business

  • Why email marketing will work for your business.

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    So you have a business. You use social media. And maybe (hopefully) you have a website. But you aren’t sure that email marketing is right for you or maybe you don’t even know what it is. Let’s cut right through that pronto.

    First things first – what is email marketing? Well, in the most basic sense, it is something wonderful that can help your business grow and something you needed yesterday. But today will work, too.

    Let me ask you this – do you get a little frustrated when you post on social media and no one responds or you reach 5 whole people? Yeah, I getcha. Let’s fix it.


    While social media is a must and has its own superpowers sometimes reaching an audience is not one of them. Well, not without paying for an ad and you probably don’t want to pay for an ad every single time you post. But you need your customers to hear what you are saying and see what you are selling, right? Enter email marketing. Hello there, email marketing. Where have you been all my business?

    Email marketing gives you a way to reach your customers without hoping and crossing your fingers they will see your post.  If you aren’t convinced already, I am going to tell your 3 reasons why email marketing will work for your business.

     

    It entices new customers. 

    Say you have a beautiful website and you have a visitor to your site but they aren’t really sure they want to buy from you. But all of the sudden, they see something on your site that says if they sign up they will get 10% off their first purchase.  Who doesn’t love discounts? So it helps customers get a little bit of extra persuading to shop with your business. If they sign up, they give you their email address and you give them a discount (or some other special something) and a beautiful new baby friendship is formed.

    It reminds customers your business exists.

    Once a customer makes a purchase with you – unless you live next door to them – there is a good chance they might forget about your business. It is always nice to show up somewhere they can see you,  remind them you are still in business, and you are ready to do business with them again. As discussed above, chances are they might not see your post on social media. So, if you have a customer that is on your email list, you have an easy direct way to get in contact with them again. With email marketing, you can reach out to your customer and help your new baby friendship start growing into a little more of a connection.

    It’s a great way to nurture the relationship with your customer.

    Email marketing is not just so you can throw sales and promotions in the face of your customer. Truth be told, I don’t want anyone throwing things in my face. Unless it’s money. Or free cake. So, there are probably some things you can throw at your customer without them getting irritated and ending your friendship. When you have an email list, you can send love, and lovely things that have nothing to do with making a sale. And that is a beautiful thing. No matter what type of business you are in you can find something to send your customer without trying to sell them every time. It just takes a little bit of creativity and research.


    What I use and Why

     

    I started out years ago on Mailchimp. Mostly because it was free and it felt like a good starting place. It was a way too glitchy for my taste and I wanted to be able to do more. From there I moved up to Aweber. It offered better features than Mailchimp and they have good customer service. The interface was a little clunky and they charge for subscribers in a weird way which can quickly add up to more money. So, upon the advice of one of my business besties, I moved over to Convertkit.

    I graduated on to Convertkit (affliate link) and fell in love. That’s what I currently use and love. I have used Convertkit for awhile now and I have no complaints. It has a ton of help videos, stellar customer service, and a wide range of features. It is worth every penny and I don’t plan on moving anytime soon.

     

    Until next time,

    Kelli

     

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  • What do You Want in Life?

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    Are you clear on what you want from life and out of your business?

     
    “On Wednesdays, we wear pink”. That line will be forever associated with Wednesdays for me. But no. I don’t wear pink on Wednesdays as a rule. On Wednesdays, I take time to make sure my weekly and monthly goals are still in line with my vision. It’s my time to check in and make sure I am on track. Part of that process is to focus on what I have going on with my vision board. I believe majorly in the power of visualization and setting goals. When I first started my business, and for years after, I had no concrete vision of where I wanted my business to go, where I wanted my life to go, or what my definition of success was. I also didn’t make any money. Or much money anyway. I highly encourage you to get clear about what you want from your business and from your life! I have my vision board right above my desk so I can look at it every day and remember my ‘why’ in business. It is one awesome feeling to see goals reached and get to create new ones.  

    I believe in three main points when it comes to life and business.

     

    Where focus goes energy flows. 

    Thank you, Mr. Tony Robbins for that quote. And as simple as it sounds, it is true. If you focus on the negative, you tend to accumulate more negative. If you put your focus on problems, then your energy is going toward those problems. If you focus on solutions, instead, you are going to get a different result than if you just focus on problems and the negative that surrounds them. Once I started focusing on gratitude and being thankful for what I had, I felt a rise in my day to day life, and I started noticing I was getting more. So I intentionally set my focus on everything that was good in my life, and being grateful. It is a simple shift but the impact is huge. Once I started getting serious about my goals in business, I put my focus there and noticed how my business did better, especially financially, and I had a clearer purpose.

    You don’t get what you don’t ask for.

    Now it took me awhile to get this one. It’s easy to think business is all about marketing, strategies, social media, email lists, and on and on… And while it is, mindset is a HUGE factor in a successful business. Stay with me, grasshopper. If you don’t know what you want, you are going to have a hard time finding it. One of the best things you can do for your business is to get intentional about it and ask yourself what you want. Include God in on your plans and the desires of your heart. I knew I wanted to make money to be able to support myself and my kids, and I liked designing things for people, but beyond that I had no clear goals. But it came to a point where I was tired of waffling through business, and not seeing enough return for my efforts. I started to get serious and ask myself what I wanted. I prayed about it and started making plans. I spent a good year getting really intentional about what I wanted out of life. And that is when things started changing for me majorly. I remember reading on Pinterest one day something about once you ask the universe for something it starts working in your favor to make it happen. And that just makes sense to me. I started presenting my plans to God, praying about it, and I started working toward it. If you keep moving forward, and have a plan, God is going to bless that plan somehow – whether it be moving you toward it, or away it from it if it’s not where you are supposed to be. I read an article by Deepak Chopra that said something along the lines that when we keep moving forward in our lives that is when blessings show up.

    Not too long ago I found a book thru my church called  The Circlemaker: Praying Circles around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears (aff. link). And in the book, it talks about how “God honors bold prayers because bold prayers honor God”. That really blew me away. Well, the whole concept of the book did. Anyway,  don’t be afraid to ask for the BIG stuff.

    Trust your business to provide.

    I had to learn this concept in a somewhat scary manner. For years, the income from my business did not really provide for me. It did to some degree but I also relied on my children’s father to make up most of our income. Until one day it no longer did. He got laid off from work and things got ugly. We parted ways for the most part, trying to work at it somewhat for months, and I was left to figure it out for myself. And I had no idea if my business was going to be able to meet my financial obligations. And I had no idea if I was going to be able to feed my three children, pay for my house, car, utilities, etc. Oh. My. Gosh. I was terrified. But then I was also really determined. I had been wanting my business to fully provide for some time now and I was about to see if this little bird was going to fly or fall hard. (I still get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about all the emotions I was feeling at the time). Long story short – I got really courageous -the kind of courageous where you are gritting your teeth through the fear and pretending you are brave to get through it. I worked my butt off, invested in business coaching, listened to Youtube videos of business gurus every morning (I still do this every day), made goals, prayed, and prayed some more and… it worked.

    This I attribute to God because I don’t even know how it works to this day. How do the sales show up month after month? I sure as heck didn’t know how it worked back then when the month before I couldn’t have paid all the bills. But I put my focus toward making it work, and asked for it to work, and trusted it would. And it did. Please don’t think it’s all gravy for me every day because I still run a small business and it is a continual roller coaster. BUT I know the money will show up when I show up. I work toward big goals, and I ask God every morning to take the lead.

    So, in conclusion, I encourage you to:

    1. pay attention to your focus and get it where it needs to be (start with gratitude).
    2. ask yourself what you really want out of your business (and life).
    3. start trusting your business to provide (take a leap of faith).

    Not sure you are on the right path with your dream business? Read this.

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    Have you joined PLC VIPs yet? Each week we talk business, mindset, and more. Sign up below if you want to become part of a tribe of over 1500 business owners. I would love to have you and share with you what I know to work in my own business.

     

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  • Facebook Facelift in Three Easy Steps

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    Let’s talk business. More specifically Facebook. I have three social media loves for my business – Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. But I get over 75% of my website traffic from Facebook. And, no, I don’t spend tons of money a month on Facebook ads. I do use Facebook ads because they work and they are relatively cheap but I also believe in harnessing the power of organic traffic. Because if I can find a way to do something free and it boosts my business – then I’m all about it.

    Let me back up. Let me give you a little background on my business so you can get a visual. First off, Hey! My name is Kelli. I own Pink Lemonade Company with my sister, Melissa. I am a website and graphic designer and have been doing my thing since 2009. I also offer my (wonderful) clients help with their marketing, social media strategies, and building their own community of loyal customers. I am absolutely in love with my work and I can honestly say I look forward to waking up each morning and getting to work. Of course, it wasn’t always that way. But after a ton of hard work and busting my booty figuring out the business world, I have arrived at a place that gives me a life and business I love. I have 3 kiddos and that makes my business even more important to me. I didn’t want to be chained to somebody else’s office hours. I wanted to create my own freedom for myself and my children. So, darn it, I did. And I thank God every day for it.

    So, I’ve done my homework and I’ve put in the hours. And what is the next best thing to building your own business? Well, for me, it is helping someone build theirs. I know how grateful I am that I am able to set my own hours so I don’t miss my daughter’s after-school events and I love that I can stop working in the middle of the day to go eat lunch with my youngest son. (Heaven forbid I ever show up to eat lunch with my old son. He is 15 and suddenly I am the most uncool person ever. Whatever. He doesn’t even know how I radiate coolness.)

    I think I may have gotten off track. My point was there are things you can do to improve your audiences experience on Facebook (which improves your experience as a business owner). To get in on 3 easy ways to get your business to look its best on Facebook and take advantage of 3 prime spots of real estate on your Facebook business page download the guide now. It’s free. It’s fun. And all 15-year-olds think it’s super cool (from my experience in market research that’s not true at all).

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