Guilty of these 4 marketing mistakes?
Marketing is not a one-off investment
These usually run for 1k words+ (this one’s 1.2k words), so please excuse the grammatical errors.
For the longest time, I kept pushing off posting on LinkedIn.
While it didn’t start with copywriting, I’ve been freelancing since 2018. And until last year, all of my work came through referrals or cold pitching.
But I knew there needed to come a point where I needed to bite the bullet on LinkedIn.
I was ‘active’ on LinkedIn - commenting on posts, writing posts for others (people and companies) and even creating content strategy for a few clients. But the thought of doing it for myself was a little too overwhelming.
So, I made the decision to hire someone. Well, hire two someone’s.
The first hire was a LinkedIn ‘influencer’ with 30k+ followers.
If you want to understand why I’m so critical of influencers, like in this post, it stems from this incident.
It was a package of 16 sessions paid for upfront but I fired her by the fifth session.
Thanks to her poor work ethic and only hearing generic advice you’ve heard a million times on the platform (Oh, I’m supposed to wait 30 minutes and add three comments to my post?), I knew enough to know she was no expert.
Not to mention, she was late for four out of five sessions.
The second hire for my LinkedIn was a copywriter.
To be specific, an amateur copywriter whose posts did really well on LinkedIn. She’d asked for a ‘coffee chat’ a few months prior to learn from me, I liked her demeanor and really enjoyed reading her posts.
I told her, “Hey, can you help me figure this LinkedIn thing out?” and even though she had no portfolio, I made the decision to hire her for strategy and editing.
And with that, I started my LinkedIn journey in February 2024. I think it’s going great? I don’t know - you tell me.
We worked together for a few months until I was confident I could do what I was doing for some of my previous clients.
You need to be on at least one marketing platform
Posting on LinkedIn was embarrassing in the beginning. It still kind of is, but like I’ve mentioned time and again, showing up is necessary.
But you don’t have to be on a platform just because everyone else is.
I talk about it to a a greater extent in this post, but finding the platform you do want to be on takes time and effort.
Just because you hire an expert doesn’t mean it’ll work out.
Even if you do hire someone who is very good, are you willing to stick to that initial plan for months and years?
You wouldn’t believe how often I’ve had to repeat this for freelance clients
So, here’s the thing. I’ve done a ton of freelance roles since 2018 - blog writing, ghost writing, social media management and strategy for Instagram and LinkedIn, video editing, SEO specialist. Obviously now, I stick to website copy.
That last one is something I’m really good at😉.
It’s not like I went looking for it - I was on retainer with a bunch of clients, including agencies, and they’d go, “Hey, can you do this?” and I’d go, “Sure! Let’s go,” and it always ended up going really well.
It’s why I understand marketing and the buyer’s journey so well. Because I know where people are when they come across you and what convinces them to buy from you.
But with each of these things? I’ve had to repeat one thing.
There is no such thing as a one-off investment for marketing.
Yes, your website (copy/design/development) is a one-off investment but that’s an asset.
Marketing is about nurturing and influencing people’s perception of you. One LinkedIn post or a single welcome email is not going to change that.
In fact, you’re losing out by thinking marketing is a one-off investment.
Are you guilty of these marketing mistakes?
How often have you started posting on a marketing platform and then suddenly stopped?
Do you only post something a few weeks before launching a new offer?
Are you posting something people are interested in or are you just selling?
Lastly, even if you do post on a specific platform, do you enjoy posting on it or are you posting for the sake of posting?
I know I’m guilty of more than one.
But it’s all part of the learning curve - one that involves finding a marketing platform (or two or three) you’ll enjoy posting on and making a plan to stick to it for at least two years.
But if you don’t like it? Jump ship asap. You don’t need to stick to something you don’t enjoy.
I’m jumping ship with this newsletter.
To be specific, I’m switching email platforms.
Substack has been okay but it doesn’t offer the capabilities I’m looking for (oh, did I mentioned I used to also do email strategy and copy for a few clients?).
Specifically, with list segmentation and how my ‘free website audit’ is kind of a mess at the moment. I want to host workshops and provide free resources (freebies), but that’s not going to happen if I stick to Substack.
Secondly, this is not an email platform. I knew that going into this but I’ve gotten what I came for - which is learning how to write a newsletter for my business that I can be proud of and sticking to it consistently.
I mean, it’s Friday and despite scrapping the original idea I had in mind and rewriting this from scratch just today, you still got this in your inbox - like you have been, for the last few months.
You’ll receive another email about the changes in the next few weeks once I find time to switch over platforms.
Ps, if you think someone would enjoy reading this newsletter - would you mind sharing this with them? Tell them, they’ll get a free 5 minute audit of their website copy - but that’ll last only until the end of this year.
Also, if you enjoy these, reply and let me know! I love when I get replies in my inbox and in the comments!
Happy marketing,
Maria John
Ps: If you don’t remember, hi - I’m a website copywriter who positions creatives as go-to experts.
You’ve subscribed to my weekly newsletter, ‘Room for Marketing’ where I help creative entrepreneurs learn how to make room for marketing in their business in easy, actionable steps.
If you’d like to connect, here’s my Website & LinkedIn.
Want to work with me?
If your website and messaging doesn’t reflect why clients love working with you, you should check out my website narrative offer. I have two spots left for the year and prices will soon go up after they’re filled.
You won’t just get 3-5 pages website copy that positions you as an expert but also get:
A 1:1 offer-positioning workshop that runs for 3-6 hours.
Client research and interviews
2 free revision overhauls (and I do mean free overhaul like I’ve explained here)
If your website hasn’t been acting as a sales agent for you - but you want that to change by the time 2025 rolls around - check out everything you’ll get, including prices, here.