1. Try to say “no” to long meetings on Mondays–unless you have no other choice. (There are four other days in the week!)

2. If there are tasks you have to do each week, spread them out so you aren’t slapped in the face with them every Monday morning.

3. Make a plan to grab coffee or lunch with a colleague or friend on Mondays. You deserve a break and you have to eat! If you can’t get away, at least bring something you love to snack on during the afternoon!

4. If all else fails, block out some time–even a 15-minute block–on your calendar for next Monday. Plan to take a walk or close your office door and meditate. Just give yourself a well-deserved break.

A bonus fifth idea!

Outsource some work to a valued partner! At Harmonia Media, we can help you with all your digital marketing needs (including content, emails, SEO, etc.) Reach out for help here!

You’ve probably heard and read about ergonomics before. How many of us really pay attention to the best ways to make sure we are working in a comfortable space–and in the best body position–to keep you from straining your neck, getting headaches, etc.?

How many of us? Not enough.

People who stare at technology all day long are at high risk of being diagnosed with a musculoskeletal disorder. MSDs impact your body from the inside out. Sure, your lower back hurts but do you know that you are feeling pain because your muscles, blood vessels, tendons, nerves and ligaments are all impacted when you sit in the wrong position for too long.

By the way, you don’t have to be sitting to get MSDs. Staring down at your phone all day can cause severe neck and shoulder injury. If your job is to move around all day long–perhaps you are a nurse or a teacher–failing to wear the right shoes can cause serious foot, ankle, leg and lower back strain.

We can talk all day about the injuries employees get when they are not taking steps to protect their bodies, but this is not the time for talk. Take action by making sure your workspace is set up for YOU. If that means getting a different chair, or raising your monitor up higher, trying an ergonomic keyboard or putting a stool under your feet so your lower back is supported – do it!

According to the Athlete Desk, “Anyone who lifts, strains, reaches, pushes, or works in difficult body postures in a repetitive way is likely to be at risk for an MSD. Here are a few examples of MSDs:”

• Shoulder or rotator cuff injury
• Carpal tunnel
• Lower back injuries and muscle strains
• Tendonitis
• Trigger finger (stenosing tenosynovitis)
• Elbow injuries

It’s Time for a Workspace Makeover

The Mayo Clinic says there are several “office ergonomics” fixes that can be easily done in workspace in an attempt to ward off MSDs.

Keep Things Within Reach

Whether you have a spacious workplace or a tiny cubby, there are certain items you use all the time. These might include your phone, paperclips, garbage can or a particular cabinet. Make sure you can easily reach the items you use often within arm’s length. Don’t strain yourself reaching for the stapler! If you can’t have something within easy reach, stand up and walk over to access them. 

Your Phone

A quick note about your phone: whether you use your cell phone for business or you have an old fashioned desk phone AND you type or write a lot while using the phone, use a headset, earpods or put the phone on speaker (if you have a private space) so you aren’t trying to cradle the phone between your chin and neck. Doing this “cradling” trick is sure to be a pain in the neck sooner rather than later.

Your Chair

Unless you are sharing a space with others, it’s important to think about your work desk chair the way you would your bed. YOU need to be able to sit comfortably and safely in it. Therefore, raise or lower, tip forward or back, adjust the arm rests–do what’s necessary to allow you to sit with your feet on the floor and thighs parallel to the floor. The chair must support your back. It should feel good to sit down in your chair. For extra support, get a lumbar back cushion.

Footrest

Speaking of keeping your feet flat on the floor, another option is to place a footrest or small stool under your feet. If you can’t lower or raise your chair or desk, a footrest will give your legs and back the support you need.

Your Desk

You want to be able to sit at the desk comfortably. Make sure there is enough room for your legs (this isn’t an airplane-you don’t have to crunch yourself into a tight space.) If you are tall and can’t fit under the desk comfortably, raise the desk! You can even use blocks to raise it if the desk itself is not adjustable. Also, don’t forget about your footrest! If you need it, make space for it. You may also want to try a stand-up desk that gives you the option to sit or stand throughout the day.

Ah, now we get to some of the most important things you use whenever you are at work. Who among us can get away without using a computer monitor, keyboard and maybe a mouse?

Keyboard and Mouse

“Place your mouse within easy reach and on the same surface as your keyboard,” the Mayo Clinic advises. “While typing or using your mouse, keep your wrists straight, your upper arms close to your body, and your hands at or slightly below the level of your elbows. Use keyboard shortcuts to reduce extended mouse use. If possible, adjust the sensitivity of the mouse so you can use a light touch to operate it. Alternate the hand you use to operate the mouse by moving the mouse to the other side of your keyboard.”

Your Monitor

Ideally, you want to place the monitor an arm’s length in front of you. You want the top of the screen to be slightly below or at eye level.  If you are using a laptop and this distance disturbs your ability to ergonomically reach your keyboard, consider getting a full sized keyboard and plugging it into the laptop. 

It’s important to make sure that all of the items you use–especially your technology–are placed directly in front of you so you have easy, comfortable access to it.

Remember, this is your personal space and you need it to be designed to accommodate your body. If necessary, speak to your manager or HR about getting you a new desk or other items that will reinforce an ergonomic setup. Your neck and back will thank you!

If you are like most people, email is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you can communicate in a hot New York minute with a few keystrokes and the click of a button.

That being said, everyone else can communicate with YOU. This means hours of your life that you can’t get back sorting through emails to find the ones that are meaningful and worth your time.

According to Pew Research, 92 percent of adults who interact online have email accounts. (Fewer have a social media profile–only 79 percent.) But, when you zero in on the business world, these numbers take a whole new perspective. One might even go out on a limb and say that email is synonymous with business. Without it, you are talking to yourself!

Using Email to Win New Business

What does this mean for your business? It means that when you hear digital marketing companies say “email is dead” and that drip and nurturing campaigns aren’t worth your time or money, they are focused on their own agenda–not yours.

Even if the research on email users is inflated, statistics say over 5.5 billion email accounts exist and the number goes up each year. Think about your own time looking through your email inbox. You’re doing it. So is everyone else.

The key is to get good at picking out the important subject lines, so you make your time count. From a marketing perspective, you want to make sure the emails you send fall into the “must read” category, as well.

One more statistic for you. Pew Research reports “six in 10 American workers say email is `very important’ for doing their jobs.” If email is alive and thriving, it stands to reason email marketing is not only effective but, when done well, gets a private audience with your prospect.

With email marketing you can:

• Get new customers
• Communicate with clients
• Promote your product and services
• Keep your brand top of mind

So, What’s the Problem?

Let’s go right back to the beginning of this blog post. Inboxes are stuffed to the gills hour after hour with marketing emails. It may be super annoying to receive them but companies know that, statistically speaking, email marketing has the best chance of catching the eye of a prospective client.

So, if you can’t figure out how to make your emails stand out from all the others trying to drown it out, there’s a major problem. You’ve created the proverbial “If you shout in an empty forest, will anyone hear you?”

The best way to overcome the pitfalls of tepid–at best–email marketing campaigns, is to make sure you are writing great copy, using attention-grabbing subject lines and crafting calls-to-action that actually tell your readers what you want them to do.

You can grow your business bigtime with email marketing. Don’t waste another minute thinking you can’t.

Just give Harmonia Media a shout and we will put together an email campaign that will help you shower some love on your current customers so they become repeat customers. And, Harmonia will use customized email marketing strategy to drive new business.

Call us, email us or fill out our convenient online contact form and we will reach out to you. Harmonia will help your company rise above the noise of crappy email content so you are seen and heard!

(800) 531-3704

team@harmoniamedia.com

It’s amazing how almost everyone has their phones in their hands throughout the day, many checking in on social media to see what’s happening in their online world.

Why is that amazing, you ask?

It’s amazing because the very people I’m referring to could be using social media for more than personal use. They could be connecting with people and driving new business. Is this you?

Business is highly sociable! Imagine how much you would be interacting with your online contacts if you posted on your business platforms every time you picked up your phone to check your snaps, likes and replies.

Actually, the experts say you have to do the following 3 things (much less work than posting all day long) to have a successful social media presence for your business.

1. Make Sure Your Words Count

Posting for the sake of posting isn’t going to make you a thought leader in your space. It’s important to share quality content with your online peeps. This means not copying and pasting posts from ages ago or between feeds so that your social media reads like the proverbial broken record.

Be innovative, informative and entertaining. 

Look, I get it, it’s difficult coming up with content for a post once in a while, much less daily or even weekly. If you’re not a writer, how can you be expected to pull great content out of thin air? You’re being paid to do whatever it is that you do well. It’s difficult for writers to create pithy content on a dime!

Still, they ask you to supply content. Some tips to get the job done: create “lists” such as Top 3 X or 7 Reasons You Should Never X, find an article well worth reading and post a link with a few lines about why you recommend it or hire someone to write a blog post that you can promote. (If you opt for the latter, email Bari@HarmoniaMedia.com and we can talk about how to raise the quality level of your content!)

2. Be Picky About Your Social Media Interactions

It’s not unusual, in an effort to build a following, for someone to randomly look to connect with people or accept requests to connect. Bad idea. It’s important to make sure your connections are valuable for a few reasons. Here are three.

First, some intern at a company in a different market space than you won’t be able to help you, nor are they likely to be a customer.

Second, when people who need you look you up on social media, they are going to look at your friends, followers, connections, etc. Want to appear impressive? Be impressive by connecting with people who make sense to be a part of your digital world.

Third, the whole point of making connections in the social media world is to be interacting about topics that matter and will help advance your career or increase your sales, etc. If you are following the wrong people (not bad people, just people who can’t get you get where you want to go!) then you won’t have the opportunity to see posts from those who can help you or, better yet, want to engage in business with you or your company.

Again, a great idea might be to hire a company, like Harmonia Media, that can manage your “social media life” and make sure you are connected in a meaningful, prosperous way.

3. Post and Post Again!

This feels like a no brainer and almost so obvious we shouldn’t be discussing it. If you aren’t active (daily if possible!) on your chosen social media platforms you won’t see posts that could be the start of a great conversation, nor will people see anything from you. This is a big risk because consistent posting creates trust and keeps your company top of mind for prospects. If you aren’t there, you can’t be seen, right?

If you do the right things, social media can work its magic and drive potential clients right to your website. Getting lazy will do the opposite. Or at the very least, it will do absolutely nothing for your company.

Instead, make an investment in social media and get in on the conversation. Everyone is doing it. And, if all your clients and prospects are doing it, that’s not only where you want to be, it’s where you NEED to be to grow your business.

Need content, social media or other digital marketing assistance? Contact Harmonia Media for a free consultation at team@harmoniamedia.com or fill out our convenient online contact form.

Have you ever been to Cape May, New Jersey?

Way down south in the Garden State, Cape May is one of NJ’s jewels and a getaway well worth taking. But, more than that, it’s a small town filled with gorgeous Victorian homes fronted by grand porches and covered with intricate gingerbread, ornamental decorations. It’s been said that people of the age wanted to have these wrap-around porches so they could sit outside “to see, and be seen.”

Why am I telling you this?

Well, if you haven’t heard the news yet, let me be the first to tell you. Your LinkedIn profile is essentially your wraparound porch. If you are like most people, your company LinkedIn page is sad…deserted. No one is visiting. No one is seeing you.

The truth is, you want people to come upon you and look. Stop and connect with you. Maybe stay a while and even knock on the “door.” (ie: link with you or drop a comment.)

Just like with Google and your website, it’s critically important to optimize your company’s LinkedIn page so that you get found by the right people, not just anyone “strolling,” erm, scrolling, by.

Let’s look at it like this. When you think about search engines, where would you like your company’s website to appear in client searches–page 5 or on the FIRST PAGE? (That was rhetorical!)

You know that business websites that don’t appear on Page 1 of Google are far less likely to be found. People click what comes up on the first page, maybe the second. Admit it. You do the same thing!

LinkedIn is the world’s largest business search engine. Your company’s LinkedIn page needs to be optimized so people will find it and be able to read your story, learn about your products and services, your people and read your content. 

Dust Off Your Company’s LinkedIn Page & Invite Interest!

1. By updating your LinkedIn page, you give Google more to index. When people search for what you do or what you sell, brand expansion through LinkedIn may give your overall SEO rating a push. 

2. Think of your LinkedIn page as a second website. It’s just as capable of marketing your company as your website. In fact, it may be even better when you consider the fact that you have the ability to truly target a niche audience. (Your links and your followers already have interest in what you do!)

3. In the sense of “seeing and being seen,” LinkedIn is the Instagram of the B2B world. In fact, statistics show that 80 percent of all B2B connections made on social media platforms come from LinkedIn.

Is It Worth Investing Time & Money on Your Company’s LinkedIn Page?

At Harmonia Media, we think LinkedIn is one of the most important, mostly untapped sources of leads. 

OK, wait, let me be very clear. 

Plenty of people are trying to mine for leads on LinkedIn. It’s not going very well for most. Do you enjoy getting multiple “cold calls” in your LinkedIn inbox everyday? Dealing with them, even if you just delete, is time-consuming. No one likes it.

We suggest you learn from your own response to getting barraged by unsolicited sales calls and change it up. By optimizing your LinkedIn page, you increase Google’s power of helping people discover you. Your company will show up in more web searches and that means more potential traffic will see your offers.

So, if your current LinkedIn page could use some freshening up–or, dare I say, you don’t have a LinkedIn page to even tweak–we can help.

Talk to Harmonia Media about making your company’s LinkedIn page the star it really should be. We will help you tell your story in a way that people who are scrolling by will want to stop, stay a while and even reach directly to you.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a critical piece of the digital marketing puzzle. Without a great SEO strategy, one that gets reviewed and tweaked often, your website won’t come up in searches on Google, Bing or any other browser.

Neil Patel, New York Times bestselling author and top web marketing influencer, said, “75 percent of people will never scroll past the first page on a Google search.”

In the same article, Patel joked, “Where should you bury something that you don’t want people to find? Answer: On the second page of Google!” Hahahaha!

Bottom line: Your website needs to rank on the first page of Google. And the only way you’re going to get to page one is by partnering with a digital marketing agency that rocks SEO strategy–organic and paid.

Not yet convinced? Here’s some more benefits of SEO:

Want more high-quality leads? You need SEO.

Search Engine Optimization is the most strategic way to drive high-quality leads. 

Need to measure ROI?

You need SEO.

Worried you’re writing checks that your website metrics can’t cash? When you upgrade your SEO, you can measure, improve and re-evaluate your Analytics. You will always be able to know which keywords worked best, how many people clicked to your site and even how long visitors stayed on each page!

Want to beat out your competition?

You guessed it! You need SEO.

You know you have competition.  I’m hard-pressed to think of a company that makes/ sells a product or service that isn’t available for purchase in all types of sizes, colors, flavors, etc. (Maybe NASA?) If your company’s site has been optimized for search and a competitor’s hasn’t been, it’s fairly clear which website will be getting more traffic. SEO, in this case, is a huge billboard to your website. With a lack of well designed “billboards” from the competition, clients will be directed to you!

SEO Is Always Working

Let’s say you sell high-end cutlery. Customers are not always focused on buying new knives, are they? However, where do you want to be when someone is on the market for some new steak knives? Top of Mind! With great SEO, your website will be a go-to option whenever your customer is ready!

These are only a few of the reasons why every company with a website should invest in best-practices SEO.

Harmonia Media would love to help your website get to Page 1 on Google. Let’s jump on a call to discuss how we can help drive paying customers your way. 

If you are in business today, you are doing business online. Or, at least you should be. 

After all, “online is where all your potential customers are looking for what you sell.

Whether you are actually selling your product or service online, or simply using the Internet for branding and awareness purposes (marketing), you will best grow your client base by using the Internet to communicate with customers and prospects.

If you don’t have a website,

stop right here and

contact

Harmonia Media

for a digital marketing consultation NOW.

If you’re not doing business online these days, you’re likely not doing much business.

Is It Time for a Website Refresh? 

OK, let’s say you do have an online presence but it’s not working so well. Maybe it never did. Maybe it was effective when you first launched but now there are any number of challenges that are keeping potential customers from either finding you or clicking “buy now” once they are on your site.

These may include bad SEO, poor quality content, lack of user experience, horrible or outdated design…the list goes on and on.

Further, digital marketing is not a “set it and forget it” proposition. Google changes its algorithms daily. Best practices get updated. New ways to attract customers online surface all the time.

There is nothing wrong with taking a real, hard look at your website, in partnership with an experienced digital marketing agency and making some updates that will drive customers and improve your bottom line.

So, you need digital marketing help. 

How do you choose the right digital marketing company for your brand?

Here are 3 TOP things to consider when choosing a digital marketing company.

• Start with a Consultation! Think of it like a first date…maybe a second and third. Not all service providers are a fit for all clients. For example, as a business owner, do you want to be involved with every decision from start to finish? Or, would you prefer to focus on your daily business and allow your new marketing company to manage the project (with your input, of course!)

Your answer to these questions should play a huge part in which firm you hire.

• Consider your budget. Wouldn’t it be great if budget wasn’t an issue and you had all the money in the world to spend on marketing?

If you do have a large budget, that’s great–make sure you choose a web company that will maximize every dollar.

However, if you are working with a tight marketing budget, be sure to choose a digital marketing company that understands your financial constraints and is willing to customize a program that grows with you.

• Choose a Full-Service Agency. You may not need a full website refresh, perhaps you only need a revamped SEO strategy or better content. Maybe what you really need is a customer nurturing campaign. Digital marketing comprises a wide range of services. The last thing you want to do is have to cobble together several companies when you can choose one with the expertise to do it all.

Selecting a full-service provider like Harmonia Media will ensure that all projects are being properly integrated. Moreover, one experienced firm that can determine what you need help with now–and as you grow–will be far more cost-effective in the long run.

One BONUS Tip…

Every company out there boasts about customer service. Consider all the companies you do business with right now (or in the past.) Are you getting treated the way you want? Are you bouncing around from contact to contact? Do you feel like your digital marketing company values your business?

At Harmonia Media, we offer concierge customer service. You’ll always feel like our most important client because you deserve nothing less. Find out more about the Harmonia Difference and fill out our contact form (or call 800.531.3704 or email team@harmoniamedia.com) to schedule a complimentary phone consultation.

It all begins with “hello…”

It costs less to encourage current customers to buy more than it costs to acquire new customers. You probably have heard this many times before. And, yet, we see it time and time again — companies are focused on dollar signs and, instead of nurturing current customers, they focus almost exclusively on driving new traffic to their websites.

I can’t shout this loud enough: when it comes to increasing web sales, your digital marketing strategy MUST include a nurturing program, with emails and texts, to your current customers (and also former customers who need a reminder about your company!)

Getting out there and attracting new clients is awesome. 

The more the merrier! However, if you already have a list of people who are doing business with you (and those who have done business with you), why wouldn’t you stay in touch with them? By staying in touch with them on a regular basis, you are getting onto their radar screen…staying top of mind.

People get busy, right? Do you ever buy something, love it but run out and forget to reorder? Or, maybe you bought something online, really enjoyed it, but never went back to that website to see what else might have your “name” on it? This has happened to all of us!

But you can do something about it right now. It’s never too late to nurture current and former customers.

Shortly after your first sale, email the customer and ask them to leave you a 5 Star Google review. And offer them an incentive to buy again or try something new!

If it’s someone who hasn’t purchased in a while, make them some sweet deal offers. People respond to BOGO or a significant percentage off of the current web price. If a customer forgot about you, remind them with a deal they can’t refuse!

You can also ask them to actively refer your company to a friend in exchange for an incentive.

Paying for Clicks is More Expensive than Email Nurturing

These days, the world of PPC is very crowded. Unless you do something or sell something that is incredibly rare, paying for clicks is going to be an investment. Sure, it’s an investment that will pay off in terms of winning new customers. But, while you are doing PPC, you shouldn’t forget about the customers whom you’ve already won!

Think about it this way…why spend all of your time and money trying to get the attention of someone who doesn’t know you when you can also be catching up with old friends (paying customers!)

When was the last time you reached out to an existing client? Maybe it was to just say “thank you” for making a purchase. Probably right after you collected payment for services rendered or products delivered, right?

No. No. No! It’s so important that you stay in contact with customers early and often; you want to be on their radar screens. If you don’t remind them to buy from you, who will? You can increase sales exponentially by simply working on a strategy to re-engage current and former customers. 

If you are wondering where to even begin, here’s the simple answer. Reach out to Harmonia Media and ask about email and text nurturing campaigns. This is what we do (among plenty of other digital marketing services and we would love to help you!)

Here’s a Quick Look at What a Customer Retention Program Might Look Like

To begin with, what exactly is customer retention? Great question! A customer retention strategy is simply an effort to get customers–people who have made purchases from your website– to visit your site again and be encouraged to click that “buy now” button again and again!

In the past, when snail mail postcards were all the rage, companies sent them out to customers, incentivizing them to buy again. No reason to cut down trees! We have email and it’s very easy to set up a series of emails — a campaign funnel, if we are using digital marketing speak — to stay in touch with your customers and give them reasons to return to your website.

Additionally, as mentioned, a nurturing campaign for former customers is a great way to bring them back into the fold. Perhaps they didn’t buy again for a good reason. That doesn’t mean you can’t say “hello” and give them a reason to try something else you sell.

You have absolutely nothing to lose and plenty of sales to gain! If you reach out and they “unsubscribe,” no harm, no foul, right? But….what if they buy again??

According to Shopify, “Customer retention strategies enable you to both provide and extract more value from your existing customer base. You want to ensure the customers you worked so hard to acquire stay with you, have a great customer experience, and continue to get value from your products.”

It’s time to find out if Harmonia Media’s concierge service is right for you. 

Call us at (800) 531-3704 or fill out our convenient online contact form and we will reach out to you.