Originally published to www.carnsight.com
You may have noticed that we recently launched our eBook, Powerfully Practical PR.
After a long time in the making, it’s time to share our tips, tricks, and top learnings from the process. So, if you’re considering doing the same yourself or are simply curious, here’s a PR and Communication consultancy’s advice on how to write a Kindle Direct eBook for beginners.
1. Consider the content that you already have
The question “where do I begin?” is one that we’re all likely familiar with. This process can be daunting, and knowing where to start isn’t always obvious. We recommend taking stock of the content that you already have. Where have you already put pen to paper – or more likely, finger to keyboard?
Consider your existing knowledge banks, note down what you’ve already written about (perhaps in the form of blogs, newsletters, detailed emails, external talks and webinars or internal documents such as presentations) and think about how your content might be reworked to contribute to your eBook. You might be surprised at what you’ve already got saved.
2. Nailing the cover art
Embody your brand. Be cohesive. Consider font, colour and styling – how does it work with your logo? Your website graphics? Your social media visuals? Your visual brand is an important aspect of your overall brand cohesion and marketing. It should be recognisable as part of your business, and work to represent it cohesively without trying to do too much on one page. Be strategic with what you create because, on Amazon especially, your cover is a key tool for selling. It’s one of the first, things a potential customer will see and it can communicate a lot in a little time.
So, your cover needs to be effective for its purpose. Ideally, it should be a clear form of visual communication, but the purpose it fills may differ depending on your primary goal – it may need to entice, stir curiosity, convey credibility, or illustrate an idea. Think: what is the style of your content and how can you translate that visually? What is the type of information you’ve shared or what story is being told? Are there important symbols, graphics, or visual cues you should include? Does your audience associate certain things with the content that should be visible on the cover?
It’s also worth having a look at what’s already out there. Is there a theme or a certain set of colours or graphics that are used a lot already for similar eBooks? If you want to stand out amongst the competitors and capture attention, consider what your cover could do differently.
We know we promised answers and have included a lot of questions, but this is to help prompt you to think critically and creatively about your process and point you in the right direction. Grabbing a pen and paper or doing up a quick digital mind map can be a great way to help explore your thoughts here.
3. How to write a synopsis for a non–fiction book
The idea of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) works well here. Distilling an entire eBook into something short, sweet, and to the point might seem hard at first. Where do you start, what’s the most important thing to include?
It’s a little like your elevator pitch, but in the case of non-fiction, it should be less creative and more to the point. Your readers won’t be standing in a bookshop and they’re unlikely to be browsing on a whim. They’ve likely sought a specific solution or knowledge gap and want to know quickly and succinctly if your book will be able to help them.
So, you need to be clear and concise and explain the value that this eBook provides to the target reader in simple but effective terms. Use a few sentences at most, but if you can keep it to just one or two that’s even better. Many people will quickly scan over big paragraphs of text and your words can easily get passed over. So, use your words wisely!
4. The long game
Remember, this sort of project is typically the kind that involves playing a long game. That is, you’re unlikely to make back what you invested in bringing it to life immediately. Writing and publishing an eBook is a long-term form of passive income.
You put in the effort and resources at the start, and over time the product generates income (and perhaps even leads) as it sits on the digital shelf, meaning that after publication it is incredibly low maintenance.
In saying that, we still recommend putting effort into promoting your eBook after you’ve done the majority of the work. Include a small visual in your email signature, have a page on your website and give a nod to the project in your LinkedIn bio. If you’re doing a speaking engagement, be sure to give a subtle (or not so subtle!) reference to your easy, accessible eBook.
It’s okay to shout about your achievements and be proud (so long as you are tasteful about it, being the general rule we apply) but do be thoughtful about when and how you do so. Your community don’t want to hear about it endlessly or feel constantly sold too, but that’s not to say they won’t want to celebrate and support you.
So, is writing an eBook worth it/a good idea?
We are biased, seeing as we’ve just embarked on this process ourselves. However, both pre- and post-completion, we can confidently say that if you have the scope, the resources, and something worth saying, then YES! Absolutely. Especially if you have a pre-existing knowledge bank to pull from.
If you work with a team, this is a great project for everyone to come together on and pool knowledge. It’s incredibly rewarding when you see the finished product. So, if you’re prepared to put in some overtime to get your product over the finish line, it can become a neat form of passive income and an achievement to be proud of.
Speaking of…our eBook, Practically Powerful PR, is currently available on Amazon. For more on our eBook, and an example of how to promote yours, check our recent blog. Our next blog will also deconstruct the proofing process because there’s more to this than you might first think!
Carnsight Communications, a boutique PR firm based near Bath, is launching its new eBook, ‘Powerfully Practical PR’, on Amazon on February 1. An accessible guide to the art of Public Relations, the book is aimed at helping small businesses take on the key business function of public relations with confidence.
Powerfully Practical PR retails for £5.99 and will be available on Kindle, through the free app on IOS and Android or on the Kindle device.
As a consultancy celebrating its 8th birthday and specialising in SME, agency, and founder-led PR, social media and communications, Carnsight is well placed to help get businesses noticed by the right audience, at the right time, as explained in its guide.
The guide can help businesses with a range of aims, whether they are concerned with business development, generating awareness or leads, or simply bolstering their media presence and profile.
Going back to basics, The Carnsight team take you through everything SMEs need to know to kick-start an effective PR strategy. From what Public Relations is and why you should do it, to content generation and social media management, Powerfully Practical PR has got you covered.
Business owner, Jessica Morgan, brings twenty years of industry experience to the pages of the book. In 2016, Jess made the decision to found her PR consultancy after working with numerous high-profile clients as director of PR agency Pumpkin.
Morgan comments, “Good PR can make a real difference for small businesses, but it’s not always accessible – it can be daunting and sometimes difficult to find the funds to invest in PR support early on. That’s where boutique consultancies like Carnsight and our eBook guide come in. It’s great to be able to share our learned experience and practical advice in a way that can empower businesses to take charge of their own PR. There are no silly questions – just lots of useful, practical advice.”
She adds, “This eBook was a real team effort and the brainchild of Leigh-Ann Hewer, so a big thank you to everyone who helped bring Practically Powerful PR to the market.”
Leigh-Ann Hewer, Senior Account Manager, comments, “Small businesses often wear lots of different hats, and it can be tough to juggle all of them at once. We hope that Powerfully Practical PR will allow people to grow their capabilities and get started with PR on their own terms. It’s a great introduction for those who might not be ready to engage an agency, but are keen to grow their media presence.”
Powerfully Practical PR is currently available for pre-order here on Amazon, and will be officially released on the 1st of February 2024.
Businesses that successfully work with freelancers are reaping the benefits of having expertise in one or more areas on tap, without committing to a full time or even part time salary. But for every success story you hear, you’ll hear how another company has been let down by a freelancer who didn’t deliver. So how do you make sure you build a relationship that works?
Top tip no 1: Find the right fit
The first step to building a long-lasting relationship with a freelance copywriter is finding one that fits with your business. What to look for depends on what is important to you. For example, is it more important that you find the right personality type to work with you, or do you want more experience in the field.
A good copywriter should be able to work with all sorts of teams and personality types and be able to learn new industries or products, but if these things are important to you, it’s worth taking the time up front to find what works for you. It’s not fair on you or the freelancer if you have decided the relationship isn’t going to work before it has even begun.
Top tip no. 2: Bring them into your team
I can’t really stress how important this point is without using lots of capital letters, and I don’t want to start shouting at you, so please hear me when I say, this is one of the most important ways to make a relationship with a freelancer work!
A freelance copywriter can’t do their job without any input from the company they work for. If you want their expertise on tap for the long term, you need to treat them like part of your team. Give them access to the information they need, respond to their queries to help them stay on track, and employ a consultative approach to the work you have hired them to do so that you get the most from their expertise and they get the most from your insider knowledge.
Top tip no.3: Communication
This is a follow-on point from top tip no.2 because a freelance copywriter isn’t going to feel like part of your team if there is no communication between you. This doesn’t have to be time intensive, in fact after a detailed initial briefing, a good copywriter should be able to drive their project through independently. But there will always be questions that pop up, or feedback needed and so it’s important to keep the lines of communication open.
Some things to consider to ensure you achieve good communication are agreeing up front the best way for you to contact each other and clarifying who the main contact within the company will be. It’s bad enough when you work as an employee and internal business politics come into play but working as a freelancer with no day-to-day context, it becomes very difficult when different people are telling you to do different things and you’re not sure who to listen to.
Top tip no.4: Build a long-term relationship
Of course, not all copywriting projects require a freelance copywriter to be on your books for the long term. However, it might be worth making a list of all your copywriting needs to see how much you could delegate on a regular basis to free up more of your time to run the business or manage your busy marketing department, while at the same time building a worthwhile relationship with a copywriter.
If you have a business blog for example, that often gets forgotten when other deadlines hit, this could be handed over to a copywriter to manage, research and write. This would be a great way for an external copywriter to learn your business too.
Or, perhaps you would love to have more feature length articles in relevant trade magazines but you’re never quite sure how to get what you want to say onto the page, or you simply can’t dedicate the time to writing it yourself. If you are looking for a high impact campaign you could pay a copywriter to produce one article a month for you, or if that sounds like too much for you up front, you could commission 6 pieces a year and either pay on a bi-monthly basis or spread the cost in monthly installments. There are lots of options available if you open a dialogue with the right copywriter.
Working with a freelance copywriter
For some businesses working with freelancers is a no-brainer and something they have always done for maximum flexibility and to benefit from a broad range of expertise. For others it’s daunting because it’s the unknown, or they have suffered a bad experience. Hopefully this article will reassure businesses looking to invest in a vast freelance community, whether for copywriting, design, accountancy, or anything else, that there are steps you can take to make sure you get the most out of your freelance support.
Why is it, that when it comes to B2B communications, it seems like all the fun stuff goes out the window, and what’s left is often mind-numbingly boring and lacking in any personality or emotional connection?
But just because our subject matter may not be as glamorous as selling fashion or fragrances, it shouldn’t mean that all the life is automatically sucked out. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Sure, when you think B2B, you might picture a room full of serious suits discussing return on investment (ROI) and cost per acquisition (CPA). But guess what? Those suits are still humans, and humans have emotions. That’s right, even your stoney-faced CFO has a heart somewhere under that spreadsheet.
Traditionally, marketers have had this idea that emotions only matter in the B2C world. After all, it’s easy to see how a heart-warming commercial can make you reach for your wallet and buy your nan her favourite chocolate, or how the ‘cool couple’ in the advert could influence you to indulge your mid-life crisis and buy that new convertible you can’t afford. But when it comes to B2B, the prevailing sentiment is that we’re all about logic, facts and figures. Emotion? No time for that!
Now just for clarity, we’re not advocating some badly-judged attempt at humour when announcing mass redundancies. The tone should always be appropriate for the audience and subject matter. But what we are saying is, don’t be scared to inject a little personality into your communications, connect on a more human, emotional level and you’ll see an improvement in engagement.
So, let’s dive into why emotions matter, how to appeal to different personalities, and why buying stages can turn even the most rational buyer into an emotional rollercoaster.
B2B buyers have hearts too
It’s true that B2B buyers often have different priorities than your average consumer.
They’re focused on solving business problems, increasing efficiency and often, cutting costs. They’re also less likely to make an impulse buy on the spur of the moment. But they’re still people, and people are swayed by emotions, whether they admit it or not.
Even in the most rational B2B decisions, emotions are lurking in the background, pulling the strings. Maybe it’s the fear of making a costly mistake, the excitement of a potential breakthrough, or the trust you feel towards a particular supplier. Emotions play a part in every decision, whether we like it or not.
Appealing to different personalities
Now, here’s where things get interesting. With B2B audiences one approach most definitely does not fit all. Just like in the B2C world, different personalities are at play, and understanding these personalities can help you craft marketing and PR campaigns that hit the bullseye.
The Analytical Thinker: These people are all about data and logic. They want facts, figures and hard evidence to back up your claims. But guess what? Even they have emotions! Appeal to their desire to make the right decisions by showcasing case studies, whitepapers, and testimonials that demonstrate the rational benefits of your product or service and make them feel comfortable that it’s the right decision to work with you.
The Relationship Builder: These are the characters who value trust and long-term partnerships. Building an emotional connection with them can be a game-changer. Showcasing your company’s values, commitment to quality, and the human faces behind the brand can go a long way in winning them over.
The Innovator: Innovators are driven by curiosity and a thirst for the new. They crave excitement and the promise of something ground-breaking. Tap into their emotions by highlighting the innovation and forward-thinking nature of your product or service and make them feel like they’re on the cutting edge.
The Sceptic: Sceptics are the hardest nut to crack. They question everything and trust nothing. But guess what? Their scepticism often comes from a place of fear – fear of making the wrong decision. Address their fears head-on, provide reassurance, and offer guarantees or trials to ease their anxiety.
The Pragmatist: Pragmatists are all about getting the job done efficiently. They want practical solutions and minimal fuss. Appeal to their emotions by showing how your product or service can save them time, money and prevent headaches.
How buying stages make a difference
Now, let’s talk about the buying stage. As your B2B audience moves through the buyer’s journey, their emotions can fluctuate like a heart rate monitor during a horror movie. Here’s how it breaks down:
Awareness Stage: At the beginning, your audience may not even know they have a problem. Here, you can use emotions to raise awareness and make them realise they need a solution. Appeal to their sense of curiosity or concern about the future.
Consideration Stage: As they dig deeper into possible solutions, emotions like hope, excitement, and anxiety come into play. They’re looking for the best fit, and emotions will guide them toward the right choice. Make them feel like you understand their pain points and can provide the perfect remedy.
Decision Stage: Here, emotions like trust, fear, and even relief can dominate. They’re about to make a commitment, and they want to be sure it’s the right one. Use testimonials, case studies, and guarantees to ease their minds and make them feel confident in their decision.
Of course, that information is fairly useless unless you’ve been through the exercise of defining your buyer stages and are tailoring your communication and channels accordingly.
So, why is it crucial to embrace emotions in B2B PR and communications?
Originally posted to www.carnsight.com
We experienced both happy beginnings and bittersweet endings this year. We welcomed Alexandra in April and farewelled Georgia in May. In July, we hosted Ruby for a week as she completed her work experience placement and learnt first-hand about the wide and wonderful world of PR. Our website underwent an exciting redesign spearheaded by Son of Jesse, and we also launched the very first edition of our Carnsight Communicates newsletter on LinkedIn! As the year ends, we’ve just entered double digits, sharing over 20 newsletters with you all. The amazing Jen Allen worked on a fresh brand photoshoot to complement our new digital look, and our What Do You Call This Series was a hit on Instagram, reaching new audiences and sharing our laughter over differences in Cornish, Welsh, and Aussie slang.
In another exciting milestone achievement, we once again secured over 1,000 pieces of coverage for clients in 2023. Together, we made national headlines in publications like The Telegraph, The Guardian, and The Independent. We reached international audiences in Spain, France, Australia, The USA, and beyond. We placed pieces in coveted industry press and trade titles like Campaign and The Drum. We secured appearances for clients on television screens, radio waves, podcasts, magazines, and print and digital publications. ITV, Times Radio and the BBC were among the opportunities secured. We worked across a range of industries, including consumer goods, hospitality, construction, education, technology, property, social care, and B2B/agency.
We had the pleasure of working with some new platforms and partners to deliver educational content and podcasts. Some highlights included:
Earlier this year we took part in Dorothy House Hospice Care’s Women’s Midnight Walk around Bath. In June, our team walked in the memory of loved ones lost and also in support of the amazing people and organisations delivering end-of-life and hospice care. Together, we raised £245 for the cause and had many meaningful conversations with friends, family, and strangers about the life-touching work of palliative care. Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause and all those involved, we are so grateful to have had this opportunity to support and connect with this inspiring community.
Circus Starr is another of the organisations we’re proud to have supported this year. Circus Starr brings the fun and festivities of a family day out to children with additional needs or families in difficult circumstances. This inclusive and inviting initiative has a special impact on each local community it travels to. According to the organisation, for many who are able to attend, the joy of a trip to the circus can encourage creativity, bring people closer, and allow them to grow stronger and more confident. A great way that businesses like us can support this lovely initiative is by donating tickets for those in need. We’ve shared a link here for more information if you’re interested in learning more about what the organisation does or the various ways to support it.
On behalf of our clients and Carnsight community, we ended the year with a donation to the British Red Cross to support people in crisis and humanitarian aid. The British Red Cross aim to get the right aid to the right place as quickly as possible, helping those in need whoever and wherever they are.
We wrote award entries for both ourselves and our clients, earning spots on shortlists and bringing home an AFI win for Wyatt and Sons Fencing. Carnsight was shortlisted for the South West Business Masters’ and Wyatt and Sons earned a place in the running for Business Leader’s Family Business of the Year. We celebrated The Coconut Tree’s Negroni of The Year win from Dine Out Magazine, and saw the Bournemouth restaurant place first in the SME Awards.
“Carnsight have supported us on three award entries to date – including winning ones! We know we have the results but their support is invaluable to present our data in a way which really speaks to the judges and their criteria. With this winning formula we’ll definitely be working together on more in the future.” – Victoria Hockely, Loom Digital
Carnsight treated us to two delightful trips to Lucknam Park to celebrate our hard work and achievements, once earlier in summer and now, just in time for the new year. Taking time to rest, relax and reset was a wonderful treat for us all. Thank you Carnsight!
Our social media manager, Yasmin, breaks down the future of social media in last week’s blog post here, covering the rise of raw content, the need for verification, and the use of platforms as search engines. As for our predictive insights into what may be in store for PR in 2024, here’s a quick recap:
To wrap up our wrap up, we’re finally letting you in on a Carnsight secret (well, sort of). We’ve been working on a project this year, and it’s going live in January! Stay tuned for more on this over the next month – we’re taking a page out of Hansel and Gretel’s book and setting out a few breadcrumbs for you to follow as we get closer to the full reveal.
We’re also bringing back our Spotlight Challenge from 2021 on Instagram, which is a great chance for our local community of small businesses to shine a spotlight on their achievements guilt-free. It will be running from Jan 22nd to the 28th, and we’ll be sharing more details on @carnsightcomms in the coming weeks.
To our clients and our Carnsight community, we want to say thank you. Your support and kindness throughout the year is greatly appreciated. May you all have a fabulous festive season – enjoy yourselves when and where you can, and have the happiest of new years. Happy holidays folks, we’ll see you in 2024.
All our best wishes,
Team Carnsight
Originally posted to www.carnsight.com
No two days are the same on Social Media with trends, platforms and user behaviour continuously changing from one minute to the next. This year we witnessed Twitter’s transformation into ‘X’, the introduction of Meta’s ‘Threads’, as well as continued growth and use of AI to create social content.
What can we expect for 2024? Here are our predictions:
Hate it or love it, AI is here to stay! In fact, 97% of business leaders agree that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will play a big role in the future of social media analytics. For many businesses, this will mean stronger strategies for both social media and overall business alike.
It’s not all positive though. You may have already noticed the rise in a lot of social content being generated by AI, weakening human connection and consumer trust. Not to mention, the blandness in content.
With AI continuing to grow, more users will be cautious of how they tread in the online world. We have already seen an increase in fake influencer endorsements that have been created by AI. This will push brands and businesses to pay platforms to have their accounts verified. Looks like a win for Musk, who introduced subscription fees on ‘x’ earlier this year.
Raw content has been favoured in 2023 as the platform TikTok, which supports a less polished vision, grows in popularity. This trend has had a clear influence on Instagram, where more and more users have been posting real footage of everyday life as opposed to when everything was edited to perfection. The days when users spent hours editing their shots on Photoshop are over.
Need to do a backup check on a product before purchasing? Forget the old search engine. Your social media search box is the place to go. Just search for the brand in question and gain access to real people (I am not talking about influencers) sharing their real experiences through tagged content. I have personally done this for several clothing brands.
The answer to this depends on what your business actually uses Social Media for. There has been talk of TikTok taking over the show, but I personally do not see that happening anytime soon. Although the short-form video platform brings a lot to the table, Instagram is still home to 2 billion users, double that of TikTok. But will Meta’s ‘Threads’ steal the limelight from ‘X’? We will all have to wait and see!
Interested in learning more about what was trending in the world of Social Media in 2023? Check out our blog from earlier this year.
Originally posted to www.carnsight.com
As the year comes to a close, it’s not just the holiday season that demands attention; it’s also the perfect time to reflect on and evaluate your PR activities for clients. Taking a moment to review your efforts from the past twelve months can provide valuable insights and help you set the stage for an even more impactful year ahead.
Hopefully, this isn’t the only review you’re doing this year. Depending on the client, we carry out quarterly or six monthly reviews at Carnsight, as well as an end-of-year analysis. This ensures we’re always on the same page, adapting to their changing goals and focuses and hitting targets.
In this blog post, we’ll explore some key steps to conducting an effective year-end PR review for your clients.
Before we get into the specifics, it’s important to note that your review presentation or document needs to tell a story. A dump of information and metrics is going to be hard to understand or at the very least, connect with. Use your data and experiences to tell a story. Where did you start? What happened? Where are you now? Where do you want to be and how do you get there? This should all flow, one section leading nicely into the next.
Similarly, remember that the more visual you can be the better. Showing and sharing the coverage you receive (within NLA guidelines) is a great way to increase the impact of every piece as well as demonstrate your achievements from the year.
Before diving into the review process, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the objectives set at the beginning of the year. Again, hopefully these have remained front of mind throughout the months, or if changed, been updated accordingly. Either way, remind everyone involved what your aims and targets where when you put together the initial PR strategy.
Next, evaluate the media coverage your client received throughout the year. Identify the quantity and quality of the coverage, considering the publications, online platforms, and the overall sentiment. Pay attention to the tone of the articles and whether key messages were effectively communicated.
We use a platform called CoverageBook to track our coverage. This tracks useful metrics like page views and Domain Authority. Ensuring that you have a solid way to track your coverage and coverage metrics as you go along will make this step much much easier. If you don’t have a method that works for you already, make this a key focus moving forward.
We always say that PR is an art not a science, and it can be hard to measure due to it’s nature. But the more data and concrete numbers, such as the increase in media mentions, growth in social media engagement, and improvements in online sentiment, you can provide the client the better. Comparing these metrics against initial goals will provide a clear picture of success.
Social media is a powerful tool in the PR landscape, so make sure you also assess your client’s social media presence, engagement rates, and follower growth where relevant. Look at which content performed well and resonated with the audience. Assess the effectiveness of social media campaigns and whether they aligned with overall objectives.
Evaluate the consistency of key messages throughout the year. Did the client’s positioning remain clear and aligned with their overall brand strategy?
If your PR strategy included specific campaigns, review their performance individually. Assess the goals, execution, and results of each campaign. Identify what worked well and areas for improvement. Consider whether the campaigns contributed to achieving the overarching PR objectives.
Just as important as the coverage itself is the way that your teams worked together throughout the year. Examine how effectively projects were carried out and how if communication felt smooth and efficient. Identify lessons learned and develop strategies for improvement in the future. Usually very small alterations can make a huge difference.
Seeking feedback directly from your clients in the session is key. Understand their perspective on the PR activities and whether they align with their business objectives going forward. Use this feedback to refine your approach and better cater to their needs in the coming year.
Based on the insights gathered, create a comprehensive plan for the upcoming year. Outline strategies to build on successes, address challenges and capitalise on emerging opportunities. Set realistic and measurable goals that align with the client’s overall business objectives. For more tips on kicking off your new year PR efforts read our new year blog.
By following these steps and engaging in a thoughtful analysis of your PR activities, you’ll demonstrate your commitment to client success and position your team for even greater achievements in the year ahead. Remember, the key to effective PR is continuous improvement, adaptation, and a commitment to delivering value to your clients.
Hope this helps!
ChatGPT has been around long enough now for us social media types to understand how to apply it to the everyday tasks that we may find tedious. At the very least, it can fill a couple of skill gaps that we can identify for ourselves.
Let’s be honest, it’s a great tool when wielded wisely. An AI chatbot that fulfils your every whim (within reason).
I’ll be the first to put my hands up and say, copywriting is not in my wheelhouse. I often stare at a blank space on my screen wishing for inspiration to strike only to find myself looking for examples online, just as a jumping off point. That is until I realised how I could be using ChatGPT.
Let’s break it down a bit. What are the advantages of this tool for anyone working in social media specifically?
Keep things tidy: finesse copy that you have already come up with;
Research tool: if you’re not 100% sure about a statistic or nugget of information that backs up your post, ask ChatGPT for more info (be sure to fact check the responses though and cite the info if you can, ChatGPT does not provide this);
Idea generation: Don’t know what to post for the next week? Month? Year? Just ask it to generate some content ideas!
Editorial: Grammar not your strong suit? Run your text through ChatGPT and ask it to correct any errors;
Blog title ideas: you know roughly what you want to write about but maybe not sure what angle to approach it.
Generate new hashtags for your brand: they still need to be used consistently though!
Like every tool in your arsenal, there should be some best practice rules in place that you are aware of. Although ChaGPT seems limitless, you’ll quickly find it probably isn’t.
I always think of a phrase that a previous manager used to say; “S**t in, s**t out”
Don’t just accept the first answer from the chatbot. Could it be refined further? Add commands like; Can you make it shorter? Or, even better, give it the specific amount of characters to stick to.
Give it detail. it won’t know unless you tell it. Include tone of voice, what platform you’re posting to, what type of post is it? Give as much context as you can, this will mean that you will get better examples.
If you’re not happy with the response you have received, could you reword your command so that it’s as clear as possible? Keep iterating until it comes up with something usable;
Reuse/reword previous posts: A slightly different twist could give you something new!
If all else fails, take the responses as an inspirational guide. Copy the bits you like the most and then rework it yourself.
Here are a couple of real life examples that I have used (and disregarded in some cases):
There could be a danger, over time, that everyone will start sounding the same. How boring would that be?
This tool does crawl the internet for examples that already exist after all, so isn’t it just plagiarising lot’s of other people’s hard work?
Working in a strategy and design agency, with multiple clients across a number of industries and sectors, I have to be hyper aware of finding the correct tone for each. Uniqueness and creativity is still as important as ever.
Essentially, the key to using ChatGPT is personalisation. You may not be a good copywriter, but try to get good at editing. 99% of the time, the responses you receive from ChatGPT may not be exactly right, and that’s ok, add your personal touches and knowledge to it.
No-one knows your brand tone of voice better than you (hopefully) so don’t allow this tool to change it.
We still require that human touch and a spark of creativity.
Content marketing has become an essential strategy for business growth. But with so many options available, how do you choose the right content formats to achieve your goals?
This comes down to a question of, what do you want to achieve. Because not all content marketing is made equal.
Before you’ve even made a piece of content, let alone published it. You need to consider a number of factors, from your audience and prospective customers, buyer journeys, timeframes and what you want to achieve from your content marketing efforts.
The most successful content marketing examples are built and grounded in this strategic understanding of a business’s audiences and objectives.
Your content strategy should map to your audience’s buyer journey.
Understanding the different stages and how different content marketing formats and types fit within each stage will allow you to make the most of your content marketing strategies.
At this point, content should inform, entertain and engage. The purpose is to hook potential customers, not to sell to them.
Blog posts, whitepapers, and social media help raise awareness of a problem your product solves. Focus on educating your audience at this stage. This isn’t the place for hard sales and conversion CTAs.
This is where things start to get more information and detail-driven. At this point, a potential customer will be more serious and considered about their purchasing. They may not be quite there with a final purchasing decision, so this is the time to start dialling up the informative and story-driven content.
Videos, email marketing, and social media posts can showcase your product benefits and competitive advantages. Make your content informative and story-driven.
We’re at the the end of the funnel now. Buyers are tooled up and informed. Now you have to give them a real reason, and incentive, to buy.
Free trials, coupons, case studies address final questions and objections. Give decision-makers an incentive to choose you over competitors.
The more versatile your content, the more effective and efficient it will be.
You should not be making content solely exclusive to one channel or output. When you’re planning and putting together your content strategy. Consider how you can ‘sweat your assets’ and create a versatile multi-channel content strategy.
As for what adaptable content is, this can really vary. Hero video content can be broken down into smaller pieces of shareable snippets. This can then be used across all of your owned channels.
White papers and reports can be broken up into blog content and multi-channel social media campaigns.
Don’t put the blinkers on your content strategy. Repurpose, reuse and re-engage.
To ensure your content is shareable, ask yourself if the content gives you a reason to be shared.
Does it offer insight into an issue, concern or problem? Does it ignite the imagination and inspire ideas? Or does it show impact and results that really wow?
Then ask yourself, would I share this personally?
Unfortunately, there isn’t a one size fits all approach to creating shareable content. There is no one winning formula. Every business, every audience and every industry is different.
But fundementally, shareable content is interesting content. So prioritize creating content that is interesting.
Your content strategy should but tuned to your business goals. What is the purpose of your content? What output is it aligned too?
Is it brand awareness, pushing certain products or services, or are you looking for lead generation or driving conversations and engagement?
Don’t just create your content and then try to tack activation and strategy on at the point of delivery. Create content to match the desired outcome.
Analyze performance data to see what content resonates best with your audience. Refine your strategy based on insights.
AB test your content, to trial combinations of copy and creative. Take what’s working, remove what isn’t and learn from your analytics. A data-driven approach helps create a content marketing flywheel, where you continually optimize content for impact.
Even the most creative and insightful piece of content marketing can be brought low by bad timing.
Whether this is trying to come in with a hard-line sales message too early in the incubation period, or being unaware of how external factors, such as news agendas, sector-specific or even global issues, may have impacts on your content… external factors can and will impact your content marketing strategy. So there has to be a certain level of pliability in your approach.
From a funnel perspective. The 95-5 rule tells us that 95% of an audience will be ‘out of market’ and AirBnB learned the hard way, how external events can impact your content marketing.
Content creation is so much more than just pumping out images and videos to the world.
Effective content creation and content marketing strategies are built around goals and outcomes. Simply making content, for the sake of making content, will not give you the ROI you desire. So it’s really important to know your audiences and what kinds of content they are most reactive and receptive to.
You also don’t have to have Hollywood-level production, to create content. In fact, in many instances, a more stripped-back production value is more beneficial than something slick and expensive looking… an iPhone can be a content marketer’s best friend.
But, the most important thing to note… make interesting content.
Everyone is looking for reach, shares and engagement. You won’t get any of this with uninteresting content. You can force all the messaging and calls to action you can in there, but if the crux of your content is boring to your audience, it isn’t going to work.
So, the next time you’re in a content planning session, or strategising for the year ahead before you’ve shot a frame. Think about about what you want to get out of this content, and what would be the most interesting way to achieve this.
Originally posted to www.carnisght.com
You win some you lose some, but either way, there’s a lot to be said for entering awards beyond the obvious benefit of winning. From networking to the credibility that still comes with being shortlisted even if you don’t take home the top spot, awards can be a great way to scope out like-minded businesses and perhaps even potential clients. They’re also a testament to what you’ve achieved and can provide well-earned recognition and morale boosts for your team because you still made it this far.
Sometimes the competition is stiff! Yes, winning will always be the most coveted benefit but even when you don’t win, there’s still value to be taken and joy to be had. Building on that, award-winning small businesses are also reported to see a 63% increase in income and a 39% growth in sales. So let’s unpack this a little more – here are five reasons you should enter awards (other than to win).
Awards and the events that are often associated with them allow you to make the most of another networking opportunity. Attending ceremonies, industry events, and gatherings related to the awards can allow you to connect with a wide variety of other businesses, potential clients, and industry leaders whom you can form relationships with.
Reconnecting with old faces or getting to know new ones is always a benefit in some capacity, especially when they are considered worthy of being shortlisted.
The process of preparing award submissions can also be valuable because it often requires a deep dive into your business strategies, achievements, and future goals. Entering awards also often involves a thorough examination of your business operations, strategies, and achievements. This self-assessment can help identify areas for celebration or improvement and set benchmarks for future success.
Applying this critical lens inward, answering prompts, and having to articulate things about your business that you may not normally have the time to prioritise doing can be a very insightful and reflective practice. It can also just be a useful document to have on hand for the future to refer back to, and can help your team gain clarity too.
Being shortlisted or nominated still sets your business apart from competitors. Being recognised for excellence in a particular area can be a key differentiator in a crowded market, helping you stand out to potential customers, partners, and investors. It can also have a positive impact on the recruitment side of things, as the positive association and attestation of excellence can attract talent.
There’s also the benefit of building trust and loyalty within your client or customer base. The credibility that comes with being shortlisted shows that your product or service is of value according to external and impartial judgment.
Even without winning, being a finalist can build trust because it demonstrates that you meet, and more so exceed, industry standards to the point where you stand out and are worthy of being shortlisted.
The recognition associated with awards can boost employee morale and motivation. It’s a tangible acknowledgement of their hard work and achievements, fostering a positive work environment and culture of value recognition. It’s also just nice to get dressed up and enjoy a night out together as a team, celebrating your efforts and achievements and building up team collaboration.
As well as these internal benefits, awards also give you a good chance to survey the lay of the competitive landscape from an external perspective. It may help identify which of your peers and competitors or product/service offerings are catching attention.
So whether you win or not, it’s fair to say that attending awards is still time well spent as a team, and as a business getting your name, face, and credibility out there amongst like-minded company. The process can provide great insight and incentivise you to prioritise putting time into reflecting on your business. If you’re interested in the topic of awards and entries, we’ve got some more posts that dive deeper into the actual process of preparing an entry. You can also get in contact if you have any questions, as we have experience entering awards for a variety of clients and industries.
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