Work Better, Not Harder

Using a content template can shorten your writing time and also keep you more focused. The purpose of this particular template is to give people a useful tool to complete a task more efficiently. This type of article shows off your expertise . Because it is so useful, people will bookmark it and return. Part of its usefulness is its simplicity: no long paragraphs, no complex sentences. Grab The Checklist content template here (.pdf). Get More Templates If you like this template, grab the mini workbook Quick and Easy Content Creation with 14 more templates , plus some tips for using them to be more productive. Click to Tweet this Article

'The Creativity Movement' - this headline caught my eye in the paper recently. Included were several inspiring articles about idea generation and I noticed a common thread running throughout. It turns out that idea generation works better with more people than just yourself. No surprise there; doesn't this sound like brainstorming? Whatever you call it, more people make it merrier... and more creative. So, this creativity movement hinges on collaboration. And that's good news for small business! Most small business owners I know thrive on collaboration; having others to work with but having autonomy, too. It almost feels like we have an unfair advantage in this new age. Small business owners dream of getting that BIG IDEA. The one that will make them rich or popular or powerful, or give them the means to do good for others. But to get to that big idea, we have to practice with lots of little ones. No matter how overused, "practice makes perfect" is...

... is the one you don't have to learn yourself. You don't know what you don't know. Hire an expert and go do what you do best. Click to Tweet this Article

A photo can be a powerful marketing message , an expression of brand with more impact than a logo. It's worth a thousand words and expressed through many thousands of colours. We have feelings about the image itself and about the colours. You know how you feel when looking at a beautiful photo of sand, sun and surf? Aquamarine, white, pink, and deep blue. Even if you don't own a bathing suit, you want to be there. Summer colour schemes can be bright and vibrant, or cool and relaxed. What does your summer marketing campaign look and feel like? Here are some photos that inspired me. I've included html colour codes and links to the original photos on pixabay.com if you want to download for yourself. Can a fallen leaf be elegant? I think this one is - elegant and earthy. And, if I have time to contemplate this leaf, I must be feeling relaxed and at ease. Gazania are attention hogs in the garden with their warm colours and pinwheel designs. ...

Not everyone is a 'visual' person, by preference or physical circumstances. But many are, which is why you can't ignore graphics as an important piece of your content. Can I convince you? Today we are exposed to about five times more information daily than we were in the mid-1980s - around 34 gigabytes of information, roughly equivalent to 174 newspapers. Out of necessity, our attention spans have become shorter as we attempt to process information faster. Over 50% of the human brain is devoted to processing visual information, and 70% of our sensory receptors are contained in our eyes. This means people are good at processing and remembering pictures . In fact, it only takes the average person one-tenth of a second to understand the content in a picture. It would take that same person over 30 seconds to read a description about the content in that same picture… over 300 times longer. Since 2007, graphic content on the internet has increased by almost 10,000%! We h...

"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...

Brenda Fay and her husband Dan of BrenDaniel Productions Corp. have trained people all over the world on project management. As a result, they have many contacts across several time zones. They had been using email marketing to promote their services. A couple of years ago I suggested to Brenda that she can get more out of her email marketing if she also gives some value to readers . Now her brief newsletter is bringing her success every time it goes out. Recently I asked Brenda where she gets her ideas . “From things that happen every day – talking with people, listening to CBC radio, and reading books are three main ways. I write about ideas that strike me as related to project management in one way or another.” Brenda told me that her goals are to stay in touch with people and to get information out about public programs she’s offering. It’s not a one way street. “It is fun for me to write the articles, and I am very pleased when people write back giving comments on the ...

Summer may be a sluggish time for many businesses but it doesn't have to be. Use the slower pace to your advantage. Take the Time to Get Inspired Do more reading. Watch more videos. Have more chats over coffee. Take online or offline courses. All of these will generate ideas for content and beyond. Spend some time refreshing your marketing strategy. Stick Around Why don't you be the one who hangs around all summer while everyone else disappears? Whether it's your newsletter, blog or social media, or all three, maintain your commitment to your fans. If not, you might not be missed all summer but people will realize you deserted them when you show up again in the fall. Use Automation I'm all for vacations but even then you don't have to drop out of sight. Continue to give value by using tools to schedule social media posts. Prepare and schedule your newsletters and blog posts in advance. Use your voicemail and email automated messages to keep people a...

Content templates can simplify your content development time by providing structure - sort of like filling in blanks. That means you can be done and onto your next task in no time. The purpose of this template is to create an awesome resource for beginners on a particular topic. This type of article will attract readers that could eventually become customers. Search engines will also like it because it will contain the common keywords people search when initially researching a subject.  Download the "How to Start" template now (pdf). Get More Content Templates If you like that one, grab our mini workbook with 15 Quick and Easy Content Templates plus some extra tips for repurposing content. Click to Tweet this Article

If you've already mastered Getting Started (Part 1 in this series) , you have gained some momentum and are ready to expand your skills and tackle some content that is useful to your readers and time-saving for you . Save Yourself Time and Be Useful There are so many types of content that can fit into this category; my concern is overwhelming you. So let's start simple and you'll begin to see all the possibilities yourself. Think of a piece of information that you relay repeatedly , such as every time you take on a new client. If you can't think of it now, this will come to mind when you do it next. My example is about writing the introduction to your first newsletter. Every time I started working with a new client, I wrote them an email giving advice and examples. The quality varied, the examples varied, and I was wasting time repeating myself. Either now or the next time you have to, take the time to write an awesome version of that information, detailed and...

Some of you might remember the old Wendy's ad, "Where's the beef?" I was reminded of that when I saw these 3 examples back-to-back on Twitter. What's missing from the middle post in this screenshot? The beef. People are picky about what they subscribe to. If you don't give them a good reason to sign up, they won't even get to taste the beef, no matter how many patties there are. Good calls-to-action are not easy to construct but it's important to make the effort. Click to Tweet this Article

Isn’t it exciting that your email marketing campaign is likely to be more successful because average open rates have trended significantly upward ? According to Inbox Marketer, their North American average open rate was 19.2% in 2011 and 25.9% in 2015, an increase of over 6%! The cream on the cake is that deliverability is also up. This sounds like great news for small businesses doing email marketing - my client base. But wait, there’s actually a scary side to all this industry success, especially for small businesses. Be careful about the latest trend that's improving those stats - list pruning . Statistics are quite different from people, and you do business with people. If you’re considering pruning your list, there are some things you need to know first in order to make an informed decision. The Math behind the Pruning Let’s say you start with 500 subscribers and your average open rate is 20%. If you get rid of 100 subscribers (who appear not to be opening your new...

If you’ve struggled with success when it comes to blogging, newsletters or even social media, it may be because you’re missing the essential ingredient - value . There are many things you can do right or wrong but, if you aren't giving value, the rest won't matter much. Another thing I know for a fact is that giving value is work and requires commitment . If you're OK with a little hard work, let's get back to the part about giving value and look at ways to do that, along with some examples. Content that is in short supply or in high demand This is content can't be found anywhere else. Insider information is a prime example. Or perhaps it’s time sensitive and can’t be gotten as fast anywhere else. An example is Mari Smith and her exclusive Facebook content . If you are the single source for information that people want, you’ve got it made. Once you build your reputation, your opinions could also be included in this category. Many of you will already be...

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 ...

Once a contact unsubscribes , you don't have (express or implied) permission to email them again... unless they opt back in themselves or initiate a business transaction with you. While all of CASL may not be easy to understand, this is pretty straightforward. The example shown here is a no-no. Depending on the audience, the reaction may be less severe, but I can't imagine sending an email to everyone who has unsubscribed from my own newsletter over the years inviting them to come back. While you might not object, and some might resubscribe, I'd be asking to be flagged as spam - and rightfully so. While it's partly about respecting my fellow business owners, it's also about protecting my own reputation. Like any other parts of your business, when you get a bright email marketing idea, think it through (and even research) before jumping on the bus. Click to Tweet this Article