I don’t know about you but December is passing in a whirl and I’ve hardly managed to draw breath. I love this time of year but I particularly love those quiet days between Christmas and New Year when the whole world seems to pause (or at least, mine does!).
With that in mind, I thought I would share some resources this week that you can store up to enjoy during your quieter moments and to set you up for a fabulously successful 2015…
First up is an excellent podcast on Creating Ridiculously Good Content. Content remains the cornerstone of my – and any successful – online business and this interview with Ann Handley, former writer for the Boston Globe and one of the founders of Clickz as well as Chief Content Officer for MarketingProfs, is full of great insights:
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2014/09/10/good-content/
And here’s a helpful tutorial on creating great visual content – the kind people share to spread your message far and wide:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/visual-content-with-kim-garst/
Speaking of Clickz, here’s their take on digital marketing trends for 2015:
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2386192/10-digital-marketing-trends-for-2015
If you look at that list, video, visual and mobile marketing stand out. All of those require specific skills and approaches so let’s start with mobile marketing as this is not only huge but an area many of you are still hesitant to try.
Here’s a step by step guide to setting up a successful mobile marketing campaign:
And there’s a superb Mobile Marketing 101 course here (frankly, I can’t believe it’s free):
http://www.quirk.biz/resources/mobile101
If that’s a little too much for you and you just want it bite size then here’s a podcast that runs to just over a half hour and will tell you what you need to know to get started with mobile marketing:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/mobile-marketing-how-to-get-started/
For a brilliant-as-ever guide to getting leads with mobile marketing, look no further than Hubspot (you need to give your details but, as I always say, I’ve never had a problem with their emails…in fact, I like ‘em!):
http://offers.hubspot.com/generate-leads-mobile-marketing
While this is a brief but valuable piece on the nuts and bolts of mobile for small businesses – especially interesting for all you consultants because it gives guidelines on expected costs to clients:
http://marketing.about.com/od/marketingmethods/a/Mobile-Marketing-Basics-For-the-Small-Business.htm
There’s a lot to digest there and I’ll share more tips and training to do with visual and video marketing next week. In the meantime, here’s a TED talk on the one skill I think we all need to make it in any sphere….real self-confidence:
