The Creative's Guide to Marketing
Let’s talk marketing, more specifically, let’s talk about your marketing PLAN.
If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking, uh, marketing plan?! What’s that?!
Let me tell you, I was in the same boat. Just weeks ago I had no idea what a marketing plan was or that you needed one. And I was thinking, Oh crap! Another thing to add to the to-do list! *cue the sobbing emoji.
But, let me tell you something, it’s gonna be ok. Today I’m going over some simple ways to market your business and some best practices. So let’s dive in!
First things first, let’s go over some definitions:
Marketing: is getting yourself in front of your audience
A Marketing Plan: is having a road map for getting people to hire you.
So let’s start off with some key factors to consider when thinking of marketing.
1. You need to communicate the language of your audience
It’s important that you study your audience and learn how they communicate so you can communicate in a way they resonate with.
Some industry leaders who are masters at this are Emily and Kathleen of Being Boss. They know exactly how they communicate with their audience. They’re unapologetic, in your face, and tell you how it is. And their tribe is made up of dedicated followers.
Another industry leader is Jenna Kutcher. She has Jenna-isms as she calls them. Specific phrases she says that not only sets her apart but also allows her to relate to her audience on an almost intimate level.
So how can you study your audience? Listen to EXACTLY what they’re saying
Something I did recently, was I took a survey of my newsletter list. In the survey I asked several open-ended questions and gave them room to answer however they wanted.
Doing this was SO helpful because I got to hear the words they used and how they phrased things and I better understood where they were coming from.
Also, using their phrases verbatim is a great tool when you're marketing because they'll feel like you get them. And you do. Because you’re listening to them and acknowledging their struggle in their own words, which helps people feel heard and understood.
So spend some time to get to know your people and listen to the words that are used and try to use those same words and phrases when writing your marketing material.
2. Shift your focus from sales to value
It’s important that you view your audience as people you’re trying to help and not as a vending machine that you can get money from.
This is a relationship and you have to nurture it. The best way to nurture this relationship is by establishing trust. You can do this by providing consistent, quality content (more on that later).
When you make the shift from viewing what you offer as value instead of a product 3 things happen:
A) You care about your people.
You care about their struggles and you want to help them succeed with what you offer.
B) You’ll get past the fear of pricing.
When you understand that you bring incredible value to someone’s life and if it can truly help someone, you won't worry (as much) about the price tag.
C) You won’t see yourself as "salesy."
When you truly believe in your product or service you won’t think of it as "selling" or “pitching” or “being salesy,” you’ll understand that you’re offering a solution to someone’s painful problem. You can help!
3. A final key ingredient to marketing is selling.
This may sound like a no-brainer but it must be said.
After you’ve put time into a relationship by adding consistent, valuable content, you need to put yourself out there and ask if someone wants to work with you. You have to actually OFFER your product or service.
When was the last time you asked your audience to work with you? Or buy your product? Or schedule a no-obligation phone call?
You MUST put yourself out there and have confidence in what you provide.
I'm not saying pitch yourself all the time, if you do that then no one will listen to you. But every so often you need to put yourself out there and offer.
Now that we’ve gone over the ingredients to marketing, here are some marketing PLANS that work:
CONTENT MARKETING WITH LEAD GENERATING PDFS
GROWING YOUR EMAIL LIST WITH THE INTENTION OF SELLING YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE
SHARING RELEVANT TOPICS THAT WILL HELP YOUR IDEAL CLIENT ON YOUR BLOG
Content marketing is the best way to market, in my opinion. So share your expertise through providing valuable content through your social media channels: either by blogging, or Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.
Pick a platform that your audience lives on and provide valuable relevant content to them.
Like I mentioned earlier, the key to content marketing is providing consistent, quality content that is helpful.
If you want to go into more depth on a couple topics, check out:
Content Marketing for New-to-Business Creatives
50 Content Ideas to Boost Your Instagram Feed
I would love to hear what you think about this post.
Do you have a marketing plan?
How do you market your business?
