Marketing tips | Writing for Your Life

24 Jun 2019

Sticky Post By Brian Allain Posted in Marketing tips, Writing tips Permalink

Trust (part 2)

Sticky Post By Brian Allain On June 24, 2019

When copies [of virtually everything can be copied] are free, you need to sell things that cannot be copied. Well, what can’t be copied?

Trust, for instance. Trust cannot be reproduced in bulk. You can’t purchase trust wholesale. You can’t download trust and store it in a database of warehouse it. You can’t simply duplicate someone else’s trust. Trust must be earned, over time. It cannot be faked. Or counterfeited (at least for long). Since we prefer to deal with someone we can trust, we will often pay a premium for that privilege. We call that branding. Brand companies can command higher prices for similar products and services from companies without brands because they are trusted for what they promise. So trust is an intangible that has increasing value in a copy-saturated world.

– Kevin Kelly “The Inevitable”

21 Jun 2019

Sticky Post By Brian Allain Posted in Marketing tips, Publishing tips, Writing tips Permalink

Flowing

Sticky Post By Brian Allain On June 21, 2019

The Internet is the world’s largest copy machine. At its most fundamental level this machine copies every action, every character, every thought we make while we ride upon it. In order to send a message from one corner of the Internet to another, the protocols of communication demand that the whole message be copied dozens of times in an ordinary day as the cycle through memory, cache, server, routers, and back. Tech companies make a lot of money selling equipment that facilitates this ceaseless copying. If something can be copied – a song, a movie, a book – and it touches the Internet, it will be copied.

– Kevin Kelly “The Inevitable”

17 Jun 2019

Sticky Post By Brian Allain Posted in Marketing tips Permalink

Moving A Blog to A Website

Sticky Post By Brian Allain On June 17, 2019

Having a blog is an important element of online success. Even with the increasing importance of social media, you still need an easily accessible repository of your rich content. And not every concept can fit into 140 characters, so having a place to point to from Twitter is certainly a nice thing to have.

In the past, a popular way to host a blog was through a blog hosting service. But now that website hosting has become so inexpensive and easy to do, many people are moving away from hosted blogs to their own website. I won’t go into all the advantages of doing this, but among them are (1) having your own domain name – an important, and portable, branding element, (2) greater flexibility in website functionality, and (3) faster adoption of new technologies, such as those providing a great experience on small-screen devices such as phones and tablets.

But is it difficult to make the transition from a hosted blog to a blog on your own website? If you’ve been using a hosted blog based on WordPress, and you want to move to a WordPress website, you are in luck. You can easily export your blog articles to a file, then upload the file to your new WordPress website. Depending upon the different themes used for the hosted blog and the new website, you may need to do some tweaking with the look and feel. But your content should be there, safe and sound!

07 Jun 2019

Sticky Post By Brian Allain Posted in Marketing tips, Writing tips Permalink

Father James Martin: “A Discussion on Spiritual Writing”

Sticky Post By Brian Allain On June 7, 2019

The Rev. James Martin is a Jesuit priest, best-selling author, and editor at large at America, the national Catholic magazine. He is arguably the leading Catholic author.

This extended interview includes topics such as how he approaches writing, how he selects book themes, how to think of your audience, his writing schedule, social media, view of the publishing landscape, working with editors and agents, his author role models, and more

62 minutes including Q&A

To view it click here

22 May 2019

Sticky Post By Brian Allain Posted in Marketing tips Permalink

An Audience That Can Be Activated – by Mark Schaefer

Sticky Post By Brian Allain On May 22, 2019

The key to assembling an audience that can be activated is to patiently build a meaningful and relevant emotional connection with them. This can occur two ways: passively or actively.

A passive emotional connection occurs when people come to know you through your content alone, typically over a long period of time. As people begin to see and enjoy your work, they progress through four phases of an emotional journey:

Awareness: They discover your content and know you exist. Perhaps 98 percent of the people who find you will move on, but a few will stick around to move to the next phase. That’s why it’s important to constantly build awareness and attract potential new fans.

Engagement: The new connections want to see more. They may click on a link, explore your website, comment on your blog, and even share your content with friends. It’s starting to become a two-way connection. They are learning about you and liking what they see.

Stable connection: New fans opt-in. They subscribe to your newsletter or follow you on Facebook, LinkedIn, or another channel. Your content is adding enough value to their lives that they want to follow your work regularly. For the first time, you may know a fan exists because they’re subscribing to you. A subscription means, “I trust you and I want to see more.”

Loyalty: Your fan not only follows you but encourages others to follow you, too. This is the elite group that’s most likely to be activated. They’ll spread your ideas, donate to your charity, or hire you to speak at an event. Your ideas and your content are becoming a part of the fabric of their lives. They can’t get enough of you.

– from “Known”

20 May 2019

Sticky Post By Brian Allain Posted in Marketing tips, Publishing tips, Writing tips Permalink

Finding Your Blue Ocean

Sticky Post By Brian Allain On May 20, 2019

In previous articles we’ve discussed the advantage of finding your own unique space in the market, which makes it easier for you to become “known” and build your following. Today I would like to share insights from another of my favorite business books on this topic – it is called “Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant”. The idea of the book is that red oceans represent all the industries in existence today, and blue oceans denote all the industries that currently do not exist. Most companies operate only in red oceans and do not know how to find blue oceans. They simply try to outperform their rivals. As it gets crowded, profits and growth are reduced.

Blue Oceans are defined by untapped market space, demand creation, and opportunity for profitable growth. Competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are yet to be set. Characteristics of blue oceans include:

They define new markets
They create a leap in value
They are the result of value innovation – when innovation is aligned with utility and price
Examples:
- Cirque du Soleil
- iTunes
- iPhone
- Starbucks

So how can you find your own blue ocean? As a spiritual writer, what leaps in value can you potentially offer? Here are some ideas:

- Insight
- Saying what others are thinking (but no one is saying)
- Dealing with pain
- Incredible writing
- Relatability
- Asking questions that others would ask too
- Edginess
- Talent not contained in a book

Where is your “blue ocean”? Feel free to contact us if you would like to work on this further.

15 May 2019

Sticky Post By Brian Allain Posted in Marketing tips, Publishing tips, Writing tips Permalink

Trust

Sticky Post By Brian Allain On May 15, 2019

Over the years, the concept of trust and how crucial it is for business success has evolved in my mind and grown in importance. The mental model I’ve chosen to use is that there are two types of trust that matter: (1) trust that someone is competent, and (2) trust that someone will do the right thing. I realize these are somewhat vague and certainly subjective qualities. But their importance cannot be underestimated. If you feel that your employee or business partner is strong in both areas, it makes all the difference in the world. If you feel otherwise, you are best off finding someone else.

More generally speaking, a high degree of trust in a company or in a society is incredibly valuable. Our culture is built on an assumption that most people are trustworthy. When that is the case, everything moves more quickly and costs less. There is less “friction” in the economy. When trust is lacking, a company or individual is forced to spend more money on protecting themselves – through lawyers, technology, physical security, contingency plans, etc.

What are you doing to foster a greater degree of trust?

14 May 2019

Sticky Post By Brian Allain Posted in Marketing tips, Writing tips Permalink

Strong Is Knowing Your Own Power and Exercising It Humbly

Sticky Post By Brian Allain On May 14, 2019

God’s grace sustains us through our beginnings and endings. Losing my mom when I was twenty felt like the end of being a daughter and the beginning of being a mother to my younger siblings—my sister and brother. I grew up very quickly in the four and a half years between my mom’s funeral and my wedding. I became more responsible for myself—and for my father and siblings as well. There is a weightiness to becoming a matriarch. So, I learned to fully embrace that I am a strong woman and a leader.

I don’t wear the “strong woman” title as a badge of honor, as if I had a blue leotard with a Superwoman emblem on my chest and a red cape flying in the wind—not anymore, anyway. I used to be the StrongBlackWoman that Chanequa Walker-Barnes describes:

[She] is the woman who constantly extends herself on behalf of others. In her intimate and family relationships, on her job, and in her church and community, she is the “go to” woman, the one upon whom others depend when they need assistance, counsel, or comfort. Driven by a deeply ingrained desire to be seen as helpful and caring, she is practically incapable of saying no to others’ requests without experiencing feelings of guilt and worthlessness. As her willingness to help repeatedly reinforces others’ tendencies to ask her for help, her very nature becomes defined by multitasking and over-commitment.

I still multitask, but I have learned to say no by establishing boundaries, setting aside the responsibilities that do not belong to me, and asking for help.

I have also learned that strong is not always the opposite of weak. Strong is knowing your own power and exercising it humbly. In his book Strong and Weak, Andy Crouch writes, “What we truly admire in human beings is not authority alone or vulnerability alone—we seek both together.” Being a strong black woman is knowing quite deeply that the two—strength and weakness, authority and vulnerability—can coexist. This knowing is often born out of much suffering and sorrow.

Strong is knowing your own power and exercising it humbly.

10 May 2019

Sticky Post By Brian Allain Posted in Marketing tips Permalink

Will My Book Launch Include a Publicity Campaign? – Jana Burson

Sticky Post By Brian Allain On May 10, 2019

So you have a publishing deal, you’ve written your book, and the next phase is working with the marketing department on the launch plans. You find yourself wondering if there will be a publicity campaign, and you want to know how the decision is made.

In an ideal world, every book release would include an in-depth publicity campaign as part of its launch marketing plan. But the reality is that every book has a budgeted number of marketing dollars, leaving the marketing team to determine the best way to allocate them based on opportunity. As a former publicity director, I’ve participated in many a meeting to help determine where the funds should be spent.

The fact is, publicity is always important, but the weight of its importance is really determined by what type of book you have. Some books naturally lend themselves to publicity driven campaigns. This means that publicity (booked media coverage or interviews) is the most effective way people are going to learn about the book. These are books with highly recognizable authors and platforms, timely topics that lend themselves to news of the day, practical tips that can be pitched in a variety of ways, or never before revealed information.

If a book doesn’t fall into one of these categories, chances are that it will get a more limited publicity campaign. This isn’t always a bad thing because it means that the team feels there is a more effective way of getting the word out about your book. Be it a strategic social media campaign, targeted online promotion and advertising or another mode, a limited publicity campaign can compliment the effort in a variety of ways.

08 May 2019

Sticky Post By Brian Allain Posted in Marketing tips Permalink

Which is more important: The content, or the person?

Sticky Post By Brian Allain On May 8, 2019

By Mark Schaefer

I lectured before a university class the other day and a student asked a great question: “When creating a personal brand, which is more important, the content, or the person creating the content?” Curiously, the answer to this may depend on where you are on your personal branding journey. Let’s dive into this today.

The human-content balance

In my book KNOWN: The handbook for building and unleashing your personal brand in the digital age, I highlight the process of consistent content creation as the key to building a personal brand. However, in my book the The Content Code (the student had read both!) I remarked that some people and organizations transcend the content. They become beloved and “known” for who they are. Both statements are true.

At the beginning of your personal branding journey, content (generally written, audio, or video) is the fuel to help you become discovered and known. But I feel strongly there must be some compelling human element to that content. To stand out today you must be original, and to be original you have no choice but to bring your own story into the picture. So as you begin your personal branding journey (or any branding journey for that matter) the focus has to be on the content, because you’re unknown.

The hands that made them

I was talking to a young woman who is a leader in the “maker movement” that is sweeping the U.S. She was talking about a certain line of crafts that she loved. I asked her why she loved the product so much. She told me how she got to meet the craftsperson one time, a bigger-than-life personality who inspires others. “I guess it’s not just about the crafts,” she said. “I love the hands that made them.” This certainly applies to content creation too.

As time goes on, I do believe it is possible for a person’s content to become a habit. There are blogs I have read for years and I will probably always read for years because I love the person behind it. That person has become part of the fabric of my life … no matter what content they produce. In The Content Code, I describe common traits of people who have become “heroic brands” who transcend content, SEO and social media. Their content gets seen and shared because of who they are:

– Honest: This was the number one trait. People are loyal to a person because they know they will never be let down.
– Congruity: The person is the same, whether you meet them in person, see them in a video, or watch them on a stage.
– Consistency: A person is prepared to do the work and stick it out.
– Originality: A heroic brand is not afraid to show who they are and what they stand for.
– Networker: People who made it to the top aren’t afraid to get help along the way.
– Servant leader: Standing out on the web begins by elevating others.

The difference is YOU

Since my book KNOWN came out, I’ve heard many, many success stories from people who are following the path in the book. In fact, it has surprised me how rapidly they are seeing progress. On average, it took the successful people featured in my book an average of 30 months for their brand to really “tip.” My theory is that there was a lot of stumbling around because there was no “roadmap.” With my book, the learning curve seems to be condensed. One of the other things I’m learning is that often, the point of differentiation isn’t the type of video you create, or how often you produce a podcast, it’s … you. Don’t overlook the fact that you may very well have a niche of one. There is nobody else like you. Nobody has your heritage, your experiences, your life. That’s interesting.

Sometimes people over-think the niche they need to fill to become the heroic brand. Maybe it’s right in front of you.