Create Your Niche

Create Your Niche

A niche is defined by Merriam-Webster as "a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted."

A lot of people talk about finding a niche for your small business, but it can be difficult to do. Narrowing your business scope to deliver one great product or service line to one specific group of core customers can be scary.

Take Time Away for a Stronger Business

Take Time Away for a Stronger Business

My yoga studio sent me an email this morning about the importance of a re-boot. The email both resonated with and inspired me, so I decided to write a blog post about it this week.

I'm convinced that inspiration for your business can be found nearly anywhere, but you have to take the time to look around and find it. Often, we're so busy 'hustling' that we forget to stop for a second and smell the figurative (or literal) roses.

Conduct an Exit Survey

Conduct an Exit Survey

Inevitably, some customer contracts come to an end. Sometimes customers or clients are not the right fit for your brand, product, or service. The best thing to do for your brand is to find out why. I like to use a very simple, three-question exit survey for all of my Twined customers that cancel their subscription. We process cancellations one at a time and email the survey link in batches.

7 Great Business Podcasts to Check Out (That you might not have heard of)

7 Great Business Podcasts to Check Out (That you might not have heard of)

Podcasts are incredibly popular and it seems like everyone has one now. I'm constantly on the lookout for great new finds and these are some of my current favorites. I usually listen in the car, so bonus points awarded for any show that has great show notes for follow up. Feel free to comment with your suggestions. I would love to check them out, too!

Identify Your Core Customers

Identify Your Core Customers

Customers are at the heart of your business. Without them, you have no sales, which means you have nothing at all. Identifying your core customers will help you grow your business.

Your core customers are the base of your customer group and the people for whom you should write your marketing messages. Your core customers are the people who value your products and services most. 

Why Does Content Matter in Digital Marketing?

Why Does Content Matter in Digital Marketing?

Good content can help your website to become search engine optimization (SEO) friendly. Your content should reflect the products or services your business offers, articles or tips that are helpful to your audience, and information your customers use make a purchase decision.

Simply put, Google (and other search engines) aims to return the most helpful results for each search. Google wants each person conducting a search to find results that are helpful so that they go back to Google for their future searches. Each Google update changes their algorithm slightly to ensure that the best results are returned for each search.

Promoted Pins on Pinterest: A How-To Guide to Getting Started

Promoted Pins on Pinterest: A How-To Guide to Getting Started

Promoting pins on Pinterest can be very beneficial for your business, particularly if your product categories are already popular on Pinterest. Pinterest Ads are still fairly inexpensive compared to other online advertising. Pinterest users are among the most likely to make a purchase of all social media users since they are 'shopping' among the pins already. Pinterest users also spend about twice as much as Facebook and Twitter users. (Digiday)

How to Name Your Business: A Step-By-Step Guide

How to Name Your Business: A Step-By-Step Guide

Are you struggling to name your business or your brand? Do you want to pick the perfect name?

I have named hundreds of items between products, brands and companies (my own and others). Today, I use a basic formula that is easy to follow and helps me determine a name every time. It takes about a few days, but the time invested is worthwhile.

What Is the Most Important Thing to Know When I Launch My Business?

What Is the Most Important Thing to Know When I Launch My Business?

Perhaps as a marketer I am biased, but I think the most important thing to know when you are launching your business is your customer. Without a solid understanding of your customer, your business probably will not survive. With a good understanding of your customer, you can meet and even exceed their expectations at every touch point.

How Do I Get Earned Media without Paying an Expensive PR firm?

How Do I Get Earned Media without Paying an Expensive PR firm?

PR firms can be incredibly expensive. For a small business or an entrepreneur, PR can be prohibitively expensive. Fortunately, you do not always have to pay for media coverage. It's called earned media for a reason.

If you have a small budget and little to no time to spend earning media, a company like Publicize (Publicize.co) can help you out by reaching a large audience for a lot less than a traditional PR firm. If you have zero budget, but are willing to invest some time, you can earn your own media coverage. 

Silver Shade Group

A quick intro to Silver Shade Group:

Most of my blogs will contain general information about marketing or answer common brand, product, and digital marketing questions, but for today, I offer a little about me and why I started (and am qualified to run) this company. I am a marketing and branding professional with 15 years of industry experience. This year, I decided to create a company to formalize the consulting work that I was already doing. In addition to marketing consulting, I own an arts & crafts subscription box company called Twined. I built that business from the ground up and learned many lessons along the way.