Content marketing for small businesses doesn’t look much different from larger companies. Or rather, it doesn’t have to, regardless of…
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The post Content Marketing for Small Businesses: 7 Projects for Brand Managers appeared first on Copyblogger.
Category: Branding
If Vegan Donuts Are Commonplace, Offer Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. A limited number of choices might make us feel like we have to…
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The post If Vegan Donuts Are Commonplace, Offer Vegan Cinnamon Rolls appeared first on Copyblogger.
Are You Fascinating Enough to Be a Content Marketer?
If you work closely with someone with bright pink hair, you might begin to question whether you are interesting enough to contribute your thoughts to the topic at hand.
Followings on the internet are built on memorability, right?
I mean, if you don’t give high-energy talks like Gary Vaynerchuk, dress on-brand like Mari Smith, or sport a high-voltage cranium like Michael Port, how will people know you exist?
Not that I’ve ever had any of those thoughts.
Is having an indelible personal brand a requirement for content marketing success? If you don’t have that, should you throw in the towel before you start?
Building a platform around your personality
There’s a conversation I’ve had multiple times with some of the most well-known people online. People who — if you met them — might make you a little nervous. You might feel like you were in the presence of a celebrity!
Here’s how the conversation goes:
“I know I’m well-known within this group. But my family still doesn’t understand what I do. I talk to my neighbors and they say, ‘So, you make money on the internet? How does that work?’ And if all my ‘fans’ could see me in my day-to-day life they wouldn’t get so nervous talking to me.”
The internet gives us a place to build our own mini “kingdoms” of celebrity that we reign over. This process was much more difficult to do just 10-15 years ago. But now, we can gather our tribes, build our audiences, and
Every Business is the Same. Seriously.
One of my favorite audience poll questions when speaking goes like this: “How many of your truly believe your business is different than the person sitting next to you?” What’s funny, is everyone always raises their hand. And truth be told, they’re all wrong. Sure, we may all be special, different, and unique– but when…
The post Every Business is the Same. Seriously. appeared first on The Sales Lion by Marcus Sheridan.
Mad Marketing 97: Customer Experience, Dumb Mission Statements, and Speaking Gifts w/ Joey Coleman
About 4 years ago, I attended a small workshop on personal branding. Upon arrival, I’d never heard of the speaker, but within minutes of starting the session, I knew I was listening to someone very, very special. He was, without question, one of the best speakers and teachers I’d ever witnessed. Well, it turns…
The post Mad Marketing 97: Customer Experience, Dumb Mission Statements, and Speaking Gifts w/ Joey Coleman appeared first on The Sales Lion by Marcus Sheridan.
Rainmaker Rewind: 12 Tips for Creating Calls to Action that Work on LinkedIn Pulse
This week’s edition of Rainmaker Rewind features our own Sean Jackson and Mica Gadhia on The Missing Link.
The dynamic duo welcomed John Nemo, bestselling LinkedIn author and trainer, to discuss calls to action on LinkedIn Pulse.
John Nemo is not only personable and an absolute pleasure to listen to, he also knows LinkedIn inside and out.
John is a bestselling LinkedIn author and trainer who helps small business owners, coaches, consultants, trainers, and sales and business development executives use LinkedIn to generate more sales leads, clients, and revenue for themselves.
He takes Sean and Mica through the step-by-step process of giving readers everything they need to take the action you want them to take.
Click here to listen and learn from The Missing Link.
Have time for a couple more? Check out these great episodes …
In this episode of Youpreneur, Chris and Brian talk about what it takes to be a digital entrepreneur and what that means for brand-building business owners.
Youpreneur:The New Future of the Digital Entrepreneur, with Brian Clark
In this episode of Hit Publish, Amy asks the question: “When it comes to marketing, what’s in a name? Does it really matter what you call your products and services?” Well … yes it does. And Hit Publish is here to help.
Hit Publish:How to Generate Powerful Product Names That Don’t Sound Gimmicky
And one more thing …
If you want to get my Rainmaker Rewind pick of the week sent straight to your favorite podcast player, subscribe right here
Why None of this Stuff Matters if You Don’t Truly “Know” Your Customer
I’ve noticed something more and more over the past couple of years when it comes to why companies fail to truly make headway online—be it with Inbound, Content Marketing, Social, etc. And here it is: They don’t truly know their customer. They don’t think like them. They don’t appreciate what they’re going through (the buyer’s…
The post Why None of this Stuff Matters if You Don’t Truly “Know” Your Customer appeared first on The Sales Lion by Marcus Sheridan.
How the Perfect Name Changes Everything
Take a look at the image we chose for this post.
Ten years ago, any woman reading this would have looked at the woman’s hair and thought, “Oh, her roots are growing out.” If a woman lightens her hair and then doesn’t repeat the procedure, her natural hair color starts growing in, and you see the effect above — the hair is lighter at the bottom, darker at the top.
Over the years, hair salons have earned millions of dollars helping women to keep this from happening to their hair. Until a few years ago, that is.
Now, that hairstyle has a name — it’s the “ombré effect.” According to Wikipedia, ombré “… describes the gradual blending of one color hue to another, usually moving tints and shades from light to dark.”
That’s the transformative effect of a perfect name.
The right name can legitimize a style, an approach, or a movement. It can make something that was unacceptable suddenly acceptable — even desirable!
How can you find the perfect name for your next product, project, event, or service? That’s what we’ll cover in today’s post.
The right name makes everything OK
Ten years ago, it was rather embarrassing to admit that you planned to use your vacation time to stay at home. What a lack of initiative, right?
Enter the “staycation.” A staycation is when you take time off from work, but rather than travel somewhere or plan an adventure, you don’t go anywhere at all. You stay at home.
As soon as
The Transformative Effect of a Well-Built Brand Statement
I spent this past weekend among a group of smart writers at Jeff Goins’s first Tribe Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Jeff asked me to speak about content marketing (one of my favorite topics).
But I was an attendee as well. Jeff populated the conference with lots of excellent speakers, some of whom I’d never heard speak before.
So I took advantage of the invitation to learn as well as speak. On the morning of the first day, I sat down at a table full of experienced and aspiring authors to absorb as much as I could.
That day, Jeff asked us to do a simple branding exercise. He shared it off the cuff — almost as an aside — and gave us a few minutes to fill in the following blanks he provided for the exercise:
I help _____
(do) _____
so they can _____.
A short exercise that leads to powerful results
I recognized the power of this short exercise as soon as Jeff shared it. And I also knew I could help the people seated at my table. Branding is kind of my thing.
So during the next break we had, I asked the person next to me what she’d written down for her branding statement.
When she shared it, I made a suggestion that resulted in a shorter and more direct statement.
Once she finished editing it, I could see the relief in her eyes. And the excitement, too.
So I continued around the table, talking about and honing brand statements. Each time we