How to improve your Email marketing

Many small businesses use email marketing as it is a popular and cost effective way for small business owners to consistently engage with past, current and prospective customers. If done well, it can be quite effective. If you already engage in email marketing, here are some tips to help you improve your results and work towards achieving email marketing success. If you haven’t tried it yet, keep this information in mind to help guide you through the process.

Whether you are trying to increase click through rates (CTR) to your website or ecommerce store, increase your email open rates or boost the number of times an email is shared, there are some things to keep in mind to help you improve your approach.

Tips for Email marketing success

Deliver one clear message. Have a single focus. For instance, focus on one topic and avoid ambiguity in your email content. Having too many focuses or too much information often gets ignored and is not as effective in grabbing people’s attention.

Small Business tips for better email marketing

• Share a clear reason why subscribers should click your ‘call to action’ for instance, click on your or ‘web link’, or ‘subscribe’, or click your ‘buy now’ button.
• Don’t make your emails too long, as most people just scan for key pieces of information.
• Cut out words that may trigger spam filters, particularly in the subject line, such as, ‘free’, or ‘you are a winner’ etc. Avoid overusing exclamation marks.
• Be consistent, establish a set time and day to deliver your emails. It could be weekly, monthly, quarterly or whatever time you think works best for your audience. Try and schedule your emails so that you are consistent.
• Make your emails mobile responsive. This is such a popular medium for readers nowadays. Make sure you are not missing opportunities by not investing in making your content mobile friendly.
• Keep subject lines short and communicate something of value.
• Ensure your target audience can still read your e-mail without having to download graphics.
• Keep your copy simple and professional and focus on the benefits to the customer.
• Make sure it is easy for people to unsubscribe (opt out) of receiving your emails.
• Segment your email lists so that your messages are more relevant and targeted to your specific clients. For example, if you have a sale on women’s cosmetics, it is less effective sending a blanket email to your entire list. If you segment your list to females within a certain age range, then your email will be more effective. You can also segment by geographic region, or job title, or by buyer behaviour, depending on the sort of data that you capture about your customers.
• Track response rates and metrics from email campaigns so you that you can obtain insights into buyer behaviour and refine campaigns.
• Add links to your images, so that readers can click through to your website or store via images.
• Add social sharing buttons like Facebook. LinkedIn and Twitter to promote social sharing.

Finally make sure you preview and test your emails before sending. Do all of the links and buttons work correctly? Have email addresses and web addresses been spelt correctly? What about phone numbers? Consider split testing your emails to determine which one will perform best. Finally ensure that everything is in order before sending.

Don’t forget to track your results so that you can measure the impact of your efforts. If you need any assistance with your email marketing or any other marketing services find a marketing consultant that can help point you in the right direction and get you started.

Effie Cinanni is Founder and Director of Small Chilli Marketing, a Melbourne based consulting firm specialising in marketing and communications for small business. She is an Associate Member of the Australian Marketing Institute and a Certified Practising Marketer (CPM). She has experience across a range of industries including; IT & software, allied health, children’s services, real estate and professional services. Effie is degree qualified in Marketing & Finance and has worked in marketing and business consulting roles for over for 15 years. Her experience encompasses all facets of marketing, including strategy, planning, digital, communications, branding, event management and online.

In 2005, Stephen Colbert, in his TV show, the Colbert Report, coined the word, “truthiness.”

Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.

Truthiness can range from ignorant assertions of falsehoods to deliberate duplicity or propaganda intended to sway opinions. – Wikipedia

We know that truthiness is rampant in politics.

But it’s also rampant in marketing.

Many of us think that marketing is mostly truthiness, not real truth in any way, shape or form.

We expect hype and exaggeration, if not downright deception, when it comes to promoting products and services.

Because of this, many of us become almost immune to the majority of marketing messages.

We assume that whatever someone says about their business, product, or service must be a form of truthiness, a veiled lie that hides the real facts.

So, as an independent professional wanting to attract more clients, you are faced with a real dilemma.

You are puzzled about how you can persuasively communicate the value of your professional services given that most prospective clients will doubt almost everything you say.

Because of this, I’ve noticed that many independent professionals shy away from marketing completely.

While others chose to go to the truthiness dark side, hoping an excess of hype will carry the day.

A recent email promotion I received contained a number of over-the-top marketing promises about an online marketing program:

“You will witness a revolutionary new technology being released that will allow you as a small business owner (regardless of skill level or experience level) to… generate as many new clients as you can possibly handle.”

Would you believe that? No, it’s truthiness and hype incarnate!

And anyone who does believe it is likely a naïve, gullible person looking for miracles with little work on their part.

So how can you eschew truthiness and still market your professional services effectively?

That, as they say, is the million-dollar question!

Well, the opposite of truthiness is honesty.

And yes, it is possible to communicate the value of your services truthfully, honestly, and with integrity.

But to do that you need to watch out for certain things that can become a slippery slope in your marketing.

Truthiness Insight #1

You must realize that what you feel about something is not the same as facts about something.

“I feel that my consulting services dramatically increase my clients’ productivity.”

OK, that’s nice, but by what objective measure are you determining the actual effectiveness of your professional services?

How about doing some measuring instead, such as before and after metrics?

When you have actual proof of what happens before and after, your credibility increases, as does your own confidence in your services.

The best marketing outlines real benefits and advantages based on facts, not hope.

Truthiness Insight #2

It’s not unusual to see client testimonials about how great it was to work with someone.

That’s nice and it’s certainly positive, but it’s not as powerful as reports of real changes.

“I lost 20 pounds in four months working with Ralph on both my diet and exercise program. He really supported me during the challenging times and helped me develop positive new habits that have stuck with me for the past year.”

This certainly trumps something like: “Ralph is a wonderful health coach who I trust with my life. You should definitely consider working with him.”

We often hear about the importance of getting testimonials. However, better to focus on getting solid results for your clients and then getting the testimonials will be easy.

Truthiness Insight #3

When you always speak in superlatives about your services, you again undermine your credibility.

Remember, people are skeptical and understandably so. So many promises made by marketers end in disappointment.

Better to actually talk about some of the drawbacks of your services than paint a completely unrealistic picture of “success without effort.”

I make it a point of telling all my prospective clients that if they engage me it will take a lot of work on their part to get out there and attract new clients.

They appreciate that I’m realistic and don’t sugarcoat things.

But believe me, in the past I’ve been less than realistic and it hasn’t turned out well for me!

We need to turn off the hype and get real. When we do, we tend to build more trust and confidence with our clients.

Truthiness Insight #4

We live in a sound-bite world.

Sound bites are important, as they are effective at getting attention and interest for our services.

But is there depth beyond the sound-bite? If not, you’re going to come across as shallow and insubstantial.

I once attended a public speaking course that stated: “You should know 30 times more than what you say in your presentation.”

That’s what real professionalism is about: deep knowledge, understanding, and experience in your field.

As they say, “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”

This is the motto of the truthiness practitioner and ultimately won’t bode well for your long-term success.

Truthiness Insight #5

One of the hallmarks of truthiness and hype is ever-changing marketing messages.

You think, “Heck, if one message isn’t working, I’ll try another until something sticks.” But you pay little attention to the validity and authenticity of the message.

A message that is clever, catchy, or over-the-top may get attention, but undermine your professional image.

Your message needs to be interesting and believable.

It should make people think, not insult their intelligence.

Take some serious time to work on your marketing messages. Run them past your current clients and get their reaction.

Others will notice truthiness and hype before you do.

But you’ll know you’re on track if they say, “yes, that really hits the nail on the head; that’s the reason I decided to work with you.”

Start banishing truthiness and hype from your marketing.

Not only will you build trust with your clients, you’ll start to attract more of the right clients, clients who are looking for a professional who walks their talk.

As a start-up consultant I often find myself putting in a little extra effort when it comes to getting the ball rolling. Why, you ask? It’s simple, start-ups only succeed when everyone gives 110% and sometimes even that isn’t enough.

Anyway, let me tell you of a rather enlightening experience I recently had when helping a new company with their grass-roots marketing campaign. First we sat the team down and explained how we were going to do some cold-calling; phone, person-to-person meetings. Really getting out there and going for it, leaving no stone unturned.

The startup company I am helping with is a B2B company, so we started gathering lists of businesses of certain types. We went to the local chambers of commerce and grabbed their printed directories, we used the old phone books, and googled the crap out of all possible categories within our target market. We went to online directory websites 300 Google pages deep, and since we were after easy low-hanging fruit, we even went to Google maps to find home-based businesses in our specified target business categories.

What we found was quite alarming, although not all too surprising in hindsight.

When it came to the websites listed on Google which were more or less directory type websites, it became obvious that the information was next to worthless – even those on the first few pages of a search. Most all phone numbers were disconnected, out of service, or now belonged to someone else who had no idea what on Earth we were talking about and never heard of the company we asked for – I am talking nearly 75%.

When we went to the actual addresses of businesses listed on Google Maps in various cities we found apartment buildings with new tenants, we found unoccupied homes for sale, and we found some addresses to not even exist. When we did find someone, they often said they didn’t do that anymore, or a renter they had did, but moved. Sometimes it was a former spouse, now divorced who had moved out.

How were the local Chamber of Commerce printed directories? Well, a little better actually, but not anything close to reliable, at least a quarter of the companies no longer existed and remember this is within one-year, as the directories are generally printed annually at Chambers of Commerce. How was the phone book? Well, the phone books were about the same, only a little worse than the Chambers’ publications – and I guess that makes sense? What a waste of money for those companies that advertised?

Moral of the Story?

You cannot trust the data online, you cannot trust the printed data, and you sure as hell can’t trust online directory websites which are produced for the best SEO results, but never monitored, pruned or updated.

So what’s my advice? Don’t waste your time running around, mailing out brochures, or paying a team of sales people to knock on doors unless you know for a fact that your information is updated and accurate. I advise to buy lists; contact names, email addresses, phone numbers from competent data vendors who are constantly updating their lists. My advice to Google is simple, ‘get your shet together Google’ and stop promoting bogus websites to first few pages. To all of you startups doing business out there – think on this.

This week I launched my brand new website: actionplan.club

Over the last 20 years, I’ve designed and launched a total of seven different versions of my site.

In the process, I’ve learned a number of things, made a lot of mistakes and gained some wisdom about how to make a website serve your business and help you attract more clients.

Today, I’d like to share a summary of those insights.

A client-attracting tool

That’s ultimately what a website is. It’s not a monument to your ego or something beautiful to look at (although there’s nothing wrong with a visually attractive website).

For independent professionals, a website needs to explain to your prospective clients why you’re the person to help them with their particular issues and challenges.

A Lead-gathering tool

When someone visits your website, they should be inspired to take some sort of action right on the spot – otherwise, the chances of them ever visiting your site again are immensely low.

And that’s why I believe the most important part of your site is its ability to build an opt-in email list. If you don’t have a list, it’s like having a wonderful car with no gas in the tank.

Virtually all my business over the past 20 years has come from email promotions to those who joined the list on my website. When you don’t have a list, you severely limit your marketing possibilities.

Make opt-ins obvious

I can’t tell you how many clients have shown me their website with a tiny little opt-in box that says, “Please join my list,” or some other tepid appeal. And they wonder why they have a tiny e-list.

Fewer people want to join lists these days. We already have too much email in your in-boxes. But if you give away some substantial value, many will still opt-in to get it and join your e-list in the process.

Your opt-in box should be attractively designed and attention getting. And you should use various two-step opt-ins throughout your site. They are like little ads that say, in effect, “Go here and get my valuable free stuff,” which directs them to your sign-up page. Free Stuff – www actionplan.club /free-stuff

Simple navigation – in-depth content

The biggest change I made in my new website was to dramatically simplify my navigation. My old site had links to so many pages that it become overwhelming to navigate.

But I still have in-depth pages that describe my services. These are the main pages I want my prospects to visit, that explain in detail how I help my clients. Not everyone will read long copy but serious prospects will read much more than you think. Programs (link)

Publish a Blog

For 20 years, I’ve sent out my email newsletter to thousands of subscribers. With my previous website (since Jan 2011) I took the weekly ezine article and also posted it as a blog. Why? Because blog posts are indexed by Google and after seven years I have 355 blog posts on the web, all pointing back to my site. Blog page – www actionplan.club/ blog

People ask how I’m able to write a new article every single week. My answer is stupidly simple: I make Mondays the day I write my ezine/blog article and it’s usually the first thing I write Monday mornings, even before I check my email. Now it’s become a habit that comes easily and naturally.

Development Tips

Use WordPress. It took me a long time to make the transition as I’d invested a huge amount of time and money on the previous site. But you can do almost anything you want on a WordPress site with easily installable plugins. It’s knocking my socks off!

Hire a designer. The average independent professional is not a terrible writer. But most are hopeless designers. If you design it yourself, you’ll probably love it, but you may be the only one!

It’s worth the relatively small one-time investment to get a design that will make your site look both attractive and professional.

Hire a WordPress developer. Setting up a WordPress site is tricky technically. My developer understands every little bit of code that makes it run smoothly. Get someone who says, “no, problem, I can do that!”

By the way, sometimes a designer and developer are one and the same person, but these are very different skill sets and few people can do both well.

Learn WordPress basics. Once your site has been designed and developed, you need to learn how to edit and adjust it yourself. A short tutorial from your developer will give you what you need. Make sure they build that into the fee for your development.

Design Tips

Larger fonts (typeface). These days, computer monitors are bigger than ever. So, small fonts get buried.

Readable type. Don’t make your type so light that it’s a strain to read. I recently looked at an associate’s website and it was literally unreadable because his small, thin typeface was also light grey. It looked cool, but I couldn’t get through one paragraph.

Color scheme. Keep your font colors to black or dark gray, for readability, and then have two main colors for page headlines and subheads. Too many colors detract from the overall look and feel.

And by the way, reverse type or light-colored type on a dark background, are almost always a no-no. It’s not good for readability.

Also, I highly recommend using text bolding to make your key ideas pop out – but only on first sentences of paragraphs. Too much bolding can make it harder, rather than easier, to read.

White space. Text needs space to breathe. Remember, it’s all about readability. So have ample left and right page margins (about 25% of the total width of your pages), space between paragraphs, and paragraphs no longer than five lines.

Also, side columns that contain other content make your main column of text narrower, hence more readable.

Graphics. Various pictures and photos on a web page not only make it attractive, they increase readability. For instance, I like breaking up text on long sales letters with high-quality photos of independent professionals.

The site of a colleague uses beautiful pictures from nature. It really depends on your business and identity.

Remember, there is no perfect way a website should look. The primary considerations are attractiveness and highly readable text.

Web Content

I’ve written about this extensively in the past and even developed a program on this (the Website Toolkit). Ultimately, this is the most important part of your site – what you say and how you say it.

One of my favorite marketing quotes: “Write when drunk, edit when sober. Marketing is the hangover.”

If not drunk, write with passion and abandon. Then go back and tone it down a bit.

Content Flow. Most of us can write coherent sentences, but what style or approach works best for writing website content?

I use an approach called, “Marketing Syntax,” where I put ideas in a certain order or syntax. This can be used for your Home page, About page, and Services pages (which are the most important pages on your site).

The content flow goes like this:

1. Who – A section on who your ideal clients are.

2. Problem – A section on the problems and challenges your prospective clients are experiencing.

3. Desire – What your clients would like to have if they could resolve their problems and challenge.

4. Solution – The actual results you are able to deliver to your clients that fulfill their desires.

5. Credibility – Why you are uniquely qualified and experienced to help your clients.

6. Call-to-Action – What the prospective client should do next to find out more or to meet with you.

What about the process of what you do? Unfortunately, too many websites go too deeply down the “process rabbit hole” where they explain too much about how they do what they do.

Prospective clients are more interested in the results they get from your services and if you’re the right person to help them. Of course, at the end of sales letters (services pages), you can outline a little of the structure of how you work.

This is hardly an advanced course on writing for websites (the Website Toolkit is), but it’s a reliable and simple framework for writing copy that your prospective clients will relate and respond to.

Finally, I highly recommend you hire a proofreader/editor who will undoubtedly find a number of typos, grammatical mistakes, and poorly expressed ideas. It’s worth it if you are to make a professional impression.

Today’s article is the second in a multi-part series on making more money in your business.

The main reason I’m writing this series on making more money is that, in my experience, most independent professionals are simply undercharging for their services.

Last week I talked about how limiting beliefs about money may be holding you back.

This week, I’m going to talk about how to change the way you think about charging for your services.

Your services are not a commodity

If you’re a commodity, your clients will think about the fees you charge and how they can get the lowest fees possible.

They’ll think your services are like everyone else’s.

Buying your services is not like buying rice, steel, or heating oil. You can always find a lower price somewhere and get more or less the same commodity.

But if you’re a consultant, coach, trainer, financial planner, or another professional, your focus can’t be on your fees, but on the results you produce for your clients.

Think of some of the results you’ve achieved for your clients. Didn’t they make a huge difference in your clients’ lives and businesses?

Many of my clients have increased their incomes by tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of the work they’ve done with me.

And I’m sure it’s the same with you.

And if your services don’t result in a monetary return, they bring other rewards that are often even more significant: big gains in confidence, fulfillment, and relationships.

Your services can change the lives of your clients. They are not a commodity.

This is the way I try to think about it:

If a client is looking for your help, forget completely about your fees and figure out what service you would ideally provide to help that client achieve the desired result.

And then ask the client what the value of that service would be to them.

Then charge that amount.

No, you won’t always get that project, but in many cases you will because you are so confident of the results you’ll produce.

This is just the opposite of what many independent professionals do.

They first wonder what the client can afford, and then create a package of services that will meet the client’s budget, not thinking enough of the ultimate results.

Then they end up working like a dog, resenting that they made so little money for so much work and often not achieving the best results possible. Sound familiar?

Time to get paid what you’re worth!

Alan Weiss, the Million Dollar Consultant, calls this “value pricing.”

Ultimately you determine the value to the client and then charge for that value (and then deliver on it).

When I learned this principle many years ago, I had a prospective client contact me with the task of finding a title for his book.

We talked and explored the value to him. It would make all the difference to have the right title. He wanted a title that accurately reflected the essence of the book. And he needed it quickly.

I also realized that if I charged a low fee he probably wouldn’t appreciate the work that went into coming up with a good title and might get stuck in the loop of asking others for their opinion and get nowhere.

So I charged him $2,500 (this was almost 20 years ago).

Ultimately, I got the project and did a lot of in-depth work to determine the most appropriate title.

I came up with just one title name. He loved it and used it for the book. He got the value he paid for.

In fact, he got even more value as I also gave him a lot of input about the contents of the book.

In a practice known as the “baker’s dozen” a baker throws in an extra muffin or cinnamon roll when you buy 12.

We all love to receive some kind of bonus when we buy a product. But we tend to underestimate how powerful this tool can be to increasing sales.

When my wife and I bought new windows for our living room last year, the contractor added a free window when we also purchased windows for the bedroom (which we hadn’t even considered ordering).

A bonus can often both clinch the deal and increase the amount of the sale.

And yes, professional service businesses can offer bonuses and special offers, just as a product-based business can.

Here are a few examples.

Add a bonus for a larger sale

Let’s say you have a 6-month coaching program with a fixed fee. If that is your only option, it’s a yes or no proposition.

But what if you also offered a nine-month program for the same monthly fee but added a bonus? The bonus might be a virtual training program or access to an online forum.

This bonus might cost you very little but add substantial value to the client while also increasing your revenue.

In addition, by offering a second service package you then have a choice of ‘yeses,’ not a choice between yes and no. So, the chances of a prospect saying yes increases substantially.

Also, note that if you don’t offer a higher-end service you will never sell that service.

Add a bonus for choosing you sooner

We’re all faced with the situation where the prospective client says, “I need to think about it.”

That is certainly valid, but it’s also equally valid to reward a prospect for signing up for your service sooner rather than later.

I don’t like any kind of high-pressure sales tactics, but have no objection to offering a little more incentive for taking action quickly.

“If you choose to work with me within one week of receiving the proposal I’ll offer a complimentary one-day training session.”

Whatever bonus or incentive you offer, it should be perceived as a significant value to the prospect. Just this little nudge will often get a prospect to make a decision faster than usual.

And the faster clients decide to work with you, the more income you tend to make.

Add a bonus for a referral

When I ask people where most of their business comes from, a majority say, “word-of-mouth.” But I have yet to meet anyone who has a plan to increase word-of-mouth other than offering exceptional service.

Why not reward word-of-mouth referrals by offering a bonus?

You could say something like this: “Because I build my business on word-of-mouth I offer a client bonus if you send someone my way who becomes a new client.”

This bonus would vary, depending on the service you offer. It could be a free coaching session, a discount on services for a month or an additional service.

Some clients will do nothing, but others will introduce you to many new clients.

A little more value

Never underestimate the power of a special offer, a discount or bonus in return for buying more, buying sooner or giving you a referral.

And interestingly, when you offer more value in this way, you also tend to increase client loyalty and word-of-mouth. Everyone likes a good deal and will often share what a good deal they received with others.

Gay Hendricks, in his book, The Big Leap, says one’s Genius Zone is, “the set of activities you are uniquely suited to do… that draw on your special gifts and strengths.”

The formula, according to Hendricks, for discovering our own Genius Zone is to answer the following four simple, but powerful questions:

Question 1 – What do I most love to do?

Question 2 – What work do I do that doesn’t seem like work?

Question 3 – In my work, what produces the highest ratio of abundance and satisfaction to amount of time spent?

Question 4 – What is my unique ability?

So, after a little thinking and head scratching I came up with the following statement about my Genius Zone:

“I love to write articles, letters, presentations, models, plans, and strategies about important and complex concepts and make them easy to understand and share with others.”

Last Wednesday morning, almost immediately after answering those four questions, I felt amazingly energized and took the rest of the day to write the complete outline for a new marketing program.

That was definitely me in my Genius Zone! The work was productive, easy, fun, energizing, and fulfilling. (That’s when you know you’re in the zone.)

The question is, “How can I maintain and live in this zone?”

I routinely write an article every Monday, but I can’t write all day every day, can I? There are a lot of other things I need to do in my business and life that aren’t necessarily “Genius Zone activities,” right?

Even if we discover our Genius Zones – where we’re tapping into to our highest potential and making the biggest difference – how can anyone possibly maintain that level of intensity?

Aren’t we going to ultimately slip back into our comfort zones?

So I continued with Hendricks’ book to learn what he suggested once we’d identified our Genius Zone.

But I gotta tell you, I was severely disappointed.

He’s come up with what he calls the “Universal Success Mantra” which is nothing more than a rather hokey affirmation.

Pardon my skepticism, but the idea of discovering and working from your Genius Zone truly is genius, but a Success Mantra is most definitely not.

I learned recently that the key to developing positive habits has very little to do with affirmations, positive thinking, or studying motivational ideas. Research studies* on this issue have shown these have very little impact on creating lasting change.

And even if it did work, how many people will take on the practice of reciting an affirmation all day long until its message permeates our subconscious?

Sorry, to say, but the answer is “damn few.”

The good news is that research has shown exactly what it does take to establish a new positive habit. And it’s so simple that most people have missed or disregarded it.

I’ve been proving it in my life over the past month. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I go to the gym and work out.

After resisting any form of exercise for a very… long… time, I finally did three simple things:

1. I made a plan to go to the gym and work out three times a week, 2. I made a promise to someone else I that I’d do it and, 3. I put it on my calendar.

That’s it. That’s the great secret to establishing a new habit. You can dump the motivational books and affirmations.

And as I result, I’m stronger, more flexible, have less pain in my back, and sleep better – with just three hours of exercise a week.

So, back to my original question: How do I stay in my Genius Zone?

The answer is, “I don’t.”

And to try is an exercise in futility. It would be like trying to work out at the gym all day, every day. I couldn’t, it wouldn’t work and it isn’t necessary.

What I can most definitely do, however, is take some actions that are in my Genius Zone every single day. I can plan for this, make a promise, and put it on my calendar. That’s doable.

I can do a little writing, strategizing, and planning every day. And my experience has shown that when I do this, it affects my day-to-day attitude, just as exercise affects my daily health and vitality.

Now, I don’t know what your Genius Zone is.

Answer the questions at the top of this article and discover for yourself. It can be a wonderful and liberating discovery that can lead you to the path you were meant to follow.

Other than substance abuse, what is the most destructive habit or addiction?

I would argue that since mid 2015 the top destructive addictive habit for many Amercians has been following national political news.

And I’m not just throwing around the word addiction casually. According to the American Society of Addictive Medicine:

“Addiction is characterized by an inability to consistently abstain (from a substance), impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response.”

Are you addicted to national political news?

Here are a few telltale signs:

If you don’t read, listen to, or watch some political news every day, you feel anxious and deprived.

Political news draws your immediate attention and it’s hard to pull yourself away.

You can spend hours reading, listening to or watching political news, even if there’s a lot of repetition.

Your involvement in political news takes you away from more productive and rewarding life activities (not to mention moving your business and marketing forward).

You can find many thoughtful articles on political news addiction online, Just Google: “political news addiction” and read a few.

Here’s my perspective, and it’s a very personal one.

As a political news addict myself for the past three years, I’ve seen the costs, and I’d like to share what I’m doing to combat this addiction – and how I’m substituting it for something more inspiring.

Step 1. My first step about two years ago was to cut my cable TV subscription. I was watching as many as three hours of political news shows every evening. It was becoming toxic.

I substituted cable TV with subscriptions to Amazon Prime, Netflix, Acorn, and CBS All-Access. My wife and I now watch quality programming on our time schedule with no commercials and zero political shows. (Yeah, even this is a little addictive, but much less toxic.)

It can be challenging to eliminate CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc. but in a week or two you’ll notice a big difference in your well-being.

Step 2. More insidious perhaps, is the preponderance of political news online. On my iPad I had bookmarks to 12 different political websites, and would scan through them daily, reading the most current articles – sometimes for-hours-on-end.

Ultimately, this wasn’t much better than watching TV. I’d often read several articles before I started work each morning. What a downer, and what a great way to suppress my creativity and productivity. It was really starting to show.

With the help of a coach, I chose a new online activity to substitute for reading political news articles.

It was a simple and easy switch, actually. I replaced all my political bookmarks to links to articles and information that inspires and uplifts me and helps me feel more creative, and productive.

Of course, there are endless sources for material like this online, but I have two that I find to be especially potent antidotes to political news addiction.

Medium.com – For me, Medium is the best place for general interest articles, with tons of great ideas on personal growth and business.

My favorite current Medium writer is James Clear who writes on: “… topics like health, happiness, creativity, productivity, success and more. The central question that drives my work is, ‘How can we live better?’ To answer that question, I like to write about science-based ways to solve practical problems.”

In my estimation, his articles are tremendously insightful and always leave me pondering new and exciting possibilities.

Right now, my main substitute to checking political headlines every morning is to read one or two James Clear articles – even before I get up. Before long, my brain has clicked into “creative productivity mode” and my day takes a more positive, energetic shape.

If James Clear, doesn’t float your boat, just use the search function on Medium to find articles on any topic under the sun. Just avoid the political ones! (However, even on that topic, you’ll find more interesting, thought-provoking articles than on most news sites.)

This certainly beats, the, “Oh, crap, what are they doing now, we’re all screwed!” mindset that is generated by reading political articles that tend to quash creativity and productivity.

Another great source for inspiration are Ted-Talk videos. Most are under 20 minutes; all are thought provoking, and many are inspiring enough to trigger new ideas and possibilities. You might start with the 25 All-Time Most Popular Ted Talks.

Political news addiction is real. And if you have it, it’s damaging you in some way, either subtly or obviously. And the best way to change an addictive habit is to replace it with a positive one. I urge you to give this approach an honest try.

Being self-employed isn’t easy.

Not only do you have to develop, market, and deliver professional services at a very high level, you also need to accomplish all of this in relative isolation.

The majority of self-employed consultants, coaches, and trainers run their businesses from a home office (often a spare bedroom). And although this saves on overhead and eliminates the headaches of commuting, it can be lonely, de-motivating, and discouraging – especially when business is challenging.

Making matters worse, a large percentage of self-employed professionals are introverts. John Feldman, in an article in Forbes Magazine says, “Spontaneous conversation and self-promotion are typically not areas in which introverts excel.”

So even though we introverts prefer working alone and charting our own fiercely independent path, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to “get out there” and put our business messages in front of prospective clients. Maybe I make it look easy, but it’s not.

In the early years of my business, I did a lot of networking and speaking out of necessity. I wasn’t the greatest at it, but ultimately found a way to make it work for me.

Then I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right information that allowed me to grow my email list and put an emphasis on promoting my business online.

In 2002 I literally “moved to the woods” in Boulder Creek, California (90 minutes south of San Francisco) where I’ve been happily running my business for the past 16 years.

I rarely travel anywhere for business and meet all my clients by phone or video conference. And email is my preferred communication medium. A perfect set-up for an introvert like me.

However, I’ve tried not to hold this up as some kind of ideal business model for self-employed people. If you haven’t built a big email list or if your clients are in large companies and aren’t looking for you online (as I discussed in my ezine of last week ), then you have to work with what you’ve got – and that can be quite challenging.

Let’s look at the pros and cons of your self-employed situation:

What do you have going for you?

• You have a high degree of technical expertise in your field. Check.

• You do great work for your clients. Check.

• You’re creative and innovative. Check.

• You’re committed to making a difference. Check.

• You’re a sincere and authentic person. Check.

What’s working against you?

• You may be somewhat introverted, not so much a people person.

• You don’t love getting out there, meeting people and networking.

• You are not very comfortable at giving live presentations.

• You’re reluctant at ‘tooting your own horn.”

• You do not solicit much support or advice from others.

This last one may be the most important issue. All those other issues make marketing yourself challenging, but if you’re trying to do everything by yourself it’s even more difficult.

In an article by Andy Mort, he shares something very telling: “I am an introvert. That means that when I’m feeling down, chances are that I won’t actually go to you for help. In fact, I won’t go to anyone for help. You’ll have to actually check on me. I don’t feel that I should burden others with my problems, but if you come to me, I might just trust you enough to let you help.”

In the article, he outlines eight reasons introverts don’t ask for help. It might be fear of rejection, not wanting to be burdensome, fear of losing control, or a belief in self-reliance.

The thing we forget that as imperfect humans, we all have challenges and that we all need support. And the more we learn how to take advantage of support, the better things will go for us.

I’m not sure where I’d be in my business if I hadn’t been in numerous business support and mastermind groups over the years. And I’ve also hired coaches to help give me perspective and insight into my situation.

ChatBot Digital Marketing which makes use of Artificial Intelligence technologies can be used a key component in any company’s marketing strategy in terms of guiding customers through a marketing sales funnel. The marketing funnel that would be programmed into the AI ChatBot would be defined in relation to the products and services being offered into the market place from the company in question. Implementation of the particular social media digital marketing strategy may well be devised by a full service digital marketing agency.

When it comes to effective digital marketing strategy development and subsequent execution that requires marketing research, strategy formulation, content planning, linking strategy and the publication of the content in question. In addition to the above, careful posting on relevant content portals and blogs in necessary in order to expand the digital marketing footprint of the company as well as developing the equity of the brand.

The point being made is that publishing content on its own is not enough; there has to be a key focus on that of promoting the company and that of building the business’s brand. If the company chooses to take care of the content marketing in house as opposed to making use of a digital marketing agency then all of the necessary software and keyword analysis tools will need to be purchased and subscribed to in order to be able to determine the correct direction that needs to be taken for maximum social media marketing effectiveness.

So bearing in mind that the content itself is not the main issue per se, we can turn our attention to the strategic use of how companies are using chatbots for marketing – the content will be created and published strategically on portals, blogs, websites and via social media channels then in turn users make their way to the company website where they interact with the artificial intelligence chatbots in order to implement the business’ digital marketing strategies.

From the various social media marketing channels that may be used to publish related company content; along with the [say] the company blog and other authority blogs. Remembering that there will be associated links within each piece of content – in turn users are directed to the company website which will lead to the strategic AI chatbot with all of the associated calls to action coming into play.

The activation of the AI ChatBot and interaction with the customer and associated data that will be collected will in turn provide valuable marketing intelligence for the company in question. This could be in the form of questions asked by the ChatBot which carefully guides prospects through a defined marketing or customer support process.