The Content Experiment Podcast

Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools you can use to connect with your audience, if not THE most powerful tools. But instead of taking my word for it again, I'm excited to bring on Aleia Walker, an email marketing copywriting expert to talk about it with me. In this episode, we talk about the considerations to take into account when selecting your email marketing platform, what to include in your welcome sequence and what impacts the deliverability of your emails. We also chat about the different platforms out there and why Flodesk is her favorite while ActiveCampaign hands-down mine. (It's okay...we didn't come to blows about it or anything!) Listen in! About Aleia Walker Aleia is an email marketing copywriter who helps creatives turned educators create marketing strategies for their digital products. Sometimes that looks like delivering 50+ page launch playbooks & sometimes that looks like configuring the backend to ensure a smooth experience for her clients and their customers. She's committed to helping her clients scale in a way that creates less stress and more sales because she doesn't believe in waiting until you're old and gray to live your life. A Creative Writing major turned web developer (with a few stops in between) Aleia's found a way to blend her love of words and tech skills to create experiences that move customers and clients into action (aka cha-ching.) And that equals profits in your pockets so you can spend more time serving your people, building your dream business, and your dream life. When she's not knee deep in spreadsheets, Airtable, or Google Analytics, she's probably talking herself out of buying plant number 21 (who am I kidding, she's probably already bought it.) Mentioned in This Episode Grab Aleia's Welcome Sequence Cheat Sheet Give Flodesk a try! Give ActiveCampaign a try!

Building a content strategy is essential if you want to get more visible online. It saves time and helps target your message, and it also gives you so much clarity in your business. But don't take my word for it! Listen to what my client and friend Caitlin Faas has to say! In this episode, Caitlin talks about how she finds the time to do all the things that need to be done in her business--including her content strategy and development. We talk about what content she's creating, how it's impacting her business and what happened once she started getting consistent with her content. How did she do it? Caitlin says that she stopped telling herself the story that content is painful and she didn't know what to say. Instead, she asked questions and got support, making the content creation process so much easier! Listen in, and get on the right path yourself! About Caitlin Faas Dr. Caitlin Faas is a certified life coach and former tenured psychology professor at a university. She helps academics overcome self-sabotage issues so they can achieve their big career goals. She earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from Virginia Tech. She started her coaching business in 2016 and earned life coach certification through The Life Coach School. She loves being an example of what is possible by optimizing work time with family time. For fun, she loves CrossFit and crafts. Find her on her website and follow her on YouTube and Facebook. Mentioned in This Episode Caitlin coaches Abby on her sweet tooth Learn how to stop procrastinating! Learn more about Content Mastery Lab

There are certain things you must have in your business--a way to accept payments, a place for your audience to find you, a way for people to contact you. Every business needs these things. Something else every business needs? A content strategy--a way to get the message out about the products and services you offer. And in order for your content strategy to work, you need to take three key actions. This week on the Stories in Small Business podcast, I'm sharing what those three key actions are and giving you some additional insights into why and how to check those actions off your list. Listen in now! Mentioned in This Episode Batching Guide VIP Intensive

You're looking to diversify your brand visually, so you find some stock images of people who look different from you and throw those up on your social media. [Whew! Right?] Wrong. Diversity is so much more than just making it look like you serve people of all colors, shapes and backgrounds. This week on the Stories in Small Business podcast, I'm talking to Christina Jones, a Florida-based brand photographer about diversity in your brand and how to get there authentically. She also shares what we should be striving for in our brand images in general and how effective branding can help you elevate your business. Mentioned in This Episode: Christina's Instagram post that encouraged me to reach out to her ColorJoy Stock Photos Learn how to have a virtual coffee chat About Christina Jones Christina Jones is a Florida-based lifestyle brand photographer. She helps female creatives and entrepreneurs create scroll-stopping lifestyle imagery so they can attract their target audience and build a brand and business of their dreams! When she's not snapping photos, she's cozy at home with her 8-year-old son Solomon and 3-year-old daughter Olivia or spending quality time with her husband of 10 years, Gary. She loves iced coffee, fashion magazines and could eat brunch at any time of the day!

Difficult conversations aren't fun, but sometimes you need to have them. It sure beats allowing negativity to fester in the back of your mind and destroy relationships. A difficult conversation is exactly where this week's episode of the Stories in Small Business podcast came from. Something this week's guest, Jaclyn Mellone, did upset me. And rather than let it go, I processed my emotions, discovered that I was being very self-centered and hypocritical and then told Jaclyn exactly what I thought and why. The result? An in-depth conversation about business, mindset and following your competition online. Lucky you, you get to listen in to that very conversation. I'm so thankful that I spoke up when I felt slighted (I wasn't by the way) because I got so much out of talking out my feelings. And I'm thankful to Jaclyn for being open-minded to allowing me to process what I was thinking and feeling. I hope you'll tune in and then share how you manage difficult conversations in your life and business. Mentioned in This Episode Go to Gal episode 107: 5 Ways I've Booked Myself as a Podcast Guest WITHOUT Pitching Episode 17: Elevate Your Visibility Without a Formal Pitch Angie Trueblood Untamed by Glennon Doyle Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman 30 Days to Authority Building Go to Gal Podcast About Jaclyn Mellone Jaclyn Mellone helps experts exponentially grow their business by becoming the Go-To Authority in their space. She is a coach, strategist, Keynote speaker, mama, guac lover, and host of the Go-To Gal podcast! She helps her clients get out of their own way, package their expertise to scale, position themselves as the go-to authority, and have their dream clients and opportunities landing on their lap! Her signature approach combines restructuring her clients business models, reframing their mindset, and revamping their marketing so that they become the go-to authority from the inside out. Jaclyn supports experts at all stages from freelancer to global brands! She has spoken at marketing conferences around the US, grown her social media channels to total over 50K followers and has been featured in Entrepreneur, Yahoo Finance, Reader's Digest, Parents, Well + Good, and in dozens of podcasts and radio appearances. Be sure to follow her on Instagram! Jaclyn has proudly built the Go-To Gal empire in her slippers from her living room in Rochester, NY!

You need to stand out online, but thankfully you already have exactly what it takes: your differentiators. These are the things you do or offer that make you different from your so-called competition. Differentiators are things that make you stand out from others in your industry. I don't really like the word "competition," because I don't think that any of us really has competition. Not if you know your differentiators. Think about it, when someone buys from you, what are they getting that's unique? No matter if you sell a product or a service--to other businesses or to consumers--you have something unique to offer. What are YOUR differentiators? As I talk through some of the big ideas, I encourage you to take some notes and do some brainstorming to identify what yours are. Then start to develop content ideas around those differentiators. Mentioned in This Episode No, I'm Not a Freelancer blog post Ask Your Audience free challenge

We speak a lot of languages in life and business. Some of those languages and voices attract people to you and other voices you're pushing down and not sharing as you should. As a leader, as a female or female identifying leader, it's your responsibility to use your voice and speak up so you're heard. Kaylan Thompson, this week's guest on the Stories in Small Business podcast, shares the identity crisis that so many women face when it comes to what leadership looks like today. This is such an empowering conversation about fear, why we're hiding our strengths and finding the right people to lead on our teams. She also shares the three questions we need to always be asking in our businesses and how business owners can step into their role as CEO. I love all the books and resources she shares throughout too! Mentioned in This Episode: The Creator's Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs by Amy Wilkinson How the World Sees You: Discover Your Highest Value Through the Science of Fascination by Sally Hogshead The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter Drucker Give Yourself a Promotion workbook Episode 41: 7 Lessons Learned in 7 Years of Business Joy to Lead podcast (and my episode) About Kaylan Thompson Kaylan is a hiring consultant and leadership coach for business owners who want to hire strategically and lead to their fullest potential so they can grow their business sustainably and wisely.

Hanging a shingle outside your virtual office isn't going to help you get noticed online. Having a message and sharing that message will. But when you're telling yourself stories like, "It's all been said already," or "I hate writing so I just won't create anything," or "I'm not an expert," you're doing yourself and your audience a disservice. Content (which isn't just blog posts, by the way) is what attracts your audience to you. It's what helps them to get to know you as a person--and people buy from people, not businesses. You need to put away these five stories and start creating the content that will help your audience get to know you, see you as the expert that you are and eventually buy from you. Once you've put away those stories, I want you to join me for a free challenge, Ask Your Audience, which I'm running June 22 to 26, 2020. You can sign up below or join the waiting list if you're listening in after June 2020. Mentioned in This Episode Episode 8: How to Create a 90-Day Content Plan

This is a special episode of the Stories in Small Business podcast. It's a departure from the normal business-centered episode, though I do talk a lot about business. But more, this episode is about being human and not knowing how to process or respond to what's going in the world today. Mentioned in This Episode: Build Your Tribe Episode 391: How Your Brand Might Want to Respond to Racial Injustice Steven Bartlett's Instagram post Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad Remixed Business with Trudi Lebron Pause on the Play with Erica Courdae Rachel E. Cargle: A Social Syllabus Series Rachel E. Cargle: The Great Unlearn

Sometimes you're doing all the right things in your business but you still feel out of alignment. That's exactly what happened to Ginny Krauss, brand visibility expert and greatness coach before a chance encounter at an in-person event brought clarity. I wanted to talk to Ginny about the mindset of being the voice of your brand but our conversation turned into so much more. We talked about the event where she discovered her own greatness and how she's let go of a big part of her business to do what she was called to do. She explained her three-step BRAVE method for working with clients and helping them get out of their own way. And I asked her about her ability to be so incredibly consistent with how and when she shows up online. This girl is on top of things, friends! Tune in now so you can experience your own greatness and don't forget to grab her brand visibility checklist so you can start attracting the exact right audience members to you! Mentioned in This Episode Jenna Gessay Episode 37: Top Investments for Your Business Brand Visibility Checklist Brave New You podcast About Ginny Krauss Ginny Krauss is a Greatness Coach + Brand Visibility Expert, and host of the Brave New You podcast. She is the one you call when you're ready to go B-I-G-G-E-R with your dreams and your profits but are struggling to stand out in your brand. Ginny helps entrepreneurs get laser focused on their brand visibility and holds them accountable in doing so. She is the founder of the Greatness Mastermind, and most recently launched her European based Greatness Retreat for Entrepreneurs who want to infuse traveling the world with growing their business. She's also an expat living in Munich, Germany with her husband and two sons. When she's not busy helping entrepreneurs increase their visibility she can be found goofing off with her kiddos and planning her next travel adventure. Be sure to follow her on Instagram. If you're looking for help and support around your own content strategy, join the FREE Content Strategy Clarity challenge!