Are You Too Complicated
Life is complicated enough.
Business owners whose messages add temporary
confusion lose permanent customers.
- From misplaced marketing messages to lousy operational instructions
- From squirmy small-type warranties to smoke-and-mirror contracts
- From jargon-filled business plans to sales spiels focused on I/Me/My/We
- And with totally non-communicative website content
. . . America’s businesses are strangling themselves with bad word choices that are costing more business every day than they are intended to create.
Contrary to popular opinion, one
word is worth a thousand pictures!
Pictures set up customers, but WORDS are what sell them!
The words you choose to use to sell and promote your business’s interests –to give your business consistency, backbone, and a customer-centric sense of enlightened self-interest– can produce revenues, new revenue streams, profits, and a positive reputation.
But the wrong (e.g., too complicated) words used in the wrong places at the wrong times, will demolish all you’ve worked to build, in one fell swoop!
Are you selling products or services that are —for example— manufactured or fabricated in China? Are user instructions written by the manufacturer or fabricator?
Odds are pretty good that they might as well be in Chinese!
“Getting lost in the translation” is not an empty phrase. It’s truth is found in those 27-language fold-outs for practically every tool, electronic device, and self-assembly item.
And THAT translates to lost return-visit sales, both online and in-person.
If your business depends on customers coming back to buy more, you cannot afford to lose them to competitors AFTER they struggle with a poorly-explained purchase that you are not likely to ever hear about (until AFTER your accountant tells you about last quarter’s diminishing cash flow).
Unless you’re committed to losing repeat-sale business, STOP buying goods and services from other countries to sell or resell in America that come packaged with unintelligible, non-communicative directions. Demand that instructions be clear or refuse purchase. Customers will not separate sources. Disgruntled, frustrated buyers will blame you for being stupid and insensitive, not China!
You know the “Keep it simple” formula. It works. As the slogans go: “Do It!” and “It’s In You!” and “I’m Lovin’ It!” . . . There’s definitely something to be said for “It” . . . got it?
Does an eight-year-old (or eighty-year-old) have trouble tracking down information on your website? Is the sales message obscured with meaningless verbiage? Does your branding message or theme beat your business chest, or focus on the customer? Is what you are trying to communicate too lost in the clutter of features to ever get around to selling benefits?
Are you communicating too much, too little, or just the right amount of information? Do your news releases start to sound like a back-seat driver? Do they get published? Are you making the most of them with direct mail and email followup? Does your social media program emphasize Twitter, LinkedIn, PRWeb and BizBrag? Why not?
Facebook may be great for socializing, but doesn’t cut it for business simplicity: You direct people to Facebook so you can then direct them from Facebook to your website? Send visitors direct to your website!. Life is complicated enough.
# # #
931.854.0474 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]
Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.
Make today a GREAT day for someone!
Hi Hal!
Thanks mentioning the use of PRWeb in your social media plan for business. I love the idea of keeping it simple because you want your consumers and prospects to be able to reach and understand you! Having a message get cluttered or overshadowed by something that is more complicated than it needs to be is a turn off to a reader, so be honest, clear and succinct in your writing.
I’m working on a similar post for BloggingPRWeb, I’d love for you to come check it out if you have the spare time when I get it up.
Cheers!
–Stacey Acevero
Social Media Manager @PRWeb
Thank you, Stacey. I appreciate your comment and visit . . . and look forward to checking out your upcoming post. Please return again soon. Regards – Hal
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