The worst client we've ever had

Hey 👋

Welcome to Neighbourhood Post issue #50 - easy to implement digital marketing ideas straight through your metaphorical letterbox.

This is the 50th edition of Neighbourhood post. What a landmark! Treat yourself to a cake this weekend to celebrate. 🎂

Anyway, on with this week - a scandalous exposé.

👉 By the way, if you’ve missed previous newsletters you’ll find them here.

📩 And if you’ve been forwarded this email you can subscribe here.

It’s time to name and shame 🤐

All of our clients are amazing, except one.

They’ve been indecisive, made last minute changes and given vague feedback.

They’ve been slow to sign things off and always seem to be busy with other things.

Enough is enough, it’s time to name them.

Scroll down to find out who…

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That’s a photo of me by the way.

The joke only really works if you know what I look like 😂

But yes, it’s true - we’ve been working on Neighbourhood’s digital marketing, and discovered it’s not that easy being your own client.

Any agency will tell you it’s hard to carve out time to work on your own brand.

We’ve been flat-out busy for pretty much every moment since we started three years ago. But now we’ve grown to a team of 11, we can finally be more intentional about it.

The real motivation? It came during a chat with a prospective client:

"Why should you tell us how to run our Instagram when you only have 300 followers?"

Ouch. Valid. Painfully valid.

We know the answer is simple: because we’ve been too busy delivering for clients. But from the outside, there’s a disconnect.

What we do for others? Proven.

What we’ve done for ourselves? … Less so.

So, two weeks ago, we decided to fix it. And it’s working.

We’ve gone from 300 to 800 followers in that time. Modest, but encouraging.

More importantly, we’ve proven that our playbook of 20+ growth techniques works. As we keep executing, we’ll build momentum and grow even more. 🚀

Here’s what we’ve learned along the way:

#1 - Make it personal

People connect with people. It’s just how we’re wired.

Not every brand can be fronted by a face, but you can still lean into this principle. Show the human side of your brand. Share stories. Use authentic voices. Your content will become instantly more engaging.

#2 - Be realistic

You’re not going to get thousands of followers a day.

Brands aren’t built for that kind of explosive growth on social media. So don’t get discouraged - aim for modest growth and be pleased with your results.

#3 - Cut the Salesy Stuff

Seriously. Take 80% of your sales pitches out of your social media content. Redirect them to other channels. And if you must include them, use Instagram Stories.

We haven’t pushed our services once in the last few weeks. But you know what? We’ve had several new inquiries.

Why? Because we made people feel something.

We showed our values. Our expertise. And that was enough for people to take action—without a single “Get in touch and work with us!” post.

#4 - Stick to the Basics

Our success? It’s down to five steps:

1. Pick a platform.

2. Learn it well.

3. Test.

4. Analyse.

5. Improve.

It’s that simple.

Two weeks ago, we were at 300 followers. Now? 800. Soon, 1,000. Then 2,000. And beyond.

Social growth doesn’t have to be a mystery. It’s about showing up, testing, and refining.

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That’s it for today.

See you next week.

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What we’re looking at 👀 and listening to 👂

📺 Dan has started season 2 of Silo on Apple TV+ - two episodes in and very enjoyable - probably more so than season 1.

📺 Have you been following the Jaguar rebrand? I nearly wrote about it this week but realised I couldn’t do any better than Rory Sutherland’s brilliant response.

Before you go - we’ll never use these newsletters to directly sell you our services, but we’re always here if you need any expertise or support 👍