Facing Marketing Chaos?
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Hello Reader, 👉 My awesome Squarespace SEO Hacks course is open through October 28. Grab it now if you're excited about getting deep into the nuts and bolts of SEO on that platform. I'm really proud of this course and am so excited about the success the first round of students is having! Learn more here. 👉 My friend Sophy is running a very cool relationship marketing program at a super affordable price point. Sophy is a lovely person, and I know some folks who get my emails would find this program super useful. Check it out. Now, onto the main event, which is prompted by being asked in my Instagram DMs about what I'm personally doing to deal with the chaotic energy of the world. My answer was super boring (the three points at the end of this newsletter), but I wanted to dig into this more deeply and talk about what this question really is all about. The Problem: A Discovery MalfunctionIf you are finding what worked for you in terms of marketing a few years ago just isn’t quite working now. You’re absolutely not alone! I’ve talked to so many people this year who are facing this challenge. This is happening for a whole slew of reasons: economic uncertainty can’t be disregarded, but there’s also a general feeling of indecision happening, people’s budgets are tighter because early Covid-era financial instruments such as EIDL loads have not only been spent but are coming due, folks are quitting or thinking about quitting social media at increasing, plus the landscape of the internet feels pretty freaking chaotic! There’s a lot happening, and the result in that marketing isn’t the well-oiled machine it once was for many. These days, software like ChatGPT is throwing an even clunkier spanner in the works as it’s sending people to websites that can’t actually solve their problems. For example, it recently sent someone in need of digital ads support to my contact page—they wasted their time, and I spent time finding a referral for them so that wouldn’t happen to them again. When we diagnose this marketing malfunction, we step back and ask, “What’s the prescription for the right people to discover us so we can then work on being visible to them?” This can take a lot of forms that I’ve previously mentioned a time or seventeen (and ultimately a healthy marketing strategy involves multiple channels, but pick one and master it first):
You’ll see that the key here—with the exception of some forms of networking—is that you’re expanding your circle of influence (or influence map, as behavioral design experts label it). My Answer: Focus on Foundations NowRight now is really great time to be focusing on marketing foundations. Like I said, marketing has a lot of chaotic energy right now—people are making wild predictions, some even claiming that original content is dead. (I have thoughts I’ll keep to myself about that claim, ahem.) And since I’ve been doing this work for a couple of decades, I can’t help but double-down on what I know is true: Highly skilled professionals who can clearly communicate with their audience are always in style, no matter the trends. So, if you’re ready to focus on these foundations, here’s what I recommend:
I like to say that improvisation is awesome—I’m a huge fan of experimenting and trying new things. However! That improvisation only really works when you have the fundamentals sorted. A few years back, you could get away with skipping that step and kind of, sort of, be okay. That’s no longer. Build those foundations before the new year is upon us—you’ll be glad you did. Onward & upward, Sarah |