Marketing

Every answer 17 answers

• Do I have to be the face of my local brand to build a personal brand?

  No. A personal brand means showing up, at chamber meetings and in the community, more than being in every Instagram video. Online, don't talk about your business at first; share your personal life, then mention your company rarely once you've crossed the chasm. In person you can be upfront. You can also hire a local creator for video.

• Do I need polished videos to build an audience on YouTube?

  No. For most people in most niches, just jump on and start talking. Don't spend energy on your background or editing; rough production can make you more human. Pick a specific niche, show real work, and let search do the rest. Two inbound leads found me through my content before my YouTube channel even launched.

• Do Instagram carousels or videos work better for a local brand?

  Carousels, lately. I'd have assumed video was the better play, but the local operators I watch are having more luck with carousels, including news carousels. A guest's weekend events carousel got almost 40,000 views versus about 9,000 for the same events as a reel. Keep them plain, and talk over your events when you do use video.

• How do I grow a local Instagram account for free?

  Follow 20 to 25 local businesses a day, post local news on Instagram that legacy outlets only put on their websites, try green-screen videos, and tag businesses and locations so they reshare. A guest got nearly 500 followers in days from one green-screen reel. Don't start a Facebook group without a real plan to seed it.

• How do I market a new business with free events, Facebook groups and conferences?

  Give something useful away to a specific group. Posting free AI office hours in a few small, quiet insurance agent Facebook groups got me 29 RSVPs. My local AI meetups grew from five people to 13 or 14. I've also offered to train 20 of an organization's people for free in exchange for introductions. Industry framing beats broad targeting.

• How do you do LinkedIn outreach to local business owners?

  Offer something free, personally. A directory founder told me he sends about 10 LinkedIn messages a day offering a free listing, and roughly 2 in 10 say yes. My plan for WilCo Guide: personal connection requests under 200 characters offering a free business-page claim and a free owner interview. No scraping, no automation.

• How do you find and work with local creators for a local media brand?

  Recruit someone already making local video and offer them your brand and built-in audience. A creator with 3,000 followers under their own name has a much harder time growing and monetizing than one posting under a local brand with 40,000 followers and business relationships. My creator makes about one green-screen video a day.

• How do you find marketing and growth ideas that actually work for a local business?

  Copy what already works nationally or in another niche, then do it locally where nobody is doing it. That's basically the whole local newsletter model. And when competitors copy you badly and it still works, that's a signal: if a B-minus version works, an A-minus version should work better.

• How often should a local media brand post on Instagram?

  More than you think. My rule for WilCo Guide is at least two Instagram carousels a day and up to five, with newsletters capped at one a day. A local creator I learned from posted five to ten videos a day, got almost nothing for 30 days, then it clicked. Assume 5% or less of followers see any post, and repeat your best ideas.

• Is AI-generated video worth it for social media reach?

  It can be, cheaply. Character-swapped AI clips cost me about $3 for 10 to 15 seconds, roughly $100 a month for one a day. One test got about 75,000 views on Facebook and almost none on TikTok. Treat it like lottery tickets: most posts flop, so volume and low cost matter. Avoid AI people pretending to be real.

• Should I start my own podcast to get clients, or guest on other shows?

  Guest first, unless you have the capacity to follow up. Starting a show puts all the work on you, and early episodes get few viewers. The value is in following up with guests and repurposing the content. I parked my own new show and chose guesting instead, with agents doing the prep, for about an hour of my time per booked show.

• Should a local media brand post on LinkedIn?

  Yes, for the business side. LinkedIn's algorithm shows posts about your area to local decision makers even if nobody follows you. A Texas operator got at least one inbound call a day from bankers, business owners and city leaders within two weeks. Post first-person proof of community impact, not news. Keep Instagram for consumer news.

• Should social media posts look polished or plain?

  Plain, usually. A post of mine with a white background, dark text and no branding did about 2,200, and the operators who keep winning post as basic as possible. Polished graphics stand out as not the content people came for. The same lesson cost me money in ads: what looks better often works worse.

• What is founder-led marketing and why will small businesses need it?

  Founder-led marketing is the owner creating engaging content about running their business, with the owner as the face. Small businesses will need it because advertising is getting too expensive or less effective for them. Most owners can't produce it consistently, so the opening is doing the backend production while they stay on camera.

• What lead magnet works for a local business or newsletter company?

  Something useful with a built-in next step. A giveaway with a guaranteed consolation discount got one operator 100+ leads for a Christmas-lights business. One mention of a free AI 101 training in my newsletter got about 100 sign-ups. For newsletter software, a free audit that checks your issue, subscribe page and survey.

• What proof can you use on a sales page if you have no testimonials yet?

  Use true operator proof and show the product. Never invent logos, ROI percentages or testimonials. My pages use real numbers (20+ newsletters, 160,000+ subscribers, Meta subscriber costs as low as about 40 to 50 cents on my portfolio) plus big sample-issue visuals and a live demo. Write scarcity claims so they're literally true.

• Why build an audience first instead of selling your business directly?

  Because people choose to read useful content and avoid sales pitches. Build an audience around something they want (local events, news, humor), then put your own offer in front of people who already trust you. HubSpot does it with podcasts it owns. Most realtors and agents skip it because it's indirect.