Employee or Independent Contractor? Here’s What I’ve Seen

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A lot of small businesses get it wrong. Is it an employee or subcontractor? Just because you want to do it one way does’t mean that you’re doing it right? I see a LOT of companies fall into this trap – this isn’t strictly marketing-related today, but if you’re running a business it’s something that you need to understand. I will tell you up front that I am not a lawyer and I am not giving you legal advice – you will always want to […]

Why the Marketing Advice You’ve Received Hasn’t Worked

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One of the problems we see most often that our clients have experienced, and that we have talked about before, is that they have been given bad advice about their marketing in the past. Most of the time, this has not been malicious in nature. It’s been due to the Dunning-Kruger effect. In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people […]

Marketing Rant – I Call BS

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I’m going on a marketing rant today … and I call BS Like all successful business people, I study everyone in my industry. And I watch the couple of people that I believe, from my long experience in marketing, understand what they’re doing. Most of these people are in a very small, focused niche. I’ve been following them for years, probably since long before you may have heard of them. Then there’s everyone else. People that I know you’ve heard of. (I don’t believe in […]

3 Marketing Campaigns That Changed the World

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successful marketing campaign

Marketing campaigns have been part of our culture from as early as the 1700s, and past campaigns have left lingering impacts. Many catchphrases and slogans we remember today have their roots from some of the most memorable advertising campaigns from the 20th century. These successful campaigns heavily influenced our culture and society.  Diamonds Are Forever The modern-day diamond engagement ring ideal came about due to one of the most successful advertising campaigns of the 20th century. During the 1930s, the gemstone market was drastically declining […]

How Much Should I Spend on Marketing?

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how much should i spend on marketing

One of the first questions I always get asked by an entrepreneur is, “How much should I spend on marketing?” While it can vary, a good rule of thumb and place to start is that your marketing budget should be 20% of your revenue. This is a standard that I’ve been working with for almost 30 years, and it is still true today although the strategies available for use have changed over the years. Your marketing budget is not limited to advertising A lot of […]

Facebook for Business Part 3: Engagement and Analytics

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Facebook for Business Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 1 in 3 customers go to a competitor if they’re ignored on social media. 89% of social messages are ignored by brands. This highlights why engagement is so critical on social media (after all, social media is supposed to be social.) We had already discussed a bit about how consistency in posting to Facebook is important, now we will talk engagement. Engaging with your customers on social media is critical to obtaining and maintaining […]

[VIRTUAL SUMMIT] Automatic Marketing Funnel 2.0

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How to Accelerate and Grow Your Lead Funnels Using Advanced Marketing Strategies Join me and don’t miss this FREE Virtual Summit – Sunday August 25, 2019 The best experts in marketing funnels will be presenting training and best practices of what works in today’s digital marketing funnels. Join the Virtual Summit for Free https://conference.smartpayment.pro/marketing-funnel/ All times noted are Eastern. Vicky Wu will be presenting at 12:40 ET with “How to Set Up a Basic and High-Converting Marketing Funnel” Excellent training plus free gifts provided by […]

[BOOK REVIEW] The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You

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I had not heard of Lydia Fenet when I first saw this book as I was looking for something to read on the plane to Seattle. Lydia has been leading charity auctions for Christie’s for years and is now the Managing Director, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships at Christie’s. The book starts with “The most powerful woman in the room uses the strike method” and relates to how Lydia begins each auction with a sharp strike of her gavel on the podium at an auction, […]

Facebook for Business Part 2: Profile and Post Tips

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Facebook for Business Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Facebook users spend an average of 50 minutes per day on the platform.  But the average organic reach of a Facebook business page is only 6.4% of the people who have liked your page, and the engagement rate is 3.91%. How can you reach your audience? 74% of Facebook users visit Facebook daily.  They consume news, business and lifestyle stories online.  Google and other search engines are on top for consuming these stories, but […]

Facebook for Business Part 1: Content Best Practices

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Facebook for Business Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 68% of Americans use Facebook and that is second only to YouTube among all of the social media platforms. I know that you’ve heard Facebook use is decreasing among younger generations, but the statistics don’t always bear that out. Yes there are other platforms that they’re using, but for the most part Facebook is still number one. And the best thing you can do on Facebook and any social platform is be consistent. That […]

The New SEO Part 3 – User Intent

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SEO user intent

Part 3 of our series on The New SEO | Part 1 | Part 2 In our journey through the new SEO, we have discussed Google Answer Box, and Voice Search. I’m going to shock you – website traffic doesn’t always matter. This is a topic that I often have people argue with me about. And it’s usually people who aren’t in the marketing or SEO arena and may not understand all of the nuances I’m discussing. I’ll tell you what DOES matter: It’s important […]

The New SEO Part 2 – Voice Search and Question Format

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Part 2 of our series on The New SEO | Part 1 Last week, we discussed the Google Answer Box, which overlaps significantly with today’s discussion about Voice search. By January 2018, there was an average of one billion voice searches every month, proving that voice search is on the rise. By 2020, 50% or more of all searches will be done by voice. And 30% of all website sessions will be conducted without a screen. Local SEO already drives around 58% of voice searches. (Data from Forbes). Most […]