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5 Simple Mindset Shifts to Help You Market Yourself with Ease
You know marketing your businesses is an essential task, so why do you keep bumping it to the bottom of your to-do list?
Over the years, I’ve watched numerous business owners overthink their marketing, procrastinate, and avoid showing up completely. At times, I’ve also struggled with marketing myself. In this article, I’m going to run through some common marketing blocks and suggest simple ways to reframe self-promotion and make it easier.
What Do We Mean by ‘Mindset’ and Why Does it Matter?
Mindset is a set of beliefs that affects how you think, feel and behave. Research produced by Professor Carol Dweck of Stanford University shows that the key to success is not ability, but people’s beliefs about their ability. She’s shown that these beliefs affect people’s behaviours and performance, and ultimately whether they achieve their best.
Professor Dweck identifies two mindsets – a Fixed Mindset and a Growth Mindset. Read Does Mindset Really Matter? to learn more. Spoiler alert: it does, especially when it comes to marketing your business!
5 Simple Mindset Shifts to Help You Market Yourself with Ease
1. From ‘Salesy’ to Selling with Intention
The Block: Potential customers will be put off if I’m too ‘salesy’.
The Shift: Telling potential customers about your products and services isn’t being ‘salesy’ – you’re helping people find things they need and want.
There are so many different ways to market a business, and often the ‘salesy’ approach we have in our head is a form of marketing we’d never use. Think brash, misleading claims paired with immense pressure to buy. If that doesn’t sound like you, then it’s unlikely your approach will land this way with your audience.
It sounds like you might be more comfortable with an audience-centric approach. Sometimes called ‘servant marketing’, this means marketing to serve before marketing to sell. Customer needs come first, and you focus on helping them through your marketing content, rather than simply pushing your products and services.
2. From Too Much to More Please
The Block: If I talk about my products and services too much, people will get sick of me.
The Shift: People rarely see every piece of marketing content you share. They also need to see things over and over again before making a purchase, so repetition is essential.
To you, marketing every day might feel like overkill, but I know plenty of business owners who have reached the end of a launch period and still received DMs from people who didn’t know they were selling a new service / running a course / promoting a new product. ‘I missed this – please could you keep the online basket open a little longer?’
It’s also important to remember that repetition is often what converts clicks into sales. We need to see the same message over and over again before we’ll make a purchase. Whenever I start to doubt this, I reflect on my own shopping habits. We very rarely see something online and buy it immediately. That’s why targeted ads exist!
3. From Icky to Empowered
The Block: Talking about myself and actively trying to sell my products and services gives me the ick.
The Shift: The discomfort is real, but there are good things on the other side of it. I’d encourage you to reframe marketing and selling as an invitation to explore your brand. The right people will be thrilled to receive it and join you.
The key thing I want you to remember when you experience any discomfort around marketing is that you’re not giving anyone the hard sell. You’re not dodgy or dishonest, and you’re not trying to scam anyone. What you do has value, and you operate your business in a responsible, ethical way. You deserve to make money from the things you create and do.
If you don’t shout about your business, who will? (Yes, word of mouth marketing exists, but attracting new leads is important too). There’s no need to feel icky about marketing your products and services. You’re simply welcoming people into your world and showing them how you can add value to their lives.
4. From Boring Chore to Playful Task
The Block: I find marketing so boring. I wish I could just focus on my actual job.
The Shift: I promise there are ways to make marketing more fun – you’ve just got to find them!
I believe the most effective marketing is the marketing you enjoy. Unfortunately, it’s a business task that’s often shrouded in ‘shoulds’. ‘I should be posting on Instagram every day’. ‘I should be growing my mailing list’. ‘I should be running Meta Ads’. My question to you is this: how would you market your business if you were able to shrug off these ‘shoulds’?
With this in mind, I want to encourage you to focus on the platform(s) you enjoy using. Play to your strengths and consider outsourcing certain aspects of the process. This could look like booking a regular content shoot, so you always have high-quality photos and video to work with. Or you might decide to enlist the help of a copywriter to produce your marketing emails.
Finally, don’t forget online marketing is just one piece of the puzzle. Attending a fun networking event or creating some old school printed marketing materials also counts, and could be a better fit for you.
5. From Marketing Flop to Marketing Consistently
The Block: I feel like nobody ever sees my content / opens my emails / reads my blogs, so I may as well give up.
The Shift: Marketing is a long game. You need to be consistent over time and open to experimenting.
First, we need to fact check your feelings. I want you to actually look at the data. Not everything you share is going to be a huge viral hit that generates masses of sales. In fact, some businesses will never experience this kind of impact from their marketing.
Assuming there’s some truth to how you’re feeling, it’s worth remembering that if something flops, it’s not necessarily a sign you should give up completely. Maybe you just need to try something new. Good marketers are responsive and open to trying new things based on what the data tells them.
If your Instagram reels aren’t getting any traction, try a carousel post instead. If your email open rate is down, tweak the subject lines and see what happens. If your blogs aren’t bringing any traffic to your website, conduct a mini-SEO audit and/or come up with some different content ideas. In other words, don’t quit – pivot!
Let’s Recap
- You’re not being ‘salesy’. You’re marketing with intention because you’re committed to reaching the right people and serving them well.
- You’re not talking about yourself too much. Nobody sees every piece of content you share, so it’s important to repeat your message as much as you can.
- There’s no reason to feel icky about selling. Your business deserves to thrive.
- Marketing doesn’t have to be boring. Focus on the parts that feel fun.
- Going viral isn’t the goal. Keep looking at your data and trying new things.
I Want You to Thrive
I’m passionate about helping people define the life they want, so they can follow their dreams and build a career that matches their vision. Together, we can banish overwhelm, identify your priorities, clarify your goals, and create a plan. Learn more about 1:1 Business Coaching here or get in touch to discuss your options. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.