Ep. 057: The Most Common Marketing Misconception
We're all familiar with "Know, Like & Trust" when it comes to marketing and sales funnels, but there seems to be a problem with what happens before the "Know" portion of it. Surprisingly we don't have a lot of great language around the work that's needed for people to know we exist. How can something so simple feel so complex though? How can it be so misunderstood? And what can we do about it so that we can get in front of more potential clients?
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Erika: Tebbens: Today, we are talking about one of the most common misconceptions in marketing. And it is something that keeps us very stuck in a busy mode, a production mode, and it also keeps us stuck in the mentality that if we just keep creating, people will appear and they will want to throw money at us. And then when that doesn't happen, we're like, "What am I doing wrong? I super suck. I should just quit. I should just give up." Or, "You know, I'm going to be struggling forever." And it doesn't have to, it doesn't have to be like that. The problem is with this misconception is we don't have good verbiage. We don't have good language around what the hell it is that you should actually be doing in marketing to get the biggest return on your time and energy investment.
So, uh, my, my good friend, Kyla of kylaroma.com, she and I have, like, we geek out over this, um, the fact that a lot of times, what is pitched as marketing is actually publishing. I'll get into that a bit more in a second, but she calls what we're going to talk about an attraction engine and Jenny Shih, of Make It Work Online, she calls these things, client getting activities. And I like to call these things visibility strategy. So what that is is, you know, it's just the stuff that you were going to do to get visible, so that you can attract the right people to you and they will become clients or collaborators, or, you know, other, other things that are good for your business and bring you joy and possibly revenue. Probably revenue, honestly.
And in terms of the, the publishing side of it, what usually happens with marketing, when people talk about marketing and people talk about all the things you have to do in business, is those things actually end up being more in the realm of publishing your own blog posts on your own platform. Publishing your own podcast episodes on your own podcast platform. Uh, publishing your own social media content on whatever platform you're using for social media. And content is important because when people find out about you, they are going to look through what you have put out in the world. Right? So if somebody sees somebody tag me on Instagram, they might go to my page and then look at my bio and say, "Oh, she has the podcast called Sell It, Sister.
I'm gonna check that out. I like, I like podcasts. I'm gonna listen to an episode." And then they listen to an episode, and they're either like, "Huh, this is interesting. I'm going to go. Maybe I'll listen to some more episodes or maybe I'll go to her website. Oh, she's got blog posts. I'm going to check out her blog posts." Uh, or like, whatever. They're just gonna go down that. The like rabbit hole of value that I've put out there. And that is going to help with that know like, and trust factor.
They also might just, you know, go through social media posts or different things and kind of see what I'm all about and see if they want to know more or if they're like, "Eh, she's, you know, I don't really need this or she's not my speed. She's not my type of person I like to follow. And they're going to peace out. Right? And that's totally fine too. Uh, but the, the problem is with that, so we need that nurturing content, but it can keep us super, super, super busy creating all of that content and then neglecting our visibility strategy.
Because visibility strategy, can feel scary. It can feel weird. It can sometimes feel like totally pointless and like a huge time suck, but it's actually not. It's essential. Because you have to, get in front of people, of new people all the time, so that they know about you, rather than just waiting for people to stumble across your page, right?
Your social media, your blog, your podcast. Because there's just a lot, there's a lot of information out there. There's so much that a person could consume that it's easier for you to go where they are. Than for them to just happen, to stumble across you. And what gets really tricky is if you're like me and you're a worker bee and you like clear definitive. Like yeah, to a, to do list that you could just cross off and projects that, you know, like, "Oh good, they're done. The project is done. Yay." This is not always that thing. This needs to be more of a habit of something you do. This needs to be part of a routine. So I'm going to give it to you in two different ways.
Two different tracks that you can go down. And then you get to decide what that routine, what that process is going to look like for you. And I really do recommend like, like both of these tracks, at least some, some stuff from both of these tracks. So there are the things that are a bit more definitive and then there are the things that are just ongoing.
So the things that are a bit more definitive that get you in front of other people, of other audiences, are those things like being a guest on somebody else's platform. So being a podcast guest, uh, being a guest writer on their blog, uh, being a guest contributor to a larger online publication, doing a joint venture webinar or training, being a part of an online summit, teaching to somebody's private mastermind or group program teaching in somebody's free Facebook group. All of those are things you could quantify, right?
Or even speaking at like networking events, stuff like that. You could say, "Okay, for the year, here's what I want to do. I want to be on. 12 podcasts episodes. I want to be, you know, I want to do like 12 guest writing pieces. I want to do three summits, five JV webinars, and speak at three networking events." Right? You can actually quantify that. And then you can put as part of your weekly or monthly to do list how many pitches that you want to put out, right? And once you get enough yeses for the year in that category, you can either decide, "Do I want to up my goal now that I've hit it and keep going and keep pitching, or do I do I want to be done for the year?" Right?
That is a very, very definitive way to decide visibility strategy in terms of a one and done on somebody else's platform. This is such a good way of getting in front of other people's audiences. Because if like the people listening to somebody else's podcast, let's say those listeners already know, like, and trust that podcast.
Or so if you go on their podcast and they're sort of endorsing you by having you on. Those listeners are already going to be more primed to be interested in you because they know that the person who already knows likes and trust you trusted you enough to come on their show and talk about whatever it is you're an expert in. So they're already, it's almost like a, like having like a word of mouth recommendation, right? Same thing with a JV webinar, a different type of free training guest post, whatever. But here is the other side of visibility strategy that can feel a little bit more wishy-washy and like it's, there's no clear definitive end. And that is engaging with new people on social media.
So this can be really hard. I love, I love like to just have completion on something. I love to just be like, "Ooh, it's done." I, you know, I can, uh, I can, I can feel like accomplished and I can move along and I can check that box and, and it feels so good. But the problem is that that is not really ever a thing with engagement with people on social media, because there's no clear definitive. And especially if you're, you know, if you're growing a business, this is something that's important. If you are lucky enough, if you're like, "You know what, I am fully booked and I don't want to keep growing my business in any sort of way.
Like I just work on referrals and I just, I periodically raise my prices and that feels good and, and I'm, and I'm all set and I'm not going to market myself anywhere." That is super rad. And I am thrilled for you. But that is just not the case for most people. Because even if you, uh, are getting a lot of referrals for your one-on-one, if you want to create and launch something new, you might need to get out in front of different people.
Right? So I really advise starting small with this. And there are other people out there who are experts in LinkedIn and Instagram and Facebook and all sorts of things. So I'm not going to do a deep dive. I'm just going to say, pick one platform where you already like to be. Where you enjoy being. Or where you're like, "I know that my, my people like this, this is truly where they are." Like maybe, maybe LinkedIn, isn't the funniest thing for you to be on.
But you're like, "No, I, I know that like really my ideal clients, like this is where they are. They're not on Instagram, they're not on Facebook, like, they're on LinkedIn." So just start small, start small with 15 minutes, one day a week, where you put it in your schedule, where you are not necessarily worried about like posting out your own content and getting likes or comments, but you are going to other people. You are engaging with other people.
You are making new and genuine connections. You are contributing to the conversation in a meaningful way. And you were just putting yourself in front of those new people so that they can know you exist. You are now visible to them. So start small. And then you can gradually build up from there. Maybe you do Monday and Friday, then maybe you do Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 15 minutes.
And then maybe you do Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 20 minutes. And like really set a timer and go in. And if you're having fun, you could stay. And if you're like, "I really want to get on with the rest of my work." Then great. Like you did it and pop on out and go do the rest of your work. But this is really, really, really crucial that you do it.
And I will be totally honest. It's something that I can struggle with in terms of consistency, because it doesn't feel like real work. It feels like goofing around on social media. Even though if you're doing it with intention and purpose, it's not. And I have to think of it. And again, this is something I still struggle with as it's not a clear, clean to do list every day. That when it's done, "Oh, it's done. Like I never have to do it again." It has to be a routine. It has to be a habit. It has to be, you know, something I do at a certain time every day, or I get my coffee and I sit down and then I do it. Or it's the last thing I do before I shut everything down for the day, or I do it, you know, between two client calls or right after lunch.
Right? I have to bake it in to the routine or else if I'm just having it on a to-do list, it's not urgent or important, so it falls to the bottom. So if I wait and I'm like, "It's five o'clock and I'm really tired and I've done a ton today. The last thing I want to do is spend 15 minutes engaging with people on Instagram, when I really just, I just want to be done. I just want to like power my brain off for the day." Right? So, you know yourself best, you know, your bandwidth, you know, what you can do. And when you can do it, don't go from zero to 60.
Don't go from never engaging on Instagram to, "Oh my God. I have to do an hour a day, seven days a week." Like, you know, just like with a workout routine, you're not going to go from never working out to like, "Oh my gosh. Now I'm going to run a 5k every day." Like, you know that second to happen. So, baby steps.
But the thing that you always, always, always want to keep in mind, and I actually have a, if you want to go more into this, um, a few episodes back episode 53, I talk about the 90 day rule of marketing and this pairs really well together. So think about what you can do and what you can do for 90 days. And then be consistent with that plan of being visible to new people. So it's almost like showing up to different parties, right? Like if you, and even if you're like, "I'm a super introvert and I hate parties."
Like just visualize for a minute, if there was a street with a bunch of different houses and they were each having house parties, and there were different segments of potential clients or collaborators at each of those parties, you can't stand out in the street and just hold up a sign that's like, "Hey, I'm a super awesome Lake social media strategist. And if you want to talk to me over here about social media strategy, like here, and I'm awesome. And I can help." Like, you might get some people that are gonna be like, what's that commotion outside. "Oh, I'm gonna go see, Oh, social media. Wow. I actually really need help with that. Yeah. I am going to go, I'm going to walk up and talk to this person. That's like yelling in the street." Right?
No. It's better if you were to walk into those houses, doesn't have to be every house on the block, but you walk into maybe every third house that is filled with some people who would be ideal clients, some people who would be ideal collaborators. And then there's just me, some other people. And you just start engaging with them.
You're talking to them. "Oh, Hey, like, my name is so-and-so, what's your name? Oh, what do you do? Tell me about that. Tell me more about that. Like a rad, how long have you been doing it?" Blah, blah, blah. You know, on and on and on. Right? You engage with them. And then they will know you exist. And then when you say, "Oh, me, I do social media strategy."
They might say, "Oh my gosh, really? I actually, God, that's something I really struggle with. Like, you know, tell me more about it." Whatever, it doesn't mean they're going to hire you on the spot. Doesn't mean they're, you know, ever going to hire you per se, but they might refer you to somebody else at a later point in time.
Either way, it's going to be easier to make that connection if you go into that house party and you start to mingle with those people there, than standing out in the street, shouting for people to come to you. Which is unfortunately, a lot of times what we're trying to do by just putting out content and then sitting around and waiting and hoping that it lands with the right people and that they flock to us and they hire us.
It's that is just a lot harder unless we've already built up a huge name for ourselves. Right? And that is not, you know, most of us are not Jasmine star or Tyler McCall or, uh, Laura Belgray, right? We need, we're not like internet famous. We need to go out and, and connect with people. So, uh, don't make the mistake of just keeping yourself busy with publishing project projects.
Be sure you are going out and making true connections with people, but do it in a manageable and sustainable way for you. So that you can be consistent. So that you can get traction. So that you can get results. If this helped, I want to hear from you, find me on Instagram screenshot, this posts in your stories, tag me. Tell me your biggest takeaway. Your aha. Sign into my DMS, if you don't want to make it public. And tell me what you got from this episode, if you need help, reach out I'm here. No, no pressure. I really, and truly, I mean that, uh, just, you know, if you want to ask me a question, I'm here. If you want to learn more about what I do and how I serve my people, you can find me at erikatebbens.com as well. But, thank you.
Thank you for giving me. 20 minutes of your day. I really appreciate this. Feel free to share this with a friend who needs to hear it and, uh, subscribe, so you can get new tidbits from me every single Wednesday. And as always, happy selling.
Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of The Sell It, Sister! Podcast. If you loved it and you want more, be sure to subscribe so that you never miss an episode and then head on over to sellitsisterhood.com to join my free Facebook community group. And as your mama said, "Sharing is caring." So if you got a lot of value out of this episode, be sure to share it with your biz besties too.
Okay. Now get out there and Sell It, Sister!
