Digihooked

Who does the online marketing for your business?

😱 Are you fed-up WORRYING about how to do effective online marketing for your business?

😟 Are you confused about WHAT kind of content you should be producing?

🤩 Would you like someone to help you with all of this?

New businesses find themselves turning their hand to online marketing but, let’s face it, it’s overwhelming, difficult to know where to start and easy to get wrong.

Hiring an agency to handle all of this is one of the BEST things you can do for your business.

Why?

💪 You’re paying someone who knows their stuff. The team you hire is constantly educating themselves with all the latest industry information and knowledge.

✊ You are working with experts. They will come in and immediately identify problem areas that will save you lots of time and, in the long-term, money.

🤛 You can't learn digital marketing on the side. Becoming an expert in this area requires a lot of knowledge and time.

👊🏻 Your business needs you. Your top priority is running your business and only you can do that!

A lot of new businesses believe they can’t afford the luxury of hiring an agency and think they are saving money by doing it themselves.

But, in the long term, they lose money because they fail to set-up the right processes and campaigns which are CRUCIAL for new leads, clients and revenue.

So, think about leaving all of this in the hands of the experts and focus on growing your business. 🙌
Image courtesy of Pikisuperstar, Freepik

How are you going with keeping up with technology?⁠ 🤓⁠
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Have you stopped to think how the world has changed over the last 15 - 20 years?⁠
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Do you realise that the first iPhone was released on 29th June 2007 - that's only 15 years ago!⁠ 📱⁠
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⁠I remember being in a pub around that time, speaking with our dev and design teams, and asking whether they could imagine where technology would be in 10 years. ⁠
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If we could have answered that question, we would have gone on to become very wealthy people!⁠
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Since then technology has moved on incredibly as we know, and it continues to do so at a rate that is sometimes very difficult to keep up with.⁠
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So, I ask the same question to you: where will technology be in 10 year's time?⁠ 🤔⁠
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I would love to hear your thoughts on this and the types of things you think we'll be doing in 2032. 🙌⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Does it sometimes feel like you're out of your depth?⁠ 😟
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Most people have no idea how many tasks are involved in running a business.⁠
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Although you may have come up with a great idea - or be very good at what you do - it's the other tasks in the business that often let you down!⁠
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We are all good at some things and less good at others and if you're alone in business it can be a very long road to getting it right!
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One of the best things you can do if you're feeling overwhelmed is just STOP, re-charge your batteries and write down all the tasks that you think are required for running your business. Then, separate the ones you think you are good at, leaving the ones that you need help with.⁠
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As you move forward, look at the ones you WANT to do in your business and IMPORTANTLY the ones that are THE BEST USE OF YOUR VALUABLE TIME.⁠
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Finally - it's important to reach out to someone before you get overwhelmed with this, as often people are so close to it and overworked it becomes difficult to see.⁠ 💪

"Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late"⁠ - Benjamin Franklin⁠
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I love this quote and if you follow it further there are quite a few explanations that people have come up with for it.⁠
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I like to think it is about the balance of AGE meaning MATURITY + KNOWLEDGE that results in WISDOM. ⁠
But, by the time you have wisdom, your window for applying it is too short.!⁠
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Knowledge is not the same as wisdom as with wisdom comes a level of practical intelligence in knowing how to best use the knowledge.⁠
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Do you have quotes you love? Please share! 🙌
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How do you choose your software for your business?

You’re on a mission. 💪

You have a business and need a CRM system or a time-keeping system or a project management tool.

�But, how do you know which one to choose? 😩

You can read reviews or research a little, maybe look for a free trial or ask a friend or other businesses for recommendations.

You may even read a blog article or two and knowingly - or unknowingly - sign up to something as part of someone's affiliate system.

Mmm… so people are writing blog articles and recommending tools to us, just because they are getting paid for doing so? 🤔

The sad part of this post is that’s ALL you can really do unless you’re willing to test it yourself, get to know various systems, understand what you need and decide which ones work well for your business.

We’ve been testing software for many years and recommend taking this route! 🙌

While a lot of software is similar in function, there are differences that lean software more towards one type of business over another.

The integration of software is also important so rather than looking for individual pieces of software for single tasks you might be best looking for multiple pieces of software that work well together and that can really add benefit to your business.

So, how do YOU choose software for business?⁠

We'd love to hear about your experience so please share your comments.

If you've found this useful, please like, share and/or save!

Have a great Monday! 🚀

Time tracking software: why it’s a MUST for your business 💪

As we head for the weekend I thought it might be useful to talk a little about time tracking software and why you should use it.

This applies to all businesses but particularly to small businesses and entrepreneurs as it is often something that is often forgotten.

Tracking time for anyone has to be at the top of your list! 👊

Without it, you will never know whether you have a business or just a time- consuming hobby.

However you formulate your business structure, you MUST know WHO is generating the income for your business and how long is it taking.

Without this data, how do you know what to charge your clients and how to scale your business? 🤔

We are not suggesting that every task is billable - as of course that's not true - but all tasks have to be accounted for and the times logged so you have the data.

As an example, when you start this you may have a ratio of 80% non billable and 20% billable tasks.

This, of course, also depends on roles, but the idea is that as you grow and improve systems to do the work, gradually the billable time of the business will increase and the non-billable time will decrease.

We have been looking at a couple of time tracking software that have good free plans available to get you started and which might be a great way for you to consider this for your business.

The 3 we looked at recently are:

🚀 Toggl
🚀 Clockify
🚀 Harvest

Of course ,there are many others and we‘d love to know your thoughts and what you find useful, but hopefully these are good for you to start investigating.

Have a great weekend! 🙌

How do you stand out from the crowd? ⁠🚀 🎉🎃 👅🥊⁠
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One common thing we see when looking at businesses is that they don’t really know how they stand out from the crowd!⁠
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This might sound strange, but many people even seemed shocked when we asked them the question!⁠ 😮⁠
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Picture the days of looking through a wedding magazine looking for a photographer. ⁠
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In those days it was all in the magazine ads. ⁠
There were a hundred or so photographers all trying to encourage the viewer to ring THEIR number. Some people had full-page ads, some half-page, or quarter-page ads, but each was creating a message and a vision to the viewers. Each trying to get their talents and their USPs across. ⁠
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As the viewer, we were just flicking through the magazine and for some reason we would stop at ONE ad.⁠
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Today is no different. We are just using different tools and mediums to do exactly the same thing.⁠
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It is useful to know which tool does what today - and this in itself can be very confusing - but that’s for another day.⁠
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Importantly you must know your own USPs! ⁠
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You must know WHY I am going to pause my scrolling when looking over your ad. ⁠🛑⁠
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Or - when I open your landing page or funnel or website - WHY I am going to read more or take the steps that you have encouraged me to take.⁠
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Do you know your USPs? ⁠🤔⁠
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Even if you think you do, it can still be a really good exercise to revisit them.⁠
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Brainstorm with others what makes you YOU!⁠ 💪⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Is running your business difficult and tiring?⁠
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If you had to evaluate your business and its current position, what would you conclude?⁠
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Generally when this question is asked most people come up with the same few answers: ⁠
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🙂 I’m going well I just wish I had more time ⁠
😐 I could use a little more money to invest in what I need⁠
😕 When I started this business, I had no idea of all the things that were involved in running a business.⁠
😩 Technology; the knowledge and knowing what to do is causing me a lot of headaches and making things very slow.⁠
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There are undoubtedly others but most answers can fit into these.⁠
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Which one do feel is more relevant to you?⁠
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Do you have others that you would like to add?⁠
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We’d love to know your thoughts so that:⁠
🚀 We can shape valuable content around it⁠
🔥 We can understand even more of the problems that businesses face⁠
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Remember, we are also here for a no-obligation free chat if you would like help or just a bit of guidance with where you currently are.⁠
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Just message us or reach out via our website digihooked.com 🙌⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Algorithms, Algorithms Algorithms… 🔢 🤓

We barely go a day without hearing this word, which highlights just how much a slave to it we have become.�

It’s one thing to know the algorithms: how Facebook have changed theirs, or Google, Instagram, Tiktok, the list goes on; but how helpful is it to know what they have changed it to?� 🤔

This is SOCIAL media, so the idea is to BE SOCIAL. �🕺🎉🥳

If we are constantly considering, how to beat the algorithm or how can we create a fantastic offer to get people on our list or do something they wouldn’t really want to do, then HOW is this SOCIAL?�

There are lots of thoughts on this and maybe we will share our views a bit more over the coming months, but for now our feelings are that it is useful to know and understand the algorithms and we are glad that we do but the main thing is being SOCIAL, USEFUL and HELPFUL to the people you engage with. 🤝

You wouldn’t meet a friend and start tricking them into something, or try to encourage them to do something they don’t want to do and only really benefits you, so why should we do this on our SOCIAL platforms? 🥵

I’m sure the debates will go on for years and of course it all plays into the role of MARKETING and SELLING which is another topic, but what are your thoughts on this?�

Please let us know in the comments 👇

Use your VOICE in social media posts⁠ 🗣️⁠
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While it’s important to write posts that speak your target audience’s language, it so important to write in YOUR own voice. ⁠
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This means writing in a way that reflects the style, personality and the feeling present in all your business’s marketing and interactions online.⁠ ⁠
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If you’ve never gone through the process of developing your brand’s personality, then begin by looking at your business and create a simple mood board to describe your business’s values and mission.⁠ 💥
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Speaking with a voice which is the true ‘soul’ of you and your business connects you immediately to your audience.�� And, like all good relationships, what builds trust is consistency. ⁠🌱
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Your audience will connect with you on a deeper, emotional level if you speak to them in a way that they can instantly identify as being you.⁠ 🙌⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Which Lane Are You In?⁠ 🚔
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There is no one single answer to this but worth considering as we go in the weekend.⁠
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🚚 Slow and Steady: nothing wrong with that! Build the foundations and keep climbing. Move forward one step at a time!⁠
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🚘 Scenic and Beautiful: you're a lover of life and are taking your time. Floating gently and enjoying every day as you rise!⁠
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🚙 Speedy and Automated: I like it! Using automation or a bit of automated help to get you there quickly and steadily!⁠
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🚔 Help: can be good but often no idea where you're going. Just point and shoot! ⁠
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Of course, you can read anything into this and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.⁠
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As we head for the weekend, consider how you run your business!⁠ 🚀
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Happy Friday and have a great weekend.⁠ 🙌