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Life Coaching Marketing: Tips for Attracting Clients and Building an Audience Online and Offline

The Greatness Blog

Life Coaching Marketing: Tips for Attracting Clients and Building an Audience Online and Offline

If you’re a coach, this article is for you! Let’s take your coaching business to the next level with a client attraction system

As a coach or consultant, you know that the success of your business depends on your ability to attract new clients. However, without a system in place, it can be challenging to consistently bring in new business. 

In this article, we’ll outline the steps to building a life coaching marketing system for attracting clients that will help you to grow your business and achieve your goals.

Let’s roll 😊


Client Attraction Tip For Coaches #1: Define Your Ideal Client

 

The first step in building a life coaching marketing plan template for attracting clients is to define your ideal client. This means understanding who your target audience is, what their needs and pain points are, and how your services can help them. Take the time to conduct market research and create buyer personas that represent your ideal clients. This will help you to create targeted messaging and content that resonates with your audience.

Let’s say you’re a life coach who specializes in helping women in their 30s and 40s who are struggling with work-life balance. To define your ideal client, you would start by conducting market research to understand the needs and pain points of this target audience. You might find that many women in this demographic are feeling overwhelmed by the demands of their career and family life, and are looking for strategies to achieve greater balance and fulfillment.

Next, you would create buyer personas that represent your ideal clients. These personas might include details such as age, occupation, income level, and family status, as well as specific challenges and goals. For example, you might create a persona named “Stressed-out Sarah,” who is a 35-year-old marketing manager with two young children and a demanding job. Sarah is struggling to juggle her work and family responsibilities and is looking for ways to achieve greater balance and reduce her stress levels.

By creating buyer personas like Sarah, you can create targeted messaging and content that resonates with your target audience. 


Create Buyer Personas Using AI

 

Not sure where to start? Use AI Marketing for life coaches! For example, you can ask Chat GPT (we’re using GPT 4) to give you buyer personas. In this case, I asked for buyer persons for a life coach that wants to help working moms. Here are the 3 buyer personas that it gave me:

  1. Busy Beth – Beth is a 38-year-old working mom of two young children who works as a project manager at a tech company. She is struggling to balance the demands of her job with the needs of her family, and often feels overwhelmed and stressed. Beth is looking for a life coach who can help her to develop strategies for achieving greater work-life balance and reducing her stress levels.
  2. Stressed-out Sarah – Sarah is a 35-year-old working mom of a toddler and a newborn who works as a nurse at a local hospital. She often feels exhausted and burned out, and struggles to find time for self-care and relaxation. Sarah is looking for a life coach who can help her to prioritize her own needs and develop a self-care routine that fits into her busy schedule.
  3. Overwhelmed Olivia – Olivia is a 42-year-old working mom of three school-age children who works as a marketing manager at a large corporation. She is juggling multiple responsibilities, including her job, her children’s extracurricular activities, and her aging parents’ needs. Olivia often feels like she is running on fumes and is looking for a life coach who can help her to manage her time more effectively and find ways to simplify her life.

Knowing the buyer personas can help you tailor your voice. In this case, knowing that you’re talking to moms in healthcare, tech, or management is key to create content that resonates with them.


Client attraction tip for coaches #2: Develop a Content Strategy

 

Developing a content strategy is an important part of attracting new clients as a coach or consultant. Here’s a list of content types and what they’re good for:

  1. Blog Posts – Blogging is a great way to showcase your expertise and provide valuable information to your target audience. Blog posts can be used to educate your audience, share your personal experiences, and offer tips and advice. They can also help to drive traffic to your website and improve your search engine rankings. Ideally, when you’re starting, you want to be uploading at least 2x per week.
  2. Videos – Videos are an engaging and effective way to communicate your message to your audience. They can be used to share your story, provide tutorials or how-to guides, and showcase your personality and brand. Videos can be shared on social media, embedded in blog posts, or hosted on video platforms like YouTube. And if you’re blogging, you can turn your blogs into videos! Lumen 5 is a great tool for this!
  3. Social Media Posts – Social media is a powerful tool for building your brand and engaging with your audience. Social media posts can be used to share your blog posts, videos, and podcasts, as well as to provide updates about your business and share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your life. They can also be used to run social media ads and promote your services to a wider audience.
  4. E-Books – E-Books are a valuable tool for providing in-depth information and insights to your audience. They can be used to offer a more comprehensive guide or resource than a blog post or video, and can be offered as a lead magnet to attract new subscribers to your email list. E-Books can also be sold as a product to generate additional revenue for your business.
  5. Webinars – Webinars are a great way to engage with your audience in real-time and provide valuable information and insights. They can be used to showcase your expertise, offer a training or workshop, or provide a behind-the-scenes look at your business. Webinars can also help to generate leads and attract new clients to your coaching or consulting services.

By creating a variety of content types, you can reach a wider audience, engage with your target market, and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Pro tip: Be sure you create a synergy between your content and what you sell. For example: if you sell a system to help moms in burnout, write a series of content discussing the possible ways to avoid burnout.


Client attraction tip for coaches #3: Develop a Signature Talk

 

A signature talk is a presentation or speech that showcases your expertise and unique perspective on a topic. Developing a signature talk is an important part of attracting new clients because it allows you to demonstrate your value, establish your credibility, and connect with your audience on a deeper level. Here’s why:

  1. Demonstrates Your Value – When you develop a signature talk, you’re offering your audience something of value. You’re sharing your expertise, insights, and experiences, and providing them with actionable advice and strategies. By offering something of value, you’re demonstrating to your audience that you’re a credible and trustworthy source of information and advice.
  2. Establishes Your Credibility – Developing a signature talk can help to establish your credibility and position you as an authority in your field. When you deliver a polished, professional presentation, you’re showing your audience that you’re serious about your work and committed to helping others. This can help to build trust and establish your reputation as an expert in your field.
  3. Connects with Your Audience – When you develop a signature talk, you have the opportunity to connect with your audience on a deeper level. By sharing personal stories and experiences, you can create a sense of empathy and understanding that helps to build rapport with your audience. When your audience feels that you understand their needs and challenges, they’re more likely to trust you and seek out your services.

Developing a signature talk takes time and effort, but the benefits are well worth it. A signature talk can help you to attract new clients, establish your credibility, and connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Pro tip: Your signature talk can be as tiny as your elevator pitch and as big as your 3-day conference! You should be able to communicate your talk in a short sentence. For example: I help working moms in the healthcare industry who are suffering from mom guilt.


Client attraction tip for coaches #4: Build an Audience Offline

 

While online marketing is a powerful way to build an audience, offline marketing can also be an effective strategy for attracting new clients to your coaching or consulting business. Here are some tips for building an audience through offline marketing:

  1. Attend Networking Events – Networking events, conferences, and trade shows are a great way to meet potential clients and build relationships with other professionals in your industry. Attend events that are relevant to your niche, and come prepared with business cards, brochures, or other materials that showcase your services.
  2. Speak at Events – Speaking at events is a powerful way to establish yourself as an authority in your field and build your audience. Look for opportunities to speak at conferences, seminars, or other events that are relevant to your niche. Develop a polished presentation that showcases your expertise and offers practical insights and advice.
  3. Host Workshops or Seminars – Hosting your own workshops or seminars is another way to build your audience and attract new clients. Offer a free or low-cost workshop that provides value to your target audience and showcases your expertise. Make sure to collect contact information from attendees so you can follow up with them after the event.
  4. Participate in Community Events – Participating in community events, such as charity fundraisers or local festivals, is a great way to raise awareness about your business and connect with potential clients. Set up a booth or table and offer free consultations or other incentives to attendees.
  5. Use Traditional Advertising – Traditional advertising methods, such as print ads or radio spots, can still be effective in building your audience. Consider placing ads in local newspapers or magazines, or sponsoring a radio show or podcast that is relevant to your niche.

In closing

 

If you want to take your coaching practice to the next level, building a client attraction system will help you grow a business you love. And the sooner you can start working on the marketing strategies we’ve shared above, the better. So don’t hesitate to reach out! We have marketing packages for coaches like you! Book a complimentary call.

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Lead Generation Online Made Simple For Advisors & Agents

If you are a service based professional: realtor, coach, consultant, insurance agent, financial advisor, etc, struggling with lead generation online, you are not alone. Lead generation is pretty much a part time job.

What are the best lead generation strategies for you, as a service provider? Let’s discuss some lead generation ideas that will help to get you more leads and more customers as well.

Why lead generation online can be frustrating:

According to the recent survey by Gartner, lead generation is a key pain point for 58% of business leaders, and this percentage is unlikely to decrease in the near future.

(a) Lead generation online requires new skills, which professionals might not have the time or desire to learn.

(b) It can be time consuming, just like cold calling.

(c) Some professionals are hesitant to share their personal lives online for fear of privacy.

Would it be great if you had leads coming your way, instead of the other way around?

Instead of blindly reaching out to people who are part of your target audience, how about reaching out to those who are actually interested in the product/service that you provide?

This is where Inbound Marketing comes in.

Where cold calling relies on the hit and miss approach, inbound marketing helps companies attract prospects to their website by generating content that the latter actually wants to read. This content enables the audience to determine if the products or services provided by that company are suited to satisfy their needs.

What is inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing services that works

Inbound marketing is a technique for attracting prospects to your company’s products and services by leveraging quality content, social media, SEO. It’s generally perceived as one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways of converting strangers into customers while also creating powerful promoters who will be effective in helping spread word about what you’re doing at work or home.

How lead generation online can be made easier:

Inbound marketing makes lead generation online easier. By staying at the top of your customers’ mind, companies can reduce their lead efforts to a great extent. This is possible by making it easy for prospects to find important information about the product/service that they offer on their website.

It is no longer possible for businesses to rely solely on outbound lead generation or in person events to reach prospects.

Here are some of the strategies you can implement today to generate leads.

#1 – Generate leads online with a content platform.

Content marketing is growing in popularity, because it offers lead generation opportunities for prospects as well as for future buyers of you services.

Develop case studies, how-to videos about topics relating to lead generation that interest your lead.

#2 – Collaborate with content creators for lead generation.

Reach out to bloggers, savvy authors, social media influencers, and other lead generating professionals and discuss ways that you can collaborate on lead generation projects.

One way is to offer them a lead magnet in exchange for an interview about their business essentials lead generation tips.

#3 – Position yourself as authority in the market.

Speaking engagements and workshops can offer you the opportunity to position yourself in front of your ideal client.

Be sure to select your speaking topics strategically, so you can have prospects coming your way, asking for advice and resources.

#4 – Implement a content marketing campaign across multiple channels.

What is multi-channel marketing?

Multi-channel marketing involves marketing across different platforms in order to have a wider reach of (prospective) customers. Instead of relying on one medium to communicate with the public, multi-channel marketing means you are spreading out your efforts to interact with more people. In essence, multi-channel marketing is being everywhere at once.

Multi-channel marketing increases awareness of your brand. Research states that most people require five to seven impressions to remember a brand. Therefore, utilizing multiple platforms would make your brand more popular. This would subsequently increase conversion.

#5 – Hold lead generation webinars.

Lead generation webinars are a great lead conversion tool for lead generating professionals who offer their services online. It’s an effective tool when trying to collect leads, as long as your content is valuable to the attendees.

#6 – Generate leads online by being relevant to your audience.

You can generate leads online by just being helpful. Craft posts and infographics on popular topics, according to your lead’s interests and needs. Share it with your social media followers, email lists, sms, etc.

#7 – Run a giveaway or contest on social media.

Are you considering lead generation online contests?

According to Forbes, 79% of internet users are more likely to purchase from a brand they “like” on social media, and 62% of them would even share branded content with their peers.

Lead contests can be like lead magnets. The key is to offer something of value.

#8 – Start a show and interview leaders, experts, and consultants.

Interview lead generating professionals who can add value to your audience.

#9 – Host an online event: challenge, conference, etc.

An online event can be a lead generation strategy. Whether it’s an exclusive seminar, free training session or a live Q&A, you can promote your event and get hundreds of attendees easily.

#10 – Go live on Facebook + Instagram.

Go live on social media will help your audience interact with you on a 1-on-1 basis. They can ask questions and you can lead your answers in the direction of where lead will be lead to conversion.

How much time would you need to implement inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing is completely scaleable. You can outsource all the content production and all you need to do is simply build the relationships with the leads.

How much is an inbound marketing – content marketing plan?

A complete inbound marketing solution with content written for you, advice on which channels to share, lead generation tactics to promote your magnet, and more can cost $1,000 – $3,000 per month.

What if you don’t want to be on video?

Inbound marketing is about creating content that provides value for your audience. You don’t need to be on video to benefit from inbound marketing! The idea of inbound marketing is to create content that adds value for your audience. It doesn’t focus on turning you into an influencer.

Strategize With An Inbound Marketing Expert

When it comes to lead generation, there are a lot of options out there. In this post we’ve outlined 10 different methods that can help with more leads with less work. Which one will you try first?

If you need additional guidance on how best to implement these tactics in your business or want some tips for getting those leads turn into potential customers, schedule a consultation today! We would love the chance to chat about what’s working (or not) in your demand generation efforts so far and provide helpful feedback – just pick a day from our calendar.

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Do You Really Need A Business Coach?

Do you really need a business coach? Maybe!

Let’s cover some important questions that you want to ask yourself when you’re in the process of hiring your business coach.

What Do You Want From A Business Coach?

Before we dive in, let me tell you about a conversation I had with a very successful business owner with over 20 years of experience and great friend.

She asked me if I thought that a business coach could help her.

“What would you like from a business coach?” I asked.

Her answer: I don’t really know.

A completely normal answer.

There’s no definitive guide on how to hire a business coach. Business coaching is a relatively new practice and has little to no regulations.

So, I asked her if she could tell me the story of how she started her business and how she currently felt about her business.

That question worked!

She told me all about her business idea, how she started, and all the work she put into building it up. Her eyes were shining. You could tell she was reliving those great moments in her head from when her business was a dream and she saw the possibilities.

I was patiently listening to her story as the suspense built. As expected, the romance period ended, business is taking more effort than what she thought, and she is questioning if there’s something more fulfilling that she could be doing.

She said …“I feel like I am in a different place. I no longer see my business as this amazing money-making machine.”

Can you relate?


Click here to take our business coaching survey.

As a business matures, the romance period ends and growing a business, on top of working with clients, becomes a heavy lifting job. This creates friction, since the original reason for starting a business was to not have a job.

The challenge for entrepreneurs is to figure out ways to feel passionate about their business, even when things are not looking great.

Hiring a coach makes total sense at this point (ideally you don’t want to wait until you feel like quitting).

I asked her more questions about her routine, the things she likes about her business. And I found out that she had been working on other projects related to helping foster care centers and would like to find a way to incorporate those into her business. 

You might not know what do you want from your business coach, but you will know what do you want from your business. The kind of routine you want to have.

Having clarity about the kind of lifestyle you want to live will certainly help you in the process of hiring a business coach.  If you can find a business coach that has achieved what you want to achieve and is willing to share everything with you, even better!

A Business Coach For Entrepreneurs Will Be A Great Fit

My friend’s story reminded me exactly how I felt, back in 2008, when I lost my law firm income. I had found an opportunity to work from home and was very confused. I wanted to know if that opportunity could truly replace my law firm income and wanted clear steps to make it work.

I was willing to put the effort, but I couldn’t afford to waste time.

So I met an attorney with experience in direct sales, who was living it! He gave me some pointers, but after a few calls, I was ready to start on his coaching program.


How Did I Work With My First Business Coach?

My first business coach had a very personalized model. He built a curriculum – just for me.  And I think this gave me a huge advantage.

During my first year of working with my first business coach:


  1. I had a clear vision of the kind of business I wanted to build.
  2. I learned about personal branding and how to position my story, instead of selling products online.
  3. He crafted our marketing and sales systems and became the #1 hispanic ambassador for Beachbody.
  4. I started a new distribution agreement with an international company.
  5. I discovered a new world of MINDSET tools.

I signed up a 3-months contract and by the time I was in month 2, I already knew I wanted to work with him for a full year. And we did. Best decision ever!

Keep in mind, this is back in 2012. This experience inspired me so much that I decided to be a marketing coach. So I signed up in a full year program with a marketing academy lead by Fabienne Fredrickson.

I’m a product of coaching and truly believe that if you find a good coach, your life will transform.


Business Mentor vs Business Coach

Another question that might come up when you’re doing your research is about the difference between a mentor and a coach.


How is a business mentor different from a business coach?

A business mentor has first-hand experience of the mentee’s line of work. A business coach, however, does not need to have hands-on experience of the kind of work the coachee is engaged in.

You’re getting someone who’s already walked in your shoes. They are experienced in your field and can help fast-track you along your growth path. They can offer guidance, friendship and support; there is usually a level of personal connection as they serve as a role model to help an individual reach their potential.

My first business coach was a mentor more than a coach.  Since my experience was so impactful, I am biased towards this coaching approach.

You should ask your future coach if their work is more mentoring than coaching and see how they explain it to you.

When I coach entrepreneurs, I mentor them. I’m an open book.  My clients have access to every move we make, behind the scenes.  They have seen wins and failures too.


Your business mentor should own a successful business 

Your business mentor should be successful. Something that seems very obvious, but it’s not always the case.

If you aspire to become a full time entrepreneur, your business mentor should have experience as a full time entrepreneur, building businesses.

There are “business mentors” who have never built a business successfully and sell programs teaching people how to grow a business.  This brings a huge red flag.


Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs (Coaching Packages)

If you’re looking for small business coaching services or small business coaching packages, a business coaching & mentoring program offers the best of both worlds.

Most coaches are creating packages. A package combines training and coaching with a customized mentoring experience. In this way, you could be getting pre-recorded modules, in addition to private coaching sessions.

In my coaching program, for example, we offer pre-recorded modules, personalized curriculum that covers sales and marketing training, and mastermind calls for accountability and implementation.

Finding a business coaching program near you will be recommended. Proximity will be key, as the program typically offers live events that can impact your business tremendously.


Business Coaching & Mentoring in Austin, Texas

If you’re in the Austin, Texas zone, my business coaching & mentoring program could be a great fit.

I combine personalized mentoring with coaching via private sessions, mastermind calls, and retreats. Members get access to a private community with exclusive opportunities to grow their business.

This is a great fit for business owners who are looking for a good mentor so they can thrive in life while growing a successful business.  Take our coaching survey to get to know you more.

We are designing our 2021 coaching packages and you can sign up to be the first to know.

 

Take our business coaching survey!

 

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How To Hire For Search Engine Marketing Services? 7 Questions To Ask

I wish someone had explained to me, in layman’s terms, what does SEO mean? How is SEO done? And how do you hire for SEO? 

So that’s what I am doing today. Demystifying the most important considerations that a small business owner needs to have before hiring for SEO or Search Engine Marketing Services. And also, I’m covering a list of must-haves for those savvy entrepreneurs who are confident about developing websites and managing keywords, but don’t have a computer science degree and have no desire to go back to school to learn how to develop Java Codes, data warehousing, data mining, and other advanced digital marketing skills. 

… Why? Because … what you don’t know is costing you money. Not everything is DIY! Especially in the SEO world.    

Search Engine Marketing SEO vs Social Media Marketing – Which One Has More Impact?

A small business marketing budget tends to be limited — but that’s a good thing! When you don’t have endless cash flow, you need to be more assertive. You’re forced to learn to spend your money where it’s really going to count.

If you’re considering hiring marketing services, or starting to market for your own business, perhaps you are debating between social media marketing or search engine optimization (SEO) services. 

A Real-Life Example of How Do We Use Both, Social Media and SEO

Imagine you’re planning a trip to California. You’re not sure about which city to travel to just yet. How would you go about making that decision? 

You might search on Google and get some ideas. But you might also check out some pictures, hashtags, locations in particular, etc. And … you might just post in social media the typical post “I’m planning a trip to California and not sure which city is best, San Francisco or San Diego?” 

What you just did- searching in different places and seeking advice in different ways- is called “the future buyer’s journey”. 

The reality is that you need both SMM and SEO, but the good news is that social media marketing is easier than SEO and you could learn how to do it and save some marketing budget. As long as you have a social media strategy and the time to implement, the skills needed are not as technical as the SEO skills.

So… if you will do social media marketing, why would you still need to hire someone for SEO? Can your SEO wait until you get more budget? The short answer: yes you need to hire someone for SEO and that should not wait. 

Prioritizing SMM vs SEO (Which One Goes First?)

Google and social media are both needed, but they will serve a very specific purpose that varies by where they are in their journey, which is why you want to have a big-picture strategy- the overarching approach to reach your goals.

When we develop a visibility strategy for the companies we consult for, social media becomes their main source of referrals and word of mouth marketing.  

In general, social media marketing will mostly generate you sales if, and only if, you’re using direct sales tactics. This means:

  • You post very frequently
  • You stay in front of your audience
  • You inspire them
  • You educate them
  • You message them
  • You follow up with them

That’s great, but … it depends on YOU.  If you have time to do all the process of social media marketing: planning the content, writing the content, preparing the visuals, scheduling the posts, on top of doing the social selling work, that’s good. But this doesn’t mean that it’s a scalable model.

You might want to leverage someone else’s time. Someone who actually enjoys doing that work so you can do the tasks that a CEO does. If you have time, you might want to learn social media strategies and digital marketing skills that can help you do that work in less time. 

Search engine marketing, on the other hand, it’s not all about you directly sending messages to users. While many SEO gurus will say that you need to blog frequently and stay on top of your people, in reality, if your digital assets are in order, your business should be getting traffic and qualified leads as you’re reading this article.

If you’re overwhelmed, tired of running all bases of your business, and you’re looking for help with acquiring customers, SEO is your very next move. This can be even better than hiring a sales rep. 

The One Thing That Matters When Hiring For Marketing 

At some point, your brand will be in the minds of many people and you’ll get business coming to you. But … until you reach that point, strategic marketing is needed so you can execute a plan that takes you from where you are today to where you want to be, in the shortest time.

If you’re like most of my clients, you prefer visuals! One of my favorite tools to strategize is overarching models. It’s when you take the big-picture approach and see where everything is and visualize where you want it to be.     

Overarching Strategies provide a general framework for the plan’s goal-specific strategies and define the scope of what the department must undertake and implement to achieve the plan’s goals. As the term overarching suggests, these strategies impact everything the department undertakes and expects to achieve.

If you don’t have a strategic marketing plan to grow your business, you’ll be at risk of losing money in the long term. This is why… what truly matters is that your marketing resources are strategically connected to your business vision. If not, you might find yourself growing a business on a treadmill. Next year will come and you’ll still be in the same place. 

How To Hire For Search Engine Marketing (SEO)  

Just like you won’t give yourself a fancy haircut, you’ll take your SEO needs to an SEO expert.

Generally speaking, you should expect a personalized service. 

There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all SEO plan. And if there is, from the agency you’re about to hire, please step back.

Number One: Do They Know Your Needs?

Your SEO strategy starts by understanding your current online visibility. If you’re not even on the radar, you’ll need the heavy lifting work so you can get on the map as quickly as possible.

Here’s the tricky part. How can you pick the right talent if you have no idea about what SEO is? Perhaps you’ll search in Upwork or Fiverr for “best SEO” and there’s a good chance you won’t understand what they say they do.

The mandatory question here is: what is your goal? What do you need?

Your brain will play you! You will say “I want sales” which is normal. But the problem is… you can’t go to an SEO guru and tell them “I want sales”. They can’t give you sales and neither can social media marketers. Marketing and sales are two separate departments. This is why even the best e-commerce sites convert at 3%. It’s truly a numbers game.

Your SEO needs will vary, based on your business status and goals.

Your SEO strategy starts by understanding your current online visibility. If you’re not even on the radar, you’ll need the heavy lifting work so you can get on the map as quickly as possible.

Make sure to discuss your needs with your SEO specialist beforehand so you can be on the same page and have the right expectations.

Number Two: Ask For Conversions

Remember that search engine optimization (SEO) can be described as strategies and tactics used to ensure that future clients can find you when they are searching online for solutions that you offer. I call SEO “hacking Google love”. 

In theory, the higher a website naturally ranks in organic results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. In practice, ranks alone won’t pay your bills. 

Your website can have 100,000 monthly users that have no intention to buy from you. 

Believe it or not, there are many SEO specialists that only focus in ranks. I hear very often stories where business owners have paid several thousand dollars and can’t see results from the SEO marketing. 

Not too many SEO specialists are equipped to be specialized in conversions. 

Number Three: Hire A Senior-Level SEO

Hiring a senior-level SEO consultant will bring you higher ROI.

Personally, I prefer to hire experienced professionals who have 1) at least 10 years of experience and 2) industry knowledge. It takes them less time to find the answers I need and I get to execute faster.

Clarify with your SEO specialist what’s their experience and make sure they are experienced in technical SEO. A good question to filter their expertise is: how will you optimize my pages for qualified traffic? And for conversions? Can you show me?

Number Four: Request A Strategy Session 

When it comes to SEO, just like social media, you have the marketing – execution and the strategy. Not every SEO specialist is a strategist. They can learn … but you might not want them to learn with your business! 

Number Five: Clarify If You’re Getting Local or National SEO 

If you’re a local business owner, your SEO needs will be different than if you’re, for example, a national company looking to sell on e-commerce. You’ll need Local Search Engine Marketing.

If you’re a franchise owner, e-commerce business owner, service-based professional, your needs will be different. 

You see how this is turning more complex and why, if you don’t know what you truly need, you’ll hire the wrong people? If you can relate, my suggestion is to take 3 steps back and consult with a strategist.

Number Six: Take A Holistic Approach To SEO

Optimizing your brand so that it gets picked when people are searching for the services or products that you offer takes more than just typing keywords.

Factors that impact your SEO success:  

  • Creating and publishing excellent content.
  • Using keywords and keyword analysis.
  • Link building to improve the website authority.
  • Using social media links on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
  • Improving your site’s navigation to provide an excellent user experience.
  • Using marketing and sales copy that converts.
  • Your brand’s baseline and brand reputation.

Number Seven: Start With Technical SEO 

Ask your SEO specialist which tools will they use. Tools like SEMRush, Screaming Frog, and Google Search Console can help analyze technical SEO, but they won’t fix the technical problems.

I always love sharing my story of how I discovered the truth of SEO a few years ago.  I genuinely thought that just writing content and sharing on social media, consistently, was going to help my SEO. While our agency website got from 0 to 15,000 users per month, traffic would go back and forth. After a while, following the plan of “type or die” got me anxious. I took my website for a checkup with a technical SEO expert and this was my reaction:

There’s a good chance you have some of them and you just don’t know. And most tasks will require intermediate or advanced webmaster skills. 

Fixing your technical SEO problems can be a rabbit hole. This is why I recommend discussing your brand with a senior-level expert to get certainty of what you truly need.

How Much Does It Cost To Hire SEO Strategy?

Consulting fees for a senior level SEO will go from $150- $350 per hour. But not all your needs will require a senior-level expert which is the beauty of this! 

You can get a great robust SEO project done with about $2,500- $5,000. 

Why do some SEO agencies offer SEO packages for $300 per month? 

There are SEo agencies that offer plans where they monitor your brand for $300 a month and might work in some backlinking. But that’s not what you need the most! 

What you need today is a healthy website, full of strategic content, positioned in platforms where people can find you.

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Framework for Strategic Planning 101

Growing a business with unlimited capital is certainly easier than growing a business without it. During times when cash and resources are running their course, reaching your business goals comes down to making assertive decisions. 

If this is your mindset today, you’ve reached a place where you can put your fears to rest and activate your strategic brain to focus on what your business needs today in order to secure a win.

Let’s roll.

The Fascinating Origin Of The Word Strategy 

The word “strategy” is derived from the Greek word “stratçgos”; stratus (meaning army) and “ago” (meaning leading/moving). 

A strategy is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. 

The term came into use in the 6th century C.E. in East Roman terminology, and was translated into Western vernacular languages only in the 18th century. 

From then until the 20th century, the word “strategy” came to denote “a comprehensive way to try to pursue political ends, including the threat or actual use of force, in a dialectic of wills” in a military conflict, in which both adversaries interact.

Not every decision means going to war. However, in business (and in life too), when we face a critical season, we can’t just close our eyes and go with the flow.

Critical times call for precision. Each move can be a deal-breaker. This is when a strategic plan is needed.

The Initial Assessment: What Are Your Goals?

 Taking emotions out of this equation, navigate the moment when you sat down to write down your goals.

I used to tell my paralegals, back in my other life when I was a litigation attorney, that they should always set up realistic and worst-case scenario goals but to calculate the plan to achieve the best-case scenario. 

Our clients had access to the worst-case, but internally we had the best-case. 

This helped us tremendously to have conversations about expectations from day 1.

According to the best research, less than 3 percent of Americans have written goals, and less than 1 percent review and rewrite their goals on a daily basis. 

Do you have your 2020 goals written? Don’t feel bad if you don’t. 

One of my favorite mentors, real estate expert, and international speaker with Rich Dad and Poor Dad and CEO of The Real Estate Business School in Texas, Wayne Morgan, says that there are three groups of people in the world.

Those who make things happen

Those who watch things happen

And those who ask “what happened?”

When it comes to goal setting AND achievement, there are 3 types of people in the world.

Those who set goals and achieve them. This is the group that MAKES THINGS HAPPEN.

Those who set goals and NEVER achieve them. This is the group that WATCHES THINGS HAPPEN.

Those who never set goals and wander around aimlessly, rudderless and acting randomly, never achieving much at all. This is the group that asks “WHAT HAPPENED?”

GOAL #1 is to stay out of group #3!

Now that you’re in need of a tight and strategic plan, you’ll write down your goals. And if you are thinking about it from a positive perspective, even if you wrote them down before, you would have still needed to do this again!

These questions can help you examine your goals.

  1. What was your revenue goal for 2020?
  2. Which projects did you want to complete in 2020?
  3. How many clients did you forecast for 2020?
  4. What was your marketing budget?
  5. Did you have partnerships lined up for 2020? 
  6. Did you have a plan to reach your 2020 revenue goal?  
  7. As you look back, did you set up unrealistic goals? 

The Dig Deeper Phase: Is This Worth The Fight?

I’m assuming that you’re a leader. You certainly have a vision of how to make things right. You’re not a quitter. 

Let’s dig deeper, which means, let’s put the critical thinking into action.

The greatest military leaders in ancient times, including Julius Caesar, Sun Tzu, Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, Attila the Hun, Gaius Marius, and others, had one important thing in common: they were all superior critical thinkers.

They applied their critical thinking skills of analysis, interpretation, inference, and evaluation to strategic, operational, and tactical problems of all kinds.

The same can be said about the great military minds today.

Effective leadership at every level is as much about thinking as it is about motivating and following through.  Plans must be devised and tested, adaptions made as conditions change, assumptions tested, and contingencies accounted for. To lead anything well is to solve complex ill-structured, real-time, problems and to make sound, informed decisions.

10 Key Questions Leaders Use To Trigger Critical Thinking In The Groups They Lead

  1. How is this situation like prior situations?
  2. How is this situation NOT like prior situations?
  3. What happens if we take this element out of the equation?
  4. What happens if we insert this factor into the equation?
  5. How is the problem changing over time?
  6. How can I adjust and adapt to those changes?
  7. Why are standard approaches consistently failing?
  8. How can I drive the chances to achieve advantage?
  9. Why are my people not seeing the complexity?
  10. Am I missing anything that other leaders are seeing?

If the military theme doesn’t resonate with you, I suggest you take a more soul-based approach. That’s totally fine. Connect with your inner voice to then activate your critical thinking. And of course, you can tune into your intuition as well.

The unmissable question you’ll need to ask is: what is the price that will make this fight worth it for you? 

We’re not here to end this battle with you losing. We just need to rewrite your expectations and set up the goals so we can win. 

The Shift: Setting Up Business Goals To Win

I can tell you from experience, calling the shots, when you’re the only one facing consequences if things go wrong is very easy. What’s not easy is when you are the one calling the shots and many lives are depending on your abilities to lead.

You wish you didn’t have to be that person. But… you are.

I will never forget the day when I announced to my employees that our law firm was going to shut down. This moment still brings me to tears. It was hard. Not only seeing my personal dreams melting, but it felt very heavy on my shoulders. 

What did I do wrong? Where did I fail? Did I betray their trust? What did I miss? … 

Challenging times put your leadership skills into the test. 

Leaders lead. 

What Is A Strategic Goal?

Strategic goals are visions for your business that have quantifiable or qualitative results. 

You can’t grow what you can’t measure.

Strategic Goals Examples

Revenue stream goals

Depending on your business, you might have different products or services. It’s time to find out which ones are doing very well and which ones are not. 

You can analyze your revenue stream by the amount of revenue that they each bring, profit they render, or the number of resources they demand from your business. 

For example, if you’re limited to selling a product because you don’t have the cost to produce them, you could say “I need more money”, launching a new revenue stream using the resources that you have could be a strategic goal.

Experts say “your network is your net worth” and that’s for a reason. 

Note: your brand name might have accumulated equity. It’s worth exploring the possibility of leveraging your brand in certain segments.

Technology has accelerated networking, reduced the degree of separation between contacts, amplified our global playing field, and redefined the job prospecting process.  

Think about who do you know today, who could help you share your mission? 

Another area worth exploring is customer segments. If you’ve been selling to consumers, perhaps it’s time to consider if selling to other businesses will benefit more.

Financial strategy goals

Revenue is not profit. Profit does not equal good cash flow. Cash flow is king.

You can’t just look at your profit and loss statement (P&L) and get a grip on your cash flow. Many other financial figures feed into factoring your cash flow, including accounts receivable, inventory, accounts payable, capital expenditures, and taxation.

Effective cash-flow management requires a laser focus on each of these drivers of cash, in addition to your profit or loss.

I recommend business owners get very granular on their cash flow and track their revenue and expenses daily.

If you are running an e-commerce business, your system will give you a report on daily sales and will also compare it with the prior year. This should be a document that you see at least 3 times a day.

Strategic marketing goals

When it comes to crafting a marketing plan, what will turn your marketing plan into a strategic one will be the ability to translate each activity into revenue.

Marketers get very uncomfortable when they are put in this position. But as a business owner, you must demand strategic moves from your marketing team.

Your marketing campaigns will be strategic, meaning:

  1. You’re targeting a market after doing research and identifying the opportunity. Less testing, please!
  2. You’ll reduce the number of marketing channels to focus based on what performs best.
  3. You’ll have access to marketing and sales key performance indicators (KPIs) with clear benchmarks to meet daily.

As a leader, anticipation is key. 

Be prepared to deal with updates in your IT infrastructure, since most of your sales transactions will require digital tools.

Tips for setting up strategic goals:

  1. Define what the reality is today. 
  2. Know your numbers. 
  3. Call a group of trusted advisors to brainstorm.
  4. Pick the path of less resistance (where can I get the most opportunity, using the least amount of resources).
  5. Get very granular with your marketing plan. You can’t grow what you can’t measure. Each goal should have its own KPIs (key performance indicators)
  6. Define benchmarks.
  7. Identify how to measure success.

The W.W.W.: What, Who, and When 

So you’re calling the shots. You know what you have, what you don’t have, and you’re determined to win. 

You have your worst-case and best-case.

It’s time to activate your army (the who) and bring one thing to your business: CASH. The when? ASAP!  That’s the WWW! 

  1. The what
  2. The who
  3. The when

Business strategists are like first responders. I know that when my clients call is because they have urgency. Especially during unexpected times.

Online Sales Strategy

Ever wonder how many people use the internet? Almost 4.57 billion people were active internet users as of July 2020, encompassing 59 percent of the global population. 

I don’t think I need to convince you about how your potential users are searching online as part of their everyday life. 

No one could have predicted the environment we’re currently living and working in as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital channels, including social media channels, are critical to boosting your sales online. The key is to track and measure in order to modify or amplify. If you can’t do it with a digital channel, then that activity won’t be considered strategic. 

Examples of strategic digital marketing activities:

  1. Activating paid social channels using custom audience features and retargeting features. During times when resources are limited, we don’t recommend doing too much testing in paid digital outlets. Mistakes can be costly.  I’ve campaigned at $1,500 PER CLICK. You certainly want to stay away from “gambling with paid traffic”.
  2. Focus on lead generation. Leads are the heart of sales. Your website should be optimized for leads, not for traffic, at this point. If you’ve been doing SEO marketing, it’s time to add CRO tactics (conversion rates optimization).
  3. If you want to drive sales online, your website must pass the Google test. How can people buy from you if they can’t find you?
  4. Build a niche audience. Now more than ever you want a core group of people. A circle of trust that can share your products or services with their friends.
  5. Direct sales strategies, online. Direct selling is also known as direct response marketing.  Direct response requires little or no time waiting to see measurable results.

There are countless digital marketing strategies available. You will be surprised by how quickly they can impact your bottom line.

Checklist of Marketing Strategies That Can Help Generate Both, Awareness and Conversions

Reverse Engineer Your Profit Goal

Since you want to generate sales, your focus should be on generating leads first. 

Try to come up with as much data about your customers as possible. Again, knowing your numbers is a big part of working, not just smarter, but strategically. 

Where do most of your best clients come from? Can you simply find more like them? 

I follow this model to reverse engineer the revenue and profit goal. 

If you don’t have enough leads, there are two possible reasons:

Reason 1: you have a visibility problem

Digital visibility is very easy to calculate. Check your website traffic, the number of monthly users, and you’ll know how many people are interested in your products or services. 

If your business is new, then digital visibility relies on the size of your network. Your email list, your warm connections, as well as their network. 

Reason 2: you have a conversion problem

If you have enough people looking at your website but sales are not happening, you have a conversion problem.  Very often there is a crack in your website or a plugin that is making Google block your website and that’s why people can’t find you.  

Make sure that your website is in good health before you decide to go out there to generate leads.

Don’t Forget Existing Customers 

Don’t forget to consider your customer base. They can provide your best word of mouth marketing.

At times when cash is coming to the end, having an unpaid salesforce is GOLD.

What can you do to get your existing customers putting a good word for you?  The best companies in the world have the best loyalty programs and there’s a reason for it.

Become a Great Negotiator

As an attorney, I tell my clients to watch out for the fine print. There’s a good chance that now that you’re reviewing your business from a 30 feet distance, you will find commitments that no longer serve your business.

Seek for relief. If you can’t pay, don’t stress out. 

You can always negotiate with the parties involved and find creative ways to meet your obligations.

Also, in case you are the business obligated to fulfill products or services and you need to restructure your commitment, just know that you can. 

In Closing

No business template has ever been written in stone. Things can happen. As long as you stay true to your vision, you’ll find a way to get your business off the ground.

My office is open to help business owners put their fears to rest. Let us take a look at your landscape to see what strategies we are able to propose. It costs you nothing.

At Marketing For Greatness, I lead the strategy sessions with clients in order to help them both launch and pivot. Having a strategy-minded consultant on your team is worth the investment. 

At this point, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Let’s chat. 

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A Strategy To Go From Freelancer To Business Owner In The Gig Economy

The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has been the bane of the labor market, as the health care crisis causes industries to struggle and businesses to shutter. Early data shows that new job postings are down and unemployment claims are soaring. 

A record 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, according to Thursday’s Labor Department report, compared with around 280,000 a week earlier.

If you’re in the traditional labor market or your business has been impacted, the gig economy has solutions for you. 

The Gig Economy Definition

The gig economy is a free market system where organizations and independent workers engage in short-term work arrangements. According to the BLS, in 2017 the US gig economy had 55 million participants. It’s estimated that 36% of US workers take part in the gig economy and 33% of companies extensively use gig workers.

The word “gig” refers to the transient nature of the job itself.

Gig Economy Examples

The gig economy definition encompasses all sorts of contingent work arrangements, for example:

  • Freelancers 
  • Consultants
  • Independent contractors and professionals
  • Temps (temporary contract workers)

The gig economy is often mistaken for limited side hustling—part-time work that can only yield part-time (i.e., low) income. 

If you’re tech-savvy, now is the time to change your perspective. Professionals with the right skills have lucrative freelance options, according to a FitSmallBusiness.com study. 

The “Coronavirus Economy”

The pandemic has been a relentless destroyer of brick-and-mortar businesses as public health officials warn against in-person interactions. But the coronavirus is boosting almost anything that can be done online or with minimal human contact — grocery deliveries, online learning, takeout food, streaming video, even real estate closings done with online notaries.

The result, economists say, is likely to be dramatic losses in local retail and dining options, with millions of jobs disappearing as the biggest and wealthiest companies — especially those that do much of their business online — extend their gains. 

Telework, online education and streaming video have grown sharply. 

While some economists caution that these shifts may be temporary, others see long-term changes taking hold.

Joining The Gig Economy

You might be considering starting a new business, selling products or services. The main question is “how to replace your full time income?” 

Back in the days of our Big Recession, I debated between pursuing my law career or taking the devastation as an alert to shift. I chose the second. 

Shifting from a traditional career to the gig economy was not an easy process, mainly because 10 years ago nobody was talking about it. 

To give you some context, Upwork, the biggest platform for freelancers, started in 2005 as O-desk. The company wasn’t acquired until 2015. Today, Upwork has twelve million registered freelancers and five million registered clients. 

Today, more than ever, I consider myself a pioneer and visionary. I saw the perks of working for home and fall in love. I told my friends “I want to have a permanent beach life.”  A vision that was once viewed as crazy by my friends, has turned into a real company. I help professionals turn their ideas into real income-generating opportunities so they can build their own beach life. 

You can pivot! It sounds too good to be true, but if you have an entrepreneurial spirit and can hustle, then you will succeed. 

How To Start Freelancing?

The first step is making an inventory of your transferable skills. In my case, for example, as an attorney, I transferred:

  1. Research skills
  2. Story-telling skills
  3. Writing skills
  4. Ability to manage complex processes
  5. Ability to meet due dates
  6. Organization skills
  7. Leadership skills
  8. Persuasion skills
  9. And other soft skills that helped me build a successful law firm at age 27

You can check my Marketing University later, but before that, let’s discuss possible gig works for you.

Sustainable Gigs for you

The rapid spread of digital technologies is transforming many economic and social activities. If you’re tech-savvy, or have experience in traditional marketing, there’s a spot for you in the gig economy.

Let’s take a look at some examples of freelancing jobs you can take, by polishing up some skills.

Facebook Ads Expert $150 Per Hour

Experience:

  1. 5-7 years
  2. Industry-specific expertise

Skills:

  1. Extensive digital marketing experience in the industry.
  2. Writing skills.
  3. Advertising experience with performance reports.
  4. Platform-specific
  5. Marketing research
  6. Marketing strategy
  7. Business development

Project Manager $125 Per Hour

Experience:

  1. Management/project management experience
  2. 15+ years of experience

Skills:

  1. Trello, Jira, Monday, Teamwork, Basecamp, Asana, Wrike, Slack, etc.
  2. Mastery of organization tools like Google Docs and Spreadsheets along with Drive, Dropbox, and the like is key.
  3. Outstanding communication using multiple tools like Skype and screen share is very useful in keeping processes efficient and effective.
  4. Ability to handle fast-paced environment
  5. A big plus: experience in global team management.

WordPress Digital Strategist $125 Per Hour

Experience:

  1. Marketing consulting experience 10+ years
  2. Full marketing & sales cycle: online and offline

Skills:

  1. Brand design
  2. Website development
  3. Content marketing
  4. Business blog design
  5. Search Engine Optimization
  6. Digital channel development.
  7. Mastery of organization tools like Google Docs and Spreadsheets along with Drive, Dropbox, and the like is key.

CRM Developer $125 Per Hour

Experience:

  1. Software solutions architecture
  2. 5+ years of experience

Skills:

  1. Data analysis
  2. Outbound/inbound marketing automation
  3. Lead generation architecture
  4. Software-specific mastery
  5. Strategic planning
  6. Full marketing & sales cycle: online and offline

Content Marketing Strategist $100 Per Hour

Experience:

  1. Story-telling & communications
  2. 10+ years of experience

Skills:

  1. Copywriting for social media posts, enterprise experience
  2. Article writing, industry-specific
  3. Blog writing
  4. Social Media Audits and Strategy
  5. Brand Management, Project and Team Management
  6. Highly Effective Communicator
  7. WordPress, Microsoft Office, SEO certification
  8. Social Media Analytics Reporting
  9. Self-driven

Virtual Customer Service Management $75 Per Hour

Experience:

  1. Customer service manager or director
  2. 5+ years of experience

Skills:

  1. Strong written and oral communication skills
  2. Web research
  3. Prepare and present reports, studies, and other various projects.
  4. Highly organized.
  5. Systems to meet deadlines.  and achieving positive results.
  6. Ability to work under pressure with little or without supervision.
  7. Can provide blog writing for specific industries
  8. Data miner – social media – lead finder

Instagram Marketing $45 Per Hour

Experience:

  1. Social media management
  2. 5+ years of experience

Skills:

  1. My strong written and oral communication skills
  2. Instagram marketing
  3. Instagram ads
  4. Reports
  5. Lead mining and lead management
  6. Industry specific experience is preferred
  7. Customer service skills

From Freelancer to Business Owner

Freelancers are also called solopreneurs. However, they don’t necessarily see themselves as business owners. 

Regardless of the identity or model that you use to operate, your goal is to bring as much income as you can, while keeping your life in check.

Here’s an overview of the path to go from freelancer to business owner.

1) Build a brand- establish your unique valuable proposition and claim a voice.

2) Testimonials- reputation is currency in the digital economy. 

3) Marketing strategy- define your marketing channels and marketing plan to get visible.

4) Advertise – combine online and offline channels to expand your reach. 

5) Partnerships – get bigger players to promote your work.

The most important asset: your entrepreneurial spirit. If you have it, you will shine! 

In Closing

The gig economy is real. When you’re ready to strategize, I’m here!

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5 Proven Strategies To Scale Your Business

There are several reasons why entrepreneurs want to grow and scale their business fast. Besides the obvious, making money as fast as possible, there are more reasons why a business should grow and scale fast. Success loves speed! Speed activates momentum and virality.  

If you’re an entrepreneur with audacious goals and want to find strategies to grow revenue while scale your business to maximize profits, keep reading! 

What Does Scaling A Business Really Mean?

It is important to note that growing a business and scaling a business are not the same thing. As a business grows, meaning the business is increasing revenue, it is also utilizing and adding resources equally as fast in order to sustain the and build that growth.   

While it is encouraging to see an increase in revenues, business owners need to be able to adjust their revenue-generating model to find ways to get more customers with minimal added costs.  This is where having the knowledge of scaling becomes key.

Scaling a business, on the other hand, means you are adding revenue faster than costs to generate new clients. 

For example, a business that is scaling may gain $50,000 in new revenue for which they spent only $5,000 on marketing automation tools to allow more efficient marketing to a wider audience. The business’ gains outpaced its losses, allowing it not only to grow but also to scale, by not adding additional costs. 

For small business owners, growth and scaling are a must, in order to survive and make it to the next level; otherwise, you will be forced to cap your income potential.  Business owners who have not been able to successfully scale either have to turn business away or return to the job market.  

5 Ways Small Business Owners Can Scale Their Business

⁣Let’s explore the key activities that entrepreneurs or small business owners can do to scale their business.

Number 1. Delegate Strategy To Experts ⁣

I’ve seen so many business owners that have started their company “by accident.” They identified a problem, created the solution, and talked to a couple of friends, and the next thing they know … they have a business!

If your business started “by accident” there’s a good chance you are analyzing success just by seeing the revenue that comes in and the expenses that go out.  Typically, that is a good plan for the first 1-2 years, until you realize that you have no life and need to add more resources in order to have a sense of normalcy..

Can you relate? 

Can you see your business getting to a point where you can’t sell more products or serve more clients because there’s only so much you can do alone? For professional services, this happens very quickly. 

To avoid the hectic days when your business is no longer fun, it’s important to have a scaling strategy. Don’t try to do this yourself. Find a business strategist who can help you see what you can’t. 

I’m a fan of recommending the Business Model Canvas exercise to my clients, and then discussing with them a way to create even bigger opportunities. Typically, their vision is smaller than the opportunities we create for them. 

One of the most effective strategies that help entrepreneurs scale is automating their customer acquisition process. This means acquiring more clients without hiring a sales team. By automating the customer acquisition process, the cost structure is more predictable, allowing business profits to skyrocket. 

Number 2. Invest In Yourself⁣

In order to scale, as a business owner, you need to find ways to increase your value. If you’re a service-based business, adding a new skill can help you add more services, especially if those services can be presented as “add-ons” to your existing clients.

Are there other services that you can add, without adding costs?

If you have a team, for example, learning customer service strategies can help you become a better leader. Can you think of ways you can invest in yourself so that you can offer more value in your business?

Number 3. Outsource Strategically ⁣

In the ideal world, marketing should pay for itself. This means, your marketing costs should bring you a return on investment, plus more. For startups, this is a challenge. There are many marketing costs associated with developing a brand that will take more than a year to recover. 

When it comes to identifying a company that has done a beyond-amazing job at branding its product, Starbucks is at the top.  As a small business owner, you might not have access to the kind of capital that Starbucks has, but you still can use some of their branding strategies, adapted to your budget.

When you look at Starbucks, you will notice that their message is clean and consistent. If you go to the website, you will see a campaign called “Black History Month”. They use social media to share the message around this campaign.

How can you do the same? While you might not be as creative and great with words as Starbucks, you can simply outsource your content strategy to a marketing wizard who can structure the content for you, even if you take care of your own social media management! 


Social media can be a powerhouse for any marketing team if used correctly, and Starbucks is doing just that by:

  1. Repurposing content
  2. Interacting with their customers
  3. Starbucks creates a lot of content; however, they make it easier by repurposing content across all of their social media channels.

By repurposing, I mean breaking down a larger piece of content into smaller sections to reuse across multiple channels.

Let’s be clear, Starbucks is not copying posts word for word and pasting them across every network. Each social media channel is different and requires its own message.

Outsourcing strategically means you don’t need to increase the costs by outsourcing everything, but you can outsource the critical steps of acquiring a client. 

You can find content creators for as low as 2 cents per word these days. If you’re not having the conversions from your marketing, then outsourcing content should be your next key resource to find. 

Number 4. Find Money

While it’s true that a business can’t grow without money, it’s also true that money, without a strategy and a plan to scale, will just be wasted. Your business will always be in debt, and quickly you will be out of business.

Money is a crucial factor to scale your business, but only if it’s used for resources that can help increase profits.

Investing in automation is a great example of how you can use money to add more revenue streams to your business, without investing in human resources and labor costs. 

Putting money in your SEO plan, for example, will allow you to replace your sales force. It will cost you less money to have a sales team, than to get your website ranking in Google, and converting web visitors into clients.

5. Find Marketing Partners Who Can Get You Visible ⁣

Let’s just make a pact! You want to build a business, but you also want to have a life. For this to happen, it’s crucial for you to find opportunities to collaborate with others.

Your goal is to find other companies so you can expand your visibility by tapping into their audience. They don’t have to be equity partners in order to establish a synergy where both businesses can benefit.

Vertical partnerships are your best bet, as long as they share your same values, because teaming up with a horizontal competitor is asking for conflict. 

Aligning with key influencers in vertical industries have given my company enormous access to a qualified audience of potential new customers. As a result, we saw the explosive growth that quickly increased sales and made us more attractive to future partners.

This process doesn’t have to be complicated. You can start with identifying opportunities to collaborate, on Instagram, for example. Play team! 

Looking for business strategy, marketing strategy? Here in Austin, Texas? I can be of help!

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How To Start A Business- 4 Steps To Succeed

Not every small business is positioned for success. In fact, only about two-thirds of businesses with employees survive at least two years, and about half survive five years. So you may be in for a real challenge when you decide to take the plunge, ditch your day job, and become a business owner. The stage is often set in the beginning, so making sure you follow all of the necessary steps when starting your business can set the foundation for success.

I’m a marketing strategist, recovered business attorney, and Shark Tank addict!  I’ve been helping business owners for over a decade now.  Every week at my agency, we get to consult business owners who want strategies to get more clients. 

I also host VIP Retreats with entrepreneurs and small business owners. The last one was our Q3 planning day, which is why I got inspired to write these 4 steps to success for entrepreneurs who need to get more clients by yesterday.

Simplification is crucial for every entrepreneur. I believe we have a tendency to just think 🤔 too much.

The Moment When You Realize You’re Running Out Of Time

What if we just FOCUS on simple but effective activities that will generate revenue, and end with the overwhelm status? Do you promise me you will read this quick lesson and will put all the efforts to simplify your calendar and get to work on what truly matters? If so, let’s dive into this lesson!

Since you want to learn how to start a business and found me, I have a feeling that you can relate with one of these 2 scenarios:

Scenario ONE.You’re clear about your business idea, business structure, and have taken action. You have tried every hack, seminar, workshop, coach, and mastermind out there, but still haven’t seen the results you set to achieve. You know something is missing but don’t know what that is.

Or …

Scenario TWO. You are considering starting a business. Don’t know what service or product you could market. You’re completely overwhelmed by all the information and resources out there and can’t take action.

Both cases are completely normal for the early stage of a business owner. So let’s put your fears into rest and get you to find some wisdom so you can get motivated to grow your business! 

In What Stage Of Business Are You?

If you ask 10 entrepreneurs what are the stages of a business, you will have 10 different answers. In my opinion, your revenue will be a great indicator of the stage where you are. It will dictate the challenges you should expect, and the resources that are needed to succeed. 

Every time you hit a new revenue benchmark you will experience a new set of challenges and will need a new set of resources to keep climbing. This infographic from Infusionsoft has a great recap of the stages, annual sales, and key factors to success. 

I help clients who are in Stages 1-5. That’s where my passion and expertise is. If there’s something that generates an almost instant transformation for a business owner, is VISION.

Take a moment to study this infographic below and see where you are as of today. If you haven’t hit the $300,000 in sales yet, this means you are in the early stage (regardless of how many years you’ve been in business).

4 Success Factors To Make Your First $100,000 (And Generate Profit)

Success Factor Number 1: Branding

An estimated 12,000 shops could close by the end of 2019. The retail apocalypse isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, USA Today reports.

Which stores are surviving?

Those who are capable of drive customer loyalty. And how is that possible? Well… you know the answer very well… Let’s see… Do you support Starbucks? Apple? Wholefoods? Why?  It’s about their brand and branding.

Starbucks brand philosophy

Since its founding days in the early 1990s, Starbucks has strived to build its brand identity by offering customers a relaxing and enjoyable experience. From the very beginning, the experiential aspect of the brand has been consistently and effectively implemented in all its stores across the world. In addition, Starbucks has also built its brand on things that tend to be out of the box, by consistently defying conventional wisdom.

Regardless of whether you’re in business or not, we all have a “brand identity.” We’re all known for specific traits and characteristics. At work, at home, with your immediate family, your friends, and especially on social media. All the groups that you are a part of you see you in a certain light. The same goes for when you start your business. In my Visibility Method, I emphasize that the foundation of your business or personal brand is to follow a clear set of brand guidelines.

Most entrepreneurs focus only on what their products or services do. Instead, we recommend marketing your personality, your identity, proven success record, your values, so you can earn trust from your audience.

If coming up with this list is difficult for you, then ask yourself, “What challenges have I had to overcome to start my business?” The point here is to see that no matter what kind of products and services you offer, people want to connect with real people. 

I call this marketing statement a Manifesto. Let people know about your values and beliefs. 

Success Factor Number Two: Lead Generation System

Once you’ve branded yourself, and really dissected what problem you solve for your target audience, you need to now go find your clients!

There are many to generate leads, from offline to online methods and the best part of creating your lead gen is that you have options! So pick what works for you and make it into a well-oiled machine for your business.

In my free download, 100 Ways to Generate Leads, I discuss all the different ways you can create a pipeline that consists of qualified leads. Here are a few simple ways to generate leads to get you started:

✔️Host a webinar

✔️Set up a joint venture campaign

✔️Lead capture on the homepage of your website so you can activate email marketing

✔️Landing page to collect contact information

✔️Facebook cover page description

The list is long, so take a moment and download my entire 100 Ways to Generate Leads.


Not having a lead generation strategy in place is where most businesses fall short. You can have a pretty website, with beautiful photos, and perfectly printed business cards. However, if you don’t have a system in place to bring qualified leads through proverbial door, your business won’t grow. Be sure to check out my free download on the 100 ways you can generate leads. 

Success Factor Number Three: Optimize Your Offer (SEO)

If you want to get inside your customer’s minds, you must use the right SEO tools so you can know exactly how to describe your solution, so that your potential clients can find you. 

This is why, if you hired a web developer to do your website or you did it yourself, you were asked for your list of keywords.  

List of keywords? How exactly do you know what’s a great list of keywords?

Let’s be honest.  SEO is complex. You might read the definition and might think you understand it, but it’s a very complex world, for a reason. 

It’s impossible to conduct keyword research, analyze your competitors, track search results, track traffic and conversion trends, troubleshoot technical problems, and execute effective content marketing without the right tools.

Most entrepreneurs don’t really understand why and how SEO can help you in growing their business. They make the mistake of ignoring it, thinking that they will work on this task “later”.  

Listen up! If you want to generate those $300,000 in sales per year, Google is your best friend! 

Describing your products and services using optimization tools is critical at this stage.

People won’t buy from you if they can’t find you (even if you’re a local business owner and just want word of mouth)

There are over 2 trillion Google searches per day in 2019, but Internet Live Stats, an excellent source for making assumptions, claims around 5.5 billion searches done on Google per day or over 63,000 search queries done per second.

Luckily, there are many free SEO tools to help you get started.  I’ve written about my 10 favorite SEO tools!

Read next: 10 Amazing Tools We Use To Activate Your SEO

There are many moving parts when you’re starting your business. I get it. 

Getting crystal clear on the exact solution you are providing your customer will save you a lot of time, energy and money down the road. 

When you think about it, it’s very simple. If you know what your customers are searching for and it’s in your expertise and wheelhouse, you can then market directly to them and provide them the solution that they need. You’ll be up and running in your business in no time!

Success Factor Number Four: A Solid Plan to Stay Motivated

Let’s face it. As an entrepreneur, you’re going to come up against long, grueling days. There will be days that you want to give up, lose all desire to muster up the motivation, or worse, shut down your business.

It’s impossible to be positive at all times. However, it is possible for you to design your daily life in a way that you are surrounded by people, places, and habits that increase your motivation levels.  Here are a few ways that I can assure will help motivate you to keep moving forward, even when you want to give up. These may sound simple, but the point is that they are simple, and they work, 

Set a goal and plan of action

If you’re already in the habit of setting goals, great! Time to set a new one, and one that is slightly more challenging. Either way, make a detailed plan as to how you’re going to achieve your goal, step by step. When you have a plan, you have a vision, and when you have a vision you have something to be motivated for. 

Celebrate daily achievements

As entrepreneurs we can steamroll through our tasks without stopping once to acknowledge how far we have come. Be sure to track the progress of your clients, project goals, and revenue goals. You’re motivation will be enhanced just by you recognizing that you are achieving things that you may have found difficult or impossible. 

Exercise, eat well, and sleep

This may sound like a no-brainer but exercise, nutritious meals and adequate sleep is essential for your concentration and mood. Lack of sleep has a direct correlation with depression and anxiety. What seems so simple is actually crucial for your motivation and success as an entrepreneur. 

Take imperfect action

You may be feeling stuck because you don’t have everything “perfect” in order to move forward. It’s ok. Entrepreneurs are overachievers. But, if you allow your perfectionism to get in the way of you taking action, it’ll make you feel worse in the long run. Taking imperfect action is about gathering the information you already have and take a leap of faith. Doing this will allow you to not only increase your confidence, but will also strengthen your ability to deal with uncertainty. 

Find a mentor

You don’t necessarily need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a coach. There are plenty of successful entrepreneurs willing to provide mentorship. Mentors have walked similar paths and can help layout the steps ahead for you. Their personal experience and guidance can help provide an immense amount of clarity and courage– to keep you motivated and succeed as an entrepreneur.

Looking for a mentor? 

Let’s chat! I am looking to mentor an entrepreneur who is driven, heart-centered, with great work ethic, who wants to generate $1M in business. Book our virtual coffee today!

Jessica Campos, founder of Marketing For Greatness

Jessica Campos, JD, BBA is an educator, author, forensic digital marketing expert & strategist.  She traded in her law career in order to pursue her passion: helping entrepreneurs build wealth by taking advantage of the thriving content economy. 

Jessica‘s 15+ years of experience in entrepreneurship, background in law and business, tracked online sales record, and her network, represent a wealth of resources for professionals and entrepreneurs that want to attain success.

Get instant access to her latest book, The 6 Golden Rules of Social Media at www.marketingforgreatness.com. And while you’re there, make sure to check The Greatness Blog and The Greatness Marketing Podcast. 


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Business Model Canvas: It’s Time To Bulletproof Your Business

The Business Model Canvas was created by Alexander Osterwalder, of Strategyzer. This fascinating tool has been featured in multiple publications, including Forbes, where they describe it “as simple enough to sketch on a whiteboard — and powerful enough to refocus the way you view your business”.

If you’re looking to grow your business and don’t know where to start, running your ideas through a Business Model Canvas will allow you to identify potential areas where you can improve.

VIP Strategy Day

In case this is your first time at The Greatness Blog, let me get you acquainted with the context of this information.

I’m a forensic marketer, attorney, educator, and CEO of a successful media company in Austin. I’m Caribbean and my DNA boils when I connect with amazing people! I guess you can call me an extrovert. When it comes to working as a forensic marketer, there’s something to be said when I call an event where all my clients get together. They are AMAZING (both, my clients and the events).

VIP Strategy day is a day where my clients come and spend a day together. We are actually planning a 2-day VIP Day, since we always feel like time goes way too fast and we want more.

The Power of In-Person Interactions

Unlike attending to a video call or a webinar, when my clients come to an event, I get a face-to-face experience that takes the mentorship and coaching process to another level. I can see and feel their breakthroughs. Because of the “content overload” problem we have, face-to-face communication creates a much greater impact.

Our VIP Day allows participants to build more meaningful relationships with other entrepreneurs. I have seen collaborative projects, introductions, and ideas being born during our VIP Days. And if you think about it, it makes sense to cut the noise have intentional conversations with like-minded individuals. It builds a level of trust that cannot be built through a computer screen.

Entrepreneurs over produce ideas

Nearly a quarter of adults around the world are chronic procrastinators, according to research conducted by Joseph Ferrari, professor of psychology at DePaul University and author of the book Still Procrastinating: The No Regrets Guide to Getting It Done.

In my opinion, after being an entrepreneur for about 6,500 days (and still counting) and mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs over the last decade, the main reason why entrepreneurs have lots of unfinished projects is due to the fact that they overproduce ideas. Their mind won’t stop thinking. They are in a constant search for solutions, systems, and resources. Even the most successful ones, can’t stop thinking about ways to live a fulfilled life.

Accountability accelerates your performance

The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) did a study on accountability and found that you have a 65% of completing a goal if you commit to someone. And if you have a specific accountability appointment with a person you’ve committed, you will increase your chance of success by up to 95%.

During our VIP Days, we discuss big-picture strategy, find the areas of opportunity for growth, and set up goals around them. Having access to a community who provides encouragement and support makes a difference.

For this particular event, I added the Business Model Canvas as a tool to map a successful business model and develop a clear plan of action, focusing on revenue generating activities.

The Business Model Canvas

Please note, there is no particular order to complete this Canvas. But in my experience, to bulletproof a business, you must start with the fundamentals.

So today we will cover exactly that!

Customer Segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, and revenue streams.

Fundamental Step 1: Identify your Customer Segments

Customers are the heart of your business model. Without (profitable) customers, your company can not survive for long. In order to better satisfy your customers, you may group them into distinct segments with common needs, jobs-to-get-done, common behaviors, or other attributes. Your business model may have one or several large or small Customer Segments.

If you have been serving a group of customers that are no longer bringing profits to your business, you must make a conscious decision about which segments to serve and which segments to ignore. Once this decision is made, your business model can be carefully designed around a strong understanding of specific customer needs and jobs-to-be-done.

 

Don’t confuse customer segments with future buyer personas or avatars that you could have identified during your marketing campaigns. This Business Model Canvas serves to take a look at your business taking the big picture approach.

 

Customer groups represent separate segments if:

– Their needs require and justify a distinct Value Proposition

– They are reached through different Distribution Channels

– They require different types of relationships

– They have a substantially different profitability

– They are willing to pay for different aspects of the Value Proposition

See for example Amazon Business Model and note that they added Content Creators as part of their customer segments.

Example: Customer Segments For Our Media Company

1) Service providers | Local business owners | E-commerce

2) Marketing agencies and enterprises

Fundamental Step 2: Identify your value proposition for each customer segment

 

Image result for value proposition business model canvas

Also known as a unique selling proposition (USP), your UVP is a clear statement that describes the benefit of your offer, how you solve your customer’s needs and what distinguishes you from the competition. Your unique value proposition should appear prominently on your landing page and in every marketing campaign.

How do you find your best value proposition?

At a simplistic level, think about the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?).

Every marketer understands the WIIFM concept. You have an idea of how to address your customers, understand their needs, and speak in their language. That’s the entry price to understanding marketing.

The WIIFM are all the features and benefits your prospects could get from your products and services. But you can’t communicate with them all at once. If you try to emphasize everything, you’ll say nothing.

So, how do you know which features are most important to your customers?

Don’t forget to match your customer segments with the WIIFM by using the same color!

For our media company, here is how it looks:

Customer segment 1: Service providers | Local business owners | E-commerce. The UVP (unique value proposition) is:  consulting, e-learning,  Entrepreneurs’ Inner Circle for rapid growth.

Customer segment 2: Marketing agencies and enterprises. The UVP is: outsourced social media marketing, content marketing, and search engine marketing.

Fundamental Step 3: Identify your channels

Your communication, distribution, and sales Channels comprise your company’s interface with customers. Your Channels are customer touch points that play an important role in the customer experience. Your Channels serve several functions, including:

  • Raising awareness among customers about a company’s products and services
  • Helping customers evaluate a company’s Value Proposition
  • Allowing customers to purchase specific products and services
  • Delivering a Value Proposition to customers
  • Providing post-purchase customer support

 

Image result for business model canvas channels example

Your channels can be own by you or by someone else. For example, if your business is e-commerce, you might have Amazon as a channel versus creating your own e-commerce website.

Related image

In order to identify which channels are key to drive revenue to your business, take a look at your best customers and recreate their journey.  I’m a big believer of McKinsey Model and The Loyalty Loop.

The decision-making process is a more circular journey, with four primary phases representing potential battlegrounds where marketers can win or lose: initial consideration; active evaluation, or the process of researching potential purchases; closure, when consumers buy brands; and postpurchase, when consumers experience them.

In our media company, the best channels are:

  • Events for brand awareness
  • Direct marketing using social media
  • Webinars and videos consideration
  • Our website with a robust content marketing calendar and points of conversions

Note that the channels can overlap amongst your different customer segments.

Fundamental Step 4: Identify your customer relationships. Questions to ask.

Image result for customer relationships business model canvasWhen it comes to owning your own business, word of mouth referrals are gold. And, when you focus on building your business’s people-to-people connection, you create that “WOW” factor that gets your customer’s talking.

Customers want to feel special and important because they don’t often get to feel that way in other areas of life. This is key to remember because customers rarely purchase products or services solely based on the products intended result. Deep down, they are also asking themselves, “What will this do for me, or provide for me?”

The answer isn’t just the product results. The answer includes all of the feelings and desires that come with that product and the results. It’s all about the experience.

For each customer segment, think about their journey and the experience you want them to have.

  • What type of relationship does each of our Customer Segments expect us to establish and maintain with them?
  • Which ones have we established?
  • How costly are they?
  • How are they integrated with the rest of our business model?
  • How can I retain my clients?
  • Can I get repeated transactions with my clients?
  • What truly matters for them?

Customer loyalty and retention must be evaluated as part of your strategy.

According to research from Harvard Business School, increasing customer retention rates by 5 percent increases profits by 25 percent to 95 percent. 

Let’s take a look at some ideas.

  1. Create perks in the customer experience
  2. Continuously test email strategies
  3. Tailor your loyalty program to your business goals
  4. Be where your customers are
  5. Be passionate and engaged
  6. Offer time-limited promotions
  7. Be transparent and honest with your customers
  8. Don’t over-promise
  9. Create a customer community around your brand
  10. Incentivize social shares
  11. Stand for something
  12. Use positive social proof
  13. Invoke the inner ego
  14. Position around the before and after
  15. Use the words they love to hear
  16. Reduce pain points and friction
  17. Capture your product’s momentum
  18. Don’t just sell — educate
  19. Don’t overspend to delight
  20. Make use of surprise reciprocity
  21. Don’t underestimate the power of ‘thank you’
  22. Make it personal
  23. Reduce effort before delivering delight
  24. Accept that speed is secondary to quality
  25. Know your customers
  26. Choose the right platform
  27. Solve cause and effect
  28. Give loyal customers a head start
  29. Make ideal customers VIPs
  30. Reward your loyal advocates

Research from the Corporate Executive Board that included 7,000 consumers from across the U.S. found that of those consumers who said they had a strong relationship with a brand, 64 percent cited shared values as the primary reason. If you want loyal customers, you need to create real connections with them. What do you stand for?

If you have the steps 1-4 covered, you have a proof of concept, congratulations! Now the next step is to make sure you’re not leaving money on the table.

Fundamental Step 5: Revenue streams

Designing your revenue model is, perhaps, the biggest challenge.  You might have trouble assigning a real valuation to your services, or calculating your profit so you can create a stable financial model.

Business-model-canvas- revenue streams

You must ask yourself, for what value is each Customer Segment truly willing to pay? 

The Ecommerce Revolution

Companies like Netflix, Hulu, Apple, Amazon, and Uber have altered consumer’s perceived value and reasons to buy. From the revenue model perspective, ecommerce has created a revolution.  There are $4.8 trillion in retail ecommerce sales projected worldwide for 2021. Companies embracing ecommerce marketing strategies are experiencing rapid growth. In 2017, there were 1.66 billion online buyers. This number is expected to skyrocket to 2.14 billion by 2021.

Retail shops are suffering a big hit. These chains are closing stores in 2019 (Target is included).

Uber Revenue Model

Have you noticed that Uber generates revenues without having to own physical products, hire direct labor, or get inventory?Uber’s primary business model merges mobile technology and data to create an uncommon customer experience built on convenience, fair pricing and the novelty of it all. Layered on top of its business model is a very basic marketing strategy: Make customers happy and make it easy for them to tell the world.

First Build A Brand. Then You’re In Business.

Starbucks started as a small, independently owned coffee joint in Seattle. The owner at the time was just selling coffee. The minute Starbucks evolved to create an experience of connection, community and collaboration, it became a place where people feel like they belong — where they could meet like-minded friends and exchange thoughts. Businesses that do this from the get-go carve a following of brand ambassadors who are loyal and loud.

When you think of businesses that have a huge impact, you’re really thinking about the brand. Any business that sells things can do well, but those that create feelings and emotions become imprinted in people’s minds. They also gain more visibility and sales that way than through traditional means of growing a business. What can you learn from Uber, Amazon, and Starbucks?

  • Are you considering the e-commerce revolution as part of your revenue model?
  • Are you factoring your personal brand into your revenue model?
  • If you are selling services, are you charging by the hour? Can you offer other services digitally so that people can get more value from you, from the convenience of their cellphone?

In Closing

There is a huge opportunity for CEOs/Owners to excel in performance with a well-crafted strategy. Bottom line, execution without strategy is aimless.

Let me know what you think of the Business Model Canvas and share some of your own experiences. I would love to hear from you. Stay tuned for more steps from the Business Model Canvas.

Book a Forensic Marketing Demo. I would love to hear all about your business model.