Green Apple Strategy Makes NBJ’s List of Top PR Firms

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What a year it has been! Despite having to make multiple shifts to our work style amid the global pandemic that has affected our world in 2020—socially and economically—we’ve also been able to see some positive outcomes. In fact, we’ve had the opportunity to celebrate a few milestone accomplishments. From our eighth anniversary to winning the Nashville Business Journal’s Best in Business Award, we’re humbled to have even more exciting news to share! 

Rising Above the Challenges 

Green Apple Strategy was recently named in the Nashville Business Journal’s top ten list of Nashville’s largest public relations firms. This recognition is incredibly significant for several reasons; one of the most touching is that our clients trust us to help them relate with their audiences and share their stories nationwide. This year has been strange, to say the least, but it’s these moments that show us how our hard work and dedication continue to rise to the top. 

“What an honor to be named in the Nashville Business Journal’s Largest Public Relations Firms in Nashville list! It’s been a dream of mine to see Green Apple Strategy’s name alongside so many other renowned PR firms in the city, and to have that dream realized in such an unprecedented year means more than I can say. Thank you to the NBJ, my team, and our clients,” said Samantha Pyle, Owner and Chief Marketing Strategist of Green Apple Strategy.

To learn more about this distinguished honor, and see the full list, visit the Nashville Business Journal’s website. 

Let’s Share Your Story Together!

Do you want to share your company’s story with the world? Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a PR consultation.

7 Key Elements of Eye-Catching Content

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The internet is a vast sea of information. Search engines help us find what we need, but even when we’re searching for a topic, we have an overwhelming amount of options. If you’re looking for ways to improve your content marketing, for example, you will then be left to choose from around 12 different articles—and that’s just on the first page of your Google search. 

Your audience is out there swimming right along with you, wading through the fluffy content to get to the good stuff. And they’re busy and skimming their content, just like you. So, how do you catch their eye? Grabbing your audience’s attention isn’t an easy task, but expertly crafted content can do the trick. 

1. Keep it concise.

We can’t say it enough: your audience is busy. They want to skim their content, because even when they do have the time, they want to spend it relaxing or enjoying time with their family. Give them what they want as fast as you can, and try not to overload with fluffy language that takes away from your point. Say what you need to say, and let it go.

2. Break it up.

You wouldn’t want to read a wall of text, and neither does your audience. What if you’re heading into an article about how to bake a cake, and you just need to know how to make the frosting? You’re going to want to jump to the end and find your answer. Give your audience a format that they can quickly jump around in. You may think, “Don’t I want my reader to stay on the page as long as possible?” Yes, you do; however, readers will leave your site if they don’t find what they want quickly, and they are much more likely to share your content with their peers if they find your content helpful or valuable.

Use sub-headers, bullet points, and numbered lists strategically throughout your content to make it more digestible for the reader. And don’t be afraid of short, quick paragraphs!

3. Focus, focus, focus.

The more specific you are about your topic, the more receptive your reader will be. General articles don’t grab as much attention because we are often on the lookout for exactly what we want. For example, if you want to learn how to make icing for a German chocolate cake, you’re not going to click on How to Make Cake Icing. You’re going to click on How to Make the Best German Chocolate Cake Icing You’ve Ever Had.

Even if you feel like specific topics may alienate parts of your potential audience, know that someone is looking for that particular idea. When your content is aligned with what that person is looking for, they will stay on your website longer and share it with others who they know need the same information.

4. Diversify your content throughout different platforms.

When we think of content, our mind often goes to blogging, but it doesn’t stop there. We must also consider social media, email, webinars, podcasts, and any other way that we communicate with our audiences. The beauty of solid, engaging content is that you can mold it to fit these different purposes. For example, if your company created an excellent podcast episode that others need to know about, add it to your next email newsletter, post about it on social media, and summarize the points into a blog article. Good content is a great front-end investment that will provide you with excellent returns.

5. Use imagery.

People are visual creatures. We’re intelligent, and we want to learn new information, but there is still an element of “Look! A pretty picture!” that catches our attention. We want to see beauty in our world, and the internet is no exception. When you’re doing research for work or learning about a hobby, you’ll most likely click on the article that uses visual elements. Not only do we love the way it looks, but visuals make information easily digestible for our brains. For this reason, infographics are an incredible tool that our audiences enjoy reading and sharing.

6. Put the content within your audience’s reach.

We all have friends who use one platform for their information more than others. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, email, or another outlet, make sure that your content is ready and available to your audience whenever the mood strikes. Work with your web developer to ensure that your resources page on your website is as user friendly as possible.

7. Look for creative angles wherever you go.

Creative content inspiration is everywhere we turn. We can find ideas in our daily conversations with clients and coworkers. We can find them in other content that we’re reading or something we see on television. We may even ask pointed questions to clients and others to determine what they want to learn about. You are out to propose new ideas, solve problems, and provide your audience with inspiration and solutions. Remember that as you go about your day, and you will organically collect potential topics to share with your audience. 

We can help you create and manage content that your clients can’t take their eyes off of. Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a consultation today!

Meet Our Orchard Members: Jenny Mann

Jenny Mann

What makes our team so incredibly versatile is our partnership with freelancers through The Orchard—a collective of highly-talented professionals who help us achieve our clients’ goals. The Orchard allows us to assemble a team (including our core team members) that is perfect for our client, and as a bonus, we get to work with creative professionals like the amazing Jenny Mann.

Jenny’s Role as an Orchard Member

Jenny works closely with our in-house Client Relations Specialists and Digital Marketing Specialist to produce graphics for various print and digital projects—everything from brochures, flyers, and presentations to social media and podcast graphics. She is our go-to graphic designer and produces fantastic work every time, without fail. Owner and Chief Marketing Strategist, Samantha Pyle, says that “Jenny has a wonderful ability to create graphics that follow clients’ branding guidelines and are totally unique to the client.” It’s her attention to detail that makes her such a great addition to our Orchard team.

Jenny’s Background and Career 

Originally from Bowling Green, Kentucky, Jenny has led a diverse 19-year career path, working as a designer and art director in publication, product and packaging design, and freelance design. She attended college at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She eventually returned to her hometown, where she and her husband, Brian, live with their two dogs, Pickles and Olive. 

How Jenny Found Our Team 

Jenny found Green Apple Strategy in 2019 through her ties to AIGA Nashville, a professional association for designers, where she heard that we were looking for a freelance designer. She thought it looked like a great fit, so she applied and began working with our team. 

“I was drawn to the diverse mix of projects and clients from different industries that Green Apple had to offer. As a designer, it’s refreshing to have a fresh set of problems to solve, and an assortment of clients to solve them for,” said Jenny. 

What Jenny Brings to Green Apple Strategy

Jenny brings a passion for branding and beautiful design to the Green Apple team. “Branding goes so much deeper than a logo or a pretty pamphlet, and making sure everything I produce feels authentic to the client’s mission and values is always my top priority,” she added. 

We couldn’t agree more, as this is exactly what we’ve seen from Jenny in our time with her—precise attention to the essence of our clients’ brands. She has an uncanny ability to tune into what makes them unique and how we, as a marketing agency, can share that with their target audiences.

Jenny’s Personal Life

“I might be a bit of a workaholic,” she says. When she’s not spending time on design, which is rare, Jenny loves spending time with her family and friends. She and her husband enjoy hosting board game nights and cooking together. And, of course, they spend much of their time spoiling their two adorable dogs. 

We are lucky to have Jenny as a member of our Orchard team and are thrilled that she chooses to share her talents with us. Thank you for your contribution to our clients, Jenny. We appreciate you! 

Could your brand benefit from top-notch graphic design services? Contact Green Apple Strategy to schedule a consultation.

7 Reasons You Shouldn’t Cut Your Marketing Budget in a Recession

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“But, we have to cut something.” You may be feeling as though marketing is the easiest line item in your budget report to slash. We get it. As we’ve worked through this recession, Green Apple has made cuts of our own to ensure that we’re financially strong enough to serve our customers. We’re right there with you. However, cutting your marketing budget can hurt your business long-term, even when it might help it slightly in the immediate future. 

To ensure that your business can continue serving its customers, you must consider a few key points. Here are seven reasons to reconsider reducing your marketing budget in a recession.

1. What if your competitors don’t?

You may consider cutting your marketing budget, but if your competitors don’t, where does that leave you? When you reduce your marketing budget, you decrease how and how often your customers see you—allowing your competitor to move in.

2. Your marketing team can help your customers support you.

The return on investment for your marketing strategy is still valid during a recession. While things are “normal,” your strategy is to drive sales and build relationships; however, during a recession, you are more focused on the relationship-building side of things and can keep your customers invested in your success. They love you as much as you love them, and they don’t want to see your business struggle. Your marketing team can help you show the right amount of vulnerability and transparency, while still sending the message that you are here to help.

3. Your marketing team protects you.

Clients often think about marketing as advertising, but it’s so much more. Your marketing team is telling your brand’s story, and that story must be shaped to align with the social climate—so as to not be insensitive or offensive. Using COVID-19 as an example, companies needed to quickly shift their messaging strategies to be sensitive and empathetic. Having a team on your side that can help shift and shape your message allows you to support your audience, while keeping your brand top of mind.

4. You don’t want your customers to feel abandoned.

Your marketing strategy strengthens your relationship with your audience. A reduction in your budget can leave your customers wondering where you went—or worse, if your business is in jeopardy of shutting down.

You will, of course, be there for your audience in a different way during a recession. Your messaging will focus on how you’re taking care of customers as the tides change. Marketing can tell your audience what you’re doing to keep their best interests in mind, strengthening their trust in your brand.

5. It may be time to launch that new product.

You have less competition during a recession, as other companies are focusing on staying afloat. They aren’t putting their time and effort into launching new products or growing their business. If you are in the position to, and you have ideas ready to launch, work with your marketing team to put your new product out into the world.

6. You will not bounce back as easily.

If you reduce your marketing efforts, it leaves you in a difficult position when you’re ready to bounce back. You’ve spent a great deal of time and money growing your brand’s reach. Rather than scaling back, discuss a strategy with your marketing team to find ways to keep your reach consistent. Once the economy is on an upswing, you will appreciate not having lost months—or years—of progress.

7. It can take you off course to meet your goals.

Even amid a recession, you still want to move forward. Your marketing team can help you keep your goals in mind and find new strategies to meet them. Don’t underestimate a marketing team’s versatility and the potential to keep your business growing, even when the economy is less than ideal. 

Talk Strategy Before You Make Cuts

Before you decide on your budget, discuss all the options with your marketing team. They can likely work with you to achieve your goals, even with necessary budget accommodations. Your relationship with your marketing team should be transparent—they want to see you succeed, too, and will do everything they can to make that happen. 

Ready for a marketing team with your best interests at heart? Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a consultation.

20 Questions to Ask Yourself that Will Improve Your Customer Profiles

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Customer-focused culture is everything. After all, serving our customers is what we’re here to do, right? When you take care of your patrons, they take care of you—and tell everyone they know about how much they love your business. One of the best ways to provide exceptional customer service is to understand your customer. The customer profile can help you do that. In this article, we discuss the basics of a customer profile, along with 20 customer profile questions that will help you build your own.   

What is a customer profile?

A customer profile paints a picture of your current or target audience. You can create in-depth profiles to understand your customers on a deeper level and use that information to better serve them. You can create a profile in any format you’d like, whatever helps you visualize your audience the most. 

Here are a few ideas that might help you build your profiles:

  • Create a separate document for each of your target customers. For example, if one of the groups you are targeting is young families with children, you will create a profile document for that group.
  • Consider using stock images to help you visualize your customer. You may find that visuals help fuel your brainstorming process as you dive into your customers’ needs.
  • Make the creation of your customer profiles a group effort by opening the discussion to your team. Group brainstorms can give you multiple perspectives and open doors to new ideas. Tip: Try free brainstorming platforms like Mind Meister to map your thoughts.
  • Use the 20 questions below to take notes on your customers’ motivations, roadblocks, needs, and wants—among other identifying factors. Leave space to note actions that you can take to further cater to that target audience category. 

20 Questions to Improve Your Customer Profiles

  1. How would you describe your typical customer? 
  2. What do your customers have in common?
  3. What age is your typical customer?
  4. What types of jobs do your customers usually have? 
  5. What problem does your business solve for your customers?
  6. How do your customers usually shop: online or in-store?
  7. What level of education do your customers usually have?
  8. Do your customers generally live in rural or urban areas?
  9. Where do your customers get their information—news, ads, etc.?
  10. What are your customers’ typical motivations and interests? 
  11. What keeps your customers coming back? 
  12. What is a frequent compliment you hear from your customers?
  13. What would keep your customer from buying from you?
  14. What is your customer passionate about?
  15. What is your customer actively against? 
  16. How do your customers usually find your business?
  17. What makes your customers choose you over the competition?
  18. What do your customers worry about the most?
  19. What do your customers do on a typical weekday?
  20. What hobbies do your customers enjoy?

Are you looking for a marketing partner to help you better understand your customers? We’re here to help! Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a consultation.

What Not to Do During a Zoom Meeting

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No matter your industry, you’re likely now familiar with the phrase, “I’ll send you a Zoom invite!” While digital meeting tools like Zoom have been gaining momentum organically during the past decade, the practice of virtual meetings has skyrocketed in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Zoom’s CEO Eric Yuan reported in April of 2020 that daily active users had increased from 10 million to over 200 million in just three months. 

As millions around the world began staying home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, Zoom has since become popular with organizations, schools, media outlets, churches, and more. Digital meeting tools are being used for everything from a one-on-one hangout to team strategy sessions to large-scale events.  And, the practice doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon, as the number of users will no doubt increase in 2021 and beyond!

 Though digital meeting tools like Zoom are an excellent way to effectively communicate when you can’t have a physical meeting, there are certain things to consider when using this constructive technology. Our team at Green Apple has made Zoom meetings a regular part of our work days since becoming a virtual team in 2020, so here’s our list of things we recommend not doing when it comes to proper Zoom meeting etiquette.

1. Don’t replace professionalism with comfort.

We get it—when you’re at home, you’re in your comfort zone. However, it’s important to always keep your audience in mind when it comes to a Zoom meeting. A best practice for your appearance and attire is to pretend you’re still meeting in person. Ask yourself questions like, “What would I wear if this was an in-person meeting? Or “How would I sit or communicate if we were in person?” All in all, you’ll never go wrong with dressing for success and setting up your space at a desk or table, just as you would if your meeting was at an office or coffee shop.

Tip: Don’t show up to your Zoom meeting in your pajamas or gym clothes, and avoid laying on your bed or relaxing on a sofa.

2. Don’t set the scene for distractions.

Your surroundings say a lot about you, so it’s essential to make sure that they say the right things for your audience. Before you log on to your Zoom meeting, make sure you have chosen a clean backdrop in your space that doesn’t distract viewers from your communication. If you don’t feel like your home or office space has a desirable backdrop, you can always explore Zoom’s Virtual Background feature, which allows you to display an image or video as your background during a Zoom Meeting. 

Tip: Pick a solid or less busy wall as your backdrop, and use good judgement if opting for a virtual background.

3. Don’t forget to eat beforehand.

We’ve all seen it—and possibly done it ourselves—but it’s definitely best to avoid eating during your Zoom meeting. Unless the meeting is intentionally designated as a lunch-and-learn or lunch meeting, try to eat before you log in.

Tip: If your meeting involves lunch, make sure you keep yourself on mute while chewing or swallowing.

4. Don’t Zoom and drive.

It should go without saying, however, it’s never a good idea to take a Zoom meeting while driving. Not only are there numerous issues that come along with distracted driving, but some employers could even be liable if a worker has an accident while driving distracted on a Zoom meeting.

Tip: If you do have to take a Zoom meeting while on the go, make sure you’re the passenger.

5. Don’t put a private message in a Zoom chat.

There will likely be moments when you want or need to share a private comment or thoughts to a specific team member who’s also a part of the Zoom meeting. If that case arises, make sure not to share those comments in the Zoom chat feature where everyone may see them.

Tip: When you have a private comment or message to share, it’s a safer bet to use a platform other than Zoom.

6. Don’t forget to mute yourself when not speaking.

We’ve all been a part of a Zoom meeting when you’ve heard things in someone else’s background that can be distracting (or maybe even embarrassing). You’ll never go wrong by keeping yourself on mute until it’s your turn to speak.

Tip: Especially if you have children, family members, or pets in the house who may need to come and go in your space, keeping yourself on mute is always a win. Also, refrain from playing music or leaving the TV on in the background to prevent sound distractions.

7. Don’t be late.

Not only should you not be late to your Zoom meeting, but it’s best to log in a few minutes early to ensure you don’t have any connectivity issues that can make you late to the meeting or possibly miss key introductions.

Tip: Set an alarm on your phone to help you remember to log in early to your Zoom meeting.

8. Don’t discount the importance of good lighting and camera angles.

This one is probably one of the easiest yet most ignored aspects of Zoom etiquette, but good lighting on your face is vital to you being seen clearly by other participants. If possible, adjust your camera to be at around eye level and take note of the angle of your laptop screen if using the built-in camera.

Tip: Take your Zoom meeting in the space of your home or office that has the most natural light, and use overhead lighting when possible. 

9. Don’t have a busy desktop backdrop in case you need to share your screen.

If you are the meeting host or could be asked to share your screen at any point in the meeting, make sure to clean up your desktop and close any browser tabs that you don’t want meeting recipients to see. For security purposes, make sure you don’t have any important documents that contain personal or confidential information open or displayed on your screen.

Tip: In addition to cleaning up your computer desktop, consider whether your computer’s wallpaper is professional or appropriate for others to see.

10. Don’t forget to participate.

Above all, don’t be the one Zoom meeting attendee who isn’t participating. Even if your role is just to listen and take notes, it’s important to stay engaged throughout the meeting by chiming in when appropriate and maintaining eye contact as much as possible.

Tip: Find moments throughout the meeting to offer comments and ask questions, as your contributions could be beneficial to everyone involved. And, when possible, always try to log into your Zoom meeting with the video feature so that everyone can put a face to the name.

Are you looking for a marketing partner that can help you navigate successful meetings and presentations, especially when it comes to virtual meetings? Contact Green Apple Strategy to schedule a consultation.

5 Ways to Craft an Unforgettable Customer Experience

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Let’s face it—everything comes down to customer experience. 

Whether it’s a first-time visitor to a loyal patron, customers will remember how they felt when working with your business—good or bad. To help you build an unforgettable experience for your customers, we have five tips to help design your strategy.

Crafting an Unforgettable Customer Experience

1. Curate your online presence to be easy and unforgettable.

Your customer experience begins the moment a potential customer searches for—or stumbles upon—your business online. Make that moment count. Ensure that your website is easy to find, using SEO best practices, and that it answers the customer’s every question as soon as they see it.

Google My Business is an excellent, free tool that will help you make your business information front-and-center on Google. A person will be able to find your website, hours, FAQs, directions, and more. 

Once your customer lands on your website, you can continue answering the more detailed questions. What is your mission? What makes you different? What services or products do you offer?

Top off your information with impeccable website design. Work with a designer, if you’re able, or do a great deal of research to put your best foot forward. Make your potential-customer curious enough to continue to engage with your business.

2. Write genuine content that speaks to your audience without selling.

At the center of your brand’s universe is your content. It expresses your voice and builds a connection with your audience—while giving you the chance to shape your customer’s perception of your business.

Make your writing clear, but infuse your voice as much as possible to create a genuine connection. Many businesses will hide behind their words, telling customers what they think they want to hear. Today’s customer will gravitate toward the real feelings, not the sales speak.

3. Test your own user experience and remove any friction you find.

The best way to assess your current customer experience is to test it out yourself. Pretend you’re a customer (or designate a teammate or friend) and go through the process from start to finish—search for key terms related to your business (e.g., real estate company near me), check out your website, complete a contact form.

At every step, ask yourself, If I were looking for a product or service like this, what might prevent me from using this one? When you identify the answer(s) to that question, use those as opportunities to fine-tune your process. Remove any friction that a customer may experience when trying to find you, engage with you, or maintain a relationship with you.

4. Empower your team to make your customers happy.

Every person on your team from the top to the bottom has the power to affect your customers’ experience. When you empower your team to make your customer happy, they can identify opportunities that you may not see to go the extra mile. It’s those small moments that can turn a first-time customer into a patron.

Tip: Create an internal marketing strategy to help your team feel invested while also being able to talk about your company to others effectively.

5. Add “happys” throughout your process to make it memorable.

At Green Apple, you’ll often hear us call something a “happy.” It can describe a joyful event in our lives (a weekend happy, for example) or a gift. While it can take on several meanings, a happy is essentially something that brings you joy.

As you test your process, identify areas where you can add elements to spark that same joy in your customers. It can be as simple as a personal email to show your appreciation, or something larger, such as a gift. Whatever you choose, make it an opportunity for your customer to remember your brand fondly.

Are you ready to craft an unforgettable experience for your customer? Contact Green Apple Strategy to get started.

4 Marketing Insights to Know Before Calling a Prospect

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In today’s world, the buyer has more control over the sales process than ever before. On the one hand, this can make things more difficult for sales professionals. They don’t have as much control over the narrative and buyer’s journey as they once did. However, this new world order provides opportunities for business development pros. Rather than having to conduct tons of research on a prospect or cold-calling potential leads, they can instead use marketing insights—one of the many reasons salespeople are smarter than ever before.   

Marketing Insights Every Salesperson Should Know Before Calling a Prospect

Here are four specific marketing insights to share with your business development team to help them be more effective in their outreach to prospective customers: 

1. Their Overall History of Engagement with Your Brand

Today’s marketing tools allow you to track a prospect’s engagement over the past several years. These insights can help salespeople quickly answer questions like: What content have they read or converted on? Have they ever spoken with a sales representative before? 

Even if it’s their first time speaking with a prospect, your sales leader can know the prospect’s entire relationship with your brand. This information is incredibly valuable for weaving the context of their history of engagement into the conversation. 

2. Insights Behind the Action That Qualified Them as a Lead

Knowing what action a prospect took to qualify them as a lead is non-negotiable. However, I’ve found that it’s also important to provide sales with an overview of what that resource or lead magnet is about. In many cases, sales professionals don’t take time to read all of the lead generation resources that marketing creates. Providing a brief synopsis that helps your sales team know what the resource is about makes it easier for them to create the connection between the action of the prospect and your products and services. 

3. Their Ability to Make a Purchasing Decision

Most companies know the job title or roles that would have the ability to say “yes” to a final purchasing decision. Capturing this information through your marketing efforts will ensure salespeople aren’t wasting time on leads that they can’t convert.  

4. The Career History of a Prospect

It’s useful to understand your prospect’s job history. In many cases, your CRM can track whether a person has moved from one company to another. You can also leverage LinkedIn insights to capture a prospect’s career trajectory and mutual connections. All these factors will influence how much a prospect can impact a purchase decision, how much educating you’ll have to do, and how quickly they can make a decision.

Today’s business development professionals have access to more information about their prospects than ever before. The more your marketing team can help salespeople contextualize their messaging and save time getting to know the prospect, the more effective both teams will be in the long run. 

Green Apple Strategy’s team is dedicated to understanding our clients’ target audience, creating compelling content, and generating the leads you need to grow your business. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.

How to Empower Employees to Create Content for Your Marketing

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Empowering employees to help create content for your marketing might seem like a big risk, but it can also create one of the biggest rewards for your business. That is why I encourage businesses that their marketing department should own organizational culture. Marketers that understand the power of employee advocacy can empower them to create content that improves brand awareness, educates buyers, increases search engine visibility, and creates more meaningful connections with potential customers. 

How to Empower Employees to Create Content for Your Marketing

Here are four specific ways you can begin to empower employees outside of marketing to help you create content to attract the attention of your potential customers: 

Invite employees to contribute to podcasts or webinars as subject matter experts.

Your employees likely have a deep level of experience that could be beneficial for potential customers. Empowering them to become thought leaders in your industry by inviting them to create content is one of the simplest, yet most effective ways to maximize their knowledge for business development. It could be something as simple as hosting monthly webinars that put your employees in the spotlight or creating a podcast where you interview employees about how to overcome specific challenges your audience is facing. 

Make it easy for employees to share content they care about.

Having your employees share your content—whether it’s emailing it to a prospect or promoting it on social media—is the perfect way to increase your reach.

But just because you create the content (and even ask them to help promote it), doesn’t mean they will share it. 

That’s why it’s important to create marketing content employees actually want to share.  It could be a story about your employee or one of your clients or a tutorial related to your product. 

Equip and reward employee advocates.

According to recent research, 31% of fast-growing companies have set up an employee advocacy program. These businesses recognize that employee advocacy encourages their workforce to expand their role from “employee” to “brand ambassador.” And, this type of approach can create tremendous dividends for the overall health and success of your company.

Let employees take over your social media for a day.

Instead of paying thousands to influencers and brand ambassadors, let your employees leverage their social media influence to increase awareness of your products and services. Give them the resources, tools, and leeway to develop their expertise in the niche. While you might have one person who owns the responsibility of improving your brand’s social media presence, making sure he or she isn’t doing it alone is critical to success.

Leveraging employees to help create content for marketing is an incredibly valuable way to humanize your brand. Employees might be your most effective content creators because they know the challenges your customers face every day and have a deep knowledge of your product, service, and industry. 

Contact Green Apple Strategy to discuss how you can leverage content marketing to improve SEO, develop your brand story, and generate leads.

Green Apple Strategy Honored as Nashville’s Best in Business

Green Apple team accepting best in business award at the Westin hotel
Among Nashville businesses that are “hitting the high notes” of success, Green Apple Strategy received the Nashville Business Journal’s 2020 Best in Business award! The annual Best in Business luncheon was held on March 5th at The Westin Nashville, where Music City’s business community came together to celebrate growth and passion. 

Who Qualifies for Best in Business?

Nominations for the 2020 Best in Business Awards were submitted in mid-2019, after which nominees were interviewed and required to submit an in-depth questionnaire. Nominated businesses were scored by an independent panel of judges based on attributes such as company culture, business plan, and profitability. Companies scoring the highest were named as the Best in Business for their respective categories, which were based on the number of employees.  Nominees and finalists were those that excel in service, growth, innovation, and strategy. Green Apple Strategy is honored to have been chosen by the Nashville business community as one of the city’s best in business and looks forward to a fantastic year ahead. “We are so grateful for the love and support of our community. Thank you to everyone who made this possible, and thank you, Nashville Business Journal, for giving us this opportunity,” says Samantha Owens Pyle, Owner and Chief Strategist at Green Apple Strategy. 

How Green Apple Stood Out

As a recipient of this year’s award, Green Apple Strategy stood out from many deserving businesses because of its consistent growth, exceptional company culture, and strong team. Pyle attributes her company’s success to great people—team members and clients alike. “If you surround yourself with wonderful people, success will follow,” she adds.  The Nashville Business Journal provided nominees with a platform to showcase their companies’ personalities, asking them to choose a “theme song” for their companies and highlighting parts of their interviews for the crowd to enjoy. A Dave Matthews fan, Owens Pyle chose the band’s “What Would You Say” to express our passion for telling our clients’ stories. Her highlight from the nomination interview was also a glance into the company’s fun, vibrant personality. Upon being asked what she looks for in potential employees, she responded by saying that she looked for “dog people” to find the best people for her team. 

An Attitude of Gratitude

Green Apple Strategy provides marketing services to clients of various industries, such as IT, finance, child care, and several others. The team works diligently to illustrate clients’ vibrant and complex stories that help them connect with their target audiences. We love the work we do, and we’re proud to do that work right here in Nashville. To our team, clients, and community: we cannot thank you enough for the overwhelming support you’ve shown us over the past eight years.  As we continue to serve our clients, Green Apple Strategy is looking ahead to a bright future for Nashville. We are proud to be part of such an incredible community and look forward to what the rest of 2020 brings. “Thank you, Nashville, from the bottom of our hearts. We couldn’t do this without you.” 

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To learn more about Green Apple Strategy, please visit our website or contact us for more information.