Lunch & Learn |
Paul Martin has been working with communications teams across the nation for over 20 years. He coaches all types of businesses in how to connect and grow their brands to be more cost-effective and successful. This week he taught us how to use video to grow a business.
Video was the fastest growing marketing medium in 2017. In 2018, if you don’t have videos in your marketing strategy, you’re missing business. Paul taught us what to do to get started making videos that convert.
The Power of Video: Why?
Paul emphasized that video marketing creates stronger customer engagement and increases trust. And 64% of consumers purchase after watching branded social content. Just using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts the open rate by 19%!
The Power of Video: What?
What makes a good video to grow your business? Great marketing videos engage two parts of our brain in the right order: ordering our experience and constructing our reality. Good videos also share some kind of new understanding. Great videos show us what that new understanding means for us!
The Power of Video: How?
Great marketing videos tell a story instead of making a sale. Focus on introducing a character and then get right to the conflict. Then you should provide a solution and reject it! Immediately after, provide a better solution to the problem. But leave the solution unfinished.
Everyone will orient themselves within the story that is being told. You can control that orientation with the way you make the video- perspective of the camera, lighting, music, etc.
Great marketing videos use targeting! You have to create an overlap between you and your audience- the more overlap, the bigger your target. Being on target really maximizes your effort. If you don’t know your target audience, start doing research! Ask around.
Start with ONE goal.
What do you want your video to accomplish?
Here’s an example: “Like a Girl”- an Always commercial. The one goal of this commercial is to cut down the phrase “like a girl.” You can see how the music changes midway through the commercial and this changes the audience’s mood. Also the different perspectives and distance to the actors makes a big difference in the overall vibe.
What’s the takeaway?
- Know the goal of your video
- Write a script
- Make every second count
- Create a hook (within the first 5 seconds!)
- Let the viewer know what they can do
- Don’t be stopped by technology!
Here is the video Paul created for Forge!
Thank you Paul Martin for all of your wisdom and insight! Check out Paul’s website. Email Paul at paul@knackhaus.com or call him at 402-277-0697 for any inquiries or questions.
Lunch & Learn |
“Let’s be honest, if you want to know about the legal issues in your business, it can feel like drinking from a firehose.
And, there is a reason for that.
Everything that happens in your business is impacted by legal. It can be complicated. But, so is running a business. And, all of your legal issues don’t happen all at once. You can build a legal foundation, just like you build everything else in your business. You can’t ignore it, but you can take it slowly. Build a foundation that is sustainable and continue to improve your legal protections over time.”
These are wise words from Josh Andrews who led our first Lunch & Learn focused on the legal world of small businesses.
Josh Andrews of Gray Jenkins works with entrepreneurs and small businesses every day. He is a business lawyer. He helps small business owners and entrepreneurs develop a clear legal plan to protect their business as it grows with an education first approach to legal advice and service. Their firm focuses on giving entrepreneurs a clear path to legal protection. Growing your business can only happen if you have a firm foundation. Every entrepreneur should have access to quality information about the legal that impacts their business every day. Every business needs legal, but not every business is ready for a lawyer.
Josh also has a podcast called Legal to English and he suggested listening to Episode 1, 38 and 49 if you are a small business owner.
Entrepreneur Myths about Legal:
- Legal can wait
- Legal doesn’t affect my small business
- I know a lawyer…
- I’ll just get a template online
Here are Josh’s 4 Legal Essentials:
- Legal Entity– Limited liability protects you in so many different ways. If you’re company doesn’t flourish like you expected, without limited liability you can’t exactly just walk away from it.
- Separation of Assets– You have to set up different accounts. You have to have your own personal bank account and treat the business as something separate from yourself. Document how you pay yourself. Pay attention to what you spend on the business vs. what you spend on yourself. You can’t pay for personal things with your business account!
- Documenting Relationships– You should have a written contract for every relationship in your business. You need that roadmap to protect your business! Properly document relationships with vendors, customers, employees, even lawyers and graphic designers.
- Access to Legal Information– You really need a lawyer who specializes in the small business industry and who knows what hurdles startups face. You need someone who can answer your questions and be available for you.
Make sure you find someone you can truly trust! This person should help you build a foundation for your business, answer all of your questions and help you grow your company.
Thank you Josh Andrews for teaching our first Lunch & Learn focusing on legal. Josh will be leading monthly lunch events at Forge. Check Forge’s Facebook page to stay up to date on all of our events! We would love for you to join us.
Lunch & Learn |
LUCA Financial Operations is an accounting and finance team that offers tech-enabled bookkeeping and accounting for growing businesses. Trey Fulmer is the CEO and Founder of LUCA and he graciously taught our first Lunch & Learn event of 2018. Trey’s main idea: be proactive in your accounting.
Financial awareness means getting timely, accurate data from your business so you are prepared with actionable information that you can use to make decisions. It creates peace of mind so you could be ready for anything that may pop up- like an audit.
A survey from Xero shows that only 24% of small businesses have an accounting advisor. And if you work with an accounting advisor, you are 23% more profitable. Trey emphasized that an accounting advisor is much different than a tax accountant. You may talk to your tax accountant just once a year when you send them all your banking info and simply hope for the best. But an accounting advisor communicates with you regularly and helps you make decisions with the growth of your business.
Hire an accounting advisor who has experience in your specific industry! You may think you can’t afford it but it usually pays for itself over the course of a year or two.
How do you find an accounting advisor? QuickBooks has an online directory of accounting advisors in your area and you can see reviews for them. Xero has an advisor network you can check as well. Make sure you ask someone for their scope of services and how much they will be communicating with you!
Focus on reconciling your accounts daily or weekly- instead of monthly or quarterly. The technology that exists now allows you to do this much more efficiently and accurately when it’s done on a regular basis – make it a habit.
It’s also important to know your ‘break even point.’ A lot of people don’t spend enough time figuring this out. You need to understand your fixed and variable costs because they can drastically change your break-even point as your business grows.
If you’re proactive with your accounting, you’ll avoid a lot of pitfalls because you can respond more quickly when things come up. Trey suggests watching out for: all the compliance headaches and potential for penalties and fees – particularly business licenses, sales taxes, and personal property taxes.
Embrace technology. Establish structured processes. Understand the numbers relevant to your business.
Trey also encouraged implementing a “financial operating system” for your business. It starts with an accounting system, structured workflows, good habits, a flexible operating budget, and a financial reporting framework. Even if you are a sole proprietor you should spend time working on these things or hire someone who can get you setup the right way.
When looking for accounting software, Trey suggests using Xero as an alternative to QuickBooks. It’s much easier for your accounting advisor to work with you in Xero and the support team is great! Regardless of the system or the accounting advisor you work with, make sure you take advantage of the partner discounts offered by your accounting advisor.
Here’s our takeaway points:
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be proactive in your accounting
-
embrace technology
-
build an operating budget
-
hire an accounting advisor that has experience in your industry
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look into using Xero instead of QuickBooks
Lunch & Learn |
Deon Gordon is passionate about Birmingham and its growth. He’s spent the last two years as Director of Business Development at REV and now he’s transitioning to TechBirmingham as the executive director. If you haven’t already heard of REV Birmingham, they are an economic development agency dedicated to revitalization and small business development in our city. With REV, he helped launch the Reveal Kitchen in the Pizitz Food Hall- an incubator for Birmingham chefs who are starting new restaurants.
Yesterday, Deon emphasized that we have to start telling Birmingham’s story in a better light. He said “we don’t often talk about Birmingham’s story through the lens of victory.” We have built a great foundation in Birmingham with an emerging tech scene and we all have high expectations for the future. Let’s tell those stories that inspire others to join us in building a better Birmingham.
“One of my biggest takeaways was that Birmingham is working hard to get on the cutting edge of the tech scene, especially when it comes to working with small businesses. The city has a lot of momentum right now and that is being fueled by multiple small business who have participated in Co.Starters, The Big Pitch, and other local programs that promote entrepreneurship.”
Russell Hooks, Forge Member
With several Costarters and The Big Pitch finalists in the crowd, Deon spoke about the mission of those organizations. “We’re not responsible for the success of those who come through our pipeline. But we give them the platform to be successful.” At REV, they do whatever they can to support The Big Pitch finalists and the Birmingham community certainly supports them as well.
Deon says Birmingham still has a long way to go. We’re still at pre-recession job numbers. And unfortunately we aren’t seeing the same growth in the suburbs and traditionally marginalized neighborhoods as we are in downtown Birmingham.
So what is missing that could help Birmingham really turn the corner?
Deon says the education system could definitely use improvement. We’re beginning to implement more computer science and coding in the classroom and this is immensely valuable to our students’ futures. As technology continues to grow in the marketplace of Birmingham, our city will continue to rise to the level of other major cities.
“Deon’s excitement for Birmingham is always evident and always contagious. Noting the many key organizations and talented people that are working towards the future of the Magic City, Deon brought it back to the boots on the ground: the entrepreneurs who put heart and talent into creating their vision, and we all benefit.”
Russell Douglas, Forge Member
Deon believes the opening of Railroad Park in 2010 spurred the change that downtown Birmingham really needed. It began the transformation of our city and the creation of the park was tangible evidence for the much needed change in Birmingham. Deon says we’re at a rare point where our city is seeing a series of wins. Let’s encourage one another to continue this growth!
Instagram Marketing, Lunch & Learn, Social Media |
Russell Hooks followed up last week’s Lunch & Learn with Part 2: Instagram Micro-Influencers. Russell says the role of social media influencers is changing. The Kardashians aren’t the only ones who can boost a brand! We delved into the emerging field of micro-influencers and talked about how to identify and work with an influencer who is right for you.
“Micro-influencers are testimonials on steroids- they’re effective for marketing your brand, service or product.”
In the beginning of Russell and Amber’s Happenin’s In The ‘Ham account, they wanted to keep their identity anonymous. They thought this would be a good way to focus solely on Birmingham and its activities and events. But their followers started to wonder if they were working for a company like Al.com or even the City of Birmingham. So they eventually decided to begin posting selfies at different events around Birmingham to personalize their Instagram account. This helped them continually gain more followers as people felt more connected to them!
Now they are micro-influencers in Birmingham! Many different local companies, nonprofits, brands and events partner with Russell and Amber to promote to the Birmingham population.
In the past, you needed to be rich to be a influencer! But Instagram has totally changed the game. Micro-Influencers can help get your product in front of a new population of customers who wouldn’t have previously seen it.
Happenin’s In The ‘Ham ‘swipe up’ feature
“Micro-influencers are identified by their industry or geographic location.”
Many ask, “How can you identify who a micro-influencer is?” Accounts with over 10,000 followers can add the swipe up feature on their Instagram story to provide a link to a website or product. So find someone who is in your industry! Think fashion, food, lifestyle blogging, travel, fitness, etc. Just make sure their following population aligns with yours. (Compare your Instagram insights if you have a business account)
Direct messaging on Instagram can easily connect you with an influencer who may help grow your business. Whoever runs that Instagram account clearly has influence over the company and makes big decisions for the brand!
“Treat Instagram as your storefront window- showcasing your product/service to your customers.”
So in conclusion, go after the personalities that fit your brand and align with your consumers.
