A client asked a great question the other day: what’s one pivot I could make right now in my marketing? What am I missing?
What I love about this question is it speaks to the desire that all the women entrepreneurs I work with have: to serve others. But it’s easy to feel at a loss for how to serve right now — we’re experiencing unprecedented uncertainty in our world — when people need many things.
Besides, there’s so much hype and misinformation, and NONE of us what to contribute to that noise. How can we make sure our content to meet the needs of our audience, while still marketing our services and getting hired?
It comes down making one high-value marketing pivot: Focused Listening.
Make Your Audience Feel Heard
Early on when Steve and I were dating, my birthday was coming up. I’d always felt awkward about getting birthday gifts from people I was dating, because I was never sure what I wanted, and what if they got me something I didn’t like?
I had no idea what to expect from Steve. And the truth is, what he got me blew me away. It made me feel deeply heard, cared for, and understood. It was a small gift, but what it meant about our relationship was HUGE.
He got me a lavender-filled eye-pillow that was made by my friend Amina, who has a candle and accessories company. I was floored, because I had completely forgotten the time I’d mentioned that I wanted an eye pillow!
Steve is so good at focused listening. He notices offhanded comments and stores them in his mind. He is present enough in our conversations to pick up on little signals. He pays attention and remembers to get me that thing-I-mentioned-that-one-time for my birthday.
Think about how powerful it is to feel heard, cared for, and understood. Imagine the impact it would have to give that to your audience.
Turn Down Your WIIFM Station
People talk about this all the time in sales and marketing training: your audience is tuned in to the What’s In It For Me station. You have to make the WIIFM clear every time you market and sell.
Unfortunately, a lot of women entrepreneurs forget to turn down our own WIIFM stations. At the same time that we’re showing our audience what’s in it for you, a part of us is obsessively focused on what’s in it for me. And sometimes, the WIIFM overrides our deep desire to serve others.
I want them to like me. I want them to click. I want them to buy. I want them to think I’m brilliant. I want them to comment. I want them to book a call with me. I want I want I want I want.
And it’s natural! You’re not marketing for its own sake, you’re marketing because you are uniquely qualified to serve people and because you run a business.
But right now, as we grapple with a pandemic and how it will affect our lives and impact our businesses, the highest value marketing pivot you can make is to turn down your WIIFM station and turn up your focused listening.
3 Steps to Deeply Connect with your Audience
If you don’t want to contribute to the noise online, you can do these three things to make the high-value marketing pivot of focused listening. They will make your audience feel heard, cared for, and understood. And — because your WIIFM stations is always playing softly in the background — they will pay dividends for your engagement, networking, and business opportunities:
Listen More
Approach marketing to your audience with the eagerness and curiosity you bring to a new relationship. What do you hear? What does it remind you of? How does it make you feel?
- Pay attention to what your clients are asking, what links are being clicked in the emails you send to your list, and what people are talking about in the groups you’re in.
- Ask questions about what people want to know and need to know, so you can listen to their answers and pivot your content and your offers to meet them.
- Say kind things. Seriously! I would love to see more of this. Have you ever been talking with two people, and as soon as one walks away the other says, “wow, I really like her!” I always want to ask, “why didn’t you say that to HER?!” Pay compliments. Listen to your inner self and what she likes, and share that with the people in your audience. It will make you and everyone feel good.
Use this focused listening as the basis for engaging with your audience: tell people what their content makes you think and feel!
Publish Less
A study from Rival IQ showed that from January to April, engagement increased as posting frequency decreased. Why?
- When you post less often, each post has a better chance of earning engagement thanks to how the social media algorithms serve content to people, which leads to higher performance-per-post.
- When you focus your energy less on quantity, you’re likely to produce higher quality. Quality leads to greater engagement, and engagement begets engagement. So ease up on your content schedule, and put your energy towards listening to and engaging with other people’s content.
I’m not saying stop publishing your own content. But make sure you’re focusing on high-quality content that reflects the deep listening you’re practicing in your marketing.
Amplify Others
I love amplifying other people’s content for a few reasons:
- It builds goodwill. It’s like when you pay a compliment to someone, or someone compliments you. Compliments are like a ray of sunshine in your day, and sharing others’ work has the same effect. (Reread #3 under Listen More!)
- It builds reciprocity. If you amplify others’ content, it’s far more likely they will amplify yours.
- It puts you on other people’s radars and news feeds, which will increase engagement in your own content.
This is why I tell my clients to tag everyone, every time you post. It not only to acknowledges other people’s work but it also spark conversation and builds engagement.
The Key to Brilliant Marketing, Now and Forever
Make focused listening the core of your marketing, and your audience will feel like you’ve been reading their journals — in a good way — because of how deeply you understand them. You must listen to know what your audience wants and needs, just like you listen to your spouse, best friend, and children.
Make this high-value marketing pivot and you will increase your engagement, networking, and business opportunities. Equally (more?) importantly, you’ll also make your audience feel heard and cared for. This is what human beings desire all the time, and especially during the uncertainty of a global pandemic.
Now, if you want to roar out of this time period with a consistent marketing and communications process that will bring you more clients than ever before, I recommend you invest in my 30-Day Crisis-Proof Media Toolkit for Women Entrepreneurs.
This NEW toolkit system is done-for-you, not do-it-yourself. It is carefully designed to NOT pile more work on your plate. In fact, 90% of the toolkit will teach you how to leverage content you already have for crisis-proof communications with your audience. It’s also designed to help you listen to and amplify your audience, to strengthen your relationships and forge deep connections.
Head to crisisprooftoolkit.com to make your investment!
If you have any questions, please comment below and I’ll get back to you. I love answering questions!
