In this episode of Digitally She Does It, I talk about the secret to successful marketing.
I break down the 4 key pillars that represent a strong brand: the why, the what, the who, and the how. I discuss the importance of understanding the purpose behind your business, defining your offerings, identifying your target audience, and consistently embodying your brand's identity in every interaction.
By establishing a compelling brand, all marketing activities will become more effective.
Tune into this episode to gain valuable insights on laying the foundations for marketing success and building a powerful and memorable brand online.
The Digital Creators Hub
Gain FREE access here... www.pink-lemondigital.com/hub
Get in touch:
Got a question, suggestion for an episode or maybe you would like to be a guest?
Email me at karen@pink-lemondigital.com
In this episode of Digitally She Does It, I talk about the secret to successful marketing.
I break down the 4 key pillars that represent a strong brand: the why, the what, the who, and the how. I discuss the importance of understanding the purpose behind your business, defining your offerings, identifying your target audience, and consistently embodying your brand's identity in every interaction.
By establishing a compelling brand, all marketing activities will become more effective.
Tune into this episode to gain valuable insights on laying the foundations for marketing success and building a powerful and memorable brand online.
The Digital Creators Hub
Gain FREE access here... www.pink-lemondigital.com/hub
Get in touch:
Got a question, suggestion for an episode or maybe you would like to be a guest?
Email me at karen@pink-lemondigital.com
Karen Davies [00:00:00]:
Hello, and welcome to the Digitally She Does It Show. This is episode 71. And in today's episode, I'm going to be talking about the secret to successful marketing. So let's jump right in and get started. Welcome to the Digitally. She does it show.
I am your host, Karen, and I'm here to lift the lid on what it actually takes to create a successful business. If you are an ambitious creative ready to build a business on your own terms and without compromise, and this podcast is perfect for you.
Karen Davies [00:00:39]:
With my award winning approach to marketing and expert knowledge in creating online courses, This show will leave you feeling inspired, energized, and ready to bring those big dreams to life. Join me each week for a dose the motivation and marketing know how along with actionable step by step strategies to help you accelerate your businesses' growth. So let's dive in, and don't forget to subscribe to all my upcoming episodes which drop every Wednesday. Hello, and welcome. Thank you for joining me today. My name is Karen. I'm your host, and I really appreciate you hitting the play button to listen to today's episode. Now in today's episode, I'm gonna be talking about the secret source to marketing success because marketing is one of these terms that can be really overwhelming when we talk about marketing, it covers so much.
Karen Davies [00:01:36]:
It's a huge subject. And I think that for small business owners or entrepreneurs looking to market their products and their offers. It can be really challenging to know where to start, site, which is why I want to talk about the the secret to setting yourself up for success. So that's what I'm gonna talk about in today's episode. Now what is really interesting about this subject is that For many entrepreneurs, when they think about marketing or start talking about marketing, it comes from a place of them wanting to promote their offers and their services to as many people as possible in order to get those sales. And, yes, of course, that's why we market what we do because we want to attract and convert new customers. Of course, it is. But marketing, really successful marketing, goes way beyond just selling your products and services because when we're using different things to attract and convert, often what we're doing actually is using tactics.
Karen Davies [00:02:51]:
So if you are marketing your digital course, for example, and you are running a webinar and you are attracting your ideal student by them coming to the webinar. You are essentially using a tactic in order to promote your stuff, in order to get them into your world where you can then give them that value that hopefully then will lead to conversion. So a webinar is a tactic, and that's what a lot of course creators use in order to bring new customers on board. But what I wanna talk about is the real fundamentals so that even before you go and put a webinar out there and stop promoting your webinar or your challenge or you run a video series. Whatever it is, whatever tactic it is that you're going to use to promote your digital products. I want to just talk about the foundations because it doesn't matter what tactic you can will use in your marketing. If you haven't got these foundations in place, Then you're highly likely to find it very challenging and possibly fail, and that's the last thing that we wanna have happening. So I just want to talk about what these are, how to lay those foundations so that you can actually achieve what you want to achieve in the best way possible.
Karen Davies [00:04:23]:
So effective marketing can be simplified and broken down into 4 key pillars. And these 4 pillars are what represents your brand. Now you cannot market something effectively if you do not understand what your brand is. If you are an entrepreneur or a solo business owner, you might be sitting there thinking, same well. It's only me and my business. I'm not a brand. I'm too small. I'm not I can't compete with the likes of McDonald's or Next or Nike or any of those, so I'm not a brand.
Karen Davies [00:05:02]:
And this is where we need to reframe our thoughts because if you have a business and you provide an off service or or you make an offer to a customer, then they're buying into the experience that you're delivering, and you are a brand. It might be the fact that it's a personal brand, which you're building up online, but, essentially, you're cultivating a brand because a brand is experience. It's the experience that your customers are gonna have when they come into contact with you. And as entrepreneurs and business owners, we need to be in control of what that experience looks like, because, ultimately, that's going to determine whether or not your customers are going to come back time after time. And so we need to really understand what that experience looks like, how we're showing up, how we want to be perceived and how we want to deliver our services to our customers. Because at the end of the day, it does come down to that experience. It's your reputation, and that's what your brand is. Now I know it can be confusing about the whole thing with brand and branding, but the best way to look at this is if as in is in a way of your brand is your experience that you're delivering to your customers.
Karen Davies [00:06:27]:
Your branding is your identity. It's how you're coming across. It's the look, the feel, the style of your business. Now both are equally important because Your branding is what's going to identify you. It's going to be what sets you apart, and it's going to help differentiate you in your space. So we need to put some attention to the brand inside, but, equally, when you're marketing, You are marketing your brand, and I think it doesn't matter what stage of your business you're at, you have to approach your marketing with that mindset. It's the brand that your customers are buying into that's important because it's your reputation that you're putting out there that your customers are going to be experiencing. So let's talk about the foundational pieces that need to be in place in order to create a solid brand.
Karen Davies [00:07:25]:
So you've got the why, the what, the who, and the how. They are the 4 pillars, and each pillar is instrumental in making up the foundations of a successful brand. You cannot create something where you haven't got each of these pillars nailed. It would just be impossible. Now first and foremost, it's You have to start with the why. You have to understand what the purpose is behind what you're doing and what your values are because these are crucial for building a strong foundation. Now Simon Sinek, a renowned speaker and author, He says people don't buy what you do, but they buy why you do it. So by clearly defining your brand's purpose, you can connect to your audience, your customers on a deeper level.
Karen Davies [00:08:18]:
And this is going to help foster loyalty and it's going to be what sets you apart. So think about what drives you and your business and what you feel passionate about. And then you can take that and you can translate it into a compelling story. And that story is what you can then use in your brand in order to to connect with your audience because this is the thing. Right? People are nosy. We wanna know what sits behind the curtain. We don't just want to see glossy images and lifestyle an amazing lifestyle and all of that. We want to see the things that are going on at the bottom level.
Karen Davies [00:09:03]:
We want to see what drives the people that we're working with. And so by creating a compelling brand story, you can weave this into your marketing, and that's going to help strengthen your marketing activities because you're going to bring something on a deeper level that's gonna connect with your audience. So that's really important so the 1st pillar is understand your why. And this is something that gets underestimated, but, honestly, it is so incredibly powerful. Think about the people that you follow in your space. Do you know their story? Have they shared that with you? Because I guarantee that anyone that's had any level of true success We'll be sharing their backstory. They'll be telling you the struggles that they've gone through and the the breakthroughs that they've had and everything in between. So look at the people around you and see how they're approaching it and then take that on board because your why is fundamental in building those foundations.
Karen Davies [00:10:12]:
Okay. So the what. Now the what of your brand is essentially defining what it is you do, what products you offer, and what services you provide to your clients. And you need to be really clear and concise on this. Your target audience needs to understand the specific problem that you solve through the things that you offer. Now as entrepreneurs and business owners, we are in the business of solving problems. So what problems are you solving? How are you making your audience life easier? What does that look like for them? Now you need to consider the features and attributes of your products as well, and you need to understand why your product or offer is different. So you need to get really clear on that unique selling proposition, the USP.
Karen Davies [00:11:09]:
What sets you apart from your competitors? Do you have competitors? We I mean, we all have competitors, don't we? But are they delivering online courses? Are they delivering memberships? Are they delivering group programs? Scams. Are they bringing people together? Do they have a community? Or are they just providing a service? So really dig into that and have a look at your competitors stairs and try and identify how you stand out and why you are different because, again, you can weave this into your marketing. This will become part of your messaging that will be used to attract your ideal audience. By clearly communicating this, what you offer. You will attract the right customers who will align with your brand's vision and your offerings so it will make your marketing activities so much easier. Okay. So the 3rd pillar is the who. Now this is, again, really important because you need to know what niche you're in and who you want to be attracting.
Karen Davies [00:12:17]:
We do not want to work with just anyone. You should not want to work with just anyone. You cannot solve everybody's problems. Now if I heard, like, the amount of times, honestly, the amount of times somebody's come to me and said, I can anybody can buy my products or anybody can buy my services, and it's just simply not true. If you market to everybody, you're going to dilute what it is you have to offer, and your message will not make it through because it's not specific enough. You need to be specific. So when we're talking about the who, We have to get specific. Who is your perfect person? Why are they your perfect person? What attributes, characteristics do they have that makes them perfect for you.
Karen Davies [00:13:11]:
So this is where you need to really spend some time and identify your target audience, understand their demographics, understand their behaviors. And then when it comes to your messaging, you can tailor it so that you can create a memorable brand experience. When we create messaging around any of our offers, we wanna make you feel as though the person receiving that message is we wanna make them feel like we're talking directly to them. We want them to literally be sitting in their seats nodding their head because we've got it. We have identified their problem. We've identified where they are on their journey because we're meeting them where they're at, and we're gonna take them along on our journey to get them to a place of solution. Now you can only do that if you really understand who your perfect person is and what their challenges what their challenges are. So we have to get really clear and succinct in understanding them.
Karen Davies [00:14:26]:
Successful brands often focus their efforts on getting really specific with their customers and creating customer segments, allowing them to create valuable connections and building ongoing and long lasting relationships. So you need to research what your audience wants, what their needs are, what their pain points are, and then align your brand messaging accordingly to that. Your brand, the brand that you're creating, scene should resonate with your audience, and you need to make them feel like they're being understood. And I think when we can achieve that, we've got them. They will come on our journey, and they will buy into what it is we have to say and what we have to offer. And that is going to build that know, like, and trust. And we know in business that is crucial to attracting our customers. So if you are selling an online course and you're looking to achieve more sales online, then understand exactly who your ideal student is.
Karen Davies [00:15:41]:
Get really clear as to what they're looking for. Now your students are not going to be buying an online course. That that's not what it is that they're looking for. They're looking for a solution. So when you are talking about things that you've created, you don't wanna go down the rabbit hole of talking about the mechanism by which you're delivering your solution. So your online course, your group program, your membership, That's a mechanism. It's a way of delivering the solution you're providing. What you want to be talking about, what you want to make really clear is the framework, the journey, because that is the thing that's going to bring them on board.
Karen Davies [00:16:30]:
And that is a stake that a lot of course creators and membership creators are making. They're talking about the mechanism, the vehicle, instead of talking about the thing that actually makes a difference to their students, and that's the teaching. It's the framework. It's the Journey. When you're creating something, a digital offer, there's a bridge there because you've got the starting point where your students are experiencing a problem. They've got a challenge, a pain point. And then whatever it is you're offering is going to provide a solution. Now your framework, the thing that you're delivering is the bridge because that's sort of thing that's going to get them over to that solution.
Karen Davies [00:17:21]:
And so in your marketing, you don't really want to be putting the emphasis sis on the fact that you've created an online course. What you want to be talking about is the framework and the fact that you have got this process that's going to move them forward. And this process is unique because It's based off your experience of achieving solutions yourself. So when it comes to your messaging and your marketing, You need to be really clear as to exactly who it is you're speaking to, where they're at in their journey, the thing that you're offering, so the what, and how you can get them to that place of solution. The more you can get clear on that, the more successful you'll be when it comes to your marketing. Okay. So the 4th and the final pillar is the how. Now this pillar involves developing strategies and tactics that's going to bring your brand to life.
Karen Davies [00:18:21]:
This is where you're going to get involved in using marketing initiatives and how you're going to develop your customer service because every touchpoint of your brand should embody and reinforce your brand's identity. And the key to success here is consistency. It is paramount. You need to be consistent every time because this is what your ideal audience are going to identify you with. So you need to start establishing your visual elements. So these are things like your colors and your logo and the fonts that you use, all of which is ultimately going to convey your brand's personality and values as well. You're also going to be looking at how you're talking. So your tone of voice is really important because this is what's going to align with your target audience.
Karen Davies [00:19:19]:
Now if you're not sure on how you need to talk, then you need to do some research and go and check out the type of language that your ideal audience are using. So your tone of voice is the way you speak in your messaging. If you are speaking to an industry that is very tech led, then your tone of voice is going to be different to, say, being in a space way you're working with female entrepreneurs. It's probably going to be a lot less techie. It's gonna be more conversational. There's may gonna be maybe a little bit more humor involved. So the way we speak is how we're going to engage our audience. So we really need to look at that and nail that down as well.
Karen Davies [00:20:08]:
By developing a cohesive and well executed brand experience, It's going to help build trust. It's going to help build credibility. And, also, you'll build that loyalty with your customers as well because They will have a really good experience with working with you, and that's really what we want. We want to be tracking our customers back time and time again. So if you are planning on launching something else in the future, then you want to be able to at least bring those customers back that have experienced something that you've done previously. Often. If we give them a good service, they're the ones that are easier to sell to because they know exactly what they're going to get and the standard in which they're going to get that offer as well, and that makes a huge difference. It could be quite challenging to sell to a cold lead because you have to build that know, like, and trust, and that takes time.
Karen Davies [00:21:10]:
Whereas if you've already got a customer that's bought from you previously, then it should be a far easier sale if you have that brand experience in place because you've already built that know, like, and trust. So there you have it. The 4 pillars to building a strong brand. The why, the what, the who, and the how. Now by understanding your brand's purpose, defining what it is that you're offering to your audience, identifying your target audience and then putting everything out there in a cohesive and consistent way. You are going to build a really powerful and compelling brand online. And when you have that nailed, It will make your marketing so much easier because when you do then decide to host a webinar or run a challenge or deliver a video series. You are delivering a really great experience because you've got those foundational pieces in place.
Karen Davies [00:22:17]:
Now it's really important to remember a strong brand goes way, way, way beyond just logo or a catchy tagline. Honestly, the amount of conversations I've had with clients where we've been talking about their brand and what what it is that they're creating for the business, and they've just turned around to me and said, but I just want a logo. No. You don't just want a logo. Your logo is an identity stamp that is recognizable, but it isn't your brand. It isn't your experience that you're delivering. It's a symbol. So I think it's really important to just understand that because if you can get your head around that, It will make everything else so much easier.
Karen Davies [00:23:01]:
So if you plan to work with somebody in the future and they say to you, how do you want your brand to look feel, what is the essence of your brand. It goes way beyond just that logo. Your brand is what is going to make that deeper connection with your audience. So we need to be approaching this with the mindset of This is our business. This is the thing we're creating. We are creating an experience and we want to be remembered. And that experience is going to outweigh any kind of logo because it's how you're going to make your audience feel once they've worked with you. So if you deliver an offer, you're delivering a course, a membership, a group program, any of those online's offers, and you're creating a really strong, compelling experience, then that is going to go far.
Karen Davies [00:24:02]:
And what you may find is that you will equally bring people on board to become an affiliate as well. So that is another thing to consider. The better we deliver what it is we have to deliver, the more likely people are going to equally want to become a part bit as well. And, ultimately, that is what's going to set you apart. There are so many people out there delivering webinars, delivering challenges, all of that good stuff, which is important because that is a those tactics will help you 2 attract and convert customers. But the thing that's really going to set you apart is how you're making that audience feel. And that can only come from your brand and having everything nailed down. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to today's episode.
Karen Davies [00:24:59]:
I hope you found this episode of value. And, of course, please feel free to share with others who you may think will also benefit from listening to today's episode. If you are feeling inspired and would like to know more about how you can work with me, then why not visit my website www.pink-lemondigital.com.
I will be back next week with another episode, but until then, have a great side of the digitally she does it show. Don't forget to check out the show notes for all the links and resources mentioned in today's episode. New episodes drop every week on Wednesday. So why not rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode? Thank you for tuning in today, same, and I will see you next time.