Making a name for yourself
AKA being more Ginger Spice
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Morning, Colleague!
I hope you’re doing alright during this weirdly exhausting in-betweeny stage. Personally, I’m finding having to do miniature risk assessments (in the red corner, being one vaccine down, in the blue corner, the new variant) every time I leave the house somewhat knackering. They say making decisions drains your creative energy, and I certainly am feeling the impact on my work.
BUT for once I am sticking to my own advice (genuinely never thought I’d see the day) and have stuck to my One Small Thing June Challenge. For me, this has involved honing and sending out a couple of pitches to inch me towards my ultimate goal. Plus, I was so spurred on by these baby steps, that it’s lead to me doing a bit of research and some online training too. It just shows that sometimes a little nod in the right direction is all we need.
Today’s issue is all about improving your marketing, to help you make new client/customer connections, cement yourself as an authority in your chosen field, and increase loyalty towards you or your products. It’s not about making a whole complex marketing plan (I mean, if you have time and energy then obviously go for it), but about following the same ethos as last week: do one, manageable thing.
Marketing, if you’re in the right frame of mind, can actually be a lot of fun. It’s essentially just finding new ways to reach people and tell them how great you are.
Not feeling confident? It’s time to call on the Queen of shameless blaggery. For the rest of this newsletter, I’d like you to put on an imaginary pair of platform shoes, some Sun-In highlights, and a Union Jack dress. It’s time to put yourself out there, like our Lady and Saviour, Ginger Spice.
Why can marketing feel so tough?
Not a fan of self-promotion? It’s not just you.
“Marketing is harder for women – we grow up in a patriarchy that tells women to be smaller, and it can be hard to break free,” says Karen Webber, who runs ethical marketing brand Goodness Marketing.
“Then there are so many supposed ‘marketing rules’, but I think it can be helpful for people to shift their perspective of what marketing is. Think of the last big purchase you made – you wouldn’t consider yourself as having been ‘sold to’ – it was something you wanted or needed. Marketing doesn’t have to be gross and pushy.”
[*thinks back to the frog hairclips I bought last week…no regrets here*]
At its heart, marketing is sharing – your ideas, passion, knowledge and, yes, ultimately your product or service.
And there’s currently an appetite for supporting small businesses. “While consumers are accustomed to the Amazon model of cheap prices, people are increasingly conscious of where they’re spending. I always say every pound is a vote for the world we want to live in,” says Karen.
In other words, letting people understand more about you, and your values empowers them to support your business. Everyone wins — hurrah.
What about service-based businesses?
Obviously if you run a product-based business then marketing is probably your bread and butter, but what about those of us who sell a service as a sole trader?
It’s still important, according to Karen: “I’m a classic example of someone who lets marketing slip to the bottom of my list! But when I lost some clients in lockdown I had to start marketing again and work followed.
“When you’re service-based it’s about building trust, offering glimpses into your life and telling the story of your values. The difference comes when people get to know you.”
For me, for example, it’s a mixture of updating two websites (one as a portfolio, one for a professional project), running a Facebook account for OOO and my other project (as well as personal accounts on Twitter and Facebook which are still useful for networking), keeping LinkedIn updated with any new articles I’ve written, and – of course – writing and promoting this newsletter.
No wonder I’m knackered…
Ok, but how often do I have to think about marketing?
Good news/bad news time. While you don’t have to spend hours on it, consistency (as usual) is key. That means perhaps setting aside a window of time each week to update your social or blog, write press releases or send a newsletter to your customers.
“I don’t like it when I only hear from brands when they’ve got something new to sell,” says Karen. “You need to have consistency and bring people along on that journey.”
And don’t feel too icky about this stuff – as Karen says, it’s not about being completely emotionally open and vulnerable, it’s just snippets of your life. Whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
More on this here: are all self-employed women brands?
“Start with what feels easy – talk about the things you feel knowledgeable about.” And don’t worry about being across all social media platforms – that’s a recipe for burnout.
Karen’s top tips for social media:
You only really need to be where your customers/clients are.
It’s not so much about ‘selling’ as telling your story – you don’t have to pretend to be anything you’re not.
Most of the ‘one size fits all’ advice about when to post is nonsense. Don’t stress about it, just post whenever suits you (or use an app to pre-schedule).
Quick marketing wins!
Who doesn’t love a quick win? Chip away at the marketing stone in just five minutes this week.
“People get overwhelmed, but the main thing is to be realistic,” says Karen. “Create a list of two-minute jobs across your blog, website, social media, etc. It’s a bit like meal planning. The thinking generally takes longer than the doing.”
Perhaps it’s creating a folder on your desktop to store memes or images to share with your audience. Or it might be a quick check of a competitor’s social pages to find inspiration. Writing captions for social media posts, researching hashtags relevant to your business, or jotting down some potential topics for blog posts also work well.
Blogging – surprisingly still relevant in 2021
If you only have time to do one thing: keep your website freshened up.
“It’s much more important than social media, and you’re less at the mercy of algorithms. Put your effort into blogging and you can double up your content in newsletters too,” says Karen. Blogging might seem old-hat, but keeping your site updated with relevant stories is a great way to improve your visibility on Google, as well as looking like an industry expert when potential customers visit your site.
Stuck for blog post ideas? “Ask people on Facebook a fun (relevant) question, for example if you work in the wedding industry, ask them their favourite songs to hear at a wedding, and turn the answers into a blog post. Or you could talk to an expert about what will happen in the future of your industry,” suggests Karen.
Ultimately, don’t sweat it too much. These are all just ideas, ready for when you need them, rather than a list of essential requirements. Anything you do to share your message and talents with the world, in whatever way you choose to do it, will have a positive impact on your business.
If in doubt, just channel your inner Geri: shameless, fabulous and doing things 100% your own way.
Thanks to those of you who got in touch to tell me about your own June mini-challenges! It’s so lovely to know we’re in it together. We’ve got this. #JuneIsTheNewJanuary
I’m looking forward, as always, to this month’s accountability session, which is fast approaching because time is meaningless and we’re all just hurtling forwards somehow. This month’s is Friday 25th at 11am, and every reader is welcome to try one for free — hit reply if you want in.