Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane. Remember the good old days when your boss was conducting a meeting in the large conference room; you knew when it was about to start because you could hear the squeaking of the wheels as the projector was rolled into the room. Then, the lights would go out and the key meeting points would be hand-written with an expo marker--boy weren’t those the days!
"How far do you live from Waco, TX?" "Do you watch HGTV?" "Have you seen Chip and Joanna?" These are questions I've heard from California to Pennsylvania and Kansas to Tennessee.
People are just obsessed with Chip and Joanna Gaines, a couple living on a farm in central Texas who spends their days remodeling dilapidated homes. These are just normal folks, flipping inexpensive houses in a small town. They decorate the homes with vintage farm items, decorate with painted exposed paneling (now called shiplap), and have their friend repurpose some old wood into a dining room table.
If I told you five years ago that this would have people glued to their TV waiting for the big reveal, or traveling to a town plagued by bad press to shop at a store in an abandoned rusty silo, you would think I was truly crazy. If I told you this was big business, including real estate, a Bed and Breakfast, a store front, a bakery and branded items, you would want on-board.
People are just obsessed with Chip and Joanna Gaines, a couple living on a farm in central Texas who spends their days remodeling dilapidated homes. These are just normal folks, flipping inexpensive houses in a small town. They decorate the homes with vintage farm items, decorate with painted exposed paneling (now called shiplap), and have their friend repurpose some old wood into a dining room table.
If I told you five years ago that this would have people glued to their TV waiting for the big reveal, or traveling to a town plagued by bad press to shop at a store in an abandoned rusty silo, you would think I was truly crazy. If I told you this was big business, including real estate, a Bed and Breakfast, a store front, a bakery and branded items, you would want on-board.
If you have been following my blog series on Lead Generation, you know that you need to have an offer to engage your prospects. If you missed that blog, you can check it how HERE.
The offer is basically the carrot, now what you need is the pole and string from which to dangle that well-crafted carrot and to get your prospects to act or engage.
What gets our audience to reach for the carrot is your call-to-action (CTA). When effectively crafted, they will capture people’s attention and persuading them to act.
Not all CTAs are effective or will result in action. It's important to consider what your competitors are offering and then determine why someone may choose your offer over the competition.
Once you have your offer decided, now it's time to get the word out. Here's how:
The offer is basically the carrot, now what you need is the pole and string from which to dangle that well-crafted carrot and to get your prospects to act or engage.
What gets our audience to reach for the carrot is your call-to-action (CTA). When effectively crafted, they will capture people’s attention and persuading them to act.
Not all CTAs are effective or will result in action. It's important to consider what your competitors are offering and then determine why someone may choose your offer over the competition.
Once you have your offer decided, now it's time to get the word out. Here's how:
How do you respond to a week that goes completely opposite as planned? In business we know that having processes in place is what makes for efficient operations, but what about when those operations don't work?
My week has been anything but normal and this disruption may be just what my businesses needed. When you hear the term disruption, do you think of a disturbance that interrupts an event, activity, or process? Or do you think of it as Clayton Christensen has defined: a disruption that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market, displacing the established?
What I have found is that these can be two-sides of the same coin. I realize that saying both definitions of 'disruption' work together is a bit like saying we should make lemonade out of the lemons we've been dealt.
Here's how I made something positive out of a week that went off the typical process.
My week has been anything but normal and this disruption may be just what my businesses needed. When you hear the term disruption, do you think of a disturbance that interrupts an event, activity, or process? Or do you think of it as Clayton Christensen has defined: a disruption that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market, displacing the established?
What I have found is that these can be two-sides of the same coin. I realize that saying both definitions of 'disruption' work together is a bit like saying we should make lemonade out of the lemons we've been dealt.
Here's how I made something positive out of a week that went off the typical process.
Google Analytics can be a very effective tool for entrepreneurs if you know how to use it correctly. Not only does it inform you of your sites digital traffic flow and about new incoming traffic; it also helps raise revenue for your apps or online business sites. Amazing right?
The trend for small businesses is not adding more staff, but hiring an industry expert partner. Managing employees takes investment in training, paying for benefits, and so on. Even worse, what if that individual is not the right fit for you business culture, then what?
What makes more sense is to hire a partner that off-sets the business owners weaknesses. Not as an employee, but as an adviser.
Here are some key reasons entrepreneurs should consider the outsourcing route.
What makes more sense is to hire a partner that off-sets the business owners weaknesses. Not as an employee, but as an adviser.
Here are some key reasons entrepreneurs should consider the outsourcing route.
Know the basics of social media marketing
Published in Marketing
Almost everyone knows about Twitter and Facebook. Most might know LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. But, does using any of these Social Media platforms to promote your business seem confusing and not exactly intuitive to you?
You’re not alone. It seems like there's a new hot platform every day. You feel like you barely know how to use Facebook or Twitter in your personal life. And now, some millennial is going to tell you that you need to be using social media to market your business?
The world is changing and social media hasn’t faded away. Blogs are more popular than ever, and everyone who is a part of that world or wants to get into it needs to be using social media. It isn’t just for bloggers though, if you have a small to medium business – it will help you too.
Social Media helps your business gain exposure, generate traffic to your website, and promote your blog. I know it seems difficult, but really it’s easy and inexpensive. They’re generally free to join and give you a wide audience to reach.
You’re not alone. It seems like there's a new hot platform every day. You feel like you barely know how to use Facebook or Twitter in your personal life. And now, some millennial is going to tell you that you need to be using social media to market your business?
The world is changing and social media hasn’t faded away. Blogs are more popular than ever, and everyone who is a part of that world or wants to get into it needs to be using social media. It isn’t just for bloggers though, if you have a small to medium business – it will help you too.
Social Media helps your business gain exposure, generate traffic to your website, and promote your blog. I know it seems difficult, but really it’s easy and inexpensive. They’re generally free to join and give you a wide audience to reach.
How to Beat Social Media Algorithm Changes
Published in Marketing
Social Media is a series of ever-changing algorithms that are supposed to help customers better find the product or service for which they are searching. However as entrepreneurs, social media can be a frustrating marketing tool that changes the minute you figure it out. It is also becoming more clear that social media is not about how many posts, but what you post that will make the difference.
At Marketing Eye Dallas our job is to watch these changes and determine the best means of keeping your product or service in front of your target market. Similar to the job of a financial advisor who watches the stock market, Marketing Eye Dallas guides its clients on when to adjust your marketing strategy, when to be patience, and when to try something new based on changes in marketing channels and tools.
If you haven't been watching every new article on the changes for each social media platform, let us fill you in on what is new.
At Marketing Eye Dallas our job is to watch these changes and determine the best means of keeping your product or service in front of your target market. Similar to the job of a financial advisor who watches the stock market, Marketing Eye Dallas guides its clients on when to adjust your marketing strategy, when to be patience, and when to try something new based on changes in marketing channels and tools.
If you haven't been watching every new article on the changes for each social media platform, let us fill you in on what is new.
6 Traits Your Marketer Must Have
Published in Marketing
Why are some marketers more successful than others? Is it that they are smarter? Do they have a secret sauce? Are they just in the right place at the right time, surrounded by the right people?
After years in corporate marketing and now operating Marketing Eye Dallas, I've seen some exceptional marketers and a few others who I'm surprised can even call themselves a marketer. So what separates a wannabe marketer from someone who is really effective?
Here are the fundamentals that all exceptional marketers live by to be successful at their craft.
After years in corporate marketing and now operating Marketing Eye Dallas, I've seen some exceptional marketers and a few others who I'm surprised can even call themselves a marketer. So what separates a wannabe marketer from someone who is really effective?
Here are the fundamentals that all exceptional marketers live by to be successful at their craft.
Project vs. Retainer Outsource Marketing: Why the Decision is a Piece Of Cake
Published in Marketing
Who doesn't love good cake? It tastes great, smells wonderful, can be absolutely beautiful and is the center piece of many celebrations. All you need is a good recipe, good ingredients and a decent baker.
If you were to taste each of the cake ingredients on their own, most would be downright awful. A poor recipe can leave you with a cake that is flat, dry, dense or in many other ways unpleasant.
So why so much talk about cake, no it's not the mid-afternoon need of a pick-me-up. It's that marketing is very similar to that of baking a cake. Marketing components do not function as well individually as they do when implemented together under a single strategy.
As you move forward with any marketing plan consider how outsourcing marketing to a company with full oversight differs from outsourcing each piece ad hoc.
If you were to taste each of the cake ingredients on their own, most would be downright awful. A poor recipe can leave you with a cake that is flat, dry, dense or in many other ways unpleasant.
So why so much talk about cake, no it's not the mid-afternoon need of a pick-me-up. It's that marketing is very similar to that of baking a cake. Marketing components do not function as well individually as they do when implemented together under a single strategy.
As you move forward with any marketing plan consider how outsourcing marketing to a company with full oversight differs from outsourcing each piece ad hoc.
