Friday, 28 April 2017

Marketing Automation Rocks But Let’s Not Forget the Human Elements

Marketing automation has been a game changer in terms of the time, money, and human error savings. It’s allowed us to learn more, do more, react faster, and target more effectively. Adding a machine element to just about anything over the past few centuries, harkening back to the Industrial Revolution, has proven to be an improvement across all industries. And, with the movement toward machine learning and artificial intelligence adding another dimension to marketing automation, there’s even more possible.

Where Machines Miss the Mark

While this is really cool, we can’t forget why marketing is actually science and art -- and how art is something that requires the human element. That’s because, while a computer works with numbers and code, it doesn’t quite get the nuances attached to human emotions that are integral to creating an emotional connection through marketing techniques.

Marketing automation essentially supplies the data that helps a marketer create the strategy, tactics, and content that can achieve the company’s initiatives and financial objectives. Unfortunately, marketing teams and content freelancers everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief because even the best AI software cannot establish a strategy or create content like a human or in a way that customers and prospects would believe it was personable. Plus, a computer has yet to learn the fine art of persuasion – the heart of marketing – that only a human can deliver.

Making the Best of Both Worlds

With the idea that marketing has become a team effort between machines and humans, you can leverage both to deliver an enhanced marketing effort:

  • Assess the data from your marketing automation software to identify a key objective, need, and message for your marketing campaigns. The data will tell you the problem you need to solve for your audience and illustrate their behavior while searching for their answer. This machine-generated intelligence serves as the basis for your marketing strategy and delineates what to say.

  • Leverage the marketing automation to understand the effectiveness of each customer touch point and channel to determine where you will be able to reach the largest portion of your audience. The data will show you if it’s in your store, on your website, or through a social media platform. From there, you can plan any type of automated marketing communication.

  • Create the content and messaging for automated messaging that you may choose to use for email campaigns, social media responses, and mobile marketing messages. This is another place where the human element can personalize the content and imbue an emotional element to the messaging.

  • Don’t overwork your marketing automation system by sending out too much content or run a multitude of campaigns simultaneously. Concentrate on one marketing campaign at a time. Use automation for launch and measurement while applying the human element to the concept and optimization processes. See what the automation analysis delivers so you understand how to improve the next campaign.

  • Don’t set and forget because marketing automation still cannot run entirely on its own and deliver the best results. A human element is also essential to oversee the marketing automation process, regularly checking for how it’s working or what may need to be tweaked.

  • Remember that machines don’t tell us everything we need to know about the data. While they can highlight patterns we might not be able to see, it’s still up to humans to truly understand what those patterns mean and how they can be applied to the strategic marketing process. Only a human marketer can determine the context for the data and specific factors that influence those results whereas a machine can only look at numbers for number’s sake. And, at the end of the day, customers are not numbers – they are people with unique problems and preferences even if there are patterns among them.

Combining Forces

The best way to approach this going forward is to remember that marketing automation can deliver the data that tells us, as marketers, how to create personalized messages. It is these personalized messages where the human element is most needed because it delivers the ability to first understand why customers or prospects behave a certain way and then can hit those emotions for better engagement.

This human element cannot be left out. No matter how much a machine can learn, do, and process, it most likely will never be able to truly emulate the human state full of complex emotions, interactions, and behaviors that only another human will understand (and sometimes we can’t even understand them!).

Busting A Myth

There are no shortage of myths when it comes to marketing automation. For example it is too difficult to deploy and use. Or it's only focused on outbound campaigns. 

Download Busting Common Myths of Marketing Automation to discover how to use marketing automation to attract, engage, and convert buyers across all marketing channels by streamlining workflow, monitoring social, and managing content.

And of course, bust some myths too. 

Image source: Pexels 


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How Netflix Maintains a Low Churn Rate by Keeping Customers Engaged & Watching

With over 90 million customers watching a combined 125 million hours of television and movies everyday, there’s no doubt that Netflix has changed the way we watch our favorite shows. It has also become a prime force in our daily lives — integrating into everything from mobile devices to our language and culture.

And with a relatively low 9% churn rate (lower than any other subscription streaming service), one has to wonder — how does a service like this continue to keep their customers engaged in both the short and long term? How do they succeed when others fall short? Let’s take a closer look and discover how they do it.

Why Engagement is So Crucial to Netflix

As a subscription service, each new month gives every Netflix users a chance to cancel the service.

Like all subscription companies, the best step Netflix can take to reduce churn is to create a great product that people are willing to pay for. They do this by having a large library of original and licensed content. As long as people keep watching, they’ll keep paying.

Let’s look at how Netflix achieves relatively low churn rates, when compared to their peers.

Reluctant to Switch

With more than a third of U.S. households subscribed to Netflix, it’s no secret they’re far ahead of their competitors (namely Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus) in the video streaming subscription race. Recent research by Parks Associates showed that only 4% of U.S. broadband households cancelled their Netflix service — representing almost 9% of Netflix’s subscriber base.

By comparison, 7% of users cancelled their Hulu Plus subscription within a year — but that figure represents approximately half of Hulu Plus’ current subscriber base.

subscribers-canceling-netflix
(OTT refers to “Over the Top” – a term used in broadcasting to refer to internet-based transmission of media without an operator –as in cable or satellite — controlling or distributing the media).

What this tells us, is that not only are most households electing to keep their Netflix subscription and “test the waters” with other streaming services, but those same users keep coming back. But what is it that draws them back?

A Deeper Insight into User Preferences

Perhaps some of what makes Netflix so irresistible among its user base are its original shows. With fan favorites like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, Netflix has its finger on the pulse of what users are watching. And they’re not just skimming the surface, either. They look at things like:

  • How many users watched a particular episode
  • How many users watched an entire series
  • How much of a gap was there between when the user watched one episode and the next?

And that’s not all. They’re also gathering data on:

  • When you pause, rewind or fast-forward (or if you stop watching and never pick it back up again)
  • What day you watch (most people watch TV shows over the week and movies on the weekend)
  • What date and time you watch, as well as the zip code you’re watching from
  • What device(s) you use to watch which media
  • The ratings you give and the searches you conduct
  • Your browsing and scrolling habits
  • And even the data within the movies and shows themselves

Netflix knows when the credits roll – but it’s also speculated that they’re monitoring things like the volume, movie/show setting, colors and so on. All of this information is not just collected, but also acted upon.

Some might even say that Netflix took a huge gamble ($100 million to be exact) in purchasing the exclusive rights to House of Cards but they did so with a concrete hypothesis — that a large portion of its customers streamed “The Social Network”, directed by David Fincher from beginning to end. House of Cards is also directed by David Fincher. What’s more, they also noticed that films with Kevin Spacey tended to do well, as well as the original British version of House of Cards.

But Netflix didn’t just settle on one trailer to introduce users to House of Cards. Spacey fans saw trailers that exclusively featured him. Women who watched Thelma and Louise saw trailers featuring the female protagonists of House of Cards and big time film buffs saw trailers that reflected Mr. Fincher’s finest directing moments.

All of these points intersected in a way that practically lit up a path to customer engagement and retention. And all of them were made possible thanks to insights delivered by big data.

But this method only attracts users who happen to be watching other movies. What about when they’re not watching? Netflix has that covered, too.

Email: We Added a Show You Might Like

With the vast content library available, it would be overwhelming to not recommend shows to users. So Netflix doesn’t just collect data about the shows you watch — it acts on that data too, sending you emails when a show is added that you may like based on your existing viewing habits.

netflix-email-you-may-be-interested-in

The email itself is simple and straightforward, and, this is the important part — you can play the episode right from within your mobile device, or add it to your watch list. So it’s not just notifying you that you might enjoy this show, but rather giving you an action to take that lets them better tweak suggestions according to your viewing habits.

Push and In-App Notification – New Season

Many people find push notifications bothersome and frustrating — but it all depends on where they come from. Things that affect users directly – like utilities (your water or electricity is scheduled to be off for a time) or transportation (there’s a car wreck near you that may slow your commute) are definitely wanted.

Movie or series suggestions don’t seem like they’d be high up on users’ priority lists, but Netflix has done a fine job of customizing and fine tuning what gets shown to each user. For example, if you followed season 1 of House of Cards, Netflix lets you know that Season 2 is now available:

netflix-HOC-push-notification

What it doesn’t do is inundate you with notifications when every new season or every new movie is listed. Each push notification is carefully crafted again, based on the data from your viewing habits. This way, it’s not intrusive, but rather engaging.

Recommendations for You

Netflix is also famous for its recommendations. It knows it has just 90 seconds or less to convince you that there’s something worth watching that’s catered to your tastes, it looks at things such as the genre you watch and your ratings, but also what you don’t watch. There’s a very real problem of overwhelming the user — with so many choices, Netflix doesn’t want to get too personal.

And it doesn’t care so much about what you watch, but rather that you watch. When given the choice between calling a friend, reading a book or watching Netflix, they obviously want you to keep coming back.

And although Netflix does push its own original series up on its recommendation pages, it plays a flat fee to content providers, so there’s no reason for its recommendation algorithm to favor one series over another. Everything it recommends to you, it does not just because of your viewing habits today, but also historically.

All of these options filter in to create a uniquely personalized — but not too personal — list of recommendations specifically tailored to each user. An engaged user is a happy user, and Netflix is pulling out all the stops to keep them watching.

Interestingly enough, the personalization algorithm resets every 24 hours, making it more likely that users will keep discovering current titles of interest from Netflix’s ever-growing catalog.

Split Testing

Not surprisingly, Netflix also does a great deal of split testing — a couple hundred tests each year to be exact. It randomly selects around 300,000 users from around the world and tests everything from images to font size.

Whenever major changes are made, such as a homepage redesign, users are understandably upset and backlash is imminent – it’s in our nature to tend to resist change. However, Netflix does a good job of easing them into the new design by explaining what has changed and why. According to Netflix’s vice president of product innovation, Chris Jaffe, however, less than half of their tests have a positive impact on metrics.

Conclusion

Even still, with so many options to keep users informed across nearly every type of device, Netflix is continuing to test, innovate and refine its algorithms to prevent churn and keep users watching — and those users are at its core in a quest for never-ending user experience growth.

What are your thoughts on Netflix’s methods to keep you hooked? Have you discovered new shows as a result of their recommendations? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

About the Author: Sherice Jacob helps business owners improve website design and increase conversion rates through compelling copywriting, user-friendly design and smart analytics analysis. Learn more at iElectrify.com and download your free web copy tune-up and conversion checklist today!



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Today’s the Last Day to Get a Great Deal on Your New StudioPress Site

WordPress Made Fast and Easy

Heads up, today is the last day to get your first month free, plus no-charge migration of your existing WordPress site to a brand-new, easy-to-use StudioPress Site.

You’ve got until 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time today, April 28, 2017 to get the deal. Simply click this link and the incentives will be applied at checkout.

I’ve included the original post below for more information if you missed it. See you on the other side!

_____________________________

It’s been less than three months since we launched StudioPress Sites, our new solution that combines the ease of an all-in-one website builder with the flexible power of WordPress.

The response and feedback have been phenomenal. And the icing on the cake is that we’re already winning accolades.

In an independent speed test performed this month by WebMatros, StudioPress Sites was declared the undisputed winner. We’re thrilled, because we were up against formidable competition from WP Engine, Flywheel, Media Temple, Pressable, and Bluehost.

As you know, speed is important. If a page takes more than a couple of seconds to load, users will instantly hit the back button and move on.

But that’s only part of the story. Because unlike those other hosts, with StudioPress Sites you just sign up and quickly set up, without the usual hassles of self-hosted WordPress.

WordPress made fast and easy

The primary difference between a website builder and self-hosted WordPress is that with the former, you’re dealing with software as a service (SaaS), while the latter is … well, hosting. Not only is self-hosted WordPress a pain to deal with, it can also lead to unexpected surprises if you actually succeed (like your site crashing).

In this sense, StudioPress Sites is more like SaaS than hosting. You can set up your new site in just minutes on our server infrastructure that’s specifically optimized (and now independently tested) for peak WordPress performance.

From there, you simply select from 20 mobile-optimized HTML5 designs. Then, you choose from a library of trusted plugins for the functionality you need — and install them with one click.

Next, you put the included SEO tools to work, like our patented content analysis and optimization software, keyword research, advanced schema control, XML sitemap generation, robots.txt generation, asynchronous JavaScript loading, enhanced Open Graph output, breadcrumb title control, and AMP support.

There’s even more to StudioPress Sites than what I’ve highlighted here, but you can check out all the features at StudioPress.com. Let’s talk about the deal.

First month free, plus free migration

It’s really that simple. When you sign up for StudioPress Sites before 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time on April 28, 2017, you pay nothing for your first month.

On top of that, we’ll move you from your current WordPress site to your brand-new, easy-to-use, and blazingly fast StudioPress Site at no charge.

Why?

Because we know that moving your website can be a pain, even if you’re not happy with your current host. And just as importantly, because we want you to try StudioPress Sites risk free.

Fair enough?

Cool — head over to StudioPress to check it all out and sign up today.

NOTE: You must use that ^^^^ special link to get the deal!

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Thursday, 27 April 2017

The 9 Emails Your Business Should Be Sending [Guide]

So, you’ve already taken that first critical step toward getting your email marketing program off the ground by building your contact list, and now you need to send your subscribers…something. But what should that something be? If you’re struggling to figure out what to send or how to keep your customers engaged, rest easy — we’ve highlighted nine emails your business should send on a regular basis, along with a few tips on creating them. We’ll also tell you, on a scale of 1 to 5, the difficulty level for each email. The closer the number is to 5, the more effort it takes.

1. Promotional email

Purpose: To promote a product or service, usually to entice customers to make a purchase.
Business that would benefit: Every business.
Difficulty level: 1 — Promotional emails are short and sweet. You might want to create a special graphic to complement your email copy; otherwise, it’s not a time consuming process.

Three tips for creating a promotional email:

  • Make the offer clear. Your customers may not take the time to read your email, but if you have a clear offer that’s front-and-center, they won’t be able to ignore it. In the promotional email below, there’s no question what the deal is.

BRpromotionalemail1

  • Create a sense of urgency. Give customers a reason to act quickly, rather than let the email sit in their inbox. In the example above, the dates of the promotion are apparent. Use active language as well. To tie in with a seasonal promotion, this email from Banana Republic Factory injects a little personality into their CTA language, encouraging readers to “hop to a store.”
  • Keep it short. Promotional emails don’t require a lot of explanation. State the deal, then tell customers how to redeem it before it expires. No need for a lot of flowery words. Take a look at the example below. In less than 45 words, the retailer sums up the deal.

freepeoplepromotionalemail2

2. New inventory email

Purpose: To let your customers know about new items. It falls under the promotional email umbrella. You’re updating customers, but also hoping for a sale.
Business that would benefit: Any business can tell customers about a new item in stock. Fashion and retail businesses may get the most bang for their buck.
Difficulty level: 2 — Time is spent taking a good picture of the new product, but these don’t require a lot of text.

Three tips for creating a new inventory email:

  • Send the email out as soon as the item arrives. As soon as you have the inventory in stock, create the email and hit send. This shows you’re on top of new trends and want your customers to have the latest, greatest items available.
  • Take a killer picture. You don’t have to get artsy, but you do need to showcase your new item. In fact, these types of emails are more about the photo than text. Take the email below, for example. It’s all about the picture. With just a few words, Nike gets its point across.

nikeNewInventoryEmail1

  • Convey the point in your subject line. You know subject lines can determine whether or not your customer opens your email, and this email is no different. Be sure to tell your customers that you’ve got something new and fun for them to check out. Redbox does this with a simple subject line, “This week’s new releases,” in the example below.

redboxnewinventoryemail2

3.  Newsletter email

Purpose: To inform customers about company news, improve brand awareness and build a relationship with your core audience.
Business that would benefit: Every business.
Difficulty level: 3 — It takes a bit of time to create a solid newsletter, but it’s a valuable marketing tool.

Three tips for creating a newsletter email:

  • A newsletter doesn’t mean long format. Break the copy in your newsletter into short, digestible and actionable sections of content, copy, images and calls to action.
  • Create an easy-on-the-eyes design. Think of your newsletter like a mini-newspaper. You want clear lines and divisions between your content. Take a look at the example below. See how clean it looks? You want a simple layout with basic fonts. Don’t go crazy with the color scheme, either:

WCNnewsletteremail1

  • Include your contact information in the newsletter. You always want your contact information in an easy-to-find area on the newsletter. The purpose of your newsletter isn’t necessarily to sell, but if your customers are inspired to reach out to you because of the newsletter, you want them to be able to find you. You could put social media contact buttons in the header or footer of your message; you could go the more traditional route, and include your phone number and email address; or you could do both. In the example below from our very own VerticalResponse newsletter, you’ll notice the social buttons in the top right corner:

VRnewsletteremail2

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4. Welcome email

Purpose: To welcome new email subscribers to the family and establish a good relationship.
Business that would benefit: Every business.
Difficulty level: 2 — Creating the email doesn’t take long, but you need to know when a new customer signs up.

Three tips for creating a welcome email:

  • Write in a conversational tone. A welcome email is like a virtual handshake that accepts a new member into your group. It should be inviting and warm. Show the personal side of your business. Take a look at the email below. It specifically welcomes new subscribers into a community, and the tone is friendly and casual, but still professional.

society6welcomeemail1

  • Consider offering a reward. In celebration of a new customer, you could offer a discount or some sort of perk. You could offer 10 percent off the next purchase like Society6 did in the example above, or offer another perk like free shipping.
  • Remind new users about the benefits. Thank your new customers for signing up and reinforce their decision to join. Tell readers what they’ll get out of this new partnership. The email below does exactly that.

athletawelcomeemail2

5. Product advice email

Purpose: To offer your customers advice on how to get the most from your business or product. At the same time, you establish your authority in the industry.
Business that would benefit: Every business.
Difficulty level: 3 — This kind of email has more information, so your time will go toward writing and proofreading.

Three tips for creating a product advice email:

  • Create valuable content. The key to this kind of email is to offer tips that your customers want to read. Help solve problems they may have or obstacles they may need to overcome. Or, offer tips to help your customers use and maintain your product or service. If you sell cameras, send an email that teaches customers how to use certain features. If you sell bathroom fixtures, include installation tips. Whatever your business is, create an email that gives your customers a helping hand. Babies “R” Us sent the following email to its customers to help them prepare for summer travels with their children. 

babiesrusproductadviceemail1

  • Proofread. No matter what email you send, you should proofread it several times. Read it from the bottom up so your brain isn’t reading words that aren’t there. Then, have someone else read it. Take it through an error-check process before sending. Nothing cuts your credibility like misspellings and grammatical errors.
  • Focus on customer service. Emails that offer product tips should also showcase your commitment to customer service. Emails like this tell customers, “We’re here for you.” Follow through with that message by adding contact information to the email. The email below, for example, offers tips to wear a certain piece of clothing, but you’ll also notice there is a “contact us” option in the top right corner.

daxonProductTip2

6. Educational email

  • Purpose: To provide customers with industry knowledge that’s connected to your business or product. It helps build relationships and trust between your business and your customers.
  • Business that would benefit: Every business.
  • Difficulty level: 3. It takes time to brainstorm ideas and to create a sharp email.

Three tips for creating an educational email:

  • Offer relevant content. When you send an educational email, you’re trying to build a relationship with your customers. The best way to do that is to teach them something. However, you want to teach them something that has a connection to your business. For instance, Monster.com, the job search site, sends its customers information about life in the workplace. An example is below.

monsterEducationalEmail1

  • Consider offering bite-sized information. Take a cue from the Monster.com email above and write bite-sized pieces of information in the article; let your customers decide if they want to read more. The “Read more” link takes your customer to your blog for the full article. It’s a great way to engage with customers via email and boost blog traffic.
  • Add a mini-promotion. You can add a promotional element to this kind of email, but it shouldn’t be the main attraction. For example, Lumosity, the brain game site, offers an educational article as the main feature, but notice a promotion on the right side for a family membership. It’s subtle and simple.

childEducationalEmail2a

7. Reorder email

Purpose: To remind customers that it’s time to reorder a certain product.
Business that would benefit: Any business that sells products or services needed on a regular basis. Examples include products like printer cartridges, contacts, pet medications and vitamins.
Difficulty level: 3 — Basic text and images are needed.

Three tips for creating a reorder email:

  • Clear call to action. The purpose of a reorder email is to encourage your customers to replenish your product or perhaps renew a subscription for a service. You want to make the buying process as simple as possible. To do so, create a simple, easy-to-find button that says, “Reorder now.” For instance, in the example below, customers can reorder pet medication from Pet Wellbeing.

petwellbeingreorderEmail4

  • Remind customers of the value. In the email, tell your customers why reordering is a good idea. Maybe it’s to keep vital pet medications on hand, or to avoid the hassle of running out of toner at the office. You could also offer a discount to those who reorder within a certain time frame.
  • Mention past purchases. If you want, you can mention in the email what your customer purchased in the past, so they can reorder the same thing. The pet supply store below does this for its customers. It’s a nice addition to the email, but you can send it without this information.

dawgReorderEmail2

8. Testimonial email

Purpose: To reinforce how valuable your business or product is through customer feedback.
Business that would benefit: Every business.
Difficulty level: 4 — It takes a bit of time to collect testimonials. You may need to be persistent to get customers to give them to you.

Three tips for creating a testimonial email:

  • Create a sleek design. Email design elements are important with testimonial emails. You want something that’s eye-catching and easy to read. Take a look at the example below. This retailer put together four quotes from happy customers and highlighted the product, too. It’s a win-win. Both the accolades and the products are showcased well in this simple design.

modclothTestimonialEmail1

  • Include an image. If you sell tangible items like clothing, using pictures of shirts and dresses makes sense. But that doesn’t work for every business. Take a medical clinic, for example, or a sanitation company. What image do you use in these cases? If you need a powerful image, ask the customer who gave the testimonial for a picture. Take a look at the example below. The customer’s picture is what makes the email work.

parkwayTestimonialEmail2

  • Offer more information. A testimonial is great, but you should offer your customers a next step. For example, in the email above, customers can read more testimonials by clicking on the text. You could offer a link for others to leave feedback, or a link to other uplifting company news.

9. Survey email

Purpose: To collect helpful information you can use to improve the customer experience.
Businesses that would benefit: Any business looking to better itself.
Difficulty level: 4 — You’ll have to spend time creating the survey and writing an email with a link to the survey.

Three tips to create a survey email:

  • Explain what’s in it for them. If you want a customer to take the time to fill out a survey, you need to give them a reason. In the example below from CVS, participants are entered to win a cash prize.

cvs survey

  • Address the purpose of the survey. Besides an incentive to fill out the survey, you should tell your customers why you want the information. Whether you’re trying to improve your business or conducting product research, let your customers know the purpose of the survey.
  • Make the survey easy to access. There should be an obvious, clickable link to the survey. Take a look at the example below. Notice the link to the survey is a clear, easy-to-spot button at the bottom of the email.

alamo survey

Bonus tips for creating a useful survey
Before you send the email out, you’ll need to create the survey. To help you create a useful survey, here are a few tips:

1. Ask the right questions
Make sure the questions you ask will yield helpful results. Stay on topic and reword questions, if necessary, to make sure they are understandable.

2. Keep it short
If a customer gets bored with your survey, they’ll stop filling it out. Aim for a five-minute survey to ensure customers make it to the end.

To keep your brand top of mind for your subscribers and encourage them to do business with you, it’s important to stay in touch. Varying your content by incorporating each of these emails into your marketing program not only makes those messages more compelling, but it also shows the breadth of what your company or organization has to offer.

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Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in March 2014 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and relevance.

© 2017, Contributing Author. All rights reserved.

The post The 9 Emails Your Business Should Be Sending [Guide] appeared first on Vertical Response Blog.



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Gear Up for a More Powerful Online Presence

Gear Up for a More Powerful Online Presence

Hey there! Before we get rolling, remember that if you’ve been thinking about moving your site to StudioPress Sites, this is the time.

Because we love to make your life easy, we’ll move your existing WordPress site over for free. And because we love to let you try stuff without stress, we’ll also give you your first month for free. It’s a sweet deal, but it goes away tomorrow, Friday, April 28, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific U.S. Time.

If you’d like a cost-effective way to get a fast, great-looking WordPress site that you don’t have to endlessly mess around with, I would strongly recommend you check this out.

This week on the blog, Brian Clark got our motor running on Monday with a thoughtful piece on what influence really means in a socially hyper-connected world — and how cheap shortcuts won’t do much more than waste your time.

On Tuesday, we introduced you to Loryn Thompson, our crazy-smart Data Analyst who also happens to love riding and working on vintage motorcycles. She’ll help you get started with social media advertising — without crashing into a concrete pillar.

And on Wednesday, I wrote about surviving the annoyances of social media, based on my nearly three decades of getting into pointless fights with people on the internet. I actually have figured a couple of things out, and I’m happy to share them with you.

On the Copyblogger FM podcast this week, I talked about the seven things that (in my experience) writers need to make a genuinely good living. And on The Writer Files, Kelton Reid looked into how bestselling author Douglas Coupland writes.

Hope you enjoy all the good stuff, and we’ll catch you next week!

— Sonia Simone
Chief Content Officer, Rainmaker Digital

Catch up on this week’s content


true influence isn’t something you borrow. It’s what you embody.The Three Key Elements of Influential Digital Marketing

by Brian Clark


it’s like riding a motorcycle - honing your skills takes time and practiceYour No-Nonsense Guide to Getting Started with Social Media Ads

by Loryn Thompson


I’ve been online so long, I can remember when virtual community was going to save the world.Surviving the Social Web: 7 Things You Need to Know

by Sonia Simone


The 7 Things Writers Need to Make a (Good) LivingThe 7 Things Writers Need to Make a (Good) Living

by Sonia Simone


How Bestselling Author Douglas Coupland WritesHow Bestselling Author Douglas Coupland Writes

by Kelton Reid


Are You Overlooking This Proven Podcast Format?Are You Overlooking This Proven Podcast Format?

by Jerod Morris & Jon Nastor


The State of Freelancing in 2017, with Emily LeachThe State of Freelancing in 2017, with Emily Leach

by Brian Clark


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