Artificial intelligence can feel like it gets things wrong – a lot. As a coach, consultant, or small business owner, you may have had false or factually incorrect outputs from AI tools like ChatGPT. And inaccurate responses can take time to fix – which is frustrating if you’re using these tools to save time. However, this is not a reason not to use…

In this episode, I explain why building your own website is a never-ending task and how Squadcast really screwed up a recording of a podcast (and how I turned that into a positive). Ai course details: https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/how-to-use-ai-in-marketing-for-coaches-consultants-and-small-business-owners/ Become a subscriber: https://simonbatchela…

Writing engaging blog posts takes time and concentration. Something a lot of people don't have much of. You might have tried using AI and found the results generic or even wrong. Creating quality blog posts with AI is possible when you know how. In this podcast, I explain how you can use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to write better blog…

As a coach or consultant, the key to improving your marketing is to ask the right questions. You might think you know what's important to communicate, the talking points that will make you stand out in a crowded marketplace. But it's easy to get lost in the details (and your own perspective) and lose sight of what's really important to your ideal c…

This week, I share how scaffolding work has turned my week upside down and how the long-awaited AI course is now very nearly ready to go live. Try NotebookLM - https://notebooklm.google.com Become a subscriber and find out about the AI course first https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signup/By Simon Batchelar

This week, I share why I've been away from making regular content for a few weeks and what happened at Summercamp this year. The storytelling workshop was hosted by Ellen De Vries: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellendevries The Money Mindest workshop was hosted by Charlie Davis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrcharlesdavies You can become a subscriber …

This week, I share what I've been working on and why the trademark system is so frustrating! You can find out more about the AI course here: https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/marketing-courses You can be the first to know when it's ready by becoming a subscriber here: https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signup…

This week, I talk about taking a short break and my new AI course coming to subscribers first in September. To become a subscriber go to: https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signup/By Simon Batchelar

Do you need AI for your business? The short answer is no. Despite the AI hype machine, it's not essential for your business - yet. That said, it is really good at specific tasks, and if you don't at least explore the possibilities, you might miss out on a helpful tool. The challenge for any business is knowing where AI offers efficiencies and where…

When you're unclear on what you want to say, ChatGPT can't help. The problem is the problem! So, how do you ask AI to help with something you cannot articulate clearly? This is the problem I faced when trying to write my latest podcast, and while I didn't end up writing what I set out to write, it did inspire me to share how sometimes the human in …

This week, I share a fantastic example of showing up generously and why I make this podcast. I also talk about Asis Patel and his brilliant podcast episode (biased of course!) which you can listen to here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/72CtNcLb6YKNcjE0WDTzbi?si=bba9ac9eea984541By Simon Batchelar

It’s time to look beyond Google search for results As AI changes Google search results, relying on traffic to build your audience and authority will become increasingly difficult. People are moving away from search engines to find answers, recommendations, and inspiration. To reach them, you need to show up where your audience is hanging out. Your …

AI is flooding the internet with content, which means the internet and marketing as we know it are changing. From low-quality spam to near-perfect imitations of human writing, AI's impact is undeniable and unstoppable. In this episode, I explore how things are changing and what this means for marketing. Here are the key points: AI Content Surge: Pl…

Targeted online ads have so far promised a lot more than they delivered. Having worked with targeted ads for many years, I have found that they work more by accident than design. If you throw enough ads at enough people, some of them will convert by default. However, the world of targeted advertising is about to change – drastically! Thanks to AI, …

This week, I share how a recent post got some great engagement and got a lot of people thinking while I was struggling to narrow down my next blog topic.By Simon Batchelar

No one really knows how AI works, not even the people who created it. This has puzzled me for a long time. Why does no one know how it works? If we created it, we should know how we built it 🤷🏻 I recently read Mo Gawdat's book Scary Smart, where I learned that the reason we don't know how AI works is that we didn't create it. AI built AI. In this e…

The tried and tested "landing page" business model is game over. Creating content on your website to get Google traffic is no longer a good idea. In fact, it’s now a waste of your time and effort. Google recently announced that it is going to use AI to start answering search questions on the Google results page. It calls this “doing the Googling fo…

This week I share what podcasts I have been recording and why I am reluctantly coming back to Instagram.By Simon Batchelar

This week, an update on upcoming content and why I'm focusing on the fast-changing world of AI. If you want to receive my video updates, you can become a subscriber on my website: https://simonbatchelar.co.uk Find out more about Summer Camp: https://happystartupsummer.campBy Simon Batchelar

This week I talk about all the things I've been working on and why I'm taking a break.By Simon Batchelar

I’ve been tricked into working for social media platforms for free. And so have you. Every time you post on social media, you’re creating content for them to monetise. They position Ads around your content and they keep the Ad revenue. Sometimes, they even get you to pay to put content on their platform, by paying to promote that content more widel…

If you sometimes feel you’re not getting many clients or people aren’t buying what you’re offering then you’re not alone. I speak to a lot of coaches and consultants who struggle to find clients. The most common question they ask themselves when they find themselves in this position, is “What do I need to do to sell more/ better?” Their natural res…

This week I've been under the weather and low on energy so I've been fixing my broken website and trying not to force the creativity. Order the revised edition of the book: https://reframingmarketing.com/buy/By Simon Batchelar

Why do selling and marketing so often feel like an uphill struggle? I believe it’s because we’re often trying to persuade people to get interested in the products or services that we have created. It’s tough to convince someone they really need something they don’t even know about. Trying to sell coaching or consulting can be especially hard when t…

Paid ads are a highly ineffective way to attract new clients for coaches and consultants. Paid ads promise to bring you more business. Paid ads are relatively easy to use. Paid ads are a tempting marketing option… It’s tempting to take what looks like a shortcut. At first glance, paid ads seem to promise to let you skip the queue and get you in fro…

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, how AI generated content is coming fast and how you can stand out when it arrives, and how an IT nightmare unfolded for me this week. Ezra Klein podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/will-a-i-break-the-internet-or-save-it/id1548604447?i=1000651522107 https://open.spotify.c…

No one opens a restaurant with a Michelin Star on the door. You have to earn it. The same is true with marketing. You can’t go straight from doing no marketing at all to showing up every day with a wide range of engaging multimedia content. Yet this is often the expectation people put on themselves. And not least because they regularly hear from ‘e…

It’s easy to fall into the comparison trap. You see someone else doing what you do but more successfully and think, why aren’t I more like them? You see their social media posts: selling out their programs, having six-figure weeks, getting a million views… and you feel you have to try to keep up. But is any of it real? Remember, social media makes …

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, what I have been editing and a deeper dive into what I use for editing and a real example of how coming up with content ideas is simpler than it might seem at first. https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signupBy Simon Batchelar

Are you selling what people want, or what people need? It’s important to consider becuase, people don’t buy what they need. People buy what they want. The two may be linked but they’re not the same thing at all. Wants and needs are very different and in marketing, it’s easy to get the two confused, or focus on the wrong one. So what’s the differenc…

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, how frustrating typesetting can be and how I have been revisiting the content ideas from the last few months to make some new exciting plans. https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signupBy Simon Batchelar

What’s your niche? Do you describe it as a job title or role? Or do you describe a profile of what your ideal clients look like and where they live? Most people think of these two things when they think of a niche, and I don’t think this works for coaches and consultants. Demographics used to be how marketers divided up the world and it’s still wha…

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, what I have been writing about, how frustrating I find typesetting and book updates.By Simon Batchelar

In marketing, rejection can be hard to take. We’ve all had a no, when we were expecting a yes. Perhaps you had a great conversation, and it was all pointing towards someone saying yes to working with you. Maybe you spent ages on a proposal. It was really well received, only to be met with a no in the end. Maybe a referral seemed a good fit and real…

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, what blogs I've been working on and how I try to get ahead when I'm in the flowBy Simon Batchelar

So much online content these days is video-related (think of the success of TikTok, Instagram and Facebook have their Reels, and of course, the classic YouTube) it’s no wonder that video is a highly effective marketing tool. So, why does making that first video of you talking feel so hard? Maybe because while video is a great way to share informati…

You need almost no one to make your marketing work. If that sounds counterintuitive, it’s because most people will tell you something different – especially influencers and social media channels. Why? Because they have a vested interest in making you think the opposite is true. They want to extend their influence or sell you their services. So, why…

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, a big update about my book Reframing Marketing and some observations about AI and how much it has infiltrated businesses.By Simon Batchelar

Not everyone likes being in front of a camera. Not everyone likes posting on social media. Not everyone likes promoting themselves and their work with clients. Basically, not everyone enjoys being the centre of attention. And yet, most marketing advice will tell you that this is exactly what you need to do – not just once but regularly! I believe t…

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, the concept of Future Island.By Simon Batchelar

A lot of people don’t like the idea of ‘selling’. There is a particular feeling that arises in people if you talk to them about ‘making a sale’; and I would say that for most people it’s not a feeling they like. It can be even less appealing when what’s being sold is intangible – such as when you’re a coach, consultant, or freelancer and what you a…

Simon introduces the new podcast, from inside the Massive Marketing Machine!By Simon Batchelar

This episode of the podcast is another window into our community where you get to know our members and what they do.Today I’m talking to Simon Batchelar, cofounder of Pallant Digital and the Marketing Success Club. He shares his journey from running a digital marketing agency for large clients to now offering courses and coaching to founder run bus…

Will and Joel are friends from university who went into business together. They put all their enthusiasm and energy into it and it grew. They worked hard and they got their rewards.However, at some point it stopped working so well.It went from simple to complex.It went from being exciting and rewarding to just feeling like a job.The spark had gone …

This episode of the podcast is another recording from our weekly Friday Fireside show. It was recorded on October 2nd and features our good friend Kees Klomp, whom we lovingly think of as the buddhist businessman.Kees is now Professor of Applied Science at Rotterdam University and founding partner of Thrive Institute a think tank looking to reinven…

In this episode of the podcast we shine a light on one of our members, share their work and find out what it’s been like to be part of the Happy Startup School. If you’re launching a business for the first time and are looking for support and guidance during those initial uncertain months then check out our community at http://happystartups.co. We …

If you ever find yourself pitching to a VC or for any kind of funding it’s important to know how to tell a compelling story.When it comes to pitching VC’s Haje Kamps, pitch coach, author of Pitch Perfect and CEO of Konf (a virtual conferencing platform), says the three elements you need to remember are: define the problem; say why you’ve got the pe…

This episode of the podcast is another recording from our live Friday Fireside webinar. On this week’s show, we were joined by Eleanor Tweddell.Eleanor is the founder of Another Door, a community that supports people through redundancy, and author of the book “Why losing your job could be the best thing that ever happened to you”.During our convers…

Working for yourself for the first time can seem like a scary step. You go from the safety of a regular pay check to the uncertainty of not knowing where the next job might come from.But some us aren’t built for the 9 to 5 and we crave the autonomy and freedom of being our own boss and so we accept the uncertainty and take control of how we work.In…

When setting out on the journey of building a totally new business it’s important to focus on making progress rather than seeking perfection. You’re a pioneer doing something that hasn’t been done before and so there’s no set template for success. You’re on a voyage of discovery that can take you down many dead ends.Luckily we have tools to help us…