Posts

Media training 101 for small businesses

-
Image
Great news: you just scored a big press interview to promote your business. The story will expose your brand to the perfect new audience and drive meaningful traffic to your website. So…don't blow it. Yes, just as quickly as the excitement for the opportunity arrived, the realization that you now have to do an interview sets in. I get it—press interviews can absolutely be intimidating. The resulting coverage represents a significant opportunity to acquire new customers, drive sales, or raise awareness, and you want to be sure to represent your brand well and really compel the audience to check out your company. On top of that, you have to contend with adrenaline and nerves in the moment. You may be thinking, "So many other business owners are so polished and articulate in their interviews. How am I going to pull that off?" Deep breath. A successful interview is usually the result of good media training: preparation and practice in advance of an interview. I've tr...
1 comment
Read more

Consistency: The not-so-secret ingredient in excellent customer service

-
Image
I remember one morning driving to work and stopping at a corner cafe to grab a quick coffee. The closed sign was still up. I looked at the time and glanced down at their business hours on the door. They were supposed to be open at 8:00 a.m.—it was 8:10. I'd been there a few times before at the same time of day, so this was…strange. My immediate thought was: "Do I wait?" And, ultimately, the answer was no. Since I didn't know when they'd arrive, I decided to cut my losses and go to another cafe. My experience reminded me of this meme. That morning, my regular coffee shop deviated from what I was used to. I didn't complain—but I didn't stick around. Any failure in consistency forces customers to face this dilemma: do they stay and suffer an inconvenience to do business with you, or do they find a better alternative? As a business owner, I know that everyone drops the ball once in a while. Things happen—and perhaps I could have empathized. But as a cus...
Post a Comment
Read more

Job hunting? Streamline your job sources in an RSS feed with Zapier

-
Image
Job searching is terrible. You sign up for job alerts with different companies you admire, as well as a ton of email newsletters in the hopes that a perfect job will fall into your inbox. And then, you scour LinkedIn, Twitter, Slack communities, and other job boards—while obsessively refreshing your email inbox for new jobs and recruiter emails. I've been there. This was my routine for eight months after I was laid off from a previous job. While I was pretty strategic in my job search despite my circumstances, looking back, I could've made my job search easier. I could've combined all of my job sources into a single RSS feed so I only had to check one place for new listings. Lesson learned. If you're currently looking for a new job—whether you were laid off or just need to look for something better—this tutorial is for you. I'm going to show you how you can use Zapier to combine your favorite job sources into one RSS feed. Zapier is a tool that helps you automa...
Post a Comment
Read more