Posted on Author JM Online Categories Marketing

Document. Don’t Create

Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to 6 NBA championships and is probably the best basketball player ever. But Michael Jordan wasn’t born a legend. He’s a legend because of the shots he made and the games he won. He made those shots because of how he trained and prepared on his off days.

The Michael Jordan documentary “The Last Dance” ran for 10 weeks and told us the story that you couldn’t see on the court, and each week had over 4 million viewers. In this mini-series, you get a look at the reps, training, people, everything that made him a legend. You can see where he got his drive and competitiveness, the reasons he worked so hard off the court.

That is great content.

 

 

The Problem of Creating

Coming up with original ideas, producing them, and distributing them is hard. We define that process as creating content.

If you were tasked with creating content for your social media accounts, you know this. You know what goes into it. You need a good image, some good text, a link, some attribution codes for tracking. Ideally, it will be contextual to your audience.

It’s hard for at least 3 reasons:

 

1 – It’s Expensive

If you are producing creative materials, you know that hiring a creative is an additional payroll expense, not to mention the necessary equipment like a camera, software like Adobe Creative Suite or a recording studio. Or if you decide to do it with your existing staff, it takes time away from serving your clients.

 

2 – It’s Slow

Especially if you’re trying to do it yourself, chances are that you aren’t fast. It’s one more thing on the list each week. That is a compounding problem because the quickest way to get good at something is to iterate: publish regularly. Each iterative cycle makes you better. But if creating content moves slowly, you’re not publishing often. Isn’t that the entire reason you’re producing content in the first place?

 

3 – It Conceals Your Process

If you’re creating content, you have a process that produces an end product. Your process produces a great end product that says what you want it to. But your end product likely doesn’t reveal the decisions you made and why you made them. It hides your process. If your content is good, your audience wants to know how you do it so they can do it too.

 

 

Document. Don’t Create: The Concept

If you want to be great at something, one way to learn is to watch someone great to see how it’s done. But rarely we get that content. We see gameday, not the daily grind of how the greats are made. That’s one reason we love documentaries. We get to see the process of how greatness is formed.

There is a lesson here that has been applied to content marketing. There is a lot that goes into your work every day that makes your company great. There are people that admire you that are paying attention to how you do things so they can be great like you.

Just like Michael Jordan, you have an audience that wants to know how you do it, how you have become the best.

When you make content, Document. Don’t create.

“Document. Don’t Create.” has arisen as a mantra for some of the best in the content marketing industry. The premise is that there are things that you do on a daily basis that your audience wants to know about, and one of the biggest obstacles to generating content is the “creation”: getting the idea, get the sound and lighting right, and perfecting the scene. Documenting gives authentic content in its unscripted form. It gives answers for different questions:

  • What was your process like for solving that problem?
  • How did turn that hard situation around?
  • How do you produce content?

Documenting and sharing the conversations you have, the decisions you make and your problems is authentic and fosters connection. Thinking like a documentary producer when you produce content shows your audience that they’re not alone and helps them solve similar problems quicker.

 

 

What that looks like for you

“Document. Don’t Create” is really a mentality where you’re always watching for opportunities that aren’t staged that would be beneficial for your audience as content. There is a spectrum to how you approach this method. You can take it very literally and let a video camera follow you wherever you go and record everything. On the other end of the spectrum is creating content by repurposing internal materials. Let me explain:

 

Capture Live Moments

Remember that time the team met at the whiteboard and diagrammed out a huge problem? Remember that company gathering where you told that great joke? Remember when your IT guy fixed the copier by smacking it real hard?

There are so many great moments that happen every day that can make people smile or laugh, give insights to how things work or explain why you make decisions. People love this content.

It’s easier than ever to record video or audio. If you’re going into a meeting where you know your team will excel, ask your team if you can record it. Edit the great parts and publish them.

If you are very strong in client meetings, get your client’s permission to bring a video recorder into your meeting. Can you think of a better way to show prospects what it’s like to work with you than letting them sit in on a real meeting?

 

Example: Gary Vee

Gary Vaynerchuck, better known as Gary Vee, records everything. Gary has a camera on him every moment of the day. He has a video editing team to create compilation videos around a certain topic and then edit them into a produced video. In fact, Gary is one of the best known champions of “Document. Don’t create.” and has created a series of videos on this exact topic.** (Warning: He can be vulgar)

 

Retell Stories

Maybe having a camera follow you around is horrifying. It is for me. You can still use those moments, they just won’t be captured live.

Retelling stories is the most common way we experience “Document. Don’t create.” You can always use that moment by recounting it in content. Anecdotes are very powerful for teaching lessons. Talk about it on a podcast, a Facebook Live, or include it in a blog post.

You can get creative too. If you have a graphic artist, perhaps they can produce a comic strip of something that happened.

The hard part is that so often when you are going about your day, you don’t think to ask yourself “Would this content be helpful for my audience?” You’ll need to be aware of all the opportunities and how you can retell those stories.

 

Example: How I Built This podcast

How I Built This is a podcast that interviews founders of well known companies and allows them to recount the early days of their business. You can listen to the founders of Tom’s Shoes, Peleton, Larabar and more. It’s a simple interview-style podcast that is executed wonderfully. There is obviously some production, but the content itself already exists and doesn’t need to be written. It just needs to be spoken by the interviewee. Think of the power of learning the biggest mistakes of the most respected companies…

 

Repurpose Other Materials 

Chances are that repurposing other materials is the lowest hanging fruit that you’ve likely never thought could make great content.

Are there internal tools you use regularly to help guide your customers?

At JM, we created a tool for our customers when guiding them on copywriting. We turned one into a blog post about creating engaging content. We’ve also repurposed our writing process into content that we used in a post on scaling content.

Have you created tools or documents to present to clients during your sales process? Do you have tools that you give to clients at some point in your relationship? Repurpose these into content. Create digital media or create a graphic for your waiting room.

 

Example: Brian Dean

Someone that does a good job of repurposing his professional process into content is Brian Dean of Backlinko. Brian great at SEO and great at producing content, especially video content. He started out as an SEO expert that helped businesses improve their traffic from search engines. Now he creates content about HOW he does it. The theory is if he gets good results for SEO, teaching people how to do what he does may be as valuable as doing it himself.

Example: Here’s his YouTube channel

 

 

Where to start

Start by making a mental shift. When it’s time to create content, ask yourself about recent engaging conversations you’ve had with prospects, employees or clients. Retell these stories. Recall the documents or tools you have already created that you or your clients use that you can repurpose into content.

Lucky for us, there was always a camera rolling as Michael Jordan was building his legend. We can see how it came about.

You’re building greatness too. Your fans want to know how you’re doing it. 

Document it.

Posted on Author JM Online Categories Website and SEO Tips

Create Better Content: Use People Also Ask

What if you could write content that answered questions before people knew they needed to ask them? What if you could answer questions that people find too embarrassing or too personal to ask? You would likely develop a stronger relationship, build trust and connect better with your audience than your competitors, and ultimately grow your audience.

I remember trying to fix something on my home and talking to a Home Depot expert about a part I needed. I was very careful to hide the fact that I did something dumb that broke my house. The Home Depot expert was no fool and knew my questions weren’t revealing the real truth. I didn’t need to replace the part, I needed to know how to do the job the right way, all over again.

Like the Home Depot expert, the power of People Also Ask boxes is revealing that the Google user really needs an answer to a different question.

For some industries, there are many questions that people want to ask but are uncomfortable asking you.

But they will ask Google.

You have likely had a question answered by Google based on a different question you asked first. You’ve likely used People Also Ask. Google has the biggest database of questions being asked and harnessing that power will help you write content that answers your customers’ questions better than your competitors and ultimately leads them to your business based on this trust.

 

 

What is “People Also Ask”

When you use Google Search to ask a question, you’ll often see a section of the search results that shows other questions that people ask.

People Also Ask is a feature of Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) where the search engine displays searches that people use after doing the same or similar search you just did. Google’s algorithms recognize that your search is related to other searches. This is helpful because when you don’t know exactly how to ask something, you can explore answers for similar questions. This makes it more likely that you can get an answer to your question.

If you don’t know how to ask a question to get the answer you need, it will help you ask a better question to get the best answer.

 

 

 

How Does it Work?

The search engine contains an enormous database of user behavior. The search engine also collects data about the order or sequence of searches.

Let’s say you are in charge of writing for your company blog and you need some inspiration.  You may do a search for “Ways to get blog post ideas.” Google knows that if you search, “Ways to get blog post ideas,” and you don’t immediately see anything you want to click on, you’re likely to also ask other questions. These questions are what appear in the People Also Ask section:

  • How do I get blog post ideas?
  • What are some good blog post topics?
  • What can I blog about today?
  • What should I post on my personal blog?

I clicked on “What are some good blog topics” and even more PAA results appear:

  • What type of blogs make the most money?
  • What type of blogs are in demand?

Think about those 2 new results for a minute. Can you see the natural progression from “What are some good blog topics” to these new PAA results?

It seems that searchers eventually progress to the question “What makes a good blog topic?” That’s a better question.  If you are needing to write a blog, your content should do something for your business. Based on other searches for the same question and what people click on, Google recognizes that bloggers want to create content that:

  1. helps the business make money and
  2. matters to people today

 

 

 

How can you use People Also Ask to generate great content?

PAA is very powerful for a searcher because it knows what questions are asked by people that ask your same question. PAA is very powerful for a content writer because it tells you what kinds of content readers will be looking for next.

The power lies in being able to answer questions your customers or readers aren’t asking you.

Let’s break these unasked questions into 2 groups:

1 – There are questions that they haven’t yet realized they should ask.

Answers to a question almost always lead to a 2nd question, or 3rd question, and so on. A content producer can anticipate what questions will arise as questions are answered. What if your content can help readers progress through all the questions so that they don’t need to ask somebody else?

2 – There are questions that they don’t want to ask.

Have you ever been too embarrassed to ask the question you’ve wanted to ask, so you would ask related questions instead?

Remember the Home Depot example from the introduction? I was too embarrassed to tell the Home Depot expert what I had done. So instead, I was asking for the part that I broke. I should have told the expert what I did that caused the part to break. My problem wasn’t that my part was broken, my problem was that I didn’t know how to do the job right. So in addition to helping me find the part, he told me what to do differently next time.

Using PAA, if people are asking for a particular part or solution, you can learn new questions people ask when they do something wrong.  Answer BOTH questions.

 

 

Where to create content using People Also Ask

The power of these insights is clear. Use it wherever you publish your content.

Blog or Newsletter

Setup your blog calendar to explore the relevant questions around your subject area. You’ll likely start with some keyword research. As part of your research, review the PAA snippets for questions people ask that you may not have considered.

You can either answer a sequence of questions in a single post, or if it takes more time for clients or customers to develop in your industry, you can structure your content to walk your audience through common stages of growth around an idea with a content series. Think about answering questions in sequence every 2 weeks or once a month in your blog or newsletter content.

FAQ Content

FAQ pages have been getting more attention from SEO’s because the FAQ pages behave similarly to a search result. The page attempts to answer common questions on a topic in one place.

Not only do FAQ’s answer a number of questions in one place, but they offer many relevant keywords on a single page. Because these pages are helpful to users, they stay on the page longer, engage better and return for multiple sessions.

Use the PAA to create your FAQ content. Add this content to your FAQ page on your website.

Social Media

Don’t forget about your other online properties. People are looking for answers to their questions in more places than a Google search. Answer questions in your social media feeds. The FAQ style of content is a short-form type of content that can be easily repurposed for other short-form platforms such as Google My Business, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.

Don’t just answer the question your clients ask. That’s why they come to you, the expert.

They don’t know what they should be asking. You need to help them ask the right questions and provide great answers. When you do, you’ll be well on your way to solving their problem. And they will be well on their way to becoming a lifetime customer.

If you try using People Also Ask to guide your content, let us know how it went. Did you have great success? Was it more complicated than you thought? Did you get some new insights? Email us at [email protected] or give us a call.

Posted on Author JM Online Categories Website and SEO Tips

5 Types of Content to Improve Connection and Engagement

All digital marketing advice out there requires you to create content, lots of it. We don’t disagree.

Needing to start somewhere, you develop processes for creating lots of content assuming that some of it will connect with your audience. It might, but it’s not a strategy for connection and engagement. So much of the content out there doesn’t appeal to audiences in a way that drives a connection. Its missing something, a context, awareness or reader empathy.  It lacks…

Authenticity.

Often when we create content we focus on what we want to say or what we want our audience to know, losing track of how it impacts our audience or if it’s valuable to them. Once you have a process in place for generating content, improve that process so the real you comes out.

The key is to match your online personality to your real, offline personality.

Our aim in this article is to give you some content ideas that develop a content portfolio that is well rounded and help you create content that captures your brand in a way so you can better connect with your audience online. We’ve broken it down into 5 primary types of content and provided multiple examples for each one.

 

 

1. Promotional Posts

Although social media posts are about adding value to your audience, you can and should directly promote your products and services from time to time.

Some promotional content ideas may include:

  • Freebies for email signups
  • Webinars
  • Specific products or services
  • Discounts and specials
  • Testimonials

Example

2. Educational Posts

 If you coach, consult, train, or teach, this is an important category for you to focus on. Share your wisdom to build trust and credibility.

Educational post content may include:

  • Links to your other content
  • Tips and tricks
  • Industry research
  • Free resources (reports and guidelines)
  • Answers to FAQs
  • Case studies
  • Live video training

Example

3. Entertainment Posts

Anytime you can make your audience smile or enjoy themselves, that’s a win. Entertain your audience with a fun contest from time to time. Just make sure to tie it into your industry.

Types of entertainment posts that may work for your business include:

  • Memes
  • Jokes
  • Throwback / nostalgia
  • Contests and giveaways
  • Puzzles
  • Comics

Example

4. Conversational Posts  

Speaking directly to your audience and asking them to engage is a great way to connect. You don’t want to always be talking at your audience, the more you can listen to them, the better. The key to conversational posts, just like a conversation, is asking questions.

Types of conversational posts that work include:

  • Questions
  • Polls
  • Fill in the blanks
  • Asking for advice
  • “Caption this” photos

Example

5. Connection Posts

People love to see behind the curtain. This is relevant to a factory, office or any business. Behind the scenes photos and videos humanize your business for potential customers and, like personal photographs, helps your current customers connect with you on a personal level.

Types of connection posts that work include:

  • Behind the scenes
  • Product previews
  • Stories
  • Employee features
  • Photos from special events
  • Thanking fans

Example

 

Conclusion

Being able to scale your content is good, but scaling connections and engaging content is even better. As you develop your content process continue to search for ways to be yourself, leveraging what sets you apart from your competition, and give your audience a good idea of what it’s like to work with you. Using different approaches to your content can help you avoid being one dimensional and help you appeal to more of your audience. After all, connection is the key, and having an authentic content portfolio will drive personal connections with your audience.  Your online audience will grow, audience will become customers, and customers will share your valuable content with friends and family.

Posted on Author JM Online Categories COVID-19, Marketing

Marketing During COVID-19 and Preparing to Bounce Back

The Covid-19 pandemic has put us all in uncharted territory as individuals, communities, and businesses. All indications are that the economy will slowly start to reopen. Some areas across the country will open faster than others, but all businesses are faced with the same challenge – how do businesses market themselves when consumer behavior has changed so drastically and we don’t know when or if life will return to the way it was?

The reality is people’s needs don’t go away even if they aren’t buying, your services and products are still needed. Your customers are spending more time at home and on social media listening to messages that demonstrate leadership and empathy in the context of the gravity of their situation we’re all enduring.

Many businesses are asking if they should stop marketing entirely or just market differently. How can businesses use marketing to emerge from this pandemic stronger?

 

Should I Stop Marketing?

When the money stops coming in the thought of spending on marketing is difficult. You probably are thinking, “why should I advertise if nobody is buying?” It’s a fair question to ask. The important thing to keep in mind is that people want to buy and many are ready to buy, but the current lockdown and quarantine environment is preventing them.

The point here is that now, more than ever, you need to stay in touch with your customers. They are more connected to marketing channels than usual. They’re looking for news about how their life will change or return to normal. They’re listening and planning. If your voice is silent, your customers will assume you are closed, forget about you,  and engage with a competitor.

Your Competitors are Asking the Same Questions

“Why should I advertise if nobody is buying?”

Your competitors are trying to make the exact same decisions as you. Many of them will decide to not spend money to stay in front of their audience right now. That means this is an unprecedented opportunity to capture a greater market share of consumers with your message.

It Will Cost You More Later

People are spending more time online in general, and even more, time browsing social networks (for example, https://www.searchenginejournal.com/snapchat-usage-up-during-covid-19-data-shows-how-user-behavior-is-changing/364368/). Now is the time to engage them.

You can be growing your audience and future customers even when people aren’t buying. Continuing your marketing isn’t just about maintaining your current customers, it’s about growing your list of potential future customers. You can come out of this with more customers than you had before it started. It just won’t feel like it until people start spending again.

To stop marketing now will cost you more later when you try to build your audience back up. It’s much more cost-effective to stay engaged now and have your audience ready to buy when the time is right, rather than fall behind now and start over later.

 

How should I Market Differently During the Covid-19 Crisis?

Your marketing should be sensitive to the context of the environment. Many people are living in a state of fear and anxiety, many have lost their jobs, and some have experienced the loss of loved ones. This is not the time for hard selling. Your marketing should be helpful above all else. Education, humor, and support are all great vehicles to use to share your message.

Reassure your audience that your business is responding appropriately, following best safety practices, and that you’re open for business if you are still able to provide service and or products.

Avoid the Hard Sell

A hard sell is when a salesperson applies pressure on a potential buyer by creating a sense of urgency. Often it’s conditioning pricing, such as “This price is only good for today”. It’s based on the assumption that the buyer is indecisive.

It’s generally a good idea to be smart when hard-selling even in normal times, but even more during an economic downturn. You want to let your audience know what you have available, but when promoting directly tie your message to a solution to a particular problem and highlight the benefit.

Focus on trust-building. Be helpful, patient, empathetic, and respectful. If you can solve a customer’s problem without selling them anything that may create greater lifetime value when they return to you or tell their family and friends. Maybe you gave them a troubleshooting tip that helped them avoid getting a costly repair. But when they need the repair they’re going to come to you. You’ve created customer trust and loyalty with more long-term repeat sales.

Communicate More than Ever Before

The Coronavirus has made it very difficult to know which businesses consumers can do business with (Ted made this overly clear in our Facebook live discussion, follow this link for his experience: https://youtu.be/5Zl6cls2AhU?t=160). Communicating must be part of your approach. We emphasize overcommunicating because sufficient communication will likely fall short in terms of frequency and clarity. The idea is to keep your audience informed so that when they’re ready to buy, they can buy from you. If you go silent now, you may lose them forever.

 

What should I be doing so I can bounce back strong when life returns to normal?

Plan.

Now is the time to be planning and preparing for when the economy picks back up. Whether it slowly turns on or surges after months of consumers being on lockdown it will return and you need to be ready.

Here are 5 p’s that are adapted by  Harvard Business Review that can be used to help guide your marketing now. Answer these questions in the context of during the crisis, immediately after things open, and when the new normal arrives:

  • Position – Where do we want to go?
  • Perspective – What can we see?
  • Plan – How will we do it?
  • Projects – What will we prioritize?
  • Preparedness – How do we get ready?

 

Don’t Remind Your Customers About What They Already Know

There’s no need to launch new coronavirus marketing campaigns that remind people that times are tough. Everyone is living it, and more than anything, people are ready to get back to normal and are ready to do their part to help their local economy get back on stable ground. You want to strike a healthy balance between selling and overly empathetic branding. At the end of the day, your customers are going to return to you because you’re solving a problem they have. Focus on solving your customer and how you solve their problem.

Respond to today’s crisis by adjusting your message to our context, then distribute your content. We’re already getting back to normal, but emerging from today’s crisis requires planning. Doing your homework today will allow you to emerge into a position of strength. Don’t stop marketing, remain visible and available. And most importantly, keep solving your customers’ problems.

 

Posted on Author JM Online Categories COVID-19, Website and SEO Tips

Small Business During COVID-19: JM Online EP. 1

How can I keep my business profitable through COVID-19?

Chris, Ted, & Eric talk through examples and ideas for the small business owner to sustain their business through this unprecedented level of instability.

 

 

Show Notes:

Leopold Brothers Distillery, New Belgium Brewery and R+L Carriers partner to create and distribute hand sanitizer

Huckleberry Roasters closed their doors early with an emotional appeal to loyal Instagram followers, and then later reopened.

Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters sells competitors products online.

Overcommunicate – See the JM blog post about how to use your online profiles to communicate if you are open for business.

Philadelphia Chef recreates Restaurant Experience at Home – tableside facetime call

Posted on Author JM Online Categories Website and SEO Tips

Do you know when to delegate?

Does it ever seem like you have a surplus of ideas, but a shortage of results? Maybe you have a well-formulated plan to improve your online exposure, but there is so much to learn to be able to do it yourself? Or maybe you have a plan that you can execute, but you don’t know how to track bottom-line results?

Ali Rowghani, a former executive at Twitter and Pixar, identifies how a CEO’s role changes over 3 phases of business growth. The first critical transition for a leader is moving from doer-in-chief to delegator-in-chief. Or put another way, maximizing your productivity doesn’t scale your business, building teams does.

 

“The first critical transition for a leader is moving from doer-in-chief to delegator-in-chief.”

 

But delegating is hard. You won’t have the same control over everything. It won’t be done your way – like it always has been. The quality of work won’t always meet your standards. You need to change from the person that can do it all, to the person that can teach your skills to your team.

Even if you aren’t a CEO, this lesson applies to you and your direct reports. We’ll talk about 2 leadership tiers and how each tier can delegate to a team.

But first, let’s talk about limits.

Know Your Limits 

Maximizing yourself doesn’t scale a business, it creates burnout.

You’re probably a high performer and the most productive person in the company. There’s a good chance that your talents and skills expand well beyond your job title. Isn’t that how you got to where you are? You’re a great doer-in-chief. 

When it comes to building your online presence, there are many platforms that will used in your marketing strategy. There are multiple channels to manage, audiences to engage with, metrics to track, and content to create for each. It also requires specialized knowledge that you likely will need to develop. It takes a lot of time and effort to learn it all. 

Developing teams scale businesses.

You have the vision, but the people around you have the time. Develop them. You will have fears about the speed and quality of work without you. Add value by casting vision and leading your team to work to your standards, faster.

Understanding your limits will give you the confidence to delegate.

Delegate

Maybe you’re a CEO wearing a bunch of hats or maybe you’re a marketing manager that has all the skills. Delegating looks different depending on what role you play in your company. Next we’ll talk about each of these roles and how each needs to give definition and set expectations.

 

Company Leadership – Owners, CEOs, CMOs 

 

Define Bottom Line Expectations 

Before you start spending money on marketing, take the time to clearly define what success means. It could be defined in terms of leads generated, deals closed, or visitors to your website. Success must come back to the broader company goals and revolve around your bottom line: Profit. Without defining success and having a system in place to measure it you’ll never know if your investment is worth it. 

 

Define Roles & Responsibilities 

Empower your team by delegating specific performance responsibilities. This gives team members an aim and a sense of ownership in the campaign. When you tell your team exactly what you want it gives them a shot at delivering for you. Don’t be vague. And ask them to repeat it back to you to ensure you’re all on the same page.

Know When to Outsource 

If you don’t have a marketing manager or a dedicated internal team, the fastest way to get up to speed is by hiring an agency. Agencies are diverse teams of experts who specialize in their field. Just like you, they’ve studied and developed their skills their whole lives, they have the staffing and industry-specific tools needed to get projects going full speed quickly. When your team doesn’t have the capacity and you need to get going fast, hire an agency.

The Marketing Manager 

If you are a marketing manager your decisions will look a lot different from the CEO. As the person directly responsible for the day-to-day operations of marketing your primary goal is to keep everyone focused on the plan and the key performance indicators. This creates a culture focused on results and gives team members something to use to measure the success of their efforts. 

Give Clear Instructions 

Make sure to provide detailed instructions for every task you delegate. “Manage the email list” is not clear delegation. Give details on what successful management looks like by clearly defining expectations and outcomes for the email list. Do your customers do different things based on industry? If so, create user personas so the email list can be tailored to each segment.

Sometimes you don’t know exactly what you need, but you can still set good boundaries and define what you do know. If you need your team to define something, tell them.

Set deadlines and ask for deadlines. Deadlines are the catalyst for getting things done. 

Use a System 

The most effective way to delegate in the digital age is by using project management tools. Nothing keeps projects organized and on task like a good project management platform. Try any of these: 

  • Trello – Create a workflow or delegate using color-coded cards and boards 
  • Basecamp – Great for uploading files and assigning tasks 
  • Slack – Great for messaging and likely integrates into your other management tools
  • Asana – Designed for managing complex projects with growing teams

Trust Your Team 

After you’ve delegated a task, let your team work in the weeds. Resist the temptation to be the doer-in-chief. They won’t solve problems as fast as you or in the same way as you. But you may be surprised to find innovative ideas rise up if you are patient. Let them get into the work and solve problems for you. 

 

Conclusion 

Whether you’re a CEO, owner, or marketing manager, scaling means you must transition from doer-in-chief to delegator-in-chief. Your time can’t scale. Discovering your limits will give you the confidence you need to make that transition.  Your new role as a business leader is to empower your staff to also make decisions within their area of expertise – and trust them to solve problems for you. 

Posted on Author JM Online Categories COVID-19, Website and SEO Tips

Are You Open for Business? Let Your Customers Know

The invasion of COVID-19 into our lives has caused upheaval for so many and Omaha-based businesses are no exception. Between broken financials, new rules for physical storefronts, and determining what you can do for your employees, everything about your business probably feels something like a very blurry tornado.

Another factor to consider is your business’ local online presence. But this post will help you sort it out without having to spend hours Googling everything.

We’ll discuss in a few bullet points what you can do for each piece of your online presence, along with a link to the platform and relevant documentation.

 

 

Your Website:

  • Add a banner or other type of message that’s obvious but doesn’t disrupt the normal use of your site. Be as specific as possible. An example can be found here: https://www.mcallisterortho.com/
  • You could also create a site page specifically for COVID-19 related updates. (See related bullet point for Google My Business below)
  • If your site has eCommerce features and you’re not shipping anything at this time, disable the cart functionality.
  • If only some products (such as non-essentials) are not being shipped, disable those products or mark them as unavailable.
  • Do not pull down or disable your entire website. Even if it’s a short-term measure, that will negatively impact Google’s indexing and ranking of your site.
  • Further information from Google is available here: https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2020/03/how-to-pause-your-business-online-in.html

 

 

Google My Business:

  • Most locations now have the option to “Mark as Temporarily Closed.” If this is the case for your business, select that option right away.
  • If your business is open but the hours have changed, update the hours in the “Special Hours” section of your business information. It’s the same area where you would mark holiday closures.
  • Google has made available a post type called “COVID-19 Update.” Make a post right now describing clearly how customers can do business with you. Make additional update posts as warranted. No need to post frequently but if you have new information regarding the future of your business, don’t be afraid to share it! This is a way to communicate with existing and potential customers who are searching for information about your business.
  • If you have a page on your website for COVID-19 updates, you can post that URL in the business information of your Google My Business property.
  • If you’re a health professional and have started providing your services through video conferencing, or telemedicine, you may now have a field to post your site page with information about this service.
  • More information is available at this heavily-updated post: https://whitespark.ca/blog/keeping-gmb-accurate-during-covid19-pandemic/

For more on setting up and configuring Google My Business, click here.

 

 

Facebook Business Page:

  • Make a post right now describing clearly how your customers can do business with you. Pin the post so it appears at the top of your Facebook page feed.
  • If applicable, update your Page Info, including changed business hours. You have options to select “Open With Service Changes” or “Temporarily Closed.”
  • You can use digital gift cards with Facebook partners to allow customers to support your business now and help encourage foot-traffic when the coronavirus restrictions have been lifted.
  • You could also use Facebook Live instead of canceling events or to stay in touch and continue delivering value to your customers.
  • For advanced users, the recorded Live video could later be edited into shorter videos and posted on Google My Business, Instagram, and other platforms your business might be active on.

My number one recommendation is to make a checklist. Some other suggestions can be found here. It can be easy to get lost in the whirlwind of issues to cover or possibilities to take advantage of. Try to identify each category or platform to cover, prioritize it from most visible to least visible, and then work through that list at least once a week. If you can do that, you’ll be putting your business presence in a good position to rebound when the time comes.

Posted on Author JM Online Categories COVID-19, Website and SEO Tips

3 Ways to Fulfill Appointments Online When You Can’t Meet In Person

Does your business depend on scheduling in-person appointments with your customers? Are you trying to figure out how to keep scheduling appointments while being disrupted by quarantine, social distancing, and business operation mandates?

Without knowing when restrictions will be lifted, how can you plan to begin filling appointments again? Do we wait for permission to allow our businesses to return to normal, or do we adjust our business in order to continue scheduling appointments and serving our clients?

You can still get in front of your clients even if you can’t meet face-to-face. Go online to meet with your customers.

Here are 3 ways to meet with your customers online when you can’t meet in person:

 

1 – Schedule Video Appointments:

When you can’t meet your appointments face to face, you must embrace technology. Meeting with a client on the phone is better than not meeting with them. But meeting them face-to-face over video, creates a stronger connection than a phone call.

Zoom and Skype are the major video conferencing applications. Use those if you and your client are comfortable with them.

If these applications are uncomfortable to you or your client, you can use technology that’s already in your pocket. Most consumers use a smartphone and most smartphones have a video call feature. For Apple Devices, schedule a FaceTime call. On your Android use the Duo application to video call your client.

“What if I need to make a repair, video is no substitute for getting my hands on the problem.”

You’re absolutely right. We know you won’t be able to do a full diagnosis or a repair over video. In this season you won’t be able to do your work as normal. You must see this as an opportunity to create a relationship, serve your client and gain their trust. Taking a look at their problem over video will give your client a chance to feel like their problem will get solved soon. You will be building trust with a client and have a better chance to schedule an in-person appointment for the future.

 

2 – Offer Online Scheduling

Schedule your appointments for the future when you’re more confident that you will be able to meet in person. If you are getting a flood of calls, schedule them for 1-2 months ahead when you trust that you will be able to start meeting in person again. Depending on the scheduling software and tools you use, consider taking your scheduling online to allow your customers to book their own appointment with you. Scheduling online can also allow you to easily reschedule many appointments if you are still unable to meet in 1-2 months.

There are a number of online tools that can assist that range from simple to very complicated. Here are 2 good options to consider:

BirchPress – Birchpress is a comprehensive calendar and scheduling system. You can create a calendar and have multiple service providers set their availability for each day. You can add padding in between appointments for drive time, and you can categorize each provider based on their skill so that users can book the correct appointment.  If you have customers that are in different time zones trying to schedule an appointment with you, Birchpress may not be the best option for you.

WordPress Booking Calendar – This may be one of the best free online scheduling tools you can integrate into your WordPress website. The free version is good if you are a small team with simple service offerings. You can upgrade to pro and additional extended versions that allow you to book by the hour, customize admin permissions, take payments, and customize the front end view to match your website theme.

 

3 – Create Online Tutorials

If you can’t make appointments or meet with clients, you can still meet with your customers online. Your customers still have questions and needs even if you are unable to meet right now.

Consider creating online tutorials, blogs, or videos answering the most common questions your customers ask or how to do the most common repairs you make or steps to fix the simplest repairs.

You may be thinking, “If businesses make money by answering questions and fixing things, why give away your business for free?” Your customers come to you to solve their problems, and when you do, it creates loyalty. When you can’t go out and make the repairs, focus on teaching your customers how to fix the leak they have right now, even if only temporarily until you can come and do it professionally.

Once you have your trust-building content created, distribute it. Put it on your social media channels, put it on your website and in an email newsletter.

Just because you can’t meet with your customers face to face, doesn’t mean that you can’t keep serving your customers. But you may need to innovate and change the way you do business to keep creating loyal customers.

 

Posted on Author JM Online Categories COVID-19, News & Education, Website and SEO Tips

Offer Takeout: 2 ways to start filling orders fast

Are you a dine-in business? Are you just trying to wait it out, or are you looking for ways to respond to the change in consumer behavior due to COVID-19?

In a report by Yelp’s Local Economy Coronavirus Impact Report states that delivery and take-out are replacing dine-in.

Instead of waiting for consumer behavior to change again, what can dine-in businesses do to become a delivery and take-out business?

Start by creating a take-out menu. These need to be your customer favorites and you must be able to make them quickly if demand spikes.

Here are 2 ways to quickly transition to a take-out or delivery business:

Our recommendations are designed to get you started taking orders soon, in the next couple of hours. For this reason, we suggest taking payments at your store POS terminal as usual. Once you are taking orders, then consider setting up a payment processor with your order form.

 

1 – Use your existing contact form:

Chances are you have a contact form on your site. Create a new form where you can allow people to choose which to-go menu items they want. Include their name, address, contact information.

Take their payment cash or card when they arrive to get their order. Also, many contact forms allow you to quickly configure PayPal or other payment processors to allow you to take payments at checkout.

If you aren’t familiar with your contact form plugin, google it quick to get a tutorial. Here is a tutorial for Gravity Forms and Contact Form 7:

Gravity Forms – How to create a contact form in under 2 minutes

Contact Form 7 – Customizing a Form

Time to first order ~ 1-3h

 

2 – Install “Restaurant Menu” plugin

The Restaurant Menu is a complete plugin that is ready to configure with your store info, menu items, and delivery preferences. Once installed, it will prompt you to install a mobile app onto a tablet or phone to receive and manage orders. It even allows your device to connect to your device to a ticket/order printer in the kitchen via Bluetooth, WiFi or USB.

All instructions are toward the bottom of the page starting at “How to Install and Activate”. Setup your menu on the plugin website, copy the button shortcode to a prominent place on your homepage and start taking orders.

Time to first order 1-3h.

After you get your take-out order system started, consider adding a credit card payment fields or PayPal. Consider repurposing your staff into a commission-and-tips-based delivery team.

 

Spread the Word

Tell your loyal customers that you’re open for business and you’re doing take-out. These loyal customers likely follow you on social media. Use a hashtag, something like #takeoutomaha.

Let’s do this Omaha.​​

Posted on Author JM Online Categories News & Education, Website and SEO Tips

6 Principles for Improving Your Online Presence

Your online presence is big. It consists of your website and search engine rankings, social media accounts and followers, paid search engine advertising, email newsletters, eCommerce products, Amazon, eBay, Google My Business and other local search properties. In our last blog article, we discussed our belief that doing big things and working on big projects requires long-term thinking composed of many small, well-placed steps.

Most business owners don’t think this way. In an effort to have a big immediate impact, most businesses try to take too big of steps and find themselves with projects upended, incomplete, over budget and behind on scope.  Thinking of your online presence as a long term process, composed of many small steps, prevents your brand from becoming a liability, and allows your company and online presence to grow together.

Chances are your business isn’t in marketing or technology. But the expectation is that you understand marketing and technology well enough to put together a plan. Where do you find the time to learn all of this? How do you know what you should do? Where do you start?

Here are 6 principles that we believe will help any business make decisions for building and maintaining their online presence.

 

1. Have fun!

Building a business is fun, why shouldn’t it be? We all know your online presence should make an impact on your future customers, but why not let it be a fun and exciting experience also? Enjoy the process.

In the same spirit, choose some problems to solve just because they are fun. Maybe you’ve always wanted to be on the radio. Have you considered starting a podcast? Maybe you’ve always enjoyed fashion. Consider a set of videos or photos promoting your brand and have fun selecting clothing or doing makeup.

The energy of fun is contagious. If your team is having fun with an online initiative, you likely already have a higher level of buy-in and involvement. And that makes it fun for your audience to watch.

 

2. Create the right relationships

Your #1 goal as a leader is to build a team that can function without you. This means hiring the right people, but it also means finding the right businesses to partner with when you’re ready to do something different.

The fastest way to make an impact with your online presence is to hire a company that does it every day. They often work with businesses across many industries and have built their business by solving problems like yours. They know the technology, resources, and strategies and they have the people to help you go from 0 to 60.

Your agencies may be able to help you make decisions beyond their field of work. These agencies have worked with your competitors. They have worked with great organizations and well-managed businesses. Having strong relationships gives you the chance to talk about problems you share and their experiences with creative ways to solve those problems.

  • How should you structure your department?
  • What roles do you need in your department?
  • How should you transition from a team of 1 to a department of many?

Your agency partners have wide networks and may know someone that would be a good fit for your company. Connect on LinkedIn and network to find mutual contacts with your interviewees. Your next hire may be a recommendation from an agency relationship.

 

3. You don’t have to do it all

There are lots of great ideas out there and pressure comes from everywhere, telling you that you need to do everything. All the industry leaders, articles, and even your colleagues are quick to tell you what you’re missing.

Steve Jobs was famous for asking his colleagues, “What have you said no to today?” Saying no recognizes that not all good things are equally important. Saying no to good ideas for the sake of your biggest problem requires clear vision and thick skin.

Let’s simplify it all.

1 – Take inventory of everything you want to do – every improvement, upgrade, and extra task possible when starting a new project.

2 – Isolate the biggest problem you have. Take inventory of all the problems you would like to solve in a list. Circle the #1 problem, your top priority.

3 – Solve your biggest problem first. On your list of improvements and upgrades, circle the smallest number of steps that must happen in order to solve your biggest problem first.

Say no to the rest.

 

4. You don’t have to know it all

What if your top priorities are all outside of your comfort zone? The best answer is to start with your relationships and see what progress they can help you achieve. You can’t be shy. Be willing to talk to those people you haven’t spoken to for a long time.

If you don’t have a connection who can help, the same principle applies: take small steps. Learn the most important or the most interesting thing. And of course, always be looking for relationships to help you out.

 

5. Should I start fresh or fix what I have?

Are you ready for a fresh start or a symbolic change? Do you have the wrong contact information or outdated employee photos on your site? Is your technology is no longer supported? Have you had a change in brand?

You have a decision to make: Do you want to fix the immediate problems? Or do you need to start over?

Any neglected system will require lots of work to clean up, but that doesn’t mean you must start over. If your online presence has been neglected, but there isn’t anything fundamentally broken, you can focus on fixing the immediate problems. Examples of fixable immediate problems are:

  • Do you have massive email lists that need to be consolidated and sorted?
  • Are there tons of old pages and blog posts that need to be cleaned up?
  • Is there confusion about multiple or redundant admin accounts that are causing confusion?

When considering rebuilding, evaluate your system itself, not the amount of work required to clean it up. Even if you start from scratch, you’ll have to clean up these messes. You want a system that can grow with you.

  • Is the system inherently robust and extendible?
  • Is it constantly breaking?
  • Does it require specialized knowledge to operate?

Those are the types of questions that will help you decide if you should rebuild.

 

6. Plan to maintain your online presence

It’s always expensive to fix anything that has deteriorated. Like everything in business, your online presence will deteriorate if you neglect it. The good news is you can decide on a maintenance plan. It’s ok if you’re in a season where you want to do less. Make a plan that covers the basics.

The point is, no matter how mature your online presence, you need to maintain it. Maintenance is what prevents it from deteriorating.

You see, there is a lot of freedom. You don’t have to be an expert and you don’t have to do it all. Consider what is right for you and your business. Where are you already strong online? What resources do you have available? Commit to maintaining your online presence and take the first step.