UPDATED: July 2021 

Data Vs. Experience in Decision Making

For thousands of years, business owners made decisions based on their prior knowledge - the data in their minds. Within the past 15-20 years, the digital age has shifted decision making to lean exclusively on hard data. It makes sense. Your ability to set goals and plans based on data can significantly shorten the testing time. The guesswork is removed. 

As it is with so many other shifts during the digital age, we may have reached a point of going a little too extreme. Yes, data is vital to decision making. Is it the exclusive way to identify patterns and make wise decisions?  I don't think so. 

A recent survey of business decision makers presented some very interesting results.

"86.8% of respondents report that their work environment is in constant flux or lacking clear correct...

The following information is sourced from the Zoho CRM help guide. I found it to include helpful insights, so I'm sharing it with you. 

While customer relationship management is an important aspect of running a business, it can often become overwhelming due to the extensive amount of work involved. You must always ensure you are keeping in touch with your customers through email and over the phone so you don't miss out important leads or a potential deal. In the meantime, it is also crucial to stay on top of your projects. Sometimes such multitasking may show downside effects on the overall functioning of your business.

Zoho CRM aims to make this easier for you by providing multiple features under a single platform. Collectively, these features can help you a great deal in enhancing communication with your customers.

Email: You can send emails to your customers...

Earlier this year, I was invited to become an instructor with General Assembly. A few times each month, I would go to their offices in downtown Austin to lead classes such as Intro to Digital Marketing and Intro to Content Strategy. The experience has been more enriching than I originally anticipated. Yes, I’m getting the opportunity to share what I’ve learned by trying and failing or succeeding to others. Hooray for knowledge transfer! Along the way, I learned some valuable lessons and so I perked up when they asked if I wanted to teach even more.

This month I’m leading a 10-week part-time course two nights per week. In preparation for teaching this course, General Assembly (GA) has a thorough onboarding procedure. I call it Training the Trainer. Stepping outside of the usual approach and getting new ideas from GA was incredibly helpful. 

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UPDATED: August 31, 2020

Conversion from a lead into a customer does NOT require magic or manipulation. There are many misconceptions about what a conversion is and how to measure it. Before we get into the how, let's define conversion. 

The traditional definition of conversion is the process of changing or causing something to change from one form to another.

A marketing definition of conversion is getting a potential customer/client to respond to your call-to-action. When marketers talk about conversion, it often relates to views, clicks, likes, and paid transactions.

One example of a marketing / sales conversion is getting someone to open an email, while another may be someone making a purchase. 

I thoroughly appreciate Steven Wong's comment about conversion conversations when he writes:  "Imagine leaving the corner...

Keeping a good friend is a lot easier than making a new one, right?  The same goes for customers / clients. Maintaining your existing customer relationships is less expensive and has a better return on your investment. While it's important to put energy into your "top of funnel" efforts to find new people, I would argue that it's MORE important to work on customer retention strategies.

Creating a Customer Retention Strategy

The biggest challenge for many companies looking at their customer retention is where to begin.  Here are 5 practical customer retention strategies you can use to keep your existing customers happy over the long-term and increase your profits.

1. Customize Your Content Strategy

Speak / Write to your existing customers like you know them - because you do! No one wants to feel like another number, so create customized messaging for your...

Honesty. It's a word that so many of us claim to live by and be a reflection of our lives. And yet, business owners sometimes forget the importance of honesty when promoting their brands. While marketing is often tied to the idea of stretching the truth, padding the truth, or "making it sparkle" to sell, that is not Good Marketing.  Business owners aren't trying to be dishonest by marketing their brands. The Man Men era of advertising taught many people that it is necessary to "trick" consumers into buying from us - and it's simply not true.

Business Owners and Marketers: You have the power to end this ridiculous way of thinking starting here and now.  No one wants to be tricked into buying anything, because they end up feeling deceived and angry later. 

Our goal as business owners is to offer a valuable product or service to the people who want and need...

What's Your Lead Generation Plan?

While I love content marketing, storytelling and expressing business concepts through the written word and images, it’s all useless if you haven’t laid out a lead generation plan for your company. The phrase lead generation can seem overwhelming to non-marketers. I assure you that there is nothing to fear. Here is a quick-start guide to your lead generation plan and understanding a common "marketing funnel" in action.

Quick Start to Lead Generation

Creating Awareness About Your Company / Product / Service

This is the step you are most likely doing right now. When you publish a blog, publish a post on social media, attend a conference, or speak at an event, you are creating awareness of your company / brand. Make the best use of these tactics. When it comes to website content and social media, allow readers...

GUEST POST by Jamie Williams

Would you create a relationship with someone if you felt they were not trustworthy? Are you wasting valuable time working with someone who does not have you or your business’ best interests at heart?

Trust is the foundation of all relationships, both personal and professional. In order to grow that trust, we need to establish the foundation first. Building strong relationships can set you up for success. Below are a few ways to establish trust and create lasting relationships.

As a virtual assistant, I am always creating and maintaining relationships with clients (one being the amazing Candice!). Building trust is key to ensuring the success and growth of our clients. To me, trust is a feeling of security, a way to show someone that I am knowledgeable, reliable, honest, and always have their back.

There are Many Different Ways to...

How Do You Define Marketing Operations?

“Marketing Operations is a broad term that collectively describes the function of the marketing organization, including process, technology, and human resources, that allow marketing to efficiently scale with quality and consistency.”

 – Centric Consulting

“Marketing Operations (MO) is a next-level concept engaged in the actual process of creating, manufacturing and promoting products. A marketing operations department is likely to be a wild blend of creative left-brain thinkers and buttoned up right-brain statistic ninjas, all working in harmony towards a common goal.”

 – Tenfold

“Marketing operations (MO) as a capability has exploded onto the scene because of fast-changing technology, the need for a more transparent, efficient, and accountable view of marketing and big-time...

updated September 1, 2022

Why Set Marketing Goals?

Goal setting is the foundation of your marketing strategy and the marketing tactics you use to fulfill on it. If you want people to make purchases, then shouldn't you be tracking conversions?

And if you are posting to social media and writing blogs every week, wouldn't you like to have a clear understanding of what is working (or not working)?

It is logical that you want to see the effect of your marketing tactics and be able to measure that success or failure. This line of thinking leads you to today's topic: Goal Setting. 

How do you create achievable marketing goals?

First, let's look at your business objectives or goals. Wait, you have those setup... right?

Does your company have a mission, vision or values? Usually, your mission or vision represent your passion for what your business...