Archive for the ‘Productivity’ Category

Cultivating Super Fans with eNewsletters

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

Social media is sexy, but the real power of your relationship with your fans is in email newsletters. The people on your mailing list are your “Super Fans.” They are the ones who have given you permission to show up in their inbox. That invitation is very valuable.

Think about it, when was the last time you signed up for a newsletter. Probably not for a while. Once I asked an author that question and she said, “oh I don’t do that.” She’s right we don’t do that, unless we are Super Fans or the author/company is providing something of value.

Super Fans are the people who pre-order your books, are the first in line to buy your products, and recommend you to others. So your most important marketing task is to keep them happy and engaged because they are your sales force, the wind beneath your wings, and (drum roll please) your Super Fans.

Here are some simple steps to improve your eNewsletters:

  1. Grow Your List: Make sure it is easy to sign up for your mailing list. Have a prominent link on every page of your website.
  2. Be Consistent: Don’t just email them when you have something to sell. Make sure you share useful information, resources and special offers consistently throughout the year. Just remember talking to people on your mailing list is a privilege, don’t abuse it.
  3. Frequency: It is best not to send mailings too often. Retailers learned how quickly we unsubscribed when they sent too many offers. You should know your Super Fans best, so plan accordingly. For some people daily emails work, for others weekly or even monthly are the right option. When in doubt plan for once a month.
  4. Use Software: There are excellent email newsletter solutions out there. The most popular are Constant Contact, iContact, and Mail Chimp. Do a little research and find the best fit for your needs.
  5. Design It: People don’t read, they scan emails. So make sure your design is easy to scan with images and links for more information. Most people won’t read a block of text that is 1,000 words long.
  6. Content: It’s most important to remember that the purpose of your newsletter is to develop and further enrich your relationship with your fans so make sure it does not sound like an infomercial. Always add a personal note, and keep it short.
  7. Track Results: The best part about using the email software is that it gives you lots of information. Not only whether your list is growing or shrinking but also what content and headlines work best for your list. Every time you do a mailing, you should assess the results a week later.
  8. Timing: Is there a good time to send a newsletter? Turns out there is. GetResponse analyzed 21 million messages to discover that: the top engagement times of 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. MailerMailer did a study to discover that the best day to send out a newsletter is Monday. That was a surprise to me.
  9. Special Offers: As Super Fans, your mailing list subscribers have earned the right for a few perks. So if you want someone to get an early peak at your new product or a special deal, this is the group for it. I would also recommend a “Super Fan only” event. It can be a Google hangout or a Skype chat. Sometimes, we have even given away signed copies of books and tote bags to the Super Fans.
  10. Respect: More than any other advice, I want to leave you with this thought. Please be respectful of your “Super Fans.” Respect their time, their opinion and feedback and most of all their friendship. Don’t ever spam them.

Remember your Super Fans are among your biggest assets. Take great care to cultivate your relationship with them and stay engaged and connected.

© 2013 Fauzia Burke. All Rights Reserved.

Author Bio
Fauzia Burke is the Founder and President of FSB Associates, a digital publicity and marketing firm specializing in creating awareness for books and authors. For online publicity, book publishing and social media news, follow Fauzia on Twitter: @FauziaBurke. To talk with FSB and ask your book publicity questions, please join us on Facebook.

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New Marketing Mantra: Assess, Delete and Respond

Thursday, September 27th, 2012

By Fauzia Burke

Imagine if you opened your inbox, and saw only one email. Imagine if you only got a new one when you answered the current one. Without knowing how many emails you have in total you would take the time and respond with great care. Now imagine you open your inbox and get 200 emails (like most of us). Your process would have to be different. You would have to quickly assess what gets deleted, what can wait, and which emails are top priority. You should approach your job in the same way. Look at everything that needs doing, then assess, delete and respond.

It seems to me that the days of over designing, over thinking, and over obsessing are over. If you are an artist or a teacher, the more thoughtful and obsessed you are about doing your job, the better you will be at it. But marketers (and we are all marketers today) have to understand that there is no time to focus on the wrong things. Being super diligent was good when the world moved slowly, but today being diligent slows you down, and can slow down the people around you. Instead:

Think ahead. Where do you want to see your business in three years? To avoid getting stuck on details that ultimately won’t matter, decide where you want to be in three years. Each day assess key priorities against busy work so you can stay on track. As leadership expert Stephen Covey once said, “The key isn’t to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” You can end up spinning your wheels if your day is consumed with little things and not on your most important objectives.

Make a decision. Sometimes procrastination or perfectionism can keep you stuck. Make a decision, any decision. It’s always better than no decision. Neglecting to make a decision for fear that you will make the wrong one will only ensure that you don’t make any progress. Any action is a step forward because even if it’s the wrong decision, you’ll learn something and that experience will give you information to move you in a better direction. Delete things that no longer work and make decisions to move forward on things that do.

Recognize team strengths. If you are working with a team, make sure you stay aligned with your core competencies and let other people lead with their core competencies. Respond to new challenges by delegating to the best qualified in your team. Let every member of your team work with their strengths and stay focused on your own areas of strength. When you try to control all the details or get into areas where other people should be leading, you can stall the progress of the entire team. If you don’t trust your team, you are working with the wrong people.

Work both jobs. Most of us are doing two jobs these days, the regular job and the start-up job. The regular job is anything we have been doing for years, and our start-up job is the job we will be doing in a few years. We all have to adapt to new ways of doing business to stay in business. There is a lot to learn, so be careful how you spend your time. There are some jobs where we can’t live with mistakes, brain surgery for one, but marketers have to live in a world where mistakes are made, and we need resilience and plans to recover from them.

When you keep your focus on what matters most, you will get more done in less time and you will be moving apace with our current fast world. So adopt a new marketing mantra: Assess, Delete and Respond.

© 2012 Fauzia Burke. All Rights Reserved.

Author Bio
Fauzia Burke is the Founder and President of FSB Associates, a online publicity and marketing firm specializing in creating awareness for books and authors. For online publicity, book publishing and social media news, follow Fauzia on Twitter: @FauziaBurke. To talk with FSB and ask your book publicity questions, please join us on Facebook.

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Wanna Be Successful? Make a Do-Not-Do List

Wednesday, September 26th, 2012
by Fauzia Burke

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” — Steve Jobs

As women entrepreneurs, we often take on more than we can handle. Often the “to-do” lists from projects, family schedules, home, business, clients, staff, etc., can bury us. However, when I finally learned to make a Do-Not-Do list, I freed up my time and energy to focus on my most important priorities. Now anything that comes between me and my priorities goes on my Do-Not-Do List.

Don’t do the same old thing. Stop doing the same old thing if it isn’t working. Almost every small business owner says that they need to figure out how to accomplish more in a day, but then we keep on doing the same things every day. Last year I learned that the only way things would change is if I made some changes. I wrote a blog about Finding Balance in a 24/7 World and learned that multitasking is not a road to success. Instead, we need to have focus on one priority at a time.

Don’t check email every time it comes in. Decide you will check your email after 45 minutes of concentrated work on your priorities, or at certain times during the day. Block off a time to do focused work and let team members know so you can minimize interruptions. Don’t let email dictate your day. Set an agenda for your day and stay focused on what you need to accomplish.

Don’t Stress. Sometimes we create stress for ourselves by being disorganized. Most small business owners don’t want to take the time to get organized because there is always so much to do. But trust me, stress is a lot like worry, it doesn’t get us anywhere. Life is stressful enough without us creating more. One thing that has helped our whole family is having a shared electronic Burke Family calendar. My teenage daughters have iPhones as well as my husband and myself. Every family event is entered in the joint calendar so everyone has the same info with them at all times. It’s a simple step, and a lot less stress. You can try using Google calendar for this if you have older kids.

Don’t Avoid: We all have tasks or projects that we avoid because they seem overwhelming or we dread doing them. Most often it is because they require more time than we have. Sound familiar? I have found that avoiding something actually takes more mental and spiritual energy. Instead of avoiding, do your most important task first. When you dive into something big and make a dent, it will give you a sense of accomplishment and momentum you can use to get more done the rest of the day. If you have a big project you have been avoiding because you don’t know where to begin, break it down into smaller tasks that you can tackle piece by piece. Seeing smaller, doable goals is much easier to tackle than one massive project that overwhelms you.

Don’t be Busy: There’s a difference between being busy and being productive. Just because you are crossing a lot of little things off your to-do list doesn’t mean you are making any progress on your big priorities. I once worked with someone who would say, “I have so much to do that it took me all day to make my do-to list.” Then the next day he would say the same. It seemed to be that he was just spinning his wheels. We all do that sometimes. Think about your priorities, if something (or someone) is not in sync with your priorities, they must go. Don’t be busy, just to be busy.

There are always a lot of distractions in life. The only way to be successful is to make sure you aren’t tackling little things as a way of avoiding diving into priorities that could move your business, family and life forward. Make your Do-Not-Do List and see how things change for you.

© 2012 Fauzia Burke. All Rights Reserved.

Author Bio
Fauzia Burke is the Founder and President of FSB Associates, a digital publicity and marketing firm specializing in creating awareness for books and authors. For digital publicity and social media news, follow Fauzia on Twitter: @FauziaBurke.

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September Resolutions

Thursday, September 20th, 2012

Every year September gives me a second start to the year. My kids go back to school and the summer fog lifts from my mind. It’s usually a great time for me to get some stuff done. So like my kids, I buy some school supplies: an inspiring journal, a new calendar and my favorite pens. Unlike January when the temperatures are almost the same as December and February, September actually feels like a shift as we transition from warm summer days to cool crisp autumn days (at least we do here on the East coast). This is one of the most productive months for me and I take full advantage of it by setting September resolutions.

Plenty of the year left. With almost four months left in the year, I still have time to finish the year strong. Even if I haven’t come close to finishing what I hoped to this year, I still have time. You can do the same. Identify the one project that is most important to you and make it your end of year focus.

Remember January. I revisit those projects I was so eager to start back in January but which have since collected dust. Whether you are big into setting resolutions or goals for a year, typically January is a mental reset for most of us. I usually write down goals at the start of the year, but in September I get a chance to review them, and evaluate them. If they are still important, I try to quickly realign myself and reconnect to that goal again.

I rethink busy work. For me, email and social media can sometimes be a stall tactic. I lose my train of thought and suddenly I’ve spent way too much time liking people’s pet photos. So September, is the time to get focused on big work rather than busy work. I set limits on the amount of time I allow myself to spend on email and social media.

Holidays are closer than you think. From Halloween to New Year’s Day, life is usually a blur of activities. So this month I think about the coming months and start making a plan so the holidays are less stressful and more blissful.

For me, this time of the year brings a sense of new beginnings. Not sure where it comes from, but I love it. It’s the reason it’s one of my favorite months of the year, and also my most productive.

© 2012 Fauzia Burke. All Rights Reserved.

Author Bio
Fauzia Burke is the Founder and President of FSB Associates, a digital publicity and marketing firm specializing in creating awareness for books and authors. For digital publicity and social media news, follow Fauzia on Twitter: @FauziaBurke.

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10 Skills to Thrive in PR Learned from Reality TV

Wednesday, September 5th, 2012

I have a confession to make. My guilty pleasure is reality competition shows like Project Runaway, Top Chef and Amazing Race. I know I am not alone because all these shows have seen years of success and ratings. Recently, I thought working in PR is a lot like being a candidate in a reality competition: same pressures, same deadlines, same high expectations. I also noticed that there are some common skills between the candidates who do well in these shows and the ones who are successful in PR.

Here’s my take on the skills you need to be successful in PR and reality TV:

1. Be open to new ideas — Be a constant student and be open to discovering new ways of doing things. PR is always evolving and you should be too.

2. Initiative — Do more than what was asked of you. Not only will your initiative be appreciated by colleagues and clients, you will be setting a leadership example for those around you.

3. Teamwork — If you are a team player, you probably have the right attitude. You can’t be a component of a team if your only focus is to grab the limelight for yourself. Instead, be a team player by talking less, listening more and encouraging each member of your team to play up their strengths.

4. Time management — If you are late to work, late to a meeting or late with a project, you are saying a few things about yourself that are unfavorable. For one, you are saying you aren’t personally accountable or reliable and that’s not good. Two, you are saying that you don’t respect someone else’s time, also not good. Meeting deadlines is ultimately an issue of respect and trust — two things that are essential in PR.

5. Respect for others — Respect other people’s thoughts, ideas, insights and feedback and they, in turn, will respect yours.

6. Humility – Humility makes you likable and that’s helpful in any work environment. Remember PR is like fashion, “one day you’re in and the next day you’re out.”

7. Resilience – Resilience is all about sailing through the highs and the lows with a clear head and the ability to learn quickly from missteps. PR is full of highs and lows and there is nothing you can do to control that, but you can develop an attitude of resilience to get through the rough days. A healthy dose of optimism doesn’t hurt either.

8. Organization – You can’t survive in PR if you are not organized. A good rule to follow is to plan your next day before the current day ends. Tackle big priorities early in the day. Write everything down — on your electronic calendar or in a planner. Stay on top of everything. Best way to deal with the stress of PR is to stay organized. Here’s a blog I wrote that might help too: PR is Stressful, But You Don’t Have to be a Stress Monster.

9. Hard work – You can’t be a stranger to hard work if you want to work in PR. Roll up your sleeves and dive in. View each day as a blank slate and work as hard as you can — even on the days you don’t feel like it.

10. Curiosity — A curious mind indicates that you have a healthy attitude and the ability to incorporate new ideas — even when they are not your own.

A select few reality TV Shows aren’t without merit, but don’t tell my husband or he’ll roll his eyes at you too. Next time you watch a reality competition show, notice the traits of the best candidates. They may be more helpful than you thought in predicting your success in PR.

© 2012 Fauzia Burke. All Rights Reserved.

Author Bio
Fauzia Burke is the Founder and President of FSB Associates, a digital publicity and marketing firm specializing in creating awareness for books and authors. For digital publicity and social media news, follow Fauzia on Twitter: @FauziaBurke.

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PR Is Stressful, But You Don’t Have to be a Stress Monster

Monday, August 27th, 2012

I have seen PR people stressed out, screaming, sending emails in all caps, and worse. A new study puts public relations as number seven on the top 10 most stressful professions. As a public relations executive, of course I have days that are stressful, but I don’t think that has to make the entire profession stressful. Some of our industry’s drama may be self-induced. According to a recent article by Rob Biesenbach, some people take a “perverse pride in how stressed out they are,” as if people think their level of stress determines their importance — or the importance of their careers. It doesn’t have to be that way. I love my job. I know it’s important. I find joy in doing it well . . . but unless I am risking my life or the lives of others, my job cannot be that stressful.

If you want to move away from stressed out mode and alleviate some of the stress from your PR job, try incorporating some of these strategies.

Plan Ahead

Lack of planning or not anticipating the needs of reporters — especially tight deadlines — can turn into an emergency. Communicate often with your clients, and then communicate more. Understand publishing cycles, and prepare ahead of time by having client quotes ready. Get graphics and other media converted in all formats so you don’t lose an opportunity because of delay. Confirm the clients schedule so you can reach them quickly. Make sure all contact information is in a central place so others can step in and help if you can’t be immediately reached.

Realize publicity is not advertising

You are not paying a media outlet to promote your product or client. Basically, you are begging them to work on a story idea with you. If your story idea is good and you have targeted the right person, the chances are good that you can get a placement. If a reporter is not interested, has recently covered a similar story or her editor has chosen to go in another direction, there may not be much you can do. That is the reality of PR. Our clients pay us for our time, our expertise in knowing which stories have legs and our contacts. Unfortunately, this can make for the perfect recipe of miscommunication. If you can communicate honestly with your clients, things will be less stressful. Don’t over-promise. Even if your BFF is the producer for The Daily Show, you can’t guarantee an appearance for your client. Set reasonable expectations so your client is not disappointed.

Touch base often

Regular updates and reports keep everyone on the same page. If you are honest with your clients, they’ll respect your efforts. I tell my staff that communicating when things are not going as expected is critically important. Recruit your clients to help when things are falling flat or the reception is lukewarm. They may have great ideas to turn things around.

Keep Your Promises

One thing I hear often is that publicists don’t do what they said they would. In a job without guaranteed results, it is crucial that your clients trust your efforts. The best way to do that is to keep your promises — every one of them. If you say you’ll call in 10 minutes, do it. If you have a phone conference, never be late (or only once). Send reports on time and like clockwork. Be dependable, reliable and trustworthy.

Select Clients Carefully

Don’t fake it until you make it in this profession. It is important to pick projects based on your passion to promote them, and not by the money. Working on projects that you care about, makes begging and bothering editors, (oops, I meant following up, worthwhile.) Working on projects that don’t speak to you personally will make you feel like a fake. Fake communication is stressful and ineffective.

Relax, Breathe, and Smile

Sometimes things don’t go as planned or expected and during those times you just have to go with the flow. Remember to: Relax, Breathe, and Smile. A little perspective is a good thing. We’re not saving lives here.

Nothing you do will make your job completely stress-free, but it also does not have to be the seventh most stressful job in the world. Publicity can be a lot of fun, and when done with integrity, enthusiasm and honesty, it also can be respected.

© 2012 Fauzia Burke. All Rights Reserved.

Author Bio
Fauzia Burke is the Founder and President of FSB Associates, a digital publicity and marketing firm specializing in creating awareness for books and authors. For digital publicity and social media news, follow Fauzia on Twitter: @FauziaBurke.

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Looking for Balance in a 24/7 World

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

By Fauzia Burke

It is not uncommon for me to get business e-mails at 6:30 a.m. or 12:00 midnight. Until recently, it was also not uncommon for me to answer them. However, this year for my birthday I’ve decided to give myself the gift of balance.

We live in a culture of 24/7 work and it has become normal to many of us. We have raised the expectation of availability to a point that is unhealthy. Recently, a potential client wrote to me on a Saturday, then wrote back on Sunday wondering why I had not e-mailed him back. Another prospective client emailed me at 10:30 on a weeknight and by 8:30 the next morning had written again, a little frustrated, asking for a response. Another person asked to talk to me on a Saturday, and when I informed her that I don’t work on the weekends, she was irritated.

I realized that by trying to always play catch up and accommodate the 24/7 expectations, I was feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and unbalanced. To get some solutions, I turned to an author who has written a book on the challenges we face at work today. I asked Tony Schwartz, author of “The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working,” how to handle the 24/7 expectations. He said, “We can’t control the expectations of others, but we can seek to manage them. Above all, it makes sense to try to invest your energy in what you have the power to influence.”

What I am discovering is that living on this crazy cycle is a choice, being “open” 24/7 is a choice. We ourselves have set up these expectations. Everyone I know seems to be tired and overwhelmed because we are trying to stay ahead of the information overload.

And we are not alone. According to Daniel Patrick Forrester, a client and author of “Consider: Harnessing the Power of Reflective Thinking In Your Organization,” “25 percent of our workdays are spent immersed in information overload.” I asked him for some advice on how to tackle all of the information coming at us.

Information abounds and will forever compound as the world further connects. What we all can do is to force time into our habits and routines to simply think and value reflection as much as we value responding to the onslaught of data that will forever pour over us.

We are taking no time to think, to consider, to plan or to dream. All we are doing is trying to stay ahead of e-mails, Tweets, DM, status updates, LinkedIn invitations and more.

Seth Godin recently wrote a blog called Lost in a Digital World which was retweeted 952 times within 24 hours. He recommends that we turn off the noise and turn on the productivity.

One of the biggest disadvantages of technology is the lack of “thinking time.” Forrester tells us that the reason we have so little time to think is because, “our habitual use of technology and bias for immediacy and rapid response has contributed to fragmenting our attention across many issues at the cost of allowing deep exploration around any one issue.”

Many of us depend on multitasking as the only way to get everything done. However, there is a cost to all this multitasking, I worry that we are doing nothing to the best of our abilities. Schwartz talks about the myth of multitasking: “The brain can’t do cognitive tasks at the same time, so you end up dividing attention between them, as your brain switches back and forth. The result is that you do an injustice to everything, and everyone your splitting time between. We’re sequential beings, not simultaneous. One thing at a time: it’s been around as a basic principle since the dawn of time!”

In the last six months, I have made some small changes in my life. Twice I took two weeks off completely unplugged. To tell you the truth it takes a few days to find a rhythm, a few days to remember how to “be” without the noise, but after that it is blissful. And you know what? The world did not stop, nor did anyone miss me. I just slipped in and out of the river of digital information with no consequences. I found that when I returned I had better ideas, more energy and fully formed thoughts. This year I plan to take more steps for creating balance in my life. Like anything else it’s a choice and like anything new it will take some practice.

Why not join me? I say to my fellow workers, set some office hours and stick to them, take back your lunch hours and unplug during dinners, family times and vacations. We deserve our own time and even more importantly our own attention.

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