BLOG
Digital Marketing tips & resources
I'm a HUGE proponent of not giving a crap about what your competition is doing: comparison is the thief of joy so why wander down that path when you could be focusing on your own business? In fact, if there was any advice I could have given my younger self, it would have been this: forget about the competition, stay in your lane and grow your business in a way that makes sense to you.
BUT.
The flat lay is arguably one of the most popular forms of visual content on social media these days and it’s easy to see why: it works across a wide variety of product types, you don’t need much to make one work and it enables you to showcase a relatively large volume of products in one image. If done correctly, a flat lay can be a beautiful way to show off your business’ wares – done poorly and it’s likely to put your audience off.
If you've been watching my Instagram stories, you'll know that we've spent the last month renovating the sleepout on our property to become the new Shout & Co. studio. When we bought this house just over a year ago, we renovated the main house and decided to keep the sleepout renovation for a later date. Since we moved in, it's been a storage room, then a craft / rumpus room of sorts and now finally, a studio for Shout & Co. We employed the skills of my hubby's colleague's partner who is a builder extraordinaire and gave him the task of completely overhauling the space: from insulation right up to a new ceiling.
Groceries. Cooking. Laundry. Run a business. Make some money. Keep the lights on. Get dressed. Find time to take a shower. Keep your kids alive...
There are a lot of things that we have squeeze into our days - especially when you own your own business. How you do find the time to do it all and live a happy life while you do it?
Social Media can be great fun, especially when you’re stuck in a meme battle with your bestie who lives on the other side of the world. It’s also pretty handy when you run a business and want to stay relevant and visible with your target audience. But what happens when it goes wrong, placing your business in the center of a digital shit storm? Going viral for all the wrong reasons can be an ordeal: before you know it, you’ve got an NZ Herald reporter’s microphone in your face asking for a comment (thankfully not speaking from experience here, knocks on wood) What can go wrong (from a business perspective) and how can you fix it?
Does social media totally confuse you?
Not sure how to make it work for you and your business?
Overwhelmed by the choices of platforms, hashtags, emojis, engagement, ads, reach and all of the new-fangled words that come with it?
Well, here's my offer to help you straighten it all out so you can get on with business:
We've all seen it and agonised over what we are doing wrong... Facebook reach has become the key focus when one contemplates the efficacy of their digital marketing strategy. The truth is that Facebook has completely changed the way interactions work so if you're not getting the reach, what are your options?
You might have heard about a little website called LinkedIn. Many people (and by "many" I mean millions: 467 to be exact...) use it as a digital CV of sorts, crafting an online persona to put forward in a prospective job search. And that's it. They use LinkedIn only when applying for a new job, dusting off the digital cobwebs before they click "apply".
But what if you're not looking for a job? What if you're totally happy doing your thing, running your own business? What if you just want to network with like-minded people? Is LinkedIn pretty much defunct in your case? Not at all. And I'll tell you why.
This is a good one as the temperatures drop: when it gets really cold, I reckon there's nothing better than a hot, aromatic noodle soup to warm things up. Best of all, you probably have most of these ingredients lurking in your pantry cupboard already - and it's probably the easiest thing you can make.
