Sometimes I get asked, “ So, you do content marketing...what do you mean by content?”
It’s usually coming from someone genuinely curious and new to the idea. I welcome the opportunity to share. Content can really be all forms of communication:
Content marketing is using a strategy to produce content about specific topics that a targeted audience will find valuable, or useful. The idea here is to build a relationship over time with a targeted group of people that you (the content creator) are providing regular, valuable content to on topics they care about. As you build a relationship over time with this targeted audience you can periodically offer your products/services or provide calls-to-action in your content to learn more about your products/services, and turn those content followers of yours into customers. Keep in mind, for content marketing to work for you, you really have to find topics that a targeted audience deems useful and valuable otherwise this may not work so well for you. Part of how you’re trying to build a relationship with those who consume your content is to get them to sign up on your email list. This is so you can deepen the online relationship you’re building with your audience. It will also allow you more direct access to connect with them when you decide to offer your products/services to them. Posted by Nick Venturella
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I just read a great, inspiring article from James Altucher on LinkedIn Pulse.
I recommend reading this article to be inspired to believe in yourself and take a chance on YOU. No one can live the life you live. It is uniquely yours, and you can make your world a little better everyday, for yourself and others around you. No small feat of kindness and abundance is too small. Read the article, especially if you've been doubting yourself lately. posted by Nick Venturella
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LinkedIn is a great professional social network, especially for service-based businesses and professionals (i.e. coaches, consultants, attorneys, independent insurance agents, bookkeepers/accountants, etc.).
One tactic on LinkedIn I've had some success using to generate interest, engagement and even leads has been to set up your own LinkedIn Group. You will likely want to make it an 'open' group so more people join your group and it's searchable on Google. Make sure your group is targeted to your industry and primary marketing audience. The group's discussion topics (posted content within the group) is relevant to the group's members. Be sure to invite your current connections, list the group URL on your email signature with a call-to-action to join the group, etc...get people to the join the group. Really, by having people join the group, since you're the group owner, you're able to use the 'Send Announcement' feature and send a weekly mass message to all group members through LinkedIn even if you're not personally connected to each individual group member. It's like having a email list without even having everyone's email address. The nice thing about those 'Send Announcement' messages is they show up directly in group members' email inbox. Now, if a group member has changed their group message delivery settings in their group membership then they may not get the message in their inbox. However, most don't even know they can change those settings, so 9 times out of 10 the setting resorts to the default, which sends group messages to the member's email address associated with their LinkedIn account and log-in. HubSpot has put together a nice post outlining more details about this tactic. Posted by: Nick Venturella
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Come join me and my musical friends on Friday January 30, 2015 for a fun and relaxing night of acoustic music. This will be an unplugged show and in the round with area songwriters Beth Kille, Teddy Davenport & Keith Hampton (and me). Here are the details: Tuvalu Coffeehouse & Gallery Midwinter Acoustic Song Swap 300 S. Main St. Verona, WI Fri. Jan. 30, 2015 Start 7pm As a multi-faceted creative entrepreneur, I have a soft spot in my heart for others who move beyond the bounds of a single creative discipline. In fact, most creative people I know cannot box themselves into a single creative discipline. There is too much fluidity in creativity -- often one creative pursuit spills over and inspires another. The individual creative process of any one discipline tends to follow a similar framework from one to another. However, the execution and final artistic output ends up being different given the creative discipline one is working in. All that is to say, it makes perfect sense to me why creative individuals like, Vashmere Valentine, can move easily, and be successful in, film direction, screenwriting photography and more. An even more extraordinary feat for creatives is not only their ability to produce quality, professional-level work, but also their ability to gain entrepreneurial success with their endeavors. The mix of art and commerce that balances artistic integrity with audience appeal allowing the creator to yield income from their work is often more rare than simply finding great artists who can produce wonderful work. That's the main difference, in my opinion, between creative entrepreneurs and those who create... Creative entrepreneurs focus on compelling stories and the right process to produce their final vision. However, they also are able to understand, balance and interweave the business of bringing their creation to their intended audience. This extra nuanced knowledge intertwined within the creative process helps keep a project in scope for the desired creative and business outcome. Those who want creative success must find a way to produce great work and understand how to bridge the gap between beautiful art and value for which people are willing to pay. Posted by Nick Venturella
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From this post on Buffer, Facebook is limiting the reach of your Facebook Page marketing messages to your "Likes" or Page connections. Here's a bit from the Buffer post: "Facebook will begin monitoring and reducing the appearance of overly promotional posts from Pages, beginning in January 2015. Overly promotional posts, according to Facebook, may include:
Pages that post promotional creative should expect their organic distribution to fall significantly over time." In other words, if you use a Facebook Page as your main business website, you will want to consider creating a website that you own for your business, building an email list or community around your own site and migrating away from your Facebook Page as your main online business hub. The reason, as mentioned in the Buffer post, is most of your Facebook Page posts won't be seen by your intended audience. As a result you stand to lose referrals and business leads because they aren't seeing your Facebook Page postings. Posted by: Nick Venturella Tune in on January 12, 2015 to hear one of my songs featured on Diva Taunia's Backstage Pass Radio Program.
Read more for details... As many who know me know, I got my entrepreneurial start as a musician and continue to perfect my professional musical craft via live performances, producing, album/song sales, music royalties, etc. Early on in my musical journey I was more enamored with making a decent living with music than ever being famous, which is something I talked about in my book, The Local Music Journey. Fast forward to today with more access and distribution across the internet (and a declining old-school record label model), 80-90% of musicians are independent of a major label -- even those formerly on a major label. That said, it's a long road to the middle. Most musicians I know simply want to make a reasonably comfortable living doing what they're most passionate about and motivated to do. This article, does a nice job offer further details about the dream of the middle-class musician. Check it out -- it's an interesting entrepreneurial case study, even if you're not a musician. Posted by: Nick Venturella |
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