Greetings Folk Media family! Here is another Power Topic from the “Ammo for Your Arsenal” Business Series. This article, “You Believe; They Buy,” is covering the essential steps to ensure you are well prepared to present your product/service to your audience and boost your results.

When you have made a purchase, one that you love, how passionate was the person about their product you bought from? Or, how about when you have chosen a Real Estate agent? Interior Designer? Lawyer? Did they appear enthusiastic, confident, energetic, and excited about their product/service? Chances are if you bought/hired them/etc, they were.

Having conviction and full force belief in your product/service is the way towards increased profits, incredible sales, and a thriving empire. People want to feel the passion you have for your business. They want to hear in your voice, and witness in your expression, the love you feel for your product/service. Many consumers begin their product/service search with speculation and suspicion. Some feel nervous about spending money, others may feel unsure of the necessity of the item of interest, and some may need to feel confident in their choice and you can help them through your guidance. It starts with you! If you believe, they will buy.

So, it sounds simple, right? It starts with preparation. Being prepared before you present, pitch, and articulate will help you bring in more clientele as your confidence will undoubtedly skyrocket, leaving your audience feeling thrilled to partake in your product/services. What steps can be taken to ensure you are confident in your product/service and have unwavering faith that your audience is making the smartest choice buying from you, hiring you, etc. versus choosing a competitor?

Here are 5 helpful steps to empower your presentation:

Research – Know your product, know your service, and know every intricate detail! There can never be too much research or education within your business. Learn about what you are offering your audience, research every angle, understand the lingo, and be incredibly knowledgeable that you are able to overcome any objection and answer any question you are given. Knowing, is half the battle.

Reach out to Mentors/Colleagues – Many people feel embarrassed or ashamed to ask for help. Don’t be! Ask away! Ask those you have seen succeed in your field the questions you need in order to follow the suit of success. Ask your colleagues to hear your pitch, listen to your presentation, and brainstorm with you new ideas. Ask your mentors to sit down with you and review your business plans for your product/service. This is priceless information you can obtain and these people are there for your resource! Ask and you shall receive.

Compare/Contrast – It’s important to review what others in your field are doing and compare your product/services to theirs. What about your business sets you apart from your competition? What makes your business incredibly unique? Why would consumers feel they made the best choice purchasing from you/hiring you/etc? Comparing and contrasting your business to others goes along with point 1–research. This will allow you to gauge where you may want to consider improving, revamping, or updating your current offerings. In addition, when you are informed as to how others in your field are performing, you can utilize this knowledge to help you fine tune your presentation to shine above the rest. After all, you are amazing; it’s time to let your audience feel the same way about your business and your product/service!

Practice Your Pitch – Practice, practice, practice! This is essential as it will help you smooth out your process, catch any errors, and perfect your presentation. I consistently am practicing as I find it helps me to feel more certain of my presentation and, it also helps bring new thoughts/ideas my way to work with as well. Take the time to practice every piece of your presentation, pitch, etc. before you begin engaging with your audience. Think about this: when some of the world’s greatest public speakers, who are experts in their field, entertain an audience of 20,000+ people, rest assured, they have practiced. Even if you feel you have the presentation down pat and can recite it in your sleep, practice! This step will only benefit you from utilizing it.

Passion – This step is one that, through your research, preparation, and practice, will seep out of your pores as you find yourself excited about your product/service. The more you know, the more you will be eager to share your business with others. You will find yourself full of energy and adrenaline, ready to conquer the world and share your amazing product/service with your audience. It is an incredible feeling and will help you catapult forward in your business! If you currently are in a position where you are lacking passion, think about the positive attributes of your job now and what steps you will need to take to reach a career that is evident of you living your passion. Passion is like fire; once it is ignited, it will reach everywhere! This is an amazing thing! Believe in yourself, believe in your product/service, prepare yourself, and you will be unstoppable!

These steps are designed to help you continue to leverage your business forward, regardless of what product/service you have to offer. Focus on your goal, stick to it, and take the time to be prepared. Quality counts and you want to be a showstopper when you are representing your brand. Utilizing the above steps will assist you with empowering your product/service delivery. The more you believe in the worth of your produce or service and are assured of your business, confidence will radiate from you. Your audience will feel your belief in your business and will be there ready, with money in hand! ?

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Samantha Casey is the founder and operator of Relentless Consulting Group, a firm that helps businesses and individuals market to the world. She is a blogger, reader, and networker with a passion for helping others and building strong brands. Follow Samantha on Twitter to find out more about her.

*Photo by

Picture this: You’re in a business meeting with the CEO of your company and you are part of a content creation committee. Your business is losing money and it’s going out the door fast. Your boss asks you to come up with a few ideas on how to keep business from going to your competitors. What do you do? How do you save your business?

Do you lower prices? No, it’s not necessary.

Do you create more products to expand your customer base? No.

When you need to turn your business around or when you are trying to dominate your market, the secret lies in the customer experience. It’s not all about prices or products; it’s about the experience the customer has with you and your business.

Case Study: Starbucks

We all know that Starbucks is in the coffee business and they are a pretty dominating force. They serve millions of lattes, mochas, and fraps each year to citizens looking for their coffee fix. But, have you ever considered why a coffee chain with extravagant prices and small serving sizes is so popular?

It’s the experience.

With Starbucks coffee, you don’t just brew up your typical Foldgers blend and add whipped cream. Instead, you get to see your coffee created from the bean. And, once the barista has handed over your beverage, you can sit and enjoy a cozy atmosphere with good music and comfy furniture.

When you buy a Starbucks coffee, you aren’t paying for the drink; you’re paying for the experience of the drink.

If you can learn how to create a great customer experience, you can set your prices a little higher and grab a large portion of the market share. Customers don’t want to be another number or another dollar. Customers want to have an experience that is memorable and that leaves a good impression. If you can create that, you’re golden.

Creating the Experience

Now that you know what your customers want, it’s time to give it to them.

Before we dive in any further, I need to remind you that:

Price and products don’t necessarily create positive customer experiences.

You need to realize that changing the price on your product isn’t going to instantly make the customer experience better. Very few customers mind paying a higher price for a product they know offers them a better experience than similar options.

When you’re brainstorming about increasing the customer experience, think about these things:

• Bonus offers (ex. free gifts or products)
• Customer service or support (ex. 24-hour support or on-call resolution)
• Atmosphere enhancers (ex. music or other add-ons that relate to the senses)
• Complimentary items (ex. free coffee and donuts when you come in)
• Conversation or interactions (ex. free once-a-week teleconference)
• Discounts (ex. $100 off your next purchase or one month free)
• Partnerships (ex. $25 off your next purchase at Ray’s Remodeling)

This is not an exhaustive list but it should get you started. My hope is that you begin to focus on the customer’s experience rather than the price they are paying.

If you focus on the customer, you won’t be going out of business any time soon. Some businesses tend to focus on semantics and a pretty look rather than the customer and they end up falling out in the end. The secret to earning more money with your products has nothing to do with price manipulation or customer content. It has everything to do with the customer experience and how they perceive your business. If you leave a good impression, they’ll keep coming back for more.

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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.

*Photo by roland

In the digital age, we’re surrounded by different forms of media – audio, eBooks, websites, and YouTube videos.  We can’t escape them.  No matter where we turn, we are interacting with a piece of media that has a purpose.  For example, the parking meter payment center.  It’s there for a reason.  We use these different forms of media seamlessly as we go throughout our day.  However, have you stopped to think about what allows you to use that media?  Believe it or not, it all lies in the font.

Yes, I said it.  The font selection of the chosen media allows for an individual to effectively use the device.  Everything hinges on the font.  If a person can’t read the instructions or captions, how are they going to use the object?  Exactly…they won’t.

Choosing the correct font is important no matter what you’re creating.  Whether it’s a 500 page manual or a checklist for Sally the house sitter, font matters.

What can you do to choose the correct font and create an effective document?  How can your font selection work in favor of your product and not against it?

1. Know your purpose.

The first step to picking an effective and usable font is to know the purpose of your document.  Without that information, you’re unable to select various design elements, including the font.

If your purpose is to create a document that is laid back and non-invasive, you want to use a sans serif font.  A sans serif font does not use serifs, or the fancy “feet” found on some fonts.  Examples of sans serif fonts would be Arial, Tahoma, and Verdana.

However, if you want your document to look professional and informative, use a serif font, or a font that has the “feet” on the end of each letter.

This is Garamond.  See how this text makes my writing appear more professional?

Other serif fonts include Courier New, Georgia, and Times New Roman.

2. Choose readability over elegance.

As we discussed at the beginning of the article, a font needs to be readable to allow your audience to effectively use your product.  If your font is not readable, you will not attract a large amount of customers and, in turn, your exposure and profits are relatively non-existent.  When reading, people want to do as little work as possible.  They want the process to be natural, not forced.   So, when you choose a script font instead of a simple sans serif font, you’re making the reader do more work, which turns them off.

Which one is better?

3. Don’t change fonts too much.

Too many documents create confusion for readers by switching fonts.  I went to a website the other day to locate some information about a local business and I was bombarded with a different font on every page.  As a general rule of thumb, select two fonts and stick with them.  One font should be used for your headings and focus items (pull quotes, key instructions, etc.) while the other is used for your main text.  These are called complimentary fonts.  Take a look at various magazines and books to see how they use their complimentary fonts.  If you use more than two, your readers will be confused and will stop using your document.

4. Unless it’s necessary, don’t use Times New Roman or Arial.

This tip may shock you a little but it’s true.  Let’s break it down and think about it…

What do you think when you hear “Times New Roman” or “Arial”?  Most people would think something along the lines of standard, default, or basic.

What do you want your document to be?  If you’re like most people, you would probably say anything other than standard, default, or basic.

See the conflict of interest?

Yes, Times New Roman and Arial are great fonts.  Don’t get me wrong; both are very readable and effective.  If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be two of the most popular fonts.  However, they don’t breathe creativity and uniqueness into your document.  If you don’t want to go down the “standard” road with your font selection, choose Franklin Gothic Book (sans serif) or Garamond (serif).  They are effective but not used too often.

5. Use effective, not crazy, formatting.

Formatting is a big issue for a lot of people.  Most people don’t know what formatting techniques are effective and which should remain unused.  As a rule of thumb, you should only format key text, such as terms, phrases, or pull quotes.  Formatting your entire text will create too much work for your users and will lead to an ineffective design.  Also, try to stick to using only bold and italics.  Other formatting, such as underlining, can really throw a reader off. 

6. Try, try, try again.

Once you’ve decided on one or two fonts for your product, change them.  You don’t have to change them permanently but you should experiment with other combinations before coming to a final decision.  You never know, you might find a more effective font to use.

Font selection is critical if you want to design an effective document.  Fonts can really change perceptions, attitudes, and even the buying habits of individuals.  Make sure your font selections are on target.  You will be glad you did.

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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.

*Photo by hisks

Everyone has heard the old adage, “Money makes the world go ’round.”  Well, that’s only partially true.  Money does play a large part in making the world function but there would be no need for money if there were no products.  The development of a reliable product is critical to the success of any business and it’s essential to the success of your social media campaign.

What Is Your Product?

It might be tough for you to identify your social media product.  It’s not something that you sit around and ponder when you have nothing else to do.  In fact, you probably don’t even know what it is.  But, it’s important to identify your social media product because if you don’t, your social media strategies and campaigns will be unsuccessful.  You’ll be wondering aimlessly through Facebook Forest and Twitter Town without knowing what you’re doing.  We don’t want that, do we?

In order to understand your social media product, think about the content you are creating in your various social media outlets.  Do you retweet quotes or great blog links?  Do you post information about animals?  Do you dish the latest Hollywood gossip?  Your content is your product.  Let me repeat that – your content is your product.

Why Is Your Product Important?

Your product shapes your online reputation and how other people embrace your efforts.  It is human nature, whether we like it or not, to immediately judge or stereotype someone when we come into contact with them, even online.  Why do you think people follow you on Twitter or comment on your blog post?  They’ve judged you to be someone who knows what they’re talking about and they want more.  They want you and your product.

Your product determines the success or failure of your online presence.  Bottom line.  No questions asked.

How Do You Develop Your Product?

If you’re completely new to online media and social networking, congratulations.  You don’t have a product yet and there is a wide world of opportunities waiting for you.  If you’re a seasoned social media vet and don’t like the product you’ve created, you can change.  It might not be easy, though.

If you’re looking to develop or change your product, begin by thinking of things you dislike.  No, that wasn’t a typo.  Think of some things you dislike.  Now, write them down or put them in a text file under the category of “Non-Products.”  When brainstorming, it’s much easier to think of things you don’t like than things you do.  The world of possibilities broadens and more potential products can be recognized simply because you’ve thought about things you don’t like.

Next, list a few items or issues that generate a feeling of indifference.  You don’t care either way.  It could be socialism, sports, or Shakespeare.  After you’ve listed your indifferent items, jot down some things you favor or are interested in.  Make sure that you list the opposite of the things you don’t like.

You’ve just created a huge product catalog in a matter of minutes.  At this point, determine the ideas that you want to run with and do it.  It’s your product and your creation.  Make the most of it.

Remember that content is king and your content is your product.  Don’t be a salesperson for something you don’t enjoy.  Create and use content to develop the social media persona you want.  It’s your world; go for it.

Quick Tips for Products

Keep your list of products and non-products in case you want to enhance your product catalog at a later date.

Don’t be afraid to try new things or to become involved in unfamiliar areas.  This is what causes growth.

If you’re changing your product, make your followers and friends aware.  They’ll probably support you.

Whatever you do, keep it passionate and authentic.  Don’t create a product that doesn’t reflect the real you.

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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.

*Photo by madstamper