Why aren’t your marketing efforts bringing in any results? Well. There are numerous answers, but often it’s about rather simple things. I’ve worked with marketing both at an agency and in a company’s own marketing team, focusing especially on digital marketing and there are a couple of things that seem to have something to do with this.

Here are the 5 things that most definitely will improve your marketing results:

1. Create a content calendar.

Yes – that Excel nightmare that includes EVERYTHING including your blogging schedule, SoMe campaigns and what not. It might seem like a lot of extra effort, but once you actually get started, it really is not. It will help you to stay organized and consistent, and also spot out possible gaps or opportunities in your marketing efforts. It’s worth it.

2. Stop using stock photos.

They come in handy every once in a while (yes, we are also guilty as charged!), but to really stand out, you need to throw in some of your own too. We’ve all seen that nice one with a handshake at least a thousand times – it’s not going to get anyone’s attention anymore. If you really have no other option than to use stock photos, at least tune them a little to add that something extra. Also, there are stock photos, and then there are stock photos – put in a little effort and creativity to find the best ones.

This doesn’t quite have the wow-factor, right?

3. Be persistent – but not too pushy.

Marketing doesn’t really work as a “once in a while” activity. Unless you are able to create a bigger spectacle that will be featured in the news, you need to appear to people frequently to stay on top of their minds. You’ll want to find the right channels and situations people would actually be pleased to see your presence in – the tone and the relevancy of your content is actually even more important than its frequency. If you master both the tone and the pace, you are bound to see some results!

4. Show the person behind the ads.

Posting pictures of your team and sharing for example events you go to, celebrations you have, birthdays, new recruitments, what not, will help the audience to engage with you. People like other humans, they even humanize their pets. You are going to remember a cheeky little dog named Sven-Bertil that likes his lady friends (there are several) and starting the day with French roast morning coffee with his human at the local café, sitting in the sun, way better than a just a black Chihuahua – right? So, this applies to companies too. There are tons of companies, but personalities are unique.

5. Tell stories.

You probably have heard this one a million times, but really, they work (even Harward Business Review thinks so!). Our brains are wired to like stories – so why wouldn’t you use that natural tendency to your benefit?

What are your best tips for excellent digital marketing?