TMI #56: Your 2024 marketing toolbox 🧰

As 2024 opens, marketers are looking to do more with less.

To do so, you’ve got to have a plan.

My plan is always: moderation.

When businesses go all-in on one method or way of marketing, it usually backfires.

Instead, look at your available resources as a toolbox. 🧰

And the 2024 toolbox is broad. Here are a few tools you’ve got to work with this year and how to make the most of each one:

🕺 💃 Personal branding for executives is taking off! More risk and insurance businesses are handing their C-suite leaders the mic and getting them to talk business, their personal ethos, industry issues and more. Doing so espouses your culture to the masses, but the the greatest and more surprising ROI is two-fold: internal employee engagement and recruiting.

👉 2024 TIP: Let your leaders dip their toes into content with something they’re interested in. Here’s an example of how we did that with Powell Brown, President and CEO of Brown & Brown this year. Powell typically ducks the spotlight but was more than willing to talk about his passion for brain health and biking.

📧 Email is still the #1 way to reach your target audience. The ROI on email = $36 for every $1 spent, higher than any other channel. Here’s why: You hit your target customers where their 👀 are every time, without relying on an intermediary to connect the two of you. Bonus: You own this channel of communication.

♻️ Repurposing gets you the most bang for your buck, from content you already created. Consider building out blogs, LinkedIn posts and short videos from your eBooks, reports, webinars and podcasts. It’s easy to do. Here’s how we did it with a client: Employee vs. Independent Contractor eBook, Blog I, Blog II, Blog III, Blog IV.

👉 2024 TIP: When writing original content for industry publications, repost that content on your website and on your SME and business’ LinkedIn pages. At the top, credit the magazine it was first published in and hyperlink to the page on their site.

💙 Social media is free distribution of your content to your target audience. The challenge is you don’t own the platform; i.e., you’re still relying on someone else’s potential distribution.

👉 2024 TIP: Organic social is still king, so teach your SMEs to like, share, comment on and engage with company posts. Your competitors aren’t doing it well so you've got an advantage - today.

🤖 AI: The new kid on the block becomes part of the toolbox this year, ready to rock at any request.

👉 2024 TIP: When using AI tools like ChatGPT, engage an AI detector tool to ensure the content you’re putting out sounds like you and is original. Shout out to Lauren Izaks for this tip!

🧑🏽‍💻 SEO is the most misunderstood tool. I’ve seen marketers invest thousands into it only to realize it’s not helping them achieve their business goals. If you aren’t looking to convert customers via online search — i.e., your business is more niche, targeted or consultative in its approach — then why are you spending $ on SEO?

👉 2024 TIP: Examine the ways in which customers find you and engage in your content. Enter: Metrics. If this is from direct contact with them — i.e., an email newsletter, a friend sharing your piece or organic social — put SEO on the backburner.

🛠 Metrics are key. After all, if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound? For each business, content types and distribution strategy will differ, based on your audience. If you don’t track readership and your customer journey, how do you know what works? The short answer is: You don’t.

✈️ Strategy: Bringing it all together requires a 50,000 ft. view of your 2024 business goals, positioning and available resources.

👉 2024 TIP: Take the time to draw your strategy out on paper. You can only follow what you can see. When others have to help you execute it, it needs to be written down. When only you are executing it, it needs to be written down. 😉

All the best, Mindi :)