How to be even more awesome
What’s stopping you from fulfilling your potential?
In most cases – you are!
‘Then, slowly but surely, an exhilarating sense of infinite opportunity stole through him; he felt as though he could have done anything, anything at all… …He got to his feet, smiling, brimming with confidence.’ From Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Charlotte Ashely-Roberts is a careers coach who has helped hundreds of people discover what they really want to do.
Charlie helps people work through mental or emotional blocks that hold them back, empowering them to develop the clarity, confidence and vision they need to get where they want to be.
In this workshop Charlie asks you to consider:
1. What does meeting your potential look and feel like to you?
2. Out of ten (with ten being your potential full realised) how much of your potential is realised?
3. What is one block that you’re placing in your own path?
Powerpoint presentation
Transcript of the workshop
What do people really think about you? A feedback exercise
More resources
Exercise: What are your core values?
Case Study: How re-evaluating your values can be life-changing.
There are a lot more resources on this topic on Charlie's blog at www.yourtimetogrow.com
How to source original images
Do you struggle to find original images for your website, social posts or other projects?
When you find them do you understand the legal implications of licensing, copyright, etc?
And what about sizing, file types and embeded information?
Help is at hand!
In this workshop, Berenice Smith shares ideas for sourcing original images and many other things you need to be aware of.
Berenice provides design for books and magazines, marketing material and websites, and loves to create logos and develop brands. She works with small and large B2B businesses, start-up companies, publishers and authors.
She also writes an invaluable blog and you can sign up to her newsletter at www.hellolovely.design
If you’re too busy to brief or your project feels overwhelming, Berenice can take care of the project management and deal with image research, buying illustration and schedules.
Common legal pitfalls for small businesses
Do you have client contracts, terms and conditions or other legal documents for your business?
If you haven't already done so, you'll find it useful to complete this Legal Health Check Survey before you watch the recording of the workshop.

Paul Chiy is a Barrister, Solicitor, Advocate, and Arbitrator at De Jure Chambers.
He offers a Virtual Legal Advice Service for small businesses, with the aim of making legal advice more affordable and accessible.
Paul shares some of the most common legal pitfalls small businesses experience and answers questions.
PowerPoint Slides
For more information on any of the issues raised here please contact Paul at DeJure Chambers
How to create content when you’re short of time
Should you write a blog post, tweet or post on Linked? Does creating content keep slipping down your task list? […]
How to Network on LinkedIn
The key to networking on LinkedIn is to know what results you want.
Drive Founder Ann Hawkins has been using LinkedIn successfully since 2008.
She has 3,700 connections and 4, 500 followers.
Her profile is viewed approx 250 times a week and she regularly gets new clients from LinkedIn.
She manages the Drive the Network Group with over 880 members.
Why are you using LinkedIn?
Are you looking to connect with potential clients, a peer group, get referrals, learn about a specific topic, show how much you know about a specific topic or something else? Keep your purpose in mind when you post, comment or like other posts.
Who will find you?
- If you want to get found by potential clients or collaborators check your profile. LinkedIn is a great search engine for people both on and off the site. If someone searches for what you do, will your profile appear in the search results? Make sure you're using the right keywords.
- Check your contact details. If you have a website, add it to the details.
- Have a good professional, business like photo that shows your eyes. It's the first stage of creating trust.
Who to connect with?
There are endless debates about this and there is no right or wrong answer. You need to find what works for you and adjust your approach accordingly. Here are some things I've found work for me:
- Connect with people because you like them, want to learn from them, or because they have something interesting to say that doesn't turn into a sales pitch.
- Don't connect to give a sales pitch, connect to build relationships.
- If someone gives you a sales pitch seconds after connecting, remove the connection. Life's too short to be spammed.
How to behave
- If you're there to network, behave like you would in a face to face networking meeting. Don't pitch, have a conversation.
- Don't get sucked into arguments, disagreements, or click bait posts. IGNORE them.
- Don't get invoved in discussions with your peer group about how awful cleints are. There's no bigger turn-off for potential clients.
- DO get involved with people looking for answers or help and be relentlessly kind. Even if they don't turn into clients they're more likey to recommend you.
- Don't like a post that has a million other likes and comments - if you do it has no effect on the post but annoys the people who are following you who get notified every time you click 'like'. Be selective.
- If you don't have anything meaningful to add to the discussion keep quiet. Don't just add to the noise.
- Recognise that some people think causing disagreements is a good way to get attention. Don't get sucked in and don't do it yourself.
- Remember that more people are watching and listening than you will ever know. Always behave as though your ideal client is looking over your shoulder and watching how you interact with others.
What to post and how often
- How often you post depends on how much good content you can create. If you have a pile of great evergreen blog posts or articles you could post every day because no-one is likely to see them all.
- Posting to a self-imposed schedule when you have nothing interesting to say is not a good idea. Only post when you're sure you'll be adding something useful, interesting or helpful that your audience will enjoy.
- Try to avoid the cliched bandwaggons of sporting events with a tenuous link to leadership or teamwork or similar over worked themes. Spurious links to national or religious holidays are also best avoided.
If you've got questions or want to practice your LinkedIn networking join our LinkedIn Group and give it a go with some friendly subtle networkers!
How to network on-line
Why is on-line networking different to face to face networking?
Answer: It isn't.
And yet, lots of people who would quite happily chat in a crowded room with a cup of coffee in their hand seem to struggle when that same conversation takes place on-line.
Our Drive Tribe networks on-line in our weekly check-ins in our LinkedIn Group. It's quite obvious that some people are much more comfortable with this than others and, lets face it, some just don't get it at all.
One of the people who is exceptionally good at it is our Cat in the Hat J Laurence Sarno so of course we asked him for some tips to pass on to other members!
Ann recently told me I was pretty good at this online networking lark, and asked, could I bottle it.
Of course, I always do what Ann says, so below are my first thoughts to go in the bottle.
It would be excellent if you could add your best tips in the comments at the bottom of the page.
Why Bother?
First, why should we all strive to be better at this?
- Because it’s nice. It makes you feel connected; it makes others feel connected; it creates a general increase in net good on the planet. Win.
- You get support, great ideas that apply to your life and work, hell, you might even make friends, and it beats isolation hands down.
- You might help someone else, sometimes in profound ways. This raises your spirits and it’s good to feel you have value.
- When people feel you're interested in them, they're more likely to be interested in you.
- The more the members of the network know about what you do and who you are, the more likely they will recommend you if someone they know needs your services/product.
- This is a biggie. There are over 900 people in our LinkedIn Group. Many of them may never post anything but they lurke. They watch, they read and they notice. If you want to be noticed and make a favourable impression, this is the best, easiest, cheapest, most efficient way to get in front of a LOT of people. Seeing how you interact with others is a huge insight into the kind of person you are and your values. People buy you, not what you do, so this is a great opportuntity to show who you really are.
Tips for Online Networking
- Set aside a few minutes every week just to interact with the tribe. The last thing you want to do is post and run. That's kinda like breezing into a room and shouting "Hey folks, here I am!" spraying around a bunch of business cards and leaving before you talk to anyone.
- Before you post your catch-up, ask yourself:
Do I need support with something? If you do, stop being so uptight and just ask.
Do I want congratulations? Its fine to brag a little - people need to hear good news!
Do I want commiserations? Its good to keep things real. Not everything goes to plan and you can't get support if you pretend everything is OK when its not.
Do I have an observation about my week that might be valuable to others?
Is there anyone I want to thank publicly?
Read other people's posts and comments and talk to them like they were in the same room as you.
If their comment is funny say so, if its sad, offer some sympathy.
If you don't understand it, ask for more details.
Remember that you can make people feel good by acknowledging they're there and everyone loves people who make them feel good.
The first time someone shows up, welcome them and ask them something about themselves or their business. If their LinkedIn profile shows some happy connection between you and them, say it.
Oh, and yeah: Give a shit.
I wanted to translate that last statement into something more socially acceptable, but Ann said leave it: We’re in Drive because we actually do give a shit and we care about each other’s lives and work; so I know you’ll know exactly what I mean.
Join our LinkedIn Group and give it a go!
Competition v Collaboration
"There's no point in me joining Drive. You already have a graphic designer."
Well hold the phone!
We actually have a galaxy of graphic designers (who's counting?)
We also have a dazzle of developers, a phalanx of photographers, a covey of copywriters, a colony of coaches, a marvel of marketers, a pod of product developers, a troop of trainers, a clutch of consultants, a wealth of website developers and, well ... you get the idea.
We have only one garden designer but we're working on that 🌻
Our members believe that collaboration is much more powerful than competition.
There may be rare occasions when they are truly in competition with each other - but not really.
They each have different areas of expertise, different skill sets, different experience. Most of all, they have different personalities.
Even if someone has the same skills, experience and expertise, no-one will do the job exactly like you - and its you that people buy. Right?
More often than not they share their experience with each other, expand their skills, and recommend and refer each other. By working in collaboration they are stronger together than on their own.
If you want to be part of a great collaborative network, check out our membership details and get in touch!
Influencer Marketing - how it can power your dreams!
Martyn Sibley has been an influencer most of his life.
- Update - August 2021: Martyn has just been appointed a LinkedIn Changemaker
This is his opening statement: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/im-linkedin-changemaker-martyn-sibley/?trackingId=50DDtRrQTc%2BMgLRjocDQkg%3D%3D
He has inspired people by the way he lives his life, by the way he treats other people and by his amazing energy, sunny disposition, and achievements.
Martyn desribes himself as "a regular guy who happens to have a disability called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). This means I cannot walk, lift anything heavier than a book or shower myself. Nonetheless I run Disability Horizons, am the author of 'Everything is Possible', I have a Degree in Economics & a Masters in Marketing. I love adventure travels (including an epic visit to Australia), I have great people in my life (including my soul mate), I drive my own adapted car, run my own business, have flown a plane, enjoyed skiing & SCUBA diving, and live independently on earth." He is also the very happy owner of a Golden Labrador called Sunny.
Just to meet Martyn is to feel inspired, happy, and joyful but he has a very serious mission: to make the world a truly inclusive place. This year - just about the time the lockdown started - Martyn launched Purple Goat, a marketing agency to help brands understand the needs and wants of the disabled community.
In this workshop, Martyn explains how he used the principles of Influencer Marketing to power his dream, and how you can use the same principles to power yours!
What you'll take away from this workshop:
- create content that your audience engage more with
- amplify your brand to your exact target audience
- get a better ROI from your marketing spend
- support freelancers and small businesses (Influencers aren't actually rich and famous and self promoting - they have a mission just like you)
How to get referrals
Want more referrals for your business? This is the best way to get them!
Alex: How do I get more referals for my business without spending a lot of time and money?
Alex: Hmmm … you mean breakfast meetings and elevator pitches?
Sunni: No. I mean on-line networking groups. They’re bigger and faster.
Alex: So I should join a group and post links to my website and hope people will visit it?
Sunni: NO! Networking means getting to know people in the group. You comment on their posts, ask them questions, congratulate them when they're doing well, sympathise when they're not, have a laugh with them, be interested in what they do and who they are.
Alex: Sounds like its all about them and not about me.
Sunni: It's a seagull. Seagulls swoop in on conversations, dump their message and leave - or worse - they only show up when there's something on offer that they want then they try and steal it. Don't be a seagull!
Alex: So if I can't just advertise what I do or pick up work on offer, how does that help me?
Sunni: This is all about building relationships. People love it when you’re interested in them first. They’ll think you’re a really genuine person and when you post something about what you’re doing, they’ll ask you about it. Its all about trust and knowing you're not going to dump on them or steal from them.
Alex: OK, I'm getting the idea. And then what?
Sunni: When people get to know you, and they like you and the work you do, they’ll be happy to refer clients to you.
Alex: Doesn’t that take a long time?
Sunni: Not if you’re talking to 100s of people at the same time.
Sunni: In a group with several hundred members only a few will actively engage with you but the rest watch and see how you interact, see what you do, get to know your talents, your values, your personality and that you’re a trusted person, so referrals come from them too.
Alex: No business cards? No elevator pitches? No kickbacks?
Sunni: No. Just conversations with people you probably end up making friends with.
Alex: Wow. How do I get started?
Sunni: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/3143015/
Mindfulness and habits for wellbeing
Are you having trouble concentrating?
We asked Ruth Farenga, founder of Mindful Pathway - now Conscious Leaders, to help us find an easier way through the mind fog by learning how to practice mindfulness and create good habits for wellbeing.
Ruth says, "Mindfulness is developing our awareness so that we can respond differently to thoughts and feelings over time. It allows us to respond instead of reacting - giving us choice and freedom over our behaviour (instead of being dragged around by our thoughts). It comes from developing a practice through structure and habits.
If we're keen to improve wellbeing and productivity, we need to explore how we develop systems that stick so we can work on ourselves each day."
This 2 minute video explains the science that supports the practice of Mindfulness.
This is a summary of the Q&A.
Q. I’m interested to hear about good ways to make Mindfulness more of a regular habit. Even though I've experienced its benefits I still struggle to make it part of my routine.
Ruth Farenga Making it a habit is a BIG DEAL. In terms of habits, we need to understand ourselves and what motivates us. I'm a big fan of James Clear's work - he says 'a goal without a system is just a dream' so if your goal is to improve your wellbeing this will just be a dream without a system in place. You need to find a system that works for you:
- Is there a set time of day that you could do your meditation practise?
- Are you motivated by others e.g. an accountability buddy?
- What other habits are you doing that you could tag this onto (habit-stacking) e.g. brushing your teeth.
Q. My problem is I tend to turn to it when I really need it rather than making it part of the "normal" days too. I'm a slave to Google Calendar so I find if I remember to schedule it in there, there's a much greater chance of me doing it.
Q. Is creating a mindfulness habit, or practising mindfulness any different during the COVID crisis compared to in more normal times?
Ruth Farenga For many, now is a more anxious time (it was for me at first at least) so that means we may find meditation harder as the mind may wander more. The important thing to know is that this is OKAY! Despite most things you read, Mindfulness and broader meditation practice is NOT about achieving a state of calm. It's more about developing an awareness, kindness and curiosity to what is happening in the present moment.
So more than ever, we may need to let go of achieving a state of calm and be more present with difficult sensations, thoughts, feelings and gently bring our attention back each time the mind wanders. In this way we're building a muscle of awareness.
Q. My favourite time of the day is breakfast so should I associate mindfulness as a second breakfast?
Q. Brilliant idea - seeing it as a treat as opposed to 'yet another thing to do' is a great idea. Could it come just before breakfast so you could reward yourself with breakfast after? This is a great way to create a habit!
Q. Do you have any suggestions for quick and easy ways to squeeze mindfulness into our days, so we can start with a small habit and build on it over time?
We need to decide that this will be a priority for us if we want to see any benefits. Adrenaline is addictive and this makes it harder. I feel a bit like Nike here but 'just do it'. Try it every day for a month and see how it works for you.
When I first got into Mindfulness I was a SUPER-busy-anxious-stressed-depressed-type so I'm fully convinced that if I can do it, anyone can. Don't wait until you feel like absolute complete shit like I did. I was fully burnt out which wasn't fun.
Q. What made you chose mindfulness over other activities as a way to change when you were feeling burnt out?
Ruth Farenga The main reason was that I don't like fluffy things so the 'bells and smells' stuff wasn't of interest to me. Also, I was living in Oxford and Oxford University has a whole department for Mindfulness research so I thought, if it's good enough for Oxford, it's good enough for me!
I read about the clinical evidence behind the 8 week Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy or Mindfulness-Based Stressed Reduction course (MBCT or MBSR) so I first read a book then did an 8 week course, then repeated it, then went into teacher training on the side. I had no plan at the time, it just felt right!
A big issue is that all of the Mindfulness community (including those teachers who are unqualified) will use the same research to their advantage but it's really quite specific and lots of us spent 2 years in teacher-development so this is frustrating. This is similar to many disciplines so its always worth checking that any teacher has a Diploma in Mindfulness Teaching and has a supervisor.
Q. Do you have any tips to help children to switch into their observer mode?
Ruth Farenga Anything you can do to model this behaviour is brilliant - you articulate well the observer-mode - this state or mode is something can practise e.g. 'I'm noticing I'm feeling really angry right now' is GREAT. We can encourage this kind of language in our households to build curiosity - as opposed to judgement - into our own thoughts and feelings. There are specific resources for children but I'm very much of the thinking that children are often more mindful that we are - we just beat it out of them through our ways/ education system etc.
Jon Kabat-Zinn (founding father of Western Mindfulness) describes it as 'a wise and affectionate attention'.
Most of us have to learn to give ourselves this kind of affection, curiosity and non-judgement. Our western society is largely set up for judgement and our brains are wired for survival, not happiness so we have to work at this stuff.
Q. If someone wants to start practicing in a group or learn more about this with supervision / coaching, what are the options?
Ruth Farenga My top recommendations for training are - if you're a self-study type person then have a go using this book - Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. It's gold-dust!
Or if you prefer group training check out your local MBCT or MBSR teacher for evidenced-based training.
The Conscious Lead
ers Podcast
Ruth also publishes the Conscious Leaders Podcast with some very exciting guests who are taking particularly radical or innovative action with the way they lead their people and organisations. They share what’s working and the challenges as well as giving a unique insight into their personal journey and philosophy that has emerged.
Let's talk about podcasting
Have you met anyone lately who didn't have a podcast?
With the rise of popularity you may be tempted to get into podcasting.
There is a bewildering array of tools to choose from and many other questions to answer!

Berenice Smith, a graphic designer at Hello Lovely Design, helped set up and produce The Full Stop podcast and answered questions about the tech, equipment, design, guests, and more!
The basics - time money and skills!
Ann Hawkins What's the range of skills and the time and financial commitment needed to make a consistently good podcast?
Berenice Smith I work with two other presenters so getting a good mix of speech and tone is important as is listening skills, empathy, knowing the audience, contacts, branding, and social media.
Technically we needed to research the different platforms and what an RSS is and does. It is useful to know about audio editing though apps like Headliner and Podbean make that relatively easy. A workflow helps as well. The website is set up to do most of the hard work when the episode goes live. It's the organising that takes time - the right guests, getting them and us together (this week we recorded across 3 continents!)
Topics - I was told that most podcasts end at 8 episodes as the material runs dry and time is an issue. We’re at episode 14 and have the rest of the themes planned out for the year and beyond, it’s never-ending but in some areas - even design - that might be tricky so pacing the content and making it useful matter. But it does take a lot of time even with three of us sharing the load - more than we anticipated and as we’ve become more known, those demands are increasing.
Finance - At the moment we ask for donations. For us, there’s a big ethical thing around asking for money from this demographic but as I said earlier, we have plans for Patreon or crowdfunding that I’m happy to talk about elsewhere. We have listed all those costs so we can keep a record like a business so that if we are in the position of seeking funding or changing the model we have this to hand. That’s really important. Prepare for growth from the start.
The key thing for me was going for it. I joined a lot of podcast groups on Facebook and oh my, it was all rather geeky! It's easy to get hung up on tech but if you have a solid plan then try it out and see where it goes. Pod bean is free for about 3 hours I think so that's enough to do some short pieces and take it from there. See what happens!
We expected about 100 listeners given we hadn't considered paying for advertising (we never have) so anything over that has been a bonus and we're way beyond that now but to help one person alone is enough.
We are all podcast listeners too. That was important, we know what others do and are getting an ear for what works and what doesn't!
Q. How far ahead are you planning typically?
Berenice Smith We typically block in events and some, like Mother's Day, Christmas etc require extra care but sometime we have to shuffle around because of a newsworthy item so we try to have some flex. We tend to have the next three episodes in mind and one canned in case we need it - often that's from a previous podcast so we get a break. Some shuffles happen because we're getting guests from across different time zones too!
Is a podcast right for your business?
Q. Can you tell us how you decided that a podcast was right for your project/business and was likely to give you a return on that work?
Berenice Smith We started the podcast after we drew up a proposal for the BBC Rachel Bland award. It was during that research that we realised that there wasn’t a podcast for our niche. So much like a business plan really
Probably the thing to say here is that this is a podcast about involuntary childlessness so there isn’t a direct link to my business, more to me. Although I work with a very wide demographic I also work with men and women who want an empathic designer in this area so it’s been a benefit I’ve not realised before. It’s allowed people to get to know me (something that Ann Hawkins said in the 6 Steps Programme was what would make someone chose between me or another designer is down to personality so it's been an indirect benefit!)
This is the podcast I co-present so you can get a feel for what we've done.
THEFULLSTOPPOD.COM
However, I’m hoping to set up a creative podcast at some point soon (if anyone is interested!)
Helen Lindop What are the benefits of a podcast compared to say a YouTube channel, or blog?
Berenice Smith I’ve not really experimented with YouTube but I would say it’s about our comfort and that of guests. We record on Zoom but it’s amazing how sitting in your home knowing that there won’t be any video can make a safe space. We do have a blog and a newsletter. We send out a newsletter to our subscribers when the episode goes up and then a few days later we go public and then share some of the newsletter content. Our open stat averages 70% and the clicks around 60%.
Q. Do you do the editing and uploading yourselves or outsource it?
Berenice Smith We do it all ourselves. There’s loads of software from Garageband to Adobe Audition, and sites that can do this such as Headliner (which we use on the free version for audiograms). We’re really lucky that Michael (one of the co-presenters) loves the audio editing and has had media training, I’m happy with social media, running the website and seeking out opportunities to increase our reach and Sarah is a great writer for our blog so we all bring varied skills.
Attracting listeners
Q. How to you get subscribers/listeners?
Berenice Smith Being social. We've currently got 2.8k listeners over all time and we're fortunate that our community is incredibly committed. Presenters and guests are important. We started with published authors who did well with social media to bring in traffic and we intersperse guests like Bibi Lynch and Susan Muir (look up Suzy and the Simple Man, she’s incredible) with stories from new names, less established to give balance and humanity.
Spotify is in beta at the moment for podcasts so that took a bit of time to sort out, but we're doing well on Apple, and Podbean is great. We've recently launched on Stitcher so we're always checking the platforms and asking our listeners. We've recently added in a community news and a toolkit of resources.
There's a new Google podcasts app too.
It's really hard for us to get reviews in this field as people have the right to privacy but encouraging reviews especially on Apple, really bumps it up along with all the benefit that reviews bring.
Standing out in the crowd
Q. I'm thinking of starting a podcast about being a copywriter - but there are already a lot of people doing it; is it worth creating a podcast with so many discussing similar topics, and if yes how could it stand out?
Berenice Smith I think research really important - there are lots of podcasts that cross over so we do have others with similar aims (the more the better to be honest when it comes to mental health but it’s good to have a niche). For example we found that there were very few men talking about mental health and grief so our male presenter is very important. The other female presenter is a coach and training to be a counsellor so she brings a lot of ethics and fantastic questions.
We also engage with other podcasts so we’re appearing on a podcast in USA very shortly and the person who founded that has just recorded an episode with us. The collaboration really works if you can find the subtle differences. Also, if you decided to collaborate with others, the team dynamic has been important for us so whilst your subject matter might be similar, maybe there’s a collaboration that makes it unique.
Branding
Branding is really important too - I've seen so many podcasts with covers that are illegible, so our brand is very strong and personal and it has reach. A good website and all those important design rules matter.
Q. I hadn't thought about the importance of having a good mix of presenters, great point.
Q. Did you have an exact idea about what you wanted it to be like? e.g. is it scripted?
Berenice Smith We really have no script! We do script the intro, middle part and ending so it’s topped and tailed by website and social media though and we always research the guests.
As for the what we wanted to be like - we had key words - empathy, funny, sweary and human. We’ve been told that the biggest draw is us as team and that we do laugh. That’s so important with difficult subjects that can been uncomfortable and we’re all about building bridges so it’s for all (hence the name not really alluding to the subject matter). But we do edit so that each episode usually started with one of us digressing or laughing to set the tone. We’ve had tears - especially over one specific one on mental health - which has increased our audience.
Q. That's interesting. I tried without a script and waffled too much
Berenice Smith I have had to record a few pieces on my own and oh yes... I'm terrible. As we're presenting as a team we tend to have hand signals for waffle alerts or we'll ping a message to each other but I empathise completely!
Who are ideal guests?
Q. What are you looking for in a guest?
Berenice Smith I love that you love being a guest, me too! Oddly it's not about the tech - guests get worried about not having a recording studio but in the main, a pair of headphones and a quiet room is fine.
Someone who is relaxed, not over promoting and has something valuable to share, is engaged with us already as a follower and has listened to the podcast. There’s a lot of the ethos of Drive about how we approach the social media so it’s all about supportiveness not sales. Subtle :D
Find our more about Berenice at Hello Lovely Design and on Twitter @hihellolovely
Find out more about The Full Stop Podcast at TheFullStopPod and on Twitter @TheFullStop1
Berenice is also a finalist in the Digital Women Awards and has been selected as one of the 40 women to watch!
Email marketing doesn't have to be scary!
Many small businesses are wary of email marketing but it is still one of the most effective ways of increasing sales.
How do you keep in touch with previous customers?
How do you attract new customers?
How do you turn a connection into a paying client?
These are all things that can easily be achieved with the right email marketing system.
However, choosing the right platform, avoiding spamming, GDPR, wrangling automation, linking to CRMs are all issues that cause concern so we asked Helen Lindop to answer questions from our members.
Helen is a CRM and email marketing consultant for small businesses who shares lots of information and free newsletter templates at www.helenlindop.com
This is a transcript of a live Q&A
Choosing the right platform
Q. You mentioned you've lost patience with MailChimp. What's your current preferred platform?
Helen Lindop It really depends on your needs, there isn't a one size fits all. A good alternative for people who are on the free Mailchimp plan is Mailerlite.
Q. Would be interested in your recommendation/pros/cons of MailChimp vs HubSpot.
Helen Lindop It really depends on what you want to achieve, I'd always start with your goals and then find a tool to help you reach those. Hubspot does a lot more than just email marketing and can be too complicated for many smaller businesses. I would say that you'd look at Hubspot when you'd outgrown a platform like Mailchimp. That said, I reckon there are much better platforms out there than Mailchimp.
Q. What advantages does Mailerlite have over Mail Chimp?
Helen Lindop The advantage is greatest for people just starting out. Both offer free plans, but with the Mailchimp free plan you can only have one list (known as audiences in Mailchimp) and you can't have automations with more than one step in them (e.g. you can automatically send out a free PDF, but you can't send a sequence of emails). Also, many people find the Mailchimp interface clunky and confusing, Mailerlite is simpler to get around.
Q. I moved over to Mailerlite from MailChimp and I'd say it's easier to use and there's lots of video tutorials. Also easier to split into groups etc
Q. When choosing an email/crm system for your business what are the key things you should take into consideration?
Helen Lindop Always start with your goals - I have some clients who just want to stay on people's radar, so only need a simple newsletter-style monthly email and one client who has an ecommerce store with an email sequence when someone buys, a shopping cart abandonment sequence and a product page abandonment sequence. So there are very different situations.
In terms of CRM, some businesses want a customer database with a history of their communication with them, plus reminder to follow up. Others need that and a full sales pipeline plus more. So it depends very much on what you need.
Let me know if you need any more specific info!
Helen Lindop I give my other top picks in this post: The best Email Marketing Platforms for Small Businesses 2020
Moving platforms
Helen Lindop It's usually not as scary to move as people think. Moving the data over is often straightforward if you tag properly, things like automations and integrations take longer. How to move to a new email markeitng service
Q. Where's the best place to find out *how* to automate? These sites aren't always intuitive. It was my biggest barrier to getting it done
Helen Lindop You can automate such a huge range of things now that it's hard to find your way around all the info unless you decide what you want to automate first. For many businesses, following up with people who have shown an interest in your business or bought before is the best place to start automating because it's a really effective way of making more sales. And is so easily forgotten.
Q. When you talk about automating marketing, is it possible that if someone downloads a pdf from your website or social media platform, that this can be linked back to your CRM system and trigger a series of appropriate follow up to move potential buyers further through the funnel? Hope that makes sense
Helen Lindop Yes, that's marketing automation! 😁 Most email marketing platforms will do this now, although the level of complexity/flexibility varies a lot. As does the price.
When is enough enough?
Q. How many emails should one send, over what period of time and is there a benefit to leaving time in between?
Helen Lindop It really depends on your goals and your audience. I always suggest starting with a frequency that you can maintain consistently (both in terms of being able to create enough quality content for your mailings, and to physically send the emails), get some data and then work from there. If you increase the frequency and lots of people unsubscribe, that may be a reason to drop it again - although if the people who unsubscribe aren't buyers then that may be OK.
Visuals and text
Q. I just downloaded your email templates yesterday. Very helpful thank you and I'm sure I will use them. For other emails though, is there any reason why a newsletter couldn't be purely visuals (other than titles/links say)?
Helen Lindop The problem is that many Gmail users don't download the images, so never see them. So your emails always need to 'work' whether the images are visible or not. Also check they work in plain text as well as HTML.
Who should be on the list?
Q. If you've never done this before, what's the first step to getting people to sign up in the first place? Second question, once you have sign ups what do you do? Start an excel file? Jump straight into a CRM platform? Can you give a beginners guide to the process when starting from scratch.
Helen Lindop There are many ways of getting people to sign up including having some kind or discount or freebie when they subscribe. It's important that you make it clear they are also going to receive marketing emails from you when you do this, though. There are lots of tips about how to do this on my blog.
I would always use an email marketing or marketing automation platform to manage this for you rather than Excel. Partly because it's just easier that way and the starter level tools are inexpensive or even free (Mailerlite and Hubspot CRM have free plans). But also because it's bad practice to email in bulk from say Gmail or Outlook. But as I said above, I don't recommend jumping into a platform until you've decided what you need - what are your business goals? What do you need these tools to be able to do to support those? What do they need to integrate with (e.g. do they need to integrate with your website, shopping cart etc).
7 Reasons why a CRM is better than and Excel Spreadsheet.
Q. Would you recommend unsubscribing people who aren't engaged?
Helen Lindop It's generally a good idea to clean up your lists because a) otherwise you may be paying for subscribers who never open your emails and b) the platforms prefer accounts to have subscribers that are engaged. But you need to be careful because whether someone has opened an email or not isn't always tracked 100% accurately. A better guide is whether someone has clicked a link in your email. So it's better to delete those people who haven't clicked in 6 months rather than those who haven't opened in 6 months.
Q. This can depend on the type of information and the type of subscriber. I've got people who've been on my list for more than 10 years who pop up now and then to say they like reading my posts, and even though they've never bought anything ask me not to take them off the list.
Q. I have a client who currently uses a WordPress plugin to send out their monthly e-newsletter. I've been trying to convince them to switch to a different platform for years. They have a lot of "role" email addresses on their subscription list - info@, admin@ etc.
Helen Lindop Those role email addresses aren't good news. They tend to have a lower open rate than named email addresses and so it will affect their stats. Some platforms go as far as not allowing them (e.g. Aweber) so I'd check this before signing them up. Off the top of my head I don't know one that is totally happy with these. I think I'd try to get them to reduce these if possible, although I know it's not easy.
Common mistakes
1) Not doing email marketing because some expert says it's dead and they should be using (insert current bright shiny tool) instead. (Note, this expert often doesn't know anything about email marketing!).
2) Managing your customer database from an email inbox/ post-it notes/fridge door/ memory.
3) Focusing on marketing to strangers when you stand a much better chance of selling to existing customers or 'warm' people who know you.
4) Deleting all your data because of GDPR.
There are lots more great tips from Helen on her blog at www.helenlindop.com and she is planning a beginners course on this topic so keep in touch by signing up to her list and on Twitter @HelenLindop