Speaker 1 (00:02)
Business owners? Do you want an unfair advantage over your competitors? Do you want to dominate in your area of expertise? You are listening to Business Life Hacks. Learn to influence consumer psychology and shortcut your way to business success with tips, tricks. Ricks and Hacks from awardwinning digital agency J Marketing.

Speaker 2 (00:27)
Welcome to business life, Hacks. This is a very short episode where we’re talking about actual client work. And I’ve got Nicola, who of course we call Nick or Nico, with me from our team. Hey, Nick, how are you doing?

Speaker 3 (00:44)
Hey, I’m good.

Speaker 2 (00:45)
He’s a little bit nervous about joining us today because he’s usually on the other side of the design side of things. But we were talking about a particular client. What’s the name of the client?

Speaker 3 (00:58)
It’s our new client. Bespoke Bathrooms.

Speaker 2 (01:01)
Yep, that’s right. He’s a small guy in Australia, in Canberra, which is a small it’s actually the capital of Australia, but it’s a small place. And this client we’re doing just a very small amount of work for, to not only increase his advertising, but help customers to feel trust, because he really does generate do a great job renovating bathrooms and kitchens and extensions. But for consumers, what’s most important is they’re all kind of generic. Can I trust him? So what are we talking about specifically? When we decided to record this neck?

Speaker 3 (01:43)
Yeah, we realised they do great work, but they don’t present it in a good way, so they don’t have any social networks, which is a must when you want to show your work. We just realised the website isn’t enough. So even they had the website, but it wasn’t even designed in a good way, it was chaotic and if the user wanted to see something maybe a bit more clear, maybe he would jump to the social networks. But they didn’t even have a social network account. So we realised we need to make a bit more work for our editor. So in the end, we decided we need to create good websites, social network channels, so we can build trust, because they’re doing great work, they just don’t show it in a good way. So it’s a pity you cannot have a lot more clients and customers in that way. They’re going to choose another one, another competitor, because they can show they can see actual work, they can see a story, they record before and after a lot of proof of their good work. And here you just land on the website and you get lost and that’s it.

Speaker 2 (02:52)
That is exactly right. It’s a really good summary and it’s something that this is what I thought you and I could have a conversation about, really simple stuff. But I used to when I was teaching at Monash University, I used to joke with a lot of the what they would have been third or fourth year marketing students, that once you graduate, you’re going to go to a company and that company is going to say here you go, young person, run our social media. And it turned out to be true. It was not true. It doesn’t. The reason being, and it’s really interesting, these companies just didn’t understand how people use social media. So when you are going to buy, I’m trying to think of maybe a service based thing like a haircut or in this case a new bathroom. Why do you use social media? How do you use social media to research?

Speaker 3 (03:45)
Well, I sometimes search it on the social media. I sometimes google it. But Google usually takes me to their social media account because my cycle is not going to end on their website. It’s going to for sure make me wonder if they have some other images, videos and other stuff that I can see. So yeah, in the end I usually end up on their Instagram page. When you do the design work, it’s a bit different. I like to see the design. So now it builds more trust for me when I see they spend some money or time on a good design. But if you just consider me as regular user, I like to see their work. I actually like to see if their last post was three years ago. I’m like this is not good. At least for me when I’m choosing. I said they don’t post. Like they didn’t pose for a few years. Maybe they don’t work, maybe they don’t care. So that’s what makes me decide. So if you have two choices for free, I’m for sure going to see maybe some good comments, reviews, likes, engagement. So that’s going to make me decide because I don’t know these people.

Speaker 3 (05:02)
I need some proof that’s going to make me I actually had in my life last year, two years ago, a lot of renovations. So instagram made me decide. I saw a guy and it was so basic and he’s like amateur. He’s like just every day he does the work and post ten images of a closet, 20 images of kitchen. Then you can just slide, see from every angle one video. It’s the guy who is working, he’s taking pictures. It’s not on a professional level, but it made me realise, okay, he did a lot of amazing stuff. And then year ago I saw my closet and his Instagram and that other stuff. So it actually helped me. And he’s doing it alone. He’s not even planning it. I know if you plan better and do a lot more, it’s going to have better results. But while you are still that place and while you’re still there, you can just take a few photos, post, write something, answer. And then people usually like to communicate over Instagram. Not everybody’s going to shoot you an email from website. Somebody just likes to send the message to ask something.

Speaker 3 (06:29)
Yeah, it’s time consuming, but I don’t know. It can hurt you to have social accounts at least Instagram or whatever. It’s easier.

Speaker 2 (06:38)
Well, it can’t hurt you if you use it right. I think what we can get into now is actually the science of trust. And this is what I wanted to talk to you about. You said it’s such a great example. You are watching this not professional, this amateur guy who loves closets, and he takes ten photos of his closet and it’s gritty and it’s not really polished. That’s how humans work. We work on trust and enthusiasm and seeing that people actually care. I read a statistic, one that 90% of purchase decisions involve some form of emotion, and that if we didn’t use emotion in our decisionmaking, we couldn’t make any decisions. It would be physically impossible for us. So what was the this is a tough one, but what was the emotion that you felt when you were seeing this Instagram before you worked with him, when you saw the cupboards he was making?

Speaker 3 (07:40)
Yeah, I was diving deep. So I wanted to know, when did he start? So, a lot of things, because it’s important. You’re going to ruin your whole kitchen. What if you don’t like it? Are you going to ruin your whole apartment? So it’s pretty big decision for you to make. So maybe ten or 20 minutes more of researching, checking on Google and Instagram. But my emotion was like, yeah, I wasn’t sure. And then I was checking a lot of the other stuff and then I just saw a few images I like, and then I was like, okay, I can see this in my apartment. I can see this and this. That was pretty much it. But I needed to find something that’s going to be like, wow, that’s the style I like, that’s something. It’s good quality. But at first I wasn’t sure, then I needed, like, a bit more time. And then I realised that’s going to.

Speaker 2 (08:35)
Be good for me without knowing it. You’ve given us just an absolutely perfect example there. Yeah. So there’s a few directions I want to go in. There are nine frictions that customers go through when they’re making a big purchase decision. They actually make it when they go for a small purchase decision as well, but they tend not to think about the small ones too much. Sticker gum is just a sticker gum. But a couple of them can this person deliver on time? What they say they’re going to? So you said when you tear out your kitchen, what if they take forever? I won’t have a kitchen. So you need to know exactly how long it’s going to take. And you don’t get that from asking someone. You get that from seeing the story of someone else for the kitchen like yours. Do you remember another client of ours, you might have even done the design called Dessert on Interiors?

Speaker 3 (09:31)
Yeah, I remember.

Speaker 2 (09:32)
Do you know what the number one part of their website that’s viewed us is? The examples of their work. They do business fit outs and people just go straight down to the business fill out and just like you said, they look for a design style, like what they want, like what they’re attracted to. Why do they do that? It’s really simple.

Speaker 3 (09:54)
It’s just when I see tax, it’s not an evidence, but when you see the real work and then you see a review, that means a lot more than a few words. Like if you have fancy headline that says something, but it really can mean nothing. So, yeah, images prove a lot.

Speaker 2 (10:11)
They do. And likewise, if I went to a bakery and I had a really tasty piece of cake, it’s pretty safe to say that if I order a cake, another one of the exact same cake, it’s going to taste exactly as delicious. Well, if I see they’ve done an office fit out for a company like mine, with similar sort of floor style, and I want the same sort of style, it’s pretty safe to say they’ll be able to do it again. The risk profile has decreased exponentially for me. And this is the other reason that you see if you come somewhere, like here in Mexico, and you walk down the street, you’ll see vendors using the same sales line over and over again. Five people in a row will go, free tequila, free tequila, almost free, second best store in the street. Like all these funny lines, but they’re exactly the same. And the reason is humans just copy each other. We do what we feel is safe, rather than what is potentially better. Here’s another question for you, the difference between social media and the website. Have you ever seen a website where the images they presented weren’t the absolute.

Speaker 3 (11:26)
Best ones on the website?

Speaker 2 (11:29)
Yeah, the website is always the best version of everything.

Speaker 3 (11:33)
Yeah, it is, but sometimes Instagram is more up to date. Website you do, it can be great, but maybe you don’t change your imagery for like one year, two years. A lot of businesses don’t pay attention on it. So Instagram sometimes can be a bit more realistic and up to date. So, yeah, on website you show just.

Speaker 2 (11:58)
What’s the best because it was exactly the right word. And that’s how I feel as well as I prefer to see ten versions of something that’s eight out of ten. When I see something ten out of ten and I see lovely manicured words. We always look after everybody, it’s kind of meaningless. Our brain is trained to philtre that out and so really good marketers are thinking about, what can I do that adds authenticity to the claim and particularly, like you said, brings in external people so that we go, wow, this guy looks like a regular plumber from around the corner. And he used them and he said nice things. Yeah, I can trust them. So if we summarise all of that, what is the role of social media for particularly a service led business. It’s not about the pretty pictures and it’s not about spending thousands of dollars on getting some agency to manicure it. It’s about providing an authentic view into the work that you do. Ends being that second reference point that people can marry up to and get all of the answers to their questions just by looking at the projects and the work that’s been done.

Speaker 2 (13:17)
So where to from here for Bespoke? Bathroom, do you think?

Speaker 3 (13:23)
First we’re going to publish their website services page and then we’re going to advise them what’s going to be the best for them and that’s having social media accounts. I think it’s a must when you see their competitors. Maybe they don’t want more work, but if they want more work and it’s long term decision, it’s not going to cost them much. But if they want to build their business in the next couple of years, it’s going to be pretty important for them. So post your work. Post some stories before and after. People are going to follow you. It’s not just your showing work. It’s going to be easier for someone to just share image for inspiration. Maybe let me show my friends I’ve seen something cool. Maybe it’s going to be quicker for you to recommend something. It’s not just about having an Instagram and posting, it’s just a lot of benefits from it. You never know. But for sure, I would advise them to have social profiles and their website is going to look a lot better now. And with SEO and social networks, they’re going to have to have a lot more work in the future.

Speaker 3 (14:45)
They’re going to start building their brand.

Speaker 2 (14:48)
We’re going to give people more confidence to choose them over the competition. And with social media, we’re going to make it easy for them. Give them some rules on how to post so they don’t feel that friction behind it. I’ve got to make it perfect. I’m not very good at spelling. No one cares. They just want to see your authentic self.

Speaker 3 (15:09)
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:09)
Awesome. Thank you very much. We want to do more of this gritty, real conversation. So that was an awesome episode. Thank you for joining us. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (15:20)
You’re welcome. This was my first podcast, but let’s say it’s not going to be our last podcast together.

Speaker 2 (15:26)
Damn straight. You’ve been listening to Business Life hacks. Make sure you subscribe tune in next week. We’re going to be doing a lot more of this sort of cold faced reporting and discussion. See you soon.