262: Why Staying in Your Lane Is the Key to A Top-Notch Brand

Melissa:

Alright. Let's go to miss Tisha who says, I feel like a runner who has been training for a marathon, and the date is finally here. I'm all suited up and waiting at the start line. The marathon, however, does not have a map, and I don't want to just follow the other runners. So now that I have my offer, I need a strategy to promote and engage so I can start building my actions and my community? Awesome. I love this question. Expand upon that, or do you just wanna dive in?

Tisha:

No. Actually, I think, yeah, just dive into that. And I do kinda have a follow-up that kind of ties into both what Darla was talking about and just kinda this group. So please and I'm so glad that I put that question in the right group because I filled out a bunch of forms and sent a bunch of questions. I'm like, I don't know which question is gonna get

Melissa:

answered where,

Tisha:

but here I am. So let's do that one.

Melissa:

Okay. Awesome. So the question here is I need a strategy to promote and engage. Right? So I think this kind of it goes back to brand development. Right? Personal branding. This is a great conversation. Chris Harderner just talked about this yesterday, and he said, you know, it's a it's a full time job building your personal brand. It is a full time job, and I know Louise knows this in the industry that she is in.

Melissa:

It can't be overlooked If we are going to leverage the Internet to grow our businesses, we must have a brand strategy. Right? And so now that, Tisha, you have your offer, it really as much as you may not wanna hear this, I what I would really highly advise you to do is number 1, go back to the training modules in LinkedIn that talk about the core pillars. Right? And revisit it. What are the core pillars that you're gonna focus on on a weekly basis? Because it's not just me, it's even my 8 figure coach who's doing the same fucking thing every single week. And it's not, you know, like, because he recognizes how important it is that his expertise, authority, his thought leadership is forward and in your face. And we talk about that top of funnel, you know, choose your funnel. For Chris, it's I don't know how many of you have opted into his text nurture. Right? But he he texts every day.

Melissa:

His other top of the funnel is his podcast that he produces it in. And then his 3rd top of funnel is Instagram. Right? And if you go, he's ever present in those three channels. He's ever present, and his message is very clear. He's building thought leadership. Same thing with me. Right? And so what you need to do is kind of take a step back and ask yourself, now that I have my offer and I know who my ideal client is, how do I create a compelling story of content that attracts them to me. And I think you and I maybe talked about this on a recent call.

Melissa:

I think how start with a primary, you know, a lane, and then don't try to perfect it on the other platforms, but be sure to spray it over there. Right? So whether it's LinkedIn is your a lane and email marketing is your b lane, whether it's LinkedIn and podcasting, I find that if you're going to do a podcast, all that long form, like, you know, we prepare for our podcast. I've got notes. They quickly can be turned into an email newsletter. They can quickly be broken down into content. It act just my conversation with our marketing team on Monday gave me a swift kick in the ass about my own podcast because I have been, the first half of this year has been a huge season of transition and growth and onboarding of team. I've had such a that I've neglected the content creation in the podcast. And, the feedback I got from the marketing team the other day was, we get it if you wanna, like you know, if if you want to record in batch series for seasons.

Melissa:

We get that that's more efficient for you. However and, again, I kind of, like, will lean into Louise on this. They're like, when you are recording these podcasts weekly, it gives us so much to build off of in email, with the social media. Everything that comes out of you becomes repurposed a kajillion different ways. Right? And so that was kind of like a swift kick in the ass for me of, like, okay. I need to get back to recording my voice. That's why I've just said earlier I'm gonna do an episode on being a mom in the summer working from home. Right? That can be turned in.

Melissa:

It can be turned into, it can be turned into content on social media. It can be turned into a carousel that you swipe through, and it can be sprayed across all of social media. Right? But I think that for you, it's about taking a step back and committing to a content order. So have you thought about what are your core pillars now that you know what your offer is that you wanna stick to when you put content out?

Tisha:

Yeah. And I and I think let me just kind of just elaborate just a little bit. So I think where I'm really struggling is that so, you know, I do all the things. Right? So, like, I've I've done all the modules, and I've done all the things. And I did my podcast. I did my email marketing, and I did all the social media pieces, and I'm on LinkedIn and all the stuff. And I finally said to heck with it. Right? Stopped.

Tisha:

Figured out what I wanna do, who I wanna do it with, and and it's and it feels comfortable. However, now I feel like like I said in my in my question, I'm at the I'm at the starting line, and I have all these things flashing at me, like, go left, go right, go straight, go. And I don't know where I'm supposed to be going, so I know what to talk about. I'm just not sure. Do I need to, like, jump into my podcast again and make that a a thing now? Do I have to make sure that I'm gonna go do something on Pinterest now to do that as the thing now? Do I have to and then I'm like, if I'm gonna focus on my my a language is LinkedIn and then building my email list, it's kinda like the 2 things that are top of mind. Right?

Melissa:

Okay.

Tisha:

So I'm in all of these different, you know, programs. I'm in this amazing mastermind with all these people. I feel like there's all of these things I should be utilizing some creating a strategy and utilizing some of these resources and talents and things, and I'm just kind of, like, peeking in through a window. Like, I'm not quite sure what to do with it. So that's really more of what I'm looking for is, like, how do I other than going back to the lead gen stuff to figure out, like, the specific tactical things, but, like, what's my like, I wanna collaborate with everybody. I want everybody to hear my message. I want it all to happen, but I also don't wanna work 27 hours a day. Right? So I'm like, yes.

Tisha:

So that's why but I need a strategy because I feel like I'm just throwing stuff out there and and some sticking, but I don't know if I want it to stick. And I don't know where What

Melissa:

is your what is your current content strategy? What are you doing on a weekly basis to create

Tisha:

new fresh content? Well, as far as the the content, I have my I have my my my themes, I guess, of what I'm focusing on. Right? I've got my offer. I pull out of the offer. I'm on LinkedIn every day. I actually just I hired a VA.

Melissa:

Let me let me pause really quick. When you say you're on LinkedIn every day,

Tisha:

are you I post I post every day and engaging, and Jackie told me that I have to start connecting. So I reached out with 10 people, which is so weird, but but I'm trying to figure out how to get all that done anyway. So I did. So I'm doing that. I have my weekly email newsletter that goes out. I write a monthly newsletter on LinkedIn, and then I just kind of, like, peep on everybody else's everything. Like, I'm like, like, I'm in all these different groups. Like, I keep, like, courses that I've been participating in the past.

Tisha:

Like, I'm still paying a monthly membership. Janelle and I talked about this too. Like, hey. I'm in that one too. I haven't been in there, like, 18 months, but I one day, maybe I'll pop in and say, here's my thing. But I don't know if that's, like, what I should be using my time to do or if I should just be stick to your email list and just go all in on LinkedIn and let the rest of the noise fall out and then just embrace the people that are here and say, how can I help them, and how could they help me and and utilize that and and kind of create my hub? Right? Like, you have your group of people that you do your things with. Like, I want those people too, and I'm not quite sure how to do that.

Melissa:

So I think you just hit the nail on the head. I heard you use the word going all in on do I just go all in on x y z? What I'm hearing right now is that you're spinning all the plates, but maybe not really spending a whole lot of time perfecting any of them.

Tisha:

Yep.

Melissa:

And this brings me back to the build, grow, scale model where build is that top of funnel, really, really strong swim lane of leads that are engaged, and they're buying what you're putting out. Right? Right. And if we don't have one really strong swim lane that is proof of concept that there's high level of activity, we put offer out its purchase, then it's not time to move on to the next step. Right? And so, I would highly encourage you to buckle down to your a lane, like if it's LinkedIn, I heard you say you're you're posting, but is it falling on deaf ears? How strategic are you in growing the platform versus just posting? Because if we're and I don't wanna say just because it's a lot of work to create the content and post. But if we're going in posting every day, but we're not strategically growing our audience, we're literally coming into the same people every day who've already not engaged or bought, and we're expecting a different result. Right? And so we don't look a really good decision about whether your content's falling properly or not because you haven't grown the audience to make that decision. Right? And so that's where I would say the reason our business was so successful or my business when I was solopreneur all by myself, and Allie witnessed it because she was part of my my direct sales team. But the reason my business took off is because I I dropped all the noise.

Melissa:

And I went double down on LinkedIn. I'll never forget everyone around me was like, are you fucking crazy? What are you doing over there? Right? And I was like, I don't know, but I can't keep doing what y'all are doing over there. Right? And so I just literally blinders on. I was like, I'm gonna get relentlessly good at this. I'm gonna relentlessly grow my audience. I'm gonna relentlessly create content, and I'm not gonna focus on anything else. Right? And having those blinders kept me from squirreling and created massive momentum in my business. So although you're podcasting, although you've got the email, although you're doing all these things, like, are you fully committed to 1? And here so here's your action plan.

Melissa:

This is what I would encourage you to do is, you know, you the work you've done on your podcast is not lost. I highly suggest, not that you have to go create a bunch of new content, go to your podcast episodes if you haven't done this already. Use them as your future content on social as well as your content for your newsletters. So now you're not creating anything new. You're just pulling from stuff you've already put together and spend that extra time growing your network like a wild woman on LinkedIn, right? And focusing on growing your email list on LinkedIn. See what I'm saying? If you're growing your network on LinkedIn, you can put your freebies out there for people to opt into that's gonna grow your email. Like, focus on LinkedIn, but then it's gonna spin out on growing your email list as well if you're growing your network there. Right.

Melissa:

Does that make sense? Right.

Tisha:

Yeah. It does. And I think that that's the I know I'm out of time too. I think I think that's kind of what my struggle is. Right? It's like I'm looking at this LinkedIn thinking there's a search. I got a bunch of words, and then I had my second and third connections. Like, I just feel like I don't know how to really hone in, especially once they took away the opportunity to be able to send a comment with somebody that you're requesting. Like, that just, like, froze me.

Tisha:

I'm like, I'm just gonna, like, randomly click on buttons now. Like, it just feels like there's so not a plan to it. And I know I'm not utilizing it correctly. I want to.

Melissa:

Mhmm.

Tisha:

But I really don't wanna just keep typing in boy, girl, tall, short. Like, I feel like I'm just, like, I'm just throwing random phrases into the search, which isn't getting me. I'm spending hours trying to figure out 5 people that are actually on LinkedIn doing something. So I could feel like it's just it's a waste. I'm not using my time the way I should

Melissa:

Yeah.

Tisha:

To build what I need to. So yes.

Melissa:

Well and so I think what might be helpful to piggyback on this is, like, hop on the next strategic advisory calls with LinkedIn, Hop on the next group hot seats on LinkedIn, or even in build, grow, scale, and get your name in the queue to brainstorm how you're gonna more effectively and efficiently strategically grow your network using the platform.

Tisha:

Okay.

Melissa:

And I think that that will help you as well. Perfect.

Tisha:

Thank you. I appreciate it.