Latest / Curiously Guided Podcast / Ep.07 | Intentional Marking: A More Sustainable Approach to Getting Visible Online

Transcript

Ep.07 | Intentional Marking: A More Sustainable Approach to Getting Visible Online · Curiously Guided Podcast

0:08
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to the Curiously Guided Podcast, where your hosts, Shay and Mariah, two intuitive business strategists exploring the intersection of entrepreneurship, spirituality, and the subconscious mind.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: If you're interested in exploring and learning how to integrate strategy with energetics to help you grow a profitable business in a way that feels good, then you're in the right place.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so in today's episode, we're going to chat about all things intentional marketing for your business.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: So in episode four, we really dove into sales, sales strategy, sales calls.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: And this is kind of the other piece to that puzzle because it's like, how do you get people to those sales calls?
0:58
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
0:59
SPEAKER_00: So like visibility and showing up online in a way that feels good and gets people into those sales calls is like the other part of the equation here.
1:10
SPEAKER_01: You know, sales is my zone of genius.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: And I'll say that this marketing piece is definitely Mariah's.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: She is uh consistently inspiring me.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: And something we both feel really strongly about is how to market in the most efficient way possible.
1:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot of ideas out there.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is something that we work with our coaching clients on a lot about, you know, there's certainly no one way to get your name out there.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: And when we're talking about marketing, we're really talking about three things.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're familiar with like marketing jargon, there's a funnel.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: And the question you hear a lot is um, know, like, and trust.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: How can, and so me as a lazy girl marketer, what I've always asked myself is, how can I be more knowable?
1:56
SPEAKER_01: How can I be more likable?
1:58
SPEAKER_01: And how can I be more trustable, right?
2:00
SPEAKER_01: And so that's just kind of a primer on marketing and how we think about it.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, Mariah and I have both built our businesses using completely different almost marketing strategies, um, both really focused on the long game and you know, building a really sustainable foundation that kind of um does a lot of the heavy lifting for us.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: You know, we create something once or build relationships over time, and then that stuff pays dividends um in the long run.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: So maybe we can start there, Mariah, with just you talking about um your journey into being visible online and how the foundation that you've built um both on Instagram and YouTube that bring in consistent liens for your business.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just really glad that you are the other hosts on this podcast because when I don't know what to say next, you kind of hop in and like create a foundation for me to respond to.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: So thanks so much.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I would say that like how I grew my business, there was two really big pieces to the puzzle here.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: There was relationship building, like true honest relationship building, not just like double tapping and liking somebody's Instagram posts, actually hopping on coffee chats, having, you know, conversations, supporting each other, sharing each other's things, like connecting with other humans in a human way.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: I would say that's it's like the online version of word of mouth.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
3:36
SPEAKER_00: Like that has been insanely huge for my business.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: The other part that kind of correlates with it is showing up before people realize that I'm the solution to the problem.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: And what that is is being searchable, being searchable on Google, being searchable on YouTube.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Also, even Instagram has that search feature and like how you set up your bio, what you call yourself, like it's a huge part of creating a sustainable business foundation is making yourself searchable and putting that at the forefront, because that's going to be the foundation that does a lot of the heavy lifting for you as you're spending the time like creating these relationships and then also like working with clients doing the day-to-day.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're being honest, we only have a certain amount of time in the day.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: And most of that time is done like working with our clients, working on projects, like all of that fun stuff.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: So it's like, how can we have our marketing work for us so that we don't have to put all of these eggs in one basket and feel this pressure of like, holy shit, I have to do this client project and I have to show up on Instagram, do a live, I have to post this thing, like and just adding more stuff to our plate.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Like, how can we make this more sustainable so that it supports us in these different seasons of our business?
5:09
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, one thing that Mariah and I kind of touched on before we hopped on the episode today was um how your marketing can shift during different phases of your business.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: And um, a lot of people, I think where a lot of new entrepreneurs go wrong is when they're marketing, they're really focused on what we would call more short-term strategies, um, things that can kind of uh Instagram posting, highlight, uh, Instagram stories, uh maybe a LinkedIn post, um, stuff that's more immediate to get your name out there.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: But the problem is that when you only do stuff like that, stuff that's a little bit more short-lived and doesn't have a lot of shelf life in the online world, when life happens, when the seasons change, and you really, this is me right now, the idea of going live on Instagram makes me again want to put a fork in my eye.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to.
6:03
SPEAKER_01: You can have seasons of on and off because you know you have a really nice long-term stable foundation of searchable content out there in Google's universe.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: And so people can still find you, whether that be through a Pinterest post or through a YouTube video or um, you know, a well-optimized blog post.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's all kinds of ways that you can really diversify your marketing efforts so you're not so reliant on those short-term strategies and you have more of um variety in the way that you get your name out there and you attract new people to your business.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's giving yourself the permission to go to change it up, like supporting yourself through this different seasons.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: Like that's why I think the like the best way to do marketing is to combine short-term strategies with these long-term strategies.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: And it can be a little difficult to balance at first.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I think like having a coach, having a mentor can be really supportive because they can give you that different perspective of everything and like a bird's eye view that maybe you're too close to the project or close to the marketing in order to see.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: But having this allows you to shift between the balance of both of them, depending on your energy levels, depending on what's going on in your personal life, depending on the season that you're in.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Like I personally got out of a season about a month, a month and a half ago, where I didn't want to show up at all.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, no, thank you.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm in a cave, like, gotta go adios.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm not showing up live.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to post any stories.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: I just, I don't want to be a guest on any podcast.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: I have too much that I'm trying to untangle in my personal life and my business life, like everything.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: It was just a period of like really deep self-reflection and healing on so many different levels that I didn't have the energy to consistently show up.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: And I find that a lot of people, when they're in that season, because we all go through that, just as a human, we do that.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: But so many people then shame themselves because they're not showing up all the time.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: To be honest, we weren't created to show up all the time.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: And if you have some wild DNA and like you do enjoy showing up all of the time, then like God bless you, because like that is a superpower.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: But I feel like most of us don't have that, nor should we.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: So it's really dropping the shame and accepting that like if we have these long-term strategies to support us, we can still make a shit ton of money without putting so much damn pressure on ourselves.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, that was fire.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: So, so good.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, so let's dive into, you know, one thing that one sentence Mariah has said to me that really has stuck out in my mind was she wrote a blog post about, I don't know, four years ago or something that I think you keep updated, but it consistently brings in leads.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: And that idea, and I know you have YouTube, you know, you made a very intentional series of videos on YouTube all around questions you knew that your people may be asking.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: And now that is bringing you in leads, and you've recently started to monetize on YouTube, you know.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: So talk to us like um, you know, Mariah's background is SEO, and I think being searchable, being visible in SEO are all like so interlinked.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: And so can you kind of talk to us about um that, like building that and what that looked like, um, building out all that content and then how it served you as a business owner?
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's funny because like I started building this foundation before I realized what I was building.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: Like I didn't know that this was going to be a strategy, that I was going to continuously add gasoline to the fire.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know at this point in time that this was building momentum.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: I was just doing it.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: It was just like a natural thing that I was like, oh, cool, I'm just gonna do this.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: So yet again, follow the curiosity because, like, who knows what bricks you're laying.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I would say so, yeah, I have a blog post that is still on the front page of Google for over 12 keywords, and it hasn't gone anywhere off of the front page in over five years now.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: And the reason and I didn't know SEO before I created that blog post.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: And I remember creating it because I was Googling something and there was no solution to the problem that I needed.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: So then I figured it out and then created the solution that I wish was there.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: And that is content marketing.
11:06
SPEAKER_00: Like that is uh being a business that provides solutions for problems, like and just self-reflecting of just like, okay, there isn't the solution.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: So like getting creative with it.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: Some people will be like, okay, nobody else is offering this solution.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: So that means that this solution is invaluable.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: That's not the case a lot of the time, especially with Google and searchable content.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: There are so many gaps in the market, and I see this every single time I do with a client.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: We do keyword research, we look at their competitors, we see what they're showing up for, and I laugh out loud at like the opportunities that are on Google.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: It's hilarious to me because I'm looking at this data and I'm like, there are so many ways for you to fill in these gaps.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, which one do you want?
12:00
SPEAKER_00: Because there's so many.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: But as an online business owner, we assume that like Google and YouTube are too competitive.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: They're too competitive.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: The big gurus and the experts and the agencies are all showing up for all of the good shit.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: That's a lie.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: It is, I see it consistently.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to show up for a more competitive term like copywriting, well, yeah, it is going to be more competitive.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: But the thing is, is that we don't know enough about the user intent of that searchable term to then be the correct solution to the problem, anyways.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: So then if somebody even comes to your website from that on YouTube or on Google, you don't know where they are in the customer journey.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: So it's hard for them to then convert.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: So that's why long-term keywords and really creating content that solves a specific problem converts so much better.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: And like, yeah, maybe it only gets 20 searches a month, but those are 20 people that you provide the exact solution to the problem and you know what the user intent is, and you know where they are in their journey, and then you can provide that solution, which then burns in them hot leads.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, I have a million questions, but let's start here.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: Can you define what that term Mariah keeps using, user intent, is growing in importance?
13:24
SPEAKER_01: And it's really important to know about it.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, it it is how the algorithms are growing and getting more smart.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: In the in the days of old, you could pick a keyword like copywriting and then just stuff a blog post with it and you'd rank.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, now, especially with voice searching, this idea of user intent is getting more and more popular.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: So, will you give us kind of like an intro to that, Mariah?
13:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so user intent is kind of like when a user types something into Google, or you can think about like you yourself as a user.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that's a little bit easier.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: If I'm going in to type something into Google, what kind of content do I expect to be there?
14:05
SPEAKER_00: So it's like, what is my intention behind searching this?
14:09
SPEAKER_00: What kind of content am I expecting to be there on the other side?
14:13
SPEAKER_00: So, an example that I like to give is that I was doing keyword research for a client and she um, she's uh um a speaking coach, like a public speaking coach.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: And she was like, I want to show up on Google for powerful speaker.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Cool, let's let's Google it because that's that's the thing that is also free, is that you can use Google to get on Google before you target a keyword or like before you write a piece of sustainable searchable content, go Google it.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: So we Googled it, and guess what's coming up?
14:46
SPEAKER_00: Powerful car audio speakers.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: Nothing to what she thought the user intent would be because we're always so focused on our industry that we forget that there's a whole world of different perspectives.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: So we have to see what Google's user intent is.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the times, just by shifting a few words or adding a few words, it can completely change all of the search results.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: So I think we ended up focusing on like become a powerful speaker, because also, even if her ideal audience is searching for her and they type in powerful speaker, they're gonna get hit with the same results.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: So they also have to add words to their Google search.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: So I think we did that one.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: But it's also the same thing of like, if I go to Google and type in singer, the sewing machine comes up.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: If I type in the singer, the movie with Adam Sandler shows up.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: So it's like even by adding one word, the entire user intent then changes.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: So that idea of the long tail keywords is coming up where you're putting your uh main keyword into like a longer sentence of almost, I've been thinking about user intent is of like if I was going to voice search this issue on my phone, how would I say it to Siri?
16:08
SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of like how would I phrase it in a question?
16:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, and that really helps with getting and then Googling it and seeing what's out there and how what language needs to be tweaked so you can really um show up.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: And the next thing I'd like, I really like that you talked about um, I do think a lot of people stay away from this kind of content because it's already been done before or there's already something out there, and that could just not be the case.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: It's almost like saying we shouldn't make any more TV shows because there's already been a lot of TV shows made.
16:41
SPEAKER_01: Like there is just so many perspectives, honestly.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: So this has popped up for me recently.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: We're doing keyword research around the idea of brand strategy, and there's a whole bunch of articles out there.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: What is brand strategy, but all written with the target audience in mind of like a business that may want to hire a firm to come in and do brand strategy.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: But there's nothing written for the perspective of I want to become a brand strategist.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: And so we're gonna tailor all our content.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: It's like the same question, but um a different perspective in our lens and our perspective on it, and again, for that client and where they're at in their journey.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: So even though when I Google it, a lot of things show up, no one has ever written it um in this way to this audience.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: So there's always even just being new is a favor in Google's eyes, new content, you know, and more relevant content and a different spin on the content.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: And so know that there are, it's really the wild, wild west out there in SEO, Google land, there's so much opportunity.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: So if you can rewrite that story, even if you've seen it done before, you doing it through your own lens is really powerful.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: And if you can be like what Mariah said, take a look at the landscape, find a little moment of opportunity, and then really, you know, go into that because you know that people are searching.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: I have this phrase of like, make the content I want to see in the world.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: Like you did, you did that exactly.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: And that's really the secret, you know, make valuable content that's worth spreading, that's worth sharing.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: And then that does the heavy lifting for you.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: And also, so you kind of brought up a good point of like you're not seeing any content for brand strategists.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna be completely honest, there probably is a shit ton of content for brand strategists out there somewhere on somebody's blog, on somebody's website.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Here's the kicker they're not optimizing it in a way that Google understands what their content is for, therefore, they're not showing up.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: So if you then create this content and make it optimized so that Google can like start to pick up on these clues and put you, I like to explain it like in the big filing cabinet.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of my clients, when we're working on SEO and we're doing like an intensive, a lot of them will Google, will pull some reports and see where they are in the filing cabinet.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: And although they might have content around, let's say, four brand strategists, they're not putting those keywords in specific places.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: So they're not in the right area of the filing cabinet.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, they can't get on page one for the thing that they want to.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: So, like the bots go through and they crawl the content on your website, and then they they have to organize the content on the web somehow.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: So they end up putting you somewhere in the filing cabinet based on the actual words that you're using within your page title, your headings, your meta descriptions, all of that fun stuff.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna bore you guys with all of the technical details in this episode, probably another one.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: But so basically, what we have to do is get in the right section of the filing cabinet.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: And just as an example, like before I started focusing on SEO, I was on page five for the keyword.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: Like, what does the name Mariah mean?
20:11
SPEAKER_00: Because Google was literally like, uh, I don't know, Mariah's literally all over her website.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: Maybe she talks about this, and threw me on page five for that.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it really is as simple as downloading an SEO blog post checklist, which I have, and I'll put in the show notes.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: But it's basically like just put your keywords in the right spots.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: I promise you that makes a huge difference.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: I see it all the time with clients.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: I was actually going to pop in and say, like, don't if you shut down when Mariah said optimize, don't, it's not as hard as it sounds.
20:43
SPEAKER_01: Really, Google reads websites, anything online, as like an outline.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: They want to look at, you know, what's the URL, what's the big heading, and then what are the subheadings?
20:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you were to go through and skim an article, that's basically what Google does and how it understands you and sorts you in the filing cabinet.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: And so um, if you can be intentional with what you do with those big areas, that honestly, it's not all of it.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: There's certainly a million different things we could dive into.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: But for a beginning business owner, someone that's just trying to get started, really, how can we get what we're trying to talk about in those big headings, in our um title, in the URL, um, even in your image titles, if you can, it that is it.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: You know, it there's more to it, but if you can just do those things, that's like the low-hanging fruit, and you'll see a lot of benefit.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does, it really does not have to be as overwhelming as everybody talks about.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: And like, so I'm sure that there's some people listening that are like, listen, creating content sounds awful on my website.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: I just like to show up on Instagram and create posts there.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: And like, also I hear you because.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: This season of my business, I love Instagram.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: But the reason why I love it is because I don't need it.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: I get to show up whenever I want to show up when I'm feeling inspired and motivated.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: And that's only because that's the season that I'm in.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: I guarantee coming up, who knows when, I'm going to revolt against it.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: But my business doesn't suffer because I have this sustainable foundation on my website and on YouTube and on different platforms here.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: But if you like creating like those lengthy Instagram captions with like a whole bunch of, you know, content and tips and like five ways to do X, Y, and Z, or like how to do Shmi Shmer Shmi, like you can copy that, paste it into a blog post and save it as a draft.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: And when you have time, elaborate on it a little bit.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: So that way if Instagram goes down, you don't lose that awesome content that you spent so long creating and you have a draft or a blog post ready to go on your website already.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: That I love that is the easiest takeaway for everybody to get started.
23:15
SPEAKER_01: Take a look at content you've already created, whether it's on Instagram, whether it's to your email newsletter, anything, um, and see, do you have some more ideas?
23:26
SPEAKER_01: Could you elaborate on it a little bit?
23:28
SPEAKER_01: You know, was it a popular post and take that and repurpose?
23:31
SPEAKER_01: Repurpose is the name of the game here.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: So don't feel like you have to start from scratch.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes, if you can just go back and pick up some seeds of other ideas you've already planted and just build them out, then all of a sudden it becomes this really cool, searchable piece of content, almost like a mini salesman that you have out in the world working for you 24-7.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think that repurposing is very a great way to cut through the overwhelm, if that's how making content feels.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: Start with what you already have.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'm gonna nip a little myth in the butt here.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to create a new blog post every week.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: Please don't.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: Please don't do not.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: Please do not do that.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Please save your sanity.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: Like Google has enough content.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: We don't need more quantity, we don't need more content, we need better content.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's quotable.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: Like we even if it's like, okay, I'm gonna create a kick-ass blog post once a quarter, do that.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, you don't have to create new content or a blog post every single week.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: And that's the thing with Instagram.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: Instagram, this shit's not searchable.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: So you have to keep churning things out, whether it's a reel, a story, something on your feed, whatever it is going live.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: You have to constantly be pushing something out on your website.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: You can have five blog posts and you can stick with five blog posts for a year.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to keep creating content.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: And then you know what?
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Next year, you can go back into those five pieces of content and refresh them and update like the published date.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: And oh, look, there's a refreshed piece of content.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: Like this does not need to be excessive.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: We are not in the content churning business where we're continuously like creating new shit.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: No, you don't have please don't do that.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't do that.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: I literally get into like I get into phases or seasons when I'm like, yo, I'm about to hammer out three blog posts.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: And then I hammer out three blog posts and I don't create another blog post for a year.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: And it's great.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think like the title of this episode is along the lines of um, you know, less hustle.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, how to be we joked around the idea of like lazy girls guide to marketing, but I want those things that I spend a lot of time, I make something quality once, and then it pays dividends for a while.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: Almost like a smart investment financially in real life, you know.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: So um, there is just an incredible amount of value of coming up with some kind of pillar content plan.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: And then this actually, you know, if so, if we're talking about any good marketing strategy has those three elements.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: The first one, how do I be more knowable?
26:27
SPEAKER_01: We just covered be searchable.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: How do I be more searchable?
26:31
SPEAKER_01: That's definitely been like a really strong strategy that we've used.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: And then if you want to go into the second piece of a good marketing plan, how can I be more likable?
26:39
SPEAKER_01: So that's where your blog content can play a big piece too.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: People find it, they come to the website and then they see what all you're talking about, and it's all telling one consistent story, you know, whatever your little TED talk is, or however you want people to like learn about your philosophy.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: Let that do a lot of this middle phase in marketing, it's called nurturing.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: You know, if we're thinking about dating, at this point, we're kind of like, um, we've met, we've got on the first date, now we're kind of like getting to know each other, we're continuing the relationship.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: And so the blog can play a really important piece of that.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: Along this is where Instagram can come really nicely.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: People can come, um, I would call if we have like be searchable is number one, I think be stalkable is number two.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: So once people find you, how can they come and get to know you?
27:28
SPEAKER_01: And ideally, as you're scaling, get to know you without you having to do any work.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: And so people can come take a look at the Instagram profile, know exactly what you offer, read your top posts, get a sense of you, ideally go to the website, see what you're all about.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: You know, so um I think this second piece of being stockable is really important.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
27:51
SPEAKER_01: How have you been stockable in your business?
27:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's just so funny because like me and you are definitely fact finders, and it's very rare that I hire somebody in business without stocking their website.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: It's very, very rare.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: Or they're Instagram.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like, where do you want to be stockable?
28:12
SPEAKER_00: I choose like my website has always been really important to me because it's long term, it's foundational.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: So I started working on the website and content first, then I found Instagram fun because I didn't need to put so much pressure on it.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: So it's like then I became stockable on Instagram.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: That is kind of just the way that I've worked.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: It also like it depends.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: Ask, ask yourself, where do you want to show up and what makes you really happy?
28:44
SPEAKER_00: What allows you to feel good?
28:46
SPEAKER_00: Because that is where you're going to get the most bang for your buck.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: And like maybe that means being stockable on YouTube.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that means being stockable on Pinterest, on Instagram.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: You do not have to be stockable on every single platform.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: There are seven billion people in the world.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: There are plenty of clients for you.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: So you pick where you want to be stockable, where you want to be searchable, run with it, but then just please make sure that you have some long-term strategy and some short-term strategy.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I feel like it's like a big piece of self-reflection comes in here because like what I've done might not be great for somebody else.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like following your intuition and continuously taking inventory on your energy levels and the season that you're in, that shit's a game changer.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: That's how your energy becomes more potent.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, that's the gist of this whole podcast.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's always a million ways to skin a cat.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: The trick is can you tap in, sit down, be still?
29:56
SPEAKER_01: And what makes you feel good?
29:57
SPEAKER_01: What makes it feel fun?
29:59
SPEAKER_01: What makes it feel light and easy?
30:00
SPEAKER_01: And then do that.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, with this episode, if you can just have one thing, I will encourage everybody, just choose one.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: What's one way I want to get my name out there more?
30:11
SPEAKER_01: What's one way I want to nurture relationships more with my people?
30:14
SPEAKER_01: And then that third piece, what's one way I want to ask for more sales?
30:18
SPEAKER_01: Try just one in each category.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: It will make a huge difference.
30:22
SPEAKER_01: And don't get overwhelmed with like, I need to be on all of the platforms doing all of the things in my dream world.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: Choose the platform that A feels like fun for you, but B, your ideal client is likely there too.
30:34
SPEAKER_01: Because I think that's a mistake a lot of people make is well, it feels super fun for me to get on TikTok, but all my clients are 45 plus.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: You see, that's out of alignment, right?
30:43
SPEAKER_01: So there's got to be a little bit of both.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: I think that that that's a really fair point to keep in mind and just know that it can change.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: So, like even the the nurturing piece, you can nurture on Instagram, you can nurture in a Facebook group, you can nurture on an email list, and you don't have to do all of them.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: I know business owners that have created multiple six-figure businesses.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: One nurtures in email, one nurtures in a Facebook group, and one nurtures on Instagram, and they don't overlap, nor do they do the others.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: They only focus on one.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: So I think that that's a really important piece.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like, yeah, just like you said, pick one in each of those three categories.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: But I do kind of want to talk about a little bit more about like relationship building, because I know that that's a huge way that you've grown your business.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: You want to give us like the spiel on that?
31:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:50
SPEAKER_01: So this is, I think, the third piece, you know, be searchable, be stockable.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: And then the third piece, that trust.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: I call that cultivate a community of super fans.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: So the way I would say that I have focused mainly on this quote unquote bottom of the funnel, relationship building.
32:08
SPEAKER_01: How do I um I have not invested a ton into content up until now?
32:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, I nurture people by maintaining relationships with them.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: I've always had a personal goal of um every single day I water a relationship.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: I almost think about it like I'm walking around my garden and watering all my seeds.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm on coffee chats all the time.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: When we could do live events, I was always going to live events.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: Now that we've gone online, I'm joining courses intentionally.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm joining communities intentionally where I think that people I can grow with are there or potential clients are there, right?
32:42
SPEAKER_01: But my what has always lit me up is getting to know people and hear their story and their dreams and the businesses they want to run.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: And so that's really where I leaned in.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: And um we actually, Mariah and I in a different container um met a woman.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: We can link to her.
32:59
SPEAKER_01: Her name's Tiffany.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: We'll link to her in the show notes.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: And she talked about her marketing strategy has always been something she calls the wonderful 100, where she's focused on building a community of a hundred women who are just totally bought in, share her philosophy, want to pick up everything she's putting down.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: And she really just focuses on them and nurturing them and launching to them.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: She pre-sells out everything because she has this like group of people that can't wait for it.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: And then they do the hard work.
33:31
SPEAKER_01: So she makes quality content, she gives it to her trusted tribe or community, and then they go spread the word for her.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: And so that idea of really developing a relationship business has been the path that I've followed.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: And I'll be honest, it's a slow burn.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: It takes a while and it's going to evolve.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: But um, when you do, eventually you pick up some momentum and the referrals start coming and then they come more consistently, and then the opportunities start coming, and you wouldn't believe what having a really solid group of supporters, super fans, community, whatever you want to call it, surrounding you and cheering you on would do for a business.
34:12
SPEAKER_01: So that um that has been where I have focused my efforts.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it has paid off.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: It's a little more intangible, but um it it literally gives back to me and nourishes me every single day and it lights me up.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't feel like a drag to keep that going.
34:29
SPEAKER_01: So that is why I chose to kind of lean in there.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that that is an incredible growth strategy, even though it's not usually talked about as like a specific growth strategy.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: And I kind of just want to add in here, you can look at it from a place of like cultivating a community of clients, but also cultivating a community of peers.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: Because like for yeah, and it's like it's not just about like becoming a leader and having people in a tribe buying from you.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: It's also about like who's supporting you on whatever entrepreneurship level that you're on.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: And like I would say that that was been, that was like a huge game changer for me is cultivating especially relationships with peers, especially relationships with people and complementing industries because all of us kind of have these different lanes where we're showing up, where we're the expert, we're the authority, and people are coming to us.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: And like this has been kind of like the marketing thing since the beginning of time is asking people for referrals.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I trust you.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: You're in the business world.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: Let's say, like, I need somebody that can create a website.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: Do you know anybody that you trust?
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Do you know anybody that I can reach out to?
36:02
SPEAKER_00: And having people in your back pocket that you know and like as a human is so valuable, like for those, not only those relationships, but also for you.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: Like that just because you're not getting that direct sale, you know that like that person is then being taken care of.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: So like that person then trusts your perspective.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: And then the other peer, like whoever you sent over to them, they're just gonna be so grateful because that's just that's how it is.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: Like my heart melts every time somebody refers somebody over to me.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: And you just create this network, and then you end up getting clients from referrals and from word of mouth.
36:48
SPEAKER_00: And like I worked with this person and it was so great.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: You should reach out to them and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Because like we can track data, and I'm real big on tracking data in the online space, but there's a lot of shit happening in conversations, on coffee chats, in communities, even like friends in real life, because that's a thing, real life, even though we hang out online all of the time.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: But like in real life, I'm having conversations and making referrals and recommendations.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: So, like, there's so many different facets to relationship building, and it opens up this beautiful door of collaborations too.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: Like being, if you love Instagram, having building relationships with people and then maybe swapping and going live on each other's thing, or like doing an email newsletter swap, or like doing interviews, or you know what I mean?
37:39
SPEAKER_00: Like it just opens up so many different ways of collaboration.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you went there.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, as you've been talking, what's popping up for me is the whole point of marketing is to get people to that point where they trust you.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: So if you're looking for ways to hack marketing or to speed up the process, how do you take someone from stranger to trust in the quickest way possible?
38:04
SPEAKER_01: It's through partnership.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: And that's why a lot of times in a lot of the consulting influencer partnership, partnership marketing, collaborative marketing, that stuff is literally the shortcut because when you can get in front of somebody else's audience, they've already done all the hard work of building trust with those people and they then recommend you.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: Boom, you've gone from stranger to trust, all with that recommendation.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: And so collaboration and partnership is a way to throw gasoline on the fire, no doubt.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: And I think, especially if you're getting started, a lot of people ask me, like, how to get started when I have nothing.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: That is it.
38:42
SPEAKER_01: And that comes through relationship building.
38:44
SPEAKER_01: You got to find those partnerships and get to know those people and then get those people to trust you, right?
38:49
SPEAKER_01: Through the coffee chats, through the being in community, through being visible.
38:53
SPEAKER_01: And then that that is like the referrals that come on autopilot over and over once you build that kind of system.
39:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot of power there.
39:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you brought that up.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: And especially if I'm just thinking back to like when I first first got started before I even created content for my well, no, it was as I was creating content for my website.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: I remember some of the biggest like beginning collaborations that I did was like a guest post swap on somebody else's blog.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: And like a lot of people don't talk about that now.
39:27
SPEAKER_00: I feel like that was a big thing five years ago.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: But like those people that I ended up writing a guest post on their blog, I'm still business friends with.
39:38
SPEAKER_00: They ended up becoming my clients when I like got into SEO and they ended up referring people over to me.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: And it was literally from being in a Facebook group and being like, hey, does anybody want to swap guest posts?
39:51
SPEAKER_00: And I was really intentional with like who I did it with.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: So it's like I checked out their websites off.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: We had something in common.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: I took note of like how they're showing up online and like how their audience engages with them.
40:05
SPEAKER_00: And I kind of just winged it, but like, and I didn't realize what opportunities or what doors that that was going to open down the road.
40:15
SPEAKER_00: I was kind of just like, this sounds really fun for me right now.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do it.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's the thing is like follow the fun because like we can only see what's right in front of us.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what doors and opportunities, these relationships creating the searchable content, showing up and being trustworthy and seen and know and liked.
40:39
SPEAKER_00: Like, we don't know what kind of opportunities those things are going to open up down the road.
40:46
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I think that is such a lovely place to start wrapping up of um part of this is letting go of control and surrendering.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: So the first half is making the content, getting out there, meeting the people, making the relationships.
41:01
SPEAKER_01: And then the second half is letting it go and seeing what opportunities come back because um I have found that when I go into these kind of marketing plans with a really like, I want to grow my Instagram to this number and I want these specific results.
41:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to control that outcome way too much.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, that outcome usually doesn't happen, but something like way better than I ever could have imagined.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: Somebody picked up my found my feed and really resonates and now wants me to have have me here, you know, it's like I can't really control the outcome.
41:35
SPEAKER_01: And oftentimes the outcome is even better than what my limited mind could imagine in the first place.
41:40
SPEAKER_01: So I will encourage you.
41:42
SPEAKER_01: This gets back to the shame idea, choose one thing.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: How can I be more knowable?
41:46
SPEAKER_01: How can I be more likable?
41:47
SPEAKER_01: How can I be more trustable?
41:49
SPEAKER_01: And do it, commit to it, do it, show up, but then release attachment to whatever that outcome is.
41:56
SPEAKER_01: Because I think a lot of us will make three blog blog posts and then we're not millionaires yet and we're frustrated by that, you know.
42:03
SPEAKER_01: And so part of this is you know, you're in this for the long haul, commit to it, and then try to be open to receiving the opportunities as they come in, even if they look a little different than you initially expected.
42:17
SPEAKER_01: And don't shame yourself too much when things aren't happening exactly the way you thought they would.
42:23
SPEAKER_01: Cause I promise you, this business is not going to happen exactly the way you think it will.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: And that's really a wonderful thing.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
42:31
SPEAKER_00: And it's it brings in like staying curiously guided.
42:39
SPEAKER_00: Like, what are you curious about?
42:41
SPEAKER_00: What is your intuition telling you?
42:44
SPEAKER_00: Like, as you're listening to these words and our ideas and like what worked for us, take what feels good and please leave the rest because like you don't have to do it all to get results.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: If you keep it simple and you just keep taking one baby step and like like Shay said, like let go, then you are going to be absolutely blown away when you look back and see all of the breadcrumbs that you've left.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: And then it's like out of nowhere, people start coming through.
43:20
SPEAKER_00: Like I've had people they were like, hey, Mariah, I saw your YouTube video that you posted four years ago.
43:27
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, wait, about what?
43:29
SPEAKER_00: Like a huh?
43:30
SPEAKER_00: And they were like, Yeah, you want to be a guest on my podcast?
43:33
SPEAKER_00: I think that you would be a Shmi Shmer Shmi.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Yeah, that sounds really great.
43:37
SPEAKER_00: And then they end up becoming a client, and then we end up collaborating.
43:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, you literally never know.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: So that's why it's like, why make the action so damn difficult when we don't have control over the outcome?
43:53
SPEAKER_00: Just follow what feels good.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: And obviously keep in mind short term strategy, long term strategy, something that can Can support you through the different seasons of your business, but still follow what feels good in each of those different buckets.
44:12
SPEAKER_01: This episode has been everything I dreamed it would be.
44:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, do you have any kind of final thoughts?
44:19
SPEAKER_01: I think I have one more thought I wanted to talk about.
44:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, what about you?
44:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, go ahead, take it away.
44:25
SPEAKER_01: I'll say that be aware when you are choosing, you know, um, how am I going to get my name out there more?
44:32
SPEAKER_01: Where are people going when they stalk me?
44:34
SPEAKER_01: How am I cultivating community?
44:35
SPEAKER_01: You're choosing one thing that feels the most fun, feels light, feels like something you could commit to.
44:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, but also be aware of the tool that you're using and how you want to use it.
44:46
SPEAKER_01: So one um mistake, quote unquote, that I see people making is their big goal is to get out in front of more faces, you know, awareness that top of the funnel, they want to get out.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: And their plan is to make a post to Instagram every single day.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: And then they're frustrated that they're not growing their audience and they're not getting out there.
45:06
SPEAKER_01: And so Mariah and I talk a lot about Instagram as a tool can almost be used in spot one, two, or three of your marketing funnel.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: If you want to use it in spot one, get awareness.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh, what we know about Instagram now is it's a video platform and they're prioritizing um reels and lives and IGTVs.
45:25
SPEAKER_01: So if you are using Instagram as part of your awareness piece, be making video.
45:31
SPEAKER_01: But if you want to use it more as your nurture piece, then it makes sense.
45:34
SPEAKER_01: Make all the posts in the world.
45:36
SPEAKER_01: People will come there, stalk you, get a sense of what you do.
45:39
SPEAKER_01: And we know, Mariah know, and I know a lot of women using Instagram as that third piece of like the sales, conversion, uh, cultivate relationships part, making a lot of money in the Instagram DMs.
45:52
SPEAKER_01: So Instagram in and of itself is such a powerful tool.
45:56
SPEAKER_01: All of them can be so powerful, but be thinking about how you're using it and does how you use it align with the goal that you have or the weak point that you've identified in your marketing plan.
46:08
SPEAKER_00: Wow, I'm really glad that you added that note.
46:11
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
46:13
SPEAKER_00: All right, cool.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: I think that we went through so many awesome perspective shifts in this episode.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: I really enjoyed recording it.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, all right, I think we're gonna close this episode down.
46:27
SPEAKER_00: So if you guys enjoyed this little talk that we had about marketing, feel free to share it with somebody that you think would love it or on social media.
46:37
SPEAKER_00: Tag us in your chairs and let us know what you've loved or like what topics you'd like us like us to explore next.
46:44
SPEAKER_00: And also definitely DM us with questions, feedback, whatever you're feeling.
46:49
SPEAKER_00: We seriously love connecting with you guys.
46:51
SPEAKER_01: And as always, thank you so much for listening and for your support.
46:55
SPEAKER_01: Consider subscribing to this podcast or leaving us a five-star review so we continue to all grow together.
47:01
SPEAKER_01: And until next time, remember that you have the power to create whatever the fuck you want.
47:06
SPEAKER_01: Follow the nudge, ask questions, and let curiosity guide the way.
47:11
SPEAKER_01: We'll see you in the next one.