The world is in a state of disruption. It appears everything we have known is changing, and changing fast. Chat GPT has grown quicker than any social media platform, website, or business in history. I first mentioned it on my podcast three months ago, as of today 4-10-2023 that is probably not a marketer on the planet that has not logged in and played with this technology. But it is just startinig in my opinion. HINT: In the next crypto bullrun watch what happens with the tokens of companies in the AI space, it is predictable as I talked about here. Anyway, this is an article worth reading. As a matter of fact all information but out by Gary Vee should be consumed in my opinion, if you can deal with his foul mouth, we can all learn from his Eistein level EQ.

Original Article for the Gary Vee Newsletter

Still not sure what Chat GPT is? Click here to learn more.

I’m super pumped for today’s blog post, all about ChatGPT. Many of you have heard me talk about this topic before, but in the new blog we’re gonna go much deeper into why ChatGPT and AI in general have me so excited.

I see all the DMs and comments from those of you who are scared or just don’t know what to think yet … I empathize with the skepticism because the reality is, this happens all the time.

Feelings of “fear” and “uncertainty” around new technology aren’t anything new.. I remember the same hysteria when the internet came around and I told people I was gonna sell my dad’s wine online … people thought I was crazy, but that’s the thing with technology. Everything is “crazy” until it’s not.

Let there be no confusion… AI is here. Many are scared or skeptical, but I hope we can soon agree that tools like ChatGPT are moving us forward, not back. If you’re still sleeping, it’s time to wake up!

Check out my latest blog for some tactical ways AI and ChatGPT can improve our lives and businesses 

ChatGPT is an insanely powerful tool that’s reshaping how we work, how we live, and how we do business. Whether you’re in marketing, education, healthcare, or even just posting on social media, AI is making moves, and it’s up to us to keep up or get left behind.

ChatGPT is an execution of AI that’s really profound. A lot of people who used it for the first time were completely blown away – for me, it made me feel the same way I felt when I first used a search engine. It’s like, wait, “I can get all the information from the world on this?” 

Some people have fears and hesitations around technological advancements like ChatGPT and AI as a whole. My hope in this blog post is to share a perspective on why technology on the whole is a positive thing for us, as well as how to use ChatGPT for your own professional success.

AI IS THE MODERN DAY TRACTOR

Back in 1997, I spoke at a Chamber of Commerce in New Jersey and I used this analogy: “If you’re the top salesman or saleswoman for Yellow Pages, you might wanna consider what Yahoo and Google are doing.” AI is going to do a lot of stuff, and it should. We need to adapt, just like we did back then.

People are always afraid of change. Remember when the tractor first came out? Most people were working on farms, and suddenly, everyone’s freaking out, thinking they’re out of jobs. But guess what? They found new jobs! That’s what we do as humans. We adapt, and we grow. AI is the tractor of our time, and we need to embrace it.

You can have any opinion you want on AI, but here’s the truth: technology doesn’t care about your opinion. It’s not gonna stop advancing. So, if you’re doing a job that AI is capable of doing soon, it’s time to think about that and prepare yourself for change and/or use it as a tool… meaning, many people who create copy or do design work who are scared of losing their job actually don’t realize that the “architect” of the “AI input” to the create copy or design is about to be a new job — one that might even pay you more. Use the tool, don’t fear the tool. 

I see so many people complaining about technology, but then they turn around and order from Seamless or UberEats. It’s hilarious! You love technology when it works for you, but you hate it when you think it’s not. We can’t have it both ways, folks.

We are in control. AI will create efficiency, and yes, it’ll make some jobs less valuable. But that’s been the story of humankind, right? We evolve, we adjust, and we find new opportunities. So don’t be scared of AI – understand it, and use it to your advantage. For example, when the internet came out, people told me retail jobs would be lost. Which is true. There are less people working inside of stores across the country. However, many of those individuals with those same exact skills are now working in warehouses doing fulfillment, or working in marketing teams doing sales flyers that just look like social media posts. Get it? 

AI is disrupting the commodity of execution, not the ideation behind it. In other words, AI might be disrupting the execution of certain tasks, but that just makes the ideas and creativity behind those tasks all the more important. ChatGPT can help write a blog post, but it’s still up to you to come up with the right blog ideas. Midjourney might be able to generate images, but it’s still up to you to come up with a concept that evokes emotion. 

I might come up with the idea to compare VeeFriends to wine, and then AI can help execute the idea. So, in the end, ideas and creativity rise to the top, while the commodity of execution shifts to the bottom. 

And that’s where we need to focus – on staying creative, innovative, and human. Below are some ideas on how to do exactly that. 

8 WAYS TO USE CHATGPT 

1. Write LinkedIn content to help get better job opportunities

LinkedIn is an absolute goldmine for building relationships and landing better job opportunities. ChatGPT can help you create killer content that showcases your expertise and thought leadership in your industry. You can enter prompts related to your field, and let ChatGPT generate insightful posts that’ll make your profile shine.

For example, if you’re a lawyer, you can try variations of prompts like, “Analyze the impact of recent legal developments on small businesses.” Meanwhile, if you’re a salesperson, try something like, “What are some effective sales strategies for closing deals in a remote work environment?” Or, “Write a few paragraphs about the role of empathy in building long-term client relationships.”

The key here is to use ChatGPT to uncover industry insights and demonstrate your knowledge, making you more attractive to potential employers and new job opportunities. You come up with the ideas that’ll resonate with people in your field on LinkedIn, and ChatGPT helps you write the content.

2. Write cold emails for outreach 

Especially when you’re early in your business journey, the best way to get revenue is by reaching out and respectfully grabbing it. Reaching out to people via email and DM is a big part of that, however, the tact in how you do it will completely be the variable of how successful you are.

For example, if you’re an influencer looking for brand deals, try prompts like, “Write an email to introduce myself as a fashion influencer to a clothing brand for a potential collaboration” or, “Write a pitch email for a partnership with a cosmetics company to promote their new product line.”

On the other hand, if you’re a sales rep for a company, use prompts like, “Introduce our software solution to a potential client experiencing productivity challenges” or, “Showcase the benefits of our consulting services to a small business owner looking to scale in 2 paragraphs.”

By leveraging ChatGPT to write personalized and effective cold emails, you’ll save time and increase your chances of successful outreach, landing brand deals, or closing new clients.

3. Write articles about nuanced topics in your field 

ChatGPT can help you create in-depth, well-researched articles on nuanced topics, establishing you as an expert in your field.

Give ChatGPT some prompts related to your industry, and it’ll generate a detailed, informative article that you can edit and publish. For example, if you’re a mortgage professional, you can use a prompt like, “Write an article that compares interest rates between 2008, 1974, and 1929.” ChatGPT will then create a comprehensive piece that highlights the differences and their implications on the mortgage market.

Similarly, if you’re a digital marketer, try a prompt like, “Analyze the impact of AI technology on digital marketing strategies” or, for an HR professional, “Discuss the benefits and challenges of remote work for employee engagement and company culture.”

You can use your expertise, knowledge, and combine that with what’s culturally relevant to the people you’re trying to reach. AI can help you save time so all you have to do is edit the article and add your nuances, instead of having to execute the entire thing from scratch. Again, the ideas are what matter in this new world of AI, execution is commoditized.

By using ChatGPT to write insightful articles on niche topics, you’ll save time on research and drafting, while solidifying your authority and expertise in your industry.

4. Analyze your social media messaging 

Here’s a fun one – you can use ChatGPT to analyze common words, phrases, and messaging in your content to find patterns in what works. 

For example, let’s say you’re trying to find similarities in the words you’ve used in your best tweets – you can feed ChatGPT a prompt like, “Write code that I can copy and paste into Google sheets which will analyze the most frequent words in a column.” You can even ask it to exclude common words like “the, a, an,” etc., so you get the most useful results. 

If you have your best tweets loaded into a spreadsheet, this could quickly help you identify the most common words and phrases that lead to engagement & reach. 

With that info, you can analyze for yourself why those words are working. That’s where the human side comes in.

5. Use it to facilitate education and learning

For those sitting on school boards or sitting on various boards of education, it’s time to embrace innovation and use it to your school’s advantage. Instead of fearing technology like ChatGPT, let’s leverage it to enrich our students’ learning experiences. The creativity and critical thinking involved in asking ChatGPT questions can be powerful tools in the learning process, like you’ve seen above in some of the examples so far in this article. 

It’s not 1987 anymore. With technology at our fingertips, students don’t need to memorize as much as they used to. We can now focus on teaching them real-life skills, critical thinking, and even emotional intelligence.

Here are some tactical examples of how boards can help & empower teachers to use ChatGPT in their classrooms:

1. Generate engaging lesson plans that incorporate current events and trends.
2. Create thought-provoking discussion questions to spark debates and conversations among students.
3. Develop real-life scenarios and case studies for students to solve using their newfound knowledge.
4. Use ChatGPT to create quizzes or assignments, allowing students to apply their learnings in new ways.

Embracing technology like ChatGPT opens up opportunities for more dynamic, engaging, and relevant education. Instead of fearing it, let’s figure out how to teach with it and prepare our students for the world they’re inheriting. After all, every 11-18 year old is already all over this! It’s a wrap.

6. Content Language translation 

This one’s for content creators who want to expand their content into different audiences in different countries. 

ChatGPT can easily translate written content into different languages, which you can use for blog posts or even captions on your social media videos. It’s as simple as feeding it a batch of text and asking it to translate into any popular language of your choice. 

7. Write SEO-friendly social media copy

Another helpful strategy for the content creators out there.. Try using ChatGPT to generate effective, platform-specific video titles and captions for your social media content. 

For example, you can use a prompt like, “Provide 3 YouTube Shorts titles following best SEO practices using the following excerpt…” and then include a brief theme from your video. You could even use ChatGPT to get specific hashtag recommendations related to your content.

8. Speed up data analysis 

ChatGPT can help you speed up data analysis, making it easier to draw insights and make informed decisions. For example if you work in marketing you could enter something like: “Analyze the performance of our latest email campaign and provide recommendations for improvement,” and feed it key details like your click through rate, subject line, and text.

TAKEAWAYS 

Whether you’re ready to get “on board” with AI or not, let there be no confusion – it’s here, and ChatGPT is just one of the ways that new technology will advance our lives and industries moving forward. 

Instead of fighting it, wouldn’t it be better to just say “yes,” or even “maybe”? Why not get curious about how you can use ChatGPT to streamline your work or make your processes quicker and more efficient? Technology isn’t “taking over the world,” it’s making the world better … just like the tractor, or the automobile, or hundreds of other technological advancements we use everyday – but that’s only if we as humans learn to adapt and work “with” it, not against it. 

GARY VEE HAS JOKEINGLY SAID MANY TIMES OVER THE YEARS “In the end the Robots kill us all and take over the world” honestly if you read Revelation in the Bible that is probably closer to the truth than most people really believe.

The post How Chat GPT is Changing the Game in 2023 first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

Here’s a doozy: Thanks to the ground breaking going on in generative AI, Goldman Sachs estimates that two-thirds of jobs in the US and Europe are exposed to automation (as per Financial Times).That prompts some intense questions — like, am I such an expendable being? 

And, is my Googling experience on the cusp of improving buckets?We spoke to Jasper’s Head of Enterprise Marketing Samyutha Reddy, who remains admirably optimistic.

Thoughts from the HubSpot blog: AI cannot replace the human experience…… but it will force digital specialists to adjustDemand for generative AI marketers will growExpect search engines to drastically shift (soon)We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again — time to put ’em to work.

Why AI Isn’t Replacing Our Jobs — Or Search Engines — According to Jasper’s Head of Enterprise Marketing

A couple years ago, artificial intelligence still seemed like a somewhat far-off, sci-fi version of reality. And it certainly didn’t seem like something that would completely transform how marketers work within the next few years.

But in 2023, generative AI is officially here, and it’s only growing. In fact, the generative AI market size accounted for over 7 billion USD in 2021, and it’s projected to occupy more than 110 billion USD by 2023 — growing at a CAGR of 34.3%.

All of which is to say: Generative AI is poised to completely disrupt — and elevate — business’ content strategies in 2023 and beyond.

And disruption of any kind can be scary. What does generative AI mean for the future of marketing? Will it replace us, or elevate us? And what about SEO? Will Googling be replaced with AI chatbots — and what does all that mean for content creation?

Here, I spoke with Samyutha Reddy, Jasper’s Head of Enterprise Marketing, to explore her perspective on whether AI will replace content creators, as well as SEO, in the future.

Let’s dive in.

Will AI Replace Marketers?

AI Augments The Human Experience — but It Doesn’t Replace the Human Within That Experience

Generative AI can research virtually any topic across the internet, and distill that research into original content. It can format that content as a blog post, email, Facebook ad, or something else, depending on the query.

Generative AI is still in its early stages, and it has some issues. The information it collects can be biased or simply false, and it doesn’t have the discernment of a real human to catch those inaccuracies.

But as generative AI continues to learn and grow, it makes sense that marketers are concerned. In the future, rather than needing a team of five or ten content creators, will you just need one — someone to fact-check the AI’s content?

Fortunately, Samyutha isn’t worried. In fact, even though her team currently uses generative AI on a daily basis, she’s still actively hiring and growing her team.

As she puts it, “AI augments the human experience, but it doesn’t replace the human within that experience. We value writers in our society because they’re able to give us a thought-provoking human perspective on the world. It isn’t just about summarizing facts that are out there. It’s about humans sharing opinions on very real topics that help build your perspective on how you feel about something. So an AI could really never replace that human perspective.”

However, AI Will Force Content Creators to Re-skill

Samyutha does acknowledge that AI will force content creators to re-skill, as aspects of their roles become more automated.

She told me, “I think it’ll force content creators to re-skill. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think that’s what every big shift in technology has done for humans.”

She adds, “I’ve never met a content creator who has said, ‘Wait. I really want to spend more time doing all the rote tasks of reading everything I need to know on the internet about a given topic.’ AI will give marketers more time to be creative, form an opinion, and incorporate more data sources into their perspectives.”

Rather than thinking of AI as a content creator replacement, it’s better to think of AI as a marketer’s efficient side-kick.

Consider this: A marketer decides she wants to write a topic about SWOT analysis. Rather than spending her morning chugging coffee and reading up on what SWOT analysis means, effective SWOT analysis examples, and how SWOT analyses can help businesses grow, she can simply plug the query into an AI chatbot.

Once she’s confirmed the sources the chatbot used to pull that information are accurate, she can quickly skim through the AI’s response and learn everything she needs to begin writing about the topic. She can even use the AI’s response as a first draft, and strengthen it with her own unique tone and perspective.

From there, she can leverage the AI’s proofreading skills to edit her final copy.

Additionally, if the marketer has written a piece of content that she’d like to turn into an entire campaign, she can use AI to re-format her blog post into corresponding ad copy and creative, which she can hand over to her sales and paid ad teams.

As Reddy puts it, “I can effectively hand over to sales an entire drip campaign, an entire outbound sequence, complete with landing pages, with the ads that people will click and see. And it really allows me to take control back on what it means to execute a campaign. It enables me to truly be a project manager and a strategist, versus someone who is waiting on other people to deliver their end of the bargain.”

Marketers Will Need to Become Experts in Select AI Platforms

Freelancing platform Upwork recently announced it added a new category, ‘Generative AI’, as a specialty within their marketplace.

This means business leaders can now hire freelance content creators who have expertise with a specific AI platform — and Reddy isn’t surprised.

She says, “AI has biases deeply embedded within its models that people are working on. AI has the tendency to hallucinate and start talking about random things when you’re asking it for outputs, so it would be really tough to just completely remove a human from the process.”

She continues, “Similar to how a marketer can level-up by becoming HubSpot or Salesforce certified, I think we’ll soon see marketers who demonstrate their value by saying, ‘Hey, I’m skilled in using generative AI platforms.'”

AI Will Eliminate Portions of the Creation Process – But it Will Also Elevate Marketers

Reddy admits, “I do think it will eliminate some portions of the content creation process.”

However, she’s quick to add, “I think AI will focus on elevating folks, and I think the angle you take matters on this whole generative AI front. If you’re a writer, content creator, or a marketer, you’ll want to ask yourself, ‘Am I going to be someone that embraces technology and figures out how to upskill myself and actually become the cream of the crop in terms of talent? Or am I going to be someone who pushes technology away, refuses to believe it’s happening, and clings onto an old way of life?’“

For Reddy, she sees marketers at the forefront of a tool that will ultimately upend all roles within a business, and she believes there’s great privilege in being the first to adopt it.

As she puts it, “I think there’s a certain power here that marketers can reclaim, and instead of being the victims in this story of ‘generative AI is coming for marketing’, I think we really reposition it as saying, ‘generative AI has landed in the most innovative portion of the enterprise: marketing.'”

She continues, “And we are now the stewards of this technology and how it’ll be used within the enterprise, and we get to pilot it and see how it can supercharge our work. And the folks who lean into being the stewards of this powerful technology will reap its benefits. I consider myself and our industry extremely lucky to to be in this position.”

Will Generative AI Replace Search Engines?

As more marketers and consumers use AI chatbots to get quick answers to common queries, it stands to reason that they’ll be leveraging search engines less often.

Reddy doesn’t see search engines going away, particularly since the information supplied on search engines is what powers generative AI results — but she does see it drastically changing.

As she puts it, “Search can help battle AI’s inaccuracies. For instance, Jasper has a function where you can toggle on Google search results. So if I say, ‘Jasper, help me write a paragraph about XYZ,’ it’ll write the paragraph, and at the bottom it’ll put in the Google search results it used while it helped me create that output. So I have factual links which I can cite, and fact-check to ensure they’re the most reliable piece of content on a given topic.”

She continues, “I don’t see search going away. I do see a future where I don’t necessarily want to type things into a search bar, and instead, I want to use chat functionality. That, I think, is imminent. And I think we’re already seeing that with the virality of Chat GPT. In just a couple of days, it’s become the fastest-growing consumer app.”

Ultimately, my conversation with Reddy felt positive and uplifting. As marketers, we don’t need to fear AI: We need to embrace it as technology that will help us do our jobs better.

And, personally, I’m all for any tool that minimizes the amount of time I spend researching, so I can get back to what really matters: creating content with the intention to move, inspire, or challenge readers’ to think differently.

The post Will AI replace marketers? Search engines? first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

We saw it with Ebay, Shopify Stores, The Flipping Domains Space, Crypto, and I we are seeing these suitcase ERC companies pop up at the time of this writing. For the record the ERC Opportunity is the best I have seen in 40+ years and self proclaimed network marketing gurus have all but destroyed that niche.

Unfortunately as time goes on the scams become more elaborate as many Kindle publishers are discovering and the article below outlines.

If peopel would just put their time, energy and effort that they do into scams into legitimate businesses the side gig opportunity space would be much better for everyone. But I learned a long time ago, liars are going to lye, and theifs are going to steal and it does me no good to try to figure out why.

 By Jason Hamilton
Originally Published at KindlePrenuer

There have been no shortage of scams throughout the years, and long-time Amazon authors will be familiar with many.

Seemingly, these scams cause trouble for everyone and are very difficult to deal with. Amazon has tried, and failed, multiple times.

And to make matters worse, when Amazon cracks down on the scam, it often affects legitimate authors as well.

Today we’re going to bring your attention to a newer type of scam, one that authors should be aware of, and give you tips on how to deal with them if you should fall victim.

In this article, you will learn:

1. About printing scams
2. About ebook pricing scams
3. Why Amazon is letting it happen
4. What we authors can do

Amazon FBA Scam

First, we have a problem that seems to have affected multiple authors, both independent and traditional.

What’s the Problem?

What appears to be happening is that cheap printing presses are printing inferior quality versions of someone else’s book, then selling them online through Amazon’s FBA system, as if they were the author.

Essentially, they are stealing our books, creating cheap products that they can sell for less, and then putting those on the marketplace.

Amazon often does not get wind of this, because it is being sold as a new or used copy, or with a name that is similar but slightly different than the author’s.

See this Twitter thread for an example of this scam in action:

Why Is This a Problem?

The obvious problem is that somebody else is selling your work and taking all of the profit, leaving you with nothing.

However, there are other implications as well. First and foremost, if a reader buys these cheaply-made books, they will likely notice the quality issues.

A poor quality book, even if you didn’t actually produce it, can lead to bad reviews of that book. At the very worst, it can turn a reader off from buying any of your books in the future.

You can try to fix this by explaining the situation, but the damage is likely already done.

Formatting Has Never Been Easier

Write and format professional books with ease.  Never before has creating formatted books been easier.Click here to see it in action

KU or Wide for Nonexistent Book Scams

Everyone knows that if you are enrolled in KDP Select to put your books in Kindle Unlimited, Amazon requires exclusivity. Well, turns out scammers are targeting this as well.

What’s the Problem?

The problem is that some scammers will take a book that is wide, create a copy, then put that copy in KU. On the flip side, they might take a book that is in KU, make a copy, then distribute it wide.

It’s entirely possible to have 2 ebook versions of the same book with the same title, author name, and cover, but with two different interiors. Therefore this situation may lead to a reader picking up the wrong version.

Why Is This a Problem?

In addition to the obvious loss of sales and potential bad reviews, there’s another glaring problem with this scam. If you are enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, and Amazon thinks that you’re distributing the book wide, you risk losing a lot of priveledges, including potentially having Amazon shut down your account (see our article on what to do if this happens).

In other words, you need to stay vigilant to identify these scams the moment they happen, so you can be proactive and tell Amazon about them before Amazon comes after you.

Cheaper Kindle Scams

Similar to both the above scams, Amazon is seeing counterfeit Kindle editions pop up here and there.

What’s the Problem?

Similar to the printing press problem, some authors are discovering that scammers are producing lower-quality copies of an ebook, then managing to link that ebook with a legitimate print edition of the book.

Since Amazon usually shows the cheaper edition of the book, this lower quality copy is often what Amazon will link to when someone is viewing the print edition. Then if someone clicks on the Kindle edition from the print screen, they end up on the wrong book.

But how can Amazon have two copies of the same Kindle edition?

The scammers are clever enough to create a book that is almost the same, usually with a different author name that is one letter off from the original, then tricking Amazon into linking that Kindle edition with one of your legitimate print editions.

It won’t always work, but the scam is so widespread that it can happen here and there.

See this Twitter thread for an example:

Why Is This a Problem?

Similar to the print scam, there are two problems with this Kindle scam.

First, you are not receiving any royalties from a Kindle ebook sold in this fashion.

Second, these copies are often poorly made, leading to potential bad reviews.

Why Is Amazon Letting This Happen?

Amazon is known for having frequent scams, and it has spent a lot of time and effort coming down on those scams, often to the detriment of real authors.

But does Amazon want this? After all, they earn a percentage of the royalties for all books sold on their platform, including the scam books. So do they really have an incentive to crack down on the scams?

First let’s ask this question: what are Amazon’s goals for their platform/product?

The answer is that Amazon wants to create the best shopping experience for the end user/consumer. Their mission statement says they focus on the customer rather than the competitor, and that they strive to be “Earth’s most customer-centric company.”

They want to be the best online shopping experience.

With that in mind, a lot of Amazon’s past decisions make sense. Authors are not always happy with the changes the Amazon incorporates into their platform, but usually it is a benefit to the consumer.

In that context, we know that Amazon definitely wants to remove the scammers from their platform. Why? Because every scam reduces the level of trust between Amazon and the consumer. It makes Amazon look bad.

And even though some of these scams do actually make Amazon a little money, it hurts them in the long run. When a scam is successful, everyone loses: the author loses, the reader loses, and even Amazon loses.

Book Marketing Made Simple

Over 47,000+ authors, NYT bestsellers, and publishing companies use Publisher Rocket to gain key insight to the market. Help your book now

So why do these scams keep happening?

The true answer is likely that Amazon KDP simply lacks the funding (books are a tiny sliver of Amazon’s overall business) or whatever resources that are required to properly fix the problem. Doing so would likely require large changes to their infrastructure, and changes like that require time and money.

Plus, there is the problem that every time Amazon brings down the hammer on scammers, it often smashes a few legitimate authors as well. So not only do they need to fix the problem, but they have to do so in a way that minimizes collateral damage.

In short, this is not an easy problem to fix.

I have no doubt that Amazon wants to fix it, and are taking steps to do so, but scammers create more fires faster than Amazon can put them out.

So a lot of the responsibility falls to us. Which brings me to my next point.

What Can Authors Do?

There are two steps that authors should take to fight against these scammers:

1. Keep Amazon informed
2. Immediately discover when you are being scammed

Let’s take those two actions and expand on them…

1. Keep Amazon Informed

The first and obvious action is that if we discover we are being scammed, we need to inform Amazon immediately.

You can do this by consulting them in their KDP contact page, going to Content and rights notifications, then clicking on Report copyright infringement.

Amazon isn’t always fast at responding to these things, but with a little patience it can be done.

2. Discover When You Are Being Scammed

The best way to know if you’re being scammed is to watch out for unexpected price changes that you had nothing to do with.

While Amazon can sometimes reduce the price of your book as part of a sale, even without you knowing, a price change can still be a good indicator that you might have a scam.

Additionally, any bad reviews might indicate that a reader got a scammed version of a book, so you should watch out for your negative reviews for reports of horrible formatting and the like.

Thankfully, there is a tool that makes this process a lot easier: ReaderScout.

ReaderScout is a new chrome plug-in that will continuously monitor your books looking for price changes and new reviews.

All you have to do is add your books to ReaderScout Chrome plugin, and it will check your books every 24 hours.

That way, you can act immediately when a scam occurs.

Read our full ReaderScout review for more on its features and the benefits you get from using it.

The best part is, ReaderScout is completely free, so you don’t have to worry about another costly tool for authors.

Plus, in addition to staying vigilant against scams, it also saves you a lot of time.

The post Amazon Printing Press and Pricing Scams: What Authors Need to Know (When a Market Gets Hot!) first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

Want to close deals like a pro? Be a strategist and create a deeper bond with your clients.

Handwritten notes command a staggering 90% open and read rate and 5 times the response of normal direct mail.

Shorten sales cycle with a thoughtful handwritten note just for them.Make a more trusted relationship, one they would love to be part of.

Whether you’re sending to one or thousands, we make it easy. Book a demo today and watch new clients roll in

Use our handwritten-notes platform to break through to prospects and customers with a 90% read rate and 5 times the response of normal direct mail. 

Use our personalized marketing platform to break through to prospects and customers. Our customers drive 6x higher response rates and build deeper, stronger and more trusted relationships.

Our platform combines robotic handwritten notes with precision-targeted lead generation and digital-marketing follow up. Whether you’re a real-estate agent or Shopify site, SaaS company or car dealer, our platform helps you shorten sales cycles, close more deals and form a meaningful bond with prospects and customers.

After all, when all you get is spam email and junk direct mail, it’s nice to receive a thoughtful handwritten note, created just for you.

Handwritten mail wields the rare ability to break through, capture attention, drive action and accelerate deals.

Whether you’re a real estate agent (broker or realtor), insurance, mortgage or title-insurance broker, wealth manager (private banker), roofer, pest control company, winery, solar panel installer, online retailer, shopify eCommerce site, high-end luxury fashion brand, auto dealer, fundraising (non-profit), education or software (SaaS company), send a handwritten letter, thank you note or thank you card.

Handwritten direct mail has long been an effective way to build relationships with buyers and customers, but the channel has been inefficient and difficult to scale.

Until now, that is… 

Meet Our Handwriting Robots

Our machines hold real pens and write with precise pressure, slant and flow.

They mimic the nuances of the human hand, rendering your personalized message in a font style you choose that fits your brand and personality. 

We write your message on a thick-stock note card, which we print on demand with your logo and artwork. Or simply upload or drag-and-drop images or photos of your choice.

Our robots even add slight variations to each character. They also leave subtle blemishes and the telltale imprint of a pen pressed down on paper.

We print, write, stamp, seal and send via first-class mail all in one business day.

Make Sales Success Inevitable

Built to Help You Grow

There are many ways to use us to grow your business:

• Break through to cold prospects.
• Follow up after meetings.
• Motivate prospects to sign contracts.
• Welcome new customers.
• Reward high-value customers.
• Reactivate dormant customers.
• Celebrate milestones.
• Give thanks for referrals.
• Warm up leads before trade shows.
• Follow up after trade shows.
• Say thanks for a donation.
• Appreciate channel & other partners.
• Commend, console & thank employees.
• Ease the aftermath of a tough meeting.
• Drive upsells and cross-sells.
• Share promo codes.
• Recover abandoned carts.
• Invite to events and webinars.
• Trigger drip sequences from sales reps.
• Include a gift card with any note.
• Send holiday greetings.

As Easy as Sending a Text

We’ve made handwritten marketing easy.

In the time it takes to send a text, use our web application to trigger a note on your custom stationary.

Show an extra level of thoughtfulness by including a gift card from Starbucks, Amazon and other merchants. Also, get unlimited warehouse storage for business cards and other inserts, which we can add to any of your notes.

If you’re sending to multiple recipients, email or upload a spreadsheet. Or import your audience with our seamless integrations.

You can use our web application or work with your Customer Success Rep to configure trigger-based campaigns in just minutes.

Easily customize your content based on who you’re talking to. Send a totally personalized note or add custom variables such as name, company and product. Just like email, no one wants to receive a note that isn’t relevant to them.

Create your own message or easily select from hundreds of winning letter templates for any situation.

Whether you’re sending to one or thousands, we make it easy.

Track Performance

With our system, you can track ROI by measuring lift in lifetime value and conversions from audience segments that received notes versus your control group.

Or we can insert unique promo codes and tracking URLs. Quickly tweak your notes and postcards for different audiences.

Then after you have it perfect and it works, put it on auto-pilot.

Grow Faster and Leave a Long-Lasting Impression

We help you grow your business and leave a long-lasting impression in a way that’s surprisingly easy and cost-effective.

Use our platform to break through to prospects, drive conversions, increase retention and deliver a rare, one-on-one experience.

Most of all, add a personal touch to your sales process to close the distance between you and the people who matter.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS SERVICE

The post Promote and Follow-Up with Handwritten Notes first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

By Keith Dougherty, Contributor #1 Best-Selling Real Estate Expert, Speaker, Performance Coach, Host of Top Agent Radio, and founder of KeithDougherty.com

Most small business owners have very unique skills and expertise but sometimes they are a secret to the world around them. That is why it is important to do something a bit unique and to stand out from common sales and marketing tactics that a business typically does. One thing that most business owners can do is to write a book. In your book you should be an advocate for your market. You should provide a system of help and guidance and become someone that your ideal customer would look to for advice.

This not only builds your credibility , but there could be financial benefits as well. In fact, potential customers might prefer buying products and services from a published author, as they would feel that you are an expert in the field. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the benefits that come with writing your own book.ADVERTISEMENT

1. Establish Credibility

One of the first ways writing a book helps you, and your business is that a book gives you more credibility. If you look around you, and you think of people that you consider experts why do you consider them an expert. Most of the time when someone sees that an individual has published a book on a certain topic that leads them to believe that that person is an expert on that topic. The perception in today’s culture is to assume, and yes I know what the word assume can mean, but what you have to realize here is that people perceive you as the expert when you have the book. You are viewed as a credible source and an authority figure in that market.

2. Increase Visibility and Publicity

Anyone can use traditional advertising and marketing to try and gain attention, but when you share information in your field of expertise you can stand out from everyone else and be looked up to as an authority figure. With becoming a published author there could be opportunities for appearances on your local radio and television stations to speak on your subject matter. Now, not only would you be consider an expert in you field as a published author, but with media appearances you can become somewhat of a “local celebrity.” What do you think this will do for your business?

3. Command Higher Prices

Let’s look at the example of going to a general practice doctor. If you see a general practice doctor, they handle everything. When they see you, the figure out what your problem is and usually refer you to a specialist. The specialist only works on one part of the body. Because that doctor only works on one part of the body, they are an expert and they get paid more than a general practice doctor. This is no different in any business out there, when you are seen as the expert, as the authority figure in your industry you can command higher prices for your business.

4. Open Doors to Anyone

Another way you can utilize your book is to use it to get your foot in the door with a potential client. There are a few different ways that you can implement this tactic but to me, the easiest is to utilize Amazon directly. Once your book is published and live on Amazon you can order a copy of your book and have it sent anywhere you like as a gift. How many people do you think don’t like to receive gifts in the mail especially surprise gifts that they aren’t even expecting?ADVERTISEMENT

I just order a copy of my book, and I’ll have it sent directly to a CEO or decision maker of a company that I’m trying to get in the door with. The great thing with Amazon is that actually gift wrap your item. When the potential client receives this item from Amazon they open it and inside the box is a wrapped present. Of course, we also include a nice little note saying that we thought they couldn’t gain value from having our book, so we had one sent directly to them as a gift.

What I do is when I want to meet a potential client, I will jump over to Amazon and send out a copy of my #1 best selling book, Publish to Profit. It gets sent to the person and I just follow up in a few days after I know it has been delivered.

Think about the power of what you can do without sales and marketing or running any traditional advertising. You become the go to person, the one people seek out, the one that everyone wants to work with.

As you can see by writing your own book, you can stand out from your competition by establishing credibility, getting increased visibility and publicity and being able to increase your prices accordingly.

The post How To Rise Above Your Competition as a Business Owner & Entrepreneur first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

The post Why he left EVERYTHING to start a physical products brand… | Derek Halpern first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

From SmartMarketer.com

By Molly Pittman | March 3, 2021

Any marketer or media buyer who knows their stuff will tell you copywriting is vitally important.

But it can also be HARD—especially when “write compelling ad copy” is just one of a dozen urgent things on your to-do list.

If that sounds like a familiar struggle, this blog post is for you.

I’m going to share 5 copywriting formulas that I use ALL the time to help me write high-converting ad copy as quickly and consistently as possible.

And while I’m specifically talking about ad copy here, keep in mind that these formulas can be adapted for emails, sales page, and really anywhere you need to connect with your customers.

Disclaimer: no formula or template can ever produce awesome copy 100% of the time without some tweaking and editing from you. There’s way too much specificity that needs to go into good ad copy.

But these formulas work amazingly well as a starting-off point to get you headed in the right direction. And once you’ve gone through the formula, it’s often a simple task to just tweak the details to better fit with your product or service.

Now that we’ve got the disclaimer out of the way, let’s get to the copywriting formulas!

Copywriting Formula #1: Describe Your Customer’s PAIN and BENEFIT

Pain and benefit. These are two fundamental aspects of copywriting.

The “pain” refers to the problem that your product serves. For instance, if you sell aspirin, the pain might be literal pain—like a headache.

The “benefit” is the way in which your product or service improves the customer’s life in some way by solving that problem or eliminating that pain. In our aspirin example, it makes the headache go away.

Make sense?

Here’s an example I’ve used to illustrate this concept before:

Pain: your dog is out of control.

Benefit: learn how to teach your dog to calm down on command.

Here’s another ad that uses this formula:

>

Pain: you’re losing customers.

Benefit: use OptinMonster and you’ll convert abandoning visitors into subscribers.

See how easy this can be?

Here’s one more:

In this case, they don’t share the benefit in the ad. But it’s the first thing you read in the headline of the landing page:

Pain and benefit work really well together to paint a before/after image that can deliver a nice, concise story about the value of your product.

Copywriting Formula #2: Describe How Your Customer Will FEEL

A lot of beginning copywriters resort to the standard formula of focusing on what the customer will HAVE after they buy your product. Maybe they’ll have a nice car or a beautiful lawn, for instance.

But you can often make your copy more powerful by taking that one step further and delving into their emotional state. Really think about how your product or service will make your customer FEEL, then write that into your ad copy. Maybe that nice car or beautiful law makes them feel proud, or successful, or elegant, for example.

Take a look at this ad for a vacation shirt by Chubbies:

Everything about this ad screams FUN—which exactly how you want to feel on vacation!

I love this one from Organifi:

Here they paint a picture of how it will feel to get compliments about how great you look—after using their product, of course. (This is also a clever way of getting around Facebook’s rules against using before-and-after pictures or guarantees for weight loss products.)

I always recommend throwing in an emotional ad to your mix, because there will always be a portion of every market that responds to more emotional messaging.

Copywriting Formula #3: Improve Your Customer’s AVERAGE DAY

The thing I love about this copywriting formula is that it forces you to get specific and make your benefits as concrete as possible, so that they feel real and immediate.

For example, “pain relief” is a benefit (as we learned in formula #1)…but it’s vague. Unspecific. Not especially compelling.

“Imagine being able to take your grandchildren to the park without being distracted by pain—you can put all your attention on their sweet faces and enjoy this time together.”

Now that’s a much more specific and compelling story. One that can really get your prospects to visualize themselves using your product and reaping its benefits in their day-to-day lives.

Here’s an example from Hired:

They could have just said, “Want a new job?”

But they didn’t. Instead, they spoke to the everyday feeling of watching the clock because you’re in an unsatisfying job.

It’s just a single detail, but it’s a telling one—one that speaks to their avatar.

This Lyft ad uses copy in a GIF to describe a common daily event for millions of people:

I love that detail about driving a figure-8 around the parking lot and questioning all your life decisions—it does a great job of capturing the frustration you get when you can’t find a parking spot. Makes that Lyft ride seem a lot nicer by comparison, doesn’t it?

And speaking of comparisons…

Copywriting Formula #4: Make a COMPARISON

Sometimes, the easiest way to explain your product is to compare it to something else that your target customers are already familiar with.

For instance: “It’s like AirBnB, but for dogs.” That’s a comparison that will tell people what your service does much faster than trying to explain it.

In this example, Home Chef uses creative imaging to compare the number of meal options they offer compared to their competitors:

If you’ve tried Blue Apron or HelloFresh before, but not Home Chef, well—wouldn’t this ad make you intrigued to check them out?

Here’s another from Heap Analytics:

In this ad, they describe Heap as a more modern version of Google Analytics—a message that will instantly make sense and resonate with their target market. Great example of an ad that explains a product by comparing it favorably to a more commonly used tool.

Copywriting Formula #5: Tell Your Customer A STORY

This is another copywriting formula I use all the time. Because guess what, guys?

Stories are powerful.

Stories are compelling.

People love hearing stories, and we never get tired of them. (Just ask Netflix.)

And if you can communicate the benefits of your product or service through a story, that’s often an incredibly powerful way to grab your prospect’s attention and get them interested.

Here’s another ad from Organifi. In this one, they share the personal story of how their product changed one customer’s life:

Ads like these can be very powerful because they provide social proof and authenticity…especially when they combine text and video, like this one does.

You can get creative with this! There are lots of ways to tell stories in your ads.

Here, MindTitan uses the carousel to tell a sort of story about how you can use AI to grow your business:

Ads like this are great for engagement, since they encourage people to scroll through the different cards to see the end.

In this ad, Teabox tells a story through video:

And of course, you can simply tell a story in the primary text of your ad. This is definitely the easiest way to get started and get proof of concept that the story resonates with your audience.

Here’s an example from Billie:

I often include some story ads with my campaigns because, similar to copywriting hook #2, there’s usually a segment of every market that loves consuming stories.

Use These Copywriting Formulas to Get Started

The thing I love about formulas like these is that they take something that can seem difficult and confusing to a lot of people (copywriting), and they simplify it by getting you to focus on just one specific aspect of your product.

So what should you do now?

By all means, if one of these formulas jumps out at you, use it! That’s probably a sign that it’s a good fit for you.

But don’t stop there.

Remember that different types of people will respond to different types of ads. Using a variety of angles and hooks will help your ads appeal to more people, which will make it easier to scale your campaigns up and grow your business.

The post 5 Copywriting Formulas I Use All The Time To Quickly Write Compelling Copy That Converts first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.

My basic philosophy always has been and always will be authenticity is more valuable than copy writing, funnels, or any other marketing method. With that said, I believe understanding basic copywriting skills is good use of time for all entrepreneurs.

With that said, here are some basic hooks to grab prospects attention through articles or videos.  Just caution yourself to not depend on hooks, depend on authenticity and your ability to provide real value to your customers.

“The ROI on time spent mastering this skill is 

superior to just about all else.”

I’m talking about writing.

So, let me ask you…

• Do you feel like you’re no good at writing?
• Are you staring at a blank page trying to figure out where to begin?
• Does just the thought of writing a 1200 word “article or blog” give you a headache?

You’re about to get your hands on my very best…

Content Writing Tips For Beginners

With the Simple 3-Step HLC Formula you’re about to learn, you’ll be cranking out killer content in no time!

You’ll learn:

• 5 key things you’ll want to keep in mind every time you write an article, blog post or piece of content for a website.
• a simple “works-every-time” 3-part formula for writing well-structured and engaging content.
• how to provide valuable, relevant and engaging information in everything you write
• AND… how to create content that both your prospects and google will love.

Read on and Watch the Video here.

Not totally convinced this is for you?

Listen to this…

“Copywriting is one of the highest paid (and highest leverage) activities you can do in your business.

The ROI you get from every hour you spend studying and practicing your craft will be higher than the majority of other things you do in building your business.”

– M Lloyd

If you’re writing a blog post, an article for LinkedIn, or content for a page on a website you want to provide valuable, relevant and engaging information.

AND… you want to be sure Google can find it!

Here’s Your Google & Prospect Optimized Article, Blog & Website Content Writing Format

5 Key Things Google is looking for:

1. Structure:  Google loves structure.  And so do your prospects.
2. Rich Content:  Google is looking for rich content.  To optimize any article, blog, or web page it should be a minimum of 1000 words. Even better if your content has 1200 – 1500 words.
3. Relevancy:  Content that is relevant to your page name and headline is a must.  Google, just like social media sites, is looking for your readers to spend time with your content. 
4. If your prospect is coming to your content expecting to find a review of the top 5 vegan skill care brands and finds an article about why your vegan shampoo or deodorant is so great, you’ll lose your readers very quickly.  You’ll have a high abandon rate, and this will hurt you in the Google rankings, or the LinkedIn algorithm.
5. Keyword optimization:  Each page on your website, article, or blog should be keyword optimized with one H1 tag and multiple H2 tags (approximately 5-10).
6. Recency:  Google and LinkedIn love content that is new or updated.  Updating an article, blog post, or page on your website you wrote six months ago is going to help boost you in the search rankings.  Adding new content on a regular basis is even better.

How To Start Content Writing With…

The Simple 3-Step Content Creation Formula

Hook

List

Call-to-action

Follow this simple “works-every-time” 3-part structure of a blog post for writing easy, eye catching and engaging content.

This formula works perfectly for your:

• website content template
• blog content template
• LinkedIn article content template

In every piece of content, you’re going to:

• Tell them what you’re going to tell them – the hook.
• Tell them – the list or content.
• Tell them what you told them – the summary and call to action.

STEP 1.  The Hook – Tell them what you’re going to tell them.

Start every piece of content with a “hook” which grabs your readers attention and tells them what’s in it for them to stay on your page and read the information.

In the “hook” you want to tell your prospect how you’re going to solve their problem.

Let them know how you are going to help them move…

• away from their pain and/or
• towards their pleasure

Types Of Hooks For Writing

1. Question Hook
2. Strong Statement/Declaration Hook
3. Fact/Statistic Hook
4. Metaphor/ Simile Hook
5. Story Hook
6. Description Hook
7. Quote Hook
8. The Promise Hook
9. The Intrigue/Mystery Hook

There are a variety of examples of hooks in writing.

For more information on these check out this article. 

You can use multiple hooks at the opening of your content, like I did with this article.

I started with the quote hook and followed it with 3 question hooks.

I drew you in further with a promise hook.  I “promised”…

“You’re about to get your hands on my very best Content Writing Tips For Beginners”.

I continued with the intrigue hook…

“With the Simple 3-Step HLC Formula you’re about to learn”

What’s the HLC Formula???  I’ve got to know that!

And I threw in another promise hook…

“you’ll be cranking out killer content in no time!”

Who doesn’t what that?  Right!!!!

Through out the whole hook in this article I was telling you what I was going to tell you.

I also rounded it off with a bullet point list of what you’ll learn.  (Did I mention Google loves structure and lists?  And so do your prospects.)

Just in case you weren’t totally sure this was for you… which obviously you are now or you wouldn’t be here…

I threw in another question hook.

• “Not totally convinced this is for you?”

And I ended with another quote hook.

STEP 2.  The List – Tell them.

The ideal structure of a blog post.

It’s important to have great website content structure.

Throughout this article I’ve structured all of the information in lists.

And sometime lists within a list.

Think of your content in blocks.

Each block will have a headline.

Under the headline might be a list introducing…

• The 3 Steps
• The 5 Key Ingredients
• The 7 Most Important…

This is followed by a sub-headline, which is followed by content/information.

It’s also important to make use of images, illustrations, charts, graphics or infographics in each section of the content.

Here’s my EASY Blog Structure Template.

Title of Article

(Hook)

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, eam oblique iuvaret aliquam eu, mea appareat delicata referrentur ex. Ut saepe nominati interpretaris usu, in vim quod delectus, in eum sale vulputate suscipiantur. At ius augue rationibus. Id interesset scriptorem adversarium eum, ei mea vivendo accumsan honestatis. Ad vix graece ridens reprimique, vel atqui facete ad.

(List/Content)

Headline

Subhead – Step 1

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, eam oblique iuvaret aliquam eu, mea appareat delicata referrentur ex. Ut saepe nominati interpretaris usu, in vim quod delectus.

in eum sale vulputate suscipiantur. At ius augue rationibus. Id interesset scriptorem adversarium eum, ei mea vivendo accumsan honestatis.

Subhead – Step 2

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, eam oblique iuvaret aliquam eu, mea appareat delicata referrentur ex. Ut saepe nominati interpretaris usu, in vim quod delectus.

in eum sale vulputate suscipiantur. At ius augue rationibus. Id interesset scriptorem adversarium eum, ei mea vivendo accumsan honestatis.

Subhead – Step 3

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, eam oblique iuvaret aliquam eu, mea appareat delicata referrentur ex. Ut saepe nominati interpretaris usu, in vim quod delectus.

in eum sale vulputate suscipiantur. At ius augue rationibus. Id interesset scriptorem adversarium eum, ei mea vivendo accumsan honestatis.

Repeat the Subhead, list/content & image as many times as you need to.

(Call-to-action)

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, eam oblique iuvaret aliquam eu, mea appareat delicata referrentur ex. Ut saepe nominati interpretaris usu.

in vim quod delectus, in eum sale vulputate suscipiantur. At ius augue rationibus. Id interesset scriptorem adversarium eum, ei mea vivendo

accumsan honestatis. Ad vix graece ridens reprimique, vel atqui facete ad.

STEP 3.  The Call-to-Action – Tell them what you told them.

A summary can be short and simple, and it can lead your prospect directly into your call-to-action.

Here’s an example:

Use this Simple 3-Step HLC Formula…

Hook

List

Call-to-Action

And you’ll be cranking out killer content in no time!

To learn how to IGNITE Your Business, and use this Content Writing Made EASY to

The post Content Writing for SEO Made EASY! first appeared on cmgdigitalproperty.com.