How my 2024 marketing strategy looks different after my second maternity leave
My 2024 marketing strategy looks a lot different than previous years, especially as I return to work after the birth of my second child. The premise to these changes: You can have a successful business without pouring all your energy into social media. Full stop.
My shift in focus has obviously been inspired by the fact that I have even less time now with 2 littles 2 and under. My days revolve around their schedules, and I’m just doing my best trying to juggle everything. I don’t have time anymore to show up in the ways that I did before kids, or even with just 1 baby. Now that there’s double the fun? Something has to give.
My goal is to optimize what I can pour my efforts into. Not spread too thin.
My low-lift, sustainable marketing strategy
This post is a combination of 2024 marketing trends I’m seeing, but also a peek at my 2024 marketing strategy. Because I know I’m always curious about what others are doing, I thought you might be too. Hopefully this will inspire some ideas for you to think outside the box, and work to realign your marketing strategy with what your business and life looks like right now because there are seasons in business. Sometimes it’s a season to build. Or to grow. And sometimes you’re in a season of maintenance… Wherever you are right now, that’s okay.
Watch my 2024 marketing strategy on YouTube
If you prefer to watch, check out the video version of this honest brain spill on YouTube.
2024 marketing trends
To state the obvious: Marketing trends change.
Some changes I’ve noticed lately that I’m 1000% here for…
✅ We’re over using revenue numbers as a core marketing pillar. Money wins are big, but not the only or most important thing. And the numbers you get for clients speak louder than the ones you clock for yourself.
I started this conversation in an earlier blog post about 2023 in review—an honest review. But it’s too surface level to focus on your own money wins. I’d rather know how your business supports your life or the results you get for clients. That track record means more to me when I’m choosing an investment versus just what your personal wins are. This is especially true for B2B service providers… How you help others is more important to your customers than how much money you make.
Beyond recentering the wins pillar over clients versus the provider, there’s the intentional remembrance that there’s more to life than money. Over the last few years, people in the online and freelance world have become obsessed with monetary milestones like $10k months and $6-figure years. These are sold as the big goals to work towards. Some even go as far to attach these numbers to happiness. But what about your life too? Do you have time to live it? Do you really need to hit these numbers? Can you be happy with what you have now? Maybe you genuinely need more?
✅ People are getting burnt out by social media, and that’s what’s showing in your numbers. It’s a tool that leaves a lot of us exhausted and stuck in the doom scroll, not even thoughtfully engaging with the content we see. So no, it’s probably not all the algorithms to blame for your low engagement. More personal content is getting ahead in the online biz world.
I’m fed up with Instagram. It’s frustrating to try to chase consistency when your schedule is anything but consistent. We already know that follower counts don’t dictate revenue for a business or personal brand anyways. And everyone’s burnt out from feeding the social media monster, so engagement is lower than ever—sure, you may get views. But is your audience really engaging with that content or just doom scrolling? Questionable. I used to love the platform, and now it’s a chore.
✅ Live webinars just don’t have the same appeal as they used to. Idk about you, but I haven’t signed up for one in ages and would rather get something on demand (or paid) vs sit through a typical webinar these days.
Everyone and their mother follows a similar webinar structure, which means that few truly give value. I’m more likely to grab an easily skimmable download or a low-ticket offer without having purchased anything before rather than joining a webinar I know I’m going to get a pitch during. And I know I’m not alone in these sentiments.
My 2024 marketing strategy, post maternity leave 2.0
Some changes I’m personally implementing include stepping back from social media (specifically Instagram) as my most focused and consistent marketing channel. Instead, I want to lean into long-form authorship, and stop editing myself to fit into 60-second sound bites.
It also needs to be noted that I have limited time and marketing needs to fit in somewhere between client work and running my mastermind. I only have about 10 hours of focused work blocks each week, so I can’t waste that time on making reels that may or may not glitch when posted.
1 social media platform isn’t a complete marketing strategy
If you’re planning to update your 2024 marketing strategy for the second half of the year, keep in mind that you need a holistic and multi-channel approach. You need to consider things like the stage of awareness of your audience on different platforms, their level of sophistication as customers, and their journey within your funnel. You also need to consider things like your sales and promotional calendar, capacity planning, and available resources (both time and money).
With those answers, you’ll be able to act more strategically when determining your 2024 marketing strategy.
Inbound pipelines that work—not building from scratch
As I return to work post maternity leave number 2, I’ve needed to accept that this isn’t the year for me to build new things from scratch. I’m choosing to intentionally focus on what’s already working versus trying new things. “Simplify to grow” is my main goal for the year.
With that in mind, I’ve developed inbound pipelines for my core services that I know work. These are tested and consistent, and they funnel leads to proven offers… Nothing new. This means my only job becomes marketing and fulfillment versus needing to dedicate resources I don’t have right now to building.
✅ There are building years and growth years and maintenance years. This year is a maintenance one for me. Maybe with some growth as I figure out my new work-life balance. 💃
Less social media
Something that I need right now: A low-lift social media strategy. That looks like just repurposing content as I feel like it or have capacity. I don’t have intentions to create a structured social media plan right now or pre-schedule posts weeks in advance. Instead, I’ll sprinkle in this content as it makes sense for me.
The reasoning is that I don’t see the biggest long-term ROI from social media these days. So I’ve chosen to focus my efforts elsewhere.
On a related note, I’ve paused meta ads for a while, but may pick these back up later as my capacity allows. Ads aren’t “set it and forget it” as some people promise, so having another thing that needs to be managed and checked daily felt like too much right now. I’m happy managing my own ads (and do it pretty damn well). Especially with a limited capacity currently, I needed to cut somewhere.
✅ Take a break from a scheduled Instagram feed and the pressure to show up daily. I’m posting if I feel like it instead (which isn’t all that often anymore, and that’s okay).
More long-form content
This blog post is long. The attached video is too. That’s intentional. Why? Because I have too much to share or teach than can fit in a 60-second Reel (on the long end). There’s more to my story that’s relevant to my audience than just sharing the marketing strategy tips. for example, knowing the reason why I’m shifting my strategy may resonate with you if you’re in a similar season of life. And I’m tired of censoring and editing myself to fit into these small boxes that don’t leave space for personal connection. I’d rather give you more information—more detail and more value—than squeezing things in or cutting out the good stuff.
I’ve seen an increase in traffic and an improved quality of that traffic from focusing on long-form content via my blog and YouTube. This content lives longer and often catches the attention of leads that are closer to the sale. They’re searching for answers versus aimlessly scrolling like most do on Instagram or other platforms.
In terms of my career development as a whole, it feels more aligned to create content that shows my thought leadership. Genuine connections and the longevity of the content are more important to me right now than going viral with an 8-second soundbite.
✅ Create long-form content that lives longer first. I have too much to share in a Reel and would rather spend the time it takes to create content to give you the detail you deserve via YouTube video or blog post instead.
Optimized versus daily
I often use my email list to experiment. This is helpful for my own continued learning and obviously by making sales, but also for the work I do with clients. Email marketing is a potential deliverable or area of consulting. So by experimenting with my own list, I’m able to bring new proven ideas to clients who have similar business models, offers, and styles.
In the last year, I’ve tried emailing my list multiple times a week, and have also scaled it back. While it was a fun challenge to email more frequently, it was exactly that… Challenging to maintain. I don’t want to accidentally water down my message if I’m not able to produce quality content because I’m too focused on the quantity.
Emailing my list 1-2 times each week works best for me right now, and is what I’ll continue with for my 2024 marketing strategy. Within that frequency, 1 email is original content. Maybe a more thoughtful message or teaching moment. And the other is often a CTA to check out another channel from the week, like my blog or YouTube video that posted most recently.
✅ Set myself up for success with email marketing by focusing on quality, not quantity. Again, go with what works right now to ensure ease and consistency versus building or experimenting.
Bring back the personality
I used to talk about life stuff a lot more than I have in recent months. Many of my early inbound leads shared they chose me because they felt connected to me. I teach on how to develop and foster this genuine connection through your messaging inside my courses and programs.
But somehow I forgot to do this for myself consistently along the way. So going forward, we’re incorporating more life and personality into my marketing messaging. That looks like sharing more about mom life and homemaking, baking bread, my exercise and wellness routines, and other things relevant to my ideal audience.
Why is this important? The idea is to selectively and intentionally focus on the similarities you have with your ideal clients. They’ll naturally be interested and feel more connected to you.
In action, that means I plan to keep blogging and vlogging about the day to day. I want you to see what it’s like working and living how I do. Not just tell you. And definitely share more than quick tips.
✅ Explore where old school journal blogging or vlogging my day to day can fit into the puzzle. Because I think showing you behind the scenes of my business more intentionally will be helpful vs always talking at you about how things break down.
Marketing should feel good
I’ve reflected a lot of the above into my business already, and it feels good to know this is the direction I’m heading. Now that I’m coming back to work and have even less time, the mission is to optimize further. It’s all tied together—I don’t have the luxury of time to waste, so what I choose to focus on needs to be worth it..
You can have a successful business with a low-lift 2024 marketing strategy
Many of my clients come to me for the same reason… You need strategy or copy to work smarter, not harder.
A cool thing: Leveraging changing trends and strategically experimenting to better align my work with my life has allowed me to continue to sell digital products and services while on maternity leave. More on that is coming later (working on a blog post!).
But I want to share this with you because I believe more people deserve the freedom that comes with clocking back into work after an extended leave to see things didn’t burn down while you were gone.
Align your business with your life
Inside my mastermind, the big goal for each participant is to better align your business to fit around your life. Like I’ve shared, I have minimal time these days. Every resource (time or money) I spend on my business needs to bring the biggest possible ROI. Many of my clients want the same thing—to work less and make more. In order to do that, we need to be intentional and strategic.
I don’t encourage them to show up daily anymore, but to make it count when they do. Struggling with Instagram? Try LinkedIn. Tired of the sound bite content too? Consider a long-form channel like a podcast and/or blog. Start small, then add in pieces to make your overall marketing strategy feel aligned, sustainable, and comprehensive.
Because I’ve said this so many times… Instagram isn’t a marketing strategy. It’s a single tool within the bigger picture.
How to get started realigning your business
If you’re not sure where to start, I always recommend looking at when and how you work best. Need some inspiration? Check out The 6-Figure Schedule to get a peek at when I work, what types of work I focus on, and more.
