Marketing & Digital Strategy

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Marketing & Digital Strategy A Method for Creating Digital Strategic and Transformational Plans that Get Results Working together to help brands, nonprofits, and advocacy groups succeed in the digital age.

By Rohan Patrick

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Acknowledgements Often book requires the efforts of more than just the author.

This book would not have been possible without the All Might God, through whom all things are possible. I wish to also thank the following people: My mother, Desrine Mckenzie who encouraged and supported me throughout this project.

I would also like to thank my brother Karl and sisters Carlene and Sharon. My wife Vanecia, and children, who was always patient and understanding through-out this book’s journey.

I also would like to thank the organizations that help with contributions to this book.

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About the Author Rohan Patrick is the founder of Gifted at Play, LLC., a consulting firm that focuses on helping companies develop marketable digital strategies with their brand. He also works as a graphic designer for educational and non-profit organizations.

Currently, Rohan is the Digital Strategist for a non-profit Institution.

Rohan has more than twenty years of marketing and digital design experience. Prior to founding Gifted at Play, LLC., he worked for such companies as, UBS, Jwin Electronics, Citibank, Macys, Parade Publications, Black Enterprise Magazine, Coastal Printing & Graphics, Columbia University, Polytechnic University, SUNY Buffalo. His previous experience included Teaching, Management and Administration. He also has a great depth of knowledge in the K-12, Higher Education and non-profit industries. He holds a BFA, MA, MFA degrees along with Advance Certification. Rohan is married and lives with his family in upstate New York. Email: rp580092@gmail.com Blog: giftedatplay.blogspot.com

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Trademark Trademarked names appear throughout this book. Rather than list the names and entities that own the trademarks or insert a trademark symbol with each mention of the trademarked name, the publisher states that it is using the names only for editorial purposes and to the benefit of the trademark owner with no intention of infringing upon that trademark.

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Table of Content Introduction Acknowledgements About the Author New Hope Community

Mission

Vision

Company

History

Council on Quality and Leadership:

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Chapter 1 Responsibilities:

Redesign and template update:

Benchmark Current Metrics:

Determine Your Redesign Goals:

Define Your Buyer Persona(s):

Analyze the Competition:

Define Your Buyer Persona(s):

Take Inventory of Your High-Performing Assets:

Flash Card “ Small book design”

History of Greatness:

No Missed Opportunity to Learn/Refresh:

Durability, Longevity and Availability:

Omnipresent Hard Surface:

Figure Things Out – and Remember Them!:

Work Order Sheet:

What is a Digital Work Order?

Benefits of Using Digital Work Orders:

Customize:

No Internet No Problem:

Clear & Legible Writing, Every Time:

Navigation Built In:

Connect to Your Back End Seamlessly:

Print Forms Whenever You Like:

Analyze Your Data:

Improve Your Bottom Line:

Conclusion:

Understand your audience and core compe-

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tencies.

Chapter 2 Creating and Managing Social Media Profiles and Presence:

Twitter

Linkedin:

Facebook Youtube

Freedom of Expression:

Freedom of Opportunity:

Freedom to Belong:

Behance: Instagram Chapter 3 Event Planning and Coordination, On-Site Collateral

Event Branding and Strategy:

On-Site Branding and Promotions:

Corporate Identity & Tagline:

Stationery:

Signage:

Advertising & Media:

Promotion:

Packaging:

Event Planning Activities: Chapter 4 Evaluate and report performance of marketing campaigns, employee and assess against goals

How to measure the effectiveness of a Marketing Campaign:

Different Types of marketing Campaigns:

Outbound Marketing: Direct mail;

Outbound calling;

TV, Print, Radio advertising;

Public relations campaigns.

Inbound marketing:

Email marketing campaigns

Website based contact

(includes both web content and SEO);

On-site/In-person interactions;

Social media placement.

Plan the campaign and how you want to track it:

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Direct

Referral

Organic

E-mail

Paid

Social

None

Define the Marketing Metrics You Want to Measure:

Web content

Lead conversion

Individual visitors

Tracking new visitors versus returning one’s

Click through rate (CTR)

Bounce rate

Page views

Search engine referrals

Social media effectiveness

Word-of-mouth

Form conversion rate

E-mail Openings

Measuring Your Campaigns:

Measuring your “search” marketing performance

SEO Position

Pay-per-click ads

Measuring the Effectiveness of

Your Social Media Marketing

Measuring Print Ads and Other Media

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Introduction

Technology is creating more data, making our marketing environment more intelligent yet more complex.

A digital strategist provides solutions to a company’s business problems as they relate to the digital world. You will be responsible for creating marketing plans to improve, for example, a company’s performance in search engine results or enhance the delivery of services via its mobile platform. To be able to craft the best solutions to a client’s problems in the digital sphere, you will first ask them about their goals. If they can’t exactly pinpoint what these are, you will be helping them set it. Once you have helped them identify these goals, you will set the steps that need to be undertaken in order for them to reach those goals.

It’s important to make these objectives SMART—that is, they must be smart, measurable, actionable, realistic and timely since you need to be able to monitor your plan’s progress objectively once these are implemented. It’s also important to identify who your client’s target audience is so you can craft the strategies that would speak to their interests, hobbies and consumption patterns.

Research is going to be very important at this point because it is from here where you will be able to get the motivations and specific behaviors of your target market that will be crucial to your marketing strategy. To know if you have attained success, it’s important to set benchmarks for success and measure them.

Based on the results of the strategy you have implemented, you will know whether you should stay in the same course or still need to optimize it.

To succeed as a digital strategist, you need to be knowledgeable about everything related to the Internet, social media, analytics, customer relationship management, website development and other facets of Internet marketing. You also need to have an in-depth understanding of traditional marketing methods so you can develop an all-encompassing approach to getting the results you desire. You need to be creative and be able to communicate well with different kinds of people. The position also requires decision-making and analytical skills. |9

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This book: Marketing & Digital Strategy is for senior-level executives and general managers who are responsible for the formulation and implementation of corporate strategy in multi-national firms.

Titles include: president, CEO, CFO, vice president, director, partner, and senior manager.

This book will make you better understand the economics of value creation and competitive advantage in your industry.You will all appreciate the importance of taking a customer-centric view of your business to drive innovation and growth. Also, you will assess and refine your company’s strategy and business model. And create coherence between corporate level strategy and lines of business strategy The internet is a confusing place for some people. While it’s easy to just think of it as a communication tool, it’s really a complicated billion layered web that gets more complex as you dig into it. If you’re the kind of person who loves to figure out how both internet technology and the people who use it tick, then you might have what it takes to become a digital strategist. If you think this is you, keep reading to find out what more it takes to become a digital

A Sense of Discovery A company may not know exactly what they have that will inform their digital strategy. You have to in a sense become an investigator. If you don’t have a sense of discovery, you won’t have the motivation to uncover the keystone of a company’s future strategy. When you get out into the world of digital marketing, you’ll quickly realize that only 9% of companies have a working digital marketing strategy. It’s a sad fact, but that’s why you exist. You are there to figure out what’s wrong with their strategy and fix it. This is called the discovery process. You will interview everyone involved with the strategy from the stakeholders down to the CEO. Some strategists outsource this process. But if you do it yourself, you will be in better control of the information and you will build a relationship with the client prior to implementing their strategy. Once you’ve completed your discovery process, you will have an accurate picture of their needs and the resources needed to complete the task. This 10 |

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creates a roadmap for your client’s strategy.

Documentation Do you love writing down everything? Do you journal, make lists, and keep track of even your workouts? Then you might enjoy being a digital strategist. The next step in helping your clients build a digital strategy is a documentation. You need to keep a record of all the steps a company needs to take as well as all of the statistical and data benchmarks both present and future.

But you must be able to do this in a clear a precise manner. You aren’t the only one reading the strategy. You will include CEOs and stakeholders in the process as well. At this point, you have to know the purpose of the strategy, you have to outline the goals of the strategy, and you must include your analysis.

Analytical Numbers have to float your boat. Otherwise, you will be bored.

Spreadsheets will be your friends. You will fill up spreadsheets with data from SWAT analysis to website data and social media analytics. You will analyze a company’s goals and their ability to attract new clients or customers. And you have to be able to see past the data a company presents to you. Some companies may not even understand who their customers actually are.

Many times a company will assume that their customer market is comprised of people just like them. This often isn’t the case.

Your job is to isolate their customer base and figure out how to use the digital tools necessary to reach them. This takes research and market analysis. And your clients may not even understand how this works. You will be their data brain for them.

You will have to understand more about the internet than your client in order to best serve your client. This could be difficult to convey without seeming condescending. But the data will back you up. Not only will you have to understand the data, you will have to understand web design to an extent.

Understand Design Sometimes what’s wrong with a client’s digital strategy has everything to do with design and nothing to do with their actual | 11

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understanding of the internet. In this case, you might decide to hire a web designer. But if you understand web-design, you will retain that revenue and be able to help your client in ways other digital strategists could not. This may not be a requirement for all digital strategists. But it is something that could set you ahead of the competition. If a client already has a website and it’s poorly designed, you can use various design tools that are easy to understand and allow the client to make decisions on the fly about their website. You will want to take a web design class so you can understand the usefulness of a sitemap. Learn how to organize the flow of the website so that a client’s customers can quickly navigate and fall down the sales funnel until they buy something. You help include space for ads even incorporating things like pop unders ads. Learn how to include your clients in the web design process. While you may know more than them about the process of web design, clients appreciate being involved and having a say in what will be on their website.

Collaborate It’s impossible to work alone as a digital strategist. You must work well with others. Once you’ve informed your digital strategy, you’re going to pass it off to an actual business analyst.

You will then work closely with that analyst to ensure the best outcome for the client. If you don’t work well with the analyst, you will gum up the process and your clients won’t see the best outcome. You will learn to use tools like Google Docs, GitHub, and Slack to communicate with the team. And your goal is to build relationships with these people so you can gain repeat business.

What It Takes Becoming a digital strategist takes courage, self-motivation, and a keen mind. If you feel you’ve got what it takes to become a digital strategist, go for it.

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New Hope Community Inc. As a Marketing and Digital Strategist, your primary responsibility will be delivering results-oriented digital and print creative strategies for the New Hope Community.

Mission: We challenge ourselves to enhance the lives of people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities Vision: New Hope Community will be the leader and model agency recognized for the following practices: Ethical: By being accountable to the people we support, staff, families, friends and our communities.

Distinguished: By utilizing innovative and best practices, we will remain at the forefront of supporting people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities.

Enthusiastic: By responding to the needs of our community with positive energy.

The Community: Imagine a place where your loved one feels valued as a community member; a place where they are supported while learning to become independent; a place where they are free to show off their creative expression; a place that offers the opportunity to hone their talents.

New Hope Community is a place to learn, where life skills can be immersed with support professionals that create environments of innovation. A place where strengths, talents, personal direction and accomplishments can be discovered.

History: | 13

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In 1975 on the 44 acre grounds of a former resort hotel, New Hope Community began exploring a vision of independent living for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities who had been traditionally left without opportunity and choice.

New Hope Community created a haven to cultivate a lifestyle of self-determination. The vision provided and continues to provide whatever supports necessary to be contributing and participating members of the community.

New Hope Community supports individuals age 18 and older, with varying levels of abilities and ages in safe, comfortable homes that include apartments, condominiums, and family style homes both on campus and throughout Sullivan County.

Each home is supported by extensively trained Direct Support Professionals.

New Hope Community is known for empowering the people we support with a person-centered approach. By creating an individual support plan, we work towards developing their skills, gifts and talents. Through clinical, residential and medical supports New Hope Community cultivates a culture of learning and communication for the people we support while allowing self-determination of their future.

Established in 1989, The NHC Foundation raises critically needed funding to support and further the purpose, mission and vision of New Hope Community. Through this support, people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities are given amazing opportunities to achieve their dreams.

Council on Quality and Leadership:

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In September 2015, New Hope Community was awarded the coveted Person-Centered Excellence National Accreditation from the Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL). This accreditation confirms New Hope Community shares CQL’s vision to improve the quality of life for people receiving supports. For more than 40 years, CQL has been the preeminent leader in defining, measuring and improving the quality of life for all people, including those with developmental and intellectual disabilities.  Organizations that are awarded accreditation by CQL meet a stringent set of criteria and demonstrate an on-going commitment to person-centered excellence.

Chapter 1:

Marketing & Digital Strategist Responsibilities: Recommend and prioritize an appropriate mix of communications in the digital and print space to drive brand awareness, engagement, and traffic.

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Marketing & Digital Strategy

Redesign and template update: Benchmark Current Metrics: Before redesign, document your current performance metrics. Start by analyzing your existing template over its history in areas such as: •

Number of issue published

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Redirect address bounce rate

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Time on site and production (monthly average)

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Top-performing keywords (in terms of rank, traffic, and lead generation)

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Total number of new leads/form submissions (per month)

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Total amount of sales generated (per month)

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Total number of pages indexed

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Total number of pages that receive traffic

If you don’t have access to this information, then I absolutely recommend adding tools like Google Analytics and HubSpot’s Marketing Analytics for better tracking and visibility into your website’s newsletter performance. Furthermore, make note of which tools you used to identify each of these particular benchmarks. Ideally, you’ll want to use those same exact tools when collecting post-design metrics. Otherwise, you’ll be comparing apples to oranges!

Determine Your Redesign Goals: When considering a redesign, there should always be a good reason behind it. When we speak with a lot of marketers, we often hear flimsy reasoning like “it’s been a while since we’ve done one,” or “my competitor just did a redesign.” These reasons just aren’t good enough. Remember: It’s not just about how your design looks, but rather how it works . Be really clear about why you’re doing the redesign in the first place, and tie those goals to measureable results. Then communicate your goals with your team, designer, or agency.

Consider the following data-driven objectives for your own design:

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Increasing number of visits/visitors/readers

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Reducing bounce rate

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Increasing time on site viewership

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Improving domain/branding authority

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Increasing number of new leads/form submissions

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Increasing total amount of sales generated

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Enhancing current SEO rankings for important keywords

Many of these metrics-driving goals are dependent on one other. For example, in order to generate more conversions, you may also need to increase traffic while decreasing your site’s bounce rate.

Define Your Buyer Persona(s): Your design is not just about you.

And when your customers see your design, they’re asking themselves, “What’s in it for me?” Speak to them in their language by strategizing your design and content around your business’ buyer personas. A buyer persona is a theoretical manifestation of your business’ ideal customers. They are fictional representations based on real data about customer demographics and behavior, along with educated speculation about their personal histories, motivations, and concerns. For instance, if you’re a marketing manager who is looking to bring in new business, you might target five different buyer personas: an independent person, corporate, manager, an event planner, a vacationing family, and a couple planning their wedding reception.

Make sure you clearly identify your buyer personas so you can shape your redesign strategy around your visitors that matter most to you. For help find handy buyer personas template -- and look at blog post -- to help you research and create detailed buyer personas.

Is your target audience changing as part of your redesign? Does your branding and content align with this audience? Answer these questions as you’re strategizing your redesign. Then check out comprehensive article about how to design a persona-centric experience for more on the subject.

Analyze the Competition: Don’t obsessing over your competi| 17

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tors, it can help to know how you compare. Run your marketing materials through tools to generate report card of how your design and marketing is performing. (Or, if you’re already a HubSpot customer, use our Competitors tool ) Use these diagnostic tools to evaluate your competitors’ websites as well, so you’re aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

Next, take a look at your competitors’ websites, and take note of what you like -- and what you don’t. This is not meant to make you a copycat, but rather to help you realize what you can do better. Once you conduct your analysis, put together a list of action items highlighting some areas for improvement and what you can do differently than your competitors. For more information, check out our comprehensive blog post about how to conduct a competitive analysis.

Take Inventory of Your High-Performing Assets: While a redesign is a great way to improve the performance of your website, unfortunately, there are also countless ways in which it can hurt you. Your existing website likely contains many high-performing assets that you’ve already built up, and losing their effectiveness because of a redesign can severely damage your marketing results. For instance, such assets might include your: •

Most shared or viewed content

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High-trafficked pages

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Best performing/ranking keywords and associated pages

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Number of inbound links to individual pages

For example, if you end up removing a page from your site that has accumulated a high number of inbound links, you could potentially lose a lot of SEO credit, which will make it increasingly difficult for you to get found in search. Keep in mind that many web designers don’t consider this step because they are neither marketers nor SEO specialists. Don’t hesitate to remind them about this step, and help them along by auditing your site and providing them with a list and strategy for maintaining or updating critical pages on your site.

Once you’ve completed the strategy stage, you’ll be much better prepared for a successful website redesign. Now you’re ready to plan, design, build, optimize, launch, and analyze your new website -- with the help of our worksheet of course.

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Flash Card “ Small book design” History of Greatness: Pocket books are part of a rich history of list-making, a lineage that may not seem so grand but is actually populated by some of the brightest minds of human society.

From campers to inventors, police officers to doctors, presidents to graphic designers, the pocket notebook has been home to some deep thoughts and important revelations. And while their use may not be as widespread as it once was, notebooks are making a comeback in trendy and fashionable circles. Your notebook will not only help organise your thoughts but is an everyday accessory to reflect your personality.

No Missed Opportunity to Learn/Refresh: We all know it’s handy to have some paper nearby for when creative inspiration strikes, but what about the other important “can’t miss” opportunities? Salespeople have been using pocket notebooks for years to jot down potential leads, and a pocket notebook is a must-have for an architect needing to draft ideas on the go.

Having a notebook easily reachable also lets you write down an inspirational quote or sketch a funny sign and, because you’ve always got your trusty notebook with you, makes it easy to refer to these anecdotes in conversation later. Paper blanks® memory pouches keep your business cards right at hand, too!

Durability, Longevity and Availability: A pocket notebook is a sturdy little companion that has a far longer lifespan than a scrap of paper. Jot down short notes to avoid ordering a terrible meal twice or to remember shortcuts to your favorite destinations.

Having this information written down is especially handy when you find yourself without power or internet connection. One habit I’ve gotten into is dedicating one page to bus stop numbers of all the places I’ve visited on my local transit system. If your city has individual numbers for each stop, writing them down along with the intersection and direction of the route helps avoid any guesswork about the next arrival or departure. By checking this list, I can text our public transit system to receive the next bus time or can go online and quickly look up the schedule for the stop I want.

Omnipresent Hard Surface: Pocketbook covers handily flip from front to back, so you’re never searching for a hard surface to jot notes onto a scrap piece of paper. Of course, your notes on the go are not necessarily going to be the most legible, so it’s always a good idea to write a good draft when you have the time. | 19

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Figure Things Out – and Remember Them!: Have you ever written a little reminder or to-do list and then completely forgotten where you put it? You’re not alone – I know some intelligent, not-usually-absentminded people who have abandoned to-do lists all over their homes, bags and cars. Having a pocket notebook to jot down these important thoughts means that you’ve always got that list to refer to when you need it. There’s no reliance on keeping track of a hundred scraps of paper when all your thoughts are organised in one bound, easy-to-access book.

Having a notebook that you especially love will mean that you pay a little bit more attention to remembering where you left it, too.

Work Order Sheet: In today’s modern world, new technology is making our lives infinitely easier. Things that used to be complicated can now be done with a push of a button, which means that we can work smarter and be more profitable than ever before.

However, even with all of this high tech wizardry, many companies are still doing things the old fashioned way. Take work orders for example; most of the time these are physical documents that pass from business to client and back again, all without any kind of automation involved.

Unfortunately, this can lead to a host of problems, not the least of which is that orders can get lost, damaged, or misfiled, resulting in a delay in operations that could cost you a ton of money.

Wouldn’t it be so much easier if you could digitize the whole process? Well, now you can with digital work orders.

What is a Digital Work Order? Simply put, this is when you take all of the information on your regular work order sheet and digitize it. There are several new apps, such as InField Clipboard, that allow you to build your order from scratch and customize it to fit the needs of your business. This way, you can enter all of your information digitally, rather than scan a document after the fact.

Benefits of Using Digital Work Orders: As you are about to see, there are some profound reasons to utilize software that can create digital work orders. Whether you are a startup company or you’ve been in the business for 20 |

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a while, you can benefit immensely from them. Once you’ve seen the difference they can make, you’ll wonder how you lived without it.

Customize: Not every company is the same, meaning that you need to make sure that your work orders are best for your operations. With programs like InField Clipboard, you can create a form just the way you like it, with as much or as little information as you need from your clients. You can even format it to be the same as your current work orders so that there is a smoother transition from paper to digital.

What makes this process even more desirable is that it doesn’t take much time or effort to make changes to your forms. There’s no programming involved, no complicated steps. All you have to do is put in what you want and take out what you don’t. Best of all, you can create different forms for each of your clients if necessary, all without having to print a single drop of ink.

No Internet No Problem: One of the issues that most companies worry about when digitizing their mobile software is that being out in the field is usually hit or miss. If you don’t have a good data plan or access to a wireless network, you can wind up in a worse position than if you stuck with old-fashioned paper.

Fortunately, most apps that offer digital work orders don’t have this issue. You can fill out your forms and store them to your device immediately, with or without a connection. Then, once you are in the range of wifi, you can upload everything so that it shows up on the back end. Never miss a beat because of spotty reception.

Clear & Legible Writing, Every Time: Do you have a client that scribbles everything that they write? Do your employees suffer from poor penmanship? It may not seem like a big deal, but not being able to read notes can be dangerous and lead to unforeseen setbacks, which can hurt your bottom line. However, since your work orders are digitized, you never have to worry about this problem ever again.

In fact, some programs enable you to still write with a stylus, but the software will automatically make it more legible (except for signatures). This way, you don’t even have to be adept at typing on a tablet either. This will make it easier to process your orders, and no information will be left behind. | 21

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Navigation Built In: You probably already use GPS software to find your clients already, but what if you could tie it into your work order app as well? With digital work order apps like InField Clipboard, you can seamlessly connect your directions with the order so that your workers just press the address and they get a route in seconds. With functionality like that, it shows how digital work orders can make your operations run much more efficiently.

Connect to Your Back End Seamlessly: The most poignant aspect of using digital work orders is that all of your forms are automatically integrated into your company’s system. This way, you can make things so much easier for every person on your team, whether it’s sales or management.

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You can email your digital forms to the client and get them back much quicker than before.

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Your employees can access the work orders that are assigned to them so that there is never an issue of missing paperwork or forgetting to bring the right form.

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If one of your teams is falling behind, reassign the work order to someone else immediately. All of the pertinent information will transfer over, meaning you don’t have to transcribe anything over the phone.

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Create digital forms for your internal needs and process them as necessary. This can make your accounting system much more efficient.

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Send data to an external system for storage purposes or for your home base to access it on a computer, rather than a tablet.

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Set rules for your workflow so that you can automate as many processes as you like. Whether it’s sending a thank you email to clients, uploading signed orders to management, or some other part of your workflow, you can program it to meet your needs.

Print Forms Whenever You Like: Perhaps you prefer to have a physical copy of completed work orders on file, just in case. You can connect your tablet or mobile device to your printer and create a hard copy of any of the forms you create, all with the

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push of a button. This way, you can still get the best of both worlds. Thankfully, though, it’s much easier to go from digital to physical than the other way around. Never worry again about transcribing, scanning, or manually entering data into the computer again.

Analyze Your Data: One of the most time-consuming processes for your business is taking your work orders and creating a comprehensive report based on the numbers. Chances are that this is one of the biggest sources for delays on the back end, which is counterintuitive because these reports are crucial to your overall success.

With digital work orders, you no longer have to enter this information manually, nor do you have to create a record from scratch. Most apps that generate them will have analysis software built in that handle this process for you, making it faster and more accurate.

Best of all, you can also automate these reports so that they get sent to you or anyone else on your management team as soon as they are generated. This way, even if you are not on site you can still get a comprehensive view of your business and make sure that everything is running smoothly.

Improve Your Bottom Line: When you digitize your work orders, coupled with all of the other efficiency benefits you get from using an all-in-one program, you can vastly improve your operations to the point where you can solicit more clients and sales.

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If you have to make changes out in the field, then a digital work order allows you to integrate those adjustments on both the front and back end.

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You can process work orders and send invoices instantly, rather than waiting for employees to turn them in to the office.

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Estimates can be done remotely, allowing you to do more of them in a single day, all without losing any productivity.

When an assessment is drafted, it will be available digitally to get approval from the client, allowing you to shave hours off of your current operations. | 23

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Conclusion: Overall, there is no reason not to start using digital work orders. Not only will they help you save time that you can reinvest back into your business, but it will remove a lot of the steps that you take to keep things organized and efficient.

This means that no matter what stage your company is at, you don’t need to maintain a full-time staff to manage your paperwork. You can put more of your time and energy into customer service and providing great value to your clients, all while having the peace of mind that everything on the back end is being handled properly.

What’s even better is that you can utilize this software in conjunction with other apps, like Google Maps, which allows you manage your field resources at every step of the way, from inquiry to invoice.

You owe it to yourself to see how digital work orders can benefit your business. Whether you just need to save money on printing costs or you want a better way to analyze your operational data to make changes and speed up your process, digital work orders make everything easier for you.

There are tons of different digital work order apps available, including InField Clipboard. Find the one that fits best with your company and see what you’ve been missing.

Understand your audience and core competencies. Understanding our target audience, and their needs, desires, pain points, etc., will make it easier to create content that resonates with the right audience via our branding.

Construct an online marketing plan and content calendar for our online marketing platform. Knowing what we’re going to say and when we’re going to say it is half the battle. A content calendar helps you plan ahead.

Provide useful, relevant, and keyword-rich content on a consistent basis. The adage: “content is king.” is a marketing guidepost that should be adhered to in all of your marketing efforts. Not only will the content help us to reach our ideal customers, but search engines reward relevant, keyword-rich content by ranking this content higher in the organic search engine listings.

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Keep your website design simple, easy to use, and memorable.

Simple doesn’t have to mean boring. It means having a website that’s easy to navigate, clean, professional-looking, easy to read, and branded in a way that is memorable.

Make sure your website is responsive and optimized for multiple devices. If your site isn’t optimized for multiple screen sizes, you’re missing traffic from the more than 40 percent of web browsers who access the Internet via their smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

Make sure your website is efficient and loads quickly. Web visitors have short attention spans. If your site won’t load quickly, they’ll move on.

Include calls-to-action on every page. Make it as easy as possible for visitors and social media connections to take action by providing calls-to-action and guiding them through your process.

Utilize landing pages and provide targeted content that is designed to convert. Write your content in a way that encourages visitors to buy or take your desired action.

Consistently engage and share content via social media. Make sure that you content is available to potential customers over a variety of platforms.

Measure results via analytics, and improve on an ongoing basis. It takes time to hone and improve your online effectiveness. Fortunately, there is a lot of data available to track what’s working and what’s not. Reviewing your analytics and tracking the above metrics will help you know what works and what doesn’t.

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Chapter 2:

Creating and Managing Social Media Profiles and Presence Twitter is what’s happening in the world and what people are talking about right now.

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Chapter 2

Analyze your Tweets and understand your followers. Every word, photo, video, and follower can have an impact.

Twitter’s analytics help you understand how the content you share on Twitter grows your business. Here’s what you can learn — and where: Insights on every Tweet: The Tweet activity dashboard shows you a detailed analysis of your Twitter activity. For each Tweet you send, you’ll be able to track: •

The number of impressions

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The number of engagements

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The engagement rate (impressions divided by engagements)

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Click on the individual Tweets to pull up more specifics on your engagements, such as the number of:

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Video views

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Link clicks

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Photo or video clicks

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Likes

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Retweets

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Replies

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Detail expands

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Profile clicks

You’ll also be able to see how many of these engagements you average per day, and how your engagement rate and number of impressions changes throughout the month.

When you learn what resonates with your audience, you can start Tweeting similar content. This dashboard is a helpful place to visit when you’re thinking about planning a content calendar for your Twitter account.

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This dashboard will help you get to know your Twitter followers. You’ll be able to see: | 27

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•

Your follower growth

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Your followers’ interests

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Your followers’ demographics, such as language, gender, and location.

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Certain accounts will also be able to see data around their followers with regards to consumer behaviors, lifestyles, and mobile devices.

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Checking in with your audience as it grows and changes will help you create content that’s relevant and boosts engagement.

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Compare and contrast: You can benchmark your audience against the average Twitter user, your tailored audiences, and other significant groups

Linkedin: Market to who matters Reach your ideal customers on the world’s largest professional network . Generate leads, drive website traffic, and build brand awareness . Marketing on LinkedIn helps you engage a community of professionals to drive actions that are relevant to your business.

Facebook (Joint with Robyn): Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.

Facebook is defined by our hacker culture - an environment that rewards creative problem solving and rapid decision making. We encourage people to be bold. Our open culture keeps everyone informed and allows people to move around and solve the problems they care about most. We work in small teams and move fast to develop new products, constantly iterating and improving. The phrase “this journey is 1% finished” is posted on our walls, reminding us that we’ve only begun to fulfill our mission to bring the world closer together.

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Youtube: Their mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world. They believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we listen, share and build community through our stories. Their values are based on four essential freedoms that define who they are.

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Freedom of Expression: They believe people should be able to speak freely, share opinions, foster open dialogue, and

that creative freedom leads to new voices, formats and possibilities.

Freedom of Information: They believe everyone should have easy, open access to information and that video is a powerful force for education, building understanding, and documenting world events, big and small.

Freedom of Opportunity: They believe everyone should have a chance to be discovered, build a business and succeed on their own terms, and that people—not gatekeepers—decide what’s popular.

Freedom to Belong: We believe everyone should be able to find communities of support, break down barriers, transcend borders and come together around shared interests and passions.

Behance: Their mission is to empower the creative world to make ideas happen: They built a platform to remove the barriers between talent & opportunity. Behance is the leading online platform to showcase & discover creative work. The creative world updates their work in one place to broadcast it widely and efficiently. Companies explore the work and access talent on a global scale. The company aAttracts millions of visitors who come to discover top talent. It powers creative network for top schools and organizations. The company distributes work to other online galleries, maximizing exposure for top talent. They believe that Great work should spread efficiently across the globe, gaining the exposure it deserves. They believe that the creative world should devote their energy to creating work, not maintaining or promoting it. They believe that the best talent should seamlessly connect to the right opportunities. Great work should receive the credit and attribution it deserves. They believe that creative careers must be freed from barriers and bureaucracy. Creative thinkers must have the time and tools to make their ideas happen and change the world.

Instagram: This is a company that makes up a community of more than 800 million who capture and share the world’s moments on the service. In this company the CEO is responsible for the company’s overall vision and strategy as well as day-to-day operations. Since the beginning, Kevin has focused on simplicity | 29

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and inspiring creativity through solving problems with thoughtful product design. As a result, Instagram has become the home for visual storytelling for everyone from celebrities, newsrooms and brands, to teens, musicians and anyone with a creative passion. Prior to founding Instagram, Kevin was part of the startup Odeo, which later became Twitter, and spent two years at Google working on products like Gmail and Google Reader. He graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Management Science & Engineering and serves on the boards of Walmart and KCRW.

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Event Planning & Coordination, On-Site Collateral Event Branding and Strategy: Event branding and strategy combines intention with design, messaging, print and gifts to entice and excite attendees. Event Branding and Strategy Management: Logistics brings your event branding to life. Your team of event branding experts should have the experience and knowledge to design and implement the look and feel of your event or enhance an established event with annual location-specific updates. This goes for small or large, tradeshow or incentive, sales meeting or advisory/board meeting, or sponsored to series-model events. You should work directly with company meeting and event planners, project managers and marketing personnel to support their event branding, as well as with third-party corporate event planners and destination management companies who are planning events on behalf of their clients, so while the event planning and logistics experts are doing their thing, make sure your strategy is there to make sure the overall vision for your event brand is implemented according to plan.

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Companies should brand collaboratively and cohesively strategizes, defines and delivers the intention behind every event throughout all elements of engagement. You should start by defining the purpose and desired impact of your meeting or event, then deliver the overall communication and execution of branded elements to align with your event goals and affiliations, as well as the appreciation, recognition or accomplishments your event aims to communicate to your attendees. Your team should offers an all-encompassing, integrated model for event branding and strategy services with a commitment and passion for delivering quality pre-event and onsite support for your meeting or event. You should offer a variety of in-house event branding and strategy services, including creative direction, design, copywriting and message development for event theme identities, invitations, programs, signage, displays and collateral; merchandising for gifts, amenities, recognition, apparel and credentials; web presence and communications for event registration websites, social media and collateral; event-specific packaging and presentation; custom print and assembly; Owning onsite branded décor serves to a companys’ advantage, and fulfillment and direct/drop-shipping services—including onsite fulfillment and event support staffing. Branding your event proves extensive onsite event experience which should prepare you to track, organize and deliver event branding elements appropriately for greater ease on site. Working with event planner a digital strategist should have a comprehensive event branding and strategy services which allow, streamline, design, development, engagement and execution, while minimizing the risk for brand and intent dilution.

On-Site Branding and Promotions: If you are looking for a way to stand out from the crowd, drive traffic & create awareness?

This is a way to expand your brand and attract attention through On-Site Branding & Promotions and connect customers. These are some of the ideas companies can use as on-site branding and promotions: Gallery Window Clings, Floor Decals, Aisle Banner, Show Announcement, Entrance & Exit Sampling, Floor Plan highlights, and Cardboard Cutouts.

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Whether you’re designing a new logo to launch a business or modifying an existing one to rebrand and revitalize your corporate identity, the impact of this activity on your budget and timeline can be very significant. The layout below illustrates the types of advertising and marketing material that may be affect-

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ed by a new brand identity and some things to consider when having a company event. It’s a great checklist to help you bring your brand to life and to keep it living.

•

Corporate Identity & Tagline: Positioning & strategic development. Logo and Tagline development.

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Stationery: Business cards, Letterhead Electronic, printed, Envelope, Form templates, Invoice, fax cover sheet, memos, Email signature, PowerPoint template(s) and Presentation folder.

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Signage: Exterior Building, parking lot, Interior, Lobby, washroom, offices/boardroom, cafeteria, Truck graphics and Uniforms. Online Marketing: Website, Social media, Images & wallpaper, Banner ads, e-Newsletter templates.

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Advertising & Media: Brochures, Magazine/newspaper ads, Fact/spec sheets, Direct mail/coupons, Tent cards, Newsletters, Annual report, Billboards, Radio spots, TV spots and Video.

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Promotion: Tradeshow booth, Giveaways, Banners and POP displays.

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Packaging: Labels, Outer carton and User/owner’s manuals.

Sample Event Planning Activities: Picnics, Agency Events, Family and Special Event.

Planning an event shouldn’t be stressful, but it does take a good deal of time and hard work. Event planning requires attention to detail and good time management. With a solid event team, clear understanding of your resources and plenty of time, you are sure to enjoy the process of hosting an event on campus. If you are a seasoned event planner, you might find that using the requiredStudent Event Request as a planning tool and reminder checklist ahead of time will serve you well. Professional event planners often use outlines and checklists so they don’t forget important details. You will also need to review the specific Skidmore policies (many listed here).

If you are new to event planning or you are considering an initiative that pioneers new ground for you and your organi| 33

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zation, come talk with us. The professional staff in the Office of Leadership Activities have been planning, managing and advising events for years. We are here to help!

Event Planning Basics Below is a list of some of the key event planning points to consider. This list may not address every element of your particular creative project; it is just a place to get started. As your ideas begin to take shape, consider having a brainstorming session with the student programs event coordinator and remember that event planning is a perfect time to exercise your best team building and leadership skills, and your commitments to inclusiveness and green initiatives.

• Designing the event: What are your goals and visions for this event? Who will attend?

• Who is responsible for the event? Sponsors, co-sponsors and staffing • Event budgeting: Estimating your human and financial resources • Choosing a date and time for your event • Choosing a location for your event • Special considerations for outdoor events • Selecting, inviting, negotiating and contracting your entertainment (DJ/band/performer, etc.).

• Registering your event • Contingency plans: rain sites, snowstorms, rescheduling, etc.

• Food and beverages, catering and bartending • Lights, sound, projections • Furniture and room setups • Custodial, housekeeping services • Parking for your presenters and audience • Keeping your event safe and compliant • Thinking sustainable • Creating inclusive events • Decorations, costumes, props, prizes, etc.

• Printing tickets and creating your box office plan • Marketing and publicity

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Evaluate and report performance of marketing campaigns, employee and assess against goals.

How to measure the effectiveness of a Marketing Campaign: Different Types of marketing Campaigns: For most businesses, especially the larger ones, marketing is a fluid and constantly changing process that never stops. Many companies run several different types of marketing campaigns at once. There are two main schools of thought when it comes to the marketing strategy that you most likely will use; these have to do with inbound and outbound marketing theories.

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Outbound Marketing: This is a type of marketing strategy where your business tries to attract attention to their product or service by campaigns that go “out” into the marketplace in order to generate sales. Many consider this style of marketing to be old school since the dramatic rise in popularity of the internet and the World Wide Web. Here are some typical outbound marketing strategies: •

Direct mail;

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Outbound calling;

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TV, Print, Radio advertising;

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Public relations campaigns.

Inbound marketing: Long gone are the days of door to door salesman, and other types of outbound marketing are fading quickly too. Inbound marketing has taken over and is now proving to be much more effective than older style outbound marketing campaigns. Inbound marketing strategy is designed to lure customers to your business by such means as attracting people to your website or by the effective placement of ads on popular social media sites. This type of approach is much more subtle than outbound marketing in practice. Here are some typical inbound marketing strategies: •

Email marketing campaigns

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Website based contact (includes both web content and SEO);

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On-site/In-person interactions;

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Social media placement.

Plan the campaign and how you want to track it: This step is pretty self-explanatory. As with anything that you do that is related to your business or even to your life for that matter, it all needs to start with a well thought out and effective plan. Once the marketing campaign is planned, then next you must decide which methods you want to use to track its effectiveness. Define the channels you want track: To measure the success of your ad campaign, it’s easiest to do this when you divide your marketing derived traffic into 36 |

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subgroups that are more typically referred to as channels. Here are some of the most common types of channels and what they entail.

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Direct – These are potential customers that find your business in a direct manner without being directed there by other parties. An example of this is a person that saw your web address on a print add and typed it into their web browser to get information about your product or service.

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Referral – These are potential customers that find their way to your site via a third party that did not use a social media site or a search engine to get to you. Maybe your company will give the third party something like a referral bonus for this or you have a mutual agreement to have links to each other’s sites on your individual websites.

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Organic – This is people that find your company through search engine such as Google. They generally were looking for a type of product or service your company offers, but they were not specifically looking for your company. Many times there will be a UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameter that is set up to help them find you.

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E-mail – These potential customers are people that came to you through such things as an e-mail campaign that you put on. Many get to you by using a ‘utm_medium’ with the words email or e-mail in it.

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Paid – These are potential customers that came to you as a result of an ad campaign that you paid for such as a print ad in a newspaper or an ad on a web content site.

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Social – These are people that found you while surfing through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. There are hundreds of websites which fall into this category.

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None – This is a catch-all category (it does not necessarily have to be called “none”) that all the people who find you through other channels than those mentioned above are placed.

Define the Marketing Metrics You Want to Measure: Like any responsible company does, you will want to measure the return on investment you are getting from your marketing campaigns, and one of the best ways to do this is through marketing met| 37

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rics. Marketing metrics are simply a collection of numerical data that allows you to get some perspective on a marketing campaign to see if it met the goals your company set for it.

There are several different ways you can generate data with which to form a specific metric. Here are a few ways in which this can be done:

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Web content – This is the study of how effective what you place on your website is at both informing the people who visit the site and getting them to take some action as a result; this shows that the quality of the content actually was good enough that those people followed along all the way to the actionable task you set.

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Lead conversion – This is gathering data on people from the first time they come into contact with your marketing strategy and then follows them all the way through the different stages of the lead generation process. This includes the initial contact, then on to being a sales prospect and all the way to becoming an actual customer. This metric will track where you lost potential customers in the lead process and help you develop theories as to why.

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Individual visitors – This is data that tracks when an individual user first visits your website during a specific period of time and how many times that same person came back to visit it again. This metric lets you see how effective each phase of a specific marketing plan was.

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Tracking new visitors versus returning one’s – This metric helps you to establish how effective new site content drives traffic to your website. This is one method that is not easy to get accurate. It is sometimes best done by actually asking the people who visit your website why they came there the first time or what it was that peaked their interest to make them come again.

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Click through rate (CTR) – This most likely will include a web page on your site that has an action that needs to be performed in order for the viewer to proceed along further in an information gathering or sales process. It will measure such things as how many people visited the webpage and went no further or how many people visited the web page

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and initiated the actionable step.

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Bounce rate – This is the metric that causes many marketers or web content developers to lose their job or get demoted. It is compiled data on how many viewers go to one of your web pages and then leave without visiting anything else or taking any actionable steps.

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Page views – This metric measures a number of pages each visitor to your site looks at. You can also do such things with it as learn how much time a visitor spent on a webpage to get a feel for which ones were appealing to them. The more times a page was viewed, and the longer people viewed it could help you measure a marketing campaign’s success even if no action was performed by the user

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Search engine referrals – Many search providers such as Google have special ways to track what keywords people used that landed them on your site and which search engines directed those same people to you (Google has a tool called ‘Google Analytics’ to do this).

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Social media effectiveness – You can use such things as ‘likes’ on Facebook and ‘mentions’ on Twitter to measure the effectiveness of your advertising there. There are also other tools built into social media sites for tracking purposes too.

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Word-of-mouth – Maybe the age of the door to door salesman has come to an end but never overlook direct customer feedback when establishing the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. Some ways in which consumers were led to becoming customers of your product or service will never be known unless you ask them. You can do this by using such things as a follow-up surveys or asking a question on the purchasing form.

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Form conversion rate – A lot of marketers have their web designers put actual forms onto web pages that have some call to action on them. These could seek more information or get them a discount coupon. These types of things are very easy to track and accumulate data for metrics.

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E-mail Openings – This metric simply measures how many e-mails were opened based on how many you sent in a particular marketing campaign. | 39

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Measuring Your Campaigns: Once you have done the planning for how you will track and measure your marketing campaign as well as set the parameters for it, and then it is time for the actual tracking to take place once your campaign has gone into effect.

• Measuring your “search” marketing performance – Google Analytics is very necessary to measure traffic and other data that has to do with the traffic pertaining to your website, but it alone is not enough anymore. Here are some other things that pertain to search functions that are very relevant to marketing strategy.

1.

SEO Position – For years many businesses have been obsessed with site ranking but that is starting to change as search engines like Google are constantly changing the way searches are done when using them. But make no mistake about it; SEO ranking is still very important.

2.

Pay-per-click ads – This is best done by what is known as ‘Dynamic Number Insertion’. It is a code that is imbedded into a webpage that will help you to track conversions from all of your tracking resources.

• Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Social Media Marketing – All of the major social media sites have built-in analytics that helps you track the effectiveness of your posts and other messages that you put on them.

• Measuring Print Ads and Other Media – This is done by making a dedicated webpage on your site that can only be linked out of so you know what the source for those links are.

Setting up tracking URL’s is also a good way of doing this type of thing.

Tools for measuring the effectiveness of Marketing Campaigns: Here are some examples of the most popular tools that can help you track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

Google Analytics: Improve the customer experience with digital analytics. Google Analytics gives you the digital analytics tools you need to analyze data from all touchpoints in one place, for a deeper understanding of the customer experience. You can then share the insights that matter with your whole organization.

Build a complete picture. Understand your site and app users to 40 |

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better evaluate the performance of your content, products, and more. Get insight only Google can give you. Access Google’s proprietary audience data and machine learning capabilities to help get the most out of your data. Connect your digital analytics to results. Google Analytics is built to work with Google’s media and publisher products so you can use your digital analytics insights to drive real impact. Make your digital analytics data work for you. Process and share massive amounts of data quickly with an easy-to-use interface combined with shareable reports.

Marketo: Build credibility by showing the impact of your marketing effort. Focus Investment Where It Has The Most Impact: Identify which channels and campaigns deliver the most revenue and highest marketing ROI so you can put your resources where they will have the most impact. Share Progress With Reports And Dashboards: Easily create visual reports and dashboards using our intuitive, drag-and-drop interface or customize one of our out-of-the-box reports…marketing analytics tools built for marketers like you. Tie Revenue To The Campaigns That Create It: Show how your marketing campaigns influence sales at every stage of the customer journey. Now you can finally tie revenue directly to the campaigns that generate it, proving the impact of marketing to management and other key decision-makers in your organization. Map And Measure Your Customer Journey: Understand your customer journey and measure key performance metrics across each stage. Use the customer journey to inform your overall marketing strategy and trigger the right messages at the right time, as individuals progress from stage to stage. Take Your Marketing Analytics On The Go: Keep your finger on the pulse of your marketing campaigns, anywhere, anytime, with the Marketo Moments mobile app. See what matters most the moment you open the app. Definitive Guide to Marketing Metrics & Analytics Designed for marketing professionals like you, this guide shows you how to use ROI reporting and forecasting to get buy-in from your C-level executives.

Another goal of a performance evaluation system are to provide an equitable measurement of an employee’s contribution to the workforce, produce accurate appraisal documentation to protect both the employee and employer, and obtain a high level of quality and quantity in the work produced. To create a performance evaluation system in your practice, follow these five steps: | 41

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Develop an evaluation form: Performance evaluations should be conducted fairly, consistently and objectively to protect your employees’ interests and to protect your practice from legal liability. One way to ensure consistency is to use a standard evaluation form for each evaluation. The form you use should focus only on the essential job performance areas. Limiting these areas of focus makes the assessment more meaningful and relevant and allows you and the employee to address the issues that matter most. You don’t need to cover every detail of an employee’s performance in an evaluation. For most staff positions, the job performance areas that should be included on a performance evaluation form are job knowledge and skills, quality of work, quantity of work, work habits and attitude. In each area, the appraiser should have a range of descriptors to choose from (e.g., far below requirements, below requirements, meets requirements, exceeds requirements, far exceeds requirements). Depending on how specific the descriptors are, it’s often important that the appraiser also have space on the form to provide the reasoning behind his or her rating.

Identify performance measures: Standard performance measures, which allow you to evaluate an employee’s job performance objectively, can cut down on the amount of time and stress involved in filling out the evaluation form. Although developing these measures can be one of the more time-consuming parts of creating a performance evaluation system, it’s also one of the most powerful.

If you have current job descriptions for each position in your practice, you’ve already taken the first step toward creating standard performance measures, which are essentially specific quantity and quality goals attached to the tasks listed in a job description. A job description alone can serve as a measurement tool during an evaluation if, for example, you’re assessing whether an employee’s skills match the requirements of the position. But standard performance measures take the job description one step further. For example, one task listed in a receptionist’s job description might be entering new and updated patient registrations into the computer. The standard performance measure for that task might be to enter 6 to 12 registrations per day (quantity) with an error rate of less than 2 percent (quality).

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Set guidelines for feedback: Feedback is what performance evaluations are all about. So before you implement your per-

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formance evaluation system, make sure that everyone who will be conducting evaluations knows what kind of feedback to give, how to give it and how to get it from the employee in return.

Give balanced feedback. Don’t make the common error of glossing over an employee’s deficiencies and focusing only on his or her strengths. It is by understanding their weaknesses that employees can take ownership of their performance and role in the practice. And when given the support they need to make improvements in these areas, employees learn to take pride in their work and are willing to take on new challenges with confidence.

Outline expectations for improvement. When you address areas where improvement is needed, outline your expectations for improvement and how you intend to help the employee meet them. For example, if an employee is speaking harshly with other employees and does not seem tolerant with patients, give the employee some examples of his or her behavior and offer some suggestions to resolve the problem, such as role-playing sessions or a communication skills/customer-service workshop or seminar. Define the boundaries by letting the employee know what is acceptable and what will not be tolerated, and then establish a plan for monitoring performance and re-evaluating the employee.

Encourage feedback from the employee. After you’ve discussed the results of the evaluation with the employee, encourage him or her to give you some nondefensive feedback. Ask the employee whether he or she agrees with your assessment, and/or invite suggestions for improvement. For example: “You seem to become impatient and short with patients when the physician is running late. Since there are times when running late cannot be avoided, how do you suggest we handle this to avoid such a reaction?” This should lead to an open exchange of information that will allow you and the employee to better understand each other’s perspective.

Create disciplinary and termination procedures: Create disciplinary and termination procedures. In some cases, even after a thorough performance evaluation and a discussion of expected improvements, an employee will continue to perform poorly.

You need to be prepared to handle such a situation by having well-defined, written disciplinary and termination procedures in place. These procedures should outline the actions that will | 43

Marketing & Digital Strategy

be taken when performance deteriorates – a verbal warning, a written warning if there is no improvement or a recurrence, and termination if the situation is not ultimately resolved.

Verbal warning. This should be given in private, with the behavior or reason for the discipline clearly stated. For example: “I observed you talking disrespectfully to another employee at the front desk. You said she was brain-dead and tossed a chart at her. We will not tolerate disrespect in the work-place. Furthermore, this outburst could be overheard from the reception room. If this occurs again, a report will be written up and placed in your file. Do you understand the importance of this?” After the verbal warning is given, allow the employee to respond, but keep the exchange brief.

Written warning. How you handle the written warning plays a critical role in the success of your disciplinary and termination procedures. This is the time to make it clear to the employee just how serious his or her performance problem is. Unfortunately, many practices fail to do this and/or to follow through with termination if necessary. Once the written warning is mishandled in this way, it no longer has any merit. A standard, written, warning form should include the following:

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•

A description of the behavior or problem that includes objective findings,

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The measurable actions and changes expected of the employee,

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The support the employer will provide for improvement,

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A description of what will occur (e.g., unpaid time off or termination) and when (e.g., after one more occurrence or two) if the warning is not heeded,

•

The signature of the employee and appraiser and the date of the warning.

Set an evaluation schedule: Once you’ve built your performance evaluation system – the evaluation form, the performance measures, the feedback guidelines and the disciplinary procedures – you just need to decide when to conduct the performance evaluations. Some practices do all employee

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evaluations at the same time of year, while others conduct them within 30 days of each employee’s anniversary of employment (the latter may work better since it spreads the work of the evaluations out for employer and employee). However you decide to schedule the evaluations, ensure that each appraiser consistently meets the deadline. Ignoring employees’ overdue evaluations will make them feel devalued and may hurt morale and performance. Analysis: A performance evaluation system should be a key component of your practice structure. When implemented effectively, it ensures fairness and accountability, promotes growth and development and encourages a sense of pride in your employees’ contributions to the practice.

It is also advisable to run the finished system by your legal team to identify any potential legal problems that should be fixed. Key Points: A performance evaluation system can motivate staff to do their best for themselves and the practice by promoting staff recognition and improving communication.

Evaluations should be conducted fairly, consistently and objectively to protect your employees and your practice. An effective performance evaluation system has standardized evaluation forms, performance measures, feedback guidelines and disciplinary procedures.

Using analytics: Analytics helps you measure how much of your mission statement is accomplished. A good business has its own missions statement, which is a set of values presented to their consumers either as a marketing plan or as basis of checking in on their own development. Many businesses retain or promote employees using the values in their mission statements as guidelines. Although this is helpful in determining who helps your company succeed, it isn’t strategic enough to leave it at that.

Values must also be quantified and expressed in a tangible way such as generating more profit for the company.

Quantified values can help the business improve their analytical process because it defines a common goal that should be followed by everyone involved in the business. When these values are quantified, they will be evaluated by the employees in order to gain a clearer view of what is expected from them. The more informed they are, the more productive they will become.

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Analytics Encourages Smart Decision-Making: Accessibility to important data gives companies the power to make accurate decisions that could leverage businesses. Not only does it provide useful data, it also allows companies to make decisions faster and more efficiently than before.

Companies can maximize the use of analytics when they

share the discussion to as many employees as needed.

Ever heard of the saying “two heads are better than one?”

A group is usually able to analyze data better and reach objective and informed decisions compared to just one person.

Analytics Provides Clearer Insights Through Data Visualization: Recent versions of analytics care about how you present your data to your analytics team. Comprehensive charts and graphs can be used to make sure that decision-making is more interesting. Through visual representations of extracted data, relevant and useful insights can be extracted in a much clearer way. With analytics’ data visualization, information that you need about your market is there on your table, presented in a visually appealing and organized manner.

Analytics Keep You Updated: Modern consumers change their mind easily as fads come and go, and they are easily swayed by “better” offers. Analytics can give you insight about how your target market thinks and acts. You will be prompted to be dynamic at all times to serve the needs of your ever-changing consumers. Changes in the industry can occur at a very rapid pace. It is not unusual to see larger companies being devoured by promising start-ups.

Protect your business from unpredictability with analytics so that you may be able to innovate and pre-empt your products according to your consumer’s needs and preferences.

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Analytics Offer Efficiency: Efficiency for businesses has been improving since the advent of business analytics.

With the ability to gather a large amount of data at a fast rate and present it in a visually appealing way, companies

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can now formulate decisions to help achieve specified goals. Analytics encourages a company culture of efficiency and teamwork where employees are able to express their insights and share in the decision-making process.

Analytics also provides companies with better choices on such matters like where to take the business as well as determining the steps needed to achieve new goals.

Stats Overview: Descriptive statistics can be used to summarize the population data. ... To still draw meaningful conclusions about the entire population, inferential statistics is needed. It uses patterns in the sample data to draw inferences about the population represented, accounting for randomness. Statistics, quite simply, is about learning from sample data. You face a group of individuals – perhaps people, but maybe cans of tomatoes, or automobiles, or fish in a lake, or even something as nebulous as calendar weeks. This group is the population of interest to you. There is something you would like to know about this population: How likely are the people to try a new product you are thinking of bringing to the market? Are the cans properly sealed? What determines the cost of keeping the cars in working condition? How many fish are there? What will demand for your product be in the weeks to come?

The answer to your question will guide you in making a decision.

If you could simply collect data from all the members of your population, you would know what you need to know.

However, there can be many reasons why this might not be possible. It might be too expensive: If the potential purchasers of your product are all the adult consumers in the United States, the sheer size of the population makes contacting every individual prohibitively costly. It may be that collecting data does direct damage: If you open all the cans of tomatoes to test the contents, you have nothing left to sell. More subtly, the population is often somewhat ill-defined. If you manage a fleet of automobiles, you might consider the population of interest to be cars actually in your fleet in recent months, together with | 47

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cars potentially in your fleet in the near future. In this case, some members of the population are not directly accessible to you.

For any of these reasons, you might find yourself unable to examine all members of the population directly. So, you content yourself with collecting data from a sample of individuals drawn from the population. Your hope is that the sample is representative of the population as a whole, and therefore anything learned from the sample will give you information concerning the entire population, and will consequently help you make your decisions.

How Does Statistics Work?: All statistical studies are carried out by following some statistical procedure, and every statistical procedure has three elements: You must specify how the sample data will be collected and how much data will be collected, and what you’ll do with the data once it’s in hand.

As a simple example, consider the following estimation procedure: An individual will be selected at random from the population, with every member of the population having an equal chance to be chosen. Relevant information will be obtained from the selected individual, who then will be returned to the population. (This method of selecting individuals is known as simple random sampling with replacement.) The process described above will be repeated 20 times. Assume, for purposes of this example, that the individuals are people, and that we obtain from each sampled individual his or her gross income over the previous twelve months. We will then average the twenty observations, and use this average (the sample mean) as an estimate of the average across all members of the population (the population mean). If you were facing a decision problem in which the “best” decision depended on the population mean income, you might now use your estimate to guide your decision.

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What is the Principle Focus of Statistics?: In the example above, the estimate we obtain might – if we are incredibly lucky – be precisely equal to the population mean.

However, it will probably be the case that the sample is not perfectly representative of the population, and our sample mean is somewhat different from the true population mean. The possibility that the sample might fail to be perfectly representative is called exposure to sampling error. How far off is our estimate from the truth? Using only the data at hand, we can’t say. (If we could, we’d simply correct the estimate!) Instead, we focus our attention on the procedure used to make the estimate, and we determine how exposed to sampling error we were in using that procedure. Dive down to see how this is done.

Posts: A blog post is the most important part of your blog.

Your posts are the entries that take up at least 75% of the screen space on your blog’s site. Blog posts appear in reverse chronological order, so your blog stays timely, fresh and meaningful to visitors. It’s your current content (in the form of blog posts) that will keep readers coming back to your blog again and again to read what you have to say about your blog’s topic. The Blog Post Title: The title of your post is basically a headline. It is meant to lure readers in and entice them to read more. At the same time, blog titles are a useful tool in terms of search engine optimization. Search engines value titles strongly in ranking results and using popular keywords in your blog titles can help drive traffic to your blog. Just be careful to use keywords that are relevant to your blog post’s content else your title could be considered spam by search engines and negatively affect the traffic sent to your blog. Blog Post Publication Date: Since blogs are most successful when they are updated frequently and provide timely content, readers will check the publication dates of your posts to determine the value of your blog. Blog posts that are published erratically with long gaps of time between posts are typically considered to be less valuable than blogs that offer more current and consistent posts. | 49

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Images in Blog Posts: Images provide more than just color and visual relief from text-heavy web pages on a blog.

They also act as another way you can drive traffic to your blog. Many people perform keyword searches through search engines for the purpose of finding images and pictures online. By strategically naming the images you use in your blog posts to match relevant keyword searches, you can drive some of that image search traffic to your blog. Just make sure the images you use to enhance your blog rather than detract from your blog and confuse your readers.

Links and Trackbacks in Blog Posts: Most blog posts include links within the content of the post. Those links are used for two purposes. First, links are used to cite an original source of information or an idea used in a blog post or to provide additional information beyond the scope of your post. Second, they provide a breadcrumb trail and a tap on the shoulder to bloggers whose posts you are linking to in the form of a trackback. A trackback generates a link on the blog you’re linking to in your post, which acts as an additional source of traffic to your blog as readers on that blog are likely to click on the trackback link and find your blog.

Blog Post Comment Section: Aside from your blog post content, blog comments are the most important part of your blog. Comments are where your readers have an opportunity to join the conversation. It’s essential to the success of your blog that you respond to the comments left by your readers to show you value them and to further build the two-way conversation on your blog and the sense of community your blog creates.

Traffic Sources: In Web analytics, including Google Analytics, traffic sources is a report that provides an overview of the different kinds of sources that send traffic to your Web site, for example direct traffic (clicks from bookmarks or visitors who know your URL) or Web search engines. ...

This will include organic and paid traffic. Google AdWords 50 |

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are an old-school paid traffic source that still offers huge potential rewards, though the cost per click is often high.

The basic concept is that you choose keywords that you think your potential customers will search, and you bid on putting your ad as one of the sponsored search results at the top of the page. Of course, AdWords has gotten way more sophisticated as the online advertising world has evolved. Now you can use dynamic search ads, a feature that customizes your ads based on what’s on your website and what people are searching without having to fiddle with your list of keywords all the time. AdWords also offers the ability to make bid adjustments by device, target users by geographic area or demographic group, and retarget people who have engaged with your website before. The more specifically you can target your AdWords, the higher chance you have of success. Figuring out exactly which little slices of humanity work best for your brand takes experimentation, so keep detailed records of which changes produced good results. Google also offers display ads on their Google Display Network. Display ads get a bad rap these days, and for good reason.

Facebook Ads: 95.8% of social media managers surveyed said Facebook ads gave them the best ROI of any social platform. Facebook advertising is a must for anyone paying for traffic. But Facebook has LOTS of options, and they’re changing constantly. Do you want to put your ad in newsfeeds, on Instagram, messenger, or in the audience network? Do you want to target by place, age, interest, or find prospects similar to a group you know already works using lookalike audiences? Do you want to use text, images, video, slideshows, or collections? The upside of Facebook is that it’s possible to reach exactly who you want in exactly the way you want to reach them (sometimes, hilarity ensues). You can create static or dynamic campaigns, small or big campaigns, retargeting campaigns, campaigns with a huge spend or campaigns with a tiny spend. There’s Facebook lead ads, which makes it super easy for people to give you their information. Link ads, that send people to your website. Or ads that contain in-Facebook product

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catalogs that do automatic retargeting. It’s a lot to learn, but it’s also easy to get started. This is a great way to stay on top of best practices, and there are tons of tools that can help you optimize your campaign without having to become a total expert.

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Outbrain Amplify For Advertisers: Amplify works differently than AdWords or Facebook ads, in that we don’t do ads. Instead, we provide the platform where you put a link to your awesome content. This is where you start the relationship with your potential customer, bringing them down the funnel by providing nothing but valuable, useful, funny, and endearing content. Similar to Facebook and AdWords, Amplify offers a cost-per-click bidding system, the ability to test multiple headlines directed to the same content, device targeting, geographic targeting, lookalike audiences, and custom audiences, our retargeting tool.

Their premium network of publishers ensures that you’re always getting traffic from high-quality sources. More importantly, though, the algorithms behind our content discovery platform are constantly working to find the most engaged audience for your content. The people who click our content recommendations are far more engaged than people who come from search or social, according to this analysis from 2016: For those of you in the B2B market, LinkedIn’s native ads could be a great paid traffic source.

You can target people who have visited your website; target by contact or account; or by title, industry, demographics, or geography. Their options are a display ad, a sponsored post in people’s feeds, or InMail ads. They offer a pre-filled contact form similar to Facebook’s lead ads, but really the most exciting thing about LinkedIn is the ability to pinpoint-target people by their business information and to reach them in the “walled garden” of LinkedIn. Similar to the way that discovery has lower bounce rates than social because people are in “content consumption” mode, when users are inside of LinkedIn they’re in “professional” mode and will view ads and read content with a different mindset. That could be very powerful for the right advertiser: according to marketingland, the best can-

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didates for LinkedIn ads are high-value B2B products and services, recruiters, and higher ed. However, LinkedIn’s network is priced on a cost-per-click and it’s pretty expensive. This platform is inexpensive and easy to use. Twitter is interesting because if you’re good at it, you should be able to generate tons of organic (read: free) interactions, but at the same time, people can be very wary of brands co-opting what they see as part of Twitter’s culture. Offensive or ill-timed tweets can also blow up in a careless social media manager’s face. “Good at” twitter means more than just able to make conversions or generate retweets, it means an understanding of and sensitivity to the medium. If you are good at Twitter, though, the payoff is huge: 94% of customers plan to purchase something from a small or medium-sized business they follow, and 69% bought something because of something they saw on Twitter. So is it worth it to pay to advertise on Twitter?

With those numbers, it’s definitely worth a try. You can pay to promote a single tweet, an account, or a trend, and either pay per click, follow video view, impression, engagement, app install, or lead. You design a campaign around the objective and type of promotion, then you can cut up the audience by geography, income, gender, phone carrier, or interest. For “interests,” you can get as granular as keywords like specific TV shows or movies. Twitter has a fairly high CPC, so make sure anything you promote has a strong CTA and think hard about your goals before you create a campaign. If you’re generating leads and conversions, great, if you’re just paying for followers, you might be able to do that with better free content.

Audience: Set up an audience source - Audience sources is where you add first-party data sources to your account using the new AdWords experience. These first-party party data sources can be used to create remarketing lists and reach people who’ve visited your website, used your app, watched your video, or shared their information with you. The Benefits includes a the ability to set up or link audience sources to unlock the power of remarketing.

Manage, monitor, and troubleshoot your audience sourc-

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es. View the tag hits, active parameters, and audience lists created from each audience source. Choose an audience source: Most audience sources require you to link your AdWords account with the source’s account.

Assist with marketing plan development and execution.

Companies focus on market strategy development and execution when looking to expand their total addressable market or market a new use for an existing product.

Knowing your market is just as important as knowing your organization. It is important for growing businesses to draft a compelling market development strategy, as part of a comprehensive strategy development and execution process, and to create goals and objectives to implement the strategy so that company growth and revenue do not stagnate.

Target Customer: It is important to identify the target customer first, because they are the direct source of revenue. Without identifying the source of revenue, the rest of the strategy cannot move forward. It is common for most businesses to have more than one target customer. Try to think of as many viable target customers as you can.

Reasons to Buy: New enterprises often begin because an entrepreneur saw a gap in the market and a demand for the product. Other times, savvy business executives have to create a need for a product they feel passionately about, thus the need for a market development strategy.

Once you have identified your target customer, write down compelling reasons they should buy the product.

These could include core business processes or issues the product solves, or assisting the business in generating better value or production quality.

Whole Product: If your business sells only one product, write that product down. This is your “whole” product. If you are a business that has multiple products, then you should think of ways and reasons to sell as many products 54 |

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to your target customer as possible. The “whole product” should be a bundle of all the products and services you are aiming to sell to each target customer.

Distribution: How will you get your product to market?

The distribution element identifies which markets and venues will be best for sales, and which vendors and companies are your “allies” when it comes to getting your product to target customers. Will you use direct or indirect sales? How much interaction will you have with each target customer?

Competition: Identifying your competition is also important when drafting distribution ideas for your market development strategy. You should write who is your most direct competition with each target customer, but not make them the sole focus. You need to be aware of competitors in your industry, but your main objective should never be to “beat the competition.”

Positioning: It is important to identify competition because then you have a better idea of how to present your product to the target customer. Why is your product the better choice? What advantages can your product give over the others? Product positioning should aim to answer the question: “What makes you different?”

Start with the end result: This is one of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in the famous Stephen Covey ‘s bestseller. In its most basic form, it refers to always having the image of the end of your life as your frame of reference to evaluate everything else. It’s about starting things with a clear idea of your destination, so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. If you have to be busy, at least you should be doing what’s important to you.

It’s based on the principle that things are created twice.

First creation is in your mind and the second is in physical reality. Studies of our Reticular Activating System suggest that when we visualize our goals and are conscious about

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them, our full energy and personal talents are activated in order to develop them effectively.

Today, this powerful concept is used in many contexts and areas of our lives: leadership, entrepreneurship, project management, sports competition, personal productivity…

Coaches teach elite athletes to imagine the successful result of an event before they start competing. If you’re sure about how to complete a project, you’ll be able to plan it efficiently, you’ll be able to better communicate its purpose to the people involved, you’ll be able to accurately measure its success upon completion and, above all, you’ll have the proper motivation to tackle it.

Account for quality: Why You Should Track Account-Level Quality Score - The Quality Score of your AdWords account is a useful gauge to monitor how good Google thinks your optimizations are. Rather than tracking the QS of every keyword in an account, which is not only tedious but also not very useful when an optimization includes new keywords and removes others, you can roll up the keyword-level data into an account-level number. Then, when you want to know if your account is headed in the right direction, the account-level QS number can provide the answer.

Create A Historical Quality Score Report: The Problem is if you’re going to try to improve Quality Score (QS) in an account, there are two things you’ll need that AdWords reports don’t give you: a way to monitor progress and a way to prioritize which keywords, ads, and ad groups to prioritize. Normally, when tackling this type of problem, it involves a lot of manually created pivot tables. The Solution is to Build an AdWords Script that steps through every keyword in the account and collects the data about QS and impressions. (Side note: if an account has too many keywords and causes the script to time out, limit it to look at only the highest volume campaigns.) Once you have all the keyword data, use it to calculate impression-weighted QS values for each ad group as well as the account-lev56 |

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el QS. Here’s a simple example of the math to get the weighted QS of an ad group: determine what percentage of an ad group’s impressions go to each keyword and then multiply this by that keyword’s QS. Add up all the weighted QS numbers to get the ad group level QS. Assign task to individual: Assigning Individual Roles and its Effect on the Cooperative Learning Setting Many teachers start their careers with a toolkit full of new and interesting teaching methods with the intention of testing and successfully applying each one. At some point though, these new teachers discover that their toolkit of methods, while in theory sound fantastic, frequently fall apart in practice. One such teaching method that seldom lives up to its Theoretical potential is cooperative learning. It is a well researched topic, extensively written about and has had proven success in the classroom setting.

However, it is a tool many teachers struggle to implement successfully in their classroom. Arranging students into groups, having them work well together and finally to submit a quality product may sound easy but in all actuality can be met with many obstacles. It is a method teachers try and when it is unsuccessful they give up rather quickly.

It seems much easier for teachers to keep the students working individually and to be focused on the teacher than it is to handle them in groups working together.

However, cooperative learning has so many benefits it really is a method deserving of a second chance. There are many ways cooperative learning can go wrong and so the problem is not always the method but the teachers not fully understanding how to implement it correctly. One of the most common mistakes is putting the students into assigned groups but not really giving each student a job.

At this point the strong students might vie for the lead position in the group while the quieter students sit back and try to do the work independently, thus creating a very uncooperative group. Students need the extra structure assigning a role provides in order to work towards a common goal. This book looks at whether assigning roles

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in a cooperative learning group can benefit the overall atmosphere of the group setting and improve the chances for student success. Monitor for frequency and remember, timing is everything.

What to look for in an execution insights.

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Platform: If you want to drive execution management and strategy development to new heights, you need technology that will provide you with the tools, resources, and automation required to keep your highest achievers on track.

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Built-in tools that elevate strategy development and broaden the collective thinking of the organization.

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Tools that allow your team to provide and aggregate individual, frontline input regarding organization issues.

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A best-of-breed planning methodology that ensures your plan contains clear actions and measurable objectives,

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Balanced scorecard creation and tracking to ensure you remain focused on the big picture.

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Tracking and monitoring of key performance indicators.

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Assignment and escalation capabilities of every piece of your plan.

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Dashboards, scorecards, and trend lines for your plans, balanced scorecard, and KPIs.

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Robust, built-in reporting.

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Individual and unique user views that allow your team to see their specific assignments.

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Easy updating and tracking to ensure compliance.

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Ability to upload and link documentation to specific plan items.

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Automatic plan modeling and forecasting, including revenue, cost-savings and cost-of-plan projections.

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Automated email reminders, alerts, notifications, and escalations.

Create and design all marketing collaterals both print and digital.

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Brochures, Printed materials, Pamphlets, Guides and promotional flyers,

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Sales Presentations: Visual aids for use in sales presentations including slides, images and videos.

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Web Content: Content that allows customers to do their own research into your products and services.

Sales collateral is targeted to customers who are close to a purchase decision and often offers more data and details than other marketing content such as advertising.

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Sales Scripts: A collection of presentation outlines or pitches that have been successful or that are designed by top sellers on your sales team.

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Demonstration Scripts: Scripts for walking a customer through your products. Particularly important for complex products and services such as software.

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Product Data Sheets: A product data sheet provides commonly requested product information in an easy to consume layout such as a table. In many cases, customers will compare products on data points and will exclude products that are difficult to research.

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Product White Papers: Detailed reports that cover a complex topic in your industry. As the name suggests, they tend to be filled with text as opposed to glossy marketing images. In most cases, white papers discuss a problem space addressed by your products.

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Plan, produce and execute the creation of both scripted and unscripted video productions (pre-production, production and post-production) includes shooting, editing and posting to website and social media platforms for the purpose of training & education, conveyance of agency-wide initiatives, documenting agency events and advertisements of our services.

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Produce items such as commercials, films, short documentaries, audio messages and videos in various formats.

Working with others to select a video topic, script writing, set building and casting in addition to coordinating studio time and other scheduling concerns. Choose titles, music, animation and narration; edit and arrange video; and develop program material. Computer software editing programs and video equipment such as cameras, microphones and lighting. Software include Final Cut Pro, AVID, After-Effects and Photoshop.

Digital and online media have become more prevalent in recent years as Internet and Web-based media has increased. Media production should follow developments in the media production industry, and make recommendations for purchasing new equipment.

Work closely with outside vendors for printing and digital projects. The outsider vendor for printing will need: Before you send the job to the printer, you will need to •

confirm quantity, size, paper, inks, other specifications such as folding;

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confirm in what electronic format the printer requires files to be prepared; and

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provide delivery instructions, including a contact person and phone number for each delivery location.

Proofs, Press Checks, Delivery inspections.

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Before your job actually runs on press, the printer will provide a printer’s proof that is the closest possible representation of the final product. (Note that for print advertisements, you will not get a proof from the media in which your ad will appear; so be extra careful to review your ad for accuracy before releasing it to a newspaper, magazine, or other media.)

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Review the printer’s proof carefully—this is your last opportunity to spot errors before your press run.

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•

Corrections made at this stage are generally quite expensive, however, so limit changes to egregious errors.

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For complex projects with critical color elements or complex production, send a production specialist to the press run for a press check.

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Inspect samples upon delivery to confirm the job was produced to your specifications.

Think Distribution Early On •

Have your distribution plan in place before your publication is completed.

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If your piece is to be mailed, you’ll need mailing lists, labels, etc.

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Some printers manage “fulfillment,” i.e., they handle the mailing for you.

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You will need to considered whether your publication is a self-mailer with a mailing panel or if it will require an envelope.

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It’s important to check United States Postal Service postal regulations early in the production process to be sure your piece meets requirements and will not incur extra charges due to odd size, weight, etc.

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Rutgers Mail Services is another good source of information on mailing and distribution.

Print Professional Services and Projects Some vendors offer full-service assistance, while others may handle just one or several phases of print production. Sample outside vendors:

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Catering

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Event Planning

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Promotional Company

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Other Agencies

Maintain and catalog image and video library: Cloud Cataloging is Here Libib is a website & app that catalogs books, movies, music, and video games. Create & Share Your Collection. Our library management service caters to both home and small organizational libraries. Our online software lets you create multiple libraries, catalog books, movies, music, and video games, lets you create tags, leave notes, import/export, and much more. We offer two different subscription options to best fit your needs. Libib is the best system for cataloging your media available online. Now which version is the best for you? Whether you have 50 items or 5,000 items, your library is precious.

With libib, managing your private library of books, movies, music & video games is a snap. Scan, search, enter an ISBN/UPC, or import items in bulk from a CSV file and libib automatically retrieves that item’s cover art and all pertinent information.

Post, discuss, and follow your friends and discover with libib!

Create up to 100 different libraries! Interested in more power? We have the perfect solution. Libib Pro takes the fantastic core-features of Libib Standard and adds plenty of goodies until you have a high powered library management system at your finger tips. Lending, multi-user management, patron management, brilliant design, interactive OPAC, kiosk systems, premium meta, full control over data and your library is instantly taken to the next level.

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Creative

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Editorial

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Events

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Activities

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News

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Archival images

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Assist in content creation and development for marketing collateral pieces. •

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Create content such as emails, social media messages, blogs and ebooks.

Convert Long Form Content to Slides: Presentations are great for readers who need a little more time to di gest big ger pieces of content. They also let you introduce your business in a more visually appealing way. Break your content into slides and share your professional presentations with these tools.

SlideShare: LinkedIn’s SlideShare gives you a platform to build, upload, and edit presentation decks and share them on social media. The list of sharing sites includes Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and of course LinkedIn. Email, links, WordPress shortcodes, and iframe embedding are also available to share your work.

SlideBoom can convert your PowerPoint presentations to Flash so you can share them with colleagues, prospects, and customers. As private or public, SlideBoom lets you share your presentations with just the right audience.

Prezi is available for your desktop or as an online editor. It makes creating an effective presentation a snap. Browse the knowledge base or upload your own presentations. You can add animations and share your content on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Cost: Public accounts are free and will be viewable, searchable, and reusable. Pro accounts run from $5-$20 per month.

Present Your Business on Video: Video is perhaps the most important medium for sharing and presenting content online. YouTube is the top dog with over 1 billion unique users each month, but other top video-sharing services look to take some of the market share. Could your bustling business benefit from these top online video tools?

PowToon features a user-friendly presentation

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interface and minimalist design. You can use it to create branded video and share it with prospects and customers. Cost: Free and paid versions available

Magisto lets you synchronize audio and visual aspects to make an emotional connection with the viewer.

Share your videos on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, or your own blog. Cost: Free and paid versions available

WeVideo: With WeVideo, you get worry-free cloud access to your media, Ken Burns-style animations, voiceover capabilities, and a library of licensed music to make video editing stress-free. Sharing capabilities include Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, and YouTube. Cost: Free and paid versions available

Wideo works in tandem with your marketing strategy to create videos in minutes. You can create professional videos online and share them on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. If you prefer to have Wideo create your video, graphic designers are on hand to assist with your marketing needs. Cost: Free and paid versions available Share Your Video Content: Once you create your video, here are some places to upload and share it: YouTube: Just about everyone is familiar with YouTube for its public and private video upload freedom, customizable thumbnails, and monetization capabilities.

An incredible 300 hours of videos are uploaded every minute, and according to a recent report from Digiday, there is something for everyone. Cost: Free and paid versions available Vimeo’s platform is similar to YouTube and is ideal for video sharing, discovery, and sparking creativity. You can get inspired by individuals and businesses that are passionate about video. Cost: Free and paid versions available Dailymotion: Live and on demand, Dailymotion is the place to watch videos of sporting events, hilarious bloopers, fashion shows, and more. Cost: Free | 65

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Metacafe: With a youthful tone and appearance, Metacafe showcases short-form videos, gaming, television, and music. Cost: Free Show Your Story With Infographics: Give your content a huge boost with infographics, which encourage engagement. According to Content Desk, an infographic is 30 times more likely to be read than a purely text article.

In fact, the state of visual content has grown in importance from key marketing decision-makers worldwide, supported by a recent report from eMarketer and the communications firm Lewis. They report that 94% of marketing decision-makers produce visual content.

The reasons behind the popularity of visual content may come as a surprise. According to the study, the top reasons for visual content production are not its aesthetic appeal, but its ability to encourage engagement, the social media requirements, and the customer’s reduced attention.

There are easy and affordable ways to stand out visually on social media. With minimal training, these top infographic websites let you create and share craveworthy content.

Easel.ly: lets you easily edit and customize infographic templates. You can share your new canvas immediately on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Piktochart: lets you create innovative, design-intricate infographics complete with icons, images, charts, and interactive maps. Once finished, save and publish your newly minted content directly to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube, and even convert long-form infographics to multi-slide presentations on SlideShare.

Cost: Free and paid versions available Canva: With Canva, you can quickly create infographics, along with presentation covers, social media images, online advertisements, flyers, and more. Canva lets you share your work on Facebook and Twitter.

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Cost: Free and paid versions available Visme: With Visme, you can easily create beautiful presentations, infographics, reports, web content, and wireframes all in one place. Share your content online as a URL or on social media, embed it on your website, or download it for offline use. Cost: Free and paid versions available Share Infographic Content: Here are some platforms where you can share your infographics: Cool Infographics: This is free to marketers in the design community who want to submit their work to a forum for review. In addition, the service lets you self-publish, connect, and discover visual content. It’s a way to drive more traffic to your business. Cost: Free Submit Infographics: Do you have an infographic you’re proud of and want to submit it for review? On Submit Infographics, you can publish and share branded designs to be stored in the site’s visual content library, which is available for the viewing pleasure of the site’s large audience. Cost: Free and paid versions available Build Buzz With Quizzes: Want to gain interaction?

Try a quiz! Personality quizzes are fun for readers and informative to marketers. Marketers should expect to see an 80% completion percentage, so set your sights high. If your results drop below the 80% mark, consider shortening or reworking your message.

Pro tip: If you want to build your email list, remember to give your readers the option to have their results sent directly to their inbox. Quizzes give readers an incentive to share information such as email addresses, and give marketers another way to collect audience data. Start building and sharing your own quizzes with these five sites.

BuzzFeed is one of the most popular quiz-sharing websites to date. The site’s editorial style makes it easy to create, view, and share quizzes. You can share your content on practically every device and network. | 67

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Cost: Free Playbuzz: This is a digital publishing platform where you can create content and embed quizzes directly on your website. The goal is to share stories that people love, and it seems to be working. Playbuzz is one of BuzzFeed’s biggest competitors. Just as with BuzzFeed, Playbuzz lets you share your content on practically every device and network. Cost: Free Quizworks: With Quizworks, you can choose from multiple question types, view statistics, and get access to sharing tools that allow you to engage with your audience in a highly shareable way on Facebook and Twitter. Cost: Free and paid options Qzzr is an exciting tool that lets you create personalized quizzes based on your website’s look, feel, and language. Qzzr’s sharing capabilities include Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also embed code directly to your blog or website. Cost: Free and paid options 4screens is a responsive platform that lets you create quizzes, polls, and surveys. You can engage with readers and track leads in real time on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or from the embedded quizzes on your website. Cost: Free and paid options Share Your Voice With a Podcast: Podcasting is bigger than ever. With the rise of smartphones and tablets, podcasts have become a required accessory for any long road trip or gym session. In fact, the podcast audience is now close to 60 million people in the United States, and according to Edison Research, podcast listening grew an impressive 23% between 2015 and 2016. Podcasting will continue to grow and become easier for marketers to create, edit, and share. Try these top tools and make your podcasting dreams a reality.

Audacity: Audacity is open-source audio software that lets you record audio, convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, and add your own audio effects to cut, copy, and mix your own podcasts.

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Cost: Free Podbean: lets you create and share professional podcasts in minutes without any programming knowledge.

You can publish directly to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, or Instagram accounts. You can also listen for free, or upload, publish, manage, and promote your podcasts with one of Podbean’s paid plans. Download availability: iOS and Android Cost: Free and paid options Share Podcasting Content: Here are some places where you can upload and share your podcast: SoundCloud: You can record and upload audio content to SoundCloud. You can share your work privately or publicly to blogs, sites, and social networks such as Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and Foursquare. Download availability: iOS and Android. Cost: Free. Podomatic; Podomatic lets you create and discover thought-provoking podcasts and share your favorites with your friends on Facebook. Download availability: iOS and Android. Cost: Free. Archive: Internet Archive is a non-profit library of free books, movies, software, music, websites, images, concerts, and podcasts. You can upload content, donate, watch, and listen. Download availability: Web only. Cost: Free. Stitcher: boasts the ability to stream the latest in news, sports, talk, and entertainment radio anywhere, on demand. Stitcher is the easiest way to discover the best of over 65,000+ radio shows, live radio stations, and podcasts. You can “stitch” together your favorite shows into customized station playlists and save them for easy access later, Download availability: iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire.

Cost: Free.

Achieving higher reader engagement is all about knowing your audience. After you get a better grasp of your readers’ habits and online routines, you can begin to target them properly in ways they want to interact.

Consider this: According to Salesforce, almost a quarter of all adults online are on at least two social media networks. It’s no surprise that each social networking site is unique in its audience and content, making it crucial to diversify your marketing strategy to interact with your customers where they are in the medium that best fits the network. | 69

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Whether you’re looking to convert outdated or overused content, or think a complex piece of content would be best served in bite-sized pieces, don’t miss out on an opportunity to reach a larger audience by presenting content in a new way.

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Participate in planning and strategizing for inbound marketing campaign execution including content, content schedule, platforms and measurements New Rules of Planning and Strategizing: Since the internet is now one huge publisher, ANYONE can learn how to create compelling messages and publish them.

Getting found online is the science and art. A few of the new rules include: People don’t want “spin” – they want authenticity People don’t want to be interrupted anymore (it’s now called SPAM) People don’t want to be ‘told’ (push marketing), they want to be heard People want VALUE (content), which develops relationship and trust Strategic Marketing can reach niche audiences online in a wider variety of ways Content is KING, and stays online, with no end to the campaign

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Develop benchmarks and goals for each campaign and ensure they are reached

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Participate in client meetings

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Develop content for Cloud promotion

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Learn and use inbound marketing software

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Generate new ideas and opportunities to ensure client success

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Work well independently

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Great time management skills

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Collaborate with coworkers and interface with clients

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Love to hustle and work in a fast pace environment

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Self-taught learner willing to read and keep up-to-date on technological change

Assist with additional marketing department initiatives, including special event planning and support •

Strategy and Content Planning

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Key Content Plan

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Marketing Hourglass

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CRM and Marketing Automation

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Editorial Calendar

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WordPress Website

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Blog Posts

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Poscast

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Social Media Updates

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Marketing Materials

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eBooks

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Directory Profiles

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Ratings and Reviews

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Email Marketing

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Advertising Plan

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Public Relations

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Sales Process

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Key Metrics Dashboard

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Quarterly Review Meetings

Interact with and conduct interviews with individuals we support, staff, families and donors for testimonial and promotional purposes.

Create Case Studies: How exactly did our product or service change someone’s life? Enhance a testimonial with a case study that provides more than a claim; it gives evidence. We builds our brand around case studies. The customers share insights on the effects this tool had on their performance.

Feature Testimonials on Company’s Website: When they read about real experiences on the product page, the potential customers will be triggered to buy it. In fact, you can feature testimonials on your homepage and About page, too. In fact, you can include a special Testimonials page at your website. Julie Petersen, founder of an educational blogger and the founder of askpetersen.com gives an important tip: “Never feature false testimonials with photos you found online. It’s a cheap marketing trick and people see right through it. You want to get real testimonials and experiences that look convincing!”

Share the Testimonials on Social Media: Take a moment and check Vitamix on Instagram. Somewhere along those cool photos, you’ll notice reposts from people using this product and promoting it on Instagram. Whenever someone shares their positive experience with our brand, we share the good news on all social media sites.

Interact with People on Social Media: Not all testimonials will be 100% positive. If you’re doing your job well, most of the customers will be happy. The ones who found flaws, however, will share that experience on your social media page. In that case, it’s important to turn this into a positive thing. Respond to the comments and offer a product replacement or a refund. If you think that the customer is not using the product or service the right way, explain how they can get the most of it. Do it in a nice, civilized tone.

Always Put the Customer First: That’s the golden rule to follow.

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great testimonials that just brag about your brand. If you show how you’re helping people solve problems, however, the experiences are interesting to read. Those are the testimonials you want to share with your target audience – the ones that show how your product or service changed someone’s life.

Maintain Corporate Guidelines and Standards for branding.

Consistency: Every time someone visits your website, sees your business card, or receives marketing material from your company, they receive a perception of your company outside of the content they actually consume. By having set rules and restrictions, it becomes possible to communicate a consistent brand identity. Consistency is important in making your brand recognizable and reliable. It ultimately communicates that your brand takes pride in the details. Take a look at Nike Pro Services very consistent style guide.

Setting Standards and Rules: Your brand guidelines are composed of rules on how to use your brand’s visual elements.

These rules will include when to use a logo versus a wordmark, how to space the logo, and the hierarchy of color and typography. You probably know your brand’s identity inside and out, but a new employee may not. Brand guidelines are a valuable tool for your employees to keep your brand cohesive. Twitter’s brand guidelines do an excellent job of defining acceptable ways that other people can display their logo.

Recognizable: Keeping your brand consistent allows it to be more immediately recognizable within your industry and with your target audience. Building a recognizable brand can take a lot of time but your brand can quickly be distinguishable by adhering to your brand guidelines. Take a look at Google’s brand guidelines. They have become on of the most recognizable companies.

Position includes a competitive salary and an outstanding benefits package including pension plan, 403b, medical, dental and vision insurance, onsite fitness center and many more fringe benefits! Requirements include: Valid NYS driver’s license •

Over 20 years driving experience | 73

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Multiple Vehicle

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No points on License

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Completion of 11 day orientation.

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Cost Savings of 15K

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No Orientation Necessary

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No external paper works

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Job Familiarity

Bachelor’s Degree preferred or a minimum of (5) years’ experience.

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Over 15 Years Experience

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Management level

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Higher Education Degree (Masters)

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Teaching and Industry Experience

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Prior Agency Experience (ARC)

Strong knowledge of digital platforms required, including Adobe Suite, InDesign, Illustrator, PhotoShop, WordPress, HTML, CSS, Mail Chimp and Constant Contact required. Must be extremely organized and have strong project management, time management, and multitasking skills.

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Adobe Suite, Expert Level

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WordPress

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HTML

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CSS

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Mail Chimp

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Constant Contact, Advance Level

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Prioritizing: It is usually impossible to do every single that you need and want to do all at once, but if you prioritize well, you should be able to complete the most important tasks in an order that makes sense. When assigning priority, consider such factors as when each task needs to be done, how long it might take, how important it might be to others in the organization, what could happen if a task is not done, and whether any task might be interrupted by the need to wait for someone else.

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Scheduling: Scheduling is important, and not only because some tasks have to be done at specific times. Scheduling affects your day, your week, your month, as well as other people, their projects, and their short and long term plans for projects and tasks. Most people also have specific times of the day when they are more and less energetic, and become more productive when they schedule themselves accordingly. Schedules can be a good way to avoid procrastination, too.

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Keeping a To-Do List: To-do lists (properly prioritized and integrated with your schedule) are a great way to avoid forgetting something important. They are also a great way

to avoid spending all day thinking about everything you have to do. Remembering tasks takes energy,

and thinking about everything you have to do all week can be exhausting and overwhelming.

Split all the necessary tasks up into a list for each day, and you won’t have to worry about any of it anymore. Just look at today’s list.

• Resting: Resting, even though it may seem contradictory, is an important time-management skill. Although working long hours or skipping breaks can sometimes improve productivity in the short-term, your exhaustion later will ensure that your average productivity actually drops. Except for rare emergencies, it is important to resist the temptation to over-work. Include necessary breaks, and a sensible quitting time, in your schedule. | 75

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• Delegation: Depending on what type of work you do, you may be able to delegate some tasks.

Knowing what to delegate and when is a skill.

Some people resist delegating, either because they want to maintain control or because they want to save money by not hiring assistants. Both approaches ultimately hurt productivity and raise costs. If you practice time management diligently and still can’t get everything done, you may be trying to do too much. It is better to succeed at a few tasks than to attempt and then fail at many.

Excellent writer, communicator and creative thinker.

• Independent thinking capability: Independent thinking means that one should have his/her own views.

• Critical thinking capability: Critical thinking means that one should relentlessly attack the existing work/theory from all possible angles.

Attack its limitations and weaknesses or even

tend to disprove the theory. Unless the theory is completely justified, do not accept the theory. After identifying the weaknesses of the theory, he/she is ready to think creatively.

• Creative thinking capability: Creative thinking means that one makes efforts to produce something which does not exist in the literature (e.g., insights, simpler proofs, new theorems).

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• Behavioral • Psychographic • Geographic • Demographic

Well versed in working with and using website and other digital analytics tools.

• Adobe Marketing & Data Analysis • Tableau • Google Website Optimizer • Optimizely (optimizely.com) • 4Q by iPerceptions (4qsurvey.com) • ClickTale (clicktale.com Other responsibilities for the successful management of digital strategy for client brands as well as the management of the agency’s social/digital team.

In this role you will be an innovator, a trendsetter, and a progressive thinker who can connect digital to all other aspects of a client business and drive growth opportunities. As part of the management team you will be asked to answer key questions such as how brands are communicated and experienced through digital interactions, and how digital interactions fit into broader customer experiences.

What is Innovation? The word “innovation” is thrown around a lot in education, but what does it really mean, and why is it important in our schools today? The focus of this chapter is to define the term innovation, give examples of what it is (and isn’t), and start the conversation.

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An innovator is a person who introduces new methods, ideas, or products.

Being a trendsetter is a person or thing that establishes a new trend or fashion. Establishes a new way of doing things.

Allow time for creativity, First and foremost: think. One of the forefathers of business philosophy, Napoleon Hill, wrote, “It is in the quiet that our best ideas occur to us.

Don’t make the mistake of believing that by a frantic kind of dashing around you are being your most effective and efficient self. Don’t assume that you are wasting time when you take time out for thought. Thought is the foundation upon which all else is built by man.”

Be a dedicated trend watcher, you have to know your market before you change it. Keeping tabs on industry best practices and your competitors’ activities can help you strategize and improvise. Read industry newspapers, magazines and blog posts. Watch webinars and attend conferences. Track trends with Google Trends, Feedly or Mashable. Talk with your clients, friends, customers, competitors and co-workers. Trend spotters understand that trends have a mood, a unique behavior and a lifespan. Being able to recognize those traits can help you forecast, anticipate changes in trends and maximizes your profit potential.

Thinking like a customer, we are all consumers; we all know what we need, like and think is cool. One way to be a trendsetter is to think like a consumer. What products or services would you love to see.

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People who are progressive thinking favor reform and civil liberties: this is the opposite of conservative, and means something close to liberal. Progressive people are interested in change and progress. You’re a progressive thinker if you like to think up new ways of doing things and you’re open to change. A progressive thinker thinks Freedom. In terms of our political foundations, the most basic pro-

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gressive value is freedom. This also happens to be one of the most contested values in American life. Progressives have a two-part definition of freedom: “freedom from” and “freedom to”. First, the belief is that all people should have freedom from undue interference by governments and others in carrying out their private affairs and personal beliefs. This includes our rights to freedom of speech, association, and religion as well as the freedom to control our own bodies and personal lives. Second, the belief that all people should have the freedom to lead a fulfilling and secure life supported by the basic foundations of economic security and opportunity. This includes physical protections against bodily harm as well as adequate income, economic protections, health care and education, and other social provisions… A progressive thinker loves Opportunity. This Compliments their commitment to human freedom. Like freedom, the concept of opportunity has two components: one focuses on political equality and the other on economic and social arrangements that enhance lives. The first component of opportunity prohibits discrimination against anyone based on race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious faith or non-faith, or disability. It also means embracing the diversity of American society by ensuring that all people have the chance to turn their talents and ambitions into a meaningful life, not just the rich and powerful or dominant racial and ethnic groups. The second component of opportunity involves the conditions necessary for people to be secure and to move up in life — health care, education, a decent job, labor rights, a secure retirement… Along with freedom and opportunity comes responsibility — personal responsibility and the responsibility we have to each other and to the common good. Personal responsibility requires each of us to do our part to improve our own lives through hard work, education, and by acting with honesty and integrity. Responsibility to others and to the common good requires a commitment to putting the public interest above the interests of a few and an understanding that strong families and communities are the foundation of a good society. It means working to achieve greater social

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justice and economic conditions that benefit civil society broadly. It demands an open and honest government and an engaged and participatory citizenry‌This requires pubic investments in things like transportation and trade, innovation, a skilled workforce, courts to protect patent rights and contract agreements, public safety and other measures that support the creation of wealth and help to make individual prosperity possible. It also requires progressive taxation, meaning those who have and earn more should pay more to help support the investments in things like schools, transportation, and economic competitiveness necessary to advance the interests of all. A key component of responsibility involves ecological and social sustainability. This requires on-going stewardship of our land, water, air and natural resources, smart use of energy, and the responsible consumption of goods‌ These values are primarily directed at the rights, opportunities, and duties of the strategist is the basic progressive value of cooperation. Cooperation will be the foundation of your most important social institutions including your families, our communities, and your civic and faith groups.

Freedom without cooperation leads to a divided society that cannot work together to achieve common goals and improve the lives of all. Cooperation as a value requires that we try to be open-minded and empathetic toward others and that we are accountable for their well-being as they are accountable to us. Progressives believe that if we blindly pursue our own needs and ignore those of others, our society will degenerate. Successful families and communities cannot exist without cooperation. We also value human interdependence on a larger scale and accept the importance of looking beyond our own needs to help others and find global solutions to global problems.

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taking market share from other people. You wouldn’t call grocery a great growth market but Lidl is getting great growth out of grocery because they are taking share. [Third is] creative destruction. Go back three years and no one had heard of Uber, or 20 years ago, Amazon. They are in two conventional areas but they are not new markets.

They have come in and destroyed the existing model and created new demand for the same service. [Fourth is] new markets. What was the market for Google before Google, Facebook before Facebook? Nothing. If you find, invent and create a new market, that also creates growth.

Answering key questions is must be part of a digital strategist role. Evaluation questions refer to what stakeholders – the community and funders, for instance – want to know about the functioning of a program or initiative. Here are some illustrative evaluation questions: Are participants satisfied with the program? (Process and implementation issue) How well is the initiative meeting its stated objectives? (Attainment of objectives) How much and what kind of difference did it make for the participants? (Impact on participants) How much and what kind of difference did the initiative make on the community? (Impact on the community). So what’s a key evaluation question? That depends on what you set out to do (mission and objectives) and how you plan to get there (the logic of how the process and activities will produce immediate and longer-term outcomes). The path from here to there – from assessment to change in the environment to longer-term outcomes – is known as a logic model. Key evaluation questions focus on critical aspects of the logic model; for instance, “Is the initiative bringing about change in the environment?” or “Is that change in the community (the intervention) associated with improvement in outcomes for people in the community?

A high functioning manager knows and understand how brands are communicated.

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keting: Experiential marketing externally and internally is great to reinforce your brand, but be sure that the branding execution is consistent, especially during a rebrand.

Using consistent colors and current logos will help tell the same story throughout. Don’t feel like you need to cram too much into it, either. Keep it simple with contact info, if you decide to even include that.

Showcase your brand in the real world, like the Instagram reels that display under items as you’re shopping online, companies can showcase real customers wearing or using their products through photo displays, rotating onscreen video or live-streaming social feeds in their stores and offices. This real-world view gives customers an immediate answer often asked when shopping: “When would I use this?”

Embrace the trend, put your efforts into catching your customer’s eye. In high-traffic areas, use digital devices, such as tablets, to showcase your logo or marketing collateral. For a tech-free approach, turn to clothing and swag. Put your staff in well-branded clothing showcasing your brand colors and logo. Keep your team hydrated with branded mugs and water bottles. Give away branded swag to customers as well.

Offer self-service opportunities, self-service provides greater opportunity to engage customers on their own terms, where they are more likely to take advantage of offers because they have the ability to choose how and when. Self-service also allows you to build profile information on customer preferences, including how and when they engage, so you can proactively reach out when they are most open to hearing your message.

Set clear, broad brand guidelines, having broad but clear guidelines can help your marketing team create on-brand assets or experiences for in-store or out-of-home campaigns. Cover not just basics like logo treatment and font, but also the emotions you want to elicit from customers 82 |

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and key values you want to be associated with your brand.

Let the guidelines serve as a North Star to create a more consistent brand experience.

Escape your constraints, if your logo is a circle, why put it on a square door? If your logo is a square, why put it on a rectangle tag? If your name is long, why shrink your font to make it fit the sign on the building? Don’t get anchored to using a space how it’s “traditionally used” or to using your marcomm like everyone else does.

Create cohesive online and offline experiences, Keeping cohesive communication online and in-store enhances brand experience. Use data from your e-commerce store to design your physical store. Translate your high-converting online real estate to physical stores in a cohesive way.

For example, Amazon’s physical stores arrange books with book cover facing out, the same way a book is presented on Amazon.com.

Find ways to show your company culture, your company’s culture matters more now than ever since consumers want authenticity. Find ways to showcase values and beliefs of the organization and employees within your design. This can be as simple as having a picture of the last time the company participated in something charitable.

Showing culture can have a strong influence on the entire vibe of your store.

Transform your real estate into engaging content campaigns, design your space wisely by encouraging shoppers to interact with your brand via their smartphones. You can liven up every wall in your store by showcasing brand and influencer content from networks like Instagram and Snapchat through digital displays. But don’t forget to encourage customer participation by selecting fun branded hashtags for your shoppers to join in on the conversation.

Power in grassroots. SoulCycle and theSkimm (via its Skimm’bassadors) have taken a new twist on this traditional grassroots marketing tactic. SoulCycle instructors

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will often grab coffee with class members post class, clad in hip SoulCycle-branded hoodies. Skimm’bassadors spread the word about theSkimm in their local communities. They get Skimm swag and opportunities to connect and brainstorm with the SkimmHQ. Stay consistent, the user experience in store or in an office needs to be brand focused at every corner. It should be completely aligned in colors, logo, feel and customer interaction. From the outside of the building to the bathrooms, everything needs to be consistent. Simple, subtle touch points throughout the journey will help keep the customer in-tune with your brand and mantra when they visit in person.

Show (don’t tell) your story, take a page from stores like STORY, which is on the cutting edge of the next generation of retail. Take your brand DNA and bring it to life by not simply placing products on shelves but showcasing the stories behind the products, the people who love and use them, and how they reinforce your brand values. Stores are fast becoming a brand showroom, evolving beyond transactional points of sale.

A Digital Strategist will oversee, manage and have an active part in the development of the larger team, consisting of Digital Strategists, Influencer Strategists and Community Managers. He/she possessed a strong ability to manage people and foster young talent with experience in providing constructive feedback, executing timely reviews and maintaining positive team dynamic. We all know that the work landscape is changing. The jobs that will be in demand are shifting as more are automated by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robots.

Teams are becoming more disparate and globalization has added new collaboration challenges. At the same time, more millennials are taking on management roles, and even our work spaces will undergo changes between now and 2025. Technology Management Skills: Technology is going to “grow alongside of us,” says Bentley, and there 84 |

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will be no job that is immune from its effects. Of course, it won’t be a straight line from where we are now to machine learning and robots taking over the workplace, but technology will become an ever-present factor in the workplace. That will create new challenges, conflicts, and opportunities related to skill building, workplace roles, data management, privacy, and others. Managers will need to understand technology enough to keep abreast of and anticipate emerging issues. Some technological developments will work, some won’t, and some will evolve, she says. But the constant is that managers will need to not only be comfortable with embracing new technology, but they’ll also have to be adept at managing the changing relationship between people and emerging tech. The best employees are going to have strong critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills as the pace of the workplace continues to accelerate. Managers are going to have to be both inherently able to spot those abilities in others, and also stay abreast of emerging tools and assessments that more accurately evaluate them in candidates and developing employees. Outcentric Leadership Skills: Effective managers and leaders are going to need to be less egocentric, Bentley says. “I’m the leader and you will listen to me,” approaches aren’t going to work in a tight labor market made up primarily of millennials. Bentley says managers will need to be more “outcentric,” focusing on developing the people and teams around them to be active and valued contributors. The best managers will look at the overarching need, and then build and develop a team to meet that need—with input from the team—instead of dictating what the team needs. Soft-Skill Assessment: Effective managers are going to have to be as good at evaluating candidates and employees for soft skills as they are for technical skills, says Rita Santelli, CEO of innovation consulting firm Savvy, and an adjunct faculty member teaching strategic and innovative leadership at Georgetown University. ROWE Focus: Companies will adopt more elements of Results-Only Work Environments (ROWEs), says Jennifer Currence, president of OnCore Management Solutions, a performance solutions consulting company. This HR management strategy, created by | 85

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workplace consultants Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, focuses on autonomy and accountability. In other words, effective managers will create environments that focus less on where and how people work, but which measure success based on results and output, she says. The use of contractors will continue to rise, and managers will need to think differently about how they assemble the skills necessary to meet their objectives. Focus will need to shift away from process, except in terms of how to optimize it for better results, she says. “As we shift to a workforce that is 100% autonomous and 100% accountable, performance is based on the results they create, not the hours they work. As we see more workplaces like this and more flexibility in the workplace, managers are really going to have to focus more on the communication aspects and relationship management,” she says. Tension-Tolerant Collaboration: As teams become more disparate with contractors, consultants, remote employees, and office-based employees working together, managers are going to need to learn how to build culture in nontraditional environments, Santelli says. In addition, teams will increasingly become more diverse, Bentley adds. Generation Z will be entering the workforce, while baby boomers work until well past traditional retirement age. Globalization will create more cross-border teams. Shifting demographics will make team diversity essential to capitalize on changes in the market, she says. Leaders are going to need to be sensitive to cultural differences. Sometimes, leaders confuse collaboration with consensus and harmony, which can slow teams’ progress and make them less effective, Santelli says. Especially as change—technological, demographic, and other types of change—hit workplaces and markets, being able to challenge the status quo will be the difference between exceptional and mediocre managers, she says. “Being able to lead collaborative teams with the appropriate level of tension and constructive debate that will lead to innovative ideas and timely results that can get to market at the time when consumers are looking for solutions: That’s a critical skill for future managers,” she says. Transparency: Being effective at building cultures in nontraditional teams will require new levels of transparency and communication, Currence adds. This has traditionally been hard for managers to navigate. “They’re in this place where they 86 |

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feel like, ‘Okay, they have to protect the company, and we have to grow our employees and serve them. Where’s the line, and which side of the line am I on?’ A lot of times they’re straddling the line, and they don’t know what to be transparent about because they’re giving away company secrets,” she says. But secrets and duplicity aren’t going to fly in a leaky world that increasingly reveals everything from salary to work practices to private memos. For disparate teams to work, they need managers they can trust— even when they can’t be face-to-face, she says. Managers will need to be able to foster that trust to build cultures that retain good team members. Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence has gotten a fair amount of attention lately, but it will only become more important as the workplace changes over the next eight to 10 years. “If IQ is a measure of your intelligence quotient, EQ is a measure of your emotional intelligence. A high EQ is synonymous with being self-aware, of knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, or seeking the assistance of colleagues and mentors to help you find them, which in turn allows you to identify areas to improve,” says Craig Dalziel, senior manager with technology recruitment firm Pearson Frank.

People with high EQ tend to have greater empathy, allowing managers to gain greater perspective and evaluate what isn’t working within their teams, because they can see the situation from others’ point of view, he says. “As more and more millennials and gen Z’ers enter the workplace, this is the sort of workplace they are imagining, and adapting now to meet that demand in 10 years’ time will not only create a better environment today, but it will also mean the management culture is ahead of the curve,” he says.

A Digital Strategist challenge employees to make a difference: One of your strategic pillars is to be dedicated to employee development and conscious commitment to talent. As a Manager you should go out of our way to think differently about how to attract talent and then challenge them to make a real difference. As a company you should be proud of your diversity and use your network to recruit the best talent. Young professionals in particular want to help solve problems, such as scarce resources, food security, and health and climate challenges. Compa| 87

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nies should put sustainable, transparent resource practices high on the agenda, and safeguard their ecosystem in which they operate and should appeal to like-minded talent. When a company mixes the millennials and longtime staffers, they share know-how and hands-on training as key which foster success. The most innovative ideas emerge from teams that are inter-departmental, multinational, and draw on employees in all age groups. Bringing together teams of experienced millennials, and former management consultants from other companies, creates the combination of business-case development, product innovation, marketing skills, and project management that are vital to any company growth.

• Feedback is always there, executing a timely reviews and maintaining positive team dynamic is critical for a digital strategist. If you ask someone in your organization when feedback occurs, they will typically mention an employee survey, performance appraisal, or training evaluation. In actuality, feedback is around us all the time. Every time we speak to a person, employee, customer, vendor, etc., we communicate feedback. In actuality, it’s impossible not to give feedback. Feedback is effective listening. Whether the feedback is done verbally or via a feedback survey, the person providing the feedback needs to know they have been understood (or received) and they need to know that their feedback provides some value. When conducting a survey, always explain why respondents’ feedback is important and how their feedback will be used. Feedback can motivate. By asking for feedback, it can actually motivate employees to perform better.

Employees like to feel valued and appreciate being asked to provide feedback that can help formulate business decisions. And feedback from client, suppliers, vendors, and stakeholders can be used to motivate to build better working relations.

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• Feedback can improve performance. Feedback is often mistaken for criticism. In fact, what is viewed as negative criticism is actually constructive criticism and is the best find of feedback that can help to formulate better decisions to improve and increase performance.

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• Feedback is a tool for continued learning. Invest time in asking and learning about how others experience working with your organization. Continued feedback is important across the entire organization in order to remain aligned to goals, create strategies, develop products and services improvements, improve relationships, and much more. Continued learning is the key to improving.

Digital Strategist handles the day-to-day operations of agency projects, including research, scope development, creative briefing, new business requests/participation and job execution. He or she is responsible for client contact, organizing information shared by and with the client, and ensuring that agency procedures are followed.

Digital Strategist Manage project deliverables and milestones within approved timelines and budget. Utilize Digital’s System Development Lifecycle (DLC) and Project Management Methodology to manage the development, customization, configuration, testing, and implementation of Business/IT systems. Manage and coordinate day-today operational and tactical aspects of approved projects.

May lead cross-functional linked teams to address business or systems issues. Build relationships and collaborate cross-functionally to lead project delivery teams towards successful project outcomes. Document decisions and action items of team meetings. Assist with the collection, consolidation, and review of large Business/IT program dash boards. Collect risks, issues, and dependencies associated with larger programs. Run review meetings with other Project/Program Managers. Assist with the development of standard SDLC methodologies (Waterfall, Agile/ Scrum). The Waterfall Model was the first Process Model to be introduced. It is also referred to as a linear-sequential life cycle model. ... The Waterfall model is the earliest SDLC approach that was used for software development.

The waterfall Model illustrates the software development process in a linear sequential flow. Assist with the development of harmonized Program/Project Management methodologies. Scrum is an agile way to manage a project, usually software development. Agile software development with Scrum is often perceived as a methodology; but rather than viewing Scrum as methodology,

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think of it as a framework for managing a process. At the beginning of the planning process, the project team along with key stakeholders must identify a scope statement that fully addresses the project requirements. The scope is prepared with the understanding that the project will continue to evolve as the plan is further developed. In essence, a well-written scope summarizes project objectives and should be detailed enough to show how the project will address business needs. To assist with developing your scope statement.

• Who will sponsor this project? Are they involved in developing the project scope?

• What new systems, policies, etc. will be implemented?

• What business problem(s) will this project solve?

• Writing your creative brief: You should describe your company, provide context and background information on your company to help the designer or creative team get a better understanding of your business.

• Who are you and what services and/or products do you offer? Include links to your website and any other background material that might be helpful. Summarize the project:

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What is the project?

And why do you need it?

Do you need a corporate identity kit for your new company?

Are you refreshing your company’s Facebook and Twitter pages for a new season?

Describe what the project is, what it entails, and why you’re doing it. Explain your objectives: This is probably the most important part of the brief, and it’s essential that you think through your strategy and objectives completely before you get the project underway. Why do you need this project?

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What are you hoping to achieve with it?

What are your goals?

Is there a problem you’re trying to solve?

How will you measure success?

For example, if you’re developing an eBook, you might measure success by the number of downloads. These details will help the designer understand your goals and come up with solutions that address them. Define your target audience: Who’s your customer? Who are you trying to reach with this project or campaign? Share demographic information about who they are and any behavioral insights you may have on them. Outline the deliverables you need: Do you need a one-page brochure?

A batch of 10 banner ads? A logo for print, just for the web, or for both? Be sure to include the file formats you need (i.e., JPG, PNG, PSD), size information (i.e., 300×250 pixels), and any other important details needed to deliver the right assets.

• Identify Your Competition: Who are your competitors? You may want to include an overview of the competitive landscape and any trends or market conditions impacting your industry. For this project, what are your competitors doing as a point of comparison and as a point of differentiation? For example, if you’re refreshing your logo, what types of logos and colors do your competitors use? These details can greatly help inform the direction the designer will go in (they’ll do additional research as well). You can also include a few examples of designs you like or don’t like.

• Include details on the tone, message, and style:The style and tone should be consistent with your brand and will also hinge on what the project is, what you’re trying to achieve, and what action you want your customers to take. To help inform the messaging and ensure it aligns with your objectives, be sure to include your strategic positioning and the key messages that need to be addressed. For example, if you’re creating a landing page for a contest, you’d probably | 91

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want the messaging and design to be lively and fun to inspire people to enter. If you’re developing an annual report, you’d most likely want something that looks and sounds more formal and professional to instill trust and confidence. If you have a brand style guide or examples of past campaigns or related projects, be sure to share them with your designer. And also provide any other factors or requirements that might affect the creative direction.

• Provide the timing: If you have a timeline in mind for your project, include it in the brief. During your kickoff meeting or initial conversations with your designer, make sure to discuss the timeline and agree upon a completion date. It’s also a good idea to talk about the overall creative process and discuss if edits and how many rounds of them are possible and whether or not they’re included if it’s a fixed-price contract.

• Specify your budget: If you have a set budget for the project (which is often the case), include it in the brief and discuss it with your designer. If the designer’s estimate exceeds your budget, talk it over and agree upon realistic expectations, deliverables, and project costs before getting started.

• List the key stakeholders: If other people on your team or within your organization need to be included in the review process, provide their contact information. You can also include how you’d like to receive deliverables and provide feedback. On Upwork, the Messages tool makes it easy to communicate and share files. By thinking through and elaborating on these key aspects of your business and project, you’ll be able to produce a creative brief that’s not only thorough but also effective. With a solid creative brief in hand, you’ll help the designer deliver great results and ensure your project delivers the results your business needs.

A Digital Strategist can command a room in new business, client presentations and in-person meetings, portraying a polished and concise communication style.

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Several key questions in new business: What tools (in addition to the service catalog) are used for requesting IT products and services?

Do the requests channeled through these sources reflect planned or budgeted activities already defined in the service portfolio? Have they been budgeted as part of the approved IT operational plan? • Do service requests reflect a new business opportunity or operational improvement within IT? • What kind of change management system will be used to capture the requests? How will the requests be categorized and classified? How will the requests be mapped to current services?

Inputs: A service catalog capable of tracking all new business service requests. Requests from the following sources: Other internal teams with support channels.

Third-party suppliers and business partners that are part of the service delivery value chain. Managed outsourced services. Bug tracking systems and Support desk tools.

Output: An organized and consolidated view of all requests made to the organization. Best practices: Manage requests using a consistent, well-defined request process that includes the following elements: A Request for Change (RFC) form that identifies key change approval criteria, including (but not limited to) business impact, service name, and risk of not accepting the request.

Because many requests come from non-IT groups, initial RFCs might be missing IT-relevant information. Thorough classification and categorization of requests. Consider organizing requests by service impact, new service, risk, or initial resource requirements. A dedicated database to store the requests. Service owners, budget owners, and business relationship managers will want to query and view the requests in different ways.

Digital Strategist thrives in a collaborative team environment, inspired by the ideas and work of others, from the most junior team member to senior colleagues.

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Collaboration is a key factor in building a small business because it works. People thrive in environments which free them to communicate and work together. When the company environment is focused on collaboration, team members naturally feel a part of something bigger than themselves. The best way to transition from an individual to a collaborative mindset is to equip each team member for active participation in the group dynamic. Create a clear and compelling cause. To create a cohesion, team members must be provided with a convincing reason to be a part of the company mission. The more compelling and exciting the mission, the easier it is to inspire team members to want to be a part of what the company aspires to accomplish. When they are given a clear and gripping cause to be involved with, team members naturally become as passionate about the goals and objectives as their leaders. If team members do not care or are unclear about the goals and objectives presented to them, they will find all kinds of reasons not to work together.

For collaboration to work, the vision and purpose must be clear.

Communicate expectations: Collaboration must be communicated to team members as the minimum standard.

To foster this, team members must be provided with defined individual and collective roles and responsibilities they will hold within the team. When they have a clear understanding of their position, each team member will work more effectively and without accidentally stepping on another person’s toes creating unforeseen conflicts. In a collaborative environment, each team member experiences what it means to take part in the shared responsibility of results. With this type of focus, what starts out as a goal becomes a crusade with the experience of success changing from an individual achievement into a bonded group experience building comrade and moral.

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Establish team goals. To drive success in team members it’s important to set measurable goals for each on a quarterly basis. The purpose of these goals is to provide team members with achievable wins. These wins have a magical way of breaking down barriers and creating positive momentum individually and collectively. Further, it’s imperative to re-evaluate goals and redirect whenever

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necessary. At each quarter’s end, the outcomes of quarterly goals must be made available to the whole team as a way to measure and celebrate progress, and to determine where improvements need to be made. Working with this type of transparency decreases confusion, finger-pointing and the disintegration of team cohesion.

Foster cohesion between team members. Cohesive teams are more successful. They are successful because each person on the team is included in as many large decisions as possible. When team members feel this type of inclusion, they feel the perceived significance of their role, causing them to naturally perform better. To be the most effective, teams should to participate in daily huddles where each member discusses their goals and objectives for day. This helps to avoid duplication of effort and competition between team members. These huddles keep everyone on the same playbook and enables team members to re-direct their efforts as needed.

Encourage innovation. For teams to grow they must be encouraged to brainstorm and question the status quo in an open and non-judgmental environment. Team members must be coached and led to believe the challenges and obstacles they face can and will be overcome. When a “can-do” attitude is instilled it motivates team members to live up to those “can-do” expectations. It is also important to ask team members for their thoughts, their reasoning and ideas on a regular basis. The more connected and understood they feel to their manager or leader, the more motivated they will be to perform, impress, be creative and to exceed expectations.

Keep promises and honor requests. Most requests and promises are held sacred within a team, but considered optional between other company units or customers. Taking a request from a customer seriously and demonstrating that the team is working to do what they say they are going to do, goes a long way towards building trust and blurring boundaries. The question every customer and every business unit asks of another is, can I count on you?

Will you be there when I need you? Do you care about this as much as we do? When team members and customers feel they can depend upon you and your team to deliver

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what they expect, business grows, relationships grow as does revenue.

Encourage people to socialize outside of work. We all lead busy personal lives and the thought of having one more corporate event we are obligated to attend can add stress. However, socializing with co-workers outside the office is an effective way to open channels of communication, to create a better understanding and break down any walls of pre-judgemental or mistrust between team members. When team members learn they share common interests or wrestle with some of the same challenges outside of work as others, they experience their team members as more real, which helps to decrease individual bias, stereotyping and false objectifying. When we see our team members as human, it makes it more difficult to point the finger at them.

Recognize, reward and celebrate collaborative behavior. The legends of athletic dynasties or standout corporate successes consist of incredible collaborative efforts. Team members often sit in conversation reminiscing over how it all came together.

Whether shared through video, newsletter, podcast, annual report or seminar, stories of great collaboration break down the walls of individualism and honor the collective accomplishment.

Attaching performance rewards and bonuses to collaborative efforts sends the right message to team members about the values that are driving the business.

Establishing a collaborative environment is just the beginning of a more successful venture. For collaboration to work it must be consistent and purposeful, with resources and rewards dedicated to its success. You may have many standout successes in your company already; but you can increase your productivity exponentially by getting them to work as a collaborative team. When team members feel they are a part of something exceptional they are more than willing to work together to get the ball across the goal line. Collaboration works because there is nothing more meaningful, bonding or growth promoting than a shared win.

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Empower the inner visionary: Use research by psychologist to finding what brings out our boldest ideas. As inspiring as struggle seems for starving artist-types, safety–in job security, or away from jerk bosses–brings out our best, boldest ideas.

Commitment-oriented companies are proven to be successful because colleagues are treated like family, not cogs in a machine. “If we want to cultivate the visionary in others, we need to attend to the whole system surrounding them,” says Baer.

Leverage talents: Just as you can’t force a flower to grow on a sidewalk, you can’t tell someone to be what they aren’t when they’re in the wrong place. Categorize your organization’s needs by what kinds of talent can fill them: Examples: Ideation roles: dream up, discover, invent, and spread ideas. Guiding roles: manage, navigate, oversee, and develop ideas Building roles: implement, execute, and finish turning ideas into processes. Improving roles: expand, reduce, and tinker with existing products and processes “As a leader we have to become curator for these talent pools.

Encourage ambition: So you’ve curated your dream-team of visionaries–but what if they’re dreaming of their individual success, instead of the greater good? These don’t have to be disparate goals, says Baer. “The idea is that those ambitions are what create connections: when people are working together on projects they want to do, they’ll form relationships.”

Power innovation: Companies and individuals alike are pushed to reinvent or fizzle out faster than ever. Innovation isn’t an option anymore; it’s a requirement. “Sustained innovation is powered by people who come together to share ideas, compare observations, and brainstorm solutions to complex problems.

Practice mindfulness: The focus on mindfulness in Everything Connects sets it apart to traditional type-A thinking. Rushing from task to task detaches us from our creative potential, the authors say–and isolates us from the people that make our endeavors possible. “When we stop being curious, we stop being innovative, create complexity, and ultimately fail,” says Hoque.

But relaxing the mind doesn’t mean moving slowly, adds Baer.

“It’s about knowing what you’re doing … even that rush can be mindful.”

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Develop unique strategies and builds upon current client strategies within the digital arena to meet/exceed objectives Branding is one of the most important activities your business can engage in. Building a strong, recognizable brand will help you connect with your existing customers, sell to new ones, and encourage loyalty and recognition.

But like any other business task, successful branding requires careful planning and a smart strategy. Sixteen members of Forbes CoachesCouncil each share one way to accomplish this.

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Do A ‘Values Check’: Branding isn’t about your logo; it’s about your message - what you’re broadcasting to the world. First, check in with your own values: Does the wording and look and feel on your website, social media profiles and materials match up with those values? Look to make all your messages and images congruent with your values and the world will notice. - Tina Dietz, StartSomething Creative Business Solutions Know Thyself And Align: The most fundamental part of branding is truly understanding who you are so that you can align all of your actions and your environment. The deeper your understanding of values, vision, and other brand attributes, the better able you are to align all parts of your life consistent with your brand. You are the most critical part of your branding strategy.

- Larry Boyer, Success Rockets LLC Create High-Profile Events: I created an event series named after my book, From the CEO’s Perspective. I invite three high-profile CEOs to join me on stage, and I moderate a discussion on a pressing leadership topic in front of an intimate audience of 70.

I’m in my third year, and every event has sold out. For my brand, it’s led to increased visibility and influence, and fantastic content for video and writing. - Teri Citterman, Talonn Use Great Photos: Most small businesses are “personal brands,” meaning you are the face of your brand. The days of the boring head shot are done for most coaches, consultants and service providers. Use photos of you that reflect your personality and style to make your website and brand stand out from the crowd online. You’ll attract your ideal clients and get your message across with less effort. - Cori Burchell, Dear Miss Millionaire Be True To You: Be authentic to who you are, the values you have, and the skills you excel at. Authenticity is imperative to branding success. Avoid pressure to constantly reinvent yourself or overstate and inflate your message. A simple articulation of who you are and what you are good at – shared succinctly and clearly – will suffice to nail down your brand. - Adrienne Tom, Career Impressions Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?

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our brands. Whatever it is we want to be known for, we can get the message out faster, bigger and better by becoming the media. You can deliver quick video tips from your phone, share ideas on a podcast, and interview others via a blog or short video. If you become the resource, you own the brand. - Meridith Elliott-Powell, MotionFirst Improve Your Culture: The most visible brand you have is your company’s culture. It’s culture that defines your uniqueness and provides you with a competitive edge. It’s a social and psychological form of DNA that can become a catalytic mechanism.

Your company culture is a key element relative to how people “see” your company. Since it’s your company’s soul, it’s worth paying attention to. - Cathy McCullough, McCullough Group LLC Define Your Niche : You can’t be all things to all people. Narrow your target market by either offering a specialized product or service, or by serving a specific demographic (i.e. busy moms who want to find a healthy work-life balance vs. anyone who wants to find a healthy work-life balance). There’s a reason brain surgeons get paid more than general practitioners! - Tamiko Cuellar, Pursue Your Purpose LLC Proactively keeps abreast of assigned clients’ marketing and media plans, and provides technological solutions including rich media, site optimization, promotional ideas, mobile, social networks, viral, etc.

Media planning is generally outsourced to a media agency and entails sourcing and selecting optimal media platforms for a client’s brand or product to use. The job of media planning is to determine the best combination of media to achieve the marketing campaign objectives. Good media plans are essential to any advertising campaign. Understanding each component and how they interact in the media plan creates a solid foundation for success. Before we jump into the media plan, here are two general tips: Stay organized – It’s easy for media plans to grow rapidly. Before you know it, finding an advertising placement in an extensive plan can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Figure out an organization strategy that works for you and stick to it. Stay consistent – Keeping the same naming conventions and formats both within and across media plans makes it easier to track, report and analyze advertisements.

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advanced features like video, audio, or other elements that encourage viewers to interact and engage with the content.

While text ads sell with words, and display ads sell with pictures, rich media ads offer more ways to involve an audience with an ad. The ad can expand, float, etc. You can access aggregated metrics on your audience’s behavior, including number of expansions, multiple exits, and video completions to get granular data on the success of your campaign.

Rich media lets agencies create complex ads that can elicit strong user response. Using HTML5 technology, the ads can include multiple levels of content in one placement: videos, games, tweets from an ad, etc. If you have a simple objective to generate clicks or a more ambitious goal to create brand awareness, rich media is the format to go with. Standard display creative vs. rich media creative. The key advantages of rich media creatives include: An engaging user experience leading to higher interaction rate. Increased conversions, click-throughs, and view rates. Better metrics than traditional ads. Usually Rich media exceeds 200K. It may use multiple files. It may contain video. May expand to a larger size. May include detailed tracking metrics on user interactivity. May track multiple click-through links. May contain other special features (polling, send-to-afriend, gallery, etc.)

Search engine, optimization (SEO), or website optimization, is the process of making changes to your website so that it will appear higher in search engine results pages. Hotjar is a new and easy way to truly understand your web and mobile site visitors.

Find your hottest opportunities for growth today. With this software you can understand what users want, care about and interact with on your site by visually representing their clicks, taps and scrolling behavior. Visualize behavior – this softare understands what users want, care about and do on your site by visually representing their clicks, taps and scrolling behavior – which are the strongest indicators of visitor motivation and desire. See what your users see – Eliminate guesswork with Recordings of real visitor behavior on your site. By seeing your visitor’s clicks, taps and mouse movements you can identify usability issues on the fly and issues they encounter. Where are your visitors dropping off? – Find the biggest opportunities for improvement and testing by identifying on which page and at which step most visitors are leaving your site. How are your forms used? – Improve online form completion rates by discovering which fields | 101

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take too long to fill, which are left blank, and why your visitors abandon your form and page. Understand the reasons behind behavior – Improving the performance and experience of your website starts with understanding what your visitors want and what’s preventing them from achieving it. Target questions to specific visitors anywhere on your web and mobile site. Instant visual feedback: Give your visitors an easy way to leave instant visual feedback on your website or app. See what people love and hate, identify issues, and find opportunities for growth.

Surveys: Get to know your audience better – Build your own responsive surveys using an easy editor. Collect responses in real-time from any device. Distribute your surveys using web links, emails or invite your visitors just before they abandon your site to uncover their objections or concerns. Recruit Test Users: Use your own audience for user testing – Recruit the best possible participants for user research and testing directly from your site.

Collect profiling information, contact details and offer a gift in exchange for their help.

Promotion idea spending is always growing. As a business owner, invest more on your promotional strategies — not having a well thought out plan can backfire. You might even find them cutting into your sales rather than improving your bottom line.

Before you roll out your next campaign, here are some promotion ideas from that you can consider to make your promotions successful.

Target Your Promotions to Specific Customer Groups Give Away Coupons & Referral Bonuses Consider Offering an Upgrade Instead of a Price Cut Personalize Your Business by Sharing Your Story Make Sure You Have a “Funnel” in Place: Momentum, scarcity, and credibility are the three important elements you should have for any sales promotion. Before the promotion, you need to have an autopilot email campaign that informs your audience about this upcoming promotion — you need to build up the momentum and anxiety before the finale.

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Impress Your Audience with Augmented Reality Personalize Your Promotions Start a Members Club Focus on Capturing Prospects and Customers on Your Email List in Exchange for Discounts

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Writes communications briefs, ensuring that creative and media are effectively integrated

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Leads team brainstorms for new and current client initiatives and campaigns

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Manages research studies that yield rich insights into consumer online behavior and key motivational/attitudinal behavior

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Develops a total understanding of online target audience and mindset modes

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Provides campaign performance reporting and analysis to clients

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Ability to work effectively with a variety of internal teams and business groups, including Creative, Media, Analytics and PR

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Oversee the agency’s relationship with reporting resources and/or vendors as well as make recommendations for updating them

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Strong interest in technology and new digital trends

Knowledge of optimization in both organic and paid capacity on the following but not limited to: •

Facebook

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Instagram

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Twitter

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YouTube

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SnapChat

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Reporting and metric capabilities on the following are preferred: Simply Measured: Listening - Identify your influencers, social audience, and the topics they care about. Social Analytics Benchmark your own performance and analyze competitor campaigns across platforms. Engage - The Smart Inbox makes it easy for you and your team to manage social communication so you never miss a message that matters to your business.

Collaborate - Activity updates, message-level auditing, tasking and tagging ensure efficient team collaboration.

Sprout Social: Sprout Social is built on the idea that the world is better when businesses and customers communicate freely.

They exist to help streamline and enhance those conversations—with customers, prospects and enthusiasts. Their platform is packed with handy features but stays out of the way to let brands easily engage with people and build lasting relationships. Platforms includes: Engagement, Publishing, Analytics, Twitter Analytics, Facebook Analytics, Instagram Analytics, Monitoring, Listening, Automation, Social CRM, Team Collaboration, Account Structure and Mobile Hootsuite: With this company you can manage multiple social networks, connect with customers, and grow your brand on social media. Manage from one place Manage all of your company’s social networks in one convenient dashboard, and get a bird’s-eye view of what’s happening in your social world. Reply with a single click Quickly respond to messages, brand mentions, and comments across your social networks through a single dashboard. Track performance and grow your audience Analytics reports show you what’s working and what isn’t. Learn about your audience and improve your campaigns. You can Connect with over 35 popular social networks.

Gain: Allows you to automate your social media approvals. GAIN makes the social publishing workflow easy for agencies, social media managers, and anyone working in teams. Automate your Collaboration and Approval Workflow. No more emails or spreadsheets. Just define your approval workflow and GAIN takes it from there. GAIN will automatically notify each team member, client, or stakeholder when it’s their turn to review 104 |

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content. GAIN’s flexible approvals can handle everything from simple, one-person approvals to complex, multi-team workflows. Not just for Social Media. Marketing is more than just social. GAIN lets you collaborate and approve creative assets in any format: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn content, PDF files, Photoshop and Illustrator files, Word and Power Point files, Full-length videos, Plain text and image files of any size.

Clients Approve From Anywhere. No Password Required. GAIN simplifies and automates all your client interactions for the content your team creates. Clients love it because they can easily: Approve content on any device, anywhere they are. They don’t even need a password. Easily share feedback and have a full history of their conversation with you. Access a visual, real-time calendar with all their brand content at any time.

HYPR: Real-Time Social Analytics for Every Influencer in the World: Access Influencer Audience Demographic, Psychographic and Geographic Data on our Influencer Marketing Platform.

Effective Search and Discovery. HYPR’s in-depth influencer marketing platform houses profiles and audience demographic information for over 10 million influencers across major social channels—making it the World’s largest and smartest influencer marketplace. Marketers can reach large audiences at scale by targeting influencers based on their audience demographics such as age, location and interests. Having access to these audience insights is paramount to running a successful influencer marketing campaign. Connect with Influencers; Many of our 10 million profiles contain direct contact information to facilitate outreach with key influencers. Stop wasting time tweeting at profiles or fruitlessly searching for e-mail addresses; once you decide to work with an influencer, our platform ensures you can contact them quickly and easily. Understanding the Influencer’s Audience; Make sure your message reaches your target audience. Every influencer profile on our platform has detailed audience demographics, including gender, age, race/ethnicity and nationality as well as reach, engagement and amplification per post. With our smart directory, HYPR provides you with the information you need to make the right marketing decisions. Managers help you connect with anyone you can’t find.

Measure the ROI: HYPR is the only solution in the world capable of providing you with meaningful impact measurement tools including audience demographics for each influencer’s posts, reliable estimated view count and, most importantly, client conversions (sales, signups or any other definable KPI) result| 105

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ing from your campaign .CreatorIQ: This company’s product is focused on hands-on, high-performing team that is building the very best SaaS solution for influencer marketing. We help companies including Disney Digital Networks, Fullscreen Media, ipsy and more scale their businesses through our workflow and data tools. Their team comes from companies like Experian, Nielsen, Sprinklr, Topsy and The Walt Disney Company. Their investors include Affinity Group, Third Wave Digital and Vayner Capital.

Their software powers influencer marketing for some the most innovative companies in the world, and the team is driven by the opportunity to build the best SaaS workflow solutions to power the emerging social creator economy. They look for motivated self-starters who are eager to play an integral role in their fast-growing team. Ideal candidates possess a great sense of accountability, collaboration, and most importantly, have the desire to build a great company.

All in-platform analytics measurement functions for: Facebook: People-first analytics for an omni-channel world Get a deeper understanding of where and how people interact with your business across your website, app, Facebook Page, and more.

Then, optimize and grow. What are the channels that matter most to your business? Features designed to give you the full picture: See how people learn about your business and become users and customers, across devices and channels. Funnels; Visualize people’s progress to conversion through their actions across your Page and website, mobile and desktop, and more.

Retention Accurately measure people’s retention over time.

Lifetime Value Discover how much different groups of people spend over time and find new ways to increase revenue. More tools to understand the people you connect to. Journeys Get a full view of how people interact with you across your website, apps, Facebook Page, and bots in one report. Segments, Group your audience across any number of dimensions—from demographics to behaviors—to understand how different groups engage with your business. Demographics, From new visitors to loyal customers, Facebook helps you get to know your audience through including age range, geography, and language.

People come to your business on different channels using multiple devices. When your analytics go beyond last click and sessions, it’s easier to make smarter strategic decisions.

People-first analytics. Get to know the people who care about your business. Aggregated, anonymous data gives you a more 106 |

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complete picture of the people interested in and already using your business. How do businesses grow with Facebook Analytics? Musical.ly used demographics to create and engage a new target group of users. MusixMatch drove richer targeting with segments to improve retention. TinyCo used percentiles to identify top customers.

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Instagram

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Strategic planning: Strategic planning can get complicated in a hurry. Have either of the following ever happened to you? Your boss attended a conference where the latest and greatest planning methodology was rolled out, and he expects you to be fully on board. Your organization has never had a strategic plan before, and needs an idea of how to get started. Either way, it’s important to keep things as simple and organized as possible. Let’s not make it harder than it has to be! One way to simplify the planning process is by starting with a strategic plan template.

Almost every organization we work with struggles with goals that push at the limits of the time and resources they have available. Because of that, it’s important to be able to prioritize, categorize and create areas of focus for your business. As you’ll see in our strategic plan template, we recommend a four-level plan, as it forces you to narrow down and decide which areas of the business you’re going to commit to this year.

Themes: This is the first level of your plan and it’s your chance to spell out what your organization plans to focus its attention on this year. Themes, often called areas of focus, are like the table of contents in a textbook. When you need to quickly access information, you scan the table of contents, zero in and quickly jump to the area of interest.

Applying this concept to your planning efforts because you’ll make your end product infinitely easier to navigate. Depending on your organization, you may have themes, or may choose to split up the goals by departmental structure. For example, a healthcare system might have themes such as: safety, quality, fi| 107

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nance and performance excellence; while an enterprise business may be more comfortable splitting their goals into departmental boundaries, such as: sales, marketing, finance, customer success and human resources. We recommend defining five to seven themes.

Goals: Each theme will be supported by a goal. Some organizations will refer to this level as ‘objectives’ or ‘KPIs.’ This level contains the measures you’re going to track to get a good sense of how the business is performing. Think of your department (or theme) and try to distill one to three indicators of health. A big mistake organizations make is attempting to track too many things. In choosing metrics, less is more. Select the metrics that are most meaningful, and track those numbers, percentages or dollar amounts to hold people accountable and keep the organization focused on what truly matters.

In the strategic plan template, each goal is assigned a “card.” A card outlines the strategies and tactics, as well as the associated responsible parties and due dates, that relate to that particular goal.

Strategic Execution How to Tell if Your Plan is Structured for Execution Have you ever created a plan that wasn’t properly executed? Whether it was a strategic or other business plan or for a personal goal, it may have been difficult to understand why this meticulously-made plan with all its potential died in the process of execution.

While there are many reasons for failure to execute (how you define success, time management, or the planning fallacy to name a few), one I’ve recently seen more and more is that the basic structure of the plan is weak.

As a leader in your organization, the actual building of your plan can be done following any number of methodologies, but in the end, your plan has to address certain key elements to set your team up for successful execution.

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Complex Terminology is Making Your Plan Weak Earlier this week, I read a great article by Graham Kenny in the Harvard Business Review. In it, he discusses how most organizational leaders can’t properly develop a “strategy,” just by putting pen to paper. When asked to write down a “strategy,” most leaders instead give an “objective” or “action” instead of a true strategy – multi-layered, results-driven, actionable, and addressing the who-what-when-where-why-how of achieving each goal.

I immediately related to the scenario of an executive setting out to author a strategy; it’s something I see more frequently than I’d like to admit. What a lot of leaders may not understand is that strategies must be built, layer by layer, with the help of employees at each level to be able to target the specific challenges your organization is facing.

There are many specific planning methodologies – like Balanced Scorecard, OKRs, or Lean Six Sigma – that are touted as the endall solutions to plan management. However, these approaches are usually bogged down with so much particular vernacular that too often leave organizations with a plan with language that’s jumbled by buzzwords and trendy phrases that aren’t fully understood or thought out.

The result? These plans could lack clear definition masked behind all the terminology.

Ground Your Plan in Strong Structure: Developing a plan should involve system design and conscious thought into how it cascades properly throughout the organization.

This is the only goal leaders building business plan should aim for.

The words and language you use don’t really matter.When I uncover this exact plan formulation problem with customers, I’m often asked for recommendations on a proper structure to enhance execution. With so many prescribed methodologies and techniques available, what’s the best way to plan?

This may sound blasphemous to some in the strategy world, but for me, I don’t care if you call something a goal or objective, strategy or initiative. As long as your organization knows what each term means, your plan will gain its strength from structure, | 109

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and not the terms.

Basic 5-level structure that will enable success.

Note that while there are levels to this plan, all five levels may not apply to every organization. You may find your company doesn’t need the broad-sweeping focus of level 1, while others may not need the detail in level 5. Its about finding balance and the proper approach for your organization.

Level 1 – Organize Your Plan by Theme: Theme is the top, most organizational level of your plan. Themes are used to bucket the rest of the plan into organizational categories of the business.

You might choose to segment your plan based on departments, areas of focus, or geolocations, for example. The theme you choose will give you those breakdowns.Some smaller plans or organizations may not need this additional level.

Level 2 – Define the Goals You Want to Accomplish: Goals define what your business is striving to complete. Statements at this level are generally a sentence or two, outlining where you want to be in the future.

Think of it as a miniature Vision statement. An example of a good goal would be, “To become the top service provider in the Southeast,” or “To be top 5 in patient satisfaction.”

Every type of plan – even plans for personal goals – must have these definitions of success.

Level 3 – Quantify Objectives with Metrics Objectives are the quantitative outcomes that will help you reach your goals. Assign the KPIs, metrics, or measurements to your goals that will signal when you’ve “become the top service provider in the southeast.”

As discussed previously, quantitative metrics are crucial to measuring the success of your objectives and your plan. An objective shouldn’t be to implement, develop, or deploy something – it should be to increase, decrease, or maintain a certain figure.

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Again, most types of plans will need this level of detail to know when you’ve reached your goals.

Level 4 – Define Your Strategy or Plan of Attack: As the HBR article outlines, the strategies in your plan will be the adjustments you make in order to accomplish your objectives.

These could be traditional business strategies, or in some organizations, they could be the initiatives and projects meant to steer the organization in the right direction.

Level 5 – List Your Tactical Action Items The last level of the plan are your tactics. As expected, these are the smaller items that make up your strategies. They are the bite-sized pieces that allow you to realize your strategy.

These could be referred to as milestones, deliverables, or something else altogether – again, it’s not the vernacular that’s important. Whatever you call them – these are the action items your team can take to make your strategy happen.

A Plan by Any Other Name Would Smell as SweetRemember, at its core, a strategic plan will help guide your organization to achieve its goals.If you start to get hung up on “correctly” defining your future state during the plan creation process, remember that your plan is only a series of bets placed around the organization. From the bottom level up, you’re hoping the bets you cash in increase exponentially as you cascade up the plan. By accomplishing your tactics, you complete your strategies, moving the needle in the right way on your objectives, and positioning you to achieve your goal.

Since you are placing bets, it makes sense to give yourself and your organization the best chance of winning. That’s why organizations create plans structured for execution and use AchieveIt to properly track and monitor.  Categories  Strategic Planning | 111

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 Dashboards  Strategic Execution  Change Management  Healthcare  Finance  Smart Goals  Leadership  Operational Excellence  Related Resources  Blog: Strategic Execution

How Executives Help Sustain Organizational Change As a leader in your organization, you understand the “big two” of successful plan execution: 1. Reliable, effective plan formulation, and 2. An established execution process.

However, as you cruise through thought capital blogs to find the reason why your organization’s results are still less than ideal, how often do you read about the third element of successful plan execution – sustainment?

What happens after you’ve effectively executed your strategy.

How do you sustain the change you’ve created so that you don’t slip back into old habits? You might achieve your shortterm goals, but without a plan for operationalizing those newly formed habits and processes that earned results, how do you suspect your metrics will look a year later?

The more I research the topic of sustaining organizational change, the more it seems like many organizations struggle with this very issue.

As it turns out, the key to sustaining process change that produces results is a little squishier than I’d imagined. And it all 112 |

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falls on the shoulders of the exec to set the tone for sustaining success for the rest of the organization.

The Role of Process, Discipline, and Resources in Sustaining Change Yes, process, discipline, and resources are important. However, even with all the resources in the world and strict process discipline, sustaining change is still a challenge.

I would compare the idea of strategy sustainment to one most people can relate to – weight loss. Many of us, at some point, have taken up a healthier lifestyle and saw the results when we stepped on the scale. You probably had a goal weight or body fat percentage in mind and, through hard work, you hit your number.

Unfortunately, after hitting that goal, it’s likely that 6 months after reaching your goal, you’ve gained weight back. This is a known phenomenon.

In an interesting article published by the New York Times in 2016, they took a look at contestants from “The Biggest Loser.”

Research showed that the majority of the people on the show gained their weight back. Sustained change is hard. In this instance, there are complicated contributing factors such as metabolism and other biological circumstances, but ultimately, the habits that were formed with lots of resources and strict discipline in order to reach that initial goal were not sustained after that first successful weigh-in.

The core of this issue impacts businesses every day. But there is a way we can break the cycle.

How did we get here?

Recalibrate Your Thinking About Failure In an excellent article published in HBR, “Stop Using the Excuse Organizational Change Is Hard,” Nick Tasler contends that our brains are already wired to think about failure.

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than success, and, as a result, we wrongly treat successful outcomes as flukes and bad results as irrefutable proof that change is difficult.”

Does this sound familiar? I’m sure each of you can point to a bevy of examples where you chalked up a success as a fluke and a failure as inevitable. We could even call back to the statistic that’s ingrained in all of us that says 70% of all change initiatives fail.

Does this failure have anything to do with how we define success?

Yes. It’s a “chicken or the egg” argument, but it comes down to mindset.

Tasler proceeds to discuss a change management study conducted by McKinsey where they found, “A third of executives believed that their change initiatives were total successes, and another third believed that their change initiatives were more successful than unsuccessful.” But only “about one in ten admit to having been involved in a transformation that was ‘completely’ or ‘mostly’ unsuccessful.”

Therefore, pointing to the McKinsey study as evidence for a 70% change initiative implementation failure rate is like saying that every time a baseball player steps up to the plate and doesn’t hit a home run, that player has “failed.”

But that isn’t true in baseball any more than it is true in organizations. The McKinsey results show that around 60% of change initiatives are somewhere between a base-hit and a home run, and only 1 in 10 are strikeouts.

Even if you’re not hitting it out of the park, your change initiatives could still be successful, if you define success as improvement. And if you set your mind to focus on seeing any improvement as the absence of failure, you could set your organization up for greater success in implementing change initiatives that work longterm.

Your team will look to you, their leader, to set the tone for success, and your chances of sustaining change will reflect that positivity.

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The Key to Sustainment: A Mindset for Expecting Success It all comes down to mindset.

In a study conducted by the University of Chicago, “researchers reminded study participants how most people do in fact successfully improve with a little bit of effort. In this study, the results were exactly opposite: study participants were quicker to notice changes for the better rather than changes for the worse.

By priming people with a simple fact about the high probability of successful change, the researchers completely eliminated the negative bias.”

Think about this for a moment.

Simply reminding your stakeholders that successful change is possible, and then shouting their successes from the rooftops can redefine your entire process.

One of the crucial 4 Drivers of Execution we’ve defined is visibility. If you see change happening, communicate what you’re seeing. Create a forum where incremental improvement is shared and celebrated as success. Positive momentum is contagious and that can help executives lead the way in sustaining any strategy you choose to execute.

How Often Should I Review My Strategic Initiatives?

I hear this question all the time. As a customer success manager, I work with AchieveIt customers to continuously optimize their processes and uncover the best ways to use the AchieveIt platform to help reach their goals. These leaders are always asking about what best practices other AchieveIt champions are adhering to – how they can best use the tool, create a culture of execution, report using more accurate data, etc.

The question that comes up more than any other is, “What is the magic number of times to gather reporting updates for my plan?” Or, “How often do other AchieveIt users review their initiatives, and what frequency works best?”

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cadence at all, you’re on the right track.

The long and disappointing answer is, there is no magic number.

Each AchieveIt customer uses a different update frequency that works for their organization.

However, there are baby steps you can take today to help you find your organization’s update frequency that works best.

Depending on where you lie on the scale below, here are some ideas to help reach the next level of efficacy in tracking and monitoring your plans.

“We’re still trying to wrap our heads around status reporting.”

We all know metrics are the key to giving us a good scoreboard.

Without knowing how we’re doing, we don’t know where to go.

However, creating comprehensive reporting is daunting. It’s not uncommon to focus your sights too high-level (annual revenue) or too low-level (number of daily visitors to your website). Without an informative snapshot of some key metrics in between, your ability to make better decisions is a lost cause.

If you’re in this stage, take two steps back and look at the KPIs in your plan. When you report on your initiatives’ progress, ask for updates on each of those KPIs and stop there. Focus on those 3-5 metrics only.

If, after a while, you decide including more measurements would be helpful, you can tack them on to your custom dashboard little by little instead of overwhelming your leadership team with too much information.

Also, read this post for a gut-check on whether or not the KPIs in your plan are built the most informative way possible.

“We pull status reports pretty regularly, but they take so long to compile.”

If you’re stuck in this stage, you’re in a war with spreadsheets we call “Excel Hell.”

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includes a combination of sending emails, updating an Excel document, or taking screenshots to add to a PowerPoint – but most of the time-consuming activity stems from the classic chase-down-in-the-break-room technique to make sure people are providing the updates you need.

A lot of this struggle comes down to the fact that there’s no one person (or worse, 2-5 people) being held accountable for providing progress reporting. Without one single person being the sole team member responsible for providing insight into progress, your system falls apart. And this is why you end up chasing people down in the breakroom to send you what you need.

Furthermore, this manual process takes so long to execute, that by the time the information is neatly compiled into a digestible format, it’s already out of date. Not to mention the fact that manually inputting data from one document into another provides room for error, so the outdated information you’re looking at could also be inaccurate.

If you’re in this stage, in order to get timely, accurate data that allows you to understand how your organization is tracking towards your goals – start with assigning one person to provide updates for each item. No more, no less. Once that expectation is set, you can start to more frequently ask your team for progress updates, and it should start to take less and less time to compile information you need to make decisions.

“We have a solid reporting structure, but we’re not good at pulling reports regularly.”

This stage is defined by an organization that knows who needs to pull what metrics and how they reflect growth, but you’re suffering from chronic inconsistency.

If you’re like many others that fall prey to chronic inconsistency, you deprioritize status updates. Maybe you let a week go by on the due date. The next month you may skip asking for updates because it seems like you’re still on track. By allowing your due dates to differ every time they come around, your ability to make proactive decisions disappears, because the process isn’t built into the work flow of your team.

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cadence can be adjusted to fit the needs of your organization – but your biggest opportunity for success here is to keep your calendar unwavering, so you can rely on your data when you need it.

“We hold status update meetings monthly/quarterly so we can see our progress and make adjustments that will keep us on a path towards success.”

Bingo, this is ideal. Whether you’re checking the status of your most important initiatives and assessing them quarterly, monthly, or even bi-weekly, your set cadence should help your accountable parties provide the metrics you need to make better decisions.If you still need to adjust between those best practice update cadences, ask yourself some questions.

Are you surprised by the updates you’re seeing at each check-in?

Maybe increase the frequency of reporting. If the metric you’re tracking is trending more quickly in between monthly updates, for instance, start to check in bi-weekly and see if that provides the fluctuation insight you’re looking for.

Are your numbers pretty much staying the same? If you’re meeting monthly and your big target growth numbers don’t seem to moving, try adjusting your updates to take place further apart – quarterly. Sometimes a little perspective can help you spot trends over time.

However, don’t fall into the trap of asking for updates less frequently just because it’s easier on those providing metrics. If you wait too long in between updates, you could lose insight in lieu of hindsight which doesn’t give you enough time or agility to adapt.

Monthly Updates Are Most Common Among My Customers In my experience, customers who request progress updates on a monthly cadence are the most successful in getting accurate data without bothering the individuals. It’s a difficult balance to strike, but people will provide updates as long as they’re useful and helping the organization make better decisions. With this steady stream of up-to-date data, these leaders are more equipped to give a clear progress report.

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I’ll reiterate – one size does not fit all. I encourage customers to

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look at the rhythm in their business. Evaluate how often your teams meet (leadership, departments, etc.) and when you meet. Do you have enough information to have a focused and productive meeting? Is your rhythm of updates optimized for today’s business environment?

If you’ve read through this article and don’t quite fit anywhere, there is no need to panic. Even if your organization is only gathering data every 6-12 months, remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Take some of these small steps to build your success.My final recommendation is to reach out to others in your industry (or maybe industry-adjacent to avoid competitor situations) to see how often they’re checking progress. Start there and see if you can find the magic number of status meeting frequency for your organization to allow more proactive decision making.  Categories  Strategic Planning  Dashboards  Strategic Execution  Change Management  Healthcare  Finance  Smart Goals  Leadership  Operational Excellence  Related Resources  Blog: Strategic Execution  4 Musts to Avoid Strategy Implementation Failure  Strategic Planning Example: The 5-Level Plan Hierarchy  Strategic Planning Example: The 5-Level Plan Hierarchy | 119

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Defining Plan Focus by Urgency, Importance, and Impact We all know the trouble with plans is not creating them – the challenge is sticking to them and getting your initiatives executed. It can be simple to get your ideas down in writing, but without adding the elements to your plan that set it up for success, organizations have a tendency to lose rigor around keeping big ideas top-of-mind.

The main challenge in bridging the gap between planning and execution is defining day-to-day focus. In our recent podcast-like webinar, Michael Wilkinson described how common it is for a strategic plan to move further away from your focus over time: from the center of your desk, to the corner of your desk, to under a stack of papers, to being shoved off your desk and into the recycling bin (not the trash – because we may be busy, but we’re not monsters).

Little distractions add up over time to throw you off-course.

Each day starts with, “Oh, I’ll just handle this one quick, urgent task, and then I’ll get cracking on my strategic initiatives.” Once you’ve said that every day for a week, a month, a quarter, you’re never going to meet the goals you set forth at the beginning of the year because you’re now behind 3 months (see “shiny object syndrome”).

We, as a human race, are continually surprised at how time seems to slip away so quickly – but the planet always turns at the same pace. We need to continue to use the data of experiences that came before us to help us not be so caught off guard Prioritizing Your Effort Speaking of time flying, I just got back from spending a weekend with my cousin and her young family that seems to be growing up so quickly. Being a person without children, it’s always a bit of a culture shock for me to dive into a thriving household with a 7-year-old, 4-year-old, cat, dog, fish, and Holli the Hermit Crab.

As much as it’s an adjustment for me to be woken up by two tiny humans carrying a cat upside down and asking me to fold paper airplanes at 6:45 am on a Saturday, it’s an adjustment to switch into constant prioritization assessment.

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I found myself rapidly shifting my focus and thinking, Is this urgent? Is this important? Is the outcome worth the effort? Do

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I fold the paper airplane right now, or do I stop the cat from scratching my baby cousin’s face when it inevitably rights itself in her arms?An easy way to categorize decisions like this is to use the Eisenhower Box. Many will know this activity decision matrix from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

It pits urgency against importance, which can help us decide what deserves our focus, and when.

Plan Optimization: The Last Mile of Strategy At AchieveIt, we constantly talk about the gap between planning and execution. Organizations create great plans but often fail to realize those initiatives. While this is tremendously important, there’s another significant problem that many organizations face – finalizing a plan.

It’s not uncommon for organizations to get to the 10-yard line when creating their plan, but then struggle to make it to the end zone. In many cases, the last 10-20% – making minor optimization adjustments – is the most important part of the planning process, as it drives the ability to execute the plan itself.

We regularly help clients push through this late-stage resistance through our Plan Optimization Workshop. In these sessions, we focus on driving five key elements: 1. Quantitative Outcomes If you are a big sports fan, you likely know plenty of statistics about your favorite team. Whether it’s in-game or post-game, you have the statistics at your fingertips to diagnose the team’s performance, as all good armchair coaches do. But what about people who aren’t as knowledgeable or as big of fans?

No matter how big of a sports fan you may or may not be, there’s one thing all individuals can easily identify the same: the score – who’s winning and who’s losing. While the detailed stats (RBIs, FT%, YDS/A, A/GP, Saves, etc.) are extremely important to understand individual performance, just looking at acute metrics makes it challenging to know which team is winning overall especially if any information is missing.

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sarily mean the Cavs won the game (though it probably does).

The scoreboard principle applies to organizations too. There is plenty of data available at the fingertips of individuals throughout the organization. But, this data overload causes two primary problems: 1) not everyone has or understands all the data; and 2) there’s no “score,” no one metric under which everyone is aligned and measuring against to determine overall success.

Identify the quantitative outcomes that will drive your strategy to success. Move away from terms like develop, implement, and deploy when they can be replaced by increase, decrease, and maintain. By identifying what numbers you have and where they need to move to, you will be on your way to knowing the “score” and identifying the success of your plan.

2 – Defined Accountabilities Everyone has been in the situation where a team meets to discuss progress of initiatives, only to find out that the action items weren’t completed. Why did that happen? Most likely because the “team” said they would do it.

When items aren’t assigned to one person, it’s often left to a “team” and when it’s left to a “team” it’s often left to no one.

To finalize a successful plan, make sure each item in the plan (whether it be an objective, goal, project, or other task) is assigned out to one person. It’s always great to include the others as “members” on the team, but you need one single accountable party to drive success. This chosen leader should be the one closest to the work and most likely to provide a comprehensive update.

3 – Firm Due Dates Whether we want to admit it or not, there is a natural procrastinator inside of all of us just waiting to get out (when they get around to it). While it may be a more severe challenge for some individuals, many people across organizations struggle with prioritizing work and initiatives, especially over longer time frames.

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Many organizations make the mistake of aligning all their work over the full course of their plan. One-year plan? Everything starts Jan 1 and ends Dec 31. Multi-year plan? Well, it just gets

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worse from there. Improper generic start and due dates will plague your plan at the hands of inevitable procrastination.

In the process of finalizing your plan, be sure to check the accuracy and practicality of your start and due dates. Conduct the proper due diligence to spread the work over the course of the plan and ensure that you are not overloading any team or individual over certain time periods.

If you do end up having goals that spread over a longer period (e.g. long-term metric goals), be sure to establish periodic benchmark goals to compare. For example, if you have an annual revenue target, instead of just tracking towards the annual goal, add in quarterly or monthly targets to gauge your success throughout the year.

4 – A Cadence of Accountability How often do you typically review the progress of your plan and initiatives? If you are like most organizations, the answer is typically either “we try to do it monthly/quarterly/etc.” or “whenever we are asked for an update.” In both situations, you are left with ad hoc discussions and piecemeal execution, limiting the visibility into true performance and trends.

To improve this scenario in the final planning process, establish a cadence of accountability for how often updates are requested across your plan. It’s also important to ensure the timing of these requests is consistent and reasonable. If results are only available quarterly, don’t ask for updates each month. Vice versa, if you have access to monthly updates, don’t rely only on quarterly progress updates.

Not sure where to start? Begin with a monthly update cadence and adjust from there. Unless an initiative is extremely urgent and pressed for time, I wouldn’t recommend updating more frequently than every month until a strong culture and process is in place.

5 – Alignment Plain and simple, alignment is connecting all your plan items together. Alignment displays the hierarchy/structure of you plan, ensuring initiatives are connected to each other, to overall goals, and to individuals’ tasks – and that you aren’t open to white | 123

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space risk.

Does your plan naturally cascade work with Objectives, Goals, Strategies, Projects, or a similar format? If not, be sure to set your plan up like a “family tree.” In addition to helping keep you organized, individuals will now understand how their daily roles and workload align to the overall priorities of the organization.

Crossing the Finish Line It’s easy to be excited about getting all your ideas down and finishing a play. It can be tempting to get to work right away, but without making sure these last-stretch plan items are in place, you’re setting yourself up to fall into the same traps over and over again.

Our hope is these 5 tips will move your plan across the goal line to be prepared fully for successful execution.

Still struggling with finalizing your plan or getting the execution efforts you hoped to achieve? Let us know! We can connect on driving success forward and conducting a Plan Optimization Workshop for you and your team.

The Planning Fallacy: How to Avoid Becoming a Victim When I was putting together the content for the AchieveIt webinar I hosted last week, Are You Working on the Right Initiatives? (watch on demand), I got to thinking more about why most organizations only accomplish a percentage of their initiatives. Yes, the main culprit is lack of a culture with rigor around commitment to execution. But there’s another villain in this story – and that’s optimism.

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In the presentation, we referenced the “The Eisenhower Box” to describe how employees lose time to tasks that don’t help accomplish initiatives that move strategic KPIs. This urgent/ important matrix helps determine the difference between items that require immediate attention or long-term focus, and items that should be delegated or ignored. Coupled with the danger of white space risk, dedicating time to the non-important items can lead to oversight of necessary plan elements. e.g. A casino distracted with choosing bathroom countertop colors might

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arrive at opening week before realizing no one ever applied for a liquor license.

Both plan execution antagonists – attention-demanding, non-important tasks and white space risk – have their root in the same problematic soil: The Planning Fallacy. This third productivity hindrance is the downfall of rose-colored glasses.

Those of you that see the glass as half full are why the planning fallacy is so deadly to your timelines.

It’s not just the optimists who are at fault. The planning fallacy is also born out of pride, ego, and a belief that your organization is extraordinary. While that may be true in certain circumstances, when it comes to planning, think of your company as just like everybody else.

What is the Planning Fallacy?

The planning fallacy was developed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in 1979. They define the concept as, “a tendency to underestimate the time it will take to complete a project while knowing that similar projects have typically taken longer in the past. So it’s a combination of optimistic prediction about a particular case in the face of more general knowledge that would suggest otherwise.”

We’re all planning professionals. We pride ourselves in our ability to build plans. However, when it’s time to forecast timelines and allocate resources, we don’t use the data we have to make the best decisions.

Not one of us is exempt from the data of those who have project managed before us. No matter how hard we stare at the glass to make it half full, ignoring benchmarks will be the detriment to realistic plan execution.

What Does the Planning Fallacy Look Like in Day-to-Day Disguise?

How does the planning fallacy manifest itself in your current role?

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You’re given a project. You start to develop your work breakdown structure. As you begin to put in your due dates, a wave of optimism washes over you. You think back to when you completed a similar project recently; it took you 12 weeks.

You learned from your mistakes, you now have practice, and it will be quicker this time. You decide to commit to 10 weeks.

No processes have changed since your last project roll out, yet somehow, you’re optimistic that things will be different this time.

It’s important to resist the urge played out above. The best, most reliable way to resource your upcoming project is to look at past projects. Let those projects be your guide and don’t be persuaded to move your timelines because “things will be different this time.”

The planning fallacy is out to derail your personal life, too. The Harvard Business Review wrote an article titled, “The Planning Fallacy and the Innovator’s Dilemma.” In the article, the author examines the planning fallacy as it applies to projects around the house. The typical homeowner budgets around $19,000 for a home improvement project, but the actual cost of those projects typically come in around $39,000.

How could this happen?

Most people like to think of the best-case scenario because it usually results in a lower cost outcome.

Here’s the thought process you may be all-too-familiar with: From my research, I know that adding a deck to my house will likely cost $25,000…but I “know a guy,” and I could definitely shave off $7,500, no problem.

The allure of cost saving causes you to disregard readily available and relatable information.

To combat the planning fallacy, you need to be constantly vigilant in order to keep pesky optimism, ego, and the “but this time it will be different” mentality from creeping into your plan.

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timelines. Let history be your guide and realize that you typically have a solution to your scheduling problem right in front of you. If you haven’t conducted a project similar to the one you’re planning before, consult industry benchmarks. Find something that can set a precedent, even if the specific project isn’t directly comparable. (e.g. If you’re opening the first-ever Robot Cat Clothing Boutique, research the project timeline for the Hats for Fake House Plants store across the street.)

2. Be a pessimist. Remember Murphy’s Law: what can go wrong, will go wrong. Your projects won’t run perfectly, even if you have the best intentions. Build your plan accordingly. It’s not to say that negativity will help you accomplish your goals, but approaching planning from a conservative, risk management standpoint will help curb enthusiasm.

3. Ask an unbiased party to gut-check your plan. It can be difficult to distance yourself from a plan you’re working on. It’s easy to convince yourself that the ideal timeline you’ve created will work out perfectly. Pass your completed timeline off to a co-worker, and don’t campaign for your proposed timeline.

Invite them to give open and honest feedback on whether or not they think the timeline is not just feasible, but realistic. Bonus points if you can get the office skeptic to take a pass at it.

Keep Your Plans in Check A planning process that builds in accountability will help you realize quickly whether or not your plan timeline is realistic.

Remember, you’re not safe from the planning fallacy in your personal life, either. The next time you’re faced with a big life decision, don’t fall into the trap set by “it will be different this time.” Take precautions, do your research, and trust the data of those who have gone before you.  Categories  Strategic Planning  Dashboards  Strategic Execution  Change Management | 127

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 Healthcare  Finance  Smart Goals  Leadership  Operational Excellence  Related Resources  Blog: Strategic Execution

4 Musts to Avoid Strategy Implementation Failure  Strategic Planning Example: The 5-Level Plan Hierarchy  Strategic Planning Example: The 5-Level Plan Hierarchy  Blog: Leadership Keep Your Plan Momentum Going Through Leadership Change The biggest threat to a plan’s success is leadership change. It happens to the best of our teams. For reasons beyond our control, the ebb and flow of our co-workers is inevitable. Whether your CEO is stepping out for parental leave, your manager has found a new opportunity, or your department head is going to finally pursue their lifelong dream of mounting their own Vegas act, loss and change of leadership structures run the risk of collapsing our modus operandi.

The silver lining is that our operations should constantly be evolving. Disrupting the status quo may not be the worst thing for growth. The glass-half-full outlook on leadership change is that it gives new leaders the opportunity to step up. Routine shake-ups are healthy for cultivating new ideas and perspectives.

However, there are things we, as a business community, need to keep in mind when we lose leadership – especially those championing our important initiatives. Executive sponsorship is imperative for strategic, operational, change management, 128 |

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and many other types of plans. Without top-down support, our bottom-up buy-in and alignment is impossible.

So, the million-dollar question – how do you keep your plan momentum going through leadership change?

At AchieveIt, we work with many organizations of all sizes and industries. Below are 3 things your peers are doing in the face of leadership change with a plan monitoring tool like AchieveIt to help. These are ways that you can continue to execute, report, and iterate on your plans, despite who is or isn’t at the helm.

Enable Alignment, Accountability, Visibility, and Collaboration in Your Plan Tracking I know we talk about this all the time at AchieveIt (we even have a whitepaper on it), but these four elements really do drive your plan – any type of plan – to success.

When leadership shifts, there is a giant hole created by lack of visibility. The overview that leader had in their head of all the initiatives that are being executed, along with insight into where everyone’s at with those projects can easily disappear. There’s no easy way of knowing who owns what, what’s overdue, what’s working and not working, or even why certain initiatives were chosen in the first place. No wonder the failure rate on plans that lose their champions are so high – you lose all the plan information when you lose them if you don’t take extra steps to make that information readily available.

At AchieveIt we try to head these issues off with training and plan optimization from the beginning. Our customers who sign on to use the software also benefit from several hours of training and on-call best practice advice. We try to lay the groundwork before you start executing your plan to ensure that even with leadership change, the issues of visibility and the ensuing scramble that happens in the event of leadership change will not cause disruption.

However, if you haven’t built your team to be bought-in from the beginning, something we believe helps fix the problem is using a plan tracking and monitoring system that allows everyone to access and update that information whenever or wherever.

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tent follow-up, and enabling metrics tracking within context are your best opportunities for keeping the ball rolling.

Having a system that shows clear alignment from small tasks to larger strategic activities will help keep your team together and on the right track. Remind employees how their work contributes to advancing the organization’s goals to help them concentrate on reaching group achievements. Sharing how each individual adds value to the entity at large will help create much-needed buy-in and commitment in a time of uncertainty and help maintain motivation.

Strategy Execution is Change Management in Disguise Michael Brazukas presented a webinar with us last month, Strategy Execution is Change Management in Disguise. During the presentation, Michael pointed out the similarities between Fisher’s Personal Transition Curve, that depicts the process an individual goes through when adapting to a process change, and the Kübler-Ross model for grief processing.

This visual approach can help remind employees that their contributions are concrete, and your organization is still steering in the right direction. And the great thing about this is – if you lose the champion of your operating plan, anyone with access to the tool can pick it up, if you’re using AchieveIt. Official leadership sponsorship is a huge benefit, but a grassroots drive for execution can keep things going in the interim.

You Can Never Over-Communicate: When working your way through change management of leadership loss, it is impossible to over-communicate with your work force. Absolutely impossible.

However, you can communicate in the “wrong” way. Make sure your communication is open and honest. Even in the most hostile or regimented situations, you can communicate with integrity without revealing classified information. Approach your communications from a place of empathy and tap into your back stores of patience – you’ll need lots of it.

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Make sure your communication about the changes isn’t just one-way either. Our most successful AchieveIt customers in this situation work with a designated group of change champions.

These front-line volunteer employees who believe in the positive

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outcome of the leadership change will have their boots on the ground, and their ears open to co-workers when on break, out to lunch, or at Happy Hour.

Change is emotional. In our webinar with Michael Brazukas, we learned that negative reactions to change are to be expected at first. You must allow your employees the opportunities to deal with change on their own time, including giving them someone they’re comfortable sharing with. This builds trust within the organization and gives everyone a platform from which to be heard.

Ultimately, staying purpose-driven through a leadership change will help your team maintain momentum; if the team is bought into the concept, everyone will be able to lead the charge, instead of just one champion.

Don’t Be Caught Off Guard for the Next Big Change Once you’ve made it through this leadership change, you can always expect another one. No matter the scale, change is constant. You will always need to adapt and grow as personnel rotates through the revolving door. But this is good! This is how our organizations evolve and grow. The best thing to do is to prepare your team to handle the next big change.

A handful of AchieveIt customers use our tool to manage things like crisis management response and managing plans that ensure safety training and compliance. While leadership change isn’t exactly in the same category, the idea still applies – create a plan for your “what if” scenarios. The best strategies that we’ve seen have been stress-tested against every likely situation – and even some less likely – including what happens in the event of losing a CEO, Managing Director, or being bought and sold.

Build training and development programs into your overarching plans. Investing in your human capital can be just as valuable as executing an important initiative. Tracking personal improvement is important to build trust with your work force, so that they feel more aligned, more prepared, and more loyal to the organization in the face of immense change.

Overall, instilling a sensation of inspiration, vision, energy, and support into your culture will create a group of employees who are dedicated – at a cultural level – to executing your plan, no matter which leaders are in place.

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Persist Until You Succeed The best advice is to keep going. When it seems like you’ll never see the positive side of a big change – like leadership overturn – you will eventually get there, and a New Normal will be established. Things like a tool that helps you track your initiatives no matter who your leader is, clear and empathetic communication, a culture of accountability and commitment to execution, and flexible preparedness for change will only make the path to the other side smoother.

The biggest detriment to your progress can be the change adaptation mentality of, “Well, the initiatives are going to change with new leadership anyway, so we’ve stopped reporting in the meantime until we know what to do.”

Yes, things will change. However, don’t inhibit all the initiatives you’ve been working towards. To continue tracking, reporting, and working on your determined initiatives will not be for nothing. New leaders will appreciate someone who has remained resolute in the face of uncertainty and be thankful for continued progress and up-to-date data. Also, you chose these initiatives for a reason – they’re likely still very important and will be taken into consideration by new leadership. The more you can get comfortable with uncertainty, the better off you are. It’s a more accurate representation of the world.” Don’t let your plan execution suffer because the person hounding you for plan updates has moved on. Show a little initiative, hold yourself accountable, and make your impact on your organization be felt in a big way!

References: https://fitsmallbusiness.com/sales-promotion-ideas/ 132 |

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