More Than A Few Words

During the pandemic many people started businesses and even more are sitting in a corporate role right now thinking you're going to start a business and leave the 9 to 5 behind. That's all great, but when the elation of the start up phase is over, you need to be able to sustain that new business through the long run. Anna Lundberg suggests you need to start with your "why".  If you are not clear about why you do what you do, what you want to accomplish as a person and a business it will be hard to find real success. 

If you’ve been using social media for any length of time, you’ve probably seen your share of memes. What makes memes popular is the way they give people a common topic or trend to make jokes about. This creates a community as the meme is expanded and shared.  People love memes, but what about brands? Are they invited to the party? That is a question every social media manager grapples with at some point.  The answer is more complicated than you think. Why? Because memes move quickly. What’s funny today is outdated tomorrow. If your organization is not prepared to jump on a trend quickly, it may be something you simply want to avoid. Secondly, meme humor can sometimes be cutting or biting. If that doesn’t fit with your brand, again, you may want to avoid the topic entirely.

I'm an extrovert. I love people.  I love being around people and talking to people.  But there are a whole bunch of people, introverts, who really don't enjoy interacting they way I do.  Here's the trick,  you've got to be able to reach both of those audiences. And if you're an introvert you have to learn how to participate in the world. This week's guest Amanda Watts share some great tips on how introverts can be effective, and maybe even enjoy of networking. It stars with understanding where your energy comes from. An extrovert, she explains, will wake up in the morning and even though they are well rested they will be a little low on energy. They actually gain energy with every interaction they have with someone. Each conversation is like a coin in your energy bank. So you gain coins throughout the day and at the end of the day if someone suggests you go out partying you're ready to go. In contrast, an introvert starts with the most energy at the beginning of the day. Every time they interact with someone

I have a confession to make. I am a networking junkie. I love getting out in meeting people. Unlike people with other addictions, I'm not looking for a cure for my networking addiction, because I think it's healthy for my business. There are lots of business owners who don't necessarily love networking and many don't even know where to start.  That's why I've taught hundreds and hundreds of business owners the tricks to improving their networking skills.  I have also written a book on the subject. There have also been lots of conversations about networking ere on MTFW, including this one from our archive, where Jarred Juett and I sat down in the front seat of my car to talk about networking.  This conversation was almost 10 years ago.  Much has changed since we had that conversation but the tips on marketing are as good and relevant as they ever were. When you are done listening, grab a copy of my book:  Build Healthy Networking Habits - Lessons from a Networking Junkie

It is time for a  Content Based SEO approach. You probably don’t want to hear this. I’m going to do it SEO wrong. You’re spending all your time focused on what search engines want, worrying about stuffing your pages with keywords, inbound links, and outbound links. Search engines don’t buy from you, people do So I want you to think about SEO differently. Start focusing on content that answers questions real people have about your product and service. If you do that, and you do that, well, the search engines will pay attention. LEARN MORE ABOUT BUILDING YOUR OWN CONTENT BASED SEO PROGRAM

Everyone knows testimonials are a powerful sales tool, so why don't more businesses have them?  According to guest, John Hubbard the biggest reason is they don't ask.  And even when they do, customers fail to follow through on the promise to write one.   If you want testimonials, you need to make it easy for customers to give them.  That's why he developed the testimonial interview.   LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS PROCESS   About John Hubbard John Hubbard is a business consultant, mentor and strategic advisor. He is the creator of the online course ‘Get Better Testimonials’ and has been producing video marketing for companies including Nike, Ford, Honda, Oakley, BHP and dozens of others around the world for more than 20 years.

As a business owner there were things I had to do that I absolutely loved and there were other things that really pushed me outside my comfort zone.  My business was successful because I developed skills in both those areas. And that's what I talked to Alex Brueckmann about in this episode. Alex explained: We often grow into our roles as business owners from a starting point of Knowledge. We've done something for awhile and we know it very well so we think we could build a business around that. We get better and better in that subject matter and then we realize there are things we really have no idea about, but should because they are important to the business. Alex is a returning guest to MTFW.  If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to check his earlier episode as we chatted about creating a long term strategy. 

 When you were little, your parents probably told you to use an inside voice because it wasn't polite to shout. We've all been there, in a crowded room and you want to get someone's attention. Sometimes you have to shout or raise your voice a little bit to get noticed. Well, the internet is a lot like a crowded room when you're competing with so many other messages. To get the attention of visitors to your website, you have to shout a little bit. Online you shout visually. If you're putting a call to action on your website, use all caps. While this is hard to read in long blocks of text, and considered a little rude in an email, it's critical in your call to action.  The all cap font stops the reader and makes them pay attention. And now I'm going to shout a little bit to and tell you to look subscribe to More than a Few Words wherever you listen to podcasts.

There's a perception that authors are more credible experts than people who are not authors.  Kim Thompson Pinder thinks it is just a perception and not necessarily true. But why not go with the perception? There are however, lots of gurus out there teaching you to write a book and business will fall into your lap. It is not quite that easy, but a book can be an incredible marketing and credibility tool you can use to generate leads. About Kim Thompson-Pinder – The Extraordinary Word Ninja, Chief Visionary Officer of RTI Publishing and Host of the Author To Authority Podcast Kim did not write for 30 years after a teacher told her at seven-years-old that, “She was no good at writing and should stop.” Then, she came to a crossroads and chose to let those painful words go. Since she set her words free, she has gone on to author five books, with two more on the way. Most importantly, Kim started RTI Publishing and has helped over 200 entrepreneurs to become authors and authorities. Kim understands the power of wo

I am an email marketing fan so I was excited to invite Kendra Corman to join me for a conversation on how to make email marketing effective.  She started by explaining why email is so important.  Sure it is great to build a community on social media, but what will you do if Facebook goes down or cuts off your profile. You are stuck.  But if you have email addresses, you  own those contacts and can take them wherever you want. You have the flexibility to contact them when you want and to share information  they want and need to know.

I don't ask for help very often. Maybe it's my personality I like to present this very competent, successful exterior. But the truth is everybody needs help from time to time. So today I have a request. My podcast has hit a plateau and I need your help to reach a wider audience. Follow the link https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/more-than-a-few-words/id438174063?mt=2 . If you like what you hear subscribe and leave a review If it's really not for you, but you but we're friends and you want to help, feel free to share the link with someone you know who might enjoy it.  Then let me know how I can help you     

Stop for a minute and think about your inbox I know as soon as I said that that was that little pain in your stomach because you know there’s a lot of clutter there.  But it doesn't have to be that way.   In this conversation, David David Forman of  Clarity Creative Group shares some simple tricks to tame the inbox beast. My favorite tips is the creative use of filters to screen irrelevant messages, and cluster important ones together.     

Wouldn’t it be great if your marketing could get people to buy from you? Unfortunately, as my guest Chris Hoyt explains, that’s not how marketing works. What can marketing do? Marketing can help people know you exist.  It can communicate your value It can give people an incentive to try your services or your products And most of all it can help you listen to your customers.

Today, I want to talk about your attitude, and how it can drive action. Why this topic now? Let's face it, there are lots of things in the world which distract and impact us as individuals. And as business owners. There are things we can't control, but we can control how those things make us feel, and how we react in response. There is power in a positive attitude. Ask any doctor about a patient who live long after all the medical treatments have been exhausted. Patients have been known to will themselves to life or will themselves to death. That same powerful energy can move your business to life, or death. I know the economy is kind of scary right now and companies are cutting back and struggling with future plans. I simply choose to focus on what I can do to be successful now. I choose to act with enthusiasm. Despite the outside world I choose to make today great, and as a result, it will be  

Everyone who starts a business thinks it's going to grow and grow.  They assume the growth will be wonderful as it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. My guest, Andrej Persolja suggests that may not be the best course of action, because many new businesses are not ready to grow.  Growth comes with pains, and you have to have your infrastructure in place to withstand some of the pain.  You need to have a clear definition of your target customer, the kind of projects you want, and the ones you don't.     

If you are like most business owners you have developed a skill for making gut decisions. But my guest Dr. Gleb Tsipursky thinks that might just be the wrong way to approach your business decisions.   The author of multiple articles and several books on the subject, including his new one. Never Go With Your Gut, in which he presents a logical and easy to follow alternative. Listen to learn his five easy steps to improving your ability to make decisions on the fly. 

If you've just finished working on your business plan, you probably think okay I'm done. I can put it on the shelf and get on with the rest of my business. If that's what you're thinking, you've missed the entire point of the planning process.  A good business plan is never done. You're always adding to it, making changes, scribbling out information and writing stuff in the margins. Your plan should be a living breathing document that grows as your business grows. At least once a year you should sit down review all of your assumptions and update your plan for the new year ahead.    Ready to work on your plan?  Grab a copy of our free business plan outline. https://digitaltoolbox.club/offer-business-map-worksheet/

There are lots of good reasons to create content for your website, social media and email newsletter.  In this episode, Lorraine chats with Louis Dalton about how to write content for a very specific purpose, converting prospects and strangers into customers.  Content created for this point in your sales process needs to focus on short benefits and results.  People don't want to wait six months to lose 30 pounds. The are however likely to be excited about losing 5 pounds this week.  The trick is to think about the short term and long term benefits of your product. The long term benefits are important too, but you need to catch the attention of that prospect with the more immediate payoff.  

Once upon a time marketers ran television commercials and put ads in newspapers and simply waited for the phone to ring. But that was a long time ago.  It was so long ago that it seems like a fairy tale, an expensive fairy tale at that. Today, consumers fast forward through ads and change the station on their radio. They don’t want to be interrupted by your marketing. They want to be free to look for information at their own pace as they browse and search online. And they’re not just looking for coupons or discounts. They’re looking for general information about trends and features, about company personnel, and examples of how your product is being used and what people think about your business. That’s where content comes in. Blogs, podcasts, and videos, all serve to answer the questions customers have as they decide if they want to do business with you.

I know you think we've talked SEO to death, but the field keeps changing and there are different approaches. My guest Meg Casebolt explains many people think think SEO is incredibly complex and you need to have an expensive team come in to fix your website for it.  They also assume you must produce boatloads of content to be successful. She doesn't think either of those things is true.  Today, the trick is not quantity, but content which clearly defines who you serve and how you help that audience.  About Meg Casebolt Meg  is the founder of Love At First Search and host of the Social Slowdown podcast. She loves to help businesses spend less time trying to hack the algorithms and instead creates SEO content that attracts your ideal audience to your website while helping entrepreneurs cut their dependency on social media for their business visibility.