marketing Archives – Sunwapta Solutions

7 Oct 2024

Planning Tips to Avoid the eCommerce Iceberg

By Doug Wagner|2024-10-07T17:26:07-06:00October 7th, 2024|Categories: Business Strategy, eCommerce, Sales, Working on the Business|Tags: business advice, business growth, Business Planning, business strategy, business success, Clients, Creating Value, eCommerce, Inventory, marketing, Marketing Strategy, sales, small business, success, Working on the Business|

Implementing eCommerce at scale is not for the faint of heart. Yet, with some good eCommerce planning it can be done in phases and reduce both stress and risk.

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Once you attempt to scale any part of the business, you must make that part of the process more efficient. Once you do, you will inevitably find that some other part of your business becomes the limiting factor.

This moving bottleneck problem is true for eCommerce as well.

eCommerce Bottlenecks

Suppose you have a decent retail component […]

16 May 2021

Lessons in Business – Communicating 21 Years of Quiet Success

By Doug Wagner|2021-05-16T19:35:54-06:00May 16th, 2021|Categories: Business Strategy, Manifast, Marketing, Sales|Tags: adding value, advice, Brand Strategy, business, business advice, business growth, business strategy, business success, Clients, Creating Value, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, marketing, Marketing Strategy, sales, small business, success, Working on the Business|

What do you say when someone says, “So, what does your business do?” Communicating what success looks like for your customers is key.

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We don’t sell anything popular like pizza or chocolate. We aren’t spies or secret agents. Or superheroes who wear capes.

For almost 21 years, we’ve run a software and business consulting company that quietly serves other businesses.

This line of business is not as glamourous and sexy as it sounds. Really.

It is complex.

How Communicating Usually Works

Unlike financial planners, real estate […]

24 Jun 2020

Sunwapta: What Is Up With All Of The Water?

By Doug Wagner|2020-06-24T16:08:33-06:00June 24th, 2020|Categories: Business Strategy, Marketing, Working on the Business|Tags: business, business advice, business growth, business strategy, business success, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing, profit, small business, success, sunwapta, Sunwapta Solutions, Working on the Business|

As we pass our 20^th business anniversary for Sunwapta Solutions, I spent some time reflecting on some of the most popular questions we’ve received over the years.

How did you come up with your company name?
What’s up with all of the water?

It All Started When

Like all business owners, we spent a lot of time trying to come up with a name that was: interesting, meant something to us, and wasn’t already taken.

After much discussion, I searched a map of Alberta and landed on Sunwapta as a […]

3 Jan 2018

The 5 Big Problems with Social Media Automation

By Doug Wagner|2018-01-03T19:05:21-07:00January 3rd, 2018|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing|Tags: Audience, Automated Responses, business advice, business strategy, content, Ideal Client, Ideal Clients, Inbound Prospecting, marketing, Marketing Strategy, problems, Scheduling Posts, Scheduling Social Media, small business, small business owner, Social Engagement, Social Marketing, social media, social media automation, Social Media Engagement, Traditional Marketing|

Don’t get me wrong. The promise of social media automation is both alluring and useful.

Unless you have a dedicated social media team – a luxury few SMBs have – you have other tasks and responsibilities during your workday. As well, you might need the illusion of a 24/7 presence to address the different time zones and locations of your prospects, clients, and fans.

Scheduling posts is essential for most marketing teams, and we are not talking […]

22 Dec 2017

A Year of Reflections and Shining a Light on 2018

By Doug Wagner|2017-12-22T21:13:37-07:00December 22nd, 2017|Categories: Business Strategy, Marketing, Sales, Software Development|Tags: adding value, business, business advice, business growth, business strategy, business success, Clients, Creating Value, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Ideal Client, Ideal Clients, inbound marketing, innovation, innovation engine, Lead Generation, marketing, Marketing Strategy, Online Marketing, Perfect Client, revenue engine, sales, sales enablement, sales process, small business, software development, strategy, success, Tax Checklist, workflow, Working on the Business|

Reflecting back over the last year, we’ve seen a number of local businesses close their doors and countless more struggle. It hasn’t been an easy year for us either.

Through tough times come some of the most valuable business lessons. The biggest one is to avoid facing tough times whenever you can. In my opinion, it is far better to be struggling with growth challenges.

Part of being in business for 17 years is making […]

28 Nov 2017

Prospecting Is the Heart of Your Closing Problems

By Doug Wagner|2017-11-28T15:57:49-07:00November 28th, 2017|Categories: Doug's Blog, Sales|Tags: adding value, business, business advice, business success, Closing, Closing Sales, Creating Value, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Fanatical Prospecting, Jeb Blount, Lead Generation, marketing, Prospecting, sales, sales process, smarketing, Working on the Business|

Last month you had a healthy looking pipeline. So healthy you stopped actively prospecting and had to focus on meeting prospects, analyzing needs, and moving people through the funnel.

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Now you are working on three to five hot prospects that just won’t close.

They were super excited at first. Now your leads won’t return your calls and emails go unanswered. You’ve even tried contacting other people in the organization to figure […]

18 Oct 2017

80/20 David and Goliath: The Power of Ideal Clients

By Doug Wagner|2017-10-18T17:15:20-06:00October 18th, 2017|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|Tags: 80/20 rule, Big Fish in Small Pond, Brand Strategy, business strategy, Clients, Customer Acquisition, David and Goliath, Entrepreneurship, Go-Giver, Ideal Client, Ideal Clients, Lead Generation, Malcolm Gladwell, marketing, Marketing Strategy, Perfect Client, sales, small business|

Your prospects naturally compare your business to what they perceive as your competition. If you want to get leads and acquire customers efficiently, you have to choose your market and ideal clients carefully.

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It turns out how we feel about our achievements is relative to how we measure ourselves. How we perform in the future, is impacted by how we relate to the results of the measurement.

Harvard or MIT

If you graduate at the top […]

25 Jul 2017

Does Your Business Deserve the Marketing Results You Want?

By Doug Wagner|2017-07-26T20:06:46-06:00July 25th, 2017|Categories: Branding, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Oilfield Pulse|Tags: Brand Strategy, business advice, Business Culture, business strategy, Convert Leads, Creating Value, Customer Acquisition, Entrepreneurship, inbound marketing, Lead Conversion, Lead Generation, marketing, Marketing and Sales, Marketing Results, Marketing Services, Marketing Strategy, Oil and Gas Industry, Oilfield Hub, Oilfield Pulse, Online Marketing, sales, Sales Support, small business, smarketing, Social Media Engagement, Systems and Processes, Working on the Business|

Are you holding both the business and your marketing team accountable for marketing results? Wise business leaders understand that effective marketing amplifies the message the company is already putting out – the two must be in sync.

Know What You Control

Three things that you control determine your perceived position in the market include your

Business strategy and how well you execute on it,
Company culture and the people who make that culture, and
Business processes and […]

11 Jul 2017

5 Powerful Moments on the Path to Get More Clients

By Doug Wagner|2017-07-12T16:20:31-06:00July 11th, 2017|Categories: Doug's Blog, Go-Giver Coach, HubSpot Agency Partner, Marketing, Sales|Tags: adding value, Bill Ellis, Bob Burg, business, business advice, business strategy, business success, Certified Go-Giver Coach, Chet Holmes, Clients, Dan Tyre, digital marketing, Dixie Gillaspie, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Get More Clients, HubSpot, HubSpot Agency Partner, Ideal Client, Ideal Clients, inbound marketing, Inbound Prospecting, inbound sales, John David Mann, marketing, Marketing Strategy, Online Marketing, Perfect Client, sales, sales process, small business, small business owner, The Go-Giver, The Ultimate Sales Machine, Working on the Business|

Most small businesses start with someone who has an innovative idea, or at least the desire to build a business around what they do. In most cases, these entrepreneurs fall into sales out of necessity. You either figure out how to get more clients, or you fail.

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Our story started this way. Early successes led us to underestimate the power of mastering marketing and sales, both the skills and the […]

15 Jun 2017

Be Interesting – How to Win Leads at Trade Shows

By Doug Wagner|2017-06-16T19:08:29-06:00June 15th, 2017|Categories: Branding, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|Tags: AI, Brand Strategy, business, business strategy, Creative, Drones, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, geomatics, Green Technology, innovation, Interesting, Lead Generation, Logistics, marketing, Networking, O&G, Oil and Gas, Online Marketing, Robotics, sales, small business, success, Trade Show, Win Leads, Working on the Business|

Most businesses seem to hit trade shows as if they are a necessary evil for lead generation. They do what is needed, but don’t try to stand out. At a time when budgets are tight and trade show attendance is dropping, is this approach wise?

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As I was walking through the Global Petroleum Show here in Calgary on Tuesday, I was struck by a few insights.

Fitting In – The 80/20 Rule

The […]