Tag Archive for: online strategies newmarket

5 ways to stay focused this summer rosewood deanna simone

Summertime is officially in full effect – complete with rising temperatures, family activities, exciting trips, pleasant weather, and BBQs with friends. I am sure that almost every business owner can agree – it’s incredibly challenging to maintain the same level of focus on your work during the warmer months.

Let’s be real here – how are you supposed to maintain productivity with so much other stuff going on? That’s where this article can help! By implementing a few simple changes to your routine, you will be shocked at how productive your summers will become! Check out our top 5 summer-specific tips to stay on task below.

  1. Take Breaks Often

Even if you only have 5 minutes to spare, always try to find ways to take a quick break to rejuvenate your mind and body. A few of my favourite tactics include:

  • Going for a walk around the block with my dog
  • Stepping outside and soaking in the sunlight for a few minutes
  • Powering through a quick yoga/pilates session to re-energize the muscles
  • Having a yummy and brain-boosting drink to cool off (my go-to favourites are fresh lemonade and fruit smoothies)
  • Taking a quick, 15-minute nap (if your physical location allows it)

Even just a few moments away from your desk can help put you back into the correct mindset to get things done.

  1. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

If you have a special event or vacation coming up, remind yourself that keeping your work-life in order will make your time off even sweeter. If you set your priorities straight now and get your work under control before you go away, you will be able to enjoy it even more wholeheartedly. It is always less stressful to leave for a vacation when there isn’t any unfinished work or loose ends to worry about.

Our very own founder and CEO of Rosewood, Deanna Simone, reflects on her recent vacation to Europe – “I took my first vacation in almost 4 years since starting the business. I ensured that I had a team to cover the day-to-day operations and guarantee no fires started. It allowed me to rest and come back rejuvenated and with a renewed passion for my business!”

  1. Don’t Forget to Treat Yourself!

Plan to allow yourself to indulge in something you really love after you’ve completed tiresome tasks. For example, if you need to get through a long day (or week!) of client meetings and tedious paperwork, you may promise to treat yourself afterwards. This could be a trip to the movies, a bubble bath, a night out with friends, a massage, a new outfit, anything goes! Knowing you’ve earned your special treat will make your hard work that much more meaningful.

  1. Limit Time on Social Media

Try your absolute hardest to refrain from scanning the news feeds of your personal accounts until after you have finished your work for the day. When you’re trying to focus on work, seeing your friends vacation pictures won’t help you concentrate on what you need to accomplish.

A big portion of my own job as a social media coordinator, is to tend to the social media accounts of my clients. However, I am consistently working on fighting the urge to take a quick peek on what is happening on the news feeds of my personal accounts until my time is clear to do that.

  1. Find a Change of Scenery

Of course, it is understandable that getting away isn’t always an option. In those situations, consider moving your work somewhere outdoors for a change of scenery. For example, if I’m craving a breath of fresh air, I’ll take my laptop to a nice park, an outdoor cafe, or sometimes even the front porch or backyard will do. Just a simple and temporary change in your physical environment can do wonders for your mood and motivation.

Voila! By taking these 5 tips into consideration, you will quickly realize that summer doesn’t have to sabotage your business goals. You can enjoy what the season has to offer while staying focused on your career—all it takes is a little creativity and self-discipline.

Questions or Comments? Get in Touch!

Until Next Time,

Ananta

Content Coordinator

Rosewood Inc.

facebook marketing tips rosewood deanna simone

Facebook marketing may seem tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it – you will be able to take your brand’s online presence to new heights in no time! Check out these 5 hacks which will help you generate traffic and successfully target the right people.

  1. Specify Your Target Market

Facebook allows a highly complex level of ad targeting and is undoubtedly one of the main reasons to be excited about Facebook marketing as a whole. You can target a specific group of people based on their exact language spoken, age, geographic location, hobbies, interests, # of kids, and so much more. Hopefully, you’ve already dedicated time and resources to analyzing your customer base and forming buyer personas. And now you can put those personas to use and advertise directly to the people that are most likely to be interested in your products or offerings.

  1. Target Your Existing Leads

Using Facebook’s ‘Custom Audiences’ feature, you can target leads you’ve captured from your newsletter signup or other lead generation efforts, or even a group of your current customers that you’re trying to upsell. In addition to focusing on insanely targeted audiences, you should also be creating ads for the clients/customers you already have, but in an even more personalized way. For example, if you have a list of people who downloaded a guide titled “Introduction to Building Your Own Website” – you can upload that list and target these people with a custom ad that discusses the next steps for taking their website to the next level.

  1. Clone Your Main Revenue-Generating Audience

Once you’ve acquired enough data, you can actually clone your top-performing Facebook audience! Facebook’s has a ‘Lookalike Audience’ feature which allows you to take an audience you already have and expand your reach by finding new leads that have similar characteristics. In other words, you can duplicate your best customers. It really is that easy! 

  1. Humanize Your Brand with Employee Photos

Facebook’s foundation is built on connecting people. The original intent of Facebook was to interact with friends, and not necessarily advertise your business, but it’s easy for digital marketers to forget this. Focusing solely on product-related messages will only take you so far. Showing the people behind the scenes will allow you to connect with your audience in a more relatable and human way.

  1. Make Effective Use of Emojis

According to AdWeek92% of online users use emojis, and frequent users feel emojis express their feelings more accurately than words. Emojis are kind of like dogs and babies – (almost) everyone loves them! In short, use emojis in your Facebook marketing posts to add personality and emotion to your text.

And there you have it! And you never know, by putting these 5 hacks to use – Facebook Advertising may soon become your fastest-growing marketing channel!

Questions? Get in Touch!

Until Next Time,

Deanna

e-commerce online holiday shopping and your business rosewood va deanna simone york region

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us, let’s take a tally. How many people shopped online? And how many people went into a physical store?  If you’re like me, I did both, although the majority of those days were spent online shopping.

There is a Fine Line Between Informative and Annoying

My inbox was LIT. Full of emails boasting 40% off, 50% off, 80% off, etc. And you know what? These emails worked! There were two companies I purchased from on Cyber Monday, simply because their promotions notices went straight to my inbox. And the deals were just too good to pass up.

That being said, there were a few companies who overdid it. Some companies that I regularly purchase products from sent me no less than 15 emails on Cyber Monday, and about 30 emails in total from Black Friday through the weekend. This was absurd, and very annoying. It left a bad taste in my mouth about the company and their products.

Authentic Marketing All Year Round

Rosewood is a proponent of Authentic Marketing. If you are providing a service of value, people will purchase it even at full price. Your product/service should speak for itself. If you decide to run a promotion, make sure people know about it, but do it in a respectful way. Think about your own habits as a consumer.

Taking Advantage of Automated Tools:

Abandoned Cart

We’ve all been there: shopping on a website, adding items to your cart, and then leaving before you finish the checkout. Most companies have enabled some sort of an “Abandoned Cart” tool. If the person is logged in or has input their email address before abandoning the cart, the store will email them, notifying them of the items in their cart. Sometimes they’ll even offer an incentive discount. This can be a great strategy, since you already know they are a qualified lead, and perhaps just need a little push (ex. free shipping) to close the deal.

Sales Countdowns

This tool comes in and out of fashion. It offers a countdown sale unique to every visitor. It is incredibly smart, and tracks the IP address of the visitor so it knows how long is left in their specific sale period.  You can also set up automations that will offer incentives if they’re closing in on the end of their sale period. There are many possibilities!

The holidays are competitive for online sales. If you have an online store, what tools are you taking advantage of this holiday season? We would love to hear from you in the comments below.

If you’d like to discuss your website needs with us feel free to contact me. You can follow us on FacebookTwitter, and LinkedIn. And don’t forget to sign up for our monthly newsletter as well for more education and inspiration!

Deanna