If you're not converting at the rate you'd like to be, take a closer look at your brand. I can say right now, with confidence, that your brand isn't strong enough. It might be enough to gain a decent following, maybe, but it's not quite strong enough to convert followers to paying clients. 

So how do we fix that? Let's first see where we're at now and then we'll identify where we need to get to. If you asked one of your followers what you're known for, what would they say? Would they be able to come up with anything at all? Or whatever they do come up with, is it in alignment with how you want to be known? If it is, you're off to a great start. If it's not, we can fix it but you've got some work to do. 

From now on, before you post any piece of content, ask yourself if you want to be known for that particular thing? If not, if it does't align with your brand, don't post it. Ask my audience, and I'm known for digital marketing, minimalism, my love of hats, tiny houses, and animals. Th...

The way entrepreneurs hashtag these days literally defies logic. Seriously. It makes no damn sense. For instance, I came across a wedding photographer and along with a bunch of other tags, they had hashtagged "she said yes." Wut. 

Why do they do this? Because all their competitors and their mother are doing it. So I'm not calling out or making fun of this specific photographer...they're far from alone. But what kind of bride is searching for vendors to hire when she gets engaged and searches "she said yes." Not only is it not specific to anyone like caterers or florists or photographers, but it's not even location-specific. What good does searching "she said yes" do? Absolutely none. Hashtagging instead something like "Minnesota wedding photographers" that is location-specific and search friendly makes a whole lot more sense. What I mean by "search friendly" is that it's much more likely that a bride would go on Instagram and search her location along with "wedding photographers" as o...

You've probably heard that you should be doing live videos. They're great for engagement, give your audience a chance to get to know you, and increase your visibility. I agree with all of that. But what if you want to take it one step further?

This is where we get into the nitty gritty of video creation. Thought reversal videos will take your lives to a whole new level. I'm talking:

• even greater engagement
• brand growth
• higher conversion rates from viewers to customers

Brandon Lucero is the pioneer of thought reversals, so I highly suggest you check him out, but let me give you the basics. Thought reversals challenge a widely held thought or belief. This will create polarity in your audience which is actually a good thing. It's a "if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything" kinda thing. To get your gears turning, a few thought reversal videos I've done are "Millennials Make The Best Entrepreneurs," "Working Hard Won't Make You Successful," and "Algorithms Actual...

Email marketing feels tedious and loathsome for many business owners. I'm not one of them, personally I love email marketing and list building, but I do get it. So in an effort to make it a little less loathsome, I'm providing you with several email prompts that have gotten me my highest open rates. I have an average open rate of 60% with my list whereas the average business' open rate is a mere 20%. So in the interest of higher open rates, let's do this!

1. Introductory email sharing your story. You can do this every so often for your newer subscribers that have joined since your last introduction or welcome email. 

2. Email that relates to something trendy to your niche. For instance, I recently wrote an email on how to digitally declutter. This email received my highest percentage open rate EVER! With Marie Kondo and the minimalist lifestyle becoming extremely popular, people really enjoyed this topic.

3. Address frequently asked questions that you're approached with by customers...

It's a noisy world out there. So how do you stand out? How do you make sure you've got a step up on the competition? I'm going to tell you. 

1. Creat videos, lots and lots of videos. You should be consistently showing up on IGTV, Facebook Live, and uploading videos to Pinterest. Here's what I do to streamline the process: I start by doing a Facebook Live. After you've finished that, Facebook gives you an option to save it, so I do. Next, I use that to upload the video to my Instagram feed via IGTV and Pinterest. In this way, I only have to record one video, not 3 and this creates consistency across my feeds. 

2. Use third party validation as much as you possibly can. This means whenever and wherever your customers are talking about your business, you post it, share it, pin it. I have a highlight on my Instagram account specifically for testimonials, they're all over my website, and they're front and center on my Facebook page. If you have a Facebook group, make an album of custome...