Thought Leadership Archives

Why Anti-Customer Sales Funnels Are Dying (Featuring The Ad Strategist’s Latest Report)

January 11, 2019/2 Comments/in Thought Leadership /by Julia McCoy

If you’ve been following the Write Blog at all in the past few months, you know how I feel about anti-customer sales funnels.

For example:

Don’t Treat Your Buyers Like It’s 1999: Why The Blood-Thirsty Sales Era is Reaching Tipping Point & Why Content Marketing Works
5 Selling Skills That Actually Work Today, & Sales Tactics That Need to Die (Quit Cold Pitching!)
Goodbye, Sales Funnel & Hello, Marketing Lifecycle: 5 Hot Content Marketing Trends You Need to Know for 2019

Now when I say anti-customer sales funnels – I mean a very specific type of “funnel.”

You know these very well. They’re the ones that start out with a Facebook ad, featuring an “expert” sitting in a flashy Lamborghini, or ostensibly walking around and showing you his pool and/or house in some exotic location, promising you with eagerness that his genius online money-making methods can make you millions of dollars, too — and when you click, you end up watching a pushy webinar and you’re funneled into a timed-out sales sequence page connected to a hard sales pitch via email that goes on for days on end.

It’s basically the opposite of valuable, relevant content marketing that serves the audience, of which you already know I’m a big fan.

Well, times are ‘a changing.

Sales funnels may be dying, and we have proof.

You may have heard of Amanda Bond (A.K.A. The Ad Strategist).

She’s kicking a$$ and taking names in the Facebook ad game.

(I sat down with her in a recent episode of The Write Podcast. She’s a marketer I really respect.)

But Amanda isn’t just a commanding online presence – she has the chops to back it up. She has personally served over 73 million ad impressions on Facebook, and her ads have generated over $10 million in revenue.

She recently published an incredible report full of so much gold, I had to share it with you all, here on The Write Blog.

It’s called The Real Reason Facebook Ads Have Stopped Working:

This report speaks to me not just because of the staggering results inside (more on those coming up). Amanda has a mantra after my own heart, which she eloquently brings up in her disclaimer at the beginning of the piece.

She feels that being transparent and real is more important than the possibility that she’ll be criticized or hated for it.

YES. 🙌

In particular:

“No one wants to attack their own industry. No business owner wants to ‘bite the hand that feeds them.’ But this level of corruption is wrecking people’s lives. Good people’s lives. And it’s time you heard the truth from someone on the inside.”

And that’s just the beginning of a staggering, mind-blowing report that is full of MAJOR takeaways for any marketer.

Let’s take a look.

The interruptive sales funnel may be dying, and we have proof. More on the death of anti-customer #marketing featuring @TheAdStrategist and @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

3 Major Takeaways from “The Real Reason Facebook Ads Have Stopped Working”

1. Facebook Ad Funnels (and Funnels in General) Aren’t Working Anymore… But It’s Not Your Fault

According to Amanda, Facebook ads used to work like gangbusters. The years 2014-2016 were a heyday if you wanted to create profitable ads.

Today, that scenario is a distant memory. Amanda estimates that the total return on ad spend (ROAS) in 2016 was 11.88x. That means whatever you spent on ads, you got back 11-12 times over.

'No one wants to attack their own industry. But this level of corruption is wrecking people’s lives. Good people’s lives. And it’s time you heard the truth from someone on the inside.' - @TheAdStrategist #facebook #salesfunnels Click To Tweet

In 2018, that number has plummeted to 0.66x.

Why that huge plunge? The initial success of FB ads was built on a broken system, to begin with.

Internet marketing was exploding, and a key subgroup was at the helm, shaping the way people approach ads to this day. Amanda calls this “The Rise of Bro-Marketing.”

“A digital marketing subculture dominated by money-hungry, funnel-hacking, win-at-all-costs business owners. A business ethos that’s publicly client-centric, but privately egocentric.”

These types of people were not just pioneers in the Facebook ad industry, but also some of the loudest. They built sleazy lead generation tactics and funnel hacking, and swore by the mentality of “sales first, clients second.”

An industry built on these principles was sure to fall at some point…

Especially as the market became saturated and people started wising up to the aggressive ad funnel game. That leads us to our next major takeaway:

2. Self-Centered, Seller-First Marketing (Bro-Marketing) and Sales Funnels Are Dying

Of course, bro-marketing tactics and “force-driven funnels” are both dying, as Amanda reveals in her study. These are the main reasons she mentions:

Bro-marketers compete on volume. That means they’re ultra-focused on getting people into their sales funnel, whether they’re quality leads or not. That ALSO means 99% of those leads fall out of the bottom of the funnel.
To turn a profit using this system, you have to keep generating more and more leads just to get to the one or two that eventually stick and make a purchase.
And THAT is how bro-marketers normalized abysmally low conversion rates – as low as 1-2% – which are unsustainable for most people.

Amanda puts it like this: screenshot of quote "they're paying for one hundred (expensive) leads and only ever converting one of them"

“They’re paying for one hundred (expensive) leads and only ever converting one of them.”

HOWEVER, bro-marketers trick people into buying into this type of marketing by using their own vanity metrics to create a false sense of security, i.e. “YOU CAN GET THESE RESULTS, TOO.” But, the truth is, the results are a sham.

What I love here is how Amanda explains you are NOT a bad marketer if you bought into this. As she says, the ad funnel industry was built on these principles, and “we’re all drinking from the same polluted pond.”

If you think #Facebook ad funnels (and funnels in general) still work, you should read @JuliaEMcCoy's summary of the Facebook ads report published by @TheAdStrategist ASAP. Click To Tweet

The saddest part:

“Standard funnels (the vehicles designed to generate sales) are often the very thing keeping people from purchasing.”

This screenshot of slimy funnel ads drives that point home. (Are these types of ads the newest form of the cliché “used car salesman”?)

3. The Secret to Profitable FB Ads: Connect, Commit, Close

So, what’s the opposite of manipulative funnels and sleazy sales tactics?

As Amanda says in her study, it’s putting the customer first. (And that’s something I am totally behind.)

In particular, what she teaches is a 3-step process: Connect, Commit, Close.

Connect with your audience by giving them value and leadership. Win their trust and attention. Warm them up naturally so they want to commit. (This is also the foundation of content marketing – no coincidence!)
You’ve connected, and your warm audience is engaged and/or demonstrating a desire to commit. At this point, you invite them to invest while empowering them to make the best decision possible.
Leads who make it to the next stage are hot. It’s time to close by overcoming objections, educating, and selling smartly.

Say “No” to Funnels and “Yes” to Your Customer’s Needs

If you haven’t read Amanda Bond’s study in full yet, go do that right now. It’s THAT good. (Also, go follow her, @TheAdStrategist, and don’t forget to check out my interview with her on The Write Podcast!)

She has really summed up a huge movement in the marketing industry right now:

The sales funnel mentality is failing to serve anyone, anymore.

Consumers these days are too smart to be dragged along sales assembly lines. We have to treat them like the intelligent, human buyers they are, NOT like wallets or numbers in our selling machines.

The sales funnel mentality is failing to serve anyone, anymore. This and more takeaways from @JuliaEMcCoy's breakdown of @TheAdStrategist's #Facebook ads report. Click To Tweet

It’s not just about ethics, either. It’s about improving your engagement and profits, too, which is a win-win for everyone. But don’t just take my word for it…

Why Content Marketing Is a Huge Win for Marketers Today

From this report, the overall takeaway is clear: Modern marketing that works is customer-centric, not sales-centric. That applies to ALL your marketing – which is why content marketing, in particular, is a winner.

First of all, it seamlessly fits alongside a customer-centric, funnel-free ads strategy, like what Amanda teaches. It meets your customer at their point of need, offers them value, guidance, and information, and builds trust. Put those elements together, and it adds up to profitable end results.

Market research backs that up, too. A recent forecast says the main reason for the industry’s growth is because content marketing offers “lower costs than traditional advertising and an increased conversion rate.”

Over and over, we have found that to be truer than true. Content marketing is the customer-centric marketing of today, and it’s here to stay.

At Express Writers, where we use content marketing exclusively to earn organic traffic and leads, we see conversions from hot inbound leads happen in two days to two weeks on average. These high-quality leads net us four-figure sales regularly – pretty amazing, right?

Here’s a screenshot of our Google Analytics across one month of 2018. On average, we’re seeing upwards of 3,000 visitors/day from our organic traffic rankings.

The majority of EW’s traffic and leads come in through organic search, thanks to content marketing.

Incredible things happen when you put your customer front and center. (Express Writers is living proof of that.) No matter what type of marketing you’re talking about, that’s a huge takeaway for the future.

Work-Life Balance Strategies: What 24 Marketing Experts Say About Work-Life Balance

December 18, 2018/24 Comments/in Thought Leadership /by Danielle N.

Today’s blog is by Danielle N., Course Support Lead and Quality Assistant at Express Writers.

We often glorify the idea of non-stop hustling.

We see these images of influencers on social media who all seem to have it all put together, at the peak of their success while grinding 24/7.

And we, too, try to find ways to become productive every single day, hoping to reach that point where we become satisfyingly successful.

No wonder that the average productivity rate for every American worker has gone all the way up to 400% since 1950.

It’s not even a surprise that the average American works for 44 hours per week — that’s more than eight hours per day. Crazy, isn’t it?

You may already know this, but then again, overworking isn’t the key to success. And continuing to do so means damaging your health, relationships, and your self-worth.

So, why not ditch the hustle and focus on achieving a better work-life balance?

We know. It sounds easy, but hard to do especially when you love your job.

That’s why we’ve asked the marketing experts about their own work-life balance strategies. We hope these points will inspire you to find your own balance.

Work-Life Balance Strategies: What 24 Marketing Experts Say About Work-Life Balance

Thinking work-life balance is impossible to do? Read what the marketing pros do, and you’ll find the best tips that may work for you.

1. Mark Schaefer

“I’m probably at a different stage in my life than other readers.

I’m in my 50s. At this point, I do what I love. There really is not much difference between work and home because I choose to do things that bring me joy, so there really is no struggle.

Of course, you always run into bumps in the road. But you just have to recognize that as a normal part of life and keep moving ahead.”

'There really is not much difference between work and home, because I choose to do things that bring me joy, so there really is no struggle.' @markwschaefer on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Mark Schaefer is a globally recognized social media expert, speaker, executive branding coach, marketing strategist, podcaster and writer. He’s the Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, blogger of {grow}, and author of six marketing books including the best-selling “The Content Code” and “The Tao of Twitter.” Listen to his appearance on The Write Podcast.

2. Andy Crestodina

“Go to bed. It sounds simple. But it’s very powerful. If you can get to bed and fall asleep 90 minutes sooner, you can wake up that much earlier and use that time for something far more important than whatever you were going to watch on Netflix at 10:30 PM.

Imagine what would happen to your content, your brand, your knowledge, your network.

Here’s a quick list of things you could do with that time over the next year:

Write a book
Launch a video series
Write 50 guest posts
Becoming a columnist for a major publication

Or even crush a non-marketing goal…

Have six-pack abs
Learn to speak Italian

What are the main differences between high and low performers?

It’s not knowledge. Most people know HOW to do the things on that list. The difference is willpower, persistence and focus.

So, get to bed! Then get up at 4:30 AM every day for two months no matter what. Then you will have formed the habit and it will come automatically.

Use the time to invest in yourself. 99% of you will not take this advice. The other 1% will be so successful, I almost feel bad for their competitors.”

'Go to bed. It sounds simple. But it's very powerful. If you can get to bed and fall asleep 90 minutes sooner, you can wake up that much earlier and use that time for something far more important...' @crestodina on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Andy Crestodina is the co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Orbit Media, an award-winning 38-person web design and development firm in Chicago. He’s also a top-rated marketing speaker and the author of “Content Chemistry.” Andy guest hosted our #ContentWritingChat not too long ago.

3. Glen Gilmore

“For the last two years, I’ve spent more time out of the country than in the country on consultations, speaking engagements, and brand ambassadorships. Whether I’m at home or on the road, I always do my best to work in a moment for meditation, a healthy breakfast, and a half-hour walk.

Even a few pages of a good book a night helps. And though I always work on long flights, I do indulge in a movie or two.

And when it’s time with family, it’s time away from looking at a phone for anything that’s non-emergent.

And, just as I always have a long list of work-related projects to complete, I keep an equally long list of personal projects and goals to accomplish. I work at advancing them both.”

'Whether I'm at home or on the road, I always do my best to work in a moment for meditation, a healthy breakfast, and a half-hour walk.' @glengilmore on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Glen Gilmore is a Forbes Top 20 “Social Media Influencer” who provides Digital Marketing strategy and training to some of the Fortune 500 companies like Amazon, Huawei, and Verizon. He’s also a practicing lawyer and author of “Social Media Law for Business.”

4. Ryan Robinson

“For me, work-life balance is a constant game of course correction.

I’m rarely in perfect sync between work and personal life for long intervals of time. However, over the years I’ve pushed myself to regularly zoom out and take a look at whether work or fun are getting too much of my attention – and identify which one needs more attention.

Some weeks, I force myself to only work 20 to 30 hours and enjoy going on a mid-week hike to clear my head and reset my priorities when things are getting a little stressful.

Yet during other weeks if I’m preparing for a course launch or recording a lot of interviews for my podcast, it can easily turn into 50 to 60 hours of staring at a screen. That’s draining and unsustainable for me.

So, what I’ve really come to learn, is that work-life balance (at least for me) is more about being hyper-aware of my mental state, and feeling empowered to take corrective action to avoid burning out when I need to.

My advice is to always thoughtfully plan your week out ahead of time, so that you first schedule blocks of time for the most important activities – like getting physical activity every day, going on date nights with your significant other, or putting the kids to bed.

Work should fit in around the greater purpose of your life, but have the mental flexibility to anticipate that there will be times when work will rightfully command more attention than usual. Do your best to plan ahead for it, and then make up for it with time to recharge afterwards.”

'My advice is to always thoughtfully plan your week out ahead of time, so that you first schedule blocks of time for the most important activities.' @theryanrobinson on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Ryan Robinson is a content marketing consultant for the world’s top entrepreneurs and startups. He also teaches over 250,000 monthly readers how to start a blog and build a profitable side business on his blog, ryrob.com.

5. Lee Odden

“As the CEO and face of our company that is active in the industry, my personal expectations of work-life balance are very different than those for one of my team members.

While I’m essentially ‘on’ 24/7 through engagement with a network that is global, staff, clients, conferences and requests for interviews and quotes like this one, I do find ways to keep myself sane, aka ‘balanced’.

I do work at work. I set goals for the tasks I want to complete for the day and stay until they are done. I do my best not to bring work home. Things do come up where I will need to log in, but only for a few minutes. This motivates me to be more productive and time at home is family time.
Vacation is virtually work-free. When I go on vacation, I work very hard to stay offline (except for Instagram of course). This requires advanced planning as well and has been very beneficial for getting refreshed.
I’m practical about setting goals and also expectations with others so I’m not saying yes to everything and drowning out my personal time with overcommitments. I also use software to manage goals, planning, progress and to optimize my time. Goals, planning and optimizing for effectiveness are key to make work balanced so you can enjoy more of the rest of your life.”

'I'm practical about setting goals and also expectations with others so I'm not saying yes to everything and drowning out my personal time with overcommitments.' @leeodden on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Lee Odden is the CEO and co-founder of TopRank Marketing, an internationally recognized digital marketing agency based in Minneapolis. He’s also a keynote speaker for digital marketing industry conferences, consultant, and author of the book “Optimize.”

6. Erika Heald

“It can be easy to get so caught up in your work – especially when it’s work you love – that you don’t take time for yourself. That’s why I have a few work-life balance routines I’ve followed for myself for the past five or six years:

I get to bed early enough to have 8 hours of sleep at least 5 nights per week.
I have a membership to Burke-Williams and make time once per month to have a massage and spend some time relaxing and refocusing.
I use a Passion Planner to keep myself focused on making steady progress towards my personal and professional goals.
I don’t work when I’m on vacation. Period.

These may seem like small things, but for me, they add up, over the course of time, as being the foundations of having a great work-life balance.”

'I don't work when I'm on vacation. Period.' @sferika on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Erika Heald is a strategic marketing consultant with 20 years B2B and B2C marketing experience. She hosts #ContentChat, a weekly Twitter chat program for content creators and marketers. She also blogs about gluten-free baking at Erika’s Gluten-free Kitchen. She guest hosted on #ContentWritingChat.

7. Joe Williams

“I’ve struggled for years in getting the right work-life balance, but I’ve learned you need to decide on a time each day to finish work and be satisfied with what you have done. That way, you can transition into social life and be truly present.

If only it was that easy? Well, perhaps it can be. Here are my top two productivity hacks to help: The first is using the zero-based calendar approach and the second is combining it with the Pomodoro technique.

The idea with the zero-based calendar is to leave zero time unallocated in your working day because Parkinson’s law states that ‘work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.’

And as you may know, the Pomodoro technique is about doing short bursts of work and taking periodic breaks. I am aiming for 12 Pomodoros per day and rather than focusing on specific ‘todos’ in my zero-based calendar, I allocate 4 Pomodoros at a time for an area of work that I need to do.

It’s surprising how doing these two hacks allows me to finish work on time and feel satisfied with my day’s effort – and, of course, be truly present for my family and friends in the evening.”

'Here are my top two productivity hacks to help: The first is using the zero-based calendar approach and the second is combining it with the Pomodoro technique.' @joetheseo on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Joe Williams is the founder of Tribe SEO, which offers the search engine optimization (SEO) training course, “Learn SEO Fast.”

8. Michele Linn

“While this may seem counterintuitive, I’m a big believer in not multitasking (unless I’m folding laundry or taking a walk while on a conference call).

After many frenzied years, I realized I’m the best version of myself when I’m completely present with whatever I’m doing – be it working or hanging out with my kids.

I used to set aside early mornings to be ‘in the zone’ time, but that proved difficult. Too often I’d be crabby during our morning family routine because my head was stuck on work.

Now, I deliberately set aside time at least once or twice a week to work ‘heads down’ in a coffee shop or (my favorite) the library for 3-4 hours. I break out my noise-canceling headphones, set my 37-minute Pomodoro timer (yes, it’s random) and get cracking on deliberate todos.

I get a lot of work done in a short amount of time, I feel productive and I have no pestering guilt when I’m not working in the evening.

And when plans go off the rails as they often do? I do my best to take it in stride and find that next pocket of heads-down time.”

'After many frenzied years, I realized I’m the best version of myself when I’m completely present with whatever I’m doing – be it working or hanging out with my kids.' @michelelinn on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Michele Linn is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Mantis Research, a consultancy dedicated to helping brands create original research. She’s the former Head of Editorial of Content Marketing Institute. Check out the recap of her appearance on our Twitter chat, #ContentWritingChat.

9. Shane Barker

“Most professionals find it extremely challenging to strike a healthy work-life balance. Today’s digital age powered with smartphones and numerous work applications has made it even more difficult. With work constantly popping up in your inbox, you often feel like you never really left office.

I believe that both professional and personal life is essential to our overall well-being. And the only way to strike a perfect balance between the two is to set boundaries for when you’re available for work and when you’re not.

Setting a boundary for your personal time goes far beyond disconnecting yourself from work emails or calls while off work. You also need to learn to leave work at work. Don’t look at it on your phone and don’t carry it in your head.

Thankfully, I have a great team working remotely from different parts of the world to handle work commitments when I am not around, and vice-versa. At Content Solutions, we ensure that all of our team members get enough personal time to rejuvenate.

I hope the United States succeeds in achieving the kind of work-life balance that countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark already enjoy.”

'Setting a boundary for your personal time goes far beyond disconnecting yourself from work emails or calls while off work. You also need to learn to leave work at work. ' @shane_barker on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Shane Barker is a digital marketing consultant specializing in sales funnels, targeted traffic and website conversions. He’s has worked with Fortune 500 companies and is a regular contributor in top publications such as Inc.com and Forbes.

10. Gerry Moran

“When you are passionate and having fun with building and running a world-class social media and content marketing organization at Cognizant, then it’s easier to achieve a work-life balance.

But, when you get down to it, I use a weekly action plan focusing on ‘above-the-line’ priorities to move us closer to our goals – then I empower my team to get it done on their terms.”

'I use a weekly action plan focusing on 'above-the-line' priorities to move us closer to our goals – then I empower my team to get it done on their terms.' @gerrymoran on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Gerry Moran is the Global Head of Social Media at Cognizant with 30 years of diverse experience on social media, B2B and B2C marketing, and entrepreneurship. He has also trained small businesses, students, and teams from companies like HBO and IKEA.

11. Heidi Cohen

“Achieving work-life balance starts with deciding what you want to accomplish for the next year, 3 years and 5 years across work, personal relationships, romance, family, health and spiritual needs.

At different phases of your life, this mix may vary. Further outside events may cause you to change the balance for reasons beyond your control.

I find that the key to work-life balance is to always find time to do something for you no matter how small. This me-time helps you to refocus and allows you to regain your calm.”

'I find that the key to work-life balance is to always find time to do something for you no matter how small. This me-time helps you to refocus and allows you to regain your calm.' @heidicohen on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Heidi Cohen is the president of Riverside Marketing Strategies and the Chief Content Officer of Heidi Cohen’s Actionable Marketing Guide where she shares her marketing insights on social media, content marketing and mobile. She also conducts marketing classes in universities and speaks at marketing conferences and events across the US and other countries.

12. Henneke Duistermaat

“I am not sure I am the right person to comment on work-life balance but I have been surprised at how much work I can do in just a few hours a day.

A few years ago I was hurt in a car crash and I had to radically cut the hours I work to between 2-4 hours a day. I learned to focus on what’s essential to keep my business running (my blog to grow my audience and teaching online courses to generate an income).

Being forced to cut down my hours made me realize how much time I was wasting before.

Nowadays, when I’m at my desk, I know what I want to achieve and I spend very little time on social media. Instead of cramming more work into my day, I prioritize what I want to do in the hours I can work.”

'Instead of cramming more work into my day, I prioritize what I want to do in the hours I can work.' @henneked on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Henneke Duistermaat is a copywriter and business writing coach featured in top publications such as Forbes and Inc.com. She has guest blogged for KISSmetrics, SmartBlogger, Copyblogger and CopyHackers. She’s also the author of the highly-recommended business writing books, “Blog to Win Business” and “How to Write Seductive Web Copy.” Listen to her share writing tips on The Write Podcast.

13. Carla Johnson

“Balancing the priorities of both work and life is simple, but not easy. Simple, because it’s an idea we believe in and want to make happen. But hard because it comes down to the little by little choices we make.

I find it easier to manage when I set my priorities for both from the big-picture perspective and then work down to what that means tactically.

For example, if I say I want to spend more time with my family, does that mean more long-weekends away? Or does it mean having three meals a week together as a family? If I say I want to be more successful in my career, does that mean generate more revenue for my business? Write another book?

Once I better define the big picture, then I’m able to prioritize what things matter most. And then I do my best to focus on those. It’s focus that I struggle with the most, but it’s what helps me keep balance.”

'I find it easier to manage when I set my priorities for both from the big-picture perspective and then work down to what that means tactically.' @carlajohnson on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Carla Johnson is a world-renowned storyteller, speaker and author. She also offers training and consulting services for marketing executives and teams looking for help in creating unique branding strategies. Her latest book, “Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing”, explains content creation management in detail for businesses.

14. Brooke Sellas

“Because we’re in the social media and advertising space, notifications are a way of life for me. There’s the constant ping of an email, or the bloop of a Facebook notification, or the bleep of a conversation on Twitter. This means that I have to disconnect from my phone on the weekends or during any downtime. I do this in one of two ways.

If I don’t need my phone at all, like for personal phone calls or texts, I take a digital detox. Meaning I completely shun my phone for 24 to 48 hours. This is no easy task but going cold turkey really helps me to live in the moment with my husband and/or friends and be present with my personal life.

If I must have my phone for personal reasons, I’ll do a ‘mini’ digital detox and place my phone on airplane mode for a specific amount of time. I’ll strategically check in from time-to-time, but the notifications are kept to a minimum by doing this. Which means the distractions are also kept to a lovely 5-minute time frame as well!

On some apps, like Basecamp, I can set up my notifications to stop for certain time periods or not to send at all over the weekend. Again, it’s not an easy task and I often ‘cheat’ but overall, keeping my weekends for my family and friends (and myself!) is an important part of my work-life balance.”

'If I don’t need my phone at all, like for personal phone calls or texts, I take a digital detox. Meaning I completely shun my phone for 24 to 48 hours.' @BrookeSellas on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Brooke Sellas is the founder and CEO of B Squared Media, an award-winning social media marketing and advertising agency that’s been featured on Inc.com, IBM, Yahoo!, and Twitter. She also guest speaks at Fortune 500 companies, middle-market brands and universities.

15. Julia McCoy

As head of operations, HR and marketing at Express Writers, parent to a four-year-old, wife, teacher, and podcast host; our very own CEO, Julia McCoy, shares her own tips about work-life balance.

“First, it’s important to love what you do. I think work-life balance comes much easier if you actually enjoy waking up to your tasks every day. I do. I feel like a kid in a sandbox when I get to write books or ideate great content and lead a great team of people!

Secondly, it’s critical to take time out for yourself. Tell guilt around taking time out to shove it. You deserve and need self-care. Go out to the fanciest seafood restaurant in town once a week to treat yourself.

It’s also important to get out of your house if you constantly work there. Take work to your favorite coffee shop and enjoy your surroundings while you work.

It’s okay to treat yourself. And treating yourself could look like the gym, not just stopping for your favorite food or dessert. To me, one of the best feelings is being worn out from burning 100 calories on a treadmill!

Thirdly, say no to more opportunities if they don’t benefit your bottom-line growth and maximize your potential. Skip the FOMO in favor of JOMO (Joy of Missing Out). Stop saying yes to everything, and you’ll find you have more time for hanging out with the family, enjoying life, and breathing in-between heavy task loads.”

'Say no to more opportunities if they don't benefit your bottom-line growth and maximize your potential. Skip the FOMO in favor of JOMO (Joy of Missing Out).' @JuliaEMcCoy on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Julia McCoy is the CEO of Express Writers. She is also an author of two books — currently working on her third, teacher of two online courses, and the host of the Write Podcast.

16. David Reimherr

“Work-life balance is paramount here at Magnificent.

First things first, I make sure not to overwork our team and get us all on the same page of working hard when they are here, and to take care of themselves and spend time with their friends and family.

As for myself, and I know this sounds very unromantic, I have a task note that reminds me to reach out to my wife to schedule something to do together each week. All the success in the world means nothing without a happy home and personal life.

A couple other things I do to keep my mind in the right place is sticking to my morning routine which is a mix of light stretching, push-ups, reading my list of personal mantras, reading an excerpt from “3 Magic Words” and a gratitude meditation.

And one thing I added in about 6-9 months ago which I HIGHLY recommend is a daily 15-20 minute walk during lunch where I clear my head and pay thanks to all the wonderful things in my life. Gratitude is probably one of the only things in life you can’t do too much of!”

'And one thing I added in about 6-9 months ago which I HIGHLY recommend is a daily 15-20 minute walk during lunch where I clear my head and pay thanks to all the wonderful things in my life.' @DavidReimherr on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

David Reimherr is the founder of Magnificent, an Austin-based marketing agency that specializes in content marketing, website development, and email marketing. He also hosts a podcast series featuring the best marketing experts to talk about what’s the latest in the marketing world.

17. Jay Baer

Jay Baer of Convince & Convert Media shares something short, sweet, and to the point.

“If you like your work enough that it doesn’t feel like work, then work-life balance isn’t nearly as stressful.”

'If you like your work enough that it doesn't feel like work, then work-life balance isn't nearly as stressful.' @jaybaer on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Jay Baer is the founder of Convince & Convert, a digital strategy consulting firm that worked with mid-size and large North American companies such as Cisco and Hilton. He’s also a New York Times best-selling author, an advisor, and one of the world’s most popular speakers. Listen to his guest appearance on The Write Podcast.

18. Michael Brenner

“I manage to maintain work-life balance while working at home through a couple of tricks. I ‘go to work’ just as if I was commuting to the office. It’s just a home office and the commute is much shorter. But this allows me to really focus on being productive.

I also block off time for email each morning and afternoon to allow me to completely check out of work when my day is over. And I truly don’t respond to emails on nights and weekends unless it is truly urgent. That allows me to stay focused on my family and come back to work completely refreshed and energized.”

'I also block off time for email each morning and afternoon to allow me to completely check out of work when my day is over.' @brennermichael on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Michael Brenner is the CEO of Marketing Insider Group which worked with popular brands like Adidas, SAP, and The Guardian. He’s also a part-time CMO of the world’s first AI-powered Content Strategy Platform, Concured, a speaker, author, and marketing consultant.

19. Arnie Kuenn

“Work-life balance is something that has always been critical to our agency.

Since the day it was founded, we strived to make it a family business, but not in the way most people think. We try to make it about our employee’s families. We want them home at night and on the weekends with their families and friends.

A healthy, rested employee is good for everyone. As many of your readers know, this is not always the case in agency life and in many smaller businesses. And, we certainly have our share of crazy weeks or months. But we also offer other perks to help with work-life balance.

We allow everyone to schedule their own office hours, work remote one day per week, they can bring their dog to the office, we have a very liberal holiday schedule, and we throw lots of fun events at the office. All of this is designed to help balance office stress and allow for a better quality of life.”

'We try to make it (the agency) about our employee’s families. We want them home at night and on the weekends with their families and friends.' @arniek on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Arnie Kuenn is the founder and CEO of Vertical Measures, a digital marketing agency that worked with clients like Puma and Purdue University. He’s also an international speaker and an award-winning co-author of “Content Marketing Works: 8 Steps to Transform Your Business”.

20. Ann Handley & MarketingProfs

Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, shared with us their 2019 Marketer Happiness Report (Research conducted by Mantis Research). The report, which surveyed 1,533 marketers around the world, shares some of the most surprising findings about today’s marketers.

Some of these surprising facts include:

“Marketers feel they are spending too little time with friends, exercising, volunteering, and engaging in hobbies— but too much time on social media.”
“Most of us know what we need to accomplish day-to-day — but 43% of us find that our priorities are always or frequently based on what is in our inbox.”
“Fewer than one in three of us set aside time each day to be technology-free. We are often in reactive mode—responding to whatever technology throws at us. We are not giving our brains a chance to rest.”

And with these findings, the report suggests some of the following tips that can help marketers achieve the feeling of contentment and enjoyment in their jobs:

“Turn off your phone and close your door for at least one hour a day. Yes, doing that will be painful at times, but it will be worth it.”
“Let’s turn off our devices every day, and spend more time on those things we say we don’t have enough time for (practically everything!). For instance, spend time on a hobby (do you have a hobby?). Though hobbies may seem an extraneous use of time, we have long believed that making something — anything — will make us more interesting people. And marketers.”
“As a group, we’re not great at saying no: 26% of us don’t even think we can say no to projects. (Not surprisingly, this response is more common among marketers who have less experience and those who work for a large organization.) But, the rest of us do have a willingness and opportunity to say no… but we aren’t doing much about it. If a project does not fit your goals or priorities, why do it?”

'Let's turn off our devices every day, and spend more time on those things we say we don’t have enough time for (practically everything!)' @annhandley & @marketingprofs on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, a marketing education & training company offering training programs, online events, conferences, and supplementary free resources for marketers. She is also the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller, “Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content.”

21. Hailley Griffis

“I’ve been working from home for three years full-time and I was part-time work from home before that. Here’s my advice:

I keep the space where I work and the space where I relax very separate. I find that unless there are strict boundaries between work and home life, I start to feel like I’m always at work and I lose the place where I can be at home and relax.

I know this can be tough, especially in smaller homes, but it’s absolutely worth it to maintain these boundaries so that places meant for relaxing, like the couch and bed, can be saved for relaxing and not become second desks.”

'I keep the space where I work and the space where I relax very separate.' @hailleymari on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Hailley Griffis is the Public Relations Director of the social media management app, Buffer. She’s also the host of Buffer’s own podcast show and MakeWorkWork.

22. Stephanie Stahl

“A work-life balance is a bit of a fairytale. It’s impossible to give equal weight to both all of the time.

As a home-office worker who travels a lot, I’ve found it’s better to try and blend work and life. Sometimes that means a mid-day trip to volunteer at school, or taking my laptop to a dance competition, or occasionally working on weekends, but it allows me to give dedicated time to my family and my job when it’s most necessary.

And let’s face it, now that my favorite grocery store (Whole Foods) delivers and Amazon can have something on my doorstep in two days or less, managing a busy schedule is a lot easier than in the early days of my career.”

'I’ve found it’s better to try and blend work and life... but it allows me to give dedicated time to my family and my job when it’s most necessary' @EditorStahl on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Stephanie Stahl is a writer, editor, and the General Manager of Content Marketing Institute, leading the brand’s event, digital, print, and e-learning operations. For more than two decades, she’s worked in various UBM business units, handling multimedia content and events.

23. Cathy McPhillips

“I like to think of it as a life balance.

We’re part of a team that values family above anything else. No matter what busy-ness might be occurring at our company, our family’s (and our own) health and happiness come first.

Being virtual, we are lucky to have flexibility, but with that comes responsibility. We’re more likely to work and challenge ourselves for a company that values us. It makes a huge difference!”

'We’re part of a team that values family above anything else. No matter what busy-ness might be occurring at our company, our family’s (and our own) health and happiness come first.' @cmcphillips on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Cathy McPhillips is Content Marketing Institute’s Vice President of Marketing. She’s recognized as Folio:’s 2014 Top Women in Media and MarTechExec’s 2018 50 Women You Need to Know in Martech.

24. Lilach Bullock

“It’s certainly not easy to find the right balance; after all these years of being an entrepreneur and actively striving to attain this balance, I still find myself at times not being able to disconnect from work.

That said, I’ve gotten much better over the years at this and in most cases, it’s because I set myself times where I simply must take time off and spend it with my family.

Another ‘trick’ is to try to work as much as possible from your home office; while it’s still work, at least you can “go home” in literally a second – all you have to do is make yourself close your computer.”

'... try to work as much as possible from your home office; while it’s still work, at least you can “go home” in literally a second - all you have to do is make yourself close your computer.' @lilachbullock on #worklifebalance Click To Tweet

Lilach Bullock is a social media and online marketing consultant, trainer, and speaker. She’s been recognized as one of Forbes’ Top 20 Women Social Media Influencers, Oracle’s Social Influencer of Europe winner, and Career Experts’ number 1 Digital Marketing Influencer. She guest hosted on Express Writer’s #ContentWritingChat.

The Key Takeaways in Work-Life Balance Strategies According to Marketing Experts

Each person is unique and no single work-life balance strategy can perfectly work for all. This is true especially for marketers who already vary when it comes to each’s work schedule, style and goals.

However, we’ve noticed a few common denominators among what the marketing pros have shared. Some of them are the following:

Going offline
Having enough sleep and exercise
Planning and setting goals
Saying “NO” to unbeneficial opportunities
Setting boundaries between work and life
Doing what you love

If you haven’t found your balance yet, you can start practicing these top strategies. These tips look simply easy if you can imagine yourself doing them. But when it comes to putting these ideas into action, it surely takes a lot of hard work and patience.

Can you already imagine an hour without your phone?

You can for sure! Maybe not now, but someday.

You can start with 10 minutes, or 30, until you can finally manage to have your hands phone-free for an hour or two. It’s just like for every goal you want to reach — the entire process takes time.

So, we hope these quotes from the best marketing experts today help you find your own balance.

Are you currently struggling to keep your work and life balanced? Or maybe we’ve missed a good work-life balance strategy that’s worth sharing to all our readers? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

How to Find Your Brand’s Unique Content Differentiation Factor and Use It to Your Advantage

November 13, 2018/30 Comments/in Thought Leadership /by Julia McCoy

Every brand has at least one unique “thing” that sets them apart.

The “it” factor.

If you’re involved in building your own brand or a business, you absolutely need to make sure you’ve identified that “one thing” that individualizes your message and your content.

That factor that differentiates you from your competitors. The one essential element everybody else is missing.

Without it, you’ll risk blending into the masses.

You’ll turn into another blip in the content sea. Seen and heard today, forgotten tomorrow. A scary, but true, reality.

So, my question for you today is:

What is your content differentiation factor in your industry?

First, let’s define.

What do I mean by “content differentiation factor?”

This is a concept I teach in my Content Strategy & Marketing course and have written about in my book.

Your content differentiation factor (or CDF) is that one, unique thing – the it-factor – that separates you from the billions of other content pages on the web.

It’s the angle you present that provides a slightly different, new spin on topics your readers have seen before.

Joe Pulizzi of CMI calls this your pivot in the industry – more specifically, your content tilt. Joe talks about this concept in his book, Content Inc., which I highly recommend reading. He says:

When you have a solid differentiator, you stand out in a great way. Your voice rises to the top and gets heard. People want to hear what you have to say because it’s unique, useful, and valuable.

It’s how you not only reach your audience but reach them powerfully.

For today’s topic, let’s start by looking at a few perfect examples of brands who have it and use it to their advantage, and then get into how to find YOUR content differentiation factor.

What is YOUR standout brand content differentiation factor? Read more in this guide, with examples. #contentmarketing #CDF Click To Tweet

Two Examples of Brands Killing It With a Solid Content Differentiation Factor (CDF)

Here are two amazing brands are doing a killer job at using a CDF that aligns them to their audience.

1. Society6

First up, a brand with a solid CDF that perfectly caters to their audience – Society6.

This is essentially a printing service where you can get custom-designed items such as wall art, mugs, notebooks, t-shirts, phone cases, and even bedding, shower curtains, and furniture.

The differentiator which sets Society6 apart from similar printing services is the artist community that serves as their foundation.

Instead of offering pre-designed patterns and templates, Society6 sources designs from independent artists all over the world who receive a cut of the profits.

Their content ties into their CDF perfectly. They regularly feature original pieces from artists selling designs on Society6.

View this post on Instagram

“Message from the Sea” by Christian Schloe / Link in bio @Society6

A post shared by Society6 (@society6) on Oct 25, 2018 at 5:58pm PDT

They also have a blog with more artist features, tips for creatives selling their designs on the platform, and home décor tips using their custom-printed goods.

Finally, Society6’s huge following and high content engagement speak to how well tapping into their content differentiation factor has played out. On Instagram alone, they have over half a million followers, and each post averages thousands of likes and comments.

Society6’s unique artists are their greatest asset, and they use this CDF to reach out to both consumers who want to support small businesses as well as creators looking to support themselves with their art.

How are you differentiating yourself from others in your niche? What makes you stand out? @JuliaEMcCoy's guide talks about content differentiation factor, plus examples, and how to do it. #contentmarketing #cdf Click To Tweet

2. Taste of Home

Another brand nailing their content differentiation factor: Taste of Home.

Originally a magazine dedicated to showcasing favorite recipes from home cooks, Taste of Home now has an online presence chock-full of content catered to their readers.

For example, their website serves as an extension of their printed compilations of reader-submitted recipes. However, what sets the brand apart is the fact that only the best of the best get featured because each is tested by the Taste of Home kitchen beforehand. Every recipe comes with tips, anecdotes, or secrets from the cook who submitted it.

Taste of Home leans into their CDF online and carries over the main mission from their print magazine: “foster[ing] a strong and loyal sense of community among like-minded home cooks of all ages.”

Along with user-submitted recipes and food-related blog posts, Taste of Home also populates their social media feeds with eye-catching video content.

Manicotti, simplified.

> Get the recipe for Easy-to-Stuff Manicotti: https://t.co/chpdYg1myp pic.twitter.com/MOZv3UMiYc

— Taste of Home (@tasteofhome) October 31, 2018

Finally, their engaged community speaks to how well Taste of Home has used their CDF to their advantage. They essentially tap into the heart and warmth of home cooking.

How to Find Your Content Differentiation Factor (and Why It’s Different from Your Unique Selling Proposition)

It’s easy to mistake your content differentiation factor for your unique selling proposition, and vice-versa.

Your unique selling proposition is NOT the same as your content differentiation factor. What makes you stand out in your industry? Click To Tweet

But, remember: They’re not one and the same.

Your unique selling proposition (USP) is the factor that makes your products or services better or more valuable than your competitors’.
Your content differentiation factor is the unique angle you present as a brand/business. It’s how you approach industry topics and write about them from your individual perspective.

In short, your CDF is more akin to your motto, your mission, or your mantra. It’s how you approach connecting to your audience. To do it, you need to present them with an angle they haven’t seen before: your angle.

Here’s how to find it:

1. Don’t Over-Focus on Your Products/Services

This great blog from Jay Baer represents the pitfalls of what can happen when brands only focus on their USP, or on what their products/services do.

The key mistake, like Jay says, is when brands forget to be unique and only focus on the selling proposition:

“When marketers lean on unique selling propositions (USPs), they position their products as effective – but forgettable – solutions.”

Sure, your product is good and effective… but so what? Why should your audience care?

In contrast, your content differentiation factor is the thing that makes you memorable. It gives your audience a reason to listen to you because it’s about how you help them differently than the other guys.

How you help them differently – that’s key.

How do you help your customers differently than all the other brands out there? That's your Content Differentiation Factor. #contentmarketing #cdf Click To Tweet

2. Consider Your Audience

You can’t stop at uniqueness for your CDF. It’s not enough to try to be different in your industry. Why?

Different doesn’t necessarily equal better. It doesn’t always represent a better choice for the customer.

Instead, frame your CDF in light of who you’re helping, what they need from you, and how you fulfill that.

To reference one of our above examples, Society6 does this by honing in on their artist community. Their mission is to empower independent artists and give them a platform for their work.

That very mission is reflected in their content:

Aligning your CDF with your customers and readers is a great way to make sure it’s effective.

3. Ask Yourself How You Help Them BETTER

Maybe you help your audience in a very similar way to your competitors. If that’s the case, ask yourself:

How do you help them BETTER?
What unique angle of their problem do you solve?
What makes that angle possible?
- Where does your industry expertise come from?
- What piece of your background helps you help them?

4. Think About the Benefits

Again, stay audience-focused when coming up with your content differentiation factor. What benefits do you offer them when they interact with your brand, read your content, and buy your products/services?

It doesn’t have to be complicated, either.

5. Remember Your WHY

Finally, it always helps to think back to your original “why” – why you got into your business or industry in the first place.

What do you hope to do for your customers that no one else can?
How do you want to change the world?
What positive impact do you want to have on customers in your industry?

Remember your why. This & more on how to differentiate yourself in your industry via @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

Discover Your Content Differentiation Factor and Get Heard for Profitable Results

It’s hard to stand out online.

That’s not to say it’s impossible. With your CDF firmly in hand, you’ll be well on your way to positioning yourself advantageously online. That way, your content will get read and shared by the right people, and your brand/business can continue to grow.

Just remember that it starts and ends with your audience, and how you impact their lives for the better.

Now get out there and differentiate yourself! And if you need some help with your homepage copy, content differentiation factor homepage slogan, or the blog you’re struggling to produce every week, we can help. Send us a quick line here.

5 Selling Skills That Actually Work Today, & Sales Tactics That Need to Die (Quit Cold Pitching!)

October 24, 2018/39 Comments/in Thought Leadership /by Julia McCoy

Old, archaic sales tactics are dying.

Nobody wants to be “sold to” anymore.

…If you’re in sales, you might think that’s bad news.

But, depending on how you look at it, it can also be incredibly good news.

Why?

Because maybe sales still has a chance – but only if you switch up your tactics.

You have to think about the modern buyer, who is exhausted from constant exposure to ads and brands vying for their dollars.

The average modern buyer sees up to 10,000 ads and brand messages per day.
615 million devices, including desktop and mobile devices, have ad blockers installed.

And, according to the Aspect Consumer Experience Index, which analyzed consumer behavior in 2015, the new generation of buyers “will not tolerate waiting in lines, or repeating their problem to five different people or being treated like a number:”

In short, your buyers of today are craving something different from the sales experience. And if you don’t hand-deliver on this process, you could risk turning them off. Keep reading for a case-study backed guide on this topic.

Today's buyers are craving something different from the sales experience. Learn what that is in @JuliaEMcCoy's new guide on #sellingskills #contentmarketing #salesmanship Click To Tweet

What Happened When I Brought the Topic of Selling Skills Up on LinkedIn

Case in point:

I recently posted about this very topic on LinkedIn after getting one too many sales pitches. The response was big. The post hit 4,000 views organically inside 21 hours!

(See the LinkedIn post here.)

There were tons of great comments on the post chiming in, but one stuck out to me, in particular, from Denis Zekic:

“I call it ‘Unsocial Selling.’” – Denis Zekic

Denis wrote a post and coined a word about this very phenomenon.

Here’s how he describes “unsocial selling:”

“You receive a connection request with no obvious explanation why. You ponder for a second or two should you accept, and then the left side of your brain kicks in and takes over the other side that deals with logic. In haste, you press the ‘accept’ button and it’s all over in a split second.

But then…

Within minutes, if you are unlucky enough – maybe even seconds, you get the sales pitch. Sometimes 3,000 words and over, sometimes shorter. Shrewd operators tend to send snappy ones. To keep you enticed, interested, eager to find more – they take the lion approach. Under the cover of social noise; they observe and stalk their prey without the threat of detection. They sit and watch, and then just before sunrise when you least expect – they launch an attack.”

That’s the thing about these sales pitches – they make you feel like you’re swimming alone in the ocean of social media, circled by bloodthirsty sharks who are ready to scent any tiny weakness. My blog just two weeks ago, Don’t Treat Your Buyers Like It’s 1999: Why The Blood-Thirsty Sales Era is Reaching Tipping Point & Why Content Marketing Works, explores this very phenomenon.

Why, oh why, would you ever want to make your buyer feel this way? What logic tells you that this is the way to get a sale?

I can’t believe what I’m seeing in outbound sales these days.

I just got pitched by someone who said “help me show my boss that even a non-sales person can close a CEO like you” 🤯🤯

Rude AF. He earned himself a block & spam report from me.

INBOUND > OUTBOUND sales ALL day 💯

— Julia McCoy (@JuliaEMcCoy) September 18, 2018

It makes zero sense, and I’m not alone in the frustration I feel about it.

Why rely on these tactics when there are better selling skills you could be using, ones that directly appeal to the modern buyer?!

The fact that I still see cold calling, cold messaging, and other slimy, rude tactics in the sales world helps me come to one conclusion.

The selling landscape today needs to change.

Are you making these critical sales mistakes? Find out what these top no-nos are, and what you SHOULD be doing for more inbound sales via @JuliaEMcCoy's new guide on #sellingskills #contentmarketing #salesmanship Click To Tweet

3 Traditional Selling Skills and Sales Tactics That Need to Die

To speak to today’s buyers on their level, we need to update our sales skills.

For example, inbound marketing works like crazy – so why aren’t more salespeople using content?

(I previously proved the power of content in our Blogging ROI Case Study. 99% of our clients have found us through our search rankings and content.)

In comparison, cold calling and traditional, less warm selling strategies are downright weak and ineffective.

Here are the top three sales tactics that, simply put, need to die.

1. Cold Calling

According to a fairly recent research report from Baylor University’s Keller Center, only about 1% of cold calls convert to appointments being made with the prospect.

That’s right – it’s not even a sales conversion. The research breaks down this way:

Over two weeks, 50 sales agents made a total of 6,264 cold calls over the phone.
Of those calls, only 28% were answered (1,774).
Out of that 28%, the sales agents were only able to set up 19 appointments with prospects and get 11 referrals.
1,612 of the call recipients (nearly 91%) flat out weren’t interested.

Other research reports echo those findings. For instance, did you know 9 out of 10 B2B decision-makers at the highest levels don’t respond to cold outreach?

Cold calling does NOT work anymore.

2. Cold Messaging

As we demonstrated with my LinkedIn example, cold messaging on a social network can really backfire. If you friend or follow someone and then immediately send them a cold sales pitch, it’s pretty much identical to cold calling.

Read: Your prospect will just get annoyed with you because it’s pretty obvious you established the connection because you want their money.

Not cool.

According to research, only about 1% of cold calls convert to appointments. That's not even a sales conversion. @JuliaEMcCoy shares what you can do instead. #sellingskills #contentmarketing #salesmanship Click To Tweet

3. Overselling

Here’s how Google defines overselling:

“sell more of (something) that exists or can be delivered”
“exaggerate the merits of”

Needless to say, if you’re overselling, you’re essentially lying to your potential customer. You’re overpromising or exaggerating – A.K.A. engaging in the number one slimy sales tactic of all time.

It’s dishonest and plays with the customer’s emotions. Yuck.

Overselling is a big no-no. But how do you know you're doing it? @JuliaEMcCoy shares her insights in her new guide on #sellingskills #contentmarketing #salesmanship Click To Tweet

According to Kevin Daum for Inc., a couple telltale signs you’re overselling include:

If the prospect starts arguing with you about your points angrily.
If the prospect physically backs away from you.
If the prospect makes excuses.

Don’t make your potential customer this uncomfortable. Instead, make them feel confident, taken care of, and informed.

How should you do it? With the following modern selling skills.

5 Essential Selling Skills to Appeal to the Modern Buyer

How can we improve our selling skills so they appeal to today’s modern buyer?

Don’t forget: Inbound leads cost 61% less than outbound leads.

Inbound marketing beats outbound marketing.

All. Day. Long.

The path we need to follow is clear: We should take inspiration from inbound marketing to fuel sales.

Coupled with that, a HubSpot survey describes exactly what customers are looking for when they engage with sales. They want to interact with sales reps who:

Listen to their needs
Aren’t pushy
Provide relevant information
Respond promptly to questions and communication

Unsurprisingly, a prospect or customer gets all of that when they interact with inbound marketing. It’s about them.

How can a sales rep make the user experience positive? According to buyers, listen to them. This and more are covered in @JuliaEMcCoy's guide on #sellingskills #contentmarketing #salesmanship Click To Tweet

These are the type of selling skills you need in this modern sales world. Let’s take a closer look.

1. Using Inbound Content

You can and should incorporate inbound content into your sales pitches.

This AWESOME report from Influence & Co. describes how you can create sales enablement content, align sales and marketing, and essentially super-power sales with the magic touch of content.

Here are a few reasons why content can help boost sales:

Highly relevant content is a resource and trust-builder that does the work of phone calls, emails, and other touchpoints.
Prospects can share content with other decision-makers to get buy-in.
Tying content to sales helps you demonstrate exactly how it has helped you reach your goals, which can be vital for nabbing a content marketing budget increase.

The report also recommends a working relationship between sales and marketing. For instance, sales should be part of the content creation process so you have a good idea of the content strategy and when it would be best to leverage content during the sales process.

This is how Influence & Co. puts it in the report:

“Marketing and sales alignment is an ongoing process that continuously transfers valuable insights back and forth between each team. Your marketing team uses its audience insights to create content and passes it to sales. Sales leverages that content to enable its conversations with prospects and passes the insights from those interactions back to marketing to use to create even better sales enablement content.”

2. Listening!

Listening is a key selling skill many salespeople are lacking. Instead of listening to their prospect’s needs, they plow straight through to a sales pitch, talk for eons about the company, or give the prospect irrelevant information (like how a product worked for some other person or organization).

Just look at the disconnect between what a prospect wants to hear about versus what a salesperson plans to cover during the first conversation:

We see an obvious pattern emerging here.

Salespeople want to discuss “what my company is trying to achieve,” “the reason my company needs to make the purchase,” “my company’s overall goals,” and more.

My company, my company, my company…

I cannot begin to describe how wrong this angle is. It’s no wonder the buyer checks out during the conversation. Why should they care about YOUR company?

They want to know facts and details relevant to THEM: the price of the product/service, how it works, etc.

Of course, the only way to give them the exact information they’re looking for is to listen carefully to what they say.

Salespeople want to discuss 'what my company is trying to achieve,' 'my company’s overall goals,' and more. What's wrong with this angle? @JuliaEMcCoy shares her insights on #sellingskills #contentmarketing #salesmanship Click To Tweet

3. Providing Information, Knowledge, or Solutions That Are Relevant

Instead of just selling, think about sales in terms of helping the customer make a buying decision. You’re there to be an information source for them so the decision becomes easier.

A big way to help them is to provide relevant information – ideally, solutions to their problem. (This is when relevant content resources really come in handy.)

4. Avoiding the Pushy Pitch

The pushy pitch directly ties into overselling.

If you’re pushing, you’re going too far. You’re imposing your will on the prospect – and all the while, you’re a stranger to them!

The most common words used to describe salespeople. Image via HubSpot

It’s no wonder a lot of prospects will push back when you start getting pushy.

It is, in a word, rude. It’s also the best way to live up to the slimy salesperson stereotype.

5. Responding in a Timely Manner

This is a solid fact: The buyer doesn’t care about your sales timeline. They’re worried about their timeline.

What does this mean?

It means that the sales skill of “responding in a timely manner” should entirely be based on the buyer’s definition of “timely.” They want to know that you’ll work with them, but they don’t want to be pushed if they’re not ready to close.

(Again, here’s another perfect place to use inbound content to your advantage!)

What’s the Key Takeaway for Today’s Modern Selling Skills?

Modern buyers won’t respond to outdated sales skills. You need to meet them at their level if you want to get results.

Today, the modern buyer responds best to an inbound sales strategy. It aligns with content marketing to provide value and information right when the buyer needs it.

For example, in all seven years here at Express Writers, our BEST sales technique has been to offer a free 1:1 consultation, where we simply listen to our customer’s needs and offer a solution with knowledge and confidence.

We don’t push.

And that confidence? It comes IF you have knowledge in what you’re doing.

In short, you can advise, help, and inform your buyer – NOT irritate, annoy, insult, or mislead them.

And that’s a big deal.

(If you don’t have the knowledge, we provide content marketing training. Check out the Content Strategy & Marketing Course to take your expertise to the next level. And if you need content? Well, our team of 95+ content experts can handle that without blinking. See our pricing here.)

Producing Meaningful, Relevant Content: The Top 2 Factors for More Effective Marketing in 2018 & the Future

October 16, 2018/22 Comments/in Thought Leadership /by Julia McCoy

If you’re a marketer in 2018, you’re familiar with the buzzwords saturating the online marketing industry.

Like…

Content marketing.

SEO.

Viral content.

Everyone is trumpeting the wonders of content. And everyone has a formula for creating that elusive “secret sauce” — the one thing that, if done correctly, will launch your content to the top of the marketing heap.

Stop. Just stop.

It seems that in the race to the top, the real nuggets of gold in the content marketing industry have gotten buried in an avalanche of over-eager sales techniques.

So, let me clear it up for you:

To be truly effective in marketing your content, you have to go back to your roots.

Back to the reason you even have a product or service — your customers.

Go back to your roots and succeed in your content marketing with @JuliaEMcCoy's advice on producing meaningful, relevant content, featuring key findings from @cmicontent's new 2019 B2B #contentmarketing report Click To Tweet

My State of the (Content Marketing) Nation Address

Before I tell you how to do it right, let’s explore the current state of content marketing. Think of this as a “State of the (Content Marketing) Nation Address.”

Are you being meaningful and relevant enough with your buyers/audience? @JuliaEMcCoy's State of the (Content Marketing) Nation Address Click To Tweet

Currently, brands and businesses are content marketing at a feverish pace, hoping to capture a greater slice of the audience pie with provocative intel and thought leadership content pieces.

Sadly, most of this content falls far short of their goal, leaving both audiences and marketers disappointed.

In fact, a recent article in The Drum underscores just how bad it is. Take a look at the infographic below.

Half of the buyers are disappointed by the marketing content out there. But look at that other number — only 30% of marketers think their organizations are doing a good job of content marketing.

Thirty percent. That’s a low vote of confidence, people.

Part of this stems from the fact that businesses find it hard to move off of what has motivated customers in the past. And each decade or so, customers evolve and move on — marketers need to follow.

This screenshot from Harvard Business Review illustrates what I’m talking about:

To move slowly in this market is to be quickly outpaced by those who get what people want. And what people really want in their content in 2018 is — are you ready?

Authenticity and relevance.

That’s it, in a nutshell — the real secret sauce for the content marketing win.

#contentmarketing's vote of confidence is disappointingly low. Learn how to turn that around with @JuliaEMcCoy's advice on authenticity and relevance Click To Tweet

How Authenticity and Relevance Drive Content Success

Interestingly, one of our writers compiled a white paper for a client just this week that underscored the value of these two elements. The paper addressed brand marketing for Millennial moms.

In case you don’t know, Millennials make up the largest demographic in the U.S. these days. And do you know what’s most important to them when making decisions based on advice? Authenticity.

A survey by Social Media Today shows that even among other generations, authenticity is a primary want.

Brand authenticity is even more important than innovation or even utility in marketing, with two-thirds of consumers choosing authentic over non-authentic brands.

Millennials make up the largest demographic in the U.S. these days. And do you know what’s most important to them when making decisions based on advice? @JuliaEMcCoy explains why authenticity matters Click To Tweet

And relevance? It’s right up there. If you don’t check the relevance box, you lose money. Big money.

Research shows that U.S. companies alone are missing out on $1 trillion in revenue annually because they aren’t relevant.

That relevance is not just predicated on your atypical marketing “personas” any longer. Businesses need to understand that there is no archetypal client to whom you can market — customer needs vary according to context and time.

This Confirms the Importance of Authentic, Relevant Content

So, what’s a content marketer to do?

The only way to get to know what your customers find relevant is to get out and talk to them. Interact with them. Get to know them on a real and personal level. Develop your authenticity muscles.

And it works — I promise. Here’s how I know:

CMI Media recently released a report detailing the state of B2B Marketing for the upcoming year. Their survey found that 90% of the top-performing B2B content marketers had one thing in common.

Read @JuliaEMcCoy's thoughts on the state of #contentmarketing today, featuring key findings from the new 2019 State of B2B Marketing Report from @cmicontent Click To Tweet

One thing.

That one thing was that they put their audience’s informational needs ahead of their company’s sales message. Here’s a screenshot of that info, hot off the presses:

But that’s not my only reason for believing that relevance is where it’s at in the world of content. I can prove it to you based on my own experience.

At Express Writers, we literally sell ourselves through our writing! Nearly 100% of our leads come in through our content.

Just a few days ago, my strategist was telling me (on Slack, our “remote office”) about a scheduled sales call.

Apparently, the call was with a huge company that came across us when they were surfing Google for “content marketing and sales,” and decided to hit us up for content.

The call went extremely well. Why? Because they already loved us because of this blog post, which focused on adding value and exposing a hot topic that could be considered controversial:

Because of that (relevant) blog post, they’re about to put down their entire marketing budget with us!

This kind of thing— that most buyers interact with content before even thinking about contacting a sales rep — is becoming the norm.

That’s why it’s critical — imperative even — that your content is authentic and relevant.

Is your content authentic and relevant? Find out how important these are with @JuliaEMcCoy's State of the (Content Marketing) Nation Address, featuring key findings from @cmicontent's new 2019 B2B #contentmarketing report Click To Tweet

And let’s face it — today’s customers can smell a sales pitch from a mile away and they’re not interested in sleazy, in-your-face marketing any longer, even when it’s cleverly hidden in a piece of content.

So, your content needs to provide relevant, to-the-point content that speaks to their needs and wants, not just be a thinly disguised sales pitch.

The Best Ways to Produce Relevant, Authentic, Meaningful Content

But how do you get started creating content that goes the extra mile and gets the extra results?

Glad you asked.

Coming up are my favorite tips for providing relevance and authenticity in content.

Tip #1: Start with Relevant Content Through Personal Interaction

According to the CMI study, well-researched personas can help teams create successful content. However, too few content marketers are actually talking with customers to understand their needs.

The more you interact with your customers, the more you’ll understand where they’re coming from. From this interaction, you’ll be able to develop some general topics that are important to your audience.

Identifying general topics can help you capture a market niche so you can produce laser-focused content — the kind that gets real results.

Using information based on your niche, you can dig deeper by asking more pertinent and targeted questions, just like we did at Express Writers when we wrote the sales-funnel blog post.

Get to know how to produce relevant, authentic, and meaningful content with @JuliaEMcCoy's advice Click To Tweet

We knew this post would appeal to businesses looking to get targeted content for their audience without sleazy sales language because we take the time to really understand our clients, their pain points, and their needs.

At Express Writers, we go beyond a simple persona of an archetypal client to get real results.

Tip 2#: Mix in a Dollop of Authenticity

According to CMI, B2B content marketers primarily use email (87%) and provide educational content (77%) to nurture their audience and may be missing out on other opportunities.

For example, only 23% are using community building/audience participation to bring more/new voices to the table.

Because audience participation and community building help brands be more authentic, they should be a part of your persona-building exercise.

Not to be a broken record, but the results speak for themselves:

There you have it — the best performing content marketers have real insight into how their audience behaves. They are able to improve their customers’ experiences through improved interaction with the audience.

Nothing will help you engage your audience faster than providing directed, powerful content that comes from a place of understanding.

Customers don’t want celebrity endorsements — they want content from people who understand where they’re coming from.

Tip #3: Enjoy the Secret Sauce

If you follow our actionable tips, you’ll be on your way to creating the kind of content that builds strong relationships with clients that will foster not just business — but repeat business — as your brand begins to earn the kind of reputation for authority and authenticity that drives results.

Staying on Your Toes — The Final Key to Staying Relevant in the Content World

In our rapidly changing digital world, customers are constantly re-evaluating their purchases, seeking the brands that are most relevant to them with increasing frequency.

Brands who succeed must be ever at the ready to pivot as audience needs and wants change, but the rewards are great.

Customers are willing to pay a premium for brands that really “get” them. And content that drives results is directed at the overlap between what your audience wants and what your brand can provide.

To create content that hits the marketing “sweet spot” for 2018 and beyond, know your customer and give them what they want — the rest (read: profits) will follow.

Don’t Treat Your Buyers Like It’s 1999: Here’s Why The Blood-Thirsty Sales Era is Reaching Tipping Point

Don’t Treat Your Buyers Like It’s 1999: Why The Blood-Thirsty Sales Era is Reaching Tipping Point & Why Content Marketing Works

October 2, 2018/33 Comments/in Thought Leadership /by Julia McCoy

According to the internet, sales (and salespeople) are dying. ⚰

Just take a look through a few headlines that crossed through three leading business publications:

For one, maybe it’s because today’s sales processes still focus on the product and the profit rather than the customer.

Plus, when you get down to the root of it, the majority of modern “sales and advertising thinking” still revolves around “let’s manipulate the audience’s emotions.” Ugh.

Look at this classic example from Mad Men, where a client meeting reveals exactly what advertising is all about… Making the consumer believe in whatever will sell the product, even if it’s harmful to them.

“Advertising is based on one thing: Happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of the road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is okay. You are okay.”

– Don Draper

So what’s up with sales and marketing, and why has it so dynamically changed today? How can you get with the times? Let’s talk about this critical subject.

Does your sales process still focus on the product and the profit, rather than the customer? You could be a dying brand at risk of falling by the wayside. Learn why a 1999 sales process is detrimental to today's buyer, via @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

Don’t Treat Your Buyers Like It’s 1999: Why Sales Doesn’t Work the Way It Used To

We’re exposed to so much advertising in our daily lives, we’ve become blind to it.

We have reached a tipping point.

Each day, we see thousands of ads and brand messages on web pages, in our emails, on social media, in magazines, on billboards, on posters and flyers, on commercials, in stores, on the radio, on our mobile devices, and even on brand packaging.

Ads have taught us, the audience, how the sales game works.

Most modern consumers are wise to the sales pitch, can spot it a mile away, and feel vaguely uncomfortable with traditional sales tactics that too-obviously focuses on wresting their money from their wallets.

According to a HubSpot study, only 29% of people are willing to talk to a salesperson to get more information about a product. 62% prefer to research that same product online.

Content Marketing’s Power and Pull

It’s no wonder we respond so well to content marketing. When it’s done with care for the audience, it has a beating heart.

It’s no wonder customers respond so well to content marketing. When it’s done with care for the audience, it gives a brand a beating heart. @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

According to a survey published by Clutch, a B2B research company, 67% of people believe content marketing is “useful and valuable.” Meanwhile, a minority (33%) think it’s “biased and unreliable.”

The amazing thing about that remaining 33%? Content marketing still influences their shopping behavior in some way.

According to Clutch’s study, almost three-quarters (73%) of those who think content marketing is biased or unreliable have purchased products or services as a result of content marketing.

This means even if the content is overly promotional, it still has some value for the user.

What about people who value content marketing?

86% of them have bought products or services from a business directly because of content marketing, says Clutch.

86% of them have bought products or services from a business directly because of #contentmarketing. New research via Clutch, @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

What can we glean from these stats?

Content marketing has a power and pull that those traditional sales tactics utterly lack.

Why is this so? There are a few amazing reasons.

3 More Reasons Why Content Marketing & Inbound Content Surpasses ’90s Sales Tactics

1. Content Marketing Relies on First Contact from the Customer

Content marketing is an inbound marketing strategy.

What this means: Businesses who use it focus on pulling in customers naturally, as opposed to reaching out to them interruptively. TechTarget puts it this way:

“Inbound marketing is a strategy that focuses on attracting customers, or leads, via company-created internet content, thereby having potential customers come to the company rather than marketers vying for their attention.”

In other words, it puts the power in the customers’ hands. They have the first and last word on whether they will interact with a company, not the other way around.

In comparison, sales tactics seem intrusive, interruptive, and money-grubbing.

Think about how sales may have entered your own life, past and present:

Telemarketer calls in the evening just when you were sitting down to dinner with your family
TV commercials that interrupted the plot of your favorite show during the climax
Pop-up advertisements that seemed to proliferate on their own while slowing down your internet browser

It’s no wonder traditional marketing and sales leave people with a bad taste in their mouths.

Content marketing puts the power in the customers’ hands. They have the first and last word on whether they will interact with a company, not the other way around. This is why it works so tremendously well, says @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

2. Content Marketing Meshes Well with Modern Consumer Habits

In the age of Google, an encyclopedia of information on almost any topic you can think of is at your fingertips. People can research anything, anywhere, and research they do.

Via BigCommerce

Imagine you need to buy a new blender. Once upon a time, you would have gone to your tried-and-true home goods store, looked at two or three options, and then bought one.

Today, it’s more complicated. Most people will take to the internet and research exactly which model and brand will suit their needs best. They’ll compare prices, then check whether the blender they want is in-stock at a nearby store. If not, they’ll order it online.

According to a Demand Gen report on B2B buyer preferences, 42% looked at 3-5 pieces of content before getting in touch with sales to make a purchase, and 73% looked at a case study.

Content marketing is all about being part of this information-gathering process for consumers. It meshes with modern habits and meets them where they’re doing shopping research.

Today, 42% of buyers are looking at 3-5 pieces of content before getting in touch with sales to make a purchase, and 73% of buyers are reading a case study first. #Contentmarketing is all about being part of this information-gathering… Click To Tweet

Traditional sales techniques seem downright outdated in comparison.

3. Content Seeks to Give First, Then Receive

Another way content marketing pulls ahead of traditional sales: It seeks to give first, receive later.

The content you create is all about value for the reader. You want to give them something to chew on, something that educates, entertains, delights, or inspires.

You give your audience the best with the hope they’ll return in kind later, whether they opt-in to your email newsletter or eventually buy one of your products.

It’s about building a relationship with them based wholly on trust.

In a pointed article on Content Marketing Institute, Robert Rose puts it this way:

“Every digital experience we create should not only reflect our focus on winning a moment of truth – where the customer is paying attention – but in deepening the trust gained (or regained) in every step that precedes or follows it.”

Sales, on the other hand, seeks to build a selling relationship with the consumer. The salesperson or ad is there to convince you why you should buy, why the product is better than others like it, and how it will make your life better.

The focus is on the product, not the person. In content marketing, it’s the other way around.

That’s a huge difference, and it makes all the difference.

Sales seeks to build a selling relationship with the consumer. The focus is on the product, not the person. In content marketing, it’s the other way around. That’s a huge difference, and it makes all the difference. @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

Leave Sleazy Selling Tactics Behind & Do Content Marketing

Don’t treat your buyers like it’s 1999.

Don’t treat them as secondary in the buying process.

After all, if your buyer becomes dissatisfied with you, they can easily turn elsewhere for a similar solution.

Consumers today want to be first. And they want you, a brand, to make them feel like they are a priority.

Luckily, content marketing puts your customer first. And you can make a TON of $$ if you do it right.

So, build content.

Position yourself as an expert through high-quality, well-written content (we can help!), publish your content in a format where your buyer can find it when they need help, and serve your people first and foremost.

Give your readers value in content, earn their trust, and you’ll get much more than just one conversion or a fast sale. You’ll get a connection, a relationship – and maybe even their loyalty. In the long run, that is worth much, much more.

Why Focusing On Your Competitor Could Be Killing Your Business

September 11, 2018/47 Comments/in Thought Leadership /by Julia McCoy

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

This well-known quote from Theodore Roosevelt is often repeated, but not necessarily heeded.

We live in a technological age that breeds comparison, whether we fight it or not.

Your social media feeds are full of your peers and colleagues showing off the very best of their professional lives. You know what I’m talking about…

“How I Increased My Facebook Followers by 124871 Zillion”
“How I got 3123095 Bajillion Page Views and Increased Conversions by Eleventy-Gajillion%”
“112049 Awesome Templates That Worked for Me and WILL WORK FOR YOU”

It’s easy to get caught up in this “success stream.”

When we see others’ success, we want that for ourselves. If the uber-successful offer us a way in, we’re likely to take the bait.

Unfortunately, that quote we talked about earlier is as true as any truth that’s ever been told.

However, we might phrase it this way:

Comparison is the thief of joy and creative, success-driving innovation for your business.

If you’re constantly comparing your success to the influencers, thought leaders, and gurus, if you’re constantly buying into what they’re selling and eschewing your own creative ideas to do it…

Something is wrong.

If you’re only focusing on your competitor and not your original ideas, you could be missing out on truly standing out.

Take it from me; I learned this the hard way.

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Personal Case Study: How Focusing on Your Competitor Can Kill Your Creativity and Conversions

Fact:

To help my launch follow more “proven” techniques, and thus, be more successful (or so I thought), I used to copy “email formulas” and bounce off “successful templates” to create emails to market The Content Strategy & Marketing Course.

I’d use a pasted “proven template” to send infrequent coupons and updates to my list.

The formulas that industry gurus touted seemed to be so set-in-stone and guaranteed — and as a “launch newbie,” I was so worried about not using “the correct formula.”

In doing so, I made a mistake. I left my own ideas behind.

These emails, however, were not converting.

Then, one afternoon when I was exercising, I came home and had a “lightbulb moment.”

Inspired by nothing but a spark in my own brain, I came up with this email:

Guess what.

We had a 4x conversion rate on this email, whereas my past emails that relied on the experts converted zero people.

Read about @JuliaEMcCoy's #emailmarketing story: she left proven templates and examples behind and focused on 100% original content... and had a 4x growth in ROI Click To Tweet

My single email, written straight from my heart with no inspiration from competitors and no templates, converted 4 readers into course enrollees.

Meanwhile, the other templated/competitor-inspired emails converted nobody.

Take this as a hard-earned lesson:

Make sure you’re tapping into your own brain for creative ideas!

And don’t doubt yourself. Don’t let fear of the unknown slow you down. You’re in the marketing game for a reason – you’ve got smart, creative ideas in that head of yours.

My new writing course is open TODAY and enrolling beta students! 🎉 Don’t miss this 10-day opportunity to improve your writing skills. Enroll and save $100 with code BETALAUNCH2018.

I recommend that you start finding more “me-time” so you can get out of the day-to-day rut you’re stuck in, and tap into the power of using your own creativity!

Julia's #1 tip: find more 'me-time', quit getting stuck in a daily rut, and tap into your own creativity to see more success from your content endeavors. @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

Here are some tips that might help.

3 Tips to Stop Comparing and Let Your Creativity Breathe

1. Unglue Yourself from Social Media

With your eyeballs constantly taking in other people’s thoughts, opinions, and ideas, you’re crowding out your own.

Step away from your social feeds. For instance, if you usually wake up every morning and check Twitter first-thing, stop. Leave your phone on the nightstand and go make your coffee, instead. Or, read a little bit, take a walk, make breakfast… anything else!

Maybe don’t do this, though.

You’d be surprised at how refreshing it can be to skip even one scroll session during your day.

Unglue yourself from social media to find more inspiration, says @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

2. Get Some Fresh Air and Exercise

According to a neuroscientist, exercise could give your brain the creative boost it needs.

According to this Quartz article, “Exercise could make students more imaginative at school and adults more creative at work.”

Refresh your body and mind and get moving. If you can, go outside and drink in some fresh air to clear your head.

Exercise is key to more creativity, says @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

3. Indulge Your Creativity

Constantly comparing yourself to others, and constantly following by rote, can stifle your creativity. To help loosen the stranglehold these voices have on your brain, do a simple creative activity.

Doodle something on whatever spare paper you have lying around (according to Harvard Health, spontaneous drawing has tons of brain benefits, like easing stress and improving your focus).
Color with markers.
Write a 300-word short story.
Go outside and experiment with phone photography.

Don’t focus on perfection, but rather the act of creation itself. Nobody will ever see your efforts, so go wild.

Constantly comparing yourself to others, and constantly following by rote, can stifle your creativity, says @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

Everyone Has a Unique Story – Let Yours Unfold

A key thing to remember is everyone’s path is different.

Your success will not look like anyone else’s, because it will be uniquely yours – a result of YOUR hard work, personality, skills, and goals.

Is a carbon-copy of success from following an expert’s advice or system nearly as satisfying as straying from the beaten path and forging your own story?

I don’t think so.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

It can be hard to make your way out of the comparison game to free your individual creativity. If you have additional tips, share them in the comments!

The Future of the Web: HTTPS, Voice Search, & AMP for Email

June 19, 2018/13 Comments/in Thought Leadership /by Julia McCoy

If you stay current on technology trends, you’ve probably heard of a few that are defining the future of the web, email marketing, and search.

These Big Three are HTTPS, voice search, and AMP for email.

Here are some wow-worthy facts about each:

In 2017, 50% of first-page Google results used HTTPS, according to Moz.
Research from ComScore reveals that 50% of all internet searches will be voice-based by 2020.
Google’s AMP technology (accelerated mobile pages) powers over 2 billion mobile web pages and 900,000 domains – and those numbers are growing.

If this is all news to you, or you haven’t been keeping tabs on tech trends, you probably have some questions.

What are these technologies, and/or where are they headed? What might “the future of the web” mean for your online marketing?

Let’s take a peek at the implications as all three gain ground in the industry.

HTTPS: Secure Browsing as a Google Ranking Factor

“HTTPS” stands for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.”

It probably looks familiar; you’ll see this acronym at the beginning of URLs. Just take a gander at your browser bar and see if the web address starts with HTTP or HTTPS. Here’s what a secured site looks like (yes, that’s ours ;-)):

What’s the Difference Between HTTP and HTTPS?

HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP. It simply means that all data sent between your browser and the website you’re surfing is encrypted.

This encrypted data is unintelligible to anyone who may try to intercept it and steal it.

A great example:

The personal data you send when you make transactions online (like a purchase or a bank transfer) could be stolen by hackers if it wasn’t encrypted.

Image via Instant SSL

Why You Should Care: HTTPS Is a Google Ranking Factor That Will Increase in Importance Going Forward

Google has adopted the mantra of “HTTPS everywhere” regarding web browsing.

This means sites that use HTTPS/secure browsing will be prioritized in the rankings over sites that remain unsecured. And, according to Google, this will hold true into the future as sites continue to make the switch from HTTP to HTTPS:

Bottom line: If your website doesn’t use HTTPS yet, it’s time to get on that – yesterday.

Voice Search: The Future of Internet Search

In 2018 and beyond, voice search is bigger than ever – and growing.

The factors influencing this trend include:

Better technology, getting better all the time (voice assistants understand what you want and provide more accurate results)
New products make jumping into using voice searches easier for us humans, like integration with TVs and smart speakers
On-the-go voice search is becoming normalized, as it’s an easier alternative to fumbling with your smartphone’s keyboard and browser

Here’s a crazy fact related to just how good voice search technology is getting:

According to the Internet Trends Report for 2018, Google’s speech recognition accuracy is on par with that of a human.

The Internet Trends Report for 2018 says that Google’s speech recognition accuracy is on par with that of a human. @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

Crazy, right?

Still more incredible: This technology is going to keep getting better.

Why You Should Care: Targeting Voice Search Is Different from Text-Based Search

So, what does the advent of accurate, easy-to-use voice search mean for you as a digital marketer or business owner?

First off, Google says that voice search users frame their queries differently than text search users.

This means using long tail keywords in your content, framed in natural language, will be more important as we head into the future.

Bottom line: If you want to grab traffic coming from voice search, you have to target the keywords people are using to ask their voice assistants for information.

Search Engine Journal has some other good ideas to help you prepare for the advent of voice search:

AMP for Email: Complete Basic Web Tasks Inside Your Email Messages

Another technology getting a lot of buzz is AMP (accelerated mobile pages) for email.

Whoa, Back Up – What Is AMP?

AMP is an open-source initiative that helps web pages load much, much faster across all devices. It helps you browse the web on your phone as fast as if you were using a desktop computer.

Essentially, it helps your device bypass information and code you don’t need for mobile browsing. That way, you’re not stuck waiting for unwieldy pages to load.

In short, AMP helps create better mobile web experiences for everybody.

Accelerated Mobile Pages + Email = ???

So, what happens when you mash up AMP technology with email?

Something pretty darn amazing.

According to Google, AMP has evolved from its original purpose. Now, developers are starting to use it to create rich web pages – ones that are more interactive, easier to use, AND faster.

Enter email.

Google and other entities like Pinterest, Doodle, and Booking.com are experimenting with providing a web-like experience within email messages. Check out the gifs below to see it in action:

Via Google

Needless to say, in the email experience you’re used to, things look a lot different.

Right now, you have to click a link inside your emails to do any of this. Those links may or may not:

Take you to an in-app browser, which gets confusing (I have regularly forgotten which app I’m using because I’m stuck inside an in-app browser – cue frustration)
Open an outside app, taking you away from the app you were originally using (which can also be super annoying)

In contrast to these possibilities, AMP for email lets you stay inside your email message while carrying out common actions you would normally need a browser to complete.

Photo from Google

Really cool, right?

Why You Should Care: With This Tech, Email Marketing Could Get Even Better

Email marketing is still one of the most powerful ways to connect with your audience. It’s one of the only avenues left where your organic reach is virtually untouched.

According to a 2016 study from eMarketer, the ROI of email marketing was a whopping 122%:

Now, imagine the power of email combined with this new AMP technology.

You could offer a richer email experience for your list, and they’d never have to leave your original message.

For those of us who champion email, that’s exciting to think about.

Bottom line: Keep your eye on AMP for email – it’s looking like it will be the next big thing to hit email marketing.

The Future of the Web Looks Good for Digital Marketers

As technology improves, the digital marketing landscape is looking more and more exciting.

This industry is changing at lightning speed, and it can be hard to keep up – but, overall, these changes are a great thing.

They’ll give us more opportunities to connect with and reach our target audiences, not to mention provide value in fresh and fun ways.

The future is looking bright.

Your Guide on How to Outsource Content Writing & Survive [Write Podcast Audio: An Outsourcing Story]

May 8, 2018/8 Comments/in Thought Leadership /by Julia McCoy

When it comes to outsourcing content writing, it seems like everyone has a horror story to tell.

On the client side:

“They took my money and didn’t complete the work.”

“The content read horribly.”

“They spelled my client’s business name wrong and linked to a competitor. I lost my client.”

On the flip side, content writers often have horror stories, too.

“He wants 600 articles and has a budget of $600.”

“A big, national brand just ripped me off on the last payment owed.”

These stories can chill you to the bone. They’re that bad.

All in all, on both sides of it (client and writer), there are negative experiences that have sent a giant black cloud hovering over the word “outsource.”

A stigma, of sorts.

Here’s the truth.

The reality of what happens when you outsource content writing to a perfect-fit creator is pure magic.

You save time. You get high-quality, beautifully written copy that reflects your business.

The creator gets paid for doing what he or she loves.

This is a magical thing!

I’m excited to say that today, content creation is now the top activity outsourced by B2B marketers this year. The impact of content marketing means that marketers must publish high-quality and long-form content consistently.

So, why the stigma?

There are still a few “buts” that stop many business owners from experiencing success with outsourcing content writing.

“But I can do it all myself.”

I was there once, too. At the beginning. You really can’t, if you want to scale.

Or…

“But content writing is cheaper at [insert platform name].”

Instead of focusing on numbers, ask yourself why services like Upwork, Fiverr and the rest are so much cheaper.

Anyone can call themselves an expert content writer, but that doesn’t make it true.

When outsourcing to an agency, the vetting process is taken care of. At Express Writers, it takes an average of 100 candidates for us to find one great writer. We’ve designed a hiring process that can take up to two weeks in order to properly evaluate, test, review and talk one-on-one with applicants.

“How can I successfully outsource content writing?”

Outsourcing doesn’t have to be a scary process. A clear strategy on what to look for and what to avoid will lead you to your perfect fit.

Today’s guide is here to bust through the stigma, and add clarity to the fuzzy areas of “outsourcing writing”.

First up: my husband and I narrate a short Outsourcing Tale on the Write Podcast. (This one’s fun!) Secondly: a guide on the pitfalls to avoid, and the steps to take when you choose to outsource content writing for the first time.

I’d love to hear your #outsourcingstory on Twitter – use the hashtag and share! Then, let me know in the comments what you thought of today’s blog/podcast story format!

Treating the Symptoms: Knowing When It’s Time (or Past Time) to Outsource Content Writing

Tell us your symptoms.

Fear of miscommunication
Clenching tightly to your wallet
General distrust
Obsessive compulsive control over all of your content

You’re hitting all of the marks. But hey, it’s totally fine. We get patients like you all the time.

According to my findings, it seems you may be suffering from PTOD. It’s a condition we refer to as Post Traumatic Outsourcing Disorder.

It’s more common than you think.

Outsourcing content writing can keep your business on track with a profitable content strategy.

However, without a proper plan, you’re at risk for PTOD.

Back to you.

Have you had any traumatic experiences outsourcing before?

You discussed your content strategy and sent payment… but never received any content back?

Okay, you also ran your content through Copyscape and it was 100% plagiarized? We’ve never seen that before. Even the name?

Right. You published a piece on your site that had an excess of, how many? Nine-hundred spelling and grammatical errors? You say this piece was only a 500-word blog post?

Youch.

The good news is, you’re going to be okay. You will survive and heal. Post traumatic outsourcing disorder effects countless companies and business owners worldwide but it can be beat.

Let’s take a look at your treatment plan.

Preventative Care for Outsourcing Content Writing

The best approach to overcoming your fears about outsourcing content is to prevent any nightmare situations.

To ensure the best outsourcing experience, I advise that you steer clear of websites offering fast, cheap and high quality content.

Cheap and high quality are two terms that should never be in the same sentence.

Have you ever heard anyone boast about how cheap their Chanel purse is?

I don’t think so.

When it comes to content services, high quality should be at the top of your checklist.

Now, some freelance writers may try to trick you by offering inexpensive services and making claims like that they work with clients “across every major vertical services.”

Sure they can cover vertical services but what about the horizontal? These are the questions you should be asking yourself.

Also, count the grammar and spelling mistakes in their post. Professional content writers should also know how to edit.

When looking at their pricing model, consider why they omitted the first “a” in the word “standard.”

Is this a ruse to convince you of their inventiveness? Are they that good? Is standard even spelled with two a’s?

Try not to succumb to the tactics of such content writing freelancers.

Refer to the Oxford English Dictionary to double-check how words are spelled. Run potential applicants’ resumes and posts through spell check and even ask for help from that one friend that’s constantly correcting you to look for grammatical errors.

Think of posts and applicant responses as a preview of the content you’ll be provided with.

Have some standards.

3 Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Outsourcing Content Writing

If you wear shorts in a blizzard, you’re going to catch a cold. The same goes for outsourcing content writing. Being aware of these common outsourcing pitfalls will result in a more effective and enjoyable hiring process.

1. Going into the Process Without a Strategy

The content you receive will mirror the quality of your application process.

All of this can be prevented if you wade out into the content writer pool with a clear content strategy in mind. Try answering these questions:

What type of content do you need?
What is the voice of your brand?
Who is your targeted audience?
What are your goals with content marketing?
How do you like to communicate?

2. Hiring an Outsourced Content Writer Too Quickly

Your hiring process should reflect your goals. Outsourcing the right content writer is a process that should not be rushed.

Think of the ideal content writer for your business and then look for those qualities in potential candidates.

Try to be a little more specific than this:

The potential candidate responding to this ad will be about as smart as you imagine them to be.

3. Negotiating the Cheapest Option

When it comes to outsourcing a content writer, the best deal doesn’t always mean the best content.

There is a reason that prices vary for freelancers and writing agencies. When adding to your team, keep your budget in mind but don’t let it be your deciding factor. Quality comes first.

Here’s a former PTOD patient who put more effort into their hiring post. They outlined what they wanted with specifics, and spelled almost every word correctly.

The downfall came in requesting the content writer’s “wholesale price.”

This isn’t Costco.

Bargain shopping for written content will get you bargain-quality.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Bargain shopping for written #content will get you bargain-quality, says @JuliaEMcCoy” quote=”Bargain shopping for written #content will get you bargain-quality, says @JuliaEMcCoy”]

Top 2 Treatment Options to Successfully Outsource Content Writing

Overcoming a traumatic outsourcing experience will take time. Each case is different. Depending on your unique situation, you can decide what treatment options are best for you.

1. Seek out a (Great) Content Writer

If you’re thinking…

You’ve gone down this road before. You’re having flashbacks of unedited blogs and unanswered emails.

Hiring a freelance writer is risky mostly and only if you don’t specify what you need from them upfront. This is a working relationship, and for successful outsourcing, communication is key.

When outsourcing a content writer on your own you must communicate a clear content strategy, define your budget, set deadlines and vet the writers before hiring them.

Don’t make the mistake of our friend looking for a “smart person.”

Great content writers = experienced content writers.

Evaluate your writers based on prior writing samples and test their skills.

There are no specific qualifications for someone to work as a freelance writer other than their word. They can and should prove their skills with examples.

We advise you not to bend your standards for the inexperienced.

See our Sample Library in action!

2. Hire a Content Writing Agency

Agencies can provide a level of professionalism, experience and flexibility that freelancers cannot always adhere to.

At Express Writers, the vetting process is already taken care of for you. Our testing process rules out 99% of applicants whose writing cannot match the quality content we provide.

We also have three writing service options: General, Expert and Authority to help you determine your content needs. The transparent pricing breaks down why our services cost more than Fiverr. There are no wholesale prices here.

Our content is focused on quality. Every piece of content is evaluated and edited by our Quality Assistants before being sent back to you.

Of course, we’re NOT perfect (we’re humans), so we guarantee if there are errors that we’ll fix them for free, if you tell us.

The goal is to provide you with impactful, authoritative content that completely erases any past traumatic outsourcing experiences.

A Life Without Fear of Outsourcing Content

You too can live a life free from the shackles of post traumatic outsourcing disorder.

There are marketers that carry on every day, and enjoy their work lives with outsourced employees.

Whether you hire a freelance writer or use an agency, these outsourcing treatment options can provide consistent, relevant and engaging content when used properly.

Side Effects May Include:

An increase in free time
Money in the bank
Content exceeding your expectations
An encouraging pat on the back from your boss
A boost in organic traffic to your website
Consistent high quality and engaging content
Comments from readers that aren’t immediately filed as spam
Higher ranking in search engines
A non-sarcastic head nod of approval from your rival co-worker, Dan
Rapid growth of your business

Outsourcing written content should be closely monitored by a marketing specialist. Be sure to consult your marketing team before starting treatment.

Ending the Stigma: #OutsourcingStory

For those of you writers among the audience, take heart.

Now is the perfect time to become a content creator and find the gems among the weeds to work with. Content marketing is about to be worth $313 billion as an industry. And creators are getting a big piece of that pie.

The difficult clients, the stigma, still exists… but if we band together, serve awesome clients well, and never let our ethics drop once (for a low-paying gig or for low quality output), we can END that stigma.

Have an outsourcing story to share that defies the stigma? I’d love to retweet it! Share on Twitter using the hashtag #outsourcingstory.

Why Your Content Marketing Must Have Focus

April 17, 2018/5 Comments/in Thought Leadership /by Julia McCoy

In marketing, we’re told many times to “do it all” or to “jump around” in the hopes of mastering everything.

Here’s the brutally honest truth, though.

Trying to do it all is just a theory.

In reality, devoting your time to everything at once depletes your energy and lessens the value of your work.

To quote HBR, in a study called Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time, with Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy:

I can give you solid proof that when it comes to creating effective content marketing, a lack of focus on a few cores directly translates to less quality, less readers and less revenue.

The road to successful content marketing is best traveled in only one lane, even if you do encounter a few bumps and blocks along the way.

So, how do you focus your content marketing efforts?

Let’s discuss.

Content Marketing Focus: How Less is More

Have you worked your whole marketing life “trying to do it all?”

YouTube, blog, tweet, livestream, you-name-it?

Even if you think you can multi-task, you could be wrong. Check out some statistics on this from the same HBR study we quoted above:

Whoa. Shifting to different tasks could be adding 25% more time to our task completion time?

Here’s another way this “distraction phenomenon” has been shown.

The Productive vs. The Unproductive Day: The Graphic Reality

Source

(Want more depth on “focus training”? Grab a copy of Gary Keller’s book, The One Thing.)

It might be hard hearing the entire thinking or mantra behind your working life be discredited in a few short sentences.

Some of you will be skeptical, understandably.

I’ll prove to you the benefits of narrowing your focus in terms of content marketing by dispelling the doubts you might have right now in your head.

Myth #1: Having Content about Multiple Topics will Attract More Followers

This is also known as the “casting a wide net” method of content marketing.

This idea stems from the belief that because you are catering to everyone, more people will find your content useful, which will drive more traffic to your site.

False!

In other words, you’re throwing s*t at the fan and hoping something sticks.

One of the main goals of content marketing is steering your targeted audience to your site. The key word here is targeted.

Content marketing focused on too many topics does not build long-term followers or speak to your target audience because it is all over the place.

As an example, let’s pretend you’ve started a business that sells running shoes. One of the top blogs on your site is called, “Types of Running Shoes to Fit Your Foot.” As a potential customer this is perfect, informative and relevant. So I click around.

Next I find two more blogs, “Gymnastic Shoes for Every Foot” and “The Best Swim Techniques for Beginners.” You added these to attract more active and athletic people. These are no longer relevant to me, a runner, so I leave the site.

You just lost a sale.

The best content marketing proves that you’re an expert in your field.

Focused content caters to your ideal customer and builds the association between your brand and their needs.

Myth #2: Focusing on Only One Topic will Become Boring

If you think you’ve squeezed everything you can out of your “running shoes” content, chances are you’re wrong.

A topic is only boring if you’re not passionate about it. If that’s the case, it is probably not the right way to brand your business.

You can include variation in the type of content while keeping your focus on one topic.

How about trying…

How-to guides
Listicles
Guest blog posts
Videos
Interviews
Infographics
Product reviews
Case studies

Wait, there’s more!

If this is all new to you, good! It will be new to your customers too. Neil Patel provides great insight on how to get started.

Myth #3: One Focus Will Not Increase Revenue

Actually, it’s just the opposite.

As an expert in the field, you build a relationship with customers while attracting new ones.

Investing in useful content creation along with effective content strategy, like SEO, drives more organic traffic to your site. SEO leads have an average close rate of 14.6% versus the average 1.7% for other marketing methods.

This is the direct result of content marketing. Once you narrow your focus, you will be able to develop engaging content that drives the right demographic your way.

Don’t believe me? I’ve designed a course specifically to show how to implement a profitable content strategy.

One of the most common mistakes people make is not having a clear focus before they begin marketing. A content strategy without any guidance only wastes time, money and resources.

Where Do You Begin?

Concentrating on one main focus does not mean eliminating everything else. It means drawing your attention away from distractions and onto one thing that will get you to where you want to be.

Gary Keller, co-author of The One Thing poses the following question:

He reminds everyone that “success is sequential, not simultaneous.”

It’s about one step at a time. It’s completing smaller goals to get you to your one main goal.

Keller says this is a way to “set up a domino run in your life.”

When it comes to content marketing, our one thing at Express Writers is to create and produce content designed to build a connection between your brand, the products you’re selling, and your targeted audience.

The first domino in a successful content marketing strategy is all about finding your focus.

Ask yourself:

What topics are you passionate about?
What do your customers ask about?
What is important that you haven’t covered yet?
What makes you different?

Narrow down further and further until you can hone in on one focus, one audience and one method of creating and publishing content that will bring you success.

Put Your Horse Blinds On: Take Inspiration from This College Dropout

One of my favorite terms is to “put horse blinds on.”

Ever heard of that term?

You might enjoy the background story, from dallasequestriancenter.com:

Focus.

Take chances you wouldn’t normally take.

Over 2017, I invested over 1,500 hours into a course and a book.

I focused on one core product and built it into something incredibly big. One course. One heavy topic. Two formats.

Did I know it would pay off?

Not 100%… it was definitely a risk.

The return?

We’ve doubled every cost put into it, and it’s just the beginning (a fledgling, 6-month-old business). All my students know, realize and value the amount of work I put into the course, and they are achieving their industry educational goals and seeing results by going through it.

Was it worth it?

Absolutely.

Think of how I launched Express Writers.

$75. Me: college dropout. Coded my own website. Spent hundreds of hours getting my first clients and building my team.

Did I think it would pan out?

No, I really didn’t, if we’re being brutally honest.

But I focused on it. For years, I kept at it.

7 years later: we’re in our first 7-figure year. Serving over 5,000 clients to date worldwide. We’ve completed over 12,000 content projects.

Every time I stopped and focused, things got clearer. For example: I was writing sometimes 7 blogs/week with no direction in my early years. Now, I write much less, but those focused pieces of content take more time and pay off more. All in all, I’m actually saving time today versus the huge amounts of scattered, unfocused time I used to spend on my own marketing at the beginning.

Focusing paid off.

Big dividends.

Even if you don’t remember all of the benefits focusing will bring to your content marketing strategy, at least you know how important focus is.

Plus, you can learn about the rest from my masterclass.

What is your one thing? How will you achieve it?

Limit the distractions of more, more, more and focus on what will take you there. Then begin: one domino at a time, one road to travel down, with a laser-sharp focus to reach your ultimate goal.

You’ve got this.