Tag: marketing

28
Jan

Marketing Your Small Business: Target the Right Audience

As a small business owner, every dollar counts. That’s why it’s essential to be efficient and make sure your marketing efforts are reaching the right people. The key to success is to clearly define your target audience and tailor your marketing efforts to appeal to that specific group of people. Talk to them where they are.

“Stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.” —Craig Davis

To be the most compelling in your efforts, it is important to talk to the right people about the things that are of interest to them. One of the first steps in identifying your target audience is to determine demographics. This includes things like age, gender, income, and education level. Understanding these factors will help you create campaigns and messaging that will resonate with your target audience.

“Focus on the core problem your business solves and put out lots of content and enthusiasm and ideas about how to solve that problem.” — Laura Fitton

But demographics alone aren’t enough to fully connect with your target audience. Understanding your audience on a deeper level will fortify your ability to personalize messaging and the customer experience. To know your audience more intimately, consider psychographics, which include things like lifestyle, values, and interests. With awareness of audience psychographics, you can create campaigns that align with their values and interests, making them more likely to engage with your brand.

“Content marketing is really like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.” – David Beebe 

Another important aspect of targeting your audience is understanding their behaviors. For example, if your target audience is primarily on social media, it makes sense to focus your efforts on building a strong presence on those platforms. Or if your target audience is more likely to search for products or services online, it’s important to focus on local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to increase your visibility in search results.

“Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.” — Andrew Davis

Building a strong online presence is essential for any small business. A well-designed website and active social media channels can help you reach a wider audience and increase brand awareness. Additionally, by optimizing your website for local SEO, you can make it easier for potential customers in your area to find you. An email platform can assist you in delivering the right message to the right people at the right time. 

“When you combine the Buyer Profile with Buying Insights, you will have clear guidance for the decisions you need to make to win their business.” Adele Revella,

Create a persona for your buyer. Buyer personas are detailed descriptions of a company’s target customers and can be time-consuming to create and maintain as they change with market trends and the company’s offerings. Invest in the process. Explore the variables that affect how prospects decide to purchase. What is the customer journey? What does your buyer care about? What are their needs? What features matter? What holds them back from deciding to buy? With this insight, you can create messaging and efforts to actually affect change. Revisit the persona regularly and update it to reflect changing landscape of the the times.

For every business owner, it’s important to take the time to understand your target audience in order to tailor sales and marketing efforts to reach and appeal to them. By understanding customer and prospect demographics, psychographics, and behaviors, you can create customized campaigns that will resonate with them and ultimately drive conversion. With consistent messaging, building a strong online presence and utilizing local SEO techniques can also help increase visibility and reach potential customers. Having the right strategies in place to address the needs of your prospects, you can make the most of your marketing budget and see real results for your business.

22
Apr

The ABC’s To Make Your First Impression Last

Making a lasting first impression is crucial in personal and professional settings. A strong first impression can open doors and create opportunities. However, making a lasting impression can be challenging, especially in a world where attention spans are short and competition is high. Fortunately, by following the ABCs of making a good impression, you can increase your chances of creating an unforgettable experience for yourself and your audience.

A. ALIGNMENT with your WHY
The first step in making a lasting first impression is to align with your “why.” Knowing and understanding what drives you is essential in presenting yourself authentically and naturally to those around you. When you’re clear on why you’re doing something, it allows you to express that passion in everything that you do, making you more memorable. As motivational speaker Tony Robbins once said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

B. BREAKTHROUGH the clutter
To make a lasting impression, you need to stand out from the crowd. As marketing expert Seth Godin once said, “Being average means you’re as close to the bottom as you are to the top.” Don’t blend in; differentiate yourself by using your style, sharing unique stories, or incorporating other creative elements that give you an edge. This will help people remember who you are and keep their attention focused on what you have to say or offer.

C. CONSISTENCY with your message
Once you’ve made an initial connection, don’t let up. Consistently amplify your message by networking with relevant people in person or online, reaching out regularly with thoughtful comments or resources related to the topics of conversation at hand, and striving to stay top-of-mind when interacting with others. Remember, first impressions are just the beginning, and it’s up to you to maintain that momentum. As writer and consultant Dale Carnegie once said, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” tailor your message to be relevant to your audience, letting them know

Making a lasting first impression takes effort. By aligning with your why, breaking through the clutter, and maintaining consistency with your message, you can increase your chances of creating an intentional, memorable, and lasting impression.

15
Jan

How to Create an Effective Marketing Event Calendar and Massively Change Results

Create a marketing calendar of actions that works backwards from desired annual revenue. 

Creating a 12-month launch and promotion calendar that works backwards from your desired annual revenue can be a game-changer for your business. It’s a powerful shift in thinking that can help you scale a profitable business that works for you, even when you’re not working.

CRITICAL PRIORITIES: It is essential to focus on your critical priorities and sequence your efforts so that you’re not working late nights and weekends. By following these steps, you can create a marketing calendar that will generate the leads you need to fill your programs and help you achieve your goals.

CALCULATION: The first step in creating this calendar is to calculate the number of people you need to say “yes” to in order to achieve your goal. Once you know this number, you can work backwards to determine the number of leads you need to generate, and the promotions and launches you need to execute.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: A great way to start creating your calendar is to think about the different stages of the customer journey. This includes awareness, consideration, and decision making. For each stage, you need to create content that is tailored to the specific needs of your target audience. For example, during the awareness stage, you might create blog posts or infographics that provide helpful information to people who are just learning about your industry. During the consideration stage, you might create case studies or webinars that demonstrate the value of your products or services. And during the decision making stage, you might create email campaigns or social media ads that encourage people to take action.

CHANNEL PLANS: You also need to think about the different channels you’ll use to promote your business. This includes social media, email marketing, search engine optimization, and paid advertising. For each channel, you need to create a plan that outlines the specific tactics you’ll use to reach your target audience. And it’s important to sequence these tactics so that you’re not working late nights and weekends.

CONTENT CREATION: One of the keys to success is having a clear and focused content strategy. This means creating a 12-month content marketing calendar that will help you generate the leads you need to fill your programs. Knowing your critical priorities is essential to making this happen. Focus on creating content, promoting your business, and serving existing clients all at the same time. And again, it’s important to sequence these priorities so that you’re not working late nights and weekends.

Working backwards from your desired annual revenue to plan key marketing activities is a powerful shift in thinking that can help you scale a profitable business that works for you. By focusing on your critical priorities and sequencing your efforts, you can create a marketing calendar that will generate the leads you need to fill your programs, and help you achieve your goals.

  • Calculate the number of people you require to say “yes” in to achieve your goal, then work backwards to determine the number of leads you need to generate, and the promotions and launches you need to execute.
  • Boost business with a powerful shift in your thinking to support you in scaling a profitable business that works for you (on autopilot—even when you’re not working)
  • Build your 12-month marketing calendar so you have enough leads to fill your programs
  • Know the Critical Priorities you must focus on to create content, promote, and serve existing clients all at the same time, and sequence them so you aren’t working late nights and weekends.
28
Jul

Sales & Marketing Go Hand in Hand to Boost Your Bottom Line

As a business professional, you understand the importance of generating revenue and increasing profits. One of the key ways to achieve these goals is through effective marketing. Many people think of marketing as a separate entity from sales, but in reality, marketing plays a crucial role in supporting and driving sales.

When it comes to building a successful business, marketing and sales go hand in hand. Marketing sets the stage by creating awareness, building interest, and generating leads. Sales then takes over by closing the deal and turning leads into customers. But it’s not as simple as just having a sales team in place. Without effective marketing, the sales team may struggle to find and engage with potential customers.

The purpose of marketing is to attract and engage with potential customers, and ultimately drive sales. This is done through a variety of tactics such as advertising, social media, content marketing, and public relations. By creating a strong brand and consistent messaging, marketing helps to establish trust and credibility with potential customers. This sets the stage for the sales team to come in and close the deal.

One of the most important things to remember when it comes to marketing is that it’s not just about creating pretty ads or catchy slogans. It’s about understanding your target audience and tailoring your message to speak directly to their needs and pain points. By doing this, you can increase the chances of turning leads into customers.

Another important aspect of marketing is measuring and analyzing the results of your efforts. This allows you to see what’s working and what’s not, and make adjustments as needed. By constantly testing and optimizing your marketing strategies, you can continuously improve your results and drive more sales.

Marketing also addresses product development. By understanding the needs and pain points of your target audience, you can design a product or service that meets those needs better than any alternative. This is a pivotal facet of marketing as it ensures that your offer is aligned with the needs of your customer and is more likely to be successful in the market. Additionally, the process of creating a compelling solution for your target audience can also help to inform and guide other aspects of your marketing strategy such as messaging, positioning and pricing.

Marketing makes money. Or it fails. In short, marketing and sales are two sides of the same coin. Without effective marketing, the sales team may struggle to find and engage with potential customers. By understanding your target audience and tailoring your message to speak directly to their needs and pain points, you can increase the chances of turning leads into customers. And by measuring and analyzing your results, you can continually improve your efforts and drive more sales.

As a strategic director, fractional CMO, business consultant, or hired gun, my job is to help you win by making you more money. And one of the best ways to do that is through effective marketing that supports and drives sales. So, let’s put the ball in play and get in the game. Together, we can make you rich while enriching the lives of those you serve.

 

22
Jan

Six Keys To Learning From Failure in Your Startup Endeavor

Most startups fail. Much like the game of baseball, failure is part of the process. How you deal with failure will determine your success.

“Learn from failures. Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” — Steve Jobs

Understand what caused the failure. Identify the error and find the solution for it. Then, every mistake becomes a lesson. Study it — grow from it. Forge ahead to success.

STUDY FAILURE

In every startup failure, there are many details in the process. Looking at each step, every decision, and finding which play worked and which didn’t will reveal the cause of the failure. It might be one choice, or a series of choices that didn’t work together. Assess and learn from the mistake.

“There are no negatives in life, only challenges to overcome that will make you stronger.” ― Eric Bates

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

Take full and complete responsibility for your own actions, decisions, and intentions. Own it. Say it out loud — I was wrong. I struggled. I made a mistake. Understand your justification and the rational for decisions you made; and realize where your thinking was wrong (even though they seemed right at the time). This will give you the power to adjust. And, it will build confidence for going forward.

“The harder you fall, the stronger you rise.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo

HAVE CLARITY

Struggle is often perception and projection more than reality. When confronted with a hurdle, ask yourself “If I were to let this be easy, how would I approach it differently?” Get your subconscious aligned and in gear to see the solution.

“Life always gives us another change: It’s called ‘To Move On’.” ― Ana Claudia Antunes

BOOST CONFIDENCE

Your brain registers every goal achieved — small goals and large ones. Every accomplishment motivates you to achieve more success. You just have to deliberately be conscious of them. To do this, keep a list of your accomplishments. At the end of the day, every day, write down achievements — large and small — and take a few minutes to savor them. Let this boost confidence and self esteem as you forge ahead. Look for the possibilities. Seize the opportunities.

“The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.” ― George Bernard Shaw

MANAGE WORRIES

When you start to imagine pitfalls, visualize what will go right instead of what will go wrong. Don’t repeat or dwell on stories of past mistakes. Move on as fast as possible.Focus your mind on the positive, like that fresh idea, the easy commute to the office, and the latest accomplishment, rather than focusing on what bad thing could or did happen. Stay in the present moment.

“Never feel intimidated by defeat nor death, but rather intimidate life with your dreams.” ― Auliq-Ice

CARRY ON

Push through your resistance to failure and liberate yourself from fear. Relax and remain focused on the task at hand. Trust your intuition. Rather than worry about what could go wrong, generate solutions to any imaginable problem. This will give you confidence to proceed.

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” — Paulo Cohelo, The Alchemist

Treat failure as a lesson. Ask yourself, “What did I learn?” rather than beating yourself up for making a mistake. Don’t bring the negative energy from yesterday into today. Today is a new day.

21
Aug

Positioning Your Product or Brand

Positioning is a facet of the marketing strategy that aims to give your product or brand a distinct perception — relative to competing brands — in the mind of the customer. An historic campaign for Avis reflects this: “Avis Is Only №2, We Try Harder.”

In developmental stages, determine the positioning you intend for your product or brand. Research and market feedback will help you discover if it is aligned with actual consumer attitudes. If not, then marketing messages can help close the gap or change perception.

Positioning is an art. Great positioning tells a compelling, attention grabbing story — a story that resonates with your audience. — Rebel Brown

The positioning process begins with identifying a market problem or opportunity, then developing a solution — often based on market research, segmentation and supporting data. Once positioning is determined, it will help align and guide marketing efforts and business objectives. The perfume I use is the indulgent scent for pleasure seekers. Thus, the tone and manner of messages, images, events and PR are created to consistently express this in all communication.

Again, positioning is the perception of your product or brand in the mind of the customer. Perception is reality. Aim to establish the highest and best use for your brand among your audience. And, be open to emerging alternate audiences, too. Here are some examples of common positioning strategies and how they might translate in the marketplace.

DEMOGRAPHICS Place your solution among those best served by gender, age, income, area, etc. If you try to be everything to everyone, you may not appeal to anyone.

PRICE Present your solution as an affordable option with a low price point or elevate your products or services among the competition with a high price point to create a perceived value (or reflect a real value).

DISTRIBUTION The environment and locations where you sell your product communicate quality and value propositions like convenience or specialty items. Select your sales channels to align with your desired positioning.

AFFINITY Find your tribe. Those who desire to align with your proposition. Position your solution to engage group loyalty of customers with a common, personal denominator.

Positioning is how you communicate benefits of your solution to your audience. Everything from where you make your product, how you make it, where you sell it, and for how much will convey subtle queues to the market. Align positioning elements with the overt messages employed in promotions, advertising, and public relations. Ultimately, positioning is how your market sees your solution among the alternatives.

15
Feb

Set Up Social Media Success in 6 Simple Steps

Social media doesn’t have to be daunting. In fact, it can be your best sales associate and your favorite marketing tactic. The key is to focus so you don’t get overwhelmed. It all begins with your message. Here are five steps to go from strategy to scheduled for social media success.

#1 Create Your Social Media Strategy.

For your Brand, you have a strategy. Now, align that with Social Media. Determine your niche—your target audience. Consider pain points and interests; and your solution for them. People seek solutions and benefits!

Brand strategy is a long-term plan for development to achieve specific goals. It is your playbook. Goals, strategies and tactics are outlined to give you a game plan.

Your brand is not your product, your logo, your website, or your name. It is much more than that. It is tangible and intagible, purpose driven, mission focused attributes that are your reason for being. It’s a feeling that separates powerful versus mediocre brands.

Your brand strategy considers:

1. Your industry & design trends
2. Your ideal client’s desires
3. Your brand personality

Distinguish your brand — how do you differentiate yourself and speak to your audience in a way that attracts them? There are many ways to give your brand a personality. From your logo and colors to tone of voice, messaging must align with your audience while remaining consistent in delivery style. Imagine your brand talking with one customer. And then, replicate that conversation consistently in the marketplace. This is where the social media strategy comes in.

Now, create a plan for social media that addresses your target audience where they are. Design a communication and messaging strategy to deliver information that is helpful to them and of interest. Relate to other topics that they are engaging with across platforms.

Check out this article of interest — Perfecting the four P’s.

HOMEWORK:

  1. Know what makes you different from your competition.
  2. Define your target audience and the solution you provide.
  3. Translate this to your Social Media strategy.

#2 Choose Your Social Media Platform(s).

You aren’t required to be on every Social Media platform to be successful. Pick one, possibly two to start. Avoid overwhelm!

In the beginning, fewer and BETTER is the focus. Facebook is the logical first choice for most brands. Twitter, LinkedIn, and/or YouTube are strong second choices, depending on your niche.

With Facebook, create your personal Profile then set up your Business Page. From quotes to images to video, you can dominate presence in your niche. Facebook Live amplifies the possibilites. You can benefit from low cost, highly targeted Facebook Ads to generate leads and build your list.

Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest along with LinkedIn and YouTube are great online real estate for your message. Your strategy will assit you in selecting the one or two places to start so that you speak to your tribe and align with your message.

To get a feel for the social media channels, check out this article of interest — Social Media at a Glance.

HOMEWORK:

  1. Set your goals — what you aim to accomplish.
  2. Select the Platforms you will use to START.
  3. Set up your social media sites.

#3 Curate and Create Your Content.

Develop an Editorial Plan to guide your content with purpose. And then you can repurpose the information across your social media channels. This reinforces your presence.

Create a calendar — three, six, nine, or 12 months out. For each month, brainstorm themes and then topics within that theme that would be of interest to your audience. Look at information that will establish you as the “Go To” person in your arena.

Choose themes and topics so you can weave information from one post to another. Look at the map of content so you know what you are sharing each and every day. Content can easily be “re-purposed” and used in a variety of ways, and across multiple platforms.

For more insights, check out this article — Repurpose Key Twitter Posts.

HOMEWORK:

  1. Brainstorm content theme ideas.
  2. Outline topics of interest to your niche.
  3. Create a 30 day content editorial calendar.

#4 Create a Series of Messages.

Now comes all the write stuff. Tailor the words to fit the channel. A blog post can be pulled apart for fodder you can upload to Twitter or Facebook. Specific messages can be developed for each channel and your audience there. If you desire assistance with this, let me know.

Now, get going. Check out this article of interest — Pretty Perfect.

HOMEWORK:

  1. Write your message(s).
  2. Develop content tailored to each channel.
  3. Consider quotes that align with your message.

#5 Select Message Visuals.

There are a number of ways to deliver information—your brand strategy will assist you in selecting the style(s) best suited to your message.

Photos; Infographics; Videos (Live and Native); Blog Posts and Original Articles by you; White Papers; Blogs and Useful Articles by other thought leaders in your niche who do not compete. Make Video a priority as it gets the MOST engagement!

Once you determine the style of information delivery, create your content. Outline it. Find photos and images to add impact. Consider using Piktochart or Canva to create images and infographs. Look at Notegraphy for creating impact with your words. And, find free photos and images at Pixabay.

Check out this article of interest — A Picture Worth 1000 Words.

HOMEWORK:

  1. Consider your brand image and align visuals with that.
  2. Create your message visuals.
  3. Develop content across visual media.

#6 Schedule It.

Effective Social Media Marketing can be done in 30 minutes a day when you have a plan and you WORK that plan.

You can use tools such as Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule your posts in advance. This puts your social media presence on autopilot.

Check out this article of interest — Storytelling and the 3 T’s.

HOMEWORK:

  1. Schedule posts for 30 days—consider Hootsuite or Buffer.
  2. Check in every day for 30 minutes to boost activity and interact with your tribe.
  3. Share posts from others who attract your niche.

Define your brand strategy and your message. Choose which delivery method will be best for your message. Make a list of themes and topics of interest. Create your content. And schedule it.

Congratulations! You now have the steps required to command Social Media and dominate your niche for business awareness, lead generation, client contact, and nutured relationships that lead to SALES! For assistance in creating your content, get in touch with me.

3
Jul

Meaningful Marketing Messages

Make your marketing message meaningful—in every way. To do this, every time, begin with the customer

Know your audience. Your message for new customers might vary from that of a repeat customer. Reward loyal customers. Always make a returning customer feel they are being treated well. Word of mouth from a happy customer is your best marketing message.

…then follow these three C’s.

Keep your message clear, concise and compelling.

Make your benefit clear for your customer. Show them and tell them what your product or service can do for them. Answer your customers’ question: “What’s in it for me?” Tell it in a way that distinguishes your offer from all competitive options.

A concise message is to the point. In other words, don’t make your customers think. State your message in the most simple terms and in the most memorable way. Brevity will help memorability of your proposition.

Be compelling. Help the customer picture themselves receiving the goods or service. An image or a narrative can help them imagine selecting your offer and enjoying the benefits. Show the customer the “payoff” they will get by choosing your brand. Create contrast with other brands to amplify the point of difference your product or service provides. Contrast helps create value around your brand, giving customers a reason to choose you over a rival. And, it can help create a sense of urgency. Show it with a visual or paint a picture with words.

8
Jun

Positioning Your Product or Brand

Positioning is a facet of the marketing strategy that aims to give your product or brand a distinct perception—relative to competing brands—in the mind of the customer. An historic campaign for Avis reflects this: “Avis Is Only No. 2, We Try Harder.”

In developmental stages, determine the positioning you intend for your product or brand. Research and market feedback will help you discover if it is aligned with actual consumer attitudes. If not, then marketing messages can help close the gap or change perception.

Positioning is an art. Great positioning tells a compelling, attention grabbing story—a story that resonates with your audience.

Rebel Brown

The positioning process begins with identifying a market problem or opportunity, then developing a solution—often based on market research, segmentation and supporting data. Once positioning is determined, it will help align and guide marketing efforts and business objectives. The perfume I use is the indulgent scent for pleasure seekers. Thus, the tone and manner of messages, images, events and PR are created to consistently express this in all communication.

Again, positioning is the perception of your product or brand in the mind of the customer. Perception is reality. Aim to establish the highest and best use for your brand among your audience. And, be open to emerging alternate audiences, too. Here are some examples of common positioning strategies and how they might translate in the marketplace.

 

8
Sep

Perfecting the Four P’s

Essential to your marketing program success is alignment and integration of the “Four P’s” which are Product, Price, Positioning, Placement.

PRODUCT: It all begins with your product—that which you proffer. It could be a tangible item or it could be a service. Either way, it is important to define your product in terms of the problem it solves. For example, my Parfum lets me express myself in a scent and gives an aromatic influence to my day. It is designed, packaged, and presented to meet tangible and emotional needs.

PRICE: Next it is important to formulate your price. The value of your product to your customer is determined by weighing many variables. In addition to consumer factors, each of these need consideration:

  1. product costs—you will need to cover costs in order to have a viable offer
  2. profit target—what is the desired return you wish to achieve
  3. positioning among competitive options—how your product compares to other choices your customer could make to solve the same problem
  4. place of distribution—where your customer gets your offer is a frame of reference for pricing (i.e. convenience outlet, luxury venue, specialty store, etc.)

PROMOTION: This includes a range of activities to gain awareness for your product, to attract prospects and convert them to customers. This includes efforts at the trade and consumer levels: advertising, public relations, events, sampling, and collaborative offers among the possibilities.

PLACEMENT: Place of distribution can affect your overall marketing efforts. For instance my Parfum is available only via specialty stores so it is more expensive than an option I could find at the discount department store and the marketing message will need to deliver a promise of panache.

To best serve your marketing endeavors, the Four P’s need to be integrated and aligned. This will help focus marketing messages and determine other efforts to augment positioning (sometimes considered the 5th P, we touched on positioning briefly while considering facets of pricing). Positioning is how the customer sees your product among the options or solutions considered. The marketing mix must work to align customer perception with the desired reputation you wish to build for your product, brand or company.

26
May

A Bit About Twitter

Social media is on the rise, and it can be daunting. Here are a few tips to help build twitteraderie.

SET UP
Present your brand image consistently. Include images that are indicative of your business.

Header. The measurements of the Twitter header is at least 1500px x 500px and Twitter seems to render png files better with less loss of image quality, so create it as PNG.

Profile. Your profile image should be at least 210px square.

Be sure to include your website and a brief brand message.

THE MEDIUM THE MESSAGE

The primary Twitter audience is young adults. They are interested in news, text updates and links to information. Twitter is good for sharing original and curated content including links to interesting articles or blogs; quotes, industry news, announcements or newsletters, Vine or YouTube videos and event updates. Comments, shares and retweets are a good indication of efficacy.

For twitter, it is good to post daily and as often as hourly. It is reported that 22 tweets per day is optimal.

TWEET FODDER

Here are some idea starters for your twitter feed:

  • Post an event. Share a link to a conference, a webinar, a program of interest.
  • Created content. Link to your recent blog article with an attractive headline.
  • Reflection. Report on a lesson learned or Seen-&-Heard incident.
  • Imagery. Upload a photo worth 1000 words in this arena of 140 characters.
  • Curated content. Post a link to an article you find of interest.
  • Interact. A direct tweet using the @ sign can be a good conversation starter.
  • Retweet. Share tweets from others that you find of interest.

Images. It is good to include an image with your post. The optimal size for a photo uploaded to twitter post is 506px wide by 260px high.

Links. Place links about a quarter of the way through your tweet message for the highest click through rate.

While the length of a tweet is limited to 140 characters for easy consumption across mobile and text, it is best to keep your post between 70-100 characters. A report by Buddy Media revealed that Tweets shorter than 100 characters get a 17% higher engagement rate.

Be chipper. Be chirpy. Be choosy.

27
Apr

A Pretty Perfect Plan

Like any plan, your business or marketing or life plan begins with thinking. Creating your plan is a process to help focus and guide efforts for optimal success with available resources – creating a strategic, integrated and consistent approach to the journey.

The process gives you clarity and focus. Be excited about this journey of discovery. Determine where you are going, and where you won’t go. To do this, you benefit from a Playbook. This life is your show. Let’s #ScriptYourShift and create the plan of actions that serve you in your award-worthy performance.

THOSE SERVED: Understand your target market, competition and industry marketplace

Your Target Market. Who do you help and how do you help them? Spend time and thought crafting the perfect marketing message—that’s time well spent. At the heart of every compelling marketing message are two factors: Who do you serve? And, in what way, specifically, do you serve them better than any of their other options? Answer these two questions carefully, and the rest of your marketing message will flow so much more easily.

Take a look at all solutions your market has to turn to instead of yours. List strengths and shortcomings for each of these competitors. This will assist in answering how you serve the market better.

And, consider the marketplace. What are the trends? Outline opportunities such as new distribution venues or growing demand. And, consider the threats such as growing competition and demand dilution. Address how you will capitalize on opportunity and thwart threat.

YOUR GIFT: Define your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)—your purpose, raison d’être

Here again we look at how you serve the market better than all other options. We boil it down to the core and then communicate it with clarity.

RELEVANT MESSAGE: Develop your marketing messages and ensure the right people are targeted

The way you look has a lot to do with the way people look at you. What you say will make your day, and it will make someone else’s day too! More and more, advertising is becoming advertorial Content Marketing. It is about what you stand for, not what you sell. Informational needs of customers and prospects is the driver. It’s not a proposition, it’s a conversation.

STRATEGIC PLAN: Identify the best marketing mix—most appropriate, cost-effective channels

Social media (and which venues), print, outdoor, cable television, events, and etc. are dynamic channels of communication that offer specific benefits and costs. Take a look and determine the “fat rabbits” to give you the biggest bang for your media buck.

ACTION STEPS: Set out a month-by-month plan of action that schedules your tactical activities then break it down week-by-week and day-by-day

Be consistent. Build your presence and amplify it. Plan around seasonal commemorations and themes, incorporating those that are appropriate. Be ready to adjust with current events and news.

Whether it’s to generate leads, find customers, drive website traffic or build your brand, let’s look at your target market, competitors and positioning then develop a strategy designed to consistently deliver the most compelling message to the right audience.

Set a plan and be ready to revise the plan as the playing field changes.

It is my intention to be iconic in what I do in order to give gifts to my family, friends, and community, plus support the world with ample resources to do it. What is your intention for you?

Create your character, or others will create it for you—concentrate on the image you want to convey and focus your full attention on that image, and that your body will then align with that through your body language, facial expressions, and demeanor.

My why is to be a creative director for our most epic life. I believe we belong to one another. My family is everything to me. My friends become family. And my community is an extension of family. We are each the star of our life, coming together to co-star in the human experience. Each of us has an essential role to play in the story, the epic tale, the saga of the human race.

The audience I serve is primarily small to mid-size female-owned businesses. Clients seek a plan that strikes a balance between personal and professional demands. It is one life. Your plan, your Playbook, addresses your life with a birds-eye-view.

“The most important story you tell is the story you tell yourself.” — Tamara Parisio

And, as with any script, there are times that a scene doesn’t come together as planned. Revise your script—your Playbook is a living document. Take a new perspective and set a new direction for this act. Then carry on with your most epic life journey.