Changelog

Your success is up to you — the focus, action and habits that you apply to your goals determine how far you’ll climb. But, is there a magic formula that can transport you further into the stratosphere? Yes.

Elite business leaders have a trait in common — they are lifetime learners. Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s long-time business partner and fellow rich guy said, “Go to bed smarter than when you woke up.”

Your initial reaction may be, “Impossible!” After all, you run a WISP and “full throttle” is your normal speed. Keep in mind that no one can know everything and if you don’t learn new skills you can’t reach greater heights.

How do you keep up with all the areas of your operation while gaining more information so you can grow? Here are three simple ways to fit WISP learning into your day so you can ignite and maintain massive success:

Listen to Podcasts

Travel time can become learning time if you listen to educational tapes and podcasts as you drive. Today, there are many podcasts to choose from that highlight business management and other helpful topics like discipline and WISP operations:

Tim Ferris — One of the most popular experts, Ferris’ discussions span a wide range of businesses and topics.

Jocko Willink and JockoPodcast.com – Willink is a retired Navy Seal officer who teaches the arts of discipline and leadership.

Brothers WISP — Your source for all information related to building and managing a WISP.

Read Association Newsletters and Alerts

WISPA represents the fixed wireless internet business and is your voice to the FCC on regulatory issues. They follow, respond and update WISPs on regulatory rules, initiatives and industry news.

As a member, you’ll receive regular newsletters that provide the information today’s WISPs want to keep up with industry changes and maintain compliance — and, it won’t take long to scan headlines and read the articles you want to read.

If you’re not at a point in your business to become a member, you can still conduct WISP learning by reading updates on their website at WISPA.org.

Keep Up with Industry Blogs

Who says education has to take hours at a time? Blog posts take a few minutes to read and provide relevant information that supports a growing WISP. The WISP Success Blog tackles technology and business topics specific to the industry and most of the articles take 10 minutes or less to read.

Now, isn’t your success worth at least 10 minutes a day? Schedule the time – at the beginning of the day, at lunch or before bed for WISP learning so you can add to your arsenal of knowledge and elevate your WISP into the stratosphere.

Thank you Austin Distel for providing the photo for this article. Austin’s work can be found at Unsplash.com.

Has digital marketing made print marketing materials obsolete? With the immense reach afforded by social platforms, email and websites, it could be tempting to do away with the hassle of designing and cost of printing brochures and business cards.

Less Expensive and More Expansive

Instead of mailing an informative flyer with a well-designed business card to prospective customers, WISP operators can leverage a less expensive option – digital and social marketing. A mass email can be sent to an entire town or county with a single click of a mouse. Reaching the same number of folks through the mail would cost a lot in printing, stationery and postage.

Another advantage is digital’s fluidity. Changes in price, service packages or territory are no longer the big hassle they once were – just log into a website’s content marketing system and make the changes to website copy. With print, you not only incur design costs but reprinting costs, too.

But, don’t count print materials out yet.

How Cards and Brochures Ignite Action

It may sound as if digital has dealt a death-blow to print, it’s not true. Keep in mind that it’s been nearly 20 years since the advent of digital marketing, catalogs, brochures and business cards are still around. Here are three ways print marketing can help your WISP shine.

1. Printed materials convey value

Think about the last time you were handed a business card or brochure that you didn’t want. Did you think about it for a few seconds, review the design and re-read the headline on the brochure or name on the card? You probably didn’t go through the same process when you discarded an unwanted email.

Those few moments of consideration imprint your WISP into the mind of your future subscriber – which won’t happen with most mass-marketed emails.

2. You can’t post a website on a refrigerator

Special offers that come on a postcard or coupon — or special services — can be posted onto a bulletin board or a refrigerator to remind a potential customer of a product or service.

Every time the refrigerator door opens, it creates an “Oh, yeah!” moment when your prospect glances at your marketing material.

 

3. A business card is easy to hold onto

Well-crafted business cards are worth their weight in gold. If they combine eye-catching design with a meaningful tagline that conveys your key brand value, then they’re worth the cost and effort. Plus, they’re easy to pocket and rediscover when purses and pants’ pockets are emptied later.

When your techs are out completing repairs and installations, a stack of business cards can turn curious neighbors into real prospects.

There’s tremendous value in combining digital and print marketing to spread the word about how your WISP serves its subscribers. Strategize how you’ll keep your WISP top-of-mind in your subscribers and prospective customers — if you need professional guidance, Market Broadband is a WISP-specific marketing company.

If you need a new website presence, Visp.net provides an affordable web-development service to WISP clients to help them keep their online presence sharp, call 541-0955-6900.

Thank you to Jhonatan-Saavedra-Peralta for providing the image for this article. His work can be found at Unsplash.com.

Every New Year presents an opportunity to re-evaluate business and personal goals. Like most owners and operators, you want 2019 to be the year that revenue growth explodes.

Attracting new subscribers, getting current subscribers to buy more services and higher packages while staying with you longer isn’t accomplished by waving a magic wand – it calls for a strategic approach to marketing. Whether you develop and deploy a winning plan yourself or hire a team that can get your revenue blazing, it’s savvy to know as much as you can about the latest techniques.

This January, The WISP Success Blog highlighted three marketing maneuvers that can bring new sign-ups to your door.  In case you missed them, here are the

 

articles again to get your marketing tactics up to speed:

1.  Beyond Selfies: How Social Media can Boost WISP Success – Social media can raise awareness of your WISP and build connections that can keep subscribers around longer. Learn how to leverage it to build your WISP’s success.
2.  Yes, You Can: Profitable Content Marketing for the Busy WISP – Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to attract new subscribers – and, it doesn’t have to take up too much of your time. Read on to learn how.
3.  Is Location-Based Marketing Right for Your WISP? — This is the latest marketing technique. While it can benefit businesses that provide services to a specific geographic area – like a WISP – is it worth the cost? See for yourself.

In 2019, the WISP Success Blog will share information that improves efficiencies and profitability – and best of all, they are specific to WISP operations. Keep a lookout for more articles developed to elevate your WISP’s success.

Thank you, toine Garnier for the image used in this post. His work can be found at Unsplash.com.

It doesn’t matter if content marketing is an effective, inexpensive way to get new subscribers and stay connected to current ones — you know it is — yet, it’s no use to you if you don’t have time.

But, wait… here’s some surprising news — revenue-optimizing content marketing for WISPs doesn’t have to take a lot of time.

Sure, you can spend hours working on an extensive campaign with original, 700-words articles or you can hire expensive marketing companies to create content or post articles that your subscribers may or may not relate to. You can achieve your goals without spending a lot of money or time — here’s how:

Share articles your subscribers will like (Curating)
Identify the type of articles your subscribers want — recreational, technical info, etc.. Find articles from an online magazine or newspaper and share the most interesting ones. Here’s what you could say when you share the link to an October 2018 PC Magazine article:

“Are you as excited about the two new iPad Pros as we are at #XYZ WISP [+LINK]? Here’s an article about all the new features — let us know what you’re most excited about: https://www.pcmag.com/news/364687/the-new-ipad-pro-whats-new”

It can take as little as a 10 minutes to find, write and post your content. If you get responses on your post, answer them to build goodwill.

Share beautiful images and uplifting messages
When I think of an appropriate image, a sunrise comes to mind. You can post a breath-taking image with a message like this:

“Beautiful sunrise over the plains. Have a marvelous day — Your friends at #ABC WISP {+LINK]”

Again, build trust by answering your subscribers’ and future subscribers’ replies — even if it’s a heart or thumbs-up emoji.

Post maintenance updates and local events
It’s easy, and your subscribers can keep up with what’s going on in the community and your WISP, which encourages return visits to your website and keeps you top of mind. Here’s an example post:

“Who’s entering the Pie Eating Contest at the ABC Church’s Carnival this Saturday? Registration is at X:XX a.m. — see you there, XYZ WISP.”

“Reminder: XYZ WISP is performing network maintenance from 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, [DATE]. Your internet service may be affected. Thanks for your patience.”

Where to post content marketing for WISPs
If you serve individual consumers, Facebook and Instagram are good choices. Business clients can be reached over LinkedIn and Facebook.

Facebook provides results — the number of views, Likes and shares. Over time, you can use the analytics from early posts to plan future topics by seeing which ones get engagements and which ones don’t.

Of course, there’s more, but you don’t have to utilize everything to get the results you want. The tips in this article give you a great start to engage your subscribers, attract new ones and grow your subscription counts to raise your profits.

Tune in next week to the WISP Success Blog to learn about location-based marketing to grow your WISP into the stratosphere.

Thank you to Simon Abrams who provided this image which can be found on Unsplash.com.