Canadian Small Business Women

Connection, Synergy, Community

Why You Need To Blog For Your Business

As featured on MakinTheBacon.com

My Blogging Confession

I have a dirty little confession to make.

Well, I suppose it’s not that little anymore since I’m starting a blog post off with it.

I had mentioned before that blogging did make me get back into my long-lost writing groove. However, I failed to mention that I originally started because I had read online that a lot of people were blogging and making money doing it. So I thought I could do it too. My boyfriend (now husband) and I were house-hunting at the time.  We all know how financially draining/stressful purchasing a house can be, so I was constantly looking for more ways to save/make money.

Yes, you read right. My main reason for blogging was to MAKE MONEY.  But I had no strategy. No idea what I was doing.  No consistency whatsoever.  I didn’t take it seriously for a VERY LONG time. I was just basically blogging on the fly.

Originally, I wanted to share my story about how to save money because I felt I was relatively decent at it.  I had never initially planned on creating a consulting business from it. I figured it would be something I could do on the side while I worked full-time.   It wasn’t until the 5th year mark where I seriously thought about my personal blogging journey, how it evolved, what opportunities it provided and what it enabled me to do. Eventually, my own journey made me realize the potential journey it could create for small business owners.

I may seem biased because I am a blogger first,  a business owner second, but these days more and more people are realizing the value of blogging for business. Just Google it and you’ll find a whole myriad of information out there. There is a lot of research that is done on business blogging, hence there are a lot of stats to back this up.

You need A blog. You need TO blog.

If you’re a multi-level, multi-national company who’s been around for 20 + years, you probably could get away without a blog. You’d still need social media, but the blog? Not so much. However, if you’re a small business owner, you may want to look into blogging.  Don’t get me wrong. Offline networking is importantand I force my introverted self to do so, but there is also great value in online networking.

If I meet you offline, I almost always check your online profile. I’ll check your site, your blog, your social media, your feeds. EVERYTHING.  Now I’m not saying this to scare you and make you freak out about not having a blog or being active on social media. I’m just letting you know because most likely, other people who meet you are doing this too.  I’ve connected with people online initially through social media and blogging. Based on what they were putting out there online, it made me want to take the next step and meet them in person. Their online presence was THAT GOOD.

Why You Need To Blog For Your Business

There’s a good chance that I’m not searching for your website specifically.  I’m searching for something that perhaps your business or product can solve. The internet is loud and crowded. While I do believe there is room for everyone, you still need to claim your spot and let people know that you are here.  You need to get people’s attention.

Keepin’ It Real

While you are using it as a marketing tool to help promote your business, your latest service/product, etc – if done right, it makes the awareness and the whole buyer journey more organic. (Source:  Salesforce Marketing Cloud )

Blog posts give you additional content to post on social media. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. Aside from creating a post on social media, why not promote your blog post on social media. Who knows? It may even start a conversation on social media.

Having An Online Presence Matters

Not to sound creepy or anything but people are watching you. People can find you.  Ok let me rephrase that: people are seeing and reading what you put out there. If you have a decent online presence, people can Google you and find your stuff.  If you’re like me, I do quite a bit of research before I make a decision to purchase or make a decision about something. I’m sure I’m not the only one who does this. It’s quite rare I act on impulse.

Unless I’m hangry.

While a lot of people have a blog, there are even more people who are on social media. Not everyone has a blog, but I think it’s safe to say that everyone is at least on one form of social media. The people who claim to not be on social media, i.e. my husband are most likely on Facebook and/or LinkedIn and don’t use it.

For the rest of us, we are using social media to communicate and share things with each other.  People are using blogs as a go-to resource. They consider them to be a trusted source of information.  People are telling their friends and family about blogs their reading (I would HOPE  you are telling your friends and family about mine).  They most likely aren’t sharing websites, but they’re sharing content from the blogs of those websites on social media because they find it be useful. Since it’s useful, they feel others should know about it.  It’s become part of the everyday conversation.

Blogging Creates That Awareness At the Top of the Funnel

How else are you attracting people online? Blogging can help capture peoples’ attention and get you noticed. This is especially important if you’re looking to expand your business and work with others who are not just local. If you are looking for a global presence, then you need to build that online presence.

Once you create awareness, you can create interest.

 

Karen Swyszcz has over 6+ years of blogging experience and has written content on the blog for brands such as SupperWorks, Camp Tech and Meridian Credit Union. She is also the instructor at Sheridan College for the Blogging For Fun and Profit Course and Effective Strategies For Social Media Course.” 

Find her at makinthebacon.com

6 Tips For Better Business Social Media Profiles

It’s kind of hard to connect with your target audience if you’re not on social media. While the case could be made that if you are hyper local you could get away with no social media strategy, most businesses need to have some sort of digital footprint. However, you need to make sure you are doing social media in a way that is going to help you reach your overall marketing and business goals.

To get your strategy started the right way, you need to make sure you have your profiles set up properly. They need to be user-friendly and memorable. But how do you do that?

Here are six ways you can make the most of your social media profiles on each platform.

Make it easy to find you

Instinctively, users will type in @[company name] to tag brands or to find specific profiles. Keep your handle (AKA user name) simple and use your brand name if it’s not already taken. If it is, find come up with something related and creative. Once you settle on a handle, use it across all of your profiles (where possible) to create consistency.

Avoid just adding on random numbers, symbols, or punctuation to differentiate yourself because your handle will become too obscure and hard to find. Also, it doesn’t look very professional if your handle is @Widgets1234.

Create a visual brand identity

While each social media platform uses visuals differently, you can still have a cohesive, consistent visual style on each. So while your content may differ, your audience has the same experience across platforms.

When selecting your profile image, find something that represents your brand well. If you are a company, use your logo, your product, or your mascot. If you are an individual expert, use your headshot or a professional lifestyle shot. Once you select an image, use the same one across platforms. This will help with brand recall and recognition.

Your cover photo can be different, but you want to make sure that it is in keeping with your visual brand style.

Be descriptive, but cut the extras

Don’t make people guess what you do when they read your profile. Use your brand and industry keywords when filling out your about and description fields to keep it simple and get to the point.

It’s not necessary to use hashtags in your profile set up unless it’s related to a specific campaign you are running and that you want to add extra visibility to – but use them for sure in your regular content on the right platforms!

Be thorough

You don’t want to fill your social media profiles with fluff content, but you do want to get as much detail in there as possible. So, make sure you don’t leave any relevant fields blank when setting up your social media profiles. Some social media platforms give you the opportunity to include much more information than others, so take the time to set up your content properly. And don’t be afraid to change up your profile content to keep it fresh. It could be as simple as putting a featured link on your Instagram profile to showcase new blog content.

Cross-promote your social media platforms

You can absolutely ask for followers on one social media platform to follow you on another. The key is that you need to make sure you are posting different and valuable content on each platform to give them incentive to follow you in more than one place.

In some cases, you can actually add your other social platforms to the profile content itself (ie. On Facebook), but in other cases, posting a simple link to your other profiles can get you more traffic.

Be reachable

While this might seem obvious, make sure all of your links and your emails work. Put in your website, email, phone number, etc. The easier it is to get a hold of you, the more likely your customers are to call.

Social media doesn’t have to be difficult, especially if you take the time to make sure your profiles are set up for success on each social media platform.

Candace Huntly is Founding Partner at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

Check out our Social Media Starter Kit to help you get started on Social Media!

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

Featured Member: Sandra Dawes

Sandra Dawes is a recovering control freak and excuse maker who works with clients struggling with similar issues. She holds an Honors BA, an MBA and a certificate in Dispute Resolution. After the passing of her father and circumstances that followed, she suffered from bouts of depression and sought the help of psychotherapists. Unwilling to seek pharmaceutical assistance to deal with her chronic unhappiness, she was lead on a journey of self-awareness and forgiveness that changed her life in deep and meaningful ways. She published her first book Embrace Your Destiny: 12 Steps to Living the Life You Deserve in 2013. Sandra was added to the Wall of Role Models by the Diversity Advancement Network in July 2016.You can find her blog and learn more about Sandra and the programs and products she offers at www.embraceyourdestiny.ca.

Optimizing Your Business in 2019

Developing an effective online marketing strategy is essential for business growth – we know that. If you are not marketing your services online, your competitors are. Think of the web and social profiles as an opportunity to provide a first impression for your clients and prospects. Strong branding can attract new clients, while weak or non-existent branding can leave you trailing behind your competitors, and may even lead to a loss of existing clients.

Avoid the pitfalls of lackluster branding by following my top tips!

How Will You Grow Your Business in 2019?

Before you jump headfirst into building your brand, consider your overall business plan. How are you planning on building your business? What does your growth strategy look like? What is your budget for branding and marketing expenses? What are the key tenants of your business?

Your business plan is going to determine what you have to work with in terms of funds and resources. As your business grows, you will have more resources to dedicate to your online strategy.

Define Your Target Demographic

Branding is a very important part of how you connect with your target demographic. As mentioned earlier, this is your first impression. In order to make a successful first impression on your target demographic, you need to know this group inside and out.

To start off, figure out who will benefit most from your services. Consider qualities like income bracket, career, age, where your target demographic lives, and so on.

Using Your Value Proposition

Part of your branding will be dedicated to showing your target demographic how your services are a better fit for them over the services offered by your competitors. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean you will be calling out other brands directly. What this really means is stressing how your firm is unique and different from everyone else.

Basically, your branding needs to say, “Our business can give you this amazing thing that no one else can!”

To learn more about determining your value proposition check out this blog post.

Build a Marketing Strategy

Your marketing strategy will be the vehicle for your brand. Marketing enables you to tell your target demographic about the services you offer and your firm’s mission statement. Your marketing materials should be a clear representation of your brand.

The text, fonts, logos and all of the graphics should look and feel like they are part of your firm. In fact, any consumer looking at any of your marketing materials should be able to connect your brand’s style and aesthetic to your firm.

Establish a Web Presence

Got a website? Good. That’s a great start. It is also a good idea for your company to have profiles on all social media platforms, including any platforms that your target demographic is likely to use. For instance, let’s say you own a photography service: this type of business would benefit the most from an Instagram and a Flicker account.

Maintaining an active social media presence is good for growth and visibility, but it also makes it easier for people to connect with you directly. This direct connection allows you to build a strong reputation. To maintain that connection, share on-brand posts regularly and respond to comments to encourage engagement.

Collecting Data and Making Adjustments

Successful branding hinges on expansive market research. Collect as much data as you can on your target demographic in order to tailor your marketing strategy to their taste. Once you have a branding strategy developed, it will be beneficial to continue collecting data around your clients’ responses to various parts of your brand and marketing materials.

You can then use the data that you collect to measure the effectiveness of your branding. It is always a good idea to make adjustments based on this data. The branding of your firm should be constantly evolving and shifting based on your market research. Changing with your target demographic will help you retain their loyalty and interest.

Here’s to a great 2019!

Marly Broudie is the Founder of SocialEyes Communications – a digital marketing and business development firm based in Toronto, Ontario.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/socialeyescommunications

Twitter – https://twitter.com/socialeyescomm

LI – https://www.linkedin.com/company/socialeyes-communications/

Insta – https://www.instagram.com/socialeyescommunications/

How To Get Over Your Fear of Social Media

As seen on MakinTheBacon.com

Get Over Your Fear of Social Media. STAT.

Social media is one of those things that is a necessary evil if you have a business. I had recently written a post about How To Fight Your Fear of Blogging. A lot of things mentioned in that post also ties into the fear of social media. Using social media can be considered a form of microblogging in that the posts are significantly shorter than a blog post. Comments are allowed and encouraged.

Believe it or not, I wasn’t really into social media until I started my blog back in 2012. Prior to that, I only had Facebook and LinkedIn, both of which I was barely active on. Even then with using social media, I was anonymous because I was anonymous with my blog.

It’s interesting that many people have a business and are social offline, but aren’t social on social media (For me, it’s the opposite – it must be the introvert in me, but I prefer one on one interactions vs large networking events). It is so easy to go down that rabbit hole of scrolling and thinking everyone’s life is better than yours (Yes, I have been there many times before). But you have to understand that we share what we want to share.

Ask yourself before you post something on social media:

Would this resonate with my audience?

Will there be any possible repercussions?

Your Business’ Reputation Is At Stake

Social media can be scary in that you need to be careful with what you say and post, but ask yourself this, will it help your reputation or will it potentially damage it?

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. –Warren Buffett

When referring to social media, it will take even less than five minutes to ruin it. Well, actually it can be ruined instantly.

But think about what COULD happen if you were more social on social media? If anything, you should look at what your competitors are doing/ sharing and the fact that they are constantly sharing stuff, so why aren’t you? Many products, events, businesses, services are found through social media.

Repeat After Me: Social Media Is NOT a Waste of Time

Another reason I believe there is so much fear and overwhelm because many people think that it’s a waste of time, but it really all depends on how you use it. Being social on social media for your business doesn’t mean always liking random pictures of ice cream and cats (unless your business is about ice cream and cats or your target market is people who are into ice cream and cats). It’s about explaining what you and your business are all about. It’s about finding and engaging with people who are in either in the same/similar industry as you or where your potential clients/customers might be.

When I say engaging with them, I’m referring to posting comments that don’t sound like something from a bot or a slew of emojis. “Great post” doesn’t cut it.

Taking It One Step At A Time

Having a fear of something often comes from fear of the unknown. I believe that the first step in getting over your fear is recognizing the many benefits it can have for your business.

The second step is taking the time to educate yourself on what platforms may be best suited for your business either through research on the internet (although this can possibly lead into another rabbit hole and then paralysis analysis), workshops, consulting services and courses. I strongly believe in social media education. There are so many platforms and there is a strategy for each of them. Updates and features are constantly being added. Algorithms are always changing.  Features of 3rd-party tools that are used in conjunction with the platforms themselves are constantly changing.

One has no choice (especially those who provide it as a service for other business owners), but to educate themselves on an ongoing basis. I recently attended Social Media Camp in Victoria, B.C beginning of last month and will be attending Social Media Week in LA next week. With anything that seems daunting at first, once you start to learn more about it and break it down into bite-sized pieces, you’ll realize that hey this is not so bad.

The third thing is to ignore all the bad stuff that you see on social media and focus more on the good. Yes, there is actually a lot of positive stuff on social media. Don’t be afraid to be part of the conversation. You may have some interesting insight and be able to help someone with your products and/or services!

 

Karen Swyszcz has over 6+ years of blogging experience and has written content on the blog for brands such as SupperWorks, Camp Tech and Meridian Credit Union. She is also the instructor at Sheridan College for the Blogging For Fun and Profit Course and Effective Strategies For Social Media Course.” 

Find her at makinthebacon.com

5 Tips For Creating Better Content in 2019

Content will always be royalty when it comes to marketing. (Even if you don’t like hearing “content is king” because it’s overused!) You can showcase your brand in the right way and maintain a certain amount of control over how you appear to your audience if you create content in the right ways. Now that we are officially into 2019, you should be looking for ways to boost your marketing efforts to have an even better year than last year.

It is beneficial to your business if you can make content work for you. You can have increased website traffic, search engine visibility, increased referral traffic, increased social media engagement, and establish yourself as the go-to expert in your field.

Here are five ways to make content work even better for you in 2019.

#1: Go visual

As the way we consume content shifts towards more video and easily digestible forms of content, the visual aspect of your content strategy is now more important than ever. You should look to incorporate more videos, infographics, imagery, and other visual forms into your strategy. If you write a regular blog (hint: you should!), consider incorporating accompanying graphics and video. This makes your content both easier to consume, but also to share on various platforms.

#2: Think evergreen

Evergreen content is content that is not time sensitive. It can be shared sometimes for years to come (often with minor tweaks!). To incorporate evergreen content into your strategy, create a list of potential evergreen topics that are relevant to your industry – and your audience. You can introduce these topics via your blog, your social channels, your website content, and any place you interact with your audience.

#3: Think across platforms

While you shouldn’t share identical content across all marketing channels, you can utilize certain content to enhance your overall strategy on each channel. For example, your latest blog post can be promoted across all of your channels, but you would utilize different content for each:

  • On Facebook, you could create an update that is designed to generate dialogue through its conversational tone and include a link preview.
  • On Instagram, you could create a series of images for a multi-image post that highlight the key takeaways and direct people to a link in your bio.
  • On Twitter, you could use those key takeaway images from Instagram, but spread them out over a few weeks.
  • On LinkedIn, you could include a call to action for business owners to share their frustrations regarding the topic.

People consume content differently on each platform and your strategy should reflect that.

#4: Focus on dialogue, not sales

Whether you are looking at developing a social media strategy or you are looking at other forms of marketing, remember that relationships and dialogue should be the cornerstone of your activities. If you are doing a good job communicating with your target audience, you should be able to easily funnel them through your sales channels without aiming for a hard sell every time.

#5: Listen to your audience

This one might seem obvious, but it can be easy to get stuck in the constant content churn – you know you should be putting out content, so you just keep putting it out blindly whether anyone is reading it or not. At this point, you are just creating noise and not really providing any value. It’s a waste of your time. You should make sure you are writing content that your audience will read and respond to in a way that is beneficial to your overall business goals. To ensure you are providing valuable content, take the time to ask what your audience wants to hear about from you. You can also look at conversations on social media to gain insights.

Content is an important part of your marketing and sales strategy. As you are getting ready to take on 2019, build yourself a content strategy that will give you the best chance at successful growth.

Candace Huntly is Founding Partner at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

Your 2018 Year-End Review Guide

As 2018 draws to a close, now is the time to review and reflect on the past year. A year-end review is vital to ensuring your success in 2019. Why? One of the fundamental steps in building a strong brand and business is to collect data on how each of your business goals and objectives are performing.

December, being the last month of the year, is an ideal time to review what worked, what didn’t work, and how you can improve in the coming year.

Last Year’s Highs and Lows

Identify the high points and the low points of the year. Consider your costs, the time expense involved and whether the final outcome was worth it. You may find that there are high points that were too costly for your business in the long run, or you may discover low points that could have been successful with slight adjustments.

Review these periods carefully to gain a full understanding of how your customer or client-base responds to different marketing strategies. Were you able to achieve your objectives? Were there added benefits or problems that you did not foresee in the planning stages but are obvious now with some time to reflect on them?

Resolutions and Next Year’s Goals

Using the insights you have gained from reflecting on the successes and failures of this year, create new strategies for 2019. What you learned in 2018 will help you determine your business objectives for next year. You may decide to work on achieving goals that were not met in the past year, or you may instead choose to draw up entirely new milestones you would like to reach that are more reflective of your current situation.

Even if you decide to scale back certain parts of your business and reallocate your energy into other parts of your business, do not think of this as a failure. In fact, it is just smart business. As the world changes around you, make adaptation one of your top priorities.

New Year, New Strategies

The holiday season gives you a little bit of time to stop and catch your breath. Over the year you have probably come across new tools and strategies that you suspect may help improve your business. Take this time to explore new software, the latest developments in your industry, and fresh ways to connect with your target audience and grow customer loyalty.

 

Marly Broudie is the Founder of SocialEyes Communications – a digital marketing and business development firm based in Toronto, Ontario.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/socialeyescommunications

Twitter – https://twitter.com/socialeyescomm

LI – https://www.linkedin.com/company/socialeyes-communications/

Insta – https://www.instagram.com/socialeyescommunications/

10 Great Resources To Find Blog Post Ideas

1. Your Social Media Feeds

If you’re mainly following specific people (i.e. influencers and competitors in your industry) and not just random people and your friends, then your feeds could be a serious goldmine for ideas. Participating in the existing conversations could spark more ideas (Would that be considered Idea Inception?).

What are they saying?

What are they predicting?

What are they sharing?

Recall that some of the reasons we share things on social media are to inform, inspire, educate – we find the content to be valuable and want to share with our networks.

Surely you must have an opinion on it.

2. The Intelligent Conversations You Have With Other People

Fellow business owners, leads and clients, whether it is in person over coffee/lunch or virtually. There have been countless times where I have said out loud during the conversation, that would be a great blog post topic! Really. Sometimes the idea will just come out of nowhere.Different people lead to different conversations.

3. Medium

It’s an online publishing platform (an alternative to starting your own blog) that has been around for awhile but hasn’t reached the point of saturation yet. You can find and follow many interesting people on Medium.

4. Facebook Groups

This is where I’m noticing conversations happening. People ask questions, ask for recommendations on Facebook, ask for advice. There are a ridiculous amount of Facebook Groups out there.  I clean house here and there just because the out of sight, out of mind works best.   So just like with social media feeds, I would hope that some of the Facebook Groups you follow are where you would find valuable business advice or find your potential clients.

5. Other business blogs in your industry

What are they writing about? Perhaps you should be writing about these things as well and educating your followers about them.

6. Quora

I feel this platform doesn’t get enough credit and is not as widely known. It’s similar to Reddit, but I think the quality of questions is better and the topics are geared to people who genuinely want to learn or get advice from an industry expert. Although I have seen some not so intelligent questions being asked.

While there are many generic questions i.e. such as how to start a blog, how to grow my blog, etc. I have come across questions and been asked questions that are more thought-provoking. This is especially useful if you are looking for that answer to your super specific question and Google just doesn’t cut it. You can also request certain people to answer your question if you are looking for their opinion in particular.

7. LinkedInGroups

While you may not experience the same level of conversation and engagement compared to Facebook Groups, I would suggest poking your head in every once in awhile to see what people are posting over there. You can’t really predict where ideas will come from. So it’s best to keep an open mind and have many options available.

8. Newsletters

Look through some of the newsletters you subscribe to. Sometimes the newsletter contains different information that isn’t found on the blog. Is there anything that could be pulled from them and used for a blog post? What about the newsletters you send out?

9. Podcasts

Another great reservoir for content. Sometimes just listening to OTHER peoples’ conversations can give you an A-HA moment – i.e. I never thought about it that way before.

10.  Industry Events and Conferences

The previous blog post is the final interview in a Social Media Series, we chatted about Social Media Camp, a Canadian Social Media Conference that I attended this past May for the first time. There was a lot of valuable information and insight. The same was for Social Media Week LA. I made the effort to chat with people more before the conference and during the breaks.

So with respect to new content that should be able to fill up some spaces with blog post ideas in your content calendar for the next few months.

 

 

Karen Swyszcz has over 6+ years of blogging experience and has written content on the blog for brands such as SupperWorks, Camp Tech and Meridian Credit Union. She is also the instructor at Sheridan College for the Blogging For Fun and Profit Course and Effective Strategies For Social Media Course.” 

Find her at makinthebacon.com

 

Tons of opportunities? Or just overextended?

 

The New Year is almost upon us, and with it a widespread, magical belief in the impossible. It’s a time when the air is filled with a Peter Pan sense of wonder, and dreams take over everywhere you look.

And I get wrapped up in EVERY MINUTE of it. I’m a dreamer. I’m also a doer. But, if I am being honest, that dreamer mixed with doer quality is what gets me into trouble. It’s a big part of what contributed to my self-proclaimed workaholic status. A status where all of a sudden and out of nowhere I am overbooked, overwhelmed and over extended. It’s a rotating cycle that I have vowed to break this year.

But you maybe thinking, “That vow is all well and good Samantha, but how exactly are you going to break a habit that is so ingrained into the way your brain operates?” At least, that’s what my husband asked me. (Not in those exact words, but what he said was along those line)

How I am going to break the habit:

Don’t get me wrong. I am still allowing myself to dream, but I’ve built a step in between DREAMING and DOING. It’s a step that has been very successful in stopping me from running off in the direction of overbooked, overwhelmed and over extended.

My dreaming ignites my wildly creative side. If left unchecked, I know I’m more likely to get swept up in the excitement and euphoria that the brainstorming process gives me. Before I even allow myself to start taking the dream through the SMART goal setting method I use, I force myself to stop and set the dream aside. I use the Voice Memo app on my iPhone to capture both the idea and the energy behind it, and then I walk away from it.

This is usually pretty easy because one of my children are inevitably on their way back into my room (yup, I prefer to work from a desk in the corner of my bedroom) to interrupt me. For me, however, that interruption is welcome. It’s needed – desperately.

I call it THE PAUSE:

The Pause is a step in between dreaming and doing where I ask myself, “What is the purpose of this?” It allows me time to let go of the excitement of dreaming and do some reflecting around that question before beginning to set goals around the dream itself.

And the clarity that I have found just by implementing this step has caused a ripple effect throughout my business. I am even more focused and intentional than before. I have created a habit of critical thinking that now innately woves itself into every thought I have about my business day-to-day.

It’s an integral tool that I am using to make this year different. This is the year that I WILL NOT END UP overbooked, overwhelmed and over extended. Not even once (if all goes according to plan, of course).

 

Samantha King is a busy mompreneur and homeschooler with two young children and a couple of businesses at home. When Samantha’s daughter was diagnosed with autism, she had to learn how to keep her priorities aligned within her family, while operating her business at the same time. She is excited to share her knowledge to empower entrepreneurs by giving them the tools they need to do something they love while building sustainable, profitable businesses.  

Contact Samantha:

Tel: 416-885-6841

Email: samantha@fempirebuilders.com

Facebook: @FempireBuilders

What Not To Do When You Need To Fire Someone

I’ve always thought of myself as an optimistic person, especially when it comes to helping people find an occupation that optimizes their professional strengths. In my experience, most people who have been fired from their jobs are not bad, lazy, or incompetent workers, although sadly those characterizations are often associated with a job termination. In reality, most workers who have been let go were just not intended for that specific role, or the organization could no longer use their unique abilities. A couple of years ago, I described some ways to redirect an employee to a different role when things had changed and/or weren’t working out.  This approach may be especially useful after a restructuring, prior to merger or acquisition, during a downsizing, or to solve an interpersonal problem like bullying or harassment. In all of these situations, it’s often smart to redirect an existing employee into another position. Most employees have talents and transferable skills that can be effective in more than one role.

Breaking up is hard to do

Sometimes, dismissing someone who just isn’t the right fit for the company is inevitable, and it’s often an unpleasant task for both the employer and employee. In some ways, being fired is similar to an awkward break-up, where someone is sitting across from you  and saying ‘goodbye.’ Worst of all, there is an unavoidable implication which suggests that “you aren’t good enough” or “I don’t want you.” There is rarely enough sugar-coating to ease the discomfort of breaking it off with someone professionally or romantically.

One person feels the uneasy guilt that comes with having to terminate the relationship. The other person who’s being fired must deal with many unsettling emotions such as rejection, disappointment, and shaken confidence. Fully understandable yet disruptive and/or embarrassing reactions can occur when someone is being fired. For example, I’ve had clients tell me that they had to rush out of the boss’ office after being fired so that they could cry. Others described feeling dizzy, nauseous, anxious, and downright mortified which is hard to conceal as your being let go. On the flipside of this exchange, I’ve also heard managers and bosses relay stories of employees becoming belligerent or vindictive towards the company after a dismissal (this can lead to certain types of insider threats). A smart way to prevent conflict, legal action, and/or retaliation is to offer some outplacement services to the affected employee to help them line up their next job/career.

So, if asked, just as I would instruct a close friend on how not to break up with someone, I’ve got some suggestions for managers and business owners about how not to fire an employee. I understand that there are important differences between professional and romantic ‘breakups’, but both circumstances require tact, sensitivity, and discretion.

6 rules to follow when you need to lay off, downsize, or fire someone

1) Don’t be mean

If you’re not a reality star looking for TV ratings, or an unhinged leader who’s drunk on power, then you probably will care about an employee’s feelings when you have to let them go. Pointing a finger at someone’s face and callously hissing “You’re fired!” is certainly a dramatic yet unprofessional way to go about it. Managers and business owners can feel frustrated and annoyed by an employee who is no longer a good fit or isn’t pulling their weight and that can invite a less than friendly dismissal. My advice in those situations is to remain calm and professional even when some form of bad behaviour is contributing to this person’s job termination.

2) Don’t tell everyone

Do not discuss firing an employee with the affected person’s peers or others in the organization unless they need to be involved regarding human resources policies, procedures, etc. Oversharing this sensitive information can lead to additional negative reactions from the person who is being fired if they find out that others who did not need to know have been discussing it. It will also cause concern and disruption within the workplace and be perceived as unconstructive, unprofessional, and just plain old mean-spirited office gossip.

3) Don’t fire through, text, email or phone call

If the employee is available within a typical commuting distance of your location, then I’d recommend a face-to-face meeting … the same courtesy that you’d probably extend to a soon-to-be former romantic partner. The person you are dismissing has the right to a proper goodbye. This is especially true if the employee has been with the company for a long period of time.

4) Don’t blindside someone

When it’s possible and appropriate, give some warning. For various reasons, this isn’t always feasible. But, if you are sensing that an employee isn’t taking the job seriously, they aren’t completing their work by the deadlines as routinely as they had before, or they’re taking significant time off work you might want to pull them aside and ask what is going on with them personally (e.g.,problems at work or personal issues) before assuming their work is just inefficient.

If you have shown a genuine interest in helping them, and also let them know you that you’ve noticed their lack of productivity then when you let them go it won’t be as shocking to them. It can also prevent you from being accused that you didn’t give the employee a chance to improve.

5) Don’t do it alone

Include assistance from human resources (HR) if your organization has someone who covers this function. This is different from telling the employee’s co-workers about your plans to fire someone. HR should understand the need to be extremely discreet and can also help provide support during the dismissal and serve as a witness to the discussion between the employer and the employee.

6) Don’t pick an unsuitable place

Make sure the place where the dismissal occurs privately so that it won’t be watched or overheard by others. It’s possible to underestimate an employee’s reaction in response to being terminated, so make sure you choose the time and place wisely.

If you’re an employee who’s trying to bounce back after being downsized or displaced, or if you’re an employer/hiring manager who wants to arrange outplacement services I invite you to connect with me privately. I offer a free confidential 15 to 20-minute initial consultation by phone. Or, if you prefer, you can contact me by email, or via direct message on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

 

More than career coaching, it’s career psychology®.

 

I/O Advisory Services – Building Resilient Careers and Organizations.

2019 Marketing Strategy Planning Checklist

It’s year end. While for many that means a bit of a holiday break between Christmas and New Year’s as well as an end to the fiscal year, not enough business owners think about what it means for their marketing strategy. Year end is a great time for you to figure out what worked and what didn’t so you can set yourself up for success in 2019.

Here is a planning checklist to help you get your marketing strategy in order for 2019:

  • Market analysis: Start by identifying any trends that are driving growth in your industry. This will ensure you are keeping up with how your industry is shifting. Once you have identified how the industry is shifting, figure out what your competitors are up to with their marketing strategies and how your audience is responding to them.
  • Audit your brand: While you don’t need to go through a rebrand every year, you do need to make sure that your brand message is still relevant to your audience. It could be that you have changed your focus since the beginning of last year to follow industry trends, or perhaps you shifted your focus to cater to your audience’s changing needs.
  • Define your marketing goals: Before setting your goals for 2019, you need to identify whether you achieved your goals from last year. It’s the idea that you need to look back before looking forward. If you didn’t achieve your goals, figure out why and set more achievable goals for the upcoming year. If you did achieve your goals, make sure you are pushing yourself to go further in 2019. And remember to make your goals measurable so you can figure out when you are successful.
  • Set metrics: Once you have defined your marketing goals, you need to figure out how you will measure your success. If your goals were measurable, it’s a matter of selecting the appropriate metrics to track along the way. You also need to figure out how often you will prepare reports to measure your progress. At the very least, you should track your metrics once per month. If you are running an important tactic or trying something new, it might be good to do weekly check-ins.
  • Choose your tactics: Figure out how you will reach your target audience in 2019. It could be through things that are already in place, but perhaps you want to try something new. At this stage, think beyond your budget. You can include things on here that might be out of your budget now, but could be considered as future options.
  • Set your budget: Were you on budget in 2018? Perhaps there were things that cost more than you thought they would? Now that you can figure out the answers to those questions you can set your budget for your 2019 marketing strategy. Knowing what your goals are you should be able to pinpoint if there are areas you want to increase your spending. It’s important to be realistic about your marketing budget so you don’t spread yourself too thin, but you also want to give yourself enough of a budget to invest so you can achieve results that will allow you to grow.
  • Set your timeline: Prioritize your chosen tactics and select those that you can both afford to do and have time to do this year. Then create a timeline for the year of when you will use your chosen tactics. Basically, this is a snapshot of your overall marketing plan for the year.
  • Set milestones: Now that you have your overall plan in place and the timing of your marketing tactics, set smaller checkpoints along the way. This will help to keep you on track throughout the year. It will also indicate the steps needed to help you achieve your marketing goals.
  • Create your content strategy: Before developing a content strategy, you need to figure out how much you can handle. The idea is that you want to be consistent with the content you are putting out there. Your audience will come to expect certain things from you. Create an editorial calendar for your blogging and set up scheduling for your social media content.
  • Update your website: Year end is a great time for a content refresh on your website, especially if you have tweaked your brand messaging at all. You can also review the design of your website to make sure it is not out of date. It might just be time for a redesign!

A new year is a chance for you to start fresh for your marketing strategy, but you want to make sure you are starting off on the right foot.

Candace Huntly is Founder and Partner at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take company and expert brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

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2 BABIES AND A BUSINESS

 

How do women entrepreneurs make it? How do they succeed? And more importantly, how do they have children, build a family and at the same time, build a business?

It comes down to four major components:

  1. Serious time management
  2. Passion
  3. A vision
  4. Support

Before launching SocialEyes Communications, Marly Broudie (Founder) was originally 9-5 downtown Toronto commuter. A role at a leading litigation firm required a 6am wake-up, a 25-minute drive to the subway station, a 45-minute subway ride, a 1 hour lunch break (on most days) and a hell-of-a trek home that stretched well beyond Toronto rush hour. The corporate setting taught Marly A LOT about organization, detail, planning, research, development and most of all, that a corporate setting was not her calling. She had always had known deep down that she was the type that needed to beat to her own drum. The vision of a hustle (you know, the kind that gets you up in the morning and keeps you awake at night?)…that was what drove her.

The Inception of the Business

There she was, one month following her wedding, an intense family situation that afforded her some alone time, and a 12am lightbulb switch. Marketing, communications and the online digital movement was an industry that not only intrigued her, but invigorated her. It was also a specialized area that she spent much time practicing, … and beyond that, knew that every person and every business required it (biased, but true).

And just like that, SocialEyes Communications was born.

 

The First Year of Business

  • Hustle Hustle Hustle
  • Proposal pitching
  • Branding and marketing
  • Networking
  • Strategy implementation
  • Campaign launches
  • Building a team of qualified experts

…Boom –  Pregnancy. Marly was about to embark on life as a new first-time mom, while growing and operating a business. How is it possible?

 

Motherhood in All Its Glory

January 2017, Marly welcomed her first child into the world. The time was not easy – work and hormones were both at an all-time high. She was fortunate enough that time management was a major strength and so, nap times were dedicated to client phone calls; grandmothers babysat and client meetings took place; new clients were brought onboard and new team members too. By the end of the 3rd month of motherhood, SocialEyes was now a bursting operation serving 20+ clients and receiving excellent feedback.

Fast forward – 4 months into motherhood and boom – PREGNANCY!…AGAIN!

How are we meant to do this mom thing, and also grow a successful business?

 

6 Tips to Achieve Success:

  1. Time Management – there IS enough time in the day!
  2. A method to the madness
  3. Time blocking
  4. Vision as an incentive
  5. Passion for what you are doing
  6. Support – both personally and professionally

Motherhood and mom-preneurs have a few things in common – patience, fortitude, tenacity and perseverance.

 

 

 

 

Marly Broudie is the Founder of SocialEyes Communications – a digital marketing and business development firm based in Toronto, Ontario.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/socialeyescommunications

Twitter – https://twitter.com/socialeyescomm

LI – https://www.linkedin.com/company/socialeyes-communications/

Insta – https://www.instagram.com/socialeyescommunications/

Entrepreneurs: Don’t Go it Alone; You Can Get Expert Help, On Demand

 

I called up a lawyer the other day for some advice. It cost me less than $20. The same week, I called up an HR consultant & career coach and had a video chat. The advice and insight she gave me cost a little over $40. When I put it into action, it will be worth a few thousand dollars in income this year.

Have you ever been it a situation that made you think, “Wow, is that even legal?” Unless you have a lawyer friend who doesn’t mind talking shop on their downtime, your best bet until now has been Google, or a maybe a self-help book.

What if you could connect with a lawyer (or a career coach or an HR expert, or a digital marketing guru), and it wouldn’t cost you hundreds of dollars?

There is a way; actually, there are two ways, and before we go much farther, I want you to know I don’t work for either one — I’m just excited to share what I’ve learned. Plus, resources and support for entrepreneurs are among my favourite subjects.  We entrepreneurs, are by nature, “go-it-alone” types or we wouldn’t be entrepreneurs. If I had one piece of advice for every new business starting up, it would be to drop that line of thinking from day one, and take advantage of all the support that exists.

 

Lawyers On Demand

One of the most exciting things I have stumbled onto this year has been Legal Shield.  It doesn’t sound very exciting does it? I first heard about it about three years ago but in truth, its dull, solid-sounding name didn’t get my attention. Honestly, if I were in charge I’d rename. It needs a name more along the lines of “Legal Hammer” or “Legal Bayonet.” It’s more like a catapult than a shield although Legal Catapult doesn’t have the right ring to it at all; nor does Legal Hand Grenade.

In any case, Legal Shield is, in my humble opinion, a beautiful, effective and affordable weapon. Legal Shield is like CAA, but instead of tow truck coming to your rescue, you get access to real, live, lawyers in your home province or state. You pay a membership fee, and in return, you have emergency, 24-hour a day access to legal advice. The basic monthly fee in Canada is $26 month. I have literally not been able to find a single drawback.

I’ve called upon Legal Shield twice now. The first time, a client owed me money. The lawyers sent the client a collections letter that got his attention. Full disclosure: he still refuses to pay. I may take him to small claims court. The lawyers from Legal Shield will help me prepare the paperwork if I go that route. For $26 a month they won’t actually come to court with me but they’ll get me ready for my appearance. But, I rest easy knowing that the demand letter, delivered on a Friday around 5 p.m. ruined his long weekend. I mean, he wrote back right away. He was actually furious that I hired a lawyer to collect from him. Sometimes just knowing you got under someone’s skin is enough.

The second time is ongoing, so, I can’t go into much detail but suffice to say, if I had to pay a lawyer by the hour to take on our case, it would cost us thousands of dollars and, frankly, we simply wouldn’t be able to pursue it. The lawyer assigned to us has read our documentation, and has confirmed that we have a good case.  That confirmation alone has been worth the cost of membership. She’s drafted the first letter to get the ball rolling. Even if we lose the case, it will have cost us less than a cup of coffee a day.

There are no penalties or extra fees for ending your membership, either. Join for a month, six months or stay long term.

This is the link through which I joined Legal Shield (https://lisajibson.wearelegalshield.com/)

 

Experts and Professionals of All Kinds, Also on Demand

For every other kind of expert, and I mean pretty much every kind, there’s Magnifi. Magnifi is a new iPhone app that was launched in the spring.

Magnifi connects you with experts, as needed – pretty much on demand.  Would you like to have a chat with a career coach, or a wellness expert, or a web designer, without feeling like you have to commit to anything? Would you like to ask even one burning question? If you have an iPhone you can do that through Magnifi. An Android version is in the works and I’m guessing it’s coming soon because the demand is real.

Magnifi lets you talk one-on-one with that expert you need – privately, and if the expert is available, you might even get him or her, right then and there.

The cost varies from as low as 50 cents a minute. Many Magnifi experts offer free initial minutes to get you started. I’ve seen several experts who charge $5.00 a minute; the most expensive I’ve seen is $17 a minute but if you can afford that you should probably be a Magnifi expert yourself (if you have expertise to share, see the “Share My Expertise” link at the top of the Magnifi site).

Magnifi experts include a an electrician, an expert gardener, a nutrition coach, a wedding planner, digital marketing experts, relationship coaches, life coaches — the list just grows every day as experts join. Click here to see the list for yourself.

If you don’t have an iPhone, bookmark this somehow or follow Magnifi on Facebook so you know when the Android version is launched. They promise it is coming soon.

To use Magnifi, go to the Apple app store and download the Magnifi app. Once it’s installed, it’s very easy to navigate.  Search by name or keyword or browse a community of subject matter experts from around the world. If the expert’s profile shows he or she is available, you can even connect then and there.

Whatever You Do, Don’t Do It Alone

I can’t say enough about not going-it-alone. Whether it’s joining a Facebook group, a networking group or your local chamber of commerce or using one of these services I described above, never think of yourself as having to face your entrepreneurial journey alone. In fact, your success depends upon it.

 

* * * *

Stephanie Regan is a professional writer. Occasionally she takes on new clients. Her website is http://www.durhamwritingservices.com. Connect with Stephanie through LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanieregancopywriting/

How To Create A Successful Blog

As featured on www.makinthebacon.com

A Successful Blog Can Create Success For Your Business

If you’ve been following my blog for the past year and a bit, you may have come across the popular blog post – Why You Need To Blog For Your Business.

So you know about the why. I’m going to share a little bit about the how (it’s not as complicated as you think)

First off, just start.

Seriously.

Your first blog post may not be pretty or polished the first time around. But just start with a simple plan and go from there.

Take a look at my first blog post back in 2012.  I like to think that I have come a long way since then.  Note that it’s hard to build credibility or a following with just one post or one video either. You need to have several blog posts. One isn’t enough. People will want to read more of your posts and may come back to your site on a regular basis to check for new posts.

There is a lot of noise out there that only focuses on how they gained 1,000 views in their first month of blogging or how they are making “X” amount of dollars from blogging. When starting out, it’s tempting to give up early on and you will be frustrated at times, may not think your blog posts are good enough.  We are our own worst critics.  The more you write, the more content you’ll have and the better you’ll get.  Remember, you’re not writing a book (yet). But keep in mind that blogging can often lead to writing ebooks and physical books.

Focus On A Different Definition of Success

If you treat your blog the same way you treat your business (i.e. you’re in it for the long haul and are focusing on growth and long-term sustainability), then that’s progress right there. You have to have grit and be willing to persist.

For the record, when talking about a successful blog, I’m not focusing on the making money part. Thanks to society and perhaps upbringing (mine), we were led to believe that money = success. More money, more success.

One of my Instagram posts, shown below here stated what my current definition of success is and I believe it can be applied to blogging.

As a matter of fact, my blog enabled me to achieve all of those things.

Keep It Simple Silly

When it comes to being productive with your blog, there are a few simple things to keep in mind.

1. Set a rough schedule for your blog. If the idea of a content calendar is too much, you can always start off simply by just making a note in your agenda to write a blog post this week or every other week, etc.

2. Remember it isn’t necessarily about the number of blog posts, it’s the quality. Business blogging does not serve its purpose if you are constantly producing sub-par content just for the sake of posting frequently.  You wouldn’t want to be known as the blog that provides useless information or poorly written posts.

You may think that you need to post every day, every week and no that isn’t always the case. At the same time, don’t be like the old me and write blog posts every other month.

3. And don’t be a perfectionist either. Yes, check for grammar and spelling but you don’t have to be the grammar police. Blog posts are meant to be more of a conversational tone than a research article. As long as you tried your best, reviewed it several times (I’ll even read my blog post out loud from time to time), just hit publish already.

The great thing about blog posts is that you can easily edit and update them. You can’t do that with video.

4.  Be willing to commit and make time for it. It’s not a matter of time, it’s a matter of priorities.

Remember that being productive isn’t about getting a lot of things done, it’s more about getting the RIGHT things done.

 

If they are the right things, the ones that will help your business and move your business forward, then that is productivity at its best.

New Blog Post, New Opportunity

Mindset is key. Know that each blog post you publish is a new opportunity to connect with your current and potential customers. Think of each blog post as an opportunity to share your knowledge/opinion/advice (recall that we are a sharing society) and promote your business.

People will come back to your blog because they know you are THE resource for the topics of x, y and z. They’ll want to share your content with their networks because they found it to be very valuable/entertaining/interesting.

You’re killing two birds with one stone in that you don’t have to come up with as much new social media content. Just pull stuff from blog posts or promote the entire blog post.

It’s a sign that your site is of good quality because it is being updated with new content on a regular basis.  According to Hubspot, Blogging helps boost SEO quality by positioning your website as a relevant answer to your customers’ questions .

 

“In addition to my love of writing, these are the reasons why I continue to blog. So keep going, keep sharing and keep putting yourself out there.”

 

Karen Swyszcz has over 6+ years of blogging experience and has written content on the blog for brands such as SupperWorks, Camp Tech and Meridian Credit Union. She is also the instructor at Sheridan College for the Blogging For Fun and Profit Course and Effective Strategies For Social Media Course.” 

Find her at makinthebacon.com

 

Time Sucker Alert: No Prioritization System

As you begin to plan for the year to come, I want you to be sure to take some time to plan out how exactly you are going to get it all done. I have spoken before about the biggest time sucker I see time and again. Now let me walk you through the biggest prioritization issue I see with my clients, working on the WRONG stuff, and what you can do about it.

 

How do I know what the right stuff is?

To answer that, I’m going to share with you the highlights of my Plan to Grow process.

  1. Have a business plan: You wouldn’t go on a road trip without a map complete with rest stops and check-ins all mapped out, and you shouldn’t do that with your business. Having a business plan allows you to layout where you want your business to go over a certain period of time (i.e five years). When you know where you are going, you can set goals and say yes or no to interrupters and shiny objects with confidence. And most importantly, you can stop spinning your wheels on things that aren’t serving you or your business.
  2. Set goals that are going to result in significant growth in your business: With a destination point all set out, you can start building backwards, setting goals and taking on the projects that are going to progressively move your business towards where to be years from now. For this, I usually use the SMART goal setting methodwith my business and my clients.
  3. Create a roadmap for your goals by breaking the goal down into small, manageable tasks: Once you’ve decided on the goals that you need to take on to move your business where you want it to go, it’s time to create a roadmap for each goal you’ve set. This involves breaking the goal down into small, manageable tasks through a process of starting at where you want to be and then work backwards, listing everything you are going to need to do to get to the end.
  4. Get real about your schedule: This means figuring out where your time is going and how much time you actually have. Why? So you’re managing your own expectations and not putting unrealistic demands on yourself. When you are deciding which goals to take on and assigning them timelines, you need to have a true understanding of all the other things vying for your time. Without that knowledge, you’re going to feel overwhelmed and overextended and nothing is really going to get done.
  5. Find someone to hold you accountable: There is nothing more powerful than having someone waiting for me to tell them about my progress to make sure I actually make some progress.

 

Why you need to put in this work:

When you don’t know where you are going to get the biggest return on your time investment, you end up spinning your wheels without even noticing it. It’s like throwing a bunch of spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. While it may be the easier  route, successful businesses just aren’t built that way. So as you begin to plan for the new year, be clear about what you want, what needs to be done to get you there, and how you’re going to do it.

Samantha King is a busy mompreneur and homeschooler with two young children and a couple of businesses at home. When Samantha’s daughter was diagnosed with autism, she had to learn how to keep her priorities aligned within her family, while operating her business at the same time. She is excited to share her knowledge to empower entrepreneurs by giving them the tools they need to do something they love while building sustainable, profitable businesses.  

Contact Samantha:

Tel: 416-885-6841

Email: samantha@fempirebuilders.com

Facebook: @FempireBuilders

Twitter: @FempireBuilders

Instagram: @Fempire_Builders

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