As I stood in front of the bare shelves of my local grocery store, wondering if I was going to have to use leaves for my personal needs for the foreseeable future, two thoughts crossed my mind: 1. I want and need toilet paper and I will do just about anything to get it. 2. Damn, I bet Charmin is having a banner year. These days, people's needs and wants have changed pretty drastically - and it will be that way for a while.. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be talking almost daily with friends and family members about where I could find TP and chicken and yearn to overpay for a meal just to get out of the house for an hour. As business owners, it's up to us to recognize those ch
When it comes to digital marketing, many times it's a very "chicken and the egg" scenario: I need to market to make people aware of my business and make more money BUT I don't have the money to market my business. I have these conversations almost weekly with prospective clients and because I'm a small business that helps small businesses...I completely understand where they're coming from. That's why I never try to talk a business owner into services they don't need. Last week I was on a call with a professional in the mortgage industry who I would LOVE to have as a client; she has amazing energy and it would be so fun to market her business. However, she's a little nervous about taking on
When it comes to content marketing, I do what I can to keep my clients in their comfort zones. Nothing will shut down a campaign faster than their frustration. I'm often asked which is more powerful: written or video content. And I know you're going to be excited to hear this...but I don't have an answer for that. Some people are just naturally comfortable recording quick and casual videos. Some people would rather walk on broken glass than get in front of a camera. Some people love writing while that is a stumbling block so big for others that they don't tackle content marketing at all. Here are my thoughts. Just as there are people who creating videos and/or writing blogs...there are peopl
I'm always looking for ways to expand my clients' audiences for minimum or no cost. After all, you can spend tons of money on advertising, but what people really respond to is word-of-mouth or referrals. One of the most powerful tools in my arsenal is guest blogging. Here's what you should consider: It's Less Work for You By asking someone else to write a guest blog, you're basically getting free content for your website. I typically give the guest two options: they can either completely write a guest blog on their own or I can provide them with about six questions that they can answer and we'll publish it in a Q&A form. I always say the following in my email: If it's a Q&A, I'll tell them t
Like many people out there, I've been experiencing an exhaustion I can't explain; many days I wake up tired. My usual activities have been cut by about half and my days consist of (sometimes) showering, working, reading, walking, and working in my garden now that it's spring. The activities that have been cut out are any sort of social interactions, running kids to and from school and activities, my usual mindless walk through TJMaxx, and about 100 other things that are now unavailable. Realistically, I know there is a low but consistent vibration of stress that I'm feeling 24-hours a day that's causing a lot of my exhaustion; all of the things we normally used to do we either can't or it ta
