Developing a digital marketing and social media marketing plan that delivers measurable results requires more than a few pretty visuals or snazzy bite size videos you post on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Creating even the most stunning, funny or high quality content is not going to drive measurable and profitable results if you don't have the right foundations in place.

Stop Wasting Time and Money on Digital Marketing Strategies that Don't Work! 

Too many marketers today are wasting loads of time and money trying to be everything to everyone instead of taking the time to slow down to speed up.

When is the last time you thought about WHY you are investing in social media? Why are you and your team executing your digital marketing plans? Who is it benefiting? Are you really getting the return on investment from your efforts that you know you deserve and expect?

Or are your results much less than you know they could be?

There are many reasons that you could be struggling to achieve your goals and truly impact your business with digital marketing, content strategies and social media. It could be you don't know where to start and are overwhelmed.  Or it could be you are simply focusing on the wrong things.

The purpose of this post and my latest podcast episode today is to help you focus on the RIGHT things!

Focus really is key to success. Less is more. Quality over quantity is how you will see both short term and lasting impact.

Hope is NOT a Strategy – Align Social and Digital Marketing to Your Business Goals! 

Developing a profitable digital and social marketing strategy requires you to align digital and social media to your business goals. You need to pick goals and objectives where your digital and social media tactics can have measurable impact. Simply throwing content up on every social network hoping someone finds it, clicks on it, likes it and maybe buys from you is not a strategy.

Are you tired of being sick and tired of not achieving a positive ROI from your time and money invested into social media?

Does this sound familiar?

• You feel as if you constantly spin your social media wheels with little real business results.
• You don't know where to start to build your social media plan.
• You started your social media plan but gave up as you have no idea how to budget or prioritize.
• Your audience seems to ignore you no matter what tactics you try.
• You have no idea if you are creating content that will actually attract or engage your ideal target customer, ever.
• You keep missing opportunities that could help your business grow as you are stuck in a rut and embarrassed of your social profiles.
• You have become the master of random acts of marketing (RAMs) – random acts of live video, stories, quotes, tweets and visuals.
• You forgot what a positive ROI looks like. 
• You are doing everything the “experts” tell you to do, but there seems to be some big missing pieces they are NOT telling you.
• You get caught up in chasing shiny objects, distracting you from key priorities.
• You are still searching for the magic button to fix all your social media, digital marketing and branding woes.
• You are overwhelmed with the latest Facebook changes and feel like Mark Zuckerberg owes you something.

If these challenges are what you are facing… you landed on the right blog post today.

Take a listen to episode #288 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear 7 Steps to Develop a Profitable Social Media and Digital Marketing Strategy and Plan.

It's not “what can technology and the social networks do for you today,” but instead, what can you do with the technology available.

The truth is Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram owes you nothing. It is your responsibility and problem if you have put all your social business eggs into a social network basket (such as Facebook) that you do not own. Don't blame Mark Zuckerberg.

It's time to get your game face on. It's time to to embrace imperfect perfection. It's time to build and execute a social media plan that once and for all will help you achieve your business and life goals.

If you are ready to get to work and do what has to be done to succeed in the online world today, you must learn these 7 foundational steps.

What you'll learn… 

• The #1 thing that is keeping you from success
• The #1 thing you must have before posting even 1 social network update
• 7 Essential steps to develop a profitable social media strategy & plan that delivers results
• How to get from strategy to plan to execution to measurable results
• The difference between strategy, plan and tactics and why you MUST know the difference
• How to define what success looks like for your business and social media
• The importance of understanding your audience as a #1 priority
• How to identify and stomp Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs) and social media FAST
• How to start integrating digital and social marketing for maximum impact  quick
• The key inputs needed to succeed using social media for business
• Why you need to conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)
• How to identify risks and build a tactical plan to mitigate them
• How to choose the top priority social networks to have the highest impact on your business
• How to integrate influencer marketing into your digital marketing strategies and social media marketing plans
• How to tap into the power of paid, earned and owned media
• Why it's critical that you take time to “ideate” to explore the options that will drive the most value for you and your target audience
• How to ensure your plan helps you inspire and connect with your ideal customer in a human way
• Why success using social media is about so much more than social media, content or branding!

Take a listen to to the 7 Steps to Develop a Profitable Social Media and Digital Marketing Strategy and Plan

Supporting Resources 

• Buyer Persona Worksheet (editable templates to clearly define your target customer)
• How to Get Your Digital and Social Media Marketing Budget Approved (ebook)
• 10 Reasons You Need an Audience First Marketing Strategy
• The Top 10 Things You Must Know About Your Customer (ebook / marketing guide)
• Audience Marketing Prioritization Worksheet
• Content Calendar Template
• Social Profit Factor Training Academy – go at your own pace in our virtual digital and social marketing training academy designed to empower marketers and business leaders to achieve their personal and business goals

How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast 

•  iTunes
• Stitcher
• SoundCloud
  
• Spotify

Need more help? Marketing Nutz Training and Consulting Can Help! 

Need help launching a new product or service? Time for a re-brand or simple refresh for your business or personal brand? Want to leverage the latest trends for digital marketing and social media marketing for your brand? Or do you need help better understanding your audience such as doing a customer focus group? Our agency, Marketing Nutz can help you develop your strategy inclusive of setting goals, a brand architecture and brand storytelling and choosing the right tactics that will help you achieve your goals! Give us a shout and let's get to work!

Social Profit Factor Training System + Member Community can help you ignite your online social brand, tribe and business results! Before you even think about using social media for business you need to develop your social branding strategy and plan!  Social Profit Factor will help you develop your plan with goals, objectives and priorities within 30-60 days!

Take Action:  Download my Buyer Persona Template Pack (editable templates for B2B and B2C)

        

Related Stories

• 10 Bad Habits Digital and Content Marketers Must Leave Behind [podcast]
• Facebook Advertising: Do These 5 Things Before Spending a Dime
• How to Develop an Audience First Marketing Strategy for More Brand Awareness and Customers [podcast + worksheets]

 

Do you struggle with having what you think may be the best digital marketing, content marketing, social media marketing or branding plan on the entire planet yet have no budget to implement?

Remember, an idea is only an idea if you don't have the funding, energy or needed support to ever execute it. Some of the best ideas never make it to market simply because the person behind the idea doesn't know how to get the buy-in, obtain the budget, needed support to make it a reality.

Do any or all of these problems sound familiar?

• You struggle with getting budget approved to implement your digital strategies and social media plan
• Your executives don't understand social media and digital marketing
• You struggle with articulating the goals and objectives of your social media program to key stakeholders
• You feel like you are boiling the ocean as it relates to getting your social media plan approved
• You lack needed support and buy-in for your social media program and plan
• Your brand is in need of a major refresh but you can't get the budget approved to do such
• You don't know how to align social media to business goals and objectives your executives and key stakeholders care about
• You know your organization is filled with employees who want to power up your brand and could be loyal brand advocates but you can't get the support you need to empower them

Would you like answers to these questions? If yes, you have landed on the right blog and podcast today.

One of the biggest challenges business, digital and social marketing leaders face across organizations of all sizes is obtaining the needed support, buy-in and funding to achieve their desired goals and objectives.

My training and consulting agency, Marketing Nutz works with organizations of all sizes from startups to Fortune 10 organizations. We recently just launched a new training academy, Social Profit Factor which helps small business, entrepreneurs up to Fortune 10 brands learn how to leverage social media to truly drive real business results.

We help business of all sizes earn the needed support, trust and budget so that they can begin to finally once and for all implement modern and social media marketing strategies and tactics into their business to increase measurable results.

Many businesses have pockets of people within the organization who understand they need to make major shifts in how they are utilizing social media, digital media and modern technology and communication, yet they struggle with making it happen. They struggle with making the needed mindset shifts, and even getting their organization off the starting block and away from using the social networks for only spamming and tactics that in reality may be hurting the brand more than helping.

Getting approval from key stakeholders, executives, board members, or even investors is key to success for any major program. This includes social media. Social media should not be a band-aid you slap on the side of your business, hoping you can improve your bottom line with more amplification via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. You get out of social media what you put into it, and that includes budget. This is often a hard nut for many executives new to social media to swallow.

Download this free ebook and then take a listen to episode  #279 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast and learn how you can setup a 6 month plan for budget approval. The key is to earn the trust and respect early on in your social media program so that you can earn the additional needed budget in later phases of your project.

The podcast will provide you with the foundation to help you win support of even the toughest to please c-suite executive and stakeholders as early in the process as possible!

I split the podcast into two sections. The first includes 5 things you should NOT do and the second includes 5 things you MUST do.

In addition the bottom of this blog posts is loaded with helpful resources, templates and white papers for you to leverage in your planning and execution. Be sure to download the full white paper which includes even more tactics and strategies to get your Social Media Budget Approved!

Episode Highlights

• 5 things you MUST do to get approval for your social media budget and plan
• 5 things you should NOT do if you want to obtain approval for your social media plan and budget
• Why you must have a solid foundation that includes knowing your audience, goals, and objectives
• Why starting with a well defined scope and plan will help you achieve results faster than trying to boil the ocean from day one
• Why you must simplify your plan for key stakeholders to understand and provide you the buy-in you are seeking
• Why you must know where you are going and why before you can get others to board your train
• Setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and ensuring all stakeholders and executives understand them
• The importance of ensuring all team members and executives are speaking the same language
• Consider doing a survey to help you better understand the skill and needs of your executives, stakeholders, team members and employees
• Why you must align your social media efforts to your top business goals and objectives
• Why collaboration is key and you must avoid working in a bubble
• Why you must not “fake it until you make it” and instead get the necessary 3rd party help if needed

Supporting Resources:

• How to Get Your Social Media Budget Approved (ebook)
• Buyer Persona Worksheets (editable worksheets for both b2b and b2c)
• Audience Analysis Worksheet
• Content Editorial Calendar Template

This podcast is proudly sponsored by .online domains: 

Need more help? Marketing Nutz Training and Consulting Can Help! 

Need help launching a new product or service? Time for a re-brand or simple refresh for your business or personal brand? Want to leverage the latest trends for digital marketing and social media marketing for your brand? Our agency, Marketing Nutz can help you develop your strategy inclusive of setting goals,  a brand architecture and brand storytelling and choosing the right tactics that will help you achieve your goals! Give us a shout and let's get to work!

Social Profit Factor Training System + Member Community can help you ignite your online social brand, tribe and business results! Before you even think about using social media for business you need to develop your social branding strategy and plan!  Social Profit Factor will help you develop your plan with goals, objectives and priorities within 30-60 days!

        

Related Stories

• 7 Steps to Develop a Profitable Social Media & Digital Marketing Plan in 2021 [podcast]
• 10 Bad Habits Digital and Content Marketers Must Leave Behind [podcast]
• 5 Pillars to Develop a Personal Brand that Ignites Authority and Influence

 

In the last 15 years alone, social media went from that thing that Interned old-timers sneered at to that thing that multinational corporations pour millions of dollars into. What I’m trying to say is that it grew fast. Really fast. And it’s here to stay. 

However, us marketers know that posting one cat pic on Instagram is one thing. But building a coherent social media plan for clients or stakeholders, who may or may not have certain demands, is another. So, we want to share a few tips on how to do that while keeping your sanity and your weekends. No cats were neglected while this article was being written though.

Why Collaboration is Important 

Ask any modern professional, and they’ll tell you that collaboration is one of the biggest daily challenges. 

Unfortunately, our industry is no exception. Gone are the days of the bored social media specialist who could just plug his band on the shoe store’s Facebook page they manage without anyone asking questions. 

Nowadays, an agency could have up to 10 marketers juggling with dozens of social media accounts and just as many demands from clients. So, it goes without saying that collaboration and communication are key in establishing a consistent social media presence.

Then there’s the issue of showcasing your work…

Showcasing work

Say you’ve become fully familiarized with your client’s needs in terms of social media presence and everything that this entails. You understand their target audience and came up with some great content ideas. 

Congratulations! You can now go to sleep knowing that you’ve done your job. But don’t smooth out those comfy bed sheets just yet – your clients and stakeholders are waiting to see, review, and approve your work. Since long conference room meetings aren’t really a thing anymore, you need technology. 

Showing social media content to stakeholders isn’t only about sending an email. The way you showcase that work will inevitably impact the feedback it receives. Its relevance, its speed, its positivity. So, here are a few tips that will help you choose the right environment to showcase your work to approvers.

Five things to consider

• Both the team and the stakeholders involved must have a clear, pixel-perfect view of how the content will look like once posted.
• The solution should allow your posts to be adapted according to the channel
• The client should be able to visualize the content by week or month at a glance
• Your content should be spiced up with hashtags, emojis, and gifs. 
• Plan ahead. Whatever you choose, it needs to make collaboration easy for marketing and clients. For example, your solution should make it possible for collaborators to leave feedback right next to the posts and resolve it on the spot, attach files to comments, and collaborate in real-time. 

How you can do it with tech 

Powerpoint 

The first obvious solution for visibly showing creative work might be Powerpoint. We get it. It’s free. It’s what you’re used to. Your presentation can be easily structured by social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and format (video, carousel, gif, image, and so on). However, this involves creating dozens of mockups which can make building the presentation harder than creating the actual content. On top of that, your clients will get an incomplete picture because they can’t see what actually happens when you click on something. So, how does a carousel post work?

Spreadsheets 

The spreadsheet is the modern office workers’ most trusty tool. While showcasing your social media work via spreadsheets is technically possible, I’m going to give you a few reasons why you shouldn’t:

• Your client can’t visualize how your posts are going to look. You know that old saying – the emoji is mightier than the row. Or something like that.
• Spreadsheets are a logistical nightmare that nobody working in a creative field should have to deal with. Folders with images, endless email chains with Google Drive links, video attachments, back and forths on Slack, oh god, I forgot to set the privacy settings to “everyone with the link” and now everybody hates ––
• Spreadsheets impede collaboration, making giving, receiving and implementing feedback difficult. 

Planable 

Ok ok, I'll admit my bias upfront. I'm part of the team. But before you roll your eyes, take a glance at how it can help you.

Planable is a content collaboration tool that allows users to create, collaborate, showcase, and approve social media content, all in one place. This solution makes it possible to preview Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram posts as they would appear in the feed. Oh, and you can also schedule or publish your posts right from there. How awesome is that?

Here are just a few things examples of what you can do with Planable (I swear they’re topical):

• Spice up your posts with emojis, active hashtags, page tags, and all that good stuff. We also have Giphy integration.
• The ability to create content for multiple pages at once and adapt it on a case by case basis.
• Give, receive, and implement feedback in real-time. 
• Label your content by topic, campaign, brand, and so on and so forth. 
• Store your files in our sleek Media Library and track where they’ve been used before.
• Add posts in a predefined time slot. Don’t like that slot? Moving your posts around our content calendar is as simple as dragging and dropping them. 

Approval Process 

Why you should never skip it

Despite the negative connotation, approval processes are not about control and incessant micromanagement. Approval processes are necessary because more brains lead to better results than one. It’s as simple as that. 

However, the lack of a coherent approval process can turn social media management into a kerfuffle of conflicting opinions and half-baked work. Bottom line, the quality of your content will take a dip and your clients will be disappointed as a result. Then there’s the fact that, with no review and approval processes, there’s nobody to keep an eye on the messaging and whether or not the content is offensive or sensitive. 

What should the ideal approval process look like? 

I bet your first question is who you should involve in your approval process.

Short answer: anybody who you think could add value to your content. I know, pretty generic. But it doesn’t make it less true. 

But wait, don’t text that graphic designer friend who helped you with a meme just yet. You still need structure.

The best way to do this is by splitting your approval process into these two broad categories:

• Directly involved. Pretty self-explanatory. It includes the people who are directly supervising the content creation process, be it Team, Brand, or Account managers. These categories usually see the content after it’s been created and proof-read.
• Second line of approval. This category should (ideally) see the content only once it’s been polished and triple-checked. That’s because their feedback is relevant only when the content is 100% done. The people who are usually involved in the second line of approval are internal stakeholders, upper management, product managers and, you guessed it, clients. And as any person working in a creative field can attest to, you really don’t want to ask for your client’s input too early. Lest you want to regret not choosing another line of work like, I don’t know, welding. 

Where to start when building your social media approval process 

Now that you have your approval processes and all that jazz worked out, it’s time to focus our attention on another kind of process. This one’s even less sexy, but trust me, it’s just as important. 

Think about your social media process as if it’s a journey your content takes before going live: creation –> review –> approval –> publishing. 

Your social media approval process should look something like this:

• Steps. Start by establishing the steps each piece of content has to go through before being posted. This can vary from case to case, but in general, it starts with ideation, followed by copywriting, design, review, approval, and finally, publishing. 
• People. Grab the people you’ve decided to involve and assign them to the steps relevant to their skills. 
• Go-signs. All you have to do now is make sure everybody’s clear on how the content travels from one step to the next, or rather, when it’s ready to do so. You don’t want your content to get stuck in approval limbo.

Can I also do it in Planable?

Of course you can, you silly goose. 

If there’s one thing we’re great at, that’d be social media collaboration processes. It doesn’t make for a great party trick, but guess who’ll go to parties because they’re not stuck at work handling a PR crisis?

Planable was built with safety in mind. Here’s how our solution can save you from accidental self-sabotage:

• Locking content. For the perfectionist who wants to fiddle with their content after it’s been published. We’ve all been there. After a piece of content has been green-lit and posted, it only makes sense to lock it in its current form. 
• Permissions. Great way to avoid any accidental publishing and edits. You can grant different levels of permissions and access to team members with just a few clicks. 
• Version control. Planable saves each and every version of your post. On top of that, each piece of content created in our solution is shown in logs, so team members can see who-did-what at a glance. 

Oh, we have a Black Friday deal this weekend only 

Wait, don’t go yet. Until Monday, November 30th, you can get access to Planable for an entire year for only $199 instead of $396.

Why do this deal now? Well, we want you to plan your holiday content 6X faster. Those seasonal memes ain’t gonna post themselves. And for $199, you can literally make them do that. Because we have content scheduling. 

Ok, now you can go. 

        

Related Stories

• 10 Bad Habits Digital and Content Marketers Must Leave Behind [podcast]
• 7 Steps to Develop a Profitable Social Media & Digital Marketing Plan in 2021 [podcast]
• 5 Pillars to Develop a Personal Brand that Ignites Authority and Influence

 

Do you need a personal brand in business today? The answer is yes!  People buy from people, not logos.

Personal branding is a requirement for any business leader in any niche.

Building a personal brand of authority, trust and influence is the dream of many CEOs, CMOs, VPs, Directors, founders, marketers, entrepreneurs and business owners in business today.

Unfortunately, many venture out to the digital world trying to build their personal brand but quickly get caught in the sea of social media vanity metrics and a desire for instant fame that stunts their success before they get started.

Your personal brand is made of perceptions of how people interpret your actions, words, digital behaviors and more. You can't control their perceptions with only fancy graphics, logos, taglines or scripted videos with the perfect words.

Personal branding is about so much more than a perfect profile photo on LinkedIn, fancy logo, well rounded professional summary and snazzy content posted to all of the top social networks on a daily basis.

You have a personal brand regardless if you consciously designed it or not. 

Your brand is not just your colors, tag line, digital business card, fancy graphics, logo or a sweet looking set of memes and animated video.

Your brand is who YOU are. It's what you stand for. Your brand is your promise to the world and your customers… and how you deliver on it or not.

Your brand is everything you do online and offline. It's what you say, where you say it, how you say it and who you say it to. It's where and how you comment on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit.

Your brand is the images you post. Your brand is the filters you use on Instagram. Your brand is the hashtags you use and the people you tag in your posts.

Your social and digital body language speaks so much louder than your words. You can spend months creating the perfect message and brand platform. However, if you and your team are not living your brand online and offline, the words eventually mean nothing.

People will make a decision is as little as 8-10 seconds if they like you or not. Every brand impression matters.

Though you can't control your brand perceptions, you can certainly influence them if you take the time to understand how.

Do you have a personal branding strategy and plan?

Have you thought about your personal branding strategy? If not, you should. Download our Personal Branding Guide and Worksheet to get started.

How do You Build a Personal Brand of Authority and Trust? 

As with anything in business and life, how you start is the key to success. Personal branding for business requires proper research, planning, development and of course execution.

There are 5 Core Pillars to Build a Personal Brand of Authority and Influence.

Take a listen to episode 286 of the Social Zoom Factor Podcast to learn the 5 Pillars to Build a Personal Brand of Authority and Influence.

In this 30 minute podcast you will learn: 

• 5 Pillars of Personal Branding for Business
• How to build a personal brand of authority, trust and influence
• The top 2 things you MUST have before starting the development of your personal brand
• How to build a personal brand of authority and trust
• Brand strategy development – what aspects of brand development matter most
• How to quickly grow your network and authentically leverage your best connections to grow your brand awareness and trust
• Importance of an integrated digital and social platform that connects you with your dream audience
• How to choose the right key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to define and measure success
• How to leverage content marketing to ignite your authority in your niche and industry
• How to more quickly become the “go-to” expert in your industry
• Why knowing your audience and target customer will help you better connect with your dream customers and grow your business
• How to leverage your personal brand to drive more traffic to your website, generate more leads and get more customers
• Understanding your own digital body language so you can best influence brand perceptions for every brand touch

Supporting Resources 

• Personal Branding Guide and Worksheet 
• Digital Body Language: 105 Factors Impacting Your Personal Brand
• Buyer Persona Worksheet (editable templates to clearly define your target customer)
• Content Calendar Template
• Top 10 Power Tips to Ignite Your Brand and Business on LinkedIn (podcast)
• Social Profit Factor Training Academy – go at your own pace in our virtual digital and social marketing training academy designed to empower marketers and business leaders to achieve their personal and business goals. From 101 to advanced strategic level training – there is something for all experience levels!

How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast 

•  iTunes
• Stitcher
• SoundCloud
  
• Spotify

Need more help? Marketing Nutz Training and Consulting Can Help! 

Need help launching a new product or service? Time for a re-brand or simple refresh for your business or personal brand? Want to leverage the latest trends for digital marketing and social media marketing for your brand? Our agency, Marketing Nutz can help you develop your strategy inclusive of setting goals,  a brand architecture and brand storytelling and choosing the right tactics that will help you achieve your goals! Give us a shout and let's get to work!

Social Profit Factor Training System + Member Community can help you ignite your online social brand, tribe and business results! Before you even think about using social media for business you need to develop your social branding strategy and plan!  Social Profit Factor will help you develop your plan with goals, objectives and priorities within 30-60 days!

Take Action:  Download free Guide: Personal Branding Guide and Worksheet

        

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• How to Preserve Your Personal Brand and Relationships in a POLITICAL Minefield
• 10 Bad Habits Digital and Content Marketers Must Leave Behind [podcast]
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Do you REALLY know your customer? Do you know where they hang out and spend the most time online? Do you know their biggest problems that keep them up at night?

Do you know their biggest goals and dreams? Do you know what they do for a living? Do you know their favorite hobby and how they spend their leisure time? How about how they order their favorite coffee at Starbucks?

Many savvy marketers will tell you that you “must know your customer.” Yes, this is true.

However, very few marketing experts, agencies or consultants in the industry will actually tell you HOW to research and learn the details about your customer! They want you to pay them the big bucks for a little help in this area.

My agency, Marketing Nutz helps businesses of all sizes research their audience, prioritize their market segments and buyer personas for incredible results with digital, content and social media marketing. We do this through a combination of methods that may include online research, surveys, social media network insights, focus groups, interviews and the list goes on. Every customer is different as is their budget and appetite for taking an audience first approach to their marketing.

Good news! Today I am not holding back.  I am sharing with you the top 15 most simple ways you can research and learn more about your target customer. These are methods you can start using today. Most of them require zero investment other than your time. And even the time needed for many of these methods is not too much and definitely worth the investment.

Investing in learning about your target customer is one of the best things you can spend your time on as a marketer.

Unfortunately too many business leaders, business owners and even savvy marketers skip this step. They want to go straight to the content writing, email marketing, social media posting and gaining what they think will be amazing brand awareness, leads and sales.

Here's the thing… you can scream the loudest and get attention…maybe… for the short term.

However, if you want real business outcomes in the form of brand awareness, meaningful website and blog traffic that converts to real paying customers, then you need to do more than shout. You need to connect with your audience in human ways. You need to spark their curiosity in a way that they want to learn more about how you can help and serve them.

You can't do any of this if you don't KNOW your customer.

If you want to improve the performance of ALL of your marketing, then you MUST know more about your target buyer than your competition does.

Targeted Marketing is Human Science, Not Rocket Science

When you truly KNOW your customer you can be the one who serves them the highest value. You can then speak to them in a language and tone they understand and that resonates with them.

When you don't know your customer or you have the mindset that everyone is your customer then you end up talking to nobody.

Targeting everyone is essentially targeting nobody. Too many marketers are afraid of narrowing down their target market. They keep their target market segments too broad and as a result they spread themselves too thin from a resource and budget perspective.

They are then not able to properly research, inspire and connect with the RIGHT customer. It's a vicious cycle of mediocre marketing.

Less is truly more in the online, social, digital and always connected online world of today. Your dream customers are not waking up in the morning thinking… “oooooh… I can't wait for all the brands who are going to spam me in my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn news feeds today.”

NO! They want value. They want meaning. They want human connection.

Target Customer Research in a Nutshell 

This comprehensive target customer research guide includes the following: 

1. 15 Simple Ways to Research Your Dream Target Customer
2. Podcast with details of all 15 customer research methods (hint: you can start using these today!)
3. Additional supporting resources such as our Buyer Persona Worksheet, 5-Day Buyer Persona Bootcamp Virtual Training  and our Content Calendar  Editorial Template

Take a listen to the 285th episode of the Social Zoom Factor Podcast to learn the Top 15 Methods to Research Your Customer for FREE

In this 30 minute podcast you will learn: 

• Top 2 things you must do BEFORE starting customer research
• Top 15 simple and easy methods to conduct customer research on zero budget
• How to create a target customer profile
• What is audience marketing
• What is an audience first marketing strategy
• What is target marketing
• What is a buyer persona
• How to leverage natural conversation for customer research
• How to leverage email marketing for customer research
• Tips to conduct focus groups on little or not budget
• Importance of social listening to learn about your customer
• How to leverage online communities to research your dream customers
• How to leverage digital user behavior to understand your customers buying and digital engagement patterns
• How to tap into industry reports for customer research
• Why Google is your best friends for customer research
• Top tools to research top trends about hot content your customers loves right now

Supporting Resources 

• Buyer Persona Worksheet (editable templates to clearly define your target customer)
• 10 Reasons You Need an Audience First Marketing Strategy
• The Top 10 Things You Must Know About Your Customer (ebook / marketing guide)
• Audience Marketing Prioritization Worksheet
• Content Calendar Template
• Social Profit Factor Training Academy – go at your own pace in our virtual digital and social marketing training academy designed to empower marketers and business leaders to achieve their personal and business goals

How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast 

•  iTunes
• Stitcher
• SoundCloud
  
• Spotify

Need help taking your brand to the next level? Social Profit Factor Training Academy and Marketing Nutz Can Help!

Take Action:  Download my Buyer Persona Template Pack (editable templates for B2B and B2C)

        

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• How to Develop an Audience First Marketing Strategy for More Brand Awareness and Customers [podcast + worksheets]
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If your digital marketing and social media conversations are targeting everyone, you are targeting nobody!

Successful marketing equals targeted marketing! You need to consider and deeply understand the target buyer for your products and services.

Some marketers shy away from the term “targeted marketing” as they think either 1) it's not personal enough or 2) they don't have enough data to actually target the right customers.

One of the best ways to increase the Return on Investment (ROI) on ALL of your marketing including digital marketing, social media, content marketing, influencer marketing and more is to take an Audience First Marketing approach to your marketing.

Have you heard of audience marketing but not sure what it is, how to develop an audience first marketing strategy or how to use it to grow you business? If you answered yes, you definitely landed on the right blog post today!

Audience Marketing in a Nutshell 

This comprehensive audience marketing guide includes the following: 

1. Audience Marketing in a Nutshell: How to Develop an Audience First Marketing Strategy for More Brand Awareness and Customers
2. Podcast with more in depth training on Audience Marketing and how to get started.
3. Additional supporting resources such as our Buyer Persona Worksheet, 5-Day Buyer Persona Bootcamp Virtual Training, 10 Reasons You Need Audience Marketing eBook, Content Calendar Template

Welcome to Audience Marketing where Riches are in the Niches

The riches are in the niches! The better you can target your audiences and ideal customer, the better you can inspire, connect with and serve them amazing value!

Smart marketers know an audience first marketing approach is the foundation to successful digital marketing, content marketing and social media marketing programs. An audience first approach to marketing exponentially increases the ROI on ALL of your marketing.

If you want more traffic to your website, more leads, more opt-ins to your email newsletter, more members in your social media communities, more sales and more customers, then you NEED an audience focused approach to your marketing.

The average buyer researches and consumes between 7-10 pieces of content before making a buying decision. As a marketer or business owner, a top goal should be to make sure every message, video, blog post, visual, podcast and piece of content you create is connecting with your target audience and inspiring them to learn more!

What is Audience Marketing?

Audience marketing is an intentional alignment of your marketing messages, content and focus to the needs of your audience.

An audience first marketing approach shifts the focus from YOU to THEM. This means you focus more on how you can SERVE your audience over how you can SELL to them.

What is an Audience First Marketing Strategy? 

An audience first marketing strategy is when you prioritize your audience as the #1 priority when developing marketing strategies, tactics and detailed plans for execution! This means nothing comes before your audience. Your audience is first in everything you create, publish and execution.

What is a Buyer Persona? 

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional, generalized representation of your ideal customer based upon market research and real data.

Buyer personas help you understand your audience and ensure your marketing messages are helping you earn trust, build relationships and become relevant in the mind and heart of your ideal customer.

Many marketers think buyer personas are complicated or that taking the time to create them will slow them down.

The truth is buyer personas are simple to create and will help increase your marketing results exponentially, almost immediately!

Take Action: Download my free Buyer Persona Template here-> Buyer Persona Template Pack  (includes editable templates for both B2B and B2C!)

3 Steps for Audience Marketing Success

There are 3 steps you should take to succeed at audience marketing. They are as follows:

• Step 1: Do your research 
• Step 2: Know your unique value 
• Step 3: Align EVERYTHING you do to the needs of your audience. EVERYTHING! 

Take a listen to the 284th  episode of the Social Zoom Factor Podcast to Audience Marketing in a Nutshell to learn the What, How and Why You Need an Audience First Marketing Approach to Grow Your Business and Increase Marketing ROI

In this 30 minute podcast you will learn: 

• What is audience marketing
• What is an audience first marketing strategy
• Top 3 benefits of audience marketing
• What is target marketing
• What is market segmentation
• What is a buyer persona
• What is a customer avatar
• What is a customer profile for b2b
• Key data points needed to develop your own buyer personas
• Difference between demographic, geographic and psychographic data
• Why buyer personas are a requirement for any market, industry and organization big or small who want to be relevant, get more leads and grow their business
• Top 5 ways a buyer persona will help your business grow
• 3 Steps you need to take to get started to develop your audience first marketing strategy
• Why relevancy is key to earning trust, building relationships and getting more customers!

Supporting Resources 

• Buyer Persona Worksheet (editable templates to clearly define your target customer)
• 10 Reasons You Need an Audience First Marketing Strategy
• The Top 10 Things You Must Know About Your Customer (ebook / marketing guide)
• Audience Marketing Prioritization Worksheet
• Content Calendar Template
• Social Profit Factor Training Academy – go at your own pace in our virtual digital and social marketing training academy designed to empower marketers and business leaders to achieve their personal and business goals

This podcast episode is proudly sponsored by User.com

How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast 

•  iTunes
• Stitcher
• SoundCloud
  
• Spotify

Need help taking your brand to the next level? Social Profit Factor Training Academy and Marketing Nutz Can Help!

Take Action:  Download my Buyer Persona Template Pack (editable templates for B2B and B2C)

        

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One thing is certain in today's innovative, digital, social, automated and always on connected world and that is change. The only guarantee we have is change.

Yet even the most savvy digital and social marketers find themselves stuck in ruts.

Instead of always doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result, we need to have the guts to truly step out of our comfort zone.

Bigger marketing and business results come when we get comfortable being uncomfortable. We need to stop old habits that hold us back. We need to embrace new mindsets, thought patterns and daily habits that move us forward to achieve our goals!

We need to recognize the habits that may feel comfortable but in reality are the exact same habits that are holding us back.

We need to look at our beliefs and see how they are influencing our daily thoughts. Are your beliefs such as lack of confidence in yourself, keeping you from innovating? Do you struggle with imposter syndrome? Do you get stuck using the same processes over and over? Do you over complicate everything when you really need to be simplifying? These are all habits that could be sabotaging your marketing results!

In the latest episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast I share 10 Habits Every Marketer Must Leave Behind Now!

Take a listen to episode #283 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn the habits you need to stop plus the top habits you can embrace to achieve bigger and better results immediately on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud or Stitcher

My belief is that for both business and life, we must take the road less traveled, it has far fewer ruts! 

What you will learn in this 30 minute podcast episode: 

• Top 10 habits marketers must leave behind now!
• What marketing strategies are working now
• How to get brave and having confidence to measure digital marketing results
• Why perfection is the enemy of good
• Why you must stop trying to be everything to everyone
• Importance of targeting the right audience
• Why imposter syndrome has no place in your mind or marketing strategy!
• Importance of confidence and believing in yourself to do the “hard things!”
• Why you must focus on simplifying your strategy and technology choices vs over engineering and never making progress
• Why you can't go it alone and need to partner up with the right people
• Content strategies you must throw out and how to enter the new year right!

Supporting Resources 

• Sales and Marketing Conversion Funnels: The Ultimate Getting Started Guide
• Buyer Persona Worksheet (editable templates to clearly define your target customer)
• 5 -Day Buyer Persona Bootcamp 
• 10-Point Checklist for Irresistible Content (ebook)
• The Top 10 Things You Must Know About Your Customer (ebook / marketing guide)
• Audience Marketing Prioritization Worksheet
• Content Calendar Template
• Step-By-Step Guide: How to Get Your Digital and Social Media Marketing Budget Approved
• Social Profit Factor Training Academy – go at your own pace in our virtual digital and social marketing training academy designed to empower marketers and business leaders to achieve their personal and business goals

This podcast episode is proudly sponsored by User.com

How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast 

•  iTunes
• Stitcher
• SoundCloud
  
• Spotify

        

Related Stories

• 7 Steps to Develop a Profitable Social Media & Digital Marketing Plan in 2021 [podcast]
• 15 Easy Ways to Research Your Target Customer for FREE [podcast + worksheets]
• How to Develop an Audience First Marketing Strategy for More Brand Awareness and Customers [podcast + worksheets]

 

To speak or not speak about your political views via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or even Tik Tok… that is the question many business leaders and marketers are asking themselves today.

It's not news that our global economy, cultures and daily lives are in the midst of change. From global pandemics, social justice, elections, peaceful protests, riots, rallies, supreme court nominations, to trade deals, there is much to talk about.

Politics is not just about who wins the next election. It's not as simple as posting a meme on Facebook accompanied by an opinionated rant and hoping you can sway your friends to vote for the candidate of your choice.

When is the last time your political opinions were swayed by someone throwing a hissy fit on Facebook or Twitter? Likely never.

Politics are About Human Beings More than “Politics” 

The truth is that politics really aren't just about politics. It's about being human. Politics are about emotion, justice, core values and beliefs. It's our own personal perception of the world, how it treats us and the impact we want to have on the world, because of our experiences.

It's incredibly difficult to understand what even your favorite aunt or best friends really is thinking when they share a meme, viral video or rant of the latest political scandal or issue. Communicating on social networks is not the same as a real face to face conversation that happens between two or more human beings. Though our digital body language such as “likes”, shares and comments have impact, it's not the same as the eye to eye contact or hug that happens during or after a real life conversation.

Instead digital political conversations leave much to be assumed. Assumptions are some of my least favorite things when it it comes to both life and business. Assuming what someone is thinking is never a good place to be. Political conversations on social media leave much to be assumed versus truly knowing what someone meant by a particular word or emoji.

Do Politics and Personal Branding Go Together? 

When it comes to politics and personal branding, do the two go together? Or should you keep your mouth shut and keep politics off of your personal and business social timeline?

I explore these topics and more in my latest Social Zoom Factor podcast episode #282 – Personal Branding and Politics – Preserving Your Brand and  Relationships in a Political Minefield

Take a Listen to Personal Branding and Politics – Preserving Your Brand and Relationships in a Political Minefield

In this 30 minute podcast you will learn: 

• How your brand is made up of perceptions and why each brand touch counts
• Do personal branding and politics go together? When and how can it work?
• Why you must dig into the WHY you want to share political content
• How your digital body language speaks louder than your shiny brand corporate messaging
• How to still have impact in the world but also preserve your personal and business brand integrity
• To speak or not to speak about politics on social media – questions to find the right answer for you
• How to determine what you are comfortable sharing
• How to share political content without the risk of damaging your brand and relationships
• When it's time to walk away from a political digital conversation
• Tips to manage digital trolls and why you must ignore them
• How to find the right political content to share and engage in
• How to be the hope, light and positivity in a crazy, dark world

Supporting Resources 

• Personal Branding Guide and Worksheet 
• Digital Body Language: 105 Factors Impacting Your Personal Brand
• Buyer Persona Worksheet (editable templates to clearly define your target customer)
• Content Calendar Template
• Top 10 Power Tips to Ignite Your Brand and Business on LinkedIn (podcast)
• Social Profit Factor Training Academy – go at your own pace in our virtual digital and social marketing training academy designed to empower marketers and business leaders to achieve their personal and business goals. From 101 to advanced strategic level training – there is something for all experience levels!

This podcast episode is proudly sponsored by User.com

How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast 

•  iTunes
• Stitcher
• SoundCloud
  
• Spotify

Take Action:  Download free Guide: Personal Branding Guide and Worksheet

        

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• 5 Pillars to Develop a Personal Brand that Ignites Authority and Influence
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With more than 700 million members in more than 300 countries and regions, LinkedIn has become a power house of digital opportunity for brands and social savvy marketers who know how to build relationships and ignite their brand with authenticity.

Relationships are the foundation of business today

Your network is your net worth. Social currency on the web today = attention + action. It's not enough to only gain attention.

You need to grab the right attention from your target audience using methods that drive them to the right action. Action that helps them achieve their goals and at the same time helps you earn trust and build relationships.

Relationships are at the core of business today. Social networks such as LinkedIn are simply a medium for you to build meaningful relationships through conversation and content that inspires, connects and converts to business.

Engagement is Key to Success on LinkedIn

LinkedIn presents tremendous opportunity to build brand awareness, generate leads and increase sales as you build your network of powerful contacts.

The key to success on LinkedIn is learning how to find, connect with and engage the right people in authentic ways.

The best part is that LinkedIn is not as noisy or saturated with spam content and digital noise as some of the other social networks you may be getting tired of by now.

However, LinkedIn is not a social network that you can just throw up your digital content spaghetti and hope it sticks and magically brings you leads.

You need to find ways to not only find your audience but also engage them in human and authentic ways that inspire them to want to connect with you, learn more about your business and hopefully build a relationship.

There are many tools which can easily help you automate every message you send on LinkedIn as well as engagement. However, it's not always the best method to use automation if you want to start and nurture real relationships that help you earn trust with every brand touch.

It takes 6-7 brand touches before someone remembers your brand. Do you really want the first 3-4 brand touches to be 100% automated? Or would you rather engage them authentically in human ways with your content, videos and engaging behaviors that earn trust?

Your digital presence such as how you present yourself, how you engage and even what you like, comment on and share on LinkedIn all impact your personal and business brand. Your actions speak louder than words. Your digital body language will either ignite or destroy your success online today.

Are your actions on LinkedIn attracting the right people to you and your brand? Or are they pushing them away? Or maybe you are struggling with getting noticed at all and wish you had more engagement? Are you properly leveraging your personal brand to earn trust and attract people not only to you, but to your business and brand?

I am thrilled to share with you my top 15 tips to help you increase engagement immediately! These are the same strategies I have used to build a following of more than 350,000 on LinkedIn supported by 15,000 connections. I've been using LinkedIn to build my network, ignite my brand and grow my business for more than 15 years!

Take a listen to episode #281 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn the Top 15 Strategies to Increase LinkedIn Engagement.

In this 30 minute podcast you will learn: 

• 15 Proven strategies to immediately increase your engagement on LinkedIn
• Tips to leverage LinkedIn to increase brand awareness and grow your business
• Top tips to improve your LinkedIn personal profile for more engagement
• Tips to tap into the power of the top LinkedIn features for more engagement and to attract your dream customers
• How to create a hashtag strategy for more LinkedIn engagement
• Why you should be very careful when using automation on LinkedIn to drive engagement
• How to tap into the power of the OPC (other people's content and community) for massive engagement
• Why engagement is a key metric and goal you should be driving on LinkedIn
• How to create a content strategy that sets you up for success with consistency and relevant content to attract your dream customers on LinkedIn

Supporting Resources 

• Personal Branding Guide and Worksheet 
• Buyer Persona Worksheet (editable templates to clearly define your target customer)
• Audience Marketing Prioritization Worksheet
• Content Calendar Template
• Top 10 Power Tips to Ignite Your Brand and Business on LinkedIn (podcast)
• Social Profit Factor Training Academy – go at your own pace in our virtual digital and social marketing training academy designed to empower marketers and business leaders to achieve their personal and business goals

This podcast episode is proudly sponsored by User.com

How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast 

•  iTunes
• Stitcher
• SoundCloud
  
• Spotify

Take Action:  Download free Guide: Sales & Marketing Conversion Funnels – The ULTIMATE Getting Started Guide!

        

Related Stories

• 5 Pillars to Develop a Personal Brand that Ignites Authority and Influence
• How to Preserve Your Personal Brand and Relationships in a POLITICAL Minefield
• 7 Steps to Develop a Profitable Social Media & Digital Marketing Plan in 2021 [podcast]

 

Standing out in the digital sea of noise is a struggle for any business today. There is definitely not a lack of brands trying to get the attention of their dream customers.

The good news is that you can tap into the power of the massive audiences on social media with paid advertising.

When done right, Facebook advertising can be one of the best paid media options available to businesses of all sizes today.

Facebook advertising is a marketing tactic every marketer is talking about it, but very few actually know how to drive real business results. Unfortunately there are far too many “experts” preaching and teaching how to get rich and famous overnight using Facebook marketing. The sad truth is these same experts are confusing new social media marketers more than helping.

Although there is no guarantee that you will reach your target customer on any media today, including Facebook advertising, there are definitely strategies and tactics that can help you achieve a better ROI if you plan ahead.

Our agency, Marketing Nutz works with brands big and small to help them drive a positive ROI with every dollar spent on digital, social media and marketing overall. We train and speak all over the world helping marketing, business and brand leaders try to not only understand organic and paid media, but optimize it for the highest business result possible.

One of the top questions I always hear is… “does Facebook marketing actually work?” Then, the next question I hear is…”why doesn't Facebook advertising work for me and my business… I have tried it numerous times and finally just gave up.”

Does this sound familiar?

• You have wasted far too much money on Facebook advertising with little to zero return
• You don't know where to start when it comes to paid media, earned media and everything in between
• You don't know the difference between a Facebook boosted post or any other type of Facebook advertisement
• You get confused when you logon to Facebook ad manager
• You know what Facebook business manager is but would be happy if you never had to open it again
• You run away from the Facebook Power Editor because it gives you bad dreams

Facebook advertising requires both art and science. You can't just hop on Facebook, insert your credit card and out pops a bucket full of new customer leads, sales and ROI. I know some marketers may want you to believe such. However, the truth is they likely just want your email address or your money.

This podcast is part of a new series titled “Welcome to the Pay to Play World, Are You Ready?”

Take a listen to the 277th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn Top 5 things you MUST know before you before starting any Facebook advertisement!

Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, “Welcome to the Pay to Play World, Are You Ready?” on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!

In this 15 minute podcast you will learn: 

• 5 foundational elements you must know before spending a dime on Facebook marketing
• How to get started right from day one as you start using or learn to optimize your Facebook marketing efforts and investment
• Why you must have the right mindset for success using Facebook advertising
• Different types of Facebook advertising options
• The importance of setting goals, objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success
• Tips to determine your Facebook offer
• The importance of an integrated digital and social platform for converting leads and achieving your goals
• Why your problem in achieving your results using Facebook advertising may not be Facebook but other issues with your digital platform and conversion funnels
• Why you must focus on your conversion funnels as a top priority before wasting time and money on Facebook advertising
• The importance of knowing your audience to target your audience and increase ROI of Facebook advertising

Supporting Resources 

• Buyer Persona Worksheet (editable templates to clearly define your target customer)
• The Top 10 Things You Must Know About Your Customer (ebook / marketing guide)
• Audience Marketing Prioritization Worksheet
• Content Calendar Template
• Social Profit Factor Training Academy – go at your own pace in our virtual digital and social marketing training academy designed to empower marketers and business leaders to achieve their personal and business goals

How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast 

•  iTunes
• Stitcher
• SoundCloud
  
• Spotify

This Podcast Episode is Proudly Sponsored by: 

Take Action:  Download free Target Customer (Buyer Persona) Worksheets 

        

Related Stories

• 7 Steps to Develop a Profitable Social Media & Digital Marketing Plan in 2021 [podcast]
• 10 Bad Habits Digital and Content Marketers Must Leave Behind [podcast]
• How to Develop an Audience First Marketing Strategy for More Brand Awareness and Customers [podcast + worksheets]