Work Better, Not Harder

Your content strategy wouldn't be complete without having a look at what others are doing. This is an important step because: it will trigger new ideas for you it will help keep you current with others in your industry you should know what your competitors are doing Here are some activities you can engage in regularly, perhaps quarterly, to develop your content strategy and keep it current. 1. Get online and check out: What are others in your industry doing? What are your competitors doing? Is what they're doing working for them? How can you tell? 2. Search keywords google.ca/trends adwords.google.com 3. Search for articles that have content ideas specific to your industry. For example, if you own a restaurant, search "content ideas for restaurants" or "newsletter ideas for restaurants". Make sure any new ideas you adopt are ultimately valuable to your subscribers  and meet your goals . 4. Sign up for newsletters - pay attenti...

I'm a big fan of repurposing content for two reasons: It can save me time . People have different ways of learning. Different formats for the same material will ensure a broader reach. Summing up a past article in a graphical format is a great way to appeal to a different audience. Pick an article that can be summed up into bullet points. Then turn those bullet points into a graphical format. With the proliferation of infographics, we now have lots of choices of apps to make it easy for us to create our own: infogr.am piktochart.com Hubspot’s templates canva.com Here are a few examples of our own infographics: Elements of eNewsletter Success  (used Hubspot's templates) 9 Ways to Personalize Your Newsletter  (used Canva) 4 Ways to Constantly Grow Your List  (used Canva) In her article Marketing with Infographics , Janet Slack suggested these other creative uses for infographics: Share testimonials Showcase your expertise Share customer statistics...

The simple answer is that content is everything you put out into the world. Your content represents you, your business and your brand to everyone that encounters it , both current and potential customers. Your content determines your online presence. It includes all the text and images on your website, your social media accounts and every email you send. So, why do you need a content strategy? to keep your message consistent across all platforms to ensure the clarity of your message to provide the most value you can offer to current clients to attract new clients to save you time! Yes, a content strategy can accomplish all of these things. It is well worth the time to develop your strategy, commit the time, and follow through. Originally published in  Work Better, Not Harder on January 22, 2014 Click to Tweet this Article

You don’t leave on a road trip in the middle of a snow storm. And you don’t go on vacation to the Caribbean in August. You wait for the right conditions. In fact, you don’t really wait for the right conditions, you plan around them. It’s easy to forget this in our excitement to launch new business initiatives. One day I spent a couple of hours on the phone coaching someone about newsletters, including how important the timing is . I was still working late that night when I received her first newsletter at 1am. (1am is not a good time to send a newsletter - unless your subscribers are on the other side of the world.) Set yourself up for success. If you've spent a lot of time, effort and money working on a project, make sure you also place the same importance on the details of your launch . Plan to take advantage of the best conditions: timing, availability of resources and people, weather, geography, etc. “Haste makes waste.” Someone I worked with used to say this and i...

Mistakes will happen. I've seen obvious mistakes in emails sent out by marketing agencies and email service providers when promoting their own products. I've even made a few myself - but I won’t point them out. A recent article on the Vocus blog inspired me to weigh in on the issue because, of course, I don’t completely agree with all of their advice. There is a point of no return. Once we hit send, we’re stuck living with the mistakes in our newsletters. Likely you won’t even notice the mistake until someone points it out or asks a question. Sometimes they’re just small errors, like typos, a missing word or the wrong preposition. Other times they can be disastrous: a big promotion to hype a new product and, oops, the link goes to the wrong product or an error page an event invitation that asks you to register but the link takes you to an event that’s already gone by the wrong phone number, especially when phoning you is your primary call to action the wrong addres...

Click to Tweet this Infographic Reference original article:  www.workbetternotharder.com/2012/08/9-ways-to-personalize-your-newsletter.html

Planning is an important process - even if you eventually change the plan. Planning: forces you to think, to research, to consider, to brainstorm - to be creative ( Tweet This ) helps you get organized increases efficiency and productivity motivates you and increases your confidence identifies risks helps you make decisions gives you a clearer vision All of these things apply specifically to your content creation activities as well. Click here to download a content planning worksheet (Excel) to help you prepare for the year. (This is formatted for printing/handwriting as well.) Click to Tweet this Article

The next time you start to type “Feel free to phone or email me” -- Stop. If you’re in business, shouldn't it be obvious that you want calls and emails? "Feel free..." is a little wishy-washy, like using the word “just” . Instead, use a more direct call to action . Assume that people will have questions, concerns or feedback. “Call or email with your questions and concerns.” “Questions? Call or email – I’ll be happy to answer them.” “Tell me what you think of this. By phone or email is fine, at your convenience.” Even better, be specific about the type of response you desire . “Call me Friday morning so I can answer your questions and we can discuss the next steps.” “Send me your questions by email so I can give you detailed answers.” Create your own unique version of this call to action , use it, make it a habit -- make it part of your brand. Not only does “feel free” send the wrong message, it’s overused. This is an opportunity for you to stand out. Cli...

Our first content creation wrap-up contains articles prior to May 2012. If you are looking for writing ideas, how to manage your content, or just a bit of inspiration, you just may find what you are looking for in this list of links . Our second wrap-up included articles from June 2012 through May 2013. If you're stuck for content, these links will give you inspiration and ideas with a smattering of thought provoking strategies to consider. This is our third installment of content creation wrap-up posts and is a library of links to all of our articles about content creation from June through December 2013: Thinking content strategy? Want to know why you need to keep it updated? This Deserves your Attention. You can take vacation without putting your email marketing on hiatus too. Here are 4 Tips for Summer Newsletter Success . Now that you are back from vacation... ready to supercharge your marketing efforts with these 5 New Strategies ? Don't forget those wint...

A friend asked me to help her out by finding images of people talking on the phone to be used to market a new service. I like crestock.com for images (because they’re reasonably priced and easy to buy from) so I logged in and started searching for ‘manager on phone’. Great – 3030 images in the search results. I started scrolling through and saving images to a collection for later review. Good images, but none of them were really ‘speaking’ to me. Then I came across this one . It spoke to me – it stopped me and made me laugh. It reminded me of similar circumstances that I’d been in. Who hasn't goofed around at work now and then? The headline I imagined was: “Are your sales people avoiding the phone?” If I had known the headline first, I could have zeroed in on images that resonated it, rather than wading through hundreds of bland images of people talking on the phone. If you’re going to search for images , develop a few headlines first. When you have more than a broad sub...

The best reading from our newsletter contributors during 2013... Does your writing pass the $1-a-word Test? by Neil Everton, Podium Media & Communications Coaching If you are looking for a quick and certain way of giving your words more impact, look no further than your purse or wallet. Take a look at the last thing you wrote. It doesn't matter if it's a letter, email, report, newsletter, web content or promo script... read more Marketing to Your Tribe by Stephanie Holmes-Winton, The Money Finder This just in: some people don’t like what I have to say. They might unsubscribe from my newsletter, or they might make a snide comment on social media... read more Anyone Can Find Business on Twitter by Anita Hovey, Twirp Communications That’s right... ANYONE. The next time someone says “Twitter is just a bunch of nonsense” I want you to share a link to this post... read more 6 Ways to Become Part of Your Customer's Story by Bernadette Jiwa, The Story of Tell...

Click to Tweet this Article http://www.blogher.com/4-ways-grow-your-list-prospects Original article:  http://www.workbetternotharder.com/2013/04/4-ways-to-constantly-grow-your-list.html

TV folks realized a long time ago that ongoing stories keep people coming back. Everyone (my age) will remember General Hospital and the Nescafe ads . Using ongoing story telling as the basis of your newsletter can create that same thirst to know “What’s going to happen next?” This is not a strategy for the uncommitted. It requires planning and writing skill. Your continuing saga may be a real life story or it may be fictional . For either approach you’ll want to sit down and plan your storyline several issues in advance, while creating a vision of where it will go beyond that. If your story is fictional, you can make it exaggerated and funny, or serious and believable... or whatever you can dream up. Perhaps your main character will be your ideal client . Your story could be about the types of problems that you help your clients overcome. Corinne Boudreau, a lawyer, uses a continuing story in this way to illustrate her expertise. She uses realistic circumstances but without ...

@DaleyProgress How long should a newsletter be in this day and age? — Lino (@LinosVersion) December 5, 2013 The ideal answer is: as long as it needs to be to give value. The real answer is: it depends. Here are some of the things it depends on: Frequency Typically, the more often you send your newsletter, the shorter it will be. In my experience, though, that tends to be a function of the work involved with preparing it. Is there such a thing as providing too much value? Goals If one of your goals is to build your reputation as an expert, your newsletters will need to include a fair bit of content in the form of original articles (or images). If you have well-defined goals, these will always help you decide what to include and what to leave out. When in doubt, ask yourself if any of your goals are being met by the content you’re considering. Your commitment The perfect strategy is to put out as much amazing content as you can. Your actual strategy will depend...

If you don't think spelling mistakes matter, consider this: photo: CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS The headline was: "Kathleen Wynne’s ‘open government’ launch marred by spelling mistake." So, while she was talking about important stuff, eyes were on the spelling error, mouths were snickering, and fingers were tweeting. Her message was lost in the distraction. Do you think someone got reprimanded or even fired over this mistake? Who goofed? Was it the person who requisitioned the sign? The person who ordered the sign? The person who approved the proof? The person at the printer who processed the order? The person who printed it? The person who packaged and shipped it? The person who received and unwrapped it? The person who placed it on the podium? The camera and sound crew who set up and tested, looking right at it? Kathleen herself as she walked to the podium? This wasn't just one person's mistake. There were a lot of people going through the mot...