I questioned my decision to blog about content being king. It’s old news. Everyone knows it, right? But after a few recent meetings with prospects (now clients), I realized that too many small business owners and entrepreneurs have gotten so lost in the realm of social media execution, that they have totally lost sight of the importance of content. It's the content that adds value to your audience, not all the intricacies of how you distribute it.

The questions I receive are around how often should I post, what should I post, when should I post, how long should a post be…  

I see entrepreneurs looking outward for answers. What is the ‘other’ person doing? What tool should I use?

I encourage YOU to break out of this nonsense and shine! Look inward. What do you want to share and why? Focus less on the details of execution and focus more on how YOU interrelate with your business. Focus more on knowing what sets you apart – not because you want to ‘kill’ the competition, but because you...

Now that you have set your holiday goals, defined your audience and created your offer, it’s time to talk about marketing!

So where to start? You can promote in so many ways: online posts, a community newspaper, by partnering with neighboring businesses, via print advertising, big banners, banner ads, direct mail, online ads, email marketing and yes, even personal invitations! We’ll cover a few of these options below, be sure to take some time and think creatively. How does your audience expect to hear from you? What would represent a pleasant, unexpected surprise? In today’s busy world, what would make them stop and take action?

Marketing Events: Is your offer is in conjunction with an event, such as Small Business Saturday, or an event of your own creation? If so, be sure to start promoting your event with both in-store signs and on social media well before your event. When it comes to social, customers love behind the scenes content. You can even build and promote an event on Face...

Now that you’ve thought about your goals and your audience, it’s time to determine what product or service you’re promoting and what type of incentive will excite your customers enough to take action! We’ll do this in a few simple steps.

1. Think back to your best customer. What product or service of yours would they really want or need right now or that they would LOVE to share with one of their loved ones. Maybe it’s an amazing bag or accessory, a local piece of art, a hand-crafted candle, a trending kitchen or tech gadget, a smartly sourced article of clothing, or even a craft project that will release their creativity or a coaching program to help them jump start the new year. Or maybe it’s based on how you package different products or services to add value and to make their shopping experience easy and fun! What will really WOW your audience?
2. Now think about what type of incentive typically inspires your ideal client to take action. Does your audience typically respond more to 1
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If you read our first blog, you already have at least one holiday marketing goal in mind. Now that you have your goals in mind, it’s time to focus on your audience. Think about any time you see an ad, whether it’s on TV, in magazine, in a newspaper, or perhaps even an online ad in Facebook or on Instagram. Those ads are all doing the same thing. They are trying to talk to – or connect – with their intended audience. This is what you want to do with your offer. You want to connect with your audience in a meaningful, inspiring way. But first, you need to determine who you’re talking to. The more you can visualize your audience, the more you can connect with them.

So, who is the audience you want to connect with for your offer? A great way to start is by considering who your VERY BEST customer or client is and then create an offer that appeals to that person. When you think about this person, think about their generalities, their demographics. What age range do they represent? What’s the...

It’s not too late to prepare your holiday marketing plan! Whether you own a brick & mortar or an online business, if you’re planning on doing any type of offer, sale or event for the holidays, now’s the time to start planning. The first step to achieving your holiday success is by creating a compelling offer that resonates with your audience, and this step beings with setting your holiday marketing goals!

The holidays present an amazing time of year on so many levels. Besides general holiday events and sales, there are many national days of recognition just around the corner. #SmallBusinessSaturday #CyberMonday #Giving Tuesday. Each of these days provide great opportunities to connect with new customers, increase your brand awareness and meet new revenue goals.

Another great thing about the holidays… the energy! It can be a magical time of year, there’s a buzz in the air. As individuals let their guard down, relax a little from their work environment, holiday networking can easily re...

In part 3 of my Design and Layout series, I’ll share my personal thoughts on where your call-to-action (CTA) should be placed within your email campaign. Let me preface my opinion with a statement. “Sometimes I don’t believe in best practices.”

There, I said it! Having created email campaigns for several years, for a wide range of clients, using various layouts, I can honestly say it does not matter. I know you will find A LOT of marketers who disagree with this statement, so perhaps I should clarify my opinion.

The placement of your call-to-action does matter. However, I do not believe a single ‘best practice’ recommendation can be made that works for everyone in every situation.

You can have great results with a call-to-action just about anywhere in your email. It can be above the fold, below the fold, as a huge button, as a text link, as an image, bright and bold, soft and subtle, within a caption to an image or video, and yes, even as an extra tiny link at the VERY end of your e...

I was reading the book Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend at a local coffee ☕shop, when the individual next to me interposed himself into my thoughtful reflections. I love intriguing conversations, so I put the book aside and we began talking 💬 about boundaries in life.

He had a background in chemistry⚗️, so we found ourselves discussing the permeability of cell membranes (boundaries), and how when one item comes in, another must go out in order to maintain balance. My short background in biochemistry helped me know where he was going with this.

This individual had a number of autoimmune disorders, as well as difficulty walking. He digressed into how, especially with chronic illnesses, some friends cease to be ‘real friends’ – but he also talked about the beauty of the situation. He explained that when one friend ceases to be a friend, you now have room for a new friend, and how his new friends who ‘permeated’ into his current life represent much deeper and caring re...

In my last blog, I talked about the importance of using a mobile responsive template to ensure the best experience for your readers. Having a mobile responsive template that looks great across all types of devices is the first step to designing an email that encourages engagement. Now, let's look at ways you can increase customer engagement WITHIN the email itself. We’ll start with interactive email elements.

What are Interactive Email Elements

Features that allow your readers to take action within your email are referred to interactive email elements. They include polls, videos, shopping cart integrations and forms. Interactive email elements act much in the same way as elements on a website. They allow readers to actions without ever leaving your email.

Why Use Interactive Email Elements

There are so many reasons to use interactive elements! Interactive elements provide convenience to your readers, improve engagement and ultimately help increase your revenue. Too often, we as bus...

If your email marketing is falling short of your goals or expectations, perhaps it’s time to step back and look at your email design. Let’s look at everything from your template, use of interactive elements, placement of your call-to-action, to your colors and images. Let’s jump right in!

Is your Email Marketing Template Mobile Responsive?

This one may seem obvious, but if you haven’t heard of mobile responsive templates, please allow me to shed some light on why they are SO IMPORTANT!

Think about all the different devices you, your friends, your colleagues, and anyone else you know use to access digital information. Desktops, tablets, smart phones… Now consider that on each device information can be viewed differently. On a desktop, you can minimize your screen size to only display on a portion of your screen, small or large. Tablets and phones can be viewed holding the device upright (vertical) or by rotating the device sideways (horizontal). Then add to the picture all the differ...

Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, you could market to, engage with and simply update most of your Facebook fans simply by posting an update to your business Facebook page. It was easy and quite a few of your fans even took the time to engage with your post! And... other than your time, it was FREE! 

Seems like a long time ago! We all know that in order to reach any significant portion of your Facebook audience now, you need to pay-to-play, just to even get your message to the audience base YOU built over time. Have you noticed that the cost to reach your own fans on Facebook, let alone new prospects, is ever-increasing? 

If we want to take this story one step further, let's remember that you do not own the social media platforms that you post on. Platforms come and go, rules change, and all your hard work building your audience can be gone along with a platform... remember Myspace?

Don't get me wrong, I 100% support engagement and advertising through social media and be...