Keepin’ It Real: How to Add Authenticity to Your Recipe for Success
Consider two scenarios: In the first, you have to go to your doctor’s office for a yearly physical. During your visit, your doctor seems rushed. She doesn’t really look at you and gives you perfunctory answers to your questions. She orders the usual bloodwork, does a typical exam, and sends you on your way.
Now, let’s imagine a second scenario: you are once again going in for a yearly physical, but this time, the doctor greets you enthusiastically. She sits down with you for a few minutes to discuss your concerns before walking you through the next steps of your exam. She listens to your questions and answers each one thoughtfully. At the end of your appointment, she tells you when to expect results from your exam before saying goodbye.
Which of these scenarios sounds more ideal to you? It’s probably the second one (if it’s the first one, we don’t judge) – but why? You had your physical needs met in each experience, but one was decidedly lacking. Was it the amount of time your doctor spent with you? Was it the color of the wallpaper in her office? Keep reading as we discuss some ways you can make every experience a great one for your clients.
Spoiler alert: it’s all about authenticity.
Say what you mean, mean what you say
As a marketer, you spend much of your time helping clients communicate. This may mean creating an amazing email campaign or doing an entire website overhaul. But in order for you to give your clients the feedback they need, you have to create a relationship based on trust. This means you tell them the truth – if you don’t think their current communication plan is working, let them know. If you see that their collateral is too wordy and uses a lot of confusing industry jargon, go ahead and speak up. This is not the time to shy away from offering your expertise – in fact, it’s the perfect time to do so. You’re being compensated because you’re an expert.
But your job isn’t done once you’ve pointed out the flaws. It’s time for you to use your knowledge to offer a solution. Don’t oversell, don’t undersell – just give your client your honest recommendations. They may not take your suggestions or even agree that a change is necessary, but showing them that you genuinely want their communication to be successful will help your clients understand that you only want the best for them and their company.
It’s all about the details
Have you ever reconnected with an old friend or former coworker who asks you about your life? Not just how everything is going overall, but the details – the names of your kids, a career goal you were hoping to accomplish, or another specific detail you may have shared with that person long ago. It feels good to be truly known and remembered. The same is true for your clients. When you remember and ask about details in both their professional and personal lives, you’re demonstrating just how much you care about your client beyond the monthly invoice you send them.
This doesn’t mean you have to start every conversation by running down a list of your client’s favorite movies. But it is a good idea to jot down some details that seem important to your client so you can refer back to them later and follow up. This is a small step, but when you take it consistently, it lifts you and your business to a whole new level.
Take a new approach
You have already helped dozens of businesses with their marketing needs, so you feel pretty confident that you know what works and what doesn’t. But since you also know that each of your clients is unique, it makes sense to change your practices when it best suits the client. In other words, combine your marketing expertise with your understanding of your clients’ needs to create a plan that is just right for them.
Some clients are harder to plan for than others. If you have a client whose business is part of a complicated or uncommon industry, you may have to take some extra time to plan your marketing strategy. Again, this is a great opportunity for your client to see that they are more than just one name in a list of dozens of other companies that pay your bills. Because you care about their marketing success, you take the time and put in the effort to give them an end result that is perfect for their needs.
Being authentic may seem like a lot of work – and that’s because it will take a lot of effort from you as a marketer and industry expert. But if you want to create and maintain a genuine working relationship with your clients, you have to make each experience authentic for them. It all starts with wanting the best for your clients; from there, it’s up to you to show your clients why they matter and how you can help them tell their story. Take the time you need to offer each of your clients an authentic, well-thought out strategy that will show them just how much you care.