In reality, no one convinces anyone of anything. We come to decisions on our own.

Listen to Episode 179 here or in your preferred pod player.

Published October 26, 2020 by Michael Boezi

The post Don’t Take My Advice appeared first on Control Mouse Media, LLC.

Your set of experiences makes you who you are. Here’s a reductive exercise as a self-check. Don’t be nervous, I’ll go first.

Listen to Episode 178 here or in your preferred pod player.

Published October 19, 2020 by Michael Boezi

The post Empathy, Energy, and Ethics appeared first on Control Mouse Media, LLC.

Some of the biggest problems we face today could be solved with better marketing. I ask you to put aside what you think of as “marketing” for a moment, because we are losing ground.

Published October 5, 2020 by Michael Boezi

The post We Need Marketing More Than Ever appeared first on Control Mouse Media, LLC.

I’ve been doing some thinking. Here’s the result as it applies to this show. Listen to Episode 176 here or in your favorite pod player.

Published September 28, 2020 by Michael Boezi

The post Refocusing When Focusing Is Difficult appeared first on Control Mouse Media, LLC.

I’m closing up shop for awhile. In Episode 175, I explain why.

Published June 1, 2020 by Michael Boezi

The post Closing Up Shop appeared first on Control Mouse Media, LLC.

In your online store, it’s hard to get a customer to complete the transaction. They dither, open a new tab, search elsewhere, or simply put off the decision.

Creating some urgency can help, giving potential customers that little push they need to complete the purchase. In Episode 174, I cover all the strategies you can use in your online store: Loss aversion, flash sales, expiration dates, and more. Listen here or in your favorite pod player.

Published May 18, 2020 by Michael Boezi

The post Creating Urgency: Online Store Strategy 201 appeared first on Control Mouse Media, LLC.

How are the checkout completion rates for your online store? Do you have a good conversion rate, or too many “abandon cart” terminated transactions?

Employing scarcity can help, giving potential customers that little push they need to complete the purchase. In Episode 173, I cover all the strategies you can use in your online store: Loss aversion, exclusivity, limited editions, and more. Listen here or in your favorite pod player.

Published May 4, 2020 by Michael Boezi

The post Employing Scarcity: Online Store Strategy 201 appeared first on Control Mouse Media, LLC.

When a customer is ready to buy from you, is it easy to do so? Is your online store optimized and ready when they arrive? Can they find what they are looking for easily? Is the transaction simple and frictionless?

If not, all your efforts are for naught. You’ve spent weeks, months, or even years building up enough trust to earn the transaction. We can’t have the system fail at its most critical point.

Episode 172 is about the final waypoint in Pathway to Purchase: Making the Sale. Listen here or in your favorite pod player.

Published April 20, 2020 by Michael Boezi

The post Making the Sale: Online Store Strategy 201 appeared first on Control Mouse Media, LLC.

Free organic reach is a thing of the past. All the major social media platforms are pay-to-play now. Facebook and the other platforms make it very easy to run ads, with the promise of exposure to a targeted audience. Sounds great, right?

You’ll find this to be an incredible waste of money unless you have a strategy in place before you start.

I’m not against running ads, I just want to be smart and strategic about it. In Episode 171, I go over:

Published April 6, 2020 by Michael Boezi

The post When to Use Facebook Ads: Social Strategy 201 appeared first on Control Mouse Media, LLC.

What can we do as consumers to help support small businesses while the economy grinds to a halt? While the COVID-19 pandemic will be painful for all workers, none will feel it like small businesses do. The CDC is recommending a two-month halt to gatherings, among other guidelines.* Quoting Cathy Merrill in the Washington Post about the CDC’s order:

Two months is not a hiatus; it is a death sentence for small business.

If this crisis goes on for an extended period of time, many of the businesses we love will not survive. Now is the time to help our friends and neighbors who run these small businesses.

This special episode gives a list of ideas to help keep our small businesses afloat. Listen to Episode 170 here or in your favorite pod player, and see more details about some free help that I’m offering to freelancers, creatives, and solo/small businesses.

Last week’s episode was about how writers, musicians, artists, freelancers, and solo entrepreneurs can “turn on” new revenue channels during this crisis.

I am offering a free Zoom session to help you set up the following (see mine for examples):

To schedule a free strategy session with me, just ask.

There is no catch, no obligation, and no guarantee of success just a boost to get you up and running and (hopefully) better-positioned for the future. For more details about this offer, please see Episode 169: Surviving the Coronavirus Crisis: Ideas for Small and Solo Businesses.

In the meantime, please be as generous as you can afford. Your community will appreciate you, and that’s how we’ll all get through this together. Thank you.

Published March 23, 2020 by Michael Boezi

*Please note that CDC recommendations may have changed since this was published. Please refer to www.cdc.gov for the most current information.

The post How to Support Small Businesses During the Coronavirus Crisis appeared first on Control Mouse Media, LLC.