If anyone knows what it's like to wait to create video, it's me. Back in 2011, after leaving a career in public education I began work as an online 'marketing consultant and media assistant..' This was sort of like virtual assistance and the field was pretty new at the time. Check out my overview below of how to learn video by taking your old photo posts on facebook and turning them into a video. It's not as hard as it sounds. Here I show you how. All you need is a smartphone and a simple free editing app you can download from the App store like iMovie.Watch video on YouTube
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The word 'campaign' can seem really confusing and vague to many new business owners or organizational leaders. Below we'll talk about what a campaign is and the most important elements within all campaigns.
A campaign essentially starts with a single important objective, for example 'Sell our chocolate boxes for Valentine's Day.' You would likely call such a 'campaign' something like 'Valentine's Day Chocolate Box Campaign 2020.' The above is simple enough to understand but where do you go from there? It is important to realize that every well-planned out campaign, event, or promotion is comprised of the same common elements. That's great news if you're working on learning marketing for your business or organization. Once you get to know the elements everything has in common, you'll know how to plan, talk about and promote pretty much anything. You can think of campaigns like books. Every book might hold a different set of details... but each can be broken down into the same 'literary elements'. The same goes for all campaigns, special sales events, special offers and promotions. When an author is planning a story, they can start with a list of elements like main idea, characters and plot etc. and jot down notes on each to have a good idea of the most important pieces of the story going in. It's very helpful to do the same to start your marketing. Try it for anything you want to promote whether it's a product, service or event. The elements all campaigns will have in common are: an objective and or title, a brief description (of what it is), details (like location and how-to-pay details etc.), a 'why' to attend, a 'why now' attend (element of relevancy), credibility details, social proof, call to action, who should attend (audience), and sometimes a 'hook.' Now that you know the above elements of a campaign you'll start to notice them within just about every piece of marketing you see from fliers, to billboards, etc. Learning these key components can make you more of an 'expert marketer.'. It's so helpful to learn them whether you're going into full-fledged business or simply promoting a one-off event as a volunteer for a charity. Also remember that many promotions and events themselves can fall under the category of a single 'campaign' objective. Check out the Free Resource to Help Plan your Campaigns below: Campaign & Promo Planning Sheet Objective or title of event / campaign: What: Briefly describe the event. If needed, use these helpful prompts: Who should attend? (If a campaign, include your ad segments / audiences here) Details & Logistics: Location / Payment details etc: Why attend / opt in / participate: Why ‘Now’: Credibility Details (optional / important for courses etc. – degrees, awards): Social Proof: Call to Action (*what should people do next after knowing the other details?) "Hook” or associated hashtag (optional – a snazzy tagline that pulls attention in): EXAMPLE: Special Event / Campaign Questionnaire Objective or title of event / campaign: Awesome Club’s 10th Annual Bake Sale What: Briefly describe the event. If needed, use these helpful prompts: Come and enjoy a variety of home baked cupcakes, cakes, and pastries! Details: Location / Payment details etc: Awesome club will be holding the annual (well-loved) sale at the local Awesomeville community auditorium at 5 Awesome St. on Saturday Nov. 5th from 10 am to 2 pm. Gluten free and vegan options will be available. All items are $10 or less. Bring cash or credit. Why attend: Each pastry is delicious and helps to support Awesome Club and the free activities they offer to the community. Why Now: Get there early and earn an extra raffle ticket for a free home baked bread basket!! Credibility Details (optional / important for courses etc.): Each baker has been hand selected and qualified to offer pastries in our 10 year running award-winning bakesale! Social Proof: “I look forward to attending the event every year and supporting awesome club. I always stock up on cookie doughs for the fridge at the edible cookie dough table!” Call to Action (*what should people do next after reading the flyer?): Arrive early. Call us at 1-555-awesome with questions. Visit awesome club’s website for more details. Who should attend? (If a campaign, include your ad segments / audiences here) Anyone in the community for has a sweet tooth, loves home baked goods. “Hook” (optional): Add a little home baked sweetness into your holiday…without baking for hours! Website Planning Checklist - What is it? Who is it for? How will it save me time?So you're a new business owner or an established business owner and you want to create your website. It's an exciting yet sometimes (or let's be honest) often, stressful time. You want to get your website up and going, and you want to do it right. Yet, you want to just start serving your customers already and have them be able to easily find and stay in touch with you. Where will you focus your time? ...and to complicate things for you further, the modern online landscape has you questioning, 'Do I even need a website?' (As a trainer, I get asked this question all the time.) A little reassurance - If you're in it to serve your customers for the long haul, your very own website as a hub, is yes, the right way to go! You're doing (or planning to do) the right thing. Social media profiles and individual landing pages are great and important too, but they still (yes, even in 2017) can't even compare to the flexibility, credibility and possibility potential of having your own established website. Your website helps you build authority both on and offline, with search engines & with customers. While you can have plenty of web space akin to rental and vacation properties, your very own website is truly your home sweet home online and its where your customers will always know that they can find you. It gives them a sense of stability, trust and reliability that they just can't quite get from a landing page or a social media account. Let's say you're a restaurant. You could host your menu on Yelp or a Facebook page, but wouldn't it be easier for your customers to simply type in your restaurant name or food + your location, pull up your website in the search results and go right to the correct page and menu? ...without any of the distractions of Yelp ads or the usual 'shiny object' syndrome that exists across any type of social media. Only on your website can you truly serve up the information your customer is looking for in a deliberate manner, organized on your terms and show them where to go or what to do next (with minimal distraction). With that all said, you're probably thinking 'great, so I know I need a website... and this helps me to reaffirm, but what do I do or where do I go next?' How do I cover all my bases? What should I say on my website? How much is too much or what is too little? Well, that's exactly where a 'Website Planning Checklist' comes in and why you really need a game plan (a simple framework) going in. This will help you to Simply Take Action. Sure, there may be hurdles along the way (there usually are for everyone)... but a website planning checklist will keep you moving Forward. No more struggling to recall "What have I done?" "What information do I need now / What do I need to do next?" A true planning checklist helps you to know just that so you can continue your forward momentum and get things (in this case, your website) up and running. Good checklists can help you move through each mini-step and obstacle without giving you extra work to do or more points to consider than necessary (right now). For websites, there are a few different types of checklists out there, but the first and foremost thing to consider when looking for a website planning checklist to help you with your website game plan is 'Is this to the point?' The following website planning checklist is made with that first and foremost point in mind. It is for both new and established business owners, both entrepreneurs who are doing business on and or offline and it can also even be used for putting up not-for-profit and organization or cause websites. While a strategically shorter checklist (like this one) might not answer every single question you'll ever have, you can always quickly and slightly modify a step to customize it to meet your needs. More often than not its a much more helpful way to get started with your website than, for example using a very information-heavy planner, workbook or checklist. It saves more time in the long run to start using a to-the-point plan to follow rather than an overwhelming one. With less to sort through, a shorter checklist will usually have more of what you need, less of what you don't. In fact, this is a good principal to adopt and look out for in any future resource that you seek out to help you build your business. When planning your website, if you don't know what to focus on, you can lose hours of precious time doing extra research, posting in groups, asking friends, playing around with graphics or wondering about what types of copy you absolutely need to add. This free website planning checklist helps you save time because it will keep you focused and working towards completion even if you're jumping around from step to step. It's the one I use with my students, clients an small to get them started. The checklist both takes into account the principals of 'conversion' (driving results and sales) and is tailored to to optimize your (or you and your designer's) own time and productivity.d companies big and I want to save time creating my website. Show me how!(This link above takes you to the website planning checklist.)
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April 2020
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