5 Smart Content Strategies from a Stellar Marketer of Ideas

By Sonia Simone

Quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson -- 'We should all build libraries of thought for ourselves, not knowing how we might use them in the future'

Marketers tend to get very caught up in thinking about how to persuade people to buy a product or service. Which makes sense … but it’s often jumping the gun.

Because it’s quite common (and perhaps increasingly so) that we have to market our ideas — and connect our beliefs with those of our audience — before we can do any business.

Which is why, for my money, one of the greatest content marketers working today is astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

You think your product or service is a hard sell? Try astrophysics. (So many …read more      

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Does Audio Create Authority Faster Than Text?

By Rainmaker.FM

audio-authority

Recent research shows that the human brain can detect confidence in your voice in 0.2 seconds — faster than the blink of an eye. And it’s confidence that influences the listener to give you attention and perceive authority.

It’s an interesting finding, especially with the mainstream emergence of podcasting. We’ve already discussed how audio is smart foundational content that can be repurposed into text, slides, and infographics. But perhaps audio is simply the smartest content of all, standing alone?

Not everyone writes with authority. But anyone can speak with authority, assuming you know your stuff and apply some basic …read more      

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Ruben Gamez on Staying Focused and Shipping Your Product

By Rainmaker.FM

ruben-gamez

Today’s guest on Hack the Entrepreneur is a software developer that worked hard to slowly become an entrepreneur. He spent several years working as a manager for a billion-dollar payroll company. And in his spare time he played around with some ideas.

In early 2009, he created his first online product that failed to garner any attention or traffic. So back to the drawing board he went (two more times) before hitting on something good.

He is now the founder of Bidsketch, which is online proposal software for web designers.

He bootstrapped Bidsketch while working full-time and was able …read more      

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On Being Yourself for a Living

By Rainmaker.FM

being-yourself

Fulfilling work is built on who you are and what you love.

Roadmap: The Get-It-Together Guide for Figuring Out What to Do with Your Life

This week, Editor-in-Chief host Stefanie Flaxman talks to Annie Mais, Education Director of Roadtrip Nation, and co-author of the new book Roadmap: The Get-It-Together Guide for Figuring Out What to Do with Your Life.

After you decide you want to intentionally create a meaningful life for yourself, how do you make that happen?

In this 23-minute episode of Editor-in-Chief, host Stefanie Flaxman and Annie Mais discuss:

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5 Ways to Create the Perfect Ending that Your Content Deserves

By Rainmaker.FM

perfect-endings

The end of your article is one last final opportunity to catch and keep the attention of a reader. Don’t screw it up.

The sad thing is that the closing section of an article, sales letter, or an email is usually an afterthought. It’s something we writers rush to get to, and then we wipe our hands clean when we write that last word.

That’s unfortunate, because your closing is the one last opportunity you have to flag down a reader barreling through your article.

In this 8-minute episode of Rough Draft with Demian Farnworth, you’ll discover:

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