Work Better, Not Harder

Are you a learner? Share your learning. Are you a teacher? Share what you teach. Are you an experimenter? Share what you discover. Are you thoughtful? Share your conclusions. Are you an artist? Share your art. Are you a shopper? Share your style. Are you a conversationalist? Share the latest news. Are you a planner? Share your plans. Are you a storyteller? Share your stories. 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...

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...

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...

"If all you're sharing is other people's content, why do people need to follow you?" ~ Anita Kirkbride Recently I've sat with a couple of small business owners who have been "on social media" for a while but have not been doing much. In planning to ramp up their social game, one of the first things they both wanted to do was to get apps that help curate (bring them content based on keywords). This way they would have content to share. I couldn't understand why this was important to them. I'm never at a loss for something to share. Granted, we all have different strategies and goals. Here's where I find my content to share: Experts I Know - I'm really lucky to know a few of them and their information is very relevant for my target market. Clients and Friends - I follow all of my clients on all social media platforms. Their information is not always relevant to my target market but sometimes peripherally. I pick and choose to s...

You just shared a most awesome resource with your followers on Twitter. It’s not your own resource but rather one you found on someone else’s blog. Regardless of the author, you know your followers will find it useful. Earlier you were busy sending an email message to a colleague in response to their newsletter. The personal story they included was touching and inspired you to write back. But you didn't tweet that  article. Why not? There’s a difference between content intended to build relationships and content intended for sharing . Building relationships and getting shared are only two of several possible reasons for creating content via newsletter and blog. Which is best? That depends on your own goals... and why it’s so important to have well-defined goals . Likely you will use a combination of both types of content but in different situations. For example, I tend to include experiential stories in my own newsletter. But on my blog I include more of the type of info...

I advocate sharing your best with your audience if your goal is to be seen as an expert. Give them your best advice, express your opinions, share your top tips and tricks, tell them about great tools you have found and share the benefits you gained by using them. I regularly encounter resistance to this strategy. The worry seems to be that if you share your best, they won't need you. This is a false worry. When you are expert at anything, you will lose a layman pretty quickly - always before the point where they could accomplish the same results they would get if they hired and worked with you. It is usually beginners that sharing your opinions will help... to a point. There will be a certain number of followers that will read everything and use your advice to follow your plan. Content is published in very small packets so it would take a lot for someone to be able to piece a whole plan together. Those people will find someone else to follow if you are not publishing the content....

Blog posts, newsletters, web pages and documents - these are all things we want our readers to share with others. In fact, getting people to share these things is just as important as getting them read. Getting our fans to share might not be so difficult but everyone else is busy, and sharing our content isn't top of mind. That’s why it’s so important to make it easy - really easy - to share. Sharing buttons work great and are easy to install into blog posts, newsletters and web pages. Many templated applications have widgets you can embed and Share This is also a popular option. My favourite sharing tool by far is Clicktotweet , which Anita at Twirp Communications turned me onto during one of our Team Twirp meetings. “Clicktotweet is the best, easiest and simplest way to promote and advertise your blog, website, business and stuff on Twitter.” What is a ‘click to tweet’? Here’s a simple example: Giving readers an easy way to share content will ensure it gets shared mor...

You might think I am writing about social media but I'm not. I am writing about email marketing. Your newsletter is similar to your blog... you can write it but they may not come. You need to promote your newsletter and nothing works better for promotion than making it easy to share. I have been advocating including sharing icons in your newsletter for a very long time. But my recent discovery of Click to Tweet , used in the Daley Progress blog posts , has made me remember why this is so important. You see, I don't like Twitter. I am always logged in but I never go there. I will retweet what arrives in my email but signing on to read is just never going to happen for me. What I have noticed is that if anything arrives in my email with a double click option to share, I will share it. If I have to open a new window, logon to my social feeds and copy/paste a link. It will never happen! Including a way to easily share your newsletter WILL result in more shares. It really is t...

Whenever I get together with other business owners over lunch or coffee, the conversation often flows to a discussion of how to be more productive. What processes are we using? What contractors are helping? And what tools or apps are useful? I love this sharing of ideas and found out about many of the tools I use regularly from these chats. Those listed below are ones that I use at least weekly - often daily - and consider essential to managing my business. Google Calendar In the newsletter business, we have to keep track of a lot of dates - reminder dates, preparation dates and issue dates - for all our clients on varying schedules. Google Calendar has been invaluable, not only as an organizational and tracking tool, but also as a communication tool because it lets me share my calendars with work colleagues. I have my own calendar of appointments and events, plus a calendar to track all of the important newsletter dates. I use the email and pop-up reminders so I don’t forget a...

Social media and email marketing go together like Batman and Robin. I got that line from The Rebel's Guide to Email Marketing and it's so very appropriate. There are tactics you can use to cross-promote and grow both communities. Social Sharing is all about encouraging your newsletter readers to share your newsletter with their friends. This encourages new people to subscribe. You always want to include social sharing buttons in your newsletter whether you use social media yourself or not. In fact, I suggest putting at least 2 sets of social sharing buttons if your newsletter is lengthy - near the top and bottom. Social Connecting means asking your readers to connect with your social media accounts - to Like you and to Follow you. This grows your online network . Social Promoting means using your social media platforms to promote your newsletter and get new subscribers. You can do this by: periodically posting a link to your sign-up form with a compelling call...

Your newsletter has to be both useful and interesting to be successful. If one of your goals is to be seen as an expert, consider that the usefulness of your content can have a big impact. What types of content are useful? Here are some suggestions. Hot-off-the-press information: Timeliness is important if you have access to information (or photos) in advance of your target market. How-to’s, quick tips, detailed instructions, diagrams: The goal here is to save your readers time and effort – to shortcut the learning curve. Examples, case studies, templates, worksheets, maps, directions: You can make use of document-sharing and photo-sharing applications to provide access. An example of this would be our own newsletter gallery on Flickr .   Links to useful resources and people: Share exceptional items that you have created or already vetted. Reviews, summaries and recommendations: You can do this for books, articles, white papers, videos, TV/radio shows, and mo...

I've been a Flickr Pro member since long before I was on Facebook or Twitter. That's because I'm a gardener and it's great for photo-sharing with friends. Flickr also provides a good way for me to organize my photos and keep track of them. It doesn't matter how many times I change computers, my garden photos will always be online where I can find them. Daley Progress has also been using Flickr to display examples of our work - an easy interface for potential clients to browse. I was delighted to discover yesterday that Flickr introduced a new user interface that is so beautiful - and so long overdue. While Flickr was always great for organizing, browsing wasn't nearly the experience is it now. screen shot of a Flickr set While it may not be obvious (and perhaps should be more so), Flickr is also social. I'm connected with other gardeners in different places. I can tweet and like and favourite other's photos. I still think Flickr could be more...

photo by photosteve101 I'm such a newsletter critic. I think it makes me better at what I do - learning from others' good and bad examples. Here are the things that often stand out during my critiques: You didn't use a bulk email application. This is such a big mistake, it deserves its  own post  to list all the reasons why! You didn't include a  link to subscribe. If your newsletter is good, your readers will share it with their friends. Don’t make those friends have to hunt for your  sign-up form.  Not everyone is tenacious. You used a misleading  subject line. Perhaps you felt that you had to trick people into opening your newsletter. Don’t do this! Readers will feel like they've been duped if you don’t deliver on the promise in your subject line. I see  obvious errors. There are spelling errors and, oops, a hyperlink doesn't work. Always get another set of eyes to check your newsletter. Don’t forge...

In conversation last week, I was surprised to hear for the third time in as many weeks, a similar reason for resistance to joining a networking organization: "I don't want to connect with people that are just looking to sell me something." It has me speaking up this week. Never did it occur to me, before I joined a network, that this would be a problem. And never, since I joined a network, has it been a problem. All of the small business owners I have encountered through organized networking seem to have the same goals, desires and philosophy as we do - find other small business owners and independent professionals to: connect and share Both experiences and lessons learned. Meeting new people only brings more lessons learned to the table. It is possible to learn from others mistakes. Use your network as an educational tool. support and collaborate Whether support comes in the form of sharing social media content, attending events or spending dollars - it is eq...

A ‘read online’ link allows subscribers to click to view your campaign directly in their web browsers. There are two reasons that you want to include a ‘read online’ link in your newsletter. Most obviously, it’s helpful for subscribers who can't view the HTML version of your email or download images in their email programs. The ‘read online’ link provides a permanent url that you and your fans can use to share your newsletter, now and in the future. You can use this url to link back to your newsletter issue from your website and blog. This link is also a fallback option to social sharing links : readers can copy/paste the url to share on any social media platform regardless of what sharing buttons you include or don't. I receive a weekly newsletter from ColourLovers called Happy Huesday. It’s a wonderful newsletter filled with links to colourful, interesting articles. Every week I want to share it… and can’t. They don’t include social sharing buttons OR a rea...

In the press for time to get everything done, it can be tempting to share content from trusted sources that you do not review. Sharing content from other experts, colleagues and organizations is a great way to let your fans know that you: keep up with current trends actively pursue continued learning are an expert in your field are aware of what other experts are talking about are plugged in to the local business community Keep in mind that when you share content, your fans assume that you endorse the content. Even with trusted sources, things can go wrong. Take the time to read what you share. If you don't agree, say so. If you do agree, mention why. Show your fans that you have read the content yourself. The last thing you want to do is mislead your fans by sharing content that is contradictory to your own opinion. And a fan that has come to rely on you for great shares, will be disappointed if you share something of no value to them other than the catch...

Aesop's Fables have a clear moral lesson backed up by a little story. The story makes it more interesting than just passing out advice. It demonstrates the results of heeding or not heeding the advice. Advice delivered as a 'fable' appeals to both our emotions and our intellect. Fast-forward 2600 years to the present. Technology has made it easier than ever before to tell fables and share advice. We don't even have to know each other. Our fables today are perhaps more fleeting than Aesop's, but are made more real by the use of photos and videos. A photo can tell a whole story, including the moral, sometimes without words at all. Social media, blogs and newsletters are excellent venues for sharing fables. If you're looking for some 'content creation' inspiration, try this long list of morals for stories. The moral of this story? "Lessons are not given, they are taken." Click to Tweet this Article Originally published in Work B...

Add social media to your email marketing strategy for a broader reach. It may not be obvious which strategies will work best for you but, if you take the time to work through these questions, you will be closer to figuring it out. If I ask my readers to like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, do I have a suitable presence? What are readers expecting? Is my newsletter content worthy of sharing? Even if I make it easy to share , will readers want to share it? Why? If my content is  share-worthy, what benefit do I get? How can I measure it? What kind of content will give value to readers, encourage sharing, and give benefit to me through sharing? What is my primary call to action ? Asking readers to share… or something else? Do sharing tools draw attention away from other important calls to action? Am I simply switching people from one channel to another , if I use email to encourage people to follow me on Twitter, read my blog...