TOC #125: I'm not a dumbass, just a scaredy cat.
(May 16, 2023) How to build your marketing strategy beyond just your website
You know those things that everyone just knows?
I know you know what I mean. Those wicked random rules we know we're supposed to abide by, but we have no idea how or why we're aware of them in the first place?
Like, everyone knows that you don't wash your red dress with your white sheets.
Everyone knows you don't put your wood utensils in the dishwasher.
Everyone knows that you're supposed to use gas instead of diesel.
And everyone knows that you're supposed to go to the dentist every six months for a cleaning.
…but sometimes, um, some people tend to… ignore those things? 👀
Now, before you get the wrong idea, no, I'm not enough of a dumbass to put diesel in my Telluride, or ruin my white Reformation dress by throwing it in the wash with my new pair of blue jeans.
What I *am* is enough of a scaredy cat to have skipped that whole “visit the dentist on a regular basis” rule for, like, six years.
If you've been on my email list for a while, this should be no shock to you.
You'd be painfully aware of the fact that I've spent over $30,000 on the dentist in the last 13 months.
& if I'm being honest with you, First name / friend, I probably would have kept on ignoring that same “every 6 months" standard for potentially the rest of my life if I didn't randomly wake up last year with a toothache so intense that I couldn't breathe.
I tried to Advil my way through the pain for DAYS—to no avail, obviously—struggling through pain that quite literally rivaled childbirth.
And that's coming from someone with a ridiculously dramatic childbirth experience.
(That's a story too vulgar even for me to tell, so that's how you know it was bad. Usually I'll tell you anything.)
So, after YEARS of neglecting one of the most important things NOT to neglect about your health, I marched my sad little booty into the periodontist's office, sobbing uncontrollably, and got a consultation for my first (and, what I didn't know then would, unfortunately, definitely not be last) root canal.
A few weeks later, Root Canal Extraordinaire, Dr. Dines, loaded my nostrils up with laughing gas, drilled into tooth #31, prescribed me some pills, and sent me on my way, cured!
My tooth pain was gone, and save for a few tears, I felt great.
“Phew!” I thought to myself. “Thank God THAT's over! I never have to care about this shit again. I'll just make sure I keep brushing my teeth twice a day.”
…lol.
Silly little stupid girl. Doesn't she realize that she can't just put a bandaid solution over something as important as this?! That fixing ONE (dead) tooth wouldn't be enough to hold her over forever?!
Spoiler alert: no. She didn't realize that.
She would later find out that she also needed gum surgery, and several more root canals, and fillings & crowns up the ass, and wisdom teeth pulled, and tooth aligners put on. 🤡
You see, First name / friend, I KNEW how important dental health was.
I KNEW that getting regular cleanings helped you avoid situations like that.
I KNEW that not keeping up with your dental health can cause oral infections, tooth decay, and gum disease.
I KNEW bad dental health correlated to other issues like heart disease and diabetes.
Buuuuut I dunno 🤪 I just thought 🤪 none of that shit would happen to me 🤪 because how could it happen to me 🤪 I'm just a silly little goose 🤪 livin my life 🤪
I knew what I was supposed to do, but I wasn't doing it, because it wasn't a priority to me, since I was fine… until I wasn't anymore.
Maybe you're familiar with getting yourself into a situation like this? 👀
Here's the deal: just because something is all good, doesn't mean it's good enough.
My teeth were all good, ‘til they weren’t.
And once they weren't, it wasn't enough to just fix one part of it and hope for the best. I had to make a serious investment—in terms of time and money—into fixing what I'd let get so freaking broken.
If I had ignored my dental health for any longer, my teeth wouldn't have been the only things starting to deteriorate. The rest of my body would have come next.
Now, we're at the point in the newsletter where you've started wondering whether or not I'm really just talking about teeth anymore, so I'll get to the point:
Neglecting your marketing until there's a reason not to, and then fixing just ONE thing? That's a problem.
Specifically: that's a problem that'll likely take a lot of time and cost a lot of money to solve, and the ‘solution’ isn't a one-time quick fix.
If I wanted to go really hard on the dental example, I'd say this:
Just like filling a cavity every once in a while isn't enough to sustain healthy teeth and gums, using one marketing channel isn't enough to sustain your business.
You need ALL of the pieces of the puzzle to be successful.
(Unless you want to be seen buying Sensodyne at Target.)
I know I preach about how important websites—and website copy—are all the time, but websites aren't enough on their own. Not even the most SEO-optimized, perfectly copywritten, gorgeously designed websites.
& there are 2 reasons why not. 👇
#1 - Websites need CONTENT.
Miss Google herself even says so. Regularly updating and adding “fresh content” to your website—preferably via a blog—is the best way to keep your site in the search engine's good graces.
Plus, the more content you publish, the more opportunity you have to be found by your ideal clients and customers. Every single new page (blog posts count!) you publish is a chance for you to get their eyes on your corner of the Internet.
#2 - You need a way to continue the relationship with your reader.
Most of the people—94%+ people, give or take—aren't ready to make a purchase (or an inquiry) when they land on your website.
That means the vast majority of people scrolling through your website are interested, but not interested enough YET to take your desired action. Do not waste their interest.
Here's how you can make the most of your website's viewers, even if they're not inquiring or making a purchase:
Ask them to read your blog
Ask them to download your lead magnet
Ask them to subscribe to your newsletter
Ask them to look at your portfolio
Ask them to follow you on Instagram
Ask them to save your content on Pinterest
Ask them to watch you on YouTube
The options are endless! As long as you're giving them a way to continue their relationship with you, you're golden. ⭐️
Now, before I let you go, a disclaimer: this is not me telling you to be everywhere, use all the platforms, add a million tasks to your to-do list, and spend hours creating a brand new marketing strategy.
I'm simply telling you that if you use the combination of a bomb website, a consistent blog upload schedule,
This is what I do:
→ Send a weekly newsletter
→ Publish one blog at least once a month
→ Promote my lead magnets on my blog, my website, and on Pinterest
→ Make sure my website is always up to date & accurate
…and that's it.
Of course, sometimes I do more—you'll see me pop up on Instagram every so often—but really the only thing I'm focused on is creating one solid, valuable element of content every week (that's this email rn, hi!), and ensuring my website is optimized & giving my dream clients the opportunity to find me.
[And, to be fair, I have the luxury of only doing those few things because of how many blog posts I already have up & because of how robust my email marketing sitch is, but… that's a convo for another time.]
HELPFUL LINKS:
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