Strategic Counsel by ForthRight Business

Have you ever come across people in management who, let’s be honest, should never manage people? Many of us can say, YES! The truth is, not everyone is cut out to be a manager and that’s okay. So often, people find themselves on a career path that leads directly to a management position when they are perfectly happy in their current role as a doer. Join us as we discuss how to carve out your own p...

On this episode, we welcome Mike Brown, Founder and CEO of Rebel Mettle Brewery, one of our favorite Cincinnati spots. We talk a lot about how crucial the three brand questions are: Who am I? How am I different? Why would you want me? Getting this right from the beginning is important to allow your community to know who you are. Mike talks about how their success is as much about creating communit...

People decisions are hard to make for many managers and leaders. Other than obvious egregious misconduct, making the choice to fire an employee can be difficult. So often, team members are kept on especially if they are a high performer, when they should really be let go. Rather than keeping someone on the payroll that could be harming your team, listen in and learn how to clearly identify when it...

So you’ve found yourself on the path or have landed a new role as a manager versus the doer. Congratulations! Now what? How do you transition from one role to another without abandoning your responsibilities? How can you manage the transition without micromanaging? How do you define your new role? How do you get it all done successfully? We give you the tools you need to move into your new role wh...

“How can I bring more of myself to work?” We get this question a lot. In fact, it can sometimes feel like we have two personalities, one at work and one in our personal lives. But really, the goal isn’t to fuse these like many people think. Instead, it is about how to find a space for yourself within the culture, letting yourself shine while still respecting the company’s culture and staying true...

In this episode, we welcome Scott Mautz, Founder of Profound Performance and popular author, keynote speaker and our prior business coach! Oftentimes, we think we need to be the named leader in order to lead. This is far from the truth! Being a part of a team comes with many perspectives and having a strong influence over the team drives leadership. Join us as we dig into how to be a leader even w...

A PR campaign should be an essential part of every business’ marketing effort. PR (public relations, or earned media) can 1) Build credibility through third-party endorsement, 2) Drive awareness and engagement of your latest news, and 3) Create searchable content and links that help with SEO. Join us for this episode as we give very specific guidance in how to develop a compelling campaign and the...

Whether you have or haven’t yet vetted an agency for your business, there are strategies to implement to ensure a more successful relationship. Unfortunately, we have seen a lot of scammers out there take advantage of businesses. To avoid being one of them, join us as we approach this discussion from two perspectives: the corporate side and the agency side. And as always, if you need help in build...

For this episode, we welcome a special guest, Steve Leder, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Badge Design to discuss an important, and often controversial topic in the marketing world...creative strategy. We often talk about the importance of a brief because it gets everyone on the same page. In terms of design, it is imperative that the brief translates into a creative strategy that the entir...

For those that dream of being their own boss one day, YES, it is rewarding and exciting and worth it.  BUT spoiler alert, you are on the hook for EVERYTHING!  If you are thinking of going out on your own or have recently, we discuss the top 4 misnomers to give a realistic inside look of being your own boss.  And as always, if you need help in building your Marketing Smarts, don’t hesitate to reach...

Why is Brand-Love important? Because 90% of decisions are made from the heart. As consumers, we are constantly inundated, which means setting your business apart from the competition requires you to emotionally connect to your consumers. After learning the tools we discuss in this episode, check out Anne’s book “The Super-Highway of Relevancy: Getting More People to Choose Your Brand, More Often,...

On the fringes of traditional marketing and branding lies franchising. Whether it’s a career change, the beginnings of a second career or a way to diversify your investments, we welcome guest Lance Graulich, founder of ION Franchising to discuss how franchising can be the gateway to entrepreneurship. From clarifying your “why” to establishing the right mindset to starting the process, it is all in...

Our world is inundated with highly popular short-form content like podcasts, blogs, video and social media. You may wonder if there’s a role for books anymore. The answer is YES! We welcome the author and creator of the Market Your Genius brand, Nikki Nash to discuss why writing a book is still important and how to use it to your advantage especially in establishing credibility for your POV and ge...

Many of us have found ourselves or seen someone trying to strong arm those around them in order to push their agenda...either overtly or through crafty manipulation. This may work occasionally to get temporary complacency. But, the only way to create relationships which will lead to reaching your goals and dreams is through influencing communications. This is a skill which we teach in great detail...

Search engine optimization (SEO) plays a major role in today’s marketing world. So, what exactly is SEO, how do you do it, and how can you make it work for you? In this week’s episode we dive in and answer these questions along with special guest Steve Wiideman, CEO of Wiideman Consulting Group, who specializes in SEO consulting, training, strategy and procurement. He shares a multitude of tools f...

As a leader, your image and reputation are paramount in order to command the respect you need to influence. Personal Brand Characteristics have the potential to lead to behaviors and actions that can undermine and sabotage your brand. Although this applies equally to males and females, there are certain Characteristics that show-up more consistently in females that can lead to significant challeng...

You’ve heard us talk about the importance of creating your brand’s Tone- of-Voice (TOV). Effectively carrying it across all marketing channels and types of communication can be tricky. Here we will lay out ways to create and properly teach your TOV to your organization. If you haven’t already, listen to our episode on creating a strong Brand Character because TOV work cannot begin until this is co...

Effectively marketing to different cultures is part of our day-to-day as well as that of our clients. So as we often like to do, we focus on this topic in this episode through the lens of being more mindful of cultural nuances. This can make or break your marketing efforts, so it is important to discuss in detail. To join this discussion, we welcome a marketing to cultures expert, Doni Aldine, fou...

Are you struggling to close customers/clients/consumers like you think you should be? This episode is for you. As you can guess, accomplishing this is definitely rooted in branding and marketing. But we are going to assume you are a loyal listener and did your homework here. So, this episode is focused on taking your branding and marketing to the next level by giving you tactical approaches for ge...

David Spray, Podcaster (Podcasting Stories)and Entrepreneur joins us for this episode to discuss the latest marketing channel to emerge: business podcasting. Businesses are finding podcasting a more flexible and authentic format for translating their Brand Story in order to build culture internally or grow reputation and credibility externally. There are lots of POV’s on what it takes to have a su...

Have you ever been in a meeting where no one seems to ‘have it all under control’?  Being left with an uneasy feeling that no one is taking the reins and making sure that everything that was discussed in the meeting is going to happen- balls are dropped and details are missed.  In this episode, we define and detail what a good Project Manager is and why they are crucial to a business.  It’s import...

On this show, we talk a lot about personal brand and as a part of the work we do on the personal brand side and through our coaching we talk A LOT about what it means to show up, build a presence, and make yourself memorable- this can be in person, on screen or on video. We sometimes tend to focus too much on what other people think and forget to be our authentic, confident selves. On this episode...

Marketing Campaigns can be a powerful vehicle for stimulating your business growth. Embarking on the development and execution of a Marketing Campaign forces us to relook at and reevaluate existing consumer relationships as well as actively engage new people who may be interested in our brand. In doing this, we find new ways of creating Brand-Love connections with these consumers creating potentia...

Now, more than ever, it seems that there are lots of folks out there re-examining their priorities and what makes them happy, productive and applies the best use of their skills. In this episode, we talk about the necessary steps to making a successful career pivot into becoming a freelancer and starting your own gig. And we do it with special guest, Allie Martin, Video Producer and Host, who is i...

Whether you are selling to consumers, customers, retailers, third-parties or clients, creating a compelling sales story is key to hook buyers. This can be difficult to do if you don’t understand the wants and needs of your buyers. We are going to give you that insight today through 4 different scenarios. And we know this because we have been intimately involved in all of these scenarios helping to...