Canadian Small Business Women

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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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As A Business Owner, Your Personal Profile Matters

As a business owner, your personal profile matters more than you might think. When it comes down to

it, as a small business owner, you are your brand. Like it or not, what you say even when you’re not speaking on behalf of your company will reflect on your business reputation.

You likely already have a presence online that you are building (hello,it’s 2018, this should be a no brainer!) or maybe you want to expand your current network through events and other face-to-face meetings. Regardless, here are a two things to take into account as you build your profile.

Always be aware of potential connections

You never know who knows who or the quality of their relationship if they are a mutual acquaintance. So, if you are thinking of badmouthing someone, one of three things could happen:

  1. The person you are speaking to actually likes this acquaintance and you have just offended them.

      2. The person you are speaking to really doesn’t like this acquaintance either and you have just bonded over                      something really negative.

      3. The person you are speaking to feels very uncomfortable and thinks,͞ “if you can so easily talk about them, are                 you badmouthing me as well to others?”

͟In all three cases, you have just opened your mouth (or let your fingers fly over the keyboard) without knowing what the response will be, and in all three cases you get a negative out come. Even though you bonded in #2, do you really want to get a reputation like that?

Your values should align with how you want others to see your business.

Put out what you want to get back

The way you interact with others says a lot about your personality. We have all heard about employers or clients who like to see how someone treats serving staff before making a final decision on whether to work together.

Consider also that having a politically charged, intelligent discussion is very different than ranting about our disgust of a specific political leader. It could make you seem like one of those conspiracy theorists who is a little unstable. Or how about that time when you unleashed your anger via a 10-tweet rant directed at a company because they treated you poorly?

If you focus on negativity, you’ll find that people will stop wanting to work with you because of it. When it comes to social media, customers have direct access to your online activity–and they will check you out before buying from you. This doesn’t mean you can’t be authentic when building your personal profile, but when it comes to  inappropriate messaging that could be seen as offensive or hurtful, think about whether it will give the right impression.

We all wish that our personal and professional lives could be kept separate. While it can be possible to do so, with the professional world increasingly moving digital, it makes it quite difficult. The solution is to be more self-aware and think twice about what you say before you say it.

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

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Develop your brand now to avoid disappointment later

It’s not uncommon for businesses to push through their initial launch only to realize that they haven’t really done any foundational brand work. In the long-run, this can actually have a negative effect on your overall business growth. After all, if you don’t figure out exactly who you are, how are your customers supposed to know? But, what does branding even mean? And how much work do you need to do to develop it? Some business owners feel like they just need to develop a product or a logo and it will all magically fall into place. It’s not quite that simple.

Not only does creating a strong brand help you stand out among your competitors, but it also allows your audience to connect with you on a more personal level. A stronger connection to your audience generally means better revenues and long-term loyalty.

Skipping over the brand development phase, you run the risk of no one knowing who you are and an inconsistent marketing and communications strategy that will confuse your target audience. And remember… branding is not just logo development. Your logo is just a visual representation of the brand you have developed.

Brand Factors

When it comes to brand development, certain factors like industry, audience, and geography will affect your approach, however, below are brand factors that you will always need to address for your own brand development:

  • Audience Segmentation: Figure out who they are, what they want, what they need, and how they want to get it.
  • Value proposition: Decide what value you bring to your target audience and how is it different than your competitors.
  • Brand messaging: These are the main points that you can use to talk about your brand. It will form the base for all marketing and communications content you put out there.
  • Brand identity/personality: Your messaging shows what you are about, and your brand identity showcases your values, ethics, and the characteristics that really make you you.
  • Brand story: Take your messaging and brand identity one step further by crafting your organizational story. Focus on the people and the things that are most important to you.

After you have gone through all of these things, you are well-equipped to create your logo and build your website and web content based on what would appeal to your audience and showcase your brand story.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Now that you have this great brand developed, you need to think about how you can establish a long-term presence with it based on three things:

  1. Consistency: Maintaining consistency when it comes to colours, messaging, tone, and all of your brand’s defining factors is important so your audience knows what to expect from you. It also helps with brand recall (your audience will remember and recognize you based on your marketing efforts).
  2. Adaptability: While you need consistency, you also have to be adaptable when it comes to evolving your brand over time. Your audience and their needs will likely evolve over time and it’s important that you don’t get left behind because you haven’t kept up.
  3. Storytelling: Weaving storytelling through everything you do will allow you to better connect over a long period of time with your audience. You took the time to develop your brand storytelling based on what your audience might want, so use it!

Brand development, while often overlooked, is an important part of the process when you are starting a business or when you are going through organizational change. It will set you up for future business success.

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

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The exact process we use to get clients social media success

When it comes to social media for business, most entrepreneurs fall into one of four categories:

  1. You know you need it, but you have no idea how to get started. Perhaps you got into social media a little late and you don’t have the base knowledge to know what will work best.
  2. You are already on it, but you aren’t seeing any growth or positive results and you’re not sure why. You’re spending time on putting content out there, but it’s going nowhere. You’re not even sure if anyone is reading it!
  3. You are already on it, but you can’t find the time to actually do anything with it. Running your own business is already hard enough. You realize the benefits social media can bring, but you just aren’t able to dedicate time to doing anything with it.
  4. You are an expert and you’ve mastered the art of engaging social media content.

If you fall into category 4, congratulations! If you fall into category 1, 2, or 3, don’t worry. You are not alone. It’s no secret that social media plays a major role in connecting with your audience, but, for many entrepreneurs, that’s where the frustration begins. Whether it’s a lack of knowledge or time, everyone has to start somewhere.

At SongBird one of the things I do is work with clients on their social media strategies. Sometimes it means building a strategy and executing it, and other times it is simply building a strategy and giving them the tools to execute it successfully on their own.

This is the 5-step process we go through with clients to help them achieve social media success:

Step 1: Social and competitor audit

This is an in depth look at what you are already doing on social media (if you’re on it!) to see what is working and what isn’t working. Then you take it a step further by looking at your competitors’ social media channels. Look for things like engagement, brand consistency, and content variety.

Step 2: Brand refresh

Make sure your brand messaging is aligned with your overall business goals and brand personality. You also need to take a good look at your audience and where they like to consume content to ensure you are using the right social media channels that will help you achieve your goals.

Step 3: Refine your strategy

You can start by ensuring your social profiles are consistent across platform when it comes to imagery, messaging, and brand story. Then you need to create a strong content strategy that will help you get your message across on all of your chosen social platforms. This means looking at appropriate posting timing, hashtag usage, types of content, and where the crossover content will be. Remember, you shouldn’t post the same content across all platforms. The idea is that you want people to follow you on all platforms, so you need to provide value in different ways to encourage this.

Step 4: Learn your tools

You need to make your social media implementation as easy as possible, so you can keep up with it. Tools like Hootsuite and Buffer will help with scheduling so you can schedule content one week at a time and not worry so much on a day-to-day basis. If you’re concerned about how your content looks, use a user-friendly design tool like Canva.

Step 5: Take it one day at a time

Only take on what you can handle, realizing that you can grow your strategy over time. As you start to see success, and your social presence becomes more consistent, you will find it easier to add to your strategy. It is also easier to track your success if you fully understand what you are doing. If you notice something isn’t working, try tweaking your strategy slightly. There will be trial and error in figuring it out on your own, so just embrace it rather than have it frustrate you. You can learn as much about your business, yourself, and your customers through things that don’t work as you can through your successes.

If you’re stuck, feel free to reach out and ask questions! You can also check out our Social Media Starter Kit!

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

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Easy Summer Marketing Cheat Sheet

Now that the weather has us all hoping that the sunny, warm days will stay, you have some decisions to make when it comes to your summer marketing strategy. While it might be tempting to slow things down for the summer in favour of vacation time because “business slows down anyways,” you should consider kicking things up a notch for the summer or at least maintaining the momentum you have already built throughout the year. I could give you a million reasons why keeping up with your marketing is important throughout the summer months, but you can check out my top 5 reasons here.

What I want to focus on is how you can make the most of your summer marketing strategy by following this cheat sheet as you build out your strategy over the next month or so.

Here is an easy cheat sheet for your summer marketing strategy building – all of the nitty gritty details that you can check off your list on your way to success.

  • Status check: Figure out what you’re currently doing that is working and the things that just aren’t. Create a spreadsheet where you can list your metrics for success for each marketing tactic you have tried in 2018. Once you have it written down it makes it easier to see the big picture.
  • Review your goals/objectives: What were you looking to accomplish when you started your current strategy and how does it relate to your results? Did you reach your goals? If not, what held you back? Have your business priorities shifted?
  • Look ahead: What big announcements/milestones do you have coming up for the second half of the year?
  • What’s trending in your industry: Do an audit of social conversations, pop culture, and other channels to figure out what’s trending in your industry (and for your audience as a whole). How do these topics relate to your brand?
  • Identify unique summer opportunities: There are a lot of events and social activities that go on in the summer. List potential opportunities for you to get involved as a brand and/or organization. Some things to consider are: Partner with a non-competing business to offer summer promos that sweeten the deal; or get involved as a sponsor for a summer event to get your brand in front of your target audience. These types of opportunities are a great way to generate buzz in the media.
  • What’s on your wish list: Are there any marketing tactics that you haven’t ever implemented but you wish you could? For example: video marketing; experiential marketing; mobile tactics; etc.
  • Set your budget: Carve out a budget for summer-specific marketing initiatives – be realisitic.
  • Write it down: Build a document that outlines everything you are going to do this summer when it comes to your marketing. This includes tactics you are continuing from the first half of the year as well as anything new you want to try.
  • Identify milestones: Once you have decided on what you are doing, figure out when you will implement everything.
  • Think beyond summer: You should look to build momentum beyond your summer marketing strategy. Look at summer as a jumping off point for future success in the year.

Summer marketing doesn’t have to be expensive, and it shouldn’t be ignored. Shake off that sudden urge to slow down when it gets hot and sunny and use the summer to your advantage.

 

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

4 steps to changing up your marketing strategy for the better

Have you hit a plateau in your marketing efforts? You’re definitely not growing your business. Or maybe your business is falling short of your competitors and they are squeezing you out of the market. Whatever the case, it’s time for a marketing strategy change. Changing things up shouldn’t happen on a whim, and it should be a slow and steady process that you work through, otherwise you will likely find yourself in the same place six months from now, needing another big change.

The need for a marketing strategy change can be triggered by a number of different factors such as industry developments, audience needs, market trends, a change in service offerings, etc. As a business owner, you should be reviewing your marketing strategy at least on a quarterly basis to make sure you are staying on top of things.

Step 1: Identify gaps

Gaps are where there is a need that is not being met. You might be surprised at what you are missing if you aren’t listening intently to your audience. Here are some common gaps:

  • Lack of customer engagement
  • Slow customer service response times
  • Lack of product education
  • Missing skill set on your team to get the job done
  • Misaligned strategy and goals

Be honest with yourself about what is working and what isn’t. It makes it easier to identify these areas if you look at the data related to all aspects of your marketing. These are some common data touch points:

  • Social media engagement
  • Website traffic
  • Conversion rate (those who go from browsing to a sale)

Once you have identified where your marketing gaps are, figure out the solutions necessary to fill those gaps and let that be the foundation of your new marketing strategy.

Step 2: Set objectives

Your marketing strategy should fit within the bigger picture of your overall business strategy. Set your marketing objectives with this in mind so your marketing strategy will help you achieve your overall business objectives.

As you are setting your marketing strategy objectives, make sure that they are quantifiable, so you can measure your progress. You should also identify both short-term and long-term objectives.

Step 3: Set milestones

After setting both short-term and long-term objectives as well as identifying your tactical changes to your marketing strategy, build out a timeline to help you implement and track your success. You can always tweak the timeline as necessary, but it will keep you and your team on track. Be sure to include things like major deliverables, growth targets, and strategic decision deadlines.

Step 4: Execute and let it breathe

The hardest part about starting something new is waiting to see if it will work after you set it in motion. Depending on your goals (short-term vs. long-term), your strategy can take up to 6 months to see full results. Adjust your expectations and don’t start messing with your new strategy unless you know something isn’t working. In these cases, make sure you figure out why it isn’t working before creating a solution.

If you are ready to change up your marketing strategy, it’s important to realize that you likely have a good base to work from already. Don’t throw out your current marketing strategy, figure out how you can tweak it or build on it to make it better.

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

5 Big Marketing Mistakes for Small Business

As a small business owner, you need to make sure that you are using your resources in the best way possible. It can be easy to let things fall through the cracks, but you need to make sure that your marketing strategy is on track otherwise, it will be hard for you to succeed.

Here are six big marketing mistakes many small business owners make, whether they are just starting out or they have been in a business for a while and have hit a plateau in growth.

Targeting too broad an audience

As a small business owner, if your audience is too broad you will find that you go through your budget quickly and you won’t see great results because you are trying to reach too many people. Instead, conquer your audiences one niche at a time and let your reputation spread organically. If you do it right, your loyal customers will do your marketing for you. Focus on more grassroots and targeted initiatives to stretch your budget while getting bigger results. For example, you could run an influencer campaign to reach a small group of bloggers or other “celebrity” type influencers who will share your brand story with their audience. This helps you to amplify your marketing message while only marketing directly to a smaller group.

Not knowing where you fit into the competitive landscape

I have run into countless business owners (or those at the idea stage) that truly believe that they are the only one out there selling their product or service. While that might be true, chances are, you’re not first to the market with a product or service that is similar. And just because a company isn’t offering the exact same thing as you doesn’t mean that their similar product doesn’t have some of the same benefits. They may not be a direct competitor, but they are a competitor. Do your research before launching your business to see what else is out there that is similar. To ensure that you stay on top of industry developments, you should be constantly looking for new players in your market to see where your product fits into the industry and why your customers and target audience should buy what you are selling over your competitors.

No big picture strategy

Your marketing strategy needs to be carefully planned out in advance so you can see how all of the elements fit together. You can set yourself up for success better if your marketing objectives tie directly into your business objectives. Develop detailed timelines for each tactic you are looking to implement over the next year and set milestones to measure your success by. Keep in mind that this doesn’t have to be a rigid planning document. You can adjust your timelines and the overall strategy as you go as needed. But it will act as a guide to keep your marketing strategy moving in the right direction.

Not starting early enough

A common mistake many small business owners make is not starting early enough. This has to do with both planning and marketing for specific initiatives. Unless you have an unlimited budget that will allow for you to create a massive spectacle that can’t be missed (ie. Public stunts in multiple cities, or one major public stunt that is larger than life) you want to make sure people know what’s coming so they can get excited for it and start helping you build buzz. For example, if you are planning your product launch for September, you need to start planning in detail in June (at least!) and start talking about it publicly – even as a teaser at least a month in advance. Another example would be if you plan to run a holiday gift guide campaign where you intend to be included in media gift guides. For certain media, you need to start that in August.

If you are bringing in a third party to execute your strategy (like an agency), bring them in at the beginning and figure out the best timeline for success. You might think you are saving money by bringing them in later, but in reality, you are just cutting your success short.

Starting out free gets your name out there

This is a highly discussed topic. Sometimes people think that giving away your products/services for free in the beginning will mean that you will gain more exposure. While you might get more exposure, it’s not generally the kind you should be looking for because you are severely undervaluing yourself. In many cases, once people get something for free, they will continue to expect free, which doesn’t help you in growing your revenues. The first thing I tell brands/experts is to stop working for free just for exposure.

The only time giving your product/services away for free is acceptable is if it is part of a larger media strategy where you will get third party reviews from credible sources. This type of exposure can be very helpful in amplifying your brand message because you are tapping into their networks and building trust. It is also ok to choose a small test group of customers at the beginning for market research to get feedback on your product/service, but it should end there. Giving severe discounts and freebies to everyone in the beginning is going to make it difficult to start charging what you’re actually worth.

 

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

5 Tips For Getting More From Your PR Efforts

Whether you have competition or not, you need to figure out how to generate buzz about your brand. If no one is talking about you, then your target audience won’t be able to find you very easily.

Your PR strategy could include a variety of different tactics. Once you have your strategy in place, here are 5 tips on how you can make the most of your efforts.

  1. Think long-term, not individual opportunities

You might be looking for media coverage for your brand or product launch, or to be included in holiday gift guides, but what happens next? Your goal should be to aim for sustained buzz, and to do that you have to look at building relationships with your media contacts. If you make meaningful connections with the media, you may find that they are more receptive to your pitching down the line. Build relationships with the media like you build relationships with your customers. You may even find they take interest in what’s happening with your brand and reach out to you.

  1. Get to know the media

Using a blanket approach where you pitch every media contact you can think of is not a great idea. Build a list thoughtfully and get to know who your media and influencers are. What do they write about? What stories seem to grab them the most? Most importantly, what is the connection between your pitch and them? You will have a higher success rate if you approach your outreach in this way because you will make a connection with your contacts.

  1. Match your pitching schedule to the media’s schedule

If you try to pitch your contact and they are on air, in an editorial meeting, or producing a show, they likely won’t respond to you. Your pitch also might then get lost in the shuffle. Try to learn your contacts’ schedules. Maybe they have a 9 AM production meeting, or their monthly editorial planning meeting happens the second week of the month. You can adjust the way you pitch based on what you have learned. In many cases learning this type of information will take time and you will pick up on patterns based on when your contacts respond to you.

  1. Keep your promises

If you say you are going to provide your contact with information by a certain deadline, then do it. Also, if you promise an exclusive to one publication, don’t do the same to another. It breaks down trust and they will likely just delete your email next time you try to pitch them.

  1. Use social media to your advantage

If you are having trouble getting through to the media, try to generate buzz using your own tools. Keep up with your social media efforts as a way to attract media attention while connecting with your target audience directly. Many of your media contacts often find their story angles from scanning social media for interesting topics.

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

Setting New Year’s Marketing Goals You Can Actually Accomplish

A new year means a fresh a start, right? When it comes to your business, December is a perfect time to strategize for the year ahead, especially for your marketing strategy. The problem is, it’s really hard to set marketing goals that make sense for your business while driving it forward to help you grow throughout the year.

Before you can strategize for the year ahead, it’s always best to look back to see what you have accomplished in the past year. Using simple metrics, you can track your progress. Reflect on what worked, what didn’t work, and what your best marketing moments were for the year. That will shape how you move forward in this process. You should always focus on whether your marketing strategy in the past year helped you reach your business objectives for the year. If it didn’t, then setting your goals for 2018 will be especially important.

To help you follow through, your marketing goals for 2018 should:

  • Reflect on your overall business objectives – you are building your business through marketing.
  • Be measurable – you won’t know if you have achieved your goal if you can’t measure it.

Here are a few goals to consider as you are preparing your 2018 marketing strategy.

Cut the fluff from your strategy

Build a solid strategic foundation by figuring out what’s working and what’s not. If something isn’t working, set it aside. You can always revisit a strategy later if the timing is better. By eliminating tactics that don’t work you’re freeing up resources (time and money) to invest in other tactics. Cutting things from your marketing strategy might be the easiest thing to accomplish because you are saving time and money rather than spending it!

Identify the time and budget resources you can allocate to other marketing projects throughout the year.

Engage daily on social media

Social media isn’t something you say you are going to do and then log in once per week. It takes commitment, but you should be engaging with your followers and potential follower on a daily basis. This is how you will build relationships with customers and potential customers online. If you can’t commit the time to social media (at least 15 minutes per day), consider hiring a third party to build your social media strategy. Your success depends largely on your ability to create dialogue among your community, and social media is a great way to connect with large numbers of people at once.

Make sure you track your increasing engagement through specific and measurable metrics such as brand mentions, retweets/shares, Likes, Review ratings, etc.

Drive traffic to your website

Your website should be an information hub for your brand, and if you are selling products on your website, then traffic is even more important. Customers should be able to navigate across your online channels easily, and all roads should lead back to your website. Post new content regularly to your social channels (ie. Blogs, product reviews) that links back to your website. If you are running a sale, change the link in your Instagram profile and drive people to that link in your promo posts.

Track metrics such as website traffic numbers and your click through rate.

Try something you haven’t tried before

It’s easy to get stuck in a marketing rut. Maybe you’re afraid of change, or perhaps you were just burnt out, but success usually lives outside of your comfort zone. Sometimes that means learning about something new or really getting to know what your audience likes. You will start to see business growth when you push your own personal boundaries as a business owner. This will also help to create new touchpoints for your customers to experience your brand. For example, if you have focused a lot of your energy on social media and digital marketing tactics, try something experiential to hit a targeted geographical group.

Make sure you choose metrics to measure the success of your new tactic. If it is successful, continue doing it, if not, there is no point in wasting the resources.

Your marketing goals for 2018 should make you feel a little uncomfortable, but they should also excite you. It is a good combination when you are building your strategy. Your audience will appreciate you taking the time to see your relationship with them through a fresh perspective and it gives you the opportunity to stay on your toes in business.

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

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How can entrepreneurs break through the media barrier?

There are 400 million entrepreneurs in the world. That’s a lot of people competing for attention, especially from the media. Whether you’re in the beginning launch stages of your small business, or you have been operating for some time and you’re looking for a brand awareness boost, getting media coverage in the right places can build some serious buzz around your brand. But how do you get the media to notice you among the sea of entrepreneurs?

The answer is simple: Give them something to be interested in.

The three areas to focus on to make sure you stand out among the thousands of media pitches from entrepreneurs are story, strategy, and execution.

1: Story

You need to be about so much more than just your business and what you have to offer. Look beyond the features of your business to see all of the benefits. Once you have identified the benefits, create a human-interest story that relates. Then you can have fun with showcasing the story.

A few ways to showcase your story are:

  • Social Media: Easily the most accessible means to tell your story to a wide-reaching audience, social media is something you generally have control over when it comes to the messaging. Create a content campaign and engage your audience on each platform.
  • Public Stunt: While public stunts often require a higher budget and a creative mind to plan something unique, they are meant to be memorable and shareable. Remember, anything that happens in real time can be shared on social media.
  • VIP Event: A great VIP event can double as a connector with your consumer audience as well as a targeted list of media. When planning your event, make sure the objectives are in line with the story you want to tell. For example, a circus theme might not necessarily create the best atmosphere for a sombre story.

2: Strategy

After your story has been developed, you need to figure out how to get in front of the media and to make yourself heard. Remember that depending on your media contact, they get hundreds of pitches daily. So, before you send that email, make sure you are ready to fight for your story.

Here are three things to consider:

  • Targeting: Build a smart media list. Your story won’t appeal to every outlet/reporter. Figure out what the best media targets are for you and focus on those. This will be the most important thing you can do to work towards media coverage success.
  • Timing: It’s always best to start early. You will have to work around their editorial requirements. For some print magazines, that means 6 months in advance! Do your research on individual outlet requirements.
  • Availability: Don’t pitch the media if you won’t be available for an interview. If you are planning a vacation in a couple of days, wait until you get back. You might be quite upset if your favourite morning show called to have you on air, but you weren’t available!

3: Execution

A great strategy can fall flat if you don’t follow through on it 100%. It might take some time. Keep in mind that the media hasn’t ever heard of you or your business before, so they will need to do some research before getting back to you. That means learning patience and knowing when to pressure and when to back off.

These three things will help you carry through on your strategic media objectives:

  • The Pitch: It’s important to get your pitch right the first time. Keep it short and to the point, focusing only on important details. And always find a way to tie your story into your contact’s work – that means reading articles they have done previously! If building a targeted list is the most important thing you can do, then this is the second-most important thing you can do. The media wants to know that you are paying attention to what they have to say.
  • Following up: Don’t be too aggressive with your follow ups, and unless you have a great relationship with your media contact (or you know they prefer otherwise), stick to email. After the initial pitch wait a couple of days before following up, then about a week if you still haven’t heard.
  • Moving on: While some media will respond to you either way, you may not hear back at all. It can be understandably frustrating, but there are a number of unknown factors you’re up against. You could have just pitched on a really busy day. It’s time to move on. You can regroup and try again with another story angle at a later date.

 

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

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Giving Up Control During PR

Learn to Give Up Control When Working With the Media

Whether you are looking to be included in gift guides or you are looking for media features and a thought leadership strategy, the way you work with your media and influencer contacts won’t change. The reality is that you are going to have to give up a little bit of control if you want your media and influencer relations strategy to be successful.

You can’t control all variables when it comes to marketing your business – will your post go viral? Will anyone see it at all? Will the media say yes? Once you involve a third party such as your customers or the media, they ultimately have control over how they feel about your brand and your products. That being said, there are a few things to consider when it comes to giving up the reins for your media and influencer relations strategy.

You are working on their time, not yours.

The hardest part about media and influencer relations is waiting to see if anyone will even be interested in telling your story. Once you send off your email pitch your contact needs to sift through hundreds of emails to find stories they might be interested in, then they need to do a bit of research, then often they need to run things by their editors. Give them time to do what they do best.

If you haven’t heard back in a couple of days, follow up with a quick and short email. Keep in mind that sometimes your contacts will be too busy to tell you if they decided to scrap your pitch. There comes a point where you should just move on.

They’re thinking about their own brand voice, not yours.

While you are concerned with how your brand will appear, your media and influencer contacts also have their own brands to consider. This is especially true about influencers who most often build their fan base based on a personal brand. Let them talk about your brand in their own way.

The more they can put their stamp on it, the more excited they will be.

Think about how excited you get to talk about your brand. The more leeway you give to tell your story, the better. They will actually enjoy writing about your brand. If someone enjoys talking about you, they will talk about you more. Not only that, if you have ten people cover your story in the exact same way, it could get pretty boring.

Mistakes happen. Don’t freak out.

We’re all human, and we all make mistakes. Rather than panic about it, assess whether it is actually detrimental to your brand. If it is, then politely ask that it be fixed. Don’t accuse and demand. Things that are important to change are facts that affect the story. For example, if your spokesperson’s name is misspelled, or the brand or product name has an error. If you don’t feel like your brand was represented the way you wanted it to be, sometimes you have to suck it up and move on.

Working with media and influencers means working with people – building relationships. These relationships can teach you a lot about your own brand and how your customers might perceive you. So, while you might not always have complete control once you ask someone to tell your story for you, you have an incredible learning opportunity as a business owner and a brand.

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

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Step by Step Guide to Getting Your Brand included in Gift Guides

You may not want to think about the holiday season quite yet, but with the introduction of Pumpkin Spice Lattes, you know it’s coming. That means you should be in holiday planning mode for your marketing strategy. What are you doing with your media relations? Being included in holiday gift guides can be a great thing for your business, but you need to do it right.

While you can take any approach and make it your own, here is a basic step by step guide to help you get your brand included in holiday gift guides.

Step 1: Plan your timing

Media outlets are in three general groupings when it comes to the lead time required. Lead time simply means how much time they need between when they decide to feature you to when the article gets published. The three groups are:

  • Long Lead: This usually includes magazines that are printed monthly or less. The lead time is generally 3 – 6 months in advance. If you do the math, you are already almost too late to hit up this group for their holiday gift guides if you want to see your brand in a print magazine. Keep in mind that a lot of publications are also shutting down their print publications and moving online exclusively.
  • Medium Lead: This includes publications that are printed weekly or every other week. They usually require 1 – 3 weeks lead time.
  • Short Lead: Short lead publications like daily newspapers, commuter papers, and online publications have a short turn around time. When it comes to gift guides, you can get away with pitching the same week, although giving more time is still advisable. They still have to work with an editorial team and an approvals process.

Step 2: Choose your featured product(s)

While you may love everything you sell, pitching too many products at once will get cluttered and confusing. Pick one to three products that you see as the best gifts to give. Ask yourself two questions:

  1. What type of gifts are they? (Eco-friendly, pampering, last-minute, stocking stuffers, under $20, etc)
  2. Who are they for? (For her, For him, your friend who has everything, the person who wants to save the world, etc.)

Get creative with your answers. It will help you make your products stand out more.

Once you have selected your featured products gather materials you may need for media. In particular, you will need high resolution product images. Your images should be on a white background. You can also have lifestyle shots as well, but the product images will be requested. In some cases, the publications will take their own pictures, but you should be prepared.

Step 3: Update your website

You don’t need a full overhaul of your website to get this type of campaign done, but you should make sure that your content and images are up to date, especially the pages with the featured products on them. If you are using the proper keywords on your site (ie. Eco-friendly, stocking stuffer, etc), there is also a good chance the media will find you if they are doing research for their gift guides (but you can’t rely on this hope, which is why you are creating a proactive outreach strategy!).

Step 4: Build your gift guide list

Create a list of at least 15 to 20 outlets that you want to target for your gift guide outreach. Indicate which ones are on the top of your wish list so you can give them extra attention if needed. Once you have your list, figure out the best person to reach out to. This requires a bit of internet digging or a media database like Cision to help you out. Larger publications will likely have a dedicated gift guide editor, otherwise it could be a section editor or a specific journalist.

After building your list of targets, look at their websites to see if they have an editorial calendar you can download. An editorial calendar is a planning tool for outlets. It lays out their topical publication schedule. Sometimes it is quite detailed and may give you insight into the types of products they are looking for for their gift guides.

You should also look at past gift guides to give you a sense of what types of products catch their eye and the language they use to showcase the products.

Step 5: Build your own buzz

The media likes to feature products that may already be getting some traction, so you should start pushing your product(s) out on social media more frequently. That way, when they see your pitch email, they can see some action happening and build on that momentum. Also keep in mind that the media does a lot of research on social media and they may come across your product without your pitch email if you are using the right hashtags.

Step 6: Pitch your product

Your pitch can make or break you regardless of how amazing your product is. To start, be specific with your subject line – not just that you have a great new product. Talk about a “great gift for a last-minute holiday gift guide” or “Eco-friendly gifts for your holiday gift guide.” Tailor your pitch emails and subject lines to each outlet to match the tone and topical focus for each audience.

In terms of your email, keep it short and stick to the benefits your product/service has rather than the features. Your email shouldn’t be longer than 4 short paragraphs at most (8 – 10 sentences). Utilize bullet points to help keep an easy reading flow (and to keep it short!). And make sure you include the price, where it can be purchases, and a link to your website.

Step 7: Follow up

You have three options here based on the response you get. If they said:

  1. Yes: Send samples, images requested, and any further information they need. Get it done as fast as possible (think same day!).
  2. No: Move on and don’t take it personally. Depending on the exchange, if you feel comfortable, you can ask for a reason (so you can learn for next time), otherwise, just cross them off your list.
  3. Nothing: Wait 3 to 5 days and send a follow up email. This is just a quick reminder, so keep it to one or two sentences long indicating you wanted to make sure they received your email and see if they were interested.

Step 8: Talk it up

You can get be included in 10 gift guides, but if you don’t make the most of the opportunity, you may not see the kind of return on your effort that you would like to see. Once the gift guide is published, it’s up to you to help spread the word and use it as an opportunity to build your own brand credibility. Some ideas are:

  • Put a link to the coverage on your website – create a “press” or “in the news” section
  • Share the link on social media – a lot
  • Scan a printed article and add the image to your website
  • Share the scanned image on social media

Doing gift guide outreach isn’t easy. It requires work and dedication to get it done, but it can help you increase your revenues and your overall brand visibility throughout the holiday season.

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

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To Blog or Not To Blog?

Do you blog for business? Many businesses feel that blogging isn’t worth the time it takes to draft articles and post them on the website. I get it. Blogging can be time consuming. It is even worse if you have writer’s block. That being said, writing a blog for your business can have extremely positive effects on your success.

Here are four things that should convince you that writing a blog is in your best interest.

#1: Establish yourself as the go-to expert

Your customers want to know that you know what you are doing. Writing a blog is a great way to showcase your knowledge in a customer-accessible way. The more useful content you produce, the more your community of customers and prospects will turn to you for questions and purchases.

In reality, you have competitors who will likely also have a blog. To set yourself apart from them, figure out how to differentiate your content from theirs. Sometimes it even comes down to the style of writing that draws in your readers from your competitors.

While you will focus on your area of expertise, you need to keep your blog topically fresh so you aren’t recycling the same tired subject over and over. Sitting down with a colleague or even just a pen and paper and doing some brainstorming will help you come up with a number of great ideas and fresh perspectives. A steady stream of well-written content showcasing your expertise will help you build authority and trust.

#2: Increased website traffic

Your customers won’t keep revisiting your website unless you give them a reason to. Creating well-informed, engaging content also gives your audience something to share that links back to your website. This can expose your business to new audiences through direct website traffic. Time to make sure your website is up to date and effective!

#3: Increased opportunity for calls-to-action

Each blog post should include at least one call-to-action. A call-to-action simply asks your reader to do something. While your reader may be interested in the topic you have written about, they may not think about what to do with it once they are done reading. Your call-to-action is the nudge they will need to step in the right direction. Here are a few examples:

  • Share this blog on Twitter!
  • Contact us to find out how you can set up a great business blog!
  • Sign up to receive tips and tricks from us

#4: Connect people to your brand

Blogging is your chance to showcase your brand personality using more than 140 characters. You should already have figured out your brand voice and your blog is a great opportunity to put it into play. How your write – the tone, the language, the subject matter – all says something about who you are as a brand. Using your brand voice in this way allows you to humanize your brand even more by creating strong community connections, building relationships based on your brand personality, vision, and ethics.

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

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3 Ways To Keep Media Interested In Your Brand

Your company or product launch was a month ago, and you managed to connect with a few media outlets to get coverage. Now what?

It is a challenge most business owners face consistently when it comes to generating buzz about their brand. While you may not notice the lull in buzz generated for a couple of months because you are on a high from your successful launch, you are going to have to figure out how to create new opportunities for your business to garner media and influencer attention when life gets “back to normal.”

Here are three ways to create great media opportunities if you have hit a brand buzz rut.

Get involved with a charitable organization or a cause

A business that stands for something is a very powerful thing. Customers want to buy from brands that have the same values and belief system as they do. Your involvement with a charitable organization or with a cause allows you to tell your brand story in a different way as it relates to a cause. The media is looking for interesting human interest stories to tell, so you need to give them a story to tell that is unique to you.

Find creative ways to get your refreshed story angle out there, whether it is something experiential, guerrilla, or even a unique digital campaign.

Sponsor a community event

Community involvement is a great way to draw attention from local and regional media outlets. Find a community event that is in line with what you have to offer, or one that is of personal interest to you and your team. A personal connection will make the involvement more meaningful to both you and your target audience. If your connection to the event seems inauthentic, the media will likely not be interested because it just looks like you are faking your way to media coverage.

Plan a giveaway/contest

If you would like to run an influencer campaign with bloggers, setting up a series of contests is an effective way to connect with them. If you have product (or a service) that can be gifted then get them to review the product along with a giveaway specifically for their readers. Depending on how the contest is structured, you can create great opportunities for your brand visibility.

Your media and influencer buzz doesn’t have to end with your launch. When you sit down to create your launch strategy, think ahead to what happens next and try to incorporate it into your timeline. That way you won’t be left thinking “now what?”

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

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What happens to your marketing in the summer?

For most, summer is a time where you cut out of work early, take Fridays off, and just generally slow down. For business owners, summer is a time to find the perfect work-life balance so you can still hustle your way to success while getting a taste of what everyone else is enjoying about summer. The reality is you can’t really take a break from your marketing and PR strategy because it will undo all of the great things you have already started.

Enjoy your summer by finding new ways to reach your target audience. Here are five ways for you to boost your summer marketing strategy.

Audit your PR strategy

Sometimes you have to look back to move forward. It is almost half way through the year and you’ve had six months of outreach to media and influencers. Figuring out what worked and what didn’t will allow you to create an even better strategy for the second half of 2017. Check out my Summer PR Cheat Sheet to figure out how you can prepare yourself for an amped up strategy.

Make it personal

Your existing customers have already shown brand support, why not focus on making those relationships stronger. Summer is a great time to start a loyalty program and drive traffic to your business in an otherwise slow time (unless you sell ice cream!). If you show your appreciation for each of your customers, they will more likely recommend you to their friends.

Keep it exciting and relevant

The content you post during the summer should be on-topic. Capitalize on weather patterns and local holidays to connect with your audience. And don’t forget that everyone loves a great sale. It’s a good way to draw people in, but it can also be an efficient way to get rid of older stock to make way for new stock coming in. Have fun with it and, for example, set up a discount that goes up as the temperature goes up. It gets people to interact with your brand in fun ways while encouraging purchases.

Take the show to the customer

When the weather is nice, people go outside. It makes sense to meet your customers where they are. Find creative ways to set up experiential events for your target audience so they can interact with your brand. It’s also a great way to get out into your neighbourhood and introduce yourself. The biggest challenge is keeping it on-brand. It has to make sense with what you offer as a brand.

Think ahead

You should always be two steps ahead with your marketing strategy. Media and influencers often work on a 6 week turnaround (or more!). For gift guides, you should already be thinking about pitching media in August/September! That means preparing for what’s to come and creating great content for all of your marketing channels so you aren’t scrambling when the time comes to execute.

Candace Huntly is Founder and 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

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