More Than A Few Words

Social media is a lot like going to a singles bar. You're going to meet a lot of nice people and have some interesting conversations.  But at the end of the day your goal is to bring your date home. In the world of digital marketing home is your website and your email list.  This is where you can have that great one on one conversation without all the distractions like silly videos, cat pictures and baby images.  This is where you can control the conversation. As your creating marketing and advertising for social media, remember, you want to bring your date home. 

Let's start with the numbers 80% of small business owners use email marketing to get new clients and to keep their existing ones For every $1 you spend in email marketing you can expect $38 back. It is hard to ignore the numbers.  Email is still an important part of your marketing.  But, how do you grow your email list? Guest, Tai Goodwin suggests one of the best ways is to use a quiz to engage visitors, learn something about them and collect their email address.   Once you have them on you list don't just send generic information.  Use what they have told you to send them specific, relevant and personal information. LEARN MORE

Your customers want to feel special. In interactions with you, they want the conversation to be focused on their needs and concerns. To communicate that focus in your marketing campaigns, add a little personalization to improve your ability to attract the attention of prospective customers. With so much business conducted remotely and online, it feels as if we have lost that “personal touch.” But it doesn’t have to be that way. Companies willing to invest in getting to know more about customers and prospects can build a competitive advantage using marketing personalization.  What is personalization? Personalization stars with understanding the demographics, behavior, and motivation of your customers and using that data to create marketing on every platform from social media and email to direct mail and one-to-one selling.   WANT TO LEARN MORE? CHECK OUT OUR WEBINAR ON THIS TOPIC

If you have been around the  business community as long as I have, or maybe even half as long you know there are cycles. There are ups and there are downs.  They way to survive the downs is to be prepared. In this conversation, frequent guest Matt Nettleton, shares tips to build a process to recession proof your business. He describes three things you need to have in place as we head into what may be a bumpy economy.  A formal sales process Technology in place to to basically systematically track your sales process Clear understanding of your story.  What makes you different and why people should buy from you.  Be sure to look for some of our earlier conversations with Matt Nettleton 

There is this wonderful song written by Peter Allen in the 1970 s.  Everything old is New Again. In a way that song sums up where marketers are these days. When that song was written fifty years ago, television advertising ruled. Businesses used the platform to build awareness by reaching a wide audience with little concern about demographics. It didn't matter who saw your message as long as you got in front of as many people as possible. The assumption was sooner or later someone would buy. Then along came digital media and especially social media marketing and suddenly marketers could target messages more precisely based on interests and demographics. Social media became a valuable tool to move prospects through the buyer's journey. Unfortunately with changes in social media algorithms and more restrictions to protect user privacy we seem to be back in time.  We are forced to put lots of broad messages out there in  the hopes of driving someone to our website and email list. Everything old is new again.  If

You spend all of your resources trying to drive people to your website. But what do they do when they get there? Well if you goal is to generate leads and build your email list that's where a great landing page comes in.    Co-hosts of the System to Thrive Podcast, Jennie Wright and Alyson Lex say  your page has to grab their attention right away and that's a combination of how the page looks and the copy that's on the page. We buy with emotion and justify with logic, so the page needs to feed both parts of the customer.  About Jennie and Alyson Jennie Wright has produced over 500 list builds - summits, challenges, giveaways and webinars. She’s the List Build and Lead Generation Strategist you want on your side when you’re committed to organic growth of your list, community and profits.   Alyson Lex has written millions of words of high-converting copy since 2007 - and those millions of words have translated to millions of dollars in revenue for her clients. She’s the High Conversion Sales Copy Expert you wan

One of my all-time favorite movies is The Sound of Music. While I love most of the songs, the scene where Maria teaches the children to sing, is definitely on top of my list. say. She explains, when you read you begin with ABC, when you sing you begin with Do Rei Mi. She breaks down all of singing into those three simple notes. It occurred to me while I was watching the rerun the other night that marketing has three little notes as well, the customer, their problem and your solution. If you master those three elements your marketing will be singing in no time!  

Scott Murray thinks today's marketers have to stop selling, promoting and clinging to outdated strategies and tactics.  Instead they need to create content to spark engagement,  conversation and inspiration from their audience.    As we've moved from print to digital, control has shifted from the marketer to the consumer.  They decide when they will stop and look at your content and when they will scroll right by.  To earn their attention,  you need to put the right content on the right platforms.  And don't be afraid to share information.  Some of the best content answers real questions prospects have when they are ready to buy.    About Scott With 20 years of experience in content marketing and production - which evolved from print to video, podcast & social media, Scott is the host of the GET THE MESSAGE podcast.   

How well is your business performing?  Key Performance Indicators help you answer that question.  A KPI is  a quantifiable measure of performance over time for a specific objective. KPIs provide targets to shoot for, milestones to gauge progress, and insights to help you make better decisions. A few things to keep in mind as you establish your KPI’s Directly tied to your objective. There are many things you can measure in your business, but KPIs are a unique subset which can be directly tied to an end result. What types of things should you consider to be KPI’s? For each business it’s different depending on what you are trying to accomplish including but not limited to: increased sales, reduced turnover, improved efficiency, and reduced errors. Easily and exactly measurable. If it’s hard to collect the data, you probably won’t do it on a regular basis. If the metric is vague, it’s too easy to fool yourself into thinking you are close to your goal when you aren’t. Action oriented. Each metric should have a spe

If you're like most business owners you've set lots of goals and in your life and you've never fulfilled them. It not be the goal, but because your decision making process that is creating the failures. Debra Sunderland explains we have three decision centers the head, heart and gut.  To often we let the head make the plans.  The problem is our brain, in an attempt to protect us, anticipates risk and sets limits. She advocates for letting your heart and your passion drive your goals. About Debra Sunderland Debra Sunderland knows what it takes to move from defensive thinking to conscious leadership. She spent her whole life as an overachiever and thanks to a near-death cycling accident, she has made it her life’s mission (and her team’s) to coach CEOs, executives, and leaders to accept their Genuis-Ship (link to the definition of this) and become the conscious leader that they are called to be in order to be clear to do what they are here to do.    

When you started your business you probably assumed that sooner or later you would get around to building a life to go with it.  According to guest Nicole Bandes, that is not necessarily the best way to approach things. She believes you can actually build a successful business around your amazing life. The trick is to stop defining success based on how others define it and focus on what is important to you. Then understand that you won't find balance, because life is not 50/50.  There are times your business will need more attention, and it is ok to do that, as long as you also make time for the other things in your life.    About Nicole After losing her 17 year old son, Nicole Bandes discovered her purpose: encourage others to make time for what matters most. In 2017, Nicole founded Virtual A Team, a virtual services agency helping overwhelmed coaches and consultants who want to define success by the wealth of their lives, not the size of their bank accounts. Nicole now walks the walk working less than 20 ho

----more----Every woman has that little black dress in her wardrobe. Classic in design it is not too trendy and not too stodgy.  It is incredibly versatile. With the right accessories, jackets, scarves or cool shoes it is perfect for every occasion, year in and year out.  And every smart marketer knows that email is their little black dress. It goes well with all of the other elements in your marketing wardrobe. From the hottest marketing trend to the most basic marketing campaign, email makes all your other marketing more effective.  Updating your website? Promote it on email. Building your social community? Reconnect with your audience through email. As you're planning your marketing wardrobe for next season, don't forget email, your little black marketing dress. 

So you think you've got distractions and can't start a business. Well my guest, Renee Harris has nine children and still found a way to build a six-figure business.  How did she balance the demands of a family and the demands of running a business? Renee explains. " We didn't start with 9 kids when we started a business and just like when you have kids normally you don't get them all at once and normally a business doesn't just fall in your lap. "  She didn't try to do everything at once, focusing on a few things and let the business and the family grow.  She built strategies to engage her children in the process and keep them occupied, when she needed to work on the business.   About Renee She is the founder of MadeOn - a unique handcrafted skincare product  line specifically for dry, cracked skin. What started as a simple farmer's market booth has grown into 6-figure online business.  She has also raised 9 children along the way, teaching them business skills and strategies to develop a marketable talent t

Social media and content marketing should be fun.  If you are not feeling the fun in the content you are creating then your audience is probably bored, and so are you.   But it doesn't have to be that way.  Guest Elizabeth Ruth suggests when you start with a clear brand voice it is easier to create content which entertains and is memorable enough to help you sell products.  About Elizabeth Ruth.    Elizabeth is the Owner and Chief Copy Writer for ER Marketing Services. The agency empowers business owners to attract incredible clients, connect with their audience, and establish their industry authority. Elizabeth and her team specialize in designing marketing strategies and writing content for websites, blog posts, social media, and emails or newsletters. 

Facebook is on a mission to take the social out of social media.  They've announced changes to their algorithm that you're already seeing. They're prioritizing ads and video from complete strangers over the updates from friends and family members. Those updates are going to be buried somewhere and you're really going to have to look for them. As a user, this is incredibly frustrating. And as a business owner, it's confusing as I tried to figure out how to navigate this post algorithm change world where there's really no social and it's all just media.   Looking for help keeping up with changes in the digital marketing landscape?  Join the Digital Toolbox today.   

These days business is built on relationships. So when you are in a networking situation, guest Patty Farmer suggests you remember to focus on the people and the profits will follow.  The relationships  we build are the currency in today's business environment. So think of your business like an ATM machine.  Are you making more deposits or more withdrawals? This is a return appearance for Patty.  If you enjoyed this episode, you are sure to find value in our earlier conversations.

These days, it seems everyone is talking about working remote. with advances in technology, you can work anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world. As a business owner, managing a remote, international team has some similarities to managing other teams and a few unique challenges. This week, Matt Levenhagen joins us for a conversation about running an international team.   About Matt For more than 20 years, Matt has on web design, affiliate marketing, niche marketing, PPC advertising and SEO.  Today his company, Unified Web Design, is comprised of a with a team of professionals from around the world. 

I know the economy is rocky. Yes, things have been bumpy for the last three years. But the truth is, this isn't the first time it's happened, and it will be the last. If you want your business to still be around when things finally settle down, here are a few things you should do. Use this time to clean up your processes. Get efficient. With tight labor markets and rising salary, stop wasting time and money on anything that is not productive. Ruthlessly review your marketing. Just because you've always done something does not mean you need to keep doing it. Getting rid of things that aren't driving results makes room for new ideas. Fire unprofitable clients. I know this sounds crazy as the economy is cycling down. But hanging on to clients who aren't a good fit will ultimately drag you down.  They will prevent you from clarifying what it is you do and focusing on the kind of work you really want to do. Invest wisely. This is not a time to bury your head in the sand and stop spending money on marketing. You ju

When it comes to finding your life's love or passion is there really only one? Maybe you think that's a strange introduction for a marketing conversation. But it's not.  Just as finding that one true love is important to your personally, it is also true for you as an entrepreneur.  There is happiness and profit when you commit to your one true passion.   Guest Jennifer Crawford  says there is lots of talk in the entrepreneurial space about finding your why.  It can be a complex journey to find your why or your zone of genius.  Getting to the point where you are willing to let go of things that aren't in your zone of genius actually takes a bit of self-reflection.  In a way, the pandemic helped because it gave us the time and space to put the brakes on some things as we figured out what really was meaningful for us.    About Jennifer Crawford Jennifer’s passion is helping people grow their businesses. In addition to business and conference consulting, she is also the co-founder of a recently launched company,

Sometimes when people write copy they forget they're not just writing for SEO.  They need to keep in mind they are writing to attract the attention of real people who have  specific reasons for reading the information  According to our guest, Rai Hyde Cornell, Google's not the one clicking the buy now or book a call button. They are not the ones making the decision. So, why are you going to prioritize Google and Google's spiders and search bots over the actual humans who have the real power to buy.  Those are the people that you want to be speaking to.   About Rai Rai Hyde Cornell is the CEO & Senior Copywriter at Cornell Content Marketing and Business Mentor & Coach at Chiron Consulting. Over her 15+ years in online marketing and writing, Rai has worked in hundreds of businesses, helping them grow and achieve their goals. Though she no longer works in the mental health field, her deep understanding of human behavior, emotion, and decision-making is honored in everything she teaches and creates for he