On today’s podcast, I offer three ways you can show up for yourself when marketing your brand. Marketing can be vulnerable. But there are ways to conquer it and do 
marketing with CONFIDENCE. Check out today’s podcast and SHOW UP for yourself.
Podcast: Getting CLEAR On Your Brand
Clarity is everything. People hire, promote and buy from people and companies that
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they know and understand. How clear are you? Today’s podcast offers 3 ways to get clear on your brand.
Get Refocused on Those Goals
So here we are… at the end of the first quarter?
How did you do? I’m sure many of us started the year off with high hopes and admirable goals. Were you able to accomplish some of those goals? Were you able to follow-through on your to-do lists and make some great things happen for your brand and business?
If you did – congratulations! Great job… keep going and stay focused.
If you did not do move the needle in your business for the first quarter of 2019, no need to fret! Don’t get discouraged. There is still time to make amazing leaps in 2019. Some seasons are just for dreaming and planning.
Below are 5 tips for revisiting those goals and plans and jump starting your marketing for the second quarter of 2019:
1.) Get moving: I know… this doesn’t sound like marketing and branding advice, right? But its true!! Body movement forces your brain to gain clarity and get creative. If you are dragging and feeling uninspired, try getting some exercise in your life (cardio, yoga, strength training). Find the right exercise and body movement for you. It will instantly give you a boost and clear your mind.
2.) Photo Shoot: Yes, new photos are always a great way to get you refocused and alerts your audience that some thing new may be coming from your brand. If you can’t afford a professional photo shoot right now, grab a friend with some great photography skills and do your own photo shoot. Share the photos on social media and your email marketing to get generate some energy around your marketing.
3.) Live Video: Don’t be afraid! Just do it. Doing live video on Facebook or Instagram is a great way to get engagement from your audience, which is always a great boost for your brand and business. Decide what you will talk about and move forward with launching a video
4.) Network: Find an organization or event to attend the second quarter of the year. Networking and meeting other like-minded individuals can instantly get you re-focused and ready to take your band to the next level. If you don’t have an accountability group or a business bestie – find one!! Attend networking events together and share books and thoughts on growing your business.
5.) Hit the books: Is there an area or skill you need to work on? Grab a book or take an online class or course! Or it may be something simple by listening to new podcasts that challenge you. Learn something new and put it to practice. This will help you feel re-energized and ready to conquer some new areas in your business.
6.) Revisit those goals: Some times our best laid plans go astray due to unforeseen circumstances. There will be things that come up that you didn’t anticipate. It is perfectly acceptable to revisit and rewrite those goals. Don’t feel stuck with the goals you wrote 3, 6 or 9 months ago. Building a business is about being flexible.
If you need any assistance with gaining clarity and setting your next quarter goals, check out my goal-setting clarity session!
Getting Clear on Brand Clarity
Are you clear on your company, organization or personal brand? Brand clarity is critical to growth, efficiency and budgeting.
Below are some signs that you may not be clear on your brand:
- Do you struggle to articulate what your company sells?
- Are you unsure of what makes your company/organization (or self) stand out?
- Do you waste a lot of money on marketing?
- Are you not sure what to say “yes” to or what to say “no” to?
- Do you find yourself offering various products or services with no clear connection to your brand?
- Do you struggle to know or understand your target audience?
If you answered yes to 3 or more of these statements, you may need more clarity.
Why is clarity important?
Below are just a few reasons why everyone should focus on brand clarity and revisit it in their marketing and branding strategy regularly:
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If you need any assistance, feel free to reach out to me for a strategy session!
P.S. Have you missed some of my other newsletters? To catch up on my blogs and writing, visit my website and blog by clicking here. Or if you are not following me on IG or Facebook, be sure to click the link and follow me to stay updated!
Podcast: How to Make an Impact with your Marketing
Creating a movement and making an impact is important if you want your brand to last and you have a message you want to spread.
Today’s podcast will deal with these issues – bringing you 3 points for 3 minus.
Are You REALLY Ready to Succeed?
I recently attended a leadership luncheon for women entrepreneurs. It was great to see so many female entrepreneurs from all different types of backgrounds and talents.
The question was posed: “Why is that so many female entrepreneurs make less money than male entrepreneurs and their businesses fail faster?” Many hands raised with various answers. The majority of people landed with the belief that often women don’t support each others businesses enough. Really?? That’s why we are not succeeding at the same rates?
I completely disagreed with this being the reason why we are not succeeding in our businesses.
From my experience with clients and others that I encounter, many people don’t understand the numbers for their business. Often, women come up with a great idea or a beautiful dream, with lots of great talent. However, they have NOT done the numbers to make sure it is a profitable business. Many times, we don’t know our bottom line numbers, our profit margins, our items per transaction, our customer acquisition rate, or revenue percentages.
It is so important for business owners to understand the numbers of their business.
BUSINESS IS A NUMBERS GAME.
Do you know your numbers?
As we go into 2019, let that be your goal. Let’s know our number and how that can translate into profit for our companies.
Stay tuned for seminar on January on how to learn your business numbers!
In the meantime, keep connecting those dots!
Lee
P.S. If you are not following me on IG or Facebook, be sure to click the link and follow me to stay updated!
Tricks to Smashing Goals
It’s that time of the year when so many of us are focused on setting goals for the end of the year and to kick off the next year with focus and rigor. We have all seen the social media posts and the encouragement to smash the goals and become a “goaldigger.” But what are some tricks and tips to setting goals? Most of us know about setting SMART Goals (Specific, Measure, Achievable, Results and Time). However, is there more? Are there other tips that can help us get to where we want to go.
Below are some of my quick “Busy, Bossy and Branded” tips on setting your goals and accomplishing them.
1.) Set goals that excite you! Yes, get excited. Of course we have things that we need to do that don’t get us very excited. For example, getting your taxes done is not very exciting, however if the goal is to “Organize my finances to increase my savings account” – that may be exciting! One of the action items for this may be: Create a buget or File Taxes.
2.) Put some action to it. Action items underneath your goals is critical. It can be somewhat easy to come up with a “dream” goal list. However, the power behind goal setting is the action list. When creating your action list, keep it simple. Keep it VERY simple. Try to limit your action items for each goal to 3-5 activities.
3.)
Celebrate Your Successes. I believe in celebrating. There is something power about celebrating your successes, big and small. It creates momentum and keeps your mindset in a positive and growth mode.
4.) Embrace it Everyday. Your goals list should be a part of your everyday life. Put it in several places throughout your home, office and electronic devices. Look at it every day, several times a day to make sure you are moving in the right direction and your mindset is aligning with what you want.
5.) Repetition. I hope you are writing your goals down, however, in addition to writing them down, speak them and write them often. As stated in the fourth point, your goals should be a part of your everyday life. Record them and listen to them a few times a week. Repetition is the mother of success!
I hope these tips and tricks are helpful to you! I would love to hear about how you have smashed your goals and created new ones! Email me at lee@ashbyandwatts.com if you have any questions or want to share your goals.
What’s So Special about Instagram Stories?
So, have you taken advantage of the latest features of Instagram and Facebook Stories. There has been a huge increase in viewership and use of the “Stories” features on Facebook and Instagram. As a brand owner, you should find ways to make it work for you. (Key point: always notice trends and think of how to use it for your brand.) How can a small business, or solopreneur use this feature to increase their marketing and branding?
Below are 6 ways to use Stories for your branding and marketing:
1.) Authenticity: Authenticity is key to growing your brand. Your audience wants to
connect with you. With Stories, you can provide behind the scenes photos or videos of your product or work, or provide a tour of your office space or business. But don’t limit it to just your business. What are other aspects of your life that are connected to your business and brand that you can also highlight? Use Stories to add more authenticity to your brand.
3.) Ask Questions: Instagram has a poll feature. What questions are you dying to ask your followers? Simple questions that can give you more insights on future products, services or trends? Aside from learning more about your followers, it is yet another way to connect with your audience. People like being asked their opinion. Use the poll feature to connect to your audience and gather more opinions.
4.) Give More Value: Do you know why they choose you and follow you? What do they like about you? Whatever that is – give them more of it in Stories. Teach or talk about an important piece of your business. Show them how to do something that will make their lives easier. This will keep them clicking on your stories.
5.) Give them Directions: What do you want your audience to do? What do you need more of to grow you brand? Use the Stories feature to tell them. Often as brand owners, we expect our audience to know what to do. But Stories is a great way to point your audience in the right direction. Call to Actions (CTA’s) are great in Stories. If you want them to click on the link and buy or register, tell them. If you want them to listen, tell them and show them. If you want them to watch your video, lead the way.
6.) Gain more followers: On Instagram, always use hashtags! Hashtags and IG go together. It helps create and pulls together your community and followers. In addition to using hashtages, have fun with the colors, arrows, gifs and the other cool features of Instagram.
These are small things that you are most likely doing already as part of your marketing and branding. The key is to take it to Stories and do in consistently. The key is to not overthink it. Keep it fun, simple, inspiriting and entertaining. You will slowly begin to see your audience increase and your current followers become more engaged with your brand.
If you need assistance with using IG or help with your branding or marketing, feel free to contact me.
Do You Want More?
“You cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards… – Steve Jobs
Do you have synergy with your business or organization? Or even if you are an employee… do you naturally approach your projects with a perspective of synergy and connecting the dots?
Synergy is when the sum is equal to more than the two parts. Yes, the connection and energy of ideas meeting each other and creating something MORE. Do you want MORE for your business or organization?
When I meet with a new client, I am always looking for synergy or ways to connect the
dots. Below are the four ways I approach connecting the dots when working on a project or with a client.
1.) What do you value? Every company, organization or brand has something that it values. Event if you don’t notice it right away, there is something happening
2.) What are you really selling: Not your service or product. But what are you really providing and giving to your clients? Why do they choose YOU? Know this.. and the world opens up.
3.) Know Your History: Steve Jobs put is wonderfully with the above quote. You have to look back at all your dots, history and connections. With clients, I’m always looking for the foundation, how it started. What was the sentence, the experience, the event that started the ball rolling. Don’t ignore your history.
4.) Maximum effect: In addition to looking at all the above-mentioned, I also review how each action can have maximum effect. Every action or initiative that we do should have multiple purposes and functions. If one of your actions will only affect on thing, its time to either rethink the action or connect the dots. For example, if you speak at a conference, that speech or preparation should be repurposed to do something else for your brand. How can it have maximum effect?
Synergy.
Connecting the Dots.
How to Practice Intentional Marketing
How intentional are you? Intentional is about knowing why you are doing what you are doing and making a decision to go in a specific direction. It always comes back to our WHY. Are you intentional with your business? Intentional in your relationships? Intentional in your finances?
“Intentional living defines your life before circumstances destroy it.”
The quality of our lives should not be an accident or a mystery. When we live an intentional life, specifically with our businesses, we don’t get as distracted with mishaps or detours. We realize that we have been so intentional and clear on our WHY and DIRECTION, we know that we are still on the right path. We treasure our moments and are energized with even the mundane activities.
As we begin looking at the end of the year, I want to encourage you to be intentional with your time, with your business and your marketing.
Below are some quick tips on being more intentional:
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- Set daily, monthly and quarterly goals
- Use a calendar
- Know what you want (many of us don’t know what we really want)
- Write it out
- Change your mindset
- Practice Gratitude
- Declutter your life
- Master your mornings
- Make an appointment with Lee Watts 🙂
If you need clarity, have questions on how to be intentional with your marketing or want to set new goals for your business, email me. I’d love to help you!
