Today I’m talking about creating an effective call-to-action. Calls to action are something that appears on every website, so I wanted to take some time to talk about what makes a good one and gets people on your website to convert in the way that you want them to.

Topics Discussed:

• What a call-to-action is and why it’s an important part of your website
• Where to put a call-to-action on your website
• Choosing the right call-to-action based on the page of your website
• Writing an effective call-to-action
• How to use design to encourage visitors to take action

Action Steps:

1. Make sure every page of your website has a call-to-action
2. Update your call-to-action text to encourage action
3. Review your call to action design to make sure it stands out

Today I’m talking about creating a signature service with Maggie Patterson. We had a great conversation about why it’s important for business owners to have a signature service and how you can start developing this type of process in your own business. Maggie talks about how having a signature service changes the way that you market and price your services and can really help you show up as an expert and serve your clients in the best way possible.

Maggie Patterson is a communications strategist, business growth consultant, and the principal consultant at Scoop Studios. With two decades of experience, Maggie has spent her entire career in client services and has been a successful entrepreneur for over 10 years. Today, she works with online and small business owners to help them implement smart strategies for business growth and to maximize the impact of their digital marketing. She’s the host of the Small Business Boss podcast, has been on stage at events such as New Media Expo, Podcast Movement, and the Conquer Summit, and her work has been featured in leading publications such as Entrepreneur.com, Fast Company, and Virgin.com.

Topics Discussed:

• Why it’s important for business owners to have a signature service
• Steps to take when you start developing a signature service
• When should transition into a signature service
• Beta testing your new process
• Creating content around your signature service to prove your expertise
• Pricing in your business
• How to keep your clients on track during your time together
• Receiving and using feedback to make adjustments to your service

Action Steps:

1. Start paying attention to what you're doing that can be repeatable or that you need to systematize
2. Focus on positioning yourself as an expert in what you're offering before you launch
3. Be patient, this is a long-term process
4. Add an expiry date to your contract

Connect with Maggie:

• Website
• Podcast

Today I’m talking about why you need to specialize – or why I’m not a copywriter, SEO strategist, or brand designer. I’ve been learning over the past 3 years in business that it is important to specialize when you decide what it is that you want to offer in your business and who you want to work with. It doesn’t work to offer every service to everyone out there because then you can’t be known as an expert in any one thing.

Over the past three years, I have spent my time trying to figure out exactly what I could specialize in and how I could best serve the clients that I really wanted to work with. It took time and a lot of iterations of my services and website and what I wanted to offer, but as I have learned that I need to narrow down on what it is that I want to do and who I want to work with, I have also seen that my ability to serve my clients well has increased.

Today I’m going to talk through that journey with you and encourage you that if you aren’t sure if you should be specializing in one area, I really recommend that you do.

Topics Discussed:

• How I went from offering every type of design service to focusing on website design
• My fears as I chose an area to specialize in
• Why I can’t offer every kind of service
• What you should look at as you consider specializing
• Honing in on your specific service, process, and dream client

Resources Discussed:

• Episode 60 | Getting to the Heart of Your Brand
• Reina Pomeroy

Action steps:

1. Figure out your "why"
2. Narrow in on your dream client
3. Remove any services from your website  that you don’t want to specialize in

Today I’m talking with Sarah Walton about money mindset and being the CEO of your business. We cover a lot of topics in this week’s episode and Sarah has great insight to share. We talk a little bit about why entrepreneurs are afraid of looking at the money side of their business and how we can get better at that. We talk about loving what you do and changing the perception of your friends and family, as well as your own perception, of seeing this as a real business. We also discuss creating new products to serve your clients, planning your marketing, and a little about Facebook ads and how Sarah is using those in her own business.

Sarah Walton a business mentor and is the founder of Sarah’s Business Accelerator for women who want to start and build their businesses, and The Money Mindset Course, and interactive online course for women.

In a quest to make sure women are empowered with every tool needed to fulfill the Dalai Lama’s promise, Sarah founded her companies and started creating events, workshops, and courses. Through her companies, and her Redefining Success Events, she now speaks around the nation, offering her courses, products and workshops, all designed to inspire, inform, ignite passion and bring the power of femininity forward. Her focus is on taking better care of ourselves, developing a healthy relationship to money, creating challenging goals and learning how to lean back just as often as we lean in. Her companies have become known and trusted brands around the world and one of her businesses was recently featured on The Today Show. She is a mother of two and a wife to one. She lives with her family in New Jersey.

Topics Discussed:

• Why many entrepreneurs are afraid of looking at the money side of their business
• Using profit and loss statements to give us information about our business and plan for the future
• Changing your mindset in your business to see your value
• Helping your friends and family see your business as more than just a hobby
• What you should focus on when creating new products and services
• Why you need to know your dream client inside and out
• The importance of planning your marketing in advance and knowing the seasons of your business
• Why Sarah decided to invest in Facebook ads and how she’s preparing her business

Resources Discussed:

• Wavve
• Martha Stewart
• Brene Brown
• The 5 Second Rule from Mel Robbins
• Marie Forleo
• Tasha Blasi, IVF Consultant

Connect with Sarah:

• Website
• Facebook
• Business Accelerator
• Mastermind

Action Steps:

1. Know your numbers (debt, profit, expenses, cash)
2. Understand your value
3. Actively work on your confidence by challenging yourself

Today I’m talking about launching your website. If you’ve been tuning in over the past several weeks, I’ve talked about designing a strategic website including your navigation, home page, about page, portfolio, sales page, and contact page to cover everything you need to build a website that helps your business to thrive. Now it’s time to talk about launching that website you’ve built. This is the way that I help my clients prepare for a launch and get their website into the world. This episode will be helpful if you’re working with a designer or designing a website yourself and you’re ready to launch in a way that helps your business to grow.

Topics Discussed:

• Building excitement for your website launch
• Finding cheerleaders to help promote your new design
• Finalizing the design of your website
• Why you need to test your website before launch and what to look at
• Preparing for your website launch
• What you should do after your website launches

Resources Discussed:

• Screenfly
• Buzzing Creatives
• Conducting a UX Test

Action Steps:

1. Make a list of potential cheerleaders
2. Create graphics to share when you launch your website
3. Collect information about your current domain and host, including username and password, so it’s in one place.

Getting people to contact you should be the ultimate goal of your website, so it’s important that your contact page sets you up for success.

Topics Discussed:

• Why your contact page is so important
• Different options you need to include
• Tips for designing an effective contact page

Resources Discussed:

• Dubsado

Action Steps:

1. Include your email address
2. List your office hours or when people can expect to hear from you
3. Update the post-submit response to fit your brand

Today I’m talking with Brit Kolo about marketing personality types. Brit and I have a great conversation about how you can figure out what personality you have and how you can find a marketing strategy that feels good. We talk about why this is so important and how you can really help yourself, your business, and your clients by marketing that aligns with your personality instead of feeling like you have to follow what everyone else is doing. Brit shares the story of how she pivoted in her business and in her life as she went from one career to another and started a business with the confidence that she would be able to make it work.

Brit Kolo is a Marketing Coach who coaches boxed-in business owners to become independent, profitable leaders through self-awareness and #MarketingThatFeelsGood. She’s also the creator of the Marketing Personality Quiz and Host of the Marketing in Yoga Pants Podcast. Through her intuitive, in-depth coaching process, she’s here to shake up your approach to marketing and inspire you to grow your business in a feel-good, meaningful way.  When she’s not hopping on a Zoom call with a coaching client, she’s chugging dark roast, podcasting in her yoga pants, and supporting her circle of fellow female entrepreneurs.  Meet Brit and get ready to go deep, find meaning, and grow that business you’ve always dreamt of at JAMMarketingGroup.co.

Topics Discussed:

• Pivots in business
• Why it’s important to find a marketing strategy that fits your personality
• Brit’s free resource for making sure your marketing feels good to you
• Designing a marketing plan that serves your clients
• The Myers-Briggs Personality test and how it’s useful
• Examples of personality types and marketing strategies

Resources Discussed:

• Marketing Personalities
• Myers-Briggs Personality Type
• 16Personalities
• Dubsado
• Kickass Masterminds

Action Steps:

1. Take the Myers-Briggs personality test
2. Find your marketing personality
3. Implement one strategy that fits your personality

Connect with Brit:

• Website
• Podcast
• Marketing Personalities

Your services page is probably going to be your most content-heavy page because you want to share a lot of information, but you can improve the design by removing distractions (such as a call-to-action in your banner image), breaking up your content into smaller chunks, and making it easy to get in touch with you.

Topics Discussed:

• The difference between a sales page and a services page
• Laying out a strategic sales page
• Designing an effective services page
• Overall design tips

Action Steps:

1. Add at least one image of you to the page if there isn’t one
2. Update your calls-to-action to encourage action
3. Add client testimonials that reflect the results they saw after working with you

Today I’m talking about interviewing your dream clients. If you have never heard of a dream client interview or you’ve never done one before, it may seem like a weird idea, but it is a great way to interview people who you want to work with and get an idea of what they are looking for in your service or product. Today we’re going to cover why interviewing your dream clients is good for your business, the basics of interviewing, writing questions that get to the point and give you what you need, getting ready for the interview, conducting it, and what you should do once it’s over.

Topics Discussed:

• Why interviewing your dream clients is good for your business
• The basics of interviewing
• Writing questions that get to the point and give you what you need
• How to prepare for the interview
• Conducting dream client interviews to get the most out of them
• What you should do after the interview is over

Resources Discussed:

• Acuity Scheduling
• Zoom

Action Steps:

1. Make a list of past clients and people you know that you would like to interview
2. Create a list of questions to ask
3. Send an email explaining what you’re doing and asking for their help

Your portfolio is a great way to show off what you do and connect with your dream client. It’s important that you use this page to show the type of work you want to be known for - not every project needs to be included here. If you have a lot of items to share, consider creating sections based on style or event type so visitors can easily find what they’re looking for.

Topics Discussed:

• What projects you should feature in your portfolio
• Designing a portfolio that speaks to your dream clients

Action Steps:

1. Remove any projects that don’t reflect your current services and style
2. Add a testimonials to each project
3. Organize your portfolio so it’s easy to navigate