Testing 8 Marketing Ideas So You Don't Have To

Short form videos. 6.5/10. I’ve been making short videos introducing the articles that I write for my newsletters and posting them on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Threads. I haven’t seen a ton of conversion to new subscribers, but they do start conversations, which I enjoy. I would say there’s likely more I could do here in terms of experimenting with hooks and visual transitions to increase the ROI on these. I could also likely try posting these to TikTok (which I’ve been hesitant to do this year for obvious reasons) and Instagram (which I detest for posting), but quality of depth > quantity of platform for now. Cost = Descript and Adobe Premiere Pro subscription.

Podcast crossover episodes. 8/10. These include episodes I’ve hosted and episodes I’ve been a guest on. It’s been nice to test out this co-hosted style show where we’re asking each other questions and coming prepared to talk about very specific topics that are relevant to our audiences. cost = Riverside + Descript + Captivate subscriptions.

Memes on Threads. 7.5/10. Social media is silly, and the creators on Threads seem to be in the mood for lighthearted jokes. Ever since I saw this livestream on beehiiv, I’ve been contemplating this low-effort, high-reward tactic. So far, I think it’s worth the two seconds it takes to source and schedule these with a link to my newsletter. I started this recently, so I’ll check back in later to let you know how this goes. Cost = free social media accounts + Typefully 1-year subscription.

Newsletter thumbnail design. 2/10. I did a ton of research on this. Made a swipe file in Notion. Created various templates in Canva. Created brand guidelines. The works. But ultimately, with all my link sharing, 90%+ of the views of these articles will come through email, not through web traffic. So with all the effort they take, not many people will actually see them. They look cute and shape the aesthetic of a newsletter website, but ultimately aren’t a huge factor in web clicks or new subscribers in my experience. A lot of work, but not a huge payoff. Cost = free Canva account.

Substack livestreams. 9/10. Unfiltered talks. Audience engagement. Audio and video for repurposing. It’s an unexpectedly great community-building platform. I’m probably still not using it to its fullest potential, as I don’t repurpose the automated short video clips Substack creates as well. The only hindrances are that Android users can’t schedule livestreams on mobile, and you’re unable to schedule livestreams on desktop (but I hear the second one is coming, supposedly). As I mentioned previously, I’m going to keep doing these and may even use Descript to pick highlights and quotes for me to share as well. Cost = free Substack account.

Vibe coding. 8/10. There are a ton of hindrances to creating apps and websites this way, as all vibe coding platforms (Bolt, Lovable, Replit, etc) will require integrations and plugins like crazy. BUT there are some web designs I would only have been able to make with vibe coding. I still know very little about code, but a lot more about custom web design and user experience/UX design, and it feels good that it’s platform agnostic. Cost = free at first, then $20/month on Bolt.

Printing custom-designed posters and pamphlets. 9/10. Going the extra mile to make people smile and leave them with something tangible paid off. I would definitely do this again. High cost, high reward. Cost = less than $50 for prints, $1K for custom design. (Not including travel and lodging for events)

Creating short-form video templates in Descript. 10/10. My temptation is to make every video have unique captions. The more difficult something is to copy, the better. But making every video unique means that the format isn’t easily repeatable, not just for me, but for any editor I want to work with. The reason I left CapCut wasn’t just because of the proposed TikTok ban; it was because my editors couldn’t easily replicate my results, and it wasn’t a true NLE. I couldn’t save templates or easily save caption presets. Descript also just makes it easier for me to go from long form to short form. Having repeatable short-form videos also makes them more recognizable on social media, which is a bonus. Cost = Descript 1 year subscription.

Creating lead magnets. So far, I’ve been using Notion and Chronicle for this. I’m on the free plan for both. The only “lead magnets” I’ve tried are just gating the articles, so letting the content of the articles be the magnet. I want to try creating useful docs for people to attract them to the newsletter.

Creating carousels in Figma. I’m on the free plan in Figma. I’ve been wanting to lean more into carousels for LinkedIn and Threads, but Canva isn’t best suited for carousel generation. I’m excited to play around with this and some rotating CTAs to see how they work.

RootfulX. This is my makeshift name for a place where I can safely experiment with AI applications for my business. Whether that’s meta prompting for my vibe coding sessions, or brainstorming new ideas for each media project of the business.

Sponsoring in-person events with merch. As much as I want to go to every relevant in-person event, I simply can’t if I actually want to get work done. So I’d like to be able to send merch and possibly a sign-in form to events, I can make support event creators and reach more folks. When I say merch I mean stickers, pins, etc. Not necessarily bigger items like t-shirts. Excited to see how this goes.

Having signable posters for events. For Melanin MVP, I’ve been taking some inspo from Tracksmith and Playa Society. One thing they do well - big displays that people can sign when they reach a destination. I think this is a keepsake that will bring people into the community and start conversations. Hoping to try this at least twice this year.