Gemma 0:23
Hello, hello, wonderful people, all of your amazing female entrepreneurs. Welcome to the next episode in the series, the bonus marketing series. And of course, happy bevvy clock.

It’s Friday, hurray! I hope you’ve had amazing working week. But now it’s your time to grab your bevvy of choice. Sit down, put your feet up, and enjoy. So that brings us to this time again, where you get to listen to my amazing voice for the next little while.

And I’m here to give you something I– I’m going to say is a little bit special and a little bit different. So first, we’re going to talk about marketing strategy. What it is, what it means and before I lose you, stay with me. I’m going to get through the boring stuff first, because I started recording this podcast. And I began to think, hmm, marketing strategy is boring, right? No one likes the word strategy. If you’re like most people, the word strategy, it just brings this feeling of, ‘Oh, I want that I want to do that.’ Right? So if that’s you, you’re certainly not alone. So I’m going to get through that. And then I’m going to talk about creating a marketing strategy that is going to work and it will change your everything.

So let’s start to delve into the boring stuff first, which may I tell you is super important, right? I don’t want to lose you just yet. But we need to get through the important bits, a marketing strategy. So put simply, it’s your business marketing objectives or goals, whichever word you want to use, objectives, goals, that’s fine. And it’s put into a plan. Okay. And it’s usually for the long term. So your marketing strategy is there. And it’s designed to promote your business, right. So whether it’s promoting your business, promoting you, promoting your services, promoting your products, with the overall goal, of course, of making a profit, which we all want to do this why we’re business, it’s why we love it, we love what we do, we love our reason for why we do it. And we want to make money in the meantime, because it’s fun, and we love doing that.

So basically, a marketing strategy, and particularly for our solo female business owners, is putting yourself out there. Now that already brings that giant piece of a fear of terrifying-ness. Right? Because it’s not easy to put yourself out there. But that’s what your strategy is. So again, I ask you, let’s stay with me.

Now, good strategies, identifying your clients and customers, of course. So, you know, I’m the marketing nerd. And it’s all about understanding your clients, understanding your customers, your target audience, they needs, their wants. So it’s going to encompass that, then of course, it’s going to encompass their needs and their wants, and what a brilliant strategy is as well, is that it’s cost effective, right.

So next, I want to talk about what’s its importance, why do we need a marketing strategy? What’s the deal? If I said, it’s boring, why do we need one? Well, of course, a few things, we want to increase our sales, right? We want to make money. So you do need a strategy behind that of how you’re going to make that money. It helps you understand what your customers want, which of course goes back to you making money and giving them what they want. And it creates a growth and a sustainable growth.

So if you’ve really got this brilliant strategy that you’re following, it’s going to create that really ongoing sustainable growth, right. And of course, it’s going to strengthen your relationship with your people, with your humans. If your strategy is out there, and it’s compelling, and people are buying from you, and you’re out there and you’re everywhere, and then it’s really going to just strengthen everything with them, get your people, your humans, your humans are going to want to work with you. And of course, it builds up your business to keep you in your human’s minds. So they don’t forget you right.

Now, next, I want to look at the difference in a marketing strategy and a marketing plan. So at the start, I told you what a strategy was. And then you put that into a plan, but they are two different things, right? So to create your strategy, you need to have your objectives in place first. So what’s your goals for your business? What’s your marketing goals? What do you want? Now, some marketing objective goals, of course, can be to promote new services, or new products, or existing services, or existing products. That’s a really good first goal, right? A great objective.

Now, next, a second goal can be growing your digital presence, of course, that’s what we’re all about today, right? It’s all online. That’s how we’re getting business. That’s how we’re finding humans, connecting with our humans.

So your number one objective could be to grow your presence, to connect with your humans, create that amazing online presence. And then of course, it could be lead generation. So start to generate more people, more leads, getting more humans to want to work with you. It could be targeting new humans, right. So maybe you’ve got an amazing client base, but you want more so you’re going to create a strategy to get in your new humans.

And then from there, another goal can be retaining, so retaining existing. So some goals and strategies around how you’re going to keep those humans that love working with you. So there are some ideas and examples of your business’s objectives, marketing objectives and goals. So that means your strategy is your ‘what.’ Right? So what are you going to do to make money? After all of that, it’s okay, it’s not so boring, right? So then what’s the difference of a plan, right? So you’ve got a strategy in place, you’ve got your goals of what you want. So you want to grow digital presence, for example, you want to promote some new services, they’re your goals. So then your plan, is your ‘how’. So how you’re going to achieve your goals? Right?

Which now brings me into the fun part. So I want to talk to you about an incredible marketing strategy, and it’s going to be the best for you. Now what I want to tell you here is the best marketing strategy for you is to be you.

Mind blown, right? Now, let me tell you a backstory of this. I put in a blog recently and I started doing some work with myself and my business is going great. I have amazing clients I work with, I love my humans, my humans love me. I do my collaborative podcast, Work Wife Wine Time, which I love. I love doing it, I love speaking to you, I love connecting with you and other guests, I love working with Ro and Mik on this podcast, so everything was just going swimmingly, but something was missing right? And I just couldn’t put two and two together, what was missing? It’s like I got to this point. And whether I was trying to target new customers you know, promote new services, my services are all changed up in my business now because they align with me, and I was like, something’s not meshing here, Gemma, what’s going on?

And I just had this mind blowing realisation: what was missing in my business was me. Now let me tell you what I mean, right? I discovered that, and it’s not just me, but I had what I thought was Gemma, me, and then business Gemma, right? And the two were like these different entities because I always thought, ‘oh, I have to act a certain way in my business, this is business, everything’s all different and a bit serious,’ which meant it didn’t align with my values as well of uniqueness, individuality, fun, wild, authentic, and dedicated a few of my top values, right.

So it wasn’t quite meshing there. And just this realisation of I’m what’s missing in my business, I’m not being me, I’m being what this preconceived belief of what I think, and the mass public, especially women, we think we have to act this certain way and be this certain way and put on this front, in business in order to be successful. And I really believe that comes back from corporate/government work, which most of us have come out of, right? Where we’re sort of told, ‘oh you shouldn’t be yourself, don’t be yourself. No, you have to be this conformist and do what we say and or if you say something a little bit out of line, oop, we don’t like that. And what? You have an idea that’s innovative? Nup, we don’t want that,’ I’m sure you can relate with me here.

And once I realised that, and I did a lot of work behind it, I changed everything. I started writing blogs with some swear words in them, why not? I’m a swearer, I love it, it’s me. We all swear, you swear, I know you do, right? It’s a part of me. And these blogs were just flowing with this free creative writing that I felt I hadn’t done in so long. Because I was trying to, you know, be business-y without knowing and what does being business-y even mean? Right?

So once I let go of that, and I then again rejigged the copy around my services and things to make them more me, my business just grew. And it was that one thing that was missing, and that was me.

So I want to put this to you, is what’s missing in your business? You. And I want you to think about that really carefully, right? So I’m going to tell you, well, I’m not going to tell you, I am telling you, the best marketing strategy for you, is to be you. So for example, do you– the word vanilla, right, I know this is one of my favourites and Mik and Roe’s favourite. The word ‘vanilla’. We are not vanilla, either three of us, either three of us. Yes, that’s English, we’ll go with that. Right? We’re not vanilla, we all have our own personalities. We have reciprocal branding that meshes in with us and we do bold and we do real and raw and we’re us, right?

So one thing Rowena will always say is, ‘Oh look at all of these vanilla graphic designers, doing the same thing, using almost the same colours and you know, boring graphics on social medias and stuff.’

And again, that’s probably because those people are playing safe, right, and they just don’t want to let go and be them. What does that mean? You’re going to blend in. And one thing I’ve always said and it’s on my website, and it’s probably across all sorts of my social media posts. ‘Why blend in when you can stand out?’

That’s the best marketing strategy for you. Be you. And another example right, I have been vanilla across, say for example, your social medias. Right? Social media is a great way of you know, growing digital presence as a strategy and to targeting new customers, keeping up your presence with existing, giving them information and you know, reaching out and being with your humans, right? Are you putting out vanilla in there because in the back of your mind, you’re still thinking, ‘Oh, no, but I have to be this preconceived business me.’ Okay, so you might be say, for example, putting that across on your social media.

And if you’re on your socials and stuff, good on you, because that means you’re putting yourself out there. So you’re already moving on from that fear, that fear of my marketing strategies being me and putting myself out there. So massive tick for you, if you’re already doing that, right.

But I’m here to tell you, best marketing strategy for you is being you. And it’s going to take that to the next level, right. So, if you’re out there on your socials, but not quite being, you, still just holding back that little bit. And you’ve got to jump onto a zoom call, right? With a client, maybe with a work wife, with a collaborator, with whoever, right? And if you come across, really different on that call, for example, what if you’re super bubbly? Or maybe you’ve got potty mouth that’s coming out, you know, or maybe you’re being really silly. And then you jump over to your social medias and they don’t connect, they don’t mesh, they’re like two different people. Yeah. It’s not a good marketing strategy, because you’re not being you.

So what you want to do is create this consistency of being you everywhere. And I can tell you right now, it will take your business to the next level. We’re in such a digital world now, people are disconnected, right? Even especially through this year of COVID, whether you’re in a short lock down, a super long lockdown, like I was, or if you’re in Europe, going back into lock downs, right? So we lost that actual human connection. So through the internet, now we’re actually craving what’s real. Because if we think about, I’m going to quote Donald Trump here and say, ‘fake news,’ right? We’re so clouded with information coming from everywhere, we don’t even know what’s real anymore.

So if you’re not being real, being you, you’re just not going to nail your strategy, you’re not going to grow your business. So this is why the best marketing strategy for you is to be you and everything else, is just going to flow.

So how to be you in your business? Just do it. Right? So here’s some tips from me. Think about how you talk with your best friends. Okay? Sit down, even record yourself. Okay, record yourself, sit down. And imagine you’re having a conversation with your best friend and you’re telling him or her what you do in your business. And you’ll be so surprised to see how that just flows, how it comes out, in your unique voice, in your unique mannerisms, in the way you talk, in the way you communicate. And you’ll be doing it naturally. So that’s my first tip. Do that and see the difference. Watch it. No one likes to watch themselves. But it’s okay. You can do it. Watch it and really take it in and I can guarantee you, you’re going to see the passion, the passion in your voice of talking about what you do in your business, why you do it, why you’re helping people with whatever it is that you do, why you’re selling your products in that way to help people, right?

And when you see that passion come through, it’s going to change everything. And then you can really think about how it is that you then speak to clients, your current clients, potential clients, what you’re putting on your social media, what you’re doing with your marketing efforts, what’s written on your website? Even how you reply to an email? Right?

For example, have you gotten off a conversation with a client and you’ve been super bubbly, or you’ve been a potty mouth, or you’ve been whatever it is that is you, and then you may send them an email that’s super formal? Again, it doesn’t mix, there’s such a disconnect there. Write your emails, like you’re talking to your friend, right?

Be you. This is the best marketing strategy you can possibly have for your business. And because it’s being you, it’s not a difficult strategy to plan, to do, right? Because you’re just being you. That’s all you’re doing. Now, it may be difficult in the start, right? And of course, it will be because that’s going to come from fear. Right? And your brains going to tackle all of these fear things like ‘what if I say that and that person doesn’t like it? Or what if I get super bad comments, or someone gets offended?’ And guess what? That’s probably going to happen. Right? Once you’re being you in your business, and you’ll find more people connecting with you on socials and you’re getting more clients and you’re just loving what it is you do and your humans are loving you for doing what you do.

Once you start getting bigger followings and more people, then of course, you’re going to also get in the bad, you’re going to get in the negative comments and the horrible things people say, and that’s okay, because guess what, you’re being you. And that’s something again, that we have to tackle on, we do have to live with now, when we are putting ourselves out there, we’re literally putting ourselves out there to the whole world. Anyone in any country can see your Instagram feed, can see your marketing business page, can see your website. So it is scary, but it’s okay. And everything will change for you. When you start being yourself in your business, everything will flow from there. You’ll find yourself growing, you’ll find yourself loving what you do so much more. Because you’re being you and you’re not fighting with this other preconceived belief of being someone different and ‘Oh wait, I need to be a business you.’

So I’m going to leave you with that today. The best marketing strategy for you to grow your business, is to be you. Thank you so much for being here with me ladies. Happy wine o’clock, yet again. I’m sure I’ve given you a whole lot of things to think about. So I hope you have gotten through a drink there, because you may need it, but let me tell you it will be worth it. So really start to think about: Are you truly being yourself in your business? And if not, start to do it, do it immediately, because it will change everything.