Over the past six months, I have been involved in my first true business “partnership” with multiple active owners. Most of my career has been working as a majority business owner. Needless to say, it’s a “little” different working with three other people who have as much ownership as I do.
During this time, I have learned 5 things that are required to build strong business partnerships.
No single person has it all figured out (and yes, that includes you, too). Varying skill sets, perspectives, and experiences working in unison are much more powerful than a singular paradigm. In mathematics, 1 + 1 may equal 2, but in human interaction, 1 + 1 often results in 3 or more!
This one is a tough one for many people (especially type A people who like to be in charge and right about things). None of us are right all the time. When we embrace the input of other people, whether we agree or disagree, it gives us the opportunity to see things from a different perspective. Furthermore, it is not always about who’s right or who’s wrong, more often than not it is about doing what is best in a given situation. In many cases, this is usually the result of meeting in the middle.
If any partnership is going to work, it must be built on trust. Trust leads to respect, which creates a strong foundation to build upon. No partnership can survive if there isn’t open, transparent communication with the spirit of vulnerability.
Partners must work together towards a common goal. Whether this is creating a new website for a client or business partners working to grow a business, there must be a unified vision that propels the group forward. This unified vision must be created at the beginning. It may change over time, but everyone must be on board. The lack of a shared vision and focus on unity has unraveled many partnerships. There will always be differences of opinion on some things; however, there must be a core that unites.
Partners must be passionate about working together and truly believe that they are better together than on their own. This is the result of the foundation built by the preceding elements of a strong partnership.
People are people. There are natural ebbs and flows in any partnership (business, marriage, project, etc). There will be times of agreement, disagreement, disappointment, euphoria, and just about all elements in the gamut of human emotions. Building a solid partnership based the five keys outlined in this article will help you weather the ups and downs to build something great together.
If there's anything certain about social media, it is the fact that it's constantly changing! It can be extremely difficult to keep up with social media trends, even for professionals. No matter how good with technology you are, it is impossible to stay on top of everything; and, as more platforms are added, the struggle to keep up will only become more difficult. If you want to stay on the edge of the ever-changing trends, you have to do some reading. Subscribing to blogs that update their audience on social media changes is a great way to stay in the know! We thought we would share some of our favorite social media tips for you here:
If you are promoting content on your company Facebook page, we have a cool little trick for you. Did you know that you can directly invite people who have engaged with your content on Facebook to like your company page? That means that if you boosted a post to the friends of your followers on Facebook and 30 people liked it, you can invite those 30 people to like your company page and they will get a notification. At the Squad we call it Like to Invite. Not very many companies that we have worked with know about the Like to Invite feature, though it is tremendously useful for growing your audience. We go in and do this weekly for our clients and love that it has such a big impact for so little time spent. In just five minutes, you can do a lot to expand your audience reach with this new Facebook feature.
If you manage more than one IG account, you know the frustration of having to log out of your personal account and spend time looking for the password to log in and do something on another account. Thankfully Instagram has listened to our complaints and those days are over! You can now add accounts to your Instagram and switch back and forth between accounts without logging out of your personal one. To do this, simply open up your Instagram, click on your profile and then click on the wheel-looking button at the top right of the page. Scroll to the bottom and you will see a tab that says Add Account. Click there. Next, you just have to type in the username and password for the account that you are adding and then you will have access to both!
To switch between accounts, go to your profile page and, next to your username, in the top banner will be a down arrow. Click this arrow and a drop-down menu of all of your accounts will show. Click the one you need to use and you will be using Instagram with that account.
In our squadron, we always open up our weekly meeting with a clip from The Office (okay, sometimes we watch half the episode). But with this cool trick, you will be able to share a link with your friend that will start playing at a specific time in the Youtube video. Instead of searching through a 30-minute Youtube episode, you can actually edit the link to start playing the part of the video that you want to share. It's a simple trick that few people know about. All you have to do is add #t=0m0s to the end of your video and fill in the 0s with the time in minutes and then seconds that you want your video to start playing. For example, if I wanted to start a video at 3 minutes and 17 seconds, I would add #t=3m17s to the end of the video link and Wha-La! Pardon my French.
We hope that you learned a new trick today from reading this blog! Please share any secrets you know about social media in the comments section below and make sure to subscribe to our blog for future social media updates!
Father's Day is a time to celebrate the men in our lives who have impacted us the most. There is so much that we have learned from our fathers that we will pass down to future generations. Here at the Marketing Squad, we have gathered together some of the most important things our fathers taught us, so that we can thank them for helping us get to where we are now:
"Excuse others for what they say out of anger, but never think that emotion justifies saying something you'll regret later." - Josh Ahlers
"My dad taught me to always follow your dreams and don’t be afraid to fail. One of our favorite quotes is by Walter Bagehot, 'The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.'" - Penny Arnold
"Work hard and don't draw attention to it. Persistence --- quiet strength that outlasts everyone else." - Wayne Cox
"Stay humble and show grit. Execute and do YOUR job." - Anna Kate Delavan
"Listen to others and think before you speak. It's better to be silent than say something you'll regret." - Jessie Devine
"You do what it takes to get it done. I remember a season where my parents decided for my mom to stay home with me and my two siblings. My dad took on a second and occasionally a third part-time job to make sure we were provided for. He taught me so much about working hard and having the humility to take on jobs that were not so glamorous. I am so grateful for those life lessons." - Joel Gerdis
"Put in the work and don't give up when it starts getting difficult, because that's when you know you're working toward something great." - Erin Coffee
"My dad has always had amazing energy and such a positive outlook on work and life. I always admired his drive and how he would come home from a long day at work ready to pour into his family. He taught me the value of hard work and the importance of loving people. The combination of both are what has made him so successful as a businessman. Bryce, the owner who I work the most with, reminds me of my dad in his work ethic and enthusiasm when it comes to relationships and his family." - Ellie Mann
"My father taught me to work hard and make sure that I leave work each day with the knowledge that I accomplished something, even if it went perfect or completely wrong, just keep learning and striving to do my best." - Kristina Mobley
"From observing my dad I learned the value of working consistently, day after day, week after week and year after year. And I saw the path toward saving, deferring gratification and ultimately retiring."
"From observing my stepdad I learned about operating a business, taking risks and getting comfortable with hard work. I also saw what extra income can provide." - Bryce Raley
"My dad taught me to look forward and don't let the past hold you back. He always said, 'There are no marks on tomorrow.'" - Adam Robinson
"Build relationships by truly caring about others first and foremost." - Jay Stewart
"Say what you mean and mean what you say." - Sarah Stewart
"Family is everything." - Wesley Ware
Thank you to all the fathers out there who have passed on their knowledge and given their children the love and support they needed. It doesn't matter if a father is biological, or simply a father figure and mentor, the life lessons learned are irreplaceable. Thank you for showing us what a true father should be.
Most sales professionals have their elevator pitch down to a science in terms of telling someone (hopefully a prospective client) what their organization does in 60 seconds or less. However, if your brand’s primary message is not able to clearly and simply articulate what values your business "brings to the table", then you may be missing out on opportunities.
While content is certainly still King, I could argue that quality and clarity is its crown. In this microwave world that we live in, readers don’t have time to wade through the vast sea of unclear messages. If your main message doesn’t rise to the top by striking a chord and connection with your target market, then your brand's story may be missing the mark.
Think about the messaging of the brands that you instantly connect with. My guess is that the brands that come to your mind are simple and concise. In my case, it’s brands like: Apple – "Think Different", Nike – "Just Do It", and Titleist - "#1 Ball in Golf". Notice the bold simplicity of each. Of course, these are some of the largest brands in the world, but the point is: the amount of words you use in your message is not as important as its clarity. Also, when your message and value propositions are concise and clear, it is much easier for your sales folks to stay focused when they're "telling your brand story". This helps drum up meaningful dialogues with your target market.
Here at the Squad, we’ve recently gone through the process of rebranding our agency, and while we have increased our capabilities, our main value proposition remains "tell your story and grow your business". There’s a bit more to that in my elevator pitch and I'll be forever tweaking it. However, the simplicity will hopefully always remain.
In this day and age, distractions are imminent and are around every corner of an email or chat message. So, how do we stay focused when we are surrounded by distractions? No matter the distraction, it can be quite frustrating and cause us to be unproductive.
You see, life has this way of shoving different distractions, whether life events or small things, in front of you right when you need to hone in your focus. As my grandmother would say, "That’s just life, sugar - get used to it!"
Recently, I got engaged, which is not only bringing about a major life change but a monumental distraction (enter: wedding planning).
In the beginning, it was a struggle to think of anything more than the size of my centerpieces or which shade of beige I should go with. But, I realized that simply tuning those things out wasn’t helping. I needed to dust off the focus tricks and put them to work.
Here are a few things I do to keep the distractions at bay. Hopefully they will help you, too.
Yup. This tried and true trick really does work. On a blank sheet of paper, write down every single task you can think of that needs accomplishing. Don’t worry about organizing them or separating by work or home stuff just yet. Focus on getting everything out of your head and onto the paper.
You should already sense a feeling of relief.
Now that you have a massive list, separate them by different categories, such as home, work, school activities, etc.
After you have your lists, focus on prioritizing. Find an alphabetical or numeric system that works for you and list priorities from most important to least important.
Ok, maybe not actually "off," but silence your devices! Each buzz or ding totally throws your brain off track.
Also, log out of any distracting social media pages. For many of us, visiting those sites are a habit - one we aren’t even conscious of. Logging out of these accounts will remind you to stay off of social media and focus!
Schedule time in your day to check these devices (more on scheduling later), and you will not only limit your distractions, but it can serve as a reward for marking things off your list.
This one is a gem, people! It’s my favorite trick and the one that really keeps me on task. Make a schedule for yourself!
Starting with your most important task, give yourself a time frame to work on this specific item and only that item. See the example below:
9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - Client social strategy
11:15 a.m. - Noon - Client blog
When you schedule your time like this, you can see exactly where your efforts are going. Leave yourself some "grace" room. Unfortunately, in an agency setting, interruptions are inevitable. You also need some time to stretch your legs. Leave yourself about 15 minutes in between heavy tasks.
Distractions are everywhere. While difficult, eliminating our distractions allow us to better serve you as our client.
Implementing video into your website can be a great asset in telling your brand's story. The cost of producing professional quality video has dramatically decreased in the last handful of years due to the falling prices of digital equipment. A wave of filmmakers has naturally followed the ease of access into the craft; so currently, even a small business can afford to produce high-quality video that tells the story of their brand.
Similar to the music and photography industries, the ease of access to quality production has saturated the market; and so, the importance of staying current is higher than ever.
When people visit your site, they not only want to know what you do, but who you are. Here at The Marketing Squad, we pride ourselves on our positive culture. One of the ways to capture the essence of our culture is in the looping video that we display in the ‘hero space’ of our homepage. It can be difficult to select one static image that captures the heart of our company, but the short moving images of our staff collaborating, smiling and engaging is able to give a glimpse into daily life at The Squad.
A few useful tips for using a background video:
Watch the size!
Video files tend to be large, so work with your developer to find the ideal time and quality that balances with load-time. A typical looping video will be 10-15 seconds long and, depending on the way you host your site and video file, it may not be possible to load a HD video without diminishing the quality slightly. A good way to mask losses in quality is to apply a color or texture overlay to you video. This may also make it easier to overlay important text while maintaining readability.
Have a ‘Plan B’
Video backgrounds can be stunning on desktops and laptops, but usually are disabled on mobile devices. Technology will continue to improve and I’m sure that this will not always be the case, but be sure to have a photograph that will load on devices that don’t allow background videos.
Avoid Auto-Playing Audio
As a user, I hate when ads and other unexpected audio plays automatically. Whether your user is in a quiet coffee shop or in a client meeting, the last thing you want is for your site’s first impression to be associated with a flustered grasp for the mute key!
Another great way to use video to compliment your site is to create a ‘company overview’ video that shares the who, what, why and how of your business or non-profit. Some people prefer to read a short couple of paragraphs on an 'about' page, but many viewers want to see the faces and authentic voices that represent the brand that they are considering. Remember, attention spans are very short, so keep these videos between one to two minutes. If the message and images are engaging, you can tell a great story that creates a connection to your brand and product that only video can provide.
The written word and the photograph are still the most commonly used forms of communication on the web, but as savvy audiences now have the choice to sift through a large variety of options, the authenticity and connection that video can provide is becoming increasingly valuable.
Here at The Squad, we help companies tell their story and grow their business. Implementing video into your website is a powerful way to accomplish that goal.
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