2021 in Review

2021 Year In Review

After dealing with all the changes and challenges 2020 brought, I don’t think any of us knew what to expect from 2021. The only thing we knew for sure was that we needed to remain flexible with our businesses and professional choices so we could deal with anything thrown our way.

At SHOTCALLERS, we spent the year making sure we found resources to help you and your business navigate an ever-changing landscape. We focused on bringing you articles and entrepreneur profiles that would inspire you and give you actionable tips to help keep your business thriving. Let’s look at some of the topics we covered this year. January Throughout the year, we paid a lot of attention to helping entrepreneurs improve their online traffic and conversion stats. In the January issue, we kicked off that focus by talking about some of the most crucial elements necessary for building an engaging website for your business and getting better prospect conversions through email.

One of my favorite tips in this issue talks about creating your brand story:

“Most visitors will know little about the business they are visiting. Providing details of your brand story helps build trust and makes your business more memorable. You could detail why you started the enterprise, what your values are, and information about your team members.”

February In February, we published some additional email tips for entrepreneurs, but we also talked about website SEO and how to best leverage social media sites like Twitter. Then, we talked

about ways to increase business without spending a lot of money.

My favorite tidbit from this issue comes from our Twitter article:

“Engage as well as advertise: As mentioned before, Twitter is all about the conversation. So, avoid the temptation to fill your Twitter feed with nothing but advertisements. Instead, post a mixture of ads, informative content and entertaining posts. Aim to initiate a conversation and a buzz around your brand rather than using Twitter purely as an advertising medium.”

March This month brought even more tips to improve your business email marketing, email opt-in rates and blogging. We also talked about some important tips for keeping meetings productive, and we discussed some problem-solving strategies especially for business

owners.

Of all the problem-solving tips, I think this one is sometimes the hardest for business owners to learn:

“Consider all the ramifications: When faced with a problem, try to avoid making hasty decisions that could worsen the situation or lead to other issues. Faced with a shortage of cash, you might make the kneejerk decision to withhold all payments to vendors, for example. But, while paying suppliers late will ease the immediate cash flow issue, it will probably cause further problems later. It is best to take your time resolving business problems whenever you can. Even the most pressing business challenges don’t usually need an April For April’s issue, we covered topics that some small business owners might not have considered. This included discussing whether QR codes could be used for your business, an introduc-

tory guide to experiential marketing and how to build a diverse workforce.

This issue also talked about one of the oldest methods of marketing—direct marketing—and why it still works:

“Cuts through the noise: Internet users are inundated with ads all day long. Banners, sidebar ads and intrusive popups have become so common that people are becoming ad blind. Meanwhile, the amount of direct mail that people receive has been declining. Consumers are no longer overwhelmed

with daily piles of junk mail. So, a well-conceived direct mail campaign can cut through the noise and get noticed by people in their homes.” May

We focus a lot on ways to build your business in SHOTCALLERS, but we also know that part of growing a business is done by maintaining a positive reputation. In the May issue, we talked about some surefire ways to destroy your brand. We then talked about some ways to ensure brand consistency on social media and to better get to know your customers.

When we talked about getting to know your customers, one tip was to investigate your competitors. Here’s why:

“You may find out more about your customers by looking at what your competitors are doing. The businesses you compete with will be attempting to appeal to your target market, and they may be one step ahead of you. So, look at the type of content your competitors use and research the keywords they are targeting. Find out what kind of social media posts create the most interaction for your competitors, and look at the comments that people are leaving against those posts. If competing companies display their bestsellers on their websites, that will help you understand what their customers are buying.” June

The pandemic taught us all how important virtual meetings and seminars are to the continuation of our businesses during any kind of disaster. So in June, we went over some tips to help readers create a successful webinar. We also talked about setting content marketing goals and winning back unhappy customers.

In an article about improving employee productivity, one of our tips discussed the importance of giving your employees advanced technology:

“With the advent of technology, many office tasks can be automated, giving employees time to perform other tasks. Hence, you should provide your employees with advanced technological tools to make their work easier.

Tasks like planning meetings, posting content on social media, paying bills, email responses, replenishing supplies, payroll preparation and employee scheduling can be automated. Doing manual tasks repetitively can lower employee productivity.”

July Our July issue was exciting as it saw the return of our Meet & Greet feature. In addition to sharing articles about content marketing videos, low-cost marketing ideas and effective employee communication tips, I was honored to have a fascinating discussion with

social media strategist Jessika Phillips.

Jessika shared some amazing information about relationship marketing and dark social, of which she said:

“People are so fatigued with being bombarded. They want to feel a sense of belonging, and they’re going to gravitate more and more to the community that makes them feel more like themselves. As brands, we have a very short window to get invited to that conversation or to be able to build rapport with clients. This is important because in these private spaces, we want to have clients who can advocate for us. So the future of online marketing is dark social, which is traffic that you can’t measure. You can’t measure coming back to your website because it’s done in a private, niche community. It’s happening behind closed doors where brands can’t measure it.”

August In August, we took a deeper look at the social media site Pinterest, discussing the best types of content for the site and whether it works to bring in customers for your business. We also talked about how to reduce customer acquisition costs. Because finances can be tricky for entrepreneurs, we knew there was no one better than Money Queen Amanda Frances to interview for our Meet & Greet feature.

One of the things that really struck me while talking to Amanda was her answer when I asked her what advice she’d give her 20-yearold self:

“I would say, ‘Hey, listen. It might be rocky for a little bit. You’re gonna have some things to sort through and figure out, and you’re gonna try some different paths and you just need to know that all those different things are going to add up for what you’re ultimately here to do. It won’t necessarily be easy, and it won’t really make sense to anyone else, but it will completely work out.’ I’d also tell her, ‘You’re right. The things that are on your heart to do, the things that you really want to do, you are meant to do those things. It’s just not conceivable yet.’”

September

Etiquette isn’t just important for dinner parties. As such, in September we talked about essential business etiquette every entrepreneur should know. We also reviewed five of the top productivity habits of highly successful people and talked about mistakes that can totally erase your customers’ trust in your brand.

Bestselling author and strategist Cara Capano was kind enough to sit down with me to talk about avoiding burnout and setting boundaries. When I asked her to share her best tip for female entrepreneurs, she said:

“Setting boundaries, saying no and understanding that no is a good thing. Saying no puts you in the right realm to help the right people. It’s not limiting, it’s actually opening the door to the right kind of abundance, so let go of that fear and just put your goals and needs on a higher level of importance. It’s not about being mean, and it is not about closing the door. It’s about opening the door to the right things.”

October

The October issue really stands out for me. That month, I was so honored to speak with 15 of the Amazon female entrepreneurs featured in Edwina Murphy-Droomer’s book, “Phenomenal Feminine Entrepreneurs.” In addition, one of the women interviewed, Meredith Allen, just so happens to be the very first person interviewed for SHOTCALLERS way back in 2019!

This issue also featured articles about mobile marketing strategies, welcome email mistakes and some content marketing basics. In an article about social media marketing, we explain what makes social media so very important to businesses today:

“A company is only as strong as its weakest customer relationship, and social media can help brands reach their customers in highly effective and extremely affordable ways. Businesses should look to social media to help them add interactivity to a website, for brand management, to build fanbases, to engage customers, to collect customer feedback and to encourage social shopping.”

November Since November rings in the holiday season, this issue covered strategies for making a high-sale season for your business. We also talked about customer retention email strategies, Twitter marketing tips and about how to stop micromanaging employees.

I also had the honor of interviewing business strategist Kelly Roach about her new book on conviction marketing, which she defines as:

“... [A]ctually standing for something and knowing what your beliefs are about, what impact you want to make in the world with the work that you’re doing, and what you’re willing to do about it. That is really central to building a category-one brand. In the book, I give a framework and a methodology and explain the mindset. The book is all about empowering people to stop doing inauthentic marketing that really doesn’t match their values and start going to market with provocative, thoughtful pieces that will actually speak to their target market.”