Gray Matter at White Space

For startups and growing companies, marketing agencies offer an effective and affordable alternative to bringing aboard full-time team members.

Why does this relationship work so well?

Typically, a marketing agency will bring a specific set of skills to help supercharge the team’s efforts in a given area. Whether looking to improve content marketing and SEO initiatives, enhance the ability to expand reach via PPC ads, or flesh out branding overall, the right agency can be just what a startup needs to begin scaling the business.

That is, as long as these agencies truly understand the organization’s growth plan for the future.

This isn’t always the case.

Repetition is the most underutilized asset a brand can have. As a business owner, I’ve had to remind myself of this truth from time to time… to be honest, we all get a bit tired of hearing our own voice.

I know it’s hard to believe that repetition is your friend. It feels lazy. It’s hard to admit—despite data from your open rates—that not everyone is reading all your hard-won content. And, as the creator of this content, you may be just plain sick and tired of saying the same thing over and over and over…

But, as long as you’ve clearly determined what matters to your audience, repetition done right can reinforce your value, your brand voice, your solution. 

The question is, then, how can we create diversity in our messaging without being downright annoying. How can a single messaging platform continue to engage and inspire, even if someone’s seen it once, twice, three times?

When it comes to sales outreach, where are you in the short format email versus long format argument?

It’s a valid question—but also part of a greater conversation about email in general. Just this week I had a CEO ask me: Is email really still a high-value channel?

So, let’s start there. The answer is strategic, not a knee-jerk response. Here are some basic questions to consider:

• Is your sales outreach designed to capture high intent to purchase? 
• Or, to nurture and educate? 
• Or, to introduce an idea, a concept, a solution?

Your answer will drive the type of email engagement you’re looking for, and help connect an email campaign to your biz dev strategy.

Picture this...

The CEO of a small, growing business decides to sponsor an event. At the event, the company generates a list of 300 leads, complete with their names and email addresses.

(So far, so good...right?)

From there, the company sends out a follow-up email, thanking the leads for connecting and directing them to the company’s website. 

Unfortunately, only a handful of recipients open the email. Of those five, only one visits the company’s website. The lone visitor leaves without engaging further (let alone making a purchase). Why? For one thing, the site is cumbersome to navigate. Calls to action lead the visitor down a path she can’t extract herself from easily. She gets frustrated and abandons ship.

There’s a well-known saying about the danger of “assuming.” Since it’s so well-known, I won’t elaborate…

Here’s what I will say: When it comes to making assumptions about what works in marketing, it pains me when CEOs and other small business leaders come to me with premeditated assumptions about what they presume WILL work for business growth—and what just isn’t “right” for your business.

You spent the money. You invested the time. All those meetings with strategy experts; the brainstorming sessions that felt really amazing, and revolutionary, and even radical at the time. Then, you arrived at...

...a marketing strategy that is encapsulated in a big, beautiful binder sitting on an office shelf—or on your virtual Dropbox “shelf”—collecting dust.

It’s no wonder CEOs, business owners, and other business leaders question the value of strategy.

Strategy Action vs. Non-Action

This happens. To be honest, it is more common than not. And, it’s one of the primary reasons why marketing strategy gets a bad rap.

Why do I ask this question?

Because it’s hard to commit to something you don’t believe in. Even a hint of doubt can put chinks in the armor of your bigger aspirations.

So, what’s standing in the way?

How are you, as a business owner, defining success… for YOURSELF?

Of course, the revenue, the unit sales, the audience expansion—all of that’s important. But, we know that other objectives might be part of the plan. For example...

• Do you want to sell your business?
• Make an acquisition?
• Retire (like, for *real* retire)?
• Expand the geo-footprint of your business now that everything is remote?
• Do you really just want to work LESS (and enjoy more of life)?

Your marketing investment may differ depending on your answer.

For CEOs and their marketing teams, two words can spike blood pressure in an instant: content marketing.

It’s daunting to think about all the content you need (or want) to produce, who is going to do that, who has time to do that, which channels to distribute to... the unanswered questions go on, and on.

Let’s take a moment to think about how to approach your content marketing strategy so it’s not such a conundrum. In my experience, a few key steps can make a significant difference in effort, investment, and results.

Build Once, Use Often

Content marketing is one area of your overall strategy where you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The concept is to build once, then use often.

Is your marketing budget taking a steep cut these days? Many marketing leaders across North America are seeing budgets fall from 11% to only 6.4% of their company’s revenue.

If that sounds familiar, the best next step to keep growing your business is to get even smarter with your marketing investments. Time to stop leading with your creative side (ouch, I know) and start leading with a more strategic approach.

Making a smart, strategic investment is going to mean a deeper understanding of your buyers and their journey to conversion. So, as a CEO, it’s important to consider what the buyer journey really is… and what it’s not. 

[Spoiler: it’s not tactical… It's complicated.]