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When You Don’t Know What to Write

September 27, 2017 by Robert Middleton Leave a Comment

Note from Cathy:
This article resonated with me for a number of reasons. In many ways, Robert’s experiences in content marketing are similar to mine. I am doing less consulting (and less content marketing) these days, but writing articles for my website and ezine, and to publish elsewhere online, was an important part of how I built my business.

When I suggest that starting an email list and sending an email newsletter is important for a new business, many of my clients would say, “But I don’t know what to write about!” Robert’s answer is perfect.

Have an email newsletter, publish your content on a website or blog, and post links to your content on social media. It works.

And if you are not sure what to write about, just start writing. I used to write a weekly newspaper column. Every week I had to turn in 500 words. It didn’t matter if I didn’t know what to write about, I had to write about something. There were times when my column was due in an hour and I still didn’t know what it would be about. But it always got written and submitted on time. Make yourself write. If you are selling what you know as a consultant, coach or information marketer, content marketing can be the most effective way to get more clients and make more sales.

Now take a look at what Robert has to say. I think you will enjoy it an be inspired by it.

Cathy

Some Mondays I don’t know what to write in my weekly eZine article. Other Mondays I’m more prepared because I’ve been thinking of a topic for several days.

Today is the former. No idea what to write about.

So, what do you say when it seems you have nothing to say?

Recently, I listened to a video program by Larry King about communication, and the problem of having nothing to say was one of the very first things he talked about. He related the story of when he was the host of a radio show for the very first time.

When he was cued that he was now live on the air, he went blank and nothing came out of his mouth. So after a minute or so he simply started talking about what had happened.

“As soon as I was cued, my mind went blank and I didn’t know what to say…” and he simply took it from there, reporting what had happened in the moment.

This turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons he had ever learned about communication: simply communicate what’s going on right now. And if you do that, inevitably the mind kicks in and things go just fine. Now Larry is rarely at a loss for words.

So here I am on a Monday afternoon, writing this article with no idea what to talk about. I often talk to my clients about exactly this when they ask me what they should write about.

“As a consultant or coach, your clients have problems, right? And don’t you help them with solutions? Aren’t there a lot of things you teach them and show them? Well, that’s what you should write about!”

And a few minutes later we inevitably have a list of a dozen topics for articles they could write.

Maybe that’s enough of an idea for you to start writing articles as well, but then there’s this question: “Why should I write articles in the first place?” and, “What good does it do; will it really help me grow my business?”

Those are really important questions.

Back in 1997, I’d launched my website only a year earlier. It really wasn’t doing much. A client I worked with had started writing a weekly email newsletter and he inspired me to start one as well.

I didn’t know that writing a weekly article was impossible, so I just started. Twenty years, and more than a thousand articles later, I’m still at it.

Did it work? Well, it helped me grow my email list to as high as 50,000 subscribers and build an international marketing coaching business.

For the first nine years, I simply sent out the eZine by email. And since 2006, I also posted it on my blog.

Nothing really complicated, high-tech or tricky. Yes, I also post links to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, which takes me just a few extra minutes.

A few years later, the whole concept of ‘content marketing’ became the rage, but I realized I’d been doing that for more than fifteen years already.

All those articles are out on the web, and people find them. Then they end up on my website, many of them signing up for this eZine. Ultimately, some of those subscribers become clients or participants in my programs. It’s that simple.

So, when I don’t have the most brilliant, ground-shaking marketing topic to write about, I don’t worry. I trust it will all work out… if I just keep writing!

But I will share a new tip with you. I decided to add more content to my website with an “Ideas” section and also put links to all my content on the home page of my site.

I figure this will help in two main ways: 1. The links on the home page will help Google rank me higher, 2. My site will become ‘stickier’ as the content on the site is easier to find and navigate.

I just landed a new client this week who had found my site, spent a lot of time reading several articles, and ultimately contacted me. So it’s working!

Don’t know what to write? Don’t worry. Just start writing and posting. Before long your website will contain a treasure trove of good ideas that will engage prospective clients asking if you can help them.

By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert’s web site at www.actionplan.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional service businesses.

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Marketing Tagged With: articles, content marketing, ezine

Don’t Let the “Shoulds” Get You Down

December 5, 2016 by Robert Middleton 1 Comment

shoulds

Note from Cathy: This is a good time of the year to make assessments of your business and your life. Too often, though, those assessments focus only on what is wrong or what is missing and we miss the big picture. I love the approach taken in this article by Robert Middleton. It is published here (with his permission) so you can learn from it, too.

This Saturday I called my youngest sister to wish her happy birthday.

We spent some time catching up before the conversation drifted to the topic of her art business and how she felt bad that she procrastinated a lot, didn’t have goals and overall wasn’t a success.

So, of course, being a coach, I started asking her questions.

“Is it really true you’re not a success?” I asked her. “Yes, you don’t make as much money as you’d like, but does that mean you’re not a success?”
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Goal Setting, Guest Posts Tagged With: goals, planning, Success

Would You Buy Your Business?

July 18, 2013 by Kelly Costello Leave a Comment

You’ve got a huge pile of money and you are looking to make it grow by investing in a business. There are hundreds of thousands of potential businesses that you could invest in. Think about the return that you would like to get on that money. A percentage dividends annually? Double the value of your equity in 3 years? Whatever it may be, you will be considering whether or not a potential business is going to reach that financial goal you have with your pile of money.

Now, forget about all your hard work and attachments: Would you buy your own business? The weeks and months following my experience on Shark Tank, I realized that I would NOT buy my own business. Why? Because the return wasn’t there. At least, how it was at the time.

That hard reality completely changed the way I viewed my business and set fire to a growth pattern that is making it a worthwhile investment.
Costello.KellyThe first things an investor will look for are profit and growth. They should go hand in hand. The more you grow, the more units you sell, the higher your volumes, the greater your economies of scale and thus the higher the profits.

Then they’ll ask, is the growth sustained? This is where time plays a key role. Have your sales grown year over year? If the answer is “No” you have a lot of work to do and some time to put in before you are attractive enough for an investor or for a buyout. No amount of excuses are applicable here. Put in the time and make it happen.

Is the operation turn-key? Can your buyer walk into your business and run it without you? If this idea is foreign to you, I highly recommend reading The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. This book is all about making your business be able to run like a well oiled machine WITHOUT YOU. Set your ego aside, this is business.

When I used to run track, I would prepare for the day so that when I crossed that finish line there were no excuses as to why I couldn’t run my very best race that day. In business it’s very much the same. I regularly stop and ask myself, “What can we be doing better?” If there is an area of weakness (an excuse for stagnation), I eliminate it. That simple question will help differentiate yourself from your competition and make your business attractive.

Viewing your business from the perspective of a buyer will change the way your operate your business and how you grow it. Who knows, maybe you’ll make your business so attractive and profitable; your best investment is to keep it!

Kelly Costello is the owner and founder of Puppy Cake LLC. She appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank and guest blogs for topics regarding business and dogs. Hailing from Pittsburgh, PA, where she currently lives with her two rescued terriers, you can regularly find Kelly creating a new dog product or sharing her passion for business with other entrepreneurs.

Filed Under: Growing Your Business, Guest Posts Tagged With: growth, sell your business, venture capital

Pithy Marketing and Selling Sayings

December 21, 2012 by Robert Middleton 1 Comment

marketingLast week I found a list that I’d created on my iPad called: “10 Marketing Things You Already Know – But May Not be Acting Upon.”

These might fall into the category of “Pithy Sayings” that teach essential truths. I’m no Confucius, but I’ve been involved in marketing so long, that I can assure you, the following lessons are amongst the most important you can learn if you want to attract more of your ideal clients. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Marketing Tagged With: marketing, sales, selling

Building Trust with Your Customers with Case Studies

December 18, 2012 by Dan Janal 1 Comment

This is a guest post from Dan Janal.

case-studyNearly every public relations campaign can be improved by using a case study.

A case study is a publicity tactic that shows how one or more of your clients have used your product or service and benefited from it.

Prospects love to be convinced by reading case studies because people love to read stories. A case study is simply a business story.

Like all stories, this free publicity strategy has a format you can easily follow. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Marketing Tagged With: case studies, case study, problem solving

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