When you want to learn something new there are usually a range of options available. Blogging is no exception (and if you want to know more about the ways you can learn about blogging, read this). Actually choosing the right method for you can be tricky. Do you opt for a workshop where you don’t know anyone and could be out of your depth? Would you rather get some 1:1 help? To be honest, you could find a way to talk yourself out of any of the options. If you’d prefer to learn in an environment you know will be friendly, you might want to consider training with a friend. There are all kinds of benefits. Here are my top 4.
You get to choose who you work with
Most good course leaders will aim to get the right mix of people in a workshop group. It doesn’t help anyone if one person is struggling to keep up while another is completely bored. However, one person’s definition of ‘beginner’ might be different from yours. When you’re training with a friend you get to decide who you work with. You can have a chat in advance to make sure you’re at roughly the same level before you go ahead.
You don’t just have to choose one friend either. If you have a small group of friends who all want to learn you can gather them all together.
Other people have good questions
Even when you’re training with a friend, you’ll both have different perspectives. There might be one bit of the training that you find easy but your friend struggles with, and vice versa. You can learn from the questions they ask as well as your own. It might even add a whole new level to your learning. You may even find that someone else’s question shows you that you hadn’t fully understood the subject the first time.
Training in a group helps you to bounce ideas off each other so you all learn more.
You feel comfortable asking questions
Training with a friend (or more than one) creates a good atmosphere in the room. You’re with people you like so you can relax and enjoy it. That has the added benefit of helping you to remember things. It also means that you’ll feel more comfortable speaking up when you don’t understand something. No-one is going to take the mickey because you asked a question. They’re your friends, so they just want to help you understand. Plus the answer to your question might be useful to them too.
The more relaxed you are in your learning environment, the better the outcome will be.
Training with a friend improves your business skills
Even if you work on your own, there will be times that you need good teamwork to build your business. That could be because you’re working as part of a team on a project or when you need to delegate tasks to someone else. Whether you share a one-off training session or a whole course, you’ll learn how to listen and work with other people’s learning styles.
Of course, that has an added benefit when it comes to customer service. During the learning process you’ll probably get into discussion and debate about your subject. Listening to a friend’s perspective will improve your listening and communication skills when you’re dealing with your customers as well.
If you like the idea of training with a friend or getting a group together to learn about blogging, I can bring the training to you. Sign up to my email list to learn more about my 1:1 and small group training sessions below!
I know, you’ve heard people like me bang on endlessly about using storytelling in your marketing. It’s a great way to get personality into your content and set yourself apart from the crowd. The thing is, how do you do it? It won’t surprise you to hear that it’s not just a case of telling everyone your life story. It’s all about balance. Your customers will love the fact that you’re relatable but they mainly want to hear about how your business can benefit them. Here’s how you can start using storytelling in your marketing.
Whenever you create a new piece of content for your business you need to think about what you want it to do. I know that might feel as if I’m asking you to analyse every single little thing that you put out there (and I am) but it doesn’t have to be a pain. Your marketing has one really simple job to do. It needs to tell customers that you exist and convince them that you have something they need. I know it’s not that easy in practice but it gives you a good starting point. There are loads of ways that your content can achieve your aims. It could explain the benefits of what you offer, educate your audience or just raise awareness of your brand. Whatever you want each post to do, you need to follow it up with a good call to action. Here’s how it works.
I know that some of you roll your eyes when I start talking about technical stuff. Others rub their hands in glee. Whichever one of those you are, you need to know about A/B testing. This recent blog talked about getting to grips with your data by looking back and analysing what worked in the past. A/B testing allows you to do that in a much more dynamic way. Those quarterly or half yearly reviews are still important as they let you see the bigger picture. So what is A/B testing and why should you be putting it to work in your marketing? Read on…
I had a fabulous meeting with a lovely lady recently and it got me thinking (again) about all the different skills you need in business. She was talking about all of the different elements that she was bringing together to make sure that the message she was sending reflected her values and the work that she does. Talking to me about getting the words right was the next stage in the process. She’d written a few things herself but hadn’t been happy with them. It’s a common theme when I speak to small business owners. There seems to be this feeling that they should be able to do it themselves. Writing is easy, right? If you’re holding back from working with a writer because you feel you shouldn’t have to, here’s why you might want to reconsider.
Yawn. I know what you’re thinking. I’ve gone from creating mildly entertaining blogs about writing and marketing to suddenly deciding to bore you all to death. Unless you’re someone who loves numbers and digging into an analysis of the figures. If you are, thank you. I love you for understanding figures and data because that may mean you’re an accountant and people like me need people like you. However, this blog isn’t really for you. It’s for the people whose eyes glaze over when you mention analytics. If you don’t know why you need to track your marketing data, read on. I may never teach you to love analytics but hopefully you’ll see the benefits.
This is another one of those subjects where I’ll forgive you for reading the title and saying huh? The question should really be – when you look back over the blogs and social media posts you’ve written, do they all sound like you? When you keep things consistent you’ll get better results from your marketing and your life will get easier.
I’m going to say something that might make you go a bit twitchy. When you’re marketing your business you need to decide who you want to target then focus on them. It sounds fairly logical, doesn’t it? Yet small business owners everywhere get very nervous when they hear it. They say things like ‘but I might make someone feel excluded’, ‘what if I lose a customer because they don’t think it’s for them?’ or ‘but I can sell to anyone’. I understand the worry. As small business owners we need to work hard to attract new customers and build trust. The idea of putting people off just seems counterintuitive. However there’s another important factor to consider. We have limited time so we need to spend it wisely. When you get to know your customer you can do just that.
There are three questions I always hear when I talk about blogging. One of them sometimes isn’t a question at all, just a statement. “I would write a blog but I don’t know what to write about.” (The other two questions are ‘how long does my blog need to be?’ and ‘how often should I be blogging?’ – we’ll get to those another time.) When it comes to finding topics for your blog, there are hundreds of different ways to go about it. I’ve written about a few in 
Blogging is wonderful as a business marketing tool and a creative outlet. If you’re writing a blog to promote your business it’s important to know what’s going to appeal to your audience so you can tailor the content to them. You can also air your personal views via blogging. There’s loads of scope to talk about whatever you choose.