We all want to be remembered and recommended. The best leads come via our contacts, because the ground work is already done; you’ll already have been talked up, so there’s less explaining to do. Your website can be a brilliant referrer too. Here’s how to make yourself memorable.

We worry that no one’s going to want to read what we’ve written. And we worry that if our writing lacks personality, that people will think we’re boring too. It’s a horrible confidence sapping feeling. Here’s how to improve your writing.

Goal setting in business is powerful but the details of those goals are often confined to spreadsheets. And I find it hard to get motivated by numbers on a spreadsheet. So here’s an exercise that combines goal setting with creative writing. It will help you uncover what you really want to achieve, and can help you chart a way to make it happen.

Even if you’re committed to the idea of creating content to build your business, when it comes to actually doing it, writing can feel like a huge chore. We find all kinds of excuses to avoid it. Whether it’s no ideas or no time, or something else entirely, it’s really easy to find a hundred reasons not to write. Here’s how to make content creation easier and more enjoyable.

We might wrap it up as a lack of time, or a lack of direction, or lack of need, but not marketing often boils down to the same thing - the fear of being seen. It’s a mindset thing. Marketing is the way you build a bridge to the business you want to run. Here’s another way of looking at it.

I’ve been having lots of conversations recently with people who are feeling overwhelmed. Whether it’s lockdown, work, lack of work, family dramas, fears about the future, there’s something about the restricted way we’re living at the moment that is prompting an uncomfortable feeling of overwhelm. Here’s how to counteract that, and write with kindness and clarity.

When it comes to telling stories to build your business, the founder or origin story is one of the most powerful. It can be the hook that pulls in investment, and the glow that attracts the best talent. Founder stories can make brands famous, with the owner’s personal story of how and why they started becoming part of business folklore.

Newsletters are a really useful tool in your content marketing toolbox. Probably the most important one. If you’re in the business of expertise you need somewhere to share your ideas with the world so that potential clients can find you.

But how do you create a newsletter that people will welcome and read?

A copywriter asks questions. What’s the most important thing to say here? What do you want people to do when they read this? How do you want people to feel? Good copywriters get inside the head of the ideal reader, just like you want to get inside the head of your ideal client. Think like a copywriter, and you’ll know just what to deliver to the people you serve.

In the old days stuffing your web copy with keywords might have fooled a search engine into ranking you highly, but it never tricked a reader into sticking around for long. The key to pleasing search engines and people is to create well targeted valuable content, written in a natural and engaging tone of voice.

In these turbulent times should you lower your rates or change your offer? Or should you keep holding out for your ideal clients? Tips for attracting your hero clients.

People have always named ‘finding the time’ as the biggest barrier to creating content. There are always so many other things to do when you’re running a business. ‘Finding the time to write’ slips all too easily down the to-do-list. Ideas to help you use your writing time to your best advantage.

I get it. You’re worried about your business, your life, the universe and everything. Emotional, stressed, overtired, trapped, anxious - you’re finding it hard to focus on anything, let alone writing for a business that’s feeling scarily precarious.

But if you want to write now - and there are lots of reasons why you might - here are some pointers on where to put your attention.

If you want to speak out clearly to a big handful of perfect clients, then you’ll be relying on your unique blend of experiences and expertise to create the story that will lead them towards you.

Here’s how to use content to spotlight your expertise and build your reputation.

Businesses that really connect with people put their clients and customers at the centre of all they do. How do you do that? By talking to the people you serve; asking them the right questions and listening hard. The single most useful thing that you can do to inform your marketing, and indeed your whole business, is to invest in customer feedback.

Building a reputation depends upon getting known. Do one thing well, draw a community around it and you’ll be on your way to building a brand.

But getting known for one thing depends upon you talking about that one thing, not just once, but for weeks and months and years. How can you do that without boring your audience, or, just as importantly, without boring yourself!

My new website is like the first few hours after a snowfall. The landscape is pure and white, and I can see exactly when people have stepped out into it and the route they’ve taken because their footsteps are starkly visible in my analytics. 

Did that headline get your attention? I hope it did. Writing effective headings is not easy. This one is very much of the “it does what it says on the tin” school — and that’s often no bad thing.

But when your audience is skimming through hundreds of emails, posts, tweets and blogs, how do you write headlines that grab their attention?

When there’s so much that you could say it can be hard to know where to focus your limited time. You know that digital marketing relies on creating and sharing a steady stream of content, but what content and when?

What does your business stand for? Would a manifesto help you tell your story? Here’s how to write a meaningful manifesto for your business.