shepâ‹…herd – a person who protects, guides, or watches over a person or group of people.
As I was thinking about my role with our clients in social media and other services, the word “shepherd” jumped out at me. My job is to protect, guide and watch over our clients… whether it’s with social media or any other area of services we offer to our clients.
If the opportunity at hand is not a good move for the client, I say no.
So, there you have it. I am officially a Social Media Shepherd for our clients, a Direct Mail Shepherd… okay, you get the idea.
Marketing via email is a craft. It is powerful, but easily abused. It is easy, and at the same time, really difficult. Here are a few email marketing tips.
Address Recipients with Their Name in Email Campaigns
Make your newsletter recipients feel less like mere numbers by greeting them individually and personally.
Avoid Mistyped Addresses by Requiring Retyping
Require retyping of email addresses in the signup form for your newsletter.
Create a Clear Call to Action in Email Marketing Campaigns
Make sure recipients of your email marketing message know what you expect them to do (and what they can expect in return).
Email Marketing Needs to Reflect Your Brand
Help people recognize instantly that it is your email marketing.
Experiment with Link Placement in Newsletters
Maximize performance by putting the right links in the right places.
Include an Easy to Use Unsubscribe Link in Newsletters
Unhappy subscribers are worse than no subscribers. An easy and fail-safe way to unsubscribe is a way to make subscribers happy.
Implementing a social media marketing program without optimizing content is leaving money on the table.
Useful content that cannot be found through search engines is a lost opportunity to reach an audience that is looking.
A basic blog optimization effort leveraging keywords and other minor adjustments can improve search traffic substantially – without any compromise in content quality or user experience.
On the other hand, implementing SEO programs without leveraging the content distribution and linking benefits of social web participation makes link building for SEO an uphill battle.
The nature of the social web encourages participation: sharing, voting, commenting & linking. Popular social content gets exposure and traffic and can result in a substantial number of relevant inbound links.
Social interactions and media sharing among social network participants create the kind of content that can improve a brand’s visibility within search results through profiles, videos, blog posts, or other media.
Everywhere you turn (especially those closest to you), you will hear how impossible your dream is to achieve, and to, “just wait” and see what happens with the economy.
You’ll find the people who are succeeding, achieving higher goals, pursuing their dreams…Â aren’t listening to either of these pieces of advice.
Don’t choose dreams based on what you’ll know is going to happen. Choose dreams that are improbable, then take one step at a time to begin making the changes you want to occur around you.
Online marketing and advertising has changed drastically over the last several years. Now, it’s easier and cheaper for small businesses to get in the game and compete with big business. We want to help you get in the game.
On their own, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social media integration offer small business marketers attractive opportunities for reaching new customers.
Many small businesses are scrambling over social media, trying to figure out how to boost sales and keep the customers they have. SEO combined with social media integration is an online marketing tactic that’s become an established part of the online marketing mix.
Too many choices in advertising, marketing, social media, online promotions, offline promotions? You may be experiencing decision overload and/or analysis paralysis.
Here are a few tips that might help:
- decide which choices matter most and focus your energy there
- be proactive and not reactive in making your choices
- make your choices, don’t let your choices make you
- take accountability for your choices
- build trustworthy relationships with people who can help you make choices in areas you are weak
- be honest about your choices, you’ll sleep better at night
Here are some motivational sayings and inspirational quips I have collected over the years. I apologize ahead of time for not being able to credit the authors. If you know who said it, leave me a comment and I’ll give the appropriate credit.
How you start is how you finish.
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Every day I get up and look at the Forbes list of the world’s richest people. If my name is not on the list, I go to work.
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The will to win is important. The will to prepare is vital.
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Rich people have money. Wealthy people have time.
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The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.
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There’s no easier money to make than the money money makes.
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Goal begins with GO.
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It’s easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.
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I hope one or more of these inspirational sayings helps motivate you in the right direction today. Have a successful day!
As a business owner, the most important place to spend time and money is in marketing. It’s not in doing all the daily grind and functions of working “in” your business.
STOP seeing yourself as a provider or salesperson of your category of products or services. Begin to recognize that you are a “marketer of” your business that offers and sells your category of products/services.
“MARKETER OF” – The person (you) who fully understands and sees the importance and benefits of marketing is THE ONE who will ultimately achieve financial stability as a business owner.
ACTION:
In the next 57 minutes, write down and act upon what you CAN DO and what you WILL DO to begin working “on” your business. Schedule a designated block of time each day or each week that you will focus on working “on” your business.
Hopefully, you’ve become a smart business owner and realize the power AND importance of working “on” your business instead of “in” your business. These two go hand in hand — if you can balance them.
Do you really understand the importance of MARKETING your business?
So many business owners are just too busy to focus on “marketing.” Many business owners spend too much time managing or baby sitting staff (and customers) and too little time working “on” marketing their business.
When marketing becomes a chore and gets done as a last resort, it shows in the final marketing pieces.
