Digital Alchemy by ABEM

The Ideal Clients you attract to your business are looking for a desired result. They have been trying to get that result through some vehicle. Learn how the New Opportunity you offer can takes them out of the vehicle they're currently using and puts them into a new one.

When people are told they need improvement, it implies they've made bad decisions in the past. When people discover a new opportunity for the first time, they want to share it. Knowing why people crave new opportunities and how to build offers as new opportunities are keys to business success.

A small business owner needs to know why the color of water matters in sales and marketing. If your business is trying to stay afloat in an ocean of bloody competition, you are swimming in dangerous waters. Whether your business is large or small, new or established, you can get out of a red ocean by creating your own blue water! Listen to learn some proven strategies.

“Why should I buy from you?” The way you answer this question can make or break a sale. Your value proposition is the answer you need. It describes how your product or service solves/improves problems. It clearly states what benefits your customers can expect, and why customers should buy from you over your competitors.

There are a number of "Disaster Relief" options for business owners who have suffered financially because of the multi-layered impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. In this episode, I review some of the challenges for digital business owners trying to sort through support opportunities offered through two federal programs offered by the Small Business Administration.

There is a huge difference between selling a commodity and having an offer to sell. If your goal is to sell a product or service, unless you can offer the lowest price, you will not win customers who are shopping around for the best price. However, if you create an offer that includes but is not limited to the product/service, you separate yourself from the pack. In this episode, I'll use the example of how to turn the sale of a peanut butter sandwich into an incredible offer!

A well-crafted manifesto expresses the fundamental essence of a company. Your business manifesto captures what separates you and your business from others. What does your company stand for? What are your business  When you can simply and clearly state this, you will crystallize the connection between your business and your ideal client.  Declaring why your organization exists, its purpose, and why people should care about your brand is powerful and important work for the small business entrepreneur.

As we redefine our businesses in a COVID-19 world, the relationships we nurture with employees and clients will build trust and will help us endure the health and financial circumstances we face. Trust is an anchor in healthy relationships. Trust means having faith and confidence that someone (or some entity) is reliable, trustworthy, and able to be there for you. It's having confidence in the honesty or integrity of a person or thing. 

Internet-based "work alone together" options make COVID-19 social distancing doable for many businesses. If you're used to working in-person with coworkers and/or customers, moving to a virtual format means that you cannot rely on eye contact or body language signals to make sure people are listening. But whether in-person or virtually, we cannot be certain that someone is paying attention just because they are present in a room. However, when the content presented is relevant to those receiving it, chances are you'll have the attention and engagement of your audience.

This month's features are more 'lessons' than 'stories.' Though they may not be as much fun to listen to, some aspects of Digital Alchemy require targeted training. This month's episodes address key elements of the formula we use at ABEM Digital Creations: Who --> Where --> What --> Result.

Today's lesson: Until you identify your ideal client, you can't build effective copy, create impactful design, or design the perfect offer stack! Once you know your ideal client, you need to know her/his temperature. Marketing to the perfect cold target market requires a different strategy than marketing to the perfect hot audience!

This month's features are more 'lessons' than 'stories.' Though they may not be as much fun to listen to, some aspects of Digital Alchemy require targeted training. This month's episodes address key elements of the formula we use at ABEM Digital Creations: Who --> Where --> What --> Result.

Today's lesson: How many times are you asked to provide your email address in exchange for "free" digital, downloadable content, such as a free PDF checklist, report, eBook, white paper, video, etc.? When the "free" item attracts the perfect potential customer, it acts like a magnet... hence the term lead magnet. What incentive do you offer to potential buyers in exchange for their email address or other contact information? Getting this right is critical for growing your business!

White noise is the 'sh' backdrop of ambient sound, creating an indistinct seamless commotion.  We can train ourselves to tune out (ignore) a majority of the white noise in our surroundings.  We can learn to live with and even learn to ignore the sound of traffic or the sound of a waterfall. We stop hearing the sounds of electric appliances humming in our homes. As long as the noise isn't disruptive, we frequently stop listening to it.  Being able to tune into or tune out the sounds around you can be both helpful and harmful aspects for the small business entrepreneur.  What are you missing because you're blocking input? What might you be achieving because white noise allows you to focus?

Sometimes it feels like stating the obvious, right? If the roof leaks, just fix it! Finding the place where a roof is leaking isn't always easy. It can take time and money to find that one spot where water's getting in... Until the leak is fixed, you'll need to watch for drips and position buckets to catch the water. Metaphorically speaking, when your business has the equivalent of a leak in the roof, you will be positioning buckets and the business may suffer irreparable structural damage!

 In the natural world and the world of marketing, ecosystem management is a long game approach that is highly effective. Beware of quick-engineered solutions that have unforeseen consequences or do not solve a problem!  Your ecosystem is where you develop your offer.  Ideally, your blue ocean is the place where you're not competing on price.  "Know your niche!" "Find your Blue Ocean!"

Even when you see something and have evidence to back up your conclusions, you may be wrong about a situation.

We can be and frequently are so wrong when there’s a failure to communicate. Effective communication, whether it's among members of your marketing team or between your team and a client, is critical to successful work!

When you set a goal or intention, like seeing a shooting star, there are some common sense strategies that increase the likelihood of success/fulfillment. In the case of the seeing a shooting star, your chances are better at night that at midday. They're better if you're looking up into the heavens rather than down at the ground. Be aware that where you look matters!

"Have you heard?" As you prepare to answer a question like this, notice the gap between the moment you hear the question and how you respond. Is this going to be some good or bad news? Should you prepare to jump for joy or to fall into despair? You are not victim to your emotions but are attuned to them and able to change them when you practice mindfulness. Mindful awareness of emotions is tied to how we manage stress and anxiety. This skill is critical for business owners and effective team management.

What scares you? What causes you to be afraid? Fear is rooted in forecasting what you believe will happen based on emotion-filled past experiences that are most often remembered incorrectly. As an entrepreneur, I've learned to confront my fears, to "face the mad dog" when working with clients, working on challenging projects, and working with my business team. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself... It's all about interpretation and perception.

Not dictating or micro-managing a group requires self-directed group members who are ready and willing to explore what we know; what we need to know; and how will we find out what we need to know. This holds true for a marketing team, too! Independent workers on a marketing team must be committed to contributing to pieces of project puzzles. This takes a special type of person; someone who is mentally agile, willing to take risks, and comfortable with ambiguity.

How do I find exactly what I need? Every solution we're looking for doesn't require new creation. Frequently, "green feedback loop"—re-purpose, reuse, recycle—innovation can work!

It is an honor to share the Business Strategy genius of Angus Moloney, the founder ABEM Digital Creations. Recorded in May of 2015, Angus's message gets to the heart and soul of the essentials of marketing —know yourself, know your hook/offer, and know your customers. "It'll do no good to use a strawberry when you should use a worm" is one of the many witty and spot-on insights he shares.

Living in a place where hurricanes are common, it's clear that where you are determines the impact a storm will have. Whether you produce physical or digital products, neither is guaranteed permanence in this world or in "the cloud." To what degree are you prepared and able to protect your physical and/or digital products? Is your business resilient?

It takes a special type of conversation, communication, and trust to build effective teams. I am fortunate to have a dedicated team of professionals working with me as part of ABEM Digital Creations. We function rather like Voltron superheroes, each adding a superpower to contribute to the successful creation and execution of a client's customized sales and marketing campaign. Listen to learn of the ways our collaborations are fantastic as well as the ways that they need to be honed.

I admit it; I'm a program management tool hoarder. I have spent hundreds of dollars on subscriptions that are redundant and that don't really apply to what I need now but might apply to a future scenario. How crazy is that? I want to challenge the FOMO (fear of missing out) urgency, which I can let guide my decisions. Maybe it's time to do some smart re-assessing, make a commitment to 2-3 key tools, learn them well, and put them into practice.

M.A.D. during the Cold War days was a term used to describe "mutually assured destruction." MAD was a philosophy of nuclear deterrence: if the other side knew that initiating a nuclear strike would also lead to their own destruction, they would be irrational to press the button and start nuclear war. Let's consider MAD from a business perspective and consider how this does or doesn't fit with respect to business teams and clients!

The view and the exhilaration can be a rush, but before you step off the platform, make sure that your safety net is strong enough to catch you should you fall.

 Make sure you have the right ideal client avatar, or the hook/story/offer you create won't get results. 

You are confident that you know what you know. You have experience and expertise. And you honestly assess what you know that you don’t know; for instance, those areas outside of your skill set.  But what about the things you don’t know that you don’t know? Accepting that you don't know everything may be something you resist. Let's chat about it!

 The small things we take for granted help us succeed in business. Stop to take stock of how much you have!

How's your self talk? Stop and listen to yourself. Are you constantly making excuses and begging forgiveness? Or are you accepting responsibility and talking to yourself in a confident and self-assured way? Your internal self-talk makes a difference!

Digital marketers need to make time for some direct 1:1 work with people. The insight gained from actually being with someone when pitching an idea, service, or product can be an invaluable gift.

 Are you productive in your business practices? If so, what does that mean? If you aren't being productive, what are you being? Listen as I sit down with my business partner, Camille, to discuss.

Do you have a business plan? Plans are generated with expectations built on memories of the past (what worked or didn't work) and (often faulty) forecasts of the future. Good business plans and execution require resilience and flexibility.

Your business is a unique creation. Though you started with a business plan, your business is dynamic and changing, and there is predetermined "How To Do It" set of instructions that works for resolving all challenges you may face.