digital media - Website Design | McWilliams Media |Broken Arrow, OK

SEO Spam: How to Recognize and Avoid It

Matt McWilliams — Fri, 10 May 2019 21:02:53 +0000

We understand the pressures your business faces over speeding up the process to make it to the top of Google, but we want to caution you over some new spam attempts circulating the internet. Have you gotten emails trying to sell you a “Get to the top of Google” scam and you were skeptical whether it was spam?

They may have claimed that they can scan your site and provide you with information that only experts can provide. They also may have claimed your website not being up-to-date, missing information, or lacking speed. These emails or calls may be full of promises about your business being able to leverage this success overnight and gain a large quota of sales quickly!

Tempting.

We know.

These scare tactics can convince anyone to jump in on the investment, but before you hand over any private or financial information we wanted to provide you with some valuable tips to help you recognize spam, as well as reasons as to why you should stick to the experts.

How to recognize spam:

Unsolicited emails and/or comments left on your website from random companies or contacts that you have never had contact with before. These are often full of exaggerated promises that seem too good to be true – because they are.
Consider the email address. For example, are they sending you an email from an unprofessional email address or a free service such as @gmail.com or @hotmail.com?
Research their company and consider the professionalism or the lack there of, their website, social media accounts, and email addresses provided.
Requesting private information too soon. For example, are they requesting your private or banking information simply after your first interaction? If they seem pushy at all – RUN.

Why you want to use SEO experts instead:

You will be better off because the experts are not out to trick you, but actually want to see your company succeed. Our success is directly correlated with your company’s success!
You will save money by not trying to find a quick fix that doesn’t work and results in you needing to start ALL over again. Invest your money the right way the first time and avoid detours along the way to your SEO success.
Your company will grow when you avoid the shortcuts.

Bottom line, trust your SEO success with the experts. SEO isn’t an overnight fix. It’s about promoting your site and overtime beating your competitors in the Google race.

Remember: slow and steady wins the race.

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6 Degrees of Preparation: Getting Your Photo Shoot as Close to Hollywood as Possible

Matt McWilliams — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 16:03:29 +0000

…Kevin Bacon?

I played a game with friends a few times called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” It was based on the “six degrees of separation” theory, which states that every living person is separated by no more than six relational steps. This, of course, includes famous people like, for instance, Kevin Bacon (ok, maybe formerly famous). So you’d sit around and try to think of people you knew, who knew other people…etc. through up to six steps until you reached someone famous. I think the appeal was that it made us all feel a little bit closer to Hollywood.

Your Business Photo Shoot

Well, feeling a little closer to a Hollywood icon (or former icon, as the case may be) might be fun, but it probably won’t help you in your business. However, when it comes to your business photo shoots, you want them to look as much like Hollywood as possible. In our experience shooting video and still photography for businesses, there happen to be six important steps to prepare for your best possible results. So we call these our “six degrees of preparation” for your business photo shoot.

1. Prepare Your Wardrobe

One of the simplest ways to enhance the quality of your shoot is to carefully plan what all the subjects will wear. Ignoring this can have a seriously negative impact on your finished product. You want to represent yourself in the best possible way, and clothing is very important to the overall tone and quality of your shoot. Here are some tips.

Wear ONLY solid colors.
Choose neutral, muted, or subdued colors.
Do NOT wear green.
Coordinate colors and styles with other subjects.
Coordinate colors with your background.
Make sure the style of your wardrobe matches the impression you want to create.
Remember the shoes. Bright pink sneakers are probably not going to work.

2. Prepare Your Hair

Hair is another important consideration. Of course, photos can be edited, but this takes time. Save time and expense by following some simple guidelines for hair.

Wear hairstyles that fit the desired overall tone and impression of your shoot. If your office is super casual, some subjects may want to upgrade. Just make sure they don’t go too far. If someone feels very unnatural, it will be noticeable.

Wear more or less normal hairstyles. Again, it’s important that everyone is as comfortable as possible.

If some of your subjects have wild or brightly colored hair, you may want to ask them to make a change. This may be sensitive for some, but let them know it’s temporary!

Haircuts or style changes should be scheduled about two weeks before your shoot. Haircuts and styles rarely look their best the first few days out of the salon.

3. Prepare Your Environment

If your shoot will take place in an office, you may need to schedule a special cleaning day. The camera will pick up every speck of dust on shelves, plants, etc. in your background. Your photographer should visit the site and help you plan what areas will be shot. Pay special attention to those areas, but to allow for spontaneity, you probably want to do a thorough cleaning of every area where the camera might be.

If you will use a backdrop, make sure you have plenty of space. Talk with your photographer in advance and make the necessary adjustments before they arrive if needed.

Maybe your office has a face for radio. Many very successful businesses have office spaces that aren’t particularly photogenic. In this case, you may want to choose another location. Talk with your photographer about where this might take place. Once a location is chosen, make sure it is clean and prepared as well.

4. Prepare Permission

You will need to make sure you have the proper release forms signed by all subjects in your shoot. Your photographer should provide all the necessary forms for you, but you should know the guidelines yourself. Here is a link to important info on our site to help you be prepared for the legal side of things.

5. Prepare Your Story

Yes, your photo shoot is a story. You have a specific message you want to communicate, or you wouldn’t be investing in a photo or video shoot. Discuss this in detail with your photographer and plan out all your shots. Compile a specific list of shots you want to get that tell the story you want to tell. This effort will save you time, money, and dramatically improve your overall results.

6. Prepare For Business

You may or may not want to schedule your shoot during regular business hours. This can be an important part of your plan since it will impact factors like background noise, background movement, and the availability of your subjects. Discuss this in advance with your photographer.

Professional Results

Taking these important steps before your shoot will save you time and money. In addition, advance preparation in as many areas as possible will make your shoot much less stressful and much more enjoyable. This ensures that you get the professional results you want, and make your message come across with clarity and impact.

At McWilliams Media in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we specialize in telling your story. Our professional photographers will work with you to plan, prepare, and execute a photo shoot that tells your story in the most powerful way possible. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.

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Pumpkin Spiced Latte: What a Fall Favorite Can Teach Us About Strategic Marketing

Matt McWilliams — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 13:57:31 +0000

Starbucks has been winning the marketing game for a long time. From a single store in Seattle in 1971, the coffee behemoth now boasts over 28,000 locations worldwide. Their success is due in part to the quality of their products to be sure. However, without their savvy marketing, they would not be where they are today.

A recent announcement in Business Insider reveals yet another example of the company’s marketing acumen. Starbucks has decided to release its Pumpkin Spiced Latte a week earlier this year. On the surface, this may seem insignificant, but there’s a lot we can learn from this subtle but powerful move, and from how they’ve marketed this little gem over the years.

1. Tasty Timing

Since Starbucks introduced the PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) in 2003, it has become their most popular seasonal beverage of all time. Its creation was in response to the success of their Peppermint Mocha and Eggnog Latte but has proven even more successful. Why? Well, for one thing, timing.

The flavors of fall are distinctive and nostalgic, and perhaps no flavor says fall like Pumpkin. Americans, in particular, have a strong emotional connection to the season. The childhood memories, nostalgia, family, and friendship associated with fall holidays are all big emotional buying triggers. Add to that the feeling that the beverage will warm you as it gets cold outside, and you have one powerful seasonal offering.

As marketers, we do ourselves a dire disservice if we fail to consider the timing of our offerings. How popular would the PSL have been if it had been introduced in June? It would have been foolish to try. In the same way, our marketing strategies must include a well-thought-out timeline. Don’t just consider who, what, why and how, but also when.

2. Staying Clear of the Crowd

This example may also seem to be about timing, but it’s actually more than that. Starbucks is releasing this Fall favorite about a week early this year. Why? To stay clear of the crowd of fall products that are about to flood the market.

Starbucks is using timing to stay clear in this instance. But they stay clear in many other ways through the year. They keep their brand and message clear and unique. For example, they have remained a “second wave” coffee brand in the face of the “third wave” artisan coffee movement. This has helped them stay distinct when many brands might have shifted too heavily with the trends.

In the same way, we need to design our marketing to keep us clear of the crowd. Strategic and effective marketing always takes into consideration what other messages prospects and customers will be hearing. Timing can be an important part of the response, but that’s not all.

We must know who our competitors are, but more importantly, we must know who we are. We must stay unique, distinguish ourselves clearly, and stay true to our brand. Do that well, and you will never get lost in the crowd.

3. Stay With What Works

Pumpkin Spiced Latte is a fifteen-year-old product. After a decade and a half, it is outselling all their other seasonal beverages. They haven’t changed it or discontinued it. Why? It works.

Wise marketers are aware of trends and try to anticipate when to change something. But if something works well, to change it is anything but wise. While trends may change, people tend to change very little very slowly. Since we market to people, certain things may work very well for a very long time. “If it ain’t broke…” well, you know.

4. Know Your Customer

Starbucks didn’t invent pumpkin spice. All they did was take advantage of its popularity. They found something many people already liked and capitalized on it. The combination of the flavor and the season are almost magically inviting to Starbucks customers. Year after year, they continue to employ these mystical powers to lure us in, and we keep coming back!

Good marketers know how to take advantage of these natural forces. Associating products with things people are already drawn to is a big part of what we do. So it pays to get to know your prospects’ likes and dislikes. Then you can market to them much more effectively.

5. Create Anticipation

Every year, lots of fanfare accompanies the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte. And the company plays on the drink’s popularity to create anticipation by announcing a reveal date. By the time you can get one, you already want one, and this is a powerful sales booster.

What do you do to create anticipation? When launching a product or service, do you take steps to warm up your audience to expect something great? Have a strategic plan for your launch that builds in time to get your customers ready. Create a buzz. Engineer some hype. In a way, this is creating your own season.

Professional Digital Marketing

At McWilliams Media Inc. in Tulsa and Broken Arrow, we are experts at strategic digital marketing. We are passionate about helping you achieve your goals and realize your vision. Through the power of web design, videography, social marketing and more, we help you get your message out to the right people at the right time. Contact us today.

Image Copyright: larryratt / 123RF Stock Photo

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Ready, Aim, Design! 7 Key Questions to Help “Aim” Your New Website

Matt McWilliams — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 16:47:20 +0000

“If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

If you’ve experienced any business training or been to a motivational event in the past 30 years or so, you’ve probably heard some version of this quote. It’s attributed to Zig Ziglar, sales guru and master of quips and one-liners. And I don’t think there’s anything truer when it comes to website design.

Above all, you must have a clear target when you put your business online. Gone are the days when just putting your name on Main Street or even an Interstate billboard was enough to set you apart. Those things can help, but once your customers are online, the “billboards” are way too numerous. And if you’re lucky (or skilled) enough to get them to your site, your competition, often global, is just a few clicks away at any moment.

How to aim well.

In order to make your website attract your customers and keep them, you have to aim. And you have to aim well. But taking aim is not as simple as it sounds. That’s why professional web design is essential. But in order to make professional web design do its best for you, there are some essential questions you must answer for yourself.

Actually, a really good designer will help you answer these questions. And at McWilliams Media in Broken Arrow, we can help you through this process. But as you’ll see, these are essential business questions that can take serious time to answer.

So we’ve compiled our top 7 here to give you a huge head start. Take time to answer all these questions before that first design meeting. You’ll be miles ahead of the curve, confident that you’ll come away with a plan that really works for your business.

1. What does your business really do?

I know, that can sound way too simple, but answer it anyway. And don’t throw it away. Talk with your team and some key customers. Turn it into a discussion and keep an open mind. Others may see things you don’t see.

And of course, the other part of this is that you have to explain the answer clearly to your web design team. And you don’t want any room for misunderstanding. You know your business better than anyone, so put down in writing the clearest definition you can come up with.

2. What makes your company remarkable?

This is one to talk to your team about, but especially to your customers. Why do they choose you over the competition? What is it that they like about you? What is it that keeps them coming back?

In addition, this speaks to your identity as a company. What do you do best and why is that better than your competition?

3. Who are your competitors?

Who have you lost customers to (ouch!)? And who have you won customers from? Take the time to find out who and why. You may know the answer to these questions, but you may not.

And even if you think you know, do some research. If you haven’t already done so, look at the global market. Many local businesses now have global competition online.

Look carefully at these companies and read their reviews. Don’t just find out who they are but how you stack up against them. Knowledge is power.

4. Who are your customers and what are their pain points?

This may be the most important question of all. And not just for your website, but for your business as a whole. You need to know who you are speaking to. And you need to know what they want and need from you.

So take time to think about who your customers are, and even what your ideal customer would look like? If you could “design” a super-customer, who would that be? What would he or she be involved in? What would their income level, profession, place in life be?

Knowing your customers will make designing your website much more effective. Designing a site without knowing who your customers are is like buying birthday presents for people you’ve never met. You can give them cash, but anyone can do that. You don’t want to give your customers a “gift” they could’ve gotten from just anyone.

What if your customers could feel as if your site was designed specifically with them in mind? Well, that’s actually what you’re doing IF you know your customers. You want your site visitors to “feel at home” on your site. So get to know them. The better you know them, the better your site will be.

5. What do you want your website to accomplish?

Again, this can seem so simple. You want your site to make you more money, right? Of course! But in order to do that, you need to have specific goals for your site. Is it an online store, or is it meant to get people to click or call in?

Another way to look at this is to define “wins” for your site? What is a small win? A visit? A call-in? What’s a big win? This way of thinking can help you visualize what you want your customer to do on your site, and what you want your site to do for them.

Here are some examples of “wins” for different sites:

Collecting an inbound lead

Getting a quote request

Getting a phone inquiry

Increasing brand awareness

Educating your audience (Watching your videos, reading pages, etc.)

Producing sales

Collecting email addresses

Getting social media likes, shares, comments, etc.

And remember, it’s easy to say, “Yes, please! I want all of that!” But a site that does everything is usually a site that does nothing. The intention of this question is to help you aim. And to aim well usually means to narrow your goals, not expand them. Decide what’s most important and do it well.

6. What about your current site (if you have one)?

It’s a great idea for both you and the designer to make a thorough evaluation of your current site. First, for you. You need to think about what you like and what you don’t. Again, talk to team members and key customers about this as well.

And here’s a tip on talking to customers about any of this: ask customers from different generations the same questions. Especially if your target customers are multi-generational. You’ll get different answers and it will help you know how to proceed.

Questions to answer include:

How long have you had this site?

Do your customers find it easy to use?

Do you find it easy to edit?

Which CMS (Content Management System) does it use (if any)?

What do you like about it?

What do you NOT like about it?

Is it giving you the results you want to see?

In addition to these questions, if you have Google Analytics setup, you generate a report for us so we can see what’s working and what’s not. In a nutshell, this gives us the wisdom of your past. We want to make sure we design a site for you that is clearly better than what you’ve had.

7. What websites do you like (or dislike) and why?

Once you answer all the other questions, it’s time to answer the one you might have thought to begin with. But if you begin with this, it could mean trouble. Don’t just show your designer a site and say “I want one of these.” You might end up with something very different from what you wanted in the end.

But once you know who you are, who your customers are, and what you really want out of your site, this can be really helpful. This is the “show” part of the show-and-tell process. We all need to communicate in pictures as well as words. And this can be the most fun as well.

Now that we know your business and your goals, browsing through your favorite (and least favorite) sites is a powerful tool for clarifying communication between you and your designer. You say, “I want this or that,” and your designer can say, “of course! we can do this or that with this or that.”

Ready, aim, go!

Armed with the answers to these crucial questions, you and your designer can go away from your initial meeting with a pretty clear picture of what you want. You can be confident that you’re aiming at what you want to hit. And you’ll be miles ahead of the DIY masses online who really aren’t aiming at all.

At McWilliams Media in Broken Arrow & Tulsa, we are experts at web design and all aspects of digital media. Our team can help you know your business, know your customers, and know that your new website will help your business grow. For a free consultation on your web design and digital media needs, contact McWilliams Media today!

Image Copyright: alphaspirit / 123RF Stock Photo

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Web Hosting: How to Get What You Really Need

Matt McWilliams — Tue, 08 May 2018 18:19:04 +0000

A Common Mistake

If you’re in business today, you need a great website. A website should give prospects a clear picture of who you are. And it should facilitate productive interaction between you and your customers. Depending on your business, you may also need an online store.

One of the most important factors in making all that happen is web hosting. And the truth is, a great website is not a great website without the right hosting services behind it. That’s a fact that’s commonly overlooked. Don’t make that mistake.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is a service that provides space for all of the files included in your website, and access online to your site. All the files associated with your site are stored on powerful computers called “servers.” These servers are connected to the internet on a high-speed network.

One way to explain this is to think of your website as an internet version of your company. Your company needs a place to operate, to keep all your inventory, have meetings, etc. So you have an office, a store, or a building. Your web hosting is the internet version of that office, store, or building. It’s where your website actually “lives.”

Why is the Right Web Hosting Important?

All web hosting is not the same. The available space and processing power of the servers along with network speed and bandwidth are important factors. Depending on how large your site is, you may need more or less space. And depending on the function of your site and the amount of traffic, some web hosting services may not provide sufficient processing power, bandwidth or network speed.

In addition, while the smallest and simplest websites may do fine with basic services, larger and more involved sites require expert management. As your business grows and evolves, so does your website. It’s crucial that your hosting services grow and evolve as well. You need expert guidance to keep your site in sync with your business and your goals.

Digital Media Services

At McWilliams Media in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, we are experts in all aspects of digital media. We can help you create your brand and communicate to your customers and prospects. We can produce great videos and design powerful social media marketing strategies. And we can design and build a great website for your business.

But at the end of the day, we know that one of our most important jobs is helping you choose the right hosting package for your website. So we’ve taken time below to explain our primary hosting packages. Remember, you may need a different package now than you will down the road. So we are always here to answer your questions and help you know when to adjust your hosting to fit your needs.

Choosing the Right Hosting Package

1. Silver

If your website includes videos or multiple images, you may need more storage space and more network speed and bandwidth. Especially if your site includes a simple online store or shopping cart, you may need our Silver package. As your business grows, your website will grow as well. You may need the additional speed and power of our Silver package:

Hosted on DV Server
Faster Speed and more Bandwidth
Ideal for sites with images, videos, shopping carts and multiple functions
Software Updates
Costs only $40 per month

2. Gold

If your website is an important part of your business, you want to make sure it is managed properly. With additional services like security monitoring and monthly backups, the Gold package gives you peace of mind. In addition, your site will need periodic maintenance and software updating. With the Gold package, you know that as you run your business, we’re taking care of these basic functions for you. What you get with our Gold package:

Hosted on DV Server
Faster Speed and more Bandwidth
Ideal for sites with images, videos, shopping carts and websites with various functions
Monthly Backups
Security Monitoring
Software Updates
Basic Maintenance
Costs only $55 per month

3. Platinum

At McWilliams Media, we are passionate about making our entrepreneurs successful. So we designed the Platinum package with that passion for success in mind. In addition to security and maintenance services, but we include some of our most valuable services as well. Graphics, content changes, page modifications, blog posting, and more. With our highest bandwidth and speed and hosting on a DV server, you know you’re getting the best of the best. And for the security of your customers’ data, financial information, etc., we’ve included a FREE SSL certificate. The Platinum package includes:

1 Hour of Site Work Every Month including graphics, content changes, page modifications, blog posting, etc.
Website hosted on DV Server
Faster Speed and Higher Bandwidth
Ideal for sites with images, videos, shopping carts and websites with various functions
Monthly Backups
Security Monitoring
Software Updates
Basic Maintenance
Free SSL certificate
Costs only $75 per month

Digital Media in Tulsa and Broken Arrow

In today’s digital commerce climate, your website is often the heartbeat of your business. At McWilliams Media in Broken Arrow, we want to help you get the most out of your digital marketing dollars. From branding and web design to social media and video production, we are here for you. And that includes helping you choose the right hosting package for your needs. Contact us today and let us partner with you on your journey to success!

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SEO-What it is and Why you need it

Matt McWilliams — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 14:27:36 +0000

If you’ve had a website for any length of time, you have probably heard of SEO. Some of you may have hired someone to do it. Almost all of you have likely at least said, “yeah, I should probably do that.” But what exactly is SEO? And why is it so important?

1. What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. No, that doesn’t mean making the search engines on your computer work better (that’s not really a thing). But it does mean making search engines work to your advantage.

Search engines, like Google or Bing, are web functionalities that help people find things on the internet. If you’re in business, this is really important. You want people to find you.

What search engines do

When a customer searches for businesses like yours, they see a list of choices. Search engines direct people to websites. But they also rank these results. They use hundreds of factors to perform these functions. However, they can be distilled into two ideas; relevance and popularity.

How relevant your site is to a search will affect your site’s query ranking. But popularity is also important. Search engines work on the idea that popularity corresponds to accuracy. So if a site is more popular, it is more likely to be of a higher quality.

What SEO does

So SEO helps you make sure your site appears in the correct search queries (relevance). Then it helps you push your site to the top of those queries (relevance & popularity). In short, SEO is how you get seen online. If Google is a field of billboards, SEO makes your billboard taller than anyone else’s.

2. How does SEO work?

But how is this accomplished? Well, for starters, keywords. These are the words that are most relevant to your business.You need the right keywords on your site. And you need them to occur often. This is the simplest function of SEO.

Search engine bots accomplish this by scanning your sites content. They make sure your keywords match your business. They make sure your keywords match your market. And they make sure your site follows the rules of the search engines.

Beyond keywords

But keywords are just the beginning. In the old days, search engines only looked for words. Therefore, search results were often of little value. But now search engines are much better and much smarter. But this also makes them much, much more complex.

Search engines now look at hundreds of factors to determine the rank and relevance of your site. Knowing which of these factors is most important to your business is a major function of good SEO. This helps keep your site from blending into the noise of the internet.

SEO experts

The algorithms used to do this are complex and constantly changing. For that reason, SEO has become an industry in itself. SEO experts work hard to keep up with the changing metrics of the major engines. They analyze search engine rules and site content. Then they make them work well together.

3. Why do you need SEO?

I think we sometimes have the idea that putting a website online suddenly gives us an online presence. But it doesn’t always work that way. The internet is huge. After all, it’s called the “world-wide-web” for a reason. So when someone searches for “Mufflers Tulsa, Oklahoma,” they might not find your Tulsa muffler shop at all.

Avoid Search failure

Who’s had an experience like this? You’re looking for–say–ok, mufflers. You type in “Mufflers Tulsa Oklahoma” and you see several that look familiar. Scrolling down a bit, you see one that catches your eye, Tony’s Muffler Shop.

You click on the website. You chat online with an expert. Nice site! Great experience! You might even book an appointment. Then you find out they’re in Munsey, Indiana! (or some other random location) How did this happen!?

The top few on the list were most likely local. But you, like many others, rarely choose the top result unless it’s the specific name you were searching for. So you scrolled past the obvious choices. And not far down the list, you found your Munsey muffler shop with the great site.

Why was he there? Well, there are a lot of possible reasons. But more importantly, why did so many Tulsa, Oklahoma muffler shops not get seen in that search? SEO. Or rather, the lack of good quality SEO.

Get seen.

Without good SEO, you have no idea who will see your site, or if anyone ever will! You work hard to make your business the best. And you probably paid good money for your site. So you need to make sure that site doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

SEO helps you make sure your site meets the complex criteria for search engine rankings. You need to know that when someone searches for a business like yours, you at least have a chance! SEO gives you the peace of mind to know you’re not invisible.

Get seen by the right people.

Expert SEO not only makes you visible online but also makes you visible to the right people. You need to know that you’re showing up in search queries. But you also need to know you’re showing up in the right search queries.

By fine-tuning keywords, link structure, and other key elements, professional SEO targets your customers. You wouldn’t spend your money on a magazine advertisement in a place you can’t do business, would you? Well, without good SEO, you might be doing just that. The internet is huge, and good SEO helps shrink it down to size.

Tulsa & Broken Arrow SEO

At McWilliams Media in Broken Arrow and Tulsa, Oklahoma, we specialize in professional, customized SEO for your business. Call us today to see how we can maximize your website’s impact! We will work with you to make sure your business gets seen–and that it gets seen by the right people!

Our team are experts in all phases of digital marketing. From web design and branding to videography and social media, we are here to help you succeed! We are passionate about helping our entrepreneurs build their dreams! Call us for a free consultation today!

Photo by Alex Knight on Unsplash

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5 Ways Your Media Strategy is Like A Great Cup of Coffee

Matt McWilliams — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:32:35 +0000

Americans love coffee these days…or rather, we love great coffee! Truth is, we’re much more particular about our daily dose(s) of caffeine than our parents were! We have many more choices, and much more refined taste (sorry, Mom, just saying). So what does that have to do with your business media strategy? Everything!

21st-century Americans are just as particular about media as coffee…maybe more! We know that a great cup of coffee is the result of excellence in several processes at several stages. In the same way, there are several important processes in a media strategy for your business, and you need to get all the steps right in order to get results!

So here are 5 ways your media strategy is like a great cup of coffee.

1. The Beans.

This may sound silly, but the first thing you need to do is to find your product. Many businesses fail because they try to do too much. Make sure you have a clear direction for your win. Just like a coffee grower has to decide what kind of beans will grow best on his land, you have to decide what you really do best and focus on that.

2. The Harvest.

Once you know the focus of your business, you need to refine your message. When he harvests his crop, a good grower selects only the best beans to go to the roasters. You need to make sure you say only what you want to say. Take time to know yourself as a business so that your message can clearly communicate the value you bring to your customers.

3. The Roast.

Once you know what your message needs to be, you have to give it the right personality, just like a roast gives coffee its unique flavor. Your media should have a flavor that is true to who you are and attractive to your target audience. We call this finding your “voice and tone,” and it’s one of the most powerful steps in creating effective media messages for your business.

4. The Grind.

This is the strategy itself. Where and how often do you need to communicate with your target audience? Does your business require a few big messages a month or hundreds of little ones, or is it a combination of the two? You need experts in media to help you navigate the landscape of web design, social media, video, blogging, and any other outlet you want to use.

5. The Pour, or…

There are lots of ways to serve coffee, and people can be very picky about how they get it. And let’s face it, our audiences have become a lot pickier about the messages they receive from businesses, and how they receive them. Send the wrong message, or the send right message in the wrong way, and you can get lost in the noise or lose them altogether.

At McWilliams Media, we are experts in helping you find your message and deliver that message to the right people at the right time. From custom websites to graphic design to video and digital marketing, we can help you reach your target audience and keep them engaged to grow your business!

Photo by Nolan Issac on Unsplash

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