My fiance Lindsay and I recently made a big move in more ways than one…We are now first time homeowners and first time landlords. I think that our route is definitely the road less traveled, but I wanted to share our story and experience with my readers. There were lots of ups and downs to get us to this point, but I firmly believe that this was a great financial move and one that others may want to pursue as well.

I thought I’d share the video and back story, both can be seen below…

Last January my girlfriend of five years, Lindsay, and I got engaged. At the time we were living in a prestigious and highly desirable area in Orlando called Baldwin Park. Though this was a fantastic area that we thoroughly enjoyed for over two years, we wanted to begin building a solid financial foundation together and throwing away $1,350 each month in rent wasn’t the best move in the long term for us.

This being the case I thought to myself how can we minimize our expenses, save for a wedding and still become home owners and have our monthly living expenses go towards building wealth not losing it…

Then I had an idea…

Why not find a duplex…Live in one side and rent the other out.

I spent the next 6 hours or so looking at properties and finally found one that I liked. I also noticed that the property was a foreclosure that was drastically reduced. It was also in walking distance to a fantastic shopping area equipped with a 24 hour fitness center, tons of restaurants and a frozen yogurt shop (one of Lindsay’s favorites).

I shared the idea with Lindsay and at first she said “No Way”…I said hear me out and explained to her the goal and what this would mean for us.

I also showed her pictures of the property that I found…She loved it

We had no real estate agent, but both wanted to see the property. I decided to go seek one out…I walked outside of our apartment talked to two or three people and a neighbor directed me to a friend’s mom who was a real estate agent. I met with her that day and the next day Lindsay and I saw the property.

We were very pleased with it…It more than lived up to the pictures that we had seen online. This was in mid August.

We put an offer in on the property and it was soon accepted….Smooth process right?

Not so fast

The property had $75,000 in tax liens and violations from the previous owner. There was also some code enforcement issues and it didn’t help that the bank we were in contract with sold the property to another bank while in contract.

What was supposed to be a done deal in early September turned into October then into November…Our lease for our apartment in Baldwin Park ran out in October and was immediately rented out to another family forcing us to move out…We were now homeless.

We moved in with a friend, who was gracious enough to have Lindsay and I as house guests…after dealing with lots of back and forth over the next month we finally closed on our property the day after thanksgiving.

Now that’s something to be thankful for!

Lindsay and I are very happy with our decision and plan on renting the property over the next couple weeks. This will really help us subsidize our monthly expenses and help our marriage get started in the right direction financially.  After all who wouldn’t want to have to pay their own mortgage payment?  Even if 50%-70% is covered it’s still a win, especially in the long run.

We are now settled into our new place. I’ll post pictures of the place fully furnished once all of our boxes are put away, but you can see the video above that I took several months back of the property.

What do you think about this plan?

Is this something you would consider doing as well? If you know of anyone looking to rent a place in Orlando…pass them my way

I’ll make sure you get a referral bonus if they end up signing a lease.

This past week I had an educational session on branding, marketing strategy, SEO and social media at the Excellence in Entrepreneurship course for start up CEO’s and executives.  This Friday I will be speaking at the Invention to Venture boot camp about the same topic.

I finished up revising my presentation earlier this week and decided to share it here for all of you.

Let me know what you think!

All the best,

David

Last year on this date, September 6th, I officially started Brand Advance. We started debt free without investment and were cash flow positive from day one. We had a great first year & have an awesome team made up of very smart, motivated & talented people.

We’ve had over 100 design, marketing and consulting projects including work for tupperware, ucf, pbworks, samsung, Grow Fl (Economic Gardening) & more. We’re looking forward to continuing to help our clients reach new heights.

Many more prosperous years ahead…Happy Birthday Brand Advance!

ps…Stay tuned-new website coming soon

Robert Urban, Chief Marketing Officer of Brand Advance, recently wrote an awesome white paper giving suggestions on when it makes more sense for a company to train an existing employee, hire a new employee, or to utilize the services of a marketing agency for various marketing initiatives.

Here’s the link to download the white paper: http://bit.ly/cdYzO3

It’s well worth reading!

Here’s a teaser….

Robert Urban, Chief Marketing Officer of Brand Advance

In today’s economic climate, businesses have streamlined their personnel. As a result, many of these businesses face challenges beyond their employees’ expertise, knowledge, or tools available. Marketing is a key component in any business’s success and if your business isn’t equipped with the right tools and know-how, what do you do?

You could hire additional employees to conquer the challenges you face or you could train your present staff in the skills needed, thus inundating them with even more pressure. Or you can hire outside help through the use of an agency that is specifically geared toward helping you achieve your marketing goals.

Of course, there is no single right answer for every business as they are all unique and share different goals, objectives, challenges, and resources. Your solution is specific to your business and situation, but there are best practices and guidelines that can serve as a solid foundation when making this decision.

Download the full white paper here: http://bit.ly/cdYzO3

What do you do when you don’t have the necessary skills to accomplish your marketing objectives? Do you hire an agency, bring on a team member, or teach yourself? Why?

Feel free to share your thoughts below

Recently Brand Advance was referred to a growing author and successful business man to generate buzz and awareness for his upcoming book and tour. After several interactions with him it was clear that he was viewing social media as traditional “push” marketing. The points below were articulated to him in an email…specific aspects of the email relative to his business were stripped away for this post, however I thought it would still be beneficial to share this information as it may help others better understand social media and how it can help grow their business.

1. Social media is not sales

Social media creates an environment for sales to happen, but social media itself is not sales. If you go into a social setting and “sell” it is frowned upon. Selling in social media is like pushing your products in church…People go to church, just like social sites, for a purpose and it’s very interrupting to “Sell” and push a message at them…It’s better to engage with them and participate in conversations. This doesn’t mean that you won’t meet and start your relationship with your best and most profitable customers at church.

2. Word of mouth marketing is the most powerful form of marketing

When people make a purchasing decision they often ask others what their experience has been with that brand or person through a social interaction. Think of social media as Word of mouth on steroids. There are over 400 million people on facebook and millions on twitter…talking with friends, associates and family members. Crafting a solid social media campaign with a little oomph can spread this Word of mouth of your brand virally throughout each person’s social circle.

3. Growing Awareness & Respectability is Key

The key to social media is connecting with people through content and meaningful interactions and revealing your expertise and thought leadership in the process. Once people know and respect you as an expert in what you do increased business and sales will follow. Think about Donald Trump, his personal brand is synonymous with business success (even though he has failed many times, as most successful people have). But the key is when Donald Trump puts out a book, tie or anything else with his name attached sales will often follow because people are aware of his his brand.

Which brings me to my next point….

4. Build a community
   

People often buy from people or brands they have a relationship with. Building up a community of loyal and engaged advocates will never hurt. It’s called herd marketing….Once you have a herd (engaged audience) you can lead them where you see fit. Part of this is building your communication touch points and customer contact information….Facebook, twitter and email addresses.

5. Social Media ROI

If people are engaging with your brand and spreading the word through their social circle you’re getting far more value from a well crafted social media campaign then “traditional advertising”. Social media is also not measured like typical advertising…We can measure it on a profit and loss statement…but as mentioned social media is not sales, it creates an environment for sales to happen and helps you connect with your current and potential customers to break through the clutter. You measure ROI for social media over time on the overall company profit and loss statement, because it’s difficult to measure where a specific sale generated from word of mouth actually came from. In social media you measure the word of mouth, communication with the brand, shares, web traffic and other key performance indicators.

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If you have any additional ways that you feel help people to better understand social media feel free to leave a comment below.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can take advantage of social media to help grow your business feel free to give us a call. Our team offers a free initial consultation and would be happy to assist you in finding success through social media.

David

Last week a blog post that I wrote was published on Copyblogger, one of the top 5 internet marketing blogs in the world.  It was very well received and within a week had over 400 people share the post on twitter, over 80 people share it on Facebook and 40+ comments.

I just realized that I didn’t even share this post with my loyal readers….That is unless you follow me on twitter.  If you don’t…shame on you! lol

Anyway I thought that I would share the post here on my blog as well…Feel free to leave your comments.  Also in case you’d like to see it, the original post on copyblogger can be found here.  Enjoy!

So many people all around the world have great ideas, products and services. And yet some businesses do well, and some fail.

What separates the businesses that starve from the businesses who feast?

For the answer, we turn to another way people have been setting their feast table for hundreds of years: fishing.

Landing a fish, just like landing a customer, requires strategy and know-how if you’re going to come home successful.

Here are my top 10 ways to land the catch of the day.

1. Know what you’re after

In fishing, you always use the best bait possible for the particular type of fish you’re after.

So many times clients come to me and say, “I don’t have a target market”. They’re always wrong.

At a minimum, you should understand:

• The problems your customers have
• Their buying habits
• Their potential objections to your product
• Where they go to find information
• What influences them (their heroes and idols, TV shows they watch, websites they enjoy, magazines they read, etc.)
• What their core demographics and psychographics are

Even if your product “appeals to everyone,” typically 20% of your audience will generate 80% of your revenue. Your job is to figure out who those 20% are, so you can find the kind of bait that appeals most to those customers.

Bait that works for trout won’t necessarily let you land a great white shark.

2. Know where to fish for your customers

Determining the right fishing location can be the difference between a successful fishing trip and going hungry.

Knowing the places where your customers hang out online gives you a much greater chance for marketing success. Figure out which sites your customers frequent and you’ll have a much better chance of reeling one in. Try seeking out:

• Blogs they read
• Forums they participate in
• Social networking sites and other membership groups
• Entertainment or other non-work related sites

You don’t want to use a top water lure if the fish you want are feeding on the bottom.

3. Be aware of your competition

All fishermen guard their secrets closely, but newcomers can still pick up plenty of tricks by watching what their competition does.

I’m not saying it’s smart to copy your competitor exactly. “Me-too” marketing doesn’t work.

But learn from them and get a feeling for the overall marketplace you’re in. Incorporate those insights into your own marketing and content strategy.

By analyzing your competitors you can also figure out how you can position your brand to stand out from the crowd.

4. Use good bait

When you’re hoping to catch a fish standing side by side with a row of other fishermen, you have to make sure your bait is the most appealing fish food dangling the water. Otherwise, that fish is liable to go for one of your neighbor’s hooks instead.

Consumers have lots of options and offers dangling in front of them in any marketplace. You’ve got to have some pretty juicy bait to stand out from that crowd.

So what makes good customer bait?

• Magnetic headlines
• Compelling images
• Content that’s valuable in its own right
• An attractive niche that makes your customer feel “this is for people like me”
• Easy-to-swallow landing pages

5. Setting the hook

Just because a fish bites doesn’t mean you can reel it in. Many a marketer has a woeful tale about the big one that got away.

Once a customer is interested and bites by clicking through to your sales page, you have to set the hook by making an offer that’s so great it’s practically unfair.

6. Forget catch and release

Remember, it’s a lot easier and more profitable to re-sell an existing customer than acquire a new one.

So if you land a big fish, keep it! Don’t throw it back for someone else to catch.

Re-marketing, high-quality affiliate offers, and up-sells are great for keeping the customers that you currently have, instead of letting them drift back into the stream for some other savvy marketer to reel in.

7. Test the waters

Fishermen often track different variables, like what time of day they went fishing or what bait they used. They measure their results over time to figure out the smartest way to get certain fish.

Similarly, in marketing it’s always wise to test various aspects of your marketing campaign. Measure your results to see what works best, and track your results over time.

Try different images, headlines, or layouts to see which one maximizes time spent on your site, lowers bounce rate, and produces the best ROI.

8. Don’t get discouraged

Some days the fish just aren’t biting.

Sometimes you are not going to be as successful as you’d like, but it’s a process. Continue to educate yourself about business and marketing, keep analyzing your competitors, keep talking to your customers and refining your message.

Keep going and don’t get discouraged. Tomorrow’s the day you’ll get the big one.

9. Partner up to get a bigger catch

Fishing with a buddy helps you to both cover more water and come home with a bigger catch than usual.

If you’re hoping to land more customers than you’ve ever reeled in on your own, find a partner. By knowing your own skill set, you’ll be able to effectively select partners that complement your skills. This strategy can also help you get bigger customers than you could have handled on your own.

10. Enjoy the trip

It’s definitely a lot more fun to catch the big one than to see it get away, but no matter what happens, remember to enjoy yourself.

Entrepreneurship is a lot like fishing. Even when it’s not going as well as we’d like, it’s still a privilege to be able to spend our days doing it.

About the Author: David Brim is the founder and CEO of Brand Advance, an interactive agency that provides marketing consulting, web design, and marketing staffing to emerging companies. David is also the founder of GroupTable.com, collaborative software to increase group productivity. David blogs at Filled to the Brim, and can be found on twitter @davidbrim.

This is a sponsored guest post written by Chris Brogan on behalf of Trust Agents. Post powered by Sponzai