How to Make Your Digital Marketing Work: Tough Love Tips
Most people can check the boxes and create digital marketing assets for their business, such as their website, newsletter, lead magnet, etc., but many people I’ve met “forget” or feel awkward about promoting and talking about them.
Listen to the article.⤵️
(the sound is not perfect; I recommend listening without earphones 😁. Please bear with me as I test different setups.)
Most people can check the boxes and create digital marketing assets for their business, such as their website, newsletter, lead magnet, etc., but many people I’ve met “forget” or feel awkward about promoting and talking about them.
I hope this thought-provoking episode/blog will motivate you to send more newsletters and step into the marketer role despite your uncertainty, fears, and doubts because you’re not getting immediate results.
Yes, having your own business and being a solopreneur means juggling many roles, including marketing.
Promoting is not something you do “occasionally”; you weave into everything you do—with elegance, consistency, and organically.
By “organically,” I mean that this doesn't have to be direct promotion; there are many ways to promote something with elegance and subtlety. We can call this “soft promotion.”
So this is where I see that you can use a bit more of the “promoter” vibe - with an idea for each context. Take what you feel is right for you; these are for inspiration.
❌Leveraging Free Masterclasses and Workshops Effectively: It’s great to host free events to expand your reach, but if you’re not leveraging that interaction to pitch your offer or grow your mailing list, you can share the following steps to work with you. Then, how sustainable is it in the long term?
I understand that you want to help others and make a positive impact, but there’s nothing wrong with wanting to grow your business to be more profitable and sustainable.
➡ ️ As part of your free workshops and masterclasses, if you allocate some time to presenting how to work with you and allowing space for questions and answers, would this create more connections, interest, and warm leads for your offer?
Besides, you can discuss your offer subtly and integrate indirect promotional messages into your presentation; you don’t have to wait until the end.
❌Track Your Website Traffic and Optimize for SEO: It’s great to have a website, but how useful can it be without traffic if nobody is visiting it and if you don’t have new visitors or repeat visitors each month?
➡You can easily find this kind of data through your CMS (content management system), such as Squarespace, WordPress, or Wix. If not, Google Analytics can also provide this information.
➡ Leverage Search Engines: Optimize your website for SEO so your site can be found organically through search engines.
Have at least 2-3 SEO-optimized pillar blog posts to establish your expertise and show testimonials and credentials.
Each of my blog posts has an opt-in form to capture visitors' contacts, and the opt-in form is related to the blog post's topic.
❌Trust Signals Are Not Optional: Does your website have strategic content to establish authority and “trust signals” to convert visitors? These are paramount to turning your visitors into clients.
➡ Highlight Business Certifications: For trust factors, I’m a big fan of logo banners that showcase credentials, awards, memberships, and certifications. You can also use them to showcase your client portfolio by featuring their logo. ⤵️
➡ Feel free to use my Canva template. You may need to adjust it to fit the number of logos you have.
❌Grow Your Mailing List; Turn Your Social Media Followers Into Email Subscribers
A newsletter is fabulous, but if you don’t send emails monthly (minimum), you’re not nurturing your contacts, and people will forget about you.
If you don’t try to grow your mailing list, your list will get tired, and you will eventually be unable to sell.
Or if you only send informational emails and don’t promote or sell your services, it’s not helping you grow your business and generate more income.
One of my clients wanted to revamp her mailing list. We worked together to clean up her mailing list, start a re-engagement campaign, and “wake up” her contacts.
She planned out her newsletters intentionally, and this campaign led to more sales, engagement, and connection, increasing her sales and enabling her to feel more fulfilled.
“I started writing newsletters and sending them regularly to reconnect with my community. I created a Google sheet to make my profit and loss statement easier to understand. I created another Google sheet to understand the minimum number of bags I can ask a buyer for at wholesale. As a result, I increased my sales even in two months, and I realized again the limits were in my head.”
Zeynep Gursoy, Founder of Tara Folks
What you can do now if you haven't already:
➡ ️ Embed Multiple Lead Capture Forms in Your Site: Ensure you have several call-to-action buttons on each page and opt-in forms on several strategic places to capture your visitors’ contacts.
➡ ️ Systemize: Create different recurring post templates to market your newsletter to your social media followers and schedule them.
For example, you can promote before and after I have a recurring post ready for my social media accounts (It’s in my Trello editorial board) to remind my followers about my newsletter and tease and share what I’m about to email about.
And after the newsletter is sent, I share feedback or insights I’ve received from my newsletter.
Here’s an example of a “teaser” on Esther Perel’s IG account, designed to convert her followers into a newsletter subscriber:
Here’s another one:
You can also have generic, timeless posts to remind your followers that you have a newsletter and what it is about. Tim Ferris has very consistent posts like this:
➡ I have my newsletter sign-up link in my email signature --I promote it like a lead magnet (check the promotion checklist from the lead magnet training Attract Nurture Convert - I also share social media graphics you can edit in Canva). ⤵️
➡ My email signature is basic and straightforward, but you can find fancier ones. Search in Canva using those keywords, or try Google; there are plenty of options! I’ve used HubSpot’s free email signature generator for a while, and it was easy to use.
➡ Talk about your newsletter at events and have your participants sign up for it. Help them do that with a digital name card with a QR code linked to your newsletter opt-in page (you can do this in Canva).
Here’s a template from Canva with a simple-to-follow graphic tutorial on creating your custom QR Code for Your Business Card. ⤵️
❌Likewise, it’s great to have built your lead magnet - but now that you have an asset, you need to promote it.
Your list will grow slowly if you don’t promote your lead magnet.
If you want to promote it “passively,” I recommend at least feature on your website with a graphic banner, logo box, pop-up form, and/or embed a form, etc., and deploy it on your social media account (bio link, highlights, profile banner for LinkedIn) --you have the checklist and templates to promote it in the lead magnet training Attract Nurture Convert).
Conclusion
I know it’s a lot to remember and integrate into your already busy life.
But if you create templates, systemize, and schedule these tasks, it’s just a matter of a 10-minute daily routine.
Would this be worthwhile if it allows you to grow your business and work with soulmate clients?
Launching your website, emails, and newsletter is a big milestone, and I celebrate you for it.
But remember, it’s not about checking the boxes - you have to leverage them to create the impact you seek to make.
This was a tough love message - I’m not judging you, and please don't blame yourself for not doing it all. I don’t. Pick what makes sense for you and make it your own. ;-)
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About Maika
Maika mentors heart-centered, impact-driven entrepreneurs to build the foundations of their business with her signature Intentional Business Building™ method. Her approach is holistic and integrates the entrepreneur mindset, marketing strategies, and systems to help create sustainable changes and long-lasting results. A lifelong passion for the human psyche, healing arts, and personal growth brought her to mentorship and coaching. She’s French-born in Japan and currently lives in Istanbul with her family.
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