Archive for the ‘Tips & Training’ Category

Committed to a Planning System, but Feeling Boxed In?

Posted by Zari Chipman

I know that, like most entrepreneurs, I have a tendency to change things on a dime. I have no fear of change, and quite honestly feel that sometimes blowing things up creates the best outcome. I have used several business planning systems to manage company planning and goals, and we are currently using EOS (Entrepreneurs Operating System). I appreciate the value that the system provides to my team, but sometimes the rigidity of it makes me crazy.

And so, sometimes I break with the system. I recently cancelled a quarterly planning session and completely rewrote the following quarterly agenda. I wondered, had I gone too far?

I asked several planning experts what they think about how much flexibility was necessary or too much, without giving them the specifics of what I had done. Here is what they had to say.

“Do you have any thoughts or stories about business planning systems being too rigid, and when leaders need to go off script? And is there a limit to how far off they should go?”

Entrepreneur’s – the Original Crazy-Makers
I love the descriptions I got back of entrepreneurs and their behaviors. Some of my favorite phrases included “wandering minds,” “shiny objects” and “raging visionary.” If you are an entrepreneur, you know exactly what they are describing. (These experts are also visionaries, so these comments come from a place of pure love.)

The overarching theme of the responses was that entrepreneurs are ALWAYS off script.

Your Company and Team Need Reliable Structure
So, here's the deal - a planning system exists to help harness that crazy entrepreneurial vision and provide framework for the team.

“EOS is meant to compartmentalize these (entrepreneurial) thoughts into appropriate times and meetings for discussions,” says Don Maranca of JDSM Enterprises. “Visionaries love and hate EOS at times. They may feel it’s too rigid and it doesn’t allow them to express their creativity. They also feel that it’s the best thing they’ve done because it allows them to express their creativity at appropriate times, creating discipline with their team to execute on what matters most at the right time.”

I knew the book “Traction” by Gino Wickman was going to be a game changer as soon as I started reading. It walks entrepreneurs through the process of developing a one-page vision and strategic plan that is similar to many other systems I have used, but then it takes it further. It operationalizes everything - down to scorecards, management and running effective weekly meetings. It prescribes the exact agendas for the weekly leadership meetings.

I acknowledged my visionary tendencies and implemented the system, but sometimes it does still feel restrictive. When is it okay to deviate from those standard agendas and tools?

Structure Isn’t Always What’s Needed
There are times when you may be forced to adjust. If you have been in business long enough, you have certainly had your plans derailed by forces outside your control – key employees’ turnover, economic collapse, pandemics. During those times, you can’t just run the normal meeting agenda.

George Black, author of “The Next Level Entrepreneur” and founder of LiveTrulyFree.com, cautions against too rigid a system. “A big mistake that companies can make, whether they are starting out or they are an ongoing company, is to think that they have to follow their rigid plan, budget, or system,” says Black. “When these companies are hit with challenges in the marketplace, economic headwinds, business opportunities, etc.; they have little ability to react well and quickly.”

If you haven’t hit a pothole yet, it’s just a matter of time, and as Black points out, it’s not just tragedy that could send a company off of the original plan. There are also positive changes that can happen in the marketplace and opportunities a company might need to be receptive to.

“I have never seen a truly unique and great company that sticks to the script! I have seen many mediocre companies follow the structure to the T,”  says Max Kozlovsky, owner of Quest Advising and host of the Practical Leadership Podcast.

I didn’t tell the experts what my special circumstances were when I asked them these questions, but it was due to a business acquisition opportunity. After reading their responses, I definitely felt better about my temporary process deviations. We had a unique opportunity in front of us that fit our vision, and we needed to take it.

Know the Rules Before You Break Them
Maybe the goal isn’t to shackle the entrepreneurs to a rigid set of rules, but to provide a framework and to adjust as needed when special circumstances arise.

“I think you have to know the rules of a system in order to know what you’re breaking and why. I think that the script is for the team, and the team needs the script,” says Mary Reilly-Magee, an Implementor with EOS WorldWide. “There’s actually a lot of freedom within the (EOS) tools once you know what they are and how to use them. Then it’s creative city after that.”

Reilly-Magee was our original EOS Implementor, and she trained us on the proper use of the tools and systems. After our recent business acquisition, we added a weekly meeting using those same tools to manage the goals and issues specific to the merger of the two businesses. Acquiring another company was a huge and completely new focus for our leadership team, but the structure was effortless to spin up because the team already knew how to use the systems. We were able to focus all our energy on the actual tasks at hand.

Kozlovsky shared a great comparison between business leadership and comedy styles as they relate to structure and experience: “Most top improv comedians started their careers doing stand-up with very well thought out and structured routines that had little wiggle room to adapt to the audience and the conditions. As they developed their skills, they were able to use a general set of improv rules to build flexibility and adaptability to their routines.”

“Same is true for management teams. The newer they are to planning and structured sessions, the more closely they need to stick to the script.  But as they develop skills and are guided by skilled coaches and facilitators, the more room there is to invest time in areas that will ultimately prove to be more valuable to them, the team and their business.”

I think that moving forward, I will change my verbiage from “breaking script” to “improvising.” It just feels like a more informed, intentional move within a framework than a reckless and haphazard jump off a building without a parachute.

Let Your Vision Be Your Guiding Force
For some entrepreneurial situations, it may be less about jumping off a building without a parachute, and more about allowing yourself to be blown off course. Most planning systems start with a clear vision and core values for a reason. Those foundational activities should provide purpose and direction to all of your decision-making as a company.

Black puts even more emphasis on knowing your true north than he does on the system, “If you begin with direction and develop strategies to get there, pivots are easy and tactics like budgets, business plans, goals, and systems all make sense. There is no going “off script.” You can change strategies in a moment while staying on track, because you know your direction. Plus, you’ll never chase “shiny objects” that could kill your business.”

I found Black’s book to be incredibly beneficial in terms of understand how to fully define a vision and to understand what a “next level” goal looks like. We regularly pull his Next Level-thinking into our EOS agenda as a sanity check for the goals we are setting.

The verdict – Some flexibility is necessary 
Clearly entrepreneurs have a natural tendency to explore and change things up. While a well-defined vision and a reliable system can provide guidance, it’s obvious that flexibility is still key. But how can we monitor ourselves as entrepreneurs and provide our companies with the correct amount of structure?

“If changing the agenda becomes the norm, then there’s something else going on that’s keeping the team from accomplishing what’s on the agenda that has been proven to work...”, explains Maranca. “It (your system) shouldn’t be so rigid that it puts the fire out from passionate leaders. Nor should it be so undisciplined that results are never achieved.”

Please share your journey in the comments.
Do you struggle with a planning system? Embrace it wholeheartedly? Somewhere in between?

---------------------------

Thank You, My Fellow Crazy-Makers

A heartfelt thank you to all of these amazing experts, not just on their contributions for this blog, but also for the inspiration and guidance they have provided me throughout my entrepreneurial journey.

Mary Reilly-Magee, EOS Implementor

George Black, Podcaster: Get Business Savvy YouTube channel, Author of the Next Level Entrepreneur, Founder of LiveTrulyFree

Max Kozlovsky, Owner of Quest Advising and Host of the Practical Leadership Podcast

Don Maranca, JDSM Enterprises, TAB Facilitator / EOS Implementor

Do You Need a Consultant, a Coach or an Assistant?

Posted by Zari Chipman

I regularly have conversations with business owners who are debating whether they need a consultant or a coach. I also like to toss the idea of an assistant into the conversation. I have personally hired all three types of help in the past, and I feel they all have tremendous value.

But how do you decide which type of help you need? Let's take a closer look at these three types of professionals.

Consultant: Expert Advice

A consultant should be a highly experienced expert who can guide you through specific challenges in your business. They possess a depth of knowledge and experience in specific areas that your current team may lack. A consultant will provide expert opinions and should be able to recommend strategies based on their own professional background and experience.

I have hired consultants to help in sales, finance, IT and HR. I paid the big bucks to have someone help with things I needed to quickly spin up when I didn't have time for the trial and error process or learning curve that it would have taken our team. Maybe we would have gotten there in six months or maybe it would have taken two years. By engaging with the consultants, we were able to get expert advice that led to near-instant transformation in the needed area.

Another consideration is that a consultant will have great advice but won't usually roll up their sleeves and do hands-on work. To fully leverage their value, it is crucial to have the necessary internal team or resources to implement their recommendations.

Coach: Unlocking Your Potential

Alternatively, you may choose to engage a business coach. If you're struggling with internal organization and prioritization or need a sounding board to crystallize your thoughts, a coach may be what you need. Coaches help clarify goals, create action plans and provide accountability. Unlike consultants, coaches may not have the specialized experience to provide answers, but they know techniques to help guide you through the decision-making process.

I have personally benefitted from monthly business coaching. Mid-way through my professional career the volume of work, competing priorities and seeming lack of resources to get anything done was a real strain. I found that my coach was great at helping to filter, prioritize and focus on what really mattered. I still use the skills and habits I built working with my coach.

If you're struggling with leadership challenges or communication issues within your team, a coach can also offer tools and methods to improve your internal communication and rally your team. Our company has successfully hired coaches to do team training sessions, personality assessments, leadership training and facilitated planning sessions.

Each coach has their own background, training and tools that they bring to the table. It helps to talk to few of them about their approach to make sure that you find one whose methodology and approach are right for your internal culture.

Assistant: An Extra Set of Hands

An assistant is a force multiplier who can increase productivity by handling many tasks that bog you down. Hiring an assistant might be the best solution when you know what needs to be done but need help with time and bandwidth.

From administrative duties to project management and customer service tasks, assistants help you reclaim time. They can manage schedules, help with communication, and tackle day-to-day operations that allow you to focus on higher-value activities that require your expertise. If you can provide clear direction and effectively delegate, an assistant can help you bring your strategic direction to life.

 There was a second time in my professional career when I was feeling overwhelmed and considering a coach, but by that time I had developed the skills to focus and prioritize. I was able to make the list. I knew where I wanted to start.  I ultimately decided that I just needed more hours in the day and help doing ALL the things. So I hired an assistant instead. Anyone who has had an incredible personal assistant or executive assistant can tell you - it is life altering.

Making the Choice

Every small business journey has its own challenges at different points in time. Whether it's the deep experience of a consultant, a coach's guidance, or an assistant's support, these different types of help can play a critical role when you need it most.

If you are looking for a fractional marketing consultant, Robot Creative might be a fit. If you are looking for another type of consultant (COO, Sales or CFO) or a business coach, I have several experienced professionals in my network who I would love to connect you with. Please contact me for more information.

Lara August is the Founder and CEO of Robot Creative.

How to Plan Your Marketing Budget for Next Year

Posted by Zari Chipman

In November and December, one of the most frequently asked questions I get is how to plan your marketing budget for the next year. Most SMBs I see plan their marketing budget in one of two ways:

    1. Use Last Year's Budget (give or take a little)
    2. There is No Budget (approve things as they come up)

While “doing what you’ve always done” or “figuring out as you go” may be your current method, there are several budgeting methods that are more effective:

    1. Based on ROI Data and Goals
    2. Based on a Marketing Plan (outlined activities and their costs)
    3. Percentage of Revenue
    4. Using a prior year’s budget

Let's dig into each method to see which one might make the most sense for your business.

Budgeting Based on ROI Data and Goals

Ideally, you will know how much money you need to put into your marketing to get expected results. Using that data, you can set your marketing budget to match your target growth plans. The challenge with this method is that most SMBs do not have concrete data on which to base those decisions. This data is only possible after you have set up detailed tracking mechanisms to understand your return on investment (ROI) for various marketing activities. The process can take about a year to spin up, test and optimize.

Using a Marketing Plan

Without historical data, the next best option is to base your budget on a marketing plan. What are the planned activities that you will be implementing over the next year to help meet your goals, and what will they cost? You should also be looking at the expected results and target ROI of these activities. Starting with a plan is great, but without measuring the outcome and effect on your goals to understand your ROI isn’t much more efficient than using last year’s budget and hoping for the best.

Percentage of Revenue

If you don't have historical data or a marketing plan, I would suggest looking for some industry benchmarks.  Almost every industry will have information on marketing budgets as a percentage of revenue. Be warned, most business owners who are operating without a marketing budget will balk when they see the recommended number. Look at it as a target.

Using the Prior Year's Marketing Budget

Using a prior year's budget as a starting place will only work if the following conditions are true:

    1. none of the marketing expenses will change from year to year
    2. none of the platforms, mediums, or tactics you are using will need to adjust
    3. you are hitting your growth goals consistently
    4. and you don't require any infrastructure changes (branding updates, major website changes, new products, or sales materials)

I haven't seen very many companies that can just coast with the same marketing from year to year, but this is the most common budgeting practice that I see in use, probably because it is the easy button approach. The problem is that the results usually follow suit - not that remarkable.

What’s Next?

While this article may help you determine which method to use, putting together a marketing plan and creating a marketing budget requires significant industry expertise. Without that experience, these activities can be daunting for most business owners. Even among businesses with $15-50 million in annual revenue, most don't have any marketing leadership on their team. This probably accounts for why it's rare for most SMBs to have a concrete marketing plan or budget. It’s wise to enlist some expert help if you want to be confident in your marketing plan. You can find marketing consultants and fractional CMOs who can help you.

We Develop Marketing Plans

Do you need help with a marketing plan or budget? Over the past 25 years, we have developed nearly 100 marketing plans and have experts ready to help you set up your marketing program. Explore our website for more information and join our mailing list for monthly tips, tools, and workshops on Marketing for CEO's.

What is a CMO and Why Do You Need One?

Posted by Lara August

What is a CMO? 
CMO stands for Chief Marketing Officer. They are a member of the C-suite and report directly to the CEO or COO.

What is the function of a CMO?
The CMO participates in top-level strategy and planning as part of the executive team. They are responsible for the brand, positioning, marketing and advertising.

They are in charge of critical top-level KPIs for the organization

  • generating awareness
  • generating leads
  • improving lead quality
  • shortening the sales cycle
  • reducing the cost of acquisition

They are responsible for

  • developing a marketing plan and budget to help the business meet its goals
  • monitoring your competition to make sure that your positioning isn't slipping
  • keeping your branding and messaging relevant to your audience
  • researching and setting pricing for the company's products and services
  • launching campaigns for new products, services, geographic locations
  • overseeing specialized vendor areas such as media buying, PR, SEO, and more
  • supporting the sales team with collateral, event marketing, drop campaigns, demos, and more
  • recruiting, hiring and growing your marketing team
  • developing tools, systems and processes to run marketing
  • and so much more...

What is the background of a CMO?
CMOs can come from a variety of educational backgrounds. They will typically have an undergraduate degree in business, marketing or something related. Many will have an MBA or Masters degree in marketing. They will definitely have 10+ years of experience in a variety of roles where they have had the responsibility to develop marketing plans, build the marketing team and oversee the marketing vendors.

Why do you need a CMO?
In short - they are the major force behind the awareness creation and growth of the business. You may ask, "Isn't everyone focused on the growth of the business? What about the CEO, the COO, the VP of Sales?" It's possible to operate a company without a CMO, and many small companies do. However, you won't find a middle market company without one. Most small businesses are missing this dedicated person with a specialized background and education who is focused 100% on the growth of the business.

The most common thing we see in smaller organizations is a VP of Sales and Marketing. While this combined title may require oversight of both sales and marketing departments, the background and experience of the person leading is typically coming up through the the sales career path. They rarely have the experience to effectively lead effective marketing campaigns, run a marketing department or to update branding and customer experience.

How can you find a CMO?
You can hire a full-time CMO, but if your organization isn't in a position to bring someone on full-time, there are other ways to gain the marketing guidance and experience that your organization needs. Here are some ways to grow your marketing without hiring a CMO:

  • Fractional CMOs (part-time availability)
  • Create an Advisory Board
  • Industry Peers may share Marketing Insights
  • Consultants - Hourly or Project-Basis
  • Give a Marketing Director Opportunity, Access and Training

Do you need help?
Robot Creative has been providing fractional CMO services for more than 25 years and has created hundreds of marketing plans. If you are looking for marketing help, please reach out for a consultation.

Tips for Working with Writers

Posted by Lara August

I recently had a client ask for advice on working with writers. If you are considering hiring a copywriter (either freelance or in-house), here are some leadership pointers to help you get the most out of the engagement:

Review Portfolios Carefully
Make sure you find a writer who has experience in two things: writing the same types of content and writing for the same types of audience. A consumer-focused retail blog is very different from a technical B2B white paper or an email campaign series to onboard a software client.

Manage Your Brand
To ensure brand consistency across all of your company messaging, you should establish brand voice and tone guidelines. These guidelines should be documented and include examples. This can start simple and evolve as you gain experience. Things that you correct or edit out can be added to the guidelines.

Share Your Marketing Plan
You should have a marketing plan and goals that you can clearly communicate to your writer. In particular, the audience and your differentiators will need to be clearly communicated to a writer. Also, don't underestimate the importance of sharing the big picture with them.

Develop an Editorial Calendar
It helps to establish an editorial calendar, at least on a quarterly basis, so that everyone is on the same page about what is going to happen and when. This can also help with big picture thinking as a writer gets to know you and sees what is on the horizon.

Establish a Workflow and Timelines
You will want to establish a workflow and timelines for expectations on what the process will be. For example, working backward from the publish dates on the editorial calendar - do you need 1 week for a rough draft, one week for your review and 2-3 days for final revisions? If you have employees these timelines are under your control. With external vendors you need to work with them to establish timelines and make sure that they feel they can commit to them.

Get Clarity on Pricing and Estimates
You will want to clarify how long it takes to write certain kinds of content. Sharing clear examples in advance will help make this estimating process more accurate. Will this be a fixed budget or will it be hourly, and what is the hourly rate? Will it include a certain number of rounds of revisions? What would trigger a change order or cause the project to go over the initial estimate?

It Gets Better with Repetition
Working with the same writer will ensure consistency and help shorter the learning curve for the writer so that things get better over time. If you work with a freelance platform or service and change writers frequently, you may feel like you are starting over with each piece which it might suck the life out of you from a management perspective.

Evaluating the Process
It's a true pleasure to work with gifted and experienced writers. They don't procrastinate, they add tremendous value to the process and make your organization shine. Working with a poor fit or inexperienced writer can mean the quite the opposite. While you will probably always need to provide some feedback and revisions, you should know by the very first draft whether they are elevating the process or if you will need to pull the project across the finish line yourself. Look for the writer who lightens the load.

If you are looking for help identifying a copywriter please let me know. I can help establish voice and tone guidelines, screen candidates and you set your engagement up for success. 

Top 20 Ways CEOs Wreck Their Marketing

Posted by Lara August

Over the past 25 years, I have had a front-row seat to some of the biggest marketing mistakes that business owners and managers have made. Sometimes, it's well-intentioned. Sometimes, it's ill-informed. Sometimes, it's downright meddlesome. Check out this list to see if you catch yourself saying any of these phrases.

1. Well, I like… or I don’t like…
It may not be about what the owner likes if the owner doesn't match the buyer profile. Basing marketing decisions on personal preference and not really understanding the audience profiles, preferences and behavioral traits is a common mistake.

2. I just heard/saw/read... or What about Tik Tok?
We see some business owners change on a dime every time they read a new book or hear a new podcast. We often see this come down as an order backed by very little experience and lacking judgment. We definitely encourage all questions and challenges from the owner, but I would recommend you at least have a discussion to make sure that the decisions make sense in the context of the marketing plan!

3. We have worked with Judy (radio sales rep) a long time.
Sometimes long-term relationships with sales and media reps can lead to a lapse in judgment and complacency on the marketing front. It makes sense to measure success against third-party benchmarks and regularly re-evaluate your strategy.

4. What about a billboard? or We really need a billboard.
Some people really want to see their logo (or face) giant on a billboard or in outdoor advertising. Owners should challenge themselves to evaluate the marketing goal they are trying to achieve and only run billboards as part of a multi-pronged campaign with clear tracking available through other channels or point of sale.

5. Everyone is a potential customer, or We don't want to turn away business, or I don't want to lose out on... 
Marketing to a specific group is the equivalent of using the right lure to catch a specific kind of fish. It can make all the difference. It doesn't mean you aren't allowed to catch any other fish that decide to bite. Fear of positioning and clearly speaking to specific audiences can lead to a lack of connection with any audience.

6. I "know" who our customer is, I "think" what they really want is, or I "believe" we are about 60% x and 40% y.
We see a lot of off-the-cuff responses to really critical questions. Many small businesses fail to use concrete data to make important decisions. Sometimes the questions haven't ever been asked. The data is often challenging to pull or requires manual clean up or re-coding. The analysis may give you a one-time snapshot, but ideally it will be the beginning of a new infrastructure to help better manage your business moving forward.

7. Lisa (Marketing Director) can't take us to the next level... 
We see shocking expectations from owners about what their solo in-house marketing person should be capable of. A single person should not be expected to design, write, plan, budget, analyze, promote and lead your organization to success, especially if you aren't providing: ongoing education/training opportunities, time to participate in industry trade organizations/peer groups and the option to enlist additional experts/resources.

8. David (Marketing Coordinator/Manager) thinks we need to be focusing on Twitter followers.
Sometimes, we see owners taking the advice of the internal marketing person even when that team member lacks the experience to be developing the strategy. Owners may not hear the advice and recommendations of other experts because they don't want to upset the internal team. It's important to make sure that you are always evaluating the mediums you select based on the target audience profiles.

9. We are really a sales-driven organization, and advertising hasn't ever really worked for us.
For some businesses who have had success with direct sales, there is often a misunderstanding about how marketing activities can provide awareness and generate warm leads, data and credibility to convert leads faster, sales support to shorten the sales cycle, aid retention, etc.

10. We don't really have a plan... or We don't really have a marketing budget... 
It's surprising how many businesses are lacking a marketing plan and don't even have a line item for a marketing budget. It’s real hard to improve your marketing program when you don’t have it documented or have a way to compare year-over-year performance.

11. Well last year we spent about 220K... 
The majority of established businesses are simply running off of last year's budget as a framework for the marketing decision-making instead of basing the marketing plan on a strategy that is expected to generate results.

12. We have always... 
Many business owners cling to antiquated marketing methods because that’s how the business was originally built, or something that worked in the past even if it is no longer working. Meanwhile, competitors and startups are capturing market share with modernized methods and tactics.

13. I know my friend Johnny (business owner) got great results from... 
We hear a lot of owners who think that a program a fellow business owner bragged about is 100% accurate and will work for them as well. They cling to the idea of a silver bullet despite the businesses, audiences and positioning being entirely different.

14. They always think the owner is always the best spokesperson... 
There are some owners who make the perfect spokesperson for the business. There are others who do not resonate with the audience, don't realize it and don't seek useful feedback. Owner-spokespeople should use impartial methods to solicit feedback from the target audience to ensure they are resonating.

15. I know, but… or What you have to understand is… 
Sometimes business owners don’t heed the advice of experts or internal team members. These CEOs are usually struggling, unable to clearly process the information from the expert, struggling to trust, and not willing to listen with an open mind. If you find yourself using these phrases with experts, take a deep breath and practice listening.

16. We are known for our quality, or We have the best customer service in the industry.
Our follow-up question is always, "why?" or "how so?" A lack of differentiation is a typical problem among small companies. It takes work to fully understand the competitive landscape and to authentically position your company to appeal to specific audience(s), but it will lead to more effective marketing and sales.

17. I saw the XYZ company is doing...
Some small businesses focus too much on the competition, playing follow the leader or reacting to their advertising. Instead, they should be developing their own unique positioning and memorable branding.

18. We don't really have any competitors... 
Sure you don't... Even the status quo and complacency are competitors to be addressed.

19. We can't change the logo...
Failure to do a regular brand audit to ensure that the branding/positioning is appealing to the target customer and unique among the competition will catch up with you eventually.

20. We hear all the time... 
Using anecdotal information to make critical business decisions instead of surveying your audience to make sure that you are using a data-driven approach. Yes, the squeaky wheel on social media needs a response, but it would be a mistake to adjust your entire business to appease them.

Are you guilty of any of these?
If any of these phrases sound familiar, I would encourage you to take a 10,000-foot view to try to identify where the behavior is coming from. It is most likely a mindset that is rooted in a past experience or belief that may or may not be accurate or informed.

When in doubt, solicit advice from a business advisor that you can trust to deliver impartial and even ruthless feedback. Your business (and your marketing team in particular) will thank you.

7 Ways to Level Up Your Marketing Team

Posted by Lara August

SMB leaders are continually looking for ways to level up their marketing. They often turn to the latest expert, a bestselling book or a new platform, but the best way to level up might be by investing in your current team. There are some concrete actions you can take right now to give your marketing team an injection of new ideas and energy.

Time and money for training
Training is going to seem obvious, but you need to be proactive about planning it, because it isn't just going to magically happen. Investing in training will help young marketers learn from more experienced professionals and will help seasoned marketers stay abreast of the ever-evolving technology and tools. Each year, I recommend you do these three things:

1. Identify critical training needs
2. Determine a specific budget for training
3. Actually put dates on the calendar or block it off by quarter

Formal training can range from $3500 or more to attend a conference to $50-250 for an online course. There are also tons of free resources on the internet for people who are good at self-based training (not everyone is good at this, and not all free training on the internet is good…so beware!)

Training courses can also differ significantly in their time commitments. They might be over the course of a three-day weekend, every Tuesday night for months or a one-hour lunch and learn.

The training may include intermittent assessments, final exams, projects and even certifications. If you are working with a new employee, I would recommend finding training that has an assessment component to evaluate how well they respond to these opportunities.

I like people to be excited about their training, so I coach them on specific company goals or needs, but then have them do their own research to identify training opportunities. I ask them to find a variety of options in terms of both time commitment and cost. This empowers them to take control of their own advancement and leads to a higher level of commitment. I listen for enthusiasm or sparks when they go over the options. More than once that has swayed me to buy into longer or more expensive programs.

Training isn't the only way to help your team grow and develop. There are several additional ways to get help by simply encouraging staff participation in certain types of "outside" activities.

Industry trade organization membership
Industry trade organizations are also great resources for your marketing teams. They usually include monthly meetings with timely topics and educational speakers, the opportunity to build a peer network to share ideas and challenges, competitions and awards to help benchmark and level up, as well as leadership opportunities.

There are too many organizations to list here, so I'll just start with the ones that I participated in when I was starting out: American Advertising Federation (AdFed), American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), and American Marketing Association (AMA). These are large, national organizations with local chapters. You will also find smaller, local groups that vary from place to place.

It is also worth looking into industry-specific groups, some of which may have marketing-specific opportunities.

Mentorship
Mentors are another great way to help your team grow professionally. While mentor relationships can be a naturally evolving arrangement, there is a lot that business owners can do to encourage staff members to find a mentor.

To begin, talk to your employees about mentorship, what it means, and how it works. Describe any mentor relationships that have helped you grow and evolve in your career. Then encourage or aid them in identifying possible mentors and allow them time to meet with their mentors on a monthly basis.

You can help your marketing team look for mentors both within the company and outside the company. An internal mentorship can help a new or less experienced person get to know your company, your culture, your brand, your operation and your team. They don't need to be in the same department. There is great value in helping someone ramp up quickly. If your team is large enough to have junior and senior roles, providing a junior team member with a senior team member (who is not the direct manager) can help them more quickly advance in their role-specific skills.

External mentorship becomes more valuable at higher manager and director levels because it helps your middle management leaders gain access to outside perspectives. It provides them with a sounding board to talk through the more challenging aspects of management, as well as a seasoned second opinion on tactics and programs.

Peer groups & meetups
There are a variety of industry-specific, design-specific and marketing-specific peer groups. They typically meet monthly and have anywhere from 6-12 members. If you can’t find a local group in your area, you may be able to find one online that offers virtual meetings.

This places your people in a group of peers to share challenges and grow. It helps them build a network and provides an extended team to share tools, training, tactics, and experience. Over the years, I have solved numerous business challenges with a quick email or slack message to one of my peer groups.

Meetups vary in their attendance from one to the next, and attendance isn't mandatory, so you won't have an instant network the way you would with a peer group, but for a personable person with interpersonal skills, meetups can be a great way to develop their own peer network.

Peer groups vary in cost depending largely on the host organization. Meetups are typically free or very affordable. The gift of time to attend these is critical from employers.

Encouragement to volunteer on a nonprofit marketing committee or board
For mid-level marketing employees, another great opportunity to develop leadership skills and gain extra experience is to serve on a nonprofit board or committee. Marketing and communications committees are regularly seeking volunteers, so these opportunities abound.

By encouraging this participation, which may require time during business hours, you can strengthen a corporate relationship with a nonprofit that you support as a business, or you could allow the employee to serve an organization that is deeply meaningful to them personally. Either way, you are strengthening important bonds both with your employee and the community.

At the board level, your employees will gain a front-row seat to the interworking of an organization from finance to HR to marketing and strategy they will have the opportunity to expand their leadership skills, preparing them for deeper levels of participation in your business.

With committee-level participation, your employees will have the chance to develop peer connections and will also typically have more hands-on tactical opportunities. If they have limited work experience, this can help them grow exponentially. They can get double the hands-on experience, expand their skillset, refine existing skills and have twice the data and reporting to compare and contrast. They will also be learning from their peers on the committee.

Budget to hire experts
With limited budgets, it can seem like a good idea to keep as much as possible in-house. If you have a seasoned team or can devote time to learning and experimenting, this can work out just fine. However, if you need results quickly, give your team permission to work with outside experts. They will get a front-row seat to the processes and tools. They will get the chance to interact with people who they can learn from.

Permission to experiment and fail
This last one is hard. As a business owner, you NEED to have an expectation of results, but new marketers experience a learning curve before they can consistently return repeatable results. They will need to have coaching to continually test, evaluate and improve their performance. Starting out, consistent management is key to their growth.

Once marketers have solid experience, they should be able to operate more independently. They should also be able to clearly communicate whether initiatives should have predictable outcomes (and what they are) or whether there will be a trial or testing period. Owners should be able to manage risk during testing periods with clear up-front communication. If you can establish some agreed-upon budgets, benchmarks and review periods, everyone should start and remain on the same page.

How many of these opportunities are you providing to your marketing team? Are you investing in their growth and seeing a return? Do you have creative ways you are inspiring your teams and helping them advance? I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

About Robot Creative
Robot Creative provides fractional CMO services, marketing plans, branding, an outsourced marketing team and consulting advice to small and mid-sized companies. If you are looking for leadership or staff augmentation, please reach out for a consultation.

About Lara August
Lara August is the Founder and CEO of Robot Creative. She writes, speaks and consults with clients to improve their branding, marketing and marketing team development with the ultimate goal of business growth.

How Do you Start an Online Presence?

Posted by robot

We get asked all the time, "how do we get started with an online presence?" We hear this from new businesses, established businesses, nonprofit organizations, and even individual experts or thought leaders hoping to develop their personal brand online. This article walks through the basic steps to building an online presence and helps provide strategies for managing an online presence.

Set up the infrastructure first

Website
It goes without saying, you are going to need a website. There are very few organizations that can get by without one, but the level of effort applied to the website should depend on the audience and how they are likely to interact with the organization via the website.

There are a wide range of technology options to consider:

  • Simple and affordable DIY web site builders (Squarespace & Wix)
  • Easy ecommerce (Shopify & Squarespace)
  • Fully custom websites (WordPress)

Some website pointers:

  • Choose an easy to spell and memorable URL
  • Make sure the website is SEO-ready, fast-loading & mobile-friendly
  • Set up a Google Analytics account & submit the sitemap through Google Search Console

Social Media Platforms
It's important to focus on the platforms that are frequently used by your audiences. You may have more than one audience and they might use different social media platforms and engage in very different ways! Start small with just a few channels—what you can afford and can manage.

You will probably also need to set up paid advertising accounts in each social channel you plan to use. Organic business reach is very limited for businesses on social media with the current algorithms, and you will need to pay to run ads to specific audiences. This is another reason to carefully consider how many audiences you will go after and how many channels you intend to use.

Review & Referral Sites
For some types of businesses (restaurants, hospitality, homes services, etc.), reviews are a critical step in the consumer decision-making process and should be given as much consideration as the company website. It may even be the place that your potential customers go first. If you aren't sure which review sites you should be considering, google "____insert your industry____ review" and see what comes up. This is what your potential customers are doing when they are researching.

What You will need to get set up online

You will want to ensure that you are communicating a consistent message and positioning to your audience across all of your online channels. If you are adding new channels or doing a review of your online reputation, take a minute to step back and review all of your sites for consistency.

Branding
To get a solid presence set up online, you will need branding. This includes several visual components such as logos, colors, fonts and graphics as well as a basic description of the business.

Products & Services Descriptions
Additionally, most online sites will have the option for you to include products and/or services descriptions and related imagery.

Photos & Video
In addition to photos, video is now widely supported on almost every platform, and with reason - they tend to preform very well.

Following those simple steps will help you build the infrastructure to get started with your online presence, but just because you build it does not mean people will come to these sites. You will also need some ongoing strategies to drive people back to your online properties.

Ongoing Marketing Activities to Build an Online Presence

There are lots of marketing strategies to drive awareness, engagement and visitors to your online properties on an ongoing basis. You should select your marketing activities based on your specific audiences, goals and budgets.  Here is a list of some of the most common online strategies that can be used to create visibility for your organization.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If there are people actively searching for your organization, or even more generally for your products and services, you will want to take some time to do some basic search engine optimization, which you may also hear referred to as organic search and SEO. This requires a website to be SEO friendly from a technical standpoint, and to follow best practices for the use of specific keywords and copy length on each page. This type of SEO setup would require researching the most commonly used search phrases, comparing that to the content on your site, updating site content to better match the keyword data and creating new content based on key search phrase that will appeal to both your intended audience and the search engines. This tactic requires some up-front work and ongoing adjustment as search patterns shift, but if you can put in the time for regular content creation, this tactic will pay off over time.

SEO is not for everyone, however. You may be in a heavily saturated market that makes it hard to rise in the search engine listings, or you may even be in an industry that is new or has very little search volume. In those cases, you will need to use some of the other tactics listed below.

Paid Search Marketing
If you are in a highly saturated industry for organic search, you may be able to use paid search advertising to rise to the top of the search results. Paid search bypasses the need to optimize your site for organic search and can help you appear at the top of the search results as soon as you turn your ads on. However, if your site is not optimized for the keywords you’re buying, your performance may be less than what you would like. We almost always recommend combining your paid search and organic search efforts to make sure they are aligned and work well together.

Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is a very broad term used to cover a whole lot of ground. Digital marketing involves placing ads or content in front of people to create awareness and drive interest back to your properties. Unlike with search, in digital marketing you are targeting people based on a variety of triggers even if they aren't actively looking for what you are selling. A few examples: Google Display ads, social media advertising, streaming audio/video advertising, native content placement, etc.

Content Marketing
Content marketing is a great opportunity for businesses who have the ability to generate new pages on their website on an ongoing basis. Most commonly, this takes on the form of newsroom posts, blogs, videos or other resources. Most content marketing programs involve the creation of this content as well as shares on social channels and in email marketing. It might also include an ongoing SEO strategy to optimize each new page of content that is created.

PR / Earned Media Strategy
Using PR and earned media mentions can be a great way to create visibility for your organization. When popular and high-ranking sites post articles that mention you and your business and link back to your website, you have a two-fold benefit. You will be reaching a new audience through the publication, and you will receive "cool" points from Google (also known as building backlinks to boost your page authority in technical marketing jargon).

Email Marketing
If you have a clearly defined list of people that you have permission to email, this is a very affordable way to create regular engagement and traffic back to your website and any of your digital properties. Almost any organization capable of collecting emails with permission should develop this strategy, because unlike the other mentioned tactics, it is 100% under your control, and the costs are practically free. An email marketing strategy includes two parts: 1) growing the list and 2) creating engaging and meaningful content that your audience want to receive.

Social Media
Social media can be a great way to drive ongoing awareness, engagement and traffic to your various online properties. This requires ongoing posting on a regular basis. The guidelines on frequency will vary by industry and audience. Done really well, social media will also include engagement strategies to interact with your audience, monitor competitors and your own reputation. Also, as previously mentioned, for most organizations an effective social media strategy will also require ongoing paid advertising.

Review Management
Last but not least, those review sites you set up will require monitoring and responses. If customers are happy, you should be thanking them for their business and harnessing the power of their positive words. If they are unhappy, quickly responding to any issues is important. Most platforms allow the complainers to adjust their reviews once an issue has been settled. Even if that is not possible, the world will see your attempts to quickly remedy the situation.

Every business, nonprofit and brand is different. A solid marketing plan can help identify the best audiences and market opportunities, which will in turn guide the infrastructure decisions and marketing tactics. Contact us if you need help establishing an online presence. We have more than 25 years of experience helping businesses grow and hit their goals.

To Be (or Not to Be) Personal on LinkedIn

Posted by robot

Is LinkedIn a business-focused, professional networking site? A recruiting tool? A social network? LinkedIn has evolved into all of these things, making it an interesting place to network, develop a career, share photos/video, professional updates and more. A recent trend that you may have noticed is an increase in sharing of personal information, which may have you wondering how personal you should get on LinkedIn.

The debate is still raging, but we think adding some personal perspective gives your followers a better, deeper understanding of who you are. What and how you post should depend on your audience and goals. Are you a business owner, a job seeker, part of the business development team for your company? Or do you want to be viewed as a thought leader in your business? Regardless of role, we believe there is an appropriate level of personalization for everyone's LinkedIn posts.

Here are some tips for posting personal content on LinkedIn:

Build Trust Through Personal Branding

LinkedIn provides a platform where you can speak directly to decision makers and influencers, and personal posts are an easy way for them to get to know you. A strongly defined personal brand can help your audience develop a level of trust with you. If your audience can trust you, they’re more likely to want to do business with you personally, and by extension, with your company. If you want to use LinkedIn to spur conversations with prospects, consider your personal brand and positioning. Some questions to ask yourself:

  • Are you a thought leader?
  • Are you looking to advance your career?
  • Are you looking to network and grow your business outreach?
  • Are you the face of the business?

If you start with clear goals and positioning in mind, you will be able to develop a strategy that helps you very intentionally (and still authentically) reflect who you are.

"Sell" Without Being "Sales-y"

People don’t like to feel like they’re being sold to. Posts with a more personal angle can successfully get your name and brand out in front of your audience without blatantly peddling your products or services. Users are already being flooded with advertisements and direct solicitations. Instead, try to make your posts relevant to who YOU are as a professional. If you’re speaking at a conference, sponsoring an event or attending professional development, share your personal takeaways, photos and experiences.

Keep in mind that those personal stories need a point. Are you reinforcing your thought leadership credentials? Does the post tie back to your professional life or reinforce causes you support in a way that helps your audience connect over shared values? Aim for a softer "sales" approach that highlights your professional role and business in way that feels authentic and in line with your day to day activities.

Balance Personal and Professional

Don’t fall into the cycle of overposting personal content. If you want to be seen as a thought leader or expert, don’t allow personal posts to make up the majority of your posting strategy. Also, those posts don't have to be all about you, your kids or your dog (even though we love how that might connect with other parents or pet owners).

Use personal posts as avenues for expressing values that align with your audience, which might include hobbies you have outside of work and experiences you are excited to share. Are you volunteering in the community? Are you on a board or committee? Tell your connections about things you are involved in and why they matter to you.

You might put yourself in your audience's shoes and try to think about what your stream of LinkedIn posts really says about you. Would you hire this person? Does this sound like someone who’s going to fit well in a team environment? Is this person passionate about what they do?

Share These Opinions with Caution

You should seriously consider whether or not to bring up certain topics based on your personal beliefs before publishing them. These types of posts run the risk of alienating potential clients or colleagues, starting heated arguments or hurting your job search.

  • Religion
  • Politics (unless you work in this field)
  • Frustrations and Rants

Do you lead with these topics in a new business situation? Would you want to discuss it in a sales meeting or job interview? As a good rule of thumb, topics that cause a moment of doubt probably shouldn't be posted. For many users of what has largely been seen as a professional platform, the rules are similar to a professional meeting or networking setting.

Check Company Policy

As a final thought, keep in mind that some posting might also conflict with company policy. Policies may prohibit you from representing the company online, they may require statements that indicate that opinions are expressed are your own. You may also be reprimanded for posting things that are not aligned with the values of the organization. It might make sense to check the the company policies if you are an employee.

Go Get Personal!

LinkedIn is a complex platform with a lot to offer. We suggest you try to use the opportunity to let your professional guard down and share a little about yourself. When we see clients begin posting consistently and adding in personal angle, the results are often significantly higher than what we see on the more typical business posts. It will pay off if you spend time developing your personal brand and stay focussed on your goals.

What is GA4, and What Does it Mean for your Business?

Posted by robot

Whether you’re savvy with Google Analytics yourself, or you’ve delegated your website analysis, it’s important to understand how Google Analytics 4 (GA4) will affect your website reporting. GA4 is a new version of Google Analytics that launched in October 2021 in anticipation of the previous version (Universal Analytics) being discontinued in July 2023. If you’re wondering why this matters, it's because when Google sunsets the former platform next summer, all your historical website data will be erased. So, if you haven’t already transitioned your analytics to GA4, we’ve got the cliff’s notes on what’s changing, why it’s important and what to do now to be ready for next year. And yes, you need to get ready now… don’t let it sneak up on you.

What is Different in GA4?

  •  Say “Goodbye” to Old Data

    As of July 2023, Universal Analytics (UA) will quit collecting data on your site and you will have access to your historical data for only six months thereafter. That’s why Google recommends you do a backup of at least fourteen months' worth of data before July 2023. So, if you’re wanting to compare site engagement during an annual promotional campaign to data from years past, you’ll want to make sure you have those backups. (Instructions on backing up data can be found here.)

  • Tracking Traffic Differently

    Universal Analytics tracks traffic by session. In other words, if I come to your website by clicking on a social post, then go to another website to check my email, but come back to your site by typing in your web address in the URL, those site visits are counted as two separate sessions. GA4 uses “event-based” tracking. In GA4, those two website visits would be combined into one session with separate events. This means your session numbers will look much lower, but inevitably your engagement rates will be much higher. This presents a challenge in comparing data between UA and GA4. They are like comparing apples to oranges. That’s why it’s recommended you go ahead and start using GA4 Google Analytics alongside Universal Analytics for the next year to generate side-by-side reports. This gives you and your team the chance to learn how to interpret the data for an entire year before relying solely on the new platform.

  • Customer Journey Intel

    Event tracking in GA4 is also going to give us a much better picture of the user experience and customer journey while on our sites. There are various types of events that will be tracked. Each tells part of the overall story of how a user got to your website and what they did once they got there.

    • Automatically Tracked Events

      To make things easier, Google set up GA4 to track things like clicks, downloads, first visit to a web page, page scroll and so on. These are extremely useful and the fact that you don’t have to have your web developer add various tags on numerous pages throughout your site to capture these more standard events is a time and money saver.

    • Enhanced Measurement Events

      If you want to take tracking further, with GA4, you can. There are enhanced measurements. For example, you can track more than a page scroll, like the percentage of the page that was scrolled. These give a more complete picture of the customer experience.

    • Recommended Events

      Google has listed some suggested events for businesses or organizations based on common website needs for specific verticals. For instance, e-commerce sites have a list of recommended events like “add-to-cart” and “refund” or “generate lead.” These recommendations can be found in the events report.

    • Custom Events

      Despite the upgrade in pre-established event tracking that Google is introducing, you still might want to track something unique and Google still allows this within custom events. For instance, if you want to track when a person makes a “donation” to your organization, which is different than a standard e-commerce purchase, that would require a custom event. Visit here to learn how to set up custom events.

  • Ramped Up Security

    With online security and personal privacy concerns, GA4 makes it easier to stay in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). With GA4, IP addresses are anonymous (called IP Masking), relying on artificial intelligence (IA) to infer geography and context based on past behavior. While IP Masking is an opt-in feature in Universal Analytics, it’s now mandatory with GA4.

  • App and Web in One

    A big advantage of GA4 is the consolidation of analytics profiles. If you have an app and a website, in Universal Analytics, you have to track them separately. In GA4, they are tracked together. So, if someone clicks from your site to your app and then buys something, that entire customer journey is tracked within one analytics profile.

Why does the Google Analytics Change Matter to Your Business?

You may wonder why any of these changes matter. The truth is, if you don’t consider your website a part of your marketing strategy, then this really won’t change much for you. However, if you rely on your site to play a role in gaining new customers, leads or sales, the switch to GA4 is critical. Understanding who comes to your website, how they get there and how they engage with your site are all important steps in assessing how well your website supports your goals.

What Do You Need to Do Now?

  1. Your next steps should include setting up your GA4 account alongside your current Universal Analytics account. Thankfully, the initial setup for GA4 isn’t too complicated. It’s only taken us a few minutes to do this for each of our customers. There might be a little more time to set up any custom events if you require those to track what you need. Otherwise, you can connect GA4 to your Google Ads and Tag Manager accounts seamlessly. You can find complete instructions here.
  2. Next, you will want to download backups of your data (instructions here).
  3. Be sure to finish migrating your conversion goals and set up event tracking and audience groups.
  4. Finally, play around with the reporting templates and see how the new platform shows insights compared to Universal Analytics reporting.

If you need help transitioning to GA4 or setting up custom reports, or want an independent review of your website and its current state of performance and tracking setup, contact us today.

How Your Online Presence Affects Your Hiring

Posted by robot

In this highly competitive hiring market, your first impression means everything. Job seekers are getting that first impression from your online presence. Your website, social profiles and online reviews aren’t just marketing and branding vehicles to attract prospective customers. They are also critical to attracting potential employees. We have put together a list of ways to improve your digital presence to help with your employer branding and recruitment marketing.

Your Website and Social Media - The First Stop in a Job-Seeker's Research

The way you present your brand in the digital world can make a huge impact on whether a job seeker chooses to apply or accept an offer from you. If you were to look at your website and social media platforms from a potential employee’s point of view, would you find the company culture and values appealing? Is what you see a positive and accurate reflection of your internal company culture and work-life?

Take a walk in a job seeker’s shoes for a minute, and look at your company from the outside in…

Start With Your Careers Page

Do you have anything more on this page than a list of available openings and benefits? A competitive Careers page should go beyond the basics.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

This is an opportunity to share photography of actual employees, your workspace, company events and community engagement. When you review this page, look at it from the perspective of a job seeker: Will they identify themselves in those photos? Do you have uniforms that are modern or fun? Does the company engage with the community? Do people look like they enjoy working for you? You should paint a clear picture about what it’s like working at your company and provide an opportunity for them to picture themselves in the mix.

Interior branding wall mural in restaurant  Uniforms for a seafood restaurant designed by Robot Creative(photo caption: examples of interior branding in stores and fun uniforms at Sea Island Shrimp House.)


(photo caption: examples of branded wall decor including core values at Computer Solutions.)

Boring Descriptions = Boring Jobs

Your job descriptions might also need a refresh. Consider writing them with a voice and tone that reflects your brand and appeals to the audience you’re trying to attract (for example, should the positions sound fun and energetic, ambitious and intellectual, quirky and unique?). The Job descriptions can provide a branding opportunity and a chance to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Add a Feature to Your Home Page

If you have immediate hiring needs, consider adding a call-out at the top of your Home page near the navigation or even a pop-up alerting web visitors of those immediate openings. Link directly to the Careers page instead of making them search for it. Adding a content section on the Home page with compelling imagery, a headline and a call to action can be a great way to entice web visitors to learn more about employment opportunities as well.

Pull in Dynamic Social Media

If you have someone updating your company social profiles with internal culture, community and events, you can pull that content into your Careers page or Home page so it is always dynamic and current. If you aren’t currently posting content that relates to your work environment and internal culture on your social media channels, now is the time to consider adding it to your editorial calendar. Also, don’t forget to post about your job openings as they become available, and encourage your team to share the posts.

Pick the Right Social Platforms for Job Seekers

We recommend you pick the social platform(s) where your potential future employees are active. This may vary for different types of positions within one organization. Your social media manager should know which platforms cater best to specific age groups and audience types. Make sure to highlight the content which accurately reflects your company culture and brand, but adjust it to speak specifically to each unique audience.

Example of hiring post on social media for tech company.  
(photo caption: example of social posts promoting hiring on LinkedIn.)

Don’t Skip Past the About Us Page

If you have an About Us page that already features current leadership and facts about the company, understand that not just customers are visiting that page to learn about you, but also job seekers! Make sure your leadership team photos and bios are up to date and appealing to prospective team members. Consider the company story from the job seeker’s point of view. What additional information would you include to win them over? Finally, don’t miss the opportunity to recruit on this page. You can add a “Join our team” teaser or section that links to your Careers page to draw job seekers in.

Optimize Your SEO to Get Job Seekers to Your Site

Once you make your website improvements, it’s time to make sure your intended audience sees them. Optimizing your Careers and About Us pages for the types of jobs you are trying to fill will increase your chances of being found by the people who are actively looking. If you don’t have someone on staff with SEO background, consider outsourcing the project to someone with specialized skills in this area.

It Pays to Advertise for Job Seekers

Social and digital ads can help you accurately target very specific audiences. Ads can be easily turned on and off and budgets can be tightly controlled when you have shifting needs for specific positions. Digital advertising is also a great form of brand awareness. If you keep a regular stream of company advertisements and/or social posts and culture in front of your audience, they will be more likely to respond favorably when they are presented with an opportunity.

Example of hiring post on social media for local restaurant chain. Example of hiring post on social media for IT company.
(photo caption: examples of social ads promoting hiring.)

Opportunity to Improve - Not to Falsely Advertise

If you find it’s difficult to find content to update your website because you don’t host regular company events or maybe you don't have the most competitive benefits, you might want to consider surveying your team to gain a better understanding of the culture and team motivations. Advertising a false or idealized reality will hurt your recruiting efforts more than it helps. It can damage your reputation as an employer if prospects or former employees decide to call out these inconsistencies in online reviews. Speaking of reviews...

Review Management Matters

Reviews of your company can be found on your social platforms, search engines and even job search and review sites like Indeed or Glassdoor. Having your profiles on these sites maintained with the most up-to-date information and photos can help you make a better impression on prospects researching your brand. With online reviews, job seekers also have a front-row seat to past employees' opinions – for better or for worse.

While you can’t control what others say about your company or brand, you can recover from a negative employee review if you make the effort to respond publicly. Acknowledging negative reviews will sometimes convince employees to edit or remove them. Even in times when it doesn’t, other users see that you made an effort to respond appropriately, which demonstrates professionalism. Disgruntled employees are often more likely to leave reviews than happy ones, so it can help to have a strategy to encourage or even incentivize current employees to post reviews. Increasing the number of high ratings can help drown out the occasional grumpy review, and show a more accurate reflection of your overall employee sentiment.

Go Get Them – Your To-Do List:

If you’re actively trying to find employees, we hope this list of ideas will help you improve your online presence and have a positive influence on future recruits. Take time to improve your recruiting strategy by:

  1. Identifying (and profiling) who you’re trying to recruit
  2. Reviewing your website from the job seeker’s perspective
  3. Adding relevant content to your website and social channels that shows the benefits of working with your company
  4. Advertising on digital platforms to quickly increase visibility
  5. Actively managing your online listings and reviews

Taking these steps will greatly improve your hiring competitive edge. Happy recruiting!

If you need help making sure your branding attracts the right crowd, or need support with advertising or web design, contact us for a free consultation.

What does #BlackLivesMatter mean to your business?

Posted by Lara August

I called and texted clients last week to ask what they were planning to do to address the movement that was triggered by the death of George Floyd, who was killed by police while in custody in Minneapolis on May 25th. While most had discussed current events with their leadership teams, very few had decided to take any direct action. I don’t believe it was out of apathy. I believe it was because they just didn’t know what to do.

Some of the responses were:

  • "We are just trying to get through the coronavirus."
  • "We don’t take political positions as a business."
  • "I don’t see how this relates to our company."
  • "I don’t think that as company there is anything that we should do."
  • "I am very concerned and acting personally."

Many asked me what I saw other businesses doing and I thought this was as worthy list of information to spread further. There are lots of things you should consider doing internally and externally.

It Does Affect YOUR Business
If you are feeling paralyzed as a business leader, and if you are struggling with whether this issue affects your company or not, know that it does affect you if:

  • You have customers
  • You have employees
  • You have vendors
  • You work with human beings

While police brutality may not feel like a business issue, racial discrimination and human rights are issues to all citizens of this country, and we have reached a critical boiling over point as a nation. If your business is made up of people, or works with people, your silence will be interpreted one way or another. Whether you assign credit or blame to social media, to millennials or to the media, our new reality is one of action.

Take Care of Your People
Consider the effects that current events might be having on your employees. Check in with your Black employees to see how they are coping. But also consider that you don’t know who might be affected by these events based on the color of their skin alone - close friends and family may be affected. Check in with all of your employees. If you have an HR person, company or team, they should have access to mental health resources and be able to address struggles. If the emotional part of this hasn’t reached you yet, consider that it might be affecting attendance and performance and just do the right thing.

Want to take that further?

  • Create a facilitated discussion group to help people talk about their feelings.
  • Create a committee to propose ways to get team members involved.
  • Hire an expert to help educate your leadership team.

Then Look Closer at Your Organization
I would personally love to see businesses making tough calls to choose human rights over profits, but if profits is the language you want to speak, you might still consider the transparency that has been created with Glassdoor, Indeed and LinkedIn. It’s not just public companies that are under scrutiny for their hiring, promotion and pay equity right now.

  • Do you need to change your recruiting practices?
  • Do you need to work on more diversity among your leadership teams?
  • Do you need to address pay equity within your company?

It’s a great time to reflect on where you are and to use it as a baseline. From this point, do you intend to do anything better or differently? Do you feel strongly enough to put a stake in the ground and set some goals? Maybe a committee of employees particularly close to the cause can help you turn that into a reality.

Should You Take Further Action?
While most business leaders can see the need for internal action, many wonder if they should be taking additional public action. If you checked in with your team, you probably already know the answer to this question. If you just aren’t sure what you can do, here are some ideas:

It’s easy to make donations to credible organizations who are affecting change, and some people feel that seems meaningless, but it’s not. They need support, and if you aren’t sure how to get started, you can do a lot to help what is already well underway.

  • Match employee contributions to those causes.
  • If you have political influence, you can use it.
  • If you can vote with your dollars, your contracts, who you choose to work with as clients, or how you invest, you may be able to create change through financial pressure.
  • Take a public stand. We have seen an inspiring wave of companies confessing their lack of diversity, committing to plans, and supporting organizations who will affect change.

Should You Message Externally?
While the action you are taking internally and externally will have the most direct impact, consider making your plans public. Your message won’t be lost in the massive outcry… it will join in the chorus. It will also strengthen your leadership position with your workforce and customers. If you are committing to significant change, this will add a layer of accountability.

I am not a huge fan of copying and pasting messages, and would love to see each company use their own unique voice and speak to their audience in the appropriate tone, but that can be easier said than done. There is a lot of eloquent messaging out there, that authors would love to see shared. Ask their permission. Give them credit. Include a link. It’s the message that matters right now as much as the voice.

Don’t Be Afraid
I’ve heard some people express fear of retaliation, of losing customers and of alienating themselves from what might be a sizable demographic in Texas. Even incredibly conservative political leaders and media have denounced the murder of George Floyd. You don’t need to condone protests, destruction of businesses or looting to take a stand for equality and human rights. Which way do you see this issue heading? Which side of it do you want your business to be on?

It’s Not Too Late
While social media did see waves of immediate responses and action plans from companies across the country, you are not too late. Your commitment to change and your plans for action will become a lasting part of your company messaging. Many businesses, especially smaller ones struggling with coronavirus-induced challenges will need time to deliberate internally, to develop thoughtful plans and to take action. This isn’t a last week thing. Please keep the momentum going at a pace you can sustain.

Need Help?
We are not experts on the subject of diversity and inclusion. We are a small business and a work in progress, like so many others. However, if we can connect you to resources or help you with your company’s messaging, we would be thrilled to help. Give us a call.

Tips for teams working remotely from the remote ROBOTS.

Posted by robot

We at Robot Creative have been remote working for weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a team, we’ve noticed some challenges and also some opportunities while working from home. Here are some tips and tricks we’d like to share to keep things running smoothly while sheltered in place.

  1. Over communicate!
    The best way to find out what process and channels are best for communicating, you may have to go through about a week of communicating over and over on many channels. The one thing you cannot do is expect others to see your message without getting confirmation. Next, as a team, it’s helpful to share what works for some or doesn’t for others. Then, a leader should lay down rules for the best means to communicate moving forward. Remember to be patient. Rules are reinventing themselves right now, but you may find better ways to communicate through this that you might elect to continue after the quarantine is over.

    At Robot Creative, we found it best to use organized channels in a chat tool called Slack to communicate on specific topics like IT issues, general work announcements, and even a fun channel to keep spirits up. Then we use the messaging function in our project management tool, Pro Workflow, to update each other on projects and even pass documents back and forth with edits and notes. Relying less on email and more on these mediums has cut down our need for Zoom video calls (which we do still use for some meetings when needed). We may very well continue these messaging practices and will cut down on face to face meetings in the future.

  1. Environment is key

    2. Do NOT work from bed or the couch if you can avoid it. Set up an area that will be your dedicated workspace. You can use the kitchen table or coffee table. Just take the time to get it set up each morning for work by removing the usual objects, so you have a clear space. You can also change up your surroundings during the day to freshen your perspective and inspire creativity. We are encouraged to do this in the office, but it can also be done at home. Finally, at the end of the day put the work stuff away and put things back to “normal”. This allows your space to be your home again, and no longer a place of work for the day.

  1. Save your back and eyes

    2. Ergonomics has been around for a while, and it’s true that sitting with improper posture takes a toll on your body. Sit in an actual office chair if you have one. You may want to ask if you can pick up the one from your office. This will save your back from agony after sitting for hours on furniture that is designed more for lounging. Also, protect your eyes and invest in blue light blocker glasses. We are all staring at screens now more than ever. Whiteboards, presentations, meetings, are now all done digitally. Plus, we are entertaining ourselves at home with all our devices. You can get prescription and non-prescription lenses sent to your house through affordable resources like Zenni Optical, Felix Gray and even Amazon.

  1. Suit up!

    2. Ok, maybe don’t wear a suit – unless that is what is expected for a video conference call. The point here is to get dressed. It’s tempting to work in your pajamas. When you dress up like you’re ready to work, you’re more willing to get to work. This might seem silly, but most of our team noticed they felt less motivated when they weren’t work-ready.

  1. Stick to a schedule

    2. Not only is this helpful as a part of communication to others when you are available, it also helps you differentiate work time from downtime. Set hours for your workday, and even better, segment hours- blocking out time for certain tasks. Make sure your online calendar is updated for others on your team to see. That way they know the best time to get ahold of you, and when to leave you alone. This will help you and your team better separate personal time from work time.

  1. Take breaks, and give yourself one too

    2. Something to remember, you aren’t just working from home, you are working from home during a pandemic. This is a very uncertain time and stress is high. There’s a lot of change, but you still need to get work done. And you might feel the pressure to overperform to keep your job, or because you feel a sense of guilt for still having yours when so many people in the world are losing theirs. Despite these feelings, to keep your mental health, you need to take breaks. Go outside for a walk. Get up and stretch. And forgive yourself for this learning curve. This is going to take some getting used to, and who knows how long it will last.

  1. Keep it casual sometimes

    2. There’s a lot of seriousness, and work is serious. However, it’s good to keep a channel open for some light and fun conversations. Even just chatting during breaks with co-workers to see how they are doing. Ask about their family, share struggles if you can, and share good things coming out of this situation. Our team started a weekly newsletter that highlights general announcements, and also features some of the shared photos, ideas and fun facts that we shared throughout the week. This has helped overall morale and has given us some great ideas to try with our families.

These are just a few things our team has learned in the past month of remotely working. If you have any ideas, feel free to share them with us through our social media channels, or contact us here.

What Business Owners Need to Know About California’s New Privacy Law

Posted by robot

Remember what a mad scramble it was with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018? Now, a new set of privacy regulations is going into effect on January 1, with major implications for U.S.-based businesses.

California’s new Privacy Protection Act imposes strong financial penalties for any company that doesn’t meet its requirements, whether or not the business operates in California. If any California resident comes to your website and you meet any one of these requirements, you need to be compliant:

1. Annual gross revenue is more than $25 million
2. Your organization receives, shares or sells the information of more than 50,000 individuals
3. Your company makes more than 50% of its revenue from selling personal information of California residents

For your website to be compliant, you will need to update your privacy policy to include details about the specific information you've collected, sold, or disclosed since January 1, 2019. Also, you will need to include your reasons for collecting the data and methods. If you don’t already have a privacy policy in place, there are a number of tools available to help quickly generate a policy with appropriate CCPA disclosures.

In addition to including a link to your privacy policy in the footer of your website, you must also include an opt-out-of-data-collection option on every page of your site. If your site is built in WordPress, there are plugins available that can automatically add these opt-out buttons to your site for you.

Finally, you must also provide a way for site visitors to request a copy of their information, and for them to request that it be deleted. While it is easy to add a contact form on your site, for most companies, this last step is the biggest challenge. Most big businesses don’t know the amount of data they have or all the locations they are stored since different departments typically don’t use the same data collecting systems. Updating your processes or adapting new data solutions can be time consuming and potentially expensive if you have to adopt new systems. But it will be far less expensive than the newly implemented fines of up to $7,500 per person you collect data on.

Types of information included under California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):
Name, alias, email address, phone number, address, driver's license number, social security number, passport number, unique online identifier, customer ID numbers, IP address, browsing history, search history, website navigation, sales history, geolocation data, consumer profiles, psychological profiles, behaviors, or any other data inferred from any combination of these items.

If you fall into these categories and run Google Ads, you need to make some changes to your settings to turn on Google's restricted data processing setting. Google has already enabled this for all websites in Google Analytics to be compliant.

If you want to really err on the side of caution and reduce or minimize the amount of data Google Analytics collects, you can also make adjustments to your Google Analytics settings to disable data collection all together and anonymize IP addresses.

Not convinced that you need to bring your business into compliance? More than 20 other states are advancing similar privacy legislation, with many of them based around the CCPA.

Contact us today for help updating your site to address these new and emerging privacy laws.

Four Tools to Help Flip the B2B Lead Generation Model

Posted by Lana Harris

In years past, the goal of the digital marketer was to drive web traffic. Prevailing wisdom taught us that an increase in traffic would lead to an increase in the number of contact form submissions. It was a passive strategy at its core: Build a campaign and wait for the leads to come rolling in. As Tom Petty aptly reminds us, however, the waiting is the hardest part.

But imagine if your web traffic visitors were real people walking into a retail store. Would you ignore them until they walked up to the counter? Of course not. You would approach them and offer your assistance. Today’s blog will look at four tools that give you the ability to approach your site visitors in the same way.

 

IP Tracking:

As the name implies, IP tracking tools examine the IP addresses of inbound web traffic to determine the owner of the visiting network. In other words, they tell you what companies are visiting your site. Sounds cool, right? We thought so too, and after we piloted IP tracking with one of our IT clients, we immediately saw its potential for lead generation across all B2B categories.

In addition to telling us which companies are visiting a site, IP tracking ties in with Google Analytics to identify the individual pages that a company viewed and how they got to those pages (ie. organic vs. specific paid campaigns). Armed with this information, our clients' sales teams can now send personalized outreach emails to company decision makers about relevant products or services.

Ready to get started? We recommend an IP tracking solution called Leadfeeder.  While there are a number of platforms on the market, we like Leadfeeder for its easy setup, useful integrations and straightforward reporting.

 

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation sounds complicated, but it’s actually quite simple. Essentially, it is a process of simplifying tasks like social posts, emails, etc. For B2B clients, marketing automation can leverage a customer’s CRM to streamline email outreach through the CRM or integrations with third-party tools like MailChimp.

Combined with IP tracking and a little bit of research, marketing automation can open up some amazing possibilities. For example, you might create a series of emails that go out to decision makers at companies visiting your website. These emails can be tailored to the product or service that a particular company was investigating. Within these emails you might include a link to register for an upcoming webinar, download a case study or white paper, or connect with the sales team to schedule a one-on-one demo or consultation.

Marketing automation can also help you understand why visitors aren’t filling out a contact form. If a lead downloaded a free tool but hasn’t taken further action, you can send a series of tips and reminders about the benefits of the tool. This can help remind a lead to take the next action or get in touch if they have questions about how to use the tool.

At the end of the day, the goal of marketing automation is to move leads and contacts down the sales funnel toward a buying decision without taxing sales reps to do more outreach on luke-warm leads.

 

Live Chat

Live chat has evolved to become an increasingly useful tool in the B2B marketer’s playbook. In addition to giving site visitors the opportunity to ask questions without ever leaving their browser, today’s live chat solutions can be combined with inbound call/text campaigns that give potential customers the ability to communicate with you how and when they are most comfortable. Going a step further, many tools allow you to proactively start a conversation with site visitors, allowing you to initiate calls or emails, schedule demos and capture leads even faster.

Worried about after-hours staffing? Many live chat services allow you to turn your chat into a lead gen tool when your in-house team has logged out. There are outsourced service providers who offer an answering service to take messages, or the chat can be used to capture initial questions and prompt the site visitor to leave a message for future reply. Your inbound team will then be able to come in each morning and respond to leads that self-generated overnight.

 

Remarketing

In today’s over-saturated, multi-screen media environment, it’s difficult to break through to your target audience. But what if we focus on the ones that are already visiting your website? Remarketing allows you to tag site visitors, or visitors to a particular landing page, and then follow them around the web with digital display advertising.

If someone visits your website, looks at a few pages and then leaves without filling out a contact form, remarketing can help stick ads in front of them while they're browsing other sites. Like the couch that follows you around the web after you looked at the IKEA site, you can remind these potential leads about your services, increasing the likelihood of return site traffic and contact form submission.

Focusing a portion of your advertising budget on potential customers that have previously visited your site results in higher conversion rates to lead capture, some studies showing a doubling effect.

 

There Is No Magic Bullet

It’s about building smart, layered, marketing campaigns to increase the delivery of relevant content to your target audience when they are in a buying mindset. Try a few of these ideas out and we promise, your sales team will thank you.

 

Want to learn more? Contact us today for a consultation on our outsourced marketing solutions for B2B businesses.

Measure Ad Performance with the Right Metrics

Posted by robot

Metrics_eblastHow do you know if your advertising is working?

Determining the effectiveness of your advertising can be tricky. Advertising reports typically focus on reach and impressions, but do these numbers actually mean anything for your business? Does your advertising address your business goals?

Determine your business goals first

Having a large number of impressions can be great if your goal is to generate awareness. Let’s say, however, that you want to grow your sales. Measuring impressions is like counting how many people walk by your store, whether or not they come in and purchase anything.

In order to measure the effectiveness of your advertising, you have to first define your business goals. Your business goals can span from gaining new customers to upselling existing customers to educating about a cause. Once you have clear goals, then you can find the best tracking method.

Start tracking

No matter your ad spend or method of advertising, you can implement some form of tracking to measure results.

Digital advertising offers infinite methods of tracking, from simple Google Analytics tools to more complex, customizable options. These analytics allow you to see what happens beyond the click – including how long visitors stay on your site, how many pages they view and whether they submit a contact form. You can track these results back to the individual ad or ad platform.

If you are using more traditional advertising methods, consider using tactics such as redeemable coupons or unique tracking phone numbers.

At the very least, keep a post-it note handy and tally up every time someone mentions your ad. Most CRM (customer resource management) software allows you to track sales or customers back to your advertising. This might mean that you have to train your staff to ask every customer how they heard about your company, but this will help you find out which forms of advertising are working.

Compare your results to your expenses

The last piece of this puzzle is the tracking of your expenses. Don’t throw everything into one general advertising budget. Itemize your advertising spend for every activity using a CRM software or by working with your accounting office. You can’t fully evaluate your ad performance if you don’t take your spend into account.

Review your results!

All of this work amounts to nothing if you don’t review the results on a regular basis. Evaluating these numbers monthly, quarterly or annually will help you make more educated decisions on where to invest your advertising dollars. Plan to make changes and optimize your approach with the ads and platforms that are performing best.

Ready to leave impressions behind and start focusing on the metrics that show results?

At Robot Creative, we understand the importance of advertising for results. Our team will help you identify the metrics that make sense for your business. Contact us today to schedule an initial consultation today.

Understanding Geomarketing: Geofences vs. Beacons

Posted by robot

geolocationYou’ve probably heard of using IP addresses to target your audience by physical location…and maybe you pushed out your message to someone who actively checked in to your space on Foursquare or Facebook. Mostly due to ever-changing mobile technology, “Geomarketing”, or targeting your audiences based on geographic location, is one of the most quickly evolving trends in marketing.

The idea of geomarketing isn't new. For years, marketers have been able to purchase mailing lists and/or set up pay-per-click online campaigns based on zip codes or a radius around a specific geographic location. What's different about recent innovations is the ability to message directly to consumers on their personal mobile devices based on their proximity to a physical location.

This type of mobile-based geomarketing technology takes several forms and can be used for countless applications, from pushing coupons or product information to helping a customer find his/her way around a retail location.

Two of the main forms of geomarketing that you will probably experience soon, if you haven't already, are geofencing and beacons. Both of these technologies use a wireless signal to pinpoint a person's proximity to a particular location, such as a retail store, but there are important distinctions between the technologies and how they can be used.

Geofencing
Geofencing is the practice of establishing an electronic perimeter around a specific geographic point using GPS technology, which requires satellites and cell phone towers to communicate with mobile devices. When a potential customer enters or leaves this perimeter, the geofence triggers an action, such as a timely text message or promotion alert sent directly to the customer's mobile device.

For a geofence to work, customers must download an app, install it and opt in to receive notifications. There are common apps that can be set up to use geofences, or businesses can set up and promote proprietary apps. Because of their reliance on GPS, geofences work best outdoors and are less accurate than beacons for pinpointing a person's exact location.

Beacons
Beacons are an evolved form of geofencing. The main difference between geofencing and beacons is that beacons use bluetooth technology rather than GPS to determine a person's proximity to a specific location. This has several implications:

  • There are many different types of beacons available from popular brands, including Motorola, Google and Apple, and they all work a little differently. They usually require hardware (beacons) that must to be installed at the location, but in some cases, like Apple's iBeacon, they can be built into existing devices. The beacon communicates through an app that customers must install on their devices and allow to receive notifications.
  • Beacons allow a very accurate estimation of where a customer is located - within inches. A retailer could use this technology to provide messages directly to a customer shopping in a particular aisle or standing in front of a particular display - think coupons, product reviews or click-to-buy. The retailer could also help lead a customer to a particular item within a store.
  • Because beacons are small, battery powered devices themselves, they are portable and can be used as a mobile geofence. They could be placed on a moving object, such as a bus or a cab.
  • Beacons allow a business to track a person’s activity as he or she moves in or around a space. Creepy as that sounds, it’s not so different from web analytics (marketers have been tracking customers' movement through websites for years). Businesses can learn a lot from this type of data, including where, when and how to display messages and what messages resonate best with customers.

Interested in learning more about what geomarketing can do for your business?
Contact Robot Creative for more information.

Don’t Be A 5-Second Site: How To Write For The Web

Posted by robot

Upcoming Marketing Mastery Series Presentation for the American Marketing Association (AMA) San Antonio Chapter
Presented by Brittany Tradup
Marketing Director, Robot Creative

How much time do you really spend reading a single web page? Odds are, you haven't read one in years. If you are like most users, you probably scan a web page in 30 seconds or less with a purpose, looking for specific content. If you don't find it quickly, you move on. Reading on a screen or monitor is very different from reading a printed piece, so web writing needs to be approached differently.

  • Write real website content that will engage users and get them to take action
  • Review best practices for search-engine friendly content to get users to your site
  • Understand what customers want from your site and make it easy for them to find what they need

DATE: Thursday, February 6th, 2014
TIME: 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
LOCATION:
TriPoint - Meeting Room 1
3233 N St Mary's St
San Antonio, TX 78212
Register Now

COST*
AMA Members - $15 (with member-only promo code)
AMA Nonmembers/Guests - $20
AMA Student Members - $15 (with member-only promo code)

Walk-ins accepted on a first-come/first serve basis. Additional $5 at the door. VISA, MasterCard and American Express accepted.

* Attendees registering as members are subject to verification. All memberships must be current and in good standing, or will be subject to the non-member fee. Late Cancellation and No-Show Policy in effect.

RSVP by Monday, February 3rd, 5 p.m.

Top 5 Google AdWords Mistakes

Posted by robot

Anyone can be up and running with Google AdWords in just a few minutes. Let's face it though - what makes it super cool, also makes it dangerous! After reviewing dozens of accounts, we've identified 5 common mistakes that businesses make when setting up their AdWords campaigns. These mistakes can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars a month and/or result in lost click opportunities.

Not Taking Advantage of Targeting Options
Google very cleverly provides a system of account organization that makes it possible for businesses to create targeted campaigns and allocate budgets. More than half of the accounts we've reviewed, however, have only one campaign with one ad group and one ad variation that shows up for all keywords and links to the company's homepage. Businesses are using a blanket approach instead of considering how an ad will specifically address what a user is searching for. Users are more likely to click on an ad if it contains their search phrase, so you should create ad groups that group similar search phrases and link to specific pages on your site related to those search phrases - not to your homepage.

Arbitrary Budgeting
With no more strategy than, "This is what I think we can afford," a business will arbitrarily set a daily budget, not taking into account what the campaign requires to be successful. With this approach, campaigns may shut off after just a couple of clicks a day and will quickly be deemed unsuccessful. A more strategic approach involves understanding the search popularity of keywords along with the expected cost per click for a geographic area and setting click goals based on your conversion rate. You should also look at AdWords as a part of your overall media budget and make adjustments based on the ROI of each initiative. You may find that AdWords gets a much better return than other media and deserves a much higher percentage of your budget.

Falling for the Default
Google wants you to get clicks - that's how they make money. Most of the default settings in AdWords are designed to be broad reaching, such as Display Network and broad match keyword matching. If you aren't careful, your budget can max out quickly on irrelevant clicks that just result in a high cost per conversion. Because most small businesses work with a limited budget, the concern should be quality over quantity of clicks. We usually recommend a conservative approach in the beginning with very targeted settings that you can open up as you evaluate the success of the campaign.

Lack of Tracking
While many businesses that try Google AdWords have Google Analytics installed on their websites, they often don't have the two accounts linked. This is a simple step - as long as both are set up under the same Google account. The importance of this step shouldn't be overlooked because it allows distinction between paid and unpaid Google search traffic. Analytics show detailed traffic information (including average time on site, bounce rates and average page views) on a campaign level, an ad variation level and a keyword level, so the performance of AdWords ads should never be in question! More importantly than site analytics, you should also have a method for tracking your sales and customer contact from AdWords ads - even if it's just tick-marks on a notepad when you ask, "How did you hear about us?". Set a baseline before you start, and review results on a regular basis, so you can measure the return on your AdWords investment.

Set It and Forget It
This is probably the single most critical mistake a business can make with any advertising initiative, but especially one that is so easy to review and adjust. The keywords you select, the ads you write, the settings you apply, the cost-per-click bids you set, the competition and countless other factors are all subject to regular evaluation and changes. Because every one of these factors is easily trackable, you should review your account on a regular basis, at least monthly in the beginning. Look at it as a fine-tuning process that has the potential to get big results.

Google AdWords is a powerful small business marketing tool that can be deceptively simple to set up right "out of the box". If you really want to harness its power, approach your campaigns strategically and take the time to get to know the system. It will pay off with highly effective advertising that gets results.

What’s the Deal with Daily Deals?

Posted by robot

It's the latest craze in social media-based marketing. Through "daily deal" sites like Groupon and Living Social, businesses low-ball their prices by offering limited time promotions of 50% off or more.

You're probably wondering how your business could possibly make money on these deals - especially when the site usually takes a cut of up to 50% off the already low sale price. The truth is that you likely wouldn't make money - at least not on the promotion itself. But you can still get a lot out of these promotions with the proper planning and follow up.

Consider the Goal
If your goal is a quick revenue boost, daily deals can provide it, but it will be at the expense of a profit. A better goal is to boost your customer list for future marketing. It's the age-old concept of loss-leader pricing. A business offers a product or service at an insanely low price with a single purpose - to get customers. Revenue from sales of the deal itself may not even cover the cost of goods sold, but every person who purchases the deal becomes a new customer to market to in the future. Everyone knows that it's less expensive to market to existing customers than to prospect for new ones.

Another valid goal is education. Thousands of people may be subscribing to your local Groupon or Living Social site and see daily deals each day. If you offer unique products or services that many people may not have heard about, daily deals can be a great way to get the word out to a large group of potential customers.

Consider the Promotion
When you are planning your promotion, of course you have to think about what is going to entice your target audience to purchase your product or service now. A potentially less obvious consideration is: what offer might lead to increased average ticket sales through commonly bundled items? If you sell tennis shoes, for example, you could increase the average sale by getting customers to purchase socks or other work-out accessories at full price. Think about what you should offer for a discount that will provide room for upselling at the point of transaction or for ongoing customer retention opportunities.

Have a Follow-Up Plan
The key to getting the most out of your promotion is to have a plan - to collect customer information when offers are redeemed and to reach out to your new customers later. Before you send out your promotion, put processes or strategies in place to ask for customer email and mailing addresses. Then, plan out your promotions for the rest of the year to directly market to your newly expanded list.

Think about When to Send
With the growing popularity of daily deals, businesses are lined up to participate, so know that it can take several weeks to get rolling. Other than that, you should consider when to send out your promotion so that it is most beneficial for your business. Want a revenue boost during a tough season or want to get rid of some of that extra inventory at the end of the year? Make sure you consider whether you have the staff and inventory to handle a big boost in demand!

Could daily deals help your business boom? Plan it right and follow through, and you just might see what the hype is all about.

Beginner’s Verse for Search Engine Marketing

Posted by robot

This is Part I of ROBOT's "Search Engine Folklore: Two Tales of Fact and Fiction".

begginers
Myths, legends and lies abound in the Land of Search Engine Marketing. Some of these stories are true (FACTs), but many are false (FICTION). We've compiled the most common tales to help set the record straight.

Designed for the apprentice seeking basic information on search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising, "Beginner's Verse" is a collection of short stories will enlighten readers with answers to frequently asked questions. Read "Master's Manual" for more advanced topics.

fiction
Fiction: There is a formula to getting ranked on search engines.

There is no set formula to SEO that everyone knows about. Every search engine competes to be the best search engine for users, so each has a unique method for ranking - and they don't publish it. Just remember that if a method was published everyone would do it. Marketing companies are always trying to figure out what search engines are up to, and there are some widely accepted best practices. But don't buy into any tales involving the ONE RIGHT WAY unless it's published by search engines directly.

fiction
Fiction: Hiring an SEO company will guarantee a #1 ranking.

For organic searches, no legitimate company is going to guarantee placement for a competitive keyword. If your name or product name is unique, you can probably expect to rank for those. For general and competitive search terms, however, you are going to be up against a lot of competitors who are making many of the same efforts. Make sure the company you work with has the right keyword goals in mind. Shooting to rank for slightly less competitive keywords can be a great way to get results. For paid search results, it's an open market, so if you are willing to pay for it, you can get in the top position for any keyword.

fiction
Fiction: SEO is all about putting the right keywords in your site.

While you should certainly consider the keywords and search phrases for which you would like to be found, search engines don't put much trust in keywords alone anymore. They want to see that you are providing the information for which users are searching. Your site's navigation, headlines, internal links and other factors help search engines determine the hierarchy of the information on your site and to understand what your site is about. If your information is clear, addressing what users are looking for, keywords will naturally be included in prominent places.

fact
Fact: Website changes are necessary to improve your rankings.

Search Engine Optimization is, at its core, "optimizing" your website to make it search engine-friendly. While there are a number of off-site factors that can affect your search engine rankings (such as incoming links and competition), most websites require changes. These can be as simple as increasing keyword concentration in content or as extensive as restructuring navigation and rewriting content.

fiction
Fiction: Results are immediate.

While this statement is true for pay per click campaigns (once you setup your account, your ad will show up almost immediately), the statement is NOT true for organic search engine results. Search engines regularly crawl through the web, indexing sites as they go. It may take as long as 30-60 days before search engines find and update your rankings, and your positions may fluctuate drastically for a few more months before they level off.

fact
Fact: Search Engine Marketing requires regular, ongoing maintenance.

Organic search engine optimization and pay per click search advertising campaigns both require ongoing attention in order to get continued results. On the organic side, search engines are finding new sites everyday, and they are also regularly improving their methods for ranking websites. With sponsored search or pay per click campaigns, your competitors are constantly adjusting their bids to improve their ad positions. A sustained effort by someone who follows the latest trends, monitors your progress and makes necessary recommendations and adjustments can keep you ahead of the curve.

fact
Fact: You will need to hand off access to your accounts if you work with an outside marketing company.

Every search engine marketing company works differently. Some are setup to give you full access and full transparency, charging you separately for their services. Others use their own proprietary systems and/or mark up the cost of the clicks, and these companies generally provide less transparency. Each is a valid way of doing business, but make sure you know what you are getting into and whether you will retain any setup or access if you decide to end your contract.

fiction
Fiction: Submitting your site to search engines will help you get ranked.

In the early days of SEO, submitting your site with your primary keywords to search engines was a critical step in the process. Search engines are now less inclined to believe the information you provide in your submission. They crawl the Internet and rank websites based on their own methods. They look closely at your content and what sites are linking to you to decide how your site will be ranked. While it still isn't a bad idea to let search engines know you are there, you should focus on submitting your sitemap (see "Master's Manual").

fiction
Fiction: Paying to be ranked high in directories will help you rank better in search engines.

Links to your website from relevant directories can be beneficial for your site because they confirm for search engines that your content is valuable for the item or service in that directory. However, your position on the page in that directory likely has no impact on your position in organic search results. Rather than spending your entire budget on one directory listing, your best bet is to develop an overall link strategy (see "Getting links to my site..." below)

fact
Fact: Getting links to your site from other sites will help your ranking.

Links to your site from a website related to your business work as referrals and legitimize the content on your website to search engines. Not just any link will do! Develop a link strategy that includes paid and free directory listings, links from partner or affiliate websites and any other relevant incoming links you can arrange. Look for links from websites that rank high in search results themselves, and beware of link farms that contain hundreds of links to irrelevant websites. These sites are often blacklisted by search engines, and links from these sites can actually hurt your rankings! Also, the text in the link (known as anchor text) should contain keywords if possible, rather than just your website URL.

Looking for more thrilling tales that will test your skills as a master of SEO? See the "Master's Manual for Search Engine Marketing", which addresses more advanced topics, from programming considerations to social media.

Master’s Manual for Search Engine Marketing

Posted by robot

This is Part II of "Search Engine Folklore: Two Tales of Fact and Fiction".

manual
Myths, legends and lies abound in the Land of Search Engine Marketing.
Some of these stories are true (FACTs), but many are false (FICTION). We've compiled the most common tales to help set the record straight.

With thrilling tales that will test your skills and knowledge, Master's Manual addresses the advanced topics of Search Engine Marketing, from programming considerations to social media. For more basic topics, read "Beginner's Verse".

fiction
Using social media outlets (such as YouTube for videos and Flickr for photos) will improve your rankings.

From a link networking perspective, videos or photos that are linked back to your website from high-ranking sites like YouTube and Flickr can benefit your rankings on search engines. However, unless your video or photo is really popular on these sites and ranks high for your keywords within the site search directories, your search engine rankings likely don't get more benefit than the link itself provides. Focus on developing excellent content on your website and securing incoming links from relevant, high-ranking websites. If YouTube and Flickr help you develop and publish your content, that's great. Don't just use them for ranking in search engines, though!

fact
Your web host can affect your ranking results.

If your site loads very slowly, doesn't load at all or experiences down time, search engines will catch on and will not be likely to recommend your site to searchers. Consider this before hosting your site yourself, and look for a quality hosting solution that meets your technical requirements, including bandwidth, traffic, multimedia, server requests, etc.

fact
Other websites' bad practices can affect your site ranking.

Hosting companies often host many websites on the same IP address - known as shared hosting package. If you share an IP address with a website that has been blacklisted by search engines, your site ranking could also be negatively affected. If you would like to keep control in your hands, consider asking your hosting company for a dedicated IP address.

fact
How your site is programmed can affect your ranking results.

Different programming languages may or may not be search engine-friendly. For example, Flash content is generally heavy on images, and search engines rely heavily on text to understand the content on a web page. An alternative way to achieve movement and interest on a site is to use jQuery, which is a much more search engine-friendly language. This is just one example of how programming can affect how search engines view your site. Consider the goals of your site, and then look for alternative ways you can achieve those goals with the features and functionality.

fact
Your content management system can affect your ranking.

Content management systems (CMS) come in many forms and levels of sophistication. They usually make it very easy for anyone to edit copy and change photos, but they may not provide the necessary accessibility to the code of your site to apply metatags (title, description and keywords) or they may not organize pages in your site so that search engines can easily understand the overall site structure. Page generators often create URLS that aren't search engine-friendly (see below). Consider whether you really need CMS, and if you do, choose one that has been recognized in the industry as SEO-friendly.

fiction
Your site will rank the same in San Antonio, Texas as it does in San Francisco, California.

Over the last couple of years, search engines have adjusted their ranking methods to account for the geographic location of the person searching (based on IP address) relative to the companies listed in the results. After all, it doesn't make sense for someone living in Seattle to search for a plumber and get results that include companies from Chicago. This helps local businesses, but can be a challenge to those doing business nationally and internationally. Your SEO company should consider different strategies to help your rankings depending on whether you are trying to rank locally, regionally, nationally or internationally. And keep an eye on your statistics to see where your traffic is coming from!

fiction
A new website or updated website can only improve your rankings.

If you are modifying your website, moving it to a new domain or building a new one, don't just forget about the old URLs. Search engines don't like things to move or change without explanation. If a search engine crawls a page and can't find it, this reflects poorly on the rest of the website because it tells the search engine that the site is poorly maintained and that other pages might likely be broken as well. If pages are removed or moved, use server-side 301 redirects to ensure that users and search engines are redirected to the right page.

fact
Your site URL matters.

A site or page URL provides a short summary of the content on that page, so the more descriptive (and intelligible) it is, the better. So URLs such as www.sanantoniodrycleaning.com will naturally rank better than www.mcgibbinscleaning.com.

fact
Submitting a sitemap to search engines can help your interior/secondary pages get indexed faster.

Search engines find your site by crawling the web, following links to your site from other websites and looking at site submissions that are sent in. Most Incoming links will be directed at the homepage of the site and don't provide a detailed picture of all the other pages on it. To index interior pages of a website, and to understand the hierarchy of information on a website, search engines rely on the navigation and/or other links within your site to point them there. To speed up the process, you can create and submit search-engine friendly sitemaps.

fiction
Creating duplicate versions of your site increases your odds of being found by search engines.

Search engines consider it to be shady or dishonest behavior to have duplicate content, known as "mirrored" or "cloned" content, in several places. Such behavior, intentional or not, can lead to your site being blacklisted by search engines. If you use several different domain names to promote your site, make sure you designate one as the primary and redirect the others to it using server-side 301 redirects, or create unique content on each site.

Seeking more basic information on search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising? See the "Beginner's Verse for Search Engine Marketing" for a collection of stories that will enlighten you with answers to frequently asked questions.

20 Do's and 10 Don'ts for 2010

Posted by robot

dos_donts

It's the beginning of a new decade and a great time to catch up with the latest marketing trends. We've taken a close look at the industry, from social media to search engine marketing, and compiled our list of 20 Do's and 10 Don'ts for 2010.

DON'T: Post your hours of play at Mafia Wars or Farmville on your Facebook page.
DO: Decide once and for all if you are using Facebook professionally or personally.
DO: Evaluate the ROI for social media as you would any other form of marketing, considering the TIME you spend on it as a real cost.

DO: Generate links in your emails to track effectiveness. Clicks are a great way to measure interest in your content.
DO: Spend as much time growing your list as you do getting the email out each month.
DON'T: Base the success of your email campaigns on open rates - they can be VERY inaccurate due to how they are measured and changes in Microsoft Outlook.

DON'T: Think you are getting a "great deal" by using freelancers and unemployed individuals for critical marketing initiatives.
DO: Think long term about the consistency of your marketing, messaging and brand, and look for vendors who can provide it.
DO: Put a style guide and formal plan in place, and determine who will ensure continuity as the freelancers get back to work.

DO: Use research to understand your customers and their habits so you can communicate with them in creative ways.
DO: Look beyond search engines to other ways that customers might find your services, such as forums with participants from your target market.
DON'T: Spend a ton of money PUSHING advertising out to the masses, when you can PULL in customers who are already searching at a fraction of the price.

DON'T: Underestimate your competitors.
DO: Continue to look for innovative ways to use new technologies and get ahead of the curve. For example, will mobile devices affect the way you do business?
DO: Use free clipping services such as Google Alerts to follow industry news and keep an eye on your competition.

DO: Make time to evaluate the comparative ROI of your marketing initiatives.
DON'T: Allow budget cuts to affect marketing programs that demonstrate a clear ROI.
DO: Cut way back on programs that do NOT show effective ROI...How's the phone book treating you?

DO: Look at each of your online needs separately to see if there are hosted solutions available with better functionality at a lower price.
DO: Compare apples to apples when evaluating internet vendors, being sure to prioritize and separate your WANTS from your NEEDS.
DON'T: Get roped into a "fully integrated solution". That's so 2005.

DON'T: Think your search engine optimization is ever "done". Search engines are continually changing.
DO: Target your SEO geographically. One of the biggest changes search engines have made in the past year is to focus searches geographically. Don't miss out on valuable local or national search results.
DO: Think beyond Google AdWords. Examine your customer base to see if there are other NEW online advertising avenues might be good for your business (ex: Bing).

DON'T: Carry forward the "do-it-yourself to save money" attitude from 2009.
DO: Focus on your core business instead of trying to learn new programs and technologies with your business serving as the guinea pig.
DO: Look for experts who can help manage your campaigns with experience and accountability.

DON'T: Change your existing website without understanding the ramifications it might have to your existing traffic.
DO: Understand how online marketing companies work. Many of them "mirror" websites and use other practices that can actually hurt your rankings.
DO: Review your website statistics, and set some baselines and goals before making any changes.

20 Do’s and 10 Don’ts for 2010

Posted by robot

dos_donts

It's the beginning of a new decade and a great time to catch up with the latest marketing trends. We've taken a close look at the industry, from social media to search engine marketing, and compiled our list of 20 Do's and 10 Don'ts for 2010.

DON'T: Post your hours of play at Mafia Wars or Farmville on your Facebook page.
DO: Decide once and for all if you are using Facebook professionally or personally.
DO: Evaluate the ROI for social media as you would any other form of marketing, considering the TIME you spend on it as a real cost.

DO: Generate links in your emails to track effectiveness. Clicks are a great way to measure interest in your content.
DO: Spend as much time growing your list as you do getting the email out each month.
DON'T: Base the success of your email campaigns on open rates - they can be VERY inaccurate due to how they are measured and changes in Microsoft Outlook.

DON'T: Think you are getting a "great deal" by using freelancers and unemployed individuals for critical marketing initiatives.
DO: Think long term about the consistency of your marketing, messaging and brand, and look for vendors who can provide it.
DO: Put a style guide and formal plan in place, and determine who will ensure continuity as the freelancers get back to work.

DO: Use research to understand your customers and their habits so you can communicate with them in creative ways.
DO: Look beyond search engines to other ways that customers might find your services, such as forums with participants from your target market.
DON'T: Spend a ton of money PUSHING advertising out to the masses, when you can PULL in customers who are already searching at a fraction of the price.

DON'T: Underestimate your competitors.
DO: Continue to look for innovative ways to use new technologies and get ahead of the curve. For example, will mobile devices affect the way you do business?
DO: Use free clipping services such as Google Alerts to follow industry news and keep an eye on your competition.

DO: Make time to evaluate the comparative ROI of your marketing initiatives.
DON'T: Allow budget cuts to affect marketing programs that demonstrate a clear ROI.
DO: Cut way back on programs that do NOT show effective ROI...How's the phone book treating you?

DO: Look at each of your online needs separately to see if there are hosted solutions available with better functionality at a lower price.
DO: Compare apples to apples when evaluating internet vendors, being sure to prioritize and separate your WANTS from your NEEDS.
DON'T: Get roped into a "fully integrated solution". That's so 2005.

DON'T: Think your search engine optimization is ever "done". Search engines are continually changing.
DO: Target your SEO geographically. One of the biggest changes search engines have made in the past year is to focus searches geographically. Don't miss out on valuable local or national search results.
DO: Think beyond Google AdWords. Examine your customer base to see if there are other NEW online advertising avenues might be good for your business (ex: Bing).

DON'T: Carry forward the "do-it-yourself to save money" attitude from 2009.
DO: Focus on your core business instead of trying to learn new programs and technologies with your business serving as the guinea pig.
DO: Look for experts who can help manage your campaigns with experience and accountability.

DON'T: Change your existing website without understanding the ramifications it might have to your existing traffic.
DO: Understand how online marketing companies work. Many of them "mirror" websites and use other practices that can actually hurt your rankings.
DO: Review your website statistics, and set some baselines and goals before making any changes.

10 Reasons NOT to Outsource Your Marketing

Posted by robot

Partnering with a marketing firm, creative firm or ad agency can be a really rewarding experience.  But outsourcing isn't right for every business. Our last article gave 10 reasons why you should outsource, and this counterpart gives 10 reasons why you should not outsource.

1. You are not prepared to respond to growth
The purpose of working with an outsourced firm should be to increase business. If your organization isn't equipped to deal with rapid growth, then you might want to get your resources in place before trying to boost your sales.

2. You don't have a designated point of contact 
Managing an outsourced team may be simpler than managing an internal team, but someone still has to do it.  Be prepared to participate. Client involvement is a critical success factor of the marketing process - don't expect good results if you work with a firm that can "do it all" without your input.

3. You aren't willing to let go
If you aren't willing to trust an outsider with your marketing, do not outsource to a full-fledged firm. Hire freelancers and the cheapest production labor that you can find. You will pay a lot more for solid advice and experience - don't bother paying more unless you are going to be receptive to it.

4. You aren't prepared to give it 6 months to 1 year
Whether you are hiring an internal marketing department or outsourcing, be realistic with your expectations with regard to timeframes. While there are some short term efforts that can lead to immediate boosts in sales, many marketing efforts take time to develop and then track. Be prepared both mentally and financially to commit to a trial period of at least 6 months to 1 year.

5. Your team has trouble reaching consensus internally
There's no point in having a team of talent standing ready in the wings if you aren't able to reach consensus within your firm. A single dedicated point of contact can help streamline communications, but even better is a single decision maker with the responsibility to report back to the management team on critical items.

6. You are not open to spending money to make money
Hiring anyone costs money. Be prepared to set goals and hold whoever you are working with accountable - whether that's an internal hire or external/outsourced arrangement. Look at your marketing, design and advertising as investments. Choose carefully, always consider the ROI and monitor results regularly.

7. Your busy schedule keeps you from meeting regularly 
Since you are generally paying for services on a monthly basis, it's important to be able to meet and communicate on a regular basis. If you can keep your appointments, you will do great. If the nature of your business causes you to reschedule often and/or have trouble scheduling, you might wind up paying for time that is never used.

8. You already have marketing resources provided to you
If your business is a franchise or a distributorship with materials and planning available to you at no cost or little cost, it might not make sense to outsource. You may wish the materials were better or that the headquarters were more on the ball, but consider the costs of doing it yourself carefully and try to work with your providers before making an investment on your own.

9. You don't need marketing
Seems crazy, right? While it is rare, some cases do exist. Some firms just don't need the kind of marketing that requires an outside firm. Some examples: you work exclusively through a regulated bidding process; you have too small of a staff to be able to follow up on leads or to deliver product; you are content with where your business is and are not interested in growth.

10. You need tons and tons of marketing
There is a point at which businesses can reach critical mass with their marketing efforts. At that point, it might make sense to begin to bring some or all of the marketing initiatives in-house. You can always bring in an associate marketing person to handle the organizational side of the relationship, or hire an executive level Marketing Director who will have autonomy to make marketing decisions independently. At the far end of the spectrum, an entire department can be installed to deal with all aspects of the organization's marketing.

Whether you are outsourcing or hiring an internal marketing department, it will help to be prepared, committed and very self-aware of your own organizational challenges. And if you aren't sure if you are ready to outsource or not, just be up front with any known issues when initially interviewing a partner-firm. That firm will appreciate the directness, and may even be able to offer advice and solutions to some of your challenges. Whatever your decision - best wishes for your marketing in 2008!

10 Reasons to Outsource Your Marketing Department

Posted by robot

1. Multidisciplinary team at a fraction of the cost
A single marketing director's salary can range from $30,000 (right out of school) to six figures (with more experience). And then you are limited to one person's experience, skill sets and personality type. A full-fledged marketing department ideally includes researchers, strategic marketing professionals, writers, designers, photographers, project managers, etc., all adding their own specialized skills to the marketing efforts of a company.

2. Easier to hold accountable, reprimand and let go
Your marketing needs and budgets will likely vary and evolve as the business grows or changes. If your business is evolving rapidly, outsourcing allows you to retain the skill sets that you need at any given time, without the HR repercussions for letting them go. And if you've ever tried to manage a truly creative person... you might already know how fun that can be.

3. Collective wisdom and experience of working with a variety of clients
Some of the most creative marketing solutions and out of the box thinking can come from experiences in other industries. You can take advantage of the diverse experiences and practices that "your team" gains with their other clients.

4. They have the organizational systems, so you don't need to create them
One of the main struggles with marketing can be organizing all of the ideas, deadlines and project plans. A marketing firm will have experience juggling all of your ideas and guiding you through the process of plan development and implementation.

5. State of the art equipment that you don't have to buy
A fully outfitted design station starts at $5000 and requires yearly updates. And that doesn't include scanners, high end printers, photography equipment, and a variety of other needs. Don't underestimate the costs of outfitting a marketing or design department internally.

6. Stay current on industry trends
If you are in a highly competitive industry, currency can provide you with a marketing edge over your competition. You don't need to pay for the training, certifications and continuing education that is required to stay current - just look for a marketing firm that can demonstrate that they support ongoing education.

7. Easier budgeting
Many business owners spend an incredible amount of time chasing ideas that can easily be discussed in a single meeting. A seasoned marketing firm will be accustomed to back of the napkin estimates and can quickly run through ROI scenarios so that you can hone in on the realistic ideas.

8. Network of reliable vendors & someone to manage them
Your outsourced marketing department will have resources that extend beyond their walls. The buying power and the relationships that they bring to the table can be invaluable resources.

9. Increase your reach and visibility by extending your network of contacts
The vendors you work with will become an extension of your team. The relationships you build can lead to champions for your business, additional opportunities and ultimately revenue.

10. Keep your marketing efforts moving forward, even with other distractions in your business
Whether your organization is experiencing a full on crisis, or just having a busy month, marketing activities and planning are long term activities that are easy to push to the bottom of the to-do list. An outsourced firm can ensure timely delivery of your initiatives, regardless of what else may be going on in the business.

Consider your growth goals, current staff, management capabilities and resources carefully before making the decision to implement an involved marketing plan on your own - outsourcing might just be the answer to your marketing dreams. If you aren't quite sure, our next issue will deal with some of the reasons that we would not recommend outsourcing.

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