Ok wizard, I want to have a little chat with you about your marketing.
Something has been brewing for me for a little while now and it needs to be said…
I KNOW you’ve been sold the whole shiny sparkly dream of:
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- Going viral
- Exploding your following
- 10xing your business
- 6-figure months and a 7-figure business while living the lavish laptop lifestyle
I know you want it NOW – to wave a magic wand and, hello, you’re living in your vision board.
But believe me when I say, this shiny sparkly dream that you see everywhere in the online space is causing you to get distracted and chase shortcuts, trends, and hacks to try and get you there faster…
Instead of investing your time, energy and money into the long-term vision for your business.
Sure, the second option sounds boring as fuck against the shiny, sparkly dream (and I get it because I love me some sparkle)…
Until you realise it’s actually the boring option that’ll make your wildest business vision a reality.
So #sorrynotsorry, but I’m about to burst your Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum bubble by telling you that what you’ve been sold is a LIE.
And, in this episode of the How I Do Content Podcast, I’m going to share why you need to stop believing the lies and expecting marketing miracles to happen overnight.
The Reality of Marketing
I know I talk a good marketing game, but let me be clear – marketing is NOT a magic bullet.
The goal of marketing is NOT to go viral, explode your following, or 10x your business even though that’s what the gurus in the online space are selling you.
Marketing is an ongoing process of long-term relationship building, educating your audience, and engaging with them consistently.
But, because you’ve been sold this lie, you expect one viral post will blow up your business and your bank account.
Of course, the reality is far less shiny and sparkly because it takes time for your marketing to have the intended impact AND it takes consistent momentum for it to continue to work.
It’s never just one piece of content. Every interaction, post, and piece of content is part of a much larger puzzle – building your brand presence and reputation.
Yet we hyper-focus on one post and expect it to perform miracles – but that’s a lot of unrealistic pressure to put on something.
On the flip side, let’s say you do go viral – can you:
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- Turn that attention into meaningful engagement and, ultimately, sales?
- Turn that attention into long-term growth?
- Replicate that viral moment again and again?
Because here’s the thing…
There’s no point chasing quick wins and short-term success if it doesn’t translate into an engaged warm audience who love to buy from you on repeat.
I see a lot of business owners chasing miracles, meaning they only focus on top-of-funnel content to attract new humans into their world…
…BUT then forget about nurturing these relationships to build trust and loyalty – and then wonder why they’re not making sales.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but sometimes what the online space is selling you about marketing is fake news – sometimes you need to adjust your expectations!
Here are what I believe to be the biggest, shiniest things you need to stop getting distracted by in the online space.
1. Stop obsessing over low engagement
There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t see someone complain about low engagement on Instagram. If I had a dollar for every single post I saw in Facebook Groups or on Threads about it – I’d be an 8-figure business owner.
Low engagement doesn’t mean your content sucks or the algorithm hates you and you should stop posting that type of content. And if that’s your current belief – please tell your ego to shush, because that ain’t it.
There are many reasons for low engagement on Instagram – such as:
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- There are a whole lot more people using Instagram to market their businesses online than there were 2-3 years ago – so obviously this means more content online than ever before
- The AI takeover means there are a whole lot of people pumping out a whole lot of boring and beige content in the name of saving time
- Lots of people are actively spending less time on Instagram – we’re tired and burnt out!
- Instagram is hell-bent on keeping you distracted with 1001 new features every 5 minutes, so you constantly feel like you’re on a hamster wheel that you can never get off
Ultimately, it’s a vicious circle: you’re trying all the trends and hacks because your ego wants a hit of engagement, but next minute everyone is pumping out exactly the same content as everyone else… so of course engagement is going to be shit. There’s only so many times you can see the same Reel before you get sick of it!
Also, why the fuck are you using likes as the metric to decide whether something works or not?
Some of my highest engaged posts (usually about Ned & Maggie) make me no money at all – and yet my lowest engaged posts are the ones that actually make sales.
Obviously, I’m not going to stop posting my sales and promotional content because it hurts my ego when people don’t like it. That would be riddikulus!
So stop using low engagement as a reason to stop posting a certain type of content unless you want to turn away sales.
2. Stop thinking Instagram is the only marketing channel
Instagram is the biggest, shiniest, sparkliest distraction of them all. I mean, it’s the place where a lot of these beliefs started and are constantly shared.
Newsflash – marketing existed BEFORE Instagram. And there are plenty of businesses who aren’t on Instagram and who are killing it.
I’ve said it many, many times before but I’m going to say it again – Instagram shouldn’t be your entire marketing strategy, and, if it is, whhyyyyyyyyy?!
When you put all your eggs in the Instagram basket, you’re also putting a whole lot of pressure on it to perform – and this kinda pressure never ends well for business owners.
Not to mention, what happens if Zuckerberg shuts down your account with zero warning (or reason), or there’s a global Instagram outage during the most important sales period of your year? What then?
I’m not saying this to scare you. I say this because it happens – a lot more than you think!
Instagram isn’t the best marketing channel.
It’s just the one most people are familiar with and use the most.
And it’s always changing… and not necessarily for the best – so what worked previously might not work today. The low engagement epidemic everyone is obsessed with certainly highlights this.
Here’s the thing – Instagram is never ever going back to what it was – so you can either diversify your marketing strategy and change the way you use it, or deal with it.
That’s why I create content for my other channels BEFORE I worry about what I’m posting on Instagram.
I also don’t follow a hard-core Instagram strategy, and I use it more as an experiment to see what works. And then if I don’t get the engagement, I don’t make it mean anything about me or my marketing.
Remove the pressure and lower your expectations, and start having fun creating content for your community, and watch the energy shift.
3. Stop believing click-bait marketing
I of course acknowledge that an important part of your micro-messaging is to position your brand and your offers as the only solution for the problem your dream clients are trying to solve.
You do this by highlighting how you’re different and better from other things your ideal client might do to try and fix this problem.
BUT this is where the online space has gone to the extremes with click-bait marketing.
Because if I see one more person say…
“Email marketing is dead…”
“Meta Ads don’t work…”
“SEO is so last year…”
“[Insert marketing strategy they’re hating on this week]…”
…I’m going to scream!
This positioning tactic really pisses me off. I get you gotta grab people’s attention – but blatantly lying to do it doesn’t sit well with me. And this is one of the times where I hate that I love marketing.
The dog’s honest truth is that ALL of these marketing strategies work – they’ve worked for years and will continue to do so.
But will they work for you? Well, it depends.
As I mentioned, marketing is a long game and your results will be amplified when you diversify your marketing approach. So, for example, not making Instagram your entire marketing strategy.
These channels will work for you – if you’re smart and strategic with where you invest your time, energy, and money, AND you’re realistic in your expectations for what they can do for you.
So it all depends on how you use them and the long-term vision for your business.
There’s no one right (or wrong) marketing strategy that works (or doesn’t) for every single business owner – so, for the love of dogs, stop listening to people who tell you otherwise.
4. The myth of passive income
Oooft. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, “I want to make money when I sleep…” – I’d be a 9-figure business owner.
I get it – it’s one of the biggest dreams sold in the online space.
You can make money sitting on the couch / sipping margaritas by the pool / travelling the world – without having to lift a finger.
BUT…
The truth is, passive income is not all that passive.
Not only is there a significant amount of work required upfront to get your passive income stream setup – you ALSO need to CONTINUE to work to maintain it. So it’s definitely not easy money with minimal effort.
You also 100% need multi-channel multi-dimensional marketing.
This means simply putting your offer on your website, and then crossing your fingers and hoping people find it is NOT a strategy that’s going to work. Because siriusly – how are you driving constant traffic to your website?
And, once your passive income stream is up and running, it doesn’t simply operate on autopilot. There are also regular updates, customer service, marketing, and scaling efforts required to keep the income flowing.
Let’s be real – building a truly successful passive income stream takes time (sometimes years!). It often starts real slow, requiring consistent marketing efforts and a whole lot of testing and tweaking!
Unsurprisingly, most people give up too soon because they don’t see immediate results, and they falsely believed the online gurus who told them it was going to be quick and easy and they’d be sipping margaritas by the pool watching the cash flow in no time.
So there you have it – the inside scoop about why long-term marketing efforts will ALWAYS trump the pursuit of quick wins and trend-chasing. Hopefully, I’ve convinced you why you gotta get real with your marketing and invest your time, energy, and money into your long-term vision.
The rewards for staying the course and prioritising consistent, relationship-focused marketing will be well worth it!
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