WordPress powers a large portion of websites on the internet. However, it’s not the most intuitive site. And I’ve worked with a lot of sites. In fact, Come Alive Creative started as a web dev shop before we got into podcasting.

One tool that helped me overcome this challenge to WordPress was WP101. This is the best option for learning how to use WordPress and get your site up and running. This is not an ad, simply a tool that has served me well that I think is worth sharing!

Check them out at WP101 and visit Creative Marketing Brief for more marketing tips and tools.

I read an article called “What Is A Product?” recently on LinkedIn. It offered some powerful insight into how an organization’s perspective differs from the customer.

“Many organizations view products and services as opposites. From development and staffing to fulfillment and payment, they look pretty different to a company internally. To customers, however, the line is more blurry. Free services sometimes come with products (warranties), and free products sometimes come with services (mobile phones). Innovative product companies are starting to behave like service companies (SaaS), and innovative service companies sometimes act like product companies (packages/subscriptions).”

At the end of the day, customers just want results. Can you put yourself in your customers’ seat and see how your business can serve them better?

Visit Creative Marketing Brief for more marketing inspiration.

Smart speakers are an interesting medium for marketers. Especially if you’re marketing to an international audience.

The first-ever South African version of the Infinite Dial Study revealed that awareness of smart speakers is:

78% in America

81% in Australia

65% in Canada and Germany

South Africa is about 1.5 years behind the US, according to predictions. So, if you’re working on an international scale, consider looking beyond your country to other countries and markets to learn from them and get ahead of the curve.

You can read the full study and find more marketing resources at Creative Marketing Brief.

According to a recent article by Voxnest, Spotify is beating out Apple podcasts in Portugal, Algeria, and Bulgaria.

The article’s author states that Central Europe is a hotbed for audio and podcasts. These sorts of numbers reveal important things about the podcasting space. These insights can be incredibly valuable for your business if you take the time to consider them. Thanks to technology, our world is becoming more and more connected.

How can you begin capitalizing on this and considering international markets in regards to your audio business?

You can find the full study and more marketing tips at Creative Marketing Brief.

Tom Schwab from Interview Valet recently posted a LinkedIn article about leveraging other people’s podcasts.

Instead of starting your own podcast, he suggests guesting on other people’s podcasts or placing ads. You don’t have to have your own podcast to utilize the power of podcasts.

However, let’s think about this from a wider perspective. How are you leveraging other people’s platforms, period? Whether you’re a writer, videographer, or in audio, how can you collaborate with others to leverage their platforms and vice versa? Guest blogs and podcasts can have a powerful impact on your marketing.

Read more about what Tom has to say, and discover further marketing resources at Creative Marketing Brief.

Where do you host your website? There are many great hosting sites and many terrible ones.

However, my all-time favorite is Siteground. I currently have five sites with them and I’ve been with them for over five years. I genuinely trust them and know I can rely on them.

This is not sponsored. I simply want to share some of my favorite tools that help make things happen at my agency, Come Alive Creative. If you are looking for a good website host, start with Siteground.

You can find more resources at Creative Marketing Brief.

According to psychologists, clutter is a trigger of stress and anxiety.

That’s because it:

Adds excessive visual stimuli.

Is a general distraction.

Can make it difficult to relax.

Causes guilt for not being more organized.

And more…

Let’s be real. We’re all stressed. And often, we’re guilty of clutter in at least one area of our life. However, if you’re intentional about reducing clutter in your life, you can make it happen, and subsequently reduce your stress. Learn more at Understanding Compassion.

For more business, marketing, and productivity tips, visit Creative Marketing Brief.

Val Geisler, email marketing queen and founder of Fix My Churn, shares a hot tip on email retention.

Consider:

The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%. The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%. That means your existing customers are 40% easier to sell to.

“Adding retention elements to otherwise boring emails gives you an opportunity to connect with your customers when they would otherwise be running toward that delete button.”

Take advantage of those opportunities to re-engage your active customers. Remind them that you care about them as humans and watch your email retention improve.

You can connect with Val and learn more about how she can help you fix your churn at Creative Marketing Brief.

According to a recent article on Dazed, Instagram influencers aren’t very good at influencing anymore.

They referenced data by analytics firm InfluencerDB which revealed that the smaller the following an influencer had, the greater their engagement.

I think this brings up some interesting things to consider when leveraging social media in your marketing, including:

Considering whether vanity metrics matter or are just that.

Questioning what influence really is.

Rethinking how you measure engagement.

Read the full article and discover more marketing news at Creative Marketing Brief.

Recently, I read an article by Fast Company about to-do list mistakes. They highlighted how these actions might be hurting your productivity. Their points were both interesting and seemingly counterintuitive. I’ll let you decide.

They include:

Writing a list in the morning.

Including too many tasks.

Including “someday” items.

Treating each item equally.

Not being specific enough.

Using the same list until it’s done.

Not linking the list to your calendar.

You can read the full article and learn more at Creative Marketing Brief.