Marketing Trends That Have Caught Our Attention

If I’m being completely honest, keeping up with the trends can be exhausting. We are constantly being told that if we don’t do this or if we don’t do that, we’re doing something wrong. And, sometimes… they do have a point. Although, when you hear about a trend, finally adopt it, and then a few months later it’s irrelevant, it can be pretty frustrating. 

Are you feeling this same way? If so, I’ve come up with a few ‘trendy’ marketing tactics that will never go out of style (at least not for a while).

    1. Less SEO, more value 

In the last few years, it’s been all about SEO.

SEO this, SEO that… we were all convinced that if our website wasn’t optimized, we wouldn’t get the attention, and we wouldn’t get the sales. 

Yes, if you can optimize your website, sales pages, and blog posts for search engine traffic without sacrificing the value of your content, then by all means… go for it! Although, don’t forget that SEO will never be more important than the value you deliver. 

If the messaging you’re delivering is valuable in and of itself, that is number one… always. Optimization is secondary. 

Remember the algorithms that we all know and love (or hate)? They are getting smarter, meaning it’s getting harder to ‘hack’ the algorithm in our favour. 

So instead of playing a game of cat and mouse with the algorithm, try narrowing in on what really matters within your messaging. 

Take the pressure off of trying to land on page one of Google, and instead focus on your customers and the value they walk away with after visiting your website. 

And a hot tip, Google is prioritizing quality content above all else!

    1. LINKEDIN, LINKEDIN, LINKEDIN

LinkedIn is growing!

LinkedIn has never really been considered one of the big players in social media networks, mainly because it’s geared towards a particular market – professionals looking to connect with other professionals. 

Although, LinkedIn has recently seen massive growth in its active users and platform engagement. 

Recent stats from Business Insider tell us that:

  • LinkedIn drives 46% of social traffic to B2B sites;
  • LinkedIn is considered the most credible source for content.

Are you on LinkedIn? This year might be the year to use this platform to your advantage!

    1. Online events & live video

Video and online events have been on the rise for years, and this year is no exception. 

Online events, such as webinars, master classes, and lives, are one of the most popular ways for people to connect with the brands and businesses they follow, no matter where they are in the world. 

According to Sprout Social, half of social media users said they prefer video content, and 85% of users want more videos from brands.

While we might be cringing at the idea of putting our faces on video, the data says that, yes, video does work!

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Did any of these trends resonate with you? Which one would you consider incorporating into your marketing strategy?

Marketing Lessons from the Second Grade

Rosie was easily the most enthusiastic student in our grade 2 class.

Before our teacher could even finish asking the class a question, Rosie’s hand flew up.

If she wasn’t selected to answer the question right away she got a little frantic and would wildly waive her hand back-and-forth.

If that didn’t work she would try harder.    

Jumping out of her desk and with one hand firmly on the hem of her dress, her pony tail bobbing she would jump up and down all while waving madly in the direction of our teacher.

One day she even stood on the chair of her desk hoping to be impossible to ignore.

Sometimes Rosie didn’t even have the answer she just wanted to be part of the conversation.

Our teacher would dutifully try and involve others but it was hard to ignore Rosie. But after a while, we did. It just seemed normal to have Rosie jumping up and down with every question. In the end Rosie’s approach didn’t work very well.

But she sure taught me a few good marketing lessons.

The first one; if you keep trying so hard to interrupt people they begin to ignore you.

We mute you, we unsubscribe. If you keep popping up on our screen when we are trying to read more about you on your website we “X” out of you, we move on. We truly do not like to be pestered or annoyed, especially if you don’t have something valuable to tell me.

The second lesson is everyone wants to be heard and some just want to part of the conversation.  Are you allowing for that in your marketing for people to just connect?

The essential third lesson: if you are going to jump up and down waving your arms in the air, hold on tight to the hem of your dress so no one can call out “I saw your underpants”.  

These 3 marketing lessons were brought to you by Rosie!

Do Something Unscalable

What can you do for one of your customers that is completely unscalable? I know the buzzword right now is scalable, not unscalable, but stick with me for a minute.

Think of the one gesture, which immediately has you and your team saying “Well, we can’t do that for everyone!”

Think show stopping, I can’t believe it, outrageous, kind, thoughtful, out-of-the-box, hilarious, unexpected, empathic, differentiating, unforgettable, and purpose driven.

What can you package up, send over, create, do (covid friendly mariachi band serenades are on the table here) to delight and surprise (in a good way) your customer.

Yup, it is so outrageous you can’t do it every day, that is the beauty of it!

I am convinced this unscalable action will become a scalable story.

I am sending one out the door today…I wonder where it will land 🙂

I can’t wait to hear what you come up with!

Kind Acts, the value of Constraints and the Art of Propelling Questions

I have a beautiful, big, journal that I bought at the most amazing store called Paper Umbrella.  It’s a local store filled with so many treasures!!! I am inspired every time I go into the shop, not just because they have such an irresistible array of paper goods, sassy cards, and drool-worthy pens, but because the owners Theresa and Brad provide an experience that always lifts my day. They understand community in the purest sense.

All through the pandemic they have held imaginative and kind activities. One of my favourites was “letter love” where they encouraged us to write a letter to a senior in a care home. Brad and Theresa would deliver them to various homes and the notes would find their way to those who needed to know they were being thought of.

When we couldn’t go in their store we could order and have curbside pick-up. Our paper bags always adorned with a personalized note splashed with beautiful calligraphy.

Then there was the “daily dose” a five-minute video every day on something you could craft yourself and you could count on it like clockwork. They showed up to cheer us on and cheer up others. I won’t ever forget that.

Back to my journal….

I keep all my notes for blogging in this journal.  It’s a fab “evening azure ocean blue colour” (Can you tell that I always wished I had a job where I could name colours and paint!)  There is something about being able to sketch out a blog on paper first that appeals to me, and then I translate that using a keyboard.

But today my tried-and-true system is unavailable. I’ve broken my right wrist, so the keyboard and the journal will be getting dusty for the next little while.  This is my very first voice-dictated blog.

I feel a bit like I’m flapping in the wind, in freefall gripping the armchair with my one good hand, reaching out for something that is familiar.

Then again it is 2020! Working within a constraint has become familiar! A broken wrist? No problem just another constraint!

Constraints have been shown to lead to better practises, to the transformation of businesses, and the invention of vaccines! (Which last year we never even knew we needed.)

I admire so deeply the many businesses who have had to change their business model on a dime, and be nimble enough to respond to even the most remote opportunity to rewrite what is possible. These businesses chose to believe in a narrative that taking small steps forward would pay off.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Aimee Schulhauser, owner of two restaurants (Tangerine, Slice), a cooking school (Schoolhause Culinary Arts) and a catering business (Evolution Catering). Infact she opened a new restaurant right at the start of the pandemic! As you can imagine she has been hard hit.

“The fact that we are so nimble really paid off for us”, says Amy. “We were able to respond very quickly to the needs of not only our customer but our community. When we could no longer seat people in our restaurant we thought about how we might be able to help. At that time many grocery items were hard to come by. We opened up a mini-grocery with items like flour and yeast and some fresh fruit. We expanded our takeout with what our customers wanted, which was not our trademark salads. They were looking for mac & cheese and meatloaf! We became very determined to just keep showing up however we were needed.”

We are not in control of the constraints put upon us by this pandemic, but we can control the ambition and inventiveness it can generate in ourselves and in our business. Despite this, not every business story or personal story will end well.  That reality hurts our collective hearts.

So how do we move forward?

I think the first step is accepting the constraint, changing our mindset to remove some of our traditional ways of solving problems, and asking new questions. 

The type of questions you ask yourself can change your direction. Try asking yourself propelling questions. A propelling question is defined by linking together a bold ambition and a considerable constraint. It is a hopeful question challenging us to find the right idea. The practice of asking propelling questions can be used at all levels of business.

Some examples include:

How can I maintain relationships with our customers when our business is closed?

How can we expand our business when we don’t have an advertising budget?

How can I elevate the customer experience and reduce my expenses?

How can we prevent layoffs when our sales have slid?

Asking propelling questions will introduce tension and discomfort and make us examine what we thought we knew. I believe it will also propel us to new solutions.

Like voice dictating a blog. 🙂

 

*this blog is not endorsed or sponsored it is simply an opportunity to cheer on purpose driven brands

why is it dangerous to play it safe right now?

Don’t wait for normal to return, it is not coming back.

Take chances now.

Playing it safe right now is too dangerous a strategy.

If you are trying to play it safe you are missing a significant opportunity to stand out. And you need to stand out!

I gave this advice at an event this spring at the dawn of Covid. And about a month later one of the participants messaged me to say that she took my advice. She said, “I quit my job and started the journey that I always wanted to take, but hadn’t really had the courage to do it.” Now was the time.

Now is the time to invest in yourself, relying on yourself as your most valuable asset.

Understanding who you are, being able to articulate your purpose, and how you can use your genius work to help others; this is your portable equity and it is worth gold!

It is easy to lose ourselves right now, and yet the opportunity to find ourselves is the one we need to say yes to.

If you are ready to invest in your portable equity and declare your purpose we can help!

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