#lets stuff ourselves with delicous bread together

[crimsonkenjii-writes]

Me and my bread lover ʚ♡ɞ (selfship art)

*pan is bread in Spanish and Japanese ( •̀ᴗ•́ )و ✧

I so desperately want to introduce my precious foodie to pan dulces…. 😔🥖

[mommymooze]

Group Wolf?

Felix is assigned a battalion

warning: foul language, fighting, war stuff, disgruntled swordsman

“No.”

Felix stands, adamant as an impenetrable fortress. He is a lone wolf. He works alone. He is not a babysitter.

The Professor is not one to be refused. They argue for quite some time. Felix refuses to back down. He fights tooth and nail, cursing and gnashing his teeth. At the moment he suddenly finds himself heading to the training grounds to meet his new Battalion leader.

He opens the door to find a corpulent figure dressed in leather and ringed armor loosely fastened over a green sleeveless tunic, heavy belt with a sword hanging to the left, black shorts and worn knee high leather boots standing back to the door, putting the last bits together of a training dummy. The figure stands about five and a half foot tall and looks to be 4’ wide at the shoulders, owing to arms and legs as thick as logs, dark hair everywhere. A long dark brown ponytail swishes left and right at the back of her head like a horse tail chasing flies. Tanned skin marked with scars far and wide having spent too much time outdoors and in battle shows beads of sweat associated with hard work.  Byleth calls out and the figure turns ‘round. “Kat! This is Felix.”

Kat drops the hammer and throws her right mitt up, grabbing the Professor’s tiny and delicate right hand in a merc’s handshake while slapping the much smaller woman on her right shoulder, knocking her a bit off balance. “Lassie! It’s good ta see ya!” the matronly figure laughs.

Felix’s face looks like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing without a sound. This is a woman? The crone looks older than Manuela, probably close to 40 and has more facial hair than all the male students added together. Her cheeks have a dusting of thin dark hairs, she definitely has a mustache and a very thin beard on her neck. Her muscles put Raphael to shame.

Kat sets her eyes on the young male student. “Felix, eh? We’re goin’ to teach ya how to cooperate. How to work a team.“ She scowls at him, in return he gives the woman a disgusted look.

“Heard yer a lone wolf. Sometimes that works for a man, but yer gonna need ta figure out how ta play well with others. That’s where I come in.” She smirks, dark eyes piercing him like swords. “We’re gonna be joined at the hip for a while lad, so get used ta seeing my smiling face.“ She grins widely, offering her hand to the disgruntled swordsman for shaking. When he makes no effort to move, she grabs his right with her left and forces his hand to meet hers, shaking the hand and the rest of him heartily.  Felix jerks his limb down, bringing his hand to a fist at his side while mumbling “disgusting” under his breath.

Kat looks at Byleth who is rolling her eyes. The small mountain of a woman smiles widely and gives a little wink. “Go on now with ya, we’re gonna introduce ourselves right properly here.”

Byleth snickers, leaving the training grounds. Kat follows her to the door, bars it from the inside, and turns back to the young noble. “Let’s see how well ya kin fight.”  Marching to the stand of wooden training swords, she tosses one at Felix. His jaw is set, arms crossed, as he stands and frowns. Refusing to look her in the eye, he lets the sword bounce off of his chest and clatter to the ground.

---> x <---

Felix fights until he can’t hold a sword. If he doesn’t fight, he gets the crap beat out of him. When he fights, the swords or fists hit him less often. He’s battered, bruised, and can’t think of one spot on his body that doesn’t hurt. Still, she makes him fight. Still, she makes him move. Again. Pick up the sword, strike or be struck. Again. He can’t remember if 4 or 6 hours have passed. Suddenly the constant barrage stops. His eyes glaze over, his breathing is weak. He begins to collapse as she catches him and hefts him onto her shoulder, carrying him to his room like an old rug. She sets him down at the door, and he balances himself, then tries to slide in so he can slam the door in her face. A huge shoulder easily keeps the door blocked open. He grabs fresh clothes and she takes him to the baths. While he undresses, she runs the water and prepares the bath with soaps and oils. He is too tired to move. She finishes stripping him down and gently lowers him into the tub. Sinking in the water, that is the last thing he recalls of that day.

Felix wakens with a shock. He had slept. When was the last time he just slept? He can’t remember. There was not one nightmare.  He hasn’t been that tired in a long time. He then recalls …her. He sits up, too quickly, his head spins, he winces as the pain causes him to fall back on the bed. He sighs heavily. Trying again, he rolls to his side, carefully placing his feet on the floor, sits up, cognizant of Kat’s eyes piercing into him.

“You’re staring. Get dressed, we have a busy day.” She turns around, looks back down at her notepad and jots a few more notes.  She doesn’t look behind her as he makes a flurry of offensive gestures directed at the back of her head.

“You’re rude and stubborn. You’re also a big boy, you can dress yourself eh?”

Felix grunts, getting out of bed, to find everything neat, clean. His boots are polished and ready at the bed, soiled clothes set in the laundry, fresh clothes laid out. He grabs them with an exaggerated motion that painfully reminds him he is still sore from yesterday. He gingerly gets dressed. With every bit of strength he has left, which isn’t much, he storms for the door and heads out. Blasting down the hall, down the stairs, he heads toward the classrooms. A large arm wraps around his shoulders and he’s now heading to the dining hall. If his feet try to take him in the wrong direction, a hand in the back of his shirt lifts him from the ground and points him in the proper direction. Felix smolders angrily.

Brows furrowed, jaw set, the fuming male gets in line with his shadow queueing next. Grabbing a plate of eggs, bread & butter, and cheese, he slumps at a table.  The behemoth sits next to him, placing an apple and a glass of milk next to his plate and a folded vellum with some powder. He raises an eyebrow, staring at the unwelcome additions.

“Yer a growing boy. Drink yer milk. Not an option. The other is to knock the pain down a notch or two.” A nod at his tray, she takes a bite of her eggs, waving at him to eat.

He glares at her. He should leave. Recalling the events of last night, he knows she will hold him down and pour the milk down his throat like she did the healing potions.  He doesn’t need everyone staring at him here. Maybe he is a bit hungry. He eats quickly, starts to get up, hears a grunt, meets her eye and sits back down. When she finishes her meal, they clear the table and head to his first class. She leaves his side once he passes through the doors to the classroom.

“Who is your girlfriend?” Sylvain taunts the indigo haired man. The redhead is rewarded with a swift kick to an ankle that makes him yowl. He did learn a few new spots to inflict quick pain yesterday, may as well put them to use.

Class proceeds uneventfully. He manages to give several evil looks to the professor. At the bell, he knows ‘she’ waits for him at the door. There is only one exit to the room. Damn. He stomps out, she falls in with him as they head to the dining hall again. She leads him toward a table full of mercenaries. She slows to advise him, “These are my boys. You’ll greet ‘em properly. Noble or commoner, courtesy is free and expected.” The table of young men looking to be 16-30 years old boisterously greet the pair. Handshakes and introductions are exchanged, with Kat only having to give Felix one or two nods of encouragement. Plates of food are already there for the two that have just joined. One of the guys approaches Felix and puts a small jar on the table in front of him. “Name’s Roy. Heard ya like spicy foods.  Enjoy.”

Felix’s eyes get a bit wide. “Uh, thanks” he mumbles. He opens the jar, the reddish brown powder smells like some kind of peppers, making his nose tingle. He sprinkles some on his stew. The teen observes the others as he eats.

The conversation around the table settles to a low roar. He wants to be anywhere but here. They are all talking to him. He feels exhausted answering their millions of questions about nonsense, favorite foods, worst foods, did you ever eat this or that, ever been to one place or another, what weapons have you used. Felix gives short answers to every question an elbow in his side inspiring him to comply. He gives a side eye glance at the beastly thing sitting next to him. He can feel her nod whenever he’s said enough to satisfy her. Why the hell does he have to know these people? Don’t you just point, they go, and that’s it? Giving orders, that is what commanding is about. He shakes his head. This is a waste of time.

Lunch is complete. The table is cleared by the battalion. They stand and look at Felix and Kat. She stands, informing the group as to their plans. “We got a bit of a chore before we can let ya go, come on.” The bear of a woman gets up and heads out towards the front gate. The company falls in behind the pair. Heading outside, they walk along the walls surrounding the campus. Following a well-worn path along the exterior walls where patrols monitor the grounds at night, they see a large uprooted tree. When it fell, the roots lifted a large mound of earth and created a hole in the stone wall surrounding the monastery making quite a mess. This breach in defenses needs to be addressed quickly.  

Kat hauls herself up on one of the stones that have fallen from the wall. There must be 15 that fell loose, they are huge. Whole stones are at least 2 foot tall, three foot long and a foot or more thick, laying akimbo on the ground.

Kat directs her words at Felix. “A battalion is an amazing show of what teamwork can do ta get things done. One man, if he’s lucky, kin lift a stone. A team of ‘em can move mountains. You need communication, clear and to the point. Resolving conflicts. Problem solving, decision making, persuasion and influencing skills, rapport, reliability and recognition.  No prob, eh Felix? Since I’m in a good mood, I’m gonna start ya off.”

She addresses the battalion. “We need the stones moved and stacked here.” Kat walks to a spot, shoves a stick in the ground that is about 20 foot from the wall and to the right of the toppled stones.”

“We gotta fill the hole left by the fallen tree. That’ll keep patrols from falling and breaking somethin’ when they’re policing the walls at night. If there’s time, we need to get the fallen tree away from the wall so there’s room to maneuver.”

Felix is hauled up onto the rock as Kat jumps down. “You get to tell us what to do and how to do it.” She folds her arms across her chest and stares straight into his eyes.

The young man stands there dumbfounded. What the hell does all of this have to do with fighting? Why is he even here? He wants to jump down and run. His mouth is getting drier by the second and his fists begin to shake.

A merc with sandy brown hair sticking out of a flat cap tips his head up. “Oy. We’re all here mate. We can help, just ask. We’re a team ya know.”  Nods and grunts of agreement surround him.

“Who has done this before?” Felix hears his voice croak. He calls out to the 2 that answered to give their account of how the job was completed. He starts to catch his breath. He asks the group again, any other suggestions? One of the men suggests keeping people that are really short together and really tall together, makes for better lifting. Felix feels his hands relax, he nods. His glance flits to her. She is bowing her head and nodding.

“Those are great ideas. Useful information. Uh. Anything else?” he coughs.

One man raises a shovel, the end of Felix’s mouth curls up a bit. “What tools do we got here?” A count of shovels and axes is provided as well as a smaller wagon and some ropes in the inventory.

Felix starts dividing them into teams. He gets the best axe users separated from the best with shovels and the best in heavy lifting. He begins sending them out. “Axe users, clear up the area the stones are to go to. Make a clear path. Knock those roots off then start on lower branches.”

Felix stands at the stones. Lifters are in 2 teams of 4, 2 front 2 rear. “You 4, carefully move the top stone, let me know if anything shifts.” They are able to get the stone free from the pile and a couple feet away, but it’s difficult to make any distance. Felix calls a couple axe users over. He  has the front 2 lift, they can get an axe handle under the stone and with 2 more in the center lifting using the ax handle to support the weight in the center of the stone, and allowing those two to stand farther out so they’re not arms and legs all over each other. On the count of 3 they lift, and the small team readily moves the stone to the destinated clearing that is now ready. Felix grins, then catches a look on Kat’s face, she’s mouthing “thank you.”

“Great job men. Well done. Take a minute to breathe, get the next team ready.” Felix awkwardly says. He heads back to begin again. When they’ve cleared the immediate area, the first team is ready to start on the next block.

Felix orders the shoveling workers to begin to fill the hole closest to where the stones lay, making it easier to access the rest of the fallen wall and make better stepping ground.

Felix sets the axe wielders working on the high point of the root ball of the prone tree.  They work together and plan to knock the roots off and dirt, lessening the weight at the base of the tree and freeing more dirt for fill.

The academy student runs between units, helping lift here, steadying there, helping stomp a shovel in the ground, making sure the teams keep clear of each other, are aware of their surroundings. He thanks them with a slap on a shoulder a nod, a word. He stops a stone lift in progress, hearing something shift. The group stands back as a stone that was still wedged between others 10 feet up the wall, falls to the ground where they had been standing. Worried smiles and grateful thanks are shared for a moment, then work resumes.

Kat begins sorting the broken stones while the larger ones are moved by teams. She tossed smaller chunks in holes as fill, carrying the ones that could be reused to the end of the neatly stacked rescued wall blocks.

“Hey Felix!” hollers a merc with a scar cutting through the left side of his face, he’s Vaughn, right? “We’re done with the stones.”

“Great job,” Felix remembers to say on his own, no reminder needed.

The swordsman eyes the tree. It is very thick at the base, but as it had grown, branches grew out on the side away from the wall. He discusses with the axe wielders the best place to cut the trunk base from the rest of the treetop, what branches have to go so the remaining trunk can be rolled over to give the needed room for patrol runs. Those that are not chopping are dragging away the freed branches to make room to work and keep the path clear. The huge stump is ready in no time. All hands together, they roll it far from the wall. The ground behind is nearly flat except for where they run out of earth to fill the hole. They drive some branches in the ground about 3 or 4 feet tall making a fence around the pitfall to prevent any injuries.

Kat holds her hand out and Felix grabs it, accidentally feeling a smile on his cheek that he has to fight back down to a more neutral position. Kat whoops heartily and the battalion joins in with thanks, waves, slaps on the back, and claps on shoulders, as each is recognized for their work.

“Tank, finish the clean up, gotta get our student back ta class” The battalion leader says as she gives him a firm hug and ruffles what little black hair he had on his head.  Major tasks are accomplished in a short time. Not unlike a mountain being moved.

The two walk alongside each other toward the gate leading back into the Monastery. “If I was yer teacher, I’d give ya a B+.  I thought you were gonna stand up on that rock and turn to stone yourself for a minute there. I kin tell you’re not much on communication. Talking and listening. Lemme try to tell ya in a way you can connect it. Say you’re fighting another sword slinger. He’s coming at ya. You’re watching his style, how he’s holdin’ himself. How he moves is talkin’ to ya. He’s telling ya how he’s coming, where he plans to hit.  Yer anticipating what he’s gonna do. Then he feints, dodges, pulls back and whips it to a backhand twist. You react, you change yer plans, tell yer body to adjust so yer eyes shift, hand takes a different grip, feet move to shift your weight to counter and set your attack. You’ve been waving that sword so long you don’t think about that any longer, you just react.

“Your battalion is another weapon. One you haven’t used before. Gotta learn how to wield it. Think of it as a man and his sword. To get them to move, ya talk to em. Figure out how best to work em, how hard to push, keeping it in balance. Use em to protect ya from danger, take out enemies. Mold ‘em into the tools that are gonna get the job done. When you’ve worked with ‘em long enough, they know what ya want, anticipate it.”

They have arrived back to just outside the classroom. She slings an arm around him in a half hug. “Ya done okay boy. Come meet us in the dining hall after class.”

Felix walks in, catching the professor’s eye with a smug look on his face as he gives a fist pump. Byleth’s head tips back and her eyes go a bit wider.

After class, he meets his battalion in the dining hall. His plate is already there. He checks with Tank, “Cleanup go okay?”  The merc gives a nod and thumbs up with one hand as he is holding a turkey leg to his mouth with the other. The swordsman can’t help himself and asks several of the men in the battalion if they want to spar.  A few guys accept the invite, but tonight they are drinking. They invite him to town to join them, and he will soon, just not today.

Once the student finishes his vegetables, Kat lets him head to the training grounds. She brings one of the mercs with her to find him sparring with Dimitri. Once the students have finished their rounds, Kat pulls Dimitri over, and Roy heads to Felix.

“Hey blondie, lemme show ya a few tricks to take down the porcupine over there.” She says slapping the prince on the shoulder.

“What? Who the hell’s side are you on anyway?” Felix snaps angrily.

“Whadda ya mean what? Yer gonna learn how to counter it, I’m keeping ya on yer toes boy.”

Roy grabs a training sword. He’s a bit taller than Felix, with short brown hair and brown eyes. They square off. Roy goes in for the first attack. He’s nowhere near as smooth as Felix, but he’s got a lot of strength behind his hits. “Do your worst, and I’ll pay ya back.”

The indigo haired student does not hold back. Roy and Felix go at each other for nearly an hour. Felix has the finesse, but Roy has guts and determination. Roy finally yields with a sword at his throat.  

Standing up, the prickly victor bends over and grabs his gut. “You kicked the crap out of me. Damn.” He laughs.

Roy has caught his breath. “Use all that ya got, there ain’t no rules when you’re fighting for your life.”

Kat hands out a couple vulneraries. Dimitri excuses himself as he has other duties to attend to. He doesn’t escape without getting a handshake, a thanks for the workout, and a pinch on his cheek. “See ya, cutie pie.” Kat grins.

The student helps his former opponent off the ground. They shake hands and share thanks. The merc heads out, going to town to join the group for drinks. He shakes his head as he gets no takers.

Kat invades Felix’s space, taking control his life for well over two weeks. Every day they have a new project to complete, every day he sits next to a different member of his battalion and every day he spars with someone else. Sometimes they teach him new techniques, sometimes he is teaching them. He knows all of their names, where they are from, what are their talents. His entire free days are spent with them.

Kat guides him, pushes him to work on building the team, getting them all together in the same mindset. Stressing the need to be able to rely on each other. It always goes both ways. Felix is instructed on persuasion and influencing. One cannot simply order someone to do things differently, you have to explain the why and how it benefits them, generally and directly. After meals she pulls him aside to discuss rapport building and listening. Everything is based on communication.

After sparring she marks battlefields in the dirt of the training grounds, pointing out scenarios for the best use of the battalions, and when not to use them. What tactics give advantages. Gambits, useful for them as well as for you, can give you time to observe the battlefield and adjust your strategies. All the time she is touching Felix. Patting him on the back, on the head, messing up his hair punching his shoulder. He notices one day that he doesn’t flinch at it any longer. He expects it, and he would never tell another soul, but he looks forward to it.  

Felix really learns how to listen. Not only to what they say to him, but what is said to Kat, how it is done. The group relies on her to keep them together. Some of the guys even call her mom or ma. She’s not their mother, but takes care of them like one. He even asks her why she lets them do it. She explains that this is her family and wouldn’t have it any other way. She loves them all, and they belong to her and she would do anything for them, they would do the same for her. Life’s too short to be holed up in a room or being off by yourself all the time.

The day has come. Felix and his battalion are ready for battle. Demonic beasts have been spotted outside the monastery walls and he goes out with the Professor and the Blue Lions to defeat them. Kat puts an arm around the swordsman, telling him he’s ready to do this. They run out to the woods to battle.

Before he would have run straight out to the beast himself, taking it on alone if he had to, but today is different. He has his battalion that he is responsible for, an extension of himself, a weapon at his disposal to be used properly and not ignored. He sends them forth in a gambit at the beast, sending the monster into mass confusion. As his team gathers back, preparing for another attack, he strikes the beast on his own. He is shocked at the cheers and encouragement coming from Kat and his men. It is inspiring and reassuring. A couple rounds later he sends them in again for another gambit. This gives him the opportunity to survey the remainder of the battle area. He and his men strike the beast a final time and it falls. He’s already leading them further down field to take on a knight with his own battalion surrounding him. Felix calls out to individual members of his group, getting the placement of his fighters best matched against the enemies. Their movements together work smoothly, the swordsman is reaping the benefits of working together with these fighters for weeks, knowing their abilities and weaknesses like his own. They plow through the battlefield as one, bringing down the enemies quickly.

When the battle is over, Felix is congratulating the team, handshakes, slaps on the back, everyone rewarding each other with reaffirming touches and positive energy. Kat has the biggest grin on her face as she hugs him until he almost can’t breathe.

“Yeah, you can be a lone wolf, but there is nothing quite as awesome as running with the pack.”

Felix puts his arm around her in a half hug. “I never thought I’d say this, but you’re right.”

[davidrsmithlove]

The Texas 3 Step: How to Create a Marketing Plan with Focus & Southern Heart

By: Bre D’Alessio South, Sr. Content Marketing Manager

When our team started out four years ago, most of our marketing plan was to overcomplicate any strategy we came up with.

This wasn’t intentional.

But we had this habit of overlooking some basic foundations for customer satisfaction and retention and ended up getting further and further away from finding a solid strategy.

Or long-term customers.

What were we missing?  

The fact that an audience was such a vital focus to each step of a comprehensive marketing strategy.  We didn’t cover all our bases because we failed to put real intention on each part of our marketing equation.

In short, our funnel development was a mess. We clumped our efforts together and didn’t evenly analyze what pieces were working for us and which were working against us..

We did a lot of rinsing and repeating for accounts and failed our audience by not taking the time to simply refocus what our efforts were showing us.

Our team spent so much time and energy into the awareness part of the sales funnel, we failed to focus on the customers who were meeting us in stage one and providing key insight into the following stages of success.

We brought them in and then immediately forgot about them by moving on to the next sale. We’re sorry about that, y’all.

The see-saw of our back and forth efforts ended up showing us a focused strategy for all our clients.  

Our aha moment wasn’t immediate.  It was a long process of seeing the pieces as they unfolded. And then analyzing the pieces to see what we missed along the route.

We could blame it on the fact that our summers consistent of 100-degree temperatures or how we’re in one of the top rated cities for allergy suffering.  But at least we read the tea leaves within the mess and made it our own.

We took this approach and newish-found knowledge and were able to delicately fine tune it, focusing our efforts into three easy but robust steps.

Enter the Texas 3 Step

Audience Development→ 2. Sales Funnel Development→ 3. Client Retention

Prior to this 3-step approach, we were just plugging the holes in our leaking strategy ship.

Instead of labeling audience development in one category we separated the faces: cold audiences/prospects are different than a warm audience or an already engaged client.

Duh.

But why were our efforts not separated from the beginning?  

We believed the way we spoke to a warm audience was the same way we could speak to a cold audience.  

We weren’t making their path special or catering to what they wanted.  Nope, we were lumping them both together assuming they were the same type of people with the same needs.

Kind of like lumping U2 concert-goers with Drake fans and saying they want to see the same stuff. Probably not the same road traveled.

Once we separated our two audience groups we created a carefully curated path for that person to be on and engage with our content how they wanted. This allowed us to know what to produce and for who: Where were they in their journey?  What was next in the path towards long-term commitment with us?

This strategy showed us what was missing as we focused in on the separate audience paths, and what we needed to convert at the highest rate possible.  We’re not saying we just wanted them to convert to sales. Sure, that’s our long term goal but we want them to like us first.

Enabling an audience to want to become a member of your community and to allow them to trust you,  is the first step to any path you want them to travel or any relationship.

The traditional sales funnel sounds like a terrifying vacuum where you get people to enter this device by some offer or awareness piece and then suck them through a process (as quickly as possible) without really paying attention to what you’re saying. Or what your audience is wanting.

Nobody wants to get stuck in your vacuum.  And your audience is getting smarter. They aren’t engaging with content that isn’t relevant to them and with over 4,000 pieces of content in front of us each day, you better get your game on track if you want to connect with your ideal customer for the long haul.

Their journey should be fun and informative, not filled with dust and mites and who knows what else you stuffed in your pipeline. Leave your sales vacuum in the community dumpster where all other failed sales funnels have crashed and burned.

Step 1 – Audience/Awareness/Engagement Building

Awareness starts with curiosity.

In order to build an audience, you have to produce content that gets their attention.  The awareness funnel allows the first conversation between brand and customer. A meet-cute wrapped in content the client has been searching for and found in us.  

We’re the potential solution to whatever problem they are needing solved.

Audience development is where branding and awareness should be magnified. The engagement built here will showcase not only your product or service but also lead you to find the people who will convert to customers.

How do you reel them in?  

By identifying the sweet spot of content you can use to inspire and delight potential customers.  

What type of information is your client looking to get an answer to? What areas in your field are they wanting to gain knowledge?

What is your job as a brand?  Your job is to provide insight and solutions to the people who need it.  

Somewhere buried behind your company’s vision board and that mission statement your employees were told to memorize, lies the content mission statement that gives your brand, its purpose and why.  The reason you started doing the thing you’re still doing today.

Find the connection between the audience and your product or expertise.

What can you do with that sweet spot of knowledge you want to share and your potential customer is looking for?  There are so many ways to provide insight into an audience through a variety of different platforms.

A few to start would be written or video content, conferences, speaking engagements, radio, contests, social media, collaborations with other influencers…the list is endless!  But, just because it’s endless, doesn’t mean it will all work for you.

Take the time to test and figure out what works and what doesn’t. The point is that your audience is looking for guidance and you have the answer.  Give it to them.

This connection is key to your top funnel engagement where you are delighting clients with educational and informative content.

And, the HaaS (Humans as a Service) video content marketing program uses video as the entry point to meet your audience. A simple concept but a singular platform no one had really taken the time to outline.

It’s no mystery that companies are finding success with video marketing. The HaaS makes it easy for your brand and audience to find each other.

Step 2 – Sales Funnel Development

Say goodbye to an outdated sales funnel and yes to developing a relationship.

Once your audience has met you formally and agreed they want to stick around for more content; your next step is to grow the relationship and lead them towards your intention.

What is your intention?  Like any strategy, you need a goal for your customers, some accomplishment or next step to get them to.  

You may have heard this called the “bread crumb” offer.  A small incentive to move people deeper into the relationship. Most people get caught up in the idea that this offer must make them money.

They fail to realize most people aren’t ready to make a purchase with you yet (so back off!).

The last thing you want to happen is the scenario where a prospective customer is genuinely intrigued and engaging with the content you are serving them and out of nowhere, get slapped with some quick offer asking to BUY NOW.

But I barely know thee?!

Most likely, your customer is going to hit unsubscribe or turn off your notifications.

Like the high schooler that got overconfident after the first date and thinks they can score on the second, you have to put meaning, integrity and time between you and your customer before jumping ahead.

We were that high schooler. We just wanted the sale.

Completing a sale sounds too transactional for our taste, and frankly demotes the human on the other side of the screen.  We’ve grown up since then and like you, don’t want to push our customers away because of some poorly timed offers.

As intentional marketers today, we recognize our past hang-ups and are committed to this process for any campaign we roll out.  We’re sorry if we were pushy or rude. We didn’t deserve you and we are definitely making up for it now.

All of us marketers should be honored that someone has decided, out of all the millions of pieces of content out there on the web, that our stuff resonated with them.  They want to stick around so let’s make sure it’s worth their time.

This relationship of trust is one to be nurtured and optimized for growth (both for the business and most importantly, the customer).

Keeping the customer in mind, what questions do they need to be answered before they would want to make a purchase? What problems will they need to overcome?

This doesn’t have to be a big offering either. We’ve found success in low barrier-to-entry offers to give our customers a taste of what could provide for them.

A free trial of your product or service is a great next step and makes it easier for the customer to test if your platform is a fit for them before they fully commit. Test different offerings to see which ones resonate with your audience.

A great approach is to offer a free incentive that helps your customer get closer to their goals and gain you more trust.

We were guilty of moving too fast with our customers. We would put an offer up, put a shiny call-to-action next to it and then pat ourselves on the back for moving our clients ahead in the funnel.  

We didn’t ask them if they were ready.  

And we didn’t give them the proper amount of time and content to earn their trust.

There were so many more steps we needed to accomplish between a new member joining and them wanting to take the next step in the relationship.

Every relationship needs a few test runs before a marriage certification is signed.

Step 3 – Client Retention (ie: Delight)

Customer relationships are like any other relationship you care about.

Once you’ve built a solid community of customers, it’s your duty to make sure everything you produce is there to keep them satisfied.

Remember the reason they chose your content to follow.  Don’t let them down by producing sub-par stuff. Your clients will ultimately become your biggest advocates and brand ambassadors.  

We’ve seen so many clients (including ourselves) cringe at the thought of asking for more from their customers. But like your mom always reminded you, “what’s the worst that could happen…they say no?”  We tend to imagine an answer before we even try asking.

Here’s the truth: If you have a great product or program, your clients will want to share it with people they know.

Mostly because they want to be right about something, but also because they want friends to see the benefit too.

This relationship can enhance your community by extending this relationship to people they know, and more.  How do you think testimonials happen?

We’ve found when people trust your brand and want to share with others how much your service has impacted their lives.

That’s content gold right there.

Take a look at what current customers are asking for and how you can enhance their experience. Better yet, is there another product or service at your company that would serve them?  

Cater your content around this and you’ll see not only the growth of customer satisfaction but also your sales.

You already have the relationship intact so just because the honeymoon phase might be over, the relationship is still growing to even more potential.

We’ve created personalized offers for customers who have been with us since the beginning, and incentives for those who refer our services.  There are so many ways to keep customers motivated and engaged.

A happy customer means a happy you.  Check out some examples of highly favorable content you can use in our own marketing strategy today:

Exclusive Deals

Personalized Content

Contests

Co-branded webinars

Polls/Quizzes

Giveaways

The wheel is always moving with current customers because we recognize everyone is different.

We’re still growing and learning, so is our strategy.

The Texas 3-step was created after multiple failures..

We know we aren’t through the finish line just yet and are far from washing our hands of the idea of never having to re-frame our approach.

We’ll always be tweaking this strategy but for now, we have a solid approach to begin the conversation and ultimately know where we want to direct our efforts.

As technology continues to intensify and access to our audiences changes in response to it, we at least have these three points to guide our mission.

Texans are known for many things, but we like to believe southern charm and hospitality has helped in making this strategy work.

Sure we’ve been kicked down a few times and lost some footing along the way.  But in true Texas style, we met the challenges head-on and found our strength to shine.

Get a Free Consultation

[nookishposts]

Contentedly Cooing

30-40 hrs a week, my sweet and  savory life is carefully measured in grams. It’s a bit of an art really, the delicate balance of flavor and consistency, the trial-and-error distillation of generational recipes handed-down from the days when things were measured by a handful, a pinch, or just enough, to the finely-tuned specialties that make the eating of aforesaid sweets and savories accessible to  folks previously denied the pleasure. Gluten, for some, is a bitch...and refining one’s diet to reduce or remove it is not a bandwagon fad as has been suggested by certain headline physicians.Many people with food sensitivities/allergies or inflammatory diseases have been stunned at the difference taking gluten from their diet can make. The two gentlemen who opened Turtledoves Bakery 8 years ago, did so in large part because of frustratingly real health and digestive issues of their own. They understand all too well the literal pains of gut inflammation and the turbulence of navigating a dietary maelstrom just in order to eat, let alone heal. For many, Turtledoves has become a beacon of hope and relief.

I met Peter and Doug through local community interests in about 1997, when I was managing a local bookstore. They are both wise and lovely guys who understand high value and quality of products and service. We have crossed paths many times in 20 years. About 3 weeks ago, they took me on as an employee, and I am having a blast as a baker-in-training. I am learning how to graft new skills onto the stems of old ones.My apron is testament to how much I throw myself into my work, a kind of Jackson Pollock of pastry. (We are working on curbing my enthusiasm for self-decoration. But boobs and bellies provide an involuntary canvas, whether zesting lemons or stirring strawberry rhubarb pie filling.)   The place always smells divine. The people who work there believe 100% in the value of what they do, and they do it extremely well. I get to regularly sample the results. I won’t even pretend the guise of quality control, the stuff is just plain yummy ( and not painful!) in the tummy.

Standards at Turtledoves are exceptionally high and never to be messed with. Doug will show you how something works and Peter will tell you exactly why. I have come to think of their patient instruction as “Doug’s Details and Peter’s Particulars”. They take teasing very well, but it all translates into success based on freshly-made product from fresh ingredients, hard work and careful customer consideration. Each daily bake starts as early as 6am, ensuring lots of variety and freshness by the time doors open to the public. The environment itself is also fresh; spotless and colorful and caring.Staff are encouraged to try everything, discover their strengths, and allowed shine in their own way. I have learned that I cannot pipe baguettes to save my life; they come out looking like staccato-pinched ghost turds. Peter, who pipes the loaves with both flair and perfection, has agreed  that I’d best stay with muffins, fillings and pie pastry, though lately I am expanding into cookies. (Hell, given where I’m working, its safe to say I am expanding in all directions.) One day I may graduate to squares, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves. The experts aren’t ready for me.

The secret is really in the grams; the guys’ Grandmothers from who many recipes have originally sprung, down to the careful accurate-to-the-gram measures of critical ingredients. One day recently, I hand-squeezed 100 key limes for their juice, because real key lime pie wouldn’t be the same without it. I have discovered it takes approximately 22 lemons to get 40 grams of zest for blueberry lemon muffins. 1350 grams of combined grated zucchini and carrot goes into each chock full batch of carrot/raisin/zucchini muffins. The food processor and I have stopped swearing at one another and learned to play nicely. Eggs come in crates full of 48-count trays, and I get laughs  when I am caught fetching up a dozen  in the gathered pouch of my apron...as much for the Granny Clampett  nuances as the fact that I need to make several trips. Carrying out a tray at a time is much easier, but I seem to learn the hard way.

Assembling recipes can run the gamut from aromatic to eye-watering. Jalapeno chopping is not for the faint of heart. Dicing onions is best approached with a scuba mask. (Matching fins are optional.) There are several work stations busy at all times and we dance a polite dough-see-dough around one another, carrying hot pans, large bins of sorghum or featherlight , trays of squares and breads, fillings and frostings. Oven Door Limbo is a quickly acquired skill, as is Pin The Oven Mitt in the find-em spot.You can learn a lot about a person when you are making sausage rolls or Jamaican patties together. Doug the one is most likely to catch me doing something dopey, like losing control of the power sprayer at the sink and soaking myself in a quick blast. That thing could strip paint! There is laughter, every day.  It is encouraged. Who knew how many ribald one-liners could emerge from pounding, plopping, poking and pinching? So much mouth-watering comedy is possible on a 750 square foot stage.

For me, the opportunity to learn is always a welcome thing. I worked at many a coffee shop, cafeteria,  or pizza place getting through school. I love a well-run kitchen. Who doesn’t like to bake? There will always be  satisfaction in starting from scratch, fully-focused attention to every detail, the smell of fresh butter and cinnamon, the beauty of a delicately-browned crust and an end result as nourishing to the eye, the nose, and the soul as to the belly. But when a harried parent is able to get their severely-allergic child a luscious birthday cake made without all the stuff that hurts them, everybody wins. When the Winona Peach Festival orders a couple of thousand pie shells for their annual event, you know you are doing something right.When Lakeside ala Carte at Spencer Smith Park on August 12, where the wineries and breweries that strut their stuff promise your pizzas as a go-with, you’re on fire.  When local restaurants wish to offer their customers choices, and your flatbreads are so popular you can’t keep up with the demand....or your Nanaimo bars/butter tart/lemon/raspberry/ chocolate cheesecake squares get scooped up by the tray rather than individually...you know your audience is fully on board. Wedding cakes are stunning works of art. (I am not allowed near those and with good reasons). Recently, someone came in to get gluten-free bread for a event they were hosting; for a guest with food sensitivities. “I’ve got lots of REAL bread for the others.” they said. And was gently corrected: “This is real bread. We just make it without gluten.” And it tastes so good, you’d never know.

Shameless plug:

Turtledoves Bakery  175 Plains Rd East, Unit 5. Burlington ON

 http://www.turtledovesbakery.ca/