Work Better, Not Harder

Almost 12 years in business and I don't have a bucket list. In fact, it didn't occur to me to have one until I stumbled across mention of it online. It got me thinking, what is the difference between a business bucket list and business goals? You won't put something on a bucket list unless you're going to make the commitment to do more than thinking about it. By its nature, a bucket list is 'do or die'. Things on a bucket list are like dreams and desires but more hardcore because they also have a personal commitment behind them. A bucket list is a list, not a plan. It's about results, not how to achieve them. Some of the items on it may have to be backed up by significant implementation plans. Is a business bucket list rigid and unchangeable? I'm a fan of flexible goals; it's important to be re-evaluating our goals. That means being able to cross things off without having accomplished them. Is the difference really in our perception of t...

Even when we love to write for our blog or newsletter, staring at a blank screen is bound to happen sooner or later. Here are nine writing prompts to help you get past the blank screen: What do you love most about your business? What are the questions you get asked most often when out networking? What are some of the hot topics in your industry right now? What are some of the challenges you are facing in your industry? What is a great resource, book or app that you’ve been delighted with recently? What recent experience can you turn into a success story or case study? What famous person would you like to get some advice from? Why? Do you have a business bucket list? What’s on it? What recent personal experience has led to a business breakthrough? These questions may not translate directly into a topic for your particular blog but they should get you thinking... follow a thread. photo by juliejordanscott / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

Buried in a blog post by iContact about the importance of relevant content, I found an interesting little segment about the impact of creative isolation. It's hard to imagine being isolated when we can be online and connected whenever we want. When it comes to writing content, these are the consequences iContact identified: Writing generic copy - this is canned content Going off topic - irrelevant and useless content for the target market Being too clever - impenetrable copy stuffed with industry buzzwords and jargon Staring at a blank screen - forcing creativity doesn't work These things happen to me when I... stop looking at results (what are people reading) am too busy to read articles by other experts am not talking to people in my target market The solution? Do more of these things! photo by bionicteaching / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

Getting other people to share our information is hard work, whether it is a blog post or a workshop announcement. We can be more successful when someone sends an email to a friend or retweets a message about our next event. Whatever our important information is, getting it out to a broader audience is a key marketing goal . I share a lot of information relevant to my small business market via several different methods. When I want to share someone's sale announcement or event details, I'm sometimes frustrated by how hard it is and, unless it's a friend or client, I'm likely to give up before too long. Here are three suggestions for making your information (event, sale campaign, product launch, and so on) more easily shared. Put the information somewhere on a page of its own. Ideally this would be your website but might also be a blog post, Facebook event, EventBrite listing or any number of other ways to get your information online. A unique url is the goal so...

"My newsletter isn't doing anything for me." Over the years I've heard many different versions of this same sentiment, usually accompanied by a big sigh. A month or so later, the newsletters stop. A newsletter does not make a marketing plan. And sending out a newsletter is only a small part of a content marketing strategy . To be successful, there are other related things you need to be doing. Here's a checklist to help you identify what actions to take to improve your results. If you're not doing these things, that's why success is eluding you. Have a sign-up form on a landing page you can promote (i.e. with its own url) so you can actually get complete strangers as new subscribers. Promote your newsletter on social media, your blog, your website and everywhere else, including not online. If you don't actively build your list, it will stagnate. Actively share your newsletter issues on social media multiple times to extend your readersh...

UPDATE Dec-9-18: LinkedIn no longer allows exporting of your contact's email addresses. "Can I add my LinkedIn contacts to my email list?" I get asked this a lot with regard to the Canadian Anti Spam Legislation (CASL). And my answer is exactly the same if you are planning to send only one individual LinkedIn contact a message - both fall under CASL. Can you? Yes, it's not hard to do - Google 'exporting LinkedIn contacts' for instructions. Should you? Like any other marketing activity, consider the implications. Review your LinkedIn list and remove people for whom your information isn't relevant. Know your target market and use common sense. Think about your target market's perceptions; many people do not know the legal definition of spam... but think they do. Is it legal? Implied consent applies when businesses sell to other businesses (B2B). The email you are sending must be relevant to the person's job at the organization they wo...

It's that year - the Canadian Anti Spam Legislation comes fully info effect on July 1, 2017. Wait, before you roll your eyes and click away, read the next paragraph. The average small business in Canada has nowhere near the list size to trigger an investigation under CASL. And the reality is most small businesses aren't yet CASL-compliant... and that probably includes yours (and even mine). There's no need to get alarmed. Here are the 4 most obvious ways businesses aren't yet fully compliant. #1. Subscription process is missing a description of what content the subscriber can expect to receive and how often You don't want to be misleading and you also can't be too vague. Simply "Sign up for my newsletter!" is not good enough. Besides, you want a killer call-to-action ; it makes good sense regardless of CASL. Offering a free download? If you plan to add the contact to your regular mailing list, you still need to say that. #2. Maili...

A simple process was all I needed to promote two workshops and manage registrations. But, as I often do, I decided to use the opportunity to try out some new ways to do things. Yesterday I put the workshops live for registration. Here are all the different applications I used or will use in my campaign to promote and manage the registrations. my website builder Canva Blogger Hootsuite Social Jukebox iContact PayPal JotForm - my newest favourite app Google Calendar Twitter Facebook Google+ LinkedIn and email Phew! Some of these are integrated, some not, but I had fun pulling it all together (mostly). And the next time I need to fill workshops, it'll take me a lot less time to put everything in place. photo by edkohler / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

You may already be autoposting your newsletter onto your social media feeds when you send it out. It makes sense to share it more than once , especially if it's the only content you have (i.e. if you're not also blogging). Re-sharing your newsletter issues using the read online link on your social media feeds multiple times will extend your readership beyond your current subscribers... and hopefully encourage new ones. Facebook Page, Google+ and LinkedIn If not autoposted, post a link to the online version of your newsletter as soon as it goes out. Use the sharing buttons within your newsletter to make it easy. For a monthly newsletter, you might consider sharing it again a couple of times before your next issue goes out. Twitter Tweet a link to the online version of your newsletter a couple of times a week until your next issue goes out. Use the tweet button in your newsletter but change up the tweet text each time. Add an image to the tweet for added oomph. If yo...

'Focus' has been my 'word of the year' since January 2010. When I did a little checking to figure out that date, I was surprised at how long I've been focussed on focus. Perhaps I'm as focussed as I'm going to get. This year I'm going to buck the 'one word' movement and go with three words: surprised by joy . It's a wish for how I want to be in 2017. The first line of William Wordsworth's poem of the same name is: "Surprised by joy - impatient as the Wind" I stumbled upon it recently while reading books by Canadian author Louise Penny . "Surprised by joy" is a recurring theme throughout her Inspector Gamache series. Maybe it stuck with me because patience sure isn't my best quality. Share your word (or words) of the year in the comments. Whatever they are, my wish is that you will be surprised by the joy of success this year. Click to Tweet this Article

If you have a sign-up form, you want subscribers. If you want subscribers, you need to get them to your sign-up form. To get people to your sign-up form, you need to tell them where to find it. Check your own subscription process now If you have a sign-up form on your website , try this short exercise. Prepare a call to action with the appropriate link to send a new social media follower to your sign-up form. Really, do it now or you won't get this. It'll only take a minute. Go and post it now. Here is an example I might use: Free with sign-up! Immediately get a mini workbook with 10 Content Templates to make your writing time more productive.  http://daleyprogress.com/newsletter.html Ready? Pretend you're that new follower. Read your call to action and click to follow the link. Now stop and take your fingers off that mouse. Is your sign-up form staring you in the face, bold and beautiful with no other distractions? If it's not, that might explain why yo...

A redirect page is a webpage where someone ends up after filling in your subscription form. This is something you have control over and it's worth putting a little effort into. After all, someone has just said they trust you enough to sign up for your newsletter - it's a good time to dazzle them with more of your brilliance and give them some value right away . Here is a screenshot of Anita Kirkbride's redirect page. When someone subscribes to Twirp's newsletter, this is where they end up. Here's why this page is great: It clearly describes what the subscriber signed up for. There's a free giveaway, which was promised in the call to action. There's a link to get immediate value by going to Twirp's blog. Also those cute little Twirplings at the bottom of the screen jump up and down... which made me feel kind of happy to have subscribed. Is it time to take a fresh look at your own redirect page? What is the most important message you want t...

On May 30, 2013, we sent out the 50th issue of the Work Better, Not Harder newsletter. In it I wrote about the importance of celebrating milestones - small business owners don't do that enough. In July of 2016, we sent out issue #100. That big milestone was reached through our own perseverance; we could have reached it even if we had no readers. Something to be proud of but not particularly motivating. I want people to read my stuff - that motivates me. For a couple of years, we've been flirting with reaching 10,000 pageviews on our blog in one calendar month, coming close but never quite reaching it. In December 2016 it finally happened - we had over 12,000 pageviews. Thank you to our readers who keep coming back! Blogging regularly (this is post #451) has brought many benefits: More social media contacts More subscribers = potential clients and referrers Enhanced reputation Better writing skills - practice makes perfect Motivation More referrals, clients and ...

Sometimes it's hard to heed my own advice. Even when I know this particular piece of advice is perhaps the most important when it comes to creating content. I can give you a number of tips to help you write better articles. But there is one simple thing you can do that can really improve the quality of your work, to make your content more useful and interesting. This tip is particularly ingenious - are you ready for it? Prepare your content over two separate sittings , preferably on two different days. It's a simple concept but often not so easy to implement with deadlines looming . First sitting: do an outline research if necessary write a draft Second sitting: review and edit your draft add appropriate links to past articles run spell-check and proof (read aloud if you don't have a proofer) Coming back to your writing with fresh eyes will almost always result in improvement. Because you are taking extra care to craft your messages, you'll feel mo...

Sometimes I can be quite judgmental of others' newsletters, and most of the time I keep that to myself. Being a critic means I can also appreciate good examples of newsletters, and email marketing in general. Have a look at this one which arrived in my inbox recently from a local restaurant with the subject line: Seasons Greetings from all of us at Finbar's . The content in this email is just right for several reasons. The subject line clearly said what is was - a holiday greeting. If I wasn't in the mood for holiday cheer, I could have deleted it with little hassle (but stayed subscribed for future news). I was feeling cheery when I received Finbar's email. A good overall balance of images and text - and not too long. It looked like it wouldn't take much time to read. A colourful photo of the young kids dressed for the season - you won't find this on shutterstock; it connects on a personal level. A funny personal story - curiosity got me reading the ...