Mapping the Gaps: Unlocking Your Marketing Potential

A product-based business once asked me to audit their email strategy. They wanted a “map” of a year’s worth of email topics. I delivered that for a project rate. Then, they hired me to write 40 emails highlighting different products for seasonal promotions. I crafted the email copy over a couple of weeks and sent it all in one document.

The marketing director now had a year’s worth of emails ready to go. He didn’t have to write a single word.

This experience taught me that smart copywriters should “map the gaps.” This means analyzing a company’s marketing architecture to identify missing steps in their funnels or customer touchpoints. Sometimes, companies just want to buy the maps.

Are You Leaving Marketing Opportunities on the Table?

Many companies—big brands, small businesses, and solopreneurs—hire me on retainer. They approach me for one project, and I reveal the opportunities they’re missing. As a result, they often hire me for three, six, or even twelve months to execute the work.

If they have a marketing team, they often lack the time or bandwidth to manage all these projects. For small businesses with one or two (or no) marketing staff, investing in a copywriter on retainer makes perfect sense.

Honestly, the biggest differentiator among the companies that hire me is whether they implement the welcome sequence I write for them. Those who do see results, while those who don’t often put it on the back burner.

If you plan to hire a copywriter to map your gaps and fill them in, ensure you have a plan for a staffer or another outsourced person to update your website copy, add a sales page, or program your welcome sequence.

The Marketing Gaps You Might Not Know You Have

Here are some common “gaps” I see at companies:

1. Welcome Email Sequences

A 3-to-5 email sequence for warm or hot prospects is crucial. You can either let them self-enroll or add them once they reach out. This approach works well for attorneys, for example. Include a downloadable asset or videos in the sequence. The goal is to help prospects get to know, like, and trust your brand. Each email should offer opportunities for them to get something for free, make a purchase, or take another step to work with you.

2. Consistent Social Media Posts

Prospects will check your brand’s social media. If your last post was in 2019, they might head over to your competitor. For one law firm client, I created a month’s worth of social posts to keep prospects engaged. And despite what “they” say, people WILL read longer Facebook posts if they’re interesting and packed with value.

3. Videos or Webinars

In the last year, two of my clients launched video, course, and webinar series—both live and recorded. Guess what I wrote a lot of? Scripts! These ranged from 2 minutes to 45 minutes, and for one client, I crafted scripts for up to five presenters. They used these videos to educate their audience and soft pitch their products, achieving a double win.

4. Refreshing Evergreen Courses

I’ve seen entrepreneurs launch courses with no landing page or a sad one that barely drew attention. By refreshing a landing page and creating an evergreen sales funnel, you can start selling your course. If people don’t know it’s there or don’t feel excited about it, it won’t sell.

5. Adding Upsells and Downsells

If you have a lower-priced course or product, you’re missing out on upsell and downsell opportunities after the main purchase. An upsell is a higher-priced offer, like an umbrella course or entry into group calls with you. A downsell could be a lower-priced add-on or an email with a discount on the main product if they don’t purchase.

6. Consistent Blogs

I create quarterly editorial calendars for larger brands and write long-form content marketing articles on a regular schedule for their blogs. I also provide email and social media copy to promote these blogs. This approach pleases search engines, especially when we mindfully use SEO.

7. Ghostwritten Articles to Boost Expert Credibility

This is a service I love. I pitch article and column ideas to magazines on behalf of brands. Then, I ghostwrite educational and thought-leader pieces under the name of an executive at the brand. Every month, their B2B audience gets to read their work and view them as trustworthy experts. One client was so pleased that they signed up for a 12-month contract for this service. Every article I pitched and wrote has been picked up by a publication.

8. A Designed Welcome Kit

This might sound like low-hanging fruit, but one of my clients was sending 10 Word documents in an email to new clients. I said, “WTF?” to the CEO, since we’re chummy. I distilled the information into a more manageable structure and dropped the copy into a branded ebook format. With my magazine production background, I can perform that design service for my clients.

9. Adding a Short Course

If you’ve been in your niche for a while, you probably have knowledge overflowing. I’ve created mini-courses for entrepreneurs by mapping out the course, writing short scripts for them to record as lessons, and then crafting the sales page copy and promotional emails. These courses are great to give away to prospects for free, as a bonus to another purchase, or as an intro offer to higher-priced programs. It’s a fantastic way for people to get to know you and see if they like your style.

10. Website Copy

I’ve helped $400 million companies and solopreneurs write their website copy. Every brand needs to refresh their content from time to time. If you’re an attorney or another type of company that relies on web searches, it makes sense to build out practice pages and geo-targeted pages. This usually happens over time.

Mapping the Gaps Is the Work

Most businesses don’t need more ideas. They need someone to step back, look at the whole system, and say:

“Here’s what you already have. Here’s what’s missing. And here’s what will actually move people to take the next step.”

That’s what mapping the gaps does. It transforms scattered marketing into a cohesive structure—emails supporting offers, offers backed by pages, pages supported by content, and content driven by a clear point of view.

Sometimes clients hire me just to create the map. Other times, they hire me to fill in the gaps over three, six, or twelve months.

Either way, the goal is the same: marketing that’s intentional, usable, and not constantly living on someone’s to-do list.

Want to Know What You’re Missing?

If you suspect there are holes in your marketing but can’t see them clearly because you’re too close (or too busy), I can help.

At STRAND Writing Services, I work with brands to:

• Audit what they already have

• Identify the highest-impact gaps in their funnels and content

• Create the copy that actually gets used, not shelved

  
  

If you want a clear map instead of another half-finished idea, get in touch and tell me what you’re working with.

We’ll figure out what’s missing—and what’s worth building next.