Bridget Willard

Author: Bridget Willard

  • Is Your eCommerce Shop Ready for Cyber Monday?

    Getting your online shop ready for Cyber Monday shouldn’t be as overwhelming as it feels. This is especially true if you start in the summer. My days of being in church leadership taught me one valuable lesson: the holidays descend upon you like an avalanche. Don’t wait to plan these events. 

    What is Black Friday?

    Black Friday is the day that American Consumers live for all year. Even recently, my friend asked me, “Why would you buy a blender today? Wait until November.” Well, because I need a blender today. That’s why. Sure, we can fill up our wishlists and then hit the mall at midnight on Thanksgiving Day and fight over the last Cabbage Patch Doll. Hey, I’m not a Black Friday shopper. I’m too cynical. 

    I know that retail prices are inflated so that the sale can seem large. Besides, I prefer to sleep. And as far as Christmas presents go, if I buy any gifts, it won’t be on Black Friday. The crowds are too much for me. To each their own.

    What is Cyber Monday?

    After Web 2.0 gave us the ability to purchase online — thanks to eBay and Amazon — Cyber Monday began to rise as an alternative to the crowds and fistfights that became Black Friday. Seriously, if you didn’t grow up in the 80’s you don’t know the half of it. And that’s part of what drives the Cyber Monday sales — to keep people out of the crowds. The pandemic helped with that as well. 

    “Since it was inception in 2005, Cyber Monday has grown exponentially. What began as a small sale with a handful of retailers turned into over $2 Billion in sales in 2014. This year is projected to be even bigger.” Duct Tape Marketing 

    Cyber Monday is specifically for online stores, software, and tech. So, why do my WordPress friends have Black Friday sales for their WordPress Plugins? I’m not sure, to tell you the truth. I wish they would use Cyber Monday for the sale — if they really need that promotion. 

    I’m Not a Fan of WordPress Plugins Going on Sale 

    I realize that my views are slightly controversial. But stay with me here. See, if you push your WordPress plugin for sale on Black Friday or Cyber Monday then you will be pushing most of your customers with annual renewals at the same time. 

    If the majority of your customers renew their licenses at the end of November, then the majority of your customers buy at a discount. Can your plugin shop thrive by selling your product at a discounted price? If it cannot, then you must markup or inflate the plugin license cost so that your company can survive on the discount. And this feeds into itself. Since the majority of your customers renew in November, what will your December renewals be? January? February? You can see how that can easily become problematic. 

    I’d rather have a healthy cash flow all year-’round than wait until after Thanksgiving to become profitable. Secondly, you’re training your customers to wait for the sale — as my friend suggested with the blender. Leave Cyber Monday for the gadgets and video games. 

    If you want more of my fantastic marketing advice, you can purchase my book, “How to Market Your Plugin” from Amazon. This book will not be going on sale. 

    Will Launch With Words Premium Content Packs Be Going on Sale?

    No. I will not be hosting a sale on Cyber Monday for Launch With Words, my ebook, or my content planner. Why? Firstly, they’re already priced low to be accessible. To me, retail is all about pricing strategies that have to do with ridiculously high markups. My products are already value-priced. 

    Stop Competing For Black Friday

    Does it really matter which day you do it? Well, sure it matters which day you have the sale. Firstly, if your eCommerce shop is small, to compete with Amazon on Black Friday or Macy’s or Sam’s Club is just insane. Not to mention the fact that after Black Friday is Shop Small Saturday. I’m a firm believer in staying in your own lane for one and not competing with brands that have larger advertising budgets than you do. 

    “Over the years, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have vied for dominance. In 2020, Cyber Monday was the top day consumers planned to shop, with 30% saying they planned to shop Cyber Monday sales, compared to 24% saying the planned to shop on Black Friday. (Source: BlackFriday.com Shopping and Spending Survey 2020).” BlackFriday.com

    How About a WooCommerce Tip?

    I joined Bob Dunn on Do The Woo, among other industry experts including Katie Keith and James Rowland — to name a couple — with some of my best tips.

    Listen to the whole podcast.

    Hi, this is Bridget Willard with bridgetwillard.com. My tips for Black Friday is to leave Black Friday to the brick-and-mortar store. Cyber Monday is our day to celebrate and I would also give you this tip, take an inventory of the top 10 products that will be on sale. If everything is on sale, then nothing is on sale. Make a list of those products and ensure that you have updated photos, reviews, and website copy on all of those products. If you don’t have 10 products, then pick one that’s really going to go on sale. Which one is your loss leader? Think about that. And also a bonus tip is make sure you have one image for your product page that is 1200 by 628 pixels. This is because of open graph, social sharing. You don’t want to look like Amazon with this big old wide field and your book right in the middle. So those are my tips for Black Friday.

    Get Ready for Cyber Monday With a Free To-Do List

    I have a for every working day from October 21 until CyberMonday. Get organized. Get your eCommerce store ready and let Black Friday be what it is — the day for brick-and-mortar stores to become profitable. 

    It’s free, so , and copy the Google Sheet to your own Google Drive. Then get to work on October 21. 

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  • Answering Questions about Social Media for the Social Champ AMA

    I had so much fun earlier this month joining Social Champ’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) about Social Media. I thought it might be fun to offer a recap and a video for these questions for others to benefit outside of the Facebook Group. 

    We cover topics including how to gain organic reach, hashtag research, influence marketing, content planning, and more. Without further ado, here’s the recap video followed by the text. 

    Social Media Questions Answered

    Social Champ AMA Recap

    “In today’s AMA session, we are joined by Bridget Willard. She is a social media marketing expert and has experience in running high ROI campaigns for her clients. Today, she will answer your questions about everything social media.” Fahad Ahmed

    Q Yumna Hafeez: Hello Bridget Willard. What are the best practices to gain organic reach for social media posts?

    A Yumna Hafeez In order to get, you have to give. Make sure your brand is replying to other people’s posts as well as replying to comments on your own. That makes a big difference to people.

    Reciprocity.

    I talk more about it in my book, “.”

    Q Maggie Andrews: Hi Bridget Willard, How should one go about planning content strategy for social media? What things should one consider including in it?

    A Maggie Andrews Great question, Maggie. Content should support your business goals. Start with a marketing brief.

    Specifically content should be helpful. If customers are repeatedly asking you a specific question, answer it in a blog post or video (or both).

    Q Andrew Thompson: Hey Bridget Willard, thanks for being here today. What can a person do on social media to increase following?

    A Andrew Thompson One of the best ways to increase your following on Twitter is to follow people back. Use your Twitter lists. Don’t worry about people “clogging up your feed.” Be generous. Be helpful.

    Q Fahad Ahmed: Bridget Willard, you are a speaker and a marketing consultant; between these two, which one do you enjoy the most and why?

    A Fahad Ahmed I really love consulting. It makes me so happy to help business owners get the most out of their social media efforts by giving them confidence and a strategy that actually works.

    Q Touseef Ullah: Hey Bridget Willard! Can you please let me know how to come up with different ideas for social media campaigns?

    A Touseef Ullah Campaigns should support the overall strategy.

    And the strategy should start with the business goals.

    “It depends” is an annoying answer but yes it does depend.

    However, spending time reading the posts from your audience helps. What questions are they asking in presales or support? What do you want the audience to feel after using your product?

    Gimmicks work for a few minutes. But involving people and building community works for the lifetime of the customer.

    Q Muneeb Syed: First of all, thanks for taking out time from your busy schedule. I would like to know how can one leverage social media to generate leads for business?

    A Muneeb Syed I actually have a video on how to do biz dev on Twitter.

    But the short answer is to spend time reading other people’s posts and being helpful.

    You want to build a relationship; don’t cold call them.

    Q Syed Hamza: Hi Bridget Willard, How should one utilize analytics to plan social media campaigns?

    A Syed Hamza Analytics should indicate that you’re doing the right thing.

    One thing to remember is those analytics are a picture of the past. It shows your behavior and the customer’s behavior.

    It doesn’t show things you don’t measure.

    Q Mark Cooper: Bridget Willard what’s your opinion on influencer marketing? Should brands focus on incorporating them in their social media strategy?

    A Mark Cooper Everyone is an influencer. Paying stars is a waste of marketing budget, IMHO.

    Instead, build and reward the super fans you already have. Put them on special Twitter lists. Ask them to guest blog post. Invite them on a podcast. Send them swag no one else gets.

    Build a community of people, not a group of people following money.

    If they follow you because they love your product, money won’t lure them to the next highest bidder.

    Q Marium Fahim Khan: Heyy! Great session. Here is my question. What’s the best approach to find relevant hashtags for your niche?

    A Marium Fahim Khan Heya!

    Hashtag research is simply that: research. Spend time on Twitter/IG looking at the hashtags people are using in your niche and test.

    Introduce a hashtag and ensure that that tag is relevant to the text of the caption/tweet.

    Especially on IG, the algorithm shadow bans (from what I’ve heard) keyword stuffing so to speak. So you’ll want to be sure the caption is relevant.

    Don’t just put #SATX when it’s not talking about San Antonio, Texas, for example.

    And be sure you’re following back your followers, replying to their comments (not just liking them) and commenting on other people’s posts. This is huge.

    There is no magic in marketing and hashtags are far from a work saver.

    Do the work. 😃

    Q Mustaasam Saleem Ansari: 🙋 Bridget Willard , happy to see you here answering questions. Wondering, what resources you prefer to distribute the repurposed content (other than LinkedIn & YouTube)?

    A Mustaasam Saleem Ansari I’m a huge fan of Twitter.

    Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, YouTube are great ways to repurpose.

    Don’t forget that you can publish articles on LinkedIn as well as Medium to get different audiences. You can publish a teaser and say “read the rest at [link].”

    I also use Revive Old Post (I’m a pro user) to publish on Google My Business. It’s important to distribute content there as well.

  • Is Your Nonprofit Taking Advantage of GivingTuesday?

    Are you a nonprofit or a foundation? It’s time to start thinking about GivingTuesday. GivingTuesday is a “global movement for generosity,” and it happens the Tuesday after Cyber Monday.

    When is GivingTuesday?

    So it goes  American Thanksgiving, Black Friday, which is for in-person businesses. Then you have Small Business Saturday, the shop small movement, which is sponsored by American Express. Then you have Cyber Monday which is for online businesses and then GivingTuesday.

    The short answer is GivingTuesday is always the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. This year Giving Tuesday is November 30. Want a to-do list to get going? . 

    Focus Your Fundraising Campaigns on GivingTuesday

    GivingTuesday is a campaign in and of itself — separate from your general fund campaigns. It’s best if your organization starts working on that special campaign in the summer. Of course, now it’s already mid-September. But you still have time to ork on what one thing do you want to raise money for in November.

    What one thing do you want to raise money for on GivingTuesday? Write that copy. Make a landing page. Make a specific donation page only for that.

    This is where a plugin like GiveWP.com comes in handy. So that you can measure your campaigns against, um, one another. The funds can all go to the same bank account or to the same general fund, but you really want to see how your campaigns are going.

    Get Email Marketing Ready for GivingTuesday

    You’re going to want to make sure that you have a mailing list specifically for GivingTuesday. So you might want to start inviting people to just subscribe to that mailing list. You even may want to create swag for donors who specifically donate on GivingTuesday.

    GivingTuesday is a Good Opportunity for Co-Marketing 

    You might want to work with a branding partner or co-market with a for-profit business for #GivingTuesday. So start thinking about that in June. Get it all squared away by the 1st of August. Make those landing pages. They don’t have to be live but make sure that you have filled your calendar with all of the things that you need to do and to accomplish before that.

    Yes, We Wrote a Marketing Book for Your Nonprofit

    just to help your nonprofit focus its marketing efforts. More than my GivingTuesday worksheet, there is an entire chapter on GivingTuesday that you’ll want to read which includes optimizing your donation forms. But it also includes information on websites, landing pages, and marketing automation. 

    Table of contents screenshot for The Only Online Marketing Book You Need for Your Nonprofit.
    Screenshot of Look Inside at the Table of Contents for the Book

    What are you waiting for? People want to donate to your organization.

    Watch the My Video 

    The Only Online Marketing Book You Need for Your Nonprofit

    The Only Online Marketing Book You Need for Your Nonprofit is the second book in a series of three intended to help businesses, schools, and organisations get a grasp on the sometimes dizzying world of online marketing. This book will fuel your interest and excitement about what digital offers your nonprofit or foundation, and how you can use the internet to succeed. Your digital presence is an extension of all the things your business does online and offline. It’s an exciting time!

    Successful businesses and nonprofits have marketing campaigns. The only difference is that one campaign is to sell a product to fit a customer’s lifestyle and identity and the other sells a donation or way to give that fits that lifestyle and identity.

    This book also includes a chapter written by the founder of Groundhogg, Adrian Tobey called “Your nonprofit is bleeding money if you’re not leveraging CRM & Marketing Automation.”

    This is the second book in a three-book series for small businesses, nonprofits, and schools.

    Online marketing and communication is a way for you to make new connections and share with the world. It’s a foundational skill that you can apply to grow your organization for years to come, no matter how quickly technology changes and trends rise and fall. If you’re uncomfortable with tech, that’s okay. Communication, online or offline, is not a contest.

    Participate. Try. Fail. Learn. Try again. Succeed!

    Purchase the book on Amazon.com.

  • How To Find Local Businesses and Services After You Move

    If your business is going to move, I have some advice from my move to San Antonio. After all, being a digital business doesn’t exclude shopping locally. Moving is hard and also easy. Well, let’s stick with “hard” for now. There’s a lot of change which is freeing, but change means you need new doctors, yoga instructors, and hair colorists. 

    I moved to San Antonio, Texas from Dana Point, California on September 12, 2020. Yes, I moved during the pandemic. Why? Well, that requires quite a bit of back story, but suffice it to say I needed to leave the ghosts back in California. 

    “Change will do you good.” Sherryl Crow

    I sold or donated everything that wouldn’t fit into my 2020 Civic and started my four-day road trip to Alamo City. It was the best decision I ever made. 

    Follow the Hashtags Before You Move

    One of the first things I did after finding my apartment while on vacation, is to follow local hashtags both on Twitter and Instagram. Of course, once I found a business that was interesting, I followed and listed it in my SATX list on Twitter. My specific neighborhood is Southtown so also following #SouthtownSATX is a good move. Do some digging. It takes work. But hey, I met a new friend on Instagram and we’ve had a few lunches. 

    It doesn’t end after you move, though. Keep up with those hashtags. We may work in the digital world, but we live in a local one. Following and using these hashtags is how the San Antonio Report reached out to me to write a story about my neighborhood.

    Google Maps is Your Best Friend

    Google Maps is your best friend after you move to a new city — heck, even during your relocation search. Make a new list of places you want to check out. Create a bucket list of restaurants to try, too. Read the reviews (and leave some for others). Rhonda Negard did this when she and her husband moved back to San Antonio after military retirement; we never have to wonder where we’re going for lunch. We look at the list. 

    I created another list for SATX Live Music on Google Maps as well as SATX Parks and SATX Museums. Once a month, I intend on visiting a museum here. I’ve been to the Witte and San Antonio Museum of Art, but I still need to hit the McNay. I also visited the Zoo and went Kayaking on the River. I enjoy doing things spontaneously — by myself. It’s hard to be spontaneous with other people. Keep your eyes open. See what other people do. Enjoy your new home. 

    Collaborate With Locals After You Move

    I moved to San Antonio knowing a few people, one of whom is Rhonda Negard. So, we do lunches based on our list but we also go driving to find cool places. That’s how we both found Spechts Country Store. They have live music, an inside bar, and outside area even with games. It’s really neat.

    My friend Scott Croom has also been invaluable with insider tips and advice. Whether you chat in private or send out a tweet or two, locals are happy to share tips. Kimberly, the bartender at Rosario’s is the one who turned me on to my new favorite pub, Francis Bogside and Roy Quismundo turned me on to Halcyon.  

    Join Local Meetups and Facebook Groups

    I joined a few Meetups (odd during COVID) and finally went to a Trivia Night. It was fun. I also went to a couple of virtual WordPress Meetups as well. From the Facebook Groups (and asking questions) is how I found Roy Quismundo who got my business cards printed. I haven’t used the Nextdoor app, but I hear people complain there.

    Don’t forget to go to city events, too!

     

    Visit City Websites and State Parks

    If you’ve moved to another city in the same state, that’s fine. Check out the local, state, and national parks. I’ve been to the San Pedro Springs Pool and Garner State Park as well as Padre Island National Seashore. So many more places to go, too! 

    Fall in love with where you live. Any relationship takes time and attention. You’ll learn to appreciate where you live even more. Do you see a theme of appreciation and gratitude? It’s a big reason why moves are successful. 

    Walk the Neighborhood Before and After You Move

    When I was here on vacation last year, I looked up Mexican food downtown on Google Maps. Since I loved Ricardo’s in San Juan Capistrano, Google Maps recommended Rosario’s. I fell in love with their food, looked at apartments.com, and found my complex. Then I started driving around the neighborhood — not just listening to Google Maps tell me where to go. 

    Sure, my neighborhood is part of the San Antonio Housing Authority and used to be “the projects” known as Victoria Gardens. At the same time, there’s a great mix of homes, duplexes, and apartments. Some gentrification but also some historical homes — like the oldest wooden home in San Antonio. 

    Walking in my neighborhood helped me get a sense of the culture and friendliness of the people (that’s how I learned about the oldest home). Yes, it’s hot and humid in San Antonio; this is South Texas. Also, anything east of the continental divide will be humid. But look for the things you do like about your new home — the architecture, local flora and fauna, animals, sounds, culture.

    Walking in my neighborhood makes me feel like Snow White. I am routinely passed by various butterflies, dragonflies, and birds. Chickens may come up to you and cats just chill out. Don’t compare your new city to the old one and look for flaws. You’ll never be happy that way. 

    Walking in my neighborhood is how I found my dentist, a mechanic for an oil change, a community garden, and new bars and restaurants. I became familiar enough with this area enough to find my counselor — which I walk to. But if you need a medical professional, don’t be afraid to drive, too. Rhonda gave me a great referral to my eye doctor. 

    No matter what you do, be open to possibilities and exploration. Your move is better if you move with optimism. 

    PS

    Small businesses — Are you using local hashtags, Google My Business, and asking for reviews? 

  • Local Nonprofit Highlight — San Antonio Zulu Association

    Nonprofits and foundations are passionate at heart and, frankly, don’t always take advantage of natural marketing opportunities or learnings. Why? Generally, they focus on serving their cause and its population and then fundraising becomes a necessary evil. Hoping to help nonprofits shift their mindset to running like a business, Warren Laine-Naida and I are writing, “,” which is the second in our series of books and will be available in July. 

    So, why not highlight a new nonprofit I encountered while at the Fiesta Medal event this week?

    Meet SAZA — San Antonio Zulu Association

    If you’ve been to the annual event, “A Taste of New Orleans,” you likely know and love the nonprofit, San Antonio Zulu Association. They’ve got events down. According to their website, SAZA started in 1976 as a Texas Chartered Organization and their very first events were around Juneteenth and “and in 1982, joined the San Antonio Fiesta Commission as a Participating Member Organization (PMO).” 

    Follow them on Twitter, like them on Facebook, and check out their Instagram account. They did a great job grabbing “SAZAORG” on those three platforms which is a great callback to their domain name: saza.org.

    Nonprofit Fundraising — Event Souvenirs 

    Fundraising with merchandise is not a novel idea. WWF does it with their plush toys in the “symbolic adoption kit.  

    Arguably, to the Fiesta® natives and fanatics, Fiesta® Medals are more than souvenirs. With that said, the Fiesta® Medal is a fantastic way for local nonprofits to not only fundraise but grow their brand awareness. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to prioritize brand awareness as a nonprofit. When you’re using volunteers to staff your events, be sure to give them marketing materials and prep them for questions. This nonprofit did it right even with branded t-shirts. Great job, y’all!

    Being former booth staff, I walked up to the San Antonio Zulu Association’s booth and began asking quite a few questions. The gentlemen at the booth were fun, friendly, and informative. I even went back and asked for a selfie! I had not heard of this nonprofit before and, at the time, didn’t realize that the medals were a fundraising campaign. The nonprofit lover and marketer-at-heart here got super excited. I bought eleven medals on Thursday at $10 each so that felt pretty good! 

    Who Are SAZA’s Nonprofit Customers?

    It’s odd to think of a nonprofit as having customers, but when you think of your organization as a business, then you understand you have three primary customers: the donor, the volunteer, the recipient. 

    Without interviewing the organization further, I’m not entirely sure how they recruit their volunteers though I strongly believe it’s through shared vision. However, the recipients are local scholarship applicants from San Antonio. And the donors are mixed: event attendees, Fiesta® medal buyers, as well as one-off donors. If you would like to support them with your Amazon Smile purchases, search for the official 501(c)3 name: “Saza Commission Inc.” when choosing the charity.

    “With the proceeds from its well-known annual ‘A Taste of New Orleans’ event, held during the San Antonio Fiesta celebration, the organization reaches out to the community by providing youth the opportunity to further their education through scholarships.” SAZA.org

    Nonprofit Fundraising Is Essential 

    When I coach nonprofits, fundraising is always front-and-center. Fundraising for your organization sometimes feels gross but it is a must. People want to support causes so don’t be shy. Nonprofit fundraising can be done both online and off. Events are great for brand awareness and quick donations, for certain. Don’t rule out recurring donations as well as partnering with local businesses. 

    The San Antonio Zulu Association (SAZA) has a website with a PayPal button for online donations. “A Taste of New Orleans,” is their largest fundraising event for the scholarship program and is scheduled for April 1-3, 2022.

    Recommendations for SAZA’s Website 

    SAZA’s website could use some love as it seems to be built with 1and1’s website builder but might still be on WordPress. I’m unsure. It also needs a SSL certificate (https) which is pretty standard nowadays and free with LetsEncrypt. 

    I’d love to see this site redesigned in WordPress and using GiveWP donation forms and integrated with a CRM like Groundhogg for example. 

    I’d also recommend adding copy to their donation page including more information like their fundraising goals, percentage complete (or some other visual cue), and a reminder to check “Make this a Monthly Donation” when . Of course, adding a blog and doing stories on the scholarship recipients (case studies) is always advised.

    What is Fiesta® San Antonio?

    Okay, not to be confused with Fiesta Texas, the Six Flags amusement park, Fiesta San Antonio is a ten day festival all over downtown San Antonio every year in April. It was in June this year because of COVID. Since I’m fairly new to Alamo City, I’ve had everyone — literally strangers (in Texas we call them friends) — tell me that Fiesta® is the big deal! I must go. 

    This annual event attracts more than 2.5 million people a year and helps the local economy as well as facilitating a collective event for nonprofit fundraising. So, since I’m pretty new, how about we go with the official description?

    “Fiesta® San Antonio started in 1891 as a one-parade event as a way to honor the memory of the heroes of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. That historic commemoration still takes place, but for more than a century, Fiesta® has grown into a celebration of San Antonio’s rich and diverse cultures. Fiesta® has evolved into one of this nation’s premier festivals with an economic impact of more than $340 million for the Alamo City. Funds raised by official Fiesta® events provide services to San Antonio citizens throughout the year.” Fiesta San Antonio

    Local Event Marketing for Nonprofits 

    We all know that nonprofits need clever, effective ways to fundraise and one great way to gain lasting, local support is through local events. With social media postings, an event hashtag, and engagement (online and off), your nonprofit is sure to become front-and-center. The only question is, which local event will your nonprofit partner with?

    Also, don’t forget about GivingTuesday which is November 30 this year. !