You probably have questions about content marketing, social media and email marketing. Here are some of the ones I most often get asked. Don’t worry if you can’t find the answer to your question. Just send me a message, and I’ll do my best to help.
Content marketing is quite simply all about content. It’s understanding what content your audience wants and needs to see and where they will see it. This is usually a mix of blogs, web content, emails, videos and social media. It is not designed to promote your brand explicitly but to raise awareness and build an audience over time. The content needs to educate, have a clear purpose and encourage people to want to know more.
An understanding of the technical aspects of content marketing and how it all fits together is also key, as this will support your content’s performance, help you get found in search and increase your digital footprint.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing your business or a magic wand you can wave to attract a whole heap of dream clients. It takes time, money, resources and a consistent approach.
Having a strategy in place makes it so much easier because you will understand what your business stands for, what you need to say to attract the clients you really want to work with and where to focus your time, money and resources. A marketing strategy will help you to create a plan that works for your business – there’ll be no more second guessing or worrying about what to do and when.
A strategy will also align with your business objectives, making it easy to understand your progress and adapt and adjust it accordingly.
Often, people come to me because they have identified one thing that might fix their business or because they want to grow and need marketing support.
In order to do this, we need to dig deep into your business to understand what makes you tick; this involves developing a strategy that is unique to your business.
This involves gathering an understanding of your business, your goals, and your values, as well as reviewing your current marketing activity and that of your competitors. We then develop detailed customer profiles and content pillars or topics, so you know what to talk about and when.
The next stage of the process identifies the types of content we need to produce and the platforms you should concentrate on (we usually focus in 1-2 social media platforms) and combine this with email marketing and website activity. Focusing on 1-2 makes it much easier to understand what’s working and build from there if need be.
We then look at the platform-specific approach and the more technical aspects of getting eyeballs on your content. This involves looking at strategies around keywords, hashtags, timings and who to engage with – we always keep things human.
Lastly, we develop a week-by-week plan. We can support you in implementing this or train you in-house to deliver it yourself.
All businesses are different and require different levels of support at different times. My options for support reflect this and include the upfront development of a strategy, the initial implementation and training on how to continue to implement it in-house.
I can also support you with implementation on an ongoing monthly basis for Strategic Support marketing on LinkedIn, Email Marketing, Website Content, Reporting and mentoring more junior team members.
If you prefer to do things yourself, I offer in-house training on a variety of topics to help you develop and hone your social media skills, with monthly accountability sessions to help you stay on top of things.
Social media is now an essential part of your marketing, and it’s often the starting point for most businesses. However, it can seem overwhelming, all-consuming and difficult to navigate.
Social media training will help you and your team feel more confident using the platforms to grow your business. You’ll understand what type of content works well for your audience, your messaging, and how to craft a successful post.
You’ll also understand the more technical aspects of social media – keywords, timings, post types and profile and content optimisation. As a business, this will save you time and help you feel confident and professional.
By involving your team, you will also be able to create employee advocacy, aid their personal development and increase the reach of your content.
A social media strategy is a straightforward plan which answers the what, when, how and why for Reverything you post.
Setting goals is a crucial part of your strategy — and it’s fine to have several. Your goals could be lead generation, brand awareness, sharing information about your services, expanding your audience, or anything else that helps you connect with your ideal clients.
For a successful social media strategy, you must understand your audience. Who are they? What do they need? Which platforms they use and what type of content they like to consume.
Beyond that, it’s about planning and creating a good mix of content for them and understanding who they should be engaging with. It should attract attention, build trust and credibility and drive real conversations.
An email marketing strategy identifies the what, the how, and the why of the emails you send to your customers.
Setting goals is crucial to this, and those goals will include driving sign-ups via your website, educating people about why they should buy from you, keeping your audience up to date, and encouraging repeat business and bookings.
For a successful email marketing strategy, you need to understand your audience. Who are they? What are they interested in? What makes them buy from you?
It’s about planning a mix of good content and utilising the functionality so you appear in people’s inboxes at optimum times. You also need to set everything up properly so you can reach out to existing and potential clients with the right products, services, and messages. An email marketing strategy will also ensure you are marketing the right services to the right people.
Social media marketing is all about creating an emotional connection with people, and a solid social media presence, both as an individual and as a business, will enable you to do just that.
If you are a regular at industry or networking events, people will look you up to validate what you say, so your messaging needs to be consistent. A solid social media presence will also increase your chances of getting discovered online, draw more people to your website, and create warmer leads.
Putting you and your people at the centre of this is key to your success; it demonstrates your human side and offers more opportunities for engagement and connections.
Email offers the highest return on investment of any digital marketing channel. 99% of email users will check their inbox multiple times a day – ensuring that your brand and message is front of mind. It’s also easy to search and filter previous emails so your content and offers can be found at a later date.
If you have a service that is costly or requires a lot of input from a business or an individual, they probably aren’t going to invest straightway. You’ll need to convince them that it is the right decision.
Marketing to them via email is a cost-effective way of doing this, over time, you can educate your audience about how you can solve their problem and why they should choose you.
It also gives you untapped opportunities for follow ups and automations, enabling you to segment your audience and reach them at the right time with the right messages.
It’s so easy to get hung up on likes and comments on your post, but you need to truly understand what is going on behind the scenes to ensure what you are doing works with your overall business objectives.
Dive into your data.
Your social media analytics will help you to understand what your audience needs from you, the type of content that resonates with them and when they are likely to see it. You’ll also be able to understand what is driving people to your website – this may not be obvious on the service, but the chances are that the sales offer or testimonial you thought had bombed was the one that got the eyes off social media and on to your website.
Your email analytics are your way of building on this – you’ll be able to see the names and contact details of people who opened your emails, which links they clicked on and how engaged they are – perfect for warm sales outreach.
Social media can be a time drain. How much time you spend there will depend on your objectives are, how busy you are and how much time you can reasonably afford to spend.
It’s all about planning. Try scheduling set times for social media during the week — just 15-20 minutes works for some people — and have one clear objective in mind each time. Replying to comments, creating posts, scheduling content… Is there content you can repurpose? Remember, it’s about quality, not quantity; consistency is key.
Using social media to drive people onto your website and into your email database will also help you to save time.
With a clear strategy, social media starts bringing in new clients. Given the financial return on the time investment, you’ll probably want to spend a bit more.
There isn’t a right or a wrong answer here, as it depends on your objectives, the size of your audience and how much time you have to dedicate to your email marketing. In some instances, Newsletter-style emails can work well; for others, shorter, more regular emails work best.
You’ll also need to consider what happens once people agree to receive marketing emails from you. They will have signed up at a time they are were interested and excited. To keep that momentum between ‘News’ type emails, you will need a strategy in place to start engaging with them straight away.
Social media is becoming increasingly dominated by video, and if you want to develop a strong presence on Tik Tok, Instagram or Facebook you are going to have to embrace it. However, it’s not right for every brand or business.
If you don’t feel comfortable with videos but want to get started, my advice would be to find someone you feel comfortable talking to. A two-way conversation creates engagement and will make you feel more comfortable.
Before you dive into video, do your research. You might find you have an audience that prefers photos, blogs or written posts! If so, then those should be your go-to.
Find out what The Sussex Social could do for your business.