Imagine sitting at your desk and the phone rings from a number in your area. You answer, the caller on the other end has the green light and starts their script by butchering your name. Your immediate reaction? Hang up or ask to be removed from the list. Buyers have evolved to know the signs of a cold call and aren’t buying it anymore. What’s crazy is buyers used to listen to these sales pitches! Why? Because they didn’t know any better. The seller used to hold all of the power and had the choice between being fair or a swindler. That’s not the case anymore. Buyers now hold the informational power and salespeople beware: you must adapt or you […]
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Forming and leading a business is an evolution. This year’s EntreLeadership Summit made that very apparent. It starts with bringing your idea into reality, followed by the discipline to navigate through storms, and the courage to guide your vision. This enables your business to flourish beyond your wildest dreams. This progression seems obvious, but the details get bogged down with day to day operations. Black Tie attends a few conferences every year to recenter, pull ourselves out of our business, and look back in with a fresh perspective. This year, I had the distinct pleasure of attending Dave Ramsey’s 2019 EntreLeadership Summit in San Diego, California. The conference brought together some of the most innovative and successful entrepreneurs of our […]
The holidays are upon us. Is your online store ready? Getting ready for the holiday shopping season doesn’t only mean stockpiling inventory and putting out decorations. To be successful, your business needs to calculate your marketing and sales efforts. By preparing yourself, you set yourself up for success during the busiest shopping season of the year and position your business to take on every sale thereafter with confidence and ease. Making sales online through an e-commerce site can be a game changer for your business if you prepare accordingly. Imagine doing all the work for online sales now so that when the holidays roll around, you aren’t scrambling to set prices, create promo codes, build landing pages, submit ads and […]
The WordPress community has been chaotically abuzz for the better part of 2018, and for an arguably good reason. Sometime this year, (or still very likely, next) Automattic will ship its cornerstone version 5 release of the beloved CMS, WordPress. The rub, (at least according to some) comes with the introduction of a vastly different page and post editing experience called Gutenberg. The WordPress team has been ramping up javascript-based rhetoric for nearly three years now, alongside moving major components of WordPress’ core to javascript. Gutenberg, however, is a step forward for the community at nearly all levels of interaction (and comes with both good and bad implications). If you read the Gutenberg reviews, you might quickly notice: not everyone […]
The digital workspace is an ever-evolving environment that has altered the way the world does business. It’s impossible to control, and crucial to keep up with… especially when you’re responsible for the success of a business. Recent changes to Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) have reminded us how volatile this space can be, and how an agency must never become complacent with technology, methods and techniques. This change in policy also makes us question the power that gargantuan service platforms exert on businesses and what this means for the future of online commerce. What Happened with Shopify? Earlier this month, Shopify, a dominating eCommerce platform, announced an update to their Acceptable Use Policy which prohibits the sale of certain firearms. […]
Facebook is a powerful force in advertising. Once considered a luxury tool among online advertisers, Facebook’s ad platform is a necessity to reach a large-scale audience on par with audiences reached via Google Ads. Facebook reported making more than $9 billion in ad revenue in the second quarter of 2017, an increase of 47% from the second quarter of 2016. That’s not chump change. When you ask business owners how they spend their advertising dollars, Facebook ads are bound to come up. Unfortunately, many businesses are making 3 major mistakes that cause them to fail miserably at advertising on Facebook. Facebook is a great equalizer in the world of digital advertising. Businesses can be conservative and spend as little […]
Responsive design is one of the most important features of any website. While it’s far from a new concept, it’s vastly misunderstood and its implementation leaves many website owners scratching their heads. It may be easy to understand that responsive design means that your website will display and function intuitively on any device but it’s important to know that it’s more than just looks. The functionality of your website depends on it, your SEO depends on it and your overall user experience depends on it. First Some History Responsive design is a result of the advent of mobile devices. The need for a sleek user experience was necessary when screens became smaller. Pinching and sliding to enlarge text and images […]
This July, Google is flexing its muscles and rolling out a change to the Chrome app that will affect people using the popular browser. It’s not the first time that Google has impressed their agenda on the world, *ahem* responsive design *ahem* and this time they’re working for a more secure Internet by alerting users to websites that lack security protocols. Next month every website without an SSL Certificate will be predicated by a “Not Secure” message before the URL in the top of the browser window. If you have been putting this off, now is the time to install an SSL Certificate. Request SSL Certificate Installation on Your Website Today What is an SSL Certificate? SSL Certificates encrypt information […]
Black Tie Guide To Facebook Best Practices
16 May 2018
Facebook is one of the most effective ways to reach your customers and drive conversions. However, using Facebook as a business is much different than a personal Facebook account. By following a few best practices you can harness the power of Facebook for your business. You may already be using Facebook to reach your audience. If you haven’t been intentional in your efforts, you may find that it’s not providing you the results you were hoping to see. The purpose of Facebook is to connect people. You need to understand how your target market uses Facebook and create a strategy to reach them and engage them if you wish to convert them. Taking an Intentional Approach to Facebook First, you […]
Best Practices for Responding to Reviews
19 Apr 2018
The way that you respond to your online reviews can significantly affect the perception of your brand. While the goal of every business owner is to collect positive reviews, bad reviews are bound to occur. Responding with poise is the only way to rebound. Understanding the fundamental function of reviews and best practices for managing them can help you better process and respond to every review you receive. Why are Reviews Important? Reviews represent digital “word of mouth” communication. Eighty-eight percent of consumers say that reviews are a trusted source of information and help to inform their purchasing decisions. Reviews are valuable to customers because they provide a space where a business owner cannot polish her image. This level […]
The Black Tie Guide to Instagram
28 Mar 2018
Instagram has a way of captivating audiences like no other social medium to date. It’s basically a digital scrapbook that allows anyone and everyone to peek at your brand. Beyond using Instagram to share pictures of your lunch or your latest vacation, it is a great space to showcase your business. Using this platform to engage your audience and gain new customers is essential for a comprehensive digital marketing strategy; however, many companies aren’t quite sure how to take advantage of Instagram. Considering the 800 million Instagram users all over the world, that’s a problem. Like every social app, there is a fine line between engaging and annoying. By following a few best practices, your Instagram feed can actually help […]
A Black Tie Guide to Facebook Advertising
07 Nov 2017
Facebook advertising is an extremely helpful tool for businesses. With billions of active users, it has the power to drive website traffic, spark conversions, and create a devoted customer base. Facebook is powerful and its influence is undeniable. Businesses wishing to take advantage of the reach often find themselves confused with little return. Making sure that you have clear goals and understanding where your advertising dollars are going is crucial to the success of any campaign but even more so when tapping into the most formidable social sharing platform in the world. A Brief Overview of Facebook’s Relationship with Business Facebook was not created with the intention of connecting businesses to customers, it was created to connect people to one […]
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