Mastering the Basics of Digital Marketing

March 24, 2016 By Craig Hiscox Leave a Comment

Back Up, The Basics are where you need to Start.

In this first post, I want to review the basics of digital marketing. If you are just starting your own online business, you can use this information as a checklist of what you should start working on in order to build your brand and increase your profits.

If you have been in business for a while but are not getting the kind of results you hoped for, use this information to evaluate your current digital marketing mix and identify any gaps.

The Top Digital Marketing Tools for 2016 are:

1. Content marketing
2. Blogging
3. Video
4. Social media
5. Search engine marketing such as Google AdWords
6. Automation

Let’s look at each of these in turn briefly.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is any item you post online in relation to your business which is designed to drive traffic, increase sales, and/or retain customers. Ultimately content marketing is to drive customer sales. Most content will consist of words on a page.

However, these days, you can market with any form of content, so it is important to vary your offerings on your site or blog.

Blogging

Blogging, in particular niche blogging on a certain topic such as cars, planes, or travel, will attract a targeted audience interested in what you have to offer. Your written content should be supported with good images – created in house, professionally generated and shared, or sold through a stock photo site. Image Marketing can enhance your blog posts and all other published content, including videos.

Video

Video is in high demand online and used to entertain and educate. If you aren’t already marketing on YouTube regularly, put video marketing at the top of your to-do list. Pull out your smart phone and start shooting quality content for your viewers.

Social Media

Great images can also be used for info-graphics and marketing at highly visual social networks such as pinterest, Facebook and Instagram, to drive traffic back to your site or show what your products and services are all about.

Make the most of your digital marketing by placing an email address capture box on your landing pages so the visitors to your site will be able to subscribe to your digital newsletter. Email marketing is ideal for building relationships and makes your content marketing, blogging, and social networking efforts measurable. Don’t just think traffic; think engagement with your content.

To get an even higher subscriber rate, consider creating a valuable special report or a 7-day ecourse, one lesson per day or week, to show prospective customers in your niche who you are, what you know, and why you are worth doing business with. Then market the report on the top social media sites that make sense for your niche.

Don’t forget to market your hottest content on niche-related discussion boards, groups and forums, especially places like Facebook groups.

Search Engine Marketing such as AdWords

In order to test your new content or product ideas, consider setting a small budget and using AdWords or other pay-per-click ad services to test the market. Track and test your results, and improve your marketing messages as needed.

If you have a tiny budget, or are struggling to make sense of AdWords, try Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These paid advertising opportunities are less expensive than Google AdWords pay per click, yet much more highly targeted, giving you a better conversion rate.

Automation

Automation such as email autoresponders and blog schedulers keep your marketing going even when you are not at your computer. Work smarter, not harder, with the help of schedulers and other automation tools.

If you’re not using all of these basics, get started today and see what a difference they can make to your business.

Next time I’ll be giving tips on how to turn short-term customers into long-term customers using digital marketing.

Liam

The New Digital Marketer

March 22, 2016 By Craig Hiscox Leave a Comment

Use It or Lose It: The New Digital Marketer.

Welcome to Use It or Lose It, the new digital marketing momentum. In this series of posts we are going to be looking at the current state of digital marketing and some hot upcoming trends that will assist in keeping you moving forward in your digital marketing online efforts.

Like you I am passionate about all forms of digital marketing and over the years have accumulated a mass of experience. The goal of this series of posts will be to cut through a lot of the negativity being published about digital marketing and give you the real scoop on best practices in order to boost your business. So with the aid of my guest blogger Liam we will be taking a look under the hood to discover the power available to the new digital marketer. Here is Liam!

Hi, this is great, I just love it when marketers fall onto new concepts that are easy to execute. There will be a ton of information about the new digital marketer to share with you in this series.

Change Today, Prosper Tomorrow.

You would have to agree that one of the most exciting things about digital marketing is the constant changes that arise in each process, each method of marketing. What worked yesterday more then likely will not work today without subtle changes. What is just around the corner could make or break your business.

Sometimes you may feel as though you are constantly trying to play catch up with other companies who seem to ‘understand’ digital marketing better than you. Look this is natural, not only for the new business owner but be happy to know that old die hard’s with decades of experience go through the same problems as you.

The New Head Of The Table.

Now would be the time to put your customer at the head of the table. The secret to successful sales and marketing is to connect with your target audience, to give them what they want, the way they want it and then add a bit of a bonus to sweeten the deal and keep the conversation about your business open.

In all cases, this will mean broadening your marketing message and increasing its accessibility by making sure your messaging is mobile-friendly and visible where your niche audience spends their time. Be Social.

Spread The Love.

Targeting the sites and devices your ideal customer in your niche uses most often is like fishing in a pond you already know is full of fish. All you have to do is offer the right bait and re-target. The more people that see your content online in a range of places and formats being social sites, blogs or even podcasts, the more they will become familiar with your brand and business. And the more they see you online in a range of locations, the more they will feel they know you, and can trust you.

In this series, I’m going to outline a number of ways to market effectively in the new digital space. I’ll start with new digital marketing basics in the next post.

So lets get started.

Liam

How to be a Great Leader

October 7, 2015 By Craig Hiscox Leave a Comment

Conquer Leadership

Have you been dying to be a Great Leader, but having boundaries has always made it feel impossible to move up to the next level?

Believe me I know exactly what it’s like.

Purchase Conquer Leadership Here

The Truth

There’s nothing more disappointing than having spent months trying to improve your Leadership skills, only to then have the door slammed in your face. Your left wandering why all your hard work is not paying off.

You look in the mirror and see the doubt in your eyes, asking what do I need to do to get over the line? What do I need to do too be a Great Leader, a winner in the game that I have chosen for my career.

You end up feeling resentful and frustrated because you’re trying to figure out everything on your own and nothing you do seems to get you to that next level.

Until recently, the only way to break free from this cycle of failure was to hire a Leadership Mentor or personal coach to help you get focused and stay on track.

However, the BIG problem with this option is that good Leadership Mentors or personal coaches are extremely expensive with many coaches charging over $400 PER MONTH for individual coaching sessions. This kinda cash outlay for most of us is just not an option.

The Winning Way

That’s why today, I’m delighted to share with you my latest book- “Conquer Leadership” How Good Do You Want to Be? Secrets Exposed!

Hi, my name is Craig W. Hiscox and I’ve been developing, testing, and perfecting how to Conquer Leadership for over 17 years.

Conquer Guides brings you one of the most important books on Leadership available today. This is a get down and dirty account of leadership styles that work.

You will be made aware of what it takes to be a successful leader and how to get through the boundaries that hold many a leader back from achieving Leadership Greatness. You will be given an insight into the minds of some of the worlds great leaders as we share with you their secrets to success.

There are many learning’s you can take away from this book but it only takes one light bulb moment to make this a worthwhile read.

What makes ‘Conquer Leadership’ different to all the other Leadership books out there is that it combines ALL aspects of the great leaders of today and yesterday in a single, easy to read guide.

Jump In, You have what it Takes.

Here’s what you’ll discover when you grab your copy today:

* Learn how to be the most effective leader in your chosen field.

* Build your leadership skills in a way that best works for your understanding and skill-set.

* Explore the qualities that make a great leader.
Read up on suggestions for improving the efficiency of your teams time.

* Study up on leadership strategies and learn how to measure success without analytic s.

* What will you do when things go wrong? How will you keep your team on track? Find out by reading about mud that sticks..

The early response to Conquer Leadership has been remarkable. Here’s just a few of the comments I’ve received:

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Opportunity Knocks

If you’ve stayed with me this far, I’m sure you’re wondering how much your copy of “Conquer Leadership” is going to be.

And that’s a fair question given that in the past the only way to learn how to Conquer Leadership, was to hire a coach or attend a seminar and spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to have them train you.

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Don’t forget, you’ve been struggling to unleash your true Leadership potential for far too long.

You can finally put an end to all your frustration and disappointment simply by following the secrets exposed in Conquer Leadership.

Picture right now the moment you ignite your hidden talent, lift your game to heights you’ve only dreamed of, and finally experience the true bliss that comes from peak performance.

You are living out your Leadership dream. Your team is in awe of your skills, and you’ve earned the respect of your peers, teammates, family and friends.

So grab your copy of Conquer Leadership now and let’s get you started on a journey to Leadership Greatness today.

What is Mindset?

June 14, 2011 By Craig Hiscox 1 Comment

Really is there such a word or is mindset just another one of those make up words that the western world just has to have? Many people talk about it, debate it, argue over it’s importance and use it as an excuse for failure and success. The question stands, What Is Mindset?

The quick answer is, the formation of a habit, good ,bad or indifferent. Mindset predetermines a response to the situation the individual or group finds themselves in. Mindset can be an attitude or a interpretation of events. It can be calming or violent.

Is Mindset the Answer?

Asking different demographic groups: What is mindset? and you will receive answers such as:

Philosophy of life.
Group think tank.
Absolute trust.
Attitude, disposition or mood.
Intention.
Foresight.

We need to break this down, understand the meaning as if a child was asked, what is mindset?. Firstly let the word become two:

Mind —- The part of a person responsible for thought, feelings and intention. Recollection or remembrance.
Set —— To place into a specified condition. To put into order in readiness for use.
What is Mindset? —- How you think and respond in a time and place.

The Power of Knowing, What is Mindset?

Mindset is powerful. It has won sporting events, conquered Everest and allowed individuals the joy of creating wealth. Once you understand the gift that has been presented to you, grasp it with both hands, don’t let go, hold on for the ride as mindset is a roller-coaster of emotion. Mindset will present you with opportunities that you have dreamed about, situations that you have wished to be in, a peace you never thought possible.

The Collective Mindset.

Collective or group mindset has given countries the power to rule over others. Certain individuals have used this power to improve their position for the so called greater good. By manipulating the human mind as a sense ” great minds think alike”. With this in our thoughts we need to stay aware of the damage that collective mindset can cause. It is a human trait to know the difference between good and evil, when you think of it, it is only a choice but are we making our own choice or does this choice stem from a seed placed in the mind at an earlier time of our life?

The Mindset Journey.

No matter what you believe, your mindset will change many times during your life. External influences will have an effect. Want’s, needs and social groups all point you in their direction of strength. What is important is that you set your mind in a positive thought pattern and take advantage of the power of knowing, what is mindset.

Enjoy the journey your mindset leads you on, as you have know become richer with this knowledge. If you do not like your current mindset, change it, if you have problems changing it, change the way you think.

Craig Hiscox

Creating Wealth | The Journey

Own Your Life.

June 11, 2011 By Craig Hiscox 3 Comments

How To Own Your Life?

Having a home based business has it’s advantages over the accepted norm of an adults working life. The majority of the worlds working population find themselves as a spoke in the wheel of others lives. The question is, can you escape, break free from that wheel? Can you Own Your Life?

The answer is not as simple as you may think, as there are a lot of things to consider:

How do I start a home based business?
What does it mean to own your life?
Why is mobility so important?
Is a home based business really for me?
Move out of my comfort zone, forget it.

For now lets take a look at getting our head around the concept of “own your life”.

The Big Picture Requires Action.

From the moment we wake in the morning we need to take action to complete the most meaningless tasks. How hard is it to get out of bed and take your position in the wheel belonging to others? Would it be so much more worth while to get up knowing that you are at the helm of that wheel, steering it in the direction that you want it to go knowing that you can let go any time and the wheel will roll in the direction you pointed only requiring slight adjustments from afar. This is a small part of the freedom you have when you own your life.

Dreams – Thought’s – Actions – Results.

Everybody’s big picture is different, though the action required to grasp the concept of “Own Your Life” can be no different then the person sitting next to you.

Dream

Try this: find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for ten minutes. Now, give yourself permission to do something Grand in life. The dream you are having (yes you can dream while being awake) is the key to own your life.

Thought

Automatically you will move to thought which is the mechanism we use to either complicate or simplify dreams. List your thoughts. This list will become your road-map. Now the hard bit, this is where only the strong will survive.

Action

Action stations. It is true, every action will cause an opposite or equal reaction. No action and surprise surprise nothing happens. Let’s make it easy, here is a secret that will give you a head start over all others. “Do everything as if you have already won.”

Result

Results will come, maybe only as a trickle at first (small wins) then repeat, repeat, the trickle becomes a stream, repeat, learn, repeat and the floodgates will eventually open. Constantly you are winning.

Trust The Process.

Ask yourself to rise above the ordinary, be extraordinary. Celebrate any confusion you have as this has brought you a step closer to trusting the process. Once you trust the process of Dream – Thought – Action – Result, you will own your life.

Craig Hiscox.