How to Look at Your Marketing Differently so that You Stop Wondering How to Speak to Your People

INTRO: After generating over a million dollars in sales and selling one of her businesses with a single email, your host, Kathryn Thompson, takes an unconventional approach to marketing and sales. So if you're ready to tap into a more powerful way to be seen, heard, and a sought after entrepreneur in your industry, without having to spend endless hours marketing your business and chasing clients, you're in the right place. Be The Sought After Entrepreneur Podcast is here to help you ditch the cookie cutter one size fits all approach to marketing and use your unique energy to effortlessly attract the most aligned clients. When you do this, you can spend less time marketing your business and more time doing your soul work and enjoying the richness of your life. Welcome to Be The Sought After Entrepreneur Podcast. And here's your host, Kathryn Thompson.

Kathryn Thompson: Hey, hey, super stoked that you're tuning in this week's episode. I cannot wait to dive into today's topic [00:01:00] because it's something that keeps coming up in a recurring way inside of Spellbound. And so anytime that that happens, I always want to share this with you to help you in any way that I can.

And it has to do with content, content creation. It has and it has to do with what to say, when to say sort of how to say it, and really how to fit everything into what I call the ecosystem. And I think the first step is, is to look at what you do as an ecosystem. And so one of the things that I was having a conversation with a client recently was they have this really big vision, right?

They know where they want to go and they know, kind of how they want to get there. But then when it comes time to distilling down into a strategy, into content, into emails and all of that, like, what is it? What do I do? Who am I? What do I call myself? All of those sorts of things. Like, how do I actually now put this into like practical action steps?

People freeze. And the [00:02:00] reason why I feel like people are freezing based on working with hundreds of soulful entrepreneurs is, is that they're trying to encapsulate everything that they do into an email, into a post, into a free training, you name it. And so then when that is literally impossible to do, they're like, They're like, I don't know how to really talk about it.

Like, how do I fit everything into a single tagline or into a bot into my bio or into an email or into an IG caption? And like I said, it's impossible. And so one of the things that I want to reframe for you on this episode here is the whole notion of your content and what your content is really designed to do and also therefore what is actually driving your content strategy.

Because the other big sort of issue that I'm seeing amongst entrepreneurs in [00:03:00] general is the notion that they're operating from a very reactive state. And reactive state being, how do I get clients? and I totally, totally, totally get that energy and I've been there many times in my journey, but it's something that I not only see in entrepreneurs, honestly, it's something that I really witnessed in the corporate level as well, corporations operating in reaction, or as we like to call it in the sporting world, being on the defense all the time and not really being on the offense, like constantly being there to sort of just defend and react to what sort of being thrown at you.

And I want this episode to be sort of a playground for you to sort of look at your business one and see where you might be operating in that reactive state, but to look and see how, um, you might be approaching your content in sort of the same energy and [00:04:00] therefore trying to squeeze everything you possibly can into a single post that then therefore sells what it is that you're selling.

So I'm going to start with the reactive piece because I think that that's really key and Why that's really key is because I think for a lot of people, we have this idea of what we want. We know we want to create maybe a business and we want it to sustain our lifestyle, whatever that lifestyle might look like, right?

For some that might be jet setting around the world with a first class ticket, you know, going to all of these different places and living the life that way, but also then having income and revenue in their, Life to be able to fuel that lifestyle. For others, it might be, I want to retire my husband. For others, it might be, I want the space in my life to be able to be home for my kids.

Whatever that lifestyle is for you, that's where we obviously want to start, right? We want to start with like, [00:05:00] what are our values and what's the lifestyle we ultimately want to create? As part of our business, because to me it's all one. If we compartmentalize the business and we compartmentalize ourselves in the identity of the entrepreneur, we'll often create a business that does not sustain our lifestyle.

And I see this a lot. And that looks like creating success in your business that ultimately then ends up being unfulfilling. Uh, you burn out. You're like, how the hell did I get here? I've created a monster, I've said that many times in my journey, and I want to help you one avoid that. And I think the other thing I want to help you give yourself grace on is that what you create today will maybe sustain you for the next year to five, but that as humans, we're constantly evolving.

And so choosing now what you want that will help sustain sort of your lifestyle going forward. is important for [00:06:00] sure, but also giving yourself an opportunity to stay open to what's potentially possible five years from now that you might not even know is on your radar. Because this is where people get hung up, right, is that they want to, they have a big vision, they don't want to get it wrong, and so then we stay in that sort of freeze mode of not creating anything, because we're like, I But what if in a year from now I change my mind?

Or what if in a year from now this isn't it? Or what if I know what I'm selling right now isn't the thing I'm gonna be selling in five years from now or two years from now or a year from now? Like how do I develop this brand and how do I create it? And the whole piece of that is holding what you have right now currently while also working towards where you want to go and knowing that you can always evolve and change and pivot.

This allows you to be nimble versus reactive in your business in a lot of ways [00:07:00] because you're sort of in flow with the notion that Who you are today will not be who you are tomorrow. And you know that, and that's okay. And that you can live in the present moment right now, knowing that you're constantly evolving and changing.

Therefore, not trying to grip onto who you are right now to keep that person, but also in the same breath, not allowing that to prevent you from actually moving ahead and taking a step forward. Which brings me to the strategy piece. The strategy piece is huge, and I've been doing a lot of strategy sessions with new Spellbound members, so anytime you enroll in Spellbound, you get a one to one strategy session with me.

And every single time I'm seeing this theme, right, is that I meet with people and they tell me what their big goals and dreams are, and then they tell me what their values are, and then they tell me what they've already created. And I can pretty much sense if they've created something, again, out of necessity or out of need to get quote unquote clients.

[00:08:00] So that's a first problem because if we're creating things that we don't actually love and want to sell, and we're just doing it to feed an immediate need of needing clients, then our audience is going to feel that energetically. Right. But we're also not going to be excited to sell it. Therefore procrastination, self sabotage, all these things that we have labels for start to become apparent.

And even though to me, I'm like, is it really procrastination? Is it really self sabotage? Or is it your soul telling you? Why the heck are you going down this path when you know, this isn't the path you actually want to go down. The other thing is, is that we start to really uncover like, what is the goal and the revenue goal that people want in their business, right, per month.

And oftentimes people will say something like 10k, 20k or something along those lines. And then when I asked them why, then they explained to me why. And then when I asked them, what are they actually selling? They tell me what they're selling. And then when I say, well, what are you pricing it at? And nine times out of 10, people get hung up on the price.

Like, what should I [00:09:00] price it at? Uh, is it possible to charge this? Will people actually pay for this? Again, I've been there, right? We get hung up on what's possible. And oftentimes we sell ourselves short. and we price things at a lower price point. The problem is, is that what I see is incongruency very quickly between the price that people are selling their offers at and what they actually want to create on a monthly basis.

For example, if you want to create 10k months and you have a 60 offer, You're going to have to sell a shit ton of those offers and it better be automated and not something that is going to require you to show up on a Zoom call because that's a lot of Zoom calls. And I had a conversation recently with somebody, right, who was selling a 100 offer that required them to do work behind the scenes.

So it wasn't that they had to do work on a call or anything, but people would submit something and then they would provide [00:10:00] an assessment to them, but that required them to do the assessment. And they were wanting to create 20k months. And I said, is that your only offer? And it was like, yes. And I said, well, that's a lot of assessments.

per month that you need to sell and therefore create. The incongruency is, is that one, I'm not saying that you can't sell that many, but can you actually fulfill it without burning yourself out? Right? And these are the things that I want you to start to consider. Like, have you actually looked at the goal that you want revenue wise, and does that match and is that congruent?

One, with the offer that you're delivering at the price point that you're delivering and the capacity that you need to fulfill it. But more importantly, then what's the strategy that's going to need to be employed in order to ensure that you have that many sales coming through your business every single month?

Because the other thing that I want you to consider is, is that oftentimes, [00:11:00] I will hear from people that they want freedom and they want autonomy, which is why lots of times people want the passive offer. They don't want to do a live group coaching program because then when do they get a holiday and when did they get a break?

And then they've basically created a job for themselves, right? And I totally, totally get that. And especially if freedom and autonomy and being able to sort of have the flexibility in your days and months and years is important to you, then that might feel restricting, but. If you were selling, let's just say, a group program over a six month period and you want to break after the six months, and you want to break for two months, let's just say, well then you would need to make in that six month period what you would want to make in eight months without selling anything for the seven or eight months, right?

And I think that's the other incongruency that a lot of people have. They want to bake in this spaciousness, but then they're not incorporating that [00:12:00] with what they need to sell in order to cover that. So for example, if you're wanting to make 20 K months each month, you're going to have to sell more in those six months to incorporate the two months off that you want to take post your launch.

And then you've got to consider then, well, I'm launching again for another six months and there might not be revenue that comes in in month nine, right? That might be launch month. So these are all the things I want you to consider. Because if you're not congruent, one, in what you want and why you want it, that's going to impact what comes into your reality.

And two, if the strategy therefore that you're implying isn't congruent with what it is you want to create, it's not going to meet your expectations. And therefore, you're going to continually wonder why your strategies aren't working. And then obviously the messaging and the offer, right? If you're not selling something that really comes alive in your body, you're going to have a hard time [00:13:00] selling it.

And then the other side of this is, is that the strategy, the messaging, the offer, all of that informs the content. And this is where I think there's again, deeper incongruency, because oftentimes we have the idea of I want to sell this, I want to make this much money, and then we start to post content on social, which is cool, but if that's not congruent with the other bigger picture of this, your content's not going to be congruent.

And if we're trying to squeeze everything that our offer provides into one post and one email, we're going to have a hard time writing the content because it's going to feel like a mountain we can't climb. And it's going to keep us in freeze mode and keep us thinking. Well, I don't know what to say and how to say it.

Like, I really don't know how to articulate everything that my offer provides and the transformations that it provides. I want you to consider your content as [00:14:00] one micro puzzle to the entire piece, the entire ecosystem. And I want you to think about taking one very specific piece of what you do and creating a post around it and speaking to one specific thing that you help women with.

Let's just say, say you're a holistic wellness coach and you help women balance their hormones using nervous system regulation, diet and lifestyle, food, herbs, you name it. And you're practice is very holistic, meaning it's the big picture. And then all of the micro things that need to happen in order to ensure that as a woman, your hormones are balanced.

Well, if you just talk from that high level perspective all the time, that's not going to be micro specific to the various needs and desires that likely women in your world want to have. to hear about but also that will naturally draw [00:15:00] in a variety of different women. For example, you could write a post around the top five herbs to take in order to balance your hormones during perimenopause.

That would speak to a very specific person looking for herbs to support them through perimenopause. Now, you could take the angle and talk about diet and lifestyle. You could take that angle and talk about, you know, how the body changes in perimenopause. Now, if you're like, but I help people be on perimenopause, Kathryn, then you can say, well, that's cool.

That's one angle and one woman that would come into your world. And it doesn't mean that you're repelling other women because that's one micro post or piece of content that you're putting out there. What makes it an ecosystem is when you have a variety of different posts. So you're not always talking about perimenopause and herbs and lifestyle and movement and all those sorts of things.

Unless of [00:16:00] course, all you want to help is women during perimenopause and menopause. Let's just say that's your angle. Well, then, you know, By all means do that. But if you're saying I want to help women with holistic health and wellness, then you would have a post around perimenopause and herbs, let's just say, then you might have a post around movement and how it throughout your life, movement and exercise would change depending on your age.

And right so you so you would mix it up and you would create an ecosystem. Now, I probably know what you're thinking. Well, Kathryn, what does that ecosystem look like? And this is where I will respond and say, it's not cookie cutter. And I know that's annoying. And I know that we sometimes want a formula and it's like, well, just tell me how many posts am I posting around herbs and perimenopause and then, you know, diet and lifestyle among 30 year olds and yada, yada, yada, right?

It will totally, totally, totally depend on your audience. And the [00:17:00] way in which they consume your content and how your content's presented and all of that stuff. And so for me to sit here and say, well, this is exactly how you do it, is actually a disservice to you. Because there is no cookie cutter approach to the content creation.

I could sit here and give you a breakdown, do 40 percent this and 30 percent that and 10 percent that, but I mean, that's just throwing darts against a wall and hoping something sticks, right? At the end of the day, it's about expressing yourself, but not necessarily trying to express yourself and shove everything that you do, the multifacetedness of your nature, into one post.

It's about taking micro doses of what it is that you do and spreading that across your post. That one will also give you hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of things to talk about, I am sure, so that you're no longer sitting there going, I don't know what to talk about. That's number one. And then number two is that you're going to be very specifically talking to [00:18:00] a variety of different people in your audience at various levels of needs, wants, desires, that sort of thing.

And so if you're selling the invisible and you're going, I don't know how to put this into words, Kathryn. One, my question for you is, is that actually really true? Because oftentimes when I'm working people, they know exactly what they do and how they do it and the transformations that they offer, but they're trying to fit everything into a cohesive message in one piece of content rather than taking that topic, that broad topic, that broad vision, and then distilling it down into a variety of different specific things that they could talk about, like the transformations and all of the different various transformations that they offer and how they do that.

Right. And also then speaking to things like I'm doing right now, like the patterns that we see and the themes that we see come across our plate. If you're a practitioner, I'm sure you see patterns that come across where you get maybe [00:19:00] five people that sign up with you in a week or a month, and they all have similar issues or problems or things that they're wanting to create.

And you're like, wow, these are all themes. And now I've helped five people. With the same sort of pattern and theme, I'm going to talk about it. It's exactly how I've just done this podcast. I've had many clients in Spellbound getting to the point of, okay, I've got to create this ecosystem and I'm now going to create it.

And what does it look like? And the same question every time. Well, what do I put in the ecosystem? Number one. And then number two is, well, how do I fit and talk about like the capacity and the depth of what it is I offer in a single caption? And my answer is you don't. Because it's impossible, right? If, if you take people on this really deep journey and you do it in a process, right, like you take them maybe through a process that you have, maybe that's an inquiry process.

Maybe when someone comes into your world, there's an inquiry or an intake form that they have to fill out. So you get an understanding of where they're [00:20:00] at and where they want to go. I mean, that would be phase one inquiry. And then maybe in phase two, it's, you know, you get on a call with them and there's an awareness piece, right?

You're creating sort of awareness between you and them and you're helping them become aware of maybe the patterns that you're seeing from the inquiry phase. And so phase two would be awareness. And then maybe phase three is like practical and you're sending them on their way to start to apply some of the practical things that you are supporting them through.

And they start to. put this into practice in their daily life, and then maybe, you know, the next phase is follow up. I think we overcomplicate the phases and the processes and all those sorts of things. And I just think you have a process that you take people through. And at each phase that you take someone through, whether it be inquiry, you could do a whole post around what you're seeing coming through your inquiries, right?

And the patterns and themes you see, or the practical steps you walk. certain people through depending on [00:21:00] who they are and what they need. And this is where the ecosystem happens because people are coming into your world from all angles. They might stumble across you on Instagram and then go check out your website.

They might've done a search on Google and found you that way, and then went to your website and then found you on social. Nobody's coming in all at the same points. Therefore when they land on your stuff and they can consume your content, that they get a sense and a feel about what it is you support people through, but there's a real specificity there and that then therefore Pulls the right people into your world, but also cuts through the noise.

And I know that is like an overused term, but it's the truth, right? If somebody can really see themselves in what it is that you're communicating and you have a strategy in place that supports people and moving them down that customer buying journey, that's in alignment, obviously with the lifestyle and your values, then you've got [00:22:00] deep congruency all across the board.

And that to me is what has allowed me to create epic success. And it's what my clients are able to create inside of Spellbound and working with me because we create this congruency. I can spot the incongruency almost instantaneously based on if someone sends me a sales page, somebody sends me their offer suite, someone sends me their goals, plus their offer suite, plus their price point.

I can already start to see patterns that aren't congruent with where they want to go, who they want to serve, why they want to serve them, and how they ultimately want to serve them. And all of that tied together is going to impact who and what you attract into your world. And so, hopefully, this episode has given you some insight into where you might have incongruency, but more importantly than that helps you reframe the whole notion of content and the whole notion of communication so that there [00:23:00] is maybe less pressure to feel like I've got to like capture everything I do and label myself a certain way so people understand me.

Like, sure, I have marketing expert and conversion copywriter on social media, but I don't walk around saying that. I don't walk around with that label. And yet I create. Epic success in my business. Not only this one, but my brick and mortar prior to this, and then in my corporate years, right? I never really bought into the label of what should I call myself?

Because to me, I felt like it was irrelevant. It didn't really actually matter. What mattered was is that I could connect with people very specifically in a heartfelt and genuine way. And that's what built and builds trust, in my opinion, really quickly. And then of course, having something to offer that can really, really support them again in a very genuine way and setting really clear expectations of what that looks like, right?

So not overpromising, not overselling, not [00:24:00] oversimplifying what it takes to actually build a successful business and the various stages of what that looks like depending on where you are in your journey. can all look very different. And so I'm not saying that it's really easy. Like, once you just get this congruency piece, bang, you're off to the races.

I mean, yes, it helps absolutely. But again, all the pieces sort of need to kind of tie together and do so in a way that, that moves people down that customer buying journey from, you know, Not Knowing You, Not Knowing You, Right? To Knowing You, that awareness, to Liking You, and then to really loving what it is that you have to offer, and to be able to see themselves in the offer and how it might be able to support their life and benefit their life.

So, with that, I hope you have a splendid day. And of course, I'm always over on the DMs at Creatively Owned on Instagram, so if you have found this helpful, I'd love to hear from you. Just shoot me a DM and I will respond. Cheers! Thanks for listening! We'll see you right back here next time. You can also find us on social media at creativelyowned and online at [00:25:00] creativelyowned.

com. Until next time, keep showing up as your authentic self.