Why athletes listen to Old Mr Coach

COMING AT YOU THE WEEK OF 1.17.23

THIS WEEK’S MOST IMPORTANT MARKETING NEWS

FACEBOOK IS REMOVING GENDER AS A TARGETING OPTION FOR TEENS

Starting February, only age and location targeting will be available for teen audiences.

GOOGLE ADDED 12 NEW ECOMMERCE METRICS AND DIMENSIONS TO GA4

Google Analytics 4 can provide more insights with the additions of metrics like items added to cart and items clicked in promotion.

NEW APPLE TOOL LETS BUSINESSES CUSTOMIZE THE WAY THEIR INFO APPEARS ACROSS APPLE APPS

Apple Business Connect is available to businesses of all sizes. With it, you can customize your org’s info for Apple Maps, Messages, Wallet, Siri, and other apps. “Along with obvious customizations like choosing photos and logos, you can also “[invite] customers to take actions like ordering food or making a reservation directly from Maps and [present] customers with special promotions.”

MICROSOFT SEARCH EXPANDED TEXT ADS CAN NO LONGER BE CREATED OR EDITED

It’s out with the old expanded text ads and on with responsive search ads (RSAs), in a move toward prioritizing automation (much like Google has done). Starting the 1st of February, Microsoft will only allow Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) to be created and edited.

INSTAGRAM IS CHANGING THEIR NAV BAR, INCLUDING REMOVING THE SHOP TAB

The new version will have Home, Search, Create, Reels, and Profile. So, the Shop tab is gone and the Create option is in the bottom nav now, instead of up at the top. But you can still shop in your Feed, Stories, and Reels.

YOUTUBE GETS ANALYTICS UPDATES

They’re moving the report on Subscribers gained through different content types to a more visible location. And, they’re adding a report on “what content your audience is watching across format types.”

USEFUL LINKS

5 POWERFUL CHATGPT PROMPTS FOR TECHNICAL SEO

Turns out ChatGPT can write code pretty well for stuff like sitemaps, markups, and tags. I think these prompts would be especially helpful for the marketer who doesn’t feel crazy qualified for the technical stuff, but is in charge of it anyway.

DEMAND CURVE’S INFLUENCER (CREATOR) MARKETING PLAYBOOK

I’m all about content that is easy to apply, and this is a good one. It’s a pretty packed piece. For instance, here’s an approach they outline and then dive into more detail afterwards.

Here’s the 80/20 influencer marketing approach we recommend starting with:

Begin with Instagram: It’s the ideal test channel.
Set aside 15 hours per week: This is necessary to properly test the channel. It takes serious work to validate.
Get good data: We’ll show you how to get data on which influencers are worth working with.
Start with brand ambassadors: Pay these influencers via an affiliate model and form long-term relationships with them.
Optimize your processes: Now that it works, reduce your time investment to make influencer marketing more scalable and easier to delegate.
Optimize the economics: Run tests to increase your ROAS.
Nurture relationships: Empower your influencers for better results and more brand credibility.

HOW TO BUILD A ‘HELPFUL’ CONTENT STRATEGY FOR 2023

Building out a content strategy is always a headache. This gives you some good “flows” to consider while you build a strategy. Like this one:

HIGH PERFORMERS NEED GREAT COACHES

Isn’t it a little crazy that record-breaking athletes—pioneers of their sport—are coached by people who can’t hold a candle to them? I mean it applies to almost all kinds of athletes, even those at your local high school’s football team.

High-performers are coached by people who can’t do what they tell their athletes to do. Some could at one point in their lives, t-ball coaches still can. But for the most part, you’ve got old Mr. Coach out there, squinting, as they watch their athlete serve the ball. Then they yell out something like, “You’re not hitting the serve at the top of your jump. Try again!” Old Mr. Coach can’t even jump. And yet…

And yet, this kind of coaching works. It’s helped plenty of athletes reach new heights.

Why?

Well, there’s more than one factor of course. But…

Perspective is one of the most important elements in effective coaching

A coach knows what success looks like and they have a seat with the right view to show them where the improvements should be, when things align correctly, etc.

And athletes value coaching. They appreciate that perspective because it’s pretty much impossible for them to get all on their own; and they know it’s key to improvement.

This applies to high-performers in all aspects of life. High performers crave improvement and need coaching. When it comes to our careers and technical skills, many of us assume we need a teacher to help us improve, someone who is a more-advanced expert than us. That is obviously valuable, but it isn’t always feasible. Coaching can also help us improve, and perspective is at the heart of good coaching.

Here are some ideas for getting coaching or perspective, so you can keep growing professionally

Coaching from a direct manager

Your direct manager is best-positioned to be your coach. They consistently see your work and its place in the wider world more. Plus, they have personal motivations for your performance to improve.

If you have a good relationship with your manager and you respect them, then you are in the prime position to get a ton out of a coaching relationship with your manager. If that’s you, but you aren’t getting good coaching right now, then odds are communication is your hurdle.

Tell them your expectations.
Tell them your career goals.
Ask for feedback.
Set up regular meetings to discuss your progress.

What to do when you don’t have an A+ relationship with your direct manager

If you don’t have a good relationship with your manager, give up. 😅 Ok don’t give up; but you should seriously consider doing what’s in your power to change that.

Voice your concerns to your manager.
Work to build more trust and respect.
If that doesn’t work, talk to the next-tier supervisor and voice your concerns about the relationship. Discuss your options for a change in team or position.
Consider a different job.

A bad relationship with your manager is a big handicap to your career and happiness.

But as far as coaching, try it out with them. Give them a chance to surprise you. Allow coaching to be an opportunity to grow that respect and trust between the two of you.

👇Then, use some of these other ways to also get perspective on your work. 👇

Getting team perspective.

Send a quick message to a trusted team member.

Example:
Hey, I’ve been working really hard on my writing skills so I can get that Senior Copywriter promotion in August. 💪🤞Do you mind helping me learn more about my writing, so I can keep improving? In that writing sample I attached, how do you feel I did at keeping things concise while keeping the context understandable?

When you reach out, be really clear about why you want the feedback and exactly what feedback you want.

Watch film

I had never heard of watching film before marrying a football dude (Josh, text me now to prove you’re carefully reading my newsletter today 😉). But it turns out that watching film is a common and important part of most athletes’ training.

Athletes watch videos of themselves and their teams all the time. They can analyze their performance because of the perspective the camera offers, which they don’t have while they’re actively competing or performing.

You don’t always need to rely on other people to get perspective on your performance. (I don’t recommend relying solely on self-evaluations though.)

So how can we get a useful perspective on our work through self-evaluation? Because most of us are self-analyzing our performance all the freaking time. But often when personal evaluation is left to just haphazard internal commentary throughout our work day, it will mostly be negative, undirected, and fueled by our insecurities.

So instead, I recommend creating 15-minute meeting with yourself twice a month. Have a set of questions that you refer to. But don’t feel pressure to answer all of them every time. Here are some questions you could visit in those sessions: