Likes, Tweets, Shares, and Subscribes …Oh, My!

social media marketing

Social media accounts are important, but…

I was having a discussion with a business colleague the other day and the topic came up about how clients perceive their followings on social media platforms.

During this conversation, he mentioned that one of his clients was not satisfied with the number of subscribers she had on her YouTube channel. She has lots of views, just not too many subscribers.

That led us to an exchange about social media engagement in general.

So let me play devil’s advocate for just a minute.

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When Marketing Wears A Cowboy Hat…

Calgary stampede

It’s that time of year!

For those of you who don’t know, I am a proud Calgarian.

Calgary, Alberta is world-renowned for 3 major things: hosting the 1988 Winter Olympics, its Oil and Gas industry, and the Calgary Stampede.

Well, today marks the fifth day of the 2015 Calgary Exhibition & Stampede.

This article isn’t intended to be an advertisement for the Stampede, but it’s a great example of how marketing can wear a different hat.

For those of you who are not familiar, this is an annual event that celebrates the tradition of ‘the old west’. It lasts for 10 days, and during this time, business activities slow to a crawl – at least in the downtown area.

Calgary is also well-known for knowing how to throw a good party, and that proves true every year during this event.

This is the time of year when Boardrooms take a backseat to Bars and Barns!  Business folks drop their power suits for western wear, including cowboy hats, casting aside the worry of developing ‘hat-hair’. Read more

Balance, Budget and Belief: The 3 B’s of a Successful Business

balance

It’s not easy to run a small business.

Demands come flying at you from all directions.  You have to have a general knowledge of many things, not just related to your business, but also related to operating a business.

Too many small businesses fail before they have a chance to flourish. And many more flounder for years before they either complete a slow death or, on a more positive note, get it figured out and go on to be successful.

There are tons of elements that make a business successful. But at the core, you can always find these “3 B’s”: Read more

The Shoemaker’s Child Goes Shoeless! The Importance of Working On Your Business

work on your business

Working on your business?

Entrepreneurs and business owners are a bit different than the masses. We are the people who aren’t satisfied with a ‘normal’ job. We often become bored very quickly with the status quo and once we have mastered a specific task or goal, we are eager to move on to a new challenge.

We also are guilty of taking on EVERYTHING! Because we put so much of ourselves into our businesses and projects, we seem to be a bit reluctant to trust others to maintain our high standards and protect our brand and our reputation.

So this means that often we end up juggling all aspects of the business; from bookkeeping to branding, to marketing, to web design and maintenance, to marketing and PR – and everything in between!

But by taking all this on, we are actually doing a disservice to our businesses! There are only so many hours in a day, and taking on the main responsibility of all aspects of the business makes it impossible to dedicate the appropriate amount of time and energy to every area. The result is that many tasks are incomplete, inadequate or simply ignored. We have all heard the adage, ‘the shoemaker’s child has no shoes’. In this case, the child is your business. Read more

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