To hype or not to hype.

Posted on February 20, 2012 by

If you watched the Grammy’s, you do doubt saw Adele’s performance. She rocked the stage with her beautiful and authentic voice. But it wasn’t her performance that made the biggest impact on me (although her performance did make a huge impact). It was, and is, her authenticity that I admire.

Adele performs as Adele. No hype. No gimmick. Her talent speaks for itself. And I firmly believe that’s how business should work. Let your talent speak for itself.

If you’ve been anywhere online, you’ve probably seen it; divas, gurus, mindset experts, coach-client promotions, experts teaching you how to up-level your business…and if you’re not into it, it’s because you don’t really want it or you’re harboring some fear.

I can’t tell you the hype doesn’t work. Obviously, it’s out there because it does work. Marketers wouldn’t do it otherwise. Using certain words brings in more sales. Making people believe what they’re buying is going to magically help them in their work increases sales.

The problem for people like me – I just don’t want to work that way. I know who I am and what I bring to my client relationships. Shouting self-promotion from the rooftops is not who I am. It wouldn’t be me. That’s the great thing about working online; businesses have a choice. I have a choice. And I value my quiet brilliance.

Much like Adele doesn’t distract from her fabulous vocals by wearing skimpy outfits and using gimmicks for her success, business owners can market online without creating a distraction from their true talents. You should create an ebook or product if it brings value to someone. You should blog and create a following. You should create a sales page for your event or product. You should cross promote those products and services that you feel strongly about. You should self-promote. You absolutely can and should rock the stage and the online world.

Just do it your way – whatever that way may be.

Knock, Knock. Did you hear something?

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

That was opportunity knocking. Did you just slam the door in its face? Don't blow it when it comes to engagement on social sites. To really make my point, I'll share two case scenarios.

Case Study 1:

A florist posts a photo on Twitter and Facebook of a beautiful arrangement they recently finished. I post a comment on the photo telling them how beautiful it is and that it happens to be my favorite color. Nothing. No comment back. Zilch.

What should have happened? After the photo is posted and the comment received, someone from that company should have posted something. Anything. A quick, “thanks, you can see more of our arrangements at www.[nameoffloristsshop].com or in our store” would have worked well. Anything. This is an example of a company that did not take advantage of a contact literally handed to them.

Case Study 2:

I was creating Facebook fan pages and playing with two great programs. To get some feedback about the programs, I posted on Facebook and Twitter asking for feedback. Of course both companies must have someone monitoring their social activity. They saw my post and both companies had someone respond to my tweets. One went a little further and offered me an email to contact her/him if I needed to have any questions answered, but the fact is they both noticed and made contact. And I will use them both for different clients and different situations.

This played out perfectly. And I mean perfect. These companies were on it.

Too many brands spend way too much time and energy pushing their message out while ignoring the fact that social media is just that–social, and there is an absolute need for interaction and engagement. Small business owners cannot be fooled into thinking that social media is a numbers game. It’s not. As a small business you can have numbers in the tens of thousands but if you aren’t taking the time to build relationships and engage with your market, those numbers mean nothing.

This great post from Simply Zesty (http://www.simplyzesty.com/social-media/brands-are-ignoring-more-than-half-of-consumer-social-media-posts/) was recently brought to my attention, ironically enough through social media, and I loved it. The title really says it all but I would definitely suggest jumping over there to read the post. It is enlightening.

It’s important for small businesses to create relationships. Don’t slam the door on the perfect opportunity to talk yourself up.

Photos – Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

Real listening increases efficiency

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

Over the last few weeks I've run into several situations where so much confusion has occurred and time wasted due to a lack of listening. And by listening, I mean really listening; completely reading; paying 100% attention to what's being said. In most cases this occurs in email communication. Email is a communication tool that makes it difficult to express emotion and too easy to respond to what we think we read. It's super important when using email communication (or any written form) to pay attention to what we say and how we say it.

When I get an email, I read it. I read the whole thing and try to take in what's being said or asked. Then I respond.

This takes effort and work.

It's much easier to react quickly, get things done and off your plate. Speed doesn't always equal efficient. For me to truly be efficient means that I have to spend some time reading and trying to understand every sentence, every word that I'm receiving. This doesn't mean to try and read between the lines but to simply make sure I understand the whole message before zipping out a response that only answers half of what was asked or addresses half of what needs to be done.

When we work Without Walls it's super important to listen.

Photos – Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

It’s not your choice…make it mobile friendly

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that your website must, absolutely must, be mobile friendly. We have no control over which device a potential customer or client uses to find us. And trust me when I say, if they find you on their mobile device but your site is not mobile friendly, they will leave. Plain and simple. It is just too difficult to maneuver a website that is not mobile friendly on a mobile device.

The good news is, you have options. You could hire an outside company to work with you to design and build a mobile site or you could use a software template to do it yourself. Neither of these options is a bad idea. However, if, like me, you use WordPress for your website, there are a couple of awesome plugins that do the trick nicely. The one I want to mention, and the one I use, is WP Touch. I love this plugin. It works beautifully and puts out a nice, clean look on mobile. WP Touch has options for you to customize the look and control control which pages and tabs are seen and how they're seen. You can even create a separate home page for your mobile visitors while keeping your standard home page intact for those using a computer.

More and more people are using mobile devices to research and purchase the products and services they need in the moment. Having a mobile ready site is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

Photos – Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

Momentum in 2012

Posted on January 1, 2012 by

Happy, Happy New Year! I've been waiting for about a month to post my first post to sandywiles.com and it's only appropriate that I begin with my word for 2012. Each year, I select a word that represents what I hope that year to be and normally create a vision board around that word. I've started this year's and will post a photo as soon as I can.

In 2011, my word was PURPOSE. After talking with a wonderful coach, Anastasia Brice, I realized that for the majority of my life I had not made any real decisions. Professionally and personally, most of what I had to that point and who I had become were primarily a result of circumstances, not necessarily a result of choices I consciously made. So for each decision I made and each action I took in 2011, the word PURPOSE was my guide.

In December I began thinking about my word for 2012. There were a lot of options, but the one that kept coming back to me was MOMENTUM.

Momentum; force or speed of movement; Impetus, as of a physical object or course of events; drive, energy, power, propulsion, strength.

What a great word! And it works so beautifully when combined with purposeful decisions. So in 2012, expect MOMENTUM. I intend every aspect of my life to be full of drive, energy, power and strength. I intend to work and live with MOMENTUM in 2012 — here's to moving forward!