Tag: entrepreneur

How Big Is Your Dream?

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dare to dream

Dare to dream!

And, while you’re at it, dream BIG.

Without a dream, nothing can be created. Everything that exists in the world today is the result of something that someone dreamed about creating.

Our Marketing In A Minute video series continues today, and we explore the concept of dreaming to advance your business.

Please join us now, and consider subscribing to our channel so you won’t miss any new tips.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

What’s In A Name?

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what's in a name

What does your name say about your business?

When creating and building your business, choosing the right name is an important first step.

How your business is found – and how it is perceived – often hinges on the choice of name. Prospects need to know how to find you, and your name can play a big part in accomplishing this feat.

Our Marketing In A Minute video series continues today. Please join us now, and consider subscribing to our channel so you won’t miss any new tips.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube:

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

What’s Your Story?

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what's your story

Well? What is your story?

Understanding what it is you are trying to communicate with your audience is a critical first step.

Today, our tip is about the importance of defining your story.

How you communicate with your community, and how clear you are within yourself, is the foundation upon which all other marketing functions will be built.  Therefore, be sure that you have absolute clarity.

Our Marketing In A Minute video series continues today. Please join us now, and consider subscribing to our channel so you won’t miss any new tips.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube:

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Marketing In A Minute – New Video Series

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inspire

Get ready for our newest project!

Those of you who have been following us know that we have been providing marketing tips and strategies to inspire twice a week for the past couple of years.

Our goal is to continue to provide you with information of value, in a format that works best for you.

As more and more people are using mobile devices, we have found that the preference of our audience is to receive information by video. Therefore, we are happy to announce that we are starting a new project today – the Marketing In A Minute video series!

Although we will continue to provide articles, podcasts and infographics when appropriate, it is our intention to grow this series, giving you marketing tips in an easily digestible and condensed format. Our videos will give you one tip per post, and will only take a minute or less.

Please join us for our intro video now, and while you are at it, subscribe to our channel so you won’t miss any new tips.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube:

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Keep Your Eyes On The Prize – 3 Key Motivators

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how to stay motivated

Do you ever think that maybe it’s time to throw in the towel?

Sometimes it can be difficult to stay motivated.

As an entrepreneur, some days it can feel like all you do is fight an uphill battle. And sometimes, during these times, you can feel a bit overwhelmed and wonder if all this effort is worth it, or if you should just throw in the towel and try something else.

As someone who has been an entrepreneur for over 30 years, I have felt this pain. During my career, I have had some big wins and some big losses – probably something familiar to your story. And when I feel like throwing in the towel, I take the time to re-evaluate why I do what I do and what it would mean to change all of this.

To help keep you moving forward, I have compiled the following three motivators:

1. Stay focused. Sometimes we get overwhelmed simply because we are pulled into many different directions at once. Entrepreneurs are used to juggling many balls, but occasionally we can feel boxed in. Create a checklist of things you have to take care of and prioritize them. Take care of them in order, staying focused on the issue at hand. And don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get everything done. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

2. Stay positive. Yeah, I know. Sometimes this is easier said than done. But remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that the struggles you are contending with will pass. Be sure that you are surrounding yourself with people who support you and are a positive influence. Naysayers will only drive you deeper into negativity.

3. Stay true to yourself. As I mentioned above, when you’re wondering whether to keep going or to give it all up, take the time to reflect white is you do what you do. Create the list of pros and cons-and, of course, there are pros and cons to everything and every career. Then take an objective look and see which column has the most weight. Your decision will become clear.

One bonus motivator: Take a break!  Go for a walk, watch a movie, visit a friend.  Just give yourself a bit of time away and you’ll be surprised how refreshed and ready to jump back into the thick of things you’ll be.

Now, I’m not suggesting that at times it might not be best to shift gears and do something else. And, while most people dream of being an entrepreneur, it certainly isn’t the life for everyone. But if you are a true entrepreneur and you generally welcome and even thrive on the challenges thrown in your path, review these three key motivators, take a deep breath and get back in the game.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

How To Find Your Dream Marketer

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professional marketer

When looking to grow your company, it makes sense to hire a marketing strategist.

Business owners don’t blink when it comes to hiring specialists for their business such as accountants, lawyers, and customer service reps.

Yet, for some reason, many entrepreneurs and business owners resist the move to hire a professional marketer. Many times they think it can be done in-house, often resulting in a haphazard approach and questionable results.

Keep in mind that your marketing team is what puts money directly into your pocket. Therefore, spending money in this area should be seen as an investment rather than simply an expense.

Hiring a marketing professional does come at a cost. Based on Robert Half’s salary guide for 2023, the median salary for a creative director is around $159,000 per year, depending on location. Adding benefits to this base adds an additional 25 to 40%, according to Joe Hadzima of the MIT Sloan School of Management. If you choose to hire a consultant rather than bringing on an employee, you will shave the benefit portion from these figures. But anyway you look at it, if you’re going to hire a quality marketer with any level of expertise, it will represent an investment.

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Defining Your Marketing Strategy

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marketing strategy

Before you can define your marketing strategy, you must understand exactly what a marketing strategy is.

Simply put, a marketing strategy is a plan structured around the resources available to you to promote and grow your business, targeted to your defined ideal client.

So now that you have this definition, review the following list to measure the current status of your marketing strategy and consider where it could go by integrating a structured marketing strategy in the future promotion of your business.

The top dozen questions to define your marketing strategy:

1. First of all, what is it about your business that you are passionate about? Reflect back on what motivated you to start your company.

2. What is it that you provide to your target market in ways that differ from your competitors?

3. Just like people, businesses have – or should have – a personality. What is the dominant trait in your business that you want your customers to identify?

4. What does your ideal client look like? This, really should have been identified when you were planning your business. After all, you can’t be everything to everyone, and if you haven’t defined your client by now, your business is probably flailing.

5. You’ve heard about the “elevator speech”. What is yours? Come up with a simple 10-word message that defines, explains and excites prospects about your business.

6. How does your target market become aware of your business? Within this question, you should be able to identify where and how you can best reach your target audience.

7. How do you build trust? People do business with those they like, no, and trust. What are you doing that will build trust to your target market, assuring them that you are the best person to do business with.

8. How is your cash flow? Be realistic. If you aren’t honest with yourself about your cash resources, you can’t be realistic about what you can achieve. If you are in a position that you have assets but require interim assistance was financing projects, what revenue sources are available to help you grow your business?

9. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. By walking a mile in your clients’ shoes, you can define and refine the customer experience. Happy client not only becomes a repeat client, but also becomes a source for referrals by becoming an advocate for your business.

10. Once you have defined where you want to goal, what gaps in resources do you face? None of us are experts at everything. Define what you can do and either assign tasks to someone else in your organization in their area of expertise, or outsource to a professional.

11. Do you require partnerships with others in order to achieve your goals? In some cases, it makes sense to partner with complementary business professionals to keep costs down, share resources, and benefit.

12. Finally, now that you’ve answered all of these questions, what does the result of implementing this strategy look like? If you see any holes in the results, review the list again and refine your strategy further.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

How To Measure ROI

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measure ROI

Marketing campaigns should be viewed as an investment in your business, not a cost.

One of the biggest problems that entrepreneurs and small business owners face is coming to terms with making marketing investments in their businesses.

Unfortunately, many of them tend to be short-sighted and look only at the initial outlay to develop, create and implement a marketing campaign.

But a marketing campaign, done right, is an investment in your business with the ultimate goal of increasing brand awareness, more prospects, more customers, and – ultimately – great PR and more profit.

Just like any other investment, an investment in a marketing campaign needs to be measured and the results monitored and evaluated to ensure that your marketing budget is being appropriately allocated. With proper monitoring and calculation of ROI, you can focus on those campaigns that deliver the best results, regardless of your product or service. Remember, not all marketing campaigns are created equal.

When times get tough, the marketing budget is always the first to be slashed. This is completely counterintuitive, since marketing is an investment designed to produce revenue for your business. By learning to determine and measure your ROI on marketing campaigns, you can gain comfort that your marketing budget is not just some fluffy expense that you can throw away during times of economic difficulty.

One common mistake that many small business owners make when calculating ROI is to simply calculate profit minus investment to determine their return. For example, if you invested $50,000 in a marketing campaign and ended up with $100,000 at the end of the project, the simple calculation is that you received a 100% return on your investment. Now, although this calculation might work in simpler applications, it is not an accurate picture of your marketing ROI.

Measuring ROI for marketing campaigns can be complex due to the many variables on both the profit side and the investment side of the equation. Understanding the formula is key to producing the best possible results for your marketing investments.

There are many ways to calculate marketing ROI but the best formula, in the simplest terms, is:

(Gross Profit – Marketing Investment)
Marketing Investment

When you apply the example I gave above, you can see how this formula changes the performance of the marketing campaign. If your typical profit margin for your product or service is 50%, that means that only 50% of the $100,000 in revenue was actually gross profit, the other 50% being attributed to create the product or service that was being sold. So, in this example, your actual ROI on the campaign is zero.

Now this does not mean that you should not be investing in marketing; it simply is intended as an example to show you that without proper calculation of ROI, you can be misled, leading to disappointment. There are many ways to determine ROI, depending on the intended outcome of each individualized campaign. Therefore, it is often a good idea to turn to a professional marketer for assistance in determining your goals and leveling your expectations.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Market Your Business Without Breaking The Bank

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don't break the bank

As a small business owner or an entrepreneur, you have to closely guard your cash flow to be successful.

But guarding the purse strings is not the same as refusing to spend your cash appropriately to build your business.

The important thing is to be strategic with your spending and make sure that your investments pay off.  You don’t have to blow the budget to make a big impact. In fact, there are lots of ways to market your business $400 or less, assuming you are willing to put in a bit of sweat equity.

Here are six easy to implement and inexpensive marketing strategies:

1. Do your market research. I’ve repeated numerous times just how important it is to research your market. The more time you invest and the more you refine your ideal client, the better you can focus your marketing efforts and target them to the appropriate audience. Also be sure to check out what your competitors are doing. Be strategic. Don’t try to compete with big players with an established brand, but analyze your field to see where weaknesses or gaps exist in the marketplace and take advantage of these.

2. Use email to your advantage. There are many email marketing platforms out there that offer free accounts up to a certain limit of subscribers or emails per month. And if you purchase a plan through an email marketing provider they are generally very inexpensive. Email marketing is a tactic that works. Many studies have proven that email is the preferred channel for clients and prospects to receive communications. But remember that nobody likes spam. There are rules in place that specify how you can legally prospect for business. Be sure that you are coloring in the lines.

3. Timing is everything. Most consumers search for a product or service online. Ensure that prospects who land on your website can access the information that they need to make a buying decision quickly and efficiently. Nearly all new websites are already optimized for mobile devices, but if you have an older same be sure that you have a mobile ready version available. Remember that nearly half of all browsing is now done on mobile devices.

4. Make sure you can be found. As noted above, most consumers go online to research products and services prior to making a purchase. As a small business owner or entrepreneur, make sure that you do keyword research and appropriately integrate search engine optimization (SEO) into the content of your site. Used appropriately, SEO can result in favorable SERP, or search engine result placement, in organic search results. When searching online, few people bother to look beyond the second page of results, so be sure that you are able to be found.

5. Use social media. But be strategic. Hundreds of social media sites are in existence, but there are only a small handful that are used regularly by the majority of people. When you did your research, you should have identified which of these social networks your prospects are most likely to use. Create profiles on those social networks and interact with your prospects and clients on the sites. Remember that these are places where people will post comments though, and make sure that you are interacting. You could consider making a small investment to sponsor posts on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook or twitter. All of these platforms allow you to target your ideal market as well as set a daily limit, ensuring that you do not overspend.

6. Expand your team. No, I’m not talking about hiring when you can’t afford to do so. Instead, I’m referring to the concept of creating strategic alliances. Sharing contacts and working with other businesses who can complement your offerings cannot only increase your brand awareness, but can also help you grow your business much quicker than you could on your own. Again, play fair. Make sure that the alliance works both ways.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

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