Marketing Campaign Ideas That Help You Get Traction

Hey, Shelley, how are you doing?

[00:00:40] Jen McFarland: I'm great. Hello everyone. Welcome to Women Conquer Business. I'm Jen McFarland joined by Shelley Carney. This week. We are talking about marketing campaign ideas that help you get traction. I'm excited to talk about this. I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to say that we're prerecording this because we didn't have a show last week because I was coughing a lot and hopefully I won't cough a lot now and tomorrow I am training a group at the time that we usually have the show come out.

So we can't do a live recording, but we definitely want to make sure that we got something out to everybody. Hi, we're here.

[00:01:18] Jen McFarland: I know there's so much to that, but what have you got going on right now?

This evening I have a podcast interview with Vince Warnock who's in New Zealand. So that'll be fun. I'm looking forward to that. It's just been a lot of busy-ness going on.

[00:02:18] Shelley Carney: I don't know. I don't know. He'll tell me when I talk to him tonight.

[00:02:25] Shelley Carney: He'll talk about I'm sure creating content with me because that's my forte. Then he always asks every guest for three tips that will help entrepreneurs to move the needle in their business. So that's what we'll hit on.

I'm really gearing up to officially announce. I know that I've been talking about it on the podcast for awhile, the new Women Conquer Business website. It's actually been live for a couple of weeks now, but like really, getting the email list in there, getting some of the final things set up, talking to some other people who are experts in this platform to figure out how to really maximize it and make the experience really good for people and getting all of that lined up.

So I'm very excited about that. If you haven't gone to women conquer biz.com, definitely go check that out. It's a unique experience. It's a cool website, I'm really happy with it. Lightning fast, very responsive, and you can find the podcast there.

[00:03:42] Jen McFarland: Everything's there. But yeah, not a lot. I've mostly been continuing to recover from a concussion, which the brain fog and it's a lot of eye problems that have been going on. It's starting to get a little better. Then of course I got the flu. So I feel somewhat like everything is just kinda, if one thing doesn't hit than the other does. I'm hoping to really come out of that and I know that you've had a lot going on over with your life too. Has anything eased up a little bit?

[00:05:01] Jen McFarland: Wow. That's like super exciting. Yeah. Oh, that's so cool. Do you have anything on the breaking news front?

[00:05:08] Jen McFarland: I read that Google is going to start cracking down on AI content, which I think is very exciting. So for those of you who don't know, there are a lot of platforms out there, I guess one of them is Jasper AI, Pepper type, a lot of these like AI writers, right?

You give it a topic and then they generate long form blog posts. I have tested a lot of them. Most of the time, if you do any sort of long form blogging with AI, it's a gobbledygook. It does have a lot of the keywords and the terms in it. But it's not useful to the reader, so it's not good blog content.

But the AI is getting more and more sophisticated. So a lot of people have been using this as keyword stuffed websites that just have all this stuff that just isn't very useful. So they figured out a way to knock that down and keep it from ranking. That should be coming out in the next, whenever Google decides to do it, you never know when they update things.

So I think that's a pretty big break in the right direction for people who create content. The computers are never going to take over good content. I'm sorry. That's, it's just never going to happen. AI is going to get more and more sophisticated. AI is never going to replace a human entirely.

It's just not possible. Good writing, good marketing is never going to be replaced by AI. You can use tools like Lately, which is really great for helping you generate blog posts and things like that. It's never going to replace it all the way. That is pretty much, there's a lot going on.

There's always a lot going on in marketing. But I've found, that's the thing that like popped into my head and is pretty interesting to me that Google continues to learn. The other thing that's interesting on the privacy front is that people are not happy with what Google is doing in terms of how they're going to replace Google analytics. For people don't like cookies, or basically little bits of code that get downloaded onto your computer and that's why you see an ad like on seventy-five different websites. If you see it once. So you go to buy shoes and you see it a hundred times everywhere. That's from cookies. They're tracking you and things like that. Google said they were going to stop doing cookies and then they've never replaced it with anything.

They wanted to replace it with these like affinity groups and people freaked out. Nobody really knows how they're going to be tracking people. But in the EU, they are facing a lot of lawsuits because they're not complying with the privacy laws over in Europe, and it's just going to continue to get ugly and hairy.

So let's keep an eye on that and see what's happening. I think the thing that people don't realize is that just because you use Google analytics for a small sliver of data, you're still sending all of this information to Google and they're using all of it for everything. So it's important to bear that in mind that everything is data mined, probably your email, everything.

It's leading to this profile of who you are, and they're trying to serve better content to you through that. So as much as we can cheer Google on the AI front you also have to always be aware of some of the other privacy issues that is also going on at the same time.

[00:08:31] Jen McFarland: I know it's hard, it's like the same thing that I feel with Siri on my iPhone, or, some of the Amazon stuff. Like going to my mom's house, it was really nice to be able to be like play meditation music, and Amazon just does it. But then at my house we don't do that. Because my mom's I don't care. I have nothing to hide. Amazon can know everything about me. I don't have anything to hide. just don't want Amazon to know everything.

So even if we don't get chosen, we got that much out of it. We nailed down a lot of our we're on the same page with where we're going and what we're doing, and now we're just like, are we sure? It's funny. Yeah. We nailed it down. We know our vision and then let's get started on it. Yeah, that was cool that we got that.

And I think that it's that's the thing, right? Like when you have to actually say, this is what I'm doing, and these are my goals and somebody else actually sees it. So it's no longer this aspirational thing you're keeping over in the corner. That's a whole different ball of wax. It's a whole new kettle of fish, whatever you want to say. When you're showing it to somebody else, it's a really vulnerable time.

[00:10:59] Jen McFarland: Coming along. It's all just coming along. Yeah. It's Yeah. There's something about putting your stake in the ground on some things that really, it shakes you a little bit.

[00:11:12] Jen McFarland: That's the magical part.

Speaking of ways to make things happen.

Maybe even some beginner steps that you can take, to get going on your marketing campaign. Am I right? Am I remembering this right? This is why we have shows every week folks. So we don't forget what we talked about.

You have to have something to announce it. That's your campaign.

And then after the show, I was like what do we talk about next? Shelley said I think we need to talk about what it actually works. I was like, what?

[00:12:42] Jen McFarland: I want to know it actually works. I've given that a lot of thought and I did some research and then I forgot what I was going to say. We've been going back and forth with recording the show in advance and stuff. There's a lot that goes into marketing campaign ideas that actually work, how you're actually going to get traction, like having a big summit or a big course launch.

These are things that people talk about a lot and a lot of people try it and they're like that didn't work, and we're having like a challenge. Or, some of these different ways that you see on the internet all the time. They do work, but there's a prerequisite that has to be there in order for that marketing campaign idea to happen.

So what that means is, if you have a list and you're trying to sell a course or something. You need to understand that your email list, maybe only 1% of that list is going to buy from you. So you have to understand that when you put a lot of energy into a big launch, there's a prerequisite. You can't do a big launch without an audience. You probably don't have a list without an audience.

Sometimes getting traction around ideas that actually work have to be done in kind of an order of operations. Fundamentally, the type of marketing that I choose is like pushing the right buttons at the right time so that it fits in just the right way.

That's why one of the reasons that you need to have an email list from the beginning, if you want to say, do launches or things like that. If you're a content creator and you have a blog, your first thing is to set up campaigns around sharing your blog. Something really simple. A lot of people are like I wrote this blog and I shared it and nobody read it.

I was like no, you have to share it more than once. You can't just share it one time. You have to get it out there to people over and over again. So that they can know what you're doing, and you have to email your list and you have to work on some things around discoverability, search engine optimization.

There's a lot of elements around visibility and getting some things out there. All of which is to say, when we talk about marketing campaign ideas that grow your business, help you get traction, if you try something and it doesn't work the default can't be, I'm never going to do that again. Or that tactic doesn't work.

It could be what is missing from the equation that would have made this more successful? Now that said, there are some harebrained ideas out there that just aren't really going to work. A typical launch, a product launch or a summit, things where you want to attract a lot of people knowing that not very many people are going to buy, understand that if you don't have a big email list, you may have to run ads.

You may have to put some money into things so that you can bring people in to buy your products. Things like challenges or complicated funnels and launches. They may not work as well if you don't have that initial audience to really bring people in. That's not to discourage you.

It just to say that marketing campaigns, that work are very much aligned with the stage of your business, the budget you have, the goals that you have, whatever it is that you need to do to get your product in front of people to make the sale.

I took a really interesting SEO class and yesterday I think, and it was really about, it was really interesting because I'd never heard SEO taught this way.

It was Click Minded. His name was Tommy Griffin, he was talking about we know that people search for different things based on their intent. Like you're looking for something. You just want to know, what's a marketing campaign? You're not looking to buy a marketing campaign. You just want to learn about it. So you might want to find a blog post about marketing campaigns. If I'm selling, I'm going to build marketing campaigns, that's a whole different type of search term that you're looking for.

It's the same thing when you're building out your own marketing campaign. You have to have awareness of the funnel and that you need something to bring people in to learn more about you. You need to nurture that person, and then they have to be willing to buy. Understand that it's a funnel, it's not a pipe. Meaning not everybody comes in the top and buys out the bottom. People self-select in and out. All of which is to say that part of what makes marketing campaigns good are things like awareness. Having an audience. Having an email list. Having a healthy network and pipeline and group of people who are your supporters, or people who were paying attention to what it is that you're doing.

The marketing ideas that help you get traction, if you don't have all of those things, are the marketing campaigns that help you get those things so that then you can gain some momentum. If you don't have an audience then start working on marketing campaigns that increase brand awareness. Work on doing things that bring more people to see who you are and what you do.

That's like brand awareness that can be different types of calls to action, to get people to join your email list. Then you nurture them on your email list and then you ultimately sell to them. As your list grows, the marketing campaigns that you use to gain traction will evolve and change as you go.

The type of media that you're using could be different levels of the funnel. You starting off with a blog or a social media posts, going to a podcast, going to a video and then going to challenges or webinars. So depending on what stage you're trying to augment the most.

There's all different kinds of ways that you can get the word out, engage in activities that help grow your list, that help people to get to know you, that ultimately could end up as customers or people who are your allies and colleagues that you trust and can work with.

It is about being really creative and finding the things that you like to do. Some people have no desire to do networking ever, or they don't really like to do webinars. Then you've got to find something else. You've got to find a way that you can get people to know who you are.

I tend to do a lot with video, with podcasting, with writing. I really like to write a lot. Those were the different ways that I do it, but you can't just rely on search engine optimization and do it that way. You've got to also augment it with actually talking to humans and meeting people.

Because search engine optimization takes awhile and it takes a lot of work. It's not necessarily oh, done. I did it. It takes a long time for those things to bear fruit. Sometimes you need to diversify. It's like when people say I post a few things on social, it just doesn't work. Let's look at what you've been doing, and why is it not working? Is it really true? One of the things that people fail to do is have the patience that it takes to really follow through with something and see if it's working or not. We tend to cut things off right before they're going to be successful.

I think we've all done it. I think everybody has a different time where they've given up on something, when it's on the cusp of being something really great.

[00:20:56] Jen McFarland: That's why we quit. Never going to work. You've built a community. We were talking about it before the show started. What it takes to build a community in one context. What you're doing now is building another community in the context of your business. It's about taking all of these experiences. When we talk about the marketing campaigns ideas that actually work, it's about drawing on our experiences and what it is that has worked in the past, so that we can continue to build on that.

Something that I learned from that is if you're going to build a community then you should have access and interest to at least a million people who have that same interest. If you have less than that, then it's just not going to grow beyond, like 7,000. Then as soon as you stop talking about that, they leave.

So for a community to have potential, you need that 1 million or more members who are interested in that topic. They have that common interest. They should also have a desire for information, education, entertainment, and community support. They should want to be a part of your community because they have that desire. They also need a pain point or two that you can solve for them. So if, for instance, when we were building that community, a lot of them, they couldn't talk to their family members or friends about it because they didn't have any interest in it, and the particular person was very obsessed with it. So they wanted to talk to somebody who was also rather obsessed with the same thing.

That was their pain point and we solved that for them by bringing them all together so they could speak to each other about what was of great interest to them. That can be the one thing that builds a community, is that driving interest and nobody around you has that same interest, so you have to go find people who have that interest.

That's the thing about marketing campaign ideas that get you traction is oftentimes it's really about testing and finding what it is that's working and being willing to be flexible and test and ask people what they need. That's one of the things that's really impressed me about what it is that you and Toby have been doing lately is you've been going out and you're like, okay what is it that you want? How can we best serve you? What is it that you're looking for? Hey, we're available on Saturday evenings. We're going to talk about different things. Oh, okay. Evenings are better for you. Okay. So we're going to start talking on Wednesday evenings. Okay. And that's what it takes.

I can't tell you how many business owners I talked to who were like that five day challenge thing that just didn't work. Let's talk about why it didn't work. There has to be that second piece of reflection so that we know. That's good information. Then we can make some changes and formulate what will work the next time.

[00:24:47] Jen McFarland: Yeah. Yeah. Then they have to do it. Those are a lot of work. There's a reason I've never done a challenge.

[00:25:15] Jen McFarland: I believe that it would work better because you're bringing people in and they're hungry. They're excited. They just joined this membership. Now they want something to do. Give me something to do. The problem that a lot of people have with a challenge is they're drowned out on social media.

There's so many challenges, on social media. There's so many people trying to do things and there's people like me who don't want to be distracted by that much social media, having to tune in to a challenge every day. But put me in an isolated group that I'm excited about. I'm more likely to do it.

I've already bought in. If I'm in the group have already bought in to what it is that you're doing. So I do think that there is an art. I always say that marketing is an art and a science and you have to use both. This is one of the cases when we talk about things that actually.

This is the thing that I say with a lot of marketing is, what is it that you're willing to do? What is it that you like to do? Then what are you willing to test and play with a little bit? When I work with people I'm always willing to play and be creative and brainstorm stuff.

But you also have to be willing to look at the things that didn't work from a fresh set of eyes so that you can deconstruct that. You also have to be willing to look at the things that did work and say, okay, how do I reimagine that? If I can't redo the exact same thing, how do I reimagine that so that I can catch that lightning in a bottle again?

I think that's important. That's what I really love about the fact that you can build community, like in your case. So now you're taking that and moving it into this business context. You're showing that flexibility and care for the community that I think will really serve you in growing your community and your group in this new way.

So we can answer that need. I think that's really helpful. Unfortunately, it's only been available at this point to people with at least a thousand subscribers. Hopefully they'll make it available to everybody at some point, because I think the people who are just starting out need it more than anybody.

But looking at those analytics and saying, okay, People seem to want us to be online at this time. This is when they're online. This is when they're looking at our videos and this is the videos they're looking at, and this is why, and this is what they want to see more of. Then, blend that with what's trending and what you know about, what you like to talk about. It's quite the mixture. Of yeah. Put it all together and then you have a show.

[00:28:02] Shelley Carney: The only thing you can control is how much content you put out.

So if you feel like I'm just not getting any traction, then up your content contributions to it. How much more can I do? Can I do another video? Can I put out some shorts? What more can I do? Because that's where you have the control. You don't have control over who's going to show up and who's going to watch all you can control is what content you put out and how often.

[00:28:31] Shelley Carney: As much as

[00:28:43] Shelley Carney: You started out by saying one of the things that I thought was really important and that's at the stage of business that you're at. How many people do you have in your network and in your audience? If that's small, then what you need to work on is building that audience, building your visibility.

I believe that's content creation and just stepping it up on content creation and getting it out there. Then once each quarter you take another look, how much have I grown? Do we think I'm big enough now to put out some sort of an email challenge or whatever it is that you decide, but try things.

Try something else. If that didn't work, try something else. If it did work, try it again. Do it better. Every quarter. Consistency is a big part of that, right? So you have your content creation and your campaigns, but consistency brings that all together.

But doing that with intentionality and I couldn't agree more about taking your quarterly review and seeing how things are going and then how you have to tweak it. I think that you and I have been doing this now for about a quarter and we need to probably do the same thing, look at what it is that we're doing.

I think things have been going pretty well. I think reigning me in on the planning side sometimes has probably been a big challenge for you and we need to tweak that and tighten that up a little bit. But I do think that we are growing and we are getting people to come and listen more and just need to keep at it, and that's how this works.

[00:31:04] Jen McFarland: No, we need, we do need to wing it a little. I'm used to freestyling on the podcast. So we're trying to plan more and I think it's turning into a much better product than at least what we had, what I had before. Sometimes the shows were maybe not as good as what we've been putting out yeah, but it's just refining it.

[00:31:22] Jen McFarland: Yeah.

[00:31:25] Jen McFarland: A call to action. I know. I would really love if people would go to the Women Conquer Business website, take a test drive on that. Let me know what you think. If there's anything missing, if there's anything that you're looking for that would be great.

Hit up the podcast pages, subscribe to the new marketing missive newsletter that is coming out every Sunday morning and is really just actionable marketing stuff you can do. We'll also have, of course, information about the podcast as it's released so that you can also catch up on the podcast episodes if you missed anything.

That's my big thing right now is getting people excited about this new landing spot that I've created for anybody who engages with the content that I'm creating and that Shelley's creating.

[00:32:22] Jen McFarland: What about you? You want to share more about your framework and how you help people?

What kind of information would be helpful to you? Look at those videos, find something that you like. If you want to dive in deeper to that funnel then all of our information is on all of our videos. So just check that out on YouTube: Messages and Methods.

[00:32:56] Shelley Carney: Yeah. So cool. That's right. So I got a tweak of the week.

[00:33:02] Shelley Carney: I got one. So I don't know how many of you are on YouTube. But if you aren't, you should be. And if you are on YouTube, you should get the Chrome extension. If you use Chrome, I use Chrome extension called vid IQ. V I D iQ. Vid IQ. Sign in with your YouTube channel and it's starts off free. If you want to upgrade and get more and more features, you can do that, but it starts off free. And in the free version even, you can see that they have tabs across the top. You go into the tab that says daily ideas. According to the information that you have on your channel and what kind of videos you have and what kind of keywords it's finding, it will tell you here's a daily idea.

It will give you three daily ideas every day you can go in there. And that's free. If you want more ideas, you'd have to pay to upgrade, but three ideas a day and you can look at it and you can go, oh, these are good. This is a good idea. This fits with my channel. Click on it and then it'll show you the top videos that are out there and how many views they have, how many subscribers they have and what the video was called.

It gives you all this information. It starts sparking ideas. So if you're running out of ideas for content, what should I talk about? I think I've talked about this till I'm blue in the face. What else can I talk about? That's a really great place. So go to Vid IQ. Add it to your Chrome, if you have Chrome. Then open up that daily ideas every day, take a look at what they're offering you. See what videos are being shown. This is gonna really help you understand your competition better and what's already out there and what's already doing well and what people are looking for.

So I highly recommend it.

[00:34:51] Shelley Carney: Okay. Got any inspiration for us then?

It was about sending out wanting people to have wellbeing and love and joy in their life. I just felt like we need more of that. We're sending that out into the world and wishing other people goodness, and light.

That's awesome. Very good.

[00:36:15] Shelley Carney: That's right. I think that's all we have for today.

[00:36:19] Shelley Carney: And we'll be back again next week and hopefully we'll get together on some planning for what we're going to talk about.

[00:36:29] Shelley Carney: We're going to be in the month of May. I'm going to be having my 38th anniversary on the fourth.

[00:36:39] Shelley Carney: And keep track. It's hard to keep track after so many years. But yeah. Looking forward to next week and wonderful weekend.

[00:36:50] Shelley Carney: Thank you for joining the Women Conquer Business podcast hosted by Shelley Carney and Jen McFarland. Please subscribe and leave a comment or question regarding your most challenging content creation or business problem. Then share this podcast with family and friends so they can find the support they need to expand their brand and share their message with the world.

Check the show notes for links to valuable resources and come back again next week.