When we started Marketing Nice Guys, we certainly didn’t have a big budget, and no one knew who we were. We had zero clients. All we had was a belief about doing marketing in a certain way and a desire to take a chance on building an agency.
Luckily – and I do mean with luck – we’ve managed to grow our business consistently. Each year, we’ve added more clients and more revenue. We’re grateful for that.
One of the most important things we’ve learned is that growth doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, effort, and a willingness to adapt and learn as you go. Also, if you’re not willing to spend a lot of money – those who know me know that I, in particular, can be notoriously frugal when it comes to spending on our business – you don’t have many choices but to grow the old-fashioned way, a sort of roll-up-your-sleeves and do whatever it takes approach.
So, what do we think are the secrets to growth for businesses that aren’t spending a lot of money? Here are a few things we’ve learned.
No. 1. Consistent Content Creation and SEO: Building Your Foundation
One of the first things we did was focus on creating consistent (and hopefully insightful) content through our blogs. The truth is, we enjoy writing. Some agency owners like talking or being on video. We like putting words on a page. As of today, we’ve published over 175 blog posts on our site, each one designed to talk about a specific aspect of marketing but also to cross-link many of our other pages.
Why does this matter? Because content isn’t just about filling up your website—it’s about creating a resource that builds trust with your audience while also driving organic traffic through search engine optimization (SEO).
What Are the Best Practices for Content Creation?
- Focus on Known Audience Challenges or Issues: Every company’s product or service will ideally help a customer/client solve key issues. In an ideal world, your content should establish you as the authority in that industry space over time and be synonymous with helping customers solve those problems.
- Quality Matters but So Does Quantity: You might hear a lot of boilerplate advice that talks about focusing on quality when it comes to your marketing. Yes, quality matters. But actually so does quantity. The more you produce, the more you can put in front of people more often. We’ve often talked about being aggressive, and it matters. What can help? Try turning blogs on specific topics into videos, infographics, or social media posts (and vice versa) to maximize their reach. This will help you scale production.
For us, investing in SEO meant playing the long game. We knew it would take time for our efforts to bear fruit—there’s no instant gratification here—but by staying patient and sticking to our strategy, we’ve built an organic traffic pipeline that supports our growth without requiring constant ad spend.
No. 2. Pricing Strategy: Understanding Your Market Tier
Pricing is one of the most underrated yet impactful levers for business growth. Early on, we experimented with different pricing models until we found one that worked for our target audience. Here’s what we think is most important: Pricing isn’t just about setting a single number and just using that as a blanket across everyone; it’s about understanding the market tier you’re operating in, the customized services you’re providing, and aligning your pricing with the value you provide for that market.
Best Practices for Pricing:
- Understand Your Market Tier: Identify whether you’re targeting small businesses, enterprises, or something in between. Each tier has different needs and expectations.
- Align Pricing with Value: Make sure your pricing reflects the unique benefits you offer to your customers. Our industry isn’t the type that offers sales or even discounted rates. But we do offer lower rates to certain who might agree to a longer term or bundle some of the services together.
- Think About the Retail Model and Lifetime Value: If your industry does offer discounts, you might think about doing the same, if only at the beginning. After all, there’s a reason retailers will offer a 10 percent discount for your first purchase when you visit a website. They get you to try something, then hook you with that initial product or service to get you to buy more down the road. In other words, your pricing takes into account the long-term value.
- Be Consistent and Don’t Sell Yourself Short: Ensure that your pricing is consistent across similar services or products to avoid confusion. But make sure to set a price where the margin makes sense. Some customers may not be able to afford your cost. That’s OK. Part of being in business is also understanding who you don’t want as a customer.
One thing that we do – and many companies do is to use competitive intelligence to understand what the market is charging at a base. The caveat: We always say to clients that their pricing should reflect the unique value they bring as well. By finding that exact right pricing strategy, you can maximize your revenue this year and in the coming years.
No. 3. Leveraging AI to Scale Content Without Losing Your Brand’s Soul
In an ideal world, technology is there to help you get to an end result faster. But that’s all it should be. Even with AI and today’s generative capabilities, it’s not meant to replace you or what you do from a marketing standpoint. At least, not yet. It can help you collapse time by speeding up processes like research or content creation but it can’t replace the heart of your brand. Just using machine-created content as is, for example, will seem quite soulless. You have to add your own touch and unique perspective to maximize this technology.
In our opinion, all companies should be investing in at least ChatGPT or Perplexity.ai (one of our favorite tools), as it can help you scale your content creation. You should also test out:
- AI voiceovers for video or audio ads (we use ElevenLabs)
- Automated AI website creation (we’ve tried Gamma AI, and it’s not bad)
- AI video development with lifelike avatars (we’ve tried HeyGen)
- For email, use AI to suggest subject lines, sender names etc. (many of email marketing automation platforms have these built in.)
- Employ chatbots or other AI technology on your website to be able to answer questions or direct people to a salesperson.
Finding the right tool(s) should allow you to a.) Get out there more with your content and automate things that otherwise would take up a lot of your time; b.) Free you to focus on other key areas for growth, say reinvesting or refining your products and services.
Best Practices for Using AI:
- Leverage AI Thoughtfully: Tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity.ai can help generate ideas or first drafts, but always ensure the final product reflects your brand voice. We never just use the raw copy generated by a machine.
- Do Multiple Prompts to Test What Works Best: Because a machine can create options quickly, why not try multiple takes to hone what it is you’re looking for? After all, it can write a typical blog in less than 30 seconds. Ask it for different variations, maybe a different intro, or give the machine specific directions. Use technology to enhance—not replace—the personal touch that makes your business unique.
At Marketing Nice Guys, we’ve embraced technology as a way to save time—whether it’s automating email sequences or using AI tools for brainstorming—but we never let it define us. The soul of what we do still comes from people.
No. 4. Generate Social Proof Early
Every business needs something called social proof. Think of the buying process you have for yourself. Do you look at reviews and ratings of products or services before you purchase? You probably do. This social proof provides evidence that others use your products or services and are happy with them. It’s a key part of the consideration phase of any marketing funnel.
What happens if you, as a business, don’t have much of that starting out? Well, one thing you can do is to offer an initial discounted or free trial to a set group of people to get them to try your services in exchange for feedback and a review or rating of some kind.
Best Practices to Generate Social Proof Early:
- Create a Set Process for Getting Customer Feedback: If you have a physical location, ask clients/customers who come in to review you on Yelp or Google Reviews. That might be a card with a QR code that goes directly to the place for them to leave a review.
- Email Customers Who Have Purchased, Asking Them to Leave a Review: Similar to the above, make sure to set up an automated email at a certain interval after they’ve consumed your products or services asking for feedback.
- Partner with Key Influencers in Your Industry: Let’s face it. We live in a social world. People (consumers) listen to influential people in terms of what they purchase, where they go, and what they do. If you’re in the right industry where influencers do matter, getting them to vouch for your products or services can turbocharge your growth in very little time.
Conclusion: How We Can Help You Grow
Growing a business isn’t easy—it takes time, effort, and, frankly, taking risks. But if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s this: You don’t have to do it alone.
At Marketing Nice Guys, we specialize in helping businesses grow through strategies like content creation, SEO optimization, pricing refinement, technology integration, and more. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level—or just need some guidance—we’d love to help.
Contact us today for a free consultation. Let’s work together to unlock your business’s full potential!
