It never ceases to amaze me how many business owners spend all kinds of time and other resources creating and implementing amarketing strategythat begins at step two. They either ignore the important first step altogether, or pay so little attention to it that it contributes little or nothing of value to the final plan.
What I’m talking about here is developing a profile of your idealcustomer. A good definition for the term “ideal customer” is; someone who is most likely to buy from you.
Many business owners don’t understand this essential first step in creating an overall marketing strategy. The reason it’s so important is; by having a handle on what your ideal customer looks like, you’ll be in a better position to determine which marketing techniques are likely to be effective and which are not.
For example, if you were a heating and air conditioning contractor, you would probably be wasting valuable marketing resources if you sent marketing materials to residents of an apartment complex. The apartment owner or manager would typically make decisions on such services, not the residents themselves.
Having a profile of your ideal customer and carefully considering that information when creating a marketing strategy is important regardless of what business you’re in.
So, how do you go about developing a profile of your ideal customer? By asking and answering several questions. For example:
Is your ideal customer male or female?
What age range do they fall into?
What is their education level?
Are they married, divorced, widowed, or single?
What is their income range?
What do they enjoy doing in their spare time?
What challenges do they typically face?
What are their dreams and goals?
Do they spend time on the internet? If so, where and for how long?
Do they engage in social media? If so, which platforms?
What types of businesses already market to them?
How do those businesses market to them?
Having answers to these, and other questions, will put you in a place to make educated decisions on which marketing tools and techniques will be most effective in your market.
Of course, identifying your ideal customer doesn’t preclude you from doing business with those who don’t fit your profile. You just won’t be focusing your marketing efforts on them.
If you’d like help creating a marketing strategy for your business, contact usonlineor call 702-738-1197.
Understanding conflict is a key to your success forPR Effectiveness. Your PR team is the key to your business, and your coaching is the key to a great PR team. You can learn to coach your team to improve PR relationships.
Mind Toolsis an excellent resource for the steps of effective coaching. They state that “people must learn to work together and understand how to relate to one another – otherwise the team’s output will be less than it could be.” If the team’s output is less, then the business will suffer. One factor that can affect output is conflict, especially when looking at PR effectiveness.
The team must understand conflict with customers and with each other. This does not mean there is never conflict. It means the team knows how to deal with conflicts. An excellent resource is a book calledPeople Problems.
Godwin suggests your team needs to be coached in understanding when their buttons are being pushed by each other and by customers. When your team understands button pushing, they can control reactions. In controlling reactions, they will seem more professional.
Godwin also suggests you coach your team in using five “muscles.” These muscles are:
Humility: The ability to acknowledge potential personal wrongness.
Awareness: The ability to observe actual personal wrongness.
Responsibility: The ability to be bothered by personal wrongness.
Empathy: The ability to be bothered if your personal wrongness hurts others.
Reliability: The ability to correct personal wrongness.
When you have coached your team in understanding and strengthening these muscles, you will be empowering them for success by understanding conflict.
Want more information on PR effectiveness?Contact ustoday.
Whenever you are interested in working with a marketingfirm for purposes such as coming up with promotions, it’s often a good idea to make sure you work with one that has a solidorganizational culture. According to theHarvard Business Review, organizational culture “plays a crucial role in shaping behavior in organizations.” When most people are interested in working with such organizations, they often don’t consider the culture and practices within the organization. Most of the time, they think about issues such as how much it will cost them to use the services.
However, remember when dealing with creative subjects such as advertising, you need to ensure everyone on the team will be on board and will have the same determination to help you succeed. Of course, you could easily find a marketing firm to work in helping you come up with a marketing solution, however, if they don’t have the right work ethic and culture, you are likely to end up not getting good value for the money in the long run.
There are some ways in which this can happen. For instance, you may find dealing with the employees of the firm is not as easy as it can be. You might find it more fun to interact with people with positive attitudes towards what they do, and this usually happens when the firm promotes a supportive organizational culture. In addition, this can also have an effect on the quality of service you receive from them. For instance, if you work with a negative company, and find the staff is not committed to what they do, it means you might not receive value for your money. They may not be spurred to produce the best they can, and this can mean your company might end up getting service that are barely just good enough.
If you are interested in marketing and working with a third-party, it is vital you find a company with a sound work ethic. This way it will be easy for you to interact and the ability to gain more than anticipated. If you are interested in this kind of service, all you need to do iscontact us. We strive to make sure that our organizational culture is as nurturing as possible, and most of our past clients have found this to be one of our best traits.
So your enterprise is sporting a new logo, now what? You might think it’s easy to continue to market your brand the same way you did before, but it’s not. Now’s the time to saturate your audience with your newbrand development. With change comes progress; so always keep in mind that change is good, and often great.
Current logo
Due to frequent changes in the economy, social issues, and technology, the expertise of businesses often change. This is why companies rework or recreate their brand; emerging with a new, improved, and “fresh” new image. A branding “face lift” can work wonders for your company by re-introducing you to your loyal customers, and reaching an even larger audience. The idea is for you to say “I’m breaking brand.”
Another version
Give your business cards a make-over, making your new logo the star.
Redesign your websites, keeping new and potential clients in mind.
All business stationery, most importantly letterheads, will need to feature your new brand.
Don’t just change the logo on your products; give them all fresh new labeling.
And yet another version.
If you offer clothing items, think about expanding the styles offered; if you don’t offer clothing, think about doing so. T-shirts are a great way to increase visibility of the brand.
For more information on how to increase your brand visibility and interaction, contact. And, remember always represent your
In September of 2013, Google announced a complete overhaul on the search engine behemoth’s algorithm. In fact, this change was implemented a month earlier the press conference held to announce it and explain some of its features. A change of this magnitude had not been made since the Caffeine update years ago.
Content strategists should understand that the Hummingbird algorithm still incorporates some of the changes we saw with Panda and Penguin. PageRank and other site quality determiners are still being used by this new algorithm to order search results.
One of the primary goals of Hummingbird is to address today’s more complex and sometimes voice-based queries. When a potential reader of your content uses Google to ask, for example, “How can I find an amazing PR person for [type of business] in [local area] on a budget?” your content needs to discuss that question, and it needs to address it in a credible, findable, useful way.
Search Engine Journalhas outlined some important ways that Hummingbird may impact content and content strategy. First, context counts. Google’s aim is to use contextual cues to more accurately deliver search results that cater to the Google users intent. Per SEJ:
. . . “Context” has entered search strategy lexicon, which accounts for more personalized search tactics based on location, platform, device and/or hyper local factors.
Second, though keywords are clearly a part of good content strategy, their importance is diminishing as sole determiners of rank. Deep, rich content that actually answers searchers’ queries is much more important that keyword-stuffed drivel. As Google’s spiders and Google’s users become savvier, content that clearly is designed to drive traffic rather than add value will be relegated to the proverbial dungeon of search results. Content that truly and accurately addresses specific queries, however, will receive top billing.
Finally, the importance of authorship for optimization should not be underestimated. Hummingbird makes authoritative content even more vital. Therefore, content strategists should be certain to keep the social profiles of their clients thorough and up-to-date — particularly Google+ profiles.
For more tips and advice on content strategy in the contemporary marketplace,contact us.
“In the end, I keep trying to remind myself and my team what counts is that….We did something and worked very, very hard for the WOMEN, CHILDREN, and PETS who rely on the Shade Tree. Not for the approval. We are all in this to please our maker, the universe, or sense of Karma, or whatever, and it for that reason is why this PSA exists.” ~ Firdosi Wharton-Ali
It began back in July during the start of Ramadan, it was also during this time I learned about Zakāt which means charity and is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Charity is a huge deal in the Muslim culture and my friend and client Firdosi Wharton-Ali began a heartfelt campaign on Facebook to help raise money for The Shade Tree, a “501(c)3 non-profit organization providing safe shelter to homeless and abused women, children, and their pets in crisis and to offer life changing services promoting stability, dignity and self-reliance.”
This wonderful organization has been in existence for more than twenty years. On Friday, August 30, Beth Fisher (morning anchor/reporter on KTNV Channel 13) sent a camera for an interview about the project (Step Out of Your Comfort Zone) for a segment called ‘Making Las Vegas a Better Place to Live.’
As it states on The Shade Tree website, “As the only organization with an animal shelter on campus, named Noah’s Animal House, The Shade Tree brings families together with their pets and connects them with assistance and services. The Shade Tree is the largest shelter of its kind in Nevada and is the only 24-hour accessible shelter designed specifically to meet the needs of women and children in Southern Nevada. With 364 permanent beds, The Shade Tree provides more than 100,000 nights of shelter each year. To remove any barrier that might prevent a woman from accessing necessary services for she and her children, 100 percent of services are provided completely free of charge, regardless of the length of stay.”
Sue Kim, Adrienne Hester and Master Magician Lance Burton
Being an accomplished screenwriter, Firdosi’s first instinct was to gather a group of professionals and friends who believed in her mission to donate time and talent in an effort to raise awareness about the critical state of domestic violence in Nevada, and to create, then donate, a Public Service Announcement (PSA) with impact. Most PSAs are less than a minute. This PSA is just over three minutes making it more of a Public Awareness Campaign to raise responsiveness to the critical state of domestic violence in Southern Nevada, which is number one in the nation for fatalities associated with abuse; and the lasting effects it has on families, pets, the body, and mind, and the urgent need for funding The Shade Tree is currently experiencing. This powerful film short is honest and graphic and meant to encourage the public to take action and help those who feel helpless.
On Friday, September 20 at Maru Korean BBQ in Summerlin, a suburb of Las Vegas, the evening began with a film short and special Q&A with Sue Kim of the renownedKim Sisters, as she shared her experiences with domestic abuse in her professional/personal life during her career which involved her younger sister. She also shared how the Korean American Women’s Foundation, a safe haven for Korean women new to the United States, was formed in Las Vegas.
Debra Weight and Adrienne Hester after makeup
The evening ended with the début of new PSA – THE SHADE TREE: “A Story of Hope” Featuring Master Magician Lance Burton. Volunteers who also participated in filming of the PSA included Dr. Benjamin S. Lurie, Dr. Paul Wilkes, military veteran and combat PTSD survivor Jay Choi, DeAndre Esteen – director of development for The Shade Tree, and professional makeup artists Debra Weite and Cadena Laksis, Composer/ Producer David Rosen, Fremont East Studios, Paradise Seven Pictures, students from The UNLV Film Department and me in the role of an abused woman.
This event would not have possible without the support of Keizer Design, Red Carpet Moving Company, and The Neck and Back Clinics.
Earned media is an elusive form of marketing in which your company is promoted by positive media that comes from outside the company itself. News stories, radio interviews, and positive reviews can all constitute earned media. Earned media is alluring because it costs nothing for the business, yet can significantly increase overall revenue.
While by definition a company cannot buy or create its ownearned media, there are a few strategies that can increase your company’s chances of gaining earned media. One of the best ways to increase the earned media that your company receives is to design an integrated strategy that blends content marketing strategies with earned media potential.
Make Your Business Easy To Present. As soon as possible, spend time developing an elevator pitch for your business. Highlight the attributes that make your business unique, and write your company’s vision. This makes it easier for media outlets to highlight your business in a coherent manner, without causing journalists the frustration of having to unearth your company’s vision and purpose on their own.
Develop Your Own Media Marketing Strategies. Using media strategies such as content marketing will increase your company’s visibility and thus the likelihood gaining earned media. Making your company searchable by developing a presence on social networks and other sites makes it easier for your company to be ‘found.’
Do Something Out Of The Box. In order to be newsworthy, your company needs to be doing something different from the competition. What is your company doing to stand out from the crowd? Determine your company’s unique aspects, and don’t hesitate to make them known.
By establishing a robust marketing strategy, it will be easier for news outlets to highlight your company through earned media. Take the time to invest in your company, and the earned media will follow. To learn more about ways to improve your small business, please visit ourwebsiteandcontact uswith questions or comments.
Spend time with the most successful professionals and one of the features you will begin to notice is the charisma they project. Charisma is undoubtedly a factor in success, a certain je ne sais quoi that makes a person stand out as extraordinary. Although charisma is multifaceted, it is built on the ability to connect with others. How can you begin to hone this skill and stand out? Start by crafting a personal story as a way to connect with others.
A Story Says it All, in Less Words
Your story should be like great writing: succinct, informative, and engaging. Think of some main points you want to convey. What is your vision? What are your passions? How did they develop based on your history? Keep your audience in mind when telling your story – don’t dominate the conversation by talking too much, and don’t be shy about telling your story.
Storytelling Tells the Truth
Stories are a great way to give people a sense of who you are, in addition to conveying facts about yourself. If you are articulate, confident, and personable, this will show in the way that you tell your story.Storytellingallows people to read between the lines and connect with you on a personal level. This lays the foundation for long-lasting connections.
Spend Time Getting to Know Your Story.
It pays to spend time developing your own personal story. What can you say that will both display who you are and allow people to connect with you? Practice telling your story so no matter what situation you’re in, you’ll be able to tell a story as a starting point for conversation.
PR effectivenessis a wide picture to be analyzed through different avenues and not strictly by how much money is made. While making money shows a campaign was successful, it may not sustain in the ever-changing social environment. Looking at exactly what prompted those sales can help decide whether it was the result of something unexpected.
Analytics on Social Media
WithGoogle Analyticsbeing such a useful tool in determining web traffic, a firm can discover plenty of evidence in how people reacted to something online. If it was determined the sales were from social media influence, then the main demographics can be known. And despite social media being the place where you’d expect most of the activity to be, there may be a chance sales came significantly from somewhere else.
Analyzing Other Media
Television continues to play just as strong an impact in sales as social media. Most of the time, they work in tandem though mentions from a client on a national TV show or cable news can take sales into the stratosphere. A mention like this (or in a national newspaper) can be the result of an earlier promotion on social media without having spent a dime on a television or a newspaper ad. These interconnections tell a PR firm how the inter-connectivity of today’s media can effectively disseminate enough free information to cut costs of promotion.
Study the Advantages of Small Media
Sometimes sales can be the result of a simple word-of-mouth grassroots campaign or write-ups in small publications. While these might be graded as minor promotional places, it’s worth doing some investigation into these arenas and why they potentially do better than expected. Smaller and more peripheral avenues also typically conjoin with social media for easier methods of passing on information.
Gauging information directly from those who bought a promoted product can help determine where those consumers heard about the product or client. There may be a surprise in store for where they heard about the product through the earlier examples. This may prove the underestimation in the power of fan campaigns by simple word-of-mouth. Determining it can be done through online surveys, telephone, or traditional mail.
Talk to the Client
PR firms need to think of their client and the effectiveness of the PR campaign. Does the client understand what the PR firm is doing and the procedures in how it’s being done? A happy client is a client that understands the entire process of an effective PR plan with a comprehensive understanding of why it was effective.
Contact usif you’re a company needing an effective local or national marketing campaign.Two Girls Consulting(2GC) is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. We also work on a national level. With a decade of experience, plus long-standing relationships with media and other venues, let us effectively take your company message to the masses.
Before graduating from theUniversity of Nevada, Las Vegaswith a degree inCorporate Communicationswith an emphasis in journalism, I was one class away from a degree in the Department of Theatre in theCollege of Fine Arts. I never thought I would formally use that training, until I was asked to donate my professional resources and theatrical talent, to raise awareness about the critical state ofdomestic violenceinNevada, for aPublic Service Announcement(PSA) short in support of The Shade Tree and of the crisis for funding the organization is experiencing.
This facility, “is the largestshelterof its kind in the state, and is the only 24-hour accessible shelter designed specifically to meet the needs of women and children inSouthern Nevada. With 364 permanent beds, THE SHADE TREE provides more than 100,000 nights of shelter each year. On average, 33 percent of their clients are children under the age of 18. Senior citizens represent the fastest growing segment of the population.” It is also the only shelter in the state to accept pets.
The Shade Tree is a 501(c)3non-profit organization. It’s mission is to provide safe shelter to homeless and abused women, children, and their pets in crisis and to offer life changing services promoting stability, dignity and self-reliance.
Here is my interview withKTNVChannel 13. More about the PSA and a private event to come in the future.
It never ceases to amaze me how many business owners spend all kinds of time and other resources creating and implementing a marketing strategy that begins at step two. They either ignore the important first step altogether, or pay so little attention to it that it contributes little or nothing of value to the final plan.
TwoGirlsConsulting LLC (2GC) 