How to Boost Your Confidence and Increase Brand Awareness

How to Boost Your Confidence and Increase Brand Awareness

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

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As I wrap up creating 90 days of content both for Youtube and the Brandmerry Podcast, I started to think more about visibility and showing up online.

You can watch an entire vlog I created about the process here.

The thing with visibility and creating content is it’s not easy, and it took me months to build up the confidence to even show up online to promote my business.

But, this confidence is absolutely essential if you want to not only build an online community of warm leads, but also lead your audience through the buying process so they become a paying customer.

Today, I want to talk about getting visible, and how you build up the confidence to show up. 

I've been doing this long enough and I work with a lot of new entrepreneurs, people who aren't super familiar with social media or don't feel comfortable with social media or afraid to use video or don't want to look stupid in a reel or don't want to send an email because it's not perfect. 

There are so many things that are keeping us from showing up and growing our audience, but more importantly, nurturing our audience and making the sale, that we can move through.

However, I know you can move through those beliefs and I’m sharing five ways to do that with you today. 

5 WAYS TO BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE AND GET VISIBLE

I made a list of five things to share with you on how to boost your confidence and start getting visible online so you can make that money. 

Make the money, make the impact, go out and get it, because visibility is a non-negotiable. 

You’ve got to show up.

Number One: It's Bigger Than You

When it comes to visibility and showing up in marketing in general, you have to understand that it's bigger than you.

When I was first starting, I kept asking myself, "But why do people care? What if I sound like an idiot? What if this is not correct? What if nobody shows up?" 

I kept saying all these different things like, "What if, what if, what if, what if?" 

Then one time, when creating content, I sat down and thought to myself, What if this is not actually about me?

It was at this moment that my branding shifted, because for a long time I thought branding was 100% about me and what I did, and we know now that it's not. It is about your audience. It has to be about your audience. 

You are in this to make money. You are in this to make an impact. If you're just talking about yourself all damn day, your audience isn't going to be able to resonate with you. There's going to be no connection. 

Everything you share, even when you're sharing stories about yourself, you must ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is this for?

• What will my ideal customer get from this?

• How is this going to support them?

Otherwise, you're just showing up to show up and talk about yourself and that won’t move your business forward.

So one of the first things that I started to ask myself was, "What is the bigger picture?" and that, I think really ties into your mission. In the first episode of the Brandmerry Podcast, I shared with you a mission-driven business.

You can go back and listen to that episode and get really clear on what the mission is behind your business. It's always bigger than you. It's the impact that you are ultimately going to make. So the first step is identifying the mission. 

The second step is really switching your focus, switching your thinking when it comes to visibility. Remove you from the equation. 

You are the vessel, right? 
You are the one that is delivering the information, carrying out the mission.

That's it. 

When we start to recognize that it's so much bigger than just us showing up, and it's about the message and the mission and the impact that we are going to make, that will give you the motivation to show up and increase your visibility. 

That's number one, big picture. 

Number Two: Have a Plan

Now, notice I didn't say be prepared because I think this whole idea of being prepared fluctuates and can be different for every single person. 

For those of us, who are recovering perfectionists, working on it every damn day, you're never prepared. You're never prepared because of perfection. It's a vicious cycle, so it's not about being prepared and having all your ducks in a row. 

You can never have everything perfectly lined up and perfectly ready to go. You need to record videos, and you're like, "Ooh, I need this perfect background, and I gotta paint my wall, and I gotta have wallpaper, and I’ve got to get the perfect outfit, and I have to have this perfect boom mic and this perfect ring." 

No, you don't need to have any of those things, so it's not about being prepared because your ratio of what is prepared could be crazy compared to what is actually required. 

But it is about having a plan. You’ve got to know how you're going to show up and when you're going to show up.

This is going to allow you to actually do the damn thing because you will keep postponing it over and over and over and over again if you don't plan for it. Something will always come up. It always does. There will always be an obstacle or an objection or something that you're like, "Oh, can't do it today. No, today's not the day. No, I'm not ready."

Create a plan. 

When are you going to post your first blog post? 
When are you going to create your first video? 
Have you been thinking about reels? 
Have you been saving reels to your phone and you just keep waiting and you're like, "Oh, I don't know"?

Put it on the damn calendar. 

Create a plan of action. If you’re in your first year of business it feels like you’re throwing spaghetti at a wall. Shit, I'd argue your first, second, and third year, too! It kind of feels like that. 

It's like we're just throwing stuff and seeing if it sticks, but even though that's like a really good analogy, there still has to be a plan in place. 

What the hell are you throwing on the wall?

What are you wanting to stick? 

You've got to know these things. Otherwise, you really are just mindlessly floating around the internet. So having a plan will actually support you in getting visible and being confident in showing up. 

Knowing what you're going to talk about on a video before you hit live or record, will take the pressure off. It doesn't mean you have to have the perfect script, it doesn't mean you have to have the perfect microphone, but have a game plan and get it scheduled.

If you’re looking for my tips to create a plan for your content calendar, watch this video here.

Number Three: Choose Your Platformu

When it comes to visibility, showing up, and nurturing your audience, you want to choose one platform and one medium to start. 

We know with niching down, especially the more specific you are, the more streamlined you are, same with your offers, the more specific you are, the less you have when you're starting out, the faster you will grow. Because your attention is not pulled in a million different directions. 

When you're just starting out and you're really struggling to just get started and just get the confidence to go do something, don't stretch yourself so thin. Start with one area.

When I was first starting, Facebook was super comfortable for me because I spent all my time on Facebook back in the day. I'd never run a business there, I never had a business page, but I was comfortable with the platform. That's why I decided to start there. 

I also love video so I decided to just create a lot of live videos as this was something new Facebook was offering at the time. 

I did frequent challenges. I would do multiple videos a week sometimes, and that is what I focused on, and that is how I signed most of my clients. 

Then, I started to get a little bit more confident and decided to venture to Instagram. I hated it at first, it felt like a lot of pressure, but I was also excited about it and knew I had the capacity to take it on. So, I practiced, I refined, and I figured out what worked for me. I got good at writing captions and so on and so forth. 

You don't have to do it all at once. A visibility plan doesn't mean that you're showing up everywhere under the damn sun.

If you're really struggling to gain confidence, then pick a platform where you know your ideal customer is, pick a medium, and really focus on that. Now, as you start to expand, of course, there are ways that you can repurpose your content, which is still something that I do today. It's a huge staple inside of Brandmerry Academy. 

With a repurposing plan, you can start to find your main core medium, and then kind of push your content out from there. 

For me, it's still video, all these years later, so I really encourage you to simplify, strip it down, think about the main platform and the main medium that your audience is on. Practice. Get yourself out there. Do the work.

Find what works. Find what doesn't work. Really dedicate your time and energy to it, because you're going to get confident as you do it. That's the secret. You get confident the more you do it, so why not laser in and focus on one thing, get really confident on that, and then watch that snowball?

I used to tell my clients that it is literally like a snowball rolling down a hill, right? It starts really, really small, and then it starts to get bigger, and the momentum picks up, and that's essentially what visibility is. 

You're going to start small, it's going to feel really, really slow, it's going to feel insignificant, and you're going to start to pick up momentum the more that you do it and the more that you focus on where your reach is going to expand.

Number Four: Identify the Value

This kind of circles back to number one, where we discussed the point of showing up. Why are you doing this in the first place?

This particular point is about each individual piece of content. So before I record a live video, I always sit down and identify what I want my audience to walk away with.

Before I record a podcast, I sit down and identify what I want my audience to walk away with.

Before I create a social media post, I'm like, "What the hell is in it for my audience?" 

If you can identify the value before delivering the content, it's going to take the pressure off of you. 

Your mindset starts to shift and you start to realize…
...This isn't 100% about me. It doesn't matter how I look. It doesn't matter exactly what I say. As long as I deliver the value piece, we’re golden. 

So make sure that you're taking the time to identify that. 

Now, I recommend that a lot of my clients do that in the content planning process, but you can absolutely just sit down right before you hit record or right before you write the post and connect back to the value and what you want to provide with that piece of content.

I'm telling you, it seems incredibly simple, but it's a game-changer.

Number Five: Practice

That leads us to number five, which I already kind of told you, but we can still hang out here and talk about it a little bit more...practice. 

If you listen to any entrepreneur, public figure, athlete, they will tell you that they boost their confidence and skill set by continuing to do it over and over and over again.

I had an amazing client inside of Brandmerry Academy the other day and she asked, "How did you get so confident on camera? How are you able to just speak really fluidly?" 

My response was that I’ve done so many videos. That was the medium I chose in the beginning and I wanted to do it as much as possible to become incredibly confident at it.

I remember when I recorded my first podcast episode, and my husband can probably attest to this, I re-recorded it over and over and over again because it just didn’t feel like enough.

Now, I've recorded a lot of episodes and I just sit down and record it. Mistakes and all, I'm here for it. 

The confidence comes by doing, and I think that's the irony of the entire thing. People wait, and maybe you're waiting, to be confident to get started, but you're only going to get confident by getting started.

 Think about it.

Your confidence will grow the more you do it, and that's why all these things build on each other. 

CONCLUSION

I know there is something you’ve been waiting to do, or holding off on until you’re ready. YOU ARE READY NOW.

Go through this process and tips I’ve just outlined, because visibility is non-negotiable as a business owner, and it's so fun to connect with people as you grow your business. 

Show up, share your value, and connect with your audience. That's the fun part for me about content creation. 

Yes, I love new leads. I love when people discover me and my brand, and that's part of the equation, but more than anything I love when people are like, "Watched last week's video and loved it."

"Watched this week's video and it was amazing. Love listening to your podcasts."

That's why I'm doing it, and because we're business owners, you're also going to make more money. Let's not sugar-coat it. 

We want to see you. 
We want to hear your message. 

One of the things that I said really early on, on a podcast just by accident, and it has stuck with me ever since, is “Someone, somewhere needs to hear your message!” 

So just remember that. You're just speaking to someone, just one person, that's it. If one person gets your story, gets in touch with you, you did your job.

If you’re looking for more support with your marketing, I suggest you check out my free training. I’m teaching you how to master your marketing without social media and you can sign up here to access it. 

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

6 Tips For Finding New Clients Online

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

Here at Brandmerry, we focus on personal branding and marketing strategies to help you create more income and impact. 

And one of the ways to create more income and impact is serving more clients. 

So I thought what better way to support you in doing that than to share six of my favorite ways that you can start implementing to sign new consistent clients in your business.

Before I dive into the six tips, I have two little disclaimers that I need to share with you. 

These tips are not going to work if you don't know who your ideal customer is. In fact, you're going to have a really hard time signing clients if you don't know who you really want to work with. 

So it's incredibly important that you do the ideal customer work so that you know how you're showing up and what you're saying to those clients. 

In addition to that, your messaging needs to be very clear. 

Ideal customer and messaging are both core parts of the personal branding process. In fact, they are just two of the elements that I teach inside of my course You! Branded. 

And if you want to get a sneak peek, you can watch the Build a Better Brand Method on-demand training all about personal branding. Sign up at betterbrandmethod.com to watch it on demand. 

So make sure you take the time to learn more about your ideal customer and messaging. 

6 WAYS TO SIGN NEW CLIENTS

METHOD #1 TO SIGN NEW CLIENTS:
Create High-Value Content

My number one way to attract new service-based clients is to create high-value educational content. 

Now, educational content can be a slew of different things depending on what you sell in your business. But if you're a service-based business owner, chances are you’ve got a lot of cool information up your sleeve that you can teach your audience. 

Now, why do I say high value? 

Because if you can really position yourself as an expert from the start, from that initial piece of content that they consume from you, whether that is on a blog or a video on YouTube or a live stream or a freaking Instagram Reel, then you're going to build that trust right from the beginning, and that is really important.

Create high-value content, put it out there, show up, invite individuals to join your community, join your email list, sign up for your service, and watch as you build momentum and brand awareness and those clients keep coming in. 

So again, I'm going to stress here, it's not just about consistent content, it's not just about posting to post on social media. It's high-value, quality content. 

What is your audience searching for? 
What questions are keeping them up at night? 
Why are they coming to you to solve their problem? 

Help them through that process and watch as your gap between the new ideal customer and signing that customer gets a lot shorter.

METHOD #2 TO SIGN NEW CLIENTS:
Host a Live Event

This is one of my favorite ways to sign new clients. With a product launch, a course, and a group program, but specifically for one-on-one service-based clients. 

Sometimes we think, “All right, I've got this one-on-one service and it's always available, someone can sign up at any time.” Well, that might actually be hurting you. 

And I'm not suggesting that you're constantly opening and closing and opening and closing the doors or changing things around, but adding in frequent live events, maybe quarterly, maybe monthly, where you get to share your expertise, give incredible value, and then ultimately pitch your service can be incredibly helpful.

So these live events could look like a video series on social media, you could host a challenge inside of a pop-up Facebook group, you could host a webinar or a workshop, some sort of training for your audience. 

Essentially you have something that everyone signs up for about a topic that is super important to your audience and then you get to pitch your products and service as a solution to that problem. 

If you have a service that's always open, you're always accepting new clients, it can sometimes cause your audience to say, “I'll sign up later, I'll do this later.” 

Having these live events can be incredibly helpful and moving your ideal customer through the buying process, getting them really excited, helping them solve a problem, and then offering up your service as the solution.

METHOD #3 TO SIGN NEW CLIENTS:
Share Your Free Gift with your Community

Now, tip number three might not work for all of you, but I think it's important to know. Because I'm hoping that we'll also get the juices flowing in your brain around growing your community. 

Tip number three is all about sharing your free gift with your network. In the beginning, you might not have a huge network to tap into. I didn't have anybody in my network that I could sell my services. 

But I have a lot of clients who do. And by realizing that they have this network, we have to get really creative with how we tell them about our new venture. 

How do we tell them about our services without feeling like we're bombarding them or overwhelming them? 

One of the best ways to do that is to create some sort of freebie or lead magnet for your audience. You need this anyways, you need this regardless because it's a great way to build your email list, which is going to help you sign consistent clients.

When you create that, a great thing to do if you have the network available to you is to share it with them. 

Reach out to them and say, "Hey, I have this new freebie. If you're interested, this is what it does." Or, "I know that you have a network of people who might be interested in this, would you mind sharing this?" 

If you have a connection with other people in your industry that maybe have a similar audience or maybe they've changed gears and now they work with a different audience, reach out to them and say, "Hey, I know that you used to do this, I know you used to be in career coaching and you're not anymore. Would you mind sharing my new freebie that I have on resume building with your existing audience?" 

Tying into those connections that you already have and those networks can be incredibly helpful. But this is my favorite way to do it from a really authentic place so it doesn't feel like you're like, "Oh, I got this new offer, here's where you click to buy."

It will get people on your email list where they will hear about your services.

METHOD #4 TO SIGN NEW CLIENTS:
Build Brand Authority

Tip number four, and one of my other favorite ways, is to build brand authority. 

Now, we talked in tip number one about high-value content, about how it's important to build your expertise and showcase your expertise from the beginning. 

Because, the reality is there are going to be people who are looking for your products and services online that may be further along in the buying process and they're looking for that moment of trust, of “this is my person.” 

So having that high-value content is incredibly helpful. 

But another thing that's going to help you sign consistent clients is going to be your brand authority. People want to know that you know what you're talking about. 

A few great ways to do this, and two of my favorites, are through pitching your personal brand and through the power of search engine optimization.

When it comes to pitching your personal brand, this is a fantastic way to get in front of a new audience. I have my degree in public relations and it is one of the trainings that we teach inside of Brandmerry Academy, my marketing membership because we understand that it's a fantastic way to get all eyes on your brand. 

When you do this, you're getting invited to come onto a platform with credibility. Now, maybe you're not going to get into Forbes the very first time you pitch but think about those smaller podcasts that your audience loves, that they listen to regularly, that they have a lot of trust and respect for the host. 

That host is inviting you in to share your expertise. Your authority level is already elevated. 

So rather than shooting a paper airplane in the dark of social media and hoping it lands on your ideal customer, you're getting in front of your ideal customer already elevating your brand authority through the power of pitching your expertise.

On the other side of that, we've got SEO. Now, this isn't an “or” situation, this is an “and” situation. Because pitching and getting featured in publications, on podcasts, on TV will also help you boost your SEO because it helps drive traffic to your website.

SEO is an incredible way to increase your brand authority because of your ranking on Google.

So I'll give you an example. If you go to Google and type in brand coach, I am going to show up at the very top, if not in the top three. If I'm a consumer and I'm looking for a brand coach and I go to Google and I see that the top person without paid ads is Brandmerry, immediately the authority is high. 

So using the power of SEO, and site-wide SEO specifically to rank for your industry can also help increase your brand authority. 

SEO, search engine optimization, is something that we teach again inside of Brandmerry Academy, which is my marketing membership. And you can learn more at brandmerryacademy.com.

METHOD #5 TO SIGN NEW CLIENTS:
Offer Assessments

Tip number five is all about offering assessments. 

Now, I wanted to make sure that in covering these six ways, that you had something that would work for you no matter where you're at in your business. So the assessment works really well if you have a small audience or you're just getting started. 

You could absolutely do it if you're further along in your business and you've got a huge email list, but just know that you're going to need a lot more time blocked off to handle all of these assessments. 

Now, assessments do require your time and energy, but in the beginning, it's incredibly worth it if you are looking to create consistent income through your service-based business.

So what an assessment essentially is, is honing in on one area of your expertise, offering free assessments by application for someone to get your knowledge dumped into their lap. So I'll give you an example of what I did in the beginning of my business. 

I offered brand messaging assessments. 

I would promote them on social media, I would promote them in my email list, I would promote them on my website and my blog, and back in the day when I used Facebook groups, I would promote them there as well. 

Essentially, in conjunction with awesome benefit-driven messaging, I would say…

I'm offering five of these this week, here's the link to sign up. When you sign up, you are going to fill out a short questionnaire, we're going to hop on the phone for 20 minutes, you're going to share a little bit about your business with me, and then I'm going to give you three ways to improve your brand messaging at the end of the 20 minutes.

So super actionable, they knew exactly what they were getting, it was focusing on one specific area. 

I found that the assessments really served me better than offering a free call or a discovery call. Because those are incredibly vague and someone might not know exactly what they're going to get on that call so they might be hesitant to sign up for it. 

Think about two to three things that you could really focus on that are key to your entire framework as a service-based entrepreneur, create really strong marketing materials to promote those assessments, and offer a limited-time opportunity to get in the door.

Don't always have these assessments open. Say you're offering two or three a week, maybe you do this every month, maybe you have it on the back end of your freebie or in your email funnel. 

No matter how you want to work it in or promote it, these can be incredibly helpful with getting your customer on the phone with you showcasing your expertise, solving a problem, and then at the end of the assessment you can say something along the lines of, “If this was helpful for you, do you want to have a conversation on how we can continue to work together?”

Then you can move into the sales conversation - and just for the record I never had someone tell me no!

METHOD #6 TO SIGN NEW CLIENTS:
Storytelling

If you don't already know, my expertise over here at Brandmerry is serving my clients through personal branding and marketing strategies, but it's all based on the art of storytelling. 

If you're not familiar with the art of storytelling, you can watch this video right here, where I share more about the importance of storytelling and some of my top tips. Ultimately, if you want to show up, you want to build connections, you want to build trust, get in the habit of sharing your story.

When I first started out and I wasn't signing any clients in my business, I was doing all the things. I was showing up, I was even at the beginning offering some assessments, but nothing was really registering with my audience. 

I had a small list of about 10 people that grew from 20 to 30 to 40 or 50, and still, I wasn't signing consistent clients. 

When I started to focus on emotional branding and the connection with my audience and showing up and sharing stories about why I do what I do, my values, my mission, those same people started buying from me. 

And they weren't new to me, I'd been showing up, I had been delivering value, but suddenly there was that connection piece. So one of the best things that you can do for your business, especially as service-based entrepreneurs, especially as someone who's building a personal brand, is getting into the habit of sharing stories.

Now, I talk about the art of storytelling all the time on my podcast, The Brandmerry Podcast. 

You can also check out the Brand Storytelling Guide on the Brandmerry Blog.

Storytelling truly is an art. And you want to make sure that when you're sharing these stories, that you're not just talking to a wall or talking to anyone, that you're speaking directly to your ideal customer, the same ideal customer that's going to buy your one-on-one package or the custom package that you are offering. 

So get in the habit of incorporating a story into everything that you create, and that includes your emails and your social media posts and your blogs and on your website and in your videos because it's going to help you sign consistent clients in your business.

All right, there you have it, six ways to sign new clients as service-based entrepreneurs.

Don't forget to catch the free on-demand training, the Build a Better Brand Method.
You can go to betterbrandmethod.com to learn more about my signature six-part method.

You're going to learn more about elevating your messaging. I've got a trick in there on doing the ideal customer research that you're not going to want to miss where I’m talking about telling your brand story. 

You can also check out youbrandedcourse.com to learn more about my paid branding course. This is truly where you get the step-by-step system for building a strong brand foundation rooted in story, understanding your ideal customer and mastering your messaging.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

Lessons in Marketing: Resiliency Pays Off

Lessons in Marketing: Resiliency Pays Off

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

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LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS

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When it comes to marketing, you've got to be in it for the long game. 

Despite what you might see posted on Facebook Ads, the reality is most people aren’t making $10k in 10 days in the beginning. It takes longevity and dedication, something I’m here for, in order to create sustainable growth as a business owner.

Wouldn’t you rather have consistent $10k months than one week with $10k? Not that you have to choose, you can have both, but from what I’ve seen many individuals create one-hit-wonder marketing strategies that aren’t sustainable.

Resiliency matters as a marketer and if you don't have this resiliency, if you're not really paying attention to the data, to the details, you're going to struggle in marketing your business.

So, in today’s post, I’m sharing.

MARKETING LESSON #1: HAVE MEASURABLE GOALS

I don't know if you have noticed this, but sometimes you plan things, you put in a lot of energy, a lot of time, and you write all the emails, you do all of the things, you put in all the strategy, and then you're like, okay, something seems to be wrong; something's not working.

We're going to talk about how to actually identify what's not working in just a minute, but this is going to happen in business. 

I think it's really easy when we're looking at the way specific marketers are talking about their products and services, and think it will automatically work for me and my business. We know this is not true.

So much of a strategy working depends on your audience and who you ultimately want to attract to your brand and your business. But when we go into marketing with this idea, or with this expectation that this is going to work exactly how we have it mapped out, we're really setting ourselves up for a lot of failures. 

There's a difference between these crazy expectations and having clear, measurable goals. 

As a marketer, it's really important that you have these clear, measurable goals that say, okay, in 30 days let's see where we're at. 

If we haven't noticed a 2% or 3% or 4% improvement, then let's talk about some changes that we could make. Let's watch it again another 30 days and see. 

Then after that, maybe we have to decide that this isn't right for us.
Or maybe we have to decide to implement something else into our strategy. 

That's essentially what I'm talking about when I'm talking about this resiliency in marketing. 

You've got to be in it for the long game. 

This is the thing about marketing, my friends. It is a long game. But so is being a CEO and a business owner. You don't want a business for two months and then you're like, "I'm done with that." 

You put a lot of time and energy into making that happen. So, this resiliency as a business owner is incredibly important and it’s going to help improve your marketing.

MARKETING LESSON #2: DON’T QUIT TOO EARLY

Once you’ve gotten super clear and specific with your goals, it’s so important to put in the energy and effort consistently, but a lot of small business owners quit too early. 

They quit right before things start to shift. 

One of the things that happened to me a couple of years ago when I launched You! Branded is that it wasn't working in the beginning. It wasn't selling and I had signed up for a whole program to support me in making this happen.

So I kept making small adjustments and then I kept making small adjustments, and then we started to see a little bit of an increase and I'm like, "Okay, let's keep making some small adjustments." 

Then within a year, that product alone brought in six figures to my business because of those small adjustments. 

Could you imagine what would have happened if I would have been like, "This doesn't work! Screw this." Which is what a lot of small business owners do. 

We often get the first response to something, or don’t see the sales we imagined and we immediately throw in the towel, but this resilience and dedication to making small improvements can result in consistent income in your business.

If you’re constantly setting goals and then throwing in the towel when they don’t work right away you’ll always be creating and not selling.

SMALL IMPROVEMENTS FOR MASSIVE CHANGE

One of my favorite books is Atomic Habits by James Clear. It's helped me so much with my daily habits in both life and business, and what he talks about and what we don't focus enough on is 1% improvement every single day.

The same is true for your marketing. 

We're typically looking for something to go from 10% to 90% in 48 hours. There's no proof that shows it’s going to happen. The growth we see is incremental growth, changes that have to happen to lead to the larger leap. 

If you are improving even a little bit over time, just 1% daily, that's going to snowball to ultimately be that 90% improvement. 

You have to be open to making changes. 

You have to be open to making these small adjustments. 

You need to set clear goals for yourself. 

LESSON #3: DATA DRIVES DECISIONS

Why are the goals you’re setting so important?

The answer to that question is that data drives decisions. 
When it comes to marketing, data should be driving your decisions. 

The fact that you're like, "Oh, but I really, really love this title. It's so great." But, the data shows that nobody else loves this title or nobody else understands what you're saying. If you’re not willing to change then you’re too emotionally attached to it and not reading the data.

Or, "But, I really love this color." Yeah, but the data shows that that color on a button does not work for you. 

Data needs to drive your decisions, especially your marketing decisions and when we're talking about this resiliency and making these small improvements, then you want to make sure that you're looking at the data to know what to adjust.

DATA YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION TO

When it comes to data there are obviously numerous things you can measure. However, here are some of the most popular for business owners to monitor and track.

Landing Page Conversion Rate:
How many people land on the page and how many people actually follow through with what you're asking them to do? In this case, an opt-in to your lead magnet and email list. 

Typically if you’re promoting something free to a cold audience, you're looking for at least a 30% conversion. We share this information inside of the Academy, by the way. So if you're ever, like, "I don't even know what these conversions should be," we talk about your data and your numbers inside of the Academy a lot.

Email Open Rates:
When we're talking about email open rates, if no one’s opening them, it’s a sure sign that your subject line is underperforming.

It could also be deliverability, but that depends on your email platform. That's why we love ConvertKit. 

Typically, it changes based on your list size, but 18% to about 24% is average. 

If you have 10,000 people on your email list and you're hitting a solid 22%, great. If you've got 40 people on your email list and you're at 90%, fantastic. As your list grows your conversion will shift as well.

If you're feeling like your email marketing doesn't work, then look at your numbers, starting with your email open rates. If your people aren't opening your emails, it's because your subject line sucks. So, let's focus on increasing that first - remember to make one small change. 

Click-Through Email Rates:
If people are reading your emails, but they're not clicking through, then that's your CTA (call to action). 

What are you saying in your email? Are you using the right messaging to get people to take action? Sometimes we group everything together and we're like, "It's not working." And, then we don't make these small adjustments that would probably shift everything.

When you start to get into the habit of making those small adjustments frequently and looking at the data, you can make these informed decisions. 

It took me about five years to like webinars. I'm in my fifth year of business now. There were periods of time where I was convinced I would never do a webinar again.

It wasn't webinars that sucked. It was that I wasn't great at doing webinars. I needed to fix my game. I needed to get really, really clear on what I was teaching on that webinar. I needed to get better at my CTAs. 

I have clients who are like, "Live video doesn't work." And I'm like, "Live video does work, but let's figure out why yours isn't working and let's fix it." 

Put your marketing hat on and ask yourself very specific questions to discover what’s not working, rather than generalize the entire thing.

BTW, a good click-through rate for your emails is 1-3% and on a webinar, you’re wanting between a 2-5% conversion rate.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE DATA

If you don't have a ton of data, try looking at what your audience is responding to. 

What kind of posts do people like that you post on social media? 

What type of blog topics get the most click-through rates in your email marketing? 

What are people asking you about over and over again? 

When it comes to marketing we want a clear target and we want to take actions to get us closer to that target. That's how you create marketing that works for your business.

MARKETING LESSON #4: CREATE MARKETING GUIDELINES

One of the things that I implemented a few years ago to help drive my decisions in marketing, were marketing guidelines. 

These marketing guidelines for my business specifically helped me step into the CEO role of my company.

I talked about it in this post a few weeks ago.

My marketing guidelines as a CEO are that:

• I don't need to post fresh content daily.

• I focus on longevity, so I never want something that's going to disappear or that I can't keep and repurpose. That will allow me to create high-value content. 

• I drive traffic to my home base (aka website)

Those are my three guiding principles when it comes to marketing.

You want to create your own because that's going to allow you to come back to these very specific pieces when things aren't working or when something new comes out and you’re wondering if you should implement it into your strategy. 

There’s always something new and you can’t keep up with all of it or you’ll burn out!

These guidelines will help you determine if it is in alignment with how you want to run your business. 

The example that I gave a few weeks ago was Clubhouse, which is a great platform and people absolutely love it, but it does not hit my criteria. 

It's high value, I will give it that. But it requires you to show up often and the longevity is not there because things disappear. That's just not in alignment with my core guiding principles as a marketer. 

So, when it comes to resiliency in marketing, you want to say, what are my principles? 
What are the things that are important to me? 
What are my values as a marketer? 

Make sure that when you're committing to a new marketing strategy and that you're putting in the time and energy to get the data you need. Because marketing is about resiliency and it's about longevity and it's about consistency.

MARKETING LESSON #5: CONSISTENCY IS KEY

This isn't a fluffy word. There's a reason that we talk about consistency in business and why it is so important. 

If you're setting a goal to see how blogging works and then you post one blog every month, it’s going to take you a while to know if blogging works for you.

But if you set a goal to see how blogging works in 60 days and you’re diligent and post weekly, then you’ll have the data to look at and make a decision on where you go from there.

Thinking of redoing your entire website because you’re convinced it doesn’t work?

Well, let’s fix what you do have because redoing it is going to take you a long time and maybe some money. Let's instead make some of these tweaks and modifications. Let's see if that helps before you now waste six months of your time writing new copy and redoing your entire website.

Now, of course, there's a time and a place to redo your website, if your brand has changed, if your ideal customer has changed. But we're so quick to not put that marketing hat on and say, "Let me look at this with a lens of data and see, what could I change?" 

We’ve recently made changes to our marketing strategy at Brandmerry because of what the data was showing. To hear all the behind-the-scenes of that change be sure to LISTEN to Episode 7 of The Brandmerry Podcast here.

CONCLUSION

Data-driven decisions are so important as a business owner and I really, really hope that you see that.

This message that I wanted to share about resiliency in marketing, it cannot be 100% an emotional decision. You need to follow the data and you need to know what’s working and why! 

This is what we teach inside of Brandmerry Academy.  You can go to brandmerryacademy.com to check it out. 

I hope that this was incredibly helpful for you. I hope this motivated you to start looking at the data to really look at marketing in a way of its longevity. 

It isn't a one-hit-wonder strategy. It can't be a one-hit-wonder strategy

We have to keep ourselves on our toes with marketing, it's essential. And so if you struggle with that, if you want more accountability, if you want to know how to look at the data in the right way, we cover that inside of The Academy.

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

3 Moves That Made Me A 6-Figure Business Owner

3 Moves That Made Me A 6-Figure Business Owner

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

I know why you're here. You saw that title, six figures, and my guess is that you are really close to it or you have a goal to reach in a short amount of time. 

I'm so excited and honored to talk to you about the three moves, and ultimately shifts, that led me to create a six-figure business within one year of signing my first client. 

First, I want to make one thing clear: you are not going to learn about some strategy that's going to turn you into a six-figure business owner overnight. I am not about that 10K-in-10-days life for new entrepreneurs who need to do the work. 

The things that I'm going to teach you today are going to require energy on your part and they're going to require some work. But guess what? If you want to create a sustainable and scalable business as an online entrepreneur, you've got to be in it for the long haul. 

I know so many entrepreneurs are right there at the cusp of it. Or you're sitting there at your desk and you've got a post-it in front of you that says SIX-FIGURE BUSINESS, in all caps! 

I'm not saying that six-figures is the end all be all. I want you to, and I hope that you want to, continue to scale your business past six figures, but this, for many of us, is the very first hurdle. 

I know that was true for me.

MY JOURNEY TO SIX-FIGURES

I started my business in 2016 after the birth of my son. I was working a nine-to-five at the time and I got this crazy idea that I wanted to start my own business. 

I'm not an entrepreneur by trade, I don't come from a family of entrepreneurs, so this kind of came out of left field. 

As I began to expand and grow my business and invest in different things, I learned very, very quickly that there were three major shifts that needed to happen in order for me to actually sign clients and create revenue.

I went eight months without signing clients in my business, but after I signed that first client and these shifts started rolling out, I hit six figures in just one year. 

It is my goal to support you in getting to that milestone and then continuing to use these shifts that are going to serve you for years and years to come.

1. MASTER MY MINDSET

The first move that I made in my business was to get in true alignment with my goal. 

No one told me that being an entrepreneur was a fast track in personal development work. But you quickly realize that as the CEO, in the beginning as pretty much the only person on your team and a one-person show, that you've really got to have your head in the game. 

If your head's not in the game, the strategies won't work. All the things that you're doing just won't work. 

That's one of our beliefs over here at Brandmerry, that you have got to have strategy and mindset in order for both of them to complement one another. 

But I didn't know that in the beginning and since strategy comes very, very easy to me, it took me a little bit longer to get my mindset to match. 

There were two specific areas that I had to focus on when it came to mindset. 

Number one was my money mindset, and number two was my mindset or my belief around perfectionism. 

MONEY MINDSET

Now, when it came to my money mindset, there were two pieces that I needed to focus on. One was looking at the past beliefs and stories and chapters that I had gone through that were contributing to my current beliefs around money. 

This belief was that people who made money were bad people. 

There was a lot of work that I had to do to ultimately redefine what success and having money meant to me. I quickly realized that by having more money, I could ultimately contribute more. 

I could hire a team and support a team, I could support my family, I could have more of an impact in the world. It's taken a few years for me to really get to this place of feeling really confident in saying that to you.

In order to get here, one of the first things that I had to do was go back and journal on my beliefs. I specifically asked myself three questions.

What are the beliefs that I'm carrying around money? 
What was I taught as a child? 
What did my teachers say to me about money? 

I grew up in the nonprofit sector. I worked in the nonprofit sector for a very long time, and the work we did was amazing, but ultimately the pay was not. I was carrying some of those beliefs with me as I began to grow my business. 

One of the beautiful things about being an entrepreneur, but also one of the hardest, is that there's no ceiling. We can ultimately make as much money as we want because we are fully in control of bringing that money in with the right marketing strategies and mindset. 

I really had to shift into that place so that I could have more of that expansive energy. In an episode I did on my lifestyle podcast, The Beautiful Climb, I go more in depth with my money story and some of the specific things that I did to help me shift. Listen to the episode here.

PERFECTIONISM

The second thing that I needed to do was release the beliefs that I had around perfectionism. 

I grew up as a die-hard perfectionist and I am still in the process of recovering from this. Thank you, Brene Brown, for all of your amazing work. I don't know if I would be here without you. 

I loved Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, but any book by Brene Brown is truly incredible if you struggle with perfectionism. I also talked about perfectionism in this video and how detrimental it can be to entrepreneurs.

When I was starting out, I would wait to post a video, I would wait to send emails, I would sit and edit my website over and over and over and over again. 

But as an entrepreneur, you have to be visible. 

If I wasn't showing up, I wasn't bringing in community members and I wasn't making any money. 

This is why it took me eight months to sign a client. I had to really start working on this idea of perfectionism and start peeling back the layers.

The number one thing that I did was just hit the button. 

I remember that first email, after days of agonizing over the process, I was like, "Oh my gosh, they don't even care. I'm just going to hit the button." I hit it and I was like, "Oh, okay. This is fine. If I just keep doing that over and over again, eventually it will become super easy," and that's where I am today. 

There was a lot of internal work that I had to do in order to make money in my business, and those were two of the main areas that I had to begin with and really dive into.

ACTION STEP: Think about your relationship with money and the negative feelings you are carrying around.

2. BUILD A SOLID FOUNDATION

The second move that I needed to accomplish before I could hit six figures was building a solid brand foundation. 

Because of this experience and my success, I now have an entire course called You! Branded. I also teach this inside of my free class, Build a Better Brand Method. 

But when I started, I skipped the entire process. That's why I'm so passionate about it. 

I watch entrepreneurs skip their brand all of the time. 

I thought that if I could just glaze over it, that I would know who my ideal customer was and I would understand what a brand really meant and I would have clear messaging.

It turns out that by skipping over it or even skimming it just a bit, you don't build a solid foundation and there’s nowhere to scale.

When you're thinking of building your business, I want you to think about building an actual building. You're setting a strong foundation at the base, that's your brand. Then as you continue to scale, add offers, new marketing strategies, all of that stuff, you're supported because you've taken the time and the energy to build a solid foundation. 

I skipped this crucial piece and so for eight months I didn't make any money, but as soon as I got into the nitty-gritty, as soon as I really solidified and got specific with my niche, I understood my story and my brand story and how that played a role, I got super clear on who I was speaking to, I understood how to create consistent messaging, and I tapped into my emotional branding, that is when my existing community started to respond. 

Those first clients that I signed weren't new to me, they'd been around for months, but suddenly I was speaking so clearly and connecting with them on such a deep level that they were ready to invest.

I created a video for you right here on emotional branding that I definitely want you to check out. 

It's going to be really beneficial for you in your journey. 

ACTION STEP: If you don't know what a solid brand foundation looks like, I do have a free class for you, it's called the Build a Better Brand Method. You can sign up for that at betterbrandmethod.com.

3. BUILD OUT SYSTEMS

The final move that I made, when it came to building a six-figure business, was getting my systems in place. 

I'm kind of nuts about this now, it's one of the things that I teach inside of Brandmerry Academy because I recognized very, very quickly how much time I got back by having my systems in place. 

Sometimes we postpone putting our systems in place, I'm talking about your content creation system, your client onboarding system, your SOPs for behind the scenes on how you launch a new podcast or launch a new product, for example. 

We wait to do that because it does take some time commitment and a little bit of work, but the long haul and how much time you actually save yourself months and months down the line is incredible.

One of the systems that I put in place really early on in my business was my content creation workflow. I've really embraced the art of repurposing. 

I started mastering my weekly workflow early on because, as I mentioned, I was working a nine-to-five, I had a new baby, and then I was also trying to scale this business. 

I understood that I needed to just show up and get visible and create content so that people could find me, but I only had this much time, so I wanted to make the most out of that time. 

I put together this repurposing workflow, this system for my business, and I've continued to use it and scale it even today. This video that I'm recording is one of three that I'm recording in a one-hour time increment because I'm bulk scheduling, which is part of my process.

Five years later, I'm still using the same content workflow system as when I first started. 

When I first started implementing these systems in my business, not only did I find myself working more efficiently, but I had way more time to do the things that I love to do. 

ACTION STEP: Download my Repurposing Guide to learn how to create your weekly content workflow and set up one of your most important systems.

CONCLUSION

One of the things I don't think is talked about a lot is as you're growing your business, especially to the six-figure mark, is that it's going to take a lot of time and energy. 

Anywhere where you can free up pockets of time, you can actually have fun and enjoy the journey, is going to mean so much to you. 

So when you look back, you don't want to say, “Oh my gosh, I never slept, I never ate, it was horrible." 

You want to look back and say, "Dang, I did that and I'm really, really proud of what I did because I also had the capacity to enjoy life," which is always the goal, right? 

Why have a successful business, if you can't also enjoy the rewards, reap the rewards and enjoy the life that comes with that?

Those are the three moves that I had to make in my business to hit 6-figures and I continue to use them today as I move to new income goals and growth.

Make sure that you watch the Build a Better Brand Method masterclass. It is so important, no matter where you're at in your business, that you make sure that all of those little spots are filled in because it will have an impact on your scalability moving forward. 

Remember, it's not just about hitting the first six figures, it's about continuing to do that over and over again and scaling to the million-dollar mark and it starts with your brand.

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Jumping on a New Social Media Platform

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Jumping on a New Social Media Platform

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS

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One of the things that I see happening with entrepreneurs day in and day out is distractions. 

It's like squirrel brain everywhere all the time. And I get it. 

I feel it too, where something new will pop up and we'll wonder if we need to go do that. If it’s going to completely change our business?

We experience a little bit of FOMO if we see other people doing it and we're not on the platform or implementing that strategy. 

And while I do believe in adjusting and pivoting, in fact, we've got an episode coming out in a few weeks all about marketing, I also know that pivoting all the time or doing it because of FOMO and not from an aligned decision is not a best practice. 

You're going to find yourself distracted, running out of time, and with mediocre content and energy on every platform and within every strategy, rather than simplifying, going all in and excelling at what you're doing. 

The goal with marketing is to do a really good job at what you're putting your time and energy into so you yield results quickly.

If you find yourself jumping on the bandwagon with every new platform that's coming up and wondering how to know what you should put your energy towards and what you shouldn't, then this episode and blog is for you!

What do you do when a new cool platform and major FOMO comes up? 

What questions do you ask yourself? 

What do you have in place and how do you ultimately decide if implementing that is going to be right for you? 

Let's get into it!

CREATE YOUR MARKETING RULES

We have a tried and true approach to branding and marketing over here at Brandmerry. It's one of the reasons I created Brandmerry Academy, as a way to build a sustainable marketing practice and growth without feeling the ups and downs of every trending new platform.  

When it comes to marketing, we have a very, very, clean, simple, minimalist approach. 

And one of the things that we do not do is jump on the new thing. 

Now that doesn't mean that I don't research the crap out of it. I'm the marketing strategist, it's my job to do all the dirty work, so then I can pass along to you, “Hey, this is what we're seeing, this is what's happening,” and hopefully offer a different opinion than what you might be seeing online.

I recently experimented with this when Clubhouse was announced. 

So just like you probably were, I was like, what is this? Should I be on it? What's happening? 

I went back to my marketing rules to ultimately decide if this was the platform for me.

I use these to make aligned decisions in my business and encourage you to create the same.

Rule Number One: I want to drive traffic to my website. 

My website is my home base. It is where the information that you need about my brand lives. It's a one-stop shop for messaging, who I am, how I can support you, resources, blogs, podcasts, and authority. 

It's where I want people to go, because that's where you can get information that you need no matter where you're at in the client journey. Whether you're just starting out and just want some cool resources to figure out if you like this person, or if you're ready to invest.

Rule Number Two: I create evergreen content. 

When I first started my business, like many of you probably, I was showing up on social media all the time. And I felt like I had to show up on social media every single day, because that's what I was being taught. At the time I was working a nine to five, building a business, and I had a baby. That is not a recipe for showing up on social media every single day. It just didn't work. And I started to say, “well, shoot, if that's the way that I'm supposed to grow this business, how is this going to work?”

So I got really good at bulk scheduling. 

I got really good at creating content and repurposing it. But then I quickly realized as I went through that, that the key to success was evergreen content. 

Content that wasn't going to just disappear in an hour, a day, months even. I'm talking about content that will live on, content that will drive traffic to my website for years and years to come.

So any time a new platform is coming up or something new is happening, I'm asking myself, all right, is this in alignment with my two rules?

Ultimately, when deciding on Clubhouse it could work with rule number one, but straight up broke rule number two.

3 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF WHEN CHOOSING A MARKETING PLATFORM

New platforms and information are always going to be coming our way, which is why it's really important that we focus on asking ourselves three things.

QUESTION #1

Is my audience there? 

This should be the number one question that everyone askS themselves any time they're thinking about their marketing strategy. Is my audience there? 

I'll continue with the example of Clubhouse. When I was considering exploring that platform, I started paying attention to my audience and what they were saying. And my audience is made up of working women, some with full-time jobs and most likely taking care of their family and their children and building their business.

Every time I was doing market research or talking to people about Clubhouse they were like, “I don't have time for that. I don't have time to sit on something for six hours and listen in a room and hope that I get value.”

I realized very quickly that my audience was not there. 

You need to remember this with all marketing strategies, because if your audience isn't there, then you're just showing up and creating content and nothing's going to happen because the person that you're creating that content for isn't actually there and it's not getting in front of them. 

With new platforms, your audience might not be there yet so that's where you've got to do some digging and some research in those different pieces.

But if you know your audience really well, you're going to know right away that they're not there.

QUESTION #2

Do I have the capacity for this? 

When I say capacity, I'm referring to time. It's important that you're always prioritizing your time. 

I talk about time management a lot over here, time in and of itself is a major value for me. And using our time in the best way possible while also using our time in alignment with the life that we want to create.

We're not just doing things to do things.

We're not just doing things because people told us that we have to do that and that's expected of us. 

We're being very, very conscious of our time and how we're spending it. So when you're thinking about it, do you have the capacity for this?

If you're already working at your cap, and if  you added something else, would that mean that you would compromise what's already happening?

And that's what I see a lot. 

When Clubhouse first started, I was in a membership community and I was watching what was happening in this group. I saw all these people talking about Clubhouse and how amazing it was. 

They were talking about how it was amazing and they were on it for eight hours the other day. And they were listening to it while they wrote emails. They grew their email list by like five people and it was very, very exciting. 

And then I watched those same individuals within a week or two say, “I don't have any time to work on my business. I'm finding that I don't have time for anything. What are your tips?”

Do you see the disconnect here? Because you do have time, it's how you're spending your time. 

Remember, we don't want to compromise what you're already doing, that'll just make everything "okay"! 

We don't want every marketing strategy to just be okay, we want them to be awesome. That's why sometimes doing less is best!

QUESTION #3

Does this fit with how I do business? 

This goes back to what I shared in the beginning on the two rules. My two rules, when it comes to marketing, are that traffic goes to my website and that I will create evergreen content.

I will not create content that disappears because it's not serving me in the long run. We have blog posts that are still driving traffic from 2016!!

So, if you're going through these questions and they pass question 1 (your audience is there) and question 2 (you have the capacity), but you get to three and it's not in alignment with your rules, then don't jump ship. 

Stay the course because so much of marketing is resiliency. 

Marketing is about resiliency and putting in the time and the energy and not stretching yourself too thin.

TOP MARKETING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENTREPRENEURS

At Brandmerry we believe, and teach, that every single brand should have a website. 

Now that does not mean that every single brand needs to be a design expert or needs to fork out a bunch of money for a brand design, or needs to hire a copywriter. 

Most of my clients actually don't do any of those things because I give them the tools that they need to do it themselves. Some of my clients even do it in a weekend. 

These don't have to be fact, what we're focused on is the information you're providing.  Think about your copy, messaging, brand affinity, the emotional pieces of your brand, those are the things that really work on a website. 

You can have a pretty website, but if people are landing on there and not converting it's not working for you!

Now, a lot of people will say, "but I have the website and none is landing on it!" That's where these next few pieces come into play.

DRIVING TRAFFIC AND GETTING LEADS

No matter who you sell to, everyone's on Google. Google is the largest search engine and ever business needs to pay attention to how and where they show up when their ideal customers are searching for their services.

In addition to Google, and using the same SEO strategy, are Pinterest and YouTube. 

Because of the search engine platforms, just like Google, when you go to Pinterest or YouTube, you type in a topic, and then you get all of these different pieces of information regarding that topic. It's such a powerful tool because your ideal customer is typically further along in the buying process.

So it's about having consistent content on your website, usually in the form of blogging, podcasting with a transcript or show notes, or video embedded with the transcript or show notes. And learning how to drive traffic to your website, so that if someone lands on your website, they then can take action. 

These are the strategies we teach inside of Brandmerry Academy so when a new platform comes up you don't feel like you need to jump ship.

These evergreen platforms might shift from time to time, but for years they've been consistent for entrepreneurs everywhere.

CONCLUSION

Remember, no matter what's changing around us, it's important we have our website, we have our core content, we're driving traffic to it and that is what I recommend every business focus on. 

Then sprinkle in Instagram, sprinkle in Facebook, sprinkle in TikTok, sprinkle it all in until you reach your capacity. But the reality is many of you don't have the capacity to add more of those things that are going to disappear. 

Still not convinced? Here's a scenario for you.

My clients often ask, “Well should I be showing up on Instagram every single day? I heard that you have to post five days a week in order to get results, so I could do that or I could blog.”

What if you didn't do that. 

What if you took the same amount of energy that you were going to do on Instagram. Let's say for five days, and you took that amount of time to write a blog post that's going to perform for you years down the line and not disappear in like a day? Then shared that on Instagram for a boost?

Think about steady, steady, steady growth, and not having to jump on and off bandwagons as they come, because it really is about resiliency, and sustainability as a business owner.

P.S. If you want to learn how to repurpose your content like a pro and create a better marketing workflow, grab my free Repurposing Guide here.

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.