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10 Recommended Books on Digital Marketing

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Books on Digital Marketing may feel as short-lived as books on How to Use Computer Software because the marketplace is changing so rapidly. As soon as a book goes to print, the advice is already obsolete.

Thankfully, like the timeless non-technical advice from several sources that can be applied to How to Grow an Email List, many books on digital marketing are more about strategy than technology.

Digital marketing is also referred to as content or copy marketing for the web. It takes the proven value of the written and spoken word and applies it to digital channels like blogs and emails.

What follows in this short article are 10 recommended books on digital marketing.  The first two books are not about digital marketing per se, but they are about sound marketing strategy.  The next four books (3 to 6) are about specific digital marketing strategies. The last four books (7 to 10) offer sound advice on content writing for the web.

One Unexpected Book on Digital Marketing

One additional book – based on hostage negotiations! – is also mentioned at the end of this post because of its potential to completely change (and improve) the way you communicate in life (and therefore, how you also communicate in digital marketing).

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10 Recommended Books on Internet Marketing

A summary from Amazon.com is included for each book for your quick reference – along with a non-affiliated link to the resource on Amazon.

  1. Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D.

    “The author of the legendary bestseller Influence, social psychologist Robert Cialdini shines a light on effective persuasion and reveals that the secret doesn’t lie in the message itself, but in the key moment before that message is delivered.  

    What separates effective communicators from truly successful persuaders? Using the same combination of rigorous scientific research and accessibility that made his Influence an iconic bestseller, Robert Cialdini explains how to capitalize on the essential window of time before you deliver an important message. This “privileged moment for change” prepares people to be receptive to a message before they experience it.

    Optimal persuasion is achieved only through optimal pre-suasion. In other words, to change “minds” a pre-suader must also change “states of mind.” – Amazon Book Summary

  2. Impossible to Ignore: Creating Memorable Content to Influence Decisions by Carmen Simon, Ph.D.

    “This practical guide is filled with case studies, examples, and a checklist to help you put the power of cognitive science to work for your business. Whether you’re giving a presentation, conducting a meeting, delivering training, making a sales pitch, or creating a marketing campaign, these field-tested techniques will help you develop content that speaks to people’s hearts, stays in their heads, and influences their decisions. It’s not just memorable―it’s Impossible to Ignore.” – Amazon Book Summary

  3. Invisible Selling Machine: 5 Steps to Crafting an Automated Evergreen Email Campaign That Literally Makes Sales While You Sleep by Ryan Deiss

    “In the Invisible Selling Machine, entrepreneur, Ryan Deiss, walks you through all 5 phases of the prospect/customer lifestyle, and shows how each step can be automated and perpetuated to invisibly convert strangers into friends, friends into customers and customers into raving fans. This book is for startup founders, small business owners, marketing professionals, consultants, service professionals, authors, speakers, and even brick and mortar butcher, baker and candlestick makers.” – Amazon Book Summary

  4. Dotcom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online by Russell Brunson

    “If you are currently struggling with getting traffic to your website, or converting that traffic when it shows up, you may think you’ve got a traffic or conversion problem. In Russell Brunson’s experience, after working with thousands of businesses, he has found that’s rarely the case. Low traffic and weak conversion numbers are just symptoms of a much greater problem, a problem that’s a little harder to see (that’s the bad news), but a lot easier to fix (that’s the good news). DotComSecrets will give you the marketing funnels and the sales scripts you need to be able to turn on a flood of new leads into your business.” – Amazon Book Summary

  5. Ask: The counterintuitive online formula to discover exactly what your customers want to buy… create a mass of raving fans… and take any business to the next level by Ryan Levesque

    “Do you know how to find out what people really want to buy? (Not what you think they want, not what they say they want, but what they really want?) The secret is asking the right questions – and the right questions are not what you might expect. Ask is based on the compelling premise that you should NEVER have to guess what your prospects and customers are thinking. The Ask Formula revealed in this book has been used to help build multi-million dollar businesses in 23 different industries, generating over $100 million dollars in sales in the process.” – Amazon Book Summary

  6. Launch: An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula to Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business You Love, and Live the Life of Your Dreams by Jeff Walker

    “Launch is the treasure map into that world—an almost secret world of digital entrepreneurs who create cash-on-demand paydays with their product launches and business launches. Whether you have an existing business, or you have a service-based business and want to develop your own products so you can leverage your time and your impact, or you’re still in the planning phase—this is how you start fast. This formula is how you engineer massive success. Now the question is this—are you going to start slow, and fade away from there? Or are you ready for a launch that will change the future of your business and your life.” – Amazon Book Summary

  7. Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt

    “In Platform, Hyatt will teach readers not only how to extend their influence, but also how to monetize it and build a sustainable career. The key? By building a platform. It has never been easier, less expensive, or more possible than right now. . .  The book includes:

    • proven strategies
    • easy-to-replicate formulas
    • practical tips

    Social media technologies have changed everything. Now, for the first time in history, non-celebrities can get noticed―and win big!―in an increasingly noisy world. Amazon Book Summary

  8. How to Write Copy That Sells by Ray Edwards

    “Writing copy that sells without seeming “salesy” can be tough, but is an essential business skill. How To Write Copy That Sells is a step-by-step guide to writing fast, easy-to-read, effective copy. It’s for everyone who needs to write copy that brings in cash – including copywriters, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. Inside, you’ll find copywriting techniques for email marketing, web sites, social media, sales pages, ads, and direct mail. – Amazon Book Summary

  9. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley

    “Everybody Writes is a go-to guide to attracting and retaining customers through stellar online communication, because in our content-driven world, every one of us is, in fact, a writer. If you have a web site, you are a publisher. If you are on social media, you are in marketing. And that means that we are all relying on our words to carry our marketing messages. We are all writers. Yeah, but who cares about writing anymore? In a time-challenged world dominated by short and snappy, by click-bait headlines and Twitter streams and Instagram feeds and gifs and video and Snapchat and YOLO and LOL and #tbt. . . does the idea of focusing on writing seem pedantic and ordinary? Actually, writing matters more now, not less. Our online words are our currency; they tell our customers who we are. – Amazon Book Summary

  10. Master Content Marketing: A Simple Strategy to Cure the Blank Page Blues and Attract a Profitable Audience by Pamela Wilson

    “During her award-winning 30-year marketing career, Pamela Wilson has helped local, national, and international clients communicate their messages effectively. Her passion is teaching — and she has a gift for making complex topics simple and easy to understand. She wrote Master Content Marketing to provide step-by-step help to empower people (even non-writers) to create effective content marketing in a stress-free, fun, and repeatable way. What will happen to your online presence when you lose your fear of hitting publish? Read Master Content Marketing and find out.” – Amazon Book Summary

Plus One Unexpected Book on Digital Marketing…

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Chris Voss

“A former international hostage negotiator for the FBI offers a new field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations – whether in the boardroom or at home. After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a hostage negotiator brought him face-to-face with a range of criminals, including bank robbers and terrorists.

Reaching the pinnacle of his profession, he became the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator.Never Split the Difference takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss’ head, revealing the skills that helped him and his colleagues succeed where it mattered most: in saving lives. In this practical guide, he shares the nine effective principles – counterintuitive tactics and strategies – you, too, can use to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal lives.

Life is a series of negotiations you should be prepared for: buying a car, negotiating a salary, buying a home, renegotiating rent, deliberating with your partner. Taking emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, Never Split the Difference gives you the competitive edge in any discussion.” – Amazon Book Summary

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Other Resources for Your Online Success

  1. Lead Magnet Guide (5 essential characteristics of a lead magnet)
  2. Lead Magnet Project (an interactive online project launching June 2017)
  3. Lead Magnet Examples (email subscribers can add their own web address for free)
  4. Lead Magnet Survey (share your own opinion and discover what other entrepreneurs recommend)
  5. Recommended Website and Email Software Resources (along with the reasons why these resources are recommended)

Cheering for your online success – one project step at a time!

Brent

5 Email Autoresponder Tips for Your Welcome Message

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When people join your email mailing list to receive your lead magnet (see also Domain Name Advice: 3 Tips for Your Lead Magnet), the welcome message they receive from your email autoresponder – short for “automated response email” – is a critical next step to grow your business.

While the welcome message is automated, it is personal to the person who receives it.

Treat any email autoresponder with the same level of care as you would an in-person conversation with a potential customer.

It can be the start of a long-term relationship with a professional.

It can also be the quick end to one as well.

Therefore, plant your relationships carefully and professionally – starting with an email autoresponder welcome message.

What follows are five email autoresponder tips for your welcome message, plus an email autoresponder example from this site to quickly demonstrate all five recommendations.

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5 Email Autoresponder Tips for Your Welcome Message

Email Autoresponder Tip #1: Personalize your gratitude.

If you capture an email subscriber’s first name – in addition to her email address – you are able to personalize the welcome message.

It’s recommended you include a first name field in your opt-in form, but do not make the first name field mandatory (you can view an opt-in form example in the sidebar of this web page – if viewing on a desktop).

Whether you are able to include the subscriber’s first name or not, start your welcome message with a word of thanks to the person.

Email Autoresponder Tip #2: Deliver your lead magnet.

Immediately after a word of gratitude in your email autoresponder welcome message, deliver the lead magnet you promised.

If your lead magnet is a downloadable resource like a guide, do not attempt to attach the file to the welcome message (it’s an email security risk and will likely be blocked by your email service provider). Instead, provide a link to the lead magnet within your message.

Additional Note: If you are seeking project guidance on the design, integration, and marketing of a professional lead magnet to grow your email list, you may be interested in joining the new interactive Lead Magnet Project. 

Email Autoresponder Tip #3: Set expectations with your subscriber.

Your email autoresponder welcome message is the perfect opportunity to set expectations with your subscribers about what’s next in terms of future messages.

Specifically, you want to be upfront about when they’ll hear from you again, how often, and what you will send them.

If you are planning to send out new content to your email list once a week, for example, it’s also recommended you pick a specific day and time each week to do so. That way, your subscribers know when to check their inboxes for your content.

Email Autoresponder Tip #4: Highlight your other resources.

Just like in your professional Lead Magnet (see the 5 Essential Characteristics of a Lead Magnet), it is appropriate to cross-reference the other resources you have available or planning to have available.

Email subscribers know you are in business (or starting one).

Do not be afraid to share resources that you feel will help people – just do so in a succinct and professional manner. 

Email Autoresponder Tip #5: Reinforce your expertise in your signature.

Lastly, close your email autoresponder welcome message with your email signature.

Specifically, you will want to include your full name, your professional credentials, and a short summary of what you do.

It is also recommended you include a small photo of yourself in your email signature. It further personalizes your welcome message.

Email Autoresponder Example

For your quick reference, here is a snapshot of the current email autoresponder welcome message sent to Graceful Resources subscribers from ConvertKit. The five recommendations are labeled accordingly.

email-autoresponder-example

If you would like to join the email list and receive this actual welcome message, simply click here.

Thanks,

Brent

Domain Name Advice: 3 Tips for Your Lead Magnet

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Domain name advice for small business websites is relatively common (see 10 Tips for Website Names), but custom domain names can also be a valuable marketing strategy for your email opt-in incentive (aka lead magnet*).

* A lead magnet is an extra incentive to inspire someone to join your email mailing list. Lead magnets are the starting point for online marketing and have become essential in the competitive online marketplace to grow email lists (click here for the Free Lead Magnet Guide).   

The Value of a Custom Domain Name

A custom domain name is a powerful form of branding and it is arguably the least expensive marketing cost you’ll have this year for your online business (it’s typically a $20/year investment through a registrar like GoDaddy.com if you avoid a premium domain name – a domain that is being resold by a third party – and you include private registration** for about $8/year).

** The advantage of private registration is that it keeps your public registry information (your full name, mailing address, email address, and phone number) off the public Whois database. Without private registration, you will get hit with unsolicited sales offers from around the world within minutes of your domain registration. Registrants like GoDaddy offer private registration at checkout for domain purchases.

Whatever it is you are offering, a unique trade name – and corresponding custom domain name – will help you connect with your target audience.

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Domain Name Advice: 3 Tips for Your Lead Magnet

If you invest a few extra dollars for a custom domain name for your lead magnet as well, you’ll make another smart marketing investment.

A custom domain name for your lead magnet (or for other purposes) has two main advantages:

  1. The custom domain name is uniquely and legally owned by you.  Nobody else can use it for another web property.
  2. The custom domain name can be set by you to automatically forward to another web page (like a landing page or blog post).

To help you get started, here are three domain name advice tips for your lead magnet:

Domain Name Advice Tip #1

Select a custom domain name that helps describe your lead magnet.

For example, if your lead magnet is a guide, consider a custom domain name that includes the word “guide” (e.g. “HomeschoolBeginnersGuide.com“). If it is a quiz or survey, it is also easy to include the lead magnet type in the domain name (e.g. LeadMagnetSurvey.com).

If your lead magnet represents a specific market niche (e.g. LoveYourPetRabbit.com) or a special cause (e.g. NotchDolphinBook.com), a custom domain name is also helpful in your marketing efforts.

Domain Name Advice Tip #2

Use your lead magnet custom domain name both online and offline.

A unique URL for an opt-in incentive can be easily added to your social media profiles (e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn), email signature, and in your bio at the end of a guest blog post on another website.

Custom domain names for lead magnets also work great if you are a guest on a podcast or webinar because of the audio communication format.

Offline at a conference, party, or reception, a custom domain name for your lead magnet that is easy to say (and spell) will help grow your email list too.

Domain Name Advice Tip #3

Embed another custom domain name within your lead magnet to promote your current or future product offering.

In the Graceful Resources Lead Magnet Guide (click here for a copy), there is a cross-promotion of the Lead Magnet Project.  Instead of a long URL, the custom domain name LeadMagnetProject.com is used as an automatic re-direct to a landing page about the project.

(FYI: Prior to this month, the URL re-direct was connected to a blog post about the project, but then the forwarding address was changed to a more formal landing page. You may have a similar transition for your next product offering as you go from concept to project.)

In another example, Associate Certified Coach Nancy Christenson is cross-promoting her upcoming course within her (soon-to-be-released) free lead magnet 7 Keys for Stability Through a Christian Divorce.

Since the web address about her course is subject to change, she invested a few dollars in the custom domain name HoldingontoHeaven.com to promote her course (by the same name) for Christian women living through divorce.

Final Domain Name Advice

The custom domain names you select for your website, lead magnet, and product offerings are only as valuable as you make them.

Investing about $20 per year in a custom domain name is a smart first project step.

After that, plan your work and then work your plan.

In 1886, Atlanta pharmacist John S. Pemberton and his bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, started with a unique name too:

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Other Graceful Resources for Your Online Success

  1. Recommended Website and Email Resources (along with the reasons why)
  2. Lead Magnet Project (an interactive online project launching June 2017)
  3. Lead Magnet Examples (email subscribers can add their own web address for free)
  4. Lead Magnet Guide (5 essential characteristics of a lead magnet)
  5. Lead Magnet Survey (share your own opinion and discover what other entrepreneurs recommend)

Cheering for your online success – one project step at a time!

Brent

How to Grow an Email List (Professionally)

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Once you have a professional lead magnet in place, there are many online strategies to further grow an email list for your business.

How to grow an email list professionally though requires one critical mindset – more on that in a moment (along with two lists of supporting resources).

The Pace to Grow Your Email List

From a timing perspective, you can go for the sprint or you can run the marathon.

If you are seeking immediate traffic to your lead magnet and email opt-in form (the sprint), you can pay Facebook and Google for sponsored ads, for example.  This short-term strategy requires a greater investment of your money than your time.

If you are in it for the long haul (the marathon), you can generate organic traffic to your website through search engine optimized content. This long-term strategy requires a greater investment of your time than your cash.

Which Pace is Better to Grow Your Email List?

The short answer is … there’s not a right or wrong answer.

You may discover the right strategy for your business is a combination of both races.

But when you plan for and run at a marathon pace, you have greater opportunities to make business adjustments as you go along.

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How to Grow an Email List (Professionally)

Independent of the pace you select, the secret of how to grow an email list professionally is one of mindset.

This may sound counter-intuitive but to grow your email list professionally…

You do not want to try to be the hero.

Yes, heroes are winners in some aspect of life. They may have achieved success in business, life, or the playing field.

But they achieved success because they were mentored by others.

In real life, the coaches are the ones to hire if you pursuing similar success.

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How to grow your email list professionally…

You want to be the guide.

(Additional resources supporting this strategy are included below for your reference.)

The truth is you already have:

  • Sufficient life experiences to be the coach for someone else.
  • Invested your own sweat and tears.
  • Succeeded and failed.

You have learned through the arena of real life.

Now it’s time to stop trying to reach some arbitrary form of success.

The world doesn’t need more heroes.

It needs more guides.

It needs you.

Maintain this critical mindset and you’ll grow your email list professionally.

Here are some additional resources that reinforce the value of being the guide over the hero:

  1. Be the Guide, Not the Hero (LinkedIn Pulse Article)
  2. Be the Guide, Not the Hero – How to Explain Your Story Better (Interview with Eric Hinson, Explainify CEO)
  3. How to be the Guide and Attract More Customers (Author Donald Miller – Interview with Dave Ramsey)
  4. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content (Book by Ann Handley)
  5. How to Write Copy That Sells (Book by Ray Edwards)
  6. Marketing: A Love Story: How to Matter to Your Customers (Book by Bernadette Jiwa)
  7. All Marketers are Liars Tell Stories (Book by Seth Godin)

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Graceful Resources to Grow Your Email List Professionally

  1. Recommended Website and Email Resources (along with the reasons why)
  2. Lead Magnet Project (an interactive online project launching June 2017)
  3. Lead Magnet Examples (email subscribers can add their own web address for free)
  4. Lead Magnet Guide (5 essential characteristics of a lead magnet)
  5. Lead Magnet Survey (share your own opinion and discover what other entrepreneurs recommend)

Cheering for your online success – one project step at a time!

Brent

3 Reasons to Take the Lead Magnet Survey

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Most surveys are about as enticing as extra paperwork at the department of motor vehicles.

Nobody likes to answer a long sequence of questions.

Nobody chooses to take a survey just for fun – although Typeform software does make surveys more of a dynamic human experience.

Perhaps most companies stopped trying to connect with people online when they labeled customers as site users.

Thankfully, for your human experience, Typeform is used for the Lead Magnet Survey here on the Graceful Resources website.

That may not be enough of a reason to convince you to take the survey, so here are three other reasons to take this survey which is designed to gather data on what lead magnets (also called opt-in incentives or ethical bribes) are working best to grow small business email lists today.

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3 Reasons to Take the Lead Magnet Survey

  1. The Lead Magnet Survey only takes about three minutes to complete.

    The Lead Magnet Survey (click here to open the survey in a new window) can easily be completed on a mobile device and it’s not one of those generic surveys that have no end in site.

    You’ll be back to your other responsibilities (or your work break) in less than five minutes. No worries.

  2. The Lead Magnet Survey is an example of a lead magnet strategy itself.

    You may be inspired to create a similar assessment for your own online platform, and, if interested, Typeform best practices can be taught to project participants in the upcoming online Lead Magnet Project.

    If you look closely, you will discover the Lead Magnet Survey actually represents four different lead magnet strategies!

  3. Your professional opinion matters.

    If you have ever opted-in to an email list to get a coupon, receive a free guide, watch a video series, or for some other reason (and who hasn’t?), you have experience with lead magnets.

    The latest survey results were discussed publicly for the first time on Friday, May 5th at 12 pm ET.

    The event was the Authority Traffic School Session hosted by Sonia Simone, Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer of Rainmaker Digital.

    (Authority is an advanced content marketing training and networking community organized through Copyblogger – click here for more information about Authority).

Surveys are Predictably Boring

Nobody can hide from that truth.

But a survey about lead magnets should itself be a good lead magnet.

Click here to take the Lead Magnet Survey to discover for yourself.

Thanks.