Recipes for Marketing Success Podcast

When I talk to small business owners, one of the first things that I hear is they are overwhelmed with social media and other types of online marketing – to the point that they don’t know where to begin so they do nothing.  I think that some of the overwhelm comes from all the information that’s out there that promises so much and talks about what worked for them.  Well, what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.  But there are common denominators – or recipes – that will help you lay a firm foundation.  Once you understand these core principles and are comfortable using them, you can start to add “ingredients” that make them your own.  Today, we’ll review those core activities and help you start creating your own Recipes for Marketing Success.

Last week, I showed you how to put your monthly content calendar together in about 30 minutes.  But that’s only part of the big picture for you to be successful in your social media endeavors.  Remember, social media marketing is all about being “social” – a two-way conversation with your followers, customers and potential customers.  There’s more that you need to do on a daily and monthly basis to nurture them along the customer journey and get them to know, like and trust (and buy) from you.  Today we’re pulling back the curtain again, and showing you exactly what I do on a daily basis to interact on my pages – and on the pages that I follow – so that I can build those relationships.

It’s always good to plan ahead.  But when it comes to posting on social media, I think most of us tend to do it on the fly.  While that may work for a while, it will start to look haphazard to your audience and may even drive them away.  Part of the reason we put it off is that we think it’s going to take too much time to plan everything out.  When it comes right down to it, if you don’t have a plan it will actually take you longer to produce your content and you won’t be able to take advantage of some of the automation tools that are available to schedule your content.  Today, I will take you behind-the-scenes and walk you through my actual content plan for the next month that you will be able to use as a template when developing your own plan.

We’ve all been told that in order to succeed online we need to have sales/marketing funnels and lead magnets set up that will attract our ideal customers and move them through the customer journey.  But what does that mean, exactly?  In this week’s episode, we are going to go step by step through the process of building a simple marketing funnel that will show you how to use a lead magnet to attract potential customers, nurture them through a series of interactions and finally encourage them to purchase your products and services.

One of the toughest questions I get is whether or not to use automation tools in social media.  As with any discussion, there are two sides to the coin:  some say “yes” because it can save you time; others say “no” because it takes away that human interaction.  I believe there is a middle ground.  In this week’s episode, we are going to explore when and where it’s appropriate to automate your social media marketing efforts, various tools that will help you, and some interesting trends in automation that are coming down the road.

Have you ever thought about writing a book?  If so, what’s been holding you back?  If not, why not?  Sometimes the excuses are that it’s too complicated or you don’t have time to do it.  Perhaps it’s because you don’t believe you have something to say that others want to hear.  The truth is, we all have an author deep inside us – it’s just a matter of finding him or her.  This week, my guest is Suzy Prudden, ChT,  internationally acclaimed and prize-winning speaker and seminar leader, author and TV/radio host and personality and co-creator of Itty Bitty® Publishing.  She’ll explain the power of being a published author can have on your business and what it really takes to get there.

What if instead of a plain, ordinary business card that’s a dime a dozen, your business card actually came to life?  Think that is a great possibility for the future?  What if I were to tell you that technology exists now, and is easily accessible to you today?  This week, my guest is Michelle Calloway, founder and CEO of REVEALiO, an augmented reality video marketing company.  She’ll explain what augmented reality is and how you can apply it right now to your business and your overall marketing strategies.

With the decline of organic reach, social media is becoming a “pay to play” marketplace, and marketers are having to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly.  One of the best advertising options is Facebook ads.  The question is, how do you create ads that will intrigue your audience to click through?  And, how do you make sure that your target audience actually will see your ads?  This week, my guest is business growth accelerator Tammy Lane, whose Facebook ad strategies have helped many grow their businesses significantly.  She’ll share some of her secrets to finding your advertising “sweet spot”.

Every day we are bombarded with so much information about social media marketing that it could make your head spin.  It’s enough to make anyone question what they should be doing to promote their businesses on social media – and maybe even if it still makes sense.  This week, we will examine some of the top questions that small businesses are asking about social media and how to effectively utilize it to reach your target audience and ideal customers.

Influencer Marketing is certainly a hot topic in online marketing today.  But, really, what is it and how can a small business benefit from incorporating influencer marketing into their overall marketing strategy?  This week, we will take a close look at influencer marketing, what it is, how you go about finding and engaging an influencer in your niche or industry and what types of marketing campaigns work well when you collaborate with an influencer.

Video marketing is a crucial component to your overall marketing strategy.  While casual and “in-the-moment” videos are good, you really need to have a roadmap for video marketing – understanding your goals, your overall message, frequency of videos and more.  My guest this week is Lynn Hawks, Executive Producer and Video Marketing Strategist at Experts & Authorities.  She will help us dig deep into the whys of video marketing, what 3 videos we all need, when to call in the experts and more.

You’ve heard TED…..but have you heard SUE?! Successful, Unstoppable, Empowering Women changing the face of business.  Quickly becoming a staple in Southern California, SUE Talks focuses on stories of women in business and how they are making an impact in their families, their communities and the world.  This week, we have the pleasure of sitting down with one of the founders of SUE - and its parent organization Connected Women of Influence – Michelle Bergquist, who will take us behind the scenes of SUE, its beginnings, what’s coming up and what her vision is for the future.

For most small business owners, social media marketing can seem insurmountable:  the target is always moving because of changes to algorithms, new technology and new platforms – the list goes on and on. In reality, social media marketing can be very simple and straightforward.  The trick is to have a plan and stick to it.  This week, we’ll discuss the key components you must have in your social media marketing toolkit and give you a simple strategy to conquer the social media “giant”.

So, now that you have taken the leap and entered the world of video creation, what's the next step? How do you get your video out there and how do you get people to watch it? This week, we are going to explore the various ways that you can promote your videos and start building some momentum among your viewers, getting them to know, like and trust (and buy from) you.

What if you could place your call to action right inside a video?  Or sell your product or service as someone is watching your promotional video?  What if you could do this right now…today?  Interactive video is the next big thing in video marketing, so this week we are going to take a closer look at this technology and how you can incorporate it into your marketing strategy to generate leads, build customer engagement, and increase sales.  My guest is Dennis McMurray, VP of Business Development for nFusz, a technology company that is making interactive video available and affordable for everyone. 

Getting on the video marketing bandwagon is crucial to your overall marketing strategy.  Most of the time, producing that video is as simple as using your smart phone or digital camera and some editing software and you are on your way.  However, there may be times when you really do need to call in a professional videographer to shoot your video.  This week, we will discuss the various aspects of why hiring a professional may be the best choice, what questions to ask when you hire a videographer, what’s involved in working with a professional as well as some tips on how to distribute your professional marketing video.  My guest is Jonathan Jenkins, producer, editor, cinematographer and owner of Performance Production Services, who has produced over 600 online marketing, event and documentary films.

Do you remember when music videos came out?  They took the world by storm and became an industry standard if you wanted to succeed in the music business.  In the same way, video marketing has become an important component to every small business’ online marketing strategy.  Whether it’s YouTube, Facebook LIVE or simply a short video that you put on your website, video can no longer be ignored.  Join us this week for a broad overview of how you can (must!) incorporate video into your overall marketing strategy and how you can use it to better connect with your customers.

There are a lot of moving parts to keep track of when you are building your Search Engine Optimization strategy. You can't do it all by yourself, or you might go crazy (or at the very least get so frustrated you give up). Fortunately, there are a lot of tools out there that are designed specifically to help you with your SEO efforts. This week, we are going to look at 20 tools that you can use that will help you research, optimize your website and content, and be confident that you can be found when your ideal customers search for your products and services.

Most of the time, when we talk about search engine optimization, we primarily focus on keyword research and how to customize your website for the search engines so that your audience can find you when they are looking for your products and services.  There is another side to SEO that tends to get neglected, and that is off-page optimization – what you are doing to improve the search engines’ (and your audience’s) perceptions of you.  In other words, what’s your reputation around the internet, and what are you doing to make sure that it is positive, so that everyone gets to know, like and trust you.  This week, we’re going to take a look at various strategies that you can implement to help build that trustworthiness so your audience can easily find you when they start looking!

Search Engine Optimization is about more than just understanding the keywords and phrases your customers and potential customers are typing into Google to find your products and services.  It’s about making sure that you are taking full advantage of your website’s page design to make sure that the search engines can properly identify you as someone who offers exactly what the searcher is looking for.   This week, we’ll look at the anatomy of a properly optimized page, identifying specifically where and how to utilize your keywords and phrases to make the search engines (and your customers) happy.

LinkedIn is a powerful social networking application – one that many use when they are looking for a new job or looking to hire new people.  But it is also a great tool to help you grow your business and find not just your ideal customer, but those potential customers that are looking to buy – now.  This week, we are going to look at several different ways to for you to find your ideal customers and how you can improve how you show up in searches so that they find you.  My guest is Debbie McCormick, best-selling author The LinkedIn Manual for Rookies and an expert on building your business using LinkedIn.  With her expertise, you will be attracting your ideal clients and generating bona fide leads in no time!

When it comes to online marketing, our goal is to make sure that we can get the right content in front of the right person at the right time.  The key to doing this, is to make sure that your website and all your content is optimized for the search engines, so when someone begins looking for your products or services, they find you first.  This week, we are going to lay a strong foundation on which to build your SEO strategies.  We’ll explore what SEO is, what key concepts you need to keep in mind as you develop your strategy, and look at how to properly find the keywords and phrases you’ll use throughout your website and content.

You’ve put a lot of effort into crafting your email message (or email series), so now it’s time to look at results.  Do you know how you did?  How are you measuring success?  This week, we’re going to dive into the world of analytics and look at what you should be measuring and how you can use this information to make your email marketing efforts even better in the future.

Do you know what it takes to put together a successful email marketing campaign?  There’s a lot more work involved than just putting a few lines of copy together and sending it out to your email list.  This week, I’ll walk you through a step-by-step approach to building a great email campaign – from determining the reason for sending the email and crafting and testing your message all the way through to analyzing the results and refining the process.

When it comes to email marketing, one of the most important things you need to do is to make your subscribers feel like each email is written specifically for them. The way you do this is through segmenting your email list, based on key factors that are related not only to their demographics but also to their behaviors as they interact with you. This week, we are going to explore the power of personalizing and segmenting your email list - Part 2 of my Email Marketing Mastery series.

The stories of email marketing’s demise are greatly exaggerated.  Email marketing is alive and well, and should be a key component to your overall marketing strategy.  Done right, email marketing is one of the best ways to move your subscribers through your sales funnel.  This week, we’ll look at some key components of building a successful email program that will keep your audience engaged, consistently add new subscribers, and artfully turn them into paying customers.

Let’s face it.  Our creative juices aren’t always flowing, and there are times where we just run out of ideas for our next blog post (or two, or three…).  It happens to the best of us, but it shouldn’t stop you from continuing on your blogging journey.  This week, we’re going to explore various ways to come up with new and fresh ideas for your blog – and give you some topic suggestions as well!

If you are like most bloggers, you probably spend at least 2-3 hours crafting each blog post.  That’s a lot of work – and that probably doesn’t include time you take to research your topic, find images to go along with it, and put together your social media plan and other promotional strategies for that one post!  The good news is that you can get a lot more mileage out of those blog posts by coming up with a simple plan to repurpose all that great content.  This week, we’ll look at 15 simple ways to repackage and breathe new life into those old blog posts. 

Blogging is more than just writing an article and posting it to your blog and/or website.  You have to think about branding for your content, search engine optimization, content formatting, and content promotion – just to name a few things on your To Do list.  It may seem a little overwhelming, but if you have the right tools in your blogging toolkit, you’ll be able to automate much of these processes (or at least save some time).  In this week’s episode, we will explore the 20 tools that you can use today to make your life easier and improve the odds of your blog’s success.

It’s time to start building your content marketing machine from the ground up.  And, for many businesses, that means starting a blog and providing valuable information to your target audience on a consistent basis.  In this week’s episode, we are going to take a look at the fundamentals of blogging, why it’s important for your content marketing strategy, how to get started, and what you can expect to accomplish in the coming year.

Content marketing is key to building your audience and getting them to know, like and trust you.  But building a strong, consistent content marketing strategy takes a lot of time and effort to be successful.  In this week’s episode, we’ll explore how to put together and execute a content marketing plan for 2018 that will build and nurture your audience from being curious about your business to buying from you.

Do you know the power of your story? Whether it's how you started your business or something fascinating about how you got to where you are, we all have a story. It's how we connect with those around us -- friends, family, and even customers. Being able to tell your story and use stories as examples that others can relate to is extremely important when it comes to your customers learning to know like and trust you. This week, we'll explore the importance of storytelling and the various ways you can use it in your business. So mark your calendars, get ready, and I'll tell you a story...

Today, video is such an important part of social media that you can’t ignore it.  It needs to be an integral part of your online marketing strategy.  There are so many different ways that you can use video online, but you need to know how to use it effectively.  In this week’s episode, we are going to explore 7 different types of videos that you can use on a variety of platforms to not only get your message to your audience, but also engage with your audience.

Selling your product or service is simple, right?  Well, not so fast.  Most of us tend to have the “this is a great product or service, why would you NOT buy it from me” attitude, and don’t understand why our online marketing campaigns don’t seem to produce results.  The true key to any online marketing strategy is that you need to move your audience along a simple path – from cold (don’t know who you are at all) to warm (know who you are but are still kicking the tires) to hot (they are ready to buy or have become a loyal customer).  This week, we will talk about the sales process and put together a simple sales funnel that will get your sales off to a great start in 2018.

We all know that internet marketing in general, and social media in particular, is an important part of promoting your business.  Sometimes, though, it can seem overwhelming – especially if you are doing it yourself.  To make it more manageable, you just need to arm yourself with the tools of the trade – applications that make it easier to find and schedule content, interact with your audience, and improve your website's functionality.  This week, we’re going to explore those tools that I think will help you take your online efforts to the next level.  Some are free, others are well worth the cost associated with their purchase. 

Just like live streaming video, podcasting is another trend that small businesses should take note.  Whether it’s live or recorded, podcasting is a great way for your audience to get to know, like and trust you.  This week, we’re going to take a look at the ins and outs of putting together a podcast, how to promote it and start building your audience for 2018.

One of the top trends in social media right now is live streaming.  Whether it’s Facebook Live, InstaStories on Instagram or something on one of the other social networks, live video has taken social media by storm.  For small businesses, this is an excellent opportunity for your customers and potential customers to get to know, like and trust you.  This week, we’re going to take a closer look at Facebook LIVE and get into some of the details on how to use it to not only build your community but also your business.

Believe it or not, 2018 is right around the corner.  That means it’s time to start planning out your social media and marketing strategy for next year.  Part of developing a great marketing plan involves a looking back at what went right (and not so right) with your current marketing efforts, and figuring out what you can do to move up to the next level.  This week, we’ll take a look at some of the trends we’ve seen throughout the year on social media in general, and give you some guidelines that will help you put together a simple, yet effective plan for 2018.

Tis the season…the holiday season, that is.  This is an excellent time to promote your business to your customers, whether it’s to let them know about special holiday promotions or just to let them know that you care.  In this week’s episode, we are going to discuss how to up your holiday marketing efforts and get ready for the new year.

One of the great things about social media marketing is the fact that there are diverse ways of communicating with each other – some of us enjoy reading, some enjoy listening, and then there are others that need to “see” what’s going on.  Enter Instagram and Pinterest.  Both these networks are very visual in nature, and marketing to these audiences is a little different than Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  This week, we’re going to take a look at both networks and how best to use them to build your business.

Have you been intimidated by Twitter and aren’t quite sure where to start?  Or have you been using it for a while and need to know if you’re “doing it right”?  Either way, there is always a lot more to learn about Twitter and how it can be a useful part of your small business marketing toolkit.  Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks, your messaging on Twitter needs to be short, sweet and to the point.  On today’s episode, we’ll talk about how to engage your audience on Twitter, give you some tips and tricks to build your audience and take a quick look at Twitter ads for business.

In business, our goal is to get more customers, right?  In many cases, it isn’t as easy as it sounds.  One reason is that your customers need to know, like and trust you before they are willing to buy your product or service.  One way to do that is by using Facebook Groups.  Depending on your needs, Facebook Groups are great ways to communicate with your audience – whether it is to advise them of upcoming product launches or sales, give them some extra guidance, allow them to ask questions – or any number of topics that can help them to get to know, like and trust you.  In this week’s episode, we’ll talk about how to set up a Facebook Group, decide on a “theme” and start growing your tribe (and business).

Have you ever wondered how successful your social media marketing efforts are?  Do you know if all that time and work is paying off?  Do you truly know what’s working and what isn’t?  As we enter the final stretch of 2017, it’s time to take a close look at your business and how you are doing so you can start planning for 2018.  In this week’s episode, we’ll explore how to evaluate your social media marketing efforts, do a little sleuthing on your competition, and come up with some “to do’s” to add to your 2018 marketing strategy.

When it comes to building your email list, you need to give people a reason as to why they would want to receive emails from you.  The old “subscribe to our newsletter” button on your website is no longer enough to get people to sign up.  So what’s the solution?  Using lead magnets that give your audience something of value in return for their email address.  On this week’s episode, we’ll discuss what constitutes a lead magnet, how to create a lead magnet, and then how to promote it to your audience.

There are many moving parts to optimizing your online presence for local search, and all need to work together so that your potential customers can find you on the internet.  In last week’s episode, we talked about off-page optimization – claiming your business from search engines, building citations and backlinks, and making sure you are using reviews, press releases, your blog and other sources to optimize your presence outside of your website.  This week, Jim Froling, president of (949) Local Internet Marketing, is back with Local Search Optimization Part 2.  Join us as we explore what you can do on your website with on-page optimization to help the search engines recognize you and deliver your information in local searches.

Search Engine Optimization is a term that is used a lot when it comes to internet marketing.  Simply put, it’s the process of making sure that your website and online presence ranks high enough for the search engines to notice.  When it comes to local businesses – whether you are a brick-and-mortar or service-based business – it is extremely important to optimize your online presence so that those potential customers in your own back yard find you.  On this week’s episode, Jim Froling of (949) Local Internet Marketing will teach us about local search optimization, what works and how to make sure you are maximizing your online opportunities to be seen.  Join us as we unlock what could be a valuable asset to your online marketing efforts.

I’ll bet that most of us did this when we started our businesses:  We decided to go into business for ourselves, thought up a name, and then said “I need a logo”.  Because money was tight, and our friends and family were supportive, someone volunteered to help make your logo because they had Photoshop or knew a little bit about graphic design.  Then, a year or two (or more) later, we realize that that logo doesn’t really have anything to do with who we are or what we represent as a business.  The fact is, there is a lot more that goes into branding your business then just putting a logo together.  In this week’s episode, we’re going to talk about the importance of branding, what goes into building your brand and how important it is to work with someone knowledgeable in branding or rebranding your company.  My guest is Jan Miller, owner of 21-13 Impact Graphics.  He is an award-winning graphic designer and has helped many businesses build (or rebuild) their brands from scratch.  Join us as we discuss branding and its importance for your business.

We all know that email is an important method of communicating with our customers and potential clients.  The goal is to stay top of mind, so that when the time comes, they buy from us. Theoretically, our email list should be something that we are constantly cultivating, giving them more and more reasons to know, like and trust (and buy from) us.  In practice, we tend to forget this quite often.  As a result, our list is stale – or we don’t even have a list to begin with!  In this week’s episode, we’re going to explore how to grow your list – big or small – with a variety of strategies that will make your audience WANT to see your emails and miss them when they don’t show up in their inbox.

To blog or not to blog…that is the question that many small businesses ask these days.  There’s a lot of work involved in starting a blog – from set-up to writing content to building relationships with your readers.  In today’s episode, we’ll break down the concept of blogging into actionable steps that will get you up and running quickly, including a look at some of the technical aspects of maintaining a blog, how to write content your readers will love, and simple ways to share that content in multiple places for maximum exposure.  

Social media is recognized as an important part of any effective small business marketing strategy.  Conceptually, we understand what we need to do to promote our businesses online, and, in most cases have made an effort to do so.  Sometimes, though, there are lingering questions in the back of our minds as to whether or not we are doing it “right”, if we are reaching our audience, or how to actually implement something that in theory should work, but we can’t for the life of us figure it out.  In this week’s episode, we’re going to answer the top questions that many small businesses seem to have – many coming directly from listeners.  So, if you have a question that you are dying to ask (and if you have that question, chances are that others do too!), then please send them our way at janet@411marketingsolutions.com (and tune in to hear the answer LIVE!).

Most of us have used LinkedIn to connect with others professionally, whether it’s to expand our network, look for a new job, or even hire someone for our expanding businesses.  LinkedIn does provide some unique ways for businesses to promote themselves far beyond the typical personal profile.  In today’s episode, we’ll take a look at how to incorporate some of those aspects into your marketing plan, including how to set up a company page and showcase page, how to build a content strategy specifically for LinkedIn, and some simple marketing tips to help you engage your specific audience on LinkedIn.