Brandmerry Blog Archives
How to Run Pinterest Lead Ads for Just $2 a Day
Pinterest is one of my favorite marketing tools and the addition of Pinterest advertising is a great, accessible way for small business owners to advertise and grow their audience automatically. This blog explores how you can start with just $2 a day.
I know spending money on advertising can be scary as a business owner, especially when you’re first starting out.
I remember sitting down with my first coach, who was a big fan of Facebook advertising and had used it to grow her million-dollar business, and her telling me it was time to invest in ads.
I understood the concept. Spend money on ads, send new people to a landing page, offer them a freebie, get their email address and build a relationship.
And it made sense.
But, forking out money that wasn’t yet consistent in my business at a minimum of $10 a day was so scary.
Hard to believe that today I spend close to a thousand a week, but that’s growth for you.
Throughout my journey with advertising in business, I’ve explored many options and by far my favorite and most profitable has been Pinterest.
I hope this post serves as a quick overview of Pinterest Advertising and gives you the confidence to get started today.
Because, having this consistent stream of traffic to your website, email list and offers is amazing when you’re looking to streamline your marketing and build a sustainable business.
THE TRUTH ABOUT AD SPEND
As I mentioned before I understand how it can feel to blindly invest in advertising, so I want you to look at it two different ways.
At the very minimum, you need a lead magnet, landing page and welcome sequence you’ll send new subscribers through.
This is where many entrepreneurs start as a way to build an email list to later make their offer too. This method doesn’t require as much money up front, but your ROI isn’t instant.
The way I look at it is you can spend money to gain consistent traffic to your website (more on this later) and/or landing page for your free offer every single day with advertising. This ROI is more about time in the beginning, not having to create content or worry about “showing up” and the money ROI comes inside the welcome email sequence or later during a launch.
The second method is an evergreen approach, where you have a course or offer that someone can buy within minutes, hours or days of joining your email list. This is obviously going to give you the best ROI right out of the gate with ad spend.
Full transparency I started with option one in the beginning and once I had my course I adjusted my funnel to the new offer. I still use the first from time to time when gearing up for a launch, inviting new subscribers to a live challenge or class.
There is also retargeting, which I’ll touch on later, but not the focus of this post.
No matter what you choose, think of it as a machine.
You put in $2 and you make $5.
You put in $5 and make $10.
When you find the right rhythm for advertising it’s just a smart business move for scaling your business.
I’ll spend $5 to make $10 any day, especially when it gives me my precious time back.
WHY PINTEREST ADVERTISEMENT IS AN ENTREPRENEUR DREAM
As I've mentioned before I love experimenting with advertising in business, but Pinterest, I believe is an entrepreneur dream.
REASON #1: Pinterest is a search engine platform, meaning people go to the platform with specific goals in mind. They are searching for something specific and through keyword targeting you’re able to show up in their search.
This is a far difference from Facebook where you’re just throwing stuff on someone’s feed and “hoping” they click!
REASON #2: Pinterest ads are much easier to set up. One of the hardest things, in my opinion is writing copy, headlines and making graphics for ads. There are so many options and testing takes a lot of trial and error.
With Pinterest, it’s mostly visual (or course titles and descriptions help with SEO, but let’s be honest here). Your focus can be on creating graphics that catch the eye of your target audience.
**more on strategy and my top tips below**
REASON #3: Pinterest ads keep going. This might be one of my favorite benefits of Pinterest advertisement. Because of the nature of the platform, even after you turn your ad spend off your traffic keeps increasing. The reason for this is as you were promoting your pin, it was being shared and saved. On Facebook you turn your ad off and it’s done.
This longevity makes Pinterest one of the best tools for sustainability in business! One of the strategies we love to use is promoting a few pins every month to give them the boost they need and then switching them off.
PINTEREST ADVERTISING STRATEGY
Alright, let’s use the $2 a day strategy from the title and get you started!
Step #1: I recommend all my clients get started with organic Pinterest strategies first.
Of course, you can jump in and start ads, but having a Pinterest presence and strategy is just good for business. I teach my clients inside of The Brandmerry Academy exactly how to do this effectively because a lot of people just do Pinterest wrong.
So, after you’ve started your organic strategy you can see what’s working and what’s not. This will give you great insight into what people are gravitating towards within your content.
For instance, I would have never guessed years ago that this pin would be my most popular, but it was and today has led to well over $40,000 in cash in my business and over 5,000 website visitors.
We’ve since updated the original graphic multiple times and continue to optimize this popular topic that’s very unique to my business.
Remember, marketing always works when you focus on the data!
Step #2: Decide where you’ll send your traffic
I recommend having a combination of sending pin traffic directly to your freebie optin landing page, as well as to your blog.
Pinterest is originally a platform for bloggers and information, so it’s more familiar with your audience to send them to a blog post and may, in the long run, increase sales in your business because your audience is warmer.
You’re providing value to your customers before asking them to provide their email address or make a purchase. For this reason, we love having a combination of pins to the landing page for my freebie and to my popular blog posts.
Again, this is where the data comes in handy because you’ll be able to see which blog topics and pins are the most popular.
Step #3: Set up your specifics
Choose your graphic, more than one if you want to test and don’t have a lot of data, and set up your ads. Again, this isn’t going to give you the ins and outs of doing so, I teach that inside of The Academy.
Conversion is an option on Pinterest and a way for you to track your leads (i.e. people who take the next step from your ad and opt-in to your email list). However, I always suggest running Traffic campaigns. My contact at Pinterest told me conversion ads are for a larger ad spend and more data, so Traffic campaigns allow you to get started without the hassle.
To track accurate conversions you can just set up a separate form with your email provider for Pinterest traffic.
The most important step here is choosing your keywords and target audience. This is why ideal customer work is so important in the marketing process and why I recommend doing your research.
Take some time to research keywords on Pinterest by using the search bar. Then include those keywords in your targeting.
Step #4: Starting with just $2 a day can make a HUGE difference in your website traffic.
It’s very common to pay around .10 cents for a click to your website (referred to as outbound clicks on Pinterest). Imagine spending just $2 a day and getting 20 clicks to your website every day. This might not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but in a month that could mean 600 website visitors!
If you’re getting like 10 a month that’s a big difference. Now imagine you spent $60 to get those 600 website visitors and one person buys an offer for $197 - that’s a $137 profit and my guess is you’ll make even more.
As you make more you can increase your spend, but even today most of my graphics are only spending $5 a day.
THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR WEBSITE
I feel like it goes without saying that your website is SUPER important here.
If you’re sending traffic to your website, specifically your blog post which is recommended, then you want to make sure you're providing high-quality content and multiple ways for them to take the next step and join your email list.
You can also experiment with selling a low-priced offer as well.
Needless to say, your website setup matters and one of the things we teach inside of The Academy is how to increase conversions on your website through design, strategy, and copy.
Use this blog post as an example and look at all the places I give my audience the opportunity to opt-in and join my email community!
BONUS: RETARGETING WITH FACEBOOK AND PINTEREST ADVERTISEMENT
Quick word on retargeting and combining Pinterest and Facebook for an enhanced advertising strategy. Now, at the time of writing this there are a lot of questions around the new retargeting practices and limitations as part of the new IOS 14 roll out. It’s too early to tell, and I don’t like to freak out over marketing strategies over here, but just keep in mind retargeting might shift as we go through 2021.
With that being said, retargeting your website traffic on Facebook shouldn’t change too much! When you’re ready to add on to your existing Pinterest strategy you can retarget your website traffic on Facebook with your freebie to make sure your audience gets on your email list.
Your audience has already been on your website, thanks to Pinterest, and knows what you’re about, so you’ll find your Facebook retargeting ads are less expensive and more effective.
It’s a win win!
CONCLUSION
Pinterest is not only great for organically marketing your business, but adding in Pinterest Advertising practices is a no brainer in my opinion.
No matter where you are in your business journey, I highly encourage you to explore this option in order to streamline and automate your marketing efforts.
If you’re ready to stop guessing and learn advanced marketing strategies to grow your business then it’s time to check out Brandmerry Academy. Doors only open a few times a year, so click here to learn more.
P.S. Ready to build a revenue-generating brand? One that not only stands out online but also makes it easier than ever to create high-value content? Tune in to my free brand class and learn my Build a Better Brand Method. Watch now at brandmerry.com/class.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- 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.
Marketing Secrets: 3 Repurposing Mistakes to Avoid
Repurposing your content is how you reach more people without spending all of your precious time writing emails, blogs, social media posts and more. However, many entrepreneurs make a few big mistakes when repurposing their content, but I’m covering them all in the blog so you don’t make the same. Read the blog now!
Marketing Secrets: 3 Repurposing Mistakes to Avoid
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
If you don’t already know I’m obsessed with simplified and minimalist marketing strategies.
Starting my business with a newborn, then scaling my business while traveling full time has taught me to streamline my business faster than most.
I learned very quickly that extending the life of my content, through the art of repurposing my content was the secret.
Mix the strategy of repurposing with the strategies I teach inside of Brandmerry Academy, to create more evergreen traffic to your website and you’ve hit the marketing sweet spot.
However, repurposing is a broad term and honestly many entrepreneurs do it wrong or miss out on some key pieces which result in mediocre optimization. Seriously, I want you to get the most impact from your time and energy, so avoiding these mistakes is key.
Read on to learn the 3 repurposing mistakes to avoid.
Content Repurposing Mistake #1: Thinking Too Small
One of the mistakes I see entrepreneurs make when repurposing is thinking too small. They limit themselves to the amount of content they can create from their core content.
In case you’re not familiar with the strategy I teach inside of Brandmerry Academy, all repurposed content comes from a core piece of content (email, blog, video, podcast, etc…) and then is expanded to additional platforms and additional posts.
Once you have this core piece of content, the possibilities are endless.
A single podcast could become:
A new podcast episode
A transcribed blog post
5-6 Pinterest images
A Reel for Instagram
3-5 social media posts for Instagram
3-5 social media posts for Facebook
3-5 tweets on Twitter
...heck, you could even go live about the podcast episode answering questions or record the podcast episode for Youtube.
See? The possibilities are endless if you take the time to map out your strategy.
And, this isn’t just about creating more content, it allows you to spend less time creating content every single week, gives you more opportunities to reach your ideal customer, extends the life of your content (most social media content lasts a few hours, where blogs can last 2+ years) and did I mention it saved you time? Because it definitely does!
Content Repurposing Mistake #2: Not Optimizing For Warm and Cold Audience
One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to content creation is not considering your audience at every single stage of the buying process.
I see entrepreneurs who only think about educating their audience (i.e. at the Problem or Solution Stage) or only creating content for those ready to buy (i.e. the Purchase Stage). When in reality, there is a way to produce content that serves your audience at every single stage.
Stages of the buying process is something I teach inside of Brandmerry Academy and is important when creating content!
Let’s take a video example into consideration.
You create a new live video every week (by the way this could be a blog, podcast, etc...I’m not saying you have to do live video for this to work, but you get the idea).
So, you create a live video every week.
That live video has a pretty specific title, it’s based on what your audience has asked about and leads to your current offer. Maybe it’s something like, “How to Repurpose Your Content for Social Media.”
It’s specific to your audience and what they’ve been asking for and designed for your existing audience, as live video doesn’t typically attract new people! This is most likely for people further along in the buying process as their seeking out solutions and product/ services to solve their problem.
Now you have this video content and you’re transcribing it for your blog, because you’re smart, but the people you want to attract to your blog will come from Google and/ or Pinterest and be a cold audience (i.e. people who don’t know you and your brand just yet).
The key here is to optimize for those at the beginning of the buying process and use Search Engine Optimized keywords and titles to do just that.
After research, you might adjust the title to, “4 Ways to Save Time on Social Media and Plan Your Content for a Full Week!”
It’s more specific and rooted in research.
This is what I want you to remember. Choosing titles for content isn’t based on a feeling, it’s based on research - if you want to be discovered. This is why taking the time to research your content before creating and adjusting your titles for different platforms is important.
It’s one of the reasons I teach advance content creation inside of Brandmerry Academy, so your content doesn’t just sit there, but is actually discovered.
Content Repurposing Mistake #3: Consistency is Lacking
Although it may come as a shock to those of you that know me and my message, I’m not talking about the consistency in content, timing or even your message.
I’m talking about the consistency of your systems!
Your systems are everything and these daily, weekly and monthly habits are the difference between wasting hours and hours in your business and making money.
So, what do I mean by lack of consistency? I mean a lack in workflows!
Once, you’ve decided on your repurposing plan (i.e. your core content and additional platforms you’ll be optimizing) you can create a weekly workflow that can be duplicated week after week.
I feel like I don’t have to tell you how much time and energy this will save in your business!
And the best part, you don’t need a team to master this (although when the time is right, this can save even more energy), but just having this weekly workflow outlined will allow you to do more as a solopreneur.
I suggest using a platform like ClickUp or Asana to create your weekly content workflow and save it as a template.
This includes listing every step of the process from idea generation, writing, editing, formatting, graphics, scheduling and more!
You then can adjust the content topic, titles, and descriptions every week, but have a clear and optimized work flow. This can allow you to create your content for the entire week in a single day!
And as you grow your team, you can assign weekly tasks to members just further optimizing your time and making sure your energy is best spent on content and marketing!
CONCLUSION
Well, there you have it!
If you’re making any of these mistakes it’s time to adjust your content and repurposing strategy.
It doesn’t have to be overly complicated, but it does need a little strategy behind it, which just so happens to be one of my specialties.
If you’re interested in not only learning more about repurposing your content, but also how to market without relying on social media, then check out Brandmerry Academy.
This monthly marketing membership was created to help entrepreneurs maximize their time and learn the true art of marketing, which isn’t really dependent on social media!
Your marketing can’t wait, it’s required to not only grow your audience, but move your audience through the buying process which, you guessed it, leads to profitability!
Learn more about Brandmerry Academy here and happy repurposing!
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.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- 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.
2020 Marketing Lessons and Changes We’re Making for 2021
2020 was a year of obstacles, tough choices and growth. As a business owner there were a lot of surprises and realizations that are impacting the company strategy for 2021 and beyond. I’m sharing those with you today on the blog.
2020 Marketing Lessons and Changes We’re Making for 2021
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
One of my favorite things to do as I approach the end of another year is audit the heck out of my life.
I'm talking full life and business audit which includes my relationships, health, sales, systems, progress towards my big vision, marketing and more!
And, one of my favorite areas to dive really deep into is marketing because there is so much data to make a super informed decision, but since I'm all about creating a business that also improves my overall quality of life I take it ALL into consideration!
So even though 2020 was a difficult year for so many reasons, the truth is my marketing felt good. I was so happy with how simple, streamlined and actionable the Brandmerry marketing was last year, I still went ahead and changed it for 2021!
You might be questioning why I would change something that was working, that resulted in an increase in email subscribers, doubling our revenue and increasing website traffic by over 300%, just to name a few, keep reading!
Marketing Lesson #1 - Protecting My Time as a Business Owner
How it came to be: I doubled my cash revenue from 2019 and as this started to happen I found myself dreaming more about simplifying my business as it continues to grow. Rather than adding more to my plate and more things to do, I want to minimize.
Yes, I’ve always had the mindset that you can grow without doing more. I’m also a believer that more isn’t always better and from my experience the more you simplify the more space you have to expand.
It’s important to me that I never sacrifice my time for money or progress. So as we saw the revenue increasing, I was very concise of what was working and what wasn’t.
We evaluated the programs I offer, how I was showing up, our systems and more. This started happening around June 2020 and we worked behind the scenes through the end of the year.
What I learned: In order to make this goal of growth without sacrifice happen, I began to release I needed to release some of the control in my business. I defintely struggled with this and find that many solorpreneurs do. In the beginning it’s just you, just like it was just me creating the content, the materials, marketing, videos, email...all the things.
However, as I’ve slowly outsourced in my business it’s become clear that it’s required for growth. I quickly learned it was time, amped up my mindset work around releasing control and started to brainstorm ways to hand off more projects that didn’t require me.
What’s changing in 2021: Brandmerry has always had the vision of growing into a company, so this decision actually felt really good to implement. It was difficult to navigate, but always felt like the right decision.
We’ve created new positions for my existing team members, who have been with me for years and I trust fully with the Brandmerry and Michelle Knight Co. brands. This looked like creating an Operations Manager role for tech, systems and customer support, although we plan to hire someone to take over customer support and community care in the second quarter of 2021.
In addition, I created a new Marketing Manager role to take off some of the requirements for me to come up with content ideas, implement workflows and add a new platform...yep, we’re coming back to Youtube.
Marketing Lesson #2 - Getting 30 Days Ahead With Content Creation
How it came to be: One of the things I love creating for Brandmerry are videos, it’s my favorite way to create content for my audience and show up. Over the years, I’ve mastered my repurposing flow to center around video content and last year in 2020 it freaking shined!
In 2020, I went live every Monday for my weekly show Mondays With Michelle and used this content to create a weekly blog post, Pinterest graphics, multiple social media posts for Instagram and Facebook, as well as emails to my community.
However, this strategy still required a lot of my time to make it happen. And as I aim to free up more time for travel and take the pressure off to create weekly content, it became clear we needed to shift.
What I learned: I realized it was time to elevate my marketing production and create workflows that require less of me in real-time, plus taking the bulk scheduling to another level by getting 30 days ahead with created and scheduled content.
As we elevate and add new roles and responsibilities to the Brandmerry team this became even more possible. As we navigated this lesson I wanted to make sure my marketing efforts weren’t compromised.
What’s changing: At the end of 2020, we went back to what I teach inside of The Brandmerry Academy on repurposing and scaled our entire strategy.
Big picture 2021 this looks like being an entire month ahead of schedule with content. Rather than just having 90 days of content planned and creating the content weekly, we’re now switching our focus to having the 30 days of content planned, created and scheduled a month in advance.
This allows me to maintain one of my favorite elements, video creation and passing over everything else! You’ll see these changes role out with Mondays With Michelle and more throughout the year.
This definitely was an exciting and scary decision. It’s an investment in team to free up more of my time and energy, but the ROI in extra hours every week to focus on growing Brandmerry, engaging with my community and supporting my clients, including adding more time to take on new clients will be incredible.
Marketing Lesson #3 - High-quality, Consistent Content Increases Sales
How it came to be: This lesson actually started back in 2019. When we first started traveling, I took a break from consistent live video. I switched to Youtube, but at the time it was hard to maintain consistent Youtube videos on the road. I noticed my consistency and quality began to lack.
So, in September 2019 I started to reevaluate how I was showing up and marketing Brandmerry. Something felt like it was missing in revenue and it became clear it was all centered around my content.
What I learned: As I mentioned before video marketing is my favorite and content in and of itself is my Queen Bee (something I learned from the book Clockwork). In 2020, I committed to showing up multiple times a week, with live videos pretty much every Monday.
As I made this commitment and started implementing, it became clear that this high-quality content that was delivered consistently to my audience increased revenue.
The combination of evergreen lead generation, SEO and Pinterest to be specific, and weekly videos to support my clients my sales grew, as well as client retention and ease in signing new clients.
This consistency built trust, making it easier to sign highlevel clients without a Discovery Call. In fact, we switched to an application for my VIP Intensives and found even when I offered calls for my live program Roadmap to Freedom, I didn’t do a single one.
What’s changing: I’m taking more of a hands-off approach to attracting new leads. The evergreen marketing strategies I have are working and don’t require me to show up daily. There the same strategies I teach inside of Brandmerry Academy in case you want in on this awesomeness.
So with this shift, I’m able to focus my energy fully on nurturing my existing audience. Focusing my energy and attention on building deeper connection, Brand Affinity and trust. I’m so excited to be at a place in my business where I can elevate this entire experience!
Marketing Lesson #4 - Pinterest and Google Are a Marketing Must
How it came to be: In 2019, I noticed that my website traffic was climbing and after making some small tweaks to my SEO strategy. In addition, we put more emphasis on improving our Pinterest strategy, being more intentional and tracking analytics and noticed that more than 90% of traffic was coming from this platform.
What I learned: This was a pretty easy one to see happening, I mean my website traffic grew by 374% with over 120,000 website visitors in 2020.
Not only could we see that more people we’re finding and visiting my website, but after a brief analysis discover that Google and Pinterest we’re bringin in more high-paying clients. VIP Intensive clients we’re coming from Google where they wer’re searching for my services and many of my course clients were coming from Pinterest.
The reason for this is these platforms attract customers further along in the buying process and ready to invest.
What’s changing: Not much from my end, because my attention is showing up for my existing community, but our overall company marketing strategy is shifting to put more emphasis on these platforms which are changing constantly.
We never want to lose this edge so continuing to scale our efforts and modify with any changes is important. It’s also important to me that the marketing lessons inside of Brandmerry Academy are updated in real-time to support members, so this is good for business on all levels!
Lesson #5 - Marketing Always Works When You Have Data
How it came to be: In 2020, I increased my monthly budget for ad spend and it paid off! I spent $32,239 on ads and made roughly $75,000 on my program last year. That more than doubled my investment and doesn’t even take into consideration client retention when many of my clients moved from You! Branded to Brandmerry Academy, Roadmap to Freedom or my VIP Intensives.
What I learned: Marketing works.
If you take the time to set it up and you’re constantly looking at your numbers and consistently following your plan in front of you, it will work.
I only knew to invest that amount of money because I had tested my product organically, then I scaled it month to month watching my ROI with ad spend. I made adjustments along the way based on my numbers, never starting over or scraping the entire thing, but making small adjustments.
This isn’t just for advertising it works for email marketing, engagement, sales conversions all it and can be one of your best tools as an online marketer.
What’s changing: I’m continuing to scale my marketing budget and even hired someone to take it over for me. This was a decision that not only supported the ROI of our marketing budget, but again allows me to free up time in my schedule for more creative tasks.
It also prompted us to create more marketing and system trackers, as well as SOP’s (standard operating procedures) so we can take a hard look at all of our growth and numbers this year.
I also set team projections for many of our marketing goals for revenue, email subscriber count, Pinterest monthly views, website traffic and more.
CONCLUSION
It was so rewarding to look at this audit and feel so confident in our marketing changes. It’s one of the many reasons I love marketing because it is measurable!
So many entrepreneurs are mindlessly marketing, when it needs to be one of the most intentional practices in your business not to mention required if you want to create consistent revenue.
Marketing is where 50% of your energy and time needs to go to build a successful business, but if you're not optimizing your strategy it probably feels more like 90% of your time.
That's why I love teaching entrepreneurs how to use advanced marketing strategies to get off of social media and on platforms that make a BIGGER difference. ..think consistent traffic to your website
...consistent leads and subscribers
...and you guessed it, consistent sales!
That stream of traffic and leads is so important, but also hard to do when you're relying solely on social media or worse Facebook Groups 🤪
I’ve always loved advanced marketing and have seen the incredible results, not just in revenue, but also in time freedom. It’s why in 2020, I launched my membership Brandmerry Academy.
Brandmerry Academy teaches entrepreneurs how to master their marketing without relying on social media or wasting time. Doors are opening soon for our 1-year anniversary and you can learn more and join the waitlist here: brandmerryacademy.com
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.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- 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.
2021 Marketing Projections for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
As we head into 2021, there are so many lessons that we learned in 2020 that are going to impact how we market our businesses. Learn five of the marketing trends to incorporate into your marketing strategy and weekly workflow.
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.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- 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.
3 Tips to Plan for 2022 in Your Business
Ready to not only plan for 2021, but also take action? These three tips will help you to use your time more effectively and boost your confidence going into the New Year, so you can increase your profits.
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.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- 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.