If you are feeling overwhelmed and wondering if you’re focusing on the right things in your marketing, this blog is for you.

 

Most new business owners are not marketers.

They get into it because they want to help people, they have a passion for something or feel a calling to do something purposeful.

They have no idea what running your own business involves (until they get started) and that it means having to spend a lot of time marketing.

They feel daunted by all the marketing options and all the things they are told they need to do by all the people in the business coaching space.

They get overwhelmed by the enormity of marketing and often do nothing, or very little.

Or they try stuff, it doesn’t work and they get despondent and wonder whether this ‘having a business’ thing, isn’t for them after all.

 

Sound familiar?

 

It’s really hard. I remember when I started running my women’s authentic confidence groups back in 2014, even with my background in marketing, I found it really really hard.

To make it easy, I want to show you the (or least a) way through the fog of overwhelm and confusion.

 

Here is the framework I’ve developed over the last few years. It’s a framework rather than a prescriptive to-do list, because at every step you figure out your way of doing it. The way that works for you, your business and your ideal clients.

It’s basically just the fundamental things you need to have in place and working well, to create the sustainable, successful business you want.

 

The Meaningful Marketing Method

NB: Even though this looks like a linear process (and I do take people through it step by step), you do need to keep looping back to step 1, as your business evolves.

These are the key steps I take most clients through when I work with them 1-2-1 and it’s what I’ll be taking people through on my new group program, Ignite your Soulful Business, starting at the end of March (get in touch if you’re interested).

 

#1 Define your niche and ideal client so your marketing is clear and targeted

This is an ever-evolving, work in progress where more clarity will come over time as you work with clients and get to know them. Plus, your niche (who you help, how and with what) is likely to shift a bit (or a lot) over the first few years in business.

And that’s OK!

But you have to start somewhere and getting clear on a niche and who your ideal client is, informs everything else in your business; your pricing, branding, images, offers, marketing content, messaging etc.

 

#2 Create a signature offer your ideal clients will love

A lot of people get this the wrong way around and create something they want to create and then wonder who to sell it to and try to market it to everyone and anyone.

That will usually be hard work and probably won’t work.

When you create offers (workshops, courses, programs, ebooks etc) specifically for your ideal clients, because you know what they want and need, everything becomes easier and marketing definitely feels ten times easier!

 

#3 Price it well and overcome your money mindset so you can charge what you’re truly worth

Pricing your offers well is key to positioning yourself and your offers in the marketplace. It all comes down to alignment; of your ideal client, your offer, your price, your images, your branding, your website, your marketing content etc.

If your prices are too high, or too low, it can put people off.

I’m a big fan of working on your money mindset, which is your beliefs, thoughts, behaviours etc around money, earning, charging and pricing as obviously they will have an impact on what price you put on your offers and how much money you make. It’s something I’ve been working on with curiosity for a few years with energy clearing practices and other techniques and I’m still a work in progress!

I believe it’s important because most people are not charging the true worth for their work. Again, this is really hard when you’re early on in your business and you’re building your expertise, experience, confidence and results.

What you need to charge has less to do with how much work goes into it or how many sessions people get and much more to do with the value of the results to your ideal clients. If you can clearly communicate the results and that’s what your ideal clients value and want help with right now, marketing is easier.

 

#4 Attract ideal clients through meaningful marketing content

Once you have your offer clear and ready to go, you need to put it out there with clear copy and through marketing and promotion. One way to build your audience of ideal clients is through sharing marketing content.

My perspective on this is that when you do meaningful work which genuinely helps people, your marketing needs to be (and absolutely can be), meaningful too.

Imagine your ideal clients feeling heard, felt, understood and really seen, through your marketing content?

You don’t have to be pushy, do anything icky or manipulative or convince anyone to work with you, you can find a way to market yourself and your offers that FEELS really good to you AND to them.

How refreshing!

And if you want help to come up with more meaningful marketing content ideas, grab my FREE BRAINSTORMING WORKBOOK, pop your details in at the bottom of the page.

 

#5 Nurture those leads and grow your network

Nurturing leads, ie warming them up from cold leads (totally new to you) to warm leads (actively following and liking you) through emails, videos or social media and learning how to network effectively, is key to your marketing success.

This is all about building relationships and connecting with the right people.

We cover networking effectively both live and online so you can grow your support network and audience of ideal clients and how to nurture your warm leads via emails and other ways so you can build the know like and trust factor, they can get to know you and you are there when they’re ready to buy.

 

#6 Authentic promotion and selling

Peter Drucker (a famous writer, in The Essential Drucker) said “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous”.

I think marketing can do this (depending on what you’re selling) and yet there’s still a place for sales. Sales, like marketing has a bad reputation but it doesn’t have to be pushy, icky or feel horrible.

When you stop thinking about ‘closing the deal’ and start thinking about finding people who are the right fit for you, everything changes.

You are simply getting in front of and helping the people you are here to help with the thing they really want help with. Sales can be done authentically and without any ick!

I look at customer service too like onboarding, getting valuable information from them before and after they work with you and asking for testimonials too.

 

#7 Strategic, Soul-Aligned, Goal Setting and Planning

Then I help people bring it all together into an aligned strategy and plan that will help them achieve their personal and business goals, using my Soul-Aligned Success System (you can buy the digital training here).

Having structure and a flexible plan to work to really helps to reduce overwhelm, confusion, feeling lost and procrastination.

 

PLUS – personal development…

In addition (and this is woven throughout my group program as it’s not a step as such but an ongoing practice), you will be on a personal growth journey clearing your blocks, working on your money mindset, shifting and uplifting your energy and developing your authentic presence and confidence, so you can step into your gifts, claim your awesomeness and pour it all into creating a soul-aligned successful business.

 

I hope that’s given you some insight into what areas you need to be focusing on. If you’re interested in working with me to get help with all of this, please get in touch here or check out my 1-2-1 coaching program here or course Ignite your Soulful Business here.

 

 

 

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