There is no doubt that the past couple of years have been challenging for everybody, but especially for leaders of all sorts of organizations. As if the pandemic, and all the dislocation and sudden shifts in working patterns it unleashed, were not enough, much of the world now finds itself in the sort of inflation-wages spiral that many economists and politicians thought had been consigned to history. Leaders who might have thought they deserved a bit of a break after steering their businesses through a once-in-a-generation crisis, now find themselves facing down another. And all the time they know that just succeeding in financial terms is no longer enough. They need to show they are doing good by their employees, their wider community and, above all, the planet.
If this looks overwhelming, the good news is that those past couple of years have demonstrated that many leaders have proved themselves to be adaptable and resilient — and so have created a platform for further change. The management consultancy PA Consulting says its teams have observed that there are “concrete ways of leading that make a tangible difference to the health and happiness of an organisation and wider society.” And research it has just published appears to back this up. The study, A New Way To Lead, says that leaders recognize four behaviors that are especially important for success. They are:
Nurture human optimism — helping people adapt to new and complex situations with innovation and creativity.
Empower teams to innovate — giving people the space and permission to imagine and deliver value-creating responses.
Build evolving organizations — creating environments where aware, inclusive and responsive teams are able to make a success out of change.
Seek inspiration in surprising places — applying new perspectives and a broader sense to existing technologies and evolving challenges.
These behaviours are seen as vital because the modern world is characterized by disruption. But along with this come what the study calls “four forces of opportunity.” These forces — purposeful, inclusive business; customer trust and transparency; innovation-based business change; and technology acceleration — are affecting everyone and so cannot be ignored. Indeed, the right leadership approach can transform them into competitive advantage, while a failure to engage with them can result in organizations being left behind.
The PA study reports that those questioned — more than 300 leaders in the U.S., the U.K., the Nordics and the Netherlands — split between survivors — leaders who are just about hanging on and content to stay “as is” — and revivers — those positively adapting and reinventing what they do. The former are focused on cost reduction and sustaining the pace of change, while the latter concentrate on continued acceleration, transformation and investment in growth and innovation.
According to the report, revivers are more likelier than survivors to recognize the value of all four of the behaviours identified earlier and are more focused on looking beyond their own industries for inspiration and on building evolving organisations. They are also more likely to act with more urgency to make a stronger link between business and societal outcomes, more focused on leaving a positive legacy, more willing to change their leadership styles for the greater good and more likely to believe that the leaders of tomorrow will be more empathetic than today’s.
The split between revivers and survivors in the survey is put at 56% and 44% respectively. But the authors reckon that it is possible to transform leadership behavior — by taking five steps:
Work in the growth zone — leaders looking to keep up with the relentless pace of change need to see leaning into acceleration as part of the answer.
Cultivate kindness — leaders need to empower people to try new things and to take risks safe in the knowledge that they will not be targeted as a result.
Catalyse internal disruptors — give them more prominence as part of encouraging diversity in all forms in order to drive new thinking and actions.
Make authenticity everything — harness the power of purpose to move from platitudes to plausibility, so inspiring all stakeholders.
Create and embrace liminal spaces — shape new ways for people to connect, fostering a mindset that is comfortable with ambiguity.
Charlene Li, chief research officer at PA, was struck by three key themes that came out of the study. The first was a need to nurture human optimism — “not optimism at all costs but in a very realistic way.” This echoes other research indicating that teams that characterise themselves as optimistic are more effective.
The second was a need for kindness. This, she said, was rather counter-intuitive, but it was supported not just by the research but also by experience. “Covid inserted a strong dose of humanity” to workplaces where it has previously been typical and expected for employees to leave their home lives at the door. It had become more accepted that it was not a sign of weakness on the part of a manager to be seen as thoughtful, empathetic or humble. Moreover, kindness created psychological safety that enabled employees to take risks. “The best leaders in history have always understood this,” Li added, citing such examples as South West Airlines and Home Depot.
Finally, she pointed to the importance of the already mentioned “liminal space.” This is a psychological notion that describes the process by which people move from the familiar to the less so. Employees typically want to develop, but at the same time they find it disconcerting leaving something with which they have grown comfortable. Leaders need to respond to this, especially at a time when there is a lot going on, by seeing change not so much as something that needs to be got through as quickly as possible but as something likely to be continuous. As a result, employees need to be given the chance to explore its possibilities rather than rushed through it.
I am a U.K.-based journalist with a longstanding interest in management. In a career dating back to the days before newsroom computers I have covered everything from popular music to local politics. I was for many years an editor and writer at the “Independent” and “Independent on Sunday” and have written three books, the most recent of which is “What you need to know about business.”
You might have mixed feelings about learning how to start writing. On one hand, tips for beginner writers get you fired up about becoming a writer. On the other hand, content creators are easy targets for criticism.
Some might even say they “ask for it” by publicly displaying their thoughts, opinions, interests, and art.
But I hold the position that anyone who stands by the “asking for it” belief fundamentally doesn’t understand why most people publish content.
Content creators don’t share their experiences and knowledge because they think they know it all.
How to start writing when you want to publish content
Publishing content online is an extension of basic humanity in the offline world.
We share.
We compare.
We inquire.
We communicate.
We bond.
We disagree.
We endure.
We understand.
We tolerate.
We connect.
Meaningful interactions require vulnerability, which content creators also infuse in their writing voice and online work.
Quite frankly, I think it threatens those who feel unable to communicate their own truths.
So, these critics split hairs, they give straw-man arguments, they look for weaknesses to exploit.
They attempt to strip us of our humanity because seeing someone else work on their passion reminds them how they neglect their own.
Dialogue is stronger than dissatisfaction
I’m not saying everyone has to agree or shut up.
But I do think there are productive and unproductive ways to express criticism — thoughtful versus careless comments.
The latter involves a lack of awareness that any content creator has a lot of other things going on in their life. You never know what just happened before they wrote that blog post, recorded that podcast episode, or filmed that writing advice video.
The choice The Critic makes about how to express their response also affects their own wellbeing.
Yes, I’m now caring about The Critic’s wellbeing.
I would challenge any person who has a strong, negative reaction to a piece of content to use that energy to produce their own content — to build their own platform.
Because if The Critic did that, they’d find themselves in the center of the same mix of observers, fans, and haters.
And maybe they’d develop more empathy for those who create content regularly.
Perhaps they’d begin to understand the judgment calls you have to make when content editing and the care for your presentation that goes on behind the scenes, such as following a blog post checklist to make sure you got everything just right.
Perhaps they’d realize that constructive criticism and curious questions have different tones than “gotcha” attacks and condescending probes.
All of the reasons not to start freelance writing
I’m focusing on the negative aspects of having a presence online because I think they can deter people from starting in the first place.
And when you don’t start a project you want to explore, you leave the content creation to other people who are willing to take risks and expose themselves to all of the potential criticism — as you simultaneously increase your own chances of becoming a cranky critic.
More than just the need to overcome perfectionism in your business blogging, one simple practice that allows you to create content on a regular basis is getting comfortable with “good enough.”
What’s “good enough?”
People with good intentions make errors and don’t always publish groundbreaking work.
If you publish consistently, you’re not always going to be sharing great stuff. Some of it will just be okay.
This post might just be okay. I’m publishing it anyway.
“Good enough” helps you flow with your content-creation momentum, instead of fearing unintentional mistakes or unavoidable mediocrity.
How to start writing with confidence
I’m clearly the last person to tell you it’s okay to produce uninspired, generic content, but sometimes you can be your own worst critic and stop yourself from publishing an important part of your content marketing journey.
Try these five tips for doing your best, honoring your work, releasing it, learning from it, and moving on to your next piece of content to grow as a creator.
1. Remember you’re not for everyone
If you want to get ingredients for a Boring Content recipe, look in the Try to Please Everyone aisle at your local Content Formula Store.
You’re never going to satisfy every type of reader, listener, or viewer.
I’ve seen content creators make the most thorough disclaimers to clarify their intentions and someone always still misinterprets their message and finds a way to get offended.
The quicker you remember that some people will never like you, no matter how hard you try, the quicker you stop being preoccupied with what others think of you and get back to producing solid work.
People also have the right to make snap judgments about your blog post ideas, and you never have time to win them over.
Let those people go.
Trust that the right people stick around.
And you don’t have to be “perfect” for the right people to pay attention to your brand of content; they just get it.
4. Set boundaries around your work when you start freelance writing
Even though you put aspects of yourself into your work, when you separate yourself from it, it helps prevent you from taking criticism personally.
It’s something you produced — a performance of sorts — but it’s not you.
It’s just a part of what you do, and if you work long enough and hard enough, you’ll be extremely proud of what you’ve created. You’ll also have a portfolio that helps you make money as a freelance writer.
No one can take that pride away from you. You earned it.
To get to that point of satisfaction, set rules for how you handle your content business.
Decide if:
People can contact you directly, and how
You’ll allow comments
There are some personal subjects you won’t talk about
Setting boundaries like those ahead of time reduces extra things to think about when you’re involved in your day-to-day tasks, allowing you to be more productive.
5. Befriend the improvement process
“All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last.” – Marcel Proust
Don’t pay too much attention to your own judgments of what is good or bad writing, when it comes to your own content.
Although it’s easy to be hard on yourself, conversely, something you think is great right now might seem only average to you in the future.
Embracing “good enough” allows you to finish a project so you have a starting place to grow from — regardless of your current opinions about it.
As long as you aim for producing something meaningful, making mistakes is not a reason not to publish.
If you find a mistake later on, you can always fix it (if possible) and learn from it (always possible).
And when you do look back at a piece of older content and can’t find anything to improve, it’ll become an evergreen part of your portfolio.
Start writing today to build your own thing
If you can get past doubt and criticism — from within and without — you can build something of your own.
And get excited about the endless possibilities for content that makes a positive impact.
The more specific your message is, the greater impact it will have on your intended audience. Here’s why.
As an entrepreneur or business owner, it’s easy to think your marketing salvation lies in the next quick tip or hack. You think to yourself, “If I just have the right tool, script or template, I can start winning.” But in reality, quick hacks only get you so far without the right marketing strategy or framework in place. You need a system to put them into, otherwise it’s nothing more than a mismatched collection of random techniques.
In building a marketing framework for your business, it’s important that you have a firm understanding of what makes successful marketing. And in this article, I’m going to discuss what I believe to be one of the defining pillars: specificity.
The “what” and “why” of specificity in marketing
If you’ve been around the marketing world much, or if you’ve taken a business class in the past couple of decades, then you’re probably familiar with the AIDA marketing principles. It’s an acronym that stands for Attention → Interest → Desire → Action. In order to move people through a sales funnel, you have to first grab their attention, then get them interested, then create desire, and finally, take action.
Most business owners and marketers focus on the “action” piece of the puzzle, but they ignore the “attention” component. The reality is that if you don’t grab a prospect’s attention — which is increasingly difficult to do in today’s noisy marketing landscape — you’ll never have the opportunity to move them to action.
The question is, how do you grab attention? While there are numerous ways to get a prospect’s attention, being specific with your messaging is a must. Here are some of the other benefits of emphasizing specificity:
Builds credibility: When your messaging is specific, prospects start to realize that you’re an expert in helping people like them. This enhances your credibility and gives you the perception of being the go-to business, product or service.
Persuades: Specificity typically involves the use of proof, data and statistics. As a result, your messaging is more clear and persuasive.
Increases conversion rates: Studies show that something as simple as optimizing your headline to be more specific can boost conversion rates. This holds true regardless of the industry or niche.
Unfortunately, most brands take a generic approach. In doing so, they miss out on the opportunity to grab attention and move people through their conversion funnels. If you can avoid this mistake, you can dramatically increase your chances of being successful.
The goal of successful marketing is to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. Here are four ways you can leverage the power of specificity to accomplish this:
1. Choose a specific niche
If you’re targeting everyone, you’re targeting no one in particular. With very few exceptions, it’s usually a bad idea to go after anyone and everyone. Unless you’re selling toothpaste, bananas or batteries, you’re better off picking a target audience and pursuing them.
When you have a niche, it becomes easier to tailor your messaging. You no longer have to account for everyone. You can get into the mind of your prospect and start pressing into specific desires, frustrations, pain points and goals.
2. Create a USP
With a niche in mind, develop a Unique Sales Proposition (USP) that clearly conveys how you help your target audience achieve their desires and overcome their pain points.
A good USP follows this formula: “I help [NICHE] achieve [DESIRE] without [PAIN POINT].” You don’t have to follow this script word for word, but it gives you a good general feel for which elements need to be included.
3. Death to the stock photo
If you’re still using stock photos on your website and in your marketing messages, please stop! Stock photos scream “generic” louder than almost anything else. It doesn’t cost that much to have professional pictures taken or to create your own graphics using a tool like Canva.com.
You can give your entire website a makeover by simply hiring a professional photographer to come out to your business for three or four hours one day and take pictures. Swap out stock photos with images of actual team members and customers. It’ll change the entire look of your website.
4. Improve your headlines
Finally, write better headlines. Research from Marketing Experiments shows that optimizing your headlines for greater specificity can improve your conversion rate by 73% or more. In the study, researchers tested the following five headlines against a control headline:
Dental Plans for $8.33 a month. Acceptance Guaranteed.
Over 55,000 Dental Care Providers. Acceptance Guaranteed.
Guess which headlines performed the best? Headline 1 showed a lift of 72.76% in conversions, while Headline 2 got a bump of 26.41%. The other three headlines all had a negative impact on conversions.
The moral of the story is to get specific with headlines. Whether it’s numbers, descriptive adjectives or compelling verbs, specificity sells!
Nobody likes generic marketing. If a prospect sees your marketing messages and doesn’t immediately think it’s intended for them, you have a problem. Get crystal clear on who your audience is, and then make a point to tailor every element of your marketing campaign to them.
I read it shortly after I had read through the Federal Reserve’s 2022 report on how consumers choose to pay for things–which is an exciting read, let me tell you. Still, the two things sort of merged in my brain and I started thinking about how Apple is not only driving change in how we pay for things, it’s on a slow march toward dominating yet another industry.
When you think about it, Apple Pay has almost managed to pull off the most coveted feat of branding–it’s basically synonymous with contactless payments. I’ve literally never heard anyone ask, “Do you accept Google Pay or Samsung Pay?” It’s possible that no one is using either service, but I think it’s more likely that people just think of anytime you tap your phone to a card reader as Apple Pay.
As one data point in support of this hypothesis, at Kroger–the largest grocery chain in the U.S.–some stores have added labels to the card readers letting people know that you can’t use Apple Pay. Really, they just mean they don’t accept contactless payments and you still have to insert your chip into the reader. The labels, however, say “No Apple Pay.”
Jason Aten
I asked an employee at our local Kroger why, to which she replied that before the label they would get a handful of people every day who just stood there trying to tap their iPhone to pay for their groceries. I reached out to Kroger’s corporate office about the labels and why the chain doesn’t accept Apple Pay, but did not receive a response prior to publication.
I do think Cohen gets one part wrong, however. That is, he suggests Apple’s biggest barrier to more widespread adoption is that people prefer using their physical credit cards:
But its rival isn’t just Cash App and PayPal or Google and Samsung. It’s the convenience of credit cards. And those are still winning. Apple’s executives argue the enhanced security of Apple Pay helps make for a superior consumer experience, but there is not yet a compelling reason to pick a phone over plastic. Unlike scanning a mobile boarding pass, which took off in barely any time because it eliminated the hassle of printing, Apple Pay doesn’t reduce much friction.
Cohen has a point, but I’m not sure it’s the right one. Listening to Cook talk about the success of Apple Pay, he emphasized that “the growth of Apple Pay has just been stunning. It’s been absolutely stunning.”
More important, however, he suggested it still had a lot of room to grow because “there’s still a lot of cash in the environment.” To be more specific, cash is used for roughly 20 percent of all transactions, though that’s down from 26 percent in 2019.
The obvious reason is that Covid-19 had a role to play in people moving toward contactless payments. That’s certainly good for the adoption of Apple Pay. The idea of handling cash isn’t something most people get excited about in the middle of a pandemic. Some stores stopped taking cash altogether, at least temporarily.
But the point Cook is making is that Apple Pay isn’t necessarily competing with people using their credit card at the checkout counter in their local Target. Apple seems to see its main competition as people pulling cash out of their pocket.
In Apple’s ideal world, the iPhone is your wallet. Most people say they would prefer to lose their wallet than their iPhone, but they’re still carrying both. Apple wants to change that and Apple Pay is a big part of that strategy. It has to be just as fast and convenient–if not more so–as pulling cash out of your pocket.
Obviously, that depends on businesses like Kroger accepting Apple Pay. If you’re the largest grocery store chain, that means you have a lot of stores with a lot of checkout lanes, and a lot of credit card readers. Updating them all is expensive at that scale.
To that end, Apple has been trying to sweeten the deal with things like Apple Pay Later, which lets customers choose to pay over six weeks. The store, however, still gets paid just like any other Apple Pay transaction.
It’s not hard to see why Apple is patiently pursuing Apple Pay dominance. Some analysts estimate contactless payments to be worth almost $2 trillion. That’s real money, and Apple didn’t become the world’s most valuable company by ignoring opportunities like that. It also makes the iPhone even more valuable–which is priceless.
Your writing voice should make your subjects clear and interesting.
Assuming you aren’t working on the next Waiting for Godot, you’ll work to make sure your meaning is easy to grasp.
And assuming you aren’t editing Wikipedia, you’ll work to make it lively and fresh.
But sometimes, well-meaning attempts to give your personal writing life end up producing content that’s silly, trivial, cluttered, or condescending.
Lively writing is wonderful. Paragraph after paragraph of glitter-filled, neon-rainbow unicorn vomit (without any knowledge of how to use a comma) is less wonderful.
Even if you like sparkle (I do), you just need a little. Too much glitter always looks cheap.
So let’s look at how to make your writing voice colourful and interesting … without making your audience sick to their stomachs.
The most important thing about your writing voice
Before we start, I want to be completely clear:
I don’t get to dictate what works for your audience.
I can show you some common pitfalls, but if your audience adores something I don’t like — their vote is the one that counts.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s look at some of the contributors to unicorn vomit.
A warm and personal tone is good
Nearly any content (including B2B) benefits from a warm, individual writing voice.
If you think about your professional life, you know that it’s possible to be absolutely professional and still be warm and likable.
That’s the tone you’re after. No matter what kind of content you create or how many unique blog post ideas you have, your audience is made of individual human beings.
I like to think about having a coffee (or a glass of wine) with a friend and offering my explanation of the topic I’m writing about.
I’ll include conversational asides as they make sense … but I’ll often go back and delete about half of them to write better content.
Kindergarten cheerfulness is not so good
Things get ugly when we cross the line into Dora the Explorer territory.
Forced, candy-coloured cheerfulness will make your content look repetitive, lightweight, and grating. Please remember that your audience is made of adults.
If you’re a member of Team Relentless Cheer, you might benefit from the following:
Stick to one exclamation point per article. Zero would also be fine.
A few conversational asides in your article are fine, but if you love them, follow my lead and cut at least half.
Positivity is great, but reality is even better. Write about problems, too.
Don’t tell me it’s “awesome,” “epic,” or “amazeballs.” Show me why.
Probably you and I should both pare down our attachment to emojis
Our gentleman content creators sometimes suffer from a variant of this: Gary Vee Syndrome.
If your content is an endless stream of ALL CAPS, exclamation points, bossy but earnest pronouncements, and you address your audience as My Friends, please remember that there is one Gary Vee. And it is not you.
Web clichés
BFF, BTW, TFW, TBH, AFAIK, WTF …
We’re all citizens of this world wide web. It’s part of our identity, particularly for content creators. And our tribe has a distinct language. A language made up by people too lazy to spell things.
One or two make your content feel conversational. Too many and my eyelids start to flutter from TL;DR.
(By the way, if you’re not sure what some of those mean … LMGTFY.)
Richness and colour are good for your writing voice
So much content looks like it’s actively trying to win a World’s Dullest Website competition.
There’s no shortage of sites for basic instructions, stripped-down numbers, and raw information. We’re all a few seconds away from knowing how long the gestation period of the American Crocodile is.
You can’t compete with Wikipedia and you shouldn’t try. Focus on where you can compete — with an original human writing voice, using the power of your point of view.
Don’t just tell us what the numbers are … tell us why they matter.
Don’t just analyse … make it vivid.
Use texture, storyselling, slang, analogy, metaphor, nuance, and connotation to sculpt a three-dimensional understanding of your topic.
Descriptive language helps create vivid impressions. Think about smells, tastes, and colors.
“Loaded” language carries firepower. Calling something pallid or bleached carries a different connotation than the generic light-coloured.
Make sure your nouns and verbs are working hard. Don’t say The deliciously scented, intricate purple flower. Say The lilac.
Trying to make your writing vivid by pouring on a thick layer of verbal goop will only make it indigestible. Excessive descriptions can turn off potential readers.
Make sure all of your adjectives and adverbs need to be there. You don’t have to declare war on them, but you should give each one a good stink-eye to make sure it’s pulling its weight.
Fancy Nancy word choice
Do you always have a penchant for doing things, instead of just liking them?
Do you think canapés taste better than snacks and prefer traveling in a vehicle to a car?
Your writing voice may be suffering from Fancy Nancyism.
Just like glitter — a little can add sparkle. I love unusual and interesting words, too. But too many and you start to look silly.
When writing in English, keep most of your word choices to the plain, straightforward Anglo-Saxon.
House is better than residence.
Smell is better than odour. When appropriate, stink is even better.
Eat is better than partake.
One advantage is that when you do choose a word that’s a bit … luminous, it will stand out.
Vulnerability is good …
Perfect people are boring. And annoying. Most of us are a little fed up with the glossy, the over-curated, and the Instagram-perfect.
If you want to learn how to overcome writer’s block and make a connection with an audience, go ahead and talk about problems. If you have insecurities, open up about them. (If you don’t have any insecurities, maybe you should.)
No one becomes an authority without stepping in some stinky stuff. Talk about that.
Get real about the whole path that led you to where you are, not just the prettiest views along the way.
Train wrecks are not so good for your writing voice
When do we cross the line from vulnerable leader to oversharing whack job?
I’d argue it’s when your writing voice ceases to convey you’re someone your audience can rely on.
Are you a freelancer who goes on and on about how you can’t meet your deadlines? Get a Freedom account, block your access to Facebook, and fix the problem. Clients don’t need another flaky freelancer.
Are you a therapist who flies off the handle over trivia and seems to lurch from one disaster to another? That’s work to save for your therapist. Your clients need to know you can help them with their problems.
It’s a bit like parenting. It’s good to let our kids know that we make mistakes, too … but if they start feeling like they need to parent us, we need to remember which one is the adult.
Your audience isn’t your support group. You’re there to help them, not the other way around.
Of course, seek out a real support group for the tough days. Everyone goes through tough times. Stick to sharing your troubles with the right people … and publishing your most useful writing.
From video campaigns to social media posts, there are plenty of ways to connect with consumers these days. While email marketing may be one of the oldest messaging channels, it still reigns as one of the most effective ways to get in touch with target audiences. According to HubSpot, emails produce a 4,200% ROI by generating $42 for every $1 spent, making email marketing the highest-ROI channel.
That said, email marketing campaigns have endless applications for businesses of all sizes. Let’s dive into how to create an effective email marketing campaign for your company and the various types of emails your brand should be sending.
How to Leverage Email Marketing Campaigns
Before we dive into the different types of email marketing campaigns you need to try this year, we should first define what exactly an email marketing strategy is. Your email marketing strategy should be an organized list of action items that support your brand’s desired marketing goals — such as increasing brand awareness, conversions or consumer touchpoints.
Having an email marketing strategy in place is essential for 3 core reasons:
It aligns email campaigns with overarching business goals.
It defines email marketing objectives, so you can be sure to provide value every step of the way.
It enables marketers to evaluate the effectiveness of their emails.
An important part of developing an email marketing strategy includes identifying the goal of each campaign. Every email you deploy should have a target objective in mind, such as:
Informing: Send updates on new product launches, provide company-related information or supply educational materials that your target audience will find interesting or helpful.
Engaging or re-engaging: Use email marketing to connect with prospects or re-engage subscribers who may not have interacted with your brand in a while.
Nurturing: Leverage emails to establish consistent touchpoints and turn a new customer into a lifetime supporter of your business.
Converting: Direct email recipients to perform a specific action, such as visiting your website, completing a contact form or making a purchase with a promo code.
Once you have a strategy in place and a goal defined, you can start creating your email marketing campaign.
9 Email Marketing Campaigns To Try This Year
Before you dive into creating your next big email campaign, brainstorm which types of emails you want to include. Here are 9 of our top picks to consider:
1. The Welcome Series
You’ve locked in a new email subscriber — congrats! Now’s the perfect time to say hello and launch the beginning of a long-term relationship. The welcome email is an opportunity for you to engage new subscribers, encourage them to interact with your brand or convince them to take action, like visiting your website. And when it comes to open rates, Invesp found that welcome emails generate 4 times more opens and 5 times more clicks compared to standard marketing emails.
When drafting your welcome email, there are a few key elements to include:
Don’t forget: Timing is everything when it comes to welcome emails. Taking too long to contact a new subscriber can cause them to forget about you. Consider utilizing email automation so that as soon as someone signs up, they promptly receive a welcome email in their inbox.
Here’s a great example of a Spotify welcome email:
Source: Neilpatel.com
2. Sales and Promotional Emails
The most common emails are sales campaigns. Whether you’re promoting a new product, highlighting a sale or trying to generate a conversion, these emails are important to incorporate into your email marketing strategy. However, inboxes can easily become cluttered, so you need a campaign that stands apart from the others. A few ways to ensure that is by:
Featuring a strong subject line and call to action.
Keeping your email body short, sweet and straight to the point.
Providing deadlines to add a sense of urgency.
Using email technology to personalize the content as much as possible.
Additionally, you can offer a promotional email code specifically for the recipient. Not only can this encourage readers to take action, but you can use the code to track how successful your emails were. Here’s an example of a promotional email with a code sent from the apparel store Express:
3. Seasonal Emails
Changing seasons may call for a wardrobe change, but they can also be the perfect opportunity for sending an email to your subscriber list. Seasonal campaigns coincide with a specific holiday or a new season, such as an apparel store promoting bathing suits at the start of summer. As for holidays, the National Retail Foundation reports that some of the highest consumer-spending holidays in the U.S. in 2021 included Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Graduation season and Halloween. So whether you’re hosting a spring cleaning event, a new year’s promotion or a summer blowout sale, let the changing seasons be a reason to connect with your customers via email.
4. Post-Purchase Campaigns
Not only is it vital to send emails to encourage a sale, but you also want to touch base with your clientele after they’ve made a purchase. Why? Post-purchase campaigns provide an opportunity to:
Confirm their order and issue a confirmation or tracking number.
Thank the customer for their business, encourage future sales and bolster brand loyalty.
Provide an opportunity for feedback on their experience with your brand.
Send similar products or promotional offers that can motivate them to do business with you again in the future.
Essentially, your post-purchase emails should be automated by triggers, so you know every customer receives one promptly after making a purchase.
5. Cart Abandonment Emails
Abandoned cart campaigns are exactly like they sound: They engage with customers who recently visited your website and placed items in a cart but never finished the sale. According to research by Moosend, consumers open 45% of cart abandonment emails. Of those opened emails, 50% of recipients end up completing the purchase. With those stats in mind, running cart abandonment campaigns is a must for online and e-commerce brands.
So what should your cart abandonment email include? Getting the copy right is critical for success. Incorporate clear messaging that alerts customers that there are still items in their cart and that they need to complete their order ASAP. For extra motivation, you may want to add an extra prompt — such as free shipping — to ensure the recipient completes the sale.
Here’s an example of a cart abandonment email from Bluemercury:
Source: moosend.com
6. Retargeted Emails
Also known as email remarketing, retargeted emails are sent to people who engaged with your brand — whether through the website, social media or another medium. These people are customers or email subscribers who might need a lil’ nudge to encourage a sale.
For instance, you may be able to track a user that visited a specific page of your website. You can then deploy a retargeted email listing the products they were looking at or highlight similar products that may appeal to their interests. By keeping your brand top-of-mind — as well as at the top of their inbox — you’ll be able to encourage more sales and increase conversions.
7. Trigger Email Campaigns
Triggered emails are sent automatically. Marketers can select pre-determined qualifiers based on user behaviours. Once a shopper performs these specific functions, the trigger email gets deployed.
Examples of common triggers for these types of email campaigns include:
Completing an order.
Subscribing to an email list.
Milestone emails — such as gaining a certain number of reward points or completing a specific number of purchases.
Birthdays or customer anniversaries.
Ultimately, a trigger email may contain similar messaging as a promotional or sales email. But the key difference is that these emails are automatic and delivered to specific individuals based on specific behaviours. Promotional emails are typically deployed to large groups of consumers at once and based on the marketer’s decisions, rather than an action.
8. Brand Story Emails
Emails don’t always have to centre around transactions. Brand story emails can increase subscriber engagement and bolster your relationship with your subscribers. Use a brand story email to tell the history of your company, highlight your company’s journey, share future goals or shed a spotlight on the people who work at the business. Whether you’re a startup firm or have been selling goods for over a century, a brand story email can help you convey your unique selling proposition, values and mission to your subscribers, thus building a stronger connection between your brand and its customers.
9. Update Emails
Whether you’re launching an entirely new product or adding features to your website, share the news with your email list. Update emails spread the word on the latest innovations your brand is implementing as well as solidify your commitment to enhancing the customer experience and making continuous improvements.
Check out this example of an update email sent from Groove HQ’s CEO about their latest product updates:
Launching a Successful Email Marketing Campaign
While defining a clear goal and picking out the right kind of email is essential for a campaign, there are a few other steps you need to take to execute a successful email marketing campaign:
Segment Your List
List segmentation allows you to send emails tailored for a specific group of subscribers. In doing so, customers receive more targeted, personalized messages that speak to their needs or interests. The result? Audiences are more likely to open and engage with the email. According to HubSpot, marketers who utilize segmentation for emails see as much as a 760% increase in revenue. And according to MarTech, personalized emails deliver 6 times higher transaction rates compared to generic, non-personalized ones.
Choose Your Deployment Time
When your email is ready to go, it’s time to pick when you send it. Marketing is all about reaching consumers at the righttime, and sending an email campaign is no different.
But how do you choose the most effective time to send a marketing email? It depends on your audience. If you’re sending your email through an ESP like Constant Contact or Mailchimp, the software should be able to provide an ideal email send time for you. If not, HubSpot reports that the highest click-to-open rates occur when emails are sent near 6 p.m., 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Analyse Your Results
Of course, you don’t want to simply send an email and just hope for the best. You can review various metrics and KPIs to determine exactly how effective your email campaigns were and if they’re performing the way you want. Some key results to evaluate include:
Clickthrough rate: The percentage of recipients who clicked on at least one link in your email.
Conversion rate: The percentage of users who completed the desired action, like clicking a call to action button in your email.
Bounce rate: The percent of emails not successfully delivered to recipients.
Unsubscribe rate: The number of people who unsubscribed from receiving future emails from your brand.
Email sharing rate: The percentage of email recipients who posted the email on social media or forwarded it to someone else.
In addition to these metrics, emails are a perfect time for A/B testing. For example, many marketers A/B test email subject lines: They create 2 or more subject lines and evaluate KPIs to determine which one was most successful. For example, you could create 2 similar subject lines, one containing an emoji and one without. And you don’t have to stop at subject lines; you can also A/B test your call to action, preheader text, images and more.
Email Marketing Tools: How To Choose The Right One For You
Email marketing software makes life easier — as long as you have one that can get the job done right. While there are many different tools to choose from, you’ll want to select one that’s easy to use and includes the right features for your campaigns. Examples include:
Personalization: Software can help you tailor your message to a specific recipient by including variable fields like the person’s name, city or birthday in the email.
Marketing automation: You’ll want to leverage an email marketing platform that allows you to set triggers so you can automatically send messages to your list.
Designer tools: With the right email tool, you can create an eye-catching template that makes your messages stand apart from others in your recipient’s inbox.
CRM integration: If your brand has a CRM, you’ll want to use marketing software that integrates with it. This way, you can use the data in your CRM to segment your emails and personalize the messaging for better results.
Of course, we’re only scratching the surface here when it comes to email marketing. If you’re interested in learning more, be sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. We’ll send you the latest tips, advice and insights on email marketing that can help you create your next killer campaign.
By Melinda Miley
Melinda (Mel) is a Content Writer at Brafton based out of Pennsylvania. In addition to writing professionally and for fun, Mel loves paddleboarding, hiking and telling her dogs how perfect they are.
Why do so many companies fail? One big reason has to do with an unsuccessful content marketing strategy. Without a good one, the likelihood of failure goes way up.
Twenty percent of businesses—including small businesses, restaurants, and storefronts—fail within their first two years. Sixty-five percent fail within their first ten years. Why do so many companies fail? One big reason has to do with an unsuccessful content marketing strategy. Without a good one, the likelihood of failure goes way up.
Fortunately, we can look to various companies, brands, and organizations that have used excellent content marketing to move forward toward success. By studying what they’ve done and implementing their strategies in your own way, your company can also benefit from the power of a great content marketing strategy.
NEIL PATEL’S BLOG
If you’ve ever searched Google for marketing advice, then you’ve likely seen Neil Patel’s blogs pop up in the search results. But why do his blogs stand out as some of the best?
Patel’s blogs about marketing go further than just words and usually include charts, graphs, statistics, and personal stories. Recently, Patel has begun incorporating videography—the latest marketing trend—into his blog posts. Combining numbers and personal anecdotes is a very effective way to get through to people, while incorporating more videos on his blog helps him reach a wider audience. Additionally, Patel habitually replies to comments from people who visit his site. The reputation he has built keeps his readers coming back.
So, what does this mean for your team? Staying engaged with your community is essential, especially when building a reputation for your brand.
DUOLINGO’S TIKTOK ACCOUNT
With more than a billion people on TikTok, leaving this social media app out of your digital marketing strategy means ignoring a seventh of the entire world! It seems silly to do, and Duolingo knows it.
Instead of continuously posting serious content about their language-learning products, Duolingo posts content that works for their target audience—it makes people laugh, it makes it personal, and it gets people interested. Although not all content may be about what Duolingo sells, once their audience is interested, they could become potential customers.
ZIPRECRUITER’S PODCAST
If your business has been thinking about starting a podcast, it’s a great time to do so. Podcasts represent one of the newest forms of digital marketing, and brands are really starting to gravitate toward them.
Compared to creating and editing a video post, podcasts can be put together relatively quickly. Of course, a podcast should be about more than just you and your business; guests and other speakers should be featured on the podcast to keep people engaged and interested.
ZipRecruiter’s excellent podcast provides motivation and inspiration, and regularly features discussions with prominent guests related to ZipRecruiter’s niche of hiring and job searching.
If you decide a podcast would benefit your business and brand, the first step is to follow ZipRecruiter’s lead and determine your niche.
STARBUCKS’ INSTAGRAM
Whatever type of digital marketing you plan to do, you simply cannot leave out Instagram’s 2 billion monthly users.
Brands like Starbucks have long been using the popular social media platform to generate leads—however, they aren’t just posting pics of coffee and bakery items. One of Starbucks’ most recent campaigns was #ExtraShotOfPride, featuring baristas and other employees going through their personal LGBTQ+ journeys. This inclusivity and unique content marketing technique quickly caught people’s attention—and increased attention means increased business.
Taking the time to come up with exciting ideas and campaigns is a great way to stand out on social media, especially if you are willing to dip into the realm of politics and social issues.
DOVE’S USER-GENERATED CONTENT
One of marketing’s biggest current trends is user-generated content submitted through Instagram. Mastered by Dove, user-generated content is photos and video stories individuals using your product or service submit via a specific hashtag for a chance to be featured on your company’s account.
Besides being completely free, user-generated content has one significant benefit: it’s genuine. The overly curated photos we see on websites, clothing brands, TV, and every other digital outlet have become too much. We know it isn’t portraying reality. As a company, showing real people who are genuinely pleased with your product or service sends a powerful message.
WAYFAIR’S #WAYFAIRATHOME CAMPAIGN
Much like Dove’s user-generated content, Wayfair’s campaign of #WayfairAtHome uses photos that users post of their homes featuring products they purchased on Wayfair. By participating in #WayfairAtHome, Wayfair customers promote Wayfair’s products to all their followers and potential customers—at no cost to Wayfair! As people see real-life examples of the products, they are more likely to buy them.
LINKEDIN’S VISUAL MARKETING
Imagine if everything you saw on a website was text. You’d likely navigate away from that page pretty quickly. That’s why visual marketing has recently shot to the forefront of content marketing.
LinkedIn is just one company using visual marketing to promote their site on social media platforms like Twitter. But instead of using just one type of visual, they incorporate multiple visuals to attract attention. From featured images on blogs to illustrations and infographics, LinkedIn uses visuals on almost every post. The fact that LinkedIn’s posts are so interesting to look at helps to explain why the company has a respectable 1.5 million Twitter followers and counting.
If you plan to use visuals in your content marketing techniques, mix it up a bit on each post!
Whether you focus on video marketing like LinkedIn, a podcast like ZipRecruiter, or an interactive hashtag like Wayfair, a quality and thought-provoking content media strategy is sure to pay off.
A go-to-market strategy is a plan for reaching the largest number of potential customers with the most effective marketing efforts. It is a plan to attract and grow your customer base by targeting the customers who are most likely to purchase your product or service. It allows businesses to focus their resources on the most important channels and target the right people with the best messaging. It is the way a business establishes, maintains and expands relationships with key customers.
This strategy should include how the business identifies, reaches out to and sells its products or services. There are a lot of articles and books written on how to go to market, but there is no one right way to do it. The goal is to find what works best for your business and then stick with it. Here are five steps that can help you get started.
1. Define your business and marketing objectives.
When starting a business, it’s important to have a clear vision and set of goals. Defining your business and marketing objectives will help you stay on track and achieve success. Defining these objectives can be difficult, but it is essential for businesses to have a clear idea of what they want and need in order to grow. A few key factors should be considered when creating marketing objectives, such as the target market, product or service offerings and pricing.
The following are some key questions to ask yourself when developing your objectives.
• What do I want my business to achieve?
• What am I willing to do and/or sacrifice to achieve that goal?
• How can marketing help me achieve my business goals?
Set measurable goals. It’s important to track your progress and make course corrections as needed. Are you looking to increase sales, gain new customers or improve customer loyalty?
2. Know your audience.
Market research is an important part of any business. Not only does it help you to better understand your target market, but it can also help you to create a product that appeals to that market. Identifying your target market can ensure your product will be successful.
• Start by understanding who in your market uses or could use your product.
• Next, research what interests and concerns these people.
• Based on the research, create your ideal customer profile and buyers’ personas.
3. Choose a distribution channel.
The process of choosing a distribution channel can be daunting for startups and small businesses. With limited resources and time, it is important to make the right decision that will reach the most customers in the most efficient way possible. When selecting a distribution channel, business owners face many choices. Email marketing, social media, events and advertisements are a few viable options. But which one is the best for your business depends on your goals and the demographics of your target market.
Email marketing is a great way to reach existing and potential customers. It’s affordable, and you can target specific demographics with your messages. However, not everyone uses email, so you might also want to consider using social media to reach those who don’t use email. Social media platforms are free to use and offer many ways to target your audience. Events are a great way to reach potential customers in person. They allow you to interact with customers and get feedback directly from them. However, they can be expensive to produce and attend to.
Ask yourself a few questions when making this decision.
• Where does your target market hang out?
• How do they prefer to receive information?
• What is your budget?
• Are you willing to invest in marketing and advertising?
• What is your timeline?
4. Define key performance indicators.
In order to effectively measure and track marketing progress, it is necessary to understand what marketing metrics are and how they can be used. The definition of marketing metrics can be summed up with one word: effectiveness. Effectiveness is the ability to measure how well a company’s marketing efforts are working in order to achieve its desired outcomes. Marketing metrics can help track and improve key performance indicators (known as KPIs) such as website traffic, leads generated and conversion rates.
Startup marketing, in particular, relies heavily on metrics to track progress and optimize campaigns. Many businesses use free or low-cost tools like Google Analytics to measure website traffic and engagement. For lead generation, you might use tools like Mixpanel or Kissmetrics to track how many people sign up for a trial or download a white paper. And for measuring conversions, startups might use Crazy Egg or Hotjar to see where people are clicking on their website.
5. Measure, learn and repeat.
If you want to improve your marketing campaign, you need to track your progress and analyse what works and what doesn’t. Make sure to also track qualitative data, such as customer feedback or satisfaction ratings. This will help you understand how well your marketing efforts are resonating with customers. You can constantly improve your marketing campaigns and get better results by tracking your progress and analysing your results.
In conclusion, developing a go-to-market strategy can be easy with the right steps. By defining your objectives and knowing your target market, what you offer and how to reach your consumers, you can create a successful plan that will help your business grow. Remember to tailor your strategy to your specific business and keep your customers in mind. Good luck and happy marketing!
88 percent of audiences value brand authenticity, but the majority of marketers are ignoring the one strategy that will meet this demand.
As marketers, it’s natural to focus our efforts on what we can immediately control rather than put energy into big-picture changes that may require a larger (and far longer) organizational shift to achieve. We look for opportunities presented as low-hanging fruit to deliver quick, controllable wins that move the needle and validate our assumptions. It can be misconstrued as a foundational marketing strategy rather than what it truly is: putting a Band-Aid on something that requires a different set of tools to make it better.
Less than half of marketers surveyed believe that their brand messaging, authenticity, positioning, and overarching strategy have made a significant impact on growth. This might be why it’s easier to focus energies elsewhere. But in a world where 88 percent of customers value brand authenticity, these factors should be key drivers of growth for the majority of marketers, rather than a minority. And these days, if your brand messaging and positioning are not driving significant growth for your organization, no number of bandages will stop the bleeding.
Despite this, marketers are ignoring this golden messaging opportunity.
Only about one in every three marketers consider reworking their brand messaging and positioning when planning their overall marketing strategy. Stranger still, it’s only this small group of marketers that invest in market research to gather a better understanding of how their brand is perceived by customers.
Today’s marketplace is rife with volatility. Between the pandemic, the economy, and politics we’ve seen rapid shifts in consumer behaviour and customer sentiment. Despite this, most marketers see brand positioning as a one-time investment. Their past brand work has driven results, so why re-evaluate, right? But today’s customers expect brands to consistently evolve their messaging to meet the moment. After all, can a brand be truly authentic if it doesn’t adjust with the times?
Brand awareness and engagement rely on a unique value proposition.
Almost half of all marketers surveyed noted that improving brand awareness and increasing brand engagement are high priorities in 2022 and beyond. But this can be hard to achieve without a deep understanding of their target customers. In fact, over 60 percent of marketers lack confidence in their team’s abilities to engage consumers with their current brand positioning.
Marketers who invest in real-time consumer research to better understand their customers have the upper hand. A clear picture of the market’s perception of their brand helps them differentiate from the rest. Think about it: By understanding what makes your brand valuable to your customers, you can respond far faster and adjust accordingly as the world changes. Your value proposition, after all, answers three key questions: what you do, why you do it, and who you do it for. If that value proposition hasn’t shifted in response to the events of the past few years, then it’s already outdated.
Brands must stay relevant as the market shifts. But simply changing your messaging to respond to new trends or major societal events without care for customer perception may be seen as disingenuous. Leading with authenticity requires first understanding how your brand delivers value to your audience and adjusting that value proposition to meet the moment.
Authentic brands are mission-driven, not mission adjacent.
With the understanding that 82 percent of customers prefer to buy from mission-driven brands, more and more companies are jumping on the trend. But only 40 percent of marketers are confident that their organizations are truly mission-driven. Instead, many organizations are choosing to support a cause in a public way but without consistency.
Brands today must show that they value something beyond just profits. Social consciousness should be the norm, rather than the exception. Following the recent repeal of Roe v. Wade, for example, dozens of businesses announced new health travel benefits that would help women travel to a state where they could seek care. The brands that continually respond to sweeping social change by showing their support for those in need have stood out for their authenticity. Companies that are simply jumping on the bandwagon to grow brand recognition, however, stick out like a sore thumb.
Challenge your brand position and messaging today, tomorrow, and always.
Marketers should regularly reconsider their brand position and messaging to ensure it meets the current moment. As the times change, so too will your brand perception in the marketplace. By taking the time to adjust your value proposition and messaging to align with today’s expectations, your organization will display a commitment to evolving with the needs of your audience consistently and authentically.
Protect your business from the looming recession with these business marketing strategies! Help ensure your business has long-term growth.
In 2022, the United States is fortunate enough not to be in a recession. However, the odds of a recession in 2023 are on the rise. Experts predict there’s currently a 30% chance of recession, and that number has doubled over three months.
As a large or small business, it’s essential to have a plan if a recession hits. Luckily, there are several recession-proof business marketing strategies that you can use. These marketing ideas will help your business continue to find success, even during a recession. Continue reading, and find out how you can fuel your business growth:
Strategy 1: Focus on customer experience
Today’s market values authenticity and excellent customer service. Around 65% of Millennials are willing to pay more for customer experience.
The best businesses know that happy customers give great reviews and spread the word quickly. It’s much easier to market your business when customers have already mentioned your company as one of their favourites. In fact, word-of-mouth marketing is a critical factor in 74% of purchase decisions. It drives six trillion dollars of spending every year.
By focusing on customer experience, you’re saying that you want to be the best in the market. There are a few ways you can improve the customer experience:
Provide quality products: In the event of a recession, customers will be even more careful about what they spend money on. Make sure your products and services are of high quality and that customers will be happy with them. This puts you in the good graces of your target market, because you’re providing a quality product or service.
For example, if you’re selling shoes, you need to make sure that the shoes are made of high-quality materials that will last for a long time.
If you’re providing a service, you need to ensure that your services are always completed promptly.
Provide high-quality customer service: Customer service is dying in America. Everyone talks about making customers happy; however, many companies fail to deliver the expected level of customer service.
You’ll never be able to make everyone happy. However, you need to make sure you’re delivering excellent customer service. Make sure that when customers walk in the door, you do everything within your power to show them you’re honest, reliable, quick, efficient and friendly.
Sometimes the best customer service you can provide is just listening. Take the time to really listen to your customers and build a partnership with them.
Always look for ways to improve: As a business, you should constantly find ways to improve while still providing high-quality services. What can you do to make your products or services better? Can you reduce the price? Can you reduce the wait time? Can you provide a guarantee on your products or services? This is the time to go above and beyond to impress your target market. Let them know that you’re different from your competitors.
Strategy 2: Improve your conversion rates with automatic emails
All businesses can improve their conversion rates. The most important thing is to ensure that you’re sending out automatic emails to your customers.
By promoting your content through email marketing, you can ensure that you’re reaching each one of your customers and getting them excited about your products.
Strategy 3: Analyse your competitors
Analysing your competitors is one of the smartest strategies you can use. By analysing your competitors’ content and their backend search engine optimization (SEO), you can capitalize on what they fail to do.
Strategy 4: Use social media to engage with customers
Social media is a fantastic way to get your business in front of the eyes of larger audiences. By having a robust social presence and a solid social media strategy, you can drive interested consumers to your online store.
By ensuring that you’re interacting with customers on social media and establishing yourself as the authority in the niche, you can guarantee that you’re getting the best possible sales and reviews that your business can get.
It’s also important to build a strong social media presence through exclusive content. It’s not enough to simply post your content online. You need to ensure that it’s only available to your customers on your social media sites. This will encourage a strong relationship between your customers and your brand, which will drive up your conversion rates by encouraging customers to share your content with their friends and family.
Strategy 5: Use content marketing to attract customers
Content marketing is a strategy that allows you to attract potential customers by providing them with informative and valuable content. With content marketing, you can reach a larger audience of interested consumers and drive sales and traffic to your online store. Here are some tips:
Create a blog and keep it updated: Creating a blog and keeping it updated is an excellent content marketing strategy you can use to attract interested consumers. A blog is a fantastic way to share knowledge and information with your customers, and by blogging and keeping your blog updated, you can guarantee that you’re always being current and up-to-date with the market. Blogs are also a fantastic way to build backlinks to your site, which helps influence your search engine ranking.
Publish content that inspires customer interaction: Publishing content that inspires customer interaction is one of the most effective ways to improve your conversion rates. You can build a next-generation marketing strategy by creating content that encourages customers to share their own experiences with your products.
Strategy 6: Don’t forget to track your progress
With this final strategy, you can see if your marketing strategies are working. By using a backend analytics tool, you can confirm that you’re actually seeing growth. This will allow you to tell if the marketing strategies that you’re using are really working.
There are many business marketing strategies out there. However, by using the right strategies, you can ensure that your marketing strategy is recession-proof.
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