I de-Googled my life a few years back and now happily use Fastmail for all of my email needs. It’s the best email service I’ve found, and it’s mobile apps are great, but it lacks a first-party desktop app. While you can use Fastmail with any modern email client (IMAP is well supported), I didn’t like the privacy policies of many of them, which store your email content on remote servers indefinitely (in some cases, even following account purge)....

I’ve been using a new productivity tool for several weeks now that has positively impacted my output. It’s called Focusmate, and it’s a virtual co-working service. Many of us remote workers are familiar with co-working spaces — but covid19 has both whacked in-person attendance and also driven an enormous amount of people out of their workplaces and into their homes. So, what then, is virtual co-working? It’s a video call with a random partner....

Meta content can build hype for upcoming releases, underscore quality claims, and provide a narrative to products and brands. Why it’s a good idea Meta content can benefit brands with or without audiences. For those with established, active audiences, meta content can attach context and build hype for upcoming releases. For new brands or products, it can shore up product claims and build trust with future customers. Brands and products of any size can successfully employ meta content....

Get better at promoting existing assets instead of becoming addicted to creating new ones. Repurposing creates many small assets from a larger piece, and recycling creates something new from many existing assets. Why it’s a good idea Many marketers focus on a continuous content process in which new content is created according to a predefined cadence, and a checklist of post-publish marketing tasks is executed. However, with a system like this, the primary point of leverage is to optimize for more content, more often....

Giving away branded promotional merchandise is a great way to upgrade your customer <–> brand relationship (and get referral sales). Why it’s a good idea Giving away branded promotional items is a great way to leverage your existing audience to build awareness among their friends, family, or colleagues. Popular options include: Stickers Hats T-shirts Water bottles Notebooks If you elect to go the contest route, social media engagement can be very high on these campaigns....

Use automated tools to monitor social media for brand mentions and specific keywords. Respond and convert. Why it’s a good idea Millions of conversations per day happen on social — some of which present excellent opportunities to showcase your brand. More than ever, prospects turn to these sites for personalized recommendations and research before purchasing decisions. The best of these are Twitter and Reddit, both of which are relatively trivial to monitor....

Google has become stingy with their keyword data – unless you pay them for it. Use Google Ads to get data on search queries and unlock opportunities. Why it’s a good idea Google provides a reasonable amount of keyword data in Google Search Console, but that only covers keywords that your website ranks for. By collecting keyword data (and performance data) on keywords that you do not already rank for, you can deploy your SEO investments with more certainty and efficiency....

Answering questions for your target audience builds credibility. Q&A content has several viable distribution channels, which can help drive traffic and sales. Why it’s a good idea Think about the different types of Q&A content an average user comes across daily: Tweets asking for best xyz or recommendations for xyz YouTube tutorials and how-tos Quora answers in response to Google search queries StackOverflow (insert witty developer joke here) Reddit threads about best, comparison, or problem/solution It’s not just about the person asking the question; it’s about all of the people who read the answers....

Running a large discount or lifetime deal allows you to drive significant amounts of users (and revenue), which can later be upsold for revenue expansion or leveraged for network effects. Why it’s a good idea Offering a sizable discount (75% or more off) doesn’t seem like a great idea for all products, but for those that get more valuable based on how many users they have (network effects), or those that have other ways to monetize continually (transaction fees, etc....

Referral programs take your best customers and turn them into salespeople. Why it’s a good idea Word of mouth remains one of the strongest sales channels for many products and services. Many millions of dollars (and research hours) have been spent understanding how customers talk about a particular product or service to incorporate that natural, market-generated language into marketing copy. Having a referral program allows you to directly tap into this conversation and incentivize customers to talk, share, and sell for you in their language, driving the conversation in ways that a brand never could....