I can’t tell you how much doom and gloom I’ve seen about the state of marketing in 2024. With the shifts from AI, changes to Google’s algorithm, and the continued push to privacy (which means losing some data), I see a lot of experts claim that it’s going to become impossible to market effectively.
What are they all forgetting?
There are real, actual human beings on the other side of your marketing efforts.
Online marketing has never been about trying to scam Google’s algorithm or have a video go viral. It’s always been about talking to your dream clients and getting them to pay attention to you so they’ll buy from you.
Rant aside, there is a real issue of needing to cut through all of the noise in the world and get their attention.
How do you do that?
You need to cut through the noise and get in front of your dream clients.
Let’s break down the best ways you can do that in 2024.
Niche Down
Have you ever decided who you’re helping? Who your dream client is?
It can feel counterintuitive to your bottom line, but your sales will perform better when you get clear on who you help. This can be called niching down.
When we talk about niching down, a lot of service providers think that you have to help one type of client. Think of a bookkeeper who helps plumbers or electricians.
But it doesn’t have to be that narrow. In reality, not all plumbers or electricians need the same things.
Instead, when you focus on who you help, think more about their needs and where they want to grow to.
A client of mine, for instance, works largely with entrepreneurs who want to have more freedom in their business. Another client targets online business owners who need to protect themselves legally.
Not only does focusing on your clients’ needs just work better to get the right people, but it will also allow you to help multiple industries and not be constrained by something kind of trivial.
Talk About the Transformation
It’s a lot easier to get someone’s attention when you tell them exactly what will happen when they work with you. How do you do this? By talking about the transformations you provide, not necessarily your services.
Knowing the transformation that matters to your clients is a lot easier when you’ve niched your marketing down based on their needs and less on their industry. (See how all of this is working together?)
When you create any marketing content – whether it’s a 15-second reel or a blog article – you want to ask yourself one simple question:
“Why do they care?”
Anything you create needs to at least touch on the transformation, on the benefit, of working with you. You don’t have to directly sell your services in all of your content, but you need to give a reason to pay attention.
Besides, let’s be honest: we only care about what we get out of something. Humans are selfish creatures.
Show them why your business matters to them by talking about what happens if they decide to work with you.
Showcase Clients’ Successes
One of the best ways to double down on the transformation you provide? Share your clients’ success stories!
You can talk all you want about the benefits of choosing your services over a competitor’s, but no one will convince a future client like a current one.
They are real people who have had real success with your services. Let them talk for you about how you’ve helped them achieve success.
Ask for Client Testimonials
If you’ve never gone to a client and asked them to provide feedback, it can feel a bit overwhelming.
Make it easy for them and for you by guiding them to provide the kind of quote you want.
Send an email to your best clients now and simply ask if they’d provide some feedback for you to share with your audience. Give them a few talking points, ask them why they chose to work with you, what progress or transformation they saw, and what they feel made you different from others.
Give really specific instructions and you’ll get a much better testimonial back that speaks to your other prospects.
When you have those high-quality testimonials, you can use them throughout your website, social media, email marketing, and more to let your customers tell your brand story and how you help.
Tell a Story
Want to know a great way to connect with your audience? Tell them a story!
Using your client’s success stories allows you to relate what you’re saying back to something real.
Think back to a memorable college lecture or even a great video. What stuck in your head? Was it the super detailed breakdown or was it a story that they used to relate everything in the class?
Our brains are wired for stories, primed and ready to recall information when it’s delivered through a story.
This is one reason why brand storytelling has become so popular in the last few years because it works so well.
In this case, however, I’m talking about actually sharing a story within your content. Either something that happened to you, that you worked through, or that you helped a client accomplish.
For instance, I’m someone who relates a lot of what I do through the movies and TV shows I’ve seen. Story matters to me a lot.
Last week, I went to lunch with a friend and enjoyed a long conversation that barely involved any work at all.
And what did I do? I equated parts of our conversation to an episode of Friends and another time to a storyline in Schitt’s Creek. Do I love that I do this? Not really. But do we as humans understand each other better when we relate something to a common story?
Absolutely.
Write SEO-Friendly Blog Articles
A great place to take advantage of storytelling and get a deeper connection with your audience is through long-form content. My personal favorite?
Blogs.
I get that I’m an English major who used to crank out 20-page papers in a long night at the library. (And I got A’s on them, too, just to be clear.) But blogging is a great way to reach those who are searching for answers through Google and to showcase your expertise.
You can take your customers through a journey with one great blog post and have them ready to start working with you.
If recording a podcast or a video is easier for you (or you just want to talk out your blog), you can use transcription services to take what you say and turn it into a blog.
Blogs are also great because they can be stretched and repurposed into multiple pieces of content.
Honestly, blogging is a total win-win situation.
If you want to dig in and learn more about blogging and how it can help your online growth, then make sure to check out episode 58.
Use Interactive Tools
You’ve got some attention from your dream clients and now you want to know what you can do better to reach them.
Have them tell you!
Use interactive tools like quizzes, polls, and surveys to get their feedback and opinions. When you can get their responses, you’re getting actual input on the type of content, offers, and sales tactics you can be creating and using.
Many social media platforms make polls super easy to use within your posts and stories and you can create a quiz for your customers through some great plugins.
The key here is to take the answers that you’re getting to better understand your audience and deliver the types of content that will matter most to them.
Use Someone Else’s Audience
The secret weapon that a lot of online business owners aren’t using? Leveraging someone else’s audience.
Shortcut your growth online by getting in front of an audience that is complementary to your own.
How do you do this?
Apply to guest on podcasts, do lives with friends that have businesses with similar customers, bring on affiliates for your services, or even work on some partnership programs with good-fit friends.
There are some legalities and logistics to work on with the last two, so start small by guesting on podcasts or doing some Instagram lives. You’ll be able to get in front of their audience, share your expertise, and offer them some sort of freebie at the end of your appearance so they can get on your email list.
When you can get outside of your box and appear on others’ channels, you’ll be able to reach people you may have never done before and grow your audience.
It’s the best way to grow your audience without paying for ads.
Embrace Authenticity & Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
The best way to cut through the noise in 2024?
You need to be yourself and get out of your normal online comfort zone.
Chances are, you’re trying the same tactics over and over and wondering why no one is paying attention to you.
This is your permission to go and try something new, get in front of new people, and expand your reach.
Just remember that the online world wants authenticity. In a world of growing AI, we want to know who we’re working with is a human being.
Show who you are and how you help, and you’ll find you’re better able to attract who you want.
Get More Leads
If you want to capitalize on the people coming to your website now that you’re reaching them better, you need to grab their attention on your website.
Turn your visitors into actual leads with my free guide. Unlock the power of your website and get 10 actionable strategies you can use today to turn interested browsers into buyers.
