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Aug 13 2014

What Are You Working On?

A dangerous question, right? Especially if you’re working “IN” your business, instead of “ON” it.

Greetings. Area 224 is back here in the blogosphere. So that answers the question, right? You ask us “What are you working on?” and we say “We’re working ON our blog.” If only it were that simple.

It’s not. In fact, I’d offer that most people who are working on a blog end up spending most of their time either (1) navel-gazing, (2) trying to link to popular friends or (3) offering advice that will fall upon deaf ears.

We have done all three. None of it works.

Well, it can sorta work – you can admire others in business and talk about what they’re doing right. You can link to those with high Google Page Rank on their blog – that can help you a little bit. And you can share advice – advice that will likely be ignored (even if everyone piles on and says how great it is).

Plumbers Have Clients
Photo by plumberluton, used with Creative Commons license

To Celebrate Our Return, Here’s What We’re Working On. Really.

Dave from Area 224 just finished an embedded contract role. (What does that mean? I was on the team at a Fortune 100 organization, helping them solve communications challenges, and adding value by actually rolling up my sleeves and doing stuff.)

I don’t mean to dis those of you who are actively blogging about what people should be doing online, but it was very refreshing to avoid advice from the blogosphere, talk to business leaders inside and outside of the organization, and tie their strategy to their objectives. Plus, I couldn’t really access Facebook during the day, so that was a major plus as well.

During this hiatus from the Awesomeness Generation and the Internet Cliques, I heard quite a few things that have impacted my world view. And given me a chance to answer the question…

What Are You Working On? Well, three areas, really, along with some links to show you where it’s all headed.

1. Category Disruption

I’ll tell you this much, folks: there’s room out here for everyone. Categories are being disrupted overnight – partly because there are so many inefficiencies.

Case in point: Health care. (Or: “Healthcare.” Depends on whether you follow the AP Stylebook or the Chicago Manual. Or neither.)

The Affordable Care Act – “Obamacare” – taught us a few things about disruption. Whether or not you agree with the law, you can say this much: the actual signing of the ACA was disruptive. And the follow-on hue and cry from everywhere is disruptive. And the tons of tools, sites, platforms, portals, apps and whatnots being built to help everyone and anyone figure out What The Heck Is Going On…That’s Disruption.

Heck, I should start a business just categorizing the business niches that need disruption, or are in the middle of being disrupted, or could use something disruptive to come along.

And how will Area 224 practice Category Disruption?

Thanks for asking. I’ll give you a hint: Metasip.

One Metasip LogoWe launched the site a year ago and worked on the background to review a bunch of alcohol. While it’s still in Beta, and we know there are other sites out there that are involved in the beverage marketing category, we think the twist we offer – “It’s like Yelp, but for Alcohol” – gives us a unique selling proposition. It doesn’t hurt that there’s no shortage of people who are willing to share their views on their favorite wine, beer, or spirit. And that there are brands large and small that need to get their stuff out in front of new markets.

[SHAMELESS PLUG #1: Go see us over on the site, spin through, even sign up for the emails. We think you’ll like it all.]

2. Content Monetization

If I hear “Content Marketing” one more time, I will scream. It’s the new “Thought Leadership,” and that was old ten years ago.

So Area 224’s approach is Content Marketing Monetization.

We’ve been there with “Content Marketing” – talk about things, get businesses to notice you, sell them your services. It’s a new wrapper on an old thing, and it’s one of those buzzwords you can say when you want to sound important in a meeting. Just don’t do it around me, because I’ll throw up on my shoes.

And how will Area 224 practice Content Monetization?

Thanks for asking. I’ll give you a hint: 10KaYear.

We told you here awhile back that we wrote a book. It’s still doing okay over on Amazon, but it got us thinking that there’s more to it than just writing a book. A content marketing plan has been replaced by a Content Monetization Plan. So yeah, we want you to visit the site as we try to make it a little Dave Ramsey, a little Suze Orman – and a lot REAL WORLD.

Don’t get me wrong – we’re fans of both of them and we find a lot of truth in what they talk about. But we’ve also witnessed many MANY more real-world examples of what is really going on.

Darnell's Credit Score
Someone shared their credit score with us.

Yes, we’re talking warts and all – living paycheck to paycheck, avoiding bankruptcy, scrimping, saving, looking for side gigs to make ends meet. Dave and Suze are both smart – but how realistic are they? That’s what we plan on talking about on the site – and the Content Monetization Plan involves more ebooks, toolkits, workbooks, and links to trusted partners that can provide affordable solutions to pesky financial challenges.

[SHAMELESS PLUG #2: Visit 10KaYear.com and look at what’s there. And sign up for the emails so you can see what’s coming next.]

3. Quality and Transparency

Here’s what bothers us about the modern marketing world: there’s too much content, a lot of it is crap, and there’s very little transparency.

Some of this is unavoidable; everyone has an unlimited supply of virtual ink, content can be whipped up for pennies offshore, and native advertising and content marketing have both blurred the lines between journalism and blather.

Plus, blather sells.

So we’re not going to do a shameless plug here, instead, a promise:

We’re only going to share quality stuff here on Area 224, on Metasip, and on 10KaYear. And we’re going to be as transparent as we possibly can.

The quality thing? We haven’t blogged here since last September, partly because we didn’t have anything that we thought was worth saying.

Transparency: well, we’ve been really up front on this post as to what we’re doing. On the front of the site, you can sign up to get a sneak peek of one of our upcoming books. We’re NOT planning on running affiliate links on the front of Area 224 right now. BUT WE ARE planning on borrowing from the playbook of the Smart Passive Income guy. Here’s what we mean.

Follow our process on 10KaYear.com. While we may not share all of the revenue nuts and bolts, we do plan on showing you as much of the behind-the-curtains stuff as we can.

Hey, thanks for listening. We know it’s a longer post than what we’re used to sharing. And we know your time is valuable.

And, in the comments, feel free to answer the question…

What Are You Working On?

Written by Dave · Categorized: Consultancy, Content Monetization, Transparency · Tagged: content monetization, working on

May 02 2012

What to Look for in a Digital Marketing Consultant

Get a Digital Marketing Consultant
Time's a Wastin'

Sometimes, you need outside perspective.

There’s not a doubt that everyone is going digital – we talk to businesses on a daily basis that are trying to make sense of the digital migration, and what it means to their own business.

And, sometimes, you might find some excellent blog posts – such as this one from Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion – and realize that a lot goes into understanding the digital world.

Landing Pages? New Facebook Fan Pages? Conversion Rates? Sales Pages? Twitter Followers?

How To Breathe Easier When Getting Help

We get asked questions about the Modern Marketing Mix A LOT – it’s part of the reason behind the 12 Minute Marketing program, actually – and we think that we can help you breathe a little easier, whether you hire us or hire somebody else. Or even if you go it alone. Here’s how you can breathe easier with the assistance of a digital marketing consultant:

1. Know What Your Business Objectives Are FIRST

These may not be digital objectives at all – in fact, starting with an objective such as “Get 10,000 Fans on Facebook” can be a surefire means to a flameout. Why?

What are you going to DO with those 10,000 fans? How will you “engage” them? And so on, and so forth…

Back to The Sales Lion for a second. Even if you think all of the stuff he talks about is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, he started his business with a very clear objective: Sell People Swimming Pools.

If you have a restaurant, a consultancy, an Etsy business, or you’re a book publisher or…gosh, we could name a thousand different things…you HAVE to have business objectives. If you don’t have those – you’re going to be wasting the time of the Marketing Consultant you call, and they’re not going to be able to help you. Seriously.

2. Have a Firm Grasp on Your Marketing Budget

Here’s where even the smallest business can go dangerously off the rails: No grasp of your marketing budget will mean you are in for a world of hurt. Why?

In the chase for “ROI,” you MUST realize that the “I” in ROI is “Investment.”

Take a restaurant as an example. We’re not going to say that a restaurant with no marketing budget at all is doomed to fail…

But we WILL ask the restaurant owner to take a good hard look at all the expenses that they need on a monthly basis. Do those things fall into the marketing budget? And you do need to ask where the customers are going to come from, how they find the place, how the buzz will build business…all of that leads to, well, the need for marketing. May be digital, may NOT be digital.

But, trust me, restaurant owner: you have a marketing budget.

3. Have a Really Firm Grasp on Who Does What

Back in my own early entrepreneurial days, I did just about everything. Once I could bring on staff, the lines of demarcation became clearer, and some things could easily be outsourced.

Regardless of whether it was outsourced, some of those tasks that fell outside my own scope could easily have been called “Digital Marketing.”

Let’s use a consultancy as an example here – maybe there are three of you, and you’re all out servicing clients, chasing new ones, and somebody’s responsible for the website. Someone else runs the Twitter account. Another person thinks that you should be setting up a sales funnel and…

You can see how THIS can possibly go off the rails, too – even if all three of you are smart and capable and provide excellent client service.

4. Knowing all of this…you might just need a diagnostic

The Sales Lion guy likes talking about Hubspot – and they do have some excellent paid tools. But they’re not for everyone – and, in fact, you can run a free diagnostic on your own web presence just by going to a Hubspot site: grader.com.

Here’s a link to the Marketing Grader.

VERY IMPORTANT: This is NOT the end-all, be-all. This will get you started, but your own diagnostic from Grader doesn’t do you much good if you haven’t completed Step 1 above – HAVING BUSINESS OBJECTIVES.

But this CAN get you thinking about the online things you should be doing. Or not doing: if you have that restaurant above, maybe an online funnel won’t do you 1/10 of the good that a presence on Yelp or Pinterest will.

5. And, the Biggest Mistake You Can Make: “It’s Free!”

We bump into this all of the time:

Twitter and Facebook are free sites, so…I can just do it myself for FREE!

No. Your time costs money. Your team’s time costs money. Even offshoring this to some dude on Odesk will cost some money. And you get what you pay for.

Consultants – yes, even me – can share some knowledge for free. It’s called “Thought Leadership.” But, once you get into the key points of digital marketing – integration, measurement, making sure that you and your business have your marketing aligned with your overall goals – that costs money.

Hire someone? Do it yourself? Get a full-time paid intern? Get a consultant part time? Lots of options – but, we’ve found, if you keep the 5 points above in mind, you – and your consultant – can maximize your chance of business success.

 

Written by Dave · Categorized: Consultancy · Tagged: digital marketing consultant

Feb 14 2012

FORWARD:MARCH – Join Us for an Intensive Training Program Starting March 1

Act Now
Only 10 Slots for FORWARD:MARCH

We’re doing a very intensive, hands-on, training program starting March 1 – and we’d love for you to join us…

Hi from Dave from Area 224. We’ve got something extra-special planned for March 2012 – but we only have ten slots.

It’s a training and consulting program called FORWARD:MARCH – and you can learn way more about it on this special page we’ve whipped up:

Go to the FORWARD:MARCH page.

Questions? Hit us up at hq at area224 dot com.

Written by Dave · Categorized: Consultancy · Tagged: FORWARD:MARCH

May 05 2011

Next

StraterEdge Consulting

Enough of the mysterious updates on Facebook and LinkedIn. Dave from Area 224 is up to something new. Here’s what’s in it for you.

“The Ego Has Landed.” More than a title to a Robbie Williams album, it’s also the subject line I’ve been using in emails over the past week or so, as I tell friends about what I’m up to.

I’ve also struggled with just how to make this announcement. Jim Gray interview? Recording a video diatribe? Taking out a billboard ad on the Dan Ryan?

Plus, chest thumping ain’t my bag. Tub-thumping may be, so we’ve got two British Pop Music References before we get to the meat of the announcement.

“I’m bringing my talents to the team at StraterEdge Consulting.” – Dave.

“What’s In It For Me?” – You.

Actually, the same combination of what you’ve expected from me – that focus on concepts like “objective-oriented marketing” and “are you sure you really wanna do this?” A social media bent, sure. Content, yeah, we’ll have that.

But, well, we have made no secret that we’re launching 12 Minute Marketing. The launchpad just got better for that — and Rick Strater’s expertise in sales consulting brings more power to the 12 Minute Marketing service.

Plus, we are working on another product launch that we’ll let you know more about in the weeks to come. (You can guess the industry by taking a look at the StraterEdge site.)

BUT – what IS in it for you?

Well, we can help you solve complex business problems, and we can do this from a few angles. Is it a marketing challenge? A sales challenge? An operational challenge?

Does social media fit into the mix? Should it?

As for this site – it’s still here. Still a platform to share content, ideas, advice. And we’re still here to help you.

We look forward to the journey.

 

 

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Written by Dave · Categorized: Consultancy

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