My #1 Marketing Secret Revealed

Good, ethical marketing is about building relationships of trust. Period.

I started my first online business in 2006. I’ve seen trends come and go and I can say quite confidently that there is and will never be a shortage of “tips & tricks” to marketing your business online.

I’ve tried a lot of them too.

But, there is one marketing strategy that I will forever adhere to. One I can say, with confidence, will never ever go out of style.

Relationship building.

Almost every success I’ve had in my business has been connected to the relationships I’ve built and nurtured along the way.

Humans are social creatures and this extends into how we make purchasing decisions.

If I think about the last 5 large purchases I’ve made – they’ve all been because either I trusted someone’s suggestion, had bought from them before and was satisfied with the products & delivery, or had seen them in my orbit for long enough (for one it was because I had seen paid ads a lot) that when I was looking for what they sell, they were immediately top of mind.

All of these purchases were made because I had grown to trust them enough to make a purchase.

When I support clients with social media, list building, & launch strategy – the KEY ingredient in our work together is rooted in building & nurturing a relationship with their current & future audience.

The strategies I like to use are:

• consistency
• messaging clarity
• personal touches
• actively seeking out genuine connection points

This is a long game.

Cultivating & nurturing relationships takes time and patience – it requires taking action and trusting that the accumulation of these actions over time will result in meaningful & consistent revenue for your business

Here are three things you can commit to right now that will pay off down the road for your business.

1. Use social media as it’s intended to be used – a place to be social.
   • Use hashtags to find new people to follow – look for people who are similar to the people you LOVE working with the most in your business
   • Comment on posts, share posts, like posts & reply to stories. Take time to ENGAGE with the people you follow and get to know them!
   • Create relevant & useful content daily that’s helpful and entertaining
2. Find a content strategy that you can stick to consistently.
   • Decide on what content you’ll create, how often & for what platform & then stick to it
   • Hire support to ensure your content gets out into the world consistently especially if you’re overwhelmed with other work
   • Plan your content & create content you enjoy creating (make it fun for yourself!)
3. Start an email list if you don’t have one yet and nurture one if you do.
   • Decide on how often you’ll email your list & then do your very best to stick to it
   • Come up with a fun name for your newsletters or audience
   • Send emails that offer value, are fun to read, are interactive & encourage your audience to start a conversation with you
   • Get creative with ways to grow your list using freebies that really support your audience’s journey & show off your brilliance

Online marketing strategies come and go – and some of them work really well – but if you want to avoid all of the noise and confusion about what we are or aren’t doing right now in online business, this is the ONE strategy I would suggest you focus on.

Show up & serve because you LOVE what you do and it’s your mission to get the word out there to the most people possible. When you’ve built genuine relationships built on trust & integrity with your audience & super fans they will happily help you spread the word about your work!

And the best thing is… you can do ALL of this without spending hours on social media, oversharing about your private life & your kids lives, and running expensive Facebook ads.

All it takes is consistency, planning, patience, a genuine love for your work & a deep desire to share it with anyone who will listen!

Want help with planning your content? Grab my Content Planning for Creatives course. This will help you create over 60 on-brand content ideas to share & reshare everywhere you post content online.

Click here to get it.