Look Outside of “Genealogy”

By Ann Staley (National Genealogical Society Conference Organizer)

In the Genealogy Market, we have genealogists working in many different areas – author, educator, forensic, publishers/booksellers, house historian, translator, consultants, etc.As a Genealogy Business, we to, have our own niche; however, sometimes we get caught up in the “genealogy” part and forget that we are a first and foremost, a Business.

As a Business we have businesses, of all types, to learn from. If you are interested in building up your marketing experience, look to other businesses who market. Take a good look at the emails that come to you from outside the genealogy world. What about them catches your attention?What about them turns you off?How can you apply the same tactics to your email marketing?

I am interested in building up the teaching part of my business. I found an online, free, week-long summit that I signed up for. Yes, it was selling a particular teaching product; however, most of the classes were very general – Growing your email list, Building a sales funnel, Course outline to execution, Crafting a high-converting webinar, etc. I attended those that I thought would be of most benefit to my business – even those selling their product. Who knows, it just might be of interest to me in the future and it never hurts to learn what is available and being used.

You might consider getting on some mail lists that are other than genealogy related. I am on several and I would say that about 98% of those that come through are, for me, junk. How do I control them? I have a separate email account they come into and I go through them a couple of times a week. But what about the other 2%? They have contained gold nuggets that inspire and provide information or products that help me grow in knowledge and improve my business.

Do an internet search for items of interest to you. Investigate YouTube. Search through LinkedIn and FaceBook. You just never know what – or who – you might find to help you with your business needs.