How to Rebrand Yourself: The Miley Cyrus Way. Another Installment on @eZangaInc by Me.

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Where has summer gone?  It’s already August!

Back to the topic at hand.  It’s a new month and that means another new post written for the eZanga blog.  I have to admit that I have been having a lot of fun writing for them and the title of this post might just prove that.  This month’s title:  How to Rebrand Yourself – The Miley Cyrus Way.  Before you roll your eyes and start groaning, take a peek and hear me out.  I promise it’s not a post about twerking.  In fact, I think I only make use of that word once in the article…or twice.

Head on over to eZanga and check it out:  http://colleeneakns.me/1snNqsU

 

 

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Looking for Stock Photography? Try Solid Stock Art

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About a year ago, I was digitally approached by Taylor Hinton, CEO of Solid Stock Art, to try out his new stock photography site. Because I love supporting small businesses and start-ups (we have to stick together!), I obliged. Even though they were fairly new to the stock photography industry, I found that they had a pretty decent library of images and vector illustrations.

The biggest draw for using Solid Stock Art is their licensing. For designers, marketing and PR agencies and anyone else that uses stock photography for marketing campaigns, licenses can be a sticky area and a general pain point. In general, if you did not shoot a photo yourself, you are not the owner. Even if you did shoot the photo yourself, if there are people, buildings, branded items, etc. in the photo that you do not own, you may be restricted from using the photo. Most photography you see used in advertisements is licensed. Images are licensed for use and you usually pay for that license. So when you purchase a stock photography image, you are really buying a license to use that photo. You still do not actually own the photo, just a license to use it.

What some people do not know is that licenses usually come with restrictions. You may be restricted from using the image for commercial purposes (example: editorial photos) or you may be limited in the number of times the image can be reproduced and viewed (example: print materials). If you do not already know this or where to look to find this information on the stock photography company’s website, you will probably end up violating the license agreement for the image you purchase.

Solid Stock Art offers one license for all of their images and it is unlimited. Unlimited views, prints and reuse. They have a deep understanding of licensing because the founder, Taylor (I mentioned him earlier) was a stock photography artist/supplier AND found himself caught up in a legal battle for unknowingly violating a license agreement at his day job. That experience lead him to create Solid Stock Art.

So if you want to feel safe and secure in the images you are purchasing, try checking out Solid Stock Art. No fine print to read or searching through their site to find out what and “extended license” means. They have a great library, are nice people and I have found the customer service to be excellent. One time when I was looking for some images for a picky client, Taylor did just about everything he could to try to help me find the right image and add to their library. I thought that was pretty awesome.

Because he is awesome and wants you to see how awesome (have I said that too many times?) Solid Stock Art is, he has given me a coupon code to pass on to you. Use the coupon code “eakin” at check out to receive 25% off your purchase.

 

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…and because I am the honest individual that I am, I must tell you that clicking the Solid Stock Art link in this post and making a purchase will earn me a small commission to buy images. My opinion on Solid Stock Art is real and honest. 🙂

What Not to Do in Your Email Pitch :: An Open Letter to “Alex”

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With the digital marketing landscape shifting the focus more on email marketing, I seem to have been getting more and more email pitches.  Some of them are from spammers and some are legitimate.  Some make me laugh.  Some make me cringe.  Some get my attention, but most end up in the trash or flagged as spam.  My biggest pet peeve is receiving an email that is generically addressed “hi.”  I think it is fairly easy to figure out my name…the domain and name of my business is Colleen Eakins.

Last week I was reading about how writing better email pitches helped Ryan Luedecke increase the revenue of Sumo Jerky and then I received the following pitch from a possible spammer named Alex:

Hi,

My name is Alex and I am an Online Strategist.

I’ve been tracking the success of your website while doing some research on your industry—I’m impressed with your company, but there are some real opportunities for growth that you currently are missing.

Are you interested in several proven strategies to use content and social media to drive relevant traffic to your site? In 20 minutes I can show you how to fuel your brand and generate more revenue from search engines and social networks.

This is a $500 value free of charge.

I’d like to follow up about this with a quick phone call. Can I call you this week to discuss your campaign?

Thank you
Best regards,

Alex

This guy could have really learned something if he had read about Ryan’s methods!  I started to trash it after reading the “hi” greeting, but I then I thought I would write “Alex” back.  Here is my reply:

Hi Alex,

I don’t typically respond to cold generic pitches because they tend to beguile the message they contain.  I actually find it offensive and usually mark them as spam and trash them.

You sent me a generic pitch, but I will send you a customized response.  If you really were “tracking the success of [my] website,” you would have at least addressed the email to me by name.  After all, you are sending the email to a “name” at my domain name dot come…also my actual name.  A quick Google search could have confirmed that for you.

A quick search and read of my site to include my blog would have also kept you from wasting your time since these proven “strategies to use content and social media to drive relevant traffic to [my] site” are what I am already doing.  I have even written a few blog posts on your “proven strategies.”

Just some friendly advice:  The above extra steps will help your pitch go over better and net you more conversions.  Also think about expanding your sentence, “but there are some real opportunities for growth that you currently are missing,” to point out a few actual points.  You do not have to list all of them but some bullet points work well to pique a potential client’s interest.

You have to let the potential client know WIIFM and acronym for “what’s in it for me?”  Telling me your service has a $500 value does not do that.  What will this value bring me?  It’s like handing me a mystery box and telling me it’s worth $500.  $500 of what?  Fish roe? Snake skin?  I have no use or interest in either.

I know you have probably sent hundreds of these types of emails out and making them generic and automating a response as a follow-up makes your life easier.  However, it can’t be good for your sales conversions.  As an “online strategist” you must know that is pretty important, right?

Best of luck to you!

Colleen

After I was done writing, I decided not to send the email.  After all if he is a spammer, I do not want to provide validation to his list that my email is a working one.  So instead, I decided to write about it and post it here.  For more tips on how to successfully write a cold email pitch, check out Ryan Luedecke’s post, “How I grew Sumo Jerky to $10,000 a month.”

 

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Hiring & Working with Vendors for Your Super Secret Project

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Occasionally I am asked to submit a proposal bid on top-secret projects.  No, these are not government backed secret projects for the CIA, military or anything like that.  However, to the initiator of the project, they require secrecy and information is only shared on a need to know basis.  Sometimes I win the proposal bid on the project, sometimes I lose and sometimes I decline to bid because I cannot get enough information to even submit a proper proposal.  I cannot tell you how much it will cost if I do not even know what I will be doing.

Lots of first-time entrepreneurs and start-ups begin their operations under the mask of secrecy.  I get it.  You are afraid that someone will steal your idea, but you do not have the resources and skills necessary to bring it to life.  To do so, you need to hire contractors, freelancers and vendors that have the skill sets you are missing to pull it off.

To really pull it off and bring your product or service to market, you have to be able to trust those vendors.  Because when you don’t trust them, you don’t give them enough information to do their job and you hinder the process.  This results in frustration for all parties involved.  You will be frustrated that things are not going according to plan, deadlines may be missed and the whole experience of working with the vendor may leave a foul taste in your mouth.

If they are a good vendor, they will want you to succeed.  They will want your project to stay on track and will work to help you achieve your goals with the finished product.  If they are really good at what they do, they probably don’t want to steal your idea either.  They have already found a profitable endeavor.  This is proven by the fact that you hired them.

I was curious, so I Googled “Should You Really Worry About Someone Trying to Steal Your Idea” to see what I would get.  What I found around the good ol’ web is the same general sentiment I hold from my own experience.  Being super secretive and guarded with your business idea hurts more than it helps.

I thought this article on the Making it Anywhere blog (found in that Google search), “Worried Someone’s Going To Steal Your Idea? Here Are 4 Things You Should Worry About Instead” had some great counter points to consider.  There are more important things to worry about and answering these four questions may tell you whether or not someone really would want to steal your idea:

  1. Are you solving a problem people will want to pay for?
  2. How are you going to establish yourself as a market leader? Why should they pay YOU?
  3. Does your business idea or model already exist?
  4. How will people know you exist?

If after doing the research and answering those questions you still feel the need to keep things close to your chest, consider using a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) form when requesting bids from vendors.  Most seasoned vendors are familiar with and have signed such forms before, when working with clients.  Using one should give you some measure of peace trust in disclosing the information they need to give you a proper proposal.  If they steal your idea, you can just sue them.

It is important that they have all the information they need.  They determine what information they need to quote you and draft up a proposal, not you.  If you knew what they needed, then you have knowledge of how to do it…and you would not need to hire them.  Answer any questions they have and provide them with anything they request.  Not having enough information may result in an inaccurate quote and a surprise for you when midway through the project, the price needs to be re-negotiated.

Vet vendors you think you might like to work with prior to requesting a proposal.  You can do a general overview by reviewing testimonies on their site, review sites like Yelp and their social media accounts.  If you have a good feeling about them and it seems everyone else does too, ask them if they offer a free “private” consultation.  Let them know up front if you will require their signature on a NDA prior to the consultation.  If during the consultation you are feeling even better about them, ask them to submit a proposal along with some references if you are still a bit scared.

Sometimes the best resources are found from within or through the networks you are already a part of.  Do you have a friend or family member that recently launched a business?  Some of their vendors might be a good fit to get some of what you need done as well.  Ask them if there is a vendor they are using for “XYZ” that they would highly recommend and ask for an introduction or their information.

If after all of that you still cannot trust your vendor to not steal your idea, then the aliens probably really are coming to abduct you. 🙂

 

NDA Resources & Templates:

Wikipedia Definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-disclosure_agreement

Mutual Non-Disclosure Template: http://www.entrepreneur.com/formnet/form/852

NDA 101 | Rocket Lawyer: https://www.rocketlawyer.com/article/nda-101:-what-is-a-non-disclosure-agreement.rl

 

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Are You Branding or Being Branded? Another Installment on @eZangaInc by Me.

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It’s a new month! Well technically we are already halfway through July, but nevermore…I have another guest post on the eZanga Blog. This month I am staying within the topic of personal branding and asking, “Are you branding or being branded?” Curious? Then head on over to the eZanga Blog and check out my guest post here: http://colleeneakns.me/1qbG88s