How I created a (soon-to-be-bestselling) card deck… You’ve probably heard me talking about my card deck—The Blog Post Inspiration Deck—for a while now.I created it thanks to my mentor, Marcy Nelson-Garrison, who runs a free 5-day “Stand Out Card Deck” challenge and follow-on Card Deck Master Class program, which she opens once a year. I thought […]
This is post #1 of my book-to-blog experiment; read the previous post, about the inspiration for the project, here. What’s your talk trigger? Is there one thing about you or your business that makes customers talk about you? If so, that might be your “talk trigger,” a term coined by Jay Baer and Daniel Lemin in their […]
To blog … or not to blog?I’ve been talking a lot about blogging lately. I created a blogging card deck, a 30-day blogging challenge, and I’m working on a program to help solopreneurs and small business owners jumpstart their writing confidence along with their blogs. It’s been “Blog this, blog that, blog, blog, blog, blog, blog” around […]
You’re a solopreneur. Now what? I love being a solopreneur. I love peeling back, refining, and communicating deeper and deeper layers of talent, all with the glorious goal of serving my ideal clients and in some ways changing the world. Yeah, that’s lofty. But it’s also true. If you’re a solopreneur, then your goal might be something similar. You hold […]
Hint: My confidence had more to do with role models than with writing Dateline: Freshman Year in College, 1994“Wake up, class!” Professor Harrison boomed, a big smile on his face, quickly clapping his hands twice by his right ear, as if clapping would jostle the remnants of sleep from our bleary, first-period eyes.He […]
Convince prospects of your work ethic to stand out like a lighthouse over a roiling sea … … that is, a roiling sea of people and companies plying their wares on the Internet. I probably don’t have to tell you that there’s a sad lack of service, dependability, and consistency among people who sell products and […]
The Internet is hopping with people selling their services thanks to $12 domain names and instant site-builder services. But most of those people don’t know what YOU know. They don’t know these five ways to differentiate, ways clients are starving for.
Core values, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yaddaI’m in a 13-week transformational coaching program. I need to transform, baby! One of the modules is about “core values,” the values that drive and shape our behaviors. Knowing what we value, the thinking goes, allows us to nudge our businesses in directions that reflect those values. I have to say, […]
What’s a manifesto? And do you need one for your business?Did you know that Seth Godin writes a manifesto for every book he publishes?I found that out through Marcy Nelson-Garrison, creator of the Card Deck Master Class, the program I used to create my card deck, The Blog Post Inspiration Deck.The Blog Post Inspiration Deck, […]
When I started my business back in 2002, I was on a mission. I wanted to help small business owners, solopreneurs, and marketers lead more people to YES with clear content and strong positioning that would differentiate them online and offline. As time went on, my motives became less altruistic. Growing more and more tired of crappy […]
When powerful words hit home Do you like to share and reshare meaningful words and images for the enjoyment of your online friends and connections and your personal edification? Me, too. Sometimes the quotes and images I come across speak to me so loudly that I print them, and place them in frames around my office. Like […]
When it comes to marketing content, heaven (and sales) is in the details.Let me ask you a quick question.And really think about it. Stop for a minute; ignore the bustle of the world.==========Ready?What do you see when you look at this postcard? Drink it in.It’s nice, right?Maybe, if you like snow.But to truly appreciate the image takes […]
Differentiation is the name of the writing (and selling) game. I’m into personality assessments and have taken lots of them over the years. Recently, I took a Myers-Briggs test over at www.16personalities.com (great site and presentation, by the way), and saw something in the results that I thought you, my client or prospective client, ought […]
This morning, just as I finished my “social” stuff . . .. . . liking and sharing information of interest on LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and Facebook — an email from LinkedIn Groups hit my inbox, informing me of a new discussion: Because part of my job as a marketing copywriter is to help you differentiate […]
I hate most About pages. How about you?We have to read them before doing business with others, yet they’re so formulaic. “So and so is a professional blah-dee-blah. She has been blah-ing and blee-ing for more than a decade. Her focus is on meeting clients’ needs by providing the highest quality blah blah blah. She earned […]
My goal is the same as yours: Differentiate! You’ve heard it said that one of the chief goals of marketing is differentiation: Showing, telling, and illustrating to prospective customers why your product, service, or solution is better, faster, stronger, the right choice.I faced the differentiation dilemma when developing a logo for my freelance writing business; perhaps […]
Have you heard of Youtility? It’s a concept coined by Jay Baer, author of a book by the same name. Jay defines Youtility as “marketing so useful, people would pay you for it.” You create Youtility when you’re useful where customers are–when they need it, where they need it.Is your company Youseful? In other words, […]
EXTRA! EXTRA!So you want free publicity? Thinking about writing a press release? Great idea! In the age of the Internet, most major news outlets and publications get a high percentage of news from press releases.Your goal is to get your release noticed rather than ignored or trashed. But keep in mind that a new website, new […]
What’s so special about you? Why should your prospects care? What’s your disruptive? Whitney Johnson’s HBR article on career change, innovation, and disruption really got me thinking—not just about my disruptive skills (although I am thinking seriously about them), but also about a company’s disruptive ability, or even a document’s disruptive power.By “disruptive,” Whitney means unique, […]
I don’t know about you, but if I have to read (or write) one more piece of stuffy, fluffy, jargon-filled marketing content, my head will literally explode.(Okay, not literally … although “literally” apparently can mean “figuratively” these days, so … there you go)You know the kind of stuffy marketing content I’m talking about, right? The […]
