LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Learn it.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
ALL THINGS NEWSLETTERS . . .
2. Internet Marketing Success, Bob Bly.
3. 6 Common Reasons Why Newsletters Fail, Bob Bly.
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3. 6 Common Reasons Why Newsletters Fail, Bob Bly.
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from Bob Bly's "6 Common Reasons . . ."
What does your audience really want? You can make an intelligent guess, but you really don't know. That's why smart publishers do A/B split tests comparing different USPs, themes, or creativ approaches.
Okay, so the message is to do A/B split tests. Cool. He explains how that's done.
Often you can test selling propositions inexpensively online with split tests of e-mails and landing pages with one set reflecting sales appeal A and the second based on sales appeal B. If A is the winner, then a small direct mail test based on concept A would be the next step. If that works, roll-out follows.
What the heck is "roll-out"? Final copy? Bly continues to deliver on writing newsletters. Read this:
The best newsletters often have a "clubby" feel. They are written in the voice of one insider or industry member talking to another.
He even has solutions for writers who are not insiders writing for insiders:
When the editor is an outsider, the newsletter often lacks this authoritative voice. And readers don't trust it. Two solutions:
1. Hire editors . . . from the industry or profession you're writing about.
2. Have non-expert editors spend time in the field, visiting factories, attending industry events, interviewing experts and subscribers one on one.
Incredible. And good to know. His conclusions?
With the glut of information competing for the reader's time and attention, the "free information" culture created by the Internet, and increasingly limited corporate budgets, you have to offer extraordinary value to your subscribers. That means major benefits (e.g., time savings), rapid ROI--and ideas, analysis, or information they cannot easily get elsewhere in such a digestible and convenient format.
Quite a challenge! But worth taking, when you consider that the average newsletter costs the subscriber 20 to 50 times more per page than a magazine on a similar subject.*
*A 100-page monthly magazine with an annual subscription rate of $20 costs less than 2 cents a page vs. a 12-page monthly newsletter with an annual subscription rate of $100 costs more than 69 cents a page.
Newsletters
Saturday, March 25, 2015
1. Making Money with Brochures, Bob Bly.
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Tuesday, February 24, 2015
1. Send newsletters using Sendy.
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Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
LEVERAGE YOUR COMPLAINT WITH A COMPANY VIA FACEBOOK
Check out this strategy for getting more from a company using Facebook:
Check out this strategy for getting more from a company using Facebook:
I had gotten blown off several times over the last month trying to get upgraded from slow satellite internet to a new much faster satellite. 3 times I had scheduled installations, and three times I got stood up. I firmly believe because they had new customers that would be a new revenue stream while I was an existing stream.The post is here:
I immediately got attention. I found out that companies have whole departments devoted to dealing with things posted online about them. I was taught this trick by a lawyer friend who was having issues with Dell and when he posted on their Facebook page, Wild Blue Internet, he had them calling him and fixing the problem immediately.
The Reply _________________________________________
Absolutely! I had a bunch of idiots from a trash service try to force me to pay for service that we had canceled. They couldn't tell me what I owed or when, but they said my service had not been canceled (they were in transition, as a large national firm had purchased our small local provider, so they obviously had screwed up some things).
He used FACEBOOK to get the company's attention.
I got on their Facebook page and wrote a scathing complaint. They asked me to email to a certain address. I did, and I included my Facebook post in the email. Needless to say, I got an immediate email and then a phone call quickly thereafter. They were very courteous. I followed up with a little comment on my original posting stating that my complaint had been resolved satisfactorily. Absent Facebook, I don't know what I would have done.
Friday, January 16, 2015
1. OptimizePress.
2. Optimizely.
3. HootSuite. Has a good research mode. Can create multiple research streams and you can find relevant content on almost any social platform.
4. DoubleClick, formerly known as Wildfire.
5. InfusionSoft.
6. GetResponse.
7. LeadPages.
8. Facebook Advertising (dark post).
9. Social Report. Never heard of this until today, Saturday, May 12, 2018.
Mentioned in the above tutorial was a CSV file [which stands for comma-separated value; what the heck is that!!!], which I've never heard before.
Dotto referred to the following, including Hootsuite, as SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT DASHBOARDS.
10. Agora Pulse. Its strength is in managing conversations. Good for finding things but also for engagement with his community. Managing the community becomes more difficult as your social media profile improves. Managing the conversation in Social Media, but Dotto doesn't give enough specifics. You can assign conversations from your community to team members. Dotto explains that the desktop app works well, but the mobile app is where it shines.
Dotto is terrific. He lists some social media tools that you'll need and he creates an Amazon page. He also lists the tools that HE USES.
11. Sprout Social.
12. BuzzSumo.
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Mentioned in the above tutorial was a CSV file [which stands for comma-separated value; what the heck is that!!!], which I've never heard before.
Dotto referred to the following, including Hootsuite, as SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT DASHBOARDS.
10. Agora Pulse. Its strength is in managing conversations. Good for finding things but also for engagement with his community. Managing the community becomes more difficult as your social media profile improves. Managing the conversation in Social Media, but Dotto doesn't give enough specifics. You can assign conversations from your community to team members. Dotto explains that the desktop app works well, but the mobile app is where it shines.
Dotto is terrific. He lists some social media tools that you'll need and he creates an Amazon page. He also lists the tools that HE USES.
11. Sprout Social.
12. BuzzSumo.
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15.
Monday, November 10, 2014
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Robert Wenzel's course on becoming a professional blogger. Starts November 15, 2014.
How to Persuade a Master to Mentor You
I have long recommended finding a mentor. This is easier said than done.
True that. How does one find a mentor?
I have some thoughts about how to locate a mentor. There is a strategy here, and it will take time. But I think it will pay off to anybody who attempts it.
Here is the strategy:
First, decide who you want to mentor you. There has to be a reason. He has to offer something unique that you will not be able to get on your own. Maybe he has inside information on a company. Maybe he has a master's instinctive feel for what an industry requires of successful people. He has to know something that is NOT available in books.
How do you know that he has this information? One way is to see how he has succeeded in his line of work. If he is a senior manager, or if he is a well-known researcher, then you can be pretty certain that he has an insider's understanding of the company or the industry.Okay, got it. Decide on your purpose for wanting a mentor. Okay. Then shop for one? Where?
Second, once you have decided that this person really is in a position to help you personally, you have to provide a reason for him to do so. You are a high-risk investment for his time. Why should he pay any attention to you? What are you bringing to the table that is of any interest to him? What can you offer that would persuade him that his investment of time and emotional commitment in you will pay off for him? A mentor does not expect to make money on his apprentice. So, why would he bother?
The usual reason is that a mentor gets a sense of satisfaction in reproducing somebody like himself. It has to do with inheritance. It has to do with succession. It has to do with leaving a legacy. Somebody who thinks like he does, and who acknowledges the fact that he is the source of his abilities, is a form of legacy.
Third, how can you convince somebody who really is an expert that you would be a top-flight person to invest in?
Ask for a reading list or a single author whom he regards as indispensable.
I would take this approach. I would send a letter to the individual or send an email, and I would ask him for a reading list. I would also ask him if there is any single author out there who he regards as being indispensable for understanding the industry. I would ask him for five books, plus one author.
Get the list of books, then write reviews of the books he recommends.
Once I had the list, I would set up a website in which I would review in detail each of the books on the list. It might take two months per book. When I mean review in detail, I mean in extreme detail. I would read trade journal reviews of the book. I would read reviews on Amazon. I would read any book that was written to refute the book. I would become a master in each of the books.
Then I would sit down and painstakingly write reviews. They would generally be positive, but not blindly positive. If somebody with real expertise has raised a question about some aspect of a book, I would mention this. I would make it clear to the reader that I had done my due diligence with respect to this particular book.
How long building a website?
To produce a website like this probably would take at least a year and a half. This is the investment that would prove to the potential mentor that you are really serious about following through on his advice. He would recognize that you had intensely studied the books that he recommended. He would know that he was the source of this website.
I see. So get the list of books. Review them or it and anyone who refutes him, then send him the link to your site. This shows that you're serious. This sets you apart.
Fourth, you should send him a link to the website, and you should ask him for another list of recommended readings. This time, the person would know that you are really serious about mastery of the field. If he responds favorably by sending another list, I would dutifully begin to repeat the performance. This exercise would be extremely positive under any circumstances, but it would identify you as a serious contender for becoming a legacy.
So let's see. It's not enough to ask for a list of books, then review the books on a website and email him your site. Then you have to pay him. How much? $500. That does show seriousness.
Fifth, in the letter requesting five more book recommendations, ask for an hour of the mentor's time. Volunteer to pay him $500. Admit that he is worth more, but you are not in a position to pay it. Accept a Skype interview, but volunteer to get on a plane, fly to where the person is located if he is out of town or out of state, get a hotel, and go in for a one-hour interview.
Show that you're a potential heir. Sell yourself as a legacy to his firm.
The goal of the interview is to sell yourself as a potential legacy. You must have four or five good questions about what it takes to be successful in the industry. You want as much information as you can get, since it may cost you $1,500 to get it. But the point is, you are showing that you are a potential heir. You are showing deference to him, but you are not showing uncritical deference. You are putting in your time in a program to structure your thinking along the lines of his thinking.
Shoot for a home-run, but make sure you get a single.
The more influential this person is, the more difficult it is to persuade him that you are something special. If you are willing to do this with a person who is inside the company, or is local, that would be ideal. It depends on whether you want a home run or a stand-up single. But you do want to get to first base. This is going to take some effort.
A website could be the go-to site in that industry.
If you produce a website like this, it could be extended to be a kind of clearing-house for the industry. That is a valuable asset, whether or not a potential mentor decides to take you under his wing. If you can save other executives time and trouble by writing useful reviews of books that they do not really have time to read, you will get your name in front of people who can make a difference in your career. But the initial motivation should be highly focused: getting an interview with the potential mentor. If the mentor will give you an interview, and if you will follow up on his next batch of books, then he is much more likely to spend some time with you to help you succeed in your career.
Get ahead in the industry based on recommended books.
It is, of course, a lot easier to get a local mentor in the business to take interest in you. Take the same approach, which is to set up a website reviewing the books that he recommended. But if he has no books to recommend, then take whatever advice he will give you. You want to be in a position of asking for intellectual advice initially. Do not expect him to take you under his wing simply [to help] you get ahead in the industry. Position yourself as follows: you want to get ahead, but you want to do so based on a reading list provided by the potential mentor. This gets his ego on the line. You have to get his ego on the line.
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