Category: Blog

  • A Blueprint to Help Companies Fully Capitalize on Social Media Investments

    Social media has proven to be a powerful tool to reach relevant audiences, uncover new insights and opportunities, and drive deeper, more personalized relationships with customers. Brands recognize this and have steadily increased their budgets to fuel social media initiatives. But they also know they are leaving many benefits on the table as they struggle to deliver on expected ROI, which can limit further investment.

    In the face of these challenges, many marketers admit their attribution models still need work and that they need to do a better job integrating social media across the full breadth of their marketing efforts. But the path from today’s largely brand-building use cases to a more sophisticated realization of social media’s potential is not always clear.

    Those who dive deeper into social media’s capabilities in both research and direct customer engagement are seeing an increase in performance that creates compounding value across the business.

    Meltwater has sponsored research by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services to further examine how brands can capitalize on their social media investments. Through interviews with brand leaders and social media experts, this report shares effective strategies to optimize the use of social media tools, resources, and capabilities across the entire marketing spectrum.

    To read the full report, click HERE

  • Transitioning Back to Work: Recognizing the Signs of Stress, Anxiety, and Fatigue

    It is hard to look around without acknowledging our common experience. From the empty streets and shuttered cafes in response to the pandemic to the crowded and passionate streets in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, we can easily apply the term social disruption or witness the spark of cultural change to mark the time we find ourselves in.

    Your Most Valuable Resource: Your People

    An internet search on June 10, 2020, using the phrase “returning to work after coronavirus” brought up more than 8 billion hits in less than a second. Most links apply checklists and guidelines, roadmaps and schedules, legal spreadsheet to protect against risk, and resources to call upon to reconfigure workspaces. For those interested in what to do, there are a multitude of sources to reference.

    However, few pages address how employees are personally affected, let alone how organizations can offer support after prolonged periods of the stress, fatigue, and emotional strain. Now that employees are beginning to return to the workplace, paying attention to clues and warning signs will reinforce how organizations are living into their value proposition and remaining an employer-of-choice through these significant events. Leading with empathy and concern will go far in helping engage and retain your most valuable resource—your people.

    Recognize the Typical Change Process

    This experience is more closely aligned with the transitional change model associated with William Bridges and the stages of grief model established by Elisabeth Kübler Ross. These models highlight the time and performance continuum that moves from shock and denial, through anger and depression, and finally to acceptance and ultimate integration of the experience.

    Considering that each of us is experiencing the same cultural disruption, recognizing where employees are in this continuum will also allow us to engage others where they are. Successful managers who recognize that people move first through negative emotions before rebounding into a more productive and positive state will leverage empathy before getting down to the tasks at hand.

    Stay Alert to Different Experiences

    Remaining alert to signs and having candid conversations without crossing boundaries is critically important. Remember, each employee experiences our current environment differently. Some live in early COVID-19 hotspots or areas where activism is more visible, while others are just beginning to confront these issues. Organizations vary with their level of comfort discussing issues like PPE access or health in general, let alone race, politics, class, and the multitude of social concerns coming to the forefront of conversations today.

    Look for Signs

    Pay close attention to how employees were before in relation to how they are today. Where they seem to show up differently, take the time to engage in conversation. When needed, refer them to your employee assistance program services or other outlets for support.

    How people react. When major organizational change occurs, people may become depressed or passive or show disengagement from colleagues. They may:

    • Exhibit unexpected or inappropriate behavior or be slow to respond to requests
    • Stop taking initiative or stop being a good team player
    • Abandon loyalty to their manager or company
    • Become physically ill or increase their absenteeism
    • Demonstrate poor performance, sloppiness, or disinclination to prepare

    What people express. Listen carefully as some may express intense sadness and resentment or articulate uncertainty or fear of the future. Remember, the work-from-home environment has tested boundaries with work-life balance, childcare issues, and people being “let in” to their home environments through sometime incessant videocalls.

    Necessary Meetings

    One-on-one or skip-level meetings between manager and direct report are fundamental to effective performance management. These are now more compelling and may require greater frequency. Acknowledge people’s feelings and call on your greatest active listening skills as you encourage open and active communication. Reassure them of their value and help them to confirm their workplace goals. And give them the time they need to adjust but be sure to walk the fine line between counseling and showing appropriate empathy and concern. Offer appropriate professional referral sources if their needs indicate deep emotional distress or signs of hopelessness. A manager also needs to coach and motivate as well as track performance, behaviors, and responses, and look for resilience and bounce back.

    Support is more important now than ever.

    Content Originally Posted on td.org

    Author: Adena Johnston

  • The Strategic CFO: 6 Steps to Become a Trusted Advisor to the CFO

    Nowadays, Chief Financial Officers aren’t just keeping track of income and expenses; they’re processing this information to understand how best to grow the business. This valued capability is increasingly sought by large enterprises and is quickly becoming table stakes at midsize companies, as well.

    The challenge for many tactical finance directors seeking to become strategic CFO is time. “Finance is often up to its ears in manual repetitive tasks that bog down the function,” explains Sandy Cockrell, global leader and U.S. national managing partner of Deloitte’s CFO Program.

    In working with hundreds of CFOs and studying best practices at top performing organizations, Senior Executive Network has identified six imperatives (with specific action items) to help tactical CFOs become strategic CFOs, transforming the position into a forward-thinking strategic adviser:

    1. Drive Strategy
    2. Allocate Capital Resources
    3. Lead M&A Due Diligence and Post-Transaction Integration
    4. Enhance Profits
    5. Champion New Technologies
    6. Assess Risks and Implement Controls

    To Read Full Report by Chief Executive Network, Click HERE

  • Work-Life Balance – Why it’s so Important and How to Achieve it

    All work and no play can lead to burn out and serious health problems.

    Working too much can cause you to feel irritable and impact your mental, emotional and physical well being to say the least. Ever heard of under-promising and over-delivering? I bet a lot of people reading this do the exact opposite of this. Over-committing is one of the leading causes of stress and burn out in the workplace. This is why finding the perfect work-life balance is so important.

    When demands and expectations are too much for you – speak up. It’s hard to say no to your boss when she/he is asking for something to be done yesterday. Especially when there are 60 other people who would love to have your job. Competition might be fierce, and you might really want a raise or a promotion. The good news is:

    It is more than possible to find a work-life balance that allows you to set boundaries in the workplace while still advancing your career.

    Assertively Say No and Set Boundaries

    So how can you improve this skill? Find assertive ways to communicate your needs and set boundaries. Here are a few examples: If someone asks you at the end of the day to do something for them right away tell them you will work on it tomorrow during business hours. If your boss is piling on work and deadlines, ask them: “would you rather I complete project A or project B because it isn’t possible to do both in the given timeline”.

    If your peer asks you to take on an assignment as a favor for them but you can’t handle the additional workload: “I’d love to help you out but I’m swamped with task A, task B and task C and two of them are due tomorrow so I wouldn’t have time to work on that for you”. Or maybe you have a team assignment with members not pulling their weight: “Lets divide and conquer this project. Would you like to do task A or task B?”.

    There are a lot of great ways to kindly say no and set boundaries that help you achieve and maintain balance without jeopardizing your career or relationships with others. Learning assertiveness skills is key to work-life balance. A therapist or career coach can help you learn this essential skill.

    Unplug

    An easy way to help you find work-life balance is to just simply unplug. Checking emails or even thinking about checking them is a constant trigger for stress as it alerts us to any number of things that could have gone sideways and require our immediate attention. Always being connected to work increases our chances of worrying all night and weekend long.  Set specific times for when you will not work or engage in any other work-related activities. For example, after 6pm and on the weekends I will not check emails.

    You can also unplug mentally by not thinking about work. Distract yourself every time you start ruminating about work. Quiet and solitude allow us to be fully present and connected to ourselves and others. It allows our brain and bodies time to recuperate for the next day. It provides a time when our bodies can be free from cortisol and adrenaline that can be at high levels when we ruminate on workplace issues. Unplugging provides a break from rumination and will help you come back to work relaxed and recharged!

    Stay Organized

    Having a schedule, and/or a to-do list is a great way to stay organized and will reduce the amount of time you spend planning each day. Make sure you have an accessible overview of any due dates, meetings, or other events you may need to prepare for and set aside specific time to prepare. A very common mistake is overestimating how much can be done in one day.  It’s easy to lose motivation to continue your routine of scheduling and writing to do lists once you realize you can’t complete your to-do list. It’s much easier to create a smaller to-do this, and once you finish all the tasks, you can keep going and do more. This way, you feel like you’re overachieving, rather than underachieving.

    Make sure to schedule personal time as well and don’t let anything get in the way of it. Make “me time” your number one priority. Write set times to cook, shop, exercise, schedule, strategize, be creative, be social, read, be alone, plan what you will cook and shop for, time with friends, time for doing nothing. Try to take care of your mental health during your personal time.

    Prioritize

    So you’ve set up your calendar, made some to-do lists, and now you’re staring at this endless list of tasks that may feel impossible to complete. Take some time to decide what tasks need to be completed first, such as whatever presentation, meeting, or project that appears first in your calendar. A lot of highly productive people feel the need to do just about everything at once, but you need to set limits for yourself as well to avoid a burnout.

    Limit Your Distractions

    When you start a task, do you constantly check your phone, emails, or other unrelated content? These types of distractions will double the amount of time it takes you to complete your tasks. You’ve probably heard of study smarter not harder, try to work smarter not harder.

    If you can improve your efficiency at work by assertively saying no and setting boundaries, staying organized, prioritizing, and giving yourself time to unplug and unwind, you’ll have much more time for a personal life! Achieving this level of work-life balance will not only have an amazing positive impact on your mental and emotional well being, but will actually make you more productive and effective in both professional and personal pursuits.

    Original Content Created By Psych Company Team

  • Is Remarketing The New Free?

    Let’s face it, we’ve become increasingly numb to the lead capture bait for email address exchange. In fact, I think it’s become so bad that while people still sign up for the free thing, they often don’t even bother to download, rarely if ever actually read it or watch it, and unfortunately, don’t represent the opportunity for marketers that they once did.

    The bar for starting a relationship with a prospect has evolved, and the stakes are higher.

    Today, we have to create awareness before a prospect understands they have a problem or certainly before they are seeking a transformation.

    In my opinion, this is still done by offering the right content, in the right context, but with the right delivery mechanism.[tweetthis]To reach the greatest number of prospects in your market, the first contact can’t be an ask.[/tweetthis]

    Creating awareness through targeted content

    People still want to find answers to their challenges and will probably always seek information in many forms. Smart marketers are grouping and personalizing content by specific category or problem-solving advice and offering that content without strings in targeted advertising environments such as Facebook.

    The content may be a short video or series of video, a group of blog posts or even a series of templates and checklists.

    The key is that this is bite-sized, useful, easy to access and easy to consume. It’s the start of a relationship without commitment.

    Building trust before the ask

    So, how does totally free content create a lead? It does so by giving and giving and giving before asking anything. High-quality content without strings attached builds trust and authority – two of the primary objectives of all marketing today.

    The key to making this work as lead generation tactic is something called remarketing or retargeting.

    Now, you may be familiar with retargeting if you’ve ever reviewed a product you were researching online.

    A few years ago I wanted to get standup desk and looked around at a variety of products before finally settling on one made by Varidesk.

    I did my research one day and visited the manufacture’s site and sure enough everywhere else I went I started seeing ads for Varidesk.

    In fact, even after I had purchased the desk from Amazon I continued to see the ads on many news type sites I visited.

    This is retargeting not so much at its finest.

    Or perhaps you downloaded a free report on a site and when you returned to get the next one in the series they already knew your name and email and automatically completed it in the form. This is another type of very useful retargeting in a way.

    Essentially what retargeting involves is placing a cookie on a visitor’s browser that indicates they have come to your site. This cookie then allows ad networks to show certain ads when you visit one of their sites.

    Many people dislike this technology, and you can manage it by changing your privacy settings to disable it. Of course, a lot of things you do like, such as a website you frequent remembering your settings is activated using this same approach.

    One of the more effective ways to use retargeting in a gentle lead nurturing sense is by using Facebook’s retargeting tool.

    You simply run sponsored ads at highly targeted, useful content or a series of content and let Facebook tell you who visits and consumes the content. Once this mechanism is in place, you can start building custom audiences of the people that visited your free content with the knowledge that they may indeed be interested in a more substantial version of the content in exchange for an email address or opt-in.

    This approach, while requiring more patience, opens up a much larger potential audience and will likely make your list conversions triple or quadruple.

    Here’s a nice little tutorial on Facebook retargeting from Social Media Examiner

    And another, more technical one from WPCurve with specifics for WordPress users

    And, you might want to look for retargeting services outside of the Facebook walls, so take a look at PerfectAudience for a super easy approach or one of the pioneers of retargeting, AdRoll.

    Hyper segmentation for relationship building

    One of the beautiful things about this approach is that it not only allows you to nurture people who visit your website, but it also allows you to create segmented campaigns for people based on what they visited.

    For example, I attract many small business owners who are interested in tips and tactics for growing their business, but I also serve a growing network of independent marketing consultants who are interested in ways to grow a more profitable practice and serve more customers.

    Using a retargeting approach, I can create a highly personalized experience for these radically different audiences based on an understanding of the content they visited.

    Now, understand that this approach is certainly not limited to Facebook – Facebook just offers a nice way to use it to build awareness and trust.

    This is essentially the same technology that powers inbound marketing tools such as Hubspot or many CRM and marketing automation tools. It’s the same technology that powers many of the more sophisticated lead tracking tools such as ClickMagick or Kissmetrics.

    The real lesson in this is that marketers today must understand that as brands big and small continue to take advantage of the technology to serve more personalized, useful and relevant experiences the more our prospects will come to hunger for and expect the same from any business they engage – whether they know it or not.

    Content Originally Created by Duct Tape Marketing

    Author: John Jantsch

  • People Buy Stories Before They Buy Stuff

    I’ve been writing about the use of story in marketing for years. I remember when I first started telling people over a decade ago to make their clients the hero of their stories and to use their personal stories as foundational marketing elements they were dubious at best.

    Today, every marketer understands the value of story as a way to sell just about anything. But, still, few understand the right way to use story and narrative as a way to guide people on the perfect journey.

    This is due in large part to the fact that it takes some skill, a bit of hard work and perhaps, more importantly, patience. A great story has many significant elements and to have the greatest impact each element must be built in a certain order – much like the foundation of a house must be laid before the walls and roof have a place to stand.

    The good news is that I believe there’s a framework that any business can adopt and that framework is evident in just about every great story told throughout time.

    Any screenwriter making a living today uses this same framework to draw us in and take us along with them on a journey.

    After you read this post, you’ll also have the tools to build this same framework for your business and use it as the basis for just about every marketing decision you make.

    Your core story and the narrative technique described below will work to help cement your brand in the mind of your ideal client, but it is equally effective as a framework for a product launch or email autoresponder campaign.

    The framework relies on the three key elements: The ideal client persona, the core story and the journey goal map (based on the Marketing Hourglass.)

    The ideal client persona

    The term persona is borrowed from the theater. An actor may receive a script, and the persona is the description of the character played by the part. If an actor is to understand the character they must know a little about what drives them, what they believe, what they fear, and what they desire.

    Audience Audit, Inc did research on small business personas for Infusionsoft and created some great examples of how you might describe a segment of your marketing.

    They give the segment a name and then describe them with a handful of core words as well as some background on what they believe.

    “Passionate creators – Creativity, optimism, service

    This segment believes that passion is one of the most important qualities of a small business owner. They are proud of the job-creation engine that small businesses represent, and value having the ability to serve a customer well.

    Passionate Creators are interested in creating something unique, making a difference in the world, and driving economic growth. They are dramatically more optimistic than other segments, and the most likely to report that small business ownership has contributed to improvements in their overall attitude, time availability and financial security (versus if they had a corporate job).”

    You can read the entire small business market survey here

    Another resource I often point to when discussing the topic of personas is Adele Revella’s Buyer Persona Institute. http://www.buyerpersona.com/ Revella is a past guest on the Duct Tape Marketing podcast – you can listen to that episode here. https://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/customer-personas/

    How to craft the right story

    As stated above, there are elements that make a story both a good story and the right story. For most businesses this isn’t about telling some riveting tale that makes for good entertainment, it’s about demonstrating you are the right person to help the reader achieve what they want to achieve.

    Make them the hero

    First and foremost, if you intend to create a story that your prospects care about you must position them as the hero of the story. Most businesses go on and on about how great their business, product or service is, and frankly, that’s the last thing a customer cares about.

    Think about every great story you’ve read, you love the story because you connect with the story’s main character. For your story, the main character must be your ideal customer persona and not your business.

    Your customer or prospect has problems, and it’s your job to guide them on a journey to solve that problem and achieve their ultimate destiny.

    I know that may sound a bit dramatic, but doesn’t that sound a lot nobler than just selling them stuff?

    I work with small business owners, and I can tell you that no one wants the world’s greatest marketing consulting – the hero of our story wants freedom, control, growth, and creativity and it’s our job to guide them down the path to leads to just that.

    Help them understand their problem

    One of the first tasks is to help the hero understand the real problem they face as it’s often not what they think it is.

    Now, sometimes this can pose a real challenge as selling a solution to a problem people don’t even know they have is a tough path to trod.

    The real key lies in the persona. So often what people want in life can be achieved once they let go of many of the symptoms of what’s holding them back.

    Often we have to show prospects what letting go and refocusing on what matters looks like before they start to see that as the answer.

    Our story must both reveal the real enemy and prove that we know who and what it is. You build a great deal of trust through empathy.

    In our case, the real enemy is time, focus and fear. When we address these elements, we can start to reveal what a solution could look like in the context of the real problem.

    Reveal the authority to guide them

    Of course, once your story connects with their real problem you must be able to reveal you and your business as the one who can guide them to where they want to go.

    Every great hero meets a mentor or guide along the journey that gives them the knowledge, tools and confidence to take up the journey.

    Think

    • Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber
    • Gandalf and Mithril armor
    • Dumbledore and Harry Potter’s wand

    Admit it, the idea of playing the role of Obi-Wan for your prospects has to be a lot more fun that just being the head of marketing.

    Paint a better picture

    One of the keys to moving your prospects down the path is to inspire them by painting a picture of what it could look like if they had the real problem handled.

    A vivid picture of what a small business owner’s day could look like if they installed a marketing system – right down to how they would feel on that day is a great way to lead your prospects to make a change.

    Challenge them to succeed

    Finally, you must be able to challenge them to take action. This part of the story might be referred to by marketers as the call to action, but for it to be powerful, you must also help them understand the cost of not taking action.

    Generally, people are more motivated by what they might lose than what they might gain and when you can help them see the true cost of not acting as well as the value of succeeding when they do act, you can start to position what you do as an investment rather than a cost.

    Marketing is almost always seen as a cost – when it’s seen as an investment the dynamic of the sales conversation changes dramatically.

    How to craft the right journey

    Once you understand the hero of your story and the challenge you can help them solve you have to move to understanding the journey itself.

    As a prospect searches for solutions to questions, problems and challenges known and yet unidentified you have to use your marketing to address the questions and goals they are bound to have during each stage of the journey.

    You must get involved in their journey as early as possible, and you can only do this by addressing them where they are. If you simply jump to promoting what you sell before they’ve even concluded that you address their challenges, you’ll be forced to hard sell.

    But, if you wait until they’ve concluded on their own that your category of solution is that answer to their prayers, you’ll be forced to compete against everyone else who says they do what you do.

    When you understand the goals and questions your prospects are facing during each phase of their buying journey you can create content and campaigns aimed at these specific desires.

    For example, here’s what the journey goals for a small business looking to grow more profit by working with a tax advisor might look like.

    • Know – To learn the best, most profitable ways to run and grow their business
    • Like – To better understand what other people are doing to lower expenses
    • Trust – To understand what’s possible and legal
    • Try – To see if any of the proposed savings apply to their situation
    • Buy – To experience a process that feels very professional and give hope of substantial savings
    • Repeat – Understand other ways they can gain wealth and possibly set up business to sell
    • Refer – To feel proud telling another business owner about a very smart decision they made

    As you can plainly see the idea of cutting taxes doesn’t even appear until about midway through this journey. The consultant selling tax consulting, however, must look to become the guide first by building trust teaching ways to run and grow a business.

    Understand your customers, make your prospects the hero of your marketing story and then guide them to success. That’s how you build a business that both succeeds and matters.

    If you’re an overachiever I also suggest that you read the following:

    • Save the Cat – Blake Snyder (Storytelling from a screenwriting perspective)
    • The Hero with a Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell (The classic academic tomb that reveals why we like Star Wars so much)
    • The Writer’s Journey – Christopher Vogler (A very practical text for understanding the role of mythology in story)
    • resonate – Nancy Duarte (A presentation framework based on the hero’s journey)
    • Storytelling with Data – Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic (Sometimes you must use numbers to tell a story! – Edward Tufte for the Internet age)

    Content Originally Created by Duct Tape Marketing

    Author:  John Jantsch

  • 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success

    Practiced effectively, marketing is simply a system. While this may be hard for some business owners to come grips with, like those who feel that “marketing is a strange form of creative voodoo thinking,” marketing is not only a system—it may be the most important system in any business.

    To understand how to approach marketing for a business, it may be helpful to understand the Duct Tape Marketing System definition of marketing. Marketing is getting someone who has a need to know, like and trust you.

    One could argue about what “like” or “trust” is in any given industry, but now more than ever, this definition gets at the heart of the game. Here are the 7 core steps that make up the simple, effective, and affordable Duct Tape Marketing System. Businesses that appreciate and implement this approach to marketing grow in a consistent and predictable
    manner.

    To read the entire ebook written by John Jantsch, click HERE

  • Content is No Longer King – It’s Air

    No matter how you plan to grow your business content has become the entry point and catalyst for effective growth in most every channel. No, content is no longer king – that’s so last decade, but more on that in a bit.

    I’ve been writing a great deal about growth of late because I’ve become fascinated with the struggle it presents.

    One of my core beliefs about growth is that it comes from doing less instead of more.

    While that may sound a bit counterintuitive it springs from the fact that marketers today have something like sixteen channels to choose from in order to create awareness and ultimately grow their businesses. (I outline all channels in this Lead Generation System post)

    Terms like social media marketing, influencer marketing, content marketing and search engine marketing entered the marketing conversation in the last decade.

    While this may seem to present a golden opportunity for some businesses, it has created frustration for others. It is simply impossible to effectively create a meaningful presence everywhere and attempting to do so creates so much fragmentation that the message is often lost completely.

    The key to succeeding in the current environment is to master two or three channels at the most and commit to going deeply there. In my experience, most businesses already have one or two channels that produce the bulk of their business, yet they do little to amplify that effort. (I’ve written more on this idea of Channel Leverage here)

    For example, many businesses derive a significant percentage of their business through referrals and word of mouth recommendation but have no formal referral program in place.

    My contention is that business should focus on building multiple referral programs and explore ways to use advertising, strategic partnering and even content to amplify their referral channel – less is more!

    And now to the real point of this post (Sorry I had as one of my editors called it a lot throat clearing to do to get to the point.)

    No matter what growth channels you decide to pursue, content is your ticket to entry. Now, before I go much further let me say that by content I mean, long, deep, dramatic, useful, dare I say epic, educational content.

    Again, in this regard – less is more.

    The days of writing 500-word wispy blog posts three times a week are over. They certainly served a purpose four or five years ago (hello SEO) but no longer.

    Today you are better off writing one or two epic posts a month and using them as a tool to power every channel. (That’s good news, right?)

    Your approach to content as an asset still needs to be based on an editorial calendar that serves your business, but creating that plan is even easier if you start to think about ways to use your content for multiple channels.

    When we work with businesses today content development is the place we must start. There’s little hope in expanding the reach of a business without a substantial content asset to draw from. There are few channels that don’t run on content.

    Let me give you an example of how this could play out.

    Let’s say you commit to 12 epic blog posts per year – something in the 1500-2000 word range with lots of deep useful advice, some nice design elements, maybe a dash of data and even a bit of drama.

    If you’ve done your keyword research and spent a little time using a tool like BuzzSumo to drill down into specific post ideas you have the makings of an annual editorial calendar. (Here’s a post on how I use BuzzSumo)

    Now, let’s make this content pay.

    In one sense you already have. Your post will most certainly help your SEO efforts the chosen topic and set the table for shares and links. (By far my most shared content is over 1,500 words)

    Let’s say one of your posts describes the sixteen most awesome ways to do X. It’s long and it’s meaty and people devour it, but you know what would be cool – if you added a one-page checklist with all sixteen points.

    And what the heck, let’s use a tool like Thrive Leads to create a two-step opt-in box for people who want that checklist. (There’s an example of a content upgrade in this post)

    Wow, people are actually opting-in at a pretty high rate, why don’t we see what happens if we buy some targeted Facebook ads to drive some cold traffic to the post. All of a sudden content is making our advertising pay off.

    If all these new people are going to opt-in we should make sure that our email follow-up directs them to last month’s epic post so they begin to realize how glad they are that they know us.

    Now, let’s amp things up a bit.

    Our blog post on the sixteen most awesome ways to do X would actually make a nice presentation. We could simply promote it to our audience and hold a webinar, but why not reach out to some potential strategic partners and offer to do it free of charge for their audience instead.

    This is a great way to extend the reach of your content, but more than that it’s a great way to get referred by a trusted source and potentially meet some very qualified prospects.
    The key to making channels pay is a commitment to producing the most useful content possible.

    • Content makes your advertising more effective
    • Content makes your selling efforts more effective
    • Content makes your referral outreach more effective
    • Content makes your SEO efforts more effective
    • Content makes your influencer outreach more effective
    • Content makes your email marketing efforts more effective
    • Content makes your social media efforts more effective
    • Content makes your PR efforts more effective

    Much has been written about the need for great content, but I believe it’s more than king or queen, it’s more than a channel, it’s air – we need it survive. It is the catalyst and enabler for every other channel we use for growth.

    This isn’t a call to write more, better content – it’s a suggestion that you must change your view of what content has become and what it must mean to your ability to grow.

    Put epic content at the center of your marketing efforts – do less, but do better – and you’ll find that you have far greater opportunities to expand in every direction.

    Article Originally Created by Duct Tape Marketing

    Author: John Jantsch

  • What Great Listeners Actually Do

    Good listening is much more than being silent while the other person talks.

    Chances are you think you’re a good listener. People’s appraisal of their listening ability is much like their assessment of their driving skills, in that the great bulk of adults think they’re above average.

    In our experience, most people think good listening comes down to doing three things:

    • Not talking when others are speaking
    • Letting others know you’re listening through facial expressions and verbal sounds (“Mmm-hmm”)
    • Being able to repeat what others have said, practically word-for-word

    In fact, much management advice on listening suggests doing these very things – encouraging listeners to remain quiet, nod and “mm-hmm” encouragingly, and then repeat back to the talker something like, “So, let me make sure I understand. What you’re saying is…” However, recent research that we conducted suggests that these behaviors fall far short of describing good listening skills.

    We analyzed data describing the behavior of 3,492 participants in a development program designed to help managers become better coaches. As part of this program, their coaching skills were assessed by others in 360-degree assessments. We identified those who were perceived as being the most effective listeners (the top 5%). We then compared the best listeners to the average of all other people in the data set and identified the 20 items showing the largest significant difference. With those results in hand we identified the differences between great and average listeners and analyzed the data to determine what characteristics their colleagues identified as the behaviors that made them outstanding listeners.

    We found some surprising conclusions, along with some qualities we expected to hear. We grouped them into four main findings:

    • Good listening is much more than being silent while the other person talks. To the contrary, people perceive the best listeners to be those who periodically ask questions that promote discovery and insight. These questions gently challenge old assumptions, but do so in a constructive way. Sitting there silently nodding does not provide sure evidence that a person is listening, but asking a good question tells the speaker the listener has not only heard what was said, but that they comprehended it well enough to want additional information. Good listening was consistently seen as a two-way dialog, rather than a one-way “speaker versus hearer” interaction. The best conversations were active.
    • Good listening included interactions that build a person’s self-esteem. The best listeners made the conversation a positive experience for the other party, which doesn’t happen when the listener is passive (or, for that matter, critical!). Good listeners made the other person feel supported and conveyed confidence in them. Good listening was characterized by the creation of a safe environment in which issues and differences could be discussed openly.
    • Good listening was seen as a cooperative conversation. In these interactions, feedback flowed smoothly in both directions with neither party becoming defensive about comments the other made. By contrast, poor listeners were seen as competitive — as listening only to identify errors in reasoning or logic, using their silence as a chance to prepare their next response. That might make you an excellent debater, but it doesn’t make you a good listener. Good listeners may challenge assumptions and disagree, but the person being listened to feels the listener is trying to help, not wanting to win an argument.
    • Good listeners tended to make suggestions. Good listening invariably included some feedback provided in a way others would accept and that opened up alternative paths to consider. This finding somewhat surprised us, since it’s not uncommon to hear complaints that “So-and-so didn’t listen, he just jumped in and tried to solve the problem.” Perhaps what the data is telling us is that making suggestions is not itself the problem; it may be the skill with which those suggestions are made. Another possibility is that we’re more likely to accept suggestions from people we already think are good listeners. (Someone who is silent for the whole conversation and then jumps in with a suggestion may not be seen as credible. Someone who seems combative or critical and then tries to give advice may not be seen as trustworthy.)

    While many of us have thought of being a good listener being like a sponge that accurately absorbs what the other person is saying, instead, what these findings show is that good listeners are like trampolines. They are someone you can bounce ideas off of — and rather than absorbing your ideas and energy, they amplify, energize, and clarify your thinking. They make you feel better not merely passively absorbing, but by actively supporting. This lets you gain energy and height, just like someone jumping on a trampoline.

    Of course, there are different levels of listening. Not every conversation requires the highest levels of listening, but many conversations would benefit from greater focus and listening skill. Consider which level of listening you’d like to aim for:

    Level 1: The listener creates a safe environment in which difficult, complex, or emotional issues can be discussed.

    Level 2: The listener clears away distractions like phones and laptops, focusing attention on the other person and making appropriate eye-contact. (This behavior not only affects how you are perceived as the listener; it immediately influences the listener’s own attitudes and inner feelings. Acting the part changes how you feel inside. This in turn makes you a better listener.)

    Level 3: The listener seeks to understand the substance of what the other person is saying. They capture ideas, ask questions, and restate issues to confirm that their understanding is correct.

    Level 4: The listener observes nonbverbal cues, such as facial expressions, perspiration, respiration rates, gestures, posture, and numerous other subtle body language signals. It is estimated that 80% of what we communicate comes from these signals. It sounds strange to some, but you listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

    Level 5: The listener increasingly understands the other person’s emotions and feelings about the topic at hand, and identifies and acknowledges them. The listener empathizes with and validates those feelings in a supportive, nonjudgmental way.

    Level 6: The listener asks questions that clarify assumptions the other person holds and helps the other person to see the issue in a new light. This could include the listener injecting some thoughts and ideas about the topic that could be useful to the other person. However, good listeners never highjack the conversation so that they or their issues become the subject of the discussion.

    Each of the levels builds on the others; thus, if you’ve been criticized (for example) for offering solutions rather than listening, it may mean you need to attend to some of the other levels (such as clearing away distractions or empathizing) before your proffered suggestions can be appreciated.

    We suspect that in being a good listener, most of us are more likely to stop short rather than go too far. Our hope is that this research will help by providing a new perspective on listening. We hope those who labor under an illusion of superiority about their listening skills will see where they really stand. We also hope the common perception that good listening is mainly about acting like an absorbent sponge will wane. Finally, we hope all will see that the highest and best form of listening comes in playing the same role for the other person that a trampoline plays for a child. It gives energy, acceleration, height and amplification. These are the hallmarks of great listening.

    Authors: Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman

    Original Content Published by Harvard Business Review

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