August 2015 – Page 2

Growing Your Email/Newsletter Subscriber List

In the writing world,
newsletter subscribers are gold.
When evaluating writers
to place in a boxed set,
one of the first things asked
is
“How many newsletter subscribers
do you have?”

Almost every promo
is done
with an eye
to increasing subscribers.

Mike Michalowicz
CEO or
Provendus Group,
shares

“An email list that’s not growing
is one that’s dying.

As our inboxes get more cluttered,
though, we become more selective
about who we share our addresses with.

Your best shot at collecting addresses
is to offer something of value
in exchange for the contact information.

Whether you offer
an introductory discount
on a new client’s first purchase
or provide relevant content
in the form of an article
with information your customers desire,
your best bet is to give something
in exchange for your clients’ email addresses.”

Grow your subscriber list.

Offending People

The business you’re building
will offend people.
It will offend some people
simply by existing,
by daring to turn a profit
(or by not turning a profit).

This is the society
we live in.
Many people are looking
for reasons
to be offended,
to become upset,
to rant about you
or your product.

Accept it.
Embrace it.
Learn how to deal with it.

Should we not care
at all
about offending people?

No, we should care.
We should try to keep
our target market happy.

Everyone else?
Well, keeping them happy
is impossible.

Accept that you’ll offend people.

Stretch Yourself

The fastest way to learn
is to try something new.

Julie Winkle Giulioni
shares

“Assume new responsibilities,
take risks and stretch yourself.
Different experiences
and tough assignments
provide the most fertile ground
for testing ideas, approaches,
and yourself.

Whether you succeed or not,
you’ll have more fodder
for learning and development
when undertaking something novel
rather than doing the same old thing.”

Do something new,
big or small,
today.

Sell One Product

There’s a meme
going around
Facebook
for writers.
It asks writers for
the title of their book
and a link to that book.

The bestselling writers
might have a hundred books released
but they only list one title
and one buy link.

The not-so-bestselling writers
state that they have X number of books
and here’s a link to their Amazon page.

Readers don’t buy X number of books.
They buy ONE book.
Then, if they like that book,
they buy another
and another.
Bestselling writers know this.

Choose one product,
preferably the best product
for that prospect,
and sell it.

Sharing The Presentation

When the new business development team
at a major beverage company
pitches new projects
to their executive team,
each team member presents
their piece.

No one presents financials
as enthusiastically
as the finance manager
who compiled those financials.

No one presents manufacturing details
as passionately
as the operations manager
who investigated those details.

Passion and enthusiasm
sells projects and products.

Carmine Gallo
shares

“Venture capitalists have told me
they like to see
how well a group of entrepreneurs
work together as a team
before they choose to invest.

If one person does all the talking,
it’s not nearly as persuasive as
watching a CEO give the high-level vision
while letting others discuss
more specific components
of the product or company.”

Share the presentation.
Spread the passion.

Worrying Vs Caring

My mom often tells me
that she doesn’t worry about me
because she knows
I can take care of myself.

This doesn’t mean
she doesn’t think about me
or she doesn’t care about me.
It simply means
she trusts me
to make sound decisions.

Some people (usually women)
think that worrying
is a way of saying we care.

It isn’t.

It’s a way of saying
we question the competence
of the person
we’re ‘worrying’ about.

When you worry
about an employee or partner
taking on a new responsibility,
you’re often telling or,
worse, showing her
that you don’t have confidence
in her abilities.

She knows this.
The people around her
will also pick up on this
and question her competence.
This will make it
even more difficult for her
to succeed.

Think about the message you’re sending
when you worry.

Marketing And Fun

There are many ways
to market your product.
Some are more effective
than others.
Some are AS effective
as others.

Yes,
marketing your product
is work.
Very few of us
start a business
because we love marketing.

But it should also be fun
or, at least,
have some enjoyable elements.

For example:
If you like giving sh*t away,
hold contests.
If giving sh*t away
makes you bitter,
do something else.

If you’re bitter about marketing,
prospects will know.
They won’t respond positively.
Your marketing won’t be as effective
as it could be.

Find some fun
in your marketing.

A Boss’s Two Jobs

A good boss helps her team
achieve their targets.

A great boss also
keeps her team safe.
She protects them
and
helps them achieve
their own goals
as well as the group goals.

Wally Bock
shares

“Every day when you go to work,
you’ve got two objectives.
One or the other
may be more important
on any given day.
But over time
you have to achieve both.

Accomplish the mission

Your team has to get the job done.
Your part of that is
to do everything you can
to make it possible.
Remove obstacles
and don’t be one yourself.
Facilitate good work.

Care for the people

You’re the one responsible
for keeping your people safe.
It’s your job to help them succeed
today and also tomorrow.”

Ensure that you’re doing
BOTH jobs.

Rebranding And Speed Of Change In Your Industry

Rebranding happens quite often
in the writing world.
Writers rebrand
until they hit a product/image
that breaks out.
This is one reason
many writers
use pen names.

Glen Stansberry,
co-founder of
Gentlemint,,
shares

“If your industry is tech-related,
high-paced and
targets a younger demographic,
you’ll want to do rebrands
more often.
Many online companies brand frequently,
often once a year,
as their customers are often
early adopters
who don’t mind the change.

If your industry is slow-moving,
stable and has an older demographic,
a rebrand might not be
as important to your company.”

Does your company
need a rebranding?

Digital Content And Taking Time Off

One of my pen names
has 12 stories written in a subgenre
of romance.
I took a year off
from writing in this subgenre
and explored another subgenre.

I thought I would return
to absolutely no readership.
I was out of the game
for a year.
Readers must have forgotten
about me.

Nope.
I returned to a larger readership.
My pre-orders
on my new story
have been greater than
previous first month sales.

Why?

Because in this digital world,
content is evergreen.
Ebooks continue to sell and sell.
Blog posts continue to
receive search traffic.
A Facebook button posted today
will still be circulating
years from now.

Yes, posting every day
is best
but, if you have online content
already posted,
taking time off
doesn’t mean marketing stops.
If your product is digital
(as mine is),
it also doesn’t mean sales stop.