We’ve all been there staring at a blank content calendar wondering what on earth to post next. Social media moves fast, and staying consistent can feel overwhelming. But here’s the important truth: you don’t need a big idea to show up online. You just need to know where to look when inspiration runs dry and what to post when you have nothing to post. 

As marketers, it’s our job to turn even the simplest moments into valuable, scroll-stopping content. Creativity isn’t always spontaneous. It’s built from reliable strategies you can pull from anytime. 

1. Repurpose What Already Works 

One of the most overlooked content strategies is simply revisiting your existing work. 
Your old posts, blogs, client questions, or even past presentations can become new content with a fresh angle. 

• Turning a long blog into a short tip 
• Reposting a high-performing graphic with updated context 
• Sharing a “throwback” post you still use today.  

Repurposing gives proven ideas new life and saves you time when you’re drained and don’t know what to post. 

2. Share Micro-Wins or Micro-Lessons with your posts 

You don’t need a huge story to offer value. Especially when you don’t know what to post. Small moments can be just as powerful. A simple observation, a quick mistake you learned from, or a recent client insight can spark a genuine connection. 

• “One thing I learned this week…” 
• “A mistake we used to make (and how we fixed it)” 
• “A question clients keep asking us lately…” 

These micro-stories feel authentic, human, and relatable — especially on days when you don’t have a bigger narrative to tell. 

3. Show the Process, Not Just the Outcome 

When you feel stuck, look at what’s already happening around you. Behind-the-scenes content builds trust because it shows the real work behind the brand. 

You can share: 
• A brainstorming snapshot 
• A before-and-after moment 
• Tools your team uses daily 
• A peek at how a project comes together 

People connect with processes because they reveal the side of your brand that isn’t polished or staged—it’s real. 

Final Thoughts on “Posting When You Have Nothing to Post” 

Creative ruts happen to everyone, but they don’t have to break your consistency. Repurposing ideas, sharing small lessons, and showing your process are all strategic ways to keep your audience engaged even when inspiration is low. 

There are real, intentional methods behind staying visible online, especially during slow weeks. By focusing on value, authenticity, and relatability, you can create content that resonates, even when you feel like you have nothing to say. 

I’m a list maker – you name it, I likely have a list. A daily to-do list, a Christmas shopping list, a grocery list, a list of my kids’ school start and end times, even a home improvement project list… you get the idea.

In marketing, we make lists too—just with fancier names, more research, more strategy and more words: a Marketing Roadmap, a Messaging Map, Marketing Tactics, or a Content Calendar. Perhaps on your list of marketing tactics is blogging. So, you build a blog, create a content calendar and post a few articles… now what?

Unfortunately, as with many aspects of business, the old adage “if you build it, they will come” does not apply. Driving traffic to your company blog takes work, time and consistency. Time for another list – here are several ways to increase traffic to your blog.

5 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Company Blog

1. Keyword Research & SEO

Use keyword tools to identify the words and phrases your audience is searching for and weave them into your posts to help increase blog traffic. SEO helps your blog show up in search results and attract the right readers.

2. Promote on Social Media

Share your posts across social media platforms that make sense for your business – LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or X, and use engaging captioning and visuals to draw readers in.

For example, I recently shared a Front Porch blog post on my LinkedIn profile about our summer interns. My former high school reshared it on their LinkedIn page because the interns were from that school, which gave the post a whole new audience. That single blog post “grew arms and legs,” increasing traffic to my LinkedIn profile, Front Porch’s LinkedIn profile, and ultimately the Front Porch website.

3. Establish Internal Links

Keep users reading on your company’s site by connecting content together. Readers can move from one piece of content to another through links. This also improves SEO demonstrating that your content is connected and relevant.

4. Build Backlinks

Encourage other reputable sites to link to your content through guest posts, partnerships, or by creating high-value content worth sharing. Backlinks increase both traffic to your blog and establish credibility. 

By the way, the Front Porch blog post I mentioned earlier that was shared on social media – now has backlinks to the Front Porch website from different profiles on LinkedIn. See how it works?!!

5. Email Marketing

Send your blogs directly to your subscribers’ inboxes with a short teaser and link back to your site. Email remains one of the most effective ways to drive consistent traffic to your company blog. 

In conclusion, there are plenty more ways to grow your blog, but these 5 are a strong starting point. If you’re looking for other ideas to increase traffic to your blog, contact Front Porch Marketing—ask for Nancy, and I’ll make a list just for you! Best of all, Front Porch can execute that list too, saving you time and resources while you keep running your business.

Nothing defines business marketing today more than social media posts. With over 4.8 billion users worldwide, it’s no surprise that more than 80% of B2B companies rely on social platforms to research and engage with potential partners before making purchasing decisions.

So why is social media so effective for B2B brands?

It enhances online presence, drives growth, builds credibility, and fosters genuine relationships with clients and partners.

Here’s the challenge. Social media is only effective if you make it effective.

Viewers scroll through endless content every day. Repetitive posts get boring. Content variety is essential; it keeps your feed interesting, engages your audience, and keeps your brand relevant.  

While every brand may differ, certain posts often outperform others on platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook, which are considered the top platforms for B2B brands. Don’t be limited to one platform or content type, either. Switch things up. Here are 5 types of posts B2B companies must create. Each type is guaranteed to boost engagement, build authority, and target a diverse audience.

#1: Blog Post

First, blogs demonstrate your expertise and establish your brand’s authority, building trust. They provide information in a long-form style, allowing you to go deeper than a standard post. Sharing articles on social media makes your company a go-to resource, allowing your viewers to consistently rely on you for information.

Promote your articles, because companies should take pride in their posts. Blogs can be repurposed, so turn that information into short videos, infographics, Q&As, or quotes. Blogs are strategic and not limited to a single platform. Post them everywhere.

#2: Interactive Content

Next, interactive content is a guaranteed way to boost engagement and involve your audience. Social media isn’t one-sided, so don’t make it seem that way. Inviting interaction allows you to level with your audience and demonstrate that you value their opinion. Polls, quizzes, surveys, and Q&As help others feel heard and deepen relationships with clients and partners.

#3: Visual Content

Now, much of what you see online can be overwhelming. Switching to visuals makes content easier to digest, increases shareability, and clarifies complex information. Infographics, charts, diagrams, and illustrated lists capture attention with simplicity. Sometimes less is more.

Videos are a high-performing post tactic, and they capture viewers with sound and visuals. Videos require little effort to watch, making ideas simple yet effective. This is ideal for product demos, quick tips, and event recaps. Keep videos short and post them on multiple platforms to increase views.

When used effectively, Instagram posts can be highly effective. Visual storytelling is effective in conveying a brand’s personality and expertise, but it is essential to stay on top of posting regularly. Sharing quick tips, industry facts, and events from daily work, as well as employee highlights, humanizes your company and makes others want to work with you.

#4: Behind-the-Scenes Post

Behind-the-scenes content can often be overlooked, but it is one of the strongest ways to strengthen relationships and establish reliability. Whether you share this through videos, stories, or pictures, choosing to post your company at its most vulnerable lets users see the work you put into your business. Brands don’t just want to know what you do. They want to know the people behind the brand. Make your company relatable with spotlights, day-in-the-life posts, volunteering clips, partnerships, charity work, or celebrations. With all this hard work, you need people to see it.

#5: Industry Trends

Lastly, a similar approach to blogs, sharing knowledge on industry trends, establishes authority and attracts a professional audience. B2B buyers are seeking guidance to know what’s next and how to stay ahead. All companies must stay in tune with their industry, but some are more attuned to it than others. Being aware of emerging technologies, staying up-to-date with market shifts, and sharing regulatory updates and predictions for the future positions your company as well-prepared.

Post Now

In today’s fast-paced world, social media is a strategic place to build your company. It can be tough with all the content types, so rotate through these 5 high-performing posts. Your ideas will reach a wider audience, build trust and authority, and contribute your company growth. Experiment with these and watch your platform thrive.

Spring is the season of growth and renewal — a perfect time to take a fresh look at your marketing strategy and the channel mix you’re using. Just like you’d diversify a garden to ensure a healthy harvest, your marketing strategy needs a mix of channels to thrive. If you’re pouring all your time, budget, or energy into one platform or tactic, you might be missing out on bigger opportunities — and leaving yourself vulnerable.

Channel diversification matters. So learn how to spot overdependence on one channel and what you can do to grow a more balanced, resilient marketing mix.

The Risks of a One-Channel Strategy

Putting all your golden marketing eggs in one basket can feel safe — especially when that channel is performing well. But algorithms change, audience behaviors shift, and platforms rise and fall. If your business relies heavily on a single social media platform, email list, or ad network, you’re one update away from a major disruption.

Common signs of over-reliance:

• Most of your website traffic or new business leads come from one source
• Your engagement drops significantly if one channel underperforms
• You haven’t experimented with new platforms or tactics in over 6 months

The Benefits of Channel Diversification

1. Reach new audiences: Different platforms attract different demographics. Expanding your reach across channels means reaching more potential customers.

2. Mitigate risk: If one channel takes a hit — due to algorithm changes, ad costs, or even a platform outage — you’ve got others to lean on.

3. Learn what works best: Diversification allows for better testing and experimentation. You might discover that your audience responds better to email storytelling than paid search, or that blog posts drive more qualified leads than Instagram.

4. Strengthen your brand: A presence across multiple touchpoints increases brand recognition and builds trust. It adds depth to your brand’s personality. Your brand becomes more than just “that company on LinkedIn.”

Alternative Channels to Consider

• Email Marketing: Email marketing is still one of the most effective and underutilized channels for direct communication.
• Podcast Interviews, Sponsorships or Advertising: Reach niche B2B or B2C audiences where they spend uninterrupted time.
• SMS/Text Campaigns: SMS marketing is quick, direct, and surprisingly effective when used with consent, consistency and care.
• Community Platforms: Slack groups, Discord, or industry-specific forums where conversations already happen about your industry, product, or brand.
• Content Syndication: Republish or distribute your best blog content to new audiences through third-party sites.
• Offline Tactics: Direct mail, branded events, or pop-up experiences still create memorable brand impressions.
• Media Relations: Establishing your brand as a voice of authority in industry newspapers and magazines with a solid media pitch

How to Start Diversifying

1. Audit your current mix: Where is your traffic and engagement actually coming from? What channels are underperforming or neglected?
2. Choose one new channel to explore: You don’t need to launch everywhere all at once. Pick a channel that aligns with your audience and test it intentionally.
3. Repurpose smartly: You don’t need to create new content for every channel. Repurpose blog posts into videos, webinar snippets into social posts, or long-form reports into email series.
4. Measure, refine, repeat: Set clear KPIs for each new channel and compare results. Continue to refine your mix as you gain new insights.

Make Your Brand Channel Resilient

The more varied and strategic your marketing approach, the more resilient your brand becomes. So this spring, take a cue from the season: plant new seeds, test new soil, and watch your marketing bloom in unexpected places. Just remember: marketing, like gardening, rewards those who think ahead and stay adaptable.

Have you tried a new channel recently that surprised you with results? We’d love to hear about it on The Porch!

With the rise of social media platforms, influencer marketing has gone through a significant transformation. Influencers have come to be key players in the marketing scene, appearing on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and more. To build more genuine and meaningful connections with their target audience, brands take advantage of the reach and power of these digital personalities. 

Evolution of Influencer Marketing 

Influencer marketing was simple in the early days of social media. Companies partnered with well-known bloggers and YouTubers to market products using endorsements and reviews. Influencer marketing became much broader as sites like Instagram and TikTok became popular.  

Influencers in today’s world can range in size from small influencers with fewer but very engaged audiences to large influencers with millions of followers. With this diversity, marketers can tailor their campaigns to appeal to certain groups and demographics. Influencers are becoming more than just brand ambassadors; they are content creators that include brand messaging into their own personalities and styles to relate to and de-commercialize marketing.  

The Challenges Going Forward

Influencer marketing presents challenges even with its benefits. Keeping authenticity is important because audiences can recognize fake endorsements, leading to openness on sponsored collaborations. Since influencers’ behavior might affect related brands, proper screening is important. Return-on-investment tracking can be difficult, requiring companies to use tools and set exact key performance indicators. A brand’s values consistency, popularity, and follower demographics are all important factors to consider when choosing a good influencer.  

To sum up, influencer marketing is an effective tool that helps businesses engage with their target audience by providing real and interesting content. Despite the challenges, it can still be an exciting and significant part of current marketing campaigns with proper preparation and successful execution. 

Here on the Porch, we create a lot of specialized content for our clients. Websites, social media, newsletters, videos and the like. As their marketing partner, we operate as an extension of their marketing department. We think through their branding, their voice, their business goals and more to make sure that their content is right — every single day. In other words, we work hard to make it rock! And we love what we do.

Our clients trust us to use our expertise to help them grow their businesses. They know that a smart business owner doesn’t try to do everything themselves — instead they surround themselves with other experts who can help them achieve their goals.

How Can You Best Utilize Your Marketing Partner to Make Your Content Rock?

Say you’re a business owner who doesn’t know how to — and honestly doesn’t have the time to — create your own marketing. So you do the smart thing and hire a marketing partner to help grow your business. First, realize that your marketing partner is an expert at creating smart, on-target content for your business and is also in it for the long haul like you are. They want you to succeed.

Helpful Tips for Businesses Utilizing a Marketing Partner

1. Remember: You are not your audience. What is spoken and written internally in your company, doesn’t necessarily make sense to your client or customer. Trust your marketing partner’s recommendations on brand voice, relevancy of message and content
2. Your time is a valuable asset so use it wisely. Provide big-picture counsel. Spending your valuable time giving big picture direction up front on content initiatives vs. spending your time editing every post, is time well-spent. Let your marketing partner help you focus on other important parts of running your business by taking the daily detail of marketing content off your plate.
3. Digital content lasts nanoseconds. Today’s post is forgotten by tomorrow and replaced with another one. This process builds your brand’s personality over time. Each social media post is not precious, it is simply the next stepping stone on your brand’s path.
4. Trust your content creators. The copywriters and designers on your marketing partner’s team do this day-in and day-out for multiple clients. They are experts. They know your channels better than you do and are creating content using best practices for their industry. Just like you use best practices in your industry.
5. Work ON your business, not IN your business. You can’t be everywhere at once. Surrounding yourself with experts who know how to do things that you don’t know how to do is the smart move. Marketing, copywriting, and design professionals on your marketing partner team all have expertise and knowledge that can help you grow your business in ways you couldn’t have imagined. Let them do their job, so that you can do yours better.

Our Overall Advice? Trust Your Partners.

Digital content creation is a marathon with no finish line. It is a day-in and day-out process that builds your brand, and your audience, over time. Digital content like social media, blog posts, newsletters, and websites are crafted with your audience in mind. And they’re crafted to build your brand long-term. So don’t over-think every single post. Don’t over-edit every single piece of content. Whether it’s social media, blogging, email marketing, video scripting or any piece of your digital content universe, it all works together to build your brand and make your business a success in the eyes of your audience and potential customers. 

Content Marketing for Small Businesses

You’ve likely heard the term “content marketing” with increasing frequency, though you may or may not understand exactly what it means. We’re here to uncover exactly what it is. Why it has the potential to be a highly valuable part of your small business’s overall marketing strategy. And finally, what practical tips you should keep in mind as you begin to test the content waters. After all, content marketing builds trust with your consumers, and that leads to sales and growth.

What Exactly Is Content Marketing?

Joe Pulizzi, one of the godfathers of this modern marketing practice, offers this formal definition in his book Epic Content Marketing:

“The marketing and business process for creating and distributing valuable and compelling content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience — with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

~Joe Pulizzi

The main takeaway here should be the term valuable. Doing marketing this way is all about focusing less on communicating information about your business. It is more about the informational needs of your target audience — like solving their problems. It is also concerned with the means by which you share that information using tactics such as blogs, newsletters and social media.

Where traditional market relies on “renting” media — think print or digital ads — content marketing aims to own media, like newsletters and blogs. We have previously detailed the steps you can take to start content marketing next year, to build your business. Front Porch executes monthly newsletters, blogs and other content marketing tactics for several of our clients to help them build their customer base and grow their companies.

What Is The Value of This Type of Marketing?

At its core, Pulizzi conceives of this type of marketing as a “strategy focused on the creation of a valuable experience.” In this way it is the future of marketing. Consumers are becoming increasingly disillusioned with transactional interactions. They are instead opting to build relationships with brands they love. From a business perspective, it means attracting and retaining customers by creating a dialogue with your audience. Open up communication with your target audience in this way. Then you can continually refine your approach and product using first-party data.

Practical Tips

As you create a strategy it’s important to invest in writers and strategists. They can produce high-quality content that will resonate with your target audience. If building out a content team inside your company is not currently within your budget, don’t fret. You’ll need to create brand and content guidelines that can be shared with marketing firms like ours, to ensure consistency.

Front Porch acts as a supplement to many of our clients’ in-house marketing teams. Pro-tip: The majority of your website traffic resulting from content marketing like blogs and newsletters is likely to come from a mobile device. So be sure to make mobile your top channel strategy.

If we can help you set-up and maintain content marketing for you, just holler!

Put Your Marketing Must-Have Plan in Place Now.

Are you ready to tackle your company’s marketing must-have plans for next year? You’re in luck! We’ve simplified that list for you, to get you started. Your business success can be mapped out ahead of time with these five guideposts put in place to execute against.

Having a plan means you know what to do to build your business according to seasons, holidays, business cycles, trends and more. And, if you need help formulating any of these must-haves — or executing them, please ask us!

The Marketing Must-Haves:

1. Marketing Plan

What are your 2023 business and marketing goals? Define them now. Make a marketing plan. Then add in audiences, competition, SWOT, strategies and tactics. Know who you are and what you’re doing. Know what makes your company unique, and what your brand’s biggest benefit is.

2. Content Calendar

This important calendar includes social media and blogging as marketing initiatives. Know what you’re going to talk about every month and every week using this calendar. Take advantage of social media trends. Every content strategy needs a roadmap with dates, and this calendar is super helpful for engaging your consumer on a regular basis.

3. Marketing Timeline

Calendarize key events pertinent to your business, down to the day. Know what events to capitalize on for business success. Plan out when you will carry out campaigns for advertising, digital or print, as well as event pushes, PR and media relations, holiday and event marketing and more.

4. Marketing operations — including people, technology and analytics

Do you have the right team in place? Do you have enough team to get the job done next year? What tech and analytics tools do you need to execute and then evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies against your goals?

5. Marketing Budget

Once the four above have been defined, put numbers to each of them. Create a marketing budget that maximizes your impact. Plan for this budget quarterly, and then, manage to it monthly. Staying on track will pay off.

No matter the size of your business, start on your marketing must-haves now.

Take the guesswork out of what to do next week, next month, or just next with these five marketing must-haves for planning your next business year! We’ve seen our clients grow year over year when we help them set these must-have marketing goals in place. Then, we work together diligently all year to execute against them for business growth and success. It can work for you too.

Blogging for Business Benefits in 2022

Is your business blogging? Blogging for business benefits is a cost-effective way to establish your thought leadership and more. One of our new clients asked us last week why they should be blogging. Working towards being the expert in your industry means sharing your expertise.  Blogging is a simple, clear, cost-effective way to do this. When done properly and consistently, blogging brings benefits to your business. And this translates into more visibility, more customers and customer loyalty.

What are the Benefits of Business Blogging?

Business blogging contributes to your marketing strategy. This particular practice of marketing is called Content Marketing. When you consistently write about topics that are important to your audience, you’ll enjoy these three business benefits:

1. Creating new branded content to share. Are you always trying to come up with something to share on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram that supports your branding? Write a blog! This blog post can then become branded content. Share on your social channels, like our client The Slay Diaz Group does.
2. When you offer a behind-the-scenes look into your product, your process, or your industry, you are building loyalty with your customers. Share insider information — like our client Diamond Brand Gear does — and it will help you build a relationship with your existing customers and attract new ones.
3. You can also instruct people on how to do something specific. Help them achieve a goal or get an answer to a question, like our client Spot On Talent does. Here, you are establishing your authority and building organic SEO (search engine optimization) with Google. Putting keywords that speak to a topic in your headers and copy about that subject in your blog post makes you more likely to be the one that Google sends people to on search results when they ask Google a question.

Sharing Your Business Knowledge Makes You a Leader

If you’re a long-time reader of the Front Porch marketing newsletter and blog, you’ll see that we put these content marketing strategies into practice not only for our clients, but for ourselves. We want everyone to succeed, and we want you to be able to benefit from our business experience. So we share it openly. We want you to be able to optimize your LinkedIn profile, practice successful PR, and know what’s important in marketing if you’re a start-up business.

If you’re ready to level up your marketing and demonstrate to your industry that you’re a leader by adding Content Marketing to your mix, let us know. We can guide you through the process and help you set up an easily-executable calendar, schedule and topics. We can even ghost write your blog posts for you, share your content to your social channels, and optimize your content for better SEO.

What have I learned from my classes at school?

As my academic journey nears an end, I am reflecting on key learning from classes. I’ve gained valuable lessons that I’m taking with me. The most precious thing I’ve learned from this path is realizing my strengths. My strengths are communication, technology, research, accuracy, and consistency. And I will strive to apply these strengths in my future work life.

Being part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program

I am in my final semesters with good academic standing in school. Thus I was given the opportunity to participate in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program. The GS10K Small Business is a prestigious program which partners small business owners with students. It’s a win/win for both the student and business owners.

To start, this partnership gives some students their first job experience. Next, it gives small business owners the opportunity to give back to their community – as a mentor, colleague, client or partner. First, the staff of Front Porch Marketing have become my mentors. So they continue to guide and challenge me. Next, they are helping me realize my strengths. And finally, I get to use the tools I am learning in school on the job to become successful beyond my educational journey.

Biggest key learning from classes: communication

Front Porch Marketing is a digital marketing firm that operates 100% virtually. Communication is key to the success of our company. Formally addressing people in email and text messages is an important business process. Prompt and clear responses keep projects moving and clients happy.

Beyond communication, I am learning time management, organization, accuracy and consistency. Often, organization and time management are crucial to success in a virtual environment. First, as a full-time student and part-time intern, I have to organize my files and time efficiently. Then I am able to meet my deadlines. I use these skills daily at Front Porch.

Finally, we also alternate writing on the FPM website blog. So this is my first blog post written for Front Porch Marketing!

What have I learned?

Technology is leading future work. For marketing, you need a desktop, cell phone, internet, and online meeting forums like Zoom and Microsoft Collaborate. And I use various software for this job including Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook. In addition, Mailchimp, Pipedrive, Word Press and Adobe Illustrator have become part of my weekly duties.

• I researched YouTube to learn how to implement and launch Pipedrive CRM. Pipedrive is a customer relationship management tool. It is a cloud-based software program designed to manage and track sales prospects, progress, and win/loss revenue. 
• I used Microsoft Excel to transfer data from Pipedrive into a report for updating clients contact information. I also retrieve other client information such as email addresses and physical locations from the Excel spreadsheets I build.
• At Front Porch Marketing, I keep Mailchimp updated for clients, monitoring and updating contact lists. Mailchimp is an email marketing software program.
• I use Microsoft Word to create and duplicate client files, letters, and reports. Here real world work reinforces key learning from classes almost every day.
• I can connect with others on Zoom and Microsoft Collaborate, which are virtual meeting platforms. We share information in real time for better communication.

Nearing the end of my classes: the final dance

After suffering through all the reading writing and arithmetic, this semester’s courses seem hand-picked. Lessons learned apply to the marketing field, and to today’s trends and current events. I am currently studying cyber security and the importance of securing devices. I am also taking PC Help Desk Support classes. Listening and writing skills are required. First, we learn to develop problem-solving techniques. Then, we relay what we learned to a customer or co-workers.

And most relevant of all, I am in the middle of Introduction to Digital Media. Many fields including marketing, movies, newsletters, and web design include digital media. We have completed projects that involved setting up and learning Word Press, creating our own website and adding a weekly blog.

As my journey continues, I have been blessed to have the best people at Front Porch Marketing to guide me to the finish line. Therefore I want to thank you all – you rock!