There is a wealth of content being created, but not all of it is worth paying attention to. So here we’re trying to only share the most useful so as not just to create a huge heap of links…

Whenever we find something new we shout about it in our weekly newsletter (sign up here so you’re first to know when we add something).

I hope they’re useful! if you’ve got something you’d like to add just get in contact.

You may also want to have a look at our Interesting Stuff

Chloe

2021 Planning

The Complete Retail Marketing Calendar 2021: All the Dates You Need to Know

The awesome Martin Heubel has pulled together all the dates you need to know about for 2021 planning (and a lot more!).

Including all the big dates, AND cool details like when the BAFTA’s is, and when Love your Pet Day is.

Check out the calendar

Oracle’s Quartlery Checklist for Planning a Successful Holiday Marketing Program

A bit late to the party on this one.

Throughout the year Oracle CX Marketing Consultants publish quarterly checklists to help you get your marketing ready to maximise your Q4 sales.

One of the first guests on the Keep Optimising Podcast (launches tomorrow!), Chad S White, introduced me to it this week. And I just HAD to pass it on to all of you.

Chad’s one of the authors, and it’s an excellent resource for making sure you’re on top of your Q4 prep. Tough in any year, and even harder this year where there’s so much to distract us.

You can grab the Q3 checklist here (you don’t even need to give an email address, just download it!).

AND grab the Q1 and Q2 too.

Clever People Sharing their Experience / Thoughts

There are a lot of people creating content about how to handle the changing customer behaviour we’re seeing at the moment. This section is for those articles I think are worth sharing (and I’m being very harsh with what I’m allowing in…)

Luke Carthy – Preparing eCommerce for the Post-COVID Bounce Back [blog]

Very clever eCommerce consultant Luke Carthy has written an EXCELLENT piece for Moz about how to make sure you’re doing everything you can to succeed in the post-covid world.

It’s a great read with some great examples and tips.

Read it here

David Williams

We had David on the podcast last year, and he is really astute when it comes to seeing the bigger eCommerce picture.

He’s sharing a series of articles on LinkedIn – starting with this one – where he’s sharing the key things you should be considering, and options for how to deal with them.

Definitely worth Following him on LinkedIn to make sure you get the next updates.

Direct Commerce Magazine

I’ve been a subscriber to Direct Commerce Magazine for over 10 years. Normally it’s a paid-for paper magazine packed with interesting articles about eCommerce and Mail Order selling.

This month it’s a free online magazine (with pages you can turn!) packed with interesting articles about eCommerce and Mail Order selling.

Well worth a read – check it out here

Chloe wrote a blog!

“How to make your brand look awesome when you don’t know what you want!” – read it here

Get Organised

5 Copy and Paste SOPs

Getting the systems and SOPs (that’s Standard Operating Procedures) right is essential to accelerate growth.

Recent podcast guest Trent Drysmid offered all my listeners (and all of you) his “Growth Accelerator Pack” for FREE (he usually sells it for $299).

It’s 5 copy and paste SOPs to get you started – and totally worth grabbing.

10 Most Common Outsourcing Mistakes

Outsourcing is hard work, hugely rewarding – but anyone who tells you it’s easy is lying.

Freeup are the experts at it – and they’ve written a VERY useful guide to the common mistakes people make, and how you can avoid them.

It’s available for free here

Logistics

Carrier status updates

Veeqo are keeping this page up to date with the latest news on each carrier’s operational abilities.

Facebook Ads

Christmas 2020: Crunch Time for the Overcrowded eCommerce Market – Report

On the Keep Optimising Podcast Sarah from Nest talked about this report (and got into some super cool Facebook Ad audience targeting strategies). 

Nest have looked at all the data and variables to identify the best Facebook Ad Strategies for Q4. It’s a must-read – so get a headstart and download the report now.

Google Ads

Getting the most from your Google Ads

Former Podcast star Becky Hopkin of Digital Gearbox has put together 11 recommendations to get the most from your campaigns – read the blog here

SEO

Free Recorded SEO Audit

Adam Bastock (great SEO guy) Adam is offering free SEO audits for any eCommerce company struggling in the current climate.

He’ll send you a short video that walks you through your website and highlights errors and key improvements you can make to increase organic traffic.

Whether you’re on Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce or something else – this is for you!

An example can be viewed on YouTube

These are available to established and new retailers, especially those who may run local physical stores and are rapidly trying to get set up online.

Get in touch with him via LinkedIn or complete the form on his site here

Websites

Shopify 90 day free trial

Shopify are offering a 90 day free trial – so if you’re thinking of setting up online for the first time, or always wanted to have a login test the platform out… now’s the time.

Sanity

Mindfulness Matters​

Staying focused is super-hard at the moment. There’s so much distraction. Different working environments, constantly changing rules and regulations, changing consumer behaviour, and the whole threat of catching covid. 

Meditation and mindfulness are a great way to reduce stress, and worry, and help you get focused on what matters.

Whether you’ve never tried before, or a regular practitioner you should check out the excellent series of training videos led by specialist Lily Parkinson.

Watch the first video here

OR sign up the whole thing here