The Rocker Spotlight Series interviews each rocker on the porch. To begin, Chief Rocker Julie Porter shares marketing insights. Let’s dive in and learn more about this incredible business leader.

Favorite Thing About Front Porch

My favorite thing about FPM is being my own boss and doing what I love for clients I love while taking care of my loves.

Misconceptions and Lessons Learned

The biggest misconception about marketing today is that it is cheap and fast. Furthermore, there are three key points: good, fast and cheap. Your marketing can be any two of these but never all three.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is don’t be the biggest barrier to your own success- get out of your way and get stuff done. However, if you can’t get something done, delegate it to the smart people around you.

What is Good Marketing?

Good marketing is elevating the customer experience, building personalized connections, adapting to technology evolution, attracting customers using inbound and outbound marketing, and more.

Culture On the Porch

Our culture is one of straight talk, true partnership and aligned values. Therefore, the team at FPM all regards their families as their highest priority, and we are servant leaders who believe in service to ourselves, team, families, clients, and the communities in which we live and work.

Julie’s Characteristics

I would describes myself as quirky, competitive, and anxious. If I could be anywhere in the world it would be in my living room playing a game with my family since Andrew leaves for college this fall.

Fun Fact about Julie

I got to work with Renee Russo inside the NYSE to celebrate a client’s IPO. I’ve also worked with the Flying Elvi, the skydiving team from the movie “Honeymoon in Vegas,” all over the country to celebrate a promotion for an international sunglass manufacturer.

Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed Julie Porter sharing her marketing insights!

Over the last four weeks, strategic business leaders and owners have come to us to go back to their branding and marketing foundations. They are focused first on their team’s safety and well-being. Most talk of the “return to normal” and taking it “day by day.”

They use this time to re-evaluate and plan. The COVID-19 crisis is causing business leaders to be strong and agile. One of our favorite client quotes over the last several weeks is, “With drive, passion and desperation, we will RISE!”

David McCormick, the C.E.O. of the hedge fund Bridgewater, was a Treasury Under Secretary during the 2008 crisis. At that time, he said, “America must step up to retain its economic might.” This rings true today.

Step up we must.

Another business leader told us recently, they feel like everything is, “Ready. Aim. Fire.”

This does not have to be.

Focus on your foundation first.

3 Strategic Branding & Marketing Fundamentals

• Define or re-evaluate brand architecture. Think of this as the foundation of your brand. It has four pillars: brand vision, brand personality, positioning and affiliation. Our branding process is collaborative. It builds conviction. The process is built upon perceptions and goals held internally by key stakeholders. Using all points of view, we ensure brands are both differentiating and emotionally relevant.
• Build or revisit your marketing plan. Every business should have one. Marketing drives new business development. Without those sales, you do not have the resources required for your business’s long-term stability and success. Therefore, as important as these plans are, most business owners and leaders do not devote enough time and resources to them. We tell our clients use a rifle vs. shotgun approach. Your services and/or products are not for everyone. The plan focuses on key targets who are most likely buyers. Think fewer, deeper. As a result, more meaningful strategic initiatives on a consistent basis develop connections and broaden awareness.
• Re-evaluate or enhance your website. Is your website true to your brand? Its personality? Is the navigation user friendly? For instance, lucrative website loads fast and is mobile friendly. In other words, make your site work hard for your brand. Don’t get the veto vote because it doesn’t.

Successful business owners and leaders take the time to develop their brand architecture. Then, they develop marketing strategies and plan to build a company with a purpose. Above all, remember, “With drive, passion and desperation we will RISE!”

Marketing insights are ever changing in the year 2020. Front Porch Marketing is nine this month! To open our celebration, we thought it would be fitting to look at nine marketing insights to help grow your brand and top line. Are you on track for steady, long-term growth?

Nine Marketing Insights to Grow the Top Line

1. Brand architecture is paramount. Think of your brand like a pyramid and focus first and foremost on the base level. You can alter the other pieces and levels as needed, but the base must remain solid and stable. Need help designing that base? Start with a branding exercise.
2. Referrals are fabulous, but how do you grow them? According to a TrueSpace and Gallup study titled the Five Conditions Assessment, slow and steady (and a tight focus on your market), wins the race. “The project’s data shows that the tighter a company’s focus on its market, the stronger its revenue will be,” according to Charles Fred, TrueSpace chairman and chief executive.
3. Be consistent with your marketing. Shift your time frame and focus on long-term ROI, not just the instant gratification that comes with getting a flier or social media post out right now. For your brand’s long-term growth potential, consistency – in colors, words, logos, etc.- is key. Along those same lines, one single marketing campaign isn’t your silver bullet.
4. Blogging is alive and well. Choose your Medium (pun intended!) based upon your target audience’s preferences and vary your content to avoid direct product advertisement only, and blogging is still a huge piece of the inbound marketing trifecta.
5. Don’t underestimate the power of email marketing. Period. As the second piece of the trifecta, personalized email marketing is a direct, inexpensive and easy way to generate leads. Want to double down and double your leads? Of course, add automation.
6. Social media rounds out the trifecta. Social media’s influence has grown so much over the past nine years. With its ability to connect brand and audience through real-time interaction, social media is a hugely successful marketing tool. In other words, it is another avenue through which consistent, organic content can “give you wings” without exclusively hacking your own product. For instance, ask Red Bull.
7. The printed piece is not archaic. Direct mail, business cards, handouts and personalized birthday and holiday cards work. There is something timeless about printed pieces, particularly if your target audience tends towards paper over electronics.
8. No matter the size of your marketing budget, you can make your mark. For instance, social media, blogging and e-mail marketing mean anyone with a dream and a solid plan can connect with others quickly, easily, and cost-effectively. Don’t let minimal marketing dollars hold you back. Therefore, use the budget you do have effectively by building the right partnerships to execute solid marketing plans.
9. Teamwork makes the dream work. On the porch, we don’t take this lightly. In other words, we truly believe that to whom much is given, much is required. Giving back to our communities and supporting each other is a cornerstone of our personal and professional lives. Of course, make it a priority to connect with those around you.
   

Thanks for NINE FINE years!

Above all, we are only able to celebrate nine years on the Porch because of our clients, advocates, friends, family and team. A heartfelt thank you to each of you – past, present and future. Of course, we love what we do and are ready to rock with you this year!

A trade show is one of the few occasions when your customers (possibly many of them) are in one place, so it’s important to treat a trade show not as just an isolated event, but as a condensed version of your overall marketing strategy.

Here are five tricks to rock your next trade show:

1. Orchestrate a plan. Well in advance of the show, set your goals and determine how best to capture the attention of your audience.
2. Plan and strategize your exhibit. Think outside the (exhibit) box. Aim to be unique. Focus on impact, not on size. With the right planning, even the smallest exhibits can be impactful.
3. Make your presence known at the trade show. With your customers in one place, they will even come to you if they know you’re there – the very definition of a captive audience. Reach out before the event to let them know you’ll be there and give them a compelling reason to find you. Tease a new product/service launch, new partnerships, event-specific promotions, etc.
4. Bring it full circle. At the show, be sure to capture your customers’ information. Feed attendee information to your sales team to strike while the iron is hot! Follow up, follow up, follow up!
5. Track the trade show ROI. Track new sales and opportunities back to the trade show in order to determine the ROI. Consider what worked, what didn’t, and whether that specific event would be worth doing again in the future.

Make the trade show work for you by making sure it meshes well with your marketing plan and brand strategy. If you need help building the foundation or executing your vision, the Porch is ready to rock. Give us a call.

We can be creative because we can’t all have Burger King’s Valentine’s Day marketing budget. Creativity and resourcefulness and love abound. Use your existing marketing channels and / or tools to show your smitten.

Each year, Valentine’s Day is celebrated with love ones sharing cards, flowers, candy or gifts. Some mark the day with a Galentine’s Day celebrating, toasting the joys of female friendship. Others toast to being single.

The Chief Rocker’s family is particularly fond of this holiday. For instance, think rose pedals in the hallway, balloons in the kitchen, special breakfast and candy and little gifts for the kiddos. In other words, face throwing a kiss emoji.

Valentine’s Day is a few short days away.

We welcome our clients and advocates sharing their Valentine’s Day traditions with us by commenting on this post, emailing us or leaving comments on our social media posts. Hey, tweet them to us! Heart emoji.

Creative Marketing Love

1. Utilize email marketing. Begin with a charming subject line. Include emojis. Make sure your message is delightful and apropos.
2. Endear your social media followers with creative content. Branded tiles with a lovely message. Run a contest for best love story, love-themed poem, etc. Create a video. Use relevant hashtags where appropriate. Check out this Twitter hashtag tool.
3. Add some tenderness to your website. Blog about Valentine’s Day with relatable to your clients, industry or overall business. Add a popup with a charming message. Change your header to be Valentine-themed.

Here’s another creative idea.

Next year, consider sending an inventive Valentine card to your team, client and advocates. We know people that can help you with this from concept to production.

We heart the one from Corps Team Dallas this year.

Above all, be ours?

Now that Julie has laid down some groundwork for a great marketing foundation, let’s look ahead. What is on the marketing horizon for 2020? Here are a few possibilities:

Social Media

Yes, organic reach isn’t what it used to be, and some businesses are even pulling out of Facebook altogether. But social media continues to be a driving trend and marketing tool going into 2020.

Social media engagement looks different than it used to even five years ago. Consumers are increasingly using social media to research products and services. And platforms are delivering ad options to take advantage of this trend. Are you?

on-SERP SEO

Did you know there was such a thing as a zero-click result? A zero-click result is a search result in which Google automatically provides the answer to the search query in the form of an automated snippet. See my “What’s the temperature in Dallas?” screenshot below.

Why is this important to marketers?

Because 61.8 percent of search results in Google are now zero-search results, according to data from Jumpshot. As a result, more and more keywords are becoming less profitable.

Alp Mimaroglu

The automatic snippet oftentimes come from a website that ranks somewhere on page 1 of the search engine results page (SERP). But companies do not know for sure how to optimize their content so that Google chooses them over anyone else.

Marketing Silver Bullets

There is no one marketing tool to rule them all.

According to marketing guru Neil Patel, we are all fighting for the margins now.

A lot of businesses were built off of one marketing channel… But you no longer can build a business through just one marketing channel. Good channels now get saturated extremely fast. Even if they work and cause explosive growth, it will only last for a short while before your competitors jump on board and make it harder. Marketing is now heading in the direction of being about “marginal gains”.

Neil Patel

I know this sounds a little daunting. But I think this is a good thing. At no other time in history have small businesses had so many tools and channels to choose from to market businesses and grow their sales. Back in the dark ages of media and marketing, you had three channels to choose from and the cost of production to create and place a 30-second spot was out of the realm of possibility for most small businesses.

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Now, we have a plethora of choices. Take some comfort in that. You have so many tools to choose from going into 2020. What will you choose?

And now for the second installment of our two-part series on The Great 8 of Marketing Success. Numbers 5-7 are distinctly digital in nature and deal with how you can communicate and meet your customers where they are. Our last recommendation caps off our series with a decidedly human touch.

Number 5: Website

Prospects – both clients and candidates – are going to your website to validate your company and expertise. Make sure you are communicating your point of differentiation and your brand personality.

Most service sites look the same, sound the same and make the same mistakes. Take a look at your website and see if you can take it to the next level:

• Eliminate the word “we.” Replace it with “you”, “your”, “our clients”, or “our candidates.” It seems like a small distinction, but you might be surprised by how much more customer-centric your copy will sound once you replace one word.
• Include links to your social networks. And if you already have links to your social networks – great! Are they up-to-date? Or do you still have a link to your Google+ account? ( Hint: you might want to delete that one.)
• Sell results and testimonials. Third party endorsements go a long way and potential customers want to see the value you can bring to their company.
• Use minimal stock photos. We get it – when you were getting your website off the ground, you used whatever you had on hand to get it done. But stock photos can reduce the credibility of your company and take from the authenticity of your brand. Make the investment and book a professional photographer.  
• Optimize the site for mobile. No one likes to pinch and zoom on their phone when they are trying to view a website. And increasingly, Americans of all ages are likely to say that they mostly access the internet on their smartphone.
• Make it easy for people to contact you with a form and make sure your phone number and email address are front and center.

Number 6: Social Media

Consumers are increasingly using social media to not only connect with friends and family, but also with brands. Social media is increasingly influencing consumers’ buying behavior:

• When consumers follow a brand on social media, 67% of consumers are more likely to spend more with that brand.
• Social media can drive retail foot traffic: 78% say they will visit that brand’s physical retail store.
• These results become even more pronounced when you narrow in on millennials: 84% said they were more likely to buy from a brand they follow on social media.

But, don’t count out older folks – young people may have been early adopters of social media, but older adults using social media has increased as well.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by social media. That’s why we recommend narrowing your focus and pick two social networks to be active on daily. Most social networks are monetizing their platforms so organic social media, i.e. free, is becoming less effective, which is why you must be active consistently.

But which platforms should you choose? It depends. We recommend meeting your customers where they are. With almost a third of the world’s population using Facebook, the 500-lb. gorilla in the room might be a given. If you have an aspirational brand whose customers skew female and under the age of 49, Pinterest or Instagram may be a good fit. If you are more of a B2B company, look at joining YouTube, LinkedIn or Twitter.

Also, make sure you are connecting with the people you meet, whether you are introduced virtually or in person. Utilize both your personal timeline and create a company account if you don’t already have one.

Number 6.5: Social Media Content

As for content, have you ever been to a party and you were cornered by that one guy who talks about himself all night? Don’t be that guy.

Instead follow the rule of thirds: 1/3 of your content should be devoted to sharing content, 1/3 to engaging with others and 1/3 promoting yourself. Share open positions at your company, business successes and company news, just don’t let all your content be about you.

Number 7: Email Marketing

Email marketing doesn’t have to be crazy complicated or expensive. Email marketing is inexpensive and effective. If done correctly, you will be surprised at the results you see after every send.

Use a simple automated platform like MailChimp and send an email to your audiences once a month, or if you are just starting out, once every other month. Make sure you are updating your databases and are not sending the same content to both your clients and candidates.

Target your content to the reader and use your email marketing to establish yourself as a thought leader. Share information and expertise. This is especially true for B2B businesses; email marketing is most effective if you are sharing news people can use. At Front Porch, this is the direction we choose to take with our email newsletter. We offer marketing advice and highlight our clients.   

Similarly to social media, do not use email marketing to talk 100% about your company or you. It will not work.

Number 8: Networking

We are very fortunate to have several places to network in North Texas – industry associations, chambers of commerce, community organizations and the list goes on.

In deciding which group is right for you, consider these things:

• Can I learn and grow?
• Are this group’s values aligned with mine?
• Can I contribute my knowledge and skills?
• Do we have common interests?

When you are at these meetings or events, remember:

• Give to get. Focus on what you can do for others, not what they can do for you.
• Make sure you have business cards. (I know that sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised.)
• Ask questions and listen.
• Follow up. Sometimes this is the hardest thing to do because we are all wearing so many hats, but it is important to connect on LinkedIn with people you met, send them an email and if the situation calls for it, send a handwritten thank you note.

As business owners, we need to network. We need to work “on” our business as much as possible, not in our business.

Networking is a process. Remember that most business owners are looking for connections. Make time to network intentionally. Be bold and step forward into their world.

I urge you to not “go big or go home,” but as we tell our small to mid-sized clients, “Fewer. Deeper.” Do a couple of things well and knock it out of the park.

If you do your marketing well, then your target audience will come to trust your brand. Trusted relationships develop into emotional bonds that are hard to break. Consequently, loyalty to your brand means greater business success and reduced competitive threat.

Remember The Great 8. Engage your clients and candidates and turn them into customers and brand ambassadors.

A two-part series where we will explore 8 great ways you can market your company.

Marketing in many people’s minds conjures up glamorous images of flashy and expensive campaigns. The reality of effective marketing couldn’t be further from the truth.

Welcome to The Great 8 of Marketing Success! This is a two-part series where we will explore 8 great ways you can market your company.

And the best part? They are all extremely effective and low-cost.

Number One: Differentiation

What differentiates your offering from that of your competitors? If you don’t have a strong point of differentiation, the only option is to compete on price. That isn’t where you want to be.

Your point of differentiation is not customer service. We are all in the service business. It is a given.

Define what sets your company apart from the competition. Ask yourself:

• What is a superior performing aspect or expertise of your brand that has multiple customer benefits?
• What do your clients really appreciate about your service?
• Why are long term clients still with you?
• What was one of the nicest things a client ever said about how you conduct business?

Number 2: Brand Personality

Your brand must be both differentiating and emotionally relevant. Human beings buy based on their emotions and justify their decisions with logic later. How do you connect with your customers on a more human level? By infusing your brand with its own personality.

The purpose of brand personality is to capture the human characteristics that build and enhance a relationship between brands and consumers.

These characteristics, when executed consistently, make a brand likeable. This is particularly valuable for marketing because it determines whether the look and feel of the execution is right. If a communication does not pass our “personality test,” then the consumer should never see it.

Companies who invest in their brand enjoy the following benefits, to name a few:

• Higher price points and less pricing pressure
• Greater market value
• Reduced competition
• Increased business opportunities (partnerships, licensing deals, acquisitions)

Define your brand personality. What four to five adjectives define your brand?

Number 3: Marketing Plan

Marketing plans serve as a roadmap, with measurable goals and defined tactics outlining how you will reach those goals. A marketing plan also:

• Determines your marketing budget for the year
• Ensures that your company will be proactive and not reactive
• Keeps you focused on your target clients and customers. You can’t be relevant to everyone.
• Organizes your time and priorities

Components of a marketing plan include:

• Market research
• Target market
• Positioning
• Competitive analysis
• Metrics / Goals
• Strategies
• Tactics
• Budget

You need a roadmap, a marketing plan, to maximize your resources. Remember, hope is not a strategy. Having a sound marketing roadmap is.

Number 4: Business Card

Yes, even in today’s tech-savvy world, business cards are still relevant. We have all been in a place where the Wi-Fi connection was weak, or our cell service was spotty. It’s oftentimes easier and faster to hand someone your card.

Business cards create a quick first impression of your company. If they are different and/or cleverly designed, they can also set you apart from your competition.

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Stay tuned for the Great 8, Part II. We’ll explore four more effective, low-cost ways you can market your company.

It is every business owner and leader’s goal to build a company that is both valuable and loved. It’s an easy goal to state; but not necessarily easy to realize.

Let’s take a look at 2019’s most valuable brands according to Forbes:

1. Apple
2. Google
3. Microsoft
4. Amazon
5. Facebook

And now here are the 2019 top five most loved brands according to Morning Consult:

1. Amazon – 4th most valuable
2. Google – 2nd most valuable
3. Netflix – 38th most valuable
4. Facebook – 5th most valuable
5. The Home Depot – 32nd most valuable
   

Note the crossover with the most valuable brands and most loved? That is a result of branding. So how do you create a company that is both valuable and loved?

You create an authentic brand.

Branding can mean different things to different people, so let’s clarify this and the value it can bring to your brand. Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from that of your competitors.

Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be. How clearly and consistently it’s delivered at every point of contact is vital to how strong the brand can become.A strong brand creates brand equity, which is one of the factors that can increase the financial value of a company.  

If your company invests in its brand, you can achieve and enjoy the following benefits, to name a few:

• Higher price points and less pricing pressure

• Greater market value
• Reduced competition

• Increased business opportunities (partnerships, licensing deals, acquisitions)

So how do you get there?

We say it all the time, strong brands don’t happen by accident. Investing in your brand requires taking a close look at who you are and what you stand for, and then committing to delivering on that promise at every touch point.

Your brand must be both differentiating and emotionally relevant. Ask yourself, what do you do? How do you do it? What makes you different? These answers are the seed for your brand story, which becomes the litmus test for everything you say and do as an organization.

If an experience has your company associated with it, then it offers a specific and meaningful promise. It’s what your target audience (both customers and prospects) should expect, and it’s the culmination of feelings they have after an experience with you.

If your brand consistently delivers on its promise, then your target audience will come to trust it, and trusted relationships develop into emotional bonds that are hard to break. This loyalty to your brand means greater business success and reduced competitive threat.

The process we use to draw out and solidify your brand and its story is an extremely valuable effort for stakeholders and employees alike. If your brand needs some direction, we can help!

It’s summer halftime, and the heat is on – both literally and figuratively.  June came and went, the first half of July is near, and we are on point through the end of August.

How are our working parents doing at halftime? My current status:

Because traffic is lighter in the summer (fewer cars & less business), it’s the perfect time for travel, lazy days and sunshine. Spend extra time with family and friends, but don’t take your eye off the remainder of the year.

Soon enough the temperatures will cool down (we hope), but with the arrival of fall, business will heat up. The halftime of summer also marks the halftime of 2019. Time is going by fast, isn’t it?

Here’s your two-minute warning

If you already have your second half marketing plan set, congratulations! We hope you rock it! If not, now is the time to start researching, planning, and executing.

When life and business get busy, a plan serves as a tool to keep you on course.

As you know, you simply can’t hope people will find you or do business with you. Being a successful business owner means constantly marketing and promoting your business.

We huddle at halftime

Here on the Porch, after we travel, relax by a body of water and spend a little extra time with our people, one of our favorite summertime activities is writing and facilitating marketing plans. So if you aren’t quite ready to score in the second half of 2019, give us a shout.

We can help!