Smart Marketing Show

We often start a nonprofit because of a mission. When your nonprofit's mission pivots, what then? Often times a rebranding is in order. Dan Maby of BigOrangeHeart.org joins Jason and Bridget to talk about how WP&UP.org approached their name change and rebranding.

Show Sponsors ServerPress

Thank you for being a preroll sponsor, ServerPress! ServerPress is the maker of DesktopServer, WPSiteSync, and so much more! Check them out at serverpress.com.

Big Orange Heart

Thank you for being mid-roll sponsor! Mental health support for remote workers. It’s our charity’s mission to support and promote positive wellbeing and mental health of the remote working communities. Become part of the supportive community.

Are you looking for brand awareness?

You could be a show sponsor. We think it is a good idea to let people know you’re still in business and supporting your products.

Rebranding and Renaming the Nonprofit

The domain for WP&UP was registered in 2014 but began operating as a charity in the UK in 2018 providing service. They always liked the idea of moving forward and up in life (as opposed to on which can feel dismissive.

"We had always intended for WP& UP to be more. ...Given the current global crisis we saw more than a 310% increase in support with 90% less donations." Dan Maby Rebranding in 4 Weeks

Dan admitted that this shift and rebrand is 18 months ahead of schedule. Once shelter in place orders began worldwide because of COVID-19, so many people became remote workers -- overnight. This new situation became a crisis; it needed to be addressed.

"Millions of people are moving to the remote working model." Dan Maby

Dan and the Board of Trustees met twice and just knew in their hearts that this pivot's timing was now. This pivot doesn't abandon the WordPress Community; rather, it expands it.

"Our heart is very much in the WordPress Community." Dan Maby Rebranding and Relaunching

In order to pivot quickly, Dan and the volunteer team looked at several solutions. Donations, obviously were a high priority. But so is SEO, user access, and accessibility. They looked at a Gatsby or GraphQL solutions but that would delay the four week timeline.

Miriam Schwab talked about her product, Strattic, at WordCamp London in 2017. The team quickly decided this is the best solution.

To build an accessibility-first site, the team had to strip out all unnecessary items. The contrast is better. The site is visually and technically lighter. Things like bloated menus were getting in the way. As far as typography goes, less is more.

Rebranding and Donation Software

Before rebranding the creation of a new site (old and new are co-existing for now), Big Orange Heart (BOH for short) was using GiveWP. BOH is now using Strattic (a static site generator for WordPress) with Payhere. Payhere is a front-end wrapper for Stripe which was previously used with GiveWP.

The site is wicked fast and simple on both mobile and desktop. (You can see their current donation form on the new site.

"Give people the right tool and they can do fantastic things." Dan Maby

The Stronger #Together fundraising campaign and corresponding podcast are an emergency fundraising tool.

Another campaign for peer-to-peer fundraising is #MayYourHeartBeOrange. This is going on throughout several Facebook Groups through the month of May. It is using Donately.

Important Lessons In Rebranding

• "It's good enough" is important when rebranding.
• Focus on accessibility & mobile users.
• Don't do it in 4 weeks.
• Put together a brand guide.
• Plan how to transition site with 301s.
• Know your SEO will be affected, temporarily.
• Ask yourself WHY. (Is this rebrand really necessary?)

Tool or Tip of the Week

This Tool or Tip of the week is brought to you by Cloudways. Is your website slow? Or are you looking for a reliable host for your WordPress projects?

Whether it’s an existing website or a project on your drawing board, Cloudways offers a hosting environment with all the features you need to succeed online.

Cloudways is optimized for speed and delivers outstanding performance and security, all supported by 24/7/365 support by expert cloud engineers.

It is an ideal platform for WordPress projects because of the choice of FIVE cloud providers including AWS, Google Cloud, Linode, DigitalOcean, and Linode. The best part – your managed server and WordPress websites are ready in a few minutes.

Once the app is up and running, you can add more power to your business operations, thanks to exciting features such as free SSL certificates, CloudwaysCDN, automated and on-demand app/server backups, and custom-built Teams features to onboard distributed team members.

Cloudways extends your in-house team and takes care of all server management issues, and lets you focus on building amazing websites for your online businesses.

If you like what you have heard, start with a 3-day free trial of Cloudways now!

Dan recommends Espanso for a fast text expander. It's written in RUST.

Jason recommends Teleprompter for Video.

Bridget recommends the app ShadowNet.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Okay, so we agree that it’s healthy to have a marketing budget. Now, where’s the best place to spend it? PPC? Instagram? Facebook ads? A copywriter? Ugh. So many choices.

John Locke of lockedownseo.com joins us this week to discuss how to use Google Analytics to make good marketing decisions.

Be sure to subscribe to his YouTube Channel.

Show Sponsors ServerPress

Thank you for being a preroll sponsor, ServerPress! ServerPress is the maker of DesktopServer, WPSiteSync, and so much more! Check them out at serverpress.com.

Big Orange Heart

Thank you for being mid-roll sponsor! Mental health support for remote workers. It’s our charity’s mission to support and promote positive wellbeing and mental health of the remote working communities. Become part of the supportive community.

Are you looking for brand awareness?

You could be a show sponsor. We think it is a good idea to let people know you’re still in business and supporting your products.

7 Steps to Spend Your Marketing Budget Wisely

1. Get Familiar with Acquisition Tab in G/A
2. Set Up Goals
3. Determine Marketing Budget
4. Find Out Where Your Customers Are
5. Give Honest Effort (a Month) to Top 3 Channels
6. Measure Where Your Customers Come From
7. Determine Lead Score

Don’t Dilute Your Marketing Efforts

The only way to really know if your marketing efforts are working is to pick two or three things. Then measure. Test. Measure. Test. Rinse & Repeat.

“I wouldn’t focus on too many things all at once, because you’re not going to be able to measure as effectively, and you’re going to dilute your efforts.” John Locke No Type of Marketing Is Instant

It’s important to remember that there are no first-click leads in marketing. All of your efforts combine to make the lead generation engine work.

“The marketing that you do today will produce results six months from now.” John Locke

Make sure you’re on YouTube and Yelp. These are highly-favored in Google’s SERPs. When it comes to advertising, Facebook Ads are less expensive than Google Ads. Most of the time LinkedIn ads are more expensive than Twitter. Test. Give it a month. See what works. Test another platform.

Marketing Leads by Source

In order to determine the best source of your leads (and where to spend your marketing budget), it is important to measure. You can’t analyze data you don’t collect. Be sure to ask clients where they heard about you. John recommends providing 4-5 sources tops.

Hot Tip: Gravity Forms has a hidden field that will show what page the user was on when they filled out the contact form.

Things like time on page, UTM codes, and coupon or affiliate codes also give an indication of where the best leads came from.

In order to get an accurate picture, however, you may want to create a spreadsheet aggregating data from all sources. What is the lifetime value for any given customer? Where did they come from?

You may get the most leads from Twitter but where do you get the best leads?

Tool or Tip of the Week

This Tool or Tip of the week is brought to you by Cloudways. Is your website slow? Or are you looking for a reliable host for your WordPress projects?

Whether it’s an existing website or a project on your drawing board, Cloudways offers a hosting environment with all the features you need to succeed online.

Cloudways is optimized for speed and delivers outstanding performance and security, all supported by 24/7/365 support by expert cloud engineers.

It is an ideal platform for WordPress projects because of the choice of FIVE cloud providers including AWS, Google Cloud, Linode, DigitalOcean, and Linode. The best part – your managed server and WordPress websites are ready in a few minutes.

Once the app is up and running, you can add more power to your business operations, thanks to exciting features such as free SSL certificates, CloudwaysCDN, automated and on-demand app/server backups, and custom-built Teams features to onboard distributed team members.

Cloudways extends your in-house team and takes care of all server management issues, and lets you focus on building amazing websites for your online businesses.

If you like what you have heard, start with a 3-day free trial of Cloudways now!

• John recommends reading this article “How Much Should You Budget to Spend on Marketing in 2020?” You should spend 6-7% of revenue on marketing.
• Jason recommends Google Campaign URL Builder.
• Bridget recommends the book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.” It’s about prioritizing your priorities, not about being apathetic.

Become a Patron and support us on Patreon!

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

COVID-19 and social distancing has changed the first half of 2020 dramatically. So, how can we sell things like real estate without meeting in-person? Expert and friend of the show, Carin Arrigo joins Jason and Bridget to discuss on this thought-provoking episode.

“Don’t avoid COVID; let’s deal with it as it is.” Carin Arrigo

As people, relationships are important — maybe now more than ever. Having a quality relationship with your clients has been a part of sales since day one. This is something Carin Arrigo, a real estate professional, knows deeply.

As she writes, “YET, in the brilliant words of Galaxy Quest, ‘never give up! never surrender!’ Ok, maybe not all the time. Sometimes take a break. Breathe. Regroup. Check-in with clients and allow them to lead. Be there when THEY are ready.”

Show Sponsors ServerPress

Thank you for being a preroll sponsor, ServerPress! ServerPress is the maker of DesktopServer, WPSiteSync, and so much more! Check them out at serverpress.com.

Big Orange Heart

Thank you for being mid-roll sponsor! Mental health support for remote workers. It’s our charity’s mission to support and promote positive wellbeing and mental health of the remote working communities. Become part of the supportive community.

Are you looking for brand awareness?

You could be a show sponsor. We think it is a good idea to let people know you’re still in business and supporting your products.

In-Person Sales Requires Awareness

It’s easy to set up an eCommerce website and never interact with a person. Real estate, and most client services, requires relationships. Relationships thrive with communication, continuous check ins, and, of course, in-person meetings.

Real estate traditionally has emphasized coffee shop meetings and car pools to open houses. If you have a big client load, this can be a burden with the new restrictions. (And there is no guarantee that real estate will return to pre COVID-19 practices.

“Ask the right questions; deal with the individual.” Carin Arrigo

Carin started working full-time in real estate in 2008 (perfect timing, right?). What drew her to this career was a love for people and her own personal freedom. (Does this sound familiar? Remote work FTW)

“In real estate, you can make what you want to make. I really do take on one client at a time.” Carin Arrigo

Being self-aware allows you to choose the right career for you but being aware of other people makes you valuable. It’s totally find to make money.

“Motivation is not a bad thing. We all have talents and weaknesses.” Carin Arigo In-Person Sales Requires Empathy

Carin loves working with seniors and even the children they have left behind. Many people sell their homes to downsize or to move into assisted living. Sometimes Carin’s clients are the children whose parent has passed.

“We don’t know our client’s stories. It’s very important to listen. This is not a time to work on lead generation.” Carin Arrigo In-Person Sales Requires Work

COVID adds layers that Realtors have to deal with. Now you have to think outside of the box — literally. There may be a contingency period. Now, there are extra steps to show a home virtually than in-person. This means taking great photos, doing live or virtual tours, and helping your clients choose the right home in the beginning.

You may have to suggest a mobile notary, not be present during a home inspection or an in-person visit. Provide masks, gloves, and instructions. Wipe down commonly-touched surfaces like doorknobs with sanitizing wipes.

“Real estate professionals have to work; they actually have to put in more effort.” Carin Arrigo

Sometimes the client isn’t a match. That’s fine. Be comfortable with your own boundaries; it’s fine to turn down a client.

“Anytime I feel resentful, I listen to the resentment.” Carin Arrigo Tool or Tip of the Week

This Tool or Tip of the week is brought to you by Adobe Spark Post. With Adobe Spark Post, you can generate a color palette for free in just a few minutes. The color palette picker will help you better understand color and how it can improve your brand identity. First, sift through our pre-selected list of palettes that can be personalized to your liking. You can also save your brand colors to your library for easy access and future designs. Use the eyedropper tool to find sample colors from your images and logos. Allow yourself room to play around with your palette, get creative, and feel inspired by what your design is communicating. Develop your brand aesthetic with Adobe Spark Post’s color palette.

• Carin strongly believes in continued education. Spend some time learning something new — whether it is for your career or a new hobby.
• Jason recommends Wave.video. It is a bit pricy but makes video editing easy. Super easy.
• Bridget recommends the GramSpacer App. It allows you to have actual hard returns in your instagram captions. “Best $3 I’ve spent this year.”

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Those of us who work in technology can hardly imagine working without high-speed internet. Many of us pay a premium for that service. But what about the average citizen? How are they accessing content?

Would you believe that 37% of American adults use their phones to go online? Even 25% of adults don’t pay for high-speed internet and rely upon data plans.

“Today, 37% of U.S. adults say they mostly use a smartphone when accessing the internet.” Pew Research

So, let’s have a conversation about marketing strategies that are mobile-first. We’re so happy that Wes Chyrchel is our guest to talk about this timely subject.

Show Sponsors ServerPress

Thank you for being a preroll sponsor, ServerPress! ServerPress is the maker of DesktopServer, WPSiteSync, and so much more! Check them out at serverpress.com.

Are you looking for brand awareness?

You could be a show sponsor. We think it is a good idea to let people know you’re still in business and supporting your products.

Mobile-First Means Asking Questions

When you are designing your eCommerce site, it’s important to understand the customer’s behavior. Wes echos a lot of what Michelle Keefer said in our discussion about UX.

“People think they can do UX without research; you’re designing in a bubble.” Michelle Keefer “Everybody has to understand who their customers are and how they shop.” Wes Chyrchel

“People are shopping on their phones first,” Wes says, then they are calling. So when they call ask them a simple question. “How Do You Use Our Site?”

Mobile-first isn’t the same as mobile responsive.

“It’s a challenge; it takes constant evaluation to see what the customer wants.” Wes Chyrchel Mobile-First Means Simple

Simple means there is one call to action. Simple means the pop-ups don’t cover the screen. Simple means using collapsable elements as Jason Tucker mentions.

You may even have iframe elements that scroll. Maps in the wrong place are some of the biggest hangups on mobile sites. Thinking mobile-first means an address that can be highlighted to open the app of the consumer’s choice is best.

Five Verbs of a Website

There are five things a customer can do on a website:

• Call
• Click
• Read
• Buy
• Submit

That’s it. Each page should have one of these verbs as a goal.

Change the experience for mobile and increase your eCommerce sales. Mobile-first thinking is revenue-first thinking.

Resist The Temptation to Be Clever

This isn’t the time to cram in features or be clever. Just because you can include a feature, doesn’t mean you should. Ask yourself if it helps the user DO the one goal.

“People overthink mobile. They cram features that don’t belong there. It has to be different.” Wes Chyrchel Mobile-First Helps Sales Department

Your mobile first site is a sales tool. Accept the feedback from all of the departments in you company. Spend the time asking your team what they think. Don’t dismiss feedback because the people giving it aren’t “technical;” neither are your customers.

“We get in our own way a lot.” Wes Chyrchel Tool or Tip of the Week

This Tool or Tip of the week is brought to you by WP and UP. WP and UP recognizes that members of the WordPress community can potentially manifest mental health issues from a variety of pressures. The WP and UP Health Hubs are designed to provide holistic support for the individual. Check them out and donate to their cause: wpandup.org

• Wes recommends having a different mindset when designing your mobile site. In fact, at the company he works at, they design mobile and desktop separately. They are eventually merged. Do a mobile audit every two years.
• Jason recommends Kinoni which allows you to use your phone as a wireless webcam.
• Bridget recommends Kindle Create and publishing on Amazon Direct Print.

Become a Patron and support us on Patreon!

https://patreon.com/wpwatercooler

3NuiQDaUMR06BDAlaS1D

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Let’s go back to basics for a moment. What is a landing page? Where do you build one? Also, what are the best practices for landing page to achieve your goal?

In this episode, Jen Miller of Next Door Marketer join Jason and Bridget to let us in on her industry secrets. You will not want to miss this episode.

“All of our marketing is relationship marketing.” Jen Miller Show Sponsors ServerPress

Thank you for being a preroll sponsor, ServerPress! ServerPress is the maker of DesktopServer, WPSiteSync, and so much more! Check them out at serverpress.com.

WP and UP

WP and UP recognizes that members of the WordPress community can potentially manifest mental health issues from a variety of pressures. The WP and UP Health Hubs are designed to provide holistic support for the individual. Check them out and donate to their cause: wpandup.org

Are you looking for brand awareness?

You could be a show sponsor. It’s up to you. Let people know you’re in business and still supporting your products.

Landing Pages are Stories

Landing pages should be easy to read, informative, and help your customers learn more about you. What is the solution you have and how will you help them?

“You want to tell a story. Build from there.” Jen Miller What is a Landing Page? “A landing page is a page on a website or maybe even an independent page on a different platform that you direct people to, to have them sign up for a specific product, service or subscription. And a lot of times landing pages come through social media either through advertising or through a specific post that’s shared and/or they come through an email campaign or they come through you know, television, radio, postcard and that instead of a general website.” Jen Miller

Well, that was easy.

Basically any page on your website or even vanity url that has a call to action is a landing pages. Realtors often use the address as a vanity url or specific one-page website, Jen says.

One-page landing pages work very well with postcard campaigns. If you pair it with an email campaign be aware of your timing and the current world situation.

“It was a different world six months ago. There should be a little bit of room to consider everyone’s financial situation. You should spend an hour on it and ask yourself, ‘is what I’m doing appropriate?'” Jen Miller Landing Pages Are For a Specific Audience

The point of the landing page is to reach a specific audience for a specific reason. Maybe the listeners on ESPN want to hire a HR agency. That landing page should be catered to ESPN’s audience.

“You want something target to the people you’re trying to reach.” Jen Miller

So, if you’re using the landing page in a coordinated ad campaign, it is important to tailor the copy on that page to that audience. Don’t send a generic landing page to everyone. Find a format that works and then duplicate it for different audiences.

Don’t forget video, too.

“Putting video on a landing page just works.” Jen Miller What is the Best Landing Page Tool?

As with most tools in business, the best tool is the one you use consistently. But go look at landing pages you like — as a consumer. Get tips from that.

• Headline
• Text
• Video
• Text
• CTA

“There are concepts that are universal to great landing pages.” Jen Miller

Video keeps your audience on your page longer. If it is longer than a minute, consider using a transcript or time-stamped bullet points. Your video better bet amazing if you want people to watch it.

Test Your Landing Page

You should test your landing page on multiple devices. This is especially important for font size, positioning, and popups.

“Look at your site as a mobile user on multiple devices.” Jen Miller Don’t Get Lost in Analytics

The more you use landing pages, the more your bounce rate will increase. This is because the landing page isn’t meant for navigation. Instead, Jen Miller suggests thinking more about your conversion rate than your bounce rate.

“If the reason why they are bouncing is because they bought a product; that is a win.” Jen Miller

Many landing pages have long-form content to keep the users on the page. They can even contain 2,500 words. But note that if your plan to drive traffic from social, use short copy. If you drive traffic from an email campaign, longer is better.

Tool or Tip of the Week

This Tool or Tip of the week is brought to you by Fat Dog Creatives. If you’re a service-based business serious about growth, Rhonda Negard is your rebranding and web design thinker, a strategic design specialist. Check out her website at FatDogCreatives.com

Jen recommends Marco Polo. She thinks this is an excellent zoom replacement for quick team-building and even client-facing updates. Also, she has one earbud in and one being charged at all times. Now, that’s a great tip.

Jason recommends Caption This. Record and have your captioning happen as you talk. Save it and use it for Instagram or Facebook Stories and more!

Bridget recommends the “Curio App;” listen to the articles you like at a great subscription price of $8/month.

Become a Patron and support us on Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/wpwatercooler

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

User design and interaction (UX/UI) isn't just a trendy thing to talk about. It affects how your website communicates to your audience. One of the things we forget, as business owners, is that we are not our own customers. We're too educated. We know our websites because we built them. In this episode, Michelle Keefer joins Bridget and Jason to discuss how UX influences your marketing strategy. Communicate, test, tweak. Rinse and Repeat!

ServerPress, makers of DesktopServer - “They make local WordPress development easy!” Check them out over at ServerPress.com

You can subscribe to WPblab by going over to wpwatercooler.com/subscribe to learn how to subscribe to this and our other shows on WPwatercooler.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We all know that websites need words. But how you say something matters just as much (or more) than what you say. In this episode, Jason and Bridget are joined by Amber Pechin to talk about writing marketing copy with empathy.

Join us on this episode of WPblab by visiting our Participant guidelines page.

WPwatercooler network is sponsored by ServerPress makers of DesktopServer. Be sure to check them out at serverpress.com.

You Can Sponsor, Too.

If you’re interested in sponsoring our shows, check out the details on our sponsor page. We offer episode by episode spoken ads, rather than large contracts. This way you have a low barrier to entry so we can help you with brand awareness. We’re democratizing podcasting.

About Amber Pechin

Amber and her business partner own and operate Amplitude Media - a marketing and creative agency. She is an extrovert, a dinosaur lover, mom, trained Public Relations Professional, and writer of all things. Her core belief is that humans are amazing. You should definitely follow her on Twitter.

Her newest book is called "How to Make Friends with a T-Rex." You'll have to stalk her on Twitter to see when it is ready. She's working on "Strategic Neglect: The Art of Winning at Parenting" as well.

What is Communication? "You've not effectively communicated if the person you're talking to doesn't understand the intent behind what you're saying or trying to communicate." Amber Pechin

The only way to effectively communicate is when you can feel with them. So this is key.

It's true that people are more sensitive these days. How do you get objective evaluation if you don't accept criticism?

"As a society at large, we've gotten really bad at hearing people say something we're doing isn't good. We think that we are always right. It's a human sociological thing. It's our own internal bias." Amber Pechin

Amber suggests you answer these three questions when approaching communication with empathy:

1. Who is your audience?
2. What space are they in emotionally?
3. How will they receive this message?

Granted, we're not mind readers, but a lot of this can be done by thinking of things from a PR standpoint. That is, Public Relations experts are trained for communications during a crisis.

Email Marketing During a Crisis

If you want to have effective communication and develop empathy, it's up to the leadership to establish a culture of pushback. Surrounding yourself with "yes men" will not help anyone -- least of all your company.

This is why an inclusive diversity is important. You can hire from every demographic, but if those people don't have a voice, your company isn't truly diverse. You're also missing "multiple valuable lenses" as Amber says.

"Diverse doesn't mean inclusive." Amber Pechin

In any kind of email marketing (or any marketing) you should think about how your story is going to help the other person.

"What does the person reading this need to know?" Amber Pechin

Most often, they don't. When in doubt, leave it out.

Recommended Resources

• Morten Rand-Hendriksen: Empathy and Acceptance in Design and Community
• The Diversity Bonus: How Great Teams Pay Off in the Knowledge Economy
• The Wisdom of Crowds

Tool or Tip of the Week

This Tool or Tip of the week is brought to you by Fat Dog Creatives. If you’re a service-based business serious about growth, Rhonda Negard is your rebranding and web design thinker, a strategic design specialist. Check out her website at FatDogCreatives.com

Amber recommends two things: get an air fryer -- it will change your life. Also, she loves Do You Yoga.

Jason recommends Drawful 2 which is free for the moment.

Bridget recommends learning things that you're not naturally good at by playing games. To this end she plays Word Stacks nightly.

 

Bonus:

https://youtu.be/Ko9F4eFNbHY

 

 

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As much as we like to think Open Source is all about giving and not getting, it isn’t a sustainable model. Peace, Love, and WordPress are great, but we still need to eat. So how are plugins really funded? We continue this series on funding open source with Russell Aaron. He has built and maintained several plugins on his own while an employee with a company. Russ says he supports his plugins “on his own dime,” so you’ll want to watch this episode for sure.

Funding Open Source: The Series

• Watch Chris Badgett tell his story of how LifterLMS was funded on this episode.
• Jason Coleman gives insight into how Paid Memberships Pro was built and how it used the Open Source philosophy to grow in this episode

WPblab Sponsors ServerPress

Thank you for being a preroll sponsor, ServerPress! ServerPress is the maker of DesktopServer, WPSiteSync, and so much more! serverpress.com. (It works with WooCommerce now!)

Kinsta

If you are tired of unreliable or slow hosting check out Kinsta.com, who takes managed WordPress hosting to the next level. Powered by Google Cloud, all their plans include PHP 7.3, SSH access for developers, one-click staging area, 20 global data centers, free SSL, free CDN and 24×7 expert support who will also migrate your site free of charge. demo.Kinsta.com

About Russell Aaron

Born and raised in Nevada, Russ is no stranger to hard work and the hustle. He started coding in MySpace “pimping out tables” for the “About Me” section. He then started learning some CSS and going to WordPress Meetups.

He worked at a mortgage company and built plugins to work with the API to display rates on the website. He ended up selling that plugin to local real estate professionals and other loan shops. He knew these people personally.

Back in the day, he was asked to help organize WordCamp Las Vegas so he put his Gravity Styles plugin on hold to work on it. Serendipity rewarded him. Ben Fox urged him to build the plugin. He said, “if you don’t build it, I will.” Pippin Williamson sat down at Russ’ laptop and a few minutes later, he had the plugin ready.

Read more about Russ on his website and say hi to him on Twitter.

Why Build Gravity Styles?

When you’re creating a product it is important to solve an actual problem. He hated styling forms. So, he saw Suzette Franck made all of her forms pink. So he asked her if he could use her CSS. “Sure” she said. And Russ was off building Gravity Styles.

“I hate styling Gravity Forms.” Russell Aaron How Long Before Gravity Styles Was Solvent?

It was always solvent. Russ believes that you should only work on side projects after you feed your family and have a roof on your head.

“Please keep a roof over your head.” Russell Aaron Do the Work

Don’t be afraid to walk up and shake someone’s hand. Build relationships. Those are the most valuable tool anyone has. Also, don’t be afraid of guerrilla marketing.

“Stop talking and start sweating.” Russell Aaron

For example, he used DesktopServer, built a local version of a website that was fully operational and had content. He would go to that business (someone he knew) and say something like, “Hey. I built this for you. Would you like to have a website setup in an hour for your business?” Then he’d help them with hosting or whatever, got the cash, and moved on.

“If you don’t have the passion to do this it doesn’t matter if you’re Bruce Wayne; you’re not going to get anywhere.” Russell Aaron Advice for Plugin Developers

“They gave me hosting and I did something with it.” Russell Aaron

1. Be curious.
2. Be passionate.
3. Have a mentor then be a mentor.
4. Solve a problem with your plugin.
5. Hire or ask a professional to code it.
6. Be accountable.
7. Do the work.
8. Build relationships.
9. Don’t be a taker; be a giver.
10. Use the tools you have.
11. Go to Meetups and Conferences.
12. Make friends.
13. Do all of this after you’ve paid for your food and rent.

Tool or Tip of the Week

This Tool or Tip of the week is brought to you by Fat Dog Creatives. If you’re a service-based business serious about growth, Rhonda Negard is your rebranding and web design thinker, a strategic design specialist. Check out her website at FatDogCreatives.com

Russ recommends getting a Chromecast. Use it to play videos from WordPress.tv while you work (keep learning), YouTube, or at social gatherings.

Jason recommends Small.Chat. Even the free account allows you to integrate a chat bot on your website to your Slack channel. Respond in real time in a way that works with your team.

Bridget recommends the DOSS SoundBox. The bass is awesome. Shows the best of Miles Davis which she is currently enjoying — especially Kind of Blue.

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As the economy naturally changes, how do we adapt? Whether it is a temporary scare, industry shift, or a documented recession, we have options during an economic decline.

Jason and Bridget are joined by Pam Aungst of PamAnnMarketing.com to discuss how to market your WordPress business during these difficult times.

“We’re still humans. We still have emotions and we still do business with people we know, like and trust. Pick up your phone and call your clients. Real human connection is the important part about life.” Pam Aungst

Our show notes only touch on highlights. As always, we encourage you to watch (or listen) to the whole episode.

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Thank you for being a preroll sponsor, ServerPress! ServerPress is the maker of DesktopServer, WPSiteSync, and so much more! https://www.serverpress.com. (It works with WooCommerce now!)

Kinsta

If you are tired of unreliable or slow hosting check out Kinsta.com, who takes managed WordPress hosting to the next level. Powered by Google Cloud, all their plans include PHP 7.3, SSH access for developers, one-click staging area, 20 global data centers, free SSL, free CDN and 24×7 expert support who will also migrate your site free of charge. Kinsta.com

About Pam Aungst

Pam Aungst is no stranger to innovating marketing and business strategies. Not only does she have a natural intuition toward strategy and marketing, but she has an MBA, too.

Throughout her career, Pam has been able to pivot companies during economic declines. She has done this for industrial products and even niching down in the SEO and PPC field.

Her agency, Pam Ann Marketing, and it’s white label sister company, Stealth Search and Analytics, have just turned seven years old and she’s released a new plugin: Crosscheck SEO – “Search Engine Visibility & Robots.txt Monitoring & Email Alerts Plugin for WordPress.”

Be sure to follow Pam on Twitter.

Empathy in an Economic Decline

The most important driving force to cope with an economic decline is empathy. In many ways our businesses are interlinked and codependent. (Not codependent in a toxic way but a symbiotic way. Think algae and fungus. We can learn a lot from nature’s systems.)

“The symbiotic relationship between algae and fungus creates lichen. The algae make energy through the process of photosynthesis and the fungus provides protection from the elements to the algae. Without the protection of fungus the algae would die and without the life giving energy produced by algae the fungus would die. It is a true partnership!” Curtis Carman

Remember, in any time, it is easier to keep an existing client base than gain new ones. Ask your clients what they need and don’t be afraid to loosen up a bit. Generally Pam doesn’t change her hourly rate or contract terms, but right now she believes serving her clients where they are today is more important.

“I don’t have an exact plan and I refuse to have an exact plan. We have to ride this wave.” Pam Aungst

The best way to demonstrate empathy is to get ahead of the situation.

“Be as empathetic as possible. [My clients] are all asking to pause; I’m not enforcing my contract.” Pam Aungst

A recession or economic decline tends to move people toward the do-it-yourself model. But your relationships with your clients should still be maintained through helpful communication.

“Figure out how to help the client [and] maintain the relationship.” Pam Aungst Pivoting in an Economic Decline

When Pam was in charge of the her department and the company hit an economic decline, they made the decision to strategically pivot. She’s proud that they grew 30% year over year in that recession. This comes from being creative and self-aware.

“What other skills do you have or could you develop to help your clients?” Pam Aungst

Pam likes the “gun to your head” thought experiment. Imagine you’re forced fo choose a career. What’s the first thing that you think of? Now, take that and see what elements of those you can introduce.

If the first thing you said was “teach.” Then develop some online courses.

As an aside, Chris Badgett has been advocating this forever but especially now.

“If you inventory your skills, life experience & passions, (and overlap that with what the world needs right now) what could you make a free or paid online course about?” Chris Badgett

If you were hosting events, do them virtually. If you were going to speak at a conference, offer free consulting.

Email Marketing in an Economic Decline

Bridget recommends against ambulance chasing. This applies to your email marketing. Jason mentioned we don’t need emails from companies who are electronic-only. The “cloud” is safe from COVID-19. Don’t be part of the noise when an emergency hits. Be part of the solution.

“Before you send any email, think about what’s in it for them.” Pam Aungst

Instead, why not reach out via text, phone, or email with this simple line, suggests Pam:

“I’m thinking about you.”

Those four words make a huge impact. We’re all businesses. Truly, we are all affected together, but we choose to be in it together.

Tool or Tip of the Week

This Tool or Tip of the week is brought to you by Fat Dog Creatives. If you’re a service-based business serious about growth, Rhonda Negard is your rebranding and web design thinker, a strategic design specialist. Check out her website at FatDogCreatives.com

Pam recommends the following:

• Relax.
• Mental health really matters now more than ever.
• Take care of yourself.
• Do you.

Jason recommends Unichar. Sometimes you need those trademark and copyright symbols.

Bridget recommends the Smule. You can still do karaoke and meet new people.

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We’ve all heard, “free as in beer,” but what does it even mean? You know you have a valuable solution, product, or service, but how should it be priced? What is your product business model? Is it all free, freemium, or premium only? Do you finance with the equity in your home, an SBA loan, or exposure?

Business models are Jason Coleman‘s favorite topic. We are lucky enough to be joined by him for 45 minutes on this episode. Remember, the last 15 are the Tool or Tip of the Week.

Don’t miss this episode if you want to continue the conversation on what really funds open source. (Hint: it’s not open source fairies.) There were so many quotables, you just have to watch!

WPwatercooler Sponsors ServerPress

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Beaver Builder

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Kinsta

If you are tired of unreliable or slow hosting check out Kinsta.com, who takes managed WordPress hosting to the next level. Powered by Google Cloud, all their plans include PHP 7.3, SSH access for developers, one-click staging area, 20 global data centers, free SSL, free CDN and 24×7 expert support who will also migrate your site free of charge. https://demo.kinsta.com

Jason Coleman – Entrepreneur, Husband, Author

Jason and Kim Coleman were high school sweethearts and formed their businesses together. Currently, Jason is the CEO of Stranger Studios and Paid Memberships Pro. He’s also a published author. They both have college degrees and knew that business building was their path. You can read Jason’s blog here.

(Side note: Jessalyn interviewed Kim Coleman at WCUS in 2017.)

Jason Coleman worked in the 2.0 app area and built quite a bit of proprietary software. Soon after he found WordPress. He had an eCommerce plugin that he didn’t license under GPL and saw that as a missed opportunity. Around 2011, 2012 Jason niched in the membership website market. Because the work was repeatable, he started charging more.

“Don’t combat the big guys in the space they’re winning.” Jason Coleman

So many of us in WordPress are accidental freelancers or hobbyists or employees. Jason’s passion is not only to help his local community, but to help WordPress developers set themselves up for success at Day 1. Be on the lookout for his presentation at WordCamp Orlando in 2019 on WordPress.tv. (His slides and spreadsheet resources are here.)

What are the WordPress Product Business Models?

It feels like there are many business models. But with WordPress products you have three: premium, freemium, and free. You can also have a free product and charge only for support. That’s the way PMP went for quite a while. But it’s important to set goals. Make sure your goals are achievable and realistic.

Premium-only plugins don’t have the competitive advantage of being listed in the WordPress Plugin Directory. This was the opening in the market that Jason Coleman saw as a huge opportunity. There were many premium plugins for membership, but none in the free/freemium space.

Currently, PMP has a freemium model. Check it out in the directory; don’t forget to check out their add-ons, too.

Supporting Open Source with Agency Work

Much like the story of LifterLMS, PMP was subsidized and supported by agency work. You have to plan in order for your WordPress product to become self-sustaining. That plan must include profit. Make projections with a percentage and stick to it. He believes 30% profit is reasonable.

Freelancers have an advantage. When doing client work, WordPress developers are used to building something and standing by it. Not many people stand by something they have built. It’s the pride in craftsmanship that is an advantage.

“A lot of freelancers move into products because they have the skill to [support something they built].” Jason Coleman How Long Before PMP Was Profitable?

Like most businesses, Paid Memberships Pro was self-sufficient and in the black by year three (2015). They reached a point where their forecasts (huge fans of spreadsheets) required they dive in to PMP 100%. To do this they paused their agency work for three months.

When Should You Raise Your Prices?

Using your goals, decide when it makes sense. This is one of the reasons why Jason Coleman loves spreadsheets so much. You can tweak prices to see when you meet revenue and growth goals. Don’t worry about the people who will be upset. They will always be upset.

“There will be backlash no matter what you charge.” Jason Coleman

Instead of focusing on current customers in your projections, focus on the future customer. Mature businesses worry about churn, where most startups need to focus on future customers. Don’t forget about your current customers. Be sure to grandfather in their pricing. Loyalty, after all, is very important.

Tool or Tip of the Week

This Tool or Tip of the week is brought to you by Fat Dog Creatives. If you’re a service-based business serious about growth, Rhonda Negard is your rebranding and web design thinker, a strategic design specialist. Check out her website at FatDogCreatives.com

Jason Coleman recommends the distributor plugin by 10up. This allows you to syndicate content to one central site. This is good for people who publish all over the place.

Jason Tucker recommends the Peak-a-View app. This tool allows you to safely hand your phone to a kid or client and allow them to only view one album. There was a big write up on it at 9to5mac.com.

Bridget recommends Sarah Beth Yoga on YouTube. It’s organized by focus (bedtime yoga, morning yoga), type, and by minutes (10 minute, 15 minute, etc.). Bridget is finally doing 20 minute yoga.

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