The major heads-up today is that we have a live workshop next week (Tuesday, April 24 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on how to use sophisticated segmentation and automation in your email marketing — even if you have a limited budget and you’re not particularly technical.
This lets you create focused and relevant messages for your audience — without flooding their inboxes. You can sign up for the free workshop here.
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So, you may remember not that long ago — as in, last month — I was very keen on chatbots.
I got a lot of inspiration from Andrew Warner over at Mixergy, who had helped me see some things that I hadn’t understood at all about the format.
Fast forward a few weeks … and Facebook announced that they were putting all new bots on hold while they conduct a massive audit.
It turns out that having to put on a suit to testify before Congress can make a founder cautious.
It might seem awkward, but truly, in the long run (which is how I roll), it matters very little. Here’s why.
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When it comes to building an audience that builds your freelance or consulting business, email remains the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Email was the original “killer app” — everyone uses it, and that’s why it’s been the absolute best channel for digital marketing and audience building. And yes, that’s still true in 2018.
The stats don’t lie. Every $1 spent on email marketing produces $44 in return, probably because 58% of adults wake up and immediately check their email (mostly on smartphones). And email remains 40 times better at converting people than Facebook and Twitter.
But that doesn’t mean that email marketing is the same as it’s ever been in years past. In fact, this is the one area where technology gives strategic content marketers an undeniable edge.
In other words, the money is still in your email list. But things have changed.
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I get a little nervous when I advise that you should write for a specific group of people and convey your perspective.
Personal narratives can form connections with strangers almost magically, but self-indulgent writing has the opposite effect. It’s boring and a turn-off.
The tricky part is that there’s a fine line between “personal” and “self-indulgent.”
During my early days as a writer, I remember when my unbridled enthusiasm for crafting word art met that obstacle. I still meet it today, but I’ve developed skills that swiftly get me back on track when I’ve accidentally veered into self-indulgent territory.
If you’re looking to personalize your content marketing without distracting your audience, keep reading to discover seven of my favorite tips.
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We all know that creating content can be hard work.
One of our goals at Copyblogger is to help you make sure you’re putting your work into the right things, so you get results and not just a fistful of disappointment. This week, we looked at three myths and mistakes that can hold writers back — and how to move forward again.
On Monday, Stefanie Flaxman uncovered a common content error that’s led to the mass of forgettable filler we’re all bumping into today. She explains how to take a bulldozer to the weak and the generic, and find the focus that will let you create the right content for the right people.
On Tuesday, Loryn Thompson confronted one of the great myths of the writing life:
“If I had more time to write, my writing would be 100 times better.”
(And yes, I fervently buy into this myth myself a lot of the time.)
Loryn’s post encourages us to get out and live, and treat our busyness, chaos, and even stress as fodder for better work. Butt-in-chair time is important, but it’s not the only element that makes for strong writing.
And on Wednesday, I addressed a third myth, sometimes called the Field of Dreams delusion — that if we just build enough wonderful content, the audience will come.
That would be fabulous, but … it doesn’t work. It never did, at least not with any reliability.
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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about creating content that earns your audience’s attention.
Mark Schaefer swung by and left a comment — and he made a point that is dear to our hearts at Copyblogger.
“Outstanding content is not the finish line, it’s the starting line.”
– Mark Schaefer
![[52] The Simple Way to Manage Social Media for Maximum Success](https://rainmaker.fm/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/sites-052.jpg)
