Does Your Mother Know What You Do? (Part 2)


It's hard to believe it's been over 4 years since I took my mother to her first (and only) business networking event and wrote about it here. I'm a big fan of the "Mom test" for simplifying our small business marketing messages but I didn't fully appreciate it until yesterday morning.

I was driving out Waverley Road taking the long, more scenic route to Bedford with my mom in the passenger seat. Because she's my biggest fan, I was telling her about some of the exciting new things going on with my business. Oh, she was making all the right noises and nodding, as moms will, but that's when it hit me - she really had no clue as to what I was talking about, much less about why it's interesting and valuable work.

I thought I passed the Mom test years ago when I explained I do newsletters and websites and generally help small business owners implement their marketing plans. She could, and does, tell people that. But since she's never used a computer, she has no context for what that might mean.

So yesterday I told my mom that I help my clients grow their professional reputation using the internet. Because my dad was a scientist, she understands the importance of a professional reputation, even if in a different context. I think I just passed the Mom test for real this time.

Whether it's with your mom, a sibling or a good friend, summer is a great time to experiment with the Mom test outside of your business world. I'd love to hear your revelations in the comment section below.

Click to Tweet this Article

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Your Goals Shape Your Content

Image
You may have several goals you want to achieve by way of your newsletter (substitute website, blog and/or social media as it applies to you). Probably you want to increase sales. Here are some other possible related goals: 'Touching' your customers, prospects and colleagues on a regular basis Building strong business relationships Developing your reputation and sphere of influence Sharing your valuable information, products, and services Being seen as an expert Growing your fans, followers and blog readership Keeping up with your competition These all may well be good reasons to have a newsletter. The ones that are most important for you will depend on what type of business you have, how long you’ve been in business, what your competitive situation is, and more. You should be able to pick 2-3 goals to specifically focus on - then match your content to those goals. (It's simple logic, but sometimes we forget.) For example, if building your reput...
Keep reading »

A Few Good Reasons

Image
"Why do I care if I get along with my co-workers or not?" This bold statement came from a young woman participating in a workshop I was delivering at a Halifax cosmetology school a couple of years ago. It was more of a statement than a question. Oddly, it actually shut me up for several seconds. Not because I didn't know the answer but because I was surprised that she didn't. That day we brainstormed 6 key reasons why getting along with other people is critical to any success. Working together, we can achieve these things that we cannot accomplish alone: More creative solutions. When we bounce ideas off each other, we arrive at better solutions than we would alone. Implementing complex plans and strategies. Because the work can be divided, together we can tackle complex projects more effectively than we can alone. Learning from others' skills and experiences. When we work with others, we also learn from others. Endurance. If one person is resp...
Keep reading »

Fiasco in the Fields

Image
screen shot of email header There's nothing like getting an email addressed to 'fname' or 'subscriber' for making you feel valued. Yes, I'm being sarcastic. This is definitely  not the message you want to send to your readers. You want to make a personal connection with your readers but using form fields is not the way to do it , even if you use them correctly. A form field is simply another automation. People know. Am I blown away when I get a newsletter addressed to 'Linda'? Not usually. Sure it takes a little more time to set up and maintain. Various experts will tell us that using a person's name will have a subconscious impact. Is the sender suddenly my trusted advisor? No. Let me start at the beginning. What do I mean by a form field? They're places in an HTML document used to insert specific data from a database. As an example, [fname] will insert the person's first name from the database. You can type "Hi [fname]...
Keep reading »

An Adventure in List Cleaning

Image
photo by perthclotheslines It felt like doing laundry. Throw in the dusty email addresses and out come clean ones, with all the grime left behind. List cleaning involves 2 basic steps: identifying email addresses in your database that no longer exist or have been spelled wrong removing non-existent email addresses and correcting obvious typos List cleaning was a new experience for us. We had anticipated it might be needed at some point so had done some research – enough to know that there were many options available online. We figured it should be easy to do when the need arose. When the need did arise recently, I clicked my way to those apps we'd flagged as promising. I quickly discovered that it wasn't going to be as straightforward as I had imagined (and hoped). The first 2 apps I tried left me scratching my head in puzzlement. With no time to waste on a big learning curve, I did a new search and decided to try ListWiseHQ. What a pleasant surprise! It w...
Keep reading »

When are you Reading This?

Image
One question I get asked a lot is, “When is the best time to send my newsletter?” If the person asking has an hour or so, we might chat about how it can depend on a lot of things about their business, strategy and target market. Then I might tell them about the overall industry statistics . But really, do you pick Tuesday because it’s half a percent better than Monday? That will only make a difference if you have thousands of subscribers. Consider your own email habits. How do you vet that backlog of emails you find on Monday morning? Keep in mind that, if you aren't part of your target market, your habits will vary from your subscribers’ habits. Don't project your own judgments onto your readership. Ideally, you want your newsletter to arrive when your subscriber is using their email. And when they read is often dictated by where they read - at home, at work, or out and about. So, the answer is simple: figure out when your subscribers are using their email and s...
Keep reading »

Content Ideas for Consultants - Teach Something (Part 3)

Image
It's been said that the best way to become expert at something is to teach it and I've certainly found that to be true. Teaching forces us to research and prepare, to find the answers to tough questions, and to be open to feedback. This is where you write an article (or more) to teach something but first I challenge you to learn something new that's relevant to your business. If you've already been through Getting Started (Part 1) and Useful Content (Part 2) , you've had some practise. Keep your momentum going with this exercise. First, pick something to learn. This shouldn't be hard but, if you don't already know of something you want to learn, search topics for your industry online. Next, do the learning. This might involve taking courses, talking to experts, online research, and so on. Be tuned in for blog-worthy content. How you choose your learning method can also be part of what you write about. Make notes along the way. Now, teach. Yo...
Keep reading »

Collaboration Works

Neil Everton specializes in teaching writing skills. Of course, good writing is important to a successful newsletter, so he’s a useful person for me to know. For 3 years I've been sharing what I've learned from Neil with my newsletter clients. That led me to ask Neil if he would collaborate with me on a lunch and learn workshop. My purpose was to give additional value to my local clients and share my enthusiasm about newsletters with whoever else might want to attend. Of course, Neil and I both wanted to increase our brand exposure and build our reputations too. Our collaboration made the work easy.  Here’s why: Neil and I share a common philosophy when it comes to newsletter writing. We shared the workload and each did the work we’re good at. We were able to maximize our exposure through our combined mailing lists and social media contacts. Within a few days of announcing the workshop, we were full up with a dozen people on the waitlist. Neil prepare...
Keep reading »

Why Use a Bulk Email Service?

Image
For a small cost, a bulk email application gives you LOTS of benefits: Cost is minimal. It allows you to schedule your email sends. It allows you to auto-post to your social media accounts. It handles subscribes and unsubscribes effortlessly and accurately. It has built in functionality to manage your contact lists and segments. It saves you time and mistakes. Take advantage of templates plus spell/spam checkers. It keeps you compliant . It keeps you up-to-date and ready to take advantage of new functionality. It raises you above amateur status. Statistics drive strategy . Without them there is no way to know if you are being successful , what works and what doesn’t, and what readers are interested in. The real question is, why not use a bulk email service? If you can think of a reason, please share! Photo:  markyweiss Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

eNewsletters and Charities in Canada

Image
If you Google " CASL and charities " (in Canada), you'll find lots of reading on the subject. I'm not going to repeat all that here but rather give a quick snapshot of how CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation) impacts charities. CASL applies to 'commercial electronic messages'. This means that most (but not all) communications sent from charities are completely exempt from the requirements as they wouldn't be considered 'commercial'. Soliciting donations is okey dokey, as long as the charitable donation # is included. Things to be careful about ( may void the exemption): paid advertisements (funders/sponsors might be a grey area) promoting programs/courses "offering services to individuals who may benefit, where there is a cost-recovery element (for materials, for example)" internal job advertisements (because there's a commercial aspect, this may also be a grey area) Even if a message is not exempt, it ...
Keep reading »

Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get the Milk for Free?

Image
Some people still think there’s a scarcity of information in the world, to be hoarded and divvied out carefully. It's true that information becomes less valuable the more it proliferates... but there's definitely no scarcity. If you are ever concerned about sharing too much information, consider this: someone else is sharing it. If it's your area of expertise, shouldn't you be, too? As information becomes increasingly cheaper, the voice of experience becomes much more valuable. That's because it takes more than information to make a good business decision. Experience and sound advice thoughtfully applied to specific situations are what can make the difference between a success and a big mistake. Give away information for free (the milk) so readers can peek at your secret sauce and realize the extra value they’ll get from working with you (the cow) on their problem. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »