Start Marketing

Your email list is a direct reflection of the strength of your business. You want to be able to turn to your email list at any time, put out an offer and generate money. That’s the goal. You don’t just want anyone and everyone on your email list. You want people who will find value in what you have to say and are likely to buy from you because of that value you offer.

Begin building your list by:

1. Creating a lead magnet or freebie
2. Create an opt-in form on your website or in your email platform
3. Promote your lead magnet or freebie on social media

Download my free list-building guide at: getauthenticbranding.com/resources

Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende, Music.io

I like Pinterest because every pin allows you the opportunity to link back to your website or your Instagram account, so you can continue to drive traffic to those channels. You can even add a “pin” button to your website, making it easy for your customers to save the things they love directly to a Pinterest board—and Pinterest pins can live on for months, even years. Which is an eternity compared to the fleeting 24 hours (or less) that you get from an Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn post.

You also want to take some time to learn the best practices of Pinterest:

-      You want to use as many keywords or phrases in your pin descriptions as possible

-      You want to make sure you’re pinning it to the appropriate boards

-      You want your boards to have accurate descriptions and be well organized

-      Plus, you want your content to have fresh imagery that is visually appealing on the platform

I like Tailwind because:

-      It automatically creates a schedule for your pins to maximize their impact based on your content.

-      You can cross post to and from Instgram.

-      The app scans your profile and boards and makes suggestions for improvements.

-      Tailwind has Smartloops for your ever green and seasonal content.

-      Most importantly, you get access to Tribes where you can upload your content to accelerate its visibility.

Download my Tailwind process at: getauthenticbranding.com/resources

Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende, Music.io

So, where do you start? If you’re new to social media as a business or don’t have a ton of time on your hands, the easiest place to start is by posting things like:

-      Behind the scenes photos of the day to day stuff.

-      New products or projects that you’re working on.

-      Create videos or tutorials.

-      What you're doing today.

-      Talk about your favorite finds.

-      Industry info. You’ll teach them something and establish yourself as an expert; things that subconsciously elevate you in your audience’s mind.

If you’re already doing these things or you’re looking to take your social media to the next level, let’s talk through what that can look like.

• Start with a long form piece of content
• Break that content in to 5-7 posts for the week in Trello
• Keep a running list of hashtags you can pull from
• Create images for each post using Canva Pro
• Copy/Paste from Trello in to Buffer, add images
• Boom. You're done.

Download this content process at: getauthenticbranding.com/resources

Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende, Music.io

Alright, you feel like you’re firing on all cylinders when it comes to marketing your business in the “free” to “no-cost” zone, but you feel like you need a little bit more of a boost. This is where paying and investing in your marketing begins.

• A website designer
• Professionally written website text
• Search Engine Optimization aka SEO
• Pay Per Click or PPC campaigns
• Social Media ads
• Influencer sponsorships
• Brand Strategists
• Marketing Coaches

Download the complete list of the strategies at: getauthenticbranding.com/resources

Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende, Music.io

As a small business owner, you might not have a lot, or any, money to invest in marketing.

In this episode, I break down:

1. Social Media
2. Pinterest
3. Email Marketing
4. Google My Business
5. Creating a website

Download my resource guide at: getauthenticbranding.com/resources.

Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende, Music.io

Marketing sounds hard and something a professional should be doing. So, how in the heck do I even market my business? I don’t have a lot of time on my hands, but I want to grow my business. Where do I start?

Let’s start with the definition of marketing. The technical definition of marketing is: the process of creating, communicating and delivering offers that have value for your clients or customers. Simplified, it’s a value exchange between a business and a person.

As a small business owner, you need to create a marketing plan that aligns with your business and operations goals. Marketing, is a key part of growing your business and becoming more profitable. Without marketing, you won’t effectively reach your target audience or tell them why they should invest in your product or service.

First, start with your 12-month goal. Next, refine that goal in to an objective by making it a SMART goal. Finally, outline strategies to achieve your goal and objectives and the tactics you need to accomplish the strategies.

Your marketing plan should help you make measurable progress toward your goal and objective.

Download my free marketing plan outline at: getauthenticbranding.com/resources.

Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende, Music.io

How do you know what kind of logo is right for your business? Is it just a gut feeling? Whatever you think is pretty? What’s trendy right now? Choosing a logo is a big decision and one that you’ll have to look at, literally, for a long time to come.

1. How you will use your logo - where will you be putting your logo? How many colors should be in a logo? How will it need to scale. These are all important questions and ones that should be answered before you move on.
2. What is the style of your logo and what do you need to communicate with it? Will your ideal customer be able to identify you from your logo?
3. What is your brand personality? When creating a cohesive brand aesthetic for your business, making sure your logo accurately reflects your brand personality is key.
4. Font selection - What kind of fonts can you use in a logo? Do they match your brand personality?
5. Color selection - what kinds of colors do you need to create a logo?

What things will you need from your logo designer?

1. An EPS file
2. A PNG file
3. A JPEG file
4. A wide logo
5. A stacked logo
6. A small logo
7. Black and white variation
8. Full color variation

If you're looking for inspiration, check out my logo boards on Pinterest @authenticbranding. Download my logo resource guide at: getauthenticbranding.com/resources.

Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende, Music.io

Key Messages help you prioritize the information you need to communicate to your ideal customers, ensure consistency and accuracy of that information and stay focused when you’re speaking about your business. They tell your audience what you do, how you are different and what value you bring to your potential customer’s lives.

You want your key messages to be:

-      Concise; think literally a sentence

-      Strategic; they should communicate your value as a business

-      Relevant; your ideal customer should be able to identify with your messages

-      Simple; don’t make the language hard to understand by including a bunch of industry jargon

-      Most importantly, you want them to be on-brand. Remember, we’re all about building an authentic brand around here, so if you write a sentence down and it doesn’t resonate with you or “feel” right, it’s not going to feel authentic to your audience. While there’s a definite science to creating a brand, there’s also your gut instinct that’s worth listening to to make sure you’re not straying into any weird territory. For me, being authentic means feeling genuine and relatable.

If you need help getting started, visit getauthentic.com/resources and download my key message brainstorming workbook. It walks you through the exercise we just talked about!

As always, if you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please rate, review and subscribe to help other women like you find it.

Music: Tuesday, by Sascha Ende, Music.io

Your ideal customer, also known in the marketing world as your target audience, are the people who find the most value in your product or service. They buy from you the most frequently and more rapidly than someone outside of your target audience. Having an ideal customer in mind is critical to being efficient in your marketing efforts. But how do you even know who your ideal customer is? And when you do, what do you do with that information?

Use your ideal customer to create a persona. Personas are simply fictional characters that represent the 2-3 broad groups of ideal customers. Our goal with personas is to help you understand your ideal customers’ needs, experiences, behaviors and goals.

As a business owner, if you have a niche ideal customer in mind, it also makes your job a hundred times easier because you don’t have to recreate your marketing and business materials for several different audiences. You can spend your time creating high quality sales and marketing materials specifically for your those 2 or 3 ideal customers.

Music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende music.io

Humans, at their very core, are story tellers. Storytelling is still one of the most powerful ways to connect. Having a story is so critical to your brand because without it, your customers won’t connect with you in a way that feels authentic. When you tell your story in an authentic way, your audience is going to believe that you can help them or that your product or service is best for them because they believe you understand who they are as people.

First, you need to get super clear on your "why".

1. Why start your own business?
2. Why this business? Insert: marketing coach, fitness coach, etc.

Once you’ve gotten super clear on your “why”, your story really starts to take place. Having a story is so critical to your brand because without it, your customers won’t connect with you in a way that feels authentic. I’m more likely to purchase from a store or a service provider when I can relate to their story. When you tell your story in an authentic way, your audience is going to believe that you can help them or that your product or service is best for them because they believe you understand who they are as people.

The elements of a good brand story:

-      Incorporate your why. You don’t need to say it literally, but you want to tell a story around it. So make sure you’re super clear about it. This is where you implement all the things we’ve been talking about. Give your audience a reason to connect with you! Make them believe that whatever product or service you have to offer is going to add value to their lives.

-      Illustrate why you’re unique. You aren’t just like everyone else, so don’t tell your story in a way that could be copy and pasted over to someone else. You have something unique. Tell the world about it!

-      Make it personal. For some of us, it’s hard to be vulnerable; it’s something I have to work on all the time in my new role. Your audience wants more than a glossy story and pretty pictures, so open up and tell your personal story too. 

-      Make it authentic. Nobody likes a faker—be genuine and sincere when you tell your story. And make it an accurate picture of who you are, who you want to be and where you are today. Your story should feel like a natural extension of you as a business owner.

Use impactful language that paints a picture. Remember all of those creative writing courses you took as a kid where your teacher implored you to use descriptive and unique words to tell your story instead of just vague language? Lucky you! You get to dust off those skills and put them to work! Your story should be exciting! Don’t just put some ho-hum words together. Paint the picture for your audience. Make them feel! People will naturally imagine you within your story. If you don’t use impactful words, you won’t make a lasting impression.

Contact me at: [email protected] to get started on building your business or refining your brand today.

Episode music: Tuesday by Sascha Ende from Flimmusic-io.