Every business, big, small, online, in-person, product- or service-based needs a marketing plan. I know that may sound stuffy and boring or even overwhelming, but I’m here to tell you…it doesn’t have to be. We have so many opportunities to market our businesses these days in a way that can feel fun and authentic while staying simple. The thing is, so many people that start businesses are not good marketers and are missing out on some amazing opportunities to grow their business. Let’s break that cycle in today’s episode.
“Your marketing plan cannot be to post on social media and hope someone will notice. That is not a marketing plan.” – Shawn Mynar
“Everything that you’re doing is marketing… when you show up for your business, you are marketing.” – Shawn Mynar
“You show up with the intention of connection and getting people to know you and having people find you while also inviting people to engage with you further.” – Shawn Mynar
“If you want to make more money, a lot of times you’ve got to spend the money to make more money in your marketing strategy.” – Shawn Mynar
COMPLETE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT (transcript is auto-generated so expect errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling)
0:01
Every business big small online in person, product or service-based needs a marketing plan. I know that may sound stuffy and boring, or even perhaps overwhelming to you. But I’m here to tell ya, it doesn’t have to be that way. We have so many opportunities these days to market our businesses in a way that can feel fun and authentic, while still staying simple and free. The thing is, so many people that start businesses just aren’t good marketers, and they’re missing out on some amazing opportunities to grow their businesses. Let’s break that cycle in today’s episode.
Hey, hey there, friends, welcome back to the unstuck entrepreneur podcast. So, so happy to have you here and grateful for each and every episode that you choose to tune into. It means the world to me. And it means so much I’ve been getting a lot of this these days, where people have found this podcast because someone else recommended it to them. And that just I cannot even tell you how much that means to me. And to this show. If you know someone who is an entrepreneur or wants to be an entrepreneur, and doesn’t really know how to do that in a way that feels good for them, have them check out the show, send them here, and they can browse through some of the episodes and see which ones call to them and get started on their journey. It really truly means the world. All right.
Today, I have a listener q&a episode for you something I think a lot of you probably have this question in the back of your mind, you may not even know you have this question. So we’re gonna get into that in just a sec. Before we do, can I put a little bug in your ear about something I have coming up? It starts March 30. And it is going to be a free on-demand workshop, I asked all of you over on my Instagram Stories, how you want me to teach you like what would be the most beneficial best way for you and your schedule. And the vast majority wanted an on-demand 60-minute workshop where you guys could choose the time that worked best for you, instead of me forcing you to go on my schedule with a live workshop. So I love doing live workshops. But that’s not what you love. So we’re switching it up. And I’m going to do and on demand workshop, you can watch it when you want, and you have 10 days to watch it. So it will be open and available for you for 10 days only. And then it’s going down, going away, deleted. So that is coming up March 30. If you’re listening to this around when it airs, that means next week, and I’m talking 2022. So if you’re listening to this in 2023 and beyond, you missed it, but don’t worry, I’m sure I have others coming up soon that you can check out. So March 30 2022, you can start checking out the on-demand workshop, and it’s going to be all about how to make a full-time income in part-time hours with your own group program.
Y’all know, I am so obsessed with the group program business model. It is the only way I’ve done business in the past now almost six years. I love it, I now teach it I’d show you how to create that business model in your business as well. So whether you are already taking one on one clients, and you just don’t want to do that anymore, you don’t want to have as many one on one clients as you have. You want to find another way to make income and really boost your income uncap that income potential without having to continue to work more hours with more clients. That is one scenario that it works really well for. And the other one is just the person who knows they don’t want to take one on one clients. They want to work with people in a group, they want to pre-record some content and some lessons and have that available to people. But also see the value in creating a community of like minded people who are going through this journey together. So have a problem that is similar and desire the same solution, like the power of creating a community around that of people doing that all together is just beyond just on a totally different level. And it is so valuable to them. And so if you know that you’re either don’t want to take one on one clients anymore or not as many and or you’re just not interested in the one on one business model at all. Then your next step is a group program. And I’m going to show you how to do that. The steps you need to take how you know what’s right for you. March 30, I don’t have a waitlist. I don’t have anything like that set up right now. I’m just letting you know. So you can be prepared when I tell you in the next episode, or I send out an email to let you know, that’s what I’m talking about. So it’s coming up soon.
All right, let’s get into the listener question for today, which is from Jenna. And she asked over on my Instagram Stories, just started my health coaching business, trying to come up with a marketing plan to get clients any advice. And I did a little box on my Instagram stories. So she had to only use a certain amount of characters. So this is why this question is so awesomely succinct. We now know exactly what Jenna wants, just started her business needs a marketing plan to get clients. And like I said, I think a lot of you are in that boat. Even if you haven’t started your business yet, you’re understanding that in order to get clients and make money and be able to, you know, either quit your job or your the other way you’re making an income right now you need to get clients. And in order to get clients, you need to market yourself. I’m going to kick it off with a quote that says the best marketing strategy ever care. And that’s from Gary Vaynerchuk, which I don’t agree with everything Gary Vee has to say, but I did really love this the best marketing strategy ever care, and I am so on board with that. Everything I teach goes back to the value and the care that you really show up for your dream clients for those people that you really want to work with.
Alright, so back to Jenna’s question. First of all, I am so happy to hear that you are actually thinking about this Jana, as someone who has just started their health coaching business, because I have to say, not enough people in your position do, there are so many service based business owners that they just get really good at their practice. And like, they take the certifications to become even better at their practice or even more of an expert. They listen to the podcast about their expertise, they follow the people that are also in their industry or expertise. And they get really good at that. But then when it comes time to actually have a business and accept clients and open their virtual business doors will say they then realize they haven’t spent enough time or any time learning how to have a business, learning how to actually get people through those virtual doors. And that is your marketing strategy that is so often something that is completely missed. And I know it’s completely missed in a lot of the programs that we go through the certifications, and the schooling that we get to be in I can only speak for, you know, wellness professionals, health professionals, from my own experience, but to get certified as a wellness Pro, and to go through that training, we then don’t get the business training. And it may or may not be the same in other industries, you’ll know that for sure if you are in a different industry, but I know we don’t get that training there, which means we have to do it on our own, we have to do it elsewhere. And this is a real sticking point when it comes to wellness pros, then starting their business because they don’t know how. And we are not good at business. We are good at helping people we are natural helpers, not natural entrepreneurs.
And this is the whole reason why I got into this work in the first place. Because I saw so many of my own friends and colleagues people that I had gone into schooling with or were in the same program or even different programs that I had met along the way through the wellness industry. So many of them were struggling, they couldn’t get their business going. They couldn’t make it happen. They were sabotaging their business. They weren’t starting at all. They were really stuck. Hence unstuck entrepreneur. And I saw this for years. For years and years. I saw this and I would give the advice things that I was doing in my business and learning just because I have always been super interested in business even before I had my own business, I knew I wanted to learn more about entrepreneurship. And I’ve always really taken an interest in it. So when I was applying it to my business and continuing to learn and grow and really do what I needed to do to make my business work, well, then I would just pass on that information to my friends. For years, I did that and then realized, Hey, I think I want to share this with even more people. And here I am. So all this to say, Jenna, so glad you’re thinking about this. It’s amazing, and everyone else who is either about to start their business, or has started their business, and perhaps even had a business for a while and not seeing growth, not seeing the numbers that you’re looking to see to where you can make the income that you want to make. This is for you. First of all, you need a marketing plan. If you are going to be in business, you need a marketing plan, and your marketing plan.
Please note this, please listen, stop what you’re doing. And listen, your marketing plan cannot be to post on social media and hope someone will notice that is not a marketing plan. That is what a lot of people think they can do. That’s what a lot of people are trying to do. That is a recipe for disaster, because you are putting your entire business your entire livelihood into the hands of something that you have absolutely zero control over or say in. And there are tons of social media gurus and coaches and influencers and all these people who will continue to tell you that that’s all you need to do is just get a certain number of followers just post every single day, just do all of this stuff over on social media, and you will make millions of dollars. That is an exception, not a rule. And even if it works for a small number of people for a small period of time, it is not a long term sustainable marketing plan. And that’s what we need. That’s what you want. And that’s what you need. And I’m not ruling out social media, we’re going to talk about social media today. Because it should be a piece of your marketing plan, if you want it to be. But it can’t be the only thing, you can’t just be like, Hey, I’m just going to post every day and eventually someone will find me, eventually someone will want to work with me, and everything will be great. That is not a marketing plan. So let’s talk about what a marketing plan actually does mean, what it actually is, I like to think of it as a flow, of course, because I think of everything as a flow. But it makes so much sense in my brain. And maybe it will for you to think about it as this thing that flows for both you. And for those people that you hope to work with one day, so your future paying clients. Now, the flow from your perspective is that you are doing what you need to do. And we’ll talk about this, but you’re doing what you need to do to get people to notice and pay attention to your work. And then once they notice and pay attention to your work, you are inviting them to engage in more of your work at a deeper level, so that you can provide even more value to them. And really build a connection with them or this know like and trust factor that we talk about so much.
I think I’ve talked about it quite a bit here at this point, but also so much in holistic business starter. So know like and trust, that is the goal. And then once they accept that invitation, then you are authentically serving them well. Or aka warming them up kind of in the business world is how they talk about it until they feel comfortable, motivated and ready to buy from you to become paying clients. So they go from this, again, business talk cold lead into this place where you can warm them up until they are ready to purchase. And we’ll talk about how to do all that in just a second. But first, let’s talk about the flow from their perspective from your dream clients perspective, which is really the same but a little bit different. Because from their perspective, they notice you. They’re interested in what you have to say. They start engaging in more of your work. They get to know you like you and trust you and then they realize that they need what you have to offer and sign up to work with you. So that’s what’s here. happening on their end, which, like I said, it’s the same thing. It’s just perceived a little differently from each perspective. So how does all of this happen? Let’s break it down step by step. First of all, let me remind you of this because it will help as we continue on. Everything is marketing. Everything that you’re doing is in marketing, the social media posts, the podcast episodes, the YouTube videos, the blog posts, any events you do, the emails that you send, when you show up for your business, you are marketing, your marketing yourself, your marketing, your services, your marketing, what you stand for. So everything is marketing.
And that is such a cool thing. That means that we have endless ways to market ourselves in our businesses at our fingertips these days, most of which are free, or extremely low cost. And that is not something that anybody could have said like 20 years ago. So we have a really amazing opportunity at our fingertips today to market ourselves as long as you’re using it appropriately. And that’s really the big hang up is people either aren’t using them at all, or aren’t using them to the best of their abilities and losing missing out on this opportunity that we have right now. Let’s talk about these free marketing tools. And we’ll kind of use the word organic in this sense to talk about these free marketing tools. Within these organic marketing strategies, you have social media, which is free, you have podcasting, which is a pretty low cost of entry, you’re paying to potentially host your podcast somewhere you’re paying for a mic, and that kind of thing. Low Cost YouTube videos, which can be free unless you need to get equipment or you hire an editor or something like that. But really low cost entry to blogging, which is a low cost, because you might have to host a website and pay for website type stuff. Pinterest is free, Google is free. And these are all things that we can and should be using to market our businesses.
Yes, you can pay for some of these, we’re going to talk about paid marketing a little bit at the end. But let’s stick to the free version of how you can market yourself and your business on these platforms. My recommendation for an online service based business, I want to stick with that just because that’s what I know. That’s what I teach. That’s who I work with. Those are my clients. But I would assume that even a product based business or a brick and mortar business would have the same recommendations, I just want to make sure that I speak specifically with what I know, my recommendation is to have one non social media platform. And one social media platform that you focus on, you can have multiple, that is fine. But what I have found in terms of an energy and time standpoint, is that it just works best you will get the best results when you put that time and energy into one of each. And if you happen to have some leftover time and energy, which who does these days. But if you do, then you can move on to multiples. So one of each. And this could be like you have a podcast that you focus on. And you have Instagram that you focus on you have YouTube and Tik Tok, you have a blog, and you have Facebook, and there are so many different combinations. One is not better than the other, you have to go with what feels best for you. In both instances, what works best in terms of like a non social media platform for you and your personality, and how your energy works. And what works best for you in terms of a social media platform. What do you feel most comfortable sharing on? Where do your people hang out the most based on the type of people that you want to work with. Now, if you are totally 100% against social media, that is fine. I am not going to force you to do social media, no one is going to force you to do social media. Don’t feel bad about that. If you really, truly want nothing to do with it.
I just want to encourage you to explore all your options before you totally write off all of it because there’s so many social media platforms these days. I don’t even think I know them all. And there might be one that really does resonate with you. Maybe you’re more of a LinkedIn type person that has more Have a professional vibe or clubhouse? If that’s still a thing, I’m not totally sure, then these are some other options for you. So just make sure that you really explore it. Because the thing is, like, go back, going back to the free thing. It is a free marketing tool. And I just really think that we might as well use it. As I said at the beginning, should it be your only thing? Should you count on it? Should you be putting all your eggs in that basket, please don’t. But use the free marketing tools that you have at your disposal these days. Yes, algorithms are funky, they change all the time, which is just another reason not to put your eggs in this basket. People don’t see your stuff people don’t engage, it doesn’t feel worth it. But it’s free. And if you even have one person following your stuff, that means that one person is going to see your post. And that one person, it might just be exactly what they needed to see and hear to change their day. So you really still do have this great way to reach people and make an impact and get to know people and invite them further into your work. And that is the goal of social media is to use this free marketing tool to get people to engage further with your work. If you don’t have a business social media account yet, and you’re not 110% against it, then start one, start fresh or change over your personal account. That’s up to you.
And if you don’t have this non social media platform yet, then now might be a good time to start thinking of what platform feels good to you. Why would you like to spend some of your time and energy in this marketing strategy that you are creating for yourself. So this is not a I’m just gonna give all this stuff away and do nothing for my business. And now my time isn’t being spent on my business, it’s just creating a podcast that doesn’t do anything or go anywhere. Nobody listens to this is an intentional part of your marketing strategy. So which one of these feels good for you. And in terms of that marketing strategy, or plan, this is the section where people notice and pay attention to your work. So through social media, perhaps they find your podcast, your YouTube channel, your blog, and they are still this, quote unquote, cold person. But they’ve now noticed you they now know who you are, they know you exist, you know, you’re out there in the world. And perhaps they do start following you on social media, they do subscribe to your podcast or come back and watch more videos later, there is the start of this connection. So the goal at this point is to continue that connection somewhere else. Because at this point, you don’t have a whole lot of say, in how this communication goes how you create this relationship and communicate with this person. And this is where the email list comes in.
So you are using these platforms to get people to take the next step with you, which is to get them on your email list. And this is the next layer of your marketing plan your marketing flow. It is to create this warm, inviting active email list community. And honestly, this is this is the moneymaker. This is where people go from cold like I don’t really know this person, but I’m kind of interested in what they’re talking about. I think I’ll give them a chance to becoming paying clients like When are your doors opening? When are you accepting new clients? Can I work with you, this is where it happens on your email list. So the next piece of your marketing plan is to create your email list flow. This means having an epic freebie as I call them, which means they are valuable and irresistible and unique. You create that freebie which invites people into onto your email list in order to receive that freebie, so it’s an exchange of energy there and then you create a warm welcome sequence for them so they are getting more value more helpful tips learning more about you and the work that you do. You are learning more about them in a welcome sequence that they get once they are on your email list. And then you commit to emailing those people regularly with more valuable info. More ways to work with you or to get to know you and just really establishing this relationship. This is where the know like and trust factor comes in. This is where building that community comes in having people feel like they’re your friend, or they are someone that knows you, even if you’ve never met, we do all of this on the email list. And from there, you have an audience to sell to, regardless of what’s happening on social media or with the algorithm. If Facebook shut down for the day, if you suddenly can’t log in, you get blocked, whatever it is, doesn’t matter, because you now have an audience to sell to that is ready to buy. And you make sales. And that means your marketing plan worked. And you have a successful business. So Jenna, and everyone who’s just starting out their business and wants to have a good marketing plan, this really can be it. This can be where you start, this might be all you need for the long term, this is a really good way to get started by building out your flow. So you start by thinking of those platforms that you want to be on your show up on those platforms.
And you show up with the intention of, of course, creating a connection and getting people to know you and having people find you and giving value and all that stuff on those platforms, while also inviting people to engage with you further over on your email list. So in other words, promoting your freebie, you’re going to be promoting your freebie a lot over on your platforms. That is the whole goal is to use that space to get people to know you to the point where they want to engage further and they want that freebie. And then from there, you will use your email list to connect with them regularly create this amazing experience and they will be ready to buy. So Jenna, let’s create your to do list. Decide on both platforms, your social media platform and your non social media platform. Create a schedule that you can commit to showing up on those platforms. Decide on and create your epic freebie. Promote that epic freebie over on your platforms, right and schedule out your welcome sequence. So that will all be an automated process in your email service provider. That will go out based on when someone comes on to the list, get that written and scheduled. And then set up a schedule that you can commit to emailing your list regularly. And that will be a good start to your marketing plan. Now let’s talk about paid marketing for just a bit. I feel like for most online businesses today, when they think of paid marketing, they think of Facebook ads, Google ads, YouTube ads, Pinterest ads, Tik Tok, etc. These all these places have ads.
And you can pay to promote your business on these platforms, which is awesome. These are great tools, they work really well. And you can and should consider adding these things to your marketing plan as well. I feel like there are people these days kind of bragging almost about how they make all this money without using ADS without spending any advertising dollars. And so I feel like it almost gives the idea of spending money on ads a bad rap and like something you shouldn’t have to do. And if you have to do it, that means your business isn’t good enough or something like that. And it’s not it is not that way at all. I mean, can you imagine if we told businesses 20 years ago, that we weren’t planning on spending any money on advertising, they would be like, okay, so you’re not going to have a business then like there’s no way you’re going to get any business, maybe word of mouth for a little bit. But that’s only going to last so long. So what the heck are you going to do? So they just wouldn’t even get it. It wasn’t even a thing to not plan on spending advertising and marketing dollars in your business 20 years ago.
And now we have so many great free marketing resources that we can create a marketing plan that is entirely free or really low cost. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t also expect to pay or want to pay in order to enhance or Quicken that results. So if you If you want to make more money, a lot of times you got to spend the money to make more money in your marketing strategy. And that is okay, that is a good thing. That just means you’re in business. The only advice that I will give you because not an Facebook ads expert, I’ve been using them for a couple years now I think I’m getting pretty darn good, but not to the point where I want to give you any advice comfortably. But what I can say is to spend the time first, really dialing in that marketing flow that is free, what we just talked about, get that all dialed in and making sure that everything is working like your freebie is really good. People want that freebie it is converting well, and your welcome sequence is really great and people are getting warmed up, you are seeing some paying clients come through from this organic strategy. And then you know, it’s worth it to spend the money to enhance that experience. So basically getting more people through that process. But if it’s a broken process, you’re going to spend money on something that doesn’t work, and you won’t see that conversion happening. It won’t be worth it. So that’s the one piece of advice I will give you. Yes, I think that paying for advertising and marketing, putting that into your plan is a great idea. But you don’t need to start with it right
away. And I really don’t think it’s the best strategy to start with it right away. Because you probably have some kinks that you need to get figured out that you don’t even know about until you get people through it organically first, and see what you need to iron out still. And then once it’s perfected, then go on to spend the money to get more people through that process. So Jenna, I hope that answers your question. And I hope all of you can see how Yes, you need a plan. But know that plan doesn’t have to be overwhelming or confusing. It can be simple. It works. It doesn’t have to have all these moving parts, you can really focus on a couple of things, do those really well and really see some amazing results coming into your business. And just I mean, I wasn’t planning on talking about this, but I guess I will, because it’s so top of mind right now. But in a few weeks, I will be launching a new program that essentially does all of this. It is an action oriented program, where we are doing this, everything we just talked about together.
And so I have nugget nothing to share with you about the name or when it’s available, or how to learn more or anything like that right now. But I am working on it. It’s been like top of mind all month, essentially. And so I just thought I would share because it just isn’t a really timely question to get in this moment where I’m just thinking about it so much and realizing how important it is. And really, really wanting to help you get there too. I really want all of you to have this system in place in your business because it is super easy. And it works. And so much of it is off your hands. It’s automated, it’s kind of done for you behind the scenes. And so most of you don’t even have to worry about and I just it works. And I’m super excited to share everything that I know about this entire process and really help you actually implement it into your business. So be on the lookout for that. I don’t know when it’s coming out. But it’ll be out eventually. How about that? All right, my friends with that, I will tell you to be on the lookout definitely for March 30. And that free on demand workshop I will be doing for all of you specifically around creating a full time income in part time hours, because you have created your own group program. So stay tuned for that. I’ll give you more details next week. And until then, take care
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