Digital Breakthrough
Change is inevitable. I know. Cliché. But wait. I want you to pause there. Just sit with the idea of “change” for a minute. Even if it makes you a feel a little uncomfortable. When I think about the implication of change, my mind lands on two possible perspectives — bad and good. First, change (just for the sake of change) can often lead to chaos. Sometimes its needless and wasteful. The fear of change is real and can be paralyzing for some folks. Change can hurt. On the flip side, change can sometimes be exactly what you need. A...
read moreCommon Digital Marketing Challenges for Small Businesses – Number 6: Lead Generation
Regardless how you approach digital marketing, the overarching goal is to always create trust with your readers (potential customers) that ultimately leads to new business for you. That earned trust leads them to specifically seek out more information from you… and they become willing to share information with you regarding their needs and how you can best serve them. This is how your small business can generate leads from your digital marketing strategy. A visitor who reads your content — whether it’s a newsletter, blog, email, social media...
read moreCommon Digital Marketing Challenges for Small Businesses – Number 5: Email Marketing
This week’s blog is less about challenges and more about a missed opportunity. If small business owners listen to some naysayers and assume that email marketing isn’t effective —they could be missing out on one of the best performing marketing tactics they can implement. If you’re a small business owner — regardless of industry — email marketing can help you create and maintain better customer relationships and build a stronger brand to help you keep growing. Creating your own email newsletter can deliver great benefits to your business....
read moreCommon Digital Marketing Challenges for Small Businesses – Number 4: Self-Promotion
So, you’ve made the move to increase your digital marketing footprint. You have the desire, the new website, ideas for the kinds of content you want to share — you’ve even created some of that great content. Good for you. Now, what are you going to do with it? Even if you have great content that delivers real and relevant value to your target audience, there’s another critical element to this marketing equation – promoting the content and yourself. Blatant self-promotion! There are many ways you can start to get your content...
read moreCommon Digital Marketing Challenges for Small Businesses – Number 3: Demystifying “Great” Content
Honestly, if I hear the phrase “content is king” one more time I may lose my mind. However, it’s SO TRUE. That’s why nobody else has come up with another mantra that so accurately describes the need for good content. Regardless whether you have a good looking website or not, without valuable and relevant content, your marketing efforts won’t deliver the results you want. So, first of all, let’s take the mystery out of this very overused word — content. You hear it all the time, but exactly what is it and do you recognize it when...
read moreCommon Digital Marketing Challenges for Small Businesses – Number 2: Understanding Your Audience
In the last blog entry about common digital marketing challenges for small businesses, I talked about the importance of your website and being found online effectively. This week, I’m going to turn to another common issue that I hear from some of my small business clients — understanding their audience. Sure, most often small businesses have a general idea of their customer base (determining who has purchased previously is a no-brainer if you just look at sales history)… but I’m talking about deeper insights that can help...
read moreCommon Digital Marketing Challenges for Small Businesses – Number 1: Your Website
I absolutlely think one of the BIGGEST digital marketing challenges that small business have is their ability to be found online effectively when potential customers are searching for services they offer. That’s why I think most successful businesses live and die by the effectiveness of their company website. Almost 100% of business transactions start online in some fashion with a search query or research… and to succeed in today’s business environment you must be found online. Many small businesses look for a designer or...
read moreMoney Where My Mouth Is
Well… since I just tweeted that “I still believe in the power of blogs” I better get one up or all of you will certainly call me out. I do believe in blogging. There is no better way to communicate passion, vision, thought leadership, critical insights for a specific industry… and the list can go on and on. It doesn’t have to be laborious process or a certain length. Just authentic and for a purpose. That purpose can be for persuasion, education, advocacy or whatever else you deem important and relevant. The key...
read moreCollaboration
Collaboration is critical to the success of our business. And, if you are like us — increasingly so for your organization as well. For a great synopsis about collaboration from a blog/newsletter I follow faithfully, Click here . It’s good stuff.
read moreRelevance: A State of Mind
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about relevance. I’ve had conversations with clients, co-workers, family members, friends, and even a pastor or two. (hey… they are still very relevant.) I’ve had peers (& competitors) ask me about remaining relevant. The nerve. Do I feel ongoing pressure to be relevant? Well… of course. Duh. In my world, what does relevance look like? Is it the kind of pants I wear? Maybe. Is it whether my shirt is tucked in or out? I hope not. Is it whether my hair is almost completely white...
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