I bet the holiday shopping season is going to be a little different this year. Every November, you see the same news story on Black Friday: hundreds of people crowding outside of Walmarts and Targets around the country, waiting to grab as many deals as they can. It’s the biggest shopping day of the year with sales galore. COVID-19, however, has changed all that. I suspect that we won’t see the insane crowds as usual outside of stores this Friday, November 27th. As large indoor gatherings are prohibited, stores won’t allow a borderline mob to roar in, grabbing everything in…
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You want to know the real problem with content creation? It’s like being on a treadmill. Every single week, you need to have a new blog or a new podcast ready. This is accompanied by social media posts, an email campaign, and all of your other digital marketing content. It never ends! That’s one of the reasons why so many small business owners fall off the content creation train after just a few weeks. They start out strong, keeping up with the pace. But soon, they start to fall behind, maybe missing a single week. Then it’s two weeks. And…
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About 30 years ago, do you know one of the best places to connect with your customers? Their car. The very first thing they did after they got into their car in the morning was turn on the radio. And chances are that it remained on for their entire commute to work, both back and forth. This offered advertisers a captive audience (literally, if the driver was on the highway!) But then around 15 years ago, things started to change. People stopped listening to the radio as much when they headed to work. Instead, they would put on music from…
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Recently, I’ve been creating a lot of different types of content that allow me to get closer to my audience. I don’t just want you to read my words, but also hear my voice. I believe that this will create a stronger connection with you! (Is it working?) To get started, I’ve obviously picked podcasting. It’s a fantastic way to get your name and content out there, but it’s also entirely audio, with no visuals. Excellent if your audience is going out for a walk or running errands, but less so if you need to communicate complex ideas that require…
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I don’t know about you, but every week I get “emails” touting a new secret SEO growth tactic or hack that promises to get me on the first page of Google! It got me thinking about how overwhelming SEO can be to entrepreneurs, because there are so many components to consider. Keywords, on-page and off-page optimization, link building, oh my! The list goes on and on. So, let’s start here, how much do you know about SEO? Sorry (not sorry) for the rhyme there, but it’s a question that every small business owner should be asking themselves. Over my many…
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When it comes to food, my family are big believers in having as little waste as possible. Jayson, my husband LOVES to cook (and I love LETTING him cook). We love to pull inspiration from the Native American idea of using EVERY part of the animal. So, when he is making mashed potatoes, he saves the skin peels to make delicious, crispy potato skin chips in the oven. When we eat chicken, he always saves the bones and tiny bits of meat and boils it down to make a tasty chicken noodle soup. It doesn’t just make economic sense, it’s…
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Want to know an online business secret? Content equals growth! It’s true! Content creation has been the core of everything I’ve done with my businesses for the past 20 years. However, when I took my content creation to the next level that is when my business really took off. Take my green lifestyle blog, Sweet Greens. Haha! Are you thinking, What? She has a green lifestyle blog too? Sweet Greens was born of my passion for environmental causes and green products. It started as a simple blog (I thought it would be a fun way to document the fun eco-friendly…
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Have you ever been sent a viral video? Creating a piece of content that goes viral is every small business owner’s dream! Not only does the free exposure exponentially increase the ROI on that content, but it also will dramatically grow your audience and raise awareness of your brand. There’s no perfect formula for viral content, and frequently luck and timing play a huge part in a piece of content becoming popular. However, there are a few things that all popular content have in common! If you’re here, you’re probably looking for some advice on how to make content that…
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Do you know what a hashtag is? Or how to use them? Do you remember the very first time you heard the term “Hashtag?” Nowadays, if you are even slightly aware of social media, then you know what a hashtag is. Not only have they become a key component for getting your marketing message out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms, but the word has even been added to the Oxford English Dictionary! You may know what hashtags are, but do you know how to use them? Well, here is a quick primer that will explain everything…
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Writing a Facebook Ad is easy, right? You throw together some text with an image and watch the clicks roll in! Uh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s a surefire way to end up with a Facebook Ad disaster! Social Media Ad creation is an art onto itself. Much like writing all kinds of social media, it’s a unique mixture of both marketing copy, target research and graphic design meant to attract the eye, intrigue the mind, and eventually, lead the user to your Website or Landing Page. There are a total of seven elements…
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