content writing Archives

Marketing for Law Firms: How to Create a Customer Persona

Want to attract quality leads that actually turn into clients? First, you have to know how to create a customer persona.

What is a Customer Persona?

A customer persona is a fictional representation of the clients you want. You can base them on ideal clients you’ve enjoyed working with or who you’d enjoy working with in the future. The more you know about them, the easier it will be to create content that gets their attention.

Why Creating a Customer Persona is Important

Suppose you specialize in business law and you’re looking to attract entrepreneurs who want to form limited liability companies (LLCs). You won’t grab their attention by speaking legal jargon and citing case precedents. You must imagine yourself in their shoes and what they must be going through.

Entrepreneurs wear many hats and often fill multiple roles at once. They’re experts in what they do, but they probably don’t have the know-how to create unambiguous contracts and iron-clad operating agreements. They may not even understand the legal ramifications of having a poorly-written contract — until it’s too late.

That’s where you come in. As the owner of your business law firm, you’ve got to show your audience why having an attorney draft or review their contracts is important. However, before you do that, you must understand your audience and how to reach them.

It’s a tall order, but when done well, it gives you a huge advantage over your competitors, who struggle to convey their content in a clear, meaningful way.

How to Create a Customer Persona

Let’s say your favorite client is Alex. If you want to work with more people like Alex, let’s start by learning more about her:

Alex McSample

- Age: 35
- Location: North Seattle
- Occupation: HR Consultant
- Years Experience: 8
- Income: $90,000, but varies year-to-year based on her clients
- Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Preferred Channels:

- Alex subscribes to several HR magazines and newsletters.
- She enjoys scrolling through Instagram and TikTok.
- Alex uses LinkedIn to find businesses struggling to find and retain talent.
Business Goals:
- Alex knows that she should switch from her sole proprietorship to an LLC.
- She wants to hit 6-figures next year, requiring her to find $10,000 in more leads.
- She also wants to start a monthly newsletter to stay engaged with her current client base.
Pain Points:
- Alex just bought a condo with her partner and needs liability protection to safeguard her personal assets.
- Alex understands the benefits of forming an LLC but is intimidated by the legal requirements and is afraid of making a mistake on her paperwork.
- She knows she needs an operating agreement for her business but doesn’t know what that entails.

With this information handy, you now have a good idea of who Alex is. She’s growing her business and realizing that she must form an LLC. However, she doesn’t know enough about them to feel comfortable filling out the paperwork on her own.

You’re most likely to grab her attention on LinkedIn because she uses it when she’s in “work mode.” Since she subscribes to a few HR magazines, you should also consider submitting a few business law-related article ideas to their editors.

Additional Customer Persona Ideas

The more you know about your ideal customers, the better you can tailor content to reach them. Depending on your target audience, consider the following:

Relationship status
Family and close friends
Hobbies and activities
Religious affiliations
Ideal vacation
Favorite Movie, book, show, etc.

A Day in the Life

If you wanted, you could take things a step further and think about Alex’s daily routine. If you’re using social media, blogs, and newsletters as part of your content marketing strategy, this exercise will help you understand when your ideal customer engages with content.

Timeline

Time	Activity	Opportunity
7:30 – 9a	Alex wakes up, gets ready for work	N/A
9 – 10a	Alex starts work and scrolls through emails.	Newsletter
10 – 10:30a	Alex checks LinkedIn before preparing for a meeting	Blog post; LinkedIn post
10:30 – 11a	Alex has a meeting	N/A
11a – 1p	Alex takes a deep dive into work. She’s in the zone	N/A
1 – 1:30p	Alex takes a short lunch. Scrolls through IG and TikTok	IG and TikTok posts
1:30 – 2:30p	Alex has back-to-back client meetings	N/A
2:30 – 3p	Alex is responding to emails and checking LinkedIn again	Newsletter, blog post, LinkedIn post
3 – 5p	Alex takes another deep dive into work, finishes a project	N/A
5 – 6p	Alex hits the gym or goes for a run	N/A
6 – 7p	Alex showers, decompresses, looks at IG and TikTok	IG and TikTok posts
7 – 8p	Alex has dinner with her partner.	N/A
8 – 10p	Alex and her partner cuddle and watch TV. She’ll occasionally play a game on her phone	N/A
10 – 11p	Alex winds down, gets ready for bed	N/A
11p – sleep	Alex reads until she goes to sleep	N/A

With this info, you know that the ideal times to reach Alex on her workdays are:

9 – 10a for newsletters
10 – 10:30a for blog posts and LinkedIn posts
1 – 1:30p for IG and TikTok posts
2:30 – 3p for newsletters, blog posts, and LinkedIn posts
6 – 7p for IG and TikTok posts

It’s not an exact science, but this will give you an idea of what content to publish and when.

How to Create a Customer Persona for Law Firms

You should always know who your audience is before you start creating content for them. If you don’t, it’ll be much harder to meaningfully connect with them.

And like Alex, you also have a lot of hats to wear and tasks to accomplish.

Content marketing doesn’t have to be one of them.

Save time, increase visibility, and get your marketing done with Anthony Writes Content.

Content Marketing for Lawyers Long-Term Value (534 x 300 px)

The Long-Term Value of Content Marketing for Lawyers

Having a webpage isn’t enough these days. What sets you apart is your ability to craft a compelling narrative that resonates with your desired audience — content marketing does just that.

Content marketing for lawyers has incredible ROI potential. For example, if you maintain a legal blog, each post provides you with versatile content. With it, you can:

Create a video script and make a short video to post on YouTube or TikTok
Highlight a snippet and post it in your newsletter
Create an Instagram Story or Reel about your post with relevant hashtags
Create a podcast discussing the material
Grab a quote and use it as a hook for a social media post
Turn it into a chapter for an ebook
Develop a linking strategy for a blog or web series
Repost the blog at a later time and retarget your audience

The more content you have, the more opportunities you have to engage your audience.

Here’s how else content marketing provides you with long-term value:

Content Marketing for Lawyers Is Cost-Effective

Traditional marketing methods, such as mailers, print ads, or billboards, can attract many sets of eyes, but once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The same goes for paid ads online. If you pay to play, you’ll get an ad on page 1 of Google. However, the cost of admission is steep! Local-based keywords aimed at certain services or aspects of the law can cost you $50, even $100+ per click, making even small campaigns cost somewhere in the five-figure territory.

And once your paid ad campaign is over, search engines will act like they never existed.

You won’t receive the instant gratification of shelling out $10,000+ or even $100,000+ for short-term gain, but your content marketing efforts will pay off in perpetuity. You could live on page one of Google without paying for a single ad.

You’ll Receive Better Quality Leads

Tons of people see billboards and receive mailers, but they’re not necessarily the customers you’re looking to attract. You could end up inundated with calls and emails from people inquiring about what you do, only to find out that’s not the right fit.

Content marketing involves creating content tailored to your audience’s interests, pain points, and questions. By addressing specific legal topics and providing helpful insights, you’ll attract visitors who turn into leads.

Here’s another way to think about it:

If you’re looking for a personal injury attorney specializing in slip and falls, who are you more likely to pick: A law firm with a general landing page about personal injuries or a firm with five high-quality articles dedicated to information about slip and falls?

Content Marketing for Lawyers Has Long-Term SEO Benefits

SEO (search engine optimization) makes your website more attractive to search engines like Google and Yahoo. A well-crafted blog post or series optimized for SEO can continue to drive traffic and generate leads to your website months — even years — after publication.

SEO is determined by several factors:

On-Page SEO: The web pages and blog copy itself, which requires keyword optimization, content quality and relevance, meta tags, headings, internal linking, and a URL structure
Off-Page SEO: Influences beyond your website that improve search engine rankings, such as being sourced by reputable websites, social media marketing, and reputation management
Technical SEO: Backend factors, like website speed, XML sitemaps, site architecture, and responsiveness

Content Marketing With Anthony Writes Content

Content marketing for lawyers is cost-effective, attracts quality leads, and is excellent for SEO. However, it’s also time-consuming and not easy. Someone has to put in the work, but that someone doesn’t have to be you.

Are you ready to save time, increase visibility, and get your marketing done? Let’s talk content and get your content marketing strategy underway!

5 Reasons Every Lawyer Should Have a Legal Blog

81% of people research legal services online before contacting an attorney. To ensure they choose you, consider the power of a legal blog.

Did you know that websites with informative, high-quality content receive 434% more indexed pages, leading to a significant improvement in your Google search ranking and visibility? However, only one in three law firms have a blog, and even fewer are well-maintained. This presents a unique opportunity for you to stand out in the digital space.

Imagine having a platform that not only informs readers about your services but also converts them into clients. A legal blog can do just that, serving as a powerful tool in your client acquisition strategy.

But that’s one reason you should consider starting or reviving your legal blog. Here are five more:

1. Establish Thought Leadership

Think of your legal blog as your digital podium. It’s your space to showcase your depth of knowledge and expertise in your chosen legal field. There’s so much you can do with it.

You can…

Create a blog series around specific topics or policies
Deliver your in-depth legal analysis on issues important to your audience
Break down complex legal topics to make them easily understandable

And much more.

Need more ideas? Schedule a free consultation.

2. Earn Your Audience’s Trust

People are more likely to do business with those they like, know, and trust. Trust is paramount in law.

Your audience seeks someone to represent them and provide informed legal counsel. Maintaining a legal blog with valuable content is not just about educating readers; it’s about building trust and credibility. When readers keep turning to your blog for answers, they’re far more likely to entrust you with their legal matters — and recommend your services to others.

3. Long-Term Value

Paid advertising is expensive, especially for lawyers!

For example, suppose you were to run a cost-per-click ad campaign to rank prominent on Google’s search for the queries Washington personal injury lawyer or personal injury lawyer Washington. You’d have to pay an average of $37.86 and $75.45 per click, respectively.

If you’re budgeting for 100 clicks for personal injury lawyer Washington, it’ll cost you $7,545. Not every click results in a new client. Most clicks don’t.

Also, once your ad campaign ends, you stop generating traffic.

If you hire a legal blog writer, this kind of money will get you a ton of blog copy and you’ll continue to attract visitors in perpetuity. It’s a long-term investment in your online presence and client attraction strategy.

4. Stay Current

The law is constantly evolving. New precedents, regulations, and trends emerge regularly. Show your audience that you’re staying ahead of the curve by discussing recent developments, offering insights on emerging legal issues (there’s no shortage of those these days!), and analyzing landmark cases.

By keeping your finger on the proverbial pulse of the law, you’re proving to readers that you’re a forward-thinking practitioner.

5. Leave Your Lasting Legacy

Your legal blog serves as your digital legacy. Each post you publish is a timeless resource that’s accessible to anyone seeking guidance on legal matters. While some content will need updating, evergreen content remains relevant for generations.

By contributing to the collective knowledge of your profession, you’re making a lasting imprint on the legal community and solidifying yourself as a thought leader in your field.

Start and Elevate Your Legal Blog with Anthony Writes Content

Are you ready to leave a lasting legacy but lack the time or desire to write your own content?

Then don’t!

Save time, increase visibility, and grow your legal blog with Anthony Writes Content. Let’s start with a kickoff call to discuss you, your business, your audience, and your competitors. From there, I conduct competitor and keyword research to identify the gaps and opportunities where you can thrive.

Ready to get started? Send me a message.

Google is Cracking Down on Low-Quality, AI-Generated Content

Are you using ChatGPT to write and mass-produce copy? Google wants none of that.

Google’s March 2024 search update targets spam, much of which is low-quality, AI-generated content.

According to Google, “This update involves refining some of our core ranking systems to help us better understand if webpages are unhelpful, have a poor user experience or feel like they were created for search engines instead of people.”

The Google team expects that their latest update and ongoing ranking system tuning will “collectively reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%.”

Why This Matters

AI-generated content is easy to mass-produce and can potentially manipulate search rankings, but it’s not known for being accurate. Misinformation has been eroding prominent Google search results, bamboozling people with false historical facts and obituaries, AI-generated images instead of real ones, and plenty more.

Misinformation in the news has also been a problem. I doubt I have to explain why that’s a problem — especially this year!

Whaddaya Mean by “Spam?”

Google’s update directly addresses three different types of spam:

Scaled Content

Methods for creating low-quality content at scale become more sophisticated over time. With the aid of AI, spammers can produce content quickly; sometimes, it’s not clear if it’s been automated. Google updated its policies to address low-quality scaled content to help maintain the integrity of queried search results.

Reputation Abuse

Some websites have earned their reputation by creating quality content helpful to visitors. However, they’re also hosting low-value content from third parties that are piggybacking on the site’s prominence to climb the ranks on Search. This practice is as misleading as it is frustrating. If you’re looking up important information on a trusted website, you shouldn’t end up on a page that has nothing to do with your query.

Google is cracking down on this practice starting on May 5. Trusted sites were given two months to clean up their act and maintain their integrity.

Expired Domains

Some people purchase expired domains to repurpose low-quality, unoriginal content. As a result, you might click on a prominent page expecting valuable information, only to find yourself getting spammed with ads or misinformation.

How to Keep Your Content Unscathed

No system is perfect, and that includes Google’s search algorithm. Unfortunately, some people’s content may be flagged as spam even if it’s not. Here are a few ways to prevent that from happening:

Keep Your Content Relevant

If your website is about physics, keep your content about physics. If your blog veers off subject, you could arouse suspicion from Google (and you’ll definitely cause your readers to raise an eyebrow!).

Tell Stories

Personal anecdotes and similar authentic content are much harder to replicate and far less likely to be mistaken for spam. It’s also a great way to connect with your readers.

Don’t Depend on AI-Generated Content

Don’t want to get flagged as a spammer who uses AI-generated content? Then, don’t use AI-generated content!

Write your own content — or better yet, hire a professional to craft high-quality, consistent, engaging, and on-brand so you can focus on what you do best.

And leave it to Google to keep Search clean.

5 Ways to Come Up With Blog Topics — Also, Cookies!

You want to write about what you do, but you’re living that cliche of staring at your blank screen. If you’re just starting a blog, you may be asking yourself, “What do you write about?” If you’ve been at it for a while, you may think, “What other blog topics should I cover?”

For fun, let’s say you’re a professional cookie baker.

No matter what you do, there are always new ways to approach a story idea, even if it’s something super common — like cookie recipes.

For inspiration, here are five strategies for coming up with new blog topics. So bite into your favorite crunchy, soft, or gooey cookie and read on!

1. Google Your Competitors for New Recipes

Research your top five competitors or thought leaders in your field. What have other cookie aficionados been writing about recently?

Create a table with columns. On the left, generate a list of the blog topics your competitors have covered recently and compare it to your own. Are there subjects you haven’t covered yet, and if so, can you infuse your unique point of view that your audience will find interesting? Fill out the right column with your ideas for a post.

Sometimes, you’ll hit gold with a competitor, like I just did with Delish’s 125 Best Cookie Recipes to Bake Year-Round. That’s 125 potential ideas right there!

For extra credit, conduct site audits to identify what keywords your competitors rank for based on the content they’ve written.

2. AnswerThePublic for a Full List of Ingredients

AnswerThePublic is a confectionary of content ideas and serves as a direct line to what people are querying in search engines like Google. Enter a topic, product, or brand into their search bar. After hitting search, AnswerThePublic compiles all these suggestions based on your initial search term, or seed keyword.

You know how when you start typing something into Google, and then you have multiple ideas auto-suggested for you like this:

Instead of getting just a few ideas like you would above, AnswerThePublic gives you access to hundreds of ideas based on your seed keyword.

3. Use ChatGPT to Get Your Ideas Cooking

Large language models are excellent resources for idea generation. For example:

Play around with different prompts to get new ideas. Just make sure you’re writing these articles yourself 😉. Google is cracking down on low-quality, unoriginal content — much of which is AI-generated. Simply put, if you’re not writing original content, your blog could do you more harm than good.

4. Don’t Be a Cookie Cutter: Think About Angles

How do you make your article about cookie recipes unique when there are thousands of articles about them already? Find a unique angle.

Here are a few to think about:

Cookies for every emotion: Write an article about cookie recipes based on someone’s mood. You have “comfort cookies,” “celebratory cookies,” and more.
Cookie chemistry: Take a scientific approach to baking the perfect cookie. What ingredient mixture and baking techniques create your desired cookie texture and tastiness?
Cookie culture: Write about cookies from around the world. What are the most popular kinds in each region? What are some authentic recipes created by other cultures?

Creatively blocked? ChatGPT works well here, too.

5. Revisit Blog Topics to Find New Flavors From Old Morsels

When in doubt, review old ideas, whether you wrote about them or not. Sometimes, an idea just needs some time to bake into something delicious. Other times, you just need to think about the process differently.

Then, you’ve got your published posts to ponder. Can any of these ideas be updated? For example, if you wrote about the five most popular cookies in 2021, update the post for the current year. Refresh your content to keep it freshly baked and smelling sweet.

Lick the Bowl With Anthony Writes Content

Creating recipes is easy, but someone’s still got to do the cooking.

Are you ready to save time, increase visibility, and get your baking marketing done? Work with an expert to fill your bakery with fresh new ideas that are consistent, engaging, and on-brand.

Want to see what’s cooking at Anthony Writes Content? Shoot me a message!

What CRM Metrics Should Your Small Business Be Tracking?

Last week, I highlighted five CRM metrics you should be tracking. This week, I’ve got five more to share.

Let’s get started!

Customer Retention Rate

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Your customer retention rate refers to how many customers you retain over a period of time. To figure this out, you must first specify your time period. Subtract the number of new customers you acquired by the total number of customers you have at the end of that time period. Then, you divide that number by the number of customers you started with during that period.

In other words:

Customer retention rate = (total customers – new customers) / existing customers

How to use: If you have 1,250 total customers at the beginning of the year (total customers), gain 500 more (new customers), and have 1,000 customers at the end of the year (existing customers), then:

Customer retention rate = (1,250 – 500) / 1000 = 75%

This CRM metric works well when determining how many new customers you need to acquire to meet other benchmarks. If your retention rate varies, it could indicate that you’re doing something right or need to improve your processes.

New-Net Revenue

This CRM metric tells you how much you’re making from your new customers. Since this is net revenue and not gross revenue, the formula is as follows:

Net revenue = Gross revenue – expenses

How to use: Suppose you picked up ten new customers this month who purchased $1,000 in product (a.k.a. $100 per customer on average). If the products cost $10/each to make ($100 altogether) and you spent $250 in marketing, your new-net revenue is:

$1,000 – $100 – $250 = $650

Quota Attainment

Your quota attainment measures how close you reach or exceed your sales goals. This CRM metric is pretty common in sales, but it’s also applicable in other business situations. Here’s the formula:

Quota attainment = Completed sales / quota period

How to use: Your quota is a great benchmark when prospecting new customers. You can gamify it by trying to exceed previous goals or hire someone to do the work for you. However, keep in mind that your customer quality still matters. If you’re hitting sales quotas but have a poor customer retention rate, it’s time to examine your pipeline.

Upsell Rate

Regarding sales, this CRM metric tells you how many new and existing customers upgraded their purchases. Like others, it’s a simple formula:

Upsell rate = # of customers upsold / Customers approached about upselling

Note: You’re dividing your upsell rate by the total number of customers you’ve approached, not your total number of customers. If these numbers are different, your upsell rate will be inaccurate.

How to use: Are you trying to convince customers to go up a tier in your service offerings? Reach out to your base and make the pitch! The better your pitch or offering, the more likely you will have a higher upsell rate. If you get crickets, then it’s time to reassess your offering. Maybe it’s not aligned with what your audience wants. Either way, you’ll be better prepared next time.

Depending on your customer base, you should first ask for feedback regarding what you’re selling and what other pain points you may be able to address. Then, A/B test your pitch to a small percentage of your customers before reaching out to everyone on your list.

Net Promoter Score

While reaching out to customers, ask them how happy they are with your current offerings and if they are likely to become brand ambassadors. This CRM metric doesn’t have a formula. It’s a simple scale tailored to your brand.

How to use: Include a survey with a straightforward question: How likely are you to recommend our product or service to others? Then, provide a scale of one to five (or ten, three, whatever works) and a comment form. Those on the “very likely” end of the scale are your brand promoters. If you’ve got a few responses on the “not likely” side, read their comments to see where you can make improvements. This type of feedback is extremely valuable because if one person is having a poor experience, others may be, too.

Final Thoughts on CRM Metrics

Even after highlighting ten CRM metrics between this post and last week’s, there are still plenty more that can indicate how well your business is performing. Figure out which metrics are most relevant to you, and track them periodically to gauge your success.

What CRM KPIs Should Your Small Business Be Tracking

CRM KPIs. That’s a lot of acronyms to handle. Okay, there are just two — but if you don’t know what they are, that’s a lot!

Let’s break them down:

CRM stands for customer relationship management. In other words, it’s a strategy for managing customer relationships. This involves using data you collect to improve communication and understand customer needs and preferences so you can tailor your products and services to align with them. When you buy a tee shirt online that actually fits (shocker, I know) and then get an ad for the same company or notifications for when that brand has a sale, that’s the work of an efficient CRM.
KPIs are key performance indicators. They are quantifiable metrics you use to measure performance and determine whether a project is meeting your objectives and goals. For example, if you’re running an online tee-shirt company and want to boost sales by 50%, you could track your progress using a KPI.

When it comes to small business marketing, here are five CRM KPIs you should be tracking. And yes, there are waaaaaaay more than five CRM KPIs to track, so we’ll be covering more next week.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

You want to acquire as many high-quality leads as possible for the least amount of money. However, marketing and sales funnels have many moving parts, and their leaks can cost you dearly. As a CRM metric, CAC can help you identify these leaks so you can patch them up.

Here’s the formula:

CAC = Total spend / # of customers acquired

How to use: If you spend $500 on a Facebook ad campaign that takes your audience to a landing that attracts ten new customers, your CAC is $50 per customer. If you adjust your targeting and run a second $500 campaign that attracts 20 new customers, your CAC is $25 per customer. Congrats! You’re on the right track. Now, it’s time to figure out what you did differently and how you can do it better.

Close Rate

Another way to identify sales funnel leaks is to know your close rate. Your close rate refers to the number of deals you’ve closed compared to the number of leads you have initially. Simply put:

Close rate = # of leads / # of deals closed

How to use: If you started with 50 leads and only closed five deals, your close rate is 10%. This is not usually ideal, but it provides growth opportunities to learn from your mistakes. One way to do this is to ask your leads to partake in a short (and we mean SHORT) survey for feedback. Learning why some leads didn’t become clients will help you improve your close rate.

Customer Attrition Rate

Even the most successful companies have an attrition (or churn) rate, whether it’s a business no longer carrying your product or someone unsubscribing from your mailing list. As a business owner, you usually want your attrition rate to be as low as possible because it’s cheaper to keep customers than to find new ones.

Here’s how to measure your churn rate:

Customer attrition rate = # of customers leaving / Total # of customers

How to use: While this CRM KPI can’t tell you why some of your customers are leaving, you’ll at least know the rate at which they’re going and may be able to rule out a few variables. If you track your attrition rate each month or year, you can start identifying trends based on internal changes you’ve made and external shifts that may impact you or your customers.

Renewal Rate

Your rate of renewal shows you how many customers are retaining your services. It’s a great indicator of how much your business is growing. And if it’s not, you should identify why that is.

The formula is:

Renewal rate = # of renewing subscribers / Original # of subscribers

How to use: Let’s say you have 100 customers subscribing to your services for 12 months. At the end of those 12 months, 75 renew their subscription, making your renewal rate 75%. Using this metric over several periods will help you learn your average rate of renewal, which will help you plan when acquiring new customers.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Your CLV identifies how much revenue you’re receiving from a customer throughout your engagement with them. The formula is a little more complicated than the other CRM KPIs on this list. You need to know the averages of your:

Purchase value (Total annual revenue / # of annual purchases)
Purchase frequency rate (# of annual purchases / # of unique customers)
Customer value (Average purchase value X average purchase frequency rate)
Customer lifespan (How many years the average customer buys from you)

Your CLV = average customer lifespan X average customer value

Let’s say you know the following:

Annual revenue = $250,000
Number of annual purchases = 5,000
Unique customers = 1,000
Average customer lifespan = 5 years

Using this information, you can solve all of the above:

Purchase value = $250,000 / 5,000 = $50
Purchase frequency = 5,000 / 1,000 = 5
Customer value = $50 X 5 = $250
Customer lifespan = 5 years
CLV = $250 X 5 = $1,250

How to use: Once you know your average CLV, experiment with different scenarios to maximize it. If you learn that you’ll keep your customer for seven years if your purchase value is $45, then:

Customer value = $45 X 5 = $225
CLV = $225 X 7 = $1,575

Decreasing your price by $5 per year will increase your CLV to $1,575. You’ll also have to factor in your gross vs net profits, but you can see where this is going.

Final Thoughts on CRM KPIs

If you’re not using CRM KPIs already, now’s the time to start. They’re an excellent way to identify your strengths and areas for improvement. Without this data, you won’t know if your business is performing as well as you’d like. Stay tuned for part 2 of CRM KPIs next week…

…And if you’re looking to save time, increase visibility, and get your marketing done, check out my content creation packages.

Small Business Marketing: 5 Mistakes You May Make

…And How to Fix Them

Marketing campaign got you down?

First, breathe. They didn’t build Rome in a day, and your organic traffic won’t build that quickly, either.

But it never hurts to do a reality check. If you’ve been at it for a while and your campaign isn’t sprouting legs, it’s probably because you’re making one of these small business marketing faux pas (part 1):

You’re Neglecting the “Social” in Social Media

Social media without two-way communication isn’t social. It’s a lecture.

Do you want someone to like, share, and subscribe? So does (almost) everyone else.

Social media platforms offer incredible opportunities to connect with potential customers, build brand awareness, and strengthen relationships. However, you won’t achieve any of this if you don’t reply to customers and engage with their content.

How to fix: Take 10-15 minutes every day to engage with your audience on the platforms you use. Reply to their responses, like their content, and share some of their posts with your audience.

Think of a social media platform like you would in any situation with a crowd of people in a networking environment. The people who engage tend to make the most connections, not those in the corner glued to their phones. Just make sure these are quality engagements—not moments when you’re drunkenly interrupting thoughtful conversations, belching incoherent conspiracy theories, and trampling a brittle Executive Director on the way to the open gin bar. On the web, we call them trolls.

You’re Overlooking Customer Feedback

Which resource is more valuable, an ounce of printer ink or gold? The ink.

Printer ink is stupid expensive, but it helps with the metaphor. If you’re more interested in panning for gold than reading and addressing what your customers are saying, you’ll be depleting your gold mine in no time.

How to fix: We all love to see our businesses make money, but customer feedback is often more valuable. Quality feedback provides you with a direct line to understanding your target audience’s needs, preferences, and pain points. When you address these accurately, you’ll make them feel heard, earn a reputation as a continuously improving and innovating business, and may even turn those customers into brand ambassadors.

Speaking of brand…

Your Branding is Inconsistent

Your brand is more than just a logo; it’s your visual and verbal identity. As one agency puts it, your brand is why your organization exists, what you do, how you do it differently than everyone else, and the way it comes to life.

If your visuals and messaging aren’t cohesive, people will struggle to figure out who you are. Worse, they’ll think you’re struggling with the same.

How to fix: Create a brand guide that includes adjectives that best set the tone of your business and the colors that best represent your brand. Use this guide as your north star in everything you create going forward.

Think of it this way: your brand is like your home’s foundation. If it’s untested and put together without care, you’ll deal with structural issues for years.

Your Content Calendar Needs Work

Your content calendar is more than just a list of topics and publishing dates—it’s a delicate dance of strategy, foresight, and savvy organizational management. Without one, you’ll almost certainly struggle to keep up with your content and limit your knowledge of what you have and how it’s performing.

How to fix: Find the best tool for you and your team. It can be a simple spreadsheet or a more collaborative tool like Trello or Asana. Whatever you use, make sure you include your calendar basics, like content title, type, location, category/bucket, dates, assigned contributor, status, and additional notes.

You’re Doing Your Small Business Marketing Alone

Small business marketing doesn’t mean that you, the small business owner, are doing the marketing. It’s usually better that you don’t because you’ve got a million other things to do. Should you play an active role in planning and reviewing key pieces of content before they’re published? Absolutely (or whoever’s in a marketing managerial role should anyway)! Should you be spending hours every week creating it? No?

How to fix: Save time, increase visibility, and get your marketing done by outsourcing it to an expert.

And stay tuned for part 2 of this article, because there are many more small business marketing mistakes that can be improved upon!

How to Create a Content Calendar

Save time and stay organized. Create a content calendar.

Your calendar is more than just a list of topics and publishing dates — it’s a delicate dance of strategy, foresight, and savvy organizational management.

Whether you’re a dedicated Trello or Asana user, have a case of the Mondays, or use a spreadsheet, there’s no best way to create a content calendar. However, there are several elements you should always include, and a bunch more based on your goals and how elaborate you’d like your calendar to be.

Here’s how to create a content calendar:

Know Your Audience

Content is king, but relevance is queen. You can churn out a thousand posts, but if they lack intent and a target, you might as well be throwing a dart as a dartboard you can’t see. Ten bull’s eyes are worth way more than a thousand holes in the wall and one very angry bar owner.

This all goes back to content creation 101. Ask yourself:

Who is my audience?
What are my objectives?
Will my audience find this useful?

And don’t forget to make your content educational, entertaining, and engaging.

Select Your Tool

And by tool, I mean platform. Keep your minds out of the gutter.

There are many platforms to help you stay organized, and most offer way more than you’d ever need. Whether you want a sophisticated project management tool or a simple pen and paper, stick with what works best.

Create Your List

Do you know what looks excellent in a content calendar? Ideas.

Create a list of topics you want to cover and run them through your relevance filter. Once you’ve got a large list of topics to create content for, organize them in buckets. Are you a design and construction firm specializing in kitchen, bath, and closet remodels? Organize each of your ideas under these categories.

Do you have twice as many kitchen ideas as you do bath or closet remodels? Consider adding more bath and closet ideas or emphasizing kitchens more frequently (e.g., two monthly blog posts about kitchens, one for baths and one for closets).

Determine Your Frequency

How often do you want to post? You probably don’t want to overwhelm yourself or your audience, but you must maintain your presence.

At a minimum, I’d recommend:

Blog posts – once a week
Newsletters – once a month
Social media posts – three times a week

Elements of a Content Calendar

Here are the basics:

Title of Content: This can be the title of a blog post, something like “April Newsletter,” social media for Week 12 of 2024 — as long as you know what it is, you’re golden.
Content Type: Blog post, video post, chart, newsletter, social media, ebook, etc.
Content Location: Include a link to the file where the content lives.
Bucket: Who is the content for? For example, you may include categories like buyers and sellers if you’re a real estate agent.
Dates: Include your first draft, final draft, and publishing dates.
Assignee: Who is in charge of creating this content? Reviewing? Publishing?
Status: Has the content been created? Reviewed? Scheduled? Published?
Notes: Leave space for relevant information, like how well this content was received, follow-up ideas, etc.

Schedule Your Posts

Yes, this deserves its own section — because people forget!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve created content for clients only for them not to schedule it and miss out on lead-generating opportunities. Scheduling posts is easy, and every platform, from LinkedIn to Mailchimp, will let you do it.

Don’t create 15 posts leading up to April’s trade show only to publish them in May. Schedule a time to schedule your posts.

Review and Refine

… While you’re scheduling time to schedule your posts, you should also schedule time to review your content calendar and the metrics you’re using to determine your success. By analyzing this data, you’ll discover what’s working and where you should be making improvements. Keep at it, and you’ll be closer and closer to hitting that proverbial bull’s eye more often.

How to Create a Content Calendar: Final Thoughts

Do you know what’s great about a content creation package? Your content calendar is created for you! All you’ll have to do is copy and paste (and schedule your damn posts!!!).

Color in Content Marketing: How to Make Every Shade Count

Cool Colors

On the opposite side of the color wheel, cool colors—blues, greens, purples, and pinks—are calm and relaxing. For example, Asprey’s quintessential purple branding appears in headings, footers, and product backdrops all throughout their site. Starbucks uses green in its company logo and website design to emphasize the earthiness of its brand.

Black and White

Black

Symbolizing class and luxury, black never goes out of style. However, it can overwhelm the eye if overused. When paired with white, it represents balance, akin to ‘Yin and Yang.’ Black also has a slimming effect, making it popular in fashion.

White

White often sparks creativity because it acts as a clean slate or blank canvas, and emphasizes light and neutrality when paired with black.

The University of Chicago Press states that “black-and-white images can lead consumers to focus on the abstract, essential, and defining components of a product. In contrast, color images can draw attention to the concrete, sometimes unimportant, and idiosyncratic features of the product.” For some brands, black-and-white is all they need.

Color in Content Marketing: Value

Light and dark shades, or a color’s value, convey different meanings.

Part of what makes blue so popular in Fortune 500 world is its versatility. Darker blues, like navy, convey importance and authority, while lighter shades, like cerulean, are calming and peaceful. By manipulating color value, you can elicit a full gambit of emotions in your design.

Monochromatic and Analogous Color Schemes

Monochromatic Designs

Monochromatic designs create balanced interfaces focused on user experience by using varying shades of a single color. They are simple yet effective and easy on the eyes.

Analogous Color Schemes

Analogous color schemes give a similar feel to monochromatic design but offer more variety, sophistication, and depth to your palette. These colors sit next to each other on the color wheel, such as red and orange, or blue and violet. Grouping analogous colors together results in harmonious designs.

Complementary Color Schemes

Complementary color schemes use colors on opposite ends of the color wheel. In its simplest form, complementary colors consist of the primary colors + the secondary color that isn’t used to make that secondary color.

Blue and red make purple, so purple’s complementary color is yellow.
Red and yellow make orange, so orange’s complementary color is blue.
Blue and yellow make green, so green’s complementary color is red.

Complementary colors can be dynamic and pleasing to the eye. Instead of their harmonious analogous counterparts, complementary colors demand attention and play off each other’s intensity.

Color in Content Marketing

By understanding the psychology of color in content marketing, you can create designs that are visually appealing and emotionally resonant. The better you master color usage, the more you can intrigue and engage your audience.