More Than A Few Words

Some people say that a picture is worth 1,000 words.  Every wonder why?  It is because our brains process images significantly faster than we can process words. In an instant, they convey a range of emotions and ideas.     With the ability to quickly impact your audience, it is no wonder than more and more businesses are relying on images as part of their online strategy. 

Many business experts agree one of the best ways to grow a business is with “OPM” (Other people’s money). The idea is to reduce your risk and multiply the impact of your capital with loans from banks or resources from investors. The influx of capital helps accelerate the growth of a business. In a way, this same strategy can apply to your online marketing. To accelerate the expansion of your brand you need “OPC” (Other people’s content). In marketing circles the technical term is user generated content (UGC). Want to learn more on this topic?  Check out my presentation from Mixwest 2014.    Let others work for you - How Small Businesses Can Grow with User Generated Content from Roundpeg

LinkedIn continues to evolve and improve. This week we take a look at two exciting new additions to the platform. 

Sometimes video can do more in 30 seconds than you can do in five or six pages.  Today we talk about some of the how and why of small business video. 

When it comes to content marketing it takes more than just great words and ideas.  It isn't just what you say, but where you say it that makes the difference.    With more and more companies developing content, the company with the best distribution strategy will will. 

It isn't enough to get people to come to your site.  You need to welcome them, engage them and keep them coming back.  Inbound marketing strategies can help you do just that. 

When people repeat themselves too often, you tune out. And it isn't just a semi senile grandmother people are ignoring, it is messages from companies just like yours. And it isn't just customers, prospects and potential employees who are zoning out on your messages.  Search engines get bored, too. When you duplicate information on  multiple pages within your website or copy information from other sites it does more harm than good.    This week we talk about ways to avoid the pitfalls of duplicate content. 

Content marketing makes sense for almost any business.  This short program describes how a bean company used content marketing to drive sales.     

There are lots of successful companies which have been around 20, 25 or even 30 years without a website.  Do they need one now?  

Lorraine tends to fly by the seat of her pants, and Jarred loves process and systems.  This week we talk about why a more organized approach is the right choice for most businesses. 

Did you ever wonder what other businesses are really doing online?  How much time are they spending and where they are spending it? Well we were curious so we decided to ask and share the answers with you.    This week we will share some of the results from our small business survey. If the show is interesting, and you want to learn more your can always download the full report here.   

When you're busy (which, let's face it, is always), it's so easy to let a week slide by without writing any new content for your blog or responding to content sent over by your marketing company. It's understandable, but in order to have great content marketing, you've got to be consistent. In this week's marketing podcast, we discuss how to keep up with content marketing even when life's crazy. 

More than just marketing hype, your brand position statement is about creating an impression of your company in the mind of your prospective customer.  It is the basis on which all your other marketing should be built.  A positioning statement contains the following elements: Description of the target customer Benefits sought by the target customer to solve a specific problem Your unique solution   This week we kick around examples of good and bad position statements.  

What is content marketing?   It is information you share with prospects which help them reach a buying decision without overtly selling.  Content can be video, audio, pictures, eBooks, blog posts, email or social media update.     Using any of these formats you mission is to maintain an informative tone, while still leading the most qualified prospects to the decision they need to work with you. 

Some "experts" are seeing the recent declines in the time people are spending on Facebook as a clear signal that Facebook is dying.   I think their predictions are a bit premature.  Facebook is still huge social media platform so don't count them out yet.   This week we talk about some of the changes in demographics and user behavior, the addition of hastags, the over use of ads and most importantly, what all these changes mean to small business owners.