7 amazing marketing resources you need to know
Are you heavy on marketing tools but light on confidence in your marketing know-how?
If you’re like me, you probably try a lot of new tools and apps to improve your marketing efforts, but you may not spend as much time learning how to improve the process or understand the fundamentals of marketing.
The problem with tool-heavy marketing is that you may not be using the tools to their fullest capacity or be able to identify when or if they’re working. That can result in significant money and time wasted. And some serious frustration. 😖
Over time, my team and I have found some fantastic marketing resources that inspire, encourage, and empower us to market ATRE more effectively. Most importantly, they’ve helped us gain some much-needed confidence to march toward our goals intentionally.
I want to share seven of our favorite marketing resources with you today. If something’s holding you back from success, I hope that you’ll find these resources as useful as we do.
Habits, Motivation, Organization
If you have trouble marketing yourself consistently, you might enjoy reading articles by habits and human potential expert James Clear.
Clear’s writing focuses on how to create better habits, make better decisions, and live better lives. And he operates on the belief that “you do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
He doesn’t write about marketing, specifically, but he does write articles about things that can help you become a better marketer—like starting new habits and breaking bad ones, goal setting, decision making, focus, and procrastination.
Personal branding and business growth
If you struggle with branding and how to grow your business, you’ll fall in love with John Jantsch and Marie Forleo.
John Jantsch
John Jantsch is the practical voice behind Duct Tape Marketing. He believes that “small business marketing must be simple, affordable, always-at-the-ready, and effective at solving any of a host of problems.”
His approach to marketing is systematic, and his focus is on helping you build a referral engine. And he does this by “getting people who have a specific need or problem to know, like, trust, do business with, and refer you to others who have the same need or problem.”
His weekly podcast, blog, and books tackle topics like lead generation and conversion, social media advertising, and, of course, generating referrals.
Marie Forleo
This hip hop loving Jersey girl has stolen our hearts. She’s all about creating a life and business you love. And she dispenses her advice through weekly installments of MarieTV.
Forleo believes “you must bring your whole self to the table if you want to thrive in today’s world.” Moreover, that’s why she’s such an excellent resource for personal branding. She's kind of the poster girl for it!
If you want to change your business or your life, Marie Forleo is an excellent guide. She covers everything from branding strategies to making your competition irrelevant to being ambitious without stressing out. Moreover, she does it all in a unique, fun-loving way that’s relatable.
Content marketing
If you’re interested in building your business by attracting people to your brand with valuable information, you’ll get a lot out of Brian Clark’s CopyBlogger.
The weekly blog covers SEO, social media, blogging, email marketing, and conversion. However, it does so by providing the big picture of effective content marketing and exploring all of its facets.
Clark is a master of words that work. So he’ll teach you how to build your business by giving you the confidence to meet the practical, real-world needs of your audience with useful content.
You’ll learn that writing isn’t a gift—it’s a skill you develop through practice.
Email Marketing
If you’re ready to take control of your marketing, there’s no better platform than email (because you own it), and there’s no better teacher than Amy Porterfield (because she’s a list building genius).
Catch her weekly podcast, dive deep into her blog archives, or download her free guides and learn how to generate, capture, and nurture leads effectively, and how to build an engaged list today that your business can depend on tomorrow.
She covers all aspects of digital marketing but stresses building your foundation on assets you own and control—your email list and content. You’ll learn things like how to build an engaged email list, create compelling lead magnets, and write copy that converts.
Social Media
If you have a love-hate relationship with social media, you won’t be able to function without the podcasts and blog posts by Buffer and Social Media Examiner
Buffer
Buffer is a ridiculously useful social media content planner and scheduler. Moreover, it offers some of the most compelling social media how-tos on the Internet.
Whether you listen to the podcast, read the weekly blog posts, or follow them on social—you’ll soak up a lot of wisdom and actionable tips they’ve gained through direct experience and research.
The content team at Buffer tackles topics like why Facebook’s newsfeed is becoming less important, how to get over perfectionism and execute your ideas, and seven psychology facts all social media marketers should know.
Social Media Examiner
Social Media Examiner is a weekly podcast and blog all about “how to best use social media marketing to connect with customers, drive traffic, and increase sales.”
Michael Stelzner, the host and author, has the uncanny ability to ask questions and offer explanations that make even the most difficult topics easy to understand. If words like “funnel” or “algorithms” make your head spin, Stelzner will make them almost as appealing as “cake” and “ice cream.”
Stelzner leaves no topic or tool unturned. If social media is your platform of choice, you'll find Social Media Examiner indispensable.
Your turn!
When it comes to resources, who and what are your faves? And most importantly: why? Sound off in the comments below.
