From elevator speech to e-speech?During my recent mastermind retreat, I worked on my elevator speech, aka elevator pitch, that sentence or two you say when someone asks you what you do. :: begin conversation :: ME: <extends hand> “Hi, I’m Renae. Nice to meet you.” THEM: <accepts hand, pumps warmly> “Hi, I’m Ideal. Ideal Client. Nice to meet […]
Pro or con? Choose your side, and stick with it! Have you seen this chart by Hubspot, on when it’s okay to use an exclamation point? You can click in below for a closer view, but what I really want you to see is the spoiler (in the blue box) at the top of the image. It says, […]
Have you ever been swayed by a company’s testimonials? You know, those customer statements that tell you why you should buy? As a prospect, you read through the glowing testimonials thinking, “Gee, if all these people were happy, then maybe I will be, too!” Trouble is, no company willingly publishes negative testimonials. Amazon and Yelp aside, could you […]
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, […]
The other day, I ran across an inspiring, motivational image for small business motivation in an email from Gapingvoid Art. To me, the image communicates, in a nutshell, that it’s easy to look at a person you admire, a company you’d like to emulate, or some end result you want, and feel discouraged.From the email:It’s easy […]
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, […]
While pursuing a master’s certificate in professional and technical writing, I dabbled in a grant-writing class. Something I read in that class stuck with me because it’s as relevant to content marketing and content writing as it is to grant writing.From Miner and Miner, 2005, p.5., emphasis mine:During the review process, [sponsors] discern among proposals by […]
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 […]
