A Case Study on Douma Leadership
Sorry if I sound like a broken record, but there are some things that are so important in the world of digital marketing that I can’t say enough.
One: you need a good website.
And two: a good website is not enough.
Even if you know this, of course, there is a difference between knowledge Y doing. And it’s easy for small business owners and entrepreneurs to struggle with information overload when it comes to marketing.
That was the case with our client, Yvonne Douma.
Yvonne is the kindest and most knowledgeable human resources professional and communication coach I have ever met.
But he came to us with lackluster marketing materials that we’re giving him. She didn’t have any kind of digital marketing strategy and wasn’t sure how to get one.
Yvonne knew something wasn’t working, but she didn’t know how to get where she wanted to go. If only she could connect with the right people, they would see the amazing qualities that she brings to the table. And that’s where we come in!
Over the past year, we’ve helped Yvonne with rebranding, responsive website design, copywriting, social media marketing and advertising, and content marketing for her professional services firm, Douma Leadership.
We also provide the absolutely necessary cherry on top of all of these services: strategy consulting (my favourite!).
Throughout the process, we help Yvonne clarify her services and brand, and discover an online voice she can be proud to share with the world.
Oh, and we also helped her become a best-selling self-published author (no big deal!)
It has been a pleasure working with Yvonne and we look forward to even more success together in 2022.
“I needed to completely change my business name and contacted us for help,” he says. “My website is professional, easy to navigate and looks great! Susan and her team have been supportive, encouraging and challenging me to put myself out there and have the courage to be seen.”
If you want to help your small business achieve happy people and healthy profits through leadership development, HR consulting, and conflict resolution, we can’t recommend Yvonne highly enough.
And if you’d like to learn more about how we’ve helped Yvonne build her online voice to reach more customers, keep reading!
Step One: Strategy
You wouldn’t put together an Ikea bookcase without first consulting the instructions, and that’s just a few planks of wood and a few screws.
However, many small business owners jump right into the deep end of the digital marketing pool, with no plan at all. Sometimes they don’t even know how to swim!
And that’s where business marketing strategy consulting comes into play.
As a personal business marketing strategy consultant, I work one-on-one with my clients to make their marketing more powerful and effective than ever before. I LOVE seeing people make breakthroughs and finally understanding what to do and how to do it (and when these people are as lovely as Yvonne? bonds!).
For Yvonne, this has meant regular meetings to gain clarity on her business model, define her ideal target market, and brainstorm to develop the best marketing strategies for her business.
Yvonne and I still meet regularly and I always look forward to our Zoom sessions. We use them to make sure we stay on course and keep innovating.
Step Two: Refine Yvonne’s USP and Update Your Website
Many times, clients come to my team with a website and brand that just don’t measure up. This was the case for Yvonne, who had already put some effort into her online marketing.
Luckily all we had to do was order his logo, but otherwise he had a brand that we both agreed suited him well.
But his old website was not serving him. Not only did it look dated, but it also did not give a complete picture of the services and quality that Yvonne provides.
So our team went to work, creating a responsive and SEO friendly website that did a much better job of explaining Yvonne’s Unique Selling Position (USP).
One of the many advantages of having a web development company on your side is that your website can be easily updated. Over the months and through our sessions together, Yvonne and I further narrowed the brand, introducing new and improved services and offerings.
And since we built the website, updating it with new content and services is a simple and hassle-free process.
Step Three: Create a Landing Page
Websites are great of course, but they are just one type of online property that can help grow a business. That’s why we also like to help clients launch landing pages.
A landing page is a stand-alone, one-page website with a very specific purpose. They are a very useful tool to have in your toolbox.
For Yvonne, we built a landing page around a special webinar she created to help women in the workplace take back their power. To get the free presentation, people had to sign up with their emails.
So the specific purpose of this landing page is to collect email addresses so that Yvonne can grow her mailing list. And while we’re doing that, we’re sharing a great resource that personalizes Yvonne and helps potential customers get to know, like, and trust her. win win win.
Step Four: Promote, Promote, Promote
Even when you have a great SEO website like the one we put together for Yvonne, it can still take months to start showing up in search results – that’s how Google works.
And most business owners I know aren’t about to sit idly by for a few months!
That’s why we combined the launch of Yvonne’s website and homepage with a smart social media strategy.
This included the careful selection of content for their Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts, showcasing their expertise, experience, services and personality. We did this through custom graphics, as well as a variety of different content.
We also encourage Yvonne to push herself as hard as possible, and when she does, she always gets great results!
step five: the book
When you have as much knowledge and information to share as Yvonne does, a book is often the next logical step, especially when you’re simultaneously trying to grow your business and social media following.
A book is one of the best ways to really connect with potential customers. In this way, it is a valuable piece of marketing in its own right. And simply owning a best-selling book is a great way to establish yourself as an expert (not to mention crossing a ‘to do’ off your buckle list!).
First, here’s another big shout out to Yvonne. You can tell from the first page that REFRAME is a labor of love, and that Yvonne knows her stuff when it comes to relationships and communication. If she can use a plan to improve her communication skills, we recommend that you consult REFRAME: How to Change Your Conversations to Resolve Those Messy Conflicts.
Also, marketing a book takes a lot of effort, even when you have a marketing team on your side. We all rolled up our sleeves to promote REFRAME last summer, and those efforts paid off. For Yvonne, this meant stepping out of her comfort zone to make videos online to promote the book launch.
First we start with (you guessed it), a landing page, which we launched before launch day. We use it to build excitement, introduce readers to Yvonne, and encourage interested people to sign up for notifications.
We then developed a special bonus campaign to encourage people to buy on launch day. This included paid social media and Google Ads, a concerted email campaign, a press release, and additional organic social media.
Did the end work? Yvonne rose to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list in her category, and now she can proudly call herself a best-selling, self-published author.
And unsurprisingly, REFRAME is rated 5 stars!
Step Six: The sky is the limit
One of the things I love most about my job is how much my clients inspire me. When I think of all that Yvonne has accomplished in the last year, she gives me goosebumps! I am also exceptionally proud of my team, who have worked so hard to help bring Yvonne’s vision to life.
And of course, that vision continues to grow!
We are proud to support our clients throughout all of their unique journeys. Working for yourself is definitely challenging, so it helps to have an award-winning digital marketing agency on your side.
If you need help building your brand, showcasing your business, and turning your dream into a reality, please contact us! We are a full service agency and we would love to help you, just like we helped Yvonne!
For the success of your business,
Suzanne