What happens when a brand gets a “bad name?” I consider a brand to be a container that holds everything about a business, both tangible and intangible. From logo to customer service to reputation, your brand encompasses all of the qualities that your customers think when they see the name of your company. The problem happens when some of those qualities are less than desirable. Maybe in the early days of your business, your customer service needed a little more work. Or that your prices were just a little too high. After enough time, many of those negative qualities got…
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When I’m working with a client to either create a new brand or reimagine their existing one, a common question I hear is, “What’s the difference between graphic design and branding?” Conflating the two is an easy mistake to make. After all, when people think of brands, they think of logos. Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Nike… All of these brands have logos that instantly identify them. At a glance, a customer knows everything about those businesses, just by seeing their logo. However, logos and other graphic components are only one part of branding. As I’ve said in the past, think of a…
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Ok, pop quiz time! What exactly is branding? I wouldn’t bother trying to look online for the answer. You look at 100 marketing websites, you’re going to find at least 100 slightly different ideas. Why is it so difficult to nail down a single definition of branding? It’s because branding… is huge. It’s massive. It encompasses everything about your business. Trying to shrink that down to a single sentence is nearly impossible. So I’m not going to try! Instead, I’m going to break it down that massive concept into some smaller pieces, helping you understand what branding means for YOU…
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Does your website have a core lead magnet attached? Imagine this: You’re looking for a digital marketer (a pretty big stretch, huh?) You go onto a website, but the only things that are offered on it are paid products. There is no real way to see what kind of content they create for free. Instead, you have to go in blind and hope that they can meet your content creation/social media/email marketing/ funnel creation/ technical needs etc. And for some, that can be too high a price. Now, when you come to my website, I offer free content right off…
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Congratulations, you’ve landed the client of your dreams! Now the trick is to keep them! Being a small business owner is a series of ups and downs. One minute, you’re on top of the world, doing the work you want to do with tons of clients. The next minute, some of those clients drop off, leaving you scrambling to find new ones. (Unless of course, you are ALWAYS marketing in the background!) However, at times, it can be like the world’s most un-fun roller coaster. As you gain more experience. You realize that the trick is to build up a…
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One of the most terrifying and exciting things in life is having to start again.Let’s face it – we are all getting older! Maybe your children have finally left home for university, (Eben, my son, started college early and skipped his senior year!) or perhaps you’re thinking of retiring from your long-time job and want to try something new this time around! Maybe you have recently been let go at work, or simply grew bored and finally want to do what you have always wanted with your life. No matter which the situation, it’s still terrifying and thrilling. For example,…
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One of the biggest challenges that small businesses can run into is a lack of funds to hire new employees. If your business is rapidly expanding and you need an extra hand, hiring someone to help out might be unavoidable. Unfortunately, you have to pay for their training, their sick days, holidays, etc. With a Virtual Assistant, you can get the same, if not an even better result for much less overhead. AdministrationIf you are in the business of providing services to customers, then client care probably takes up a great deal of your time, especially if you have few…
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Having to work when you are suffering through an illness is a nightmare. Every step, every thought, every burst of energy requires so much effort that it can feel like you are trying to run through a swimming pool. Everyone has had to do it at one point or another, no one enjoys it. But when you don’t have a cold, flu, or easily identifiable illness, we don’t really think about the our health or the energy we expend. We simply go about our day, exerting the necessary energy to complete tasks. As small business owners, we often put our…
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Entrepreneurs and small business owners have one of the most time and energy-consuming jobs a person can have. They throw themselves into their business, giving it their all and focusing entirely on its growth. This means that they can start to let their health slide when things start to get hectic around the office. Ask a doctor what the #1 thing is that you could do to improve your health, “Exercise.” The problem is that many small business owners and entrepreneurs just don’t feel like they have the time. The thing about an exercise routine is that it doesn’t just…
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What would your company be without your clients? One of the keys to a successful small business is to develop long-term client relationships. For a business to become truly successful, you need to build a foundation of repeat customers and clients you can rely on. This can require a tremendous amount of time and effort, just like developing any other lasting relationship in your life. Here are some tips on how you can get started strengthening your client relationships, with the goal of eventually converting them into regular, long-term clients: Communication is the KeyAll of my long-term client relationships have…
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