heathermschiefer-blog

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3 reasons not to buy fake Google reviews

3 reasons not to buy fake Google reviews

I sometimes get unsolicited sales emails through my website’s contact form. It’s gonna happen. This morning I had one offering me Google reviews. Now, I was confused. My clients leave reviews. Why would I pay you to write reviews … ahhhhh. FAKES reviews. Obviously.

Now, I often process obstacles or puzzles better by stepping away. I am also a damn smart woman. I’m naturally skeptical of most…

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Measuring Success as a Solopreneur

Measuring Success as a Solopreneur

I don’t use my annual revenue as a solopreneur to measure success.

I’ve been running this solopreneur gig for over ten years now. Take a moment to let that soak in. For over a decade I’ve been my own boss. For those of you who know me personally, you know just how mind blowing that is.

I’ve had to figure out a lot of stuff on my own. A short list of skills I’ve had to learn or expand on are:

Pro…

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Quiz: Does your logo need to level up? A professionally designed logo is only the tip of the branding iceberg. If you're half-assing the visuals, you can't possibly be nailing the messaging.

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Why You Might Want to Switch to Freshbooks Retainer Billing

Why You Might Want to Switch to Freshbooks Retainer Billing

I have used Freshbooks invoicing loyally for nearly a decade now and they are always improving their platform and truly focused on customer service. They recently released another great new tool. Retainer billing.

Recurring Invoices vs. Retainers

Now, I have always used recurring invoices. I have these set these up to automatically invoice clients for hours worked over the last month. It’s been…

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Nancy has worked with a designer only to get a logo she didn’t love. She takes her own product shots, but needs to polish her process. She’s wasted dollars and hours on designs that don’t represent her brand and images that don’t communicate her value.

Nancy loves designing jewelry by re-purposing vintage pieces. Her pieces are reminiscent of the art nouveau period and often feature vintage pieces from estates. She often travels to find pieces to incorporate into her jewelry and takes great care in creating each piece. She’s a proud mom who enjoys designing and selling her pieces full time.

Goals

Nancy’s goals are to polish her brand and expand her market. She’s selling some wholesale, but mostly at maker shows and online to individuals. She would like to be taken more seriously as a designer and make more money designing jewelry.

  Obstacles

Nancy’s biggest obstacle is time. She struggles to prioritize her time between marketing, branding and designing. She’s worked with designers before and has not been happy with the results. Being rushed and not taking time to get to know the person developing her brand has cost her thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours.

Strategy & Solutions

Step 1: Brand Development

Based on Nancy’s creative brief and consultation, I created a vintage inspired mark. Several versions of the logo and mark were created for use in print, digital and packaging. I also included a version that was framed in an art nouveau style border that complimented the font and mark. The new logo incorporates design elements that tell you immediately what the designer’s niche is and the interlocking shapes are reminiscent of the interlocking links in the necklaces Nancy designs.

Step 2: Product Photography

Nancy, like many makers, doesn’t have an unlimited budget for constantly updating her product photography for her online store. So, paying someone to do it full time was not helpful in reaching her financial goals. We set up two shoot dates to go through all of her current pieces. We captured group promo shots as well as individual shots. Nancy watched me set up and assisted in positioning the pieces during the shoot. We talked through camera settings, lighting and background as we created the shots. After both sessions were complete, Nancy has enough knowledge to start shooting her own product photography and developing her own process.

Results

Nancy took her new logo and turned it into a jewelry brand known across the southeast. She also walked away with knowledge that allowed her to be self-reliant and a partner that she can call whenever she needs help or has a question.

Value Summary

Having a polished logo gave Nancy a jumping-off point from which she was able to further develop her brand and build an expansive portfolio of work to grow her business. Her new identity also positioned her as a professional, high-end designer so that she could fetch higher prices for her pieces and realize her financial goals.

A couple of product photography coaching sessions allowed Nancy to learn a new skill set that saved her hours in trial and error as well as thousands of dollars in photography services over the years. Her photography grew more polished and professional, increasing the perceived value of her pieces.

Find out what Nancy thought of working with me.

Branding Case Study: Pink Dogwood Jewelry Nancy has worked with a designer only to get a logo she didn't love. She takes her own product shots, but needs to polish her process.

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What should a logo design cost?

What should a logo design cost?

How much should a logo design really cost?

It’s a question I get asked and honestly, ask myself quite often. People don’t get how agencies and designers can charge tens of thousands of dollars or morefor what might appear to amount to a simple graphic. One of my favorite stories is about Paul Rand designing a logo for Steve Jobs back in the 80’s for $100,000. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t even the…

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Georgia needs a logo, website and help building her social media and email marketing so that she can focus on building a belly dance community in Spartanburg.

Georgia wants to open a belly dance studio. She has been sharing a space with another instructor and wants to grow her business. She is married, works full time and has school aged children.

  Goals

Her goals include increasing her clientele and leasing her studio to other instructors. Georgia also plans on renting the space for private “belly dance” themed parties. She wants her website to market her services and serve as a place for students to book classes, find resources, video tutorials, music and more. In addition she needs print materials to distribute throughout the downtown community to raise awareness of her brand and new studio. Georgia wants to create a sense of community around the studio.

Obstacles

Georgia still works a full time job. She has a limited amount of time to invest in the development of a good brand, maintenance of a website or regular digital marketing. She has a piece meal website that needs to be updated in order to meet her goals. She also needs to integrate her website with the class booking platform she is using in addition to creating an effective pathway for new clients. Her website, email marketing and social media need to work together to inform students of upcoming classes and events as well as cancellations or changes to schedules.

Strategy & Solutions

Step 1: Brand Development

We refine her brand messaging and imagery. A professional logo is created. A color palette is defined and design elements are prepared. Final artwork include several variations of the logo and separate elements in multiple color spaces and sized for print, website and social media as well as a custom pattern.

Step 2: Print Materials

Business cards and flyers are designed using brand elements. A flyer template is delivered in a format that Georgia can edit later with relevant studio information.

Step 3: Website Development

Website content is defined and organized. A sitemap is developed, audience avatars are identified and a user path is created. An initial concept and mock-up is delivered and construction begins. After 6-8 weeks the website is launched.

Step 4: Digital Marketing and Maintenance

Email lists and sign-up forms are created and integrated into the website and social media. An email template is created for Georgia to customize with relevant information on a monthly basis. A website maintenance plan is established and regular backups and updates are performed. Social media accounts and private groups are created to give instructors and students a place to communicate.

Results

Georgia has a professional looking brand that presents consistently across print and digital media. Students use her website regularly to check class schedules, sign up for classes, download class materials and reference video tutorials. New clients also find her website and social media via work of mouth, search engines and social media and website traffic increases, resulting in new student enrollment.

Website Traffic

When the website was launched in October of 2015 Georgia’s website was averaging 50-60 website visitors a month. In February 2016 traffic quadrupled. By April of 2017 Georgia was seeing an average of over 1,000 visitors a month.

Social Media

Georgia uses a Facebook page to promote events and classes as well as create a sense of community around the studio. Her following grows to include students who take classes with her as well as other instructors in the area and belly dance enthusiasts. Studio instructors use the page to promote their classes. Events are created to promote performances by students and instructors. Facebook groups are used to give instructors and students a place to communicate privately as well as organize rehearsals for performance troupes.

Studio Goals

Georgia has 2-3 regular dance instructors booking students for classes as well as guest instructors who rotate in and out of the studio more often. The studio hosts community events and performances. Georgia’s troupe also uses the space to rehearse and hold their own events. Georgia also rents the studio as a party venue. She helps organize and provides performances for private parties held at the studio.

Email Marketing

Emails are collected on the website and Facebook via a form. Georgia then uses these emails to market to potential students as well as promote events and troupe performances. Emails are sent to existing students with reference materials and updates regarding upcoming classes.

Value Summary

Over three years, Bella Dance Studio’s website traffic grew and remained steady as new and existing students used the platform to check class schedules, book classes and reference class materials. After three years, the website has been pared down to represent the troupe and serves as a contact point for those interested in booking the dance troupe for community or private performances.

The Facebook page and groups created a sense of community that allowed Georgia to connect on a personal level with nearly every one of her students. It also allowed her to educate the local community about the history and traditions of belly dance. The studio became well known in the local community and people continue to talk about Spartanburg’s belly dancers.

By working with a professional, Georgia saved herself hundreds of hours working on her website. Having a dedicated person doing regular updates and adding content to her website gave her more time to focus on managing her business and teaching classes rather than learning skills that were irrelevant to her work.

Learn more about my services >>

Branding Case Study for Bella Dance Studio Georgia needs a logo, website and help building her social media and email marketing so that she can focus on building a belly dance community in Spartanburg.

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What's the best way to create an invoice?

What’s the best way to create an invoice?

Exactly what do you include in an invoice?

When I started my business, the most daunting thing was billing clients. The thought of having to figure out what to bill them for and how to do it without looking like a noob was a foreign idea to me. After all, I always did the design work and seldom handled clients, let alone managed billing. I started out with Word and Excel. As quickly as I learned…

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Sit Still and Look Pretty: 19 Bad-Ass Professional Women I Follow on Instagram

Sit Still and Look Pretty: 19 Bad-Ass Professional Women I Follow on Instagram

I follow quite a few kick-ass professional women on Instagram. They are corporate babes changing the world, independent harpies spreading radical self-love and what we call in the social media world “influencers”. I’ll include a list of my favorite ladies’ names at the end, but first ….

The women I’m drawn to.

There’s one thing I notice about the professional women that I’m drawn to … they are…

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12 questions to help you brand your business.

12 questions to help you brand your business.

12 Questions to get you started on branding your business.

It’s not always easy to know what your brand should say. Or maybe you think it doesn’t matter. Who wants all that extra work anyway, right? I’m here to tell you that if your business is important to you, like mine is to me, then it matters.

Maybe you don’t mind generic, thoughtless brand messaging. Many people purchase mindlessly,…

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Freshbooks Flash Sale!!

FreshBooks is at it again.

All FreshBooks plans are 50% off for your first 3 months when you skip the trial period. This offer is only valid from March 4th through March 6th so, don’t wait. They have literally never done this. Seeing this a second time blew me away.

Why would you switch to FreshBooks? Here are my reasons:

Simplicity

Everything from the dashboard to the accounting reports is…

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Get Paid Faster and Balance Your Accounts with Freshbook

Get Paid Faster and Balance Your Accounts with Freshbook

Did you know that 40% of small business owners still wait to get paid by check?!?

It’s true. According to Freshbooks research of 10,000 of their client accounts and 2,700 small business owners responses, nearly half of us still wait to get paid by check and 62% struggle to pay our bills. I know. I’m one of them. It’s frustrating waiting for those funds every month. Being a freelancer means…

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Last Minute Valentine's Day Gift Guide

Last Minute Valentine’s Day Gift Guide

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Can you teach me digital marketing?

Can you teach me digital marketing?

Can you schedule a paid consultation?

Abso-friggin-lutely.

I offer one-on-one learning sessions where you can learn about maintaining your WordPress website, the basics of Adobe apps or how to manage your email marketing. You know, all the stuff your agency probably doesn’t want you to know how to do yourself.

It doesn’t have to be specific software either. Over the last ten years, I’ve used…

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Big, Bold Organic Design Trends in 2019

Big, Bold Organic Design Trends in 2019

Some design trends I’m really digging.

I do not prescribe to trends. I acknowledge that they happen, but I do not typically follow them. Why would you want to look like everyone else? I do, however, pay attention and this year I notice some trends that I’ve been onto for a while now.

Design Trend #1 – bolder, brighter colors

Bold, bright colors are my favorite. Not in abundance, mind you. I like…

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How I'm going to market my business after I quit Facebook

How I’m going to market my business after I quit Facebook

Can you run a business without social media?

This past December I made the decision to quit Facebook. I started by deleting the app from my phone. I quickly realized how much I did not miss it. Another thing I noticed was how much I still needed to use it. Being in the field of digital marketing, my clients still use social media. Even if I don’t. I had to ask myself whether quitting Facebook…

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Planning Your Marketing for the New Year.

Planning Your Marketing for the New Year.

Three steps to help you plan your marketing in the new year.

Marketing strategy can be overwhelming. Owning my own business and having to plan my own marketing (I am not a marketing expert by any means) can be super stressful. I’m not a strategic type of person. My processes are pretty organic and my planning consists more of general ideas rather than in depth strategic steps. If you just take…