What would you learn in one hundred networking conversations?  And how would those conversations change your business? That is what our guest, Chella Diaz set out to discover when she set a goal to have conversations with  100 smart, interesting women.    About Chella Chella is passionate about empowering women to master their money skills.  She helps women identify and release their money baggage, so that they are able to set and achieve their financial goals.

More than a Few Words - A Marketing Conversation

#649 The Networking Quest

If you think Instagram is just about pretty pictures, you're really missing out on opportunities. Sure, a pretty picture is going to stop your audience in their tracks, but it's not necessarily going to be enough to start a conversation. Instagram allows you to use up to 2200 characters for your caption. So take advantage of the opportunity to engage your audience through words that complement the photo. Use your  captions to tell people the story behind the photo, invite them to comment or share their thoughts, ask a question or add a call to action. Whatever you do, it will be more effective than letting the picture just stand on its own.  

#648 Add a Caption to Instagram

When you collaborate with people you would, on the surface level think of as your competitors, it is amazing what happens You will discover your business is healthier, your mental status healthier and the tips and tricks and strategies that you uncover can completely change how you operate your business.  What about the fear of competitors stealing your secrets?  Our guest, Jon Tsourakis​ believes every business is like a fingerprint.  Each business has their own unique way about going about what it is they do. Different core values and different DNA means that not every suggestion will work for you, so you should treat iput from peers like a buffet, with lots of choices.   

#647 Find a Peer Group

The other day, I got the nicest note from a prospect,  who by the way is now a client. He said "The information you shared was valuable and easy to understand. Most of the folks we talked to try to wow us with technical crap and it becomes so confusing. You guys didn't , thanks!! " As a former school teacher, I was trained to break complex concepts into smaller, easy to understand elements. It seems that skill is an asset in my marketing consulting sessions as well. Too often subject matter experts think they have to impress their prospects with their knowledge instead of making them feel comfortable. Why would someone want to hang around you if you make them feel uncomfortable?  As you're writing information, even if it's for a technical audience, dumb it down a little Why? It's easier to grasp the important concepts if the language is simple, clear, and direct. So what about you? Are you so busy sounding smart that you're running off your prospects? If that's the case,  simplify your messages and sell more.  

#646 Dumb it Down

According to our guest, Ellen Goodwin, you can have all the plans in the world, manage your time, block out time for specific activities, but if you have no energy, you're going to be dead in the water. Without energy, nothing moves forward so today we explore how managing your energy is the actual the key to time management.   Managing your energy relies on the four "P"s: Prepare, protection, proceed and prolong.   Download a Guide to Phone and Cellphone Blockers. The guide is designed to help you block the digital distractions that can lead to procrastination and multi-tasking. Without digital distractions you are more able to focus and get more done with your time.    

$645 Energy Management

I always say there are three days in the life of a project give me an emotional left. When I make the sale When I send the invoice  When I get the check. The foundation of cash management starts with an understanding of how much money you have in the bank, knowing when the checks will arrive and how much you are anticipating in the next 30, 60 or 90 days? Those sales boost your numbers but what will your expenses be to deliver on those sales? One way to look at your cash management is to check your balance sheet and compare your accounts receivable to accounts payable. That will tell you if you have enough money coming  in to pay your bills. If not, you're going to have to dip into your savings and assets. Cash management helps you identify when you'll need cash to fill a gap and pay bills before a big payment from a client comes in. The time to try to line up a line of credit and financing is not when you need the money the most so advanced cash management planning helps ensure that you have money when you need it.   

#644 Cash Management

There, there's about seven different qualities that are highly associated with someone's credibility, trustworthiness and perception of leadership when it comes to vocal qualities. The research around this astounding.  For example, Duke University did a study of almost 1000 CEOs.  They found on the topic of pitch alone, CEOs who had a lower pitch to their voice, had more tenure, commanded larger companies had more perception of credibility and leadership.  They also made more money, on average of an additional $180,000 per year. While vocal tone is hard to change it is not the only element of your voice that can contribute to your success.  Other elements, including tempo, which can be learned are  can impact perceptions of credibility, leadership, trustworthiness is tempo.    

#643 Your Voice is Your Instrument

I want to ask you a very specific question. Who were you writing for? Now, if you have a personal blog and you're documenting the days of your life, you're writing for yourself. But if you have a business blog then you are writing with business objectives in mind.  Those objectives are directed towards a specific audience and you need to write for them.  So, are are you writing for your customers or are you writing for your referral partners who will pass the information on to your customers?  Does your target audience have a high level of expertise or are they primarily novices? Once you decide on a target audience, it's easier to figure out what you should be writing and where you should be promoting them once they're written. It's fine to have more than one audience for the overall blog, but individual posts should focus on a specific group or section of your target population. Looking for examples on blogging, be sure to check out the resources in the Digital Toolbox

#642 Who is Your Blog For?

There are many elements in a successful ecommerce program, but email is at the top of the list.  From simple promotional campaigns to event specific "flows" the trick is to send the right message at the right time.   This week, our guest Ivana Radojevic talks about the four types of email you should include in your ecommerce marketing program 1) The Welcome Flow - a series of emails sent to new site visitors. Emails in a welcome flow generate a 86% greater click rate than one-time sends. 2) Abandon Cart Flow - 7 out of every ten prospective customers will abandon their shopping cart.  These emails bring them back to the checkout page.  3) Post sale Flow - This is a great time to thank a customer, perhaps share tips on how to use the product to get ahead of potential customer service issues.  4) The Campaign - These are one time emails with special offers or information, not tied to a particular event.  Want to improve your email game, be sure to listen to the whole episode  

#641 Ecommerce Email

Long before I ever worked on my first website, I was developing brochures and direct mail campaigns for business owners. Many of the rules of good copywriting I learned back then, are transferable to a digital environment especially, great content is engaging and interesting to a reader when it's focused on them. So the trick as you're writing your web copy is to make sure you're focused on the client. One of the best ways to figure out if your focus is correct is to print out your web copy.  Then read the content with two pens in hand, one red and one blue. As you read circle all your first person references in red words like I, we, our company, and even our clients.  Then circle all your second person references you, your business people like you in blue. When you're done, look at the page if you see more red circles than blue, go back and rewrite from a readers perspective. The result will be more interesting, more compelling and more effective. Go ahead, try this at home on your web copy. 

#640 You Focused Copy

As you drive down the road, you have to be ready to make small adjustments.  The same is true for your marketing. This week's guests, Sharyn and Hank Yuloff,  think you need to stop thinking about your marketing as if the plan was carved in stone.  Instead, you should view it as a path that will need to be adjusted along the way.  You need to keep your hand on the wheel, so you can make the small changes to your program as conditions change.  

#639 The Marketing Path

When I started my career, I was full of crazy, innovative ideas which were routinely shut down by senior managers. I grew to hate hearing "That isn't how we do things" or "We tried that and it didn't work". When I left corporate, I assumed I was leaving the negative energy behind. Unfortunately, resistance to change is human nature. I haven't changed. I still throw out lots of crazy, sometimes half baked ideas. But the difference is when I hear one of those soul killing phrases, I have a different response. When someone says, "that isn't how we do things",  I simply ask why? When someone says "it didn't work", I'll ask them. Why not? How long did you try? What's changed in your company since then,?  So I want you tp commit to two things. Number one, you are not going to use those phrases when someone else suggests a crazy idea to you. And number two, you're going to turn the conversation around when someone resists your idea. It takes a little practice but it's well worth the effort.  

#638 A Crazy Idea

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners.  MTFW is hosted by Lorraine Ball and features interviews with marketing professionals from around the world.    In today's conversation, Mal MacCallion,  discusses the common mistakes and challenges of starting a business.  He says:  1) If it was easy, everyone would do it. 2) You need to start with a clear definition of why your business exists.  Who you serve and what problem will you solve.   3) You need to set your pricing  to match the rest of your marketing because your pricing says something about your brand.

#637 Start Your Business

You have a blog for your business, that is an important first step.  But if you want to transform a good blog into a great one, there are several things you can do to improve your company blog, First you need to do is think about why you’re blogging. You need to identify very specific objectives for your blog. That will allow you to then measure the results of your activity to decide if this whole blogging thing is even worthwhile. Some potential goals could be increasing awareness of your company, educating potential customers, increasing customer engagement, generating leads, scheduling appointments, reducing service questions, improving your search position on Google. Once you identify those goals, you need to also identify how you’re going to measure that. For example, you can look at your overall web traffic, you can look at how often people download information, fill out forms, you can look at and see whether or not you’re having fewer customer service request issues. So as you’re mapping out your blog strategy, think about what your objective is, and how you’re going to measure your progress

#636 What is the objective of your blog?

According to our guest Sheri Kay Hoff, the trick with good marketing is to be everywhere, but show up slightly different so your message is relevant to your audience.  Customers can smell a sales pitch a mile away, so you need to start a conversation with the goal of listening and helping, and earning the right to sell.  It will take more time than jumping right to the sales pitch, but it will pay off. 

#635 Omnipresent Marketing

A Marketing Conversation for Business Owners

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More than a Few Words - A Marketing Conversation

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