Appletree

Appletree Over 20 years of experience working with coaches, consultants and trainers, helping them to build su Recognising that you need to invest in your business?

Are you:

Serious about growing and working on your business? Open to being challenged about how you communicate with your prospects and clients? Taking on or being given marketing as part of your job, and needing help with it? If so, you are the sort of business owner that we love working with. How can we help you? At Appletree we support and drive the growth of small and medium businesses who ar

e committed to building their businesses. We do this by being trusted advisers, delivering creative, integrated marketing solutions that achieve your objectives.

USPs Don’t Work! Here’s a Better Way to !Since 2015 I’ve been looking into exactly how businesses stand out from their ...
13/02/2024

USPs Don’t Work! Here’s a Better Way to !

Since 2015 I’ve been looking into exactly how businesses stand out from their competitors. How do the really good ones attract more clients, more easily, with less marketing? What is it that they do to hang onto those clients, while other businesses lose theirs?

My research – talking to hundreds of different businesses about what they do differently – has led me to develop my Stand Out Strategies. I’ve written about them in previous posts and, despite a slight delay, the book I’m writing about them WILL be published in 2024!

To get this year off to a great start, here’s an overview of the strategies, which will explain why a USP won’t help you to this year.

Why Don't USPs Work?

My forthcoming book is the result of over 20 years of looking for better ways for businesses to stand out. It was born over 40 years ago, from the desire of a scared seven year old (me!) who needed her mother to give her the attention she craved.

The book will contain a distillation of what I’ve learnt about building stronger emotional connections with your clients and customers, to help your business stand out. It explains the five different Stand Out Strategies that are available to any service business to use. It shows you how to identify which of the five is the one that will make your business stand out. It then suggests how you can use your Stand Out Strategy to make your marketing messages more effective and attract more of your ideal clients. It will also show you how to use it in your customer service, to keep your clients for the long term.

What are the Stand Out Strategies?

Do you have a USP – a unique selling point? Some businesses have a USP that they use to show how they stand out and are totally different from their competitors. However, if you’re promoting a service – time, experience and expertise – it can be very difficult to identify what makes your business really different.

Why? Because your clients base their buying decisions on emotions.

Whatever service you sell, people will buy from you based on the emotions they feel. The majority of our decisions are made emotionally (and subconsciously) and then backed up by rational (conscious) reasoning. This means that in order to stand out, you have to understand the emotions behind the buying decisions that your clients make. There are five different emotional reasons that people buy a service. I’ve taken these emotional reasons that people buy and have developed them into five strategies that can be used to promote a business. Using one or two of these strategies will allow your business to really stand out from your competitors. This is because you’ll be making emotional connections with your prospects and clients – connections that are aligned with their own personal wants and needs.

These five strategies are my Stand Out Strategies. Each business will have one primary Stand Out Strategy that will make that business stand out, so they can attract new clients. The strategy can also be used to keep those clients.

The Stand Out Strategies are:

1. Certainty – being a safe pair of hands
2. Connection – connecting clients to others they need to know
3. Contribution – helping clients to pay it forward
4. Growth – supporting clients in their personal and professional growth
5. Significance – helping clients to make a bigger impact.

For each business, there is one strategy that will really make your business stand out. (Some businesses also have a secondary Stand Out Strategy, but no more than two.)

Which is Your Stand Out Strategy? Take the Test

There are a number of ways you can find out which is the best Stand Out Strategy for your business. The quickest and easiest is if you Take the Test on my website. This online version is free and will give you a more accurate result than if you try to guess, due to some clever number crunching that I do.

On the website you’ll find five lists of emotions and feelings. Take your time and read slowly through the lists. They are emotions that your clients might feel, when they’re working with you. If there’s one list of words that resonate with you more than any others, tick some of the words in that list. If there’s no one list of words that resonates more, tick the emotions that you believe your clients feel, which may be in a number of different lists.

Once you’ve made your selections, complete the rest of the form with your contact details. I’ll email you your results and your Stand Out Strategy. Then you can start using it in your marketing, to attract more of your ideal clients, more easily. You can also use it in your service delivery, to build long-term relationships with your clients.

The link to the website where you can take the test is in the comments below.

How are You Using Customer Service to Make Your Business Stand Out?When you sell a service, it's vital that you stand ou...
21/12/2023

How are You Using Customer Service to Make Your Business Stand Out?

When you sell a service, it's vital that you stand out and show potential clients what makes you different from others in your area. Your marketing and sales can make you to stand out, to help you win new business. But did you know that you can also use customer service – how you treat your clients – to help you stand out?

This post focuses on how you can stand out by delivering the most amazing service to your clients. This is about how you treat your clients after they’ve signed up with you. And how they can help you to stand out even more.

You’ve worked really hard on your marketing. You know what to say to show prospects how you stand out and why they should work with you, instead of any of your competitors. The wording on your website and your LinkedIn profile focuses on the emotions that your clients want to feel when they work with you. Your messages hook them.

Your sales process works really well too. Once a potential client has made an enquiry, you speak to them about how they want to feel when they work with you. There is a strong emotional connection between you – they know how they want to feel and they can see that working with you will allow them to feel that way. They sign up to work with you – hooray!

At this point, you might breathe a huge sigh of relief for having taken on a new client. The hard part is done, especially if you don’t like marketing and sales!

But this is no time to relax. Now is the time to make sure that you don’t lose your new client by not treating them as they expect to be treated.

Stand Out

Just like marketing and sales, customer service should be considered from a strategic, planned point of view, not a tactical one. You might have heard me talk about ‘Strategy before Tactics.’ This applies to customer service just as much as it applies to marketing.

Customer service is not a campaign, a one-off activity. Do you know my other marketing mantra? ‘Ad hoc marketing does not work!’ The same is true of customer service. It should be active, not passive. It’s about building long-term relationships with your clients, rather than aiming for quick fixes.

Customer service is about delivering the service, emotions and value that your clients are expecting. If a new client decides to work with you because, in your marketing, you promise to help them to feel safe and secure, then you must deliver that safety and security. Don’t try to persuade them to go for big business growth and scary goals if they want to feel peace of mind. That’s what they are expecting from you and that’s what you must deliver.

When your marketing messages (your promises) match up with your actions (your customer service), you’ll be able to use both, in tandem, to stand out from the crowd.

Stamp it Out

It’s time to break the rules and think differently about the service that you provide to your clients.

Recently, I phoned the company that insures my horsebox to ask if I could add a friend to my insurance just for one day. He needed to borrow my equine wheels. The lady I spoke to at the local branch was very helpful. She knows my friend, as he insures his horse with her company. She was chatty and helpful. It was all heading in the right direction.

I needed to get some extra information from my friend, so I ended the call with Hannah at the insurance company and called him. Armed with his details, I called Hannah back. This time, sadly, my call was diverted to the head office call handers. Five minutes later, after listening to too many of those “Did you know you can get the information you need from our website?” type messages; and pressing 1 for another annoying message and 2 to be put on hold, I finally got to speak to a real person. “No, we can’t do that in time for tomorrow,” I was told. “But Hannah just said I could…”

Hannah knew how to bend the rules, to look after loyal customers. The person at the HQ had not been given any licence to listen to what customers actually need. Don’t be a nameless, faceless machine. Be a real person. Find out what your clients want and need. Then look for ways of delivering that, with the best possible customer service. That’s what will make you really stand out.

Do the Latest Marketing Trends Live Up to the Hype?Earlier this year I was asked to give a talk to a group of profession...
09/10/2023

Do the Latest Marketing Trends Live Up to the Hype?

Earlier this year I was asked to give a talk to a group of professional speakers about the latest marketing trends. I did some research on the topic, in order to give a useful, up to date talk. Having done all that digging, I thought I would share my findings with you here too.

Ask any search engine to tell you about the latest marketing trends and you’ll receive dozens of different suggestions. For the talk I’d been asked to deliver, I decided to focus on just three. Why these three? Because they are all marketing tools that I recommend that you can use in promoting your coaching, consulting or speaking business.

Standing Out

1. AI – artificial intelligence – is at the top of the list because it’s probably the most talked about tool at the moment. Got a blank screen in front of you? Not sure where to start with writing your next newsletter, blog or speech? Ask one of the growing number of AI tools to write something for you and they will.

2. Videos have been used for many years in marketing. They’re now becoming more popular than written material in marketing. You still need written content, because people want to be able to read what you have to say about your area of expertise. By adding video to the mix, you can reach a wider audience, including the people who would rather watch or listen, than read what you have to say. If you use speaking to promote your business, you have an easy way to create video content, by recording your talks.

3. Podcasts are also become more widely used in marketing. Personally I think that they best way to use them is by appearing on other people’s podcasts, as a guest. Do some research to find people who are already reaching your ideal audience. Offer to share with them something that their listeners will find useful. I wrote a whole newsletter about podcast guesting, which you can read here.

Used well, all three of these new marketing tools can really help you to stand out. Used badly however, they can do you more harm than good. Read on to find out the pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Stamp it Out

Don’t rely on AI tools to generate unique material for you. They’re all working to a knowledge cut off date that, at the time of writing this issue of Scribbles, is still two years ago. Even taking that into account, they can’t help with everything. I asked two different tools for information about me. Neither of them has heard of me, even though I’ve been around since 1971 and I’ve been running Appletree Marketing since 2000. It turns out that you need to be famous to be recognised by an AI language tool!

Also, AI tools can’t add any emotion to what they produce for you. Emotional connection with your readers and audience is vital, so use AI generated material as a starting point. Then weave in the emotions, feelings and language that your clients and prospects need to hear from you.

If you’re going to use more videos in your marketing, carefully plan out what you’re going to say, when and how. Too often I hear of enthusiastic people deciding to produce a video every day for 3 weeks, 3 months, 365 days … Too often they run out of steam and ideas too soon. Less is more. A video series of one a week for a month, containing useful information, will be more much powerful than a series that fizzles into a ramble.

Serve, don’t sell, when you’re a guest on someone else’s podcast. They’ve done all the hard work building up their audience. Don’t abuse them by turning it into the ‘Me’ show and trying to sell your services. If you’re invited to make an offer to the listeners, have something useful ready for them. A quick to access download, a report, a free check list. Being a great podcast guest is also about helping the host. Ask to whom you can introduce them. Promote their shows on your website. I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to appear on a number of podcasts. You can listen to them via this page on my website. I would also encourage you to listen to other shows from the hosts – they have a lot to share.
As with any marketing trends and changes, don’t leap in too quickly. Do some research first and when you understand how a particular tool works, you’ll be able to get more better results from using it.

Are you using any of these tools? Let me know how you’re using any of them and how you’re getting on.

Are You Standing Up to Stand Out? Every three months I measure my marketing, to see what’s working best. I look at the c...
05/06/2023

Are You Standing Up to Stand Out?

Every three months I measure my marketing, to see what’s working best. I look at the clients with whom I’ve worked over the last few months, to see how they first heard about me. It’s all recorded in a database, so its an easy exercise. Every three months, it shows me reassuringly similar results. There are three marketing activities that consistently bring me about a third of my new business each.

One of those marketing activities is speaking – standing up in front of an audience of potential clients. Its not about selling to them; its about educating them and showing them that I know my ‘stuff’. Its about building relationships with prospective clients. This marketing has been working for me for many years, but this year I decide to up my game, when it comes to speaking.

Standing Up

I first learnt the basics of public speaking over twenty years ago, when I joined my local Toastmasters group. Every two weeks I went along to learn how to beat the nerves I felt, whenever I was asked to stand up and speak. Yes, I was very shy back then! Toastmasters taught me how to stand (without crossing my legs), what to do with my hands (stop fidgeting!) and all about vocal variety, pace and volume. I’ve spent years putting it into practice, through giving talks at networking events, running workshops and, over the last few years, a lot of online presentations. The basics apply in all situations.

This year, I decided that it was time to learn more. Over the last couple of years I’ve learnt how to be more ‘me’ – more authentic with less façade – and it’s made a huge difference to my marketing results. There was still something missing; there was something else that I needed to add to my speaking.

Standing Out

Marketing is a competitive industry – there are thousands of people out there who do what I do. I need to be able to really stand out from them. The same applies when you’re a coach – you have a lot of competitors, so you need to be able to show your potential clients what makes you different. It would be very easy to go on stage and perform the same way that everyone else does. One way to stand out is to stand up and speak out. Develop your speaking skills so that they are better than other coaches, when you’re on stage.

What was missing from my speaking? When I was invited to speak at an event called Impact! in April 2023, I decided that it was time to learn how to make more of an impact with my speaking. It wasn’t about dramatically changing the way in which I speak on stage. It was about making some small changes to the impact I make, when I’m in front of an audience.

You could shuffle onto the stage, telling your audience that you’re really nervous. You could look down at the floor, or look back at your slides. Or you could walk confidently into the centre of the stage, smiling broadly and then stop, planting your feet hip-width apart and look out over your audience. You could take a deep breath and … when you’re ready … deliver your attention grabbing opening line!

Stamp it Out

How many times have you sat through a talk or presentation, where the speaker starts by saying “Firstly, let me tell you about myself”? I’m not in the audience to learn about the speaker; I’m there to learn from them. I don’t want to be distracted by someone who doesn't know their material, or who relies on reading a script. I don’t need to be subjected to hundreds of slides, covered in bullet points.

Do something different! For the talk I’m giving at Impact! I only have nine slides and none of them has a single word on. They are there purely as prompts and to slightly intrigue the audience.

Plan ahead. I am lucky enough to be getting to the venue the day before the big event. I will spend time on the stage, to find the centre. I will rehearse my entrance, knowing exactly where I will stand, to deliver my opening line.

I will spend a lot of time, ahead of the presentation, doing something that I don’t ever do enough – rehearse! I will put on the boots that I’ll be wearing on the big day and stride across the bedroom floor to the full length mirror. I’ll be my own audience, as I rehearse smiling and delivering my opening line, before going on to give a talk that really helps me to stand out.

Do Podcasts Have the Power to Make You Stand Out?You might have noticed that podcasts have become rather popular in rece...
03/05/2023

Do Podcasts Have the Power to Make You Stand Out?

You might have noticed that podcasts have become rather popular in recent years. Everyone seems to be recording them or appearing on them as a guest. But are they worth the time and effort? Can you use them for promoting your coaching, consulting or speaking business?

I think they can, which is why I’ve decided to use podcasting as a major part of my marketing this year. However, as with any marketing tactic, you need to think about what you’re doing and how best to use podcasting. Here are some thoughts for you to consider.

Whether you’re looking to reach a wider audience, launch a new coaching service, or promote your latest book, here’s how I think you can use podcasts to help you stand out.

* Interview or be interviewed? I’ve decided to put my time and effort into finding the best podcasts on which to be interviewed, rather than setting up my own podcast. Why? Because there are already many great podcasts being run, by business people who already have a great following. By being interviewed on their podcasts, I get to speak to the members of their audience.

I won’t appear on any old podcast. Only those that have produced at least 100 episodes. Only those that speak to the owners of small businesses – preferably coaches, consultants and speakers. Only those that produce good quality marketing materials for me to use, to promote their podcasts for them. If you’re going to use podcasts to help you stand, be selective.

* Stick to your story. What do you want to speak about? If you’re an expert in your field, speak about that. Don’t get distracted by hosts who ask you to speak about a topic about which you know very little. Decide what you really want to speak about and look for podcasts that allow you to do that.

* Go to the green room. Before you record a podcast with a host, research their topic, listen to a couple of episodes and have a conversation with them. Find out how you can help their listeners and get a feel for the sort of questions they might ask you. If it’s not going to be a good fit, walk away. Preparation can help you to stand out with hosts, as great interviews are good for their reputation. Help them to look good and they’ll help you to look good.

* Answer questions with stories. Be prepared for the questions you’re likely to be asked by the host. Then answer the questions with stories. Stories bring your experience to life. They are also a subtle way of showing the world what makes you different and helping you to stand out.

Standing Out

A compelling call to action. What do you want people to do, after they listen to your interview on a podcast? Book a call with you? Buy your book? Sign up to your newsletter? Whatever it is, pick just one action that you want people to take. Make it easy to remember, quick to do and full of value.

Help the host. Don’t just turn up, record the podcast and then expect the host to do all the work. Ask how you can help them to promote their podcast. Find out when your episode will be released and then plan how you will promote it, along with the podcast and the host.

Stamp it Out

Serve, don’t sell. If you speak on a podcast with the sole idea of selling your services to the listeners, you won’t get very far. You won’t stand out and the podcast host certainly won’t recommend you or ask you to come back. Provide insights, tips and strategies that listeners can put into practice straight away in their businesses. This will help to build trust and credibility with your audience.

Do I think that being a podcast guest can help you to promote your business? Yes I do – if you do your homework first and be selective. Make sure that your time and effort are being used effectively and podcasts can help you to stand out.

AI Generated Copy Can’t Help You Stand OutYou might by now have heard about AI and how you can use it to generate copy f...
20/02/2023

AI Generated Copy Can’t Help You Stand Out

You might by now have heard about AI and how you can use it to generate copy for your business. There are more and more online tools popping up, that can help you to create content for your blogs and social media. All for free. But can it really help with your marketing? Can it help you to stand out from your competitors? I don’t think it can and post will explain why I think that.

If you’re looking for a quick way to create copy for your next newsletter or blog, an online AI tool can save you a lot of time. If you’re a coach, ask an AI tool “What is coaching?” and you’ll get a great article that you can use, to explain to potential clients what coaching is all about.

I tried it and here’s what one website created for me:
“Coaching is a process that involves working with a coach to help individuals achieve their goals and improve their performance in a specific area. The coach provides support, guidance, and accountability to the person being coached, helping them to identify and overcome obstacles, and achieve their desired outcomes.”

This sort of content is really useful for putting onto your website, for people who ask you what coaching is all about. Don’t write a brand new email – direct them to the blog or page on your website. Create it as a standard email too, that you can send to those people who don’t yet understand coaching. This sort of copy can save you a lot of time and effort.

Think of all the questions that your clients or prospective clients ask you. Then have a play with some AI to get the ‘standard’ copy that could become part of your FAQs.

Standing Out

All good stuff, but does it make you stand out? Does it tell your potential clients why they should work with you, rather than another coach, consultant or speaker? No it doesn’t.
Could you ask an AI system what makes you different? I tried that too.

“What makes Appletree Marketing different?” I asked.

“As a language model AI, I don't have any specific information about a company called ‘Appletree Marketing’. If you could provide more context or details about the company, I might be able to better answer your question.”

Not much use, really.

So while AI content is a good starting point, it can’t help you stand out from your competitors. They will probably just use whatever copy comes out of their computer. Go one step beyond what they are doing and add in specifics about who you are and how you do what you do. Think about how your clients want to feel when they’re working with you and weave some emotion into your copy.

Stamp it Out

“I help you get from where you are to where you want to be.”
This is a line I’ve heard far too many times over the past 20+ years of working with coaches, when I invite them to tell me what they do. It is what coaches do, but if everyone says the same, how can anyone decide who to work with?

What makes you really different? If in doubt, start by asking you clients what they love about working with you. Why did they choose you, what keeps them with you and how do they feel when they work with you?

What type of clients do you really like working with? Look at your favourite clients and identify similarities between them. I don’t mean in terms of the size of their company (for business clients) or how much they earn (for personal clients). I mean what makes them tick, what are their beliefs and values? You should start to notice shared characteristics between you and your favourite clients. Talk about these types of clients in your marketing and you’ll attract other, similar people to come and work with you.

If you start with some AI generated content, make sure you then weave into it specific details of who you are and who you work with. As I found out when I asked about my business, a piece of software can’t tell what makes your business different. Don’t rely on a machine to tell your potential clients what makes you stand out.

“This year because of the postal strikes I’m not sending any cards.”“Because of the environmental impact, I’m not postin...
19/01/2023

“This year because of the postal strikes I’m not sending any cards.”

“Because of the environmental impact, I’m not posting you a card.”

“I’ve been too busy to buy/write/post cards this year.”

Every year the excuses become more and more lame. People tell me that they are going to make a donation to a charity instead of taking the time to write me card. No one has ever told me how much they actually donated, which makes me wonder if they ever got around to doing and how much they gave. Every year the number of cards I receive decreases. I am getting used to receiving fewer and fewer business Christmas cards and 2022 was no different.

What’s going on and why will I continue to send business Christmas cards?

Every year since I set up Appletree, way back in 2000, I have been posting Christmas cards to my favourite clients, along with top prospects and my most loyal suppliers and supporters. Every year I buy cards from a company that make a donation to a charity of my choice. This allows me to support the British company that makes the cards, as well as my chosen charity. Every year, the card company contact me earlier than last year, offering me a bigger discount for ordering early. In 2022, true to form, they emailed me in May. Buy before 31 May for a 33% discount! I’m in! I did a quick check on my database for who would be receiving a card and I ordered 80 of them. They arrived a few weeks later and stayed in the cupboard until November, when I dug them out and started working on them. Handwritten addresses – no sticky, printed labels. Handwritten, personalised notes in each one – no standard messages or omissions of the recipient’s name.

“Thank you for supporting me this year – I love the latest designs you created for my clients.”

“It was great working with you this year and I’m really looking forward to helping you launch your book next year.”

“Thank you for allowing me to support you for the last 12 years. Enjoy your retirement!”

Yes it takes time, which is why I start early. It means that by the time I have bought stamps and stuck them all on, the cards are in the post box early in December. Which means that they arrive before the recipients go only their Christmas holidays/close their offices for the rest of the year/the post office goes on strike!

Why do I go to the length and cost of doing this, every year, when I receive so few cards in return?

Because no one else does it!

So few of my competitors take the time to properly thank their clients for their support. I see too many posts on Facebook and LinkedIn, from people in my industry, telling their clients that they can’t be bothered to write individual cards. They don’t say it in so many words, but that’s what they mean. They assume that their clients are on Facebook or LinkedIn and that they will see the message, that they’ve broadcast to the entire world. How many of their clients won’t actually see that message and may, therefore, feel neglected or forgotten?

I make the effort to send cards because it makes me stand out from my competitors. I do it because I want to personally thank people for their custom and for their support. I want clients to feel good about working with me; and to let my suppliers know how much I appreciate all they do for me.

Every year I receive emails and messages from happy clients, thanking me for taking the time to send them a card. None of them ever complains about receiving a personalised card; no one complains about the environmental impact of receiving something printed on paper. They just smile and say thank you for the effort. And then they recommend me to other people like them, who need help with their marketing.

You might not celebrate Christmas and your clients might not celebrate it either and that’s fine. Just look for other ways in which you can keep in touch with the people who matter, at other times of the year. Think about how you can personally thank your clients for their custom. Birthday cards? Thank you cards? Congratulation cards? Anything personal that makes you stand out from your competitors, which makes them feel special and that helps them to remember you, as someone different to your competitors.

Each year I spend about £200 a year on Christmas cards and postage – not taking any account of my time. Not all of that amount will go to my chosen charity – as some obviously goes to the card company and the Royal Mail for the stamps. But if you don’t send cards, would you donate as much as £200 to a charity instead? If not, you’re better off spending some time actually sending cards.

If you emailed me an “I’m sending this to everyone” Christmas message, I did not read it before I deleted it. If you are one of my favourite clients and you sent me such an email, don’t worry. I will have posted a card to you anyway, so you won’t be taken off my Christmas list!

Start planning now for how you will keep in touch with your clients this year, in a personalised way, that will help you to stand out from your competitors.

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You need clients and income. Do you struggle to get enough?

You've spent time and money on your marketing, on websites, social media, networking… but you’re not getting the results you want.

It's hard to fit marketing into your week. You’d rather be busy with clients which means that the marketing always slips down the to do list.

You don’t feel confident that you’re getting the right message out there.

Or you feel that marketing is trial and error, which means making mistakes until you find what works.