The Shared Best Practices Podcast

Presented by Casey Bourque – VP Marketing at Web Design Phoenix

First hand accounts of what’s working well (and what isn’t) for real world businesses (including my own) so that you can fast track to best fit solutions.

I believe leaning on real world data helps businesses do more of what’s working, and less of what isn’t. Sure, it sounds simple, but competing favorably in whatever space you’re in requires agility & continuous refinement. My agency (Web Design Phoenix) serves as an “outsourced digital marketing department” for ~50 different companies in all sorts of industries. Here are my takeaways for building a great business and an amazing life for yourself.

RSS Shared Best Practices for Business Building

  • Photography tips specifically for website and brand building February 24, 2022
    Small businesses often want to take on basic photography themselves. Over the years we’ve noticed some common mistakes, and some simple things that people can do to greatly improve the imagery around their brand. In this episode, we cover concepts around composition, lighting, focus, depth of field, landscape versus portrait, and other uses for your […]
  • Simple SEO trick for finding topics to write about February 24, 2022
    What do I write about? Just do a Google search using a search phrase that your ideal prospects might be asking about. If you scroll down the page you’ll see a section entitled people also ask. There a series of questions and if you hit the toggle button the answers and a link to a […]
  • How to creat content your audience will give a shit about February 22, 2022
    It’s time to Audit The Contant on your website, and figure out what your audience will care about, and what they’re not going to give a shit about. Let’s get rid of the stuff nobody cares about, and replace it with high value, helpful, compelling content. It’s not as tough as it sounds.
  • Social media posting: The value of posting content that lives on the social platform itself February 17, 2022
    Many companies write blog articles, then simply post on social media with links back to those articles. While this may serve to help drive traffic to your website, it doesn’t usually do a lot in the way of building awareness and actually driving consumption of that content. Be mindful of the mix of your posts […]
  • Branding versus sales - How you measure success can impact your companies reputation February 16, 2022
    Brand building is all about improving your reputation. Building trust, and authority helps people know that your company is worth doing business with. The problem is, it’s a very long-term play. It takes a long time to build up a good reputation. If your company is overvaluing short term sales metrics, perhaps monthly or quarterly […]
  • What are backlinks and how do they impact my websites search ranking? February 15, 2022
    A backlink is when one website links to another website. It’s kind of like a recommendation in real life. The bonus is that backlinks are seen by Google as they evaluate the trust and authority of all websites on the web. The better and more back links that your website has, the more important it […]
  • New opportunity in your space? Here’s how to go get it February 15, 2022
    It’s common for businesses, if they are paying attention, to see new opportunities to win business. Maybe you have a new service offering, a new target demographic, or maybe you’ve identified a new trigger that would compel someone to start looking for a certain product or service. Don’t just list the new product or service […]
  • Try Canva - easy to use graphic design software for small businesses and do-it-yourselfers February 15, 2022
    We always recommend Canva for our smaller clients, or those who are interested in taking on some graphic design work themselves. There is a free version that allows you to use templates and launch professional grade graphics pretty quickly and easily.
  • How to use social media to amplify con tent on your website February 15, 2022
    Social media is difficult for companies that do not have any customer centric content living on their website. On the other hand, businesses that commit to producing longer form evergreen content on their website are able to amplify this content on social media very easily. Social media becomes the avenue for bringing information into the […]
  • Easy blog format for humans and for search engines February 14, 2022
    Producing great content isn’t always easy, but at least the format of your content can be. We want to introduce your topic by telling them what we’re going to tell them (intro). In the body of your content you’re going to tell them (make your points). In the conclusion or summary, you’ll tell them what […]
  • Simple Marketing Content Audit - Are you company centric or customer centric? February 14, 2022
    We know that we need to identify with our customers in order to create compelling content. Despite this fact, many companies default to talking about themselves. “We offer this service, we sell this product, we’re expert in this”. A better approach is to understand what questions, challenges, problems, ambitions that your ideal customers have, and […]
  • Shared Best Practices for Business Building - What is it and who is it for? February 14, 2022
    This podcast is a curation of all of our agency experience in serving as an outsourced marketing department for companies in all sorts of industries. I want to share what’s working well (and what isn’t) so that you can make more informed decisions and fast track towards best fit solutions for your own company.

Business Road Map

  1. Define Your Market Position
    1. Current State (competitors, market leaders, SWOT matrix for all, possible differentiators)
    2. Purpose: WHY do you exist? (beyond profits – ultimate unobtainable goal)
    3. WHO do you want to do business with? Identify your ideal client(s), Lifetime value
    4. WHAT do you do for your customers? Long list, expertise, deliverables, goods/services, value ladder
    5. HOW will you operate/deliver your stuff? Methods, philosophies, beliefs, company culture, hiring
    6. Clear Positioning Statement: What you do, for whom, and why
  2. Design Your Brand
    1. Company Name & Tag Line(s)
    2. Website domains
    3. Company Structure
    4. Branding Guide
      1. Define Mission & Vision
      2. Logo & usage
      3. Colors
      4. Fonts
      5. Imagery & Styles
  3. Launchpad Website
    1. Value Driven Design
    2. Elements Required for Launch
      1. Market Positioning Content
      2. FAQs (google search…questions that come up, real questions, etc.)
      3. Social Proof (testimonials, case studies)
      4. Your story and your WHY
      5. Simple pathway(s) to next steps
      6. Data collection: analytics, subscribe, etc.
  4. Amplification (overview)
    1. Fish where the fish are (shark article)
    2. Current customers (low hanging fruit)
    3. Personal networks & relationships
    4. Social media platforms
    5. Advertising
    6. Partnerships (referrals, 
    7. SEO (is it even right for you?)
  5. Iterative Approach to Growing Your business
    1. Your website (explore all areas…maintenance, accuracy, forms, internal portals, ecommerce, sales resources, etc.)
    2. Your market position – adjust narrative, pursue opportunities, lifetime value, allocating resources
    3. Your entire ecosystem – user experience…existing customers, evangelists for your brand
  6. Messaging and Content – nobody gives a shit about you, care about their problems (EMPATHY)
    1. Consumer Power Shift
    2. Most common mistakes
    3. Be different than everyone else – deliver value/extracting value, Give, Give, Ask
    4. Buyer personas: Problems, challenges, questions, ambitions,FAQs, lifetime value (where to dedicate resources)
    5. Contemplate buyer’s journey
    6. SEO opportunities
  7. Near Term Marketing Strategies
    1. Current Customers (low fruit)
    2. Social Media strategy (building a loyal following)
    3. Platform registrations (google business, etc.)
    4. Advertising (google, fb, etc.)
    5. Partnerships/Networking
    6. On-Page SEO (infrastructure)
  8. Longer Term Marketing Strategies
    1. Content strategy (reputation, authority, trust) Share best stuff
    2. Targeted SEO
    3. Premium Content Offers – gateways, lead conversion, sales tools
    4. Nurturing strategy
  9. Sales Tactics
    1. Calls to action
    2. Pathways (easy, no risk, professional, scalable, forms, customer centric)
    3. Initial calls and assessing fit
    4. Building out assets and resources (premium content offers, etc.)
    5. Deliver value in the “in-between”
  10. Winning the marketing game
    1. Empathy
    2. Patience
    3. Persistence/consistency – slow and steady
    4. Foresight/understanding where things are going (data/gut balance)
  11. Digital Marketing Principles & Resources
    1. Using data in your decision making
    2. Photography and imagery
    3. Videography and production value
    4. Inbound Marketing
    5. Brand and Logo
    6. Attention is the currency of business
    7. Selling a considered buying process
    8. The consumer power shift
    9. NFTs on the horizon
    10. Gateway drugs
    11. Should you share your secret sauce? 
    12. Tools: Canva, Pandadoc, Calendly, etc.