The marketing strategy I’ve been recommending lately

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve recommended the following focus for marketing lately:

Email newsletters + one social channel = your key marketing focus

Once you’ve got one key social channel nailed, you can add more. This gives you the opportunity to get into the rhythm of creating content for that one space. You’ll have time and energy to respond to comments, engage with other people on the platform, and – this is the most crucial part – learn what works for you and your audience on that platform.

If you’re trying to do Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and TikTok all at once and without any strategy for any of them, chances are you won’t see any progress on any of them.

So start with one, and add more once you’ve found your groove. The most important thing is to be learning and developing as you go.

Oh yeah – email

Look, I’ll be frank: I’m going to be talking about email marketing quite a lot over the coming weeks.

Why? Because I feel pretty passionate about it, and its ability to create a strong, sustainable, long-term foundation for your business.

Email is the only marketing channel that you own. On Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and any other app that comes along, the app or site controls your content and owns your audience.

With email, you own the contact details of anyone who has chosen to receive your emails. Yes, you’ll use a third party to store the data and send the emails, but they’re helping you out. That list of humans is yours.

Long-term, mostly hidden, yet highly effective

I have a theory that most creative business owners don’t get excited about email is because they don’t see other people’s email success.

On Instagram, you can see how many followers someone has, how many likes their posts get, and how many people are chatting away to them. It looks successful. It looks like something that’s working well for them.

When someone sends an email to their list of 500 or 5,000 or 50,000 subscribers, you can’t see the numbers on that. You don’t see the open rate or the click through rate or the open rate.

You can’t see how many first time customers are becoming loyal, repeat customers. You can’t see the replies or the shares.

Which is keeping successful email campaigns a secret.

And maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe we need an area of business, especially marketing, where we aren’t comparing ourselves to others. (If you looked at the numbers above and thought, “500 subscribers? More like 50!”, I see you.)

But I don’t want you to miss out

The best time to start building an email list was five years ago. The second best time is today.

Because in five years’ time, with regular emails and clear strategy, you could be growing a beautiful, loyal, engaged customer base in a space online that is entirely yours. Where you set the tone and capture attention and cultivate a relationship that makes your customers’ lives better.

Even in six months’ time, you could be looking at a more engaged audience who are captivated by your brand and enjoy sitting down with a cuppa to read your emails and browse your latest.

Emails help to keep you top of mind when it comes to gifting occasions, as well as being an opportunity to tell your story through consistent and regular content.

I hope you’ll stay tuned

Next week, I’ll be sharing more about how to re-engage an old email list, because I know that lots of creative businesses have gathered email addresses at some point, but haven’t kept up the emails, and now aren’t sure what to do.

In the meantime, you can start getting creative and inspired with my free download of 30 email subject lines. This download will get you thinking about content for email, as well as your social media channels. Because who doesn’t love coordinated marketing content?! Grab the download here.

If any year needed a review, it’s 2020…

Well, 2020 is turning out to be… kind of different.

I’m a big fan of reviewing your business when it feels right to you, but certainly as we stand in the middle of the year, it’s as good a time as any to take a step back, look at where you’ve been, where you are, and where you want to go.

Now, I work with a lot of small business owners, solopreneurs and female founders, and I know that “review your business” can sound intimidating, or that it has to look a certain way. So let’s just clear that up: this is an opportunity FOR YOU to reflect on how your business is working. And it can be an enjoyable, creative, encouraging experience!

You might need to look at some numbers. You might need to think about things that aren’t working so well, which can be uncomfortable. That’s okay and to be expected.

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Here are some ideas for how to make your business review feel really good:

  • Carve out some time (I know you’re juggling the kids and the work and the home so time is scarce. You might need a couple of 30 minute sessions rather than an hour. Just book the time with yourself, ask for help with the other stuff, and enjoy it.)
  • Put some music on
  • Light a candle
  • Make a delicious beverage AND have a big glass of water
  • Go for a walk before you start (I find this helpful to shift my energy – 10 minutes is great)
  • Work with your preferences – if you like to hand-write, do that, or have documents open for your notes on your laptop
  • Make sure you’re really comfortable – good chair, warm/cool enough, steady writing surface
  • Turn off allllll the distractions!

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You’re going to want to reflect on the different areas and aspects of your business:

  • Your offerings (products, services)
  • Your customers and their experience
  • Your systems and processes – and your team
  • Your marketing and branding
  • Your sales and finances

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For each area, you’re going to want to look at numbers, maybe gather some data – give your head the information it needs. AND you’re going to want to consider how you feel about each area – what does your heart say? What’s your intuition telling you? This is where your creativity lies, so make sure you listen to it!

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Check in with the stories you’re telling yourself. On one of my retreats, I had a client claim that “sales were shit” over the past year, and I pointed out that she’d said that a number of times, but I wondered if it were true. When she got home and looked at the figures, her sales were actually pretty similar to the year before. We can get really hooked into stories we tell ourselves, and noticing them can set us free to figure out what’s really going on.

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Ready to reflect?

In addition to the ideas above, I’ve also put together a few questions for you to reflect on. These are the big, “coachy” questions I’d ask if we were sat together with mugs in hand, pondering the months ahead.​
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There are a couple of versions, depending on your stage of business:​

For fledgling businesses and solopreneurs
For founders with a team and premises

​Feel free to take a photo of your space while you’re doing your review and tag me! Or hit reply and let me know what your review brought up.

I’m here to cheer you on.

Business as newsual: keeping your customers updated during COVID-19

Here we are at the end of June, a thousand miles from where we thought we’d be at the beginning of the year, not least due to COVID-19. Things are changing often, and as things start to re-open, we’re entering a grey area that can be tricky to navigate. We’re not in full lockdown, so things aren’t as clear as “Stay Home”, and yet we’re not “back to normal” either…

So let’s declare Business As Newsual, and give our customers something they’re really craving: clarity.

Now is a great time to update your customers via a newsletter, blog, or series of Instagram posts and stories (Facebook, too), so that they know exactly what YOU’RE offering, and what they can expect.

Whether you’re changing your offering, still running with some restrictions, or opening up fully, you can create a clear (and exciting) update via social media, email, or in your shop window.

Here’s what you can share, plus some handy resources:

What are you currently offering?

Things have changed a lot over the last few months, and some businesses have stopped selling, some have had a reduced range, and others have been cracking on with their usual stuff.

Clarity is everything, so let your customers know explicitly (and simply) what they can get from you right now, even if that’s “everything” and even if it’ll change later (more on that in a minute).

For example:

  • Our shop is still fully open, and we’re looking forward to adding some exciting new designs very soon!
  • You can buy print-at-home digital downloads, including my bestselling Yes We Can print, on my website right now, and I have a range of cards available on Thortful, who are brilliant at printing and sending directly to the recipient.
  • We’re still running a slightly reduced range of bestselling biscuits while we have a reduced staff. But that’s still over 16 different biscuit gift boxes to choose from, including the Birthday Box, the Anniversary Hamper, and the Family Friday Treat Collection!

Are you taking any special measures?

If you’re still socially distancing in the studio, or doing some extra cleaning, or using different packaging than usual, let your customers know.

While we’re reopening, it’s helpful to reassure customers that you’re taking care of them (and yourself / your staff). If things still look a little different than “normal”, let them know what to expect. Again, clarity is everything!

For example:

  • Our team is working hard to prepare your orders carefully, and we’ll still be running on a socially distanced timetable so there aren’t too many people in the studio at once. We love being all together, but right now, we want to keep everyone safe (and not make it socially awkward).
  • Because I’ve been shielding, I’m still only offering digital downloads to protect my own health. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be preparing my workspace and my product range so that I can get cracking with posting out orders again!
  • Our kitchen is always in tip-top shape, but we’ve added in some extra precautions, like face coverings and a different packing system so that your order is made and packed by one person from start to finish. You won’t notice anything different in the finished product, and we’re always committed to a nice clean kitchen.

How to order

I know, I know, it sounds obvious. And you’ve probably got a link in your profile to your website, maybe you’ve even got Instagram shopping set up.

EVEN SO let customers know how they can order, whether that’s through your website, through a marketplace, or sending you an email / message.

Anything you can do to make ordering easy and effective is so helpful! We’ve all got a lot on our minds, so make buying that gift / pick-me-up / essential treat really easy.

For example:

  • You can order via our website, on Notonthehighstreet, on Etsy, or even by emailing us on hello@reallycoolshop.com. Let’s get those gifts sorted (or those treats for yourself…)
  • Hop over to my site to get your instant digital downloads, plus instructions of how to print them at home. And of course you can go to my page on Thortful to order your next round of birthday cards!
  • Order beautifully baked biscuit gifts on our website, where you can choose from 16 collections.

What to expect

What are your current lead times? How are you sending out parcels? Will customers get email confirmations and updates?

Answering these questions adds a whole load of confidence when ordering from you. You don’t have to explain every step, just keep it simple and clear.

If there’s anything else customers need to know, or would find helpful, share that too!

For example:

  • We process all orders placed by 2pm on the same day. Our standard shipping to the UK is Royal Mail 2nd Class, which typically takes 3-7 days. You can upgrade to 1st Class Signed For if you’ve got something urgent. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about timing.
  • Once you’ve ordered your digital download, you’ll get an email with the files (including instructions). Don’t forget to check your spam folder! If you haven’t received an email within 24 hours, please email hello@brilliantdesigner.com.
  • We post out our biscuits three times a week. Order by midnight on Sunday for Monday dispatch (typically delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday), midnight on Tuesday for Wednesday dispatch (typically delivered on Thursday or Friday), and midnight on Thursday for Friday dispatch (typically delivered on Saturday or Monday). If you’d like to order ahead for a specific date, you can do this at checkout. We’ll keep you updated on your order the whole way through, and you can track your order, too.

Your next update

If things look like they’ll change again (for example, in July), let customers know.

Perhaps you’ll be opening up workshop bookings, or adding your whole range back to the shop. Give customers a date when you’ll next have an update so that they can check back or expect another email from you.

(And bonus points for creating a waiting list they can opt in to!)

For example:

  • Our new range is coming in July! New designs are in the workshop as we speak. Sign up to our newsletter to be the first to know.
  • I’ll be opening up my online shop and Autumn workshops at the end of July, so keep your eyes peeled for more information! If you’d like to be the first to know, sign up here.
  • We’ll be reviewing our kitchen safety measures every month, and we hope to reintroduce some more biscuit collections (and some new things too!) by September. If you’d like to stay informed, please sign up to our newsletter.

How to share this information

If you have an active email list (i.e. you send emails semi-regularly), email your people! Use the structure and examples above as a starting point, and add your own flavour and details.

If you post on social media, share an update post (or a series of posts) in your Instagram feed or Stories, or on Facebook. I’ve created some templates to make this easier for you:

Use Canva’s free editing tools to make your own sharable stories!

Some things to remember

Keep it really simple! Clarity is key. Don’t overwhelm your customer, just give them what they need to know.

Anyone who has been waiting for an order, has pre-ordered, or placed a big order with you deserves a great big thank you! Write a note or an email – let them know how much it means to you.

If you do collect email addresses for those interested in future launches or news, don’t forget to email them. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just a quick “It’s ready!” is enough.

More resources

You might like my free COVID-19 workbook, or even my latest course, Create Your Mini Business Plan, available on its own or with a strategic coaching session.

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Notes of Encouragement

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