Tammy Letherer Do you work with clients? If you’re a service provider, or healthcare practitioner, therapist, real estate agent, or anyone who works one-on-one with a variety of people, this blog is for you.
You have an opportunity to powerfully connect with your clients by simply sharing your interactions.
Maybe you have a weekly newsletter or a blog already up and running. You likely have a website and an email database. So how often are you communicating with your fans or followers or potential clients?
Most people I talk to are happy to put out one or two newsletters a month, plus a handful of random Facebook posts. If that’s you, I’d like to share some figures with you that you may find surprising. (I know I did.)
I’ve been urging people to write a minimum of 1 blog per week, ideally 2 blogs per week. So I was a little shocked to see this recent study from Hubstop.com.
- Companies that publish 16+ blog posts per month got almost 3.5X more web traffic than companies that publish between 0 – 4 monthly posts.
You might be thinking: But I’m not a company! I don’t have a staff. Maybe you’re not even trying to sell anything.
It doesn’t matter. Because they also looked at small companies with between 1 – 10 employees. They found that small companies that publish 11 or more blog posts per month drive much higher traffic than companies of the same size that publish fewer than 11 blog posts. Those that published 11+ posts per month had almost 3X more traffic than companies publishing 0 – 1 monthly posts, and about 2X as much traffic as those publishing 2 – 5 monthly posts.
Higher traffic means more readers, which is something I assume we all want.
So based on these numbers, it would seem that shooting for 3 blogs a week is a good goal. But I know that sounds overwhelming.
Until you realize that your clients are providing you with blog posts that are practically already written.
Here’s how to take your client interactions and turn them into blogs that will show (not tell) people what you do.
- Post client stories as Case Studies, Success Stories, or Client of the Week.
- Give a simple summary of your session, just as if you were telling a friend. (Be sure to change your client’s name and tweak any obvious identifiers!)
Here’s a template:
Mary came to see me with (problem). She was really concerned about (details). We talked about (subject) and I advised her to (action). As a result, (outcome).
Are you experiencing (Mary’s problem)? Let’s talk about how you can (similar result).
- Spend 10 minutes on each client summary, keeping it to two paragraphs that cover:
- The client’s problem or opportunity
- What the client was seeking from you
- What service you provided
- The outcome, whether a tangible result or peace of mind
- Asking if the reader can identify
- Call to action
In 30 minutes you can produce 3 short pieces that can be used as blogs, Facebook posts, LinkedIn updates, emails, or newsletter content.
And before you protest that you’re not comfortable with sales or self-promotion, remember that you are NOT selling. You’re sharing a story with the intention of educating and serving.
Doesn’t that sound good?
