A Note From Colleen

Hi, friend.

This week’s topic is often among the most dreaded - marketing, aka selling. Gah!

But, I have good (and potentially surprising) news. Marketing can actually become the activity you enjoy the most in your business. 

First, however, we must banish the way you’re likely thinking about it. Marketing is no longer the mustached man in a polyester leisure suit trying to sell you a used car and, if you buy now, you’ll get a set of free ginsu knives, too.  

Today’s marketing is all about storytelling. It’s relationship building and sharing your story and your enthusiasm around your product… with people who are just as excited about it as you. There’s no pressure. No rock ‘em, sock ‘em hard sell tactics.

Thanks for being here.

Cheers,

Colleen Kochannek, Publisher

*This publication may include affiliate links and links to products I sell. If you click and buy, I may earn revenue and/or commission. 

BUSINESS BASICS

A Marketing Plan You Can Get Behind

Let’s start with a crash course in Marketing.

Online marketing (also called content marketing or digital marketing) refers to the content you create to attract potential customers and promote your products.  

Content Marketing includes ANY message you put out to potential customers. This can look like:

• Social Media Posts

• Ads

• YouTube Videos

• Emails To An Email List

• Newsletters

• Guest Appearances (As A Podcast Guest, Guest Teacher, Speaker) 

• Blog posts

Marketing is the activity you will do most in your business. Period.

No marketing = no customers = no sales = no business.

If you’re just starting out, I recommend you start with social media. Go all in on ONE platform. Facebook is often the most effective because everybody’s on the platform and you’re likely familiar with it as a consumer. Why add another learning curve to the mix?

Marketing can feel pretty heavy when I tell you all the things your content must do, including: 

• Tell a story (the story of your product, why you created it, why you)

• Develop a relationship with potential customers (develop what’s known as the know, like, and trust factor - KLT)

• Build your authority

• Be informative

• Address objections and pain points your audience has

• Lead your potential customers on a journey to become paying customers.

Gah. That’s a lot to ask.

How the heck is all of this even possible?

When I was first starting my online business in 2017 I was completely overwhelmed with the prospect of online marketing. I didn’t even know where to begin, what to say, or how to say it.

I fell back on something I had done before and loved - that I didn’t know related to marketing per se, but did. 

In my previous life I was a freelance magazine writer for publications like Better Homes and Gardens Magazines. I had a first hand view of how magazines came together.

One day, it dawned on me to create what I call my Magazine Marketing Method for my online business.

Think about your favorite magazine. For example, I love HGTV Magazine. 

Flip through the pages. Check out the table of contents. You’ll see the magazine does not cover just ONE topic. It covers a main theme and lots of related topics.

The magazine tells a whole story - about a topic or issue.

Your content needs to do the same.

How to Create Your Magazine Marketing Method: 

• Create a ‘magazine’ for your product or business.  

• Identify your magazine’s main theme (your business niche). For example, Needlepoint for Beginners: For Those Who Have Never Touched A Needle 

• You’ll choose 3-5 supporting topics (themes or sections or categories) and two of these sections need to be as follows: 

  • A ‘YOU’ section - about you and your business

    • Why you started this business

    • How you got your expertise

    • About your product/offer

    • About your method or approach and how you developed it

    • Personal stories related to your business that will help build know, like trust

  • A ‘Them’ Section  (about your customers)

    • Why do they believe they need your business?

    • What are they trying to accomplish/achieve/ solve/ fulfill?

    • What are their primary objections?

    • What do they need to know in order to work with you?

A good place to find other supporting sections is to ask yourself:

1. What questions do people ask about your business over and over again? Related topics?

2. What do you know people need to know about your thing but don’t necessarily ask?

3. Is there a unique perspective or element to what you do that could be its own section?

Voila, you have created a structure around your main niche or product that will support you telling stories, sharing factual information, talking from your customer’s perspective, writing creative pieces and more.

I hope this helps!

LIFE REIMAGINED

Lately, I have been thinking about and talking about the ‘holes and roles’ having an online business has filled in my life.

Take loneliness, for example. It’s something I never imagined would become an issue, but has.

I’m widowed. If you’re widowed you understand that friendships change. They’re still friends, of course, but now you’re the third wheel. It’s different. You’re less welcome (not overtly, but subtly) in couples’ circles. 

Then, add the fact that I have no biological children. I lost my sister (my only sibling) and my step-daughters live a world away (literally, in South Africa).

I feel profound loneliness sometimes.

I don’t think loneliness is a product of loss alone. I think getting older, generally, is a factor. We change. We find ourselves in different seasons with different goals. We outgrow people. They outgrow us.

Having an online business has alleviated this… a lot. 

I’ve met people I never would have met without it. I’ve met people that have introduced me to new ways of living and thinking. My mind has been opened to new hobbies and issues I had never considered before.

I have new circles of people I get to hang around with.  I get to meet online friends at in-person events and it’s like we’ve known each other forever.  Many have become friends ‘in real life’. We all share ‘entrepreneurship’, which is usually a special kind of person to begin with.

Having an online business has become my community and my circle and my connection and my growth. I feel like I am reaching far outside lifelong boundaries and beliefs. It’s exciting. I’m creating a whole new vision for myself.

What about you? Do you crave new connections? Do your current friends and family totally get ‘the entrepreneurship thing’?  Hit REPLY and share.

QUICK WINS

I procrastinate ‘personal admin’ things like nobody’s business. My passport has been sitting on the corner of my kitchen island for weeks. I need to renew it. I have the form. I have the passport pics. I have everything, but the motivation to complete the form and take it to the post office.

My Quick Win is I have begun setting aside the first part of every Monday for personal admin tasks. For some reason, putting this in my calendar as an activity has taken the pressure off. I’m procrastinating less. It’s just part of my week and I have the time to tackle it because I’ve scheduled it in the time.

Hopefully, by tomorrow afternoon, my passport will be off for renewal… and my auto insurance renewal will be done, too.

COMING NEXT WEEK

The real reality of starting an online business when you have no business experience, it’s all new to you and you’re scared sh&tless  - and why it’s absolutely WORTH IT.

The SUGGESTION BOX

Questions and suggestions for admin or the Ask-Me-Anything section. Simple Hit REPLY to this email or email us at: [email protected]