108: 4 Cornerstones of a Rock-Solid Marketing Mindset
Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.
I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 108.
Today’s episode is all about the 4 cornerstones of a strong marketing mindset that creates results.
BUT! Before we get into the episode, I just wanted to plant a bug in your ear that the next couple of weeks, the doors to Making Good Happen will be re-opening. If you are looking to make a smart marketing plan and then have the accountability to ACTUALLY follow through on the plan… we would LOVE to have you in Making Good Happen. Be the first to hear more about it by joining the waitlist: makingoodpodcast.com/waitlist.
Okay. So again - today is all about the 4 key components of a marketing mindset that will lead to the business results you want to experience.
When I started my business, I remember feeling completely overwhelmed. I had no idea what to do where to start, or even what questions to ask in the first place.
So I spent hours and hours reading blog posts, browsing Pinterests, following other small business others, and watching Youtube videos, looking for someone to tell me what to do.
Inch by inch I started doing things in my business, but always very tentatively. I always had this feeling that I just needed the right strategies and tactics and then I’d experience the results I dreamed of.
So I kept learning. I took courses. I observed the other brands in my industry. I spent MORE time on Google and Youtube. And after a while, I found that I knew A LOT.
But knowing a lot is not the same as taking a lot of action, and after a while I realized that the biggest thing standing in my way was my own mindset.
I’ve really come around on this fact – in fact I think some of the best things I’ve done in my business I’ve been able to do because I’ve worked hard to cultivate a strong mindset.
But many of you might be thinking, yeah yeah yeah, strong mindset, blah blah blah – but practically speaking what does that mean?
I can relate to this because this is how I used to feel when I heard people preaching about the power of mindset. But I’ve become a real believer in something I know to be true:
Your mindset creates your results.
And if that is true, then this begs the question – how do we cultivate a strong mindset – a mindset that will create the results we want instead of holding us back?
I’m so glad you asked.
I’ve come up with a list of the 4 most important components of a marketing mindset that help you create big results in your business, and I’m excited to share them with you.
Let’s get into the first one, and that’s INTENTION.
I don’t think intention has ever been more important than it is now. We live in the time of information overload. There are more inputs than we can possibly process, more demands on our time than we can accommodate, more things we COULD be doing than we’ll ever possibly get to.
The thing about marketing that can be frustrating is that it’s never DONE. It’s not really a project that finishes – no matter what you do, you’ll always feel like there’s more you could have done if you had more time or resources. It’s just how marketing is.
So, in this environment that we’re in, bombarded with strategies and social media platforms and tools… how do we figure out how to spend our time and effort?
With INTENTION.
Intention is all about getting crystal clear on what our goal is – what we need our marketing to accomplish, and then creating a plan of actions that are directly in service of that goal.
When we’re super clear on what we’re trying to achieve, we can apply intention to be selective about prioritizing the tools, platforms and marketing activities that will lead to that goal.
Every time a new shiny object comes a long… like a new tool everyone is using or a new social media platform people are telling you to jump onto, you can ask yourself:
What do I want my marketing to achieve?
Is this new platform or tool one that will help me reach and market to my specific ideal customer?
Is this a better use of my limited time and effort than other marketing activities?
The second cornerstone I want to talk about is IMPERFECTIONISM.
Yep, IMPERFECTIONISM. Okay so I googled it and it doesn’t seem to be an actual word, but just go with it.
Here are some examples of things that have proven to be PIVOTAL in my career and life:
Teaching myself how to do calligraphy, and later watercolor
Taking on running a retail store
Starting a podcast
Starting a membership program
What do these things have in common?
The common denominator is that doing each and every one of those things required me to take action and do things, even though I KNEW I wasn’t going to be able to do it at the level I wanted to. But I somehow found the strength within myself to do it anyway, no matter how imperfectly.
There’s a quote on this topic by NPR host Ira Glass that I love SO SO much that I want to read it to you.
It says:
Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone had told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this GAP. For the first couple years, you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people NEVER get past this phase; they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know that it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece. It’s only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take awhile. You just gotta fight your way through.”
SO, SO, SO, true. And I think for creative small business owners, we have to take it even one step further, because even though maybe we’re not quite where we want to be yet… we have to put it out into the world ANYWAY. Because we have a business!
But here’s something interesting. Some of the things I’ve put out into the world that aren’t where I’d want them to be… they are sometimes people’s most favorite things of mine!
Sometimes, especially as an artist, the things you might consider “imperfections” or flaws, might be what really speak to someone else.
And I say this as someone with very strong perfectionist tendencies. But the last few years have shown me that while perfectionism hasn’t gotten me very far, being willing to be imperfect has been an absolute game changer.
All of this to say. Being willing to put things out into the world, even imperfectly, is something that I wish for all of us.
So, here’s what I want to ask you:
What’s something you want to do but haven’t done because you’re afraid of doing it imperfectly?
Where are you holding back because it’s new to you?
What’s something you’re procrastinating on because you’re afraid you won’t be good at it?
The third cornerstone of a rock-solid marketing mindset is COURAGE. Now to some extent, we’ve already been talking about courage, but I want to get really really direct on this topic.
Let’s be very clear on something that I don’t think is talked about enough:
Marketing your business takes A LOT of courage.
If you find it difficult to put your work out into the world, to show your face, to share about yourself, to go so far as to tell someone why what you have to sell is a good fit for them…. You’re not alone.
To take something we created, that we often put our heart and soul into, and put it out into the world for others to respond to is seriously hard.
AND YET. It’s pretty much the definition of marketing.
Here are some of the fears that tend to come with the marketing territory:
Fear of being judged (especially by people in your real life)
Fear of putting in a lot of effort and having it not pay off
Fear that people won’t like what we have to sell
Fear that we’re not actually good enough, that we’re not qualified, or that we don’t actually have anything to offer
Fear that we won’t be able to handle success
I’ve experienced all of these fears and in fact, many times I still do. It occurs to me that random people from my past might be judging what I’m doing, that I’ll go ALL OUT on a launch and no one will buy anything, that I’ll create something new and people won’t like it, that I don’t actually have the right to get up here and tell you what to do, and that if I find enormous success that I’ll become even more of a workaholic and let my personal life implode.
And the thing is, I don’t have anything in this episode about getting rid of that fear, because that’s not actually the point.
The point is that even in the face of all these fears and unhelpful voices and thought spirals… we need COURAGE.
And courage is available to all of us if we’re willing to have it. We have to be willing to experience all of these fears and thoughts, and do the thing anyway.
If you let them, these fears will stop you from doing anything at all. And in my case, they have - many times.
One of my favorite quotes is just 3 simple words from the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
Words that remind me that it’s okay to have fear and move forward anyway:
“Courage, dear heart”
My questions for you to reflect on this concept of courage in your mindset are:
What fears prevent you from showing up the way you want to show up?
What would happen if you let the fears be there and took action anyway?
This brings us to the fourth marketing mindset cornerstone, and that is Consistent Action.
While at first, this might not sound like it relates much to mindset, I can assure you that it does.
It’s easy to take action consistently when we have momentum. When things are going well, we’re feeling good about our business, and we’re seeing results.
But it’s A LOT harder to take consistent action when we don’t feel like it and we’re not seeing that immediate feedback or positive results.
Let’s talk about this podcast, as an example.
I started this podcast in May 2020, and for the first 3 months, I got less than 500 downloads each month… and less than 1000 downloads each month for the first six months.
But, for whatever reason, I kept showing up anyway, putting the effort in to create a quality podcast episode each and every week, no matter how the results were coming in. Well, eventually, things really took off. Now this podcast has well over 60,000 downloads, and has led to my membership program, Making Good Happen, which is one of my favorite things EVER.
And this is because of that consistent action. Showing up every week for almost 2 years now.
This concept is one of the big takeaways from the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, the book we discussed for Making Good Book Club in episode 101.
Like the tiniest particle in the universe is an atom – but atoms are what make up the whole universe…
The results we see in our businesses and lives are comprised of the tiny, seemingly insignificant actions repeated consistently over time.
Some questions to think about on the topic of taking consistent action:
What actions do you know doing consistently would make a big impact on your business?
What do you want to be doing consistently in your business but tend to fall off the wagon?
So, for fun let’s bring all 4 cornerstones together now.
To see the results we want to see from our marketing, we need to
create an intentional marketing plan (cornerstone 1 - intention)
find the courage to put ourselves and our businesses out there when we execute it… however imperfectly. (cornerstones 2 and 3 - imperfectionism and courage)
and we need to continue showing up and executing this plan CONSISTENTLY (cornerstone 4)
So there you have it! The 4 cornerstones of a marketing mindset that will lead to serious results.
To review, the 4 cornerstones are:
Intention
Imperfectionism
Courage
Consistent Action
Throughout the episode I shared quite a few reflection questions that I’d encourage you to sit with and think through to help you see where your mindset is at now and where you might have room to grow. I’ve collected them and rounded them up in one place in the show notes page, which you can find at makinggoodpodcast.com/108.
One final piece of advice on this topic: read the book Mindset by Carol Dweck. This is a FANTASTIC book that makes such a clear case for the power of mindset – and specifically the power of a GROWTH mindset. We covered this in the first ever edition of Making Good Book Club – I’ll link it in the show notes, but you can go listen to that on episode 92.
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Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!
Talk to you next time.