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Beautiful Doesn’t Equal Attention
We can all appreciate a beautiful website or newsletter or social feed. Colours, fonts, everything matches. Brand expression can be a wonderful thing. Last year, I was working with a new client who raised a concern that the colour I had used for the call-to-action … Keep reading…
I Want to Start a Newsletter for My Small Business – Where Do I Start?
It’s easy to get hamstrung by what you don’t know… and then do nothing at all. If starting an email newsletter for your small business has been on your to-do list for a while, here’s the perfect place to start. Below I’ve gathered my best … Keep reading…
Email Marketing: Text vs. Images
Have you ever opened an email to a big blank nothing? Probably you saw a little icon that tells you there should have been an image… but it wasn’t loading for you. Ugh, what a waste of time opening that email. Of course, you don’t … Keep reading…
Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About
THIS is yet another good reason to be creating marketing content: “Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.” – Cory Doctorow While I would argue that content is more than just something to talk about (or should be), I love this sentiment! … Keep reading…
Consistency Comes from Having a Process
Late in the ’90s, after an intense SAP implementation with my employer at the time in Toronto, I spent the better part of a year working with all of the different business groups to document and improve on their process workflows. This meant travelling to … Keep reading…
One Word for 2021
When 2020 arrived, I had recently split with my husband of 17 years, sold our family home, and moved into a new apartment. The problem was that during the year of getting the house ready and sold, I turned away work. And I started the … Keep reading…
Books and Games: Enlightening and Strategic 2020
Like you, this past year has been one of changing and adapting for my business. And also like you, it’s meant big changes to my personal life. For one thing, I had more time to read. But instead of escaping into my usual murder mysteries … Keep reading…
Easy Solutions to Complex Problems?
“For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” – Henry L. Mencken – Henry was not a small business owner. Instead, he was a journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic and scholar who penned that quote a hundred years ago. … Keep reading…
If Starting to Write is What’s Causing You Pain…
A glowing white screen can be mesmerizing in its utter emptiness, taunting you to type something… but not just anything. It’s got to be useful or interesting to your blog and newsletter readers. It’s got to be better than the last article you wrote. It’s … Keep reading…
Ideas for Your Holiday Email Campaign
It’s that time of year when our email boxes quickly fill up each day with special promotions – Black Friday will kick it all off. Depending on your type of business and target market, you may be (should be?) considering doing some extra promotional emails … Keep reading…
List Building Questions Answered
Back in June, I had the honour and pleasure of being a guest on Mary Jane Copps’ monthly webinar. The topic was “How to Continually Grow Your List… and Why It’s Important”. We had a wonderful chat and answered common questions about list building. You can … Keep reading…
Avoid Marketing Emergencies by Planning Backwards
I’ve joked to friends that no one ever needs to reach me in a hot rush because there are no marketing emergencies. In fact, there are some things that might constitute an “emergency” (Sheldon quotes), such as a website going down or an app not … Keep reading…
1,000,000 Pageviews Happy Dance
I’m tickled pink because I finally reached 1M pageviews here on the blog. It feels like a #VanityStat but I know it has led to lots of great opportunities over the years… ten years, in fact. This wasn’t even a goal when I started blogging in … Keep reading…
Perpetual One-Question Survey = Evergreen Content
You and I both know it can be a lot of work to keep the content machine going – blogging, email marketing, social media and more. When I find an idea I can execute in 15 minutes that will give me social media posts and … Keep reading…
How to Avoid Iffy Language in Your Marketing Calls-to-action
If your ideal client has finally found you – your website, your blog, your social profiles – you want to be strong and confident with your calls-to-action. I’ve written before about ‘just’ and ‘feel free’ and other wishy-washy language. It doesn’t serve you well. Here’s … Keep reading…
The Truth About Magic Bullets
There are no 3-easy-steps to becoming a millionaire. If magic bullets and passive income really existed, we’d ALL be sitting around enjoying the view from our yachts. Cambridge Dictionary defines a ‘magic bullet’ as “a quick and simple solution to a difficult problem”. None of … Keep reading…
Sudden Appearances and Why They May Not Work
Have you noticed a sudden flurry of emails recently? Here are a couple of examples I’ve received: The nail technician who I haven’t heard from since before the pandemic suddenly shows up telling me she’s open for appointments. But not a word earlier about the … Keep reading…
Basic Set-up for a Lead Magnet
Recently several small business owners have asked me about how to set up a lead magnet to encourage more subscriptions to their newsletter. Here are instructions for you DIYers. First, prepare your lead magnet – the thing that you’re giving away. It should be something … Keep reading…
The Bottom Line About Newsletter Bottoms
There seems to be some thinking that getting people to read to the bottom of a newsletter is a most desirous goal. And, if getting people to read to the bottom (read the whole newsletter) is so important, isn’t putting the really good stuff at … Keep reading…
Testing Theories: Marketing Experimentation
Advice is one thing but thought and research are still necessary. Theory is another thing (I’m all for it) but experimentation is where the rubber hits the road (and many other analogies). Now is a good time to try new things and figure out what … Keep reading…
Watching, Learning and Stopping
A client recently wrote in her newsletter about how reducing her social media presence over the past few months hasn’t impacted her sales results. Here’s what Natasha said: As the weeks and months fall away, it’s glaringly obvious to me how I can let go … Keep reading…
That was a Great Conversation But…
Imagine you’ve just gotten off the phone from a lively conversation with a prospect that lasted an hour. Your purpose in having the call was to build a new business relationship or build on an established one. You both discovered you have much in common … Keep reading…
What First, How Second
Buying or subscribing to a software application is never the solution to a problem. But it can certainly be part of the solution… or not. It’s all about the process. An app can help streamline a process. Likewise, it can overcomplicate a process. It’s all … Keep reading…
How Planning for Failure Can Help Ensure You Don’t Fail
We all want things we’re working on to be successful. Nobody ever plans to fail… but wait, planning for failure can be a useful exercise. The term ‘premortem’ comes to us from the field of project management. According to the Harvard Business Review: “A premortem … Keep reading…