I was out shopping recently buying some last-minute bits and pieces for our holiday.
And I noticed a new shop filled with pretty dresses and summer clothes – perfect for sunny Corfu. Although I didn’t have much time, I decided to quickly try them on.
Three dresses and a pair of culottes – all in the sale.
I hated them all!
Or rather I loved them all, but they all looked frumpy on me.
I put them back with a sigh, wishing they suited me because they were so pretty. All summer I had been drawn to similar dresses but alas – not for me.
It’s exactly the same with marketing.
Maybe there are some things you like the idea of – but when you go for it, you discover you don’t enjoy it – or it doesn’t give you the results you were hoping for.
Maybe you avoid certain marketing activities like the plague because they’re “not you”.
But perhaps if you were to try them, you’d discover that you are great at it, it gives you brilliant results, AND you actually really enjoy it.
When I started my business in 2004 one of the things that was drummed into me with marketing was “test everything on a small scale first”. Even if a strategy has been proven to work and gets great results for others doesn’t guarantee it will work for someone else.
Indeed, a particular strategy might work brilliantly once but when you try it again expecting similar results, you are disappointed to discover it limps along.
Different audience, different offer, different timing can all yield hugely variable results.
When it comes to marketing strategies, I believe the most important thing is for you to LOVE the strategies you implement.
That you’re excited by them. That you can’t wait to get them out into the world and see how they land.
Because when you’re excited, that energy flows out. People feel it. They feel your joy and delight and want to buy into it. It lifts them up.
It’s like wearing clothes you feel amazing in. You stand taller, you have more confidence, you feel good and that spills out. Compliments flow in.
With your marketing the compliments come in the form of sales. And this high vibe ripples out as people talk about your business and recommend it.
It’s a completely different energy to marketing because you have to, because you need to, because you want the end result and marketing is a necessary evil.
In coaching sessions, clients are often grappling for the “best” way to promote something. What “should” they do? What will “work”?
I always tell them not to focus on that – that there is no “best” way. To totally let that go. Because when they focus on “what’s best”, they’re in their head, they’re second-guessing what people will do, they’re attached to results.
Instead, I get them to feel into their heart.
What would feel fun? What would feel easeful? What would feel expansive? What would feel exciting?
Once they’ve tuned into that energy, then the ideas flow. They connect to the marketing strategy that lights them up. Which of course they’re super excited to share with the world because it’s so amazing. This in turn lights prospective clients up. They resonate with it so much they buy.
Once we’ve connected to that playful, light energy and created a strategy from that place, then we put the practical, solid foundations in place to ensure prospects are moved along the buying cycle.
This creates a marketing strategy that has its own energy. One that flows seemingly effortlessly along – like a river that builds momentum as it makes its way to the wide-open sea.
There’s no friction, no sharp edges, just ease and flow. Of course, there’s many tasks that get done, but these feel fun – a joy to create – rather than a chore.
If you run away from marketing or hate the idea of it, maybe it’s because you simply haven’t found a style of marketing that suits you? That you’ve been busy exploring what you “should” do, or “what’s best” instead of what feels fun, light and easy?
If that’s you and you’d like to transform your experience of marketing.
I have a handful available and there’s no charge. Think of it like trying on a dress.
Here’s the link to book:
Much love,
Melina
