Bridget Willard | SaaS Marketing Agency

Author: Bridget Willard

  • Specialize and Refer – Grow Your Network

    How do you grow your network? That’s easy: specialize and refer. Choose a niche. We all live off of word of mouth, if it’s not your specialty, refer. Right?

    I was thinking of writing about this and then saw Rebecca Gill’s tweet. So this post came alive.

    Why Specialize?

    “Do one thing and do it well.”
    “If everyone is your client, no one is.”
    “Do it right or don’t do it at all.”

    These are the clichés of business advice we all know. Okay, the last one was from my mom.

    But the point is you can’t do everything – and do it well. This reminds me of the ‘good-fast-cheap triangle’ tweet my friend Rachelle Wise just sent last week.

    Thinking we can do everything is not only delusional but distracts us from the things that really make us money. We’re in business for a reason, right?

    If you’re a roofer, be a roofer. Go horizontal if you want, and do HVAC, but don’t start installing windows.

    If you build websites, build sites. Go horizontal and make apps, but don’t start making videos.

    Do what you know. Do what you can do well, efficiently, and make a profit.

    How do you refer?

    Knowing that we should refer and knowing how to refer are two different things. If you refer the right way, you’re still providing a valuable service to the client. It’s not losing business, it’s about being that go-to person, the expert, and the well-connected person.

    If someone asks me if I do Facebook Advertising, I say,

    “Sorry, John, I don’t do Facebook Ads, but my friend Warren Laine-Naida does.”

    You can either give your client their contact information or write an email to them both. “John meet Jason. Jason meet John. John wants Facebook ads, I told him, you’re the best.”

    This way, you’re making an introduction and keeping your brand top of mind to all parties involved.

    How do referrals grow my network?

    Referrals work on the human emotions of trust and . Firstly, by referring, I am extending my brand to another. I am saying, I trust this person, you can, too. So be careful about referring to people you don’t trust.

    Secondly, if you send enough business someone’s way, they will also begin to refer you. That’s reciprocity. Heck, if you are just a nice person, your network will send people your way. I cannot even tell you how many dozens of people have sent others my way in the last four months.

    Sometimes, they come in the form of public tweets. I have amazing and generous friends.

    Do you refer, Bridget?

    Yes, I refer business out to others when it is appropriate. People do side hustles and I find it is best if I reach out to my friend to see if they’re taking on work before sending them as a referral. Even if you don’t do the project, by giving a referral to your lead, you’re being helpful. That’s the best kind of branding.

    Do you see how it works?

    Be serious about your brand and your focus. Kill the things that consume too much time. Specialize and refer out the rest. You’ll never regret it.

    rawpixel.com

  • What is a Branding Person and Why Does Your Business Need One?

    Recently, I sat down with a new client for a branding consult. She came to me because her business coach said she needed it. But she said, “What the hell is a branding person?” Good Question. Let’s break it down.

    Most people think that a logo is your brand. It’s only part of it.

    “So, is your logo your brand? This is a great question (and likely another blog post). Branding is bigger than your logo. So, yes, your logo is part of your brand. But, it isn’t the only way your brand is expressed.”  Rhonda Negard

    What is branding?

    You’re now entering the subjective zone. You’ll find as many answers to this question as you find branding consultants.

    Although the etymology of branding is varied, we can all imagine a rancher using a hot iron to brand his livestock. Each ranch had a distinct logo that made a permanent impression. Though originally intended to distinguish ownership, the logo reflected on the rancher, whether good or bad.

    In many ways, branding is the connection of your sensual experiences to your company. People remember how they feel about you (affinity) and that is reflected back on the brand in the form of loyalty — and buying power.

    [bctt tweet=”Branding is the persona your business has consisting of logo, colors, and reputation which all affect and reflect consumer affinity and loyalty.” username=”bridgetmwillard”]

    My good friend Robert Nissenbaum says,

    “Branding is the practice of creating the look and ‘feel’ of your brand. Brand marketing is the practice of establishing your image, voice, and persona which identifies and differentiates you from your competitors.”

    What is a Branding Person?

    A branding person can be anything from a graphic designer who creates both the brand design and sometimes also brand standards document. Your brand standards has your logo, color palette, fonts, and usage, to a person or company who protects your reputation online. And that can range from brandyourself.com to identity protection.

    If you need a brand standards document, I recommend the following people, Jayman Pandya, Chris Ford, and Cheryl & Sherie LaPrade, and Rhonda Negard.

    A branding consultant advises you about marketing strategy and tactics.

    What’s My Elevator Pitch?

    While venting on Facebook about needing to work on my elevator pitch I got a few suggestions. One of them was from Chris Lema.

    “Hi I’m Bridget Willard and I help companies with their online brand and reputation management by taking care of both social media monitoring and posting. I help your online brand by reinforcing your differentiated value on the social channels that are right for your business and your prospects.”

    Sarah Pressler wrote: “Listen, I create magic. There’s no other way to put it.”

    A branding person is someone who understands the voice and tonality that you would like to project to the public. A branding person emulates that voice, replicates that voice, and protects it.

    A branding person may even be a guide to your own self-awareness, helping you figure out what really is important to you and what values you’d like to elevate.

    [bctt tweet=”A branding person helps your business find its voice to harness your power, to elevate your brand. It’s that simple.” username=”bridgetmwillard”]

    Why do you need a branding consultant?

    A branding person is more like a counselor in my view. Their job is to help you dig out of your person the essence of your passion. You’re too close. You’ve talked to too many of your friends. You have lost objectivity. You may have lost focus.

    This is why many business coaches suggest meeting with a branding person. A brand is a persona — an organic, living thing. It needs life. A branding person gives your persona life. And life needs to be protected.

    [bctt tweet=”A branding person helps you find yourself in the brand. It’s very similar to a counselor.” username=”bridgetmwillard”]

    Can’t you just wing it?

    You can. But you’ll fail and in a hard way.

    People who wing it, without boundaries, are likely to fall prey to trending hashtags. They are easily distracted by the lure of humor. Not to mention starting endless projects that are so scattered that the company lacks focus — inwardly and outwardly.

    [caldera_form id=”CF59e795482d092″]

    Denise Johnson

  • A Tour of WordPress’ Gutenberg (2018) at Women Who WP

    At Women Who WP’s Orange County Meetup 1-17-18, I gave a tour — a basic overview — of the features of Gutenberg and published a post live at GutenBridget.com.

    Last year at WordCamp Europe, Gutenberg was announced as an editor replacement. In the final phase, it will be much more than that but as of now, it will be an editor replacement in WordPress 5.0.

    It’s 2018, it’s time for WordPress to change it’s editor experience.
    Instead of metaboxes, there will be blocks.

    [bctt tweet=”Gutenberg changes how you interact with WordPress. Try it. Study. Test it for yourself. ” username=”youtoocanbeguru”]

    Here is the video of the Live Stream from Facebook.

    Bridget Willard gives a tour of Gutenberg.

    Gutenberg Tour by Bridget Elizabeth Willard.

    Slides http://bit.ly/2BaUMYX

    Posted by Women Who WP on Wednesday, January 17, 2018

    What is Gutenberg?

    Gutenberg, eventually will change how you interact with WordPress. In it’s first inclusion into Core, will be a new editor experience.

    “Gutenberg has three planned stages. The first, aimed for inclusion in WordPress 5.0, focuses on the post editing experience and the implementation of blocks. This initial phase focuses on a content-first approach. The use of blocks, as detailed above, allows you to focus on how your content will look without the distraction of other configuration options. This ultimately will help all users present their content in a way that is engaging, direct, and visual.
    These foundational elements will pave the way for stages two and three, planned for the next year, to go beyond the post into page templates and ultimately, full site customization.” Gutenberg Team

    Blocks Replace Meta Boxes

    Instead of meta boxes, you interact with your content in blocks. Content includes video, images, headings, quotes, and, of course, text.

    Highlights:

    • The plus sign allows you to add more boxes. Sometimes you have to hover to see it.
    • Plugins make their own types of blocks.
    • Themes control how a block looks. This is an opportunity for theme developers.
    • Blocks are determined in the code with CSS Commenting so you know what’s in block.
    • Even though paragraphs are in different blocks, each paragraph is output with paragraph tags and shouldn’t interfere with SEO implications.

    Contextual Formatting

    This means every block has its own control. Every plugin can create settings for their blocks. You may not see settings in the sidebar anymore. They may be in the settings.

    “Gutenberg tries to identify all of these types of content properties so we can control it. It’s all based on blocks and block context.” Morten Rand-Hendriksen

    Resources

    Here are my slides

  • Say “Yes” To Yourself: Why I Started My Business

    What does it mean to say “yes” to yourself? Saying “yes” to yourself is about taking a risk — regardless of your fear — and going forward. If you fail, it won’t be because you didn’t try. This is why I started my business.

    I’m sure I heard it somewhere but I’ve found myself advising my friends this year,

    “If you don’t apply to speak, you say ‘no’ to yourself.”

    The inverse is “say ‘yes’ to yourself.” This is my 2018 statement.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd1LTVMFRtB/?taken-by=bridgetmwillard

    Why the Business?

    When my services at my dream job were no longer needed, I found myself at a crossroads. Do I look for another job? Do I take on clients? It wasn’t an easy choice, yet I knew I had to make a decision.

    My late husband wanted me to start my business in 2009. All of my social media friends for the last ten or so years have always encouraged me to go into business.

    I had the support of my friends and family:

    My sister-in-law believes in me. My grandma believes in me. My mom believes in me. My long-term friends believe in me. Julie Brigham tells me to say “I am awesome. I love me.”

    Still, I was afraid. I knew social media. It was running a business which scared me.

    Then I realized I have all of the skills I need to run a business. Accounting, job costing, customer service, teaching, marketing, reporting, counseling, sales, and proposal writing have all been learned on my awkward career path. My broken road wasn’t broken — it was training.

    I had the knowledge, the skills, and the support I needed. I was still worried only now, I knew I could and should make the leap. I knew I would succeed.

    New Logo: A Dragon

    With a new direction comes a new logo. My previous tagline was “Giving Unsolicited Advice Since 2011” which is true. Sometimes I’d joke and say that “I do things the hard way so you don’t have to.” But when I decided to start this business I thought more about my clients and how I can help them.

    I was chatting with my friend Jason Lemieux of Postmatic about how I approach social media marketing. He said, “Oh. You’re the Jane Goodall of Twitter.” Yes. I study them and I work hard to be them.

    So when I was in Seattle with Justine Pretorious, I bounced off my new tagline and she said, “Yeah. That’s you.”

    “Your voice. Your power. Your Brand.”

    I asked Cheryl and Sherrie LaPrade, of Rosie the Wapuu fame, to take my tattoo and make it into my logo using it for color cues. (Wait, tattoo? Read the next section).

    I love what they did. It’s so me.

    • ocmarketingguy That’s really awesome Bridget – I love that you incorporated your new ink! #badass #branding 😎👍🏼
    • meg.delagrange Ohhhh it gives me chills, you are moving forward powerful Queen!
    • mhanes Amazingly well done, communicates you perfectly 🙂

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BdTAzG5lJgw/?taken-by=bridgetmwillard

    A Dragon and a Flower

    So, what’s up with your new logo? It came from my tattoo.

    Fear has always been my nemesis. It’s had too much of a hold on my life for too long — in every single area. I cannot allow it.

    In November, I did it. I decided upon a dragon because they are fierce and powerful. I wanted it on my right hip to remind myself that I have my own power. The flowers speak of my femininity. I can be a strong woman who is fierce and powerful and soft and pretty. These are not flaws or mutually-exclusive attributes. It’s me — I’m a whole person who is powerful.

    My power is my voice. Your power is your voice. Let’s amplify them together.

    “Your voice. Your power. Your Brand.”

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BbYOx_TF1QW/?taken-by=bridgetmwillard

     

     

    Brooke Lark

  • Outsourcing Social Media: It’s About Time

    If you don’t have time for social media, outsourcing it is a good solution. But there are caveats. You have to do it wisely.

    Time. Time is money. We’ve heard it all of our lives. In business we also talk about sweat equity. It’s a real thing. Yes, if you don’t have money, you may have time. But at some point you will have to evaluate how you spend your time.

    I wrote extensively about why outsourcing is financially advantageous here. In this post, I’d like to discuss some common misconceptions or thoughts I hear about social.

    “My team would be good at social media if they weren’t busy.”

    There are a few things wrong with this statement.

    Firstly, it presumes that social media is a low-level skill that anyone can learn. In many ways, it can be learned. But more about that later.

    Secondly, social media isn’t a team sport. Not to say you don’t work with a team, but committees are where social posts go to die — or never have a chance at life at all.

    Thirdly, I absolutely believe that your team could be excellent at some parts of social media. In fact, my preference is to teach social media, rather than do it for you. Why? Because no one knows your business like you.

    Great. So now we’ve decided you could be good.

    What now?

    Either you get training for them to do it or you outsource it to an agency like mine.

    If you train your team to do social media, you will be taking them away from their primary duty. Does it make sense for a CEO or Manager to tweet? From a time and cost standpoint, no.

    “Social Media is something everyone feels like they can chime in on.”

    Yeah. No. So much no. A seven-layer bean dip of no. That’s the snark version.

    Seriously, viewing social media as a low-level skill is dismissive at best. It’s not data entry or factory line work. Even those jobs require skills that not everyone can excel at.

    When you don’t view a skill as an area of expertise, you don’t respect it as a profession. Sure, everyone has an iPhone, that’s not a qualifier.

    Social media isn’t just about posting. It’s about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of posting. It’s about timing. It’s about reading the audience. It’s about discernment. It’s about silence sometimes. It’s closer to comedy in many ways.

    [bctt tweet=”Social media is about timing. It’s about reading the audience. It’s about discernment. It’s about silence. It’s closer to comedy in many ways.” username=”BridgetMWillard“]

    Social media requires basic understanding of psychology, tech, marketing, and copyrighting. It’s not for everyone.

    “Social Media is a waste of time. It doesn’t work anyway.”

    This one. I forget about this one all of the time. I could give example after example of how this isn’t true.

    Here are some examples right off the top of my head.

    1. Amy Donohue donated her kidney because of a tweet. That was in 2011.
    2. Because of a video I created for Riggins Construction, they got a net profit of work from a single client in 2015 that paid for my salary for half a year.
    3. In September of 2015, one of our Thought House Franchise Development clients got four (yes, four) first-click leads from Twitter.

    And this doesn’t include the people you meet (human ROI) or the knowledge that you learn from consuming content.

    Social Media works if you work it.

    Relationships are always valuable to business; especially if your business model relies upon referrals.

    Being social in any venue, online or off, pays off if you are a kind, generous person. Your brand has an opportunity to present itself online as that person. Why wouldn’t you take that opportunity?

    If you don’t have time to do it, outsource it. It’s that simple.