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The Ultimate Guide to Employee Advocacy: 115 Techniques To Empower Your Team, Drive Engagement and Build Brand Awareness on Social Media
The ultimate guide to creating, managing and improving an employee advocacy or ambassadorship campaignwith 115 proven strategies to empower your employees to start showing up for themselves and your brand on social media (wit a focus on LinkedIn).
I’ve worked with a lot of small companies and big professional services businesses delivering ongoing social media content and one of the most common complaints is why their company page content typically gets engagement from their own people and less from any true prospects or new audiences.
Firstly, it’s never a bad thing if you’re getting engagement from your own people. If your people engage, then their connections are likely to see the content also, and that’s who you want to reach. However, I've seen firsthand how personal LinkedIn accounts can significantly outperform company pages in reach and engagement, so a REALLY successful social media campaign depends on your own people not just liking or commenting supportively but having their own large and engaged audience online.
The LinkedIn algorithm massively favours individual users in terms of reach and engagement but there is still an important role for company pages. The opportunity is massive - activating your staff as brand ambassadors can be the secret to driving substantial growth in sales and talent acquisition but it requires training, consistency, positive communication and trust in your people.
This comprehensive list of 115 actionable techniques is designed to help you empower your team to elevate their LinkedIn activity, enhancing both their personal profiles and your organisation's visibility and success.
I’ve grouped these into sections to make this a bit easier to handle. If you want to come back to read more here’s some shortcuts to the various sections:
Understanding LinkedIn's Importance
Educate employees on LinkedIn’s role in professional networking: Host regular workshops or training sessions to explain how LinkedIn is a powerful tool for building professional connections, finding new opportunities, and staying updated on industry trends.
Share industry-specific LinkedIn success stories: Highlight case studies and examples of how other professionals in your industry have successfully used LinkedIn to advance their careers and contribute to their company's growth.
Explain how LinkedIn can enhance personal and company brand: Demonstrate how active participation on LinkedIn can help employees build their personal brand, showcase their expertise, and enhance the company’s reputation.
Discuss LinkedIn's impact on lead generation and client acquisition: Provide data and examples showing how LinkedIn can be an effective channel for generating leads and acquiring new clients, making it a valuable tool for both personal and company growth.
Setting Up for Success in Employee Advocacy
Collaborate on the plan: Take time to share the objectives of your employee advocacy plan with senior management and gain their buy-in (and hopefully their participation!). You’ll allay concerns that teammates will be taken away from their day-to-day work to post online or that they’ll be put under pressure to post if they don’t want to.
Employee advocacy can never be mandated! It has to be encouraged but freely given!
Get buy-in from senior leadership but make sure to spellcheck your presentation in case you didn’t spell ‘employee’ properly.
6. Get your baseline: Take time to look at your current metrics in terms of sales/lead generation, website traffic acquisition, average applications per role, conversion rates, social media reach and engagement. We’ll need to report on progress as we go.
7. Everything is content: Ensure all team leaders and department heads understand that social media is no longer just the domain of the marketing team and that everything is content! Client site visits, awards, visiting delegations from senior colleagues, staff secondments, new business wins, old business retention, anniversaries, new babies! There’s a place for all of it in your content schedule
8. Sharing is Caring: Highlighting the need for content to senior teammates is one thing but creating a platform where stories can be pulled from is another. Ensure the person steering this juggernaut is involved in a Slack channel, weekly email or management meeting where these stories are shared and that social content is part of every senior-level meeting agenda!
9. Hub: Create a central hub for all things related to your brand including logos, font file (if using something non-standard) and approved graphics for header images, email signature blocks etc. When there’s an update to promote a specific content theme or new product launch or awareness campaign, make sure your team know about it and that they have access to all the assets they need to align with your brand.
10. And spoke: Creating a communication channel to share suggested content, increase engagement with your participants and reward engaged ambassadors is an essential element. But bear in mind the size of your organisation and the number of participants. A Slack channel that is constantly buzzing will end up being muted and ignored. If your entire advocacy program is comprised of more than say 30 people, consider splitting the group up by function/location / level of engagement/seniority or some other classification that will allow you to deliver more relevant content and support where it is needed and keep the notifications to a useful and not distracting level.
11. Start Small: If this is your first time running an employee advocacy campaign for your business it’s advisable to start with a more select ‘ambassadorship’ programme for employees. Select 5-10 willing participants and work with them individually to raise their profile online. Once they’ve done it, their teammates (and senior management) have a template for success and the business case has been proven for a larger roll out!
Perfect Profiles for Your Employees
12. Guide on choosing a professional profile photo: Advise employees to use a high-quality, professional headshot that is clear, well-lit, and represents them in a positive light. Why not offer a ‘headshot day’ with a photographer and make it a fun event with hair and make-up on-site for those who need it!
Yes, gurl, this headshot is serving face and representing executive realness, okurrr? Slay.
13. Steps to write a compelling LinkedIn headline: Teach employees to craft a headline that not only states their job title but also includes key skills and industry keywords to make their profiles more searchable.
14. Tips for crafting a detailed and engaging summary: Encourage employees to write a summary that highlights their professional achievements, skills, and career aspirations, making it engaging and reflective of their personal brand.
15. How to list experience effectively: Show employees how to list their job experiences in a way that highlights their accomplishments and responsibilities, using quantifiable metrics where possible.
16. Adding relevant skills and endorsements: Guide employees on selecting and listing relevant skills, and encourage them to seek endorsements from colleagues and clients to validate their expertise.
17. Requesting and writing recommendations: Explain the importance of having recommendations and provide tips on how to request and write meaningful recommendations that highlight specific skills and experiences.
18. Customising your LinkedIn URL: Teach employees how to customise their LinkedIn URL to make it more professional and easier to share, such as using their name or a variation of it.
19. Updating contact information: Ensure employees keep their contact information up to date, including their email address and any other relevant links, making it easy for potential connections to reach them.
20. Setting up profile sections in the optimal order: Guide employees on arranging their LinkedIn profile sections in a logical order that highlights the most important information first, such as experience, skills, and recommendations.
21. Ensuring consistent profile information across platforms: Advise employees to maintain consistency in their professional information to build a cohesive and professional online presence.
Helping Your Employees Find Good Content
22. Create and share a company content calendar: Create an editorial schedule and share it at the start of each month with your employee ambassadors so teammates can have time to think about how they will reshare it to their own audiences
23. Crowdsource content: Share a long-term content plan and ask your team to contribute their knowledge and experience to it. Their involvement makes their participation in distribution much more likely!
24. Sharing company blog posts: Encourage employees to regularly share blog posts from the company website, adding their own insights or comments to personalise the content and engage their network.
25. Posting industry news and trends: Advise employees to stay updated on industry news and trends, sharing relevant articles and adding their own perspectives to demonstrate thought leadership. Research news sources specific to both industry and job function to make this easier for your teammates in finance, sales, marketing and IT!
26. Creating and sharing infographics: Create or encourage the creation of visually appealing infographics that simplify complex information, making it more engaging and shareable.
27. Writing LinkedIn articles: Motivate employees to write and publish LinkedIn articles on topics relevant to their expertise, helping to establish themselves as thought leaders.
28. Posting video content: Suggest creating short, professional videos that offer tips, insights, or behind-the-scenes looks at the company, as video content tends to have higher engagement.
29. Sharing event updates and highlights: Encourage employees to share updates and highlights from industry events or company activities they attend, showcasing their involvement and the company’s engagement in the industry.
I hope they don’t call me up on stage, those steps look shoddily made.
30. From the Vaults: Encourage teammates to dig through your archive of content to resurrect a good article to reshare
31. Repurposed and revived: A great way to get more mileage from a piece of content is to repurpose it in multiple ways. Just released an industry survey? Landing page with the full document download (lead magnet), key findings article, 5 stats infographic, key findings carousel, animated stats video, talking head interview with research leader, improvised to camera pieces by relevant staff members highlighting the relevance to their specific audience, fun video asking multiple people what their opinion of the most interesting stat in the report is.
32. Posting personal insights and experiences: Encourage employees to share their personal insights and professional experiences, making their posts more relatable and engaging.
33. Sharing client success stories (with permission): Highlight client success stories to showcase the impact of the company’s work, ensuring client confidentiality and approval.
The Nitty Gritty of What (and how) to Post on LinkedIn
34. Using hashtags effectively: Educate employees on the strategic use of hashtags to increase the visibility of their posts to relevant audiences (and use a specific hashtag to help you monitor participation).
35. Timing posts for maximum engagement: Provide guidance on the best times to post on LinkedIn based on when their audience is most active, to maximise reach and engagement (hint - it's the morning).
36. Writing engaging post captions: Teach employees how to write captivating captions that encourage interaction, using questions, calls to action, or intriguing statements.
37. Incorporating images into posts: Emphasise the importance of using high-quality images in posts to attract attention and enhance engagement.
38. I get so emoji-nal baby: Using emojis is totally fine for LinkedIn. Just don’t overuse them and ensure everyone knows what an eggplant and peach emoji REALLY mean…
39. Creating LinkedIn polls: Encourage the use of LinkedIn polls to engage their network, gather insights, and stimulate discussions on relevant topics.
Specific Types of Content for Your Employees
40. Sharing case studies: Motivate employees to share detailed case studies that highlight the company's successes and expertise, providing valuable insights to their network.
41. Promoting webinars and online events: Advise employees to promote company webinars and online events, adding their own insights on why the event is valuable.
42. Sharing behind-the-scenes content: Encourage the sharing of behind-the-scenes content to give a human touch to the company and build a stronger connection with the audience.
Hurry up and take the picture Jeff! Are you recording a video? Jeff!
43. Posting about company culture: Highlight aspects of the company culture in posts to attract potential talent and show a positive workplace environment.
44. Announcing new hires and promotions: Share news about new hires and employee promotions to celebrate achievements and introduce new team members to the network.
45. Highlighting corporate social responsibility initiatives: Showcase the company's CSR initiatives to demonstrate commitment to social and environmental causes.
46. Promoting job openings: Advise employees to share job openings within their network to help attract qualified candidates.
47. Sharing book recommendations: Encourage sharing of industry-relevant book recommendations to spark discussions and provide value to their network.
48. Posting motivational quotes relevant to your industry: Use motivational quotes that resonate with industry professionals to inspire and engage their network.
49. Creating a series of themed posts: Suggest creating a series of posts around a specific theme or topic to build anticipation and sustained engagement.
50. Sharing updates on ongoing projects: Keep the network informed about ongoing projects to highlight the company's continuous efforts and successes.
51. Highlighting team achievements: Celebrate team achievements publicly to boost morale and showcase the company’s collaborative environment.
52. Sharing professional development tips: Provide tips and advice on professional development to add value to the network and position the employee as a resourceful professional.
Engagement Strategies for Employee Ambassadors
53. Create the network: Ensure everyone in your company has your company page linked in their profile as their current employer and are following the page and ideally have notifications enabled.
54. Build connections: Encourage everyone in your company to connect to EVERYONE else in your company and to proactively engage, share content with each other and tag each other whenever they see something that might be relevant to their teammates.
55. Commenting on relevant industry posts: Encourage employees to actively comment on posts from industry leaders and peers to engage in meaningful conversations and increase visibility.
56. Liking and sharing peers' content: Advise employees to support and amplify the content shared by their colleagues and peers, fostering a sense of community and mutual growth.
57. Joining and participating in LinkedIn Groups: Suggest joining relevant LinkedIn Groups and participating in discussions to network with like-minded professionals and share expertise.
58. Engaging with company posts: Encourage employees to like, comment, and share company posts to increase their reach and visibility.
59. Responding to comments on your posts: Teach employees the importance of responding to comments on their posts to foster engagement and build relationships.
60. Connecting with new contacts after events: Advise employees to connect with new contacts made at industry events to expand their professional network and if speaking at an event to include their LinkedIn profile at the beginning and end of their presentation.
61. Sending personalised connection requests: Encourage sending personalised messages with connection requests to increase the likelihood of acceptance and start meaningful conversations.
62. Endorsing colleagues’ skills: Motivate employees to endorse the skills of their colleagues, which can help build stronger professional relationships and mutual support.
63. Congratulating connections on milestones: Regularly congratulate connections on their career milestones, such as promotions or new jobs, to maintain active engagement.
Awh, that’s lovely Jeff. But to be clear we’re clapping for your wife.
64. Participating in LinkedIn conversations: Get involved in trending conversations on LinkedIn to increase visibility and showcase thought leadership.
65. Asking questions in posts to drive engagement: Post questions related to industry topics to encourage engagement and stimulate discussions within their network.
66. Engaging with influencers in your industry: Follow and engage with industry influencers to build relationships and increase visibility among a larger audience.
67. Sharing relevant industry reports and insights: Regularly share industry reports and insights, adding personal commentary to provide value and encourage discussion.
68. Participating in LinkedIn challenges: Join LinkedIn challenges or campaigns relevant to the industry to increase engagement and visibility.
69. Following and engaging with key industry hashtags: Track and engage with posts under key industry hashtags to stay updated and involved in relevant conversations.
70. Sharing user-generated content: Encourage employees to share user-generated content related to the company, such as client testimonials or employee highlights.
71. Tagging relevant connections in posts: Tag relevant connections in posts to draw attention and increase engagement.
72. Engaging with alumni groups: Join and actively participate in alumni groups to reconnect with former classmates and colleagues, and expand professional networks.
73. Celebrating international days relevant to your industry: Share posts celebrating international days or events that are significant to your industry, adding a personal touch.
74. Providing constructive comments on industry discussions: Regularly comment on industry discussions with constructive insights to build a reputation as a knowledgeable professional.
Personal Branding for Your Employees
75. Defining personal brand values: Encourage employees to identify and articulate their personal brand values that align with both their professional goals and the company’s mission.
76. Aligning personal brand with company values: Teach employees how to incorporate the company's core values into their personal branding efforts to create a cohesive and consistent message.
77. Showcasing expertise through posts: Advise employees to regularly share posts that highlight their expertise, such as industry insights, project successes, or thought leadership pieces.
78. Sharing personal achievements: Encourage employees to share their professional milestones and achievements to build credibility and inspire their network.
79. Posting regular updates: Suggest maintaining a consistent posting schedule to stay visible and relevant in their network's feed. Minimum twice per week but the more they post the faster their following will grow.
80. Using a consistent tone of voice: Guide employees in developing and maintaining a consistent tone of voice in their posts that reflects their personal brand.
81. Maintaining a professional yet approachable profile: Advise on balancing professionalism with approachability in their LinkedIn profile and interactions. We want your team to come access as experts - but human experts so reassure them that some personal content is a positive thing and they don’t have to speak in the exact same tone of voice as your company page!
82. Networking with industry leaders: Encourage employees to connect and engage with industry leaders to expand their network and gain valuable insights.
83. Speaking at or attending webinars and sharing insights: Motivate employees to participate in webinars as speakers or attendees and share key takeaways on LinkedIn.
Does anybody have any questions? No, not you. Someone else. No, not you Jeff, sit down!
84. Get personal: Linkedin is no longer just a CV database, it’s a place where humans connect, so let’s be human! While pics of your cat are totally fine it’s important to find a balance between the professional and personal!
Analytics and Improving Employee Performance on LinkedIn
85. Tracking post engagement metrics: Show employees how to track engagement metrics on their posts to understand what type of content resonates best with their audience.
86. Using LinkedIn analytics to measure profile views: Teach employees to use LinkedIn analytics to monitor profile views and understand who is visiting their profile.
87. Monitoring follower growth: Encourage employees to keep an eye on their follower count to gauge the growth of their network over time.
88. Analysing content performance: Guide employees on how to analyse the performance of their content to identify successful posts and areas for improvement.
89. Setting and reviewing LinkedIn goals: Advise employees to set specific LinkedIn goals (e.g., number of posts per month, engagement rates) and review their progress regularly.
90. Conducting quarterly LinkedIn audits: Encourage employees to audit their LinkedIn profiles and activity quarterly to ensure they are aligned with their goals and best practices.
91. Seeking feedback from peers on profile and content: Suggest employees ask for feedback from trusted colleagues on their LinkedIn profiles and content to gain new perspectives.
92. Implementing changes based on performance data: Teach employees how to make data-driven adjustments to their LinkedIn strategy based on analytics and feedback.
Tools and Resources for Improving LinkedIn Performance
93. Using LinkedIn Scheduler for posting: Introduce employees to LinkedIn’s scheduling tools to help them plan and post content consistently.
94. Leveraging LinkedIn Learning for skill development: Encourage employees to utilise LinkedIn Learning to continuously improve their professional skills and knowledge.
95. Automate content curation: Help your ambassadors surface relevant content by setting up Google alerts for new content from leading publishers or even your own blog page.
96. Using Canva for creating LinkedIn visuals: Teach employees how to use Canva to create visually appealing images and infographics for their LinkedIn posts, create and share a brand folder on Canva with approved logos, layouts and other graphic elements to keep the look on brand.
97. Accessing LinkedIn’s Resource Hub for updates: Encourage employees to regularly check LinkedIn’s Resource Hub for the latest tips, updates, and best practices.
98. Reading LinkedIn’s official blog for tips and news: Suggest following LinkedIn’s official blog to stay informed about new features, trends, and strategies.
99. Following LinkedIn influencers for inspiration: Recommend following LinkedIn influencers to gain inspiration and insights from leaders in their industry.
Incentives and Recognition for Your Employee Ambassadors
100. Creating an employee recognition programme: Develop a formal programme to recognise employees who are active and effective on LinkedIn.
Why aren’t you standing up and applauding, Deborah? 28 isn’t a high enough score for you? What do I have to do to earn your respect? 30? 35? When will it be enough Deborah! When?!
101. Offering incentives for top LinkedIn advocates: Provide tangible rewards such as bonuses, gift cards, or additional paid time off to employees who excel in LinkedIn advocacy.
102. Highlighting top posts in company newsletters: Feature employees' top-performing LinkedIn posts in the company newsletter to recognise their efforts and inspire others.
103. Gamifying LinkedIn activity with rewards: Create a points-based system where employees earn rewards for specific LinkedIn activities like posting, commenting, and sharing.
104. Hosting internal LinkedIn contests: Organise contests within the company to encourage LinkedIn activity, such as challenges for the most engaging post or the highest number of new connections.
105. Recognising top contributors in team meetings: Regularly acknowledge and celebrate top LinkedIn contributors during team meetings to motivate others.
106. Creating an “Employee Ambassador of the Month” award: Establish a monthly award for the employee who demonstrates exceptional LinkedIn activity and engagement.
107. Creating a wall of fame for LinkedIn advocates: Set up a digital or physical “wall of fame” to showcase employees who are LinkedIn stars.
108. Offering free courses or certifications as incentives: Provide access to relevant courses or certifications as rewards for LinkedIn engagement.
109. Offering tickets to industry events as prizes: Provide tickets to industry conferences or events as prizes for top LinkedIn performers.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid in Employee Advocacy Campaigns
110. Avoiding overposting or spamming connections: Educate employees on the importance of quality over quantity in their LinkedIn posts to avoid overwhelming their network.
111. Steering clear of overly promotional content: Teach employees to balance promotional content with valuable insights and personal updates to keep their audience engaged.
112. Handling negative feedback professionally: Provide guidance on responding to negative feedback or comments in a constructive and professional manner.
113. Maintaining consistent activity: Encourage employees to stay active on LinkedIn by regularly posting, commenting, and engaging with their network.
114. Avoiding controversial or sensitive topics: Guide employees to steer clear of controversial or sensitive topics that could harm their professional image or the company’s reputation.
115. Keep your brand visuals on point: Keep an eye on your teammates’ use of logos and visual assets and offer additional support if you see logos being used incorrectly or a training need if someone has gone rogue on Canva. While we want everyone to use their individual voices, it’s still important that we represent our brands at a good level; if additional design resource is needed, make it available; empowering your team as another comms channel is just as important as making content for your company page.
Conclusion
Empowering your team to become active and effective LinkedIn advocates can significantly enhance your organisation's visibility, engagement, and overall success. By implementing these 115 actionable techniques, you can help your employees build their personal brands while driving growth for your company. Whether it's through consistent content creation, strategic engagement, or comprehensive analytics, each step contributes to a robust LinkedIn presence.
I can help!
Do you need LinkedIn training for your team? I offer individual masterclasses or a series of lunchtime learning webinars that will take your team from novices to thought leaders in just a few sessions! These can be delivered virtually or in person and can be as interactive and as bespoke as you need them to be.
Need help creating a fully-rounded employee advocacy campaign? I've successfully helped major brands quadruple their application rates and generated millions of engagements for small tech start-ups by putting this advice into action in a structured and realistic plan. Get in touch if you'd like help in getting started - book some time in my diary for a quick chat!
Continuous learning for continuous improvement
In the world of marketing strategy and digital marketing in particular, keeping up can sometimes feel like you're constantly chasing your tail.
Whether it's wrapping your head around a new SEO tool, integrating AI into your content strategy or just dealing with the ever-changing (ahem) sugar-show that is Meta Business Centre - a significant proportion of my time is spent just keeping up to date with change.
Conquering Doubts with PR Smith’s SOSTAC® Plan
At Pidgin Marketing, my compact yet mighty content marketing agency, I’ve always tried to stay up-to-date and stay ahead by adding more skills to my personal arsenal.
For me, upskilling is a central part of battling the imposter syndrome that has been an unwelcome shadow in my career. Despite having a decent chunk of experience in the marketing realm and positive feedback from clients and colleagues, those pesky doubts pop up uninvited.
So, I decided to face them head-on with some serious upskilling – hence, my dive into the world of SOSTAC® Certification. It's a bit like grabbing a strategic compass in the misty mountains of strategic marketing.
‘Reproduced with kind permission of PR Smith’s SOSTAC® Plan www.sostac.org
Why SOSTAC®?
Choosing this framework wasn't a shot in the dark. Endorsed by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, it's a framework that prides itself on a logical, evidence-based approach, which really clicked with me.
Its emphasis on internal marketing, often sidelined in business strategy, really struck a chord with me too.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” is the quote from Peter Drucker that really stands out during this course of study and this is something I’ve found to be absolutely true in my professional experience.
What Drucker is saying in this quote is that you might have the best strategy in the world, but if you don’t have a positive company culture behind you, it will likely fail. I’ve experienced this myself in the past. Without communicating with your internal stakeholders, leadership and teammates, many marketing strategies are doomed to failure or certainly doomed to be constantly amended until they are unrecognisable when compared to that first marketing plan.
And so SOSTAC® with its evidence-based approach, logical planning sequence and pragmatic focus on communicating with your teammates FIRST was a top choice.
Implementing SOSTAC® at Pidgin Marketing
Integrating SOSTAC® into Pidgin Marketing's ethos has been more than just adding a new buzzword to my portfolio. It's about bringing a structured, yet flexible approach to client strategies. Whether tackling employer branding, recruitment marketing, or employee advocacy, it has helped add a further layer of clarity and direction to my work.
Final thoughts…
Embracing professional development has been key to my journey with Pidgin Marketing. Achieving my personal SOSTAC® certification isn't just about personal growth; it's a commitment to offering my clients greater clarity in their strategic plans.
If you're looking for guidance in fine-tuning your marketing approach or just want to know more about how SOSTAC® could help clarify your next business or marketing plan, get in touch.
Drop me an email at martin@pidginmarketing.com, connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram, or book a strategy call.
Let's make a plan together!
SOSTAC® is a registered trademark of PR Smith. For more information on SOSTAC® Planning and becoming a SOSTAC® Certified Planner visit www.SOSTAC.org
Empathy and Analytics: Three Years of Pidgin Marketing
A look back at three years of Pidgin Marketing.
Ah, three years! They say time flies, but in the business world, it's supersonic, and this week, I've realised that Pidgin Marketing is three years old! How did that happen?
Pidgin Marketing started when I'd just become a father for the first time and needed a job that offered the flexibility to look after a little boy with some additional needs while building a business. My intention was always to grow, of course, but in that first year, I needed complete flexibility as I got to grips with my new reality!
After leaving a very busy and intense head of marketing role, I wanted to create a business that helped marketers in positions like I had been - working overtime to meet an insatiable content production schedule and sometimes feeling overwhelmed by the marketing strategy they had created!
I chose the name Pidgin because the meaning resonated with me.
(SIDEBAR: For anyone unfamiliar with the term, Pidgin is a linguistic term referring to Pidgin languages, which are new languages that develop in places where people of different cultures commonly interact. These languages blend words and grammar from both languages into a new dialect that creates a unique identity but is understood by both cultures.)
A lot of businesses, especially large corporates or long-established owner-operated SMEs, develop an internal language and all too often use this on their website or social media. While those business leaders are experts in their industry, their internal language typically doesn't resonate with their customers, and it doesn't get engagement online. Also, on the flip side, sometimes business owners don't hear what their clients are saying or don't know how to integrate their feedback into their marketing.
So, with Pidgin Marketing, I want to help build that bridge between businesses and their ideal customers, as that misalignment is, I've found, at the heart of many underperforming marketing strategies.
Pidgin Marketing started as a copywriting and content marketing service and is still my bread and butter to this day. But as my son progressed to Nursery School and we found childcare suitable for his needs, it freed up my time and brain power to take on more strategic work and expand my skill set to grow into my clients' expanding requirements.
I invested in training in paid social media, videography, and video editing, as well as refreshing my knowledge in other areas of digital marketing. My intention was never to dilute what I did well but to bring what I am good at to new mediums and new disciplines. And when it comes down to it, my core strengths are empathy and the love of a good story.
It's not that I try to get interview subjects to cry on EVERY talking head video. Still, I try to ask questions that elicit an emotional response and reveal the humanity of the businesses I work with. People buy from people, so show them your people and show them that your people are people!
Understanding people and being able to craft a story, sometimes over months of digital content, is at the heart of what I offer.
Cringing yet? I know I am. Self-promotion has never been my cup of tea. It's always felt a bit like wearing a suit that's just a tad too tight - which, as a chunky fella who marketed very lovely slim-fitting suits for five years, I know all about!
But, after three years in business for myself, I've realised that maybe I'm doing something right. My clients have stuck by me, and the business has grown organically through clients increasing their retainers with me or from new business won through referral and recommendation.
Part of the growth story has also been honest self-reflection and walking away or saying 'no' when I know I'm not the best person for a brief, like earlier in the year when I finally hung up my PR boots.
Like most boots, PR boots are made for walking, and mine got precious little exercise despite being lovely and sparkly. PR is a discipline that depends on writing, which I'm all good with, but also on longstanding, constantly maintained relationships.
When I looked honestly at my work over the past several years, I haven't needed to maintain media relationships in Northern Ireland, and my contacts in GB were specifically in the menswear world or fashion trade press.
So, even though I LOVED my last PR client and delivered decent coverage on broadcast and press titles, I knew it was best for both of us to part ways and for me to recommend some excellent peers who were more fully based in that world.
As I look to the future, it's not just about adding another client or two to my retainer list. It's about creating a team that can enhance the services I offer as an individual and continuing to bridge the gap between businesses and their audiences. It's also about developing myself and continuing to improve my skills and processes. In the short term, that involves refreshing my analytics training (again!) and finishing my SOSTAC Certified Planner course.
I've always believed in the power of showing up, not just in my clients' businesses as an extension of their team, but online as myself. It's what I preach to my clients and even offer training and mentorship on (plug-plug), but now, it's time that I practised what I preach more consistently.
Expect to see more of me and Pidgin Marketing on your feeds (and maybe even in the 'real' world!) sharing, engaging, and perhaps even entertaining you along the way…
Stating that I want to grow this business further is my first step in holding myself accountable. When I review my fourth year in business, I hope to see significant steps forward for me personally and professionally.
And maybe you can help! I want to get inspiration to push me forward on this entrepreneurial journey. So tell me, what business books changed your perspective, inspired you or helped you achieve the mindset to meet your own ambition? Or which creators or experts on LinkedIn or other platforms have inspired your journey to success? Let me know on LinkedIn or Instagram @pidginmarketing
Here's to more clarity, more connection, and, of course, more success for all of us. It might be Dry January, but cheers to that!
Martin
Pidgin at One: Lessons I've learned as a freelance marketer
It’s been over a year since I launched Pidgin Marketing and I’m happy to report it’s been a pretty good year.
I’ve had the chance to work with some excellent brands, meet some amazing people and do some work that I’m really proud of.
But I’ve learned a few hard lessons too and I thought I’d share both the positive and negative experiences with the world.
Hopefully, this might be an encouragement to anyone thinking of jumping into the world of freelance marketing or might be a peek behind the curtain for any prospective clients out there thinking of getting in touch.
The main lesson of the last year has taught me to structure my work and my billing better, so this article might give you some insights into how I work with clients.
Business development isn’t my strong suit
I have a long track record working in sales, I started my career selling ad space and did it successfully for nearly ten years (daaaamn!). But it was part of my career I was glad to leave behind.
Persuading clients into something they don’t necessarily need or which isn’t the perfect fit for them has always made me uncomfortable (and best we don’t even mention the cringe-fest that is “professional networking”).
Shying away from ‘sales’ is something I’ve tried to hide from employers in the past but with Pidgin Marketing I’m embracing it.
I’m not a salesman, I’m a consultant.
I’ve successfully grown Pidgin Marketing by demonstrating the benefits of what I do and working with the client to expand the brief if needed or even tailor it back, if necessary. It has resulted in stronger, more trusting and longer-term business relationships.
2. I’ve overcome my inner saboteur and I’m so proud…so proud.
Imposter syndrome is a bitch and I’m thankful that I had a period of rest while I was off on parental leave. Just kidding, I’ve never been more exhausted in my life.
BUT after five years of a pretty intense work environment where you were spinning hundreds of plates and continually getting punched down, it was great to get some breathing space.
Over the past two years, I’ve realised how much I had allowed my job to change my personality. I became a lot more reserved, more self-conscious and more paranoid about how others perceived me.
Pidgin Marketing has allowed me to get back in touch with the slightly awkward moustachioed weirdo that gets excited about the latest digital marketing technique or algorithm change - and that’s who I recognise as authentically myself.
And I think that is working to my benefit, I’ve been lucky enough to develop some strong professional relationships with contacts who have given me work and referred work to me and that is the greatest compliment.
So thanks to Sarah, Claire, Khabi, Gerry and Marty for recommending me to their clients, contacts and friends, it means a lot.
3. You don’t have to do everything
My last job was very much “we must do everything, immediately, all at once” which led to burnout, constant stress and of course, often a lack of results. I probably started Pidgin with that same idea - “Yes, you need to be on social media every single day, as many channels as possible, get your email marketing sorted now, re-design your website and let me book some billboards.”
Over the past year, I have majorly cooled my jets.
You don’t have to do everything all at once, you just have to do the right things and do them well.
I’ve done years of the ‘everything all the time’ approach and working with big budgets and that has actually helped me in working with brands with a tight budget or limited time. I’m happy to call myself an expert at clarifying comms strategies and helping organisations focus on the activities that will bring them the biggest return on their investment.
4. Time IS money
Thankfully I’ve developed some dependable retainer clients but last summer I hit a major dry patch (we had some great weather, so I wasn’t mad about it). It taught me a few small but important lessons.
Charging too low a rate is counter-productive as a client won’t value your time if you’re cheaper than their cleaner. Time will be wasted on unnecessary meetings, research and admin tasks that could be conducted much more efficiently by a member of their internal team.
I could totally cut my rate down to the bare minimum hourly rate but that wouldn’t cover the hours of additional training and research I put myself through every week (I mentioned I was a nerd about this stuff, didn't I?). So my rates reflect all of that time too.
Death and taxes - I’m still learning about inevitability in the business world… Eeesh, tax is a bitch.
5. No pitch? Perfect.
I’m happy to do the work in pitching to a new client when it is potentially worth it. But if you’re going to be a one-day-per-month client then I’ll pass on the big presentation, thanks.
I’ll happily meet with you, several times if necessary, to talk through your needs in detail and come up with a plan but I won’t spend my time pitching against big agencies. I do always put together a strategy document before we get started in the execution phase of a plan but that’s just to make sure the assumptions I’ve made during our conversations are accurate and that all of our expectations are aligned.
But this is different to a proper competitive pitch which takes days of competitor and market research, more days of strategising and creative brainstorming and then even more days designing up a beautiful big slide deck. All of this work for potentially zero pay if someone comes in with a more integrated offer or cuts their rate (hint, if the big agency is coming in at under £700 per day, that agency director you’re talking to won’t be the one doing the work on your account).
If you want big-agency service, go to a big agency and pay them their daily rate because that covers long drawn-out pitches. I’m significantly cheaper than working with an agency but the service you get with me will not include bells, whistles or songs or dancing.
6. Freelance marketing is a two-way relationship
For many organisations, the best bit about using a freelance marketing consultant is not just the ability to access a higher level of expertise at an affordable rate or the ability to ensure a consistently high level of quality in an area of their comms plan they don’t have direct experience in.
It’s the flexibility.
Flexibility works for me too. I usually don't work Monday afternoons and make up the time elsewhere in the week if I need to. I’m freelancing because I’m also caring for my son who has some additional needs which mean full-time daycare isn’t right for him.
But I do need to plan my work (and my cash flow) which means I need some commitment from you.
I can, of course, work totally flexibly if that’s what you need but my retainer clients do get priority access to my time, a better rate and a longer payment term.
A retainer for me is an agreed number of days per month that can be flexibly turned up during the month if required or reduced or turned off with one month’s notice.
So usually I’ll agree to a set number of days in collaboration with a client and agree on a separate rate for an add-on day or two per month. At the end of each month, we’ll look at work coming up in the month ahead and usually agree then if we need to add that extra day. Sometimes we can do that during the month if something else comes up and I have the bandwidth (shh, I’ll usually make the bandwidth if I’m retained by you).
There are a host of other little lessons about being a freelance marketer and especially about being an independent marketing consultant in Northern Ireland that I’ve learned over the last year but I have to stop talking at some point.
I’d be curious to know from any clients out there what their best experience of working with a freelance marketer has been. I’m always keen to learn and improve the service I’m offering, so let me hear from you on social media.
If all of the above sounds reasonable and you’re looking for help in creating your marketing strategy, executing your existing plan or just some support in making it all happen, let’s have a coffee (virtual or real).
Book a free initial consultation with me and let’s get started.
How To Brief A Freelance Marketer
In my previous blog outlining what I’ve learned in my marketing career, I mentioned the importance of the brief and I wanted to take a minute to expand on that.
In my career I’ve dealt with a lot of messy briefs…let me re-phrase that (ahem)…Over the past twenty-odd years working in marketing comms, I’ve had my fair share of confusing, contradictory and vague briefs from clients and employers.
“We need something to tell our customers we’re offering this new service – can you work something up for tomorrow?”
Don’t get me wrong, this is a two-way street. Any marketer worth their salt will know how to interrogate a marketing brief and pull out the information they need to do a decent job. But sometimes those questions come back with a resounding “you tell me” instead of a proper answer.
This answer is hands-down the most infuriating thing you can say to a freelance marketer (well, this freelance marketer). I appreciate that you’re “putting the ball back in my court.” I can tell you what my immediate impressions are of the best way forward for a marketing strategy, a particular tactic or a specific piece of content – but as a new external marketing freelancer, I’m just guessing based on my previous experience. You are the expert on your company, not me.
If you want to get the most value from a freelance marketer – be open with them. Give them all of the information, what has worked in the past, what hasn’t, what you think went wrong. Be open to ideas and feedback when they come and don’t shut anything down until you’ve had a chance to hear your freelancer out.
That being said, here are five specific things you MUST do when briefing a freelance marketer:
1. Let’s Start With You
It’s essential when briefing anyone external to your organisation that you share more about yourself.
Who are you? What’s your role in the company? What exactly does the company do? What is the company history? How does the company make money / meet its objectives? What’s the background to this current strategy? Who else is involved in the marketing of your products and services? Are there any current programs of change or upcoming changes you’re aware of in the near future?
I can’t emphasise enough how important all of this is. There are so many assumptions we can make based on an external (and potentially uninformed) view of a company. Getting a thorough idea of the company, its history and how it sees itself is vital if you’re asking for strategic help. But even if you just want a quick blog post, it’s helpful to understand some of this wider framework – a good copywriter can help distil this into the text of a social media post or a blog.
2. Share Your Objectives
As a supplier to your marketing department, it’s important I know the objectives we’re trying to reach together. I understand that sometimes those objectives can be commercially sensitive but you should only work with marketing freelancers with a level of senior experience. This means you can trust they understand the importance of client confidentiality.
If working on a specific piece of content, I don’t necessarily need to know your KPIs or revenue targets but it is valuable to know what you’re hoping to achieve with the overall strategy and with this particular output.
3. Set The Parameters
As a fairly experienced marketer, I’ve worked with lots of different organisations in different sectors; from agri-food to legal services and community events to fashion brands. I have a ton of ideas based on previous experience and can advise on what has worked and not worked in my experience.
If you’re happy to hear those experiences, let me know and I’ll happily share them for free. I want to do the best job possible for you and if I can help you avoid a mistake I’ve made in the past, I’m happy to do so. Just simply giving me the brief and adding ‘we’re open to ideas around this’ or ‘we’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this in a quick chat’ is enough for me. I know this isn’t carte blanche to go off and create an alternative strategy but it’s good to know I’m not going to offend if I spot a different angle or have tried a similar strategy in the past.
It’s one of the benefits of working with a freelancer with broader experience and it comes free of charge. But if you don’t tell me that you’re open to ideas, I won’t risk offending you and create specifically to your brief.
4. Tell Me What You Want. Exactly.
This relates more specifically to content creation briefs but is still relevant to anyone looking for overall strategic support.
This might seem obvious but you’d be surprised how often the brief is ‘we need something that XYZ.’ It’s great that you’re thinking in terms of objectives first but “something,” eh? Something could be anything – is it a blog post, an email, an email campaign, a price promotion, an ad campaign, a PR campaign, a tactical plan incorporating all of this?
My marketing toolkit is massive and I’m lucky enough to have experience in multiple areas, so you’re going to have to be a bit more precise (or pay me for a little extra time to do some research and come back with an actual plan). To help you get specific, think:
Distribution – where will your audience encounter this content?
Format – what’s the best way to get this information across?
Style – what tone are you hoping to strike?
Timeline – when does this need to happen, is it a one-off or part of a longer campaign?
5. How Will You Know It’s Good?
Again, I don’t need to know your KPIs necessarily (although this can help to align expectations and flesh out other elements of your plan which are important for me to understand). But if those KPIs are commercially sensitive, just let me know what metrics you’re going to judge the efficacy of this content by. Is it clickthroughs from social? -OK, I’ll work on a really killer headline and introduction. Is it clicks from organic search? There are a few tricks I know on formatting an article for Google which we can try. Is it time on page or scroll depth? I have some ideas on how to structure this piece to improve those stats too.
Knowing how you’re judging success means I can create work that is more likely to succeed by those same metrics.
6. Introduce Me To Your Audience
I’d love it if every brand had detailed consumer personas based on in-depth customer research, the reality is very different.
That being said, I still need to know your impressions of your audience and who this piece of work is being written for. Geography and demographic info will have an impact on the language I’ll choose for a specific piece of content. If you’re targeting a specific professional niche tell me who they are and where I can learn more about them and how they talk. I’m adept at adapting your company language to the language of your audience (it’s why I’ve called this business ‘Pidgin’), so tell me who they are and I’ll take it from there.
7. Supply All Of The Information Immediately
I’m not a researcher and I’m guessing you don’t want me to spend hours reading through old news articles I’ve found online about your company to discover something you have in the footer of a press release you wrote last week.
Just give me all of the data about your company upfront. Send me five or ten articles, blogs or press releases, brochures about this product or links to specific pages on your site which will give me the in-depth facts. I need the information to do a good job for you.
8. Make A Mood Board
Particularly if you’re briefing me on any sort of visual content, creating a mood board can be valuable. Pinterest is a great tool for doing this and has helped me breakthrough some creative deadlock in the past.
If you’re asking me to create imagery for your social feed, show me some specific examples of work you’ve liked and note down some thoughts on what you’ve liked about these images or this video. I’ll likely have further questions to try to separate various elements of your taste but having this conversation with visual references will help me brief stylists, videographers and models to achieve the look and feel you want.
This can also apply to written content and social media outputs too. Send me ten pieces of content or brand social feeds that hooked you in and made you read the full article, sign-up for a newsletter or buy a product.
I never want this blog to come across as a place for rants or for me to moan about clients. I love marketing, I love working with a wide variety of clients and I am always grateful that anyone entrusts even a small part of their marketing strategy with me.
But to summarise, everything we do would be made so much better if we communicated openly, collaboratively and without ego. Part of what I love about this job is that I am always learning, so let’s learn from each other.
Drop me an email if you’d like to work with me at martin@pidginmarketing.com
5 Lessons
When you’ve been around the marketing block as many times as I have, you will have had a few resounding successes alongside plenty of difficult, stressful and emotionally trying experiences.
Both are, of course, equally valuable. All your experiences, good and bad, make you a better marketer. If you can take pride in your successes and learn from your failures, you’ll come away as a better business person and a better human being.
Marketing is an iterative process, and marketers (good marketers) improve over time.
That being said, there are a few lessons I’ve learned which I think have shaped me as a marketer more than others, so I’ve tried to distil them into five important lessons.
Follow The Money
Marketers love to intellectualise what they do (if you keep reading his blog, I’m sure you’ll catch me doing it too!). I’ve read hundreds of blogs and listened to scores of podcasts as they waxed lyrical on the ‘true’ role of a marketer.
We’re truth-tellers! No, storytellers! No, no, we’re brand guardians! We’re creative data scientists…
The modern marketer is all of these but…what every marketer has to be is…a sales enabler. Our job is to look at an organisation, see where the money is coming from, how the sales happen and make it easier for customers to find the company, engage with it and move from a prospect to a customer.
Sound simple? Well, it rarely is.
Don’t Ignore The Basics
There has always been a cornucopia of choice for marketers in terms of approach, channels, media and promotion. The rise of digital marketing has only added more layers of sophistication (and complication) to the marketing mix.
But it’s important to remember that you don’t get added points for how complicated and impressive your marketing plan is to other marketers.
Often, very often, the most effective piece of marketing is the most basic. The branded mug your customer uses every day, the Christmas hamper and the handwritten Christmas card wishing their family the best, the donation to a customer’s favourite charity. That’s all marketing too. Don’t forget those simple, human touches in your massive omnichannel comms strategy.
You Can’t Do Everything
Related to the point above. There are so many choices, so many channels, so many media titles you can use. But unless you have limitless resources, you can’t do them all. Running a successful marketing strategy involves some prioritisation and a sensible view as to what will legitimately deliver your core objectives and what activities might be a ‘phase two’ choice.
I’ve seen plenty of so-called marketing experts on social media shaming small businesses for saying that they felt Facebook, email marketing or influencer outreach wasn’t for them. But I get it. These channels take work and expertise and often there are higher priorities for a business or limited resources which mean choices have to be made on what to NOT do. Sometimes knowing what NOT to do is as important as knowing what to do.
Know Yourself
The main thing I’d say to any business wondering how to improve their marketing would be to spend the time in understanding who you are as a business and what you want to achieve.
Many companies exist in the day-to-day, working hard and assuming that everyone (internally and externally) is on the same page with what sort of business they are, what their brand means to the market and what they are all working for. But over time, these definitions subtly change and organisations lose the focus they once had. Business leaders are often dismayed when they realise that even their teams don’t agree on fundamental aspects of their brand or are ignorant of the direction the company is moving in.
These disparities can result in internal stakeholders pulling in different directions, marketing communications trying to satisfy too many diverse objectives and usually a comms strategy fighting a losing battle from the offset.
Taking the time to listen to feedback from the market, re-examine your competitors, evaluate your products or services and agree on a set of core principles, objectives and an outline plan are some of the most valuable things you can do as a business.
Learn How To Brief
This is just a personal gripe of mine and something I might write a blog post about in the future. But if there’s one thing any business leader could do to improve their life, their business and their professional relationships, it is to learn how to delegate work and how to brief the delegate.
This can be one of the most frustrating parts of marketing but it can’t be overstated how inefficient (and potentially destructive) a vague, contradictory or unrealistic brief can be.
If you have a clear idea of the output you want or specific language that you really can’t stand, tell the person you’re briefing! You should, of course, remain open to persuasion that another way exists but sharing your assumptions, expectations and previous experiences will help you achieve your goals faster.
That’s it. I’m curious to know what the formative lessons you’ve learned in your business are? Give me a shout on social media if you agree or disagree with any of mine.