Ep. 110: How to Be Empowered with Your Marketing
Far too often I hear people say, "I just wish I could hire someone to do my marketing for me. I hate it!"
And honestly, you can hire someone. But it won't be cheap, and if your messaging and/or positioning is off, it's gonna be a big waste of money.
So in the meantime, I want you to feel capable and confident when it comes to doing it for yourself. And I'm not going to give you the same old tired formula of how many times a week to post of social or anything like that.
Instead I'm sharing my Empowered Marketing™ framework that's going to walk you through the exact process I use for myself and my clients when it comes to making a strategic plan to attract more rad clients on repeat.
And of course, it'll be burnout-proof and sleaze-free! You won't have to send a single "Hey girl!" DM to anyone.
Links:
Get my FREE training: https://erikatebbensconsulting.com/get-clients
Rad Clients on Repeat: radclients.com
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Welcome to the solid sister podcast. Today. I am going to share with you my empowered marketing framework, and I think you're really going to like this because it is not going to keep you any busier than you already are.
In fact, I hope it is able to take some stuff off. Of your plate off of your weekly and monthly to do list. And I really hope that you feel like, oh, I finally get it. Or at least understand marketing and feel better about it more than I already do. And I feel like I am actually capable of doing it myself and I don't have to.
Wait around and struggle until I can pay thousands and thousands of dollars a month to have somebody do it for me. Um, and that's really why I created this framework. This is what I do for myself and for my clients sort of intuitively anyways, when I'm crafting my own plans or I'm crafting plans for them.
And I really wanted to systematize it so that I could. Habit in a framework that I could share that I could teach and that you could ultimately learn from because far too often, what I hear from people is I really hate marketing and I wish I could just outsource it and I wish I could just show up and I could work with my clients and do what I love and do what I do best and not have to do all of this other stuff.
And it's entirely possible. That at a point you will actually be able to outsource some or all of your marketing, or perhaps you are already outsourcing some bits and pieces of your marketing. But also, I think it's just really important to understand the fundamentals, because again, as I already mentioned, it can cost a lot of money to fully outsource everything.
And also what happens if you want to do something on the fly or what happens, uh, you know, until you get to that place or what happens if you have a great person and then they up and quit and you have to do it yourself or. When you're actually going to hire somebody, how do you know that you are asking the right questions and getting in a qualified person for you and not just wasting money?
Right. So that is why I wanted to share all of this. With you. So these are three things that are going to help you get more rad clients on repeat in your business. And they're sort of based off the traditional know, like, and trust funnel. But in my mind, I don't necessarily view them as a funnel. I view them as three overlapping circles that are kind of always.
At play with each other, right? Because in bigly corporate business, there's like a sales department and there's a marketing department and they can collaborate of course, on campaigns and objectives and things like that. But generally they have their own pieces that they are working on. Right. So you might have somebody who is creating all of the visual design assets and somebody who is creating.
Content and somebody who is posting that content on social media and emailing it out and all of those different things. Right. But usually for small businesses or solo entrepreneurs, we are wearing all of those hats. We are doing all of the marketing or most of it, we are doing the sales calls. We were just, we're juggling a lot of things.
So they really tend to. Work in tandem and different people can be at different parts, uh, you know, have this sort of funnel system. I'm used to putting that in quotes, even though you can, even though you can't see it. Um, so, but it's, it's not just that, you know, everyone is always, uh, You know, at, at different, like you, it's not like everyone's starting all at one point and then you're moving them all through to another point.
And then you're getting them all to convert. Right? Different people are coming into your orbit at different times. And depending on what you do and who you do it for, it can take a shorter or longer time before people decided to actually invest in you from the time that they first learn about you. So typically in a regular funnel system, there is no like interest.
So at the top of the funnel, the widest part, that those are the people who now know that you exist, then you nurture them. They decide that if they like you or not say move closer down to the narrower part of the funnel, and then at the bottom, they decide that they trust you and trust is that final step before.
Someone raises their hand and says yes and decides to pay you. Right. But in mine, again, these are really three overlapping. Uh, kind of partially overlapping circles sort of then diagram style. And I call them the marketplace, the message and the method, and I'm going to go further into each of them. But marketplace is going to be all the places that you're going to show up to be known by more of your ideal clients.
Then the message is what you're going to talk about to help those potential clients decide if they like you. They resonate with you and everything that you are all about. And also, you know, if they're a good fit, right. Cause they might like you, but they might not need what you have, but they could potentially refer you to somebody else who needs what you have.
Right. And then lastly is the method. So this is the intentional sales process that moves those people from the content that warms them up into trusting you. Before they are going to spend any money with you. So let's dive a little deeper here, shall we? So in terms of connection, it's really good to know that it's not always the platform.
That could be a problem. If you're struggling with connection, instead, it could be an issue. With your strategy. That being said go where you are going to be consistent and a place where you can be most likely to show up. Right? So if you have zero desire to create tic-tacs, then you're probably not going to be very consistent.
Right? You, you might know people that have a lot of success. Using tick-tock. I have several clients who have a lot of success using tic-tac, but it doesn't matter, but they have success. If you would hate being there, because then you will feel like it's a really annoying obligation and likely it will be hard to be consistent there.
Right. But instead you might feel more comfortable on LinkedIn. Or on Instagram or somewhere else. And honestly your ideal clients might not even be on Tik TOK. Right? They might, they might be more corporate people who are on LinkedIn and that's great. You can just hang out on LinkedIn then. And it's also really good to go beyond social media.
Social media is important, but thankfully it really isn't everything. So that is, that's some good news for you right there. So, again, it all, it really like, just like with everything in my orbit, it all comes back to strategy more than. The platform and it really comes down to connection. So not waiting around for people to find you.
I have several other marketing related podcast episodes on this. So not waiting around for people to find you, but really going out, being proactive about connecting with and getting in front of new people regularly. So in business, you're either going to need to do this with money or time. Or both. So if you have more time than you do money, I also feel like just as an aside, there's always going to be sort of some level of your time.
That is always going to be baked in to marketing, even for people who outsource everything and run, or like running lots of paid ads and all of that, there is still stuff that they have to. Show up for that could be podcasts interviews. It could be, uh, other types of interviews. You name it like they're going to have to be doing, you're gonna have to be doing something forever.
But generally speaking, most of the people I work with, I do have some clients that run paid ads and we come up with some strategies for them. But generally it's organic meaning unpaid, or, you know, you're not, you're not paying for ads. You are. Paying with your time and your energy or your leveraging people that you've hired in order to help you.
And so it's really good to know kind of what your capacity is and how much time you can give. And this is also why I say that you don't need to be all of the places, right? Because if you only have three hours a week to do this, it's going to be a lot more effective. If you spend all of that time on one or two platforms, rather than.
Five, the good news is, is that there are simple or repeatable ways that you can keep connecting with new people. You just need to figure out a system that is sustainable for you. So this could be, let's say that you are on Instagram and you are spending 15 minutes a day connecting with new people who are in your ideal client population, or seem to be in your ideal client population, or could be people who would be great, um, as potential, you know, uh, friends, collaborators, connections, things like that.
People that you can form real authentic. Relationships with, so, you know, 15 minutes a day or, uh, 30 minutes a day, three times a week, something like that. And then maybe you're also pitching to podcasts or, uh, positioning yourself to be on, to be part of summits, or perhaps you are guest blogging, right. Or teaching to people's communities.
These are all ways to get in front of your ideal clients. So next up is creation. So again, I have some good news for you here. You do not need to be spending hours every single week, creating new content. So very, very good news, especially if you feel like you are in constant content creation mode, you absolutely do not need to be.
The key here is to speak your truth. Be real and aim to always attract the best and repel the rest. The more that the content you put out is sort of vanilla and middle of the road, and similar to a lot of the other people that are your competition, the harder it's going to be for your ideal clients to understand.
Why they either should pay attention to you or why you are not the right fit for them. And I know this can often feel really scary, especially when you feel like, okay, I, I, my client load is like really low or it's at a place now where it's nonexistent. It can feel really hard to create content. That is a bit polarizing.
When I say polarizing, I don't mean like cancel culture, polarizing. I just mean. You know, you're really showcasing, um, you know, who you are, what you're all about, your, your unique spin on your industry, who is the best fit for you. All of that. But really, I like to think of it as like a lighthouse. It's a beacon, the clearer you are the easier it is for your ideal clients to realize you exist and to resonate with your message.
And in this, in creating content. Besides just showcasing how you're different. Uh, and besides showing people, you know, how you help them, how you help your ideal clients. It's really cool to give people some quick wins and ahas, right. Help, help them move the needle forward a little bit for themselves with your free content.
So perfect example of that is this podcast. That is what I always aim to do. That's why I'm like, it's no BS, it's fluff free. Right? I, I want people to, uh, at, at the end of every episode, have at least some sort of takeaway that they can implement in. Their business right now without having to pay me a dime.
It feels really good. I love doing it. And that is why I do it. And conversely, going back to strategy, this is something I really love to do. I can write I'm a good writer, but it's actually faster for me to talk, which is why I now. Have this podcast and I let somebody else handle the blogging. Even though in my first year of business, I was the one who was doing all of my, all of my own blogging.
And lastly, don't forget to nurture relationships. So as you have been connecting with people, as they are resonating with your content, please, please, please, you know, treat them like humans. Treat them like real relationships and don't forget to nurture them. Some of that can also be automated right. With email sequences and things like that.
So again, you're not necessarily having to spend tons and tons of direct hours doing it, but you still, uh, you know, you were not like just collecting people for the sake of collecting. People, right. We're not trying to be Instagram famous or internet famous. We're not trying to like buy followers just so we get that 10,000 swipe up.
This is really about quality over quantity. So again, when it comes to, uh, creation, you don't need to create massive amounts of content nonstop, but you do need to be strategic about it. So your content should showcase your knowledge slash experience and who you're a best fit for why you are the one who can serve them, who you are as a human and your values, and allow them to see what it would be like to work with.
You. So lastly we are at convert. So please, please, please. This is a reminder, talk about your offers. Otherwise people are not going to know exactly how you can help them, and they might assume that you are just an influencer. This is really, really true. I've definitely worked with people who have had this issue, especially if they had more of an influential account before they.
Like really started their business or started to have actual paid offers. And there are a lot of people out there who are just helpful influencers and they make their money through affiliate marketing and partnerships and things like that. So that exists and. Uh, we don't want to make people have to hunt around.
Right? Like we, we all have a lot going on. Um, yes. Some people will go to your website. Yes. Some people will go to your links and they'll look around and stuff like that, but don't be afraid to straight out talk about your offers. And then also think about what sales mechanism do you want in place to.
Talk about your offers. Uh, and this could be a lot of different things. You could have multiple right talking about your offers could be as simple as wherever you're showing up on social media, just periodically mentioning an offer, talking about who it's a good fit for. And. You know what the outcomes are and things like that.
Right. So I have another episode. That's all about how to sell in your Instagram stories. So this will be very much in line with that. And really anything I talk about in there, even if you're not on Instagram, you can apply it to wherever it is that you do hang out, but you might also have workshops or webinars or challenges or coworking, lots of different.
Ways that you can have a sales mechanism in place. And then it's good to think about, are you going to be launching something or speaking about it regularly? So this is more like launching with a car open car, close for an evergreen offer, meaning something that people can buy all of the time. And you might have a mix of these in your business as well.
But again, just. Plan it out and don't be afraid to be explicit and bold. You are worthy of investing in. So this doesn't mean that you need to be like creepy over the top. Like just bonkers about, um, how highly, like you're speaking of yourself and your offer, especially if that makes you feel really uncomfortable.
But again, don't be afraid to share social proof and testimonials and things like that. Chances are you're really good at what you do and you serve your people really well. And there's other people who simply need to know that before they can feel comfortable investing. So again, in part of conversion, if you only ever put content out and never use any sales mechanism to move people to your offers, you are missing out again.
Don't make people work harder than they have to on discovering how you can help them. And again, you run that risk of people. Just assuming that you're being helpful influencer rather than someone they can hire. Right. What often happens is we're putting out all this content, we're like amassing an audience, but then if we never sell to them, we've just created followers.
We haven't really created clients. Right. So lastly, I'm going to leave you with a huge marketing. Myth slash mistake. I have a whole other podcast episode, um, on marketing myths and, and other stuff like that. So feel free. You can go back through the catalog and you can find some of those. See what resonates with you and check those out.
But something that I find happens far too often, and I've touched on it a little bit already, is the idea of, if you build it, they will come. AKA, please stop creating so much content. So content is definitely a necessary part of marketing. This podcast is content. I have content that goes up on my blog. I have.
That is, as you know, in currently, as of recording this, it is repurposed content from the podcast, but I used to just write from scratch, um, blog posts over there. I have. Micro content on Instagram. I have content that goes out in weekly emails and things like that. Content is really necessary. Again, it's part of the big three, three of my empowered marketing framework.
However, what often happens. And I think for a variety of reasons is that people are creating tons of content and they are neglecting. Connection. I sort of equate it to hosting a dinner party and forgetting to send the invitations as you're cooking. You might be posting in your Instagram stories and sharing, you know, maybe earlier in the week, you're getting.
You're writing out the list of what you're going to make, and then you're getting groceries and then you're prepping food. And maybe some of the people that you hope to come are seeing that, and they're reaching out and they're like, oh my God, this is so fun. Like, can I come, can I bring anything? And you're like, oh my God, of course I want you there, duh.
But it's like, okay. But did you reach out and tell them that though? Did you say I'm having this amazing party? I think that you will really enjoy it. Here's the invitation. Can you make it right? And usually what happens here is that this leads to a lot of burnout and a lot of frustration, uh, which, you know, frustration, resentment tend to lead to burnout as well.
Um, cause even if you're not working beyond your actual time capacity, if you are, uh, you know, feeling really stressed out and overwhelmed, cause you're doing, doing, doing, and you're not getting any results. It's very defeating. And this is generally what happens when people are like, yeah, I just need a break.
I need a break from everything. And then you drop off and your consistency drops off. And then you have to expend a lot of energy and effort to kind of get that train going again, down the tracks, get up to full speed. And so something I would encourage you to do is when you need more clients right now, Emphasize connecting.
Right? Emphasize making connections and getting in front of new people and being of service to them with your special magic could still be creating content again. 10 is still really important, but really, really, really connected and becomes key. And then on the flip side of this far too often, what happens is.
We can act. We get those clients. Now you're busy with clients and then connection false off. Right? You might still be creating content, but you completely stopped connecting with people. Or maybe you just completely drop off with content as well. This is what causes a lot of peaks and valleys in revenue in business.
So it's really important to always have a solid strategic balance. Of those three things all the time. You can always ease up on connecting, of course, because now if your capacity is taken up a lot by actual delivery on the offers that people spent their money on, um, then you don't have as much time left for connection, but it's really, really, really important to keep it going in some form or fashion.
Even people I know who are SEO experts and who really believe in the power of SEO, which is true. You know, SEO is powerful. SEO is awesome, but they still spend time on connecting with new people, uh, creating, engaging content and also whatever sales mechanisms that they. Find work for them or that they are choosing to work for them.
If you are struggling with any, any of this, or if you want to learn more, I have two things. So one you probably heard at the beginning of this episode, which is a free resource that goes a bit deeper into. Connecting. And you can find that at bit dot L Y forward slash goodbye. Hey girl. And the reason why it has that silly name is because I'm going to show you how in the online space, you can actually connect with people without being creepy and feeling like you've got to send those.
Awful. Hey girl, DMS, in order to grow your business, you certainly do not. So again, that's bit, bit dot L Y forward slash goodbye. Hey girl, all lowercase, all one word. And I also have a really awesome 90 minute intensive called rad clients on repeat where we get together. In this 90 minute block of time, you have previously filled out, uh, an intake form for me, so we can really hit the ground running.
And I actually help co-create with you a customized, sustainable marketing plan based on the three things that I talked about in this episode. So if you want to learn more about that and apply, applying does not obligate you. If you have any questions. Reach out via email or on Instagram at Erica debits consulting.
I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, but that is at rat. Excuse me. Rad clients.com. There we go. Words are hard. Um, so yeah, so either a bit dot L Y forward slash goodbye. Hey girl. And or rad clients.com. I mean, might as well check out both right. One is totally free. Totally free resource that I know that you are going to love and get a ton of value from.
And then if you feel like you want that supportive planet, rad clients.com and as always. Hang with me. I'm Instagram. If you're there, that's where I am. Erica. Devin's consulting. Come by. Say hi, screenshot that you're listening to this episode post to your stories and tag me because I always love connecting.
See, I had to had to weave it in there. I always love connecting with my listeners and with new people and as always happy selling.
