Bridget Willard | SaaS Marketing Agency

Author: Bridget Willard

  • What Do You Get From a Marketing Consult?

    Consultants have gotten a bad wrap in the media for years. I still remember watching the movie Office Space and laughing so hard at the consultants as they re-interviewed current employees for their jobs. This scene is awesome. But I digress.

    What Is A Marketing Consult?

    A marketing consultation or consult is where you hire a marketing professional for a conversation to gain their insight.

    Marketing consults can be either phone or video calls, depending upon the consultant. The goal of a marketing consult or consultation is to unblock you. A good consultant should ask a lot of questions to help clarify your goals and help create a plan to go forward. If your marketing consultation doesn’t feel a little bit like therapy, it’s not the right person for you.

    Most of my consulting clients take their own notes and leave with homework. Often they schedule a follow-up call.

    Book Now

    How Does A Marketing Consultant Charge?

    Though I charge for the hour, I do not pro-rate the time. Meaning, the advice and insight given during a consultation comes from my considerable and diverse experience. The value is in the advice, even if it’s given in the last five minutes of the call.

    Because I genuinely care for my clients, I often send them follow-up tools, materials, or referrals as it comes to mind. There’s no extra charge for kindness, right?

    How Much Should Marketing Consultation Cost?

    You can pay anywhere from $1.00/min to $16.67/min on Clarity.

    The better question is what type of value and growth will happen once you execute the advice? The advice is awesome but you still have to do the work.

    How much is investing in your own business worth?

    Will your business make $1,000 more a month?

    How much is that worth to you?

    Do You Need a Marketing Consult?

    It depends. Do you want advice? Are you stuck? If you don’t have time to follow up on the advice, maybe it’s not a good time. Like therapy, sometimes the act of talking to a professional brings the clarity you desire.

    I’ve advised my clients on a variety of topics including:

    • Pricing
    • Job Costing
    • Time Blocking
    • Auditing Website Copy
    • Audience Insight
    • Blogging Topics
    • How to Reach Your Audience
    • Email Marketing Strategy
    • Social Media Marketing Strategy
    • Opposition Research

    Reviews of Bridget’s Marketing Consultations

    “…we ended our conversion with us both laughing after I said ‘I need more monitors for more chrome tabs…’ It was a great call. If you haven’t talked with her yet, you really should line up a call!” Malcolm Peralty

    “Great chatting with [Bridget] today about marketing my plugins! Now I need to get after my homework.” Kathy Darling

    “An hour of talking can make an impact! We have booked an hour-long video call with Bridget and it was totally worth it. She was able to quickly define our main problem and fears associate with it. In addition, tips and tactics on where to start and how to move forward were shared during the meeting. Before the meeting, I had small doubts that an hour is even enough to cover the intro part of the problems, but it was very productive.” Raitis Sevelis

  • Auditing Your Blog Posts – Keep, Delete, Revise

    As your website grows and you’ve been regularly publishing, there comes a time to audit your blog. What articles should you keep, delete, or revise?

    Auditing Your Site Is A Lot of Work

    So, when will you audit your site? You could do this every quarter or every year. It really depends upon your industry and how much it changes. If the things you write about change often (interest rates, for example), then you will want to audit posts of that type.

    Regardless of how you decide to do it, it should be done. By all means, don’t just willy nilly delete posts that are older than X years. These aren’t tax records you’re throwing out. It’s content. Content is easier to revise than create. So, be mindful.

    Of course, Yoast has extensive articles on this subject. You should definitely read their article on how to perform a SEO audit. My approach is less data-centric and more brand-centric. Is it true? Is it mostly true? Or is it total crap?

    Keep These Posts

    You read the post and you’re still proud of it. It resonates with your brand. The message is spot on. The facts are still true. Maybe this is an article you should post on Facebook and boost for $20. Get that bad boy some more traffic! It deserves attention.

    Delete These Posts

    When you’re writing about things that evolve, sometimes products and services die. There may be some parts of the article that ring true and could be salvaged, but unlikely. If you read it and feel completely embarrassed. Delete it. I’ve deleted articles about Blab.im and Google Plus. If you even know what those are. They died.

    If you have two articles that are similar they could be merged — then you revise them. Honestly, I think that’s more work.

    You can 301 these articles or not. It depends on the SEO professional that you listen to and your own business goals. If I didn’t like it, I’m doubtful people are also looking at it. But refer to your own Google Analytics. I’m not going to pretend I’m an SEO professional.

    Revise These Posts

    Revising posts can be a great way to keep content fresh. Maybe you’re writing about Twitter like I do. Twitter changes things — often. I am constantly having to edit posts for technical details that have changed.

    If the article still rings true to you and your brand, then keep it but update it. Maybe add in a video. Find quotes from your peers and their blog posts. Spruce it up. Spend maybe 30 minutes once a week on these.

    Questions to Ask Yourself

    • Has technical information changed but the premise is solid?
    • Does the feature image need to be updated to reflect my current branding?
    • Is the meta description there and/or can it be revised to look better?
    • Is the headline good?
    • Should the URL be changed? If yes, then be sure to put in a 301 redirect.

    After the Post is Revised

    Blog Audit: Start Somewhere

    For me, downloading some sitemap or looking at a giant spreadsheet of all of my articles would be so overwhelming, I would do nothing. My philosophy is that something is better than nothing.

    So, I use Revive Old Post on this website to cycle my content on Twitter. When people respond to those tweets, it comes to my attention. I make it a point to look at one of those articles once a week. It’s part of my block of time that I dedicate to my business on Friday afternoons.

    Oh yeah, have you downloaded my content planner yet? This might help you organize your writing and social posts!

  • How To Be A Good Podcast Guest

    Being a guest on a podcast is an important way to market yourself. As Warren Laine-Naida would say, being a podcast guest is great off-page SEO. You’re finally invited to be a guest. Easy right? Wait. Let’s talk about this a little bit.

    To get the best response to the podcast — and to be invited again — it’s important you’re a good guest. So, I bet you’re wondering how you can do it well? Is it easy to be a good podcast guest? You’d think it would be. But it isn’tI

    Aside from being on a few podcasts and interviews, I was the co-host of The Smart Marketing Show (WPblab) from 2015-2021. Believe me, you can be a bad guest on a podcast. I’ve also started my own series of interviews called “.”

    It’s important for podcast guests to get the tech right, be prepared, show up on time, not deliver a monologue, and actually listen to the podcast.

    A Good Podcast Guest Gets the Tech Right

    WPwatercooler, for example, has guest guidelines (which you can read here). If the podcast host or producer gives you guidelines, follow them.

    Suffice it to say that you should have the following:

    A Good Podcast Guest is a Prepared Guest

    Every host has their own style. Some of them like to ask specific questions and others riff. You may even receive critical questions ahead of time. Read through them the day or week before. Be a prepared guest. Unprepared guests aren’t invited back. And the podcasting world is very small. Hosts talk to each other about guests. So, if you’re not a good guest, you may hurt your reputation.

    A Good Podcast Guest Listens to the Podcast

    Listen to at least one episode of the podcast you’ll be on. Two may be better. You want to understand how you can fit into their podcast, not the other way around. Being a good guest means serving someone else’s audience. So, it’s not about you. If that bothers you, start your own podcast. And, don’t forget to promote your episode — before — and long after it’s been recorded. Even better; write a recap and include a link to the podcast. As an example, Scott Rogerson of UpContent did this when he was on my show.

    A Good Podcast Guest Is Concise

    It’s tempting to deliver a monologue but, remember it’s not your show. It’s also not about you. Allow the hosts to ask their questions. Give concise answers — soundbites. It’s good to elaborate but be mindful. Allow the hosts to ask follow-up questions. Try to stay on track. This is even more important if the podcast is edited. Take breaths. You don’t have to say everything that comes to your mind. I promise.

    A Good Podcast Shows Up Early

    Be on time. And when I say on time, I mean early. We all have bad days. All of us. But schedules are crazy for everyone. Do your best to plan for buffer time. Live podcasts may start at 9:00 AM for example but the pre-show is at 8:45 AM.

    Want More Podcasting and Speaking Tips?

    I’ve built a playlist on YouTube. This includes tips for podcasts that include video as well as in-person tips.

  • How To Effectively Write Social Posts

    We all know we should publish social posts. We tweet or post to Facebook, but what is the best way to do it? How should the posts be formatted? When should we post? Let’s discuss.

    Why Does Formatting Matter?

    Formatting standardizes your social posts in a way that makes your personal workflow optimal. Adhering to these best practices has helped me build my own brand as well as many others.

    You’re completely free to disagree and disregard. With that, however, I ask for an open mind. Try my method for two weeks. See if you get more replies, engagement, and impressions. Do your own test.

    More after this video.

    People Scan, They Don’t Read

    It’s true. People don’t read. They scan. Think about yourself. You’re busy. You open your phone or browser to see what’s happening on your favorite social platform. What’s the first thing you do? Scroll?

    In order to get attention, how you format your social media post makes a huge difference.

    Stop Excessively Using Emoji

    Emoji are visual. They are pictures. Our brain processes images differently than words. (Remember the last time you made a spelling error on a graphic? It’s a different part of the brain.)

    Emoji use falls under “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” I know you love your emoji. If you must, use them at the end. Or a GIF (which is automatically at the end). Emoji are not bullet points.

    Who is your audience? Can they see the emoji? Most people over 40 who wear reading glasses. Even with my glasses, I don’t always know what the emoji is. I thought the sushi one was a lobster roll and I thought the slot machine was a house. They are too dang small. I’m not even talking about legit accessibility issues with screen readers.

    Carin Arrigo uses a purple heart at the end of her tweets. She’s using it to reinforce her brand. Purple was her mother’s favorite color. She honors her in all that she does.

    Don’t Hashtag Words Within Your Main Copy

    I find myself saying this often: hashtags are links. They are for filtering and search. Use them at the end so your copy is easy to scan and read.

    Formatting for Social Networks

    Each network has their own quirks. This is one of the many reasons why auto cross-posting is a bad idea. Instead, mix up your content and share it intentionally across time.

    Formatting for Twitter

    Just because you have 260 characters (or whatever they change it to in the future), doesn’t mean you have to use them.

    [Intriguing quote or question]

    [Call to Action]

    [short link]

    [Hashtag1]

    [Hashtag2]

    [Hashtag3]

    I use Revive Old Post on this blog (to cycle my content on Twitter).  Unfortunately, I can’t format my tweets that way. I really wish I could put the link before the hashtags. Oh well. Nothing is perfect or fool-proof.

    Formatting for Facebook

    Facebook uses Open Graph to pull in the featured image and meta description. Sometimes people don’t realize that image is a link to click on. For this reason, I like to nest the link in between paragraphs.

    [Intriguing quote or question]

    [short link]

    [Call to Action]

    When you hire me you get me.

    You don’t get an intern and you don’t get automation.

    http://bit.ly/BridgetsServices

    What do you get from a social media manager you find on Craigslist?

    Posted by You, Too, Can Be A Guru on Friday, January 17, 2020

    Formatting for LinkedIn

    LinkedIn is pretty straight forward. Sharing content is easy and it doesn’t matter if you use a short link or not. Sometimes, LinkedIn gets fussy if the link is shortened. So, go ahead and use the long, ugly link at the end. You can be pretty wordy on LinkedIn if you like, too. People actually read on LinkedIn.

    [Intriguing quote or question]

    [Call to Action]

    [website link]

    Formatting for Instagram

    Instagram is pretty simple and direct. It’s great to use a bunch of hashtags. You can’t even use a link. The big problem where I see people going wrong is taking screenshots of fliers that no one can read.

    I made a tutorial on how to use Canva to make these images instead.

    [Intriguing quote or question]

    [Call to Action]

    [hashtag] [hashtag] [hashtag]

    [hashtag] [hashtag] [hashtag]

    [hashtag] [hashtag] [hashtag]

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B7R6eCfHwKu/

    Formatting for Success

    Formatting your social posts allows people to notice and engage with your content. I double dog dare you to try it for two to four weeks. Look at your analytics. Notice your mentions increase.

    If it doesn’t work for you, I offer a free, money-back-guarantee to this advice.

    What do you have to lose?

  • Donations Are Important To Your Business

    Making donations is an important way to give back as a business. Nonprofits do important work. Instead of donating a portion of my income to one nonprofit, I spread out the love among several.

    I used to spend quite a bit of my time volunteering. Sometimes volunteer hours are harder to give. I even wrote about the value of my volunteer time for WordCamp Orange County.

    Supporting Nonprofits

    Ten percent of my profit (which goes up and down so sometimes it’s a larger percentage) is dedicated to donations to nonprofits. I support a variety of causes from nature conservation, to ministries, tech education, to the underserved.

    Recurring donations are a monthly subscription (think Netflix). It is much easier for me to do it this way than one-time donations.

    I am a recurring donor for The Nature Conservancy, Oxfam, WP&UP, freeCodeCamp, WWF, University Christian Ministries, and the National Domestic Abuse Hotline.

    Amazon Smile & More

    I also support Sea Turtle, Inc. with my Amazon Smile Purchases and I regularly donate books and clothes to my local Goodwill. I’ve been doing that since my late husband passed away in 2016.

    How Do You Spread the Love?

    My friend Beth from Adventure Auto Glass supports animal charities from their business. I love this so much. It’s part of who they are as people and resonates in their brand. What nonprofits does your business support?