As you might expect, I get a lot of queries about marketing strategies. The most common is why a particular plan is not working for an individual or business.

Of course, this a big question, much along the lines of how long is a piece of string?

Most failing marketing strategies tend to have common problems associated with them, however. Heres my 6 reasons your current marketing strategy isn't working:

1. Your marketing strategy is not coherent

By coherent, I mean it doesn’t have joined-up thinking. All parts of your marketing strategy should fit together like a glove and each part needs to have a specific purpose and each part should compliment others.

You need to have a firm goal for what you want your marketing to achieve:

• Do you want to generate more leads?
• Build your brand visibility?
• Create a promotion?
• Support customers who have bought your product or hired your service?

 Check out my quick guide on the 6 essential elements your marketing strategy needs

2....

There are lies, damned lies and statistics.

If you’ve always been a bit wary of online statistics about marketing, you’re not alone. There are thousands of them out there and many aren’t true or get misinterpreted.

To help, here are a few I’ve dug out from the many to help inform your 2021 marketing strategy and what they mean.

1. Get your SEO right

According to BrightEdge, 68% of experiences online start with a query on a search engine like Google. SEO is still an important part of any marketing strategy. While getting it right takes time and effort it should continue to be a priority for your business in 2021.

SEO essentials for search success:

• Crawl accessibility (aka spiders) - ‘Crawling’ is what search engines do to look at your site and determine what information is on there.
• Compelling content - Once a person visits your site, you should aim to keep them there and give them the information they’re looking for. Blogs, news, product...

Do you have difficulty in creating content which engages, nurtures and communicates with your target audience?

Does your marketing content actually ‘convert’?

Marketing can be a challenge at the best of times and constantly having to create fresh new content can be complex and challenging – especially at the moment, during these uncertain times.

‘Content is the fuel for the marketing and sales engine’

We need to keep creating and publishing it - at every stage of our marketing and sales funnel – from generating awareness through to converting leads into paying customers.

Even the stats tell us that content marketing is 3 times more efficient in terms of leads than outbound marketing.

So, if you feeling disillusioned, lacking motivation or lost for ideas, how about applying the 5E’s to your content marketing:

Engage
Entertain
Educate
Empathise
Encourage

Whether it's writing blogs and articles, filming video, or creating eBooks and...

There’s been a common theme recently in the emails and messages I’ve been receiving from some of my clients and contacts...

‘Our website is receiving less traffic – even though we’re still posting fresh content...’

‘My LinkedIn posts are receiving fewer likes, comments and shares...’

‘Our weekly email newsletter has been receiving fewer opens and clicks...’

‘My sales have declined dramatically...’

All of which can be very disheartening.

However...

Whilst being regular and present with your marketing is still REALLY important - life has changed.

And, your target audience may no longer desire the same types of communication they previously used to like... desire – even relish!

Maybe this is a good opportunity to change the way in which you communicate with your target audience?

But how?

  Make your marketing more relatable, authentic and empathetic. 

Use scenarios, stories and real-life...

Marketing your business can be challenging at the best times - so much to consider from consistently developing ways to engage, communicate and promote your brand through to implementing, managing and measuring your campaigns. 

There are a plethora of tools available to help reach your objectives - some paid and some free. None replace a solid marketing strategy and human interaction, but each can help manage the stress and strains of planning and running  your marketing campaigns.

Here's my top 20 FREE tools for creating and managing your marketing campaigns:

Ubersuggest

UberSuggest is a free marketing tool that provides you with essential marketing data such as - Keyword ideas, content ideas, web traffic, SEO difficulty and much more. Created by the Search Guru - Neil Patel, this tool will help you to optimise your website and get ahead of your competitors.

Buffer

Buffer (an alternative to Hootsuite) is a software application for the...

Every business out there needs a great marketing campaign and a fully thought out online marketing strategy. There are many social media platforms, they are all different and each need their own processes.

Instagram is fast becoming the most popular social media platform.

In fact, it was the most popular site in 2019, and this trend is expected to continue into 2020 and beyond.

Instagram is growing rapidly, with over a billion active monthly users, of which 72% have admitted to buying an item they originally saw advertised on Instagram.

Instagram not only provides you with the perfect platform to showcase your products in all their glory, but it also has an extremely large number of ready, willing, and engaged users.

This means there is great scope for you to use Instagram in the day-to-day running of your business. You need to learn how to utilise this free source of advertising to maximum efficiency. Don’t miss out. This page is designed to help you create your very own...

If you’re not using video yet as part of your online marketing strategy, you’re in trouble.

Video is the most popular and effective technique your message across to your audience. Failing to use it is a missed opportunity of the highest order.

The good news is that implementing video marketing is easier than ever before. Platforms like Facebook and YouTube actively encourage it. Marketers have never had so much support.

Knowing where to start, however, can be a challenge. In this guide, we’re going to take an in-depth look at the tips, resources and strategies you should use when embarking on any campaign.

Want to learn more? Read on!

The Importance Of Video Marketing

In case it wasn’t clear from the introduction, video marketing is important. It’s so important, in fact, that Facebook’s EMEA vice president Nicola Mendelsohn has come out and said that he expects video to be the ONLY way that marketers will advertise on the platform by 2021.

Just...

Your content: it’s your brand voice and how you speak to customers. More than that, it determines how customers see you and is the ultimate decider of if they continue to engage with you and make the decision to purchase. 

Q: What’s the secret of great content that engages, nurtures and communicates with your target audience?

A: It isn’t about you. It isn’t even about your products and services. It’s about one thing: the customer. What are the benefits for them? Why should they use you? Why are you a better choice than the other options available?

Content is...

Any form of ‘created’ communication – whether written or visualised – with the aim of attracting, acquiring, engaging and communicating with a clearly defined and understood target audience.

Content comes in many forms:

Video     Infographic          Competition      ...

I’m sure we can all remember a time when we experienced poor customer service...

And, I’m sure we told family, friends, colleagues – and the rest of the world on social media!

As buyers and consumers, we have more power and control than ever when it comes to deciding what, where, how and when we purchase.

Which puts a great deal of pressure on business owners - as first impressions DO count!

So here’s my five tips for making a positive first impression with your marketing: 

• Make sure your branding is consistent across all your marketing channels – from letterhead to website, social media to packaging and point of sale – inconsistency may present a fragmented and disjointed business in your customers mind.
  
  
• Consider your customer journey from the initial enquiry right through to after-sales service – make the experience meaningful and rewarding.
  
  
• Consider your tone of language – friendly is fine, but always remain professional. How...

Creating content (such as blogs, video, eBooks, Infographics, etc...) can be time consuming, especially if you’re constantly trying to create new content to share across your social networks.

However, by repurposing our content we extend our reach and exposure, saving valuable time and resources to run our business.

“When you repurpose a piece of content […] you’re doing one of two things (or both): changing the format of the content, and/or changing the target audience for the content.” Ref: HubSpot

In my video post I’ve mentioned 5 different types of content, which can be repurposed, from a single blog post. Below I extend that further to 10 pieces of content... all created by the same blog post. Enjoy!

1. Write a blog post – say 500-1000 words and post on your website. This can then be promoted across all your social networks.
   
   
2. Upload the blog post into video software (such as Lumen 5), which will turn your blog into a video post.
   
   
3. Create a...