Awesome Tools & People
I’m sure you have resources, apps, tools and online mentors that you LOVE.
This is a collection of my favorite free and paid resources that I’ve used to grow (and automate) my business in the areas of content marketing, conversion marketing, and marketing automation.
Email Service Providers
Drip by Leadpages – THIS. Yes, that was a one-word sentence advocating for my favorite email marketing automation platform. The combination of Liquid templating, visual workflows and basic automation rules, custom subscriber events and fields, lead scoring, and HIGH email deliverability is a home run.
Well done, Drip team.
ConvertKit – ConvertKit is an email marketing platform designed for creators with the ability to fire automations, create visual workflows, set custom fields and collect email addresses, among other actions. Actually, this is the email platform I use to connect with subscribers on this website, but Drip is unquestionably better for food suppliers in eCommerce that use GrazeCart.
Conversion Marketing Resources
RightMessage – This is my new favorite conversion marketing tool I’m enjoying exploring here on my site and in eCommerce.
Personalized Calls to Action, on-page content, surveying and email segmentation…yes, please.
Leadpages – I used Leadpages for many years before recently transitioning to RightMessage to gain more skills related to personalization. But, if you want to use simple drag-and-drop page builder technology with dozens of tested, proven landing page template designs, then you NEED a Leadpages account.
And conversions are NOT just about killer landing pages…you also need great conversion tools like Leadboxes® popup boxes. Pro accounts (like I had) offer access to A/B split testing, Leadlinks® 1-click signup links and Leaddigits® text to opt-in codes, among other features.
This is one of my favorite tools I still recommend and use during seasonal product launches.
Gravity Forms – A full-featured, but easy to use contact form WordPress plugin that I’ve used to deliver self-assessment worksheets that also integrates handsomely with Drip by Leadpages.
Content Marketing Resources
Grammarly – Online grammar checker that saves me…whether I’m updating a Facebook status, writing a blog or creating an email marketing campaign. I use the Grammarly App for Mac and the Google Chrome extension.
Hemingway – Before I knew of Grammarly, I knew of the free Hemingway editor, which is a great tool that identifies opportunities to improve the readability of your writing. Check it out:
Google Docs – There are few online tools that I use EVERY day, Google Docs being one of them. It’s how I communicate and make edits with my clients, take notes on the books I’m reading and write out email campaigns.
If you’re still using Microsoft Word and have dozens iterations of the same document on your hard drive (with no access from your phone), it’s time to make this change.
Skitch – This was one of the favorite online tools I found in 2017, and what I use to annotate and add arrows to images on this blog. It’s also super simple to use…#Bonus.
Content Management Systems
GrazeCart – I’ve helped a lot of farms sell more food online. GrazeCart is THE Ecommerce platform for farms, built (and used!) by farmers.
But it’s also a wonderful tool with enterprise-level features to help any business that sells perishable food online to scale. Shipping features, sell by weight, pick-up location ready, manage inventory and wholesale accounts, and more.
WordPress – Open source, content management system that chadgraue.com and 25% of the other blogs and websites in the world are built on. Just use it…
Genesis Framework for WordPress – I don’t know man, but a lot of really smart, successful pros online power their WordPress blog on the Genesis Framework. Success leaves clues you know.
Authority Pro Theme – I researched and researched and bought and then didn’t use a few themes…and then I found the Authority Pro child theme to use with the Genesis Framework with this website. It’s slick looking, mobile responsive and has cool typography options, and isn’t complex to navigate when publishing an article.
Who I Learn From
*NOTE: I’ve seen a lot of resource pages online from people I admire and trust, but I don’t recall ever seeing a “mentors” section. To be honest, these people, their teachings and, in some cases, their coaching and courses have changed my life.
Chalene Johnson – I first learned of Chalene as a Beachbody celebrity fitness trainer. Her high energy and fun personality is what drew me in at first, but her BUSINESS SAVY is what has made me one of her “lifers.” I’ve met Chalene a few times, downloaded and listened to hundreds of her podcasts, attended her SMART Success LIVE seminar, and completed FOUR of her online courses.
It’s through Chalene that I’ve learned to identify and then HONOR my priorities, run a successful virtual business in a secure way, and live a healthy, fit, FUN life…among other things. Chalene is my homegirl!
Brennan Dunn – I first learned from Brennan at Leadpages Converted conference in 2016. I opted into his mailing list and a few months later purchased his Double Your Freelancing Rate Course. What first attracted me to Brennan was his knowledge of Drip by Leadpages, but I’ve gone on to learn much more about building a freelancing business that creates incredible value, both for clients I serve and my business.
I’ve now completed THREE of Brennan’s courses and had the opportunity to attend his Business Mastery Summit in Thailand in 2017.
Bryan Harris – I learned about Bryan Harris on Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income show in 2016, and have gone on to complete his 10K Subs course and religiously follow him at Growth Tools. I’m also a current Growth University Student.
Noah Fleming – I learned of Noah when he spoke at the Converted conference in 2016, and his message TOTALLY resonated with me. Two of his books, Evergreen and The Customer Loyalty Loop, are two of my absolute FAVORITE books EVER.
Noah and I are 100000000% on the same page in our beliefs about the value of what happens AFTER you acquire a new customer, and it’s that belief that I partner with marketing automation an on-page customer experience to make magic happen.
Jeff Walker – I have implemented many of the strategies taught by this man, creator of Product Launch Formula, in email marketing onboarding campaigns and seasonal promotions.
The $2,400 I invested in this course has paid off huge in the impact I’ve been able to make with clients, now having launched $1+ million dollars of perishable food and counting.
Launching is a great tool for converting first time buyers, serving your loyalty audience with priority access, and giving a GREAT value to your existing customers.
Joe Pulizzi – Joe’s book Content, Inc., just made sense to me as a specific path to using content marketing to build a loyal audience that you can serve and build trust with over time. Social Media Marketing definitely has its place in building community, but I’m choosing to play a LONG TERM game focused on long-form content marketing delivery through this blog.
Jon Acuff – To be honest, Jon is incredibly entertaining on his Twitter…and one of the lessons I’ve learned from him is that humor and sharing your whole life with your audience builds trust quickly. I’ve also learned a ton about the mindset it takes to be successful when venturing out on my own in four of his books Do Over, Quitter, Start and Finish. And I anxiously await Soundtracks release in April 2021.
Jon Loomer – Facebook ads genius…and fellow baseball coach. As I’ve learned from Jon, if you’re still targeting your ads based on interests, and not using custom audiences and/or Facebook engagements audiences you’re throwing money out the window.
Nathan Berry – Nathan is the CEO and founder of ConvertKit. One of the things I’ve learned from Nathan is to unapologetically be who you are…and to share each step of your course to becoming an authority on a topic.
No one just arrives as an authority in a given space…they BECOME one by authentically sharing their journey to get there. His podcast the Art of Newsletters is exceptional
Brian Dean – My goal with content marketing is to write articles that get FOUND through organic search. Brian has some of the absolute best resources at backlinko.com to guide the content marketing beginner from basic on-page SEO tactics to more advanced strategies.
Other Necessities
1Password – Can I get real with you? If you still are not using 2-step authentication, are using the same few “simpleton” passwords for your entire online life, are still answering your security questions honestly or have your passwords written down somewhere…you’re an online hacking victim in the making.
I’ve been using 1Password EVERY. SINGLE. DAY since June of 2015, and I know now only ONE Master password and all of my other passwords are something like this: 7jdan73*kd723@T.
All 400 plus of them. If you need to up your security game and 1Password is how you do it.
Slack – If you’re part of a community or team, Slack will give you much more functionality and productivity than having to check in with a Facebook group.
Dropbox – deliver your content upgrades to your email list, store family photos, house blog assets, offer permission-based sharing, and more. And you can use it for free for a LOOOOONG time (up to 2GB).
Full Focus Planner – 2020 was the first year I fully committed to a planner, and it was also my most productive year of doing. I had some nice successes in the past with a simple spiral notepad, but plugging into the Michael Hyatt system of productivity has been extremely helpful, as has committing to this system along with one of my clients. That accountability has also helped.