Business Planning

Part 8 of The Social Media Strategy Series A couple weeks ago, Instagram launched a new feature called Instagram Stories. It's a direct copy of Snapchat Stories. The differences in feature set are incredibly minute, but the differences in context are potentially very meaningful. There's been a lot written about this move by Zuckerberg & […]

Part 7 of The Social Media Strategy Series Should I be on Snapchat? It's one of the most frequent questions I get from small business owners. There's a lot of excitement about this new and unique platform with good reason. But a lot of it is just hype, too. So how can you make a […]

Part 6 of The Social Media Strategy Series It's fun to create and share images. So it's easy to see why Instagram is one of the Web's most popular platforms. But under Facebook's ownership, Instagram is evolving quickly. What we're seeing is a series of strategic moves to make the platform much more brand-friendly. Perhaps […]

Your audience will come to you. Give them time. It’s not going to happen all at once, so be patient. Social media & blogging can be done in a pull fashion rather than aggressive, self-serving push tactics. Treat your audience with respect and let them make the decision when to buy from you. Given the opportunity […]

Part 5 of The Social Media Strategy Series If you want to learn anything at all, you can almost certainly find a YouTube video showing you how to do it. Thousands of people have shared their particular expertise in the form of short instructional videos. People teach, and people learn. This simple exchange provides a […]

Part 4 of The Social Media Strategy Series People think that Google Plus is dead. Another failed social network. But while it may not have turned out the way Google wanted it to, Google Plus is still an incredibly important part of any content strategy. And if you're not using it, you're missing out on an […]

Part 3 of The Social Media Strategy Series People think of Facebook as a social media platform. With 1.6 billion users, you could make a case that it's the social media platform. But in reality, Facebook is the natural evolution of network television it exists for the privilege of delivering targeted ads to us in between […]

Part 2 of The Social Media Strategy Series This is the second episode of The Social Media Strategy Series, where I devote an episode to each of the major social platforms to help you decide whether or not they will be a good strategy for you and your business. In each episode, I cover the […]

Part 1 of The Social Media Strategy Series Welcome to the first episode of The Social Media Strategy Series, where I devote an episode to each of the major platforms to help you decide whether or not they will be good for you and your particular business. Your business is unique, as is the audience […]

Social media is an important part of any content strategy, so I'm devoting the next set of episodes to helping you strategize about how to get the most out of it. I always see it as an optimization problem. You want to focus on the right activities, in the right channels, to maximize your impact. […]

Building an audience is difficult work, and you don't want to create any extra friction. So what can you do to not have it be a huge burden on the organization? If the outcomes outweigh the time spent, then you'll feel like it's worth it. But if you feel like the process is heavy, then […]

Many people focus on the marketing side of content strategy, which makes sense. It's a means to an outcome. The goal is usually to enhance, or even replace, traditional marketing efforts. But with a good content strategy, you are doing much more than just driving awareness. It's about creating a reusable business asset. It's about […]

If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, there are a lot of good resources out there to help you. The best one is undoubtedly is The Showrunner by Jerod Morris and Jonny Nastor a podcast about podcasting. I've learned a lot from both of them, and I thought I'd pay it forward by sharing […]

Whether you're an employer or employee, the world of work is changing. Whether you want to start a business or contribute to a business, it helps to understand the ways in which people are working differently, and how the relationship between people and companies is changing. That's why I invited Katy Tynan to the show this […]

There are no shortcuts in building an audience. Forging deep connections with your customers take real effort. To me, that effort is worth it. Most business owners would probably agree that good relationships and trust lead to more customer conversions. We nurture those relationships in a variety of ways in person, on the phone, email, […]

In the last episode (You as a Customer), I asked you to look at how you behave as a consumer your evaluation process, your criteria, and your buying process.  It’s a good exercise to sit on the “other side of the table” so that you can have empathy for your customers. It helps you construct and present the right […]

How do you behave as a consumer? What's your evaluation process for a new product or service? Looking at your own process may offer some insight into how you present your offer to your customers and prospective customers. In working with clients and in my own business I find that a regular reminder about empathy […]