More Than A Few Words

What is the right price for your product or service? Most small business owners struggle with this question, because they confuse the cost of producing the product with the value it brings to the customer. When it comes to establishing a price for your goods or services, the value of your product has absolutely nothing to do with production cost. The value is based on how much you help clients save, increase, reduce or improve. If you can quantify these benefits, then you have a foundation for establishing an appropriate price for your goods or services. Calculate Your Value How much value do you deliver? Use these questions to build your value: How much can my product save my customer? Savings may be in time, money or effort. How much can my product earn for my customer? Can you help them increase their income; directly or indirectly? Does it create a foundation for future opportunities or establish valuable personal relationships? What intangible benefits might customers realize, and is it possible to quant

If you're a little bit of a sci-fi nerd. The idea that the robots are coming can be a little bit terrifying. But if you're a marketer in today's world the advent of Ai is an exciting opportunity.    Guest Thomas Helfrich agrees some of the early AI content wasn't great it has gotten much better. It's doing a great job for small businesses looking to produce short marketing copy titles and headlines. But for longer form you still need a human in the loop. 

Do you feel overwhelmed by social media if you do you're not alone but I've got some good news for you because there are things you can do to manage the chaos and make the time you're spending on social media productive.  Our guest, Andrea Jones explains one of the challenges with social media is that it's a mixture of our business and our personal life.  one of the tricks is to identify why you're on social media to begin with  and separate the platforms for personal and business use. The second tip is to turn off notifications and block out specific times to use social media as a total grow  business with daily time spent with her  community and weekly time spent creating content. By giving herself those boundaries  she is able to reduce that overwhelming feeling    About Andrea Andréa Jones has built an online business committed to empowering businesses to utilize the power of social media in a positive and impactful way, without being overwhelmed and drained by it. With over 7 years experience in the game

One of the things I love about living in Indiana is the color of the seasons. There are the bright pastels of spring, the rich greens of summer, and the bright orange and yellow of fall. The exception is winter. The dreary days of winter seem colorless and bland compared to the vibrancy of colors throughout the rest of the year. That’s why I love evergreen trees. They bring spots of color to my view all year long. Just as these wonderful trees bring consistent color to my yard, evergreen content brings spots of color to a marketing calendar. What is evergreen content? It is information which is always relevant to readers. Unlike seasonal content or breaking news, this information answers questions readers have every day. That’s one of the advantages of evergreen content, you can insert it into your blogging schedule whenever you need filler. Frequently asked questions, simple how-to blog posts, or product reviews make great evergreen content. These posts can be researched and written well in advance. Then the

When it comes to creating content, the age old question seems to be " What do you write about? The biggest challenge of creating content is staring at that blank sheet of paper. But according to guest Kathleen Celmins, it doesn't have to be. The trick is to stop creating content and start telling stories with your clients, not you as the hero.   In the "story" focus on their transformation, how they changed as a result of working with you.  That is the source of compelling content!    About Kathleen Kathleen Celmins (SELL mins) is the cofounder of amplifiedNOW, a hub for solopreneurs and small business owners who want to grow their businesses sustainably. Practical advice, no shiny objects here.

People tell me they're they don't think they're creative. But that's not true. Everyone is creative. We just express it differently. And you need that creativity to solve the business and personal challenges in your life.  In this episode, our guest Fiona Valentine explains how simple it can be to unlock your creativity by  drawing just a few minutes every day.  Starting with a structure approach to learn the basic rules, anyone can learn to draw. That skill, in turn will unlock new parts of your brain, helping you think in new and different ways. 

What do you want people to say about you when you're not in the room. What do you want them to tell people. who are looking for someone who does what you do? All of those comments add up to your personal brand. Now a lot of business owners are under the misconception that somehow they control their brand. But they don't. Your brand is something that exists in the mind of your customers.  All you can do is influence it with your marketing messages and your actions and over time you will create a brand representative of who you are. Looking for more resources on branding and positioning?  Start with the position statement workbook 

You think you know everything about sales. You've heard all the presentations and everybody talks about pain and objections. Well, my guest Chandler Walker thinks that might be the wrong way to approach a sales.  He believes the goal isn't just to stab at a prospect to find the pain.  Instead, when you become a cognitive listener you are able to identify the pain and understand where the pain exists.  Using that information you must help the prospect look not just short term, fixing the pain, but long term at the underlying issues which prevent them from being successful. 

I love a good networking event. but I know not everybody loves that process.  They're often confused and frustrated with how to start the conversation and where to go after they've opened it.  Laura Templeton suggests you start by ditching the pitch mentality. Start by crafting a short "I help" statement.  So when someone asks what you do, you an say I help . . .  That makes the conversation about your customers not you.  The next trick is to have a great set of questions you can use to get the other person talking.  

Every parent knows, It takes a village to raise a child. Each of the adults in the child’s life, relatives, teachers, coaches, brings a different perspective. The same is true for your business. No matter how smart you are or how much you know about your business, there are gaps in your skill-set. Your business village should be filled with smart, talented subject matter experts to help you fill in the gaps. If you are running a small business your village won't be comprised of employees, but an advisory board comprised of professionals, who provide information and guidance in their areas of expertise.  Who Do You Need in Your Business Village? (On your advisory board)  Your Attorney Your attorney’s primary objective is to protect you and your business from risk. As you start you business your attorney can advise you on the right structure for your business and submit appropriate state and federal documents. As you business grows turn to your attorney for a range of legal documents such as contracts, non-disc

Think you know how Google works?  Guest, Kyle Roof explains your assumptions may not be right.  For example, many people think Google reads a web page as a human would.  Google is not able to do that, it isn't pulling meaning from your content.  It is an algorithm  looking at your content not from an editorial quality perspective, but a mathematical one looking to see if you check off the boxes in the formula.  Start with does your page include the keyword or phrase.  Google will look for contextual terms terms that provide context and meaning to understand what this page is about. In addition to the phrase, Google is looking at very specific sections on the page for those important terms and how many times you are using them in those sections. The sections include the title, meta descriptions and URL.      About Kyle Roof Kyle is responsible for the development and implementation of all SEO techniques used by the SEO agency High Voltage SEO and the SEO tool PageOptimizer Pro. Kyle is also the co-founder of I

I bet you didn't know that you're sitting on a gold mine. but according to my guest Mary Henderson, you are. As human beings. we experiences built over a lifetime, and those experiences are currency.   This is particularly true of former corporate executives who are exploring entrepreneurship.  The skills you build over your career   can be worth millions if you can systemize your knowledge, wisdom and skill set, transforming that into a solution   Too often, however these would-be entrepreneurs make the mistake of starting with the hunt for customers when they should be working through a four part process  of defining their brand, their process, creating digital assets and then their website and sales tools.    About Mary  Mary is an internationally recognized Personal Branding & Online Business Specialist. Mary helps Service Industry Experts systemize, digitalize and commercialize their knowledge, wisdom and skills into a scalable & profitable online business and a brand so they become an authority

 Words have power to move, motivate, inspire, frightened and cheer, what you say and how you say it can have a strong impact on another person. Some words, called power words have more impact than others. These words have strong meaning, which can trigger a psychological or an emotional response. They're persuasive, pushing people to action. Using these power words in your web copy, email communication, social media, will grab the attention or your reader and move them to action. There are three kinds of power words seductive, emotional, and sensory, seductive, emotional and sensory. Seductive words actually override logical reasoning and compel people to take action. Words like new, free, how to, and because seduce people to action.  Emotional power words, tap into emotions that drive people to action. Fear, jealousy, curiosity, joy, surprise and anger are just some of the emotions you can tap into as you write your headlines. The final category are the sensory power words.  These words paint a picture in yo

Whether you're trying to hire a new person, work with an agency or close a sale, the very first step is really figuring out if you're sitting across the table from the right person. The problem is that people don't come with scorecards telling you exactly who they are and whether or not they're a good fit, or do they?  Social engineer, Benjamin Bressington says there is a scorecard, if you look for it.  In this episode, he boils down people into four  main types, each with a set of communication patterns that give you insight into how they think. Listen to this conversation to understand if you are an Eagle, Dove, Peacock or owl.   

What if you could improve the amount of traffic that came to your website, the amount of conversions and the lifetime value of  customers by 26% each?  My guest Michael Buzinski developed the Rule of 26  to help busy business owners understand we do not have to dive into the complexities of digital marketing to get revenue from our websites. He believes many business owners think of their website as an expense and not a revenue generating tool. To help change their perspective, he shows them how to double the revenue coming from your website  by focusing on just three objectives; web traffic, conversion rate and lifetime value of customers coming from your website. About Michael Buzinski Michael Buzinski is a lifelong entrepreneur, digital marketing thought leader, and best-selling author. Dubbed a “visionary marketer” by the American Marketing Association, Michael’s sole mission is to  reduce the prevalence of entrepreneurial poverty in the US. Buzz, as most call him, has simplified digital marketing succe

Wouldn't it be nice if we all just got along. That might seem like a good idea but it really isn't. You can't eliminate conflict completely. and you shouldn't. Well-managed conflict actually cultivates discussions and create opportunities to uncover new and innovative solutions. Accept conflict as a natural part of your relationship with employees and with all of the people in your life. It isn't necessarily good or bad.  It can be very healthy if the conflict occurs when people have different ideas on how to solve a problem and they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. The conflict resolution process leads to open and honest conversations often about more than just the issue on the table. It can be messy and it might take time to work through some of the conflicts but the end result is going to be a great solution.  

All work and no play makes Jack or Jill very dull.  As a business owner you work really hard but you also need to find ways to get away and take a vacation.  Guest Carol Clegg shared great vacation preparation tips from working ahead, to finding co-working spaces along the way to get things done.   You have to prioritize and focus on those things which have to get done to keep your business.  But you may not have to be the person to do the work.    About Carol Clegg Carol Clegg, is the owner of Classic Exec Marketing, a marketing consultant and a goal achievement coach supporting global women entrepreneurs in midlife to get organized, streamline their strategies and use time-saving tools to optimize the things in your business that YOU want.  

Why should I buy from you? That's the question we have to answer if we want to grow our business.  My guest, Rich Brooks thinks the answer needs to be remarkable.  And he has developed a formula to help business owners find makes them remarkable.   It starts with the four "F's" - find, focus, fashion and frame.  About Rich Rich Brooks is founder and president of flyte new media, a digital agency in Portland, Maine, that’s been in business for over 24 years. He is a nationally recognized speaker on entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and social media. He founded The Agents of Change, and annual conference and weekly podcast that focuses on search, social & mobile marketing. He is also the author of The Lead Machine: The Small Business Guide to Digital Marketing  

Let's go on a buying journey. Think about the last item that you bought, where you spent more than $100. Maybe it was something for your business or home. Write down the item you bought and work backwards through your buying journey. Describe why you chose that particular product. Did you see an ad? Did someone recommended it? Was there information on social media which made you curious? Write down all of the things you remember related to that purchase. For example, we recently installed new windows in our house. Before we bought the windows, we talked to a few of our neighbors, checked. Angie's List, and then we went to the company website. Do this exercise two or three times for different types of purchases, so you get a better picture of your typical buying process.  What information sources to you rely on and what influenced you? Next, build your customer's buying journey the same way. Evaluate your marketing based on  your typical buying process. If you were a customer for your product or service, would

If you're like a lot of people you may be under the misconception that you have to make a choice between doing what you really love or making money but that doesn't have to be the case.  Guest Joel Salomon doesn't believe you should have to make that choice.  It starts with transforming limiting beliefs into empowering beliefs and creating affirmations to shift your mindset. Use present tense, not future tense language.  Saying the affirmations out loud to start your day.  You don't have to jump all at once to your new career, start with baby steps.  Carve out time each day to work on your passion, until it generates enough money for you to make the leap.