Blog – Page 3

February 8, 2018 by admin

Author! Author! e-book/lead magnets sharpen your marketing silver bullets

Do you have a blog with at least five entries? Then you have the makings for an e-book/lead magnet that can open the door to dozens of marketing opportunities, helping you convert visitors and welcoming new prospects.

Door #1: A Lead Generator for your Website

First and foremost, having an e-book/lead magnet on the home page of your website or on a landing page gives you a way to capture contact info from visitors. Sure, they may be kicking tires. But in a world where people are bombarded with e-mail, you know somebody who bothers to share theirs is serious at best, curious at the least in what you offer.

Door #2: What you can do with your new title—Author—and new title—the eBook

The number of ways you can promote your business with even a short 5-10-page e-book abound. Let’s the count the ways:

Press release announcing publishing of your book
A noteworthy addition to your LinkedIn profile, both as a new position and part of your summary
A handy follow-up to prospect meetings (e.g. “Good meeting with you yesterday. For your perusal, here’s a copy of my book”).
Additional follow-up for people who have specific questions. So, instead of sending them to your blog, you send a copy of your book.
Social media fodder. Periodically mention your e-book on social media posts. One great strategy is to posts selected text from the book and then offer a free download.
Enhancing your profile for speaking engagements. There’s just something about adding author to your title that makes you more appealing as a speaker. If paid and unpaid speaking engagements are part of your marketing plan, having a book, even a short e-book, is a must.
Pitching you/your company to the press. Again, there’s an added oomph to your pitch to contribute an article or be a source if you can say “Your expertise and author of ‘Greater Book on your Expertise’.”
A regular feature of your e-newsletter (e.g. “Download a free copy of “Name of your Book”).
An addition to your e-mail signature, image with a link on it preferred.

Hopefully, you get the idea. If you have enough related content, you could even sell your book of blogs on Amazon. Again, something about saying, “Check out my book on Amazon” that gets people’s attention.

Door #3 – How much, Monty?

You can have an e-book for your business for under $500—even as little as $300 if you have five blogs you’re comfortable featuring that don’t require editing. Of course, there are some other things you might want to add—including some help with incorporating your e-book into your marketing strategy.

If you would like to see what a lead magnet/eBook for your business could look like, please drop us an e-mail with a link to your blog.

November 5, 2017 by admin

The conversation you never thought you would hear

*Right now, the cat on the calendar has a better ‘stache than me.*

When your father advises one of your friends on prostate cancer

The news of one of your best friends having prostate cancer is not pleasant. Yet having seen my father go through it and survive and thrive, I knew it could be beaten. So, maybe asking my friend to help me move some furniture at my parents’ house wasn’t just to spare myself some heavy lifting. I really wanted to help lift his spirits. And then the conversation happened…

It started with some of the basics: what to expect; a timeline of recovery, etc. And then it got a little weird. Without divulging personal details about the most personal of things, the conversation centered on the male body part.

So, there we are, in the living room and my friend and my father are talking about their…I just can’t say it.

But this is Movember, the time of year I grow a mustache to help raise funds/awareness for prostate and testicular cancer as well as other men’s health issues and suicide prevention. Since a portion of Movember proceeds help men to get the counseling needed to overcome issues related to these cancers, I thought the conversation was relevant because of one simple factor:

Men don’t ask for help.

Help isn’t always somebody carrying the load for you. It’s not about performing surgery to fix things. Help can simply be a kind and sympathetic ear from a friend or, if possible, somebody who’s been down the same path.

I’ve written and spoken many times about how proud I am of my father. His resiliency borders on the miraculous. It was a privilege to share him with my friend, whose father had passed a while back. I’m pretty sure the conversation helped. But it led to another conversation by phone on the ride home…

“Did your father really say…”

Again, I can’t put it in writing. But I think you get it.

If you would like to help raise funds and awareness for prostate and testicular cancer, as well as other men’s health issue, please go to my Movember site. No donation is too small or too large.

As for my friend, his doctors are still figuring his next move. He, too, is growing a mustache this Movember. More importantly, he’s part of the conversation now.

If you would like more men to get the help they need when dealing with prostate cancer, please donate to Movember this month. Here’s the link to my Mo Space.

October 1, 2017 by admin

Your design stinks

Yes, that’s harsh as well. In fairness to the “Subject Lines” section, it plays just as big a reason for people not reading your e-newsletter.

How a piece looks can be just as important as how it reads. That does not necessarily mean a lot of glitz and glamour, bells and whistles. Most times, a newsletter simply needs a clean look with stories and images laid out in a logical order.

The Fix:
If you do not have the skill set to use the templates e-mail marketing companies like Constant Contact, Vertical Response and any of the dozens of others offer then ask for help. Typically, those companies will customize a template for you. You may also want to consider contracting a freelance graphic designer or web designer.

Here’s one caveat. Writing and designing newsletters are both specialties. Expecting staff you hired for other reasons to produce a newsletter as good as people who do this stuff for a living is a bit unrealistic. Not to mention how creating the newsletter might negatively affect your day-to-day operations if people you hired for one reason are working on a newsletter.

Without knowing your budget, it’s easy to say, “contract it out.” Particularly if you do not know anybody who does that sort of work (chambers of commerce are a great place to start if you don’t). But if you do not have the staff and your budget can stand it, it will be worth it. In general, the pros do it better and faster.

Addendum:
Templates from companies like Constant Contact, MailChimp, Vertical Response, etc. continue to improve and be more user-friendly. Some of these companies will even design the template for you for a fairly modest price. Constant Contact, in particular, offers design services and phenomenal customer support. If you can’t do it, they will literally do it for you.

This blog was taken from Nobody Reads Your e-Newsletter…And How To Fix It.