Dear ,

During the past week, individuals filled with anger and hate used bombs and guns to create real human sorrow and loss in my country.

​​​​​​​Almost everything else can be replaced.

Life matters regardless of your background, race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or political perspectives.

These differences often result from where we’re born and forces beyond our control.

At our core, we’re all human.

So breathe in and let your body fill with life and potential.

I’m writing about being human because you must value yourself and those around you before you focus on your marketing.

Otherwise how can you earn your audience’s attention?

Further, words matter.

So carefully choose your words and place them into the proper context for your audience to support your message.

As my friend and colleague Ann Handley pointed out in her Content Marketing World 2018 keynote, the key element of a newsletter is the letter.

Why?

Because by communicating person-to-person, we create and deepen relationships. They allow us show each other how much we care.

As marketers we have a responsibility not only to our companies but also to ourselves to show our human side.

Because beyond price and other purchase-related needs, people do business with people they like and trust.

​​​​​​​

At its core, marketing is about creating trust and earning share of audience attention (or SOAA) that ultimately leads to purchases.

Actionable Marketing Lesson:

• Communicate with your audience on a regular basis. Deliver consistent content on a regular basis, like this newsletter. To help you, here’s a consistent content template to guide your content creation and distribution.

Based on referrals from their customers, they were keen to visit specific yarn stores, one on the Upper West Side and two in Brooklyn.

​​​​​​​As tourists, they came prepared to spend money. (Translation: More than the average local customer!) They even packed an empty suitcase just for their yarn and related purchases.

But, as shopkeepers, customer experience mattered a lot to them.

When one storeowner ignored them, she not only lost a purchase opportunity, she created a negative talk trigger. (Hat tip: Jay Baer and Daniel Lemin.) My friends told me to avoid the store!

Actionable Marketing Lessons:

• Encourage customer referrals. Get your audience to support your business. Word of mouth recommendations by micro-influencers can help or hurt your business.
• Check competitors and peers to assess your customer experience. Sometimes we don’t see what we’re doing wrong until we see someone else do it. For help, here are 7 competitors that every business has and how to do a competitive analysis.​​​​​​​

While you’re assessing how to improve your business, consider these marketing events. As you know I’m a big fan of attending live events.

• Video Everywhere Summit – Tuesday, October 30^th in New York City
• MarketingProfs B2B Forum – November 13th – 16th in San Francisco
• Social Media Marketing World – March 20th – 22d in San Diego

BTW, if you missed Content Marketing World 2018, you can still get the content goodness with CMWorld Video On Demand. (use code: COHEN for a 10% discount.)

Wishing you a good and peaceful week,

Click here to get this and previous AMG newsletters on the Web.

​​​​​​​On social media, words and actions matter. Let my father show you how to shine on social media.

​​​​​​​Here’s help to get your marketing on track for 2019.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​Pamela Wilson delivers an approach that adapts to help you grow your skills as you grow your audience. This approach works for content creators including bloggers, podcasters, and vloggers.

​​​​​​​Social Media Marketing World 2019