Week 21 Focus – Challenges with Marketing Focus Question: What’s the challenge for you around marketing right now? Story There are many challenges with marketing including:
Experimentation and trying things out in small cycles helps us get important data on what people like and don’t like, value and don’t value. Things in the marketing space change quickly so not relying on just one channel can be of use. Being able to repurpose material is key for ongoing marketing efforts. To create new content each day can be exhausting, and repurposing allows us to leverage what we have already created. Activity While there are many challenges we face in marketing, there is always an opportunity to repurpose the material we have already created. This week identify key pieces of content you have created. Think about how it could be repurposed. For example, the next time to you create a blog post, consider what it could look like if you were to repurpose it three times, not just once. So, consider this… Original Version: A blog post on five things to do before the end of the year with your team. #1 - Repurposing – Create it as a video – 5 Things to Do Before Year End with Your Team #2 – Repurpose - Create an audio post/podcast around it #3 – Combination: Combine this with other posts to make a larger article or download from your website. #4 – Magnify: Share the link with other content providers, so they can share it with their readers/followers. Connection to the Workbook and Planner Refer to the tools in the Content Planner Section. Take particular note of: 1. Tool – Content Tracker – For each piece of content, use the tracker to note how many views and reads it has gotten in each of the different locations. 2. Tool – Don’t Just Do it Once! Scaling Content (page 275 of PlanDoTrack and page 271 of the Coaching Business Builder) Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here. Best wishes, Jennifer Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues. Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326 Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course. Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram
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Ongoing learning is part of business success today. We each have areas in which we will want to learn and grow in. What are those areas? As you consider your own learning pathways, what is going to help you stretch? What will help you grow? There are many ways we can be learning and growing including:
Best wishes, Jennifer Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday or Thursday here. Be sure to like our page to be updated each week! Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013) Week 20 Marketing - A Different Perspective Focus Question: What’s another way to approach marketing to get unstuck or breathe new life into your efforts? Description The Evil Twin - Marketing Marketing is often seen as a “necessary evil” or To-Do in any business. To make it a little more fun, it can be useful to consider an alternative perspective, twin or personality to take on. Perhaps you have always wanted to be a diva. What would it be like to step into that personality as you approach marketing? One of the most important activities which coaches can undertake is that of the Sweet Spot Exercise. While I did not publish this in the Coaching Business Builder, you will find it in the digital chapter on marketing in the From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching book (do check it out at https:/www.from12many.com/downloads.html - use code 4411 to access the Marketing Chapter on Group and Team Coaching). The sweet spot gets you to consider three questions:
Some other questions to provoke new perspectives around marketing are: If you were to look at this activity rather than a time sucker, what could it look like as an enabler? If you see it as a community builder, what else might it offer? Thinking about things from an alternative perspective can be useful in terms of focus and application and breathing new life into areas you might have gotten stuck around. Over the new few weeks we’ll be exploring several of the different vehicles and approaches. Much of this will return back to these strategic questions of what are you good at, and what do your clients want. Activity Work through the questions posed around marketing – what do you notice about your 5 Ps? Connection to the Workbook and Planner Section 3 of both books covers nine different promotional strategies you might want to employ. Always remember that your clients will dictate what approaches are going to be most relevant and impactful. Take some time this week working through the 5 Ps of your business, and activities you can undertake to further clarify the 5 Ps. Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here. Best wishes, Jennifer Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues. Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326 Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course. Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram We operate as part of a larger web. As Buddha wrote: “As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in this world is connected by a series of ties. If anyone thinks that the mesh of the net is an independent isolated thing he is mistaken. It is called a net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and each mesh has its place and responsibility in relation to other meshes.”
Even as solopreneurs or someone working remote we are a bigger part of a web. Being clear on how we connect and interrelate can help us be more focused and intentional in our messaging, marketing and communication. This week take some time to draw out your web of relationships.
Have a great Wednesday! Jennifer Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday or Thursday here. Be sure to like our page to be updated each week! Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013) Week 19 Focus – Marketing Focus Question: What do you want to do to get the word out about your work or business? Description Marketing is often one of the biggest question marks for new (and experienced) business owners. It’s also a significant area for virtual professionals who may be representing an organization in a specific geographic area. In this light, marketing may be referred to as advocacy, positioning or representation. Taking time to focus regularly on marketing/advocacy communication and related tasks is key. This aligns with the Daily Steps + Consistent Action = Momentum tagline of the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack books. What are the daily steps and consistent actions you are currently undertaking around marketing? How is it starting to add up? For many years as I was starting my own business, I taught marketing studies and other business subjects to post-secondary students. As different as we might think that marketing principles vary, they are quite similar across industries. Likewise, while the vehicles have changed over the years, many of the principles remain the same. In marketing, whether we are selling shoes, an idea, or a service, we talk about the 5 Ps. Each product, service or idea typically is shaped by these five things (all starting with P): Product/Program -What are you offering? Be specific about what it entails. Price - Consider what is included in the pricing. What is the market rate? Are you above the market? Below the market? At market pricing? Place - Where are you offering this? Is this a physical or digital product? Promotion - What promotional strategies do you want to use? Refer to the 9 Promotional Vehicles I cover in the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack. People - Who do you need support from in order to make this happen? What resources do you need? Take notes around these five areas. General questions to consider around marketing:
Connection to the Workbook and Planner Review Section 3 of the PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder. Marketing is important for external professionals to engage with. If you are an internal professional working for an organization, marketing is often referred to as positioning. We may be building a business case for new budget or approval of a new project or program. Take time to review section 3 of the planner, particularly the different promotional vehicles we can use to get the word out about what we offer. Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here. Best wishes, Jennifer Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues. Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326 Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course. Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram As virtual businesses, solopreneurs and service-based businesses, content and educational marketing may be a significant strategy in marketing, and letting the world know what we have to offer. As someone who has been a long-term blogger (I published my first blog in 2005 – which is still active today – the Group Coaching Ins and Outs blog), creating content on a regular basis can be an ongoing endeavor. While we may feel like we need to constantly create new content, there are ways to recycle and repurpose our content in creative ways. As we say in marketing, it can take 7-11 times for a message to be heard. We don’t want to send the same message, the same way every time, but rather share the same message in different ways. Consider this situation. You have spent time developing a presentation on the skill of influence – a key skill for virtual professionals today. You spent a lot of time doing research and pulling it together. As you delivered the presentation, people really enjoyed it an asked for more. You realize that there are several different ways that you can expand on this content including:
Activity Take a look at all the content you have created. Note it down. This could include blog posts, Instagram stories, Facebook Lives, etc. As you look at what you have created already, consider:
Best, Jennifer Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday or Thursday here. Be sure to like our page to be updated each week! Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013) Week 18 Focus – Projects – Partnerships (RACSI) Focus Question: We usually don’t operate in isolation. Who do you want to/need to liaise with to ensure successful projects and activities? Description Partnerships are essential for coaches, virtual professionals and others. For most of us, we interface regularly with external partners and stakeholders, who are often located in some distance away from us. As virtual and service-based businesses, we may create a wide variety of partnerships in our work. We don’t always do it alone. As soon as we expand our work to others, it can be useful to think about what partnerships look like. From co-coaching, to Joint Ventures, bringing on sub-contractors to co-designing programs. What can partnerships look like for you? Given that we are interfacing with different stakeholders around projects at any given time, it can be useful to think about how different stakeholders need to be updated and “kept in the loop”. Research/Story/Six Questions Who are the partners you want to keep in the loop? What are the key tasks and responsibilities? One of the more common frameworks for stakeholder engagement is the RACSI. RACSI stands for: R – Responsible A – Accountable C – Consulted S - Support I – Informed. Let’s look at each one in turn. Responsible = person or role responsible for actually doing or completing the item. Who needs to do the work? This might be the team leader who has to gather the expense information in the new format and submit it. Accountable = The person who is accountable is usually the person responsible for undertaking the task. Who has ownership of this? Typically, the "responsible one" is accountable to this person. The accountable person might be the General Manager, the Team Leader's boss. Consult = the person or role whose subject matter expertise is required in order to complete the item. Consulted - Who needs to be involved and asked for input? Those consulted may involve other team leaders who have gone through the change, and team members. Support = Who needs to support the work? What type of support is required? Inform = the person or role that needs to be kept informed of the status of item completion Who needs to be told about the change or informed along the way? Individuals who are not part of teams may need to be informed so they know what changes are happening. The value of reflecting on a RACSI for each project is that it helps you consider who you want to involve and keep in the loop. Projects sometimes are not successful when they have not engaged different players or stakeholders appropriately. Activity Consider one of your upcoming initiatives/ programs/projects. Who are the key stakeholders? Who is responsible? Who needs to support? Who needs to be consulted? Who needs to be informed? Connection to the Workbook and Planner Any time we bring shareholders on or work closely with a community, or membership site, it can be important to be focusing on the RACSI, as we consider how to communicate our messages. Great partnerships are usually co-designed with intentionality. To help guide you through these conversations, I share a variety of questions to consider at different times of the partnership journey – pre-design, during design, during implementation and after the project. Be sure to also download the Co-Facilitation Chapter. This link is found on page 93 of PlanDoTrack and page 89 of the Coaching Business Builder. Leverage the tools including the Partnership Questions on Pages 93 and 94 of the PlanDoTrack or pages 89 and 90 of the Coaching Business Builder. Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here. Best wishes, Jennifer Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues. Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326 Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course. Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram “What doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get done” – Tom Peters Tracking is an often-overlooked component of success. A common saying is that what doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get done OR what does get measured, does get done. What are the metrics you are tracking in your business? For virtual businesses this might include:
For virtual or remote employees this might include:
What are the things you are aiming to adjust or impact? Have a great day! Jennifer Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday or Thursday here. Be sure to like our page to be updated each week! Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013) Week 17 Focus – Content Creation Focus Question: What role does content creation (or distribution) play in your world? Description At the heart of many virtual organizations, and service-based businesses is content creation. Whether it is designing a new course, writing a blog post, leveraging a series on Instagram, content creation is key. This is why the CBB and PlanDoTrack, includes the Content Pages. As a reminder, included in the Content Pages Section are: Monthly Content Trackers – Use this to capture what you are posting every day of the month. Include the streams you are posting on, how many visits, likes, comments or other things in notes. You have space in the bottom right corner to note any themes which you are focusing on for the month. This information becomes a gold-mine for years to come! The Monthly Content Journal – Use these to capture one word reflections on the day . Perhaps you are doing some research. Maybe focusing on capturing new ideas, thoughts than need an anchor somewhere. 31 Day Challenge – Don’t just do it once. Series create energy and generate community. What could you focus on daily for 30 or 31 days in your business to create a baseline, or spread the world? Content Collaboration Plan - Who can you collaborate with? What do they do? Who do they serve? What could collaboration look like? Why would you want to collaborate or have a joint venture with them? What can you offer them in return for your partnership? Activity Review the different Content Tools available. How could you leverage these in your work, and around your current priorities? What is the content you have created? Make a list and/or note how you might repurpose or repackage the material for different platforms. For example, if you have a blog post, could it be combined with others to create an article, or be converted into a video. Review your current content calendars. What’s working? What needs to be developed? When are you scheduling in time to create content? Need some inspiration? Check out the 31 Days of 1BizStepaDay. You’ll find it over at the CoachingBusinessBuilder website. Connection to the Workbook and Planner Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here. Best wishes, Jennifer Read and download the earlier weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track series Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues. Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326 Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course. Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram For many of us, our work revolves around projects – some which last weeks, others which may last months or years. Throughout the Planners in the Coaching Business Builder and Plan Do Track, I invite you to consider the Projects, Tasks and Activities you are focusing on this month. As it relates to projects, these might include projects which are focused in on creating new processes or procedures or designing and running a program. Projects are usually the larger umbrella which houses discrete tasks and activities. Tasks and activities are discrete steps. They might be as small as reviewing a report, or as complex as creating an e-book. You’ll want to consider what level of granularity supports you as a professional. Personally, I find that I may include larger projects first as a task, until I figure out how to break it down into smaller, more discrete pieces. As you consider projects, tasks and activities, you might note every month what you want to:
What’s important to consider around projects you are managing right now? Check out recent posts on the topic of Project Management from: The Teams365 blog for Leaders Coaching Business Builder blog for Coaches Best wishes, Jennifer Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday or Thursday here. Be sure to like our page to be updated each week! Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013) |
AuthorJennifer Britton is the blogger behind the popular Teams365 blog, a daily,blog for team leaders and members since 2014. Her latest publication is the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner. Pick up a copy at Amazon. Pick Up a CopyUpcoming Programs
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