2020 was a tough year in terms of helping clients survive the storm brought by the pandemic.
Because of my work as a business advisor for the San Mateo Small Business Development Center (SBDC), I was able to lift many clients up and created amazing impact for many small businesses.
Collectively, clients were able to access relief fund at state and federal levels. As a result, they were able to keep their business afloat. Some were able to pivot online or plan an exit strategy.
We are offering a High-Value Business and Marketing Igniter Coaching Program
Starting January 2021!
Only 3 Seats Available
Trial Pricing: $750/person (for 8-weeks)
(A total value of $1,850/person)
First Kick-off Zoom Coaching Session: Jan 26, 11am-12:30pm PST
Missed it? Sign up to get updates on when our next coaching program is going to be.
Are you a busy professional transitioning out of corporate because of burned out?
Do you want to go after your passion and start your own thing?
Do you want to make it crazy good and impactful in 2021? I’d love to work with you!
High Value, Business and Marketing Igniter Program (BMIP)
Give me 8 weeks, and I’ll give you a high-value coaching program that’s fun, focused, based on your strengths and satisfies your deepest needs.
What You’ll Get
You’ll walk away with an awesome experience:
Enjoy the most productive, 8 weeks of high-caliber business and marketing coaching in your life, experience a full burst of energy, creativity and mental boost.
You’ll feel free, knowing that you’ve unpacked your most powerful ideas, developing a clear roadmap with focused efforts to test and prepare for your big launch, and making it fundable.
You’ll feel happy and fulfilled, knowing you are investing intentionally by working with right resources who can help you get there.
How It Works
Phase I: Idea & Business Igniter
Date: Jan 26 – Feb 16, 2021 (4 weeks)
1.5 hours of intimate, small group coaching and engaging discussion to align your vision and personal goals to begin your awesome entrepreneurial journey.
Followed by a 60-minute, 1:1 individual coaching tailored to your needs, and get you ready to work on a clear strategy and plan to execute on your idea.
Up to 3 voice mail/email/text to address individual questions.
Phase II: Focused Marketing Booster
Date: Feb 23 – March 16, 2021 (4 weeks)
1.5 hours of intimate, small group coaching and engaging discussion. Develop a business and marketing launch roadmap using “Lean Canvas” approach.
Followed by a 60-minute, 1:1 individual coaching to help you refine your Lean Canvas plan, and put you in full control with a clear strategy and focused efforts to launch your product.
A bonus 45-minute 1:1 to help you finalize your Lean Canvas framework and prepare for a 1-minute pitch to your peer group
A 45-minute peer-to-peer review to allow each participant to pitch their ideas and get feedback to make it fundable.
Free giveaway: A simple workbook to capture your ideas and coaching session discussion.
Would you take me up on this offer?
Yes, sign me up! Email jenny@jennyhuangmarketing.com. Put “Let’s Make Waves” in the subject headline.
I will share out program schedule and payment details to committed sign ups.
(An edited version of this article will be published in the Los Altos Town Crier in December 2020)
The extended pandemic calls for businesses to invest in online tools that will enable them to engage with existing and prospective customers in more effective manners. Today, businesses not only need to have functional websites, they also need their websites to be ready in understanding their customers’ browsing behaviors, and responding to live inquiries instantly, without long delays that could turn prospects away.
That’s where marketing automation comes in – an enabling tool that engages with visitors who come to your website and have a way to identify their interest level. Then direct them to the right places to get answers and help, and move them along their buying journey.
Enhancing User Experience
With consumers having more conversations online via websites and social media channels, marketing automation tools on your website need to be multi-faceted beyond live chat. Depending on what stage of the buying cycle that your customers are in, some may feel more comfortable if they can choose how they want to engage with your brand. For example, someone who is still searching for solutions may want to watch a demo video instead of being pushed to chat to a representative right away. While others may be beyond their initial searches, and are ready to ask hard questions comparing a short list that they already have in mind.
There are many website marketing automation tools that do well in engaging with customers. Ones who can help businesses achieve greater results take into consideration of using technology that involves artificial intelligence and live human interaction to solve simple to complex issues.
Livehelp, Acquire, and ZyraTalk are a few SaaS marketing automation tools that I’ve researched and studied. Each varies in flavor based on their offerings and types of customers that they are serving. Among the three, I’ve had the best experience with ZyraTalk because they filtered my chat conversation and learned questions that I asked were beyond what a typical bot could do. They directed me to connect with a live human if needed. That’s how I was connected to their Chief Marketing Officer, Bradley Scruggs, for further exploration of their tool.
Going Beyond Live Chat
ZyraTalk is a game changer in the SaaS marketing automation space. Their platform automates webchat, Facebook Messenger conversations, and SMS conversations with 95% of them fully managed by AI-based technology. Once a conversation is completed, a customer service representative of the business using ZyraTalk can come in and take care of major issues.
“We help businesses engage with prospects the first time they set foot on a website, using our AI-powered webchat. After a business completes a job, messaging goes out to the customer to capture a review. It may seem that the relationship would end there, it doesn’t,” said Bradley. “We’ve taken a step further to keep customers continuously engaged with the business even after a job is done. Automated messaging goes out on behalf of the business allowing them to stay top of mind and strengthen trust with their customers over time, which could eventually lead to incremental sales.”
According to Bradley, ZyraTalks’ larger goal is to help companies be more efficient, by allowing them to offload their engagement with customers using an omnichannel AI-based platform. This helps a business’ employees so they can redirect their energy in additional revenue-generation roles.
Companies, however, are still responsible for all of their marketing efforts. “ZyraTalk’s webchat has proven to increase online lead conversions significantly.” said Bradley. “One notable customer story is that we’ve helped a $20 million home-service company increase their online revenue by $400K, from that of previous year. This is one of our many success stories.”
Recently, ZyraTalk has expanded their Growth Engine beyond chat to include additional product offerings with review automation and re-engaging with past customers, which have already proven to be a big game changer for their customers.
ZyraTalk powers thousands of local businesses nationwide. They are keen about helping local services companies in Silicon Valley get better business results. “We plan on ramping up our marketing efforts in early 2021, specifically in the Silicon Valley area, because customers in this area are naturally more excited about the technology,” said Bradley.
Now that you’ve taken your business through the initial fun process, let’s put your thinking cap on and build an initial framework to start transforming your marketing today!
*First, Know your niche. Identify your target audience who would love what you have to offer. Then go deep into the type of person (people) who would appreciate most of what you are offering.
*Second, Find your edge. You know what you are good at, and what you are passionate about in helping your customers. Go find and sharpen that edge.
*Third, Create impactful solutions. Develop solutions that are just as meaningful for you as they are impactful for your customers.
*Fourth, Craft awesome marketing. Focus on tried-and-true methods that you are excited about. Make it bulletproof like a launch where you have pre-in-progress-post phased approaches.
Lastly, stitch all of these together. You will have an initial framework to further refine and begin the marketing transformation for your business.
2020, despite its ups and downs, gives us the best pathways to learn how to handle fast-changing consumer behaviors with onset of COVID.
It’s also a year that gives us the best springboards to test, launch creative business and marketing ideas to help our customers stay relevant, and extend great experiences to their customers.
2020 has accelerated us to think bigger about our business, and be bolder with our marketing and customer experiences that we want to cultivate. It prepares us for transformation in marketing.
And it has definitely transformed how I think I need to market my business.
To transform, we need to step out of our comfort zone, and take our aspirations to a higher level, with vested interests and focus efforts. So we can visualize what that transformation may look like.
To get there, let’s first dive into The Fun Part!
Take your business through this initial process:
*Reflection: Take a day of two off and clear your mind from all the clutters
*High Fives: Assess your 2020 progress and give yourself a pat on the back or high fives. Celebrate with a glass of wine or what makes you tickle about the good that you have done.
*Aspirations: Be present with your professional and personal aspirations that you have for next year. Unload them onto paper.
*Kick Ass: Align your aspirations with your business model and brand. Let’s go kick some ass with our next marketing tips.
I am thrilled about sharing my knowledge on personal branding at the Berkeley Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum. It’s a privilege to be a keynote among a roster of esteemed leaders and speakers.
I am thrilled to share my knowledge in helping start-up companies launch and build powerful brands.
My recent conversation as a featured guest on The Silicon Valley Podcast, hosted by Shawn Flynn, offers great insights that are important for entrepreneurs to consider, when they embark on their journeys in launching and branding their companies.
Shawn did a great job in stitching together questions that many of his listeners have asked about how does a start-up launch and build a brand. We took the opportunity to discuss and address the various aspects in building a relatable and powerful brand. We covered topics ranging from product validation, public relations, social media, and when to invest big on advertising.
Also, we did a deep dive into personal branding for start-up executives and founders.
Click here to listen to the show. If you like it, please give me a great review on iTune!
You can also listen to it through individual podcast channels below:
These days, we all need a content marketing calendar, regardless of what you sell, or size of your business.
We need content to drive our marketing messages through promotions in various channels, from blogs and emails to social media and video production.
If you are a small business owner, you are probably the content owner, or may have a small team who can help you with posting, monitoring and analyzing your content distribution results.
How do you ensure everyone gets onto the same page? By creating a content marketing calendar could just be the answer.
Here’re a few nuggets to consider from my own experience: (or watch our clip for quick tips)
1. Align your content with product launches, major sales and marketing events
2. Identify themes for the year across your business
3. Assign content developers/owners
4. Plan content details a month or two in advance
5. Integrate those themes into your posts, support with varying content
6. Implement your content distribution consistently
7. Allow a few jet skis such as news and events to mix in with calendar
8. Monitor and review your Google analytics. Then modify
What else would you add to this list?
Stuck? Contact us if you need additional help in making your content marketing calendar better!
You need to know about Lean Canvas if you are an entrepreneur or a first-time business owner.
It’s a simple and strategic tool for all entrepreneurs who wish to put their ideas onto paper and bring them to fruition! It acts like a one-pager, mini business blueprint.
Why a Lean Canvas is Useful?
A lean canvas is best use when start-ups are in their early stages, and when they are developing products to address market fit. So you’ll know if you are building a viable business that has potentials to generate profits down the road.
Imagine if you spend thousands of dollars to build a product. Later, you learn that it has no traction because it’s not solving the problems in the way that your target audience find convenient, efficient, or easy.
Using a lean canvas earlier in your product development process allows you to learn fast and fail fast. You will learn quickly from research and know if you need to pivot and optimize for success. The goal is to help you build a better mouse trap earlier on, through an iterative process that has been proven. Once it’s proven, you can then scale for growth.
We’ve helped many start-up companies in unpacking their ideas, and turning those ideas into real businesses. We can help you too! Contact us and let’s work together to bring your idea into fruition.
Viral marketing is one of the strategies that start-up companies could consider to break through the clutter in social media content. It has proven to be a powerful way for a brand or a product to have its message spread quickly, from person to person, much like the same way that a virus (non-COVID, haha) spreads from one person to another.
Photo courtesy: USGS of Unsplash
Types of Viral Marketing
There are four different types: 1) viral video content, 2) viral social content, 3) organic viral content, and 4) viral email marketing.
Of these four, viral video has the most contagious content. Why? First, people’s behaviors through this pandemic has changed. There are more eyeballs watching videos than any other online content. Second, because viral video has more legs, if you put in the time and energy to get it done right.
What’s Considered “Viral?”
In 2020, to be considered viral, your video needs to have views more than in the thousands. It’s got to be in the millions. Five million is the benchmark to measure against, according to YouTube personality Kevin Nalty. When your video reaches 5 Million views within 3–7 days period after its launch, you have garnered a successful viral marketing campaign with contagious content.
Classic Viral Marketing Videos
Here are a few leading viral marketing videos with contagious content:
Apple’s Remote Working Ad: 26, 995, 436 views since July 13, 2020, in less than 1.5 months
2. Bill Gate’s Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS: 34, 512,817 views since August 2014
Although these videos are from celebrities or known brands, some smaller brands like DropBox had its moments with their “DropBox Explained” video.
DropBox has evolved. This video is no longer available on Dropbox.com. But sources indicated that it reached over 30 million views since its launch in 2009, making it one of the most-viewed product videos on the Internet.
If you like help in using viral marketing as one of your marketing arsenals, Let’s talk.
(An edited version of this article will be published in the Los Altos Town Crier in December 2020)
