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The DOs and DON'Ts of automation
While you’re likely always going to have to do some things you don’t love in your business, if you’re spending all of your limited resources on tasks that are draining your energy, your motivation to work on your business is going to wane quickly.
Automation can support you in saving your time and energy, easily generating data, and improving customer or user experience. However, automation is also one of those things that can be a curse when done poorly.
Here are a few differentiating factors to help you determine what to automate, and what’s best left done manually.
Your marketing isn't annoying to your people
One of the more common issues clients raise about creating and sharing content (especially repurposing content or repeating ideas) is the fear that their audience will be annoyed.
Let me put your fears to rest: if people in your audience are annoyed, they aren't your people.
If anyone shares that they are unhappy or annoyed with your content, they aren't the right fit for you!
How long should your blog posts be?
If you've ever wondered whether there's an ideal length for a blog post, this is for you. You can read a hundred different answers and none of them will give you a definitive answer that works for you because they aren't you!
For the most part, there's no need to get caught up in these kinds of questions. What's more important is to confirm that you're helping your audience with an actual problem, or giving them a perspective with information that's useful.
3 important questions your content needs to answer
You need to approach all of your content, particularly your sales pages, thinking about how what you’re writing is going to serve the reader, and plant the seed that working with you or purchasing your product is potentially their next step.
Good content is about more than simply being well-written. It’s about providing your readers with the answers to the questions they’re searching for.
Here are 3 critical questions your content needs to answer.
Why you still need a blog on your website
If you’ve heard that blogs are outdated and there’s no point in starting one, or that you should abandon your blogging efforts in pursuit of a social media strategy, I’m sorry to say that unfortunately you’ve likely been given bad advice.
Now granted, blogging practices have changed. And, yes, social media can be a great way to grow your business. But blogging is far from dead. In fact, blogging can be an integral element of a larger content marketing plan if executed properly.
Here are some of the top reasons you still need a blog on your website if you’re looking to grow your business.
5 reasons I love teaching people about marketing (and why you need to learn more about it)
Having been in the marketing world for over a decade now, I know that marketing doesn’t always excite business owners as much as it does me. More often than not, business owners fall into marketing because of their business, and not because they are genuinely interested in marketing or have marketing expertise they’re dying to share.
But, getting clear on a marketing path that makes sense for your business goals, and honing in on skills like connecting with your audience, strategizing, and sharing valuable information in easily digestible ways, will allow your business to experience growth like never before.
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ marketing plan
The spoiler alert you likely didn’t want: there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ when it comes to marketing. Unfortunately no one, not even the most successful business owners or brands, can simply hand over their marketing blueprint and promise you the same results they’ve seen.
Your business is unique. You are unique. What you do to grow your business should fit you, your business, the audience you want to attract, and the market you're in. (And no, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do things you don’t want to do to achieve your goals.)
5 prompts to inspire your content marketing (to engage your audience and make more sales)
Creating content for your marketing strategy is a never-ending process. That’s essentially the name of the game! Continue to show up, continue to serve, continue to add value to your audience, and you’ll see tangible results over time in the form of sales and community growth.
Knowing that content curation is beneficial and showing up across platforms, though, are two very different things.
If you’re struggling to know what to post, content prompts can help to fuel new ideas and inspiration around telling your story, providing value, and sharing your offers to better engage your audience.
What kind of support can you get for marketing your small business? An introduction to outsourcing marketing
Oftentimes there is frustration or aversion when it comes to marketing because entrepreneurs have fallen into marketing because they want a business, not because they enjoy marketing or have marketing expertise. And while I love to help “accidental marketers” find joy in marketing by making it easier for them, I also know that sometimes the best thing to do for your business is to outsource the tasks that are draining your time and energy.
When you allow yourself to let go of some of these tasks, you can instead focus on the activities that are within your zone of genius; working more “on” the business, instead of “in” it. Here are a few of the most common options for outsourcing marketing work.
Your data is the best source for data-driven decisions
You know how big I am on planning when it comes to marketing, but the other recommendation I like to talk about a lot is making decisions that are backed by data. When building out a strategic marketing plan, data is going to be key in informing your decisions in a way that will allow you to reach your bigger business goals.
Abiding by data is harder to do when you're new to business, but you can set yourself up to collect data from day one. And, as the data about your activity grows, you'll have insights you can use that are infinitely more reliable than all the third-party data in the world.
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