It's OK To Stand Out

In the newspaper world, it’s called pack journalism. In the business world it’s just imitating your competition. When you write your content to the industry standard, you are telling your readers that you are like everyone else.

Why not try and stand out? Tell your readers why your business is different. This is an important step in garnering their attention. It’s ok if your website breaks the mold for the industry standard. It’s ok to write a blog that your competitors haven’t tried yet.

Why would they otherwise expect them to contact you when your services are needed?

Four Things We Can Learn About Marketing From Sons of Anarchy

In a few short months, the popular FX series Sons of Anarchy is going to embark on season five. What could you possibly learn about marketing your business from this merry band of motorcycle hooligans?

Sure, morality has been tossed out the window in their home of Charming, California. This is a club of felons that we’re talking about here. Yet there is something about them that keeps us coming back. This show has all the excitement and drama of the Sopranos, this time on motorcycles. What is it that we can learn from them, that doesn’t involve shooting up your competition, or breaking any other laws?

Loyalty Is Huge

The Sons of Anarchy are nothing if not loyal. They showcase it every day in their unwillingness to rat on anyone for gain. You can showcase your loyalty by rewarding the talent that you see in other small businesses, your employees, and freelancers. Keep them in business. Make sure they know how you feel through your words and your actions.

Maintain Your Likeability

Despite their knack for shooting first and asking questions later, the Sons are still a likeable group of criminals that the audience can identify with. This is evident in the richness of the relationships that they hold, and the family life that they share. You can maintain your likeability by engaging with customers and working hard to continuously develop new relationships.

Fight For It

If it’s worth having, it’s worth fighting for. In season three, the club goes to Ireland, fighting to retrieve their vice president’s kidnapped son. For your business, it may be increasing your customer base that you’re fighting for. Don’t be afraid to try new things with your website, blog, social media and other marketing content. Stick with what works.

A Fresh Perspective Is Good

In season five, the club will start out with a new vice president. You don’t need to step down from your business, but seeking others thoughts and opinions is always a good thing. Maybe you can bring in a guest blogger. Maybe it’s just a matter of listening to the suggestions that customers, clients, or employees have made. 

It is possible to learn from a group of outlaws. Putting these lessons in practice will only make your business stronger. 

What's Your Blogging Frequency?

Lots of people have lots of opinions when it comes to how often a business should blog. If you’re looking to continuously increase your visibility, nothing replaces blogging at least 3-5 times in a week.

Now, that’s a lot of work, and I don’t regularly hit that number myself. I’m not telling businesses to do something that I don’t do. I’m telling businesses to find what’s right for them.

If increasing your writing frequency is something you want to try, the quality of your blog cannot suffer for quantity. If it’s between writing three OK blogs in a week or one good one, choose one good one.

Some businesses write less frequently. It is tough to build an active audience blogging less than once a week, no matter the quality of the work. With the 24/7 stream of news and information through social media, businesses need to be regularly writing new material to make a lasting impression.

Some industries are more difficult to write frequently for. Some just require a lot of time. Make no mistake, this form of marketing your business is not going anywhere. Blogs provide a wealth of information to your customer, and are a great asset for your search engine rankings.

If you are struggling with your time or the quality of your writing, consider hiring it out. Find someone who specializes in blog writing services. 

Ten Ways To Find Blog Ideas

Writing can be a challenging task—especially for those who aren’t fully used to it.

If you have a blog, you’ve pretty much committed yourself to becoming a writer. It can take writing three to five posts a week to drive traffic up and get the kind of readership that you’ve been looking for. You’ll also need strong content for every post as well. That’s no easy feet.

So what do you do when you’re out of ideas? It’s time to expand your creative borders and keep thinking of new and creative ways to express your ideas. There is always something that you could write about.

Carry a Notebook

            You never know at what point in the day inspiration could strike you. If you are taking a shower, or taking out the trash, the perfect idea for the next blog may pop into your head. It’s best to be prepared for this.

            Make sure to use the notebook. If you’re still feeling stuck, try freewriting. No one has to see this notebook but you. Write until you find your next great idea.

What Questions Do Your Clients or Customers Ask?

Has a client recently asked you a really good question about your business? Or maybe it’s a question that you believe more clients may have. You can answer that question in a blog. Don’t be afraid to refer them to the blog after you are done. It’ll make an excellent resource.

Industry News or Developments

Has something recently changed in your industry that your readers could benefit from knowing about? Maybe there’s a new line of product, or the regulations are changing? Now is your chance to keep your readership up to date.

Consumer Tips

What should consumers in your industry be aware of before making a buying decision? This is your chance to shine as an expert, without pushing your own product. Go ahead and tell them why what you sell matters, and what they can do to go through the purchasing process the right way.

Direct Response

If you recently read an insightful industry blog, don’t be afraid to expound on it. You can link to the other blog, and give your opinions and insights on the issue at hand. This is a great way to interact with others in your industry and capitalize on another stream of traffic. Just make sure you have something insightful to say.

Look Outside Your Industry

It pays to be reading materials from outside your industry to continuously expose yourself to new ideas and stay fresh. This is your chance to connect the dots between two areas that we otherwise wouldn’t see the connection. Let your creativity flow. How did what Mozart do impact the world of running shoes? I don’t know either. You explain it.

Who Do You Talk To?

Do you talk with others in your industry or a related industry? What insight have they offered you? If they’ve tipped you off to something you need to consider in your industry, now is the time to share. If you’re going to write about their ideas, remember to give credit where credit is due.  Interviewing them for a post may also be a good idea.

Lists

Readers crave information in short chunks. What kind of industry-related lists can you create to convey information? These are often some of the highest read posts, as well.

Book or Product Reviews

What industry books have you read lately? Were they an excellent fountain of information or an abysmal disappointment? Maybe you should make the recommendation, or warn others off.

Find a Guest Blogger

Know someone providing a fresh look at things in your industry? Now is the time to expose them to a new audience, and expose your audience to a fresh voice. It’s a win-win.

Content You Can Share

I’ve written on numerous occasions about the ways that marketing has changed over the last several years. The transition from phonebook advertising to Google has made a big difference in the way companies do business.

The way that search engine optimization itself (making your website findable on search engines) is also changing considerably.

It used to be that strong SEO was achieved by placing strategic keywords on your page, and that was it. While keywords are still important, social media has brought the human element back into the equation.

Social media creates the backlinks search engines have factored into their rankings for a long time. This is the mechanical advantage that these platforms create for business.

The virality of content is now also at play. This is especially true since Google got into the game with Google Plus.  Search experts SEO Moz called the virality of the content “possibly the most important /valuable factor in the ranking equation because it will produce the highest link conversion rate (the ratio of those who visit to those who link after viewing).”

What Does This Mean?

Write Content People Will Be Interested In.

It has to be engaging. It has to captivate. Write content that needs to be shared. Yes, having the terms you want people to search for is important. But so is writing a post you want people to read.

If your readers place a premium on your content, so will the search engines. Mark Twain made the remark that he’d write less if he had more time. Headlines and tweets take time. It can be harder to write short, than to write long.

It’s worth taking the time to write strong headlines, and become better at Twitter. When you have limited space to grab people’s attention, you have to make it count.

Once you have them, tell a good story. Don’t put them to sleep.

Are You Taking Advantage of Pinterest?

There’s no shortage of material written about Pinterest. In the United States, the photo-intensive platform is largely dedicated to arts and crafts-type pictures. Don’t be misled however. This site can do wonders for your traffic, helping you to strengthen your business.

One peek into your analytics should bring a delightful surprise. Just the other day I took a more in-depth look into my analytics and noticed that Pinterest drove more traffic than any other social media platform by a long shot. It surprised me.

Pinterest does account for more referral traffic than Google Plus, Youtube and LinkedIn combined, according to Business Insider. Now, traffic does not equate to customers. But assuming you have a well functioning website in place, traffic sure helps.

There are a wide variety of categories people can pin website content to on the site. Chances are, there’s a way for your business to take advantage there. 

So the question from here, becomes…

How To Make Your Content Pinterest Friendly?  

Think Visually

Pictures drive the site. If somebody pins your blog post, you don’t want an outdated, out of focus shot to be the first thing that they see.

Having multiple photographs on a blog post offers the pinner choice. Photographs that pertain to the subject of your blog, and offer a good visual representation are also important.

Are you Photoshop inclined? A well-produced graphic could also make strong Pinterest fodder.

Make It Easier

First off you have to write strong content. It needs to be something worth sharing. You can also add a Pin It button to make sharing a little easier. There are plenty of tutorials on the Internet for adding it to your specific type of blogging platform. If you’re on Blogger like me, I found this tutorial on adding the Pinterest button helpful.

The bottom line is not to ignore this new network. If you spend a little bit of time with it, it could pay huge dividends for you. 

Write About Your Company

It used to be that marketing meant grabbing a megaphone and garnering the attention of as many people as possible. It used to mean buying newspaper ads, and placing your business in a prominent spot in the phone book. Clever TV ads meant to reach a wide audience were a necessity. Not anymore.

As a small business owner, you need to be a jack of all trades. You need to be a master of accounting, as well as a master of the arts. You can add one more talent to the list of things that a small business owner must be. Like it or not, you will need to be a proficient writer, or hire one. Social media, websites, and blogging all mean content.

If you are the DIY type, you will need to write about your company—a lot. That’s going to mean a few things for you. For one, you’re going to have to start thinking about the big picture for your business, and how you want to communicate your message.

What’s your business’s story? How can you tell it in an engaging and entertaining way? How can you distinguish your business from your competition? In order to answer these questions you’ll need to be familiar with your competition and what they offer. You’ll need to be consistently reading industry related magazines, books, and blogs to keep a good log of what is going on.

One thing writers always say is to read good writing. I’ll take it an additional step. Read writing that will push your boundaries. Don’t just read business books. Read books about creativity. Read some fiction and non-fiction. Read some books you might disagree with. The important thing is to just read.

From there, it’s time to put your own stamp on the material. Keep a notebook of ideas. Don’t be afraid to tweak your website content. Blog about your business as much as you physically can. And engage with your friends and followers via your social media channels.

When you do these things right, they’re not just good internet marketing, they’re good marketing. So open up your word processing software, brush up on your grammar and dive in. Do things right, and it can pay off to write about your company.

Know Your Audience

When you blog or write website content, it’s important to know your audience. You need an understanding of their knowledge base, and talk to them where they are at, and not in a way that will send them rushing out for the dictionary, because they won’t come back. Your customers may not have the industry vocabulary that you have.

This is one lesson I’ve learned as a journalist. Sometimes you have to translate the technical for your readers. You don’t want them to consult another resource, because you’ll lose them.

Business owners who are blogging could learn a lot from this. You simply want to be friendly to your reader.

A basic, conversational language will go a long way. This means not using five words when one will suffice. You don’t want to tell your readers that there are approximately five of something, when you could say there are about five. For example, “apparently” is shorter than “It would appear…” etc.

You’re not writing an inner-departmental memo between scientists or doctors. You’re writing to someone who has a lot of other choices for what they could be doing on the internet, and doesn’t have the same industry vocabulary that you do.

Product Features Vs. Value Statements

When I worked in retail, I had the difference between a product feature and value statement drilled into me. One is an excellent component for dinner table geek talk. The other can help sell a customer on the benefit of your product.

This is an important distinction to make as you write about what it is that you sell. Cars are an easy example. What you have to consider is what the feature means for your customer.

If you tell your customer that a car gets 35 miles to the gallon, they may not completely understand what that means. If you tell them that they can drive nearly 500 miles between fill-ups, well now you’re speaking their language.

While a V6 engine excites gear heads, you can achieve that same level of excitement in any driver by telling them about the increased pickup, and the ability to enter traffic when it was otherwise not advisable.

It's not a matter of the brand new feature that your product or service includes. How does what you sell improve your customers’ lives? That’s the question.

Try Being Useful

             Scrolling through your email box can take a lot of patience. The important message that you’re looking for may be nestled directly between a monetary offer from a Nigerian Prince, and a surefire way to improve a piece of anatomy that you may or may not possess.

            With your Facebook feed it can be even more frustrating. If your feed isn’t dominated with what your friends ate for dinner, it’s asking you to support their latest venture—meaning they need something.

            Everyone knows how frustrating sifting through this information can be. So don’t be that person. It’s better to actually be useful.

Conversational Content Sells

            Why don’t you try something else instead? Write with a conversational tone. It will get you farther with people online. How do you do this?

            First of all, your content does not have to be one giant call to action. You don’t need giant “buy now” buttons decorating the page. You can simply write engaging content, and invite people to respond.

As a business owner, you possess a wealth of knowledge about your industry. Why not tell people who are potentially interested in your product or service something that they need to know?

            You can do this casually. You can do this conversationally. You can do this in a way that won’t send them to the top of the screen to close out the window.

            Next, you don’t need to impress them with your tremendous vocabulary. If they need a dictionary or Google to define a word that you’re using, they’ll leave your website and likely never come back.

            Keep it simple and keep it friendly. Write how you talk. It doesn’t need to be any more formal than that.

How To Give Your Customers What They Want

The coffee is ready. The inbox is bursting with unanswered emails. There’s two phone calls to return, and the kids need someone to drive them to baseball practice.  Only then, can you begin with today’s official order of business.

It’s no secret that small business owners are defensive of their time. So when marketers are telling them that they need to be utilizing social media and blogging in order to increase their business revenues, their posture is a little understandable.

Your Customers Crave Conversation

            No one wants to be spammed. That’s the bottom line. If all you do is try and sell to them, they will see right through that and walk away.  Instead, they’re looking for a likeable resource.

            If you can continuously prove your worth and your value while being likeable and friendly, in the long run, you’ll win. How do you do this? Provide them with helpful content through your blogging platform and social media. In the long run, they'll thank you for it. 

Find The Time To Blog About Your Business

            It’s possible to come up with a good blog post in about 30 minutes. Sharing an article that you find interesting, or interacting with another’s post only takes a matter of seconds.

            These are the things that will accumulate more business. It may not happen right away, but somewhere down the road, new jobs will start to add up as you meet more people online. Just keep at it.

            I’ve recently picked up a few jobs from LinkedIn and Twitter. It’s about knowing how to use these tools in a social way, and taking full advantage of what’s in front of you.

           

Know What You Want To Do Then Do It

            Remember all those projections you made about your business? It’s the small and daily tasks (like blogging and social media) that add up to your monthly totals. You don’t get there simply by thinking big. You have to produce quality marketing content. Period. 

            It may take waking up a half hour early. There are programs out there that will block your social media and email notifications for a given time, so that you are better able to use that window productively. Shut the office door. Use headphones. But come out with something concrete. You’ll be happier for your efforts. 

The Four Ways to More LinkedIn Visibility

LinkedIn has a reputation as being a platform for job seekers, but that’s only one application for the professional network. Another application is for expanding your business’s network and increasing visibility. Are you doing everything that you can to accomplish this through LI? It’s an excellent platform for networking, especially if you are in a B2B field.

Here are four steps to increasing your visibility on LinkedIn. They are basic, but are you doing them?

Fill Out Your Profile Completely—This should go without saying. The best way to attract attention from serious potential clients or customers is to allow them to get to know you. This means giving them the information that they’re looking for in an easy to read way. Ask your connections that you’ve done business with for recommendations. Fill out your job history. Oh, and throw up a professional head shot. It can make or break the business you do.

Answers—If you’re in business for yourself, chances are you know a lot about the industry and subject. LinkedIn has an answers section that allows members to ask, and answer questions. If you know the answer, contribute to the conversation. A word of caution: be nice in how you answer questions. Some people tend to become know it alls, or scoff at the question. Interacting this way won’t win you future business. You can also add a link to your answer. If there is more information on this question on your website, you can link back to it. People will sniff you out if you link every answer back to your site however, so it’s best to do this sparingly.

Groups—Groups are another great way to interact with other professionals, and potential customers on LinkedIn. There are many groups for different industries and subject matters, and participating in the discussions can be a great way to talk shop. Just remember to talk with people the way you would if you met them at a networking event—kind and professionally.

Update Your Status—Like Facebook, LinkedIn allows you to update your status. And also like Facebook, the more quality information you post, the more other professionals will be interested. If you give the hard sell with every post, people will tune you out.  

How a Copywriter Makes Money For Your Business

So you decided to invest in a website. You had a professional designer build the whole thing and it looks absolutely gorgeous. It’s an exciting time for your marketing and your business.

If the designer built things right, your site should also be highly functional. There should be a well thought out architecture and page structure to your site, making it easy for people to use.

At this point you’re halfway home. Don’t stop here!

You’ve attracted attention to your website. From this point it is up to your copy to sell your product. It does not matter how pretty the design is, if you use the wrong “your/you’re” in a prominent home page headline, people will take note.

You only have a few seconds to grab a customer’s attention. If you do it with a grammar or spelling mistake, they will click away. A good copywriter understands this. A good copywriter has spent time mastering the craft, and will have a portfolio of samples to back it up. 

An engaging, attention-grabbing headline written with action words and mistake-free is your best bet to bring people in. In fact, it’s the only way to turn eyeballs into paying customers. This will turn an average website into a good one, and make a good website great.

Copywriting For People

At any one time, there are thousands of forces vying for people’s attention. Your website viewers are no different. If they don’t find precisely what they are looking for, they’ll move on. With new technology, everybody is fickle.

A good copywriter understands this. A good copywriter looks at your brand, your website, and sees the opportunity to tell a story. It’s through that story, and the engaging copy, that people will interact.  

There is a lot of discussion on the web about SEO copywriting and writing for people. Both are extremely necessary, but it is people who will buy your product. So ask yourself a simple question: If you were surfing the web, would you invest the time to read your own website? Be honest. If the answer is no, it might be time to rethink your website copy.

A good copywriter will know how to tell your story, and also how to get the word out across the web.

Copywriting For The Search Engines (SEO Copywriting)

You’ve got the good story. It used to be that you buy a newspaper or yellow pages ad, and wait for the foot traffic. That’s not how people are finding their information anymore. There’s a reason Google has become a verb.

A good copywriter knows to hone in on the story first. After all it’s people that will buy your product. But if you ignore the search engines, traffic will be difficult to come by. That's where SEO copywriting comes into play.

You have to think of the words and phrases that you want people to find your business by, and find ways to incorporate them into the headlines and the copy on your page. These words and phrases should be backed up by keyword research.

The search engines are continuously changing their ranking algorithms, and what they are seeking in an informative website. Some of these changes have to do with design, but many have to do with copy as well. It’s vital to have a basic understanding of search engine optimization if you want your website and copy to travel well online.

Forget buying a print ad. When people want information on a business, the search engines are where they find it.

Final Copywriting Thoughts…

Writing for people and the search engines at the same time is the perfect storm for bringing in more business. This equates to more sales, or an increased client base for your business. Here’s the bottom line:

Quality copywriting geared toward today’s marketing world = more money in any business owner’s pocket.

I wrote this blog around the website example because a website should be your marketing hub. It’s the place on the web that is totally yours. There are no space limitations, and you can fit everything you want about your business right there, within its confines.

The same principles apply to any form of marketing writing, however. Tell a good story. If we are talking about online writing such as blogs, articles or social media posts, gearing them for the search engines still applies. Brochures should still be peppered with engaging content designed to attract attention.

There are many talented business owner-writers out there. If that is not you, or you are looking for the extra SEO push, do not hesitate to hire a quality copywriter to help your business make money.

Twitter Chats Break You Out Of Your Shell

Are you looking to get the most out of your social media campaign? Utilizing your networks to reach out to others in your industry is a must.

Twitter chats are a great way to do that. Here is a list of several great Twitter chats that can help you break out of your social media shell. 

 If you have a business blog, a great way to meet new people and learn some tricks is through #blogchat. It's probably the largest of the Twitter chats, and is organized through using the #blogchat hashtag. The tweets move so fast that it helps to use a social media aggregator such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to monitor them.

The group meets every Sunday night at 8 p.m. central time, and discusses various topics that have to do with blogging. Sometimes there’s a specific topic on the table, and sometimes it’s an open mic format.

            If you have questions about building traffic, optimizing your blog, or which platforms to use, it’s a great place to seek some answers. They work to discuss any aspect of blogging. There is a special #blogchat on Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m.

            Consider giving it a try, and bring a couple blogging questions. It’s a great way to interact with other Twitter users in your industry.  

Five Tips To Improve Small Business Marketing Copy

In today’s marketing world, writing is an intricate part of communicating your message. If you have decided to take that aspect of your business on yourself, you should be setting aside the time, and learning the best ways to communicate through the written word. Whether it is website content, blogs, articles, white papers, or social media posts, these five tips can aid your small business marketing copy.

1    Know What You Want To Achieve—Before you pick up the pen and paper, or sit in front of the computer, you should know what you want to achieve. Are you trying to write something educational, or is the goal of the piece to sell product? What’s the desired end result? Knowing this before you begin can help keep you focused.

2    Know Your Audience—It’s always good to know who you are writing for. Writing for doctors will be vastly different than writing for healthcare consumers. If you know where your audience is at on the issue, you’ll be able to relate a whole lot better.

3    Check Your Spelling and Grammar—It only takes a few minutes to learn the difference between they’re/their/there. Use it wrong in your copy and potential customers may leave forever. A tiny brush up on your English will make a large difference in your copy.

4    Find Your Unique Selling Proposition—Your competition does what you do, so what makes you different? What will someone gain from doing business with you instead of them? Your closest competition will be right there with you in the Google search results. It’s up to you to keep your viewers engaged.

5   Write Like You Sell—If you are in business for yourself, chances are you are passionate about what you sell. You probably have your sales pitch down. Now it’s time to transfer that passion into your copy. If you can transfer that same passion and enthusiasm into your marketing materials, it will serve your business well.   

Why Are You On Social Media?

What’s the real reason you’re on social media? It’s an important question that you should ask yourself as you build your networks.

Number of friends and followers, and your Klout score mean absolutely nothing unless you’re able to back that up with engagement. To me, it seems that this should be the real reason we’re here.

It doesn’t always have to be about a sale. It’s nice when we cultivate sales from social media, but making that your end goal can be self-destructive. You’re not going to achieve your desired results by constantly spamming people with self-promotional materials.

It’s good to show passion about your industry. But there are a lot of ways to do this through quality content production without alienating your audience by overselling.

You should be looking into developing relationships. This means commenting, responding, mentioning, and generally just talking with people when they say things of interest to you. That’s how online relationships start.

Think back to the original definition of the word “friend” before you act. Not merely the Facebook definition. 

When Should You Post?

There’s always a lot of discussion and debate as to what the best time to post content on your social networks is.

Shareaholic studied their metrics for the 2011 year, and came up with some pretty exact results. Thursdays between 8 a.m. and noon is the best time to post material you want shared on social networks. Page views are better on Mondays.

Traffic generally slows down around 9 a.m. but spikes again after 9 p.m. The before work and after work hours are the strongest.

This should give businesses and marketers a pretty good idea of when to post information. The more you can work in the off hours, the better.

The quality of the content still matters considerably. If you can post good content at the right time, that’s your best combination.

Don't Forget Your Neighbors

By staring at the computer all day long, it’s easy to lose track of what is happening next door, or in your town.

Don’t get sucked into your computer. Don’t get too cozy in that little office you built at home. Get out. Meet actual people. Experience a real-life handshake. Leave your comfort zone every once in awhile. You’ll be glad that you did.

Those of us trying to build our social media followings (as we all should) are concentrating on turning online strangers into friends. We’re trying to build relationships. The Internet allows us to do this with someone who would otherwise be too far geographically to talk with. This is an awesome thing.

I have just a simple reminder for people. Don’t build far-reaching relationships at the expense of local relationships. As awesome as social media is, and as effective as a blog can be, face-to-face beats online EVERY time. 

Know the people in your town first. Social media giant Chris Brogan has written a lot about this. In marketing, local will matter more and more.

Your neighbors are the ones who can really help launch your business to a success. Think about it from a practical standpoint for a second. Say you need a plumber to come to your house and do some work. Are you going to call the guy you know and trust from an offline relationship, or the guy who just started following your Twitter account? I think you know.

Most people in most businesses that I know, thrive on local relationships first. They are able to establish the foundation for business within their own community. If you offer goods and services that can easily ship, by all means, cast your wide net. But never forget that your neighbor may have a need for what you do.  

Unless it is drastically preventing you from doing your job, it’s hard to ever say that you are networking too much. This is how you meet the people in your community. This is how you build relationships.

            It’s also a good idea to be a connector. Have “a guy” for everything that needs to be done. Recommend that guy when your friends need services. Everybody is in search of a good garage. If you know one, that recommendation goes a long way. This simple act of connection will not be forgotten.

            So go ahead, and get to that next networking session. Keep the business cards, and take notes on who you meet. You never know when you’ll be in need of someone local, or when they’ll be in need of you. So concentrate your marketing locally.

Creativity and Innovation

I’ve recently been reading a few books about innovators, who have some recurring traits. There are no confinements to their thought. They’re not easily satisfied. They don’t take no for an answer, and there’s always a way to turn their visions into reality.

Innovation is not easy. It takes extra work, and it also takes vision. You need to set the alarm earlier, and you need to wake up with purpose. It also takes a high level of creativity.

Creative People Make a Difference

            We’ve been conditioned to look down on creativity. Consider those who graduate with a liberal arts degree. It does not unequivocally translate into asking the question “Do you want fries with that?” like the stereotype suggests.

            They are not the ones taking cigarette breaks every half hour, and showing up an hour late. Creativity takes work. It takes showing up, and immersing yourself in your craft. It takes an ability to see solutions, and execute. It takes being able to convince your superiors of an excellent idea. They are Seth Godin's Linchpins. 

            The creative people are the ones coming up with new ways to do things at work. They are the ones making your boss look good. They are the ones who have ideas and see them through. 

The companies that can utilize their creative employees are the companies that will have the most success in the future. With the newness of online marketing and social media, creativity is what will allow companies to break through. 

Writing Marketing Copy That Doesn't Suck

Many DIY business owners want to write their own copy, and some succeed. I’ve watched a lot fail as well. The businesses that fail usually fall into one of two camps. Either they have their business’s voice down well, but are not competent writers, or they are competent writers with content marketing that does nothing to make their business stand out from the competition.

Many businesses understand that they need to establish an authentic way to speak with their customers. They understand that deep down, their customers want someone who will speak to them with a genuine, yet professional voice. Where these businesses fall flat is in the technical aspects of marketing copy.

Nothing will turn off a grammar savvy customer faster than the wrong use of the word its: “Its Time For Our Spring Sale,” etc. Make sure you’re using the right word: “It’s Time For Are Spring Sale,” etc. That’ll be a quick way to lose customers as well. Lastly, make sure you are spelling words correctly and there are no typos: “It’s Tiem For Our Spring Sale,” etc. This happens a lot. Use spell check. It takes two seconds.

If businesses insist on writing their own copy, they better do the detective work to make sure that their grammar and spelling are right. Before publishing, you can always have someone look over it.

Many businesses also fall into the other camp. There are plenty of competent writers out there producing the same content that all their competitors are coming up with. Give your content a voice. Go ahead, speak authentically.

A lot of times, this is something that can be accomplished easily through your content. You're establishing your brand. How would you talk about this subject in person? If you write about it in the same voice, with the same passion, that can produce an authentic feel. Go ahead, and show a little of that passion in your writing. It’ll make it stand out, and give you that stronger personal brand.

You can also spend more time answering the “What makes my business different than the competition?” question. I know, it can be painful, but your customers need to know why they should go with you over the next guy. If you can answer that question satisfactorily, you’ll keep people reigned in longer, and create a stronger value proposition.

Another way of accomplishing this authentic voice, is through posting about your hobbies and passions outside of your work. Many of the social media greats have perfected this balance. Gary Vaynerchuck frequently posts about the Jets. Guy Kawasaki posts about nearly everything, but if you follow him for long enough you learn about his passion for hockey. At first glance it may look off subject, but really it gives them something that you can identify with them over.

Go through your content again. If people are clicking away from your website, or not commenting on your blog, ask yourself why. If you follow the grammar rules, and inject your personality, things should improve.