4 Things You Should Know, But Might Not Know

Do you ever think about those 15-20 years you spent in school and wonder how the curriculum was chosen? I'm sure that finding the angle of a parallelogram or dissecting a frog have their place in life, but wouldn't it have been more helpful to learn things like how to file taxes, or meal prepping, maybe skincare or mindfulness.

What has perhaps startled me the most as an adult is how little I was actually prepared for adulthood. Most recently, this realization has settled in home ownership.

No one taught me how to buy a house, which was a process in itself. Or how to take care of a house once you have purchased one. Yesterday, I attended a workshop through Habitat for Humanity called 'Women Build'. This particular workshop was on home maintenance and focused on the routine upkeep that every homeowner should be mindful of on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

I left this workshop feeling both educated and frustrated. How is it possible to make it through nearly 4 decades of life, and no one has ever shared this information? Someone please make me feel better and tell me that you also did not know that you were supposed to take the filter off your microwave and put it in the dishwasher every few months.

What I appreciated most about this class was that it was an absolutely zero-judgement zone. There is absolutely such thing as a stupid question- and we asked all of them. But here's the thing about stupid questions- you are not stupid for asking something that no one has ever taught you. While my initial reaction was to feel shame for my lack of education, I also recognize that it could not possibly dawn on me to ask a question about something I did not know existed.

Which got me thinking about what I do know. Branding. Business. Messaging. People. This is what I have devoted my life to studying, and a lot of what I have learned, I did not pick up in any marketing class or business school. When I was consulting, one thing I would continually see with my clients was a sense of overwhelm and shame that they did not know how to market or manage their business.

But how would they? These talented individuals were educated in things like law, real estate, finance, consumer goods, photography, insurance, etc. And they were experts in their fields. The expectation that once you become a business owner or a business leader, you automatically know everything there is to know about business, is rather an outrageous assumption. Business encompasses thousands of different considerations and makeups, and with the fast-evolving world of internet and technology, it is literally impossible to know everything there is to know. So give yourself a little grace, and remind yourself that you know your sh*t. It is ok to lean on others who know other things.

So when it comes to growing your business, figuring out who you are and how to tell people, here are 5 things that you should definitely know, but might not know.

How to do a Brand Audit

There are two times that businesses tend to think about their brand. 1- When they are first establishing their business. 2- When they have vastly outgrown or evolved past the recognition of their initial brand.

This happens when we confuse a visual brand identity with our actual brand. Brand identity usually involves things like colors, typeface, a logo, and perhaps a more sophisticated guide for messaging, tone, positioning, values, or a vision statement. These are all great things, but this is not your brand. Think of it like your home. Your home is where you live, and while it is important to pick paint colors, furniture, wall art, flooring, etc, those things do not inherently make a home.

A great place to start with your brand identity is: Mission + Vision, Values, Your Story, Personality, Visual identity (colors, logo, typography), Business model, Culture, and Positioning. This becomes your compass.

To perform a brand audit, start with those pieces mentioned above and ask who you want to be and where you want to go. Then, look at what currently exists. It may be helpful to bring in outside objective opinion or expertise to help with this. Then do this same exercise with your clients or customers in mind. Who are you currently working with, and who do you want to work with. Once you have an idea of where you are and where you want to go, you can fill in the missing pieces.

Identifying disconnect or identity crisis can be very difficult. We don't want to acknowledge that there is disconnect because it can feel like our work has been fruitless. This is not the case. Your work is giving you data every day. The recommended cadence is to work through a mini pulse check every quarter, and a deep brand audit every 2 years. While it may seem tedious, a few times a year to course correct will save you thousands of dollars and hours down the line.

How to Curate a Content Strategy

Once you figure out who you are and who you're talking to, it is imperative to figure out how to tell them. Where businesses often get tripped up is in looking at competitors and trying to copy their language. This creates an echo chamber of buzzwords that fall flat with your actual audience. (I have worked with many a fancy brand and can promise you that reputation and prestige as a brand do not equate with effective marketing. Do not assume that someone else knows what they are doing simply because they are doing it.)

Another challenge with content is that brands feel like they need to constantly create new and unique things to say. Social media in particular can get clogged with having a few too many editors and one poor writer trying to find something that is both unique and on-brand. If you look at brands that are doing well with content, you'll notice that they typically say one thing. And they say that one thing over and over again. (ie: Life is Good {Life is Good/Yay optimism}, Duolingo {Learn a Language}, Slack {Make Work Easier/Better}, Coca Cola {Open Happiness})

While you may be oh-too familiar with your own content, your audience is not. They are being inundated with messaging 24/7. Keep your content simple, and don't be afraid to repeat yourself.

Rather than burn your energy creating new content all the time, work to curate content. Think about the one thing you know inside and out that can bring value to your customers. Bullet out every service/product you offer with sub bullets about why that benefits your customer. Then go back to that brand compass (personality, values, story, positioning) and use that as a compass to direct your tone and language as you convert your bullets into engaging content.

Think about who you are talking to. Your Board and your C-Suite are not your customers. Invite them into the conversation and have an open discussion about what they want to accomplish. Then curate your content for your customer, and create a separate communication for your internal team.

What the Heck is Marketing

Listen, I have been in the marketing industry for 15+ years, and I have yet to find one clear definition of marketing. In hundreds of jobs I have applied for, hundreds of job descriptions I have helped employers write, a handful of roles I have personally held, marketing has never meant the same thing twice.

Simply put, marketing is telling people who you are. It's the messaging portion of that brand identity, and generally applies more to how you talk about yourself with your audience, whereas advertising is more of a sales introduction to either invite someone into your marketing funnel, or invite them across the finish line if they've already been in your funnel. But how marketing plays out can look an infinite number of ways.

The most important thing to know about marketing is that it is not a magic button, and it is not a department. You cannot silo marketing, especially in today's era of transparency and internet access. Marketing itself is not a strategy. Marketing is strategically taking the brand and message that already exists, and optimizing it to reach as many of the right people as possible.

The best place to start to improve your marketing is to involve your C-Suite. The direction of the company has to come from the CEO. The financial discussion has to involve the CFO. If operations are not aligned with your COO, your marketing will be shot in the foot by a mis-matched internal perception. And while advertisements can be creative and impactful, nothing will speak more loudly or have more impact than a personal review.

Your employees are your biggest marketers, for better or for worse. Align your leadership team on the direction you want to go and the resources you need to achieve your goals, and then roll this out with your internal team first. Then, think about where your ideal customer is hanging out. Resist the urge to target everyone, and get very specific- if you had to market to one single person, what would that person look like? Where do they spend their time? What keeps them up at night? What agitates them?

Determine which marketing channels make the most sense (note it is better to do 1-3 channels exceptionally well than 5+ channels poorly) and start with your base marketing. Then begin to niche down one ideal client/customer at a time. While you ultimately do want to be available to all potential customers, you are likely to have more success and more growth if you focus on one at a time. This is especially important if you have a small team or small budget and do not have the ability to segment out all at once.

Remember, marketing is not about telling people how great you are. It's about showing them how great they can be, when they work with you.

Listen

Listening is an entirely underrated skill. Business moves quickly, and with the advent of internet, social media, AI, etc, it can feel like a 24/7 race just to keep up. Make it easier on yourself and take advantage of answers that have already been revealed.

Often when I work with business leaders who are struggling to grow profits or grow momentum, they immediately default to 'what can we do?' But sometimes more, is not producing more. Instead, listen to your customers and pay attention to what they love about you. What is working? What do you already have that customers can benefit from? Lean into those things. And on the flip side, what isn't working? Perhaps your favorite product is falling flat with your customer. I'm not saying you have to kill your baby, but perhaps set it to the side until you can revisit it with more momentum.

If you find a disconnect between what you want to sell and what your customer wants to buy, you have two options. You can change your offering, or you can change your customer. (For example, Yeti changed their customer and struck gold by marketing their existing product line to women. LoveSac changed their product and now has one of the most premium sectionals in the world)

Listening may not sound like a skill, but most of us have never actually learned how to hear. When we can effectively hear what others are saying, and (importantly) hear our own thoughts, we can lead with much better clarity. Try these exercises:

• Repeat what is being said back in your head. Rather than thinking about how you want to respond, what you're going to say when the other person stops talking, just repeat their words and fully absorb them. Allow them to fully complete their thought and follow the thought through before switching topics.
• Count to 3. One of the best power moves is to respond rather than react. Give yourself a mental count to 3 before responding to someone. This gives your brain a moment to fully absorb and process.
• Breathe. It sounds silly, but we don't often breathe correctly. There are dozens of different ways to play with your breath- explore and find a few that work for you. (Yoga with Adriene has some great resources for this). My personal favorites are box breathing and Nadi Shodana. Do this a few minutes a day and you will be amazed at the results.
• Play. Give yourself some space and silence to get away from the noise. Your brain has to disconnect in order to think clearly. While it may feel like you are being unproductive by stepping away from your to-do list, it is actually the most productive thing you can do. Take yourself on a you-date. Try new things. Explore new activities. Reconnect with what brings you joy and energy. This practice will help you listen to yourself. When you learn to listen to yourself rather than the shoulds and shouldn'ts of the world, you will have better clarity and find new momentum in leading yourself, your team, and your company.

Of all the things that we learn in this world, the most important one is learning to be yourself. In a noisy world full of opinions and speculations and comparisons, learning to have a strong identity and create space for others to have their own is its own superpower. Once you have tapped into the magic of a clear source, you'll find it is supremely easier to produce the results you actually want.