✨ the SPARK 208 ~ The Marketing Trifecta

Well, I’ve officially broken my streak.

I’m a day late on the newsletter.

Depending on the week and what’s going on in my life, I usually write the newsletter the day before I send it.

But I needed Wednesday (the day after the US election) for myself this week.

And I’m 100% OK with that.

And let’s be honest: Never missing a newsletter in 207 weeks is pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

Moving on to my “Marketing Trifecta.”

Element #1 of my “Trifecta.”
Substack

It’s probably no surprise that I’m pretty bullish on Substack, even though I've only been active on the platform for a couple of months (and ‘active’ is subjective, as life has been a bit busy the last two months).

Besides being a great publishing platform and traffic source for growth, it really feels like a “nice” corner of the Internet. Even if you’re not on Substack to create a community, when your content resonates, you’ll automatically create one.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m looking for “nice” these days.

Now that my life has settled down a bit, this is my primary home for writing.

And if you missed it, I did release my “Visual Guide to Substack” earlier this week.

Element #2 of my “Trifecta.”
YouTube

Last week, I discussed the “Untapped and Exploding” market on YouTube, which includes 40, 50, and 60-year-olds. If you’re in this demographic (I think I may have to conduct a poll to determine who fits this market) and missed last week’s issue, check it out.

These channels are blowing up, and the best part is that the content is life advice and experience, with less ‘niche down’ content.

I plan to create playlists for the different categories of content I want to record videos for (including one called “Lessons from my therapist.” haha). Now that my Visual Guide to Substack is done, I’ll start recording videos next week.

I’ve had a YouTube channel for years, but I’ll give it a bit of a revamp.

Sidenote: I’m just jumping back in. I’m not taking an expensive course or joining a community. I'll cross that bridge if/when I feel that’s necessary.

I’ll get a handful of videos recorded first and then start publishing.

Element #3 of my “Trifecta.”
Email marketing - Kit (i.e., ConvertKit)

This feels obvious and maybe a bit of a surprise since I’ve been publishing the newsletter through Substack, so I’ll explain my why and how (and share how you can see how I’m tying Substack and Kit together).

I knew I’d use Substack for the newsletters.

I also knew that I could send solo emails without having to publish a post (it is the jankiest process- it’s in the book, but I’ll do a quick free video for you next week) - but the inability to create automations, have trigger links (someone clicks a link and is tagged) along with all of the other features email service providers have that Substack doesn’t is frustrating.

I also want traditional landing pages/opt-in pages for different things so I can segment my list (you can sort of segment in Substack through ‘sections’ - but it’s not the same).

I’ve found a way to connect Substack to Kit via a Make integration, so people who subscribe and/or unsubscribe are added to/removed from both. This is much more appealing.

Substack has no API, so you can’t connect it with anything directly.

I’ll set this automation up next week with help from the brilliant Jason Resnick, and the following week; we’ll host a live training session showing you how to do this (it should also work with other email service providers).

I’ll be the guinea pig first. This will be a free live training. I’ll send out the link to register for it next week.

I’m returning to Kit (as opposed to another email service provider) because I know it. Why reinvent the wheel?

That’s it.

I’ll probably push content to other social platforms, but my focus and energy will be on these three.

Here’s why…

Earlier this year, I told friends that if I could do anything- it would be to “write and record.”

This is my happy place.

Substack (writing) and YouTube (recording) will be my primary organic growth channels.

That said, I also know they’re both platforms I don’t own, so it’s vital that I move subscribers elsewhere.

I already know the power of good email marketing, so adding the two growth channels and email marketing makes this the perfect “Marketing Trifecta.”

I’ll share the journey here (and YouTube) as I go (grow? 😉).

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SPARK Spotlight 🔥

I tested another tool for organizing chats in ChatGPT, but it kind of drove me crazy. Fortunately, I’ve found something else!

Introducing “Cleanest AI” - a free Chrome extension for organizing chats.

Create custom folders for different topics, projects, or AI models, and drag and drop your chats into the appropriate folders for easy access. It’s searchable, too!

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A Little Brainpower 🧠

This is gold! From Jamie Northrup & his Digital Products Weekly. Share all those bookmarks, saved, and watch later resources with your audience.

This is a must-read, especially at this time of year. “The Trap of Work-Life Balance and The Real Success Strategy” by Lee Drozak.

This is a long one, but good! “What Seth Godin Really Thinks About Social Media.”

A little update from me. “Why I'm Going Back to School at 54 for a Master's.”

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Tool Time 🛠

• E-commerce: Print-on-demand locally. This company uses a global production network. You can also sell straight from TikTok! Check out Gelato.com here.

• Presentations & Engagement: Create engaging workshops that combine the best of presentation, interaction, and whiteboarding. Try Butter scenes free here.

• PDF AI: Upload any PDF and listen to it as audio. Pay per usage. Check out Read to Me here.

• AI Video: I haven’t tried many AI video tools, but this is great. In less than a minute, I had a quick 4-second video. The prompt and video are below. Try Video-Ocean free here.

Prompt: A Christmas gnome baking cookies in a cozy cottage in the woods, decorated for Christmas. There's a crackling fire and snow outside the window. There's a warm living room, open kitchen that overlooks the living room, and a happy dog sleeping in front of the fire on a pillow. Create this in a 3d Pixar style.

Here’s the video:

Video-Ocean is free to use right now. You can also do character-to-video and image-to-video.

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Been there, done that (do that? 😂)

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Let’s wrap this up with a quick poll. 😉

I’m thinking about creating more “Visual Guides.” What would be most helpful:

Have a wonderful day,
Kim

p.s. Be sure to check out the Visual Guide to Substack!