Sabrina Martinez

Chart The Waters

Explore insights on SEO, AI, and digital marketing strategies designed to help your business grow, stay visible, and adapt in a constantly evolving online landscape.
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More people are seeking mental health services than ever before, which means now is the time to revamp your mental health marketing strategy and build your client base. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen immense growth in the field of mental health, to the point that some mental health professionals are spending more time on the phone with potential clients than they are in sessions. However, just because your phone is ringing doesn’t mean your practice is seeing substantial growth or bringing in the right clients.

If you’re seeing an influx in unqualified leads reaching out to you (and by unqualified we mean people reaching out who are unfamiliar with your services or generally a poor fit for your practice), it means that your current marketing efforts aren’t targeting the right people. For example, if you’re a therapist located in New York that specializes in treating women’s mental health concerns but you’re consistently getting calls from men in Delaware asking if you’re accepting new clients, there’s probably something askew with your marketing.

Creating a mental health marketing strategy that targets your ideal client is the key to experiencing true growth and finding your happy spot as a therapist. In this blog, we’ll discuss how you can identify your ideal client, if you don’t already know who they are, and what you need to do to target them more effectively.

Ready to make your mental health marketing strategy? Tell us how we can help.

Who Is Your Ideal Client? Narrowing Down Your Mental Health Niche

Whether you’re just getting started as a therapist or you have several years of running your own practice under your belt, you likely have a type of client you like to work with best. Your ideal client will be unique to you, your specialties, and your passions.

You may assume being a generalist and accepting anyone who needs mental health services is the best way to build a client base. After all, if you’re struggling to get new clients and are desperate for new leads, it’s hard to rationalize not marketing to anyone and everyone who is looking for therapy. 

However, many therapists experience more growth by narrowing down their services. When you choose a niche and stick with it, you may actually see an increase in clients. Specializing in a specific area allows you to establish yourself as an expert in that subject. This lets you build credibility with your target audience and focus on what you’re most passionate about. And narrowing down your focus means you’re narrowing down your competition.

Questions for Discovering Your Ideal Client

If you don’t already have a clear idea of who your ideal client is, ask yourself these questions:

  1. What fills you with passion and gives you purpose as a therapist?
  2. What subject do you know so much about you could teach on it?
  3. What clients have you had the most success with in the past?
  4. Do you prefer providing one-on-one, couple, or group sessions?
  5. What is the gender, age range, characteristics, and background of your ideal client?
  6. Do you plan to accept insurance or only accept out-of-pocket payments?
  7. What is your service area?
  8. Will you be offering in-person therapy, teletherapy, or both?

These questions will help you narrow down what kind of clients you want to draw to your practice. You’ll also begin to discern some of the characteristics of your ideal client, which will be useful when you start to market to them.

How Mental Health Marketing Draws in Your Ideal Client

Once you have a clear idea of who your ideal client is, you can get laser-focused in your marketing. Marketing takes a lot of time and money, so the key to success is identifying the exact kind of client you want to draw to your practice and only putting effort into attracting those people. This is a much more productive use of your time and resources as you can spend less time weeding out unqualified leads (or answering phone calls that lead nowhere) and instead focus your energy toward fulfilling your passions and helping people that are a good fit for your practice.

Establishing Your Brand

Now, what goes into a great mental health marketing strategy? At the foundation of your marketing strategy is your brand, which ties in closely with your niche. Your mental health brand is what sets you apart from your competitors and gives clients a reason to visit you. This means developing a strong brand story, creating your missions and value statements, understanding your messaging and purpose, and designing logos, colors, and other visual elements that people can associate with your brand.

Making Your Website Accessible

Once you’ve clearly developed your brand, you need an accessible website that is easy to navigate so your ideal client can quickly identify that your practice is exactly what they’re searching for. This mental health website should be visually appealing. It should have a clear goal and purpose. And website visitors must be able to quickly find your services and know how to get in touch. The fewer barriers to access the better. Clear, eye-catching call-to-actions should be on every page of your website.

Learn about Google E-A-T and its impact on your SEO strategy

Creating Content That Matters

Next, you need content. Blogs, videos, and social media content serve several essential purposes in your mental health marketing strategy:

  • Create brand awareness
  • Educate your audience
  • Generate new leads
  • Convert leads into new clients

Mental health is a very personal topic. People put a lot more thought into choosing a mental health provider than they do when deciding what they want to eat for lunch. Your ideal client is out there, but they need to know you exist and trust you enough to reach out. Good content helps fulfill both of these needs.

What’s the key to putting out content that converts your ideal client into an actual client? Creating content that matters. People can often tell when you’re just trying to sell them something. Instead, aim to make a real connection with the person on the other end of your content. Your goal is to start a conversation with your audience and to offer them something of value.

Getting the Word Out

When you create content, the hope, of course, is that people will see it. With a strong SEO strategy and distribution plan in place, you can push this content into the world where your ideal client can see it. With SEO, your goal is to get your content on the first page of Google when people search specific keywords. A well-optimized blog ensures your ideal audience can find you when to search terms related to your services.

A content distribution strategy is another way to take the same piece of content and maximize its reach. Let’s say you’ve written a high-quality, educational blog. You can distribute this blog by posting a link to it on social media, creating a press release, converting it into a visual slideshow, making a podcast, or repackaging it into a white paper or e-book. Not only does this get as many eyes as possible on your content, it also saves you time by getting the most from every piece of content you produce instead of just focusing your strategy on creating more content that only a few people see.

Start Reaching Your Ideal Client

Concentrating your mental health marketing on your ideal client brings motivation and joy to what you do. You can focus on treating the issues you are most qualified to address and connecting with people that are the perfect fit for your practice. If you’re ready to make every phone call count, we can help you create a mental health marketing strategy that checks all the boxes.

Ready to get laser-focused in your marketing? Schedule your free consultation now.

The most important part in developing a website is the overall user experience (UX). User experience is defined as the way in which the user is interacting with the product or in this case a website. This could entail the page path the user takes to get to what they are looking for or how much time they are spending browsing or reading a certain page. It is all about the journey they embark on. 

Developing a website could seem very overwhelming since there are so many moving parts that need to take place before a launch – but trust us, it’s not as stressful as you may assume. With the uprise in technology over the years, website hosting platforms have become more advanced and efficient, meaning there are tons of website templates to choose from if you aren’t sure where to begin. 

It’s all about utilizing your resources. Beacon Media + Marketing is a digital marketing company equipped with ample knowledge and a plethora of helpful resources to help your business grow, scale, and thrive. As marketing wizards and gurus, we want to help your website come to life while also giving users an exceptional experience, which is why we are going to go into detail about five easy user experience wins when developing a website. 

Looking to take your website up a notch? Book a free consultation. 

1. Page Speed & Loading Time  

First things first, in order to increase user experience (UX), you will want to make sure your website is loading at a quick pace. most people do not like waiting and spending time on a page that takes more than five seconds to load. 

If your website is taking longer than usual, this may result in frustration from the user, causing them to become uninterested and close out of your website immediately. That is exactly what we do not want to happen. Instead, you want to make sure your page speed is always working properly, especially for mobile users. Mobile users expect things to load on their devices as quickly as possible. 

Page speed also plays a key role in how well your SEO performs. User experience is vital.  Google’s announced back in 2010, that they would be including page speed as one of the ranking factors for their search index. Hence, another reason to ensure your website is loading in a timely manner. After all, a slow site will result in no conversions. 

You can manage staying on top of page speed by: 

  • Optimizing images
  • Reducing redirects
  • Clearing your browser’s cache
  • Improving server response time 
  • Mitigating CSS files, HTML, and JavaScript 

2. Responsive Design 

Making sure that your website’s layout is completely functional and accessible can also make or a break a user’s experience. Responsive design refers to how your website looks or functions on different screens such as on a desktop compared to a laptop, tablet, or mobile device. 

For example, let’s say everything on your website looks amazing and everything is formatted just the way you envisioned. But what about how the mobile version or tablet version is performing? Many people fail to check how their website is functioning on all platforms because we think that just because it looks perfect on a desktop computer, it might not look the same when it’s shrunken down on a mobile device. When the formatting on a mobile device isn’t functioning properly, users entering through a phone browser may not have the same happy experience other users are having on a desktop. 

Lesson learned: double check – better yet – TRIPLE check all browsing platforms are fully up and running the way they should be daily. Website updates often occur, but sometimes they can mess up the layout. 

3. UI Patterns 

UI patterns help reduce the risk of error and are defined as design patterns. These build interfaces that have the same look and feel as other websites and help assist with navigation and patterns. In short, do not try and attempt to reinvent the wheel with design. Instead, look to other resources. Never feel bad about using tools that are there to be used. 

After all, they are there for a reason. Certain layouts make it easier for people to navigate a website, such as the usual linked logo in the top left corner of a website, a horizontal navigation, and your typical contact details in the footer. These features help websites maintain some consistency – in the sense that they use the same layouts that  users are used to seeing and navigating.  

Using layouts that people are experienced with will only boost the user experience. If you decide against UI design patterns and take it upon yourself to create an unconventional design, you run the risk of your users not knowing how to properly use your website. This can leave  them confused, frustrated, and less likely to return for a second time. 

4. There’s More to Just the Homepage 

In order for your users to have an exceptional experience, you must look beyond the homepage. Yes, the homepage is the first thing users will see as soon as they enter your website, but you want to make sure all other pages and posts are laid out the exact same way to keep the experience going. 

Many of us tend to get hung up on the homepage. Once the homepage is perfected and looks pretty, people tend to look past the rest of the website. If you want your website to have a strong presence, spend your energy and focus on the entire website rather than a small chunk. We promise this will bring more engaged users to your website and more business to your door. 

5. SEO and CTA’s 

Lastly, if you want your users to have the experience of a lifetime, you want to make sure that: 

  1. The targeted users are actually finding your website through Google, which indicates how well your website is ranking in terms of SEO 
  2. You are encouraging a second click wherever you see fit 

Both are extremely necessary if you want your users to enjoy their overall experience while browsing your website. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is what helps boost your ranking and positioning on where you sit on Google. The goal is to essentially rank in positions 1-10 on the first page on Google so people can easily locate you based on the keyword research you have put in. When you know what people are searching for, it will only be 10x easier for people to find you. 

Calls-to-action are a very powerful tool to use because this will encourage the user to continue browsing and clicking around your website. Incorporating CTAs keeps the user engaged. For example, throughout some webpages and blog posts, you will see words that are hyperlinked to different pages. Let’s say you want to learn more about a specific topic. By clicking the hyperlink, this will take you to a different page which will then encourage the user to keep reading. 

Sharpen Your UX Experience with Beacon Media + Marketing 

If you’re ready to explore the possibilities of what different user experiences can look like, Beacon Media + Marketing offers web development services. Want a fast, secure, reliable, and efficient website? We can help you out. 

Give your users the experience they deserve. Get in touch with us! 

It’s an age-old dilemma: You want to generate more leads for your company, but you simply don’t have the time to walk every new sales opportunity to the end of the sale funnel. And let’s face it, no one enjoys being on either side of a cold call. With an intuitive automated sales process in place, you can literally nurture leads in your sleep. Best of all, you can guide customers to a purchase in a way that is organic, engaging, and effective.

When it comes to developing a lead generation strategy, it’s essential that every step of the process works together. This cohesive plan should start by attracting someone new to your business and end with converting them into a lead.

At Beacon Media + Marketing, we’ve dived headfirst into the world of digital lead generation and have partnered with SharpSpring to give our clients all the benefits of an automated sales process and CRM. From setting up your lead generation ecosystem to creating engaging email blasts that are tailored to each individual, we take care of all the details.

Ready to invest in a lead generation strategy that pays for itself? Schedule a free consultation now.

What Are the Benefits of a Lead Generation Strategy?

Automation has completely changed the game when it comes to generating leads. With so many things pulling at you at once, you can use whatever it takes to save you precious time, which equates to more money made down the road. Not to mention, sales automation platforms have the ability to make customized decisions based on people’s interactions with your content and track data in real time, which you can use to analyze and optimize your lead generation efforts.

Tailored Email Marketing

While it might seem like a digital lead generation strategy takes away the personalized touch from the sales process, it can do just the opposite. When first interacting with a potential lead, you have little to no information on them. Rather than heading straight for the sale, a lead generation strategy takes email marketing to the next level.

One of the worst mistakes you can make when creating an email marketing plan to generate leads is assuming every person who visits your website is exactly the same. By creating segments, you can target your messaging based on buyer persona and deliver emails based on activity. A smart email marketing campaign understands the importance of quality over quantity, and it knows to back off when a potential lead is not interested in the content sent out.

Efficient Communication

With an integrative lead generation ecosystem, you can easily organize all your leads and communicate with them all from one place. By automating the process, you remove the chance for human error. Never again will you miss a lead because a website visitor is unaccounted for, it’s after business hours, or someone on your team walks away from their computer.

You’ll also have more capacity to build relationships and nurture leads that are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. By taking care of the initial contact for you, your automated sales platform can weed out unqualified leads from your list. This allows you to invest more time in website visitors who are already interacting with your content. These are the same individuals who are more likely to purchase something from your company down the road, making your processes more efficient and increasing your ROI.  

Comprehensive Analytics

An effective lead generation strategy is dynamic and adaptable. By gathering detailed data on every person in your contact list, you can adjust and refine your strategy as you see what works — and what doesn’t. This allows you to react quickly if your email messaging is stale, your call-to-actions aren’t spurring enough, or you’re looking for your target audience in the wrong places. 

With attribution data, you can track which channels are generating the most leads and identify where to spend your budget based on performance. You can also look at the entire lead generation journey to see not only which channels are bringing the largest number of leads but also the best quality.

You can analyze each landing page in your lead generation campaign to see which are converting the best. With A/B testing, you can optimize each page to see which call-to-actions perform the best and find ways to better user experience and drive them to act.

Cohesive Marketing Strategy

Lead generation is not meant to be a standalone service. Rather it works together with your other marketing efforts to smoothly take potential customers through the entire sales funnel in a unified, practical manner. With an automated sales process, you can ensure sales and marketing are on the same page with identical goals in mind.

Tools that capture attention, like blog posts and social media campaigns, work together with automation and email marketing to convert a visitor into a lead. A consistent design across all channels reinforces your brand, building authority, credibility, and recognition.

Once a lead is generated, your automated sales platform continues to work with your social media, blogs, videography, and other marketing pieces to convert them into a paying customer. Retargeting campaigns work to pull leads back into the sales process after their interest fades or they haven’t made a purchase yet.

This is just the beginning of the journey. All your marketing efforts should continue to engage current customers. Your CRM collaborates with other aspects of your content and advertising strategy to increase brand loyalty and promote subsequent sales, pulling from the data and information you’ve already gathered from the lead generation stage.

Adding on Lead Generation: Your One-Time Vs. Ongoing Investment

With our new ecosystem management and lead generation package, you can take a step back from handling every step of the sales process yourself and enjoy all the benefits we’ve discussed in this blog. If you’re interested in how an automated sales process and state-of-the-art CRM can help generate leads, boost sales, and build brand loyalty with existing customers, we’d love to show you how we could help.

Our package is two-fold, including both a one-time investment for ecosystem setup and an ongoing monthly plan.

The initial setup phase includes several steps to build your new CRM and prepare for future lead generation and automated sales efforts:

  • Migrating previous customer data to new CRM
  • Developing an as-is and to-be business process design
  • Setting up your reporting and analytics dashboard
  • Strategizing your campaign, including a smart-email and sales pipeline
  • Customizing content to match your company’s branding and messaging
  • Implementing security settings and assigning roles accordingly

Once we’ve finished setting up your ecosystem, we will continue managing and creating content to effectively generate leads and guide them toward a sale. Through extensive data analysis and internal strategy, we’ll continue to optimize and build campaigns around performance and your company’s revolving goals. We’ll create new automations on a monthly basis, which is essential for allowing us to build relationships with your customer base.

You’re not alone if your business has been struggling with drawing in new leads or finding the time to nurture leads once they show interest in what you have to offer. Your time and resources are limited, and lead generation can consume all the capacity you have.

If you’re ready to add ecosystem management to your marketing services, our team at Beacon Media + Marketing is standing ready to help your business reach your heights. 

Are you as excited as we are? Schedule your free consultation to get started!

At Beacon Media + Marketing we design, develop, and host websites for many businesses and non-profits.

Our clients are spread as far and wide as Alaska, California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Delaware, West Virginia, Florida, and Washington, with many others in between. We’ve been in this game since 2012 and we like to think we’ve got it down to an art-form. Our team include an in-house website copywriter, website designer, and website developer, which means we function as a one-stop shop for all of your website development needs.

Are you an Anchorage business in the market for a new website? We’d love to help.

What Do The Best Websites in Alaska Look Like?

Want to check out our work? Here are some Alaskan websites we’re really proud to have developed:

What’s the best website development company in Anchorage, Alaska? Beacon Media + Marketing, of course.

Discover the cost of website design and what to consider before getting a new website.

Other Alaskan Website Design Companies We Like

However, we spend a lot of time learning about best practices, including new trends and tactics, In this line of work we spend a lot of time online learning best practices, getting inspiration and admiring the competition’s work.

We’ve never been ones to shy away from good honest competition. We also want to do what we can to lift others in our industry, so here are five of the other most highly regarded website design companies in the Anchorage area:

  1. Sundog Media has been around since 1996 and has a strong reputation for high quality work. They design, host and manage websites. Their focus is on WordPress websites and feature a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
  2. Thrively Digital focuses on small to medium sized businesses and does a lot of work with tourism companies. Their websites are responsive and they do not limit their sites to just WordPress.
  3. Red Carrot Design offers website design, development, and support. They also focus on WordPress designs and offer a high level of creativity and uniqueness to their designs.

So there are three other companies to consider when looking for website quotes. No matter who you go with, we hope the experience is a positive one and you get the website that is going to help your company succeed and grow.

Need a new website? Schedule a free consultation today.

When it comes to developing a website or creating a content strategy, SEO should always be top of mind. You may have amazing services to offer and a great message to get across, but no one will ever know if your content is not easily visible on search engines.

There are many important aspects of an SEO strategy that start with your website, like developing a responsive website and performing adequate keyword research for blogs. However, we know several insider secrets to boosting your site’s SEO and gaining credibility on Google through building backlinks.

While the typical process of getting backlinks can make you feel like a spammer or contestant in a popularity contest, there is more than one way to earn backlinks to your site. For instance, a solid content distribution strategy recycles your content, allowing you to reach your audience in more way than one while linking to back to your site.

Want the full scoop? Then keep reading because we’re about to deep dive into how backlinks can help supercharge your SEO and unveil Beacon Media + Marketing’s newest content distribution package.  

Want to jump ahead and see what a content distribution strategy can do for your company? Schedule a free consultation.

What Are Backlinks and Why Are They Important?

In short, a backlink is a link from one website to another. For example, someone may link to another website if they are trying to cite a statistic or information they pulled from another source. People may also link to a page on another website if it is relevant or provides more context on a topic they are discussing or expanding on in a blog. These are different than local links, which are links you place on your content that direct readers to other pages on your site.

Backlinks, or inbound links, to your website are one of the most important factors for SEO. When someone links to your website, Google and other search engines consider this as an endorsement for your company. They are saying a page on your site has valuable, credible content that is worth looking at. For Google, this translates to your website having authority, relevance, and trust, which are the three pillars of SEO.

Having your link on other websites also gives your target audience more exposure to your content. While they may start out on another blog post, if they see a backlink to your website, they may click on it and engage with your brand that way.

How To Earn High-Quality Backlinks

Where a backlink to your site exists matters. Google not only judges the quantity of inbound links to your site but it also considers their quality. There are several factors search engines consider when determining if a backlink is high quality.

  • Website authority: If a website that Google already identifies as having authority and credibility links to your site, this will have a more positive impact toward your SEO. On the other hand, low-quality backlinks from sites that Google deems uncredible can actually hurt your SEO.
  • Page traffic: How many people visit the page the link your website is featured on also affects how Google judges the backlink’s quality.
  • Relevancy: Google favors backlinks that are on a website with content relevant to the topic it links to. For example, if your blog post on the future of microwave ovens is featured on a page or website that talks about new technology trends or kitchen appliances, it improves the quality of the backlink.

Now that you know what backlinks are and how important they are for your website’s overall SEO, the big question is how do you get other websites to link to your content? While adding the right keywords and making sure you use SEO-friendly headers are easy enough to implement on your own website, you can’t force anyone else to vouch for you on theirs. Here are a few secrets we’ll let you in on.

1. Write Quality, SEO-Friendly Content

If you want people to link back to your website content, the first step should always be to create content that is worth linking to. If your blogs or web pages are poorly designed, dull, or irrelevant to the audience you’re trying to reach, chances are no one will want to send their website visitors your way.

While people are always looking for new tricks to put their website on the fast lane to the top of the search engine results page, the main focus when creating content should always be to create a top-quality piece worth reading. With literally billions of pages on the internet, you need to make your content stand out.

Fortunately, Google has made several core changes to its algorithm to help keep high-quality, relevant content at the top of the SERP while penalizing pages that have little value to offer. For example, pages with low word counts, keyword stuffing, and duplicate content are all unlikely to be valued by Google or anyone who reads them.

By putting time and effort into writing unique, relevant content your audience will enjoy, people are more likely to use as a source in their own work. By following basic SEO guidelines, you can ensure your website is high up on the SERP, making it easy for people to find and link to your content.

2. Reach Out for Backlinks

Another tactic you can use to gain more backlinks is reaching out directly to other website owners. It can be difficult to do this without coming off as spammy, but there are a few tactics you can try to get your content on a relevant page or site:

  • If someone mentions your brand without linking to your website, reach out to the author and ask them to credit you with a backlink.
  • Reach out to journalists and bloggers who have linked to your old content when you create new work.
  • Add images, infographics, and free tools that others can link to in their own content.
  • Get featured on directories that are highly used or relevant to your content.
  • Find pages that have broken links and suggest a link from your website to replace it.
  • Ask people you know personally, like colleagues and business partners, to link to your site.

3. Use Content Distribution to Your Advantage

If your content strategy starts and ends with a blog post, you’re missing out on a major opportunity. With a digital content distribution plan, you can take a single piece of content and use it in more way than one, expanding your reach and gaining quality backlinks.

Our new content distribution package at Beacon Media + Marketing does exactly  that. The process starts with us writing a high-quality blog for your website that is relevant to your company and your target audience. We put substantial research into every blog we write, making sure it follows best SEO practices and is engaging to anyone who visits your site.

From here, we recycle this blog to create and distribute new pieces of content that all link back to your site including:

  • A video that is featured on the Beacon Media New YouTube channel
  • A press release that is distributed through hundreds of news outlets
  • A blog summary that is featured on the Beacon Media News website
  • Social media posts that link to different assets we create

Not only do these unique pieces of content give your audience more than one way to engage with your brand, but they also all link back your website, helping you earn high-quality backlinks with every blog we write.

Want To Team Up and Take Your SEO to the Next Level?

Developing an SEO strategy that gets your content noticed takes a lot of legwork. Whether you need help developing a website that is functional and appealing, establishing an SEO strategy that gets you noticed, or creating high-ranking content that is engaging and recyclable, we can help.

Ready to watch your business grow, scale, and thrive? Schedule your free consultation now.

You know that digital marketing is essential to growing your business. You’ve had a successful digital marketing campaign in place for some time. You sit down to execute the next part of your strategy. The first step is creating content, whether that’s social media posts, blogs, or video.

And… nothing comes out. You sit, staring at your computer screen, and you can’t make any words come out. The longer you sit, the more stressed you get, the more paralyzed your mind becomes. It’s a vicious cycle. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Some people call it brain fade. Some people call it writer’s block. Some people call it paralysis by analysis. Either way, you’ve hit a creative brick wall, and you don’t know what to do. Does any of this sound familiar?

Don’t worry, this is something that affects all creatives from time to time. If you want to get those brain cells firing again, here are some techniques that may help generate some ideas.

Looking to delegate? Our full-service digital marketing team can help.

Step One: Digital Marketing Doesn’t Happen Alone

You’ve been sitting in front of your computer for hours. Your eyeballs are drier than the Mojave Desert and your legs are so restless you can’t sit still. You’re stubborn – we get it, this is a common trait amongst business leaders – so you keep sitting, willing yourself to get it done.

There’s no winner here. It’s you versus you. Allow us to save you some time… SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPUTER AND BACK AWAY SLOWLY. Think about the place you feel most inspired. Admittedly, we don’t know you, but we’d put money on the fact that it doesn’t involve the four walls of your office and abundant blue light of your monitor. It’s okay to get out and take a beat.

Walk barefoot in grass. Treat yourself to a slice of pie. Climb a mountain. Scream at the top of your lungs. Call your grandma. Shoot for a PB at the gym. Whatever your process is, allow yourself the time and space to do it. Humans are not machines, so we shouldn’t expect ourselves to fire straight back up like a lawnmower that’s been collecting dust in a garage for the past six months.

You’ll be amazed what a little mental reprieve can do for your creativity. This is a great way to produce content when you need to knuckle down and schedule the next batch.

Content marketing got you down? Check out our services.

Step Two: Create a Digital Marketing Brains Trust

Good ideas can come from anywhere. That’s something we can say with authority, because one of the unique aspects of our process at Beacon Media + Marketing is to involve our whole team when we’re brainstorming strategies. Many good ideas come from sources like our account managers or creative team. But sometimes other members of our crew – such as our Google Ads specialist or VP of Finances – will come up with something truly genius. Creativity knows no bounds.

Two heads are better than one. Four heads are better than two. Eight heads are better than four. You can see where we’re going. Whether you’re running a wealth management firm, a counseling business, an equipment manufacturer, a remote fishing resort, pull in your team and see what they can come up with. You’ll be amazed what happens once you start spit-balling.

One tip we’d love to give you (because we’ve definitely learnt this the hard way) is to delegate note-taking to someone right at the start. That way, you won’t whip up a frenzy of excitement with your greatness only to discover that no-one can agree on (or remember) the exact wording.

This is a great way to define your branding, key messaging, and strategic goals.

Brand in need of a refresh? It’s time to bring in the experts.

Step Three: Check Out Other Digital Marketing Strategies

Sometimes, it can also be helpful to identify your three biggest competitors and scope out their marketing strategy. What are they doing? Who are they targeting? What kind of responses are the getting? Are there any things you can learn? And is there anything you could do better?

This can be helpful in a few ways. If you’re struggling to find motivation, this might get you fired up enough to smash out that content that’s been tying you down. If you’re short on ideas, it might ignite a flash of inspiration that will fill your mind with ideas (again, we can’t tell you how much we recommend writing them all down while they’re fresh!). If you’re planning a period of aggressive growth, this might help you develop the strategy you need to attract new customers.

The most important thing, when using this technique, is to be strategic. Don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed, especially if your competitors are still a bit bigger than your business. Choose three businesses, pick three things they’re doing well, and identify three gaps that you can fill.

Simple. Oh, and also, be sure to avoid copying any of their ideas directly.

Struggling to get excited about Facebook? Here’s what our team can do.

Step Four: Use Your Own Experience To Inspire Marketing

Chances are, if you’re running a business, you’re an expert in the products you sell or the services you offer. Lean on your own experience to come up with ideas for content. It could be pain points that you’re frequently asked about, or that you’ve worked through yourself (confession time: that’s exactly what inspired this blog post). You might focus on the reasons you got into business – what is it about your product or service that got you excited right back at the start?

Digital marketing isn’t theoretical. It’s based on creating genuine human connection. Nothing is more attractive than authenticity, so don’t be afraid to share your story. You have a lot of knowledge and experience you can share with your target audience. So if you’ve hit a creative block, remember you already have all the information you need. You just need to get it out of your head.

This is a great way to fill a content calendar. If you’re planning to post three days a week, allocate a theme for each day. Monday could feature problem-solving tips based on FAQs. Wednesday could be cool product features that you’re genuinely excited about. Friday could feature tips based on your own experience. Once you create a framework, you’ll simply need to color it in.

Ready to turbocharge your engagement? Try our video production service.

Step Five: Call In A Digital Marketing Agency

If you’re utterly, completely, hopelessly stuck, it’s time to call in the big guns. The team at Beacon Media + Marketing specializes in developing strategies and creating the content that will bring your plan to life. We’re in the business of helping other businesses grow, scale, and thrive. And we’re experts in overcoming creative blocks to ensure every piece of content achieves its potential.

We can help with everything from branding to website development (which includes SEO and hosting), social media marketing, paid ads, and content creation (which includes video and blogs). Our process is pretty straightforward. First, our account managers will arrange a meet and greet so they can learn about your business and find out what’s holding you back on the digital marketing front. Then they’ll bring in our full team for the brainstorm we mentioned earlier.

After this, we’ll create a strategy designed to achieve your goals based on the specific services you need. Once that’s approved, we’ll begin production. Every month, you’ll get a fresh batch of shiny new content. No more dry eyes. No more restless legs. No more hours in front of a screen.

Just lots of digital marketing goodness delivered straight to your customers.

Sound good? Schedule your free consultation today.

Clutch is an established B2B review and rating platform based in Washington, D.C. It helps businesses make buying and hiring decisions with confidence, with a combination of market research, data-driven content, verified reviews, and a ranking system.

Every year, decision-makers at millions of businesses visit the site to learn more about credible service providers and find the partnerships they need to grow.

Why are we telling you this? Well, we recently started working with Clutch in a bid to gain traction on the internet. As a marketing company, we’re always looking for new ways to reach people.

There are two main reasons for this. First, we do it to ensure we stay up-to-date with industry best practices. Second, we want to make sure our clients can benefit from the best third-party products and services available. As an added bonus, testing new theories on our own brand is also great way for us to grow our business and reach new people. If you’re new here, welcome!

Without further ado, let’s talk through our plan with Clutch.

Prefer to pick up the phone? Call our team to learn what positive reviews can do for you.

Igniting Our B2B Marketing with Clutch

We started working with Clutch in a bid to increase awareness of our digital marketing services, including website development, SEO, social media marketing, and more. We’re writing about it now because we’ve actually just had our first review! We wanted to share our experience.

(Okay, yes, we’ve been in the digital marketing game since 2012 and we’ve had a lot of reviews over the years, but it just goes to show that you can never hear enough great feedback.)

In this case, a Clutch analyst personally contacted Rosalind Griffin, the owner of SAV-ON Flooring in Anchorage, Alaska. We’re currently working on a project for SAV-ON Flooring to rebuild its website and optimize the content for SEO to attract more customers down the road.

Reviews Are Essential in the B2B Marketing World

Here’s what Rosalind had to say about Beacon Media + Marketing:

“The original website done by Beacon was beautiful and totally interactive. Content would come up whenever we clicked on anything. We never had problems with it, and we got a lot of business through it. The process was very easy and very smooth... Beacon worked diligently to get that website set up, and that’s why we returned with our business to them.”

Any other small business owners out there feel that on a deep level? It truly doesn’t get any better than knowing your hard work is paying off and your client is happy with the outcome.

The analyst also asked for her thoughts as to the most impressive thing about our business:

“When I think about Beacon, I can only think that they’re excellent. Their web design is beautiful, sleek, and there’s elegance to it. Given that we work in flooring and design, those are important elements — it has to look good to the eye. The pictures that they use are crisp and nice looking. Those are key elements for a website.”

Anyone else getting a little misty-eyed? Just us? We’ll be honest, that hit us right in the feels.

First of all, we’re very grateful to SAV-ON Flooring for the great review. Second, we’re excited that potential clients will see it when they’re searching for a new marketing partner in the future.

Every business owner knows the best way to attract new business is through word of mouth. Positive reviews are just the digital version, which means the can be very powerful.

B2B Marketing is Also About the Snowball Effect

Following that review, Beacon Media + Marketing was also recognized on The Manifest, which is a business news platform. This is what we call the snowball effect. One good thing happens, which leads to the next, and the next. It’s amazing how often we see this play out for clients.

We were included on a list of global social media marketing agencies with the highest-performing diversity and inclusion. We’re really proud of this, because it speaks to our company’s values. We hope it will help us connect with other like-minded businesses so we can help them grow.

Other Key B2B Marketing Essentials

Great B2B marketing doesn’t happen in a silo. In addition to collecting a list of great reviews and increasing awareness of your brand name, you’ll need to follow through on the other steps of the path to purchase: education, consideration, and conversion.

Here are some key items to consider.

Develop a Sparkling Website

Say a business owner is looking for services just like yours. They see a positive review and want to learn a little more about your business, so they click through to view your website.

You already know they’re curious and that they’re coming with a positive frame of mind. What experience are you going to give them when they land? A website functions as a digital shopfront for your business, so it’s important that it presents the right image and creates a strong first impression.

It needs to be clean and well-organized, just like the reception area out the front. It needs to give people a taste of what your company is about, just like the atmosphere in your office. Most importantly, it needs to be functional and easy to find, just like the physical building.

It’s worth the investment to make sure your website looks great, loads quickly, has all the information they need, and runs smoothly with no bugs.

Optimize Your SEO for Growth

A common SEO mistake we see all the time is focusing on short-term growth. Often, this means solely focusing on new trends or taking a haphazard approach that sees flurries of content followed by months and months of digital crickets chirping. The truth is SEO is a long game. The best results come from sticking to a plan and chipping away at it week after week, and month after month.

Optimizing SEO for growth usually means picking all the low-hanging fruit. Have you figured out a list of keywords that best summarize your business? Do your pages have meta descriptions? Do your images have alt text? Have you optimized your H1 and H2 headings? If you’re not sure what this means, have you thought about finding a marketing partner with a strong track record in SEO?

As with many aspects of digital marketing, consistency is key. Over time, you’ll build a body of content filled with short-tail and long-tail keywords. This will answer most of the questions people are typing into their preferred search engine, which will significantly improve your company’s ranking on the results pages, and ultimately boost your web traffic.

Connect With Your Audience

Finally, find out where your target audience likes to spend their time online and connect with them. If that means maintaining an active LinkedIn presence, create a content plan. If that means participating in conversations on Twitter, schedule some time every day to log in and tweet. Or if that means creating an account with a company like Clutch so decision-makers can find all the information they need to make a decision, go ahead and sign up.

This is a simple and effective strategy that can yield impressive long-term results. If you’re short on time, it’s important to know that this is also something you can outsource.

Looking for a B2B Marketing Partner?

B2B marketing is one of our specialties. In the past, our work in this space has primarily focused on native corporations, manufacturers, professional services, and technology companies.

For Equipment Source, Inc., an Arctic equipment manufacturing business based in Fairbanks, Alaska, we increased web traffic four times and set a record for the amount of new leads we generated in 2020 – you can read more about that here. If you’re looking for a B2B marketing partner that will help your business grow, scale, and thrive, get in touch.

Ready to get started? Schedule a free consultation today.

Digital marketing professionals love throwing words around like sales funnel, awareness, or conversion. But what do those words even mean? How do they help you?

Digital marketing is a lot like starting a romantic relationship. Your online presence lets the other party know you exist and ignites a spark of attraction. Your branding is what makes them fall in love with you and stick around long-term. But there are still a lot of steps between that first click or swipe and a healthy successful relationship!

We want you to experience a love of the ages, so we created a step-by-step guide that will guide you through the marketing life-cycle in a world where swipes are worth far more than sneaky glances in a bar. Here’s how win your client’s digital heart forever.

Sick of trying to find the right connection? We can help you find (client-related) love.

Step 1: First Impression

Grabbing the attention of your ideal customer in the busy world of digital marketing and social media, it’s not an easy mission! But we have faith in you. We know that you’ve worked hard on creating your brand and that you have a beautiful schedule of organic content ready to go. In other words, you’re more than ready to make a good first impression.

First things, first. How are you going to get a date? They don’t even know you exist, right? Whether it’s Tinder or Facebook, the battle against the algorithms is real! Your best way to reach new potential clients in your niche will be through paid media. This can include Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Google My Business, or other platforms.

Organic social media could also allow you to reach new clients through going viral or through posting consistently, however, this method is far less efficient and predictable. Paid ads will be much better in getting you in front of those potential new dates.

In this awareness stage, your main focus will be on gaining their interest and building that initial trust. You want to show off how nice your brand is, how valuable your organic content is, how great your Google Reviews are, and how promising your business values are. What you don’t want to do yet is talking about getting hitched (aka trying to get them to purchase), heck, you don’t even want to lean in for a kiss (getting them on your email list).

The awareness stage is all about leaving a positive impression without asking too much of your potential client. Push too far, too soon and you might never get that coveted second date.

Step 2: Send Some Flowers

Alright, good job! You’ve left the first date and you’re positive that they’re interested. You were careful about not being too pushy and put your best foot forward. They now know that you exist and they might have even hit the follow or like button on social media, score!

Now it’s time to take it to the next level. What about sending the marketing-equivalent of some flowers to get their most valuable contact details, their email address, through lead generation. A beautiful bouquet here would take shape in the form of a FREE e-book or opt-in that is filled with value for your ideal customer. The important word here is “free”.

It’s way too early in the relationship to ask your date to meet the parents (or in your case, asking them to spend money with you). Another option here is inviting customers into your mailing list by offering them a first purchase discount to your online shop. Just don’t be too disappointed if they don’t take you up on this offer just yet. After all, they just met you.

Step 3: Second Date

We know that you’ve started this relationship with good intentions. You’re ready for a committed relationship and you’ve done some work on yourself to get ready for this.

You’ve developed a content marketing plan with lots of great blog posts that provide fantastic value and you’ve thought about a carefully planned organic social media campaign. You even have a range of great videos to show off! You know that you have a lot to offer the client.

During the second date, it’s the perfect time to prepare a beautiful picnic (show some of that great organic social media content), talk about the things you both love (video, video, video!), and maybe even go in for a quick kiss (send a targeted email).

In the education phase, it’s important to have all of the valuable content ready to go so that your potential client has everything at their fingertips to get to know you better.

Step 4: Fairy-Tale Romance

In the middle stage of the sales funnel (we’ve officially reached the consideration phase), we can assume that your date knows a little bit about your business and that they are interested in keeping the conversation going. Time to keep building that relationship and to nurture your leads. You’ve worked hard to get them and they’re as valuable as Cinderella’s slipper.

Keep showing off your organic content! Email them more interesting promotions! Have they read those valuable blog posts yet? This is a great time to introduce them to your beautifully designed home page on your website, the landing page that you would love them to convert on, or to show off those beautifully branded case studies. This stage is about convincing them that you’re ready to go steady (and that your product or service is the best fit for them).

Step 5: Will You Marry Me?

You’ve been together for some time now. It’s time to pop the question! Will you… buy my product or service? Yay, that’s a yes! After careful relationship building and showing that you are the perfect match, your ideal customer has finally converted and made that purchase.

The added bonus? They are super happy with what they just bought. Whether they bought through your landing page, your website, or by clicking on a link (in an email, a blog post, or through a swipe up on Instagram), they’re excited because they got the chance to get to know you. They just know that whatever they bought, it is just perfect for them.

Step 6: Now Come The Kids

That’s it, congratulations, you’ve done the impossible! You’ve popped the question and they said yes. But we all know that there is no such thing as happily ever after without working on the relationship. In marketing terms, we call this retention. While your customer did the impossible and bought your product, we want them to stay in the relationship, right? The aim of the game is to keep them engaged, whether this is through email or social media. Ideally, we even want them to start bragging about what a gem they just discovered.

Whether in-person or through social media (55% of consumers share their purchases through social media) word-of-mouth is still the most powerful conversion method. In fact, a Boston Consulting Group research showed that consumers trust word-of-mouth two to ten times more than they do with paid media. That means that we really want to encourage our satisfied customers to share their new purchases through social media!

Here are a few ingenious ways brand are tackling this problem:

  • Girlfriend, a sustainable activewear brand, has a rewards system in place where you can gain points for sharing their product on social media. Not only does it keep customers coming back (high retention rate), it also provides free word-of-mouth.
  • Audible, selling a subscription to audiobooks via Amazon, uses an abundance of Youtube stars, such as Sailing La Vagabonde, to talk about their favorite audiobooks and consequently promote their free trials and promotions. The influencers work on building trust and the brands benefit from it.

Step 7: Happily Ever After

We’re so happy for you that you got to this point. The kids are out of their diapers and you’ve celebrated many referrals and follow-up purchases. Retention is still where it’s at. Nobody wants their relationship to break up and let’s not even talk about having to start over again.

Let’s be honest, dating is terrible. The same goes for trying to find new customers. Repeat customers have shown to be a lot less expensive to acquire and in addition to that, they also tend to spend more when repurchasing from your business! Talk about a win-win.

To retain your customers, keep engaging with them. Keep talking to your customer through organic social media (and maybe a sneaky Facebook Ad every now and again) and through email. Other ways to keep retention high is to keep releasing new content on the blog that is relevant to your audience. And why not send them a discount code every now and then?

But whatever you do, don’t forget about relationship counselling. About 82% of US-based consumers have broke off the relationship with a business due to poor customer experience. Trained professionals in your customer service department will be able to keep disgruntled customers happy and might even be able to turn a negative review into a positive.

Keen to start digitally dating? Consider us your matchmaker.

Written by Sabrina Martinez, updated by Sara Jokela 1/2/25

Low Facebook engagement sucks. You’ve put hours of work into creating amazing content that you thought your audience would love. But when you posted it there were… crickets.

You might get a like or two here and there, but people aren’t commenting or sharing as much as you expected them to. Your business Facebook page is definitely not growing, more the opposite, you feel like you keep losing people. Urgh, we know exactly how frustrating it can be.

You have two options.

  1. Keep creating and posting as you were. You can keep investing energy into creating all this fantastic content and risk not getting anywhere.
  2. Take a step back and follow this simple guide to troubleshooting your engagement problem and to kick-start your Facebook growth.

Need to call in the experts? Schedule a free consultation today.

Understanding Facebook Marketing

What is Facebook Marketing?

Facebook marketing is the process of promoting a business or brand and its products or services through the Facebook platform. It involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience.

By leveraging the vast reach of Facebook, businesses can build brand awareness, engage with their target audience, and drive meaningful interactions. Whether it’s through organic posts, paid ads, or a combination of both, Facebook marketing allows businesses to connect with potential customers in a more personalized and direct way.

The key is to create content that resonates with your audience and encourages them to take action, whether it’s liking a post, sharing it with friends, or making a purchase.

Benefits of Facebook Marketing for Your Business

Facebook marketing offers numerous benefits for businesses, making it an essential component of any digital marketing strategy. Here are some of the key advantages:

  • Increased Brand Awareness: With over 2.7 billion monthly active users, Facebook provides an unparalleled opportunity to reach a large and targeted audience. By consistently posting engaging content, you can increase your brand’s visibility and recognition.
  • Improved Website Traffic: Facebook marketing can drive significant traffic to your website. By sharing links to your blog posts, product pages, or special offers, you can attract visitors who are interested in what you have to offer.
  • Lead Generation: Facebook’s lead generation features, such as lead ads, allow businesses to capture leads directly from the platform. This makes it easier to collect contact information from potential customers and nurture them through your sales funnel.
  • Increased Sales: By targeting specific audiences with tailored messages, Facebook marketing can help businesses increase sales. Whether you’re promoting a new product, running a special offer, or retargeting past visitors, Facebook ads can drive conversions and boost your revenue.

Understanding Your Audience

Understanding Your Audience: The Key to Engagement on Facebook

Understanding your audience is the cornerstone of a successful Facebook marketing strategy. By leveraging Facebook’s analytic tools and insights, you can uncover key demographics, interests, and behaviors of your followers.

This data is invaluable in crafting content that truly resonates with your audience’s preferences, leading to more meaningful interactions.

Timing is also crucial. Posting when your audience is most active can significantly boost engagement. Think of it as catching the wave at the right moment – your content is more likely to be seen, shared, and commented on, making it more visible in news feeds.

Engaging content that encourages users to comment, share, and react not only increases interaction but also builds a loyal community around your brand.

Consistently sharing great content and responding to interactions promptly can turn casual followers into dedicated fans.

Define Your Target Audience

Defining your target audience is essential for creating an effective Facebook marketing strategy. Start by identifying your ideal customer based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and pain points.

Facebook’s built-in analytics tools are a goldmine for gathering insights about your followers. Use this data to create detailed buyer personas that represent your target audience.

Understanding your audience’s needs, preferences, and behaviors allows you to tailor your content to meet their expectations. This means crafting posts that address their pain points, answer their questions, and provide value.

Adjust your strategy based on the feedback and engagement you receive. By focusing on what your audience wants, you can create a more personalized and effective Facebook marketing approach.

Setting Up Your Facebook Business Page

Create a Facebook Business Page

Creating a Facebook Business Page is a crucial step in establishing a strong online presence for your business. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started:

  1. Log in to Your Personal Facebook Account: To create a business page, you need to have a personal Facebook account. Once logged in, click on the “Create New Page” button.
  2. Choose a Category: Select a category that best describes your business, such as “Local Business” or “Company/Organization.” This helps Facebook users find your page more easily.
  3. Enter Your Business Name: Add your business name, ensuring it matches your brand identity. This will be the name that appears on your Facebook page.
  4. Add a Profile Picture and Cover Photo: Upload a profile picture, typically your business logo, and a cover photo that represents your brand. These images are the first things visitors will see, so make sure they are high-quality and visually appealing.
  5. Add a Brief Description: Write a short description of your business, including relevant keywords. This helps visitors understand what your business is about and improves your page’s searchability.
  6. Set Up Categories and Tags: Choose categories and tags that are relevant to your business. This helps Facebook users find your page when searching for related topics.
  7. Add a Call-to-Action (CTA) Button: Include a CTA button to drive traffic to your website or promote a specific offer. Options include “Shop Now,” “Sign Up,” or “Contact Us.”
  8. Customize Your Page’s Settings: Adjust your page’s settings to control who can see your page and what features are available. This includes setting up page roles, managing notifications, and enabling messaging.

By following these steps, you can create a professional and engaging Facebook Business Page that attracts and retains your target audience.

Define Your Facebook Marketing Goals

Defining your Facebook marketing goals is a crucial step in creating a successful Facebook marketing strategy. Your goals will serve as a guide for your content creation, engagement, and advertising efforts. Here are some common Facebook marketing goals:

  • Increase Brand Awareness: Reach a larger audience and build your brand’s reputation.
  • Drive Website Traffic: Send visitors to your website to learn more about your products or services.
  • Generate Leads: Collect contact information from potential customers who are interested in your products or services.
  • Boost Sales: Drive conversions and increase revenue through Facebook advertising.
  • Improve Customer Engagement: Encourage likes, comments, and shares on your Facebook posts.

To define your Facebook marketing goals, consider the following:

  • What are your business objectives?: Align your Facebook marketing goals with your overall business objectives to ensure consistency and focus.
  • Who is your target audience?: Understanding your audience will help you tailor your goals to meet their needs and preferences.
  • What type of content will resonate with your audience?: Create content that aligns with your goals and appeals to your audience.
  • How will you measure the success of your Facebook marketing efforts?: Use metrics and analytics to track your progress and adjust your strategy as needed.

By defining your Facebook marketing goals, you’ll be able to create a focused strategy that drives real results for your business.

Content Strategy

Types of Facebook Posts to Use in Your Strategy

Facebook offers a variety of post types that can help you achieve your marketing goals. Here are some of the most effective types of Facebook posts to use in your strategy:

  • Image Posts: Share high-quality images that showcase your products or services. Visual content is highly engaging and can capture your audience’s attention quickly.
  • Video Posts: Create engaging videos that tell a story or demonstrate a product. Videos are highly shareable and can significantly boost engagement.
  • Link Posts: Share links to your website or other relevant content. This can drive traffic to your site and provide additional value to your audience.
  • Text-Only Posts: Share short, engaging text posts that encourage conversation. These can be effective for asking questions or sharing quick updates.
  • Live Posts: Use Facebook Live to connect with your audience in real-time. Live videos can create a sense of urgency and foster a deeper connection with your audience.
  • Story Posts: Share behind-the-scenes content or sneak peeks to keep your audience engaged. Stories are a great way to show the human side of your brand and keep your audience coming back for more.

Create a Facebook Content Strategy

Creating a Facebook content strategy involves planning and scheduling your content in advance. Here are some tips to help you create a successful Facebook content strategy:

  • Define Your Content Goals: What do you want to achieve with your Facebook content? Whether it’s increasing engagement, driving traffic, or generating leads, having clear goals will guide your content creation.
  • Identify Your Target Audience: Who are you creating content for? Understanding your audience’s demographics, interests, and behaviors will help you create content that resonates with them.
  • Develop a Content Calendar: Plan and schedule your content in advance. A content calendar helps you stay organized and ensures a consistent posting schedule.
  • Create a Mix of Content Types: Use a variety of post types to keep your audience engaged. Mixing up your content keeps things fresh and interesting for your followers.
  • Use Facebook Insights: Analyze your Facebook data to see what’s working and what’s not. Use this information to refine your content strategy and improve your results.

By creating a Facebook content strategy, you’ll be able to create a consistent stream of engaging content that drives real results for your business.

Want to kickstart your Facebook growth? Our team can help.

Troubleshooting Low Engagement on Facebook Marketing

There’s nothing more disappointing than creating beautiful Facebook content only to feel like you’re not getting anywhere with Facebook users. After a while, it’s easy to start thinking that you’re getting it all wrong.

Maintaining a strong Facebook presence by engaging with your audience and consistently posting high-quality content can make a significant difference. But that might not be the case! There might be a very simple solution.

One effective tool to consider is the Facebook Ads Library, a searchable database that allows you to explore all current and past advertisements on Facebook and Meta’s platforms. This can be invaluable for campaign inspiration and competitor analysis, helping you enhance your strategies and improve engagement.

1. Are You Posting At The Right Time?

The easiest fix (by far) to optimizing underperforming content is to check whether you are posting your Facebook post at the right times. What do we mean by the right time? This means that you are posting when your audience is active on Facebook and open to hearing your message.

Think of it like a DJ playing their best track when the club is empty. If nobody is there to dance to it, how can they appreciate the brilliance of that song?

Your content might be absolute killer, but if you’re posting it when your target audience is not using Facebook, they might never get to see it. It’s important to remember here that the social media algorithms determine the relevance of content by how much engagement they get shortly after posting.

If nobody reacts to your post shortly after posting, it won’t get pushed out to the rest of your audience (long live organic social media, right?!).

So how do you fix this problem? Super easy! You go to your Facebook Insights and then head to “Posts”. Here you will see a clear overview of what days your existing audience is online and what times they are most active. Now you can simply start posting at those times and see your engagement increase instantaneously.

2. Are You Asking Your Target Audience To Engage?

Another common mistake with organic content on Facebook is forgetting to tell your audience what you would like them to do. If you’re simply sharing a beautiful image of an item on sale but you forget to tell them to click through to shop, how is your audience able to find the sale?

In marketing terms, we call this a CTA or a call-to-action. It might feel a bit weird to ask people to like your photos, to click on something, or to comment on your post, but people follow your page for a reason and they tend to be happy to engage.

But you don’t have to create CTAs only to sell your audience something. Who knew that creating engaging content actually means that you could, and should, engage with your audience? Using a CTA can be lots of fun for both you and your audience! Ask them questions about topics that are related to your niche, ask them to tag friends who would love the content, link through relevant content, and more.

There are lots of options. Additionally, utilizing Facebook Messenger can enhance customer interactions through automated chatbots, making your engagement more efficient and effective.

But whatever you do, do not forget about the “Story” feature. Here you can create incredibly engaging content through the use of fun polls, question boxes, and so much more. The added bonus? The market research you can gain from these polls is incredible. Definitely grab your notepad because your audience is going to give you some great ideas.

3. Are You Giving Your Audience Value?

Organic social media marketing shouldn’t be all me, me, me. In fact, it really should be more about your audience than it is about you and your business. Let’s unpack that a bit.

There are many ways that you can create value for your audience, get them to engage with your business more, and in the end get them to purchase more. This type of content could range from short tips that they can save for later, elaborate and valuable blog posts that solve your audience’s problems (you’re reading one of those right now!), inspirational content such as beautiful images and videos that your target audience loves, and much, much more. User-generated content is also highly effective in building trust and authenticity by showcasing real experiences from customers, which can enhance brand credibility, community building, and customer loyalty. Make it worth their time to stop by and interact with your posts.

There really is an endless supply of content to be created when you stop thinking about what you can get and start thinking about what you can give.

4. Are You Posting The Right Content to Facebook Posts?

Are you posting the right types of content on your Facebook Pages? What works best? Are you using video? Are you posting too much of the same kind of thing? It’s important that the type of content that you are posting is actually the type of content your target audience likes to consume.

To find out whether your current Facebook audience is connecting with your content, you can dive back into Facebook Analytics. Head to the “Followers” tab and you can see on which days you gained followers and on which days you lost some. You can also review the analytics of each post and plan to post more of what worked well with your audience.

On a side note, we’d love to remind you here that Facebook has put a strong emphasis on video during the last few years. Facebook has even publicly admitted that it will prioritize video in the organic algorithm. Almost any written content, whether it was posted on social media or in a blog post, can be turned into great video – here’s how to do it.

5. Are You Posting Too Much or Too Little?

Consistency is key when it comes to social media success. Whether you enjoy posting once per day or even once per week, as long as you stick to your posting schedule, the platforms tend to reward you with showing your posts to your followers.

Utilizing the Facebook platform can help businesses grow their audience, manage advertising, and optimize content scheduling for maximum engagement.

We all know that life and business, however, tend to have ups-and-downs. That means consistency can be easier said than done, which is why we always recommend creating a content calendar. This will allow you to prepare content in batches and schedule them in advance so your communications are consistent and they never fall from your to-do list.

If you already have a consistent posting schedule, but you are still wondering whether you are posting too much or too little? Social media is all about testing and improving. Try a month with more content and a month with less content and keep an eye on your analytics. Did you gain followers when you posted less? Or did you lose followers when you posted more? It’s all about finding that magic number that works for your target audience.

6. Are You Having a Two-Way Conversation?

Over the years of building your brand, you have worked hard on creating an audience, often starting with a Facebook Page. These people have been with the business since the beginning or maybe you even bought a few followers to kick-start your follower count. Businesses evolve and there is a chance that your followers no longer consist of your target audience.

It’s important to investigate on a regular basis whether your target audience is still aligned with your current following. If they are not, find out how you can reach them better. There are two ways you can do this. First, ask the question straight up and seeing what responses you get from your followers. Second, prepare to dive back into your analytics.

7. Is it Time to Refresh Your Facebook Presence?

It’s easy to get lost in the business, you’re busy serving your clients and developing new products and services. Your business is growing, but it’s not reflecting in your social media growth and you’re beginning to worry that it might start affecting your business growth.

That might mean that’s time to take a step back and work “on” the business rather than “in” the business. Perhaps your brand and/or key messaging has become outdated? A fully optimized Facebook Business Page can be a critical tool for brand visibility and customer interaction, serving as a digital front for customer service and engagement.

The internet moves at a fast pace and that means that branding and messaging should represent what customers are looking for. Is your ideal client going to be attracted to your branding, key messaging, and website design? If not, it might be time for a rebrand.

Engaging with Your Audience

Utilizing Facebook Insights to Inform Engagement Tactics

Facebook Insights is a powerful tool that provides valuable data about your Facebook page and audience. Here are some ways to utilize Facebook Insights to inform your engagement tactics:

  • Analyze Your Audience Demographics: Understand who your audience is and what they’re interested in. This information can help you tailor your content to better meet their needs.
  • Track Your Engagement Metrics: See what types of content are driving the most engagement. This can help you identify what’s working and what’s not.
  • Identify Your Top-Performing Content: See what content is resonating with your audience. Use this information to create more of the content that your audience loves.
  • Use Facebook Insights to Inform Your Content Strategy: Create content that resonates with your audience. By understanding what your audience likes and engages with, you can create a more effective content strategy.

By utilizing Facebook Insights, you’ll be able to create a data-driven engagement strategy that drives real results for your business.

Facebook Marketing Strategy

Developing a Facebook Marketing Strategy

Developing a successful Facebook marketing strategy involves several key steps. First, set clear goals for what you want to achieve, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, or generating leads. Knowing your objectives will guide your entire strategy.

Next, define your target audience using Facebook’s analytics tools to understand their demographics, interests, and behaviors. This insight will help you create content that resonates with them.

A content calendar is essential for planning and organizing your posts. Include a mix of promotional, educational, and engaging content to keep your audience interested.

Utilize Facebook’s advertising platform to reach a wider audience and drive conversions. Facebook ads can be highly targeted, allowing you to reach specific segments of your audience with tailored messages.

Regularly monitor your performance using Facebook analytics and adjust your strategy based on what’s working and what’s not. By staying flexible and responsive, you can continually improve your Facebook marketing efforts and achieve your goals.

Want to kickstart your Facebook growth? Our team can help.

Digital marketing helps grow your business. But how do you do it strategically, in a way that minimizes your investment of time and money while maximizing conversions?

All marketing works best (or even only) by creating genuine human connections. You could have the best creative, the smartest key messaging, the biggest marketing budget, and the greatest product, but if you don’t know who you are actually talking to, or you’re not making a memorable connection with your ideal client, all your efforts will be for nothing.

Rather than pumping more money into a marketing strategy that’s not working as you wanted it to, take a step back and focus on finding your dream client.

Ready to start driving sales? Speak to our team today.

Who is Your Target Audience?

The best way to stop your creative assets disappear into thin air is to define your target audience. That’s right, instead of broadcasting your message to everyone and their dog, you need to talk to the right people. That means fewer than you might actually believe.

Obviously, while we all want the maximum number of customers, trying to appeal to everyone on the whole internet will simply not work. For one thing, your product or service won’t be relevant to everyone. For another, they might not resonate with your brand.

Knowing who you are talking to and why you are talking to them is the beginning of any successful digital marketing campaign. It all starts by defining your target audience and talking only to them. A target audience is, in essence, a subset of people who share a set of common characteristics that is most likely to purchase your product. This could consist of their age, gender, location, interests, etc. It’s your job to figure out who that is.

Learn about Google E-A-T and its impact on your SEO strategy

What Information Do You Already Have?

To define your target audience, you’re thankfully not starting from scratch. You probably have a pretty good idea of who is buying your product. You may even have a mailing list or a little bit of data. We recommend looking through all the information that you have about your current customers. You can do this! Here are a few characteristics to keep in mind:

  • Locations: Do they live in a certain area? Do they purchase from anywhere?
  • Interests: Do they care about the environment? Do they love to travel?
  • Lifestyle: Do they have children? Do they regularly talk about a certain hobby?
  • Communication: Do they even open their emails? Do they prefer social media?
  • Income: Single income with kids? Double income and no kids? This is important.
  • Gender: Do you notice mostly women or men purchasing from your business?
  • Education: Are they college-educated or learned a trade?

Write all of this down to start defining the group you need to be targeting.

How Many Target Audiences?

The next step is to define whether all that information fits into one group of people, or whether there are several groups with different characteristics. After all, the world is a big place and multiple different groups of people might be interested in your product. For example, it is perfectly possible that your business will attract first-time homebuyers and stay-at-home moms with three kids. That’s why a list is so helpful in identifying trends.

Time For an Imaginary Friend

The easiest way to approach this target audience is to create an audience persona. An audience persona is essentially your new imaginary friend who perfectly matches your ideal customer or customers. You can even give them a name! Not only does it make it easier to define that elusive target audience, it’s also much easier to talk to them.

For example, how would you feel about writing a message to a group of people who care about the environment, are between 28 and 35 years old, try to eat healthily, and love road trips. I’m sure you will be able to do this. But it might take you a few minutes of head-scratching to get something on paper. What if you’re writing a message directly to Jessica, who is 31 years old and who is always posting about her healthy food on Instagram and seems to be on a road trip to a beautiful forest every weekend. A bit easier, right?

Now it’s time to do the same for your customers. Maybe it’s Robert, the 52-year-old construction company executive who needs new equipment. Or Sarah, the 24-year-old new mom struggling to transition to motherhood. Or Bruce, the 64-year-old aerospace engineer organizing his finances before retirement. You get the idea.

Analytics Are Important in Defining Target Audience

Want to hear something surprising? The people seeing your content on Facebook or website might not be your ideal customer. Alternatively, it’s possible that the people buying the most from you might not be the people you originally had in mind as your target audience.

The best way to confirm your target audience and your marketing efforts align is to look into your analytics. Both Google and Facebook gather a vast amount of data about anyone who visits your website or who engages with your social media. Thankfully, they let us in on a little bit of this data. Here are a few ways to get the best out of your analytics.

Google Analytics

Anyone who owns a website can use Google Analytics. While a normal user may know Google as a search engine, website owners can gain a wealth of knowledge from the platform.

Google Analytics essentially tracks the movements of all website visitors and gathers data along the way, which is mostly used to optimize Google advertising. It can help you figure out how long people are spending on your website, where they are coming from, what search term they are using, who your audience is, and so much more.

To find this information in Google Analytics, go to the “Audience” tab. The most interesting tabs here will be the following:

  • Demographics: Here you will find the age and gender categories.
  • Interests: This is gold! Look at the overview to see which broader categories your audience is interested in. You can also dive deeper and look at both the Affinity and In-Market audiences tabs to gain a deeper understanding of the people who visit.
  • Geo: Here you can find the location of your audience and which language they speak. The latter might surprise you! This can open up a lot of doors for you.
  • Mobile: Find out whether your audience is visiting your website on their phones or from the desktop. This is important so you know where best to reach them.

Facebook Analytics

Another great tool to look into your audience is through Facebook Insights. Facebook is known to provide some of the most advanced segmenting options when it comes to targeted Facebook Ads. This, of course, means that they track an abundance of data. Head to your Facebook Insights now to find all the juicy info about your followers (and lurkers)!

To find your Insights, you first have to navigate to your Facebook Business Page. Click on the “People” tab to find out more about how old your followers are, where they live, and what language they have set on Facebook. Look at the “Posts” tab to discover what times they are online and what posts resonated the most with them. You can also see how your audience is growing, what type of posts your audience loves the most (photo or video).

You can even see what actions people are taking on your Facebook page. Are they clicking on your website or on your Action buttons, are they getting directions, or are they clicking on your phone number? Combine this information, and you now have a pretty good idea of who is following you and whether all of that content is achieving your business goals.

Compare Analytics and Target Audience

Now that we know who we want to reach (and have even created a few audience personas) and we know who sees our website and social media, we can see whether those audiences align! Did you get it right? Awesome! More than likely, though, this will be an opportunity to improve your digital marketing strategy by asking yourself a few questions:

  • Is my target audience following me on Facebook, or have they not found me yet?
  • How can I tweak my message so I speak more directly to my target audience?
  • Is my target audience reading my blog posts and visiting my website?
  • How can I make my website better so that it appeals more to my target audience?
  • Is my branding in line with what my target audience likes?
  • How can I use my website to solve my target audience’s problems better?
  • Are my analytics showing me that there is an untapped audience out there?

Want to maximize ROI by reaching the right people? We’ll help you find them.

There are a couple of reasons why we love HVAC marketing. First, we respect your commitment to exceptional customer service. Second, we appreciate the service businesses like yours provide in keeping people safe and comfortable during the winters. Third, we love working with our HVAC marketing clients to create a brand that makes a splash in your local community.

If your business has grown to a point where you’re ready to bring on a HVAC marketing partner, we’re glad you’re here. Stick with us, because we’re going to set out a step-by-step checklist to help you identify all the areas in which your business can grow, scale, and thrive.

Want to jump in the fast lane? Schedule a free consultation now.

HVAC Marketing Relies on a Strong Brand

Step one: Create a brand so your HVAC company stands out from the rest.

A brand is so much more than a pretty logo and a catchy slogan. It needs to capture the essence of your business. Is your business family run? Are you locally born and bred? Are you the experts in your field? Is there something you do that your competitors don’t? What gives you an edge?

You need to create a brand story that customers will remember. One of the most interesting aspects of HVAC marketing – particularly if you’re working in the residential space – is that emotions always sell more than facts. (Okay, yes, you got us. Big commercial sales are a different story, but for the purposes of this blog we’re going to focus on direct-to-consumer sales.) People care how you make them feel. They want to trust you and they want to feel safe in your hands.

Once you get this right, it will set the tone for all of the steps to come.

Start HVAC Marketing Through Local Search

Step two: Make your presence known on Google so customers can find you.

Okay, now that you have a brand, the easiest way to start getting sales is to set up a Google My Business profile. It’s free and it means you’ll show up right at the top of the list when people search for things like “HVAC near me” or “Boilers near me.” You can add information about your business, such as contact details and opening hours, to make it as easy as possible for people to connect.

Importantly, Google My Business has a review tool (more on that later), so make sure you check it regularly to acknowledge people who leave good reviews and thank people who leave bad reviews. Think of this as constructive criticism that can help you address customer concerns, improve parts of your business, and figure out how to deliver a better service to people in your area.

Set Up HVAC Marketing Ads on Facebook

Step three: Capitalize on the opportunity to reach people through Facebook.

The next most important step, when it comes to connecting with people in your area, is to run Facebook Ads targeted to your ZIP code. This ensures your name is delivered straight into the pockets of anyone who might be looking for you (or might need your services in the future).

Brand recognition is key here. We don’t need to tell you that HVAC is a highly cyclical business, so it makes sense that HVAC marketing follows similar patterns. Often, it’s about being in the right place at the right time, so you should plan a strategy that runs over 12 months to maximize impact.

Get Reviews to Boost Your HVAC Marketing

Step four: Collect reviews everywhere you can to build trust.

Reputation is the most valuable thing any business has. Nothing will help your business grow like word of mouth; however, reviews are a pretty close second. Remember how we touched on them earlier? Google My Business is a great way to get reviews. You can also collect them on a Facebook business page or by emailing customers and asking them to write a review at the end of each job.

Reviews don’t just have to sit and collect dust. You can also repurpose them as content and share them on all your social media channels as well as your website. They’re extremely persuasive if someone is thinking about working with you for the first time. HVAC jobs can be expensive, every new customer will want reassurance they’re in safe hands. Again, it all ties back to trust.

Start Creating Helpful HVAC Content Online

Step five: Invest in helpful “how-to” videos and blog content to attract new customers.

This might be a little bit outside your comfort zone, but content is one of the easiest ways to make sure your business shows up at the top of the results page on Google. When it comes to HVAC, the most common questions inevitably start with, “How to.” Here are some examples:

  • How to clean my air ducts
  • How to re-light my pilot light
  • How to reset my thermostat
  • How to safely maintain my furnace
  • How to tell if my boiler needs replacing

Creating a series of short videos, or a series of helpful blogs, is a big investment when it comes to time. However, it can pay dividends, because it establishes your business as a local authority and gives you a chance to make a great first impression before a customer even picks up the phone.

Optimize Your Digital Sales Eco-System

Step six: Make it as easy as possible for customer to take the next step.

A digital sales eco-system is a relatively new concept when it comes to marketing. The idea is that you should optimize your efforts so that you can generate leads while you sleep.

This means making it clear who you are and how you can help customers in your area (brand), making your business as easy as possible to find (Google My Business + Facebook), helping them understand why you’re the best choice (reviews + content), and making it super clear what they need to do next. For example, get in touch! Set up an appointment! Schedule a free consultation! Keep it consistent and make sure it’s super clear on every platform you’re using.

There are lots of digital tools available to streamline this process so you can take online bookings. Simply put, a digital sales eco-system means the leads come to you. All you have to do each morning is check your inbox for messages and look over your appointments for the day. That’s it.

Keep Your HVAC Marketing Strategy Fresh

Step seven: Remember that marketing evolves quickly so you can’t set-and-forget.

The last thing we want to mention quickly is that digital marketing changes all the time. The steps we’ve laid out in this blog won’t change, but your strategy and messaging may. It’s worth setting aside a bit of time every month to research best practice to ensure you’re up to date. This is a simple way to ensure you’re maximizing ROI on your time and money while growing your business.

Want to Bring on an HVAC Marketing Partner?

If you’re nodding your head in agreement, but thinking there’s no way you’ll have enough to time plan and execute all of these steps on top of running your business, don’t stress.

That’s where we come in. Beacon Media + Marketing is a digital marketing agency based in Anchorage, Alaska, and Reno, Nevada. We specialize in helping HVAC businesses reach the next level – for example, Moore Heating. We achieved a 742% increase in web traffic with more than 180 new client inquiries every month. Sound good? You could be our next successful case study.

Ready to get started? Schedule a free consultation here.