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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.
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.
Published in Marketing
One of the greatest strengths of small business is their ability to be agile and to respond quickly to market fluctuations. One thing that can create a drag on the business is managing functions of your business that are foreign to your core business model or take away from daily operations or billable work.
There are very few businesses today that can grow without a marketing model in place. Even if your client base continues to buy from you, think at how much more you could grow if you expanded your sphere of potential clients.
So how do you expand your business and implement a marketing model, without adding a staff function you need to manage? The Answer: Hire a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer.
There are very few businesses today that can grow without a marketing model in place. Even if your client base continues to buy from you, think at how much more you could grow if you expanded your sphere of potential clients.
So how do you expand your business and implement a marketing model, without adding a staff function you need to manage? The Answer: Hire a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer.
Published in Marketing
I attend many networking events. While I always being the "authentic me," my tone differs at a breakfast networking event at 7:30 am vs. a happy hour at 7:30 pm. With social media, your tone should change as well from one platform to another. So what is the difference between your company's voice and its tone and what tone is appropriate to use on each platform?
Published in Marketing
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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.
Published in Marketing
I know the advice is usually Always Be Closing, but I think testing your marketing not only comes first but it's a critical element in bringing people to the table so you can close them.
User testing is a best practice in marketing. No element of the plan or facet of execution is exempt from the drive to find a better way. So unless you're considering a better way to present your plan to management or a way to connect people with the right content sooner you may be overlooking a better way to better results.
I'm all for user testing. As an agency copywriter I worked on Fortune 500 accounts. User testing gave us precise data on what worked for them. Commercial formats were described by the test-winning techniques, plots and actions they contained. Another highly targeted B2B company restricted colored headlines and concept graphics for ground breaking announcements figuring if they used them for everything they would use up the high scoring magic. My requests to test something new were put off in place of tests that combined known winning elements such as a bigger graphic plus a colored headline.
User testing is a best practice in marketing. No element of the plan or facet of execution is exempt from the drive to find a better way. So unless you're considering a better way to present your plan to management or a way to connect people with the right content sooner you may be overlooking a better way to better results.
I'm all for user testing. As an agency copywriter I worked on Fortune 500 accounts. User testing gave us precise data on what worked for them. Commercial formats were described by the test-winning techniques, plots and actions they contained. Another highly targeted B2B company restricted colored headlines and concept graphics for ground breaking announcements figuring if they used them for everything they would use up the high scoring magic. My requests to test something new were put off in place of tests that combined known winning elements such as a bigger graphic plus a colored headline.
Published in Marketing
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On this St. Patrick's Day each year we talk a lot about 'Luck of the Irish'. Even the person beside me in my morning networking meeting mentioned how today was a lucky day and he was going to win one of the door prize giveaways. He didn't, but I did so maybe he passed a little luck my way.
In business, people may claim others are lucky or may dismiss the idea of luck all together. Here are five ways we can increase our odds at being lucky?
In business, people may claim others are lucky or may dismiss the idea of luck all together. Here are five ways we can increase our odds at being lucky?
Published in Small Business Marketing
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There was a time when personal networks, the neighborhood grapevine and the yellow pages were the extent of a B2B company's marketing plan. Times have changed and the way customers buy is much different. No one is waiting around for a sales person to ring or share more about a company's product or service.
Now, customers walk around with a computer in their hand at all times. If a question comes to mind, there is an answer at your fingertips. Ever view a group of people waiting to walk into a meeting, to get on a flight, or pick to their child up from practice? They are all on their phones.
Depending on the product, 50% - 80% of the buying decision has been narrowed down or determined before a salesperson is ever engaged.
So, what does this mean for you? It means that if your marketing strategy does not include proper web communication and mobility, social media and digital communications, you are missing a big part of your audience.
Now, customers walk around with a computer in their hand at all times. If a question comes to mind, there is an answer at your fingertips. Ever view a group of people waiting to walk into a meeting, to get on a flight, or pick to their child up from practice? They are all on their phones.
Depending on the product, 50% - 80% of the buying decision has been narrowed down or determined before a salesperson is ever engaged.
So, what does this mean for you? It means that if your marketing strategy does not include proper web communication and mobility, social media and digital communications, you are missing a big part of your audience.
Published in Marketing
Have you been on lag about signing up for a Snapchat account? Feeling outdated is a struggle many might feel and is definitely one I have come across and I’m not even old!
This is an app that my kids use and when I talk about using Snapchat, they like to make fun of me. Until I signed up, I didn’t know how much fun it could be, so I started using it as a means of communication with my children, sending funny images to posting stories that provide valuable content to collogues and fellow classmates. Personally I enjoy it for its simplicity and value to my work.
Snapchat isn’t just for young adults anymore. Many adults and business professionals are now using Snapchat to communicate, share images, recipes, promotions, and other content about their industry through this free app. It’s the new way to market and advertise what’s going on in your industry.
This is an app that my kids use and when I talk about using Snapchat, they like to make fun of me. Until I signed up, I didn’t know how much fun it could be, so I started using it as a means of communication with my children, sending funny images to posting stories that provide valuable content to collogues and fellow classmates. Personally I enjoy it for its simplicity and value to my work.
Snapchat isn’t just for young adults anymore. Many adults and business professionals are now using Snapchat to communicate, share images, recipes, promotions, and other content about their industry through this free app. It’s the new way to market and advertise what’s going on in your industry.
Published in Small Business Marketing
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In the past two weeks, I have had three people contact me because the website they paid to have developed was so bad that they either weren't going live with the new site or they were too embarrassed to share it. Of the three, two I had sent a proposal to months ago and they chose a less expensive designer, and now they are looking for help and a fix.
You know the adage "Dress for the job you want not the one you have." The same applies for your business. If you market and brand yourself for the clientele and business you want to be, people will see you as such and it will be easier to reach that level of success.
You know the adage "Dress for the job you want not the one you have." The same applies for your business. If you market and brand yourself for the clientele and business you want to be, people will see you as such and it will be easier to reach that level of success.
Published in Website Development
Getting the most out of LinkedIn extends beyond just making connections. Think of your LinkedIn as a true networking tool where you can participate from your laptop or mobile device. If you go to a networking event and then never follow-up, engage in any additional events or discussions, you will be forgotten after your business card lands in someone's pocket.
If you are not comfortable making connections on LinkedIn, visit my previous blog on generating leads on LinkedIn. If you are making connections and sending follow-up messages, take the next steps to engage with your contacts through LinkedIn Posts.
If you are not comfortable making connections on LinkedIn, visit my previous blog on generating leads on LinkedIn. If you are making connections and sending follow-up messages, take the next steps to engage with your contacts through LinkedIn Posts.
Published in Marketing
I met with a business owner earlier this week who operates in a saturated market where skill-sets and service delivery vary greatly. His experience is vast, he operates at the top-end of the market, and has a nice brand that just needs to be expanded and grown within his base market. He has tried most marketing tools and is looking for a better way to educate and engage with his target audience without getting lost in the masses. He is looking for a tool to both educate and demonstrate his capabilities visually. What he wants is something new that is different from the same marketing channels everyone in his field is using.
Does this sound like you? If so, you will want to learn more about Facebook's latest product: Facebook Instant Articles.
Does this sound like you? If so, you will want to learn more about Facebook's latest product: Facebook Instant Articles.
Published in Marketing
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is equivalent to being invited to eat lunch at the popular table. You hope you will keep the spot at the table, but there is a lot of work you must do to stay there. It takes patience to move up to the pinnacle of popularity and some may claim they don't care to be there. But, not sitting at the popular is like living in anonymity and no business owner wants that.
Like being popular, being on the first page of search results on Google has its perks. So how do you get to page one?
Like being popular, being on the first page of search results on Google has its perks. So how do you get to page one?
Published in Marketing
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Did you watch the Oscars this year? Every year actors use this platform to speak their mind or share their message. This year may have been a year that we saw more of that than others. What I took away, and so should you, is a message of perseverance.
From Kevin Hart to Leonardo Dicaprio, we heard the message that says, stay the course in what you do well and you will be rewarded.
Hart stated, "... These problems of today will eventually be the problems of old.... Let’s do what we do best and work hard.”
Dicaprio knew that years of dedication to his craft and six nominations later, his hard work had paid off; Not in just this one film, The Revenant, but in a career of acting well done. He stated, " I do not take tonight for granted."
From Kevin Hart to Leonardo Dicaprio, we heard the message that says, stay the course in what you do well and you will be rewarded.
Hart stated, "... These problems of today will eventually be the problems of old.... Let’s do what we do best and work hard.”
Dicaprio knew that years of dedication to his craft and six nominations later, his hard work had paid off; Not in just this one film, The Revenant, but in a career of acting well done. He stated, " I do not take tonight for granted."
Published in Small Business Marketing
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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.
Published in Marketing
