Category: Authority Rainmaker

Rapid-Fire Takeaways from Authority Rainmaker

Authority Rainmaker came and went two weeks ago, but its impact is still being felt.
In this episode of The Lede, Demian Farnworth and Jerod Morris go back and forth delivering quick-hit takeaways from the conference that stuck with them once they left Denver.
Among the speakers Jerod and Demian discuss:

Dan Pink
Scott Brinker
Pamela Wilson
Sonia Simone
Ann Handley
Bernadette Jiwa
Chris Brogan
Sally Hogshead
Danny Sullivan
Michael King
Joe Pulizzi
Sean D’Souza
Joanna Lord
Scott Stratten and Ryan Deiss

And, of course, Henry Rollins — though they save the majority of the Rollins talk for next week’s follow-up episode.
Click Here to Listen toThe Lede on iTunes
Click Here to Listen on Rainmaker.FM
About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing and sales podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

The post Rapid-Fire Takeaways from Authority Rainmaker appeared first on Copyblogger.

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Behind the Scenes: Authority Rainmaker, the Next Wave of Rainmaker.FM Shows, and the Departure of Robert Bruce

Here’s the “too long, didn’t listen version” … Authority Rainmaker was awesome (if we do say so ourselves). Especially Henry Rollins.
We’re launching a whole bunch of new shows on Rainmaker.FM. This is exciting.
Robert Bruce is leaving the show. He makes Benedict Arnold look like Arnold from Happy Days.
In this 34-minute episode of New Rainmaker with Brian Clark, Brian and Robert discuss:

A look back at Authority Rainmaker 2015
The amazing Henry Rollins experience
A quick rundown of what’s coming on Rainmaker.FM
Brian’s new, new podcast (yes, he’s starting something else)
Why Robert is betraying Brian and what Brian’s doing about it

Click Here to Listen toNew Rainmaker with Brian Clark on iTunes
Click Here to Listen on Rainmaker.FM
About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing and sales podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

The post Behind the Scenes: Authority Rainmaker, the Next Wave of Rainmaker.FM Shows, and the Departure of Robert Bruce appeared first on Copyblogger.

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Behind-the-Scenes Online Marketing Insights from Authority Rainmaker 2015

Authority Rainmaker 2015 wrapped up a week ago, and those of us who were there are still processing the online marketing insights we had at the live event in Denver.
If you didn’t make it this year — and even if you did — we’d like to invite you to experience some of the energy at the conference.
There were so many smart people — attendees, presenters, and sponsors — gathered in one place. The collective energy of the group could be felt in the opera house seats, in the lobby, at the meals, and at the parties.
Listen below to Clark Buckner of TechnologyAdvice interview Authority Rainmaker 2015 presenters, attendees, and sponsors.
Hear their favorite takeaways below. And read on for the most compelling quotes we heard.


 
Chris Brogan, on a building a feeling of belonging:

I think that there’s a lot of revenue to be made — and a lot of business to be made — by helping add value to the people you most want to help and serve.
Demian Farnworth, on being a misfit:

If the crowd is going that direction … I go the opposite direction.

Sonia Simone, on building a business around belief:

We’re looking for this belief-based tribe to belong to … there is a big part of our brain that wants that.
Arienne Holland, on owning your space:

It’s not “tell your story and people will come,” because that’s not true. But tell your story, and with the right amplification the right customers or audience

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The Introvert’s Guide to Surviving an In-Person Conference

Tonight kicks off our Authority Rainmaker conference in Denver, Colorado, and many of us are terrified.
Here’s the thing: we’re a company mostly made up of introverts.
We all fall somewhere on an “introvert’s scale” that ranges from extreme discomfort in social settings, to mild dread, to slight concern before entering a packed room.
So an event like Authority Rainmaker tests us. It gives us a chance to practice extroversion, even if it’s just for a couple of days.
If your personality leans more toward introversion than extroversion, I have five tips that will help you the next time you need to act like an extrovert on command.
1. Take a deep breath
If you’re a true introvert, large events can make you feel like you’re under attack. You walk into a massive space with lots of people, noise, and activity. It’s hard to know where to go first.
There’s no navigation menu at a networking event.
Before walking into a room like this, take a few deep breaths. And I don’t mean right outside the door, while looking in.
I mean before you even leave your space to go to the event.
Take a few quiet moments to close your eyes, breathe deeply, and center yourself.
After the event is over, you can come back to this quiet place. For now, visualize yourself enjoying the event, meeting new people, and smiling, laughing, and having a great time.
Cement those images in your mind by taking a few deep breaths while you visualize them.
Then open

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Here’s How Henry Rollins Writes (Slightly NSFW)

Prolific is a weak word to describe Authority Rainmaker 2015 keynote speaker Henry Rollins. In fact, most words fail to capture his many dimensions.
In August of 1981, young Henry got his start, joining the seminal punk band Black Flag. Following the band’s breakup in 1986, he started 2.13.61, a record label and publishing company. Shortly after that, he formed the breakthrough Rollins Band.
He went on to become an author and spoken-word artist. Endless work in print, film, radio, and television followed.
But you might find yourself wondering why The Writer Files would showcase a punk icon. Simple …
The unapologetic content marketing punk
Content marketing is do-it-yourself media, and Henry was doing DIY media while some of us were still kicking the slats out of our cribs. And he was doing it in a way that makes us all look like slackers as adults.
Black Flag recorded, financed, and distributed their own records; set up and promoted their own shows; and created their own merchandise.
Henry published his own books (nearly 30 at last count) on his own imprint, and toured the world multiple times as a spoken-word artist under his own initiative.
And at 54 years old, this unapologetic punk is showing no signs of slowing down.
The hardest working man in show business
He’s got a weekly radio show in Los Angeles, and he writes for the LA Weekly and Rolling Stone Australia. A few months ago, he launched his hilarious podcast, Henry & Heidi.
The Washington Post said he was

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3 Smart Ways to Out-Test the Competition

You’ve been there, and I have too.
It’s that moment of sheer exhaustion when you finally put the finishing touches on that new ebook you’re going to give away, that audio recording you’ll sell, or that video series you’re using to launch your new membership site.
You’re done. Finally!
Except — and I hate to be the one to break the bad news — you’re not.
Because after you’ve put the finishing touches on that new piece of content you’ll offer for an opt-in or a purchase, the true final phase is running quality assurance tests (QA, for short).
Before we continue, let me make a confession.
I’m writing this post based on personal experience.
You see, sometimes I write the post I need to read. And this testing phase is one I’ve glossed over too many times in the past.
It hasn’t always been pretty. Thankfully, my readers and customers are — for the most part — lovely, patient people. When things haven’t worked as they expected, they let me know, I responded quickly, and I was able to remedy the situation.
Now that I’m part of the Copyblogger team and I see first-hand the time and resources we devote to testing our products before we release them, I’m inspired to make testing a crucial final step for every product I create.
That’s why you’re reading this post today. It’s for me, and it’s for you. Let’s learn together.
Customer experience: a pivotal point in time
Opting-in to your mailing list or pulling out a

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Earn the Right to Sell

My biggest belief about modern business as it intersects with the digital world can be summed up in one sentence:
Create useful content that nurtures a specific community so that you earn the right to sell and serve them to exchange value.
Boiled down tighter: content, community, marketplace.
The old saying about if the carpenter has a hammer, then everything looks like a nail is very true when it comes to me.
I’m an author and writer and someone who believes that content isn’t king, but that it’s what you feed kings.
Content, community, marketplace
In my world, my newsletter accounts for 70 percent of my revenue, but I earn those subscribers via posts on my blog.
Because my content is appealing to people who wants to figure out for themselves how to connect in meaningful ways with the community they serve, I tend to attract people to me who have similar interests.
My vision becomes one they can embrace and make their own. Then, I’m able to equip those people with tools and introductions to people so they can improve their capabilities and connections.
From there, I earn the right to sell. Remember that you serve a certain community (or two or three), but not everyone there is part of your marketplace.
If you draw two circles, the bigger of the two is community, and the smaller is marketplace. Your goal is to earn the right to sell into that marketplace by delivering content and interactions that are useful and worthy.
This

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Here’s How Veteran Search Engine Expert Danny Sullivan Writes

In 1996, the Unabomber suspect, Ted Kaczynski, was arrested. TWA Flight 800 crashed off the coast of Long Island, New York. Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States. The movie Jerry Maguire hit the silver screen. “Macarena” was the hottest song. And some of you were probably born.
For Danny Sullivan, 1996 was the year he published research called A Webmaster’s Guide to Search Engines.
Wait. You mean there were search engines before Google? Indeed.
Danny has been in the industry for more than 20 years, and he is arguably one of the smartest people on the planet when it comes to SEO, which is why we booked him to speak at this year’s Authority Rainmaker event.
After publishing A Webmaster’s Guide to Search Engines, Danny founded the website Search Engine Watch, which eventually became “must reading” (according to Google’s Matt Cutts) and “the most authoritative source on search” (according to Tim Mayer of Yahoo!).
Sullivan eventually sold Search Engine Watch to Jupiter Media and stayed with the company until November 2006.
The Seth Godin of search?
After leaving Search Engine Watch, he started Search Engine Land, which he runs to this day. He also serves as Chief Content Officer for Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series.
When it comes to search, Danny is overshadowed by only one other person: Matt Cutts. And the case could be made that Danny is actually more visible, since Matt took an indefinite leave from Google.
So I’m going to go

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Henry Rollins on the Art and Business of DIY Media

I vividly remember the first time I heard Black Flag. It was in a kid named Mike Goodman’s bedroom, and the record was called Damaged.
That’s how it was pre-Internet in suburban Houston. If it wasn’t on the radio or MTV, it was invisible — unless some cool kid turned you on to something new (who probably got it from the older sibling of some other cool kid).
And by “cool,” I mean a misfit who couldn’t abide in a Top 40 world.
My first impression was, “Wow, this guy is pissed off!” And sarcastic, sometimes funny, sometimes sad. I loved it.
At the time, I had no idea that the guy’s name was Henry Rollins, or that he wasn’t the first lead singer of Black Flag. So we can’t really say it’s his time fronting that band that makes him a personal hero to me … but it started there.
Black Flag recorded, financed, and distributed their own records, set up and promoted their own shows, and created their own merchandise. There was no one in the mainstream music world who wanted to help, so they did it themselves.
The band broke up in August of 1986, just before I started college. Henry carried on in true DIY fashion, using his own publishing and record company to release his first book, his spoken word recordings, and albums by the first iteration of the Rollins Band.
By 1994, Rollins is all over MTV, and he’s featured in the film The

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Why Interactive Content May Be the Most Exciting Marketing Tactic of 2015

I’m looking forward to speaking at the Authority Rainmaker conference this May in Denver, Colorado.
As a longtime Copyblogger fan, it’s a great privilege, and I can’t wait to meet many of you. The title of my talk will be: How to Design Interactive Content — Moving Beyond Button Clicks and Form Fills.
Which begs the question, what exactly is interactive content?
Most content that we’re familiar with — blog posts, ebooks, reports, webinars, infographics, podcasts, etc. — is designed to be passively consumed by our audiences.
They read, watch, or listen to it. They may comment on it or share it, which is great, but the underlying content doesn’t ask them for input and doesn’t react to them in real time.
Interactive content 101
In contrast to passive content, interactive content engages an audience as active participants. Interactive content includes quizzes, calculators, configurators, assessment tools, games, contests, workbooks, and more.
You can think of interactive content as lightweight “apps” for the web. Like apps on your smartphone, they offer a useful functionality in a small, easy-to-use digital package.
But unlike smartphone apps, you don’t need to explicitly install them. They’re just embedded into your website, and they work in any modern web browser.
Why should you use interactive content?
First, as you already know, a primary challenge of content marketing is breaking through the noise.
The world is deluged with white papers, webinars, ebooks, and infographics. How many white papers have you downloaded and only briefly skimmed? How many webinars have you signed up

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