Landscape Digital Show

Episode 90 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why entrepreneurs Richard Branson and Steve Jobs focus on customer relationships to make peoples lives better. I recently listened to an interview with Richard Branson about his journey to becoming a self-made billionaire. He admits to having lost count of exactly how many companies his Virgin brand owns, though he s sure its somewhere north of 200. When asked where he gets his inspiration for starting or buying into a business, Branson gave this. A business is an idea that makes people’s lives better. ~ Richard Branson That mindset of putting customers first is where most entrepreneurs start. It s what powers early innovation. But over time the energy of that focusing vision begins to lose its spark as the business seeks to scale customer relationships. Start with The Customer Experience and Work Backward In a recent article published by Google, a CMO made this statement. People don t just want a product to buy, they want an idea to buy into. ~ Unilever CMO K

Episode 89 of Landscape Digital Show reveals a content audit plan for closing the gaps in your content marketing process and closing more sales. We’ve talked about how to perform a content audit in episode 28. This is something every business should begin right now because depending on how long you ve been in business it may take a while to complete. What should happen next is implementing a content audit plan to make the best use of that content. Your content is a body of work that attracts everything your business needs to thrive, provided it is put to work in the right places. The common perception is that content sells. Some of it will but not in the way that many people think. For example, people don t watch one YouTube video and then say, I want to work with this landscaping company. There are only two types of content, conversion content and intermediary content. Conversion content converts to a sale and intermediary content accomplishes everything that leads up to that. Your content has to attract

Episode 88 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why recent Facebook News Feed changes are indicators of audience engagement expectations on every platform. The recent Facebook News Feed updates are more than signals to change how you market on Facebook. They are indicators of what your audience expects on every platform. If you speak to live audiences you know people will only wait so long for you to engage them before they start making a path to the door. Asking for a show of hands, by the way, is not engagement. That’s the equivalent of a Facebook like, which Facebook has said is no longer relevant. What is? Comments, because comments are deliberate and thoughtful actions, as compared to shares and likes that are passive and less likely to spark audience engagement. Facebook Zero Teaches What Works The most recent batch Facebook changes that will be rolling out over the coming months have been referred to as Facebook Apocalypse or Facebook Zero. I like Facebook Zero because it’s easier to spell and it remind

Episode 87 of Landscape Digital Show reveals the recent Facebook News Feed updates and why content with a voice is Facebook newsworthy. As he has done many times before, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg dropped a bombshell on the Facebook community that sparked exactly what Facebook wants from it’s 2+ billion active users more meaningful conversations on topics that matter to them. Like every other Facebook update more has gone unsaid than said, and that is probably by design. I agree with Mark Schaefer that Facebook may not be sure about how these changes will play out. But it’s our job as marketers to figure them out. Here s What We Know #1. This is a major refresh. Facebook wants to steady the Facebook brand by addressing the top user concerns, such as seeing too many ads in our newsfeed and not seeing more from our family and friends. #2. Person to person interactions will be prioritized. You will see fewer page posts in your feed, but it s not clear if that means fewer ads too. #3. Posts that earn lots of

Episode 86 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how the web runs on writing and why the right words, voice, and tone will make your marketing better too  When you consider how much effort a business invests in getting discovered on the web, it’s surprising that few dig deep enough to understand the essential components responsible for making that happen. People use words to search the web. They may be spoken or typed, but they are words nonetheless. If they happen to be the right words, and they probably are if your ideal buyers are using them, then you need to develop an intimate relationship with those words and discover how to use them in your writing, videos and other content. Of course, there’s more to writing for the web than just plugging in keywords. If you want to win with Google you want to aim for the best human experience possible for your target audience. This is why the best copywriters are handsomely compensated for their work. People can tell. They may not know why they know, they just know. Wr

Episode 85 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how buyer personas are used to create laser-focused marketing that connects a business with its ideal customers. This is our final Landscape Digital Show episode of the 2017 calendar year and the first in which I interview a subject matter expert – but don’t worry, this is far from my 1st expert interview. This content is an update of the 51st episode of This Old New Business podcast that was previously published at JeffKorhan.com. You can expect more expert guest interviews in the future right here at Landscape Digital Show. We have discussed buyer personas a great deal on this show. Now you can take a deep dive into how they work to create laser-focused marketing with Adele Revella, the CEO, and founder of The Buyer Persona Institute. Adele is also the author of Buyer Personas: How to Gain Insight into Your Customer s Expectations, Align your Marketing Strategies, and Win More Business. She offers a compelling strategy for marketers seeking the confidence to sa

Episode 84 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to create marketing that moves a target audience to take action.  The purpose of marketing is to move an audience to action. That’s marketing’s job. It starts with attracting an audience. And that requires a deep understanding of who its members are, what they want, and everything that influences their experience of acquiring it. Describe Your Audience in Writing Start with the end in mind before you start investing in marketing. Nearly every business has more than one audience. There are customers and future customers you wish to attract. Those two audiences have different needs. To serve these customers your business must attract team members, some of whom are leaders and others followers. That’s at least two more audiences, and there may be more, such as potential investors or business partners. The trick is making marketing that shows you know them better than they know themselves. That’s not easy to do if you are casting a wide net. So segment your large

Episode 83 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why communities love brave marketing that takes the risk of standing out to be known for something bigger. This is the time of year when you should be wrapping up the planning of your editorial calendar for the coming year. How exactly is that happen? Do you essentially use same monthly categories as this year and freshen up the content a bit? That s what I ve observed at several companies with whom I ve consulted. January is focused on trends and new services, February is for landscape design, March is when you make special offers to load up the sales pipeline, and so on. That’s alright if you are happy with business as usual, but if you are planning to grow you have to your content has to be best in class because that is the only way it will inspire people to take action. You Have to Take Marketing Risks Let be clear about one thing. The most powerful marketing you can have is word of mouth. That’s how it has always been. Long before anyone talked about going v

Episode 82 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to do content marketing right by making it a standard business practice. If you are not hearing about content marketing, you should be. If you are, much of it is probably wrong because just like social media, it s effective use is determined by one’s understanding of it. The difference between social media and content marketing is that content marketing is a practice, just as accounting is a practice. That is, there are conventions that dictate how it should be consistently practiced. Accounting happens to be a regulated business practice, and that gets most businesses doing it right. This is not true with content marketing, and that is why people are free to use it as they wish. There s nothing wrong with that, but it does get confusing when people represent what they are doing as content marketing when it isn t because doing anything wrong compromises the expected results. In this episode of Landscape Digital Show, we ll fix that by showing you how content

Episode 81 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why business leaders are teachers at heart and how that mindset empowers their organizations. Business leaders bring diverse experiences and a variety of talents to their company, but there is often one talent in particular that drives its success. You may be good with numbers and understand how to make budgeting work. Or you may have a knack for creating workflow systems that create amazing efficiencies. Yet it’s likely that you share an attribute with many great leaders, and that is the ability to teach your business building philosophies to others. It s possible to have incredibly innovative ideas or the most brilliant vision but none of it will amount to anything if you cannot teach people how to put it to good use. When I launched my landscaping business I was able to sell my big ideas to our first customers because that s what I had been doing for the previous ten years. Making the leap from enterprise sales and marketing to take my shot as an entrepreneu

Episode 80 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to build meaningful customer relationships and transformative experiences. Getting to the heart of customer relationships starts with understanding and then ultimately discovering what really makes them tick. It requires listening and having consistently meaningful conversations. Not much of this may be new to you, but ask yourself if you need to hear it again? We all do. We’re human beings and that’s what makes customer relationships such a slippery slope and an amazing opportunity at the same time. Every day we need to be thinking about what we can and should be doing next for our customers because somebody else just may we waiting to take our place. And they may be smarter, faster, younger and tech-savvy, or more experienced and wiser. Most of us have been in business for a while and the one thing that is on our side is the skills we have developed over years of serving customers, making them happy, occasionally letting them down, and yes, sometimes even

Episode 79 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to build a relationship selling narrative that attracts and retains customers. Have you ever noticed that some people always answer a question with a story? For some of us, storytelling is part of our DNA because we learned at a young age that a compelling story is arguably the best way to sell an idea. For me personally, growing up with three brothers was the perfect storytelling training. When put to the test you quickly learn that telling the truth works better when it s backed with a compelling story. While a handful of people may be natural storytellers, most of us struggle with exactly how to convey information in meaningful ways, especially when the circumstances are unexpected. What s needed is a structure that will stand up to the demands of any situation, including what buyers want to know that they believe will help them solve their problem. This is why relationship selling requires a sales process that is supported by a narrative structure, a se

Episode 78 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how a meaningful relationship selling narrative attracts and retains customers. One of my longtime landscaping clients helped me understand the dynamics of relationship selling with a very simple question. “What’s Next,” he asked, after a walk-through of a recently completed project. My response may not have been the most thoughtful, but it was accurate. “What do you mean what’s next, we’re done,” I replied. “You don’t get it do you,” he asked? “I guess not. Help me out, I said. My customer proceeded to remind me that years ago when our relationship began, his primary goal was to create a showplace that not only he and his family could enjoy, but also his friends and neighbors. It was apparent I was standing in the way of that vision because I had viewed our interactions as a series of business transactions, as opposed to a relationship a business has with one of its customers. That experience dramatically altered my view of selling. And I hope it has the same im

Episode 77 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to reach any goal with deliberate practice that becomes self-teaching and coaching.  In her bestselling book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, psychologist and professor Angela Duckworth provides evidence that more than talent and skill, it s gritty, deliberate practice that predictably leads to the accomplishment of goals. For this to happen, she cites four conditions that must be met. #1. A stretch goal #2. Concentration and effort #3. Immediate feedback #4. Repetition, reflection, and refinement My personal experience training months for a marathon backs this up and clarifies grit to be a blend of physical and mental practice. While I have once previously completed a marathon, that was over 30 years ago. Nevertheless, my results from my current marathon training have been surprising, even to me, and I believe the method can be replicated to reach any goal. Assuming you are committed to your goal and are consistently doing the work, you are alrea

Episode 76 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to sell more products by finding and closing gaps in your marketing systems.  When you approach marketing as a system everything gets easier because it gives you a basis for evaluating possibilities, such as what to leave in and what to leave out. Choices have to be made and less is usually more. Less complexity leads to more predictable results. One of the challenges for companies that learned to succeed with traditional marketing and selling systems is being relevant for digital savvy consumers. However, regardless of the methods used, everything still comes down to a simple three part formula: #1. Get people’s attention #2. Interact with people #3. Sell products that add value to people’s lives If there are any gaps in that equation business growth is compromised. All marketing systems must balance attraction with engagement, and they must seamlessly integrate with selling systems that bring home the profits that sustain the company and its growth. #1. Get

Episode 75 of Landscape Digital Show reveals how to build marketing resources that will save time and sell more services.  The dilemma for business owners that are also the primary rainmaker, and our survey indicates that is the majority of landscaping companies, is the ongoing fight for your time between marketing and production. Production usually wins because that s what generates profits. Then the cycle begins again as selling takes priority in order to make it rain. It doesn t have to be this way because nowadays there are many marketing options for keeping the pipeline full. As you know, having abundant options means you have to choose, and my experience in this industry is that most companies will choose whatever promises to get results quickly. That s what keeps that stressful roller coaster going. To get off of it you have to commit to building time-saving marketing resources. Plan and Grow Valuable Marketing Resources The resources necessary for marketing and selling your landscaping services will

Episode 74 of Landscape Digital Show reveals 9 ways telephone selling can be used to get people talking, earn trust and grow relationships When I began my career in the early eighties I accepted a technical sales position with a big oil company. That s when I learned to overcome my fear of the telephone as a selling tool. At that time telephone selling skills were everything because other than personal meetings, it was the fastest way to make discoveries, share information and develop relationships. Like anything else, telephone selling is something you learn from experience. This may be why so many people today are afraid of cold calling. They have seldom been in tough situations where they had to make it work. Instead, they lob an email out there and hope for the best. There’s a problem with that approach. Everyone else is using it too. This is why telephone selling works. It makes you memorable, and that should be enough to make it a key part of your selling strategy. Not only that, it improves the effec

Episode 73 of Landscape Digital Show reveals why customer relationships with a business are more valuable than those with its products. Relationships have a fundamental purpose. They make us better; otherwise, there is no reason for the relationship. In business, the debate is whether the customer has a relationship with the products or the business or both. And if it does, which should come first? If your customer relationships are with your products, then the relationship is only as good as the products. The problem with that scenario is that if something fails to work as expected, the relationship is at risk of failing too. It takes work to build business relationships, so it makes sense to use every means possible to avoid those breakups. Flip Your Marketing from Products to Relationships In his bestselling book Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It, former international hostage negotiator for the FBI, Chris Voss, identifies two conditions that people need to be comfor

Episode 72 of Landscape Digital Show reveals the connection between surfing and personal branding that instantly influences buyers and outcomes.  In all walks of life, people are most admired not for what they have achieved but how they went about it doing it. How people get things done in life used to be known as reputation management, but now that we all manage our own media it is best described as personal branding. A Harvard Business Review author observed that all surfers end their ride in exactly the same way: They fall into the water. It doesn’t matter if that ride was an epic success or dramatic defeat; the outcome is the same. This is why what happens next matters most. Does he or she head back into the surf or pack it in for the day? I imagine that is something surfers talk about that defines their personal brands, who are the risk-takers and who are not. Evaluating outcomes and taking action to create something better is what life and business are all about. People admire winners, but we are es

Episode 71 of Landscape Digital Show reveals what the LinkedIn native video rollout will do for social selling and how to get your business ready for it. Earlier this year LinkedIn made a number of updates to their platform that signaled a more relaxed environment for its users. The most notable change is the newsfeed is now prominently displayed on the home page, making content (not contacts) central to the LinkedIn experience. Content updates boast bigger photos and video that occupy the full-screen width on mobile, with comment and share buttons more visible too. All of this is clearly designed to position LinkedIn more like Facebook, it’s splashier social counterpart and not the old man of social media. It’s apparently creating confusion about LinkedIn’s identity and how we should now be using it. For instance, LinkedIn started as the business networking platform, but now it prompts you to wish your connections a Happy Birthday, an activity that many believe belongs to Facebook. Astute social media mark