2021 Marketing Projections for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

2021 Marketing Projections for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

As we head into 2021, there are so many lessons that we learned throughout 2020 that are going to impact how we market our businesses.

Of course, marketing is always changing, but the good news is that the predictions and trends we’re seeing for this next year have been building for quite some time, so none of them should require a complete overhaul of your existing strategy.

To be honest, I’m so excited about the following five trends because, as you’ll notice, there is a great deal of emphasis put on human to human marketing and focusing on building experiences as a brand. This is one of my favorite things about being a business owner and one of my favorites to teach.

So get ready because we’re going to see the following trends in full force and if you’re an online business owner and entrepreneur you want to make sure these are part of your marketing strategy moving forward.

To support you further, we’re sharing the five trends below and actionable steps and recommendations you can take within your business.

#1 Marketing Trend of 2021
Video Will Explode

At Brandmerry we love video. It’s my favorite strategy for creating core content for my brand and I’ve been so excited to see the changes and new additions to video marketing over the past few years.

Video marketing won’t be slowing down anytime soon we’re seeing more and more platforms embracing video options. According to a Cisco study, by 2022, 82% of all online content will be video content.

One of my favorite platforms Pinterest is making video a top priority. Releasing Pinterest Stories and more short video content within the feed (similar to Instagram Reels) to create more brand awareness and community feel.

In 2020, we saw the catapult of TikTok during the pandemic, followed by Instagram Reels later in the fall. These short-form pieces of video content meant to educate and entertain our audiences will continue to rise and be favored within the algorithm.

TAKE ACTION IN 2021: 

Make sure you’re creating consistent video content for your brand. If you struggle with consistency, be sure to check out my Consistency Guide here.

Hubspot found that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support

No matter what platform you’re most comfortable with there is a video option available or coming in 2021. This includes an increase in video use on Pinterest, Twitter (their new app called Fleets) and LinkedIn, as well as some of our favorites Facebook and Instagram.

BRANDMERRY MARKETING TIP:

Have fun with your video content. Think of ways to give incredible value to your audience while also sharing your personality to build a stronger connection to your brand. We love Instagram Reels for this and plan to repurpose those same videos to multiple platforms in 2021.

#2 Marketing Trend of 2021
Marketing OFF of Social Will Increase

2020 brought a lot of changes to social media and while it’s not going anywhere soon, we are hearing a lot of buzz from people taking time off of social media.

You’ve probably seen this happening within your industry and circle as Instagram rolls out a new Privacy Policy and more information becomes available 

Am I suggesting you stop using social media? Absolutely not! I highly suggest all online brands have some social media presence (one platform is enough) for nurturing their existing audience.

However, with these changes and more consumers spending less time checking on social media it’s important to have alternative marketing methods in place.

Way too many entrepreneurs are using social media as their only form of lead generation and communication for their brand and that’s some risky business.

TAKE ACTION IN 2021: 

If you’re not already focusing on search engine optimized platforms now is the time. These search platforms were specifically designed for consumers and users to search for very specific resources, products and information and get results.

Unlike social media, the intent is to point users in the right direction, which means more trust and a better user experience than most social platforms. Not to mention content on these search engine platforms lasts much longer than on social media. A blog can continue to deliver results for 2+ years, while a Facebook post lasts a few hours.

BRANDMERRY MARKETING TIP:

Inside of Brandmerry Academy, we focus on equipping entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills to grow their business off of social media. 

Three of my favorite tools to use are Website SEO (to make sure you show up in Google Searches), Blogging (to create a stream of content that lasts and increases your overall Google ranking) and Pinterest (to drive consistent cold traffic to your website).

Not to mention, small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth. (Content Marketing Institute) 

Youtube is an excellent search engine platform for video content, but I find most of my clients prefer to start with blogging as it’s a little less time consuming than weekly video.

Curious to know more about Brandmerry Academy? Find out what trainings are included, the incredible support and more here.

#3 Marketing Trend of 2021
Brand Values and Human Connection are Top Priority

77% of consumers buy from brands that share the same values as they do (HavasGroup, 2019).

And we are going to see the importance of brand values and emotional branding play a major role in 2021. The reality is, consumers, want brands that they can trust and more and more consumers are looking for brand affinity.

And this level of trust and desire for brand affinity will impact revenue generated by brands. 64% of consumers said they would buy from a brand or boycott it solely because of its position on a social or political issue (Edelman, 2019).

TAKE ACTION IN 2021: 

The importance of branding, with an emphasis on values, mission, messaging and connection, will continue to increase as we move through 2021 and beyond.

The old methods of branding and marketing, just focusing on the same, are going bye-bye, which I’m incredibly grateful for!

One of the best things you can do for your business in 2021 is to focus on human connection with your ideal customer. This includes being clear on your brand values and mission and sharing them, sharing more stories that focus on connecting these values and life experiences with your audience and focusing on authenticity as the driving force of your brand and business.

BRANDMERRY MARKETING TIP:

One of the best things you can do for your business is build a solid foundation and this includes, and should be centered on your values and mission.

These can be some of the best marketing tools for attracting your dream customers and keeping them engaged as part of your brand. This form of branding is centered around emotional branding, which is one of the foundational pieces I teach inside of my program You! Branded.

Motista found that emotionally connected consumers have a 306% higher lifetime value.

So aside from identifying your values and mission, how do you build an emotional connection? That’s all in the art of storytelling. Learn more about storytelling here.

#4 Marketing Trend of 2021
Virtual Events Will Increase

As someone who made it a goal to book public speaking engagements in 2020, the events of the pandemic definitely threw that off course. My guess is you noticed as more and more businesses adapted and turned to virtual events.

Well, this shift has resulted in what is sure to be an increase in virtual events in the year to come. 80.2% of event organizers were able to reach a wider audience with virtual events in 2020. (Bizzabo, 2020)

However, this isn’t likely to replace in-person events but does open the door for more small businesses and brands to have the opportunity to add events when in-person events are not in the budget.

TAKE ACTION IN 2021: 

Thanks to 2020, more consumers are familiar with online virtual events, so if you’ve been thinking about hosting an online event now is an excellent time to begin planning. 

On the flip side, this also opens the possibility for more features, as you can submit yourself as a speaker and expert for virtual events that don’t require travel or a major time commitment.

BRANDMERRY MARKETING TIP:

Make a list of in-person events in your industry and follow them on social media or via their website. Keep a lookout for when they release details regarding applications and submissions for their 2021 virtual events. 

63% of organizations are moving to digital conferences and events. (TOPO, 2020)

Weekly public relations pitching is an excellent strategy to increase brand awareness and authority. 

With a degree and background in public relations, I can tell you it’s one of the best ways to increase your ROI on your marketing efforts. Often, these virtual events bring in new email subscribers and paying customers and don’t cost you, the expert, a penny - bonus points if you’re paid!

Curious about building your public relations strategy for your brand? This is one of the twelve trainings available inside of Brandmerry Academy. Learn more here.

#5 Marketing Trend of 2021
Email Marketing Will Still Rule

When it comes to converting your warm audience into paying customers there is nothing more powerful than email marketing, and despite all the new social platforms and changes, email marketing is still the best way to communicate with your audience.

Emails are typically the first check of the day for consumers, and statistics show that the average person checks their email 15 times a day.

And since I know convincing you to put more emphasis on your email marketing is always a little difficult (I’ve worked with enough entrepreneurs to know), here is some information to get 100% on board:

• 59% of respondents say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions. (SaleCycle, 2018)

• For every $1 spent, email marketing generates a minimum of $32 in ROI. (Oberlo)

• 59% of marketers say email is their biggest source of ROI. (Emma, 2018)

You’re ready to improve your email marketing now, aren’t you?

TAKE ACTION IN 2021: 

Growing your email list of community members and showing up for them weekly should be a top priority. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be overly complicated.

At the very minimum have some sort of opt-in for your ideal customer to provide their name and email address. I love to give a free gift to new subscribers and suggest you do the same to increase conversions.

From there, have a simple onboarding email series that introduces your brand, values and mission - remember marketing trend three from above! Also, provide value for your audience for a week or so.

From there, make it a goal to share one email a week (minimum) with your audience and use email marketing as your main tool for sales and promotions.

BRANDMERRY MARKETING TIP:

I encourage every entrepreneur to focus on growing their email community in 2021. So many entrepreneurs, before working with me, are overwhelmed with one more thing to do in their business, but simplified marketing allows many of these strategies to work in the background for you.

For instance, inside of Brandmerry Academy, we teach you how to create a consistent stream of leads through evergreen content (think blogging, Pinterest, Youtube and more). With this consistent stream of new potential clients, your focus is on nurturing and connecting with your new community members.

Through the art of repurposing, you learn how to take a single piece of content and extend the life of it on multiple platforms to expand your brand awareness and brand connection. This includes repurposing that same piece of content for email.

Every week you can follow the same structure, think rinse and repeat, to take the overwhelm out of marketing. This small shift allows you to focus more on connecting with your audience, creating and serving your paying customers at the highest level.

To learn more about Brandmerry Academy, just click here.

P.S. Are we connected on Instagram? No? Well lady what’s happening here we’ve got to fix that. Come hang out with me on my favorite social media platform. Follow for inspiration and send me a DM to know we’re connected.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

3 Tips to Plan for 2022 in Your Business

3 Tips to Plan for 2022 in Your Business

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

This post has been updated to support you in 2022.

I know planning for the New Year can come with a mixed bag of emotions, you're excited about all the possibilities, but you're also thinking of all the things that didn't "quite work out" from the previous year.

Maybe, you want to plan but can't find the motivation to do so.

Or, if you're like most of my clients, planning doesn't come naturally to you, so you try and avoid it.

Well, planning is not something you can avoid if you want to build a scalable revenue-generating business.

Having a plan gives you direction, and actually leaves room for more creativity and inspiration.

To support you, I wanted to share three no-fail tips to help you with your plans!

1. SET GOOD, BETTER AND BEST GOALS

This little strategy really changed the game for me when I started implementing it two years ago and it's so simple.

The idea here is that you can feel really down on yourself if you don't hit your goals, which might even be one of the reasons you avoid planning in the first place. So, to support you in feeling your best and confident heading into the year you want to set a Good, Better and Best goal for your annual cash revenue for 2022.

List all three, but map out the "Best" scenario when planning for the year ahead, then, if you fall short on some of your goals you'll still hit the "Good" or "Better" bracket!

And in case you're wondering, you can make this your own. Your goals might have a $3,000 difference between them or $50,000 - it doesn't matter it's all about what feels good for you.

This is one of the ways I love supporting my VIP Intensive clients because we spend time mapping out their plans in their business and then take the necessary actions to bring those plans to life. Sometimes it can feel really overwhelming to actually take action on your goals, but this is hands down one of my superpowers and how I love supporting my clients.

2. MAP OUT YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

After your brand foundation is set, your marketing is everything. 

It's not only how you attract new quality leads to your brand, but also how you nurture them into paying clients. Yet, so many people go into marketing their business in a way that mimics throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks.

Strategic marketing starts with a clear plan of when and where you're showing up weekly in your business.

Think about how often you want to show up in 2022.

Think about which platforms you want to optimize (not doing them all at once).

And think about the way in which you want to share your content.

Then begin to map out your content monthly (making it a goal to work up to 90 days)! Yes, it's totally possible.

3. OPTIMIZE YOUR SCHEDULE

If you're not already doing this, I promise this little hack will save you so much time in the New Year. It's all about bulk scheduling.

I've got a lot of love languages in building a simple and scalable business and one of the tactics I've been using since 2016 has been bulk scheduling my content, client calls, admin, etc.

As you plan out your 2022, think about the days of the week where you can set aside 3-4 hours to bulk create.

I recommend starting with one day and then going from there. I love to support my clients in using their one day for content creation so they can have their content ready to go every week.

From there, you can add additional days. 

At the beginning of my business, I would create content on Sundays because it was the only day my husband was consistently home from work (it's best if this time can be uninterrupted so I needed help with my son) and I was working a 9 to 5 during the week.

When I left my 9 to 5, I started having my bulk day on Monday. As we prepare for 2022, and I've grown my team, I actually get three bulk days #soexcited!

Start small and grow from there.

BONUS TIP: Put this day on your calendar weekly and coordinate any support you might need to make it happen.

CONCLUSION

Having a plan can save you so much time and energy, and help you focus on your business.

I know how easy it can be to get distracted and while a plan isn’t designed to be the end all be all, it will support you in staying on course.

So many people are afraid to plan because they are afraid to fail. However, after five years in business, I can tell you without a doubt that it is the entrepreneurs with a plan that is more likely to hit their goals.

Because having a clear plan allows for clear action.

And taking action is my specialty and it’s one of the reasons entrepreneurs work with me through my VIP Intensive. 

This VIP Intensive is the jump start you need to create a clear strategic plan (one that isn’t full of fluff and wasted time) and the necessary momentum to take consistent action.

Spots are limited, with only a few available every month. Learn more about the VIP Intensives and apply at brandmerry.com/intensive.

P.S. Are we connected on Instagram? No? Well lady what’s happening here we’ve got to fix that. Come hang out with me on my favorite social media platform. Follow for inspiration and send me a DM to know we’re connected.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

3 Myths Busted About Consistent Content Creation

Consistency is one of my love languages and is one of the fundamentals of a successful business no matter how you create content or where you post that content when promoting your business. 

And it’s not just about social media and promotion, but also consistency in your habits. 

So today I wanted to bust three myths around consistency to really give you the power back in planning out your day, in planning out your content and feeling good about how you're showing up and building your community.

But, we’ve got to start at the core of it all and that’s the Importance of Consistency in Business.

Consistency in Business

I really believe in the power of consistency to grow your community and ultimately grow your business. 

From a community standpoint, consistency is so important because it builds trust. So it's not really about you just pushing out a bunch of content. 

It's about you being there. 

It's about your brand being there and showing up for your community, delivering value to your community, and ultimately building that trust.

When you're consistently showing up and they're following you on that platform, or they're subscribing to your email list, they know who you are. They really start to get a sense of who you are as a person, who you are as a brand, what you stand for, and ultimately your expertise, which is huge. 

This is where the relationship with your brand starts to form and brand affinity can start to happen.

Another element of consistency is the role it plays in messaging. Consistent messaging also builds trust with your audience because you're showing up and you're delivering value and you’re doing it in a way that builds authority.

Your goal is to become an expert in a specific niche, so you’re consistently creating content and resources around that area. And that makes you the expert. It elevates you, it elevates your brand.

But, if your messaging is all over the place and not consistent, then your audience is going to have a hard time understanding what it is you do and how you can support them. 

I've been saying the same thing since 2016, my core concepts haven't changed.

Recently, we found my very first YouTube video. I’m not going to lie, it's kind of embarrassing, but what it did was reaffirm the concept of consistent messaging and the impact it can have on a business. I've been saying the same thing about branding, about storytelling, about emotional branding since the beginning.

And that is one of the reasons that I have now been able to get featured on podcasts and in articles and more as an expert on this topic.

You might not know exactly what you're talking about out of the gate, and that's fine. You're going to have to experiment. 

But when you really realize what it is you want to own and why people come to you and what differentiates you from others, consistently honoring that and creating messaging and content around that can help you grow your business substantially.

Then there's the other element, and that’s consistency in business overall - this looks like workflows and systems that save you so much time and energy.

I have very clear workflows in my business and I teach these content workflows inside of my programs, including The Consistency Guide.

Every single week, we are repeating the same content strategy over and over and over again. And as I've added team members, it's been really beautiful in being able to outsource different projects in a seamless way.

And while, the teamwork is amazon, the reason I do this is so that I can have consistency on my end so that every week I'm super clear on the fundamental things that I need to do in order to get content out there, to be able to grow my community, to build trust, to make sales. 

And then it frees up so much time for me to be creative and focus on creating new things or showing up for my audience, or if you're in any of my coaching programs, you know I'm really active inside of those communities. 

These systems give you the time to create, explore and grow your business without constantly feeling bogged down, trying to come up with content ideas and creating new content.

Myth #1: Consistency is Posting Daily

Myth number one about consistency is that you have to post daily. 

I had to start with this because I’ve got some beef with this topic. Consistently showing up online does not mean posting every single day.

I did this, we've all done this. Some of you are maybe posting twice a day. If that works for you, go for it. But if it’s a belief that you have, thinking it’s the standard and if you’re not posting daily you aren’t consistent, well that’s just not true.

We need to stop this one please because showing up and posting daily is just more emphasis on growing through social media, which is one of the things that I don't teach. 

I teach other avenues like Pinterest, SEO, Google, the things that you guys have heard me talk about all year as a way to grow your community.

And using Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, even maybe Twitter, as ways to just continue to show up for the existing community. 

Using these platforms allows you to step back from the hustle of posting daily.

So rather than looking at consistency as posting daily content, start to think about how many times you want to show up each week and honor that. 

And I think this is where people get really hung up and where they struggle is, maybe it's really fun and exciting and you do it for two weeks. And you're like, “Yes, yes, yes.” 

And then suddenly a week happens and you're like, “Oh my gosh, I can't post this week” or “I'm not feeling inspired.” And then you're like, “Aw, crap. My whole entire consistency plan is out the window.” 

It doesn't have to be like that.

Start thinking about more sustainable consistency, not something that you just feel like, “Oh, I have to do this. I have to post every single day.” 

That's one of the reasons that I encourage people to really look at platforms that expand their reach and that allow content to live longer, like blogging. 

You don't need to blog every single day. You can blog once a week and optimize that blog. Same thing with Pinterest, where the content ultimately lives longer. 

People ask me all the time, "Michelle, you're getting all this traffic from Pinterest." I'm getting anywhere between 13,000-20,000 views a month on my blog, about 90% are from Pinterest. People are like, "How many times a week do you blog?" 

Once a week, but I'm consistent with my once a week - and that’s what consistency is really about.

Think about what works for you and what is sustainable, because I’m going to bet that posting daily is not sustainable for most of you.

Myth #2: Consistency is Hard or Difficult

The second myth is that consistency is hard or difficult to keep up with. 

We shy away from this conversation around consistency because having to consistently create content every single day or weekly feels like it is overly complicated and hard to stay up to date with. 

Sometimes they say that you don't plan because you're afraid to fail, right? Many people don’t shoot for consistency because we just don't think that it's attainable for us. 

But I promise you that it is.

I promise when you have your systems in place, it 100% is possible for you. 

I've worked with enough entrepreneurs, with enough personality types and different backgrounds to say that this method works, and really simplifies your marketing overall.

This method is the art of repurposing.

The idea is that you have a core piece of content and you're repurposing that content through additional means.

You're not creating a bunch of new topics and new things every single day of the week. 

Here's an example: I do a Mondays With Michelle video on the three myths of consistency. 

This video will then be transcribed. 

That transcription will go on my blog. 

That blog might have a different title just depending on SEO, but probably not (if you haven’t caught on it’s this blog). 

And then that blog gets pushed out to Pinterest where our content lives longer and drives most of the traffic to our website.

The same core piece of content. I didn't come up with something new. 

Then, we take that transcript and create three to four social media posts, every single week. 

I have a graphic designer that I work with that I absolutely love. And she takes the transcript and creates the graphics. Those graphics then get pushed out over the next week. Sometimes we'll even save some of them and use them down the line. 

So again, same video, the same piece of content, a bunch of graphics. And if you don't work with a designer, you just create some templates in Canva and just start to really practice your flow.

In the beginning, it might feel a little shaky. 

It might feel a little like you're piecing it together; it always does. You're figuring out what works best for you, but I promise you, when you get into that rhythm, your entire mind will be blown and it just makes your life so much easier. 

You can build your repurposing workflow and more with The Consistency Guide.

In addition, it’s very important you understand why you’re showing up with your content and that comes back to understanding and feeling grounded in your purpose. 

So many entrepreneurs just create content to create content. 

It becomes a dumping ground to put stuff out there. 

And yes, of course, in that first year or so, you're experimenting with things. You're wanting to see what people resonate with. Absolutely, there's always experimentation that comes with marketing your business.

But if you don't have a clear purpose, which is both the end goal, the action you want people to take, the product or the service or the offer that you want them to purchase, as well as the overall purpose and mission behind your business, then it’s really hard to show up.

It's really hard to just create consistent content, especially when you're working extra hard in the beginning to grow your audience. 

But when you have that purpose, very, very clearly defined in the back of your mind of “What is the overall purpose for my business? What am I working towards? And what is the purpose? What am I ultimately leading people to?” 

It makes content creation and consistency so much more effective.

So if you haven't already identified your mission of your business, you definitely want to do that. 

And if you don't already have a signature product or service or an offer, that you're leading people to, think about that because that's really going to help you decide what type of content to create. 

One of the core pillars of my branding process is your Signature Offer. If you’re just starting out, or don’t feel clear on this end goal, be sure to watch my free class on The Build a Better Brand Method: brandmerry.com/brandmasterclass

Myth #3: Consistency is Hard or Difficult

The third myth is that it has to be new content. 

I think you can already pick up on what I'm putting down when it comes to repurposing and therefore you do not need to create new content every single day in your business. 

I mean how exhausting. 

But, when you’re only focused on building your community with Facebook or Instagram, it can feel like you need to create new stuff all the time and that’s because content on those platforms doesn’t live as long as these evergreen options.

I'm sorry, but if I'm taking all this time and energy to create this video and then it’s gone in 24 hours. No thank you!

It’s one of the reasons I created Brandmerry Academy, because I see too many entrepreneurs struggling to build their audience without spending all their time on social media.

This is why people have trouble with consistency. 

This is why people have trouble with content creation because they're like, “Well, shoot, I got to create something new tomorrow because that one's all gone.” 

But if you really change your thinking from new content daily to extending the life of your content, you're reusing the same thing over and over again. 

And I promise you, your audience does not get tired of it. 

Your audience will thank you for posting it again because they probably missed it. 

So when you're thinking of creating your content calendar for the year, even just for the month, I want you to break it down to one core topic every week. 

What would your life be like if you had one weekly piece of content that you then pushed out and repurposed and manipulated in different ways, and shifted the messaging so that it actually lasted longer?

What would happen? 

Would that completely change your life? Because it did mine.

I stopped focusing on creating new stuff every single day for Instagram and really went to this repurposing web. It’s one of the things I teach inside of both The Consistency Guide and Brandmerry Academy.

So it's less about creating a quantity of content and more about the quality of content. 

Now that doesn't mean that you post one thing and you're like, fingers crossed, hope it works. 

It's about then having these repurposing strategies in place so then you can make sure your content is being seen by your ideal customer.

Remember, people like to consume content in different ways.

They want to be able to read something, watch something, listen to something, consume it very quickly. And the more that we can really show up on multiple platforms and think about ways that you can show up for your audience and be there for them and they can consume your content in the way that's best for them. Again, building trust.

CONCLUSION

Let’s recap the three myths, shall we?

Number one is posting daily, you don't need to do it. Just be more strategic with your content and the high-quality content that you're putting out there. Consistency doesn't mean daily. It means figuring out how you're going to share your message and consistently sticking to that, honoring yourself, honoring your commitment to your audience. 

Number two is that it has to be hard or difficult. It doesn't have to be that way. Repurposing is going to be your best friend. If you guys want my top tips, plus build out your own repurposing web, then get your hands on The Consistency Guide.

And also understanding the purpose, what's the purpose behind the content that you're creating? 

And then finally, remove the idea that it has to be brand new content all of the time. 

Look at ways to extend the life of your content. Look at ways to repurpose your content, not just in one week, but maybe even recycling content that does well. 

These are all ways to consistently show up that don't require you to just create, create, create, write, write, write, write post, post, post, post, graphic, graphic, graphic every single day.

I also wanted to share with you that one of the things that I created this year because I saw a need. So many women were coming to me to say consistency was their main pain point in business, so I created The Consistency Guide. 

This 40-page workbook breaks down my entire process into an 8-part framework to help you master consistency in your business. Learn more at brandmerry.com/consistent.

P.S. Want to watch the full training? This video was recorded as part of Mondays With Michelle which airs every Monday at 4 pm CST.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

5 Ninja Skills to Improve Your Email List Building Efforts

5 Ninja Skills to Improve Your Email List Building Efforts

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

If you don't have a community, if you don't have an email list, if you don't have people who are going to ultimately buy from you, you have nothing.

We get right into building our businesses and our brands and we get  focused on what we’re going to offer and what’s on the website, when we need to be focusing on our community growth.

That's why one of the core foundations, I teach inside of all of my programs, is ideal client work.

Without knowing who you're speaking to and without putting the energy and attention into building and attracting those ideal customers, you're going to have a  hard time selling.

And with this emphasis on community building it’s important to share 5 Ninja Skills to improve your list building efforts.

If you want to watch the video, rather than read, scroll down!

Email List Building Tip #1
Your Lead Magnet

The first tips, and something you need with all of your email list and community growth, is the lead magnet!

This is what  starts it all. 

Remember, like 12 years ago, when you would land on a blog or a website and it would say, “Join our newsletter?” And it was like, "Okay, cool. I like your newsletter. This seems fun."

I still see this from time to time and it makes me cringe because the person on the receiving end of that is not attracting their ideal customer. They're not specific enough and saying, "Are you interested in these things? You're the right fit for our program. Please opt into my email list." 

When we just have that very general newsletter approach to it, then we often find ourselves with an email list or a community that is not full of our ideal customer. And we don't want that. 

So a lead magnet is what  sets the tone for everyone joining your email list or joining your community.

What you want to  think about is a core lead magnet for your brand as a whole. One of the core lead magnets I have for my business is my Brand Roadmap. I teach you the steps of my personal brand roadmap so you know those and you understand the three mistakes of branding. 

This free gift works into all of my programs and all of my offers. 

So when you're thinking about growing your community, please focus on growing the right community.

I'd rather you have an email list of 100 people that were 100 ideal customers than an email list of 2,000 people that may or may not actually be interested in what you offer.

Your lead magnet is what  allows you to create a clean and targeted email list and community. This is the ninja skill that everyone misses, I think. 

There's not enough strategic thought process that goes into a lead magnet and what I'm  going to encourage you to do is think about your offer and reverse engineer. 

Think about what you want them to actually do, purchase from you.

Then think about what lead magnet you can use to bring in the right person for that offer.

You'll find that you are bringing in the right people and you're repelling the wrong ones. And that's exactly what we want to do with all of our branding, with all of our messaging, with all of our marketing, with all of our freebies.

Email List Building Tip #2
Make Your Lead Magnet Evergreen

The second thing I want you to keep in mind when it comes to list building ninja skills is that you want this to be evergreen. 

Evergreen content basically means that someone can grab it at any time. There's no time limit on it. It's not a live workshop or challenge happening on a specific date.

While these types of list builders are great and they're great to coincide with a big launch or a promotion or just a big push to build your email list, you always want to have an evergreen lead magnet in the background.

I’ve already shared with you that my evergreen lead magnet is my personal brand roadmap where you give me your name and your email address, and I give you the personal brand roadmap.

I've created a lot of lead magnets in my business long before I actually knew how to strategically create a lead magnet. 

I would create them all the time - so I'm telling you this because I understand that you want to create a new lead magnet every week or you want to create a new one every month. 

The best thing you can do is create a core lead magnet that someone can opt in at any time that's leading them to your core offer. 

Then create these other fun periodic, live lead magnets to boost your list. It can be easy to get 200 people to sign up for a challenge in two weeks because it's exciting and timely. But what happens when that challenge is over?

Make it evergreen!!

Email List Building Tip #3
Passive and Active Promotion

Make sure that once you have your lead magnet created, you have your opt-in, you're promoting it both actively and passively. 

So one of the easiest things to get set up, and something that I think every entrepreneur should do as soon as they have their lead magnet, is the passive side. 

The passive side is the opt-in on your home page, sidebar of your blog, footer of your blog, social media links on your Instagram, in your TikTok, on your YouTube bio.

These different approaches are passive. You get to set it and then it's cool. You get to set it and then you kind of just get to leave it there. 

Then you have the active piece of it. Now, sometimes people will go right into active and forget passive, or what typically happens is they go passive and they forget active. 

Active is actively promoting your freebie, your lead magnet. Some of the ways to do that are obviously social media. I don't want you to put all your eggs in a social media basket, but I know that's the first thing that comes to mind and I encourage you to be creative with it if you're going the social media route. 

Think about incorporating it on your feed, but also think about creating some templates for Insta Stories and saving it as a highlight.

Think about creating a Reel that leads to your evergreen opt-in. So people can see that video at any time and then go to the landing page and grab it. 

You can do live video and share your lead magnet as an opt in.

If you're blogging, create blogs that directly lead people to the lead magnet. 

If I'm promoting my lead magnet, my personal branding roadmap, then I might have a blog that's all about branding yourself in 2021. And I'm teaching them things that they need to do and telling them to grab the freebie as an extension of that.

So make sure that you have this combination of the passive pieces that are always there, always in play, and then the active pieces.

Email List Building Tip #4
Make It Timely and Seasonal

Think about ways that you can reframe that lead magnet based on things that are happening during that time of the year.

For instance, we always have the personal brand roadmap available, but one of the things we do is create new pin graphics on Pinterest that say, “Ready to build your brand in 2021?” or “Branding in the new year”

It’s timely so more people are searching for it which will give us a boost for sign ups.

You don't have to change the lead magnet, at all, you’re just modifying how you promote it and making it exciting, timely, and seasonal. 

It’s all about reframing your messaging around your core lead magnet, rather than creating a new one every season to keep it interesting for your audience. 

Adjusting the messaging or graphics can make a big difference, especially if you’re running advertisements which work so well when they are based on what’s happening in the world.

For example, during Summer 2020 I repositioned my ad copy for the Personal Brand Roadmap to meet the messaging and needs we were seeing online.

I created ad copy that read, "Hey, I know this is on top of your mind. I know you're wanting to scale your business and grow your business quickly because of everything that's going on. Here's a brand roadmap for you." 

It worked really well, because it reframed the messaging and we saw an increase in sign ups and a lower cost per ad.

When you make it timely, it feels like fresh content and they absolutely love it.

Email List Building Tip #5
Consistent Traffic to Your Website

In my program Brandmerry Academy, we focus on consistent traffic and consistently creating traffic to your website and to your lead magnet, so that you can consistently grow your email list, and you always have people coming in the top of the funnel, funneling down into a paid offer or a service.

Traditionally what we are always taught, when we're starting our business, is social media. Just show up on social media every day or post in Facebook groups every single day, to grow your community.

That doesn't work for me. I don't know if it works for you, but I've got a lot of different things going on in my life. I don't want to be thinking about posting in groups every day. I don't want to think about posting on social media.

What happens if you take a vacation? What happens if you step away for a week and stop promoting? Does your email list stop growing? Yes, it does. Unless you have these consistent streams to create traffic to your website, to your lead magnet. 

Two of our favorites over here at Brandmerry are Pinterest and SEO. 

So many entrepreneurs have websites that are just sitting there. I know y'all took a lot of time to build your website because I did too. If you have this website, or a landing page and a lead magnet for your freebie, you want to make sure you're consistently driving traffic to that. 

Pinterest is an amazing tool to be able to do that.

Your content lives super long on this platform. We have pins from 2017 that still get consistent traffic, and as a result, because of all the traffic, Google loves them so those same blogs get traffic from Google. 

The beautiful thing and what I love so much about Pinterest is it's so visual and so you get to play with creating all these different pin graphics. 

You don't have to write a whole new post every time. You just get to play with the graphics and the messaging and the photos, leading them to the blog that you've already written or the landing page for your lead magnet. It’s way less effort than posting daily on social media.

Then, my other favorite method is making sure your website is optimized for SEO. When people are searching for your industry and services, they turn to Google. Then they find you, land on your website and opt into your lead magnet. It’s one of my favorite ways to make sure you’re getting consistent traffic to your website!

So start thinking about ways that you can create that consistent stream of sign-ups. Things like Reels are great because they can go viral. They can show up all the time. YouTube is a fantastic option. SEO, as we've talked about with blogging. Pinterest with blogging, those are some of my favorites. Obviously Facebook and Pinterest ads are great as well, but from an organic, not having to pay anything angle,  Pinterest and SEO all the way!

You don't have to pay a dime to get started on those platforms unless you need to learn how to do it and then you can join the academy and learn how to do it there.

CONCLUSION

Let’s recap! 

It’s important to make sure that you have a strong lead magnet. This is what starts the whole entire thing. You want to make sure that your lead magnet is specific to your ideal customer, bringing in the right person to your email list and keeps in mind your end goal. What are you ultimately going to sell them or promote?

Make sure that the lead magnet that you create is evergreen, meaning that they can sign up at any time and then sprinkle in fun, timely live pieces like challenges or limited time offers. 

Adjust your messaging and positioning for the same lead magnet to make it fresh!

And then finally, number five, make sure that you have a strategy to consistently get traffic to your website and into your lead magnet. Two of my favorites are Pinterest and SEO. 

If you’re ready to build your email list without relying on social media, check out Brandmerry Academy! You’ll learn all the ins and outs of SEO, Pinterest, video marketing, advertising and more so you can grow your list consistently without the stress of posting daily.

Learn more at brandmerryacademy.com.

Want to watch the full training? Watch below. This video was recorded as part of Mondays With Michelle which airs every Monday at 4 pm CST.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

2 Must-Haves for Brand Messaging that Attracts your Ideal Customer and Increases Revenue

2 Must-Haves for Brand Messaging that Attracts your Ideal Customer and Increases Revenue

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

Back in 2016, when I wasn't making any money in my business, I worked for about eight months to build my business; the website, the backend, the tech, the systems, all the things. And I didn't have any clients. 

That's when I realized that the approach to branding was completely backward and that we really needed to focus on, as entrepreneurs are the different pieces in order to build the foundation of our brand. And then, once the foundation is set we can create things like the website, the offers, and sign clients.

It’s one of the reasons I created my signature course, You! Branded to encompass all of this.

In my quest to build a better brand, I began to learn more about the power of strong brand messaging.

I quickly discovered it was the missing piece so many entrepreneurs weren’t giving enough attention to. We find ourselves wondering, “Why isn't my stuff converting? Why are people going to my sales page and not buying? Why are people opening my emails and not clicking?" 

And it always comes back to messaging, which of course is part of the branding process.

Understanding how to message is key if you plan on running any sort of business, but especially if you have an online business. Because the content that you're creating, the emails that you're sending, the sales pages, that's how you're communicating. That's kind of it. 

So, you need to make sure that what you're saying is doing what you want it to do. What you're saying is actually leading to the sale.

In this blog, I’m going to clear the air and remove the overwhelm that comes with Brand Messaging and give you my top 2 must-haves when crafting brand messaging that works!

If you prefer to watch the video training, just scroll down to watch!

WHAT IS BRAND MESSAGING

Brand messaging is how you communicate the purpose of your brand, the problem that it solves, what you do, the work that you do, and the products that you have in a magnetic way. 

It's not only about attracting the right people, it's also leading them, and converting them to the offer. It's about bundling it all up in a clear, specific and concise way.

People are always telling me, "I want a better way to communicate what it is I do to my audience so that they want to do it." 

And I'm like, "That is brand messaging." It's all about communication.

The mistake people make with their brand messaging is just focusing on what they do. They craft messages that say, "This is what I do. This is what I create. This is how many modules there are," and they don't focus on why those things are important. 

Their focus is, “Well, this is how I'll help you, and this is what I'll do with x, y and z”, and not focused on why their audience cares about those things in the first place. 

What your audience really wants to know is how what you say you're going to do will benefit them. Because when we're going into buying something, yes, we might be looking for specific things, but we want to know it's going to solve our problem and it's going to help us get to the end result that we want.

I know that might seem like a lot to include, you might be thinking, "How do I communicate all of that?" but it truly is quite simple.

WHERE TO USE BRAND MESSAGING

Brand messaging can be and should be designed for your brand as a whole. This is something that I teach inside of my programs and referred to as Core Brand Messages.

It's this idea that your brand as a whole solves a very specific problem for your ideal customer, and you need to understand why solving that problem is important to your ideal customer. 

But then, you can also create different variations of that or even more specific messages for a particular offer, for a landing page, for a webinar, for a sales page, in an email, etc...

For instance, I have core brand messages for Brandmerry as a whole. But then, my program, Brandmerry Academy, which focuses specifically on marketing and teaching people how to market their business, has very specific messages on marketing. I don't talk about the basics of starting a business because we're focused on marketing. 

I reserve those types of messages for my program Roadmap to Freedom.

Strong messaging is used everywhere and anywhere you want to sell something, and following this brand messaging framework will make your life way easier.

BRAND MESSAGING FRAMEWORK

Excellent messaging always comes back to knowing your audience. So, even though I’m going to share with you a framework for your messages, I want you to remember the language you’ll use will come from what you know about your ideal customer.

We can't craft messages that convert, sales pages that sell, email campaigns that email, we can't do any of that if we don't know how to communicate to our audience.

I think copywriting is such an art. And so many people are like, "Well, I'll just hire a copywriter. I'll just get to a place when I hire a copywriter." But you're never going to get there if you don't know how to do it now yourself. 

There are people who are incredibly skilled at writing copy, and they freaking own that. They're just masters at it. But, everyone at the bare minimum needs to just understand how to communicate to their audience. And that's really what messaging is. And as you can see, so much of your messaging working is reliant on understanding who you're talking to and then letting them tell you what they want and the language that they use and plugging that into your copy.

The framework, once you have the market research, is actually quite simple.

The brand messaging framework includes what you do, the problem you solve and why it’s important.

PART ONE: WHAT YOU PROVIDE

You need to note that it’s not just one thing, otherwise you’d have one brand message. What you do needs to be broken down into pieces. Think about your framework, modules you offer, modalities, techniques or just the flow you lead your client through. 

PART TWO: WHAT PROBLEM DOES IT SOLVE

Taking it back to the ideal client work, understanding the struggles/ pains of your ideal customer is huge. When you know what they want to avoid or what they are working towards you can use that to share how what you do will help them achieve that.

This is the second stage of messaging to say, “This is what I do so you can…”

PART THREE: ADDING THE REAL BENEFIT AND URGENCY

This is all about why your audience should care and why it’s important. This is the sweet spot of brand messaging and the difference between someone working with you and someone not working with you, someone buying your course and not buying your course, someone buying your product and not buying your product. 

If they aren’t clear on how investing in this will serve them, they won’t do it!

BRAND MESSAGING EXAMPLES

These are examples of messages I’ve been using since 2016 when positioning my brand and various products. 

I want you to pay attention to how the framework is presented in each of them.

Example 1: Follow my signature uncover-your-story framework so that you can identify the most impactful stories for your brand as a whole and how to showcase them as part of your brand experience. 

So much of what my audience struggles with is storytelling. I know that that's a pain point, so I'm solving the problem with that. I'm letting them know how they can choose their stories, which is a huge pain point for my audience. Then, I'm telling them that the benefit is that they're going to be able to use storytelling in their branding experience. And of course, they're learning my brand framework.

Example 2: Create your core brand messages by tapping into your story and purpose so that you can remain consistent and build trust, making selling about connection and not being pushy. 

If you're reading my sales page, you're like, "What's a core brand message? I'm so interested in that." I'm going to tell you how you're going to do it. It's all about storytelling and purpose, which is part of my superpower. That's what differentiates me from other people who teach messaging. And specifically, we're going to talk about building trust, which is important to my audience. And the biggest pain point that they want to avoid is sounding sleazy or salesy or pushy when it comes to selling. I know that y'all hate this, and so I'm using that in my marketing.

Example 3: Create a program that delivers on your goal of helping your ideal client reach their desire and learn how to structure and price your offering in a way that speaks directly to your clients so that they are eager to invest again and again. 

They're going to learn how to create a program, specifically in alignment with their desire. A program that helps their ideal customer. My audience, people who buy my products are mission-driven, purpose-driven. So they want not just an offer to sell, but something that's really going to serve their ideal customer. And they struggle with structuring their offer, pricing their offer, and their end goal is to consistently sign clients that invest again and again.

These are three messages that are part of my brand as a whole. Three of them are used on my You! Branded sales page. And I think I have some of them on my Roadmap to Freedom sales page and various places in my business.

BRAND MESSAGING GUIDELINES

2 Must-Haves in Your Brand Messaging

Let’s talk about two brand messaging guidelines.

1. SOLVE A PROBLEM

Every single message that you create has to talk about the problem. It has to address the problem. People pay to eliminate a problem and since you're in business you want to make sure you understand the problem of your ideal customer.  No matter what you sell your customer has a bunch of problems that you solve with your product or service.

Your brand as a whole solves one main problem, and that's your niche, but then you've got all these other problems that your audience is experiencing that you want to address in your messaging. 

Not only are you letting them know that you get them and you know what they're experiencing, but you also are very blatantly like, "Hey, I know you have this problem, and I'm going to help you solve it."

2. THE BENEFIT

The benefit is telling your audience specifically what solving the problem will get them. You'll see a lot of that so-that-you-can messaging in marketing, and the reason is it works like a freaking charm. 

This is the extension to brand messaging that so many people forget. When thinking of this piece you want to consider the end goal for your ideal customer, how solving the problem will benefit them and the desires they are wanting to achieve.

That's what you want to make sure is crystal clear. That is what leads people to actually buying your product, your service, your offer.

Your audience really wants to know what's going to make their life easier, what's going to get them closer to their end goal or their desire, how is fixing this going to manifest itself in their everyday life. 

Let's say you teach meditation and you're like, "You're going to learn my 15-minute meditation to handle any stressful situation that comes up at work." 

Okay, fine. But if they handle that stressful situation at work, what does that give them?
Is it so they can go about their day and not bite their coworker's head off? 
Is it so they don't go home completely stressed out and then take it out on their family? 
Is it so they can be more productive and get more work done? 

What is the end result? It can't just be stress-free. What does stress-free look like in your ideal customer's life?

CONCLUSION

Brand messaging is so important, and you really need to make it a top priority for your business.

Remember, brand messaging is how you communicate what you do, but more specifically, why it's important to your ideal customer and how it's going to benefit them. 

And most importantly, you want to make sure that every single message that you create, one, talks about the problem that they're experiencing so that they know that you're going to help them solve that problem…

...and two, the benefit. 

It's not just, "I'm going to help you solve this problem." It's that by solving this problem, you will be able to...

Really focus on this extension!

P.S. A great place to gain clarity on your Brand Messaging and how to market it is inside of The Brandmerry Academy. Learn more and sign up before the end of 2020 here >>

Want to watch the full training? Watch below. This video was recorded as part of Mondays With Michelle which airs every Monday at 4 pm CST.

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.