Time is running out! Perceived urgency can be a strong motivator to make a purchase. Here’s how we can carefully use urgency as a strategy, and why this is an advantage for small businesses over larger competitors.
Content Marketing 201: Beyond the Basics
When everyone's doing content marketing, how do you stand out?
Have you noticed that some of the basic strategies behind your website, blog, social, and email marketing have started to lose some of their effect? That's because content marketing is now mainstream, with everyone employing the same set of tactics.
There's only one solution to this. Time to up our game.
We can't rely on what worked in the past. Our websites need to be more than a passive showroom, filled with infrequent blog posts that no one reads anyway. Social media isn't what it once was; tried-and-true activities are now tired and empty. A simple email newsletter won't cut it anymore either.
This 20-part series called "Content Marketing 201" will help you stand out amongst the crowd with more intermediate and advanced strategies. The series starts with Episode 144: Content Marketing 201: Beyond the Basics.
Employing Scarcity: Online Store Strategy 201
When a customer is ready to make a purchase, there are only two strategies you can use to gently influence them to complete the sale: Scarcity and urgency. Here’s a rundown of all the ways to use SCARCITY to up your conversion rates.
Making the Sale: Online Store Strategy 201
Your online store is the last and most important point in the customer’s journey. In the first episode of this 3-part mini-series, I cover how to set up your store site, optimize product pages, and gather the data you need to make smart strategic adjustments.
When to Use Facebook Ads: Social Strategy 201
There are two cases where it really makes sense to run a Facebook Ad. But it cannot be a standalone strategy. Let’s look at what needs to be set up before you start running ads or boosting posts, so that you don’t spend your money on useless “eyeballs.”
Small Groups vs. Large Followings: Social Strategy 201
In Episode 168, I question the concept of getting a large social media following. Large numbers of “eyeballs” often don’t do us much good compared to the tight connections of smaller groups to cultivate an ardent community of supporters.
Measurement and Iteration: Social Strategy 201
By treating our marketing efforts like an experiment, we can set metrics, collect data, analyze the results, and then make the necessary adjustments. Episode 166 is about how to put a simple plan in action to get better results from your social campaigns.
Rethinking Our Social Media Interactions: Social Strategy 201
The algorithms are working against us now. Episode 165 offers two strategies to adapt to the new, more restrictive world of social media marketing: How to do an end-run around the algorithms, and three steps to lean into what is still the best part of social.
Social Is Not What It Used to Be: Social Strategy 201
The glory days of social are over. Free organic reach is a thing of the past. What used to work is no longer effective. So, are there still ways for us to use social media to build relationships with an audience without having to pay-to-play? Of course there are.
List Hygiene and Maintenance: Email Marketing 201
You can’t do good email marketing without maintaining a clean email list. Good list hygiene not only helps you save money, but it also helps you increase your open rate and click rate.
Intermediate Automation: Email Marketing 201
Automation is key to today’s email marketing. Let’s take a look some more advanced automation techniques for when you are ready to go beyond a basic email newsletter strategy: RSS-based sequences and nurture sequences.
Basic Automation: Email Marketing 201
Adding a little bit of automation to your email marketing strategy can help nurture “cold” leads without a lot of extra hands-on effort. Let’s look at two basic automations when you’re just getting started: Welcome sequences and follow-up sequences.
List Segmentation Strategies: Email Marketing 201
Good list segmentation in email marketing lies at the intersection of what’s meaningful to your audience vs. what’s important to you. If it’s one or the other, it won’t work as effectively. In practice, there are 3 distinct ways to segment your email list.