More than a Few Words

Last week I shared a few tips building effective landing pages. This week we're going to turn our attention to the submission or inbound form because this is where the magic happens. The first rule of submission forms is the more you ask for, the less you'll get. Every question you add is going to reduce the number of people who take the time to fill it out. So only ask for what you really need. I...

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners.  Hosted by Lorraine Ball marketing experts from around the globe share tips, tricks and inspirational marketing and business ideas.  With Neuro freedom  your objective is to align our mind, how you view the world to create your reality. It takes practice but if you can identify core beliefs that unconsciously drive your behavio...

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners.  Each week, podcast host Lorraine Ball chats with marketing professionals from around the world.   This week, David Trotter shares his formula for creating social media content in just five minutes a day.  The key is planning ahead.  Take time to look at the month and map out your content.  Start with the holidays, not just the...

Last week I shared a few tips on building your offer.  This week we're going to focus on the landing page. The landing page is your opportunity to convince prospective customers to say yes, I want that. When building a landing page remember it is a single purpose page.  Your visitors are not going learn anything else about you.  That information will simply distract them from completing the submis...

More than a Few Words, hosted by Lorraine Ball is a marketing conversation for business owners.  Social media can be overwhelming, because it seems as if there is a new platform every week.  So, as a small business owner how do you decide which social media platform is right for you?  Our guest Megan Brame suggests you commit to just a few so you avoid creating Zombie accounts that seem to stumble...

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners, hosted by Lorraine Ball In this episode, our guest Anna Parker-Naples explains podcasting can be an incredible business tool when it's done properly. Part of the value lies in the connection that often happens between the listener and the host. As a host you can go from virtually no audience on other platforms to having thousan...

The marketing minute is a shorter version of the popular More than a Few Words podcast. Instead of a conversation with a marketing professional, host Lorraine Ball shares a quick tip to start you on your week A great auto response campaign starts with an exchange, you offer something of value to a prospective customer, and in return, they give you their contact information. What can you trade? The...

If you are like most entrepreneurs, you always have too much to do on any given day. It often feels like you are a gerbil on a treadmill, because I keep running, but you don't get anywhere. This week, our guest David Rule, author of Done by Noon.  shares some tips on how to take control of your time.  He starts by stepping back to the reasons most of us started our business to begin with, FREEDOM....

The hardest thing about blogging is staring at that blank sheet of paper trying to decide what you should be writing about.  The answer is pretty simple, write  about the things that you know that your customers don't.  That may be is a little oversimplified so here are some ideas on what you can write for your next blog post. Start with industry trends. Customers like to know you're staying up on...

More than a Few Words, a marketing conversation hosted by Lorraine Ball. If you are like most business owners, it is a struggle to stand out in a crowd. You can elevate yourself above the rest with a little bit of publicity. Before you begin, you need to understand the difference between editorial and advertorial content. You can't approach the news editor with the idea in mind that you are going...

More than a Few Words is a marketing and business conversation hosted by Lorraine Ball. Why do business owners need to build social relationships?  Aleya Harris  is pretty clear when asked that question. She believes relationships equal sales. You're posting on social media to position yourself as a helpful expert, to show you understand the problems of prospective customers.  You want to show  pe...

The marketing minute is a shorter version of the popular More than a Few Words podcast. Instead of a conversation with a marketing professional, host Lorraine Ball shares a quick tip to start you on your week How do you decide which digital trends deserve attention and resources and which don't? So how did I answer the question? Simple, our strategy is explore, evaluate and embrace. The first part...

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners hosted by Lorraine Ball, founder of the  Digital Toolbox  Today we are going to dive into local marketing, connecting with customers who are around the corner and down the street. The range of marketing choices for local businesses can be overwhelming. Our guest Laura Cole broke the conversation into three buckets: online, searc...

This marks the 600th episode of More than a Few Words, a marketing conversation hosted by Lorraine Ball. Even if you’ve never thought of yourself as a teacher it is time to look strategically how a course might support your business. Start with the opportunity that is right right in front of you, people who would love to work with you and hire you but aren’t quite ready. Maybe they can’ afford you...

The marketing minute is a shorter version of the popular  More than a Few Words  podcast. Instead of a conversation with a marketing professional, host Lorraine Ball shares a quick tip to start you on your week    There was a time when the doorbell rang, you would jump up and fling the door open in the hopes of entertaining a neighbor, friend or unexpected guest. But things have changed. We're a l...

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners hosted by Lorraine Ball, founder of the  Digital Toolbox  What if you could determine who in your audience is your best client in just 180 seconds?  With a well designed quiz your prospects will actually self-select, telling you with their answers if the are good, great or mediocre prospect.   It starts with asking people to sel...

The marketing minute is a shorter version of the popular More than a Few Words  podcast. Instead of a conversation with a marketing professional, host Lorraine Ball shares a quick tip to start you on your week  Social media is all about ego. No matter how many followers and fans you have, it's always fun to see a new follower, a retweet, or reply, like, love or share. All of those things signal to...

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners hosted by Lorraine Ball, founder of the  Digital Toolbox   As a business owner, the most important thing is for people to be able to find you. More often than not, they're going to Google to look for you. Unfortunately, you're competing with companies that are much larger than you. But you have an advantage if you're a local bus...

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners hosted by Lorraine Ball, founder of the  Digital Toolbox   Since the dawn of the internet, or at least the dawn of social media, there's been this ongoing battle between consumers and media outlets, over how much information they actually have access to and how much they share with their advertisers. On the one hand, we want to...

The marketing minute is a shorter version of the popular  More than a Few Words  podcast. Instead of a conversation with a marketing professional, host Lorraine Ball shares a quick tip to start you on your week  Hashtags. That little symbol that you see in front of a single word or group of words is an integral part of how Twitter and Instagram work. They allow you to group your message with other...

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners hosted by Lorraine Ball, founder of the Digital Toolbox When I started my marketing company in 2002 it was a traditional agency built on pen, paper, and direct mail. . But somewhere along the line, we became a digital agency and began playing seriously in the digital economy. What is it and how can you take advantage of it? Well...

The marketing minute is a shorter version of the popular  More than a Few Words  podcast. Instead of a conversation with a marketing professional, host Lorraine Ball shares a quick tip to start you on your week  A friend of mine who is an improvisational artist, and a marketer told me there were many things he learned when studying improvisational comedy that he could apply to marketing.  The firs...

More than a Few Words is a marketing conversation for business owners hosted by  Lorraine Ball When it comes to content marketing, the process is key.  Without structure, you are always chasing the program instead of driving it.    The most basic content marketing tool is a content calendar.  The document allows you to plan ahead, and track your progress, building more effective content over time....

More than a Few Words is a  marketing conversation for business owners  hosted by Lorraine Ball, founder of the  Digital Toolbox These days, video is so affordable and so easy to create it should be a part of every small business owner's content program.   We have access to powerful equipment and gear  built right in to the phone in our pockets. Your smartphone, let's you make quick videos on the...

The marketing minute is a shorter version of the popular More than a Few Words podcast. Instead of a conversation with a marketing professional, host Lorraine Ball shares a quick tip to start you on your week  Real branding is so much more than just your logo, business card and letterhead. A real company brand encompasses what you want people to think and feel about your brand. And so beyond the c...