17 Mar Easy Marketing Projects with Big Payoff
It’s been a while since I wrote about easy marketing projects with a big payoff. Six years, to be exact. So much has changed in six years, including what I know works for clients and my own agency.
Before you take on any marketing project, be sure you know what that payoff is. Do you want to grow your email marketing list? Double the number of leads you generate each month? Be more intentional and consistent with your marketing?
Once you have that nailed down, you’ll know when your efforts are working.
Oh, and one more thing: Don’t think of these projects as a magic bullet. Marketing is a long-term investment. If you’ve been diligent for years, just one project might reap rewards.
If you’re just getting started, keep in mind that content marketing projects reinforce each other and pay dividends over time. Be patient! The payoff will come.
Easy marketing projects with big payoff
Ask for testimonials
This is at the top of my list for 2022 for two reasons: One, we trust reviews from other people. Two, testimonials are powerful and fast ways to build credibility.
I want to make this a regular part of my operations, so here’s how I’m tackling the gathering of testimonials:
- Make a list of clients I worked with over the past year.
- Email them and ask for a brief testimonial. Why did they like working with me/my team? How did/has my team helped them reach their marketing goals?
- Add them to LinkedIn and my website
- Share on social media and in my newsletter.
A/B test your email subject lines
I talk about this a lot, and for good reason. A/B testing your email subject can increase your open and click-through rates. I do this for my agency’s monthly newsletter and every one of our clients, and it works.
Last fall, I started A/B testing a new client’s weekly email subject lines. Their list is huge, but their open rates had been just OK – around 20%. Click through rates had been dismal – less than 1%. I started A/B testing in October and open rates have jumped up to an average of 28%. Click-through rates have skyrocketed as high as 8.8% – a remarkable improvement.
Create valuable lead magnets
No need to write a book or create an elaborate quiz to generate new leads. Start simple: What do your clients ask you about the most? Can you create a guide or checklist for them?
Whatever you do, make it valuable. Promise on what you deliver. If you position the information as an industry secret or proven method, it better be!
If you want to hand it off to a graphic designer to zhush it and make it pretty, do. But you can also create a PowerPoint presentation (use the beautiful built-in templates and AI-powered design ideas) and distribute it as a PDF.
Segment email lists
Segment your email lists by job role, industry, company size, client status (lead, active, former) or whatever criteria makes sense for your company. You can also ask people on your list to segment themselves by the type of information they want to receive. Either way, you’ll send each segment the right information for their needs.
Why bother? Just like A/B testing the email subject line, this boosts open rates and click through rates. It also cuts down on unsubscribes.
Invest in consistent visual branding
Because we are visual creatures, consistent visual branding is critical for your content marketing efforts. You might be sharing mind-blowing information, but if it looks like garbage, your brand and reputation will get dinged.
Do your emails, presentations, social media posts, marketing collateral and website have the same look? Or are they all over the place?
If you answer yes to the latter, ask a graphic designer to create templates for emails, social media and all collateral. Worth every penny.
Get an SEO audit of your website
My friend Nicole audited my website in January, and it was a fantastic exercise. Search engine optimization is ever evolving, which means best practices and search terms change, too. (Here’s a link to her site – feel free to reach out.)
I have a whole new list of keywords to use on my website, plus a list of highly searched terms I can use on new (hidden) web pages to help even more people find me. Implementing this stuff is easy for me, but it might not be for you. Ask your web designer/developer for help.
Create (and use!) a content calendar
I’ve been using a content calendar for years to keep my blog and social media posts organized and consistent. Without it, I’d be a hot mess.
It’s so easy to set up. Open up an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet and create columns for:
- Month
- Category – these are aligned with my services
- Topic – these are my areas of expertise within the services I offer
- Publish date
- Social media copy – I have four columns – Twitter, LinkedIn, LinkedIn company page and Google My Business
- Notes
If you jot down content ideas on sticky notes or whatever you have on hand when inspiration strikes, transfer them to your content calendar on a regular basis.
Reuse your existing content
Anytime you create content, think of additional ways to use it so you can get more bang for your buck. If you scroll up, you’ll see I already gave you ideas for how and where to share testimonials.
Lean on blog posts – they are such a rich source of content. Pull out quotes, statistics or client stories and share on social media and in your newsletter.
Review your analytics
How will you know if marketing projects have a big payoff unless you track their success? You won’t.
I cover this topic in-depth here, but basically you need to schedule time on your calendar to review analytics on your website (especially your blog posts), email marketing platform and social media platforms.
Your goal is to understand how people are finding your content and what they’re engaging with. Then you know if all of the above is working.
If you’ve gotten to the bottom of this blog post and wondered how in the heck you’re supposed to find time to do any of this stuff, maybe I can help. I’ve never offered one-hour consultations before, but I’m giving it a go. Shoot me a note here and let me know what one project you’d like help with. We’ll schedule a call and work on it in real-time.
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