I believe marketing should be used to create relationships, not just funnels.
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Me: I’m poor. I need to stop spending so much.
My email inbox: hey!! It’s the last hours of this coupon you don’t need for a store you haven’t shopped at in 6 months so better buy it!!!
Me: *pulls out credit card to buy ____ I don’t need*
😂😩😂😩😂😩😂😩
I once had a boyfriend tell me, “You’re so pretty... except for your ears.” I was 22.
I once had a friend who was a boy act grossed out when I wore a skirt to school, because he was trying to be cool in front of his friends. He was implying I was too fat to wear a skirt. I was 14.
I once had a boy look at my freckles on my face and tell me it looked like someone threw dirt at me and forgot to wipe it off. I was 10.
These are 3 very distinct memories I have where my worth as a person was filtered through someone’s appraisal of my physicality. But these aren’t the only 3 experiences I’ve had like this.
I’m 38. I’ve birthed 3 kids. I’m an entrepreneur. I hold 2 college degrees. I’ve had incredible wins in my life.
But there are days those memories still haunt me. Even as an adult. Even as a woman who has a husband who loves her very much.
I’ve been thinking about these internalized stories and the ways they’ve manifested in my life.
Like how I can’t accept a compliment. How I don’t believe someone would actually be nice to me (“She’s probably making fun of me behind my back.”). How I find it almost impossible to trust my own success will last.
If there’s one thing I could guarantee for my children in their lives it would be that they never experience anything like this. I know I can’t prevent it though.
What I can do is work my hardest to change my own stories I tell to myself about myself.
So when they see me react... or hear me speak... or watch me go through the motions of life... they’ll see someone who seeks the good, the hopeful and the kind. Someone who can’t be stopped, even when there are those little voices trying to kill the momentum.
Maybe I’ll never forget those memories and how they made me feel. But as I keep rewriting the stories I tell myself, I’m feeling pretty certain one day I will.
Tonight begins Sukkot which is a Jewish high holy day that lasts a whole week. It’s about reflecting on the idea of “home” and what it means to have a roof over our heads. It also reminds us to slow down and reconnect with the natural world.
We’re meant to celebrate the harvest. And build a temporary structure outside where we take our meals and even sleep at night.
All in the name of reflecting on the temporary nature of the structure we call home. And how it’s truly the people and our rituals that bring meaning vs the things we fill our homes with.
This year we didn’t build an outdoor structure because we just didn’t. Life is like that. 🤷♀️ But the meaning is still there.
So, tonight, on night 1 of Sukkot, I welcome you to our table and to our home — if just virtually — and encourage you to spend the next 7 days focusing on what makes your house truly a home. ❤️
A b c d e f g how the heck do I do this.
*orders another pair of work / sleep pants*
Today we said goodbye to Aslan.
For 15 years, he was our buddy.
But he was a lot more than “just” our dog.
Alex and I picked Aslan out from an Amish couple who bred Pomeranians up in Peebles, Ohio. We were newly married, just one month in, when we decided to get a dog together.
We checked the newspaper - yes, pre-internet pet searching - and saw listings for Pomeranians. So we called them up and they let us know they had a litter of a couple girls and a boy. The girls were sold but the boy was available. So we drove up on a very wintry, cold January morning.
We struggled with what to name him.
Bentley? Beowulf? And so many other options.
Until we realized he looked like a little lion. Which meant his name could only be Aslan.
And Aslan he was.
He was our first “baby.”
I took him everywhere. In his little bag. Yes, I was that person.
He helped me launch a few businesses. Helped us move too many times to count. Welcomed 3 babies with us.
Licked our faces when we were sad. Made us laugh with his antics. Snuggled us every night.
There’s a little Pom-shaped hole in my heart.
And a few corners in my house that are extra empty.
Really the only consolation is he gets to be with his beloved ”cat brother”, Caspian, who left him 5 years ago.
That and now he’ll get to run with legs that work the way they should, lungs that let him take full breaths, and a heart that never stops.
Until we see you on the rainbow bridge, little king. We love you. 🐾
One of the many reasons I became a business owner. Just being honest. 😂
😂
Current location.
Just me. Awkwardly honest to a fault.
Just a reminder that every idea isn’t worth chasing. Sometimes the couch doesn’t need to pivot.
Thoughts?
Is it the reality of life in America… or is it a situation we’re choosing?
Oh hey. Coming out from a week of quarantine. Where I came face to face with the hustle culture I’ve created and allowed into my own life. Because I could not rest the way I wanted to. So.
It was a good reminder. And now I go forward determined to not forget it. Again.
Anything you’ve had to relearn recently?
One thing to measure. One thing to promote on one channel. One call to action on your posts.
One focus that has one through line to your bottom line. This is a that will set you apart.
Even if you sell multiple things, limit your marketing efforts to ONE of those things per marketing piece.
For example, in a social post… don’t ask people to buy your shirt, check out the new candles and the handbag you just discounted.
Too many options = that glazed over effect where people checkout and not the kind of checkout you want.
Same with services. I don’t care if you have 100 packages. Choose one to promote per marketing piece.
Why? When you focus on ONE thing, you give yourself the luxury of taking your time to really convey the value. Tell the story behind it. Sell the benefits. Explain the features.
If you’re promoting 20 things at once it’s too wild and crazy to say anything that connects.
Test it and let me know what happens.
Every time I’ve trusted my ego, I ended up unhappy. Chasing money. Bending my personal boundaries.
My gut is that quieter voice that sometimes I’d like to just ignore.
But she always tells me when I’ve pushed myself too far. Or been inconsiderate. Or rushed through and delivered something sloppy.
So I’m learning to trust her first. She’s not super glam. Being a gut and all 😂 but she hasn’t failed me yet.
What’s a lesson you’re learning .. and getting better at?
And I don’t mean measuring how many likes you got.
It’s about connecting each touch point - the social posts, website, forms, checkout pages, emails, etc — and their effectiveness.
It’s about having meaningful key performance indicators - KPIs - that act as your benchmarks for success and progress.
That’s it. That’s the thought I had.
I have been seen. And understood.
These are the 3 key things in a
Which one trips you up the most?
I hear this all the time from business owners afraid to go all in with their best content before they have tons of followers.
I’m here to tell you - part of getting all the followers is sharing your best content.
Don’t be afraid to share whether your audience is 50 or 50,000.
Just show up 🤗
The “interest” being charged on a payment plan for a course or program is you essentially telling someone that because they can’t afford to pay full price today, they’re at a disadvantage.
Let’s stop doing that to people in the coaching and course creation space.
A payment plan is not the end of the world.
And if your mindset is such that you believe those who must break up the payment aren’t as worth of serving, you need to reevaluate why you’re here.
We’ve all been on that webinar where you’re too busy trying to figure out if the “commenters” they’re calling out are actually there with you or are from an earlier recording.
Just be real. State it’s a recording. If you have to lie to make a sale… you don’t deserve the sale.
But if that’s how you roll, in the words of Eleanor Shellstrop… ya basic.
The only thing that matters when you’re a business owner.
Product market fit means…
✅ You’ve nailed your target audience
✅ You’ve uncovered their ultimate desire
✅ You’ve crafted an offer uniquely tailored to the audience and the desire.
The phenomenon of PMF is what’s at play when you see random stuff totally take off like lighting.
I had a client who figured out this one particular product their market needed. It fit into a very niche desire.
It was for smoothing out your hair.
That seemingly “mundane” product sold like lighting. Because they found PMF.
If you’re struggling to see sales - whether on the service or product side - it’s because you haven’t yet found your PMF.
And that’s okay. It takes time. And experimentation. And testing. And listening to the market.
Yes, your positioning and message fit into this, too.
So for all the times something you tried fell flat… now you know why. Wrong market / audience for the offer.
This should be encouraging, though. Because it means you can start closely measuring results and tweaking your position and message based on performance.
And it also means if you do that… you’re gonna finally hit that PMF.
Just my $0.02 🤷♀️
We all have one. Trust it.
I ignored mine recently and it cost me.
No one is or should be a content machine just for the algos. I said what I said.
Where the BRO in bro marketing came from.
Because once upon a time, it was somewhat common to run sales teams out of a basement or “boiler room” - these teams would cold call people (literally just going down the line in the phone book… remember those?!) and use high pressure sales tactics to convince people into becoming customers.
It’s funny how things change… but they don’t.
Now instead of boiler rooms, bro “marketers” (really just salespeople acting as marketers) use the internet.
Now it’s fake timers. Fake “live” webinars. “Masterclasses” disguised as sales pitches. And so on.
Listen… times are changing.
Tech companies are cracking down on tracking cookies. Privacy is becoming a big concern among consumers. Everyone is wising up to the cheap tactics that have driven the online marketing space for the last decade plus.
There’s a better way to market that doesn’t involve pressure and lies.
It’s about genuine connection. Understanding your audience - beyond just the fact that they have credit cards in their wallets - and truly looking to engage with them.
It’s not the easy way.
But. It is the way you build a brand. And a legacy.
Just my $0.02.
July 2019. I was going to hop in my car and drive about 40 minutes to wrangle people and products and sales metrics and customer service queries and whatever else landed in my lap that day.
My third baby wasn’t even a year. I didn’t know it at the time, but our breastfeeding journey was about done. I couldn’t keep up with pumping and work. She was the first of my 3 I had to stop breastfeeding early.
I was living the dream on paper. But I was sad & unfulfilled, despite working at a company that was pretty amazing.
I thought I was broken to always be wanting more. Why I couldn’t “just” be happy with my job?
Fast forward to today, I’m living another on paper dream as an entrepreneur.
But, this could have gone differently. I had a pattern.
Before this company, the corporate job there were other times I tried to “make it.”
Like the time I was going to create a self help blog based on my marriage that very nearly fell apart...
Or the time I was going to be a freelance magazine writer...
Or the time I was going to start an agency...
Or the time I was going to become a lifestyle blogger...
You get the idea. Every time I sabotaged myself out of fear I’d wreck it anyway so might as well get it over with.
Each time I’d go back to employee work. And I’d feel boxed in. Then leave.
What’s different this time?
I needed to break the cycle of defeat. I realized the pattern boiled down to me thinking I didn’t deserve success.
How did I break free from it? Faith.
I fully placed my faith in God and chose to believe I am who he says I am. Which is not a failure.
I chose to believe he would do what he says he can do. Which is change behaviors and move mountains.
In spite of my past record of failing at my dreams. Do you know what happened?
For once in my life, things worked. It’s not been smooth sailing. But it’s been sailing. I’ll take that over sinking.
So now I’ll turn it to you... what failures are you allowing to dictate how you approach your future? It’s time to make a change. If I can find my way out, I believe you can too. Make today the last day you let past failure determine your future ❤️
🙋♀️ I’m Amanda. And I’m a customer service rep who happens to offer digital marketing services and products.
I own and operate Create Inspire Convert with a very tiny yet mighty team.
Yes, we help businesses create content strategy. We run ads for people. We write content.
But above all... first and foremost... we run a customer service company that happens to sell digital marketing services.
Why am I making this a thing?
Because the most important thing to me — whether you’re a client who works 1:1 with me, you’re a customer or you’re a part of my membership — is you know I’ve heard you, I understand you, and your success is my success.
The biggest problem I see with online marketing in general is an emphasis on sales. Conversions. Leads.
Obviously those are vital to a business’s existence.
But they don’t begin with an ad. Or the perfect email sequence. Or the right website theme.
They begin and persist based on the way you make people feel when they work or interact with you.
None of us are stupid. We know when a business views us as just another customer.
In my opinion, the smartest way to market yourself online is to dial out and examine your processes, language / words and experience you’re providing at every step of your funnel. Where might someone fall through a crack? Where is there a confusing flow? A potential for a question to go unanswered?
It’s not an easy path to take into account all of these instances. But trust me... what happens is you don’t just build a business. You build an experience and relationships. And that’s worth more than any funnel you could ever randomly toss together.
I said what I said. Ask the questions before you invest your hard earned money.
... because it could end up being like a few thousand. Which is still great. But of course doesn’t get the engagement and shock value a 5-6+ month gets. Eyes wide open, my friends. Ask the questions.
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