This post is great for people who are thinking about working with me on their content strategy and want to know what happens when you hire me to help you. Also, these rad craftepreneurs can show you how to make sushi…from felt. Seriously. You’ll want to see this.
In January 2013 business partners Andie Powers and Emily Grosse moved their Seattle shop and gallery from their Greenwood neighborhood storefront to the whole wide internet world. Now everyone can benefit from the duo behind Assemble Shop & Studio‘s impeccable curation and mad crafting skills!
Andie and Emily hired me to develop their content strategy, option 2 in my list of individual and small business consulting services. While they had been using social media to an extent, they were focusing on bringing local customers into their shop, classes, and special events. Reaching a wider audience requires different tactics.
Here’s how we worked together. First, we had a meeting to discuss their goals and the primary issues that they wanted to address. They’re local, so we met up in person and had coffee and a nice chat, but Skype or phone works too.
Research
After the information gathering session, it was time to do my behind-the-scenes work. The first thing I do is see what my client is doing currently. How are they interacting with their customers? Where are they interacting with their customers? How often are they interacting with their customers? And, perhaps most importantly, how are their customers responding to or interacting with them?
I review as much information as I can – websites, blogs, any social media channels that they’re active on, email newsletters, other forms of marketing and advertising – and I analyze it ALL. I tell my client what works, what doesn’t work, what could be improved, and what they shouldn’t even bother wasting their extremely valuable time on.
Planning
Different businesses have different goals, so much of the planning portion of my job depends on what the individual company wants to achieve and what I think that they need to incorporate. Are they communicating with the people who want their products are services? Are they providing enough interesting, relevant, and informative content that would be attractive and helpful to the people who would love them the most? What’s missing? What could change everything?
Reporting
This is where I put my brain on the virtual version of “paper” – a lovely PDF that my clients can refer back to or use as a training manual for their employees. The report contains an analysis of their current marketing strategy and what they could do better, a general overview of content marketing and social media best practices, and a specific content marketing strategy tailored to their business that will help them achieve their goals. It’s all there.
Delivering
The final step in the consultation process is meeting to discuss the plan and how to implement it. It was great to meet with Andie and Emily in person, because they brought me homemade banana bread. And that’s awesome. Working by Skype and phone isn’t as tasty, but it still gets the job done. The final consultation is where I review the entire analysis and plan with my clients and go over any questions that they have about implementing it.
Results: Assemble Shop & Studio had a 600% increase in blog traffic 6 months after implementing my content strategy, with their blog generating a large portion of their online shop sales.
What did my clients think?
“Wow, Melanie knows her stuff! Investing in her advice was the best decision we could make for the future success of our business. Her thoughtful and in-depth research produced invaluable guidance and resources we could not have pulled together on our own. Melanie helped us figure out what our business needs in today’s world of blogging and social media, and she gave us productive steps on how to get there. We couldn’t be happier with our new friend and mentor.” – Emily Grosse
“Melanie was a joy to work with on all levels: she is an expert in her field and showed us a variety of new and interesting ways to connect with our customers. We saw immediate results (within the first month) of putting her recommendations into practice. I would highly recommend her to any creative business owner who is looking to tweak their already existing brand, or needs help creating it!” – Andie Powers
Now it’s your turn!
Here’s how we can work together to find and reach the people who will love you and your artwork, creative services, or products. Email me if you have any questions.
See you back here tomorrow! xo