PPC
14 Important Copywriting Skills Every Marketer MUST Master
Great copy is all around us. Not just in Nike ads or on billboards, but in emails, social media posts, and those delightful little sandwich boards on city sidewalks.
All those words do some heavy lifting for businesses. They generate awareness, traffic, leads, and conversions. That’s true of sidewalk sandwich boards and seven-figure ad campaigns.
So how do you write copy that converts?
After a decade of professional writing, I’ve found some copywriting skills to be fundamental for choosing words that compel action–whether copywriting is a central focus of your job or just something you dabble in. I’ve listed them here and ranked them, starting with the most important.
Master these skills and your copy will do big things for your business. And if you’re like me, you’ll enjoy the heck out of writing it.
1. Curiosity
The best copywriters I’ve ever read aren’t always the best “writers.” They’re people who genuinely want to understand how something works and are excited to explain it to others.
Famed adman David Ogilvy was the epitome of curiosity. He obsessed over understanding everything about the products he marketed and the people who bought them.
Curiosity is the fuel that energizes every other skill on this list. If you’re curious, you’ll naturally be more empathic. You’ll want to learn marketing strategy. And you’ll be a crazy good interviewer.
You can even leverage your audience’s curiosity to generate more awareness.
That’s why I consider curiosity to be the most important copywriting skill.
2. Empathy
Empathy is an important copywriting skill because it gives us the power to imagine what a customer is battling with so we can explain our solution in a more relevant way.
With a little empathy, you won’t write that a family SUV has a state-of-the-art entertainment system. Instead, you’ll say it has “enough distraction that no one will ask ‘are we there yet?’”
Molly Maids gets it. They use power words like “chaos” and “stress” to empathize with busy parents trying to hold it together during school break.
Empathy is a neurological response, so most of us have it naturally. But you can sharpen the skill with practice.
3. Goal setting
When writing, it’s easy to get lost in turning fun phrases and overusing alliteration. But it’s important to remember that copywriting, by nature, needs a specific goal. It may be to increase awareness of your brand or to have people click a call-to-action button in an ad.
Either way, the goal is your destination and copywriting is how you get there.
Goal setting is an important copywriting skill because, without it, you won’t likely be aligned with your organization’s marketing objectives. Maybe you write copy targeting the wrong type of customers. Or you might be aiming for clicks when the real need is new leads.
Since the goal determines how you’ll research and write copy, goal setting lands high up on this list.
4. Understanding marketing
I’ve yet to be in a situation where something I wrote wasn’t part of a larger marketing strategy. The more I learn about other disciplines like PPC and social media marketing, the more effective I am at writing copy that makes those initiatives successful. That’s how understanding marketing makes its way to the number four spot of important copywriting skills.
Here’s an example. Sales funnels are a foundational concept for marketers.
Once I understood how customers moved through a sales funnel, I was better able to write copy that made each transition smoother. It was especially helpful when I got into writing email marketing copy. I stopped trying to convert every reader and started educating and entertaining people who weren’t ready to buy. Open rates went up and subscriber churn went down.
5. Applying the four Cs of copywriting
The four Cs that describe good copywriting are: clear, credible, concise, and compelling. When you apply them to your copy, it naturally gets better.
The real copywriting skill here though is to know in which order to apply the four Cs.
Here’s how I consider it:
Copy should always be clear.
Above all else, a reader needs to understand your message. Whatever else you do, make sure it’s clear.
Copy should be credible, as long as it remains clear.
Copywriting needs to build trust. Add customer stories, mention awards, etc. to show you’re good at what you do.
Just make sure those additions don’t muddy the message.
Copy should be concise, as long as it’s still clear and credible.
You don’t have much time to get your point across. So cut any words or phrases that don’t serve that purpose. That said, you don’t want to remove so many words that people don’t know what you mean.
Copy should be compelling as long as it’s still clear, concise, and credible.
Copy needs to motivate people to think or do something. You can use some power words, a sense of urgency, or analogies to bring it all home.
There’s a thin line between compelling and pushy, though. If you can’t add more compelling copy without losing credibility (or without making it too long), then trim it down and focus on the other points.
6. Explaining the complex simply
There’s a phrase in education and marketing called explain it like I’m five (ELI5). The idea is to break down complex topics and present them in a way a five-year-old could understand. That’s an incredibly useful skill for a copywriter since you’re often the translator between technical people that make a product and non-technical people who use it.
There are lots of ways to use ELI5. You can use a conversational tone, use copywriting formulas, or add bridge phrases to keep readers engaged.
7. Interviewing like a detective
There’s an old detective TV show called Columbo. In it, the title character kindly, yet incessantly, asks suspects “just one more question” until he understands exactly what happened on the night of the murder.
Interviews aren’t interrogations. But when you approach a customer or subject matter expert with the drive to get the whole picture, you’ll ask that one more question that exposes a killer story.
8. Applying psychology
One of my biggest regrets is not minoring in psychology. Not because I want to know how to hack people’s brains to sell more. But to better understand how people process information and to write better emotional ad copy. That’s a skill any copywriter would benefit from.
In lieu of registering for formal classes, copywriters can learn about specific psychological principles and practice folding them into their copy. There are also plenty of existing examples of emotional copy to study.
9. Prioritizing like a journalist
Are you familiar with the inverted pyramid? It was one of the first principles I learned in my Journalism 101 class. Essentially, it’s how reporters place the most important information at the top of the page, and then add supporting details after.
In other communication disciplines,it’s called BLUF (bottom line up front).
Either way, it’s a really useful skill for writing Google Ads copy and anything optimized for small screens where most of your message is below the fold.
10. Checking your ego
I learned early in my career that ego is the killer of great copy for several reasons.
First, copywriting is a team sport. The best work happens when people with various experiences collaborate. That means being open to ideas from people who don’t have a writing background.
Second, you sometimes have to delete your favorite bits of copy. The unflattering term is “killing your darlings,” and it means removing really well-written copy that doesn’t match the tone or target of the piece.
And finally, you’ll often need to write something bad to get to something good. When I first started writing, I would bang away at the keyboard, aggressively hit backspace, then pound the keys even harder while trying a new angle. Eventually, I learned to just let a bad version flow first, even if it hurts my pride. There are always rounds of edits to make it great.
11. Understanding SEO basics
We’re getting toward the bottom of the list, but I don’t want to give the impression that SEO isn’t important. Even now in the age of zero-click posts and AI-powered everything, a lot of traffic comes from those search engine results pages. And often, it’s people in the middle of looking for things you sell.
Copywriting for SEO is its own skill. You need to know how to find keywords and fit them into your copy organically. You also should understand things like page structure and alt tags. It takes a little time to master, but SEO copywriting skills are an important arrow in a marketer’s quiver.
If you’re learning this skill, these 9 SEO copywriting tips will help you get pages ranked high on Google and Bing.
12. Focusing on value
I first learned about FAB (feature, advantage, benefit) in a class on sales, years before I started writing. The point of the class was to teach us the difference between a characteristic of a product (feature), how it helps (advantage), and why that will make a customer’s life better (benefit).
The lesson was, to make a product more relevant and valuable, highlight the benefit.
For example, the feature of a new mop could be its spring-loaded wringer. The advantage is that it needs less force to push dirty water out of the mop head. But we’d lead with the benefit, “less effort, faster cleaning.”
13. Keeping your attention on detail…
My first grownup job was as a sales manager for a large retail chain. Our mantra for putting up new displays or stocking shelves was “retail is detail.” While the rhyme falls apart, being detail-oriented is a clutch skill for copywriting as well.
There are dollars behind why paying attention to detail is important. Companies with frequent grammar and spelling mistakes on their website lose double the amount of customers than businesses without those errors. Plus, Google Ads with typos get fewer clicks and cost more per click than other ads.
14. …while being comfortable enough to break grammar rules
Tools like Grammarly and even ChatGPT make getting grammar right pretty easy. The real challenge is adeptly going against the rules when it helps your copy.
As the great Ann Handley put it in her book Everybody Writes, “I encourage you to safely and fearlessly break those rules and to make those mistakes in writing—but only when doing so lends greater clarity and readability.”
So fire up your spell and grammar checkers. But learn from the things they correct. Then, when the opportunity presents itself, you can blur grammatical lines to write better copy.
Gain copywriting skills from the experts
Copywriting isn’t just for full-time, professional marketers. Just about anyone who has to write emails, presentations, or sales flyers for work will benefit from knowing how to do it better.
Here’s a quick recap of the top copywriting skills marketers need to master:
- Curiosity
- Empathy
- Goal setting
- Marketing knowledge
- The four Cs of copywriting
- Explaining the complex simply
- Interviewing
- Applying psychology
- Prioritizing information
- Checking your ego
- Understanding SEO
- Focusing on value
- Keeping attention to detail
- Breaking grammar rules
Luckily, there are lots of ways to learn. These 10 free copywriting resources are a great place to start. They cover formulas, emotional copy, power words, and so much more.
PPC
How to Get Clients for Your Agency (That You’ll Love Working With)
You can’t grow an agency if you don’t get new clients. Heck, you can’t even stay the same size, as some clients will leave eventually. And that’s why new client acquisition is always a top challenge for agencies.
AgencyAnalytics proved what most know: getting clients is a constant struggle for agencies.
What’s even harder is finding the right clients. You know, the ones your agency can make successful and that you actually enjoy working with.
That’s why we included tips in this guide that will not only help you get new clients, but also sift out the clients that aren’t a great fit (and will become a drain on your resources).
We’re focused on ad and marketing agencies here, but most of these principles will help any service provider get more amazing clients:
- Generate referrals
- Get reviews
- Network with complementary businesses
- Turn employees into ambassadors
- Share your secrets
- Present fixes to prospect’s problems
- Price properly
- Be active on social media
- Create an ideal customer profile
- Go big on social proof
- Be transparent
1. Generate referrals from past and present clients
Referrals come from happy clients that introduce your agency to new prospects. That means a referred lead already has some trust in your agency, making it one of the most valuable types of leads you can get.
The first step in generating more referrals is simply to ask for them. Reach out to current and even past clients and ask if anyone else they know could benefit from the results you’ve provided.
But to really put your new client acquisition on overdrive, take a page from other high-growth companies and create a customer referral program.
B2C companies like Hello Fresh rock customer referral programs and your agency can, too.
To get your referral program going:
- Choose the offer: Pick an incentive, like a free service or future discount, to give to clients that successfully refer a new lead.
- Make it easy: Create a simple form clients can use to refer other businesses.
- Promote your program: Remind clients during regular meetings and via email so your referral program is always top of mind.
🛑 We’re just getting started! Get this free guide and learn actionable strategies to get new clients, expand your team, and refine your agency offerings.
2. Get reviews
Reviews are like referrals on blast. A single detailed review of your services in a highly visible place like Google can influence hundreds of would-be clients. And since 88% of people say an online review is as influential as a personal recommendation, reviews are an important method to get clients.
Reviews on popular online platforms are new-client magnets.
Of course, the first step in getting great reviews is to provide great service. Assuming you have that covered, you’ll want to attract new reviews in as many ways as possible.
Here are a few tactics you can use:
- Directly ask (here’s a list of templates to ask for reviews by phone, email, and more)
- Add a link with a call to action on your website
- Hand out physical “leave us a review” card
- Include review opportunities in customer satisfaction surveys
Don’t forget to respond to reviews, since most people reading a review also see your response. It’s a chance to celebrate great reviews and rectify the less-than-flattering ones.
3. Network with complementary businesses
Other businesses in your sphere need clients, too. You can help each other out by trading referrals.
Let’s say you focus on content marketing, but one of your clients needs help running PPC campaigns. Offer the lead to a PPC agency you trust and ask that they return the favor sometime.
LinkedIn is an amazing place to build your professional network. Message complementary businesses and let them know you’ll look out for them if they do the same.
4. Turn employees into ambassadors
Each of your employees has a network and a sphere of influence. As they work in their field longer, their influence grows. Tap into this network by helping your employees become ambassadors for your agency.
Even if it’s just reposting content your agency creates, employees can introduce your agency to lots of new audiences.
An easy way to do this is to ask your team to post about important company milestones on their social media accounts. Maybe it’s your 100th client, 10-year anniversary, or the company retreat. Posts like this help build your brand without pushing a hard sell—something many people would be reluctant to do on their personal feeds.
Another option is to send employees to conferences. Junior team members can benefit from the educational and networking experience. Senior employees could be speakers or panelists. In either case, you’ll have people out in the field drumming up awareness for your business.
5. Share your secrets
Most people will run marketing in house before they turn to an agency. Teach people how to do it themselves, and your agency will be at the top of the list when it’s time to hire.
That may sound counter-intuitive, but some of the biggest modern businesses grew rapidly using that exact technique.
TikTok is a sleeper hit for educating prospective clients with quick, fun videos.
The good news is, there are plenty of formats and channels to educate your future clients. Without getting terribly creative, here are 10 options:
- Produce a blog (bonus points because it’ll help your SEO)
- Create a newsletter
- Speak at conferences and events
- Publish guest posts
- Be a podcast guest
- Create (or co-host) a webinar
- Share educational videos on TikTok or YouTube
- Post content on social media (especially LinkedIn!)
- Create mini-courses on your website
- Hold in-person lunch-and-learns
With a little imagination, you can probably come up with more. The goal is to pick the platforms that you’re comfortable with and that will appeal to your future clients.
6. Present fixes to prospect’s problems
This is an underrated tactic for getting new clients. Google companies in your target niche and see what their existing ad campaigns look like. Make a list of what you’d do differently, then email the company with ideas for them to improve.
This strategy works great for any type of marketing agency because advertising is, by nature, public. You can also use tools like Ahrefs or Moz to learn more about what’s working or not with your prospect’s marketing efforts.
Sure, some will take your thoughts and run with them. But many will want your help to make sure their next campaign is better.
7. Price properly
Agency pricing isn’t just about making a profit, it’s part of your brand. Let’s break this down.
Do you offer a truly a premium option with white-glove service? Then your pricing should be a little higher than your average competitor. Not just to cover the costs of the additional service, but also to signal to clients that what you do is different.
Alternatively, if your niche is helping fledgling businesses get a foothold online, and you do it at scale using automation, then your pricing might be lower. Again, it’s not just about the cost-plus-profit calculation. It’s another way to express your brand.
👋 Want to know how other agencies price their services (plus what they see as their biggest challenges)? Download the free State of the Digital Marketing Agency Report and find out.
8. Be active on social media
It’s impossible to understate the value of time spent on social media. Nowhere else can you build a network, prove your expertise, and directly connect with future clients on such a large scale.
But here’s the thing: you can’t just be a lurker. You have to be consistently active to get the benefits of social media.
Don’t just post on social media; reply to comments on your posts and comment on other people’s posts.
Here are a few actions that’ll get you more clients quickly from social media:
- Look for hashtags relevant to your business and join those conversations
- Reply to other people’s posts
- Save your replies and expand on them to create new posts
- Reply to everyone who comments on your posts
- Fill out your profile completely (add links, professional images, and a business description)
9. Create an ideal customer profile
An ideal customer profile (ICP) is a little like a buyer persona, but it focuses more on your client’s organization than just the point of contact. This works well for agencies selling to other businesses, since people change positions, but the company remains relatively the same.
Creating an ICP takes a few minutes, but the time is worthwhile. An ICP will help you find the clients that help you be more successful while filtering out those that’ll drain your agency’s resources.
Here are a few steps you can use to create a basic ICP for your agency:
- List client traits you want to have on your ICP: For agencies, it’ll be things like marketing goals, business model, company size, and industry.
- Review past clients: Where do successful and less successful clients fall in these categories?
- Create a point system: Assign points to each trait (so if your dental clients are always successful and construction clients aren’t, then dental prospects get 3 points and construction prospects get 0).
Place all of this on a spreadsheet. Then continue to refine your ICP based on the success of new clients. Over time you’ll have a foolproof way of finding the best clients for your agency.
10. Go big on social proof
We’ve already mentioned how positive reviews and referrals help you build a fast-growing agency. Social proof does the same thing, only it’s much broader and more flexible.
Splash your awards, reviews, and results all over your website.
Social proof is just about any trust signal that shows people how awesome your agency is. That can be quotes from customers, the total revenue you’ve earned clients, logos of companies you’ve helped, or awards you’ve won.
Social proof can also be long form, like customer stories or case studies.
As you gather proof that your agency is awesome, put that stuff on everything. Landing pages, emails, proposals, anywhere a potential client might learn about your business should be decorated with social proof.
11.Be transparent
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of signing a new client. But it’s really important to communicate the realities of working with you at the very beginning. If the truth of what you do and how you do it scares a client away, that’ll save you a ton of headache later on (and allow that client to find the right agency for them).
Here are a few points to make clear as you’re wooing new clients:
- What you can and can’t do: If you’re a PPC expert but haven’t focused on SEO, let the client know.
- Set a communication schedule: Let your new client know they’ll get a review every month and that Fridays are off-limits.
- Set proper expectations: Tell a customer upfront that results will take a while if they’re in a heavily populated market and have a small budget.
- Don’t be afraid to say no: If a client asks for something that will not work, tell them so.
- Put everything in writing: Document each call in an email that you can refer to if there are questions later on.
You may turn a few clients away who have unrealistic expectations. But know that they’ll be back after the agency that lies to them doesn’t deliver.
Learn how to get clients faster
If you don’t have a team of dedicated, experienced business development professionals selling your agency, then you might find it difficult to keep new clients flowing through the front door.
No problem! Just remember these tips and you’ll find plenty of ways to get clients, even without a team of salespeople.
PPC
45+ Inclusive Holiday Marketing Ideas (+Examples!)
Diverse and inclusive marketing should be something you aim for year-round. However, it’s all that much more important during the holiday season as the more “traditional” holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving take the spotlight.
There’s nothing wrong with celebrating these holidays and incorporating them into your marketing, but there are other groups and events that individuals in your audience appreciate.
A marketing calendar like this can help you plan your inclusive holiday marketing.
That’s why we’ve rounded up over 40 inclusive holiday marketing ideas and examples so your business can shine bright this season.
Table of contents
Jump to inclusive marketing ideas for…
Inclusive November holiday marketing ideas & examples
To kick things off, check out these inclusion-focused marketing ideas for November:
Native American Heritage Month
If you’re hoping to incorporate Native American Heritage Month into your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts this season, you’ll be in good company as The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Insituation, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum all regularly pay homage to this November monthly observance.
Native American Heritage Month is observed annually every November, and it celebrates the contributions the first Americans made towards the growth of the United States. It also honors and reflects on the struggles indigenous American people have endured.
National Day of Mourning
A historically accurate description of Thanksgiving would include the reality of its damaging impact on Native American people, which is why we have the National Day of Mourning every year on Thanksgiving—to remind us of the pain Native American people have gone through, and still may be feeling today.
Here are some ideas for ways your business can pay its respects to Native American Heritage Month as well as the National Day of Mourning:
- Amplify the voices of Native Americans by handing off your Instagram account to a Native American in your community for a day-long “takeover.” They can then go live on your stories or share posts about what Native American Heritage month means to them.
- Loop Native American Heritage month and the National Day of Mourning into your Thanksgiving messaging by sharing more concious content around the holiday’s impact on Native American people.
- Check out the free Native American Heritage Month resources on the U.S. Small Business Administration website. There you can find statistics to share, lists of Native American-Owned businesses to partner with, and more.
- Spread awareness using a social media hashtag. The official hashtag for Native American Heritage Month is #NAHM.
National Adoption Month
There is always a lot of messaging around family during the holiday season, which makes it particularly important to stay mindful of those with non-traditional families. National Adoption Month, celebrated every November to bring awareness to children in foster care, provides an opportunity for this. Here are some ways to incorporate it into your holiday marketing campaigns:
- Avoid using traditional parent roles in your holiday copywriting, like “mom” and “dad” which may make your audience members who don’t have that type of parental figure feel excluded.
- Adjust your content to be more sensitive to those with different family structures. For example, instead of promoting an event as a “family fun day,” try “friends and family fun day” or “festival fun day.”
- Highlight a superstar adoption story in your business’s community. If you have an employee, friend, or community member who was part of an adoption process, ask to share their story to showcase how they inspire your business during this month and beyond.
- Raise awareness about adoption within minority groups. For example, did you know that adoptions done by LGBTQ+ couples only became legal in all 50 states just a few years ago in 2017?
❤Find the right words for your inclusive holiday marketing copy using our free guide to emotional copywriting complete with over 130 words and phrases for marketing with emotion.
Day of the Dead (November 1-2)
Day of the Dead, also known as Dia de los Muertos, is a Mexican holiday that honors the soulds of the deceased. It’s a two-day celebration that starts every year on November 1 and carries into November 2. This colorful and fun holiday is believed to open the passageway between the real world and the spirit world in traditional Mexican culture, so many people of Mexican descent feel they can connect with their loved ones who have passed during this time.
Nearly 20% of the U.S. population is of Mexican heritage, so you’ll likely have audience members who celebrate Day of the Dead. Make your Mexican audience members feel included in your holiday marketing with these ideas and examples:
- Share fun facts or hold a virtual trivia event centered around Day of the Dead to spread the word about the holiday’s traditions.
- Decorate your store or office with traditional Day of the Dead skulls, flowers, and more. Be sure to snap a picture of your temporarily updated decor so you can share it on your company website or social media platforms.
- Honor those who have passed. Have you or an employee ever lost a friend or loved one you’d like to commemorate? Day of the Dead is the perfect opportunity to do so! You could share their story on social media to give your audience a more personalized perspective of your business.
Forget-Me-Not Day (November 10)
Having been around since World War I, Forget-Me-Not Day happens annually on November 10 — right before Veteran’s Day on November 11. Forget-Me-Not Day is meant to honor and remember wounded soldiers who have become disabled due to their time fighting for our freedom.
The number of veterans who carry the weight of service-related physical and mental hardships is very high. In fact, counting only wars from 2001 and beyond still amounts to about 1.5 million veterans in America with a service-connected disability. While wounded veterans should be remembered every day, here’s how your marketing can honor them on Forget-Me-Not Day:
- Donate your time, resources, or (if your marketing budget allows) money to a local Veteran’s organization or shelter.
- Be mindful of your veteran (and civilian) customers who have a disability by focusing on your website accessibility. Take time to ensure your site is easy to navigate regardless of what assistance someone might need. If you’re not sure where to start, check out this complete website accessibility checklist.
Women Entrepreneurs Day (November 19)
Only four out of every ten entrepreneurs in the U.S. are women. Women Entrepreneurs Day, occurring annually on November 19, aims to change that.
This inclusive holiday is much needed, as America is still far behind other countries in terms of women entrepreneurs. In comparison, women represent 50% of entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean. Here’s how your business can make an impact with this holiday:
- Share surprising statistics about women entrepreneurs through an email marketing campaign or social media post. These are sure to engage your audience while spreading awareness. You can find plenty of diversity, equity, and inclusion in marketing statistics here.
- Partner with a woman-owned business. You could cross-promote one another in-store or online, and offer samples or discounts on each other’s offerings.
- Support the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization. Also known as WEDO, this organization acts as a hub for Women Entrepreneurs Day. On its site you’ll find many ways to elevate your marketing for the day, including events you can attend, ways to donate, custom hashtags, surprising statistics, inspiring stories, and more!
Transgender Day of Rememberance (November 20)
Transgender Day of Rememberance occurs annually on November 20 to honor and remember transgender people who lost their lives due to anti-transgender violence. It started in 1998 in memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was stabbed in Allston, Massachusetts that same year.
This inclusive holiday is important to acknowledge because, sadly, these acts of violence are still occuring as 2020 was the most violent year on record for transgender people. Your business can become a transgender ally on Transgender Rememberance Day and beyond with these ideas:
- Donate or volunteer to a local LGBTQ+ organization.
- Spread awareness and acceptance by openly sharing your allyship on your website, social media, local listings, and more.
- If you have an employee, family member, friend, or community member who is openly transgender you could ask their permission to highlight their story in an email send or social post.
- Amplify transgender voices by resharing public speeches, posts, and more from transgender people. You could even handing off your “mic” by allowing a transgender person in your business’s community to do a social media takeover.
Inclusive December holiday marketing ideas and examples
Here are some December marketing ideas that will help you to embrace diversity and inclusion:
Rosa Parks Day (December 1)
Rosa Parks Day is celebrated twice annually, once on December 1 and once on February 4. This inclusive holiday is to, of course, honor civil rights hero and leader Rosa Parks.
The Rosa Parks story is one no American citizen can forget, as she bravely did not give up her seat to a white passenger after a long day of work on December 1, 1955. This action jumpstarted the Montgomery Bus Boycott organized by E.D. Nixon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders at the time. Here’s how your business can observe Rosa Parks Day:
- Encourage your audience to educate themselves on Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights movement by sharing with them your favorite books around the era. For example, Rosa Parks herself wrote a couple of books, including Rosa Parks: My Story and Quiet Strength: The Faith, The Hope, and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed a Nation.
- Partner with a black-owned business in your community and run a joint campaign themed around civil rights and standing up (or sitting down) for what you believe in.
- Run a Rosa Parks-themed giveaway. There is a Rosa Parks museum at Troy University in Alabama. You could entice your audience to enter to win free tickets to the museum or do a full-on sweepstake by offering a complete trip to tour the museum.
Human Rights Day (December 10)
Inclusivity means making sure all types of people feel like they belong, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, abilities, etc. That’s why Human Rights Day (occurring on December 10 each year) is the perfect holiday to incorporate into your inclusive marketing this season.
Human Rights Day was created by the UN in 1948 to proclaim the rights everyone is entitled to as a human being “regardless race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” Show your audience you support the rights of all people with these Human Rights Day marketing ideas:
- Attend a human rights event and share a recap of your experience with your audience to inspire them to do the same. There are plenty of political summits, cultural conferences, and more held on Human Rights Day, so simply being present at an event in your community can spread awareness and inspiration.
- Create a shareable, public playlist of your favorite songs about human rights. There are plenty of inspiring songs your audience will want to listen to, so you could simply build a quick list on a platforms like Pandora, Spotify, Soundcloud, and more. Be sure to include your business name in your playlist’s title so that your audience will think of your brand as they listen. As a bonus, you could have the playlist play for the day in your store or office, and share a quote from one of your top songs on social media.
Hanukkah
Also known as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish celebration. The dates of Hannukah change each year as it starts on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar. Hanukkah traditions include lighting a menorah, exchanging gifts, and enjoying cultural cuisine like latkes (potato pancakes). Over 5% of Americans celebrate Hannukah, so here’s how your business can take part:
- The best part of any holiday? The food! Try sharing a traditional Hanukkah recipe on various marketing channels.
- If you’re decorating your office or store for Christmas, stay mindful of those who celebrate Hanukkah as well by including a menorah, dreidels, and more in your display.
- Use our Hanukkah Instagram captions for post inspiration.
- Play off the eight days of Hanukkah by writing a blog post or email that shares eight tips or eight top products for your audience to check out.
Speaking of email, do you have your annual holiday customer appreciation email written? If not (or even if you do), don’t miss our heartfelt holiday email templates.
Kwanzaa (December 26 – January 1)
Kwanzaa is a seven-day African American holiday that occurs annually from December 26 to January 1. Each day of the celebration is dedicated to the following seven cultural principles: unity, self-determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Work the values of Kwanzaa into your inclusive holiday marketing plan with these ideas:
- Focus on one of the seven Kwanzaa principles and share with your audience how your business strives to embody it. For example, you could incorporate unity or collective responsibility into your video marketing strategy by giving your audience a behind-the-scenes look at the teamwork of your employees.
- As you decorate your store or office for Christmas and Hanukkah, be sure to include Kwanzaa as well. For example, each day of Kwanzaa requires one of seven candles to be lit — which are in an arrangement called a Kinara. You could add a Kinara to your decor, or include other Kwanzaa decorations like traditional African crops such as ears of dried corn and more.
- Try out any of these Kwanzaa Instagram captions.
- Add a twist to one of your products or offerings and refresh it for the Kwanzaa season by changing its name or colors.
Inclusive January holiday marketing ideas and examples
Some of the “bigger” holidays may be over by the time January comes around, but there are still plenty of diverse holidays you can leverage in your inclusive marketing strategy this month:
National Braille Literacy Month
January is Braille Literacy Month because Louie Braille, the creator of the braille system, was born in January. This monthly observance is meant to bring awareness to those who are visually impaired. Here’s how your business can take part in National Braille Literacy Month:
- Audit your website for visual accessibility features and optimize where you can to cater to your visually impaired audience members.
- Share fun facts about the braille system to entertain your audience while spreading awareness of the need for braille literacy. For example, did you know that Braille is primarily created by just six dots? And, there are separate codes used for music, math, walkways, and more!
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 15)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day occurs on the third Monday of every January to commemorate his birthday on January 15. It’s no secret that Dr. King played one of the most impactful roles in American history as he helped lead the civil rights movement. In fact, this holiday is also often called Civil Rights Day, since Dr. King had such an influence on the civil rights movements during the 1950’s, 1960’s, and beyond. Dr. King’s legacy still resonates today as we continue to strive for equality across the nation. Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with these ideas:
- Share an inspiring story or quote from Dr. King’s life to celebrate his work with your audience.
- Lead by example by embodying Dr. King’s principle of peaceful protest. Is there a cause in your community or industry that you feel passionate about? Hold a peaceful in-person or virtual event to discuss the topic with your brand’s community members.
National Religious Freedom Day (January 16)
National Religious Freedom Day is celebrated each year on January 16 because the Statute for Religious Freedom was signed on January 16, 1786. This statute created the base for the core principles our country still stands by to this day, and guaranteed freedom to practice any desired religion is one of the privelages Americans rely on. Show how your business cares this holiday season by implementing these Religious Freedom Day marketing ideas:
- If you’re using stock photos on your website, social media, Google Ads campaigns, and other marketing materials, try to ensure you’re using diverse visuals to embrace religious freedom. For example, you might try to include images of women wearing hijabs, or men wearing kippahs or yarmulkes. We share more tips on inclusivity in advertising here.
- Join a National Religious Freedom Day online discussion to share the religion you practice and encourage your audience to do the same. If you don’t currently practice any religion, that’s okay too! Acknowledging the norm that everyone’s religious journey (or lack thereof) is different will be the point of this inclusive marketing idea. Plus, you’ll be building your brand community as you foster an open discussion with your audience.
- Educate your audience on their religious freedom rights by sharing out resources on laws and regulations relating to religious freedom.
💡 Make the most of these inclusive marketing holidays with our guide to the 30 best ways to promote your business year-round.
International Day of Acceptance (January 20)
International Day of Acceptance is fairly new as it was established back in 2010. It was created to foster social acceptance for those with disabilities. International Day of Acceptance happens every year on January 20 and reminds us that people should feel comfortable to be who they are regardless of their varying abilities. Here are some inclusive holiday marketing ideas you can leverage on this day and beyond to make your audience feel more accepted:
- Promote a new product or service offering that’s tailored to the needs of those with disabilities.
- Share helpful resources for your customers to educate themselves on disabilities, acceptance, and allyship.
- Spread the word of this inclusive holiday on social media with the hashtag #dayofacceptance and implement the symbol of acceptance (a wheelchair intertwined with a heart) in your creative elements.
Chinese New Year
Many people assume the holiday festivities end on December 31, but the Chinese New Year keeps the celebrations going since it happens shortly after, between January 21 and February 20 depending on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The public holiday will last for seven days, but celebrations can go on for 16 days.
Try out these Chinese New Year celebration ideas:
- Share the Chinese zodiac chart on your website or social media so that your audience can check out what their own chinese zodiac would be. For example, 2023 will be the year of the rabbit. Perhaps it will be a special year for some of your customers whose birth year aligns with the rabbit!
- Use our New Year’s Instagram captions to publish engaging and thought-provoking posts.
- Partner with a local Chinese-owned business and offer a special deal to patrons of both your businesses during Chinese New Year.
Make your holiday marketing more inclusive this year
It’s super important to recognize beliefs and perspectives other than our own and to give a voice to minority groups—and clearly, there are endless ways you can demonstrate diversity, equity, and inclusion during the holiday season. So be sure to use these inclusive marketing ideas and examples as inspiration to ignite your own holiday promotions.
To recap, here are the holidays and observances we covered:
- November
- Native American Heritage Month
- National Adoption Month
- Day of the Dead (November 1-2)
- Forget-Me-Not Day (November 10)
- Women Entrepreneurs Day (November 19)
- Transgender Day of Rememberance (November 20)
- December
- Rosa Parks Day (December 1)
- Human Rights Day (December 10)
- Hanukkah (changes annually)
- Kwanzaa (December 26 – January 1)
- January
- National Braille Literacy Month
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 15)
- National Religious Freedom Day (January 16)
- International Day of Acceptance (January 20)
- Chinese New Year (changes annually)
If you’re looking for more resources on growing your business during the holidays, check out these posts:
PPC
5 Quick & Easy Ways to Get More Referral Traffic (+Examples)
Search engines (mostly Google) are still the 800-pound gorilla when it comes to generating clicks to your website. But ignoring referral traffic from other sources like directories, social media, and other websites would be a huge mistake.
This is especially true as younger audiences increasingly search for businesses on social media and as referral traffic increased from 3% to over 10% of total traffic for the average website in 2022.
In this guide, you’ll learn the most popular sources of referral traffic, how it helps your business grow, and what you can do to get more clicks from places outside of search engines.
Table of contents
What is referral traffic?
Referral traffic refers to traffic coming from a link on a site that’s not your own. If you clicked the link we added to the introduction of this guide, the website you landed on would count your visit as referral traffic.
By comparison, the other common website traffic sources are search and direct traffic. Search traffic comes from visitors clicking on search engine results. Direct traffic is from visitors that go directly to your website, like if they type your URL into their browser.
Examples of referral traffic sources can include:
- Social media apps like Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)
- Online directories like Yelp or Angi
- Just about any non-search engine website like a blog post
👋 Need to get more website visitors? These 25 ways to increase traffic to your website will help you attract interested buyers in droves!
Why is referral traffic beneficial?
If you want to grow your business, attracting more referral traffic is an important step. Here are three reasons why.
Generate more potential leads
At the most basic level, increasing referral traffic means increasing the number of potential customers who visit your website.
But it’s not just more people coming in through your virtual door. It’s people that found you by actively clicking a link that interested them. So if the backlink they clicked is relevant to your website, those visitors have a high intent to learn about, and maybe purchase, what you sell.
Get more traffic from search engines
Backlinks from high-quality websites are a signal to search engines that your website is trustworthy.
Backlinks are still an influential search engine ranking factor, as shown in this graph from FirstPageSage.
As your backlink profile and referral traffic grow, you’ll land on more search engine results pages and generate more traffic from them.
Reduce your reliance on Google
Google is a fantastic source of traffic. But relying too much on a single source is dangerous—especially as Google’s constant updates can greatly affect your traffic overnight.
Headlines like this one from Search Engine Journal show why it’s important to diversify your website traffic sources.
As you diversify your sources of referral traffic, you gain more control over the success of your site. If one source, like search, takes a hit, you can buffer the dip with more traffic from another source like directories.
5 ways to get more referral traffic
So generating more referral traffic is important. But how do we go about getting more of it? Let’s dive in.
1. Get listed in online directories
Online directories are like the phonebooks of the digital age. People look to websites like Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, and Angi (formerly Angi’s List) to find the services and business they need.
Yelp is one of the most popular business directories, but there are dozens of others that will help increase your online footprint.
Ideally, you want exposure on as many directories as possible. But you also want to make sure that your information is current, so no one gets frustrated trying to reach you. You can even optimize your listings with things like images, service descriptions, and reviews.
🚨 Not sure if your directory listings are up to par? Use our free Listings Grader to instantly check your listing information across 20+ top online directories.
2. Submit guest posts
Guest posts are a great way to build up referral traffic. The idea is to reach out to websites that want content, and offer to write a blog post in exchange for the backlinks they provide.
It’s best to focus your guest posting efforts on sites that are related to your business, which means your content will be in front of a relevant audience providing top-notch referral traffic. If you can set up a regular guest posting schedule, all the better, because that allows you to keep your referral traffic from those sources steady over time and increase traffic to your website.
3. Write press releases
Press releases are a quick and easy way to get a wave of fresh traffic from referring URLs. It’s a great idea to do a press release for an event you’ll be hosting or to announce milestones like executive changes, earnings releases, acquisitions, and product launches.
A press release is great for promoting new products or events while generating valuable referral traffic from the publications that pick it up.
But to be honest, if you are paying for a press release, you can write about pretty much anything and pretend it’s newsworthy. Some businesses even send out press releases whenever they get a new client.
4. Get active on social media
Social media sites are also natural contenders for bringing in referral traffic. Plus, there are several options to fit your brand and audience.
Facebook, for example, is fantastic for an older audience and organizing events. TikTok caters to a younger crowd and lets you show off your video flair. And of course, there’s LinkedIn, if your target customer is of a professional mindset.
No matter which social media platforms you choose, make sure your posts have a clear call to action that leads people to your website. That’s how you drive referral traffic from social media apps.
Depending on the platform, you can add CTA links, buttons, or text in the caption.
5. Create link-worthy content
If you want to catch backlinks and increase the traffic you get from other websites, you need the right bait. In this case, we’re talking about content that other websites want to link to.
Here are a few types of content that writers and marketers love to link to:
- Original data: Statistics from a survey or data your app captures
- Infographics: A roundup of statistics or a visual presentation of a process
- Opinionated blog posts: A fresh take on a common question in your industry
Once you’ve created your backlink magnet, share it with publications and thought leaders in your industry so they can link back to your site.
Referral traffic the easy way
Referral traffic is an important source of new potential customers. As search engines get more finicky, and more people search social media platforms, referrals will be an even bigger factor in your success online.
As you think about how to get more website visitors from more places, remember these five quick and easy ways to get more referral traffic:
- Get listed in online directories
- Submit guest posts
- Write press releases
- Get active on social media
- Create link-worthy content
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