Most Recent Blog Posts
Why You’re Burned Out on Your Business
It’s an unfortunate part of running a business — sooner or later you’re going to face business burn out. There are a lot of causes of burn out, but in working with hundreds of clients, there are two that I’ve seen come up most often: 1) Your enthusiasm for what you do is no longer enough to sustain you; and 2) You’ve had enough experiences where you worked really hard at something only to get no result to be feeling discouraged.
When our business is shiny and new, it’s often pretty easy to keep working at it–even when we’re not getting results. We knew we were getting into something big and hard before we decided to launch, that that level of commitment is often enough to keep us motivated for the long haul. Plus, a new business still has that shiny new energy which most people find fun and fulfilling.
But after we’ve been in the game for awhile–whether that means running your own business, or working for someone else–all those times we didn’t get results start to add up and they erode our confidence. Missing the mark is a normal part of life. There are going to be times when we work hard, do our best, have the experience to get great results, and still the project is a flop.… Keep reading
Earn Their Trust, Win Their Email: 9 Strategies for Newsletter Growth
When it comes to off line list growth, there are lots of opportunities to have an in-person sign-up sheet. If you have a brick and mortar location, you’ll have the opportunity every time someone walks through your doors, but even if that doesn’t apply, any time you do a trade show, an open studio, a workshop, a speaking engagement, or anything where you’re surrounded by a group of people who might be interested in your business, you should have a sign-up sheet.
It might seem a little old fashioned, but it works like a charm when you do it right. During a recent visit to Asheville’s River Arts District, I noticed lots of artists with sign-up sheets in their booth space (which is awesome!). Alas, most of those sign-up sheets were blank.
I made a few suggestions as I wandered through the booths, but I don’t like to offer unsolicited advice. On the one hand, I don’t want to begin such a conversation with, “For nearly 20 years, I’ve been helping businesses make lots more money with email marketing” and follow it up with my credentials. On the other, it seems like everyone has an opinion on other people’s businesses–and many of those opinions are flat out wrong.… Keep reading
Even in 2023, Silence Matters
Every week, I get at least a handful of panicked emails from clients saying something like, “It’s been three days since my last social post! I have to say something but don’t know what. Help!!”
And, in general, my reply is the same:
“Pull out your social media plan, if it inspires you to say something, great, if not, don’t worry about it.”
Now, you’ll notice it starts with a business action: look over your social media plan. Because sometimes I find my clients stumped for what to say not because there’s nothing to say, but because they’re self-sabotaging. This happens a lot when they have a big launch coming up and instead of being excited to talk about what they’re about to offer, they want to hide until the launch is over.
That’s why the business piece is absolutely crucial.
But, sometimes you don’t have anything to say because you don’t have anything to say. In those cases, remember: silence is an absolutely reasonable (and good!) option.
I know, we live in a world of 24/7 competition for attention. You’ll also hear from a lot of experts about how being consistent on all of your social media platforms is mission critical.… Keep reading
To have great poets, there must be great audiences – Walt Whitman
I’ve been thinking a lot about audience building lately. For the entirety of my marketing career, we’ve talked about “noise” and the fragmentation of marketing channels and audiences. I entered the professional world already hearing people bemoaning how difficult it was to get attention, how short audience attention spans were, and how fragmented channels had become. You don’t need me to tell you that it’s only gotten worse.
With the pandemic bringing people more online than they’d been before, even spaces that were once relatively quiet now feel like a sci fi apocalyptic marketplace where everyone is shouting, neon signs are flashing, and overwhelm is simply accepted as the norm.
Email marketing has seen a massive resurgence with sales people doing extensive research on your background and then shoehorning random facts about you into their opening lines. Social media’s ability to let random strangers into your world has grown (even) more toxic.
And relationship-building can sometimes feel a bit like a lost art.
From where I stand, shouting isn’t what gets you noticed
It’s still about connecting, doing the work, showing up and being reliably excellent. But it’s also about curation more than ever before. It’s about being led by your curiosity and sharing what you’re learning with people who are curious about the same topics you are.… Keep reading
Your 2023 Email Marketing Experience Crafting Mistake
In my work, I’ve found there are 5 reasons most newsletters fail in their objectives. In other words, your newsletter isn’t getting you the results you want for one of these 5 reasons.
Today, we’re going to explore one of those reasons.
Newsletters are great because they let you keep in contact with people over time, letting your Tribe get to know you, like you and trust you (assuming, of course, you’re likeable and trustworthy).
But they have one huge disadvantage: people can subscribe at any time.
The relationship has a beginning, but your email marketing doesn’t
Because people can join your email list at any time, that means you might find that right as you’re in the middle of that amazing (and advanced) series, you get a flood of new subscribers who don’t understand these advanced topics… and unsubscribe. Even though they would have loved your newsletter had they subscribed two months ago.
In other words, when it comes to growing your Tribe, your email newsletter can be a liability.
That’s right, I said it: your email newsletter can be a liability.
If you want to support your Tribe, you’ve got to go deep with your content. And, if you want to support those people who are brand new to your audience, you can’t go too deep with your content.… Keep reading
Winston Salem WordPress Developer
When you’re looking for a WordPress developer in Winston-Salem, we’d like to be your first call. Why?
Since 2001, we have designed and built websites, ezines, and blogs that get you clients. With so many years of experience, and several hundred successful projects under our belt, most of our business is by referral or repeat clients coming back.
This kind of success means we often have a wait list. But, don’t let that put you off! We’ve designed a complete Knock Knock Welcome Basket for our new clients chock full of everything you need to get started with the WordPress development process right away. (This welcome basket ensures your website design will be professional, polished and compelling–and you’ll also find it a lot of fun!)
We have a reputation for being reliable, easy-to-work-with, talented, and for genuinely understanding the ins and outs of WordPress so that you get the best website / blog possible. Our specialty is creating big personality websites your clients and prospects will adore visiting.
Our founder, Jessica Albon, had a successful career as a direct mail copywriter before establishing Thrive Your Tribe. Copywriters tend to be very bottom-line focused–meaning, they’re always interested in beating the control (the piece that’s gotten the highest conversion rates in the past) and are very competitive.… Keep reading
More Subscribers by Friday!
If you’re not on the newsletter list, you’ve missed out. Last week, I held a free week-long grow your list fest called More Subscribers by Friday. It was completely free and we had more than 800 people sign up and participate.
At the end of the week, participants checked in with huge list growth. One quadrupled his list during the week. Another saw their list growth rate go up by over a thousand percent (crazy, right?).
In addition to the list growth, some participants are also getting prizes…
We threw all the names into a hat and our winners are:
Course Design Jump Start Session with Janet Kafadar: Dianne (dd@divastyle…)
Julie Gray‘s Time for You Time Management: Shafeeqah (shafeeqah@happyhearts…)
Amber McCue‘s Fresh Start Planning Guide: Stephanie (stephanie.dy…)
Jennifer Louden‘s virtual retreat in a box: Beverly (beverly@beverly…)
Rebecca McLoughlin‘s Beautiful Living from the Inside Out session: Natasha (natasha.lin…)
Jessica Albon‘s 500 Subscribers Action Plan: Richard (richard@homeof…)
If your name is on the list, congratulations! Watch your inbox for an email from me with your instructions.
And make sure to check out our lovely sponsors!… Keep reading
25 Ways To Write Faster
Whether you write a daily article for the company’s blog, have to come up with engaging content for social media, or just write the occasional article, here are 25 tips to be more cheetah than tortoise.
- Organize your thoughts first. If you know you’ve got something to write, give some thought to what you want to say before you sit down to write.
- Decide on a structure. When it comes to writing, you have so many choices–choose one consciously for easier writing.
- Gather your supplies. Maybe you need tea or music (or silence) or notes–whatever you need, take a moment to get ready before you sit down to write.
- Know why you’re writing. (“Because my boss told me to” doesn’t count!)
- Tidy something. Spending 5 minutes physically organizing something (your desk, for example) can give your brain some time to think over your article without you even needing to think about your article.
- Make a metaphor list. Write up a list of concepts that relate to your article, then write a list of concrete nouns. Match and link one to another–“A bookshelf is like the writing process because both are better when you organize their contents.”
- Get some exercise. A walk makes writing easier.
Why You Need to Use Your Words
The Internet’s doubling every five minutes (I made that up–but suffice to say it’s growing faster than those weeds in my back flower bed that sprang out of nowhere). This means that when your people are out there, trying to find you, it’s really easy for them to get distracted. It’s easy for them to get lost in the pages of Google results.
And that means you absolute must: make it easy for them to KNOW they’re in the right place once they’ve found you.
There are two key pieces to this. The first is your design. All of your online materials must have the best design for you–whether that’s simple or elaborate, modern or vintage, dramatic or understated. Because, before your people even start to read your words, they take in your design and decide whether to stay a moment longer or to zip away to the next search result.
So, assuming your design is spot-on, your next step is to get your words exactly right.
That means using YOUR words. Because when someone’s stumbling through a dozen websites looking for what they need, they get cranky, distracted and unsure. There are so many choices out there, how can they be sure yours is the right one?… Keep reading
Getting Found vs Being Seen: How SEO Doesn’t Matter Without Your Tribe
If you have a website, you know what SEO stands for and chances are you even know a thing or two about precisely how to optimize your site for search engines, even if you outsource all the work.
But getting found is only the beginning. Because there are a ton of websites people could explore when they Google something, people are quick to leave your site if it doesn’t feel right.
You probably already know that you have mere milliseconds to capture a visitor’s attention or else they’re “bouncing” away from your site. And you probably also know that 94% of the time people close your site so quickly, it’s a design issue (Northumbria University).
So, it’s not enough to rank highly in the search engines. You’ve got to create chemistry once people are on your site.
How do you do create the kind of chemistry that keeps visitors around so they can join your Tribe?
- With great overall design.
Choose the colors that your audience loves (that reflect your brand), shapes that are a good fit for your message, navigation that suits your Brand Siren, photos that connect with your people, and typography that works well for your visitors.