345 - How to use crowdsourcing to get more done and grow your business

If you’ve listened to this show long enough, you’ll know that I fundamentally believe there’s never been a better time to market a small business. Why? Because the tools and resources we have at our disposal are amazing. They enable us to do things that 5 or 10 years ago were just way too expensive. One of those resources is crowdsourcing - and who better to explain how to use crowdsourcing effectively than Designcrowd founder, Alec Lynch, the founder of Designcrowd, the world’s #1 custom design marketplace; which coincidently was once a sponsor of this show. For those who are unaware of what Designcrowd is, put simply, it’s an online marketplace where graphic designers from all over the world compete to get you a design you love. Now Alec is not here to sell you on the benefits of Designcrowd. But he is here to explain the concept and power of crowdsourcing, and how you can use it to achieve things in your business that previously you may have thought were just too expensive things like design, voice-overs, photography, copywriting and so on. On top of that, he also shares: Where the idea for Designcrowd came from How he got it to market Some of the marketing tactics he’s used to grow Designcrowd including a clever guerilla marketing idea Also in this episode of your favourite marketing podcast ... I share a simple 3-step marketing strategy that involves handwritten thank you letters. And we go back into the SBBM vault, revisiting a past episode in which I caught up with past guest Ben Buie whose YouTube video How to tie a tie has hd in excess of 30 million view! Yep, you guessed it, another big episode, so let's get stuck, right in.   EPISODE TIMELINE 00:00  Two marketing insights01:03  Teaser01:51  Welcome & overview03:33  Today’s guest introduction - Designcrowd founder Alec Lynch05:10  Interview with Designcrowd founder Alec Lynch42:38  Insights into Workplace Assured & Key Person of Influence46:07  My Top 3 Attention Grabbers from my chat with Designcrowd founder Alec Lynch46:41  A handwritten letter marketing strategy50:09  Wrap-up and an insight in to both a past guest & next week’s guest   MY TOP 3 MARKETING ATTENTION GRABBERS Make crowdsourcing a part of how you do business. I’ll put links in the show notes to a variety of sites that will enable you to try crowd sourcing in the areas of photography, voiceovers, copywriting and more. Three critical success factors to getting crowdsourcing right:i. Get your brief rightii. Don’t skimp on the prize money you offeriii. Provide useful, constructive feedback to those who respond to your brief Be your own coach and actively look for the positives. I loved how Alec made a point at the end of each day to reflect on 6 things he did well, and 6 things he could improve on tomorrow. RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED Grab an exclusive listener discount at Designcrowd Interview with Ben Buie from how to tie a tie video fame Other crowdsourcing options: Cornerstone Business Solutions - Get yourself a virtual assistant Fiverr & Upwork - Get one-off tasks done quickly Voices - Get a voice-over done   EPISODE SPONSORS Workplace Assured - Worry less about your employer obligationsCheck out their FREE advice line for employers Key Person of Influence – Become highly valued & highly paidGrab a FREE hard or audio copy of their Amazon best-seller   OVER TO YOU … What was your biggest marketing learning or ah-ha moment from this episode? Leave your comment below. My guest and I respond to each and every comment.  Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/marketingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.