When you’re trying to market yourself, it’s not enough just to have a clear avatar, a tagline or a good 60-second speech. Marketing yourself is much more than that, and focusing on a comprehensive marketing approach will help you get better and more sustainable results.
There are three areas that make your marketing work. And I want to share these with you in the form of a proven framework called BRAVE Marketing that has helped many self employed professionals get more confidence in themselves and their marketing approach in a very short time. The three areas are YOU, your CLIENTS and your MARKETING.
The first area is YOU. Marketing yourself and marketing an external product, in my opinion. are very different. When you’re selling your own time and expertise, it’s so important that you first master your own self awareness. Many people who talk to me about their challenges tell me that they actually know what marketing strategies to use. They have a clear avatar. They even have a nice slogan. But for some reason, they’re procrastinating or they live in self doubt. That’s a challenge when you’re working for yourself and by yourself. If you’re not mastering your internal belief system, if you don’t have a clear why and you’re not connected to your purpose, or if you’re not clear on your uniqueness and strengths, then all your marketing strategies and theories will not produce optimal results. So I love working with you on getting clear life goals behind your business goals (your reason for doing what you do), removing the limiting beliefs that block you and helping you build a unique business based on your strengths. When the internal stuff is sorted, you’ll start operating with more ease and flow and you’ll know what to do when your demons to pop up again.
The second area is to clearly identify your CLIENTS and build empathy towards them. People usually call this building your avatar. But I want to take this step a few inches deeper. First of all, how are you choosing your target market? Are you being too vague or wanting to serve everyone? And for some of you, you’re telling me that it’s difficult to segment them using a specific demographic. Well, sometimes it’s about segmenting them on their needs and problems. Whatever your challenge, it is very important to understand who you’re going to serve. And if you can serve more than one market, then the question is not “Who do you want to serve?” but “Who do you want to serve first?” Many times, it’s hard to come up with a sharp marketing campaign, if you’re trying to hit multiple audiences using multiple services all at once. Sometimes you’ve got to stop being opportunistic and start being strategic. Get clear on one group of people and market one service in one marketing campaign. When you’re getting good results, then you’re allowed to target another segment with another campaign. And after you’ve identified that ideal client, then empathise with them emotionally understand their needs and challenge. Layout their journey with you and the clear transformation they will get when they use your service. Remember, most of you are selling something intangible. So working on the customer process and transformation is key to developing a tiered product ladder that will help your audience understand what you sell and what you promise.
The third area is YOUR MARKETING. This area deals with helping you create an effective one-liner and marketing assets. I also work with you on designing an effective & comprehensive marketing plan. Here I want to highlight the importance of using your own style to market yourself. Many people use templated marketing strategies that are proven for others without getting really clear about their own personalities and marketing styles. When you are not comfortable executing your strategies, you will start to procrastinate or find excuses why it’s impossible. I find that in the beginning, you need to experience wins by doing the strategies that play on your strengths, feature you at your best, and give you fun and enjoyment. In my experience, the best marketing plan is the one you will execute! In my journey building a top-ranked firm marketing 6 coaches, I’ve learned that everyone’s got their own genius… everyone has their own style and their own appeal. Find yours and you’ll find more enjoyment in marketing yourself. Be authentic and the right kinds of leads will be attracted to you. Try to be someone else and you’ll end up frustrated and lost in self doubt.
These are the 3 areas that will make your marketing approach holistic and effective. If you focus on one without the other, you may feel confused why your hard work is not generating the results you want. Working on the YOU will help you increase your self mastery and be the type of person that will successfully represent your brand. Empathising with your CLIENT will help your core message be at the top of their hearts, not just their minds. And having a comprehensive MARKETING plan with the strategies that suit your style and your strengths will help you enjoy doing what you need to do to grow your business with consistency, confidence, and flow.
If you want a fresh perspective about your marketing approach, let’s have a talk. I’d love to connect with you. Email me at cynthia@thebravezone.com
A lot of emphasis these days are being put on getting leads, but leads don’t generate revenue. Clients do! In this video, I go through the 3 reasons why clients may not decide to buy your services and what you can do to improve your sales conversion.
You’ve got the lead, they book a call, but what makes them say, “I’ll think about it” and never call again? Why do they prefer other service providers instead of you?
Let’s start off with confidence. How confident are you? I’ve been in sales since 1996 and I must tell you that confidence, not competence, is convincing. How confident are you in yourself? Are you discounting your abilities and unconsciously using negative self talk? How confident are you that you can help them? Are you confident in the value you can offer them?
If you want to improve your sales conversion, first work on your self confidence.
Confidence is affected by several things.
The next thing that affect sales conversion is your sales conversation. Are you acting like a human brochure or are you actually solving their needs?
We don’t all have lots of selling experience, but we’ve all had experience being sold. So think about what kind of sales conversations you enjoyed in the past; the ones where you felt comfortable, helped, and cared for. Think of that process you went through and how it made you feel confident to buy. What did the sales person do to you, with you, and for you? What kind of conversation did you have? Was it a one-way presentation about the products or was it a two-way conversation that used questions to discover your needs? Who was the sales person for you? Were they human brochures who just waffled about their features and benefits, or were they solution-providers who listened to you and suggested useful advice?
Now look at how you sell. No matter what you sell, there is a pattern in your selling conversations. How do you start? What do you spend the most time on? What is the ratio between talking and listening? What kinds of questions do you ask, or don’t ask? Here’s my favourite test for aspiring sales people: “Good sales people drink their coffee hot!” Let’s say you’re doing a zoom meeting with your prospect and you each prepare a cuppa for yourself before the call. Do you get to drink your coffee hot, or is it already cold by the time you drank it? If you get to drink it hot, well done! That means you’re discovering and listening to the prospects first before waffling away about what you can do for them. If you’re drinking it cold, well, you’ve been talking too much. And don’t be surprised if they reply with, “Uh-huh… ok… well, great. Let me think about that and I’ll let you know.” Your sales conversation should make the clients feel that you understand their needs. You have listened and your solutions are relevant. They should also feel that they co-created the solutions with you. People are less likely to say No to a solution, if they feel that they’ve co-created it.
And finally, the third thing that affects your sales conversion is follow up. It’s amazing to meet sales people who are so excited to have a sales meeting with you, but do not follow up afterwards. They make the proposal, send it off, and then expect the wheel to turn by itself. Or they end their proposal with, “Let me know if you have questions.” That’s a reactive attitude. End your proposals by making an appointment for another call to explain the details and to answer their questions. That’s another excuse to talk to them, and another chance to get a decision.
Marketing gets you leads, but leads don’t generate revenue! Clients do. So let’s focus now on your sales process, not just your marketing strategies. I hope this blog has helped and if you want to sharpen your sales process and need customised advice to do so, email me at cynthia@thebravezone.com
Marketing yourself starts with mastering yourself. Many self employed professionals get stuck in self doubt and lack of clarity. In the end, this lack of self awareness keeps them from reaching their potential in their business. In this video, I will cover the 3 areas you need to master to strengthen your uniqueness and positioning. By focusing on these areas, you will increase the confidence you have in yourself and in your business. You will overcome your imposter syndrome, and have a clearer core message about who you are and what impact you make. You will attract the types of clients that appreciate your value, and as a result, you will have more fun growing your business. So let’s get started.
The first area to master is your outcome. What are you building and why is that important to you? Have you ever lost motivation to get things done? You know what to do, and even how to do it… but somehow, you just don’t have the drive? This is a great indication of not having a clear vision and purpose. Many people I speak to have a very cliche reason why they do what they do. “I want to be successful… I want to have more income… I want to help people.” Great, what does that look like? How clear is that vision? How much passion and emotion do you feel towards it? Why is all this important to you? If you’re struggling to find the answer, or if you don’t feel emotionally connected with your answer, then perhaps you need to work on mastering your outcome. This part is so important for at least 2 reasons. First of all, when times get tough, your connection to your WHY will keep you going. Without this, you will procrastinate and find many excuses to delay progress. Secondly, if you have a clear vision and purpose, it will be easier for people to know what you stand for. It will be easier for people to resonate with you. You will exert a type of energy that attracts the right clients to you. People are inspired by and drawn to people who are excited, passionate, and on a mission. Do you have that energy?
The second area to master is your belief system. What beliefs influence your feelings and actions? Your existing beliefs are usually shaped by past experiences, and they affect you subconsciously. Mastering your belief systems start by bringing them up to the conscious level. Whether or not they are empowering you, it’s important to be aware of what they are, where they might have come from, and whether or not they are useful to get you where you want to be. Beliefs are never good or bad; they’re just either useful or not useful. And if you’ve done the work of clarifying your outcome, you will have an easier time to select the useful ones that will get you there. The beliefs to master are usually those about yourself, your business, your likelihood for success, your clients, and how the world works. So basically, everything!
The third area involves finding your essence and your natural strengths. Comparing yourself to other people will just make you feel inadequate. Find your genius by understanding your WHY and your Ikigai. Finding your WHY will help you find your essence; this is what you stand for and how you’re designed to contribute. It’s a process that takes you back to realise how your past has shaped your purpose and passion. Your essence is not an aspiration or dream. It is who you already are. Your Ikigai helps you understand your reason for being. The crossover between what you love, who you love to serve, what they need & willing to pay for, and what you are good at will give you a very clear idea of your uniqueness and may even open up new opportunities that you have never thought of.
Behind every business is a human being, and most human beings actualise themselves through some sort of career or business. A business works when the human behind it is functioning well: body, mind and spirit. So it’s no surprise that an essential step to building a high-performing business is creating a high-performing human being; someone who understands what they want to achieve, and how to use their best self to achieve it.
So I invite you to start the process of enhancing your self mastery. Which of the three areas do you need to sharpen? Your outcome? Your belief systems? Your genius? Working on this during the last few months of year may help you create an amazing year ahead!
If you have any questions, email me at cynthia@thebravezone.com
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