The best marketing strategy ever

If you're looking for an extra jolt to kickstart your week, this new month and seriously set yourself and your business up for boatloads of success, know this: The single greatest market strategy ever is to CARE.

Now, you may be wondering what the heck I’m talking about. Let’s dive a bit deeper, shall we?

Organic marketing (all the unpaid ways to promote your business) is all about building and NURTURING relationships. Good marketing is creating customers; great marketing is creating customers who tell their friends.

Often time business owners and entrepreneurs get so overwhelmed by the process of creating content consistently that they tend to overlook this fact. They put so much pressure on themselves to create every day only to quickly run out of stamina the next because they don’t know what else to share. This happens to users who see digital marketing, particularly social media marketing, as one-sided.

I see this all the time. People post and ghost then wonder why, after a few months or a few years of that, their engagement hasn’t changed, their following hasn’t grown, their email list is still small, and their sales are slow.

The solution to this problem often times is not about purchasing more programs or hiring more staff to help you do more, but scaling back and doing less BETTER. It’s about focusing on the quality of the content you provide versus the quantity. While you should be showing up to market your business online at scale, if you’re showing up with crappy content, no one is going to care in return. No one will take you seriously. When you slack with your content, you jeopardize your credibility and your authority and, trust me friends, that takes a longgggg time to build up.

That’s where this whole “care” bit comes into play. When you care as a small business owner, creating and nurturing your external relationships are a top priority. This means you go out of your way to consistently make the effort to create, share and network versus just create and share.

The result?

Your business markets itself. It sets the tone for your authority and credibility in your industry, it sets the tone for the level of service you provide, it sets the tone for your longterm success and the life of your business.

Let’s take a closer look at the specifics.

Here’s how you can show your audience, your people, your community that you care:

1. Create HIGH VALUE content to EDUCATE + ENLIGHTEN your audience. Stop withholding and hesitating with your content because you're afraid to give too much away for free. I want you to go for the gold and unleash that beautiful brain of yours. That doesn’t mean sharing everything you know about your craft but STRATEGICALLY seeding your knowledge overtime and doing so in multiple formats (written, recorded, paid, unpaid). I have an amazing client who crushes this, particularly on Instagram: Search @mamastefit. She offers a wealth of knowledge on her expertise and it encourages leads and sales into her online programs. There’s alot to know from within her industry so, no matter how much free value she shares, followers will still invest in her for that reason. There’s a lot of information out there about pregnancy but she’s THE professional who can provide structure to that learning. That’s what people want: their lives made easier.
   
   Other ways to care with high value content:
   
   Create learning experiences in more than one place. How can you level up and leverage your value in new ways? Start a newsletter, write consistently on your blog/vlog or podcast, show up once a week on a Live video, create a workshop or webinar, develop an online program or course. Consider all of the ways your content can touch the lives of actual people.

   
   Providing value is about more than just showing up everyday on social media. There are other places you’re needed.

   
   

2. Be honest, HUMANIZE + share your STORIES. If you’re an email insider, you know that I have a tendency to share stories. There’s a reason. While I do enjoy the process, I mainly do it because it’s the most unique way to connect with my audience and teach them material. Marketing can be complex, just like your industry may be to your audience as well. The more you can relate real life circumstances and experiences to your teaching, the easier the process of learning something complex becomes for readers and viewers. My engagement on story-focused emails and social media posts is always SO MUCH higher than on posts that have little context or just share a visual. You can scroll through my past Instagram posts to see examples of how I do this on a more frequent basis with my social. Take note that the voice of my content is very much mine and so are the experiences. On top of that, I've found ways to use various memories to craft compelling stories that relate to my business. How can you do this with your content?
   
   Pssst….You can learn more about how to create captivating content that converts followers into customers for your business on social media in my new mini-course, Create & Captivate. Here’s the link to get it at an amazingly low price.
   
   

3. ENGAGE more than you post. So many small business owners stress over what to post on social media every single day. Here’s a secret: When you feel stuck, it's time to ENGAGE. Look outward and consider your audience - put their needs before yours. Always. This goes back to what I mentioned earlier. Marketing is about developing and nurturing relationships and, while writing quality, high-value, story-focused content that educates is how you attract an audience, engaging is how you maintain an ever-growing one. ENGAGE with your audience every day and you'll quickly come to discover exactly what they're looking for and this will help you develop and evolve your content over time.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Here are some additional ways you can ENGAGE on social media:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• Prompt conversation in your content with calls to action, instead of leaving people hanging without direction or food for thought. This creates intrigue!

• Reply to every single comment on your posts thoughtfully, instead of just Liking them.

• Go out of your way to follow and engage with other users, instead of waiting for people to come to you.

• Send personalized DMs to new connections, instead of waiting for them to make the first move. Do they seem like an ideal client or customer? Reach out and introduce yourself in a meaningful way. No sales talk unless they ask!

• Review your analytics so you know when your audience is most active and make a point to show up for them at the times they're actually online. Do this every day. EVERY F'ING DAY.
  

What I want you to focus on with your business’s digital marketing communications from this moment on is how you can stop talking AT people and instead how you can talk WITH them.

How can you care more inside your business?

Listen, people need you now more than ever. Marketing is simple. Make the effort for others, not just yourself. Be a good human. Be a good business owner and, care, k?

Want to learn HOW TO market your business and grow your audience online right now for free?

Listen to the audio version of this post on the Brand in Bloom Podcast!

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