Blog - Crystal Media

February 11, 2019 By Crystal Leave a Comment

How-To Create a Quarterly Marketing Plan for Your Store: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 81

A few episodes ago I talked about how important a social media plan is to your social media success, but it’s more than just your social media plan. You need to be looking at all of your marketing and determine what campaigns and strategies you’re running each month. This then becomes your quarterly marketing plan.

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The reason why having a quarterly marketing plan is so important is because if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Creating a plan will save you time with marketing. It will help make sure you’re doing everything you need to do as well as give you time to execute it well. Plus, you’ll give you and your team clarity on where you’re going.

We suggest planning out your marketing every three months but depending on your business you might be able to do this every six months. Since technology changes so quickly, you don’t want to plan too far ahead.

Setting aside the time to create your quarterly marketing plan can seem daunting when you have so much going on. But trust us when we say it will make everything so much easier. You’ll have more fun marketing your events, your social content will have more meaning, and your team will be excited and want to contribute to your store’s success.

We’re going to be hosting our Q2 Marketing Planning Meeting on March 5th exclusively for our CM Insiders. If you’re not already an Insider, click here to join for only $97/month.

You can catch new episodes of The Modern Marketing Show every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.

February 4, 2019 By Crystal Leave a Comment

Two Creative Post Ideas to Spark Engagement and Drive Traffic: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 80

As a busy business owner, it can be difficult to always come up with fresh, new content ideas when you have a million other things on your mind. So keep reading to learn about two creative post ideas that are perfect for any upcoming holiday. We know they’ll help you increase engagement across your social channels and drive traffic into your store.

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Creative post idea #1: Share a creative collection of items. You’ll pick products that are similar (think the same color, made by the same designer or at the same price point) and showcase them in a photo or video. This is a great way to catch peoples attention when they’re scrolling their social media feeds.

Creative post idea #2: Share products that make the perfect pair. Take two items that work well together and bundle them. Then if a customer purchases the bundle they’ll be able to save at a special discount.

When you create and share fun unique content it helps you stand out on social media and differentiates you from your competition. Customers are also more likely to recognize you because you’re sharing content that’s catching their attention.

This is also a friendly reminder that as a CM Insider you have hundreds of content ideas available to you in the portal! You can learn more about becoming an Insider here.

You can catch new episodes of The Modern Marketing Show every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.

January 28, 2019 By Crystal Leave a Comment

One Way to Build an Engaged Online Community; The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 79

One of the top mistakes retailers make when it comes to social media is not having a plan. Having a plan is important because it’s going to keep you accountable and ensure things are getting done. In this post, we’ll be going a little deeper on this topic and break down a specific goal. That goal being to build an engaged online community. I’ll walk you through the steps we take to reverse engineer a goal and come up with a strategy to make it happen.

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Having a connection with your online audience is a powerful thing. Not only can it help increase your overall reach and engagement, but it can build strong relationships with lifelong customers. This then can directly impact your sales, as well as your profitability. We’re starting to see a shift with how social media users are wanting to engage in online conversations. That is why Facebook Groups have started to grow in popularity. They allow businesses to build an engaged online community while keeping the conversation more personal.

Do you currently manage a Facebook Group for your business? Share with us in the comments how you use your group and how it’s working for you.

You can catch new episodes of The Modern Marketing Show every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.

January 21, 2019 By Crystal Leave a Comment

The Top Social Media Mistake Made by Retailers: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 78

There are several mistakes I see retailers making all the time, but the top social media mistake made by retailers is not having a social media plan. Having a set social media plan can make all the difference in the world. It’s going to keep you and your team accountable and ensure it’s getting done. So, keep reading to find out two simple ways you can overcome the top social media mistake mistake in 2019.

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Option #1: Set 1-3 SMART goals and then reverse engineer those goals to come up with your social media strategy. Remember, SMART goals are ones that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. Then put those strategies into action by adding them to your marketing calendar. When we write things down the more likely they are to get done, so this step is crucial!

Option #2: Go through the full Social to Sale training course. This training walks you through step by step on how to create a profitable social media strategy. It’s about 5 hours long, so it will require you to set time aside to complete it. The best part is that it’s a included when you become a CM Insider. Click here to learn more about becoming a member!

As a busy business owner, it’s easy to push things, like your social media, to the back burner when things get busy – I know we’ve all been there! But, when you don’t plan, you plan to fail, so let’s commit to getting your social media plan started and set up for success in 2019.

You can catch new episodes of The Modern Marketing Show every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.

January 7, 2019 By Crystal Leave a Comment

Evaluating Value vs. Complexity to Create Winning Strategies for Success: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 77

It’s the new year and it’s time to start planning your marketing for 2019. I wanted to share with you an exercise we do at my company. I like to call it evaluating value vs. complexity. This is a great starting place to determine your SMART goals and using them to reverse engineer your marketing plan.

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It’s important to understand what campaigns you’ve run in the past that brought high value and were hopefully easy to achieve. Then you want to ask yourself how you can improve on those campaigns and make them even better. Campaigns or events that didn’t produce and were hard to achieve should be reconsidered or taken off your list altogether. We only want winning strategies for success in 2019.

Now it’s time to take action. Set aside a couple hours this week to complete this value vs. complexity exercise so you can set your SMART goals and have an awesome year ahead.

Are you interested in spending 3-days with my team and I at our office in Carlsbad, Ca for some hands-on social media and marketing training? Well, you’re in luck because we’re hosting our first workshop of the year on February 20-22. Secure your seat today!

You can catch new episodes of The Modern Marketing Show every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.