The Beacon Way

Today we have a very powerful tool at our disposal to attract and recruit talent and build an incredible company culture: digital marketing! In today’s episode of The Beacon Way Podcast, we are telling you how you can make use of this tool! You will hear about why you need to be as bold as possible, the importance of celebrating and connecting with your employees, why the way you respond to reviews is critical, how you can take advantage of an internal digital communication tool, and how to inspire employees. We also give you four key areas to focus on when recruiting online, and show you a great example of a company who has made the brave decision to use their own staff on their website! Finally, we talk about why it is essential to move towards having a remote/hybrid working environment. So, to step up your digital marketing and recruitment game, tune in now!

Key Points From This Episode:

• A webpage that uses marketing to showcase culture, help with recruitment, and attract talent.
• How you can safely use your staff in marketing to connect with clients. 
• The importance of being bold in marketing. 
• Why you need to celebrate your employees and care about their lives on a personal level.
• A fun thing we do at the beginning of every week to connect with our employees.
• Four key areas to focus on when marketing for recruitment online. 
• Looking at your website, about page, and social media. 
• Reading your reviews and direct messaging your employees or people who know you. 
• Why you should not avoid nor be afraid of your reviews. 
• The importance of having an internal digital communication tool. 
• How being consistently inspiring towards your staff helps everybody in the long-run.
• Why you should have a remote/hybrid work environment if you can, and why it matters. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Ellie Mental Health

Slack

Microsoft Teams

Adrienne Wilkerson on LinkedIn

Adrienne Wilkerson on Twitter

Jennifer Christensen on LinkedIn

Jennifer Christensen on Twitter

Beacon Media + Marketing

Beacon Media + Marketing @beaconmm

We’re back with our digital marketing theme, and today we will be taking a closer look at recruitment marketing in particular. There are four stages of adopting trends, and we learn why the early adoption phase is the best one for a business to operate in. We’ll take a closer look at how the adoption phase you’re in affects the logistics of a company, including turnover, money, time, and candidate response. The bottom line is you do not have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to recruitment marketing; all you need is to integrate it into your normal marketing strategy and allow it to piggyback on your already-set methods.  

Key Points From This Episode:

• Today, we will be exploring the ins and outs of recruitment marketing. 
• Recapping our last episode on digital marketing, recruiting, and culture development trends.  
• Why the early adoption phase is the best one for a business to be in.
• Statistics on how the adoption phase affects the logistical pieces of a company. 
• How attracting talent through your brand reduces turnover, costs less and takes less time.
• The reasons why you’re likely to attract more qualified candidates through brand recruiting. 
• Why you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to develop your culture through marketing. 
• How the same methods used for attracting new clients also work in attracting candidates.
• Why it’s wise to integrate recruitment marketing with your usual marketing plan. 
• A note to tune into next week’s episode as we explore specific tools and techniques.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Adrienne Wilkerson on LinkedIn

Adrienne Wilkerson on Twitter

Jennifer Christensen on LinkedIn

Jennifer Christensen on Twitter

Beacon Media + Marketing

Beacon Media + Marketing @beaconmm

Did you know that you can use digital marketing to not only market your business but attract talent and maintain and enhance your company culture, even after you’ve hired people? Join us for this episode of The Beacon Way as we share some key insights from the past 10 years and track how digital marketing and recruitment marketing has evolved. We take a look at some of the disruptions that have taken place in the advertising industry and unpack why it is important to be able to use your digital platforms for so much more than just sales. As the world of digital marketing and social media expands, we need to expand with it in order to stay in front of it. This episode will help you do just that, so make sure to tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• How digital marketing disrupted the traditional advertising industry.
• The transparency that comes with social media and digital marketing.
• Why it’s important to meet consumers and talent where they’re at.
• Ways that communication styles have evolved with technology.
• Recruitment strategies that yield success for employers.
• Tips for engaging with potential talent on social media.
• Stay tuned to learn how to utilize the digital marketing tools you already have!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Adrienne Wilkerson on LinkedIn

Adrienne Wilkerson on Twitter

Jennifer Christensen on LinkedIn

Jennifer Christensen on Twitter

Beacon Media + Marketing

Welcome to part 2 of building out your strategy here on The Beacon Way Podcast. Today, we are going to get into the nitty-gritty of how to put together your marketing calendar. You first need to ascertain how much time you’re going to give to marketing by weighing up your company’s goals, checking how much time and money you have available, and being clear on your strengths and weaknesses. Then, you’ll need to outsource tasks with the understanding that digital marketing is a specialized field and nobody is an expert in all roles. It’s wise to focus on video and content when it comes to marketing, and isolating one or two social media platforms will help streamline your path to success. Finally, you’ll learn why LinkedIn is a business’s best friend and why consistency is the only currency that matters. We thank you for joining us!

Key Points From This Episode:

• How to ascertain how much time you need to designate to marketing. 
• Plotting your company’s goals, checking money against time, and marking your strengths. 
• Why outsourcing is vital.
• Understanding that digital marketing is a specialized field and nobody can do everything.
• The main marketing focal point for any startup.   
• Video and content as marketing essentials.
• Why only focusing on one or two social platforms may be the best way to start. 
• LinkedIn as a business must-have. 
• Always being consistent and staying in your lane to make it easier. 
• Choosing the right time to start: when you are not overwhelmed. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Adrienne Wilkerson on LinkedIn

Adrienne Wilkerson on Twitter

Jennifer Christensen on LinkedIn

Jennifer Christensen on Twitter

Beacon Media + Marketing

Beacon Media + Marketing on Twitter

Today, we will be breaking ground on a new topic: building out your strategy. We all know that having a brilliant, brand-aligned, audience-driven marketing strategy will give you the best chance of achieving your goals. So, in part one of this episode series, we discuss why your business’ foundation is the key element of your strategy document and we break down exactly why it’s so important. Digital marketing relies heavily on market response and it’s important to go back to the basics and ensure that you are catering to your desired audience. You’ll learn how to use your truth north to differentiate constructive feedback from noise, why the only feedback that matters is that of your audience, and how to let go of personal preferences to serve the greater goal. Be sure to tune in!  

Key Points From This Episode:

• Introducing today’s topic: part one of building out your marketing strategy. 
• The key element of your strategy document. 
• Why your foundation is so important.
• How digital marketing relies heavily on market response. 
• Going back to basics. 
• Using your true north to distinguish constructive feedback from noise. 
• Only accepting feedback from your followers, users, and target audience.
• As an owner, letting go of personal preferences to serve your target market. 
• Being open to ideas that don’t resonate with you but align with your brand and values.  

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Adrienne Wilkerson on LinkedIn

Adrienne Wilkerson on Twitter

Jennifer Christensen on LinkedIn

Jennifer Christensen on Twitter

Beacon Media + Marketing

Beacon Media + Marketing @beaconmm

Welcome to The Beacon Way Podcast! Today we have our fourth and final episode on websites. This episode is all about your support pages, and why you shouldn’t forget them! Although they seem like something that should get the least focus, your support pages are more important than you think. We discuss your blogroll, your Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page, and your contact page to help you to better understand why it deserves more attention than you may be giving it. By building trust, using backlinks and call-to-action functions, providing visual resources, creating sectioned questions, and using chatbots, you will learn why your support pages can be leveraged as an effective tool for customer service!

Key Points From This Episode:

• A welcome to the final episode on websites!
• A look at the changes in blogrolls (blog pages).
• How a blog role can be an effective and important tool for your website.
• Why search engine optimization (SEO) is perfect for blogrolls.
• What questions and information you should have on your blogrolls.
• The importance of backlinks and using a call to action function.
• Why you should never overpromise on your FAQ page.
• A comparison of how smaller versus larger companies should structure their FAQ page.
• Thinking from a customer’s perspective.
• Using technology to enhance customer service rather than putting customers off.
• What you should have on your contact page.
• How to structure your contact page that allows customers to have multiple options. 
• How customer service is not only for new customers.
• Jennifer’s opinions on having and using a chatbot.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Adrienne Wilkerson on LinkedIn

Adrienne Wilkerson on Twitter

Jennifer Christensen on LinkedIn

Jennifer Christensen on Twitter

Beacon Media + Marketing

Beacon Media + Marketing @beaconmm

Welcome to The Beacon Way Podcast! Today is our third episode on websites, and we’re talking specifically about why we think you should put your prices on your website, although it seems controversial! We will guide you through the ways to avoid awkward price conversations, get the best traffic from online ads, remove barriers to entry, and cultivate a connection with your clients. We’ll also cover what to have on your service page: from visuals, infographics, detailed information, and blogs, to before and afters. Listen in for some important do’s and don’ts, advice on being open and transparent, why to highlight your vendors, and more!

Key Points From This Episode:

• A welcome to the third episode on websites!
• A look at how much deeper you should go when advertising on a website.
• Defining a good potential lead.
• Why you cannot overshare information on your service pages.
• Why an educational sharing style is best for a service that does not convert easily.
• When you should use visuals, links, and customer reviews on your website's service page.
• Why 2000 words per service page are ideal.
• Breaking up your service page with visuals, infographics, detailed information, blogs, and before and afters. 
• How to manage your service page (be specific!) to get the best out of Google ads.
• Why you should put prices on your service pages.
• How to get more traffic on your service pages.
• The power of being open and transparent.
• Why you shouldn't bait and switch, but rather be honest about your prices. 
• Highlighting your vendors to get more clients.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Google ads

Facebook

Wendy’s

Adrienne Wilkerson on LinkedIn

Adrienne Wilkerson on Twitter

Jennifer Christensen on LinkedIn

Jennifer Christensen on Twitter

Beacon Media + Marketing

Beacon Media + Marketing on Twitter

Welcome to another exciting episode of The Beacon Way Podcast! Today, our hosts Jennifer Christensen and Adrienne Wilkerson continue our series about websites. For our second episode in July, we are focussing on building a Home and About page that people want to read. We kick off by discussing what above-the-fold and below-the-fold mean and what you need to do in order to get them right: establish your unique selling position, credibility, reputation, and brand. Then, we find out that simple navigation works best, and our hosts provide a few tips on how you can accomplish this. You’ll learn why calls to action are essential, how to rank well on Google, why it’s important to answer pertinent questions on your Home and About pages, how to best build your About page, and why it is that your About page is actually your relationship-building page. Finally, our hosts tell us how Beacon has structured its About page and why, and how having many of your company’s staff on your About page can help create familiarity and build instant trust. You don’t want to miss this one! 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Introducing today’s topic: “Build a Home and About Page people want to read.”
• Above and below the fold: what they mean and why they’re still applicable today. 
• Your Home page as your website’s prime real estate. 
• What you need to accomplish in the above-the-fold spot. 
• The unique selling position and establishing credibility, reputation, and brand. 
• Making navigation as easy as possible and guiding your clients through your website.
• Some tips on how to provide simple navigation.
• What below-the-fold content looks like and how to rank well on Google. 
• Providing a call to action during page/content breaks. 
• Why it’s important to answer questions and be helpful through your website’s navigation.
• The best practices when building your About page.
• Jennifer explains why your About page is actually your relationship-building page.  
• Beacon’s About page and why they have set it up that way. 
• Key elements that your About page should have. 
• Why having as many staff members on your About page is a good idea.
• Creating familiarity and instant trust. 
• Breaking down barriers by making it personal. 
• Creative ways to solve the barrier issue. 
• Upcoming topics: your Services and/or Products page. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Adrienne Wilkerson on LinkedIn

Adrienne Wilkerson on Twitter

Jennifer Christensen on LinkedIn

Jennifer Christensen on Twitter

Ivan Misner on LinkedIn

BNI

Beacon Media + Marketing

Beacon Media + Marketing @beaconmm

Beacon Media + Marketing Email

Welcome to another engaging and informative episode of The Beacon Way with our hosts, Adrienne Wilkerson and Jennifer Christensen. We are sticking with the theme of building your brand and how to make sure that your marketing cultivates connection with your clients, and today and for the rest of the month we’re honing in on Websites because your website is the hub of all your marketing. As a start, we talk about what the goals of your website should be and the reason why your website needs to be effective. Then, we take a closer look at 5 goals, including your website as a means of clients getting to know you, the experience your website provides for its visitors, creating content that is geared towards your target market and having full knowledge of yourselves as a business and indeed your desired audience. We discuss why it’s essential to remove barriers and the type of research you need to be doing on the back end, before explaining what conversions are through some examples. Adrienne gives us her version of the history of websites, and one thing we know now is that, in 2022, a website validates your business: if you don’t have one, you probably don’t exist! Finally, we take a look at some upcoming topics, as well as a quick rundown of website navigation and your website’s basic foundation pages. Be sure to tune in! 

Key Points From This Episode:

• What the goals of your website should be.
• Why you need an effective website.
• Goal 1: your website as the foundation for clients to get to know more about you.
• Goal 2: the twofold experience your website provides: visual and ease of access. 
• Why it’s important to remove barriers. 
• Goal 3: driving website content toward answering the questions of your intended audience. 
• Goal 4: understanding who you are and who your target market is. 
• Doing the research on the back end. 
• Goal 5: conversions. 
• A website as your digital salesperson. 
• What conversion means, and some examples. 
• Taking the pre-qualification workload away from the internal staff and giving it to the website.
• Adrienne gives us her perspective and a very brief history of websites.  
• How websites validate businesses: if you don’t have one, you probably don’t exist!
• COVID, remote work, and online businesses. 
• Taking a look at upcoming topics: online reviews and putting prices on your website. 
• Website navigation: keep it simple. 
• The basic foundation pages of your website. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Adrienne Wilkerson on LinkedIn

Adrienne Wilkerson on Twitter

Jennifer Christensen on LinkedIn

Jennifer Christensen on Twitter

Facebook

Amazon

Beacon Media + Marketing

Beacon Media + Marketing @beaconmm

Beacon Media + Marketing Email

Welcome to a new, captivating episode of The Beacon Way Podcast! This episode is the finale of a four-part series, covering all things brand messaging. Our hosts, Adrienne Wilkerson and Jennifer Christensen tackle the last topic of the series: “How to practically use your information to boost your brand on social media.” This episode wraps up the series by taking everything we have learned, from building your brand, profiling your target audience, to understanding your industry, and combining it all together to form your position in the digital marketing place. We start by understanding the differences between organic content versus PPC (pay per click), and why Beacon Media values organic social. We learn that organic content creates brand awareness, and Adrienne and Jen dig deep into the crux of social media platforms, from Facebook to Pinterest and LinkedIn, to uncover the reasons behind their fluctuations in popularity. To add to it all, we look at stereotypes, interesting statistics, and the power of reusing and repurposing content as a means to grow your business. We hope you join us for the final episode that ends off this series with a bang!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Today’s episode covers topic four: “How to practically use your information to boost your brand on social media.”
• Understanding your client’s position in the digital marketing place.
• Digging into the social media platforms and organic social.
• Organic content versus PPC (pay per click).
• Looking at the reasons for the increasing growth in popularity of LinkedIn.
• The decrease in popularity of Facebook, its pros and cons, and use of messenger.
• Talking about the value of Pinterest and touching on Twitter and Instagram.
• Looking at typical stereotypes relating to social media platforms.
• Understanding the target market using TikTok and the complexities of using the platform.
• Reusing and repurposing social media content. 
• Identifying the questions in your industry and being willing to share your content on all platforms.
• The importance and power of sharing your information and secrets on social media.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

They Ask You Answer

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

Pinterest

Twitter

Google

Etsy

eBay

YouTube

TikTok

Snapchat

Adrienne Wilkerson on LinkedIn

Adrienne Wilkerson on Twitter

Jennifer Christensen on LinkedIn

Jennifer Christensen on Twitter

Beacon Media + Marketing

Beacon Media + Marketing on Twitter

Beacon Media Email