Marketing your brand takes time and effort, while sometimes it doesn't feel like it's providing any ROI. In today's episode, Amanda Warfield joins us to share how you can simplify your marketing efforts so that you're showing up, saving time, and growing your business. Listen in as she highlights the power of community, how you can connect with your audience, and the three types of content you should be creating in your marketing!
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The Value of Creating Community within Your Marketing and Business
When we're starting a business, we often get caught up in the idea of building a personal brand, yet it's not just about you. When we look at our business through the concept of community, we're reminded that it's bigger than us. You are just one small piece of the overall brand and impact.
"Creating community means giving a place for your people to gather and find their people too. It creates a space where what you're doing with your business is bigger than just you. Being in community with others that value the same things as you gives you a feeling of belonging. No matter how old you get, having that in your life is so important."
- Amanda Warfield, Chasing Simple Marketing
To truly make this shift, you have to change your mindset. Shift away from the you in your business and consider everything else your business impacts. Look at your why and the people that you're impacting.
One way that you can do this is to build a space that creates community, like a Facebook group or Slack channel. Look for ways to connect others, cultivate community, and encourage collaboration.
Balancing Vulnerability as a Business
When you build a community and an online personal brand, you're often expected to get vulnerable in your marketing. While vulnerability can humanize your brand, there is also a fine line in determining what you share. Balancing vulnerability is a personal decision that has to feel right to you.
While Amanda doesn't think there is a right balance that works across the board for everyone, she highlights that she shares when she feels like she can add to the conversation at hand or she needs extra support. For example, she's really vulnerable in sharing about her health and the things she's passionate about advocating for.
Vulnerability is a personal line, but when you can share a little bit into your life, it helps create a connection with your audience.
Content Marketing: Three Types of Content You Should Be Creating
Inside her book, Chasing Simple Marketing, Amanda shares three types of content that you should be creating. These include:
- Long-form content through blogs, podcasts, and Youtube
- Email newsletters/marketing
- Social media
Amanda believes that these are the three most important content types because they play different roles within your business. At the minimum, you should be showing up on at least two of these—to make it easy to show up on a three, you can repurpose content.
Your long-form content is where people are learning from you. Your email newsletter is where you can communicate your offers and your education. Social media is where you can connect with others.
Your Content Should Serve Your Audience, Not the Algorithm
If you're actively creating content yet worried about the algorithm on the platform you're posting it to, stop. Don't worry about the algorithms or hang your marketing efforts on it. When you worry about the algorithm, you begin to create content for it instead of your audience. Build channels that allow you to get in front of your audience, like email marketing.
Additionally, keep your audience and how you're serving them in mind if you're tempted to cold message them. No one likes to be sold to in a cold message. Connect and build relationships with people instead.
Resources Mentioned
- The Profitable Blogger Society
- Episode 116: The Content Creation Hamster Wheel
- Chasing Simple Marketing by Amanda Warfield
- Let's Grab Drinks on Apple
- Let's Grab Drinks on Spotify
- Thrive's Youtube Channel
- Thrive Facebook Community
Connect with Amanda
- amandawarfield.com
- Chasing Simple Marketing by Amanda Warfield
- instagram.com/mrsamandawarfield
- Chasing Simple Podcast
Find It Quickly
- 3:23 - Why Amanda wrote Chasing Simple Marketing, and who she wrote it for
- 6:44 - The business benefit to building a community
- 9:12 - The mindset shift towards prioritizing community
- 12:33 - Being vulnerable while building a personal brand
- 22:37 - The three types of content that you need to be creating
- 24:54 - Why your email newsletter is so important
- 29:34 - Marketing practices to NOT do
- 37:01 - Connect with Amanda
More about Bree Pair:
Bree Pair is a blogging coach and founder of Thrive - A blogging community built to empower and educate bloggers to make a full-time income by spending time on the right things. Her passion is helping bloggers create a strategy for growth and working with them on every side of their business to give them the confidence they need to be successful. Bree is propelled by the results of seeing bloggers go from overwhelmed to steady and sustained growth and creating the lifestyle they want.
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