🔒 Crack the code to your first (or next) 100 customers

Plus: Grow your business with AI tools and content curation

Photo by zhou xuan on Unsplash

Does it sometimes feel impossible to compete with larger organizations in your industry?

This week, we’re sharing the innovative solutions you need to grow your business and tackle common challenges.

Today’s agenda:

🖼️ Become a content curator

⚽ How AI is ‘leveling the playing field’

🧲 Attracting your first 100 customers

💼 Briefly: AI interviewers, influencer marketing, & more

⏱️ Up & coming: What will the Fed do next?

🤸 A fresh spin on content

Consistent content creation can be difficult for startup founders and small business owners—not because there’s a lack of ideas, but a major lack of time or resources.

Enter content curation.

Content curation allows you to select from what already exists and tell your own story about it.

On my LinkedIn page, I practice content curation by adding my own thoughts to a shared post.

🔎 Strategies for curating content

Ann Gynn, editorial consultant for Content Marketing Institute, recently wrote a content curation guide highlighting the following tips/advice:

• Understand content curation: When you share other content and add your own commentary or introduction, you are curating—if you simply share it, that’s just content aggregation

• Don’t sacrifice quality: Carefully select the topics and goals of your content so it is valuable to your audience

• Choose your format(s): Do you want to curate a newsletter? Could you discuss newsworthy topics on a podcast or social media post? Choose the formats that best work for you and your audience

• Set up a process: Determine where you’ll pull your sources, what keywords you’re targeting, and what curation tools you’ll use (for example, Curata or Feedly)

💡 Content curation can help to “fill in the gaps” in your content calendar—allowing you to still tell your story and offer your audience something of value without having to continuously create new content.

🥅 Up your game with AI

Large enterprises often have the upper hand due to bigger teams and a deeper pool of resources.

Solopreneurs, small business owners, and startup founders usually are playing multiple roles—leaving little time to stop, step back, and brainstorm new solutions and ideas.

But strategy expert Graham Kenny, digital economy professor Marek Kowalkiewicz, and AI expert Kim Oosthuizen say AI has the potential to “level the playing field.”

Photo by Sanket Mishra on Unsplash

💪 AI helps businesses overcome limitations

In a piece for Harvard Business Review, the authors explored three case studies for how AI has helped small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The studies included:

1. A content marketing agency that was having a hard time “thinking big” because they were getting lost in day-to-day issues. AI helped them predict future scenarios so the team could plan to thrive in any potential situation.

2. A specialized trucking company’s supplier announced a 30% price increase without warning. The owner prompted ChatGPT to brainstorm options to rescue the business, and is now working through the list to try and save his company.

💡 Schedule a Discovery Session to see how we can accelerate your go-to-market and lead-generation strategy.

🧑‍💻 The easiest way to get your first 100 customers

When you’re just starting a business, getting those first 100 customers can seem daunting.

Watch my quick new video explaining how to leverage your network to secure your first 100 in no time.

💡 Subscribe to my channel for more!

Briefly

🍎 Apple was forced to finally admit that it doesn’t provide security updates for older phone models as long as Android does

✍️ See the top 10 content marketing skills you need in 2024—and tips for mastering them

💼 Some Gen Zers are bringing their parents to job interviews to help them beat the competition

🤖 U.S. company creates an AI interviewer businesses can use to screen candidates

🗣️ 49% of consumers make a purchase inspired by an influencer at least once a month—but what’s the future of influencer marketing?

Up & Coming

All eyes are on the next Fed meeting this week in light of a strong May jobs report—not necessarily for a big rate move, but for conversation surrounding where rates should head next.