Clubhouse and Reels and Spaces, Oh My! Where is Your Marketing Money Best Spent?

Social media used to
be easy. Each app had a specific purpose. Facebook was the platform where users
could socialize with friends and family. Instagram was for sharing photos.
LinkedIn was for networking. As apps rolled out new desirable features like
stories, likes and shares, competitor apps began popping up and integrating the
same features into their platforms. Then, TikTok changed the game when they
became the leading platform for short videos during 2020. Other social media
platforms grew envious of their explosive growth, and competitors quickly
emerged, most notably Instagram Reels. We’ve also seen YouTube and Netflix
adopt similar short video offerings in recent months.

TikTok isn’t the only
victim of the copy-paste technique other social media giants are deploying. Clubhouse’s
invite-only exclusivity for Apple users, celebrities and entrepreneurs makes
the social audio app extremely desirable. We’ve seen Twitter introduce a
similar model with Spaces and Facebook is in talks to launch an audio-based
app, making them direct threats to Clubhouse. With all of these changes and new apps, marketers and brands might feel
overwhelmed as to where they should focus their efforts. How do you know what
platforms to prioritize and which ones may not be worth your time and money? Here’s
a few ways to help navigate the flood of changes we’ve seen with social media
recently:

Experience the hype without
spreading efforts too thin.

It’s easy to want to
dive headfirst into every app and feature all at once, particularly when new
launches generate buzz. However, like all social media efforts, you must have a
plan in place. Make sure you plan out content, and don’t exhaust yourself from
juggling too many platforms at once. Creating a social media calendar to manage
brand, influencer and partner content, using online programs or working with an
agency can help make sure you’re consistent with messaging without over- or
under-posting on one particular platform.

It’s crucial to maintain
a presence on multiple platforms to maximize the number of eyeballs your
organization can reach. This also helps keep content fresh for all audiences,
who might not follow your brand on all social channels. Cross-posting is an
easy way to share content across multiple platforms and explore new venues before
committing extra creative time and budget. However, deciding to go all-in on a
newer platform that proves to be valuable, deserves its own catered strategy.
Some social apps now offer comprehensive advertising resources that can help
educate you on where to get started in the sometimes-confusing landscape of
social media marketing.  

Stand out (or fit in!)
on an emerging platform.

With brands buzzing
about the audio-app movement, taking the time to vet platforms and develop a
comprehensive strategy is crucial. This helps ensure your time and energy is
well spent and allows you to determine how the functionality of the platform
best suits your organization, if it all. Considering which groups to join, and
whether or not you want to be an active participant or a listener tracking
industry trends is an important approach to consider. If one of your company
thought leaders joins these conversations, you gain the ability to not only
participate, but gain insight on what competitors and customers are doing.

While it’s important to explore firsthand the new venues
that might be impactful for your brand,
it’s also wise to gain an outsider’s perspective. Talk to your
influencers, what new platforms are they trying out? How are followers
responding? Are these venues appropriate for sponsored content? What tactics
have they noticed as being particularly impactful on these new sites that could
be adapted for brand and influencer posts? These are all good questions to ask
your team and influencers if you’re planning on launching campaigns on a new platform.

Popular doesn’t mean necessary! 

Before jumping into a
new platform, do your homework. Researching social media platforms and
exploring different features helps familiarize yourself with how to best
utilize these tools. Audio apps in particular fall in this category, since
there are many different ways to participate in or even lead conversations. In
some instances, brands need to push through their fear of missing out. Truth of
the matter is that social audio platforms won’t be a fit for everyone. Just
because it’s the focus of conversations in recent days doesn’t mean brands
should drop everything to create a new strategy for the hot new platform. Communicating
and collaborating with the influencers you work with can allow you to enter a
new social platform space with your best foot forward to decide if the platform
is a fit for you and your organization after all.

It’s important to keep
your organization’s needs in focus when deciding what platforms and social
media tactics to utilize and how. If you have a small-sized business in the
process of growing, it might be a good idea to use Clubhouse or Spaces for
networking purposes. If you’re working with influencers who are trying to
promote your product or services through original content, diving into Instagram
or TikTok could be the way to go. Across the board, understanding who your
target audience is and how they consume social media helps keep you grounded in
the vast and ever-changing world of social networks. Consulting with influencers
and agencies can help ensure your social media plan is streamlined, targeted and
ready to make a splash on your most impactful apps.

Justin Kline is
Co-founder of Markerly, an influencer marketing technology partner and platform working with
some of the largest consumer brands in the world.

The post Clubhouse and Reels and Spaces, Oh My! Where is Your Marketing Money Best Spent? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/clubhouse-and-reels-and-spaces-oh-my-where-is-your-marketing-money-best-spent/

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How Chase Chappell went from Working in his Sister’s Garage to Advising on $189.5M+ in Ad Spend

How Chase Chappell went from Working in his Sister’s Garage to Advising on $189.5M+ in Ad Spend written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing

 

Agency Spark Podcast with With Chase Chappell

The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode is designed to spark ideas you can put into practice for your agency today.

In this episode of the Agency Spark Podcast, Sara interviews Chase Chappell. Chase Chappell is a serial entrepreneur, marketer, and founder of Chappell Digital where he manages $10M in ad spend and is an advisor for $189.5M+ in spend across Facebook’s products.  He’s also the creator and instructor of the Facebook Ads Expert Mastery Class.

Questions Sara asks:

• How did you get into the Facebook Ad space?
• Talk to us about your process for taking on a new Facebook Ads client?
• How does a small business with a limited budget compete against a larger business that might have millions to put towards ad spend?
• How do you help small business owners analyze their budget to know what they even should be putting toward ad spend?
• Take us through your process for testing which ads are working the best?
• What is the value of retargeting?
• Tell us about your Facebook Ads Expert Mastery Class?

Resources mentioned:

• Canva

Learn more about Chase Chappell:

• Visit his website: Chase Chappell

Get 10% off Chase’s Facebook Ads Expert Mastery Class:

• Use discount code AS10 to receive 10% off the purchase price. Click here to see purchase options.

 

This episode of the Agency Spark Podcast is brought to you by Unstack, a no-code marketing platform and ecosystem.  Start building a site today for free by visiting their website. 

Stop waiting on developers and leveraging multiple tools to manage your marketing stack.  With Unstack, you get a no-code website builder, landing page builder, A/B testing, forms, analytics, contact insights, payments, memberships, blog, and more all in one platform.  Start building a site today for free by visiting this link and receive 20% off for six months when you sign up.

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/chase-chappell-facebook-ads-mastery/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/how-chase-chappell-went-from-working-in-his-sisters-garage-to-advising-on-189-5m-in-ad-spend/

15 Chrome Extensions Every Marketing Consultant Should Employ

15 Chrome Extensions Every Marketing Consultant Should Employ written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Chrome extensions are incredibly useful (and often underrated) tools for marketers. They allow you to tailor your daily online experience to your specific needs, your job, and your productivity. As a marketing consultant, there are plugins out there that can help you, your clients, and potential prospects.

There are many extensions that can help you do things like: gain more competitive insights for your clients, quickly audit and report on a prospect’s website performance, instantly record a short personalized 1-to-1 video to send in a cold email, analyze SEO, security, and design flaws on a website, the list goes on.

There’s a huge library of plugins out there, and it’s easy to become overwhelmed when looking through the extension store. So which ones are really worth adding to your stack?

I want to share some of the best extensions you can add to your marketing consultant toolkit. These tools will help you focus, find new customers, and make informed decisions about your marketing strategies (The links below are all for Chrome versions but many also have Firefox and Safari versions.)

1. Similar web

SimilarWeb can give some basics on traffic to a site including the breakdown of traffic channels and similar websites. It’s a competitive digital intelligence tool for a complete 360-degree view of your industry, competitors, and customers.

2. Quick SEO

Quick SEO checks backlinks and few other handy things. It provides you easy access to important SEO signals and data like PageRank, Backlinks, Alexa Rank, and Traffic estimate.

3. METASEO Inspector

METASEO Inspector is useful to inspect the meta data and schema found inside web pages that are usually not visible while browsing. The extension shows you alerts when the meta data is not within certain ranges, for example when the description tag is too short, or too long.

4. Built With or What Runs

These tools are website profilers. Either of these tools can give you a pretty quick analysis of the technology behind a site like WordPress and what plugins are present with a click of a button.

Above: Built With

Above: What Runs

5. MyWebAudit

This is a paid tool that runs a complete analysis of a site and produces a pretty report you can brand and use. MyWebAudit runs automated checks that provide a done-for-you audit system. It identifies the major design, SEO, security, and performance issues that cost businesses money.

6. Lighthouse

This is Google’s site speed test tool that can quickly produce some ideas about what might be slowing a site down.

7. WhatsMySerp

WhatsMySerp shows related search volume and CPC data right in the browser for most search phrases. You get unlimited on-demand keyword research data inside Google search results.

8. Facebook Pixel Helper

This tool shows if Facebook Pixel is installed. The extension works in the background to look for conversion or Facebook pixels and provide real-time feedback on the implementation.

9. Loom Instant Video

This allows you to launch Loom from any web page and is handy if you’re doing site reviews to capture what you are seeing on a site. You can record your screen, voice, and face to create an instantly shareable video in less time than it would take to type an email.

 

10. Email Hunter

This tool allows you to find email addresses associated with any website. Along with the email addresses, you can get the names, job titles, social networks, and phone numbers. All the data has public sources detailed in the search results.

11. Color Picker

This tool makes it easy to identify web colors, saving, and editing them on a given site a quick and simple job.

12. What Font

What Font helps you discover the fonts used on a website. It allows you to know the font name, its family, color, style, size, position.

13. Video Speed Controller

Fast-forward, rewind, adjust playback speed on any video. This video speed adjuster adds controls to web videos that allow to increase or decrease playback speed.

14. Grammarly

This tool checks your grammar in email and any other online app. You’ll get real-time feedback from Grammarly on Gmail, Google Docs, Twitter, LinkedIn, and nearly everywhere else you find yourself writing.

 

15. Calendly

If you use this scheduling tool, the extension makes it easy to drop your calendar links into any doc or email.

There’s my list, but hopefully, you’ve found at least one Chrome extension that can help you become more effective at your job. Are there any essential or obvious ones I missed? Let me know in the comments.

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/15-chrome-extensions-every-marketing-consultant-should-employ/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/15-chrome-extensions-every-marketing-consultant-should-employ/

The Impact of Fintech on Supply Chain Finance

Financial technology (Fintech) has bridged the gap between suppliers and consumers worldwide. The technology has created a beneficial digital system that positively impacts both sides.  This has improved the working capital and decreased or eliminated contract processing costs. The digital system applies to all sectors, from healthcare to the banking system globally.  Fintech research shows increased investment in the Fintech industry. Statistics show $ 31billion investment deals in the last three years. The technology is also available for trading platforms. The many eToro reviews found online prove the huge impact Fintech services have had on stock trading platforms.  The digital trading platform plans a merge with several Fintech services to improve cryptocurrency trading.

Fintech companies
venturing into the supply chain are acting as digital procurement brokers. The
companies use various bank networks to offer the best trading financing terms.  Fintech companies rely on different
structures.  However, the process starts
with the buyer and ends when the supplier is paid. Fintech can use techniques
such as being the intermediary. For example, the supplier can be paid within
5-10 days, and the buyer to pay within 120 days but still under the same
agreement. The buyer is dealing with the Fintech Company. They receive low
processing costs due to the automated system introduced by the Fintech system.   

Fintech Solutions in Supply Chance Finance to Buyers

• Best improved working capital using
  extended accounts payable.
• Lower processing and administrative costs.
• Improved financing terms and streamlined
  procurement process.

For suppliers they get
the payments on time, thus improving service and product delivery.

Corporate Funding Incentive

Since the introduction of
Fintech and the benefits they offer on different platforms. Most corporations
(1 out 4) are utilizing Fintech systems to run their supply chain finance
platforms.  Before Fintech, supply chain
finance was conducted by banks.   All Companies were limited to banking options
and terms. Today the supply chain finance platform can use Fintech to connect
to a network of banks and financial options.  The Fintech solution provides flexible
services such as automated currency exchange.  The corporations can provide more working
capital and procurement process to new industries.

SME Global Impact

Fintech solution is
available for small, medium, and large corporations.  Technology offers equal opportunities to all
business sectors.  Research from
international financial Companies shows the most significant growth of Fintech
(supply chain) is from SMEs.  In the
past, financing SMEs was challenging and required documentation, verification
to receive business loans. However, Fintech has improved the loan process
services and duration. SMEs can increase their production due to proper funding
and automated services.   SMEs can merge
with large banks through Fintech platforms and get better financing and
financial knowledge.

Healthcare Opportunities

Fintech solutions aren’t
limited to manufacturing or banking industries.  The Healthcare industry still underestimates
the power of Fintech in improving their services.  The majority of hospitals use the primary
system to enhance their supply chain.  A
survey from Syft indicates that many healthcare facilities (98 percent) believe
supply chain management works for medium high priority investments.  However, the incorporation of Fintech solution
will save more than $11 million annually compared to the essential supply chain
cost.

Hospitals should invest
in Fintech service to get automated service which will reduce management cost.  Lack of a digital system for hospitals will
increase the cost as more human resources are required. Fintech platforms can
help automate procurement costs. Fintech platforms also help connect health
practitioners with patients, especially during the current pandemic situation.

Future Issues

The traditional banking
system follows particular regulatory protocols based on the region’s
government.  Fintech is facing regulatory
issues since each country has its rules—this hinders many companies from
investing in Fintech SCF.  However,
Fintech platforms are working on handling the regulatory issues to suit all
businesses.

Conclusion

Companies should
implement technologies that are cost-effective and improve their business
productivity. They should also concentrate on risk management to curb all
potential risks.

The post The Impact of Fintech on Supply Chain Finance appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/the-impact-of-fintech-on-supply-chain-finance/

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Andrew Napolitano: Life in the Spotlight

For many people, living a life in the public eye is a dream. To the average person, fame is associated with popularity, adoration, wealth, and most importantly, relevance. If someone famous is seen out in public, dozens of fans rush to their side, begging for a picture or an autograph. But with all of this attention, these public figures lack privacy and normality. They cannot walk into a coffee shop without being bothered and their every move in person or online is tracked by millions of people. Life in the spotlight comes with pros and cons. People may be surprised how much work it is to handle that much attention 24/7. 

Andrew Napolitano became a part of the Fox News family back in 1998. Before he made his debut on television, he was the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in New Jersey. He graduated from Princeton University in 1972 and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame in 1975. While serving as a judge, he tried over 150 jury trials and handled thousands of hearings, motions, divorces and sentencings. After sitting on the bench for eight years, he decided in 1995 to begin his career in television broadcasting. 

Napolitano is currently the senior judicial analyst for the Fox News Channel. He offers legal insight for both FNC and the Fox Business Network. In addition to discussing the legal issues our country faces on television, he is also the author of nine books about law and government. According to the Fox News website, some of his work include “Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws”; The New York Times Best Seller, “The Constitution in Exile: How the Federal Government Has Seized Power by Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land”; “A Nation of Sheep”; “Dred Scott’s Revenge: A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America”; and “Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History,” also a New York Times Best Seller. His most recent book is titled: “Suicide Pact: The radical expansion of Presidential Powers and the Lethal Threat to American Liberty.” Some of his work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and The New York Sun. 

Andrew Napolitano is passionate about sharing his wisdom with the American people and he lectures nationally about the Constitution and human freedoms, making him a familiar face to many people. Napolitano is grateful that he has a platform that allows him to share his thoughts to such a large audience. He knows that by being an advocate for civil liberties and continuously speaking his mind on government issues, he is making a legacy for himself. On the other hand, however, the media can play a role in twisting Napolitano’s words in order to make them sound negative and unappealing. This is a con that many public figures face, the constant battle with the media. Even though Napolitano himself is part of the media, he is nowhere near safe from it. The media is known to publicize stories to get popularity, even if the story is not 100% accurate. Because of this, Napolitano believes that life in the spotlight is both a blessing and a curse. 

Although millions of people wish to be famous, remember that fame is just as much of a job as anything else. Sure it has many perks, but people cannot escape the public eye once they are thrown into it. They have to constantly watch what they say or how they act before a story breaks all over social media. This article is aimed to help people recognize that life in the spotlight is tough, and only people who are up for the challenge can live through it.

The post Andrew Napolitano: Life in the Spotlight appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/media-journalism/andrew-napolitano-life-in-the-spotlight/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/andrew-napolitano-life-in-the-spotlight/

The Top 10 Duct Tape Marketing Podcast Episodes for 2020

The Top 10 Duct Tape Marketing Podcast Episodes for 2020 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

2020 was an unpredictably eye-opening year that brought forth swift change, lots of uncertainty, and a shift in perspective for many. Even though 2020 immediately conjures words like “challenge,” “hardship” and “crisis,” there are many lessons learned that will impact and shape the future of business and small business marketing moving forward.

I chatted with some incredible guests on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. I wanted to take a look back at the most popular episodes we aired in 2020.

If you enjoyed what you heard here, check out the full line-up of shows.

Tim Staples – Creating Shareable Content for Your Busines

Tim Staples is the CEO of Shareability and co-author of Break Through the Noise: The 9 Rules to Capture Global Attention. Staples has developed a reputation in the marketing industry for being a creator of viral content. In the past few years, several of his video campaigns have amassed more than five billion views, and 35 of them have landed on the first page of YouTube.

Biggest takeaway: Today everybody has a megaphone. But now that everybody has a megaphone, they’re shouting into it all day long, every day, to the point where most people have tuned almost all of it out. You’ll hear from Staples on the five positive emotions that are the most effective in content to get people to lean forward and share: happiness, awe, curiosity, empathy, and surprise.

Click here to listen to the episode.

Michael Margolis – Storytelling Around Disruption and Innovation

Michael Margolis is the CEO and founder of Storied. Storytelling has become a business buzzword of late, but there’s a lot of complexity behind the term. Margolis’ focus is specifically on storytelling as it relates to disruption and innovation. It’s often hard to tell stories about change—audiences grow wary or defensive—but Margolis helps leaders in Silicon Valley and other hotbeds of innovation make that change feel exciting and achievable.

Biggest takeaway: We are taught to lead with data and conclusions. But if you lead with data, the story is dead on arrival. Margolis shares his three-step narrative framework that will help you capture your audience’s imagination, attention, and relate to your story about what you’re selling.

Click here to listen to the episode.

 

Alison Levine – How to Treat an Opportunity Like Your One Big Break

Alison Levine is a leadership expert, polar explorer, and mountaineer who is no stranger to extreme environments. She has survived sub-zero temperatures, hurricane-force winds, sudden avalanches, and a career on Wall Street. She is one of the most in-demand keynote speakers, delivering resounding leadership messages that transcend her extreme climbing expeditions and remain relevant in today’s fast-paced business environments. She is able to draw relevant, authentic parallels between mountaineering and business because she has experienced both first hand—on multiple mountains, in multiple organizations, and in multiple industries.

Biggest takeaway: Alison Levine shares her story of starting her journey at 30. Levine shares how progress happens when you get uncomfortable, and how to treat an opportunity like it’s your one big break.

Click here to listen to the episode.

Steven M.R. Covey – Timeless Habits for Cultivating Success

Steven M. R. Covey is the former CEO of the Covey Leadership Center, where he helped his father, Stephen R. Covey, launch his classic book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He is also a New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author himself. His book, The Speed of Trust, is designed to help leaders build a collaborative team and environment on the basis of trust.

Biggest takeaway: Steven M.R. Covey shares his insights on why it’s so important for people to feel understood, how a paradigm shift can change your reality, why spirituality doesn’t need to be religious, and how it can help you in challenging times.

Click here to listen to the episode.

Ben Shapiro – Uncovering New Possibilities in the World of Marketing

Ben Shapiro got his start at eBay, where he served as their manager of business development and SEO. He then went on to found his own business and run marketing for a number of early-stage startups. In more recent years, he transitioned into marketing strategy consulting and now runs several popular podcasts, including the MarTech Podcast and Voices of Search. 

Biggest takeaway: Shapiro shares why companies should consider getting into a content business. what really matters when it comes to creating a successful podcast (or great content in any format), and how to approach going independent whether that’s the next big step in your career, or you’re doing it for the time being.

Click here to listen to the episode.

 

 

Seth Godin – Tips of the Trade with Seth Godin

Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker. In addition to launching one of the most popular blogs in the world, he has written 19 best-selling books, including The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes, and What To Do When It’s Your Turn (And It’s Always Your Turn). His most recent book, This is Marketing, was an instant bestseller in countries around the world.

Biggest takeaway: You’ll get insights from best-selling author, teacher, and entrepreneur Seth Godin about what it takes to create a successful podcast and produce one at that, the difference between the homemade and the professional approach to media production, and where conferences will stand on being relevant in today’s world.

Click here to listen to the episode.

 

Kara Goldin – How to Find Inspiration in Doubt

Kara Goldin is the founder and CEO of Hint Water, a flavored water brand founded in 2005. She is also the author of Undaunted: Overcoming Doubts and Doubters. Kara is an active speaker, writer, and host of the podcast Unstoppable with Kara Goldin where she interviews founders, entrepreneurs, and other disruptors across various industries.

Biggest takeaway: Don’t let anyone crush your dreams! Kara Goldin shares her story about the incredible risks she took and how she overcame huge challenges in founding Hint amidst all of the doubt from herself and others.

Click here to listen to the episode.

Solo Show – Google Analytics Simplified for Small Business

Closing the loop on your marketing investment, on your channels, on your customer engagement, are important. This allows you to focus, spend less money, and invest in what really works. I work with a lot of small business consultants and small business clients and this is one of the biggest challenges to get them excited about. It’s a lot like telling people they need to like math. Especially when you go to this tool, one that I believe is one of the best tools on the planet, and it’s free, but it’s really easy to get lost. In this podcast, I’m going to spend some time trying to simplify this.

Biggest takeaway: You’ll learn why you should care about Google Analytics, how to set it up, and what goals you should have when you set it up.

Click here to listen to the episode.

Todd Henry – How Motivation Can Drive You to Produce Your Best Work

Todd Henry is the founder of Accidental Creative, and author of The Accidental Creative as well as Die Empty. Todd Henry’s latest book he wrote with Rod Penner, Todd W. Hall, Ph.D., and Joshua Miller, Ph.D. – The Motivation Code: Discover the Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work.

Biggest takeaway: Todd Henry has created a new framework for understanding what motivates us and why. Henry shares tips on how you can use your motivation to produce your best work.

Click here to listen to the episode.

Shaina Weisinger – Repurposed Content Can Increase Your Traffic 300%

Shaina Weisinger is the CEO of Repurpose House. Shaina Weisinger is an expert in social media marketing, specifically optimizing content through repurposing. Repurpose House takes all of the content your business produces and adds the social media bells and whistles. They trim video and audio, create text motion videos of blog highlights, add headlines, captions, size them for all platforms, and more.

Biggest takeaway: You’ve spent effort and time creating content, you should get the most out of it. Shaina Weisinger shares how you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel, and you can use repurposed content to increase your traffic significantly.

Click here to listen to the episode.

 

Is your favorite episode on the list? If not, we’d love to hear which one you enjoyed listening to the most!

For our podcast audience, we can’t thank you enough for your support over the years! If you like the show, click on over and subscribe and if you love the show give us a review on iTunes, please!

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/top-10-duct-tape-marketing-podcast-episodes-for-2020/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/the-top-10-duct-tape-marketing-podcast-episodes-for-2020/

Weekend Favs March 27

Weekend Favs March 27 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.

• Reedsy– The Reedsy Book Editor is a free online writing tool allowing any author to format and create professional ePub and print-ready files in seconds
• Grid -GRID enables you to leverage your existing spreadsheet skills to build smart, interactive web documents. Get started – it’s free!
• Listen Notes– The most comprehensive podcast database online. Discover best podcasts. Search podcast show notes and audio transcripts by people, places, or topics.

These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/weekend-favs-march-27/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/weekend-favs-march-27/

How Creators Can Connect With Their Audience

Today, technology and social media continue to
influence the way people live as millions of people embrace several
technological trends for various reasons. It’s now possible for people to
create a business out of being a content creator, and can connect with their
audience easily, no matter the location.

It’s crucial for creators to interact with their audiences if they wish to remain relevant.

However, this may not be an easy step, especially if you do not have a clear strategy to connect with your audience. You do not want to waste time on a non-effective strategy, so you need to learn effective communication methods to connect with your audience. Here are tips to help you effectively connect with your target audience.

Define Your Audience

It is vital to know who your target audience is. That is why you need to start by defining your audience. You need to devise creative strategies to identify people and see who you’re dealing with.

Many social media platforms allow you to view your audience demographics on their own websites, and other third-party sites exist to give you an even deeper understanding of who your audience is, even letting you know how many of that audience is spam or bot followers.

This is the general overview of your ideal
audience. You want to ensure that you target the right people according to the
demographics such as age, location, and gender. When done defining your audience,
you will be able to market your brand successfully since you will be targeting
the right group of people.

Look at Other Key Influencers

Every industry has top influencers who know exactly how to reach their target audience and keep people engaged. Such people can help you figure out how to connect with your audience through various platforms, as each platform has different tools.

Ensure you learn from an influencer who has a similar image, style, and brand to yours, as your audiences will most likely be similar and be interested in similar interactions. Some social media influencers even use things like a fan site for creators outside of their usual social media to make audience interaction even easier.

Create Quality and Relevant
Content

Your audience wants quality and relevant
content. This can quickly draw the audience’s attention towards your brand and
help you connect seamlessly. Write topics applicable to your audience’s needs
and expectations. It makes work easier for you and your audience.

One of the best ways to draw your audience’s
attention is by creating catchy videos with good quality. That is what most
people want to see, which makes your audience quickly connect to your brand.
You can also post content on blogs as long as the topics are relevant to your
customers’ needs.

Use Targeted Advertising

Marketing your brand comes in different
dimensions, but you may not see effective results without a clear plan. In this
case, consider running targeted advertising to connect with your audience. You
can use Google ads or social media ads. Both options are good at helping you
run effective campaigns to reach your audience.

Before you start the campaigns, ensure you
segment your target audience to help you devise strategies to connect to each
audience based on the demographics. You want to ensure that you do not waste
your time and money running campaigns that have no value to your brand. The
more targeted advertisements you run, the more you get connected to a larger
audience.

Implement Referral Marketing

Whether the brand is new or you’ve been in the
industry for some time, you can leverage referral marketing to connect to your
audience. This is a cost-effective strategy that can help you reach out to a
broader audience effectively.

Create a referral program to guide you through
as you review the progress by measuring its relevance. The best way is to
create a referral code that will help you know the active participants and how
many people have connected to your brand through the program. This strategy
motivates new customers to connect to your brand because of incentives.

Once your customers connect, it becomes easier
to purchase your services. Most people who join through referral programs are
likely going to stay with your brand for longer. Such people often get
interested in your brand, and it may not be easy to let go.

Reaching out to your audience is one thing,
and the other thing is to ensure that your audience remains connected to your
brand. With the high competition across various industries, you’d do everything
possible to ensure you stand out from the crowd. Using the tips above can help
you to connect with your audience seamlessly. It is also a great way to
generate more leads and conversions for your business.

The post How Creators Can Connect With Their Audience appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/digital-marketing/how-creators-can-connect-with-their-audience/

The post How Creators Can Connect With Their Audience appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/how-creators-can-connect-with-their-audience/

What are the Benefits of Hiring a SEO Agency?

Are you thinking
about hiring a SEO agency for your business? To begin with, a lot of business
owners choose to take on the huge task of designing their website and working
on marketing strategies. But, they soon realise that this is a lot more work
than they anticipated. Unfortunately, it is not just a one-off task either. It
is something you have to improve on a regular basis.

This is where
hiring a SEO agency can help. They can assist you on all things marketing and
take this weight off your shoulders. Let’s take a closer look at what the
benefits of hiring a SEO agency are.

Target
Quality Traffic

There are a lot
of outbound marketing strategies that you may be using for your business. This
is using techniques to introduce people to your product and to see if they are
interested in it. Examples of this include cold emails and cold calling, as
well as some types of adverts.

While this can
be good sometimes, it has a lower success rate than inbound marketing
strategies. In particular, we are talking about using SEO and blogging. Hiring
a SEO agency means that you can target quality traffic and customers that are
already interesting in the products and services you are offering. A lot of
people find outbound marketing annoying and disruptive. On the other hand,
inbound marketing is all about delivering what a customer wants. With years of
experience Joshua George
and his SEO agency, ClickSlice, you can create great leads for your brand.

Improve Your Online Ranking

We all know how
important it is to be at the top of search engine results. When users are
searching for something online, they are focused on the first page of results.
They very rarely scroll page one when they are looking for a reputable company.
Ultimately, this is where your business has to be. You have to beat the
competition when it comes to SEO and marketing.

This is where an
experienced SEO agency comes in. They are going to know all of the best
techniques and strategies to improve your online ranking and stay at the top of
search engine results. Every industry is competitive and this is something that
you have to keep on top of. Having professional help can be the way to do this.

Save a lot of Time and Effort

If you have been
trying to do SEO yourself, you have probably realised that it is not as easy as
it seems. Indeed, it can take a lot of time and hard work and this might be
taking up a lot of your working hours. From researching the best strategies to
implementing them, SEO is not something you can do overnight and see results.
Instead, it takes time and continuous work to get right.

The best thing
can be to bring in a SEO agency. They are going to have a talented team that
know how SEO can work best for your business. This is going to free up a lot
more time in your day to focus on running and expanding your brand. It can be a
weight off your shoulders and you can leave the work to the experts.

Achieve Results Based on Experience

The truth is, if
you are not doing SEO right, you could be wasting your time. A lot of new
business owners will only have basic knowledge when it comes to SEO. But, you
have to develop a strategy that is going to work in the long run. In
particular, a SEO agency is going to have the experience to know what
techniques work better than others. This is going to save wasting your time and
energy. You can leave them with the hard work and they can achieve results
based on their experiences in the past.

Access to Resources

Let’s not forget
that taking on SEO and doing it yourself is an expensive task. You are going to
do not only a lot of research but also invest in software and technology. If
you do not have the budget for this, it means that you have to settle for
software and technology that is potentially inferior to your competition.

Working with a
SEO agency means that your business is going to have access to a lot more
resources. These companies invest in the latest technology and software all of
the time so that they can deliver the best results for clients. In the long
run, this can be more cost-effective for your business.

The post What are the Benefits of Hiring a SEO Agency? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/search-engine-optimization-2/what-are-the-benefits-of-hiring-a-seo-agency/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/what-are-the-benefits-of-hiring-a-seo-agency/

What you need to go viral in 2021

If you haven’t realized it yet, video content reigns supreme in 2021. With the lack of in-person events over the past year and the increased amount of businesses relying fully on social media, we’ve become more dependent on quality video than ever before. 

You can create a great video, but if it’s not optimized for your viewer’s experience, you won’t reach your audience. There’s a one-two-punch approach to video optimization that works in 2021: ratios and resolutions are king and queen of video content.

Aspect ratio has to do with the dimensions of the video. It’s the relation between the width and height of a video or image. For example, typical Instagram grid posts are a 1:1 ratio — a square. TikTok videos (and Instagram Reels or IGTV)  are a 9:16 ratio, which works seamlessly with a smartphone screen. YouTube’s aspect ratio is 16:9.

Resolution is just how big the video file is, its size, and how clear the image comes through on whatever platform you’re using. Higher resolutions can mean clearer images but, if measured incorrectly, could mean that your file takes forever to load, which means the viewer will most likely click away from your content.

These factors affect how your video looks to your viewer and can negatively impact clickability. If you’re on more than one social platform, you’ll understand that each system requires videos of different sizes, shapes, and resolutions. These parameters help content creators win the attention of their viewers because, quite simply, the content looks its best.

Seems like a lot of work to put into video content in 2021? It doesn’t have to be.

Kamua is a new tool that does all of the metaphorical punching for your video content. Using AI technology, their system converts a single video into the appropriate aspect ratios and resolutions needed for each platform. 

Proper aspect ratio and correct resolutions help your videos go viral and reach your targeted audience in 2021. Here’s how.

You can share more content 

Converting a single video to multiple platforms can take hours of editing work, not to mention that many video creators film differently depending on which platform they plan to use. With Kamua’s AI technology, a single piece of content can become multiple pieces of content that reach a wider audience.

Let’s say you have a video of a concert that you want to share on your Instagram, YouTube and Twitter feeds. Each of those platforms requires a different sized video, as well as length. 

Where traditional editing software would require you to go through the video multiple times for each platform, Kamua does all of this through its AI program. The system allows the user to select a focal point, and the video hones in on that element no matter the aspect ratio.

This is a huge leap for content creators because it saves them time and helps them generate more content, more consistently.

People will only engage content that looks good

People will scroll right past content that doesn’t meet their visual standards. Proper resolutions matter. If your video is blurry, grainy or unclear, viewers will click away because the content doesn’t look professional.

It’s 2021 and the majority of the population has a smartphone capable of 4K video. If your content doesn’t look good in terms of quality, you’re automatically setting yourself up for failure by not meeting the standard for even a simple home video.

On top of all of that, people’s attention spans are short. Want to know what will make someone click away really quickly? Waiting for a video to buffer. Each platform requires a certain resolution in order for the video to run smoothly. This can take hours of editing work, or you can click one simple button in Kamua and call it a day. 

Stand out from the competition with just a click

Aspect ratios and resolutions are essential to video editing in 2021 if you want your content to be viewed by your target audience. The amount of video content available online (for free, even) is increasing exponentially every day. Things have never been this competitive. 

Kamua recognized video editors’ need for a simple and efficient way to optimize their content across platforms, and they jumped on it. Something that would’ve taken hours of work for a videographer can now take minutes with the help of AI.

These simple factors are what sets good content apart from something that’s just average. With proper aspect ratios and resolutions on hand, your videos can be repurposed over and over, generate a greater audience, and help you stand out from the competition.

The post What you need to go viral in 2021 appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/what-you-need-to-go-viral-in-2021/

The post What you need to go viral in 2021 appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/what-you-need-to-go-viral-in-2021/

Pivoting To Win With Former NFL Player Jordan Babineaux

Pivoting To Win With Former NFL Player Jordan Babineaux written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with Jordan Babineaux

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Jordan Babineaux. Jordan transitioned from nearly a decade playing in the NFL to become a sports broadcaster, serial entrepreneur, and business executive. He’s also the author of Pivot to Win: Make The Big Plays In Life, Sports & Business.

Questions I Ask Jordan Babineaux:

• What did you do to leverage your odds?
• One thing that’s commonly offered as advice is that you can’t be a victim of your circumstance – but there are some people who have some pretty tough circumstances. How does that person that’s got maybe no reason to be hopeful lift themselves up?
• Was there a moment somewhere along your path where you started thinking you had it all figured out, but then you got hit with a wake-up call?
• What’s the context that you use the word ‘pivot’ in?
• How do you personally keep growing and challenging yourself to do things you’re not used to doing?
• You had to make a pretty big pivot at one point in the NFL — how did you deal with that?
• Can you tell me more about the Babineaux Family Foundation?

More About Jordan Babineaux:

• Pivot to Win: Make The Big Plays In Life, Sports & Business Kindle Edition
• LinkedIn: @jordanbabineaux
• Instagram: @jordanbabineaux
• Twitter: @jordanbabineaux
• Facebook: @pivot2win

More about the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network:

• Check it out at https://ducttapemarketing.com/marketing-consultants/

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by .site.

Have you ever tried looking for a domain name? Chances are that the first few options you tried were not available. You are not alone!

Now you have the power to change this. You can get the exact domain name that you want on new domain extensions such as .site. It is short, it is simple-to-understand and it literally means “website” so it’s perfect for any website that you might be building.

In fact, I got myself www.selfreliance.site where I talk about my book ‘The Self Reliant Entrepreneur’ and share content to help people become self-reliant in their entrepreneurial journey.

You too can get your very own .site domain for as low as $1.99. Visit www.get.site. Search for your unique .site domain and use code ‘selfreliance’ to get 50% off on your domain purchase.

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/pivoting-to-win-with-former-nfl-player-jordan-babineaux/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/pivoting-to-win-with-former-nfl-player-jordan-babineaux/

3 Personal Finance Influencers Dominating Social Media

Graham has built a brand around personal finance. He began his youtube channel by chance and quickly saw it gain traction as he would discuss his experiences as a real estate agent and provide prudent advice to his audience on how to save money and make smart financial decisions. He started with absolutely no real estate experience and no family connections and bootstrapped his career in real estate as well as his preeminence on Youtube. 

As his channel grew, Graham relied heavily on transparency showing his audience exactly how much he was making with youtube and this exponentially accelerated his growth. After amassing millions of viewers, Graham now focuses on budgeting and investing. He can be seen often teaching his students how to use the power of compounding interest to become massively wealthy by the age of 65, while jokingly urging millennials to reduce their intake of avocado toast. Graham has released multiple coaching programs in the real estate space for investors and real estate agents to scale their business and income. 

On his Youtube channel, he can often be seen giving the latest financial news and hot topics in the personal finance space. He is also focused on leveraging real estate and using it to produce income and then freedom. Nonetheless, Graham has built a reputation as a highly influential personal finance YouTuber and his goal is to continue to build wealth and freedom while educating his audience. Follow Graham to learn how you can manage your finances better, save more money, and invest it wisely for the long term. 

Shawn Sharma – Instagram @shawnsharma ~2 Million Followers

Shawn Sharma has built a brand around credit and financial literacy. Shawn Sharma started out using credit to bootstrap his first business where he was flipping items and using strategies such as retail arbitrage and manufactured spending to amass capital. He made his first million dollars through the power of leveraging other people’s money and finding lucrative arbitrage opportunities. 

Growing up to two disabled parents in a trailer park, Shawn Sharma defied the odds and got an ivy league education at Cornell University and a full ride to medical school. Having to drop out after his father passed away, and needing to take care of his disabled Mom, Shawn Sharma was able to rely on his good credit to bootstrap his first few businesses. Shawn Sharma constantly stresses the value of credit and how it can create an opportunity for lower-income groups to rise out of poverty. While Shawn has been leveraging credit to make money for almost 8 years, he only recently became active on Instagram 2 years ago after seeing the power of branding first hand through businesses he’s owned. 

Shawn quickly built a massive following on Instagram by investing massive amounts of time and being consistent. He saw his biggest growth happen by chance when high-profile clients would repost him and he began to leverage collaborations and celebrity shout-outs to gain a massive following. Shawn’s Instagram content focuses on teaching people how to leverage credit, use it to create income, and travel the world for free. Shawn’s brand growth has been spearheaded by his credit business that has scaled to 8 figures in revenue a year. Especially in a space where most companies hide behind professional websites and untraceable names and owners, Shawn has built a massive reputation using his personal name and has become one of the most trusted names in the credit industry. Follow Shawn Sharma to learn creative finance hacks, boost your credit scores, bootstrap your business using the bank’s money, and travel the world for free. 

Humphrey Yang – Tiktok @humphreytalks ~1.2 Million Followers

Humphrey Yang built a brand around personal finance ranging from topics including taxes, creating a budget, credit, and investing. Humphrey started out as a former financial advisor and enjoyed educating his clients on the intricacies of personal finance but he saw a window of opportunity when he realized the gap in education and the utility of social media in spreading essential knowledge. He started his hand at tik tok and his videos quickly became viral amassing him over 1.2 million followers. He can be seen making skits of himself asking himself common questions that his audience comments in the comment section, and answering the same questions as a wiser version of himself in the same skit. 

He is also seen covering little-known tax loopholes, and common myths in finance that most beginners have. Although most of his audience is under the age of 25, he has built a massive foothold with Millenials who are deciding between purchasing or leasing their first car, filing taxes for the first time, building their credit, and moving into their first home. Yang believes he has gone viral because millennials find it a lot easier to consume daunting topics with skits and videos where otherwise they would normally be much drier and boring in textbooks. According to Humphrey, “I think if you do care about personal finance, it’s important because it kind of gets you to where you want to go,” Yang said. “Especially if you have financial goals or if you have goals to purchase a house or live a life that you want to live and not be so stressed out all the time.”

The post 3 Personal Finance Influencers Dominating Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/3-personal-finance-influencers-dominating-social-media/

The post 3 Personal Finance Influencers Dominating Social Media appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/3-personal-finance-influencers-dominating-social-media/

The Only Difference Between A Business Owner And A Superhero Is The Cape

The Only Difference Between A Business Owner And A Superhero Is The Cape written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing

 

Agency Spark Podcast with With Holly Bowyer & Julie Neumark

The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode is designed to spark ideas you can put into practice for your agency today.

In this episode of the Agency Spark Podcast, Sara interviews Holly Bowyer & Julie Neumark. Holly and Julie are partners in the marketing services agency, Media & Marketing Minds (M3). At the agency, collaboration is a key part of their approach. The team prides itself on working side by side with their clients to bring their story to life and develop creative and unique marketing strategies and messages that fit each client’s needs and objectives.

Questions Sara asks Holly Bowyer & Julie Neumark:

• What was the number one thing that drove you to launching M3 after your previous experiences?
• How has collaboration with each other and your clients helped your business?
• You both often say that the only difference between a business owner and a superhero is a cape. I’d love to hear more about what exactly that means?
• How do you help clients nail down understanding their competition?
• What’s your process for conducting the competitive research?
• How do you help someone find out who their competitors actually are?
• How do you help someone find out who their real target clients and audience are?
• How do you integrate CAPE (Competition, Audience, Pillars, Evaluate) into your marketing?

Resources mentioned:

• Media Marketing Minds Super Power Workbook

Where you can learn more about Holly Bowyer & Julie Neumark:

• Learn more about their company: Media & Marketing Minds

 

This episode of the Agency Spark Podcast is brought to you by Unstack, a no-code marketing platform and ecosystem.  Start building a site today for free by visiting their website. 

Stop waiting on developers and leveraging multiple tools to manage your marketing stack.  With Unstack, you get a no-code website builder, landing page builder, A/B testing, forms, analytics, contact insights, payments, memberships, blog, and more all in one platform.  Start building a site today for free by visiting this link and receive 20% off for six months when you sign up.

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/difference-between-business-owner-and-a-superhero/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/the-only-difference-between-a-business-owner-and-a-superhero-is-the-cape/

Weekend Favs March 20

Weekend Favs March 20 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.

• Weweb.io– Use a powerful website builder to create, test and ship faster, from design to production.
• Fireflies.ai -Record, transcribe and search your calls in one central place. Fireflies lets you search all your past convos and create action items in seconds. Easiest meeting minutes, ever.
• Idenati – Idenati is designed to simplify your experience, to organize everything you do online in one place, allowing you to focus and be more productive.

These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/weekend-favs-march-20/

The post Weekend Favs March 20 appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/weekend-favs-march-20/

Why Can’t Healthcare Be More Like Social Media?

About a year after we’ve been on COVID lockdowns, so many social media apps are there for us when it comes to productivity, entertainment, and social networking for business and personal reasons.  Why is it then when we go to the doctor, we’re often handed a clipboard and filling out paperwork by hand? And then to add insult to injury, someone at the doctor’s office then copies everything we just wrote out, only to hand code it into their medical systems?

There’s got to be a better way.  Each year, healthcare organizations lose an astounding $12 billion due to communication issues. Patients use mobile communications throughout their lives, and would greatly prefer to work this way with their healthcare providers as well – 80% of patients have responded as such.

Mobile messaging in healthcare is a step in the right direction for the future of a better healthcare experience.  Imagine being able to text with your healthcare provider instead of waiting on some phone tree for someone on the other end of the line to pick up.  The rest of the world works well with such nimble asynchronous messaging, it’s about time that healthcare picks up the pace.  And the difference of healthcare results is quite shocking – consider that 98% of patients will read a mobile message vs the abysmal 7% that will read messages through their healthcare portal.

Take a look at the following visual deep dive for more information on how healthcare is going to be more like social media on our smartphones below:

The post Why Can’t Healthcare Be More Like Social Media? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/why-cant-healthcare-be-more-like-social-media/

The post Why Can’t Healthcare Be More Like Social Media? appeared first on connect social networks.

from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/why-cant-healthcare-be-more-like-social-media/

A Roadmap To Financial Success And Fulfillment

A Roadmap To Financial Success And Fulfillment written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with John Lee Dumas

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview John Lee Dumas. John is the founder and host of the award-winning podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire. He’s the creator of The Freedom Journal: Accomplish Your #1 Goal in 100 Days, and he has his first upcoming book launching called The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment.

Questions I Ask John Lee Dumas:

• What’s the first big mistake that you see a lot of people make?
• What do you tell people when they come to you and ask what they should do to make money online?
• What’s your take on focusing on a specific niche?
• Is there someone in your life that you call your mentor?
• Joining a mastermind has become pretty popular advice – how do you find the right one?
• One of the big problems I see is there a lot of people that get started, have a big idea, figure out who has the problem that they want to solve, and they never launch. When do you launch?
• Adding multiple streams of revenue is common wisdom for any business – how do you balance going after logical streams of revenue and chasing random financial deals that don’t have any cohesion with your business?
• How do you define success?

More About John Lee Dumas:

• Pre-order The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment before March 23, 2021, and you’ll get $150 worth of amazing bonuses with the book – the Freedom Journal, the Mastery Journal, the Podcast, and more.
• Learn more about the bonuses and the book here: https://www.uncommonsuccessbook.com

 

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by .site.

Have you ever tried looking for a domain name? Chances are that the first few options you tried were not available. You are not alone!

Now you have the power to change this. You can get the exact domain name that you want on new domain extensions such as .site. It is short, it is simple-to-understand and it literally means “website” so it’s perfect for any website that you might be building.

In fact, I got myself www.selfreliance.site where I talk about my book ‘The Self Reliant Entrepreneur’ and share content to help people become self-reliant in their entrepreneurial journey.

You too can get your very own .site domain for as low as $1.99. Visit www.get.site. Search for your unique .site domain and use code ‘selfreliance’ to get 50% off on your domain purchase.

 

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/roadmap-to-financial-success-fulfillment/

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from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/a-roadmap-to-financial-success-and-fulfillment/

How To Communicate Clearly

The pressure of writing two straight newsletters that have been fairly well received is trying to follow them up with something useful, versus going back to writing the same “man, is anyone else tired? This pandemic thing sure is taking a while,” blog that, well, people enjoy and empathize with, but I wonder about the utility.

One beacon of hope right now – and the first time I’ve really been able to establish a sense of time again – is that there will be enough vaccines by the end of May for the entire country. That is…so wonderful! I don’t really have a snarky or sarcastic response to it. With every person who chooses to get the vaccine, that’s one less person who’s likely to get the virus, spread the virus, and so on.

I also – somewhat optimistically – booked our accommodations for CES 2022, where we’ll be staying in The Venetian Penthouse, hosting reporters, clients and anyone else we like for free drinks and free tacos all week. It’s a yearly ritual that we somehow squeaked into 2020, and I’m not sure if it’ll happen for sure, if people are even tempted to Las Vegas next year for the show – it’s all up in the air, but we’ve got a fairly generous cancellation policy. I hope it does. It’ll be lovely to see you all.

How To Be The Best Communicator Around

Today, in one of the many media trainings I do for clients, I listened as a spokesperson who was still very good stumbled in an answer. He composed himself, then ended up saying something that he believed was a reduction – something that ended up being beautifully clear and simple, that answered my mock question perfectly.

I realized then that I need to start all media trainings by telling people to answer stuff bluntly and honestly (within reason) and that in many cases, the most straightforward answer is usually the best one.

The continual issue that I find with a great many people, especially PR people, is that we’re taught in college and many other walks of life to give the smartest answer rather than best one. We have, societally, been taught to try and avoid any indemnification, to not admit any wrongdoing, to avoid bearing too much of our soul or showing any emotion, and give the textbook answer that we believe is “correct” because it sounds good.

This is something I’ve ever seen from lawyers – the need to make these vast, wall-like responses that make for nice billable hours, but also obfuscate from any actual meeting of the minds. My lawyer, who is wonderful, communicates bluntly with them and says what happened, what we want, and how things will go otherwise. It saves people time.

The goal of a lot of this mediated communication is to position ourselves as what we aspire to be – smart, well-read, engaging, a force to be reckoned with – all while giving relatively long, mealy-mouthed responses because that’s what we were taught to. In my industry, this is usually because PR has a “hire the best GPA” problem, where the smartest kids, who are taught to do college really well, are hired and continually promoted, continuing the Intro-body-conclusion method of communication.

I want to help you be better.

Don’t Do Anything That Doesn’t Help

This is one statement that you’ll find yourself breaking as you get more comfortable communicating, but for the most part metaphors, similes, analogies and references are unhelpful to clear communication.

This takes on several forms, but generally any metaphors, idioms or similes you use should be able to take the reader somewhere that just saying what something is could. The same goes for references to stuff – TV shows, sports stars, and so on. The over-use of these things usually comes down to you trying to sound smart or win someone’s attention, and as you become more sophisticated, or speak to a very specific audience, they make more sense.

In 90% of occasions, they don’t. Telling someone to go Full Court Press on something if they don’t know basketball is bad, and it’s cliché even if they do. A Hail Mary can mean something very different to a religious person who isn’t into sports, but also takes the place of saying “we’re going to try something that is not likely to succeed.” And in any case, using these things too often detracts from your communication.

You also don’t need to use long words unless they do the job better than a short one. Saying something is laborious is useful over, say, time-consuming if you want to add the emotional weight of laboriousness to it, but otherwise it’s a little much. This may seem like I’m telling you to sound stupid, but in most cases you can be blunter, clearer and quicker. You’ll communicate more information to more people, and usually do so faster.

Finally: there is never a time when you try and be funny where you’re actually funny. Actual humorous writing does not come from a place of desperation and appeasement.

Write Like You Talk (And Talk Like You Write)

Something that dismays people that have only got to know me through Twitter is how alarmingly close to my tweets my actual voice is. The reason is because my old editor Will Porter once redlined a single page so much that it looked like I’d bled all over it, and told me bluntly – “write like you talk.”

What this means is that you should get away from trying to push vocabulary and forms of speech into your writing that you don’t actually follow. This will also help you write faster – because you’re not actively engaged in trying to make yourself sound intelligent, you’re going to be talking, just using your fingers and the keyboard.

This will also make you sound better when you talk with your mouth, because you’re now working basically the same muscle versus trying to have a narrative style and a spoken style. This is immensely helpful, and constantly helps you sound smarter because what you write is what you speak and what you speak is what you write.

This is a bizarre way to think about your communication, I realize, but it has been incredibly helpful for me as I mature as a writer and a person who has to do business for money. It makes both things a lot more fun, and is ultimately more honest, which is the root of great communication.

Learning From Others

I will never recommend copying other people’s speech patterns, but I do recommend, when you read or hear someone speaking that you find super engaging, trying to listen or read a little more intently to try and understand why.

In fact, the number one way to get better at writing and talking is to read and watch and listen to things.

Everyone has a particular cadence and flow to how they write when they really, really get into it. For example, my writing crush David J. Roth continually writes interesting prose by using a combination of fairly blunt writing laced with self-effacing comments and, more importantly, references that actually aid the story. It’s something that’s enjoyable to read because it ultimately communicates an emotional context – in this case, setting a scene of dorky quasi-shame that leads you into listening to his podcast.

Learn from what you enjoy, but do not mimic it. You are you, and you are not them, and trying to be them is going to feel forced.

Get To The Point

In basically anything you’re writing you have a goal and an audience, and despite what you may have been told that audience in many cases is there to be informed rather than entertained. Information can be communicated in a way that’s interesting and entertaining, but in many kinds of writing you’re doing for work, or if you’re speaking, you have a point to what you’re saying.

If you’re writing an email to get someone to do something, make the subject header informative (EG: “I want to get coffee with you/graduate learning about XYZ”) and the body direct. You want to meet for coffee – okay, what do you want to talk about? For how long? Will you go to them? What are some days that might work? What’s your cell? Why should they meet with you over someone else, and what’s in it for them?

Great writing oftentimes gets wrapped up in trying to be great writing. Focus on getting across the point that’s in your head. When I wrote about going to Super Bowl 50, I wanted to give people the feeling that they were there, and also lead them to how I got there myself – a story, but one that was informative. I described what I saw as bluntly as possible, took photos, and tried to avoid anything that would get in the way of the emotional or factual content of the day, and people loved it.

If something feels “short” because the way people do things usually is long, sit and think about whether you’ve said everything they need to hear.

Answer The Question

Whenever I’m coaching someone to do media interviews, I try and drill into their heads that a conversation isn’t a puzzle to solve. If someone asks you a question, they are in most cases looking for an answer. Sure, there are situations where they’re trying to trip you up – asking the same question in a different way – but most questions have an answer, so give it as clearly and concisely as possible.

This also means that you can say you don’t want to discuss something. Hey, what’s your revenue? We’re not disclosing that at this time. What does your agency do? We help clients get coverage with the media.

Most of the time you can give a fairly straightforward answer to a question. If it’s a big question – like what problem you’re solving – then that may take a little longer, but it’s totally fine to go down a list of problems you’re solving, and why they’re important to solve. Couch it with numbers – X million people deal with this in a $YBn industry.

And if you truly can’t answer something, or don’t know something, be honest. Say you don’t know. Say you can’t answer that at this time. If you can’t say why, say you can’t say why, but will tell them when you can.

Be Astute, Not Smart

The greatest speakers in any industry are usually the ones that put things well, and some of the greatest quotes in history are actually pretty simple. Most things that sound smart are actually astute – you are not being graded on your answer, you’re getting something out of it.

This all applies to spoken stuff too – public speaking, presentations, and the like – things are made endearing based on the narratives we create around them, and said narratives, while usually fueled by emotional context, are ultimately grounded in some sort of approachable reality. This doesn’t even necessarily mean hard truths or stats, but a context and understanding of the person you’re talking to.

Say you’re speaking to a group of people you want to raise money from – ultimately what you’re communicating is that their investment will be worth more thanks to giving it to you, which means compellingly explaining why your business is both stable enough to survive and thrive, but also new and innovative enough that there’s more money to be made. You can say things like innovative or revolutionary, but these are meaningless if you can’t show them how.

In The End…Actually Give A Shit

The reason a lot of marketing copy rings so hollow is that the person is writing marketing copy, and doesn’t really care. Brand tweets that attempt to emulate human emotion suffer because they are drained of any empathy by being from a brand – don’t pretend you’re my friend! You’re a brand!

This also applies to PR people, or anyone really trying to get you to do something. When someone comes to you and makes a compelling argument that is founded in actual thought and research, that actually flows through it. I sound sort of like a PR person writing PR copy now even writing this, and have had to delete several sentences for fear I’ll sound like the very falsehoods I’m trying to tell you not to say.

But really good writing that is actually readable and does something comes from a place of honesty and truth in your rotten little soul. It may not be the most important thing in the world, or the most emotionally-charged thing in the world, but it sounds like it’s coming from an actual person, which is what another person wants to read or hear from when they’re making a decision.

It is tough to talk and speak clearly, and be listened to, but it really just comes down to speaking the words that are already in your head.

This post originally appeared on the “Where’s Your Ed At” newsletter. Read more here.

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