A study from by Dr. Michael Freeman at the University of California San Francisco found that 49% of those who start a company say they have struggled with some form of mental illness in the past. 72% of entrepreneurs are directly or indirectly affected by mental health conditions.

Two years after I quit corporate America to start my business I found myself driving an hour and half each way to a new job. I was getting out of bed at 4:30 AM in order to get my workout in before leaving for work by 6:30 AM. I was missing walking my little girl to the bus stop, and I was missing a million other precious things about self-employment. My new position was not for me, but I had become desperate.

Your website has less than 5 seconds to make an impression. If you aren't making the case for visitors to stay and see what you are all about, you can bet your ass they are leaving.

Here's an easy way to tell whether your visitors have a positive impression of you after visiting your site: Do they call you or fill out your contact form after they have been to your website? If not, it's because they aren't staying around long enough to get engaged with your message.

Here are the 2 things your website MUST do for your visitors in the first 5 seconds of a visit.

1. Tell the customer 3 things:
   • Who you are
   • What you do - not the 30 second elevator pitch, but the 5 word signature line. What exactly is it that you want to do for this visitor?
   • Why they should care - How will you make this visitor's life better?
     
     
2. Visually convey professionalism and expertise - Potential customers will judge your business based on the feeling they get when they first look at your website. They will do this before they even read a word. As a matter of fact, if your website is a hot mess they won't even bother to read a word. Your website must look professional, clean, and intentional if you expect it to do anything for you.
   
   This doesn't always mean you have to get a professional web designer or graphic designer involved (although I would recommend it if you can.) Here are some ways to ensure your website looks good even if you don't have a professional helping you:
   • Use a template website builder like Wix or Weebly. Choose a template from their professionally designed selection, and stick to the choices the template designer has made.
   • Keep your homepage super clean and simple. More is NOT better on websites. There is always a temptation to pack a page with information because the space it there. However, overwhelm does not lead to a positive experience.
   • In keeping with the tip above - if you overwhelm your visitor with choices, they will do nothing. Better to give them one or two choices based on what you would like them to do next (example: contact us, or schedule an appointment.) Make those choice clear by putting them in a button or graphic.

Did you notice the website image at the beginning of this article? I created that website in about 15 seconds using a Weebly template. Even though it only took 15 seconds it's a good website. If you needed your eyebrows done, and you saw that website, you would give them a try. And it empowers you to schedule your appointment. This is what you want. Maybe your website doesn't need a flirty lady blowing a kiss, but you get the point.

So clean it up and make it clear. Need help? You know I'm here for you. Schedule a free call with me and let's talk.

Thanks for spending time with me today. Don't forget to like and share this article with other small business owners. It will help them and make you look like a genius!

The business 

• SkinPro Studio is a Charleston, SC spa specializing in three things
• soothing facials for cancer patients, and pregnant women. 
• lasting beautification treatments.
• and education for skincare professionals.

 
Timing
The site was developed in 3 weeks during March 2016.
 
The requirements
The site needed to be:

• beautiful and professional.
• integrated with MindBody, a leading spa management software.
• easy to use.
• a clear voice telling SkinPro studio's story of healing, philanthropy, and education.
• quickly and simply kept up to date by the site owner.

 
The technology

• Weebly website builder
• MindBody and Healcodes spa software integrated into the Weebly website

We created a site that tells the story of SkinPro Studio, and makes it easy for customers to do business with the spa.

With a beautiful custom header image.

And we integrated their MindBody scheduling software into the website in a way that looks seamless to customers. Customers can schedule appointments for themselves at the website. The appointments are saved into the spa's scheduling system, and the customer never leaves the SkinPro Studio website.
 
And here is what Liz Munn, owner of SkinPro Studio, had to say about working with us:
 
"Kelly developed my website for my new skincare business. I would highly recommend Kelly for any type of website design. She listened to what was important and provided exactly what I wanted. I find Kelly to be knowledgeable, timely, efficient, and effective in her approach. She is a pleasure to work."
 
Do you love the way this site turned out? Please like and share this post! Your likes and share help spread the word to other marketers and business owners just like you. And if they like it too, you will look smart and savvy for having helped them find it.
 
Would you like to talk about your site? Schedule a free website consultation today so we can get started.

It's a fact - new content on your website is good for lead generation. Studies show that the more often a company blogs, the more leads it gets through the website. And according to HubSpot, the smaller the company the larger the benefit in terms of website traffic and leads generated.

So how often is often enough? And is there such a thing as too often?

The answer, in part, can be found in your audience. Business-to-consumer companies benefit more from blogging more often.

Increases from blogging 11+ times a month:
• B2B - 3 times more leads than similar companies posting 4-5 times a month
• B2C - 4.5 times more leads than companies who only post 4-5 times a month

I wasn't able to find a number that could be considered TOO often, although I would suspect you have hit that number once quality begins to suffer. Quality content is King - junk content is always junk.

Can't blog 11 times a month? Do what you can. There are cumulative benefits to posting in your blog. Your posts live forever - they remain on your site where they help to increase your search rank and make your site more find-able by your customers.

For more information check out these quality articles on the same topic:
 - HubSpot: How Often Should Companies Blog?
 - Scripted: How often should you update your blog?

Need more? Schedule a free website evaluation with me. I would love to talk with you about your website, SEO, and online marketing strategy. And please like and share if you learned something - It helps the people you like get the useful information they need, and you will look like a rock star in the process!

Call me crazy, but I believe there are only 3 reasons for marketing your company: to grow, to reduce costs by creating volume, or in preparation to sell the company. In other words, you are not Coke-a-Cola. You are not creating ‘brand awareness.’ 99% of leaders reading this are looking to gain more sales, donations, or participation.

For example:

• Market a new product to gain more sales.
• A charity wants more donations or participation.
• A company looking for investments or considering selling wants to create more participation in order to prove a higher value to potential investors/buyers.
• You are planning a large event. Participation equals success.

Each week in this 6 part series we will examine a step in creating Marketing Action Plans that drive business. The first step is goal setting. Know where you are going and don’t ever forget it.
Here’s the thing about modern marketing – everything IS measurable. That’s good news for companies AND marketing departments. When we focus on marketing in ways that are tied to results then the marketing department becomes a revenue center. Even print ad results can be measured when they generate a response via phone or online.

That doesn’t mean that every marketing action can be tied directly to resulting goal behaviors. Certainly there are times when the sale, donation, or participation is the result of a multi-step nurturing process. That’s why its important to define an engagement funnel – it will outline the path from stranger to customer for each priority audience. We’ll talk more about that later in the series.

The over-arching goal for all ads/campaigns, however, will be a measurable increase in sales, donations, or participation. In other words, the goal for a specific ad may be brand awareness, but your goal for the campaign is the measurable increase.

You want the viewer to take notice of your message and DO SOMETHING. And you want that something to move the needle on sales, donations, or participation numbers.

Your Marketing Action Plan goal should state 3 things:

• The behavior you seek from viewers
• An attainable measurement for that behavior
• Any applicable dates or timelines

​The first step in creating your Marketing Action Plan: Spend some time thinking about your revenue, resources, and plans. Consider ways your company currently generates revenue, and evaluate your plans the future. Also consider your current resources and strengths. Bring your company’s leadership or trusted advisers in, and take their input.
Then, create a document titled “Marketing Action Plan.” Write a short (less than 3 sentences) goal on the first page of your document. Save it somewhere so it will be easy to find. We will continue soon…

Complete this first step as soon as you can. My next article will talk about priority audiences. Knowing your audience helps you understand where to market, what to say, and what to expect.
My next post will talk about your audience. Look for it next week. Until then, please "like" this article using the social links on this page.

Your Chief Marketing Officer has a big job. She works with senior leadership to understand the company's goals, then develops strategies and associated initiatives to move the needle on those goals. On top of that, she leads execution on those strategies and initiatives, and reports on results. Finally, she analyzes the results to optimize successes and plan future initiatives.

And there's more. Today's marketing leaders must have a solid understanding online marketing in addition to traditional marketing techniques. Search optimization, website usability, social media, audience targeting, and email are some of the new proficiencies a CMO has to have. Without a solid grasp of these, opportunities will be missed.

But not all companies have a CMO at their disposal. In the absence of senior marketing leadership, companies may employ a marketing person or team consisting of mid-level professionals focused on executing tasks that come from the CEO or other leadership. Others outsource everything to a firm or firms.

There is real value in having a senior marketing professional sitting between leadership and execution. Only an experience leader can properly ensure alignment between goals, direction, and initiatives. Further, in the same way that marketing and brand touch all parts of a business, marketing leadership should give input on products, plans, and initiatives company-wide.

Whether you plan to use an outsourced CMO for a short period, or long-term, here are some situations in which it's an appropriate solution to consider.

1. When growth is a priority - Is your product ripe for more widespread adoption among your target audience? Then you need strategic leadership. The right CMO can help you find more customers similar to your best customers. Plus she can help you identify new channels and markets you yet haven't considered.
   
   Example: When you have an existing customer base, but are ready for more of them. An outsourced CMO can look at your audience, channels, and message with fresh eyes. They can evaluate the intersections between product, customer, and timing in order to find the ways to get your message to the people most likely to act.
   
   
2. When seeking investment (especially after series A) - For startups the first investment round gets the company off the ground on vision. After the initial round comes the more structured and stringent process of raising venture funding. This means the company needs to be running and ready to scale. During this time it is important for a company to find and understand its market and audience.
   
   Example: I coach several startups with solid products, and a limited following. They have built their MVP and gained some adoption. Now is the time to find the people most likely to buy their product, and then multiply that audience in order to prove the product's viability and the company's ability to find a fit with their market.
   
   Budgets at startups are often low. Before hiring an entry or mid-level marketer and hoping he'll grow into the CMO role, consider outsourcing. A contract CMO can save the company 75% over hiring a full-time CMO with the same experience.
   
   
3. During a crisis - There are situations in which an outsourced CMO should be brought in for a finite period of time in order to solve a specific problem.
   
   Example: Let's say 
    - your sales rely heavily on traffic from Google, but you keep losing ground in search rankings.
    - your teams aren't working well together, and its starting to affect sales.
    - your website is getting traffic, but isn't selling.
    - your Facebook ads have stopped producing.
    -OR sales have just plain dropped off.
   
   It's time to engage an expert to triage and rehab the situation. An expert can diagnose the problem, develop a plan to address it, lead execution of the solution, and report on the results.
   
   
4. When you need strategic marketing leadership, but not the full-time price tag - You can expect to pay an outsourced CMO roughly 25% - 50% what you would pay an in-house CMO.
   
   Example: Companies creating revenue of $3 - $5M a year, with 15 - 75 employees will usually have a marketing team, but not senior leadership with advanced marketing experience. Keeping an outsourced CMO on retainer can help these companies ensure they are targeting the right audiences with the right messages using the best channels. They can ensure the appropriate key performance indicators are being reported on a regular basis, and provide invaluable mentorship to the team.
   
   
5. Between full-time in-house CMO's​ - The search for the right in-house CMO can sometimes stretch for an extended period of time. During that time your marketing will likely become more task-based, and less strategic by the minute. The existing in-house team and vendors need guidance and oversight. It can be a good time to consider outsourcing CMO duties for a little while.

In my opinion, a good outsourced CMO will be focused on finding the highest impact strategies for reaching your ideal customer. This shouldn't include branding or rebranding right away. It SHOULD include strategies for messaging to more customer who resemble or have a personal relationship with your current customers.

CMO outsourcing is a new service my company, Kelly Coulter and Associates, provides to a select few companies. Depending on your needs the cost can be as low as $4500 a month. That's a hell of a savings vs. the $15K or more a full-time, in-house CMO can cost.

And there are others out there. Lots of consultants and firms are offering this service. Google it - you'll see. Whoever you use remember to check references and ask every question you can think of. Get your candidate to meet with everyone he/she will be working with, and make an informed decision.
​
Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed the article, please click "like" on the Facebook or Twitter link below. And if you learned something new, share it with your friends and network! Your likes and shares help me spread information and ideas to more professionals just like you!

The last call I had in 2015 was with one of my favorite new clients, Bronxville Wellness Sanctuary in New York. I was a little nervous going in to this call because we ran a holiday campaign on Facebook promoting gift cards, and I didn't have access to the part of their system that would show me the sales. So I wasn't going to know the resulting sales numbers until I talked to them.

So, when Stephanie told me not only was the gift card campaign a success, but that their business is up 30% over last year since they started working with me in September, I was floored! 

I knew that we were posting the right messages and that we were targeting the people most likely to act on those messages. But I had no idea the strategy had been this effective!

Here is what Stephanie had to say about our work together:
"Since working with Kelly on marketing, social media management and gift certificate campaigns, our business has increased 30%! Kelly and her team are easy, professional and take the time to listen to our vision while also giving us valuable feedback based on their marketing expertise. As a small business, we value this immensely. We are grateful to be partners."

Thanks, Stephanie! We value your partnership, and we are proud to call you clients and friends.

So, you have to be wondering exactly what we did to achieve these fantastic results. If you have ever done a free 20 minute strategy consultation with me you already know that I am happy to hand out free information. Here is the list of work we have done with BWS so far:

1. Online Marketing Action Plan - Our work together started in August 2015 with a strategic online marketing action plan. We identified the ideal message and audience, and outlined the plan for reaching that specific ideal audience.
   
   WHY IT WORKS: Many marketing strategies focus on blasting the message out to as many potential customers as possible. Online marketing with my team is very different. We focus on the IDEAL audience. Because the right message aimed at the right audience at the right time will result in action more often.
   
   WANT MORE? My 2016 Marketing Action Plan Creation Group starts on January 19th. Together we will create your 2016 Marketing Action Plan in just 7 bi-weekly sessions. The plan will propel you and your team through the entire year.
   
   Would you rather hire someone to write the plan? We can do that. Order here > (but hurry, the price will go up soon!)
2. Search-term-driven Content Calendar - In October we began the process of taking over some of the social posting responsibilities for BWS. The first step was creation of an editorial content calendar. This combines audience interests with target search terms. The result is a document that guides blog post creation and social posts, and fuels collaboration between our teams by identifying a topic and an article title for each week.
   
   WHY IT WORKS: The Content Calendar gives structure and form to an otherwise nebulous tasks. Blog post writers don't have to worry about coming up with topics - the topics are already identified for the year - and they are based on search goals to optimize the impact of each post. Zero guessing involved!
   
   WANT MORE? I hate to sound like a broken record, but we will create a content calendar during the Marketing Action Plan Creation Group. Or you can hire us to do it for you (send an email).
3. Social content promotion - Once the calendar was completed, we took over much of the posting responsibility for BWS. With this partnership here is how it works:
    - They write their new blog posts based on the content calendar
    - We promote new content by posting on Facebook and Twitter
    - They augment the social posts by adding pictures and updates in real time whenever they like
   
   WHY IT WORKS: We post consistently, and during the times more of their followers are logged in. And we know how to post in ways that drive traffic to the new content.
   
   WANT MORE? We can do the same for you. Send an email here.
4. Facebook Ad promoting gift certificates - This December we ran a paid Facebook ad campaign promoting online gift certificate purchases. The campaign focused on a few key points:
    - instant purchase online (so important for last minute gift givers!)
    - gift certificates could be delivered via email, mail, or they could be printed immediately
   
   WHY IT WORKS: Ads were shown to a select audience only. You saw the ad if you were in the geographically appropriate area AND if you were similar in online behavior to their current customers. This second point is really important - you only saw the ad if you are similar in online behavior to current customers. Like most businesses, the customer base for a wellness center is unique. We focused these ads only on those who were most likely to buy.
   
   WANT MORE: Facebook ad campaigns start at $1000. You guessed it - send an email.

​So that's the work we have done with BWS so far. And the results have been amazing.

​One more thing - this year we will start looking at promoting some of the virtual energy healing services offered by Stephanie at BWS. I have done two virtual energy sessions with Stephanie and - despite the distance between us the sessions were amazing! It was like meditation on steroids. I highly recommend giving it a try!

Questions or comments? Leave them below and I will respond - or Tweet me at @KellyLCoulter. Oh, and if you learned something new from this post I would really appreciate a like and a retweet using the links below.

Maximize what is already working for more sales with less work

Thanksgiving is next week, and with it comes Black Friday and the holiday rush. Before that happens, let's take a look at your plan for December. Have you created a solid plan for increasing holiday sales this season?

It's not too late.

Right now is when you are most likely thinking, "I'm barely keeping my head above water as it is!" With running a business and planning for 2016, who has time to experiment or get creative about the holidays?

Consider trying some new tactics that are proven to get results using your CURRENT traffic. Yep, each of these suggestions works by maximizing on what is already working for you.
​

1. Email: Did you know that the average return on investment on email advertising in 4300%? Yes, you read that right.  Investing in clear, well written, action oriented emails to your subscribers is still the best marketing money you can spend.
   
   The key is consistency and repetition. Pick one thing you want your email recipient to do, and send 2 emails a week talking about different benefits of doing that one thing throughout the holidays.
   
   By sending a series of emails to existing customers reminding them of what they purchased last year, or telling them about your gift certificates, you can significantly increase your sales this year. 
   
   
2. Social Media Ads: Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow advertisers to "right size" their advertising in ways that really work for small and medium-size businesses. You choose who sees your ads, and how much you spend.
   
   The most effective use of paid social media advertising is the creation of look-a-like audiences. This is where you upload the email addresses of your current customers and/or email subscribers. The email addresses are matched to social media accounts, and Facebook then creates an audience comprised of members who behave similarly online.
   
   Use social media paid advertising to show your product to potential customers who are just like your current customers.
3. Re-marketing Ads: Here's another great use of paid social media advertising - remind customers to come back. Remind them that they didn't finish their purchase, or suggest subsequent purchases, the next time they login on Facebook.
   
   Here's how it works: A small, invisible, line of code called the Facebook re-marketing pixel is added to your website. It allows Facebook to know when a member visits your website, and it gives Facebook the capability to deliver ads to past site visitors.
   
   Whether you plan to use Facebook to re-market or not, install the Facebook re-marketing pixel now. It will allow Facebook to deliver generalized data (called 'audience insights') about the types of people who visit your site.
   
   
4. Abandoned Cart Messages: There are a couple of ways this can be accomplished. No matter how you do it, just do it. Follow up with customers that added a product to the cart, but left without checking out. It will lead to additional sales and increased loyalty.

These are some tried and true methods for increasing sales with your existing audience. No risky, time consuming traffic generation strategies.

By the way - you guessed it - I can help you implement any of these methods. Email me using the contact form, leave me a comment below, or even tweet me @KellyLCoulter. We will meet to discuss your needs, audience, project, and budget. From there we can identify next steps and do what we need to do to make more sales this holiday. Contact me soon - you are missing sales as we speak!

Did you learn something new? Do me a favor and click the "Like" or "Tweet" button below.

Thanks for spending some time with me! More soon...