George Kao's Blog, page 17
October 6, 2020
Why hasn't LinkedIn been working for your business?
I’m about to teach a revamped version of my popular course about LinkedIn.
For those thinking “I’ve used LinkedIn but it hasn’t worked for me”, this article is for you.
You probably have a LinkedIn account. So do most of the people you know who’ve had a professional life in the past 2 decades.
Since there are 700 million accounts on LinkedIn, making it the largest, searchable professional networking platform, why isn’t it working for you professionally?
There are only 2 reasons:You’re not really u...
October 2, 2020
The 3 Stages of Content
A common mistake that I see from aspiring content creators. Maybe you have done this too:
You have an idea that inspires you… so you think that it must also excite other people, too. Understandable!Therefore you put lots of time (and maybe money) into packaging that idea into a book… or course… or you create an amazing video after a lot of hard work.
You share it with the world.
What usually happens?
Far less response than you hoped for…
You just fell for a core human bias — to be inside your own h...
September 29, 2020
Isn’t there already too much content online?
Should you add to the noise?
How can you stand out?
Think about this:Every year, there are more books published than anyone can consume in several lifetimes… so should people stop writing books because there are “too many” of them?
Should people stop creating and sharing their art because there’s already so much?
Apply that answer to your own content:
Of course you shouldn’t stop creating and sharing.In fact, the solution to “too much content” isn’t to ask everyone to make less (because creators won...
September 25, 2020
Don’t try to get attention. Be yourself and see who shows up.
In marketing, we typically learn about the importance of getting people’s attention.
To try to stand out, to be more charming, to be more persuasive.
But that’s not what I’m trying to do...If anything, I’m trying to blend in. I know that my ideal audience will spot me, even in a sea of social media posts.
Being flashy tends to get unwanted attention. Irrelevant comments. More spam. It may seem like more followers, yet strangely, still poor sales in one’s business.
Your audience may grow in the wro...
September 22, 2020
Why I don’t protect my writings
I don’t worry about anyone — or any company — repurposing my writings and using it in whatever way they want.
Sounds bold, but it actually gives me peace of mind and inspires more creativity.Disclaimer: This article is based on my own experience. The recommendations don’t serve as legal advice. It may even be terrible legal advice, so take it with a large grain of salt.
Recently there’s been some uproar in the Medium.com community around their updated terms of service. Even before they added cl...
September 21, 2020
All of my content is uncopyrighted :)
10 years ago, I made the decision to put all my content into the Creative Commons… specifically, the "CC0" license (No...
Posted by George Kao, Authentic Business Coach on Friday, May 17, 2024
I used to be in fear that people would steal my content 😥
I would make sure my content had a clear “copyright” notice.
And when I was surfing social media, I would be vigilant about whether people in my industry were using “my” ideas…
It was tiring. And eventually, I realized that it...
September 15, 2020
"Why isn't my audience buying?"
I used to believe in the conventional marketing idea that if the audience isn’t buying, it’s because they haven’t seen your offer enough times.
The rule of 7 is that a prospective buyer needs to see your marketing message at least 7 times before they truly decide whether to buy.
From my decade of marketing experience — especially the past 5 years of consistent rhythm of offers — I haven’t found this idea to be true... Most buyers see my offer 1–3 times before signing up, if they sign up at all.
I...
September 11, 2020
5 Factors for Successful Content
To reach more people and make a deeper impact with your message, work on improving these 5 factors in your content.
Use this list as an audit of your content marketing. Make gradual improvements and you’ll see better results over time.Care
How do we get our audience to care about our content?
By showing that we care about them.
How do we do this?
By getting to know them more deeply, and thus, actually caring!
In the first couple of years of my audience-building, I did an audience research conversat...
September 8, 2020
Creating Content as Generous Service vs. Manipulative Strategy
“Where is the line between strategy and manipulation?” asked a dear client. “Doesn’t it make sense to post about a certain topic in advance if I want to sell a course about it? Some bloggers have a whole schedule of content and events leading up to their launch… is that manipulation, or just good strategy?”
What is strategy anyway?“Strategy” is a series of planned steps intended to cause a calculated change. When that careful calculation is to influence other people for our own benefit — withou...
September 4, 2020
Create Quality via Quantity
This principle has been essential to my success.
How do I make great content?
By making more content, and observing what spreads.
How do I improve my skills?
By working with more clients, and noticing who grows the most.
True learning comes from action — we build muscles by doing things, not just reading about them.
It takes quantity of action to develop quality of results.Yet, if you feel you’re not taking enough action, self-compassion is needed.
Remind yourself that action can be primarily about p...
