The #1 Marketing Strategy Every Business Owner Forgets (and How it Sabotages Their Growth) with Julie Solomon
Episode 143: Show Notes
Today on the podcast we have our new friend Julie Solomon. Julie is a long-time listener, first time interview and an all-around fan of the podcast. Julie is a communicator at heart and a believer in the power of sharing stories. Her purpose is to encourage confidence and determination to create, perform and connect. She also comes with some sexy taglines like New York Best-Selling Publicist, Influencer Marketing Expert and Strategist, Founder of an iTunes Top 15 Business Podcast and Speaker. Girlfriend knows her stuff.
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In this episode, we are talking about the number one marketing strategy every business owner forgets and how it sabotages their growth. Not to mention all of these crazy, insane places on the internet that y’all did not know existed and how they can help unlock some crazy publicity for you inside your biz. So if you are sick and tired of going down the same old path and constantly sabotaging your business from reaching its true potential, then this episode is for you! Stay tuned to hear more about how to change your approach.
The Most Common Challenge Brands and Influencers Face
Julie has been in PR for almost over 10 years and has been able to work with dozens of New York Times bestselling authors. From that, she also transitioned into influencer marketing and has gotten to work with some of the top YouTubers, bloggers and even some celebs! No matter who it is, Julie found the common struggle for influencers and brands was figuring out who their audience is. That is always the one marketing challenge people seem to either overlook or don’t spend enough time on. Julie believes if you are talking to everybody, you aren’t really talking to anybody. So you need to be really clear on who your the small group of people you are talking to is. It is a lot easier to talk to a specific group of people than it is to talk to a giant void of people. The more we as entrepreneurs use the online space as the platform to get our message and products out there, the more we are going to continue talking to a void if we don’t know exactly who our audience is.
Understanding and Identifying Your Audience
To get really specific on who your audience is, it is always best to start by treating the audience as if it is one person. First, determine basics such as age, location, and socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Then, get really specific by determining things like the last YouTube video they searched, the books they take on holiday and even the type of margarita they prefer on Taco Tuesday! Julie makes influencers get super specific on who their audience is because she wants you, as the marketing and the brand, to be able to see, smell, taste and hear everything you need to know about your audience-person. Then at the end of it, Julie actually likes to give the audience-person a name.
Your Ideal Audience; A Mirror Image of Yourself
Once you’ve given your ideal audience member a name, it really enables you to set up a visual description of who this person. When it comes time for you to put out new content, you can determine whether or not it will actually help the specific audience member you have in mind. At the end of the audience identification process, a lot of influencers find their ideal audience member is actually a mirror of themselves. They are similar in everything from analytic data, like their age and demographics, to their interests, struggles, frustrations and goals. This gives you such incredible insight into what you can help them with, what types of content you should focus on creating and exactly what problem you can help them solve.
Strategically Growing Your Business
The process of growing your business starts with the content you create because that really establishes your voice and your tone. You want to be able to attract and connect your ideal audience to your brand, business and services. It is essential that you learn to speak their language because at the core of it all, your brand, blog and social media are not about you. They’re about your audience and the people you are creating solutions for. Now, of course, it has to be authentic to you; it has to be your dream, goal and idea. But the way you are executing and serving it out into the world is really about them; the specific individuals within that core audience group. Once you get a clear idea of who they are, a good way to not forget that information and put it on a shelf is to really start speaking their language, seeking them out and asking the right questions to bring them together and creating your tribe.
Pivoting the Audience Conversation
Sometimes as your business grows, your ideal client also shifts. The best way to understand when to pivot is to simply test it out. Try a few different strategies to see what is working out for the greater good. Now, it still may not appeal to one specific person, but it goes back to the fundamental idea of attracting or repelling. There are going to be people that no matter how much you try, no matter how much you’re bringing what you think they need to the table, they are just not able to attract to it. And that is totally okay because then you can really try to pivot and restructure to the group of people that are resonating with it well. Then, the ones that are resonating with what you have to offer, you can ask them what they need now in this new part of their journey with you. Figure out the next step for them and the problems you can now solve or help them with. Really start to ask those questions to understand which way you should focus for your next pivot.
Getting Noticed
Although Julie has helped many people get noticed and grow their brand through identifying their ideal audience, she too had to face these challenges in her own business. As she started navigating through her audience and the message she wanted to bring to the world, she had to go on a journey of understanding what it meant to be “Julie the Publicist”. What that really means is she needed to always come to a place of trying to create, perform and share in the most connective way possible. When it comes to publicity, it’s really about connection. You are taking your product or service and making sure they connect in the best way possible to the public forum. When it comes down to it, if a brand doesn’t know who their product is for, they’re never going to sell it. It always comes back to that audience and getting that really clear to take it to the next level. You have to know where your audience is in order to connect with them, which is what publicity is truly about.
Quote This
If you’re talking to everybody, you’re talking to nobody.
—Julie Solomon
Highlights
Understand what the most common challenge is that brands and influencers face. [0:05:26.1]
The questions we need to ask ourselves to identify who your audience is. [0:07:38.1]
Find out why your ideal audience member is actually a lot like you. [0:12:42.1]
How to strategically use the data about your audience to grow your business. [0:13:45.1]
Understand how to pivot the conversation from one ideal client to another. [0:19:59.1]
Learn how to use the data you’ve gathered to get people to notice you. [0:29:01.1]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Julie Solomon
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Julie Solomon is a brand and marketing strategist for influencers, bloggers and entrepreneurs. Julie is a communicator at heart and a believer in the power of sharing stories. Her purpose is to encourage confidence and determination to create, perform and connect. As co-owner of OMG! Publicity and a New York Times best-selling publicist, Julie has had the privilege of working with some of the country's most recognized artists, authors, entrepreneurs and bloggers for over a decade. She has spearheaded book campaigns that went on to break New York Times Best-Selling records and collectively sold over 100 million books worldwide. In 2017, Julie launched The Influencer Podcast, putting her journalism major to good use. On her show, she explores the secrets behind the careers of today's top social influencers and industry elites and the podcast has rapidly joined the Top-100 list of iTunes’ Business Podcast Chart. She is also the creator of Conscious Connection, a six-week, one-on-one branding consultation program that teaches online marketing, public relations and branding to bloggers and influencers.
KEY TOPICS
Business mistakes, Identifying your audience, Mirroring your audience, Strategic business growth, Pivoting your audience, Getting noticed
