More Than A Few Words

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. 

The marketing minute is a shorter version of the popular More than a Few Words podcast. Instead of a conversation with a marketing professional Lorraine Ball shares a quick tip to start your week, My husband and I took a trip through Central Europe. In the span of two weeks we were in three different countries with three different currencies and three different languages. Neither my husband or I speak Czech, German or Hungarian. But we managed to navigate bus, train and boat transportation with ease. How did we do it? Almost everywhere we went. The directional signs included simple icons which conveyed their meaning at a glance. As I sipped my espresso in the sidewalk café I thought about how this same strategy of simple meaningful graphics applies to any business, even if you are not serving a global audience. Why? Because your brain can process images 60,000 times faster than it can process words. Whether you're running through a train station, or surfing a website an image conveys an idea or an emotion in

More than a Few Words is a Marketing Conversation for Business Owners. Why does your business exist?  If you answered to make money, you are missing the point.  That may be  why your own a business, but the business exists to create value for your customers.  As you define your reason to exist consider, the value you create, who you create it for, and what the customer will ultimately do with  your product or service.  Mike Wittenstein says those three elements comprise your "reason for being" which can become the North Star, or guiding principal for your business. 

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation hosted by Lorraine Ball featuring brief interviews with entrepreneurs and marketing professionals from around the world.  This week, chats with Tracy Brinkman about productivity hacks you can use to take control of the chaos in your day.  Time Blocking: If you have a task, that is high priority make a date with yourself.  Block out time as if is an important meeting, maybe an hour or so, and don' let anyone cut into that time. Stop trying to accomplish 87 things each week. Pick a few top priority items and make sure they get done first. 

Did you know that  57% of all purchase decisions are actually made before a customer ever talks to a supplier. Think about that! More than half of the people who pick up the telephone to talk to you have already made up their mind to do business with you. That's good news, but the question is, how do you get more people to call you? And how do these people make up their mind before they ever talk to you? The answer is your website.  They go to your website and to the websites of your competitors. They look for answers to the questions they have about your product and your service. They look for FAQs, how to guides, videos and comparison charts. f they find that information at two in the morning. when they are online, they're more likely to pick up the telephone and call you the next day. So, you need to be prepared. You need to look at your website and make sure that it is your very best salesperson. Not sure if your website is up to the challenge?  Take our web audit quiz to find out.   

More than a Few Words is a Marketing Conversation for Business Owners.  Sometimes you just have to jump in.  Video is so important as part of your marketing mix, and most business owners are not expert videographers., but that's ok.  Our guest Nina Froriep says you just need to start. Jump in!  You will improve over time. the trick is to do it consistently. These do not need to be long videos. As a matter of fact, they can be as short as one minute with one key talking point and one call to action. Relax, and imagine you are talking directly to one of your clients. Nina Froriep enables business coaches to grow their businesses with consistent and easy-to-implement video content to can attract their ideal clients. Nina has been in TV, film, and video production her entire life.  She’s seen it all from the early days on independent features, to big national TV commercials, corporate mega-shows, and (Emmy award-winning) documentary films, including one she produced and directed, called Abraham's Children. Along

The Marketing Minute is a quick bite of marketing from Lorraine Ball, host of More than a Few Words    You probably don't want to hear this. I'm going to do it SEO wrong. You're spending all your time focused on what search engines want, worrying about stuffing your pages with keywords, inbound links, and outbound links. But search engines don't buy from you, people do So I want you to think about SEO differently. Start focusing on content that answers questions real people have about your product and service. If you do that, and you do that, well, the search engines will pay attention.   LEARN MORE ABOUT CONTENT BASED SEO

The world is getting smaller all the time.  Today, even small business can afford to compete globally.  This week we talked with Wendy Pease about free resources, and tips for business owners interested in selling their product internationally. Did you know that every state offers grants that subsidize the cost of getting ready to export your product?

Organizations, movements, products, companies thrive or fail when their stories thrive or fail. So if you have a deeply resonant, emotionally significant functionally relevant story, then the organization will continue to thrive. But when that story fails to continue to be relevant, that's when the demise starts happening.   This week, our guest Kurian Tharakan talked about the types of stories leaders need to tell about their businesses About Kurian Kurian Mathew Tharakan is the founder of sales and marketing strategy firm StrategyPeak Sales & Marketing Advisors, a 27 year veteran of the sales and marketing industry, and the author of the Amazon bestseller, The Seven Essential Stories Charismatic Leaders Tell. 

There are lots of cool tools and features that you can add to a new website. The problem is sometimes companies try to do everything; ,stunning layouts with drop downs and rotating and parallax effects,.  They think using all of those tools makes the site look sleek and modern. In reality, what you end up with is a jumbled mess. So as you look at your website, step back and ask some basic questions. What do you want visitors to do? Does this tool or feature make it easier or harder for them to do what they came for? Then think about the skill level of your audience. If your market is comprised mostly of older consumers, a simple straightforward design may be your best choice. Look at lots of tools, and then pick the ones that really work for you. If you're interested in learning more about web design, be sure to check out the resources at DigitalToolbox.Club

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners hosted by Lorraine Ball, founder of the Digital Toolbox  Every business owner knows an article in the news can be a great boost to a business. The question is how do you get the media to notice you.  Our guest Mickey Kennedy explains it is not by sending another boring release about your product or service.  You need to be creative, finding a unique angle,.  One way to do that is with a survey that uncovers an unusual data point or piece of information which might be the beginning of a great story.  Another tip is to look for industry blind spots, things no one in the industry is writing about.    Mickie Kennedy is the Founder and President of eReleases, the small business leader for press release distribution, now celebrating 22 years in business. He is an expert at helping small businesses increase their visibility and credibility and he's here today to share some valuable insights. 

One of the most interesting findings in this year's digital marketing survey was on the topic of blogging.  Fewer small business owners than ever told us they were using blogging as part of their marketing. And even those that do blog, are blogging less often. Why is this a big deal? Because blogging is such an important part of your internet marketing strategy. It provides content to feel your social media updates, and it helps you build credibility. Blog posts provide a place to showcase work samples, case studies, product updates, and company news.  Your blog shortens your sales cycle as it helps customers get to know you, your employees and your approach to solving problems just like theirs. Finally blog posts give you a steady stream of rich, relevant content to increase the chance that your site will show up in Google searches. Have I answered the question, "why blog"?  I hope so. Looking for more blogging tips and tricks?  Check out all the tools at the Digital Toolbox 

The marketing podcast More than a Few Words is hosted by Lorraine Ball. Each week she interviews marketing professionals from around the world.    This week, our guest, Breanna Gunn is a copywriting professional.  She shared tips on how to create content which gets noticed and drives results.  To begin with she suggests you need to tell a story and make it engaging. Build the relationship with your reader by making it about them and not you.  Your readers are human, and they are selfish and self centered, so they want to read copy that is about them.  Where possible substitute words like you and your with "I".  Bring the reader into the conversation.    And finally, stop worrying about the word count and focus on being relevant.  Engage readers and search engines will notice. 

Each week, host Lorraine Ball chats with marketing and business professionals from around the world.  This week, Connie Jones, author of  WARRIOR ARISE, brings her perspective on how our beliefs limit our success.    We create these upper limits for ourselves fueled by messages we have received starting early on in childhood about who we are and who we are not.  And who we are supposed to be.  We create patterns of playing roles that are consistent with those messages, but sometimes the messages are wrong and the pattern becomes a trap.   To break the cycle of limiting beliefs, you must first identify the belief, recognize it is creating your reality and chose to change what you believe.  Often it stars with simply acting "as if" until the new behavior becomes natural and you being to believe you can do or be more.  

Let's face it, sometimes mistakes happen and things go wrong. How you handle the situation will often determine whether your smallest mistake becomes a big crisis  Even if you can't predict what will go wrong, having a plan in place outlining specific steps in case of a mistake will make it easier to respond. This is true in the real world or on social media, where your Twitter or Facebook page can absolutely blow up. Things to keep in mind as you're thinking about your emergency or crisis plan: Appoint a team leader. Have one person identified who will be in charge of coordinating all of the public responses.  They may not need to be the one crafting all the messages, but should serve as a clearing house for all statements. Personalized apologies are great, but be sure to create a blanket statement  you can use if you start getting lots of comments all at once. Remember if customers have legitimate grievances, the very best thing you can do is encourage them to connect with you directly and take the conversa

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners hosted by Lorraine Ball, founder of the Digital Toolbox   If the thought of attending a networking event leaves you shaking with fear, our guest Sean Tyler Foley has some advice for you.  1)  Stop looking for your next potential client.  Flip the script and look for people you can help. 2) Instead of worrying about your opening pitch, practice some opening questions.  3) When you are asking questions, you have the power to control the conversation.  4) When asked what you do, create a story, not a pitch.     Sean Tyler Foley is an accomplished film and stage performer and has been acting in film and television since he was 6 years old after his father passed away suddenly in a motor vehicle accident. He has appeared in productions including Freddy Vs Jason, Door to Door, Carrie, and the musical Ragtime. Tyler is passionate about helping others confidently take the stage and impact an audience with their stories. He is currently the Managing

Every week, Lorraine Ball, chats with marketing professionals around the world. This week, the conversation is about Accountability.  Her guest, Don Markland shared thoughts on developing an accountability habit for your business.  1) Accountability starts with you.  While you may find others to help keep you on track, you must take responsibility for actions and results.  2) There is no ego in accountability.  You must be ready to listen and respond to feedback, taking ownership without excuses.  3) There are four "C's" of accountability: Critique Success - Always look to improve on what is working Correct Failure - Diagnose what is not working and build a plan to fix it Celebrate Growth - Don't wait till you get to  your end goal, celebrate the milestone improvements along the way Crush Mediocracy - If you are going to do something, commit to it 100%    About Don Markland   Don Markland is the host the podcast The Morning Jolt. He is an Entrepreneur, Sales, and Marketing Executive, Forbes Contributor, and

The marketing minute is a shorter version of the popular More than a Few Words podcast. Instead of a conversation with a marketing professional, host Lorraine Ball shares a quick tip to start you on your week   Why should I buy from you?  That simple question is at the heart of every sales conversation.  The question is simple, but the answer is more complex.  There are actually three parts to the answer.  Part one: Your answer must demonstrate an understanding of the customer's problem.  Part Two: You must describe how you are going to solve the problem Part three:  What makes you uniquely qualified to provide the solution.  Do those three things and you're likely to close the sale. 

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners hosted by Lorraine Ball, founder of the Digital Toolbox  SEO can be  very technical as you focus on the the code and signals you send to search engines about your site.  But, according to our guest Dr. Ty Belknap it doesn't have to be. The single biggest thing you can do to improve your SEO is write, because search engines love words. Rich page content, 2,000 words or more is what will drive SEO. That wall of text may look imposing, so break it up. The first two paragraphs are for your human readers,  Make sur you have a call to action  and a visible divider on the page. Then you can add the rest of the content the search engines want to see.     About Ty Belknap, CEO of Port Bell, has been doing SEO since before it was called Search Engine Optimization (he started in 1995) and has been running Internet Marketing companies since 2002. Dr. Ty has three degrees in leadership, including a Doctor of Strategic Leadership in Life Coaching. He is

This week in our marketing minute, Lorraine Ball continues the conversation about building a successful inbound marketing campaign. Once someone starts to fill out your form, you want to be sure they take that last step to submit the form. But the truth is, people don't actually like to submit. Although that is almost always the default choice when you build a form it is actually one of the least effective phrases you can use.   Here are some better choices Use a word that commands action: click register, go or download Use language that actually promises the benefit:  Get the case study, watch the video The stronger and more compelling the language, the greater the chance that someone will actually finish the process. And one final note, keep your call to action, short one to three words and use all caps. I know I know. It feels like you're shouting when you use all caps. But you went to the trouble of driving someone to this page. You don't want them to leave without filling out the form.