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How to Create a Customer Journey Map

May 1, 2022 | Marketing

When it comes to getting new customers and sales, it’s not an easy task! That’s because it requires a lot of effort and convincing, especially if you’re a starting small business with little to no social proof.

So, what can you do to make it easier? Well, many successful small business owners create customer journey maps. But what is it exactly, and how can you use it to your advantage? Stay tuned to find out!

What is a Customer Journey Map?

Before we go any further, let’s explain what a customer journey map actually is. To put it simply, a customer journey map is basically a story of your customers and their journey from a stranger to becoming a buyer.

Think of it as your average sales funnel. But instead of four stages (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), it’s much more detailed. And businesses that have this asset have many great benefits.

3 Key Benefits of Using a Customer Journey Map

So what are the benefits of using a Customer Journey Map? Well, other than having a better understanding of how someone becomes your customer, you get to experience the following benefits:

Better Collaboration – Since you’ve clearly stated each step a customer goes through, all your team members know exactly what they need to do. Also, they’ll start sharing information, goals, tools, etc.
Identify Your Marketing and Sales Problems Easily – If you didn’t reach your goals, then an excellent customer journey map helps you pinpoint problems easier. Then you can see the exact step where the problem arises, helping you solve the problem faster.
Predict Customer Behaviour – With time, you gain a lot of valuable data about your customer. That means as a marketer, you should start understanding how your customer will react to new marketing material, making your marketing easier.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Own Customer Journey Map

Now that you know what a customer journey map is and why you’d want it, it’s time to take action on building your very own. However, before we go into that, I want to tell you one thing.

That is that there is no definitive way of creating one. That’s because every industry and market is different, meaning that there might be more or fewer steps depending on the products and services you sell.

However, the steps for creating one are identical to each one:

Step #1 – Set Clear Objectives

Before you start creating your map, you need to take some time to understand why are you making one in the first place. What are your goals? Maybe it is to:

Get a better understanding of your customer?
Increase your conversion rate?
Or something else?

Whatever it is, write them down and keep them in mind when taking the following steps.

Step #2 – Create Your Buyer Personas

No customer journey map works well if you don’t know who you’re selling to. So after setting your goals, your next objective is to find out who your ideal customers are. To help you out, here are a few questions you want to get answers to:

What gender your customer is?
How old are they?
What is their occupation?
What are their dreams?
What problems do they have?
What are their fears?
What keeps them from achieving their goals?
And so on.

You can find answers to them in multiple ways. For example, you could interview your previous customers, go to the platforms where they hang out like social media channels and forums, and so on.

Step #3 – List Out All Your Touchpoints

Now that you’ve got a clear understanding of your target market, it’s time to start work on your map. For starters, I want you to list your touchpoints. Touchpoints are the places where your customer goes to interact with your company.

These could be your:

Social Media Profiles
Support Emails
Email Marketing
Your Website

Once you’ve listed all your touchpoints, you’re ready for the next step.

Step #4 – Create your Customer Journey Map

Now all that is left to do is create your customer journey map. Use any platform or method that works for you. For example, you could use workflow software or even a whiteboard.

Whatever way you create your customer journey map, try to be as detailed as possible. That way, it becomes easier to use and identify problems with your sales funnel issues.

Step #5 – Go Through the Customer Journey Map Yourself

Congratulations! You’ve just created your very first customer journey map. But before you go and do other tasks, go through your customer journey yourself.

That’s because it gives you a better understanding of how well you did. Maybe you forgot to add a step? Also, try to be in the shoes of your customer. Think of what your customer would like the experience! If not, write them down, and find a way to improve them.

Step #6 – Revise Your Customer Journey Map Regularly

Creating a customer journey map isn’t a one-time thing. Instead, it’s something that you need regularly revise. With it, you’ll be able to improve your customer’s experience and get more data on them.

All of that will help you grow your business and increase your sales. So do it at least once a month.

Conclusion

And that’s how you create your own customer journey map! It’s a necessary task to do if you want to grow your small business into something more significant. However, if you ever have any problems creating one, then don’t be afraid to ask for help!

I’d love to help you build your customer journey map or anything else you might have a problem with. You can schedule a call here.

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3 Simple Tips To Smash Your Presentations

Mar 27, 2022 | Marketing

In the business world most of us need to make presentations – in front of a client, at a networking event or to colleagues and employees

Having worked as an International Account Manager, I have done my fair share of presentations and here are my top tips…

Prepare and Customise Your Presentations

The first thing I learned about presentations is that a presentation is never about you …. it is always about the client/audience. Even if you have a company slide deck, think about your client’s pain point and make sure those slides are early on in the presentation.

Keep Your Presentations Simple

Your presentation slides should never be your script. They are key points or even words you want the audience to remember. If you want them to read further details leave them a hand-out or brochure.

Remember That First Impressions Count!

If you present a shoddy slide deck that is difficult to read and contains poor quality images or graphics, then in the client’s mind, you can not be bothered to make an effort for their business. Consciously think about the font, colour and images you use and limit animations/transitions.

If you struggle with PowerPoint – don’t worry! I’m an expert. Drop me an email at joanne@bravapro.com and we can arrange a discovery call to chat about the best way to make your presentation WOW your audience

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Why Every Business Needs Email Marketing To Succeed

Mar 10, 2022 | Marketing

In the world of business, there are many ways to drive traffic to your website. There are social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, SEO, paid ads, and so much more. But one thing that gets neglected by many small businesses is email marketing

And that’s bad because they are missing out on a lot of revenue. But why is it so important? Continue reading to find out.

Why is Email Marketing So Important in 2022?

You might think that email marketing doesn’t work because for two reasons:

On average, 80% of emails don’t get opened
And they are spammy and outdated

While there might be some truth to it, that doesn’t mean it’s not profitable if you do it correctly. The email market revenue was a mind-blowing 7.5 billion dollars (£5.5 billion to my fellow Brits) in 2020, according to Statista.

But what’s more impressive is that the average ROI for email is £25/$36? That means if you spend £100, you could get as much as £2500 return on investment. It doesn’t sound bad now, doesn’t it?

Social Media Followers Vs. Email List

While statistics were impressive, they are nothing compared to this. The thing is, your social media traffic isn’t technically yours; it’s the social networks’ traffic. That’s because when a social media site shuts down, all your traffic is gone! So you’re basically borrowing the traffic.

However, an email list doesn’t have that problem! You’ve got their email addresses, so you can send them emails whenever you want.

4 Tips for Building Your Email List

Now that you understand why email is so powerful and why you need to have a list, let’s talk about how you can build your own. Here are my four best tips:

Tip #1 – Give Value Before You Ask

Do you want to know why email marketing has a bad rep of spamming? It’s because beginner marketers expect that the subscriber will buy from them before giving out any value. That’s not how it works! It’s like asking a stranger to marry you!

Instead, you want to start by giving value to your audience before you ever ask for a sale. For example, if you’re an owner of a marketing agency, you could start sending emails about marketing tips. That will do two things:

You’re giving out value
You’re showing authority

Once you’ve sent a few valuable emails, the subscriber is more open to your offers.

Tip #2 – Personalise Your Emails

When writing your emails, you should personalise them. What do I mean by it?

Well, instead of starting your email with a generic “Hey there!”, you start with “Hey John!”

That does two things. First, you’re making it look like you’re talking to the person receiving, which helps keep readers attention. And secondly, you’re less likely to end up in the junk box.

Tip #3 – Use A/B testing

One thing that many beginner email marketers fail to do is A/B testing. But what is it?

Well, with A/B testing, you’re sending two different emails to your audience. Some of them will receive email A while others receive email B. But why would you want to do it? The power lies in the statistics. With it, you can test which emails convert better.

For example, you could send almost identical emails. The only difference is their CTA. After a few days after sending, you can look at which email converted better. So next time, you’ll know which call to action works for them.

Tip #4 – Create Head-Turning Headlines

Before clicking the send or schedule button on your email marketing platform, make sure your headlines are unique! If you won’t, nobody will open your emails, no matter how valuable they are.

But how can you write great headlines?

Well, it’s by learning copywriting. Unfortunately, this topic is so big that it won’t fit into one paragraph, but here are a few tips for you:

Use Odd Numbers – It tells precisely what people should expect. So use numbers like 3, 5, 7, 9, etc.
Use Power Words – These words help inflict emotions. For example, you could use astounding, terrifying, head-turning, badass, etc. (For more power words, click here)
Mention Your Target Audience – That makes your emails seem like they were made for your target audience.

So let’s say you’re creating a valuable email about branding tips. Well, instead of writing a boring headline like:

“Tips about Branding”

You’ll instead write this:

“5 Secret Branding Tips Every Business Owner Needs To Know.”

That’s a much more exciting headline and will make people want to open your emails. Just make sure that the content is as valuable as you say it in the headline.

Conclusion

And that’s why you need an email list in 2022! That’s because it’s a traffic source that you own, and when you do it correctly, you can get many new customers.

And if you have trouble with marketing your small business, don’t be afraid to schedule a consultation call with me. Then we can find out what troubles your business and find a solution together. I’d love to help you out!

Book a consultation call here.

How To Review Your Marketing Plan

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How To Review Your Marketing Plan

Nov 13, 2021 | Business Planning, Marketing

Sales are the oxygen of any business. Without it, no business can survive! That is why almost every business makes marketing plans. This way, your company can achieve its business goals and continue growing.

But there’s a major problem with many small businesses. They think it’s just a one-time task! Instead, the plan needs to be tweaked and changed constantly for efficiency. But how do you do it? Stay tuned to find out.

Why It’s So Important to Review Your Marketing Plan?

To put it simply, times change all the time! And with it, something always unexpected happens. Just think about the last two years; a lot happened. First, iOS 14 changed online advertising forever with its new privacy features. And who can forget about the worldwide pandemic going on?

Nobody was able to predict those things! And for that reason alone, you should constantly go over your plans and change them. That way, you’ll adapt quickly and get ahead of all the competition.

So how often should you review your business planning? That all depends on your organization, but the rule of thumb is to check it at least every quarter. Also, make sure you involve your team! You never know when some of them come up with better ideas than you!

How to Review Your Marketing Plan

Now that you understand the importance, it’s time to work on your plan. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy! There are only four steps for an effective review.

Step #1 – Evaluate Your Past Activity

Let’s start off by looking through our current plan. Specifically, let’s read through our presumptions. Once read, we should start comparing them to the existing data and information we have. What did we get right? And more importantly, what did we get wrong?

By answering these questions, we understand what and where we need to change our postulations.

Step #2 – Evaluate Your Marketing Strategy

Now it’s time to look at our marketing strategy. We should first again start by reading through our marketing tactics. Once finished, we should decide if it’s still a viable strategy for today. To help you out, you should ask yourself and your team the following:

Did the tactics work as expected?
How did your target market respond to it?
Was your marketing reach expanding?

Responding to these questions helps you to see how well your marketing has gone. Also, if you work with a marketing agency, I highly recommend you to speak with them and ask for feedback.

Step #3 – Lessons Learned

By now, you should have a good understanding if your marketing plan was a success or not! However, before going on and updating your plan, we must look back at our own experience.

What mistakes did we make during that time? How could we avoid that in the future? Without acknowledging them, we’re doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again. So, look back, and consider them when updating your plan.

Step #4 – Updating and Implementing Your Marketing Plan

Now all that is left is to start making adjustments to your plans. So take everything to consider and adapt your marketing. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to use the four marketing Ps. That will help you make it even more effective.

If you don’t know how to do it, then find expert help. It’s okay not to know about everything! While consulting hours can be expensive, they are worth every penny. With their help, not only will you get in the right direction, but you’ll also avoid paying thousands of dollars due to costly mistakes.

Now that your plan has been altered, it’s time to take action! Make sure you talk everything through with your team. That way, you and your colleagues know exactly what they need to change, making it faster for your company to adapt.

Conclusion

And that’s how you review your marketing plan. I hope you’ve found this blog post helpful and that you’ll implement it in your business. However, if you find yourself stuck in the planning process, I’d be happy to help. I would love to help you out with conducting the review and by showing you how to manage the implementations. Book a scheduling call here.

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How Repurposing Content Can Skyrocket Your Social Media Pages

Nov 6, 2021 | Social Media

I get it! Publishing consistent content on your social media channels is challenging. You have to brainstorm some new ideas. Find time from your busy schedule, make them, and then publish. And all of that could take you hours, if not days. But what if there was a way to ease that burden? That’s where repurposing content could come in handy! All you do is take your old content, make a couple of tweaks, and you’re done!

But how can you do it effectively? Continue reading to find out!

Why It’s Essential That Every Small Business Is Repurposing Content

As a solopreneur or a CEO of a small business, you juggle many tasks. You don’t have a fancy office, massive funds to hire social media manager, or assistants and workers to allocate your tasks. You have to do them by yourself!

And one of the tasks is creating consistent content for your social media channels. The problem is, it’s hard and takes a long time.

But consistent posting is crucial for your success! With it, you’ll reach more people, which will turn into more revenue.

And that’s the main reason why you want to repurpose your existing content. You’ll save hours of your time which you could use more productively. And to top it all off, the algorithm will like you for being consistent.

Further Reading ->> Consistent posting on social media

Step-By-Step Guide To Planning Your Repurposed Content

Before I guide you through the steps of planning your repurposed content, I’d like to tell you a quick disclaimer. Revised content should not be your entire social media marketing strategy. Instead, it should be complementary! And with that out of the way, let’s go into the steps!

Step #1 – Look Through Your Existing Content

The first step is to look through all your existing content. You want to find which content performed the best. An easy way to do it is by using analytical software. For example, if you own a blog, you can use Google Analytics to find which content performed the best!

Step #2 – Create Your Repurposed Content

Social Media content creation on a phone

Now that you found your best-performing content, it’s time to modify them before publishing. That process could be as easy as changing the dimensions of your picture to more advanced, like creating a video from a great blog post.

Step #3 – Publish Your New Content To Your Social Media Channels

Now all that is left is to schedule your content! Just use your favourite scheduling app (for example, Buffer), and you’re done.

But how often should you post repurposed content?

That all depends on the platform, but the best practice is to post at least two pieces of new content before you publish a repurposed one. That way, your followers have a reason to follow!

What Content Can You Repurpose?

Here’s How You Can Create More Content From A Single Blog Post

Let’s say your business sells copywriting services. You made a blog post named “10 Copywriting Secrets That Experts Won’t Tell You”. So how do you create more content out of it?

Content Creation 1: Updated Article

Maybe there are other excellent tips you’ve learned throughout your journey? So you could create the same article, but change up a few tips and bring new examples. Then just title it as “10 Copywriting Secrets That Experts Won’t Tell You [Updated in 2021].”

Content Creation 2: Tweet a Tip

Let’s say you have a Twitter account. Then the easiest way to create more content is to write a tweet with one tip from your blog post. And if you think about it, you could create ten tweets out of your article.

Content Creation 3: Create A Video Out Of It

Another way to repurpose your blog article is by creating a video out of it. You don’t have to change the text! Just tell the same tips to the video, and you’re done. Then, just post it to YouTube.

But that’s not all!

You could also create short clips out of your video. Each clip will tell one tip from your longer video. You could post them as YouTube Shorts or TikTok videos.

And with this example, you should now see how much content you could make with just one piece of content. It’s almost endless.

Why Working with a Virtual Business Manager is different from a VA.

However, all of this takes a lot of time and effort, so you might be tempted to temporarily hire a VA (virtual assistant) to do it all for you. Even though it sounds great, don’t!

The problem is that this task requires a lot of analytical knowledge and creativity. And a virtual assistant might not be able to do that!

But that’s not the worst part.

The worst part is that you’re paying them for the amount of time they worked, not the results.

That’s where virtual business managers are different!

Instead of getting paid for work time, a virtual business manager gets paid for the results. So my success is your success!

Plus, virtual business managers usually understand the business better and can help you by giving you some advice. So I’ll work as a partner, not an employee.

Repurposing Content Conclusion

And that’s how you turn your existing content into brand new ones. I hope you found the information helpful and that it’ll help you save up some time.

However, if you still have questions or need help with this task, I’m always happy to help. All you need to do is book a free consultation call with me.

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