Inc. loves Spark & Hustle
Wow…love this piece that captures what Spark & Hustle is all about. Please take a moment to read!
Just want to know if you're the person from ABC News? If yes, well, I shall follow.
Thanks,
M — Asked by similecrum
yup — i am! abcnews.com/toryjohnson
New study says multitasking makes you forget short-term more easily, especially if you’re older. If you’re interrupted when you’re trying to do one single thing, it decreases the accuracy of your memory on that one thing. The act of doing more than one thing at a time decreases the accuracy and quality of each task.
10 Tips to Improve Email Marketing
“Be more concerned about people listening to you than worrying about them stealing from you.”
That’s from Ross Kimbarovsky, co-founder of crowdSpring, encouraging Spark & Hustle attendees to share more of their ideas without fear of having them ripped off.
Ross also gave everyone 10 tips for improved email marketing results based on his company’s experience after sending hundreds of thousands of emails:
1) Tuesday is the best day to send a newsletter between 10am and 2pm. Wednesday and Thursday are the next best days. Monday and Friday not ideal.
2) Short subject lines are best. This is the only thing between people opening your email or not.
3) Limit self-promotion. Don’t sell too much in your newsletter. A soft sell or special offer is more valuable. If the only thing you do is sell, people will unsubscribe.
4) Have the email come from a person, not a company. More people will open a personal email than a company email.
5) Use an online service. Don’t use your personal email program to do your email marketing. (Mail Chimp, Campaign Monitor and Constant Contact are just three options.
6) A/B test subject lines. Test them to know what works better for your audience.
7) Put your best content on top. If you have something great, say it early. Not at the end.
8) Keep a regular schedule. Don’t be sporadic.
9) Make it look pretty. Professional, too.
10) Overnight success takes 10 years.
That last one applies to lots of stuff way beyond email marketing, but as you build you list of subscribers, fans, friends, followers, don’t expect instant miracles. Invest the time to build real connections.
New study says multitasking makes you forget short-term more easily, especially if you’re older. If you’re interrupted when you’re trying to do one single thing, it decreases the accuracy of your memory on that one thing. The act of doing more than one thing at a time decreases the accuracy and quality of each task.
Make Money from Your Blog
I first met Wendy Piersall at BlogWorld in Las Vegas where I interviewed her and I was thrilled to subsequently invite her to speak at my Spark & Hustle event in Chicago to share her insights on blogging for your business.
Imagine that the internet is the biggest networking event in the world, and anyone coming to your blog can see exactly what you’re about and what you offer. A blog allows you to make an impression in an instant.
A blog helps you build a platform — and a platform enables you to sell a product, service and/or advertising.
Here are my notes from Wendy’s session on the three ways to make money through your blog:
1) Sell ads
2) Sell products If you sell jewelry, your blog content can focus on all things jewelry or you can write about fashion, clothing and accessories that focus on a specific customer — the customer who’d buy your jewelry. Of course you’d feature your own work, but every post wouldn’t be about selling selling selling.
3) Sell services Great example: Pam Slim (www.escapefromcubiclenation.com) is an expert at helping people get out of corporate world to start small businesses. Her blog content reinforces her position as an expert in this space. She sells coaching services, webinars, downloadable books and more to her blog readers.
If you’re not a good writer, try videoblogging and audiopodcasting. Instead of writing, you share you information via video or audio — and you market it the same way.
Recommended resource from Wendy to learn more about blogging: www.problogger.net
If you’re sleeping in, you’re sleeping on your dreams. — Candi Carter at Spark & Hustle Chicago
The founder of It’s Hip Hop Baby (www.itshiphopbaby.com) is also a fulltime senior producer for Oprah — and she started and runs this successful company on the side. Her message: You can always carve out time for the stuff that you’re determined to accomplish. Wake up earlier, stay up later, figure out how to make it happen.
Women have trouble viewing themselves as experts. But if you don’t view yourself as an expert — and declare your expertise — you can’t generate media coverage to grow your business.
The brilliant Sarah Evans (www.prsarahevans) talked about GETTING SOURCED at Spark & Hustle Chicago.
Some nuggets of her great advice on getting media coverage for your business:
Have the basic fundamentals down: What are the key messages of your organizations? What’s your 30 second soundbite? Have supporting statements around that to back it up. This is an ideal way to be media-ready.
Think of yourself as a news producer. Have an updated headshot. Have stock photos that could be used to make the story more robust.
Be familiar with all of the platforms. Web, TV, print — all very different. Befriend someone who’s in PR. If you can’t afford a PR firm, ask a PR friend to help you get media-ready.
Five ways to use traditional and social media to identify story opportunities:
1) Create a media list. Cover three categories: traditional media, bloggers, online influencers. List is about quality not quantity. Build the list — it takes time. Who would you likely pitch? Who covers what you do? Organize it and get to know the work of the people you’re targeting. Aim for 20 people in each of the 3 categories.
2) Leave a digital trail. You have to be searchable and findable online. Journalists have expanded the way they find sources and many times it’s online. That’s a great reason to be active in social media or to write a blog. (It’s NOT just about sending out a press release.)
3) Produce interesting content. Centralize it such as here on Tumblr or a blog. The more my clients blog, the more they see media interest in their stories. Create an editorial calendar for your own content around holidays, topics, news events, anniversaries, etc. You’re creating this content to build your expertise — and then you must share it through social media. People love LISTS, so create some content in list form.
4) Ask yourself some key questions. Is it new? Is it timely? If the event is tomorrow, you should have pitched it a week ago. Who will the story impact? Local, national? Is it unique? Is there a trend? Trend stories are huge.
5) Don’t let stories die. Use links in your email signature. Put the links in other stuff you do so the stories have a long shelf life.
Some valuable resources:
—Reporters check TweetDeck when they’re looking for sources.
—PitchEngine.com is a valuable resource for sharing your materials for media.
—HARO — HelpaReporter.com
Learn more at www.prsarahevans.com and follow her at @prsarahevans.
“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes…as long as they’re NEW mistakes.”
That’s how Michael Alter, CEO of SurePayroll, kicked off his session at Spark & Hustle Chicago. I have extra reason to love learning from Michael at our events because Women For Hire has been a SurePayroll client for more than a year…and SurePayroll is the sponsor of the Spark & Hustle tour.
Here are the notes I took during his session:
Be ready to correct those mistakes quickly. When you try something new, you shouldn’t expect to get it right every time. You must be willing to try new things and know they won’t all work out every time.
“Every year, SurePayroll celebrates its BEST NEW MISTAKE - emphasis on NEW.” Michael Alter, CEO, SurePayroll
The award looks at what mistake did they learn from most and did they fix the fastest. If you’re going to make mistakes, you better be willing to learn from them. Look at it as paying tuition.
Use your negatives as a positive. You don’t have the resources of cash, brand recognition, or other things that a big corporation has. But you have advantages because you are small, so use small as a win for you. Flexibility and ability to be innovative are huge assets if you leverage them.
Say NO more. Choose when to say NO. Don’t jump at every opportunity that comes your way. Plenty of people will give you tons of ideas — and they’ll all sound better than the next. Don’t get distracted by your core business. Say no to other stuff that’s not what you do. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS. Everyone always says FOCUS, but the best way to do that is to say NO to the stuff that’s out of your focus.
Instead of focusing on your weaknesses, play to your strengths. Hire or outsource your resources.
Leverage technology to change the way you do business.
Learn more — and get a three-month free trial — at www.surepayroll.com.
Bridget Brennan kicked off Friday Spark & Hustle in Chicago on why and how women buy — including advice on killing birds.
Women own it: Women control the purchasing decisions for everyone and everything from babies to elderly. Women take care of everybody, which is why we’re so powerful to the economy.
How will our purchases impact the other people in our household? Women have a bigger guilt gene than men when we spend money on ourselves. So the most successful campaigns convince women that when they make a purchase it’ll benefit everyone in their home. When Nintendo introduced the Wii Fit, to sweeten the deal and get over the price barrier, Nintendo had to convince mom that she could use Wii Fit to workout out home AND that everyone else in the family could use the Nintendo Wii too.
Are you addressing the time-starved? Women are so time-starved and looking for convenience. Retailers are in jeopardy when they don’t cater to women’s lifestyles. On Chicago’s North Michigan Avenue or New York’s Fifth Avenue, droves of people are hustling and bustling to get to work between 8 and 9am — walking past every major retailer, all of which are closed. They open at 10am, but that’s when working people are at work. When workers manage to get out during lunch to go to the bank, post office or anything else, many shops are staffed down because their own employees are at work. So all of this has driven women to shop online.
How many birds can you kill at once? Women want to kill two birds with one stone. Tell women how many birds can be killed with their purchase from you.
Women over 50 are the most overlooked population in the world. They’re amazing buyers because they know it’s now their turn. They’ll convert the kids bedroom into an office. They’ll take off on vacations. They’ll upgrade their car. They’ll upgrade their wardrobe. They’ve got money and nobody’s targeting them. They’re ready to embrace brands that will include them in their messaging. How are you targeting this group?
Face to face vs. shoulder to shoulder? Bars were designed for men to sit shoulder to shoulder instead of face to face to avoid eye contact. That’s because sustained eye contact can be an invitation for aggression: “You looking at me?” That’s why when women are offered a seat at the bar, they decline, opting instead to wait for a table where they can sit face to face. Is your environment conducive to women?
Give women something to talk about. It’s part of our culture for women to pass along information. What kind of messages are you offering women so they can talk about your product or service?
When all things are equal…: Women will always give their business to someone who they believe best deserves their business. Women work so hard for everyone else, so we recognize when others work hard for us. How hard do you hustle for your customers?
Mind your manners: Women need to hear the please and the thank you. We notice it when someone doesn’t say it. (SO TRUE! My kids know how much it bugs me when sales associates at the drug store or the dept store don’t say THANK YOU whether I’m spending $3 or $3,000. What’s so hard about thanking a customer and perhaps even a smile?)
One MUST: If you can only do one thing to target women: FOCUS ON SERVICE. With women, service is everything. In most places, the bar for service is so low. Anyone going above and beyond is amazing because it’s so bad almost everywhere you look.
Recommended reading:
WHY SHE BUYS, by Bridget Brennan
YOU JUST DONT UNDERSTAND, by Deborah Tannen
THE FEMALE BRAIN, by Louann Brizendin
Bridget’s site is www.thefemalefactor.com.
