Recipe For “Brand Chocolate”: How To Be Irresistible

How do some brands seem to have that irresistible quality that creates a loyal following of happy clients who talk about them and refer others?  How do some brands seem to be found while others disappear? To explain, I like to use the analogy of a chocolate shop.  The chocolatier’s dilemma is that she has this amazing ingredient to work with that so many people will enjoy once they experience it but there are other chocolate shops on her block, so many ways she could prepare her chocolate, and so many different customers she could serve.  So how does she …

5 Key Digital Marketing Best Practices for 2016

I’m often asked the question “what’s the next big thing in digital marketing?”. The truth is that the next big thing isn’t one thing at all, it’s everything. As consumers we are overwhelmed with data. We reach for our smart phones as soon as we wake up in the morning to check email and our favorite news, weather and social media channels. We use Waze to get to our appointments more quickly, use our online apps to help us perform our jobs, order lunch using GrubHub, use GoToMeeting so we can still meet while we’re mobile, search product reviews and …

Does Your Service Live Up To Your Tag Line?

A month ago my business networking group decided that we should all run a charity 5K together and that it would be even more fun if we had team shirts with our group name and logos on it, like the real running shirts you get in races.  We decided to get something nice, not one of those cheap throwaway tees but a sports tee that we could be proud of and wear again and again. I took the action to create the shirts and after having one of my talented graphic artists come up with a snappy looking design, I …

Why “Me Too” Marketing Usually Fails

I was speaking with someone the other day who wanted nothing more than to understand the “secret sauce” of one of his competitors.  If only he knew what this guy was doing to attract business he could replicate it and watch his own business grow by leaps and bounds.  Is it possible to peer into someone’s online strategy?  Sure it is.  You can see from the code on their website what keyword phrases they are likely optimizing for, you can see which other websites link to them, check out their traffic and know in which directories they are listed, where …

How to Clone Your Best Clients

You walk into your waiting room and there she is, Mrs. Manning, smiling as you enter.  Although she is a client, after all this time a handshake is too formal for her and you greet with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.  As you walk her into your office you chat animatedly about her kids, your kids and their latest soccer games.  Even as you get down to business the tone is light and truly collaborative.  You share a mutual respect but truly enjoy working together.  And thanks to Mrs. Manning telling her friends and work colleagues about …

best way to get more followers

15 Best Ways to Get More Followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+

Everyone loves followers, it makes us feel popular and business is no different. Here are some ways for small business owners to increase your following on social media: 1. Post great content (intuitive right?) 2. Write a professional bio. You would be surprised at how many clients come to us with outdated content in their bio. Remember your brand should be consistent across all channels. 3. Use hashtags (see more on how to use hashtags here) 4. Place an email list signup widget on your blog. If your blog is part of your WordPress website then widgets are easy to …

A Hashtag Primer for Small Business

A hashtag is a keyword or phrase preceded by the hash symbol (#), that people include in their social media posts. Essentially, it makes the content of your post accessible to all people with similar interests, even if they’re not your followers or fans.  For instance, let’s say you’re an Apple fan and that you’re playing with the idea of buying an iPhone 5. A simple “#iPhone5″ search on any social network will open a dedicated news feed with all iPhone 5 latest updates, deals, rumors and hacks. The results you see on this feed are the aggregated posts of …

Small Business Vision: Why Do You Do What You Do?

One of the most important statements you can make as a small business owner is to articulate your business vision and say why you do what you do.  A vision describes the fundamental purpose of your business, why it exists and what it is meant to do.  It is a moral statement that guides the decisions you will make along the way and will remain in place over the long term.   Here are a couple of examples: Amazon Vision Statement:  “Our vision is to be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find …

business processes

Do Your Business Processes Make You Sink or Swim?

How did you spend your day yesterday? Did you spend time developing business processes for how you can grow your business? Did you call 10 prospects who might be a good fit for your services? Did you invest time in coaching your successor to allow you to grow into your next exciting venture? No? If you’re like most small business owners, your day was spent delivering the services that make money for your company, fighting fires, answering emails, trying to make it through your “to do” list and then mindlessly scrolling through Facebook or Linked In reading updates when your …

Is Your Brand More Like Carnival or Royal Caribbean? 5 Ways To Tell.

Recently my family and I took a Caribbean cruise. We’re not new to cruising, in fact this was our seventh. But the first six were with Royal Caribbean so this was our first experience with the Carnival brand. I’ll save you the suspense and tell you that it will also be our last, but what I did find interesting was observing the vastly different strategy that each brand employs from its website, to customer service, to the ships themselves and their excursions. I wasn’t expecting the same standard on Carnival as I had previously experienced with Royal, but I wasn’t …