FIR Podcast Network

Successfully run your business and achieve your goals with an effective business mapping approach. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert, Mark Maes (http://aha.pub/MarkMaes), founder and CEO of Maes and Associates, LLC. He is also an accomplished business advisor and keynote speaker.

Mark conducts business strategy consulting for private sector business owners, especially to military veterans. He is dedicated to helping his clients to collectively identify and achieve their vision, key goals and objectives for their businesses and organizations.

If you’re in the private sector or in the military and want to know how to run a business successfully with a methodology and approach for #BusinessMapping, you should consider reaching out to Mark Maes by visiting his website at https://maesllc.org/ or http://aha.pub/MarkMaes.

Here are a few AHA messages from this episode:

* We’re really proud to be able to help our military veterans reposition themselves to an executive-level in the private sector of business. #BusinessMapping https://maesllc.org/ @MaesAssociates

* Veterans have such great disciplines that were learned in the military. With those core training values, we just fine-tune them and align them for a winning position in the private sector business. Just that right mindset. #BusinessMapping https://maesllc.org/ @MaesAssociates

* We’re changing the focus of our clients’ visions and readjusting their goals to SMART goals and action steps. We show them how to communicate and articulate with co-workers in order for them to accomplish the goals that they have before them. #BusinessMapping https://maesllc.org/ @MaesAssociates

* We break the business into five departments and we train clients on the details of how to manage each and every one of those departments. It changes the mindset of uncertainty into being absolute. #BusinessMapping https://maesllc.org/ @MaesAssociates

* Having been in the business for 35 years, working with hundreds of people and different companies, Mark Maes is someone you can turn to in order to reposition your business and run it successfully. #BusinessMapping https://maesllc.org/ @MaesAssociates

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, visit: https://thoughtleaderlife.com/.

Decrease lead time by providing quality customization services and meeting business needs with favorable results. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert, Shayna Pellino (https://aha.pub/ShaynaPellino), a New York native, Hero Club member and owner and CEO of Shayna Rose Interiors which turns design dreams into reality with the business principle that “everyone wins.”

Shayna guarantees that customers will have convenience and superb customer service with her energy, inspiration and commitment to helping clients achieve their dream project designs on time and in budget.

To learn more about Shayna Pellino, go to https://aha.pub/ShaynaPellino. For more details about customization and the B2B trade in the interior design industry, with competitive prices and quick-ship deliverability, visit her website https://shaynaroseinteriors.com/.

Here are a few AHA messages from this episode:

* Entrepreneurs in the B2B trade, whose reputations are based on the deliverability of custom products that are on time and in budget, should reach out to Shayna Pellino. #ShortLeadTimeHighQuality https://aha.pub/ShaynaPellino

* Stocking a lot of materials combats deliverability issues. I can help solve your problems by minimizing the wait time from the supply chain down to wholesalers and customers so you can expect quality customer service. #ShortLeadTimeHighQuality https://shaynaroseinteriors.com/

* We provide solutions to clients as we work behind the scenes for the services that are required. My perceived credibility with our esteemed trade partners can help you with any of your project management concerns. #ShortLeadTimeHighQuality https://shaynaroseinteriors.com/

* A deadline is a deadline. We promise and always hit and execute on a deadline. I can provide solutions for you, even if we encounter unexpected problems, to make sure we hit the lead time without compromising the quality of products and services. https://aha.pub/ShaynaPellino

* My sales background and business acumen from working in the Hamptons and New York City gives me the perceived credibility to guide you in making decisions in pricing and customizations to meet your specific B2B trade needs. https://shaynaroseinteriors.com/

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, visit https://thoughtleaderlife.com/.

As the coronavirus spreads throughout the world, businesses are being faced with setting up policies and procedures to enable everyone to work from home (WFH). Doing this presents several challenges, some of them brought on by new demands on your IT department and some by demands of a new way of working that you may not have anticipated. A good reference point for the complexities involved is this Twitter thread about what Slack did to move to 100% WFH model. In this podcast, Paul and David draw upon their own decades-long experience as sole business owners. Among our advice:

Think about printing, email and sharing files and the IT services that will be needed to support that activity. Be careful about SaaS services such as Dropbox; if users aren’t trained property they could expose your corporate data unintentionally. 

* Make sure your infosec is up to par. A VPN isn’t just the only thing you need to worry about it. Is your home router secured with an appropriate password? Do you encrypt your network traffic across the Internet? Has your laptop been screened for malware? These and other questions need to be addressed before rolling out any work-from-home solution.

Does your staff have the right tools? Just because everyone has a laptop doesn’t mean anything, particularly they’re used to having multiple monitors and great audio/video gear. You may have to purchase additional accessories to make your staff productive. 

* Make sure your staff has a separate workspace that is isolated from the rest of the house. You want to minimize distractions and unplanned family “visits” during the workday.

Get a good mic (David uses the Blue Snowball, Paul uses a Logitech wireless). You should be able to get something decent for $50-$100. 

Standardize on a video conferencing supplier (we both like Zoom at the moment, although there are privacy issues that you might want to consider) and make sure all your gear provides solid audio quality when you use it.

Make sure your home bandwidth is sufficient. Pay attention to upload speeds, because these can impact your latency and video quality.

Learn new video conferencing etiquette, review our previous podcast on some of our tips here.

Set up a shared scheduling tool for everyone to use and standardize on a corporate instant messaging tool, too. 

Connect with your audience and grow your business with your unique brand that speaks from the heart.This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert, Brian Schulman (https://aha.pub/BrianSchulman), Founder & CEO of Voice Your Vibe™ which is a professional training and coaching community on LinkedIn. Brian is also a Forbes Featured Entrepreneur, a speaker, 2018 LinkedIn Top Voice, and was named a 2019 LinkedIn Video Creator of the Year.

Forbes calls Brian the “King of Community in LinkedIn” because he essentially brings everyone together. He is a go-getter who naturally makes great things happen.He is very passionate in bringing people and businesses together while using his fantastic energy and leadership from the heart.

If you need tips on how to maximize the impact of your messaging across platforms and media, visit Brian’s website https://www.linkedin.com/company/voiceyourvibe/. Schedule a free consultation with him at Calendly.com/VoiceYourVibe and go to https://aha.pub/BrianSchulman.

Here are a few AHA messages from this episode:

* C-suite executives who want to find their voice and attract their tribe should reach out to Brian Schulman. #Connect https://aha.pub/BrianSchulman

* Over 21 years of digital marketing experience helping Fortune brands and business leaders gives me the perceived credibility to teach you how to engage and #Connect with your audience to build a community and grow your business. https://www.linkedin.com/company/voiceyourvibe

* It’s the human side of you that most people don’t see. My role is to help you be more relatable to your employees, customers and partners so that people will be drawn to you and you will have more business. #Connect https://aha.pub/BrianSchulman

* C-suite executives don’t always recognize that they have to be human. I can teach you how to tell a story witha video so that people will fall in love with YOU — the man (or woman) behind the business. #Connect https://www.linkedin.com/company/voiceyourvibe

* In today’s ever-changing business climate, you need to be aware of the latest technologies and business practices. I can teach you how to utilize LinkedIn to reach your audience and build online and offline relationships. #Connect https://aha.pub/BrianSchulman

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, visit https://thoughtleaderlife.com/.

The PESO model is like a pyramid with four corners. Each corner must be built solidly, or the entire structure will collapse.

Likewise, you must use all four media types for the PESO model to be successful—and allow you to correlate your communications efforts directly to sales.

In this week’s show, we cover the improvements made to the PESO model graphic and process, and we discuss the official certification that is now available through Spin Sucks and the S.I. Newhouse School for Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Here is what you can expect to learn more about:

* How the tactics listed under each media type were updated to focus more on strategy.

* Why lead generation, search engine optimization, distribution and promotion, and marketing communications were added.

* Why paid media has been expanded to include marketing communications as it intersects with earned media.

* Why lead generation is now its own subcategory that intersects with owned media.

* The updates to earned media—and why it’s not just “publicity” or media relations anymore. As well, why community has been added as a new category.

* How shared media has evolved to include reviews, forums, and organic engagement.

* Why distribution and promotion have been added.

* Where partnership now lie.

The biggest change to the PESO model is the strategic approach to your communications program that will allow you to make a direct tie between your work and sales.

When using all four media types, you’ll build a pyramid that allows your communications program to stand the test of time.

Have Your Say

For more information about the new PESO model graphic, process, and certification, head over to the Spin Sucks Academy.

Resources

* The new PESO model graphic

* PESO Model official certification

* Eric Schwartzman article

Implementing an employee advocacy program for any organization can come with challenges and hurdles. Couple that with implementing it in a regulated industry, like a bank, and the challenges are amplified, but far from being a deterrent. In fact, the financial industry can, and does, prove to be one of the best areas to implement an employee advocacy program because the end user needs to trust their financial institution, and their friends and colleagues are more trustworthy than a faceless brand.

In this episode of AMP Up Your Digital Marketing, we meet Yvonne Boateng, the Employee Advocacy Director for Standard Chartered Bank, who championed her company’s employee advocacy program. Recognizing early on that the company social media policy needed to match their desires for employees to share, alongside executive buy-in, led to a successful implementation, increasing engagements by 180X. Yvonne explains to listeners how and why the program was a success as well as hurdles she encountered early on that others should be aware of when implementing their program.

Transcript:

Glenn: Our guest today would like everyone to know that her views expressed on today’s podcast are her own.

Glenn: Welcome back to the show. Today I’m speaking with Yvonne Boateng. Yvonne, welcome to the show!

Yvonne: Hi, Glenn. Thank you very much for having me. I’m super excited to be here with you. So, thanks.

Glenn: Yvonne, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Yvonne: Yes. Sure. At the moment, I’m the Employee Advocacy Director for Standard Chartered Bank. So, at the moment, my responsibility it’s strategizing, executing, planning, deploying, scaling, and it’s really, at the moment, a one-man-band. So, there’s a lot going on at the moment with the program. But so far it’s been super fantastic. We’ve had excellent results and just before that I was the Social Media Director Lead as well at Standard Chartered Bank. So, I was doing the same thing but globally for our social media channels – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and we just started Instagram. And then, before that, I was at LinkedIn for four years. So, I’ve been, you know, technology-side, and then I’ve been client-side as well. So, it’s really been great to have that other angle.

Glenn: You know to me – and I mentioned this before we started the show, I am thrilled because you have employee advocacy in your title. And I’m also thrilled by the fact that it’s in a bank. So, how did that happen because you were on the social media side but then you were given a title which is very, very specific. So, you’ve gone from, more kind of broadly, social media to very specifically employee advocacy. Can you tell us a little bit about that journey?

Yvonne: Yeah, absolutely. And just to apologize for my voice, it’s a little bit croaky. So, I was at LinkedIn, I moved to Standard Chartered a little bit earlier than I planned. And that was because I was given masterclasses on, you know, social media, how to do LinkedIn, how to do social in general, what kind of process, etc. And one of the directors who worked at Standard Chartered reached out to me a few months after that to, you know, offer me a position at the bank. And as you do, I was quite okay at LinkedIn, but after kind of looking into the opportunity then it was one that I really couldn’t pass up. So, I started doing broadly social media for the bank. And I was in about, I would say, eight months in, and thankfully, after much preaching and educating, we, the bank, realized that this is important. Employee advocacy is important. You know, we educated on the benefits to leadership,

Grow your business by turning customers into fans. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert David Meerman Scott https://aha.pub/DavidMeermanScott, a leading business growth speaker for companies and worldwide conferences.

Through keynote speaking and presentations, David teaches CEOs, entrepreneurs, and companies the best way to communicate directly with their marketplace.

If you’re a company or an individual who wants to find people who love what you do and turn them into fans of your business, reach out to David Meerman Scott at https://aha.pub/DavidMeermanScott.

Here are a few AHA messages from this episode:

* Businesses that want to turn their customers into passionate fans should check the work being done by David Meerman Scott athttps://aha.pub/DavidMeermanScott. #Fanocracy

* The pendulum has swung too far into superficial online communications when customers are hungry for genuine connections. Businesses need to get back to a #TrueHumanConnection to grow fans. https://aha.pub/DavidMeermanScott

* #Fanocracy is creating fans for your business. It means tapping into your customers’ common passion and creating a tribe for all of them. https://www.DavidMeermanScott.com/ @DMScott

* Hagerty Auto Insurance goes to over 100 classic car events a year to turn car enthusiasts into customers and then turn these customers into fans. Now they are the biggest classic car insurer in the world. #Fanocracy https://aha.pub/DavidMeermanScott

* #Fanocracy creates an environment for your customers where they can turn to anyone and talk to them as if they’re connected, because they’re part of the same tribe. https://aha.pub/DavidMeermanScott

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, subscribe to the channel: http://youtube.com/user/thoughtleaderlife.

Evaluate your business process for the best ROI. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert Jack Phillips https://aha.pub/JackPhillips, a world-renowned expert on accountability, measurement, and evaluation.

Through workshops, consulting, and presentations at world conferences, Jack helps Fortune 500 companies and major global corporations lay out an entire process of business success through these five levels: reaction, learning, application, impact, and ROI.

If you’re a CEO who wants to learn more about ROI and how to show the value in what you’re doing, reach out to Jack Phillips at https://aha.pub/JackPhillips.

Here are a few AHA messages from this episode:

* CEOs who want to see the value of what they do by evaluating if their projects and programs actually add value to their business should reach out to Jack Phillips at https://aha.pub/JackPhillips. #BusinessProcessEvaluation

* Companies must find out if their projects and programs are working appropriately and if these programs are truly adding value to the business. https://aha.pub/JackPhillips #BusinessProcessEvaluation

* The programs that a company implements must have an impact. We help companies measure and evaluate that impact so they can see if there actually is an ROI. https://aha.pub/JackPhillips #BusinessProcessEvaluation

* The ROI financial calculator works by converting the impact of a project into money and then measuring it against the total cost. We either do it for the company or teach them how to do it. https://aha.pub/JackPhillips #BusinessProcessEvaluation

* We lay out the entire process for our clients by helping them learn the five levels of business success: reaction, learning, application, impact, and ROI. https://aha.pub/JackPhillips #BusinessProcessEvaluation

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, subscribe to the channel: http://youtube.com/user/thoughtleaderlife.

Because who wouldn’t want to listen to a podcast about Star Wars and how to use the PESO model to help a superfan out?

As it turns out, a Star Wars superfan has written a thirty thousand word dissertation detailing the problems with the franchise.

He also created a plan to help Disney generate an extra $20 billion.

It’s, um, a lot.

To make that happen, however, he needs Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney to read his thesis.

No small undertaking. I can’t imagine anyone else is trying to get Bob Iger’s attention.

A Few PESO Model Strategies

In this week’s show we talk about the challenges this superfan might encounter using some of the strategies suggested to him.

I also issue a challenge to you, my dear listener, at the end of the show.

Here are a few things the superfan should consider:

* The first and biggest challenge the superfan faces is that he published his entire thesis publicly. People steal intellectual property all the time.

* One Redditor suggested that he should share the thesis on Twitter and have a friend retweet it with a provocative hashtag. While using a popular hashtag is a solid tactic as part of a shared media strategy, the hashtag suggested was last used years ago.

* Another Redditor advised creating a short report with visuals, with enough teaser content to entice the company to engage with him. This is a good strategy, because a short report is more likely to be seen and read by an executive.

Have Your Say

I have a challenge for you.

If this passionate Redditor came to you for a comprehensive communications plan to get his thesis in front of the CEO of Disney, how would you do it?

Comment with your ideas in the Spin Sucks Community.

We’ll eventually pull together everyone’s ideas and write a blog post to help this guy out.

Resources

Reddit thread of suggestions

The entire thesis: Resurrecting Star Wars

Blog Post: How do you use hashtags in your marketing?

In this episode of AMP Up Your Digital Marketing, Glenn Gaudet speaks with Dan Golden, president and co-founder of the digital marketing agency Be Found Online. They discuss the changing landscape of search marketing and what brands need to do now to keep up with coming changes. You’ll learn:

* Google recently announced it will block third-party cookies in the Chrome browser by 2021, which will force advertising back into contextual targeting.

* Despite ongoing algorithm changes, best practices for optimizing for organic search haven’t changed much since the outset.

* Search marketing is becoming less about driving leads to your website and more about creating better customer experiences within search channels.

Search marketing has always been a fast-changing landscape, with marketers constantly attuned to Google’s latest patents and algorithm adjustments.

One of those marketers is Dan Golden, president and co-founder of the digital marketing agency Be Found Online. Since 2009, Dan has kept his finger on the pulse of Google search, and he doesn’t fear change the way some marketers do.

He acknowledges the major shockwaves Google sends through marketing and advertising agencies every time it announces a tweak to its algorithm or redesign of its consumer platforms.

Dan encourages marketers to embrace the changes.

“It is really easy to ignore some of these burgeoning trends,” Dan said. “They’re not going to make your quarter and they’re not going to make you the kind of money you need this month, but…brands need to start investing in this stuff.”

Dan joined the AMP Up Your Digital Marketing podcast to discuss the effects of Google’s latest moves — the focus on expert content, the emergence of rich search results, and shift toward voice and visual search — and how marketers and brands can adjust.

How to Prepare for the ‘Death of the Cookie’

This year, Google finally announced it will block third-party cookies in the Chrome browser within the next two years. Even though it’s been long-anticipated, the announcement has some digital advertisers panicking.

Dan isn’t panicking, but he knows there’s work to be done. “I don’t think this is going to be the death of digital marketing, but it is going to change things,” he said.

 

 

What the “death of the cookie” means, largely, is a return to contextual targeting — placing ads based on where people are — instead of the audience-based programmatic targeting we’ve become accustomed to. 

Brands can prepare for the change now by getting better at contextual targeting, Dan said. Think about how to find your audience based on related content or activity, rather than that direct data about who they are. First-party data will also be key. Create a registration option to build a direct connection with your customers (and their data).

Search Marketing SEO: It Hasn’t Changed Much

For organic search, best practices aren’t changing that much, even as the algorithm and platforms evolve.

“If you look back and read the patent for Google’s algorithm, that hasn’t changed,” Dan said. “They’ve just gotten better at it.”

SEO is still about writing good content, writing for humans and understanding your customer.

What’s changing is how that content will reach the audience. With rich search results — featured snippets and other on-page content in SERPs — SEO is about how to nab a share of that Google search real estate, not how to get clicks.