TRUST-able - Issue #10 - July/August 2022
The newsletter for professionals who want to become trusted advisors. 

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Reminder
I write this newsletter for entrepreneurs, consultants, trainers and experts who want to become trusted advisors in their market niche. 

Inside each issue of this publication I curate 21 “actionable” resources under 7 specific topics:

1. Create value (free version)

2. Cultivate relationships (free version)

3. Communicate effectively (free version)

4. Market oneself (free version)

5. Increase visibility

6. Monetize

7. Stay ahead of competitors

   +

8. Recommended Tools

9. Recommended Newsletters (free version)

10. From the Heart

Editions
There are two editions of this newsletter:
The original English language edition and the Italian version. 

NEW! Free and Premium versions
Each edition is published in two formats:

a) the Substack short email version with the first 4 topics and 12 actionable resources + the Recommended Newsletters (free)

b) the long Google Doc version with all the topics (7 - 21 resources) +
Recommended Tools and the section From the Heart (paid subscribers).

Highlights of this issue:

1) 25+ content frameworks you can adopt immediately.
(inside the How To Communicate Effectively section - free)

2) the PRP method, a simple approach to surface key client needs and your key solutions to them
(inside the How To Communicate Effectively section - free)

3) Four interesting newsletters I recommend for online entrepreneurs.
(Recommended Newsletters section - free)

4) Discover now how to increase sales in your online shop
(buy fixing a critical element in your shop search function).
(How to Monetize section - Premium subscribers only)

5) Learn from the top books without buying them
digest and synthesize the key concepts contained in the top business best-sellers
(inside the Stay Ahead section - Premium subscribers only)

Follow a path with a heart.

The time is NOW.

Robin Good

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1) How To Create Real Value       

Create Expert Guides

One specific “value-creation” tactic I teach to to build authority while increasing visibility and reputation, is to create “Expert Guides”.

These are nothing less than a set of well thought-out questions that you send to a group of publicly recognized experts in your market niche, asking for their personal advice.

You edit, curate and organize these different viewpoints into a guide, while adding introduction, context, at the beginning, as well as useful info / resources / tools and a synthesis of what emerges.

You also cite and link all the experts you have engaged and you notify them once the “experts guide” is online of it, so that they can share it with their own readers.  

Source: Robin Good

Ask Yourself These 

To create tangible value for your potential customers a good starting point is asking yourself some key questions that can spark ideas on which specific content to work on. Here’s a good set:

a. What questions do newcomers in your field ask?

b. What are the foundational bits of knowledge that someone new to the field should know about? Can you create a condensed guide detailing this?

c. Did you have questions you couldn't find answers to when you started your journey? What are the answers to those questions?

e. How did you help yourself get unstuck when you ran into problems in your field?

f. What are mistakes you've made along the way, and how might you help others avoid those?

g. What are people (especially those who are new) always asking you for help with? Spot themes - repeat questions can become chapters in a future resource.

Source: Twitter thread by Janel Loi of Brainpint

Play Long Games 

Want to set aside your business and brand from others?
Play the long game. Invest in value and authority building content creation activities that require time and attention vs investing only in simple, short-term rewarding stints.

“As humans, we're evolutionarily wired to prioritize short-term gain. 

Hunter gatherers had no use for five-year plans, and those instincts are still within us. 

Combine that with our current economic system, ad-driven business models, and algorithmic social media platforms, all of which visibly reward cynical short-term games, and you've got the perfect recipe to get lots of people prioritizing what's easy, quick, and shallow. 

There's so much opportunity waiting for the people who do deep, meaningful work, and who play long games. 

But our wiring and our current environment make it very difficult to see those possibilities, and trust them.”

Source: Rob Hardy - The Ungated Manifesto
via Sari Azout Check Your Pulse #66 newsletter

2) How To Cultivate Relationships                 

Write a Newsletter

If you want engagement, write a newsletter.
If you want inbound links, write a report with lots of statistics.

Source: Louise Linehan - Monthly Buzz - July 2022 Issue 

Network with High Profiles

“The bigger and stronger your online network is, the more likely you are to be successful in whatever endeavor you choose.

Unfortunately, 95% of people that attempt to build relationships online are focused only on themselves.”

How to network with high-profile individuals on social media?

“To begin building strong relationships, you need to give people a reason to be interested in you.

1) Create a clear and compelling social media profile.

2) Send them a relevant, specific compliment.

3) Do something good for them without asking their permission.

4) Introduce them to a meaningful connection

Source: Justin Welsh - How To Build Relationships on Social Media

Check These Books

Serious about community building and cultivating relationships in your marketing strategy?

Here are 5 books that can help you on this front:

1. Building Brand Communities (Jones and Vogl)
how to build authentic brand communities, where members grow mutual concern, share personal values, and gather in meaningful experiences, both online and off.

2. The Business of Belonging (David Spinks)
step-by-step model for strategically planning, creating, facilitating, and measuring communities that drive business growth as well as attracting and retaining community members who are also loyal customers, brand evangelists, and leaders.

3. Atlas of the Heart (Brene Brown)
Journey through eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human.

4. The Art of Community (Charles H. Vogl)
Drawing on 3,000 years of history and his personal experience, Charles Vogl lays out seven time-tested principles for growing enduring, effective and connected communities.

5. Where to Begin A Small Book About Your Power to Create Big Change in Our Crazy World (Clea Wade)
Lyrical, stirring mantras and affirmations, heartfelt poetry and prose encouraging you to remain hopeful and harness your personal power to bring positive change in our world.

Source: Jake Stott - Tweet

3) How To Communicate Effectively      

Understand Pain Points

For those working on the foundation pillars of their marketing strategy or on building a key landing page for one of their flagship products, the PRP Method offers a simple approach to surface key client needs and your key solutions to them, supported by proof.

The PRP Method

P - Pain

R - Resolution 

P - Proof

Specifically: 

1. Define three macro pains and three micro pains
   of your clients
   

2. Write out how your product solve those specific pains
   

3. Show proof with statistics, images, videos, testimonials

Understanding your prospect's pain points (& show proof that those pain points are real) gives you unlimited content ideas for your landing pages and your ads

Source: Wiz Utopian - Twitter thread: 8 Copywriting Principles  

Use Frameworks

Frameworks are nothing else than tried-and-tested content formulas that can be used for article and newsletter titles as well as for articles and social media posts.

Here’s a practical example of an effective content framework that can be used on social media:

➔ I’m shocked by [something you’ve observed]

➔ This is what caused the problem

➔ Here’s my solution

Example: 

Nick Nolan has published a useful mini-collection containing 15 of these (with examples) that can immediately be put to good use.

Chase Dimond has more: 10 more immediately usable effective copywriting frameworks.

Be Direct and Transparent

When sending emails and newsletters, there are a few simple tips that I have learned over time and which provide better context to build trust and relationships with my readers.

1. Send emails from email addresses with a human-sounding sender name, last name and photo

2. Use “I” and “you” language. Not “we” and “you”.

3. Add a prominent “Unsubscribe” link to your emails
   (the longer the email, the more prominent the positioning needed)

4. Add an intro text to your newsletter reminding new and sleepy / distracted readers what your newsletter is about and for how it is. 

5. Ask subscribers to reply to your welcome email. That whitelists your email and decreases the chances that you’ll end up in their spam folder. To make them answer, offer them something valuable in return. 

   Robin Good

4) How To Market  Yourself      

Choose Niche Over Broad

When positioning your startup/business I always suggest to tighten the focus, to go niche. This means defining the specific audience you want to serve and their specific key need, problem.

All attempts to solve different problems for different audiences through one solution, are bound to be superseded by new products who go niche on audience/application.

“Highly differentiated startups raise 117% more early-stage funding and are more likely to succeed in the long-term, although they take more time to take off.” 

“Startups and new companies can either try to be similar to existing competitors - to gain legitimacy - or try to be as different as possible - to face less competition.

When startups are very differentiated they take longer to be seen as credible by larger competitors that might acquire them. However, once they reach that point, it seems that they have better chances of success compared to those that are not very differentiated.”

“a) Analyze the competitive market you are planning to enter.

b) Find an angle, niche, or specific value proposition you bring to the table that is different from competitors.”

Source: Thomas McKinlay - “Why You Should Differentiate Your Startup”

Create a Cool Profile Pic

New free tool makes it extremely easy to create pro-looking profile pictures for one’s own websites, newsletter, email signature and social media channels.

Useful for many other applications.
Photomash Studio (free)

Get Inspired

Great visual gallery of cool, well-designed, original personal pages/websites. Deserves to be bookmarked because it offers a well selected variety of styles and many quality designs.

If you are looking for different styles, layouts, approaches you may not have considered, here is candy for your eyes.

Personal-Sites

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• Recommended Newsletters      

1) The Student Creator by Jay Yang 
I like his newsletter because the guy has a heart and you can feel it. He writes about entrepreneurship and bootstrapping your own online business as well as about self-development. He’s also great at visualizing ideas and concepts. 

2) Kreativ Copywriting by Eleanor Goold
I recommend this newsletter because it helps me write better and improve my copywriting and storyselling skills. 

3) Find Great Articles “on-Topic”
Refind brings to your inbox the top seven daily links on your specific topics of interest. Loved by 50k+ curious minds. Subscribe for free to get smarter.

4) Discover Best Indie Writers & Newsletters
The Sample showcases niche authors’ newsletters on a variety of topics making it easy to subscribe to those that interest you. Subscribe to find ideal sources, partners, or ad outlets.

Learn more. Get more tips. Discover extra tools.
Subscribe to the Premium edition.

In this Premium issue:
5) How To Get More Visibility
Steal Attention
Create Unique Content
Find the Keywords

6) How To Monetize
Focus on One Need
Spell It Out
Fix Your eShop Search

7) How To Stay Always Ahead
Be Consistent
Read More
Feel Incredible

• Recommended Tools

• From the Heart

To subscribe to the Premium version go here.

Follow a path with a heart.

The time is NOW.

From sunny Holbox,
Robin Good

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