B2B Power Play: Winning Positioning & Messaging with Diane Wiredu

TRANSCRIPT

Michelle J Raymond: [00:00:00] Welcome everybody to the Social Media for B2B Growth Show. I'm your host, Michelle J Raymond and listeners. I was looking back over the last hundred and 20 odd episodes that I've done. And I realized that there's one power play for B2B businesses that I've skipped over with my guests. And that's all about how do you win more business with positioning and messaging?

And lucky for me, I was scrolling on LinkedIn and I saw a request. Does anyone know podcasts that are looking for speakers on this particular topic. So Diane Wiredu welcome to the show.

Diane Wiredu: Thanks, thanks for having me.

Michelle J Raymond: I am excited to have this conversation because I need to confess straight up that I'm not going to say that this is the part of my business that I've nailed.

It is certainly better than what it was four years ago when I started. But when I started, I didn't even know that this kind of thing existed because I come from the dark side. I spent 20 years in B2B sales, nothing to do with marketing, thought it was all a bit of [00:01:00] rubbish and no one really needed it when there was salespeople as good as I was.

So I'm here to confess straight up that's where I was at, but I can't wait to learn myself about this because I think it's really important. And probably the step, I'm going to guess you see so many business owners and marketers skip over and don't even think that it's important. Is that fair? I can't be alone here, right?

Diane Wiredu: Yeah, I was going to say um, this, we might have to do like a group confession, because I think you're not the only one. I think um, it's just one of those things that it's very easy to sort of push aside or even not realize how important positioning really is and it's not it's not often seen as like step on in the playbook, right?

You can get pretty far um, uh Without even thinking about it But what happens is that I see companies almost reach this ceiling Or kind of hit blockers and then there are these kind of signals and signs that something's off and often we kind of try and, you know, [00:02:00] stick a, like stick a plaster on this thing.

On like that meme with the gushing water okay, we'll stick on some social and look at growth and ads. When often the problem, if we kind of trace it back comes down to the foundation which really is like your positioning in the market messaging as well, which I know we'll touch on too. um, so, Yeah, I think we're all, I think this is a safe space for us, for everyone in B2B to say that we've probably all overlooked it at some point.

But that's okay. It's never too late to figure it out.

Michelle J Raymond: We sure do have a safe space here. And if I think about it, exactly what you mentioned just there is exactly why last year, if the listeners go back a few episodes towards the middle of last year, what you'll find is I was talking about Operation Rebrand, where I had to go back to the beginning and start again with my business based on all the knowledge that I'd gained and the experience that I'd had.

And so I can't wait to actually go over some of these things with you. But before we dive in for those people that might not have heard of the terms [00:03:00] positioning and messaging before, can you just do a quick explainer about what the difference is? Cause I don't want people to think that messaging is copywriting.

I can imagine that's something that you see often, maybe it presses your buttons. I'm going to guess.

Diane Wiredu: Yeah, a little bit. A little bit, but it's fine. So, um, Yeah, I think that's a really good place to start. I think in the simplest form I like to think of positioning as context setting for your business. I think that's probably the easiest and simplest definition and way to look at what positioning is.

So your positioning really establishes where you sit in the minds of your customer. So getting clear on that positioning makes everything else easier. It's that foundation of the house. And then everything else, your marketing, sales, growth, brands, customer success, all of that kind of stuff uh, sits on top of it.

A great analogy for this would be what shelf would your B2B products sit on in the supermarket? And I think that's a really good one to think of. And then what would that tell us about your product? Because knowing that sets off um, a bunch of powerful [00:04:00] assumptions about your brand.

And there are a few different ways and frames of reference to use and think about your positioning. Some companies position themselves in base of quality, right? Some position themselves in terms of the product use or the application or taking on another competitor in the market.

So while our positioning is really why your product is unique in the market in comparison to the other competitors, messaging is then how do we translate that, right? So how do we put into words, how you deliver on those promises? So I think of positioning is really that foundation. Messaging then sits on top of that.

And then to come back to your question, is messaging copy uh, copy kind of sits on top of that. So messaging is really, what should we say? And then copy becomes, how do we say that? So I define messaging because I've been asked this so many times. I define messaging as the most important things [00:05:00] about your company, your product your service and why that matters to your audience.

So hopefully that has clarified and helped the distinction.

Michelle J Raymond: It sure has, and I think it's important to know the hierarchy that these things happen in instead of, going copywriting first and then trying to come back to messaging and then going to positioning, which, I think when I figured out that this was a problem for me was when you go to get a brand new website and someone says to me, what do you want to go on the homepage?

And I stare blankly at the screen and go, I don't know, what do you want? And they're like you've got to guide us here. You know, and this is when I started to unravel the importance of this, but what are the signs that you see or can tell that a business has a problem with their positioning and maybe messaging on top of that?

Is there tell-tale signs out there?

Diane Wiredu: Yes, there are. So I've worked with so many companies across, I mainly work with B2B tech companies, SaaS as well, but I've also worked with a [00:06:00] lot of B2B service industry companies, a lot of agencies, and there are a lot of, a lot of tell-tale signs across B2B, even more than B2C, I would say. So I put them into two different categories.

There are external signals, right? So external things that your market will tell you, your prospects and customers will tell you that should ring alarm bells about Hmm, Something's not working here. And then there are those sort of internal signals. So maybe they're things that you're saying you're doing.

They're indicative of kind of problems that probably trace back to your positioning. So a couple of key ones, if we think about external, so what is your market saying to you? Some companies, when they come to me they often say, Oh, prospects just don't get what we do, right? Like it's really hard.

They just, They just don't really, they're confused. They don't really get what we're all about. And then sometimes companies think, okay well, well, we just need to change the words, this is just a copy problem, but often it comes back to messaging and positioning, and it can be a sign that you are going too broad, right?

It can be that you're going really [00:07:00] too broad uh, too vague with your positioning and messaging, trying to speak to everyone, which often leads to um, your actual good fit prospects being really confused about what you do. Another one is this might be a little bit more on B2B products more than services, but customers don't know they don't get what we do until we have to show them, right?

We have to show them and go into the product. They can't figure it out. We have to give loads of demos or have loads of sales calls um, Or this could be for B2B service or product companies that have a complex service or a complex product.

And often companies think, Oh yeah, it's because it's really complex, so it's hard to explain um, But I often say, do you have a complex problem? Or do you have a too many problem? So is it that you are really trying to solve too many problems? Is it you're trying to speak about too many capabilities, too many things that you deliver?

Are you trying to speak to too many ideal clients? Cause that's often what happens. And [00:08:00] then it shows up as people don't get it. And it's really just cause you, you're saying everything. Um, So there were quite a few. So those are a couple of good examples, I think, of the market showing you that there, there might be a problem and you have to pick up on those signals.

And then there are a few signals that are more internal. So these are things that I often hear uh, founders or marketers say. A really good one is kind of, we are, we're, we're the X of Y like we're the something of this industry which um, this might be a little bit contrarian because I know a lot of people use, use this uh, sort of template.

But it's a really big pet peeve of mine because instead of positioning yourself around Unique value or something that you really deliver. What you're doing is inheriting all of these flaws of this other company. You know, like, Oh, we're the Airbnb of tech. What does that even mean? One person loves Airbnb, the other one hates them.

Um, It's, it leads to these kind of expectations that you can't really keep up with. [00:09:00] So I think that's a, a bit of a red flag that companies haven't really figured, um what they're all about. Um, And another good one, and I'll, I'll pause there um, but this is a really good one is that often times companies will say that we compete in this really unique space.

We don't have any competitors. Like I'm, we're the only, I'm the only one who does this thing that we do. And maybe just maybe you do um, But it's very unlikely that you have absolutely no competitors in the market. And often companies forget that sometimes you're not competing with other companies and products.

Most of the time you're competing with an alternative and another way of doing something. Maybe that's an Excel spreadsheet instead of hiring your company. Maybe it's doing nothing. And so often what we do really isn't unique and we need to think about a different way of looking at it.

But yeah, there are lots. I'll pause there, but there are lots of signals.

Michelle J Raymond: Oh, there sure are. And I just imagine these delusions of grandeur that we're a real monopoly. I'm very confident that there are very [00:10:00] few true monopolies in this world left, for more than five minutes at a time, because at the rate that things pop up these days, it's crazy.

So I just look at it. Some of the ways that I was thinking about, as you were saying, might be a little simpler, but I used to have a problem of the wrong people reaching out to book calls with me that wanted to work with me. And I was like, why are you showing up? I want to work with B2B companies that have, at least 20 to 50 employees, sometimes bigger.

And I was getting much smaller businesses. Now it's not that I don't like to work with small business owners. Of course I do, but where I was trying to get to, and then even just my business name confused people. There were so many little ways that I was confusing people. And I also know that I'm on the right track now, if we go to the opposite side, because I'm getting lots and lots of referrals.

And I know when people are clear around what I do and who I do it for at its most simple terms and where I fit in the market. All of a sudden they [00:11:00] go, Michelle's the only answer. Go and see B2B Growth Co. And I realized when I was thinking about was Operation Rebrand worth all the effort, the time and the cost that we put into making that happen, the simple answer is absolutely it was.

Because now I just go wow, I could write the copy for the website much easier. I can write my social media posts much easier. My clients now go, Oh, that's what you do. And everyone's happier. It's so much more efficient when you've got these guard rails up going, this is what I do, who I do it for, how I do it, where I want to be seen, how I want to be seen.

It's just been a game changer, especially in like a small business. I think it's had a huge impact. And, I've seen record sales months come through for my business, after not doing bad months, but just always feeling like I'd never quite reached my potential in my business because, and I knew it had always come back to parts of branding because it was [00:12:00] the piece that I skipped over um, because realistically I was making things up as I went trying to figure out how can I get people to pay me? And that was all my goal was at the beginning, sell cause that's what I knew.

Uh, you know, Obviously fast forward, having written the LinkedIn Branding book and hosting the LinkedIn Branding show for the last, almost two years and a few lessons that I now teach other people about why it's so important.

But let's talk about how we get some of the answers to this stuff, because I have clients that come to me and it's very obvious that their way of sorting out their positioning messaging, and I'm looking at how we execute that on LinkedIn. So it probably shows out in the copy is go to their competitor, find whoever's got the most followers on their Company Page, Assume that what they're doing is working and copy that and sound like them. And I get the, I want to be like Gong or I want to be like insert, whichever brand. I know you've used the example of liquid death of whoever. And I [00:13:00] start rocking in a corner. I can't even imagine what you do, but should we be focusing on competitor research or doing some more customer research?

Diane Wiredu: Yeah. So for those who are listening and not watching, I'm just pulling my hair out at the concept of just looking at competitors and they're like, okay, they must be right. We'll follow that. So no, is the short answer, but there's a caveat, right? There's a, There's a caveat to it. Right now, I'm actually going to make a bit of a distinction between our positioning and our messaging.

So if we start first with positioning and how do we get the answers, and should we be speaking to customers, should we follow competitors? For the positioning side of things, I don't necessarily believe Um, the customer research piece has to be a huge part of figuring out your positioning.

I follow the the same sort of school of thought as April Dunford, who some of your listeners might know is a B2B positioning expert who has a brilliant methodology that I love. Who she says that, you know, often your sales team or those that are [00:14:00] in close contact with your customers. Yourself, if that's you're the solo founder.

Often you have enough insight of what your customers are saying, what you're seeing from the market to build out that kind of MVP positioning. But when we come to messaging um, this is a non negotiable for me. A non negotiable is actually going out and figuring out what are customers saying.

What do they think? What do they feel? What do they Understand about our offer. And so for that, to get feedback from your market, the first thing I do before we look at, okay, the competitors in the market, I look at your existing customers and perform a VOC research, which is voice of customer.

So voice of customer is just the way that customers um speak about your service. And so by going out and having conversations with them, we can better understand their needs, the buyer journey, and then we can provide more value in our messaging back to them.

So I think that's a really key important piece to help you figure out like, Oh, we're [00:15:00] saying this does that resonate with what our customers are thinking?

Now to come full circle back to should you be also following what your competitors do? I do think that it's important to realize that companies and businesses, we don't exist in a vacuum, right? And so putting the blinkers on and absolutely not looking at what anyone else is doing in your market That's not a good idea either but then the opposite end of the spectrum and just okay These are the big players.

This is what they're doing must be working. I should follow that Is a bad idea too. So the way that I look at Competitor research. And again, this is all through the context and the lens of providing value in your messaging and positioning so that then you can achieve that business growth that you want.

I look at what are they saying? What are they not saying? Is there any white space in there? Cause what we also want to make sure is that you don't just sound like a clone of everybody else in your industry. And then you wonder why nobody picks you. [00:16:00] Because you sound exactly the same as every other B2B growth consultant out there or agency, you go and look at their website and they say they're transforming, transforming digital.

And so you say you're transforming and everyone says the same thing and you all sound the same. So look at what people are saying, what they're not saying. Is it resonating with your audience? And then go away and look at what I call the kind of the opportunities for you to carve out a space, not necessarily say something different for the sake of saying something different, but how are you different? What do you offer that is different to everyone else in the market?

So yeah, blindly copying is the biggest pet peeve of mine and will drive me crazy and will make me pull out my hair and I don't want to do that, so please don't do that.

Michelle J Raymond: We don't want to do that people. So let's take on the advice here. And, you know, I've read so much stuff. It's like, You know, if you look at it and go, if everyone else is doing the same thing, your real opportunity is almost to do the opposite. And I, I read some research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute about some of the research that they've been doing into [00:17:00] this space, and it's almost like, be the contrarian.

They're all going that way. You go this way. And of course you've got to own it and believe in it and all this kind of stuff. But, and there's a lot more to it, but ultimately the last thing we want to do is, lose that uniqueness. We've got to protect that at all costs. It's the thing that is the only thing that we really have to stand out from the crowd.

And it's just so important, but let's talk about messaging specifically. And I'm sure, and I'm going to use your words here cause I, when I was doing my research, it did make me have a chuckle, but what is some of the common ways that you see that messaging sucks and how can we fix it?

Diane Wiredu: I do love to talk about how messaging sucks um, There are so many. So I have after researching a lot of B2B messaging, working with a number of clients, I've come up with a few sort of syndromes is what I call them. So syndromes that indicate this company's messaging sucks. So one of them is Overstuffed Syndrome, which I think I've touched on um, [00:18:00] earlier when we were talking about positioning this idea of having too many messages.

Overstuffed syndrome is where you are just shoving so many messages down your customers and prospects throats that they're overwhelmed. They have no idea what you do um, And it often comes from a bit of a place of fear, right? It's we have to say um, you know, we do everything. We have to talk about every feature, every service that we offer.

But imagine if you met someone uh, said, Hey, how are you? Like first conversation. And all they did was just throw this barrage of you of like everything they do. It doesn't, It doesn't work and it doesn't work on our website. It doesn't work in social media as well. A conversation kind of goes back and forth and we really need to drip out one message at a time.

So I often talk about this concept of a OKM, which is one key message. So really trying to boil it down and think about what is the one key message here that we're trying to share and express with our audience, which really helps you focus and simplify what you're all about so that you can get [00:19:00] rid of this overstuffed syndrome.

Um, Another syndrome that comes up a lot and again, particularly on the tech side of things, but I would say that service industry providers are not safe from this one is Me Syndrome, right?

Michelle J Raymond: Oh, that's the one I hate the most. I'm like, it's not all about me. If I'm out to stamp that out as well, but from a Company Page perspective, which is probably where your syndrome shows out, because when I go onto Company Pages and people like Michelle, it's not working, I'm like, all you talk about is me, the company is so amazing, the company does this.

The product's amazing. The product does this. I'm like, stop it. So I'm going to sit here and listen, because I'm going to be quoting this back to potential clients in the future.

Diane Wiredu: Yeah it's, it's, it's terrible. And the funny thing is, I don't actually know, I don't know how we, I don't know how we got here that it's just, it's so, it's so pervasive that so many companies have forgotten, I think maybe sometimes it comes from this excitement, right. And I think, I think it's, I think it's not necessarily a negative space [00:20:00] to be in.

And so if you're listening to this and thinking, Oh my God, that's what our Company Page is. That's what our website is like, it's fine. It's okay. It's normal to default to this idea of we have to talk about what we do, how we do it, why we're the best and write all about us.

But you have to come in it from this different way and think um, you know, here's what we do, or here's what our service is, or our product is, is not the same as here's what you can do with our service or here's what you can get from our product and just thinking about it and making that little switch and thinking about what's in it for your prospects and your customers.

What's the value they can gain and making sure that every time you want to instantly go in and say, all right, we are the uh, We're the, the best, we're the most reliable or like, what does that translate to for your customers and try to look and pull out the value and the benefit, for, for your, for your customers.

Michelle J Raymond: I want people to rewind and listen to that segment again, because I don't think people recognize how important that [00:21:00] particular lesson is. And I typically say it during my training sessions with people. And I'm talking about when they're being active on LinkedIn, whether they're creating content, whether it's their Company Page or personal, everything we're doing now is flipping that script and being in service of the person on the other side.

And I think when you flip it, like you said, it makes such a difference to the person on the other side, because they see themselves in that. They see the problem. They see you as, or your service or your product or your business as the way forward to get them from where they are, to where they want to be.

And it's really so powerful instead of, again, like you said, going back to that me again. Realistically, no one cares. And this is what I keep trying to tell clients. I don't want to break your heart and I appreciate you're trying. I'm with you. I always have a lot of empathy because I don't think people are making these mistakes deliberately.

But if you can make this switch that Diana's just shared with us, I promise [00:22:00] you, no matter which platform, whether it's your website, your newsletters, your blogs, your social posts, this is your ticket to growth, flipping that around. And yeah, I just want to make sure that people pick up on that point.

Cause I just think it's really powerful and something that when you recognize that's what's going on, it's game on and all of a sudden you'll have the right people showing up, the right opportunities, and it feels good to work with these people because you're aligned. And I think that's another, a gift that comes from getting all this stuff right that you've shared. So are there any other syndromes that pop up that you want to share about? Or are they the main ones?

Diane Wiredu: Yeah, so the last one, I often talk about three, there are many, but I've boiled it down to three because I think they cover almost everything. So, the last one is what I call Fluff Syndrome, which I think is probably the most kind of self explanatory, right? Fluff Syndrome is just, I think, probably it's, maybe it's a plague [00:23:00] more than a syndrome, if I really think about it.

It's just kind of using this buzzwordy, vague language that really stifles the value of what you're trying to deliver, you know, um, and the problem with using this, the low hanging fruit and the like, the, all this, this jargon is that one, you end up sounding like everybody else in the industry because it's so pervasive.

Two, it's not how anyone speaks, really, in real life. If you really think about it, your B2B exec buyers right, couldn't read and understand this, but when they go home, that's not how they're speaking. And they mean something to different to everybody, right? So when you're talking about a synergy and transformation and all this stuff If I ask one person what synergy means and someone else, we will have different definition.

So you're actually kind of making it much harder for prospects to really understand what you do. So there are a couple of ways that we can overcome this. One comes back to what we talked about, which is customary speaking to your customers and starting to really infuse how your customers actually [00:24:00] speak in your messaging, instead of hiding behind this kind of vague, fluffy, buzzwordy, buzzword soup or buzzword salad, what I often see.

And the other way to really get over this is being really specific. So really thinking about specificity because vague sort of this buzzwordy language is often so vague that it prevents us from lasering in and getting really narrow and very specific about what we do.

And, you know, Often buzzwords are incredibly sort of abstract concepts. And so another thing I say is avoid it, right? If you can't picture it, if you can't really define it um, then avoid it, right? And just kind of narrow down and really specifically say what we do.

So if I was to say um, we streamline operations. What does that mean? I don't know. One, one person could think it means something completely different. I don't really know what streamline means in this case, but if you're actually saying that you will um, help us uh, uh, make two times as many sales calls in one [00:25:00] day or something that's super specific.

It's super concrete. And then I can see the value that I'm going to get from you instead of saying, oh we, we, we streamline your business or your operation. So that was probably a not the best example but you know, Specificity helps in that case.

Michelle J Raymond: I'm going to go, if I had to pick one of those that presses my buttons most, I think the fluffy syndrome is the one that really presses my buttons and I won't go too much into it besides the fact that, again, we've been given some really great ways that we can avoid this easily and all of these strategies that Diane's giving us today are not ones that cost you money.

They might cost you time to sit down and do this and really go back and take a look. Cause I think quite often we don't make time for these things and they're quite important. Is your positioning still right for where your business is at today? I think a lot of businesses might've done a lot of work back in the beginning when the Business was set up, but where are you now?

Five, 10, 20 years down the track, which a lot of B2B businesses have been around for that long. This is [00:26:00] a social media for B2B growth podcast. So I want to talk about how this can help us with positioning and messaging helps us to actually create better social media content, which then leads to in, as far as I'm concerned, Dollar signs or opportunities, depending what you're out there looking for.

And, again, it's that little sales person in me that doesn't see the point in taking these actions unless we're doing it to help grow our business. So how do you think that what we're talking about today can actually help us with this? And do you see that it turns into dollar signs? Am I dreaming, or is this going to happen?

Diane Wiredu: No, you're not. I really wanted to jump in there with a little cha ching when you say dollar signs.

Michelle J Raymond: I might get that sound effect. I'll get effect in the podcast cha ching.

Diane Wiredu: I don't to be too, too sort of bro y with the cha ching, but yes, definitely. That's what it all comes back to really, isn't it? Making this link between positioning and messaging.

All of this is helping you. Without being clear on who you serve how your unique differentiation in the market, how to talk about that. It's going to be extremely hard [00:27:00] to approach social media content, any communications to your audience your, your target segment, if you don't have clarity on this, and so really this is giving you that first step, get clarity on how we serve this market in a particular way, how we're different from everyone else, what we should say, what are the key things that we offer and value.

And then this will give you laser focus when it actually comes to not only the work that I I talk about, which is your, your website and other marketing materials, but also your social media content. Having that kind of laser focus is also going to help you create something that I think is very important in social media.

I don't know if you've talked about this, but having a really strong point of view in the market, because we haven't touched on this yet, but that is also the foundation of kind of your positioning, your messaging creating content that resonates is what do you stand for? How do you do it?

So getting clear on what to say, what you're all about um, I think will also help you get more from that content [00:28:00] strategy and potentially will even help you create that more easily. I'm sure there are a lot of people listening here like, well, this, this question of what should we write about or what should we share?

Or, you know, oh, we should create entertainment content or helpful content. But if you haven't got that foundation and you're really not sure where you're starting from, everything's going to be harder. So, um, I think this is just about making that process easier, more repeatable and giving you the confidence to actually build a content strategy that will help you grow.

Michelle J Raymond: I love all of that. And I'm just sitting here nodding for those of you who won't be watching this on the YouTube channel, because I'm nodding going, you have no idea how much listeners that having these kinds of things, and I'm still tweaking mine because The more I got close to the target, the more I realized, Oh, I can squeeze this a little bit tighter.

I'm a little clearer. I've had a few more conversations. And for me, like for instance, an example of this and trying to get this clear was, do I offer things that help with [00:29:00] branding, social selling, thought leadership, employee advocacy. They're all words that my clients use. But I needed to find who used what word the most so that I could, put those kinds of articles out, put that kind of content out, update my website to reflect that.

And that was actually quite an interesting, journey for me, because what I thought versus what my audience thought was very different. And I'm very glad for the insights. And, you know, I also found some differences via countries, you know, words that get used here in Australia, different to some of my U.S. Clients, how they view things.

So it's been really cool to kind of learn, but it has made my processes of creating content so much easier, even for this podcast, you'll notice that the topics that I talk about are going to start to come in narrower and narrower so that I make sure that I'm on track and I'm not doing work that's not getting me towards my business goals.

And that's the whole point of today's conversation. And Diane I think I could probably talk for another hour on this easily.

Diane Wiredu: [00:30:00] I know the time has flown.

Michelle J Raymond: I know I was like, it's not fair that this clock just keeps on ticking down, but I do promise my expert guests like yourself, every single show, this is your chance freestyling it.

What is one last actionable tip that you would like to leave the listeners with that will contribute to their business growth if they nail this?

Diane Wiredu: All right, that's a very, it's a tricky one. This is a tricky one because positioning, messaging, social media, they're such huge concepts. It's very hard to kind of think of um, one tip, but I think, so there's often a lesson that I teach so B2B marketers, founders when we work together on messaging projects that I think will also apply to social media as well.

So I think that'll be a good one. I think I touched on this but I'll be able to go into a little bit more detail now. And it's asking this question, it's about this kind of too much Overstuff Syndrome, right? Which I think most people really actually suffer from. If you look at your social media content, if you look at your website, you're often just saying too much.

So go away right now and ask [00:31:00] this question if I could, if my prospects or customers could remember just one thing about our company, about brand, about product, after interacting with this piece of content, what would it be? Um, And I think that asking that question, it seems simple, but it's quite, it's quite practical, actionable.

You can do it after, before you hit publish on everything, before you make that update to your site before you update that, that Company Page because it really helps you narrow and hone in on what's that, that one message. Because one of the biggest problems that I see is just so many messages in your content or on your site end up leaving the prospects just feeling overwhelmed and actually taking away nothing.

And so then what you're losing is that key space in their minds as to what you're all about. And they'll go away, Get on with the rest of their day, jump on another zoom call, go make dinner. And they're like, Oh, I forgot who what, what was that that I interacted with earlier, because you were saying too much.

So I think that this is a small, I don't know if it's too small of a tip. But I think that's a [00:32:00] good one for everyone to start implementing on a daily basis.

Michelle J Raymond: I think that sounds like it's a small tip, but I think it's huge if you go and apply it. I think the impact potential of that one small tip is huge. And I'm personally going to go away and do it myself because I think it's a good sense check. Whenever we're creating stuff, we're putting it out there into the universe, whether it's websites, as you said, or whether it's social content or anywhere, really.

We've got a responsibility to make sure that what goes out there is the best and a good use of the person on the other side's time, because I think that's what we need to be mindful of, that there are people out there Currently with dollars to spend looking for a business to spend it with. And if you confuse them, you lose them.

And that's the downside for not getting this right, which is why it's been such an important conversation today. Now, for those of you who want to dig into this some more, I absolutely will recommend you to go across to Diane's profile on LinkedIn. You are going to go to the top right hand corner underneath the banner [00:33:00] and there's a bell go and ring that so you get notified of all her new content.

Of course, the contact details on how you can do that will be in the show notes. So the link will be there. So just click on that, take yourself across and make sure you let her know that you listened to the podcast and that you got value out of this. So Diane, this has been amazing.

Thank you so much for coming on the show. I'm glad that the LinkedIn algorithm served you up at the time that I needed it. So I can give these lessons to our listeners. I really appreciate all of your help today.

Diane Wiredu: Thank you. No, thank you for having me. This honestly has been wonderful. I think, yeah, we could have talked for hours, so we packed a lot in. I appreciate it. It was good fun.

Michelle J Raymond: We sure could have and to all the listeners that have hung around today. I really appreciate you. And until next week, cheers.