Making life easier and more geeky all the time! Awesome!

virtual summit tech

Creating Big Events through Small Details: Why Virtual Summits are the New Webinars with Jaime Slutzky (AoL 076)

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As a creative, one of the biggest ways to get your name out on the web these days are through is through webinars.

You show up, give your presentation on your topic, and then, if everything goes right, you’ll soon see people signing up for your newsletter or, better yet, buying from you.

However, in a world where there are those of us who haven’t made a name for ourselves, or simply want to have a large event, a solo webinar might not be the best choice for you to promote your services or products.

That’s where virtual summits come in.

Like a conference, a virtual summit is a collection of speakers discussing one topic.

But unlike a conference, you can host it on the web like a webinar. Which is great! Virtually no overhead and no one has to travel to receive the information.

In my chat with Jaime Slutzky, founder of Virtual Summits Tech, we discuss more about the topic of virtual summits, how she got into helping people with them, and some of the keys that will make your next one a success.

As always, thanks for listening, and enjoy the show!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How Jaime got started in Computer Science as her major. 7:28
  • What got her interested in being in web design? 11:51
  • What made her pull the trigger to kick her corporate job? 14:00
  • How did her immediate circle of influence take the news she was leaving her corporate job? 15:19
  • Where did her first clients come from? 16:50
  • What early hurdles did Jaime overcome in starting her business? 21:09
  • What is a virtual summit? 26:08
  • Why would someone host a virtual summit vs hosting their own webinar? 27:31
  • What are some of the key parts to having a successful virtual summit? 28:48
  • How exactly does Jaime help her clients with their virtual summits? 32:01
  • How does someone find the right kind of guests for a virtual summit? 37:46
  • What’s Jaime looking forward to helping people with in 2017? 41:34
  • Who are three influencers in Jaime’s career? 44:05
  • One gift she likes giving others 45:01
  • What would she do tomorrow if woke up as the 10 year old version of herself with her memories intact? 46:53
  • What is one thing all high school students must know? 48:59
  • How can someone be a difference maker in their community? 49:54
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Create PayPal Link to Use Inside Emails:

Shared Website Hosting:

Updating WordPress to Keep Your Site Secure:

Session 38 of Copy that Pops Podcast with Laura Petersen:

virtual summit tech
virtual summit tech
virtual summit tech

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

digital marketing strategist

4 Important Beliefs a Digital Marketing Strategist Has About Their Craft

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For those of us who are actively trying to figure out how to get our work out into the world, we know that the way to do that is through digital marketing.

Digital marketing simply means building awareness of what you’re doing through internet.

Nothing more.

You’re not asking for a sale – you’re just simply building awareness.

Marketing is not sales.

Let me repeat that.

Marketing is not sales.

As you probably know, digital marketing is all about creating content. For example, this post is a form of digital marketing because you, the reader, get to see what I know as the writer.

But, as you know, there’s good and bad ways to approach digital marketing.

In this post, I’ll be sharing with you what I’ve learned about digital marketing and how you should approach it. That way you can become the next awesome digital marketing strategist.

 

“Buy Here” Digital Marketing Doesn’t Work

The way that digital marketing is today, there’s a lot of noise out there. There’s a lot of companies that simply are using their blog, their website, or their social media accounts to shout “buy here!!!”.

It’s understandable. I mean, take Twitter for example. You really can’t fit complex thoughts, messages, and meaningful conversations into 140 characters at a time.

Perhaps you can chain a few messages together on there, but doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?

Then, you look at Facebook. A whole nother beast in itself.

The Facebook algorithm basically decides what you’re going to see based on what you’ve liked in the past.

Because of that, you are segregated into a different silo and echo chamber on there than say, your best friend. (Maria’s feed is hugely different than mine.)

It’s kind of like that anywhere you look online these days. Every person is split into a silo of content which is tailored to them.

If you have no idea what you’re doing in marketing via social media, it totally makes sense why it would seem that sending out a message of “BUY HERE!” is the best way to get people’s attention. It’s to the point and it seems like what most marketers are doing to cut through the walls and clutter.

But it isn’t.

Why is that?

 

1. Digital Marketing Should Be Considered an Art (Because It Is)

Personally I like using platforms that aren’t all up in your face. While there’s a lot of video online these days, I can’t say that I personally pay attention to everything that comes across my newsfeed. In fact, I’ve always had this feeling that if I’m forced content too rapidly, I might choose to ignore it all together.

Personally, I’ve always been more of a fan of evergreen content. This includes movies that stand up to time. I’ve been a fan of TV shows that people actually put time and production into. I guess that’s one of the reason why I’ve been a fan of Star Trek vs say any given reality show.

Heck, even when it comes to video games – I’m so much more about quality than quantity.

I could care less about today’s Candy Crush. Give me a good RTS like Halo Wars and I’ll play that for 8 years straight (which I have).

This being the case, I know that not everyone likes what I like. Just like we’re drawn to different types of content, there’s a good chance that we’re all drawn to different kinds of marketing.

So, let me ask you, does your digital marketing express your preferred content? If not, why doesn’t it? It’s your art after all!

Also, are you putting it out there in a way that jives with the social media that you’re using to share it?

Here’s a short speech summary of Gary V’s book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook:

2. Great Digital Marketing Is Inspiring

Because of my tastes, I have a certain expectation of what good is.

As a creator, there’s a point in your own development where your ability doesn’t necessarily meet your tastes.

Ira Glass calls this The Gap:

If that video doesn’t inspire you as a creator, then I don’t know what will.

And truth be told, it makes a great piece of marketing. My first question that I asked when seeing this video was “Who is Ira Glass?”.

This speech and this video, are pieces of marketing for Ira Glass as well as the artist that made the video – Daniel Sax. You realize that Ira is the man behind the words, but Daniel is actually pretty good at what he does as well!

So, question 2: does your digital marketing inspire others? Remember, it doesn’t have to be as in depth as this video – it can be as simple as quote images in Instagram.

 

3. Your Digital Marketing (Your Art) Needs to Create Raving Fans

There’s a lot of people that want to impact as many people as they can with their work.

You might hear people say they want to inspire millions of people. Get millions of views on YouTube. That’s great for a metric, or if you’re an entertainer, I suppose.

But if you’re wanting to really make an impact on people, then I’m not sure how you’re really going to be able to do that yourself – unless you have a an army that will help you.

I’ve heard that 1000 True Fans is the secret.

But even 1000 fans seems like a huge number. How do you tackle that?

By impacting 10, 20, 100 on your own. Those people will then go out and help you build that army for you.

And at a personal level, I’m not interested in getting myself out to millions of people on a superficial shallow basis.

If I can personally impact a couple hundred if not a couple thousand folks, I’m totally up for that.

How about you? Does your media marketing have a deep impact with just a few people? Are you creating it just for them or are you creating it for everyone?

If you’re creating it for everyone, maybe you might have better results if you focused on just a handful of folks?

 

4. Your Digital Marketing Should be About Monetization

Again, there’s a lot of ways that we can all screw up our content. We can screw up on all the above. But if we’re going to make a living on our work, our marketing needs to be about monetization too.

I mean, you can go hungry while delivering your message if you want – but why if people are willing to help you foot the bill to keep creating?

What exactly does that mean if we can’t say “BUY HERE!!” in our messaging?

Well, it simply means that you have to know how to get people into your sales funnels.

You have to learn how to move them away from Facebook or Twitter to your site – to get their email, to give them value (for free) and eventually give them the opportunity to buy from you.

If they’re not ready yet, no big deal, if they like your stuff enough, they’ll eventually find a way to give you value in some way – even if it’s simply telling other people about you!

 

Action Steps

So now that you have these 4 ways of building better content and hopefully better fans, I’d be interested to hear if any of it sounds like it’s something you’ve been missing out on.

Were you not making something you liked as content? Maybe you were using Facebook like Twitter – #hashtags everywhere!!

I’d love to hear if this changed your perspective on something or how it will help you out in the future below.

 

free cloud services

Working with Others Online: 3 Free Cloud Services You Can Use to be More Efficient

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Recently I’ve been doing a lot of work planning and collaborating with others. Whether it’s my usual recording of the podcast or simply working on docs together, I’ve been using free cloud services to get it done. One type of those I want to discuss in this post are file sharing services.

I’m sure, if you’re an online creative, you’ve probably at least heard of them. And you probably know they come with premium upgrades you can subscribe to get more perks.

If done right, you can use the free versions of these programs to do most of what you want to do.

From moving large files like video and audio to being able to work on documents together at the same time, you can do it all without having to pay a penny to get it done.

 

Reasons to Use Cloud Based File Sharing Services:

Not familiar with cloud based file sharing services? Here are some quick reasons why you might consider using them:

Mobility

Like the idea of having your files available anywhere you go? With these services, all you have to do is upload it to the server on your laptop or desktop, and you’ll have access to it anywhere. That could really be useful if you want to show someone something at an event you might find yourself at.

 

Syncing Abilities

All of the apps I use come with applications that I can install on my computers to allow me to sync whatever I upload from one computer to sync to a folder on another. This is great if you want to get a bit more done on sometime that you were doing on your desktop and needed to pick up again on your laptop.

For me, it might be that I’m working on a podcast and still need to edit parts of it as I’m traveling. Perhaps I need to still work on the cover art or upload it when I have it fully ready. Being able to put incomplete work up on the cloud and sync it among different machines is really useful.

Share Documents Easy

Perhaps you want to collaborate on a document with someone else. Sure, you could email it back and forth, but eventually you might end up with 5 different copies of the same document at different levels of completion.

Why do that when you can just make a document on Google Docs, share it with the other person’s Gmail account, and then work on it via the cloud?

Also, you don’t have to wait until they’re done with the work on their end! You can work on it together at the same time. For many, that’s a game changer in itself!

Keep Your Documents Safe

Another perk about using cloud storage is the simple fact that you might want to make a backup of certain files. Having those files online (whether it’s through the services I’m about to share with you or something like Carbonite) can really give you some piece of mind.

 

My Three Cloud Storage Service Apps of Choice:

Ok, so let’s look at the different ones that I use and what I specifically use them for. Remember, I’m using all of these for free. Also, keep in mind they all have their own sync folders on my computers so I can easily move one file from one service to another.

 

Google Drive

Probably the most versatile of the three services that I use. Not only does it do storage of files like the other two, but it also does remote documents as well.

Personally, I like to use it mainly for documents that I don’t plan on moving for a long time: This includes images and pieces I actually make in Google Docs and Sheets.

I like to write my blog posts on the Docs app before I ever post on WordPress. WordPress has a bad tendency to lose connection when I’m writing at times which, at best, will prevent me from autosaving. At worse, it’ll destroy any post that I might have been making.

Note: Rule of thumb when working with WordPress: Get in, post, and get out as quickly as possible. Don’t have it on all day in the background as you add things to it. That’s just waiting for trouble.

I use Sheets when I’m taking notes of my podcasts. I’ll write the note and time in different cells. Then, after I add the intro and outro of the podcast, I’ll go back and input how long the intro is of the show. I’ll add that to the times of the notes and then have a cell where it gives me the the totals of those two numbers. Sure you could do this in Excel, but it’s great to do on Sheets because again, you don’t have to stay in place to do it all.

 

Dropbox

One of the drawbacks that Google Drive has is that for whatever reason, it has problems syncing on phones (especially Android believe it or not!) and can also be somewhat of a resource hog when you’re uploading and downloading files. Meaning, it will bog down your entire computer if you’re not careful.

Many of the things that I choose to share with Dropbox are files that I need to make sure I have access to right away on my phone. This includes social media images and short videos that I might want to share with friends.

The drawback of Dropbox is the size of storage you get when you sign up for a free account. It pales in comparison to what you get with Google Drive and the next service I’ll be mentioning here shortly – MEGA. That said, you can get more free storage by sharing Dropbox with other people and having them sign up for their own accounts using your link.

If you haven’t gotten your own Dropbox account yet, and would like to have an additional 500MB when you sign up, here’s my “affiliate link” to do that. I’ll get paid with 500MB of more space! Thanks in advance! 🙂

 

MEGA

Based out of New Zealand, this service is the slowest of the three. BUT, having 50GB to use immediately when you sign up for a free account – wow! That’s a ton of space. Especially when not too long ago a student career account at Purdue was 500MB (and I think might only be 5 GB now?)

I tend to use this service when I’m moving media files from one device to another.

It seems that it’s a bit more encrypted than the other two. So if there’s some personal stuff that you want to move, this might be a better option as well.

One drawback that MEGA has is it’s user interface (UI). It’s functional and you can find things, but it’s not the easiest to have guests download items like it is in Dropbox and Google Drive.

Another thing is that when you throw things away, it stays in MEGA’s cache. This comes in handy if you don’t mean to delete several gigs of video with a single key stroke. However, to completely get rid of things, you’ll need to first throw them away on your device. After that, you’d then head onto your MEGA account in Chrome and empty the online “rubbish bin” as well.

 

Action Steps:

So there’s a quick rundown of the free services I use to move files around the web. For me, they all have their uses. But if you’re addicted to spending money or just want more simplicity, you could definitely pay for one of the services. I think you’d probably get more with Google Docs – however, Dropbox is really simple to use.

If you do start using any of these, I’d suggest one more thing. If you’re ever sharing any big files (video and/or audio especially!) with anyone using one of these services, have them sign up for an account and download the service’s syncing app.

This will help you both in two regards. One, you won’t have to wait for them to download the files to their computer directly. And two, if they get the sync app, they won’t have to worry about the download stopping midway if you’re sending a big file. All of the sync apps just move files byte for byte and resume where they leave off.

Anyway, if you have any questions on any of this, let me know. I’ve been using all of these services for several years now.

 

successful site

Getting Started on the Web (Part 3): 6 Characteristics of a Successful Site

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Back in early summer, I wrote a couple of introductory pieces discussing the process of getting a website up.

In part 1, we looked at some of the different types of ways that you could easily get something up. We also discussed that it’s going to take some time to get your website up and a little bit of ingenuity and technical prowess.

In part 2, we dug a bit deeper into the process. We looked at hosting types as well as a free way to get a professional website up once you had your domain paid for. We also dug a bit deeper into discovering what WordPress is and more of its in’s and out’s.

 

What’s Vital to Your Site’s Success:

In this third part of the series, we’ll be looking more into the vital functions that your site has to provide people who access it if you’re looking to do business through it. This information holds true whether your site reflects simply you as an expert or thought leader all the way up to a new tech startup.

One thing to note about this list: start with the top and work your way down. You don’t have to do it all at once, but it will pay off to eventually have all 6 components in your site.

Let’s get started.

 

Provides Valuable Content

In a world where there’s so much information on the web, you have to let people know what you’re about. Having free content through the form of a blog, through a podcast series, or through videos are the three main ways people deliver that content.

A huge benefit to you for providing free regular content is recognition by Google. It will rank you higher than a site that is static and isn’t adding material.

 

Blogging:

The blog is the easiest of the three to provide. For one, it’s built into your site if you’re using WordPress. Secondly, you really don’t have to do much to get it going other than knowing how to write. Preferably,  in a way that reaches your audience on a base level – much I do here with you.

If it’s the first time you’ve ever written in length on a regular basis and you’re simply not used to it, try and copy the writing style of your favorite blogs.

For example, if you have very detailed writing and want to use a lot of step by step instructions in your writing, then check out videofruit.com and emulate how Bryan Harris writes his posts.

If you’re more casual than that, then another one of favorites, of course, was and continues to be the SPI Blog.

 

Podcasting and Videos:

Getting a podcasting or video feed started on your site is similar to getting a blog started. However, unlike the blog, you’re going to have to create your content through other means than simply typing it up and posting it.

If you want to know how to get a podcast going, I’ve posted a basic tutorial of how to do that starting here.

Unfortunately, I haven’t started in the video world yet – so I can’t help you on the basis of that yet!

Looks Great on Mobile:

Half of all traffic on the web today is done through mobile devices – if not more. That means, if you’re site looks like junk on a phone or tablet, then those users aren’t going to be too thrilled about coming back.

Also, make your content easy to get to. If you’re using awkward dropdown navbars or other outdated means of getting to content quickly in just a couple of clicks or presses, then you’re not doing yourself any favors.

 

Simple for You to Manage:

Back in part one of this series I mentioned that you’ll need to have some sort of technical know how to have a website and post to it regularly. When using WordPress, especially, you’ll need to know when it’s time to update plugins, how to write a new post, and upload pictures and other media to those posts.

Learning how to do this takes a bit of time. But if you’re one of the types of people who forgets technical details as soon as you learn them, you might need another option. Perhaps using Squarespace or Kajabi would be more your style.

Remember you normally have to pay for simplicity though!

 

Allows for People to Subscribe to a Newsletter or other Notification System:

People like being reminded about things, because let’s face it, we all get busy. Newsletters are beneficial to all of us. It’s really how I keep track of what people are doing.

That said, you’ll be doing the same thing. You’re going to need some sort of freemium (or opt-in) that will allow people to submit their email (or phone number) to you. In return, you’ll get some sort of product or service that gives an example of how you can help them.

 

Easy for People to Share and Follow:

Social media is what people are focused on these days for their news around the world. Like you and me, they probably want to share what they find online in a given day.

Your site needs to make that process easy-peasy. Make sure that you have social media buttons scattered throughout your site. This will allow people to share content with a few clicks.

If you use a sidebar on your site, have one of your social media feeds in it. It can be a feed of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter – you name it! Just have it over there for social proof.

 

Accept Online Payments:

If you have products for sale, you’ll want to be able to sell them through your site. Being able to accept online payments is important in having a successful site to most online entrepreneurs.

However, you might notice that some sites don’t have have options to pay online. More than likely they’re utilizing a process called affiliate marketing where the transaction happens behind the scenes.

Most podcast centric sites work through this process – unless there’s a membership involved with the site like Fizzle.

 

Action Steps:

If you’ve started a website using the previous two segments of this series, great job! You’ve taken important steps to get recognized as the creator you are.

Your next step, is to implement these 6 characteristics into your site. It’s a new year, so there’s really no better time! Get it done as soon as possible.

Again, don’t think you have to do it all at once. If you haven’t started adding content regularly to your site, start doing that first. Then work your way down to the bottom.

millionaire marketing

Debra Jason: A Glimpse into Millionaire Marketing and Breakthrough Copywriting (AoL 064)

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Most of us are doing who are working for ourselves have a passion for it or it’s just a talent that we can monetize. Just like we have our strengths, we also have our weaknesses.

For many solopreneurs, marketing can be a weakness. I know I’m always trying to figure out what I can do better in improving my ability to connect with more people.

To me, the “feel” of connection is really important in achieving true success in a business. I feel that the best marketing is done by coming from a place of simply adding value to others.

Sometimes, though, it’s hard to express that value in a way that motivates your potential clients from seeking you out for help.

That’s where today’s guest, Debra Jason, focus is at.

Having started in the catalog publishing business, she has taken what she’s learned from there and has helped many people nationally and internationally say what they mean in a way that moves people to take action. She’s also the author of the book, Millionaire Marketing on a Shoestring Budget in which she covers items like improving your blog following, how to get fewer spam complaints, and other basic fundamental strategies that will motivate your audience to take action.

If you’re looking to improve the way you connect with people about what you have to offer, then this is chat will definitely help you out.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How did she get into writing in the first place? 6:47
  • Was she able to use her college degree after graduating? 8:54
  • How did Debra get into copywriting? 10:51
  • When did Debra realize she could help other people with their copywriting? 13:14
  • What was the trigger in starting the Write Direction? 15:45
  • What are some marketing fads that she’s seen come and go over the years? 19:27
  • How quickly did she jump onto the internet marketing train? 22:42
  • What kinds of things have changed since she transferred to an internet focus? 25:01
  • How often does she send out emails to her followers and what how does she know what to send? 27:47
  • How did her book “Millionaire Marketing on a Shoestring Budget” come about? 34:49
  • What are some of the things that someone can learn from her book? 41:19
  • How to craft a magnetic marketing message by filling in the blanks of a formula. 46:55
  • What to blog about when you don’t know what to blog about. 50:44
  • Couple of things that she’s looking forward to in the not too distant future. 58:59
  • One thing that costs under $100 that has changed her life? 1:04:00
  • Smallest decision she’s made that has had the greatest impact on her life was? 1:04:58
  • Something she believed as a 30 year old and now considers false and why? 1:05:49
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Adam Fout interviews Debra on building a Robust LinkedIn Profile:

Debra interviews Sabrina Risley:

Debra interviews Bob Burg:

Presentation for the Referral Partnership group in Boulder:

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

starting a SaaS Business

Tips for Starting a SaaS Business and Exploring Current Events with Matej Leban (AoL 053)

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Have you heard of The Foundation? The one educational program with Dane Maxwell teaching people how to build a SaaS based business? Perfect students are those who don’t have their own idea, money, or skills to make it work out on their own?

If you haven’t, go check it out!

If you have heard of it, you might have heard that the hardest problem that many Foundation students have is finding someone to work on the technical aspect of things. They don’t know where to look or how to vet those that they have found on a site like Upwork.

That’s where today’s guest, Matej Leban comes in.

Just like other students, Matej struggled with this part. Eventually, though, he figured out a way around it.

Today with SaaSBloom, he helps others do the same thing.

In this chat, we talk about that story and some tips he’s learned in making a profitable SaaS. We also discuss why a guy like him, who’s from Eastern Europe, would be interested in US Politics.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Matej’s Experience Being a Mentor in the Foundation 8:52
  • What flipped his entrepreneurial switch. 11:21
  • Some tips that Matej has learned to successfully cold contact potential clients. 20:28
  • Where the idea for SaaSBloom came from 24:20
  • What Matej would use to create in the world. 32:54
  • Why Matej, who’s from Eastern Europe, has an interest in US Politics. 34:06
  • Sources that Matej follows to stay on top of World Events 48:50
  • What are 3 influencers that have influenced Matej to where he is today 55:21
  • One gift he likes giving the most. 57:43
  • One thing Matej believed when he was 28 years old, but doesn’t any longer. 58:19
  • If he was going to place an ad cost free into world, what would it be? 2:32
  • One thing under $100 that has changed his life. 3:54
  • When he thinks of success, who comes to mind? 1:04:58
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Dane Maxwell gives a quick intro to The Foundation and SaaS:

Maxie Describes working with Matej:

Men Who Built America Trailer:

Glenn Beck and Penn Jillette talk about Penn’s book “Everyday is an Atheist Holiday! More Magical Tales”

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

 

Why I Started Using Email Marketing in 2016 (and Why It Still Works)

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Today, more than ever, we’re pressed for time and energy. Each day we start with so many minutes and energy to pay attention to all of the things that we need to deal with.

Many things in our lives distract us from what we want to actually get done. Email checking is one of the biggest pet peeves to most of us – me included. It feels like such a drag.

After swearing to myself that I’d never use email to reach people on a regular basis because of how unresponsive I personally am to it and how overused it seems, I realized that I was leaving a legitimate way to engage and connect with people on the table. Some people actually want to hear from me. 🙂

In fact, there’s some people (again me not being one of them) that actually pay more attention to their email than they do social media. So much so that in the past couple of weeks that I’ve been sending emails, I’ve already had a couple of unsubscribes! Personally I hardly ever unsubscribe from people unless they send too much – (usually those are daily senders and my junk mail tends to grab those after a while anyway).

So what made me realize that this was a good way for me to engage with folks if I’m not the most receptive of it myself? Well, I’m glad you asked. Here’s why:

There are some people who really only get their notifications from the web via emails.

Seriously. They don’t have Facebook, Twitter, or another social media constantly open. Nope, instead, they go to their online email web portal, check to see if anything is going on and if it’s not, then it’s not anything they need to worry about. Larry King recently put it this way on his interview with Lewis Howes when it came to having a phone that can text – “There’s a reason I don’t text. If I need to know it, I’m sure you or someone else will tell me.”

The same is true with social media. My dad is this kind of person as well.

Every cell phone, even flip phones, has email capability.

Unless you know someone that’s carrying a Zack Morris brick or something from the late 90’s or early 2000’s, all phones have email capability. (I don’t even know if those phones can actually use today’s signals or not though, so…)

While there are some people like Larry King who use their flip phone only as a phone, most cell phone users opt to use it for as much as possible. More than 50% (56% of this writing) of all traffic on the web is from mobile devices. People are connected, true, but not everyone has the same apps or use the same social media platforms. Email is “universal”.

People rely on emails for digests of what’s going on from their favorite brands.

When you’re looking to check and see if there’s a sale at a favorite store, are you going to do that via social media, their website, or check for an email if you subscribed to them?

You’ll probably check their website.

However… you probably wouldn’t even think to check their website if it wasn’t the fact that you had been notified by an email of theirs in the past about a sale.

Personally, I know for me that I bought two new Colts hats in the last couple of years because I saw them featured in emails. Had I not gotten those emails, I probably would not have gotten the hats that I wear pretty regularly.

It’s easier for the one doing the marketing to integrate emailing into other marketing systems making them seem more personalized.

Truth be told, I tend to pay attention to emails that start with this: “Hey, Jc!”

Why is that? Because it makes my subconscious feel important. Even though I know that I had to have had put my name in a form somewhere for it come out that way (I go by JC not Jc), I still have more of an interest in that particular email – because I obviously actively signed up for it.

On that same point, 31.5% of US online retailers use the customer’s name and/or a unique welcome message. However, nearly half of US online retailers use personalized product recommendations (44.9% – read marketing funnels) and a quarter of them report adding shopping cart reminders (27.6%) to cover all of their personalization bases.

It’s inexpensive.

Currently, right now with MailChimp, I’m not paying anything to email my email list. I think that this is a great option for anyone that might not have a huge budget to spend on tools when they’re first getting started.

Also, I’ve used other tools like Constant Contact and aWeber, and frankly, I wasn’t too impressed with their functionality. MailChimp has gotten way better over the last couple of years.

However, there’s one cavot that I’m pretty sure using MailChimp has – it has issues getting through spam filters. Not sure why that is.

If you’re using MailChimp and you start hearing about your subscribers ending up with your email in their spam folders a bit much, you might want to consider other options.

The least expensive one that I can think of is ActiveCampaign which seems to have a reasonable price point.

That said, if you already have a course or two and you’re bringing some money in to cover your expenditures, you might want to take a look at ConvertKit – which seems it’s quickly becoming the best platform for online business folks.

Love it or hate it, it’s still effective.

So there you have it. Even though I’m not the first one to use the medium by far (I went a whole year without using it), I’ve realized that even within the few weeks that I have used it that I get more engagement. In the end, if we’re trying to get our message out there as people who want to change lives, then I’ll concede that email is a tool that you might want to reconsider using in the foreseeable future.

Let me know below what your experience has been with email marketing. Did you hate it at first and eventually give in like me?