Archive | October 2017

Maria Ross Shares About Building Momentum In Your Business

By Cheval John

A brand is about building it’s reputation.

This was the quote shared by Maria Ross, founder of Red Slice, when she made her seventh appearance on What’s The Word?

In this episode, you will hear:

-How To Streamline Your Marketing

-How To Align Your Target Audience With The Work You Are Good At

-Why Some Businesses Might Not Need To Be Active On Social Media

-Figuring Out Your Goals Before Starting On Any Social Media Platform

Snippet of The Interview on Vallano Media TV

Full Episode on BlogTalkRadio

Here is the backstory to why Maria has been on the show seven times.

I found out about Maria through Twitter three years ago when Amy Schmittauer Landino mentioned about being featured in her second edition of her book, Branding Basics For Small Business.

I knew she would be a great fit for the show.

So we scheduled the show to air live on BlogTalkRadio.

Maria shared value to my audience on how she founded her company and the health scare which led to her self-published memoir.

I did not know she would become one of the most valuable mentors indirectly.

I also would not have known she would be the only person to have made seven appearances on the show.

Maria is an example of how to grow a business the right way.

She understood the power of the press when starting out with her business.

Maria did not go after the big name media in the early stages of her company.

Instead, she went for the niche media for the first few years of her business before the mass media discovered her.

She has shown her humility and giving spirit which has allowed her to get clients regularly.

You can find out more about Mrs. Ross’ company and her social media accounts at

Website: www.red-slice.com

Facebook: Red Slice

Twitter: @RedSlice

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Marilynn Barber: Author and Style Strategist

By Cheval John

This week’s episode of What’s The Word? features Marilynn Barber.

Marilynn is a style strategist who shares about what type of wadrobes is perfect for any type of workplace situations.

She is the author of the Amazon Best-Selling Book,”Dress Like You Mean Business: A Dress Strategy to Get the Career You Want”

You will hear:

-How Certain Style of Wadrobe Exemplifies Confidence And Leadership

-How Marilynn Came Up With The Idea of Her Book

-The Reason Why She Wrote The Book

-How To Build A Professional Presence On Social Media

The show was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network

Snippet of interview on Vallano Media TV

Entire episode on BlogTalkRadio

Website: www.marilynnbarber.com

Facebook: Marilynn Barber Stylist

Cynthia Bazin’s Transition To Founding “The Smart Chic”

By Cheval John

Live video has changed the way how we interact on social media.

Before, we would chat with many people via social media platforms like Facebook (Instagram), Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube to keep up with what is happening in the world.

With Twitter, it made communication much easier in “real time” because of the instantaneous response.

When live streaming arrived in 2015, interaction on social media went to the next level with no signs of slowing down.

According to Cisco, 82% of all internet traffic will be drived by video by 2021.

Which means if you are not using video for your business, it will become much harder to reach your ideal audience in the future.

Another reason why you should be using live video is to meet people you would not have met before even with social.

I was very fortunate to have met Cynthia Bazin two years ago via live streaming.

She was among the early adopters of Periscope and also made some guest appearances on shows which was hosted on the now defuncted video platform called blab.

Cynthia have the drive of helping business owners to be laser focused and her company “The Smart Chic” is centered on her values.

I had the opportunity to interview Cynthia on this week’s episode of What’s The Word?

The show was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network

In this episode, you will hear:

How she transitioned from a private investigator to running her company

Why she did not dive immediately into entrepreneurship

How to run a business on the side while you working in a toxic company

How she overcame doubts to become successful with her company

How live streaming help take her business to the next level

The importance of having a mentor

Why video should be part of the business’ marketing strategy

Snippet of the interview on Vallano Media TV

Full episode on BlogTalkRadio

Cynthia Bazin’s Business Website: www.smartchic.me

Facebook: The Smart Chic

Twitter: @thesmartchic

Did you enjoy this post and who would you want to make a guest appearance on the show?

Go Where The Customers Are Located

By Cheval John

The companies or organizations who are more successful have this one thing in common.

They always innovate.

They look at ways to make the customer experience more rewarding.

We see that with small businesses because they do not have the resources like the larger companies to advertise their products or services.

The larger companies will buy space at major events like the super bowl and this year’s major league baseball playoffs to advertise to a large audience.

The small businesses will be more creative with content marketing because of a much smaller marketing budget.

They also know that if you can build an audience slowly through content marketing strategies (blogs, podcasts, live streaming, etc.), they will win all the time because they have earned their trust.

An example of innovation comes from mid-sized college sports conferences like the Southland Conference (SLC).

They basically formed their own television network, the Southland Conference Television Network, in 2008 and have brought many sporting matchups to their member colleges fan base.

Two of the fan bases within the SLC are Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) and Sam Houston State University (SHSU).

Their annual rivalry, “The Battle of The Piney Woods” moved to NRG Stadium in 2010 and has become a fixture in the Houston sports scene.

This year’s event drew an attendance of 26,792, who saw SHSU defeated SFA 27-16 for their seventh consecutive win against their rivals.

The rivalry has continued to draw crowds since they moved to NRG Stadium in 2010 with no signs of slowing down.

And the SLC dissolved their network in 2015 due to television deals with ESPN3 and other regional networks while at the same time focus their resources on their digital network.

Another example of innovation comes from the company, Paper.Li.

Under then community manager of Kelly Hungerford, who is now the owner of Community Works, Paper.Li built their company through their twitter chat #bizheroes and have increased their customer base.

The lessons here are as follows:

1. You must create your own media company.

Brands can’t rely on press releases anymore because they are considered spam.

They also can not depend on ads because people do not want to be interrupted with commercials that will take them out of rhythm in consuming content.

The brands must have a place where they can put out quality content that will help the consumer make smart decisions which can make their lives better.

And when the consumers believe they are being helped by the brand through their content, they will tell their friends about the brand.

Soon enough, the press will find out about them.

Look at examples from organizations and sports teams like the Houston Texans who created their own networks to provide content to media outlets.

2. You have to go where the audience are at.

If your ideal customers are located on a particular social platform, you have to be there as well.

When you meet them where they are at, you show them you care.

In the same way, both SFA and SHSU decided to move their rivalry to NRG Stadium after being approached by Lone Star Sports and Entertainment because the majority of their fan base lives in the Houston area.

Plus, they get exposure from the 8th largest media market in the nation.

More press leads to more recruitment for future Bearkats and Lumberjacks.

In conclusion, you have to be where your audience are at and you have to create your very own opportunities because the right people will always notice.

Cendrine Marrouat: Author and Photographer

By Cheval John

Cendrine Marrouat made an appearance on What’s The Word? to chat about her career as a photographer and social media consultant.

Cendrine moved to Canada from her native France years ago and have built her business.

She has written ten books including two on social media.

One of those books, “The Little Big eBook on Social Media Audiences” earned Cendrine an award for the 2015 Small Business Awards in the community voice vote in social media.

In this episode, you will hear:

What led Cendrine to move to Canada

Why she does not focus too much on the number of followers she earned on social media

Why she decided to become an author

Snippet of the interview on Vallano Media TV

Entire episode on BlogTalkRadio

The show was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network

Website for Cendrine Marrouat: http://cendrinemarrouat.com/

Twitter: @cendrinemedia