What would your marketing look like if you did what you wanted?
Over the last six years I’ve watched marketing advice become louder, more prescriptive and more expensive, less personalised and the results are no more guaranteed.
Lately, I’m seeing more and more chat around things business owners are supposed to be doing. But what if… you don’t have to do it?!
I honestly cannot be arsed with all this rhetoric around ‘you NEED an offer that does xyz’, ‘you NEED a niche’, ‘you NEED an all singing, all dancing funnel’.
Guess what? Ya don’t. I promise. You know why?
Because it’s your business and only you get to choose what you do with it.
Emily Gilmore, the woman who has never needed anyone's permission for anything
My friend Sophie Cliff recently shared a campaign called ‘Shed the Shoulds’ and I guess that’s what I’m doing here. We’re all figuring things out with our businesses, as marketers (if that’s your business) and most of the things we see online serve only the person selling the playbook/funnel/strategy/insert-helpful-thing-here more than it actually serves you.
The other day my husband and I were chatting about our daughter’s future ‘ooh I wonder what job she might have?’ I said. He said ‘your job didn’t exist when we were kids, so who knows?’
And that’s the thing isn’t it - this job that I’m doing now, some of which includes social media management, is forever changing. I used to be very strict with the number of posts I’d put out a week and how many blogs or newsletters I’d create, but the online world is different now and it will inevitably change again.
So is it any wonder that other people’s ideas for your business don’t necessarily work for you? Especially when they haven’t put in the groundwork or the effort to really get to know you?
The one thing that helps people work with you or buy from you is that they get to know you. What led you to build your business, your sense of humour, the way you show up online. Ultimately we’re still humans, looking to connect and talk to other humans.
What works for me marketing-wise happens before I even think about content. I spend time thinking about the same things: what are my values, what work do I enjoy, who are the people I want to work with, and does it pay my bills? Joy, integrity, balance. Work that makes a difference to someone's wellbeing. Decent people. Knowing my pricing and not flexing on it.
Because there’s no point in getting clients if they’re not the right fit for your business. If you’re at the early stages you will likely work with anyone who wants to work with you, because potentially you won’t know who or what is right for you, yet. Heck, it’s taken me six years and I’m still finding things out along the way.
When I look at my marketing, this is what I do: I share a mix of useful, engaging content that adds value (this goes on the feed) and I use Stories/DMs/comments to get to know people and build connection.
It all boils down to meeting people, getting to know them and if they need help, offer to help. No funnel required, no offer suite, no pre-written script. Just a (genuinely) friendly chat with no agenda. Groundbreaking, I know.
In this age of overextending ourselves for no reason, I want to know… what would your marketing look like if you stopped doing what other people said was best and listened to yourself instead?
