Resisting Trends and Missing Opportunities
Episode 032: Show Notes
Lately, we’ve seen a lot of people rebel, and not in a good way. There is a little bit of anti-trendsetting happening, and although we totally fit in with the weirdos and the misfits, we need to give you guys a little bit of a reality check about the difference between marketing tactics that work and trends that you can spin your own style on. We are going to peel back the layers, Shrek style, so you can better understand how to move past the fear of not understanding and learn how to use these tactics for your unique business.
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Today’s conversation is going to be a lot of this versus that, and we are going to give you a peek into a lot of the pushback that we hear from our audience and those in the online creative space. We are going to break down the difference between marketing tactics, style, and branding. So if you are looking to get some ideas on how you can spin these tactics and make them work for you and your own business, then listen in!
Get On the Video Train
We see a lot of video resistance happening, and we know that when we started our business, even we were skeptical. It was almost as if we were waiting for the stats to come out and prove that video was not doing any better than photo — however, that just is not the case! According to Forbes, more than 80% of people said that they’re watching more online videos today than they were a year ago. Video is what is being favored everywhere, and you have to get on the train or you will be left behind. We’ve allowed video into our business in a lot of ways. We have webinars, Facebook Lives, Insta Stories, and we even have a promo video on some of our course programs so people can start getting to know us better.
Your Business Requires More Than A Cute Paper To-Do List
When it comes to organizing your business, digital is an absolute must for efficiency. Now just to set the record straight; we heart paper! We even have totes and cabinets full of notebooks, which could possibly be a secret addiction. However, here is the problem: other than physically going through it page by page with your hands, you cannot search paper. You can’t reorganize it. You can’t copy and paste it. You can’t edit it. You can’t put it in the checklist. You can’t. It just stays paper. Your business needs more than a weekend chore list. The moment you stop treating it like that, giving it space and a platform to grow and to set dates long term outside of the here and now, you will be rewarded. You will find that you are getting more done and reaching goals faster. When you are able to stop having all the things shoved in your head, because they can’t fit on a post-it note, you’ll finally be able to have some freaking white space!
Organically Posting is Not How Businesses Use Social Media
Using social media for business is not the same as using it for your individual, personal accounts. Growing your brand on social media requires strategy, and it is a lot easier to fulfill that strategy, if you have it pre-planned and scheduled. We didn’t decide to invest in scheduling systems until we knew that our money would be well spent. Hands down, our audience gets more of us and more engagement from us if those posts are taken care of. It frees up time for us to be able to engage with our audience, respond to comments, answer questions, and link up additional resources. But if we are constantly in our social media accounts every single day posting things manually, we do not have the energy or the time to do anything else, meaning that we can’t engage with our audience the way we do now.
Etsy Versus Your Own Shop
When first starting out, driving traffic to your website requires a lot, a lot of work! If you do not have an audience yet, Etsy is the perfect searchable platform for you to get in front of your absolute target audience. Etsy might be your best option in the beginning, especially if your marketing and growth budget is not that big quite yet. Now, we are not saying Etsy is the best solution for your business, but sometimes people resist trends simply because they don’t like them. This is not a good enough reason not to use a tactic. Etsy may not be forever and there might come a time to transition, but the key is acknowledging that these marketing trends are marketing tactics, and investigating whether these tactics make sense for your business.
Blogging Is Not Dead
Blogging is an ever changing marketing tactic organism, and the way that people made money blogging 10 years ago is vastly different from how you make money blogging today. There is not a direct correlation anymore, but that does not mean that it does not work. And no, blogging is not just for fashion bloggers or DIY bloggers. This type of content marketing can be beneficial for many different types of business. Having blog content on your site makes you look a lot more legit and shows your readers what makes you different and how exactly you can help them solve their problems. Consistent content also helps you to rank better with Google, makes you easier to find, and gives you the opportunity to capture email addresses by giving away freebies. We have said it many times, and we will say it again; the bigger your list, the more opportunities to sell and grow your revenue base.
Leaning Into Trends Can Work In Your Favor
Okay, we get it; sometimes you just do not want to be like everybody else. However, resisting a trend can sometimes hurt your business as well, especially if you’re a product-based business. You are literally revolving around trends. If you are looking to make a stance in the crowd and get noticed, leaning in to some of those popular trends every now and then can definitely work in your favor. If you see something that another business owner is doing and it is working for them as a marketing tactic, it’s because it works. Yes, they probably put a unique spin on it and they might have spent money making it better, or bigger. But the core of that is that it is a smart marketing tactic, period. All we’re asking you to do is to try it.
Quote This
Your business is not a weekend chore list.
Highlights
Learn why it is so important to stop making excuses and get on the video train. [0:04:47.3]
Why it is important to make the move from paper to digital when it comes to organizing your business. [0:09:41.7]
Understand using scheduling versus organically posting on social media for your business. [0:13:24.7]
Discover why using Etsy as a platform in the beginning might be more profitable for your business in the end. [0:21:48.8]
Find out why blogging is not dead and how it can help your business grow. [0:24:34.5]
Learn why resisting a trend can sometimes hurt your business, and why and how you should lean into it instead. [0:32:19.6]
#TalkStrategyToMe [0:38:02.6]
Truly ask yourself, “What am I actually resisting here, and why?”
Once you have identified why you are resisting, decide how to make the tactic your own and better apply it to your business.
Just try it, and take note of the results.
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Using video platforms to grow your business, Moving from paper to digital planning, Organic scheduling versus scheduling platforms, Using Etsy to drive traffic for your business, Using blogging to grow your business, Leaning in to popular trends
