Sustainable brands are the ones that are coming out on top when it comes to the digital marketing game. They align with modern consumer values, especially those who are Gen Z and Millennials.

Prioritising eco-friendly and ethical business practices that are transparent helps to foster trust for your customers. It helps brands convert consumers into long-term advocates. If you’re wondering how sustainable brands are dominating digital marketing, then read on.

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High Demand and Consumer Trust

By being sustainable, you build high demand for the business and improve consumer trust. A significant majority of consumers, especially those who are younger, will actively seek out brands that share environmental and social values.

Emotional connection is important for many consumers when they’re shopping for brands and businesses. They prioritise those who focus on sustainability.

Consumers who are savvy at identifying greenwashing will buy from brands that are authentic. Brands who are sharing transparent data, such as carbon footprints or supply chain details, will help build higher credibility, as well as long-term trust.

High-Growth Digital Strategies

Products that have sustainability claims will often grow a lot faster than the conventional alternatives. Accelerated growth is important for many businesses, particularly new ones that are still trying to establish themselves on the market.

Rather than just showing the products, a lot of sustainable brands will use social media to share stories about environmental impact, fair labour, and local production.

Beyond just the brand itself, successful campaigns will treat the customers as valuable individuals or heroes who are making a tangible difference by buying the company’s products.

Key Tactics of Winning Sustainable Brands

So, how do you create a winning, sustainable brand? Following suit and knowing what tactics work is imperative. With that in mind, here are some useful tactics to embrace for your business this year.

Transparency and traceability

There are plenty of brands out there that are winning in sustainability by putting carbon footprint tags on their products. It allows consumers to be able to make more informed choices when browsing and shopping for products.

Circular economy initiatives

Brands are implementing buy-back and resale programs. This appeals to value-driven customers and provides eco-friendly, practical solutions.

Influencer marketing with purpose

It’s no surprise that more brands continue to work with influencers due to the popularity and conversions they create, especially with micro-influencer engagement, too.

Partnering with green influencers that genuinely align with a brand’s vision helps to create authentic engagement, rather than it just being about promotion.

Minimalist and eco-friendly packaging

Switching to biodegradable or naked (package-free) products helps to offer a more visible and shareable marketing message as a company. There’s really no excuse nowadays not to push for eco-efficient packaging.

Operational and Digital Efficiency

By being a sustainable brand, you’re able to improve your operational and digital efficiency. Companies are optimising their digital footprint by using green web hosting.

It benefits your business by reducing data usage in website designs and also lowering energy consumption in digital campaigns.

There are some great cost savings to be made, too, by adopting energy-efficient practices. It can all lead to significant operational savings, which can then be reinvested into marketing efforts.

General Tips for Becoming Sustainable as a Brand

If you’re looking to become more sustainable as a brand in 2026, then here are some general tips you can follow.

1. Audit and set strategic goals

Start by conducting a sustainability audit, assessing current operations in order to identify your environmental footprint, as well as areas for improvement. You’ll want to also set some SMART goals, which are more specific, measurable, relevant and time-bound objectives.

1. Implement sustainable operations

Implement sustainable operations by buying less and choosing higher-quality products. Extend the life cycle of products and be sure to recycle and repurpose existing products. Explore the benefits of materials handling equipment that leans into sustainable practices when it comes to any warehouse operations.

Map your supply chain to ensure suppliers adhere to fair wages, ethical labour practices and environmental standards.

2. Optimize for environmental impact

Optimize your brand for environmental impact, from eco-friendly packaging to energy efficiency and local sourcing, too.

3. Foster internal and external culture

When it comes to fostering internal and external culture, engage employees. Turn your team into green ambassadors by encouraging sustainable habits like recycling, reducing paper and remote work.

Make sure you’re partnering with suppliers and NGOs that are prioritising ESG criteria. 

4. Offer transparent communication

Be honest about the challenges that come from the journey you’re on as a brand and back any of your claims with data.

Brands that are making sustainability accessible, honest and personal are the ones that are thriving.

What Mistakes Can Turn Buying a Business into a Bad Idea?

Needless to say, buying a business can be an excellent move. For the right person, at the right time, it can be one of the smartest career decisions they make. There’s already something there to work with, which is a huge deal. Customers may already know the name, they’ve got the customer trust and loyalty to said brand, money may already be coming in, and there may already be a routine in place, instead of a giant blank page of confusion from starting from scratch.

So no, buying a business doesn’t inherently mean it's a bad idea, but it also isn’t always inherently a good idea either. Of course, “can be a good idea” is doing a lot of work there. A good opportunity can turn sour pretty fast when somebody walks into it with stars in their eyes, a rushed plan, and a very selective relationship with reality. That’s usually where the trouble starts, not with the idea itself, but with how the decision gets handled. Basically, if you avoid these mistakes, you should most likely be in the clear.

Getting too Excited About the Shortcut

Part of the appeal is obvious, right? Starting from scratch sounds exhausting to a lot of people, and sure, fair enough. Buying something already traded feels like skipping the ugliest stage of the process. Meaning, there’s no building from nothing, no sitting there begging the market to care, no wondering if the idea will even work. So, it’s absolutely no wonder that this can feel incredibly appealing, especially for somebody who’s already tired of uncertainty and wants something that looks more solid, more stable, you could even say. 

But that excitement is exactly what can cloud judgment for some people. It can make the brain fill in some blanks, and it can make you come up with flattering assumptions. Basically, it starts seeing stability, ease, momentum, and freedom. But of course, since you’re not seeing the reality here, the business could very well be sitting there with tired systems, thin margins, awkward staffing, and an owner who’s held it together through some questionable miracle. 

So then you’re going to carry the burdens, the really ugly parts, and it’s due to cloudy judgment and hope. So that’s the trap here. The shortcut starts looking so attractive that the person forgets to ask how messy the road still is once they step onto it.

Just Shopping with Feelings Instead of Judgement

Which does go up with the above. But think about it, maybe you’re just looking through some local listings of some businesses for sale, you’re not necessarily in shopping mode, but you’re super curious. And then something catches the eye, the listing looks polished, the branding feels decent, the location sounds nice, and the imagination gets there before logic does. Now, clearly, this isn’t ideal here. 

It’s fairly obvious here, but buying a business isn’t even supposed to feel like comparing something casual. It’s not supposed to feel like comparing kitchen appliances, clothes, a sofa, you know, fun things. Instead, you should be vigilant, cautious, and questioning. 

Think about it, a slick listing can still be hiding weak systems, tired goodwill, patchy staff, or a business model that looked much healthier two years ago than it does now. A good-looking photo and some decent copy doesn’t honestly mean anything, it just means they’re theyre trying to sell their business, that's all. Sellers know how to present things attractively. That’s not a crime, it’s just part of selling. Still, buyers need enough discipline to remember that attractive and worthwhile are not the same thing.

Skipping Over Why the Owner is Leaving

Should there be alarm bells going off? Well, no, not necessarily, everyone has their own personal reasons why they want to see it. Maybe they’re just wanting to retire, could be health changes, family changes, needing to move, burnout (which is very common), or some people just get tired of it (especially if it’s anything in the hospitality industry). So it doesn’t always mean theres some sort of disaster that's lurking. 

Still, it would be very nice if all businesses came with a little honesty label attached, wouldn’t it? Sometimes the owner’s leaving because the trade’s getting rougher, costs are climbing, the workload’s unbearable, customer habits have shifted, or the whole thing has become much harder to keep profitable than it used to be. Of course, some business owners will be transparent about that, especially if they’re not in a rush or if they’re not desperate (or they’re just a genuinely honest good person). But it’s not always clear like that. 

So if somebody’s buying, curiosity is optional here. Meaning here that it’s essential. You need to ask questions, like why, what’s happening in the market, what’s been changing, what’s getting harder, and what the headaches are that are attached to it. There are plenty of questions to ask here. It’s not necessarily a cynical approach here, but you need to be fully awake and aware of all of this.

See it as Buying a Job Instead of Buying a Business

This one catches people out all the time. The business looks established, the sales look real, the operation looks busy enough, and then the buyer steps in and realises the whole thing revolves around one human being doing absolutely everything. Nope, this is definitely not an exaggeration, and it's far more common than you might even expect here. So, every important customer relationship, every supplier conversation, every exception, every fix, every little decision, every bit of undocumented know-how, all parked in the seller’s head.

Which of course sounds super intense (and it is), so it’s not going to be the easiest when it comes to that transition period. Now, with that part said, plenty of owner-led businesses can still be good opportunities. But the buyer has to understand what’s actually being purchased. If the value depends heavily on one person’s memory, personality, goodwill, and constant involvement, then the handover could get messy quickly, and it’ll be you picking up all the pieces. 

Why Building a Sustainable Brand Doesn't Rely on Content Alone

Building a sustainable brand is one of the biggest challenges any owner can face. Content is a reliable method of attracting new clients and customers, especially when paired with powerful tactics such as search engine optimization, backlinking, and social media. However, even the best content strategy won’t build your brand, and there are many other critical factors to consider. From understanding the supply chain to performance metrics, here are some ideas.

Operations Turn Words Into Actions

It isn’t enough to just say you will do something, and you always need to turn promises into actions. This helps establish trust among clients and paves the way to a solid reputation. However, it isn’t as easy as some people think to actually do what they say. Even the best content strategy can fall flat if you don’t use services such as business accounting software, CMS, and even email to ensure that operations run as smoothly as possible for your clients.

The Supply Chain Dictates Most

Most brands today, not just brands that focus on sustainability, are very aware and active when it comes to the environment. Of course, sustainability as a brand extends far beyond eco-awareness, and the supply chain plays a core role in continued business. However, from the raw materials of a product to warehouse fulfillment, the supply chain dictates almost everything at every level of the business infrastructure, and content can’t fix ongoing issues.

Building a Sustainable Brand Requires Proof

In general, it takes around three months to secure your first paying clients when starting a new brand. You can write a great content strategy, and you absolutely should. But this alone doesn’t guarantee your brand will get off to a great start with client attraction. For that, you need proof, as clients and investors are typically skeptical. Transparency and proof of work can bridge the gap between a new brand and clients, and third-party certifications can help seal the deal.

Quality and Performance are Valuable Metrics

Sustainability can be a vital link in the chain of a business strategy, but it isn’t a replacement for quality. Just because something is branded as sustainable, it doesn’t automatically qualify as something that is necessarily the best. Any brand, whether it focuses on sustainability or not, must provide the best service possible rather than using well-known buzzwords as a proxy for perceived value. As such, high-quality content can’t compensate for underperforming products.

Company Culture is More Critical Than You Think

There are many reasons why having a strong company culture benefits your business, and this is a core part of modern services. However, any quality brand needs employees who are engaged, competent, and value the position they are in. Content can actually help with engagement for workers and clients alike, but it doesn’t guarantee that everyone is a good fit. Anyone working for and even with the company must be aligned with its policies and values.

Summary

Excellent business operations help turn words into actions in ways that content alone can’t. Of course, businesses also need to provide evidence they are capable of their promises, and this is often coupled with a strong company culture that sticks to internally outlined policies and values.

Reasons Coffee Shops are Big Business

The rise of coffee houses and cafe culture is one which has dominated the world of leisure and hospitality in the last couple of decades. But what is it about these establishments that has appealed to us so much in recent times? 

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In this post, we will take a closer look at this phenomenon from a number of different angles to get more of an explanation about it. By the end, you may well be looking for your own ecoware to get involved in this growing trend. From Starbucks to Central Perk, let’s go into more detail about the economic and cultural factors behind the rise of coffee.

Chain of Command

Now one of the most famous brands in the world, it is hard to remember a time when there wasn’t a Starbucks on every corner. In 1994, there were over 400 stores in the US. Six years later in 2000, this number had shot up to over 4,500 globally, and then over 10,000 in 2005. Starbucks helped to make the coffee trend global, but it also helped to spark up a resistance as people who wanted to take on ‘big business’ began to open up their own independent coffee shops. 

A Little Help from Friends

Did watching those six impossibly good looking friends sitting around in Central Perk without a care in the world help coffee houses? Well, it certainly didn’t hurt. Shows like Friends and Seinfeld helped to market big metropolitan cities to young people, bringing in a whole host of new coffee drinkers. As well as providing a place to sit and relax, carrying around a takeaway coffee cup became the universal sign of a busy person rushing off to somewhere important.

The Internet Strikes Again

Remember when the term cyber cafe was a thing? Nowadays, WiFi is expected in every coffee shop you enter, along with a host of people sitting on their laptops, tablets and phones busily working and creating - or at least looking like they are. And since there are more people working remotely, as freelancers or running their own business, coffee shops provide a makeshift office to more and more people every day. 

Affordable Socialising 

You might argue that the prices at Starbucks aren’t exactly cheap, but people don’t tend to drink latte after latte the way they would drink beer in a bar. So, coffee shops have provided a more affordable social setting for people during the day. And let’s face it, it might give off the wrong impression if you decide to hold a business meeting in the pub. With so many different types of coffee shops, each one has their own identity and attracts a certain type of person. You may be looking for somewhere warm and welcoming or somewhere you can be anonymous to get on with some work.

With coffee shops continuing to open up at a rapid rate, these are just a few of the reasons why this trend continues to be so hot.

The Sweet Strategy of Corporate Gifting

Corporate gifting has long been an essential part of business culture, fostering stronger relationships with clients, partners, and employees. It's more than just a token gesture; it's a strategic tool that can significantly boost brand visibility and customer loyalty.

In the competitive corporate world, standing out is paramount. Traditional gifting options like pens, mugs, or key chains, while useful, often fail to create lasting impressions. This is where unique and thoughtful gifts come into play. One such avenue is the delightful world of customised edible treats - a sweet strategy indeed!

Why Customised Cookies and Cupcakes Go Down a Treat

Customised cookies and cupcakes are an excellent choice for corporate gifting. They're not just a tasty indulgence; they're a personalised treat that can leave a long-lasting impression. Imagine a box of gourmet, hand-decorated cupcakes, each one uniquely designed with your company's logo or message, perhaps even reflecting a special occasion or theme relevant to the recipient. These aren't just sweets; they're miniature billboards promoting your brand in an unexpected yet effective way.

The appeal of edible gifts extends beyond their novelty factor. They evoke emotions and memories associated with pleasant experiences, such as celebrations or cosy gatherings. Sharing these treats can create a sense of camaraderie and warmth, humanising the corporate image. It's not just about the gift itself; it's about the experience and sentiment that come with it.

Moreover, edible gifts are (almost) universally appreciated. Unlike products tailored to specific interests or needs, sweets appeal across a wide demographic. They're suitable for vegans and meat-eaters alike, catering to diverse dietary preferences without offence.

When it comes to corporate gifting, quality is key. Customers can tell the difference between mass-produced items and thoughtfully crafted ones. High-quality ingredients, meticulous design, and attention to detail are hallmarks of professionally baked customised treats. They demonstrate your commitment to excellence and respect for your recipients' tastes.

Beyond their aesthetic and gastronomic appeal, these personalised treats can also serve as conversation starters during business meetings or networking events. They break the ice, fostering a relaxed atmosphere conducive to meaningful interactions.

In conclusion, corporate gifting is a powerful tool when used wisely. Customised cookies and cupcakes offer an innovative, personal, and delicious approach to this age-old practice. They provide a sweet strategy that not only enhances your brand image but also warms relationships, creating memorable experiences that resonate far beyond the final bite. So why not consider adding a dash of sugar and spice to your corporate gifting repertoire? It might just be the recipe for success you're after.

Tips for Selling Products as a Budding Entrepreneur

There are a lot of ways to earn money as a side hustle or as an entrepreneur trying to start a business to support your family. One of the most popular methods of adding an extra income is selling items online. Online shopping is by far the most common way that people buy the things they want and need, and you can jump on that trend and potentially earn a lot of money.

Whether you just want a bit of extra cash or you’re looking for a potential career working for yourself, here are a few tips for selling products from home.

White-Label Products

One very easy way to get into selling online is to sell white-label products. This requires very little investment and can help you earn a lot of money.

Essentially, a white-label product is something that’s already manufactured and ready to sell. All you need to do is sell it under your own name. The main downside is that you’re not getting a unique product, but it does mean you can get straight to selling without worrying about manufacturing the product. 

Making Items From Home

If you’re relatively crafty, you might be more tempted to make your own products from home. This could include jewelry, furniture, artwork, baked goods, or anything else you can think of. If you can make it, you can sell it.

This does require more investment in time and money for resources. To make a living wage, you might also have to charge higher prices than mass-produced goods, which can make it harder to sell. However, there are plenty of customers out there who are willing to pay more for a home-made, quality product with a story behind it.

Packaging Your Products

Whether you’re making products at home or getting them delivered, one way to boost the legitimacy of your business is to invest in good packaging. Ideally, the packaging should be sturdy and appropriate for your product.

If possible, use branded packaging so that it advertises your product as well as keeps it safe and secure. This also makes the unboxing process more enjoyable for the customer. 

You should also consider using sustainable packaging materials. While some products might need specific packaging to keep them safe, sustainable packaging can add to your branding and message.

An Online Platform

If you’re selling online, you need to think about where you’ll sell your products from. One simple way to sell products nowadays is to use social media. Some social media platforms, like TikTok, double as a great way to sell your products. This is especially effective if you engage in a lot of social media marketing, so people can quickly and easily buy your products.

You should also look into other online marketplaces that suit the products you’re selling. Amazon is an extremely popular option, but you’re competing with some huge names. Etsy is great for selling handmade products and things you’ve designed yourself.

How Packaging Can Influence Customer Trust and Loyalty

For a long time, packaging was often treated as a final step in the entire production process.  Once a product became ready, packaging was added in order to present it and prepare it for delivery to the customer. 

It was seen as necessary but not something that required much thought. Businesses are now beginning to recognize that packaging plays a very big role in exactly how their products are received and perceived by the customers. 

Moving beyond basic instruction

Packaging still needs to protect products but its role now goes a lot further because it has become part of the overall customer experience. When someone receives a product, packaging will become part of that interaction. 

It will influence how the product feels, how it is handled and it will even affect how it is remembered. Because of this, businesses have started to look at packaging as something that will add value instead of simply serving a basic function. 

Due to new customer expectations businesses need to rethink exactly how they approach packaging; it is no longer enough for it to just look good. It must also reflect responsibility and awareness as well. As a result, many companies are now exploring options such as environmentally friendly packaging as part of a broader effort that will align with all of these changing expectations. 

Making practical improvements 

Updating packaging does not always require that there is a complete overall. In many cases, small adjustments will make a very meaningful difference. You might look at reducing unnecessary materials, choosing alternatives and simplifying your designs. 

These changes can be introduced gradually. It will allow you to improve your approach without disrupting operations in any way at all. This makes it a lot easier for businesses of all shapes and sizes to take steps towards more profit. 

Supporting long-term business goals 

Packaging decisions will support your long-term goals, when you choose options that are aligned with your values, efficient and practical, you're creating a stronger foundation for growth. 

Better packaging will improve how your customers interact with your product. It will also reduce waste and streamline your processes as time goes on. These types of benefits contribute to a much more sustainable and efficient model for your business. Instead of seeing packaging as being an isolated task, it will become a part of a modular strategy.

A shift in perspective

The way your business thinks about packaging should be evolving. It is no longer only something that happens when production is finished. It is a decision that will influence exactly how your product is experienced from the very start to the end. 

By giving your packaging the attention it deserves, you're going to improve both your operations as well as your customer experience. This shifting perspective is going to position your business for some major long-term success in a marketplace that may always be changing.

Tactics To Get That Foot Traffic In Your Store

When you’re trying to drive more sales in your physical store, it's not enough to bring business to the site; you have to encourage people to come through the door and start looking around as well. If the quality of your products and service isn’t in question, then it’s all about the right mix of tactics, and here, we’re going to look at a few.

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Invest In Quality Signage

Sidewalk signs might be a relatively simple solution, but they can definitely work. A well-placed sign can help you immediately communicate the identity of your brand and help catch the attention of those who might walk by without even realising that you exist. Having updatable sidewalk signs, like those with a chalkboard component, can also allow you to quickly communicate promotions, special offers, or new products that can generate further engagement.

Be Bold With Your Outdoor Decor

Don’t underestimate how effective a little exterior flair can be for your business. Opting for bold and eye-catching visual pieces can draw attention to your store from a distance. For instance, large promotional inflatables, be it product replicas, logo recreations or even just the simple but highly popular air dancers, can make your location a lot more noticeable, especially on busy streets or when you have a sales event on. What’s more, they’re a much more affordable way of advertising your business while still making a big brand impact.

Create Eye-Catching Window Displays

If your products are aesthetically engaging enough, then they can practically sell themselves if you give them the space to. Your window display is one of the first ways customers will engage with your store, so it should tell a story or make an impact. Highlight your best and most visually interesting products first and foremost, and make use of effective lighting as well as props to enhance and draw even more attention to them. Rotating your displays regularly can also keep your store feeling fresh and could give that passerby something new to notice, catching them in a way previous displays might not have.

Host Live Demonstrations Or Experiences

Some of your customers are going to be inherently curious, so it’s just about getting them on the hook. Live demonstrations of your products in action can be a great way to do that, making them more likely to stop, watch, and potentially become more interested in what your business offers. Not every product is going to be a good choice for a demonstration, but they can range from anything like cooking samples in a food store to crafting sessions, mini workshops, or even models performing on a miniature runway outside of your fashion store.

Which tactics work on your target audience depends on a mix of the visibility of your location, the brand that you’re trying to establish, and the demographic you’re aiming at. However, a mix of the strategies above is certain to bring you some attention at the very least. From there, it’s about how well you can capitalise on it.

How to Drive More Business to Your Site

In business, you need customers. To get those customers, they need to have access. To provide them access, they need to be able to find you easily. While all of this may seem extremely elementary in terms of business strategy and implementation, it can actually become quite difficult to achieve. This quandary applies both to brick-and-mortar establishments and company websites. Continue reading for some tried and true tips that will help you drive traffic to your sites and bring in more business at the same time.

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Pay Attention to Driving Traffic Patterns and Ease of Access

If you are constructing a new office building or company campus in a newly developed area of your community, you will need to conduct a traffic impact assessment. Your local municipality or city will generally require this, and even if they do not, it is a good idea to take this on yourself. Hire a professional assessment company to ensure everything is done right. They have the skills and experience to understand the nuances of traffic patterns, the potential for environmental impact on the surrounding areas, and the variety of traffic needs that your new building will require, such as access roads, turn lanes, and traffic lights, to name but a few.

Ease of access to your new company site is essential for continued success and growth. If your employees have a difficult time coming to the new location and returning home each day, this will place an undue burden on their private lives and increase their fuel expenditures. None of this equates to a happy work life. They may begin looking for other employment opportunities. If your valuable customers and clients find themselves in a similar situation, all it will take is a few quick online queries, and they will likely take their business and money elsewhere. Those are just some of the reasons why conducting a traffic impact assessment is so important, beyond the obvious governmental requirements.

Assess Your Online Presence

One of the best ways to drive more traffic to your site, your website, that is, is to start by conducting an audit on the website itself. Look for broken links and relevant content. Pay special attention to on-page and off-page optimisation opportunities, as well.

A significant part of your website audit should include assessing the look, feel, and functionality of the website. Pretend you are a first-time visitor looking for information. Determine whether the contact information and the navigation hamburger are easy to find. If not, those must be remedied. Users do not want to search for things they should have easy access to. Next, take notice of the clarity of the website. Are the images too noisy and overwhelming? Do they reflect your brand well, or are they loud and outdated? Look at the background images and colour schemes. You want them to blend in seamlessly while enhancing the sight without interfering with the content.

Finally, inspect your company’s search query rankings. You want to always populate at the top of page one of a query. Work with a reputable company to create better SEO and conversion opportunities and bring more people to your site through engaging content.

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Driving more business to your company’s respective sites is a lifeline. Work to ensure ease of access for on-site visitors and website users to keep growing your company.

Forget Churn, Let's Convert - Conversion Rate Optimisation Webinar

I had the distinct privilege to present at an expert webinar on the 12th of February, 2026 entitled ‘Forget Churn, Let’s Convert - 5 Conversion Experts Perfect Your Pipeline.’

The rationale behind it was to educate business owners about how their marketing and sales funnels can leak at every stage because because they’re built in pieces.

This event united five experts—each a master of their craft—showing entrepreneurs how to design, write, systemise, and scale a complete client-acquisition engine. Attendees learned how words, design, process, and technology combine to turn wasted marketing spend into predictable, compounding growth.

The expert panel included:

• Ben Lai – LinkedIn Lead Generation

• Me – Conversion Copywriting & CTAs

• Irwin Hau – Conversion-Driven Web Design

• Craig Edwards – CRM & Customer Journey Systems

• David Guest – AI & Business Integration Strategy

Below is my segment from the seminar, “Optimising What You Say Is How You Sell: Turning Your Website Into a Sales Machine”

Can’t see the video? It may have been taken down by the event organiser. If so, email me for a copy.

Are you caught in the “too long, didn’t read” trap? (Flying Solo)

If you’ve been on the internet, you’ve read this little abbreviation: tl;dr. If you’re new to the internet (welcome! It’s awful here.) tl;dr stands for too long; didn’t read.

It’s a standard snarky reply to “wall of text” forum or Reddit posts, rambling blogs – even extended Tweets (or Exes… definitely sounds like something you don’t want.)

The writer types are surely scoffing: are people really this lazy? Or are we drowning in deluges of words and other content – the shiny flashy stuff that leaves words wanting – that we simply don’t have time to waste on something that could be *gasp* boring?

In business, we know that time is money. Boring can be forgiven; being irrelevant is worse.

New research by Chartbeat CEO Tony Haile, writing in TIME, suggests that the average reader who clicks on your page will spend fewer than 15 seconds on it, even if your goal is to have them read the entire thing.

Read the rest at Flying Solo.

How To Make Your Google Ads Rock In 2025

When it comes to getting customers to pay attention to you, you only have a few choices. One option is to use cold outreach. You literally pick up the phone or type out emails to prospects who don’t know you, one by one. 

Another option is warm outreach. This is where you get in touch with people who already know you and are thinking about buying from you. This could be a referral from an existing customer or people who know you because of your content on social media. 

The latter example is interesting because it means you’re reaching out to multiple people. But what if you don’t have a content presence but still need to reach a large market to flog your services. 

That’s where Google Ads come into the picture. These give you massive reach, even if your audience doesn’t know you. 

But how are you supposed to master this type of marketing? What actually works and gets results? 

Keep Auditing

The first thing you’ll want to develop is your feedback loop when using Google ads. The last thing you want is for ads to cost you a lot of money and fail to deliver any results. 

The way around this is to set up a proper audit cycle. You want to ensure that you’re constantly looping back to check on what you’re doing to see if it is working. A lot of companies will just pay for Google Ads without really measuring their effect or taking their impact into consideration. Sometimes campaigns will run for years without generating any return. 

The best way to audit is to keep testing and trialling different approaches. Most businesses can be successful with ads, but they will never work for some industries, so that is always worth bearing in mind. 

Integrate Web And App Campaigns

It’s also well worth integrating web and app campaigns, a new feature that’s available for 2025. This tool allows customisation of ads across multiple platforms in ways that make sense for brands. 

The best thing about this approach is that it unifies measurement. Companies no longer need to tally results from app or web-based campaigns. Instead, the data can be pooled and specific insights can be found.

Attribution is also better under this model. You can literally see where your ad spend is working for you, and where it isn’t enabling better ad targeting by platform, changing how you allocate funds between strategies. All you need to do is wait for the data to roll in. 

Use Expiration Mode 

If you can improve your use of Smart Bidding with expiration mode, that’s also a good idea. The idea here is to target return on ad spend first and then use Exploration whenever you run a promotion. You should find that you get about 10% to 25% more volume without costs increasing significantly. 

Of course, this tactic is highly industry-dependent, but it is well worth exploring. If you can eke out a little extra performance, you can often out-do competitors who are not using the same strategies. 

Use First-Party Data

You could also look into using first-party data to improve your conversion rate. Due to the backlash, Google is looking at phasing out cookies for a more ethical approach to ads. As such, companies are now feeding customer personal information on their books into their ad campaigns, as well as data kept off the books. 

Interestingly, this approach is actually enhancing return on ad spend. A lot of customers appreciate it when brands they already have relationships with reach out to them and try to do business. 

If you can implement Google Tags across your site, that can also help. Removing bad leads is essential though so you can track based on value. 

If you're scaling up your outreach, then you might also want to include things like the customer’s lifetime value. This way, you can track the impact of your ad spend when targeting specific markets. 

Use The Google Asset Studio

You could also look into using Google’s Asset Studio to improve your ads for 2025. This tool essentially allows you to generate new video clips, images and ad variations at will so you can test which work best. All you need to do is enter the right prompts. 

For consumers, this sort of approach is quite novel still. A lot of people aren’t used to the sight of highly creative Google Ads, so it could make a significant difference to your campaigns. 

Avoid Bloated Campaigns

It’s also a good idea to avoid the temptation to run bloated campaigns. While you might want to run ads for multiple products and locations, that doesn’t always work. 

The best way to approach this problem is to do what experts, like Loudmouse Digital Marketing, do. They segment campaigns into specific funnels, depending on the product. Then, they run them in parallel with each other, ensuring they reach out to the ideal market niche. 

If you don’t adopt this level of focus, Google Ads won’t know who you are trying to target. It will also serve ads to customers who don’t click the link, or simply don’t want to buy what you have to offer. 

Optimise Voice With Longtail Keywords

If you want to really master Google Ads in 2025, then you’ll need to look into optimising your voice-based SEO with long-tail keywords. This approach is highly effective since only a minority of companies are doing it, and it is not popular throughout the industry. 

For example, let’s say you sell something specific, like LEDs for bathroom vanities. Targeting a voice-based long-tail keyword like “I need new LEDs for my bathroom vanity” could go a long way. 

Usually, ads that focus on these keywords can drive higher traffic. Voice inputs tend to have a high degree of intent, meaning that customers are keen to buy. 

Google Keyword Planner is helpful for finding voice-related keyword searches. However, it is also worth speaking to experts, just to ensure you’re on the right track.

Lunch & Learn Series: 7 Rules for Turning Your Website into a Sales Machine

With thanks to VIP Business Network Pty Ltd, I'll be hosting my first Lunch & Learn seminar: 7 Simple Rules for Turning Your Website into a Sales Machine!

In this online event, you'll get seven actionable methods for increasing conversions all while you nibble on a sandwich (or a filet mignon!)

You'll learn:

• What you need to turn your website into a mere marketing tool and into a sales machine.

• How to avoid trust and sales killing 'dark patterns.'

• Why 'conventional wisdom' around marketing and sales isn’t all its cracked up to be!

Join us on Tuesday 16th of September on Zoom between 12:30pm and 1:10pm (AEST) for a look into how conversion rate optimisation can work for you!

Always under your thumb: email marketing (Flying Solo)

What came first? The fax machine or the telephone? It isn’t a trick question or anything. I’ll let you stew on it a little. What was your answer?

If you answered telephone, you won’t be hearing a little (Alexander Graham) Bell. The fax machine, or the “Electric Printing Telegraph” was invented in 1846 by Scottish inventor Alexander Bain, with the first commercial fax service commencing in 1865. This was all 11 years before the debut of the telephone.

Funnily enough, we are living in an age closer to the telephone than the fax machine. Though fax machines were the must-have business machine of the 80s and 90s, it took over 150 years for it to be adopted as a de facto standard. It was rendered obsolete in record time by another invention that also took decades to catch on: email.

Email was invented in about 1971, with the first electronic mail message sent over the precursor to the public internet, ARPAnet. It wasn’t until the end of the century that everyone had at least one email address, perhaps something angsty, edgy, and laden with pop culture references at Hotmail dot com.

Though the pace of innovations seems to be accelerating, nothing yet has swept email into the dustbin of history. This isn’t through lack of trying, of course. Microsoft Teams, Slack, Hubspot, CRMs, etc. – they all seem to compliment email rather than getting rid of it entirely.

To be fair, why would you?

Read the rest at Flying Solo.

What Is The State of Marketing in 2025?

Marketing is digital and digital changes a lot over 12 months. This time last year marketers were bracing for a collapse in ad spend. Analysis from AdWeek predicts that ad spends will increase around 3.8% to 6.5% which is a good sign for people in marketing and communication - though growth in the industry will languish around the 2-3% mark.

So what is the state of marketing in 2025? What should we be focusing on for this year instead of succumbing to shiny-object syndrome? Here’s my analysis:

FTA Television is Boomer Wasteland

Back in ‘68 when Julie was Johnny’s date and strolling down Desolation Boulevard, both of them were likely eighteen. Julie and Johnny, now retired empty nesters with three investment properties are watching old school, free-to-air television. The kids are alright with over-the-top streaming and the internet, and we’ve known this since 2017. In the U.S., 49% of the 54-65 and over demographic still have a cable subscription and most watch over 10 hours per week, constrasted with only 34% of the 18 to 29 demo. The highest rated programs are still live sports, seconded by news and … repeats of Antiques Roadshow.

This has contributed to a global decline in TV advertising by 8%. If you’re trying to get hip and down with the kids, avoid FTA TV and leave it to the oldies.

Social Media Fragmentation

Ahh, the halcyon days of the mid 2010s - where you could set your watch to a healthy return on ad spend coming from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Now, that’s all been turned on its ear. Since the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk and its rebrand to X, many left-leaning netizens have flocked to alternatives such as Mastodon and Blue Sky citing safety and misinformation concerns.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has drawn ire from the political left for doing away with fact checking units and opting for community based notes, much like on X. TikTok’s status in the United States is also under a cloud of uncertainty with a ban likely coming after the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its ruling on the 19th of January.

Couple that with a decrease in ads capturing attention - 31% of people globally claim they pay attention to ads, a 12% slump over last year - and social media seems a less of a “sure thing” for marketers than any time in its short history.

Video and User Generated Content Pushes Buying Decisions

Hands up those of you who have watched a YouTube video of a product unboxing or review to reaffirm your decision to buy? You aren’t alone. According to Hubspot research, approximately 62% of consumers watch videos to learn more about brands, discover how their products or services work, and glean insights into hidden benefits in real-world use cases. (Like how I was sold on buying the Sony Xperia 1 VI due to its superb macro function. Oh, and the headphone jack.) During 2024, 89% of consumers said they want to see more videos from brands - especially if it justifies their purchase decisions.

Newsletters: CERTAINTY IN AN UNCERTAIN TIME

When you put out a newsletter, you not only enjoy a 42:1 average ROI, but you also own the channel and the all the benefits. There aren’t any algorithms to deal with or external advertiser guidelines to adhere to. With politicisation and cybersecurity threats still rampant on social media (e.g., a brand could lose its entire social media platform access overnight) cultivating a contact list and sending newsletters on one’s own terms lends brands and companies greater control over their marketing and communication efforts. It’s also wholly opt-in - first or zero party data collection when third-party data harvesting is starting to get on the nose (see below.)

Hubspot believes there will be a race for subscribers, with larger independents perhaps being acquired by media companies much like tech startups. However, it’s incumbent on us marketers to earn ongoing loyalty by providing value in each newsletter - value that entices non-subscribers to subscribe, too.

AI Driven Campaigns - Perhaps Not Content

AI slop is everywhere and people absolutely hate it. Though the U.S.S. Enterprise-D is run using a computer several magnitudes more intelligent than what we have today, it still has a full crew complement driving them into the Final Frontier. AI will be crucial in programmatic, on-the-fly advertising placement, even when regulation phases out third-party data and new innovative privacy-preserving ad platforms such as Anonym ensure security, transparency, and privacy for end-users.

Personalisation can generate $20 for each $1 spent. Overdo it, and you’re venturing into the creepy, “is this thing stalking me” territory for many - and people are growing even more uncomfortable with the phenomenon. This was highlighted after Apple was forced to pay US$95 million in a class action after their digital assistant Siri was caught eavesdropping on users.

With all that said, I can’t say Generative AI is completely useless - I generated the image at the top of the page using Midjourney - but after a re-evaluation by the marketplace, Generative AI may settle into a place of productivity co-pilot rather than taking over operations wholesale. This may lead to marketers deploying and scaling more simultaneous, continuous campaigns and not just gaining but implementing changes based on real-time data, as Large Language Models replace the need for coding or query language skills.

Digital PR: Continuous vs Discrete Reputation Management

Having a brand mentioned in a magazine simply doesn’t cut through anymore and thus a true innovation was required to supplant it. Instead of assuming influence like before, we can now quantify it and improve upon it. Digital PR isn’t just a simple add-on of the same old SEO mixed with traditional PR methods. It's all about rethinking how we tell stories for brands or people, tapping into the natural flow of information inherent in digital channels.

Sure, it’s awesome to see your brand in a newspaper, but let’s be real—it doesn’t really do much for your attention and reach in the long run. A link on your web page can boost your trust and authority for the long haul. Back in the day, PR was all about adding one bit of good news on top of another bit and hoping for the best. In the Digital PR era, it’s non-stop and endlessly measurable – and that’s what makes this new approach so appealing to marketers and brands.

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The worst business jargon and phrases of 2024

Business – especially the university-corporate sausage factory pipeline – loves to sound smarter than they actually are, by using esoteric jargon. Repeated over and over, it grates the ears like nails over chalkboard.

In 2024, there was no shortage of innovative and disruptive game-changing jargon – with almost none of it being useful or helpful. Here’s some of the worst that I’ve encountered and most likely, some of you have too.

Read the list at Flying Solo.

Are you leaving behind revenue by not writing newsletters?

Everything old is new again, it would seem. The big deal in the content economy isn’t Spotify or TikTok, it’s a new twist on one of the Internet’s founding aspects: the email newsletter.

Spurred on by creator-centric newsletter publishing app Substack, the email newsletter has become big business again. Started in 2017, it has grown to 20 million monthly active subscribers, with its top 10 creators earning $25 million collectively as of 2023.

If you are a business, you have a contact list. Every business needs one if they don’t have one already. If you aren’t monetising that contact list by sending out regular newsletters or email communications, you are leaving money on the table.

Why Email Newsletters?

Over 376 billion emails will be sent and received daily worldwide in 2025, a 23% increase over 2020. 99% of email users check their inboxes at least once per day.

According to a report by Whop about ConvertKit, newsletters garner a 45% open rate compared with 10% for social media. The report also showed that newsletters were the most popular form of content at 58%, followed by blog posts at 51% and educational courses at 30%.

Email newsletter engagement sat at 27%, followed far behind by Instagram (15%) and Facebook (12%).

According to a Beehiiv report, newsletters enjoy open rates of 38.7%, with the welcome or onboarding email showing healthy open rates of 45%. Venture capital newsletters had the highest engagement rates at 50.4%, followed by sports newsletters at 47.5% and food & drink newsletters at 45.3%. Topics of the most interest to newsletter subscribers are films, psychology, and gaming.

If that doesn’t convince you that email marketing is a good idea, think about the $42 of average return on every dollar spent via email advertising.

That’s not to mention you can also charge subscriptions for your newsletters or gain sponsorships from other brands, opening up another revenue stream for your business.

So why are newsletters so popular and gaining popularity despite the advancement in other forms of social media?

The Power of the Opt-In

Unlike every other type of advertising online, newsletters are entirely opt-in. You must agree to sign up for a mailing list; and users have the ability to tune out by unsubscribing. That way, people can curate their content to their liking. If the email newsletter is not fit for their purpose, they can get rid of it just as easily.

No matter whether the email format is news, special offers, link curation, or digests, newsletter subscribers were 16x more likely to be receptive to and engage with newsletter ads. Since people are opted in, they find ads and other calls to action far more relevant than those seen on social media or other forms of internet advertising. In fact, 86% of U.S. adults want to get promotional emails - not informational or educational emails - promotional emails at least once per month according to Marketing Sherpa. 54% of brands send emails at least 2-4 times a month, with 32% sending at least once per month.

Emails can also be personalised to individual subscribers using segmentation, driven by automation. If a user hasn’t visited your site (or logged in) in a while, you can send them a personalised discount offer. You can wish them Happy Birthday. You can send them cat videos, if you have them down as a cat owner. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Also, other forms of marketing can’t really do that.

37% of marketers say that email is the most effective channel for customer loyalty and retention, and it’s spurred on by an email reader giving your brand full attention and laser focus; at least for a minute or two. Can’t say that for the perpetual doom scroller…

Monetising Your Database

If your business already has a database of customers - even a small business of 50 or 100 contacts - it’s well worth setting up a newsletter and inviting them to opt-in (don’t assume they want to, just because you talked to them once: it’s bad etiquette and against the law.)

Using an email marketing platform like Mailchimp (which has a dominant 65% market share), Klayvio, or ConstantContact is simple to set up and may even offer a limited-time free trial, so you can evaluate whether it’s the right fit for you.

Setting your email newsletters up for transactional emails based on triggers can also drive engagement and sales - even the humble “welcome” email gets you an average of 45% open rates, which is far more enticing than PPC or even long-term SEO engagement.

Are you leaving money on the table by not sending out regular newsletters? The verdict seems to be in.

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Want your newsletters written right, with high conversions and industry leading open rates? Get I Sell Words on the case!

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Adventures in AI: Is it smart until it’s dumb? (Flying Solo)

Last week, a client and I embarked on putting artificial intelligence (AI), notably OpenAI’s ChatGPT (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer), through its paces.

Let’s preface all this by saying I’m not a computer programmer by any stretch. I dabbled in Turbo Pascal and Visual Basic in high school, which was over twenty years ago. I’m sure we’ve moved on since then.

The task was simple: write a series of 500-word articles about a given topic. Some had to have five FAQs (answers to frequently asked questions), and others had to have three. Sometimes they had to be two long FAQs (100 words or more) or three short (50 words or fewer.) Or four of equal length. They also needed to have links inserted at 100-word intervals, the keywords in the URL substantially or closely matching words on the page.

Seems like a piece of cake for a million CUDA core behemoth, right?

Well, sort of.

Read the rest at Flying Solo.

Doing it yourself: Is the hard way the way through? (Flying Solo)

As soloists or small business owners, we often take on more than we can bite off, let alone chew. For one soloist, it gave them a deeper appreciation of what other soloists can do for their business – and with savings in time and money, I wrote for Flying Solo.

Could you pass your HSC exam again? How to learn from your past to forge your future (Flying Solo)

If there’s one recurring nightmare we might have, it’s being back at school and under pressure to perform for exams again. We may or may not be wearing our clothes, and our teeth might be falling out as we fall off a cliff. But I digress.

For me, 2024 marks twenty years since I did my VCE (HSC) exams and graduated from high school. Looking back, perhaps apart from some fundamentals, so much has changed.

Read the rest at Flying Solo.