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1:43

Welcome to Strategy for

1:43

Creatives: Business Minus the

1:46

Bullshit. Whether you're new in

1:46

business or find yourself in a

1:49

season of change, get ready to

1:49

build a strategy, create an

1:53

action plan and crush those

1:53

goals. I'm Sasha, host a

1:56

strategy for creatives. And I

1:56

help female led businesses grow

2:00

their brands in authentic,

2:00

measurable and meaningful ways,

2:03

without the stress. There's no

2:03

sugar coated here, I'm serving

2:07

up real tips and actionable

2:07

steps you can take to help get

2:11

you organized, get off the path

2:11

to burnout and grow your brand

2:14

like a boss. So go ahead, pull

2:14

up a chair, grab a notepad, and

2:18

let's talk business. Welcome to Strategy for

2:21

Creatives: Business Minus the

2:23

Bullshit. I of course, am your

2:23

host Sasha and today we are

2:27

actually going to have a guest

2:27

on the show. And we are going to

2:30

do a deep dive into some

2:30

conversation around marketing

2:34

and SEO. So I'm really excited

2:34

about this. Our guest today

2:38

Lorraine. And she is the owner

2:38

and founder of Digital Toolbox

2:42

Media where she helps business

2:42

owners use internet marketing to

2:45

grow. In her spare time, which I

2:45

love, she loves to travel and

2:50

take photos. And so we're going

2:50

to be having a conversation with

2:53

her. I'll let herself introduce

2:53

herself a little bit more. So

2:56

Lorraine, welcome to the show.

2:56

Thank you so much for being

2:59

here.

2:59

Thank

2:59

you, this is so much fun. I I

3:02

love talking about marketing. So

3:02

I'm looking forward to the

3:05

conversation.

3:07

This is awesome. I just

3:07

did an episode last week about

3:10

marketing mistakes to avoid. And

3:10

so I think this is a really good

3:15

follow up to kind of things we

3:15

should be doing instead as far

3:20

as marketing. So why don't you

3:20

first tell us a little bit more

3:22

about your business and kind of

3:22

how you got into marketing and

3:26

things like that.

3:27

So

3:27

I'll give you the shorter

3:30

version, because the long version goes on way, way too long. And we don't have time for

3:32

that. But really, and truly, I

3:35

was never going to be a

3:35

marketer, I was going to be an

3:39

accountant, I was going to do

3:39

computer programming, blah,

3:41

blah, blah. And all my

3:41

professors were like, you know,

3:44

you're kind of wired like a

3:44

marketing person. And so

3:47

fortunately, once in my life, I

3:47

listened to somebody else and

3:51

ended up in marketing. I still

3:51

lean on all of those

3:55

quantitative skills. And I think

3:55

that good marketing is rooted in

4:01

the numbers. And so I always

4:01

hold on to that, but I

4:05

definitely love marketing. I've

4:05

done corporate traditional

4:09

marketing, I had an agency, and

4:09

I started doing the training for

4:13

my clients. When I sold the

4:13

agency 18 months ago, I kept the

4:19

training piece. And so that's

4:19

where the Digital Toolbox is now

4:23

and it is tools and resources

4:23

for businesses mostly in the

4:28

earlier stages when they're

4:28

trying to figure out how all

4:31

this works.

4:32

That's awesome. So one of

4:32

the questions I want to ask you

4:35

because I talked a little bit

4:35

about this on my last episode is

4:38

one of those mistakes I see a

4:38

lot of people making is not

4:41

having a website. And I

4:41

personally, it's a really big

4:48

pet peeve of mine. I see so many

4:48

people who on their social

4:51

media, it's just like a linktree

4:51

with different links to certain

4:54

things, but not necessarily a

4:54

website. So I wanted to ask your

4:58

opinion on which do you think is

4:58

more valuable? Do you just need

5:02

social media? Should you have a

5:02

website? What? What do you

5:06

think?

5:07

So

5:07

my attitude on social media is

5:11

that it's a lot like going to a

5:11

singles bar. You're gonna meet a

5:14

lot of nice people, you're gonna

5:14

have great conversations, but

5:18

the end game is to bring your

5:18

date home. Home is your website.

5:24

Home is your email list, where

5:24

you can have a one on one

5:29

conversation without the

5:29

distractions of the kittens, the

5:34

babies, the food, porn, you name

5:34

it. So that's the first thing.

5:38

The second thing is that in any

5:38

other area of your life, would

5:45

you completely give up control?

5:45

I mean, anytime somebody says to

5:48

me, you know, I'm just gonna

5:48

have a Facebook page. Really?

5:52

You're gonna give Mark

5:52

Zuckerberg control over your

5:54

business?

5:55

I... everything that

5:55

you're saying, oh, like, yes. I

6:00

because it reminds me of a

6:00

couple of months ago... I don't

6:03

know, my concept of time has

6:03

gone out the window at this

6:06

point.

6:08

Well, they did that to all of us.

6:09

Yeah. But when Instagram

6:09

and Facebook went down, and

6:13

everyone was scrambling, and

6:13

they're like, how am I supposed

6:16

to talk to my people? So all

6:16

these emails showing up in

6:20

people's inboxes? Like, no,

6:20

we're still here, like, visit

6:23

our website. It was as if people

6:23

forgot that websites exist. And

6:27

that's always my point. It's

6:27

that you own your web site. Why

6:32

do you want to have such a large

6:32

part of your business relying on

6:38

something that you have

6:38

absolutely no control over?

6:42

Absolutely.

6:42

I mean, I, you know, I've done

6:44

this a long time. And I remember

6:44

Facebook, when they first

6:48

started courting businesses, you

6:48

know, it was just a social

6:51

platform. And they came out with

6:51

this really cool concept that

6:55

you could create a Facebook

6:55

landing page. And they were very

7:01

cool. You actually wrote them

7:01

and designed in a code called

7:05

FBML. That was Facebook's own

7:05

markup language. And I had

7:11

clients who spent money and paid

7:11

us to build these pages. And it

7:14

was a nice little business for

7:14

me. They were happy. And one

7:17

day, Facebook changed the

7:17

dimensions on all of the pages.

7:22

And all of my clients were like,

7:22

what the... And I remember being

7:28

at a conference with somebody

7:28

said this was happening, and

7:30

from the back of the room, you

7:30

heard me all over that

7:34

auditorium. I mean, it was just

7:34

not lady-like language. So then

7:41

Facebook decided after we

7:41

completely rebuilt all these

7:43

pages, that they weren't a good

7:43

idea, and they just went away.

7:47

And so you had all of these

7:47

businesses that had invested in

7:52

this design that was completely

7:52

worthless? Had they paid us

7:57

instead to build custom landing

7:57

pages on their website, they

8:02

would have still had something of value.

8:04

Yeah, it's putting too

8:04

much of your eggs in a single

8:09

basket. When the baskets not

8:09

even yours, like you have, you

8:13

can't control anything about

8:13

that basket. And so I appreciate

8:18

that so much. And it's always

8:18

interesting to me, because I do

8:21

hear people who are like, Oh,

8:21

you don't need a website. You

8:23

can I get all my clients from

8:23

Facebook, or I just get all my

8:26

clients from Instagram, and DMs

8:26

and things like that. And it's

8:28

like, but what if that goes

8:28

away? Or with Instagram? They're

8:32

constantly changing the

8:32

algorithm. So what if your

8:34

content is not being seen? How

8:34

are you supposed to get business

8:38

from that? And so I appreciate

8:38

so much that you're advocating

8:44

for the same thing that I am. I

8:44

do want to ask, though, because

8:48

I think a lot of people, the

8:48

conversation then goes to how do

8:50

you then once you get people to

8:50

your website, how do you then

8:54

turn those people into potential

8:54

clients of yours? And then it's

8:59

the clients who are going to

8:59

love you. What would you suggest

9:02

for that?

9:03

So

9:03

every page on your website

9:10

should have what I call a

9:10

logical next step. You should

9:14

never let somebody get to the

9:14

bottom of a page and go, oh,

9:17

that was nice and leave. It's

9:17

kind of like it and I know a lot

9:21

of people won't even may not get

9:21

this reference. But there used

9:24

to be a thing called late night

9:24

television commercials. Like if

9:27

you were awake at three in the

9:27

morning and you were channel

9:29

surfing, you'd see these ads for

9:29

a set of kitchen knives. And

9:34

every time you thought they were

9:34

done, they'd be like, Wait,

9:37

there's more! That attitude

9:37

that"and wait there's more"

9:42

should be on every page of your

9:42

website. And often it gets

9:47

obnoxious if it's always but

9:47

that next step should always be

9:53

one to learn more, give us your

9:53

email address. Are you curious

9:57

about this download this guide.

9:57

I'd say, now 10 years ago, you

10:03

could say sign up for our

10:03

newsletter and people actually

10:06

did. Unless you give me

10:06

something in the moment that I

10:13

absolutely cannot live without,

10:13

I ain't giving you my email

10:19

address, I got too much stuff in

10:19

my inbox. But if you break the

10:23

code and you know... give you

10:23

examples... worked with a client

10:29

who had sold hardwood flooring.

10:29

We gave away a free how to buy

10:33

hardwood floor flooring guide.

10:33

And so it was things. It wasn't

10:37

a sales pitch it was

10:37

information. So for any

10:41

business, offer your prospects

10:41

something that they're like, Oh,

10:47

I could use that and trade you

10:47

for an email.

10:50

Yeah, that's one thing

10:50

that I advocate a lot for that

10:52

too, because it's it's not... I

10:52

don't like being salesy. I, as

10:57

much as being a business owner,

10:57

you have to be, I hate being

10:59

salesy. But if you're giving

10:59

value, then you're more likely

11:03

to have someone say, Oh, I could

11:03

use this. So let me sign up for

11:06

their list. And then that's

11:06

where you can kind of nurture

11:09

that relationship even more and

11:09

turn them into a client.

11:13

Absolutely. And I'll give you one other trick on that is quizzes.

11:18

Yeah.

11:19

Please love...

11:20

Yeah

11:20

We

11:20

are a sucker for a good quiz.

11:23

And if the quiz gives me value,

11:23

if when I'm done, I'm going to

11:26

get a little bit of information.

11:26

So think about a short quiz. And

11:33

the best part of a good quiz.

11:33

Not only do you have their email

11:37

address, but now you know

11:37

something about them.

11:40

Yes. I love that I

11:40

actually have a quiz on my

11:45

website, it's for like figuring

11:45

out your entrepreneur archetype.

11:49

And so it tells you like, you

11:49

know, how you handle business

11:52

and maybe what your struggles

11:52

are. And before you get the

11:55

results, you have to put in your

11:55

email address.

11:58

And people once they invest the time in doing the quiz, they'll give

12:00

you their email.

12:04

Yes, I love that advice.

12:04

It's because I mean, who doesn't

12:08

like finding out something in a

12:08

short little quiz about

12:12

themselves?

12:13

We can't resist it.

12:14

I did want to ask you too

12:14

about something that not too

12:20

many people I think are familiar

12:20

with, but that can be helpful is

12:25

the concept of user generated

12:25

content. So would you be able to

12:29

kind of talk a little bit about

12:29

what that is, and how it

12:33

benefits people.

12:34

So

12:34

USG, the way I explain it to

12:40

people is a lot of times,

12:40

there's an old adage that you,

12:45

you want to start your business

12:45

with OPM, other people's money.

12:49

You want loans, you want

12:49

investment, that you use that

12:53

extra money to grow. That's how

12:53

you expand in a way. User

12:59

Generated Content is just OPC -

12:59

other people's content. Now,

13:03

it's not a matter of stealing

13:03

content from other people. But

13:07

it's a matter of asking people

13:07

to tell you things. So whether

13:12

you think... Reviews are the

13:12

best example of user generated

13:16

content, of course, you know,

13:16

you ask people to give you a

13:18

review. Now you've got this nice

13:18

write up. You didn't write it.

13:23

It's in their language. It's

13:23

beautiful. But you can do

13:26

contests. One of my favorite

13:26

examples is and I kind of

13:32

borrowed this for something I

13:32

did. Jimmy Fallon will do this,

13:35

he'll ask a question on Twitter,

13:35

he'll get a bunch of answers.

13:40

And then that night, his writers

13:40

can put their feet up, because

13:43

he's gonna read from Twitter,

13:43

right? I put a note up on

13:48

Twitter, I have a bunch of

13:48

friends that are all part of a

13:52

chat group. And I tagged it with

13:52

the chat and I said, Hey, I'm

13:55

writing a blog post about this.

13:55

How would you answer the

13:59

question? I ended up with five

13:59

or six different good answers,

14:04

put them together. And now I had

14:04

a blog post. And the best part

14:08

of that blog post, not only was

14:08

it easy, every one of those

14:13

people, I tagged them when I

14:13

shared it on social media. And

14:18

guess what they did?

14:19

They shared your content

14:19

then Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah,

14:23

I think people don't realize

14:23

that. It's almost like a word of

14:29

mouth but in a more specific

14:29

way. And people are more likely

14:34

to want to check out your

14:34

business or want to look into

14:37

your business when it's coming

14:37

from other people. When it's

14:40

other people who are talking

14:40

about it than just you and

14:44

that's a great way to kind of go

14:44

about getting that.

14:47

I

14:47

guess some ridiculous statistic

14:51

that I don't know, 80% of people

14:51

will check online reviews before

14:57

they buy something and they are

14:57

more likely to take the word of

15:01

a complete stranger, complete

15:01

stranger, if it's written in the

15:07

form of a credible review. So

15:07

the power of leveraging and

15:13

encouraging and and not letting

15:13

it just happen by accident, but

15:17

actively soliciting reviews and

15:17

comments and questions is really

15:22

powerful.

15:23

I like that. Thank you so

15:23

much for sharing that because

15:26

again, I don't think it's a lot

15:26

of a lot of people have heard of

15:29

the term user generated content

15:29

and don't realize like how

15:32

helpful it can be. And people

15:32

you can use things like this....

15:36

I'm a part of a lot of Facebook

15:36

groups, and I have my own

15:39

Facebook group, the Strategy for

15:39

Creatives Facebook group, I will

15:41

ask questions all the time in my

15:41

Facebook group, or you know,

15:45

what, what are business books

15:45

that you're reading, or what's a

15:48

problem that you're facing in

15:48

your business right now. And

15:50

then I use that to come up with

15:50

content that I can then a share,

15:55

either on a blog post or an

15:55

email or an Instagram reel, or

15:58

something like that. So it's

15:58

also just a great way to get to

16:01

know your audience and your

16:01

community and give them back

16:05

kind of the information that

16:05

they're looking for.

16:08

Absolutely.

16:08

And it can also be used to

16:12

create new products. One of my

16:12

favorite examples of USG is

16:16

Lay's potato chips. They run a

16:16

contest every year, asking

16:21

people what flavor potato chip

16:21

and they... southern biscuit

16:29

potato chip. Who know this was a

16:29

thing! But you know, you can get

16:35

you can get great engagement.

16:35

And at the end of the day,

16:39

social media is about ego.

16:41

Yeah

16:41

We

16:41

all want to be noticed. We all

16:44

want people to respond

16:44

positively to the things that we

16:47

say. And so if you asked me a

16:47

question, and I give you an

16:51

answer, and you comment, you

16:51

share, you reply, you use it, I

16:57

am way more likely to be

16:57

connected to you and to your

17:00

brand. The next time you share

17:00

something,

17:03

Yeah, I call it the like,

17:03

know trust factor. That's what I

17:06

call it on my show. And that's

17:06

exactly it's, it's letting

17:10

people feel that connection, and

17:10

then they're more likely to buy

17:13

from you.

17:14

Absolutely.

17:15

So before we wrap up, I

17:15

just wanted to ask, if you had

17:19

to give one quick tip marketing

17:19

that someone can do in their

17:24

business today, something that

17:24

maybe doesn't take a long time,

17:28

or that's easy to do, what would

17:28

you suggest that people could do

17:31

in their business?

17:33

I think the most important thing that you can do is to sit down

17:34

and make a list of the top 10

17:38

questions you get asked on a

17:38

regular basis. And then answer

17:43

them. I know that sounds silly,

17:43

but answer them on your website.

17:48

Answer them in social media. I

17:48

did a test project one time for

17:53

a client, we were working on

17:53

improving the SEO on his

17:56

website. And one of the

17:56

questions that he got asked all

18:00

the time was what's the best

18:00

floor to put in my kitchen? Do

18:05

you know that I searched from

18:05

one end of his website to the

18:08

other and he had a big website,

18:08

nowhere on the site did he

18:12

answer the question. Because it

18:12

was it was something that his

18:16

sales guys were answering all

18:16

the time. They never thought

18:19

about answering that question in

18:19

digital media.

18:23

It was just like too, too

18:23

simple almost.

18:26

Today,

18:26

that blog post that we wrote on

18:31

the best flooring types for your

18:31

kitchen. That blog post is 10

18:35

years old, and it still gets

18:35

traffic every single week.

18:40

Of course, yeah. And I

18:40

people don't realize that once

18:46

your in business for a while,

18:46

and even when you're just

18:48

starting your business, you will

18:48

get asked the same things over

18:51

and over again. Like I know, in

18:51

my business, it's I don't know

18:55

what kind of systems I should

18:55

have, or, you know, do I need

18:58

email marketing? And you know,

18:58

sometimes it's even more simple

19:01

than that. And if you just

19:01

answer those questions in a blog

19:04

post, and then if you turn

19:04

around and put it on someplace

19:06

like Pinterest, which is always

19:06

popping up content, then you

19:11

will always have people coming

19:11

to your site, because they're

19:13

always searching this question.

19:13

And if you're popping up as a

19:17

reliable source for it, they're

19:17

more likely to then go to other

19:21

places in your website, which

19:21

goes back to the beginning of

19:23

why you need a website.

19:24

Absolutely.

19:24

Absolutely. Absolutely. You

19:28

know, and I mean, there's so

19:28

many so many great tricks to

19:32

building on that whole idea of

19:32

answering questions. But at the

19:34

end of the day, people go to

19:34

Google. I know there are other

19:40

search engines, but let's face

19:40

it, Google runs the internet. So

19:43

they go to Google with a

19:43

question. And if you've got the

19:49

best answer...

19:51

Yep, you'll always pop

19:51

up. Yep. Well, I just want to

19:55

thank you so much for giving

19:55

some marketing tips. I'm

19:58

actually really happy because

19:58

you just reiterated a lot of the

20:01

things that I share on my show.

20:01

So it's nice that for my

20:06

audience to hear it from someone

20:06

else, as well, because I, I do

20:10

think marketing is so hard when

20:10

you're starting your business

20:13

and trying to figure out what you should be doing and what you shouldn't be doing. So I

20:15

appreciate you coming on the

20:18

show and just talking about that

20:18

with me today.

20:21

You can Lorraine, she's at at

20:21

Digitaltoolbox.club. I will

20:25

leave her website in the show

20:25

notes for you guys. Just to kind

20:29

of reiterate what it is, is she

20:29

has an online marketing

20:32

community for business owners

20:32

and it has the digital toolbox

20:35

is filled with tools, tips,

20:35

training programs, real time

20:38

discussions, and you'll find

20:38

answers to a lot of your digital

20:40

marketing questions. So I will

20:40

make sure to put all of that in

20:44

the show notes so you guys can

20:44

check her out. But Lorraine,

20:46

thank you so much for being on the show today.

20:48

Thank you. This was a lot of fun.

20:50

Thank you. Are you ready to uplevel your

20:54

business? Join the five day be

20:57

your own CEO challenge. All the

20:57

details are available on the

21:00

website at www.by-sasha.com. If

21:00

you liked what you heard, make

21:07

sure you rate and review. It

21:07

really helps other people find

21:10

the show. And of course,

21:10

following subscribe on your

21:13

favorite podcast platforms. Want

21:13

to follow me on social? I'm on

21:17

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21:17

Strategy By Sasha. Make sure you

21:21

tune in next Tuesday for more

21:21

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