Yes, I know. For a lot of people, Twitter’s not that big of a deal. But for me, it is. It’s how I grew my business when I relaunched, rebranded, and relocated to a new state. It’s how I keep in touch with virtual colleagues and keep up-to-date on industry news and even make new friends. And for just a little over a year, it’s a place where I’ve been know as @InkyClean.

And here I am about to change that.

A lot of things have led up to this. For one, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want out of Twitter, and more than anything it’s a place where I connect with other people. The business relationships and the promotion of Inky Clean all come secondary to the real relationships I’ve made. I don’t log on every day to link to my latest blog post, but I do log on every day to check and see how my “tweeps” are doing. Twitter’s a place where I feel I can let my guard down a bit; it’s a place for honesty and genuineness, and for me, the next step in that sincerity is to just use my own name.

Secondly, as much work as I’ve put into Inky Clean, it’s not the only thing I do, nor is it the only thing that defines me. I’m not just a copywriter—I’m an aspiring novelist, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer addict, a nostalgic gamer who occassionally plays Donkey Kong Country on an old-school Super NES, a dog owner, an occasionally moody (but always lovable) wife, a little sister, a Miami transplant living in Austin…the list goes on and on. All of these things, including my company, fall into the very complex and often geeky umbrella that is me.

Third, I want people to know me for me. A year ago when I started this Twitter account, my goal was to develop Inky Clean as a strong, memorable brand. And I think I’ve done that maybe too well (on Twitter, at least) because sometimes, once the online networking goes offline, people will call me by company name and not my actual name. And I love that it sticks, I love that they remember it, but I want my company to be something people remember about me, not all they remember.

So maybe it’s time for me to develop my personal brand just like I developed my business brand. And it’s very possible to develop both at once. It doesn’t mean I’ll be neglecting my business brand (and—let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture here—a brand is much, much, much more than a Twitter handle). If anything, I’ll be working harder to make sure that my business is one of the great things people think of when they think of me. But just one of the things, among many.

Because we are all so very many things.

Do you keep your business and personal brand separate? Why or why not?

I used to play volleyball in high school, and I’ll never forget how my coach taught me to strengthen my overhead serve. It was a simple tactic:

Follow through.

He used to say that if I stopped swinging my arm once it hit the ball, then the power behind it would stop, too. If I kept my arm swinging, even after that initial contact, even after the ball was no longer in my hands, the energy I used in that swing would transfer more powerfully into the serve.

Serving up a Strong Brand

In branding, the follow-through is important because getting the ball in the air isn’t enough. It needs to have enough power that it lands in the right place.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a theme for my new fiction blog. It was supposed to be an easy to customize theme, with endless opportunities to get creative with it. The company did a great job with their branding in this case: their copy clearly explained the ease of using the theme, it placed heavy emphasis on the forums and tutorials in case I had any questions, and they gave off a friendly, very creative and extremely helpful attitude. They used words that highlighted that the user would be “in control” and that the theme was “flexible” enough to give customers the results they wanted. Best of all, they offered a money back guarantee.

Up In the Air

Since this theme sounded sounded like everything I needed, I gladly paid the fee and started playing around with it. Score 1 for their branding, right?

Not so fast. Deduct a point for the fact that I didn’t find the product very easy to use at all. But maybe that was just my fault, right? Maybe all the answers I was looking for could be found in the tutorials and forums like they said they would be. So I looked, and found the whole section to be overwhelming, difficult to navigate, and not as resourceful as they’d promised. Basically, they were back to zero.

After several days of trying to figure this out, and realizing that maybe their product wasn’t a good fit for me, I tried requesting my money back. Nowhere on the site did they explain how one would go about doing this, so finally I used their contact form and requested it. (So much for easy to use, right?)

The next day I got an email saying that they’d received my request, but had I tried their forums yet? Had I browsed their tutorials and asked the community? If after doing this, I still wanted my refund, they could process it, they said.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t waste time asking for something unless I know I want it. I don’t spend 10-15 minutes on someone’s website trying to figure out how to request a refund if I haven’t entirely made up my mind about the decision.

So I kindly responded that yes, I’d done all these things, and while I thought their product seemed like a great option for someone with different needs and experiences, it wasn’t a good fit for me.

Minutes later, I got a response with one line:

We will process your refund

No, “Thanks for trying our product.” No, “Sure, that won’t be a problem.” Not even a period at the end of that sentence.

If my perception of them had been shaky before, with that one line it completely crashed. The whole friendly, helpful, and flexible image of them as a company vanished.

If this had been a volleyball serve, it would’ve landed on the wrong side of the court with a big thud. They had been happy to try and charm me up until the point I bought their product, but after, there was absolutely no follow-through. The customer experience didn’t live up to the hype.

The lesson? Don’t build a brand if you’re not prepared to make it a reality. Don’t get the ball in the air if you don’t have enough strength in the swing to get it over the net.

What are the steps you take to ensure your brand is consistently strong from start to finish?

Photo credit: (cc) Scarleth White

I’ve been noticing one word keeps popping up to describe how marketers should make their audience feel: charmed.

Charming someone is far more powerful than leaving a good impression. A person who’s charmed by you won’t stop thinking about you after you’ve met. They’ll smile when your name comes up, and want to gush to their friends about how great you are. They’ll hope that your initial encounter will turn into something much more long-term.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? So how exactly do you go about doing this?

Think of it like a great first date

1. The first impression sets the tone: Get yourself dolled up, stand up straight, and speak with confidence. In other words, present yourself in the best possible light. You can’t fake a great web presence (just like you can’t fake a good suit) so make sure your web design is appealing to the eyes (cleanliness, please!), your web copy has strong headlines, and your site is easy enough to navigate that it makes for a pleasing experience. Also, get rid of anything that oozes cheesiness—flashy graphics, taglines that rhyme for no other reason than to sound “clever,” and auto-music are huge signs that you’re trying too hard.

2. Sincerity works wonders: Don’t you hate it when people give dating advice like “just be yourself”? Well, it’s true. You won’t get matched up with your right audience if you’re not putting the real you out there. Be honest about your product or service and you’ll build an invaluable trust with your customers. That trust—in the quality of what you’re offering, the quality of your service, and the promises that you make—is the only thing that’ll stop them from leaving the second someone else claims to be #1.

3. Talking about yourself is still a turn-off: Nobody wants to sit through dinner with someone who won’t stop bragging about themselves. The same goes for your marketing copy: It can’t be all about you. If you’ve won awards or Mashable called your startup the next big thing, share it in places where it’s relevant. Your About page, Press Page, a sidebar or even (briefly) on your homepage are all good places as long as they’re not taking the focus away from the main point: What can you do for your customers? Which brings us to number four…

4. You gotta think about their needs: Be a good listener and be considerate of their needs. That’s usually enough to get you a second date. Before you write any marketing copy, listen to your target audience and its needs. Keep them in mind at all times: What are they looking for in a product like yours? What problem do they have that you might not be aware of? How can you make their life easier?

5. Nobody likes a bland date: You could have all of the above and still not charm anyone if you don’t show some personality. Step outside of the misleading safe zone formed by boring, “let’s please everyone” branding and make a real statement. It might not charm everyone, but it won’t matter as long as you’re charming the right people.

photo credit: chibi_m

Remember that novel I talked about a few months back? I recently completed the final draft (insert huge sigh of relief here). I’m lucky to have had an amazing group of writers who critiqued the manuscript throughout its numerous versions and offered some solid feedback that helped me improve it along the way.

When you’ve been in writing groups long enough, you start to notice recurring questions that readers ask to determine the strength of the work. Some are questions we ask subconsciously as we read, others are questions we ask out loud to get a discussion going. And while my book is a work of fiction, I’ve found these questions also apply to copywriting.

Next time you’re getting ready to edit your own copy, take a cue from my writer’s groups and ask yourself these questions:

Do the characters feel real? Before you say, “My copy doesn’t have a character,” think again. Your company’s persona and brand are the main characters in the story you’re telling. They’re essential to making your message something people will connect with. Take a moment to study the impressions you’re putting out into the world. If you want customers to trust your brand, it absolutely has to be authentic and sincere.

Do the characters have a distinctive voice? In fiction, one of the signs of great dialogue is that you know who’s speaking even if the writer doesn’t tell you. A writer who pulls this off is creating a bond between the reader and the character—the reader feels like they really know this person (similar to how they know a close friend). Does your copy have a unique voice? Is it true to your company culture and what it stands for?

Is this action justified? Characters in novels do crazy things. Sometimes they’re justified because they seem like something the person would do. Sometimes they’re so out of left field that readers start thinking, “That doesn’t sound like her at all.”

What ends up happening is that this disconnect chips away at the authenticity of the character. To make sure this doesn’thappen to your brand, it’s important to be consistent. Your brand should align with your message, but so should your actions. So let’s say you have a product that’s meant to help simplify people’s lives. But your copy makes it difficult for them to find the information they’re looking for, check-out is an eight-step process, and returning the product is an even bigger hassle. If the experience doesn’t live up to the promise, people will simply stop buying into it.

Think about the things that draw you into a good book. How can these elements be translated to help your copy?

photo credit: doctor paradox

Lately, I’ve been noticing how small the online world can be despite its vastness. We all have our favorite bloggers, websites, and Tweeters that we interact with. We even have a select few that we look up to and draw inspiration from. And even though this list is unique for everyone, we all have one thing in common:

We’re here to learn something.

Which also means that we feel we have a lot to learn. Which means we feel like someone out there is better than us at what we’re trying to do. Which means if we’re not careful, we can do some serious internal damage to our own confidence and aspirations if we spend too much time comparing ourselves to them.

And by “we” of course I mean “I”

Because that’s what I did this week. I’ve been thinking of offering new products and services through Inky Clean, so naturally I started doing some research. What’s already out there? What are other writers doing? How are they making it work and how can I approach it differently?

The deeper I got into my research the louder this little voice inside of me started saying, “What makes you think you can do this? What makes you so special?”

I got into quite the slump, and I realize it’s risky to share this online. Online, we’re supposed to showcase ourselves. We’re supposed to sell our expertise and know-how in a neatly-bundled package. Perhaps this is how we end up with online idols who, in our minds, never experience self-doubt, never question whether or not they’re getting everything right, never wonder how they’ll pull things off.

How I got out of this slump

I’ve been having a lot of great conversations with writers lately, and they are all in different stages of their career. One of them actually told me that they looked up to me, that they considered me an example of a successful writer. And I really had to step back, shift my perspective away from the impossible standards I’d set up for myself, and realize that they were right. Not in an arrogant, “You’re right, I’m wonderful” kind of way, but in a healthy, “You’re right, I should be proud with what I’ve accomplished” kind of way.

I should mention that the person who said this to me is a fantastic writer, and I also know for a fact that she experiences moments of self-doubt just like I do. And if that’s the case, then that’s probably the case for the people I look up to, and the people those people look up to, until it all becomes this crazy cycle of accomplished, but occasionally insecure, awesome people.

Only, we don’t often see that. We see beautifully-designed websites, prolific blogs and swarms of comments and we forget that the people we admire are more than their traffic numbers or client lists. And then we compare ourselves to them based on this incomplete ideal that we’ve created in our minds.

Maybe it’s time we broke that cycle. Maybe it’s time we stopped comparing ourselves—our real, living, breathing, thinking, selves—to the online brands and personalities we become attached to. If we stop idolizing them, an interesting thing could happen: we could learn a lot from them, without putting ourselves down like I did. We could get to know the real people behind the personas and realize that we’re not all that different.

What do you think? Have you ever been in a similar slump? Or is it just me?

photo credit: Mike Kanert

I know, I know. The whole “Lessons from [insert trending topic here]” thing can get kind of annoying. Just be thankful I didn’t make this a “Lessons from the Gap Logo Fiasco” post. I was thisclose to writing one.

I went to see The Social Network this weekend. Parts of it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside even though they weren’t meant to. I have this thing for seeing old screenshots of popular websites, and seeing shots of Facebook as “TheFacebook.com” took me back to my sophomore year of college at the University of Miami.

Is it weird that I still remember where I was when I first heard of the site that would change the way we experience each others’ lives? I was standing in the school’s breezeway interviewing a source for an article for the student paper. Somehow it came up as a “site that lets you see what other students’ schedules are.” Weird, but okay. I created a profile. I got friend requests from students whom I’d never even spoken to in class before. You know the rest of the story.

The World Got Onboard for the Ride

But that little cusp, that time when people were jumping on the Facebook bandwagon with no clear idea of where it was headed, is beautifully depicted in the movie. There’s a scene where Zuckerburg’s CFO is anxious to find a way to monetize the site now that it’s reached 100,000 users. He wants to set up meetings with advertisers.

In the movie (because who knows what happened in real life), Zuckerburg tells him that they can’t do that yet. They can’t start making it a business because they don’t know what Facebook is going to be yet. Users don’t know what it’s going to be yet. All everyone knows is that it’s cool, and that’s why they’re joining. The site’s “cool” is the greatest thing they’ve got going for them.

What’s your Cool?

We don’t all have the luxury of waiting like Zuckerburg did to become a billionaire. But we all have to keep our cool. That thing that drives people to your business, that makes them be loyal to you and keeps them coming back. The thing that makes them feel like they’re getting something out of the experience, instead of the other way around.

Movie Zuckerburg didn’t want people coming to Facebook and being bombarded with ads because this would change their message from “Facebook is about you” to “Facebook is about how we can profit from you.” Before the company could start making money, they needed to define what their users would get out of it, and how to keep giving them that.

It’s Not that Making Money’s Not Cool…

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t advertise on your website. I’m not saying that trying to make money from your business is bad. I’m not even saying you have to be cool. Maybe that’s not your brand’s style (maybe it’s more of a friendly smarty-pants or a nurturing mother type).

I’m just saying to guard your cool above all else. The cool is hard to define because it’s an essence. It’s that feeling people get when they realize that a product or a service is going to change their lives in a way they’ve been waiting for. It’s the satisfaction they get when this promise is delivered.

It’s the only thing that will keep them coming back to you. The only thing that will keep money in your pocket and you in business.

And it’s not at all about you.

So, what’s your cool? And, more importantly, is it showing?

So many wonderful things happen when you let yourself take a vacation, like I did last week. You might find that the world actually does not come crumbling down if you deactivate the email accounts on your Blackberry (I didn’t believe it at first, but it’s true!). You might experience moments that leave you speechless or on the brink of tears, like when I saw the Grand Canyon or heard the first opening notes of The Phantom of the Opera.

Or, after having carefully planned your wardrobe for the entire week but choosing your bummiest outfit for a 5:30 a.m. flight home, you might run into Tim Gunn at a Las Vegas hotel. You can’t take a picture with Tim Gunn in a wrinkled sweater, white/beige T-shirt, baggy jeans and crazy hair. At least I can’t, but I’ll pretend that the real reason I didn’t walk up to him was because he was talking to someone.

Anywho…Here’s where this is going:

Some bad things can happen upon your return from said vacation. Like forgetting how to use your fingers to push those pretty buttons on your computer and make words with them (oh yes, it’s called typing!) or forgetting the right words for things. Or, after spending a long period of time trying to take a break from what it is you do for a living, you suddenly forget how to eloquently describe your job.

The simple question with the Not-so-simple Answer

The night after I got back from vacation, I went to an art gallery for the opening reception of my husband’s photography teacher’s exhibit. As we made small talk with some of his classmates, one of them turned to me and said:

So what do you do for a living?

This is one of those questions that’s always tough for me to answer in social, non-business settings. Do I say, “I’m a writer” or that I own my own copywriting business? Or do I simply say I’m a copywriter, which usually gets followed by the “Yes, but who do you work for” question.

But online—on my website, my Twitter stream, Facebook page, blog—what I do should be pretty clear to anyone that visits, right? I was pretty sure of this until I started catching up on my Google Reader feed and came across this post by IttyBiz. She asks an important question:

How many of YOUR readers don’t really understand your business?

Then she asks us to answer the following questions in a blog post. The point is to make sure you’re clearly communicating what you do to your readers. Seeing as how my brain is still getting reacquainted with work (seriously, it just took me like five tries to write reacquainted) I’m more than happy to let someone else think of a blog topic for me.

So I’ll play. Here goes.

What I Do:

What’s your game? What do you do?

I help businesses get their message across with the written word. This sounds simple but rarely is. Anyone who’s ever started a business knows there is an endless amount of material that needs to be written—from the web copy that needs to capture your brand perfectly, to the ad you’re spending a small fortune on, to the words that will ultimately end up on your product’s packaging. All of these communications need to be consistent with the company’s brand and messaging, so I find the right words and write copy that will speak to the intended audience. Copywriting isn’t just about getting something written. It’s about getting the right message across with those words. I make sure we’re doing that.

Why do you do it? Do you love it, or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?

I love it. I surprise myself with how much I love it. Back when I was mainly writing for magazines I thought writing marketing copy would stifle my creativity. But there’s nothing more creative than having to find the perfect combination of three to five words (out of what? Millions?) for a company’s tagline or slipping into a voice that lets you say something in a completely new way.

Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?

My customers are business owners who aren’t afraid to get creative with their messaging (or who are at least willing to let me do it for them). They don’t want boring, overused, corporatese and they don’t want to say things in the same way that a thousand other companies are saying them. They embrace the idea of showing some personality in their branding because they understand that this is what will make them stand out.

One thing I’ve noticed a lot of my customers say to me is “I’m not good with words.” That’s perfectly fine. They’re great at what they do, at whatever skill makes up their business, and they understand the importance of hiring someone who IS great with words so that they can keep working their kind of magic.

What’s your marketing USP? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?

Because I don’t just focus on the words, I focus on a company’s brand. The words should give that brand a voice and help it come alive and be memorable. So I make sure that the copy I write is full of personality and says more than the words do. There are multiple messages being sent in a company’s copy. There’s the actual statement that’s being made, and there’s the impression that those words will leave long after a person’s forgotten what they read.

I make sure that impression is consistent with a company’s brand; that’s it’s the impression they’re hoping to make. All companies should seize the opportunity to let their personality show in big or small ways. Maybe they’re charming, or witty, or smart-asses, or wholesome goody-goodies—but they have to be something that will stick in their target audiences’ minds.

What’s next for you? What’s the big plan?

My main focus right now is growing my business according to my definition of growth. So it’s not just about bringing in tons of clients, but rather finding the clients I totally click with, and working with them long-term. I’m lucky that I have several regular clients who I’m able to grow and adapt with as their business develops, and I’m hoping to make that kind of connection with a few more.

And, I know this is random, but you know what I would absolutely love to write? The copy for a museum exhibit, preferably a children’s museum. Have you ever thought about how much information has to get reduced and simplified so that it can fit on those small plastic plaques that people walk by? That’s a challenge I’d totally be up for: getting the important stuff across in a way that’s fun and concise so that people read it and actually learn something they won’t forget.

So there you have it. What I do. Sound like something you need? Contact me and we’ll start up a brainstorm. I promise my brain’s working now. It better be after this 1200-word post.

And if reading these questions has made you give another think to whether your readers know what you do, why not blog about it like I did? Or better yet, leave a little something in the comments below!

It’s here! The new blog design! About time, right? After going through several templates in the few months I’ve had this blog, I finally decided it was time for a makeover that was more my style.

And, being a bit of a control freak, I actually considered trying to do it myself for a while. How I’d do it, I had no idea, but I figured since I did the design for my website (once I had the logo done professionally), how hard could a blog design be, right?

So not right. Because unlike several months ago when I was redoing my site, this time I was missing two key resources: time and expertise. I’m a writer, not a coder. And even though I dabbled in graphic design for a bit before switching majors into English and journalism in college, sometimes passion alone is not enough to get the job done.

Switching Sides

So I set out to find someone who’d design and code a template based on the original design of my site. Switching roles to become the client in the client-creative relationship is always an eye-opener. We all need a refresher every once in a while. A reminder that:

1. Prospective clients have a crazy, overwhelming amount of people to choose from, whether they’re looking for a designer or a writer or a plumber.

2. First impressions matter. What do you do when a Google search yields 200,000 results? Maybe give the first ten sites or so 2 seconds on their homepage. I didn’t stay on anyone’s website more than 2 seconds if I didn’t find their design appealing.

3. Don’t hold back. Once I’d decided I liked someone’s site, I quickly searched for the information I was looking for: Could they do what I needed? How long would it take? About how much might it cost? What are some examples of what they’d already done? If I didn’t find it there, I kept looking.

4. Be available. I ended up requesting quotes from three designers. One said they’d send me a quote on Monday and only got back to me Thursday after I’d sent a follow-up email. Another sent a quote that was over my budget, but seemed willing to work with me on what other options might be available. That was looking promising, until, as I waited, I stumbled upon a site that had a chat feature with a company representative. He was online, so we started chatting. I told him what I needed and within minutes I had a quote and a reasonable delivery date. I didn’t even have to pick up the phone.

So…what do you think about the new look?

Two months ago, starting an email newsletter had, quite frankly, not even entered my mind. I know how ridiculous that sounds considering I write email newsletters for my clients, but for me it was always one of those things I’d decided I’d do…eventually.

So you can imagine my surprise when I signed up for a Personalized Twitter Strategy session with Marian Schembari and she basically said: You really should start a newsletter. I’m not one to argue with Marian (the girl knows her stuff), so I agreed to start a newsletter…eventually. I procrastinated by implementing every other suggestion she’d made about how I could engage more people on Twitter until finally the inevitable was staring me in the face. I’d resisted because I’d thought starting a newsletter would be a huge time-suck. There was the question of what to focus it on, what to call it, how often to send it out, what software to manage it with.

The not-so-simple process of getting started

When I finally got around to the newsletter, I took what I thought would be baby steps. I signed up for MailChimp and started poking my nose around. Then I dove (or maybe fell) head-first into what became quite the branding endeavor.

When MailChimp said, “Hey! You can create your own header for your newsletter” I went and got my logo and the newsletter name (Wordy Goodness) and meshed them into a pretty little graphic that would be on top of each newsletter.

When they said, “Here’s the link to your signup form!” I rewrote the copy they’d provided in each template. I could have just stuck with “To confirm your subscription, please click the link we just sent to your email” but that just didn’t sound like me. I rewrote (as much as they’d let me) of the copy on the unsubscribe form, even though I’m hoping not many people will click on that. I made sure the fonts and colors on each form matched the ones I’d been using on my site.

The YOU Filter

I was feeling pretty happy with myself. Getting started with my email newsletter even gave me an idea for a blog post about how we should seize every little opportunity to brand our business. If the signup form for your email newsletter supplies you with some generic copy, don’t settle for it. If you have to write a “Please do not disturb” sign outside your office, who says you have to use those words? And if someone stumbles upon a page that no longer exists on your site, why not find a way to tell them that other than “This page no longer exists”?

Let your voice pop up and charm customers with your unique personality in the most unexpected places—they’ll remember you for it. Before you do or say anything, pass it through the “You Filter.” Let your brand filter out all the generic gunk that’s floating about. Serve up a cup full of freshly brewed, customized goodness that says you know who you are and can’t help but show it.

So that’s what this blog post was supposed to be about. Until I pulled up my blog on my browser to start writing it.

Every last drop counts

You see, if you’ve ever been to the Inky Clean website, you’ll realize it doesn’t even look like a distant relative of this blog. *Update: The blog has since been redesigned (yay!), but here’s what it used to look like:

That’s because at the time I designed my website, I didn’t know enough about WordPress to make this blog match. So I picked the most unoffensive-looking free template I could find and left it at that. The result is that when you go from my site to this blog there is no brand continuity whatsoever. It basically goes from bubbly and fun to blah. Meh. Eh.

Not very memorable at all.

So there I was with this newsletter coming up in September, ready to send writing tips, special offers, links to this blog and Inky Clean’s latest news to subscribers. And I thought, if I worked so hard to brand the newsletter, why would I send people to this blog where the branding falls flat?

It was clearly time to keep filtering until every last drop had passed through my “You Filter” (or my Me Filter, or my Inky Clean filter, or…you get the point). So I went and hired someone to create a custom WordPress template for this blog that’ll match the Inky Clean site. I couldn’t be more excited about it, and I’m hoping that in the next few days the makeover will be complete.

I’ll make sure to let you know when it is (though hopefully, it’ll be pretty obvious). In the meantime, you can always sign up for my newsletter. Let me know what you think about the forms

Last week, it took me two hours to find the right facial sunblock online. A year ago, it would’ve taken me ten minutes—just a quick drive to my neighborhood pharmacy, picking up the same brand I’d used for years.

Why the big change?

About a year ago, I started copywriting for a new skin care line as they prepared to launch. I’ve written their web copy, bottle labels, product descriptions, brochures. Their goal was to make people rethink how they shop for beauty products and take a closer look at the ingredients. There are all sorts of potentially harmful chemicals in skin care products we see on shelves every day, in brands that many people trust (this video sums it up beautifully). Recently I also started writing for another beauty line that has a similar mission and because of this, sticks to natural ingredients.

There’s a point to all this, I swear.

Just yesterday, as I was explaining to my sister that many popular fragrances contain potentially harmful chemicals that are not listed on the label, I realized that I was the perfect example of a marketer’s dream consumer. I heard their message. I believed in it and made it part of my life. What’s more, I even passed the message on to others.

Clients often come to me with the concern that they don’t want to sound too pushy in their marketing copy (or sales-y, which has become a common term). When I initially sat down with the first skin care client, listening to how her products were different and how she was trying to improve her customers’ lives, it was enlightening. She didn’t need to be pushy because she knew exactly what problem she was solving for people. She had a genuine concern for their well-being and wanted to help.

The word “sales-y” has gotten a bad rap. We assume that to sell someone, we have to convince them, possibly even trick them, into thinking that they need what we’re offering. There’s a connotation of deception there, of sleaziness, of having to keep a person’s attention because they’d rather be doing something else. Those are clear signs of two things:

1) you’re targeting the wrong audience

2) you’re focusing on how they can help you instead of how you can help them

When people are truly loyal to a brand, it’s because they consider them a friend. That brand looks out for them, that brand helps them out every time. Instead of being pushy, the best thing we can do is listen to our audience’s needs and be that friend. Only then will they listen to your message and look for more of it. And, when they realize it’s not just talk, that your product can really follow through on the promise you’ve made, they’ll take it in and pass it on to their friends.

As I got my new sunblock in the mail today, I was actually grateful that there are companies out there looking out for their customers’ well-being. I changed my shopping habits and switched brands because I wanted a healthier alternative. Nobody had to convince me to make that decision. It was a matter of me wanting something, and of someone else having exactly what I was looking for.

How about you? What brands are you most loyal to, and why?