Month: February 2024

The biggest SEO tip we have for local businesses, make sure your Google business profile is ready to go. So what is a Google business profile and how do we optimize it? Let’s talk about it. You may have heard it called a Google My Business Profile, which is its previous name. In a nutshell, a Google business profile is one of the listings people find on Google when they look for your business. When you Google a local business on the Google Results page, you will likely see three things. One, potentially ads running for that business or for a competitor. Two, search results that hopefully show that local business, and a Google Business Profile. That Google Business Profile is Google’s effort to make sure that the business is listed correctly on Google. When people talk about search engine optimization or SEO, they are mostly meaning on Google and not necessarily other channels like Bing or Yahoo. This means that when we think about SEO, we need to think about what does Google care about. Well, using the tools that Google develops is a great way to do the things that Google cares about. All of this is why if you are a local business and you have not secured or updated your Google business profile, you are making a huge mistake.

Let’s talk about how to claim it, and if you’ve already claimed it, some things you can do to optimize your profile. To claim your profile, search for your local business on Google. You might very well see a Google business listing for your business already locatable through a Google search, and you can go through the process of claiming that listing so that you can take control of the information. That will likely involve a phone call or a piece of mail coming to your business from Google. Google has been working to make the verification process harder, however, to keep businesses legit on Google business listings. So this may take a little bit longer than you might expect it would. It can also get way more complicated if you do not have a traditional business address. If you work under an assumed business name or you don’t receive mail at your address, it becomes more difficult to get verified. Google has been then implementing things like video references to help make sure that your entity is legit. Once you have claimed your business profile, be sure to take the time to fill out all of the relevant items recommended by Google.

The business category, contact information, and things like websites should be no brainers to fill out. The first thing you want to be careful about is selecting the right category of business, whether that be a physical business or a service area business. Physical location businesses are for businesses that serve clients at their location. Service areas are for businesses that go to customers’ homes or businesses to provide that service. It’s like the difference between a traditional dry cleaner and an HVAC repair shop. Traditional dry cleaners, you must drop off your clothing, so it’s a physical location. HVAC repair companies, they come to your home or they come to your business, which makes it a service area business. But to take it to the next level and improve your listing and your visibility in the Google ecosystem, add pictures to your profile, add videos, add updates, seek out customer reviews, and then fill out any additional categories that the Google business profile has options for that fits your business. We also offer this word of warning. Google business profiles can be very touchy. Google has a propensity to suspend accounts if they think for some reason the account is being spammed or being manipulated in a way that’s spammy.

To protect yourself from this, make changes slowly. Too many changes too quickly or significant changes like name or address can flag your account for review or even get it suspended. Even things that you might not think of can get you in trouble, like be careful of how many accounts you have attached to your profile. Less is better. Also, customer reviews are great, but don’t get fake reviews. Google is not very communicative about why it might suspend your profile. From our personal experience, a client’s profile was once suspended, and the best answer we got after talking with Google was that one of the client’s emails attached to the account was flagged as suspicious. Of course, there was no reason for this, but we are at the mercy of Google like we are most of the time. Fake reviews can come through incentivizing people with money or paying for bots or offering a trade for reviews. If Google becomes aware of any of these, they can and will suspend your profile or remove it altogether. Losing a Google business profile can be a significant damage to your business. Over time, the value of your profile grows as you gain more views and relevance in search engines.

Imagine the damage to your business if suddenly no one could find you on Google at all. A final note, we suggest making a task or at least an annual calendar reminder for maintenance on your Google business profile. At least once a year, you should revisit the profile to make sure that your hours are up to date and that you’ve interacted with reviews and that nothing significant has changed on the profile, and add some new photos. This will help keep the profile relevant and make Google happy. Aren’t we all just trying to make Google happy? And one more thing about hours. Recently, a Google search business conducted a study and found that open hours for certain businesses did affect their search engine results during their closed hours. Why is that? Well, likely because Google is looking to constantly improve the way their results are shown. If you’re looking for a pizza place at 10:00 PM on a Friday, why would you want to see listings for ones that close at 8:00? The world of Google is always changing. Are you paying attention? Or do you have a partner who is? If you don’t have a Google business profile set up, you might need to talk with a marketing agency.

We’d love to chat with you. Please reach out to me at kevin@adelsbergermarketing.com to get a conversation started today.

Kevin

We’re back with the Content Machine podcast. We’re joined again by Greg Hammonds, who’s the Chief of Public Information for the Jackson Madison County School System. Greg, thank you for joining us again.

Greg

Thanks for having me.

Kevin

Tell us about what it’s like doing communications for the school system.

Greg

Some days, I feel like Tom Brady working for Bill Belichick in the heyday of the Patriots.

Kevin

Some days.

Greg

Yeah. Then some days you feel like the West 10 Diamond Jacks. It runs the gamut sometimes. But I’ll quote Dr. Catlett. He loved to say, Our worst day is still better than most people’s best day. I think there’s a lot of truth to that. It is a lot of fun. We mentioned in the first episode, Dr. King coming in, having already worked in two school systems. When you sit down at the table, he’s providing you with some context you hadn’t thought about, whether it’s from the school board level in governance, whether it’s from a personnel standpoint, working with educators, or even a marketing standpoint. I get to learn a lot, and I get to do a lot. That’s what it feels like.

Kevin

Yeah. What have been some of your challenges in this role?

Greg

Yeah. I think the challenges that come to mind… I I think a lot of folks want us to operate like it’s 1990, and it’s not.

Kevin

Internal or external folks?

Greg

External. We can no longer operate like we’re the only show in education in town.

Kevin

Okay. We can’t operate. There’s competition. Right.

Greg

So when you see our billboard downtown, that’s a good thing. We want people to know public education is a viable option in Jackson, Madison County.

Kevin

But a lot of people think there’s not competition. You don’t have to market yourself.

Greg

That’s just not true.

Kevin

Why are they spending money like this?

Greg

Yeah. So on the ride down here, down the bypass here, you pass a billboard and there’s advertising for a local independent or a private school. Parents have choices. Choice is fine. We just want to make sure people know that Jackson, Madison County Schools is a great option, and they should choose us, particularly when you think about… When you think about return on investment, I think the public school system gives the highest return, particularly when you think about in the middle, in high school areas, career and technical education, where you have students earning certificates earning, obviously, diplomas, but credentials to be able to go out. If they choose to not, let’s say they don’t want to go to Jackson State, let’s say they don’t want to go to college. Well, if you’re in the culinary program at Liberty Technology High School and you get your OSHA certification in food service, now you could go to Old Country store or a restaurant and ask for more than the minimum wage because you have training, you have experience. If you’re going to go work at one of the local garages, and you’ve come out of North Side High School or South Side High School, and you have an ASC certification, you can now ask for above minimum wage because you’re in there with experience, with a credential that’s recognized in the industry.

Greg

That’s without any type of post-secondary experience. Right off the bat, there’s their value. Let’s take it up a notch. Let’s say you are very much focused on getting a college degree. Well, you have choices. You could go to JC, Marley College High and finish your associate’s degree before you graduate high school. Literally, those students, after four years, will graduate from Jackson State Community College on a Saturday, and the next week, graduate with their high school diploma. You talk about the financial value and the time savings there, particularly if you already know college is something that you want to shoot for. But then let’s say you want the traditional option. It’s funny. My son, we attend so many games and so many events. Usually, he says, I want to go to South Side because they knew I worked at South Side, I went to school at South Side. They’ve seen my picture on the wall. My daughter, one day she’ll say this school, the next day she’ll say that school. They’re all Jackson, Madison County schools. So knowing the value at all these schools, it’s really interesting. Of course, Madison’s the cream of the crop, public or private, when you think about preparing students for college, particularly at institutions that are specifically known for academic rigor.

Greg

Madison academics are at the top. But many of our traditional options, I’ve heard of students going to a North Side or South Side, and they’ll take CLEP classes and through high school, work on different credits for college. I say that to say, if you play your cards right, JCM, Early College isn’t the only option-For college, yeah. To get those early college opportunities. And of course, Jackson Academic Esteem Academy, our virtual school, has a partnership with Union University. So the students in JASA who are juniors and seniors, they’re already working on work toward a college degree with Union University.

Kevin

So when we were talking about challenges, so you’re talking about return on investment, which is when we went into the schools. But you were talking a little bit like there’s some negative perception. What’s your strategy for overcoming that negative perception?

Greg

Truth. Tell a good story. Provide them with truth and tell a good story. And that’s not just external. We also have to remind our employees about what the school system offers. We also have to remind the employees how important they are. Today is a snow day. The roads are still severe, and so students are at home. But many, many of our teachers since last week, since last week’s snow days, have sent gentle reminders. Hey, guys. Hey, remember, read 20 minutes a day. Hey, jump on Class Dojo. Complete this assignment, read this passage, answer these questions. Hey, guys, let’s make sure we’re staying academically strong. Many, many, many of our teachers do that throughout these snow days. They say, if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready. A lot of our teachers, Kevin, are staying ready. I know it because my own kids are in the system. But then a lot of my neighbors are teachers, too. I know the different platforms they’re using to communicate with their families. But just sharing a good message, reminding people about the benefits of public education, the fact that when our public school system is strong, our local industry is strong, our community is stronger.

Kevin

All right, so we’ve talked about some of the challenges, but let’s talk about the successes. How are things going? How do you feel like you’re doing? And I think you’ve won some hardware.

Greg

Yeah, I think you think about the best possible way to end 2023 and enter 2024. The Tennessee School Boards Association honored our school board with School Board of the Year recognition. And so that’s just a testament to the advocacy, the training, the board governance that our board’s doing. You know, it’s one thing, Kevin, to be passionate about an issue and running for a position for that issue. Yeah. Okay, but you still have to govern a school system in a number of different areas. And so what our school board members have done a great job of, getting training. The Tennessee School Boards Association offers training, in-service opportunities, and our school board members have taken advantage of this to educate themselves. You talk about lifelong learners. It’s most important in positions of leadership. Our school board has done that. And I think if you’re out in the community at all, the school board chair, Pete Johnson, unless you knew where Pete was from, you wouldn’t know where he’s from. Because Pete Johnson is throughout the school system in the schools, letting our administrators know they’re appreciated. You see them at different, whether it’s a Fine Arts event or athletic events, the school board chairman is out there.

Greg

And when the leader of your school board is doing that, you know you’re in a good situation. You have people in leadership who actually care about the product that they’re governing. When I see that, it makes me excited. I mean, it’s really cool to see because I think for so long, we didn’t have that. But to have leaders invested in the school system. Our superintendent’s son is a student in the school system. And so you just have people who have really bought in. And it’s been exciting to see. So, yeah, School Board of the Year recognition for our school board. So kudos to them. They don’t always agree, but more times than not, they come out unified. They don’t always agree, but they’re going to move forward together. And so I think as a citizen, to sit back and watch that, it’s encouraging because for the most part, they don’t let politics get in the way. And for the Tennessee School Boards Association to recognize that, that’s been really good. Of course, many, many, many of our schools have received individual awards or recognizes. By May, in May, the total number of students at JCM early College High that have graduated with an associate’s degree since 2019 will be 179.

Greg

So 179 students in Jackson, Madison County since 2019 have graduated from high school with that associate’s degree in hand. That’s just a great testament. And again, you know there are certain people you see in front of the cameras, but there are a lot of people back at the central office doing the heavy lifting and the planning to get things going. And in a few days, you’re going to hear an announcement, a major, major, major investment. You guys know about the Melissa STEM Innovation Center? A major, major investment from a private donor for Melissa’s Innovation Center. That’s coming up. I can’t spill the beans now. I’d like to. I probably can’t. I’ll just tease it and tell you that. But when you see outside entities-Investing in the public school system. Investing in the public school system. Say, Wait, wait, wait. We heard about this innovative platform you guys have for middle school students to get them experience. We know exposure is so important. Exposure in these pre-engineering in science. You think about mechatronics, you think about cybersecurity, robotics, And so the Melissa Stem Innovation Center is going to offer that for middle school students. The reason I’m excited, I fully realize not all those kids are going to go into engineering, but they’re going to matriculate to a high school with higher capacity for work in the lab, a higher capacity to complete into a study technology.

Greg

So that’s going to be a better biostem student at North Side. That’s going to be a better construction core student at South Side, a better automotive student, a better bechotronic student at JCM early College High. Those innovative programs at the middle school level is just going to make our high school programs better, and then it’s going to make our graduates that much stronger. So a ton of stuff going on. Those are two that stick out. You think about it at JCM High School this year, this school year, they started a program with Lane College. Of course, on the campus of Lane College is the CVS Innovation Workforce Center. It’s essentially Lane College working with CVS to raise up and train that next generation of pharmacists, of pharmacy techs, of health care professionals, where there are students at JCM High School that get to go to Lane College to take training in pharmacy tech. And so once those students complete that course, when they graduate from high school, they’re also going to have in their hand or certificate a credential that will allow them, allow them right out of high school to be able to work as a pharmacy tech.

Greg

When you talk about options and opportunities, Kevin, this is the tip of the iceberg. A lot of this stuff is located at jmcss.org. It’s really an exciting time to be in our school system, but none of this is possible without the employees who do the heavy lifting every day. We’re certainly appreciative of all of our teachers, all of our support staff. I was at the lift a few days ago.

Kevin

Brag about it.

Greg

I was at the lift a few, a few days ago. Snow day, so we’ve been eating more snacks. I’m just breaking even. But I saw my bus driver. So Frida Oakley was my bus driver when… Actually, I rode the bus kindergarten through high school, and I saw my bus driver, she was at the lift. It’s like seeing a family member. I know the way I feel about the folks who helped raise me. They’re another generation of kids in Madison County, and it takes a partnership. We need strong families. We also need a strong school system. Our support staff is added in that. When I think about what makes us special, truly, yes, the programs, but I think about the people, not just teachers, but also the support staff, because I just remember in my own context how important all those people were to me.

Kevin

Well, Greg, I want to thank you so much for your time in joining us on the Content Machine podcast. If people want to follow you online, where should they find you?

Greg

Well, they can find me on X, but I’m still going to say Twitter, Kevin, because-

Kevin

It’s Twitter.com still. Elon, figure it out.

Greg

@formersportsguy on Twitter. I’m also on Instagram, but I’m only there because I have to be.

Kevin

Twitter guy, though. Yeah. Me too. Solvably. All right. You can find more episodes of the Content Machine podcast on your favorite podcast player. You can find for the district podcast, too.

Greg

For the district podcast, jmcss.org/podcast.

Kevin

There you go. All right. Thanks, Greg.

Greg

Thanks, Kevin.

One really great tip at being unprofessional at work is stealing your colleagues’ food. It’s a great way to endear yourself to your friends and colleagues at work, living up to that TV classic trope of just stealing food out of the fridge. We see it all the time in sitcoms, so let’s bring it to your workplace today. But why would you want to be unprofessional at work? It’s a great question, and generally, you don’t want to be, right? But in the new book from Merry Brown, she takes a twist on workplace etiquette from telling you what you should be doing to be professional in the workplace to what you should be doing to be unprofessional in the workplace. By casting it in the negative, she gives you something that’s more entertaining and potentially more direct to those who maybe miss the general messaging of how to act in a workplace. Merry Brown is a local author up in Martin, Tennessee, and owns third-party workplace conflict restoration services, or, short-hand version, 3P. Merry has been focusing her work on helping people deal with conflict in the workplace in a way that supports everyone in the process. She has a lot of other books that she’s written, and you can see more about Merry at her website, 3pconflictrestoration.com,

She also hosts a podcast called the Conflict-Managed Podcast, which she was kind enough to have me on in 2023, and she has a lot of guests on it to talk about the ways they’ve dealt with conflict in their offices. I think Merry was able to see that these are common issues that people come up with when they’re in the workplace. She put this book together, largely, I would hope, for new professionals in the office. But it would also be beneficial for those who are unable to figure out why they’re causing so much conflict in the workplace, whether that’s because of a blind spot or because of social behavior. This would make a great gift for friends and family entering the workforce or something to have on hand for new hires to help them quickly acclimate to the workplace. It’s also written in a way that’s really fast to read and easy to digest, so it’s really accessible to a lot of people. Let’s look at one of my favorite excerpts from the book, Tip number 39: Don’t read your work emails. If you want to be unprofessional at work, don’t read all the emails that come from your boss or from HR.

It can’t be that important. They’ll tell you in a meeting if it’s really important, or they’ll call you if it’s super important. So don’t worry about reading the entire email or responding to it if you need to do something else, because obviously, you’re not trying to be professional at work. I have interacted with so many people who need this particular chapter read to them or perhaps tattooed on their forehead. So if you work with someone who is a nightmare not knowing how to act at all, be sure to look up How to be Unprofessional at Work by Merry Brown. Maybe have it mailed to them anonymously or just have it show up in their office but be sure to clean your fingerprints off the book so it doesn’t get traced back to you. Do you have any business books to recommend? Any books that have made a difference for the culture in your office? Shoot me an email at kevin@adelsbergermarketing.com. I’m always building my list of future reads. Thanks for listening to the Content Machine podcast. See you on the next episode.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned to a customer that it was good to see them working on their business, and they replied, “How do you define that? What is working on your business versus working in your business?” And this is a key thing to think through if you’re in leadership of your organization. Lots of people fail to work on their business because they are stuck working in their business. I define working in the business as anything that is direct sales or direct client service. Only the largest businesses allow leadership to be completely removed from working in the business. You have to have a really large infrastructure in place to prevent you from doing any real client work. These businesses get into the professional managerial world. While there are strengths to this type of work, it does leave a disconnection between the work that the organization does to survive and the leadership. On the other hand, if the organization is too small or the infrastructure has not been built up, leaders can get stuck in the daily grind, the whirlwind of doing business, and find themselves unable to lead ahead of where the company currently is.

Leaders in that situation are working in the business. Anything that involves direct client work or direct sales. In our business, building website, making social posts, and shooting video are all things that I participate in, but I classify them as working in the business. In the financial industry, that might include making a financial plan, moving clients’ investments around, or writing a new policy. Looking at it another way, it might be that you can’t get out of direct sales for your organization or have so many fires to put out every day as a leader that you can’t find time to work ahead of the company. It’s not a bad thing to work in the business. If the business isn’t successful doing the work that makes it run, leading ahead of the company is not valuable. But where people fail is not making working on the business a priority. So what is working on the business? Working on the business, broadly defined, is anything that improves the business or increases its capacity. Working on the business is working ahead of the current state of things happening in the daily grind of work. I think about working on the business in a few categories: marketing, culture, systems, people, infrastructure, strategy.

Each of these categories, when done correctly, increases the capacity of the business to do more work, to do better work, or to have more work come in in the future. Working on marketing is working on a business because you are setting up for future sales for the work. Working on culture allows you to build more resilient businesses with retention and happier employees. Systems help you build out processes that work towards allowing a leader to delegate work and free it more time in the long run. Infrastructure allows a business to handle more work and do so in a way that is beneficial to the company. People are the lifeblood of a business, and working to develop people into the right seats on the bus allows a business to crush its day-to-day work. And strategy allows you to set a course for all of these things to improve continuously. Working on any one of these things during the course of a week should pay great dividends in the days and weeks to come. If you’re in leadership of your organization, specifically if you’re at the top of the company, you have a responsibility to work on the business, not just in the business.

Your job is to improve the company and lead it. And it is really difficult to lead the business if you’re only doing the day-to-day work of the business. But how can you do this? One thing, and this is the biggest thing, just make time for it. I encourage people to time block things on their calendar to make them a priority. For example, I have each Monday blocked on my calendar for all internal work. This podcast, and almost all of our podcasts, are recorded on Mondays because that’s when I’m working on capacity building for the business. Tuesday mornings are blocked for business development for me, so I spend a few hours every Tuesday morning, or most Tuesday mornings, if I’m honest, on building business development because that’s something I have to focus on as well. The rest of the week is free for client meetings and client work. But what do you with that time once you have it set aside? I have two suggestions. One, work with a framework like EOS or the four disciplines of execution to work on a list of things to do to improve the company. Number two, consider working with an outside group like a strategic planner, a fractional chief marketing officer, or a fractional chief financial officer to help shine light on priorities to take the next step.

But to start simple, maybe take an hour or two a week and start making a list of things that you can do to improve your business from where you are right now. Then start taking action. How do you work on your business? Let me know via email at kevin@adelsbergermarketing.com. I would love to know what others are doing to make this a priority. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Content Machine podcast, and we’ll see you on the next one.