Short-Term4casts

Fear is a powerful motivator.

That’s a commonly shared saying that struck close to home for me a few springs ago in March of 2020. We rebranded our marketing and advertising firm. We moved offices, and we prepared for the shifts that would come. In less than a week, the former Governor of Virginia did what so many leaders across the country chose to do: he locked down the state. Most everyone retreated to their homes, and we all adjusted to a situation that a few months before not many could have imagined.

Throughout my business career, I have led teams through hard times, but nothing like this. And frankly I was afraid.

Like a lot of business owners, I got out my pen and paper and started doing the calculations. I fielded calls from some clients who wanted to freeze their spending or end their agreements. It was a scary week or so, and the outlook in March of 2020 did not look good for many of us. We support around 50 clients who are mostly small or mid-sized businesses as well as some local franchisees. Most of us felt like we could hang in there for a few weeks to maybe a few months.

Which Led2Long-Term Growth

I did my best to lean in to the circumstances. My company was founded during the Great Recession, and I’d sold local advertising to businesses during some really tough economic times over the previous 20 years. I believed, based on that experience, that if our company could simply do what we had been doing, we could come out okay. It was advice I had shared with plenty of other business owners through the years. Now I had to embrace this approach in the middle of my own uncertainty.

Over two years have gone by, and like many of you, I have learned a lot about my team and myself. Some of our clients floundered and others flourished. It was a daily struggle for many of us, but the leaders who leaned in and faced their fears generally did so much better. It’s okay to be afraid; it’s part of business (and of life, really). Find a trusted advisor, get some time alone to think and process, bounce an idea or solution off key co-workers, and do what you need to do in order to charge through that sticky situation.

It's not likely fear and challenging circumstances are going anywhere. That’s okay. Great leaders like you aren’t either. You can always do more than you think you can. Fear not.

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To Start

Social media accounts are proven to help businesses build brand loyalty, direct users to websites, and collect customer feedback. TikTok rocked the beginning of the new decade with its popularity, gaining 800 million active monthly users since its adaptation in 2018. The free video-content app lets users share 15-second, 60-second, and 3-minute videos on any topic with the potential to go viral globally.  

In 2020, a new site called “TikTok For Business” was launched to help marketing companies gain an all-in-one tool for advertising on TikTok. The platform helps marketers with the process of creating advertisements, setting budgets, reaching targeted audiences, and analyzing campaign data. Although it provides businesses with various advertising options (such as Top-View and In-Feed Ads, Branded Hashtags, Brand Effects, and Brand Takeovers), its pricing can reach well above $150k. The purpose of this document is to help you decide whether TikTok is right for your business, and to share common best practices on TikTok that you can do for free.

Do I Need TikTok for My Business?

The TikTok platform is mostly favored by Gen Z (users born between 1997-2012), but older users have begun using it as of 2020. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, share of 24 to 34-year-olds on the platform rose from 22.4% to 27.4% in the first quarter of 2020. In the same period, the 35 to 44-year-old demographic increased from 13.9% to 17.1%. Therefore, if your target audience is under 50 in the United States, TikTok can entertain your target audience.

How Can I Use TikTok for My Business?

TikTok is a video-centric platform. Whether you want to share product tutorials or employee testimonials, you can get creative with the kinds of videos you produce. Here are some helpful suggestions for producing TikTok content:  

1. Keep Up With TikTok Trends – TikTok’s virality is based on how well you mirror trends. Tiktok trends can include hit songs or voiceovers made by other TikTok creators (called sounds). Trends can also include popular hashtag challenges or TikTok duets (the ability to film your reaction to another TikToker’s viral video). It can also include dance choreography, such as “The Whole Shack Shimmy” (a mashup of Britney Spears’s “Toxic” and The B-52s’ “Love Shack”).

2. Choose A Niche & Stick To It – There’s a niche for everyone. The more specific your niche, the higher chance you’ll meet your target audience where they are. Poppin Candy is an online candy store that currently has 4.5 million followers and 81.2 million likes on TikTok. Their videos consist of two themes: anonymously packing online orders, and filling storage bins with assortments of candies. Poppin Candy masterfully allured their audience with visual ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response). TikTok helped amplify Poppin Candy’s business by creating a niche following based on the repetition of their actions in their videos. Think of a niche following that may align with your business’s target audience and create consistent content from there.

3. Keep The Quality High – All you need to film a TikTok is a smartphone. However, video content online gets higher engagement when the audio/video quality is clear. Consider investing in a ring light or an extendable phone stand to enhance video stability. If you’re using animation or filming from another device, make sure your videos are the standard ratio of 9:6. Crafting 1080 x 1920-pixel videos will fill up the entire screen and ensure higher engagement compared to those that don’t.  

4. Timing Is Everything – Nobody likes a late Larry. Whatever you see going viral in your For You Page (TikTok news feed), it’s best to replicate it as soon as it starts trending. The time of day when you post can affect your audience reach. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the days and times with the highest engagement rates are Tuesdays 9AM, Thursdays 12PM, and Fridays 5AM. Note the following schedule for suggested post times during the week:

5. Don’t Get Discouraged – It can take some time for your TikTok account to build an audience. Sometimes older videos spike with more engagement than your recent content. Share some of your posted TikToks across other social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Consider including your TikTok handle on email signatures, website ribbons, business cards, and leave behinds. The more you tell people about your TikTok account, the more exposure you will get.  

Are you questioning whether you should have Social Media platforms for your business? We’ve got you covered – You can download our latest Social Media E-Book from our website!  

https://services.5pointscreative.com/social-media-ebook

It came up yet again in a recent leadership meeting at the agency.

One of our Directors joked that in advertising – patience is a virtue. It’s just like real life, and that long-shared saying applies to the marketing world too.

Just about the time people are realizing your company has a campaign running or are sharing some messaging, too many owners and decision makers are ready to pull the plug and say “advertising doesn’t work.” It kills me. No, really, it honestly kills my spirit when ignorant people jump the gun on their outreach advertising campaigns.

Over the past 13 years, it has happened so many times I cannot even count. Smart people, successful entrepreneurs, heads of non-profits, and medical professionals get impatient or are initially disappointed and pull the plug on their campaigns.

The decision to end a specific campaign often happens as advertising and marketing work is starting to make its impact.

Though It Feels Like4ever – Hold the Line

For a moment, think about the power of investing in the stock market (even these days). I remember my Dad writing down every stock value every day for decades so he could track for himself how those investments were performing. He had years of daily journals in his office, but he knew that the value of his portfolio was not a day-to-day thing.

Smart investors know the power of buying stocks is the value increases over months, years, and honestly, even decades. That’s how the impact is measured and why so many people are able to build wealth and retire more comfortably.

If I can remember a plumber’s number from Philadelphia that I heard on WPVI or KYW-TV in the 1970s (Greenwood-7-5-3-1-2), then as a business owner, you simply have to know it’s a “long game.” Obviously, I don’t need a plumber from Philly now, but the concept remains the same…good advertising requires interrupting messaging, smart placement, and patience.

When marketers combine those three things, they can capture new buyers still, but the true value is in the coming months, years, and, yes, decades. Practice patience advertising people.

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Anyone with today’s technology can send an email anywhere, at any time. But you’re not just anyone – you’re a hard-working someone who is going on vacation this summer, and your eyes could use a break from your digital mailbox. Before you trade in your laptop for your flip flops, there’s one vital and innovative mechanism you absolutely must remember to activate before you take to the skies: your email’s autoresponder!

Otherwise known as the automatic “out-of-office” response, an autoresponder is a helpful way to let emailing humans know that you will not be checking your Inbox for a while. Not sure what to say in yours? We can help with that.  

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Things To Avoid In The Autoresponderverse

It can be tempting to flesh out a long out-of-office response with explanations and details, but it’s best not to. Keep your message short and sweet. You can share your personal experiences when you get back. A fair warning — here is a terrible sample out-of-office message you should avoid at all costs:  

Hi. I’m out of the office again because I’m going on vacation to New York City, which is crazy because I’ve never been there before and there’s got to be so much to see. 1.6 million people crammed on a single island – how does that work?! And where can I get one of those Statue of Liberty figurines for my desk?! I have so many questions. I’m planning on going to Central Park, some museums, cafes, pizza places, and doing some pigeon watching, so I’ll be very busy and unresponsive. I’ll write to you when I’m back in the office on May 5^th, 1955!

Yikes! Did you notice the return date is in the past? And the population of NYC (8.4 million) is grossly understated. This person wrote too much, some of which is incorrect (not a good reflection on this person’s and his/her company’s reputation), and not enough of the important stuff. Thankfully, we’ve written some tips to help you craft a better autoresponder message. Here’s where you can start.

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How To Write Your Out-of-Office Message

‍‍Start With The Basics

Your out-of-office responder should be professional and have the basics: your away notice, the date that you’ll return, an emergency number (if applicable), and a trusted coworker's address for emailers to contact in your absence. If you don’t have a coworker to take on your incoming emails, suggest in your autoresponder for emailers to visit your company’s website. Then, look out for your response when you return. Here is an example for reference:  

Hello. I am currently out of the office and will return on (the date of your return). For emergencies, you may call 555.5555. For other inquiries, I encourage you to fill out our contact form at example.com. Thank you.

A helpful tip is to read the first draft of your out-of-office response. Read it again. Then, return to your computer and read it once more before activating your autoresponder. Check it out for accuracy by sending yourself a test message after activating your autoresponder. Typos and incorrect information can scare away prospects – and nobody wants that to happen!

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Personalize Your Salutations

Who will be emailing you while you’re away? Your coworkers? Your clients? Let the tone of your response be proper to your connections. If you were born with a funny bone, consider closing your autoresponder with a clever sign off, like “from your friendly neighborhood email-robot”.  

Here’s a funny example from HubSpot.com:

Hey there — I’ve got good and bad news for you. Let’s go with the bad first.

The bad news is that I’m out of office. The good news is that I'm out of the office and enjoying elotes in Cancún.

If you can’t wait for a response, my colleague will be happy to take care of you. Just email her at someone@example.com.

I’ll be back on February 7^th.

You can also reference pop culture, as done in this example shared on Grammarly.com:

Is this heaven? No, it’s Iowa.

That’s where I’ll be for the next couple of days, giving my last out-of-town keynote of the year (yay!). I don’t know if there really is a Field of Dreams, but I’ll be in search of it in between checking emails and getting back to you as quickly as I can.

If you need something while I’m stuck in a cornfield, you can send a note to my assistant, and she will be happy to help you.

The purpose of an autoresponder is to bring peace-of-mind to those who’d like to contact you while you’re away. If your clients are old school, they may not appreciate a pun as much. That would be e-barrassing.

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In Conclusion

Whether you’re a popular business leader, or the smartest person in your company (or both), we can guarantee at least one living organism will email you while you’re out-of-office on vacation. This is your time to kick back and reboot – not respond to emails and troubleshoot. You’ll want to ensure that you don’t lose your momentum with incoming clients or leads. You’ll need to let your company know how long you’ll be away and how your team can help you. And most importantly, you’ll be grateful to your out-of-office responder when you return well-rested. Don’t forget to turn off your autoresponder when you get back to work.

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Does your company need help with writing out-of-office responders? We have incredibly talented copywriters who can help. 5Points Creative is a full-service firm specializing in marketing, advertising, digital, branding, and communications. We really want you to go on vacation — and enjoy time away from work. We're here to help.

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A Long Line2Wait In

Let me start by writing that “I do not drink coffee!”  

We enjoy giving it as a gift to our clients at the holidays.  I also love to meet with clients, and prospects, and potential employees as they drink it.  While I feel like I should enjoy a cuppa joe, the reality is: “I do not drink coffee!”

Keeping in mind my aversion to coffee, you’ll appreciate my amazement when one recent morning, I witnessed an unending line of vehicles at one of our local Starbucks. I’m talking about a line that went out of the parking lot and down the street. Like I mean way down the street on the shoulder. There had to have been at least fifteen or twenty cars lined up for their “Americana with room.” It was a bit mind stretching, to say the least.

Now, on the other hand, I love ice cream. I love chocolate chip cookies. I love live music. And I love the hapless Detroit Lions football team. But, I’m not sure I’d wait in a line like that for any of those things – let alone each morning. So why was there such a long line at Starbucks?

How to Make It Work4Your Business

Whether the coffee is superior or the marketing amazing is not for me to decide – especially since “I do not drink coffee!”  

What I can say is, almost universally among coffee-drinking-people, Starbucks is the first choice.  Before pulling up at a McDonalds, one of our local Mill Mountain Coffee joints, or someplace else, the average drinker of that caffeinated hot beverage must consciously decide not to stop at Starbucks.  Let’s face it, they’ve captured the mind of the coffee-drinking consumer. Why else would people sit in a long line of cars and trucks on the road’s shoulder at 7:45 am every morning?  

Like Starbucks, you need to decide how you want to be known and then do whatever is necessary to capture that same loyalty. You don’t have to do it with millions of people like the green-branding beverage giant, but it is important you carve out that space with your key stakeholders.  Know them. Know why they’re buying from you and get them to make it a pattern, then a habit.  Intentionally make your product (or service) the very first (and maybe only) consideration for your customers or clients. Start small, but with purpose. Then grow and expand.

Before you know it, people will be standing (or driving) in line to do business with you.  

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The way we work has changed dramatically in the last few decades. Advancements in technology allow us to work from anywhere, anytime, and collaborate with colleagues from all over the globe. This change in accessibility can make it hard to find time for life outside of the office. If you’re feeling like your job is taking over your life, it may be time to take some steps toward creating a healthy work/life balance that works best for you. Here are some helpful ways to do just that:

Create Workload Boundaries

Email, text messages, social media feeds, and other virtual communicative means allow us to constantly stay connected. While these advances make our lives easier to stay in touch, it can also become much harder to disconnect after a hard day’s work. Establishing clear workload boundaries in your daily routine will go a long way toward alleviating stress-related issues.  

Begin with out-of-office communication. Healthily communicating contact boundaries with your team will help you both in managing your time during work hours. For example, if a co-worker is messaging you on social media about work-related concerns late in the evening, you can politely suggest continuing the conversation in person the following day in the office. The same can apply for out-of-office text messages, phone calls, and emails. If they’re a good co-worker, they’ll kindly oblige.

Workload boundaries don’t only apply to communication. If you are in a remote or hybrid work environment, create office hours for yourself when you are home. Start by assigning a space at home, like an office or desk in the corner, that's specifically designated for work. When you're there, it's focus time. When you're not, it's time to disconnect. By intentionally setting aside blocks of time to focus on yourself without distraction from work or home responsibilities, you can help relieve some of life’s most common stressors and keep a healthy balance between life and work.

Prioritize Your Needs

We all have areas in our lives that deserve attention. Prioritizing those needs is important to staying healthy, both mentally and physically. Is it sleep, exercise, or nutrition? Figure out what you need to stay healthy and book time for it.  

Lists aren’t just helpful for buying groceries – If you’re feeling overwhelmed with work and homelife responsibilities, organize your thoughts on paper or online with prioritized lists. You can create multiple metaphorical buckets for your tasks to fall under, such as “Appointments To Schedule”, “Workout Routines”, and “Urgent Tasks For Today”. This way you can cross off each action step as you go without forgetting anything important.

Once you’ve figured out your priorities, schedule them into your calendar just like an appointment with a client. You’ll find yourself keeping up without even thinking about it—and before long, you’ll be feeling healthier than ever.  

Start Small

If you feel like your life is being consumed by work, start small to keep yourself on track. Maybe it’s going for a walk every day at lunch or cutting back on late-night emails. If you stay focused on one positive change at a time, it becomes easier to add more healthy habits over time. And don’t worry about perfection—even if you slip up occasionally, it’s okay! The most important thing is that you keep trying.

Summary

When it comes to work/life balance, a good place to start is to take time off. Use your paid vacation time (PTO) and create a plan to unplug while you're away from work. Stepping away from work (and what may also be stress and pressure) is important for not only our mental health but for personal relationships in our lives.  

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Feeling anxious about taking a vacation this year? We're here to help. Learn how we elevate your business at 5PointsCreative.com/services.  

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