Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / Authentic Marketing in your wedding business with Tayler Cusick Hollman

Transcript

Authentic Marketing in your wedding business with Tayler Cusick Hollman · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

0:00
Tayler: The other piece that made the Barbie marketing so
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special was it was experiential.
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It was something that we could participate in, right?
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Like, we could wear pink when we showed up to the movie theater.
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And so what they did was they really showed us The power of experience.
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Becca: I'm Becca Pountney, wedding business marketing
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expert, speaker, and blogger.
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And you're listening to the Wedding Pros Who Are Ready To Grow podcast.
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I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
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examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
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If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
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and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business, doing what you
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love, then you're in the right place.
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Let's get going with today's episode.
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Today, I'm chatting with Tayler Cusick-Hollman, the founder of
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Enji, a brand new piece of software that aims to make marketing
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manageable for your small business.
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Taylor has been helping small businesses with their marketing
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for over a decade, and that experience led her to design Enji.
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As a fellow marketing consultant, I cannot wait to dive deep today as we
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talk all things authentic marketing, something I really love talking about.
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Taylor, welcome to the podcast.
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Tayler: Hello, hello.
1:14
Thank you so much for inviting me on to have this chat.
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I love nothing more than talking shop, especially when I get to talk
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shop with another marketing expert.
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So I am, my, my seatbelt is buckled.
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I'm ready to go.
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Becca: I'm excited to geek out on all things marketing.
1:29
Now I'm going to let the listeners into a little secret because we were supposed
1:33
to have this conversation a little while back and we were just talking before I
1:37
hit record about it because 15 minutes before we were due to record together.
1:42
I stood up off my sofa and thought I might have broken my ankle, ended up in A& E,
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and thankfully it was just badly bruised.
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So we have been a long time waiting for this conversation as well, which makes
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it even more exciting to get into it.
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Now, I know that we're excited about marketing.
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But sometimes my listeners or my clients kind of get a bit freaked
2:03
out just by the word marketing.
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So I would love us to just simplify this down.
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When we talk about marketing and authentic marketing, what
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do we mean in a non jargon way?
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Tayler: I love that because marketing at this point is it's kind of a loaded.
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term, because there's so many things that you can do and so many pieces
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that fall under the word marketing.
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And so, in plain English, right, in the most kind way possible, I like to
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describe marketing as the things that you do to put your business, whether
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that's product or services, in front of the people that might buy from you.
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And that's really all it is.
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You're building awareness that you exist.
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So that you create opportunities for people to actually
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become customers or clients.
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Becca: Fabulous.
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Yeah.
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One thing I often say to my clients is all marketing is, is telling people
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you exist because they don't know you exist and you can't get to sales, right?
3:01
I think people get really excited about sales.
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This is a bug bear of mine and it may be the same for you Taylor that like
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at seminars and conferences, people are really attracted to anything that's
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about sales because they think, Oh, that's the thing that's going to make
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the most difference in my business.
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And they sometimes neglect the sessions on marketing.
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Whereas actually we both know without marketing you're not gonna get any sales.
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Tayler: totally.
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Marketing is the piece that happens before you have the chance to sell someone.
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And so just like you said, if, if you're not marketing, you aren't
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gonna have any opportunity to try to.
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turn someone into a paying customer.
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So yeah, I'll, we, we should go to, we should find all the conferences and like
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physically pull people into the marketing sessions out of the sales sessions.
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Be like, did you, have you attended a marketing session yet?
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If the answer is no, you don't need to sit in on this sales conversation quite yet.
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Becca: Yeah, it's so, so true.
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I just think sales sounds more sexy to people, so they're more attracted to it.
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But if you're listening to this, make sure you're paying
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attention to your marketing first.
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Now, we described it in the intro as authentic marketing.
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So when you use that word, authentic, before the word marketing, Are you
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talking about, what do you mean by being authentic in your marketing?
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Tayler: So it's funny that we're having this, this chat about authentic
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marketing, because I actually really hate the word authentic, because it's so
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overused in just, you know, in, in the world of the internet, everyone talks
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about the importance of authenticity.
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And You know, even though it to me is a loaded phrase, it is still
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very important to think about when we talk about marketing, because
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to me, it gets down to the reason you're actually doing the marketing.
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And so what's your, what's your purpose, what's your mission, what's your vision.
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With everything that you're trying to accomplish with your business, because
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all of that really needs to be wrapped up into all of the things you're doing to
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try to make people aware that you exist.
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And I personally think it's really important because there's, I think,
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a real propensity or habit for people to look to others for inspiration
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on how to do their marketing.
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Right.
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And I can't say that I am not someone.
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I mean, you and I both, right?
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We're marketing consultants.
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So we are people that wedding pros turn to for guidance and inspiration.
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But there's a difference between turning to people looking for ideas of how to do
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something and turning to people and trying to like copy and paste what they're doing
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in their marketing into your business.
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And that is the opposite of being authentic in your marketing, is when
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you're trying to take someone else's brand, someone else's approach, someone
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else's marketing strategy, and think it's just going to be a carbon copy
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that you can use as a totally different business, as a totally different person,
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with a totally different audience, right?
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And so that's why I think having this conversation about being
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authentic is really important.
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Especially because in the wedding industry, everyone's heart is on
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their sleeve for the most part, like that's why you get into this industry.
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It's because you want to help people, you want to serve them, you want to
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help them create, you know, one of the most memorable days of their lives.
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And so there is this really strong...
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mission that lives inside of everyone, but it doesn't often make it into their
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public brand and marketing efforts.
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Becca: That's so true.
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And people spend so much time looking left and right that they end up, as
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I call it, being vanilla in their marketing because they just end up
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looking the same as everyone else and they've got nothing that stands out.
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But I also think that sometimes comes from a place of, anxiety.
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So people feel afraid to share their mission or to share their heart because
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they feel like it should be looking a certain way or they worry about what
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people will think about their marketing.
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Do you have any thoughts on that?
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Tayler: I have plenty of thoughts on that.
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I mean, you know, I, I see it all the time that People try to portray
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themselves as something that they're really not as a way to quell that anxiety,
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right, and make themselves feel more comfortable with what they're doing.
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And that really just creates a huge disconnect between the brand and
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persona that you're putting out there of, you know, who I am as a wedding
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planner or a florist or a venue.
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And then by the time a potential client is actually speaking with you
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during a consultation, you seem like a totally different person, right?
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Because you tried to be something else because it felt safe.
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And then when push comes to shove, you're not that thing.
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And then it kind of creates this awkwardness that then is going
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to only fuel your anxiety about marketing in a really authentic way.
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Right?
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So I think it's really important for, for people to recognize that Being authentic,
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to a certain degree, is a very, or can be a very vulnerable thing, but over time,
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you become more comfortable with it, and no one is asking you to do something that
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pushes yourself into a space where you are
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you know, 100 percent uncomfortable and you don't feel right doing it,
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but it's like, you know, taking these little baby steps to do something that
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is much more in line with who you are.
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That's the really productive space to play in.
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Becca: Do you have any tips or thoughts on how people identify that mission,
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how they go back to the heart of why they're doing it and how they
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then put that into their marketing?
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Tayler: You know, when you sit down and you think about your why, it's
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actually, it becomes quite difficult to do that because it's, I know
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people can't see all the hand gestures that I'm, I'm doing right now.
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I'm a very animated speaker, but you know, it, it all sits
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like in your chest, right there.
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You did this because you felt.
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a certain way.
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Something was compelling you to become a wedding industry professional.
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And so as simple as a mission statement might look, it, it does take some
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time to really think about why it is you're doing what you're doing.
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And so when it comes to anything that has to do with, with writing,
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essentially, I think letting yourself put down the ugly first draft.
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Is really important because when people are trying to.
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Seek perfection with the first try, then it becomes an impossible feat.
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But even professional copywriters, which that's a large part of what I did as a,
10:00
as a marketing consultant was write copy.
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And I still do that every day for myself, but even professional copywriters are
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not going to write the final draft straight out of their fingers, right?
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Every keystroke is basically like an educated guess of like what makes sense.
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At that time, and then you can always come back and revise it.
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And so that's what I think the actual first step to being truly authentic in
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terms of knowing what your mission and your why is, is relinquishing yourself of
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this, like, I have to write this perfectly the first time I sit down to pen it.
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But, Once you get over that, if you can just think of what is it you are trying to
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help people do, and then how do you do it?
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I mean, it's almost as simple as that.
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It doesn't have to be this overly complicated thing.
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Becca: Yeah, it's about having a bit of time and space to think it
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through and to keep asking why.
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I once went to a session where they said, don't just ask why
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once, like keep asking why.
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So if you say, why are you doing this?
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Because I want to work for myself.
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Why do you want to work for yourself?
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Because I want to be home for my kids.
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Why do you want to be home for your kids?
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And to just keep on going deeper until you find the actual real why, which is
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normally about 10 layers underneath.
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And that is kind of a scary exercise, but it is a really
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thought provoking exercise as well.
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Now, I think the other thing that people struggle with when it comes
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to authenticity is that feeling of, okay, if I'm going to be authentic,
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I have to put everything out there online and I don't want to do that.
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And so let's just talk a little bit about that because we know all of
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the things people buy from people and it's good to have your face and
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be the face of your brand, but that doesn't necessarily mean everything
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needs to go on the internet, right?
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Tayler: No, please don't put everything on the internet.
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You know, I, I'm someone who did the Finger, I'm using finger quotes here.
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The persona that I have on the internet is Almost 100 percent the same person
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that you're going to interact with if we ever have the opportunity to be in
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the same space But I don't spill my guts on the internet of like everything
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that I'm doing every single day I don't get into really personal things because
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everyone has a boundary or a line that you, you should have that separates your
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personal life from your professional life.
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And, you know, there are some people that will put Very private things out
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there and in a way that's like tied to their, their brand and their marketing.
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And I personally, this is an opinion.
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I don't think that that's the best tact to take.
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I think that that crosses a line into a space where marketing.
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gets kind of muddy, right?
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Like, you, I think it goes into a space where you start to pull on the
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wrong emotional strings in order to get people to know, like, and trust you.
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So, you don't have to, if you experience a, something
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that's Exceptionally difficult.
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You don't have to put it out there.
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If you made a really big mistake and you're kind of embarrassed about it,
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you don't have to put it out there.
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But if you have a small flub or something funny happens, then yeah, you can
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include that in how you're presenting yourself to your, your audience and
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your potential clients because it's It's not like your deepest, darkest secrets.
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Becca: Yeah.
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And it's a misconception to say that not putting everything online
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is not authentic because you're still being yourself, but you have
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to remember you're still marketing.
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And I think it's really important.
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And I remind my clients a lot that when you're looking at other people's
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social media feeds and your competitors, you have to have that frame as well.
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You have to have that frame of reference to remember this is a
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version of reality, but it's not necessarily a hundred percent reality.
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So you can't compare yourself.
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profile, their Facebook profile, their business, because it's
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only a kind of top level example.
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And even I think as consumers, we fall into this so easily.
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I tell this story, she might be listening, but my mom once said to me, you're working
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so much and you're never with your kids.
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And I was like, why?
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Why have you formed that opinion?
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Because it's a hundred percent not true.
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She's like, because all over your Instagram, you're just
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out at all these meetings and you're doing all of this stuff.
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And I was like, yeah, but in between all of that, I'm gonna swimming classes,
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I'm picking them up from school.
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I'm just not putting that on my Instagram.
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And so that really made me think if even my mom has a shifted perspective due
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to what I'm putting on social media.
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No wonder we all panic when we look at our competitors.
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So it's just a reminder that, yeah, we can put stuff out there.
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But when we are looking at other people.
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We need to not judge ourselves against that because that's
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a dangerous place to get to.
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Tayler: It's, it's so dangerous and it's so hard to to stop
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yourself from getting there.
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I mean, I, as I've started, well, when I started launching Enji and,
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you know, really starting to interact with the internet on behalf of that
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company, I started following a lot of kind of marketing influencers
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and educators across a range of industries, not just wedding industry.
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And I realized not that long ago that I did myself the biggest disservice by
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flooding that feed with all of these marketing experts because I cannot tell
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you how badly I was questioning myself every day because I had inadvertently
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created this space where I was just getting pounded with these messages
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every day from, you know, hundreds of different, different accounts.
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And I started to think that I was not good at what I did.
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And so when I really love the fact that you're encouraging people to like, not.
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look at those highlight reels and think that it's your job to keep up because
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it's, it's not possible to keep up with something that's not an actual reality.
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Becca: So, so true.
16:18
Now we've talked about the positives of authentic marketing and what that means.
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I just love to have a bit of a conversation.
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I don't know if you've got any examples of the opposite of that.
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So what actually constitutes inauthentic marketing.
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So we know that kind of looking left and right.
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is inauthentic.
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Have you got any other thoughts about what is inauthentic marketing?
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I
16:43
Tayler: think that just being something or portraying something that you're really
16:47
not is the, the truest form of inauthentic marketing and not to make anyone feel
16:56
badly about this because I think when we all start our businesses, we kind of
17:01
are a little bit backed into a corner because we don't have clients yet, right?
17:06
Like we've just started our businesses and we're just trying to get the ball rolling.
17:12
And so that to me is the space where it's easiest to fall into this.
17:18
kind of trap of inauthentic marketing because you are trying
17:24
to build something out of nothing.
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And so you're trying to not make it look like to your potential
17:30
clients that you've never planned a wedding in your life, right?
17:33
Like no one wants to be in that space.
17:36
But to almost falsify your CV, essentially, is what
17:44
we're talking about here.
17:45
So, you know, you can, you can portray yourself as a professional
17:52
with a little bit more experience than maybe you really do.
17:56
But when push comes to shove, You shouldn't be saying you're capable of
18:01
doing something that you, you know, in your heart of hearts You've never done
18:07
or maybe you're gonna Flub really badly and you don't ever want to do that with
18:11
especially in the wedding space, right?
18:13
There are there are no do overs in weddings.
18:16
And so Knowing and if someone asks you
18:23
Are you capable of X, Y, and Z, and you know you're not, you're only capable of
18:27
X and Y, then you should say, I, I'm not the right person for the job for Z, but
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I'd love to help you find someone who is.
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Becca: Yeah, and I think it's a really difficult zone to navigate.
18:39
It's a real kind of gray area that we all go through at some point because There's
18:44
an element where we need to be confident and we need to portray this person
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and kind of fake it till you make it.
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But on the other hand, you're totally right.
18:52
We don't want to be saying that we can do something that we don't.
18:54
But I also believe that deep in our gut, we know when what we're doing is wrong.
18:59
And I think that's.
19:00
the only way we can trust that.
19:01
I mean, some mistakes I've seen people go into again, totally inadvertently is
19:06
things like grabbing shots from Pinterest and putting them on their Instagram
19:11
profile, you know, things like that.
19:12
Cause they just want something, but it's not their work.
19:14
And although they might like it and they've done it in a kind of innocent
19:17
way, I would say that is inauthentic or taking stock imagery, for example, and.
19:24
If it's stock imagery just on your website, that's one thing.
19:26
But if it's stock imagery of the thing you do, and it's not clear, I would
19:30
say that's kind of misleading as well.
19:32
Because if you haven't made that bouquet or you weren't photographing
19:36
that wedding, really, you shouldn't be sharing the pictures as if you were.
19:40
That's inauthentic.
19:42
Tayler: Totally.
19:42
And that's, that's something that's...
19:45
It's pretty rampant in the wedding industry, especially, again,
19:51
people who are just, if anyone's listening and just started their
19:53
business, you're going to think that I'm picking on you, but I'm not.
19:56
It's just the, the phase of business where I see this the most, where
20:03
You don't really have, you don't have a portfolio, and so much of
20:08
digital marketing is visual based.
20:12
So, what do people do?
20:14
They screenshot images from the, the wedding professionals that
20:19
they've found and admire, and then they repost it on their own, even
20:24
though they're giving them credit.
20:26
It's still a very strange thing to do because you've never
20:29
even worked with these folks.
20:31
And you're also portraying...
20:33
a level of production and design and experience that is, you can't
20:40
prove that you can actually provide.
20:42
Just yet.
20:44
And so I love that example because it's, it is very much a part of the wedding
20:50
industry and you know, I, I, I will concede that it's hard to find all those
20:56
visual aspects and things that you need to get your business off of the ground, but.
21:02
the mom in you is like, you know when something is wrong, so don't do it
21:05
when you know that it's wrong, right?
21:07
Like, just be a good person with a, a, you know, a moral compass and don't
21:12
do the things that feel icky to you.
21:15
Becca: Yeah, 100%.
21:15
And if you're listening to this and you're feeling that's kind of me right now.
21:19
Number one, don't feel like you're being told off, but number two, know that there
21:23
are things that you can do about it.
21:24
So, you know, reach out to Taylor, reach out to me if you need a bit of help
21:28
with this, but think about, you know, if you don't have a portfolio, okay, what
21:32
can you do to put together a portfolio?
21:33
Do you have friends and family that you can do something for?
21:36
Could you put together a stylized shoot or could you collaborate on something?
21:40
And instead of thinking that's an excuse to use other people's
21:43
work, actually proactively go out there and build your own portfolio.
21:47
You 100 percent can do that.
21:48
So if that's you and you're feeling like I need some help with this, do reach out.
21:52
Don't stay stuck.
21:53
Okay.
21:53
Let's just move forward a little bit because we've talked about what marketing
21:57
is and authenticity and marketing, but then when it comes to the actual
22:02
doing it, there are so many options.
22:04
And this is one thing that I see really people struggle with when they come to me.
22:08
They're just like, I don't even know where to start.
22:10
Do I do social media?
22:10
Do I do Google?
22:11
Do I do directories?
22:12
Do I do wedding shows?
22:14
Like, do you have any thoughts about how people navigate this and where they start?
22:19
Tayler: Yes.
22:19
So part of, I was thinking about this earlier, that part of being
22:24
authentic with your marketing is being authentic to what you can do.
22:31
As a person and what authentic to what makes sense for your business.
22:36
And so this is the the point in the conversation where I want to superimpose
22:41
the word realistic on top of authentic because when we when we as we're getting
22:48
into the doing part of this conversation that's where this shift needs to happen.
22:52
So now we're talking about being realistic and that can be really difficult.
22:58
For a lot of people, especially because there is.
23:03
pressure from, you know, the, the omnipotent space that is the internet
23:08
that, you know, we need to be showing up all of the time doing all in all
23:13
of the places doing all of the things.
23:15
And that is not realistic.
23:18
So that's not what we're talking about here in this conversation
23:21
of authentic marketing.
23:24
So I think the first step is to really think about what do
23:29
you have the capacity to do.
23:32
In your marketing and for most people, especially if you are a, a business
23:39
of one, maybe you have the ability to outsource one little thing, or you
23:44
have an assistant or a team member who can support you on another.
23:50
But in my experience, and I'd love to hear what your experiences on this too, but.
23:57
I think that most people only have the capacity to really show up on
24:01
one to three marketing channels.
24:03
And then once you get past that, that's where you start
24:06
feeling like you're drowning.
24:08
Is that how you experience things as well?
24:10
Becca: Yeah.
24:11
A hundred percent.
24:11
I think people go too wide and then just get overwhelmed and then do
24:16
everything kind of badly, unless they're able to outsource certain areas.
24:21
And so I often say to people like, let's like build up your pyramid
24:25
as you have the capacity to do it.
24:27
Like get going with, you know, Instagram and like cross sharing it to Facebook.
24:32
Let's get really confident on that before you start panicking about
24:35
whether you should be on TikTok.
24:36
Like just decide where you're going to start and do it well and then
24:39
decide if you've got the capacity.
24:41
So yeah, I, I definitely agree with that.
24:44
So how do people identify where to start then?
24:47
So they know that they can't do everything?
24:49
Should they be thinking about where their couple are hanging out?
24:52
Should they be thinking about where they like hanging out?
24:54
What kind of things should they consider?
24:56
Tayler: It's, it's a little bit of the, that magical in between space
25:00
where you absolutely should only be marketing your business on the
25:06
proverbial places that your ideal couples and clients are hanging out.
25:10
Because if your ideal couple is.
25:15
not on TikTok, then why would you be on TikTok, right?
25:18
That's a waste of your, your energy.
25:21
But the other half of that is Where do you enjoy showing up?
25:26
And that comes into play because marketing is such a long, well, it's
25:33
not a long play, it's an ongoing thing that's never gonna go away, right?
25:37
You have to market your business for the entirety of the lifespan
25:41
that you have the business.
25:42
It's always gonna be a responsibility.
25:44
So in order to have the endurance to continually market your business, it is
25:50
much easier to continually show up if you don't hate doing the thing, right?
25:57
Because we all drag our feet on things that we don't like
25:59
doing, of course, right?
26:00
Then it feels like a chore.
26:03
So that's the sweet spot that I'm talking about or referencing
26:06
is where are your couples?
26:09
Hanging out in real life and or on the internet and what are the the marketing
26:15
activities that you enjoy doing and then that's Where you should start and
26:21
then eventually you like you said you build out from there Not all of us.
26:26
I think everyone is gonna eventually have to do some sort of marketing
26:30
task that you don't love It's just a part of the game of marketing.
26:36
But if you build your strategy around the thing that you enjoy
26:40
doing, then in the long term, you're going to have much more success.
26:44
Becca: That's so true.
26:44
When I launched my Becca Pountney website, I was like, I'm going to
26:47
blog on this website every week.
26:50
And I blogged like three times and then was like, Oh, I really need to blog.
26:54
And then I launched the podcast like, I'm going to podcast every week.
26:57
And I did it easily because I really enjoyed podcasting and
27:00
I'm like, okay, turns out I don't like sitting at my computer.
27:03
I'm writing the content, but I'm really happy to chat to people
27:07
or just even be on my own with a microphone and talk about the content.
27:10
So therefore, why am I even bothering with this?
27:12
I'm just going to take the blog off my website and turn the
27:14
podcast episodes into blog posts.
27:16
And it was really clear to me.
27:18
Oh yeah.
27:18
Okay.
27:19
People would find me from both ways, but if I don't enjoy doing this.
27:22
I'm not going to be doing it consistently.
27:24
Whereas if I am enjoying doing it, I am going to be consistent.
27:28
And I find that with things like wedding fairs, for example, or wedding
27:31
shows, some people thrive on that.
27:34
They love being in the room.
27:35
They love meeting people.
27:36
They love meeting potential couples and other people hate it.
27:40
They fear it.
27:40
They close up.
27:41
And so if you absolutely hate something and you don't see yourself getting
27:44
over that, you don't have to do it.
27:47
Tayler: Exactly.
27:47
And you know, you're not going to do it.
27:50
To the level that it does justice to your business if you hate it.
27:55
Right?
27:55
You're going to cut corners.
27:57
If we're talking about in person opportunities, you're going
28:01
to come off as awkward, right?
28:03
Which those are all not good things, but that's definitely not the
28:06
objective when it comes to marketing.
28:08
So, you know, I think this is Becca and I giving everyone the blessing to stop
28:13
doing the marketing tasks that you truly hate and really leaning into the ones
28:17
that you even find a little bit of fun.
28:20
out of.
28:20
Becca: Definitely.
28:21
Now, this kind of idea of marketing overwhelm and just not even knowing where
28:25
to start or where to plan, I'm assuming, and this is a big assumption, I may be
28:30
wrong, that that was what you saw in your clients and that was somewhat of
28:34
the inspiration for why you launched.
28:36
NG.
28:37
So tell us, like, am I right with that?
28:40
Is that where you were?
28:41
Tell us where you were and why you decided to launch this piece of software.
28:45
Tayler: Your assumption is totally correct.
28:48
And I love that.
28:48
I think you, you guessed correctly because you're a marketing consultant
28:53
and you've, we probably have a lot of shared experiences working as, you
28:59
know, consultants who are being hired by wedding professionals and You know,
29:04
really the, the inspiration behind it was, I, I finally had this opportunity
29:09
during this, Enji is essentially a COVID project gotten like really, really wild
29:15
in the best way, because during COVID.
29:19
You know, here in the, in the states where I'm based in Southern California and San
29:23
Diego, I was really busy during COVID.
29:27
And I don't know how things were in the, in the UK, but it was this weird
29:34
time where everyone finally was like, I'm going to work on my business.
29:40
right now because I have no other choice, right?
29:43
Like, I've always complained that I never have time to work on my business
29:46
because I'm always working in it.
29:48
And now the world has forced me into this place where I have nothing but time.
29:52
So I actually was really busy with wedding or with website copywriting
29:59
projects and, and creating strategies for different professionals.
30:03
And I.
30:05
Was operating at my capacity and turning away business.
30:08
And I'm not someone who ever wanted to grow my business by growing a team.
30:14
That's just not, wasn't in the, in the long play for me, but
30:19
I've always been someone who.
30:21
works in technology as well.
30:22
It's kind of like the thing in the background that people
30:25
don't really know about me.
30:26
And so took a step back in the, in the moments that I had breathing
30:32
room and I really started thinking about why are people coming to me?
30:38
And what's the consistent reason?
30:40
It's the exact same exercise that I know that you and I are telling our,
30:43
you know, clients to do with couples.
30:46
Why are people coming to you?
30:48
And once I uncovered that, you know, people actually would tell
30:52
me, Taylor, just tell me what to do.
30:56
And that was the little nugget that I was like, I could possibly figure out
31:02
a way to turn myself into software.
31:05
and give people a marketing strategy that doesn't involve me actually
31:10
sitting down and spending many, many days thinking it through.
31:15
So that was the whole impetus for it, is how do I get a marketing strategy
31:20
or marketing plan in people's hands, almost at the snap of a finger.
31:26
And so that's what we set out to do.
31:30
And I'm really excited that like we, we did it.
31:33
Everyone just has to play a game of 20 questions with us.
31:36
And Enji creates a customized marketing plan for them that also shares all
31:42
these marketing ideas and is a platform that they can use to actually do their
31:47
marketing in a much more intentional.
31:50
and quick way.
31:52
Becca: That's incredible.
31:53
I love that.
31:54
I love that you took this idea and you made a virtual version of yourself.
31:59
So explain to me how it works then.
32:01
So if I was to say to one of my clients, you know, you really should check this
32:05
piece of software out because it's going to help you with your marketing efforts.
32:09
Like what am I telling them to do and how is it going to help them?
32:12
Tayler: So it starts, the foundation of, of everything that we built
32:15
is the marketing strategy.
32:17
Because if you're just marketing by accident, right, that's
32:20
not actually productive.
32:21
And so, like I said, people just have to answer a straightforward questionnaire,
32:26
and then they get this strategy.
32:28
And then from there, really what it allows them to do is see their
32:35
marketing strategy, which when I would create them for clients, they
32:40
were like, 20 page PDFs, which were beautiful and, you know, full of
32:46
information and ideas and all this stuff.
32:50
When push comes to shove, they were really overwhelming too.
32:52
It's like, who's going to sit down and read, like really digest
32:55
20 pages of marketing strategy.
32:59
And so what Enji does is it, it gives you essentially a one page marketing plan.
33:04
That's very visual, but it also helps you understand how all these different
33:09
pieces of marketing Play together.
33:12
Because that's in the past kind of been, I mean, it's not to the level that when
33:20
you sit down and you hire someone like yourself, Becca, like you're going to have
33:25
all these conversations with your client and everything's going to be bespoke.
33:30
You know, technology can't ever be bespoke, but what I wanted to build
33:36
was something that gave people a clear path, and whether they were going
33:43
to execute on that strategy on their own, or, NG is definitely a space, and
33:49
it's because the consultant in me is like, Marketing consultants are great.
33:53
I want people to work with marketing consultants.
33:55
People can then add you in to their account as a consultant and then you
34:01
can come in and the groundwork has been laid and then you can come in and add
34:05
that bespoke touch to the strategy.
34:09
So it's really just meant to be something that gets people working, like helps them
34:16
see here's the place we're going to focus.
34:19
We're not going to look left and right, as you've been saying, right?
34:22
We're going to ignore that stuff for now.
34:24
This is the, the lane we're going to drive in.
34:27
And then here are the things that you can can do in order to plan it, organize
34:33
it, and then do it along the way.
34:35
Becca: It's so fascinating.
34:36
The marketing geek in me wants to go and immediately go and play around
34:41
with it and see what it spits out.
34:42
And I love it for a couple of reasons.
34:44
One, because not everyone is ready or able to pay for a bespoke marketing plan.
34:49
I know that you know that when you're starting out in your business, you
34:52
can't afford necessarily one to one consultancy because that is
34:57
time consuming for the consultant.
34:59
And you are going to get a very personalized bespoke option.
35:02
So I love that you've kind of bought in this lower level option that
35:05
is more accessible to people when they're not quite ready for bespoke,
35:10
but they're ready for something.
35:11
And then I love it that you can then further down the
35:14
line or immediately add that.
35:17
element in so that you're then, you know, building up once this is going well.
35:21
Now you can add in that personalized bespoke option from somebody else
35:25
and they can see that visually too.
35:28
I just think it's fabulous.
35:29
I'm definitely going to go and play around with it as soon as I can.
35:32
I will definitely put the link in the show notes as well, because I'm sure
35:36
there'll be other people listening that are thinking, I need to go and play
35:38
around with this piece of software.
35:40
And that's one of the things that's always a tricky thing when we're doing an audio
35:44
recording because no one can see it.
35:46
So if you're listening to this, like go grab a phone, go grab a website on
35:51
your computer and go check out Enji I would love Taylor, if you're up
35:56
for it, just for the last few minutes of this recording to do a little bit
36:00
of marketing geeking out together.
36:02
So I have identified two brands that I think have done some epic marketing,
36:08
not necessarily all good, but they've done some huge marketing both in the U
36:11
S and the UK over the last few months.
36:13
And I'd love to just have a little bit of a conversation about it.
36:17
So the first one is prime, prime energy drinks, prime drinks.
36:23
have blown up here in the UK.
36:25
I think they have in the U S as well.
36:28
And one of the things that I find really frustrating about this marketing is how
36:32
much of it is geared towards children.
36:36
And also how powerful it has had an impact on children.
36:40
So my kids are nine and six.
36:43
They've barely had a fizzy drink yet.
36:45
They will go in the shop and they're like, mom, can you buy me prime?
36:47
You need to buy me prime.
36:48
Everyone's got a prime bottle.
36:49
So in your opinion, what a prime doing that's had such a huge impact so fast.
36:56
And what do we like?
36:56
What do we not like?
36:57
Tayler: Ooh.
36:58
So I'm not familiar with the drink, but the, the, the whole concept that you're
37:02
talking about, I definitely have opinions about what I like and what I don't like.
37:06
And what, what that boils down to when it, because marketing to children is a
37:11
very strange borderline, not okay thing to me depending on the product, right?
37:18
Like, you know, if you're, if you're marketing to them that
37:20
they should go outside and play.
37:22
That's great.
37:23
If you're marketing a fizzy drink to them, maybe that's so great
37:27
because it's just a bunch of sugar.
37:29
But what Prime is doing is, is mass marketing.
37:33
They're playing a game where they just want repeated exposure.
37:39
to their, their product.
37:41
And there's this, you know, fundamental rule in marketing that, and likely
37:47
everyone, or a lot of people who are listening have heard this, that someone
37:51
needs to be exposed to you seven times before they're ready to buy.
37:57
And that's what mass marketing does.
37:58
Like, they're not going to just do seven times, they're going for 700,
38:02
so that You know, it's like this bug in your, in your brain where you
38:07
start thinking, I have to have this.
38:08
I have to have this because I'm seeing it everywhere all the time.
38:12
And so what I love about that is it's effective, but what I
38:17
hate about it is It's effective.
38:21
Becca: Yeah, 100%, 100%.
38:23
And I think what's really interesting and a lesson I think we can learn from it is
38:27
how much of it has done on word of mouth.
38:29
Okay.
38:30
So I don't think my children have ever directly seen an
38:33
advertisement for this drink.
38:35
However, their friends are talking about it.
38:38
They're seeing it in the shops and everyone else is
38:40
telling them that it's cool.
38:42
And I think One thing I talk about a lot in our marketing as wedding
38:45
business owners is the power of other people talking about your business
38:48
and how we don't want to neglect that.
38:51
And we can see that really clearly in this drink that the children talking
38:55
about it, the other people talking about it, even the parents talking about
38:58
it is actually raising awareness all of the time and making the marketing
39:02
even bigger than it was before.
39:04
Tayler: Yep.
39:05
Absolutely.
39:07
You know, and it's also like, you know, when you When you find a way
39:13
to casually enter the conversation, that's, that's always great, right?
39:19
Because that's organic marketing, which is free.
39:23
But I think there's also this element of finding the right
39:29
people at the right time.
39:31
And so, you know, it probably, I would hope that Prime's marketing department
39:37
wasn't thinking we're going to go after kids straight out the gate.
39:42
But you know, they, they, whoever they targeted first, It was the right target
39:48
audience, and they just kept repeating the messages, right, with that mass
39:53
marketing approach, and then eventually it, it trickles down, and so it's a
39:59
totally different scale than almost any wedding professional would ever need
40:04
to market at, but It is a, it is a very modern example of marketing in real
40:12
life and the marketing nerds, right?
40:15
Like we pay attention to their lessons to be learned from it.
40:18
And, you know, I would encourage everyone listening to, to start kind of opening
40:23
their eyes a little bit to seeing how they're marketed to every day with, you
40:29
know, print advertisements that are on billboards or in magazines or wherever.
40:36
And.
40:37
starting to, to think about those a little bit further and what
40:40
they're trying to accomplish because there's so much to learn from it.
40:43
Becca: Yeah.
40:43
It's a message I push all the time because I think there's so much we
40:46
can learn from these massive brands.
40:47
And although obviously we don't have anywhere near the ad spend that they
40:51
do, we don't have the marketing budget.
40:52
We don't have the resources.
40:54
Actually, there are elements that we can learn from.
40:55
Okay.
40:56
Here's my second example.
40:57
So here in the UK, and I'm guessing it's the same in the U S there's
41:00
been one movie that's dominated this summer and the marketing has been
41:04
huge and that is the Barbie movie.
41:07
Now this marketing has clearly worked on me because it's the
41:09
only film I think I have ever seen twice in the cinema within a month.
41:15
I've never done that before.
41:16
So the marketing is obviously working for me.
41:19
Like let's have a little conversation.
41:20
What have Barbie been doing and how have they just turned everyone
41:23
pink obsessed over the summer?
41:25
Tayler: So I was, You know, before you even said it, I was like, I hope, I
41:28
hope Becca brings up the Barbie movie.
41:30
I hope Becca brings up the Barbie movie because it is, that is a
41:35
case study that will be added to marketing textbooks in the future.
41:42
And there is a big asterisk that I think we all need to acknowledge
41:49
with this is I looked it up.
41:50
The Barbie movie was about 150 million to make, and the
41:57
marketing budget was 150 million.
42:01
Wow.
42:01
So, so, the production company put all of their poker chips on the table.
42:08
And they tasked the marketing department with go big or
42:12
go home, essentially, right?
42:14
I don't know if that's a phrase in the UK, but it's definitely
42:16
a phrase here in the US.
42:18
Go big or go home.
42:19
Here's all the money you could ever need.
42:21
So I think that Barbie definitely did mass marketing.
42:25
Barbie was literally everywhere.
42:29
But the other piece that made The Barbie marketing so special
42:34
was it was experiential.
42:37
It was something that we could participate in, right?
42:40
Like we could wear pink when we showed up to the movie theater.
42:44
There were Barbie doll boxes that we could stand in.
42:49
You know, there were lots of, I remember, I can't remember specifics,
42:52
but I've seen images and video of.
42:55
you know, really grand experiential things in real life that people could see, right?
43:01
And stand in front of were not just a static image, like a movie poster
43:08
or, you know, a movie trailer.
43:11
And so that what they did was they really showed us the power of experience
43:18
and they took it to the next level and really even like, changed the culture
43:24
of what was going on this summer in, like, across the world, right?
43:28
Like, the, the states had the same reaction that I think you had, where
43:33
we all wanted to be a part of it, and over the summer, that was, the only
43:38
thing everyone was talking about.
43:39
So, I love this as a case study.
43:41
It's, it's so, so powerful.
43:44
Becca: Yeah.
43:44
And it had this real impact on people.
43:46
Like I felt guilty that I didn't wear pink to watch the film.
43:50
Like, what is that about?
43:51
It's like seeing everyone else doing it and seeing that
43:54
that's what the thing is to do.
43:56
It just makes you get FOMO.
43:57
You feel like you need to be doing it well as well.
44:00
We also saw here in London, they turned some taxi cabs, you know,
44:04
like the traditional black taxi cabs, they turn them pink and they.
44:07
Branded them Barbie, like it was everywhere.
44:09
And I think again, something we can learn from it is that they thought
44:13
outside of the box, like they did stuff that other movies either aren't
44:16
brave enough to do, or just would never put the budget towards doing.
44:20
And I think, you know, it goes right back to what we were talking
44:22
about at the beginning that we don't need to look left and right.
44:25
We need to be ourselves, but actually we can do things differently.
44:29
We can think outside the box and no idea is a bad idea if we want to.
44:32
Try something new.
44:33
Tayler: Yep.
44:34
You know, I, one of the soap boxes that I've been standing on quite often as of
44:38
late is just helping people to realize that marketing is an experiment, right?
44:44
It's not a, it's not a formula.
44:46
And so when you just said, you, we have to just try stuff.
44:50
That's, that gets right to the core of it.
44:53
You need to experiment because you don't know what's going to work and
44:59
you have to keep trying to find it.
45:01
And then eventually, what worked is no longer going to work anymore, and
45:05
so you're going to need to experiment again and find the next new thing.
45:08
And so I love that you brought that up, because it's, it's, I think
45:12
one of the things that people can really know and, like, accept that
45:17
will make them feel less crazy.
45:20
when marketing gets hard.
45:21
Becca: Yeah, and Barbie fever has definitely infiltrated
45:24
this house over the summer.
45:26
And one of the other things I found hilarious, just as we close this
45:30
conversation about this, is that we, we holiday in the South of
45:34
France in a really untouristy area.
45:36
Okay.
45:36
My parents have a place on there and we go and it's very French and very old school.
45:41
And we went to this restaurant and my daughter was like, they've
45:45
got a Barbie movie poster up.
45:48
And I'm like, Even in like the deepest depths of traditional
45:52
France, there is this massive Barbie poster in this restaurant
45:57
and the six year old spotted it.
45:59
And I'm like, these people have done their marketing well
46:03
and we need to learn from it.
46:04
So yeah, as we said before, I would encourage everyone
46:06
listening, look at these things.
46:08
You don't have to be marketing geeks like us to look at it all.
46:11
Just look at the brands that you like, the brands that resonate with you,
46:15
the things that you buy and the reason you buy things and just think, okay.
46:19
If I was to put my wedding business head on and look at this from that
46:22
perspective, what could I learn from it?
46:24
Oh, Taylor, I've absolutely loved this conversation.
46:26
I love geeking out about marketing.
46:28
I could do it all day long.
46:29
Maybe I'll have to get you back when I've got some more brands
46:31
for us to discuss and talk about.
46:35
But before I let you go, we always end the podcast with the same question.
46:39
So I'm going to pose that to you now.
46:40
And it's this, what's one thing you personally wish you'd known
46:43
sooner in your own business?
46:46
Tayler: Oh, this is a good question.
46:48
Really, and I thought about this for maybe a little bit too long because
46:53
there are so many things, but I think the one that I feel like is the one to
46:59
share today is that nothing comes easy and Nothing is as easy for sure as all of
47:06
the influencers, you know, who are trying to live rent free in our heads, make
47:11
us think that it is, you know, there's, I come across a lot of advertisements
47:18
and Instagram content that basically makes almost makes you feel bad if you
47:23
don't have a six figure business, right?
47:25
Like having a six figure business should be easy, according to these people.
47:28
And a little piece of me dies every time I see something like that
47:32
because it's not, it's not that easy.
47:35
And it's, again, one of those things that I think people, it's very
47:40
helpful and important for people to know that they're not crazy.
47:44
They're not doing something wrong.
47:46
If you don't have a six figure business in six months, things take time.
47:50
They take a lot of effort and running a business.
47:54
Period.
47:55
Whether it's you're a wedding planner, you run a venue, you're a florist, you're
47:59
an entertainment company, there are hardships and challenges for everyone.
48:05
They're always different, but it's the, it's the people who can dig
48:10
deep and find the grit to get over those things that are going to
48:15
eventually find really great success.
48:18
And so I don't want people to get discouraged when things get hard because
48:23
Hey, I just launched a new business.
48:26
Guess what?
48:26
Things are hard.
48:27
Things are not easy for me.
48:29
But I'm gonna keep pushing.
48:31
And so if anyone ever makes you feel like things should be so
48:35
easy, I think they're lying to you.
48:38
And that's what I, that's what I wish that I would have known when I first
48:43
you know, became self employed was that this was going to be the best but the
48:48
hardest thing that I was ever going to do.
48:50
Becca: So true.
48:51
And we do, we beat ourselves up when we see these things.
48:54
And it's another reason to unfollow a bunch of stuff on social
48:57
media and also to remember just.
49:00
Finishing off that point that actually even you might not
49:04
want a six figure business.
49:05
Like I have this conversation with people all the time where they're like, I feel
49:08
like I need a six figure business, but I don't really want one because I'm
49:11
happy with the size of my business.
49:13
And I like being around for the kids and I don't want to grow
49:16
any bigger and that's okay.
49:18
We need to take the pressure off ourselves.
49:20
Tayler: Yes.
49:21
Like everyone gets to define their own goal and objective and.
49:27
A six figure business is not for everyone, right?
49:30
Like we, I think most of us are self employed because again, going back
49:34
to your, you should ask why, like keep asking why most of us, yes, we
49:40
want to make money, but we want to make money because there's a certain
49:44
lifestyle that we want to live.
49:46
And that lifestyle may only require you have.
49:51
you know, a small business, right?
49:53
And you get everything that you want.
49:55
So, you know, I, I love that this is kind of come full circle to part of
50:00
the conversation we had very early on.
50:01
So always think about your why don't let someone else tell you what your why
50:07
should be, because that's not authentic to what you're trying to accomplish.
50:11
Becca: Taylor, this has been fabulous.
50:13
I cannot tell you how much I've loved having this conversation.
50:15
If people want to find out more about you, more about Enji where's
50:18
the best place for them to go?
50:20
Tayler: So the website is enji.
50:24
co and I'd love to invite everyone to check it out.
50:27
You can try out all the tools for free for 14 days so you can Complete
50:33
that strategy questionnaire and get your marketing plan for free.
50:36
And we've got an AI copywriter now and all sorts of things that you can play with.
50:40
So get in there, poke around, experience it for yourself.
50:43
And then my social media platform of choice as a geriatric
50:47
millennial is Instagram.
50:49
So you can find edgy at E N J I.
50:55
Becca: Perfect.
50:55
And I love that there's a 14 day free trial so that we can
50:58
all go and play around with Enji
51:00
taylor, it's been such a pleasure.
51:02
I'm sure this won't be our last conversation.
51:04
Thank you for your time.
51:05
Tayler: Thank you so much.
51:06
I have, no one can see it, but I have the biggest smile across my face.
51:09
I wholeheartedly loved this conversation.
51:14
Becca: I've just loved that conversation with Taylor.
51:16
I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did.
51:18
There is nothing better for me than talking to someone else in
51:22
marketing, all about marketing, and I hope you found it beneficial.
51:25
And I'm really excited to go and check out that tool to see how Enji can help
51:29
all of you and how it can help me as well.
51:32
So I'll put that link in the show notes, go and play around with it
51:35
and let me know what you think.
51:37
I'll see you next time.