The Get Ahead in Business Blog

Keep Moving Forward

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 10:59:49 GMT

Why is making decisions quickly such a rarity!

Decision-making can be really, really hard!

Should I, shan’t I, what if this, what if that, but x could happen or y could happen, sound familiar?

This goes on when you are “thinking” of starting a business and can be daunting, and it's not always easy to make decisions that will impact your success.

However, I’d like to share with you some advice that I've learned through my own experiences and the teachings of some of my go-to coaches.

One of the most important things to remember is to

“never stand still, keep moving forward”, one of our core values at Blam.

Grant Cardone says, "Success is your duty, obligation and responsibility." This means that you have a responsibility to yourself to succeed, and the only way to do that is to keep pushing forward, even when things get tough.

This is a mindset that I've adopted throughout my own entrepreneurial journey. Whenever I've been faced with a tough decision, I remind myself that I have a responsibility to keep moving forward.

Another coach who has had a big impact on me is Tony Robbins. He says, "Identify your problems but give your power and energy to solutions." This quote is particularly relevant when it comes to decision-making. It's important to acknowledge the problems or challenges that you're facing, but it's equally important to focus on finding solutions. When I'm struggling to make a decision, I try to focus on the potential solutions and how they could benefit my business, team and family, and I aim to do this with speed.

Of course, there have been times in my life when I've struggled with decision-making. One example that comes to mind is when I was deciding whether or not to expand my business into a new market. On one hand, it was a great opportunity to grow my business, but on the other hand, it was a risky move that could have had negative financial consequences. I found myself going back and forth on the decision, and it was costing me time, my most valuable resource.

In situations like this, it's important to take a step back and gather as much information as possible. This is where diligence comes in. You need to be diligent in researching the market, the competition, and any potential risks or challenges. As Tony Robbins said, "The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment." By committing to gathering as much data as possible, you'll be able to make a more informed decision and have a greater impact on your business.

This means you have to trust that you will make the right decision with the information that you have access to. And if that decision turns out to have been a bad one, you don’t spend time worrying about what you should have done instead because you know you made the right decision with the information you had at the time.

Make no mistake, making decisions efficiently is a key factor in successful entrepreneurs. You can't afford to waste time going back and forth on a decision. As Grant Cardone says, "Be obsessed or be average." This means that you need to be passionate about your business and committed to making it succeed. If you're not willing to put in the effort and make difficult decisions, then you're not going to achieve the level of success that you desire.

In conclusion, I want to encourage you to keep moving forward, even when the decisions you're facing seem daunting. Remember to focus on finding solutions rather than dwelling on problems, and to be diligent in gathering as much data as possible before making a decision, but do this as quickly as you can. Making informed decisions efficiently is a key factor in successful entrepreneurs. As I always say, "keep moving forward" and you'll be well on your way to achieving your goals.

Remember, success is not a destination, but a journey. Embrace the challenges that come your way and keep pushing forward, enjoy every day but keep making decisions!

To your success,

Grant Stain

CEO, Blam

Why You Should Be A Dog

Tue, 13 Sep 2022 11:49:09 GMT

Why You Need To Be More Like A Dog

I love dogs and recently I’ve been wondering as to why dogs always make me so happy and I believe I’ve finally managed to crack the code. The reason I love dogs is because of their attitude to life, that ability to live life to its fullest. I think there is a lot we can learn from them in terms of how to live our lives and how to approach our business. Because the most successful among us aren’t simply lucky, they are dogs.

Here’s a list of attributes most dogs have that I think we all need if we are to be successful in business and life:

They don’t overthink anything
They are incredibly persistent
They will work until they drop
They are incredibly loyal
They are instantly forgiving
They never give up
They will keep chasing relentlessly
They are always happy to see people
They have a super positive attitude
They expect success
When they don’t achieve success, it doesn’t phase them
They are endearing
They are great at selling themselves

When I see dogs out and about when I’m on my regular local walks, they always make me smile. When I see them greet strangers, chase balls and demonstrate a positive excited happy attitude to be out enjoying the simple things in life, it reminds me to “be like a dog”, relentless but positive, happy but eager, hungry and determined.

This mentality is key to growing your business and achieving more than you truly believe possible. In our daily lives, it is so easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day and grow frustrated or tired. However, if we approach things with a positive and new perspective, we can start to make major strides.

Building a business isn’t easy. In the early stages, there will likely be more stumbling blocks than successes but if we reshape our thinking around those stumbling blocks, we can start to bounce back faster. Don’t view failure as a negative thing, view it as an opportunity to grow and be like a dog. Be persistent, never give up, be positive and don’t let your failure define you.

So if the metaphorical ball you are chasing ends up floating down the river, remember what a dog would do…

Don’t dwell on it, chase a new ball!

To your success,

Grant Stain

CEO - Blam Websites Ltd

The 'R' Word

Tue, 13 Sep 2022 11:30:10 GMT

The 'R' Word - How to prepare for a recession

A lot of people are saying a recession is on the way and the continued news of rising bills and energy costs are only getting louder.

The Bank of England has cautioned us over recent months that the UK economy will hit a recession "for more than a year this Autumn". A recession is defined as 2 back-to-back quarters of negative growth and this is combined with record inflation levels (+13%), it’s a recipe for disaster and it can leave many of us facing tough questions in our career.

That’s why I’m writing this to you today. I want to help you survive & thrive in the latest recession. Most Blam Partners come from one of 2 camps, employees or small business owners. If you’re a salaried employee or you get paid hourly, then you have to be honest with your situation...

Are you a revenue generator - or another expense?

If you’re in some kind of support or management role, you’re probably an expense, especially in a smaller business. Maybe the HR Manager won't say it like that but that’s how the bosses really view you. During a recession, being seen as an expense is a perilous place to be. Expenses are often the first things to go when cost cutting is discussed so your source of income is no longer reliable.

The only way to secure your long-term future would be to move from the expense column to the revenue-generating column ASAP.

OR you can position yourself to be ahead of the curve. Why not take the time and effort you will expend to make your own boss richer and invest it into running your own business (without having to quit your job)? You suddenly go from being on a tightrope with no net to walking on firm ground.

It’s a win-win.

If you’d like to do this, but don’t know where to start, I have a 25-minute training session to help. Whether you’re a small business owner or a regular employee, there’s always something you can do to stay recession-proof and provide yourself with the security to be able to focus on the future, not just the here and now.

You just have to be one step ahead of the curve.

Need help?

Get access to my free training here: https://agency.blampartners.com

To your success,

Grant Stain

CEO - Blam Websites Ltd

The Cost Of Career Freedom

Tue, 13 Sep 2022 11:21:47 GMT

What is the cost of freedom in your career?

I have a privileged job. At Blam, my primary role is to help people start and grow their business, one of the biggest steps they have taken in their lives. I help because sometimes finding the balance that motivated someone to start their own business can be hard to achieve when things start to really take off.

That’s where I can really help.

Most people who start their own businesses started because they wanted freedom.

Freedom from their boss
Freedom to spend more time with their spouse
Freedom to go on holiday whenever and wherever
Freedom to have more choices
Freedom to spend time with their children
Freedom to work from anywhere
Freedom...

Sorry to go all Shawshank Redemption on you there but freedom is a big driver for a lot of our aspirations in our career and our lives. However, being pre-programmed as we are, a lot of entrepreneurs who start businesses end up with less freedom than they had before! Working twice as hard for less money and having to keep selling each month in order to keep the business going.

This isn’t freedom, it’s the entrepreneur's trap. You may be under less pressure from the boss but that pressure just comes back in other forms and it’s even worse as all of that pressure is solely on you.

However, that’s why the business model that we promote at Blam is aimed squarely at a system that delivers freedom and providing reliability and consistency in the form of MRR.

Monthly Recurring Revenue

This model is the vehicle that delivers all of the above “freedoms”. At Blam, when a Partner sells a website, app or social media package, the Blam team takes care of the rest, but the partner keeps getting paid.

Our Partners still need reminding of this though, as years of indoctrination can mean they forget that it’s actually okay to work in accordance with their “freedom plan”. That’s where I come in and help them map out their diary in accordance with that plan, and find that true balance that they craved for so many years before.

Getting there takes time and effort, but when achieved really helps find the meaning in life and attain the freedom we all deserve.

So maybe your goal is to work whilst travelling the world or to work a 10-hour week. In my experience, there are many different dreams of the perfect work-life balance. Whatever your preference is, having a business model backed by the accountability of a coach who understands the end goal is key to that freedom.

The great news is it is attainable, and if your passion lies with helping small business owners with your own digital marketing agency, working with Blam could be the next step to gaining your freedom.

To find out more, just send the word "freedom" to grant(@)blamwebsites.com and I'll reach out to book a 1-2-1 to walk you through the process and find out how you can achieve it.

To your success,

Grant Stain

CEO - Blam Websites Ltd

Are you attractive?

grant@blam.online (Blam Websites) — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 09:33:09 GMT

We lost a true legend in the business coaching world last week when Bob Proctor passed away at the age of 87. Anyone who has been around the business world for some years and taken an interest in personal development will know of Bob, and many will remember him for his part in the famous film/book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.

I read The Secret 15 years ago and was intrigued (but skeptical) by this concept that “the Law of Attraction” influences everything in the world and all that we do. Bob was one of the key contributors in this book and I can still hear his voice from the audio stating that we attract what we think about “by law” of nature, a scientific fact.

That got my interest and I started to dig deeper. It turns out the theory that we attract what we think about was not a new concept. I’ve recommended before the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill in another article, and in my view this is the business owners version of The Secret, with practical applications of how the law of attraction can work for you.

It’s fair to say that those two books had a huge influence on my life and therefore the lives of the people I’ve coached and influenced since. Now the idea, that Bob was so articulate in purveying, is a part of my everyday life and no longer a fringe idea that may not have any substance.

So how can you be attractive to the things and people in life that you want?

Well, that’s the big question, and I’m still on my journey to achieving all the things I think and work for. However, what I can say is that when you have a goal that you are single-mindedly focused on. A goal, you think about all the time, make plans to achieve, talk and write about it consistently. Then you are employing the Law of Attraction to bring that goal closer to you, and in my experience one way or another you will get there with persistence.

There is nothing strange or “woo woo” about that, it’s just common sense. What we can do is help control how much we think about something, charged with positive thoughts and outcomes. Visuals like vision boards can help you do this and goals that are written and printed in line of sight at your desk.

Using these techniques over the years I have achieved many goals and created wonderful memories that look just the way I had visualised them. As I sit here writing this, as I do every Sunday morning, in front of me at my desk is my vision board, my goals list and my gratitude bag, all reminding me of where I’m going and being grateful for where I’ve been.

I now teach some of these techniques to Blam Partners and help them see how they can influence their future by being more attractive to it. Many find it inspiring and uplifting and that’s what’s so great about some of these practices, at the very least they make you feel good!

Life is a journey we are all on together learning from each other, and now one of the great teachers of this journey has made his way to the next stage, I want to keep his flame burning as he was a hugely positive influence in my life, rest in peace Bob.

Grant Stain - CEO, Blam Partners

Tune into the Digital Revolution and Get Your Business Flying!

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 12:19:25 GMT

5 Digital Marketing Trends That You Must Be Using for Your Business in 2022

Every cloud has a silver lining as the old saying goes and 2020/2021 epitomizes this. With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Digital marketing became more important than ever before. Whilst we all endured the tedium of lockdowns and restrictions, on the positive flipside, social media use skyrocketed, more people turned to eCommerce for shopping and businesses had to go digital.

During an incredibly tough period, a digital boom occurred across the world and new trends emerged as digital became the norm for all. Let’s explore the 5 things that you should be doing with your business to keep up with the Digital Revolution in the new year.

1. Artificial Intelligence is the Bee's Knees!

Mention A.I. and immediately thoughts of robots taking over the world, Terminator and cyborg humans spring to mind. However, in the business world Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now an even bigger driving force in the world of digital marketing.

AI has been implemented by businesses in areas like product recommendations, basic communication, email personalization, content creation, and e-commerce transactions. In the small business sector, A.I. websites engage and personalise responses to prospective customers, meaning that even while you sleep your A.I. Business website is generating leads for you.

The big multinational companies like Amazon and friends have been using A.I. technology for a long time, but now A.I. websites are affordable to small and medium sized businesses as well. Investing in A.I. website tech has been shown to increase sales by 19%.

As 2021 draws to a close, the prominence of A.I. technology for Small to Medium Size Businesses (SME's) is seeing accelerated growth in revenue and cost savings in the sector. Enterprise level tech that the Big Companies have is now available for all businesses whatever your size.

2. Chatbot Solutions

Chatbots are also seeing a big increase in use in 2021. They were already quite common across numerous company websites, but 2020 saw a boom. In 2020, they powered more than 80% of customer service, and that number is sure to rise by the end of 2021. Whilst many may prefer the personable touch of speaking to a real person, chat bots earn money for your business in times when you are too busy to handle leads and like A.I. websites, while you are sleeping.

Clever chatbot software responds to customer questions and also can take their contact details, so you can wake up in the morning to newly generated business leads. The fact that chatbots offer real-time interaction with customers and can be used to address issues and answer queries round-the-clock is very appealing to small, medium and large businesses. For a small business, it is like having an extra member of staff without the cost of paying another salary.

An increasing number of brands are now also offering their services via chatbots e.g. Lyft, a rideshare brand, allows its customers to request rides via chat across platforms like Slack and Facebook Messenger.

Just think what chatbot software could do for your business in terms of saving you time and generating you leads and sales! It is the perfect digital solution to grow your business.

3. Live Streaming is the New Rock 'n Roll for Businesses

Live streaming has come into its own during Covid-19 pandemic. More and more companies have turned to live streaming for conducting workshops and other forms of promotion. Suddenly pretty much everyone everywhere is live streaming across the world from celebrities to DJs to influencers to Digital Marketing gurus. In 2020, there was a significant surge in the percentage of people viewing live videos across all major platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

The E-commerce giants like Amazon have also gotten in on the act too with Amazon Live which allows influencers to promote their favourite products and services. The beauty of live streaming is that it helps to connect brands with their loyal customer base and it establishes trust and authority because companies can showcase their know-how.

Putting a friendly face to a brand in a live-stream is a great way to engage new followers that in turn become buying customers. If you haven’t tried live streaming yet, it is an excellent way to engage your target audiences.

Get on and get live!

4. Inclusivity Matters In the 21st Century

Equality and diversity issues and showing your customer base that you care are of vital importance during these times. It was the caring and socially aware brands that grew the most during these pandemic times.

2020 saw the 'Black Lives Matter' movement come to the fore again, and globally, with issues such as diversity and inclusivity at the forefront of the public’s consciousness. Also, we saw the anti-racism movement grow massively in the world of sport, in particular football, with professional athletes worldwide taking the knee to show solidarity with the cause.

It is important to be authentic and empathetic with inclusivity matters because if prospects think that your brand is just jumping on the bandwagon, then it could have the opposite effect. So choose your campaigns carefully and sensitively and it is best to avoid contentious political issues. Show that you care and it goes a long way with many customers in these times.

Many brands have welcomed the inclusivity discussions and made efforts to show that they were inclusive and appreciative of diversity. In return many of these companies have been rewarded with positive feedback from customers and an increase in revenue. The likelihood is that in 2022, more and more brands will openly showcase their cultural values in digital marketing to capture this wave of interest in equality and diversity.

How can you bring inclusivity into your business and brand and promote it on social media platforms ? Think about issues that you are particularly passionate about, but as I said before be authentic and do your research first!

5. Newsletters and Podcasts Galore!

2020 also saw the popularity of newsletters and podcasts boom into a wider sphere of audiences. For businesses, podcasts and newsletters are the perfect way to keep their brand at the forefront of customers’ minds.

Both podcasts and newsletters are a fabulous way for your audiences to consume your content and build brand awareness and loyalty. The secret is to provide valuable content which provides solutions to customer problems and to understand what your clients are interested in.

Podcasts in particular, experienced a significant spike in popularity, as people can consume them on-the-go. Newsletters saw an 14% increase in 2020 and around 55% of Americans were listening to podcasts in 2020. What’s more is that the popularity of podcasts has also led to increased spending on them by advertisers. That means that podcasts are here to stay as long as audiences tune in.

If you want to engage your audiences, start planning a monthly or weekly newsletter sharing exciting and useful information for your prospects. Also, it is worth investing in some broadcasting equipment to start putting out your own podcasts. It is a superb way to engage the public and drive leads and sales in your business. At Blam we are getting an increasing number of SMES hiring us to write their company newsletters each month.

Listen to the Get Ahead in Business Podcast on Spotify Too.

Automatic For the People

The key takeaway is automation. Marketing automation helps you do things better, smarter and faster, so you get some time back. Small business owners are busy doing everything themselves and marketing can often seem too far out of reach because of the time pressures of other tasks. The simple solution is to leverage the power of automated marketing using A.I. websites and chat bots. Plus it is worth showcasing the caring and socially aware side of your brand with inclusivity themes in your promotions and social media. But always remember to keep it real and genuine because the modern day consumer can smell insincerity a mile away!

Blam is all about making it easy for SME owners to understand the power of digital marketing and we help countless businesses harness the power of A.I. websites and digital. We have even developed our own chat bot system for clients.

Last but not least, get your content out there with a company newsletter, podcasts and live streaming! In 2022 get on it with the digital methods that are building businesses into thriving ventures!

If you're considering any of these strategies but need advice on how to execute effectively, get in touch here

How to Make Your Content Marketing Strategy Boom in 2021!

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 12:22:43 GMT

Top Tips to Get the Most from Your Content Strategy

Content Marketing is the El Dorado for your business if you do it correctly and with some foresight. One of the worst pitfalls is trying to do everything and be present on every social media platform. It is much better to focus your attention on valuable and useful content on a few channels rather than spreading it far and wide across lots of different social media platforms. Let’s take a look at what your Content Marketing Strategy needs to consider in 2021...

What does Content Marketing give to Businesses?

Content Marketing needs to be plain and simple in its intentions:

It is all about increasing visits to your business website and social media with the intention of ascending those visitors into buyers.
In giving free and valuable content to your target audience you build the authority and reputation of your business. The more trust your brand has for being expert in your field, the more likely people are to buy from you and stay on as a loyal customer.

The crux of the matter is that your business content needs to be strategic in approach so that you attract and engage with the correct audiences. Subsequently, those engaged audiences will hopefully lead to paying customers. Nevertheless, it is not just about creating content, it is also about placing and distributing valuable content to enhance the reputation of your brand.

The Five Key Elements of Content Marketing Strategy

Fifth Element? Bruce Willis and surreal 90s sci-fi movies spring to mind. No, not the Fifth Element, but five elements. So what are they? Let’s find out...

1. Positioning Your Brand in the Market

Consistency is the secret source in marketing. You need to make your brand clear as to what it is and what it represents. If you can have consistency of purpose with your branding and create the correct image for it, then you are likely to experience great success.
To achieve this you need to take into consideration a few different factors right at the beginning. Ask yourself the following questions:
Who are your existing and potential customers?
What consumer experience are they seeking?
Who are your competitors?
What is unique about your brand that makes it stand out from the crowd?
What are the key aspects of your brand personality?
What customer problems are your products or services solving?

2. Owned Media Value Proposition

Sounds like a mouthful! It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue as an expression. What it means is that you should establish yourself as a credible publisher by designing the owned media value proposition. You can do this by:
Researching your audience by identifying the type of information they want.
Analysing the content strategies used by your competitors.
Once you develop owned media, you have to consider all content published in your sector as potential competitors.

3. Set out your Business Case

It is not about firing out content willy nilly. No siree! You need a focused, well-thought out and comprehensive content plan. As said before, you need to deliver value to your audiences and that takes some thought and planning.

However, beware of vanity metrics on social media; likes, comments and shares are not important on their own unless they co-relate with an increase in sales. Your content should be set to drive your business forward in a strategic manner. How do you do this?

Well, you need to:

Start by identifying the goals of the business and how content marketing can help you get closer to those goals.
By having a documented business case, you will be able to understand the costs, risks, and benefits of implementing the content marketing strategy.

Make sure that you can measure the KPIs of your content to your business goals to evaluate how successful your content strategy is.

4. Implementing Your Strategic Content Plan

Once you have set your business goals, you need to focus on how you will implement your Content Strategy, step by step. You should plan ahead with your content, at least 3 months in advance. Consider the types of content you will create, how you will deliver the content to your target audience and how to measure the success of your content. Remember it is sales and revenue that matter most, not just shares and likes.

5. Social Media and Other Channels

It is better to choose 2 or 3 social media channels to promote your content and do those 2 or 3 platforms well. The biggest mistake businesses make is trying to be everywhere on every social media platform. You will end up with half-finished bridges, to quote the leading DigitalMarketer CEO, Ryan Deiss.

Eight Steps For Creating and Implementing a Content Strategy and Content Plan

Remember that a successful Content Strategy requires purposeful planning and consideration. It should also be aligned with your company goals, anticipate challenges and allocate your resources in the most efficient way.

If you take the following 8 steps, you will be well on your way to a successful content marketing that strengthens your business:

Audit your Existing Content:

Look at existing content if you have any and analyse it to understand the quality of your content. Also, discover the types of content that attract the target audience you want and that generate leads and sales. If you are a new business jump to Step 2.

Analyse your Competitors’ Content:

Look at your competitors and the type of content that performs very well and in relation to high sales of products and services. The trick is to emulate the success of your competition because there is no point in reinventing the wheel. Notice the techniques and approaches that they use and apply them to your own marketing. But obviously change the content, so it is not a carbon copy as otherwise you will be breaking copyright laws.

Set Your Content Goals:

In order to have clear goals for your content strategy, you need to sit down and write out what it is that the content is trying to achieve in relation to your business plan.

Identify Your Target Audience:

It is essential that you know your audience and what their problems, needs, aspirations, lifestyles etc are. Use a Customer Avatar Template to guide you in this process. It can be the basis of your Content planning and you may have more than one customer avatar depending on your type of business. Download the template in the blue link and always use a Customer Avatar before you create any content. This is best practice for Content Marketers.

Create a Content Plan:

Using an Excel sheet or similar, write a plan for at least 3 months in advance. But be sure to tweak and add to it to reflect changing trends in the markets or to leverage the power of trending topics. Your editorial team should use the plan to allocate resources and staff in the most effective manner. Also, you can set deadlines for when content needs to be created by and scheduled to post.

Plan the content production:

Consider carefully the purpose of each piece of content and make sure that you cover all parts of what is called the Customer Value Journey. The CVJ and Customer Avatar are two of the most valuable nuggets of information that every marketer needs to know and understand to maximise their leads and sales and build a strong brand with their content.

Content Distribution Planning:

Your channels of distribution will obviously include your website and then 2 to 3 social media channels too. You can also consider Content Distribution networks where you pay to promote your content.

There is also the scope to publish press releases and be featured in the media and also to use paid advertising to promote your best content. It is all about staying in front of your prospects’ mind and attention, so they don’t forget your brand. That way you can build brand awareness and loyalty.

Content Analytics and Performance- It is vital that you understand what types of content your audience connects with and to analyse its performance through certain metrics. Most social media platforms have built in analytics to show you how well your content is doing in terms of views, impressions, likes, shares etc.

You can also use content metrics like user behaviour, SEO results, company revenue, dwell time on page, clicks on links and so forth to measure performance. Tools such as Google Analytics give a deeper insight into performance.

Looking Forward!

So there we have it, we have covered the five elements of a successful content strategy and also the 8 steps that you can take. The key takeaways are to make your content purposeful and aligned with your business goals. To have content plan or editorial plan for at least every three months. To consider the types of target audiences and what works best. To monitor and analyse the performance of your content through metrics and analytics and that way the best performing can be used and emulated again and again. Oh and don’t forget, look at what the competition are doing in terms of content and emulate their best content and strategies!

Last but not least, to save you time and to schedule content weeks and months in advance, you need to use a Content Tool. Blam Social is one of the easiest and user friendly Content Tools on the market today. We use it with all of our customers.

To book in for a FREE MARKETING AUDIT click here

Eight Things Every Blog Needs in 2021

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 17:42:50 GMT

Top Blog Tips for 2021

Are you a blog writer or are you thinking of creating blog posts for your business website?

If so, read on…

Blogging remains one of the most important and powerful tools of digital marketing. Every blogger, company, and Digital Marketer needs to consider these 8 key points in 2021.

1. Longer is Better

Not so long ago, the conventional wisdom around blogging was that short blogs of around 500 words performed best. This was largely based on the fact that people have shorter attention spans and prefer brief content. However, more recent studies have shown that search engines give preference to in-depth and longer content.

Google now tends to rank longer blog posts of quality information as opposed to short posts which have little to offer the reader. SERPS or Search Engine Results pages are the web pages that users find when they search for something on Google. The user will type in certain keywords and phrases and then Google shows the SERPS.

With longer blogs containing quality information and keywords, your article is more likely to be found in SERPS. Comprehensive and useful articles can help your blog and website climb the rankings in Google.

2. Create Evergreen Content

So what is it? In a nutshell, evergreen content is content that stays relevant and valuable over a long period of time. It doesn’t grow old fast. It may need refreshing and updating from time to time, but the main content is useful to prospects for the long term.

Evergreen content helps you drive continuous traffic to your website. Posting content that solves a prospect’s problems with a solution means guaranteed visitors to your website. The beauty of evergreen content is that you can use it again and again and also promote it.

Examples of evergreen content include a cheat sheet, a how-to article, a short guide to something important for the target audience, a tool etc.

3. Don’t Be Salesy, Offer Value First

A basic rule of thumb for blog posts is that the content should offer valuable information and not try to sell to your customers from the word go. The Customer Value Journey is about gradually building a relationship with your prospects by giving them value first.

Today’s consumers don’t want to read content that is blatantly written for the purpose of selling. They can detect it easily and are likely to leave your blog as quickly as they came.

Your blog content should be the bridge builder that will give authority to your brand and build trust. It should show the internet that you are a problem solver for your target audience and not just in it for a quick sale.

Every website should have a lead magnet which is basically a free giveaway of a really valuable piece of content to help your prospects solve a problem e.g. a pdf document on How To achieve something, a cheat sheet, etc. A lead magnet is given away in return for a prospects’ email, so you can start marketing to them.

4. Visual Content Draws In Traffic

Combine your text with stunning images and graphics, so your content has a greater impact on the reader. Well-written and compelling content with attractive visuals will help prospects have a better understanding of your brand.

But don’t just post random images or create bland banners. Choose and create your images and graphics to properly lure in your audience with content based on their needs.

There is a range of fab free graphics tools online such as Canva and Snapsneed. Also, you can get a range of images from Stock image websites some of which have free photos e.g. Pexels

5. Repurpose Existing Content

Repurposing content is about reusing existing content into different formats e.g. a blog can be made into a case study, a podcast, a social media post etc.

A successful content strategy writing is more than just writing blogs from scratch. By repurposing your old content, you can leverage your old content to draw in more traffic. Rewriting, refreshing, and changing your old content to make it purposeful again will help your website get better rankings on SERPs.

It is important to monitor the performance of your existing content to see which pieces were the most popular and then refresh, rewrite and repurpose them to gain a wider audience.

6. Having a Content Strategy and Plan

A successful business plans its content at least 3 months in advance. Without the right strategy, you won’t get valuable results. A well-planned content strategy predicts what type of content will suit your brand the best, who your target audience is, where do you want to head, and what is the appropriate roadmap for your brand.

Using an Excel document or similar, plan at least 3 months ahead and write down the topics and subtopics which you will cover each week.

Also, do SEO keyword research to include keywords in your blogs so that they are picked up in the SERPS on Google. Plus, include links to external websites to improve your rankings.

7. Stand Out From the Crowd With Your Company Voice

Whilst keeping an eye on the competition and emulating their successful content, it is also important that your company has a distinct and unique voice.

In today’s digital world, your business needs a distinct voice to get ahead of the game. If you simply follow what everyone else is doing, you won't attract the attention of your customers because there won’t be anything unique about your content.

So it is fine to write blogs on topics that are trending (and most of the big corporations do this), but it is important that your brand voice stands out as different from everyone else.

Equally important in today’s worry-ridden world, is that your content should have bundles of positivity. Also, show empathy and support to your target audience and win the hearts of your readers with practical solutions to their problems. Sites like Think With Google are packed with useful ideas about market trends.

8. Monitor the KPIs of your Content

It goes without saying that every piece of content should have a goal and a purpose . To check that content has reached its goal, you need to measure Key Point Indicators (KPIs) to see how each post has performed. Here are some KPIs you can use for blog writing:

Brand loyalty and awareness: this is a little trickier to measure, but you can carry out social listening to see what people are saying about your brand on social media. Also, from the comments, likes, and shares on your blog posts.
Conversion rate - how many readers who discovered your blog became paying customers?
Customer retention and engagement - how many customers who have encountered your brand via blog posts remained as customers?
Email responses - what is the open rate on your email campaigns? You can send your blog posts via email too.
Return on investment (ROI) - how much revenue did you make from your specific content campaigns compared to the cost of creating the blog posts? Particularly relevant if you are paying a Content Writer.
SERPs ranking - How are your blog posts performing in the search engine results of Google and other search engines?
Social media engagement - What are the stats for engagement on social media? E.g. views, impressions, comments, likes, shares etc.

Monitoring analytics and optimising your content requires knowledge of how to read the KPIs and stats of your social media platforms and to use tools such as Google Analytics. If you don’t have the time or inclination for analytics, you can always hire a Digital Marketing expert or team to do this for you.

Well, that’s all folks! Remember that a well-planned Content Strategy for your blogging can help build your brand authority and convert prospects into buying customers. Lead with value to build customer relationships and don’t be salesy from the start.

Remember this - the most successful of blogs is based on well-written, valuable content with compelling images!

For more info on blogging strategy, contact the Blam team on info@blamwebsites.com

"Dealing with your imposter syndrome early is really important "

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 10:53:46 GMT

Blam Partner Testimonial #15 Testimonial | Jon B. CEO DoodleBug

The following transcript is from this video interview here . Jon Bugg, CEO of We Are DoodleBug describes his journey to becoming successful as a Blam Partner.

Grant : Hi guys and welcome today to Mr. Jon Bugg, Director of We Are Doodlebug. Welcome, Jon. We are gonna have a chat today because John's been with us a while now and he's at quite an interesting point in his journey of being a Blam Partner, so I wanted to have a chat with him so he could share his journey in the hope that we can give information to prospective partners and also give inspiration to new partners and partners that are interested in seeing the way other people are running their businesses.

So, pleased to have you with me Jon and I must say, first of all, I'm loving your background. You've got it all going on with the logos. There's no chance of us not knowing where you're from.

Jon : Well that was the idea because I found people were going on Zoom and they're putting little labels at the bottom with all their details in. So I just put it in the background via Canva.

Grant : Here you go, tip number one, Canva is your friend. Brilliant so let's just start with a bit of background. So what industry were you in prior to starting your digital marketing agency?

Jon: I was in education, so I've been a teacher since the mid-90s. I rose up to headmaster level and found myself at the end of one month, having walked around the school realizing that I've seen 400-450 kids that day. I was sitting in my office and thought, 'how long is it since I've seen my daughter awake during the week?' It was a good four weeks and I realised that this [work-life balance] is not really for me. I've had my pound of flesh and I need to do something more for myself. So I went off to do some consultancy work in education and, as part of that, I had to learn about marketing/digital marketing and how that all fitted together. I did a course on that and loved it, absolutely loved it. It just lit fires in me that I hadn't experienced for years and it was exactly where I wanted to be.

I found myself talking to headmasters who are supposed to be talking about behaviour systems, special needs, and coaching their senior leaders. Instead, I was talking about how they were marketing their school. So then I was like 'this is a sign for me', that's where I need to move to.

"I had to make a decision to go 100% full-time on this and that was probably the best decision I could have made!"

I looked at different options and there were a couple of franchises that came up. I was just scanning through one of those sites and Blam popped up. I thought, 'that looks interesting', so I filled out the form and had a chat with you guys [Grant Stain and Edward van der Kleijn] and basically ended up signing up. I ran it concurrently to start off with so there wasn't a cliff edge, I didn't jump off and go bang - I'm all digital marketing now. It [my consultancy work] reduced over the years and the marketing work increased, but when Covid-19 hit the [education] consultancy work obviously disappeared completely. So I had to make a decision to go 100% full-time on this and that was probably the best decision I could have made!

The time [I spent on my digital agency] before gave me a good grounding in what I was doing. I [already] had clients and things [in place] and I'd learned a lot, but it [Covid-19] was the push I needed. Once I'd recovered from actually having Covid -

Grant: Yeah, you were really ill as well. I remember speaking to

you and it really knocked you off your feet, didn't it?

Jon: Yeah it was early days when I caught it in sort of mid-March or early-March 2020 and so it was a scary experience. I don't mind admitting there was one night where I thought my chips were up and that was it. You go through an experience like that and then it comes in waves. Every month or so I'd have another bout of it, but not as bad as that first time.

I certainly believed I was going to get better those times but yeah it kept coming on again and again and again. But even with dealing with that over the last sort of 18 months, I've still managed to grow the business so it was a pretty awful time but we're at the other side of it now and this year, in particular, has been really, really positive.

Grant: Well you've really got some traction now and I think it's interesting, I just want to go back to what you said, because I actually wrote a blog about this over the weekend. You would not believe how many Partners have had a similar situation where they - prior to the pandemic - were running their business as a bit of a side gig and they were balancing it between either being in full-time or part-time work. Then when the pandemic and lockdown came, they decided to take the plunge. Either their other business [was affected], they were furloughed or they were in an industry that shut down and they committed fully to their business. It's happened so many times and every single one of them has said the same as you - 'I wish I'd have done it sooner' or 'it was just the push I needed'.

"It felt like I was perpetually winding and winding and winding and winding and then suddenly BANG! I took off."

Jon: Yeah it is, but there was also an element of... at the moment things are going really well. But, you know when you were a kid you had one of those elastic band airplanes where you'd wind it up and wind it up and wind it up? It felt like I was perpetually winding and winding and winding and winding and then suddenly BANG! I took off.

I think sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the end goal when you're so stuck in that winding stage and you're trying to get things up and moving. It feels like everything's hard work but, actually, once you've done that it's a really great foundation and you can take off.

Grant: Yeah, so I think to a certain extent I would say that [after] speaking to lots of Partners like yourself when you've got a side gig you're balancing two careers it provides you the opportunity to make mistakes. You learn your craft and get your confidence going so that you're not committing to it fully but you still need that push.

Jon: I remember some of the early clients I spent hours doing things that should have been done like that [*snaps fingers*] that nowadays I'll set aside an hour to do that job and it'll be done. And back then it was like, 'oh, everything's brand new I've got to work out how to do this and I've got to contact Blam, I forgot to ask the client this'. But once you've done it and you've got that schema in your head of how it all works then it's so much easier, so much more intuitive.

Grant: Well...digital marketing is a broad church, there's a lot to learn. I said to a new Partner yesterday we do try really hard to not give you information overload but we usually fail because there is a lot to learn. But, we've got a way of showing Partners how, even when you're at that early stage, you're an amateur you can use that to your advantage. We call it the 'Dummy Curve' and it is part of our training. We teach being a 'dummy' is a great sales tactic, [it] can make you feel a bit uncomfortable but you know I'm still a 'Dummy' now, it works for me.

Jon: Yeah I'm sure that's not true!

[Laughter]

The thing is... I've said to you before I was in a public sector [job] where the money is what the money is and you just do the jobs to the best of your ability...One of the big learning curves for me was the sales process and how to manage that. Don't get me wrong, it appeals to me because I like the process. I like to know 'I've got to do this, this and this' and then 'we'll do this and this' and work it through as we go along. It's something that has become an obsession of mine. I had no real experience and I got some great pointers from you guys to start off with to make sure that I actually got myself out there. I always think of it as the 'phone your friend' bit but that's not what you call it is it?

Grant: No, it's your hot leads.

"Dealing with your imposter syndrome early is really important "

Jon: That's it, it's about getting your hot leads and leveraging your network because one of the things I do now is...I go to a lot of events and talk to people, present, and stand up in front of people. Dealing with your imposter syndrome early is really important and I'm not saying stand on a big stage in front of everyone you know immediately but talk to as many people as you can about it [your business]. Even if they're not gonna buy from you, engage them in a conversation around it and they'll test your knowledge. They'll ask you questions and two things will happen: you'll realize you knew more than you thought you did and number two you'll find that you've got a good checklist of things to go and find out.

Grant: That is absolutely brilliant advice that is. The more conversations you can have with people about your business and put yourself in situations where you're having conversations is exactly [what I recommend], I couldn't have put it better myself. You've got that ability to grow and that's when it will just start becoming natural and now we were talking earlier about the fact where you now have the experience of knowing when a client is a good fit or not, and that's really difficult to know when you first start out because not every client is a good client.

Jon: Do you want me to tell that story?

Grant: Go for it, because I get this a lot by the way and, just to caveat the story, quite often if a Partner is new they are very keen to get customers on board...and that's a brilliant place to be but occasionally you get customers that aren't a great fit - a bit over-demanding, they might not be very nice people sometimes and when you're new it's difficult to say no. I always think that when a Partner starts to be more discerning and understands the difference between a good fit and a bad fit they're really getting it so with that in mind, tell me about your experience.

Jon: It's pretty much exactly what you said there. It was early days, I knew I needed to replace the consultancy work that had gone with Covid. I needed to get people on the books and this guy came along and he seemed really lovely, really nice but there were little hints as we were going through the process that actually he was a bit of a gas lighter. So he was presenting things as an agreed thing that I'd said I would do and I knew because I'd written down it was all in in the quotes and in the schemes of the schedules of work and all that sort of thing. But 'no, no that's not that's not right' and he went on and on and on. He always came across as really nice and in the end, I realized that I was spending the majority of my days thinking about one client who was a relatively small part of the business, obsessing over how I was going to manage him. At that point, I realised this isn't right and he basically complained that something hadn't been done so I said to him, 'Right, this is the original schedule that we agreed. This is the schedule, this is how it's been impacted by the extra things that you've thrown at me' and he couldn't argue with that because it was right in front of him. I said, 'what I'm going to do is I'm going to quote you for the schedule that we've got here' - which was about three times as much as what he paid for [originally] - um 'and there are no hard feelings, you can walk away that's fine or we can do the work and you'll be paying for what you're getting'. So I quoted him and he said no and he went off. That was a good way of dealing with that particular situation and then I thought there were early warning signs here that happened early on where he was almost too nice or he was saying things that were, it was difficult to put my finger on it, so what I did was I used one of the avatars that we've got from the digital marketing courses and I built an avatar of early warning signs and clients that I don't want to work with.

So now when I'm having conversations and I'm thinking that doesn't feel quite right then I'll extract myself. So for example I might say, instead of offering them an audit I might send them to the audits page so they can do their own audit and then submit their details and I'll then send them the outcome which is due. If I've done a face-to-face with someone, I always add some notes and give them my top three hints for the best bits to do next and it's a really strong part of the sales process.

Whereas with those ones [unsuitable clients], I'll send them the details and hope they don't get in touch.

Grant: You know what I think? It definitely shows that you're now getting experienced and I love that avatar idea. It's kind of like I've got a 'not-to-do list'. It's a bit like not to work with traits.

Jon: Yeah that's it and I think it empowers you to say, 'I'm not imagining this, this has happened before and however hard I work at this relationship it's never going to be a positive professional relationship'.

Having the confidence to say, 'right, I'm going to step away from this because I've got X number of meetings next week with X number of conversions and there's more in the pipeline.' It does take time to get that pipeline flowing. It sounds easy when I say it like that but it took months to get it to the point. I remember having conversations with Ed about the pipeline being empty. You have to get to the stage where you've got plenty going on at once, managing your time around that and keeping your head straight around what you've got to manage. It is difficult so calendar management, time management, multitasking, perseverance [is important], but when your funnel's full, all those things become easier.

Grant: That's weird isn't it? It's been topped up.

Jon: Yeah you've confidence there's no edge coming up where you're going to fall off and you've got no work.

Grant: A couple of things I wanted to touch on with you as well. So you're at the stage now where your business is growing and you're starting to think about the next steps. At some point, you're going to need to think about having somebody else work with you and as I've said to you before, Partners tend to fall into two different categories. You've got the Partners that love selling and want to carry on doing that and they'll take on an admin person. Then you've got the Partners that are the other way around that want to hand over the selling to somebody else. Ultimately not all Partners want to grow either, they just want to get to the point where their MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) is providing a fantastic revenue for them and it's ticking along nicely, they might add one or two clients a month but it's manageable.

But you're obviously in the school where you want to grow your business and this is the bit that I'd like to touch on because quite often, particularly with new Partners or prospective Partners, one of the things we often get asked about is how are you going to teach me to sell? You've not got any experience of selling and now selling is what you want to do and you want to recruit the admin. So I'd just like to dive into that a little bit more and find out what is it about that side of it that appeals to you?

"What I really like is getting out there talking to people...it's become something I'm slightly obsessed with."

Jon: Yeah so the model is that there's a client manager and a fulfilment person who keeps everything in the background running and all that sort of thing is something that I wanted to push [for] because I was used to being a figurehead and having people who did that stuff for me. So it's not a strength of mine the admin stuff and what I really like is getting out there talking to people. I like presenting, I like meeting new clients and as I learned more about the sales process - how it can be structured and how you can work out what you need to be doing at different stages - it's become something I'm slightly obsessed with. it's almost like you know you get the sale and you go, 'where's the next sale?'

"It's not something I knew a lot about but it's a process that I've really come to enjoy. You get an adrenaline rush when you sell..."

I have to have to remind myself it's really important that I fulfil this and do it properly. So that understanding [of the sales process] is what has really got me and that's what I wanted to focus on. It's not something I knew a lot about but it's a process that I've really come to enjoy. You get an adrenaline rush when you sell, it gives you a buzz. If I do a big one, I'll be downstairs telling my wife and kids - the youngest one's only 3 she didn't care! I've even been known to tell the dog if they're out and so you get those hits and that'd be something I'd really miss if it was all someone else doing it.

Now that's not to say that in the future I don't want a sales team because you know my vision is a bigger business where we've got a fulfilment department and a sales department and it becomes a machine. But that's still got to have my kind of character running through it because it's a busy market, websites and digital marketing, it's busy. Don't get me wrong, everybody needs it now and it's a bigger part of every

business, especially with lockdowns. There's plenty of room for us all,

it's not something where we're going to be squeezed out or

anything but you've still got to stand out, you still have to be the person who [clients] come to. For me, because I need to have people who I like working with, it needs to be people who are engaged by me and so that's got to be a major part of the [growth] process. So, I think if you want a business that is growing, you've got to sell. If you want a business that you enjoy working in, you've got to enjoy working with the clients and if you want people [clients] who fit you then you've got to put yourself out there and be that front. If you're - and I'm not saying this is wrong I'm saying this it's not for me - you're staying in the background and someone else's personality is out there, I'm going to be dealing with their ideal client coming through and that's doesn't suit my personality.

Grant: Yeah I can relate to that or all of what you said. It's awesome to see that you've gone from somebody who's not necessarily got a sales background to somebody who actually gets to see the buzz. Equally some Partners will go the other way as well, they'll prefer being the account manager or dealing with the admin and getting somebody else to do the sales. But my belief is, and this is absolutely key to anybody that's watching this who's thinking of becoming a Blam Partner, you have got to learn how to sell yourself first. It's such an important part of being a business owner, of being an entrepreneur and, even if you don't do it as

the business grows, you've got to be the one that is leading the way in that respect. Because, if you're going to take on salespeople you need to know they're doing it properly.

"Yeah, I had to work on it [the sales process], but boy was it worth it!"

Jon: Yes, yeah that was brought home to me by one of my clients actually. I'd been dealing with the general manager and the sales director and they were great and I had a really good relationship with them. Then I met the owner who basically went to the general manager himself and all his questions were about 'how many form submissions have we got? How many meetings are booked? How many design meetings have you got?' It was all about those early stages because he knew how his funnel worked and that was his obsession - making sure that they had the right levers in place so that they knew they were going to get the right number of sales out of it. It wasn't what he did day to day, but he understood it absolutely to fine detail, exactly what his team needed to be doing. So, if you have no sales experience, you can learn it. Don't get me wrong, if you've got a background in sales you're going to find it a lot easier to do the sales because you will have a whole mountain of knowledge and experience that you can draw on. But, those of us who don't have that experience are building it up. My mountain of knowledge was understanding the psychology of people, how they work, what their reactions were, what they meant by things and how to design and run a system. Once I realised that it was just a different context for that it all fell into place. Yeah, I had to work on it, but boy was it worth it!

Grant: That's awesome! I love what you just said about the funnel because part of our job is helping businesses, that's what we do and when we can relate to what they do we can apply simple marketing tactics and it's really rewarding to see. I always say with our clients, it's peer-to-peer, we're dealing with other business owners and entrepreneurs. I always say if you've got that instinct to run your own business, you're different [from most people] and we tend to get on, entrepreneurs tend to get on. That's why I love doing what I because all the Partners that I deal with are like me; they're ambitious, they're in a business, they love sales they love talking about business. When we go out to have a beer we talk about business for fun not because we have to. Other people don't talk about work, but I talk about work all day long and all night - I love it.

Jon: Absolutely. I spoke to a contact of mine, talking about business... she's brilliant, she's got a lot of skills that would be really valuable and she said, 'Look, Jon, you read business books for fun that's all you talk about so, of course, you think it's easy. I'm not in that place.' It wasn't right for her but I was dazzled by the fact that it was what I loved.

Grant: Yeah that's it, it's the five percent of people who are that way inclined. They're the ones that we really get on with.

So just to wrap things up. What I like to do with these chats is help Partners who are new to us and Partners who are looking to gain some traction. What advice would you give to a Partner right now who's new, they're learning their craft and they're just dipping their toe in the water. What would you give them as advice thinking back to what it was like for you back then?

"I think it's really important to remember that the grafts you're putting in when it doesn't feel like you're getting the reward for it...will come back to you and it will come back as revenue eventually."

Jon: I think it's really important to remember that the grafts you're putting in when it doesn't feel like you're getting the reward for it - if you're following your systems and you're doing the right things - it will come back to you and it will come back as revenue eventually.

Making those calls, sending those emails, going to those meetings, the networking events, and all that can feel like you're doing a lot for no reward. It took a good three months of doing that before it became

comfortable and before my funnel was filling up. Now I've got people who I spoke to a year ago who are coming back and saying, 'yeah I'm ready to go now'. They haven't just appeared, there's a lot of work that went in the early days.

"It's like a tanker: it takes time to get moving and to get the momentum going and then once the momentum is going it gets a lot easier to keep it going."

If you make a phone call and just basically have a good

conversation with someone and learn about the business but they're not really ready at the moment, whack it in the diary in six weeks. Ring them back and ask 'how's it going now?' Not only do they give you a chance to go over your sales process again but you will also nurture their understanding, they will start to trust you and they'll start to believe that you can offer what you're saying you'll offer. When they're ready, they'll come to you because they like you, they know you, they trust you and they want to give you their money to do their web design. That was a big learning point for me; realizing that those phone calls that didn't result in the sale weren't wasted, it was all building up the momentum for the business. When you get that momentum, it's like a tanker: it takes time to get moving and to get the momentum going, and then once the momentum is going it gets a lot easier to keep it going. But it takes a massive effort to get that movement in the first place.

Grant: A good analogy that is and like you were saying more and more of your business is now coming from referrals.

Jon: Yes so people I've worked with who like what I've done but also people who I've met in networking events and even just randomly who know, like, and trust me. When they're talking to someone, you appear in their mind and they think, 'oh I know someone who I can refer you to' and if they trust the referral is going to be seen to, they want to refer you because it means that they're then seen positively by that person who they might be doing business with. So the momentum building around your network grows and you're then able to leverage the fact that people know you and what you do.

Also, don't be too worried about obsessively talking about it [your business] because people are interested in how digital marketing works and websites. They don't know as much as you think they do and it's those conversations that help build your authority up and help people to know that actually you do know what you're talking about and you can fulfil what you say you can do.

Grant: That's a good one to finish off on because Partners often have - we talked about earlier, didn't we? Imposter syndrome.

You've done your certification, you've done your digital marketing courses, you know you've got all this knowledge...but you still feel like. 'blimey, I only know like a fraction of what I need to know!' But, at that point, you still know loads more than 99% of the people that you speak to by just doing those two bits.

Jon: And there's a saying that gets divined a lot around, 'fake it till you make it'. What that actually means is dealing with your imposter syndrome so it's not making something up and pretending you

know it. It's actually dealing with the fact that you know this stuff but you just aren't confident in it yet. The fake it till you make it is all about dealing with that imposter syndrome and saying, 'It's okay. I should put myself in that position and I should talk about it and just go for it.' You'll be surprised what comes out of your head.

Grant: Yeah that's so true, that's so true and I see that happen all the time. People are often quite like, 'I actually dealt with that! I think that

went really well!' They're quite surprised. That's awesome.

Brilliant, well finally I'd just like to try and get a little bit of insight from you about Blam just to give people that are watching this who are potentially thinking of joining Blam - it's always good just to hear it from

the horse's mouth. I haven't prompted you on this, so just speak honestly. So what's it been like dealing with us? Obviously, I'll just cut it out if you slag us off.

[Laughter]

Jon: Right, so what I'd say about working with Blam is just give them

the work to do because they make you look good. I'll submit a sign-up form and immediately get an automatic response to say you've

got it. I know that if there are any questions about it, I can respond to that and someone will get back to me.

We've had problems with [clients'] security certificates and then

your guys get back to me straight away and say 'yeah

I've done something' or 'no, Jon you've got to wait forty-eight hours'. And that's the other thing actually, they're very good at... I can be fairly abrupt and I do know that...but they always come back to me they're always friendly, they're always wanting to help. When I did my first e-commerce site, one of your developers sat with me and went through how the spreadsheet worked and how it all fitted together.

"Without Blam, the business wouldn't be where it is now"

The service has been excellent, really really good and if I don't know how to do something they'll show me how to do it in a way that means I can do it in the future. Without Blam, the business wouldn't be where it is now. I'd be fiddling about still, learning how to do things that don't really interest me and I know that anything I hand off to Blam comes back down really well and I love that about them.

Grant: Thanks mate, appreciate that. It's our goal to support Partners in any way we can and obviously, we've got the fulfilment side of it and then we work really hard with the motivation, the mentorship, and the whole sort of entrepreneurial world. Because I always think with

Blam you've got the fulfilment side of it which we've got to deliver the best products in the world and we've got to deliver the best service - for me that's a given. The other side of it is, how do we help a new entrepreneur? Somebody new to business, who might be new to sales, and might be new to working on their own. That's the other big side of what we want to deliver so that people can you know-

Jon: I can clarify that then because, as I said earlier, there are things I've just never done before and the reason I do them now is because you guys coached me through those early days. 'This is how you start off, this is what you need to do first your phone you know you do your hot

leads list...Then I made a comment about the audit not working properly so you were straight on the phone. You personally rang me up and said you're doing it wrong Jon, so I changed it and did it better and now it's an integral part of the sales process. If I don't do it, the conversion rate goes down massively. I started off if they [clients] came to me and they knew what they wanted, I just went straight into the website pitch but actually doing the audit first is a much stronger way of converting them, they're much more likely to convert. And, as I said earlier, I really enjoy that bit.

The bit I don't enjoy is the bit that you guys do day in day out for me which is why I focused on that...I'm just thankful every day that I don't have to do all that stuff.

Grant: I must admit, I'm with you. The team take care of it for

me as well.

Jon: But my firm belief is that in any sort of business or enterprise you have a role to play and if you play to your strengths then it's going to work really well. If you obsess over your weaknesses, unless you can turn them into a strength, then you know [it won't work]. So sales for me

was a weakness turned into a strength but admin for me is a weakness and it will always be a weakness. So I'm going to balance it out.

Grant: Brilliant well it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you Jon. I really appreciate your time and I'm really pleased to see how things are going for you and expecting big things. Looking forward to having those conversations with you where we are

recruiting and seeing that growth because that's the bit you know I love to get involved with. I've got a lot of Partners in that position at

the moment and I've got something I want to talk to you about that I hope is going to get you excited that can really help you on that

journey. But, with that little teaser, I'll say thanks very much and I will speak to you very soon.

Jon: Thanks Grant speak to you soon cheers

"You guys are genuinely about helping partners"

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 12:10:17 GMT

Blam Partner Interview #14 Jenani Paul, CEO of Digital Consultants Canada

Toronto, Canada

Blam Partner Interview #14 Jenani Paul, CEO of Digital Consultants Canada

Toronto, Canada

Here’s the original video link to view the testimonial in full https://youtu.be/sDfv0HdHuDE

Grant Intro: I've got Jenani Paul with me, one of the Blam Partners over in Toronto, Canada . So although you are in lockdown at the moment [13th May 2021] as we record this we are still in the pandemic. I'm guessing people are going to be watching this for years to come so you will remember these days and we're all learning to live with these restrictions. But, of course, being in digital marketing doesn't stop us from doing business - we're still rocking and rolling.

Today, Jenani, first of all, thank you for joining me. I appreciate that she's taking some time out of her busy schedule. I know she's very busy so I'll try and keep this short and sweet to talk about her business and a little bit about the Blam Partnership. I'm hoping that we can help inspire other Blam Partners to follow in your footsteps and you can help inspire some of the new guys that started. Then also for people that are looking at us and thinking of becoming a Partner, this will give you the benefit of her

experience.

Grant: You've been a Partner for quite a while now, how long has it been?

Jenani: It's been a while, almost five years I think.

Grant: Wow that was it yeah because I remember actually when you first started. Were you originally working alongside your husband?

Jenani: Yes I was. My husband and I decided to start it together part-time because we were both doing different consulting and insurance jobs.

Grant: For a while, you kind of dipped in and out of the business didn't you

Jenani: I did, I was trying to do this at the same time as I was working as a consultant for large corporations and the projects would take between 16 to 24 months. Then around the end of 2019, we're like okay we have to kind of make a decision: 'what do we do?' At the start of 2020, we decided I'll go full-time as a Blam Partner and my husband will continue with his job. So, yeah, it's been an awesome uphill drive since then.

Grant: There have been so many partners that join us who take a similar trajectory. It's quite often that partners join us and they've already got a job or they're busy doing their own thing and they take their time to get going -four years is extreme!

"I wanted to build a business where I can manage everything without always being in the building."

Jenani: I think I had my legs in both oceans: 'which way am I going right?' I loved digital marketing, I loved working with you guys and, from a website perspective, this is the direction right now in the future because businesses need to have a digital presence.

I wanted to build a business where I can manage everything without always being in the building.

Grant: I've done a few interviews like this since we started in lockdown and we've had a lot of partners that finally took the plunge to go full time on their business. Ones that had their feet in both sides [before Covid-19] and I think it's given a lot of people the confidence to say: 'Right, I can do this full time now!'

So let's talk about that journey from when you took the plunge and decided to go full time. I suppose the benefit of doing that was that you'd already had a few years of experience with just just a handful of clients?

Jenani: Yes, I had just a handful of clients and they were quite needy from the client's perspective which was great. For me, it was more about understanding the ins and outs of the onboarding process, how to deliver a good experience for them to be able to transition online and get their website launching.

"I was used to corporate vocabulary and long, drawn-out projects."

I think it took me a while to figure out because it's a little different from the corporate world of consulting. When you're dealing with smaller businesses as well, they can be so different from one end of the spectrum to the other. Plus, I was used to corporate vocabulary and long, drawn-out projects.

Then I realized, these guys are just different in the way they understand the process. They don't need a whole document explanation, they don't need an approval process, they just make a decision and they run with it. The turnaround time is a lot faster and the communication is so much easier because there's not a large number of people having to make decisions so it's different.

Grant: It's interesting and you're not unusual in that respect. When you come from a corporate world and you are used to drawn-out processes and decision-making it's often strange when you deal with an entrepreneur who makes decisions about their own business.

We were just talking earlier about how you can actually close the deal on a first appointment and it doesn't come naturally when you've been in a

corporate environment does it?

Jenani: Yeah, no because you think you have to get all the risks signed off and communicate all the issues. Whereas entrepreneurs and small businesses are all about taking risks so for them it's like 'let's just do it and let's see how it goes'. I had that mentality of having to cover every boundary, I had to put it all into a detailed document and that's the learning curve that I've been on.

Grant: That's one of the exciting things when somebody actually commits to going with you for their digital marketing whether that be the website, an app, or something else. Although yes, it is a big commitment because it's an important part of their business; financially it's not a big decision for them to make because you're not going to be walking off with tens of thousands of dollars. It's not a big risk for clients in that respect because of the way that we go about helping our customers. We try to take as much of that risk out of it as possible. If somebody's not happy, we don't tie them into a contract we're not going to say: 'well, you're paying me for the next three years whether you like it or not'.

Jenani: Exactly, it gives clients more freedom to say, 'okay you know what I can try'. I personally don't like contracts much either, so why would I want to put my clients in one as well? If we do a great job why would they want to leave? So my goal is just to get them over the line and then show them how good it is.

Grant: Yeah exactly, so with that in mind how have you enjoyed dealing with the team? Are you now getting a good rapport and getting what you what in terms of the service and the design?

Jenani: The experience with Blam's designers has been very positive. Originally I was thinking to do the designs myself but

it would take so long and it was a lot of pressure on top of what I was already doing. I think we have a good flow happening right now where I understand what the client wants to get out of their value proposition, what they're trying to communicate, and then brief it over to Blam's designers: Hey, can we professionalize this and make it more modern?

I think the website team at Blam probably knows us very well now and hears from us at least once a day.

Grant: That's good, that's what we're there for. Hopefully, you don't mind me getting into this but you are at that stage now where you've built a solid foundation. You've got a substantial number of clients now you've and you're at that point where you now start to think how do you scale?

Do you take on employees to grow your business? So at the moment, you've got a lot on your plate.

"I’ve got to figure out ‘what’s the best use of my time?’... it’s a good problem to have!"

Jenani: Yeah definitely because as an entrepreneur you try to do everything on your own. I've got to figure out what's the best use of my time, I think that's where I'm at - where, when, and how do I get a team together? I have taken on some recent graduates who are helping me figure out how to simplify and streamline some of the activities so that frees me up to talk to more new clients and be able to communicate the value of being online. So yeah it's a lot but it's not a bad problem, it's a good problem to have.

Grant: I always love it when Partners get to that stage because typically - for the benefit of people that are watching - Partners tend to fall into two different camps in my view. I'm delighted to hear you say you actually want to go out and deal with the clients and do the sales because when you are looking to recruit for the admin side of things, customer retention, and support, you know we'll be working on that together to help you grow. We've got lots of partners that have been through that stage and it's the tipping point where you just can't do it all on your own.

[Jenani loses connection]

Grant: Oh, I've just lost her. Hopefully, she'll come back in but while we're waiting for her, this is for me the exciting bit for partners when they're just at that point where they're starting to scale. We can then help them. Just to point out that at Blam, we can take a lot of the account management and the support away from partners. I hope Jenani, won't mind me saying this when she's not here. Part of what I'm going to be helping her do is show how she can use us more because she's so used to being hands-on

and supportive and super helpful...

[Jenani rejoins the session]

Grant: Don't worry I was doing a great job of filling.

Because you've been through quite a rapid growth stage last year where you were very hands-on and you really want to deliver an absolutely A-plus service by giving all your customers loads of support. It means that you get pulled all over the place, so we can actually help you with a lot of that support by helping you put systems and processes in place...for me, you're at the most exciting stage.

Jenani: Yeah I think so too. I'm excited, looking forward to scaling up and getting to a place where we're going onto the next stage of growth.

Grant: So yeah exactly, as you start to come out of lockdown then I guess you will see lots of lots of positivity this year. We've just come out of lockdown in the UK, we were in lockdown for 4-5 months - it feels like forever! - so the light is at the end of the tunnel.

As you look to the future, where do you see yourself taking the business? What do you see the business looking like in the next two to

three years?

Every partner's different with that as well some people want to grow a beast, some people want to have a boutique and some people want to

stay on their own.

Where do you see yourself?

"I want to grow to become a medium-sized business with at least 150-200 clients this year"

Jenani: I want to grow to become a medium-sized business with at least 150-200 clients. So we're trying to be aggressive in our sales but it's not about us just building websites and apps then never seeing the customer again, we're not that kind of business. It's a partnership with our clients where they're able to see us as their digital consultancy team and, in turn, have a service from Blam as well. This approach also means I'm at the point where referrals are coming in or people are talking to us because of the good experience our clients are having. So yeah it's growing. I don't see it being a small boutique agency but I don't know if I'd be seen as a big large corporation either so somewhere in the middle would be good. I don't want clients to just feel like a number, I want them to know their business is important. When you go into a bank you know you're just a bank account number and they don't know you personally. I don't have to know every single client personally, but at least someone in my team knows them and has their best interests at heart.

Grant: Just briefly, before we wrap things up...How many of your clients are from referrals or have you just done the numbers yourself?

Jenani: I would say a bit of both. The majority [of new clients are from] are referrals because I connected with them through networking meetings or they heard about us. Then there are few other things I do such as pure cold calling or just emailing. During the lockdown, it was a lot easier because the market kind of pointed towards our direction which helps. After making a lot of connections, a lot of calling, and getting to know new people I've been able to get more and more referrals.

Grant: I'm delighted to hear as well because if you're getting referrals it means you've got happy customers. You've got people that are happy to refer to you, which is always the best way to get new business.

Jenani: Yeah, no definitely it is and then you know that you're doing it right to some extent as well. Because if I have clients who can't refer me then are we actually adding value to them?

Grant: Yes, we have to ask ourselves that question. Brilliant, well it's been a pleasure talking to you and catching up. I really appreciate you taking the time as I know you've got lots on at the moment. So do you want to give yourself a little plug?

"You guys are genuinely about helping partners"

Jenani: Well we're Digital Consultants Canada and we love helping people. You know what? We also want to thank you, Grant, you have been a superstar in helping and supporting your Partners and you know I try as much as I can to come to your live [training] sessions on Facebook. You guys are genuine which is why it would be hard for me to part ways or take on full-time consultants because you guys are genuinely about helping partners.

Grant: Oh it's really kind of you to say that thank you. I didn't ask her to say that!

[Laughter]

Brilliant, well thank you so much and it's been a pleasure. Good luck with the expansion and I'll speak to you tomorrow on our call.

To find out more about starting your own business go to our Free Resources Page here

Make the most of the season by following these simple guidelines

grant@blam.online (Blam Websites) — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 11:57:26 GMT

The new season is a great reason to make and keep resolutions. Whether it’s eating right or cleaning out the garage, here are some tips for making and keeping resolutions.

Make a list

Lists are great ways to stay on track. Write down some big things you want to accomplish and some smaller things, too.

Check the list regularly

Don’t forget to check in and see how you’re doing. Just because you don’t achieve the big goals right away doesn’t mean you’re not making progress.

Reward yourself

When you succeed in achieving a goal, be it a big one or a small one, make sure to pat yourself on the back.

Think positively

Positive thinking is a major factor in success. So instead of mulling over things that didn’t go quite right, remind yourself of things that did.

Keep in touch with site visitors and boost loyalty

grant@blam.online (Blam Websites) — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 11:57:26 GMT

There are so many good reasons to communicate with site visitors. Tell them about sales and new products or update them with tips and information.

Here are some reasons to make blogging part of your regular routine.

Blogging is an easy way to engage with site visitors

Writing a blog post is easy once you get the hang of it. Posts don’t need to be long or complicated. Just write about what you know, and do your best to write well.

Show customers your personality

When you write a blog post, you can really let your personality shine through. This can be a great tool for showing your distinct personality.

Blogging is a terrific form of communication

Blogs are a great communication tool. They tend to be longer than social media posts, which gives you plenty of space for sharing insights, handy tips and more.

It’s a great way to support and boost SEO

Search engines like sites that regularly post fresh content, and a blog is a great way of doing this. With relevant metadata for every post so search engines can find your content.

Drive traffic to your site

Every time you add a new post, people who have subscribed to it will have a reason to come back to your site. If the post is a good read, they’ll share it with others, bringing even more traffic!

Blogging is free

Maintaining a blog on your site is absolutely free. You can hire bloggers if you like or assign regularly blogging tasks to everyone in your company.

A natural way to build your brand

A blog is a wonderful way to build your brand’s distinct voice. Write about issues that are related to your industry and your customers.

Tips for writing great posts that increase your site traffic

grant@blam.online (Blam Websites) — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 11:57:25 GMT

Write about something you know. If you don’t know much about a specific topic that will interest your readers, invite an expert to write about it.

Speak to your audience

You know your audience better than anyone else, so keep them in mind as you write your blog posts. Write about things they care about. If you have a company Facebook page, look here to find topics to write about

Take a few moments to plan your post

Once you have a great idea for a post, write the first draft. Some people like to start with the title and then work on the paragraphs. Other people like to start with subtitles and go from there. Choose the method that works for you.

Don’t forget to add images

Be sure to include a few high-quality images in your blog. Images break up the text and make it more readable. They can also convey emotions or ideas that are hard to put into words.

Edit carefully before posting

Once you’re happy with the text, put it aside for a day or two, and then re-read it. You’ll probably find a few things you want to add, and a couple more that you want to remove. Have a friend or colleague look it over to make sure there are no mistakes. When your post is error-free, set it up in your blog and publish.