Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Guest Post: 3 Ways to Use Canva for Your Business

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One of the best things I did in 2017 was take a 5 day Canva Crash Course from my pal Emily Roach at Biz BFF. I knew Canva was a great tool but, it was overwhelming and, artistic and creative aren’t words used to describe me. I was thrilled to learn Emily is repeating her Canva Crash Course – starting January 22nd! You don’t want to miss this!

If anyone tells you that graphic design doesn’t really matter, they are straight up lying to you.

Sure, we may not consciously choose a business because we think, “Wow, their last instagram post was so well-designed,” or “I just love their font choice.” But if you’ve ever left a website because it looks like it was designed in 1992, or scrolled on past a Facebook post because you couldn’t make out the image, or quit reading a sales page because it was just paragraph after paragraph of monotonous text–then you know design matters.

But what’s a busy business owner supposed to do? We already have to be our own CEOs, CFOs, marketing agents, copywriters, and customer service reps… now we have to be graphic designers, too?!

If you’re already breaking into a cold sweat at the thought of designing your own social media images, don’t panic. There’s a super awesome design program that’s easy to use and totally free: Canva.

Canva is a web-based program (that also has an iphone, ipad, and android app available) that will turn even the most art-phobic entrepreneur into a designer in minutes. Canva includes hundreds of professionally-designed templates that you can customize with your content, colors, and photos in a snap. You can also start from scratch and build your own designs effortlessly. The possibilities are endless!

Here are 3 ways to use Canva to create eye-catching designs for your business:

Design click-worthy social media images

Design click-worthy social media imagesAnnounce sales, share inspirational quotes, and create your own memes. Canva includes templates for every popular social media platform, so you never have to remember which platform requires which dimensions. Just pick the appropriate template, customize with your photos, colors, and texts, and download! Canva even includes an extensive library of stock photos that you can use!

Make your own business cards

Make your own business cardsDon’t show up empty-handed to your next networking event! Design expressive business cards that show off your style. Download as a PDF to print at home, upload to your favorite online print service, or even order prints right within Canva!

Create engaging PDFs Create engaging PDFsNeed to create an irresistible free offer to grow your email list? You can design PDFs like e-books, checklists, and worksheets, right within Canva! You can even make clickable hyperlinks to direct people back to your website.

These are just a few of the awesome things you can create with Canva. Want to learn more about how to use Canva to design incredible images for your business? Check out my free, step-by-step ecourse! I’ll teach you the 5 essential skills you need to start designing professional images in less than 10 minutes a day.

Sign Up Here!

Another Great Reason to NOT Respond to Reviews

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My June newsletter was about what to do when you receive a review that’s not awesome. It SUCKS to get a bad review, especially when you know there were specific circumstances that lead to it (we aren’t always on our A game, they may have had a bad day, it was an impossible experience, etc.) A good friend of mine responded with another excellent point…

Gwen Montoya always points out that when you respond to a bad review, you are not just responding to that person; you are responding to future clients, who will see this interaction weeks/months/years down the line, and formulate an impression of you and your business based on how you handled this client’s comments.

This is SUCH an excellent point I wanted to make sure to share with you. It can be tempting to respond to a review and state your case. And occasionally you may decide that’s the right fit. BUT before you hit post on that response, think about Gwen’s point. What’s this going to look like to potential clients down the road?

My guess is most of the time you may be better off asking great clients to leave positive reviews for you to counter balance the one bad review.

How do you respond to reviews? Do you?

I’m Not an Expert, And Neither are You

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I was talking to someone the other day and they mentioned they want to be positioned as an expert in their field. As we all know, Malcolm Gladwell says that’ll take us 10,000 hours. Hop to it!

Expert, Guru, Maven – there’s a variety of ways we can present ourselves as an expert in our field. And I’m hoping to  never refer to myself as any of these things. I’m a business owner, who’s found my niche with small business owners, helping them with their newsletter and marketing efforts.

Should I be an expert? Maybe. Should I be on Facebook? Maybe. My ego isn’t at a place where I need you to think I’m the best at something and I have to do ALL THE THINGS to prove it. I have found my success in doing what I like to do, doing it really well and making my clients happy. When I do that, they refer business to me, colleagues refer business to me and I haven’t panicked about where my next client will come from in well over a year.

Are there people who are better at this and have more bells and whistles than I do? Sure. And if that’s what you want, you’re welcome to work with them. I understand. If you want to pay that premium price for an expert who will stick you into their cog, go for it!

I’m grateful to have found my niche and thankful for the clients who want to work with me.

And, when I hire people, this is the method I prefer. I’d much rather you show me how awesome you are instead of tell me.