A Week To Forget!
Events of this past week are disappointing and a shameful reaction that should never have happened. Violent outbursts and reactions to events that you dislike have no place in a free society.
Those who gleefully and excitedly stormed the U.S. Capitol threatening our leaders performing their constitutional and legal duty should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Those actions are grim reminders of what seemingly “normal” people can do when participating in groups and acting with a false sense of anonymity among others. Combine that with a collective perception of victimization and civil behavior falls.
However, even in the face of all of that, our leaders completed steps ensuring a peaceful exchange of power. While some acted in ways to controvert that transfer, America continued to move forward.
I am disappointed by the events, but still, see America as the “Shining City on a Hill” where Hope and Opportunity abounds.
I didn’t vote for Joe Biden, but he will be my President just as he will be yours. Where we agree, I will happily work with him to advance the promise that is America. Where we disagree, I will work for those policies and principles that I think best advance that promise.
In the end, we must all wake up and do the best we can with the gifts and skills that God saw fit to bless us.
Be sure to start this week with a smile!
Note: While this might be a week that we would want to forget, we must not! The events of this past week were wrong and should not be repeated. Lessons that we “forget”, we too often repeat.
Amidst our desire to engage and enact change, this is a reality that we must face. Most “change agents” highlight frustrations, objections, and other areas of dissatisfaction as a driver for the changes they seek.
However, recent social and political events suggest that negative motivations do not lead to long-term changes.
Honestly, basing movements on things with which we are unhappy usually serves to heighten unhappiness and anger because the changes they produce do not last. When things don’t recognizably change after “winning”, people are led deeper into places of bitterness.
Too many of our campaigns and plans are predicated on what we seek to prevent. We have just finished an election where messages were predominately about “stopping” the other side.
Democrats ran “against Trump”; Republicans ran “against Socialism”.
Frankly, our ballots would have been more honest if they would have read “Not Trump” or “Not Biden” in the Presidential race.
There is a solution!
The “fix” is that we base the change we seek on what we want; not what we dislike!
Imagine a campaign among candidates highlighting the policies or legislation that they would pass (instead of promoting that which they plan to “stop”). Such a campaign would likely be carried out in mailed flyers or on 30-second commercials.
As we begin the next upcoming races for 2021 or 2022 (yes – they, unfortunately, start now), let’s spread the messages and reward the messengers promoting ideas to be for (instead of focusing on those things we are against).
You in?
Other Links
2020 SEO “in review”
In continuing topics related to SEO (both review of changes as well as looking to things in the future), it is important that we understand where search-engine algorithms have gone and how they might change in the near future. If you are looking to advance your business with content, optimizing for search (as well as social) is a key skill to develop.
How To Perform an SEO Audit
21 Google SEO Tips for 2021
If you need some help auditing your search-engine results (both technically on your platform or within the content published to it), feel free to shoot us an email. We’ll happily review and share our thoughts on where you are and provide some recommendations.
Google My Business Rolling out New Performance Metrics
If you’ve not claimed your Google My Business listing and you serve local customers (B2B or B2C), you should consider this as one of your important next steps. You can check out these steps from Google detailing how to do it (or let us know if you need some help).
Les McKeown’s “Success Formula”
I’ve followed Les for a while and this post came via his newsletter this week. He succinctly distills and formulizes business success. It’s definitely a post to check out if you are looking to grow your business (or are planning to start one).
Niche-focused
11 Great Social Media Marketing Examples for Mortgage Loan Officers
Here are some good links for the Mortgage Brokers/Loan Officers among the readers. As mortgage rates are likely to change as the economic and political climates change, advancing your ability to attract leads and nurture them is only going to get more and more important as a success skill.
How to Stand Out as a Loan Officer on Social Media
Improving Facebook Ads for Lenders
Prospecting for Commercial Mortgage Leads
In-house Marketing Consultants for Small-Medium-sized Legal Offices
Marketing is a large expense (especially for small-to-medium-sized legal offices). As difficult as it is to competitively deliver service for clients with some of the larger firms, it is even more challenging to market against them competitively.
If you’d like to discuss your options between having in-house staff versus an agency handle this on your behalf, let me know. If there is a way we can help (either strategically or from an implementation standpoint), we’d love to chat with you.
