3 Steps to Creating a Stress Free and Profitable Holiday Promotion

With the holiday season quickly approaching, now is the perfect time to quickly arrange for a holiday promotion for your business. The Thanksgiving to Christmas time period tends to be an extremely profitable season for online shops and businesses, with many retailers seeing exponential sales and traffic in this time with the aid of some well planned and executed holiday sales. Now, if you have never planned out a holiday promotion, or have yet to do so this season, I’m here to tell you that the process is much easier than you think and doesn’t have to involve complicated marketing planning or lots of time and effort. You do still have plenty of time to pull off a successful holiday promotion without stress or extra long work days, but you do need to act fast to get your plan in place to maximize sales before Black Friday kicks off in a few weeks! In order to help make this process even more streamlined for you, I have also created a free DIY Holiday Promotion Planning Guide that you can use to plan and keep track of your promotion. CLICK HERE to get the FREE Guide and get started today!

Step # 1: Decide the logistics of your promotion

There are many types of promotions and sales specials you can run during the holiday season to drum up excitement for your business and increase traffic and check totals in your shop. You can do something as simple as create a special coupon code for a percentage off items in your shop, you can put together bundles of popular products that coordinate, or simply discount your best sellers. You can make your sale as simple or complicated as you’d like and do one or more of these things, but decide what works for you and your business and of course, plan out how long you want these promotions to last. I’d highly suggest running a sale on Black Friday at the very least. Personally, this year I plan to create some limited time only bundles, provide a coupon code to VIPs on my email list and social media followers, and I also plan to host a giveaway to entice sales during my promotion which will last 3 days from Black Friday to Sunday. If you don’t want to discount your products due to product constraints, you can also create non-sale promotions that include either a giveaway wherein customers during the time frame are opted in to win a prize. You can offer a digital freebie to drive traffic to your shop or even give a free gift with purchase. Think about what will work for your sales goals and business and outline the details of your promotion asap!

Step #2: Shoot your promotional images

If you run an online business, you know how important great product and styled shots are to driving sales. Once you know the parameters of your promotion, you can arrange for a quick photoshoot and get all your images ready for your shop, social media and any ads you may run. If you don’t feel confident in your photography skills or need help understanding how to take great photos that sell, definitely check out my Charmed Digital Styling Lightroom Photography Course. It’s a video module based course with 3.5 hours of content that you can watch while taking notes and arranging your own photos. In the course I teach you everything you need to know to quickly get your styled photography under control and streamlined to make shooting promotional images a breeze! I’d highly recommend taking the course if you need great photos for your holiday promotions, it will save you time and money in the short term if you are someone who pays for stock photos, and the course even includes photoshop tutorials that will teach you how to create promotional sales graphics and advertisements as well!

Step #3: Start spreading the news

Once you have your promotion planned and your images are ready to go, you can start sharing the news of your promotion through your various communication methods and continue to do so through the duration of your sale. I’d suggest starting to actively promote your holiday sale anywhere from 2-4 days before it begins using any and all methods you use to communicate with your customers. If you have an email list, you will want to send a list to your email a few days before the sale starts and give some previews of the sales to come, and if you use social media or YouTube, make sure you tell your audience in these locations as well. If you use any methods of advertising, you also want to get those set to go for about three days out from the sale to drum up excitement and provide a call to action to get new potential customers onto your list. Finally, if you have an affiliate program or even a network of friends who can help you spread the word, make sure you coordinate with them on promotional messages and details that they can share with their audience as well. It’s the holiday’s after all, so the more the merrier when it comes to cross promoting sales and specials!

That’s it! Three easy steps to a stress free and profitable  holiday promotion. You still have time to get your promo planned and off the ground and I’d highly suggest planning something rather than nothing because failing to promote during the holidays means you are leaving a lot of money on the table. Make sure to grab my free DIY Promotion Planning Guide to help keep you on track!

Wishing you a productive and successful week and holiday season ahead!

xoxo,

In today’s video I am sharing my opinion on why you should start your business right now if you have been thinking about doing it. There is a revolution in the paradigm of work in the world. Now is the time of the rise of the female entrepreneur. Right now women more than ever need the financial and time freedom that entrepreneurship offers. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this paradigm shift because I think this is an important conversation we need to be having about women, their place in the workforce and the necessity of female owned businesses.

If you would like to watch the full 2.5 hour business training class that this clip came from and receive the free workbook, click the link below to register!

→ REGISTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS THE NEW BLACK

xoxo,

Hello My Charmed Ones!

Today I wanted to share with you a little hack that I’ve been using as part of my content marketing strategy to help me reuse my valuable content, spread my message across my various platforms and save myself time and energy filling my monthly editorial calendar.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I have been posting my weekly youtube videos to instagram tv as part of my monthly editorial calendar.

Essentially, the video I post to YouTube on Saturday becomes my IGTV post the following Wednesday.

WHY I REPOST MY YOUTUBE VIDEOS TO INSTAGRAM TV?

There are 3 reasons why I have been reposting my YouTube videos to Instagram TV.

First, is because a lot of time and effort goes into creating a video for YouTube but I know that not all of my audience are seeing those videos. For me, although I love creating video content and I think I’m pretty good at it, realistically, creating a video is the most time consuming type of content I create. I don’t want that time and effort to go to waste if I post a video to youtube and my audience doesn’t take the time to watch. I know I put good energy and effort into creating a valuable video and I want to get as many eyes on that video as possible so I can help the maximum amount of people who need the information.

Second, I repost my YouTube videos to Instagram TV because I want to spread my message consistently across all my platforms. In my specific case, YouTube does happen to be the platform with the most followers, however, I know there are people who follow me on Instagram but don’t follow me on YouTube. So, if I have something valuable enough to say in a video, I want to make sure as much of my community as possible gets a chance to see the content. As much as I am all about creating as much original content for your platforms as possible, I have to be practical and if I want a message or piece of content seen so that it reaches my full audience, I know I have to share about it in all the places I hang out online.

Third, it save me so much time and energy when I can repurpose high quality content across to other platforms. With my current editorial calendar, I post on one of my platforms each and everyday. Creating 30 pieces of fresh content a month is a lot, so whenever I can take a piece of content and repurpose it, that is time I am saving myself.

HOW DO YOU REPOST VIDEOS FROM YOUTUBE TO INSTAGRAM?

Now, you might be wondering, how the heck do you even repost content from YouTube onto Instagram because Youtube videos and IGTV videos are in two completely different aspect ratios.

Youtube videos are posted ideally in the 16:9 landscape ratio and IGTV posts are ideally 9:16 portrait ratio.

Well, the little hack that I have been using to successfully accomplish this is to use a 9:16 ratio template to edit my videos into. That way all I have to do is edit my template each week and then drop my latest fully edited video into it via Final Cut Pro X and then export an IGTV version of the video.

MY INSTAGRAM TV VIDEO TEMPLATE

On my template for IGTV, I include a frame for the video, a title, subtitle, my own branding and a call to action to open the video description for more information.

Here are a few examples:

I create and edit these templates in Adobe Photoshop, and you may notice I also switch out the background image just to create some additional interest. When I create the file for the template, I insert the youtube cover image art in the video frame so that the template itself is also the cover image for the IGTV video too. Then in Final Cut, I layer my video clip over the cover art and shrink it down to fit the frame so that the video exports properly for IGTV.

Of course, in final cut, I need to start with a project that is 1080 x 1920 dimensions to begin with. The default for a normal video is typical 1920 x 1080 so I just need to swap those dimensions so the video exports portrait style for IGTV.

UPLOADING MY VIDEO TO INSTAGRAM TV

From there, I typically use the web version of Instagram on my computer to upload the video, cover image and write my description. If you didn’t know, you can use Instagram on your web browser so you don’t have to bother sending the video to your phone to post it. It’s very helpful, you just go to http://www.instagram.com and log into your account and you can use the web version very similarly to using the mobile app.

Need more help with your content + editorial calendar?

I hope this post has been helpful and informational to you. If you have any questions about this process, let me know! I hope this helps you reuse and repurpose your video content if you are also using Instagram and helps you spread your message and content to a wider audience that needs it!

xoxo,

This video covers 5 common misconceptions about content marketing. So if you are someone who wants to start creating content, especially for your brand or business, this video is going to lay down the truth about what is absolutely possible for you!

Don’t let other peoples misconceptions, failures or lack of knowledge on content marketing frame your view and mindset on it. I have had tremendous success with content marketing for my business and know that it is truly the way to go for many businesses, especially right now in these unprecedented times.

If you would like to watch the full 2.5 hour business training class that this clip came from and receive the free workbook, click the link below to register!

→ REGISTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS THE NEW BLACK

xoxo,

THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW I STARTED MY ONLINE BUSINESS

I created EMPIRE BUILDING for the women within my community who felt a pull to do their own thing, get creative, and earn an income from their life’s passion online.

The course, it’s modules, workbooks and bonus master classes were all designed to be an easy introduction to digital marketing and content creation following the strategies that I learned and executed on to begin and scale my own creative business online.

If you were able to join the free business training class I held on Saturday, or were able to watch the replay, you now know the story of my business and how I brought it to the level it has reached today.

My story is not a unique story.

It’s not the story of an overnight success.

It’s not the story of someone who had the means to pay for extra advantages such as advertising, a team, the best equipment or tools.

My story is the untold story of hundreds, if not thousands of female owned brands online.

It is the story of following a calling and passion from within.

It is the story of hard work, planning and a lot of figuring things out as you go.

It is the story of slow and steady growth that over the course of years lead me to a following and community of over 150,000 women across the globe.

My story is not unique.

My business is not unique.

My story can be your story whether you decide to join EMPIRE BUILDING or not.

But, if you want the help…

If you’d like a shortcut through the tedious process of researching strategies, and the trial and error that goes along with figuring out what works and what doesn’t…

If you’d like to have the support, the feedback, and the accountability of a group of likeminded women all working towards a similar goal…

Then I welcome you to take full advantage of my offer and secure your enrollment in EMPIRE BUILDING today!

If you feel a pull towards me, my content, my work and my products, I just may be the “secret ingredient” to your success that you’ve been looking for!

I do hope to see you inside the group and at the classes.

Remember, live classes begin on September 21st, but when you enroll you’ll learn more about all that.

For now, give it some thought and follow your heart.

When you’re ready, click the link below to enroll!

CLICK HERE TO ENROLL NOW

If you have questions, I am here to answer them, so leave me a comment, and let me know how I can help you!

xoxo,

There is nothing worse than starting your own business online and then running into one of these very common branding issues.

1. Your brand is not cohesive, it’s all over the place and a mess
2. Your brand looks just like another business so it doesn’t stand out and your constantly accused of being a copycat brand
3. Your business name is in use by someone else and now you are in potential legal trouble
4. People are not sure what you do because your brand doesn’t make logical sense
5. You can’t get the name you want for your website url or social media handles so you have to choose second rate names that prevent your platforms from gaining followers
6. You are attracting the wrong people to you who aren’t buying or engaging with you

Imagine doing all that work to start your own brand online but then you have to make significant changes that effectively mean you need to start from scratch.

Or worse, receiving a cease and desist letter from another business who’s branding or trademark you’ve unknowingly infringed upon.

It can be a nightmare scenario and really kill the motivation and momentum you worked so hard to create putting in the time, energy and work to put yourself and your business idea out there online.

I want to help make the branding process easy for you so you get it right the first time or make the necessary changes to your branding now that will remove blocks and potential conflicts in the future.

Module #1 of EMPIRE BUILDING is focused on the topic of Branding and in it I will teach you everything you need to know to solidify a cohesive and reliable brand online.

The EMPIRE BUILDING 6 Week Live Class Experience begins on Monday September 21st with our fist live video class and Q+A scheduled for 7pm EDT.

Each week for 6 weeks I am going to teach you one of the 6 modules of EMPIRE BUILDING live, while I also simultaneously update the content and resources of the class to be current with digital marketing trends and technology.

For the 6 weeks of the class, you will also have access to a private Slack channel for group coaching and support from me.

Although class officially beings on September 21st, if you enroll now, I will also let you into the Slack chat early and start coaching you now, sharing more of the behind the scenes of this launch with you for additional value and support.

Plus you get over $1,000 in additional bonuses for enrolling in the course this round.

The whole experience wraps up the close of October, so if you act now that is 7 weeks of coaching and direct support by me.

Of course, once the live class is wrapped up and our work together is done, you will get lifetime access to EMPIRE BUILDING and a year of email support from me as well.

So, if you want to learn more about this experience, click the button below to check out the full sales page. From there you will be able to enroll!

I can’t wait to work directly with you on your business- I know this is going to be a truly unique and valuable experience for all of us.

xoxo,