Work Better, Not Harder

Is this you... ? When you watch TV, you can't wait for the ads. On YouTube, you let every ad play fully. You open your email inbox eagerly every morning, anticipating all the emails with this week's sales or next week's webinars. You read the newspaper for those big black and white ads. You check out every promotional link that Google places in your search results. You go for the ads first when you log into Facebook. You're entranced by the billboards on the Bedford Highway. So, is this you? No? It's not anybody . There is no one eagerly anticipating your sales pitches. (Your mother doesn't count.) We keep on doing these things, even without an eager audience, because they work sometimes. That perfect timing, or perfect graphic, or perfect wording, sometimes gets people's attention. So we keep doing what works sometimes. Eventually, though, what worked sometimes starts to work even less frequently . As more and more marketers adopt the same st...

You know that feeling when you're talking to a group of people, quite passionate about the topic, and suddenly your brain resets? You have no idea what you were about to say. Total blank. Especially when it happens in front of a class or on a live broadcast, you feel an immediate flush of embarrassment and confusion. I know it well. What to do? Own up and share your predicament. Everyone messes up at one time or another. What you'll discover is that people will rush to help you recover, to rescue you. (Dare I say Canadians are particularly good at this?) Suddenly, whatever you were talking about has become a shared experience , not just a discussion. I was reminded of this embarrassment factor while watching a Facebook Live where my friend and colleague, Anita Kirkbride, momentarily lost her focus... and gracefully recovered. Later in the discussion, she talked about how the fear of embarrassment shouldn't keep us from doing our own social media marketing. Embarra...

(guest post by Mike Tanner) To suggest that I’m a big fan of podcasts would be… a bit of an understatement. In addition to being the host of 3.5 podcasts (it’s a long story), I provide podcasting consulting, speak on podcasting panels and once had a dream that I was the host of a potato chip podcast called “Chip Off The Old Block” (That podcast should be coming out in the fall.) I started podcasting because I enjoyed it. But what I’ve discovered about podcasting as it relates to business has left me realizing that I made the absolute right decision when I decided to start broadcasting my thoughts on an audio medium. So here are three reasons why businesses should be podcasting. Passive Advertising I am a big fan of social media advertising. The targeting options available on major platforms are outstanding and things like analytics and retargeting make it a no-brainer to use social to promote your business, whether that’s through the use of paid ads or just a solid soc...

You wouldn't hug a complete stranger. So, if the red-head in the photo approached you on the street, you'd likely back away and think WTF. Even if he wants a date, that's a pretty lame approach. We don't have much room for needy strangers in our small business lives. It's enough work to keep up with friends and colleagues. So why the heck would any business person send a newsletter to a stranger that starts like this... ? We spent many hours and resources on researching, writing, proofing and designing this newsletter. As a valued customer, we are offering this newsletter to you for FREE! newsletter example It's too bad they spent all those hours and resources. And too bad they didn't know FREE newsletters haven't been unique for a very long time. Next, they'll wonder why email marketing isn't working for them. Especially for your very first issue , there are a few basic things to include. The most important is to give value or poi...

Why do we want our blogs to be more interactive? I googled that question and didn't find any kind of consensus or a clear answer to share. This seems a little odd with everyone talking about engagement (and lead magnets and sales funnels ). As soon as a reader takes some action (often a click), they are much more inclined to take a second action, and a third, and so on. It's exponential, and it's what engagement is. If we know we want our readers to keep taking actions, we need to give them encouragement to do so... but not all at the same time. Here are a few ways to make your business blog more interactive. #1. Use a link strategy within your posts to move readers along to more relevant content. #2. Conduct a one question poll . Link to your poll in an app like SurveyMonkey which allows you to show results after someone answers. This poll could be legitimate research or a fun distraction. You can even publish the results in a future blog post. #3. Includ...

OK so the joke is ancient... and really only works when spoken. The answer has even changed - now it's news letter instead of news paper . But people are still reading, and more than ever. Whether you choose informational or promotional marketing or both, you're missing opportunities if you're not using email to market your small business. B2B: Email is the third most influential source of information for B2B audiences, behind only colleague recommendations and industry-specific thought leaders. ( source ) B2C: 80% of retail professionals indicate that email marketing is their greatest driver of customer retention. ( source ) If you're going to invest time and money in email marketing, you want to step out strong. Feel the pressure to get it right. Here's a checklist to help you gauge your readiness. originally published in Work Better, Not Harder newsletter October31, 2017 Click to Tweet this Article