Landscape Digital Show

Episode 30 of Landscape Digital Show reveals a preview of the key findings in the 1st Annual 2016 Landscape Industry Marketing Report.  I m personally very excited about this important research because the data is not only showing us how the landscape industry is trending in terms of digital but more important, it s showing us the gaps that need to be closed. You can still make your contribution to the 2016 Landscape Industry Digital Marketing Report by taking the survey. In addition to helping us, I guarantee you ll gain valuable insights into your business. Key Findings 1. Facebook is easily the most important channel for landscape industry businesses. The question is are you being strategic about it? We discuss why businesses need to learn advanced Facebook advertising techniques, and how Facebook can work for you, even if you are not Facebook friends with your customers. 2. Landscape business owners are personally doing the work of digital marketing. This explains why a lack of time is a top obstacle. T

Episode 29 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why strategic content repurposing is an essential marketing practice and 5 tips for doing it right. You are going to be hearing a lot about content repurposing for one reason. It is so much tougher to reach your audience today. Unlike the early days, blogs are no longer the destinations that they used to be. Instead, we are all consuming content on channels like Facebook and LinkedIn. The challenge with getting noticed on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn is that that they have become pay to play. This was to be expected because there are a lot of people and companies competing for attention, and many of them are prepared to pay for it. The point is that in addition to getting smarter about social media advertising, you need to use every tactic available to ensure you reach your targeted audience, If you want to drive traffic to your owned platforms, and I hope you do, then you have to go out and get the attention of that rented audience and steal it. Bring it

Episode 28 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to create a content mission statement that gives the content marketing editorial calendar purpose. Before creating any content you should ideally create your content marketing mission statement and editorial calendar. But since most of us have been doing this for a while, the first step is to conduct a content audit to inventory your content and learn how to make it better. That s what we did in Episode 27. Now, let s go deeper into creating the content marketing mission statement that gives the editorial calendar guidance and purpose. First, for those unfamiliar with the term, let s define content marketing. Here’s a short and memorable definition: Traditional marketing and advertising are telling the world you are a rock star. Content marketing is showing the world that you are one. And here’s the official definition from the Content Marketing Institute: Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, rele

Episode 27 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to perform a content audit to organize and optimize content for achieving content marketing objectives. The foundation of marketing in this digital economy is content. I cannot imagine any marketer or business owner disagreeing with that because most understand one of the top marketing challenges is creating exceptional content that accomplishes specific business objectives. Nobody hits it out of the park every time, so we all have to assess our content. This helps us get more mileage out of what s working, and it gives us a chance to fix what may only need a few minor tweaks. When you complete you content audit you will have a new appreciation for the content that got you here. And you will be better equipped for telling your brand story moving forward. Regardless of whether your content is images, videos, text, or whatever, you need to have it organized so that you can locate and use it appropriately, update, optimize, and otherwise improve it over time. Co

Episode 26 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how great business leaders inspire and engage their audience by sharing the brand story of why they do what they do. In this episode, I share the story behind why we created Landscape Digital Institute. I’m hopeful my story will inspire you to discover and perfect yours because your story is the one differentiator you have that cannot be matched. If you really care about helping your customers and you have the skills for doing so, then the only thing holding you back is consistently getting your story out there to engage the people that believe in what you believe. That is what leads to them believing in you. That story is not just what you do, but why. Show Notes Download the Introduction and 1st Chapter of Built-In Social for free. Check out Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk on how great leaders inspire us to take action Head over to Landscape Digital Show on iTunes and give us an honest rating and review. We’ll greatly appreciate it. Call to Action Let me know more ab

Episode 25 of  Landscape Digital Show reveals how to design a marketing workflow system to get started with or reinvent your digital marketing. Last week we published an article entitled Marketing Systems: 3 Steps to Production Efficiency. This episode is going to build on that. Workflow is the steps that must be taken to achieve desired results. And those steps must be written out to achieve productivity gains. There just no way around it. The payoff is that experience and discipline lead to refinements in the workflow systems. New combinations are discovered, some activities are eliminated, and others are reorganized for greater efficiency. So, let s start with a simple model to get you started, or to reinvent your current marketing. Here it is: 1. Your difference:  This is your value proposition. It s why people should care. 2. Your audience:  These are the people with the problems for which your value is the solution. 3. Your message:  This is your marketing. What is the message that will engage their a

Episode 24  of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to use research for discovering, curating, and using competitive intelligence to achieve business goals. If you want to beat your competitors you need to know what they’re doing what they re doing well. And you have to be looking for the gaps what they are not doing well, or at all. These are the opportunities that your business can exploit. In a word you have to be prepared. Lucky for you there is abundant information about your landscaping competitors online and it s readily available. The only challenge is discovering and curating it. By curation, I mean saving it so that you can easily access and use it when you need to. Listen to the audio to learn how to use technology to discover competitive intelligence, save it for later access, and use that information to accomplish business goals and objectives. I like to start with the end in mind. What’s it going to take to get your landscaping or lawn care business to the next level? Use your intelligence to ac

Episode 23 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how marketing automation gives customers access to an experience that adapts to their preferences. When you say the words marketing automation, most people probably think of sending automated message blasts. Yes, it’s true that marketing automation has earned its reputation due to the steady stream of email messages that we all receive. Like any other tool, marketing automation is only as good as the strategy — and empathy that s behind it. If you have your customers’ best interests at heart, then marketing automation can be a powerful way to nurture relationships, retain customers, and increase sales. And by the way, this can work equally well for nurturing relationships with interns and people that may have inquired about joining your team some day. This is the future of marketing my friends. It’s using marketing automation to personalize the experience to make it better for the customer. This is how Facebook decides what content to put in your stream. Your act

Episode 22 of Landscape Digital Show reveals the simple 2 part framework for writing compelling headlines that get the attention of your audience.  After literally thousands of blog posts, hundreds of podcasts, and who knows how many social media posts, I can honestly say that writing compelling headlines is getting easier. But it s never easy. If you write a lot of headlines and study your analytics you will learn what gets the attention of your audience. It gets easier with experience. In my opinion, you there are only two types of headlines. You may disagree, but go with me on this and you ll have a simple framework for creating more headlines that work. The Two Headline Types #1.  A promise to solve a problem Headlines that educate and inform promise to solve a problem. That may not be what they call it, but that s what it is. This may be keeping up with the neighbors, impressing a date, getting out of trouble, or satisfying a desire. These are the problems that companies exist to solve. Educational hea

Episode 21 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to avoid or fix the 5 most common website marketing mistakes.  These are considered to be rookie website marketing mistakes because, for the most part, they are easy to avoid and fix. #1. Spelling and Grammar Mistakes In addition to fixing these spelling and grammar mistakes, make it a habit to review your website pages on a regular basis with the intent of improving them. Eliminate unnecessary words Rephrase sentences for clarity Reorder paragraphs to give your message greater impact. #2. Content Category Confusion Whether you are blogging (and I hope you are) or creating pages for specific services, you should carefully choose the categories your website content addresses. Why? Well, because these categories are the big problem areas your business promises to know how to fix for its customers. So, don t give them hundreds, or even dozens. And put on your SEO hat when you create them. #3. No Apparent Service Specialization This is probably the top mistake I

Episode 20 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to personalize your email marketing messaging with segmentation and automation. Our recent landscape industry digital marketing survey results indicate a high-level of interest in email marketing. And the data suggests why. Less than 16% of landscape companies have segmented email lists. Only 6% of landscape companies are using marketing automation. Let’s forget about email for a minute and start at the beginning with the customer list. That asset is the lifeblood of your business and always has been, long before email. You should treat it like gold in every way. Make sure the data is backed up. Do not abuse your list by sending excessive marketing messages. And if you are using email, be sure you are regularly verifying the accuracy for each and every customer. If you have more than one list you are using segmentation. It’s usually segmented between customers and non-customers, better known as leads. Now, let’s say some of those leads take an action to eng

Episode 19 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how an entrepreneur time system that achieves targeted outcomes will maximize your business income. You’ve heard it said that we all have the same 24 hours in a day. And that it’s your job to allocate it appropriately to maximize productivity. The problem is that most of us have grown up with a bureaucratic time system. The bureaucratic time system treats time as a commodity that you trade for income. In the entrepreneur time system, you have the flexibility to maximize the value of your time by aligning it to achieve targeted outcomes. Focus time is when you are doing your focus activity. This is the highest and best use of your talents and time for maximizing business income. Free time is rejuvenation time. Buffer time is doing what you have to do to maximize your focus and free time. Just being aware of these three types of time is empowering because time is no longer a commodity, but something with potential value, either income value or quality of life val

Episode 18 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to create marketing that inspires by giving greater consideration to your content theme.  When you start with and stay on theme with your content you will create better marketing that inspires your audience, because you will be incredibly focused on them. In Episode 17 we talked about how customer-facing marketing makes you and your business more likeable. In this episode, we take that a step further by applying a storytelling technique to your marketing. What exactly is theme? Isn t that just for novelists? Not exactly, because your marketing is trying to tell a story too. It wants to move buyers to action. You can do that more effectively if you give some consideration to the theme of your marketing, just as a novelist does for his or her story. Listen to the audio as we go through these 5 elements step by step. Start with the theme when creating marketing content. Ask what it is about? Why do you and your audience care about this theme? What s the buried

Episode 17 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to create likeable marketing by capturing the imagination of your audience and showing them you care.  If doesn t matter how good you are if you are not likeable, because people do business with people they like. That s right. When all things are equal people will choose to do business with the people they like, and that they feel understand them. More significant is that even when things are NOT equal people will still choose to do business with the people they like. Isn t this how most small businesses get started? Your first landscape businesses friends and family members that only like, but love you too. Show Notes We touched on this in Episode 4 of Landscape Digital Show in discussing how your story can sway landscape awards judges. Just like customers, those judges are comparing companies that do amazing work, so the story becomes the tie-breaker. We’ll greatly appreciate it if you head over to Landscape Digital Show on iTunes and give it an honest rati

Episode 16 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to increase website conversions by using story to guide visitors along a reliable path to customer success. If you could have five minutes with your ideal buyer, what would you say to dazzle him or her? Can you imagine what he or she would like to hear? Desperate companies tend to throw everything they’ve got into the conversation with the hope of getting lucky. But it doesn’t work that way. To see this in action, take a look at the home page of your website and maybe those of your competitors too. Is it clear what is the best action to take? Probably not. That’s because most companies are using their website to sell when they should be simply using it to guide, to gently nudge people to take one action. All you want to do is get your prospective buyer to take a single action that moves them down a path to success with your business. Listen to the audio to discover how. Show Notes To fully understand this episode you may want to give Episode 9 of Landscape Di

Episode 15 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to make your website about page sizzle by using the 6 science-based elements of influence and persuasion to engage your audience. Sell the sizzle, not the steak is what they used to say back in the day. It captures the essence of a juicy steak grilled to perfection. And that sells the product. The steak. Think of yourself as a product. People need to buy you before they will do business with your company. What’s your sizzle? It’s that X factor that distinguishes you as the guy or gal that they believe may be the one they can trust with their business. Show Notes Discover more about Robert Cialdini’s scientifically grounded elements of influence and persuasion in his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. We’ll greatly appreciate it if you head over to Landscape Digital Show on iTunes and give it an honest rating and review. Thank you for listening and subscribing! Call to Action Listen to the audio and discover how to apply the 6 elements of influenc

Episode 14 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to use the LinkedIn publishing platform to build influence and grow your network. Probably the greatest value of the LinkedIn publishing platform is its ability to tell your story. Unlike status updates, articles on the LinkedIn publishing platform become a permanent part of your personal profile and are prominently displayed at the top of it for all to see. If you are a blogger you can repurpose that content on the LinkedIn publishing platform to extend its reach. As long as it is first published on your blog there is no risk with Google because it recognizes you are the author of that original content. LinkedIn Publishing Best Practices Long-form, in-depth and relevant content that is 900-1500 words is recommended by LinkedIn. Create an interesting headline with a question or numbered tips or steps that suggest the value of your informative content. Follow appropriate LinkedIn Pulse Channels to learn what type of content is most desired by your audience. C

Episode 13 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why it’s necessary to have clear channel objectives and to invest in your audience to achieve them. The results are coming in from our 2016 Landscape Industry Digital Marketing survey and one relevant outcome appears to be a widespread lack of clear channel objectives. This probably means companies are using too many channels to promote content with the hope that it will stick. A smarter approach is to choose fewer channels, with one of them being email, and tailor the content to achieve specific objectives for the respective audiences. Show Notes Our 2nd free hosted Kelly Dowell with Dowco Enterprises: Digital Savvy Recruiting and Hiring Tips Your Landscape Business Needs to Know Thank you for listening and subscribing! We’ll greatly appreciate it if you head over to Landscape Digital Show on iTunes and give it an honest rating and review. Call to Action List the digital marketing channels you are committed to and have clear objectives for each. It is recommend

Episode 12 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how customer experience marketing differentiates your business by offering buyers a reliable path for achieving desired outcomes. If you really want to differentiate your business you have to change what people see, think, and feel about it. And that means you have to change what they do when they interact with it. How a prospective buyer interacts with your business online has to be carefully orchestrated or they move along until they find what they are looking for (or think they are looking for). But this has always been true. In this episode, you will discover an example of how this worked for a residential, design-build landscaping business in the days before the Internet   and how you can adapt that understanding to the predominantly digital customer experiences that are common today. Show Notes Listen to Episode 7 of Landscape Digital Show for a deeper dive on empathy mapping. Thank you for listening and subscribing! We’ll greatly appreciate it if you head

Episode 11 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to discover, standardize and monitor your local search listings so that Google has confidence in your business. Google’s primary objective as a search engine is to send someone doing a search query the most trusted information. Therefore, to earn Google’s confidence you have to do the work of standardizing your business listings and keeping them accurate. Show Notes Search the web for your business phone number. This will help you discover inaccuracies in your local search listings because that telephone number tends to be a constant. The free Moz Local search feature will also prove to be useful. Standardize how your business name, telephone number, and address are written. Be sure to check with the postal service for standard address conventions, especially abbreviations. Complete your Google My Business listing. Use the information from Google My Business to update your online listings that currently do not match it. Consider using a service like Moz Loca