Just like in traditional selling, you can’t just march in unannounced and ask for the sale. You have to do the work and prove yourself first. Content marketing is no different.
Blog
An Audience Is Your Greatest Asset
Building an audience is difficult, which is why it’s so valuable. Organic growth takes time, but if you are willing to do the work, you can create perhaps your most valuable business asset.
How to Get Past Writer’s Block
In a way, writer’s block is just an excuse. I'm kind of mixed about it, though. While I want to be like those writers who forge ahead no matter what, there are definitely times where I get stuck. When the creativity doesn’t flow. The best advice I can give is to keep making forward progress […]
How to Get Past Writer’s Block
If you’re running a business, you don’t have the luxury to succumb to writer’s block. Your content strategy depends on consistency, so you need to keep things moving. Here are a couple strategies that I employ, and I hope they will work for you too.
Getting Started on Your Book Project
Any book project is a daunting task. It’s simply too much to comprehend all at once. Here’s how to assess and organize the content you have, make some key decisions, and actually get the process started.
Things to Consider Before Starting Your Book Project
Writing a book is a huge undertaking. To make it more manageable, here’s how to use a blog as your first draft. Practicing in front of a live audience is not only good for your writing—it’s good for your business too.
Should Writing a Book Be a Part of Your Content Strategy?
Writing a book is not to be taken lightly. But it can be a fantastic strategy if it serves your business goals. Let’s look at the considerations to help you decide for yourself.
What the World Doesn’t Need (Episode 17)
How often do you hear this? The world doesn’t need another book about X. The world doesn’t need another product that does Y. The world doesn’t need a new app that does Z. Do we really want people to stop innovating? Because that's the sentiment in this toxic phrase. I want people to keep trying […]
What the World Doesn’t Need
Do we really want people to stop innovating? Because that’s the sentiment in the phrase, “what the world doesn’t need.” Even if you’re not an early adopter, you can get behind innovators who are making the world a better place.
You Haven’t Tried Everything
Saying that you’ve tried everything is a form of giving up. Don’t let yourself use that as an excuse or an easy out. The nuances matter, which means that you need to keep making small adjustments. Keep iterating. Find small successes where you can. Embrace the failures too, they are immensely valuable. The “culture of […]
You Haven’t Tried Everything
Saying that you’ve tried everything is a form of giving up. But while there are always more things to try, how do you know when to stop? Is the project truly over, or is success right around the corner?
How to Run a Successful Kickstarter Campaign: Interview with Bruce Myren
Kickstarter can be a great strategy. But there are a lot of myths about crowdfunding, which is why most campaigns fail. On today’s episode, Bruce Myren shares his strategy and experiences in successfully funding his own project with Kickstarter.
Ideas vs. Execution (Episode 14)
Ideas are a dime a dozen, even the great ones. It’s what you do with those ideas that counts. And of course, the execution is always the difficult part. You start with a good set of assumptions. After all, you know your audience. You do your research to challenge some of those assumptions. You test […]
Ideas vs. Execution
Ideas are a dime a dozen, even the great ones. It’s the execution that counts. So, if you’ve got a great idea, get going. Start building, start creating, start testing. Start solving problems. There’s nothing in your way.
The ROI of Content Marketing
What’s the ROI of content marketing? Measuring awareness is easy, but measuring trust is not. Awareness alone won’t do it for you though, and your message won’t travel without trust. So if content marketing is going to work for you, don’t start with the ROI question.
Content Marketing: Content as a Promise
Make a promise to your audience. Then consistently deliver on that promise. That’s content marketing, in a nutshell. Building authority, credibility, and most importantly, earning the right to ask for the sale down the road.
Content Strategy: Content as an Asset
Content strategy can make you a lot more efficient if you treat your content as a business asset. With a little strategic planning up front, your content can be a renewable resource—an investment rather than a cost.
Separating Strategy and Tactics in Content Marketing
For content marketing to be effective, you need two things: 1) a strategy; and 2) a set of tactics to execute the strategy. Here’s how to make sure that they are working together in service of your business goals.
New Online Workshop: Grow Your Business with Content Marketing
Join me in a 3-day online workshop designed to help small business owners develop an online presence and start finding and connecting with customers. We’ll cover the basics of content marketing so that you can start making an impact on your own business immediately.
The 3 Types of Content Every Small Business Needs
Any content strategy involves three types of content. The first two are about you and your business, but the third one is your true upside, because it’s about a relationship between you and your customer. The trick is to get all three types of content working together towards your business goals.