Bright Planning - Weekly Marketing Strategies

Woohoo! It’s Episode 100 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast! That means we’ve brought you at least 33 and a half hours of free marketing advice! Most episodes run longer than 20 minutes, so it’s no doubt closer to 50 hours! As always, this celebration is hosted by Catherine Campbell and her producer Natalie Pyles, with a special appearance by yesteryear co-host Jason Pyles! Your three intrepid hosts bring you our predictions for 2019 marketing best practices. We start the show with a little levity as we discuss Reese’s brilliant, post-Halloween marketing gimmick. #NotSorry We also discuss how we think Instagram will fit into the social media marketing of 2019, with its top “promotional” photo spots. And we talk about the development of Image Search. Jason discusses how voice search should play an important role in your 2019 blogging efforts. We also talk about the simplifying of language, and of course, the ever-mysterious holy grail that is SEO. We explore the importance of niche podcasting and how narrowing your field of focus can attract a highly motivated and specialized audience. We also talk about how to get away from having to offer so many freebies in 2019. And naturally, with Jason on the show, we run down a number of rabbit holes and other weird segues and non sequiturs, like serial killers and Natalie’s grandma. You know? A usual episode. Join us! Links for this episode: Documentary “The Creepy Line” - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J261ZFM/ Cliff Ravenscraft: https://www.cliffravenscraft.com/ Link to https://www.brightplanning.com/user-generated-content-is-king/ https://www.brightplanning.com/existing-content-how-to-break-down-an-interview-into-multiple-pieces/

In Episode 99 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we’re wrapping up Season 2 — our Girl Power Season — with an awesome show that recaps the highlights of our best marketing storytelling tips from the past 99 episodes! A genuine must-listen! During this episode, we talk about adding positivity to your storytelling and marketing. Think Zen! In a climate with so much contention, tragedy, and negativity, your positive messaging will stand out and be refreshing to your customer community. Strive to depict praiseworthiness in your marketing. Know your audience and what they want from their marketing, especially in terms of the length of the content that they prefer, and so forth. Planning is essential. While a plan may not be worth much, planning is priceless! So, be strategic and plan for the long-term: Condition your audience’s attention spans. For instance, if you want to condition your audience to receive more content (or less) from you, then you must make this transition very gradually. Remember to set your brand off to the side, and keep the customer at the center of the story. Feature your customers front and center! Be honest and transparent with your community. This is good PR, and it just makes good business sense. Join us for this episode to learn more! Thanks for listening. Links: https://www.brightplanning.com/who-do-i-need-on-my-team-to-execute-a-marketing-plan/ https://www.brightplanning.com/every-successful-marketing-plan-uses-these-4-types-of-media/ https://www.brightplanning.com/what-to-do-if-you-fall-behind-on-your-marketing-plan/ https://www.brightplanning.com/when-does-your-business-need-a-marketing-plan/

If you want to learn how to write product descriptions that sell, Episode 98 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast can help! Naturally, you can always observe the strategies of Dollar Shave Club or Trader Joe’s to help provide inspiration. In this episode we explore some of the effective tactics that those companies use and more! For example, we discuss how disruptive headlines and product names are not merely employed for the sake of shock value, but they are used to spark innovation within the industry. Depending on the product, for some creators the product inspires the name, and for others the name inspires the product. As always, storytelling plays a crucial role in writing product descriptions that sell. A careful copywriter can tell a story through a production description that’s only one paragraph. Remember that stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. And the end should land right in the customer’s lap, so they can relate to the “punchline” or point. Slick marketers often use quirkiness to their advantage. It’s OK to be different. In fact, try to do the exact opposite of what everyone else in your industry is doing. Just avoid being crass because that does not inspire the confidence of your consumers. Remember not to write about the product; write about the experience. And for some additional reference, you can also peruse this blog post: https://www.brightplanning.com/how-to-write-top-selling-product-descriptions/ Thanks for listening!

The art of public relations tends to go hand in hand with marketing. If you’re getting ready to market a product, service, or book launch, you can pave the way by taking care of a lot of the PR aspects in advance. You can also create the posters, display stands and other marketing collateral early. In Episode 97 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we discuss the importance of working months in advance, so you can have time to facilitate media coverage. Media outlets can often have long lead times. For instance, print magazines are three to six months out! Build relationships with journalists now, so when you need to pitch them something, they already know you. Plan enough time in advance so as your launch date approaches, you can email the journalists and follow up a few times. In this episode, we also talk about how to "triage" your inbox and reply to emails quickly and professionally. Join us to learn more! Thanks for listening. https://www.brightplanning.com/two-quick-tips-for-better-press-releases/ https://www.brightplanning.com/public-relations-the-rising-gap-in-the-publics-trust-in-the-media/ https://www.brightplanning.com/episode-38-the-6-month-look-back-assess-your-marketing-goals/ https://www.boomeranggmail.com/

Medium.com is a free, online publishing platform that has become a popular resource for content marketers. It is essentially a blogging tool with a built-in audience. Medium connects you with your Facebook and Twitter connections automatically. You can’t exactly target certain Medium readers, but you can still be discovered by its readers. Should you be using Medium as part of your content marketing strategy? In Episode 96 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we tackle this question and others. For instance, we also discuss creating a publisher account that allows you to import your existing content from anywhere from the web (even your own website). You can re-post all your writing, thereby giving your blog a boost and helping to draw more eyes toward your content. There are a lot of people who will engage on Medium who may have never stumbled upon your website otherwise. We talk about the importance of being a reader. “Fill your well,” so to speak, by reading the work of other writers. Notice how the most effective writers deliver stories that have heart. Give this same sense of heart to your stories and your business will have greater visibility. Along those lines, we discuss the necessity of being a writer. Your writing strategy and voice become part of your brand. Be sure you develop a distinctive and memorable approach to the way you write your messaging. Let us know if you’ve tried Medium, and if you found it helpful for getting more engagement for your brand! Email us at info@brightplanning.com. By the way, we recently launched Signature Brand Story! Our registration closes in just two weeks, and then we’ll kick off the course! Don’t miss out: signaturebrandstory.com.

First things first! Signature Brand Story launches today, October 1, 2018! https://signaturebrandstory.com What is the current landscape of social media? If you've ever wanted a "State of the Social Media Platforms Address," then Episode 95 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast is for you! In a nutshell, social media is still worth your time. It’s where people learn to trust you and get to know you. Here are a couple of factoids: Did you know that 64 percent of online shoppers say that a video on social media helped them decide which product to purchase? When it comes to Twitter, "the online water cooler," acknowledgement is key: 77 percent of Twitter users appreciate a brand more when their tweets receive a response. On average, it takes businesses about 10 hours to respond to a tweet, but customers want a response within four hours. By the way, we talk about how Twitter is where people tend to get their news. In this episode, we also discuss the ages and percentages of Instagram users. We discuss the new way to post for Flash Sales and Instagram Stories. You can learn the total number of monthly active Instagram users. And we talk about hashtags and whether they matter for engagement. During Episode 95, we also let you know how much time people are spending on Facebook. And we talk about selling directly to those in specific lifestyle groups. Learn more about creating events on Facebook (and how to promote them). We even discuss Pinterest and cat videos … naturally. Join us to hear more! Link to 3 episodes on marketing budgets: https://www.brightplanning.com/episode-51-lets-talk-money-small-business-marketing-budgets/ https://www.brightplanning.com/episode-55-the-smbs-guide-to-a-10k-per-month-marketing-budget/ https://www.brightplanning.com/episode-54-marketing-with-1k-per-month-use-this-strategy/ https://www.brightplanning.com/episode-53-how-to-market-your-small-business-for-100-per-month/ Link to blog post on different social media ideas you can come up with to use video: https://www.brightplanning.com/ep-89-brainstorm-ten-social-media-campaigns-in-20-minutes/ Link to the ballad of pinterest: https://www.brightplanning.com/episode-35-the-ballad-of-pinterest-and-lessons-in-visual-marketing/

Welcome to the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast. In Episode 94, your host Catherine Campbell discusses just how powerful storytelling can be. She highlights five particularly compelling examples of how companies can draw their target audience into their origin story, mission or brand. These brand campaigns are clever and effective, so this episode is a must-listen for those who are seeking some marketing inspiration! Here are the examples that are highlighted during this episode: Innocent Drinks - Features a great About Us story https://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/our-story Land Rover - A fantastic method for increasing interaction with fans https://www.landroverusa.com/our-story/news/vanishing-game.html Toms Shoes - How to tell a story over and over each year https://www.toms.co.uk/onedaywithoutshoes Airbnb - Highlights the uniqueness of each customer, not the skeleton of the brand https://www.airbnb.com/community-stories Burt’s Bees - A legacy brand that doesn’t grow old https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPzVbbzc5Aw And don’t forget that our Signature Brand Story launches October 1! Be sure to sign up now with your name and email address to get the first class free!

Website conversion is the whole point to building an online presence and having a space on the internet. In Episode 93 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we discuss where your website falls in the overall sales funnel. We talk about the importance of ensuring that every single call to action on the website is designed with conversion in mind. Every web page should have a call to action. Believe it or not, this is where almost every small business owner fails! Did you know that putting a call-to-action button on your About page can make a big difference? In Episode 93, we also examine what happens if you place too many sales or action-oriented choices on one page. Each page of your site should offer no more than two or three choices. Don’t build too many widgets, such as social media, email opt-ins, free downloads, channels to explore, and variations on a product. This overwhelms the customer. The two or three choices toward a sale should all complement one another. Having a downsell action in place is another important tip. Downsells include a single actionable item such as an “exit popup” that offers a free guide or tip sheet for your service or product. This strategy captures leads whom you can sell to later via email marketing or even direct mail. Testimonials and reviews should be strategically placed across all website pages, not huddled together. Don’t hide them away on a Testimonials page because it tends to get mediocre traffic and almost no conversions. Use powerful testimonials that talk about visible results! Ask your customers or clients to give you specific numbers, visible changes, etc., to anchor the testimonial. We also talk about changing the color of your action button, using scarcity and urgency, social proof, eliminating the pop-up and embracing the slide-out, search buttons, navigation links, font choices, reduction of content and registration forms, clickable phone numbers and emails in the top header and more! Don't forget our Signature Brand Story launch on October 1, 2018! Be sure to sign up now for your email and name to enroll in the first class free! SHOW NOTES: https://www.brightplanning.com/how-to-make-quizzes-for-lead-generation/ https://www.brightplanning.com/episode-40-the-ego-episode-marketing-with-quizzes/ https://www.brightplanning.com/marketing-with-online-quizzes/ https://www.brightplanning.com/invisible-marketing-4-rules-for-the-future-of-online-sales/

In Episode 92 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we’re happy to discuss the following questions from Chelsea, who writes: I'd love a 101 on 'market research'. It's always a recommended practice and I can do market research in my own way but I never really know if I'm doing it productively. Maybe you could walk through an example of what "doing your market research" looks like for a small biz owner. Am I networking with other photographers to learn the culture? Am I surveying past clients to understand what they want? Am I researching what other photographers are offering in my comp set? Am I Google searching keywords? All of the above? These are just a few questions that I ask myself when told to "do my market research" and I'm overwhelmed with how vague that sounds. Just a thought! : ) Chelsea Thanks for the great questions, Chelsea! While there are many ways to perform market research, most businesses use at least one of the five basic methods: surveys, focus groups, personal interviews, observation and field trials. So, what is the purpose of marketing research? You can use research to receive more clarity on brand awareness, competition in your field or local area, new or current product likeability, demographics on your target audience, simple “this or that” votes, branding decisions, business model or pricing decisions, cultural insights (if you’re expanding to a new geographic market), and so forth. In Episode 92, we also talk about the importance of knowing your goal. For instance, you should be able to readily answer these questions: What problem are you trying to solve with this data? How will it benefit your product, your customers, or your company in general? Asking these questions will allow you to understand the issues and the type of data you’re looking for. Listen to this show to also learn more about marketing surveys, focus groups, current client conversations and interviews and more! Thanks for listening to the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast!

If companies want to understand consumers, big data offers a valuable but incomplete solution. Our preoccupation with digital data endangers high-quality insights and observations. The internet remains a curated, idealized version of who we are. Small data has the power to influence the way we create products and marketing campaigns that actually matter to the whole person, not just the persona they’re presenting. In Episode 91 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we talk about how to gather small data in order to level up your marketing game. There is a framework for collecting small data, but it’s challenging, so many companies don’t bother. You can use the seven C’s to gather small data for your business: Collecting, Clues, Connecting, Causation, Correlation, Compensation and Concept. “Collecting” asks how we can establish a baseline perspective and gathers as many different perspectives from as many trustworthy sources as possible. The “Clues” phase consists of observing and notating information about your customers’ idealized, publicly curated and private selves. “Connecting” looks for any similarities or patterns in the midst of the information you’ve gathered. Start assessing whether you can begin to validate your initial hypothesis about your customers. “Causation” examines what emotion is evoked. It’s important to look for the emotional DNA of the research. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. In the “Correlation” phase, you take time to assess whether there is an event, milestone or shift that your company has made — or that your consumers have gone through — to bring them to this point. Also, try to determine whether your brand was influential. “Compensation” examines which desire is not being fulfilled and the best way to fulfill it. Note that emotional fulfillment and physical fulfillment are very different. And based on what you’ve learned about your customers, “Concept” explores the big idea that your brand can bring to the table to fulfill their desires. Listen to learn more!

What is small data? So glad you asked… Small data, in a nutshell, is a collection of what we call “hidden facts” in a person’s life. You can’t get small data about your customers out of big data mined from places like Facebook or Google. That’s the beauty of small data. It’s sort of like requiring you to become the Sherlock Holmes of your company in a caper where you go on a search for the little details that people don’t tell you about that really drive them to buy from you. Gathering small data’s offline facts actually takes a human-to-human connection or investigation. You have to visit those in your target market in person, in their homes, in their workplaces, in the places where they play or they eat, where they meet, date and shop. Big data is research about who you are online, your online persona and the analytics of your Google searches, posts and purchases. The problem is that who you are online isn’t the real you. No one can predict for sure whether you’ll click the “buy” button. Remember, it’s the business owner’s fascinating undertaking to look past the big data and sort through the small data to find out why their customers aspire to be something or someone just a little bit different than they actually are. In Episode 90 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we talk about the distinctions between small data vs. big data. We give you some examples of small data, and we also give you some recommended reading on the topic. Join us to learn more! LINKS: Martin Lindstrom, “Small Data” https://amzn.to/2PomIk6

After a while some businesses have a hard time coming up with what to post about in their social media. It can be a challenge! Today Catherine shares 10 social media campaign ideas to enrich your game. Let’s take a step back. Q: Who is your audience? A: Craft campaigns with your audience in mind. Q: Where are they in their life? Where are they in their day? A: Learn how to speak their language and keep their attention. For example, if your audience is usually on-the-go, keep your captions and status updates short. Then, over time you can gradually shift to longer posts. Varying the posts is also effective, too, to keep things fresh. Across any and all social media platforms Catherine shares these 10 ideas : New followers intro - Introduce yourself to new customers and challenge yourself to include new tidbits for your long-time customers. Staff intro or update - Feature the members of your team. If they aren’t comfortable with being in front of the camera then of course be respectful of that. Maybe you could let them take over the posting for a week so your customers can get to know them, too. Day in the life - People love these insights because, let’s face it: we’re all voyeurs. Product lifecycle - From start to finish, show what you make. Service lifecycle - Same thing here; show what you do. Customer testimonial - You should be doing this already, but keep it in the rotation. Upcoming event - Big events should be announced months in advance. Then reverse engineer your reminder posts so that you’re telling people on the day of and the day before, etc. How it’s made - Show your customers a behind the scenes glimpse. In the news - Set up Google alerts to tell you about news in your industry so that you can be relevant. Branded hashtag - These can help with searching through your posts that may have to do with a certain event or promotion and also the communication of your core values. “A hashtag is more than just a way for people to find you and for you to organize a specific theme or topic on social media but it’s also a way to encompass your brand experience and to give people and at a glance summary of what it is your trying to accomplish.” Link to articles on how to use hashtags: https://www.brightplanning.com/hashtag-this/ https://www.brightplanning.com/the-best-and-worst-ways-to-use-hashtags-in-your-campaign/ Link to Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon SNL sketch about too many hashtags that will make your day! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dzaMaouXA

Music is supposedly "the universal language," but is that true for marketing? In Episode 88 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we discuss methods for using music in marketing to infuse the energy and emotion that our customers are intended to feel. We discuss where music is used, and we also talk about using music in "pillar content." We also address how one finds music that can be used legally in campaigns and marketing materials. In Episode 88, we also give you a quick update on our Signature Brand Story. The class begins on October 1, 2018! Join us to learn more about how you can incorporate music into your marketing! LINKS: Get music clips (free and paid) online that are ready-made and good to go: (Pond5) https://www.pond5.com/ Examples of music described in this episode: To evoke a specific emotion (Apple's "one person can change the world" campaign https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkw8UBYn0pc ) To signal the beginning or end of an important point: (Starbucks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj8UrhvRX0Q ) To align your brand with a unique sound or melody: (NBC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s87z4oXeSYc ) To trigger nostalgia or memory of something (The Rocky Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I33u_EHLI3w )

Welcome to Episode 87 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast. The question Catherine gets often from start-ups and small businesses is, “Who should I hire first for my marketing team?” Some business owners think they want to hire a jack-of-all-trades who can wear 10 hats: handle social media, run ads, write copy, represent the company, etc. But to find someone with peak performance in all those areas is very difficult. It may be better to hire two part-time specialists to meet all those needs. This is often a symbiotic arrangement because skilled freelancers usually want a part-time gig as their “anchor job.” Here is a quick rundown of the different people you could have on your team: Marketing director - Someone in your industry with a track record of growing businesses and designing marketing campaigns that yield leads and sales. (A person in this position will be paid more than a marketing coordinator.) Marketing specialist of some kind - If one of your visions is to rewrite the website and write some serious articles, hire a content specialist. This person can capture the brand voice effortlessly and come to the table with creative ideas. Content specialists should also accept feedback on their work. Marketing coordinator – This is an entry-level position. The marketing coordinator could even be a virtual assistant. This person schedules blogs, hand-writes cards for customers, schedules social media posts, emails newsletters, and pulls analytic reports. Marketing Analyst – This person helps you analyze your Google Analytics data. What story is your data telling you? How is your ROI? Contract someone, if no one on your staff can do this for you. Now for the question of how much to pay the people in these various roles. Of course, it depends on your area and the cost of living where you are or the cost of living where they are, (if they are virtual,) but “the best investment that you can make is in your people. You need to pay your people well and give them benefits that actually mean something.” Join us to hear more. Thanks for listening!

Everybody loves a good rant, right? We hope so. Episode 86 is our full-blown “Rant-y” show where we discuss the marketing tactics that we hate most! You’re welcome to join us. Just think about it for a second: What do you hate in marketing that you feel is played out, tiresome or annoying? You will be able to quickly think of several offenders… In this episode of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Natalie Pyles show up with their own examples of irritating and/or overdone marketing. You might identify marketing approaches that you hate in emails, billboards, direct mail, social media posts, TV commercials, paid ads (Google, Facebook, etc.), event marketing, blogging, content, and so forth. Specifically, we talk about the problems with spam calls, chatbots and messenger bots, smear campaigns, and deceptive food marketing, just to name a few. In Episode 86 we also discuss some more effective call-to-action pop-ups, which you can find here: Sumo: https://sumo.com/ Thrive Leads: https://www.4imprint.com/product/12945-BE/Wooden-Nickel-Beer Link to Hot Pocket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-i9GXbptog Link to Monty Python: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eMkth8FWno Thanks for listening!

“Back to school” marketing campaigns are for more than just the office stationary companies. This magical time of year is an advantageous season due to the shared, localized experience. In Episode 85 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we discuss why late summer’s school prep campaigns work so well for any brand. We all remember learning about rules, how to break rules, hierarchies, friendship, endings and new beginnings. Look at those universal experiences and universal emotions and ask yourself how you could conjure those same sentiments and feelings in a marketing campaign. Whether you make products or provide a service, you should address this question: “What school experiences do you think you could duplicate either emotionally or atmospherically or even just in parody?” Can you find a way to create a journey for your hero in the back-to-school archetype? It may be that person imaging a fresh start or thinking about how things could go differently now. Join us to learn more! We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and questions! Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Six-Month Look Back Marketing Episode: Episode 38: https://www.brightplanning.com/episode-38-the-6-month-look-back-assess-your-marketing-goals/ Northbooks Portable Notebooks: https://gonorthbooks.com/ Chelsea Lane Photography: http://www.chelsealanephotography.com/ “Stranger Things” and the Power of Nostalgia: https://www.brightplanning.com/stranger-things-and-nostalgia-marketing/ Nostalgia in Content Marketing: https://www.brightplanning.com/nostalgia-in-content-marketing-the-unexpected-sales-solution/

“A hero kills people, people that wish him harm. A hero is part human and part supernatural. A hero is born out of childhood trauma or out of disaster and must be avenged.” —Dwight Schrute, “The Office” Though Dwight’s description of a “hero’s journey” is humorous, it’s a little off the mark. In Episode 84 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we examine the Hero’s Journey and its circular storytelling framework. We discuss why the Hero’s Journey is an important foundation for brands to understand when it comes to their own story, and why it’s OK to venture away from this structure and customize your own narrative. The Hero’s Journey was created by Joseph Campbell, a mythologist. In the field of comparative mythology, most scholars invested their time exploring how one culture’s myths are different from another’s. Instead of focusing on the many differences between cultural myths and religious stories, however, Joseph Campbell looked for similarities. His studies resulted in what’s called the monomyth. Join us for Episode 84 to hear more! Don’t forget! This is the last chance to sign up for Signature Brand Story! Get the full details when they release on July 15, 2018, and you’ll receive access to the first class for free! LINKS: Dos Equis - The Most Interesting Man in the World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U18VkI0uDxE The Hero’s Journey Framework: http://www.well-storied.com/blog/heros-journey Signature Brand Story: https://www.brightplanning.com/story

In Episode 83 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, Catherine answers some questions that have been coming down the pipeline about the upcoming Signature Brand Story Program. Here are a few questions and answers for the show notes. Listen to learn more! Q: After enjoying this program, what will you walk away with? A: You will have a team of creative writers working with you, giving you feedback about your signature brand story and supporting brand narratives to help you create three other brand campaigns and a story-driven marketing plan.The power of story on your bottom line is undeniable, so it’s valuable to know how to get your story out there and connect with your audience on an emotional level. Q: Is this just about learning storytelling? A: No, this is not just about writing The Hero’s Journey. If you want to learn the basics of how to tell a story, Catherine will gladly post that information for you for free in her blogs. But the Signature Brand Story Program is designed to teach you how to stand out. Q: Who is Signature Brand Story for? A: Our program is accessible for every type of business, budget, schedule and location. It’s also the perfect opportunity for those who might not have the budget to hire their very own marketing agency. Q: Who is this program not for? A: If you don’t have a few hours a week to devote to this program right now, it might not be the right fit for you. Full course details released at https://www.brightplanning.com/story/ on July 15, 2018. Sign up before July 15, and you will get the first class of the program for free! You don’t have to enter your credit card or anything. No strings attached. Everyone has the right to learn this and have access to this. You can finish the program in 6 to 8 weeks. https://www.brightplanning.com/story/

“When you look at the brands that have built themselves over the decades and have had staying power, one of the reasons why they do is because they have an incredible story. People know the story by heart, and it makes them feel good. That’s where the value of the brand comes through, and that’s where the staying power comes through.” In Episode 82 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we discuss how meaningful, story-driven campaigns increase the likelihood of someone doing business with you by 6.6 percent. Brands that use storytelling to create a meaningful connection with their customers gain — on average — 46 percent more market share. Marketers or business owners whose brand stories are masterfully told drive significantly better returns for team members, for customers, and for their revenue or bottom line. Storytelling is a natural gift within us all. We’ve heard the following concerns or objections from business owners: - I don’t know what to say or post on social media this week. - I don’t know how to answer when someone asks what my company does. - I struggle with my elevator pitch. - I don’t think our origin story is really exciting. Rest assured, we’re here to tell you that all these concerns are based on a misconception that storytelling is this fluffy, lofty pursuit. The falsehood that it’s nice to have a story, but not necessary. Or the incorrect notion that story isn’t the lifeblood of the brand, but in fact, it actually is! What seems to psych most business owners out of storytelling is the technicality of it all. They stiffen up at the idea of mastering the craft of storytelling, so they just avoid it altogether. The idea of character development, customer on a journey, plot, drama, etc., is terrifying. All the above is perfectly understandable. That’s why we have created a proprietary method and walkthrough course to help business owners who are stuck. The course is called Signature Brand Story. It’s an eight-week program that launches on October 1, 2018. Be sure to sign up, so you can join our free class! Go here to find out more: brightplanning.com/story We want to hear your thoughts and questions. Please take a quick moment to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), and be sure to subscribe for free to get new marketing episodes on the go! If you have a question for Catherine, you can email your query here: info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening!

Did you know that 84 percent of the population trusts online reviews? And 91 percent of the population reads online reviews! These are significant numbers! Fake reviews were casting doubts for consumers about how trustworthy and dependable online reviews could be. But review platforms have cracked down on fake reviews, so consumers really depend on them now. It’s not just the consumer reviews that are helpful; the company’s response to a bad review, if done well, can be just as informative. “The way a business answers a review totally influences one of my final decisions on whether or not to do business with that company.” The population is looking for brand-new reviews. Reviews that are more than three months old are considered obsolete by 75 percent of the population. Now that we’ve established that reviews are critically important, let’s learn how to actually start getting more reviews: First, analyze your online business presence. What platforms are you listed on where you could be rated? Yelp, Google, Bing, Angie’s List, Travel Advisor, Amazon, etc. Then take notice of how many reviews you have in total and when the last review came in on each platform. Start a spreadsheet so that you can keep track of this monthly. This is one of the best and easiest marketing strategies that you can employ. It has one of the biggest impacts on whether people spend their dollars with you. How can you put out a call to action asking for reviews? Can you use an emailed or texted prompt that reminds customers to leave a review? Which platforms are right for your business model, niche or industry? Listen to learn more! We want to hear your thoughts and questions! And speaking of reviews, please go ahead and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) and subscribe for free to get new marketing episodes on the go! If you have a question for Catherine, email us: info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Review tools you can use for your business: Hubspot has a nice round-up article here: https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-review-sites TrustPilot - https://www.trustpilot.com/ Feefo - https://www.feefo.com/business/us_en

How long have we been watching the systematic withering of print media? Each year more newspapers and bookstores seem to be closing across the country. Many print sources continue to migrate to their parallel, digital incarnation. So, what about advertising? Is print advertising dead (or dying)? It’s a fair question, but you might be surprised by the answer. In Episode 80 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and her producer Natalie Pyles discuss what is becoming of print advertising in 2018. According to Statista.com, [ https://www.statista.com/statistics/267754/print-advertising-spending-in-the-us/ ] about $25 billion will be spent on print ads in 2018. It turns out that magazines are making an artistic comeback, of sorts. Take note of recent magazine designs: They are high quality and beautiful. Magazines make wonderful gifts, and even though it costs a little more, they are often being produced in more environmentally friendly ways. During this episode, we also talk about the benefits of browsing your local bookstore and taking note of which types of print ads are appearing in magazines in your industry. We discuss using some of your budget wisely to use print ads for some increased brand awareness. But just remember, they are not intended for lead generation. You can hear more in Episode 80. Join us! And remember, we want to hear your thoughts, reviews and questions! Leave a review on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) and subscribe for free to get new marketing episodes on the go! If you have a question for Catherine, email us: info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! LINK TO: Marketing budget podcast episodes https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/51-lets-talk-money-small-business-marketing-budgets https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/53-how-to-market-your-small-business-for-100-per-month https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/54-marketing-with-1k-per-month-use-this-strategy https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/55-the-smbs-guide-to-a-10k-per-month-marketing-budget https://www.brightplanning.com/content-marketing-packages/ (there’s a budget guideline section in that page)

In Episode 79 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your host Catherine Campbell and the producer Natalie Pyles discuss the art of pitching to media outlets. We talk about finding a story angle and explain the importance of knowing what you’re pitching. In this episode we also talk about choosing the appropriate type of media that matches the news that you want to deliver. Also during Episode 79, we talk about doing your research, so you can specifically address the right contact at the organization. The outlet’s website should indicate whether you should include your pitch in the body of the email or as an attachment. We also encourage you to create tiers, so you can prioritize and identify your most ideal outlets based on your first, second and third choices. It’s also very helpful to stay organized. You can maintain a spreadsheet of the people you contacted, how you contacted them, and what day you should follow up. Learn about these and more tips during Episode 79 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast! We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and questions! Leave a review on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links: Cision is a tool that will reach out to media outlets for you: https://cisn.co/2LSwhWO Oprah’s Podcast: http://www.oprah.com/app/super-soul-sunday.html

Have you ever noticed that there are only a few formulas for car commercials? You’ve seen them over and over again. Many people simply tune them out or turn them off. We’re tired of seeing a car roll through an urban street or do donuts in a desert. Don’t make the same mistakes with your marketing campaigns. In Episode 78 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we showcase some masterful car commercials and discuss what they did right. You can note these effective techniques and potentially apply them to your industry. Join us to learn more! We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and questions! Leave a review on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Dodge “God Made a Farmer” Superbowl 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mmok9e2Y3o Toyota “The Family Tree” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWsqYpzsWRk Volkswagon “Darth Vader” commercial Superbowl 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n6hf3adNqk Bright Plannings’s Blog about humor in storytelling https://www.brightplanning.com/the-delicate-balance-of-humor-in-advertising/

We used to think of women as just one large subset of the population, but now we understand that this subset is actually made up of tinier segments that have significant buying power if we treat as unique individuals. There has been an explosion of individuality and how people can express their individuality. "There is such a fine line to walk when you’re saying, 'Look, we created this thing that’s just for women, or we’re recognizing that a lot of women are asking for these features in our product and we haven’t made it yet, so let’s make a separate product that’s targeted just for them, without making them feel like you’re forcing them to cross that line over into a product that’s just for them.” Today we are talking about products or services that level the playing field for women. They’ve been a long time coming: - co-working spaces - investment services - customized bras - makeup that comes in more than five shades - products that reflect women’s values: cruelty-free, vegan, gluten-free, extra sizes, etc. Join us to hear more about new ways to market to women! Thanks for listening to the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast. Links for this episode: Good Things Brewing Co. - UK brewing company - https://www.goodthingsbrewing.co/ This company has nailed it. Their look is clean, fresh and gender-neutral. M.M. LaFleur - clothing company - https://mmlafleur.com/ M.M. LaFleur stands for women being more important than the clothing they wear, but they saw a little bit of backlash when they tried to downplay the importance of high fashion in the workplace. ModCloth - clothing company - https://www.modcloth.com/ This company makes clothing for all types of women and all body types without actually making too big a deal about it. Dove - skincare company - https://www.dove.com/ Dove, as always, understands the variety of women and skin types they’re addressing in the marketplace. “The Importance of Taking a Stand” episode - https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/32-a-psa-about-ethics-and-marketing

Welcome back for Season 2 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast! We shall resume with Episode 76, and for this season, your host Catherine Campbell is now joined by the producer Natalie Pyles! (Yes, Natalie and Jason are married, and they work together as podcast co-producers.) In Episode 76, we introduce you to “The Toddler Principle” in marketing, which acknowledges customers as independent, unique forces while still maintaining authority over them and knowing what's best for them. With the Toddler Principle, we (the business) give them confidence that we know who they are, without placing them into a narrow box. The objective is to find and hone the message that will resonate the best with your customers. We also talk about “The Optometrist Principle,” in which you offer the customer two or three choices. And when you have three levels of a product or service and you tend to sell the middle option the most, we call that “The Goldilocks Principle.” Listen to learn more! “It feels customized, and yet you (as the business owner) are still operating within a process that streamlines everything you have to offer, but it still feels customized for that particular person.” Subscribe free in iTunes, so you never miss an episode release! And of course, always feel free to email us: info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/37-dont-assume-you-know-your-customers https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/40-the-ego-episode-marketing-with-quizzes

In Episode 75 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your host Catherine Campbell and the producer Jason Pyles talk about how to connect people to your ideas through marketing. We discuss the four brand archetypes that seem to be the four best ways to distribute information to your audience. These four archetypes are The Scientist, The Giver, The Nanny, and The Spy. The Scientist Brand Archetype is the kind of brand that presents new research and tests the status quo. The Giver Brand Archetype is generous in its contributions of education, knowledge, attention, and outward focus. The Nanny Brand Archetype takes care of people and establishes trust and authority through nurture. And the Spy Brand Archetype presents ideas in a secretive or confidential way, making the business’s messaging seem like an exclusive invitation. Join us to learn more! Also in this episode, Catherine also mentions that we’re taking a short hiatus, so the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast will be returning once again in April! We hope you will join us again in April! Subscribe free in iTunes, so you never miss an episode release! And of course, always feel free to email us: info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening!

Of all the duties that marketers take upon themselves, it seems like the most daunting job is writing blogs. In Episode 74 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles discuss secrets for blogging prolifically and writing quickly! We review the purpose of blogs. We also talk about some of the particulars of the blogging debate, such as word count. In this show, we discuss helpful tools like the content calendar and an “ideas notebook.” Jason even brings some of his blogging day job tips to the table and describes “spinning” and writing “Frankenstein blogs,” which of course, is essentially content curation. There is even a cautionary tale to remind us all to “surprise and delight,” as well as to under promise, overdeliver. “If you struggle to write blog posts faster, here’s what you do: Skip the intro. Don’t write the intro first. Just start writing out what the core is that you want to say. Don’t worry about formatting it right now. Write out the body of your blog post. Then afterward, it’s so much easier to write the introductory paragraph and the concluding paragraph because you’re able to pull from that body content.” We also want to hear your thoughts, reviews and questions. Email us: info@brightplanning.com. Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Thanks for listening!

This week on the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we received a question from an author named Rose. She asked for advice on continuing to remain engaged with her community while she’s in the creation period for several months between product releases. For those in a creative field (such as writing, painting etc.), there can be long pauses in traditional marketing messaging, so Rose wants to know what sort of posts she could do to continue to foster engagement during the “off season." Rose writes: “I don't want to put a bunch of content about writing on my website or in my newsletter (I can do some about my writing process and whatnot). Some readers might be a little curious about my writing process, but because my audience isn't other writers so much as it is readers, that gets old. They aren't as interested in my knowledge on how to format a book or advertise on Amazon or cross post my social media as they are in what my next book is about. But it can take several months to a year to get a book out, so how do I keep my readers interested in the times between book releases? It gets tricky for me to balance my marketing time with my writing time and my commitments elsewhere for my day job.” So, join your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles as they discuss some solutions for Rose’s excellent question. We also want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions like Rose’s! Email us: info@brightplanning.com. Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Thanks for listening!

If you were to capture the “unicorn of marketing,” you would somehow gain an understanding of what your target audience wants and needs. What are your customers looking for? What do they want? What do they need? In Episode 72 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and the producer Jason Pyles discuss the benefits of using an “Empathy Map” to assist you with your content marketing. A “customer avatar development sheet” or a “customer journey map” can help you get inside the head, so to speak, of your ideal or dream customer. The Empathy Map explores four important quadrants: what your customers think and feel, what your customers see, what they say and do, and what they hear. During this episode, we will explain how to fill out and use this Empathy Map concept to your advantage. We encourage you to follow along and write down as many answers as you can. There’s no such thing as too much information, when you’re exploring what makes your ideal customers tick! These sort of insights will pay off for your business. Join us to learn more.

In Episode 71 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles discuss four questions that you can employ to learn about your audience, create your content and build your core message. This is sometimes called the “Customer Discovery Journey.” We also talk about focusing outwardly on the customer, instead of making the common mistake of always reflecting back on your own company. “Enough about me … what do you think about me?” During this episode, we ask the following questions, just to list a few: What is the end result that your ideal customer wants to achieve? What are the elements required to arrive at this end result? What can you give them, in terms of information, that will move them closer to their desired end result? Et al. “What are the biggest fears your customers have that are preventing them from achieving their end result? This is what we typically call ‘the pain point.’ Ask yourself what you need to do in order to put their minds at ease and let them know, ‘Yes, this thing is OK. I don’t have to fear this transaction. This is going to be fine.’” Next week in Episode 72 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we explore how you can take the four questions discussed in this episode and create a so-called Empathy Map! Join us! We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening!

How do you take a break, go on vacation or have a life when you have a content releasing schedule that never stops? How can you prepare a little extra evergreen content for unexpected health issues and family emergencies? Today your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles coach you through some good options. Scheduling tools are amazing. Check out episode 69 to learn about the most popular resources. https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/69-the-best-scheduler-tools-for-content-marketing We also want to teach you the nuts and bolts of how to actually manage taking a break from content creation without losing your audience. First of all, plan some time to create some extra content early. Writing in batches is very efficient. Catherine has some great tips for batch writing. Second, you need to assign someone to be there to double check the release of the content while you’re gone. Whether it’s your blog posts, video, audio, newsletters, or infographics make sure someone is responsible. Most importantly, you’ll need a content calendar so you can be consistent with your content publishing. “A content calendar is definitely going to be one of those things where it just takes a few hours of planning, but in a situation that draws you away, for fun or for anything else, you know that you’re covered and you know that your team is covered and you’re still being consistent when it comes to your content publishing.” Your calendar can be flexible so that if something relevant comes up, you would obviously shuffle content around to make room. If you get behind or if you get overwhelmed don’t give up! Just jump right back in. We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Episode 69 of The Bright Planning Marketing Podcast! Today your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles open 2018 with a super-helpful episode to guide you in selecting the best content and social media scheduler tool for you. “Getting a good scheduler tool that really fits you and your business is one of the best investments you could possibly make, even if you are a tiny start-up, you’re a company of one, or maybe you just have a side business and you’re listening to this podcast and you’re trying to figure out marketing tips in order to help it grow.” For starters check out Episodes 65 and 66 to help you gear up to create your content calendar and then put it into a scheduling tool. https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/65-how-to-create-your-content-calendar-for-2018 https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/66-your-content-planning-problems-sloved Professional Scheduling Tips: Have a calendar in place so you know what upcoming dates are relevant. Using a scheduler tool you can extend the life of that conversation. What’s the lifecycle of a tweet? 7 seconds? Become a master at getting the most out of your good content, especially your evergreen content. “If you want to have a conversation about something educational for your content, if you want to educate your audience, if you want to entertain your audience, if you want to continue a longer conversation about a specific issue that’s related to your industry, content scheduler tools are your friend.” Posts can go out night and day and you don't have to be the one clicking the button. “Nobody is superhuman, but we can certainly use the technology to appear that way.” General overview of tools: Buffer : Buffer is a content scheduling tool that is free for 1 social media account. You can only schedule 10 posts at a time with the free version. Typically, you should have 5-10 posts per day so the free version won’t get you very far. You’ll want to do testing to find out which of your posts are being seen based on the time and day. Upgrade to Buffer’s 'Awesome Plan' for $102 per year or $10 per month. Then you can use 10 social accounts, even Pinterest and IG reminders. This is a great app. You can have in-content feeds so you can get inspiration and schedule what you want. https://buffer.com/ Edgar: This is a good service for you if you are an avid poster because you can create whole libraries of content. This works for social media only. It is $50 per month and includes 25 social profiles. https://meetedgar.com/ CoSchedule: CoSchedule is a great tool because you can see a calendar with all of your content marketing in one place. The price is $40-60/month depending on the size of your team. You’ll need reporting elsewhere, as it doesn’t include reporting at this price point. Sprout Social: Sprout Social is great for larger companies. https://sproutsocial.com/ We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening!

If you know anything about your hosts, Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles, we are suckers for end-of-the-year Top 10 lists. In Episode 68 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, we bring you our Top 10 Favorite Marketing Campaigns of 2017. Catherine and Jason each have five favorites. We don’t want to spoil any of the picks, but just in case you would like to view these campaigns, we have provided our list and corresponding links below. We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Jason’s No. 5: Jose Cuervo - Last Days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlcSA5KI4Lw Catherine’s No. 5: The IKEA “Place” App: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/20/16339006/apple-ios-11-arkit-ikea-place-ar-app Jason’s No. 4: Procter & Gamble - The Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovY6yjTe1LE Catherine’s No. 4. The NY Times “The Truth Is Hard to Find” Campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs4-rb0f7HI Jason’s No. 3: Audi’s #DriveProgress “Daughter” Campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6u10YPk_34 Catherine’s No. 3. Apple’s “Sway” Ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lGHZ5NMHRY&feature=youtu.be Jason’s No. 2: Toyota’s R+S Tree Holiday Campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ihrY7nYcpk Catherine’s No. 2. Patagonia’s “Fight For Public Lands” TV Ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VmjDNL0-lE Jason’s No. 1: Cadillac’s “Dare Greatly” Campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c4hc9aGH8I Catherine’s No. 1: Adidas’s #ORIGINALis Campaign: http://news.adidas.com/us/Latest-News/adidas-originals-launches-original-campaign-and-film---original-is-never-finished-/s/8b2cd3d4-fd68-4bab-8ae3-90dc35f0095b Catherine’s Honorable Mention: Lokai’s social media campaign: https://www.instagram.com/livelokai/?hl=en

A few years ago, circa 2013, webinars were widely used and very popular. But now we’ve reached a saturation point for webinars. In Episode 67 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles talk about webinars and whether they still work as a content marketing strategy. Webinars are a great way to teach industry tips. And if your material is dry in a blog or text form, webinars can be a more effective way to illustrate and educate your customers. You can deliver the information to your audience and help them learn something in a visual, more interactive way. In this episode, we also discuss how webinars can be used at any stage of the funnel. And if you use a webinar at the top of your funnel, they can be a nice way to introduce yourself to your clientele. We also talk about how webinars are not solely for building your mailing list; they are also ideal for selling. It’s important to learn how to be comfortable with selling, because it’s a natural way to end your webinar after you’ve finished demonstrating your ability to help people. During Episode 67 we also talk about the secrets to hosting an effective webinar, so we’ll list those for you, as well. Listen and learn more! “Do webinars still work as a content marketing strategy? Absolutely.” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening!

Content planning can be overwhelming for many people, primarily due to a few common problems. In Episode 66 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles discuss these most common problems and offer solutions. For instance, many marketers try to plan too much. If you reverse engineer and work backward from your end goal, then you can more easily determine the amount of content marketing that you will need. Another pro tip is to avoid planning last-minute campaigns. This overburdens and stresses out your team, which quickly leads to exhaustion and problems with morale. We talk about the prevalent concern that content might not be unique enough, compared to what you’ve seen from your competitors. In fact, your content might initially be quite similar to that of your competitors. To address this concern, we discuss “skyscraper content,” which is essentially building on “additional floors” and providing more information on that concept. And perhaps the most common problem when creating a content marketing calendar is coming up with ideas and filling out the calendar. In Episode 66, we provide some tips for helping you through this sort of challenge, as well. Join us! We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links for this episode: http://www.brightplanning.com/blog/episode-8-use-your-existing-content-to-gain-5x-traffic-growth

We understand that it can be overwhelming to think about creating your content and promotions calendar for the next six months. Who has time for that, right? Who can afford it? Actually, the real question should be, who can afford not to plan? When it comes to creating your marketing strategy for 2018, planning is everything. Great marketing campaigns are hardly ever devised overnight; they are the products of careful scheduling and forethought. In Episode 65 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles explain how you can create your content and promotions calendar in a single day! You only need a few things: this episode, your assembled team, a white board, sticky notes and a blank wall. As you listen to this episode, we will talk about your planning benchmarks for the whole day, hour by hour. For instance, during the first hour you should list all the marketing activities you did in 2017. Then we’ll explain why this is a helpful place to begin. We also discuss the types of questions you should ask your team to help you identify what your business needs to accomplish during 2018. And we talk about setting overarching goals that span each quarter. We discuss the purpose of setting four content marketing goals and four promotional goals, among other tips, so join us! We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links for this episode: Link to the 6-Month Look Back episode http://www.brightplanning.com/blog/episode-38-the-6-month-look-back-assess-your-marketing-goals Link to http://www.brightplanning.com/blog/your-business-doesnt-need-to-be-on-every-social-media-platform-heres-why Link to http://www.brightplanning.com/blog/5-quick-content-marketing-must-dos-before-2017

December is almost upon us, which means that we are in the twilight of 2017. No doubt you’re planning to hit the ground running in 2018, so in Episode 64 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles talk about three marketing trends in 2018 that will affect your business. We discuss installing an SSL certificate and how crucial it has become to maintain a secure website, not just for your customers’ peace of mind but also to avoid having your Google ranking penalized. Like free shipping, SSL is something your customers will merely come to expect. And make no mistake, your website’s security will now be factored into Google’s algorithm. For the past two years, mobile optimization has been required, so at this point, it is absolutely imperative to have a mobile-friendly website. Delaying mobile optimization any longer is a sure-fire way to harm your Google ranking and make your website less competitive. Another marketing trend for 2018 is personalization and one-to-one selling online. Whether it’s chatbots or a personal shopping concierge, the online space is trying to replicate the customer service experience where customers can ask questions and seek help with their online shopping. “If your website is not optimized for the mobile experience, Google is going to start punishing you, if it hasn’t already.” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links for this episode: Quizzes Blog Post: http://www.brightplanning.com/blog/how-to-make-quizzes-for-lead-generation Twitter: @TheCatCampbell

Happy Thanksgiving this week, and welcome to Episode 63 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, with your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles. In this episode, we discuss the difference between thanking our customers and being grateful for them. While thanking people does fall under the umbrella of gratitude, there’s more to being grateful than just words. We discuss how effective it can be to find ways to genuinely serve your clients. The businesses that are remembered most are those that are attentive to their clients’ needs and find helpful ways to fulfill them, extending beyond the typical expectations of merely fulfilling a business transaction. In Episode 63, we also discuss making holiday-themed videos and keeping them light-hearted and upbeat. We also talk about the importance of making sure your holiday ads are sensitive and respectful. Not everyone observes the same holidays, and furthermore, happiness and “good cheer” are not universal feelings this time of year. And of course, we spend some time explaining why gratitude in marketing works every time. Join us! “Too often people start out from a ‘101 viewpoint,’ and the first thing they hear is marketing is ‘asking for the sale.’ That used to be the case, but everything has shifted now. … Marketing is simply the act of communicating about your product or service. That’s it!” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening!

Visual media — particularly video content — has become an effective part of digital marketing strategy. Unfortunately, many business owners are intimidated by video creation, or they assume it would be prohibitively expensive to produce great content. Not so! In Episode 62 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles provide some tips for making great videos on a budget. We talk about the importance of making the subject matter real in order to ensure that the video content is compelling. Obviously, if you’re creating a video on a budget, you might not have perfect lighting or flawless editing, but if your content is real, your viewers will still be hooked.   We also discuss how good audio quality is even more important than good visual quality. Smartphones work fine for filming; you don’t need a fancy video camera. We talk about how to keep your onscreen performance natural and energetic. We also recommend filming a variety of takes from different angles. In Episode 62, we also provide some advice on using talking points (rather than a verbatim script), and what to wear, where to film, etc.   “Don’t overthink your video. Be authentic and have fun and let life happen on camera.”   We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Link to a great camera Catherine likes: Canon EOS DLSR https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/cameras/eos-cameras Link to a Lighting Kit: https://www.amazon.com/Photography-Portrait-Continuous-LimoStudio-LMS103/dp/B005FHZ2SI/ref=sr_1_3?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1510589808&sr=1-3&keywords=lighting+kit

This week in Episode 61 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles provide several tips about blogging. Reticent writers have a lot of questions about blogging, such as what should the word count be for a business blog? This episode has some answers for you. We also discuss about “epic content” blogs and using photos to break up the paragraphs. We talk about cornerstone content and how it’s used on a business website. Every blog should have a call to action at the end and in the middle, just to make sure you can reach those who don’t read through to the end. Don’t bother writing a blog to apologize for an absence from writing; instead, just make it a priority to write frequently and consistently. “If your blog is just ‘me-centric,’ then that tends to fall flat because it’s not insightful. A business blog shouldn’t just be a journal. Get different team members’ voices, as well.” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Catherine’s photographers: Nicole McConville Chelsea Bollhoefer

Happy Halloween (if you’re into that kinda thing)! For Episode 60 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles wanted to bring you a very scary episode, so our theme is Marketing Horror Stories! We all make mistakes. Sometimes we’re just “not thinking clearly.” But these marketing stories aren’t just mere mishaps; these are full-blown PR disasters. These are instances where people want to use a megaphone to ask the offending marketing team, “What were you thinking?” (Does anyone even use megaphones anymore? Well, they should…) So, join us for our Halloween Special to hear some cautionary tales of what not to do with your company’s marketing. We talk about how to avoid these catastrophes so your business doesn’t become a national tragedy and wind up on our Halloween 2018 Special. “When you’re preparing to roll out your messaging when you’re a startup, you have time to really refine your message and to test it out. But if you’re already an established brand and you’re trying to reach a new target audience, I would suggest that you interview a segment of your current audience and send a quick survey to actually ask them to rate certain words that you want to use to try and reach your new target audience, because they will tell you, ‘yea’ or ‘nay.’” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening!

Has your to-do list gotten away from you? Do you need to do some effective marketing, but you only have a short amount of time? What if we provide a list of 10 marketing tactics you can do in less than an hour? In Episode 59 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles give you a fine little to-do list whose 10 items take fewer than 60 minutes to complete! We discuss email newsletters, the “personal” email, sending Bomb Bomb videos to your personal list, short-form blogging, social media posts — and much more! In addition to listing these tactics, we also discuss more about how to implement them effectively and efficiently! For instance, everyone knows about blogging, but many people dread it because it takes them an exorbitant amount of time to write one blog article. But in Episode 59, we recommend trying the Seth Godin-style blog writing, where it’s just a painlessly short thought — one brief thought — and then you’re on to your next activity! Join us to learn more! “Make that video and send it out. Keep it really casual, too. Just make sure the lighting is good; make sure people can hear you; and just send it!” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links for this episode: Visit Bomb Bomb at http://bit.ly/2hZbCCC Check out Bright Planning’s 101 SEO checklist guide at http://bit.ly/2yIUgn3 Check out this great word counter tool at https://wordcounter.net/ Visit Seth Godin's blog at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

We get a surprising number of inquiries in which people ask us, “What is content writing, exactly?” Even those who could give you a definition don’t always understand how to execute content writing effectively. Never fear, in Episode 58 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles help you understand more about what content writing is and how to do it correctly. We discuss the importance of writing your content in such a way that you’re always thinking three steps in advance. We also talk about the multitude of ways that you can implement and share your content across various platforms. Content marketing is the art of providing valuable information to your target audience while simultaneously achieving one or more of the following objectives: driving your audience back to your website, closing a sale, or lead generation. You should release some of your very best material when creating content, because it’s important to provide genuine value to those who consume it. So, join us for Episode 58 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast to learn more! “One purpose of content marketing is to instill faith and to prove your capacity for whatever industry you’re in, whatever service you’re providing to establish your expertise and your value.” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links for this episode: “How to Break Existing Content into Multiple Pieces” http://www.brightplanning.com/blog/existing-content-how-to-break-down-an-interview-into-multiple-pieces?rq=12

Where do you begin with your holiday shopping? Are you a pre-planned, strategic shopper or an exploratory shopper? Some people are planners. They know exactly what they want and snatch it up early or as soon as that particular gift is on sale. The other kind of shopper is the “discoverer,” or those who like to browse and look for inspiration. These types of shoppers don’t know what they want yet, but they will know the right gift when they see it! We ask these questions because in Episode 57 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles want to help you learn more about a few classic strategies for holiday marketing! In our previous episode, we answered a listener question that asked why holiday advertising begins so early. In this episode we talk about the shopping traditions and habits of consumers. We discuss the importance of incorporating urgency and scarcity into your promotions. We also recommend some useful resources linked below. Join us! “Flash sales tend to not perform as well anymore … but if you are going to do a flash sale, you might want to do it through your email list the day before your sale.” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links for this episode: Bomb Bomb: https://bombbomb.com/ Fomo: https://www.usefomo.com/ Episode 56: https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/56-a-winning-holiday-season-promotion-strategy

Happy Fall! In Episode 56 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles receive some great listener feedback from Liam, who asks about holiday marketing and the practical reasons behind why it seems to happen earlier each year. Liam wonders if it’s premature or proactive. He also asks, “Isn’t the beauty of holidays in their brevity?” To address Liam’s questions, we delve into the strategy and philosophy behind holiday marketing, beginning specifically with Halloween through the winter holidays. We review the importance of timing, the magical unicorn of marketing campaigns. And later in this episode, we also discuss some actionable strategies for helping to you to consider your company’s approach to holiday marketing. “If you’re thinking about Christmas or winter holiday seasons, they do not officially begin until November 1st.” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening!

During the two previous episodes of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles have discussed marketing for a small business with a limited budget. In Episode 53 we talked about marketing with only $100 per month, and in Episode 54 we looked at a budget of $1,000 per month. And here in Episode 55, we discuss strategies for marketing with a $10,000 monthly marketing budget. How an astute business spends usually depends on its industry and audience. We talk about the option of outsourcing to a marketing agency. Also in this episode, we encourage you to tell a story through your Google ads, rather than just imitate exactly what all your competitors are doing. Commercials can be effective, but we consider the benefits of sponsoring a podcast that your target community is likely to enjoy on a regular basis. We also warn you to be wary of high-pressure, local marketing efforts that use fear to make you worry that you’re losing out to your competitors. Join us for this episode to learn more! “One of the best things that happens when you’re boosting ads for super cheap is you start to accumulate data about your audience on Facebook.” Link to Catherine's blog post The 5 People You Need on Your Marketing Team: http://bit.ly/2flayrD We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening!

Are you marketing with $1,000 per month? In Episode 54 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles provide some recommendations for making your marketing as effective as possible, even if you only have a limited budget. We suggest a number of free or low-cost resources that can help you build your marketing stack. For example, for marketing planning, we recommend CoSchedule. And for advertising, we discuss the value of Facebook advertising, as well as Instagram, Twitter, Google AdWords, et al. It’s also important to invest in a more robust email marketing platform that will allow you more automation and segmentation rules. This is the key to list engagement, which is why we recommend ActiveCampaign. When it comes to social media scheduling, we talk about Buffer’s inexpensive monthly service. And if you’re looking to stay competitive with your SEO rankings, you should look into the benefits of Moz Pro. For hosting videos, Wistia is good for its privacy and advanced analytics. And if you’d like to boost your customer engagement on your website, we’d suggest that you check out Riddle to help you create quizzes, polls and other surveys that will generate leads and get your visitors to stay on your site longer. The resources above are not affiliate partners; we have just found them helpful in our own marketing. Listen to this episode to learn more! “If your goal is to get more customers, then your strategy is to create a very specific marketing campaign that generates leads: It’s not just talking about your business or raising brand awareness; every single tactic that you use in your strategy has to get people as close to the sale as possible.” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! Leave a review on iTunes and subscribe to get new marketing episodes on the go. Have a question for Catherine? Email us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links for this episode: CoSchedule: https://coschedule.com/ ActiveCampaign: https://www.activecampaign.com/ Buffer: https://buffer.com/ Moz Pro: https://moz.com/products/pro Wistia: https://wistia.com/ Riddle: https://www.riddle.com/

What if you’re trying to market your small business with a tiny budget, say, $100 per month? Is that even possible? Absolutely. In Episode 53 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles teach you how to use your limited budget in a strategic manner. We also talk about the difference between having money and having a budget. We discuss the two ways to get customers: organic reach and paid reach. Eventually you will need to pay to get new customers by competing for their attention. It doesn’t matter how much you spend; it matters how effectively you target your campaigns. During this show we also give you two important tips that you must know prior to beginning your marketing. We also discuss tracking each part of your marketing funnel for your assessment of ROI (or loss) with your paid marketing strategies. There are plenty of free tools that you can use to generate marketing for brand awareness and new leads. If you only have $100 to invest in marketing, then you’ll be spending more time than money while trying to generate organic reach. You will use social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, etc.), free photo sources, free photo and video editing tools, email marketing, blogging, and more! Join us to learn about marketing your business on a small budget. “One of the biggest places where small businesses fail is not that they don’t know how to budget for marketing, but they don’t know what to spend that money on.” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! LEAVE A REVIEW ON iTUNES, AND SUBSCRIBE TO GET NEW MARKETING EPISODES ON THE GO. Have a question for Catherine? E-mail us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links for this episode: Fully - Office Furniture Company: https://www.fully.com/ Hot or Not Marketing Part 1: https://soundcloud.com/brightplanning/45-marketing-today-whats-hot-or-not-part-1 Link: BrightPlanning BLOG Twitter: twitter.com/bright_planning

In Episode 52 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles answer a question from Craig, who asks how to promote his podcast about corporate real estate. Craig says he has between 50 to 60 episodes now, and he would like to start promoting them. To answer Craig’s question, we spend some time discussing the nature of podcasting and where it falls among the various marketing media tools. Podcasting is an interesting format that is an effective blend of traditional radio programming and blogging. We also discuss how podcasting is a marathon, not a sprint. During this episode we review some ideas for using social media to grow your podcast, and we also talk about a method for promoting media that’s audio-based on visual platforms. We also discuss approaches for tapping into avenues of promotion that are conducive to your niche industry, which in this case is corporate real estate. We talk about some do’s and don’ts, and we also offer a number of action-items that Craig and others can do to promote their audio podcasts. Please join us! “You want to have a great niche topic, and you want to bring a lot of value to that topic and charisma to your show. … You want to make sure you have an SEO-friendly description and show notes. And you want to stay on a consistent schedule.” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! LEAVE A REVIEW ON iTUNES, AND SUBSCRIBE TO GET NEW MARKETING EPISODES ON THE GO. Have a question for Catherine? E-mail us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2017/08/15/101-tactics-to-promote-your-podcast-the-definitive-podcast-marketing-guide/#2defad5c4cda WAVVE: http://wavve.co/

In Episode 51 of the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast, your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles kick off the episode by talking about the historic total solar eclipse of 2017. But the primary focus of this episode is marketing on a budget for small businesses. Even if you own a small business, it is crucial that you keep track of your marketing budget and plan appropriately for these necessary expenses. One purpose for marketing is to increase brand awareness, but we realize that it’s difficult to see a direct correlation of how that pays off. The good news is there are ways to track exactly where your money is going. During this episode, we talk about the benefits of hiring an accountant to assist you, if you’re not a numbers person. Naturally, we provide some guidelines for creating your marketing budget. Many companies dip into their sales and marketing budgets, so we recommend setting up a separate business checking account that you can use solely for marketing. Remember, your marketing budget and operating capital are not the same. We also explain how to build your marketing budget in such a way that you can scale it to correspond with the growth of your business. In Episode 51, we also discuss fixed expenses, one-time expenses and variable expenses. In short, this particular show is essentially “Marketing Budget 101.” Join us! “It kills me when people just say, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to just make this commercial.’ … And they’re not really thinking it through because somebody just came to them and said, ‘Here’s a great deal on buying air time at a reduced rate.’ But if it’s going to be at 2 in the morning, between commercials for shows that your target marketing won’t be watching — then who cares? That’s a terrible waste of your money!” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! LEAVE A REVIEW ON iTUNES, AND SUBSCRIBE TO GET NEW MARKETING EPISODES ON THE GO. Have a question for Catherine? E-mail us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links: Twitter: twitter.com/bright_planning

We have hit our first milestone here on the Bright Planning Marketing Podcast: Your hosts Catherine Campbell and Jason Pyles are celebrating their 50th episode this week by talking about push notifications and remarketing! (We sure know how to party, don’t we?) Understanding when and how often to remarket to your customers all comes down to timing and a little discretion. Obviously, it’s important that you don’t harass your clientele with excessive marketing messages. An over-zealous approach can yield adverse repercussions. Instead, the trick is to find out what would likely be the best time for remarketing to your customers — and then whatever you do — don’t overdo it! In Episode 50, we provide some useful counsel and extend a challenge to help you to set up a strategically smart campaign. Due to widespread use and overly aggressive marketing, the push notification has already saturated the marketplace and is in danger of just becoming more white noise that customers tune out. For this reason, it’s more important than ever to know your customers and their contact preferences. If you’re able to obtain feedback from your most frequent buyers, then you can use that information as a template for creating your next remarketing campaign. Listen to this episode to learn how you can gain these insights from your most active clients! “It all comes down to the right timing. … Timing is like the unicorn of marketing.” We want to hear your thoughts, reviews and more questions! LEAVE A REVIEW ON iTUNES, AND SUBSCRIBE TO GET NEW MARKETING EPISODES ON THE GO. Have a question for Catherine? E-mail us! info@brightplanning.com. Thanks for listening! Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/bright_planning