Work Better, Not Harder

Whenever the busy time is for your small business, you can't avoid it - at some point in the next year, you'll be overwhelmed. Help out your future self by preparing a bunch of marketing content during your slow season. Having a whole day to spend on content sounds awesome to me. Perhaps not so much to you. If you want a little guidance, here are 10 activities that will set you up for success for months to come . Write a wrap-up article – a summary of *something* from the past year that you’ve written about several times. Brainstorm a long list of topics. Nothing is too wonky to put on your list. Go online and do a little research to get more ideas to add to your list. Pick 10 article ideas from your list and write a brief point form outline of each. Pick a handful of those outlines and draft full articles. Pick 2 of those drafts, edit and proof them in preparation for publishing. (Or send them to your editor.) Source images to use with your 10 article ideas.

"Which is better?" I asked. "'I need to capitalize on the time I've invested in writing.' or 'I need to leverage the time I've invested in writing.'" Danielle said, "'I need people to read my stuff.'" Two lessons here, one obvious and one not so obvious. 1. Using plain language and simple words is critical - and often surprisingly difficult. But, when you use simple words in your marketing, you reduce the risk of something being misinterpreted. ( Tweet This! ) 2. Brainstorming by phone has a big advantage. I was looking at the sentences, hung up on the visual impact of the decision. How would the words look? Would they fit where I needed them to? When I read those two carefully crafted options out loud to Danielle on the phone, she immediately simplified the whole concept. Isn't brainstorming wonderful?! photo by michael pollak / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

An interactive newsletter will provoke responses from your readers. Aside from calls to action related to a sales process, interactivity is also good because it makes you more memorable . #1. Conduct a poll . Use an app (like SurveyMonkey) that allows you to show results after someone takes the poll. Keep it to one question . Publish the results in your next issue. #2. Include a special offer only for those who make it to the very bottom of your newsletter. Tell readers how to contact you to take advantage of the offer. #3. Link to a video . This can even be cleverly disguised as a screenshot of the video inserted into your newsletter. #4. Link to a free resource or some other type of giveaway. Upload the file to your website or Dropbox first, then use that link in your newsletter. #5. If your newsletter article is also on your blog, link to it and ask people to leave comments there. #6. Use click-to-tweet and other social media sharing options. Encourage readers to

"Plans are nothing; planning is everything." - Dwight D. Eisenhower Planning is a noble task, full of focus and good intention. It's always been one of my favourite things to do. Now I hear about the newest trend: the 'anti business plan' entrepreneur. Here's a not-so-secret secret: most business owners don't have business plans. And I'm pretty sure that's not a new-fangled idea. Most of us spend a lot of time planning... in the car crossing the bridge, in the Starbucks drive-thru, walking the dog. We don't always write our plans down but we do plan. Planning is a most worthy task because it helps us understand options and make better decisions. No one will ever convince me there's no value in planning, even if the plans are eventually broken . originally published in PM News & Views on November 1, 2016 photo by carfreedc / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

Your contact list should be the most valuable asset your small business has, like a privately owned gold mine . Once you have added someone to your contact list, you can create more chances to get them as a client or fan, sell them a product or service, and get a referral or testimonial. The possibilities open up. How many times have you stifled a good idea because you didn't have an interested audience waiting to hear from you? photo by Merlijn Hoek / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

There’s a reason that finding new clients is described as prospecting , and researching our contacts is called mining . It really can be long hours of hard work for little immediate return. In 1849, when Dr. Matthew Fleming Stephenson proclaimed, “There’s gold in them thar hills,” he wasn’t telling his friends to rush off to California. He was suggesting they stay and mine in their own neighbourhood. That’s a lesson for small business owners, too. Greener pastures aren’t always greener. Have you fully mined the possibilities within your current circle of contacts? Before you do any prospecting, you need a mine. It might be a spreadsheet, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool, a bulk email account, or some other ‘place’ where all your contacts (clients, vendors, colleagues, potential clients, referrers, press, and so on) are gathered together. If you don’t have that yet, start now – make it the next priority of your small business marketing strategy. Your contact lis