Steve Renner Introduction- Katrina LeMoine

Entrepreneur. Motivational speaker. Small business expert. Internet marketing pioneer.  Blues guitarist. Songwriter. Grandfather and idea generator.  All of the above are used when talking about Steve Renner. 

The Minneapolis native has been working to help others use the Internet to achieve a better life for 17 years and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.  His success following this goal is owed to his insight into the ever-changing worlds of marketing and technology. Collaborator and author of Transform (Celebrity Press, 2014), Brian Tracy calls Steve “…a visionary on a level with Steve Jobs.”

For those that know Steve, that comparison is fitting. A constantly moving force of energy that is always thinking towards the next big thing; Steve can be tough to pin down. Between meetings with business partners, trips to conventions all over the world, knowing each of his employees in his home base Minneapolis office and checking in with them to see how their work is going, Steve is a hands-on participant in every aspect of his business.

This is not to say that Steve is simply the boss, he is also the driving force behind the ideas for many of the products and services that Acesse, ADX Net and Mobilesoft Technologies Inc. have launched. Mobile devices, audio technology, app development, mobile gaming, music streaming, chat and social networking/sharing services are the reach of ideas that Steve has been able to make realities.

Steve is not only heavily involved in business practices but also in philanthropic ventures.  The Acesse Foundation was founded in 2013 to fight hunger and injustice, and has continued to send donations to charitable organizations around the world.

Outside of work Steve is a family man, and enjoys spending time with his children and grandchildren.  He is also a revered blues musician throughout the Twin Cities, writing his own songs, playing lead guitar and providing vocals for his tracks. Calling his album “Raining In My Heart” a mix of  “Blues/Rock format, progressive and modern. A cross between Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan.”

Steve Renner is a successful man, but that isn’t a fluke. Hard work, a range of interests and a huge amount of insight into the tech industry as well as an understanding of the human element of consumers fuel this success.

To read about Steve's current work check out his blog at http://steverenner.com/

Back to Basics: Content Marketing

Part One: The Start of the Content Marketing Journey

First of all, what is content marketing?

The answers are all over the map. Basically, content marketing—a buzz term that’s been surfacing online, on podcasts, in videos, and all over social media for a while now—acts as the driving voice behind your brand. Content marketing is an umbrella term covering a lot of ground, but, essentially, it refers to the creation and sharing of valuable content aiming at conversion and returning customers. Unlike traditional copywriting, which uses headlines and email campaigns to drive traffic, content marketing utilizes more interactive means—blogs, podcasts, video, and social media. Working together, copywriting and content marketing can work wonders for your ROI.

The goals of effective copywriting + content marketing are simple:

• Get customers to subscribe to/follow your content
• Get customers to share your content

The more often you accomplish these goals, the bigger your digital footprint and brand awareness will become. READ MORE

Announcing Acesse Mail: Email for You

Billions of people use email every day. They conduct business, send reminders, letters, everything. During the average workweek, 33% of a person’s time is spent checking, reading, or sending email. And a lot of email is being sent: roughly 200 billion a day. That number is greater than the amount of people who have ever lived. It’s greater than the number of stars in our galaxy. It’s…a lot.

Email has been around for a long time. It’s literally older than the Internet. Although Ray Tomlinson is credited for having invented email in 1971 (he picked the @ symbol still used today, and sent the first networked email), electronic mail, in some rudimentary form or another, dates back to the 1960s, when messages were sent electronically at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Email has undergone countless iterations: By 1985, emails were common among professionals like academics, military personnel, government workers, and college students; 1996 gave us Hotmail, one of the first web-based email services; we then saw AOL and others, until Gmail became pretty standard in 2007.

Email is not only important, it’s essential. It’s how we communicate in today’s world. But there’s more to email than sending and receiving messages—there’s an identity involved. Your email service of choice says a lot about you. Really, there are only a few popular choices: AOL, Hotmail, Gmail, etc. Until now…

Acesse is excited to announce our exclusive email service, Acesse Mail!

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Steve Renner and America’s PremierExperts®

Steve Renner, Internet marketing pioneer and industry-leading entrepreneur, joins America’s PremierExperts®, the revered online community of professionals in a wide range of industries “who are willing to provide information and education to consumers as a public service.” Through this valuable public service, Members of America’s PremierExperts® will gain recognition and acknowledgment by industry leaders and future business prospects.

Let’s face it: The world of modern business and marketing is constantly changing. America’s PremierExperts® offers consumers and journalists a platform to gain expert insight into these changes. America’s PremierExperts® showcases only the top experts in their given field, those industry authorities “dedicated to spreading knowledge and awareness…while making significant contributions to their industry and marketplace as a whole.” These include business owners, entrepreneurs, professional speakers, teachers, lecturers, authors, professionals and corporate CEOs, offering invaluable insights to you.

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Introducing: Gamesmart

We Take Gaming to the Next Level

There are a surprising number of benefits to playing video games. They can improve eye-hand coordination. Problem-solving games can help boost brainpower and slow the aging process. Historical games can build a child’s interest in history. Basically, a strategizing brain is a working brain. On top of all that, they’re fun!

But there’s a new gaming platform in town, one with all the known benefits gaming has to offer, plus a few new ones.

Acesse is excited to announce Gamesmart, the new state-of-the-art gaming portal like nothing else on the market. Offering dramatic, ready-to-play games on a platform offering a range of languages (English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, and Japanese) and genres (Action, Family, Kids, Match, Puzzle, Shooter, Sports), fans of popular mobile and web-based titles like Candy Crush and Clash of Clans will love our ever-growing variety and number of games. Whether you’re a novice or a core gamer, Gamesmart is built to satisfy all skill levels.

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The Next Big Thing: The New Acesse Phone 1.0

Mobile phones have come a long way. Back in 1984, the world’s first commercial cell phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, set customers back $3,995 (that’s roughly $10,000 in today’s prices). A full charge, which provided 30 minutes of talk time, took about 10 hours. Over the years, cell phones underwent a number of different incarnations, from bricks to coffins, flip phones to sliders. In the mid-90s, we saw bulky personal digital assistant devices, and by 2000 phones were taking on a different shape: they were getting smaller, sleeker, and more technologically advanced.

That was then, and this is now. Acesse is excited to announce the upcoming release of its new Acesse Phone 1.0, one of the world’s most state-of-the-art mobile phones to date. It’s not just a smartphone. It’s brilliant.

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Part Two: Old School Marketing Techniques for the Digital Age

Gone are the days of door-to-door face time marketing. Or are they? While digital and mobile marketing have become standard practice, getting yourself out there is still an invaluable strategy for spreading brand awareness and building customer loyalty.

It’s a brave new world of communication, but that doesn’t mean shelving age-old marketing techniques for good. Some of the old are just as effective as ever, especially when combined with modern technologies. We’ve already covered the importance of word-of-mouth and untraditional marketing strategies in order to expand your company’s brand awareness, and now we’ll tackle a few more tried and true techniques.

Old Meets New

Make Small Connections

We’ve all been there: Call up a company or visit their website, and you wind up speaking or chatting with a robot. Often, the digital marketing landscape can feel impersonal. For this reason, adding a personal (read: human) touch to your brand will not only get noticed, it’ll have a potentially substantial impact on your ROI. Creating even a small personal connection can have very memorable effects.

Helpful Hint: One small way to make a small personal connection is to use tracking software to remember birthdays of clients, and reach out with a personalized note via email or social media.

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Part One: Old School Marketing Techniques for the Digital Age

Part One: Back to Basics

The world of marketing is more advanced than ever before, and it’s constantly evolving. It’s 2016, and while self-driving flying cars are still (only) a couple years off, we can connect with friends, family, and business partners almost anywhere on the planet with a swipe of our index finger. What’s more, marketing has never been easier. But we’re in the thick of the Digital Age, and it’s getting thicker. While global connectivity and B2C accessibility is standard, the digital marketplace is a crowded one. And while digital marketing techniques are constantly changing at a rapid-fire pace, some old standards still hold true.

Out with the Old, in with the New (and Some of the Old)

Testimonials: Let Your Reputation Speak for Itself

Long before Chipotle’s recent (conspiracy-fueled) E. coli debacle, they were wizards of non-traditional marketing strategies. Of these strategies, the casual dining chain implemented word-of-mouth marketing right out of the gates. Back in 2012, Chipotle spent a mere $6 million on advertising; Arby’s, the smallest large fast-food chain, spent roughly $100 million, and McDonald’s, the biggest, spent more than $650 million. How’d Chipotle achieve so much by spending so little? They got people talking.

Populating your business website with testimonials might seem old school, but with so much competition on the digital marketing landscape, referrals really matter in generating new business. By showing potential customers success stories, they’ll be more likely to convert. When you get testimonials, use them everywhere: in advertising, on your website and social media, and throughout direct marketing efforts. In other words, get people talking.

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Steve Renner’s 2016 Asia Tour Diary: Part 2

Part Two: From Taiwan to Penang

All Aboard To Taiwan!

The second stop on the tour was Taipei.

We landed in Taipei and were greeted by our Top Leaders. We all boarded the bullet train for Kaohsiung. The next day we had a great meeting with around 250 of our Leaders, where we had a great conference. And in the Taiwan tradition, we all went out to celebrate with good traditional Taiwanese food. It was a fantastic time.

The next day it was back on the bullet train to Taichung. The Taipei Team came down and joined us there along with the Taichung Team, for another great conference with around 250 people in attendance. It was a great trip to Taiwan, and we had a very successful trip.

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Steve Renner’s 2016 Asia Tour Diary

Part One: Hello Hong Kong!

The “New Beginnings Tour” 2016 kicked off in Hong Kong. It was a great start to the trip, with over 1,000 in attendance. We introduced our exciting new Marketing Strategy product lineup for this year including:

• Acesse Phone
• Acesse Tablet
• AppMart
• Audio Sound Gear
• VideoMeet
• GameSmart
• WebCast Pro 2.0

We also introduced new services in development, scheduled for release in the next 30-60 days, including:

• Acesse Mail
• Acesse Friends
• Acesse Talk
• YouChat

And products scheduled for release later this year, including:

• Acesse Sports
• Acesse Music
• Acesse Video
• YouMart

What a start to our trip! My good friend and Top Leader, Annie Zhang, accompanied me. We were assisted by three of our great staff from Minneapolis: Alice, Sidney, and my personal assistant Jennifer.

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Heavy-Hitting Digital Marketing Trends 2016: Part Two

Part Two: The (Near) Future Is Now

Digital trends typically change so gradually that we don’t fully realize it until we’re holding the change in our hands. For example, in 2016 the number of smartphone users worldwide is predicted to reach 2.08 billion. That’s a pretty significant chunk of the global population as a whole. Ten years ago, very few of us would’ve seen this coming. Another one: When Facebook launched, back in 2004, it was called Thefacebook, and it was available exclusively to college students. Now the little social network that could has completely shifted the way humans communicate. It’s difficult to know which digital trends will take off (Netflix, Amazon), and which won’t (AOL, WebTV). But a little heads-up on which digital marketing trends will (probably) dominate in the year ahead is always a good place to start.

Here, we’ll uncover a few more of the biggest (projected) digital marketing trends slated for 2016.

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Heavy-Hitting Digital Marketing Trends 2016: Part One

Part One: The (Near) Future of Digital Marketing

Staying up on the digital marketing trends can be difficult. It’s a rapidly changing landscape driven by consumer momentum, and it’s evolving by the minute. Today’s Facebook could be tomorrow’s Myspace (well, not really, but you get the idea). In other words, the digital marketing trends statistics you see today could undergo a total shift by tomorrow. These changes can be attributed to consumer demand, lifecycle tactics, marketing innovation, and many other factors, and they will potentially impact the worlds of business, government, and society.

Here, we’ll uncover a few of the biggest (projected) digital marketing trends slated for 2016.

More Video Ads

The world of video marketing is an exciting one. On Facebook alone, there are more than 8 billion videos played back every day. Software company Vidyard recently partnered with research firm Demand Metric to uncover some in-depth video marketing statistics. Among other numbers, their findings concluded that 74% of B2B marketers claim video content converts more successfully than other mediums; the most common types of videos posted by B2B marketers are how-tos or product videos; and a mere 15% of marketers have actively integrated videos into their strategy.

2016 will likely see a huge surge in video ads. With Google hopping on board by providing promoted in-SERP video advertising in their search results, user acceptance (and internalization into the digital marketing landscape) of this advertising format should become standard.

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How Mobile Apps Can Help Your Business: Part 3

Part Three: Here’s Why Your Business Needs a Mobile App

Today, there’s an app for almost every conceivable need. Forgot where you parked your car? Carr Matey has you covered. Need to search the couch for loose change? Try Easy Metal Detector Lite. Want to cuddle a stranger in your area? There’s an app for that, unfortunately. By 2017, the mobile app market is projected to be a $77 billion industry.

So, does your business really need its own mobile app? Yes, and here’s why.

Get Noticed

Put simply, mobile apps offer customers another opportunity to view your brand. We spend a good portion of our day on our mobile devices, and if your app so much as gets noticed, you’re off to a good start. In order to get noticed, though, you’ll need a sleek, attention-grabbing icon.

Not only can a mobile app get your company noticed, it offers another opportunity for customer engagement. Mobile apps might be ubiquitous, but they’re also incredibly convenient. Engage with your customers in real-time and by location. This makes it easy to establish a back-and-forth rapport.

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How Mobile Apps Can Help Your Business: Part 2

Part Two: Thinking about Starting a Mobile App? Here’s How.

These days, a mobile-friendly website alone won’t cut it. More midsize and small businesses are launching their own mobile apps. Restaurants, beauty salons, design firms—all types of businesses are following the mobile app trend to ensure a more user-friendly experience. Are you?

Let’s discuss the how-tos of designing, building, and launching your own mobile app.

How-To: A Helpful Guide

The mobile app trend is new, constantly changing, and, in its own way, intimidating. Here, we’ll demystify a few things about how to get started on your own mobile app.

Know Thyself

A clear objective for why you want to create a mobile app for your business is critical before getting started. What’s the purpose of your mobile app? What do you hope to accomplish? How and why are you hoping to make your business more user-friendly? What problems will your mobile app presumably solve? Answer these questions, and you’re ready to begin.

Lay the Groundwork

Start by developing sketches about the layout and design of your mobile app. This is the conceptualization stage. Think logo, features, colors. What type of aesthetic is your business hoping to impart? Minimalist? Fun? Information-rich? Some conceptual sketches will help your team get going on turning this idea into a reality.

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How Mobile Apps Can Help Your Business: Part 1

Part One: What Not to Do

If you’re not using mobile apps to boost your business, you could be missing out. While mobile still accounts for a comparatively small percentage of overall retail sales, 79% of global retailers are hopping on the mcommerce bandwagon. And because mobile apps and other multichannel (or omnichannel) retailing methods are such an integral part of any innovative business, that number will continue to grow.

But first, let’s talk about the potential pitfalls and mistakes when considering the design, launch and investment of your company’s mobile app.

There…Might Be an App for That

There are about 1.6 million mobile apps on the market right now. By the time you finish reading this sentence, that number will probably climb. This year, 91% of retailers offer customers the option to conduct business over multiple channels and devices. That’s up 84% from last year. That’s a lot.

So, one mistake you can make is blindly assuming there’s a customer demand for your mobile app. That is, designing and creating an app based on an unresearched notion. To break into the mcommerce market and get noticed will take research, testing, and validation.

If you have an idea for an app, put the prototype to action. Focus group the idea, crowdsource it. That way, you’ll be able to gauge how many people want the app, thereby building a potential customer base right off the bat.

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Five Steps to Creating Shareable Content

Social media likes are one thing—and, in their own way, likes are a type of currency. But shares are where it’s at; a share will organically generate outreach for your post. One person shares a blog or social media post, and then another, and another. This happens behind the scenes, building brand awareness, expanding your digital footprint and data trail. And it’s easy! All you have to do is create content worth sharing.

Quality over Quantity. But Also Quantity.

The Internet is logjammed with tips on how to create shareable content—much of it is helpful, some of it is ambiguous. The ambiguity lies mainly in generalizations, like, “Just post good content and watch the sharing commence!” That’s great, but what constitutes “good content”?

It’s about quality. That’s a no-brainer. Audiences want to share content that is both instructing and engaging, something of value to themselves and their social media network. To create this type of content, start by doing your homework. Who is your audience? Who is their audience? What type of content are they already sharing? Who are they already following? Once you’ve gathered the answers to these essential questions, you can begin to generate relevant, actionable, and potentially shareable content.

By posting any type of content online, you’re engaging in a rapport with your audience. The key here is to engage in the type of back-and-forth rapport (you post, they share; they post, you share) that will establish a strong and ongoing relationship.

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Top Ten Email Marketing Secrets: Part 5

A Five-Part Series on How to Use Email Marketing for Your Business

Part 5: The Rundown

Welcome to the final installment of our Five-Part Series on How to Use Email Marketing for Your Business. By now, you know the drill: We’ve covered personalized emails, social media, timing and frequency, automation, subject lines and creative content, and those dreaded email marketing pitfalls to avoid.

As our series winds to a close, we’ll do a little reflecting, as well as touching upon a few new points of email marketing interest.

Email Marketing: Back to Basics

Before you send any emails at all, whittle your list down to a targeted and segmented group of prospects. In other words, know your customers. That way, you’ll avoid the SPAM folder.

Now, if you know your customers, you know they’re busy. Keep initial emails tight—three to four sentences. Pique some interest, land some engagement, and then open up the conversation.

Again, your subscribers are busy. Sometimes a follow-up email is required. One effective follow-up strategy is to forward the original email, along with a brief message, such as, “Did you get a chance to look this over?”

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Top Ten Email Marketing Secrets: Part 4

A Five-Part Series on How to Use Email Marketing for Your Business

Part 4: Common Mistakes

Welcome back to another installment of our Five-Part Series on How to Use Email Marketing for Your Business. We’ve been discussing many of the things that can make your email marketing campaigns great, such as personalization, getting social media savvy, importance of timing and frequency, automation, snappy subject lines, creative content, and boosting your social media numbers (there’s an app for that).

This time, we’re shifting gears.

Sure, there are plenty of do’s when it comes to effective and efficient email marketing. But let’s talk about the don’ts, the pitfalls and flubs, all those common mistakes that’ll send your messages straight to the SPAM folder, or worse, send your subscribers unsubscribing.

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Top Ten Email Marketing Secrets: Part 3

A Five-Part Series on How to Use Email Marketing for Your Business

Part 3: Getting Creative & Strength in Numbers

Welcome back to another installment of our Five-Part Series on How to Use Email Marketing for Your Business. At this point, we’ve discussed the effectiveness of personalized emails (from a person to a person), using social media to its fullest potential, the importance of timing, how automation can really amp up your email marketing campaigns, and clear and concise subject lines and content.

This time around, we’re focusing on the power of creativity (read: originality) and how strength in numbers can help bolster your reputation.

Think Outside the Inbox

So, your subject line is intriguing enough for somebody to open your email. Great! But that’s only the beginning.

Here’s the thing: A lot of email marketing campaigns pass through your inbox, and many of these emails are not only unappealing, they’re incredibly boring.

Snappy emails get results. Plain and simple. They catch users off-guard, in the best way possible.

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Top 10 Email Marketing Secrets: Part 2

A Five-Part Series on How to Use Email Marketing for Your Business

Part 2: Automation, Analytics, and Sweating the Small Stuff

Welcome back to our Five-Part Series on How to Use Email Marketing for Your Business. Short answer: It’s easy. By now, we’ve covered the importance of reaching customers through personalized email campaigns, the power of social media networking, and how the right frequency and timing can really impact your ROI.

This round, we touch on automation (making your already-great email marketing campaigns even more efficient and effective), analytics (everybody needs a system of checks and balances), and the oft-overlooked details (subject lines, content, all the meat and potatoes).

Let Automation Work for You

You’ve probably seen the statistics: Digiday says 57.9% of respondents in a survey in April 2015 said automation would save time mining consumer insights, 44.9% collecting and managing visual media; Epsilon says automated emails get a staggering 119% higher click rates than broadcast emails; eMarketer tells us that B2C marketers who connect with customers through automated emails see conversion rates as high as 50%. The numbers go on, but they all add up to one thing: Email marketing automation works.

So, what is it? Put simply, email marketing automation refers to the software designed to help prioritize and execute marketing tasks in a more streamlined way. Think of email marketing automation as the eye-popping window display that drives traffic into your business, converts that traffic into leads, and closes those leads into customers. In short, it’s generating revenue for your company through an automated system.

Here’s the thing: Email marketing automation allows marketers to do more with less. Automate and schedule personalized email campaigns to best accommodate subscribers and potential subscribers. Use autoresponders (offered by email marketing platforms like Aweber and MailChimp) to follow up with customers, keep them interested and coming back, build customer loyalty, and, ultimately, make sales. Set up triggered cart and browser abandonment emails (according to Ometria, cart abandonment emails sent within 20 minutes, reminding customers what they’d left behind, saw an average 5.2% conversion rate). Gain insight into (and, therefore, control over) which elements of data are the most valuable to your business, giving you the information to act upon the results.

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Top 10 Email Marketing Secrets: Part 1

A 5 PART SERIES ON HOW TO USE EMAIL MARKETING FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Part 1: A Powerful Tool for Building Your Business: Email Marketing, Demystified

Email marketing is an essential component to generating revenue for your online business. If your website acts as your digital storefront, email marketing is your salesperson. How compelling are they? Here’s the thing: email is one of the simplest and most effective ways to not only reach and communicate with clients and customers, but to keep them coming back. If you’re not utilizing a profitable email marketing campaign for your online business, you’re doing it wrong.

So, what makes a profitable email marketing campaign? Let’s break it down.

Get Personal

Remember: You’re not sharing products or information about your company, you’re offering solutions. Your customers and potential customers face challenges that need solving—a new coat, holiday gift ideas, marketing services, anything. An effective email marketing campaign will bring solutions to customer inboxes in the form of snappy, eye-catching messages. That means engaging copy and calls to action (CTAs), striking graphics or important attachments, all tailored to the individual customer demands.

You want to receive good, relevant and consistent email. So send good, relevant and consistent email. That takes segmentation. By segmenting your email lists, you’re able to target your versatile contact database and send individual customers exactly what they want to read. Through email marketing, you’re engaging customers and potential customers in a conversation. It’s up to you to keep them interested. Tell them what they want to hear, show them what they want to see. In other words: trigger actionable emails based on customer behavior patterns and send the right content at the right time. In order to stay relevant, segmentation is critical.

Side note: Since personalization is key, it’s a good idea to send emails from an actual person (i.e., bob@thisorthat.com rather than info@thisorthat.com, which is more likely to end up in the dreaded spam folder).

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