Marketing Like A 3 Year Old?

Do you have a strategy, or are you doing things in your business to copy your friends? 

My son Danny brings home a new song, habit, game, or saying every day.
Sometimes these are cute, impressive, and/or useful. Other times they are,
well, plain nonsense.. When I ask where that new word came from, the
typical answer is, “my friend so-and-so says that.”

Today I got an email from a client, asking for guidance with her online
marketing strategy. She heard at a business training event that she needs
to “build a Facebook fan page, blog and tweet more often, add video to
sites, reference other blogs, continue to add to favorites, and do SEO.”All that on top of running n off-line business and taking care of her
clients? No wonder she was overwhelmed.

To answer this client’s question, I asked her to take a step back and ask
WHY. Why do you need to be on 5 different social networks? Why do you need
to spend 5 hours a day creating and distributing content online? Just
because it’s working for other entrepreneurs? With all my respect and love
for this client.. it sounded to me like she was falling into the
preschooler mindset: because my friends are doing it!

Don’t get me wrong: I am a huge believer in social media, and you will
find me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. But I choose to spend my time based on a very clear strategy.

Here is what I recommend for my client, and for everyone who finds
themselves overwhelmed by catching up to what everyone else is doing
online:

1. Get crystal-clear on who your ideal client is. You have heard me teach
the “customer avatar” concept, and I cannot stress its importance enough.
Are you trying to attract corporate clients? single women over 40 in Ohio?
men with 50+ pounds to lose? post-menopausal women?
scrapbookers? eco-conscious decorators in LA? Be
extremely specific in this.

2. Research where your ideal client is most likely to “hang out” online.
LinkedIn or Twitter? Facebook or MySpace? If the answer is “all of the
above,” think about channel where you are most likely to engage them with
your content.

3. Leverage your strengths to create content. If you hate writing, don’t
commit to a daily blog post. Try video instead! Or, if you are a
perfectionist and it will take you 10 hours of shooting and 5 hours of
editing to create a 2-minute video.. maybe you try a blog post first. Then,
when you are more confident about your message, switch to video. Don’t make
this unnatural or harder than it needs to be.

4. Get help! Here is a confession: I record my videos with my mastermind
buddy. We share a video setup, and she helps me with immediate
feedback about my message. This keeps me from using too much tech jargon.
Not to mention it’s much more fun to have a “study buddy” for videos!

Bottom line: don’t feel pressured to market yourself in too many ways,
just because everyone else is doing it. Think back to WHY you are doing it
in the first place. Keep your goal in mind, and your “platform” will come
together naturally.