Online Marketing

  • Consistent Marketing Builds Brand Trust

    Consistency is a key element in a business’ success. Of course, there are other important factors but consistency is what will create name recognition. Consistency is what will build your online community so you can develop a trusting relationship with your audience, and it will showcase your expertise to new followers.

    Here’s an example: You go out to dinner at your favorite restaurant and you fall in love with your entrée. A few weeks later you take a friend to the same restaurant, order the same meal, but it tastes different and you send it back to the kitchen. Their lack of consistency in how your meal was prepared will now leave doubt in your head about that particular dish and possibly about the whole restaurant in general. Can you relate?

    Doubt in a customer’s mind generally means you must rebuild that trust again to show that they should continue to do business with you. It’s not impossible to earn their trust again but you’re basically starting from square one. Working your business consistently and focusing on superb content and excellent customer service will help to keep your clients happy and trusting in you.

    Have you ever had this occur: You opt-in to an email list which resonates with you and your interest, you receive a few weekly emails and then nothing? Crickets. Then a month or two later you receive an email from that same person, making an offer to you to purchase their product. How does that lack of consistency make you feel? I’m guessing your first reaction would be, “Who the heck is this person?” Their lack of consistency will cause you to forget who they are and why you signed up for their list in the first place. Lack of name recognition generally leads to, “I don’t know who you are so why would I give you my money?” or “ I don’t remember you at all and you unsubscribe from their mailings.” Again, this business owner just made it much harder to win your trust, right? 

    Consistency with Your Brand

    Have you noticed how many gurus there are, each proclaiming to have the answers to earning 6 or 7-figure incomes? Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of great coaches and programs out there but if you tried implementing all of their different strategies, you’d be exhausted from keeping up with it all and your audience would be very confused about your overall message. Your messaging is part of your branding. Don’t borrow someone else’s. Learn from others, embrace what works for you and your ideal audience and use your voice, personality, and idiosyncrasies.

    When it comes to branding, consistency and repetition will help develop name recognition. Make sure you are consistent with your branding across all channels online and your website. It confuses people when they go to one of your online profiles and it doesn’t look at all like your website or the email you sent them.  Be consistent with your brand image, colors, and message, both online and offline so you’re always recognized. 

    4 Places Your Brand Identity Should Be Consistent

    Your brand identity is the image your company portrays to the world at large, to your audience or clients. When people look at your online presence, they should know what you do and that you bring value to the market. Your brand identity should be appealing to your target market and should be consistent in every printed piece you produce and across every online platform.

    Consistency is important because it helps your brand standout. If people see your logo and/or your brand colors online, they will recognize your mailed brochure when it arrives, and vice versa. When people recognize your identity, your name is always top of mind, which is helpful when they receive your email or see your social media posts.

    Let’s examine the four most important places to perfect your brand identity:

    1. Your Website

    Very often your company website is the first element a potential client will see, and most people will make a 10-second decision (more or less) whether to explore further than the home page. Your identity should be strongly represented on that home page so your potential clients will explore further or contact you.

    On your website brand colors, fonts, and your logo are vitally important and should reflect your brand identity. If your message is sobering and you handle tough problems, using whimsical fonts and cutesy graphics doesn’t mesh with the serious issues your company handles. The opposite is also true; if your identity and mission are more light-hearted, using deep, dark colors and traditional fonts might turn people away after they visit your site.

    2. Your Social Media Platforms

    Not everyone in your target audience will use the same social media platform and those reasons vary widely, so it would be appropriate for you to post across multiple platforms to reach more of your audience (If of course, that makes sense for your marketing efforts). However, if your name, colors, and logo are different on all these platforms, when someone jumps from Facebook to LinkedIn, they may not think yours is the same company because the profiles look different. Or if they receive an email that looks different than the social media profile, they may also be confused. Consistency brings recognition and helps to build trust between you and your clients.

    3. All Company Communications

    Business cards, invoices, printed marketing pieces; these should all have the same colors, fonts, and logo as your website and your social media platforms. Just one more way to show your professionalism and attention to detail and your clients will certainly notice.

    4. Your Email Marketing Campaigns

    Contrary to popular belief, email marketing is still one of the best ways to keep in touch with clients and to keep your company name in their memory. The key is to be relevant with your messages and offer valuable and engaging content. On top of these, create a template that incorporates your brand colors, fonts, and logo. Don’t miss a chance to build that trust between you and your audience. 

    Well we have covered a lot in this post so let’s review some best practices. Building trust with your audience is easier if you have consistency with your logo, images, messaging, and your personal vibe. When we market, we are marketing to other humans who expect a certain experience. Let’s not disappoint them. Keep true to you and your brand. Don’t imitate others but instead find what works for you and your community of followers. Do this and you will gain new business.

    https://www.facebook.com/StrategizeYourSuccess/
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  • 3 Types of Email Subject Lines That Increase Your Open Rates

    Email open rates are a one metric we consistently watch and try to improve. There’s good reason for it, too.

    If your subscribers aren’t opening your email, then they can’t read about:


    • Your newest coaching program
    • Your latest must-have tool discovery
    • That epic blog post you just wrote

    The trouble is, you only have about two seconds to entice a reader to open your email. Even worse, you have to do it in ten words or less.

    Yikes! That’s a pretty tall order, even for seasoned copywriters. But there are some tricks you can use.

    Be Ambiguous

    If you’ve been on Facebook lately you’ve no doubt seen those “click bait” headlines that say things like, “She adds this to a box of Wheat Thins and I’m drooling!” The reason headlines like that work is because we can’t help but want to know what “this” is that she’s adding to her Wheat Thins. Is it sugar? Salt? Peanut butter? We imagine the possibilities, but in the end we have to find out, so we click.


    You can employ the same technique in your email subject lines. Just substitute the word “this” for the actual thing you’re writing about, and you’ve got instant enticement.

    Use Numbers

    Here’s another strategy for creating must-read content: numbers.


    “7 Hidden Benefits of Waking Up at 5am”
    “3 Unlikely Ways to Close the Sale”
    “5 Social Media Platforms You Shouldn’t Be Ignoring”


    The reason numbers work so well in subject lines is because we are ego-centric and curious. We simply must know if we already use those three ways to close the sale. We will either walk away feeling good for being a marketing maven, or we will have learned something. Both are compelling reasons to open an email.


    Use Power Words


    Just as with all writing, choosing power words is far more effective than settling for their weaker counterparts. Imagine these two subject lines appear in your inbox.

    Which are you more likely to open:


    “WordPress Makes Better Looking Websites for Non-Designers”
    or
    “Create a Gorgeous Website—Even if You’re Not a Designer”

    While both subjects offer the same information, the first is weak, while the second is far more compelling.


    When it comes to email subjects, there are a few more tips to keep in mind if you want to up your open rates:


    Keep it short – no more than 10 words at the very most, and fewer if you can.
    Test everything. Use your autoresponder’s split-testing functionality to see which subject line styles perform best in your market.
    Use personalization, but sparingly. Occasional use of your reader’s first name can be a powerful technique.


    Here’s the bottom line: If your subscribers aren’t opening your email, they’re not buying. Paying closer attention to your subject lines is the single most important thing you can do for your email marketing campaigns.

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  • Using Quizzes as Part of Your Online Marketing Mix

    As a marketer I am always on the lookout for new and creative ways to get opt-ins for my clients and my own business. Quizzes are one way to get to people to answer questions about themselves because it shows that we are interested in their opinions and needs. And we as humans, are all genuinely curious, too. That is another reason I think that platforms like BuzzFeed are so popular.

    It’s Interactive!

    So why does that matter? Well let’s look at some of the stats and information around this.

    • Merryl Goffin, suggests that Consumers are looking for three things from content: Education, entertainment and/or social currency. Quizzes, games, polls and calculators are shareable and give you user information based on responses. Also, Interactive content can be the first point of conversation with users. – Forbes
    • The average quiz is shared nearly 2,000 times – Buzzsumo
    • 88% of marketers said that interactive content is effective in differentiating their brand from their competitors – Ion Interactive
    • Interactive content converts 2x more than passive content – Kapost
    • Online quizzes are, in a way, still considered a hidden gem of lead generation. Due to their ever-increasing popularity on social media, however, we believe quizzes are destined to be the next big thing in the modern marketer’s mission of capturing leads and increasing revenue. – Lead Quizzes
    • Interactive quizzes can be a powerful tool in the hands of digital marketers looking to collect information and convert online visitors into leads. By delivering entertaining, interactive, relevant content instead of simply asking website visitors to fill out a form, brands forge stronger relationships with their prospects and customers and deliver something of value before asking for information in return. – Qualtrics

    With all these facts we know it’s a powerful way to interact.

    So how do you get started?

    Recently, I found a platform that takes the heavy lifting away and makes it simple to get started on creating quizzes. It’s called Interact Quiz Maker. I tried this myself and I will tell you it was very interesting to see how it all works. Before using this app, I had never created one before.

    Let me share my experience.

    First, I signed up for a FREE account.

    Once I did that I was able to go in and pick what type of quiz I wanted to create. I could pick from doing one from scratch or using a template. I chose the template route since I was new to the platform.

    scratch or template

    The great thing about choosing the templates is that there are categories that are industry specific and all the hard work is done for you. I chose to go with one that was under the marketing category, but you can choose to look at all of them if you like. Once you have selected your categories you can then go to selecting your quiz type.

    Here you can select quiz types from assessment, personality or scored. You can even select all of them. That is the option I chose.

    That took me to all the different quiz templates available under Marketing. One of the features I really liked is that when I chose the “select all” feature of quiz types it brought up all the quizzes for my category and all the different types which show up below the description.

    You can also preview the quiz before selecting it and take it yourself to see if you like the questions and results. Keep in mind you can change pretty much anything on these quizzes which is also pretty cool.

    I selected Find Your Social Media “Secret Sauce” because I liked the catchy title and I thought it would pique people’s curiosity.

    The next step takes you to the cover page. You will have choices on where you want to go from here.

    You can select to go to the Quick Menu section where you will find Branding and Styling, Questions and Results. Integration and Share & Embed.

    I started with Integration to set up my lead capture and data collection opt in. I also connected the opt-in form to my Constant Contact account.

    In this section you will also choose what information you want people to provide on your opt in form and you can select whether you want to use GDPR and your own privacy policy.

    I chose to go with using GDPR since I have international followers and I included a link to my privacy policy. That is where I ran into a little snag. Everything worked fine once I published except for one thing. My hyperlink to my privacy policy wouldn’t publish. I tried it several times.

    After contacting the awesome people at Interact I found out that when copying and pasting my policy that I need to go to the front of that box and make sure to backspace in front of the URL so there are no spaces. Once that happens you will see a green checkmark letting you know it worked.

    Once my Integration was set up I moved on to Branding and Styling. I selected button colors that matched my business and initially I chose the feature to add my logo. After running my first test I decided to take it off. Why? I felt the logo was too small and it resides on all the quiz pages. I felt that it was more of a distraction to the quiz takers.

    One of the great features is that you can change the images on your quiz by uploading your own, an image URL or you can use the ones that are provided on the platform thru Pixabay. These are royalty free images with CO0 licensing, so they can be used in commercial projects.

    Note though if you upload your own you will need to make sure the image is sized to fit and that you have the licensing for the image. As you can see from the screen shot this one says 250 x 150 (it depends on which image on the sizing) and it should be formatted as a: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF image with a maximum image size of 2 megabytes.

    You can also edit the content to add your personality to the questions and results. And best of all on the results pages you may add a call-to-action button to take your quiz takers to more information via an offer, product or a blog post.  I didn’t do it on my first one, but I will be taking advantage of this on another quiz I’m currently working on.

    Honestly, my initial testing only ran for two days so my results aren’t anything to write home about right now but I’m excited about the possibilities. I promoted it on a few of my social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and I got some traction. The best part is even if people don’t finish the quiz you can still see where their pain points are because you can see how they responded. This can help you craft your future quizzes and products.

    This is a great app that does require a little testing to see what works best for you and your individual business. It’s also a great marketing tool to add to your marketing mix that you can use on your site and social media. It’s certainly a change of pace from the traditional eBook giveaway. Give it a go and try the FREE account.

    Visit Interact and check out these resource pages:

    How to Make a Buzzfeed-Style Quiz

    How to Make a Personality Quiz

    Other resource credits:

    Interact Quiz

    Forbes

    LeadQuizzes

    Qualtrics

    *I am a Partner of Interact Quizz platform however I only refer followers to products or services that I have tried myself and love.

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  • Who is Your Ideal Client?

    If you ever worked on creating a business you know one of the essential elements needed is to identify your ideal avatar, aka your one perfect customer.

    This vision of your ideal client guides everything you do. From pricing, to pain points and even the color of your logo.

    My business and yours may be alike but when we peel back that onion my clients may pay different price points for my services verses yours because our background, business model, geography and/or experience may constitute different rates.

    Peel back that onion

    You may work specifically with Mompreneurs that are just starting their own businesses where I may work with emerging businesses that are making over $100,000 a year.

    As you can see figuring out this part of your business is essential to moving forward on your business planning because you need to know who you’re marketing to.

    So, take some time to consider your ideal avatars by pondering:

    • Age group
    • Income
    • Family status
    • Education
    • Lifestyle goals
    • Location

    Maybe you could even come up with a story about your ideal client? You could give her a name, a couple of kids, a husband who just doesn’t get it, and a load of student loans and so forth.

    But you don’t want to stop there, you may be missing a huge piece of the puzzle—and losing out on the best clients because of it.

    Personality Matters

    Here’s something that’s rarely considered in the “ideal client” equation, and it’s arguably the most important part: personality.

    If you’re snarky, sarcastic, fun-loving and loud as a coach, then a quiet, shy, person who is easily insulted will probably not be a good fit for you. Sure, she might need your help, and she might love your products, but for one-on-one coaching, this match-up could turn up disastrous. Either she will be uncomfortable with your style, or you’ll be miserable trying to reign in your natural exuberance.

    Better to pass this personality type to a coach who is a better suited to her and can be more sensitive and patient.

    Success is a Collaborative Process

    This one can be difficult to calculate from the start, but once you recognize it (or the lack thereof) it’s worth paying attention to. The client without the drive to succeed will—more often than not—only end up frustrating you both.

    Better to end your relationship as soon as you see the signs of this than to waste your time going over the same material and exercises again and again with someone who simply won’t do the work.

    Coaching needs to be a collaborative process. Two people working together towards the same goal. Making your client successful!

    Women Shaing Hands

    If you look at your current and past clients, you’ll begin to see patterns. You can easily look back and see what made some clients a joy to work with, while others were a struggle. Think about what those differences are and add them to your ideal client profile. Then compare any new potential clients to this ideal profile, and you’ll never again sign on with a less-than-perfect client.

    If you are new and you don’t have that history to glean from then maybe adding an assessment tool or personality profile test to your intake process could be beneficial.

    Finding Your Ideal Avatar

    So once this information is compiled and you have a really good idea of who to market to we need to find out where they hang out.

    Let’s look at some potential places:

    • Social Media – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Don’t forget the groups on these platforms answering questions and showing your expertise might get you business.
    • Meetups – Hosting one of these yourself can be beneficial.
    • Conferences or Expo – Find out whose attending before you go and make sure to connect in-person once you arrive.
    • Radio Show or Podcasting – Being an expert or an expert guest can be another resource.
    • Networking Groups – Chambers, Clubs and Associations might be another goldmine for your business.
    • Your own webinars or Livestreams – Have a show or educate your potential clients.
    • Your own business events or presenting at someone else’s – When you’re on the stage you are the expert.

    In this post, we looked at how to define your ideal client, what to look for in an ideal client and places that they may be hanging out at. Hopefully, you can see why this process is necessary for you to grow your business and save yourself some time.

    If you’re still having challenges with this, please reach out to me. I offer coaching and consulting to help you to define your ideal audience and create a successful business.

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  • 6 Ways You’re Using Copywriting and You Might Not Realize It

    When you hear the word “copywriting” what comes to mind for you?

    Wikipedia describes it as “the act of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or group to take a particular action.

    So, the fact is, copywriting is more than just sales messages. In fact, as an online business owner and marketer, most of the content you produce could be called copywriting at least in some sense. After all, if you’re creating content with the ultimate goal of selling something, that is by definition copywriting.

    Facebook

    Sure, we all like to hang out on Facebook and chat with friends and family, catch up on the latest funny videos, and enjoy a mindless “quiz” or two. But for businesses, Facebook is much more than that. It’s a place to connect with potential clients, and that means that when you’re sharing your latest blog post or program with your business friends, you have to keep good copywriting in mind.

    LinkedIn Profile

    What makes you stand out from the other businesses online or in your niche? Your LinkedIn profile is where you share what makes you the best person to solve your ideal client’s problems. It’s where you shout about your credentials and let your ego run the show. Think of your LinkedIn profile like a resume, and be sure to list your most impressive qualifications, achievements and personal quality.

    Your Website About Page

    Here’s your chance to have some fun while blowing your own horn. It’s important to know that the about page is often the most visited page on a website, so it’s a critical piece of your overall brand and message. The purpose of your about page is to entice people to want to learn more about your services, so be sure to include a call to action on the page.

    Blog Posts

    All blog posts have a job to do. Maybe they’re meant to lead your reader to a sales page. Perhaps you’re asking for readers to subscribe to your mailing list. Maybe your blog post is designed to start a conversation. Or maybe it’s just sharing great content and inviting readers to learn more by clicking on related posts. Whatever the job, it’s copywriting that entices your reader to take that next action.

    Twitter

    Two hundred and eighty characters is precious little space for creating compelling content (but at least it’s not 140 anymore), yet that’s exactly what you must do if you hope to use Twitter as part of your overall marketing strategy. Think of tweets like email subject lines, and craft them to convey as much information as possible while still enticing readers to take action.

    Email

    Whether you’re sending an email about a new product or service or simply letting readers know you have a new blog post up, your email definitely qualifies as copywriting. In fact, even the personal emails you send to prospective clients contain what we would call copywriting.

    The fact is, copywriting is everywhere in your business, from your sales pages to your invoices. Whenever you ask a reader to take some action, you’re writing copy, and the more comfortable with the idea of it, the better (and more natural) you’ll become.

    Copy writing after all is going to be the best way for you to persuasively make the most impact on your business by drawing the attention and interest of your ideal client and get them to take a desired action.

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  • Creating Landing Pages that Convert

     

    Are you busy? Of course, you are and that is another reason that you need landing pages that convert because your readers have short attention spans because they are busy, too.

     

    I’m sure that’s no big surprise to you. In fact, you probably browse the Internet at light speed, too, scanning titles and subheads, skipping to the bottoms of sales pages, and fast-forwarding through videos just so you can get to the next thing. You’re probably doing it on this blog post (caught you). We all do it.

     

    The same is true for your readers, and if you want to capture their attention long enough to entice them to opt-in to your mailing list, then you must keep that in mind.

     

    Newspaper Publishing Tip

     

    Have you ever noticed that everything you need to know about a news story is in the first paragraph? Journalists are trained to answer all the questions—who, what, where, when, why and how—in the first few sentences. Why is that?  They do it just in case the story gets cut off when the paper goes to print.

     

    In today’s online world, where column inches no longer matter, this type of story formatting isn’t quite so critical any more, but it’s still a useful tip to use when you’re writing an opt-in page.

     

    Think about it: If your readers are skimmers (as most of us are) then making sure you include the most important information right at the top of the page is going to greatly improve your conversion rates, right?

     

    For opt-in pages, that means putting the biggest benefits in your subject line, and following it up with two or three sentences that build on your headline. That’s it. Keep it short, sweet, and benefit driven, and you’ll have greater success than you would with longer content.

     

    Graphics Matter

     

    Whether your opt-in incentive is an eBook, a video, or even a simple checklist, having a graphic representation of your offer is an important component of your landing page.

     

    Typically, you’ll create (or have created) a digital book or CD cover. You can easily outsource this, but be sure you follow these strategies:

     

    • Bold fonts and short titles make your cover more readable.
    • Use high-contrast colors for more visibility.
    • Be true to your brand. Stick with colors and fonts your readers expect.

     

    Crafting a Compelling Call to Action

     

    While it seems as if you can expect readers to know what to do when they land on your opt-in page, it’s just not true. You must invite them to take the next step. Give them specific instructions and you’ll have higher conversion rates than if you just leave it to chance.

     

    Your call to action should tell a reader exactly what to do, like this:

     

    • Click here to download
    • Enter your name and email for instant access

     

    Watch the text on your form buttons, too. After all, “Subscribe” or “Sign Up” doesn’t exactly make you feel excited, does it? Consider using a phrase that matches your call to action instead, such as:

     

    • Get the Checklist!
    • Send the Video!

     

    call to action on landing page

    Be Sure to Offer Value

     
     
    If you are offering a free gift on your landing page make sure it has value, provides a solution to a problem and highlights your expertise.

     

    I’m not saying give away all your techniques and special formulas for success but perhaps you can offer a solution to a pain point that you see in the market and provide a step-by-step way to approach it. Show examples, do an over-the-shoulder training and/or provide resources to some of your favorite apps.

     

    Take a look at your opt-in pages. Do they follow these strategies? If not, consider making some changes to your copy, your images, and your calls to action, and the value you offer. Then watch your results. You’ll more than likely see a boost in conversion rates if you do.

     

    Need some help with this? Let me share a wonderful resource. Check out our friends over at LeadPages. They offer templates that can be customized to create beautiful landing pages (and other pages, too) and save you time and designer costs if creating landing pages is not for you. I use them myself and have since they started. Check them out.

     

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  • Ideas for Visual Marketing in 2018

    What Is Visual Marketing?

    To be successful at creative visual marketing it’s important to understand what it means, how it works, and the tools that you need to make it work. That’s why it’s called “creative” and in 2018 that’s what audiences are looking for.

    We know that most people are visually oriented. According to David Hyerle, the brain can absorb 36,000 images every minute and 80-90 percent of information received from the brain is through the eyes. Wow, if that isn’t mind blowing. Keep in mind that the brain is a visual organ. So, to me it just makes since that using visual marketing should be a key factor in our marketing mix.

    Creative Visual Marketing

    Visual marketing allows us to use a variety of design elements, graphics, photographs and videos to tell the story of our brands. The visual cues we use to tell that story will help make our brand more memorable to everyone who views the information. No wonderful live streaming and broadcasting has become so popular and keeps growing.

    Pictures tell stories in ways that words cannot. Pictures combined with text will make your story come to life in a new way. Marketing is all about communicating a detailed message to a specific audience. And today’s online tools can help you create very effective images to help complete your marketing story and gain momentum online.

    There are free or low-cost options to help you integrate visual eye candy. There is Canva, PicMonkey or Stencil.

    https://getstencil.com


    Anytime you have the chance to include images in your marketing − whether it’s your social media profile, your website, your blog, or an advertisement, do so and give a lot of thought to every image that you put on your marketing material.

    Using visual prompts helps tell your story and will attract the people in your audience who are interested in the topic but who don’t want to read a long text-based story. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If this is the case, the graphic images you show will enable you to tell your audience a thousand words of information with just a simple glance from them. Keep in mind that a lot of people skim what they are reading these days.

    Plus, when you use graphics, photos, and/or video with your text information, blog posts, and sales pages, you make it easier and more likely that others will share the information via social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. In addition, it makes it easier for the search engines to locate the information due to the tags you place with the images. So be sure to use tags!

    Using all the visually creative marketing material that you can craft will help you get information out to more people, because they will be more likely to share something that is great to look at.

    Types of Visual Marketing

    There are many types of visual marketing that you can choose from such as:

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    • Banners
    • Blog posts
    • Books
    • Brochures
    • Business cards
    • Direct mail
    • Flyers
    • Games
    • Giveaways
    • Graphics
    • Infographics
    • Kiosks

    [/ez_two]
    [ez_two_last]

    • Letters
    • Live Streaming
    • Newsletters
    • Postcards
    • Premiums (tote bags, cups, shirts)
    • Presentations
    • Press releases
    • Social networking campaigns
    • Screen casting
    • Webinars
    • Widgets
    • YouTube videos

    [/ez_two_last]

    Creative Visual Marketing

    Depending on the marketing channel you’re using, you’ll use one or more of these visual marketing tactics. If you can figure out a way to add visual interest to every marketing campaign, you’ll experience more success and reach your goals faster than if you don’t.

    So, let’s look at how to stand out visually and best practices.

    Stand Out Visually

    Choosing the right images can make your content and marketing stand out better than plain textual content. You can use creative copy, gorgeous typography and graphical images that bring your content to life, and draw the eye through the copy quickly.

    • White Space – When you create anything graphical and textual it’s imperative to include plenty of white space by using bullets, spacing, and the right fonts. Choose images wisely and for a reason. Every word and every image should have a “why” for being in your marketing material.
    • Color – It might take a little research into your target audience to figure out which colors will get the most positive reaction. You may want to cause emotions to come forth in your audience that only color can elicit. But, every audience is different, so it’ll take some research, understanding and testing to pick the right colors.
    • Contrast – The more ways that you can make your call to action stand out from the rest of the copy and images, the better. By using contrast such as black/white, white/gray, or other colors that contrast but do not cause your audience’s retinas to burn, you can create the view you want to attract your audience’s eyes where you want them.
    • Surprise – Most people today are practically blind to advertisements, and anything that wants to sell them something. The way to overcome this ad blindness is to use visuals to surprise the viewer. Change the fonts; make the CTA stand out such that your audience cannot miss it.
    • Encapsulation – Use robust, vibrant shapes to highlight your call to action or anything you want to draw interest to. Put your call to action inside a highlighted, outlined box, or other form that will enclose it to draw attention to it.
    • Arrows – Using directional cues will also help draw the reader’s eye toward the information that you want them to see. Anytime you want your reader to imagine the future or some destination in the future, for example, you could show a picture of a road that will take them on a trip.

    We looked at what creative visual marketing is and its value for our future marketing efforts online.  The psychological factor and how the brain works in absorbing visual information. We also looked at how pictures tell stories and when combined with text attract readers attention. And we know that visually appealing images results in more social media shares.

    Also, we looked at the different types of visual marketing options and how we can engage the reader’s imagination with our marketing efforts through well-known visual cues that help your reader get to the mindset that you want. And over time, as you study your audience, you’ll come to know what types of visual cues will work best with them.

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  • Connecting with Your Audience by Using Live Stream Marketing

    Live StreamingIn marketing, we are told repeatedly to connect with our followers. We email our lists of customers that have bought products from us before. However, they don’t always get to know us as they would if we had a brick and morter business. Also, unless we are constantly sending them emails and/or offers, they are more likely to forget about us. That is until you start to introduce live stream marketing into the mix.

    Don’t get me wrong, email marketing is still a fantastic way to connect with your followers but having multiple ways to stay connected to your audience is the way to go because relying on just one source is never the best practice for marketing your business.

    With live stream marketing, you have a way of speaking directly to your customer. You can give them tips and tricks about your products, or you can simply use the medium to keep in touch. You can even ask them if they have any questions or concerns about the products/services that you offer. It can also be used to let them know about your future events.

    Using a Personal Touch

    There’s not too much in the marketing world that gets as personal as live stream media. Unless you plan on contacting to every person on your list, one-on-one via phone, broadcasting via video is the next best thing. Customers will appreciate this kind of engagement because they see it is an actual person running the video. It turns a cold customer into a warm one and a warm customer into a hot one. This increases the trust factor of your customers by a wide margin. The hotter your customers are with respect to trust, the easier it is to get them to buy from you.

    Are You Afraid of the Camera?

    I find that doing a ton of practicing helps you get over it. So, practice, practice. If you have some family members or friends that you can rehearse with as a live audience, then that is very helpful. It also allows you to get comfortable with using whatever platform you stream from. Live Video

    If you are camera shy, you still have options when it comes to live stream. Work with a co-host, outsource the broadcast or bring on a team member or partner to do this part of your marketing.  The person you choose to do the streaming should be on board with what you are trying to accomplish. A complement to your goals. The best way around this is to find people that you have worked with on a long-term basis who are as comfortable with you as you are with them.

    If your monetizing this part of your marketing, you can offer them a percentage of the sales that come from the product you are selling or a flat fee.

    The field is wide open for live stream marketing and it’s going to be interesting to see which players come to the foreground and which don’t. One thing is certain; it’s going to be a great ride for marketers overall.

    If this area of your marketing is foreign to you and you don’t know how to get started reach out to us. We can help coach you through the process so that you can feel more comfortable with live streaming. 

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  • 6 Ways Businesses Can Use Livestream Broadcasts

    live streaming

    There is a lot of buzz around live stream broadcasting. Have you tried it out yet? You may be unsure on how businesses can use this type of marketing. As time goes on we are likely to see some creative ways that other businesses dive into it but for now let’s look at the 6 more common uses.

    Interviews

    Most businesses can take advantage of interviewing experts in their field. Perhaps the business owner himself will want to be the one interviewed. It is simply a matter of finding someone to interview you and creating the broadcast. But even that isn’t completely necessary as you can run the interview on your own. You simply come up with questions that you want your viewers to know the answers to, then you start broadcasting those answers.

    Customer Q&A

    Why not invite several of your trusted customers to jump on a live stream broadcast and let them ask you questions about your products and services? They can also tell you what they like about your products and what areas could be improved. This is a golden opportunity to connect directly with them and get some great feedback.

    business tipsBusiness Tips 

    Any business can offer to give tips about the business to customers and potential customers. Plumbers could teach people how to identify leaks in pipes. Marketers can give tips about how to increase conversions in a sales funnel, etc. These are just two of many examples.

    Testimonials

    Testimonials help sell more products. Potential customers love to know that others had a great experience with products and there is no better way to provide this than to use testimonials. The challenge will be in convincing customers to do so via a live broadcast. The apps available from Facebook and Periscope have made it quite easy for anyone to create a broadcast with smartphones. A word of caution about testimonials: be sure to ask the customers to provide an honest testimonial. Governments are cracking down on false testimonials or ones that are given in exchange for cash or awards.

    Before and After Broadcasts

    Any company whose business model is to transform something into something better, can easily employ before and after broadcasts. This can help show potential customers just what kind of work the business is capable of doing.

    Crowdfunding

    You can use broadcasting to state your case when you want to raise funds for your business initiatives. You can give information on where the money is going to go. You can also let potential funders know what kinds of rewards are available (if any) at certain levels of funding. Also, you can get people that have pledged money to state why they chose to fund your initiatives.

    I hope you found this list helpful to get you started on ways to use live streaming apps. If you need help in developing a strong online marketing plan reach out to me. I offer coaching and consulting services to help businesses like yours grow their prescence online.

    Here’s to Your Business Success!

    Wanda

     

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  • Live Streaming and Business

    The History of Live Streaming

     

    Live streaming

    Live streaming is touted to be one of the ‘big new deals’ when it comes to digital marketing. There has never been something quite like this and the rate at which it has grown in even the first few months is rather remarkable.

    Experts speculate that live streaming is going to be massive, but we don’t have to speculate. All you have to do is to take a look at the statistics which make it rather clear just what a big deal live streaming is going to be!

    Did you know for instance that Periscope has already managed to accrue a very impressive 10,000,000 user accounts?

    And did you know that if you combined all the footage ever recorded on the platform, it would take you over 40 years to watch all of it? 2 million people log in every single day, distributed across 25 countries! And when you consider how big Facebook is (it has more users than the population of any country in the world); it’s easy to imagine that live streaming is about to explode in an even bigger way!

     

    Where it All Began

     

    But where did this all begin? It may surprise some to realize that Periscope actually wasn’t the first live streaming site to make it big. Instead, that accolade belongs to Meerkat, which launched in March 2015. Back then it was known as ‘AIR’ and ‘Yevvo’ and it was immediately apparent that this was going to be a big game changer in social media marketing.

    At first, Twitter helped this success and worked closely with Meerkat. Shortly after though, the company clearly decided they needed their own contender in this new space; which is when they bought the then-small Periscope for a sum of $100 million!

     

    Facebook’s Entry

     

    Facebook From there, Facebook decided to get involved and rolled out an experimental live service for its best-known members aka celebrities. In December 2015, this was extended across Android and iOS devices, and later it made its way across the pond.

    And Facebook is currently taking this movement very seriously, stating that live video enjoys much more engagement compared to other types of video, and that they imagine a time where one-day video is the primary form of content. The ranking algorithm that dictates what gets seen on the home feed has been tweaked to prefer live video and marketers everywhere are getting excited.

    Newer features are coming into the service all the time and in short – this is a very good time to be involved with Facebook Live.

     

    So what are you waiting for? Need more information on how to be successful with Facebook Live? Check out our eBook product, “How to Successfully Use Facebook Live” which comes with some awesome bonuses. 

    Also, check out our event page for upcoming “Facebook Live” training. 

    Facebook Live

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