – Mail chimp (and most newsletter programs) make it so easy to include all your social media links and accounts – writing it out wasn’t necessary and looks clunky. I’m sure this isn’t Mail Chimp but whatever program they’re using should be able to easily include social media links.
  7. Unnecessary White Space – this makes me angry because it’s lazy. Clean that up.
  8. Missed Footer Opportunity – I’ve got a privacy policy, and contact us and an unsubscribe option. Remember how rad Hillary Clinton’s footer was? Yeah, the White House could learn a few things.