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Mar 01
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EMAIL MARKETING

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Do’s and Don’ts of Email Marketing



Did you know emails with subject lines titled “Thank you” are more likely to be opened by the user?


Email campaigns can be tricky and a lot of businesses begin to ask themselves if it is even worth it. Email marketing is something that comes with time, it takes time to accumulate subscribers, and it takes time to learn what kind of content they like. But it is one of the most underused marketing tools and it has shown to work very well for many businesses!
 
DO GROW YOUR EMAIL LIST ORGANICALLY. DON’T BUY AN EMAIL LISTS
The best way to grow your email list, organically, is to create a form on your website or Facebook page. If you are looking to increase the amount of subscribers, give the user an incentive. Add a plug-in to your website that forces the user to insert an email to receive a free item or product. This could be a free PDF with a video, or some kind of information the user feels like is worth some monetary value and you are giving it to them for free. 
Not only is receiving emails from companies you never subscribe to extremely annoying, it gives your business a terrible reputation. No, it isn’t against the law but ethically it draws some questions. If someone wants your information, they will sign up by themselves and if you market yourself well enough and raise awareness for your brand, they will know about you! 
DO CREATE TOP OF THE MIND AWARENESS. DON’T MAKE THEM WAIT TO HEAR FROM YOU WEEKS AFTER THEY SUBSCRIBE
Top of the mind awareness keeps your business on the users mind. This could look different depending on your companies industry, but it begins with sending an immediate email after the user subscribes. Creating top of the mind awareness comes with consistency. This can be a tricky line, but you need to find a balance between sending not enough emails and sending so many they get annoyed and unsubscribe. Usually, this means 2-3 per week or doing a once a week update. 
 
DO SEND PERSONALIZED EMAILS. DON’T SEND EMAILS THAT HAVE NO PURPOSE
Personalizing your emails could increase your open rate by 25%. This could be a simple task like adding the person’s first name to the top (Dear John, Hi John, etc.). It’s important to be intentional with each email you send and not rush through creating boring or irrelevant content. 
 
These are only three of the MANY things you can do for your email marketing. I highly recommend using a website called, Mail Chimp(featured on my screen). It is a great tool that usually links up well with most third party websites. It has many tools that help with automation, which allows you to reward users that have stayed with you for awhile! It does cost but with how helpful it is, I would say it is worth the small monthly fee! 
As always feel free to ask me any questions!

 

 

 

Mar 01
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HOW TO BEAT THE INSTAGRAM ALGORITHM

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Instagram has done it again, they changed the algorithm and now only 10% of your followers are going to see your posts! That means 90% of the individuals who CHOSE to follow you will no longer see your photos. I know, this makes me angry also, but there is hope! There are ways to beat the algorithm, we are all just going to have to work a bit harder!

The algorithm basically shows you only the Instagrammers content you interact with. The likes and comments you leave on the individual’s photos drives what content they bring to your newsfeed. They want to show you photos they think you will interact with. It also prioritizes accounts with high engagement.
This is depressing, I know. I personally liked it better when it was in chronological order, but it is better for the advertisers and instagram makes more money because of it, so why are we surprised? 
STEP 1 – HOW OFTEN AND WHY?
If you are wanting more of your followers to see your posts, you must be posting consistently, that doesn’t mean double posting every single day but maybe try posting every day or 3-5 times per week. 
Another good question to ask yourself is, why do I have an Instagram? Is it to gain more followers, sell a product or direct people to a blog? If you are on Instagram for business reasons, it is important to have a business profile. This can easily be done in your settings and doesn’t confine your content to strictly being business related. In fact, I would advise against only posting about your business because people don’t like having a product or blog constantly shoved down their throat. That leads to the next thing, what you are posting matters!
STEP 2 – POST RELATABLE CONTENT
The content you choose to post matters, greatly. I am not just talking about the quality of your photos(breathe, you don’t need to go hire a professional photographer for your Instagram photos), I mean to create content that is YOU, relatable and relevant to your life! If you are running a fashion blog get creative with your content, do a few styled shoots with some of your favorite products and tag the brands. If you are selling a product like graphics on Etsy or wedding invitations, create consistent content, find a flow in your editing and stick to what you love, there is a reason your started your business right? People love to see other passionate individuals, thriving in their work space. I know, I know, it feels like we have gotten off topic but ALL of this is related to defeating the algorithm. 

STEP 3 – RELATIONSHIPS
This one goes hand in hand with STEP 2, as you are tapping into your more creative side with your content, people will become more interested in your life and if you allow yourself to show a little vulnerability with a post, you will begin to see your followers build a relationship with you. They may direct message you when you post a story photo and ask where you got your sweater from, or maybe even ask how much a beautiful piece of your art is. It is so much easier to purchase from someone, read someones blog, or follow their life when you feel like you know them! With that being said, always RESPOND to people who comment on your photos or message you.  
EXTRAS
Watch your analytics – you won’t have analytics until you swap over to a business account, but this allows you to see how well your posts are doing and to learn from how your followers respond. 
Use relevant Hashtags – you can use up to 30 of them! Be wise!

Tell your followers to turn on their notifications if they want to see your posts, they can also comment on 10+ of your photos, and “like” multiple photos on your feed. Many people don’t know this so don’t feel weird telling them. 
Run a giveaway – Why? because people will follow you if there is a chance of them winning something. 
Utilize Instagram Stories – These 24-hour images are a perfect way to let your followers in on your daily life with family, work and friends!

Instagram is constantly changing things up on us but you don’t have to sponsor a ton of posts to continue to grow your following! If you try these things out and being to see results, let me know!

Mar 01
Love0

5 TIPS TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY

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It’s January, the holidays are over and everyone is feeling “blah” and lazy from all of the nasty cold temperatures. I mean really Oklahoma, since when do we have windchills in the negatives? I am not enjoying it at all. But if you are like me, you created some goals for 2018 and one of them probably involved productivity. Whether that be in the gym, home or work, we are always trying to spend our time a bit more wisely! I am pretty sure I set goals to be more productive in all areas of my life, because I get so distracted, in everything I do. I am serious, everything! Although I clearly haven’t conquered my lack of productivity, I have made a list that has helped me a ton these first few weeks of this year!

1. TIME STRUCTURE
After researching, I found that the most common place people lose time in their day is when it has little to no structure. I know I find myself breezing through my day, lacking intentional actions and try to chip away at my to-do list with no real set aside time to complete each individual task. One article encouraged individuals to set aside a certain amount of time to get a task done and actually finish it in that amount of time. Another good option for time structuring is to learn when you work best and dedicated multiple hours of uninterrupted work during those times(morning, afternoon or evening). These both have proved to boost productivity.

2. EMAILS FIRST
Most people dread getting to work and immediately opening their computer to several emails that are demanding a response and email has been shown to be one of the biggest distraction within a work day. Responding early in the day and allowing yourself to focus on the work that really needs to be done can increase your productivity greatly. Forbes did an article on how successful people structure their days and this one was near the top. They used the CEO of Apple as an example and mentioned that he begins responding to emails before he hits the gym, this usually means he is checking his email around 4:30 am. That may be a little intense, but it gets the point across that emails can suck the life out of your work day, so why not knock them out in the first hour while your coffee is still hot?



3. STOP TASK HOPPING
Task hopping an be detrimental to how much work you are completing. If you are starting on one task and then moving onto another before your first task is completed, you are leaving more for yourself to go back to later. Start and finish each task and then move onto the next one, this will allow you to focus and not bounce back and forth with different ideas and thoughts. This one is really difficult for me because a lot of what I do is creative. Creativity doesn’t come when you sit down and tell your brain to be creative, it comes when you are in the middle of something else. I get struck with a great idea, it creates excitement and suddenly I am distracted. A good way for me to grow in this area is to have a notepad next to me so, when I get a creative idea/thought I can write a small portion of it down and return to it at a later time.

4. UTILIZE YOUR LUNCH BREAK
It is easy to use your lunch break to sit on your phone and scroll through social media but studies have shown if you get up and moving on your lunch break, you will have a more productive afternoon. This means going for a walk after you finish eating, grabbing your protein shake and climbing a few flights of stairs or use your break to get in your daily work out at the gym. The key factor is to increase your heart rate for a period of time before sitting down for the afternoon.

5. BEDTIME ROUTINE
One of the best things I have started to do, is prioritizing my sleep! I have a super weak immune system so my body needs all the rest it can get. I love to create a to-do list for the following day and leave it on my desk. This allows me to acknowledge and be aware of all the things I need to get done but doesn’t allow it to control my thoughts as I am trying to fall asleep. This is an easy way to not feel overwhelmed  and to get your mind off of the ridiculously long list of things that need to be done in the morning. The better you sleep, the more productive you will be in the work place.

These five things have worked great for me but like I said I still have my moments of dazing off or starting a task and realizing it has been 30 minutes and not a single thing has been done. I figured these would be practical ways for anyone. Let me know what things have helped you increase your work day productivity!