Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies. I love the idea of someone having to live the same day over and over until they "get it right." But in business, if you're living Groundhog Day, you're doing something wrong. In other words, it's time to stop doing what isn't moving you forward and start thinking about what needs to change to make that happen.
Last month I was in Savannah for a business retreat with about 30 other creative professionals. Shout out to Marketing-Mentor and The Creatives Roundtable for sponsoring and producing the event, and to Ilise and Nancy being two of my favorite people.
What I loved about the event this year was the chance to hear from other business types and owners and learn from them. Here are just some of the things I found most valuable and that got me to think about how I can implement them into my business so that I don't drive off a cliff (another Groundhog Day reference).
Sesame Street is a model for marketing
Leave it to Elmo to be a marketing genius. Ok, maybe not Elmo but Sesame Workshop. Ok, maybe not Sesame Workshop, but Kevin Kernan of GDLoft who blew minds with his interpretation of marketing via Sesame Street.
Just like Sesame Street sponsors each episode with a letter and a number, Kevin realized that you could mine content from one thing. Take one blog post and turn that post into multiple social posts and hammer people all month long with that content. (I've referred to this as composting your content).
Like children, we need to see and hear something over and over in order for it to penetrate and resonate. So instead of wasting time on new messaging, you can reinforce the thing you likely spent time on and that few people will see unless you keep posting about it.
TikTok you don't stop
Leave it to the only Gen Z at the retreat to school all of us Millen-X-Boomers on TikTok. Emma McGoldrick of ESM Creative Studio not only made TikTok seem fun, she made it sound easy and had all of us signing up when she relayed she gets 90% of her clients from that platform. I'm still not sure how to use it or how it all works, but that's the beauty of a good presentation. You buy in and then figure it out after. Feel free to follow me there. I need the encouragement.
It's your brain in a box
Step 1: Get a box
Step 2: Put your brain in that box
Ok, we're not actually putting any organs in a box, but Lisa Mullis of Paraphrase Communications shared how you likely already have something you can make into a product and sell.
She walked us through some questions and thought starters on how to think about what you already have or do for clients and how you can turn that into something tangible people can buy. Even for someone who has some products you can buy already, it got me thinking about what else I can create.
Treat your your business like an electric toothbrush
How many of you realize that your electric toothbrush is set to a two-minute timer? How many of you realize that's because two minutes is the optimal amount of time to clean your teeth (30 seconds each side and set)?
What does this have to do with business? It's about time. The right amount of time for you to spend on and in your business. Ilise Benun of Marketing Mentor shared her thoughts on treating her business like an experiment. When you experiment you always ask questions. You test hypothesis. You fail. You learn. You try again. The beauty of experimenting is there's no end.
What she's found recently is her desire for more time. More time to think. More time to do her best work. And she's experimenting with how to make that happen. What allows her to have that. It got me thinking about what I want to experiment with. Stay tuned...
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