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Marketing is something that we all interact with as individuals in society.
Marketing in the modern world takes form in social media advertisements, TV ads, print ads, content campaigns, hashtag campaigns, challenges, events, street signs, billboards, radio, podcasts, and more. Most content online anymore, especially when coming from a business, can be considered a piece of marketing.
Ultimately marketing is the action of promoting or selling your business/offers/products. So that does draw a boundary between what is content for your marketing, and what is content that you are sharing because it is personal and important to you.
As entrepreneurs, adopting a marketing mindset and approaching a lot of the content you see online can be a great way for you to tap into what really feels good for you and your business. Finding balance in your content between utilizing it for marketing and allowing yourself to be creative is going to be important for the sustainability of your strategy.
Marketing and a marketing strategy are especially important for entrepreneurs, creatives, businesses, etc. that do not already have a well established network.
I have seen businesses take off all by word of mouth, but the person in charge was incredibly well connected and marketing was an afterthought.
For many of us who do not have a well established network, marketing is a core piece of the foundation of how we show up and how we are creating in our businesses.
Ultimately, most advice and strategies are the same. There is nothing truly "groundbreaking" in terms of marketing right now in my opinion,
it's all about the values held and the content created.
Marketing is embedded into a lot of our daily actions as entrepreneurs which can make it feel really daunting and scary and like it is something to be feared. As stated above, marketing is often a method of creation for many of us in our business. It is an outlet for expression.
Marketing for many of us is so much more than just a simple strategy or posting or engagements. And we should allow it to be! Marketing can be supportive and creative and fun, we just have to know what to start with and how to build.
So what do we do to create a marketing strategy that actually works?
Pick 1-2 platforms and stick to them while you are first trying to create a strategy that works
Don’t waste your time creating content all of the time- how can you repurpose what you have already created? People need to hear things a lot of times! Don’t be afraid to reshare things or thoughts
Identify goals outside of clients and sales- marketing becomes a lot more fun when we are focusing on the things we can control rather than setting goals based on our sales. We ultimately cannot control whether people buy from us or not but we can support their journey and control how we do that! Set goals around how many times you are posting, what kinds of content you are posting, using lots of different hashtags, tracking reach/clicks, etc.
Focus on the Reach of your marketing instead of the ROI/$$$.- everyone is always so focused on what the return on investment is going to be on marketing, a lot of people I talked to in the beginning of my journey wanted a breakdown of how much money they were making per post. And YES- traditionally, this is what marketing was SOLELY about. Now, marketing is entirely different, and is about so much more. Shifting our focus from the ROI to Reach allows you to think about growing your community. Growing your audience. Forming connections. All of which are essential to creating sales and growing our businesses.
Create content that you enjoy!- But don’t be afraid to also promote your services. The entire point of marketing is to promote your business. Don’t be afraid to share things that do just that. We get so wrapped up in sharing value online that people aren’t always sure how to work with us. Clarity is kindness! Share your offers front and center every once in a while so people know.
Remember that great marketing is truly about your values and what feels best for you.
Marketing will always feel inauthentic if you don’t enjoy it. Allow yourself to set expectations and a capacity that is well within your own.
Let me know what questions you have and sign up for my email list to get more information about my marketing strategy guide coming out in November!
Need some support with compassionate marketing principles? Check out my other blog about compassionate marketing here!
Need support with understanding what marketing is and how you can create a strategy that works for you?
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