The Guiding Brands Podcast

The Guiding Brands Podcast

By Karen VickBusinessMarketing
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The Guiding Brands Podcast episodes

  • Know your people: How to identify your ideal customer

    In episode 1, we talked about 3 foundational strategies for effectively marketing your small business, the second of which was "Identifying your ideal customer." In today's episode, I will dive deeper into the importance of knowing who to market to and how to identify your ideal customer. 

    Today, you should walk away with the following:

    1. An understanding of why going through this exercise of identifying your ideal customer is critical to your marketing.
    2. Practical steps you can take immediately to identify your ideal customer and create your buyer persona.
    3. Templates you can use to create your ideal customer profile and buyer personas and resources for researching your ideal customers.

      4. Download the templates here.

      Visit the research sites mentioned in the podcast here: 

      1. pewresearch.org
      2. census.gov
      3. sba.gov

        4. These links will take you directly to content related to this episode.

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        Please rate, review, subscribe (follow), and share the podcast with your friends and colleagues. Doing this will help others find the podcast and benefit as well.


        18 min
      4. Turning wishes to Gold: How to set and achieve SMARTER marketing goals.

        Many small business owners struggle to create marketing goals to help them achieve their overall marketing goals.

        In today's episode, Karen Vick will share how small business owners and their marketers can create SMARTER goals that will help guide their marketing efforts. Karen believes having SMARTER goals is essential to growing your business.

        As was discussed in episode one, clear goals will provide a good foundation for successful marketing.

        Learn a proven tactic for creating all your goals, not just marketing goals using the Full Focus goal-setting system of SMARTER goals, which you can learn more about in this article, The Beginner's Guide To Goal Setting, from the Full Focus founder Michael Hyatt.

        Please subscribe and tune in to new episodes every Tuesday, and remember to leave a review. Your subscription and review will help others find it and help us improve the product.

        To learn more about Karen Vick and Guiding Brands, please visit guidingbrands.com and don't hesitate to contact us.


        NOTE TO SPOTIFY LISTENERS: 

        Please take a second to answer this week's poll question, "Have you set marketing goals for your small business? 

        And share any questions you may have about setting goals in 2023



        13 min
      5. From Goals to Gains: 3 Foundational Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses
        3 fundamental strategies for marketing your small business
        Today, we will discuss three foundational strategies to successfully market your service-based small business. These steps apply to any business, from startups to established companies at every growth stage. If you have been in business for a while, you will get helpful reminders of strategies you may have overlooked or need re-evaluating. For example, your customer base has changed, or you have introduced new products or services to your customers and need to improve sales in those categories. On the other hand, if you are new to business and want guidance on establishing yourself in your local market, these three strategies will get you on the right track. This episode will be valuable wherever you are in your business's marketing journey. We will dive deeper into each of these strategies in future episodes. But today's episode serves to build a foundation for this podcast and help you establish a baseline or benchmark for your marketing.
        Episode Recap
        So to recap, in this first episode of the Guiding Brands podcast, we talked about three strategies every business should implement to establish a strong marketing foundation.
        - One setting goals to help you determine what to focus on and set expectations for your marketing.
        - Number two, know who your ideal customer is, create buyer personas, and get laser-focused on what you say to your audience and where you show up for them.
        - And number three, know your numbers; look at your business social media data and Google Business profile insights. You may need to contact your web designer or webmaster to assist you with accessing this data or Google Analytics or some other tool. 
        Put these ideas into practice before you run off and create content. You will see a clearer picture of how your marketing is performing or how you should approach marketing your small business.
        FREE Search Audit
        Get started with my free local Search Audit report. Head on over to guidingbrands.com/seoaudit. That's guidingbrands.com/ S-E-O-a-u-d-I-t to get your free audit report. Enter your business name to get started, and follow the prompts to create your free report, which will be emailed to you in a few minutes. This audit will show you a few things about how your business appears in the search results or not. The link is also in the Show notes below.
        Thank you
        That's all for this episode of the Guiding Brands podcast. I look forward to sharing with you again next week at the same time and place. So please don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. Thank you and bye for now.
        Mentioned in this podcast:
        Guiding Brands Free Local Search Audit: https://guidingbrands.com/seoaudit
        Have questions or need help with your small business marketing? Visit https://www.guidingbrands.com for more info and schedule an appointment today.
        Follow me and say hello:
        LinkedIn Profile: https://linkedin.com/in/karen-vick
        LinkedIn Company Page: https://linkedin.com/company/guidingbrands
        Instagram: @guidingbrands and @topoflocalsearch
        Schedule a 15-minute coffee break at https://tidycal.com/guidingbrands
        16 min
      6. Introducing The Guiding Brands Podcast
        Are you a local service-based small business owner looking for help with your marketing? You're in the right place! Every week starting February 28, 2023 award winning marketer, Karen Vick will share practical tips, strategies, and insights on the latest trends, best practices, and success stories in small business marketing. Whether you're new to business or looking to improve your marketing efforts, The Guiding Brands Podcast will have something for you. Join us by subscribing today.
        1 min

      About The Guiding Brands Podcast

      From the publisher's feed

      The Guiding Brands Podcast hosted by Chief Guide Karen Vick is for small business owners who want to learn more about how to use marketing to grow their businesses. Each episode offers practical tips,…