What are you going to write about?

If you're running a content strategy and you're a small operation, i.e. you and your immediate team have to do it yourselves - what are you going to write about?

Not just this week - or this month - or even this year but, what are you going to write about next year?  What about in 5 years time?

And for those of you thinking that it doesn't apply because you're in the video or image game - swap out the word write for talk.

If you've got nothing unique to say,  if you don't have a compelling reason for someone to choose you over somebody else, why would anybody want to listen to you?

How are you going to stay in business?

If you know how to make a profit, I can help you with these questions.  Drop me a line or call on 310 980 2499 and lets chat.

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Written while listening to: Music to Descend in an Airplane to  - music2work2

Image Credit: s.zolkin

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You have to do this, before you can do this

I love this visual from Russell Davies.

There are so many takeaways but I'm going to highlight just one.

When it comes to digital marketing we all look at the bigger companies in order to learn from them.  I mean it makes sense right -  "amateurs borrow - professionals steal" and all that?

The internet can make us look huge and bigger than we actually are, but here's the thing - don't model yourself on the best player in the field if you don't have their story.

The days of copying the rich guys and hoping that the public won't notice are dead and gone.

People expect you to be able to present yourself professionally online, that's now a given, but what they're really looking for is authenticity - and that - for you and your business - looks like nothing else on the planet.

If you're feeling a little derivative, call me on 310 980 2499 or email me and lets chat.

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Written while listening to: July 20th Development  - music2work2

Image Credit: Russel Davies

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The Content Marketing Myth

I like this image - it sums up a lot of conversations I'm currently having with clients.

Some questions for you:

What are you doing to ensure you can consistently repeat steps 1 and 2?  Are you allocating enough time in your calendar or resource in your budget?

Also, if it takes several interactions with new clients before they think of purchasing, does your digital footprint make it easy for them to hear from you?

And, how do you get new visitors to choose to listen to you?  Should the front page of your website promote your product or should it promote your mailing list?

Do something

These are the types of questions you should be obsessing over and acting on.  Every business is different but you all have one thing in common - the ability to try different things and track the results.

If you'd like help answering these questions email me or call on 310 980 2499 and lets chat.

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Written while listening to: Most Popular Playlist - music2work2

Image Credit: Unbounce.com

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The Infographic

I've been working with infographics quite a bit recently, it's a great way to communicate with your audience.  Here's a few things you should know:

65% of people are primarily visual learners. 

The brain also processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text!  If you can express your message in a graphical way you make it easier for people to take the information on board - and we're all about making it easy for the customer!

Infographics should tell stories

Good Infographics are hard to produce - you can't just dump a few icons and colors on a page and hope people will be wowed by your design skills.   If you removed the text from an infographic would you still have an idea what it was about?

They're Images!

You should already be familiar with the idea that "an image is the sail that moves your content through the sea of Social Media."  People share images way more than they do text articles - an infographic  is the perfect content type for the social media world.

They're fantastic for SEO

Because people are more likely to share your infographic you tend to generate more links, more social shares, more interest in your content and visits back to your website and that's what it's all about isn't it!

They can be about anything

Here's one we just commissioned for my parents 50th anniversary from UK designer Adam Richardson.  It's unique, tells a great story and is eminently shareable!  Click the image to see it in its full glory!

View fullsize

What kind of infographic do you think would work for your business?  Call me on 310 980 2499 or email me and let's chat.

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Written while listening to: Study music Playlist - music2work2

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LinkedIn publishing platform - what's it all about?

I've had a couple of emails recently asking me about LinkedIn's new publishing platform (hi Matt and Sandra,) so here's the skinny:

LinkedIn Overview

LinkedIn is the biggest professional network - kind of like Facebook but for work.  You're generally connected to someone through a real world relationship and spammy connection building is frowned upon.

Just like Facebook there's a news feed where you see what your connections have been up to.

Publishing on LinkedIn (Old)

Up until recently you could post your blog posts or any other content you create to your LinkedIn profile page.  People that were connected to you would see that you had posted something in their news feed and would have the opportunity to check it out

The limitation to this is that they had to be connected to you in order to be aware of your content.  There wasn't really a way to know if someone had published unless you had a real world connection.

LinkedIn Influencers

Recognizing this, LinkedIn introduced the idea of Influencers - this is where you could start to "follow" someone who's content you liked but with whom you had no formal relationship.  With the success of that program LinkedIn have now opened it up to everybody.

LinkedIn Publishing Platform (New)

So - just like Twitter - you can now "follow" any of LinkedIn's 277 million+ members and their published content will appear in your news feed.  And of course - if you're in the content marketing game - they can follow you.

Should you get involved?

Well, as with all this digital marketing stuff you've got to work out if it's a good return on your investment.  LinkedIn is a great place to build authority - particularly for the services industries like Attorneys, Consultants and general knowledge workers.  If you've been an active user of LinkedIn groups then this is a natural next step. 

If however you haven't used LinkedIn and your client base is more B2C than B2B, then it's likely you'll see more bang for your buck elsewhere.

Golden Wedding Anniversary

There will be no It's Friday next week, I'll be celebrating my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary along with the entire family - it's going to be a quite a party.  Normal service will resume week commencing the 7th of July.

Written while listening to: Essay Writing Music - music2work2

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Outsource Your Writing With Nico New Media

Today's It's Friday is by Nicole Paulus from Nico New Media:

Just like buying a guitar off Craigslist doesn't make you a rock-star, knowing the alphabet doesn't make you a great writer. If writing isn't a strength of yours, then stop haphazardly handling your content.

Your content represents your brand and your brand brings home the bacon.

You like bacon, don't you?

A Writer

In elementary school, I used to come home and "grade" my days in my Tweety Bird diary.

As I approached my teen years, I traded that in for a more sophisticated "journal." It was there that I divulged my crush of the week as well as invented my own code to conceal my deepest thoughts from any intruders, (aka my older sister.)

Writing was the way I made sense of my own world. It wasn't until I was an adult, however, that I realized I had the power to help others make sense of complex ideas, thoughts and processes via easily digestible sentences and colorful word choice.

Writing was and still is my passion.

Make Your Life Easier

Outsourcing content strategy and execution will not only enrich your brand's content, but it will free up more time for you to do the things you're actually good at, like running your business and buying cart loads of bacon.

Mmm, bacon.



Examples of Nicole's work:

• company bios
• founders bios
• blog posts
• newsletters
• press releases
• social media posts
• product descriptions

Andrew's note:
I've worked with Nicole on a number of projects and am very happy to recommend her to this list,  You can reach her at http://NicoNewMedia.com or just reply to this email.

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Edited while listening to: Caustic Love by Paolo Nutini

Image Credit:  Bacon by Cookbookman17 on Flickr

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