I just sat in on a webinar on conscious marketing and found myself more intrigued by the chat than the speakers.
This is not a diss on the speakers. They were great and their material was relevant and well presented.
But they couldn't tear me away from the stream of lamentations the audience had about actually having to market their businesses. And I remind you, this was during a webinar about marketing your business!
I actually jotted down one of my favorite comments:
But creating content to market with takes time away from doing my work!
To which someone replied with what I can only hope was a smidgen of snark:
What I’d prefer is to just sit back and quietly until the clients find me.
Snark aside, there was something deeply resonant about this desire to disengage from marketing, to view it as a completely separate entity from a person's business.
So many of my clients start out telling me some version of those stories. That it's not within their perceived skillset to create content. Or it's way outside their comfort zone to "market" themselves.
But here's the thing:
You don't get to do your genius work
if no one knows about your genius work
and how it will change things for them.
It’s as simple as that. No one buys what you’re selling unless they know what you’re selling.
So when you're putting off sending your newsletter or feeling put off by marketing in general, the best thing you can do for yourself and your business is reset.
Call it a Content Intent Reinvent, if you will, even though that is very, very marketing-y. 😉
Kinda cheesy name? Yes. Important goal? Also yes.
It helps you realign yourself to what you're doing and why. It helps you shoo away the inner critic voices that have so.many.opinions. about marketing and outcomes and wordsmithing. It helps usher in your authentic voice and clears space for your anchor messaging.
When you need to reinvent your marketing mindset, take a moment, take a breath and remind yourself:
Content is a conversation.
It's an ongoing, focused conversation (which may be one-sided for a while) that lets my ultimate audience:
*get to know me,
*understand what my business is about, and
*start to tease out if what I'm offering is what they need.
My content is a conversation that tells my story in installments over time.
Because the story sells the work.
Try it out this month. Let me know if it helps you shift your perception about creating content. Or if it makes devoting time to writing each week feel like an opportunity instead of a burden.
“Well Said Wednesday” is a blog by Barbara Govednik, Founder, Content Coach & Message Strategist of 4.23 Communication. It’s published every other Wednesday…ish.