If you’re thinking of starting a podcast, now would be an excellent time. The podcast has proven to be a high effective marketing tool for individuals and businesses. Don’t expect it to be easy, you’re bound to make a lot of mistakes along the way, which is completely normal. For a headstart, here are a couple of mistakes to avoid for your podcast:

Having Your Podcast Over 30 Minutes

It’s nice to sound (and be) informed on a topic with lengthy explanations but people today have little time. It’s important to keep your podcast relatively short. Think of the people listening to it during driving, lunch breaks, working out. If it exceeds a reasonable listening time, start thinking of ways to shorten it.

Overblowing your Podcast’s Budget

When starting, you might be tempted to buy the biggest and best equipment available. You do NOT need to go excessive when recording your voice. Now that’s not to say you can get away with recording on your iPhone, but you can easily get away spending under $100 on secondhand equipment. Check your local and online retailers for refurbished mic and filter models and avoid cost extremes.

Straying from your Niche

Like most company and personal blogs, they’re usually covering a specific niche. It’s okay to go offtopic for a segway, afterall, it keeps the commentator more interesting to listen to. But keep it relevant to your niche. Don’t start your podcasts about pizza restaurants in New York and somehow end up dicussing Chinese take-out by your 50th podcast.

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, your business is your baby. And just like a baby, naming your business is difficult. You spend hours contlemplating the perfect name, and your end result is fairly simple. It can’t be that hard, right?

Here are some pointers to consider when naming your business:

Avoid Generic Names

It’s hard to stand out from the crowd of competitors, and choosing a generic name will botch your chances. Names like “U.S. Steel” and “General Market” will roll off the tongue, sure, but scream unimaginative and bland. Would you rather go to Kroger, or another store down the street called “Supermarket”?

Keep the Name Simple

At the same time, it’s paramount to avoid names that feel forced with nonsensical hidden meanings and multiple syllables. You don’t want a name that people will forget, and you definitely don’t want to make it so convoluted people have to think about its origin. Nobody is going to think you’re clever for naming your furniture business “Hestia’s Hearthstone” after you explain to them that Hestia is the Greek goddess of hearth and home while a hearthstone is another word for a fireplace.

The Name Should be Descriptive

Piggybacking from the point above, again your name shouldn’t be too convoluted and should convey your services loud and clear, reflecting your identity. Some large company examples include Coca-Cola, Rooms To Go, and Discount Tires. A quick look at your local online map can give you plenty of small-business examples. While a large number of companies get away with undescriptive names, such as Apple and Nike, they’ve had decades to establish their name all while spending a fortune just for name branding. Those businesses can afford it. If you’re at a point where you’re just now naming your business, chances are you’re probably small and should stick your budget to obtaining leads and resources.

Make Your Name Last Forever

Businesses should definitely take advantage of trends and fads, but they know it’s not a long-term solution. The same goes for naming your business. It might be great for short-term turnout but it’s not going to resonate with consumers a decade or even a year from then. If your name stands the test of time, businesses use that to their advantage.

 

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Online purchasing continues to grow. In 2020 it is predicted to hit 4 trillion US dollars. Furthermore, brands should harness the power of making money by using Pinterest. 

Today Pinterest has 200 billion pins saved and 322 million people using their platform every month. On average 83% of weekly pinners purchase from posted content that is seen on Pinterest. These numbers continue to grow making it clear that this online-catalogued database is a must used tool for companies of the future. This space not only allows consumers to dream of the future that they hope to obtain, but it’s slowly morphing into an online shopping destination. Brands can market their products and services in one location in order to grow their business and make money.  

Understanding how to engage with the Pinterest platform and community will help your business stay engaged with it’s followers and hopefully help your brand make money. What’s not to love about that? 

How to Make Pins

Pinterest makes it very easy for businesses to upload their products all at once. Using photos or videos content creation is easy. This customizable feature can aid in quick content creation as well as helping your brand grow a following, drive traffic to your products website and boost sales. Pins should entice your consumers and help drive them to your brands website. Think of Pinterest as a friendly tool that helps promote all your products and makes the online experience that much easier. Using this tool helps to make shopping convenient from any mobile device or computer all at the click of a pin. 

Tips & Trick for engagement, brand awareness and sales…

• Create interesting content for all of your pins.
• Organize pin boards from most inspiring to least. Make sure that your imagery or video content draws your audience into each pin board.
• Pin product content or inspiration regularly. Keep your feed active and consistent. This will help with engagement.  
• Re-pin your follower’s images. Why? This will help engage with your followers’. The goal is to lure consumers back to your personal Pinterest page. The intention is for them to interact with your boards and pins to hopefully keep your companies brand and products at the top of their mind. Ultimately this will help to grow your brands awareness and lead you to make money by using Pinterest. 

Are you are struggling to grow your audience on YouTube, Facebook or any other Social Media platform hosting videos? It could be your video thumbnails.

If you are on YouTube and you are using one of the three default random thumbnails they provide, then your thumbnails probably “suck”.

VIDEO THUMBNAILS = A TOP 10 CRUCIAL RANKING FACTOR

Your video’s thumbnail image is one of the 10 most critical factors in getting someone to click and view your video.

Yet, look around on YouTube and you see that it is rather underutilized, despite it’s simplicity.

That spells COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.

90% of the best-performing videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails.

Here are three proven ways to have your video’s thumbnails stand out from the crowd and get clicked on.

1. Make Them Engaging

You want to elicit an instant response, a motivation from your potential viewer. You can encourage that response in a few ways:

a) By “Telling a Story”

Your video thumbnails need to say something interesting about what the viewer might find after clicking.

It can be anything: a “teaser”; “dramatic”, say, reflecting triumph over difficulty; “funny”. It can also simulate or show action or movement.

You have endless possibilities, but your objective is to create interest and curiosity.

b) By “Showing Emotion”

Your thumbnails need to show an emotion, fitting the story.

Aim for positive emotions. They are usually stronger, as this will elicit a positive response in your viewer. Excitement is also good for a response.

c) By “Being Relatable”

Your viewers will react better to thumbnails they can relate to.

TIP: Put YOURSELF on the video thumbnail. Your story and emotion are best portrayed by a human (and to lesser extent an animal) vs an object. And, people are naturally drawn to other people.

BONUS TIP: Get close in on your face and eyes. Thumbnails are small, so a full body shot is less recognizable. Also, we humans find someone’s face and eyes captivating.

2. Make Them Pop

Here you focus more on the technical quality of the image, than the content of the image.

a) By Using “Photo Editing Tricks”

Increase Saturation or “Vibrance”

When you increase saturation you will see greater intensity of colors. Decrease saturation and you will see the opposite – your image will look duller, grayer – flat.

TIP: In Photoshop, you have the “Vibrance” option as a better alternative for photos with people. While saturation affects all colors, vibrance is a bit smarter at avoiding skin tone colors and elevating other colors.

Up the Sharpness

Since video thumbnails are rather small, you can use a bit more sharpness to create more definition.

b) By Increasing Text Size

Your text must also be large enough to be readable. This one below is too small:

TIP: If it is large enough for your bifocal-ed grandmother to easily read on a mobile phone, then you’ve hit your mark.

3. Make Them Consistent

As you grow your following, you want your viewers to instantly recognize that the video coming across their screen is yours.

You have only a fraction of a second to capture your audience’s attention and entice them to click – especially on mobile.

This one below is an example of what not to do with thumbnails.

By “Branding”

For all the reasons why branding is good for business, you also have the opportunity to leverage the trust you’ve built with your brand via your video thumbnails.

Here are a few things you can infuse with your brand to create consistency across your published video content.

Include The Obvious

From your existing brand, these should be consistent with your offline physical media and your online properties.

• FONT
• COLOR
• LOGO

Be Creative

This is where you have some flexibility.

• SHAPES
• PLACEMENT

Do you want a vertical bar with your logo on the left? A horizontal bar with the title on the bottom? A thought bubble with your text?

Create Themes

You can use these shapes, placement and color of them to create themes.

For example, product demos, faqs, announcements. Then, on YouTube these can be organized into playlists.

Many Simple Ways to Up Your Video Thumbnail Game

Using these simple ideas, you will banish any default video thumbnails YouTube or Facebook provides (which “suck”) .

More importantly, you will be leveraging your thumbnails to brand your content, attract more viewers and grow your audience.

More Thumbnail Tips – Click Here

Tools and Templates for Making Thumbnails – Click Here

Go Deep on YouTube Optimization – Click Here

Understanding your target audience is important when looking to improve your market outreach.

If you’re missing the mark with your audience, ask yourself if you truly understand them. Here are 4 factors to consider when understanding your audience.

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Ever wondered what are the components of a good ad? This blog discusses how to think like a professional advertiser so you never have a Kendall Jenner mistake.

Have you ever cut on the tv or the radio and seen some of the crazy advertisements that make your jaw drop to the floor? From the iconic Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad to the misinterpreted Dove ad, it somehow makes you wonder: WHAT WERE THESE COMPANIES THINKING? This blog will go over step-by-step how to think like a professional advertiser and the key components of a good ad.

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What’s worse than stale potato chips? Stale content on your social media channels. Whether you are a leader, business owner, or entrepreneur, it’s advantageous for you to keep your content “alive” on social media. In fact, make this a non-negotiable priority. And, it’s actually easier than you may think.

So, without further ado, here are three awesome ways to keep your content from going stale across your social media channels.  Continue reading →

Today, one of the most iconic brands in athletic apparel is transforming the social media game. Adidas is chiefly synonymous with athletic shoes. While you may recognize the brand for their quality and style, you might also want to explore how to maximize your brand awareness on social media like Adidas.

The brand produces more than 850 million product units annually. So it’s no surprise that Adidas is cultivating an undeniable influence on social media, specifically Instagram. If you want to maximize your brand awareness on social media like Adidas, get ready to incorporate some of the brand’s tactics in your own strategic efforts.

“Change the game, run the world.”  – Adidas

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Social media helps brands connect with their target audience. However, many brands are faced with a content challenge. How can brands write content for social media in an effective manner? The answer lies in developing distinct audience personas and a social media brand voice. This will serve as the foundation for your efforts. Social media is one of the most cost-effective ways to speak to any audience. It behooves brands to create meaningful, memorable digital content.

“This content should be so valuable that it compels the reader to share it with others across social media channels.” – Shanda Henley, SEO Copywriter / Digital Marketer / Indie Author Continue reading →

Digital Advertising on Amazon Has Potential to Jeopardize Google and Facebook

Digital Advertising on Amazon is on the rise. One would not typically consider Amazon a digital advertising company. However, the online retail giant is the fifth largest generator of digital revenues in the US. With major growth potential, competitors are wise to beware. .

Analysts estimate Amazon’s ad revenues will total $1.65 billion this year. This figure is far below that of Google or Facebook, but above brands such as Twitter and Snapchat. Continue reading →

Does advertising creative drive sales?  Indeed it does, according to two recent studies that have electrified the industry. The findings are significant:

• Highly creative ads show double the sales impact of those that are less creative.
• Advertising creative drives sales 5x as much as media spend.

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What are the elements of a good press conference? Beyond basic planning and logistics, a good press conference captures a certain essence appropriate to the announcement. It reinforces your brand and connects to your audience. While the nature of a press conference can vary widely, here’s a few insights to consider. Continue reading →

You like to breathe fresh air. So does a Toyota engine. Genuine Toyota TRD Air Filters are engineered specifically for Toyota vehicles to keep harmful airborne debris, dirt and contaminants from reaching the engine. As a result, the aids in preventing premature wear to internal components. A clean air filter improves engine performance and fuel economy – benefits owners can all appreciate.

A free-flowing design allows for maximum air to enter your engine with minimal resistance, and free of damaging debris. This combination can give the engine added power and better fuel economy. Enhancing the clean air flow without disturbing the calibration of the mass airflow sensor results in smoother, easier air intake and better overall performance without negative side-effects. Continue reading →

People have short attention spans, so how do you catch their eye and tell the story of your wine? Are you using video – if not, you must start. The visual impact of video communicates in ways that other methods can’t. Adding videos to your social media can increase click through rates by 96%.   Continue reading →

You know women love wine and social media. The question is can you encourage women to try, and buy, your wines by engaging them in conversation online.

According to a 2014 Gallop poll, women are wine drinkers, more than 46% of women who drink alcohol choose wine as their drink of choice. Women buy 57% of all wine sold and they are buying it for consumption, not collecting it. With this kind of buying power, the potential is huge for any wine brand that can win them over. But how to reach female buyers? Pew research shows that 80% of women online regularly use social media and 77% of them are on Facebook. Women love wine and social media, to reach more female wine buyers, connect with them online.

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$6.99.  That’s the newest number in American pro sports.  It is the cost of a single out of market basketball game, as NBA Pay Per View is born. Continue reading →

Social media is ranked the most difficult marketing tactic. Surprised?

Why is this? And why does your boss not understand the importance of investing time and resources into doing it right?

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How to grow your brand on Instagram and get noticed.

The power of Instagram is enormous – more than 16 billion photos have been shared to date, with an average of 55 million uploaded each day. Social media users interact with brands on Instagram 58 times more than they do on Facebook, and a whopping 120 times more than on Twitter. With so many users, it’s hard to get noticed. Increasing brand visibility and building a community on Instagram is one of the most challenging things to do, but follow these 5 steps and you will reach your goal in no time.

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Social responsibility is a top trend in 2015. Digital and social media platforms have allowed business and professionals seeking enhanced brand identity to leverage social responsibility benefits and opportunities.

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