Tag: marketing

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Outstanding free marketing tools you need to know about

Free Marketing Tools… and More

The amount of free marketing tools and information available for marketers, entrepreneurs and those bootstrapping a business is fantastic. However, it can be overwhelming to keep track of everything you might use now or down the road.

After creating a comprehensive list of essential free tools for Entrepreneurial Marketing students, (available HERE) one student did a little extra research. She found an incredible list. Big shout out to these folks. It is a terrific resource and pretty well organized for everything from business, marketing, design & code, and productivity to learning.

Click HERE for the list. The updated list contains new tools for website, branding, invoice, image editors, email management and more.

IF nothing else, this is a great way to get familiar with the free tools available and help you to nail done the services you might want to pay for. There are some paid services I use regularly and perhaps those can be covered in a separate post.

Again, don’t forget to visit the list of free marketing tools on this site.

Finally, enjoy! If you have any questions on which tools I’ve used and might be best for you please contact me. Or leave a comment below.

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Powerful lessons that will help you craft your brand

Yes We Can Obama
Branding is powerful.

It associates an array of associations with a commodity. Successful messaging and branding makes it about you, the customer.

An excellent and not-so-excellent example of branding happened during this past year.

Donald Trump understands its power.

Hillary Clinton did not.

The reason.

Trump’s brand messaging was focused solely on “Make America Great make-america-great-againAgain!” a take action phrase first used by the Reagan campaign in 1980. It was simple, memorable and understandable. He messaged his brand in terms folks could easily repeat, remember, take ownership of and lets_make_america_great_againtake pride in. His brand message was of an outsider that was doing it for YOU, America, the country, the underdogs. He branded himself as “for the people.”

Hillary’s overall message? “I’m With Her.”

“Stronger Together and “Love Trumps Hate” were out there as well, but the first message became the focus – and ultimately the brand message.

im-with-herUnless you’re a well-read policy wonk, the benefit of standing with the candidate is unclear. I understand what strategists were thinking. It would be great to brand this as a historic, progressive time and that America is ready for a battle-tested female president. I’m sure it spoke to her base, but it didn’t seem to contribute to growing her audience – to which good branding should aspire.

The problem.

Clinton’s campaign message didn’t appear to be about the people – it seemed to be about the candidate. Branding cannot afford to be myopic.

When brands connect, such as: Nike’s “Just do it,” “Inspiration and Innovation for Every Athlete in the World.”; Coca Cola’s “Taste the feeling!” “Red, White and You.” “I’d like to buy the world a coke…”; and even benefit branding served with humor “Save 15%…” by Geico, they make it about you, the customer, taking you into account, making you the center of the message.

Clinton’s campaign brand wasn’t about you, the country or people, instead placing the candidate at the center of attention. A much better branding approach for Clinton would have been (if we still needed to remind folks she was female), “She Stands for You” or a more generic “A Vote for Her is a Vote for America” style of branding and messaging. The list could go on – just anything but “I’m With Her.” Could you imagine a brand trying to define itself with, “I’m With Brand X” while still in the difficult process of convincing you that they are looking out for your best interests, and therefore your best choice? It’s a tad presumptuous.

The solution.

If you want to get people behind you, you need to make it about them, their choices, their ideologies, and their voice. It’s not about you.

Trump understood that and took it to the finish line. Will your brand?

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Who else wants to create a fantastic social media proposal?

Let’s write a social media proposal

It’s always best to personalize your approach with a potential client, but here is a link to helpful tips on what you need to include in the social media proposal. Best of luck and go get ’em!

[Also see Outstanding Free Marketing Tools You Need to Know About]

“Well-written social media proposals are key to closing deals. If you’re a writer or marketer, your sales team probably needs your help writing those proposals, too. If you’re working solo, you might need to show why you’re a better option than a high-priced agency. Or another freelancer or consultant.”

Read the rest: How To Quickly Build Social Media Proposals That Win Clients

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Content may be king (but maybe not)

You create great content. Incredible content. You spent hours putting together your website page, social platforms, compelling photos, well written articles. In short, you’re a content genius.

But where’s the traffic?

Turns out content isn’t king, or at least it isn’t the whole picture. (There is more by Blog Tyrant on this and I’ll share a link to the article in a second.)

I think most of you know exactly what I mean.

There’s a ton of noise out there. Unless you get a kick-start, such as a spend (that perhaps you can’t afford), or a chance mention on a popular website, it’s a whole different art to get folks to visit your creations.

[See also Outstanding Free Marketing Tools…]

So we post and post and look at our Google Analytics and still no traffic.

Look, I don’t resort to click bait, I don’t believe in headlines that promise one thing then lead you into an unexpected page for the sake of traffic.

However, to get more folks interested in what you are promoting it needs to be direct and catchy without too much detail. If you’re successful in getting their attention (or, stopping the scroll, as I put it) than you just might have a little more success in directing folks to your valuable content.

We’ll go into more detail on that in another post — your landing page is also another discussion.

Here is the link to the article I mentioned earlier, The Biggest Myth in Blogging: Why Content is Not King

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‘Best practices’ may not be best after all

“According to best practices…”

How many times have we heard this hoary phrase? It can be especially interesting to hear when used as an one-note explanation for doing things a certain way. So, let’s take a step back.

The Problem

When someone states their position/request because it is “best practice,” the first question that—should—come to mind is, “According to whom?”

A solution

If you use “best practices” in a sentence, take ownership of this non-concrete term. “According to what I [understand/have read/have been told/just made up/etc.], this is my understanding of best practices.”

[Also see Marketing Outside the Bubble]

Don’t attribute it to the ubiquitous “they” or an “industry standard.” Also, be prepared to share the source(s). By owning your opinion, you can avoid a condescending and dismissive tone.

Conclusion

Best practices in any situation is subjective and should remain flexible. Better yet, don’t get lazy and throw a term around that has no meaning or relevance, as there really is no such thing.

For more thought leadership on this in Forbes, read:  Best Practices – Aren’t where Mike Myatt @mikemyatt explains, “too much common management wisdom is not wise at all, but instead flawed knowledge based on a misunderstanding or misapplication of ‘best practices’ that often constitutes poor, incomplete or outright obsolete thinking.”