Marketing when you can't stand marketing... 💡

Hello Reader,

Before I get into today's newsletter, a few "housekeeping" type notes:

1. We recently did a migration of all of our current paid courses. You should have received an email about your course access. If you have a current paid course and can't access it, please email before getting mad at me—I promise it's a fixable problem!
2. My long-retired Squarespace SEO Hacks is making a return with all new content. If you're interested in this, hit the waiting list so I can let you know about it. This is a great companion to Magnetic Metas, if you're a Squarespace user.
3. I am incorporating a unit on the AI/Large Language Models and SEO into Summer of SEO (the waitlist is open); I am considering an additional paired-down standalone workshop for this as well, as I suspect the appeal is more broad than I originally thought. If you're interested, let me know by filling out this form (I'll update the waitlist about this).

Okay on to the actual Friday newsletter...

I would say 80% of my clients confess to me at some point that they hate marketing. I honestly kind of get it. The marketing we're exposed to every day is truly the lowest common denominator stuff. So, it starts to feel like that's how marketing is supposed to be.

For those folks, I always remind them that good quality, effective marketing boils down to simply talking to the right people about what you do. And who doesn't love geeking out about their thing, right?

And yet, I also know this is hard—even I, a professional who's done this for two decades, sometimes feels some unease with marketing. I know it's easy to feel like you're being annoying or intrusive or that you just trust your people to make good decisions. However, marketing is truly non-negotiable when you're running a business, no matter how small.

If you find yourself saying, "I just hate marketing," more often than you'd like, here are seven strategies that may make things a smidgen easier.

1. Tell a story: This is one I've been talking to you about recently. We humans love a good story—it's, well, humanizing. For some inspiration, look at my Truckload of Gravel or Paddleboard Fail stories.

2. Answer client questions. What's better than being of service to folks who are already your clients? Well, logical states that your potential clients have the exact same questions as your current clients. Turn those answers into a blog post! That's what I did with my recent "Is Squarespace Good for SEO?" article on my blog.

3. Celebrate your clients wins. In the same vein, with your clients' permission (I imagine a lot of attorneys would recommend getting written permission), celebrate them! What have they achieved by working with you? Can it inspire others to see what's possible? This is what I've attempted, in collaboration with Nailah from the Content Witches, with my Thought Leader Stories series.

4. Change their minds. I love this approach to content marketing in particular. I know every single person reading this has some scorching hot opinion about a better way to do things in your industry or a preconceived notion that too many clients have when starting work with you. This is an incredible opportunity to change their minds and surprise them with a different approach. My friend Jamar has a great YouTube video that is a perfect example of this!

5. Drop some knowledge. I think of this as the "Did you know..." prompt. Brainstorm some concepts, stats, or outcomes that will surprise your leads. You can form a content strategy around this! For example, you'll often see me citing the fact that 90+ percent of internet experiences start with a search. People are shocked when they hear this, but that little fact helps build trust because they realize I must know my stuff. (I keep a whole database of fun facts, in true nerd fashion.)

6. Showcase your colleagues. Another very effective marketing strategy is showcasing your colleagues and collaborators. Again, this helps build trust and subtly signals that you stay in your lane and connect clients to other people who can support them as needed. That level of generosity is actually quite rare and helps you stand out in a noisy crowd. (Notice how I used my friend Jamar in point four and mentioned a writer I collaborate with in point three?)

7. Rethink calls to action. This is really bordering tactical, but it's nevertheless worth including in a list of quick, obtainable strategies for folks who don't like marketing. Most websites I audit tend to have pretty milquetoast calls to action (CTAs). Think, "Learn More" etc. A quick and easy way to make your messaging more dynamic and appealing is to think about outcomes. For example, on my Alignthority® Accelerator page, I swapped out my first CTA for the more dynamic "I'm Ready to Amplify My Authority," which actually came from a client story in which the client literally used the phrase, "Sarah helped me amplify my authority in ways I never expected." I'm not saying go wild and do this with every action point on your site, but sprinkling some in can make you appear more confident and can shift your potential clients from curious to ready.

If you try any of these strategies, I'd love to hear about it! Simply hit reply or zip me a note on Instagram.

Warmly,

Sarah

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