Digital marketing can be intimidating, especially at first, but it’s really pretty simple: the best way to successfully market your services online is by imbuing your website with as much of your personality as possible. In other words – you need to remind potential customers that there’s a person behind the computer screen.
There are many ways to bring a little bit of humanity into your online persona – but the easiest way is to use your website’s “About Me” or ”About Us” page.
Share Your Story
These days, nearly every Event Professional’s website has an “about me” or “about us” section with information about their business (and if you don’t already have one, you should) but what most websites lack is a compelling story.
Use your “about me” section to tell event planners about who you are, rather than what you do. Write up a little biography to tell your backstory. Keep it short and streamlined (no need to give them your entire life’s story) but make sure to include some of the events in your life that have helped shape you into the person you are today. Humans are voyeurs by nature, and sharing some personal details of your life will help your potential customers think of you as a real live person, rather than a service for hire.
Event planners don’t just want to know, for instance, how many acres your venue sits upon – they want to know how you came to own the property. Once potential customers get to know you, it will help them feel more comfortable depending on you to be part of their big event, whether it’s a wedding or a corporate retreat.
Tell Them Why You Do It
Sharing your backstory with customers is a great way to humanize yourself, but in order to convert them, it’s also important to explain why you’ve decided to pursue a career as an event professional.
Tell your potential clients exactly what ignited your passion for your profession. What makes you excited about your work? What part of your job gives you the most satisfaction at the end of the day? Passion is contagious, and showing event planners that you’re passionate about what you do will subtly assure them that you’ll exhibit the same passion when working their event.
Show Them Who You Are
We’re constantly preaching the benefits of high quality, beautiful images for your business, and we’re going to do so again here. It is crucially important to include a self portrait or a headshot on your website – and the “About Me” page is a good place to put it. In order to allow potential customers to envision you as part of their special event, they need to know what you look like!
This also applies to your social media accounts: don’t be afraid to include the occasional selfie on your Instagram account, or to use a headshot as the profile icon on your twitter account. These small touches help event planners connect with you, and that connection brings you one step closer to being hired.
Just remember that the photos you post won’t be an asset unless you make them one – its important to use only high quality, professional images.
Don’t Just Tell Them to Hire You – Tell Them Why
Ellen Langer, a social psychologist at Harvard, conducted a well known study in which
A researcher would spot someone waiting at the library copy machine and walk over with the intention of cutting the person in line. Then, the researcher would look at the innocent bystander and ask them one of three questions.
- Version 1 (request only): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
- Version 2 (request with a real reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”
- Version 3 (request with a fake reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I have to make copies?”
The researchers analyzed the data and found the following:
- Version 1: 60 percent of people let the researcher skip the line.
- Version 2: 94 percent of people let the researcher skip ahead in line.
- Version 3: 93 percent of people let the researcher skip ahead in line.
The study became famous because it proved that as long as we could justify a behavior in our brains (through the use of the word “because”, we would perform the behavior even if the reason didn’t make sense.
Provide the “because” to potential customers by telling them why they should choose you as a service provider. Think of this opportunity as your own personal online elevator pitch: it should be simple, compelling, and no longer than one or two sentences. Maybe you’re the best choice because you have many years of experience, or maybe it’s because you understand the pain points of planning an event and you do everything in your power to assuage them for the party planner. As we learned from Ms. Langer, what the “because” is matters less than that you have one.
The Takeaways
Utilizing your “About Me” page effectively is one of the easiest ways to provide potential clients with a sense of who you are and, when done right, a crucial conversion tool. Do your own website audit and make sure you’re sharing the following:
- Your Backstory
- Your Passion
- Your Picture
- Your “Because”