In today’s Grey Matters podcast, listen to Lisa Larter as she talks about niche marketing, forming a marketing strategy plan, and more.
Marketing Strategy Plan: Niche Marketing, Changing Your Mindset, And Facing Your Fears
[0:00] – Introducing this episode of the Grey Matters podcast: Marketing strategy plan, niche, and mindset with Lisa Larter.
- In this episode, business consultant Lisa Larter shares tips on managing change and opportunity in your life, how to carve out your niche, and overcoming obstacles in your business.
[4:57] – The fearless Alan Weiss as both client and mentor.
- It is difficult to be relevant and to make a difference if you are not on the cutting edge of what's going on in the world today.
[6:26] – The struggles of female video content creators.
- Being judged (1) for saying the wrong thing and (2) for how they look like are among the challenges that female video content creators face. This objectification is a major hurdle in their pursuit of this path.
[9:30] – Self-reinvention, and being comfortable with presenting yourself to the rest of the world.
- It doesn't matter if it’s your first podcast, your first video, your first blog, or your first newsletter: The first is always the worst. You can't get good at anything without repetition and practice.
- Two things can help you on your road to reinvention: Not caring about what other people think, and a commitment to do and become better.
- It’s the desire to lead, the desire to make a difference, and the desire to help other people that can help you get over your ego and do what you have to do.
[13:37] – The biggest challenge to overcoming the initial hurdles in content creation.
- The biggest mistake that people make is a lack of repetition and consistency. They will try something, and then they don't stick with it.
- Anybody who's starting needs to be over-committed for at least the first 90 days. If you're going to do video, do it every single day for 90 days. If you're going to podcast, do it every single day for 90 days. If you're going to write, do it every day.
- Immerse yourself in the experience.
[16:05] – The challenge with Gen X and baby boomers when ego takes over.
- If somebody is retiring from their job, and they're embarking upon something new like this, they are nobody. And if you have been a somebody, then that creates a lot of conflict and discomfort, and you don't know how to get back that sense of identity.
- We are afraid of the beginner's mind, and we forget that we were able to accomplish great things in life, and that those skills and characteristics that helped us to do that will help us do it in the next chapter.
[18:03] – Setting goals to ensure that you’re on the right path.
- The measurement of success that we should all be tied to is progress.
- Strategy is top down; it's not bottom up.
- It's not about improving the baseline of zero. It's about moving towards the goal.
[20:56] – Walking through the coaching process.
- Ask: What is the objective of my business? What is it that I'm trying to accomplish here? What difference am I trying to make? Who is my buyer?
- Set some measurements of success that help you to see the progress that you’re making on this journey.
- Look at your thought leadership and decide: Are you creating content? Are you creating IP? What structures and formats are you going to use to get their message out there? And then how can you use social media to expand your reach and find more of the right people?
- Look for ways to participate in the conversation that your buyers are having.
- Take a really good, hard look at your website, and ask yourself: Is my website attractive to a buyer? Is it clear what I do? Is it a place that they go and say, “This person can help me?” Or is it a place that they go and find that they can't really articulate what it is that you do?
[25:26] – Turning fans into customers.
- People have got to be curious while they're on the journey.
[30:00] – Engaging in conversations: Worthwhile lessons in marketing.
- You can never serve your whole community. Just because you have 100,000 followers or a million followers or 10,000 followers doesn't mean that you have a successful, lucrative business.
[36:50] – Remembering the primary reason why a business exists.
- A business exists to make a sale and to generate profit.
Resources
Lisa Larter is a practical, no-nonsense straight shooter. She has been for me a trusted advisor and a terrific role model.
Lisa shares some great tips on managing change and opportunity in our lives, and how to carve out your niche.
You can find more with Lisa at:
Lisa's book