More Than A Few Words

When someone stumbles across your content or social media or it’s dropped into their inbox, you have just a few seconds to make them care enough to click and read more. With so much information thrown at potential clients every day. Your challenge is to compete with all of those other messages and get readers to pay attention to you. While there are a lot of techniques you can use. One of the most effective is the pain headline Why? Because hardwired into people is the drive to avoid an unpleasant outcome. Human beings are much more likely to take action to avoid negative situations than to achieve pleasant results. That’s why pain headlines work so well.

Building a website is easy, but building it correctly is not.  In this episode Sam Moss of the 1Click Agency shares the five most common web design mistakes.  The biggest mistake is not including bold call to action buttons. Maybe you have a flashy website that looks great, with some really cool cool pictures, and you spent a ton of money on it.  But if it is missing a strong call to action such as "call now", "get a quote" or "schedule an appointment" you are wasting your time. Bold call to actions show prospects you're confident in what you do 

Wouldn't it be nice if we all just got along? Well, that seems like a nice idea. But when it comes to running a business, you can't eliminate conflict completely. And quite honestly, you shouldn't.     Managed conflict helps cultivate discussion and creates opportunities to uncover new and innovative solutions. So as a business owner, one of your main jobs should be to establish an environment that cultivates healthy conflict.  You can do that by being willing to invest the time it takes to resolve issues. Conflict can be messy and it may take several conversations to come to a solution. You have to create a climate of mutual trust and you have to have a desire for resolution, and not let a desired win take precedence. And finally, if there are two best options, don't choose yours. Let one of your team members take the lead. Why? Because if it's their idea and they're passionate about it, they're more likely to work to ensure that it's implemented properly. 

We are living in a visual world. And as a brand, every image you choose has to support the message you want customers to receive.  Jennifer Riley Simone of Fresh Figs Marketing joined me for a conversation about how businesses can do just that.  She suggested three simple strategies business owners should adopt:  Cohesion - There are many ways to make images cohesive.  For example you can use consistent coloring or style of photography or the kind of images you choose.  The objective is when the images are side by side on a page they fit together well. Cohesion begins with creating a branding guide Use a Professional - If you are serious about your business image, don't leave it to an intern. Turn to a professional graphic designer.  They are experts at creating visual messaging and that is what you're creating with all of your imagery and graphics. Then once you have a template or a particular look at a graphic designer has created you can turn to your team to replicate that look across your brand.  Making a

Why You Should Conduct Web Performance Reviews If you have employees, you're probably conducting performance reviews on a regular basis, evaluating the quality of their work, the objectives you outlined for them, and the results they delivered. But my question is, do you hold your website to the same standard? Are you conducting web performance reviews on a regular basis to determine if your website is delivering results? You should. As the epicenter of your marketing, it's feeding social and email campaigns, answering customer questions, and capturing leads. And so you need to know if your website is living up to its full potential. To conduct a web performance review, start with your analytics. Take a look at how many visitors are coming to your site. How are they finding it and what are they doing when they arrive?  Use the data to make improvements.

In the early days of SEO, it was all about the links. It was about quantity, how many inbound links could you build for your website.  These days, the search engine algorithm is a lot more sophisticated, considering multiple factors to calculate your ranking, but a good link is still valuable. In this conversation, we chat with David Pagotto about simple link building strategies such as  leveraging  existing relationships and connections.  For example reaching out to suppliers, referral partners and industry associations to build your first tier of valuable inbound links.

Let's face it, everyone wants to feel special. When you walk into a coffee shop and you're greeted by name, or a waitress remembers that you like your eggs over easy before you order, you feel at home. And the next time you want a cup of coffee or an omelet, you're more likely to go back for the personal touch that makes you feel special. With so much business conducted remotely and online, sometimes it feels like we've lost that personal touch. But it doesn't have to be that way. Companies willing to invest in getting to know a little bit more about customers and prospects can build a competitive advantage through the use of marketing personalization. Where do you start? Well, it can be as simple as incorporating a person's name into your marketing. For example, when you send an email to your entire database, add the person's name or a relevant fact about them to the email to increase your response rates. I'm not suggesting you send an individual email to hundreds or thousands of people, but take advantage o

Why do reviews matter?  Part of the answer to that question lies in the psychological phenomenon of social proof. We look to others for advice and ideas.  Whether it is contagious laughter at a comedy show,  or turning around in an elevator to face the door, behavior is observed and replicated. Particularly when buying something we have never bought before reviews provide that social proof. How do you solicit reviews? Ask for them when customers are still excited about the purchase.  For example: As you serve dessert at a fine restaurant Just as you sign the closing papers on your new home As you hand over the keys to their new car. What about negative reviews? Bryan Caplan suggests using the four "p"s to guide your response. Professional Prompt Pleasant And Pick up the phone!

“I can do that,” I said calmly, as I looked across the table at a potential client.  All the while in my head, I could hear a loud frantic voice saying, “Are you crazy? You have never done that. You don’t know how to do that!” That was the early days of  Roundpeg  and people were not exactly beating down the doors to work with me. I was excited to be sitting in front of someone who actually had money to spend on marketing. So I decided I would figure it out.  Sure, it was a little outside my comfort zone, but it wasn’t as if I was signing up to do accounting. And that first project opened up the door to other related opportunities, essentially changed the course of Roundpeg. The characteristic that made me comfortable saying I can do that is common among successful entrepreneurs. It’s what allows us to jump off the edge of a cliff into the unknown as we grow our companies. But that courage shouldn’t only be limited to entrepreneurs. It’s a equally valuable to anyone who is in a position where they want to be

Since starting my first Twitter account in 2008, I've had a love hate relationship with the platform. It's fast moving and entertaining.  There are days that I can scroll through and just enjoy the conversations. Sometimes it's great for business, and sometimes it's just a complete time suck. So how do you get the most out of the Twitter platform? That's a question. I've asked a number of people over the years. In this episode, you'll here excerpts of some of my favorite conversations about Twitter

Nobody told me when I was a kid how much harder it was going to be to make friends when I got older. Changing jobs and moving to new cities, I always felt like I had to start all over again. The same is true as you start your business. Sure you have friends from former jobs and other positions, but they may or may not necessarily travel in the same circles that you're moving in now that you're a business owner. And so it's time for you to go out and make new friends. Get out there and start networking and don't just look for customers. When you go to the next Chamber of Commerce event what you're really looking for are peers, other people in your industry and maybe even a few competitors. These are people that you'll be able to talk to about your industry and about your world. It's a great way to learn and share best practices. Don't limit your networking to in-person, there are great opportunities online to join discussion groups and industry forums.   

Want to grow your business from zero to 1000 fans?  Start by asking people what they want from you. Sounds simple, right? But that's exactly what my guest Josh Tapp, The Lucky Titan,  said he did to grow his business. In this episode we talk with Josh about building an audience of raving fans, customers who are so passionate about you, they will pay you, no matter what your offer. They're willing to come to you with their wallets wide open and say, "give me whatever you have because I know you care about me." More than a Few Words  is a marketing conversation for business owners, hosted by Lorraine Ball

Let’s face it, everyone is not your customer. Even if you sell the most basic of products like crackers or toilet paper, some people will like your particular brand and others won’t. And trying to make your product as generic as possible so that it will appeal to the widest group possible means that you’re probably not going to satisfy the demands of any one group. So, today’s tip is really to start thinking about who is your target customer? Who are the people most likely to buy? What makes your product most relevant for them? What are their needs, and how do you solve their problem? When you begin thinking about your target customers as individual people rather than a conglomerate of everybody out there you have a better shot of creating relevant and meaningful marketing messages.

Think Instagram is just for pretty pictures of food, fashion and flowers will think again. With Instagram stories, your business can deliver relevant messages to an audience that really cares. Our guest today Bobbi Baehne will share tips and tricks on how you can use powerful Instagram stories to grow your business. Instagram was about pretty pictures and celebrity chefs until it was purchased by Facebook a few years ago.  They have expanded the platform adding tools to make it more useful for businesses.  One of the most powerful tools in the platform are the stories. These larger posts take up more room in the news feed, can be customized with stickers, text and even polls.  And because they disappear in 24 hours people are more likely to pay attention, because they know they will be gone soon. 

Have you noticed that everyone seems to be changing their name lately? I mean, every time I turn around, Dunkin Donuts is now Dunkin and Weight Watchers is WW, Burger King is trying to slide in there with BK. What's going on? These brands that have been around for a long time and they are trying reinvent themselves. They think a shorter name makes them sound cooler and maybe a little bit hip. Also, it allows them to shift focus away from some of their core products. For example Dunkin Donuts wants to talk about muffins and other healthy alternatives. And Weight Watchers watns to be known for more than boring diets and face to face meetings. Can these brands get their customers to embrace the nickname? Only time will tell. Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what you want to call yourself. It only matters what your customers want to call you.

Let's face it, things happen. Businesses take twists and unexpected turns. But are they really all that unexpected? In today's conversation, Sam and I talk about how you can proactively plan for the crises, you know, are going to occur at some point.

Wouldn't it be great if your marketing could get people to buy from you? Unfortunately, as our guest Chris Hoyt explains, that's not how marketing works.  What can marketing do?  Marketing can help people know you exist.  if you are just starting out, marketing can help introduce your new company It can communicate your value  It can give people an incentive to try your services or your products And most of all it can help you listen to your customers.  Armed with this information you can make better decisions.  More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners. 

The Marketing Minute: Patience Let's talk about patience, because that is something  small business owners typically don't have. We start our businesses with grand plans.  We go out and start marketing our product and we expect results righ away. Unfortunately,  good marketing takes time. This is true of all types of marketing, but particularly inbound marketing and content marketing.  These activities will not double your web traffic overnight. If you created great content a week, a month or even a year ago, it will continue to be discovered by niche searches and drive traffic for months and years to come. Search engines may not notice the first article you write on a topic, but once you have a series of related articles, suddenly you are seen as an authority on that topic  and you may see your search traffic go up. As that begins to occur, your inquiries come as well. So my friends, be patient.

The problem with automated marketing is that well, it feels automated. There's a not quite human sound to the way those emails and chat bots respond to questions from real customers. Your challenge is to humanize your automated marketing and make those communications sound like they come from you. To help us discover how to create personal campaigns that really bring people to you we invited Ellen McDowell, the founder of Ellen McDowell, Your Social Butterfly to join us. She says the key is to make sure that you are speaking authentically, using your language  you normally would use. Don't rely on the templates that your software tools are providing. Use text from emails or simply imagine a conversation with a potential customer and use the same words in your automated chat response or email that you would use if you were face to face.  More than a Few Words is part of the Digital Toolbox from Roundpeg

Today's conversation is a bit of a departure for us, but it is such an important topic, property taxes. I know , nobody wants to talk about property taxes. But  if you don't talk about it, and you don't think about it, you're gonna pay more. Our guest Joshua Malancuk, founder of JM Tax Advocates explains the two components of property tax calculations; the tax rate and the assessed value. While you can't change your tax rate, which is set by your local government, you can present logical arguments for reducing the assessed value of your property. Most business owners don't have the experience to make the case for a tax assessment reduction on their own.  That's where professional tax advocates can play an important role. This is extremely important for capital intensive businesses, but individual taxpayers can benefit from the evaluation process as well.