6 TED Talks Every Business Owner Should Watch

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Best TED Talks for Business Owners - David Lee-Schneider MarketingDavid Lee-Schneider Marketing

TED Talks are geared towards spreading ideas using short, powerful talks. The talks last no more than 18 minutes each, are factual and entertaining. Initially, they revolved around Technology, Entertainment, and Design (hence the name TED) when they started out in 1984.

Today, the talks touch on almost all areas of life and business.

As business owners, we can learn a lot from watching many of these talks and gain valuable insights. The good news is, the talks are freely available on TED.com.

TED Talks For Business Owners

Here are my top TED Talks every business owner should watch, in no particular order. Enjoy!

1. Cameron Herold: Let’s Raise Kids To Be Entrepreneurs

Cameron Herold, who founded COO Alliance, gave a TED Talk entitled, “Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs.” In his words, the traditional system of education does not encourage kids to be entrepreneurs. He believes that we should change the system to produce more entrepreneurs.

 

2. Nirmalya Kumar: India’s Invisible Innovation

Nirmalya Kumar’s TED Talk focuses on the link between business and innovation. As most business owners know, running a business successfully requires a good dose of innovation. A business that constantly develops new products and processes has a higher chance of success.

 

3. Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Eight years ago, Simon Sinek gave a TED Talk on the role great leaders play in inspiring action. The lessons from that talk are still relevant today. Company leaders call the shots. CEOs determine the direction a company takes.

A leader determines how successful a company’s digital marketing campaign shall be.

 

4. Regina Hartley: Why The Best Hire Might Not Have The Perfect Resume

What makes Regina Hartley’s TED Talk a must watch for entrepreneurs is the advice she gives on the role of a resume in hiring or not hiring a new employee. Entrepreneurs put too much focus on what is on the resumes.

They forget that the resumes never capture all the important details of a prospective employee.

For example, the resume may not tell an entrepreneur everything the prospective employee did in creating a marketing automation software. A perfect resume may keep us away from one who has overcome great difficulties and challenges to get here.

 

5. Philip Evans: How Data Will Transform Business

The TED Talk Philip Evans gave in 2014 was designed to help businesses understand the role of data. We have to understand the transformational ability that data has in any business. We can no longer ignore analysing the importance of technology and data for running a business.

After all, marketing automation, like all types of technology, depends on data.

 

6. Seth Godin: How To Get Your Ideas To Spread

Seth Godin’s TED Talk was titled “How to get your ideas to spread”. In that talk, we understand the importance of using bizarre ideas in marketing. Good and boring ideas are not always productive. Bizarre ones, on the other hand, capture and retain customer’s attention.

These must-watch business TED Talks are a great start for any entrepreneur who is wanting to learn and grow themselves and their business.

What are your favourite TED talks? Please share the link in the comments below.

 

6 Lessons About Growing Your Business You’ll Learn From Superheroes

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Can superheroes really teach you any valuable lessons about growing your business?

The world has been blessed with a stream of several top superheroes over the years. From Wonder Woman to Iron Man, Firestorm, Superman, Spiderman, and Thor, there is a long list of superheroes to choose from. There are many lessons we can learn from your childhood idols

They entertain us. They also help us to understand more about ourselves. They remind us of some wonderful lessons regarding humanity that we may have forgotten due to the pressures of life.

However, superheroes can also teach us some valuable lessons about growing our businesses.

Here are 6 lessons about growing your business you can learn from superheroes

 

1. Staying true to our aspirations and beliefs

We are likely to forget or abandon our aspirations and beliefs from time to time. However, a close look at these superheroes shows us that we don’t have to go down that route. Pursue what is right for the business until the end, even if nobody else has the same belief in it.

2. Take your power seriously

Superheroes have a lot of power. They also have a lot of responsibilities hanging over their shoulders. Remarkably, they show an uncanny ability to use their power well. They take what they do seriously and so should we while running and growing our businesses.

3. Be ready to make difficult decisions

A close look at any superhero shows that they struggle to make decisions. The weigh each decision’s pros and cons. Sometimes they fail and other times they succeed. What they are very good at though is the ability and willingness to make difficult decisions.

Any person who desires to run a business needs to be prepared to make some uncomfortable decisions, too.

More importantly, making difficult decisions helps us to know our values better! We can all learn from this Harvard Business Review article about making tough decisions.

4. Never be afraid of asking for what you want

Anyone who runs a business also does a lot of asking. We ask for information. We ask for data. We ask clients to give us feedback. We ask clients to buy our products and services. Superheroes are never afraid of asking.

Never be afraid to use marketing automation apps to help the business expand.

We can’t grow any business if we are afraid of asking for help or stating what we want.

5. Stay focused on the most important tasks

Superheroes assume a new aura when pursuing specific goals. They allow nothing to distract them. Entrepreneurs also have to develop such an attitude. It’s important that we stay focused on the areas of our businesses that perform exceedingly well while ignoring distractions. This is just one of the lessons about growing your business you can learn from them.

6. Don’t wait until you feel ready, start now

It’s normal for us to wait until we feel ready to do what we ought to do. That may not be an effective way of growing a business. Superheroes never wait until all conditions are perfect to do something. They get up and do whatever is required now.

There’s no perfect time. Do whatever has to be done NOW!

If it’s digital marketing, embark on it right away! I’ll help you. Let’s have a chat to find out where you’re at and what you need to transform your marketing.

What lessons about growing your business have you learned? Let me know in the comments below.

To your success,

References

Four Tragic Mistakes You’re Making with Digital Marketing

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You might or might not be aware of the mistakes you’re making with digital marketing. It takes a lot of effort and time to make digital marketing produce the desired results. It is not limited to marketing automation software or apps. Digital marketing comes with a unique set of technologies and, most importantly, a great strategy. When you are lacking the right strategy, however, it has several pitfalls and it’s easy to make fatal mistakes that can cost you your business.

Here are four of the most common mistakes business owners are making with digital marketing.

1. Failure to identify a target audience

My business cannot prosper if I fail to identify the customers I wish to target with my products and services. Marketing must always take place with the customer in mind. I must identify and define my customers. I must know who they are. The advice I give to my fellow business owners is to put all digital marketing campaigns on hold until we have a clear idea of the type of customer we want to serve.

Start by studying the audience before formulating a campaign based on their behavior.

2. Lack of marketing strategy

Nothing ever happens consistently and successfully without a strategy in place. Marketing, whether digital or traditional, needs good strategies in place to produce the results the business owner or marketer envisions. In my time, I have seen several tactics and techniques used instead of the solid and reliable strategies. A strategy should come before any tactic or technique. Strategy always shines the light on the path threatened by “darkness” and “uncertainties.”

3. Ignoring mobile

Any form of marketing carried out in the 21st Century that doesn’t consider mobile is set to be a massive flop. Marketing that does not take a mobile-first strategy cannot go far. Ignoring mobile means discriminating against possibly 50% of the customers who keep the business running. Mobile optimization is essential for marketing. Ignore mobile and forget about conversions. Neglect mobile and even great content will not help.

Use this guide to develop a mobile digital marketing campaign.

4. Saying No to SEO

One of the mistakes you’re making with digital marketing is saying no to SEO.It is here to stay. Search engines still believe in SEO and so should we. Digital marketing requires the use of tools such as websites. E-commerce would not happen without websites. A business needs a solid and competitive online presence to be successful. That presence is impossible to create while ignoring SEO and thinking that it is dead. SEO is essential for building and maintaining a healthy presence online.

Avoid ignoring conversion optimisation either.

Avoid implementing too many tactics. Instead, use 1-2 tactics at a time and ensure you can track your results.

Know what your target audience wants.

Know where you can find you target audience.

Adopt strategies for reaching your ideal customers by delivering value.

I hope these points will help you avoid some of the mistakes you’re making with your digital marketing. Have you learned any other valuable lessons in the process of running your business? Let me know in the comments below.

To your success,

 

Reference

6 Common Misconceptions about Digital Marketing

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Digital marketing has helped entrepreneurs and business owners to take their business to the next level. It offers more advantages than other forms of marketing. Digital marketing doesn’t remain dormant for any length of time. It constantly changes and evolves. Along with that rapid change come a number of misconceptions about digital marketing that many believe to be true.

Not enough business owners have a broad enough understanding of what digital marketing can and cannot do and how to harness its true power.

Here are six of the most common misconceptions about digital marketing that I often here when talking to business owners in Australia.

6 Misconceptions about Digital Marketing

1. Digital marketing is for small businesses only

Digital marketing enables all businesses – whether small or large – to identify ways of communicating and engaging with their ideal customers or clients. It offers businesses several benefits, including faster turnaround time when testing campaigns, low cost and much more targeted advertising. It works for small and large businesses alike. No matter your budget or size of your company.

2. Digital marketing doesn’t contribute significantly to any company’s business strategy

This represents yet another misconception that mostly emanates from marketers who believe in traditional forms of marketing alone. Today’s customers are more likely to search for whatever they need on the Internet first thus making digital marketing essential to them.

Modern businesses and companies need websites.

3. It only succeeds with extremely large website traffic

The effectiveness of digital marketing is tied down to quality rather than quantity. For this reason, heavy or tiny traffic doesn’t matter! In our experience, quality will always attract and bring in the numbers that any business needs.

4. A website is all that a business needs for digital marketing

A website plays a crucial part in any successful digital marketing campaign. However, by no means is it the only requirement or ingredient! The website needs fresh content. The content has to be a mix of texts and videos.

Static content will not help the website.

Forbes offers a few ideas on what to do when content grows static and stale.

Static content harms digital marketing even if it’s posted on the most beautiful website.

5. Only worthwhile if my competition use it

Businesses need all the advantages they can get to stay ahead. In my line of work, I’ve realized that I don’t have to embrace digital marketing only because my competition uses it. If I take that path, I will always be behind and that would probably kill my business.

6. It’s not the answer for my industry

One of the misconceptions of digital marketing is that it doesn’t work well in all industries. The truth is it basically works well for all types of industries. It is not limited to a few industries. Any business that applies the principles of digital marketing will reap its fruits the industry notwithstanding. Digital marketing works for all industries whose clients search for products and services online.

Lastly, remember that SEO isn’t dead.

Embrace digital marketing as its results benefit all businesses in all industries.

 

References

5 Little Tweaks That’ll Transform Your Digital Marketing

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Why would you want to transform your digital marketing? Digital marketing is a super dynamic field. It changes at a meteoric pace. Many businesses struggle to keep up with and adapt to these fast changes. It is important, especially for marketers, to always be on the lookout for the next wave of changes and not settle for old ways of doing business.

Your current strategy may require a few tweaks from time to time to improve the results it offers. A few tweaks rather than a massive overhaul is often all it takes to take your campaign to whole new level. Here is a list of five tweaks worth implementing to transform your digital marketing.

1. Integrating Data Into All Your Marketing Decisions

Stop all digital marketing (and any other form of marketing) that is not data-driven. Business owners who continue marketing while ignoring data stand a high chance of heading into a storm of failure. Any content that you develop devoid of data will not produce the desired results either. Make sure you know exactly how much of your budget you are putting into a campaign and what you get out. Track everything!

2. SEO Should Remain a Priority

You will hear all manner of things regarding SEO. For example, some will tell you it’s dying, if not dead already. Well, you have a choice to make here. Either you believe them or you don’t. We would rather you continue prioritizing SEO though. Learn to prioritize SEO.

SEO isn’t a new concept. It’s critical to developing a highly effective digital marketing strategy. Good SEO helps ensures all your content is getting the attention it deserves. More quality traffic will result in more business.

3. Personalising Your Customer Experience

In many industries today, customers are demonstrating a bias towards companies that offer them personalised experiences. It’s not surprising that our lifestyle and interests often determine the choices we make. A highly intuitive group of marketers is necessary to map out and develop this kind of customer experience. Use tools like email automation, Messenger Marketing and other platforms that allow for action-based communication to create a personalised buying journey for each of your customers.

4. Making The Most of Your Website

Your website, if done well, can be one of the biggest assets in your business. Make sure the content on your website is of high quality, engaging and current, so visitors spend more time engaging with it. Make it easy for people to share your ideas using social sharing tools.

Ensure your website is capable of capturing leads by providing additional value to people who opt-in. Opt-in popups are a great way to capture engaged visitors.

Make your website responsive! In 2018, more than 80% of people visit a website on a mobile device. Failing to have a responsive website will not only result in lost visitors, but in lost business opportunities, too.

5. Improve Your Email Campaigns

A well-designed digital marketing strategy always incorporates email campaigns. Emails are not new tools in marketing. Since we already established that the world has moved on, we also have to change how we carry out our email campaigns.

How To Improve Your Email Campaigns:

  1. provide your customers with more value and content they will actually love
  2. being concise by passing the right message at the right time
  3. making the Calls to Action clear while creating a sense of urgency
  4. be consistent with your sending frequency, tone of voice, design and core message

Embrace segmentation and personalisation when developing your email marketing campaigns.

In fact, marketing automation often results in a drastic improvement of the email campaigns I run for my clients.

What are some tweaks that you have used in the past to improve the results and transform your digital marketing campaigns? Let me know in the comments below!

 

References

3 Tips On How To Make Email Automation A More Human Experience

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The words ‘personal’ and ‘automation’, like day and night, couldn’t be any more contrary. So, when suggesting to clients that we should use email automation to communicate with their customers, they often get a little confused. Every day our inboxes are flooded with promotional offers and impersonal emails from big corporations. Part of my job is to make customer experiences more personal and human, and email automation software, like Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign and Ontraport are the perfect tools to do just that.

Here are 3 things you can do today to make emailing your customers more personal and gain valuable insights, all while freeing up more of your busy time.

1. Send a ‘personal’ follow-up email

Your customers might opt-in for your newsletter, download a lead magnet, or purchase a product or service. They then usually receive an automated confirmation e-mail to thank them for taking action. One powerful way to make email automation more personal and human is to send them a ‘personal’ follow-up email shortly after the initial confirmation email. The amount of people who reply to this email is phenomenal and many will even thank you for the warm and personal welcome. I usually send this about an hour after the confirmation email.

Real World Example:



“Hi, [Customer First Name],

 my name is David, digital marketing consultant here at FlySocial. 



I noticed that you just downloaded our free e-book and thought I quickly reach out to say hi and introduce myself. If you have any questions regarding the ebook, or in general, I’m always just an email away. :)



Would you be open to sharing some of the challenges you currently face in your business when it comes to marketing, [Customer First Name]? Have you got any specific goals that you looking to achieve in the coming months?



I look forward to hearing from you,



Kind regards,


David”



Tip: Keep the email in plain text (no branding or template) so it actually looks like you just sent it. Insert your email signature at the bottom of the email, just the way you normally would. You might want to restrict send times for this email to business hours, so customers don’t receive a personal email from you at 3am – unless that’s part of the image that you are trying to convey.

 




2. Collect customer data & actually use it

Many businesses collect customer data but never actually make good use of it. Over time, you might collect a number of details about your leads or customers, such as their name, gender, location, birthday, interests, and what products they purchased. This is all data you can use to make your customer experience more personal.

As a service-based business, you might have a range of services that you offer. Send customers a different series of emails, depending on the service they signed up for. As a gym or yoga studio, you might have a 30-day introductory offer. Design an email sequence that helps people get the most out of their first month with you. Make them feel welcome, educate and inspire them. They are much more likely to stay if you nurture them and deliver a personal experience. Make sure to ask questions to find out where your customers might need some help or what they particularly like about your service. Asking for feedback will not only create rapport with your customers but help you improve your business significantly along the way.

Real World Example:



“Hi [Customer First Name],



it’s already been a week since you signed up for our 30-day intro offer. How are you going so far?

 Have you already had some minor (or major) successes that you are happy to share with me? Or is there anything that you might need help with? Maybe motivation, a nutrition plan, or advice with certain exercises? 

You can always contact me or have a chat with one of our personal trainers. We want to make sure  you get the most out of your 30 days.



Also, how is the time table working out for you? We are always trying to improve and increase the number of classes we offer. Are there certain times during the week that would suit you better?



Look forward to hearing from you, [Customer First Name].



Warm Regards,


[Gym Owner Name]”

 




3. Ask good questions in your email automation sequences

Asking good questions in your emails will give customers the opportunity to respond, thus deepening relationships and building rapport. Most businesses make the mistake to only talk about themselves and their product features. Asking good questions shows that you care about your customers and puts the focus on them. It’s only when we ask questions that we can learn about our customers and use this information to develop better products and services.

Here are some questions that you might want to start asking in your email automation sequences:

•    “What are some of the challenges you are currently facing and how could we be of help?”
    •    “Is there anything about our product/service you think we can improve?”
    •    “What do you like the most about our product/service?”
    •    “Who would you recommend our product/service to?”


Tip: Restrict each email to a maximum of one or two questions. Asking too many questions at once will put off customers, rather than encourage them to reply to your message.

After all, knowing what truly matters to our customers helps us to contribute in more meaningful ways and make the world a little better. One email at a time.

What’s your experience with email automation (good or bad)? Have you sent emails to your customers that performed really well? What are your thoughts about email automation? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

If you are ready to transform your marketing and take your business to the next level, check out my 90-Day Marketing Transformation. I might be the guy who can help you.

To your success,

 

3 Things You Can Do Now To Get Your Marketing Right (And Your Time Back)

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3 Things You Can Do Now To Get Your Marketing Right - David Lee-SchneiderAndrea Piacquadio

Unless you are drowning in new customers, getting your marketing right should always be a priority. As business owners, we face many challenges and have to be able to react and adapt to the constantly changing market, customer behaviour and other aspects of our particular industries.

Certain things, however, remain the same, like the importance of great customer service and building trust with your customers. In fact, they are becoming increasingly important in order to maintain a viable business. What has changed completely though is how we deliver customer experiences. Using clever software, it has become easier than ever before to design and deploy personalised customer experiences that build trust through consistent touchpoints. Moreover, it is now possible to automate your entire marketing strategy, from first contact with your brand to after-sale care. Thus, we have now reached a stage where we are able to develop digital marketing ecosystems that can deliver results 24/7.

A digital marketing ecosystem can help your business move from a reactive way of marketing (only marketing when business is down) to a proactive approach that is more predictable and fully automated. A well-designed marketing strategy produces a steady stream of qualified leads, builds trust through nurturing, helps to make sales and even provides guidance to your customers after they have made a purchase. By automating this entire cycle, we can move our focus towards delivering amazing customer experiences, identify exactly which strategies work and which don’t, and dedicate more of our time to producing amazing products and services.

Here are 3 things you can do now to take your marketing and business to the next level

The result of implementing these strategies is a healthier business, happier customers and more time for business owners to focus on what truly matters to them.

1. Map out your customer experience

What happens after a customer opts in for an offer? Design a series of emails that will guide your customer. Communicate the benefits of what you do in a non-salesy way. Try to connect on a deeper level, tell stories your customers relate to and encourage them to join the conversation. E-mail is a two-way medium. Recognise the fact that it’s not about your brand or product. It’s about your customers. Consider the emotional journey they go through, from not knowing you to increased brand awareness, over considering to buy to actually making the purchase. Help them with their decisions during each of these stages by delivering relevant content.

2. Automate, automate, automate

Use software, such as Ontraport, Infusionsoft or Mailchimp, to automate the delivery of your content. This set-and-forget approach will save you many hours of manual communication each week while creating consistency in the way you communicate with your customers. This, and the fact that you deliver relevant content at each stage of their emotional journey, results in increased trust levels and sales.

3. Consider ditching print advertising

The amount of money I see still being invested in print ads that don’t work is staggering. Moving your advertising budget to online ads (if done right) can result in higher returns and allows you to test and measure results faster and more efficiently. You can launch your ads the day you decide on a campaign and start seeing results in a matter of hours, not weeks. Print advertising certainly still has its place and might work well for certain industries. Just make sure that everything you spend money on can be measured and brings tangible results. If you don’t know your return on investment, it’s probably not a great strategy. Being able to measure the right metrics is key of a good marketing strategy.

Need help with your marketing? Let’s work together!

I help business owners develop and implement the right strategy for their business. In 3 months I will help you automate your marketing activities, including lead generation, social media content, email marketing and so much more – so you can focus on running your business.

Click here to learn more and book a free strategy call today.

Website Kick-Start Guide – How To Setup A WordPress Website For Your Business

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There are a few tips and tricks to setting up a WordPress website for your business. In the following videos, I guide you through the process step by step.

Step 1 – Setting Up Your Domain Name & Web Hosting

Step 2 – Installing WordPress

Step 3 – Installing a WordPress Theme

Google My Business – A Step-By-Step Guide To Maximising Your Exposure on Google

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How to Setup Google My Business - David Lee-Schneider MarketingDavid Lee-Schneider Marketing

To help you with claiming and setting up your Google My Business listing, we have created 3 short videos to walk you through the entire process.

Important: If you haven’t downloaded the free step-by-step PDF guide to go with these videos, click here to download it now.

1/3 – How To Claim & Verify Your Google My Business Listing

Claiming your listing is necessary to control and complete the information that is displayed when people search for you online. Complete and verified listings always rank higher than non-verified or incomplete listings.

2/3 – Categorising Your Business For Increased Visibility

Choosing the right categories for your Google My Business listing is crucial to ensure that it shows up when people search for your business on Google. In this video, we walk you through the exact steps to properly categorise your business and maximise your exposure.

3/3 – Posts, Messages & Insights Explained

Learn about the importance of posts, messages and insights to maximise your business’ exposure on Google.