Zig When They Zag

Whether it's creating a Facebook page for your business or jumping on the hottest new social media or marketing trend, the answer is (unsurprisingly) "it depends." However, each business is unique. There's no "one-size-fits-all" approach that can yield consistent results across products, industries, and demographics. What to Ask Instead Platforms and marketing tactics will change over time, but one thing that remains consistent is your business's need for a website. Why is your website so important? You own your website (as opposed to content posted on social media platforms), and it's the 24/7 digital salesperson for your business. Some better questions to ask: How to Get People to My Website The Bottom Line Instead of asking "should I be on Facebook," ask these questions: ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service.

"How long will marketing take to start working?" The truth is that marketing takes time to produce results because it's not a switch you flip on and off. It's more like an engine you have to get going up to speed slowly. 1. No One Knows Who You Are As with person-to-person relationships, becoming familiar takes time. You wouldn't jump right into marriage on the first date. The same applies to developing a relationship with your audience before they become customers. 2. Your Customers Have Different Timelines The typical customer journey looks like this: Awareness ConsiderationDecision DelightMarketing effectively meets people where they are in the customer journey and guides them to the next step at their own pace. Your marketing plan should address all the different stages of the customer journey and be flexible enough for someone to drop in and out as necessary. 3. Show Up In More Than One Place Have you ever seen an ad online for a product and realize later that you have no idea how to find that company again? Businesses that don't effectively use their marketing to hold their audience's attention and turn them into qualified marketing lead end up losing customers. Instead, a brand can better retain its audience's attention by showing up in front of them in many different places. 4. Brand Messaging and Visual Identity are Wrong Poor functionality, lousy design, irrelevant messaging, and an outdated look in your website can distract your audience from considering your solution. If a competitor's website looks and works ten times better than yours, customers will likely go back to the competitors when making a purchase decision. 5. You're Not Optimizing Your Marketing as it Runs Unfortunately, many treat marketing as a 'set it and forget it' lever they can let run and revisit next year. However, to optimize your marketing (and marketing budget), it's vital to course-correct as you go. The Bottom Line The longer you take to start marketing, the longer it takes to start working. Don't waste any time. Get your company or brand in front of the right audience with the right message. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service.

5 Reasons Why Your Marketing Isn't Working In this episode, Jessica and Kevin discuss how brands that are pursuing growth may be missing the mark when it comes to some of their marketing efforts. 1. Incorrect Brand Positioning Are you talking about your business in a way that your customers are willing to learn about it? Many business owners struggle with marketing because they didn't position the company from their customer's perspective. 2. Lacking a Customer-Centric Approach to Messaging Who is the best at communicating the value customers get from the business? Why, customers, of course! 3. Your Investment is Too Low A business owner may see a new company (or competitor) with a great marketing strategy that makes them very successful. However, this competitor is only "new" to the business owner; they don't understand how long and how much planning and execution it took that company to get to that point. 4. Not Enough Time Has Passed Similar to point number three, your marketing may not be working simply because you haven't been doing it for long enough. 5. It Doesn't Look Good A B2B IT company around for 40 years may have an outdated website and branding that doesn't connect with a modern audience. This poor customer experience leaves the audience wondering whether the company is trustworthy and can deliver on the promises they make. The Bottom Line Just because you haven't been successful with marketing in the past doesn't mean it won't work for you in the future. The issues plaguing your marketing efforts are often difficult to identify from inside the company. That's why companies hire marketing experts and professionals to help them. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service.

5 Marketing Things You Should Be Doing Right Now Jessica and Kevin discuss the 5 Marketing Things You Should Be Doing Right Now. Why do them now? Remember the "Roaring Twenties?" Well, we're about to enter another "Roaring Twenties" in this century. Here are the five marketing things you should be doing right now. 1. Talk to Your Customers We've been asking our clients what they need now and what they think their business will need in the future. In addition to current clients, we also ask these same questions to people who would be ideal clients but don't work with us yet. 2. Focus on How You're Going to Reach Business Goals Concentrate on taking steps towards your goals every day or risk being in the same position this time next year. 3. Get Your Website Working for You Customers demand a fast, beautiful website, but your time is better spent elsewhere than maintaining a website. Also, your website should speak to the customer's needs and desires and paint the picture of a better future for them. Customers visit your website because they have a problem to be solved. 4. Show Off Your Employees in Your Marketing Communicate to your audience that your team is there to help make things better as we all adjust to the new normal. 5. Outmarket Your Competitors Many businesses have permanently closed, leaving many customers without the solution they need. Let them know you're ready to serve them. The Bottom Line Get in front of your audience and talk to your customers. If you find talking to customers challenging, Hot Dog Marketing can handle it for you. We love talking to the customers of our clients. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service.

Difference Between Brand Building and Lead Generation There’s more than one kind of digital marketing approach. While most companies will benefit from brand building activities, not all businesses are a great fit for digital lead generation. In this episode, Kevin and I discuss the differences between the two styles of digital campaigns. Enjoy! What is Brand Building? Brand building is delivering a consistent message, look, feel, and story through consistent channels to the right audience. Many companies haven't thought through what their brand message is. What is Lead Generation? Lead generation is getting new people into your sales funnel so they develop into customers. Having a lead generation program setup can be much more effective in terms of reach and costs than hiring another outbound salesperson. Effective Lead Generation Needs Brand Building and Vice Versa If a movie is uninteresting, it doesn't matter how much it turns up in front of people, they won't want to watch it. On the other hand, a fantastic movie needs the word to be spread. Do Both Build your brand with audiences who aren't ready to buy yet. Use lead generation to provide a clear path for those who are ready to buy. The Bottom Line Most small businesses don't have the bandwidth or expertise to focus on both brand building and lead generation activities. They don't have the time or resources, either. The best option is by sticking to what they do best and trust their marketing actions to an expert partner like Hot Dog Marketing. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service.

What are Marketing Goals? How can a company set intentional growth goals for the year after simply making it through the year 2020? In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring dive into marketing goals. Know Where You Want Your Business to go this Year Most business leaders have their goals in mind and know where they want to go, but they don't know how marketing applies to those goals. Even more so, they often aren't aware of the marketing tactics available. Preparing the Business and the Leader Along with putting together the marketing machine that drives growth, we help our business leader clients level up their marketing knowledge and skills. Favorite Business Goals We See Examples of Good Marketing Goals Examples of Bad Marketing Goals Bottom Line for Setting Marketing Goals Social media and SEO will certainly be a part of the strategy, but they are just tools to use to help a business achieve its true, underlying goals. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service.

The Importance of Doing Things in Order Why not jump into all the marketing services at the same time? Is marketing strategy worth it? In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring discuss how important it is to do things in order when it comes to executing on marketing. Focus on How You Deliver the Maximum Value Jessica talks about the early days of Hot Dog Marketing when she began charging for the strategic aspect (instead of doing all that work for free!), she had some clients that would choose to skip the strategy and move straight into services. This would always end up in poor performance in the client's marketing efforts and, predictably, disappointment. Don't Market Without Planning It's important to follow the steps and do them in order because marketing works best that way. It seems simple to jump right in with ads or another marketing service, but the outcomes will fall short of the business goals. Leading to either abandoning marketing, or having to pay even more to redo the services. Bottom Line for Following the Marketing Steps The main idea is that as a business leader, you don't want to miss any opportunities in acquiring customers because of a poor acquisition process. A typical gap for small businesses is having a poor website. At Hot Dog Marketing, we often use the analogy of a website (and entire marketing plan) being like a house. For people to feel comfortable entering and walking through the house, they need to know what to expect. Have a marketing plan that walks people through the whole experience, one step at a time. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service.

How do you balance a strategic plan and flexibility? How can you plan for a year that already seems like it'll be unpredictable? Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring discuss how to win in business in 2021. They talk about how to take the lessons learned from the wild ride that was 2020 and apply them to have a successful year in business, even when things don't turn out like you expected (or wanted). Business owners and decision-makers that lead teams and companies through 2020 saw many projects that weren't finished and deadlines that weren't met. This can be a very emotional experience as business leaders may find themselves reassessing their business's direction due to diminished demand (e.g. event venues), or even a disappearing audience (e.g. office workers). Focus on the Goal, be Flexible on the Method Although the means and methods might change, being solidly rooted in the end goal of meeting customers' needs will be a much more worthwhile perspective. Don't Put It Off - Act Now Stopping marketing and communication efforts with customers will disconnect businesses from their target audiences, losing points and making them much more difficult to win back. Bottom Line for Winning in 2021 Key takeaways for surviving and thriving in 2021: Remember to focus on the big goal-the light at the end of the tunnel. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service.

In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring discuss the customer experience aspect of a company's brand. Customer experience is the holistic experience customers feel and encounter with your brand, product, or service. It's important to have a framework built around the customer experience so it can be protected, no matter who the customer is interacting with. Customer experience can include: How to Create a Customer Experience Aligned with Your Brand The brand identity informs the customer experience. Identifying your particular brand elements takes a mix of organic and constructed components. You'll want to tie in your brand's mission, vision, and values, as well as the value proposition you offer customers. Messaging Strategy and Visual Brand Strategy After deciding who your brand is, you can then put the words in place that communicate that. That's where having a messaging strategy comes into play. Visual brand strategy typically comes after messaging because the words used in your messaging strategy will give your designer direction. In addition to aligning with your brand identity, the visuals need to be easy enough to comprehend yet exciting enough to hold someone's attention and be memorable. Bottom Line: When Your Marketing, Messaging, and Visual Brand Work Together, Your Customers Become Better Customers Using your messaging and visual branding as the foundation of your customer experience will inform your customers on what to expect when working with your company. Great marketing helps to retain customers and make them more valuable to your company. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net

What is a Brand?: Value Proposition What do customers value from your company? In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring talk about the value proposition aspect of a company's brand. The value proposition is what the customer needs to be done and what your company does. A value proposition is not just meeting the needs of the customer, it's creating an experience. Knowing where you can deliver the most value helps you craft a marketing message that communicates that to your audience. Bridging the Communication Gap Kevin says marketing messaging is like taking care of household chores when living with someone else. We've all experienced where one person's definition of a chore being completed differs from the other person's. In business, owners may think they know and understand what the customer wants and values, but their audience interprets their messaging or value proposition differently. How to Know When Your Value Proposition Messaging is Off: Get to Know Your Customer This can be difficult because customers will likely hold a bias when communicating directly with you. Bring in a third party to conduct surveys and interviews that provide genuine, helpful feedback. Bottom Line: Know What You Do For Your Customer Instead of guessing and testing, smart marketing homes in on your specific audience with a compelling, specific message based on customer feedback. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net

Wondering how your brand is perceived? Trying to figure out what should be at the heart of your brand? In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring talk about what branding truly is. Many business owners think branding simply means what their logo looks like, but there is much more to it than that. It's everything that your employees and customers come in contact with in regards to your company. When you have a clear idea of what you're trying to accomplish with that brand, you can make better decisions on product and marketing. The 5 Components of Branding: 1. Purpose 2. Value proposition 3. Personality 4. Branding 5. Customer Experience Know Where You're Going Having a brand goal to shoot for helps get everybody (including employees and customers) on the same track. Finding Your Purpose in Business Jessica explains that "vocation" is when that thing you really enjoy dovetails with what the world needs from you. Your vocation has to be more than just what you like doing. In business, this means that what you're offering needs to be something that people are looking for. Be About What People Care About As much as you may not want to believe it, you can't force someone to care about something. Instead, design your brand about what people already care about. Align with their vision for a better world. ________________ Are you ready to get strategic marketing the helps your business reach its goals? Don't wait, contact Hot Dog Marketing to get started. https://www.hotdogmarketing.net Learn even more: Subscribe to our blog! http://bit.ly/2lculOX Be our friend! http://www.facebook.com/HotDogMarketing Follow us on Twitter! https://twitter.com/HotDogMarketing Follow us on Instagram! http://www.instagram.com/hotdog_marketing

Is Now the Right Time? Short answer: yes. In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring talk about knowing when the right time is to make marketing moves. Kevin mentions a line that our marketing director at Hot Dog Marketing often uses with customers; that she can tell a customer exactly where they'll be and what they can expect if they implement the marketing plan and follow through on the steps in the given timeline. Many business owners don't know how long it will take for their marketing efforts to begin making returns. This uncertainty creates inaction. Why is Now the Right Time? Essential businesses still provide much-needed solutions, while on the other hand, disrupted industries such as hospitality offer a sense of return to normalcy for the population. Even with high unemployment rates, your customers still exist and still need their problems solved. Although, how you interact with customers and deliver your product or service will be different than in the past. Don't fall victim to the 3 I's of inaction Why are you stuck? Do you feel overwhelmed? Are you blocked by an outside force? Do you have no idea what to do next? Asking yourself this question helps you identify the root causes keeping you from acting. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net

Are you hesitant to engage in marketing campaigns during COVID-19? Do you know what the penalty for inaction is? Turns out, the cost of doing nothing can be really high. In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring talk about what can happen to a business when there is so much change going on but the business owner chooses not to take any action in the midst of it. Recently, many business owners have become hesitant when making decisions about medium or large investments. This hesitation can turn into getting stuck and taking no action. Arguably, inaction is even riskier than any other feasible option. Key Takeaways: Action Yields InformationInaction Yields Negative Market ShareTurn It Up NowWhen competitors are pulling back their marketing resources, it creates a gap that you can fill to grab attention. Engaging with your customers through marketing gives you better insights and, thus, you can spend your future marketing dollars more wisely. According to a recent poll, business leaders are trending optimistic about the near future. While this optimism is a good sign, it doesn’t mean that business owners should rest on their laurels. The time to prepare for the future is now. Making smart investments through marketing lays a foundation for your brand to springboard off when the times change again. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net

Do you have an unsolvable marketing problem? Did you know a marketing agency could probably solve this issue? In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring talk about why great business leaders, people who solve all sorts of problems, often get stuck on marketing. Kevin describes three reasons that get people stuck: Many business owners don't have expertise in the supporting aspects of the business. Business owners know how to create the foundation value the business provides, but often don't know how to communicate that value to customers. How Business Owners Can Win ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net

Do you think marketing is just creating content? Or do you think you need to know the solution before approaching an agency? In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring discuss the misconceptions many clients have when they start working with Hot Dog Marketing. Many times this means not knowing what a strategic marketing agency provides or incorrectly thinking they already know what they need. Common Misconceptions: I need to solve all of my marketing problems before coming to an agency. Some business owners think they need to know the solution and then find someone to fulfill it for them. Instead, a great marketing agency (like Hot Dog Marketing) solves the problem for their clients and then builds and applies a strategy to address it. A marketing agency can just take over managing and executing on my marketing efforts. The truth is, it takes time to learn what those marketing efforts are and identify what works best to reach your business goals. Hiring a marketing agency is just purchasing labor. While that may be true at some companies, at Hot Dog Marketing we focus on providing value for clients. That often comes in the form of expert strategy that requires thinking, creativity, and revising. Everything will move faster if I hire a whole marketing team than trying to do it on my own. Building your business didn't happen overnight. Your marketing plans, executions, and results won't either. Many business owners are surprised (and don't believe it) when they hear that we have a marketing process. Why? Simply because they've never heard of a marketing process before. But it's this thoughtful, strategic approach that achieves the results clients want. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net

More marketing myths dispelled? You got it! See/Listen to part 1 here: https://hotdogmarketing.net/zigzags/common-marketing-myths-part-1/ In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring take down more marketing myths that many small business owners believe. These myths can stem from not having the full picture of what's driving traffic or nurturing your leads. Common marketing myths, and the real truths behind them: Jessica explained the key differences between advertising and marketing companies. Advertising companies typically work on a single campaign and make a commission on ad placements you buy. At Hot Dog Marketing, we create a strategic, holistic plan for you to build your brand and grow revenues long-term. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net

Internal marketing teams: do they actually work for small businesses? Are they worth it? In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring talk about how small businesses can suffer when they choose to use internal marketing teams. Hiring one or two marketers to play the role of an entire marketing team spreads your employees much too thin. Unfortunately, these small internal marketing teams are often tasked with huge marketing projects with a wide breadth and become overloaded. For small businesses, hiring an internal marketing team sinks a lot of their marketing budget into the people, rather than into lead generating activities. What small businesses miss out on when using an internal marketing team: Solutions to level up a small internal marketing team (if you already have one). ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net

In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring discuss how to dig into your company's mission, values, and vision. Just because a crisis hits doesn't mean your mission, values, and vision should be thrown out the window. Mission: Your value proposition-the problem you set out to solve for people. Values: the guide for how you do business-what people expect when they do business with you. Vision: how the world will look once you've achieved your goals-how customers' lives will be transformed. As a business owner, it can be tough to identify your mission, values, and vision, these help: Without a clear mission, everything will be a struggle. Mission statements anchor you in how you are making your customers' lives better. Downloadable Mission Statement Worksheet: https://sales.hotdogmarketing.net/mission-vision ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net

Community involvement helps your business build trust, accountability, and authority with your audience and the community. Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring discuss how community giving can build brand equity just like consistent marketing. Beyond brand recognition, positive brand equity increases trust within the community for your business. Even when times may seem difficult, give what you can because people are going to notice. Ask yourself and your team: "Who should help right now?" ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net

Having a customer-centric value proposition is critical to making a real impact with your audience. In this episode, Jessica Scanlon and Kevin Ring discuss focusing your messaging on the customer's values, instead of your own. Kevin compares this to dating, you don't want to spend the entire time talking about yourself. Marketing is similar. Instead, as a small business owner, communicate the value you can provide to your customers. Many small businesses believe they simply need to communicate how much experience they have and how good they are at what they do in front of more people. However, this self-focused messaging is ineffective. When your marketing is aligned with the value you provide, your customers come to you primed to purchase and sales teams don't have to work as hard. Identify the value you provide to your customers: Your customers won't see your product or service as a path to a better future without you painting the picture for them. ________________ Hot Dog Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Round Rock, TX serving small and medium-sized businesses. We excel in delivering marketing strategy, digital marketing, website design and development, and outstanding customer service. To work with us, visit www.hotdogmarketing.net