A SMART goal is simply a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based goal. Goal setting is an integral part for organizational success. Unfortunately, most businesses do not know where to begin when it comes to properly setting and identifying expectations with regard to their employees. This is unfortunate because proper goal setting and management are critical to achieving business success. The following are the four components that make up a SMART goal.

Specific: A clear-cut definition of what is a SMART goal enables the leaders to set clear objectives and timetables. If everyone within your organization is unsure of what is a SMART goal, then there is no way your team will achieve the objectives you have set down. The specific should be well defined, particular, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely. If it is not specific, then it is worthless to your team. On the other hand, if it is too general and vague, it leaves room for interpretation and the risk that it may not be met.

Measurable: A clear understanding of what is a SMART goal enables you to set quantitative goals and compare them with realistic and achievable objectives. If you cannot make a quantitative determination for all of the SMART goals you want to achieve, then how do you know if they are important or not? This is where smart goals come into play. Smart goals tell you what to aim for, when to aim for it, what to measure and how to measure it. These factors enable you to see the relative importance of each goal. For example, a specific goal like “establish more sales” may mean many different things to different people depending on their own needs.

Relevant: You can’t just make up random goals. The best way to use smart goals is to tie them to something that directly impacts your success. For example, if your company’s revenue comes primarily from Internet sales, set a goal-setting method that ties that goal to Internet sales. That way, when you view your yearly performance against that goal, you will see how well the company has done against that goal. If it does not meet its targets, change the goal-setting method.

Accurate and Attainable: Smart goals need to be both accurate and attainable. Make sure they are precise and make sure they are relevant to your business. An easy way to check for accuracy and relevance is to imagine what it would feel like to have the following elements: an effective leader, the right people in an ideal situation, a great product, and excellent results. If you do not have any of these elements, adjust your goal-setting method.

Quick Results: A big part of smart goals is the need to keep them simple. For example, if you want to achieve increased sales for your business by raising your annual customer income, keep your goal simple. Increase annual customer revenue by only $5k per year. Keep your other smart goals similarly simple, as long as they have to do with achieving your business’s success.

Relevant: Smart goals have to be accurately targeted. Make sure your goals are relevant, as well. An easy way to do this is to determine if your goal-setting method will work if…for example, if you make sales at a certain point in the year and then fail to get sales at the end of the year. If your goal-setting method states that you will need to increase sales at certain points throughout the year, make sure it is accurate and relevant to your specific business’s goals.

Too Long A Timeline: As mentioned above, the biggest SMART goal mistake is not having a timeline or deadline for reaching success. If you have a timeline, make sure it is detailed enough to show how progress is being made on a regular basis. Many businesses owners make the mistake of only detailing their progress when their goals are complete.

TAMPA, FLORIDA – September 2,2020 – Triassic Media Group wins the “Best Multi-Industry Copywriting Content Agency” Award as a part of the Media Innovator Awards 2020. 

Triassic Media Group completes around 1,500 client writing projects each year, including website pages, blog posts, press releases, white papers, ebooks, and more. The team includes MFA level creative writing experts.

“We’re honored to win this year’s Media Innovator Award,” says Melanie Green, the CEO of the Triassic Media Group. “We love to help clients of all sizes with their content marketing needs. It’s a real passion of ours. As we’ve expanded our business over the years, we’ve been very grateful to the companies that have partnered with us and enabled us to grow together.” 

Triassic Media Group was founded by Melanie Green in 2015. In 2019, the company left its downtown Tampa office in favor of remote work for its team. The company has the processes, project management systems, and team in place to successfully manage its operations to meet client deadlines and create high quality content.

After the 2019 successful awards selection, Corporate Vision Magazine started its search for this second year’s winner of Media Innovator Awards.  It gathered nominations from their readers and was checked internally by their Coordinator, Jazmin Collins. To view the complete list of winners, visit: https://www.cv-magazine.com/winners-list/?award=2700-2020.

The winner of this award is not only based on the number of votes obtained but, most importantly, to the excellence of the individual or company products and services in the industry. Corporate Vision Magazine determines the winner who presents dedication to providing and sustaining innovative work services. Together with comprehensive skills and expertise, customer service and satisfaction are the main criteria for the winner.

About Triassic Media Group

Triassic Media Group is a Tampa, FL-based content marketing agency that provides copywriting services to businesses. They work with companies who need vetted writers to add to their existing writing teams, as well as companies who want to outsource all of their writing needs to a reliable team of expert writers so they can focus on running their businesses. Most of their work includes writing blog posts, press releases, website pages, and email marketing campaigns. Email the company at info@triassicmedia.com to schedule a call to discuss any content writing needs.

About Media Innovator Awards

Media Innovator Awards is hosted by Corporate Vision Magazine. The award is open to individuals and businesses that highly contributed to the media industry. This award is to appreciate people who work behind the scenes that strive to provide the best services in the continuous business and market trends change, particularly in the online platform and social media technology. 

About Corporate Vision Magazine

Corporate Vision Magazine is a publishing company that specializes in corporate news. It provides a valuable source of significant topics, from business strategy and analysis to leadership, rising trends in the market, and other vital issues that can help business leaders manage and improve their operations towards a successful company. 

This is a guest post from an awesome freelance writer we work with named Mary Cullen. To learn more about Mary, check out her portfolio at: https://marycullen.contently.com/

There are many common mistakes that are made when people are writing. Whether writing a letter, an essay, an article or an email, it is important to be conscious of what you are writing. Here are 5 common mistakes people make that can be easily avoided and some simple examples to help you remember.  

Your / You’re

Your and you’re are commonly used incorrectly when writing. Understanding the difference between the two can help you to avoid making this mistake. Your is possessive meaning belonging to you. Examples of your would be: your dog, your car, your house. You’re is a contraction meaning you are. Examples of you’re would be: you’re beautiful, you’re an inspiration, you’re a hard worker. 

Two / Too / To

When looking at the words to, too and two, the two is the least of the problems when using these words incorrectly in writing. This is because the word two is a number and is only used as a number. The words to and too however are more commonly misused. Remembering that too is an adverb that can mean “excessively” or “also”, can help to avoid using it improperly. Examples of too would be: The soup is too hot., or She will be going too. To is a preposition and has multiple meanings. Examples of to would be: I am going to the movies., The toy belongs to the child. 

Their / There / They’re

These words, even though they sound the same when spoken, provoke different meaning when used properly in writing. Their is possessive and shows ownership. Examples of their would be: Their cat is in our bushes., We are going to their house. There is an adverb and shows a place or direction. Examples of there would be: Let’s sit over there., We are going there tomorrow. They’re is a contraction meaning they are. Examples of they’re would be: I know they’re going as well., They’re at the store already.  

It’s / Its

The use of these two words is seen incorrectly in writing consistently. As simple as it may seem to get it right, it seems just as simple to make this mistake. It’s is a contraction meaning it is or it has. Check your sentence. Replace it’s with it is or it has and see if it makes sense. Examples of it’s would be: It’s raining in the city today., Wear a jacket when it’s cold out. Its shows possession. Examples of its would be: The cat ate its food., The tree lost its leaves. 

Affect / Effect

The confusion around the use of these words is real and extremely common. Knowing the difference between the two is key to avoiding misusing them. Affect is a verb and will cause a change in something or influence it. Examples of affect would be: The amount of rain will affect the time we leave., Your experience will affect whether or not you are considered for the position. Effect is a noun and can be usually thought of as the result of change. Examples of effect would be: A good night’s sleep can have a positive effect on your health., The effect from the medicine was immediate.

Grammar mistakes within the English language happen every minute of every day. With the use of contractions, homophones, silent e, and so much more, writing can become confusing. Find examples of the words that confuse you, write them down for reference, and go and write with confidence.

Mary Cullen is a freelance writer living in Tampa Florida. She likes to write about marketing, lifestyle, health and fitness. To hire Mary for freelance writing assignments email mecullen50@gmail.com

With so many social media platforms and online tools, knowing which ones to maintain a company presence on can be difficult. One tool all companies should utilize is adding a blog to your company’s website. Here are some of the benefits of starting a company blog.

Increase Organic Traffic

Blogging is an ideal way to incorporate SEO best practices into your company’s website, which can help it rank higher in search engine results. Blog posts can be created from lists of common questions your customers have, keywords they use when looking for a business like yours, and its services. This gives your website more pages to attract traffic. 

Low Cost Campaigns

If your company already pays for its website hosting and domain, it doesn’t cost anything to put up a blog post. While you might have to pay a writer or a staff member once to create the blog content, you won’t have to pay anything to publish it. You can then share your company’s original content on your business’s Facebook page and Twitter account to expand its reach even further without investing more money into it. 

If social media shares of your company’s blog posts drive more traffic to your website in a way that increases sales or other key metrics, investing in paid social campaigns could be another relatively low cost way to benefit from blog post content. As long as you’ve narrowed your target audience and have clear goals identified, paid social media campaigns can be successful. It is just imperative that you monitor it for results and adjust the campaign if needed. There’s no reason to pay for a social media campaign that isn’t garnering results.

Benefit from Evergreen Content

Evergreen content remains relevant over time. Unlike a blog post that features information about the employee of the month (who will likely leave someday) or upcoming menu items for a restaurant, evergreen content will remain accurate even several years after it is posted. This makes evergreen content more valuable as the same blog post can continue to attract visitors, bulk up the amount of quality content on your company’s website, and be shared over time.

Become an Industry Expert

Customers want to buy products and services from the best, most informed companies in the market. When you want to buy high quality outdoor sporting equipment, most customers want to buy it from REI over Ralph’s Sports Goods. REI publishes so much educational blog content and guides on its website, product catalogs, and other digital marketing content. It is seen as an industry leader and an expert. Having a company blog can help you develop that kind of industry expertise.

There are two key factors in developing industry expertise through blog content. First, your blog’s content must provide valuable information that your target audience wants to know about. In the case of REI, teaching customers how to skateboard enables people to learn how to participate in a new hobby. These customers wouldn’t have otherwise purchased a skateboard just might. They feel better buying a skateboard from a company with established expertise.

Second, the content must be better than the blog content that already exists. It isn’t enough to simply regurgitate the information that you can find on competitor websites and online publications. Craft compelling posts that delve deeper into topics and give a fresh perspective.

There are many reasons to start a company blog, from increased website traffic to developing long lasting, evergreen content. If you opt to start a company blog, decide how often to post and stick with it. Consistent blog posts perform better than one-off blog posts.

 

This is not a political post. It doesn’t matter whether you hate President Donald Trump or think he’s the freshest breath of air. It doesn’t matter what you think of his politics or the future.

As a business owner, there are a lot of business marketing lessons that you can learn from Donald Trump and his presidency. This post focuses on that. Here are just three of the business marketing lessons you can learn from President Donald Trump.

Diversion

There is some speculation that Donald Trump uses Twitter as a way to distract or divert the attention of the public away from something else. As a business owner, this is a marketing lesson worth learning. You have a lot of control over how your marketing efforts are perceived by using the power of diversion.

For example, let’s assume your company received some negative reviews that you don’t agree with online on your company’s Facebook page. You’re concerned about how the negative attention will impact your company. You could fight with the customer, leaving defensive feedback. However, you know this won’t go well.

Instead, you can create a diversion so new customers stay on the message you want them to see. First, ask your happy customers to leave reviews on your page about their honest experiences, since happy customers are less likely to leave feedback than unhappy ones. Second, create a social media campaign that showcases your favorite customers. This will attract attention away from the negative reviews.

Silence

Something that Donald Trump’s critics and supporters agree upon is that silence would go a long way toward fixing public perception. This is exceptionally true in business.

Do you remember SeaWorld’s initial response to the flack they got from the documentary called Blackfish? The company became offensive and defensive, which aren’t flattering responses.

If the company stayed silent about it instead of trolling the haters, the company might have sustained less damage over the long haul. Any time your company faces adversity, weigh the benefits of changing the conversation, which SeaWorld could have done earlier by focusing more on its conservation efforts earlier, or staying silent.

Clear Messaging

Donald Trump has a casual way of writing that makes it difficult to fully understand what he’s saying. Confefe aside, there’s something to be said about honesty and clarity, as well as using direct langauge.  This has been evident with the recent transgender military ban and the previous Muslim ban. Clear messaging would have gone far.

In the case of your company, make sure whatever message you send out is consistent. If your policy is to not give away free sauces, all of your locations need to have the same policy.

If you need help crafting high quality written content, email us directly at info@triassicmedia.com. We’d love to help.

When you think about the history of personal computing, most people have only had access to laptops and desktop computers in their homes for the past 20 or so years. For senior citizens, many of them never had to learn how to use a computer or to look something up on the internet. As such, it can be difficult for them to understand why website development is such an important aspect of your business.

Here’s how to explain website development to your grandparents.

The Business Directory or Phone Book

Most senior citizens know how important it was to keep a copy of any business directory or phone book that they got, just in case they needed to get in touch with a local business. After all, you never know when you’d need a plumber or a roofer.

Let them know how websites now serve as a phone book of sorts. When prospective customers need a plumber or a roofer, they’d search for one in a search engine like Google. The business’s website is what would show up. Instead of having a single line to let customers know about their services, the business has an unlimited amount of pages.

The First Impression

While many businesses still rely on business cards and brochures as a part of their marketing efforts, a website is a business’s first impression. While a professional, well-written website says a lot about what it would be like to work with a business, a typo-filled website with little content says the opposite.

If you need help creating a professional website, contact the Triassic Media Group at info@triassicmedia.com.

When you first start a business, you aren’t likely to see any profit for 2 years. (Most businesses won’t make profit until this time). Plus, you’ll see an increased amount of expenses. If you quite your full time job to start your business, you’ll have to find a different way to pay your bills and your savings will seem to drain quickly. Even if you kept your job, marketing materials and the sheer costs of growing your business can make it seem like you have no money…ever.

Here are some simple strategies to save money on your new business.

Do It Yourself

Whatever you can do yourself, try to do it yourself. If you need to make cold calls, make them yourself. If you feel that you’re terrible at it, cold calling is a skill you can learn about and practice. If envelopes need to be stuffed, don’t pay your family member to do it. Stuff them on your own.

Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to do it yourself. This is when learning a new skill would take up a tremendous amount of time you could use selling or the task requires expertise to complete correctly. Some tasks not worth trying to do it yourself:

• Building a Website
• Designing a Logo
• Writing Website Content

Avoid Lead Generation Scams

You don’t need to pay someone to list your business in an online directory, as you can do this yourself. You also don’t need someone to find your business leads. Finding leads can be extremely simple to do, especially when you first start out. To get your first set of business leads:

• Attend networking meetings to meet other businesses
• Go door to door introducing yourself at an office park
• Pay a nominal fee to participate in a vendor event
• Perform a simple Google search for relevant businesses to your target market

Choose Free Alternatives

One of the biggest mistakes that new businesses make is that new business owners choose a high price solution they think they need instead of a free solution. Perhaps they do not know that a free solution is available or that it is somehow inferior to a paid solution. Other times there are free versions available of some of the most popular programs.

If you’re a new business owner, become extremely familiar with the following free programs. They’ll save you money and hassle.

• Basecamp
• Trello
• Zoho Mail
• Skype
• Google Voice
• Wave Accounting

It’s an exciting time to start a business. However, it’s also difficult. If you’d like some help along the way, email info@triassicmedia.com. We’d love to be your partner in business success.

 

2016 has been a monumental year for the Triassic Media Group. Sure, we’ve had our share of setbacks, like when our neighbors turned off our air conditioning over the summer. But this year’s had so many achievements, too! Here are some of the best highlights of 2016:

• We completed more than 1,800 different projects for our clients!
• We beat our goal of 40 new long-term clients and secured 45 new clients.
• We moved our headquarters to the Madison Building in downtown Tampa.
• Our team grew to include Elaine, Lindsey, Rick, Russell, Aloisa, Anna, Andrea, Jacquelyn, Larissa, Shamima, and Sophie.

How did your business grow in 2016? How can we help you grow in 2017?