Landscape Digital Show

Episode 70 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why social selling success is like running a marathon. Marathon training is a slow process of teaching the mind and the body to take the right actions. Anyone that has enjoyed selling success understands it too requires unique skills that are learned over time. Last month I began training for my first marathon in over 30 years. Everything was going well until I got caught in a downpour that chilled me to the bone. That concerned me because I was pushing the limits by upping my mileage too soon to get faster results. Then it happened. Instantly, I recognized that piercing pain in my calf and stopped, hoping it was just a warning. It wasn t. I was out for more than a week. Desperate, I researched injuries and discovered 83% of all runners are injured at any given time, but fixing the running mechanics can actually prevent most of those injuries. Isn t the same true for some social media practitioners? They automate and push the limits without giving much thought to

Episode 69 of Landscape Digital Show reveals one powerful idea for making social media marketing work for any business. In a recent video interview, internationally recognized Internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk shared a brilliant idea for making social media work. If you get overwhelmed with the grind of creating content to fuel your social media marketing efforts, then this is your lucky day. This approach will work for anybody because most of us share the same challenge. Here s the idea: Stop creating and start documenting. We spend too much time thinking about creating perfect content when the content that matters most is what we are doing every day. Document that and you ll never run out of content. GaryVee points out that documenting is actually creating your own reality show, and the best part is you do not have to think too much about it. Just show up and be yourself. What you do every day and how you do it matters to the people you interact with, including the customers that your business serves.

Episode 68 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why digital leadership is necessary to integrate sales and marketing channels, and how to get it done. It seems business slows down this time of the year. This leads to a question: What should we be doing during these summer doldrums? Keep moving. Every business experiences slowdowns, but they can be minimized by taking the right measures to close the gaps. Is the cause a lack of leads or a failure to close sales? Leads are the responsibility of marketing and closing sales is clearly the responsibility of the sales team. The solution is getting sales and marketing working together. When sales slow down, doubling up on selling efforts is the action that many businesses take. However, that can be a big mistake if you have not properly prepared your customers for them with tactics that demonstrate empathy and earn trust, such as content marketing. Empathy is a vital business objective because that understanding is the raw material for achieving alignment with custo

Episode 67 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to teach CRM systems to organize and manage data to better manage customer relationships. The most basic tool for accomplishing business objectives is a simple checklist. You have lists of customers, products, and activities that drive your business. How well all of that works together will determine the success of your business. While some have tackled this challenge with spreadsheets, CRM systems that integrate with marketing automation are infinitely more reliable. CRM or customer relationship management systems initially start out as a database of customers and information associated with them. Over time this database becomes something bigger. It grows into a digital asset whose value grows as the business grows and streamlines the management of customer relationships. There are many excellent CRM systems, but let s be clear that the value of the CRM is ultimately measured by the quality of data that it gives the business. The responsibility for making th

Episode 66 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to achieve business growth with marketing systems that identify and remove buying obstacles.  You may be familiar with Ryan Holiday’s book The Obstacles is The Way, which has gained cult status with NFL coaches and elite athletes, among others. The thesis of the book is one with which many of us are familiar. When the way out is obstructed it s telling us something. As Holiday puts it, “Turn it around. Find some benefit. Use it as fuel. Turn every obstacle into an advantage.” Holiday suggests obstacles are what they are because of perception. For example, some companies are too quick to fire customers that challenge them. That s unfortunate because those customers may actually lead them to new discoveries and innovations that could benefit all of their customers. The difference is perception and that perception can be changed. Remove Buying Obstacles Early in my career, I worked as a sales professional in the petroleum industry. The products we sold were most

Episode 65 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why experiences are bigger than products when digital innovation drives marketing.  This short episode is a study of recent changes in the world of marketing that will give you ideas for ensuring the relevance of your business marketing for your audience. The event that best profiles these insights is the recent elimination of the Chief Marketing Officer role at Coca-Cola (better known as the CMO). The significance of this event can be traced to the influences of digital innovation on marketing. Former Coca-Cola CMO Marcos de Quinto led a product-based marketing strategy at the global marketing organization. That emphasis on product marketing ultimately proved to be the impetus for shaking up Coke s management structure. The truth is many consumers today are less interested in product features, probably because they cannot distinguish them from the competition. Nowadays it’s the contextual customer experience that is desired most, and this suggests the product is

Episode 64 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how CRM systems can become digital assets of customer insights that increase sales productivity. Recent research conducted by industry CRM leaders Salesforce and Hubspot indicate companies using a CRM are more productive and sell 30-40% more than their competitors. Our 2017 digital marketing survey revealed more than half of landscaping industry respondents do not use a CRM. Specific feedback suggests this is due to confusion about the role of CRM in general, set-up, training, and maintenance costs, and how to choose a CRM that is right for the business. These are all important considerations that are best addressed by considering what the business wants to accomplish with its CRM and the resources that it is prepared to dedicate to those objectives. The Role of CRM The term CRM is short for customer relationship management. And when you consider its meaning it becomes obvious that it’s not just the CRM, but the planning and implementation of actions that affect

Episode 63 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how data science can help discover and interpret customer insights for running a smarter business. This episode examines the role data plays in the success of your business, and how to acquire, analyze, and use it to gain valuable customer insights I ll introduce terminology associated with data science that that may be new to you. This will help you to intelligently research and study this important topic further. And I ll give you an example that will show how to identify and analyze data points to run a smarter business. It turns out that I’ve just returned from a conference where I had the opportunity to get a first-hand take on this subject from Ginni Rometty, the CEO of IBM This event was a celebration of IBM’s top performers and significant others from around the world. If you were wondering, one of those top performers was indeed my wife Leslie. While I imagine Ms. Rometty s presentation on data and analytics was primarily intended for IBM employees, I wa

Episode 62 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to use email as a customer communication channel for building genuine trust with customers. The best marketing for any business is not what its media says, but the actions the business takes, especially when circumstances are less than optimal. Those familiar words introduced our customer care episode two weeks ago where we revealed the leadership and marketing lessons from the recent airline fiasco in which a passenger was forcibly removed from an airplane. If you happen to be a United Airlines customer you recently received an email that addressed the situation, and in my opinion, it nicely accomplished its objective. After a series of media mistakes, I believe the United CEO s customer communication email will very likely prove to be a key step toward fixing his reputation and the airline’s. It can also serve as a case-study for using email to build genuine trust with your business customers. Email Is An Intimate Communication Channel Choosing email to add

Episode 61 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to create winning landscape industry awards entries and sell more work with storytelling. In one of the first episodes of Landscape Digital Show, we discussed why storytelling is essential to winning landscape industry awards. Since we are once again in the thick of the landscape industry awards season, I d like to go into more detail about why your project story is vital to winning, and how to tell to tell that story with familiar storytelling practices used every day in Hollywood. What I m going to show you is that amazing project photos are essential to winning landscape industry awards, but without a good story to back them up your entry will play like a silent film. How Judges Choose the Winners Years ago I was asked to be a judge for the landscape association that is now NALP The National Association of Landscape Professionals. There were 4 landscape company members charged with judging several hundred projects over two days. Here’s how it works. Each

Episode 60 of Landscape Digital Show reveals customer care marketing lessons in leadership, communication, and training from an actual case study. The best marketing for any business is not what its media says, but the actions the business takes, especially when circumstances are less than optimal. To perform in these clutch situations and let s face it, everything in life is a performance, requires a customer care plan. This means that your people need to be trained for every conceivable circumstance they may encounter. One of the best ways to prepare is to take situations that you experience or learn about and break them down into practical lessons that become part of your regular training. That’s what we’re going to do today as we explore a situation that ignited the social and traditional media channels around the globe last week. Of course, I’m talking about the incident involving one of the major airlines in which a passenger was re-accommodated with the use of excessive force. (Google that term for t

Episode 59 of Landscape Digital Show reveals the 4 most important SEO ranking factors according to leading SEO industry studies. Today we’re going to examine the top SEO ranking factors for 2017 that every business needs to know if it expects its website to rank well right now — and hopefully for years to come. This episode is based on data from a number of sources, with the most comprehensive being an article published in Search Engine Journal earlier this year. Here s what the author of that article had to say about SEO ranking factors: Fortunately, not all ranking factors are created equal you can maximize your SEO efforts by focusing on a few specific ranking factors. Of course, Google s algorithm is always changing, and we can t rely on yesterday s ranking factors as we step into 2017. The point is that there are hundreds of factors that Google considers in the ranking of website pages, but if you focus on these four you have a good chance of winning with Google in 2017. #1. Content Using Natural Langu

Episode 58 of Landscape Digital Show reveals a data-driven social advertising system for reaching a larger or deeper audience. One of the most insightful sessions I had the opportunity to experience at Social Media Marketing World 2017 was one by Larry Kim on social advertising, that s using Facebook, Twitter, and Google advertising to promote content that drives traffic to your website to sell more products or services. What s beautiful about this data-driven system is its simplicity for getting the job done with a minimal advertising spend. Here s how it works. #1. Find Your Unicorns The key to the system is using social advertising to promote only your best content, what Larry Kim refers to as your unicorns. This is content that has proved its value, and therefore, merits the opportunity to reach a larger or deeper audience with the boost of social advertising behind it. Compare that to how some companies use social advertising. They promote all of their content equally with the hope that some of it wi

Episode 57 of Landscape Digital Show reveals tips from 3 influential social media experts for live video marketing.  I just returned from Social Media Marketing World in San Diego, and one of my goals was to learn as much as possible about live video. What I discovered will not only give you the motivation to create live video marketing, it will make it easier. #1. Don’t Be Perfect David H Lawrence, XVII is a former film and television actor who knows what it’s like to deliver in front of the camera. His presentation on using video to build authority at a moment’s notice was both educational and entertaining. David’s definition of authority includes being believable and trustworthy. And he noted that trust and believability are directly related to vulnerability because what happens in the moment when you allow yourself to be vulnerable is the authentic you. Vulnerability engages audiences. One reason live video is so hot is that connecting with real people is engaging. In contrast, highly edited and sanit

Episode 56 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why the secret to digital marketing is showing your customers how your work is done. If you have been a subscriber or member of Landscape Digital Institute for a while you know that I typically close out my emails with this: Now go out there and show them how it’s done! Your purpose, your mission, is to get out there every single day and serve the people that are now your customers, however many or few there are, for one very important reason. That base of customers is everything when it comes to your digital marketing because they are your link to new business. If they are not talking you up on the digital channels you may have to rethink what and how and maybe even why you are doing the work that you do today. The fact is people talk and share what’s part of their daily lives. If they appreciate and trust you they will share that with friends. It’s all about inquiry and being top of mind. Facebook asks us, “What’s on your mind?” Twitter inquires, “What’s happ

Episode 55 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to use content marketing to sell more business by making a difference for customers. For over 15 years, Seth Godin has been blogging short nuggets of information, insights, and inspiration every day of the week. His track record speaks to the power of content marketing for attracting an audience of people that you can serve. Seth Godin says that we lay clues with our content that sparks change, thereby giving people permission to take action and acquire the things we sell. Those products and services we make matter a lot, but first, they have to be discovered by the breadcrumbs that lead to their discovery. This includes the conversations people hear and the experiences that are shared that casts a shadow that starts days, months, and often years prior. We’re all casting a shadow of some kind with our content marketing, but is it helping you stand out in a sea of sameness? Content marketing is not for everyone for two reasons:  #1. You have to believe conte

Episode 54 of Landscape Digital Show reveals a 5-step writing process formula for creating winning content that captivates your audience. In this episode, I’m going to share my writing process that has evolved over the years by borrowing secrets from great writers, including novelists, non-fiction authors, editors, screenwriters, copywriters, bloggers and more. Like any other activity, writing must follow a process. It s the only way to consistently achieve results. Every day billions of people jump on Facebook, LinkedIn, and so many other channels to share a message, often to accomplish a business purpose. That’s usually a written message, but if it’s the spoken word like this podcast or a video, I hope at least a portion of it is first written. Why? Some people can indeed create amazing improv content, but they are rare. If you doubt this, just rewind in your mind the rambling acceptance speeches of too many Academy Award winners. That’s what happens when there is no preparation, and that preparation you

Episode 53 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to create a social selling plan for gettin buyers to know, like and trust your business. As I read that headline I wrote for this article, the phrase know, like and trust strikes me as overused. How about you? The truth is those words matter more than ever when it comes to social selling. Social selling is powerful and becoming more so as the technology improves. But you first have to get the basic foundation in place. It’s a fact that people want to buy. They have problems to solve and dreams to fulfill. But they will not take action if everything is not right, and they ll make that decision at a gut level. Smart people trust their intuition when making important buying decisions such as choosing the company that will beautify and maintain the outdoor environment of their home, their castle, their most significant investment in this lifetime. When you put it like that, suddenly trust takes on new meaning, doesn’t it? Perfect. Let’s get to work building your

Episode 52 of Landscape Digital Show reveals what your business needs to know to take full advantage of the recent LinkedIn changes.   If you have the new LinkedIn profile interface you know its bigger and bolder. On the surface, this update looks like LinkedIn has simply polished things up, but the reality is you’ll want to make some adjustments so that your connections and people searching for your skills and experience can find you. If you do not have this new update yet, be patient. Our understanding is you will by the end of the month. Let s take a look at 6 of the more relevant LinkedIn changes. #1. The Summary The Summary used to be a separate section, but now it’s part of that top box that includes your headshot photo and headline. People are only going to see the first 220 characters of the Summary in that box, so you need to make some adjustments to take full advantage of this valuable real estate. Think of those first two lines of content as a meta-description — a little introduction of the conte

Episode 51 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to teach customers to buy by applying an adult learning framework to your marketing. There are many definitions of content marketing and even more for marketing in general. But at the end of the day, I think we can all agree the ultimate purpose of marketing is to attract the right buyers and guide them toward a relationship with your business. To do that, we re going to use a framework that compliments how adults like to learn. It s credited to a man by the name of Malcolm Knowles, who is well known for his theories regarding self-directed or autonomous adult learning. That’s what’s happening these days when prospective customers are checking out your website, videos and other marketing to make comparisons with your competitors. According to Knowles, the four factors you should consider to move buyers to action are as follows: #1. Collaboration – Adults want to be involved in the planning or creation of their experience for making new discoveries #2. Relevan