Quick, easy and effective marketing advice for small business owners.

A question I’ve gotten a couple times in the past is whether or not my clients should combine their businesses on their website. It just happened in fact.

To make it simple I’ve put some examples below. The Examples with an X should use two separate websites, and the examples with YES, can combine the businesses in their marketing/brand.

Examples:

x Barbecue and home design

x Jewelery and Chinese Food Recipes

x Furniture and Dental Tips Blog

x Fashion and Real Estate

yes – Makeup and hair

yes – Event and catering (food)

yes – Blog/author/speaker/influencer/public figure

yes – eCommerce store that is relevant to your service (Merch)

yes – blog that is relevant to your service

Copy and paste the following into a word document and answer as quickly as you can. The point is to brainstorm.

Demographics:

  • Gender:
  • Age:
  • Location:
  • Income:
  • Business or Occupation If any:
  • Rent or Own:
  • Suburban, Rural, or Urban:

Psychographics

  • Hobbies & interests
  • What is their preferred social media platform?
  • Where do they get their info from? What websites or publications do they read?
  • How informed are they about your type of product/service?
  • Do they currently use a competitor product or service? What do they already know about your industry?
  • Are they technically savvy?
  • How would you describe their personality?
  • What do they like?
  • What do they dislike?
  • Are they type A or B?
  • How do they prefer to communicate?

Buying Behavior:

  • How do they usually buy?
  • When do they buy?
  • Where do they do their research?
  • How do they make a decision on which one to buy? What is their role in the purchase decision?
  • What influences their decision?
  • What is the situation that triggers them to make the purchase?
  • What would happen if they didn’t buy?
  • What roadblocks might be preventing them from buying?

In content marketing, your editorial calendar, or content calendar, maps out your content marketing ahead of time so that it’s ready to post, thought out, and organized.

This is important because for example bloggers have to have blogs prepared and events prepared ahead of time for holidays and events. Same with retail companies.

You will need:

  1. A google account
    1. Google for biz is a good idea, it’ll combine your storage plus free office software online AND a custom email (yourname@yourwebsite.com)
  2. Basic Knowledge of Google Sheets

Instructions:

  1. Create a spreadsheet in google sheets
  2. Set up your official Content Marketing Document and call it “Editorial Calendar”
  3. In the first sheet, call it ‘details’. This will be where your login information is stored as well as your keyword/hashtag/tag sets and any other information. This is also handy for when you get big and famous and hire assistants. They’ll have a much easier time working for you if your stuff is organized ahead of time.
  4. On sheet two, you’ll title it ‘content’ and start organizing your content details
  5. In the left column you’ll have your ideas list
  6. Include columns for the outlet, links to the description, hashtags, and everything else that will need to be included in your posts. This can get really busy, so take advantage of the additional sheets in your document.

Tips:

  • Familiarize yourself with sheets if you don’t already know. Also, there are plenty of templates for what you need.
  • Start with the bare minimum, and let your spreadsheet evolve naturally. Systems HAVE to happen organically in order to be effective. You’ll be switching columns around and color-coding things in no time!

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If you’ve been on the hunt for great stock photos, chances are you’ve noticed everyone is white. I always encourage my clients to include a mix of people in their brand imagery. It’s great for several reasons. First and foremost, we’re all different. It’s senseless to only include one type of person. Secondly, people need to be able to relate to your brand or else they’re not going to want to work with you.

By including a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, etc of people you’re telling your viewers, ‘we don’t prefer one type of person’.

Check out Pexels.com – I searched for women because I was looking for a specific photo and I was really pleased with what I found.

Be sure to check out the terms and please, please always give credit to the artist who took the photo. The website conveniently includes quick copy-and-paste credit text when you download to save you time.

Check out these great photos of women I stumbled across just this morning. The photos are great quality and visually interesting.

Photo by Anthony Shkraba from Pexels
Photo by Wherbson Rodrigues from Pexels
Photo by Ichad Windhiagiri from Pexels
Photo by Jennifer Enujiugha from Pexels
Photo by Ike louie Natividad from Pexels
** The Featured image of the women laying on the bed is by