Welcome to the 7 new subscribers who joined us since last week’s email. If you’re reading this, but you’re not subscribed, now is the time to join!
👋 Hello!
The first edition of Trending in Marketing had an 80% open rate and 34 views. Not bad, given Mailchimp reported their average open rate is only 21.33%.
I get it, most people subscribed are friends, relatives or colleagues (hi Mum!).
But still - I think this shows how powerful authentic email lists can be.
I believe this form of ‘micro-marketing’ is the future of business. After all, that’s how businesses have worked for centuries. You sell to your village.
This idea of being able to sell anything to anyone on earth is still relatively new. (i.e. less than 100 years old)
See this week’s ‘Challenge’ section at the bottom of this email for more on this.
To Read
1.
✍️
Does your blog analytics look like this?
A well-developed site is your resume, your real estate, your time machine, and your second brain. It helps anyone learn more about you, how you think, and why they should care. And for you, it helps clarify your thoughts, share what you know, and build a reputation.
Read: How to Start a Blog that Changes Your Life
2.
📙
I’ve been reading April Dunford’s book ‘Obviously Awesome’
Positioning is probably the most underrated marketing tactic.
The problem is: it’s boring.
That’s precisely why it’s so important. In fact, positioning could be the answer to the very problem your product or service is facing today.
Not enough leads? Change your pitch.
Conversion poor? Narrow down your niche.
Too many support requests? Give your users context.
A quote from the book:
“Customers need to be able to easily understand what your product is, why it’s special and why it matters to them.”
Read: Obviously Awesome by April Dunford
3.
🔥
You can earn trust by being authentic. By being human. Where’s your tribe?
Read: Tribes have changed | Sean Blake Blog
4.
🧪
On experimentation:
To Follow
📈Dave Gerhardt is the Chief Marketing Officer at Privy and is killing it on social media.
He shares common sense marketing and business wisdom, like the post above and this thread on the power of podcasting:
You can follow Dave on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Challenge
You don’t need to wait to lead a tribe.
You are more than capable.
You don’t need to be a CEO.
You don’t need to be a marketer.
You just need to care about something deeply enough and find others who care just as much.
So, if you care about single origin coffee beans from Kenya.
Or if you only care about the LA Lakers.
Or if you only watch repeats of How I Met Your Mother.
Find those people like you. Start a email list. Start a blog. Start a podcast. Start something. It’s almost always free.
And it’s almost always going to be infinitely satisfying.
I’m giving you permission.
If you accept this challenge, let me know how it went!
Comment here:
This is marketing.
Talk soon,
Sean Blake
P.S. No regrets, with Jeff Bezos.