Ian Brodie's Recent LinkedIn Posts

I'm sure there's a huge market out there for an AI/ChatGPT interface that basically generates timewasting responses to spammy bulk emails.

A hidden benefit of writing your newsletter based on recent experiences is that it makes the email feel more "in the moment" - like you're chatting to someone about your day. it has much more of a friends-talking-to-friends vibe. If your email is all about when you grew your startup 10x in the first year it feels like a lecture. If it's about this weird thing that happened yesterday (with a bit of a lesson learned in it) it's much more conversational and approachable. And for most of us it's going to be better to create an impression of approachability rather than aloofness.

Email Readability sounds like a really boring topic...Zzzzzz... 𝗜𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁, 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹. ---> If your emails are difficult to read, people will give up or not even start. All of your insights, your credibility and relationship-building words of wisdom...all wasted. Just for want of a few minutes making them easier to read. As someone who's messed this up big-time in the past and then wrangled with every email system under the sun to try to get it to work...here are my simple tips that will help you get your emails actually read. All you need now is great content ;) #emailmarketing #emailmarketingtips

How marketing people think you establish you're different: your value proposition, USP, elevator pitch, the words on your website. How clients and prospects know you're different: your products and the way you interact with them day in, day out. #marketing

This simple 5-step structure will boost the impact of your valuable content emails. ...and get more people to take your call to action Have you ever sat staring at your screen trying to get your brilliant ideas out into an email - but struggled to get it to flow or make sense? It's a problem for all of us. But one that can be solved. There's a simple 5-step structure you can use for your emails that will get more people opening and reading them, and flowing smoothly through your tips and ideas to your all-important call to action. The structure is: [Subject Line] [Hook] [Transition] [Valuable Content] -- Secret Sauce -- [Call to Action] Master each section and you'll be able to stop staring at that stuck old screen and get your brilliant ideas out into the hands of potential clients where they'll build credibility and trust for you. Flip through this short carousel to find out how. And follow me here on lovely Linkedin for more of this stuff in your feed every week. PS - did you see what I did there?

5 reasons I love email for marketing - and 1 reason I don't. ---> go on, click "see more", you know it makes sense... 1. Email feels more personal. I know it sounds weird but when you write or read a blog or social media post you're aware that the world is looking in.        In your inbox it feels like just you and the person who emailed you. 2. Email is (slightly) longer form. You can't drag on - some newsletters are waaaay too long and just get filed (ie not read). But the pressure to get everything into a few hundred characters isn't there.        If you want to give a deeper explanation or tell a richer story you can. As long as you can hold your readers' attention you can go longer.     3. Emails belong to you. They're not subject to the whims of some megolomaniac tech billionaire who's in charge (and they're all megolomaniacs). Nuff said.     4. Emails don't mind if you have links to other sites in them. They don't get jealous or sniffy and hide themselves away. They're your stress-free friend you can relax with.     5. You can set and forget (somewhat). Scheduling is the norm, not something that's looked down on. And you can set up sequences for when people sign up or buy or express and interest.        You don't have to be "always on" and for me, that's a huge relief. 1 thing I don't like: other people's crappy marketing emails clogging up my inbox. Don't be that person - do good email!

Is your Linkedin presence and content attracting the **wrong** sort of person? Discovering this brought me up a bit short recently and made me think hard about my own content ...(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞ I've been doing a super deep dive into successful content on Linkedin in the last few weeks. Lots of interesting findings, but as I say, one which really made me take a step back. Let's take it from the top... In my experience, the type of people who are most likely to buy consulting or training or coaching, and who are most likely to actually do something with it are interested in new ideas. In practical, useful information. Stuff with a positive tone that helps them achieve their goals or solve a problem. What they're not so interested in is complaining and criticising others' ideas. Because that doesn't move you forward. It gets you stuck in a cycle of discontent. Here's the thing... Take a look at the content you put out and the comments you make here on Linkedin. Or the content on your website or newsletter. How much time do you spend criticising other people's way of doing things and saying how wrong they are vs how much time you spend putting forward your own new ideas or useful information? Of course, we all get the need to grumble every now and then. It's just human nature. But if you look at Linkedin posts that are primarily criticisms what you'll see is that they gather a "tribe" of people piling in. Over time that group of people will connect with each other. Then whenever one of them piles in on a comment, they'll all get notified. And they'll all pile in. Pretty soon you have an echo chamber of critical people who all dislike and grumble about the same thing. Now there's nothing wrong with being critical. There's nothing that makes them worse or less valued people than anyone else. But as I said earlier, I don't think they're likely to become clients. And if they do, are they the sort of people who will be keen to take action and get results from your training or coaching? Or are they the sort of people who prefer to analyse and discuss and criticise and find flaws? Now I certainly don't mean that you should spend your time posting fluffy motivational quotes instead. But if you're using Linkedin and content for marketing purposes I do think you should all take a look at the content you post and the comments you make and think "who will this resonate with?" and "are they the sort of person I want to be attracting into my tribe?" If it turns out you're gathering a tribe of grumblers and critics, that may be fine. But if it's not who you want, think about the kind of content more likely to resonate with a brilliant action-taking client. Do more of that. You can still be critical every now and then if you see a big injustice or you want to contrast with how things should be done. But keep it in balance. Create the content that attracts the clients you want.

I'm rather less interested in the idea of an AI writing stuff for me than I am in the idea of one doing my reading for me. it can start by trashing anything that starts with "99% of people don't know this" or "X somethingorothers that should be illegal". Or anything about getting up at 5am. Clichebot will instantly make my life much better that any writing AI :) Oh, and it'll automatically create a fake id to follow and comment/retweet those people who demand you follow and comment/retweet in order to get the free thing they made that usually turns out to be pretty meh anyway.

If you're worried about "will my stuff be good enough" the easiest remedy is to take a dispassionate look at what your competitors are actually doing day to day. I signed up to get emails from one of the major consulting firms recently. After putting in my email address I had to tell them my name, job title, company name, function, the country I lived in and then confirm I wasn’t a robot. I got a "welcome" email with more buttons I could click to subscribe for more stuff from them. One of them being their flagship journal where apparently “For the best viewing experience” I should “use a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer”. Hello big firm, it’s the 1970s calling, they want their email signup process back. With well over half of all emails opened on mobile you’d think one of their boffins would figure out how to make their main newsletter useful on a small screen. The bar is often a lot lower than you think.

#1 thing I learned about sales when I was selling big consulting projects was that the best sales never come from a pitch. They come from conversations. Conversations happen between partners. Equals. They have a very different dynamic to a pitch. It's the type of dynamic you want in your marketing too. You want it to feel like a conversation, not a pitch. Whether that's an email, a presentation, content here on Linkedin. Pitches raise barriers. Conversations spark partnerships.

You know those annoying folks who are doing brilliantly well at email marketing? (or any other marketing for that matter) Growing their lists, sending great emails, getting clients? Ask yourself: are they any smarter than me? Do they have deeper expertise in their topic than me? Is it in more demand than mine? Are they somehow more naturally talented writers than me? Have they got tons of free time spare that they're doing this in? Or are they working much, much harder than you? Chances are the answer to those questions - or at least most of them - is no. So what's the difference? I don't think it's about talent or hustle or any of the normal entrepreneurial traits that get talked about a lot. From my experience it's simply that they got started and were prepared to be less than good for a while. Over time their less-than-good emails became good ones. Then really good ones. Then great ones. Their ability to attract new subscribers started out less than good. Then became good...then really good...then great. The results they got: less than good...good...really good...great. You look at them now and you see the great. But the big difference was being brave enough to start at less than good and improve from there. Knowing some people might snigger or sneer or look down on their "less than good". But less than good is the beginning of great. It has to start there. #marketing #emailmarketing #entrepreneurship

This model has stood me in great stead for years. I don't always consciously apply it, but when I do - it works. Keep your emails SIMPLE -> write to one person with one main point and one call to action. And keep the formatting simple and easy to read. You’re fighting against a limited attention span, so keep everything as simple as possible. Make your content SURPRISING. Don’t just use the same old content and topics that everyone else uses. Give your audience something unexpected and new, give them something they’ll remember because it’s different. Use STORIES to liven up your emails. Rather than lecturing people or telling them what to do or filling up your emails with facts and figures – illustrate your points with stories. They’re more interesting, they’re more memorable, and they drive more action. Deliver a SO WHAT. Make sure what you send is relevant to your readers, that you draw out the implications for them so they’re able to take what you send and use it to get improvements and results in their business or lives. You won’t necessarily hit all 4 of those factors in each email – but if you’re getting 2 or 3 you know you’re going to have a good email that will work. #emailmarketing #emailmarketingtips #simplicity

I'm not a big fiction reader - but Jane Austen has to be my favourite author. She was also staggeringly productive - writing 3 major books and revising 2 in an 8-year period near the end of her life. According to her nephew's biography of her, she did all this despite writing in a sitting room full of interruptions and hiding away her writing every time anyone visited. Her secret, I think, was two-fold. 1. She had a very supportive family including a sister who took on the bulk of running the house and a mother and close friend who listened to her work in progress each night. (Having servants helped too I suspect, but that's not quite an option open to most of us). 2. She just accepted that she would be interrupted and learned to keep writing despite it. She didn't make excuses or give up. All of us need supportive people around us. If you have them now - thank them! If you don't, find people who can help. And sometimes, we just need to grit our teeth, get our heads down and make progress. #contentmarketing #contentcreation #writing

How to be consistent - a counterintuitive approach. I get asked a lot about how to be more consistent with marketing. And there are a million articles you could read with suggestions. ChatGPT will spew out the same conventional suggestions... You'll hear about the importance of setting realistic goals for the thing you want to do and breaking it down into manageable chunks. Of setting a regular schedule to work on it. Of finding someone to hold you accountable. Of rewarding yourself for your progress. All of these work to some degree. But it's like pushing water uphill. Because they all come from the same "grind" mindset that the thing you want to do is awful and so you need to find ways to motivate and push yourself to do it. But what if it wasn't so awful? What if you actually enjoyed doing it? Everything changes. Consistency isn't an issue when the thing you're doing is fun and (relatively) easy. Of course, it's unrealistic to expect to be able to make everything fun and easy. But marketing? Sure you can. When I run my "persuasive email writing" workshops we have an absolute blast coming up with topics and ideas for emails and subject lines to get people to read them. You can do the same with a lot of similarly challenging activities by reframing them a bit or just finding a way to do them that you enjoy even if it's not the most efficient. Because doing something a less than optimal way but consistently is infinity x > inconsistently doing it the very best way. #marketing #productivityhacks

Most email newsletters are too long...but not frequent enough. Why? ----> I usually shy away from using the phrase "newsletter" in email marketing because it tends to carry over baggage from the days of paper newsletters and an implication that it needs to be a giant masterwork with multiple articles. And that feeds into our desire to give as much value as we can to our subscribers. The problem is that if you look at the way people process email, they rarely have the time free to read a big giant (but optional) email - no matter how much value it has in it. On the other hand, if something is good we can always spare a couple of minutes - especially if it's a fun, easy read. It's a pleasant distraction. So you're much better off sending more frequent short, value-packed and interesting emails than less frequent big, giant newsletters. it simply works better for the way people read emails. (And despite the fact that people complain they're getting too many emails - the reality is that more emails almost always = more sales). The bonus advantage is that it's also easier to write shorter value-bombs than huge articles.

Marketers vs Real People - Number 2 What a marketer thinks: "Hmmmm, registrations for my webinar are low. I know...I'll send a bulk email to everyone who hasn't registered saying I noticed their name wasn't on the registration list and I recorded a special video just for them. It'll feel really personal and they'll love it". How a real person reacts: "Liar"

"Why would anyone listen to me?". The secret self-whisper we all hear in our ears every now and then. But it's a doubt you can overcome. Here's how ---> Firstly, *𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴*. Asking yourself this question means you've got the kind of humility that stops you turning into the kind of arrogant, overconfident blowhard that makes most people cringe :) But it can also hold you back and stop you sharing your valuable experience and expertise. So if you're worried that your opinions and ideas won't be interesting or valuable to people, consider 3 things: 1. The Dunning-Kruger effect means that smart people routinely underestimate their capabilities, while less competent people routinely overestimate theirs.        My experience is that people also undervalue their particular assets.        Experienced people worry they haven't got advanced qualifications. Highly qualified people worry they haven't got much experience etc. People with brilliant ideas worry they have neither the experience nor the qualifications.     2. Even if your particular experience doesn't put you at number 1 in the world, that's actually an advantage.        It's much easier to learn from someone 2 steps ahead who understands what you're going through than from someone so far up the ladder they can't even remember what it was like at your level.        Some of the most popular blogs and newsletters in the world are from people sharing the steps on their journey rather than looking down from the top of the mountain.     3. Being honest about where you are in your journey and that you still have lots to learn comes across as more honest and relatable than someone who acts like they know it all. It helps you build a relationship much quicker and gives you leeway to share mistakes as well as successes. The reality is that we can all be great teachers and all give huge value to our audiences - if we're just a little bit more relaxed and stop worrying about how we might come across.

Implementing a new email marketing system is a bit like having a baby. It starts out all joy, hope and expectation... But pretty soon it's mainly a lot of mess and crying...

The irresistible urge to tweak that post. Update. Revise. Improve, just in case it's not good enough. Stop it. Ship it.

Have you ever been watching a webinar or video online and just zoned out? Or got a bit bored and checked email? It's the curse of "home made" videos and webinars - we haven't got access the the expensive setups the Hollywood studies that we mentally get compared with have. So we're stuck with just a talking head or slides with a voiceover. Or are we? Johnny Beirne says "no, we're not". In our brand new Course Builders TV interview Johnny talks us through his courses on creating more engaging webinars and course videos. He shares his experience and tips on how he created his courses - but also explains (and demonstrates) some simple technology you can use to make your own webinars and course videos much more engaging for viewers. As I'm sure you know, I'm pretty up with using tech for video and webinars - but I certainly learnt a lot myself and I'll be adding some of Johnny's techniques to my arsenal. You can watch the interview here:

So much "I" on Linkedin.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 - 𝗮𝗻𝗱 (𝗮) 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: The smarter, more knowledgeable and experienced you are, the higher your standards tend to be. You've seen some exceptional work in your time. Maybe even done some. So when it's time to release your latest email or linkedin post or youtube video out into the world, you have a lot of amazing examples to compare it with. And because you're so close to it, it often feels like it's not up to scratch. The reality is that it's almost impossible to know what's going to have the biggest impact or resonate the most with clients. I've had emails I thought were the most insightful I'd done fall flat. And little stories I thought were a bit meh get a huge response. So you just have to get your stuff out there. Despite your reluctance to "press send". The solution I've found that works the best for me is to realise: ---> 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 (𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼) <--- 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵. Day by day, week by week, little by little it weaves its magic to build credibility and trust so that you become the person your clients most want to work with. Each individual piece doesn't have to be stunning. Nice if it is, but rare. And you don't need it. Just like you don't need your investments to double overnight to do well, just to keep compounding day by day. Eventually, after enough experience, you learn to relax a bit and realise that you just can't predict what's going to click (and it doesn't matter so much if it doesn't). But in the meantime, reminding yourself "there's always another email" always helps me.

Here's a "learning trap" I've fallen into time and time again over the years that meant I was much slower to get results than I should have been. This might help you avoid the same mistake ----> So, cards on the table, I love to learn new stuff. If I didn't have to earn money I'd probably spend all day just researching and learning new things. But one big trap I fell into that put a huge damper on the effectiveness of what I was learning was I always tried to learn "the best". I almost couldn't bear the thought that I might be learning the second-best method for something. Usually, that meant I would always try to learn from multiple sources - picking out the best of each one. And, of course, the more I got into a topic the more I'd find other ideas and options and I'd keep going down the rabbit hole. The end result: I'd spend 5x the time on my research and learning to get a method that was 20% better than the typical one. I've just about learned now that it's best to just pick one solid method, learn it and apply it. Then when you're already getting results, look at adding to it. It's obvious with hindsight that you're better off getting 80% of the results in 1/5 of the time. Especially since real improvements and insights tend to come when you have practical experience too. But at the time it's so hard to get away from the thought there might be an even better way to do things just lurking around the corner - and delaying doing anything until you've fully researched it. These days I'm happy with second or third best learned and implemented fast. (Well, I'm not happy - I still get the feeling that I should be using only the best and that I should do more research. But I've learned to live with that feeling and just get on with it!)