The 10 Marketing Gaps You Might Have and Not Know It

A products-based business asked me to audit their current email strategy and provide them with a “map” of a year’s worth of email topics.

I did that for a project rate, and then they hired me to write 40 emails, highlighting different products for different seasonal promotions.  I wrote the email copy over a couple weeks and sent them to the client in one document.

Then, the marketing director had a year’s worth of emails he could grab and use. And he didn’t have to write a single word.

After that, I realized that smart copywriters should “map the gaps.” That means looking at a company’s current marketing architecture and seeing where they’re missing key or valuable steps in their funnels or customer touchpoints. (And sometimes companies just want to buy the maps.)

Are You Leaving Marketing Opportunities on the Table?

The reason that so many companies (big brands, small businesses and solopreneurs) hire me on retainer is because after they approach me about one project, I show them all the opportunities they’re missing, and they hire me for three, six or 12 months to execute the work.

If they have a marketing staff, they often don’t have the time or bandwidth to handle all of these projects. And if it’s a small business that has just one or two (or no) marketing team, they understand the investment in a copywriter on retainer.

To be honest, the biggest differentiator in companies that hire me are the ones who program the welcome sequence I write for them vs. the ones who don’t (and put it on the back burner.

If you’re going to hire a copywriter to map your gaps … and then fill them in … you need a plan for a staffer or another outsourced person to update your website copy or add a sales page or program your welcome sequence.

The Marketing Gaps You Might Not Know You Have

Here are some of the “gaps” I see most often at companies:

1. Welcome email sequences

The 3-to-5 email sequence that a warm or hot prospect either self-enrolls in or you add once they’ve reached out to the office (this works well for attorneys, for example). You can include a downloadable asset in the sequence or even some videos. The point is to let prospects get to know, like and trust your brand … and of course, you include opportunities in each email for people to get something for free, buy something or take another next step to work with you.

2. Consistent social media posts

Prospects will check out a brand’s social media posts, and if the last time you posted was 2019, they might buzz over to your competitor. For one law firm client, I create a month of social posts so that they keep prospects engaged. And despite what “they” tell you, 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 (live and recorded) series, so guess what I wrote a lot of? Scripts, ranging from 2 minutes to 45 minutes, and for one person, all the way up to five people. They used these videos to educate their audience, but also soft pitch their products during them, for a double win.

4. Refreshing evergreen courses

I’ve seen entrepreneurs launch courses and then either have no landing or a sad one that barely drew any attention, and no opt-in email sequences. Just by adding/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 get excited about it because you don’t seem to be, then yeah, it’s not going to sell.

5. Adding upsells and downsells

If you have a lower-priced course or product, you’re missing out on building in upsell and downsell pages after the main purchase. The upsell is a higher-priced offer, which can be an umbrella course or even entry into group calls with you. The downsell is either a lower-priced add-on, or if the person doesn’t purchase (but you captured their email), they receive an email with a discount on the main product or a lower-priced alternate offer.

6. Consistent blogs

I create quarterly editorial calendars for larger brands, and then write longer-form content marketing articles on a regular schedule for their blogs. I also give them email and social media copy to promote the blogs to their list and followers. This makes the search engines happy, especially when we mindfully use SEO.

7. Ghostwritten articles to up expert cred

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 bylined with the name of an executive at the brand. Every month, their B2B audience gets to read their work and view them as trustworthy experts in the space. This was so successful for one of my clients that they signed up for a 12-month contract this year for me to perform the service. (Every article I’ve pitched and written 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 then dropped the copy into a branded ebook format. (I have a magazine production background so I can perform that particular design service for my clients.)

9. Adding a short course

If you’ve been in your niche any length of time, you probably have knowledge all over your desk, dripping from your brain. The point is, I’ve created mini courses for entrepreneurs by mapping out the course, writing short scripts for them to record as lessons. Then, I write the sales page copy and the promotional emails. These are great to either give away to prospects for free, as a bonus to another purchase, a thank you or an intro offer to your other higher-priced programs. It’s a great way for people to get to know you and see if they like you.

10. Website copy

I’ve helped $400 million companies and solopreneurs write their website copy. Every brand needs to refresh their content sometimes. Plus, if you’re an attorney or another type of company that relies on prospects finding them through a web search, it makes sense to build out practice pages and geo-targeted pages. That 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 turns scattered marketing into a structure that works together—emails supporting offers, offers supported by pages, pages supported by content, and content supported by a clear point of view.

Sometimes clients hire me just to create the map.Sometimes 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 you’re too close to it (or too busy) to see them clearly—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

• and 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.