One of the biggest misconceptions for entrepreneurs is that money will magically start rolling in from day one.

The reality is that it takes a lot of time, effort, and hard work to make a living off your business, let alone build a successful and thriving company.

As a founder or founding partner of 6 businesses over the last 20 years, I’ve seen a lot of similar themes emerge. Within that, I’ve clearly identified where so many entrepreneurs fail.

If you’re ready to become an entrepreneur, the 4 strategies below will help you get started.

1. Find a Market With a Need You Can Fill

As an entrepreneur, you need to be realistic.

Sure, it’s great to have a vision for what your perfect business looks like. But if there’s no market for it (no one is buying what you’re selling), your dream is pointless. If you want your company to succeed, find a market that has a need you can fill.

Not sure where to begin? Do your research.

Let’s say you’ve created a new widget. This widget is better than any other widget you’ve seen on the market. Test your hypotheses and look to your competition. Are they making money, are widgets flying off the shelves, and what’s the sentiment around their brand?

To get a general idea, look on their website, read the testimonials and client success stories. Are they solving a real problem or only providing a Band-Aid solution? You’re not here to create something average.

You want a life changing, market disrupting, money making product.

2. Create a Product or Service That Transforms People’s Lives

One of the best ways to find a market with a need is to look at what people are missing in their lives.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• What is preventing my customers from becoming happier, healthier, and more successful?
• What are my customers missing in life or business, and how can I provide it?
• What is the outcome that I’ll provide? What will my customer be able to do or achieve once they’re used my product or purchased my service?

Create an aspirational vision of your business. Allow potential customers to see and feel how their situation will transform once working with you.

3. Standardize a Process to Turn That Product Into Traffic, Leads, and Sales.

We all have ideas. In fact, as creative’s and entrepreneurial spirits, we often have multiple ideas per day.

The difference between those that succeed with their business ideas and those that fail is one simple thing. Forward momentum.

It’s putting a plan in place that allows you to reach new markets, expand your offering, and test your theories.

After all, your goal as an entrepreneur is to generate interest around your product or service. That means you need a system to crank up the traffic, leads, and sales.

Start with a basic sales funnel that guides potential customers along the buyers journey.

Catch their attention (and contact details) with a lead magnet, and then nurture that relationship straight into activation.

4. Develop “a Bias Towards Action” Mindset

One of the most common traits found in successful entrepreneurs is a bias towards action. It’s the ability to make decisions quickly and act on them. Because think about the alternative.

It’s that friend who talks about an idea for months, even years or the client who says they’re launching a new product, but never pulls the trigger. Sitting back and waiting for the “right time,” will never happen.

If you want to succeed, you have to take action.

And once you start making faster decisions, that mindset takes hold and becomes an addiction.

Begin to develop yours by creating inertia that pulls you towards that next big decision. Step out of your comfort zone, decide to act, push go, learn, and iterate.

That process alone will help you move mountains.

Not getting the results you want?

Let our team get your company on the fast track to social media success. We’ll customize an education plan to meet your needs. From online webinars to workshops and onsite training, we give you the digital tools you need to successfully build your online brand.

Need help immediately? My new course, “The Smart Guide to Marketing Your Business on Social Media” is here. Get your strategy in place today!

Originally published on Inc.

When you truly understand your customer, you not only improve their experience, but their sentiment over time.

And in an online world overwhelmed by noise, there’s no more powerful way to connect with customers than through storytelling.

But not just any story.

In a recent study, a well-constructed, character-driven story was found to increase clarity around a company’s culture, vision, mission, and values. And more than that, it had a direct result on the stickiness of the company message.

As a business, storytelling is an incredible opportunity.

If you want to transform your customer experience, begin by telling better stories. Here’s how to weave them into every post, article, and piece of content you write.

1. Use Storytelling as an Emotional Branding Tool

According to experts, 90 percent of all purchasing decisions are made subconsciously. They’re based on the emotions and feelings a person has towards a particular brand.

That means, the way they feel about your company, will determine whether or not they buy your product or service.

That’s why emotional branding is such an effective marketing strategy. One with a huge potential for improving customer retention and driving return through a strong emotional bond.

By telling a story that embodies the challenges faced by your target audience, you create an experience that resonates, educates, and sticks with them. Blue Apron is a company who does exactly that.

Their mission is to make cooking easy, fun, and accessible to anyone. They’re model connects on an emotional level to our hurry up lifestyle that wants simple, quick, and affordable.

2. Make Your Story Compelling With These Three Key Ingredients

78 percent of customers believe customized content that tells a story is critical. Not only does it bind and connect, but brings with it a sense of belonging.

If you want to create a story that makes an impact on your community and becomes truly memorable, include these three main ingredients:

Personality

The story you share should be an embodiment of your personality — of who you or your brand truly is. Are you fun, silly, lighthearted?

Let that shine through. Leave your audience with the sense that they’ve known you for years.

Authenticity

The definition of authenticity differs from one age group to the next. For Millennials, authenticity means actively supporting a social cause.

Understand your audience’s version of authenticity and incorporate that messaging into your brand identity.

Empathy

To be a great storyteller, you must be a good listener. Use social listening tools to monitor conversations.

Get intimately acquainted with your audience and their pain points. Empathize with their situation and validate their perspective by providing customized solutions to their struggles.

3. Help Your Company Story Come Alive With Visual Content

In the last few years, brands such as Google, Oreo, and Kentucky Fried Chicken have recognized the value of associating the brand with a powerful visual story.

That’s because they know what emotionally compelling visual content can do for retention.

When customers hear your message, they’ll only remember ten percent. But, pair that information with an image and they retain 65 percent of that information. That should be reason enough for you to get visual!

If you want your story to come alive, add emotional and visual context (video, graphics, GIFs) to your content. Share snippets of:

• What inspired you to create your business.
• The history of your company.
• What problems you solve.
• Obstacles you helped others overcome.

4. Make Your Customer The Hero of Your Story

What better way to convert new customers than to do it with the help of your current ones? Let them take center stage by becoming the hero of your story.

Rather than making your company the center of your story, tell it through the challenges faced by those you’ve helped. Not only does it endear customers to you, but according to Deloitte and Touche, being customer centric makes you 60 percent more profitable.

Use stories to highlight the problems and struggles your customers have encountered and the villains they fought along the way. You can bet that the same challenges they faced are faced by your potential clients as well.

Share stories that attract new customers, build brand loyalty, and establish credibility.

Not getting the results you want?

Let our team get your company on the fast track to social media success. We’ll customize an education plan to meet your needs. From online webinars to workshops and onsite training, we give you the digital tools you need to successfully build your online brand.

Need help immediately? My new course, “The Smart Guide to Marketing Your Business on Social Media” is here. Get your strategy in place today!

Originally published on Inc.

Wonder what’s ahead for social media in 2018? Or what factors matter most to your business? The answers might surprise you.

There’s a shift in how you use social media, but that wind of change is going to reenergize your company marketing plan.

Below are the top three ways you need to adjust how you’re using social media in 2018.

1. Know The Role of Social Media in Your Marketing Stack

Social media can take your business from zero to success, but only if you identify its role in your current marketing stack.

This requires that you understand how the software and tools you use allow you to work more efficiently.

Your first step is analysis. What tools are they using and are they still effective?

Now look at your remaining tools and visualize how they help you fits social media into your overall marketing strategy.

In 2018, social media needs to move out of its silo and into the echo system of your company. From customer support to marketing, identify how the technology, tools, and data flow between each.

Here’s an example: Facebook, for many companies, falls under the awareness category, meaning it sits at the top of the funnel. In the marketing stack, you might find it in events (marketing), outreach (business development), and listening (customer support).

Knowing that, you now need to tie this to your customers journey to ensure their experience is as personalized as possible. Customizing micro moments, those instances where they “need to know or do something right now,” will increase your odds of capturing customer attention at the exact time a decision is happening.

Restaurants are an excellent example of this in action. From the moment hunger sets in and the search for food begins, to the time a table is chosen, the waiter arrives, and the meal is served — each moment is an opportunity to woo, wow, and convert that customer into a raving fan.

2. Tackle Employee Advocacy

There’s no denying the huge resurgence happening around employee advocacy. From education to training, brands are working to help “brand ambassadors” move from employee to active brand champion.

No longer do we see a separation of church and state. Today, companies recognize the long term benefits to empowering employees to use social media as an additional outlet for brand awareness.

And the numbers back up why this push towards advocacy makes sense. On average, employee advocates have 420 Facebook friends, 400 LinkedIn contacts, and 360 Twitter followers. Think about that. If you have 10 employee advocates, that’s 11,800 more people you’re now able to reach.

Moreover, those are the connections that hold the most potential. In fact, 90 percent of buyers trust recommendations from people they know personally, while only 33 percent of them trust brands.

Sure, there’s still a lot of fear around employee advocacy, but that mainly stems from a lack of understanding and education. Once given the right direction, guidance, and encouragement, your employees can be your best ambassadors.

After all, 66 percent of firms with a formal employee advocacy program credited the program as helping to attract and develop new business, while 44 percent credited the program with generating new revenue streams.

3. Focus on Micro Influencers

Previously, influencer marketing was all about building relationships and working with big name influencers — those Instafamous with a million followers.

Over the last year, we’ve seen a slow shift to a micro influencer situation. Brands and marketers alike are recognizing that quality beats quantity when it comes to influencer relationships.

There will be an even bigger push towards this in 2018 as brands niche down and tap into those hyper-focused micro influencers. These are individuals that might only have 25,000 followers, but a great majority of them are engaged, interactive, and ready to buy what the influencer is selling.

As social media continues to evolve, the only way to stay on top is is to stay close to your audience. None of the ideas above can truly make an impact, if you haven’t taken the time to understand the needs of your customer.

Those are their natural indicators, emotion, enthusiasm, desires, and situation. Each one will lead you to the right placement and use of social media in your 2018 digital marketing strategy.

Enjoy this article? Click 👏 to help others find it!

Not getting the results you want?

Let our team get your company on the fast track to social media success. We’ll customize an education plan to meet your needs. From online webinars to workshops and onsite training, we give you the digital tools you need to successfully build your online brand.

Need help immediately? My new course, “The Smart Guide to Marketing Your Business on Social Media” is here. Get your strategy in place today!

Originally published on Inc.

Want to create a marketing roadmap for your business in 2018, but not sure where to get started?

In our latest installment of the Brand Authority Show, Diana Adams and I laid out a simple formula to DOMINATE your market.

Listen in and read the recap below.

D: Design an Agile and Strategic Approach to Marketing

An agile or lean approach to marketing is iterative. You create your objectives, test your hypotheses, learn from your daily initiatives, adjust and proceed.

The key is to move quickly, never get stuck or waste time on tactics that aren’t providing results. An agile approach helps facilitate conversation throughout the team based on real data, and allows you to make strategic adjustments along the way.

In other words, the old school way of creating a 12 month marketing plan and sticking with it is over. It’s now about validated learnings that have a bias towards action.

3 things you need to answer in your marketing plan:

• What’s the assumption?
• How will you test/validate?
• How will you measure your success?

O: Optimize Customer Experience

Identify the top 3 problems your audience is facing. For example, if we look at entrepreneurs, three of the biggest challenges are networking, attracting clients, and generating sales.

Next up, you need to flesh those out and ask yourself: “If that’s my target market, what solutions are they looking to me for?”

And it can’t just be a Band-Aid solution. Your solution needs to be life changing, market disrupting, and transformational.

Because, while I do believe that in many cases, good is good enough, that’s never the case when it comes to the experience provided to customers.

M: Manage Your Marketing Stack

Marketing can take your business from zero to success, but only if you identify the right software and tools that will allow you to work more efficiently.

Your first step is analysis.

• What tools are you currently using and are they still effective?
• Now consider what technology you need to add if you’re going to succeed in 2018.

Your marketing needs to move out of its silo and into the ecosystem of your company. From customer success to social media, identify how the technology, tools, and data flow between each.

I: Integrate Multi-Channel Marketing

Did you know that 72% of consumers say they prefer to connect with businesses through multi-channel? That’s why it’s so crucial that the message you share across all of your channels is unified.

Also, make sure you’re sharing your message strategically — on the channels where your audience is active, and not blindly — on every possible social network. Determine, what networks matter most and put your time and effort into them.

Your goal should be to create a unified and seamless experience for your audience.

However, know that you won’t be able to do that for everybody, so don’t even attempt to be everywhere and everything to everyone.

Be data-driven and see what kind of conversations your audience is having on each social channel, and use that knowledge in your strategy for each network.

N: Never Lose a Lead

Did you know that 54% of millennials, 50% of Gen Xers, and 52% of baby boomers say they’ve stopped doing business with a brand due to a poor customer experience?

As I mentioned above, customer experience should be your main focus in 2018. It’s often the main deciding factor behind whether or not a person buys or ever becomes a lead for your business.

That means you must constantly listen, hear, and respond with compassion and empathy. Tools like Sprout Social, Brand 24, Mention all let you easily pay attention to what’s being said.

You also need to look to your processes, systems, and funnels. Where’s the leak in your landing pages, what emails aren’t creating click-thru’s, what copy on your website hasn’t been updated in years?

A: Always Be Listening to Stay Ahead

By intentionally listening to your customers, you’re able to target your niche audience and attract potential leads. In fact, you’ll find that social listening is one of the most powerful ways to better understand your audience. And once you do, you can give them exactly what they need.

But be careful not to confuse social listening with monitoring. Monitoring is simply tracking your brand mentions. Social listening, on the other hand, requires analysis and lets you see the bigger picture behind the conversations.

If you want to reach your target audience and convert them into customers, you need to speak their language.

Only then will you be able to position your message in a relevant way to your potential customers. For that, you need to know about the people that make up your target audience.

T: Tackle Execution, Tracking, and Monitoring

You can’t afford to make business decisions based on guesses and assumptions. 2018 is the year to make decisions based solely on data. Start by tracking and monitoring every aspect of your marketing strategy.

Nowadays, there are plenty of tools that make tracking and monitoring very easy. Take advantage of them and keep a close eye on what’s going on in your business.

Some entrepreneurs get so removed from the actual customer that they lose all sight and understanding of what their audience actually needs. Don’t let that happen to you.

Always keep tabs on your customers, their needs, and on how you’re meeting them.

E: Exercise a Healthy Balance: Maintenance, Iteration, and Managing Growth

In a business, it’s very easy to spend all of your time focusing on the one thing you do best, and that can be detrimental to your business. You need to find a healthy balance between maintenance, iteration, and managing growth.

Stay consistent in your actions and strategies, but never get too set in your ways. See what’s bringing results and which are not. If they’re not - be willing to let go without regret.

At the same time, make sure you’re always moving forward and taking action on new things. The last thing you want is for your business to get stagnant.

Find a healthy balance and you will DOMINATE your market in 2018.

Enjoy this article? Click 👏 to help others find it!

Not getting the results you want with social media?

Let our team get your company on the fast track to social media success. We’ll customize an education plan to meet your needs. From online webinars to workshops and onsite training, we give you the digital tools you need to successfully build your online brand.

Need help immediately? My new course, “The Smart Guide to Marketing Your Business on Social Media” is here. Get your strategy in place today!

When was the last time you checked in on the health of your business? A month, a year, maybe never?

It happens… no matter how well your intentions might be. That’s where intention, reflection, and focus comes in. And not just focus, but what I like to call fanatical focus.

If you’re ready to get more done and make 2018 your best year yet, take a peek at the latest, “Brand Authority Show” with me and Diana Adams.

Together, we shared the 8 questions every entrepreneur must answer to power through each day, produce better results, and succeed in the new year.

1. Could I be more productive and efficient than I am?

Ever wake up, reach for your phone, and find an hour has been whittled away? That lost hour translates into frenetic energy that sets the tone for your day.

Look at your daily processes, how do you start your day? This sets the tone for everything else you do.

My motto in life is that mess creates stress.

Because you can’t work on your business if it’s working on you. And you can’t change your sales and marketing results until you have space to think about them in the right way.

Getting out of overwhelm is not optional. It’s the most important part of your role as the owner or leader of the business. You know that good intentions aren’t enough.

You need a process, a set of tools, and even better, someone to hold you accountable.

In the E-Myth, Michael Gerber expressed why it’s so important to delineate between working in and on your business. It’s the ability to separate and appreciate a very clear distinction.

The difference between slaving away within your business and allowing the business to work for you. Hard to wrap your head around? Think about it this way.

Rather than working 80 hours attempting to soak every last drop out of a week, instead put systems and processes in place that easily allow creativity, productivity, and growth to flow into your life and business.

2. Do I have a clear vision of my company value, product, and service?

According to experts, 90% of all purchasing decisions are made unconsciously. They’re based on the emotions and feelings a person has towards a particular brand.

That means, the way they feel about your company, will determine whether or not they buy your product or service.

Without a clear vision of your value, there’s no way you can impart this to your audience. To get clear on this, let’s whittle it down to two questions:

• What result do you create?
• What unique experience will you provide?

If you’ve struggled to put those thoughts into words, let me show you why it’s so important.

I was recently on a flight home and listening in on a conversation a man and woman were having next to me. The gentleman had introduced himself, shared that he’d just left a conference, and gave a brief overview of what his company did.

When he asked what she did, there was a long silent pause. You could almost hear her wheels spinning. After what felt like an eternity, she blurted out, “I argue for a living.” She went on to explain that she’s an attorney (maybe having an off day?) and that most of her time was spent in the courtroom.

But think about how quickly she could have enticed us with a simple reframing of her answer? Instead of that singular thought, she could have said, “I fight for those without a voice,” or “I turn drama into life-changing events.”

Make your value clear, but more than that… express in no uncertain terms who you help and how your solution is better than anyone else.

3. Have I broken down my sales and marketing objectives with a roadmap to achieve those goals?

As you look back on 2017, how happy are you with your results?

Did you bring in the amount of customers you wanted? Or how about revenue, did it land exactly where you’d hoped?

If not, look to your 2017 goals for clues. Were you specific in what you wanted to achieve or were you vague and unclear?

As Stephen Covey says, “Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.”

It’s very easy to get caught up in the dream of being an entrepreneur, but hard to actually quantify what you want to achieve.

4. Am I acquiring the amount of new customers that my goals require?

If your sales are lackluster, it’s more than likely due to what I mentioned above. No defined goals, no objectives, and no roadmap guiding you towards success.

Before you head into 2018, define your sales and revenue goals. If you’re a team, work from your overall team goals. If you’re a solopreneur, identify your target revenue for the year. Now work backwards.

For example, if your goal is $500,000 in annual revenue and your coaching packages are a $5000 and $2500 package, you need to identify:

• How many of each package you need to sell
• How many people you need to speak with

Based on your current and projected conversion rate. Here’s what those rough numbers might look like:

• $500,000 Annual
• $46, 600 Monthly
• $5000 package = $25,000 per month / 5 people per month
• $2500 package = $21,600 per month / 8 people per month

Now factor your conversion rate to identify how many people you’ll need to speak with, move through your funnel, etc. on a daily and weekly basis to reach those numbers.

This gives you a target and strategy that you can track daily. No ambiguous goals in 2018!

Listen to our Live chat to hear the rest of the conversation and answers to the top 8 questions every entrepreneur must answer.

5. Is my budget up to date and realistic based on current and projected revenue and expenses?

6. Did I push myself in 2017 or were there areas where I coasted?

7. Am I spending a great amount of my time on the three things that are the most important?

8. What changes must I make to meet my 2018 goals?

Kick your year off now, rather than waiting and playing from behind!

Not getting the results you want?

Let our team get your company on the fast track to social media success. We’ll customize an education plan to meet your needs. From online webinars to workshops and onsite training, we give you the digital tools you need to successfully build your online brand.

Need help immediately? My new course, “The Smart Guide to Marketing Your Business on Social Media” is here. Get your strategy in place today!

As I speak, travel, and meet new people, the number one thing I’m always asked is, “what’s the first question I need to answer before I market my business online?”

My response is always the same.

“What problem are you really solving and who are you solving it for?”

Ok… so that’s actually two questions, but they’re wrapped up into one big answer. And I say big because of its potential effect on how you show up, how people respond, and whether or not they take action.

Here’s what I mean…

When you speak to everyone, you talk with no one. And when you try to solve everyone’s problem, you end up with a vague, unclear result. Without an understanding of who you help and how you help, your audience (that perfect customer) will never be able to self-select into your product or service.

If you want to create a crystal clear message, your target market should be laser focused. Oh sure, I know plenty will tell you to go broad, cast a wider net, catch as many “fish” as you possibly can.

I call BS on that.

If you want to connect with the right people, you need to speak their language.

And the only way to do that is to get intimately involved in solving their problem.

Because once you know what problem you’re actually solving and the outcome you provide, it’s easy to place your audience in that narrative, draw them to your company, and show them the transformation that happens when they take that next step with you.

And wouldn’t you rather naturally attract those people than spend more money and waste more time trying to find and connect with them?

To get started, answer those two questions above. Then dive into places like Google Analytics, Twitter, BuzzSumo, and Brand24 where you can listen, gauge interest, and interact with your audience.

Get to know their NEEDS and you’re already on your way to a bigger, better, and brighter 2018.

NEEDS Formula:

• N natural motivators
• E energy
• E enthusiasm
• D desire
• S story

Once you know what motivates them to buy, the emotion that surrounds that decision, and the desire behind it (their perfect outcome), you can now tailor your message to your audience, sharing it in a way that speaks directly to the transformation that takes place when they work with you.

Think about that for a moment…

Instead of racing around, speaking to an audience of none, you zero in on your perfect customer and now speak to an audience of ONE.

And the more you know about your ideal customer, their motivations, and their needs… the more you can give, and give, and give… in very specific ways every single day.

Now it’s your turn, “what problem are you solving and who are you solving it for?”

Not getting the results you want?

Let our team get your company on the fast track to social media success. We’ll customize an education plan to meet your needs. From online webinars to workshops and onsite training, we give you the digital tools you need to successfully build your online brand.

Need help immediately? My new course, “The Smart Guide to Marketing Your Business on Social Media” is here. Get your strategy in place today!

No matter your industry or niche, referrals are the lifeblood of a thriving business. They’re also some of the best clients you can find.

With 77 percent of consumers saying they’re more likely to buy when the referral comes from friends or family, why waste your time on cold lead generation tactics?

Instead, focus your energy on connecting with potential referral sources that can help you exponentially grow your business.

But here’s the problem: most business professionals don’t know how to make those valuable connections, let alone ask for them.

If you’ve found yourself in a similar predicament, let’s banish those awkward exchanges and put a plan in place.

The tips below will help your past client database, online connections, and peers become your best referral partners.

1. Be prepared.

Your first requirement is simple: Get prepared to pick up the phone, get online, or send an email and ask for that referral.

Knowing what to say and how to ask is a breeze as long as you recognize what makes you and your services valuable.

Take a few minutes to describe in 2–3 sentences who you are, what you offer, and who you can assist. Your enthusiasm will be felt through your message if you put your heart into this.

Once that’s complete, you’ll want to get comfortable with expressing that information, especially if you’re getting on a call. It’s important that you not stumble through your conversation.

A great way to prepare is to write it down and then read through it prior to making the call. This doesn’t mean you should sound like you’re reading a script. You want to relax and feel at ease with the conversation.

Another great way to get comfortable with your own “Ask,” is to record yourself or role-play with a friend or colleague. You can easily do this with your Smartphone and apps like:

• Smart Voice Recorder
• Voice Recorder and Audio Editor
• Audio Recorder
• Easy Voice Recorder
• Evernote

The key is practice so if you do pick up that phone, hop on Skype, or join them on a meeting tool like Zoom — you feel calm, cool, and collected.

2. Build a cross-referral partnership.

One way to build referrals is through a mutually beneficial relationship of cross referral reciprocation. What does that mean? It’s the act of asking your past clients, peers, and business acquaintances how you can partner and aid in the growth of their business.

The success of a cross referral partnership doesn’t lie as much in the doing as in the asking. Asking questions about their business will offer insight into what type of referrals they would like to receive. In other words, take the time to listen and get to know their business.

Be aware of what makes them tick and what it is they need from you. By learning the ins and outs of their business, you open the gateway to exponential growth within your business as well as theirs.

Here’s what this would look like:

• Find five of your high-value relationships.
• Reach out with a quick note:

Hi Bill,

I’m looking to expand my client base and thought you might be interested in partnering. I know we have a lot in common, from our mission to vision and values.

Would you have time for a quick 15-minute call to discuss how we might refer between our two companies? I believe there’s a lot of benefit to learning more about your company and how I can send the right customers your way!

Here’s a link to my calendar:

Go ahead and grab a time that works best for you. Really looking forward to it!

Talk soon,
Rebekah

Now — follow up, follow, follow up! Remember: You’re doing several things within this process: clearly expressing value, laying the foundation for your conversation, respecting their time, and keeping your chat short and sweet.

3. Provide valuable resources.

Providing valuable tools and resources to your current client base and email list on a consistent basis builds trust and loyalty over time. Decide what it is they’re most interested in and then get it into their hands regularly.

Send an “item of value” each week, bi-weekly or monthly depending on your bandwidth. Whether it’s an event, tip, or answers to their most frequently asked questions, stay top-of-mind with relevant information.

Remember: what you give away for free will eventually come back tenfold as they refer friends, family, and co-workers who are interested in buying what you’re selling.

Challenge yourself today to make the art of asking for referrals a part of your business.

Consistently asking can turn your database, online affiliations, and influential partnerships into a marketing dream team.

Not getting the results you want?

Let our team get your company on the fast track to social media success. We’ll customize an education plan to meet your needs. From online webinars to workshops and onsite training, we give you the digital tools you need to successfully build your online brand.

Need help immediately? My new 2-day masterclass “The Power of YOU! How To Radically Change Your Life And Business” is here. Get your strategy in place and grab your spot today!

Originally published on Inc.

One of the most elusive aspects to social media is budgeting time and money. How do you know what you should invest in and what a realistic cost might be?

You would think a simple Google search for “social media budget” tips or ideas would provide a plethora of answers. But sadly, it seems this is a topic most would rather keep to themselves.

So let’s demystify the costs for a social media budget and help you easily create your own. Here are the top 4 essentials to plan and develop your social media budget.

1. Design

From graphics for social posts to your social media cover images, graphic design plays a critical role in branding your business online.

Depending on the stage of your business, you might opt for free tools as opposed to hiring a professional. I will caution you though, the more time you spend “working in your business,” the less time you have to focus on growing your business.

Balance your time wisely by listing what a graphic designer could take off your plate. Then begin your research to find a designer with an eye and style aligned with your brand. Sites like Toptal, 99designs, and Upwork will help you vet designers based on portfolio, client work, skills, background, and particular strengths.

For example, I love flat design. When looking for a designer, I was specific in looking for someone that worked with flat design, but also had hand drawn skills for various elements. Whether it’s product illustrations, animated graphics, or story development, find a designer that can help you nail down your look and feel.

Budget Breakdown

Social Graphics: $15-$200
Social Covers: $30 — $60 for one formatted for all cover sizes
Banners: $20-$80 per banner
Announcements/Events: $15 — $50 each

2. Video

Video is expected to overtake text-based posts in popularity by the year 2018. Folks, that’s right around the corner. No time to sit on this marketing medium.

To determine how it fits into your budget, first identify the type of video you want to use.

A few popular ideas:

• Teaser
• Promo
• Explainer

Now determine if you want to use a video tool on your own, or if you need to enlist the help of a videographer. Your choice will determine the price you’ll pay.

Budget Breakdown

Video creation/editing tools: $20-$500/month

Videographer: $75-$500/hour

3. Virtual Assistant

Like everything else in your business, a Virtual Assistant isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity and something you should invest in sooner than later. The longer you take to hire the right VA, the more you spin your wheels on tasks you shouldn’t manage.

What do I mean by this? Instead of committing your time to money-making activities, you get sucked into to-do’s that could (and should) be handled by someone better equipped to manage those tasks.

I know it might feel as if you don’t have the budget for it, but I promise that this is an investment that makes you money in the long run.

How can you use a VA in your business? A few common ways to use a social media assistant are: create social media posts, curate social media content, monitor social media mentions, schedule social media content, social customer care, manage social promotion, and more.

So what can you expect to pay for these services?

Budget Breakdown

Average hourly pay: $15/hr

Average monthly pay: $700-$3,000/month

4. Tools

Using the right tools is an important part of social media success. But many of those tools come with a hefty price. The key is finding the perfect mix of tools that help you manage, optimize, and strategically create a social media presence.

The top:

• Buzzsumo — For finding social media influencers and trending content
• Post Planner — For finding and scheduling engaging content
• Brand 24 — For tracking mentions and influencers
• Social Quant — For growing a targeted Twitter following
• Sprout Social — For scheduling, mentions, and analytics

Budget Breakdown:

Buzzsumo: $79-$559/month

Post Planner: $9-$49/month

Brand 24: $49-$399/month

Social Quant: $50/month

Sprout Social: $99-$249/month

No matter your budget, consider the medium and social channel. Which works best for your business? Don’t fall into the trap of relying on one social network.

Test each idea to set a realistic budget and strategy for your social media marketing.

Not getting the results you want?

Let our team get your company on the fast track to social media success. We’ll customize an education plan to meet your needs. From online webinars to workshops and onsite training, we give you the digital tools you need to successfully build your online brand.

Need help immediately? My new 2-day masterclass “The Power of YOU! How To Radically Change Your Life And Business” is here. Get your strategy in place and grab your spot today!

Originally published on Inc.

The online world is rapidly changing. Innovation that was a dream only a short time ago is now reality.

As a startup or small business, ensuring that the wave of change doesn’t pull you under is more important than ever.

Adopting a future-proof social media strategy — one that becomes your first line of defense — helps you overcome the uncomfortable truth that 50 percent of all businesses fail within their first five years.

To protect yourself, use social media as an insulator from negative outside forces. How can you do this?

Here are four ways you can use social media to future-proof your business right now:

1. Don’t Depend on One Social Network

With so many social networks, how do you choose? From Facebook to Instagram, Twitter to YouTube, knowing what should earn your attention is harder than ever.

The challenge for many is managing multiple social channels. This is also where the problem begins. In what seems like the simple solution, you settle on one, build an audience, and before you know it, it’s your social bread and butter. Big mistake.

Remember Ello, Xanga or Orkut? Probably not, and why should you? As quickly as they burst on the scene, each one fizzled out.

But imagine if you’d put all of your social eggs into one of their baskets? Making a social comeback would be a long and arduous process.

Instead, incorporate a multi-channel strategy that integrates each of the top social networks. From here, begin a listening campaign. Look for those forces (both internal and external), that can be managed through a diverse and strategic social media strategy.

2. Build Rock-Solid Relationships

Another key ingredient to future-proofing your business with the help of social media is through relationship marketing. Nowadays, it’s no longer enough to hop on social media and begin pushing out content.

If you want a longer shelf life, you must commit to establishing rock solid relationships. And no, this can’t be accomplished through a hands-off approach.

Sam Hurley, a digital marketing expert and the managing director of Optim-Eyez, agrees. “I built my entire personal brand, presence, and consequent business using social media, without a functional website of my own,” Hurley says.

“That alone speaks volumes. It may be true that social networks can change at any given time — but nothing can take away the highly-valuable relationships it enables you to forge with your followers, fans and closer connections. “

3. Commit to The Long Game

Do you clearly understand your social media objectives and how they support business growth?

And not just today, but tomorrow, and every day in between? The line of defense becomes blurred when you haven’t taken time to outline your strategic social media approach.

Katie Lance, author of Get Social Smart: How to Hone Your Social Media Strategy, explains why social media isn’t a short-term investment.

“Social media is a marathon, not a sprint,” Lance says. “The more great content you create and share over time, [the more it] will help to showcase to your audience your expertise and what it feels like to work with you.”

4. Invest in Your Audience

If you want to future-proof your business, you must become obsessed with excelling at social customer care.

With 78 percent of customers bailing on a transaction or company because of poor customer service, social media is a gateway to improved sentiment.

How can you improve your social media customer care?

Set processes early on.

Begin by making a commitment to be where your customers are. If they spend time on Facebook, then you need to be there too.

Next, determine how you’ll monitor mentions, respond to them, and interact with your audience.

And finally, get it into your calendar. What isn’t scheduled doesn’t get done, and monitoring social media is every bit as important as posting to it.

Spend at least 30 minutes each day on this. Listen to your audience’s needs and share valuable feedback — let them know you care.

Future-proofing is a daily commitment to surprising and delighting your social media community. And that, as Ted Rubin, CMO of Brand Innovators points out, is the backbone of social media: “A network gives you reach, but a community gives you power!”

Not getting the results you want?

Let our team get your company on the fast track to social media success. We’ll customize an education plan to meet your needs. From online webinars to workshops and onsite training, we give you the digital tools you need to successfully build your online brand.

Need help immediately? My new 2-day masterclass “The Power of YOU! How To Radically Change Your Life And Business” is here. Get your strategy in place and grab your spot today!

Originally published on Inc.

Anyone can post to social media, but turning that into lead-driving content is another story.

The key to turning followers into customers is to fix a few roadblocks you’ve put in place. Once you overcome these issues, you can reverse engineer your lead conversion funnel.

Use these four tips to increase social media conversions by transitioning looky lou’s into clicks, subscribers, and sales.

1. Cut Down on Bad Habits (They’re Killing Your Productivity)

If you find yourself endlessly scrolling through the Facebook News Feed, haphazardly retweeting on Twitter, or aimlessly double tapping on Instagram, you don’t have a conversion issue, you have a productivity problem.

To increase your social media lead conversions, begin by improving your daily productivity. Plan 15 minutes at the beginning of your day and 15 at the end to monitor mentions, respond to questions, and engage in conversations.

Now evaluate your social sales process. Is your content reactive or proactive? To productively manage the sales flow, you need a calendar. Mapping out your content ahead of time helps you stay organized and on track throughout your hectic workday.

Most importantly, it keeps your readers and audience engaged by preventing your content from stagnating which results in reduced lead conversion.

2. Start Looking at Data

If I asked you which of your social networks converts at the highest rate, would you know? And how about what social network sends the highest quality leads? I hate to be the one to tell you, but data wasn’t created because numbers are pretty. It’s there to guide and direct your actions.

If you want to increase the amount of people converting through social media, you need to dig into your analytics. Data provides what Jim Collins in “Good to Great,” calls the brutal facts. And as he points out, you can’t make good decisions without them.

Look at Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and your Twitter data. Now make that information actionable by adjusting your content strategy, how you’re positioning your product, the length of your posts, timing, and more.

3. Define Your Audience

If I asked you who you’re writing or posting content for, would you be able to answer? If you’ve found it difficult to convert leads into sales, it’s simple. You don’t know your audience.

To learn what they desire, you’ll need to do some homework. Begin by reaching out to your current customers and asking one simple (but very telling) question:

“You’ve tried to overcome [insert their problem here, e.g. fear of failure, weight gain, paralyzing anxiety], what one thing has held you back?”

Open ended questions like this one require introspection and thought, but be careful they’re not too open ended. As Vincent F. Hendricks, Professor of Formal Philosophy and Logic at the University of Copenhagen, cautions: “A good question is not necessarily one you can answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to. The best questions are often those where your answer depends on conditions or qualifications.”

Be bold in your question, but specific in context. Help your customer envision this scenario and place themselves into the narrative of your story. Once you learn their pain and struggle, then craft content that becomes the solution. ROI increases when your content targets your exact market.

4. Offer a Clear Benefit

People don’t buy a product or service, they buy an experience. If you don’t take time to share one that expresses your benefit, your competition wins the conversion battle.

Use social media to articulate your solution, value proposition, and the experience it provides. For example, as a pet store, it’s not dog food, cat nip, or fish pellets your audience is looking for. They can get that anywhere. What they want to know is how your store will improve their lives and that of their pet.

To do this, share stories about current and past customers. Allow new customers to identify with your benefit and self select into your product.

Not getting the results you want?

Let our team get your company on the fast track to social media success. We’ll customize an education plan to meet your needs. From online webinars to workshops and onsite training, we give you the digital tools you need to successfully build your online brand.

Need help immediately? My new 2-day masterclass “The Power of YOU! How To Radically Change Your Life And Business” is here. Get your strategy in place and grab your spot today!

Originally published on Inc.