Posted by Joseph Erndt on Aug 15, 2017 in Blog
“Natural” and “organic” are greenwashed Many products use synthetic and organic ingredients yet market themselves as being natural and organic. Consumers are getting smarter and “chemical free” is becoming a red flag! Everyone understands that plants, minerals and even the reactions inside our bodies are chemical. So even organic products are made up of chemicals. “Free of harmful chemicals” would be more accurate but wouldn’t role off the tongue the same way. As more and more products enter the green space, consumers are now more empowered than ever to shop for the products that truly align with their values. Consumers are becoming aware and acting out against greenwashing. Greenwashing is when a company or organization spends more time and money claiming to be “green” through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact. Being authentic, original and a true fan of the product will get you much further than catering to the market as a whole. Defining exactly who your product is for and what its key benefits are will make it much easier moving forward, especially when you need to explain to distributors, stores and consumers why they need to try your product. Packaging Packaging is also crucial as it’s your product’s most immediate and visible marketing device. Packaging is more than just a logo and a pretty picture on the box; it is the public face of your product, and it needs to be handled with careful and deliberate consideration. Ingredients Just because something is all natural does not necessarily make it safe. There are many natural toxins, Since consumers continue to become more educated they have also began to catch on to marketing that makes a product seem more healthy then they really are. Coloring Food dyes are one of the most widely used and dangerous additives. While the European Union has recently placed regulations on labeling food dyes to inform consumers of the health risks, the United States has no such requirement. Here are some of the most common food dyes used today, according to the Food Freedom Network: Blue #1 (Brilliant Blue) An unpublished study suggested the possibility that Blue 1 caused kidney tumors in mice.What it’s in: Baked goods, beverages, desert powders, candies, cereal, drugs, and other products. Blue #2 (Indigo Carmine) Causes a statistically significant incidence of tumors, particularly brain gliomas, in male rats. What it’s in: Colored beverages, candies, pet food, & other food and drugs. Citrus Red #2 It’s toxic to rodents at modest levels and caused tumors of the urinary bladder and possibly other organs. What it’s in: Skins of Florida oranges. Green #3 (Fast Green) Caused significant increases in bladder and testes tumors in male rats. What it’s in: Drugs, personal care products, cosmetic products except in eye area, candies, beverages, ice cream, sorbet, ingested drugs, lipsticks, and externally applied cosmetics. Red #3 (Erythrosine) Recognized in 1990 by the FDA as...
Read More »
Posted by Joseph Erndt on Jul 30, 2017 in Blog
Where should you be spending your marketing budget. 2017 Marketing guide for everyone Business owners get bombarded my marketing calls, emails, mailers, visits and ads all day long. They all claim to be the best option with the best results and the best match for you but how can this be? The truth is that each method serve different purposes and understanding your needs, budget, and target audience is the only way to really know what method or rather combination of methods will be best for your business. First things first let’s talk goals. If you need fast sales and lots of leads you will be taking a different approach then if you want to build long term customer base and brand awareness. This can seem confusing but lets jump into a quick example. Say you have a garage door business and you run an ad on t.v. a lot of viewers may not immediately need your service and you may not see a direct return on investment right away. However over time the audience watching will remember your ad next time they need your service or when a friend is in need of your services. Now lets look look at google ads. Someone searching for your services will see your ad above natural results and can get quick business for you but overall a very small few will become aware of your brand. Trying different things and experimenting is important to finding your perfect approach. You have to not be afraid to fail and except that not everything will be perfect but you will miss every shot you don’t take. It is important to know the differences between Branding and Direct-Response. While some techniques offer immediate revenue they may not help your business in the long run. Lets start by listing the different options and their strengths and weaknesses. We will also rank them by the cost, reach, targeted, branding, short term/long term. traditional mediums finally here is a break down of the cost and What’s the most cost effective way to advertise? We have found that SEO, PPC, Email and content marketing are the most cost effective way to reach your audience but we still feel that businesses benefit greatly from traditional tangible advertising. We have always had the best luck with a combination of techniques done really well then doing just one perfectly or trying to do a little bit of everything and not committing. The more you know about your competitors and your ideal customers the better idea you will have of what methods to use. If you offer a high end product or service or something that customers tend to do a lot of research on before buying we highly recommend implementing a full inbound marketing Strategy. What’s the Most Cost-Effective Way to Advertise Nationally? Based on our findings, we feel that SEO, PPC...
Read More »
Posted by Joseph Erndt on Jul 15, 2017 in Blog
What is inbound marketing? Instead of an ad that someone may not understand exactly what you were doing or how it can help them you will be sharing content that customers can see the direct benefit and understand your product or service.Traditional marketing may not have the benefits to new businesses need. Inbound marketing is about using marketing to bring potential customers to you, rather than having your marketing efforts fight for their attention. Sharing is caring and inbound marketing is about creating and sharing content with the world. Providing information they want instead of ads they avoid. Is Inbound Marketing Right For your Business? If a big part of your product or service is knowledge or information. Something people may need to learn more about or are interested in researching then most likely your business is a great candidate for inbound marketing. This can give the greatest benefits to high ticket items such as consulting, digital goods,real estate, and anything that customers tend to research heavily and tend to make up their minds before even connecting with the sellers. Products and services that customer’s may need to research several types of solutions before researching products/services to find out if they are buying the right one and they are getting what they need. Successful use of inbound marketing requires extensive research of our industry and competitors, what people are saying about them, which one best matches what we need. By finding who your idea clientele is, where they find and discuss their information and what solution they are looking for, you will be able to provide insight in the places they already frequent and are most willing to listen. Long research cycles leading them to seeing your product or service as an investment not a cost. Inbound marketing works so well because now businesses that are researching the problem they are having or solution they are interested in on your website. In the end, they are not only informed about the topic giving you authority, butit also positions you as an expert on the subject. Best techniques to use inbound marketing to make huge sales As the name suggest inbound marketing allows businesses to organically connect with their ideal customers by offering them the information they are looking at the early stages of the buying process. As they may just be looking for answers, curious about their options or just idle interest, or not even sure of what the problem is, they may also find out the benefits of services that they could never have realized in a static ad or 20 second commercial. As one answer often leads to another question,you offer them more on your site, bringing them inbound to being a customer. The best blog post are the ones that answer the questions that you have to answer multiple times every day in your business. Even though...
Read More »
Posted by Joseph Erndt on Jun 30, 2017 in Blog
Everyone has heard content is King. However, it is the most misleading advice that so many of us fall victim to. Yes good content is important but even the most perfectly written article that doesn’t appeal to your audience, isn’t useful to your audience or doesn’t get seen by your audience is really just a waste of time. So we are going to go through these three issues to really make sure your content has the best chance to go viral and provide a return on your investment. How to make content that appeals to your target audience It can be a daunting task to just sit down come up with something your audience wants to know and then put the answer together in it compelling way to captivate your audience. there are a couple trips that make this much easier. 5 question to help you come up with tons of content topics. Now that you have a topic think about the things that you always explain to your customers on those topics. There are many questions you answer so many times in your business that you think it is done to death but what you don’t realize is many potential customers have never heard it before and may be looking for exactly that. Do some research and make sure that you are being helpful to rightly educate potential customers and they will see you as an authority in your field. picking the right headline How with the perfect article written what are you going to call it? Here are some templates to creating a headline that will capture an audience. Now the best way to use great content is part of an inbound marketing strategy. There is to much to say about inbound marketing here but you can check out ****article**** Now that you have killer content, here are some things you can do to make sure it is seen. What is inbound marketing? Instead of an ad that someone may not understand exactly what you were doing or how it can help them you will be sharing content that customers can see the direct benefit and understand your product or service. Traditional marketing may not have the benefits to new businesses need. Inbound marketing is about using marketing to bring potential customers to you, rather than having your marketing efforts fight for their attention. Sharing is caring and inbound marketing is about creating and sharing content with the world. Providing information they want instead of ads they avoid. Is Inbound Marketing Right For your Business? If a big part of your product or service is knowledge or information. Something people may need to learn more about or are interested in researching then most likely your business is a great candidate for inbound marketing. This can give the greatest benefits to high ticket items such as consulting, digital...
Read More »
Posted by Joseph Erndt on Jun 17, 2017 in Blog
Effective Social Media Marketing requires having followers. If you are putting out the best content you can but do not have the audience to share and like it then may be disappointed with your results. The three golden rules to social media are simple. 1. Know Your Audience – share content they are looking for 2. Engage Your Audience – you are talking with your audience not at them 3. Be Consistent – success requires patience, consistency and genuine interest For more best practices, tips and tricks to social media success check out our ebook. Simple task to 1. Add share buttons to your website and individual blog post: Make sure that if you have great shareable content that you make it easy for readers to share on their favorite social media platform. Tweetmeme allow you to add RT @YOURUSERNAME to the end of each tweet shared from your site, so that would help you get more followers. 2. Create original and relevant content: Be creative and find ways to delight your potential audience with content that fills a need, solves a problem, or something purely for enjoyment that they can share. 3. Reach out to influence’rs: Influencers in your niche can be powerful friends in growing your business. Commenting, sharing, liking their content also tag or mention them to start to build a relationship. As you build rapport they may start to share your content. Offering them free samples or special promotions is a great way to get them to mention you to their audience. 4. Invite followers: One of the simplest ways to get people to follow you is to ask. Start with employees, vendors, clients, customers, and personal friends.Start with a friendly email to let them know about your social media pages. You can also invite them directly on those platforms after to make it easy for them to accept. 5. Reshare other people’s content: Share posts, images, and tweets your audience will love from businesses and individuals in your niche , and they’ll be more likely to share yours. 6. Use what is works: Look at your own content and from your competitors and influencers to find what post are getting the most likes and shares. These posts will also get you the most page followers if you can create more like them. 7. Be responsive: you are not just talking at your customers on social media. You are engaging them. Be sure to respond to their comments, questions and even complaints to show you are true to your values and your audience will grow. 8. Offer incentives: Gain followers by offering exclusive discounts, or coupon codes, also by giving away free product samples or prizes for new fans or followers. 9. Go find your audience: You don’t have to wait for followers to find you, you can go out and find them. 10. Cross-promote:...
Read More »
Posted by Joseph Erndt on Jun 2, 2017 in Blog
Many of you have already seen the TED talk by Simon Sinek called “Start with Why.” If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend it. The core message is that people care more about businesses’ beliefs and core values then what they offer. Examples of this appear all around us when businesses seem to pop out of nowhere and start to take over a market that many believed couldn’t be competed against. This concept is especially true when it comes to the natural market. Authenticity starts from the beginning and should ring through all aspects of your business if you ever hope to succeed. It is more important than ever to not only have a great product but to understand why anyone should care. Why are you bringing this product to market? If your reason is to make money, it is easy to see why people won’t care. If your reason is authentic, like wanting to solve a problem, challenge a status quo or fulfilling a demand, then that is something people can get behind. Your message needs to convey that. Message mapping your why? A message map is a process used to create compelling, relevant messages for various audience segments and for organizational alignment. A message map is a visual representation of your idea on one piece of paper. It is a powerful tool to help you pitch your message. Step 1: At the center of the message map will be your core value proposition. If you cannot define your brand within 21 words with a core value proposition, then you need to refine and define your brand. There are a million things that may make your brand unique, but there is one key reason that your business is different. The more time you spend defining this message, the easier it will be for people to understand why your business is different. If your message is not authentic, then people will see that, and you will join the ranks of the billions of products that didn’t make it. The core value proposition will be the one thing, above all else, that you want people to take away from your product. If you can’t define it in under 140 characters, then you can’t expect people to easily understand your message in the seconds it will take them to make up their mind to either explore further or to write it off and go on to the next product. Step 2: Support your core value proposition with three supporting messages. If you are not familiar with the rule of thirds, then I highly recommend you read our article “The Rule of Three.” These key supporting messages are essential to your core values. Step 3: Your core value proposition is in the center of the page with your three supporting messages below. Now you will want to reinforce your three supporting messages with three sub-points such...
Read More »
Recent Comments