Building an engaged community of loyal customers or fans can be challenging and takes a fair bit of time but the good news is, with the right tools, mindset, and homework you will get there

Who are your people in your community?

The first step towards your community is to identify who your people are. It’s all about your follower, your clients, or customers: Your dream people! The more you know about your dream people the better. Now If I say, the more you know, let’s not spend too much time on findings like where they live, married or not, how many children, income and so on. I believe today it is far more important to concentrate on: 

• What do they believe in?
• What are their values?
• The question that YOU have an answer for
• What kind of problem do they have that you can help them with? 
• What are they struggling with?
• Favorite tools they like to use online and for communication
• TBC…

Try to gather together all information and insights you have about your dream people. Use what you already have from sales, emails, feedbacks, or other contacts. If you feel you have too little information to use why not make your own little survey? Ask your people through an online survey or on social media. If you are a shop owner talk to your customer in real life. Try to find an answer to the following questions: Who are your people? This is the part where you may well include some demographic data (that means where they live, age, gender, and so on) but as I mentioned earlier try to not overthink this. It might be that you end up having more than one group of people. That is absolutely fine. 

Now that you’ve identified your people it’s time to look at ways to make them step up to another level. I have worked out five ways that I believe are the essential basics to start with.

1. Have a conversation (community=communication)

Have you ever commented on a post or asked a question online to a brand or service you were looking for and didn’t get an answer? Frustrating isn’t it?! How likely is it you will try again? Mmh.. thought so!

Let them know they can have a conversation with you. Answer questions, respond to queries, try to help when people ask for your advice. Try to engage as much as possible and show them that you are a real human and not a chat bot.

This will be the foundation of your work and the easier you make it for your people to get in contact with you the better.

2. Make your messaging authentic

What is your message? While creating your message think back about your people. Remember who they are, where they are, and what their problem is that you can help them with. A few guidelines that help you to write down your message are: Try not to communicate more than three key points. That’s usually enough to start with.

Keep it simple and stay true to yourself. The simple things are the ones that people remember. Try to be as clear and precise with your work as possible. It helps people to understand what you want. Be emotional and authentic. Tell stories. People easily remember a good story. You might also add statistics and figures if you’re a science rocket or your business requires data and facts.

3. Provide value to your community & 4. Give more than you take

One of the things we want to avoid is getting people’s attention just to fill them in with sales messages. This is a short-term win. If you would like your people to engage long-term the foundation of your community is to provide them with value. Help them with their problems. This takes you back to your people’s research and finding out what their struggles are. You can ask online, host Q&As, publish free material, or downloadable content. Create pieces that helps your community rather than creating promotional material about you. The more you give the more you will get back!

Now don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean you should give everything away for free. These are just small parts of your work that are valuable for your people to make them engage with you. You’ve got a whole lot of work up in your sleeve once they want more.

5. Create groups

Create a community of like-minded people who are interested in your service or brand. Inviting them to a community shows you care and therefore builds trust and loyalty.

Facebook groups are also a great tool to grow your community and therefore customers. It gives you the opportunity to engage, ask specific questions, and support.

Hopefully, those tips have given you the boost to start thinking about your community building. One last thing: Don’t feel like you have to do this! Authenticity is key and you need to be passionate about your people. Love your community and you’ll be loved back!

Speak to you soon,

Gila x

Der Beitrag HOW TO BUILD A COMMUNITY ON SOCIAL MEDIA erschien zuerst auf Social Hut Cornwall.

Mount Marketing seems such a big thing to climb, it leaves us feeling overwhelmed at times. The answer is: splitting this big thing Marketing into little bite-size pieces. More specifically let’s just do one leg after the other in your own pace. You won’t even notice you’re climbing up a mountain. Each leg is fun and easy to do and will take you right to the top.

Here are some bite size activities that help you to stay on top with your day to day marketing they may seem basic and you probably have done them a few times before. A lot of marketing activities have to be done regularly. Like a routine check up. Choose one activity per day and try to not spend more than 30 minutes on each task for a start. 

Share your blogpost on social media (or show your product on social media)

Talk about your new blogpost, product or service on the social media channels that you are using to grow your business. Share them on Instagram. You can post a photo on your grid and talk about your post in your caption. Add the link to your bio. Talk about your blogpost in stories or use the swipe up if you have it. Tweet about your blogpost on twitter. Tweet again, nobody saw the first tweet.  Share wherever you think is a good space for it. Don’t forget to pin your cover/ title to your blogpost board (or the one you prefer) on Pinterest.

Share quality content 

But remember more is not better. Just share what you really think is high  quality and entertaining or educational for your people. I would  suggest time limit for this task of 10 minutes. We all now what happens if we get lost in stories or tweets….

Self marketing- Love yourself!

What has self love got to do with my daily marketing I hear you ask. The answer is easy. How do you want to tell people you are doing a great job if you don’t believe it yourself. Truth is that believing in yourself is often lifelong project with ups and downs. But therefore it is even more essential to continuously practice self love.  Treat yourself to a daily amount of self esteem booster and I promise it will bear fruits. Think of how you wish to feel and write a list of things that are holding you back.

Try to carve some time for the things that make you feel good even in busy times. A 10 minute meditation or a morning run. I know we are busy ALL THE TIME but there’s always space for self love exercise. Journal and jot down 10 things you love about yourself, 10 skills you have developed during the years, what is your superpower? No limits just write it down and keep it for the dark days when your self esteem needs a little boost.

Create your elevator pitch

Always be prepared that you might meet THE person you always wanted to work with. The so called elevator pitch means you only have a very short time to describe an idea, your service or product. Usually 20-60 seconds. It is like a mini pitch. Try to work out the core points of your work or project and think why you are the one to work with.

You only have time for a few sentences. So whenever you have a 5-10 minutes gap in between meetings, school runs or commutes think of a few good reasons why it should be you!

Bio check up

Now this check up should not take you longer than 15 minutes. But like the elevator pitch we only have a few seconds to grab peoples attention. They visit your bio because they are interested in you. Give them a reason to follow you and build up a connection. Tell them how you can help them but don’t forget to give them a little information about yourself. 

This isn’t work you do and then you’re done, regularly check if all information in your bio are up to date.

Signatur check up

Use your signature not just for your name but also as a little additional marketing plattform.Are all your social media connections listed? Tell them in just a few words what to expect. Do you have a subline or quote you use that people subconsciously connect with you? Why not using it in your bio as well? Do you have an eye catching logo that you can include? Promote your latest work or blog post with a link in your bio. Use this space as your additional information platform. 

Create consistent header 

Take look at all the material online and off-line that shows your  logo, quote, headlines and sublines, colours, fonts or other messages. Do they all match together? Are they consistent? Is there a golden thread that runs trough?

Think of your core message and what you want to stand for or look like. Then start creating a matching look for your brand for each channel. You can additionally create a journal or style guide and document the look of your brand. 

Feel free to create a list of the little things that can be dine ink less than 30 minutes. You can then update and pick out an activity that needs a fresh up at any time.

Talk to you soon, Gila

Der Beitrag DAILY MARKETING FOR SMALL BUSINESSES erschien zuerst auf Social Hut Cornwall.

„Marketing is not a battle, and it’s not a war or even a contest. Marketing is the generous act of helping someone solve a problem. Their problem. It is a chance to serve“ Seth Godin

Seth Godin also says, being discovered is the last part not the first. True! So let’s start with the first part. I often talk to clients about their wrong assumption that once their business is set up or their shop is open people will walk in just like that. The truth is: Those times are over. Especially in the online world. The internet gives us a lot of opportunities but it is also a huge media playground where let’s face it, everyone is talking about themselves and it is rarely about your business or you!

Marketing today is so different from the past profit-oriented short-term thinking tactics. You want to understand what is happening in your customer’s life. You have an understanding of how you can help your customers live the life they are dreaming of. How you can connect and build a relationship of trust. Your focus lies on engagement with your people. Did you know that people need about five to seven contact points before they are ready to buy from you? Yep, I know! You want a plan. But trust me you’ll get there!

Your Situation

A snapshot of where you and your business are today. In the marketing world, people often talk about a situation analysis. Write down an overview of your situation today. Describe your product or service that you are offering. Try to be as detailed as possible. Include key figures like pricing, monthly costs, production costs, important dates that might have an impact on your business.

Think of why you want to sell the products or offer a service. What makes you special? What drives you? Why do you get up in the morning and do what you do? What do you love about it? Your purpose builds the basis for all future decisions you might have to make. Knowing your purpose helps you to identify your places to shout: If you already run your business for a while try to incorporate your learnings. What is working, what isn’t? Can you point out why? Jot it all down. The more you know about your situation the better you are prepared.

Audience

The second step is all about your audience, your clients, or customers: Your dream people! The more you know about your dream people the better. Now If I say, the more you know, let’s not spend too much time on findings like where they live, married or not, how many children, income and so on. I believe today it is far more important to concentrate on:

• What do they believe in?
• What are their values?
• The question that YOU have an answer for
• What kind of problem do they have that you can help them with? 
• Know what they’re struggling with
• The favourite tools they like to use online and for communication
• tbc…

Try to gather together all information and insights you have about your dream people. Use what you already have from sales, emails, feedbacks, or other contacts. If you feel you have too little information to use why not make your own little survey? Ask your people through an online survey or on social media. If you are a shop owner talk to your customer in real life. Try to find an answer to the following questions: Who are your people? This is the part where you may well include some demographic data (that means where they live, age, gender, and so on) but as I mentioned earlier try to not overthink this. It might be that you end up having more than one group of people. That is absolutely fine.

Your goals

Write down a list of your goals and add a method to measure them! You can divide them into qualitative and quantitive if you feel confident and like a real pro. Qualitative goals are the ones like Increase engagement, make your people happy or increase your relevance and visibility.  Quantitative is all about the money and mostly measurable in figures. Example: I want to increase my sales in the first three months this year by x percent.

No matter what goals you write down your list make sure they are as measurable as possible. Realistic for you (if you are unsure go back to your situation overview and check if your goals first your situation). Finally, add timing to your goals. This is an important point because it is not sufficient enough to just have them there for „one day“. That would be a dream and not a goal. A timeline is inevitable if we want to achieve our goals.

Develop your message

Where are your people and how do you want to communicate with them, what is your message? While creating your message think back about your audience. Remember who they are, where they are and what their problem is that you can help them with. A few guidelines that help you to write down your message are: Try not to communicate more than three keypoints. That’s usually enough to start with.

Keep it simple. The simple things are the ones that people remember. Try to be as clear and precise with your working as possible. It helps people to understand what you want. Be emotional and authentic. Tell stories. People easily remember a good story. You might also add statistics and figures you science rocket!

Channels

Well done, you are almost there. Finally you have worked yourself through all the above stages and now we are getting to the final point that completes your plan. We know where we are with our product or service, we know what it’s/our purpose is, we know to whom we are offering our product or service, how we are going to tell it, and now the last question is:

WHERE are you going to publish?

To answer this question think back to where your audience likes to hang around when they are looking for the service you can give them. (In Marketingland this is also often called outreach strategy.) Your content will most likely be on your website or in your shop but where else can you publish it?  What resources do they use? (If you are unsure at this point, work on your audience again.)

Where are the places or platforms other than your website where they would typically search for you? Is it a video you would like to publish, then probably Youtube would be an option? Or if you want to publish a professional report LinkedIn or SlideShare works best for it. Or maybe you prefer Instagram and gathered a Fanclub there? Where are the places or platforms other than your website where they would typically search for you?

Think of more than just one place to promote your offer.  If you publish a blog post on your website for example make sure to promote it in other places. Spread your message to the widest audience possible. Creating messages and content that are found, seen, heard, engaging, and loved by your people is not witchcraft or magic nor do you have to be a marketing rocket! It can be done no matter how big your budget is or how big your business might be. It is all about sending YOUR message and connect with your people! 

But this takes a lot of trial and error even for people who have been in this business for decades. Keep going and try! The more you try, the better you will understand what works for you and what doesn’t. Those are very useful insights that you can implement in your future plans. If you are unsure whether a plan is the right thing for you or not then you might get your answer here.

Talk to you soon

Gila x

Let’s get connected if you like and be part of a creative community

Der Beitrag 5 EASY STEPS TO CREATE A MARKETING PLAN erschien zuerst auf Social Hut Cornwall.

Running your own business means you’re an expert in what you do!

If you’re a graphic designer you’re an expert in creating images and texts. No one would think you’re an expert for marketing as well. However being smart with your marketing is important for the success of your business and even more if you don’t have a six digit budget to spend. But at the end of the day Marketing is nothing else than shouting out to your people that you’ve got something they need!

Empower yourself with developing a marketing plan that is made for YOU and the needs of your business rather than a general marketing one-size-fits-all strategy. 

This is the first part of a series I can’t wait to write for you. A series of blog posts looking at „easy- to-use-marketing“ that enables you to make a plan for your business at any time without having a degree in marketing or decades of experience in global companies as a marketing expert.

But how do I know I need a marketing plan at all?

That is a perfect question to dive into easy marketing. Personally I believe the assumption that marketing is all about change. In other words. If you are happy with your performance, if your boss is happy with your performance, if your bank account is happy with your performance, if you are happy with your clients performance,… congratulations, maybe you unknowingly have a good marketing plan therefore are doing a brilliant job. 

As marketing guru Seth Godin says: „Marketing is the act of make change happen. Making is insufficient. You haven’t made an impact until you’ve changed someone.“

In my January Newsletter I was actually talking about change. But I think this story fits here perfectly too:

…“One day a guy with a music school showed up and asked for „help“ with marketing. He struggled with a new website he wanted to create. There was just no way he could make himself deal with it. He’d rather go and play the guitar. I asked him why he wanted a new website. His answer was: Because some people told me it’s old-fashioned. The truth is he is always fully booked, he has hardly any spare time because of gigs and other music projects that make him happy (and pays the bills), people love him, he is well known in the whole region and everyone wants to work with him. Guess what my advice was. Well maybe some people think that was bad marketing but I refused to work with him. He was HAPPY! He didn’t want to change anything. People wanted him to change something. That’s not the kind of motivation we need if you ask me.”

You might need a marketing plan if…

You feel you are not busy enough in a satisfying way

General boredom

You find it difficult to create new products

Ideas are not spreading anymore

Your work is frustrating you

Your boss is frustrated with your work

Your team is not performing the way it could

Your work is not fulfilling you

Clients are not achieving what you’d hoped

People are not buying your products

Nobody is signing in your e-courses

Your community seems like in a sleeping beauty sleep

Clients don’t book into consultation appointments

Screen time is sky rocketing and frustrating

Take your time to reflect on your business or projects and analyze where you are and how you feel about it. What is working and what needs improvement?

If you agree with one of the above indicators a marketing plan could be helpful for you however don’t stress yourself! Some people I know rebel against all kinds of structures hidden in a plan. So be patient with yourself.

Start step by step at your own pace. And if you need an easy guide on how to create your plan this might be helpful.

Talk to you soon

Gila x

Der Beitrag SIGNS YOU NEED A MARKETING PLAN erschien zuerst auf Social Hut Cornwall.

• „I feel totally uninspired“
• „I feel completely lost on my creative journey“
• „I am stepping backwards instead of forward“
• „I´’ve got a writers block“

Ever heard you saying that? Then you may have lost your mojo. But don’t panic. We will get it back.

The first time I heard someone talking about loosing their mojo I didn’t even know what it was. It is mostly described as something like a talisman or charm that attracts people to you and your work. You feel energised and successful. In other words you are at the top of your business and riding on a wave of creativity and motivation. And then it suddenly stops.

NOW WHAT?

The thing is, you may well choose to get straight back to bed (don´’t get me wrong nothing is wrong with that and it´ is always worth considering) but what if you have a job to do and it hit you right before a due date for a presentation? Your editor is waiting for an article. You are in a collaboration and need to create content? Your clients are out there waiting for your guidance? Your boss might want you to do a job in a certain time frame? No matter what job it is, it puts us under pressure if we feel unable to perform, which leads to even more pressure and in the end we are unable to do anything at all.

WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN YOU´VE LOST YOUR MOJO

Very often I hear clients talk about feeling totally overwhelmed and kind of locked in a box. Working suddenly feels like having to walk through water. (Ever dreamed of walking through water not being able to move). Additionally, they feel unable to motivate themselves to be creative.

Now before we head to the action plan do yourself a big favour:

Don´ t get angry at yourself or beat yourself up. It will take you nowhere and mojo will also not come back if we treat ourselves badly. In return, it will swallow all energy that is left which we will need to focus on what is helpful for us.

WHAT TO DO INSTEAD

Years ago I was reading Gretchen Rubins´ book The happiness project. 

One thing that has followed me since then is her third commandment

ACT THE WAY YOU WANT TO FEEL

She says „Although we presume that we act because of the way we feel, in fact, we often feel because of the way we act. More than a century ago, philosopher and psychologist William James described this phenomenon: “Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.” By acting as if you feel a certain way, you induce that emotion in yourself“

It took me practice to understand how it worked but once you get that light bulb moment it is the most effective strategy to get back on the dance floor to your desk. And it works for every situation you are in.

Actions influence feelings, so whenever you are feeling a way you don’t wish to feel try to go counteract that feeling. If you want to feel more creative you have to act more creative. For example you are invited to a party not knowing anyone and feel shy try to move forward, initiate a conversation and introduce yourself. Or you want to scream out loud because the whole world seems against you dive into a pleasant small talk with the next person you meet. Feel like you are about to shout at your children? Smile at them instead.  

Now but how do I make myself do it, I hear you ask. And you are so right asking this.

Try to think of the minutes before you finally go out for a run. The early yoga lesson in the morning. Sitting down at your workplace starting to write.  Try to think of HOW it will make you feel afterwards once you’ve done the work.  I bet you’ve never come home from a run thinking „I wish I hadn’t gone“. What I mean is, yes it does take a little effort but I promise you it is worth it. Just start and trust that motivation will catch up with you. It might take a little while but the more you try the easier it will get. Too often we just wait until a certain situation feels right or we think we are ready. This exercise allows you to just spring into the action.

HOW TO EXERCISE

Time to act now! How do you want to feel? To make this exercise successful you have to bear in mind that it is about something that YOU feel is holding you back. It is not about changing what other people think of you.

You might want to feel:

• On top of your creative journey.
• Ready to tackle your business goals.
• Able to survive another day after the baby hasn’t let you sleep the whole night. 
• Inspired to go out and seek the beauty.
• Get the words out on paper.
• Happy.
• Confident.
• Prepared to talk in front of people.
• Proud of what you are doing.

Ask yourself how you feel when you think you lost your mojo. Find out what it is that makes you feel like this?

• It could be a hard night with wide awake children
• rainy days
• hormonal reasons
• negative feedback to a work you did
• You haven’t been able to exercise although you like doing it.
• You feel like your work is boring you out.

Think of how you wish to feel. What is holding you back?

How do you have to act if you want to counteract your unpleasant feeling? 

For example if I feel uncomfortable with myself or self-doubt is nagging me first thing I do is putt on my most comfortable and favourite clothes. The ones that I can count on to make me feel good. The ones I would proudly and confidently walk into a room full of people staring at me. (My bat woman costume).

Most likely you will get positive feedback to your acting which has a positive effect to your feelings. People do not know how you felt before. For example, it took you a lot of effort and acting *as if* to write an article, but you did it!  You receive positive feedback from readers. This is clearly a motivational uplift spiral, right?! 

So now it is your turn, have a try and let me know how you it worked out for you.

Der Beitrag WHAT YOU CAN DO TO GET BACK YOUR MOJO erschien zuerst auf Social Hut Cornwall.

If you don’t talk about your blogpost, it is most likely that nobody is going to read it.

The truth is, nobody will wake up in the morning and come up with the idea to read my blogpost. And that is okay, with all the work, children, our busy life, good books, and Instagram it is hard to follow up on everything. Unless someone tells me to do so. 

A blog or website (whichever you prefer) is similar to a good fire you light up. To keep it alive you always need to put another log on the fire or it will go out. In other words, if we don’t nourish and flourish our blog and make sure to talk about it nobody will pay attention. Sounds depressing, I know. We invest a lot of time and effort into writing good stuff that we care about for people we care about, it deserves to be seen. Now I understand that we don’t want to be salesy when plugging out our work. It can feel awkward at times but if you don’t tell people what amazing work you are publishing nobody will read it. And if your people don’t read what you write their questions will not be answered. A loss on both sides.

I understand it is not all about the numbers but at some point, we have to keep an eye on them and admittedly it can be fun. They can answer a lot of questions.

What happened after I stopped staring at the numbers is that I gave my blog and myself a promise to invest more time in self-promotion. Starting with a few but effective methods that I am happy to share with you:

Work on your SEO

Optimizing your SEO should always be top of your list, yet we find it very difficult and the less fun thing to do. I will not go into detail about your SEO optimization here as it would take too long and also there are others who can explain it much better- like her: Lucy Lucraft! Doing it with Lucy means having fun with SEO from now on!

Connect with other blogs 

Try to connect with other people and their blogs that you like to read in your community. It is always of great value to have a group of like-minded people that support each other. You have read an article from someone and really liked it? Drop them a line and let them know you liked it. Leave comments or share posts if you enjoyed reading them.  If you name or quote someone in your post let the person know. It is always nice to know and maybe you can share each other’s work at some point. Build up relationships and support each other if possible.

Promote your blogpost in your eMail signature

Promoting your blogpost in your email signature is a nice and unobtrusive way of letting the receiver know that you have published something new. Just think how many emails you write each day? Speaking for myself it is absolutely worth using this as a small but nice blogpost promoter.

Share your blogpost on social media

Talk about your new blogpost on the social media channels that you enjoy using. Share them on Instagram. You can post a photo on your grid and talk about your post in your caption. Add the link to your bio. Talk about your blogpost in stories or use the swipe up if you have it (If only I had it…). Tweet about your blogpost on twitter. Tweet again, nobody saw the first tweet.  Share wherever you think is a good space for it. Don´t forget to pin your cover/ title to your blogpost board (or the one you prefer) on Pinterest.

Talk about your blogpost in Facebook groups

Why not share your new blogpost or a link in your Facebook groups? I am a member of a few closed Facebook groups and I love them. They are kind, supportive, and offer a high amount of know-how. A bunch of like-minded people who trust each other and share what they are doing. I couldn’t think of a better place to announce my work. And you can be sure to receive high-quality feedback that can be very useful. 

Send a newsletter about your new blogpost

Send out a newsletter to spread the news. Don´t be afraid to spam other peoples inbox if you pop in to say hello at a manageable frequency. People have opted in by choice and will be delighted to get some news and follow ups from you.

Set a Google alert for blog related articles

Who has ever used google alerts for monitoring new content publications in your niche? Can we please talk about this in the comments? I would love to know if you think this is helpful for you. Quite a few people I know love using this tool. You sign up with your email address and get a notification whenever new content gets indexed that you signed up for or requested. You can then jump over to the article and leave a comment or join a discussion being one of the first. By doing this you make yourself visible to others and get the chance to talk about your publications. You can query people’s names, other writers, bloggers, your genre, mentions, related articles, new articles, guest articles, the list, and options are endless.

These are only a few things that can be done easily, I know there are many others but if you like to share your favourite promotion tool for your blog post let us know in the comments or drop me a line here. 

Der Beitrag 7 SIMPLE WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR BLOGPOST erschien zuerst auf Social Hut Cornwall.

Very often when I start working with a new client they feel unable to find the „idea“. They struggle with their marketing activities and hope to get some kind of clarity with their marketing. When I started my business I was all over the place and ended up feeling exhausted. I didn’t know where to start unable to decide on my goals. To make a long story short, I wasn’t happy with what I was doing. I know you have just started reading but nevertheless can you guess what the answer was? You are right, my story was missing! Now what about you? After working with clients and developing my own story I could clearly spot two main difficulties that pointed towards a missing storytelling:

1 You feel invisible and not connected with your customers or clients

You put so much effort, time and passion into your ideas and online activities and never seem to get any result. You have invested a lot of time in setting up your brand new website or writing blog posts for example, or you produce podcasts, passionately curate your instagram feed, learn how to edit videos, write an e-courses and give away free downloads and so on… It is an endless list of activities yet you feel unseen online. Your work is not getting any feedback. You feel like you don´t get anything in return. Also your sales stats are not performing the way you had hoped. There is no dialogue with your people and this leaves you feeling frustrated.

If you agree on one or the other feeling described above, then it is most likely that your communication is not getting anywhere it should- namely to your audience. Your audience is a major part in your storytelling and you need to make sure your communication is getting to your audience. In order to be successful with your strategy make them pay attention. Make them  listen to what you are saying and further make them stop, think and change their behaviour. Make them rememeber you.

However there is no doubt you are creating lovely pieces of content for example helpful blog posts or the most imaginative photo creations but without a story in the background it leaves you behind feeling a bit disappointed. The engagement is not like you had hoped.  Your content doesn’t  have the impact and power it deserves.  

2 You feel overwhelmed when it comes to creating content that makes you happy

You don’t have a clear vision of where to go. Your product or service is great but you don’t know how to advertise. What kind of marketing activity is the right one? And whether you are a creative person or not you feel like your head is stuck in a big grey cloud of ideas and you are unable to focus. Nowadays we swim in a big sea of possibilities especially when it comes to online activities. 

All sounds tempting but you feel it is difficult to make a decision. What channels should you use for your business? A very common question is: can I create one piece of content for various channels or different purposes? For example to post the same photo for instagram and facebook. The answer is, you need to have a clear picture of what you want to say, who you are talking to and where you are talking. A well thought story has all the answers and cuts through all the clutter because creating your content after all is just a part of your big story.

Although there can be many reasons why you are feeling uncertain about generating ideas for your business I contend that in most of the times it is your missing story and your uncertainty towards your audience. Once you get that out of the way you feel clear, focused and able to connect with your people.

It is a perfect time to start. All the digital possibilities and developing technologies are there for you to use and once you are clear about your story it won’t take you long to decide where you need to be. Another good news is creating your story doesn’t require a big budget. You don’t need a lot of money to start rather a piece of paper and a pen and then get down to the nitty gritty. 

If you are still not convinced that storytelling could help sorting your struggles, this might also be interesting for you. And lastly remember it is your story. It is not carved into stone. If you feel you need to add a chapter or a missing bit, go for or it.

*from Joe Pulizzi: Epic content marketing //

Resources: Think content, Miriam Löffler

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Der Beitrag TWO SIGNS THAT YOUR STORYTELLING IS MISSING erschien zuerst auf Social Hut Cornwall.

The online world has become such a noisy and busy place, you might feel many brands are so similar to your business and you feel unseen. Storytelling is your chance to stand out in between all that noise and thousands of brands. Your story makes you unmistakably you. You dream of a business that has an anchored place in the heart of your people and engaging with them gives you all the joy? Then it’s story-time!

Stories have always been around for as long as we can think back in human life. People like the feeling of sharing their experiences. We post, we chat, we sit around a dining table, a campfire, we hold meetings. At the end of the day it is all about a good story. There are several more reasons why we need to stop simply selling something to people and start to really show what makes us special and furthermore invite them to be part of the story. I´ve written down my favourite four reasons why creating a story is inevitable nowadays, most importantly, if you want to connect to your people, stand out amongst your competitors and build a true relationship with your people.

1 Stories connect you to your people

Good stories connect people. People love stories. Therefore good stories will continue to be told. We all know the following situation – you hear something and think ”Yeah, I know exactly what you mean”. You can relate. You feel connected to a person automatically because you have had the same experience. The story stays in our minds easily.

2 Stories evoke emotions

Stories create emotions – that is a fact. We all know the situation when you are extremely well-prepared and open a meeting with various logical reasons presenting all the logical facts you could find. At the end, the opposite side says:” Sorry. We are not convinced”. This is the same with everyday situations. A very well-known situation for example is our children at home. It depends on your story if you want to make them do something they dislike. I know a mum who kept telling their children that deep-frozen peas are a delicacy and a real treat. They ever since loved peas, deep-frozen of course.

It is HOW you present your story which determines how enthusiastic the opposite side is – or not. The challenge is to create a vision, which the opposite side of your customer/ client recognizes and wishes to be part of. They do not make this decision because they are convinced by facts but because they have the feeling of having made a good decision besides which it gives added value to their life.

3 Stories are easy to remember

People who know what they are talking about don’t need powerpoint

Steve Jobs quotes this and he is so right. I don’t think he was ever seen holding a presentation with charts.  He much more preferred seeing people engage and he really understood what he was talking about.

Just count the number of presentations or meetings you have been to with hundreds of presentations, stats, graphs, and other things. How much do you remember? What are you taking home or telling others about it? On my phone, you’ll find a saved album with pictures of Powerpoint slides from a number of events I´ve been to. I thought I HAD to save them because the information they provide is helpful and informative and might be of use at some point. But how can something be valuable for me if I don’t even remember it an hour later? (Having said this, I might just delete the album.) 

In my early school days, I had a crazy teacher who would jump around with a banana demonstrating a life of a chimp. Those pictures will stay in my mind forever. Now, we don’t have to pretend to be a chimp to stand out but it is a good example of how stories work their way into your mind. The story that will stay in our minds has touched us in a certain way. That is why we will remember it.

4 Stories are authentic

A good story always comes from your heart. It is something that you have experienced, dreamed of something that you can relate to.

Don´t lie to your people. Tell them the truth. Nowadays people have the ability and know-how to uncover fake news within a snap.

If you tell them YOUR own story its very likely that they will love it and soak in everything that you are presenting.

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Der Beitrag FOUR REASONS WHY STORYTELLING IS A MUST FOR YOUR BUSINESS erschien zuerst auf Social Hut Cornwall.

Does this sound familiar to you? Well, let me tell you you are not alone with this. As Alex Mathers quoted „ You need to be ok with making stuff you don’t like“. We all end up doing that at times, its totally normal and even helpful as you get new insights and connections from everything you create. 

At times where you have free access to many sources of inspiration, like Pinterest, Instagram, or even offline sources like books, magazines, arts, it is more than helpful to really recognize if the inspiration will actually just be nice to look at (and maybe lead to another idea) or if it matches your style and storytelling.

It might take some practice but the more you go through the exercises the easier it will be to get an idea of how an inspiration could work for your brand and story the minute you see it.

Ready? So let’s take a look at the first step 

COLLECTING „The fun part“

I call this the fun part because at this beginning and first step you will not value your inspirations and ideas.

Let´s take a look at your sources of inspiration. 

Where do you get them from, where do you go if you seek out for advice or inspiration? Or it might be that you already have an entire pool of sources that you scoop your ideas from and are unsure what to do with them apart from keeping everything in a wonderful journal or the prettiest box? 

In either case make sure you collect everything that you instinctively feel attracted too. You’ve got a free choice, start big. So, everything that stays in your mind or evokes an emotion- put it into the collection box.

Here´s a little selection of sources I enjoy using:

My personal journals with drawings and sketches, Books, Magazines (cut out what attracts you, a colour, a piece of nice furniture, food, quotes, interviews, a flower, a summer dress etc)

Book stores, Postcards, Instagram (use collections for different themes), Pinterest, Photos, Music, Poetry, Quotes (if you like quotes you can also use quotes apps), Nature, Family and friends (meeting friends can be so inspirational but can you tell what it was that led to an inspiration? A good talk, someone doing a handstand, a good joke, a delicious meal, write it down, so you don’t forget.)

Inspiration can be found all around you. It doesn’t always have to be the big outstanding piece at this step. You may also use a mix of offline and online storage, that is totally up to you and what works best with your working routine.

Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, lightened shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to our should. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.

– Jim Jarmusch from Steal like an artist: Austin Kleon

The collecting part is an ongoing process. It is very unlikely that you’ll end up thinking “ok, I am done. I have collected all ideas and think I don’t need any more“.

My box of ideas is literally a container but if I want to funnel my inspirations into a magic piece of content I usually stick to the most up to date ones.

Notes Collecting 

1. Have fun
2. Write down a list of your favourite sources of inspiration, what other sources could you add to your list?
3. Don´t judge your collection
4. Collecting inspirations and ideas is an ongoing process

Once you have your collection ready to work with, we will continue with the next step and that is

GROUPING CATEGORIES AND THEMES

This exercise will boost your idea generation and is very time saving for future creative projects. 

It is like organizing your saved posts into collections on Instagram. If you have a collection for example “holiday“ and you need to write about a holiday specific theme or want some photography inspirations you visit your collection.

We would be very confused and overwhelmed walking into a bookstore and finding all book genres mixed up. The same with magazines on a shelf. All organized neatly and sorted into categories.

Or imagine you are looking for a pasta recipe and would have to go through the whole book to find it, fish, meat, dessert- all mixed up. I would say there are better ways to spend your time, right?!

The aim of this step is to match your collection of inspirational snippets into categories.

If you are already working with categories for your brand or yourself use them.

Grab a sheet of paper and ask yourself:

What categories are there that come to your mind when you think of your collection?

Are there any kind of themes that play a big role in my life?

What instinctively strikes my mind when I think of my brand? 

Are there any reoccuring categories, for example in my social media like Instagram?

Think of themes for your categories? (For example season could include the themes: winter, spring, summer , autumn – You can go further into details for example winter: frosty florals, winter recipes, adventures in snow, …).

You don’t have to do this exercise all at once. Maybe put it up your wall or fridge and look at it again a few days later. 

(Examples for categories could be advice, helpful, nature, food, parenting, travel, working, sunshine, happiness or also life struggles, photography etc)

Once you feel happy with the selected categories and themes, allocate the collections into them.

Bear in mind that also in this section you don’t have to judge if this piece of inspiration will lead you to your eureka moment. We will come to that a little bit later, but for now be sure your subconscious is already going like a clockwork. 

Notes grouping:

1. Think of categories and themes that you connect to 
2. Don´t judge 
3. Match the collections into the categories and themes that you have chosen
4. Sticky notes is our friend

Once you feel you grouped all our inspirational material into matching categories and themes we will now continue to get more detailed in the next step

PRIORIZE

In this step it is now time to say good bye and eliminate material that doesn’t support our final idea.

We will use a number of criteria in order to rank them, not only how we feel attracted to them but also how they support and help your business and audience. 

To start with look at the different categories that you’ve nicely grouped and maybe added a few themes.

What are the top five categories and themes that you feel a strong connection too, that instantly sparks your creativity and matches you and your brand? 

(It doesn’t have to be five, if you can only decide on three, then just have three).

What are the top themes that could bring value to your project or business?

Try to rank your themes into an order of priority for your business. If you find it hard to decide on choosing your top five I have got some questions for you:

What category or theme helps my audience´s most, what are my audiences needs at the moment?

Is there a category that matches the season in a perfect way?

Do you have a channel that needs to be fed with a certain category?

Is there a category that I instantly know I can tell a story about?

Are there any external factors you need to consider? These could be dates, deadlines, holidays, budgets, weather conditions if it comes to photoshoots outside.

Notes priorize:

1. Choose your top five categories
2. Rank your categories 
3. Use the matrix
4. If sticky notes are all used up go and buy a new pile

Once you have decided on your top categories we will now continue with the final step

Making magic content

Congratulations, look how far you have come. You have chosen your top categories and you have thought about the category and content that provides most value to your audience. 

You have also spend some time on thinking about the implementation. Now it is time to go fishing for the big one- if it wasn’t there already. But don’t worry if not. You will get there. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer but allow yourself to give it a rest in between if you feel you are getting to dogged about it. You already know so much more than you think you do. 

You will now easily be able to chose THE ONE category out of your top five selection that you feel is the one that you need to work with. The one that brings the most value to what you are doing and that you really feel attracted to and so therefore will be the one that you enjoy working with.

Go through your favourite category and all the ideas that you have collected.

Is there an eye-catching piece of work that you want to pick out? Choose your favourite inspiration and then put it all away. Don´t look at it anymore and let your mind wander. Grab a piece of paper, empty your desk or go outside and make some notes: 

What is it that made you choose it? The colours? Why? Was it a special mood? What was the first thought about it? 

A quote that inspired you to write about a topic? 

Is there a special topic connoted to it that you might want to write about? 

It might also be useful to think of your own agenda and due dates. What is next on the list? 

A blogpost? Or a newsletter or you might also have an idea for a podcast Interview? 

Your category has now taken the whole journey through a very detailed process and has changed from simply being a category filled with collected ideas to a story telling piece of content that you can work with.

Feel free to mix up all steps. Go through it again. Leave it. Or just take what you need. There are as always no rules to using this. 

What is next?

You might experience a big fire of ideas- make sure to write them all down and if possible rank them. 

You might experience nothing at all – Grab a cuppa and give it another go. 

Go and buy some more sticky notes and treat yourself with a new journal.

Feel free to drop me a line to tell me about your creative process and how you are doing, maybe I can help you however I would love to hear from you.

Never give up, we all have those days when we think creativity has left us and with it our brain. But whatever it might be it is just a phase and it will go away.

If you need another creative boost this might also inspire you.

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Der Beitrag THE MAGIC IDEA FUNNEL – A GUIDE TO GET YOUR IDEAS BUBBLING erschien zuerst auf Social Hut Cornwall.

(That happens to me at least once a week, and don’t ask how many wonderful cook books I have in my kitchen).

Well, if all this sounds familiar welcome to the club. I was told this is true for all of us. Who can be non-stop creative? Not me, for sure. Take it as absolutely normal, that you can´t recall creative impulse as the touch of a button. Also it seems that the more we command ourselves to be creative NOW, the more unlikely it is to happen.

Having read all this, don’t pull the blanket over your head and wait for an idea to knock at your door, I have tried both and believe me it doesn’t work. With the suitable technique we can boost our creativity and give a little fire to our thinking process. Ready?

You probably won´t believe the fact that creativity and generating ideas can be trained liked your biceps but, like your muscles finding the strategy that suits you and your lifestyle best needs endurance and practice. You might need to try a number of things until you have found what it takes to boost your creative level up to a higher level.

I have worked out, what I think are my most effective activities and trainings. It might take a while to find out what is best for you, but once you’ve got it, magic unfolds.

BOOKS AND MAGAZINES

Put down your phone and hide it somewhere far away. For me it works best if I place it in the car or upstairs. Step outside your online world for a while and grab your favourite book or a nice magazine. You might want to pop into your favourite book shop around the corner, just go ahead. Browse through, grab a few books and dive into it. We keep forgetting that this was our main inspiration source a few years ago. Looking into apps might be tempting but there is a risk of getting sucked into a wave of visuals and ideas that makes it impossible for us to focus and funnel our own thoughts and ideas.

Instead of creating one idea from A to Z a variety of images pop up in front of our inner eye and we find ourselves creating several ideas at the time. In the end the results are zero. This is a small list of books I like to look at to get inspired

 http://darlingmagazine.org/

https://www.ad-magazin.de/

http://www.flair-magazin.de/

Steal like an Artist- Austin Kleon

In the company of woman- Grace Bonney http://www.designsponge.com/author/grace

Wanderlust – Cam Horan https://shop.gestalten.com/wanderlust-de.html

The Kinfolk Entrepreneur Ideas for meaningful work- Nathan Williams

99 x 99 Luke Stephenson´s http://www.lukestephenson.com/

The Big Magic- Creative living beyond fear  Elizabeth  Gilbert

NATURE

Go out. Simple as that. Go out with your dog, children, your husband or friend, you prefer going alone? Fine, as long as you make sure you leave your phone at home. Trust me, it took a while until it stopped feeling like you’re really missing something, it was rather the opposite.  There´s nothing more inspiring than a good walk in the countryside, a park, at a lake or the woods. I love this quote from John Cleese

We don’t know where we get our ideas from. What we do know is that we do not get them from our Laptops

Collect branches and leaves – build a den- make a mud pie- jump a puddle- climb a tree- use leaves conkers, sticks, mud, grass ,feathers, acorns or anything else you find and create wood art.

Make a wreath- walk barefoot- feel the breeze- inhale the scent of the woods

MAKE SOMETHING WITH YOUR HANDS

This does not include typing or scrolling.

Before I start with a concept or an idea, let´s say for a clients campaign or an Instagram post idea, I start with an oversize sheet of paper or my journal and a pen and jot everything down that comes to mind. I have a big kitchen table I  use for my desk and paper and pen being the only items on the table is usually how I start.

Try to include your whole body in this. Walk around, cut something out, make a collage, play with glue maybe glitter stick post-its all over the wall.

Other activities that won´t take a lot of your time and can be included into your daily routine easily could be looking at an image, listening to your favourite song, playing an instrument, doing some crafts with your children, singing a song (make sure to sing it loud) or taking a photo.

Sometimes even rather boring things can send an impulse, like ironing, sorting the washing, baking or cooking. As I mentioned before, you might have to try all of this to find out what suits you most. The artist Stanley Donwood says

Computers are alienating because they put a sheet of glass between you and whatever is happening. You never really get to touch anything that you´re doing unless you print it out

(this is taken from the book Steal like an artist, by Austin Klein, and it´s one of my favourte quotes)

MEET PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE

Pondering over a problem or task for a while? Are you looking for inspiration or trying to find an answer to something and feel stuck? That’s sounds like it´s time for your girl gang.

Invite your friends for a creative get together, have a glass of bubbly or a chai and nibbles or cook your favourite dinner for your creative task force. In short describe the question you have and add some rules if you wish, and then let them brainstorm and come out with all their thoughts.

I love hosting my friends for a meal and it was never just for my own benefit. Each guest left happily, inspired and with a new idea or stimulation.

Lastly, you may now grab your phone if you wish for and join PINTEREST for some inspiration. I love Pinterest but have set up some rules for myself while scrolling along. I set a time and make sure I define what I´m looking for in particular. (Of course there´re exceptions and I can also easily lose myself for hours in pointless scrolling but that wouldn’t be helpful, would it?)

What do you do to boost your creativity? Tell me, about the ONE thing for you that works like magic.

Der Beitrag FIVE EASY WAYS TO BOOST YOUR CREATIVITY erschien zuerst auf Social Hut Cornwall.