Etched Marketing is Changing to Better Serve You

As we enter the new year, I like to take a look back at how my clients (or my own business) marketing efforts performed over the year. I think it’s important to reflect upon both your successes and challenges. If you only look at the success, you miss a big part of the picture.

So, some changes are coming, and they’re based on both the successes and challenges that I experienced this year. 2017 was my first year as a full-time entrepreneur. While Etched Marketing was a dream and something I’d wanted to create for more than a decade, I didn’t take the risk and go full-time until last spring. And honestly, having 20 years experience in marketing is great but it still didn’t thoroughly prepare me for entrepreneurship life. I missed simple things like a steady paycheck early on. Who wouldn’t? I will say, receiving the first paycheck to me from my own business was a highlight.

What’s Staying the Same for the Agency?

First, what’s working. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some great brands this year and help guide them in their marketing efforts. I’ve crafted digital marketing strategies, social media marketing campaigns, Facebook Ads campaigns for the holidays, competitive research, SEO campaigns, and more. It’s been a fantastic year, and I’ve loved working with my clients and getting to know them.

What’s Changing on the Agency Side?

In 2018, I hope to continue to work with my one on one clients and provide marketing strategy, guide their marketing programs, and help them achieve their goals. Having worked in a large New York Ad Agency for years, I was used to clients with big marketing budgets. Clients who could invest hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on their programs as long as they continued to meet the performance goals. It was a bit challenging to figure out how to adjust strategies and tactics to the budgets of small businesses and startups. I initially worked with a handful of clients who had minimal budgets and came to realize there has to be an investment of at least $1,500 each month for them to see results in a reasonable timeframe.

What’s Next for Etched Marketing?

Not every small business, entrepreneur or startup can afford that $1,500 minimum monthly investment to hire a professional marketer. Sometimes $500 is a big chunk of the company’s budget. I’ve talked to some small business owners who want to hire someone but quickly realize they can’t. And that’s why I created Etched Marketing Academy in 2017.

Marketing Training, from an Agency?

I want to teach people how to market their business the right way. There are so many self-proclaimed online marketing gurus out there, and much of what they’re sharing is wrong. The strategies don’t work, and they don’t have enough professional background to understand it was a one-off win, not a sound marketing strategy. Since I run both Etched Marketing, a full-service digital marketing agency and Etched Marketing Academy, I can ensure the information that we’re sharing is correct and follows best practices and aligns with industry standards. If potential clients aren’t able to hire someone to help them, I want to ensure they can learn how to do it the right way themselves.

What Does this Mean for The Etched Blog?

You’ll continue to see lots of high-quality content pieces that focus on our core digital marketing channels of SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing. I’ll also be adding in some information about entrepreneurship, leadership, and business in general where it makes sense. The content on The Etched Blog will focus on hands-on applications, how-to guides, step-by-step process insights, and at the core everything that’s produced will be helpful for business owners and marketers who want to learn more about how to grow their business through SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing.

Find Etched Marketing on Social Media

Each week, there will be a new blog post, and I’ll be hosting a Free Facebook Live Marketing Training on the Etched Marketing Facebook Page where we’ll delve into the topic at hand deeper. I’d love it if you’d follow along, ask questions, and let me know what marketing related questions you have. I’ve also created a brand new Facebook Group for anyone who wants to learn how to market their business on a shoestring budget. Each week we’ll talk about ways to stretch your budget, what you’re working on, free tools, and tips you can use.

New Free Monthly Marketing Planning Session

Finally, we’ll be hosting a free monthly marketing planning session on Facebook. Each month, we’ll create a guidebook you can use to create your social media and blog posts for the month, and we’ll go through them step-by-step so you can leave the training session with your content ideas ready to implement. No more stressing about what to post today, you’ll have it prepared ahead of time! It helps a lot. Believe me.

Training Programs from Etched Marketing Academy

As the year progresses, Etched Marketing Academy will offer new training programs in both SEO and Content Marketing. We’ll soon be teaching our Content Planning & Batching training, Keyword Research Secrets training, and a full SEO training is coming in early 2018. Watch for more exciting training programs throughout the year.

Request your copy of the monthly content planning guide here and catch the Facebook Live training session replay here so you can plan your email, blog, and social media content too.