A Brighter Web | Grow your business with digital marketing

Finding the Best Note-Taking Techniques

We encounter so much information daily—it’s easy to get lost or confused. One of the best ways to combat this is to have a good note-taking approach. But how do you take effective notes and keep them organized enough to be useful?

Why is it valuable to take notes?

• Our brains are quite fallible.
• We work hard to keep it strong, and you can still forget things.
• Notes are a great way to know what was said, and what that meant to you at the time.

What can you take notes for?

• The two big ones are meetings and books, for different reasons:
  • Meetings, to remember what we said and serve our clients appropriately.
  • Books, to help me learn.
• This could be reframed as learning and logistics.
• Other things can include conferences, podcasts, task lists, etc.

What do you do with your notes after writing them down?

• For many people, just writing notes down is a huge first step.
• For me, it depends on the type of note:
  • For meetings, I’ll make sure they’re cleaned up and in a place where the team can benefit from them.
  • For books, I’ll add more context around them and put them in a system where I can use them later. I also try to pull out any gems and turn those into future blog posts.

Why do you prefer digital notes to physical ones?

• I’m digital all the way, mostly for the ability to share with others and do some great cross-referencing on my own.
• There are advantages to hand-writing notes, though some of the stated ones are a bit over-blown. The three big advantages that I hear about are:

1. Handwriting slows you down, in a good way. Handwriting forces you to write about the topic rather than copying verbatim, which makes you think more. Be careful not to just type word for word.
2. Digital shows too much information/distractions. This is true, but easily solved.
3. Digital shows too many tasks — the list never ends. Well, configure it differently and make it end.

I tend to go with a hybrid. I’ll often take notes by hand, and then move them into a digital system later. This serves two purposes:

1. I can be more present. Depending on the environment, a laptop may not even be appropriate, but manual notes are always find.
2. The migration of manual notes to a digital system is gold. I take church notes by hand, but processing them is an enjoyable Sunday afternoon activity.

How is note-taking relevant for marketers or business leaders?

• It goes back to the two core reasons:
  • For clients and meetings, you want to know what they said and remember what you promised.
  • On the other hand, as a marketer or business leader, you should be constantly working on your skills.
  • I recently wrote a post about the different ways someone might take notes about a book. It gives more detail about how to capture information that you read.

Professional Development Made Simple For Digital Marketers

The best marketers are constant learners. We must keep up with plenty of trends to remain relevant. To help with that, let’s take a look at the six most popular ways to stay on top of digital marketing professional development.

Why is learning important for marketers?

• It’s always changing.
• There are no experts.
• It keeps you sharp and curious.
• You can be more well-rounded.

1. Books

• Books are undervalued.
• Expand your definition of reading: audiobooks count, too.
• A few reading suggestions:
  • This is Marketing by Seth Godin
  • How to Write Copy that Sells by Ray Edwards
  • Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller
  • The Story Cycle by Robert Carnes

2. Podcasts

• Podcasts are easy to listen passively.
• Practice active listening: take notes, and take action
• Some suggestions:
  • WorkLife with Adam Grant
  • Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam
  • All It Takes is a Goal with Jon Acuff

3. Conferences

• Conferences are more active and offer an experience
• These are a quick boost of inspiration and encouragement
• Create a plan to get the most out of your time & investment
• Some suggestions
  • Digital Summit
  • WordCamp
  • DigiMarComm
  • Inbound by Hubspot

4. Email newsletters

• They’re making a comeback
• Good way to curate lots of online content
• Avoid content overload by subscribing wisely
• Suggestions:
  • Daily Carnage
  • Total Annarchy
  • The Hustle

5. Mentor

• They help to shortcut experience.
• Help you focus on a relationship
• Find someone you want to be more like
• Find a professional program to help connect you
• They’re mutually beneficial for both of you

6. Make it stick

• Make learning a regular habit
• Take notes to help it remain in your head
• Take action - implement what you learned
• Share what you learned

Building a Robust Business Website Strategy

Did you create a strategy before building your business website? Perhaps you skipped this step to save time or because you weren’t sure why it was needed. However, creating a website without a strategy can leave it aimless and ineffective. Let’s talk about why you need a website strategy and what it should look like.

Why is it important to have a strategy before building a website?

• So you build the website for the right reasons.
• A common way to spot strategy-less sites were clearly built for the business, not their customers.
• Think about what information your audience needs before you even begin.

But doesn't that slow the process down?

• Absolutely, but that’s ok. 
• Speed isn’t the goal here. Or if it is, that’s a different conversation.
• You could go on Squarespace right now and literally have a site in a matter of minutes.
• Slowing yourself down can be a good thing to get the content right.

What should the website strategy include?

• It’s a deeper process, but it comes down to understanding who you’re trying to serve.
• Who are they?
• What are you trying to help them with?
• Why should they listen to you?
• What do they need to do to get started?

How can you implement this strategy into the site build?

• One, clearly, is the content. Speak to them in the right way—don’t use internal jargon (unless it helps with your audience).
• The other is the site hierarchy, the sitemap. Knowing your audience will give you a better insight into what kind of content would be beneficial on the site.

How does this benefit your company in the long run?

• We get a lot of clients that come to us with sites that you can tell were solid when they started, but they didn’t have a clear direction. 
• The navigation has become overcrowded, there are a bunch of CTAs on the home page, three or four big buttons at the top, each trying to overpower the other. 
• With no direction, it’s hard to know what to prioritize.
• A strategy gives you a road map for how to build and grow your website.

Setting Achievable Marketing Goals in the New Year

What are your business goals in the new year? You don’t have to wait until January to set new goals—but you should take the time to make sure these goals are effective. Join us as we examine the best way to set goals for your marketing this year.

Why is proving ROI in marketing so difficult?

• It can be hard to follow multiple visits all the way down to your bottom line.
• Increasing likes and followers is nice, but how does that help you?
• There are any number of marketing touches that can lead to new business.
• Increasing those touch points with your audience helps.
• But set goals around things that you know impact your business.

How many goals should you have? How often should they change?

• Layers. Bottom-line revenue is often the main one, and work up from there. 
• You want more revenue? You need more leads. 
• Want more leads? You need more traffic. Want more traffic? You get it.
• Build a marketing funnel and continue to optimize each layer.

What makes an effective marketing goal?

• SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound
• This helps you add context so you know what role it plays in your marketing.
• Keep your goal something you actually want to achieve so you’ll stay motivated.

What’s a bad example of a marketing goal?

• Eg. Increase revenue for next year.
• It’s notspecific enough and leaves out the context of how to get there.

How do you keep track of these goals?

• Set about 2-3 goals each quarter to stay focused.
• Write them down somewhere you’ll see regularly.
• Create a weekly scorecard to keep you focused regularly.
• Hire a solid CPA to help you figure out your money stuff.

Why Email is the Most Underrated Marketing Channel

Why is email underrated?

• People take email for granted. It’s kind of boring and reliable.
• It’s been around forever and most people have it.
• There are plenty of people who do email poorly.
• We talked about spammy email in a previous episode.

Why is email so valuable?

• You own your list. Not the platform it’s on.
• Deliverability is high. Assuming you do email the right way.
• Open rates are much higher than social reach rates.
• It’s media rich—meaning you can include links and visuals.
• Automation is much easier to accomplish—also talked about this in another episode.

How does email work with other marketing platforms?

• Everything should point back to your website.
• Use your social, podcast, and blogging content to drive emails.
• People are often willing to give up their emails in exchange for lead generators.
• Email is a way to nurture a lead you got from somewhere else.

What’s changing with email lately?

• Email open rates are less reliable with Apple’s auto-open rates.
• Email newsletters are making a comeback.

The Magic Email

What is the magic email?

• It’s a way to get people’s attention in their inbox, but it’s kind of a last resort.
• I (Mickey) heard about it from Blair Enns (2Bobs podcast).
• The email is simply this: “Since I have not heard from you on this, I have to assume your priorities have changed.”

When do you use it?

• When all else has failed. This is your Hail Mary.
• After you’ve tried connecting with the person multiple times.
• For example, Mickey reached out to a person five times with no response before sending the magic email. He then got a reply 26 minutes later.

When should you NOT use it?

• Use it sparingly because the message is direct and snarky.
• Not on any relationships you don’t mind losing. 
• It often gets people to respond, but not always positively.

Why do you think it works?

• Puts a bit of time pressure on. And some guilt, too.
• There must be some psychology behind what gets people to finally respond.
• “Works” is relative. A response is the main goal, though, and it works for that.

How Do I Identify My Business’ Audience?

Why is it important to know your audience?

• Why waste time communicating with someone else?
• Talk to people who you’re relevant to
• Every business exists to serve people; even if you’re B2B

What are mistakes businesses make with their audience?

• Thinking everyone is their audience; the more focused, the better
• Not fully understanding their audience; don’t make dumb assumptions
• Not staying focused on the audience; it’s not about you, it’s about them

How can we figure out who our audience is?

• Think about the people you serve? Who are your best customers?
• Figure out what they have in common; usually it’s the problem you help them solve
• Talk to some of them; learn about their motivations and preferences
• Look at your website users, social media followers, email subscribers
• List the demographic data; gender, age, location, income, occupation, family, etc.

What are the practical ways of staying focused on your audience?

• Creating audience personas is a helpful shortcut to processing this mass of information
• It focuses your attention on a specific character, rather than on statistics
• It’s OK to have a few different personas based on different audience segments
• Print these out and keep them visible as a reminder for who you’re reaching
• Think about the persona every time you write an email, social post, or blog
• But don’t overly generalize; keep meeting with people to keep it human

Is Twitter Worth My Business’ Time?

Quick—describe Twitter in less than 140 characters. It’s not easy to be succinct, but that brevity is one of the major advantages of Tweeting. Twitter might be great for influencers or debating politics, but does it have a place in business marketing? #GoodQuestion

How is Twitter different from other social platforms?

• It’s more short form, micro posts with limited characters
• It’s more focused on trending news content
• Visual content still performs well, but it’s not entirely focused on that
• Twitter is simpler because it has less of the added features of Facebook

How can Twitter work well for businesses?

• It’s still a large and active social platform
• There are lots of conversations to engage in
• It’s a relatively easy platform to create short-form content for
• Best for newsworthy posts and conversations (especially using hashtags)
• A good way to keep on top of trends

Why might Twitter not be a good fit?

• Many of their users are bots and fake accounts
• Unlike LinkedIn, there’s a lot of political nonsense and anger
• It’s much hard to maintain an active presence— it requires multiple posts per day to stay relevant
• Sees a much lower engagement rate
• Mostly suited for influencers with existing large audiences

How can your business take advantage of Twitter?

• Use it mostly for quick updates and news content
• Leverage visuals— one of the best platforms for GIFs
• Join existing conversations using relevant hashtags
• Connect with industry influencers
• Set your expectations low and try to have some fun with it

What’s the future of Twitter?

• They already went from 140 → 280, next is “articles”?
• Open up API some more? Elon was planning to.
• Cluttering themselves with too many different features (eg. Spaces)
• Twitter Blue for $2.99/mo (ad-free, editing tweet feature)

Using Sitemaps and Wireframes For Better Websites

If you’ve ever built a website before, you’ve probably heard about sitemaps and wireframes. But perhaps you’re not familiar with either, or why they’re important for custom website development. Let’s unpack the role sitemaps and wireframes play in creating websites and why to consider using both.

What is a sitemap?

A sitemap is a flowchart depicting the pages that need to be created for your site. Essentially like mapping out the chapters of your book before you start outlining the content.

Can you start building pages with a sitemap?

Like a book or school research paper, you need to create a content outline for each page. What topics need to be highlighted on each page? What is the main action a user should take on each page? A content outline gives you a good framework to start writing.

Which comes first: writing or wireframes?

Great question—many UX designers debate this very thing. Having a first draft of content is always ideal when starting your wireframes, but referencing the content outline is adequate.

What is a wireframe?

Think of a wireframe as a page blueprint before you add design elements. The black and white drawing (sometimes a hand sketch) of the page layout before you start thinking about the visual brand elements. More complex websites (and apps) require more complex wireframes.

How does this make a website stronger?

You remove the guessing game from your website strategy. You have a strong outline on to base the content on. This forces you to think about the purpose behind each page and slows you down enough to consider all of the details.

How to Tell Stories in Your Business

Storytelling is a term plenty of business leaders use—but are they actually prepared to tell stories? Finding the right stories in your company is one of the biggest challenges. In this episode, we’ll discuss what business storytelling looks like and where you can begin.

Why is storytelling worth it for businesses?

• Stories are far more captivating than data or information
• They create an emotionally-charged experience that people remember
• Effective businesses invite their audience to imagine themselves as part of the story

What are the 4 things that every story has?

• Context: setting and platform
• Character: the perspective of the audience
• Conflict: a problem that drives the narrative forward
• Change: transformation because of the conflict

Where is the first place to start with business storytelling?

• You’ve got to start listening to tell the stories of your audience
• If you have people, then you have stories to tell
• But you must earn their trust in order to hear their story
• Always be ready to capture a story by writing down notes or capturing images
• Share these stories with your team in a Story Library and have a set team of people who help you out

What’s a good example of business storytelling?

• Humans of New York blew up when they started adding stories to their photos
• The lesson is that you can listen either actively or passively for organizational stories

What are some storytelling resources?

• Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller
• Story or Die by Lisa Cron
• Story of Business podcast
• The Story Cycle by Robert Carnes