Ponderings from the Perch

So…you have this business. But are you curious about how you’ll find your way to what’s next? Does it involve a payout? Do you know your number? Oh, there is so much to talk about and Damon Pistulka joins us on the podcast today to address some of the pressing questions around prepping your business for growth and ultimately, a profitable exit. 

But before you can think about an exit, there are key things to think about to maximize that moment. Take it from a business brokerage expert and listen in for these important conversations about digital transformation, employee engagement, growth hacking and more that will drive your business value. The mindset shift Damon offers includes helping you build wealth with your business instead of treating it like a job. 

Damon’s skill is identifying and executing opportunities to increase business revenue, profitability, and value. Damon brings 20+ years of building and managing businesses in extreme conditions and diverse industries to help clients reach their goals, crush competitors, and dominate markets. The proven framework Damon and the Exit Your Way® Team developed and used successfully in private equity-owned companies is being used to drive successful results daily. In the sale of businesses, Damon utilizes the knowledge of the private equity buyer’s desires & client businesses to clearly articulate the opportunity.

If your goals aren’t written down, they’re just hopes and dreams. Goals take strategy, and one of the best strategies on the market is SMART goals. 

CEO and Little Bird Momma, Priscilla McKinney and Executive VP, Ashley Le Blanc talk shop about SMART goals and they break down S-M-A-R-T with cheerleader levels of exuberance. SMART goals is a system that is not only strategic but is repeatable. Nailing your goals this year is great, but achieving all your goals for the next five years? Now, that’s fantastic.

“S” stands for specific. Instead of thinking in vague, lofty, idealistic terms get nitty-gritty with your goals. Get as specific as possible. Use numbers. Put a number on a “good” salary bonus - an actual number of new clients you want to onboard each quarter. Go ahead and make numbers your new BFF.

“M” stands for measurable. If you can’t measure it, then you won’t be able to accurately track your progress. Plus, the beauty of measurement is that it gives you all the glorious possibilities of celebrating small wins— we all need every “W” we get! The magic of measurement also gives you, as Priscilla puts it, “permission to tweak the strategy as you go.” If you can measure it, you can chart your results and adjust as you need along the way.

“A” stands for attainable. You have a goal, but is it really attainable? A good question to ask yourself is, “Can I attain this goal within my desired timeframe?” Also, consider asking others for their insights and advice. After all, this is common practice in business— consulting strategists, coaches, and colleagues. If you have some SMART goals that aren’t professional in nature, ask a spouse, partner, parent, or friend. Just make sure you choose who to ask wisely, certain people are in our lives to hype us up and dream big with us, and others are there to be our guardrails, offering us more caution and prudence.

“R” stands for relevant. Don’t create goals to check them off your to-do list for the year. Don’t create goals because they’re popular, trendy goals. Don’t create goals that are based on what everyone else thinks you should be doing. Create goals that are relevant to you, and are in alignment with who you want to be, what career you want to have, and where you believe your company should be going.

“T” stands for timely. Regardless of whether you are a self-diagnosed procrastinator or not, timelines matter. Timelines motivate us to take steps forward. They’re the binding agent in the recipe. Don’t just have a date of completion on your timeline. Mark dates down on your calendar for the halfway point, or when a key thing needs to be checked off the list to work you closer to completion. To-do lists are our favorite. So is Trello— which Priscilla advocates that the “T” could also stand for.

Without a clear game plan goals are really just wishful thinking.

Feeling hyped up about SMART goals? Snag your free, printable SMART goals resource guide here.

If one of your SMART goals is amping up your social media influence game then you might want to take a peek at our 12-week Social Influence course. We’d love to discuss what digital transformation could look like for your team! 

On the hunt for powerful content marketing and strategy resources? Come under our wing. 

Shoutout to our sponsor InnovateMR!

NFTs, cryptocurrency, and the Metaverse oh my! Oh the good ol’ days when we were only dealing with lions, tigers, and bears. Now, we’re on a whole new level.

We here at Little Bird Marketing are eager to share this episode of our other podcast, Digital Transformation Sucess, with our dear listeners here on Ponderings from the Perch. Join CEO and Little Bird Momma, Priscilla McKinney, and President of Berlin Cameron, Jennifer DeSilva, as they pull back the curtain on the world of digital transformation and uncover a veritable treasure chest of resources and connections. 

Jennifer DaSilva is a seasoned integrated marketer with 20 years of experience working on Fortune 500 brands. As president of WPP boutique creative agency Berlin Cameron, Jennifer has spent the last 15 years managing key accounts like Coca-Cola, Heineken, Lexus, and Capital One. Moreover, she is a champion of entrepreneurship and is the founder of  LLShe, a Berlin Cameron division that empowers female entrepreneurs through connections and creativity. 

It’s no surprise that in this episode, the conversation centers around inclusivity in rapidly growing, albeit intimidating worlds of NFTs, crypto, and the metaverse. All are welcome. Period.

Yet, it’s an intimidating new world out there. And women are already reporting that they’re feeling excluded from the cryptocurrency market and the statistics show that 82% of brands are disproportionally targeting their NFT campaigns toward men. That’s why we’re sharing the game-changers in the field of inclusivity in the new world of digital transformation. The links and resources below are yours to peruse. This is your call to action. Follow these people. Learn all you can. Dig in. You’re welcome here.

People mentioned:

Cate Luzio founder of Luminary

Nadia Masri founder of Perksy

Michelle Reeves founder of WAGMI

Patrick Olszowski founder of Outrageous Insight

Resources mentioned:

NFT's are the future but where are the women? — Berlin Cameron

NFT ‘bro culture’ is missing a huge opportunity by excluding women

NYX Project: GORJS BEAUTY DAO | NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP

NFT Mentions:

Welcome to the HUG

https://www.instagram.com/wagmi.nft/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/michellejreeves/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/mavionworld/?hl=en

CAA Hires a Chief Metaverse Officer.

https://www.instagram.com/mybff/?hl=en

Meta Angels – The Wishing Well

Meta Angels NFT

Honey Badges Community that is Decentralizing philanthropy

Honey Badges NFT

In need of some LBM free resources? Your wish is our command. Click here.

On the hunt for powerful content marketing and strategy resources? Come under our wing. 

And shoutout to our sponsor Gazelle Global.

Struggling to write quality content to drive revenue?

Hate staring at a blank page knowing you need to just get on with it?

Know what it takes to write compelling content? 

Curious what the pros know that keeps them producing on quality blogs? 

Once upon a time, our CEO and Momma Bird and host of this podcast, Priscilla McKinney used to write every blog that left Little Bird Marketing. That is not scalable. We talk to a lot of companies having scaling problems. Probably at your company you have bandwidth issues when it comes to getting content out the door. And we know it’s not just about good quality writing, but you have to think strategically for SEO ranking and still carry the brand voice throughout all you do. 

We get it. It’s hard. 

We can create your content for you, but in this episode, Ashley Le Blanc and Priscilla discuss key considerations for success if you still want to try your hand at blogging. We work hard to bring you relevant marketing hacks as often as possible. But in this episode, we offer 4 tips for quality blog writing specifically for those who don’t consider themselves blog writers. 

Feel free to reference Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and David Byrne as often as we like to. But no matter what you reference stay true to yourself, your brand and your strategy. Also, remember that we, the peeps, believe in you! 

CivicScience is pushing the boundaries to transcend traditional market research practices.

Our Momma Bird, Priscilla McKinney, was able to steal Trevor Farris, SVP of Sales & Marketing at CivicScience, for a can’t-miss discussion on the most impactful factors shaping the future of market research.

Right now, you may find yourself asking, “What does transcending traditional market research actually mean?” Well, you can find the short, yet tease of an answer in these show notes, but you’ll have to press play to get the full picture. 

As most of us know, inflation is a current, nationwide issue, leaving no person, industry or project unaffected. In this episode, Trevor and Priscilla discuss what the rise of inflation means for traditional market research and how CivicScience utilizes a modern approach to gauge customer sentiment.

“We're allowing people to opt-in directly with our widget that sits on hundreds of publishers out there. We're going first party pulling direct customer sentiment into the way that we do business.” - Trevor Farris

With the ability to turn on a dime and be flexible within 24 hours to get questions out to the public, CivicScience is able to quickly understand how sentiment will ultimately drive behavior down the road. In this episode of Ponderings from the Perch, you’ll discover how CivicScience matches the speed of business right now, how to uncover proactive business insights no one else is privy to, and so much more.

Whether you have already written a book and don’t know how to break into the publishing world, or still have a book inside you and don’t want to go to a surgeon to have it surgically removed, this episode is for you. Meet Miles Rote, Author Strategist at Scribe Media. Miles, through Scribe Media, helps entrepreneurs, executives and experts write, publish and market their books. In this episode, host, CEO (and Author!) Priscilla McKinney and Miles discuss the obstacles facing would-be authors on their path to publishing. 

According to Miles, one of the biggest misconceptions about putting a book into the world is based on outdated modes of creation and distribution. 

“I think often when we think about the publishing world, we’ve done it through the lens of how it was always done in the past, through traditional publishing. All of that has changed.”

In that past paradigm, the feat of producing the actual material for the book, either by writing or hiring a ghostwriter was an already laborious step, followed by the even-more daunting prospect of pitching to publishers for a slim chance of acceptance. This paradigm, according to Rote, is over. Scribe’s writing methodology is based on a process of interviews that removes the writing/ghostwriting tradeoff barrier. Their publication ethos is based on the idea that the work itself can leverage platform growth, allowing authors to retain their humanity and not be supplanted by alternatives of themselves as potential earning figures. 

They also discuss the catharsis of writing, retention of ownership and royalties, and how the promotion of books is a forever thing. Miles is also an author, and his book “Personal Undevelopment” is scheduled to drop in 2023. It centers on the topic of identity and perception, and encourages people to rewrite themselves using “undevelopment” and “non-self help.” Essentially, when it comes to the topic of uncovering the ingredients that make up the self, Miles Rote the book. 

SPONSORS:

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The Market Research Podcast Award is back! And it’s time to nominate your favorite kick-ass market research podcast for a chance to win the coveted title of MR Podcast of the Year. 

Nominations are open now through June 30th and voting will open from July 1st to August 12th. 

Nominate your absolute favorite podcast in the insights industry at littlebirdmarketing.com/mr-podcast-award! 

The winner will be announced at Greenbook’s IIEX Behavior. Will your favorite insights podcast make the cut?

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You’re invited to sit down and pour yourself a glass of champagne as Priscilla McKinney, Momma Bird and CEO of Little Bird Marketing has her favorite guest back on to talk shop. On the agenda today is a romp with Executive VP, Ashley Le Blanc around how to spend money to make money - on digital ads, that is. 

Creating amazing targeted content plans with strategic SEO is a long term plan. Building authority is the ultimate goal to win online ranking to get your content found organically. You have to be patient. But sometimes that is not in the cards for clients and based on their KPIs, sales and revenue goals one way for a quicker win is to engage an expert to create a winning online digital ad plan. While we’re building organic reach, often we find it helpful to get some paid search going and generate web traffic, lead generation and close some sales. 

With almost $500 billion being spent in 2021 alone for digital ads, there is a lot happening in this space. But there are a lot of people out there happy to take your money for ad spend without understanding your ideal client persona (ICP) and how competitive your keyword landscape is. At Little Bird Marketing, we never start with a number in mind for an ad spend. We listen to client goals and then do the research before proposing a budget. 

But if you’re in the market for help, some tips can help you ask the right questions and get clarity before you start down the programmatic spending path. There’s a lot to know about digital advertising technology, the difference between ad spends on social media platforms and web browser, growth hacking strategies, ads that boost content marketing, search engine ads, retargeting and more. So where to start? This podcast, of course! 

Have you ever wanted your customers to spend twice as much money with you? In a compelling study, Capgemini found that users who feel a connection to a brand spend twice as much money as those who don't. Priscilla and Leighton made a pact during this episode not to bury that important statistic, and here it is right at the top. Huzzah!

We've been trained to hear the word "branding" and think about color palettes and typography choices. In reality, branding is a much broader subject that extends beyond visuals to encompass a wide range written, spoken and visual communication both internally and externally. In this episode, Momma Bird and CEO Priscilla McKinney talks with VP Leighton Cordell about what makes a good branding strategy and how it facilitates the aforementioned "connection" to brands. Some of the components discussed include consistency, flexibility, emotion, and employee involvement. 

Small birds namedropped in this episode: 

William Clift (the beautifully designed stairs with the LBM Core Values for which there is currently no documentation)

Corey Mitchell (the emotionally-connected videos that make us laugh and cry)

Jarrod Connolly (the beautiful story-driven photography that also sometimes makes us hungry)

Recommended Reading from this episode: 

5 Signs Your Brand Needs an Overhaul

Loyalty Deciphered - How Emotions Drive Genuine Engagement

SPONSORS:

The Market Research Podcast Award is back! And it’s time to nominate your favorite kick-ass market research podcast for a chance to win the coveted title of MR Podcast of the Year. 

Nominations are open now through June 30th and voting will open from July 1st to August 12th. 

Nominate your absolute favorite podcast in the insights industry at littlebirdmarketing.com/mr-podcast-award! 

The winner will be announced at Greenbook’s IIEX Behavior. Will your favorite insights podcast make the cut?

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Lord of the Rings. The Godfather. BACK TO THE FUTURE. Who doesn't love a good trilogy? 

In the third episode of Flight Patterns with Fieldwork, CEO and Momma Bird Priscilla McKinney talks with Fieldwork Webwork/Fieldwork Anywhere President Crystal Majik about the past, present and future of research.

Crystal started with Fieldwork in 1998 and has worked in the Denver, Schaumburg and Network offices. Fieldwork was already doing virtual qualitative research long before the pandemic, but the sudden global shift pushed online capabilities to the forefront. Crystal discusses the shared priorities between online and in-person research - which effectively culminates in adequately preparing respondents and moderators for a successful research experience. This shift, like most, is subject to additional levels of complication when tech enters the fray. 

By focusing on the people and sharing their expertise, Fieldwork was able to adapt and meet the needs of critical and time-sensitive medical and pharmaceutical research, juries and legal research, and product research in a time of great need. The quick adaptation that was so evident during this time wasn't a fluke. Crystal says the Fieldwork team thrives on innovation and adaptability, and that their facilities act as a blank slate for maximum flexibility. 

Crystal says she envisions a future that utilizes the best parts of online research and in-person in an integrated fashion. She and Priscilla also discuss the return of conferences, matching cowboy boots and Fieldwork's support of Women In Research.

HEY YOU. If this is the first episode you're hearing of Flight Patterns with Fieldwork, we strongly encourage you to complete the trilogy:

Episode 1 | Sarah Kotva

Episode 2 | Aryn O'Donnell

SPONSORS:

The Market Research Podcast Award is back! And it’s time to nominate your favorite kick-ass market research podcast for a chance to win the coveted title of MR Podcast of the Year. 

Nominations are open now through June 30th and voting will open from July 1st to August 12th. 

Nominate your absolute favorite podcast in the insights industry at littlebirdmarketing.com/mr-podcast-award! 

The winner will be announced at Greenbook’s IIEX Behavior. Will your favorite insights podcast make the cut?

--------------------

Searching for a research partner to handle the details of your next qualitative project?

When we say Fieldwork can handle it all – we mean it.

From world-class facilities to low incidence recruitment, their team of experts handles the details so you can stay focused on the research. Say goodbye to traditional focus group rooms and recruitment tactics. As market research has grown from the standard focus group to incorporate other innovative methodologies and technologies, Fieldwork has expanded right along with it. With facilities nationwide, and sophisticated global recruitment services, their detail-oriented staff partners with you to achieve great insights.

Focus on the research. Fieldwork will do the rest.

Flight Patterns with Fieldwork continues! In this episode, Little Bird CEO and Momma Bird Priscilla McKinney and Fieldwork’s Vice President of Corporate Services Aryn O’Donnell discuss how Fieldwork cultivates and nurtures relationships with clients.

Fieldwork is famous for its research venues - this is no surprise, because their facilities are 1. gorgeously and meticulously designed for in-person research, and 2. prominently located in most major cities across the US. Undeniably, that's a pretty solid foundation, but it only scrapes the surface of what Fieldwork actually does.

Through the earliest and scariest days of pandemic shutdowns, Fieldwork was able to rely on their decade-plus experience in online research to continue meeting client and respondent needs. When safety permitted a return to in-person research, Fieldwork not only led the charge, but also acted as a megaphone for the industry, sharing developments to strengthen face-to-face market research for everyone, including their competitors. 

If you're noticing a recurring theme of proactivity, that's no coincidence. Whether they are developing areas of specialization like UX research, mock juries, and a recently renovated Boston medical SIM Center, or refining new methods of recruitment that allow for more inclusivity, Aryn says one of Fieldwork's superpowers is adaptability and a willingness to seek out the next big thing. 

Aryn believes that the ability of Fieldwork to navigate all of these changes is because of its people. The team wants to celebrate each other and celebrate each other’s wins. “How we treat each other internally is how we treat our clients externally.”

Priscilla and Aryn also discuss a shared podcast addiction, Aryn's yoga teaching certification, the intricacies of respondent validation processes, and Pat, the mannequin who lives in the Boston sim center.  

If you haven't already listened to Flight Patterns with Fieldwork episode 1 with Sarah Kotva, you should get on that immediately!

SPONSORS:

The Market Research Podcast Award is back! And it’s time to nominate your favorite kick-ass market research podcast for a chance to win the coveted title of MR Podcast of the Year. 

Nominations are open now through June 30th and voting will open from July 1st to August 12th. 

Nominate your absolute favorite podcast in the insights industry at littlebirdmarketing.com/mr-podcast-award! 

The winner will be announced at Greenbook’s IIEX Behavior. Will your favorite insights podcast make the cut?

--------------------

Searching for a research partner to handle the details of your next qualitative project?

When we say Fieldwork can handle it all – we mean it.

From world-class facilities to low incidence recruitment, their team of experts handles the details so you can stay focused on the research. Say goodbye to traditional focus group rooms and recruitment tactics. As market research has grown from the standard focus group to incorporate other innovative methodologies and technologies, Fieldwork has expanded right along with it. With facilities nationwide, and sophisticated global recruitment services, their detail-oriented staff partners with you to achieve great insights.

Focus on the research. Fieldwork will do the rest.