Canadian Small Business Women

Connection, Synergy, Community

Creating content for social media algorithms – and your audience

Algorithm this. Algorithm that…

What the heck is a social media algorithm and why is everyone talking about it?

With all the changes taking place on your favourite platforms, there is a lot of discussion about how to create content effectively so your audience will actually see it. But a lot of people forget that when you create content, yes you are creating it for the platform, but first and foremost you’re creating it for your audience.

So what does this all mean? Let’s break it down.

What is a social media algorithm?

Social media algorithms kind of feel like a gatekeeper to your content… Or a troll under a bridge that refuses to let you cross. But when you think of it, there are so many users on each platform sharing SO MUCH content, social media platform developers figure it would be too overwhelming to leave it up to people to sift through. So, they created algorithms to help. (It’s either smart or one step closer to robot domination – I’ll let you choose. 😉) Regardless of how you feel about algorithms, they are here to stay, so you need to know how it all works.

A social media algorithm ranks social media posts based on set rules and data associated with the platform – things like overall engagement, content type, shares, and quality. They analyze user behaviour so they can present what they determine is relevant and high quality content every time a user signs in. Because we’re all unique, how social media algorithms read our behaviour is also unique, so our social feeds are all different – we’re like snowflakes!

How do social media algorithms work?

You know WHAT it is, but you also need to know how the algorithm works for each social platform you are on. And they like to keep things fresh, so things are constantly changing. But if you understand the basics, you can build your strategy around that. Let’s break down the basics of how four of the top algorithms work:

Facebook

Based on machine learning and data science, Facebook’s algorithm looks at:

  • Content source: From brands to friends, family, and everything in between, it’s all based on who users follow and engage with a source. The more they engage, the more content they will be shown from that source.
  • Content type: Again, based on what users like the most – but think video, pictures, and links.
  • Engagement: Any time a user interacts with your content (likes, comments, shares) it signals higher quality content.

Instagram

Instagram has been going through… a lot of changes these days. This can present as a huge challenge to marketers. The platform’s algorithm affects the order of posts in a user’s feed, featured content on the explore page, whether or not your Reels are featured, and the order of featured stories at the top of user feeds. Overall, you need to know about three things:

  • Engagement: The more users interact with your content the more your content will be shown to them.
  • Content Type: It’s no secret that Instagram is gravitating towards Reels (video) and they are prioritizing Reels content above all else at the moment.
  • Relevancy and Quality: Based on user preference, how likely are users to interact with and share your content.

Twitter

Twitter uses machine learning, but you should focus on these things:

  • Relevancy: This can be anything from topic, timing, and even location of a content source.
  • Engagement: The more someone engages with your content the more likely your content will be shown to users.
  • Content Type: Images, videos, GIFs, and polls do well on the platform rather than just text-based content.

TikTok

The “belle of the ball” these days… You need to focus on appearing on For You Pages. There are a few factors to consider:

  • Engagement: How users interact with yours and other content will fuel the platforms recommended content.
  • Content: Your captions, hashtags, sounds, and filters affect who your videos will be shown to. If someone interacts with a lot of similar content, then your content will be recommended.
  • Account: Location and language settings are used to suggest content and creators to users on the platform.

How do I create content when algorithms exist?

Well… you just… create it. Sigh… If only it were that simple, right!?

Here are a few key takeaways from the simplified breakdown of the algorithms:

  • Know your audience: It’s hard to be all things to all people and you need to get consistent engagement with people who are your customers and potential customers so your content is shown to them more. So pick a niche and create content for that niche.
  • Stay current, stay relevant: Check out what’s trending on your social platforms and create content based on that – but make it your own. This could be trending topics, trending content types, etc. We’ve created a handy guide to figure this out!
  • Use hashtags wisely: Don’t spam tag your content – on any platform. Choose your hashtags based on the content you have created and based on keywords that are relevant to your audience and business. And while you’re at it, make sure you’re using keywords in your captions as well – it’s not just about the hashtag.
  • Encourage engagement: What do you want your audience to do? Do you want them to comment? Share? Like? Why not ask? But remember it’s not just about asking for engagement; it’s about giving them a REASON to engage as well.
  • Stay consistent: Posting a flurry of posts when you get started and then disappearing for a month isn’t helpful. Neither is posting once per week. You need to post consistently on whatever platform you have chosen. It may take a little trial and error to see what the optimal posting frequency is, but the key is to remain consistent. And remember that consistency is also related to timing, so you need to figure out when your audience wants to hear from you.
  • Know what type of content performs best: If the platform you’re on wants video, you need to create more video (hello, Instagram!). It’s also important to remember that things like watermarks from other platforms may affect your quality score if you share with a watermark across all socials. For example, Instagram isn’t fond of TikTok watermarks on reels shared to the platform.
  • Get social: I’ve talked about this a lot, but social media has “social” in the title or a reason. Each platform likes it when you’re active. That means content sharing and engaging with other people on the platform.
  • Quality is Queen: Each algorithm is there to determine whether your content is high or low quality. Focus on creating high quality content rather than just churning out as much content as possible. Your followers and other social media users won’t interact with your content unless they find it interesting, so you need to start listening and figure out what is interesting to your audience – go beyond content. You need to surprise and delight with a little bit of entertainment.

​

 

Candace Huntly is the Founder 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 media relations, influencer marketing, organic community engagement, content, and adapting strategies for any sized business – large or small. 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

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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6 ways entrepreneurs can learn from mistakes

As entrepreneurs we have so many expectations of what owning a business is going to be like. While it’s important to set goals, you also have to ground those goals in reality. One of the realities of running your own business is that you will make mistakes – either large or small, so it’s important to be prepared to learn from those mistakes so you can grow and be successful in the long-term.

There are so many stats out there that talk about how so many small businesses fail within the first five years… blah blah blah… I get it. Starting and building a business is hard. For most people, it’s one of the hardest things you will ever do. For today, I want to focus on the positive side of things so you can avoid becoming a statistic that instills fear in people.

So how do you prepare yourself to learn from those mistakes? Here are 6 things you can do to make sure you are getting ready for long-term success instead of just short-term failure.

LEARN FROM OTHERS’ MISTAKES

While it’s important for you to make your own mistakes, you also shouldn’t ignore those that have come before you. There are plenty of stories of entrepreneurs who have full on failed or made a very public mistake and then come back to succeed in the long-term. While not every story will apply directly to your situation, you should look for the following things:

  • What was the fallout with customers?
  • What steps did the business take to overcome their challenge?
  • What did the founder do?
  • How long did it take for the business to react if it was a very public PR nightmare?
  • How did competitors respond? Did they capitalize on the failure? Did they acknowledge it or not address it at all?

A lot of entrepreneurs have shared their stories publicly, but you can also have more personal discussions with a mentor, coach, or industry peer who will share some of the challenges they faced as they launched and grew their business.

Use this knowledge as a roadmap for yourself to at least create some sort of contingency plan.

SET YOUR EGO ASIDE

This is a tough one. You have put so much into running your business that it becomes a part of you. Accepting that your business (and you) may not be perfect can be a challenge for many entrepreneurs. First of all… Stop taking failure so personally. If you let it get personal it will stop you from succeeding.

However, this is also a reminder that you don’t know everything. None of us knows everything. And not every idea is a good idea! Surround yourself with people who will challenge you and the way you think – not people who just capitulate and say yes to everything. It’s OK to ask for help and it’s definitely OK to change your mind to incorporate new ideas. You would be surprised how your business will shift and grow if you let it. That means getting out of the way.

FIGURE OUT WHAT WENT WRONG

If something does go wrong – and it will – have a plan in place. Earlier, I mentioned a contingency plan. That just means that you have identified things that may go wrong and identified steps you will take if they do. Get specific. Have specific processes in place that you can use without hesitation when you need them.

As part of your contingency plan, you should always debrief to figure out what happened. Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

  • What was I trying to do when things fell apart?
  • What happened? (Get specific and go over the details.)
  • Could the mistake have been avoided? (Identify specific actions that led to the mistake.)
  • What can I do differently next time – if anything? (Identify a different approach if it could have been avoided.)

SET SPECIFIC GOALS

Goal setting… SMART goals… You hear people talk about it all the time. The problem is many entrepreneurs don’t do it. Or they may do it, but it’s just an exercise on paper and it’s not put into practice. There are so many workshops, business development programs, and entrepreneurship accelerators out there that can be extremely valuable. What I find is that a business will go through these programs and then not implement anything they learned.

Reality check. Any strategy you build and implement needs to be based on the goals you set for yourself. Writing them down and then not revisiting them regularly is like putting counterfeit money in a piggy bank and expecting to be able to pay for things with what you have saved.

Do the work. Implement it in your business.

CELEBRATE EVERYTHING

One of the things I talk about a lot is the fact that entrepreneurs need to get in the habit of celebrating EVERYTHING. Progress is progress, no matter how small. When you celebrate the small wins, the big ones seem even better. Plus, the feeling of accomplishment will drive you forward to keep reaching for your goals.

EMBRACE CHANGE

For some people, change is just a way of life. For others change is something to fear. As entrepreneurs, we need to learn to embrace change and get comfortable with being uncomfortable because things sometimes change daily.

When things don’t go right the first time, we need to change our approach.

 

While mistakes and failures can be scary as entrepreneurs, if we approach them in the right way, they can make us stronger over time – and help our businesses grow. 

 

Candace Huntly is the Founder 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 media relations, influencer marketing, organic community engagement, content, and adapting strategies for any sized business – large or small. 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

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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4 ways to be successful while giving up brand control

So, here’s the thing. You may invest time – and a lot of money – into your brand development and marketing strategy. But when it all comes down to it, branding is really in the eyes of the beholder; it’s all about your customers’ and potential customers’ perception of your brand. Like it or not, where many brands are most successful is when they give up a bit of control and allow their brand and marketing efforts to evolve as their audience gets to know them better. So, if you don’t put the right foundational work in and if you don’t listen to what your customers want, your branding and marketing strategies may not be as successful as you like.

That’s the magic. Give up control.

I am not saying you should completely abandon all planning and strategy. I am saying you need to set up the proper foundations to create opportunities for your target audience to discover what is so amazing about you on their own.

LEAN INTO SOCIAL MEDIA CULTURE

I spoke a bit about how customers want stuff and they want it now. It doesn’t mean that customers are more demanding than before, it means that we are so used to the spontaneous conversations and connections we have on social media that it has become a way of life. If you are trying to create a successful marketing strategy to build brand awareness and connection, you need to fully understand that social media culture and incorporate those behaviours into your strategy. Things will evolve and they will do so quickly. You also have the opportunity to have amazing dialogue with your customers that can lead to YOU discovering things about your brand that you hadn’t thought of.

DON’T BE AFRAID OF FEEDBACK… AND CHANGE

It can be scary to get real feedback from people about your business. It can feel like a personal attack if that feedback is negative. However, it can also create exciting growth opportunities for your business and open you up to unexpected, but amazing, change. As you are setting up the foundations of your business make sure you build audience listening into everything you do.

A great example of a brand that wasn’t afraid of change – and maybe stepping out of their comfort zone – is Holy Crap Cereal. This Canadian company used to be called Hapi Food. Over a decade ago, a customer tried the product at a farmer’s market and exclaimed, “Holy crap… this is amazing!” Sales weren’t taking off when the product was called Hapi Food, but after that customer response inspired them to change their brand name, things really exploded.

LET YOUR CUSTOMERS TELL YOUR STORY

One of the best ways for people to hear about you is from your customers (word of mouth marketing). In case you were unsure about that, studies show that 90% of consumers will trust a brand more if it has been recommended by someone else – whether they’re a stranger or not. When your customers talk about your brand and the experience they have with it, it can also result in five times more sales! But what does this mean for you? Well, it means that you need to give your customers the freedom to talk about you and even encourage it. You can encourage this by developing loyalty programs, launching User Generated Content campaigns and contests on social media, and even doing influencer marketing.

TREAT YOUR BRAND GUIDELINES AS JUST THAT

When you develop your brand – logo, name, colours, messaging, goals, all of that – you should have clear guidelines set out in terms of how you want to be presented to the world. Remember that once you put something out there it’s harder to control how it is perceived and sometimes the best thing you can do is evolve. I always like to say that a messaging document is a living, breathing document. You should revisit regularly to ensure it still reflects how you want to be perceived, but also where your brand is today. Sometimes things that made sense five years ago no longer make sense today.

 

Put the work in. Develop your brand. Develop the foundations of your business. But do it in a way that allows your business to grow and adapt over time. In the long-term, you will be more successful this way. 

 

Candace Huntly is the Founder 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 media relations, influencer marketing, organic community engagement, content, and adapting strategies for any sized business – large or small. 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

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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How to build a great customer experience in 2022

Regardless of how big or small your business is, customer experience is an important aspect of what you should focus on when it comes to making meaningful connections with your audience. It’s the whole process your customer goes through from start to finish when they interact with your business. From that initial research to interacting with your sales team, to purchase and follow up customer service, and everything in between. Every. Single. Touchpoint.

While there are certain things that are out of your control, it’s important to set yourself up for success – which means a great customer experience that creates happy customers and loyalty. And, just like your social media strategy, you can’t just “set it and forget it” because your approach needs to change along with changing customer behaviours.

Here are a few things to remember as you are setting up the best possible customer experience in 2022.

Customers want it… Now!

Let me start by saying that you need to set boundaries as a business owner. You can’t be available 24/7. It’s not healthy. On the flip side of this, we live in a world where your customers are used to instant gratification. We get packages delivered within 24 hours. We can call up a food delivery service and have a gourmet meal delivered immediately. Heck we can even have a coffee delivered from our favourite coffee shop. And don’t even get me started on communication. Sometimes, if I don’t get a response from someone within a few hours I wonder whether they are OK or not. So what does that mean for your business? Well, for starters, the 24-hour turnaround for response times is likely too long. You need to find ways to check and respond to your emails more than once first thing in the morning. You also need to find efficiencies throughout the purchase process so things go smoothly and your customers get their purchases delivered as fast as possible.

Don’t bother hiding anything

We’ve been through a lot digitally in the past few years. Privacy issues and data breaches are common topics of discussion. But even more than that, your customers are more aware of all the tricks businesses used to use to hide things like surprise fees and unexpected restrictions on what happens after the purchase. In 2022, part of your job is to be as transparent as possible. The old saying “honesty is the best policy” is really the way to go. Not only does it help you build stronger relationships with your customers, but you really also don’t want to get caught in a deception. It will only end badly for your business. And while you’re at it, make sure you are taking good care of your customer data so they don’t have to worry about any security issues.

Make digital a top priority

The world went digital in the past couple of years – even the people who hate digital – because we all had to. While we’re all eager to get back to face-to-face, don’t forget the killer digital strategy you put in place. (And that’s all I’m going to say about that!)

It’s not too late to invest in e-Commerce

To sell online or not to sell online… Is that really the question? If you’re on the fence about eCommerce you should probably just go ahead and do it. But remember that any strategy you build and implement for your business should always be based on your customer behaviour. If you have customers that are finding it hard to buy from you because you don’t have an online store set up, then it’s definitely time. If you know your target audience hangs out a lot online, then it’s definitely time. And it’s not too late to get started.

Build community and environmental impact into your strategy

Your customers want more from you. They want to know that you share the same values and beliefs they do. They want to know that you’ll stand for the same causes they do. Remember that the impact you have on your community and the environment can’t be an afterthought. You need to weave it through all of your planning and all of your strategies otherwise it’s temporary.

Your customer experience starts from within

This isn’t a fortune cookie or anything, just fact. If your whole team isn’t on board with your vision for the customer experience you are creating, it will never work. Ever. Employee satisfaction, employee mental health, diversity within the workplace, creating a safe working environment. All of those things will not only affect how your team interacts with customers, but they will also affect how your customers perceive you.

There you have it. These are a few things you need to focus on to create the best customer experience in 2022. 

​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

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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Long-term customer relationships: What happens after the sale?

You made the sale. Time to celebrate and move on… right? Honestly, that’s one of the biggest mistakes most business owners make. If you build your business with this mindset, you are missing out on the long-term growth that most businesses need to survive. You’re just hopping from one customer to the next. That’s high effort and a recipe for major burn out.

So what are you supposed to do? Focus on building long-term customer relationships. Think about what happens after each sale. You did the work to get someone to your website or to your shop, but the growth part of business happens after someone chooses you for the first time.

The consumer purchase process

While your target audience may be different from other businesses, overall, most of your customers will follow the same process to make their purchase decisions.

  1. Need recognition
  2. Information search
  3. Evaluation of alternatives
  4. Decision & Purchase
  5. POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

The last step in the consumer purchase process is post-purchase behaviour. That’s where the magic happens when you’re looking for long-term growth. In this stage, your customer decides whether they are happy or not with their purchase. And tied to that, they decide whether they want anything to do with your business long-term – either as a returning customer and/or a valuable brand advocate who refers friends and family to you and leaves positive reviews online. The actions you take as a business can either lead to these things, indifference, or – worst case scenario – product returns/refunds and negative reactions and reviews. This stage is where you focus on establishing great customer relationships.

5 ways to take post-purchase service to the next level

Proactive communication

The post-purchase email. It’s part art form, part practical follow up. Overall, it’s your chance to find out how you did, keep your customer posted on shipment and tracking, provide incentive to come back and shop, and generally build the foundation for a great long-term relationship. The thing to remember is you shouldn’t overlook asking for things in these emails. You want a review on social? Ask for it. You want to have them fill out a quick survey to find out how their experience was? Ask for it. Don’t make your customers guess what you want.

Another way to look at it is communication that allows you to just touch base with your customers. A quick reminder that they may need to replenish or replace their purchase is a great reason to reach out. The Body Shop is great for this. They send a reminder email when they estimate you would need to repurchase.

Build loyalty into your strategy

Your customers want to feel appreciated. They need to know that you value their business. A great way to do that is to build some sort of loyalty program into your long-term planning. You don’t have to create an elaborate loyalty program to make it work for you. Offering things like a VIP sale to your recurring customers and early access to a new product launch can easily be done by sharing links. You can also create a referral program or even a points program that leads to discounts. And, when in doubt… offer free samples and even new product recommendations based on previous purchases or customer profiles. I have been purchasing product from Beauty Club Outlet since I got detailed product recommendations for my hair type. Personalization works.

Make using your product/service easy

Your customers are more likely to reach for their recent purchase or use it over and over again if they know how to use it properly. Sharing how-to content that lays things out clearly will eliminate any questions or confusion. Equally important to how to use something is how to care for it long-term. Certain products will last longer if you take care of them properly, so make sure your customers know how to prolong the life of their purchase.

Make it easy for returns/exchanges

This one may make some business owners fee uneasy. It seems a bit counter-intuitive, but things don’t always work out when a customer buys something. Your customers will remember if you provided an easy solution and they will more likely come back to buy more from you in the future. This will also reduce post-purchase anxiety if your customers know you are on their side.

I should note that not all products/services can be returned or refunded. There does have to be a limit. If someone returns an almost empty bottle of product and says they didn’t like it, offering a refund doesn’t seem right. However, if someone bought the same product and it made them break out into hives after 1 or 2 uses, it makes sense to work with the customer to find a solution.

Listen to what your customers have to say

ACTUALLY listen. Listen to all the good and bad feedback that you get. Ask questions to see where you can improve. Ask questions to see what you are doing right. Your customers will stick around if they feel like you care what they have to say.

The work doesn’t end when they click the purchase button online or swipe their credit card at your store. If you are truly looking for long-term growth and profitability, you need to focus on what happens after the sale to figure out how to build a great marketing strategy. And marketing is always about building great customer relationships.

 

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

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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How to overhaul your marketing content with a great blogging strategy

We made it to week two of 2022 and most of us fall into three categories:

  1. You have set goals for the year, and you’re excited to be taking the first steps to achieving them – because you have a plan.
  2. You have set goals for the year, but you’re already feeling really overwhelmed with the pressure you put on yourself to succeed – likely because you don’t have a plan in place that supports your growth.
  3. You have already abandoned all planning you may have done – it’s much easier to fall into the status quo whether it worked or not.

While the past couple of years have been challenging – and exhausting – for most business owners, that doesn’t mean you should avoid planning or challenging yourself to try something new this year. And you can even try something that will make your life easier. I am a huge fan of working smarter not harder. We should all strive for that. It doesn’t mean you are lazy or cutting corners. It means you are putting things together like a puzzle to create a bigger picture – your overall plan. For your marketing, that means finding efficiencies to make everyday tasks that much easier. When it comes to your marketing content a great blogging strategy may be the answer you are looking for to ease some of the pressure.

Here are 5 steps to help you leverage a blog strategy to take your entire content marketing strategy up a notch.

Step 1: Identify your marketing channels

I always start with what I WANT and then get to what I NEED (AKA what I – or my client – can handle). Create a list of your desired marketing channels. Make sure it’s based on your customers and where they like to interact with brands. Once you have that list, CUT THE FLUFF. This means prioritize your list from most effective to least effective based on factors like:

  • Does my audience use this channel?
  • Are my competitors successful on this channel?
  • Has this been effective for me in the past?

Then you have to figure out what you can handle based on budget (time, money, team skills) and start cutting from the bottom of your list until you can manage what you have left. You have to remove your personal emotions from this because what you want might not be what you need at this point in time. And remember, just because you’re not doing it now doesn’t mean you can’t add on to your strategy later!

HOT TIP: Blogging should be included in your list!!! You can adjust the frequency to meet your budget needs.

Step 2: Identify your blogging personality

It’s a given that your brand identity should be tightly woven throughout your blog content. However, when it comes to blogging, you can adjust your content based on your strengths. Not all blogs have to be written – and sometimes it doesn’t even make as much sense to write out a blog like this one. For example, if you are a chef, you could do photo stories with short descriptions instead that showcase a great recipe or food and beverage pairing. You could do a video blog or even audio (hello podcasts have exploded in recent years!). A blog is meant to showcase your brand, your expertise, YOU, so you can make it fit your needs.

Step 3: Build an editorial calendar

This is a secret pleasure of mine. An editorial calendar is a schedule that outlines dates, responsibilities, blog topics, and themes. I usually work 3 months in advance. It’s not always easy to do because it means sitting down and planning in advance. However, this step will make your life sooooo much easier. I know there are fancy content planning platforms, but I like a good old-fashioned spreadsheet. I break my editorial calendar down into monthly themes (you could also do quarterly or seasonal depending on your business and the type of content you are creating). Once I have monthly themes, I set the publish dates for our weekly blogs, assign a team member to write for the week, and assign a topic for the week.

SIDE NOTE: Figuring out your topics in advance means you don’t have to waste time each week trying to come up with a topic!

Step 4: Carry the themes and topics over to your other content platforms

This is where your blog starts to wield its power as the centrepiece of your marketing content. Your thematic and topical structure can drive your social media content, promotional content, Whitepaper topics, email newsletters, free eBooks, and the list could go on. The foundations you create for your blog strategy then become the foundations for your entire marketing strategy.

Step 5: Create content that can be repurposed

Whether you look at this as Step 5 or Step 4 B this is where you start to put together content for your blog. Write for your blog first and then let that content help you populate your other platforms. A well-thought-out blog can turn into at least one social media post (but usually multiple!), an email newsletter, gated content to help collect emails, a media angle to pitch, and more.

You could also create what’s called evergreen content that is content that can be referred to much past the publish date. You can read more about evergreen content here.

For more tips on blog writing itself, check out these blogs here, here, and here.

I talk about blogging for business a lot. I am a huge fan. And it’s because it works, and it can make your life much easier when it comes to marketing content.

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

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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9 things you need to do to get your business ready for 2022

December is here and that means that 2022 is coming fast and furious. As the year comes to a close, it’s important to take a moment to look at how you are going to approach the new year. Here are 9 things to consider that will help you shape your 2022 business strategy!

#1: Reflect on how you had to change things up this past year

While 2020 was tough, 2021 didn’t back down. Most businesses had to adapt even further this past year. As we are all eagerly anticipating settling into a new normal, you need to look back and take note of the changes you implemented – not only in your marketing, but also in your business operations – in 2021.

#2: Be honest with what worked and what didn’t in 2021

I feel like a broken record every year when I talk about how to move forward into the next year. But I am going to say it over and over again, and then I am going to say it again… Before heading into the new year you need to look back and see what worked and what didn’t. It’s important to be honest with yourself so you can move forward knowing the pros and cons of everything. Everything you do should be a learning opportunity.

#3: Set your 2022 business goals

New year, new goals. Of course, you need to have long-term goals that look beyond a year, but setting shorter term goals to work towards in 2022 will help to keep you on track. Focus on setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely) so you can really identify when you are successful. It also helps you to track your progress along the way. If you don’t set SMART goals and you just set vague goals that don’t have timelines, you’re wasting your time.

#4: Set Relevant goals

Part of setting SMART goals is to make sure they are relevant. That means that they need to be relevant to your business and the needs of your customers. Work towards goals that will help you grow.

It’s also an important reminder that your goals should be purpose driven in a way that goes beyond your product features. While you need to bring in money, you should also remember that your customers are looking for brands to be loyal to.

#5: Get your contingencies in place (We see you pandemic…)

I don’t think I need to remind you of how much you have had to pivot and adapt over the past two years. You don’t need to prove to anyone that you are a superhero, but you have proven you are resilient. Get your contingencies in place. We never know when a global pandemic will hit or when disaster will strike. Contingency planning doesn’t mean living in fear of what could happen. It means that you have thought about it, put it down on paper, and you can put it away in a drawer in the back of your files (and mind) until you need help.

#6: Meet your customers’ expectations

You need to tailor your customer experience from start to finish. That means identifying the ways their behaviour has shifted over the past two years. While we discussed shifting behaviours at the beginning of the pandemic, we’re now in a weird grey area where things are opening up, we have vaccinations, and now businesses are trying to establish some sort of normalcy and consistency. But you have to remember that your customers are also in the same state of mind. Some of your customers have fully embraced life opening up and others are still extremely cautious. You need to find a happy medium to build an experience that all of your customers will enjoy.

#7: Make sure you’re working well across channels

We live in a multi-screen world with a lot of distractions. Your customers are scrolling Instagram while they are watching their favourite TV shows. They’re working while listening to podcasts. They’re grocery shopping online while streaming a movie. You need to know how your customers are consuming content so you can build a strategy that will have the most impact. It needs to be seamless across all channels to create a consistent experience for your customers.

In addition to consistency, building a strategy with multiple channels in mind means you can find efficiencies to make your life a whole lot easier!

#8: Continue building your digital strategy

For many businesses, 2020 and 2021 was either the launch of a new digital strategy or a full overhaul. So many businesses built websites and launched on social media. The reality is that your customers are now accustomed to the digital world. Regardless of in-person activity resuming, the only way we’re getting away from a digital world is if the internet somehow shuts down or we lose power and are thrown back into the dark ages. Figure out where your audience hangs out online and be there. If you launched something new in the digital world this past year, look at the data and figure out what content performed best for you. Chances are video stats were on fire…

On the flip side of things, learn how to say no. Building your strategy doesn’t necessarily mean adding a bunch of social media platforms. You can also add to your strategy by creating more content that resonates with your audience – like writing more blogs every month or adding an extra post or two to your social media platforms. Remember that you don’t need to be everywhere, but you do need to be consistent and engaging on the digital channels you choose to use.

#9: Identify new opportunities to explore

And last, but certainly not least… Find new opportunities for 2022! If business is going well, don’t rest for too long because you always have to be thinking ahead. If business is not going well, are there opportunities that might take you out of your comfort zone? Maybe you are missing out on something really amazing because you are afraid to take that first step.

At the risk of sounding like I am telling you to make New Year’s Resolutions (I have mixed feelings about those…), make 2022 the year you push yourself to go further, grow bigger, and get closer to your ultimate goals.

 

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

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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Can a small business survive without social media?

Can your small business survive without social media? I would answer a verrry tentative maybe. While there are pros and cons to getting active on social media with your business, you need to make sure that you are making the right decision for you and what you want to accomplish in the long term. With over 4.2 Billion active social media users, this is a major marketing tool and a decision you shouldn’t take lightly.

Let’s talk about some of the good, the bad (… and the ugly?) about social media and whether you should use it as a tool for marketing your small business.

Pro: Solidify your brand presence

Having your customers and potential customers remember who you are when it comes time to make a purchase is half the battle in business. Maintaining a consistent social media presence helps to keep your brand top of mind. It also give you the opportunity to create brand consistency across multiple communication channels and create opportunities for more people to discover you – almost 90% of marketers agree! With the consistency and active online presence, it also helps to legitimize your business – no matter how big or small you are.

Pro: Makes it easy for your audience to connect with you – and find new customers

Social media is live and active 24/7. So it gives you the opportunity to connect with your audience outside of “traditional” office hours. You can connect with a broader audience anytime, from anywhere. And if you’re selling through social media, that means that people can buy from you 24/7 as well. Did you know that, for almost 75% of consumers, social media influences their ultimate purchase decision? Social media followers are constantly looking for high quality content from the brands they follow (not high quantity!!).

Pro: You can build better relationships with your customers

Once someone is a customer, you still have to work at keeping them as a customer. Social media helps you to engage with your community regularly. The nature of social media is to be social, so you there are plenty of opportunities for 2-way dialogue. You can even run your customer service channel through social media without using a fancy software installed on your website. Make sure that whatever conversations you’re having, you take the time to learn about your customers and what they want from you. It can actually lead to customers spending 40% more in the long run.

Pro: There is something for everyone, so you can tailor your strategy

There seems to be a steady stream of new social media platforms to choose from (hello, TikTok) – but it’s also OK to stick to the tried and tested ones that have been around for a “long” time (think Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc). Your audience likely isn’t active on all social media platforms, so you don’t need to be either. Pick and choose based on where your customers hang out and what you can handle. No point in biting off more than you can chew!

Pro: It’s easy to keep an eye on your competitors

You always need to be aware of what your competitors are up to – not so you can copy them, but it’s a great way to see what is working and not working in your industry.

Pro: It can help you stretch your marketing budget further

Remember, social media isn’t free. Time is money and you do need to invest time into content creation and engagement. HOWEVER… It is a lower cost marketing tactic than many others out there. In fact, it can allow you to stretch your marketing budget pretty far while competing with some of the larger brands in your industry.

Con: It’s not the only marketing out there, so you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket

You should try to build a marketing strategy that has some variety and helps to connect you with your customers in different ways. Here are just a few suggestions:

  • Create a loyalty program
  • Start a referral program
  • Traditional PR
  • Conferences and events
  • Focus on creating content for other channels (dust off that blog!)
  • Email marketing
  • In-store promos (but keep in mind that even if you have a brick-and-mortar location over 90% of customers have visited because they saw you online.)

Con: People can be mean on social media

No explanation really needed, but we all know that a certain level of anonymity can attract the trolls.

Con: It can be easy to get sucked into hours on hours of scrolling

So many entrepreneurs I speak with say they don’t have time for social media – that they always end up spending multiple hours a day on each platform, which takes away from running other aspects of their business. If you are one of the 47% of business owners who say they manage their marketing on their own, then social media can seem daunting. While this can happen, it can be prevented with careful planning. There are so many scheduler platforms and other tools that can make your life easier. Also, it helps to schedule your social media time – and stick to it – to keep you on track during the day.

Con: It’s easy to get caught up in the wrong numbers

We’ve talked before about vanity metrics on social media. Remember that your success is NOT determined by how many followers you have. What matters is the quality of interactions you have with customers and potential customers. It’s all about shifting your perspective and building your strategy accordingly.

As you can see… I am very pro social media. Used in the right ways, it can be a very valuable resource for your business to help you grow. Of course, there will always be that one outlier where social media just doesn’t make sense… but you have to ask yourself what you want to accomplish with your business and whether or not social media can help you get there.

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

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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3 Secrets to not letting social media get overwhelming

Social media can get overwhelming for the best of us. From building a strategy to creating content, daily engagement, keeping up with trends, and everything in between, there is a lot to manage.

While some brands have a full team of social media experts and content creators to keep the wheels turning, a lot of small businesses and solo entrepreneurs struggle to find the time to build and execute a successful social media strategy. And sometimes even figuring out what a successful strategy might look like can be challenging if you don’t quite understand all the ins and outs of social media.

It can be easy to just give up when social media gets overwhelming. However, here are three things you can do to help ease that overwhelming feeling and get your social media strategy on the right track for your business.

#1: Only do what you can handle

I have said it before, and I will say it again a thousand times over… You don’t need to be on every social media platform. You don’t have to start up on a new platform just because it’s new… You can have a successful social media strategy with just ONE social media platform. You can only do what you have time to do, and it is better to pick ONE social media platform and be great at it than be on five social media platforms and be mediocre at all of them.

The best thing to do in this case is figure out where your audience hangs out and create a prioritized list of those platforms with the most important at the top and the least at the bottom. Figure out what your time and financial budgets are and then start cutting from the bottom up. You should make sure you are keeping the highest priority things on your list and cut out the things that are lower priority. That way you can get the best return on your social media efforts. (You could even do this for your whole marketing strategy!)

#2: Schedule your social media time

When it comes to social media and community engagement, it can be easy to get sucked in. Before you know it, you’ve been scrolling through social media for hours without a purpose and you haven’t gotten to the million other things you have to get done for the day. The response to this is usually any mix of panic, guilt, feeling like you have accomplished nothing, and a vow to never have this happen again. Most people either keep doing the same thing or just avoid engagement altogether. On the one hand it keeps eating into your day and you feel like you never have enough time to get things done and on the other hand you are not using social media to be social (as it was intended!). Both outcomes can be incredibly frustrating.

I suggest building your social media time into your schedule. If you are batch creating content, do it the same time each week. For engagement, build it into your morning routine. I find that mornings are a great time to get this kind of thing done because sometimes the day can get away from you and you might forget. The other thing is that you don’t need to do hours of engagement every day. Schedule 15 or 20 minutes and scroll through social media with a purpose. When that time is done, then close it down. If you can spare more time than that, then do it. But the point is that you don’t need to be on there hours a day – unless you have that kind of time!

Note: you should make sure you are at least checking once or twice every day to respond to new comments and messages!

#3: Hire an expert when you need it

There is no shame in asking for help. Most of us have our strengths and it’s very hard to not have weaknesses. You either need to educate yourself (and I am talking about more than watching a 10-minute video) or you need to find someone who can fill that skills gap for you. While some people are great at figuring things out on their own, you also need to consider how long it will take to learn things yourself and how much it might cost you.

If you are having some trouble and are at the point where you are making this decision, it’s best to do a cost-benefit analysis to help you make the decision. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to try to do it all on your own!

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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

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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Canadian Small Business Women, in partnership with Volition, presents 2021 Young Entrepreneur’s Pitch Conference

August 29, 2021 – We are thrilled to announce that we will be partnering with Volition for a second year to present the 2021 Young Entrepreneur’s Pitch Conference. 

This virtual conference is taking place November 20, 2021, and will showcase women-lead companies across Canada in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) space. Building on the success of the 2020 Young Entrepreneurs Pitch Conference, you can expect a variety of panel discussions and workshops from industry experts, as well as speed networking, a vendor hall, and pitch competition.

While all are welcome to attend the conference, pitch applications (opening this fall) will be open to young entrepreneurial women (aged 19-45) in the CPG industry, from across Canada. All applicants will gain access to a Volition Pitch Bootcamp, and audience members will have the opportunity to cheer on and vote for their favourite Finalist pitching at the Pitch Conference.

“Last year, we were honoured to partner with Volition to bring our dreams of hosting a pitch conference to life. The success of last year’s event was evident in the responses of our pitchers, speakers and guests. This year, we are back together again and the theme is Consumer Packaged Goods. With the expertise of hundreds of pitch competitions under their belt and our conference producing history, this year’s event will not disappoint. I am looking forward to hearing this year’s pitch submissions!” 

– Dwania McLarty-Peele, Founder Canadian Small Business Women 

 

“We are so excited to be working with CSBW yet again to support and advance Canadian women in business. This past year put incredible strain on CPG companies–and women-led businesses in particular–as they have had to juggle shifting demands, supply chain issues, employee needs, and intense and variable growth patterns. We have seen such innovation and some really amazing new companies emerge this past year, and want to provide space to acknowledge, celebrate, and support this sector and the young women within it.” 

– Melanie Ewan, Managing Partner Volition 

 

If you are interested in getting involved as a partner, sponsor, or speaker, and are looking for more information, please reach out to info@canadiansmallbusinesswomen.ca

 

For conference details: https://canadiansmallbusinesswomen.ca/2021-young-entrepreneurs-pitch-conference/

 

Canadian Small Business Women was created to provide a place for aspiring Canadian business women to find the necessary resources to take their business from the planning stage to a reality. We also provide business directory, event information, and advertising opportunities for existing Canadian Small Business Women. Through our blogs, social media pages and our related articles, we hope to connect our experts to aspiring and current business women of Canada and provide the information needed to take their businesses to the next level.  We are proud to have delivered over 40 conferences serving over 5000 guests worldwide!

As a small business owner when do I have to worry about privacy laws?

If your business handles any personal information (including anyone’s name or email address), you should be thinking about your privacy responsibilities now.      

Privacy laws in Canada are not all the same: some apply to all organizations that engage in commercial activities (including charities and not for profits when they sell, barter, or lease membership lists, for example), while others do not have a commercial requirement to be applicable, and some are limited to just one type of personal information (such as personal health information). 

In this blog, we focus on how privacy laws apply to businesses, and specifically, to  businesses that collect, use or disclose personal information in the course of a commercial activity. 

It does not matter what size your business is.  What matters instead is: whether or not you handle personal information, and if you do, whether you are handling it in accordance with privacy laws.

Today’s blog was co-written by Karen Yamamoto, a commercial lawyer in Montreal specializing in privacy and technology law and the Co-Founder of Executive Counsel Group – Linkedin

1)      Back to Basics: Why do we have privacy laws?

Privacy laws give Canadians the rights to:  

  • know why your business is collecting their personal information;
  • see (or access) the personal information you have of theirs; and
  • in most cases, require your business to stop using their personal information. That means they can withdraw their consent for your business to use it, and you may have to remove it from your records as well.

We say privacy “laws” because there are different ones to help protect individuals in different ways. The most well-known one is Canada’s PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act).  Some provinces have their own private sector privacy laws while some are industry-specific (e.g., health information).

A summary of privacy laws in Canada is available here

2)      What is a personal information anyway? 

Personal information is basically any information which relates to a person and that could identify that person.  Some examples of personal information could be:

  • Employees: their names, email addresses, home addresses, social insurance numbers, how many children they have, if they are married, their ages, etc.
  • Customers or potential customers: their names, email addresses, cell phone numbers, their ages, etc.
  • If you are in the medical or health field: a person’s health information of any kind.

 

3)      I am just starting out with my business. Is it too early for me to worry about privacy laws?

It is not too early! Firstly, if your business breaches privacy law, the age, size or revenue of your business will not necessarily be a valid defense in the eyes of the law.   Secondly, the earlier you start, the better you can do “privacy by design.”

 

4)      Isn’t privacy an issue for bigger businesses than mine? 

Not necessarily – whether your business is a store with 1 employee or whether you are the owner of a large multinational business with thousands of employees, you are required to comply with privacy laws if your business handles personal information – even if your business makes zero revenues!   

 

5)      If my business does not “handle personal information”, do privacy laws still apply to me?

They may not apply to you now but it should still be something to keep in mind as you plan future business lines, products or offerings.

For example, you may be a cash only business now, but you may be planning to offer a a credit card payment option soon.  Or you might be considering offering customers a free service on their birthdays to show customer appreciation.   Or once you figure out how to comply with Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (“CASL”), you may plan to create a mailing list of potential customers, and email them your monthly updates. 

If your business does not currently handle personal information at all, you do not need to worry about privacy issues now.  However, if your business plans to sell a product or service that will collect, share, use and/or store personal information, privacy is certainly a concern and should be taken seriously.  The best time to do so is in the planning stages.

See Amee’s blog on CASL compliance

 

6)      How do I know if my business handles personal information?

Privacy laws regulate how businesses of all sizes collect, use, disclose, protect, store or otherwise handle personal information.

How do you know if your business handles personal information? In addition to the examples in 5) above, here are 3 examples:

Selling B2C: if your business sells goods or services to individuals.

If you sell fashion or beauty products to customers from your website, home or a storefront, you could be handling personal information each time you obtain a customer’s email address, address, credit card number or name.  You probably cannot do your business without some of this personal information, so it’s ok to collect it.  But you need to have appropriate controls and protections in place in order to:

  • obtain proper consent from the individual whose personal information it is, and (before or at the time of collection) tell them what you will do with it (e.g. “Would you like to give us your birthdate for our records? Then we can call each year to remind you to book your next annual eye appointment”);
  • respect an individual’s withdrawal of consent to your business having it and ensure that the individual is informed of the implications of the withdrawal;
  • (if the customer asks) show the customer what personal information you have of theirs; and
  • destroy, erase or anonymize personal information from your business databases and records that your business no longer needs.

Selling B2B: if your business sells goods or services to other businesses.

Maybe your company manufactures specialty foods and only ships to large box stores.   In this example, your business likely does not collect (i.e., handle) the personal information of its customers since its customers are not natural people.  However, your business would still need to protect your employees’ personal information as well as the personal information other businesses may share  with your business (such as their employees’ or their customers’ personal information).

Selling B2B: Selling mailing lists.

Your company is a marketing company, and one service that you offer is to sell mailing lists.  In this case, you have a lot of personal information.

 Each business is unique.

You must do an assessment of your own business and business practices to see whether or not you handle personal information.  If you determine that you do, you need to assess what kinds of controls you need to implement to protect that personal information.

 

This is part 1 of a 2 part-blog post on Privacy Law for small businesses.  Part two will be posted on June 8, 2021.

 

Amee Sandhu has been a business lawyer in Ontario for 20 years.  She created Lex Integra Professional Corporation in 2019 and focuses exclusively on business law and corporate ethics.  

The purpose and contents of this blog is to provide information only, and it does not constitute legal advice.  Reading this blog does not create a solicitor-client relationship between the reader and Amee Sandhu, Lex Integra, or any of the guest lawyers who co-write these blogs.

 It is recommended to engage (hire) a lawyer if you require or are interested in legal advice.

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Do family businesses need shareholders’ agreements?

The short answer is yes.

The majority of Canadian businesses are family businesses.  One recent study done in conjunction with the Institute of Corporate Directors and University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management, states that 54% of first-generation businesses have shareholders’ agreements, while 82% of second-generation businesses do as well.  You can search for this study by its title: Private Family Enterprise Governance Survey: Why Family Business Success Matters for Canada.

One risk to small and medium family business owners is that they often do not realize that they should have a shareholders’ agreement in place. 

 

1) Why do you need a shareholders’ agreement at all?  

A shareholders’ agreement does many things, such as:

  • Protects the rights of minority and majority shareholders
  • Sets up governance
  • Clarifies management responsibilities: For example, is this a special shareholders’ agreement where the shareholders take on the fiduciary duties that normally are the legal duties of the directors of the company (through a unanimous shareholder agreement)?
  • Sets out how shareholders can or must part ways: For example, can they sell their shares? Can they sell to anyone? Can they buy shares from other shareholders? What prices will the shares be valued at, and how is that price determined?  Can they ever be forced to sell?
  • Provides for what happens if a shareholder dies

 

2) Why do family businesses in particular need one?

As noted above, he majority of Canadian businesses are family businesses. The first generation are the founders, the second generation may be the children of the founders, and by the third generation, if the business survives, outsiders may join.  A shareholders’ agreement is considered an important component of corporate governance and business management for a growing business.

For smaller family-run businesses, imagine if there was a family dispute that had the potential to spill over into the family business, such as a divorce of two spouses who run it together.  How would the business survive?

 

3) Consider the following scenarios: Would you be prepared?

Spouses:

  • If you and your spouse get divorced, do you want to keep running the business together? Or should there be a process to determine which one can buy the other one out?

 

Parents and Children:

  • What happens in the transition from the first generation to the next? Will the adult children run the family business along with their parents? Will the adult children’s say be equal to the parents? Or will the parents, in their role as founders, be “more equal” than the adult children when it comes time to vote or manage the business?
  • What are the family’s plans for the business? What if the adult children all have shares, but only one of the children will be running the company? Can that shareholder buy out her siblings? If so, at what price? Who determines the price? Could she force her siblings to sell to her? Or could they buy her out instead?

 

Siblings:

  • What if you and your sister have a business together, and she gets a divorce. Would you be ok with her former spouse getting half of your sister’s shares as part of their divorce settlement, and then running the business with them?  Would this be good for the business? Would it be good for family relations?
  • On a related note, often shareholders’ agreements among non-family businesses require that if a shareholder is getting a divorce, she sells her shares back to the company or to other shareholders rather than risk that they will have to run the business with the ex-spouse.

 

The best time to have these discussions is when everyone is on friendly terms. This blog post is a brief look at this topic; there are also many other aspects to consider when drafting a shareholders’ agreement, such as issues relating to tax, family, and wills and estates law.

 

Amee Sandhu has been a business lawyer in Ontario for 20 years.  She created Lex Integra Professional Corporation in 2019 and focuses exclusively on business law and corporate ethics.  

In her current practice Amee advises clients on commercial, corporate, integrity, anti-corruption, ethics and compliance, and supply chain risks. 

Lex Integra:

Understand your risks. Perform with Integrity.

The purpose and contents of this blog is to provide information only, and it does not constitute legal advice.  Reading this blog does not create a solicitor-client relationship between the reader and Amee Sandhu or Lex Integra. It is recommended to engage (hire) a lawyer if you require or are interested in legal advice.

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To build something beautiful, you have to be willing to get ugly.

First of all: what does ‘something beautiful’ mean?

It means, something good, something worthy, (dare I say, something divine.)

It means, something of quality.

Quality is the only logical (and respectable) objective of business as we trudge our way through the 21st century. After the year we’ve had how could anything else be true? 

We’ve exhausted the quantity game. The “more is more” argument is spent.

We know now, all too well, the true cost of doing sub-quality business:

Ephemeral goods create ever-lasting garbage.

“Shareholders first” yields inequality at its worst.

Unfulfilled people are unmotivated employees.

Unhealthy people are unproductive employees.

Successful business owners and operators of the future are those who replace ambitions of quantity for more admirable, more attractive, visions of quality.

But what is a ‘vision of quality’, exactly?

We English-speakers freely use this word ‘quality’ to describe an infinite number of things:

A stand-up set, a pair of sneakers, a large poutine from the local food truck – every life experience has the potential for ‘quality’ independent of its nature or particular qualities.

We know quality when we see it.

As Robert Pirsig writes in one of my all-time favourite books, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, “The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you.”

But how should an aspiring entrepreneur go about building something of quality? How do they determine whether the vision for their business is quality or not?

Answer: Quality is when how something works – it’s intellectual structure – is elegantly connected to why something exists – it’s humanistic beauty.

Using Robert Pirsig’s timeless example, the motorcycle’s ability to satisfy its rider (achieve quality) depends on the harmonious integration of its mechanical function (intellectual quality) and the opportunity for adventure it provides (humanistic quality).

A quality business, therefore, is one that harmoniously integrates a sustainable business model (intellectual structure) with the needs of the people it provides for (humanistic beauty.)

Co-Managing Partner and Chief Innovation Officer, Joanne McPhail, describes how she and her partners set out to create what would eventually become one of the largest law firms in Central Ontario, Barriston Law: 

“What we were creating was not just a law firm. It was a law firm with meaning.”

The formation of Barriston Law, headquartered in Barrie, Ontario with locations in Collingwood, Huntsville and Bracebridge, began with a strategic planning session at Joanne’s previous law firm in 2010.  The group effectively asked themselves two questions:

The first was ‘How should we grow?  (A question of intellectual quality.)

The second was “Why should we grow?” (A question of humanistic quality.)

What came out of that strategic planning session was an acknowledgement that by becoming a larger firm they would have greater ability to (1) serve many different types of clients and legal needs and, with that, gain market share and (2) have a positive impact within the communities where they lived and worked, to truly have meaning. Looking back nearly a decade to when this journey started, Joanne McPhail explains:

 

              “The vision was definitely to be bigger and better…but not just for the sake of being bigger. It was about having the combined resources to be able to embark upon more innovative projects…with respect to the delivery of services…with the pursuit of doing things differently being reflected most recently in becoming the first B Corp certified law firm in Ontario, and the third (and largest) in Canada.”

As a certified B Corporation, a business that “meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose” it’s safe to say Joanne and her colleagues at Barriston Law have achieved their vision of building a law firm with meaning.

But their vision of a law firm that has a positive impact on their community, helps those less fortunate, and places a high importance on their people existed many years before B Corp certification did.

Even though the vision of quality was clear, the path to get there, in Joanne’s words, “changed over time” and “had some ups and downs.”

Building a business (or anything else) of quality is not the result of a straight-line effort but rather a turbulent path wrought with awkward attempts and repeated revisions.

To quote another beloved but far newer book, The Rise, by Sarah Lewis, “Masters are not experts because they take a subject to its conceptual end. They are masters because they realize that there isn’t one. On utterly smooth ground, the path from aim to attainment is in the permanent failure.”

 

To build something beautiful – something of quality – you have to be willing to get ugly.

You have to be willing to deal with discomfort.

You have to be willing to sustain through struggle.

You have to be willing to be bad (at first.)

You have to be willing to fail.

The road to building something beautiful can be ugly, but it’s worth it.

The team at Barriston Law hit roadblocks in pursuit of their goal – as every entrepreneur does. But because they had a vision of quality, they remained enthusiastic and continued to share that enthusiasm and “inspire others to see that vision.”

Joanne experienced some “ugly” or uncomfortable moments herself while simultaneously trying to inspire others to take the same road she was on. One particular example was when she participated in a panel discussion in front of an audience of many Central Ontario business owners and leaders. Barriston was in the middle of the B Corp certification process at the time – and certification was by no means guaranteed. But because the firm believed so strongly in the B Corp movement and their vision of a law firm with meaning, Joanne got in front of that audience and pitched B Corp certification anyway.  She told me how she pushed through the uncertainty and associated discomfort,

“I thought ‘oh gosh, this could be a little bit embarrassing, if I stood up here and said how great [B Corp certification] is and then we don’t get certified.’ But in the end, I thought ‘No, it shouldn’t be embarrassing. It should be a testament to the company that is, you know, putting the resources towards going through a fairly extensive assessment process. It takes many hours. A lot of thought. And the will to want to one day make those 80 points.”

Ultimately, the inherent quality – or beauty – of Barriston’s vision out-weighed the greater effort required to achieve it than some lesser goal.

There will be roadblocks along every entrepreneurial journey. A journey of quality – one that elegantly integrates the intellectual with the humanistic – will be, by nature, more challenging than one that ignores half the equation.

But an entrepreneurial journey of quality is one that offers the entrepreneur more meaning and therefore more motivation.

In the case of Barriston Law, the meaning and motivation they have derived from their vision of quality has fuelled them to look beyond their own organization to support the B Corp movement at large and help other organizations achieve the similar visions of quality. 

“It’s a fairly small movement in the scheme of things right now…but I honestly think it is going to be a huge movement and you’re seeing indications of that…People are starting to talk about there being more to a company than profit…have some purpose and that will drive shareholder value. I also see a big value in terms of the recruitment and retention of talent…We’ve hosted, at The Sandbox Center in Barrie, a B Corp 101 webinar to introduce local companies to the concept of becoming B Corp certified, and then we’re asking them to join in the first cohort of companies in our community who will go through the certification process together. And I’ll be sitting on that panel and bringing our experience to the group to help make their assessment easier.  I think that if you could say our area is the B Corp capital of Ontario and really start to see businesses in the area coming together and caring about this stuff, our business community will attract the best talent and be better for it.”

Quality is the result of the hard-and-sometimes-ugly work required to bring intellectual structure and humanistic beauty together in harmony. Like Joanne and her colleagues, you must inherently want to do this work, in perpetuity, to achieve stand-out success.

To quote Sarah Lewis a second time, “Mastery requires endurance…it is not merely commitment to a goal, but to a curved line, constant pursuit.”

Do you have a vision of quality for your business?

What humanistic beauty are your working to create in the world around you?

How might you synthesize such beauty with the intellectual structure of your business?

These questions require careful consideration. Some entrepreneurs will have thought more about their business in such terms than others. Whichever end of the spectrum you find yourself on, in this moment, is irrelevant. What matters is that you’re on that curved line, putting one foot in the front of the other.

In relation to B Corp certification movement, Joanne shared a similar sentiment,

“I think there’s lots of room for companies to become “B corp-ish”. So you might not make it to certification – you have to make the 80 points minimum and some companies find it difficult to get there, especially early on in the process. But if you are going through the assessment and you are analyzing where you can improve and trying legitimately and genuinely to get better than you are, you are going down the road of being B corp-ish, and hey, come aboard! That pursuit can only make you a better company and a better corporate citizen.”

Whether it’s a more formal route like the B Corp certification process or something entirely different, if your vision for your business integrates the intellectual with the beautiful, you’ll have a cause worthy of an ugly road.

As a human-centered strategist, I work with Canadian businesses to systematically develop business strategies that consider human truths and human traits.  If you’re not exactly sure how to go about integrating the intellectual with the humanistic, I can help you define your vision of quality and persist in your pursuit.

 

 

Stephanie Ruth Grimbly is a ‘human-centered strategist’ and creative problem-solver. She combines traditional business practices with emerging innovation disciplines to reveal insights about customer preferences and develop stand-out strategies for Canadian businesses. 

 

10 things to ask before hiring a marketing agency

The decision to hire a marketing agency vs doing things on your own is a decision that causes a lot of grief for many business owners and experts. There are a lot of factors that go into making this decision. In the end, you need to do what is best for your business. This will often boil down to what will help you reach your goals more efficiently.

Once you have decided to work with a marketing agency, the next challenge is finding the right one for you. There are a lot of marketing agencies out there. While they may offer the same or similar services, it’s important to know how to figure out what makes them different and what factors are important for your business.

Here are 10 things you should ask before you make your decision about working with a marketing agency.

What are their core capabilities and skill sets?

While some larger agencies may be able to offer a truly full-service marketing agency, most agencies choose to specialize in a core offering of services. In order to provide more of a one-stop-shop, many of these agencies will either partner with third parties to fill out their services or they will hire contract workers on an as-needed basis. None of these three options is a bad option, however, it’s best if an agency is transparent with you so you know how they operate.

Working with a larger agency comes with a higher price tag, so working with a small or mid-sized marketing agency can be a more attractive option in terms of budget. You just need to make sure you know how they operate.

Who will be working on your account?

How many times have you heard that someone hired a marketing agency because they initially spoke with someone senior only to have a junior person put in charge of their account once you signed a contract. You should know who you will be working with before you even sign a contract. Find out who your main point of contact will be, who will be running point, and who will be executing the day-to-day management of your account.

How well does the marketing agency know your industry and target audience?

Everyone has to start somewhere, but sometimes you want to hire someone who is an expert in what you need. Find out whether the marketing agency you are speaking with has ever worked with clients in your industry or even complementary industries.

Perhaps even more important, how familiar are they with your audience? Do they have experience connecting with them using different strategies and techniques?

What client successes do they have?

You will be hard-pressed to find any legitimate marketing agency that won’t provide you with case studies so you can see some of the work that they have done. Most are also not shy about talking about awards and nominations if given the opportunity. That is how you know they will take pride in the work they do for you!

Have there been any client setbacks in terms of not meeting outcomes? Why?

This is a tricky one because no one likes to talk about failure. However, a great agency will tell you when they have worked on a similar campaign and found things that didn’t work. For example, we have done a few media campaigns where after pitching, we found that the spokesperson wasn’t as readily available for comment as we thought. This made it challenging to secure as much media coverage as we had intended. To ensure that this doesn’t happen moving forward, we are always very clear on

Do you like the people you would be working with?

This one is pretty subjective because it is based more on your gut feelings about a person. The reality is, if you feel uncomfortable with someone, you likely won’t have great communication with them. An agency – client relationship should be based on trust and transparency, so it’s important for you to feel comfortable with the team you will be working with. A great marketing agency should be able to push you outside of your comfort zone to get you the best results possible. In order for you to take those steps, trust is a key factor.

How well do they listen to do you?

Taking things a step further from the previous question, your relationship with a marketing agency should be a give and take. You want to make sure that the agency you choose listens to you and makes suggestions based on your conversations and overall business goals rather than taking you in a completely different direction with no explanation. We have also spoken to countless clients who worked with agencies in the past that have just asked what services they want rather than making suggestions based on what they need. A great marketing agency will listen to your overall goals and point you in the right direction so you can get their more efficiently.

How often will the agency do status updates?

Certain projects will require a more hands on approach while others won’t need as much ongoing communication. Talk to your agency to clarify how often you will be connecting with them for updates. For some, weekly updates are great, while others a monthly report and clarifying call works fine. It is a balance between what you are comfortable with and what the agency feels is necessary for your project.

What extra costs will there be?

Always beware of hidden costs. From printing to shipping, fees for paying expenses internally vs paying yourself, and everything in between, always ask if there will be extra fees that could come up. Some projects are more obvious than others.

How will results be measured?

Each project is so different, so it is good to make sure you are on the same page as your marketing agency when it comes to defining success and how you will figure out when you get there. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) should be seen as a guide, realizing that some projects are harder to measure than others.

BONUS: RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR

When it comes to working with a marketing agency, you should always steer clear of people that will say anything to make the sale. A few things that make me cringe are:

  • “We can do everything” or “we are good at everything” – chances are, they likely excel in certain areas and don’t do other things well. You don’t want to be caught hiring them for the things they don’t do well.
  • “We can guarantee results!” This one is one we hear often. Nobody can really tell you what the future looks like. Most professionals make educated guesses based on known audience behaviour. You also want to make sure that they aren’t just going for the “low hanging fruit” to get you “results” rather than putting together a robust strategy for you.
  • “We charge based on results.” This is a tricky one. As someone who is extremely results driven, I absolutely understand the sentiment behind this. However, there is a lot of work that goes into getting those results. You are paying for the strategy, the expertise, and the hours of work that will be put into achieving success. Do you want to work with someone who doesn’t even value their time?

Hiring a marketing agency can be a tough decision, but there are factors that can make it easier for you to move forward.

​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.

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Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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5 ways to reach Millennials on social media

At the start of 2020, over there were over 3.8 billion active social media users in the world. While 90% of Millennials consider themselves active social media users, 79% of Millennials use social media multiple times per day, choosing to spend their time on multiple platforms. Instagram and Facebook are the most popular social media platforms, but how can you use this information when you are marketing to Millennials on social media?

Here are 5 ways to use social media to connect with Millennials.

Focus on what they care about

Causes and brand values have become even more important in today’s socioeconomic climate. The fact that over 60% of Millennials want their actions to make a difference because they are worried about the state of the world says it all. Every day there are renewed calls for brands to step up and support causes that are important – and do it in a way that isn’t performative. Performative means that you are doing it because it’s something your brand believes in, not just because you think it will sell more products. If you are trying to connect with Millennials, note that 8 in 10 Millennials want their beliefs and values to align with brands they buy from. Social media is a great way for you to connect with them on a deeper level.

Focus on creating a great brand experience

It’s well documented that Millennials are generally more interested in investing in experiences rather than owning things. You need to take this into account when you are building your social media strategy. Think about creating great brand experiences whether it’s through unique and interactive content, interactive contests, or even great takeovers with their favourite social media creators.

Be present. Be social

If you are going to be on social media and you want to connect with Millennials, you need to make sure that you are consistently present and interacting with your community. It’s never a good approach to ignore comments and messages as a brand, but Millennials will lose interest even more than other age groups if you don’t respond in a timely fashion. And the idea is that you should keep it social. While the majority of Millennials are on social media, one third feel that it has a negative impact on their lives. You need to find ways to add value rather than add to the negative feelings.

User Generated Content

If nearly half of Millennials are more likely to trust a complete stranger over your ads on social media, you should consider implementing both an influencer strategy as well as a strategy to share User Generated Content (UGC). If you are concerned that your followers won’t be interested in posting content that features your brand, consider that 44% of Millennials are interested in promoting brands on social media – especially in exchange for some sort of reward. Your challenge is how to introduce UGC into your strategy in a meaningful way.

Social Commerce

Retail is constantly changing and it was only a matter of time before social media created more robust ways for brands to sell through each platform. Judging by the way Millennials interact with brands and discover and perpetuate trends on social media, I’m only surprised it didn’t come sooner. Millennials have huge buying power and are expected to spend $1.4 trillion in 2020. Paired with the fact that almost 60% explore trends on various social media platforms, social commerce has huge potential.

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

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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