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5 Life Changing Books Every Writer Needs to Read Today

Kylie Fennell

I love being a writer. It is all I have ever wanted to do, but doing it for a living and balancing it among other work and life priorities can be downright hard. Whenever I do need a boost, inspiration, motivation or writing tips I turn to a few key books – here are what I think are the top books every writer needs to read.

1. Living as a Creative – Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert

I’m a scaredy-cat by nature. Many writers I have come across are. For me, fear goes along with my overly active imagination that always asks ‘what if?’.

It’s great for fiction writing but not so good for getting over those fears of ‘am I really any good at this?’, ‘should I just give up?’, and any version of the ‘I’m a fraud’ factor many of us are regularly afflicted by. 

What I love about Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear” is that it deals with all of these fears and more. Gilbert encourages the writer to accept fear and invite it along on your journey, but never to let it in the “driving seat”. Beautifully written and packed with useful heart-felt advice on how to live a creative life.

2. Making Money as a Writer – How to be a Writer, John Birmingham

One of the most quoted lines from this book is ‘Beauty is good, but coin is better. You can’t eat artistic integrity. It tastes like sawdust.’ It is the perfect summary of the theme of Birmingham’s book.

If you’ve ever wanted to make money from writing, be it as a freelancer, a features writer or author, then this is the book for you.

Notice though I didn’t say it was for poets…Birmingham doesn’t have any useful advice for poets, but he does have a wicked sense of humour – he really knows his sh…stuff.

There’s plenty of expert tips and laughs along the way starting with the tongue in cheek full title: How to Be a Writer: Who Smashes Deadlines, Crushes Editors and Lives in a Solid Gold Hovercraft.  

Topics covered include ‘How to slay writer’s block’, ‘What the hell is workflow?’, ‘How to write 10,000 words in a day’ and ‘The best apps for writers’. Hard-core, real-world practical advice. Read it if you dare!

3. Mastering Language –On Writing, Stephen King

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft is a guide to mastering language, written by the master himself.

Helpful advice, tips and instruction on using language is threaded among personal anecdotes and memoir.

King uses his life and writing experience, as well as examples from his own novels, to illustrate technical writing points. He shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work. If you’re a Stephen King fan you will get a serious kick out of this. Even if you’re not – and I don’t read much of his stuff (I told you I’m a scaredy cat) – you will still find it incredibly helpful.

For one, I share King’s hate for passive voice. If you catch me doing it feel free to tag me with a narky tweet. Scratch that. For all I know I’ve dropped a few clangers in this post. 

He also declares war on adverbs, which has led me to revisit my own work and weed out the little buggers but also live in perpetual fear of them. So I’d say King’s ‘On Writing’ mission is accomplished in terms of improving my writing.

4. Putting Yourself Out There – What to Do When it’s Your Turn (and it’s Always Your Turn), Seth Godin

I have mentioned this book more than once in my blog posts, for several reasons.

Firstly, I have a massive writing and marketing crush on Seth Godin. Love your guts mate!

Secondly, this book is freakin’ awesome.

What to Do When it’s Your Turn (and it’s Always Your Turn is an urgent call to action to writers and other creative types to stop waiting ‘for their turn’ and to send their art out to the world.

He goes further, saying we owe it to the world to share our craft, whether the world likes it or not. It’s not the world’s job to love us, it’s our job to just put ourselves and our art out there – embracing all the challenges along the way.

I love how Godin simultaneously inspires and gives the reader the kick up the butt they need while also delivering necessary reality checks.

5. Understanding Story – Steering The Craft, Ursula Le Guin

Ursula Le Guin has created this deceptively simple guide focusing on the craft of story and narrative.

Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story covers the main components of narrative, from the sound of language to sentence construction to point of view.

Le Guin combines illustrative examples with her own witty commentary, as well as exercises. She also includes advice on working in writing groups.

These are just some of the books I have loved and found incredibly valuable for improving my writing.

What books for writers do you recommend?

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Why You Don’t Need a ‘Pitch’ to Successfully Pitch

Kylie Fennell

I’m a writer. I’ve been writing for a living for more years than I care to remember.

At risk of sounding up myself, I aint too shabby when it comes to putting a few words together.

I can be pretty damn persuasive as well, when I want to be.

There’s one caveat though.

I may be the cat’s meow (at least that’s what I like to think on a good day) when it comes to putting together compelling messages, pitches, stories, articles, ads…pretty much anything really, as long as it’s in the written form.

But when it comes to delivering the same type of content verbally, it quickly goes pear-shaped.

Anyone who knows me, will say I have no problem talking. They’ll probably say I can talk the leg off a chair. I reckon they’ll say I’ll go up and talk to anyone – that I’m the classic extrovert.

There is definitely some truth in that. Once I’m in my comfort zone, I can, and will, chat to anybody, but initially approaching and speaking to a stranger doesn’t come so easily.

I’ll happily speak to the person next to me at the bus stop, the usher at the theatre, other clients at the hairdresser, on one condition – that I’m speaking about things I’m extremely confident about, strongly believe in, or if it’s just classic small talk.

Ask me though to pitch something important to someone verbally, whether it’s a novel or a business idea, I become crippled with verbal diarrhoea, or say nothing at all.

For me, it all comes down to having confidence in what I’m speaking about.

Believing in your writing or idea is one thing – something we’ll talk about another day – but until you can have that confidence, there’s an easy tool that will help you ‘fake it until you make it’, as they say.

Creating A Killer Pitch

I was a mess, the first time I pitched my novel to a publisher.

I’d gone to extreme effort to polish a few paragraphs with an awesome hook, and it sounded pretty darn good…on paper.

I realised too late that the pitch didn’t sound so great when read aloud. It sounded like I was reading from a script, and that’s exactly what I did. I read from the piece of paper because I was comfortable with what I’d written.

It was a brilliant lesson and reminder that I needed to work on my elevator pitch, specifically to be delivered verbally.

But where would I start?

The answer lay in all of the years of media training I had delivered to businesses and executives over the years.

 I didn’t need a ‘pitch’. I needed key messages.

The Power of Key Messages

The problem with writing a pitch and then memorising it word-for-word, is that when you go to say it, it is likely to sound like a script.

In real life we don’t speak the same way that sentences are put together on paper.

And when we do try to do that, we tend to sound unnatural or robotic.

We concentrate so much on delivering the exact words, that we lose all of the intonation and natural expression we normally use when we speak – all of the things that help to engage and keep other people interested.

The way to get around this, and take it a heck of a lot easier on yourself, is to develop key messages that you can use a guide – not a script.

Key messages are the takeaways you want your target audience to hear and remember – whether that audience is an agent, publisher, potential client, or a stranger at the shops.

Key messages – How To

  1. You want to develop three key messages based on the core themes or ideas you want to put across when pitching.
    • Why three? Three is an easy number to remember and will help keep you focused, and on point.
  2. To develop your key messages, ask yourself what are the three most important things you need to get across about the topic, novel or idea you are pitching.
  3. Write down these things and package them up into sentences.
  4. Each key message should consist of 1-2 sentences – the shorter the better – and should capture the things you think will appeal to the audience the most.
  5. Once you have written out your key messages, go through and highlight or underline keywords or phrases that represent the most critical themes or ideas you want to convey.

How To Use Your Key Messages to Pitch

The thing that stands key messages apart from a written pitch, is that they give you the freedom to adapt them as needed, at the time of use.

Key messages don’t need to be used word-for-word or remembered off-by-heart – you just want to focus on remembering the general gist of each message and the keywords or phrases you identified as most important.

Initially commit the key messages to memory, but then practise saying them out loud a few times and you will notice that you may start changing up your words, or tweaking them each time. Keep doing this until you have something that feels natural to say, and then remember it and practise it more.

But it doesn’t end there.

The beauty of key messages is that they can be tweaked depending on your audience, or even how you’re feeling on the day. They may also evolve over time.

You will most likely use slightly different language when speaking to someone at a BBQ than you would speaking to a senior executive.

Key messages enables you to ‘go off script’ without losing track of what you were trying to say and ensures you still convey the most important parts.

You’re also likely to sound more authentic, relaxed and engaging.

Trust me, I’ve done it myself and it really works.

Remember you’re not delivering a speech, your starting a conversation.

Bonus tip!

Once you nail your key messages, here’s your next challenge. Why not try and distil the three messages into one concise statement – you can call it your tagline or slogan if you like – that captures the core essence of what you’re trying to say.

And then, edit it until it is 140 characters or less – now you have an awesome little sound bite that’s made for Twitter!!

So what are you waiting for? Start working on your key messages and you’ll be pitching like a pro before you know it.

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Want to Make Money as an Author? Start Thinking Like a Brand

Kylie Fennell

If you think that creating a beautifully written book is enough to guarantee a best-seller, I have bad news for you.

A well-written book is a great start, and if you’ve got one ready to go, I congratulate you on the herculean effort I know that went into it.

Unfortunately though, if you want to make money out of book sales, you need to wrap your head around something that may seem like the complete antithesis of creative writing.

You need to start thinking of yourself as a brand.

If you write strictly for a hobby, that is, you don’t want, or need, to make money from selling your books, at ease. You can go back to trawling through social media/watching reality TV/reading a book, doing whatever you were doing before.

The rest of you though, don’t go anywhere. Trust me, I’ll know if you stop reading now. : )

Run It Like a Business

A very wise publishing friend of mine recently told me that the most difficult part of working with his clients is convincing them why they should act like they are running a business.

The leap from writing books to running a business, isn’t as big as you may think.

Businesses sell products – you (I assume) want to sell books (products).

Running a business requires financial and time management – so does writing. Whether you’re squeezing it in between your day job or family commitments, you will need to juggle your time and resources to pursue a career as an author.

Importantly, successful businesses need to invest time and effort into marketing.

For authors, aspiring or otherwise, your marketing (or lack of it) has the potential to make or break your writing career.

This is why, you hear so much about why you should build your author brand or platform.

Start Thinking Like a Brand

Authors are brands, whether they like to think of themselves that way or not.

***Brand is the only thing that matters when the market is saturated***

Okay, brand may not be the only thing, but I don’t need to tell you that the book marketplace is super competitive, and brand is often the difference between an author gaining cut through or not.

While it pains me to say this, many brilliantly written books may never make it to a book store, or generate the sales they deserve, without brand recognition.

When Should I Start Developing My Brand?

If you’re an aspiring author, you may believe you don’t have to worry about this ‘marketing stuff’ yet.

Sorry to rain on your parade.

The best time to start marketing yourself as an author is ASAP!

The more time you have to build your platform and generate interest, as well as followers, the easier it will be when you do publish your book. This applies whether you self-publish or have a traditional publisher.

First-up, you want to create a brand that agents, publishers, influencers and other book industry types want to support and invest in.

Start creating a brand now that your target audience, and readers, can really connect to, so when you do launch your book, you have a ready-made fan club buying it, and telling all of their friends to buy it too.

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Forget 10,000 Hours of Practice – Embrace Shokunin To Be an Expert

Kylie Fennell 1 comment

Uncharacteristically, I had a hour or so to spare the other day, and I remembered that a new episode of Vikings should have been available SBS On Demand.

I was bitterly disappointed to find that the show hadn’t aired that week. Instead I poked around for something else to watch. My eyes fell on Jiro Dreams of Sushi. As a Japanophile the title was enough to draw me in, and I’m so glad it did, I just wish I’d seen it well before now.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a 2011 American documentary film following, the now 92-year-old, Jiro Ono – a sushi master and owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro.

Sukiyabashi Jiro is a Michelin three-star restaurant that only seats 10 people, and can be found in the unglamorous location of a Tokyo subway station. You won’t find any appetisers or fancy a la carte meals there. Jiro Ono only serves a tasting menu of around 20 courses, for a minimum of 30,000 Japanese yen (350 AUD) – ouch!

Apparently though it’s completely worth it. Obama described his meal there as the best sushi he had ever had.

What’s that got to do with being an expert?

It turns out everything.

Embracing Shokunin

Jiro Ono subscribes to the practice of ‘shokunin’.

Shokunin is a Japanese term that translates as a ‘craftsman’ or ‘artisan’ – more specifically, the mastery of ones profession.

Famed Japanese artist, sculptor, teacher and woodcrafting expert Tasio Odate says “the Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means not only having technical skills, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness. … The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people”.

This is a beautiful idea, but it seems that shokunin isn’t always driven by social obligation – even if there are beneficial outcomes for other people.

For many the shokunin is about the practice of doing something carefully and beautifully, to the best of your ability, and the personal joy derived from this. It is also about the continual quest for improvement and perfection.

In Jiro Dreams of Sushi we learn that the chef wakes up every morning and goes to work, despite already being incredibly successful and arguably the best sushi master in the world. He does this because he is driven by shokunin. He says, “All I want to do is make better sushi”.

The Cost of Perfection

As a self-confessed perfectionist I know the pressure I put on myself and how unhealthy it can be to me and those around me.

These days I prefer to aim for ‘progress’ rather then perfection – and sometimes ‘good enough’, is actually good enough.

Even Jiro Ono admits with perhaps a smidgen of a regret, that his quest for perfection meant he missed a lot with his family and could have been a better father.

So perfection isn’t all together perfect.

What I like though about the idea of shokunin is the drive to always improve and be better – to continually refine and master your craft – knowing that you may never reach perfection, and being okay with that, but also enjoying the journey and your craft.

Mastering Your Craft

I think shokunin is incredibly important whether you’re a writer, a software engineer, a cleaner, or a sushi master.

We should all take pride in what we do, want to be better at it and obtain joy from the process.

It can only lead to becoming an expert in your craft – and with that comes recognition, opportunities and self-satisfaction.

Debunking The 10,000 Hours Rule

Most of us have probably heard that we’re considered an expert in our field once we’ve practised our craft for 10,000 hours.

The concept comes from the work of psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, and was popularised by Author Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers.

Gladwell pointed to several case studies of incredibly successful people such as Bill Gates, whose success could be partly attributed to putting in 10,000 hours of work. That though is a simplistic interpretation of Gladwell’s book, which provides a lot of other compelling evidence for what makes people successful – it’s very much worth the read.

What though has come to light more recently is that the 10,000 hours may have little to do with whether you’re an expert.

Brad Stulberg, co-author of the book Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success, says expertise develops based on the way you practise, rather than the time you practise. That the quality and focus of your practise determines your performance. He recommends intensively focused practice or “deliberate practice”.

Start Becoming an Expert

Deliberate practice certainly isn’t at odds with shokunin, because they’re both about mastering your craft.

The premise of the 10,000 hour rule isn’t terrible either, as the more you practise something, the more likely you are to improve.

Perhaps in our quest for shokunin and being an expert, a realistic step is reminding ourselves that every day is an opportunity to be better than we were yesterday.

For me, I dedicate myself every day to improving my writing and marketing craft.

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The Biggest Content Marketing Mistake You Need to Avoid

Kylie Fennell

There’s one big mistake many content marketers are making, and it’s potentially costing brands dearly.

It turns out marketers and writers everywhere are doing themselves, and their content, a disservice by letting good content go to waste.

The number one culprit is creating content with a short shelf life, or content that becomes out-of-date quickly.

There is a simple solution though. It’s making your content evergreen.

Creating evergreen, or timeless content, means content remains relevant and valuable to your target audience indefinitely.

It also can save you time, because it gives you a depository or content you can promote more than once and repeat on social media.

The Content Marketing Gift that Keeps Giving

Evergreen content can bring you lots of long-term marketing love.

When done well, evergreen content can generate engagement, traffic and leads for days, weeks, months, and even years to come – ­­­especially if it’s promoted on more than one occasion.

In fact, Hubspot research showed 76% of its blog views, and a whopping 92% of leads, came from “old” or evergreen posts.

A slight tweak to your content can easily transform it from being a one-hit wonder to forever young, and help you reap similar long-term benefits.

What is Evergreen Content?

An evergreen article is content that isn’t likely to date. It will stand the test of time.

For example, ‘How to Choose the Best Haircut for You’ would be more evergreen than ‘The Top Hair Trends This Season’.

While it’s important for some industries or businesses to demonstrate you understand and can comment on the latest trends, you should aim to mix up your content with evergreen articles as well.

Where possible try not to reference specific dates or years in your content, or facts or statistics that are likely to date quickly. 

What Next?

You should go through your existing content and identify what is evergreen or could easily be tweaked to become evergreen.

Then create a repeating schedule for promoting the content on social media and other marketing channels such as e-newsletters.

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Stop the rot! Why we need to use ‘real’ words

Kylie Fennell

I have an important message for you.

As a leader in my field, and as part of my ongoing commitment to best practice, innovation and sustainability, I constantly strive to generate evocative statements that inspire and empower my stakeholders to achieve and exceed their expectations and bring their overarching vision, mission, goals and objectives into critical alignment, while ensuring operational and strategic methodologies are in synergy.

OR I could have said…

I use words that speak to my audience.

Yep, this post is about Weasel Words, Motherhood Statements, Corporate Speak, Buzzwords – or we could call it what it really is…WORD ROT…or in the spirit of this blog…a steaming pile of excrement from an intact adult male of the species Bos Taurus.

Like Wood Rot eats aways at the structure and foundations of a home, Word Rot eats away at the meaning of our words, destroying the integrity of our statements.

I call on all corporates, business owners, marketers, actually everyone to have their rot detector on high alert when writing.

Forget corporate speak – you need to write and speak like you mean it, write like it’s a real conversation, speak to your audience, and mean what you say.

Our audiences are smart people and trust me can read through the rot – if you want cut through in your writing…it’s simple, stop the rot!

Here are my Top 10 Tips to Stop the Rot

1. Are you saying something, or a lot, without actually saying anything?

2. Is your statement vague or non-commital? eg. It is said by experts that…

3. Are you using buzzwords because you think you should? eg. We’re committed to innovation and sustainability

4. Are you making vague generalisations?

5. Is it hard to understand the meaning?

6. Are you making commitments or claims with no evidence? eg. We’re an Employer of Choice

7. Are you using weak verbs or action words? eg. ‘strive to’, instead of ‘will’

8. Are you trying to bamboozle the audience?

9. Are you being misleading or ambiguous? eg. replacing ‘firing staff’ with ‘streamlining the workforce’

10. Have you chosen words or a phrase because you think it’s a popular sentiment? eg. Our employees are our number one priority.

AND BONUS ROT DETECTOR TEST…

Could you put all the words you used in almost any order and they still make sense? If you answered yes, you have some A-grade rot on your hands there my friend.

Now for a bit of fun…here is a corporate speak generator where you can turn words like: ‘vision’ into ‘enthusiastically e-enable an expanded array of infrastructures’ and ‘innovation’ into ‘dramatically empower B2C synergy’.

If you need help stopping the rot, get in touch with me via www.kyliefennell.com or check out my post on choosing the right words for marketing.

Advertisements that sell – 10 tips on how to write a killer ad

Kylie Fennell
Writing effective copy for advertisements is a true artform.
Here’s an example of a clever ad from an outdoor
advertising company selling billboard  space.
You need to know how to stand out from the competition and sell with your words.
Whether you are selling a brand, product, service or idea you need to be persuasive.
The good news is that writing ad copy is not vastly different from writing other business materials. There are a few ways though that can help take your ad to the next level.
Here are my top 10 tips to help your ads sell.
1. Know your purpose
It’s critical that you know the purpose of your advertisement before you start writing.
What do you want to achieve? Do you want to build brand awareness? Do you want people to pick up the phone and purchase a product? Do you want them to come into your shop for a particular sale? What is your call to action?
Be very clear about this.
2. Be prepared – know your facts and audience
You need to know the context of your advertising activity.
What is the medium you are writing for? Is it TV, newspaper, social media? What are the guidelines, space, word count?
Who is your target audience or market segment? Who is the exact customer persona or personas you are speaking to? What appeals to them?
What is your organisation’s vision, brand key messages or tagline? Do you need to incorporate these or ensure your ad copy supports these?
What is your point of difference and how will you make this clear?
What design element, images, vision, charts, testimonials need to be included?
3. What’s in it for me?
If you are asking your audience to do something (which of course you should be doing) you need to make the specific benefits for that particular market clear.
Your customer has a problem and you are offering the a solution.
Make the What’s in it for me? (WIFM) clear and tailor your copy to your target market.
4. Nail your headline and hook
Advertising legend David Ogilvy says the headline is 80%.
“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
Make it short, punchy and to the point. It has to hook the audience to read or listen further.
5. Be persuasive
There are a few techniques or approaches that will make your ad copy more persuasive, here are some examples:
Highlight your claim – what is your claim? How are you solving the customer’s problem?
Use Experts or big names or customer testimonials – can you get someone credible or respected to back your claim?
Refer to facts and figures – numbers, data, research and indisputable information can be very convincing
Harness emotion – can you appeal to their emotions?
Elicit trust – can you get them to believe and trust in what you are saying, can you empathise, put yourself in their shoes?
Create a sense of urgency – convince your audience they need to act now.
Talk directly to the person – if you are speaking one-on-one to a customer you should use their name. If you are reaching a broader audience you still want to speak directly to them. Use ‘you, your’ wherever possible. Focus on the person not the product or service.
6. Use strong active words and positive language
Positive language is always more powerful than negative phrases, just as active language is stronger than passive.
What this means is that you should use strong verbs and action words wherever possible.
Active words means ‘doing something’ instead of ‘having it done’.
For example: ‘ ‘It is my recommendation’ (passive) vs ‘I recommend’ (active), ‘You can make an application’ (passive) vs ‘You can apply’ or just ‘Apply now’ (active).
There are some golden phrases and words in advertising that continue to sell and get good responses (as long as they are not overused).
Top power words that sell include Absolutely; Accomplish; Achieve; Benefit; Best; Clear-cut; Compelling; Convenient; Critical; Dependable.
Experts agree that words and phrases like ‘money’, ‘immediate benefit’, ‘save $150’, ‘protect your child’, ‘find love now’ and ‘lose weight in two weeks’ are still very effective, as long as they aren’t overused.
You will also find a comprehensive list of 100 positive words and 70 action getting phrases at this link.
Some of these phrases include: Act now! Send your name. Free. Be first to qualify. Booklet free. Everything supplied. Free booklet explains. Get started today. Get your copy now.
Just remember though, it’s all fine to use positive language, as long as the statement are based on truth. That is, you need to be able to back up what you claim in advertisements.
Make sure you ad copy complies with relevant laws and regulations, such as Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Laws as well as Anti Discrimination Laws. You can find information on relevant Australian advertising codes at the Ad Standards website.
7. Be specific and concise and specific
Less is best when it comes to ad copy. Use short, simple words and language. Get straight to the point and be specific.
In print and online ads you want there to be as much white or clean space as possible. The less words to read the more likely you are to keep the reader engaged. The same applies for TV or radio ads, where too many words can be distracting.
Look for opportunities to simplify words.
For example:
  • Accordingly > so
  • Adjacent to > next to
  • Approximately > about
  • Utilise > use
  • Obtain > get
8. Finish off strong
Finish off your ad copy strongly with a call-to-action and relevant contact details.
For example, ‘Book your appointment now on [phone number]’, or ‘Find out more at www.website.com’.
9. Step away from the computer
After you have written your draft ad copy, you should try and step away from the desk. Take time to let the copy marinate and give yourself a breather.
Come back to it the next day if you can wait that long. Read it again with fresh eyes. Check it carefully in hard copy. Reading the copy backwards or with a ruler under each line can help focus your editing eyes.
Check for appropriate style and tone for your audience. Is the WIFM and call-to-action clear?
10. Revise and check!
Once you have made your revisions get someone else to check your copy. Better yet give to two different people.
Often it helps to give it to someone who knows nothing about the content as they can give you a new perspective, as well as a subject specialist.
Always double, no, triple-check phone numbers, contact details and names.
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10 ways to boost your marketing efforts today

Kylie Fennell
This week I wanted to keep things nice and simple.
Marketing doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes the simple solutions are the best solutions. So here it is. My top 10 ways you can enhance your business’s marketing.
1.     Have a goal and plan that contributes to your business’s vision – any marketing activities need to directly relate back to your business’s strategic vision, goals and priorities. What are you trying to achieve as a business? How to you envisage your company in the future? Will your marketing goals achieve this?
Create a marketing strategy that supports your business plan and strategic objectives. Your can refer to our previous post to develop your own DIY marketing strategy that maps back to business goals. 
2.     Know your target market and point of difference inside out – get to know your target market and its segments. Think about them as actual people not just demographical facts and figures. Create customer personas or profiles of your most sought after and profitable customers and speak directly to them in your marketing activities.
Know what your point of difference is; know your brand story and make sure it resonates with your target market. Have you analysed your competitors and know what you offer that they don’t? If you haven’t articulated your point of difference or brand story yet, you can do it now with these tips. And once you know your point of difference make sure it forms the foundation of all of your marketing and communication messages.
3.     Be online and social – modern day businesses can’t afford not to have an online and social presence. If a potential customer can’t find you online and/or via social media, they may be hesitant in doing business with you at best and suspicious of your credentials at worst. Websites don’t have to be terribly sophisticated or expensive.
Here are my tips on creating free/low cost websites.  You also want to be easily found via search engines like Google, so refer here for some simple search engine optimisation tips.
When it comes to social media, you should only aim to have a presence on the platforms most relevant to your target markets and on as many sites that you can reasonably stay active on. There is no point in having a social media presence if you aren’t active and don’t engage with your audience. Find out here what social media to use.
Approach social media as if you are a publisher of information valuable to your target market. Avoid pushy sales talk as much as possible. Here are some tips on writing great social media content. Be prepared to some extent to give away your secret sauce.
You can maximise your online and social media presence by creating a blog and listing your business on reputable online business directories such as TrueLocal, that allow for user reviews.   
Sending an e-newsletter to your key contacts is also a great idea. If you have a blog you can use the most popular content for your newsletter. You can create templates and send e-newsletters for free (on basic packages) using services like mailchimp. Just make sure people have agreed to receive information from you and you include an unsubscribe option. You will need to comply with relevant spam and privacy laws.
4.     Make the most out of your advertising – let’s face it, advertising dollars can come few and far between. If you are planning on placing advertisements with any media, online or traditional, make sure your money works for you. Include a clear call to action or an offer in your ads.
Before you commit to advertising dollars, ask the publication for as much information as possible about their audience. Who reads/listens/watches what? What are their demographics? What pages/features/editions are they most engaged in? Get as much information as possible to make sure the ad will reach your target audience. If they can’t give you information on their audience, consider spending your money elsewhere.
Bigger is not always better, it is more important that your ad is targeted to your audience. You can purchase low-cost ads on Facebook and you will get immediate feedback on whether people are engaging or not. You can also test different types of ads to see which has a better response.
If your ad produces little results, reassess and consider another approach. Also make sure the language in your ads is active and uses strong action words such as ‘get’, ‘call’. Here are some further tips on writing for business.
5.     Make it personal and share the love – add a personal touch when dealing with your customers and reward good clients, especially those who refer others to you.
I order clothes from an online business that always includes a personal handwritten thank you note in their package. It always puts a smile on my face.
I also use a tradesman who once he has completed a job for us, he always puts a personalised and handwritten thank you card in our mailbox. He also often follows up with a phone call to check whether everything was satisfactory with his work, and he uses it as an opportunity to upsell an additional service if needed, without being pushy. Smart guy!
Consider sending good clients exclusive offers or discounts to say thank you. Offer loyalty programs. Send them a Happy Holidays card. Put an ad on a postcard and write a personal note before sending it.
Offer and publicise incentives for referrals. Put them in a draw for a prize, or offer a giveaway.
6.     Join forces – look for opportunities to cross-promote with other businesses by offering discounts/deals for each other’s clients. Choose likeminded businesses, those located near to your business or complementary businesses, eg. hairdresser and a make-up artist, butcher and a fruit and vegetable shop, an accountant and a solicitor. You can put business cards or flyers in each other’s shops.
Even if you don’t have a shopfront you can develop mutually beneficial relationships with other businesses and share each others details, promotional material and perhaps promote links to each other’s websites.
Also join forces with other staff in your organisation. Eg. if you are publicising something on your business Facebook page, ask staff if they will also put it on their personal Facebook pages and share with all of their contacts.
7.     Make friends with the media and other influencers – develop and maintain an up-to-date media list specific to your business and industry. Think to yourself, what publications would I most like to be featured in?
Consider local newspapers/radio/TV, online media, metropolitan media, mainstream magazines, trade and industry magazines. Read/watch/listen to these programs and identify key journalists.
Then research popular bloggers, online forums and influencers relevant to your field. Subscribe and participate in online discussions where you can add something of value without a blatant sales plug.
Reach out to key journalists and bloggers, when you have something newsworthy to say. It isn’t hard to develop a relationship with journalists and bloggers, as long as you have something newsworthy/of interest to their audience to offer them. Just don’t hassle them, stalk them or waste their time and don’t call them when they are on deadline. Often an email is the best form of communication.
Even better, offer them a well written media release and they will really appreciate it.
Not sure what’s newsworthy? Check out this list of news story prompts. Not sure how to write a media release? Here are my tips and a template.
If you do have a media release, make sure you put it in your website and put a link to it on all of your social media. Consider sending the link out to key contacts. These days media releases are not just for media, you would be surprised who may come across your media release and want to publish it for you on their blog or publication, or are just interested in what you are saying in the news.
Also don’t overlook the opportunity to become a commentator in your industry. Often there is a current issue or topic that you could add value to. You can contact journalists and bloggers and offer comments about a current issue. They are always after a different point of view or industry expert they can call on, and will often call you first once you have established yourself as an expert in your field.
For example, let’s say there are changes in the training sector and you run a registered training organisation. You could write up a few comments with links to the relevant changes and email journalists/bloggers who you think may be interested in it.
8.     Don’t be scared to ask – ask your customers, staff (especially frontline staff) and stakeholders for feedback and suggestions, all of the time
Ask them for marketing ideas. You might be surprised where good ideas can come from. I have got some of the best ideas talking to friends over a coffee. You can do this informally or formally using surveys such as Survey Monkey.
9.     Monitor and evaluate – constantly – it is critical you monitor and measure you marketing activities against your original goal(s). Track your progress. Stop doing things if they aren’t working. Try new things. Here are some simple tips for monitoring and evaluation.
10.  Reach out for the right professional help when you need it – certainly many businesses do all of their own marketing, whether they have internal expertise or not. Often this is driven by budgetary limits, which is understandable.
There are definitely areas of marketing suited to DIY, but sometimes it is worth engaging a professional. It’s not just about capability, it is also about the time marketing activities can take. Sometimes you can’t do it all yourself, or do as much as you would like to do yourself.
Marketing is a recognised profession. A good marketing professional will have a relevant university degree and/or vast experience specifically in marketing.
If you are considering hiring a professional, make sure you engage the right one. Ask people for referrals. Check their credentials. Meet with them and determine if you can work with them and be clear about your expectations.

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Choose your words carefully ­– picking the right words for marketing

Kylie Fennell 2 comments
A recent blog by business and marketing blogger Seth Godin about the power of positive words in marketing and customer relations, reminded me of one of my favourite topics – word choice.
I am a passionate believer in the power of words: not just any words – the right words. And the most powerful words are positive ones. I am talking about the art form of turning negative words, phrases or ideas into positively framed language.
Some may call it ‘spin’, and in a previous life, I have been referred to as a spin doctor. Actually I’m a persuasive content specialist or a wordsmith.
I don’t believe putting a positive spin on things is about lying or being untruthful. I don’t condone the use of deceptive language in marketing.
I do advocate framing communication in a positive light wherever possible, as long as what you are saying has a basis in truth and is believable. 
Using positive language in marketing is a powerful tool, whether you are trying to manage a difficult issue, crisis or topic, or you are trying to make the most of a marketing opportunity and want to influence consumer behaviour.
It is particularly useful to use positive language when addressing a negative situation. I have found that customers will forgive almost anything. I say ‘almost’ anything, if they feel they are being heard and you react to their problem in a positive way.
In our previous blog we talked a lot about how to give exceptional customer service, but none of it means agreeing to impossible customer demands. It means, instead of saying ‘no I can’t’, you focus on ‘what I can do’. Whether your business is at fault or not is irrelevant it is about leaving the customer with the feeling they have been heard and you are responding on a positive level. It can be as simple as saying ‘I’m sorry (customer’s name) you feel that way. What I can do is….’.
Seth Godin says it perfectly in his blog: ‘when you speak clearly and with respect, you not only communicate more effectively, but people are less likely to blame you when something goes wrong’.
Here are the examples Seth gives of how to turn negatives into positives.
 
‘ABSOLUTELY NO CREDIT CARDS vs To keep our prices as low as possible, we only accept cash. The good news is that there’s an ATM next door.
NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST OR STOLEN ITEMS vs Careful! We’d like to watch your stuff for you, but we’re busy making coffee.
BATHROOMS FOR PATRONS ONLY vs Our spotlessly clean restrooms are for our beloved customers only, so come on in and buy something! Also, there’s a public bathroom in the library down the street.’
Where there is an obvious negative you can use humour to turn it into an opportunity, as long as it is done carefully.
A few years ago a budget hostel in Amsterdam embraced its reputation for poor facilities by embarking on a marketing campaign of the best ‘worst hotel in the world’. They didn’t pretend to be anything other than a budget hostel for backpackers and used clever ads and signage including one that encouraged those who want to shower to dry off using the curtains to save on washing and in turn ‘save the planet’.
Positive marketing language tips
Here are some of my tips for powerful marketing language based on positive words:
  • Avoid the word ‘no’ or ‘not’
  • If you can’t do something, instead focus on ‘what we can do is…’
  • Instead of communicate and tell, try engage or consult
  • Instead of educate, try train, coach, mentor
  • Try saying challenges or opportunities instead of issues or problems
  • Instead of ‘we can’t until…’, try ‘we will as soon as…’
  • Instead of ‘Entry will not be accepted without a ticket’ try ‘Present your ticket to gain entry’
  • Check everything you write for ‘negative’ connotations or associations. Ask how do I feel when I hear/read this? What is my reaction? Ask someone else to check it before you finalise the communication and ask them the same questions.
  • It is incredibly important to check the written word for possible negative associations as it is difficult to convey tone in written language. This is even more critical now that so much is written and published almost immediately via social media, online and mobile.
If you still don’t believe me about the power of positive language, read this article at Psychology Today that explains why ‘no’ is the most dangerous word in the world.
The article refers to several studies and research that demonstrates that the use of the word ‘no’ can release dozens of stress-producing hormones and neurotransmitters, interrupting the normal functioning of your brain, impairing logic, reason, language processing and communication.
It goes on to say that just seeing a list of negative words for a few seconds will make a highly anxious or depressed person feel worse. It says negative language can damage key structures that regulate your memory, feelings, and emotions, disrupt sleep and appetite, as well as the ability to experience long-term happiness and satisfaction.
Goes to show you that every word counts in marketing!
 
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Making SEO work for your business – Website optimisation tips

Kylie Fennell 2 comments
S–E–O. Three little letters that can land a really BIG punch. SEO (search engine optimisation) is the holy grail when it comes to online marketing – every business wants it, even if they don’t fully understand it or know how to make it possible.
Large businesses will often have their own in-house IT and SEO experts or have the budget to hire one. Small businesses don’t have this luxury, but the great news is there are plenty of cost-effective ways small business can boost their SEO.
I spoke to SEO expert and web strategist Jared Smith to demystify SEO and get some tips to give your website an edge.
Jared explains first what SEO means and why it’s so important to businesses.
“SEO is a methodology of strategies, techniques and tactics used to increase the amount of visitors to a website by obtaining high ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine (such as Google, Bing and Yahoo),” he said.
“It is the process of improving the visibility of a website or web page via natural, unpaid or organic search results.”
While there are other forms of search engine marketing such as paid listings, we will focus mainly on organic search results.
Why is SEO important?
“In general, the earlier (or higher a page), or more frequently a site appears in search results lists, the more visitors it will receive via the search engine.”
The aim is to attract more visitors to your site, which will hopefully result in more business or customers.
Higher search results also tend to give credibility and standing to a business.
Don’t search engines use complicated algorithms?
It is no secret that search engines such as Google are constantly updating their algorithms to maintain the credibility of their search results. SEO experts are always looking for technical ways to beat or work around the algorithms. Algorithm updates aim to shut down any unethical SEO tricks and may penalise websites that use ‘blackhat’ techniques.
A good SEO expert will keep up-to-date with the latest algorithm developments and ensure the SEO techniques they use will help not hinder your website.
This all sounds too hard
Don’t be put off by the technology and algorithms behind SEO. There are still plenty of ways you can make the most of your SEO without getting too technical. And despite the fact algorithms will always change, there are some SEO basics that remain constant.
Here are Jared’s and our top 10 tips for mastering SEO basics.
 
1.  Have a goal in mind
Like any marketing activity, you need to have a clear goal in mind and that goal needs to tie back to your business’s overarching vision and objectives. While appearing on page one search engine results is a great outcome, it shouldn’t be your primary goal of SEO or online marketing. Neither should increased website traffic.
Both of these should be your supporting objectives, but at the end of the day you want people to do something once they reach your website. That may be to make a purchase, visit your physical store or get information for a later buying decision. Any SEO activities you do need to support this ultimate goal. And your goal should also be referred to for evaluating the success of your SEO activities.
 
2. Content and keywords are king
Search engines will always reward websites with relevant content and keywords.
Content must be well written, concise and tailored to your target audience. Ensure you use correct spelling and grammar and messaging is consistent across all of your online platforms.
Focus on providing content that your target audience will consider valuable.
Ensure your content features relevant keywords that users are most likely to use when they are searching for your type of products or services.
Keep in mind, what you think is a keyword and what words people are actually searching for can be completely different. There are several ways you can verify what the most popular keywords are.
Free information on hot keywords and trends can be found at Google Trends and Insights, Wordtracker and Ubersuggest. You can also type a search term straight into Google and see what predictive search options come up, choose a suggested search term and then directly below you can see how many search results there are. For more detailed keyword information you can use Google’s Keyword Planner but it may require you to set up a free Google Adwords account and campaign (though you don’t have to proceed with campaign and payment if you don’t want to).
Also keep in mind that they way people are searching for keywords these days is changing.
People are not so much searching for ‘red leather compendium’. They are more likely to type ‘where can I find a red leather compendium in Brisbane?’.
Also keep in mind what keywords your target market may use. Keywords may differ depending on your demographic. If there are hundreds of businesses all using the keyword ‘disposable coffee cups’, but your niche is ‘recyclable coffee cups’, your target audience is more likely to use a phrase like ‘recyclable or sustainable coffee cups’.
Another interesting thing to note from above is that depending on your business it may not always the best option to use the most popular keywords. There may be less competition for a niche phrase, meaning you can increase you chances of appearing higher on search results. As long as the niche phrase is relevant.
Once you have identified our keywords, make sure they are incorporated into your website copy where relevant, but do not ‘keyword stuff’. Keyword stuffing means overusing keywords and using them out of context or on pages that are not relevant to the keyword. Search engines will penalise you for keyword stuffing.
Some people may be tempted to copy and paste web content and duplicate it on their own web pages or submit it to other sites or blogs. Don’t ever just copy and paste text search engines will penalise you for duplication. You need to tailor text for each site and audience.
 
3. Create credible backlinks to your website
Search engines also look for credible backlinks to your website. It is good practice to have as many links back to your website from other websites or directories as possible.
This can mean submitting your website link to credible online and industry directories. You can also have links back to your website from your blog or other people’s blogs. If you are commenting/engaging in social media or blogs you can provide a link back to your website (just make sure the comments you are making are relevant and not just a blatant promotion of your website).
You may also ask business and industry partners to include links on their websites and you can offer to do the same for them.
You may like to pay for an entry on credible directories (such as Yellow Pages online), especially if they are directories commonly used by your target audience.
Constantly seek new opportunities for backlinks as search engines are looking for new links where possible. A good balance is 30 per cent new links and 70 per cent static or older links.
A word of warning though. Make sure your links are appearing on credible websites. You don’t want to be associated with spammy type sites.
If you believe your website has been listed on an inappropriate or blacklisted site and you are being penalised, you can check by obtaining a backlink report via each search engine’s Webmaster Tools and if required follow a disavow links process.
 
4. Leverage built-in tools on your platform
Most website platforms have built-in SEO tools and functionality that you should familiarise yourself with and leverage.
Speak to your website provider/watch tutorials/read FAQs to obtain a handle on what SEO functionality they offer.
This may involve the opportunity to specify keywords and phrases that will appear in your site’s metadata.
They may offer analytics or statistics on keywords people are using to find your site, as well as who is viewing your site, from where and how long they are spending on particular pages.
Free blogging and website platforms such as Blogger (a google product) and WordPress are already optimised in many ways. They are also automatically optimised for mobile devices and tablets and are search engine friendly. They also have built-in social media buttons for sharing your content. For some businesses it may be worthwhile considering moving their website to one of these platforms to take advantage of the SEO capabilities. Both platforms allow businesses to customise their domain names as well.
 
5. Use images, visuals and attachments but keep it simple
Using graphics, illustrations, photos or videos will boost engagement and search engine optimisation. When you do include visual elements, also include a relevant description, caption, tag or comments featuring keywords.
Photos and video should be compressed or resized, to minimise loading time, and be reasonably professional looking. You can compress or resize images with simple programs such as MS Paint.
If you don’t have the budget for your own professional photographs you can purchase royalty free images quite cheaply from photo libraries such as GettyImages or Shutterstock. You can also use free services such as www.pexels.com 
Video content is also highly regarded by search engines.
Other types of downloadable items such as relevant infographics, podcasts and pdfs also will help with SEO.
While visual elements are a great idea, keep it simple. Avoid flash, music, pop-ups, scrolling screens and animation. If these items must be used, use them minimally.
 
6. Submit your site to search engines
You should submit or suggest your site to Google, Yahooand Bing so they can verify
your URL and include it in their directories.
You will be asked to identify a particular category for your industry. The category you choose will also inform SEO results.
 
7. Embrace social media
Having an active social media presence can boost SEO. This means having social media accounts that are kept up-to-date and engage people. As a general rule, the more engagement you have on your social media site, the higher you will rank.
Only create social media accounts on platforms relevant to your audience and you can sustain, in terms of keeping them up-to-date. Generally speaking search engines regard blogs, LinkedIn, Youtube and Facebook quite well. Depending on the industry Pinterest may also be a good option.
On all of your social media sites include a backlink to your website.
Listings or links on other reputable sites such as ebay and Gumtree are also useful if you have an e-commerce presence.
 
8. Keep your web-site up-to-date
Up-to-date web content not only looks professional and better connects with users, but will also help with SEO.
Make sure your content is always up-to-date, regularly renewed and accurate. Regularly check links and remove any that no longer work.
 
9. Evaluate
Evaluate the success of your website on an ongoing basis. Compare your results against your initial goals and objectives.
Google Analytics is a free tool that gives an overview of how people are finding and engaging with your site.
If you use your website for e-commerce you may also consider purchasing conversion software to track links between web traffic and sales.
 
10. Paid options and experts
Above we have outlined nine free (or mostly free) ways to boost your SEO.
However sometimes it is worthwhile to invest a little money to really give your SEO an edge.
Simple options such as using Google Adwords for paid or sponsored links may benefit your business. It is relatively easy to measure the effectiveness of any Adwords campaigns and refine your keywords.
You can also consult an SEO expert such as Jared and his company Website Software Solutions. Experts like this will take technical SEO to the next level and keep on top of any SEO developments. They will use coding and IT techniques to maximise your SEO.

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