c/digital-marketing-chat

Pro tip: I stopped guessing on my email subject lines

For the first year, I would just write what sounded good. Last month, I started using a free tool called SendCheckIt to test two options before every campaign. The open rate for my small list jumped from 18% to 31% on average. It feels good to have a real reason for my choices now. What other small tests do you run before hitting send?

Wasted $400 on a Facebook ad campaign that targeted the wrong city

I set up a campaign for my small online shop last month and accidentally left the targeting on 'San Jose, California' instead of 'San Jose, Costa Rica'. The ads got clicks, but zero sales from people who could actually buy. It was a total waste of the budget. Has anyone else messed up geo-targeting that bad and found a good way to double-check it?

Remember when you could just post a link on Facebook and get real traffic?

Last week, a client asked why their page posts get maybe 50 views. Three years ago, that same post would have reached a few thousand people easily. I was looking at some old campaign data from 2021, and the organic reach numbers were almost ten times higher. Now you have to pay to boost almost everything just to get it seen by your own followers. It feels like the game changed from building a community to just renting an audience. Has anyone found a social platform that still feels like the old days for small businesses?

Rant: I blew $800 on a 'viral' TikTok ad strategy that got zero sales

Paid a 'guru' for a course on trending sounds and hooks, but my product just didn't fit the format. My engagement tanked because the audience was there for entertainment, not to buy. Anyone have a better method for actually converting on short-form video?

A client in Denver said my email list was too small to matter

We were reviewing his campaign results from last quarter, and he pointed at my 2,000 person list. He said, 'You need at least 50k contacts before email marketing is worth the effort.' I explained that our open rate was 42% and we'd booked 15 qualified leads from it that month. He just shook his head and said big lists are the only real metric. Has anyone else had to defend a small, engaged list against the 'bigger is always better' crowd?

Just realized a lot of people are still treating social media like a megaphone

I keep seeing marketers, even some with decent budgets, blast the same promotional post across every platform at 9 AM sharp. They treat it like a TV ad slot. But my analytics from a campaign last month show a 40% higher click rate on Instagram Reels posted at 7 PM versus the same content as a static post at 9 AM. The platforms are built for different types of conversation now. A polished carousel on LinkedIn might work, but that same format falls flat as a TikTok. I think the old 'schedule and forget' method is costing people real engagement. Are you still posting the same thing everywhere, or have you shifted to making platform-specific content?

My Google Ads campaign for a Denver bakery somehow targeted people looking for divorce lawyers

Last Thursday, I set up a new ad group for a client's croissant shop and used the keyword 'butter' to catch baking searches. By Friday morning, the ad had spent $127 showing to people searching for 'butter clause' and 'prenuptial agreement,' which are apparently legal terms. I had to pause everything and rebuild the negative keyword list from scratch. Has anyone else had their keywords pulled into a totally wrong topic like that?

I used to think you needed a huge budget to run a good Facebook ad campaign

For a year, I kept my ad spend under $10 a day because everyone said you had to start small... My results were always just okay. Then last month, I accidentally set a campaign budget to $100 for a single day. The cost per lead dropped by half and I got more qualified clicks. It made me realize that being too cautious can actually waste more money in the long run. Has anyone else found that a bigger daily budget, even for a short test, worked better?

Tried writing my own blog posts versus using a cheap AI writer for $5. The AI one got flagged as spam by Google in 2 days.

My Facebook ad account got disabled right before a big launch in Denver

I was setting up a campaign for a local brewery's new IPA launch when my ad account just shut down without warning last Tuesday. It turned out their new can design image triggered the automated system for 'alcohol sales' because it showed the product too clearly. I had to submit an appeal and call their support line three times before it got reinstated 48 hours later. Has anyone else had an ad account flagged over something simple like an image?

Overheard a client call that changed how I see email open rates

I was at a coffee shop in Portland yesterday and the guy at the next table was on a loud Zoom call with a client. He said, 'We're hitting a 28% open rate, which is great, but look at the click-throughs. They're under 2%. People open it and bounce.' That stuck with me. I've been so focused on getting my own open rates up for my small business emails, using better subject lines and all that. But I realized I never really looked past that first number. I went home and checked my last five campaigns. Sure enough, my opens were okay, but almost nobody clicked the link to my actual sale page. It means the subject line worked, but the email itself didn't do its job. Has anyone else had this happen and found a good way to fix the content inside the email to get more clicks?

I thought TikTok ads were just for kids until my small shop in Denver got 40 sales in a week.

My friend told me to try it for my handmade candle business. I put $10 a day into a simple video showing how I make them. After three days, my website traffic doubled. Now I'm not sure if it was just luck or if the platform really works for small brands. Has anyone else seen real results from TikTok ads for a niche product?

Showerthought: I picked a $50 ad budget for a local client over a free social push

Had a small bakery client who wanted more weekend orders, and the choice was between running a targeted Facebook ad for $50 or just posting more on their free Instagram page (which honestly wasn't getting seen). I went with the ad, set it to target people within 5 miles who liked similar bakeries, and they sold out of scones by Saturday afternoon. Has anyone else had a tiny budget work way better than just hoping the free stuff catches on?

Appreciation post: I tested two email subject lines for a client's product launch and the results were clear

One was a simple question about a problem, and the other was a clever pun. The question line got a 34% open rate, while the pun only got 18%. When do you think it's okay to use a funny subject line instead of a direct one?

I swore off influencer deals until a random test run surprised me

I always thought influencer marketing was too expensive for my small business. Then I gave it a shot with a niche creator and saw a big boost in clicks. How do you guys measure if an influencer is a good fit?

That time my Facebook ad review outlasted the product launch

By the time it cleared, the trend had died.

Thoughts on Marketing 1on1?

Thinking about giving Marketing 1on1 a try for some backlinks. My current vendor got way too expensive. Are they any good for the price?