Self-Awareness: The Surprising Key to Success
Self-awareness — or, the conscious knowledge of your character, feelings, motives, and desires — is the first step in creating the life that you want to live. When you learn who you are (and who you aren’t), it allows you to more clearly understand what you want out of life (and, perhaps, what you don’t).
The first step in this process is understanding where you currently are, and pairing that with a desire to become better. After all, without a desire to improve yourself, you may find experimenting with self-awareness to be more difficult.
If you already have a desire to ‘be a better you’, you have probably identified something that needs improvement — probably a habit of some kind that has led to a negative outcome. For example, maybe you’re frustrated that you hit the snooze button on your alarm too many times in the morning, which creates a rushed, hectic start to your day, inevitably impeding your productivity.
Making the choice to become more self-aware requires a certain amount of vulnerability. You have to be honest with yourself, and recognize that doing this will require leaving your comfort zone.
In other words, you must unmask your insecurities.
Why Take a Journey of Self-Awareness?
Have you ever felt like you’re wearing a ‘mask’ in public?
Maybe it’s because you are scared of being vulnerable and showing your true self to others. Maybe you don’t feel 100 percent comfortable with who you are. Or maybe you’re afraid you won’t be accepted by others.
Whatever the reason, practicing self-awareness will help you better understand both the good and the bad — and work to improve yourself, which, in turn, helps you build the confidence necessary to remove your metaphorical mask.
When you are self-aware, you can see where your thoughts and emotions are guiding you. It allows you to take control of your actions so you can make the necessary changes to get the outcomes you desire.
Some people may roll their eyes and scoff at those that read self-help books or frequently talk about this topic. However, it reasons that if you are happy and content with yourself, you will live a happier and healthier life.
Additional benefits in practicing self-awareness:
- Can help you become more patient and well-rounded, improving your mental/emotional health.
- Can help with anger management, and learning to control the amount of anger in certain situations.
- Can help one learn to better control their fear, by learning how to face it rather than living with it in the back of their mind.
- Can help individuals to become more confident, by overcoming situations where they will feel pressured or challenged (physically and/or mentally).
- Can help to push through situations against boundaries that might have previously hindered growth.
- Can help to promote self-esteem, and when paired with positive thinking, (the combination) can literally transform lives!
- Can help you become more successful.
In fact, the most lucrative business people and professionals out there never stop learning (and this is not just in continuing education, but in self improvement and personal growth).
A Korn/Ferry International Study found that self-awareness impacts companies’ bottom line. In studying the stock performance of close to 500 publicly traded companies, researchers found that companies with strong financial performance, tend to have employees with higher levels of self-awareness than poorly performing companies.
Ultimately, in practicing self-awareness, you’ll find more purpose. This process will give you something to work towards and to look forward to. Your own personal thoughts and interpretations will begin to change. This change in mental state will also alter your emotions and increase your emotional intelligence, which is an important factor in achieving overall success.
In practicing self-awareness, you can become also become an inspiration to others by trying to achieve more in your own life. Being able to do this for yourself, and motivate others, makes it even more exhilarating.
The Intersection of Self-Awareness and Empathy
I wrote a blog about empathy last month, and through my exploration of that topic, I found self-awareness to be a crucial component to empathy. After all, it’s impossible to empathize with others if you believe that everyone is exactly the same as you.
To better understand and navigate relationships or connections with others, we must first understand ourselves. Self-awareness helps us to see our own biases, which can help keep us from simply projecting our own perspective onto others. By better understanding our own tendencies and patterns, we learn what truly makes us tick.
Daniel Goleman, author of ‘Emotional Intelligence‘, believes that emotional intelligence may even be more important than one’s IQ. I tend to agree. Empathy is technically the “other-awareness” — literally the direct counterpart to self-awareness. It is clear that both self-awareness and empathy are are two of the main pillars of emotional intelligence.
5 Tactics for Improving Self-Awareness
There are many unique ways to improve your self-awareness. Reading books that explain techniques through example are effective.
The following are five more ways to help you begin today:
Meditation. While I’m not personally the most experienced when it comes to meditation, I know people who swear by it for its health benefits. This is an exercise that makes you more aware of your internal world of thoughts and feelings, and can assists oneself to accept these in a non judgemental way. Meditation can help one to observe without reaction, which is a fundamental part of emotional intelligence. I personally, am hoping to adopt meditation into my daily routine more often.
There are some outstanding apps out there that have been recommended to me:
Journaling and Visualizing. Keeping a journal of your daily experiences, and the feelings and emotions that go along with them, will allow you to more easily reflect. It is interesting to see how your values change over time. Further, when you write down your goals and your priorities, you can then weigh them against your actions. When you break down what is important to you on paper, it will helps you see how far you actions differed from your expectations.
By journaling, it helps to recreate your mindfulness of ideas and thoughts that you may not cling onto throughout the day. This process can also help you turn ideas into a step-by-step actionable process. You might quickly realize how important it is to actually visualize what you want to accomplish.
Role Playing. A way to discover more about yourself is to pretend to be someone else. This is not easy to do, but will most certainly provide a different perspective and reveal aspects of yourself, that you often wouldn’t think about.
Psychology and Personality Quizzes. Learning more about your personality, is a key to understanding how your mind works. It also helps to discuss this with others in comparison so you can understand. These will help you categorize some of your personality traits and give you some insight as to how others may see you.
Some resources for these tests/quizzes include:
Ask Those Closest To You. Perhaps my best piece of self-awareness advice came from the book, The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. In this book there was an awesome exercise which best described in this blog post recap called ‘The E-mail that Will Change Your Life”. Essentially, you identify those closest to you, and make yourself vulnerable by requesting feedback (minus the sugar coating). While I do think it is best to do this in person, for the purposes of this exercise, I think doing it by email works. So I tried it out for myself.
I sent this to 33 of the people closest to me, and received quite a bit of feedback. While some chose not to answer (it is an understandably tough request), the answers I did receive were incredibly valuable. Oftentimes, our friends and family can know us better than we know ourselves.
Conclusion
Self-awareness is a difficult thing to “master”. And, in fact, can never truly BE mastered, as the process of practicing self-awareness is a journey, rather than a destination. Self-exploration will never fully end or be considered complete, because, as humans, we’re constantly evolving.
The process of learning and experiencing new things changes us, which is why working on becoming more self-aware is a valuable tool you can utilize for the rest of your life.
Why You Shouldn’t Underestimate the Power of Empathy
What would you think if I told you there is a singular concept, that when put into practice, can dramatically improve both your personal and your professional life?
Through the end of 2017 and into 2018, there is one term that I’ve continuously encountered in my experiences. It has been a common theme in many business conferences I’ve attended. It’s has been a common topic of many conversations. It has been a solution to many problems. In fact, putting its meaning into practice has made me a better person. And it can do the same for you, if you understand and appreciate its power.
So what is this potentially life-altering concept?
It’s empathy.
While I don’t think I’ve ever really understood the definition of empathy prior to this exploration, I certainly didn’t understand the value of it — until recently.
Empathy is defined as:
The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.
Or, much more simply, it’s the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH EMPATHY
2017 brought me a 6-year-old daughter. I have developed an endless amount of respect for all parents, everywhere. Adjusting to parenthood has not been easy for my wife and me, and in fact has been substantially more challenging than we could have imagined. This experience has taught me personally just how selfish I was, and really, how selfish anyone is who is not a parent. The ability to do as you choose freely, to prioritize your own wants/needs first, is something that should not be taken for granted, pre-parenthood.
Every parent will have their own experiences, and while it is fun to relate and share commonality, we should all appreciate each other’s unique path. The scenario of when the doctor tells first-time parents “well, you are free to leave the hospital with your newborn child now, good luck”, is probably more consistent with my experience, except with a 6 year-old.
While initially angry when people would compare my situation with theirs, I realized it was just a lack of empathy and understanding. This life-changing scenario for me personally, has really opened me up to the topic of empathy in many regards.
MY PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH EMPATHY
Managing Teams
One of my companies has experienced rapid growth as we grew to 26 staff members; and never did I imagine co-managing such a large team. Having said that, it is with this incredible team of mine that has helped me to understand one of the most important lessons of empathy: listening freely without assumptions.
Each day, it is important to be cognizant of your current personal thoughts and emotions. Understanding that each conversation you participate in, the person on the other end has their own set of thoughts and emotions. This includes different backgrounds, a different set of problems or struggles, and a different set of motivations and aspirations. It is the act of being present in each conversation, and understanding who you are communicating with, that allows for more rewarding conversation.
For example, in receiving a nasty email from a client complaining about a ‘mistake’ that my team had made, I decided to do some research in understanding both the client and my staff members’ perspective. Come to find out, the client was in the wrong, and while I had to smile and fix the problem for them, I did not get upset at my staff member for receiving the email.
While a simple solution, it is easy to see how the situation could have gone the other way. Practicing empathy for those that have a team they are responsible for, is an instrumental part of being a good leader.
Salesmanship
I love Gary Vee’s 51/49 rule, which is simple and states to give more than you get. This can be translated to listen instead of self promote. Let your prospect do the majority of the talking, and let them tell you what they want (and what they don’t want). Let them share their thoughts and experiences, before you offer yours. If you give your prospect the advantage, it is much easier to leverage your 49%, when the person you are engaging with feels like they have the 51%. This isn’t about a game however; it is more about understanding the person you are talking with, and showcasing empathy towards your counterparts’ comments.
The key again really, is just listening before speaking. This is not negotiation 101 of ‘don’t put your cards down first’, this is truly understanding what your prospect client is trying to accomplish. What is their problem? Can you help them solve it? Do you have the tools to do so? How have you done this before?
In spearheading the business development for my marketing agency, there has been a consistent refinement of the way I explain what my company has to offer. Typically, I would sit down with a prospect, and ‘pitch’ them on how great we are, and what we can offer. How much does this really differ from other companies that offer the same thing? You want to create connection and dialogue through understanding and cohesion. This is better done by listening first, and curating a better response.
TAKEAWAYS AND LEARNINGS
Daniel Goleman, a science journalist and author of the New York Times bestselling book Emotional Intelligence, spoke at the Global Synergy Forum, which I attended in October 2017. The topic of empathy was mentioned several times throughout his dialogue.
Goleman sees empathy in 3 different types: emotional empathy, cognitive empathy, and empathetic concern. For example, when you listen attentively to understand the other person’s point of view, you are not answering with emotional empathy but cognitive empathy. He has expressed in his speaking engagements and in many publications about the importance of empathy in relationships. Goleman is quoted saying that “empathetic people are superb at recognizing and meeting the needs of clients, customers, or subordinates. They seem approachable, wanting to hear what people have to say. They listen carefully, picking up on what people are truly concerned about, and respond on the mark.”
– – – – –
Nothing is more exciting (for me at least) than participating in engaging conversation. Before diving in, and providing insight or my feelings, it will help to collect feedback and perspective. Understanding the viewpoints of those participating in any subject conversation, ultimately allows for a deeper, richer conversation.
In each business pitch, through each relationship, and with every single engagement of human interaction, empathy plays a role. Start with just being present in every conversation. You’ll soon learn than empathy can help better enrich your life and is a concept that everyone can and should work on.
EXPLORING EMPATHY IN ORLANDO
As I was noticing “empathy” becoming an increasingly trending topic in my life, I had the privilege of engaging in a great conversation with Orlando’s Danya Shea. Shea has dedicated a lot of her work to the modeling and framework of empathy in the workplace. Having heard her speak at Creative Mornings back in September, it served to amplify the theme of “empathy” in my life. It became evident that not only was Shea very passionate about this topic, but she is a true thought leader.
Shea and her team at FervorWorks are producing “Empathy And...”, a talk series with forward-thinking founders and leaders. You can learn more about the events here.
To learn more about Shea, read my friend Dean Caravelis’s piece and interview on her.
For some more great empathy insight, read this article that discusses 6 habits of highly empathetic people.
During my empathy exploration, my I first saw this when my friend Monte Harry shared it on social media.
This passage paints a great picture on the topic.
Orlando Business Journal Feature | December 11th, 2015
Taken from the Orlando Business Journal on December 11th, 2015.
How I … Found entrepreneurial success via my social network — without a computer
In-person social networking is essential to business success for Carey Sobel.
The 28-year-old Philadelphia native and entrepreneur owns the Orlando-based marketing agency Three21 Creative and is a partner at business brokerage firm Boss Group International.
Carey Sobel (center) brokered the sale of the former Friendly Confines location in Waterford Lakes fellow UCF alumni Jamie Feldman (left) and Eric Isolica of Orlando Hospitality Partnership.
Both companies benefit from Sobel’s expansive connections, many of which he made during his time as a business management major at UCF.
When Sobel was not studying for exams, he was disc jockeying at several UCF-area nightlife venues. He then evolved from deejaying on the weekend to creating KnightLyfe LLC, a company that photographed students in bars around campus and posted them online. He then sold that and started social networking firm UniversityLyfe LLC, which was accepted into the UCF Business Incubation Program. After two years, UniversityLyfe folded, but not before Sobel had made hundreds of long-lasting professional relationships, which ultimately led Three21 Creative to increase its annual revenue by more than 1,350 percent since he partnered with founder Joe Boutin in late 2013.
In addition, he’s a partner at business brokerage firm Boss Group International, where he represented the seller of Friendly Confines at Waterford Lakes and the buyer of Orlando Hospitality Partnership, crediting his UCF connections with helping him close such deals.
Here, he shares how he and his professional ventures have benefited from networking:
How did you end up in Orlando? My family relocated to South Florida in 2004, where I finished my senior year of high school and then moved to Orlando to attend UCF. I graduated in 2009 with a degree in business management with a concentration on entrepreneurship.
How did you get into the marketing and business brokerage industry? I have been in marketing my whole life. I have a mix of experience with business ownership and operations in marketing, advertising, hospitality, food and beverage, and entertainment. I’ve owned my own entertainment business since I was 15.
When did you form most of your business relationships? I started deejaying in 2005 at UCF at all of the local bars. I met just about everyone who had a social life from 2005-2010, primarily through my deejaying and the business I ran through my tenure at UCF, KnightLyfe. I participated in many on-campus activities, like the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and the UCF Joust New Venture Competition.
How did KnightLyfe evolve to UniversityLyfe? For KnightLyfe, we had a website that posted photography of people in nightlife venues and drew 18,000-24,000 unique visitors per month around the UCF area, generating 20 million-plus page views. We then raised $500,000 in venture capital for UniversityLyfe, and grew the business in the UCF incubator for over two years before folding the company due to a lack of completed software.
Did the marketing agency present any unique opportunities? My marketing firm wrote a business plan for a restaurant I became a managing partner of, Terrace 390, in downtown Orlando. After selling that business, I joined Three21 and Boss Group.
What benefits do you reap from your current business relationships? On the marketing side, I love the diversity in creative and strategic thinking from all of our clients. On the brokerage side, I get to hear so many stories of how each business came to be, the driving forces of success and, again, ways to be innovative.
How have your business ventures benefited from your business relationships? In my first year of Three21 Creative, as a team, we went from $110,000 in annual revenue to $1.6 million, and 2015 is projected at $2.5 million in revenue. In my first year of business brokerage at Boss Group, I achieved $1 million in sales volume. Without UCF networking advantages, I would be with a much smaller network of friends and professionals.
To what do you credit your success? My hands-on experience and commitment to always network
What is your advice for other entrepreneurs? Do not let failures bring you down. Always take someone up on an invite to connect, meet or talk, as you never know what will come of one conversation or connection.
Three21 Creative
Description: Digital marketing agency
Owner: Carey Sobel
Contact: (407) 734-5215; Three21Creative.com
Twitter: @CareySobel
Boss Group International
Description: Business brokerage firm
Partner: Carey Sobel
Contact: (407) 329-3273; BossGI.com
A Truly Memorable Sale.
….and the best part was getting my autographed Brian Dawkins jersey.
As a student at the University of Central Florida, I often frequented Friendly Confines– a neighborhood sports bar in the Waterford Lakes Plaza / Outdoor Shopping Mall. Their specials were outstanding, including the original ‘Nickel Beer Night’. Friendly Confines was practically a monument for UCF Alumni, as was one of the original bars that didn’t fall into the category of typical ‘UCF College Bars’ with sticky floors, vomit in the trashcans, and the smell of rotten wood soaked in beer. This was a class-act establishment that had a great reputation, and solid food.
In September of 2015, my partner Tony Blair and myself sold the business to a new group. We represented both sides of the transaction, and worked with the Washington Prime Group, a subsidiary of Simon Property Group, in one of the most challenging deals that I have worked on yet. The deal was signed in April and closed 5 months later after numerous obstacles and curve balls, however the deal fared well for both sides. Carmen Jordan, president of C. Jordan Enterprises (which owns all 4, now 3, locations of Friendly Confines) will continue his plan to expand the franchise into a large blueprint with new stores coming soon. Jamie Feldman and Eric Isolica, partners in the Orlando Hospitality Partnership, the Buyers in this deal- will be bringing an upscale sports bar and social environment to the old Confines Space. They are bringing a new concept called “The Social House”, and I’m excited to see what it evolves into.
It was an honor to represent both groups, in truly what was my most memorable sale in business brokerage to date. I will keep this blog updated on developments on both sides.
As a side note, Carmen owns a sports memorabilia business, and as an expression of gratitude, he offered Tony and I a signed autograph jersey from our favorite athletes. I obviously chose Brian Dawkins.
National Recognition. At the cost of (a whole bunch of) free beer.
Ah yes. There is nothing like national syndication and free earned media- when you least expect it. In fact, us marketers yearn for online attention like this…..
Owned and paid media are the most common platforms for brands and companies to engage with their consumers online. However it is the third type of online media that brands and companies (are often ignorant to and) strive to achieve, earned media. The best way to drive traffic and sales online is to create a stronger sense of public awareness about your brand, and to get people to talk about you. Earned media has an organic to the public, and there is a different level of trust that resonates with the consumer based consumers’ opinion of the respective earned media source. Some brands and companies that are ahead in the digital age, are cognizant of the effects that earned media can have to drive sales. Whether being featured on a prominent blog, featured on an Instagram post from an account with millions of followers, or retweeted from a famous athlete or actor; these are the moments that brands strive for.
I’m a partner in an Orlando watering hole called ‘The Basement‘, located in Downtown Central Florida. We are a local favorite that offers a laid back atmosphere, with a grungy 1920’s prohibition-era feel. My partners and I are proud University of Central Florida Alumni, the nation’s second largest college. Our establishment has grown to be the downtown UCF-alumni hub, and often host watch parties. The past few seasons have been memorable with our huge upset over Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl Championship in 2014 led by Blake Bortles. However this season, our young team looks absolutely pathetic. Call it Coach George O’Leary’s gameplan, call it our young roster, or call it bad luck; either way it has been ugly.
One of my partner’s from The Basement decided (through what was first just a sarcastic comment) to offer ‘FREE BEER UNTIL UCF WINS’, and posted it on @TheBasementOrlando ‘s Instagram account. To clarify that it was not a joke, it even said “Seriously, free beer during every game until we win. Because we need something to be excited about.” So what started as a joke, to poke fun at our team’s slow start, turned into national syndication. I received the first e-mail from a CBS Sports representative asking to speak with a manager regarding the special. Next thing I saw during a business trip up to New York for Advertising Week, the NASDAQ ticker in time square was mentioning ‘The Basement, a bar in Orlando offering FREE BEER until their team wins.” I knew that this was in the midst of going viral, and was not going to stop anytime soon.
“The suds are going to be flowing in the basement”, ESPN said. CBS Sports wrote a story, and we got tweeted by SB Nation. Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, the Washington Post, Bleacher Report, USA Today, and many other large news stations and heavily trafficked domains did features on this activity. They most recently talked about the UCF Knights on College Gameday, with mention of ‘the bar that’s giving away free beer’. The local Orlando stations continue to keep other national sources up to date to piggy-back off of the attention gained from all over the country.
Sales are up. Our followers are up on all social media sites. We continue to get not just local publicity, but national publicity. While this may not be great from a cost of goods perspective, the bar has been very busy. The cost of domestic beer is lower, which has a lower margin that any type of cocktail. The thought process was to pack the place, and sell drinks, shots, and other items that were not free. Of course, the fact that UCF continues to lose is not helping, but the amount of publicity gained, and people talking about ‘The Basement Orlando”, is worth every ounce of free beer poured.
Some brands, companies, and PR firms will pay THOUSANDS of dollars for sponsored posts from celebrities or site owners rich with traffic. All we had to do was give away some free beer. Now let’s just pray the UCF Football team can win a game…. sometime…. soon.
(Leverage) Your Online Presence
Most of the information discussed here is awfully basic. Although some may find this advice trivial, most of these points are not capitalized on, and even worse- simply overlooked. There are three ways that you can leverage your online presence without reaching into your pockets.
To start, you may question “why is my online presence important”? Simply put, ACESSIBILITY. The internet never snoozes. It is awake 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The internet doesn’t take sick leave or vacation days, and never skips a beat. So why not ensure you are BRAND BUILDING upon a marketing vehicle in constant drive. 78% of the population in North America has actively used the internet, while 40% of the world population actually has access to internet connectivity (and growing).
A benchmark which business owners often overlook is their customer acquisition cost. Yes, your sales are up, but what are you doing to procure those sales? You should be able to measure exactly how much money you are spending to obtain a sale, convert a lead, or ‘close the deal’. You can effectively lower your customer acquisition cost by having a strong online presence. A relative example resides in the fact that 77% of individuals have searched for a product online WHILE SHOPPING INSIDE OF A STORE. Make your product or service visible and optimized on a quick mobile search (a great topic for my next blog).
3 FREE ways that you can leverage your online presence:
1- DISPLAY RELEVANT INFORMATION.
- Have a consistent N-A-P (Name, Address, and Phone Number). Ensure your NAP is consistent among all directories and contact pages across the web. Your business listings should all match up.
- Your website should be organized with ‘structural consistency’ and ‘structural familiarity’ in mind. If a user comes to your website, they are expecting a ‘Home Page’, an ‘About Us’ page, ‘FAQ’, and a ‘Contact Us’ page. Don’t try to trick them or make them rummage through a maze. Give them the information they came to find.
- In fact, try to answer your prospective clients’ questions before they are asked. Take the most commonly asked questions of your business, and put them on your website right in front of your customers. The less time you have to spend answering FAQs, the more time you have to focus on other aspects of your business.
- Diversify your content. Some people want to read. Some people want to listen. Some people want to watch. Find a way to appease everyone by using videos, photos, audio, among other options. These reasons should be used as supplementary material, enhancing your messages strategy rather than sacrificing it.
2- ALWAYS REFINE & OPTIMIZE YOUR LISTINGS.
- Aside from displaying accurate credential information about your business, do what you can to consistency refine and enhance your listings. Update your avatars and photos. Provide offers and discounts, in addition to news, updates, and shares.
- Claim your Google+ Business Page, then populate your business on all other directory websites you can locate.
- Secure placement or ‘mentions’ on any authority websites that you can.
- Authority websites (as I see them) are high-quality, trusted websites. They are respected by knowledgeable people in the industry, they harvest links to other trusted places on the web, and have strong perceived value and rankings among search engines. For further explanation, here is a little more insight: http://moz.com/learn/seo/domain-authority.
- Polish your business descriptions and categorize your business consistently. Make sure the descriptions are meaningful and easy to read, as this will help improve your organic rankings.
- Create comfort and trust for your consumers by being found often. “Lack of trust kills conversions”.
3- BELIEVE IN & UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF REAL REVIEWS.
- You’ve heard of ‘word of mouth’ for marketing. Well, this is “word of mouth marketing ONLINE.”
- Try to acquire reviews on different platforms. If possible, actually ASK your clients to post reviews. Start with Google and other search engine reviews, followed by Yelp and other review platforms. Follow with any other third parties websites that you can find.
- Offer discounts of kickbacks for reviews. Understand that people want to take action to complain more than they want to praise. This is why positive reviews carry a tremendous amount of weight and are simply invaluable.
- Always respond to reviews, whether they are positive or negative. There is no need to be combative to negative reviews, but addressing the issues publically will help. Also, make sure to recognize a positive review by thanking the reviewer personally.
- Showcase your reviews on your company website (or really anywhere that you can). There is no such thing as too many positive testimonials. In fact, people like to read full stories as they often can relate to more than a 2-sentence statement. Don’t be afraid to post a happy customer’s story, as well!
Content Marketing. Summarized.
Although there are far more intricate methods to leveraging your online presence, I wanted to highlight some of the ones that can be done immediately, and at no cost to you. After all, everyone loves free stuff. Mostly every piece of information described in the above copy is synergized with the term ‘Content Marketing’, which can be defined as:
Creating and sharing valuable, free content to attract and convert prospects into customers, and customers into repeat buyers.
The type of content that you share should most certainly be closely related to with what you sell. You want to educate people so that they know, like, and trust you enough to reach out, engage, and potentially do business with you. Make them aware of your product/service, and prove that you are an expert. Content marketing creates discussions, comments, and posts. Do not ignore these, and always make sure to respond and engage. Do not miss out on FREE opportunities to interact with prospects or current customers!
1- ENGAGE. In whatever form of content marketing you do, the target objective should be to first get your prospect to engage. Create some interest by stimulating their senses. You can do this with a to-the-point advertisement, or offer a discount of a kickback. Tell a story. Create a short documentary or motion graphics clip. Use some type of comedy skit, a cartoon, or perhaps build a campaign around a game. The possibilities are endless, and this creative brainstorming is the fun part for us. (Link to Stratestorm)
2- CONVERT. Next, you want to convert them. Through whatever digital strategy or other method you use, find a way to get them to make an appointment, request more information, or buy your product.
3- SUBSCRIBE/REQUEST. After the ‘sale’, get them to subscribe to a future offering or update, or request additional information. Existing customers are your best sales tool. Utilize them as a means for recurring transactions!
4- SHARE. Finally, get them to share their experience. How many times have you seen the ‘share this with a friend’ button, or ‘get X discount by posting on your Facebook Wall’. This viral effect is stronger and ‘free-er’ than any other type of marketing.
One of the most commonly used vehicles for content marketing are blogs and articles, whether digitally composed, printed in magazines, or in the form of webinars or podcasts. Content marketing is sure to be even more effective when underlined with the use of media and videos. Although ‘content may be king’ for organic purposes, visuals certainly engage the average consumer more. You will often notice trends of users navigating directly to videos on websites to visualize something, rather than taking the time to read it.
Some other vehicles include persuasive landing pages, conversion driven e-mails, and of course, social media. While Social Media is certainly the most popular form of content marketing, it has been proven in many studies not to be the most effective. Although social media sponsored and organic posts may be ‘attention-grabbers’, conversions will most likely prove not to be as strong.
Through whichever vehicle you choose to employ your content marketing, understand that you are establishing integrity by presenting factual and relevant information. Know that insourcing content almost ALWAYS will beat outsourcing it. Take the time as a business owner to create content yourself. You know your business and costumers best. Time may be money, but money not spent is money earned. So, strategize how you choose, but content marketing is a choice made wisely.
To finalize on all made points, ineffective messaging is most company’s biggest marketing issue. Not only in content marketing is this an issue, but in most company’s overall outreach and strategy in general. It is important to understand your overall goals, and use those goals to actually create your content. As an owner of a marketing and advertising agency, it is disheartening to see wasted advertising and marketing dollars spent on ineffective messaging. If you have something to say, let a professional help create a compelling message, while building a structured campaign around it. Be creative, witty, and comical. Offer a discount or incentive. Whatever you need to do, focus on getting your customers’ attention.
And if you need help…. myself, my agency, and many other companies out there are here for you. Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone who understands these topics. After all, realize that you just subjected to be a part of my company’s content marketing in reading this blog. You are the eye of our creative brainstorm.
Google: The Most Powerful Company in the World
Google is set as my default search engine. Google delivers me all of my e-mails. Google organizes my schedule each day. Google advertises my business(es). Google makes my business money. Google stores my documents, data, and information. Google allows me to chat with friends and colleagues. Google directs me where to go with their maps. And Google actually knows more about me than the government does.
…and that is where it gets scary. It is a safe bet to say that Google knows more about most Americans and their habits and personal information than the government (and more than one’s significant other) does. Google’s powerful technology grants them the ability to produce larger and longer records of each individual by harvesting search data, web history, and plenty of other information. Little do we know that day after day, year after year, Google continues to gather and simultaneously learn more about each and everyone of us.
Recently Google Plus, the company’s social network, has played a crucial role in tying a respective individual’s data together. Google representatives will highlight the advantages of Google Plus- stating that users have “a more consistent and seamless experience across Google’s multitude of products. Meanwhile, many users have rebelled against the forceful push of Google Plus stating that its practices are invasive. When it comes to social sharing with friends, most will choose Facebook over Google Plus. However, Google Plus will most likely still understand more about people’s social lives more than Facebook ever will. See, Google Plus, is Google’s way of creating a connection from each Google user’s products- from Gmail, to Youtube, to Maps, and more. It allows Google to see WHO you are, WHAT you do, and WHERE you are going. Regardless if one doesn’t ever return to the social network again after the initial signup process, the connection has still been made. (Google says Plus has 540 million monthly active users, but almost half do not visit the social network.) In order to use YouTube, you now need a Google Plus Account. Is one going to refuse to sign up for Google Plus and not access YouTube? We all know the answer to the question. Google controls us.
Google was started with a vision to be the ‘perfect search engine that understands exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want’. Google is now a well known verb and routine practice that continues to satisfy our searches for information, and might as well be labeled as an ‘addicting habit’ that we all have. As their technology advances with more and more search data, Google can now even predict behavior of its users before they search.
Think about this. Advertising is used to persuade us for activities such as shopping. So for example, you may see an advertisement on a bus-station bench about a new model of BMW, or a new pair of Nike shoes in a magazine. Google takes it a step further by utilizing historical data to predict your desires and put them in front of you before you even think about them. With the help of Googles new project (called ‘Conversions API’), they are able to merge offline consumer information with online intelligence- which strengthens Google’s predictability and advertising placement. Google can actually reengineer how your brain works by telling you what you want, and DELIVER it (or put it in front of you) before you even think about it.
The company focuses on improving the ways people connect with information. Google has created products such as Google Voice, to connect all of your phone lines and voicemails. Google Docs/Drive allows you to harvest all of your spreadsheets, docs, and reports in one cloud space, accessible anywhere in the world. Google Wallet, where you can use your phone as your wallet. Google Earth to explore the rain forest in Costa Rica, or the large tree at the end of the street in your old neighborhood. Products such as the Google Glasses have recently been released, and products as advanced as self-driving cars are on the horizon. To be considered the most powerful company in the world, a sense of foreshadowing/advancements are needed. Google’s innovations continue to amaze me. An interesting fact is that 2005, before the iPhone even existed (smartphones were rare at best), Gmail was available as a mobile application. Google is always one step ahead of the game. And for that I’m thankful.
Google is said to be worth in the upwards of $65 billion dollars with a customer base of 100’s of millions of people. From rudimentary services such as the Google Search Engine, to products of prototypes like self-driving cars; Google has something for everyone- and therefore has an influence on just about everyone. A company that has this much leverage over the human population, HAS to be considered the most powerful company in the world. The only thing that Google has yet to convert me on is becoming an Android user. But, 79% of the population feels otherwise as the market share still has Android ahead of the game. One thing everyone should appreciate about Google is that the company continuously makes improvements and innovations that allows us to enjoy the things that we love the most.
Oh yeah. And if none of the information here has you convinced that Google isn’t the most powerful company, consider this when you compare to another company: Google’s brand is so powerful that it even owned its place in the dictionary. Don’t believe me? Just Google it.
Orlando Stands for Opportunity
“UCF: Stands for Opportunity”. If you have any affiliation with UCF, you have probably heard this slogan before. For me, I can relate to these words on a personal level. I’ve always been proud to be a UCF Alumni, and as time goes on I gain more respect and admiration for my Alma Matter. Not until taking a step back did I realize how far my school has progressed in the past few years. UCF recently received tons of national recognition for their athletics program when the UCF Knights Football team beat Baylor in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl. Undoubtedly, this achievement alone arose questions such as, “What and Where IS THIS UCF school?” and “What is it all about?” in the minds of many across the nation.
As a lot of people already know, UCF is in Orlando Florida, a detail I will touch on shortly. However, a few many only know that this “up-and-coming school” (ranked 5th best in the nation for this category) is the 2nd largest University in the United States. UCF is a leader amongst other universities in the research field alone. Not to mention, they have recently opened their own School of Medicine, they have a wide array of regional campuses, and are ranked as a “Top Tier National University” and a “School To Watch” by US News & World Report. The development of infrastructure on UCF’s main campus from 2005 when I arrived, until today stands alone as a true testament to the school’s prosperity. As a wide-eyed freshman 9 years ago, new to Orlando and Florida in general, I’ve watched an insurmountable amount of advancements and growth occur here and I could not be more proud.
While working on my undergrad at UCF and participating in some extracurricular programs, I developed an outstanding relationship with an influential woman named Carol Ann Dykes who is part of the UCF Business Incubator. Carol Ann invited me to an event that I attended last week called “Speed Dating Startup Style”. This function was hosted by UCF’s Launch Pad. Aside from offering me the great experience to network with young UCF Entrepreneurs and hearing their ideas, I was also able to catch up with an old professor of mine- Dr. Cameron Ford. He enlightened me to some of the exciting advancements he has made in the development of UCF programs centered on entrepreneurial activity. Learning about the evolution of the UCF Entrepreneurship opportunities, such as the CEL (Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership), and the Blackstone Launch Pad was invigorating, and only reinforced my faith in UCF and Downtown Orlando’s prosperity and synergetic relationship.
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
One of the main reasons why I constantly recommend UCF to those looking into pursuing education is because of the unique community that the city of Orlando has to offer. The constant & continuous growth occurring in East Orlando is analogous to the growth of the University. I believe that the University’s growth comparably affects the growth of Downtown Orlando as well. To me, East Orlando’s close vicinity to Downtown Orlando makes attending UCF that much more opportunistic for those considering schools.
I like to think of Downtown Orlando as a little big city. It has so much to offer essentially any type of lifestyle. Not only was a brand new, state-of-the-art Amway center finished a few years back, but the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts along with a few new high-rise buildings are currently in the works as well. Even though the former things I consider to be outstanding advancements, the talk of a few additional major development projects and economic influx into Downtown Orlando and its surrounding areas, that gets me even more excited for this city. One in particular is the Creative Village, in which the vision states “focusing on creating a true ‘live, learn, work, and play’ urban destination through a development plan that supports a synergistic and dynamic mix of uses including office/creative studios, higher education, K-12 education, mixed-income residential, retail/commercial, and hotel.” In addition to the ‘Creative Village‘ project, is the general project to expand commercial and residential development towards the Citrus Bowl. The city plans to achieve this through the gentrification of the Paramore District (which you can read about it here). This is all very exciting to me as I live, work, and play right in the heart of Downtown Orlando.
Orlando as a city is very diverse as is the array of businesses and cultures that exist within it. Orlando is a fantastic place for the entrepreneurial spirit. Many of my peers, myself included, own and operate businesses in the Orlando area. We have all utilized Orlando as a stepping stone to launch ideas and watch aspirations come to life. It is through my experiences at UCF that I learned what I needed to know to be able to get the most out of Orlando as not only a creative platform, but also as a gateway for my high ambitions.
– – – – – – – – – – – –
I wrote this blog as a reflection from an article I read a few days back titled “UCF may expand its downtown presence in a big way“, as seen in the Orlando Business Journal. Another article on MyFox35, “UCF considers expanding presence with large Downtown Orlando Campus” provides some more information as well.
This video is a great testament to my viewpoints about “The City Beautiful”, and reafirms the ‘uprise’ that I describe in this blog: ORLANDO RISING TRAILER
Terrace 390 Website Launched
With the collaborative efforts of my company Yes! Solutions and BluFire Studio, the Terrace 390 website was successfully launched back on the 14th of April.
Since then we are getting immense web traffic as our interactive website allows users to view vivid images of every item on the menu (food and drink). We also have a built-in-reservation system on the website that updates in Real Time to our Table Reservation Software in Terrace 390.
Our blog, “The Latest” is updated daily as we intend on keeping our loyal customers (and anyone else interested) up to date on all of the special events, weekly live music lineups, specials of the day, etc.
Take a look at our contemporary website and start salivating over the delicious food pictures.
A Blog Can Be A Startup’s Most Valuable Investment
With the an estimated 150K new websites and 7M new pages added to the Internet every day, the biggest challenge for every entrepreneur is to get found, and get some credibility for a new startup. I can attest from experience that publishing a regular blog to properly showcase your offering, even before you have it, is a most cost effective approach in time and money.
The biggest roadblock is that startup founders already have too much to do building a product, mapping strategy, courting investors, etc. So finding time is hard, and good writing is simply not what most people do. But here are some key reasons why you need to give it some priority:
- You can validate the need and your solution before spending money. Too many entrepreneurs spend big money on development, only to find out that the solution isn’t quite right. Feedback from your blog will tell you quickly whether anyone agrees with your assessment, and whether you have a customer base waiting.
- Find potential partners. Most of the people you would want as co-founders are now cruising the relevant blogs for ideas and partners. It’s a great way to find like-minded people, and get a dialog going. From a networking standpoint, it’s a lot more efficient than going to seminars and other industry events.
- Populate your team. Smart potential employees are also reading blogs to stay up-to-date in their field, and find the new leaders. More and more, employees work for people they respect, rather than companies. Take the initiative to put yourself out there. Of course, ultimately you want employees who can blog for you and your company as well.
- Cultivate early customers. It’s never too early to start a dialog with customers, as long as you don’t mislead them about where you are in the cycle. Build your brand and get leads today. There’s also the opportunity to do some consulting with interested customers to provide needed revenue while the product is still under development.
- Build your credibility with investors. A blog is an excellent vehicle to meet investors, before you are ready to ask them for money. You will also learn about competitors, who can’t resist responding to a well-written blog. Once you gain real traction as an expert in your space through the blog, investors will put you at the top of their funding list.
- Hone your communication skills. Writing a blog is all about communication, and that’s your number one job as founder of a new startup. Trying to write something down for someone else to understand quickly, will tell you if you really understand it yourself. Even if you use a ghost writer for your blog, the briefing process will enhance your skills.
- Your Google ranking will go up dramatically. Whereas Google and other search engines may take two or three weeks to list your new website in search results, new blog sites and new blog entries are indexed every day. From comments, you will accumulate external links both into and out of your site, and get additional ranking from Google.
Since a startup by definition is not a recognized brand, you are the brand, based on the social media culture of today. People assume your startup is real, if they see real people, and they will attribute credibility to your startup, based on your own credentials and the quality of information you offer through your blog. No person and no blog puts your startup at the bottom of a long list.
The best part is that all this is not a revenue drain. The major blog platforms, including WordPress, Blogger, and TypePad are free, and can be linked directly into an existing domain name to consolidate your overall SEO impact. In fact, many people are now using WordPress as their base website, as well as their blog. This eliminates even the standard site hosting fees.
Business blogging, or value-blogging, is all about helping others and helping yourself at the same time. I wonder if the 70% of startups that fail in the first five years are the same 70% that don’t have a blog? What’s holding you back?
Article Written By: Marty Zwilling
