10 Roadblocks Making Your Competitors Rich

The baby and kids industry fascinates me. The level of innovation from mom and dad inventors is incredible.  Balancing business and a family takes real skill and drive, doesn’t it?

We have worked with over 200 family brands leading many to achieve multi-million dollars in sales and exciting, life-changing results such as:

• One client made a million in sales in a little over a year before going on Shark Tank. (this helped the brand get the deal and change the face of their company)
• One client did so well, they sold the business setting their family up for life.
• Two clients got licensing deals!

This TELL-ALL guide will share exactly how your brand can achieve mega stardom too.

I feel like I have the combination to a secret vault holding the most precious blueprint of exactly how family brands reach mega success.

My life's passion is to help family brand owners reach beyond their wildest dreams so I asked myself the other day, “Why am I not sharing this information!?”

Keeping this information locked away is like being a millionaire, but keeping all your money in a safe and never spending any.

So here we are...

I’m going to hand you the keys to the kingdom on a silver platter so you can know the top 10 roadblocks that prevent family brands from traveling down the money road and reaching the golden castle = millions in sales. (And if you already have amazing sales, then you are in for a real treat because you have so much power to utilize what I will teach you to go to even bigger heights.)

Now before we dive in, I know that you are very smart and savvy – look at all that you have accomplished!  I’m so proud of you – balancing family and a business truly takes ambition, perseverance, and frankly superhero powers.

With so much going on with the day to day operations, sometimes us business owners have a limited view because we wear many hats and while we always have the best interest of our businesses at heart, we get tied up in the daily grind and this can create blinders for the big picture.  This happened to me and when I worked with a consultant – boy was it amazing!  I got so much clarity and my business soared afterwards.

You see, working with a consultant allows you to:

1. Get feedback from someone from the outside - someone with a 360 degrees birds-eye view of your business/brand.
2. Receive very specific expert advice that is based on a TON of successful experience – there’s no guessing game. Most consultants like me, have built up a mountain of knowledge but know how to attain the end result without wasting your time or money, trying this, trying that.
3. Get clear on what you want and how to get there. You know how good clarity feels like? I would compare it to swimming in crystal clear, turquoise waters of a beautiful lagoon.  Everything moves forward smoothly with clarity.

Okay so without further ado here are the 10 roadblocks...click each section to expand and read.

Your website is the face of your brand and is SO IMPORTANT.

You may be saying, “I already have a website,” but 95% of the family brand websites we review have many of these gaps, which hold their businesses back from reaching full potential:

Website Gap #1: No “Wow” Offer (more on this in a different section)

Website Gap #2:  No Compelling Welcome Message

It’s so important to say hello to your website visitors and tell them what you offer, why you are unique, and how they will benefit in just a few sentences.

Not having any welcome message, or even worse NO CONTENT at all on your home page, is like being at a networking event, but never introducing yourself to anyone. You must seize the moment!

If someone is on your website, they have interest in your product (or service) so a simple welcome message sets the tone and educates the potential customer. Instead of them poking around having to find information for them to make a buying decision, your simple welcome message sets the stage and hands them the information YOU WANT them to think about right up front.

Bottom line, don’t make potential online buyers dig to find out why your brand is so great, reach your hand out and tell them!

Website Gap #3:  Lack of Features and Benefits

Most product pages will list features and benefits, which is great (for those who have product pages without listing features and benefits, make sure you do!).

I’m always surprised though to see that many website home pages do not mention features and benefits in a clear concise list.  When a potential customer lands on your website, introduce your brand as noted above and then share the features and benefits.  Usually to the point short bullets work well with even an icon to break up the text or graphically designed in another way to make it pleasing to the eye and easy to read. If you have more than one product you can list general features and benefits if possible or just list your top one or two products’ features and benefits.

And have some fun with the features and benefits – steer away from the blah and be creative. One client described their product as “discreet” when moms wear it. A dozen other companies said the same thing. I rewrote their copy and changed it to “Undetectable and Hidden” and further described it as “invisible even under the most form-fitting clothing” and "Set-it-and-forget-it design" – these words paint a much better picture than the word discreet.  Small tweaks in wording can make all the difference in your sales.

Website Gap #4:  No Lifestyle Images

This is one of the fastest ways to become a mega superstar brand – showing photos of kids/moms wearing or using your product. It’s a must.

I know you may be thinking, “I’d love to have fresh, new lifestyle images, but photoshoots with models are so expensive!”  Yes, this is true, but there is a new way to get lifestyle images without spending a lot of money. We will share about how in a bit.

Website Gap #5:  No SEO

Having no SEO is like having a line outside your diner of hungry customers, but you decide to close early. Without SEO you are literally handing business over to your competitors.

I’m sure you get a million emails of people trying to sell you SEO, but aside from the dime a dozen SEO firms, SEO is truly important.  I can teach you exactly how to add your own SEO or we can do it for you.   Either way, it’s one of the most important pieces to getting sales.

And SEO doesn’t mean paying Google for ads – the SEO we teach/do is organic on-page SEO which means once you optimize your website and do some article marketing, that’s it!  Google does the rest for free.

Website Gap #6:  No Blog

A blog is an awesome way to get Google to rank your website higher in search results.  Plus, it’s the perfect place to offer valuable content to your audience – more on this below.

Website Gap #7:  No Social Media Call to Action

Yes, you may have social media icons on your website (By the way always make your social media icons open in a NEW window!  I often see websites that have social icons that open to their Instagram page, for example, in the same window – which means, they are taking people AWAY from their website.  Have your social media links open in a new window so your website stays open.). Having social media icons is a great start, but we need to take it a step further to drive engagement.

• For example, on your home page banner or even a static bar above the slider you could say: “$100 a week giveaway!   Step 1. Snap a Photo   Step 2. Like/Follow Us on Facebook or Instagram   Step 3. Share Your Photo with #hashtag.” (the winner is chosen each week and receives a $100 gift card for your store)This same call to action could be in the order confirmation email, on a post card that arrives with the product, and more.
• Another example, above your Instagram feed on your home page you could have a banner that outlines an Instagram Contest:   “Fan Photo Contest!!  Want to win free x for a year?  Just follow us on Instagram and share a photo with #hashtag – new winner each month!” (link banner to your Instagram page)

It’s all about motivating your audience to take the actions you want them to take.

Social media icons that are usually hidden in the footer don’t really motivate people to do anything. These icons are for people who are already looking for your social media sites and want to follow you.

Website Gap #8: No Wholesaler Website

Some of you may already do this and that’s awesome!  If you are still using faxed / online forms to take retailer orders, it’s time to take it up a notch.

Shopify and Wordpress both have easy solutions to create a wholesaler website.  This means, after you approve a store/buyer, they get a login and once logged in they see wholesale pricing in your shop. Minimum order quantities are set up with the proper shipping so now, your stores place orders just like your customers. Streamlined – easy for them, easy for you.

Website Gap #9: Outdated Design

If your website doesn’t have a modern look or you have not changed your website in the last 3-4 years, it’s time for a fresh look and here’s why…

The baby and kids industry is very competitive and to be the best, you must look your best. PERIOD.

The bottom line is, even if someone has an inferior product to yours, if their branding and website are top notch, they will always be ahead of you.

This is frustrating especially when you know your product is better, but rest assured, fixing your website up is really easy to do and even affordable. The days of paying a web design firm $5k = $10k are over…well at least they should be!

I’m still SHOCKED to see web design companies charge $5k+ for a website made from a pre-made theme!  Anyone paying that amount of money should be getting a custom designed website but even a custom website for $5k is too much.

Our pricing is very competitive for such quality design work, but just to give you a baseline for pricing when you are looking for a web designer:

• We charge around $1800 for a custom designed informational (non-ecommerce store) website.
• For a custom designed ecommerce website we charge around $2500 for Wordpress and $3000 for Shopify.
• If you want a fresh look on Shopify or Wordpress using a pre-made theme, then we charge around $1000 to install the theme, make custom changes including an entirely new strategic home page, and migrate the website to the new theme. Sometimes even less.
• 50% up front and 50% upon completion (new websites take 4-6 weeks while template websites take 3-4 weeks).

Here are some other tips when choosing a web developer:

• Beware of the companies that charge too little.Often, they have a cheap baseline but after adding standard features like a contact form, newsletter subscribe opt-in, slider banner, etc. they charge you more money and it adds up quickly. I personally feel that the quoted price should include all these features so there are no surprises for clients.
• Make sure there are NO hidden feesMany web developers will charge you PER PAGE after six web pages. This gets expensive!  We offer unlimited web pages with every website project and I would ask the developer you choose to work with to do the same.Make sure you share with them any specialty features you need up front such as a store locator (we add this for free with our website projects but many developers do not and it’s understandable because it is extra work) – or if you need a Wholesale website so your stores can log in and order online this would be another example of a specialty feature.  Having all this discussed beforehand is important to make sure you are not charged extra and if it is extra know how much it will be before you start the project.

• SEOSearch Engine Optimization is usually charged separately, but you definitely should get this done. We either offer this for free or for less that $500 with our website projects.
• Ask for examples of their work.
• Work with a web designer that also specializes in family brand marketing or at least marketing.A beautiful website means nothing without the proper marketing content, opt-in offer, and more. Copywriting plays a huge part so if your web designer also is a copywriter than this is ideal. A beautiful website/online store + effective marketing elements is the secret recipe to a website that captures leads and drives sales.
• Make sure to ask if there are unlimited revisions – well at least within reason.I’ve noticed that web designers limit the number of revisions to three rounds of changes. Well, I have to say, when we design websites, sometimes there are only a few rounds of changes, but other times there are more. It’s not good to restrict the client and pressure them to make final changes. Things could change and that’s okay. Your web designer should be open to making changes for you. There’s a balance of course – the designer should not be expected to make unlimited changes forever. There has to be some type of end in sight and once you launch the website, more changes can be made if they come up.

Overall, a modern website says that you are always putting your best foot forward – this is appealing to consumers, retailers, and influencers.

From a mom shopper perspective, if I am browsing online to buy a product and have a few websites open, I gravitate towards the websites I like best before even delving into the reviews and features/benefits. I literally click off any website that is not appealing and looks outdated – I immediately think, outdated website, outdated company.

I just finished an amazing marketing bootcamp course and learned some cool stuff. One of which was about something called creating your unique mechanism.

An example of this is with the infamous P90X workout DVDs.  Before they were a multi-million dollar company, they tried launching their fitness DVDs multiple times – flopped every time.

It wasn’t until they came up with a unique name for HOW the product delivers results in a different way from the thousands of other workout DVDs that they skyrocketed to success.

Their unique mechanism is called: “Muscle Confusion.”

Their workout DVDs work so well because they trick your muscles by switching up your workout routine and as a result you become leaner and can build more muscle, etc. etc. Brilliant!

You see before, they were trying to sell their product with their product.  This rarely works.

Instead, think about what makes your product unique and specifically determine HOW the results happen. Once you have determined this, then come up with a unique name and voila! You have your unique mechanism.

I was recently consulting with a client and he was saying that his post-pregnancy shapewear was different because it offered moms healing, support, and shaping in one garment. So I said, you have 3-in-1 Supportive Healing Shapewear! Then he was sharing that moms don’t plan much for them post pregnancy, it’s all about baby.  So then I said, “Set-it-and-forget-it Supportive Healing Shapewear:  While you focus on your baby, we focus on your body!”  This is so much stronger than how they described their product before:  “post-partum healing garments.”  This makes me think of those giant underwear the hospital gave me after I gave birth – of course the product is NOTHING like this.

When I was working as the VP of Marketing & PR in the corporate world before starting my firm with my husband, I had an amazing boss – he was almost 80 but full of energy, creativity, and wisdom.  I learned so much from him. One thing he said to me was so simple, yet so true:

People buy from those they like and trust.

The best way to build both is through your brand story and brand personality.

So how do you do this?

Step 1:  Share a relatable story so other moms connect with you. Don’t feel like you have to be boring and business-like all the time – yes, remain professional always, but make customers feel like they are doing business with a fellow mom/fellow family.  Share something real about you.

Step 2:  Crafting the story is just the first step. Next, create a brand personality – is it playful, is it humorous, is it Christian, is it blunt…etc.?

Do you notice the social media posts that get the most engagement are posts that are REAL?  For example compare these two posts:

Post 1:

“Hey moms!  Are you eating these five superfoods?  Check out our blog to see the list!”

[Graphic – nice graphic that shows healthy food and name of the blog.]

Post 2:

“Who else has a toddler that loves Berry Chia Smoothies like mine?  (Skip the flax to avoid a diaper explosion…but chia seeds are in the clear!) | Check out our list of five superfoods for moms + toddlers on our blog. Link in the comments!”

[Graphic – Trendy lifestyle graphic that says in a nice font “Superfoods = Supermoms.”]

Post number one is not terrible, but post number two engages your fans, gives them a peek into your life, it’s relatable content, has some humor, and then has the call to action. Plus, the graphic is more shareable.

Your About Page is the second most important page after your Home Page.

I see that people generically talk about their product and company on the About Page. NO!

We often call the About Page “Our Story” instead.  This is the place for you to share the story of the founder(s), their ah-ha moment, how they started, their values, share some personal experiences/struggles, share gratitude for those reading this page, show an image of the founders – tell your tale and tell it well.

Think your story is boring?  There’s probably much more to it than you realize. Feel free to send me your About Page link and I can give some tips.

There's a lot to cover here...

Cross promotion has been THE single most powerful strategy to grow a family brand to mega success.

What is cross promotion?

This means partnering with another brand (a successful brand that has your same audience) – they promote you and you promote them. Easy peasy.

It’s so powerful because:

• Instant credibility – an established brand is standing behind your brand and saying, “Hey, we like this brand and you should too!” Popularity = SALES.
• It’s Free – Advertising in a magazine cost thousands or spending money with FB ads can cost hundreds a week to get good results. The best part about cross promoting is that it’s FREE! The key to making it free is that you offer something so good to the other brand they say yes and don’t ask for a fee.  More on this below.
• Organic Word-of-Mouth Marketing – the single best way to market your business is to have other moms do it for you. When you partner with another brand or bloggers to cross promote, there are ways to engage the audience to take action and share about your brand.

Types of Cross Promotions:

There are three main types of cross promotion:

1. A one-off cross promo with another company (an established brand with the same audience as you)
2. A multiple cross promo with more than one company (if you have some large, established brands, then it’s okay to bring in some new brands to help them out – just have them boost their FB/IG share post and they will reach a lot of people just like the other bigger brands).
3. A mom blogger cross promo. (Mom bloggers are POWERFUL – and don’t discount the ones that have only 2500 followers – sometimes these ones get even more engagement – quality over quantity OR if you work with 20 small bloggers together the combined reach of 25k engaged moms. More on this below.)

Elements of an awesome cross promotion:

#1 A Giveaway

Cross promotion is much more than a simple shout-out to each other.   Adding a giveaway ignites more engagement on social media – the goal is to maximize the cross-promo for all parties involved. A giveaway does this SUPER WELL.

Cross Promo Giveaway Tips:

• Think of a unique name (think of the audience, catchy phrases, time of year, season, etc.).
• Show all product images (and logos if they fit) clearly on the share graphic.
• Clearly mark the share post with GIVEAWAY right in the beginning.
• Ask fans/followers to like the post and/or comment, then enter name and email via the link in the comments (using a third party giveaway software is a must – we use an amazing software that gives entrants a reward if they get two friends to enter so now every entrant refers two more people, and they each refer two people, so it grows like a web.)
• Here’s a sample one-off company cross promotion share post:

GIVEAWAY TIME!  Mom, you deserve to be pampered and baby too!  Enter for a chance to win our Mommy & Me Pamper Pack with gifts from @BRAND and @BRAND.  HOW TO ENTER:

STEP 1:  LIKE this post

STEP 2:  COMMENT + TAG A MOM you admire (tagging part not required to enter)

STEP 3:  COMPLETE your entry via the link in the comments so we can contact you if you win!

Good luck!  Winner chosen on DATE.

#fanfun #YOURTAG #OTHERBRANDSTAG #Giveaway

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to the owner of this Facebook page and not to Facebook.

COMMENT TO POST:  Complete your entry here:  LINK TO ENTER

NOTE:  there are more detailed terms and conditions that we use in the third party giveaway app which I can share with you if you wish.

One of the most powerful giveaways / cross promotions are multi-brand giveaways. We have created countless big giveaways over the years with great success.

Participate in as many big giveaways that come your way to get exposure and grow your email list. Then use this list to drive sales.

The best position to be in is the big giveaway’s host!  As the host, all 25+ participating brands and 25+ blogger sponsors (25 is a good number but we have done ones with less and a lot more), all share the giveaway tagging your brand so right there is a ton of exposure, but even better, then they all drive traffic to your website for people to enter. This is like GOLD.

As business owners we pay thousands to Google and Facebook to drive traffic to our website and with a multi-brand giveaway, it’s FREE to drive thousands of people to your website. It’s a beautiful thing.

There’s a certain way to set up a big multi-brand giveaway so it’s successful. I’d be more than happy to train you on it (DIY style) OR set it up and manage it for you.

Working with us gives you an advantage because we have huge networks to tap into to set up big giveaways quickly:

• 1k+ family brands
• 2k mom bloggers
• 5k+ parenting press (to help share or to sponsor)
• 100k+ moms to share the giveaway too

Aside from the website traffic, the viral giveaway software we use also gets your brand thousands of social media shares over the duration of the giveaway. Just think how cool it would be if there were 5,000 social media shares about your brand in 30 days’ time?

I get really excited about multi-brand giveaways because they work so well. It’s a TON of work to set up and manage just to set clear expectations, but we have this part down pat and are really efficient.

If you decide to run a giveaway on your own, let me know if you have questions!  I can help review it and give feedback.

#2 A Deal

It’s all about sales, right?!  Now, a cross promotion social media post that says, “Hey, we love this product and here’s a deal” probably won’t work that well so here’s how to do it.

We love to give a deal after they enter the giveaway. As soon as they enter the thank you message says:

“You’re entered!  As a thank you we have an exclusive deal for you to use at BRAND1’s store and BRAND2’s store. Use code XXXX for X% OFF!  By the way, want to also win X? Just get two friends to enter our Mommy & Me Giveaway and you will be entered into the bonus cash giveaway.  Use the easy click social and email share buttons below to share now.”

(of course this example is based off the giveaway software we use)

Now, an even more powerful deal offer is if one of the brands has a high ticket item – like a crib or crib mattress.  Then the deal could be:  “Did you know that you can get our product for FREE with any purchase of BRAND2 PRODUCT?!  Use deal code XXXX, etc. etc.” Of course Brand2 pays you for your product from the sale they get.

Other tips:

• Make sure the deal is also emailed automatically to all entrants after the enter.
• Also, export the emails of entrants and send the deal offer via Mailchimp or your other email provider.
• Make sure that when the giveaway is over post the winner and graphic and here you can also publicly share the deal and say last week to redeem.

There are other places to share as well, but these are the main ones.

What this does is turns a cross-promotion, into a no-pressure sales campaign which again, increasing the bottom line should always be your end game – even if it’s indirectly.

#3 Engage the Audience

We touched on this above with the example giveaway social share post. It’s SO IMPORTANT to engage the audience!!  I see these awesome giveaways all the time and they simply drive people to a landing page to enter from social media. WHAAAAT?!  NOOOO!

If you have the person’s attention on social media don’t let this opportunity slip through your hands. Encourage them to engage with your brand RIGHT THEN on social media and then enter on the landing page. So some examples:

• Make liking and or commenting on the giveaway post part of the first giveaways steps to enter.
• Ask fans to share a photo in the comments (example: If you sell a baby bib you could say:  Step 1: LIKE this post, STEP 2:  SHARE A PHOTO -- We want to see what’s for dinner!  Share a photo of your baby eating in the comments below!  Step 3: COMPLETE your entry via the link in the comments!)
• Ask fans to comment and answer a question – for example – if you have a sound machine for babies, you could ask: “STEP 2: Comment below and let us know how long your baby/toddler sleeps at night and how many times they wake up if any – don’t forget to share their age!” – or you can take it up a notch and partner with a child sleep consultant and say: “STEP 2:  Comment below and ask your baby/child sleep questions so our friends over at @BRAND can help answer some!”
• If it’s a cross promo with only a few brands, ask fans to LIKE your Facebook pages and FOLLOW your Instagram pages – after the Facebook like part add “(not required to enter but appreciated as a small business) – this way you are within Facebook’s rules. Instagram is fair game – no disclosure needed.
• Tag a friend in the comments – this is also not allowed by Facebook as a way to enter a giveaway, but is allowed on Instagram. You can say things like this for Facebook: “Tag a friend in the comments and if you win, they will win too! Tagging not required to enter.”

#4 Hard to Refuse Benefits for the Other Brand(s)

Even if you are an established brand you want to make the cross promo offer a sweet deal for everyone involved, but especially if you are a new brand with a small audience you MUST make it a sweet deal so the benefits outweigh their apprehension of working with a new brand.

(Also, you can work with us to leverage our numbers and audience if you are a new brand or brand with small audience).

Some example benefits:

• All brands receive the email list of entrants once over (in the giveaway terms make sure to note: “All participating brands will receive the email list of entrants and may email you a thank you offer once over. There is an unsubscribe link in their emails if you do not wish to receive further communications, but we hope you stay to receive cool updates, giveaways, deals, tips, and more!”
• You will link to their website from your website using an SEO friendly link.
• You will boost the Facebook and Instagram share post for $X (at least $25 but the more you boost for, the more appealing the offer is).
• Entrants will like and follow the brands’ pages.
• We will have 25+ mom blogger sponsors that will share and promote your brand. We will share the blogger email list with you, too!

Next, let’s talk about blogger reviews…

Mom Bloggers

We helped a client get over a million in sales in a little over a year’s time before they went on Shark Tank. It was all because of mom bloggers!

We have amazing relationships with bloggers and you can develop these same relationships too, or utilize us to tap into our network, either way, mom bloggers are the key to your success.

Now, I know you may be saying something like, “I worked with bloggers before and got no ROI.” We hear this all the time from brands, but done the right way, blogger reviews are like a gold mine for your company.

Blogger reviews are like the nozzle at the end of the hose that makes the water spray out nicely all over – wide and far. Without them, yes your business will still run – like water from a hose without the nozzle, but with them, you reach more moms and faster!

Key pieces to successful blogger reviews:

• Be appreciative, kind and value their time and opinion. Mom bloggers work very hard and most times do their reviews for FREE.  By expressing to them your appreciation and saying thing like “We value your time and opinion and are excited to work with your blog” will take you VERY FAR with bloggers.Now, this is not manipulation!  I truly feel these things about our bloggers so keep it real with them.As for kindness, I like to give our bloggers treats and tokens of appreciation – so a holiday card in the mail, or maybe a gift card to your shop for them to pick out something, or add in the sample package something extra as a surprise with a handwritten note, and best of all, you can take them up on their offers!!! Many bloggers have REALLY affordable opportunities. Gift guides and other marketing opportunities for $25 - $35 – say yes to some of these throughout the year and these bloggers will bend over backwards for you.

• Next, set clear guidelines. Now, you do not want to come across as too demanding because after all, the blogger is reviewing your product for free, but there is a way to set review guidelines that the blogger follows to ensure that both brands (yours + the blogger’s) get maximum exposure and benefits. We create a web page that has the guidelines so all bloggers can get a link and easily reference, download images to use, etc.

Some guidelines we recommend:

• Have the blogger add an SEO link back to your website – so instead of just linking your company name to your website (this doesn’t help your SEO), have them link a keyword phrase instead. So if you have a baby swaddle they could link this: “best baby swaddle.”
• Make sure the blogger adds your social media links and even better have them add a sentence at the end like: “Help us support this amazing small business and like BRAND on Facebook and follow BRAND on Instagram.”
• Provide the blogger with product and lifestyle images in case they do not take their own.
• Ask the blogger to add a giveaway to their review (more on this below – our most powerful blogger review secret tactic revealed!)
• Also, note some things that you will do for them so the guidelines are mutually beneficial. So for example, say that you will add the blogger to your blogger review / press page on your website with their logo and SEO link back to their blog.
• Another guideline that you can do for them is to share their review on social media and to your email list tagging their blog / linking back to their blog.
• Keep the guidelines simple and helpful. You can also provide information like a features and benefits list so they can include in their review.

Now, here’s our biggest tactic for blogger reviews…

The ONE FOR ALL GIVEAWAY STRATEGY.

So back in the day when we started doing blogger reviews with our clients, each blogger would do a giveaway which is awesome, but costly for the client. Not only did they give a free sample for review, but they gave away a sample to the winner FOR EVERY BLOGGER. If we worked with 20 bloggers in one month, that’s 40 product samples not to mention the shipping costs to the blogger and the winner.

In addition, we left it up to the blogger to run a successful giveaway – some bloggers do very well, but some don’t get many entrants at all and the cost of a free sample should not be left up to chance.

So we made one simple change that is so powerful it has led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales.

We took control over the giveaway ourselves and provided the blogger with simple code to embed the giveaway form into their review.

So here’s why this is so amazing:

• You save a ton of money! All bloggers use the same entry form – so each month, you choose a winner or as many winners you want (a winner + a friend works well). So if you worked with 25 bloggers in one month, once you choose the winner, you send the winner’s info to all 25 bloggers.  So it’s one giveaway for all.
• You make it easier for the blogger – you provide the entry form and social share post + graphic (using engaging entry steps as mentioned previously) – so the blogger shares the giveaway in seconds instead of having to set everything up themselves.
• You generate a massive email list – by you managing the giveaway for the blogger, you get to capture the emails of their audience! Imagine, working with 20 bloggers in one month, and capturing the emails from all these audiences’ – it’s one of the most powerful ways to build a quality email list.  This is like gold. Of course, the blogger receives the email entrant list to grow their list as well so they get the same amazing benefit.
• You choose the giveaway software – we use a viral giveaway software that is incredible. So by us managing the giveaway, we get to ensure that it’s set up using the best software to get the most exposure for your brand via the giveaway. There are many available but the one we use gives entrants a secret reward once they enter and to unlock it, they just have to get x amount of friends to enter the giveaway. To share the software we use has easy one click social and email share buttons and gives all entrants a referral link so every time they share and friends enter, the software tracks everything automatically.
• More efficient – tracking blogger reviews giveaways is time consuming, but with one giveaway, it makes it much easier.

Many Other Ways to Cross Promote:

There are so many other ways to cross promote – here are a few other examples:

1. You have a baby sleep product, partner with child sleep consultants! Set them up as an affiliate so they earn money when their clients purchase your product, but don’t stop here. Offer to do a monthly giveaway cross promo or one or two a year, exchange guest blogs, and heck, you could even partner with them to offer your product for free – if the numbers work. You see, if your product retails for $20, I am sure that the consultant would advertise that all parents who purchase a sleep consult package receives your product for free. When the parents pay for the package, the sleep consultant then pays you for the product and you ship to the customer. Another great way to work together is to offer a free sleep Q&A (Facebook Live) – this would bring huge value to your audience and create leads for the sleep consultant.
2. Speaking of Facebook Live – this is another amazing way to cross promote. Say you have a breastfeeding product. Find a lactation consultant (preferably one that has a large audience) and invite them to do a Facebook Live on your page.  You can offer to boost the video for $100 to sweeten the deal and get them exposure if their audience is much larger than yours.  Add a giveaway too!  Great opportunity to get a few other breastfeeding brand in on the action. To enter the giveaway, people must like, comment and enter their name and email via the link in the comments.  The entry form can also ask if they have a lactation question so now the giveaway form creates leads for the lactation consultant. Fans can submit questions ahead of time via a form so the Lactation Consultant chooses questions and prepares answers and then at the end if there is time she can take a few live questions from the comments.
3. Charity Cross Promos – I love these because giving back creates more abundance in our lives. If you have a mission close to your heart or business, find a charity that fits and reach out to work with them. This could mean a specialty print just for that charity and a % of total sales is donated – just as one example. When someone shops on your website after they add a product to the cart, have a pop up come up and say: “Did you see our CHARITY NAME specialty print? Add to your cart to help us feed 10,000 kids this year.”  The charity usually also agrees to share and promote as well.

A WOW Offer is something so awesome that people that visit your website will give their name and email for.

Many websites do have pop-ups offering a deal code and this is a great start, but you can take it to a whole new level to drive sales.

Instead of saying, “Subscribe to get 15% off” turn it into a wow offer like this (as one example): “Want to win free X for a year + get 15% off?  Just enter your name and email!”

So now, the offer is appealing to everyone that visits your website. The deal code is appealing to only those who are planning to buy right then.

It’s really important to capture the names and emails of as many people who visit your website so you can market to them via email and convert them to sales. Otherwise, people just come and go on your website and you never know who they are. It’s like being at a tradeshow and meeting great people but leaving without their contact info.

The way you set up the WOW offer is crucial too. We use a special viral giveaway software when we set up WOW Offers for our consulting clients.  So when people enter name and email and click enter, they then see a thank you message that has:

1. The deal code
2. A secret reward if they get 2 friends to enter the giveaway (can be any number of friends you want)
3. Simple one click social and email share buttons (the share post is pre-populated with text and a graphic so everyone shares the message about your brand that you want)

An example of a secret reward could be:  “Want to win $500 to put towards your nursery?  Just get two friends to enter our free for a year giveaway and you will be entered into this BONUS GIVEAWAY!  Start sharing right now and use our easy click social share and email buttons below!”

We call this the Double Wow Offer – so the first WOW Offer is really awesome to get their name and email and the second WOW Offer is even better to motivate them to share with friends.

So why is all this so amazing?

• Grows Like a Web: For every entrant, they refer two friends , and each of those friends refer two friends. So for every website visitor, you create multiple strings of additional traffic.
• Huge Email List:  Using this strategy, we have generated over 30k leads this year alone. Our email list of 70k moms, became 100k moms. Back in the day, to generate 30k emails would have taken over a year and a half to do.
• Automated Sales Funnel:   The WOW Offer literally works without you having to do any work (except for the initial set up and by the way we can help you with this if you need).  After this, you can make sales even in your sleep!
  

  Here’s how…

Once people enter your WOW Offer, they receive a series of three emails (examples below):

Email #1 – Thank you for entering – here’s your deal and by the way here’s why our brand is unique.

Email #2 – One of your friends just entered!  You just need one more friend to be in the running to get the $500!  Don’t forget about your deal, here’s a testimonial about our product, add to your registry (or any other marketing content you want)

Email #3 – Two friends have entered the giveaway through your referral link!  You are now entered to win the $500, keep sharing to earn more chances to win, use your deal code before it expires, etc.

Public relations has changed a lot, but this doesn’t mean it’s still not important.  As a top family brand PR firm for almost a decade, there are a few self-discovered strategies that we use to get mega results yet without a ton of money and time invested.

PR Secret #1

The “List Pitch.”  A “list pitch” is a tactic we developed seven years ago.  Here’s what it means — a list pitch includes multiple products in one pitch from DIFFERENT COMPANIES – usually 3-5 products – and they all fit into the pitch topic.

Press LOVES list pitches because the work is done for them:

1. they have a theme, and
2. they have multiple products to fit the theme so they don’t have to go searching for other products that fit.

If you pitch just your product by itself, the press contact may love it, but they put it on the back burner until they can fit it into a story idea and find other brands to fit the same story theme (they rarely like to feature just one product as this is too promotional). Then, unless you constantly follow up with them for weeks and risk them getting annoyed, they tend to forget about that awesome pitch you sent and you are back to square one re-pitching a new idea.

The “List Pitch” solves this problem.  It gets the press to bite on your pitches 6x more compared to if you just pitched your product alone.

Also, we like to take the list pitch a step further…you can turn your list pitch into a blog post with a social share graphic showing the name of the pitch theme and all the products mentioned – then have all the brands involved share on social media and tag each other.

It’s good to get the permission of the brands that you want to include in your list pitch first as a courtesy to make sure they are okay with it. We even send the proposed pitch so they can approve the copy.

Another tip, have a web page that has all of your planned themes for the year (don’t worry, you can edit/add more/remove).  This is an excellent page to give to the press letting them know that you have these pitch themes planned for the year, and ask if any fit their editorial calendar. Asking a question like this usually gets a response back.

Companies like you can do all this yourself. Here’s how:

• Create a theme calendar. Here is a sample calendar to help you get started.
• Partner with other brands to fill each pitch theme. 1-2 list pitches a month is a good number.
• Make sure the pitch is compelling – subject and lead in paragraph.
• Email to the press – finding press emails on Google takes TOO MUCH TIME! There are other ways to contact the press.Cision has a media database– but this will cost over $5k to be a member (however, you could partner with some brands and all use the same account and split the cost). Plus, to export the emails into Mailchimp and to email press would cost around $250 - $300 a month.Another option is we can distribute for you. We have over 5k top parenting and lifestyle press along with 2k mom bloggers. We ONLY distribute press pitches for our consulting clients. How it works is we work together to decide on themes, we then email our 1k family brands to gather 3-5 brands to be part of your themes throughout the year (we love to get things lined up and ready to go ahead of time), we write the compelling pitch, we distribute to the press, we forward all press replies to you so you can decide which ones to work with.  We provide a spreadsheet template so your team can keep track of all the press. We can also do this for you as well if needed.A third option is to buy a press list – there are services where you can buy a press list. Here you can get 48 press contacts for $75 – or we can sell you our press list of 5k parenting press for $1000.A fourth option is to hire a PR firm and have them distribute and pitch for you including finding the brands to pitch with your product and writing the pitch (we offer this service and I am sure other PR firms would do, but you may have to educate them on what a List Pitch is first).

PR Secret #2

The “Short List.”  So a mass email blast certainly reaches more people, but you should also have a more targeted approach and have a “Short List.”

A Short List is a press list of about 20 media outlets – TV, Magazines, Radio, Online, Newspapers.  These are the top press outlets you want to cover you. Your hot list. For each outlet on the list, you have a contact (editor, journalist, producer, anchor, etc.).

Here’s what you do for each contact on the list:

• Follow the contact on social media.
• Read / listen to the last five features from the network or from the contact person.
• Find news online to comment on.  “This was a great read!  I love your baby registry must-haves list – here’s one more product to add…”
• Tweet at them – comment on one of their features.
• Comment on Instagram on five of their posts.
• Email them an introduction email with link to your pitch themes web page. Subject:  “Running this by you – thoughts?” or “Introduction”
• A week later, email them a compelling list pitch.

Keep a spreadsheet of your Short List and make notes so you always know where you are with each outlet/contact on the list.

We can create a Short List for you with email addresses if you need.

PR Secret #3

Have a call to action!! THE NUMBER ONE MISTAKE with PR is not having a call to action to capture the emails of the audience seeing the press feature. This is how you take PR to the next level and drive sales.

I will see an amazing interview on TV, but then no call to action at the end! Eeek! (Cringe) If you are on TV or the radio or even in a magazine or newspaper – ALWAYS prep what we like to call a “WOW OFFER” – so this could be something like “Visit ABC.com to subscribe to our newsletter and each month you will have a chance to win our monthly mom swag bag full of amazing mom gifts – winner announced on Facebook and Instagram so give us a follow to see if you win.” Another wow offer could be a free gift – “For all our viewers use code NBC at ABC.com to redeem a free gift with any swaddle purchase.”  Or another example is “If you watched this interview, go to the ABC Facebook page and share a photo or comment with the tag #ABConTODAY and a winner will be chosen to receive a $200 gift card.”

Make sure the call to action is good though – not “Visit our website to get 20% off.” This is too salesy and most press won’t like it. Instead think of this as a thank you offer for the audience.

We always take it a step further and ask the press if they are interested in doing a social media giveaway. Again, we set it up using our viral giveaway software so the press just has to share a link (copy and paste share post) and/or embed the entry form on a web page. Remember to offer benefits so they will say yes (massive email list for example).

The giveaway for a List Pitch is appealing because it’s not just for one product – give away every product from the pitch.

And the best part…

Use the ONE FOR ALL giveaway approach. So if you have a list pitch on Baby Safety Month (September) and 15 press and bloggers will feature you and the other brands in the pitch, they all use the SAME giveaway. Saves you money and time.

We call this a PR Loop!  (Ask entrants to follow all the brands on Instagram).

Look at every successful family brand and you will see that they have photos of kids / parents wearing or using their products. THIS IS A MUST.

Popularity sells…and sells A LOT.

Even if you have no sales, by sharing a steady stream of fresh, new lifestyle images, you are projecting the image that your product is popular.

Moms like what other moms like.

Sure, you may have gorgeous PRODUCT photos, but photos of kids and parents using/wearing your product will open the floodgates for you.

So the next question is…

How do you get a steady stream of new lifestyle images without spending a small fortune every month doing live photoshoots with models?

SnapTOT!

In full disclosure, SnapTOT is my business, and I created it because I realized there is a HUGE need for brands to get lifestyle photos without breaking the bank...

PLUS, as my friends have babies and dread returning to work, I really wanted to create jobs for moms to work at home with their kids.

SnapTOT offers Viral Virtual Photoshoots – say that three times fast. 😉

Here’s how it works:

• Receive 100 lifestyle photos every month.
• We introduce your product(s) to our models.
• Choose from 200 tot models, 150+ mom models, and even some dad models too! Plus, we have 1500 kids on our waiting list.
• Ship a sample to the Tot Member.
• Mom takes 10+ gorgeous photos of their child wearing/using your product. (SnapTOT trains all members on how to take beautiful photos – camera, lighting, staging and much more)
• Mom submits the proofs to SnapTOT (we are really picky about our photos so before you get them, we review).
• You receive the photos by email within 7 days.
• You approve the photos – or if not approved, the mom will redo.
• Once approved, the mom, our 2k blogger network, and SnapTOT (100k mom email list) all share the best photo from the booking on social media with a link to enter a giveaway and get a deal code. (we set up the viral giveaway and all the moms use the same giveaway so it’s just one winner per month).
• We also put this photo in our Instagram-style shop (the buy now buttons links to your website or where you want people to purchase)
• Your photos are also included in our magazine called SNAP! – a beautiful look-book style magazine that comes out each quarter.
• You receive the email list generated by the giveaway that moms, bloggers, and SnapTOT all share.

So SnapTOT is a no-brainer for any family brand that has a product.  It’s super affordable too - $199 a month, but the first month is only $99 to try your first 100 photos. Sign up here.

Take a peek at some of our adorable models and mom models too!

Content Marketing can be very time-consuming and it often gets left on the back burner, but it doesn't have to take up much of your time.

Types of Content Marketing:

• Blogs
• Social Media
• Newsletters
• Guides/ebooks/checklists
• Online courses
• Videos

Why is content marketing important?

• Gives value to your audience:  offering tips and advice will build strong customer relationships – they will depend on you and view you as a leading expert in your field and not just someone that is selling something.
• SEO, SEO, SEO:  Did you know that Google ranks websites with new content that changes often higher in search results?  This doesn’t mean you change the content on your web pages, but instead upload a blog once a week. Create blog titles from keyword phrases people search for on Google. For example:  “How to Make Baby’s First Foods” or “Baby’s First Foods List.”  Throughout the blog make sure keywords are used and at the end of the blog have a boiler plate paragraph that you add in there that talks about your product with more SEO.  If you are unsure how to add SEO, let me tell you a little secret, it’s easy and you can do it!!Send me one of your blogs and I will add SEO to it and you can use this as a guide to optimize the others. If you don’t have a blog, get one.
• Cross Promo Opportunities:  Content Marketing is a great way to cross promote. If you mention other brands in a blog or in your newsletter, make sure to reach out to them to let them know – and take it a step further and create a social share post and graphic asking them to share and tag you.  So now, you have other brands promoting your brand!You can even set up a cool “Friday Faves” social media post and email newsletter section where you list your favorite items – can be themed. Work out an agreement with the other brands you mention so they share the content on social media and tag you but also they share about you in their newsletter. Swapping guest blogs also works very well.
• Drives Traffic to your Website:  if all you do is offer sales and deals, but no valuable content, you are missing out on more website traffic. By including a blog with tips on your social media and in your newsletter, you get people to click back to your website even if they are not making a purchase.
• Stay connected with your audience: Valuable content keeps you connected with your audience. They like, comment, click to your website to read more, etc. even if they are not making a purchase. This actually increases sales because you are keeping your brand in the forefront of their minds. So when they need to buy a baby shower gift, or they get pregnant, etc. they remember your brand and buy.
• Grow your Email List:  Creating opt-in offers will generate massive leads for you. A simple checklist works well – your audience gets to download it in exchange for their name and email. Same goes for ebooks, videos, and more.

Tips:

#1 Create a content marketing calendar. Have an idea of what you want to blog about and share on social media about.

#2 Here are social media post content ideas that work really well...

Facebook:

Weekly Content:

• one product/sales post
• multiple fan photos/lifestyle images – as many as possible each week
• one engagement post – ask a question
• one inspiring post – share a quote
• one funny or fun post
• one testimonial / review post, and
• one behind the scenes post (let them peek inside your life or at least your business’s life)

Monthly Content:

• 2 cross promotions / giveaways
• 1 creative sales campaign

Instagram:

Tips for Branding Instagram:

• Before posting on Instagram, you need a branding plan. The best Instagram pages look succinct – same colors especially and similar types of posts. This is SO IMPORTANT!! Examples: @EmilySpeir
  @Britthavens
• Usually the colors come from your logo and choose one filter and stick with that one.
• The fonts used for quote images should be really high end. I love using Nexa Light and Lemon Tuesday for accent words in all CAPS.
• Create templates – for example, when you share a quote, use the same template every time, just change the content/words.
• Lifestyle images should be the majority of your Instagram feed.

Weekly Content:

• Lifestyle images of kids/moms/dads wearing/using your product.
• Inspiring quotes for your audience – stay positive! Always add your logo.
• Behind the scenes occasionally – trade show photos, etc.

Monthly Content:

• 1-2 cross promotions
• Occasional sale

It’s okay to promote sales occasionally on Instagram just make sure to create a sales template with your Instagram branding colors so it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. (That’s an odd saying, isn’t it? Wonder where it came from… I have to check. Be right back…

Okay, found it!  The phrase, “It sticks out like a sore thumb” has been used since the 16^th century!  “When an injury is sustained, the natural instinct is to protect the affected limb, and as a result, a sore thumb is often held at a stiff, odd angle that may be obvious to even the casual observer.”

Okay now we got that out of the way…)

Twitter

We usually just auto-share the Facebook posts to Twitter and call it a day. We recommend using Pinterest instead.

Pinterest

Pinterest all depends on what type of brand you have. All boards should have keywords in the board name – and so should the pin description and hashtags. Just think, “What would someone search in Google to find a pin like this?” Whatever you answer is, use that!

Create a variety of boards that your audience would like and search for.

Newsletters

For newsletters, again this depends on what type of business you have but an example newsletter template could look something like this:

• You logo prominently displayed up top
• Header image that changes each month – make it match the content in the newsletter!
• Intro message – short and sweet message by you – here you can add important announcements, deals, etc. At the end have a nice signature font for your name and your photo.
• Next section, current cross-promo or giveaway (link to where to enter)
• Next section, fan love – show photos of moms/kids/dads wearing / using your product – link to your shop page for the item shown in the image and let your subscribers know that if they see anything they like just click to shop.
• Next section, from the blog – pull two articles from the blog – nice image, title, one sentence description, read more button to your blog.
• Next section, WOW OFFER reminder – remind your subscribers of the WOW offer in case they missed it. Nice graphic that links to landing page.
• Next section, inspirational quote/saying with nice graphic.
• Final section, Connect and Contact.

So the sections stay the same each issue (once a month is ideal), but the content and images change.

Videos and More

As for videos, guides, checklists, online courses, and more, I have gone through extensive training to create world-class opt-ins. There’s too much to cover now, but if you need help or have a question please let me know!

Even by doing everything above, if you have gaps in your branding strategy, you won’t see the results your brand (and you!) deserve.

So what exactly does branding mean? 

• The traditional definition of branding is: “The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol, or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products.” (or service)
• What branding boils down to is a promise to the buyer of an experience and why your product or service is different.  Meaning, when they use your product or service they will feel a certain way and get certain results.
• Entrepreneur.com said it well, “It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from that of your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.”
• Here's how I describe Branding Gaps -- Gaps in your branding is like going to a wedding with messy hair and your PJs on!
• Your brand is your image and this image should be up to date and consistent throughout EVERYTHING.

So what do I mean by branding gaps?

Some common gaps are:

• Outdated logo / logo colors
• Outdated Website
• Outdated Packaging
• Outdated Prints/Styles
• No clearly defined brand image
• No brand values, mission and vision
• No brand personality
• No compelling brand story
• No Unique Mechanism / Unique Selling Proposition
• Generic copywriting that doesn’t make an impression
• No clear main marketing message
• No secondary marketing messaging
• No Target Audience Profiles
• No Press Kit, Sell Sheet, Business Cards and more all branded the same
• No Brand Promise
• No Branded Social Media Sites
• No Connection with Customers / Audience
• Outdated Lifestyle Images
• Lack of Features & Benefits (or too generic)
• No PR

All this can be updated – I know the packaging of a product takes more effort but the other items can be whipped into tip-top shape.

We have a cool exercise that we do with our consulting clients that assigns them a Brand Score. Then from there, we make a plan to bridge the gaps, and then execute the changes. It’s so exciting to see a brand go from awesome to super awesome!

Sometimes the biggest roadblock is our own inner voice and thoughts.

Mom and dad business owners have a unique determination and ambition – running a business and a family is quite a feat.

Even if we have an overall positive attitude, we could be thinking and believing things deep down that hold us back from full potential.

For example:

• “I don’t have a lot of cash so I cannot be as big as my competitors.”
• “I’m not sure if moms will like my product.”
• “My competition is too high and therefore I cannot grow to the level I want.”
• “If only x, then I would make more sales.” (if I had more cash flow, I had more social media followers, I had more press, etc.)
• “I’m a small brand.”
• “I can’t afford that.”
• “I’m happy making a little side money.”
• “I will never be as big as my competitors.”
• “I cannot afford to go to a tradeshow.”
• “I can’t make more money until I have new styles.”
• “It takes many years to become a big, well-known brand.”

Sometimes we don’t realize our thoughts and deep inner beliefs are holding us back.

And even if we start to change our thinking to positive thoughts, our deep inner voice still believes to the contrary, so we must re-train our thoughts and believe with all our being that we will succeed and reach all our goals.

Law of Attraction is truly a beautiful thing. A friend of mine, Karen Barski, owner of the Woombie baby swaddle empire, introduced me to a book 10 years ago that changed my life. It’s called The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.  Netflix has the movie version too. WATCH IT!!

Be open to it and try it and you will see your dreams unfold as easily as a blanket.

So what steps can you take to remove limiting beliefs besides reading/watching The Secret?

Step 1:  Reflect

Take some time to write down any and all limiting beliefs. Any thought or belief that will hold your business back.

Step 2: Rephrase

Rephrase each limiting belief into new positive statements. For example, going by the list above, here are the positive statements:

• “Cash flows easily to me and my business. I am a money magnet!”
• “Moms love my product!”
• “My company has surpassed the competition and I am so excited!”
• “I get more sales every day – more than the previous day. I feel so happy and free!”
• “I’m a big brand!”
• “I can afford any and all marketing and advertising.”
• “I want and will make millions of dollars with my business.”
• “My brand has become so big and well-known.”
• “I’m excited to go to a tradeshow.”
• “Moms love my current product line and I will sell out.”
• “I can become a big brand in one year!”

Many of these are what I call “grateful intentions” – this means you are grateful for something that has not happened yet, but you believe with all your being that it will happen.  In fact, it works even better if you believe it has already happened and you feel the emotions as if it really has.

This sends power signals to the universe and don’t worry about the how, but the universe will manifest your grateful intention.  It’s really amazing, because you start noticing that your new positive statements start to become true statements!

Retraining our deep inner voice is harder than changing our thoughts. Often our deep inner voice is shaped from when we are growing up or past experiences, but it’s doable. If you think positively and start to see your goals come true easily time and time again, your inner voice starts to change and here’s where the real magic happens.

Step 3:  Gratitude

Gratitude is a beautiful thing. It needs to be an essential part of our every days lives.

When we express gratitude, we attract more things in life to be grateful for.

You can feel grateful throughout the day – for example, after I buy groceries with my two year old I say, “We are so grateful to be able to buy all this healthy food.” But take it a step further  and go through a gratitude list.

Every day when I get up and brush my teeth, I go through my gratitude list.  This works best when your mind is quiet – meaning, it’s calm and not thinking about all the day to day tasks and busy life.  So right when I wake up is when my mind is quiet, or after mediation, or after a workout, or even before sleep.

So what I do is just go through everything I am grateful for – and I add grateful intentions too.  So my gratitude list starts out like this:

• I am so grateful for my healthy, smart, beautiful baby boy.
• I am so grateful for my loving, respectful marriage.
• I am so grateful to make a positive impact on people’s lives.
• I am so grateful for my family and friends.
• I am so grateful that I easily meet and connect with growth friends. (aka friends that support me and help me grow)
• I am so grateful for my SUV [side note:  I drive a 2005 Dodge Durango which is paid off so there is no payments. We opted to buy a house instead of a new car and yes, I could get a new car right now, but I like having no payments.  I give gratitude every day for my car even though it’s not new and shiny.  By giving gratitude for the things we have, we attract new things in our lives. I can foresee a new white Ford Explorer in my near future ;-)]
• I am so grateful for our beautiful home.
• I am so grateful for my successful business.
• I am so grateful for another day in this life.
• I am so grateful to be happy.
• I am so grateful for my excellent credit score.
• I am so greatly all our credit cards are paid off.
• I am so grateful my student loans are paid off.
• I am so grateful I am asthma symptom free.
• I am so grateful I have no anxiety.
• I am so grateful that I am 135 pounds. (by the way I was 164 pounds on January 1, 2018 and now almost to 135.  I even started a website and Total Body Reset Challenge to help other women lose weight. Everything is planned for you – meals and even shopping lists. Best part, you only eat food to lose weight. Not one foot in the gym! Although, I am starting to work out now because I know how important it is. Check it out here if you want to do the challenge.)
• And on and on until I finish my list.

Afterwards, I say “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you” and keep saying this while I think back to everything on my list. As I say thank you, I smile and feel complete gratitude throughout my entire body.

It’s a great way to start the day!

When I first started my daily gratitude list, it was A LOT different 10 years ago. I did not have a husband and in fact was in dead-end relationships, I was not a mom, I had a poor credit score, I did not have a house, I was not a business owner, I did not have a job at one point, I had anxiety (which I now got rid of without the use of medication), I was 40 pounds overweight, and so much more.

By following these steps, my life completely changed. Yes, before I did well in college and my career as the Vice President of Marketing and PR in the corporate world, but this was about the only thing going for me in life back then as I reflect back. Of course I had my family to be grateful for, my health, etc.

It’s incredible to see the contrast in my life then and now.

Step 4:   Visualization

Every year I make a vision board, and every year 90% of it comes true! One year, I even put a small boy child on my board thinking that sometime in the future I want to have kids – well be careful what you put on your board!  In four months without planning for it, I was pregnant with my son. It was a delightful surprise and being a mom changed me. I love every second of it.

Okay so back to visualization – many of us create goals which is a great first step and we may even make a plan of action which is another great step, but many forget to visualize!!

Visualization is POWERFUL.

I use this all the time in my day to day life…

• Before a family trip, I visualize a smooth plane ride, amazing vacation, lots of fun, etc. I read lots of reviews and get excited about the trip.  Every trip is a great one – smooth and fun.
• Before a meeting I visualize the conversation, what all parties are feeling, how it turns out, etc.
• Before the week starts I visualize how I want the week to go, how I want to feel, and what I want to accomplish.
• I also take time each day to sit in a quiet place and look at my vision board. Just for 5 minutes or so. I look at each item on my board and I close my eyes and I visualize me doing/using whatever is on my board. For example, my current vision board (shown below) has a new, big kitchen shown on it. I envision myself cooking in that kitchen, feeling so happy about our new kitchen, sitting on the counter kissing my husband in that kitchen, having my son stand on a chair while I do dishes in that kitchen.

You see, when we visualize things, we are sending signals out to the universe to manifest these things quickly. If I kept thinking things like, “A kitchen remodel is so expensive. Someday we will do it.”  This is actually holding us back from ever getting our dream kitchen!

First, I am saying that the remodel is expensive. Well, yes, maybe but thinking like this will always keep our kitchen product on the to-do list because it’s expensive. Come to find out kitchens don’t have to be expensive when you finance them. So now I think that we have more than enough money to redo our kitchen and have financing available if needed.

The second part of this limiting belief: “Someday we will do it.” The word someday is severely holding this dream back. Someday never comes because it will always be an unknown date in the future. Never use someday or sometime in business either. Always have a concrete date and time. “Please get back to me by Friday at 12 noon EST” for example. This sets an intention that there is a time limit and with time limits things get done.

So all in all visualization is a must to get our brains thinking about images of what we want to accomplish. This is very powerful when it comes to business. Imagine your shopping cart with $50k in sales or whatever the number may be for you. You can even start small and work your way up. Imagine going to the bank and depositing a check for that amount. Visualize all the things you will do if your business had $x amount in sales.

Step 5: Random Acts of Kindness

Brendon Burchard has been my mentor for over 10 years. He’s incredible. In fact you can get his latest book High Performance Habits for FREE here.   Brendon is a self-made multi-million dollar marketer and coach. I’ve learned SO MUCH from him.

In his latest book (which is amazing), he shared something really amazing. He said that every day he wakes up he asks, “Who will I surprise today?”

Who will he do something kind for – a small, unexpected gift, a nice text message, a card, etc.

I absolutely love this!!  So now I do it.

• I live a few states from my best friend from school so the other day I texted her to say hi and say that she is always in my thoughts even though we are not in the same state.
• Another thing I love to do is leave my change in the grocery store at the self-checkout aisle. I leave a note saying, “This is for you. I’m paying it forward. :-)”
• I like to surprise my sister too with a small gift shipped to her house. My sister sends me cards in the mail all the time which is so sweet.
• When we had a team of employees, I liked to surprise them all the time. Surprise bonus, early release, Vegas trip to a trade-show, or just even words of appreciation and how well they are doing. (I’ve moved on from managing a large team of employees because the bigger we got, the less of the “Tasha touch” the work and clients received and I didn’t want this. I rather consult with a handful of clients than have 30 clients that I don’t work directly with.)

So just being kind every day and this doesn’t have to involve money – a smile, a hug, or words of appreciation to your kids / your partner are just as powerful.

When we are kind, we are happy. When we are happy, we attract more things to be happy about. Plus, kindness and giving opens you up to receive more good in your life.

Follow these steps just for 30 days and see how your life changes. You can always go back to your current way 🙂

I wanted to share another cool activity that I do.

Write down three numbers:

1. How much you make each month:
2. How much you need to make each month (to cover expenses):
3. How much you want to make each month:

Usually most people budget and write down the first two numbers and then anything left over goes to savings or towards something we need to buy.  The most important number is what you WANT to make.  I did this exercise at a convention and it changed my life. I had never thought how much I WANT to make. I don’t know the exact numbers but I was making around $3k a month and I wanted to make $10k a month. This was when I first started my business about 10 years ago. Within three months of doing this exercise, I was making over $10k a month. I kept redoing the exercise and each time I would hit the new number of what I want to make.

What happens is when we focus and think about what we want to earn, we attract things to our life that make this reality.

Try it and see!

I want to thank you for your time reading this report – I’m grateful for you!

I would love to map out a custom “WOW offer” strategy for your business – and remember, this strategy alone has generated over 30,000 leads in a matter of months.

Here’s what a WOW offer does for your business:

• Captures the emails of your website visitors and not just emails of customers.
• Builds a huge marketing email list.
• Gives you a steady stream of referrals (each entrant shares with two friends, and they each share with two friends – grows like a web).
• Creates thousands of social media shares about your business.
• Automated sales funnel that is non-aggressive = more sales!

There’s no cost involved or obligation of any kind.

So why is this free?

I offer this for free because I’m a Brand Consultant who lives and breathes helping family brands succeed. I help businesses reach their full potential by removing these roadblocks and paving the way to a smooth road to mega success.  I absolutely love what I do and the best part…seeing the results and making clients happy!  I save brands huge amounts of money, time and headaches…see, what’s not to love?!

So this is why I offer this guide for free and the WOW offer strategy for free. If you find value in what I offer you, there may be an opportunity to work together in a consulting capacity or creative capacity (web design).

With that said, please understand that I’m not offering a sales pitch in disguise. I promise not to pressure you or pester you in any way at all, in fact, if you feel like I’ve wasted even one second of your time I will immediately send an email to our network (2k mom bloggers, 5k press, 100k moms, and 4k retailers) introducing your product and will download the opens email list and give them to you.

Now before you request your free WOW offer strategy, you need to know that I cannot help everyone.

I help only brands that have:

• A unique family product or service
• Established an audience (usually 2500+ followers combined from all social networks)

BUT…if you are just starting your business or it’s still a new business with low sales, we can still help you, but in a different way. We will create a free launch plan for you instead. Without a proper launch that makes a huge splash, the rest of this won’t work as well.

NEXT STEP:  Please take the survey BELOW so we can get your free WOW offer strategy over to you or your free launch plan.

Have an awesome day and remember, Dream BIG, SMILE, and be KIND 🙂 And if you have ANY questions, please text me 207.317.6099 - I'm here to help!!

Tasha Mayberry,
Mom, Entrepreneur, Life's Biggest Fan
tasha@socialmedia22.com

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