Pure, unadulterated strategy: marketing, brand positioning, & entrepreneurial wisdom. New trends with staying power. Old standbys with inarguable value.
What to embrace, what to avoid, and what to attempt — with steady discernment.
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
You’ve heard me preach ad nauseum that your brand strategy informs everything your business does, inside and out. Even when it comes to how you thank your clients, customers or partners. You can refresh yourself on some good reasons to thank your tribe–and a few insanely clever ways to do it.
It’s important to remember that any “thank you”–from clever emails to thoughtful handwritten notes–says something about you and your brand. It’s yet another touch point to reinforce your brand message and vibe.
Once you determine your brand strategy, you can easily brainstorm brilliant ideas for a “signature touch” you can use as a unique thank you gift. If your brand is playful and whimsical, maybe you can send customers a mini-Slinky, a retro candy box, or for the truly quirky, a Japanese candy box! My friend, publicity expert, Melissa Cassera uses decadent language about salted, gooey caramels and other guilty pleasures, so it was no surprise when a thank you gift of caramel marshmallows arrived on my doorstep. It was just so her. And that made it special.
A creative brand signature touch can generate buzz and leave an unforgettable impression. (TWEET THIS!)
It can light up your packaging, email signoff, or perhaps your event outfits (maybe you are the “purple suit lady?”). There is a wonderful case study in my book Branding Basics about a Los Angeles psychotherapist who stands out in a very crowded profession because she uses lemon imagery in everything from her business name (Lemon-Aid Counseling) to her website to her office décor to even lemon-shaped notepads for her clients. She is now known for this.
Whatever you choose, just make sure it’s consistent with your brand and doesn’t confuse your audience! If my savvy, conservative and super-smart financial planner sent me that Japanese candy box, I’d be like, “What the….?!”
Early on in my business, I started sending Chukar Cherry gift boxes to clients and partners as a way to show my gratitude. Irresistible chocolate covered cherries, delivered in a bold, neat red box–and from a Seattle company, where my business started? What could be more Red Slice?! Fresh. Delicious. Fun. BOOM. In addition, “giving back” is an important Red Slice brand value, so every year, my clients get to choose a charity and I donate on their behalf as a holiday gift.
Do you have a signature touch? Oooohh….please share it in the Comments below!
“We are not doing something customers or clients can’t get elsewhere. We are not discovering a new element or identifying a new species or creating a way for humans to live on Mars. (Some of you may be working on this, but most of us are not).”
Differentiation seems to be the most common place where my clients get stuck. Why am I different? I’m not doing something unique and innovative. I’m just the best (BLANK) I can be and I know my stuff!
You don’t have to invent something new to make your brand + business stand out (Tweet this!)
Here are 3 crafty and clever ways to differentiate your offerings–you just need to play them up in your brand messaging:
Your TRIBE: Who do you serve? Are you specific? Do you serve a specialized niche or an overlooked market? Perhaps you are a life coach for ambitious women on a mission versus women going through divorce or the death of a spouse versus women in transition. I choose to focus on entrepreneurs and small to mid-sized businesses versus ginormous enterprise companies or the Fortune 500. You can stand out by being crystal clear about the audience you serve, rather than claiming (falsely) they you serve everyone and anyone.
Your VALUE: What do you offer? How does it benefit people? Porsche and Honda both sell cars but the reasons why people buy one or the other is different. They emphasize different benefits. They are not really the same thing, even though they are both automobiles. You can be a life coach that focuses on brain science versus one that focuses on intuition and energy.
Your VIBE: What is your brand personality? Are you modern, urban and energetic? Are you safe, reliable and thoughtful? Are you sassy, fresh and focused? Use this to inform your look and message. When you see an Apple ad, you know it’s Apple. Your vibe can help you stand out. There are a bajillion brand strategists out there. My vibe, however, is unique to me and my approach: full of wit, smart humor, a conversational tone, tough love and wine references…oh, so many wine references. And bringing my unique interests and background to bear, how many other brand strategists can also say they are fiery redhead actresses who adore Jeopardy, dogs, football, writing, indie films, crime dramas and are working mamas married to a Scotsman – oh and who have survived a brain aneurysm? I’m thinking not too many. So wear your vibe as a differentiated brand of pride and bring it to life in your writing, work and personality. You are the only you out there.
Your turn: Can you clearly define your tribe, value and vibe? Tweet me @redslice and let me know!
The other day, I was talking to a fellow business consultant about our worlds. A friend had connected us as “two power women” which I was pretty honored by and this woman, for sure had the power gene in spades and I instantly fell in love with her over the phone. She was bold, fierce and knew exactly what her value was in the market. Confidence (not to be confused with arrogance, my friends) is sexy.
She admired the way I’ve packaged up my consulting versus my coaching offerings, which led us to commiserate about how people confuse the terms consultant, coach and contractor.
Such misunderstanding forced me to tactfully point out to a really difficult CEO many years ago that he was paying me to be a consultant, not a contractor. He wanted to go down a path that was in stark contrast to our team’s findings and experience, and so we parted ways.
So what’s the diff? Keep in mind these are not legal definitions for tax purposes, but thoughts on how to be mindful of positioning yourself:
A consultant is an advisor. She researches and uses specific tools and processes to recommend a strategy or course of action. You are paying for that recommendation. Whether you choose to reject or implement it is up to you, and part of the contract should state how much back and forth or “tweaking” is done to that recommendation. It also means a consultant may or may not choose to continue working with a client on a strategy they feel is the wrong direction. Some consultants will go on to implement the plan they come up with for you, but some do not. For my clients, I offer discussion and tweaking of my SLICE package while we’re engaged on the project. After that, they can do with it what they want. It’s not an endless loop.
A contractor is someone you hire to do a specific task based on their expertise but ultimately, your orders. They implement an existing plan or activity. Run these campaigns. Manage my Twitter account. Create the flyer with this copy. They are very valuable and while many contractors call themselves this from a legal/tax standpoint, and offer both strategic advice and implementation, the understood business arrangement is that “you do what I say” and he or she is essentially an order-taker.
A coach is a mentor, a guide, a sanity-checker, a sounding board. Someone who can offer a framework to talk through your specific ideas and plans and then you, as the client, are responsible for taking action or not. The onus is on the client to come prepared with an agenda, discussion points, key questions they want to hash out. A coach does not necessarily produce deliverables for you unless that is the arrangement or they choose to share a tool, article, or perhaps, research something for you. But like a psychotherapist, there are no “action items” for the coach after each session.
If you offer professional services, be mindful of how you position yourself. Your title is a branding decision. I call myself a “Brand Strategist” to really drive home that if you need someone to create a detailed tactical marketing plan and execute it, I’m not your girl.
Your job title defines your brand position. Make a smart choice to ensure the right expectation of your work. (Tweet this!)
Look through your website. What do you call yourself? What could this lead prospects to believe you do or do not provide? Are you finding yourself constantly re-hashing your core competencies? The problem could lie in your job title or messaging.
Good news is that I can help! If you’re struggling to position your offerings or clearly articulate what you do and why you’re different I’ve got so much more to share with you. Check out MOMENTUM Pro to learn more!
Image Credit: Erin Berzel Photography, erinberzel.com via Flickr
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Starting a Twitter account and sending five tweets a day is not enough.
Requesting connections from everyone you’ve ever worked with on LinkedIn is not enough.
Sending a daily email to your subscribers is not enough.
I mean, sure, those things can work for you. But not if you’re not doing them right.
Most companies, from one-person shops to global corporations, now recognize they need to get busy on social media. And in that same vein, many companies (from one-person shops to global corporations) do things on social media that make me smack my hand against my head and cry out, “Whhhhhyyyyy can’t you get out of your own way?!”
Are you engaging in any of these four behaviors on social media? If you are, I’m guessing you are not seeing the results you’d like. You’re not attracting new fans, your content is not being shared – and you’re not generating clicks, sales or new donors–depending on what you desire.
Saboteur #1: BUY! BUY! BUY!
If all you’re doing is using your social media account to push your products, you may as well stop wasting your time. Social media marketing is about engaging your potential customers. You want to woo them over time and deliver exceptional value so when they are ready to buy, they will turn to you. This means posting content they care about, not content you care about, and inviting interaction. Remember, social media is not a billboard, it’s a conversation (more on this below.) They don’t want to be sold to….yet. You are in the courtship phase, so try to keep your content relevant, interesting, and valuable about 85% of the time. Can you offer advice related to your offerings, feature success stories, share interesting articles? This is why blogging or podcasts are so great, as it gives you valuable content to share that is not solely about sales. Once you prove that you offer value, then you can push “product” the other 15% of the time. But do it gracefully, tactfully. If you offer enough value the majority of the time, your audience will not mind the occasional plug for your products or services because they will already be raving fans. Don’t be that brand that constantly screams at your audience to buy. What’s intriguing or worth sharing about that if I don’t trust you well enough to want to advocate for you?
Saboteur #2: I, Robot
Social media is S-O-C-I-A-L. Would you go to a neighborhood barbeque or cocktail party and use unnatural jargon, talk about yourself in the third person or act stiff and formal? Of course not. You shouldn’t do that in social media, either. You need to speak like a real human would to other humans. This is how you create a connection and engage your audience. Be clever. Use slang. Reference pop culture. Curse a little, if that is who your brand is. If you can, have those posting on social media be transparent, speak in the first person, and share personal experiences. Speak the language of your audience. People relate to people, not a soulless brand robot. Customers will want to interact with, share and stay loyal to a personality, not a pitch.
Saboteur #3: Automating Customer Service
I know, I know. Many larger companies have to scale and cut costs somehow. But it’s painful when you get a Tweet response to a complaint and it’s blatantly obvious the reply is from a bot and not a real person. Especially if the response has nothing to do with the actual issue. Virgin America and Jet Blue do a phenomenal job of reacting quickly and personally to any issue you raise on Twitter. Follow their accounts to get a taste for how your social media customer service should be working. And yes, as with all useful tactics, it requires time and investment.
Saboteur #4: One-Way is the Only Way
Once again, social media is social. You can automate a lot of your posting but you are still responsible for jumping in and interacting with your fans and followers. You don’t have to do it everyday, but someone has to do it. There is a publishing house I follow that automates all their Tweets and every single one promotes one of their books. That’s it. There is no other valuable content being pushed out (see #1), no engagement or interaction, no questions for folks to chew on. Not even any shared articles or interesting advice. It’s so obvious this is just a “set and forget” strategy and this is why they are not seeing any return on their effort investment. You can’t just push out your agenda like a billboard and expect to be shared, clicked or enjoyed. Share interesting posts. Thank folks for Re-tweets (but you don’t need to do this every single time, as it makes for a boring stream!). Give shout-outs to customers, connect folks you know to each other, promote what other colleagues have going on, pose questions, start a Twitter chat or Google Hangout. There are lots of ways to interact with your followers. But you have to jump in there and do it every now and then.
Bottom line: If you are doing social media “wrong” you may as well stop wasting your time and focus your energy elsewhere. There are plenty of other ways to build a business, but if you want to see true ROI, avoid these landmines. (Tweet this!)
Which of the above is the greatest “A Ha!” for you? Have you found a clever way to work around some of these saboteurs like a stealthy ninja to ensure your social media shines? Please share in the Comments below!
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
If you do not follow social media expert Jay Baer on LinkedIn for subscribe to his Convince and Convert email newsletter, you should check both options out.
Recently, I joyfully read the transcript of his Content Marketing World keynote. He delivered it without slides or fanfare and seemed to have just spoken from the heart. His concept of The Mom Test is a rallying cry to marketers and businesspeople to stop turning content creation into a machine and focus on making connections.
Damn, I love that.
One of his gems: “Content is the emotional and informational bridge between commerce and consumer.”
And building that bridge requires more than spreadsheets and plans and analytics. It requires HEART.
Another gem: “Competition commoditizes competency”.
Meaning, if you use the same hacks, tools and systems that your competitors do, all your marketing and content will start to look the same. So, the only thing you have to differentiate what you do is your people and your passion. They can’t copy that, no matter how much they try.
They can copy form emails. They can copy price promotions. They can copy sales pitches. But if you believe in what you do and create content that improves lives in ways great or small–whether helping fight global disease or even just giving a busy mom a moment of rest and reflection–they can’t replicate that passion and brand fire.
From Jay: “But they can’t duplicate, they cannot steal if you fundamentally care more than they do. About content, and about content’s role to improve the lives of real people.
So I ask you a simple question, an existential question really:
Do you love content enough? Are you making content, or are you making a difference?”
It’s not about passion for passion’s sake. “Follow your bliss” makes for a lovely inspirational slogan but you have to marry passion with purpose. (Tweet this!)
What value does your passion offer to others whom you’re trying to turn into buyers, readers or donors?
This reminds me of an email conversation I recently had with a friend and online marketing rockstar who writes the most exuberant (and useful) content. I literally devour her words and look forward to her musings, even if she’s pitching me something. Doesn’t matter how crowded my in-box is that day – I make time to read her content.
I asked her how she organized her content marketing calendar. Her answer? She doesn’t have one. According to her: “Editorial calendars make me one sad panda.”
And you know what? Despite an editorial calendar being a great tool for staying organized and efficient (and one I recommend to my clients, in all honesty), she’s kind of right. Her content is super useful and it’s addictive because she cares. Her passion shines through every word.
Do whatever you need to do to stay on top of things. Use tools, templates, automation where it makes sense. You want to strive for consistency. But more importantly, when it comes to any marketing efforts meant to amplify your message and boost your brand, don’t just crank things out to simply check them off your to-do list.
Focus on the passion to deliver true value. Speak from the heart to attract raving fans.
How do you build your passion into your content, marketing or work in general? In one sentence, what is the passion that drives your business? Please share in the Comments!
Whether you’re brand new to the professional services game or have been at it a while, I am willing to bet you constantly wrestle with this question:
How much should I charge?
And don’t forget this question’s rambunctious cousins: What is my hourly rate? How much should I mark up? Should I propose this project at a flat rate or on hourly basis?
This question is tricky when you sell “time” or intellectual property and not hard goods with manufacturing costs associated with them. When I first started out consulting, I was lucky enough to have hired people like me before and knew the ballpark going rate. Plus, I knew that I had to price in such a way as to emphasize that I was a consultant, not a contractor. Nuanced distinction but very important in my field: Consultants make recommendations and advise on strategy. Contractors complete tasks they are told to do.
It’s important to remember that pricing is a branding decision (Tweet this!)
Who is the ideal client you want to attract and how do you want to be perceived? Price too high and you may be out of reach of your target clientele. Price too low and people may think your work has no value.
We’ve all made pricing mistakes. I took a bath on a nightmare project early on in my business when I neglected to add in hours on for my time, assuming that my mark-up on my subcontractors would cover me. It did not. While I made all my subcontractors a hefty sum on that almost year-long engagement, it’s too embarrassing to admit to you what I netted out from all that work and heartache. After we finally walked away, I licked my wounds and learned a valuable lesson to always, always factor in my hours as a separate line item to subcontractor markups.
This was such a popular question from my audience that I sought out the advice of the woman who changed the way I look at pricing: Audrey Godwin.
Audrey Godwin is the CEO and Founder of The Godwin Group. She coaches women business owners and transforms them into financially savvy CEO’s. Audrey is passionate about helping women entrepreneurs fund a good salary, provide for their families and create a strong retirement plan.
Here are four powerful tips on how to price your products or services:
First, Determine Your Costs: Regardless of your service or product, you must know what it costs you to make, deliver or generate your revenue. These can be hard costs, such as raw materials, or overhead costs, such as rent. But what if you don’t have a product? Then your cost is labor. What’s the cost of your labor? If your company is not set up as a corporation from which you draw a salary, you may have no idea how to determine the cost of your time,” says Audrey. One way she advises you to back into the number is to determine the salary you want each year. “There are 2080 working hours in a year, so let’s say your goal is $100,000 in take-home salary,” says Audrey. “This equates to roughly $50 in labor cost.” Your goal should be to charge clients at least this much for their hours (with a markup to cover taxes, overhead, and other business costs), but also to assess if a given activity is worth $50 of your time.
Articulate Your Brand, Target Market and Value: As mentioned, pricing is a brand decision. Are you a commodity or a luxury? You need to price accordingly so it’s clear. Who is the audience? What is your differentiator, to allow for a premium price? Do you simply offer DIY information or do you work with people to actually get things done? For what is your target market willing to pay a premium? This is where fleshing out your brand strategy is vital to more than just your marketing efforts.
Determine Your Markup and Final Price: How do you choose your markup percentage? Look at the industry and see what the percentage is for that industry. Talk to others who have been at this a while and find out what they charge. Check out competitors and see if they bill hourly or flat-rate by project. And consider the company culture you are building: are you building a full-time staff or going it alone? Audrey says, “If you are taking salary as part of your expenses, then 10% to the bottom line is not a bad thing. But as a solopreneur, remember you are paying market rates to your subcontractors rather than paying 1/3 of that cost in wages and benefits if they were employees.” How much money do you personally want to make? If you’re using subcontractors, they will eat into the gross profit so will you really net a good profit on the deal–which is what I didn’t factor in for that nightmare client referenced above. Assess whether it would it be better for your pricing model and net profit to get an employee or temporary help.
Be Careful about Discounting to Attract New Clients: Make sure you’re discounting to the right People that will only buy with a discount are not necessarily ideal clients. Better to use discounts on the backend, Audrey says. “Incent them for paying faster versus just to get new clients. When you discount to get them in the door, you end up doing work you hate for people you can’t stand.”
A wise mentor sits with a serene smile, staring into the bright eyes of the eager protégée. She wraps her arm around the fresh young person and whispers, “Everything is going to be alright. Here’s all you really need to know…”
I’m going to bet that was not your experience when embarking on entrepreneurship or self-employment. If you’re like me, it felt more like getting shoved into a deep ocean. Some days, the current drifts you to new islands and opportunities. Other days, you flail in the choppy waves, praying for a lifeline. One day, the seas are calm and effortless. The next day, the waves pound you over and over again into the hard sand.
After leaving the safe harbor of a successful corporate life in 2008, I was fortunate enough to find resources and mentors who helped me along my journey. Some drifted in and out like a passing life raft, right when I needed them most. Others joined me on my journey and never left my side: mentors and collaborators whom I treasure for their insights.
These amazing humans – and the many years I’ve now been out on my own – have taught me so much. And by “so much,” I mean answering questions I never knew I should have (“What the heck is “use tax?”) and preparing me for situations I could have never seen coming even with high-powered binoculars (a clear contract doesn’t protect you from a nightmare client who signs it without reading it). It doesn’t matter how many books you read or classes you take. Until you’re in it, there’s so much you don’t even know you don’t know.
And that’s a good thing. Otherwise, most of us wouldn’t do it!
Here are two of the biggest lessons from my entrepreneurial experience thus far. Please note: I have a long way to go and a whole lot more to learn.
But when you get so far down a certain trail, it’s your duty and responsibility to reach your hand back and shepherd those traveling with you. Leave no man or woman behind, I say.(Tweet this!)
Lesson #1: Opportunity favors those who prepare.
While I had a very successful corporate marketing career, I dreamed of doing my own thing and enjoying more flexibility to pursue other passions, like writing and acting. Red Slice started as a personal blog full of whimsical wine, film and cultural musings. It then became a business website I would tinker with on the side as I dreamed, “If I worked for myself, how would I position my services? What message would I want to convey? What brand would I build?” In 2008, when the writing was on the wall and my last tech company laid off the marketing department in prep for a sale, opportunity knocked–and I was ready. I flipped the switch on that hidden website and Red Slice as a brand consultancy was born.
Lesson #2: Don’t worry about the how so much as the what and why. The how will find you (or you will find it) when the time is right. Just take action and keep moving forward.
The road was not always easy. Maybe you can relate?! I am often still unsure of what the hell I’m doing. But amazingly enough, once you start down the path to what you want and put it out there, all of the sudden an advisor, article, connection or opportunity will magically appear right when you need it most.
When I craved more strategy work and less tactical project work and didn’t know how to free up my time to go after it, a friend offered her coaching services to me, leading to my signature offerings still popular today.
When I needed a new accountant, a successful entrepreneur recommended hers – and I’ve happily been with that firm ever since.
When I desperately needed a fresh creative writer for my client work, a colleague launched a website that week with the most brilliant copy I’d ever read and I immediately contacted the writer she hired, which led to not one, but two fruitful writing partnerships that are the cornerstone of my work.
When a publishing agent got interested in my book idea and asked to see a “formal proposal” I had no idea what that was but said “Sure, I’ll send you one!” As if on cue, my good friend told me she happened to enroll in a proposal writing class starting the very next week so I jumped in and joined her.
When I was truly overwhelmed by my work and life right after my brain injury, I decided to just take it day by day and start small, by sponsoring a marketing event. At that event, I happened to meet a “stress coach” and started working with her within the month to get myself unstuck and moving forward.
When I decided to self-publish my second book and had no idea where to begin, I just started writing it and figured it would all work out. I then remembered a virtual assistant who I had interviewed the year before to help with marketing my first book. She is now my self-publishing angel and handles everything for me.
There are so many more examples I could give you. Somehow, someway, the right people just enter your life at just the right time. Or you read an article that tells you about the exact solution to the challenge you are facing.
Got your own words of wisdom? Please share with us on the Facebook page or Tweet me!
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
It’s hard enough to find time in our busy schedules to read all the great posts you can find online, much less consume all that great information. So, this week I thought I’d give you a quick round up of 10 articles from around the web that will wonderfully boost your daily business activities. Check these out for inspiration, business guidance and a little motivation…and please share to your heart’s content!
20 Smart Ways to Generate More Leads for Your Business
You may already know about some of these existing resources and tools for business development: Now jumpstart your lead generation efforts with a few new tips on how to use them.
More Than Personas: How to Know What Your Audience Really Wants
While I still think creating ideal customer personas is a HUGE help to focusing your marketing efforts and creating a connective brand, this article features other expert examples on how to identify your audience needs. My faves? “Pull up a digital seat”and “Ask and track.”
The Difference Between Strategy And Tactics And Why You Need To Know
Ah, my favorite, favorite topic! An often mistaken distinction that can make or break your business success -and your sanity. I adore Bernadette Jiwa and you will, too. Main message: Stop working backwards.
The 200-Word Guide to Personal Branding
Personal branding requires you to be in the spotlight and you need to be ready. This is a short guide to getting your brand up to par.
It’s probably on your mind after all the inspirational posts you’ve just combed through, but this not-so-secret that I shared last year is still very relevant.
Apple challenged us many years ago to “Think Different.” But are you stuck in a mindset rut? Sometimes this can happen when we focus solely on our role, business or even industry.
You’re networking with people who do what you do. You go to the same places. You read the same books. You’re looking at what everyone else in your industry is doing – and it all looks the same. It’s no surprise that when you surround yourself with sameness, you’ll naturally fall into a creative void.
But there’s a way to shake things up.
Change your habits, experience new things & watch the ideas flow. (Tweet this!)
For many years, I was a management consultant, working with Fortune 500 companies. Then I worked as a consumer-focused Marketing Manager for Discovery Networks. Then I became an Account Manager for an ad agency, and finally did an 8-year tour of duty in the dot.com and Silicon Valley tech scene before launching my business.
Bouncing from process design to event planning, from B2C to B2B, from communication planning to PR, from agency to client …these experiences ended up creating my biggest secret weapons. I see the whole picture. I connect dots and articulate themes that others can’t see. I can now take the best of what I’ve seen in one industry or business model and apply it to another to turn things upside down. The humor and fun I learned while marketing consumer networks like Animal Planet and The Discovery Channel? I applied that kind of human voice and vibe to B2B tech marketing to great success. The sales process and lead generation best practices I honed as a technology Marketing Director? My smallest entrepreneurial clients love that insight to not only build their brand, but to structure their pipeline and business development.
Even being an actress has added dimension to my current work. I’m able to tell stories, evoke emotion and create drama for my clients’ brand strategies and messaging. And of course, that skill enables me to light up a conference stage and delight an audience.
If you’re bored with your approach, tired of how “we’ve always done things around here” and new ideas just aren’t coming to you, sounds like you need to shake things up. Here are 4 ways you can shift your thinking and generate creative business ideas – not to mention contribute to your mental well-being:
Ditch the bedside business books: When my nightstand is piled high with business or management books, I find I’m less creative and imaginative. Not that they don’t have their place for learning important strategies (ahem…I know of a really good one on how to build your brand….), but try something completely different. Light up sleepy parts of your brain, perhaps with a memoir, historical non-fiction, dramatic fiction, moody detective novels…hell, even a juicy romance novel.* Point is, you’ve got to exercise all parts of your brain and imagination in order to come up with fresh ideas. And movies count, too: You may just find your next brilliant business tip or sexy new marketing promotion from a spy thriller.
Immerse yourself in the arts: In 2013, I took a 5 week sabbatical to attend an exclusive acting intensive through San Francisco’s famed America Conservatory Theater. From 9 am to 6 pm – and even later at times – I sat on the floor and took notes from acting masters (on real paper!). Created art with my body during movement classes. Tapped into the raw, true voice that emanates from my gut, not my head. Let go of self-consciousness during improv. Tested my strength and agility in combat fighting. When I returned to work, I was exhilarated and approached my clients’ work with fresh eyes. Creativity poured out of me and I never felt more alive. Being in plays or doing short films has the same effect for me: I am surrounded by people who think, act and express in ways that folks in my “regular” works never would and it energizes me. Instead of going to your next networking event, go see a play with a friend. Make a date to wander around your local art gallery on a Sunday afternoon. Take an improv class. Sign up for a pottery workshop. Flex your artsy muscle and expose yourself to a radically different world outside of your “business box.”
For the love of Pete…UNPLUG!: Guilty. I admit it. I’m never without my phone within 1 foot of my body and panic if I can’t find it. My husband says my tombstone epitaph should be, “Where’s my phone?” because I ask it about 100 times a day. But seriously, guys. It’s time for a Digital Detox. Let’s stop crossing the street glued to our phones. Let’s step away from the laptop for a day (a week, a month…) Look up. Open your eyes. Connect to others around you at the coffee shop or grocery store. When was the last time you people-watched at the airport and invented fun back-stories for the strangers who pass by? Do you want to get new ideas? Then you have to experience life, connection and reality. Start with one afternoon you designate as “tech-free” and see where it takes you.
Move your body: My good friend, Melody Biringer, Founder and CEO of CRAVE and a serial entrepreneur, swears by “business meeting walks.” This was one of my favorite ways to connect with her. Walking miles, we’d work out business challenges and come up with brilliant new ideas. I always had a fresh perspective on my work after our walks together. Go for a hike. Take your dog for a walk. Swim, Bike. Dance. Do yoga. When you move your body, you give you mind the break it needs to generate new ideas later. I make time every week to go to Crossfit and spend mental energy focused on my strength and agility. Start with a 15-minute mid-morning walk every day, regardless of where you work (I’m sure you can walk the halls or around the parking lot if it’s not the nicest setting). Shut the door on the boring conference room and take your next one-on-one meeting on the road as a stroll in the park or downtown.
What about you? What shakes up your thinking and enables you to come up with fresh new ideas for your business? Please share in the Comments. Or let us know which one of these tips you’re going to follow ASAP!
*In full disclosure, some links may be Amazon affiliate links where commissions are paid. But that’s a win-win if you decide to check out these great reads!
Image Credit: Wilerson S Andrade via Flickr
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™
Have you ever tried Facebook ads to boost your brand and business? I have, to varying degrees of success. But it wasn’t until I worked with Tammy Martin of Martin Marketing that I realized all the cool stuff you can (and should) do that I didn’t even know existed.There is truly and art and science to the whole thing, so enjoy her guest post today with 7 tips to make Facebook ads work for you.
If you’ve been thinking about Facebook advertising, you’re on the right track. It is very hot right now and it is financial accessible to lots of businesses. Below are 7 suggestions to create Facebook ads that work. This means more traffic, more leads and more sales for your business.
Create Interesting & Helpful Content
People come to Facebook for various reasons, and being ‘sold’ to is not one of them. For marketers, it’s more of a courtship that they need to use in order to warm up their potential clients. One way of doing this is through blog posts. I would suggest creating blog articles designed to introduce a call-to-action at the end. Write content with the end in mind. If you have a program/service that you want to sell, create an article that provides helpful tips for them to get started and close with an introduction to your product/service that will help them even further.
Carousel Your Content
People like to see new things and Facebook is no different. Once you’ve created blog articles that encourage action (or at least have a call-to-action in the sidebar), try inserting them into a multiple post type of ad. This is commonly referred to as carousel ads which contain 3-5 pages/posts that you want to feature on your website.
Create An Invisible Opt-In
People who click on your Facebook content ads don’t have to subscribe to your email list to become part of your tribe. Instead, by visiting your website they are already added to an invisible opt-in called a ‘website custom audience’. This list is an audience that you can post ads to afterwards. It’s like a secret list that’s available in Facebook which will usually be larger than your email list because not everyone signs up for your list right away.
Use Your Invisible Opt-In List
Once you have created your website custom audience, it’s best to start putting it to use once it grows past 500 users. Typically up until now, people advertise their ads/posts to their own fan base on Facebook to get more engagement and clicks. With the introduction of website custom audiences, you can now market your ads to this group of people more inexpensively and effectively than your fans. Your recent website visitors are your active and engaged fans which generate cheaper clicks for you and better results than cold traffic because they have already been to your website.
Video Testimonials
If you can capture a testimonial of one of your raving fans on your smart phone, then it would be a smart move to upload it directly to Facebook and promote it to an audience that is already familiar to you like your invisible opt-in list (website custom audience). This is a great tactic to help move people along in your sales process towards making a sale. Facebook users like authentic video because it’s more believable and relatable.
Use Call To Action Buttons
When you’re creating your ads, be sure to use the call-to-action button to help inspire action. There is a new one that enables Facebook users to call you right from the ad which is a great fit for some businesses. These are available to use on single post ads and videos.
Create and Use a Lookalike Audience
If you have less than 1,500 website visitors per month, there are other strategies to find new customers. One of the most effective ones is the use of lookalike audiences. These audiences are used to replicate existing fans or customer lists that you upload to Facebook which are ideal for people who are new to Facebook.
What’s Next?
Facebook continues to roll out fresh new ways for businesses to reach out to their potential customers. Video has been really hot for the past few months and businesses are now bypassing YouTube and uploading directly to Facebook to provide a smoother user experience. It is common to attract a video view for under a nickel at this point, which is a bargain compared to other advertising venues.
About the Author: Tammy Martin is a certified Facebook ads expert who works exclusively with conscious entrepreneurs to amplify their messages out to the world. She creates the entire sales process from start to finish for webinars, digital products, ecommerce products, subscriptions, services and more.If you’re interested in staying on top of Facebook updates check out the Martin Marketing blog. Or feel free to reach out for a one-on-one session if you need additional coaching or ads management.
Have you tried Facebook ads? What has been your experience? What other questions do you have? Please let us know in the Comments below.
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You’ve heard me preach ad nauseum that your brand strategy informs everything your business does, inside and out. Even when it comes to how you thank your clients, customers or partners. You can refresh yourself on some good reasons to thank your tribe–and a few insanely clever ways to do it.
