Hey there, my fabulous listener, welcome to episode 87 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.

Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!

If you’re a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here.  I am your host Jenn Donovan, and it’s my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. 

I’m a thought leader when it comes to marketing here in Australia and I’m a marketing strategist for small business.

Why? Because business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it’s hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that’s my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast!

One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop.  To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven’t joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join!  Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like.  Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/87

www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners

This episode is sponsored by my 30 day social media and marketing challenge.

This month’s challenge is closed, but if you’re keen on upping your social media or marketing game, want daily accountability from a supportive community and tips and tricks from a social media and marketing strategist (that’s me) and a PR, storytelling expert – that’s Lyndsey, then this is the challenge for you!

To get on the waitlist – register at https://bit.ly/jennswaitlist

Next one starts 4th September.  Be challenged and invest in yourself.

Today on the podcast I want to plant some seeds in your brain and talk about the power of the PS (the postscript) in your emails and even your social captions.

Yep, the PS – you know that thing on the end of a letter that we put, saying hey by the way PS – and then we put a little extra in, despite the fact that the reader thought we were finished because we’d signed off!

Now stick with me here, because your PS can be the most powerful part of your ENTIRE email.

Hands up if, when you pick up a book, you read the last page first?

If you nodded or put your hand up WE ARE SO alike!

That’s what I do every time – I’m not sure what that says about me … but it translates into reading an email and scrolling right to the bottom to read the PS – what do they REALLY want me to read in this email – what’s the one thing they need me to know without reading the whole thing ….

It’s that attention grabbing juicy tidbit at the end – which is often (and this is my point of the whole podcast) the primary reason for the email.

It’s that one final push for the click – the click to the sale, the click to listen to the episode, the click to sign up for x.

Simple, the PS is a seriously powerful tool.  The PS brings all the things you said above home to reinforce both the message and the call to action.

Here’s 6 effective ways to use your PS

1. The hook – that compelling copy with a call to action – using your PS as bait
2. Making a final plea for action,
3. Create urgency – the offer is only valid for x hours
4. The bonus or new offer – for the readers that read the PS!
5. Show some personality
6. To share a testimonial

So why do we love the PS so much?

1. People are overwhelmed with the information that’s coming to them every day – there’s just so much of it. We scroll, looking for useful information rather than reading all the content.

              The PS is almost that pattern interrupt for us – it’s the bit that can stop the scroll, stop the mindless search for relevant information.

Did you know that only about 10% of readers will read your content word by word?  Most scan, looking for the point, something to catch their eye – it’s often the PS.

2. We know that the PS is going to tell us (if written well) exactly what we need to know about the stuff above – all the writing above, with a good PS is succinctly said in a few lines. Again, busy competitive world, this is what we are looking for.  Tell me what I need to know and what I need to do, quickly.
3. Habit – just habit. I read the last page of a magazine or book first, I’m just naturally going to scroll to see what your PS says. I’d also like to eat dessert first too, just to say!

So, how’s your PS look?  Do you consistently use this marketing strategy in your emails – the PS?

Use it to summarise, for people like me, who want to skip to the end, your point and the action you want me to take – in such a few short lines?

If no, then this is your homework for the week – yep, I’m giving out homework!  If you don’t use the PS strategy – start looking at how you read, do you read PS, how many emails do you get that have a PS, and start to test and measure using it.

The PS can also work in captions for social media – the principal applies – you are just reinforcing the message, and the action to be taken, perhaps creating urgency, scarcity, a final plea or a special offer to anyone who reads to the bottom!

(PS – I am also going to get the special PS offers – because that’s where I start!).

And mind you, if your PS doesn’t crab my attention, there’s little chance of me reading the whole email above!

So, to summarise this little piece of marketing, copy gold, there’s many ways to use the PS, including

• To repeat your CTA (call to action)
• To summarise your sales message
• To add new ideas
• Create extra emotion for dramatic impact
• To give a special offer
• Or to create urgency and scarcity

The trick is to incorporate lessons form a PS into the body of your marketing email – because the person who reads the PS first and wants to know more, is going to have to find the answers to their questions after reading your last paragraph, not before!

1. S.

Remember the When Harry Met Sally… movie? The one where its protagonist explains why he reads last pages of new books first:

“When I buy a new book, I read the last page first. That way, in case I die before I finish, I know how it ends. That, my friend, is a dark side.”

Dark sides attract us with their permissiveness. They are about rule breaking, sense of liberty, and swim against the stream – feelings most people subconsciously experience when reading postscripts. So why not kill two birds with one stone: give them what they want and satisfy your marketing needs at the same time

So, if you’re a PS or last page reader like me – welcome to the dark side baby!

But seriously, next time you are writing an email or a long caption on social media – think about summarising with a clear, actionable PS and watch your click through rate or insights for movement of the best kind – up!

Simple?  Sort of.  Work?  100%.  But I guess the lesson is, people are busy, the marketplace is crowded and if a simple, actionable, urgent PS can help us capture the attention of our reader – it’s SO worth it!

I actually start a lot of my PS’s with “if you’ve scrolled straight down here – then firstly we are SO alike and secondly here’s what you really need to know from up there …..”

A little H2H, human to human marketing – Conversational Marketing put at the end or the start – depending on how you are!

So, that’s it for episode 87.

As mentioned at the beginning this episode is sponsored by my 30 day social media & marketing challenge – to get on the wait list go to https://bit.ly/jennswaitlist

Got questions?  Head into Like Minded Facebook group and ask away – or send me a DM on Instagram or an email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au

I’ll be back next Thursday with another great episode to help you simplify your business in 2020. 

If you’re enjoying this podcast, which if you have listened to here – you hopefully are, don’t forget to subscribe, share this episode with another superstar business owner who’s doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and leave a rating or review to show how much you are loving this free weekly content.

See you next week on the podcast for episode 88.  But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.

But whatever you do,

……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!