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Pareto’s Principle states that 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. Otherwise known as the 80:20 rule, the principle applies to marketing as much as sociology and economics.

Essentially, for every ten campaigns you put into the world, two will generate 80% of the results. Of course, this is an average or a rule of thumb rather than an exact figure.

The 80:20 rule might sound like bad news because it implies you won’t get the desired result every time. But understanding the 80:20 can also be empowering; if you’ve tried a few Facebook ads and nothing’s worked, the chances are you could still be successful if you test another handful of ads.

Once you identify the highest-performing ads within a group, you can pause the rest. This allows you to plough your resources into the ads that work, potentially snowballing your return.

Does this mean you should stop creating new ads once you’ve found a few successful ones? No. Now is the perfect time to begin tweaking your existing ads to create new campaigns alongside your current ones. If you’re paying attention to the data, you’ll soon find even better ways to engage your ideal customers.

Over time, this should help you create ads highly attuned to your audience that continue to generate solid profits for your business. New ads also prevent your target demographic from growing blind to your messaging from overexposure.

To get started, plan at least ten ads, all with a single goal, such as generating sign-ups or sales. Divide your budget into ten, so you can afford to run them all while comparing the data. Follow the plan above as soon as a couple prove their worth. Good luck!

Marketers are forever coming up with novel ways to sell more products or attract new customers, but it’s easy to forget the basic principles that every campaign should focus on at its core. Let’s have a look at these now.

Choose your market or niche

It sounds obvious, but often business owners are so enthusiastic about what they’re offering that they assume it will appeal to everyone. But unless you’re drawing from a bottomless pit of money, you can’t afford to tailor your campaigns to every demographic going. And frankly, you don’t need to.

For many businesses, targeting a niche in the market is more effective and easier on the budget. To do this, think hard about the type of people who actually need your product or service. Pitch your campaigns to appeal to this specific demographic, and you’re more likely to generate better returns.

Focus on fulfilling a need

Say your niche audience is busy working mums struggling to balance all their responsibilities. How does your product or service help them overcome their biggest fears or the practical problems they face every day? Once you’ve established the pain point, draw your audience’s attention to it and show them the solution.

Of course, priorities change over time, so you should constantly research trends in customer behaviour to help you redevelop your offering and remarket accordingly.  

Go where your audience is

Now you know your audience like the back of your hand, focus on the distribution channels they’re most likely to interact with. For example, younger folk spend much more time on TikTok and Instagram than older generations, who may still prefer browsing a magazine or brochure over whipping out a phone.

Likewise, a keen home cook or baker might spend more time reading long-form blog posts and watching demonstration videos on YouTube than scrolling Facebook. The only way to know for sure is by doing your homework and monitoring the data.

Choose and schedule content with care

Once you’ve decided how to reach your audience, it’s time to create content that means something to them. Before you hit publish, though, consider how each piece fits into your overall marketing plan, its relevance, and the value it provides. Aim for quality and a predictable schedule that doesn’t overwhelm your audience.

Create a plan – and review it regularly

Even the best-laid plans need the occasional tweaking, so it’s essential to hold onto all the data generated by your marketing efforts – whether they were successful or not. By regularly examining the figures, you’ll start to identify important trends and insights that will help you progress your business in the future.

After assessing the data, use it to create a refreshed content marketing strategy you can share with your team so everyone is on the same page.

Why not get started right now?

Hashtags organise social media posts into easily identifiable topics. You can think of them as a modern-day index that helps users locate information they’re interested in.

By taking advantage of the network of popular hashtags floating around online, you can create a shortcut to expand your following and tap into new audiences.

That doesn’t mean you should add a string of tags to your posts just because they widen your reach. They need to relate directly to your content; otherwise, they’ll come across more spammy than engaging. Instagram recommends a maximum of five per post.

So, where should you begin? Here are the #s insurance and property agents should consider implementing into their Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok campaigns.

Top 10 Insurance Hashtags 

1. #insurance
2. #lifeinsurance
3. #insuranceagent
4. #insurancebroker
5. #healthinsurance
6. #business
7. #investment
8. #carinsurance
9. #covid
10. #homeinsurance 

Top 10 Property Hashtags 

1. #properties
2. #realestate
3. #property
4. #realtor
5. #forsale
6. #investment
7. #realestateagent
8. #househunting
9. #home
10. #newhome

Testing specific hashtags in different combinations and groups is the most effective way to learn the formula that appeals to your unique audience. With that in mind, #getstarted!

Although we tend to think of Messenger as a way to chat with friends and family for free, it’s also a powerful marketing and lead-generation tool in its own right. It has 1.3 billion users, with 500,000 more people joining the platform daily – creating a massive opportunity for savvy marketers to tap into this vast pool of potential consumers.

At the very least, these stats should encourage businesses to make themselves contactable via the platform for marketing and customer support. Don’t think you have time to respond to Messenger enquiries? Well, over 300,000 chatbots are currently busy answering questions and assisting customers – and they’re easy to set up, too.

Probably one of the most astonishing facts about advertising on Messenger relates to its seeming irresistibility. According to marketing guru Neil Patel, messages can achieve open rates of 88% and click-through rates of 56% – far higher than industry averages for email campaigns.

Data from Search Engine Journal also shows that Messenger ads have proven themselves 80% more effective than email ads, meaning it should be a core part of any marketing strategy. So, if you aren’t already one of the 40 million businesses actively using Facebook Messenger, 2023 is the year to consider dipping your toe in the water!

Live Chat – Why is it so important for businesses?

Happy customers go a long way towards creating a successful business. These days, there are countless ways to keep your customers informed, answer their questions, and solve any service issues.

You may already talk to your audience by phone, email, or even Messenger chatbots, but adding a Live Chat option leaves more customers satisfied, with some surveys suggesting that people are significantly more likely to use a business or service in the future if they can engage with Live Chat.

There are several reasons why Live Chat is favourable to phone or email, for example. Customers love getting an instant response and multitasking while chatting, and they also appreciate having an expert available to advise them on their purchase – particularly useful if you sell several similar products.

Luckily, it’s relatively inexpensive to set up a Live Chat feature, and a quick tête-à-tête is often more efficient than a chain of emails – freeing up time for your service team. Smoothing the path for your customers also gives you a competitive advantage; let’s face it, who doesn’t sometimes wish they could just talk to a human and not a robot?

Overall, Live Chat can make a real difference to your bottom line. The question is, what do you have to lose?

We are encouraging the industry to help tackle hunger in their local communities by collecting items that food banks urgently require and donate to their local food bank. It is these essential food items and toiletries, baby items and hygiene products which make up the parcels and make the all-important delivery to the food banks to give them the supplies they so desperately need in the current times.

Why blogs still matter – and how to find ideas

Blogs are a surefire way of establishing your business as an authority, building brand awareness, and gaining the trust of your ideal customer. Around nine out of ten businesses use them, resulting in millions of new posts every month.

Of course, there’s a lot of competition in the online space, so if your blogging efforts are going to fuel your marketing strategy, you should focus on your customers’ needs when creating your long-term content plan.

By understanding your audience, you can give them the information they want. However, to get their attention, you must incorporate solid SEO practices, such as honing in on high-traffic, low-competition keywords and making your copy engaging and easy to read.  

Building a successful blog takes time and a fair dose of creativity. If you find yourself stumped for ideas, consider these six sources of inspiration:

1. Type relevant topics into Google (paying attention to auto-complete suggestions and ‘People Also Ask’ questions)
2. Use Google Trends to compare topic options
3. Scour social media – and Quora – for hot topics in your niche
4. Ask ChatGPT for prompts
5. Take advantage of SEMrush’s content ideas generator to see what’s trending
6. Think about upcoming events and festivals for time-sensitive content

Ideally, you should collate a bank of ideas to ensure you’re always a few blog posts ahead. An editorial calendar will help you plan and manage the delivery of your marketing strategy, which should make the process smoother. Good luck!