by Kelli | Jul 9, 2017 | Business Strategy
Though it might not seem like it, brand strategy is one of those elements that needs to be revisited certain times a year. Many businesses make the mistake of creating an overall brand strategy once…but never visiting it again.
But as businesses grow and change, their brand must evolve with them. The best times to reevaluate brand strategy: The first time is the end of the year/beginning of a new year, and the second is summer. Yes, that’s correct, summer. It tends to be a slower time for business, which makes it a great opportunity to create a marketing plan to forge ahead with the latter half of the year.
But what exactly is a brand strategy?
You might hear the term often, but not quite understand it really entails. The first thing to establish? It goes far beyond a simple logo and graphics. It’s deeper than that, it’s your mission and vision and ultimately how an audience truly perceives your company – it is really what your company identity is rooted in. You’ve heard the saying, “your vibe attracts your tribe”? That’s your brand strategy. It’s telling a story that attracts your ideal client.
A great brand strategy is when a business can clearly communicate its value, and differentiate itself. It cultivates roots, and it is why your customers are attracted to you and ultimately loyal to you.
What makes a good brand strategy?
Knowing your audience
Your focal point in this case is answering the fundamental question: Who are you trying to attract? That answer will drive all of your marketing, so give it substantial thought. Perhaps you have gained new information that sheds further insight on who your ideal client is. Or maybe you now know who you want to work with, and want to tweak your buyer persona accordingly. This will drive strategy going forward, so it is incredibly important to identify the ultimate target of your marketing efforts.
Competitive Analysis
Summer is a good time to see what the rest of the market is doing, and how you measure up against that. What seems to be working well for them, and how can you integrate that into your business? Or maybe there are certain things your business excels at, while others struggle. Tap into that knowledge, and use it to your advantage.
Give your website a refresh, and ensure that the messaging is consistent with your overall brand strategy. Audit accordingly, and remove images that may not fit, or look at ways to improve the aesthetic appeal of your site (i.e. look at fonts, and colors). Curate new images to use for your website and content.
Set a goal, and a budget
Summer is also a good time to set resolutions. What do you want to accomplish in the next six months? Is it to increase content production, such as blogging? If that is case, it might be worth hiring a content strategist and/or SEO specialist to get the ball rolling. Identify your business needs, and start budgeting so that you are able to forge ahead with full force.
Use the summer as a catapult of sorts. Target what needs improvement, what is working well and where the gaps are in your brand strategy during this time as it will help drive success the rest of the year.
by Kelli | Jun 27, 2017 | Business Strategy, Entrepreneurial Lifestyle
We have ALL had our Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunctions or our fair share of one too many wine coolers, i.e. mistakes in life, so what makes us believe we won’t ever have any in business? I thought I was immune from miscalculating. Nope! Shit happens. It’s how we recover from those mistakes that proves important in life or work.
I’ve negotiated millions (over $2 billion, actually) in business deals throughout my career. I know how to write specifications and qualify suppliers. Guess what, though?! When, I started my business, I made some false moves. I hired and partnered with people who later showed their true selves as disreputable and unreliable. Well, hindsight is always 20/20. Did I cry about it? Never! OK, well, maybe for a minute.
After I nursed my fair share of Ben & Jerry’s and went into hibernation mode, I was left with either remaining paralyzed with fear, or bounding forward. The ONLY viable option for your business having that momentum propel you forward, not into a downward spiral. You CANNOT let fear hold conquer your vision and mission.
When you’ve had a blunder, here are some steps you can do for rebounding ASAP:
1. Let it out. Before you can go full-on Elsa and let it go, acknowledge what you are feeling. Maybe, this means scheduling a weep-a-thon in the privacy of your own home, screaming “I did my best!!” Dane Cook style, or bringing out your Jean-Claude Van Damme side in Tae Bo class (is that still a thing?). Whatever works, just let it out and breathe again!
2. Learn the art of giving zero fucks. I know it’s hard at first, but when you stop letting others’ attitudes define you, then you are free to operate your business as you truly feel is best. Society is always trying tell women how you have to care for the feelings of everyone involved, even putting everyone else above yourself. But, put that notion and conditioning aside and act as if their opinions don’t matter because it’s your business. Believe it or not acting like it doesn’t bother you, will sink in. Eventually, you really will let cares of their opinions and regard go, and start doing you. Think of it as method acting your actual life, if you will.
via GIPHY
3. Put your game face back on. Alright, now you’ve dusted your hands off and are ready for getting back into a new plan of action. It’s time for getting into game plan mode. Write down all the steps you can take for setting a new course. Remember, the key is embracing your past mistakes in order to avoid repeating them.
4. Monday morning QB. Once you are feeling confident in your new plan, look back and distinguish what lessons you learned. What can you do differently next time to safeguard? Trust me, you will never make that mistake again because you already have a fail-proof strategy.
In closing, I truly believe everything happens for a reason, even if we can’t envision that reason until later. It’s all part of life’s plan. If my life and career hadn’t had the twists and turns it’s had, I wouldn’t be where I am today: grateful for ALL the experiences of my life!
Need some strategy and support in setting your new direction? Set up a FREE strategy sesh.
by Kelli | Jun 23, 2017 | Business Strategy, Entrepreneurial Lifestyle
It’s midsummer: a perfect 75 °F, the cumulus clouds drift above, and perfect time to dip your pedicured toes into the pool – but wait! How is business going? How are sales? Is it a slow month? Do you have a marketing funnel in place? There are a lot of things that are great about summer. Picnics on the beach, swimming in a refreshing pool and sweet summer nights are things we love during the hot summer months. But, unless you are the ice cream man, business can feel slow. Despite what you may think, Summer is great for marketing your brand. We strongly encourage our clients to do a summer review for turning up the heat on their summer marketing efforts! It is entirely possibly to luxuriate in the season, all while business moves along swiftly. Here are few tips:
The ‘Summer Slump’ Plan of Action
Forbes magazine notes that “more than two-thirds of small business owners [see] dips during the summer… Some 67 [percent] of the 2,000 firms surveyed [saw] mounting concerns about the ‘summer slump’ phenomenon.” In fact, much like schoolchildren, business owners and businesses suffer from slacking during the holidays. By the time the owners return to their computers, they amass stress from drops in productivity, growth, and the ROI. However, business strategists can help you mitigate this by having a clear strategy and action plan in place! This is an opportune time to create some fresh content, revisit your marketing strategy and attract new followers.
You will want to start with doing an inventory of the current content that you have. Can it be updated and repurposed to have more a summer focus? Which blogs and posts are most popular and create the most engagement? What promotional events can you plan some campaigns around? (4th of July, Father’s Day, Back To School)
You get the idea. Having a plan in place will help alleviate the stress and allow you to actually enjoy summer. Our Summer Guidebook takes you through the questions to ask yourself when preparing your plan.
How Only 6 Hours Makes A Difference
According to The Social Media Examiner, “By spending as little as six hours per week, 66% of marketers see lead generations with social media.” In other words, very little media maintenance is necessary to drum up some business. We suggest a behind-the-scenes video look at your business since it’s not peak season. There’s more time to focus upon ironing out that old website, or getting your Facebook Live broadcasting, as we point out in our summer guidebook. With only six hours of online marketing, you still have time to swing by that barbecue and the flamingo-themed pool party. Not sure what to post or what content to create? Join our Outlier Social group through the summer and get the accountability and real time feedback you need to create content that will attract those new followers.
Gain Some Competitive Advantage
The last hidden beauty of a summer slump is that the competition is likely off-duty. While you’re posting a summer promotion, they’re growing anxious about what sales will look like in August! You are gaining some competitive advantage while they are snoozing. Even if you are taking a break from the online space, you can still be moving the needle forward on your business. It’s a great time to brush up your skills. Could your content creation and social media skills use some polishing and tweaking? Want to set up a sales funnel that is ready to launch in Fall? Want to improve your storytelling ability? Need to learn some techy skills? Need to find more balance? Find a course or group that will improve your business and/or life. We meet with our clients twice a month over the summer to help them create lead magnets, blogs, social media posts, email campaigns and more. They also learn cool ninja tips and get real time training from experts such as copywriters, graphic designer and social media experts.
To create your summer marketing strategy, download our summer guidebook.
by Kelli | Jun 19, 2017 | Business Strategy
Content! (Insert scream here)! Yes, content. Barring the hope that everyone on the planet will suddenly stop using their many information-providing devices, your business needs, (sigh), content. Think of your content as the engine that drives your business. It is your WHY. It helps to build your audience and nurtures them from a lead to a customer. Having a clear strategy in place leads to increased revenue, improved business processes and loyal customers. Before you accidentally get distracted about it again, stop worrying and create a content strategy! Whether it’s blogging, lead magnets, email marketing or even podcasts, a strategy will help you get it under control. Here are some key pieces to a content strategy:
- Your Content Plan. Take some time (no longer than 15-20 minutes) and create a high level content marketing plan. Include the overall mission of your business, the measurable goals that you wish to achieve with content (grow your audience, attract your ideal client) and the steps/initiatives that you will implement to achieve those goals. You can use our Content Strategy Template.
- Map Your Content To Your Kickass Client Profile. It is key to have a deep understanding of who you want to purchase your products and/or services. Once you have that, you want to map your content according to what will influence them along the journey they take when making a purchase. You can use our Content Mapping Template.
- Tell A Story. All marketing is storytelling. A good story has a main character (your kickass client), a challenge (their pain), motivations (their why), a hero (you) and the journey (how you will help them). Practice story-telling in all of your content and you will naturally get better at it.
- Partnerships and Collaborations. You don’t have to create all content on your own. Whether it’s having a guest blogger on your site or teaming up with another business to offer shared services, collaborations are a great way to both give and receive content.
- Distribute Your Content – Time to plan how and where you will share your content. Which social media platforms work best for that content. For instance, video is best for Facebook and blogs are great for LinkedIn. If you are sharing on multiple platforms (which you most likely will), how can you differentiate how it’s shared while creating a cohesive brand story?
Content creation can be both a complete pain-in-the-butt and totally fun, often at the same time, (it is for me, at least). Its purpose is beyond basic marketing; it’s the part of your business where you get to connect to your customers and really share your enthusiasm and passion for what you do. In a frequently impersonal business world, that’s definitely something that everyone appreciates!
You get to solve their problems and provide them with tremendous value. In every sale the buyer is thinking to themselves, “What’s in it for me?” If your content can answer that question, “That’s gold, Jerry. Gold!”
by Kelli | Jan 8, 2017 | Business Strategy, Entrepreneurial Lifestyle
Don’t you just love new beginnings. They can renew your enthusiasm and make you feel like you’re getting a chance to start all over, clear out the cobwebs and forge a new year for you and your business. But before you dive in, you’ll need to take a little time to declutter for a clean start to 2017!
Electronic Folders
Most of us let these get at least a little untidy during the course of the year — out with the old and outdated! How quickly can you find a file that you need? Are your files scattered throughout the computer in any number of places such as the hard drive, documents, the cloud or portable storage? Electronic folders that are not filed in their right locations can be just as messy and cluttered as paper folders.
- Go through your desktop and delete unused folders.
- Ditto for Google and/or Dropbox.
- Going forward use a hierarchal system to organize your files. File: Clients >Folder: Client Names > Subfolder: Topics such as Communication, Projects, Contact Info
Email Inbox
The email inbox can easily get unruly. Time to choose and junk those sales pitches and subscriptions and anything you no longer want to receive. Block them and/or unsubscribe. Goal: 0 emails. Don’t spend longer than 30 seconds deciding what to do with each. Put things that’ll take time to do on your to-do list. Don’t forget the file folders. Clean them out or delete whole folders that are no longer relevant or necessary. Sign up for unroll.me to help you unsubscribe and have a system going forward.
Facebook
Reconsider how much time you want to spend on Facebook. Unfriend people who are friends of friends or casual business acquaintances. Move the business acquaintances to your Facebook page or group. If unfriending seems too harsh in some cases, at least unfollow that person. Be deliberate with your time on Facebook. Set a timer if you need to so you don’t end up going down a rabbit hole. The goal for 2017 is maximum productivity!
To Do List?
Has your to-do list reached monster proportions? Do what you can to simplify it and test potential improvements to your system. If you have properly planned out your 2017 goals you should have 3-5 top goals that you want to accomplish this year. Always keep those visible. If you have a long to-do list, ask yourself which tasks will contribute to accomplishing your top goals. Those are the priority. For everything else, either put it in a parking lot folder or delegate.
Down to the Nitty Gritty
One pile at a time, get rid of any old notes, correspondence, etc., that you no longer need to reference. In fact, do a relentless purge of anything that doesn’t contribute to the productivity of your business. Get rid of the little things that pile up that have absolutely nothing to do with business, period!
A year-end purge reinforces the “ready to go” attitude that feels strongest at the start of each brand new year! Amazingly, your office and electronics won’t be the only beneficiaries of your efforts — your head will feel amazingly clear as well!
by Kelli | Dec 31, 2016 | Business Strategy
Goals operate like clockwork; they are the behind the scenes mechanisms that keep your business driven towards success. With the new year approaching, it’s the time of aspiring after resolutions and tactics to not only better yourself, but your business as well and the perfect place to start is looking at how you go about creating your success plan. Let’s take a look at four surefire ways to tweak your goal-setting regime for maximum success.
1.) Break it Down into a Clearer Path.
Simply identifying a goal and keeping it locked in the back of your mind won’t help you bring it life. That’s because majority of goals aim for the long haul so they require more work, more time, and more of your attention. You should always write your goals in a step by step format that breaks down all the necessary actions as well as shows how SMART your goal is (and by SMART we mean specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time.)
2.) Track Your Progress.
When you’re in the stage of working towards your goals and feel like you’re getting nowhere, tracking your progress is a great way to refrain from getting discouraged and giving up. Checking off what you complete daily, weekly, or monthly will provide you with a sense of accomplish as well as allow you to see where you need to focus next. Trending, free apps for iPhone and Android like GoalsOnTrack or Lift are great places to begin keeping an organized check list.
3.) Don’t be Overwhelmed by Setbacks.
The ironic truth about creating plans is that nothing ever goes exactly how we think it will. But even when things unexpectedly happen, the very circumstances we see as setbacks can also open new opportunities. Walk into your goals with an open, flexible mindset instead of one closed off and rigid that way you can handle adjustments and changes like a champion rather than letting setbacks hold you back.
4.) Surround Yourself with Other Goal-Getters.
The best way to achieve your goals, other than creating a Success Plan, is to surround yourself with other high-achievers on the same “make shit happen” path. You could join a group of that is following the goal planning strategy or take it a step further and join a mastermind that is designed to move the needle on your business.
5.) Remember to Stay up to Date on Rising Business Trends.
Although there are ageless strategies in achieving your business goals, whether they include creating more leads, closing sales, or enhancing your skills, there are even more techniques on the rise every day from utilizing e-commerce marketing tactics to going green. Engaging in these trends and using them in your goal-planning will surely push you towards the finish line and the trophy that is your final result of perseverance and dedication.
As you can see, having the right goal-planning technique will keep you focused and assist you in reaching your top potential! For more of the best advice, tips, and information on successfully running your business, feel free to check out our blog!
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