The last two weeks have been a roller coaster for me. First, I attended a phenomenal mastermind event put on by James Wedmore and Brandon Lucero of Local Video Academy. That was the high! Then came the low… Right from that event I flew out to Arizona to be with my sister who was recovering from surgery and had just received the bad news of a cancer diagnosis.
Business
6 Things I Learned at Guerrilla Business School
Last week, I flew across the country to attend Peak Potentials’ Guerrilla Business School. It was an amazing 4-1/2 days. I met people from all over the world. And the one thing we all shared in common was a desire to learn, grow our business and serve our customers in the best way possible.
We received training in sales, negotiations, social media marketing, online marketing and more from a host of speakers including best selling authors like Robert Kiyosaki, Today’s Growth Consultant Founder Ken Courtright, product development strategist Pamela Hendrickson, and Venture Capital funding expert & success coach Bill Walsh, and podcasting expert Sam Crowley.
Watch the video review I recorded on the last day:
Developing Your Instagram Strategy [INFOGRAPHIC]
Do you have an Instagram strategy for your business? Just like any other social network site, it’s important to have a plan in mind. If not, you’re just wasting precious time and energy that could be better spent elsewhere. Instagram is a viable platform for just about any business. With over 300 million active users, Instagram’s engagement rate is 15 times higher than Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
Salesforce Canada devised an infographic that shares more stats about Instagram, along with some tips on how to use the site as a marketing tool.
Keys to Success: How to Handle Money
Want to know one of the keys to success? Learn …
Did You Realize that You’re a Brand?
By Barb Wade (Reprinted with permission)
As a consultant, expert, coach, or thought leader, your brand is YOU.
These days so-called “personal branding” is the game-changer that means the difference between being a champion or an also-ran.
Why is it so important?
Long before the Internet and Facebook, and even television, the vast majority of businesses were local and very personal.
How to Become a LinkedIn Jedi Master [INFOGRAPHIC]
This post should have come out 10 days ago on Star Wars Day – You know, “May the 4th be with you! 🙂 — but I didn’t see it until this week. The clever concept by Gryffin includes some important points for using LinkedIn for your business. Here are a few that caught my eye:
►LinkedIn can send 4x as many visitors to your company website than Twitter or Facebook
►Marketers who build out additional company information on their company page tend to have 2x as many followers
►41 percent of LinkedIn users come from mobile devices.
How to Use Direct Mail to Get More Web Traffic & Sales
Internet marketing experts would have you believe that direct mail is passé, and the only way to generate leads and sales for your business is to have a website, engage in email and social media marketing. I’m not denying that those methods work. I teach all my clients how to use those tools. But direct mail marketing isn’t passé. Direct mail works. Just ask my chiropractor!
A couple of weeks ago, I got a postcard in the mail from my chiropractor. That in and of it self wasn’t unusual. What was unusual about the postcard is the fact that it wasn’t a promotion for his services. (At least not directly.) The postcard promoted his blog!
As you can see from the images below, the front side of the postcard featured the blog’s URL in a bold font, above the recipient’s address, with some copy on the left that details common symptoms of chiropractic patients. The back side of the postcard listed article titles from the blog on a variety of subjects that again relate to the symptoms and/or questions chiropractic patients typically have.
How Internet Marketing is Like a Marathon
If you’re going to engage in internet marketing to promote your company’s products and services, you need commitment, flexibility and patience. Characteristics that also come in handy if you’re training for a marathon. I speak from experience. Last Sunday, I completed the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon.
I didn’t finish in the top ten. Heck, I didn’t even finish in the top 1,000. I was out on that course for over 8 hours (counting the 45 minutes waiting in the corral to start the race!) but I finished. And more importantly, I raised more than $1700 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, got my Mickey Mouse medal, and basked in the pain and glory of joining an elite group of people who have completed multiple marathons. (Yep, I’m a glutton for punishment. This was my 2nd marathon.)
Why You Need an Online Marketing Plan Before a Website
By Gloria Rand
Launching a new business and need a website? Don’t spend a dime until you decide how you’re going to market your business. Online marketing needs a combination of SEO, social media and email to be successful.
Questions to consider are:
►Who is our target audience?
►Are they in our local area, or national?
►Do our prospects use social media? If so, which network(s)?
►How will our prospects contact us? Phone? Email?
►Who will design the web site?
►Who will write copy and optimize the site?
3D Printing: From Small Business Production to the iPhone Shoe
By Abbey Peschel
3D printers may be changing the world of production forever. According to “Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing,” these devices offer on demand production to people in a huge variety of fields. From doctors and professional designers to students and small business owners, users across the economic spectrum may soon see their work becoming easier and more customized.
While many have posited that cheaper, easier to build 3D printers would result in heavy home use, “Fabricated” suggests a different hypothesis. Instead of a printer in every kitchen, authors suggest that the world will see greater individualization in marketing and promotion fields, medical fields, and even every day consumer products. Most people won’t create their own specialized objects: instead they’ll have them printed by a specialist, then purchase them through an ordinary store or online retailer.