The Communicate Influence Podcast

There are two ways to find new clients - building an audience and prospecting. And to do the first, you need to know who your clients are and where you can find them. 

That's what marketing consultant Paul Davis always tells his clients. Of course, most clients have plenty of choice when it comes to suppliers. So if a customer is going to select you, you need to differentiate yourself and highlight what makes you different and better than your competitor.

Find your clients first

You have to figure out where people are, and initiate a conversation with them. Being able to listen is a huge part of prospecting and in the digital space.

Paul does note that prospecting in the digital space can take time and can seem overwhelming. "You feel overwhelmed when you see someone's posts that says, 'Hey, I've got this', and they've got 85 comments. Everyone's saying, oh, pick me pick me. If you see that, you're probably in the wrong group."

The key thing is being able to build relationships with an interested audience and strike up conversations with people, so that you can listen to what they want or need. 

When engagement happens, it's possible to to build trust. And if you're building trust, and that's huge, he adds. With a website, you can increase people's trust in your business, your social media, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest. 

Organic marketing

Paul is drawn toward towards the type of marketing that feels organic and in the moment, as well as the fundamentals. He encourages his clients to invest in strong websites that speak naturally and authentically to clients. 

"When clients get on a website that reads like they speak, they're going to actually engage with that more. And so finding that voice is a key thing and your planning has to look at that," he says. 

With my clients, the key thing I need from them is that they continue to engage with their customers and hear them and and give me the feedback that you can't get from digital information.

"What I want from my clients is real-time feedback from customers. For example, not long ago one client told me they had a client come into their office who said it was closed on their map app. 

"So I had to look on and figure out which I was able to do very quickly. And that provided value in me seeing the process of clients are now using maps that are pulling their data from MapQuest," Paul expalins. "And that's the kind of stuff I want from them. 

"As far as the marketing goes, I want my clients to really engage their their customers, because it's their business and if they have happy customers than I have happy customers," he adds.

The importance of content marketing

Paul is occasionally asked why he focuses on written content when so much now is video? He explains that the ability to find a business is still based off the text on a website or on the front of your store if you have a brick and mortar location. 

"People drive by and if they can't see dentist, they aren't going to know there's a dentist there. The same thing goes for online. 

Continuing reading the rest of this article at

You can find Paul at Paul Davis Solutions and here on LinkedIn.

Like what you read and hear? Consider supporting our podcast development at buymeacoffee.com. Thanks to our latest supporters, Cleidi Hearn from Ireland, Aaron Sherle from Arizona, U.S. 

There are some secrets to writing great email newsletters. Well, they're not secrets anymore. Even so, more newsletter writers could take note of them and then we'd have way better newsletters to read!

Tyler McCune, a copywriter who specializes in email newsletter writing, is this week's guest. Tyler has studied email newsletter writing closely, and follows all the masters, such as Marcella Allison, Matt Furey, and Ben Settle. Tyler shares email newsletter tactics to massively improve engagement and open rates.

Successful email newsletter writers focus on developing a relationship with a reader, and recognize that a newsletter is actually a very intimate medium . . . similar to the way people wrote to penpals years ago, explains Tyler.

"If you think about it that way, like you're just writing to your pen pal, and you're trying to entertain them and say, 'Hey, maybe you want to buy this thing'. You'll you'll stand out in the inbox over everyone else who's just pitching," says Tyler.

A big part of the art of newsletter email writing is combining the entertainment and the valuable information in with a sales pitch.

"This is like copywriting 101. It actually comes from the world of direct mail, which most people call junk mail. And you've probably gotten this where it looks like a magazine and you flip it open and on page three, they're trying to sell you. And if you read those, I mean it's really amazing because they'll just have pieces of information there that doesn't have anything to do with buying the product, but they're just trying to demonstrate that they're knowledgeable and that they're going to give you valuable information."

If you've succeeded at copywriting 101, the next step is knowing your your audience, what they desire, how the action you want them to take ties into that desire, and then making the link very clear for them.

Go to Communicate Influence for a special offer from Tyler McCune, the full show notes, and extensive resources.

Find Tyler McCune online: Copy By McCune, LinkedIn.

We’ve all heard about people who’ve left successful careers to pursue work that imbues their life with much deeper meaning. 

Dena Jackson is one of those people. Dena moved from public relations to become a comedian, a speaker, and a teacher of yoga. It wasn’t until something tragic happened in my life that I felt I needed meditation

“When my dad got sick and passed away that was the first time someone very close to me died. At that time I got into meditation because I realized how important it was,” continues Dena. “For me it’s about being able to come into the moment and not get lost in the past or worry about the future.

Continue reading the full intro to this episode here. 

Resources:

Dena's TED Talk: 90 % Of Yoga is Off The Mat.
Dena's meditation talk on Youtube.
Dena's podcast: The Ego Podcast

Meditation apps: Calm, Headspace, Insight Timer

Books recommended by Dena:
The Yogi Code - Yogi Cameron
The Power of Now - Eckart Tolle
Practicing the Power of Now – Eckart Tolle
10 Secrets of Success - Wayne Dyer
Recovery – Russell Brand
The Shadow Effect - Deepak Chopra, Debbie Ford, Marianne Williamson
The Universe has Your Back - Gabrielle berstein
Super Attractor – Gabrielle Bernstein 

Books recommended by Sheelagh:
The Art of Meditation - Matthieu Ricard
Meditation for Beginners - Jack Kornfield
Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation - Sharon Salzberg
Meditation is Not What You Think - Jon Kabat-Zinn
Real Happiness At Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace - Sharon Salzberg
The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction To The Practice of Meditation - Thich Nhat Hanh
When Things Fall Apart - Pema Chodron

Like what you read and hear? Consider supporting our podcast development at buymeacoffee.com. Thanks to our latest supporter, Aaron Sherle, and to my supporters on Patreon.

The role of an internal communications team varies greatly from business to business. 

But Ben Baker, an employee engagement specialist based near Vancouver, believes that every internal communications team hashares one important task -  disseminating an organization's narrative, and making sure that employees understand it.

Says Ben: “This is everyone’s job. Is not a job title. It really needs to start with how the culture of the organization evolves.”

Role of internal comms

“For me, internal communication is getting everybody to understand who you are as a company, what you do, why you do it, where you came from, who do you serve, what are the things that make you different from your competitors, and where are you going as a company. 

“In most organizations there is a huge disconnect between what the CEO wants to achieve and what the organization understands,” he states.

“You need to ask a lot of questions to get this in place - Who are you? Who are your customers? What do you understand?” says Ben. “Every department tells a different story, and that’s the first place we see where everyone has a different story about where you’re at and where you are going.”

Need for a visionary CEO

Ben says that his goal when he works with an organization is to ensure that there is a visionary CEO. If you have a visionary CEO who realizes where they want to take the company and what they want to achieve, it’s much easier getting their message out there. Included in the messaging should be where they see pitfalls, challenges, along with the next generation of customers.

Working with the c-suite, internal communications needs to use its skills to make the message human, giving it a personal factor. They then plan effective distribution of the story. And internal comms should ensure that it’s part of the onboarding for every new employee. 

Onboarding needs to improve

Says Ben: “The most underdeveloped part of any organization is onboarding. Onboarding can be as horrible as filling out a few forms and getting new business cards and then it’s ‘We’ll see you later’.

“You are doing your employees nothing but a disservice. Here’s a scary number. Every employee that you lose costs you $100,000 to replace,” notes Ben.

“We collectively spend millions of dollars in recruitment and hiring, but nothing in terms of onboarding employees, training, or bringing them into the culture and training, making sure that they have mentors, or having great managers,” he says. “This is where internal comms needs to be. In fact, I’m a big believer in getting rid of the word manager and calling them frontline leaders.”

Employee engagement

Ben explains that frontline leaders need to be the keepers of the brand story in their department. When everyone understands the story, they can ask why when an organization does things that aren’t related to the brand story. Is it just shiny object syndrome? If a new initiative isn/t aligned with a company’s narrative, people should be able to raise questions and get the focus back onto the organization’s purpose.

“If it is truly happening, then that’s when the story becomes propagated and everybody remembers and retells the story.”

Find Ben Baker at Your Brand Marketing or Linkedin.

Lachlan Kirkwood is a digital marketing pro with half a decade in the online world. He works with tech companies, start-ups, and agencies - helping them use digital marketing to have a powerful impact on the bottom line. 

In this week's episode, he talks to Communicate Influence about this work, how to create a brand online, and the growth of TikTok.

Use this model and share

Lachlan says his journey as a digital marketer began with him documenting his experiences in the industry. Any business can use this model and document their experiences and share them online, creating a following.

"I created a blog and shared stories and the audience grew. With that, I was able to build a personal brand and make a transition into the freelance industry," he explains. "It's a really good way to source inbound work for myself. And I'm always learning, which is something I love doing." 

Digital marketing requires you to be data savvy, and there is some overlap with data sciences. You also have to understand how to visualize and think about storytelling, and how how you can alleviate bottlenecks. 

Why you should be on TikTok

Lacklan is loving TikTok at the moment. "Brands until now have relied on Facebook and Instagram predominantly," he explains. But Facebook is now a paying platform, and organic reach is really limited. With Facebook ads, a lot of companies are trying to leverage them, so they are becoming more expensive."

The beauty of TikTok is that the content is so raw and authentic; it's a really impressive opportunity to build an organic presence on that platform. Initially not a lot of brands were using the platform, but we are starting to see more and more brands using it.

I think TikTok is really only In its infancy and I think that has a lot more to come from Tik Tok in terms of how brands can utilize the platform.

Can established brands or older people use TikTok?

The Social Media Examiner noted someone in a keynote share that over 60 per cent of TikTok's audience in the US is over 40. 

You can fine Lachlan Kirkwood at clickthrough.marketing or on LinkedIn.

If you enjoy our podcast show, consider buying us a coffee at Buymeacoffee.com. Thank you!

Vurbl - episode and show notes sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Vurbl. Vurbl is launching new technology for audio creators like me, so our message is broadcast loud and clear. Join the beta at Vurbl.com

Tech management consultant

Do you need a technology management consultant? Kevin McCall has extensive hands-on and leadership experience across diverse industries and organizations. Kevin can be reached at Kef.ca. He's also one of this week's episode sponsors. 

Like what you read and hear? Consider supporting our podcast development at buymeacoffee.com. Thanks to our latest supporter, Aaron Sherle, and to my supporters on Patreon.

It's time for something much lighter during these challenging days. This week, This Communicate Influence Podcast episode has nothing to do with communications or marketing. Instead, we release our blooper episode!

You'll get to hear how Sheelagh's co-host interrupted interviews with Josh Stimelie, Bob Pickard, and Fiona Fenwick. And you'll also get a look into the challenges some independent podcasters face when they have a full-time job and various other projects on the go.

Enjoy this episode, and if you have your own bloopers, be sure to share them with us!

Thanks to Liam Morrison for narrating this episode.

This episode is brought to you by Vurbl. Vurbl is launching new technology for audio creators like me, so our message is broadcast loud and clear. Join the beta at Vurbl.com

If you enjoy our podcast show, consider buying us a coffee at Buymeacoffee.com. Thank you!

This week's episode is a must-listen for leadership and corporate communications staff working with leaders.

Bob Pickard, a globally recogized PR consultant, discusses the importance of leaders tuning into the emotion of stakeholders, especially during a crisis, and they must lead and communicate in response to those emotions.

You can't lead without strong communication skills

"The emotion of the moment has become far more important than the logic, or the word of text," explains Bob.

"If you were to ask me 'What is the one thing I would say about trends in leadership communication that everybody should remember?' it would be this: State of the art in corporate communications is having your leader take the organization forward with communication that’s authentic, empathetic, and convincing, striking the right real-time emotional cord.

"I recommend to my clients who are leaders that they begin almost anything they say with an acknowledgement of some sort of shortcoming, or some problem they are trying to overcome, and that immediately not only commands the attention of the audience, it establishes the credibility of the leader tackling a tough one authentically."

The emotion of the moment is fear

Based in Toronto, Bob recently commissioned Signal to research the use of the terms communication, leadership, and crisis. Those three words, as well as the word "fear” appeared together in more than 30,000 articles in March. That number had more than tripled compared to the previous three months.

"The global level of fear had gone through the roof," notes Bob. "And leadership and communication were intimately connected. This fear was driving a need for leadership that offers clear and open communication.

"People feel fear about job loss, loss of home, or loss of family, or loss of a loved one. This is evidence of increased salience of the whole concept of leadership communication. That’s what people want at a moment of crisis. Leadership is synonymous with communication.

Understanding the strategic value of PR

A CEO has to understand the power of PR and the strategic value of corporate communications as a strategic asset . . .Today, leadership and communications are almost seen as synonymous. You can't be a good leader unless you're a fluid and convincing communicator.

Speaking about the 2020 pandemic, Bob says the focus for leaders must be on the emotion of fear that many are feeling. "Leaders need to respond well to this and give a sense of direction.

"This is evidence of increased salience of the whole concept of leadership communication. That’s what people want at a moment of crisis. Leadership is synonymous with communication.

Prepare for the next crisis

Bob strongly advises leaders and communicators to prepare for next crisis. "After COVID-19 it is no longer optional to tune in to the wavelength of public sentiment at that moment. The communicator advising should provide the right guidance about how to communicate as a real-time leader, and to constantly be aware of where public sentiment is at. Leaders must calibrate and adjust tonality accordingly.

Find Bob Pickard on LinkedIn and at Bobpickard.com

Vurbl - episode and show notes sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Vurbl. Vurbl is launching new technology for audio creators like me, so our message is broadcast loud and clear. Join the beta at Vurbl.com

If you're any kind of creative professional, this episode is for you. I interview Helen Campbell, a coach for creatives based in Wales.

Helen works with creative professionals across all fields, such as writing, marketing, public relations, film, video, artists and more.

Most of Helen's clients are freelance and she has observed a number of changes or new behaviours in her clients since the pandemic outbreak. In this episodes she presents solutions to the way creatives may be thinking or behaving.

She notes that instead of hanging back and asking themselves if they should be contacting clients, her clients should be reaching out to find out what their clients need. Most of them are communicators, and communication skills are important at the moment, Helen notes.

She encourages freelancers to do a skills audit and find out what neglected skills they have and how they can use them during this crisis.

Other clients are asking if they should be charging for their work right now. And of course if freelancers have to support themselves or their families then yes, they should be charging for work.

Meanwhile, a lot of freelance creatives have fallen into the trap of comparing themselves to others - which is never good in any kind of situation. Helen encourages people to let go of this and tune into themselves rather than looking at or following others. Instead, identify one or two people who inspire us, and simply look at what they do and be inspired.

In summary, Helen's for key pieces of advice for creatives are:

1. Tune in and listen to yourself
2. Do a skills audit and identify forgotten skills
3. Reach out to your clients and ask what they need
4. Don't compare yourself to others

You can find Helen Campbell at https://www.coachingbyhelen.com and on LinkedIn.

If you enjoy the podcast, please let your friends know and consider supporting our fundraising efforts at Buy me a Coffee. Thank you!

Some small and medium-sized businesses may struggle to maintain basic business processes during the pandemic.

If employees have never worked remotely before, a business won't have given any consideration to setting up platforms for file management, business processes, customer service, payroll, or even email. This situation can seriously impair a business and place its future in jeopardy.

Keven McCall is an entrepreneur and technology management consultant based in Toronto. He has decade of consulting and leadership experience across a diverse range of organizations and advises many business owners on how to maintain efficiency, even in adverse conditions.

Join me as I talk to Kevin about how smaller agencies and business can manage all aspects of their business remotely. His own start-up was set up and run completely remotely and he has deep experience in remote working and the remote culture.

In this episode he recommends approaches and platforms that will benefit many small businesses and solopreneurs. He discusses cloud solutions, meeting solutions, collaborative tools, chat-service solutions, and more.

You can find Kevin at Kef.ca and on LinkedIn.

Platforms mentioned in this episode:

Airtable, Xero, G-Suit, Intercom, Microsoft Teams

Episode sponsors:

Do you need a technology management consultant? Kevin McCall has extensive hands-on and leadership experience across diverse industries and organizations. Kevin can be reached at Kef.ca. He's also this week's episode sponsor. Thanks, Kevin!

Like what you read and hear? Consider supporting our podcast development at buymeacoffee.com. Thanks to also to my supporters on Patreon.

There's a switch happening here at the Communicate Influence podcast.

For the next few weeks we're producing some super short episodes designed to give immediate support  communicators, marketers, and writers so they can better manage their work and time during Covid-19. Times are tough, so we hope these episodes will help.

The first episode interview with Lachlan Kirkwood, a digital marketing strategist based in Brisbane, Australia.

Lachlan addresses best practices for social media messaging during Covid-19. He gives three tips on how you can message during the crisis. This episode can help refocus your social media activity in the coming weeks, and reconsider some of your messaging and business activities.

You can reach Lachlan at clickthrough.marketing or via LinkedIn.
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Do you need a technology management consultant? Kevin McCall has extensive hands-on and leadership experience across diverse industries and organizations. Kevin can be reached at Kef.ca. He's also this week's episode sponsor. Thanks, Kevin!
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Like what you read and hear? Consider supporting our podcast development at buymeacoffee.com. Thanks to our latest supporter, Aaron Sherle.