More Than A Few Words

When I was a kid and the doorbell rang I would jump up and fling the door open in the hopes of entertaining a neighbor, friend or unexpected guest. But things have changed. We're a lot more cautious these days about who we invite into our homes and into our businesses. This creates real challenges for companies, particularly in the home service industry. How do you overcome this reluctance? The trick is to look for ways to make customers feel like they know you.  To do this, you could add photographs and bios of your team members to your website, show a little personality on social media and encourage reviews. There's nothing that will reassure a prospective customer about inviting you into their home like seeing a friend or neighbor say they've worked with you and would do it again.  So the next time you provide a service for someone be sure to ask them to leave a review.  And if you've enjoyed this conversation you can leave one too!

Since we were in middle school there's always been someone who said something negative about us. You'd think after all this time we'd learn how to respond but the truth is when you get a negative review or a negative social media comment it still hurts.  This week, guest David Oates shares some tips on how to deal with negative reviews and comments.  It all begins with empathy and action.  It is important to acknowledge the person writing the review is unhappy and open a dialogue, offline, to resolve the issue so others see you are willing to take action.   

When the phone rings, there's always that moment of excitement. This could be a customer! I've been through enough sales training so I feel comfortable moving prospects through that conversation. But at some point, the phone call ends. So what do you do to continue that conversation? While it will depend on how the conversation went, it's always helpful to have some resources ready to send as a follow up. What should you send? Regardless of the business you're in, think about what people need to know to make a good decision.  Perhaps there are common questions that don't come up in that first phone conversation. If so, create a blog post entitled FAQs. Google will absolutely love that. It'll give you authority and search. But also at the end of the call, you can say to someone "Hey, I bet you're going to have a few more questions when we're done. So I'm gonna send you a link to FAQs" The fact that you're anticipating their needs, reassures them and makes them feel comfortable that they're not the only ones wh

This week we are talking about positioning. I know that sounds like some techie, marketing thing that you need an MBA to figure out but it really isn't. Your position is simply what you want people to think about you when you're not in the room and to have that conversation.  My guest, Reuben Swartz shared his simply acronym MEGA as a way to think about your position statement in four simple pieces M- Magnetic - The key thing to remember is a magnet has two poles of equal strength. People make the mistake of trying to attract everybody. You can't do that. Your position should be a really powerful magnet that attracts your ideal clients and repels people who aren't so you avoid wasting time on bad fits.  E - Easy -  The job of positioning is to make sales and marketing easier. G - Gorilla -  You want to select a market where you can be the 800 pound gorilla in the room.  So define your brand and you niche narrow enough so that you can dominate.  A - Authentic - Your position should reflect you. Don't try to co

A friend of mine who is an improvisational artist, and a marketer told me there were many things he learned when studying improvisational comedy that he could apply to marketing. The first is the rule of the Yes. And…. In an improvisational interaction, anytime someone says anything, you immediately say yes. This behavior allows you to build on the ideas of others. That’s actually how the internet works. If you’re looking for content ideas, find something someone else has written, and apply the rule of yes and.  Create your own blog post by talking about what they said and add your own information on top of it. The second rule in improvisational comedy is to tell the truth. When an artist speaks about things that are true to them it is easier to connect to the audience with these shared experiences. The same can work for your content marketing. So as you’re getting ready to work on your next blog, or piece of content,  watch an episode of Saturday Night Live to channel your inner improvisational spirit.

In this episode Lorraine chat's with Maddie Osman about style guides. But the conversation is not about colors and fonts. Your brand is more than just colors and fonts, it is also about the words you choose. Your style guide sets tone for your brand.  Your word choice can be inclusive or exclusive, depending on the objectives of your content. Standardizing your word style will also help you save time as you create and edit content. 

It seems like every day there is some new tool or trend. So how do you decide which  new technology, software tools and digital trends deserve attention and resources and which don’t?  Over the years, I have developed a simply strategy to figure out which new technology and tools are right for me. Explore 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. Evaluate When I find new software tools which pique my curiosity, I switch over to evaluation mode.  I dive in and start  reading product reviews and searching for discussions on Twitter and LinkedIn. Then I kick the tires for myself to see if the product works the way they say it will. Next I evaluate  how this addition fits with the rest of my marketing program.  This is where many exciting ideas get sidelined 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

I know you think we've talked about email a lot but we're going to dive into  one of the most overlooked parts of your email marketing, the metrics Guest, Emily Maguire shares lessons learned over a decade sending successful email campaigns generating millions of dollars in revenue. She suggests that falling in love with open rates is a mistake. It doesn't matter how many people open your email, it only matters what they do next.  You can game the system to change your open rates, or use click bait headlines, but that won't actually help you sell more.   Engagement metrics, clicks, downloads, replies and even unsubscribes are much more reliable predictors of how well your email campaign is really performing.   LOOK FOR EMILY:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcguireemily/   

I hate to say I told you so. Well,  actually I like saying it because I enjoy being right. So I am very much enjoying the most recent announcement by Google that they are going to put even more emphasis on the quality of content on your website. They're going to penalize people with low quality, irrelevant and duplicate content.  So if you're purchasing content from a third party and that content is published on multiple sites with little or no change before it gets to your site you are putting your site at risk.  Not only will that that post be penalized, but you may site your entire website penalized. Why am I happy about this? Because,  for the last 15 years I've been telling people the key is good high quality content that answers real questions and gives people relevant information.  That content will not only satisfy visitors but search engines tool. So, this latest announcement by Google simply backs me up. If you're looking to learn more about how to create content based SEO be sure to check out our C

What do you do when external factors turn your entire business model upside down?  That's what happened to MeetUp.com at the beginning of their pandemic, as their entire in person meeting model collapsed. Founder, David Siegel explains how going back to their mission of bringing people together allowed them to successfully pivot, survive and actually thrive in the new economy. David Siegel is CEO of Meetup overseeing its global business, which has 52 million members, hosts 15,000 events daily, and has events in 193 countries David hosts Keep Connected, a podcast dedicated to the power of community and the author of Decide and Conquer: 44 Decisions That Make or Break All Leaders

You need to protect the marketing assets of your business. I got a call the other day from a client I hadn't worked with in 18 years. He wanted know if I still had the original art files for his business now. As strange as that sounds, in the old days I would have had that information but I sold my agency two years ago. The new owners don't have quite the file system I did so it took quite a while for them to find the artwork. Is that my fault? No, it's his! He should have known better after 18 years in business. He should have multiple copies of his logo. That's really what I want to drive home  -- This is your business.  These are your assets. It's great if you work with the marketing agency and they have copies of your logo and access to your website and other platforms. But you need to take responsibility Keep copies of your artwork and all the passwords for your website and other digital platforms.  And have all the renewals sent to you. s your business protect. It.

Owning a business is lots of fun. There are all sorts of reasons you do it. But at the end of the day. It's about the cash. Alvin Narsey considers cash a  fundamental metric for any kind of business.  Many business owners who fail to manage their cash end up in this situation:  Sales and revenue are up, but when they look in our bank account there's no cash.  So they wonder where all the money has gone.  If your business is tripping along at a much greater pace than what you've anticipated, having an idea of where the the cash flows through your business is super important. It gives transparency to your business.  And fixing your cash flow leads to a whole heap of other improvements in your business 

What is the Right Price for My Product? This is one of the most common questions business owners must answer. Defining your pricing strategy is critical to your success because it tells prospective customers a lot about your business, helping them place you in relationship to other companies in the market. So how do you come up with that price? There are many different approaches to pricing. Some are easier to implement and manage than others, and some are more appropriate for specific types of businesses. Let’s take a look at some of those alternatives to help you select the right pricing strategy for your business. Cost Plus Pricing Strategy The is the simplest approach and very common in construction and contracting industries. Essentially you start with what it cost you to build or to provide a service. Then you simply add your profit margin on top of that number. The “cost plus” your profit margin. If something costs $100 to build and you want to make $25, you sell it for $125. While the cost plus approa

Most business owners did not start out thinking they  were going to be sales people, but somewhere along the line they figured out that was what they had become.  Guest Susan Trumpler shares tips on how to manage the role none of us prepared for. One of her first tips is to remember how people make decisions. It is natural for us to rely on our primitive brain that was put into their head to keep them safe.  So the more you, as a seller, are in touch with how people think and why they make decisions the way they do the more successful you will be in moving them along the sales pathway.

You've all heard of the sales funnel this marketing model where every sales starts at the top with a large group of unqualified prospects. In the middle are people who are mildly interested and at the bottom of the customers,  In the traditional sales funnel model you put a lot of resources at that top of the funnel to bring in as many people as you possibly can. The problem is when you do that, there are very little resources left for that middle and bottom.  Those are the critical stages where you're actually converting prospects to customers and nurturing customer relationships. I want you to do is flip your sales funnel. Instead of spending most of your resources talking to everyone hoping someone will hear you. Using social media and email marketing you can target your message to reach and connect with smaller groups who are already familiar with your brand. Investing in marketing to these groups is much more likely to generate positive responses. So what do you talk about?  When it comes to prospects th

Testimonials are  marketing gold. But the trick is cultivate them.  So how do you get people to talk about you?  Guest, Erin Ollila breaks it down into two parts  sourcing testimonials and then using testimonials. She suggests the best way to source testimonials is to make it part of your process. Don't wait till the project is done and you are handing over the deliverable. Ask questions throughout the entire time you're working with them. The easiest way to implement this is to start asking clients throughout your process  what you are doing well and what could use improvement.  You will discover a  gold mine information of what to adjust to improve the customer's experience. In many cases it might be very simple tweaks that make the most improvement. And don't forget your previous clients.  Go back to ask them what is was like to work with you.

I started my career in retail. As a floor manager my job was to attract customers as they walked down the aisle of the store, to pull them into the department.  I organized the racks of clothing so they would browse from one to the next and stay in the area as long as possible. Funny thing is as a web designer that's still my job. As I approach the look and feel of a web page I need to think about what will pull a reader in and get them to stay. I plan how I will connect pages and make offers on individual pages that keep visitors engaged and on the site longer. You can tell if your marketing is working when you pay attention to your bounce rate are people coming and going or are they staying hanging around and trying on a few things. LEARN MORE ABOUT BUILDING STICKY WEBSITES. https://digitaltoolbox.club/register-is-your-website-ready-for-company/

Instagram is so much more than simple an app to share images of your favorite cocktail, flower or friend.  It is a powerful business tool with four separate features, or neighborhoods as guest Kendra Swalls likes to call them.  There is your feed, stories, reels and even an Instagram live feature.  She suggests you curate your your feed to be a resource library for your clients. Reels are short snippets designed to engage prospective clients and stories are the behind the scenes looks at your business and the more personal posts for friends, family and a smaller circle of clients.  You don't need to do it all at once., experiment with one type of post before adding others.  About Kendra Kendra is a mom of 2, photographer and  educator. In 2012 she started her first business, Paisley Layne Photography, and everything changed. What started as a hobby alongside her teaching career quickly turned into a successful business. In 2017 she left her teaching career behind to run her photography business and start the

I know you’re probably just starting out in your business. It is all really exciting and new. But, right from day one, you need to be thinking about building a business that someone else will want to buy someday. To do that, you need to lay that groundwork right from the beginning. Start by creating replicable processes and standard procedures which allow others to do tasks and keep things running when you want to step out of the equation. Even if you’re not ready to sell your business those standard procedures will allow you to take the one and two week vacations that get you refreshed and ready to focus on your business renewed and enthusiastic. Start building the business you want to sell someday, today.

Geotargeting is a valuable tool if you run a local business.  Connecting with customers around the block is what drives your business.  But guest, Krystal Covington suggests it can also be a valuable tool if you have a national or even international brand.  The trick is not to try to market everywhere all at once . Instead, be strategic and select an a attractive region.  Google Trends can help you do just that.  By studying the data you can find out which key words have grown in popularity and in which markets there is more interest in that particular term.   Now, instead of trying to run a national PPC campaign you can zero in and areas with a high level of interest.