I want to get back to growing With Jack after a year of distraction by running lots of mini experiments and being more intentional with measuring results.

The plan was to dedicate February to creating video content, both short-form optimised for Instagram and longer-form for YouTube. I spent a lot of time in our studio, recording 8 videos with another handful lined up for production.

Technically I succeeded. I have a lot of content sitting on my hard drive… yet none of it has seen the light of day. There was a minor speed bump that meant post-production didn't get underway until mid-February.

I knew I wanted a hands-off approach with the videos because I'm busy being:

• marketer
• compliance manager
• customer support rep
• project manager
• and more

I wanted to hit record, fire the raw files over to a freelancer and have them edit the video and add visual cues to make it more interesting. Delegating the bulk of the work is the only way I can commit.

When I sent the videos to the freelancer, they said they didn't work like that and needed more involvement from me. I have no issue with this conversation. The importance of having discussions like this prior to any work being undertaken is exactly what I preach at With Jack!

I laid out my objectives. In return the freelancer said "I can help you reach your goal, but I'll need X, Y, Z from you" and it became clear we weren't the right fit. This conversation saved us both a lot of hassle before any money had been exchanged and contracts signed. Nothing dramatic.

Fortunately I had videos from 5 years ago that had never been shared, so on the 3rd of February my first video in February's mini experiment was uploaded. It's a breakdown of the difference between the professional indemnity policy and the legal expenses policy.

Since it took longer to find a freelancer that could work the way I needed, I didn't frequently post videos throughout February like I had intended. However, a byproduct of these monthly experiments and that video rotting in my archives up until now is that I've gotten into a habit of posting to social media.

I am now somebody who has a schedule and even posts with a pattern (the pattern is video, image, customer spotlight, informational post and testimonial. Rinse, repeat).

I am someone who plans in advance and has several weeks of content lined up. It's only taken 8 years of running a business to reach this point. /sarcasm

To put it into context, at the time of writing this blog I've posted 12 times. I posted a total of 10 times in 2024. I have a system now and it's working for me. If you check With Jack's social media channels, you should see new content every 3 days or so.

It wasn't just Instagram I committed to. I cross-posted to Facebook, BlueSky (I think I'm done with X) and LinkedIn. Building an audience on BlueSky will take some time and effort, but I'm getting a lot of joy with Instagram.

Vanity metrics

Because I've went from a sporadic user to posting regularly, it's been easy for metrics to go in the right direction.

• 718.7% increase in accounts reached
• 1.2% increase in followers
• 2 hours 53 minutes of watch time
• 1500+ views

These metrics don't mean much. What matters is quotes. Quotes that convert to policies. How has that been in February?

It's funny. When I let emotion dictate February's performance I feel like it was a poor month. This is because it was half-term and any kind of school holiday affects how busy things are. It was also a challenging month with cancellations. Both of these factors lead to an overall feeling the month was slow.

The metrics told a different story once I reviewed them. We increased sign-ups from this time last year by 11%. This is a business lesson I fail to learn no matter how often I am exposed to it. Emotions cloud reality. I need to dig into the numbers to build an accurate picture.

With insurance it's rare to get in front of someone at the point where they need to buy your product. It's about making yourself known so that when it's the right time in their renewal cycle you're at the forefront of their mind. It's unlikely these mini experiments will yield instant results, but each experiment will build momentum. It's about working on something every day to move the needle on making the company successful.

I've enjoyed February's mini experiment even if it didn't play out like I intended. I'm a creative at heart and mucking around with graphics and video will always be fun to me. After losing interest in pretty much everything last year, I'm falling in love with working on With Jack again.

Plus, I now have a huge backlog of videos to share over time. These range from quick-fire tips to a deeper dive into trickier topics like mediation and contracts.

I intend on making the monthly recap a regular feature. This is where I share how we've helped customers in the last month. Everybody thinks insurance is only useful in the most extreme of situations, but there are many lighter touch points you can make use of us for. The recap is about giving people context by sharing real scenarios. It's educational but delivered in a format people can relate to.

Looking back at January's mini experiment

I'm still seeing the benefits of January's mini experiment (updating our scripts to include the proof of insurance badge).

It's not an exact science for measuring, but from looking at Ahrefs backlinks feature another 3 customers have added a badge to their website. Between January and February's experiments traffic to our website was up 15%. A promising start to the year. I'll take wins wherever I can get them!

A look at March's mini experiment

With March my goal is to play with paid advertising, whether in the form of sponsorship or more traditional advertising.

In the past sponsorship has worked well for us—especially in the podcast space. Whenever I've experimented with traditional advertising, however, I've usually had regrets.

Perhaps having more data at my disposal to better inform my advertising choices will work, plus having a more complete understanding of my audience could yield positive results. We'll see!