Archives for 2020

Grounding Your Vivid Vision in Reality

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A Vivid Vision is a document, roughly three pages in length, describing what a company’s highest-ranking executive envisions for that company in vivid detail. It describes what the future holds for the company but not how it’ll get there.

Your Vivid Vision should have people saying “There’s no way.” You should have goals so big that they make you imagine technology that doesn’t even exist today. By letting your imagination free on your Vivid Vision it might seem impossible to see it become a reality, but it’s not.

Grounding your Vivid Vision means doing the following things.

Make a Three-Year Vision

Make your Vivid Vision wild, but don’t make its timeline that way. The perfect timing can help your massive goals become a reality⁠—that perfect timing being three years. But why three years?

“The reality is that if you venture too far into the future, the vision becomes very foggy. The further out you go, the more chaos is thrown into the mix, and it becomes very difficult to see your company with any degree of clarity.” – Cameron Herold

Rather, if your timeline is too short⁠—only one or two years⁠—you don’t have time to have a big enough goal that will inspire you. Three years allows those big goals while also giving a tight enough time frame that it inspires innovation.

Share Your Vivid Vision

It is very important that you share your Vivid Vision with your employees. When your employees know exactly what is envisioned for the company in the next three years, especially all the minor details, they know that their work will have an impact.

“Employees naturally want to perform well and feel good about the work they contribute. They want their company to be a success.” – Cameron Herold

Without showing your employees your Vivid Vision you’re holding them back! Motivated and innovative employees are the people that are going to help make your Vivid Vision a reality.

Mind Mapping

When you’re beginning to write your Vivid Vision you have to let your creative side run free. Do this through a technique called ‘mind mapping.’ Write down whatever ideas pop into your head and let each idea inspire another. What you write might look seemingly random, but don’t worry about that.

“After a while, I am left with a sheet of paper covered in haphazard, seemingly unconnected notes. But when I dig a little deeper, patterns begin to emerge. They are ideas or directions I might not have been actively thinking of, but my creative subconscious certainly was.” – Cameron Herold

Don’t let yourself ask ‘how’ as you write your goals and ideas. That question will keep you from having the truly inspired ideas that will help your company thrive no matter how impossible they seem at the moment. By ‘mind-mapping’, your subconscious will find the connections and help you build a road to actually get there. The ‘how’ happens organically.

Breaking it Down

Three years is a long time and your Vivid Vision is big. It can seem daunting at times, that’s why you have to take it one step at a time.

“See your grand ambition not so much as a single entity but as dozens of smaller entities linked together to form something singular.” – Cameron Herold

The end goal might be hard to see realistically, but the smaller steps that form are the things that keep it grounded and achievable. By breaking your Vivid Vision down into small pieces you’ll be able to overcome each obstacle as it arises.

A Vivid Vision is filled with massive goals that might seem impossible at first glance, but that’s why there are ways to keep it grounded. That doesn’t mean it has to seem grounded. In fact, people should look at it and think it’s impossible—when in reality, it’s not. Not if you’re doing it right.

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

The Importance of Passion in Business

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Passion is THE thing that turns an okay business into a great one.

Leaders who want to be successful need to be passionate about what they do, what they want to do, and why they want to do it.

Here are the biggest reasons why passion is so important in business.

Passion Drives Success

It’s been said a lot, but that’s because it truly matters; you need passion in order to succeed. It will drive you towards a goal even when it seems impossible, but it’s only impossible for someone without passion.

“Passion is what drives you. Passion keeps you going despite the difficulties that your business will inevitably come across. I had many opportunities to throw up my arms and simply give up, but my passion caused me to keep going. I couldn’t think about anything but making my business succeed.” – Forbes

The road to success is crowded. It’d be impossible for everyone there to succeed – that’s why only the passionate ones do.

Passion Gets Other People on Board

People will want to work with you if they can see your passion for the job. The types of people that you want on your team are those who know that passion drives success.

“Entrepreneurs have a passionate way of communicating ideas that gets other people on board. They don’t just come up with ideas, they also know how to lure investors, assemble teams, and inspire the public.” – Cameron Herold

When there is passion in what you are saying, people will listen. And when you can get people to listen to you, then you can also get them to genuinely care.

Passion Makes You Persistent

Passion makes you persist even during the hardest times. It is the thing that keeps your business going when it seems like it’d be a lot easier to just give up and try something else.

“What makes an entrepreneur excited about their work is not as important as the passion they feel, because this helps them persist when they face hardships like long hours or tight budgets.” – Monster

Passion will drive you to work hard for your business no matter what. It is a key component to differentiate between a successful entrepreneur and someone just getting the job done.

Passion is Contagious

When you’re passionate about your business your team will be too. A passionate team is a strong team and that starts with a strong leader with a passion for their vision.

“When employees truly believe in what they’re doing, they tell everyone they know. They’re proud of their work and want to see the company succeed. When someone asks, “What do you do?” their response is energetic and excited.” – Recruiter Box

The most successful businesses know how important it is for everyone involved to be passionate about the company’s vision. Employees in these businesses don’t just work hard because they have to, they do it because they want to. Passionate employees are also your best advertisers. They will be excited to talk about what they do and share your vision with others.

Passion is the foundation of a strong business. It gives you the momentum to keep going even when times get hard and builds your business even higher when times are good. Never underestimate a person with a vision and passion for it.

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

Active Listening Skills and Techniques

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Active listening is one of the most important skills you need to master as a leader. It’s not just about listening to someone talking, but really hearing what they’re trying to say, which is absolutely necessary to have good communication.

Personally, a technique that I use to listen to others is to sit on my hands. It somehow stops me from trying to talk and interrupt, but that’s just me. Here are some skills and techniques that will help every leader be a better active listener.

Ask Open-Ended Questions 

As an active listener, you need to genuinely want to learn from what the speaker is saying and the best way to do so is by asking questions.

“Asking questions is often necessary to further understand what another is trying to truly say. Ask open-ended questions that allow the speaker to reveal more details to the situation and enlighten you more on the topic.” – Entrepreneur

Avoid asking yes or no questions as much as possible. They don’t provide much value to a conversation. For example, instead of asking something like, “Did you solve the problem?” instead ask, “How did you solve the problem?”

Never Interrupt 

It can be tempting to want to speed up the conversation when you think you know where the speaker is going. However, active listening requires that you let the speaker keep talking uninterrupted—regardless if you think you can speed up the pace by finishing their sentence.

“This can be another difficult step because the brain wants to jump in and solve the problem before the speaker has communicated the entire message. Interrupting shows impatience and disrespect, especially if you interrupt with an argument rather than a question.” – Vistage

You need to show respect for the speaker and let them speak at their own pace and in their own way.

Keep an Open Mind

Judgment ruins active listening almost immediately. Even if you don’t agree with the speaker, you need to keep an open mind and try your best to see things from their point of view.

“If what she says alarms you, go ahead and feel alarmed, but don’t say to yourself, “Well, that was a stupid move.” As soon as you indulge in judgmental bemusements, you’ve compromised your effectiveness as a listener.” – Forbes

Not only do you need to avoid saying anything judgemental, but it’s just as important to avoid thinking judgmental thoughts. As soon as you’ve told yourself that you disagree with the speaker you’ve stopped being an active listener at which point no one will benefit from the conversation.

Don’t Plan Ahead

It can be very tempting to try and plan out in your head how you want to respond to the speaker but don’t. If you’re thinking about what you want to say while the speaker is still talking, you aren’t actively listening anymore.

“Listening demands being fully present and ready to respond to what might get thrown your way. But our listening shuts down when we’re anticipating what might happen next.” – HBR

You want your response to be authentic and the only way to do that is by listening intently to what the speaker is saying. By planning ahead, you will only be able to respond with your own understanding and opinions of the topic, which will communicate to the speaker that their opinions don’t matter.

Summarize to Make Sure You Understand

One of the most important skills in active listening is summarizing what the speaker has said to make sure that you genuinely understand what they are saying.

“During this process, the other person must feel that you are empathizing with them and that you understand and care about their point of view. To really help with this, use techniques such as ‘paraphrasing,’ or repeating back what they have said and asking if you understood correctly or ‘perception checking.’” – Cameron Herold

By paraphrasing and summarizing what the speaker has said, it not only shows that you listened but it also provides the speaker with the opportunity to listen and clarify anything they may need to elaborate on for you to better understand.

Active listening is a skill that’s necessary for everyone to master—especially leaders. Even if you think you are doing it right, there may be some things you didn’t consider? Do you use these techniques to be a better communicator? If not, then it might be time for a refresher.

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

The Importance of Vacation Time

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Vacation time is one of the most important things you can give to yourself and your employees. That’s why I push further than the mediocre two weeks paid vacation that most employers provide. The five weeks of paid vacation that I give, and recommend (on top of government holidays) should be standard practice for all companies, for all employees, from day one.

Here are five reasons why vacation time is so important to you and your business.

Vacation Time Benefits Your Employees’ Physical Health

Vacation time is often thought of as nothing more than simply time off, but it’s more than that. It is time spent rejuvenating your physical health.

“A study found that men at risk for heart disease were 30% more likely to have a heart attack when skipping vacation for five years in a row than those who took a week off each year, but that even just skipping one vacation increased their risk.” – Business Insider

If vacation time helps you stay healthy, then you want to make sure you’re giving your employees enough. You want your team, yourself included, to be healthy so that everyone can thrive at their jobs. So, why not give your staff that time – 25 days a year, in fact. And actually ENCOURAGE them to take it, a couple of days a month at least.

Vacation Time Increases Productivity

The day before a vacation is a day when people are the most productive, actually, it can extend the entire week before. The more days of vacation they have, the more productive days before vacation are. It’s called the “Vacation Effect”, and lots of people talk about it (look it up).

“After a vacation, 64 percent of people say that they are ”refreshed and excited to get back to my job.” It’s a win-win both for employees and organizations alike.” – Psychology Today

“To be sure they take this time off, force them to or they lose it. The idea is to recharge your batteries regularly and not stockpile the time and have a meltdown.” – Cameron Herold

Vacation serves as a hard deadline for employees, which is a major motivator to get things done. With vacations coming up, employees don’t want to waste time, and actually accomplish a  LOT more work than normal.

Vacation Time Improves Sleep Habits

You’re thinking…really? Well, we all know that sleep is necessary to have in order to be productive at work (and life in general). A lack of vacation time actually does affect sleep habits and definitely not in a positive way.

“Researchers say, that vacations can help interrupt the habits that disrupt sleep, like working late into the night or watching a backlit screen before bed. If you have stress from work and you find your sleep is disrupted because of anxiety or tension, take time off and learn to reset your sleep pattern.” – Inc

A vacation provides a reset from bad sleep habits. It interrupts bad habits that affect your quality of sleep – like working late and looking at a screen before bed. For most people, these habits are hard to break, but the complete shift in a schedule that a vacation provides makes it a lot easier.

Gives Employees Opportunities

As a leader, taking vacation time not only sets an important example, but it provides opportunities for your employees to step up while you’re away.

“When senior leaders go on vacation, it gives high potential team members a chance to develop their leadership muscles.” – Forbes

As a leader, taking time away from your work shows an important amount of trust in your employees. You’re giving them the opportunity to make decisions independently and showing them that you value and trust them enough to do that.

Vacation time is necessary for everyone in the workplace and providing enough of it is just as important as that vacation itself. The benefits of vacation time apply to the entire company. So, try it out! Give your employees 25 days to use each year, whether those are sick days, personal days, or them going on a vacation. Trust me you’ll see a HUGE difference.

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

How to Use Influencer Marketing

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On social media, people generally trust the influencers they’re following. That means when the influencer endorses a certain service and company, their followers tend to trust that recommendation. You can benefit from influencer marketing if you know how to use it properly.

Here are the most important things you can do to use influencer marketing successfully.

Consider the Influencer’s Following (Numbers)

Numbers play a large role in any kind of marketing. Two of the most important numbers you’ll need to consider when you are using influencer marketing are the influencer’s number of followers and your budget.

“Users with somewhere between 1,000 and 9,999 followers earn just over 30 percent more for their posts (roughly $108). Influencers who have upward of 99,999 followers, though, see their earnings more than double ($240), while users with more than 100,000 followers see their price per post rise the highest – over $763.” – Influence

If you want to appeal to more than one target market, consider splitting your budget between some smaller influencers with different audiences. But – if you already have a clear picture of your avatar and are focused only on marketing only to that avatar, put your budget into one or two larger influencers.

Consider the Influencer’s Audience

The amount of followers the influencer has doesn’t matter if you choose an influencer whose followers are completely out of your target market and not in line with your avatar. Make sure you do your research to figure out the audience of each influencer before making a decision.

“Having a smaller audience allows micro-influencers to bond with the people who follow them more regularly (as compared to a celebrity with millions of fans) via their channel. This makes them appealing to work with for businesses looking to develop personal relationships among their target audience.” – HubSpot

Consider the type of audience and the level of engagement you want when deciding who you want to endorse your service. A smaller influencer might have fans that are a lot more actively involved and engaged, but usually, those types of influencers have a very specific niche. Bottom line is that you have to make sure you do your research and find the right influencer – otherwise you’re wasting your money.

Know the Difference Between a Brand Influencer and Brand Ambassador

A brand influencer is someone you pay to promote your service – so they would charge per post on their timeline and/or stories. Basically like paying for traditional ad placement, just, on social media.

A brand ambassador is given a percentage of the sales that are directly related to the customers they bring in. For example, if you are offering a course – they would have a direct link to promote and they would get a percentage of (or set fee) for anyone who buys through that link.

“Influencer, blogger, brand ambassador, advocate: These terms are used interchangeably, but there are vast differences in the influence they wield, what they will do for a brand and what they get paid.” – Entrepreneur

Make sure that you know the difference between a brand influencer and a brand ambassador when outlining your influencer marketing strategy – as you will need to put different elements into place depending on which is the best fit for your overall marketing strategy.

Know Your Message

Before you do any kind of influencer marketing you need to be very clear about your message. This will allow you to pick the best fit and make sure that the influencer(s) you choose is in line with your brand, your mission, and…you guessed it…your message.

The other element that is important is that you can be clear about what you want their audience to learn about your company throughout your ‘relationship’. This will ensure that this element of your strategy remaining in line with the rest of your advertising strategy. But remember, you want to give them enough room with it to be creative in a way that will appeal to their specific audience but still be relaying your message.

“Gaining social “proof” will help you gain more customer trust. Partner with those who share your values in clever, mutually beneficial ways.” – Cameron Herold

Using social media influencers to increase brand recognition and appeal to potential new customers is a great way to grow your business – just make sure you’ve done your research and approach it the right way

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

How to Make Exit Interviews as Productive as Possible

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A good leader asks questions, strives to do better, and takes opportunities to learn wherever possible. One of the best ways to do all these things is through an exit interview.

You want to learn why your employee left, what brought about this bad outcome, and how you can avoid it in the future. An exit interview can teach you all these things as long as it’s done right.

Here are some tips to make your exit interviews as productive as they can be!

Finding Timing That’s Just Right

Timing is everything when it comes to an exit interview. You don’t want to just get information, you want to get the right information, and that means knowing when to do your exit interview and when not to.

“Some experts argue that the most productive moment to conduct the initial EI is halfway between the announcement of an intention to leave and the actual departure—after the initial rush of emotion has died down, but before the employee has checked out mentally.” – HBR

You want to be able to get useful information from the exit interview and that means timing it when emotions get in the way as little as possible. Leaving a job is emotional, that’s unavoidable, but you can still find time to conduct the exit interview after they’ve begun to process leaving, but before they’ve actually left.

Don’t Justify the Problems

During the exit interview, let the employee vent. If they are upset about some policy your company has, don’t justify the policy. Instead, ask the employee how they’d solve it. Asking questions and finding solutions gets you useful information, even if you don’t necessarily agree with the problem.

“The key to conducting an effective exit interview is to create an environment in which the exiting employee is comfortable providing honest feedback.” – The Balance Careers

You want honest information, which will be hard to get if you try to justify the problems your employee is telling you about.

Be a Listener

The exit interview isn’t about what you think of the employee or the job, it’s about finding out what the employee thinks of the employer and the job. It can be tempting to talk about your opinions and feelings towards the job but if you want the exit interview to be productive you have to be able to simply listen.

“The smartest CEOs are vulnerable, open to hearing what they don’t know, and are always trying to learn.” – Cameron Herold

When you start inserting your opinions into the exit interview, the employee might start to feel the need to defend their choice of leaving. When the employee feels the need to defend themselves, they’re going to start closing themselves off and therefore closing off any potentially useful information you might have gotten.

The Follow-Up Questionnaire

Frequency plays an important role in getting honest information. Having another exit interview doesn’t necessarily mean having a face-to-face interview again. Consider instead sending a questionnaire or survey to the employee a couple of months after they’ve left.

“Some companies have the first interview, but also a follow-up interview a few months later. Research has found that employees can change their opinions when given time to reflect. 59% changed their reasons for leaving and 100% gave a reason for leaving in the follow-up interview even if they didn’t give one in the first interview.” – HPPY

Your goal is to get as much honest feedback as possible to make the exit interview productive. By conducting a follow-up questionnaire a couple of months later you’ll get more thought out answers because the employee has had time to process why they left.

Act on the Data

The exit interview itself is only half the work. You need to collect the information learned in these exit interviews, then organize it, distribute it, and learn from it.

“You want to make sure that exit interview data reaches key decision-makers in your organization who can implement changes as effectively as possible.” – Process St.

The goal of the exit interview was to learn and that means sharing the information with the people that need to know. The exit interview isn’t over when the employee walks out the door. It’s about taking that information and improving from it if you can.

The best thing you can do as a leader is to learn and develop. Exit interviews can be an important part of that if they’re done well. You should always want to do better for yourself and your company.

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

The Three Tips for Effective Team Training

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It’s important for teams to work well together but it can be tough to learn how exactly to get them to do that. Here are three tips to help out with effective team training, and to ensure they work well together.

Focus on Trust

Sometimes the most important things can be left behind in team training, like trust. As business leaders, we know that trust is required in order to ensure that our teams work together effectively but sometimes we forget that trust needs to be built and is not automatic.

Individuals are not going to automatically trust their team members enough to rely on each other from the get-go. We need to make sure that we are doing things to encourage and build trust in our teams. One way to build trust is through good communication, and what is good communication? Open communication.

Effective team training makes sure to put a lot of focus on open communication. Communicating openly with each other makes it a lot easier to build a solid foundation of trust between team members. It is important to be transparent (open) about what’s going on with the company, whether it’s good and bad. When you’re transparent with your team it is a lot easier for the your team to be transparent with you.

“Whether you’re talking about athlete teams or work teams, the productivity and effectiveness of those teams is a foundation of trust.” – Iowa State University

Understand Different Types of Learning

It is very important that you understand the different types of learning styles in order to effectively train your team. With any group of people, you have several individuals who learn differently.

So, what can you do to ensure you are inclusive? Once you are aware of the different learning styles you can adjust your training techniques to meet those needs—for example, those who are visual learners versus those who are verbal learners, or one of the other four learning styles, will all have different requirements.

“Everyone learns differently, so it’s worthwhile to consider the various learning needs that exist within your organization and adjust your training accordingly.” – Sue Wigston

Training that does not consider the learning styles of everyone will lead to team members not being able to grasp what they’re learning. That means that some members won’t be as comfortable as others, which in turn makes it harder for them to work effectively together as a team. Effective team training means that you need to ensure that everyone has the ability to work as best as they can, which comes from understanding individual needs and adjusting your training strategies according to how people learn.

The Importance of Respect

I am sure it goes without saying that respect is an essential part of every team. You need to ensure that each member of the team respects each other, that they respect you, and that you respect them. Without mutual respect, the effectiveness of a team and their ability to work with one another can easily fall apart.

Showing respect is as easy as simply respecting everyone’s time. Just because you’re in charge doesn’t mean that it’s right for you to waste the team’s time. Make sure to always show up on time and treat everyone’s time as something as valuable as your own.

“If you’re the CEO, you need to cheer on your employees constantly too. Cheer them on for every little thing you can catch them doing well.  It will pay huge dividends for you.” – Cameron Herold

Effective team training relies heavily on the fundamentals, so use these tips to ensure that everyone feels supported, is learning in their style, feels trusted, respected, and encouraged.

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

Four Common Hiring Mistakes

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Hiring can be a hard job, as there are so many elements that go into finding the ideal candidate for the job. It’s important to ensure that you hire the right people, but it’s also really easy to make hiring mistakes. However, these hiring mistakes are very common and can be avoided as long as you know what to look out for.

Here are the four most common hiring mistakes.

Hiring Only Based on the Interview

Obviously, you need to interview job candidates – that will never change. Interviews have been around from the beginning, but one of the most common hiring mistakes is thinking that an interview should be the only thing you judge on.

Some people have great personalities that’ll get you excited about working with them – you know those people who are just awesome at interviews – but not too amazing on the job. Then there are the people who get really nervous and do not put their best foot forward in an interview situation, which does not allow you to see how valuable they can be to your team. So, interview – yes. But make sure that you’re not basing your decision on the interview element alone.

“The old adage of, ‘hire for attitude, train for skill’ doesn’t work anymore. A good attitude can’t overcome a lack of skills, and when you’re growing at 100% revenue growth a year, you need the people that will get the job done right away.” – Cameron Herold

Ignoring a Candidate’s Personality

Previously, I mentioned getting excited about a candidate’s personality, which is something that you need in order to know that they are the right fit. The candidate may have the perfect qualifications for the job, but if you and your team don’t get along with them then those qualifications aren’t going to matter in the long run.

One of the things I do in interviews is swear – yup – you read that right. I swear in real life, and if doing so makes the candidate uncomfortable, I know they are not a personality fit for me and my company. Of course, if swearing isn’t your thing that’s okay, that is just an example.

“Managers often focus solely on the experience and skills of the candidate, but their character is also important. The new hire’s personality should match the company culture.” – Michael Hsu

In short, a personality you can get along with is just as important as a good work ethic, so make sure they have both before you hire them.

Rushing to a Decision

Rushing to a decision is, in my opinion, one of the biggest hiring mistakes you can make. To find the perfect candidate, it is important that you do not rush the decision. You may meet someone you think is perfect for the job on the first interview, but if you don’t take the time to look through other candidates, you won’t know if they’re actually the best fit.

Think about it like this – if you spend one month searching for the perfect person for the job and find that person, you’re set. But, if you rush the decision and invest 3+ months of time, and money training the wrong person, you’re back to square one and out several thousands of dollars. Plus, it doesn’t do that person any favors either since they also wasted their time trying to fill a role that wasn’t for them.

So – don’t rush, take your time, read 100 resumes if that’s what it takes. Just make sure that you find the right person the first time. You have to be sure they are the BEST candidate, not just a ‘good’ candidate.

“Take your time. Think about what it’s going to cost in time and money to hire and train someone, only to find that she’s not up to the job. You could end up having to repeat the whole process.” – MindTools

Not Making Rules and Responsibilities Clear

Your candidates need to know exactly what their job is going to be before you hire them. If you leave the description of the job broad and unclear then your applicants are going to be the same.

The candidate needs to know what to expect before going into the job. If they go in thinking things will be easier than they will be, or if they’re expecting your company’s way of working is something completely different, then the person you hire is not going to be the right fit, no matter how well they interviewed or how well you get along with them.

One thing I recommend to all of my coaching clients is having a copywriter write the job interview. That’s right – not someone from your HR department who will copy/paste the job description from some template and kill the life of the role. You need to ensure that the job description paints a picture of what the role is and highlights what makes it the amazing opportunity that it is. This is even more important when you’re hiring for C-Suite roles.

Without a properly defined role, they won’t know good from bad, wrong from right, success from error. Within a short amount of time, they will feel frustrated and uninspired. This will lead to a bad attitude, which will affect work culture.” – Forbes

Hiring is a hard process with so much potential for mistakes if you’re not quite sure what you’re doing. Start with these tips and you will be on your way to finding the BEST person for the job.

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

7 Critical Channels Entrepreneurs Need to Know for Inbound Marketing

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How do you market your business? Where do you start? Which channels are right for you? Are you direct-to-consumer or brick and mortar?

There are so many considerations you need to make when honing in on marketing your business. Most entrepreneurs don’t have the time to commit to learning and mastering each marketing channel to produce a functioning integrated full-funnel strategy.

So, we decided to do a breakdown of how most channels work and how to leverage them for your business. You may want to make the decision to outsource or stay in-house when it comes to managing your marketing operations, but the least you can do is be informed.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If you talk to a lot of people they’ll tell you organic search is a great way to capitalize on a “free” marketing channel. Any experienced SEO expert will tell you that this misnomer can be dangerous for an entrepreneur.

It takes a lot of investment to rank for your target keywords. SEO can be broken down into two major components:

On-Page Optimization

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of well thought out pieces online about how to do this effectively. It really breaks down to some simple tasks to make sure your site is easy to crawl and easy to use.

Major search engines use bots to crawl your site and make sense of the contents, structure, and speed. If you’re interested in this, you can take a dive into the deep end with technical SEO.

However, for the person who’s strapped for time and doesn’t have the bandwidth to learn an entirely new discipline that requires advanced technical knowledge, you can achieve your desired impact by keeping your website clean and simple.

I can’t stress enough that you should not overcomplicate things. Here are the tenets you should follow religiously when optimizing a page for search:

  • Keep your URLs simple and plug your main target keyword into the slug.
  • Use descriptive title tags for your pages that can capture attention and keyword traffic.
  • Properly organize your H1, H2, H3…tags. They should be used in ascending order with H1 being the page title (there should only be one of these) and think of them as a hierarchy of importance.
  • Make sure your images are lean, have descriptive titles, and provide an alt description. A good rule of thumb for this is to think about how you would describe the image to a blind person.
  • Use authoritative sources in your content wherever possible. If you link out to trusted sources, your content looks well-researched and provides a better user experience.
  • Link to your own content where it’s relevant. This one’s probably pretty self-explanatory.

Off-Page

This is probably the trickier of the two to master (in my personal opinion). You’ve optimized everything in your power and your site is firing on all cylinders, great!

Now welcome to the Wild West. It’s impossible to downplay the importance of actually putting in the work at this stage.

It’s difficult to put together a definitive list of things you should do here, but here are some best practices for getting your pages to actually rank on the front page–and hopefully claim the coveted #1 spot:

  • Keyword research is where you should always start. You don’t know what you’re optimizing for until you identify some high-value keywords that you want to rank for.

Think of your target keyword as a topic and your goal is to create topic to make your site the expert resource for anyone doing a search for that topic. Build that content.

I use the term “build” because it requires a level of strategy and architecture to build good content that has the ability to rank.

  • Now, you need to show the search engines that your page(s) should be seen as the preeminent authority on the topic of your choice by getting other sites to link back to your page(s).

While you may think what you’ve built is magnificent and should rank on its own, this is seldom the case. Each link back to your page(s) is like a vote of confidence and other sites are casting a vote for your page with each backlink. The more influential the site, the better.

Don’t overdo it! Make sure the links back to your page(s) are diverse because the same site raising its hand multiple times starts to diminish the influence it has and could even lead to negative consequences in some extreme cases.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Much like SEO, SEM starts with keyword research, but it requires a very different type of investment. In the SEM landscape, you win with great copy and great creative (where applicable).

Luckily, there are a number of tools to help build out your keyword strategy, Google even has its own very powerful tool. Your keywords then fall into two buckets:

  • Branded Keywords

Branded keywords are any keywords that are relevant to your brand specifically. They are your brand name, your unique value proposition, or any other term that is specific to the core of your brand.

It’s important to advertise on branded terms because your competitors will attempt to steal your traffic (a segment that is likely to become customers) to convert on their sites. You want to own all of your real estate.

  • Non-Branded Keywords

Non-Branded terms are where you have to get creative. You can even use competitors to help you figure out what to target.

These are the keywords that you have to be strategic about based on your campaign goals. You have to determine whether you’re aiming for conversions or brand awareness. Each will come with somewhat different guidance.

For a conversion goal, you’ll want to target high-value keywords with strong purchase intent. You’ll have to use a bit of finesse and analyze the keywords based on the other results showing up for that search.

Are the results of products and services? If so, there’s a good chance that the search engine has correlated this keyword with purchase intent.

For a brand awareness goal, you’ll want to advertise on high traffic keywords that likely have more information search intent. For these keywords, you should use the content as your value-add for the user.

Once you have this down, you’ll want to set a budget. Once you know how much you can spend you’ll be able to determine how much you can test and how far and long your campaign can stretch.

Now you need something to test. Creating assets for your campaign is an important stage in this process and should be given all of the same consideration you gave to choosing your keywords.

You’ll want to write engaging copy that is very specific to your keyword and what you want the user to do when they read it. And your landing page should be in sync with the messaging you used in your ad copy. Providing a consistent experience is key.

Social Media

Social media is an interesting beast. It doesn’t seem difficult from the outside, but when you dig in you see all of the intricacies that make a successful organic digital presence.

The most important aspect of being successful on social media is authenticity. I don’t mean staying true to yourself, but rather staying true to the brand voice and persona you’ve created for your business.

Don’t be cookie-cutter. You don’t have to be over the top either, to do well you have to know the landscape and how to take advantage of each platform:

  • Facebook – A combination of visual and text that allows for more freedom to show who you are as a brand. Post updates, events, and even live stream.
  • Instagram – Visual-dominant, Instagram is all about using images to communicate your message. Capture attention on Instagram with stunning creative. Make your images compelling with minimal text.
  • Twitter – Mostly text-based, but twitter is a great platform to shine and show your personality. Be original, be witty, be provocative, just don’t be boring. Enhance your tweets with images, gifs, and videos or attach yourself to a larger conversation.
  • Snapchat – Tell your story with strong video narratives.

Affiliate

Affiliate marketing is performance-based marketing where an affiliate earns commissions for driving sales or transactions to an advertiser’s website. An affiliate can be anyone that has a web presence with the ability to generate sales or traffic to an advertiser’s website.

For example, you can have blogger writing content on parenting and being a mother and they and within one of their pieces of content, they link to your bottle company’s website using a custom URL. If someone clicks that link and makes a purchase, the blogger gets a commission.

An affiliate can also be a social media influencer. For example, Kim Kardashian posts on Instagram about a dietary supplement that she loves. She can then get a percentage of every sale that’s attributable to that link.

Affiliate compensation can be structured in a lot of interesting ways based on your goals, budget, and relationship with the influencer you’re working with. That credit could be a commission; it could be a cost-per-click. It could be a flat amount per sale.

At the end of the day, affiliate marketing gives advertisers the ability to generate sales or leads on a commission or performance basis. A concept that is low-risk and potentially high reward for the brand if they pair with the right content creator.

Email

When email marketing is done well, it can have an incredible impact on your company. Great campaigns can yield up to $42 for every dollar spent. That’s some serious ROI!

I won’t bore you with the basics here because most of us have sent and received plenty of emails. You probably checked your email in the middle of reading this.

Here are a few points to consider when you’re putting together an email campaign:

  • Purpose – What’s your goal for this campaign? There are usually two broad goals of sending emails to a list, converting contacts into customers or retaining existing customers.
  • Message – Your message needs to be clear and concise. Are you promoting products or content? What’s the best way to do that?

Shorter is better. Most people won’t scroll through a long email. Keep it to the point, but make it interesting. Email inboxes are some of the noisiest spaces in marketing so you have to stand out to get opened.

  • Personalization – With the advancement of automation, segmentation, and targeting technology it’s easier than ever to create emails that are tailored to a specific audience at scale.

Tools like Hubspot allow you to create automated workflows based on certain criteria that are met when a user interacts with your business at online touchpoints.

A quick example being, a return customer visits your website and looks at your blog on cold remedies. You can set a workflow to trigger an email serving them a list of products or a content upgrade that allows them to either get more in-depth or buy what they need.

Content Marketing

Content marketing often gets swept under the rug, but it can give a big boost to the tangibles like leads and site traffic and the intangibles like brand awareness and thought leadership.

You have to have a strategy. Content marketing doesn’t really work unless you have a plan. The goal with content marketing is to build content that can be leveraged across channels and along every step of the sales funnel.

It actually affects just about every other channel because all marketing relies on content in some form or another.

Here are the steps you should take to build out a great content strategy:

  • Keyword Research – It’s the same process as SEM, but with a focus on organic search.
  • Build a Content Calendar – Map out the content you want to build and the purpose each piece serves.
  • Build Better Content – Make better content than your competitors. It’s a simple task that can be accomplished with a combination of good creative, good copy, and ample research to hone in on intent.
  • Promote Your Content – This last step is the most important step in the process. There’s a chance you could get lucky and people find your content on their own and it gets shared naturally, but that’s incredibly unlikely.

For every major piece of content you create, you should have a promotion checklist of every channel you can take advantage of to get the word out and how.

Paid Media

Paid media refers to paid ads on social channels. Perhaps one of the most technical marketing disciplines and one of the toughest to master. You’ll be met with a lot of acronyms like LTV, ROAS, CAC, CPC, PPC and etc., but to succeed you need to know the language.

It’s easy to get lost when you’re delving into the deep end of paid media, but there are a few things you can do to keep it manageable.

    • Focus on Creative – With paid ads eye-catching creative wins. Pair that with a solid message that communicates the action you want the user to take and you can develop great ads.
    • Test, Test, Test – You need to test–in case I hadn’t already stressed this enough. If you lack expertise, start small and test one element at a time on small ad sets.]
    • Be Goal-Oriented – Always create and run ads with your goal in mind. If your ROAS starts to climb on one ad, you should kill it or test a new variant. Don’t get attached to your work because results can vary even if you create a beautiful ad.
    • Set Boundaries – Make sure you don’t overextend yourself. When you set a budget, stick to it. And make decisions based on data, not feelings. Ads fluctuate constantly and sometimes emotions can get in the way of making informed decisions.

Guest post by Hawke Media

Hawke Media is an award-winning marketing consultancy based in Los Angeles, California. It offers custom, data-driven marketing strategies to businesses of all sizes, offering its services on a month-to-month, a la carte basis. Founded in 2014, it continues to be the fastest-growing marketing consultancy in the nation and has serviced such clients as Verizon, Red Bull, Tamara Mellon, and more.

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book-4

Meetings Suck: Turning One Of The Most Loathed Elements Of Business Into One Of The Most Valuable

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We all know that meetings suck, right?

You hear it all the time. It’s the one thing that almost everyone in business can agree on.

Except it’s not actually true… 

Meetings don’t suck.

We just suck at running meetings.   

When done right, meetings not only work, they make people and companies better.

In Meetings Suck, world renowned business expert and growth guru Cameron Herold teaches you how to use focused, time effective meetings to help you and your company soar.

This book shows you immediately actionable, step-by-step systems that ensure that you and everyone in your organization improves your meetings, right away.

In the process, you’ll turn meetings that suck into meetings that work. 

In life, we always hear about people who’ve made huge decisions from their gut – without data.Today, I want you to make a decision, not only from your gut, but also from some data.  A decision that is only $12 per employee but will be priceless for your business.

Right now, your gut is telling you something is wrong with your company’s meetings.  You KNOW everyone complains about meetings.

People HATE going to them, they HATE running them, and they really have NO idea which meetings are truly necessary but they hold meetings simply because they think that is what they SHOULD do.

Even some of the smartest CEOs in the world complain about meetings – Elon Musk publicly told employees at Tesla & SpaceX to walk out of meetings if they weren’t being run properly.

I sent Elon a message saying that wasn’t going to fix anything – the key is to fix the root of the problem – NOT continue to ignore why meetings suck.

A Meeting is – Any phone call, video call or occasion where 2 or more people meet to discuss or work-through office topics.

Most employees on average spend 1-2 hours per day in meetings.

And likely, none of those employees – front-line staff or leaders – have had any training on how to attend meetings or participate in them, LET ALONE How to RUN THEM.

Consider this…

If the Average employee spends just 1 Hour per day in meetings – that’s 1/8th of their time.

If the Average employee earns $50,000 per year.

And they’re spending 1/8th of their time in meetings, that means you’re paying $6,250 dollars per year for just ONE employee to attend meetings.

The reality is, employees spend 1/8th of their time – and 1/8th of your company’s payroll – doing something they have literally NO idea how to do.

The Reality is…

95% of employees are booking & leading meetings – and they have NEVER been trained on how to run them.

95% of employees have had NO training on how to show up and participate in the meetings they attend daily.

And 95% of employees and companies have no idea what meetings are even necessary to hold.

Meetings CAN be hugely effective – IF you know how to run them

Meetings don’t SUCK, we just SUCK at running meetings. 

Investing $15 per employee – to help ensure the $50,000 a year you spend on them is an obvious and easy choice.

This could be the most impactful $15 you’ll ever spend and will save the company’s money, time and resources instantly.

Buying a copy of Meetings Suck for 100% of your employees and having them read it this month will have a huge impact on your company’s success.

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Free PR: How To Get Chased By The Press Without Hiring A PR Firm

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Public relations has always been an essential part of doing business which is probably why you’re shelling out big money to an outside PR firm. But the truth is that you don’t need them. You already have all the necessary tools in-house to do as good a job as the so-called experts. 

Cameron Herold and Adrian Salamunovic have taught thousands of company execs how to exploit free media coverage and ditch these expensive, often ineffective outsiders. 

Cameron & Adrian have also built in-house PR teams, spent decades learning how to generate Free PR and how to leverage public relations to complement their sales and marketing strategy. 

In Free PR, you’ll learn how the media world operates while you gain invaluable insider knowledge and actionable advice on how to: 

  • Build your own in-house PR team
  • Provide effective interviews
  • Score great media coverage for free with just a few easy steps 

Landing public relations coverage for yourself and your company is a powerful tool to help elevate your personal brand. PR is easier to generate than marketing, PR is easier to leverage than marketing and PR is more cost effective than marketing. In other words, Public Relations is more critical than ever in growing your brand and your business. 

You’ve got more passion, commitment, a larger stake, and a deeper understanding of your business than any outside PR firm could ever have. So stop wasting money and take the reins yourself.  Learn the secrets to landing TONS of Free PR for your company.

What they’re saying:

“I think PR is the core for promoting any business. Public relations acquires customers! That’s what’s cool about this book.”

– Kevin O’Leary,  Shark on ABC’s Shark Tank

“The ultimate guidebook for those looking to get press, grow their brand, and get in front of the masses. Free PR is the roadmap you’ve been looking for.”

– Peter Shankman, Founder, Help a Reporter Out (HARO)

“Adrian and Cameron will show you the secrets of getting massive exposure for your business. This book is packed with actionable insights from two guys that actually know how to to do it.”

– Dan Martell,  Serial Entrepreneur & Investor (Intercom.io, Unbounce)

“I told Cameron to write the book on generating free PR. I’m excited to see that he’s finally sharing his secrets with the world. This is a must read for any entrepreneurial company and marketing team.”

– Verne Harnish, Founder of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and author of Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)

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Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool For Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future

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Many corporations have slick, flashy mission statements that ultimately do little to motivate employees and less to impress customers, investors, and partners. 

But there is a way to share your excitement for the future of your company in a clear, compelling, and powerful way and entrepreneur and business growth expert Cameron Herold can show you how. 

Vivid Vision is a revolutionary tool that will help owners, CEOs, and senior managers create inspirational, detailed, and actionable three-year mission statements for their companies. In this easy-to-follow guide, Herold walks organization leaders through the simple steps to creating their own Vivid Vision, from brainstorming to sharing the ideas to using the document to drive progress in the years to come. 

By focusing on mapping out how you see your company looking and feeling in every category of business, without getting bogged down by data and numbers or how it will happen, Vivid Vision creates a holistic road map to success that will get all of your teammates passionate about the big picture. 

Your company is your dream, one that you want to share with your staff, clients, and stakeholders. Vivid Vision is the tool you need to make that dream a reality.

miracle-morning

The Miracle Morning for
Entrepreneurs: Elevate Your SELF to
Elevate Your BUSINESS

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READY FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH AS AN ENTREPRENEUR AND ACCELERATED SUCCESS IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?

A step-by-step guide to enjoying the roller-coaster ride of growth — while getting the most out of life as an entrepreneur. A growth-focused approach: The book is divided into three sections, which cover planning for fast growth, building a company for fast growth, and leading for fast growth. Each topic the author covers — from creating a vision for the company’s future to learning how to generate free PR for a developing company — is squarely focused on the end goal: doubling the size of the entrepreneur’s company in three years or less. A down-to-earth action plan: Herold’s experienced-based advice never gets bogged down in generalities or theory. Instead, he offers a wealth of practical tips, including: How to design meetings for maximum efficiency; How to hire top-quality talent; How to grow in particularly tough markets; How to put together a board of advisors — even for a smaller company; How even the busy entrepreneur can achieve a work/life balance.

READY FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH AS AN ENTREPRENEUR AND ACCELERATED SUCCESS IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?

Hal Elrod’sThe Miracle Morning has helped redefine the mornings and the lives of millions of readers since 2012. Since then, careers have been launched, goals have been met, and dreams have been realized, all through the power of the Miracle Morning’s six Life S.A.V.E.R.S.

THESE SIX DAILY PRACTICES WILL FUEL YOUR EFFORTS TO CREATE AND SUSTAIN POSITIVE CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE.

Now The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs brings you these principles in a whole new light—alongside the Entrepreneurial Elevation Principles and the Entrepreneur’s Elevation Skills. These are essential skills that you need to create a successful business and personal life. Cameron Herold— Bestselling Author and a widely-respected expert on entrepreneurial mindset—brings his wisdom and insight to you using Hal Elrod’s powerful Miracle Morning framework.

DEVELOP A VISION FOR YOUR BUSINESS, AND BECOME THE INFLUENTIAL AND INSPIRING LEADER YOU WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE.

The principles and skills you’ll find in this book will help you to channel your passion and achieve balance in a remarkable new way. – Learn why mornings matter more than you think – Learn how to master your own self-leadership and accelerate your personal development – Learn how to manage your energy—physical, mental, and emotional – Learn how to implement Hal Elrod’s invaluable Life S.A.V.E.R.S. in your daily routine – And much more… You’re already an entrepreneur. Now discover how to take your success to the next level by first taking yourself to the next level. The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs is your roadmap to masterfully building an empire with a powerful vision, utilizing your areas of personal genius, with the right team at your side.

Start giving your business and your life the very best opportunities for success, right now.

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Double Double: How To Double Your Revenue And Profit In 3 Years Or Less​

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A step-by-step guide to enjoying the roller-coaster ride of growth — while getting the most out of life as an entrepreneur. A growth-focused approach: The book is divided into three sections, which cover planning for fast growth, building a company for fast growth, and leading for fast growth. Each topic the author covers — from creating a vision for the company’s future to learning how to generate free PR for a developing company — is squarely focused on the end goal: doubling the size of the entrepreneur’s company in three years or less. A down-to-earth action plan: Herold’s experienced-based advice never gets bogged down in generalities or theory. Instead, he offers a wealth of practical tips, including: How to design meetings for maximum efficiency; How to hire top-quality talent; How to grow in particularly tough markets; How to put together a board of advisors — even for a smaller company; How even the busy entrepreneur can achieve a work/life balance.