Why you should have a hype folder/Thank Bank
There’s a piece of small business advice that has done the rounds for years that I haven’t yet put into motion, despite the fact that sometimes said advice has come from my very own mouth to others. That all changes today as, as part of my 2024 planning, I’m finally putting it into motion: I’m finally creating my own Thank Bank.
What is a Thank Bank?
Your Thank Bank — sometimes known as your hype folder — is a repository where you can gather all of the nice things people say about your business and you. Every time you get a new one, you add it to the folder.
These nice things can be official reviews on Google and Trustpilot etc, comments on your social media, replies to your emails or DMs from people. Essentially, anywhere and any time someone’s said something lovely about your work, it should exist in the Thank Bank!
Why is a Thank Bank useful?
There’s loads of ways you can use a Thank Bank/hype folder:
As a reminder of why you do what you do, when you’re having a wobble. Most, if not all, small business owners that I know have a wobble about self-employment semi-regularly. And as wonderful as it is to have a community of people who can be there for you (whether they’re friends, or other small business owners who get it), there’s nothing like cold, hard evidence of why you’re great staring back at you. Plus, because it’s from the people who pay you (or are at least in your orbit and might pay you in the future) it carries even more weight.
As a content folder. Social proof is a really important part of running a business because it builds trust with your audience. They can see that not only do you talk the talk, but you walk the walk too: and have done for actual, real people who’ve trusted you with businesses and livelihoods of their own. You can add these to your website (like I’ve done on my home page) and use it as social media content too (like I’ve done here — please excuse the old branding, this is a good reminder to post something similar in my updated one!)
As a TOV bank to use in future copy. Fancy-sounding words and descriptions might do wonders for your ego, but how do they suit your bank balance? Instead, you want to be using words and phrases that your actual customers use. This is a really helpful resource when you create any copy for your business, as well as when you’re looking for new offerings or adding to your suite. What language do your clients use? How do they describe it? What do they say you’ve helped with? These are all incredibly useful questions that then inform your next ideas. For example, I have a review from one of my repeat clients where she said handing over her copy to me made her feel “safe”. I absolutely loved this, and hadn’t ever thought of it before as a selling point for what I do — but of course, it’s a pretty major one!
How to create your Thank Bank
How you set your Thank Bank up is somewhat up to you, and dependent on what you use most in your business. This could be a gallery folder on your phone, a Notion board, or a Google Drive — what matters is that it’s something you can easily find and reach. It also needs to be available on your phone and your desktop; because those compliments don’t wait for format baby!
(If you’re leaning towards Notion, Ieva at The Copy Sanctuary has a great “I’m Awesome” template which includes a Thank Bank esque section. You can grab that here.)
You might be wondering: if all the nice things are text based, why screenshot rather than copy and paste? Personally, I find screenshotting quicker — but if you know the extra step included in copy and paste-ing the text into a document won’t inhibit you from doing this, then do that. With that said, what I like about screenshotting is that when I need to then use the nice thing, I can use the picture-to-text function on my phone to copy and paste, so I have the best of both worlds.
So, there you have it - The Thank Bank, debunked! If you haven’t already, create that folder right now. Right. Now. I’ll be watching…
