336: What you need to unlearn with your marketing

What if everything you think makes marketing "work" is actually the thing holding you back?

Inspired by Neil Patel's SXSW talk, in this episode, I'm breaking down five things I think we need to unlearn in our marketing, from what we're chasing, to how we're building trust, to who we're actually speaking to.

If you've ever felt like you're doing "all the right things" and still not seeing the connection or growth you want, this one's for you.

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag us @contentqueenmariah.

⁠⁠⁠⁠LEARN THE DETAILS OF A CONTENT STRATEGY WITH MY FREE AUDIO GUIDE⁠⁠⁠⁠

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

✨ Why traffic isn't always the goal

✨ Why the marketing funnel isn't linear anymore, and why every piece of content needs to convert on its own

✨ Why you can't rent an audience, and what it means to build a channel that's actually yours

✨ Why proof beats polish, and how to build trust with evidence instead of just aesthetics

✨ Why going niche (not broad) is what actually makes people stop scrolling

SHOW RESOURCES 👇

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Other than that, enjoy - chat next week 💕

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

This is episode 336, and I'm talking all about the things we need to unlearn when it comes to our marketing. Welcome to the Content Queen podcast. I'm your host, Mariah, entrepreneur, storyteller, digital nomad, creator of Content Bootcamp, and founder of Content Queen, with over 10 years experience in marketing.

This podcast is here to help you create your ideal content marketing strategy by blending storytelling and strategy. So, let's get into it. Welcome, gang. Hello. How are you? Last week, I realized, well, which realized in the editing process, I think I said, like, we're up to episode 355. So, we're going back about 20 episodes, um, because, you know, I made a mistake.

But anyway, this episode is all about some unlearnings when it comes to marketing. Now, this was me taking inspiration from a talk that Neil Patel did at South by Southwest in Sydney late last year. Now, why has it taken me this long to get to it? 'Cause there's lots of ideas in this brain of mine. But I got it sent by a client that went to South by [00:01:00] Southwest and listened in to Neil Patel's talk and shared with me all the insights, and I wanted to share them because I think as small business owners and entrepreneurs, we get to adapt these things a lot quicker, but also, all of these things are probably stuff that we may not have thought about in the way in which it's getting shared, and we need time to digest, right?

So I'm gonna go through five of the points that he shared. I sort of eliminated some that I didn't think were super relevant, and I'm gonna have my own spin on it. So, the first point, and the first thing that we can unlearn with our marketing is, traffic or sales or conversion isn't always the goal of our content.

Now, I have a client in bootcamp who said to me, "Oh, you know, my Instagram doesn't work because I'm not getting sales from it." I thought it was quite interesting because directing a social media platform straight to sales is not really always how things work. Like, people don't go, "Oh, yep, I, you know, I purchased that thing," and then, or, "I see that thing, I see you're doing a workshop," and I click purchase, and [00:02:00] then the end.

Which is gonna go to my next point, which I'll talk about in a second. But assuming that those eyeballs on, you know, sort of your website, which is the traffic, or that sort of conversion piece, is equal success, is not always true. And the things that we can also look at is contribution. So, how are people contributing to your content or adding their own spin on it or building community, or how are you getting people to know and understand who you are?

Each piece of content has its own specific goal. Some things are here just to showcase that you're an expert. Some things are here to build a conversation. Some things are here to create your expertise, your legacy, all those things. So not everything is going to lead to a direct sale or conversion or traffic to your website.

Not everything has to have a call to action for people to go to your website, right? Things work very differently, and understanding your goals and what you're trying to achieve with your marketing or your business as a whole- It's really important. So I could arguably say that [00:03:00] Instagram for me doesn't work as a channel to getting retainer or one-on-one service-based clients.

But I don't... Like, it's not the goal of it. Even if I put out like, "Oh, I'm taking on clients," do I think that people from Instagram would buy from me in that lens and like, you know, um, kind of commit to long-term partnership with me as their content marketer? I don't think so, in my opinion. And yes, I'm sure we can get sales and, and high-ticket clients from our social media and our Instagram, but I think we also need to look at the goal of each post or what we're trying to do.

So if you had like a viral video, doesn't mean that viral video is always going to lead to a conversion or lead to someone going through to your website. Which leads into my second point, which is the funnel is not linear. So that kind of awareness, consideration, conversion in a neat line or a neat funnel is not really a reality.

I like to talk about it like this 'cause it's [00:04:00] easy to explain, it's easy for everyone to get their head around. So like for example, when I've done workshops before, I've had like say like 10 people stand at the front, and then I'd have a few less in the middle, and then like one at the bottom and just sort of show them how a funnel works.

That just because people see your content doesn't mean they're always going to convert and go to your website, which kind of leads back to point one, is like not everyone is gonna take action just because you tell them to. Does it mean you shouldn't tell them to? No, 'cause you gotta keep telling them.

And so really it can go from like- awareness post could create, like, someone could buy direct from your awareness post. Someone goes like, "This person seems pretty cool." Like, I did an awareness campaign in 2023 when I was looking to sort of build awareness of, like, who Content Queen was, and that was the most discovery calls I've had in a ser- a, a certain period of time.

It was more than just, like... 'Cause I wasn't, I wasn't really promoting my stuff. I was just, like, kinda talking about who I was, and people could see that. But then there's also that, like, energy exchange, right? [00:05:00] But then people may be, like... This is where touch points are interesting, because someone might see an Instagram post and someone might then see you on a podcast, and then your name may pop up in conversation, and they go, "Oh, maybe I should check this person out."

And then they might, like, just type in your website into, like, the top search bar, and then all of a sudden in your Google Analytics you see direct traffic, which means someone literally typing your website into a search bar. And then you're going like, "What?" And then you ask them, "How did you find out about you?"

And they go, "Oh, a few places. Like I, you know, I saw your social media post about this," and then, then you, like... You know? It's like this. It's like, it's, it, actually they talk about the funnel as more of, like, that infinity loop. Because, like, people may be a part of your community and not buy from you straight away.

They may, like, need to be in the community for a little while. Someone that's, like, brand new to your world may buy from you like that. I have discovery calls, and most of the time those discovery calls lead into someone working with me one on one, and those person, those people don't really know me that well.

Like, I've had people that found me [00:06:00] just from a Google search or, you know, they've heard about me through someone saying, "You should check out Mariah." So The funnel is not linear, but we need to look at it like this so that we can... Well, like a funnel, 'cause I'm doing video now, so I know that not everyone can see me.

But if we look at it like a funnel, it's just easier to create content, to go, "Okay, this post's goal is this and this and this." Does it mean a conversion post is always gonna convert someone? No. But does it mean we still do them? Yes, 'cause people need to know what it is that you sell. And it's interesting because I listened to a, like, social media summit, and there was a girl talking about, you know, social campaigns and sort of, like, creating content that is that very top of funnel, is very all about entertaining the audience or all about getting them to think, getting them to feel, educating them, motivating them, as opposed to selling to them, is really high on brands' lists.

Like, not a lot of brands are doing super conversion-type content. But then one of the other social media managers sort of stepped in as, like, a small business owner, like, it is important to still share what you do because we're not those big brands where people just [00:07:00] know what we do. We have to explain what we do because they don't know us.

So it's, like, that balance, and they both kind of sort of agreed that, yeah, it totally is a balance. The third point is assuming that social media or rented spaces is always going to be a good option for us. Now, what we mean by rented spaces or rented audience, you are renting social media's audience.

Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, they have done marketing to bring people to their platform. What you are doing is by creating content, you are renting that audience off them at a price, sometimes through advertising, at a price of sometimes your sanity and your soul I'm joking, but yes, you are renting the audience from social media, from that platform.

If tomorrow that platform decided to ban you, to start charging and you didn't wanna pay for it, to remove people from social media, or to just remove the social media platform in general, and I've talked about this so many times, but basically, [00:08:00] goodbye audience. You don't have that audience anymore. That audience is now gone.

So when we think about our owned audience, so the audience that we own and have more control over, that is when your email marketing comes in. That is when maybe if you have an app, having an app and having members on that app. Having a community group, like a free or paid community group where you bring people together in a certain space and they know who, you know, they're, they're seeing your content outside of that social media channel.

So if you are thinking that social media or Instagram or TikTok is the best place for you to market your business, it's not such a bad thing, but also thinking about how can we also own some of those people, and sounds a bit sad. Can't really own them, but like own the data or own... Yeah, it's an owned audience, right?

You have more control over that. So I know I've talked about this a lot, but I still don't think... Because we think about like an email list as just this like, it, [00:09:00] it... You know, you've gotta set it up. You've gotta have a platform. You've gotta do all these things. But the sooner you spend time on doing that, the better.

And also assuming that just asking people to join your mailing list is going to get people to join your mailing list is not true. So how can you entice people to join your mailing list? What are you doing to get people to sign up to your mailing list so you can communicate with them? Because just expecting that we can utilize these rented audiences all the time is not sustainable business practice, and it is definitely something that we need to be reminded of, and really need to unlearn because these platforms, they're not always going to be our friends.

And I am... I've had that happen, right? Remember tw- you know, 2020, I'm gonna call it Instagram gate, when I had six of my clients be banned from Instagram. It was very stressful. Very, very stressful. I just wanna hijack this episode to tell you about something that is generally helping and changing the game for business owners that I work with.

So if you're sitting there at 5:00 PM scrambling, not sure what to [00:10:00] do, what to post, you are not alone, and I have in fact been there, along with many other businesses that I've worked with, getting to my laptop, throwing something together, pushing it out there, throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Now, this is not strategy, and it really feels like survival. That is why I created Content Boot Camp. It is my signature program that takes you through the seven steps to create a really intentional and aligned content strategy for your business, one that is actually documented, is actually for you, and actually gets results.

So there's no more guessing, no more winging it, and no more content hamster wheel. By the end of your journey in Content Boot Camp, you'll have a clear plan on what to post, where to post it, and why, plus the confidence to actually execute it. And you're not doing it alone, because I do live calls all the time, so you'll get access to me.

I can help you with your strategy, and a community of other business owners that are doing the same thing. You'll also get lifetime access, so if your business evolves and grows and changes, it will grow and evolve and change [00:11:00] with you. So if you are ready to stop winging it and start being intentional with your marketing, get a strategy behind you, head to contentqueenmoriah.com.

Check out boot camp, Content Boot Camp. I would love to see you there. The fourth point is proof over polish. So the thing that we can unlearn is that everything has to look polished and neat and a certain way for it to gain traction. And I think we do know that it's like raw content, ugly content, unpolished content does resonate, but I still think there's something in our brains with brand that triggers us into always making something perfect and spending hours on putting something together.

Do I think... Polish is nice, and polished can look nice for brand campaigns, for certain things you're trying to create. Obviously, things on your website need to look nice. Um, I think there is nothing worse than this like jumbled mess of a website. But when it comes to social media, overthinking content and spending hours on it is not a good use of your time.[00:12:00] 

And I've had this happen with a client recently- Spent some, like, spent some, a lot of time and cash on a rebrand. Website looks phenomenal. Brand looks phenomenal. And wanted to create a certain aesthetic on social media, in which we delivered and based on what the designer had put together. Now we're having conversations of kinda like undoing a bit of it because it is often too polished, and what she's finding is people are going to the profile, her profile on Instagram specifically, because...

I think this happens mainly on Instagram than any other channel. I don't see it on LinkedIn. I don't see it on YouTube. I don't see... I mean, maybe YouTube with the editing style, but... And TikTok, absolutely not. Polished just does not work on, on TikTok. But what's happened is, yeah, people are going to the profile.

She's got the, the views are there for profile visits, the follows, and the engagement is not. So what we're assuming is people are coming to her profile, they're seeing this really polished thing, and they're not really getting to know her as a [00:13:00] service-based provider, as a coach, et cetera. Like, they're just not...

That trust is not getting built. So rather than, you know, always having everything really perfect, how can we just bring in some more proof as well? How can we talk about the client that last week we did X, Y, Z for? How can we talk more about what we're doing? Of ha- I'm having these conversations in my bootcamp at the moment, some great people that do great things and do not talk about it.

We record our meetings with our clients, right? Everyone does. Everyone's recording them through some kind of AI or you're just recording the Zoom. Download that, get that transcript, get access to that, and share. Like, obviously you don't have to share names. You don't have to share... You can get, um, approval from that person that you're gonna share that if you wanna give names, et cetera, but share what's happening.

If you are on my email list, you'll share a lot of the stor- you, you'll see a lot of the stories that I share around what I'm currently doing with clients. But even things like having our case studies as well. If you are doing work, how can you create case studies and [00:14:00] how can you share them on your social media or share them in a more raw way over just, like, trying to make everything look nice?

Like a, an Instagram carousel that took you one hour to create can mean nothing to someone if you don't tell them why you know what you're doing. Like, why are you the expert? Why, you know, why do, why would people trust you? So trust-building is massive and we just need to unlearn that polish does not always build trust.

Proof builds trust, and if you're not giving any proof then doesn't matter And the last one is being broad doesn't always work. I'm not saying we have to niche to the point of no return but I want to share an example of a client who I started working with last year and of course we know if you try to be good to everyone, you'll be good to no one.

So we need to know who it is that we're talking to, but also what is that thing that we want to be known for. [00:15:00] Whenever I do boot camp with people, we go through those two things that we want to be known for. For me, it was always strategy and storytelling. So I niche to talking about content marketing, strategy, and storytelling, are the things that I want to be known for and the things that I want to teach.

Right? In, and helping small business owners, all those things. So yeah, that can be still pretty broad, but it's also niche. Anyway, this client, when I started working with her, had been through a lot and had a really incredible story of resilience. Used that story, of course, but their audience was kind of everyone.

Was kind of that person that wanted to work on themselves, wanted to be more resilient and come off the brink of something happening, et cetera. Which was cool, but it was more of like personal development, rise through your story, rewrite your story. 'Cause she had, you know, had a story that she was now coming up like a phoenix and rebirthing herself.

And [00:16:00] with that came a lot of hard work to attract a certain audience until it was like, oh no, her niche is aligned to her story, which is grief And then from there, she was able to build out pieces from that. So her audience did become more robust in that by niching down. So there was like that niche, but then there were certain different people she could support in that level of grief.

And with that sort of really specificness of content and marketing, make your content specific. Make it about niche things, because the people that get it will get it, right? For example, this particular client talked about what happens in the Australian healthcare system when you lose someone. Very niche.

28,000 views and a hell of a lot of comments from people in her target audience. Very [00:17:00] niche content can work really well. So even if you're like, "Yeah, you know, I know who I support. Maybe I don't wanna niche to the point of no return," which can happen. What are those really specific things that happened to you?

Very niche things that you feel like you're the only person in the world that experiences those or thinks those in relation to what you do. Like for example, the healthcare system when you lose someone. Very niche. Extremely niche. Resonated with so many people. More people than any other piece of content that was a little bit more broad.

So how can we niche ourselves to expand what it is we're talking about? How can we unlearn the fact that if I niche down too much with my content or talk about really specific things, people won't get it? Because they do. And how many times have you scrolled social media and you've seen someone talk about something quite niche and you're like, "Oh my God, I thought I was the only person in the world," and you listen more You listen more, [00:18:00] right?

So something to challenge you on with that is, like, what are those things? Mine was very niche of the point of, like, um, the kind of piece of content that always resonates with people for me is that posting at 5:00 PM straight... Like, if, say, even if you're side-hustling, you finish work, you're posting at 5:00 PM, you're posting on the fly.

Those really niche things work really well when I talk about them 'cause people know that. Like, "Yeah, that's me." So having a brainstorm, having a think about those things that have happened with your, your audience, even your clients. Talking about, I think sometimes, and I see this with clients as well, I say, "Give me an example of what you've done with a client."

And they'll give me an example, but they'll try and broaden it because they don't want it to be... Well, sometimes they don't want it to be specifically niche because it could be that person will know you're talking about them. But they don't wanna go too far into it because they think that people won't resonate.

So they'll talk about goals and objectives or something that's more [00:19:00] broader than the niche thing they're talking about. But I know that if we get down to the crux of it, like, this is exactly in the order in which it happened, doesn't... Maybe that person will go, "Well, that's not m- me, but I have this issue with this.

I wonder if they can support me." So it doesn't always, you know, detract people. It can get them thinking about, "Oh, is that... Do they work for me? Does that happen to me?" And you'll learn from that. So- You know, if we try to be good to everyone, we're good to no one, and it dilutes our message, really. So they were the five points that I think we should unlearn.

Traffic or conversion isn't always the goal with our marketing. The funnel is not linear. I can tell you, it can be frustrating, but it's not. Renting our audience is not sustainable. So how can we start owning our audience a little bit more? And try for trust and proof over being polished. And the last one is, how can you niche your content a little bit more to [00:20:00] be a little bit more specific to actually expand what you are doing?

Now, out of those five, I would be keen to know which one do you feel a little bit called out by. Me, personally, I'll be honest, it's definitely the fifth point that, the kind of like going really niche and really specific, something that I would like to do a little bit more. Um, the, the funnel isn't linear is an interesting one.

I think it's something that I would like to explore more rather than I don't n- need to unlearn it. It's just something I would like to explore. And polished, probably sometimes we are a little polished with our things. Maybe that's a Mitch unlearn, not me, as I'm looking at him. So yeah, what, what's yours?

I'd be keen to know. You can tell me. If you're on Spotify, we have, like, a comment section. You can comment on the app. You can come over to Instagram, @contentqueenmarais, tell me about it. I had a beautiful voice note on the last episode about someone feeling really vulnerable about sharing something. And if you're listening, I'm [00:21:00] really excited for you to post it 'cause I think it would be really powerful.

And be a content queen or king, and remember that developing your strategy and story develops your business. Thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you spending time with me here. If you liked this episode, please share it with one of your business or entrepreneurial friends. You can simply tell them about it.

You could leave a five-star review, rating. I know you are when I tell you, so thank you so much. Um, or just tell the world about it. Tell the world about the podcast. It helps us get more amazing guests. More pitches are coming in. More interviews are lined up, so stay tuned for that. And if there are any topics you want me to talk about, I've got some in my list from conversation I've been having, email marketing, short-form content, so we're, we're gonna be, we're gonna be talking about them.

I've been organizing my content out. But yeah, tell me any episodes you want me to talk about in the future. Follow us, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, all the places. Send me a message. I'd love to hear from you, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

PodcastMariah MacInnesmarketing, marketing advice, how to be authentic online, business ownerComment