Category: a slice of BRILLIANCE

Find out what the pros (behind the pros) are reading, eating, watching & adoring…and the unvarnished stories (the brilliance!) behind their sky-high success.

Ahoy! 4 lessons for success learned while sailing the ocean

Posted on by Red Slice

When people do something audacious and almost unimaginable, I tend to soak up their wisdom. They are the brave, after all. The bold. The ones who dare step off the cliff and test how deep the water really is while the rest of us bask safely on shore.

Wendy Hinman is a writer friend of mine who has lived an extraordinary life. She sailed the Pacific with her husband for 7 years, returned changed and wiser, and has written a book about her adventure, Tightwads of the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey. Today’s she shares four lessons about life and success learned on that ocean voyage. Enjoy….

You can do amazing things one day at a time.

If someone had told me years ago that I would sail 34,000 miles over seven years on a small sailboat, I’d never have believed it.  But I didn’t do it all in a single day.  I covered those miles one day at a time.  (Tweet!) And that’s how you can reach your goals: in little steps, that quickly add up to significant milestones. The same was true when I wrote my book.I began by writing a scene each week for my writing group–a little story or anecdote about the challenges we faced while sailing. They made suggestions, and before long I had enough to fill and shape a full-length book.

Some of the most satisfying things in life come from overcoming challenges.

People often dream about kicking back and relaxing, but it’s often the biggest challenges we face that make us feel the most alive. I learned the rewards were richer the harder I had to fight for them.  Making landfall after 21 days of non-stop sailing was a big deal, and I appreciated the place I’d reached even more because it was hard to get there. (Tweet!) I relished the lush vegetation, the rocky spires that jutted into the sky, and the cool waterfalls all the more.

If you don’t push yourself, you don’t know what you’re capable of.

We faced countless challenges and many moments we thought might be our last.  We faced storms, typhoons, reefs, broken equipment and some shady characters whose intentions were uncertain at best and tested our resolve and endurance in rough conditions. Some days I doubted I could take any more. (Tweet!) On our last passage, after more than 46 days of non-stop sailing–not seeing another human being besides my husband for over a month and a half–a storm drove us offshore for another three days.  I didn’t think I could take another moment.  But given no choice, not only did I survive, I accomplished something few others ever have.

It helps to keep a sense of humor.

After ten days sailing in horrible weather, waves crashing over me, the boat interior damp and mildewy beyond belief and a sewage problem the CDC would have quarantined, I was thoroughly miserable.  But I reached a point where I grew bored with my misery. Bundled up in the cockpit under an avalanche of saltwater, it occurred to me that I would face this for several more days, whether I liked it or not.  My attitude could make the difference between misery and happiness.  I began to notice the absurdity of my situation and from that moment, though I still faced horrible conditions, I found myself chuckling, imaging how I would describe it to friends afterward.  Stepping out of that moment mentally helped me see it objectively as temporary and survivable–mere discomfort in the grand scale of life. I’ve realized the toughest situations make for the best stories, (Tweet!) so I try to think about them from the perspective of a writer with new-found “material.’

About Wendy: Wendy Hinman is the author of Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odyssey, about her 34,000-mile voyage aboard a 31-foot boat with her husband, Garth Wilcox, to whom she’s still married and still happens to like. Wendy Hinman’s stories have appeared in a variety of publications.  One of them was published in the anthology, We Came to Say, and another won a Solas Traveler’s Tales award for best travel writing.

What has a memorable travel experience taught you about success in life or at work? Please share in the Comments below, as we’d love to know!

Follow your dream Part 2: How Cartograph Wines creates an experiential brand

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Wine is such an experiential brand, I absolutely adore it. Not just for it’s lush taste, but no other everyday product in my mind comes close to evoking so much emotion, lifestyle or delight of the senses with one glass clink. There are so many branding lessons we can learn from our favorite wines and how they behave as businesses.

Continuing my interview with Alan Baker, Cartograph’s wine maker and owner, who we had the good fortune to meet on a trip to Healdsburg, California back in August. In Part One, we heard Alan’s amazing tale of how he got from radio engineering in Minnesota to winemaking in Northern California – and the four lessons he learned to make it happen.

Today, Alan shares how he effectively creates an experiential brand and differentiates from the competition.

RS: Glad to have you back, Alan! Tell us Cartograph’s brand story. How do you position it against the competition? What experience do you hope to convey and how do you do that in your customer interactions? 

AB: Both Serena and I come from other careers and we each found wine in different ways. Our brand story is right on our label. The logo shows the five points on the globe that brought us to wine and then brought us together to make wine. Wine is more about emotional connections and memories than simply about the perfect taste and aroma combinations. Putting a graphic representation of our story on the label helps people remember us and hopefully keeps our story in their minds if they have a great experience with our wines. (Tweet this!) Our brand is about those wonderful moments when an experience with a great bottle of wine gets etched into your mind forever. And while the front label tells our story, the back label plays to our nerdier side, illustrating the growing season and winemaking history for each wine. So looking at the labels you can get a sense for what the growing season was like for each vineyard.

If our customers know anything about us,  it’s that we personally handle every piece of our business from grape sourcing, through winemaking, and then personal correspondence after they buy our wine or join our club.

RS: What is the best branding lesson you have learned from building an “experiential” brand? What are some brand hits or misses you’ve experienced?

AB: Focus focus focus. Do one thing really well before branching out. (Tweet this!) As a winemaker, I’d love to play with a dozen grape varieties but we needed to knock Pinot out of the park and doing that first was my main goal. Now that we’ve had success with Pinot, we can do a few small specialty wines for club-only release but our public face is all about Pinot Noir.

What brand actions work? Winning fans by talking directly to them on social media and through other channels. Our most loyal clients are all connected with us on various platforms and we share a lot of ourselves with them.

Things that don’t work? We’re still learning the best way to run promotions to increase sales during slow times or to move more volume but discounting is not the way to do it in our circumstance. People see a premium product being discounted and they will wait until they see that price again to buy. There are other incentives to encourage purchasing. We can’t compete on price point due to our vineyard sources and tiny lot sizes. We have to give wine lovers an experience to remember and hopefully they become our friends.

RS: Wise words. What is your winery’s specialty wine or most popular seller that people should try?

AB: We are a very small winery and celebrate year-to-year vintage variations. A great example of how weather affects the finished wines is comparing our 2009 and 2010 Floodgate Vineyard Pinots. 2009 – warm year – is lush and round on the palate, a classic Russian River Valley Pinot. 2010 – cool year – is racy and vibrant with the focus on bright red fruit. It is a truly elegant wine that should be very age worthy. Both are great examples of Russian River Valley Pinot but quite different when tasted side by side.

RS: Now, some fun stuff! What is your favorite way to enjoy wine?

AB: Working as many hours as we do, we don’t have a lot of free time but those warm evenings when we get home in time to enjoy a glass of wine while plucking a few things out of the garden for dinner is a real treat.

Connect with Cartograph Wines: www.cartographwines.com ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Is your brand a commodity competing on price, or an experience that offers unique value? How does this impact your marketing tactics? And don’t forget to check out Cartograph for some great wine gifts…ho, ho, ho!

Follow your dream: Four entrepreneurial lessons from a radio engineer turned winemaker

Posted on by Red Slice

Back in August, my husband and I stumbled upon a small microwinery and tasting room in downtown Healdsburg, Calfornia, Garagiste, which is a joint venture for two wineries, Cartograph and Stark. Thinking we’d just grab a quick taste and leave, we ended up enchanted by Alan Baker, Cartograph’s wine maker and owner.

Alan’s entrepreneurial story is fabulous: He’s a public radio engineer, turned blogger/podcaster, turned winemaker. With Cartograph, he produces ultra-premium Pinot Noir sourced from grapes from the best Northern California coastal vineyards. (PS, great holiday gift idea!)  His mission is to produce wines that are true to the vineyard and vintage from which they come.

As we sat and sipped, we loved the gothic, high-end feel of the stone gray tasting room and the interaction we had with the man who’d lovingly made the wines we were enjoying. We got to talking about how he loved that wine is such an experiential brand, and for that reason, so much care was taken in architecting and decorating the tasting room. Most wine lovers know that the joy is found in the experience of wine – and that can manifest whether you are spending $20 or $200 a bottle. It’s not about price: it’s about taste and experience.

But Alan is not just savvy about branding, he has a powerful entrepreneurial story, ripe with juicy lessons about planning, moxie, and following your dream – no matter how far down the bottom of the ladder you may need to start.

THIS IS A TWO PART INTERVIEW. In Part One, Alan shares how he got started in an industry he knew little about and parlayed a loyal audience into backers for his dream. In Part Two, Alan shares important lessons on crafting an experiential brand.

Here is Part One of Alan’s story with four lessons you can take to heart in your own ventures:

 

1. Opportunity will knock – if you build your house in the right place (Tweet!)

My passion for great wine started with a simple $13 bottle of Riesling from Alsace. I was fascinated that such a simple thing as a pale colored glass of wine could be so incredibly complex and engaging. My obsession with learning everything I could about the wines of the world eventually led me to decide I needed to at least try to find a way to make wine the focus of my day rather than an off-hours pursuit. After years of interviewing maverick American composers like Meredith Monk and Philip Glass for my radio work, I knew that finding the right path is often a process that brings a lot of uncertainty and risk into life. They instilled in me the belief that if you focus on what you love and do best while putting yourself into a position where opportunities may present themselves, you’re sure to find creative energy and success.

2. Work with what you’ve got (Tweet!)

Once I’d decided to strike out for California from my Minnesota home, I needed a scheme to get experience. I knew I loved wine, but I wasn’t confident I would love the wine “business.” I feared that I’d end up like the cake lover who opens a bakery only to realize they hate getting up at 2 a.m. every day. So rather than spend my life savings on a degree at UC Davis, I decided to do what I already knew how to do: produce radio. I’d use my production skills to investigate where I might fit in the wine business. The plan was simple and, necessarily, vague. I would write a blog and produce an audio podcast to document my adventures as I explored the wine industry – a well-developed industry I knew very little about.

I told all my friends and family about the idea repeatedly to force myself out of my safe public radio job and into the unknown. My pitch to wineries was that if they gave me part-time work, they’d get publicity from the podcast. There was really no other reason for them to pay me to do work they could get done faster with experienced help, so the podcast was my foot in the door.

In the fall of 2005, National Public Radio picked up the podcast for their alt.npr series. This affiliation grew the audience for my content quickly and enabled me to pretty much call anybody up and schedule an interview. I used the podcast as a way to investigate all aspects of the industry from grape growers to marketing pros and wine makers I respected to see where I might fit in the wine business. I turns out that I write way too slowly to ever make a buck off the writing, so that was out. Growing grapes is a very labor-intensive activity and unless you own that chunk of dirt, it’s not a thing a 40-year-old dude is going to get by on when he has a wine budget to think about. It had also become clear that while NPR did like the content, there wasn’t a market for wine-focused media that was going to start paying the bills. So I was burning through my savings and starting to feel the pressure that comes with not knowing what’s next. However, once I got into the winery working as a cellar rat with Unti and Peterson wineries in Dry Creek Valley, I found what I’d been looking for. The winemaking process is fascinating and I fell in love with every backbreaking chore and nerdy technical detail.

3. Get creative: Leverage your community (Tweet!)

With the bank account shrinking I focused on how I might stick around to work another vintage. Plan B: move to San Francisco to do tech consulting to stash some money for the 2006 harvest. Grapes are not cheap, nor is paying for winery space to make wine. I scored some nice consulting contracts but quickly realized that I was only treading water. SF is a very expensive town and I would never save enough money to make wine. Also, I was just doing the same work as before, albeit in a very pretty city. I had a few months of living expenses left and figured I had one shot at leveraging all the work I had been doing writing the blog and producing the podcast. So after finding a very innovative winery in San Francisco called Crushpad where I could make wine, I sent out a pitch to my blog readers and podcast listeners; If they would pay in advance for a case of wine they could come help me make my first commercial wine and we’d document the whole process with a video podcast. To my great relief I sold 65 of 100 cases of wine as futures, giving me the cash to buy grapes and pay Crushpad. The archive of this project is still online.

My brand was named after the blog. Cellar Rat Cellars. Throughout this project, I was using Crushpad’s virtual winemaking website called Crushnet to manage my group of people helping with the wine. People as far away as Puerto Rico were participating, so having a tool to manage this virtual group was a necessity. After the winemaking was concluded, I was hired by Crushpad to develop Crushnet and grow the virtual community of winemakers. It was at Crushpad working on hundreds of fermentations a year where I got most of my hands-on winemaking experience and set me up to strike out on my own to launch Cartograph with my partner Serena Lourie in 2009.

4. Get friendly with uncertainty while keeping you eye on your vision (Tweet!)

I think it’s essential in any entrepreneurial operation to use the tools at hand to continually move towards a goal, even when the route is completely unknown at the start of the journey. There is always a way to use your existing skills to open new doors but you have to be willing to live with a lot of uncertainty and always be looking at alternate ways to solve a problem. Had you asked me 12 months into the events above if it was worth it, I might have said no but another six months, and a couple more forced left turns, and I was being paid well as a technologist in a ground-breaking winery. From where I sat in Minnesota I honestly couldn’t have dreamt up a better outcome.

The “persistence of vision” mantra I’d been hearing from those composers I so admired really does work.

Join us for Part Two of this interview, when Alan talks about his brand vision for Cartograph and how he brought it to life.

Connect with Cartograph Wines: www.cartographwines.com ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

What A Ha! insight did you get from Alan’s story? How does it apply to your own entrepreneurial or project journey? Please share in the Comments below and get some link love back to you site!

Embrace your freakdom: Creating a breakout brand with Kelli Bielema of Shindig Events

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I was hit by the hurricane that is Kelli Bielema at a recent Seattle entrepreneur panel which I moderated. Instantly, I fell in love with her vibrant personality and quirky branding for her event planning business, Shindig Events.  Her business creates “events that rock your face off” so you instantly know you’re not dealing with your everyday event planner.  Kellie longs to be a “Froot Loop in a world of Cheerios” and admits she stole that personal mission off Pinterest. She describes herself as a “Country girl who pines for city life. Chicago. Los Angeles. Seattle.”

Clearly she is not trying to attract your average bride or event maven. And I dig that about her. She boldly presents a unique alternative and either it speaks to you or it doesn’t. That, my friends, is targeting your brand and speaking to your tribe. But one thing is for sure: her brand stands out. So I sat down to ask her what advice she could share as you try to build a breakout brand.

RS: Welcome Kelli! I adore how your brand stands out in a world of very copycat event planning competitors. How did you determine your unique brand?

KB: When determining my business model, I knew I wanted to channel my party-participating energy into my party planning skills. Parties are fun and your planner should be too. The branding or marketing aspect part of an event is actually my favorite task, so I wanted to reflect that in my own business.

RS: Who is your ideal client? Were you ever afraid that claiming such a funky and offbeat brand would mean less revenue?

KB: People who are fun, flexible and funky are my targets.  We spend a lot of time together, doing everything from brainstorming to budgeting and then the event itself is often a marathon event, so you ultimately want to like and respect one another. You’ve got to have a sense of humor during the whole process or you are going to go bonkers.  Maybe once upon a time being unique was, well, unique. Any more, I see it as more the norm. People are embracing their freakdom more than ever (Tweet this!) and I am here to help facilitate that. Takes one to know one…!

RS: Well put! Based on your success, what wisdom can you share about effective positioning and differentiation?

KB: Having a point of view is great, but making it fresh, unique and distinct to your personality is vital. Finding out what it is that makes you and your business standout from the crowd is the key to developing marketing success. I’ll also add that being authentic in your business is just as critical as being authentic in your personal life.  People want to like and trust you…show them you are worthy of it by being real!

You can connect with Kelli and Shindig Events on her website, on Twiter @theshindiggery, or on Facebook: Shindig Events

What quirky brands stand out in your mind? What are you favorite ones? What is unique about your business brand? Please share in the Comments!

Art of Seduction: 5 Ways to Woo Your Audience with Great Content

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Today’s marketplace is noisier than ever and customers not only expect, but demand killer value from you even before they spend a dime. (Tweet this!)

But how can you create compelling free content that engages, informs and delight people enough to keep coming back for more – and eventually buy from you?

Special treat for you guys today: I’m sharing this 30-minute info-rich, delightful and useful free video interview with Betsy Talbot, author and co-creator of Married With Luggage. (they are personal friends and I’m a huge fan so check them out and enjoy their resources for entrepreneurs with big dreams!)

Betsy penned an awesome article for Copyblogger about what the male stripper movie Magic Mike can teach you about engaging your audience and giving them what they really want. I just had to take a deeper dive with her on these tips as they relate to your brand strategy.

In this free video, we discuss 5 sizzling tips for getting your audience all hot and bothered.

You’ll learn how to communicate your brand and you’ll also discover copywriting and messaging tips that will create a “love connection” with your fans.

Yes, it’s about 30 minutes. But it’s super useful. trust me. The tips we’ll discuss in the video:

  • Know what you are really selling 
  • Grab their attention 
  • Provide consistently compelling content 
  • Reward loyal fans 
  • Promote new talent 

And PS, there’s a BONUS tip for you: Make the ask. A little extra just to show you how much I love you.

Which tip do you find most useful? How will you apply it to your future content? Please share in the Comments below and share this post/video with your tribe!

Top 3 tips for a better website + how to integrate social media

Posted on by Red Slice

It’s third quarter for most of us. How’s your year shaping up? I always encourage clients to revisit their brand strategy once per quarter – and this includes your all-important website. For most businesses, your website is the crown jewel of your marketing efforts, your storefront, your showpiece. But often we spend so much time putting it up and then seem to forget about it.

If your website strategy is off, you could be missing out on sales and customer connections. So today, we’re getting priceless tips for a better website from one of the best in the biz.

Norma Maxwell is one of my favorite people and partners. She’s a designer, interactive strategist, and founder of Connect Interactive. Norma and her team help clients create an online presence that not only connects with people, but resonates long after they have made their first contact.

Today, she shares three tips for great sales pages, how to incorporate all your social media channels, and how to layout your page for maximum pop.

RS: Welcome Norma! Everyone struggles with setting up great sales and landing pages.  Do you have three top tips for doing this right and achieving your sales goals?

NM:

  1. Understand who will be visiting your page.  This informs every single decision you will make relating to your visual layout/design, your written content, and your calls-to-action (prompts that “call” your visitor to do something when they get to your page).
  2. Create a compelling message (visually and through your copy).  This is where the importance of knowing your brand and your messaging will come in.  If someone has taken the time to visit your page, make sure they find consistency, professionalism, credibility  when they get there.  This is the foundation of a lasting conversion.
  3. Capture your visitors information so you can stay in touch.  Give them a good reason to opt-in to you list.  You can offer a free download, sample chapter of your book, or access to a webinar—just make sure it is something that provides real value for your visitors.  And think about how you will manage your list when people do show enough interest to opt-in.  Make sure you are sending the right messages to your audience.  Create value so that they will want to hear from you in their already overcrowded inbox. Some people will just want to see what you have to say from time to time; they don’t want to forget about you (which is why they opted-in), but they are not going to buy anytime soon.  Others are very interested in what you have to offer, and if you follow up in the right way, with the right email messages, they will convert to customers quickly.

RS: How the heck can businesses integrate social media strategies effectively to drive visitors to their website? Should your website be your primary destination vs. Facebook, etc?

NM: Your social media efforts will be the most effective when you provide value and remain consistent.  This is challenging, especially for solopreneurs, but if you will take a few hours each month to plan, it is much less time consuming and painful. Once you have a plan in place, you can hire someone to help you keep the plan implemented for just a few hours each week.

At a minimum your business should have a Facebook and Twitter presence.  A LinkedIn presence is also important and increasingly so with the advent of Company pages.  If you can take advantage of more social media sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Pinterest, etc. definitely go for it!  The more pathways you have that lead others to your website (your home base), the better.  It all comes down to what you can manage with the resources you have available to you.

Your website is the destination where you will house all of your most important information in one place—think of it as your physical business location (office, storefront, etc.), whereas your social media satellite spots are wonderful tools for building buzz and driving people to your website where they will become a lasting part of your online community or better yet, a new customer or client.

RS: Can you give us 3 tips to consider when laying out your web page? Does it differ by industry? Are there hard and fast rules for what should go “above the fold” or how you should entice people to sign up for your email list?

NM:

  1. This is the same as #1 above.  The first consideration when laying out your webpage is who will be visiting you there.  What kind of personality do they have?  What are their needs and wants?  What will you say to them visually and through your copy? What is it that that particular person needs to see and hear in order to want to stay in touch with you, or do business with you?
  2. Make sure your message is clear (and your message is conveyed through your visuals—the colors you choose, your brand mark or logo if you have one, any other graphics that are present; your copy—the name of your company, the headlines you use, the verbiage you choose for your newsletter sign-up box, the messaging you have on your home page to let visitors know what you’re all about and why they are in the right place), because your message lets them know that you GET them!
  3. What will be above the fold.  There is a section of your website that will be visible without visitors having to scroll down.  This is called “above the fold.”  This is prime real estate on you website because if someone is just clicking through looking for something, this is the place you will either capture or lose their attention.  You really want to maximize this space by making sure it is visually captivating, makes it crystal clear where they are and why they should care, and invites them to stay in contact with you—because maybe you are not what they happened to be looking for right now, and yet, you have piqued their interest enough that they do not want to forget about you.  If they are really in a hurry, the difference between suggesting to them “what they should do” and not, is the difference between a lost visitor or a new contact.  You don’t have to do everything possible to capture them (because the possibilities are numerous and that’s another article!), but a few that are worth considering include:

– Suggest they “Bookmark” your site.  If you do, they probably will (which makes is much easier for them to find you again).  If you don’t, they may or may not.

– Suggest they “Sign Up” for your newsletter.  You can use some of the ideas mentioned above to make it worth their time and effort and to in effect “thank them” for letting you visit them in their inbox from time to time.

– Call them to “Join” your community if you are a membership website, or “Join” you on Facebook where you can foster a community around your brand.

– Make sure icons to all of your social media locations are placed above the fold—those that want to learn more about you are going to want to find those places, so keep it easy for them.

– Call them to “Read” your latest blog post (and beyond that, at the end, go ahead and Ask them to comment, or ask a question so they will comment with an answer—you will be amazed at how simply asking/prompting your visitors in the direction you want them to go will make a difference.

– Call them to “Register” for a webinar or conference

– Ask them to “Buy” your book or product

You get the idea—obviously you can’t do all of this above the fold (without creating a sense of clutter—which I wouldn’t recommend), so choose the things that are most important to you (and to your visitor) and put them higher up on your home page.  I always advise clients to keep their opt-in list above the fold because it is an opportunity to connect regularly and on a deeper level with visitors that is difficult to match.

Which tip will you put into practice today to engage customers on your website and turn browsers into buyers? Please share in the Comments!

Top 5 Networking Tips from a Pro

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How-to-Networking-EffectivelyNetworking. (cue groaning)

Ah, not too many words inspire such dread in a business owner. Images of fake smiles, business cards being shoved in your face and rubbery chicken lunches abound.

Yet in today’s New Economy, where so many folks are building dream businesses and personal brands, networking is a vital part of our marketing plan -and our brand. Whether face to face or screen to screen, it provides a host of benefits – and can even be, dare I say, fun?

Meet networking diva and consultant Sandy Jones-Kaminski. She’s the author of I’m at a Networking Event—Now What???, the #1 pick on the Inc.com 2010 Business Book Wish List. As the principal consultant of Bella Domain Media, she shares practical advice and professional insights about LinkedIn, personal branding and effective networking via webinars, keynotes, workshops, and by facilitating in-person networking events called Pay It Forward Parties.

I adore her and her book’s a treat: very practical, actionable and even entertaining. I first met Sandy – wait for it – in the elevator on the way to a Seattle networking event. While the event itself left something to be desired, meeting Sandy drove home an important lesson: you can find great lasting connections in the most unexpected places if you are open to it.

Today, she dishes on some top networking tips, how to use social media for networking – and where to wear your nametag.

RS; Hi Sandy! Thrilled you’re here. What does “networking” really mean? Do we have to network with people we don’t like, just because of who they are or can we stick to folks with whom we make genuine connections?
SJK: Well, the definition of the word “network,” according to The Oxford Dictionary, is a group of people who exchange information, contacts, and experience for professional or social purposes. So, networking can be defined as the efforts to create this group and each of us can choose the people we want in our group or network. The only people worth having in your network are those with whom you would be happy to exchange ideas, resources, contacts or knowledge.

RS: What are 5 tips you have for getting the most out of a networking event, including any etiquette tips you have?
SJK:

  1. Don’t take networking too seriously. It can and should be fun. Relax, take the pressure off yourself and focus on what you can offer others.
  2. Take a proactive approach and get off the couch or out from behind your screen and get out there. You eventually have to meet people to know if you’ll really connect with them, and the more people you meet, the more likely you are to find the “right” people for you. (It’s almost like dating, isn’t it?)
  3. Improve your outlook and your fortune will change. If you have a negative outlook on networking, you’re probably sabotaging your chances at truly connecting with others. Try approaching networking as an act of service within your community rather than simply expecting to find the elusive new client or opportunity.
  4. Keep the alcohol consumption to a minimum if you’re at an event where it’s being served. Being relaxed is good, but having your buzz on and then acting inappropriately is not a good way to be memorable.
  5. Be polite and considerate because good manners never go out of style or go unnoticed. And remember, nobody likes a one-upper. A networking event is a time to be non-competitive and social in a professional yet friendly way.
  6. Bonus tip: The right side is the RIGHT side to wear your nametag!

RS: How can we use social media more effectively to network in the virtual sense?
SJK: My favorite use of social media is mostly as a follow-up tool. I use social networking tools like LinkedIn to send those “It was so great to meet you and I hope we can stay connected,” messages after meeting someone at an event or presentation I’ve given. And, I also use it as a way to identify people I’d like to potentially add to my network. I find people on Twitter or via their LinkedIn or Facebook company pages to get a sense of them or their biz before making a point to meet them in person at an upcoming conference or live event.

Net-net: To build community, attract new clients and grow your business, you need to include networking in your marketing plans. And you can engage in both online and offline networking to get to success.

The ABC’s of good content marketing with Sarah Von Bargen

Posted on by Red Slice

We all know content marketing is a good idea. It’s the whole “making time for it” and “doing it right” that trips people up. But we’re lucky enough today to hear from  Sarah von Bargen – blogger/writer/internet awesome-i-fier – with whom I have the privilege of working with often.

Sarah has 15 years of writing experience, an MA in Applied Linguistics that she doesn’t use, and a blog read daily by 10,000+ people.  Also: she has a cat named after a Russian historical figure, which is cool. Sarah runs Yes and Yes and helps companies and individuals become (more) awesome on the internet. She personally, professionally, and literally believes that yes is more fun than no – and she helps clients get more of their audience to say “yes” which, hey, isn’t that what good branding is really all about?

Today, Sarah is sharing her tips on good content marketing, how to craft killer website copy that people will attract and the committment secret that she put into her now successful blog.

RS: Sarah, you’re a brilliant copywriter. When and how did you expand your offerings into content and blog strategy for clients?

SVB: Well, gosh!  Thank you so much!  I’ve actually been offering content and blog strategy all long – but that aspect of my business has just recently started to take off.  While a clever, well-written About Page is super important, it needs to be part of an active website with regularly updated, useful content.

You know, like a blog.

I think a lot of people are finally realizing that they need to be more actively engaged with their readers and community – and I help them do that.

RS: It is kind of a “renaissance of customer engagement” we’re in, isn’t it? What is the biggest mistake people make with their blogs that is easily corrected?

SVB: Just talking about themselves and their products!  That’s like a TV show with two minutes of sitcom and 28 minutes of ads.  Create content that’s helpful to your target audience and engages them.

RS: Can you share your top 3 tips for how to attract more readers to your blog? Any specific advice on tags, titles or hyperlinking?

SVB: 1.  Create good content
You’ve probably heard this before (uh, like in the above paragraph) but you need to write things that are helpful and informative.  No amount of tagging and social media-ry is going to help if you’re just posting photo after photo of your own products.

2. Cross pollinate with other bloggers in your niche
Guest post on other blogs, host guest posts on your blog, interview people who have interesting, useful things to say, promote other bloggers’ posts that would be helpful to your readers.  Other bloggers will return the favor.

3. Leave comments on other blogs
Helpful, real comments that contribute to the discussion – not just “Great post!  Come check out my blog at [insert shameless link here].”  People will follow your comments back and return the favor.  For the first 2.5 years that I had my blog, I spent every lunch hour reading blogs and leaving comments.  Five days a week, 45 minutes a day, 2.5 years.  For real.

 

 

Net-net: Building an engaged community takes time. But content marketing helps you get there. Deliver value, be generous, provide opportunities for people to connect – and you will reap the rewards when it comes to converting those adoring community members into paying customers!

 

What is the You Economy? A chat with Tara Gentile (take the survey)

Posted on by Red Slice

Welcome to the You Economy. PS, if you’re a “creative entrepreneur” you’re already part of the movement.

At Red Slice, one of my values is that creativity and cash flow are not mutually exclusive. We’re seeing it all around us in the New Economy: people building brands based on a social mission; billionaires supporting philanthropy and profits at the same time – and thousands of small businesses and “solopreneurs” creating positive change, healthy businesses and meaningful lives.

Tara Gentile is a crusader in this mission – with a different slant. She’s a writer, speaker and business coach leading what she terms the You Economy. What does that mean? “I’m redefining the whole business paradigm as the exchange of commerce, experience, and meaning so that my clients can earn more while making their customers’ lives richer.”

See? Passion, profits and doing good can all co-exist. Tara is living proof: “I’m an aspiring theologian turned business thinker. I’m the daughter of a creative entrepreneur – though she didn’t realize it at the time – and the mother of a daughter I can’t imagine will be anything but!”

Tara’s the author of The Art of Earning – a guide to rewriting your personal money story for the New Economy.  And if you’re a small business or solopreneur, help her spread the word about the power of microbusiness by completing the $100 Million Microbusiness Survey.

RS: Tara, welcome! Please tell us about what your do for entrepreneurs and what you see as the biggest barrier to small business success.
TG: I enable people to discover what is really valuable about what they do. We most often get into business for ourselves but our self-interested motivations don’t cut it when it comes to really developing a business that works! It’s all about seeing things through the customer’s eyes. That takes some experimentation, insight, and confidence. It’s also takes getting out of your own head and into someone else’s.

The biggest barrier to success for small business owners is themselves! Business owners get so caught up in doing things “right” that they forget to do what works best for themselves and their customers. I find there is still an immense amount of fear in doing business, as well. Fear keeps you from clearing your schedule to work on your latest & greatest idea, it keeps you from trying something new to engage your customers in a new way, it keeps you from offering the product or service that will make your business go from surviving to thriving.

RS: What is the $100 million microbusiness survey and how did it come about? What do you hope to achieve or find out?
TG: The $100 Million Microbusiness Survey is an attempt to gather data on $100 million of economic activity by microbusiness owners. Because we tend to measure our business production in terms of “salaries” and not revenue that’s streaming into the economy, we sell ourselves short.
In 2009, 95.5% of US businesses were microbusinesses. In 2008, $265 BILLION of net income was achieved through sole proprietor businesses in the United States. In 2009, $837 BILLION worth of sales were generated by non-employer businesses in the United States. Yet, we know very little about these kind of businesses.

My goal with the survey is to better understand who these business owners are, what difficulties they face, and maybe – just maybe – how we can help them to achieve their dreams through media awareness & government policy.

RS: Great stuff! PS, everyone with a microbusiness reading this should take the survey now and let their voice be heard. In your opinion, what is the future of small business success in this country – or even worldwide? Any juicy trends or predictions to share?
TG: The future of business in the United States – and around the globe – is small business. More specifically, the future is microbusiness. My “juicy trend” might seem like a downer but really it’s quite optimistic: the jobs aren’t coming back. Our economic production will continue to grow through technology, not human resources. If we want people to be earning real money in fulfilling ways, we need to plug them into real businesses.

Those businesses may represent ways in which they would have been employed in the past (think freelancers earning more with greater flexibility) or they could be in new fields, serving people in new ways. Government needs to make it much easier for us to take agency over our livelihoods. We need health solutions that work, tax solutions that work, child care solutions that work, investment solutions that work.  And we need it now. We, the microbusiness owners, will pull us out of this downward spiral. We are the New Economy.

Connect with Tara Gentile on Twitter or Facebook. And please take and share the $100 Million Microbusiness Survey today.

Have you built a business that may not have existed 50 or even 25 years ago? Does your business enable flexibility and creativity in your own life? Please share in the Comments below!

How to (really) rock your brand with social media

Posted on by Red Slice

Social media is now a core part of most any business marketing strategy. But it can get overwhelming. Red Slice partner Joy Moxley of YoDog Media helps clients incorporate social media and design into their business marketing strategy. She’s here to give you some tips and ideas about how to use social media most effectively– and she gives us her take on Pinterest for business brands. Her company’s mission is to “enhance and inject creativity, static and socially, into your business and life.”

Yeah, I want me some of that.

RS: Howdy, Joy! What do social media rockstars do that mere mortals do not?

JM: Here are some powerful tips if you want to rock:

  • Always try to one-up yourself! Stay active in the regular platforms but push your way into the new social “rooms” so you are always in the know.
  • Staying active within your social community, on and off the computer.
  • KISS it hello! “Keep It Simple Stupid” and use a third party social media publisher such as Hootsuite, Buffer, Seesmic, etc…to publish and analyze your content.
  • Have confidence and humility. It’s a great mix that will get you far. People love real people. Machines rust, but real people shine all the time. Tweet this!

RS: Sounds like if I could manage all of that, I’d be rocking, too! Now let’s get down and dirty. What 3 social media mistakes should business owners avoid?

JM: Don’t just make a page in Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest or Twitter, thinking people are going to just find you. You have to find and establish your customers first and then let the word of mouth flow in along with your marketing strategy. Tell people where to find you online and make sure to engage.

Secondly, avoid getting angry with unpleasant followers. There might be a good reason they aren’t satisfied and they might just like to pick fights. But whatever the reason, keep your cool and comment back to them in a professional manner. If that doesn’t work, take it off line.

Third, don’t skip good design for your online image. Again, social media is an important tool in your marketing toolbox. Consistency is key and you want your brand to look as fresh online as it does on your printed business collateral. Hire a pro.

And here’s a bonus one for you guys: Make sure to keep up to date with your page statistics and geotrack your followers. You need to understand who is viewing your page. (Tweet this!) Tools such as Facebook Insights will help guide you down that path. Our company helps clients with this all the time.

RS: Wise words. What are some ways people should integrate Twitter and Facebook for their social media campaigns?

JM Most if not all social media platforms are free. Use them to post about sales, contests / sweepstakes (make sure you know the difference) and get-togethers you might be having. More people will see these opportunities than if you were to just take out an ad in the newspaper.

Get “your people” involved. Ask your community to share photos or video of how they use your product, or simply how they are enjoying their day. Everyone loves to share and your business page can provide them with another outlet to show off their fun photos.

Use Twitter to start a scavenger hunt. Twitter is a fast paced medium and people want instant gratification. What better way than to send them off on a little scavenger hunt with new clues every 5 minutes or so?

Facebook is a great way to have company coupons listed for your new and current customers. It’s also a great way to keep them coming back to your page to see what’s new and grab that monthly coupon. Less than 1% of people, after liking a page, revisit. Keep them coming back with engaging dialogue and…freebies.

And don’t forget bragging rights! Let people know why you are the best and that you LOVE your customers. The stated love for “your people” will travel far. Especially if they aren’t at your place of business every day, they will see your online presence and be reminded of how awesome you are.

RS:  What are your thoughts on Pinterest for business brands?

JM: Pinterest has become the place to go to “Pin” your projects, favorite fashion statements, photos, recipes and more. It’s a platform for regular people and companies to show off their lifestyles and spark ideas and creativity in those viewing your pins.

Business brands can use this to their advantage by having a board for their new or featured products, but also what they love at the moment and even what organizations they support. This is a great way to show that you are a real company run by real people with personality. (Tweet this!) Post what people are eating during lunch,  favorite places employees have traveled or funky organization ideas your employees or you, the owner, have come up with in your down time outside of the office.

As with any new social media site, there will be ups and downs with how the site is run and how people use it to their advantage. I think it will get people excited about other photo sharing sites like Flickr and Instagram and allow people to choose to see all of your creativity and ambition in one area rather than flooding their Facebook timelines with photos.

Follow Joy @yodogmedia or Like YoDogMedia on Facebook.

What is one specific idea or success story you’ve had with social media promotion for your business? Are you using Pinterest? Please share in the Comments!