More Than A Few Words

More than just marketing hype, your brand is about creating an impression of your company in the mind of your prospective customer. It is the basis on which all your other marketing should be built. More than ten years ago, Allison Carter and I discussed how a brand position defines who you are and who you serve.  It isn't marketing copy, but a clear outline of what you want customers to think about when they hear your name. A positioning statement contains the following elements: Description of the target customer Benefits sought by the target customer to solve a specific problem Your unique solution

My friend Michelle McNally, the Executive Vice President of Customer Success for BoxCrush dropped by to talk about the importance of safeguarding digital assets, including passwords and resources. We talked about the key elements  business owners should have control over to ensure the security and accessibility of their online assets. Michelle highlights the common challenges faced by business owners and marketing departments when it comes to managing these assets. She stresses the importance of having access to domain ownership and Google properties, such as Analytics, Search Console, Tag Manager, Google Ads, and Google Business Profile, to create a robust online presence. The conversation also delves into the necessity of having contingency plans and multiple accounts to ensure access in case an individual or agency loses access or control. Michelle emphasizes the need for business owners to be actively involved in maintaining ownership of these assets and not solely relying on agencies. They discuss the in

When asked about their branding style, I often hear business owners say they "want to look like Apple." They admire the clean, sleek design. They imagine their brand will seem modern, authentic, high-tech, hip, cool and smart if they incorporate some of the same style elements into their brand. But it is usually a bad idea. Don't get me wrong, I love Apple's branding for Apple. It just rarely works out for other brands. Why? Business owners won't walk the talk. Apple styling requires lots of white space in your design. The clean, minimal effect is created by using color sparingly and keeping fonts to one or two styles. The Apple brand is stark, and most business owners can't resist the urge to clutter the designs. When faced with their brand in Apple style, they ask for more text, maybe a cute piece of clip art or a stock photo. The result is visually confusing. Not every brand should look like Apple. It's okay if you don't look like Apple. One of the cool things about the world of branding is the diversity o

In this podcast episode of "More than a Few Words," host Lorraine Ball interviews Geoffrey Klein, a story expert, TEDx speaker, and content producer, about creating captivating content. Klein's new book, "The Content Beast," serves as a guide to crafting remarkable content. The conversation revolves around the challenge of making content stand out and the art of storytelling. Klein suggests that a key element of compelling content is understanding and catering to the audience. He introduces the concept of the "eleventh commandment": knowing your audience. Instead of making content solely about oneself or the business, it should be geared towards the audience's needs, interests, and pain points. Klein proposes a simple yet powerful storytelling structure called the "Story Pad," which includes the elements of Pain (beginning), Answer (middle), and Difference (end). By identifying the audience's problems, offering solutions, and illustrating the transformative impact of those solutions, content can resonate more

​I had a wonderfully, thought-provoking conversation with Jon Rogers about a unique strategy for business growth – the idea of buying businesses rather than building them from scratch. Jon shares his insights into how wealth accumulation is often driven by acquiring and merging existing businesses rather than starting from the ground up. He emphasizes that these principles can be applied by anyone, not just the top 1% of wealthy individuals, and explains how the lower 99% can also benefit from this approach. Lorraine is intrigued by this unconventional strategy, and John goes on to discuss the reasons behind the appeal of buying businesses instead of building them. The interview delves into practical steps for those interested in pursuing this strategy. He provides a step-by-step guide on how to get started with business acquisition, including identifying the type of business to buy, how to structure the purchase, and various financing options that make it accessible to those with limited capital. He highligh

Are you clocking in early and burning the midnight oil every single day? As a small business owner you may feel that is required to get ahead, but it doesn't have to be the pattern for your days. It's not when you waltz in, but how well you dance as you hit the floor. The art of time management is an elusive dance, but here are a few simple steps that will help you glide to success. Create a daily to-do list. Instead of drowning in a sea of week-long and month-long chores use this lean list of the musts for the day ahead to help you get things done. Whether you wield the inked charm of old-school notepads or the digital finesse of tools like Insightly or Todoist, the magic lies in breaking the workload into bite-sized chunks. Today's tasks stay in the spotlight; the rest wait their turn. Master the art of the elegant "No." Don’t put stress and pressure on yourself by taking on additional tasks when you know you can’t complete your current workload. You’re setting yourself up for failure. If you have to add a

In this podcast interview, I had a chance to chat with Che Brown, about the importance of building a high-performing sales team for entrepreneurs aiming to achieve 7 or 8-figure businesses. Che emphasizes the primary challenge facing entrepreneurs today is often insufficient revenue to realize their visions. He highlights five crucial steps to create a 7-figure sales team. Che's first step is to hire a sales representative who works on a commission basis, emphasizing that this person only gets paid when the entrepreneur gets paid, making it a low-risk investment. The second step involves establishing a sales affiliate team, individuals who promote and sell specific products or services on a commission basis, creating a mutually beneficial relationship. The third step focuses on building a sales ambassador team, consisting of individuals who believe in the entrepreneur's mission and goals, providing unwavering support. Che underscores the significance of using systems over goals, explaining that sales systems

Almost ten years ago, I had a conversation with Juett.  We discussed the fact that people just don’t have the same attention span they used to. You need to get to the point quickly if you want to hold their attention. Surprisingly, our tips on how to keep visitors with short attention spans interested and engaged is as relevant today as it was almost a decade ago. Listen now to learn how to implement writing techniques like lists and engaging headings to capture your audience at a glance and get them to continue reading. And how to make your content visually appealing to bring readers in. Highlights Create content at a glance. Use visual cues to grab your readers and keep them hooked. The title may be all you have to catch someone’s attention so make it count. People like lists. They hope you can solve all their issues in just five easy steps. Guide the reader with headers and subheads.

I started my career in retail as the floor manager. It was my job to attract customers as they walked down the aisle, to pull them into the department and get them to stay.  I would organize the racks of clothing so that they would browse from one to the next and stay in the area as long as possible. Hopefully they would stay until they bought something.  Funny thing, as a web designer that was still my job.  When I I looked at the design of a website I would think about how I was going to pull a reader in and get them to stay. I created plans to connect pages and make offers on individual pages that kept visitors engaged  Is your marketing working?  Look at your bounce rate to see if people are coming and going or hanging out and trying on a few things?  

Deb Schell  joins me for a conversation about building and nurturing communities. Deb emphasizes that in today's information age, communities play a vital role in facilitating learning and implementation of new ideas, connecting people with similar challenges or goals. She also highlights the need for business owners to focus on the people, purpose, and problem-solving within their communities rather than fixating on platforms. Deb suggests building your community by identifying ideal members within your existing network and understanding their challenges and needs. The choice of platform is secondary to the community's concept, structure, and validation. She stresses the importance of creating spaces for members to engage with each other and providing clear guidance and incentives for participation. The conversation also touches on the importance of balancing online and in-person interactions and avoiding overwhelming community members with too many options. Deb Schell's insights and experience in community

I've heard it said that entrepreneurs need three things  - smarts, guts and luck. Your smarts can be street smarts, book smarts or creative smarts. You've got to be able to use your intelligence to navigate decisions rationally and analytically. You must have the guts to go after your big ideas. You need courage to put yourself out there and not worry others would think. You need to be brave enough to try things even if other people think you are crazy. And Luck? Even with smarts and guts sometimes you just need things to fall your way. These elements are all critical, but there is one more thing every entrepreneur needs and that is friends. Everyone loves the image of the solo entrepreneur working in the basement into the wee hours of the morning but great leaders in successful companies surround themselves with friends.  You should too. Good friends serve as your sounding board. They'll let be there to bounce ideas and brainstorm without judgment.  They will help you think through the tough issues and recha

This week I had a chance to chat with Jeanette Stein, a seasoned business coach who specializes in using AI and automation for business growth. She shared insights into how to harness AI while maintaining a personalized touch, overcome SEO concerns, and develop a distinct brand voice. As a writer, I am just a bit nervous about using AI for website copy but Jeanette emphasizes the importance of maintaining a human element while interacting with AI, guiding it with prompts to create tailored content. She suggests starting with prompts like asking AI to generate questions about your business for the homepage. By specifying tone, goals, and desired emotional impact, content can be customized effectively. Stein recommends consistency in prompts for branding purposes, and even uses a cheat sheet acronym called VIBRANT to enhance AI responses' specificity. To address SEO concerns and differentiation, Stein recommends steering clear of copying and pasting AI-generated content. Instead, she advocates for refining AI r

How do you decide which software tools and digital trends deserve attention and resources and which don’t? So how did I answer the question? Simple, our strategy is explore, evaluate and embrace. The first part of the strategy is staying ahead of the curve by reading, reading, reading. There’s no single expert in the field so I have several websites I check on a regular basis. When I find new software tools which pique my curiosity, I switch over to evaluation mode.  I dive into by reading product reviews and searching for discussions on Twitter and LinkedIn. Then we kick the tires for ourselves to see if the product works the way they say it will. Finally, we look at how this addition fits with the rest of the marketing program.  This is where many exciting ideas get sideline because even if a tool looks great, if it doesn’t fit with everything else you’re doing, it’s not a great fit for you. And finally you need to embrace and this is where you have to make a decision to go big or go home and admit the reso

In this episode  I have a chance to chat with Richard Rosser about the intersection of artificial intelligence and storytelling. Richard shares tips on how to use AI for brainstorming story ideas. He explains ChatGPT can generate concepts and case scenarios for various situations. Instead of spending hours sifting through search engine results, ChatGPT provides focused and organized information. He elaborates on the potential of AI to craft stories from prompts and how to use AI to refine your story, and transform complex technical descriptions into content your audience can relate to. 

One of the things I love about living in Indiana is the color the seasons. There are bright pastels in the spring and rich greens in the summer and bright oranges and yellows in the fall. The exception is winter. Those dreary days of winter seem colorless and bland compared to the vibrancy of the colors throughout the rest of the year. That's why I love evergreen trees. They bring spots of color all year long. And just as those wonderful trees bring consistent color to my yard. evergreen content brings spots of color to your marketing content. What is evergreen content? It's information that is always relevant to readers. Unlike seasonal content or breaking news it answers questions your customers have every single day. Breaking news gets stale but evergreen doesn't. So as you're looking at your total content calendar make sure you have several pieces of evergreen content to add consistent color. 

In this episode, the spotlight is on the challenging decisions that small business owners face amidst economic uncertainties. Joining the conversation is Beate Chelette, the growth architect and founder of the Women's Code. Beate equips visionary leaders with strategies, blueprints, and growth maps to enhance business systems, strengthen leadership skills, and maximize profits. With her insights, she guides clients to amplify their impact and scale their businesses. Thriving Amidst Turbulence Beate and i, delve into strategies for small business owners to thrive regardless of economic fluctuations. The conversation starts by addressing the common dilemma of whether to expand or contract during uncertain times. Beate emphasizes a key principle: if competitors are retreating, it's an opportunity to advance. Amidst external challenges, she advises entrepreneurs to focus on their confidence, unapologetic value proposition, and maintaining a strong online presence. Unlocking Customer Insights Beate emphasizes the

Some people think that chaos is a dirty word. But as my guest Robert Raymond Riopel suggests, a little bit of chaos in your life is a good thing.  If you missed this conversation when it was first released in 2021, you definitely want to check it out now.  He suggests that as as human beings, one of our primary functions is to evolve and chaos is actually what forces us to evolve.  When you courageously volunteer for chaos, instead of allowing it to overwhelm you can takes steps to proactively change and improve your situation.  

If you're getting ready to hire someone new or add a person to your advisory board it is easy to look for someone with whom you'll get along.  That, however, might not be the best choice. What you often need is someone who can compliment your weaknesses  and fill in the blanks in your skill set.  Very often the person who does that is the Yin to your Yang. They're your opposite and so while they bring that fresh perspective and different skills they can also make you a little crazy because they're not going to see the world the way you do. But, if you want to grow your business you need that other perspective. You need people who will challenge your ideas,  make you think and see the world in different ways.

If you are like most business owners you have lots of great ideas.  As a matter of fact you have so many ideas it is hard to get any of them done.  In this episode, Annelise Worn shares her insights on the importance of aligning business goals with one's desired lifestyle and values. Her approach involves reverse engineering an idea by starting with the vision of the business and life you aspire to lead. She emphasizes the significance of breaking down goals into three distinct time frames: three years, one year, and three months. This incremental approach enables entrepreneurs to map out realistic steps and monitor their progress more effectively. She highlights the necessity of acknowledging potential obstacles and building them into the plan, ensuring better preparation for contingencies.  

Every time I go to the gym I see people using weights that are clearly too heavy for them. There is pain in their faces as they struggle to lift the extra weight. They are risking injury every time they do that.  My trainer always suggests I work with lighter weights which allows me to perfect the motion. I can do more repetitions and will build muscle as well as the people who struggle with the weights that are too big. There is a marketing lesson here.  Instead of running one very big campaign that blows your budget and exhausts you, consider doing more smaller campaigns. This will allows you to perfect your messaging and build brand strength slowly over time.