When it comes to your mindset around marketing your business, I couldn’t cover this area without identifying some of the main marketing blocks I see business owners experience. It’s really common to have certain blocks around getting visible and consistently putting your content out there.
Here are some of the most common marketing blocks I’ve come across. These are all things I’ve heard business owners say when I’ve asked them about their main marketing challenges and dug deeper into why they struggle to stay on track (even when they know how important it is!).
- Not wanting to show your face
This one comes up all the time! It’s a particular block for small business owners, where your business is either just you working solo or you and a couple of other freelancers supporting your business.
I often get asked if there’s any way around showing your face and only sharing ‘brand’ content, but the reality is that in a small business, the owner is a big part of the brand.
What’s more, buyers these days need to know, like and trust the PERSON they’re buying from, which is how you start to gain brand recognition. But it’s nearly impossible to establish a strong brand online these days if you aren’t prepared to show your face and let your audience get to know who you are.
- Worrying that people will be bored/thinking your content is boring
I come across this a lot – people worrying that their content is too repetitive and is going to get boring for your audience.
Obviously there are some indicators that you might be turning off your audience, such as follower counts and engagement going down rather than improving over time. However, I’ve yet to come across a business that’s putting out too much information.
There’s a genuine fear about repetition, but it’s often unfounded. Often, people need to see the same message as many as 7 times before they actually remember it. Which means it’s quite difficult to share a message too much!
- Imposter syndrome – thinking other people are doing better than you
This one applies to lots of areas of running a business, and marketing is no exception. It’s easy to see other accounts and if you like what you see, to think that you should be doing that and if you can’t match it then what’s the point?
The saying ‘comparison is the thief of joy’ is particularly apt here. It doesn’t actually matter what anyone else is doing – you don’t know their marketing strategy, target market or whether they actually make any sales from the activity you really like.
- Undervaluing your knowledge/expertise
Another big block to sharing content and getting visible in front of your target audience is undervaluing your own knowledge and expertise. If you’ve ever thought ‘well everyone knows this’ or ‘this is so basic, what’s the point’ or something similar, you may be suffering from this block!
The reality is that lots of people don’t know as much as you do about your specialist area. And even if they do, they might still learn something from you. Don’t fall into the trap of downplaying the value you can add to your audience.
- Being afraid to be seen/fear of judgment
I think a lot of us can relate to this. Especially when you’re starting to get more serious about marketing your business it can still be terrifying to put something out there. Especially when it’s involves humour, and opinion or something that you know someone, somewhere won’t agree with.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone! And a lot of the time, people will actually be more impressed than anything that you’re actually going for it and putting yourself out there.
- Perfectionism
Ah, the true enemy of progress! One of my favourite sayings is ‘done is better than perfect’. Because it’s true. Usually 80% of the way there is good enough (in my experience). Spending hours on that last 20% to get your content exactly the way you want it to be often has marginal gains.
Let me be clear – there are some basics that have to be right, for example spelling, grammar, facts should all be correct. But the biggest area I see this blocker is when it comes to design, which is much more subjective.
If you identified with any of these blockers then make sure you come back next week to read my next post on how to overcome these blockers to improve your marketing mindset!
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