Did you see this article circulating in The Financial Times last month?

It's interesting, isn't it?

That the emails and replies we send are polluting the environment.

All of those "thank-you's" and "will-do's" clogging up data centres. 

On the other hand, it sounds a bit like clap-trap, and I'm sure there are much more impactful ways to tackle climate change than emails of all things.

Let's face it, there are much bigger fish to fry (or not, as it were!)

But, saying that, it did make me think about when to reconsider sending an email.

So, before you hit send, ask yourself these questions:

Okay, okay, hear me out.

I know this one is going to raise some eyebrows and possibly spark a bit of anger (hey, don’t shoot the messenger!)

If you’ve worked with me before, you’ll know I’m a huge advocate for organic marketing.

But I haven’t ever really explained why.
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So, here goes. 

Read time: 5 minutes

If you follow @Adm1nAngelsUK on Twitter, you might have noticed that I was busy helping out with #SelfPubCon last weekend.

The Self-Publishing Advice Conference is a twice-annual event run by the fantastic Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). It’s a 24-hour conference for indie authors and writers, packed full of advice, support, workshops and talks from 24 top industry speakers.

Sadly, the free SelfPubCon period has now ended, but you can get yourself a pass by visiting the website, which also gives you access to all previous conferences.
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This time around, the conference was all about the Top 100 Tools for Indie Authors, and I was asked to provide three of my favourite tools. 

When the Coronavirus became a Pandemic and the UK went into lockdown, I stopped marketing my services, as did a lot of people. 

While I was conscious about still needing to earn money, I didn't want to come across as heartless, unfeeling, money-grabbing or desperate.

So, I hung back for a little while, unsure of how to move forward. 

But the truth is that, pandemic or not, we all need money to survive.
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Want to know a secret?

​Are you finding it difficult to 'stand out' now that everyone seems to be online?

All of a sudden, our virtual world seems more crowded than ever before as, thanks to the current pandemic, more and more people are noticing the value and importance of online marketing. 

Shops that used to operate physically are now launching eCommerce stores, authors who used only consignment printing are now turning to print-on-demand services and eBooks, and Zoom has become the fastest growing video meeting provider. 

So, how do you stay seen amidst all of this noise?

​Are you still marketing?

No?

Well, you should be.

Yes, everything's a bit up in the air at the moment as the current pandemic forces us all to change the way that we live, work and communicate.

Many of us are facing a loss of income, new challenges, such as suddenly working alongside our children, and an uncertain future.

But that doesn't mean we should stop all our efforts.
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Let’s face it, we haven’t worked this hard to stop now, and if we still want to have a business when the lockdown is over, we need to keep working at it.

There’s nothing worse than dreading the journey to work because you know your marketing team isn’t quite as ‘on it’ as they used to be.
 
It’s a crushing feeling - particularly when you’re so invested in the business yourself.
 
What gives? Why do they appear to be so unproductive when they were once flying high and smashing every target?
 
Fear not, for there are some smart, tried-and-tested methods you can adopt to rejuvenate your flagging marketing team, and I’d like to share them with you today.

.A recent study published by the Journal of Advertising Research found that events have a considerable impact on fostering a ‘positive brand experience’ amongst consumers, and that people who had attended a brand’s event ultimately ‘gave more value to that brand’. The evidence shows that, with careful and strategic planning, events are an incredibly powerful marketing tool for businesses of any size or industry.
 
In this post, we highlight seven essential reasons why events should be part of your marketing strategy.

​Instagram currently has over 1 billion monthly active users and 500 million daily active users posting millions of photos, videos and comments. To search for any particular person, personality or place would be akin to looking for a needle in a haystack but for Instagram search.
 
Listing in online yellow pages is a great way to get local/global exposure for your business, another smart way is by harnessing the power of Instagram search.
 
Instagram search is like the Google of Instagram where you can search for and find anything on Instagram particularly people, places and performing hashtags. It allows you to find whatever you're looking for (or anything close to it).
 
Learning how to use Instagram search will help you improve your Instagram search game which comes with benefits like increased:

• Visibility
• Mentions
• Likes
• Comments
• Traffic
• Leads
• Sales
• Customers, etc

 
In this post we'll share 5 easy ways to optimize your Instagram profile and posts for Instagram search.