In episode 34 of The Marketing Academy Podcast Chris chats to Mark Schaefer about how social media marketing fits in with the wider content marketing strategy.

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/34

What you will get from this call is an understanding of why now is the time to take social media marketing seriously and embrace the social web as part of your marketing strategy.

Mark Schaefer is among the most popular marketing authors in the world and has created the authoritative social media marketing books on social media strategy, influence marketing, Twitter, and blogging.

Covered in this episode:

Being entertaining with your content;

The importance of the humanisation of organisations;

How the social web fits into the culture of organisations;

Where to start with social media marketing;

Why you don't have a choice about getting started with social media marketing;

Why you need to have a source of rich content;

An insight into the importance of ROI, metrics, measurement and tracking;

How small businesses can benefit from qualitative social media marketing.

Enjoy the episode and don't forget to be awesome!

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/34

In episode 33 of The Marketing Academy Podcast Chris shares some important foundational insights to help you plan your marketing activities for 2015.

Show note available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/33

Perhaps the most important aspect of any successful and sustainable business is understanding the key metrics to track growth and spot areas for improvement and development.

Chris works with different types of businesses with all varying degrees of access to data. However, those business that are tracking and measuring significant data points have far more clarity on what's working, what needs to improve and how to plan for the future.

Chris mentions this quote from Bob Parsons:

"Measure everything of significance. I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves."

Chris also gives you insight into what he covers in the content marketing coaching calls he has with business owners. If you are just getting started with content marketing you will find this very valuable.

What are you doing in your business with numbers? What works for you?

What are you going to change based on what Chris discussed?

Is there something you would add to what Chris discussed?

Remember to tweet @chrismarr101 or send an email to [email protected] with any feedback, thoughts or input.

Enjoy the episode and don't forget to be awesome!

Show note available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/33

In episode 32 of The Marketing Academy Podcast Chris Marr discusses the benefits, challenges and solutions of collecting customer testimonials and using testimonials effectively as part of your content marketing strategy.

Show note available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/32

Chris goes into detail and covers the important aspects of customer testimonials, including:

The challenges businesses have with collecting testimonials

The business case for testimonials

The difference between poor testimonials and great testimonials

Systemising testimonial collecting in your business

The questions to ask to get awesome testimonials

How to collect your testimonials

How to use testimonials effectively in your marketing

After listening to this episode you will feel more motivated to ask your customers for testimonials and understand how to use testimonials more effectively in your marketing to help get more sales and grow your business.

Remember to let Chris know what you think and if you’ve got anything to add. You can tweet Chris at @chrismarr101.

Enjoy this episode and don’t forget to be awesome!

Show note available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/32

Are you developing a new website for your business? Are you thinking about what your first website is going to be like for your business?

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/31

In episode 31 of The Marketing Academy Podcast Chris Marr discusses why websites are one of the biggest frustrations for most small business owners.

This episode will help you to get started with writing a brief for what you want your website to do for your business.

By following the guidance that Chris shares you will develop a clear idea of what you want from your web developer, and by giving them clearer direction on what you expect you will help to minimise mistakes and keep your stress levels low.

For Chris, the website becomes a real challenge when we start looking at implementing content strategies - the website almost becomes a bottleneck in the whole process. Chris covers exactly why in this episode.

Remember to let Chris know what you think and if you've got anything to add. You can tweet Chris at @chrismarr101.

Enjoy the episode and don't forget to be awesome!

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/31

In episode 30 of The Marketing Academy Podcast Chris Marr discusses what is potentially the most effective method of content marketing for your business.

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/30

Chris shares examples where events, workshops, seminars and meet ups are the most effective way to educate people about what you do in a 'non-salesy' way. In fact, these types of events are straight up content marketing in practice.

At these types of events you find yourself truly becoming a teacher of what you do and educating people about the why, what where and how of what you do. When you are in front of people you get the opportunity to show them the passion you have for what you do and in turn people are more likely to connect and do business with you. These types of events are a fantastic way to get customers and advocates for your business.

What can you do to get in front of more people in your environment?

Don't forget to be awesome!

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/30

In episode 28 of The Marketing Academy Podcast Chris Marr interviews Ann Handley about her new book, Everybody Writes, and how to create ridiculously good content.

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/28

Ann Handley is probably the most qualified person that Chris has spoken to about content creation and specifically copywriting.

In the book, Everybody Writes, Ann talks about how there are two types of people - those who think they can’t write and those that think they can - but in reality most of us fall somewhere in the middle.

Ann wrote Everybody Writes because she couldn't find a book for modern business owners and marketers that empowers them to become better writers. Her book gives marketers a step by step guide on how to write on many different platforms.

It's Ann's mission to inspire and help business owners and marketers to place new value on their words.

Chris believes that marketing is the no.1 skill for any business owner, and that writing is the no.1 skill for every aspiring marketer.

Writing is more important now than it ever has been. Whether you think of yourself as a writer or not, once you've finished listening to this episode you will have a better understanding of why writing is important and realise that you are a writer too.

By listening to this episode and reading Everybody Writes you will gain more confidence as a writer and begin to place more value on written content.

Topics covered in this episode:

Where to start with content creation;

Story telling and how to tell a true story well;

Examples of storytelling;

Why you should take risks and try something different with your content marketing;

The challenges and barriers associated with content creation and risk taking for business owners;

The benefits of writing with brevity, clarity and respect for your reader;

How to become more confidence with your writing.

Enjoy listening to this episode and don't forget to be awesome!

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/28

In episode 27 of The Marketing Academy Podcast Chris Marr interviews Mark Pentleton about why you should consider podcasting as a serious platform for getting your message out to your audience.

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/27

Mark Pentleton spoke at The Content Marketing Academy conference in Scotland in September 2014 and in this episode Chris captures what Mark covered during his presentation.

Prior to taking a deep dive into podcasting we find out about the massive success Mark has achieved with his business. Chris and Mark then go on to discuss why now is the best time to get into podcasting and cover some of the challenges associated with starting and sustaining a podcast show.

Mark then goes on to qualify podcasting as a platform by taking us through his 6 P's of podcasting, which includes Passion, Platform, (omni)Present, Personal, Practical, Product and Powerful.

Enjoy the call and don't forget to be awesome!

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/27

In episode 26 of The Marketing Academy Podcast Chris Marr interviews Linda Rumbold, Chris' ‘go-to’ Facebook expert, to find out how to overcome the main challenges that business owners face when using Facebook for business.

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/26

Linda facilitates many different social media workshops and works closely with business owners to improve their social media presence.

The main focus of the conversation between Linda and Chris is to understand how business owners can use Facebook far more effectively to minimise wasting time and increase the opportunity of getting customers via Facebook.

Facebook is such a massive platform now and if you’re not using Facebook effectively your really are missing a trick.

Based on Linda’s experience from working with business owners, she goes in to detail about the main challenges that business owners face, which includes:

Managing your time effectively;

Facebook posts not reaching your audience;

Objections towards paying for Facebook advertising;

Knowing what the best things are to post on Facebook.

Linda then discusses the potential solutions to these challenges, which includes:

Understanding why you are using Facebook;

What you really want to achieve from using Facebook for your business;

Understanding what is REALLY meant by 'reach';

The ability to get your Facebook audience on to an email list;

Getting familiar with insights and analytics on Facebook to figure out what's working and what's not;

Getting consistency in your Facebook activity;

Targeting your specific audience with your message to get great results from Facebook;

Limiting your risk with paid advertising.

Enjoy the call and don't forget to be awesome!

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/26

In episode 25 of The Marketing Academy Podcast Chris Marr interviews Alan Martin, Owner and Founder of Chat Marketing, founded in 2010.

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/25

Chris recently attended Alan’s LinkedIn intermediate and more advanced LinkedIn training course and was blown away by the amount of ninja tips he was missing out on.

In this episode Alan’s shares with us how to take your LinkedIn activity and profile to that next level so you can get more return on your influence on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional online network and Alan Martin discusses elements such as -

why you should consider LinkedIn as a major player in your social media mix; the statistics associated with LinkedIn and why you should be taking it more seriously; the typical challenges that people have with LinkedIn and what stops them from leveraging the platform; making sure you’re covering the basics in LinkedIn and optimising your profile; becoming the go-to person in your industry using LinkedIn; why joining groups is a great strategy for establishing yourself on LinkedIn within your professional network and for getting leads and customers; LinkedIn ninja tips for becoming more productive on the platform and getting more from your time; how to use LinkedIn to build, grow and develop your network and relationships and develop referral partners; using advanced search functionality to find key influencers, prospective customers and referral partners.

As usual you are encouraged to take notes an implement just one thing in your business to help you improve your LinkedIn activity.

Please reach out to Chris on twitter @chrismarr101 if you have any questions or feedback.

Enjoy the call and don’t forget to be awesome.

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/25

In episode 24 of The Marketing Academy Podcast Chris Marr discusses the advantages of building a team to help you as a business owner maximise your marketing strategy and grow your business. Joining Chris on the call in this episode is Melissa Coombs, who worked with Chris as an Marketing Intern at Learning Everyday from June 2014 through to early October 2014.

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/24

Prior to Melissa joining us on this episode, Chris shares with you the huge benefits of employing an Intern, how this has impacted the success of The Content Marketing Academy, what he learned about working with a virtual team in a remote working environment, and much more.

Melissa Coombs

Melissa Coombs

Melissa takes the opportunity to share her experience as an Intern; how she found out about the role, what attracted her to the position at Learning Everyday and how you can start your content marketing journey today.

Through Chris sharing his experience as a business owner you will find that there are many lessons for you to pick up on , which will hopefully add value to your business.

Your feedback is welcome and if you have any questions, thoughts or anything you;d like to day, please either comment on the blog or send Chris at tweet @chrismarr101.

Enjoy the show and don’t forget to be awesome.

Show notes available at http://www.learning-everyday.co.uk/24