The commute’s not bad, Tim thought as he went down the stairs from his bedroom. There are some benefits working for yourself! Not among them are having a staff to hand work off to, other executives that have responsibilities for accounting, sales, operations. Coming from the corporate world as VP of Marketing, he was not used to wearing so many hats [being a juggling clown in the circus compared to working as a street performer juggling]. But today, he needs to put on his marketing hat, or he wouldn’t have a business to worry about. At least marketing was his background.

One of the oddest experiences after leaving the corporate world was booting up his computer and checking email. Crickets., nothing but crickets! In his VP days he’d have dozens and dozens of emails by now, asking for this or that, meeting notices that meant presentation preparation, requests for numbers, numbers, numbers.

But now, with his coffee mug in hand, he deleted the several spam emails he’d received, opened the few newsletters he signed up for, and then was done with email. The temptation to read Google News (he rarely went to Facebook) was strong, but he resisted. I have to get a lot of work done today, he thought. [Pick up the balls! You can’t perform if you don’t practice]

Today begins the development of a digital marketing plan. [Learning to juggle, developing a juggling routine]

Roasted pumpkin seeds! Who doesn’t love roasted pumpkin seeds? Only those people who haven’t tried them. [Who doesn’t like a juggler?]

He already created the logo [One ball juggling]. He feels good about it after many attempts [Practice one ball juggling. Get it smooth]. The colors and font are right. It can be seen from a distance or stand out on a business card, he thought. At a glance, someone will know who they are and what they do [Visibility. Juggle big balls, clubs, rings,].

The Mission/Vision of the business is clear: Get the word out about the benefits of pumpkin seeds. Go direct to customers but also establish wholesale accounts. [Be where your best audience will be.]

We need to build a marketing list, that’s the main goal, Tim thought. Without a marketing list, it will be hard to make any sales he knew. [Pater to build an audience. “Come one, come all!” Get a few people in the audience and other people will join.]

He understood that studying competitors could help determine how to differentiate his products as well as understand what consumers were thinking. [What are other jugglers juggling these days? What can I do to differentiate?] Going to various social media sites, FB, Instagram, Twitter, and websites, he noticed none of his competitors really talked about how they roasted. [Location, finding the best spot to set up your juggling. Check out the other street performers, even if they’re not jugglers.] They were mainly focused on product descriptions. Customers asked about the ingredients, the health benefits. He saw that there was not much variety on his competitors’ websites, certainly not the sort that he envisioned for his products. [Try to make your juggling routine unique, differentiation]

There was a knock on the door. Opening it, he saw Jim. “Nice of you to show up today!” Tim said. [Juggling with a partner]

“Come on, you know I had meetings this morning,” Jim retorted.

“I know, I know,” Tim laughed. “How was the BNI meeting?” BNI, Business Networking International, is a referral group they learned about. Only one member per profession; their tagline is: Givers Gain. [Location, be where an audience is likely to be.]

“Excellent. We should absolutely join. There were about 20 members and I got to give them a one-minute pitch [the audience in this case]. The printer who recommended the meeting to us brought the cards. They look great. Here.” Jim handed Tim a box of cards.

“I was right. The logo looks fantastic on the card.” [Making tricks visible to the audience]

“Not only that, but I met a web developer at the meeting. She and her partner are coming over later today to discuss building our website.”

“Cool.”

Before getting started on marketing, Tim knew he needed to zero in on his target market. [Know your audience. Families? Kids? People out to be entertained?] Building out personas was key to putting together the right marketing message. The more comprehensive a picture he could create, the more likely his website visitors were to find what they were looking for. He knew he needed to describe real people, down to their name, age, gender, and backgrounds like education, job, income level, family status. What are their values? What are they motivated by? What will they expect when they reach the site? [Knowing who you want in your audience determines where you go to juggle.]

“Ok Jim. Who are we selling to and why are they buying?”

“Well, why did you start roasting the pumpkin seeds in the first place?”

“When I was a kid, we used to buy these little boxes of pumpkin seeds, still in the shell and so salty the shell was white

“Yeah, I remember those. Crack ‘em open with your teeth to get to the seed.” [If you’re old enough, you probably saw jugglers on the Ed Sullivan Show, or maybe at the Ringling Brothers, and Barnum & Bailey Three-Ring Circus.]

“I didn’t give them a second thought until my doctor told me I needed to consume more zinc and magnesium. My first thought was supplements, so I did a Google search. No shortage of supplements in the ads and in the search engine results page (SERP). But then I added ‘foods’ to the search. Low and behold, pumpkin seeds came up as one of the best sources for both. I figured if I snacked on them, I’d get what I needed. Raw, they were good, but once I bought them roasted, I never looked back [simple three ball juggling isn’t enough. Having a routine of tricks is necessary to be a street performer]. They were delicious! Making them for myself was less expensive and having just been restructured out of a job, that was a good thing.”

“So,” Jim enumerated. “Healthy, delicious, and an inexpensive snack.”

They spent some time detailing the three personas [the audience]: parents who want a healthy, inexpensive snack for their kids, the health-minded that understood food should be the source of nutrition, and stores that want a new alternative snack [do the tricks that the members of your audience will enjoy].

By analyzing their competitors’ websites, they came up with a list of keywords that he then tested on Google search. He knew that finding longtail alternatives might improve his chances of beating out the competition. By simply expanding the keyword phrase, the longtail, Tim knew the number of people who were searching for that keyword phrase would go down, but so would the competition for it.

“Jim, start working out longtail keywords for pumpkin seeds.” Jim knew what Tim was talking about. The longtail is represented by a Pareto chart. A broad keyword term has a lot of searchers but also a lot of competitors for that term. Searching “roasted pumpkin seeds” alone was very competitive. Jim tested “hand-roasted pumpkin seeds” and found the competition to be far less. Focusing on this niche might not have as many searches, but it had fewer competitors. He continued to test other keywords: “hot and spicy roasted pumpkin seeds,” “European pumpkin seeds,” “health benefits of pumpkin seeds” [simple three ball juggling is not enough. You need tricks, particularly tricks other jugglers aren’t using].

Once they had a list of keyword phrases and the results, Tim was ready to develop his unique selling proposition (USP). A USP is often the differentiator [juggling knives, chain saws, or even people]. He determined theirs would be:

“Roasted by hand in cast iron skillets. You can taste the difference.”

His next task was to wireframe both desktop and mobile websites [what tricks should go into a routine and when to introduce different juggling equipment]. Wireframing can be as simple as drawing a replica of what goes into a website on the Home page, inside page, or even a specialized landing page. Some folks used PowerPoint; others used organizational chart programs to accomplish the task. Tim stuck to pencil and paper.

Today Google looks at mobile first, then desktop. Over 50% of all searches are done on a phone, so Tim knew he needed to be “thumb friendly” when he laid out his Mobile wireframe [street performers set up so the audience is comfortable and can easily see them]. They were willing to take direct call orders, so the phone number went to the top of page: “Click to call now for something delicious” was the first Call to Action (CTA) [passing the hat]. At the bottom of the page was an offer. “Order 1 lb. today and receive an 8 oz. sample of the Roaster’s choice,” which led to the product page, the second CTA [give the audience what they want, and they’ll toss money in the hat]. The center of the page was a slide show. First slide was a photo of a mother pouring some pumpkin seeds from a bag with their logo on it into a bowl with her child’s hand already snagging some. The second slide was a man sitting on a bench in a park with a smile on his face, hand in a bag of their pumpkin seeds, and to his right in the image, a list of the product nutrients. The last slide was a list of stores carrying the product with the line: “Buy direct or find them at any one of these fine markets.” At the bottom of the list was, “Add your store’s name to the list” [juggling to the various members of your audience so that it looks as if you’re juggling just for them will make them more likely to toss money into the hat].

Tim understood the importance of consistency and continuity in marketing [establishing a reputation. If you choose a location to juggle, go there regularly]. A Content Calendar [the routine] would help him achieve this. Using a simple spreadsheet, he set dates down the side and media across the top. Using his keyword phrase list, he began filling in the subject lines of emails, titles of blogs, and topics of posts and promotions in the appropriate cells of his spreadsheet base on the dates he wanted them published. Now he knew he wouldn’t be bogged down by writer’s block when the time came to work on one of these media [practice your routine, know what tricks you want to do, which equipment you’re going to use, and when. Improvising is good, but not effective when you’re putting on a show].

Knowing that subject lines were the difference between success and failure in email marketing, he was certain to follow some of the concepts he had learned in his corporate position. In the subject line, make an announcement, ask a question, be unique, include a deadline for a promotion, say something unexpected, try a teaser, tell a joke, use FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). Essentially, stand out from the crowd as a way to encourage the reader to open your email out of the many they may receive in a day [what tricks are successful, which aren’t. Keep working on refining the routine]. Tim’s memory of the stats he would see in the reports he ran told him that 30% opens and 2–3% clickthrough was a good goal with a single email. Through consistency and varied messaging, he had realized in his stats that the 30% would differ from email to email and who clicked through bring the reach closer to 60% and more of an email list over time [some tricks work, some don’t. Some people like certain tricks, others like different tricks].

But first he needed a marketing list. In his experience, he knew the best possibility to draw in website visitors quickly was through Google Ads, Pay per Click Marketing (PPC). Search Engine Optimization (SEO) success might work over time and be a good goal, but time was in short supply. Blogs will help with SEO. Tim knew thinking back to his Content Calendar. But in this case, using all the keywords, broad and longtail, his ad would appear at the top of the results in a search on Google as soon as he set up the ad campaign. Since the searcher used a keyword to reach the search engine results page (SERP), the key to get them to click through to the website was a concise ad that utilized the keyword and a powerful CTA [doing craft shows or where tourists gathered guaranteed an audience with money that wanted to be entertained]. Additionally, the great thing about PPC is that you only pay if they click through to your website! Once you get them there, the buying process begins.

Jim was more the Social Media guy. He used Instagram constantly and Facebook regularly. PPC was available on these outlets as well, though he considered them a bit invasive as no one is searching for products [just juggling on a street corner might work, but people are busy with their lives. You absolutely need to do something special to make them stop, watch, and toss money into the hat]. Utilizing cookies from websites a user visits, ads that might interest the user were most likely to come up in the social media stream [if the street corner is where tourists walk, you may be more successful than trying to juggle in a subway tunnel with commuters]. He also knew these ads would need to be more visual to draw attention [use big balls, clubs, firesticks to draw attention]. He began laying out a few ads in Photoshop, an indispensable tool for marketing. Considering the personas he and Tim worked up, his display ads showed similar images to the slideshow they were planning for the website: a mother and child, an older gentleman, and a video of the roasting process [three ball juggling with tricks].

The day went by quickly as they worked together, mostly in silence, though some classical music played softly in the background [practice, practice, practice, with music on]. Late in the day, the doorbell rang. Jim said, “Must be the web team.” At the door were two women, who looked like sisters, one taller, the other not much shorter. Both young and attractive [working with partners. Be where someone else will bring an audience].

“Hi, I’m Sara,” the taller of the two said with a smile.

“And I’m Laura,” she said with an equally brilliant smile.

Jim comes to the door. “Thanks for coming, Sara! This is Tim my partner. He’s worked up a wireframe and we’ve determined our personas, CTA, and USP.”

“That’s an excellent start! Where can we set up to get to work?”

Tim was surprised. He thought they would sit down, discuss needs and objectives and, most importantly, price. “Uh, here would be good.”

“After talking with Jim this morning, Laura and I started working through some themes that would work best for your business” [knowing the strengths of your partners can determine the routine you will do].

As Sara was setting up her computer she said, “Normally, we’d meet with a client, do a dog and pony show about our work, set up a meeting for the following week, come back and present the proposal including the price. Then we’d wait a week to hear back that we won or lost the project. Talking to Jim this morning, he said you were anxious to get going, so we thought, let’s just get started!” Tim liked what he heard, but worried about the budget.

The first thing Sara did was walk them through some of their past projects. They were both impressed by how professional the sites looked [a lot of people can juggle. It’s how you put together your routine that makes you a professional]. There were two ecommerce sites among them, so Tim knew they understood the issues they would face.

Laura said, “Here are a few themes we thought would work for you.” Themes are the way many websites, particularly when using WordPress, start the process. Tim saw one he liked and Jim agreed instantly. Laura smiled. “That’s the one Sara and I knew would be right for you! Of course, we’ll be personalizing this for you and your product with your colors, fonts and images, so it will look completely unique” [differentiation].

With that, Tim said, “… and the cost is…?” From his past corporate years working with marketing firms, he knew how expensive a site like this could be. Sara, with a sly smile, wrote something down on a piece of paper, slid it across the table to Tim, saying, “A price you can’t refuse.” When Tim looked at it, he laughed. Less than a third of what he expected and well within his budget. But what made him laugh was what was written beneath the price:

“Let’s talk about it over dinner. I’m starved and it’s our treat.”



It was a productive day, a very good day indeed, Tim thought.