1. I'll tell you about three real options for low-cost and no-cost marketing
2. I'll share some great examples with you
3. we'll talk about measuring results

All of that is coming up today on Totally Hyped - Let's get started on Michelin Star Marketing on a Ramen Noodle Budget.

1. Pointing everything and everyone in the right direction
2. Set Yourself up for Measurable Results
3. A Winning Marketing Mix 
4. Invest in Your Most Valuable Digital Marketing Asset
5. The most efficient and most effective marketing process

In this episode of Totally Hyped, I’m joined by Jen Musil, VP @ the Harris Poll. Jen and her team did some digging into what consumers think about metaverse, which in turn provides some insight for your next steps. 

Today you’ll meet Natalie Forward. Not just a cool name, Natalie is a talent master as adept in recruitment and talent strategies as you’ll find. In this episode we’ll discuss the root of the issue and what SMBs can expect and do about it.

See this episode at - https://totallyhyped.com/insights/

Get the whitepaper here - https://totallyhyped.com/startups-post-covid-19-the-harris-poll/

Learn how to avoid missing out on marketing bliss.

In this episode, you'll learn that if you want people in any market to know about your company, product or event, you must consider radio as a proven way to achieve your goals. I met a lot of great people in radio like today's guest Bob Bellini.

Learn how to take one or two extra steps that will result in getting better outcomes, saving money, and getting the results you want in less time than leaping before you look.

Learn how to make sure your marketing team is aiming at the same target while simultaneously creating an unshakeable directive that creates an efficient, successful marketing environment.

• Learn how to avoid poor marketing advice before it sends your project in the wrong direction
• Learn how to manage the information and keep your project on budget and on schedule

• Learn to identify when the conflict arises
• Learn to side-step the conflict of interest
• Learn how to turn the conflict of interest to your advantage

• Learn from real stories how to identify pitfalls
• Lear processes to automatically avoid delays and costly time-wasting tactics that plague marketing projects

• Learn to identify common reasons marketing budgets get out of control
• Hear real stories from over 25 years in the field
• Learn how o keep budgets on track and ensure even better results

• hear real examples of instances where the issue killed projects
• Learn how to articulate your business objectives and ensure successful marketing
• Learn how you can systematically avoid issues in getting successful marketing results

• Learn what causes the failures and how to make sure your projects succeed.
• Find out what to look for so you can see warning signs before your project is doomed.
• Hear about common approaches that most small businesses will fall prey to.

Is your company going to produce the content internally?

Will you hire someone to produce your blog content for you?

Are there easy ways to produce content?

• Why LinkedIn over other platforms such as Facebook, Google Ads, Bing, etc.?
• How can you control your budget on LinkedIn?
• What made your successful projects so successful?
• Why should someone use a service like yours over those competing with you?

What you can do to ensure success.

The question is; how often should our website be redesigned?

This is a great question in particular because small businesses are not using their websites to their fullest. It's a crime because your website is the place where you get to do everything you could possibly want to do. Social media sounds great, and it is great as a marketing tactic. However, you are limited in your ability to brand yourself. You're limited in the amount of content you can provide, even the amount of verbiage, and the size of images, and everything.

Principles: Life and Work

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

Robert Rose is an executive at the Content Marketing Institute and an author of three books on Content marketing.

On top of one of the most inspirational stories about a small business succeeding with content marketing, we'll discuss how to make the process sustainable and less stressful for everyone.

"...if their profile is sparse and you're saying, well, I'll just send them a connection request. Listen, this dude doesn't know his password! You are wasting your time, but LinkedIn was still helpful because it gave you the information, right??

"Probably the biggest mistake is not having your profile have clarity for your target audience. In other words, it still looks like the last time you were changing your job."

"Let's start with the company page it. Should you have one? Is it important? The answer to that is yes. You should have one. It is important. If you have a LinkedIn company page, it'll be a page one Google entry." 

The idea of putting lists together on the internet is, well... not new. In fact, one could argue that the Internet, from Google or Bing's perspective, is a list of lists. It's easy content. However, when you love ads as I do or love the psychology that goes into what makes a good ad or a memorable ad, this list of memorable jingles has a bit more drama. There have been volumes written about how the Coke ad, called "Hilltop" but known more as the "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" ad, came to be. I have the youtube version of the commercial and the mini-documentary link about how it came together. There will be a little learning, but it's also ok to sit back and enjoy the fun and nostalgia.

Some of the audio is less than perfect, but you'll have a tough time not singing along or basking in the feelings and memories of some of the older jingles. If you want the links to the ads on YouTube, make sure you check this episode out on TotallyyHyped.com.

First up is a classic most of us know, but the brilliance lies in the entirety of the jingle being the call to action. The phone number. Of course, the melody is catchy as hell but for something like this to work, you have to be prepared for the time and expense in getting an ad like this to work, at this kind of level. It's the 800-588-2300 Empire ad. If your melody is even half as catchy as this you can win big if you understand the level of frequency and the amount of time it takes for this kind of magic to occur. I'm starting with this ad, not because it is my favorite or because I think it is the best or worst. I am starting with this one because there is a lot to learn from it. Aired often, over some period of time, in front of the right audience - how could this not work?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwJQQux0TF0

One of the most iconic ads ever comes from one of the most iconic brands. Coke's 1971 "Hilltop" ad, captures the essence of the audience they were targeting. Regardless of your taste in music, the song is great and no matter what year, it feels like a very appropriate message. This post is a few weeks after the riots on Capitol Hill on January 6th, 2021. The word appropriate doesn't seem big enough to encompass this jingle's obviousness, today. I have also included a link to the mini-documentary on this ad, at totallyhyped.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2406n8_rUw

After having a few too many Coke's and the inevitable munchies that typically accompany, you might be feeling a little "iffy." If you are this next ad will serve you well. This is a great ad that makes light of self-inflicted illness. Its rhyme and melody are memorable on a level few can rival and the brand elements on display really connect the dots when appealing to the overindulgent. Not every brand can pull this off, having a cartoon or animated character and a funny song about not feeling well. It's vital that these things align. Sometimes companies need to appeal to different people at different times for different reasons. Alka-Seltzer may have simultaneously run other ads of a more serious nature. Brands today do this all the time. McDonald's might be the best at it with ads for family, new products, mealtime specific menu options, pricing, diversity, and social fit, but other brands like State Farm, Progressive, Spectrum/Charter/Time Warner are also in the habit of producing a mix of messages with varying yet consistent brand elements. I digress. T

If you’re in the market for a website, a redesign, or you need to re-energize your passion for your company’s website, you owe it to yourself to hang out for a bit and get to know Ansley Fones. If you have seen the Netflix series Get Organized with  The Home Edit, you might be familiar with her work as the designer and developer of their website.

We’ll talk about working with high profile clients, typical challenges in projects, and how to avoid them. We discuss her process, how it can help you get the results you need, and her fascination with fonts.

As daunting as that sounds, there is a lot you can do on your own, and in just a few minutes, you can learn enough to make sure you have the on-page basics under control. 

SEO is based on keywords – the words people type into search engines like Google to find products, services, and content they are seeking. People think they understand and know what customers will type into a search engine to find their stuff. I am here to tell you there is a high likelihood those people might be wrong.

So let's start with keyword research.

Keyword research is the exercise of finding the most used keywords to get searchers to a website. But that's less than half of the story. If you are embarking on an SEO journey on your own or hiring someone, what I am about to tell you is critical. Not many companies do keyword research correctly. 

There is good news and bad news. The bad news is it's more difficult and time-consuming than most understand. The good news is when done properly, your results will be much better, and you won't have to go through the untangling of your first efforts, which is a lot of work.

Some SEO projects only need to focus on a few keywords, and some might require thousands. To find the soft gooey center of your most valuable keywords, you have to break down desired results – whether it be lead conversion or all the way through to purchase. Then you break up the keywords into smaller groups base on the desired outcomes.

The easiest way I can explain it is through an example. Let's look at the process of buying a new car. Here's a fun fact; it takes the average person 108 days to purchase a vehicle from the time they first consider buying. According to Google's research, there are 5 steps in the buying process:

1. Looking at all the best cars
2. Researching which car is the right fit
3. Deciding if the price will work
4. Finding dealers that have the car
5. Getting the best deal

To understand keyword research and keyword strategy, you have to know your customer's buying process. Whether your customer's buying method is more in-depth or less, or whether you are a B2C or a B2B, you still have the same work in front of you. 

Since SEO companies tend to over complicate or over-simplify things, and DIYers have to figure things out for themselves, I have devised 3 simple steps to help keep your project from getting away from you.

1. Identify the steps in your customer's buying journey
2. Determine which steps you must be involved in and understand that the keywords will be different for each step in the buying journey. In general, the keywords will be vaguer earlier in the journey and more specific as they get closer to buying. In the car buying example, they might search for fuel efficient 5 passenger crossover – early in their process, but when they are about ready to buy, they might search for 2019 Ford Escape Titanium
3. Research keywords your customers might use to find your content for each step your organization is involved in. Now you will be organized with smaller, more granular sets of keywords for each step of your customer's buying process.

So, how do you know what keywords people are using? Well, there are many keyword research tools, including Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer,

The oft-quoted Oscar Wilde says, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness." In the best-case scenario, copying a competitor will leave you with mediocre results. The worst-case scenario will make you, the imitator, look foolish and perhaps even improve your competitor's results. If you're in business to win and you're the one doing the imitating, my guess is your intention was not to pay homage to, or flatter, your competitor. Your intention was likely to get some of what you believe they have - more business.

If you are imitating, mimicking, or emulating a competitor, you are also an "Also-Ran" in marketing terms.

Merriam Webster, of dictionary fame, defines Also-ran in these three ways: 

1: a horse or dog that finishes out of the money in a race

2: a contestant that does not win

3: one that is of little importance especially competitively

Again, the most important point of all of this is – when you're emulating a competitor, you're simultaneously strengthening their position, and you're losing your opportunity to stand out! By the way, standing out is the whole point of marketing and advertising! If you're trying to fit in instead of standing out - maybe you should stop wasting your money on advertising and apply for a job with the competitor!!

Emulating or trying to be more like your competitor(s) is a textbook example of what not to do. You're improving your competitor's position and worsening your own. Ugh.

Here's another punch to the groinal area - when emulating your competitor, you have no way of knowing if what you are emulating is even working for them. You could by copying a fantastic failure.

I probably don't need to drive the point any harder, but I am going to. To survive the also-ran game, you have to advertise at least as frequently and in at least as many places as the competitor you are emulating and then advertise more just to cut through. Don't be an also-ran!

Don't get me wrong; paying attention to your competitors is necessary. How else will you know if you are standing out? For the love of God, avoid trying to look like a competitor, act like a competitor, or do what a competitor does. 

Don't be an also-ran!

Why does this happen, and how do you stop it from happening? OK. It's time for tough love and brutal honesty. Companies fall into the also-ran trap when inept advertisers or marketers are making or influencing decisions. You can spot these bad influencers because they're good at telling you what they like. They're also great at telling you what's wrong with something without offering alternative solutions or ideas to correct the issue. When people lacking marketing and advertising experience are making the call or influencing the decision, the only real frame of reference they can draw from is the pile of things already being done. That's how you become an also-ran.

Companies also get sucked into the also-ran drain when the product or service they sell is commoditized. Products or services with lots of competition and few clear differentiators have a tough time standing out, so everyone feels like they are following the leader or each other. If you're in the camp that you must follow suit, I would say you don't know your customer well enough. Want proof? On my drive to work, I pass by, or I am near two different McDon

If you are wise, you'll listen and start applying some of the wisdom in this episode.