A behind-the-scenes look at my own unfiltered shenanigans from the marketing trenches. A real-life, no BS view of what it's really like to market a small business and ideas to make it all feel a whole lot easier!

​

Have you ever experienced that out of the blue ah-ha moment? I swear it is rare these days, but every now and then, a little snippet of advice really hits home.

It started last year around the first week of school. My husband is a teacher and he was headed back to work. My son was starting first grade. And our three-year-old was wondering why everyone goes to work and school all day.

And I found a phrase being repeated over and over again..."I have to."

We all have lots of things we "have to" do. Go to work, make dinner, do laundry.

But when "have to" is repeated over and over again it makes it sound like life sucks - especially when you repeat it daily to a little kid.

And life doesn't suck! There are just some things we do to keep things running.

​

I was really hating the negative connotation "have to" was taking on. So we made a simple swap.

We changed have to to get to in our house and things have never been the same since!

I get to go to work at a job I absolutely love.

I get to be home and make dinner with my family.

I get to chat with my kids while I teach them to fold laundry (they need a lot more practice - they are still really terrible at this).

It has honestly changed the whole vibe in our world.

​

That tiny shift is a simple example of just how powerful words can be - in life and in marketing.

If you’ve been following along with the roll out of our new content workbook, you know I’ve been on a soapbox lately about the power of words and how small swaps can make your messaging way more effective.

So in the spirit of small tweaks that can make big impact, here are four little ways to play around with your own messaging this week (no big overhaul required - promise!).

​

1. Tweak one headline on your website

Don’t rewrite your whole site - just pick one thing: a headline, a call to action, or a single sentence. Try a new verb, flip the structure, or make the copy more specific.

Then track your “Time on Page” in your analytics

Even a 0.1 second increase means people are sticking around longer...and that’s a win.

​
​

2. Use A/B testing in your Meta ads

If you run ads through Meta (Facebook & IG) you can easily A/B test your headline or call to action.

Create two versions of the same ad, change just a few words in the title, and see which performs better. Let it run for a few days, then pause the one that flopped.

​
​

3. Try subject line testing in your email platform

If you use a tool like Kit (my go-to platform - here’s a link if you want to check it out), you can send two different subject lines to a small portion of your list.

The platform tracks open rates and automatically sends the “winning” subject line to the rest of your subscribers. No extra work for you, just better results.

​
​

4. Test small changes with Trial Reels

Yes, you can post the same Reel 10 different times (sort of). Trial Reels on Instagram lets you test versions of a Reel with small tweaks (like one word in your caption or on-screen text).

Your followers won’t see them - they’re only shown to non-followers - which makes this the easiest, most invisible testing tool you’re probably not using yet.

​

Psst! stay tuned for a new blog post coming soon about how to use Trial Reels for your business!

​

Bottom line?

Small word swaps can make a big difference.

And when you find the phrases that actually resonate, your marketing gets way easier (and more fun).

Try one of these this week and let me know how it goes!

Because you get to experiment. You get to play. You get to market your business in a way that feels like you.

​

​

​

PO Box 322, McCall, ID 83638
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

​​​