Studiothink

October 26 2015

StudioThink – Fall 2015 Digital Marketing Conference

ftyang Archive, Business Seminar Business Seminar, Eric Reynolds, Josh Loewen, Renee Neptune, Rick Sloboda, Studiothink, Todd Mumford 0

Date: October 22, 2015

Name: StudioThink – Fall 2015 Digital Marketing Conference

Presenters: Todd Mumford, Rick Sloboda, Josh Loewen, Eric Reynolds, and Renee Neptune

There are many key elements in digital marketing that all entrepreneurs must understand. Moreover, all entrepreneurs must identify if they have the right ingredients to market their brand digitally. StudioThink invites the digital panelists to review the necessary components in digital marketing for all entrepreneurs. The panelist includes Todd Mumford, the Principle and Founder of Riverbed Marketing, Rick Sloboda, the Senior Web Copywriter and Content Strategist at Webcopyplus, Josh Loewen, the Co-Founder of The Status Bureau, Eric Reynolds, the Director of Marketing at Jelly Marketing, and Renee Neptune, the Director of Business Development at StudioThink. The panelists will cover the important digital marketing points for all entrepreneurs to prepare for the Fall of 2015. Nevertheless, all entrepreneurs will be able to take advantage of the digital market to promote their brand recognition.

How to set up and run in inbound marketing campaign

Todd Mumford believes any great marketing does not have to be difficult. Many entrepreneurs overthink about marketing and complicate the process. Instead, sometimes entrepreneurs must think simple. Entrepreneurs must know their goals. By understanding their growth goals, entrepreneurs will ensure they are approaching to the right direction.

Set the right targets is important for digital marketing. Entrepreneurs must specify their target audience and know their target audience intimately. This means entrepreneurs must recognize their situation, challenges and patterns. Mumford suggests entrepreneurs to document and interview their target audience at least twice a year. By knowing them is not enough, entrepreneurs must know where they can research their problems and solutions. Moreover, it is important to know where audience like to see their solutions.

The keyword usage by target audience is important. The keywords are categorized by awareness, consideration and decision. Mumford wants entrepreneurs to think about symptoms. Entrepreneurs must map their contents based on educate, inspire and inform. By building a content calendar, entrepreneurs can create group discussion with their teams to develop new ideas.

Entrepreneurs must build remarkable content for audience, not for themselves. They need to ensure they are sharing and promoting the content consistently, which will increase the scope, recycle the content, and increase the share content. Mumford recommends entrepreneurs to automate and connect the dots by measure, adjust and feedback.

“Stop thinking about getting started, and just get started”

Why you should get excited about emotional branding

Rick Sloboda believes the role of brands is changing. Instead of concentrating on production or needs, entrepreneurs must focus on consumption and wants. There are over 20,000 advertisements appear each day. In addition, entrepreneurs are competing with everyone, not just their industries.

People are emotional creatures. Consumers are buying based on how they feel about a company. Sloboda realizes emotions play a significant role in consumers. In average, it takes about 0.55 seconds to get first impression online. There is no right or wrong ways to market. In fact, each way is early valued. Therefore, the difference is the consumers feel good or feel right one over the other. Branding must aim for the heart with emotional story. Storytelling can help entrepreneurs to identify and understand the motivations behind consumers’ behaviours. They are the emotional triggers.

It is important to incorporate storytelling in branding because it helps entrepreneurs to connect information and emotions. Furthermore, they can get people to care, act and buy.

“Instead of saying what do you think, say how does it make you fail”

Listen to people, trust data

Loewen believes too many entrepreneurs are trying to do too many things at once, but most of them are forgetting the most important task, which is listening to people. Listening to people can capture trustful data. Entrepreneurs can retrieve these data from many digital tools, such as google analytics and webmaster tools.

It is important to set buzzwords for digital branding. Buzzwords can be created by the right optimization and ROI. However, people seems to set it and forget it. They never have the time to go back and review it. Marketing changes everyday and entrepreneurs must have the habit to go back and check it.

Success is not a straight line, yet it comes with obstacles. There is no template for success because it works for one but not others. Good news is that it is fail proof. Loewen wants entrepreneurs to continue working on it, receive feedbacks, and improve it the next time.

Loewen shares 6 simple steps for digital marketing. The first step is to set up tracking, which allows entrepreneurs to evaluate. The second step is to start on mobile when most consumers are on mobility. The third step is to throw a wide net, so entrepreneurs can try the possibilities and eliminate the unnecessary ones. The forth step is to reply more on start or stop channels by focusing on where the audience is. The fifth step is to optimize based on the data, not opinion. the last step is to rake in that dough.

MozCon 2015 event

Eric Reynolds had the opportunity to attend MozCon 2015 event. MozCon is one of the major digital conference where many major digital marketers united in one place to share their strategies. Reynolds will give some high level learning concepts will entrepreneurs.

Promise more than marketing
Content loyalty is more important then content virality
Make customers better version of themselves
Mirror the landing with advertisement
Coding is more easier than before
Interruption, accepting meetings, and emailing are critical pain for marketers
The power of personalization is in how they wield it
Capture list, drill down for personas, and get them to buy
Keywords might not matter in 2020
Many factors will affect mobile
90% of budget on people and 10% on software
If entrepreneurs want to sell a CEO, think CEO
If entrepreneurs are good at marketing, they are good at providing a service
Do not take short cut, understand human nature
Create global PR and the key to PR success is speed
Sometimes entrepreneurs need to be inefficient, make mistakes and then evolve
Rediscover who the audience is as often as possible
Google trends
Relationship on brands is created by values to give
Graph search allows users to search for people based on everything

9 ways to get visitors to stick

Renee Neptune will share 9 ways entrepreneurs can implement to retain their visitors on their websites

The obvious
Usability
Funnel
Landing pages
Call to action
Fresh
Rescue
Sharable
Maintain

Entrepreneurs need to create a website that is polished and professional. The navigation and layout must be easy to find things for visitors. Entrepreneurs need to ensure they have a clear avenue of information that funnel traffic to site. The landing page should be created to demonstrate the needs. Entrepreneurs must have a call to action. Call to action should be straightforward and simple and not vague. The webpage should always have fresh content to establish their expertise and show they are care to stay current. Webpage can be a hub for sourcing valuable content. This helps entrepreneurs to become the trusted expert. It is important to expose themselves to others networks by making the content on website easy to share. Lastly, entrepreneurs must maintain their websites. Broken links, outdated design and old information will create the image for entrepreneurs that they do not care.

“Think your website as your car, you need to maintain it”

May 25 2015

Buying vs. leasing as businesses grow for entrepreneurs

ftyang Archive, Business Seminar Business Seminar, Studiothink, Todd Bohn 0

Date: May 21, 2015

Name: Buying vs. leasing as your business grows

Presenter: Todd Bohn

When businesses are growing, many entrepreneurs will face the decision of buying or leasing commercial space. Moreover, there are many factors that influence the decision. Studiothink invites Todd Bohn, the Vice President of Commercial and Industrial Sales and Leasing at Frontline Real Estate Services, to discuss the variables they need to consider making buy or lease decision for their businesses. Todd Bohn will share his experience to help entrepreneurs to make strategic real estate decisions.

Todd Bohn believes for commercial real estate, entrepreneurs have three kinds of options: lease, purchase strata or purchase land. Some entrepreneurs cannot choose the right options for their businesses. Bohn will explain the top 5 mistakes business owners will make in buying or leasing decision.

Mistake #1: Decide they no longer want to pay rent

Lease can be flexible and has the option to change, but in the long run, lease options can be expensive for some businesses. Decision not to pay rent is not the primary decision to switch option. Bohn wants entrepreneurs to analyze their business direction and understand if lease is the best option that fits the business growth.

Mistake #2: Assume real estate will immediately increase in value

Bohn stats the overall real estate market has the average of 7% annual increase. However, the increase is not constant. Bohn believes entrepreneurs should not anticipate short term view; instead, they should look for long term investment. Entrepreneurs need to evaluate the current cycle, the timing, and the buyers in the market.

Mistake #3: Do not spend enough time evaluating staff and customer needs

Bohn suggests entrepreneurs to analyze the proximity, parking, the flow from people, driving time, commercial remedies and the quality of the building. As for parking, the average space is needed is 200 to 250 square feet per staff. Bohn indicates there are limited project for strata near Sky train station.

“Know where you are and where you are going”

Mistake #4: Do not spend enough time evaluating financial goals

Entrepreneurs need to analyze their business long term direction. They need to figure out their expected return and other financial goals. Bohn emphasizes the average up front cost for strata are at least $5,000. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to look at their cash flow and understand their timeline. As for leasing, the average is $25 to $30 square feet and it has less commitment. As for buying, it requires large amount of cash and commitment.

Bohn illustrate the difference between buy or lease in the table stated below.

	Buy	Lease
Down Payment	10 – 20% of value	None
Collateral	Assets	Personal Guarantee
Tax	Deprecation	Up to 100% deductible

Mistake #5: Uneducated on market conditions

Bohn believes knowledge is power. 90% of information is stated on MLS, 30-40% will be on CLS and 60% will need to be research on their own. Entrepreneurs need to educate themselves the overall market, understand where the new constructions are planned, and where are the pre-sales. Bohn wants entrepreneurs to step back and understand the big picture before making any commercial estate decision.

Bohn recommends 3 decisive steps for entrepreneurs.

Step #1: Start with the 5 questions.

Entrepreneurs need to figure the answer of these 5 questions.

Where is the business at in 5, 10, and 20 years?
What are the financial goals?
Where should the cash spend?
What are the customers’ needs?
What are the employee’s needs?

Step #2: Identify the ideal location

Entrepreneurs need to analyze the exposure, square footage, zoning, accessibility, drivability, transit and amenities.

Step #3: Get educated on market conditions

Entrepreneurs need to analyze what is favorable and unfavorable in the current market today. Understand the trend and figure out if it is permissible for business to take advantage of the trend.

Bohn shares some additional information on market. As for office leasing, it is considered to be tenant market. RFP process will be on behalf of tenant. There are limited new construction and new projects for landlord. Based on the stats, there is high vacancy in Surrey and Langley. Developers are competitive for strong tenants.

As for office sale market, strata are still to be the viable option. There is limited number of qualified buyers and the cost of improving the space is not recovered or resale. Limited new construction is planned and the developers are waiting for key buyers to kick off a project. Moreover, the lease rate is over 5 years with monthly payment.

AS for developing land, the average price is 1.35 to 1.5 million dollars per acre. It is difficult to find land and those usually for long term purpose.

February 23 2015

Studiothink – How to turn web visitors to customers

ftyang Archive, Business Seminar Business Seminar, Rick Sloboda, Studiothink 0

Date: February 19, 2015

Name: Studiothink – How to turn web visitors to customers

Presenter: Rick Sloboda

Entrepreneurs need to understand that a majority of customers are from World Wide Web, and it is critical to understand the method to reach the target audience from the web. Studiothink invites Rick Sloboda, the Senior Web Copywriter and Content Strategist from Webcopyplus, to teach entrepreneurs the key concepts of converting web visitors to customers. Rick Sloboda focuses on helping business owners to promote their website contents, and he involves in committee advisor in many organizations. This presentation will benefit entrepreneurs to boost their online sales.

Rick Sloboda wants all entrepreneurs to identify their purposes, goals, and objectives. Entrepreneurs need to figure out their product leads and how they can use website to create awareness. All goals and objectives must associate with their desired audience’s needs and wants. In addition, entrepreneurs need to define their call to action. This will help entrepreneurs to lead their desired audience to the right location.

Sloboda believes building visitor-centric information architecture is significant for all entrepreneurs. In other words, entrepreneurs need to define what their visitors are looking for. A Bad example of information architecture is when visitors are lost on from the content and need to search where they want to see. Many entrepreneurs use organizational chart to categorize their website headings, but this will confuse visitors to determine where they want to go. Sloboda believes a simple two buttons, such as “buy a business” or “sell a business” can simplify audience’s search.

“People do not care about your business. They only care what the business bring to them”

Visitor-centric web content

The concept of website content is “writing to convert”. The content must be about the visitors.

Sloboda suggests all web content to be written in second person narrative. It is important to understand it is not what entrepreneurs want to say, yet it is what the audience wants to hear. Moreover, entrepreneurs need to be more objective and communicate at the lower denominator.

It will be beneficial if entrepreneurs can write in audience’s language. This will reduce the downtime, inconvenience and costs when entrepreneurs use the right language and the right word choices.

Sloboda believes the “features tell and benefits sell”. Benefits focus on growth, profitability, work/life balance, and succession. The strategy can be altering by depending on audience. Entrepreneurs need to identify the audience segment and find the trigger point.

It is important to be different. Sloboda emphasizes entrepreneurs should identify their strength and leverage on the audience. Entrepreneurs will know if they are on the right track when they cannot fit their web content onto their competitors’ website template. Sloboda provides many factors.

Selection	Technology
Example	Geography
Knowledge	Alliances
Credentials	Resources
Expediency	Tools
Style	Customer Services

Third party endorsements

Artificial enthusiasm comes across as spam and it will damage entrepreneurs’ trust. Sloboda believes third-party endorsement can be the best way to create credibility. Testimonials are weapons of influence; however, it will not be effective if audience will not able to read them. Sloboda suggests entrepreneurs to crunch down the long testimonials and distribute them out around the website.

Grammar and punctuation should be correct. Entrepreneurs should hire editor to avoid typical errors, including the incorrect use of language. Keep it short and simple is the key. Web page should use the relevant headlines, subheads, bullet points, short paragraphs, and descriptive links. If contents are long, Sloboda recommends people to use the drill down method.

Entrepreneurs need to ask for sales. However, they need to be direct and respectful. SEO will need 120 words minimum, so the right and precise content is very important.

“Connect, engage, and convert”

“Content comes first; design comes next; design should support the content”

January 18 2015

StudioThink – How to prepare for a crisis

ftyang Archive, Business Seminar Business Seminar, Peter Chevrier, Studiothink 0

Date: January 15, 2015

Name: StudioThink – How to prepare for a crisis

Presenter: Peter Chevrier

When organizations face crises, leaders need to take responsibility to act. It is important for all leaders to communicate the right message in the right moment with a positive and effective way. Peter Chevrier, the owner of Paragon, is invited to this presentation to discuss strategies for leaders to prepare for crises. Over 20 years of experience with working with universities, governments, and corporations, his insight will inspire many leaders to take action. The communication planning is significant for organizations and leaders need to ensure they are prepared.

Peter Chevrier defines organizational crisis is any issue or event that is or expected to lead to an unstable and dangerous situation for the organization. The crisis communication is designed to protect and defend organization’s reputation and safety during the crisis. Leaders can treat this as the preventative measures and preparation.

Organizations could face many crises. This includes negative comments, product issues, layoffs, strikes, discrimination, workplace accidents, and even natural disasters. The challenge behind all issues is that organizations have the sense of fear, lack of time, money and knowledge to prepare the crisis. This will lead to result of denial, anger, fear, depression, and acceptance emotions.

Chevrier shares 10 basic tips that any organization in any industry to prepare crisis communication.

Tip #1: What is crisis?

It is important for leaders to learn to anticipate crisis. Organizations will be better prepared if crisis ever happened. Chevrier suggests the key behind prepare crisis is 3Rs, which is research, response, and recovery.

Tip #2: Consider crises that could affect organization

Research and brainstorm any possible crisis that will affect the leaders’ industries. This can be done by review articles and outcomes from historical crises. It is important to learn from the outcome and understand how to handle. In addition, leaders can use this opportunity to list potential crisis that may impact their organizations.

Tip #3: Put together a team

Leaders need to form a team that is calm. Each team should have at least one head of major division. The team should nominate spokesperson, collect information, marshal media, and manage communication. There should be continuing training for all spokesperson.

Tip #4: Develop a plan

Leaders cannot plan for each crisis, but they can plan a general plan for crisis. Therefore, leaders need to develop policies or guidelines. Delegate the tasks to the one appointed person. Start simple and build over time with the policies and guidelines.

Chevrier suggests leaders need to prepare pre-drafted statements, sound bites, tweets, and anticipated questions and answers. These will direct organizations to the right impact in the media when possible crises come.

Tip #5: Practice

Leaders need to run though the plan with a mock crisis. The role play with tough questions and difficult scenarios will cover many different areas for the team and reduce camera pressure. In addition, leaders can review the procedure for any improvement.

Tip #6: Implement monitoring and notification system

Organizations should implement technology-based and conventional media monitoring. Leaders need to educate their employees to stay alert and know who to contact. There are many different channels organizations need to filter to ensure the organization is utilized the communication effectively.

Tip #7: Prepare crisis communication go kit

The go kit contains useful items in case of a crisis. This includes mobile phone, laptop, flash drive, plan and camera. Chevrier believes leaders should have the mindset of better over prepared than under prepared.

Tip #8: During a crisis, understand the position

Leaders need to take the time to determine what happened, why, who is involved, where, when, what is the explanation, how it will be rectified, prevent from happen again. Leaders should work the plan with the senior management to ensure it is accurate and honest.

Chevrier recommends leaders to develop proper message and select the right communication channels when crisis happens.

Tip #9: During a crisis, say something

Chevrier believes the worst thing leader can do during the crisis is say nothing. Silence breeds rumors and speculation. This will also feed perceptions of inaction, incompetence and indifference.

The important thing is to emphasize with the organizations’ emotional state. When leaders are being accurate, honest, factual, focused and calm, they can appear to show they are caring.

Tip #10: Post-crisis analysis

When the crisis is handled properly, it is important to analyze how it is handled and learn to adept the new outcome. Review the situation and understand if it is done right, wrong or better. Leaders need to update their current plan to adopt the changes.

“It is never a crisis until it is a crisis, but does not mean you do not need to plan for it”

“It is worth the investment to be prepared, proactive and professional”