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Equinox and Moons: Reaping What We Sow

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Wrapping up September is always a transition. Last week we celebrated the autumn equinox and this week we’re waxing in a new moon. It’s the time we reap what we’ve sown, as the Good Book says, and we plan for the winter months ahead. 

Speaking of transitions, Mother Fools Coffeehouse in Madison, WI, recently unveiled its new mural “Dissolve,” by Audifax. Since 2001, this arts-focused cafe has hosted a rotating graffiti wall. Isn’t this piece beautiful?!

Our Marketing Harvest: 3 Months Out

In the same way we’re now harvesting abundance from the garden seeds we planted in spring, so goes our marketing. Studies show the average time to see results from marketing efforts is 3-6 months (depending on the industry, that timeframe can extend up to nine months). This means the marketing we do now determines our outcome for the holidays and upcoming months. 

Need help sowing your marketing seeds? 

LET’s WORK TOGETHER

What I’m Working On This Month

Adunate is wrapping up a web design project for HUB Waukesha, a group of non-profit organizations working together to reduce health barriers and promote the well-being of the Hispanic community in Waukesha Co, WI.

I’m privileged to work with such caring people! Check out their website here.

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

  1. Sauerkraut! This was a good year for cabbage and fermentation guru Sandor Katz shares a recipe.
  2. Is Plastic Waste the Cost of Eating? Everyone needs to read this, everyone needs to do their part.
  3. 3,000-Year-Old Canoe Found, Wisconsin’s second ancient dugout.
  4. Farm/Art DTour starts this weekend in Driftless Wisconsin!October 1-10. Rolling farmland, art installations, cows, puppets, music, fall colors, poetry and food, food, food! A must-do for autumn.

Gathering Has More Payoffs Than Solo

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Aren’t birds fascinating this time of year? Every August, barn swallows gather on our electric wires and chatter, chatter, chatter. People in the know call this staging, but I like to think of it as networking for the migration ahead. We’ll soon start to see turkey vultures, sandhill cranes and Canada geese staging by the thousands in nearby woods and wetlands.

Birds don’t fly solo. They fly farther and more efficiently when they gather.

Adobe Stock

Entrepreneurs Need to Gather As Well

This past weekend a board on which I serve gathered for its annual retreat. We had the option of attending in person or via Zoom. I chose Zoom. I claimed it was because of my schedule, but if I’m honest it’s also because more and more I find myself reclusing.  

In bird talk, COVID, technology and working from home have enabled us to fly solo. But is this always the best? Are we missing opportunities to fly farther and more efficiently? Zoom worked well enough for my board retreat, but it didn’t pick up the in-person discussions. It didn’t cover gathering for dinner and social hours. It didn’t allow me to fully get to know my peers and interact with them. 

Opportunities for Gathering

As summer comes to an end, we find ourselves hunkering down for winter. Hunkering is fine, reclusing is not. Here are three easy ways to gather:

  1. Conferences, perfect for networking
    Depending on your industry, August-October and January-March are considered conference seasons. Now is a good time to get online and find one that relates to you. 
  2. On-site meetings, how quaint and old-fashioned
    I’m wrapping up a web design project and will soon tutor my customer for managing the site. We could do this via Zoom but meeting in person will be more efficient and productive. 
  3. Coffee, nothing more personal
    When is the last time you’ve simply gone out for a chat with a business peer or customer? What’s new with them? How have the past two years affected their life? 
LET’s WORK TOGETHER
Cover by Tracy Harris, Cricket Design

What I’m Working On This Month

August was a big wrap-up of the Farm/Art DTour event guide by Wormfarm Institute. Want a preview? Check it out page by page!

A big kudos to Tracy Harris of Cricket Design Works for the stunningly gorgeous front and back covers. If this doesn’t bring you to your senses, gee, I don’t know what will. I love collaborating with talented professionals!

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

  1. Please, not our TP. Sadly yes, PFAS have even been detected in our toilet paper.
  2. Selling in festivals or markets is an art and a science. Here, here and here is a 3-part series of good advice.
  3. Intimate portraits through 60 years of marriage, photography and artistic devotion. 
  4. Should you do a newsletter? Yes, newsletters and social media marketing have long-range returns, but here’s why they pay. P.S. I can help you with both!

Applying the Easiness of Amazon to Your Own Business

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We recently bought garden mulch and the business we ordered from made it as easy as shopping on Amazon. Here’s how it went.

While sautéing dinner and listening (maybe) to his yackity wife, my husband decided we needed mulch. Not wanting to buy from a box store, he googled “local mulch Watertown WI.” Immediately Bags and Bulk Landscape Supply Yard popped up and right there, front and center, was “Free Delivery, Order Now.” Within five minutes he ordered his mulch and it was delivered the next day. 

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

An Easiness Self-Exam

Two years ago, I wrote about helping our customers BE our customers during COVID. These ideas are still relevant, not because of pandemics but because that’s just how it is. Competing with Amazon is a fact of life—when it comes to making things easy for your customer, how do you compare?

  1. How easy is it to shop from you? Can customers order online? Do you deliver? Do you accept returns?
  2. Do you take credit cards? It’s 2022 and we don’t carry cash. Even farmers market and art show customers ask to use credit cards.
  3. Does your business take reservations? If so, how? Must customers call only when you’re open or can they reserve online anytime? 
  4. How easy is to contact you? Is your contact information easy to find? How soon do you reply? 
  5. What about your website? Does the opening page provide the information your customers need most? Hint: Each industry is different. Restaurant or store customers need hours and location. Customers of a service industry, such as mine, need contact information.
  6. Lastly, most importantly, how do your customers FEEL when they’re your customers? Are you making it a pleasant experience? Do they come away feeling happy?
LET’s WORK TOGETHER

What I’m Working On This Month

Food, Faith and Farming Network is a caring, generous and humanitarian organization that gives voice to the sacred connections between land and people. I’m so honored to work with them. 

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

  1. Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness, by Ingrid Fetell Lee: I read this book for design purposes, but really it applies to everyday life.
  2. How to Make Pesto Like an Italian Grandmother: Basil is coming into full season and pesto is a must.
  3. Always Home, by Fanny Singer: I’m obsessed with anything Alice Waters and want to read her daughter’s  book.
  4. Kayaking in Wisconsin: Love it, go whenever/wherever I can. Here’s a helpful podcast for Wisconsin’s best. 

Does Your Bandwagon Promote Your Brand?

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June has been a busy month. In my world alone, June is Trails Day, Dairy Month, Pollinator Week, Make Music Day and Yoga Day. I say “my world” because these are my interests, they’re the things I care about. And because I’ve branded my business according to who I am, these are also the interests of my target market. 

Yep, my customers and I are on the same bandwagon.

What’s Your Bandwagon? Does It Promote Who You Are?

A bandwagon is a cause or movement based on a shared passion. We often jump on a bandwagon simply because it’s the current trend, but ideally we should be supporting causes that speak specifically to our brand.

Supporting a cause is a first step. Talking about it is the second. Our customers want to know who we are as a business. They want to know that our ideals match theirs and we are a business they want to patronize. Speak up and let them know what you care about!

If you need help with this, let me know. I’d love to give you a hand.

How 3 Brands Showcase Their Bandwagons

  • Adunate’s target audience are women-owned businesses, sustainable agriculture and more. I’m proud to serve on the board for Women, Food & Agriculture Network (WFAN). 
  • My client Forward Mutual Insurance Company carries a longstanding heritage in Wisconsin agriculture. It regularly supports June dairy breakfasts, tractor pulls and county fairs. 
  • Hope Lake Country targets the unchurched with a goal of changing lives and eternities. Its members regularly show love by donating towards community help organizations.
LET’s WORK TOGETHER

What I’m Working On This Month

My Wisconsin State Park poster is hot off the press and it turned out beautifully! Get yours today!

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

  1. Grow Our Community Resilience: Save the dates for “Together We Rise, Exploring Intersectional Feminism in Agriculture”
  2. Imagine being a survivor of a school mass shooting. Let’s not set this aside. Listen to the message these survivors share.
  3. A Rare Alignment: See all the major planets bunched together in June.
  4. The Art of Fermentation. It’s that time of year when I revisit Sandor Katz and talk fermentation with Wormfarm Institute. Neither ever get old.

Are You Ready For Your Turn to Run?

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Did you watch the Kentucky Derby earlier this month? We happened to be passing through Louisville and everything—I mean EVERYTHING—was derby. And after Rich Strike’s exciting win, well, who couldn’t fall in love with that gorgeous horse?

We’re all suckers for an underdog. At 80-1 odds, neither Rich Strike nor his team were in the high rolling circuit. In fact, they were in the derby lineup only because another horse was pulled at the last minute. But if there’s one thing Rich Strike’s team was, it was ready. When the opportunity arose, they ran for the roses. That’s what made Rich Strike everyone’s darling.

How Ready is Your Product?

In this Forbes article Rich Strike’s trainer Eric Reed said, “We’re not supposed to be here, but I knew this horse loved the track. He’d been training so good all year.” Reed knew his horse and had him ready to run when put to the test. 

How well do you know your product? Is it ready to go when you have an unexpected “run for the roses?”

How Ready is Your Messaging?

Jockey Sonny Leon said, “I knew I had a horse for this race.” Owner Ric Dawson said, “We never enter a race we don’t think we can win.”

Not only was Rich Strike set to run, but his team was ready with their PR messaging. How ready are you to talk about your product? Can you run with impressive promos on the spur of the moment? (I know, I know, enough of the horsey puns.)

How Ready is Your Media?

Mercury Equine Center, the training facility owned by Reed, makes a bold online presence. Its website is supurb and the imagery is stunning.

Is your website up to date? Do you have quality photos ready for brochures, press releases and other promotions? Can people find the right information when they want to learn more about you?

Make sure you’re ready when it’s your turn to run!

LET’s WORK TOGETHER

What I’m Working On This Month

I’m wrapping up a new poster! It’s been professionally proofed, tweaked and readied for press. Watch for hooplas in June!

In the meantime, check out my Ice Age Trail poster for more Wisconsin highlights and make plans for your summer outdoors.

What I’m Tuned In To This Month

  1. Networking for Introverts: Four great ideas for when you need to act like an extrovert.
  2. Cool App: Everyone needs a household inventory for insurance purposes. This makes it fun and easy.
  3. Shaved Asparagus Pizza: It’s asparagus season and I love this recipe (actually I love all her recipes)!
  4. May is Small Business Month: We’re half way through the month but this site is a great resource all year long.