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Tomorrow is 🐧 World Penguin Day, Reader! Birds in formalwear… They always make the Best Dressed lists.

In today’s edition:

• Today's 👉 Tip of the Day is for content ideation

• Put marketing and sales 🤝 hand-in-hand

• Adobe tests 🤖 AI-powered features

• 📣 Additional industry news from Instagram, YouTube, and more

Is your social media content performing well? Could you use some help brainstorming content that sparks conversation and drives engagement? To get people talking, state an opinion that contradicts the current narrative. But here’s the thing: You don’t need to be controversial or polarizing. 

Prompt AI to Identify Potential Topics for Opinion-Based Content 

First, prompt AI to build a persona for your ideal customer. Be sure to review the AI-generated persona and make necessary corrections. 

Then, ask the AI to generate a list of relatively mundane or trivial topics your target audience strongly believes in. For example, you could ask, “What are some relatively mundane or trivial topics that golfers have different opinions about?”

Most of the ideas will be irrelevant, so you can ignore the majority and focus on the few that resonate with you and your audience. 

Remember, AI is just a tool to help spark creativity and generate ideas quickly. The real value comes from your ability to refine and develop those ideas into compelling content that resonates with your audience.

Today's tip is inspired by Andy Crestodina, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

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The Key to More Customers and Clients

In today's digital landscape, consumers are bombarded with countless messages and interactions every day, and in a world increasingly filled with automated processes and AI-powered tools, building trust and establishing genuine connections with your audience has become more critical than ever. 

To stay ahead of the curve, prioritize transparency and authenticity in all business interactions—from marketing to sales. 

By doing so, you can differentiate your business from competitors and build lasting relationships with clients and customers.

Begin With Transparency in Your Social Media Marketing

In the world of social media, transparency is key to engaging with your audience and building a solid brand presence. Instead of following a cookie-cutter approach that mimics other businesses in your industry, showcase the good, the bad, and the ugly. That means embracing vulnerability and stepping out of what’s comfortable and easy because that's what consumers crave.

Give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at your business by sharing the owner's journey, highlighting wins and losses, and responding to cultural moments in a way that aligns with your brand values. 

Adopting a social presence that is unique to your business, you can create a strong brand culture that fosters a sense of connection with your audience and builds a loyal following.

Be Upfront About Pricing on Your Website

Once your marketing delivers prospective customers to your website, they want to know what purchasing from or working with you will cost. That’s easy with products, but services can be more complex. 

Instead of listing every service and its exact cost, which can overwhelm and confuse potential clients, provide a "starting at" price point. This approach allows them to self-filter based on their budget, saving both parties valuable time.

Extend Transparency in Sales

By setting realistic expectations and being upfront about what you can and cannot deliver, you can attract customers who are the right fit for your business and are more likely to stick with you for the long haul.

During sales calls, don’t obfuscate. Be clear and honest with consumers about the effort and resources required to help your customer achieve success. This will help them understand the value of your services and make informed decisions.

For example, if you provide marketing services, explain the process, timeline, and deliverables clearly, emphasizing that building a strong online presence is a long-term strategy and results may take time. 

Finally, be honest about the volume of customers or clients you can handle at any given time. The only thing worse than not having enough customers is having too many customers to deliver on your promised service.

Today's advice is provided with insights from Q Moldrick, a featured guest on the Marketing Agency Show.

🗞 Adobe Tests AI Features: At MAX London, Adobe announced several AI innovations, including the new Photoshop (beta) with advanced Generative Fill and Reference Image features and the Firefly Image 3 Foundation Model (beta) for enhanced creative expression. Firefly is now integrated into Creative Cloud workflows, such as InDesign, and the new Adobe Express mobile apps offer features like Text to Image, Text Effects, Generative Fill, and Text to Template. Adobe also introduced Firefly Services and Custom Models for enterprises, previewed AI innovations in Adobe Premiere Pro, released AI Assistant for Reader and Acrobat, and launched the next generation of Frame.io for streamlined creative collaboration. Source: Adobe

🗞 Instagram’s Creator Subscriptions Options: Instagram is adding new elements to its creator subscriptions, including sticker tap insight, which provides creators with data on how much engagement their stickers draw in the app. Additionally, Instagram is expanding its subscription stories teaser display, showing non-subscribers when a creator has posted subscriber-only content and allowing them to sign up to view it. The platform is also adding new ways to prevent screenshots and screen recordings to help protect a creator's exclusive content. Source: Social Media Today

🗞 Possible TikTok Ban: In a memo to TikTok's United States staff, Michael Beckerman, the company's head of public policy for the Americas, stated that TikTok will fight in the courts if a US bill forcing a ban or divestiture of the Chinese-owned app is signed into law. The US House of Representatives has passed legislation requiring TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., to divest its ownership stake in the app on a fast track to becoming law. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill in the coming days, and President Joe Biden has said he will sign the legislation promptly. Source: Bloomberg

🗞 YouTube Updates: YouTube is introducing a thumbnail A/B test feature (currently in beta) by summer, clarifying its profanity policy with examples of extreme profanity that may prevent ads, and adding a "like" feature for Super Chats in live streams, displaying a like counter and animation on the ticker. Source: YouTube

Did You Know?

The 1-cent magenta stamp from British Guiana, issued in 1856, is the rarest in the world. Only a single stamp exists today.