Social Media Content 101 It's time to create a content strategy. (And yes, you need a strategy!) Here are a few tips to help get you started.
Questions To Ask Yourself Before Engaging in Social Media As a small business owner, it's tempting to jump into the world of social media because...well...everyone's doing it. More and more clients and potential clients are looking for help with social media strategy and content, but I ask them these three questions before giving them any advice.
5 Tips to Successfully Work From Home I am always looking for ways to encourage people who are ready to follow their dreams and start their own gig working from home. Yes, it does take some discipline, but there are ways to set yourself up for success from the start. Plus, there are lots of benefits including flexibility and warm, fuzzy clothes!
8 Website Stats You Should Be Tracking One of the major advantages of today's digital age is the ability to measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts. This is especially true for websites, where free programs like Google Analytics provide data that tell you who is visiting your website, how they found it and what they're doing on the site once on it. Ultimately, analyzing your website's stats can help improve your site's content strategy, helping to attract new users and giving current users better and more relevant information.
Every Customer Needs A Champion Here are 5 tips for building better relationships with your customers.
The Worst Mistake A Brand Can Make And, like any [honest] friendship, one person is bound to make a mistake at some point. Because, at the core, brands and customers alike are just human. So, what's the worst mistake a brand can make?
Improve Your Social Presence Now: 5 Tips You can spend hours researching the latest social trends and come away totally confused about what to do next to improve your organization's presence. It can feel like you're in the vortex of a social media tornado. To help sort through the noise, I've put together this list to help you take your social media presence to the next level.
Passion vs Profit: Creating A Dedicated Volunteer Team Based on my experience with the San Diego Half Marathon, here are some things you can do to start inspiring your version of "Volunteer Leads" to be your organization's best advocates.
Chasing Snow (and Silence) in 2018 For me, the beginning of 2018 has been a time to do some self reflection about my business, personal and professional goals, and intentions for the year. Most years, I set some SMART goals and dive right in, but the timing of an upcoming vacation over the last two weeks of January has forced me down a different path.
How My Carnival Got Curious (aka STORY 2017 Recap) This year's theme for STORY 2017 was "A Carnival of Curiosity" inviting attendees to put away fear that often stops creatives in our tracks and replace it with curiosity. This year, more than the past two years I've attended, has left me asking some important and hard questions.
5 Tips To Create A Healthy Volunteer Program Volunteers are the life blood of most nonprofit organizations. In fact, given their limited budgets and resources, many org's would find it impossible to accomplish their missions without this volunteer work force. Unfortunately, in spite of this reliance, few organizations invest the time to establish and maintain a healthy volunteer program. Here are 5 Tips to do just that.
10 Questions To Assess Your Communications Strategy The first step in a creating a new communications strategy is to assess four main areas: your target audience, your goals, your resources and your current communication vehicles. Asking yourself and your organization key questions about these areas can help you (and any experts you're working with) develop a new, shiny plan that's bound for success.
The Digital Detox I have been feeling the need for this “digital detox” over the past year, so wanted to share five simple steps I have taken that have helped me be less distracted and more efficient with my time.
Elements of a Great Creative Brief When small businesses decide to invest dollars into creating a marketing piece – for example, a logo, brochure or promotional video – a good first step is to compose a creative brief. Creative briefs help give background and lay the groundwork for your agency or freelancer to plan for and execute your project with your goals in mind. This results in better ideation and an end product your organization will be proud to flaunt.
Celebrating Milestones Whether it's an anniversary, birthday, wedding, new baby, graduation, or new job, given the opportunity, people will join in festivities to mark the occasion. Organizational milestones should be no different.
Why Comparison Marketing Might Not Help Your Sales For advertisers, comparison is a tactic essentially used to say, "Hey, we're better than those guys." Unfortunately, in the same way that people don't appreciate being compared negatively to others, I don't think consumers appreciate this approach. Here's why.
How To Master The Art of Connection Networking, as defined by Alan Weiss is “the activity of meeting others in a systematic manner, particularly those who can buy, recommend, or otherwise support your services." (Weiss, 2009) It's a skill that can be learned. Similarly, I believe we can develop habits like empathy and generosity and combine them with networking which I would define as connecting.
Three Steps To Create Brand Advocates The simple truth is that creating brand advocates who tell their friends and family about your product and service is the most effective marketing strategy regardless of industry.
Customer Service Lessons From A Car Dealership A car dealership seems like an unlikely place to learn lessons about anything, let alone customer service. But an experience last week with my local dealership changed my mind and reminded me that excellent customer service can demonstrated by any business.
2014 AFC & NFC Winners I realize that most discussions around football-related advertising focuses on the Super Bowl, but I thought it would be interesting to see who stood out during the playoffs. This list doesn't necessarily reflect spots that made their debut during the AFC and NFC Championships, but does honor the creative minds who, in my humble opinion, should stop and take a bow for their work.
