Bridget Willard | SaaS Marketing Agency

Category: Business Advice

  • Small Business Owners — Are You Looking For Opportunities to Learn?

    If you’re not learning, you can’t grow your business. Heck, you may not even be able to maintain it.

    In my professional career, I’ve come across peers and clients who don’t need to read a book because “they already know it.” They don’t go to sessions at a conference on SaaS Marketing because they “already know it.” They don’t ask people questions at networking meetings because “they already have a marketer in their BNI group.”

    Sadly, these scenarios are not made up.

    Yes, Business Owners Still Need to Learn

    It’s impossible to know everything so you must keep learning. You can learn how to do something better. You can ask yourself why you’re operating a certain way. Is that reason still applicable?

    Learning includes customer insights. These insights come when you ask questions. For example, though this video is from January 28, today is April 1. I’m in a Residence Inn in St. Louis. There is no coffee pot in this room. The coffee maker is here, but not the pot. 

    If I mention it to the front desk, I’m predicting one of two reactions: a) she’s just a Karen (GenX, short hair, likes to complain) or b) how did we miss that? Ain’t no thing since I brought Suiss Mocha instant coffee – just in case. Thankfully, there is a microwave in the building.

    So, here I am as a customer. How can I learn from that?

    Business Owners are Customers Themselves

    Yes, I’m a business owner. Though I don’t have employees (I have a couple of vendors), I can still learn from every experience – especially those when I am a customer.  

    In the case of the coffee pot, I know I just can’t even with telling the front desk. Why? I’m tired. It’s not my job to tell the front desk to check rooms before they’re available. And maybe they do. But the person who does it, skipped room 304. Who knows? I just don’t want the friction today. You know?

    But if I were here for business (not moving 1,550 miles away), I would tell them.

    Where is the insight from Coffee Pot Gate? Not every customer will give you insight. They won’t all tweet. They won’t all complain. (And, are complaints really just to bust your ass? Probably not.)

    What makes you loyal to a brand? That’s another question that business owners can learn as customers themselves. What do you like about going to Starbucks? How does it make you feel when you get your T.J. Maxx $10 Rewards Certificate? 

    Business Owners Can Learn As Employees

    Recently, I’ve taken a part-time job at T.J. Maxx. Firstly, to have extra money to pay debt faster. Secondly, for travel and fun money. Thirdly, to get out of the house (single lady with a cat works alone, hello). Fourthly, because my client work dropped significantly Sept-Dec 2022. That’s another sad story. 

    I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’ve learned being an employee again – especially in retail. I’ve learned that 21-25 year-olds have work ethic and are some of the best managers I’ve ever had. I’ve learned that there are career opportunities in retail. 

    I’ve learned about systems and processes and checklists – stuff that I “already know.” But it makes me think. What should I do every night, every week, and every quarter? How can I reward loyal members with exclusive members-only events three times a year? It’s more than just emailing people. I’ve learned that even when the TJX Rewards Card emails members, they don’t necessarily read or remember information.

    I’ve been reinforced that looking people in the eye is valuable. 

    I’ve been reinforced that asking people questions is never a bad idea.

    I’ve been reinforced that there is always something positive you can say to everyone.

    Does a smile or a laugh really make that much of a difference in someone’s work day?

    Spoiler alert: it does.

    Video Highlights

    00:24 Do you learn by asking questions?

    01:31 Empathy only works if you do the work.

    02:17 Are you teachable?

    03:22 You can learn from what not to do.

    04:10 Don’t pass on information you “already know.”

    Raw Transcript 

    (00:01):

    Hey, YouTube. I love my hair, but it’s driving me banana pants. And I thought I would come to you and do a little video about something I get asked about a lot, or actually something I encounter a lot, and that is being unteachable.

    (00:24):

    So I like to ask people, uh, questions because that’s the best way to learn about them. And sometimes I’m a little flabbergasted at how close-minded people are. Now, I knew this because I was, um, a teacher and sometimes when you’re tutoring people and you’re teaching them about math or whatever, then it’s really easy for them to get unfocused and decide they already. They are so frustrated, they’ve already closed their mind. There’s nothing they can possibly learn. You know, there’s nothing they can possibly learn. And that puts you in a really precarious position because as a business owner or somebody who wants to advance in your career, the most important thing you can do is have an open mind and to think about things in a different way, to experience things, um, new of the way your customers are, um, experiencing them. Try to put yourselves in their shoes.

    (01:31):

    We talk a lot about empathy lately, but that means going through those exercises. What is it like downloading an app without the wifi? What is it like signing up on a form on your website? Does it work for everyone? Are you asking when people, are you asking someone who’s never used your, your website to um, tell you what you do?

    (01:57):

    You know, is for me, the third time I got, somebody asked me if I specialized in marketing for bars and pubs, I was like, okay, I have to change this language. Right? Because that was my analogy and I love that page cuz it was clever and witty and fun, but it’s too disguised, right?

    (02:17):

    So are you teachable? Are you able to take in information from other people through your experiences and sort of apply them to a) what you, what you are doing correctly? There is a huge value in understanding and validating and, um, and reengaging the knowledge you have. We call that reinforced learning and it is so valuable. Another reason is what you shouldn’t do.

    (02:52):

    Remember that show What Not To Wear? Now, I know they have new versions of it, but Trinity Woodall who, uh, if you’ve seen me, me on Facebook or whatever, I’m obsessed with her. I’ve, I’ve just, I’ve thought she’s awesome forever. But she used to have this show, uh, called What Not To Wear and explained why things aren’t working right. So there’s a lot of people, we get stuck in our ruts and stuck with what our, what we’re wearing without thinking about the utility of what we’re trying to achieve. So it’s being open for that.

    (03:22):

    So sometimes you can learn what not to do, you know? Um, are you in a coffee shop and, uh, somebody takes your order and then you’re waiting for them to make the order before you pay? That is inefficient. I’m not sure why anybody does that. But, um, it happens a lot. It happens a lot in Door County. Um, if you’re listening to this and you’re offended, I’m sorry. <Laugh>. Um, but the, that’s the reality. The reality is why are you doing it this way? And it could be that there is a unique part of the culture that I’m misunderstanding. But to me, coming from California and then San Antonio, it makes zero sense.

    (04:10):

    Um, so I try to look at every client and every experience I’m having as what, what reinforced learning is there? What should I not do? What insights am I getting on processes or ideas on, oh, this is how this person is doing it? I wonder if I could do that? If I wonder if I could learn from this thing that I’m liking. 

    I’m noticing that I like this thing, this experience, this shop. 

    What of that can I bring into, uh, my business, my products, my customer service?

    (04:50):

    So reinforced learning, what not to do, and insights. So that’s, those are my tips for you today on keeping your mind open. Of course, I also recommend that you watch documentaries, um, read non-fiction, and from a variety, a variety of sources that may not be exactly your industry.

    (05:14):

    Because where, where we get stuck in ruts is by putting those blinders on and only looking at things that are from our industry instead of opening up our mind to different experiences.

    (05:27):

    And I will talk to you later. You can find out more about me on BridgetWillard.com. Bye.

  • Business Owners — Look For Patterns in Your Online Reviews — And Change

    It’s easy to brush off or even ignore poor online reviews? But if there are patterns in these reviews, maybe it’s YOU who needs to change.

    Do Online Reviews Matter?

    Yes, online review matter to potential customers. They’ll read bad and good reviews to get a feel for how you respond and whether or not the sizing is correct if you’re a clothing brand, have bugs if you’re a SaaS company, or poor service if you’re a coffee shop.

    Why Should My Small Business Care About Bad Reviews More than Good Reviews?

    Small businesses live and die on word-of-mouth referrals – this includes social media and search. So Suzie tells me that I must go to Chimichurri Palace for their Argentinan Steak, and I look it up. You do the same. 

    When I read that the Chimichurri Palace has repeated issues with their reservations or that the Chimichurri sauce isn’t authentic, well, then I take pause while considering Suzie’s recommendation. Maybe she doesn’t know what’s authentic. 

    As a business owner, looking at patterns in words used in negative reviews helps you spot problems in the way your business operates. It may give you insight into servers’ attitudes. Maybe all of the negative reviews are on Thursday nights when Brad is working. 

    You get the point.

    Watch the video to see more. 

    When’s the last time you read your online reviews looking for patterns?

    When’s the last time you used that insight to change your business for the better?

    Key Highlights

    00:02: Intro

    01:11: Read your worst reviews and track word counts. 

    02:58: What are the commonalities in your reviews? 

    04:11: Does your website help manage expectations or create gaps in expectations?

    04:49: How does a client know what it’s like to work with you?

    05:49: “What if that [negative review] is true? What on Yelp is true? What on Trustpilot is true?”

    06:31: But as business owners, we should do as much as we can as far as it has to do with our side of the street, with how we present ourselves, with the expectations that we have to communicate in a way that has hospitality, joy, honor, integrity, and, and quite frankly, that all boils down to respecting our customer.

    Raw Transcript

    (00:02):

    Hi, Bridget Willard here. I just wanted to have a chat with you real quick about online reviews. First of all, when is the last time that you, as a small business owner, went and left a review for another small business? Uh, whether it’s a supplier, a vendor, um, a colleague, a new restaurant in town, um, possibly even your competitor, like what. That’s some intellectual integrity right there, right? So the thing is that reviews are a big deal, and it’s so hard to get positive reviews because we are really quick to add a review when we’re upset. This place has bedbugs. There was a snail in my escargot. <Laugh> You know what I mean, like something extreme? Or you have the three-star Yelpers who wouldn’t be happy if they won a million dollars because you didn’t give ’em to ’em, give it to them in twenty-dollar bills.

    (01:11):

    <laugh>. So the thing is reading your reviews with a grain of salt, but read the worst ones. Read the worst ones with a notebook and start writing down. Like, you know, it’s, I have notebooks. I have several notebooks right here in my, in my office to go. I got this one says, “some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it,” “doing my best,” whatever it takes. I have a book with you, I really like. You know, people in all their notebooks. And like, it doesn’t, this is from CVS, it’s not that big of a deal. But like one, one thing that’s good about it is this, which means it lays flat. It is small enough to be in your purse, briefcase, backpack, and you could just go, okay. So I would write down, for example, with a pen, I would take it down and be like, okay, what’s the first thing in this bad review is, uh, “rude.” Okay? Like, that’s a word that’s being used. And then read through all the other reviews and just start tallying it up like it’s your domino score. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. How many times did somebody say in your online reviews that they had it, that someone was “rude” or “bad service” or, uh, “TV doesn’t work?”

    (02:41):

    Or, um, like it’s common with restaurants, right? Um, or in hospitality industry to, to have these. But there, there will be reviews, um, written online, uh, if you’re big enough, uh, maybe they’re on Glassdoor.

    (02:58):

    Uh, if you’re in travel, it could be on Expedia, Bookings.com, those kind of marketplaces. It could be a book, uh, like the book that Warren and I wrote, “The Only Online Marketing Book You Need for Your Small Business,” which is on Amazon. Um, and maybe, maybe once you get into the two to three stars range, maybe it’s just lackluster. What things are, where are the commonalities in those? So bad review, people have distinct opinions; good review, people have distinct opinions. The people in the middle kind of get passed off. Like, well, they were, they had ridiculous expectations. Here’s where I am asking you to participate in your own business and your own business marketing. Is 10% of that true? 20%? 30%? How much of what that online review said is true? And if so, how much of that is in your control to fix it?

    (04:11):

    For example, we manage expectations with the copy we put on our websites. This is why, for example, I have public-facing pricing that’s transparent. It’s right there on slash pricing. BridgetWillard.com/pricing. You’ll see my pricing, you’ll see what it includes. I don’t believe in this kind of shell game that a lot of marketers do. Well, it depends. Yeah, it depends. And you just add ’em all up. <laugh> You know, of course I could do custom pricing and I have, and I do. But what, what is that expectation?

    (04:49):

    When it comes to being a WordPress developer? What is it gonna look like for them to work with you? Um, what is your process? How do you bill and in what increments? Are you like a lawyer and every time you get an email, that’s a 15 minute charge? You know? And, and then if you see that happening as a web developer, why, why are you not pushing that client onto a care plan? First of all, the, that gives you predictable income and it also helps them get the things done.

    (05:25):

    You know? It’s not. Clients don’t write wire frames and organize their content. This is why we have jobs, y’all. I write content. You put it on the website. They get customers. This is what we do as writers and WordPress developers, right? Marketers. Copywriters, I should say ’cause I’m not a novelist. <Laugh>

    (05:49):

    So the thing is like, what if that is true? What on Yelp is true? What on Trustpilot is true? What in your previous, when you were an employee, what in those performance reviews is true? And is any of that being, uh, is any of that carried over to your new business? To how you deal with clients? Do you think that they should know? Are you upset when they do X, Y, and Z? You know what of that is something that we <laugh> as business owners need to take to our therapist? And how much is it that the client is being difficult?

    (06:31):

    Sometimes difficulty with clients means the underlying situation is there is a lack of communication or in <laugh>, Cool Hand Luke, “what we have here is a failure to communicate.” So communication, some of it’s on them, some of it’s on us. But as business owners, we should do as much as we can as far as it has to do with our side of the street, with how we present ourselves, with the expectations that we have to communicate in a way that has hospitality, joy, honor, integrity, and, and quite frankly, that all boils down to respecting our customer.

    (07:20):

    So if you like this video, share it with your friends. Uh, if you don’t like it, press thumbs up twice. <laugh> I’m back to doing videos. Uh, the, the farm partnership didn’t work out. That’s okay because I tried and I love chickens. I can’t wait to buy a house and have chickens. Uh, for now I just have a cat. Where are you cat? Meow. Meow. There he is, <laugh>. So thanks for tuning in. I would love to answer any of your marketing questions. Drop me a line. Hello@BridgetWillard.com. See you on the next one.

  • Don’t Let the Holidays Slow Down Your Marketing Momentum

    It’s easy to get past Halloween, cozy nights with pumpkin spice lattes, and start thinking of your week off between Christmas and New Year. But the danger of sliding through the end of the fourth quarter is the loss of marketing momentum.

    What is Marketing Momentum?

    In lay terms, momentum is the energy of motion. It’s kinetic motion as opposed to stored or potential motion. Marketing Momentum is the result of your campaigns working toward the same goal. In many ways marketing momentum has to do with the mindset of the company and the energy spent toward marketing efforts. If you slow down, your marketing momentum will as well.

    “Momentum is a physics term; it refers to the quantity of motion that an object has. A sports team that is on the move has the momentum. If an object is in motion (on the move) then it has momentum.” Physics Classroom 

    When small businesses feel they no longer need to use social media, for example, I use the example of a steam locomotive. Once running, a steam locomotive has the existing kinetic energy and potential energy of the coal burning to boil water. Should you decide to stop shoveling coal into the firebox, that train, fully stoked, will run for some time on the tracks until the water no longer produces steam. Gravity, depending upon the course of the train may help or hinder the kinetic energy as well. 

    What Does a Train Have to Do With Marketing Momentum?

    If you want your train to reach the end of the line, you must continue to stoke the fire. You can’t stop because you’ve reached the second to the last station. If you want your business to meet its marketing goals, you can’t stop because you’re daydreaming about extra profit for end-of-year bonuses, decorating your Christmas tree, or preparing for Hanukkah. 

    And, hey, I get it. It’s easy to become distracted by family, non-stop events, and gift buying. It’s natural to want to work fewer hours as daylight decreases. This is when grit and determination are important. Sure, your business can coast for a while, but what are the potential threats to that decision?

    Reducing Marketing Momentum is an Opportunity for Your Competition 

    Simply stated, reducing marketing momentum presents an opportunity for your competition. Much of marketing is about building (and maintaining) brand awareness. As economic uncertainty comes into play, your customers may forget you’re still in business. If they stop seeing your posts, they may think you’re out of business. 

    During the 2009 economic downturn at Riggins Construction & Management Inc., we turned to blogging and social media to remind our customers that we were still in business. Uncertainty is always an opportunity for those in healthy financial and business positions. 

    Marketing Budget and Marketing Momentum

    The real question about marketing momentum is can you really afford to reduce the marketing budget in the fourth quarter? How will that impact the first quarter of next year? Will it take more effort (and budget) to build back up your momentum? What customers will you lose? And what do you really gain? 

    I’m happy to engage in a complimentary sales call or paid marketing consultation to guide you through these questions. Often shifting budget is a better strategy than eliminating it altogether. 

  • How To Use Launch With Words to Pitch and Build Roofing Contractor Websites

    If you’re wondering how to niche down in your website development business, why not go after roofing contractor websites? Launch With Words is the perfect companion. 

    * Become a Launch With Words Affiliate and earn 20% commissions.

    Roofing Contractor Websites – The Riches are in the Niches

    If you google roofer marketing, you’ll likely come across a few ads but the number one agency for integrated marketing for roofers (at the time of this post was Roofer Marketers. (They were acquired by JobNimbus in 2022.) Brian, Jim, and the team there are amazing and they do a great job in their PPC-based website builds. I used to write for them.

    Core and More Technologies also offers integrated marketing including website builds, social media, CRMs, and PPC. 

    Certainly, these two companies have been successful by targeting a specific demographic: roofing contractors. 

    According to IBIS World, there are over 100,000 roofing contractors in the United States alone. If those two companies have even a 25% market share, that leaves 75,000 roofing contractors who need basic, functional websites that inform, sell, and convert. That’s a big market share waiting for you. Yes, you. 

    Why Build Roofing Contractor Websites in WordPress?

    Simply speaking, 500 WordPress websites are built every day, according to research done by Austin-based WPEngine. WordPress isn’t going away and is one of the best platforms to build upon – especially for small businesses like roofing contractors. 

    What is Launch With Words and Why Does Blogging Matter?

    The Premium Pack for Roofing Contractors has twelve fully-written blog posts following SEO best practices. These are not boring, fluff pieces. They’re meant to answer frequently asked questions by consumers looking for roofing repair and reroofs. 

    These blog posts, when scheduled regularly, give Google the cadence they’re looking for (SEO) to show that your client’s roofing company is in business and has engaging contact. Your client will say that their “website works.”

    The roofing articles are imported as drafts. Backdate one of the posts and schedule the balance for the next eleven months. Boom, a year of content is done. Or, backdate one article, and schedule the balance of the roofing contractor blog posts for the next eleven weeks. Launch the site with words. Get it? Launch With Words! How you schedule those drafts is up to you.

    That aggressive publishing schedule post-launch will give the new website quite a lift and your agency 10 weeks to get some more content written and published on that site – all under the SEO budget for your monthly maintenance contract. (You have a maintenance contract, right?)

    Launch With Words is similar to Private Label Rights (PLR) content. However, all of the tedious work is done for you with Launch With Words. No copy/paste. No reformatting. No finding outbound links — that are not competitors. 

    Each article is formatted and once you import the pack, each article is on the WordPress website as a draft. It’s not an RSS feed. It’s not syndication. You now own the content. Customize the content or leave it as is. It’s up to you. The difference between the definition of traditional PLR from The Balance is that the

    Launch With Words articles are written to be specifically generic. No revisions are needed.

    “You don’t have to blog for long to know that coming up with new ideas is difficult. PLR content provides you with ideas and the basics of an article. All you have to do is revise.” The Balance Small Business

    Who Wrote the Launch With Words Roofing Articles? 

    I wrote the content. I did not outsource the writing of the roofing contractor content pack. I’ve been writing about roofing and construction for the last 22 years. I started working with roofers in 2000 and eventually moved to a general contractor. I left the construction industry in 2015 to work for an advertising agency that specialized in the franchise industry. 

    Why do I include my resume? Because the franchise industry uses syndicated content on their multisite installations all day long. They don’t worry about duplicate content issues. Do you know why? It doesn’t matter as much as we think. Duplicate content isn’t their issue; no content is. 

    Get to the Point. How Does Launch With Words Help Me Sell Roofing Contractor Sites?

    So Mike Demo, formerly from Codeable, gave a talk about how to make $125,000 by selling $500 sites every business day. You could definitely do that with roofing contractors. Then again, you can also offer a $950 website as a value-add and for price anchoring (psychology FTW). This puts you in a league of your own.

    As far as I know, no agencies are doing this with content that scales the way private label rights (PLR) content does. The big agencies do this with the franchise industry every day of the week. And they pay a pretty penny for it, too. Or is it a pretty hundy? Or Maybe a pretty bitcoin? But you get the point.

    Okay so here are the four steps to making money with Launch With Words. 

    1. Find Roofing Contractors who don’t have a website. Searching on Google Maps is a great way to do this as I demonstrate in this video. Mike Demo recommends being part of your Chamber of Commerce or BNI networking group as the roofing web person.
    2. Pitch them a $950 site. How? You’re the one who builds websites. Butch Ewing does a great job in his video. Maybe that will inspire you.
    3. Buy the Launch With Words Roofing Pack for $497. It comes with a home and about page template. Wait. What? Yes! Fill in the blanks (no waiting for clients to give you content).
    4. Build the site in a couple of hours.

    Here’s A Breakdown of the Math!

    $950 – 497 = $453 profit. 

    Rinse and repeat. If you did 3 sites, you would make $1,359 in profit.

    Or buy the unlimited site license of $2,000.

    Build 3 sites.

    $950 x 3 = $2,850 less $2000 for the licence = $850 in profit.

    The fourth website is $950 in profit. The fifth is also $950 in profit. 

    The total profit for the four websites is $1,800. Profit for five websites is $2,750.

    To put it another way, if you build ten of these sites and purchase the roofing contractor pack separately, you can make a profit of $4,530. That’s not bad for ten quick websites. Imagine if you did that every month!

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    However, if you purchase the multisite license, ten websites will yield a profit of $7,500. That’s a pretty penny. Makes you kind of want to niche down in the roofing industry, right? 

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    Bonus: Put them on a maintenance contract and charge for hosting and content. Use affiliate hosting links the way Mike Demo recommends and then gain that revenue as well.

    https://twitter.com/mpmike/status/1481786200214097924

    Are You Ready to Make Money With Launch With Words?

    What are you waiting for? Go find some roofing contractors in your local community who need websites. It’s a win-win-win. You get a client, they get a website, and I get a sale. They make money, you make money, I make money. Boom. Done. Get it. 

    *Not a tax advisor. Obviously, there are additional costs to running a business and building websites. But you get the idea. 

    Launch With Words. Because that’s what works. 

  • Bridget’s 10 Commandments of Marketing for Success in 2022 and Beyond

    Well, the new year is approaching and you’re probably already thinking of ways you can optimize your business for 2022 and beyond. Much of optimizing your business comes down to not neglecting marketing. Double negatives, I know. But if there are business sins, then maybe there are some commandments as well. Let’s reinforce the positive.

    *No actual clients are shamed or targeted in this article. All data in my brain comes from years of marketing consulting, teaching, and managing client accounts.  

    Without Further Ado, Bridget’s Ten Commandments of Marketing

    • You shall have a business plan.
    • You shall choose a niche.
    • You shall have marketing goals.
    • You shall not compare your goals to a competitor.
    • You shall stay focused.
    • You shall have a website.
    • You shall send email marketing campaigns.
    • You shall choose at least one social media platform.
    • You shall provide context for metrics.
    • You shall trust your marketing team.

    Marketing Commandment 1 – You shall have a business plan.

    Having a business plan isn’t a “nice-to-have,” as Warren Laine-Naida would put it. It’s a must-have. Your business plan doesn’t have to be in a gold-embellished, leather binder. But it needs to exist. The plan will be used as your decision-making guide. 

    Should you start a TikTok account?

    Answer: how does it support your business plan?

    Should you hire another developer?

    Answer: how does it support your business plan?

    Do you need a business plan as a solopreneur? 

    As solopreneurs, we probably should have a formal business plan. It depends upon how focused you are and how much you remember. Another consideration is how you want your business to live on should something happen to you. The business plan allows another person to keep your business going.

    Honestly, at the time of the writing, I don’t have a formal business plan. With that said, the SBA has several templates available as Word Docs (which I just uploaded to my Google Drive) so we can all get our paperwork-act together.

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    “A good business plan guides you through each stage of starting and managing your business. You’ll use your business plan as a roadmap for how to structure, run, and grow your new business. It’s a way to think through the key elements of your business.” SBA.gov

    Marketing Commandment 2 – You shall choose a niche.

    If everyone is your customer, no one is your customer. It’s not good enough to want “more sales,” or “more clients,” or “more money.” If you don’t have a niche or a specialization, your marketing will be unfocused – at best. It’ll be way too easy to run after any opportunity instead of the right one for you.

    I was just talking to a friend about my hair stylist’s Instagram Account: Hair By Frank. He’s fantastic, local, gives great cuts, styles, and – of course, color. You won’t see photos of my hair anytime soon on his account, though. Why? Because though he takes clients like me who need to color their gray hair, he specializes in balayage.

    Market for the customer you want; not the ones you may have.

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    In my case, I have a client who is a real estate professional. The messaging on my website isn’t necessarily directed toward that client. It doesn’t mean that I don’t take the client – we can all make our own decisions. It means we write the copy on our website, blogs, and social profiles, to attract the industry we want. All tech? Maybe just FinTech. All small businesses? Maybe just WordPress Plugins.

    “By aligning your products or services perfectly with a small group of current and potential customers, you encourage word of mouth and positive reviews which can carry your business into a larger, potentially more profitable market.” HubSpot

    Marketing Commandment 3 – You shall have marketing goals.

    Marketing goals are so important. Why are you posting on Twitter? What do you want out of that TikTok video? If you don’t have a goal, you won’t know the best way to achieve it. Duh, Bridget.

    Seriously, though. It’s easy to listen to experts who say you should focus on a certain age group (that’s not a persona) and, therefore, [insert trending platform here]. Your marketing goals should be tied to your business goals. 

    That marketing flywheel is more efficient in the long run than your funnels. Attract. Engage. Delight. When done right, the marketing flywheel becomes self-perpetuating. Wonderful. You still need marketing goals. I prefer to have quarterly goals. Most marketing efforts need at least three months to start showing a lift.

    • Q1 Business Goal 2022: Increase signups by 40%.
    • Q1 2022 Marketing Goal: Increase Twitter Profile Visits by 10%
    • Supporting Tactic: Increase Tweets to 3x a day from 1x a day.

    Marketing Commandment 4 – You shall not compare your goals to a competitor.

    This is the biggest sin in all of business marketing. You have no idea what their business goals are. You don’t know their marketing budget. You don’t understand their office politics. It’s possible that the CEO isn’t taking the CMO’s advice. It’s possible that the company is throwing money at growth marketing to please their VC firms. 

    One of the biggest marketing sins is presuming that your competitor is a) your competitor, b) is on equal footing as you, and c) is profitable. 

    Many businesses purposely run low-profit margins to avoid tax liability.

    Compare your marketing efforts to a) your marketing goals which should support b) your business goals. 

    Marketing Commandment 5 – You shall stay focused.

    Lemmings – all following one another jumping off the TikTok cliff. I’m not against TikTok by any means. If you have the time to produce videos, go live, and engage with your audience do it – if it supports your business goals. 

    I know for a fact that small business owners can get away with spending 10 minutes a day on Twitter. Can you produce a video in ten minutes and upload it to TikTok? No? How much time? How often do you have to post? Can you hire an intern? How will you compare success? Did you optimize your TikTok bio so that your profile link goes to your website or store?

    It’s okay to have a few marketing goals. It’s fun to experiment. But getting sidetracked instead of sticking with your marketing goals is where I see business owners die on the road of the distracted squirrel, chasing the newest shiny object. Marketing isn’t ideas. Marketing is consistent, focused work, over time.

    Marketing Commandment 6 – You shall have a website.

    A website is a valuable piece of marketing collateral. You want it to be clean, easy-to-read – especially on mobile devices, and easy to navigate. Facebook is not a website. Instagram is not a website. You need to own your website and keep it up-to-date.

    From WordPress.com to WIX to Squarespace, your business has options. My own website is built in WordPress, hosted on SiteDistrict, and uses * theme, which Rhonda Negard used for a child theme. It’s achievable. 

    You need a home page, about page, and contact page. Bonus points for blogging once a month. If you need some free blogging prompts, consider downloading and installing the free Starter Pack for Launch With Words. I talk more about what you need for your website build in this blog post.

    *Affiliate link. , I get a small fee. Thanks.

    Marketing Commandment 7 – You shall send email marketing campaigns.

    Email marketing campaigns are so important. I know. Everything is important. But these people on your segmented lists actually want to hear from you. It’s almost reassuring. It’s true that I sometimes delete the emails without reading them. But 9/10 I read the email. Why? Because it speaks to my needs as a business owner. Because I know he’s not full of crap. Because I trust him as a business owner.

    I struggle to send email marketing campaigns regularly. That has more to do with my internal doubt than the value I provide. So, do it anyway.  

    Marketing Commandment 8 – You shall choose at least one social media platform.

    Claim all of your profiles. Seriously. I’m looking at you San Antonio, TX. Get that Twitter account. I know many businesses in Alamo City are resistant to Twitter. Don’t be. (Also, I have a free course.) But I digress.

    Go claim all of your accounts: LinkedIn Company Page, Facebook Company Page, Instagram, Twitter, Google’s Business Profile, TikTok, Snapchat, and even Reddit if you must. Sidenote: Reddit is great for Cannabiz. 

    With that said, Marketing Commandment number 8 is to choose at least one social media platform and be active. If you want to add platforms, then add one per quarter. It takes time to find your voice and, as the small business owner, you have to put the time in yourself if you don’t have the budget to go full bore with a vendor or employee.

    Marketing Commandment 9 – You shall provide context for metrics.

    Metrics by themselves are misleading at best. Metrics are a snapshot of a period of time – in the past. They only give clues to your marketing behavior in the past. If you schedule your tweets to be sent every day at 9:00 AM, the best time to send a tweet will be daily at 9:00 AM. If you only use Yelp as a digital marketing platform, then your best source of leads will be Yelp.

    This sounds so obvious and, perhaps, a bit demeaning, but I don’t mean it to sound this way. This dependency on Google Analytics as an oracle from God is amazing to me. 

    A past client didn’t think the website was working because people called her.

    The question we asked was this:

    “How did they find your phone number.”

    All data needs context. All metrics need a story. And none of them work independently of one another. Email Marketing helps Twitter engagement. LinkedIn helps website views. Billboards help Facebook Ads work.  

    Marketing Commandment 10 – You shall trust your marketing team.

    Once you settle on an expert that you partner with or hire, it’s vital that you trust them. Clear communication, setting expectations, and benchmarking goals are important factors in a successful relationship with your marketing professional. 

    Going from consultant to consulting and rapidly switching tactics and strategy as fast as Tina Turner changes costumes at a concert (dating myself big time) is going to steal your momentum, confuse your audience, and deplete your marketing budget.

    What’s the Call to Action, Bridget?

    The call to action is to act. Start the business plan. Map out your quarterly goals. Keep a journal of your thoughts and record your results. Email me. I’m happy to hear your thoughts. 

    I need a Marketing Consultation. Are you available?

    Yes, I make time available Tuesday through Thursday for paid marketing consultations. You can