Needs Updating Archives - Control Mouse Media

How to Change My Mind: An Experiment

Jessica Valenti changed my mind about cancel culture. How? By speaking with clarity and empathy. This serves as a great example of what I’ve been exploring lately in my new project, Consider the Source. This episode is available exclusively as part of this new project: Listen to it here. Wait, why? Marketing is about experimenting, […]

Consider the Source: Extending the Scope of this Show

If we want to create positive change in the world, it will take strong ideas expressed with clarity and empathy. To that end, I’m launching a new project called “Consider the Source” that audits the way we consume, share, and produce media.

Charting Your Own Path

The challenges you face in starting a business are different than any other thing you’ll do in your career. Episode 131 is a summary of my 10-part series about the early days of my small business – my strategies, successes, and mistakes – so that you have somewhat of a roadmap in your own journey.

Productizing Your Knowledge

If your business involves teaching or training, then you are in a good position to create “knowledge products” out of your expertise. Whether you sell these “outputs” or use them for customer acquisition, a little planning up front can help you work towards something bigger in your content strategy.

Building Your Email List

Email is your conversion instrument. It’s 40 times more effective than social media in this regard, so building your email list is one of the most important things you can do for your business. It pays to get started early, with a plan for segmentation and some simple automation as well.

Producing a Podcast: Pros and Cons

Have you ever thought about starting a podcast? It’s a great marketing tool, which is why I’m a big proponent of podcasting. Let’s take a look at the criteria for deciding whether or not it could be a good strategy for your business in particular.

Creating Effective Cornerstone Content

Cornerstone content supercharges your efficiency. It not only carries some the sales load, but it’s good for SEO too. With a little investment of time up front, it can pay dividends for years to come. Let’s look at why cornerstone content is so important, what it can do for your business, and a simple guide for how to get started.

Making the Fear Disappear

We all start out scared. But in order to be successful, you have to learn how to quiet the voice of fear in your head. It takes time, but making the fear disappear puts you in a position of power. You make better decisions, attract better customers, and produce better outcomes.

Surviving the First Few Months of a New Business

In the early days of a new business, structure is critical. Otherwise, how can you be sure that you are spending time on the right things – and that you are building something that your customers want? Episode 124 is about testing your initial assumptions to make sure you’re on the right track.

Finding Mentors and Models

What makes a great mentor, and more importantly, how do you know who will be the best mentor for you in particular? Here’s a rundown of the key things to look for – and key things to avoid.

Day 1 of Your New Business

The sooner you start interacting with and learning about your audience, the better. This starts on Day 1 of your new business – it’s too important to let it wait. A side benefit is that it gives you a system and structure for creating worthwhile content to serve your audience. Let’s take a look at exactly how to do that.

So You Want to Start a Business?

There’s so much to learn when you are starting a business, and the challenges that you will face are as unique as your own fingerprints. It will be up to you to chart your own path, but it helps to have a map. That’s why I created this 10-part series, taking you through my process as I built my own business.

From Adversity to Acceleration: Business Growth Strategies from Kelly Roach

Acceleration is something that most entrepreneurs seek, but often find to be out of reach. My guest this week is Kelly Roach, a former Fortune 500 executive who has an amazing story of career acceleration – both in her corporate career and in running her own agency. Kelly shares her story, along with strategies that you can apply to your own business.

How to Make Sure You Actually Own the Rights to Your Content

Do you have someone creating content for you? A writer, designer, video producer, or developer? If so, you want to make sure that you have clear ownership of the rights to that content. Episode 112 is about the risks of not having an IP clause in your vendor contracts.

Creating Content as a Business Asset

In short, running a good content strategy is a huge time investment. It takes a lot of effort, and let’s face it – it takes a long time to start seeing results. The only way to make it worth it is to treat everything you produce as if it’s a renewable asset.

Tweeting Is Believing, Tweeting Out Is Not

Twitter is the best social platform for connecting with people you DON’T know already, making it a critical tool for finding new potential customers. So, why is it still not taken seriously? Episode 106 is about making a shift in mindset so that you can up your game and get more out of Twitter.

Social Media Cannot Exist in a Vacuum

If your plan is just to start “getting the word out there” by posting to Facebook or Twitter – stop now. The outcomes will never be worth the time you put into it. You need a complete content strategy in order to make social media worthwhile. Here’s a simple way to adjust your approach – and the three advantages to doing so.

Marketing and the Experimental Mindset

One of my favorite quotes is, “If you’re not measuring, you’re not marketing.” This has never been more true than it is today. What worked yesterday is not guaranteed to work tomorrow. Learn, measure, and iterate so that you can continue to optimize your marketing efforts.

Soft-Touch Marketing Is More Respectful – and More Effective

Marketing often feels “icky” to small business owners, solo entrepreneurs, authors, and other creatives. When you ARE your brand, you don’t want to be a self-promoter. Soft-touch marketing is the answer – not only does it feel better, but in light of today’s consumer behavior, it’s also more effective too.

Stop Looking for Shortcuts

Forging real connections with real customers take real effort. Every business owner knows this. So why do we behave differently when we get online? Why do we take social connections less seriously, and look for the SEO tricks and other quick fixes?