Do you have something burning inside you that wants to launch!
A book?
A course?
A membership site?
Something the world does not yet know it needs?
You Can Do It!
I am starting a series of presentation a called How to Launch Damn Near Anything.
Here are some of the topics spread over a number of episodes:
Assess the best project to launch You want to look at a number of possibilities and aim for the best one for you, which is like to by something you love to do, offers something the people want or need (even if they do not know it yet, and will have potential to give you abundance (however you define that. Could me money).
Brainstorm Your Ideas
Create a Plan for Your Success
Build Your Product or Service
Deliver
Market ~ How to Build Your Sales Funnel
How to leverage the first launch to multiple levels and multiple versions of your launch nugget
Please Like and Follow the page to receive notices for presentations.
You can also join my Marketing Wheel Newsletter to receive insights, strategies, tips, and invitations to presentations like Launch Damn Near Anything.
Zoom meetings, Live Streaming, and other video presentations have become our new normal. Make sure you are presenting a quality image of you online to give people confidence in you. Look professional or at make sure people can see and hear you well.
Take a look at your image on the screen from the viewer’s perspective. Does that person look professional?
Lighting
I am amazed how many people who should know better look like they are presenting from a garden shack.
The main problem is inadequate or poorly positioned lighting.
Make the best use of what you have.
Turn on all of the lights.
Make sure there are no lights visible to camera behind you.
Sit by a window with natural light in front of you or to the side. A 45 degree angle works well.
Add more lighting.
I use an inexpensive soft-light from amazon. Household lamps, shop lights, LED lights, and reflective surface to redirect light on to your face can help.
Tip: You can bounce harshe lights off of walls and ceilings to avoid glare and reflections in your glasses.
Camera
Sadly, most laptop and desktop computers have disappointing cameras built-in. Chances are that your phone has a much better camera built-in.
Attention to lighting will help the camera.
Consider getting a quality separate webcam that clips on to your computer or sits on a tripod.
Microphone
Most of the time the microphone built into your computer is adequate.
Sometimes there can be problems with noise from the computer, echo, or poor quality.
You can get better sound by using a headset or adding a stand-alone mic.
There are many many options.
I use an iRig HD microphone that sits on a little tripod. It has fantastic sound and can also plug into an iPhone for interviews.
There are many similar and inexpensive mics available at Amazon and local stores. Your local music store likely has a good selection.
Many podcasters are now using large condenser microphones on a mic stand. Looks cool and sounds great.
Natural Backgrounds
Try to have a nice looking background in the shot. Nice shelves with flowers and books can look good. Avoid the possibility of your partner coming out of the shower naked, forgetting that you are live!
Virtual Backgrounds
We broadcast from our motorhome and do not have a good natural background.
So we use green-screen that we made from foam board and green paint that we bought at Michaels. We cut the board to fit the contour of the dining area in our Class-C motorhome.
The newer computers have enough video processing power to use a virtual background. A plain colored wall or green screen will help.
Scripting Tip
Most people do not sound natural reading from a script.
However, it is usually worth the time to write out a script to help clarify your message.
Outline Tip
You can take a small flip notebook and write the title of your talk and say 5 main points.
Hang it over your computer screen as close to the camera as possible so that you can glance at if needed.
Just Do It
You will get better with practice. So simple setup up your lighting and microphone to make you look good and broadcast often. Every day is good.
Perhaps the best balance of website and blogging power is to combine the best of what WordPress does with the best of what Kartra does to create an incredible marketing machine.
Here are some of the strengths of each platform.
WordPress Strengths
Blogging Power
Easy translation to multiple languages
Automatic structuring
Thousands of themes
Thousands of plugins for all purposes
Easy collaboration for editors and content providers.
Many hosting and support options.
Multiple editing options with various plugins and page builders.
More …
Kartra Strengths
Landing Pages
Sales Funnels
Membership Sites
Video
Email Sequences and Broadcasts
Gorgeous Designs
Helpdesks
Marketing Campaigns
More …
I offer a range a services for Kartra, WordPress, Marketing, and a combination of all to create an incredible marketing machine for your business.
A common question on Facebook Groups related to online courses and marketing is what is the best platform to use?
Also people want ideas about changing from various platforms or WordPress and a combination of plugins.
Platforms include MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, Podia, Kajabi, Teachable, ClickFunnels, and more.
There are always a few people like me suggesting Kartra as an all-in-one business platform.
Based on my experience and the general consensus of recommendations is that Kartra and Kajabi are both solid solutions for a wide range of applications including online courses and memberships, and that ClickFunnels is great if the main focus in sales landing pages.
All worthy platforms.
My choice is Kartra.
Sales Landing Pages
Automated Sales Campaign
Mail lists with Broadcasts and Automated Sequences
Membership Sites and Online Courses
Video Hosting
Affiliate Management
Booking Calendars
Websites
More, …
See the Kartra Site for a detailed description and videos.
Test Drive Offer
If you would like to test drive Kartra, here is my special offer.
We have a video chat to discuss your business and what you want to do with a platform like Kartra.
I will give you an honest assessment of how well Kartra is for what you want to do.
If you want to give Kartra a try, then sign up for the 14 Day Free Trial.
I will help you do the initial setup and get you started on the components for your first projects.
At the end of the 14 days, you can decide if you want to continue with Kartra.
You can also decide if you want to continue on your own or want to retain me to do some or all of the Kartra work. I offer a wide range of paid Kartra and Marketing Concierge Services.
I can also run your projects from my account rather than sign up for your own account, though for most businesses it is better to have your own account.
Contact me at gregdixon@gregdixonwriting.com to set up an appointment to discuss your business and Kartra.
Blogging is one of the best ways to tell customers about your products and generate sales.
Recent trends show that businesses are blogging more than ever and having success.
Here is some information from an American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI) presentation on blogging trends, including helping people make buying decisions.
Search engines love blog posts and blogging leads to more links to company websites.
What to Blog?
Blog anything that will attract the interest of your clients and provide information to help them choose your products.
Some ideas include:
Product Descriptions
Case Studies
Useful Tips
Testimonials
Product Comparisons
Company Story
Company Accomplishments
Team Profiles
Special Offers
Use Case Scenarios
Smart Ideas
…
How Long Should the Posts Be?
According to AWAI, posts longer than 2,000 words are more likely to have strong results.
There are a few reasons for this. For one, more words mean that search engines have more to work with. Chances are better that your post will have the phrases that potential clients are using in their searches.
SEOTip: Use phrases in your text that people use when searching for products and services like yours.
Greg Dixon, The Blog Whisperer
Another reason is that longer posts are more likely to answer the questions that the person may have about your product.
How Often Should I Post?
Posting at least once a week is a minimum.
Once a day is a good target.
It depends on how much you want to share with your customers and your energy and staffing.
How Can I Share The Posts?
The goal is to reuse and repurpose your posts in many places.
SEO TIP: Use the social media meta tags to control how the Title, Description, and Image appear in searches and social media shares.
Greg Dixon, The Blog Whisperer
Suggested places to post links:
Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram
Pinterest
Email Newsletters
Practice Makes Perfect
Study posts that you like, especially for your competetors, and emulate the writing and presentation in your posts.
Write and post often. You will naturally get better with practice.
Need Help?
I am available to help with your blogging, from individual posts to a retainer to create regular posts.
Send me a note and let’s build your business with blogs!
This video demonstrates how to shoot professional looking video with just a SmartPhone.
Most modern phones have amazing video quality without adding any accessories.
The video shows how to use the phone on its own.
The next step up is to add some inexpensive lighting and a microphone to further improve your video.
100 Gold Nuggets Funbook
The video was created to promote an 100 Day Video Challenge, where you are encouraged to create 100 videos for your business.
Practice makes perfect. By the time you have created 100 videos, you will have better presentation skills and will improve the quality of your video presentations.
The Funbook is an editable document for you to brainstorm 100 video ideas with tips for shooting them.
Kartra is an amazing platform capable of supporting a wide range of businesses.
The rich Kartra features can implement marketing campaigns from simple to plans so complex that you need a large whiteboard to diagram!
Even simple has far more moving parts than you think.
Are You Overwhelmed By Complexity?
A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step
Lau Tzu
You can tame the complexity by writing things down and organizing in manageable steps.
Here is the basic formula:
Clearly Identify Your End Destination
If you are not clear about your destination you could end up in the wrong location.
Take the time to think through what you want to do and especially why you want to do it.
Your chances of success will be much greater if you have a strong reason to chase your goals ~ a strong why.
Identify the Main Milestones Along the Way
A milestone is a marker a long the path or a short-term destination.
Where is your first stop on your journey?
From a Business Analyst / Project Planning Perspective, here are some possible milestones for your project.
Business Analysis Are you doing the right thing from a business perspective.
Technical Analysis What are the best tools to use for your journey. A fast car is probably not the best vehicle to get you from LA to Hawaii.
Design Block out the main steps required to get to each milestone.
Project Planning Put it all in a detailed plan with resource requirements, time estimates, cost estimates.
Implementation Plan How are you going to get the work done? Do it yourself? Contract out? Build a team?
Quality Plan Plan to test everything thoroughly.
Launch Plan Get it launched and market it!
Support Plan Plan to provide support for the project and provide continuous improvement after launch.
Kartra Project Roadmap Service
I can create a Kartra Project Roadmap with you.
We start with discussions about what you want to do with Kartra.
We work through the why’s and business questions.
Then we look for the best technical solutions. That will probably be Kartra, though there may be other components required and a small chance that Kartra is not the best choice for your project.
We then work through all of the project milestones listed above.
The main deliverable will be a Kartra Project Roadmap that you can use to implement the project.
You can do it yourself.
You can find a team to help you.
Or you can have me help implement the project.
Whichever path you choose, the Kartra Project Roadmap will make the journey easier with a greater chance of success.
Want to Get Started Now?
See the Kartra Project Roadmap Concierge Service along with a range of Kartra Whisperer Services. Perhaps the Kartra Project Roadmap should be first!
Great bonus memberships offered with the concierge packages:
Kartra Whisperer Masterclass Learn how to master Kartra yourself.
Launch Your Online Course in 14 Days with Kartra Help hundreds of thousands of people with your course or membership program and make money.
Marketing Media Transformations Essential marketing strategies such as copywriting, video, social media, and direct response marketing for your success.
Like any acronym, the meaning of B2B is not immediately obvious.
Sounds like it could be a code word for something in one of the Fifty Shades of Grey books.
Could be, though I am not going to read through the books to find out.
B2B is short hand for Business to Business. Also sometimes written as B-to-B.
B2C is Business-to-Consumer. Sometimes written as B-to-C.
A Business-to-Business company provides products and services for other companies.
A Business-to-Consumer company provides products and services to consumers for personal use.
Business-to-Business Copywriting
Business-to-Business Copywriting can sound a little mysterious and a little intimidating for writers and businesses alike.
It need not be.
Simply put, companies need to tell other companies about their products and services, how they can help their business, and why to choose them over other solutions?
Most businesses use a lot of different ways of doing that, including:
Websites
Content Marketing Posts
Product Brochures
Product Manuals
Print Advertising
Radio Advertising
Social Media Content Marketing
Webinars
Product Overview Videos
Product Demonstrations
Email Marketing Campaigns
Email Newsletters
White Papers
Review Articles
Product Catalogs
Podcasts
Direct Response Marketing
Much more
Opportunities For Writers
The good news is that most successful companies do some or all of the above.
So they need lots of writers.
Chances are that you have worked in a few industries and have experience. Perhaps you sold office equipment, offered accounting services, worked in a salon, or was a specialist in some industry.
That experience is golden for Business-to-Business writers.
You can start in a niche you have experience in or have curiousity about and start there.
In most cases the writing needs to be clear and competent. It does not need to be salesy.
Chances are that potential customers are seeking out information about a product or service and simple need to know more to make a decision.
That is your mission as a copywriter.
The other good news is that there is far more demand for solid copywriters than there are copywriters.
So I suggest adding Business-to-Business copywriting to your list of writing services.
Study business copywriting that you like and model that.
You probably have a lot of competence already. And you can learn the craft from trusted teachers.
The most important thing is gaining experience doing it, starting with small assignments with a company.
Opportunities for Businesses
Chances are that you business could use more Business-to-Business campaigns and writing than you are currently using.
I can help you with many Business-to-Business copywriting projects.
Please contact me to discuss how I can help your business.
