26: Finding Your Marketing Genius

Jaz 0:01 Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. saddle up for a gallop to the top of the animal industry, where you’ll learn how to tame your wild business beast, with tips, techniques, and tools that will take overwhelm to obedience school, and have you wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts, Kim Beer, and Cara Taylor Swift. Kimberly Beer 0:23 Hey there business animals. It’s Kim with Be More Business Cara Taylor Swift 0:26 and Cara with Fast Horse Photography, Kimberly Beer 0:28 and welcome to another episode of The Business Animal. So this is our first episode of season two. We’re super excited to bring this to you as well, because it’s a really good episode about finding your unique marketing genius. Cara Taylor Swift 0:45 How in the world did we make it through 25 episodes? kim we’ve made it through 25 episodes, and we’re jumping into number 26. Now, this is pretty crazy. I think we may need to change up things like our intro like maybe we need to come in and say something like, what up biz animals? You know, just change it up a little bit so that in season two people are like, oh, that season two, what do you think we’ll have to ask for feedback? You guys let us know? Should we change up our intro? Kimberly Beer 1:10 Yeah, I definitely. I think we might do that. Yeah, we have a lot of exciting things for you guys to come in season two, I have to tell you, reflecting back on the last 25 episodes, I have had so much fun doing this. And I’ve gotten such wonderful feedback from people that have listened in and sought me out to talk about what we talk about and how they laugh with us and how they take us along on their adventures. And so many people have shared that, that they listen to the podcast while they’re driving their tractors or feeding their horses or any of them multitude of out there being with their animals. And I think that when we had a vision of this Cara, I think that was the ultimate goal that we both wanted to do is to create a world where people could see the podcast or hear the podcast, not see it. You don’t want to see us right now but hear the podcast out? Well, we use this wonderful recording platform called Riverside. But we’re all zoom spoiled with its filters. And you just look older. Cara Taylor Swift 2:19 Yeah, we always say when we hop over here to to Riverside, we’ve aged at least 10 years in terms of video land. So at least 10 years, like all the age spots come out, you can definitely see the gray hair. But yeah, Cam I think both of us really respect and love podcasting. So it was certainly a dream for us to be able to see The Business Animal podcast come to life. And we’ve learned so much this year. And like Kim said, we’re pretty excited about the episodes we have coming next year and some just really fun opportunities. So we hope you enjoyed season one. And are we ready to launch into season two, Kimberly Beer 2:53 I am very much ready to launch into season two, because I’m ready to talk about a topic that I really don’t think I will ever get tired of talking about. And that’s helping people find their unique marketing genius, I have a little bit different take on this than some other marketing professionals. I think there’s a lot of people out there that will tell you, you know, do all of this market research and find out where most of everything is that for your customers and how they you know, I think that’s all great and important. By the way, I think you should do that. But I also think there’s another factor that people don’t take into account. And that is, what do you love to do? What is your unique special superpower special secret sauce? love language, however you want to think about it? What is it that you really bring to the table in your marketing? And then how can you utilize that to reach the people that you want to reach for your business? So in today’s episode, that’s what we’re going to be talking about is some ideas for you to be able to do that. And the big three, number one is what do you love to do? What is the way that you love to communicate to the people about your business? And number two is where are your customers? Who are you creating this for that your target market? And then where are they hanging out? What are what are the ways that they like to be communicated with? And then finally, how do you get those two things to mesh together and create a wonderful marketing program that really demonstrates your marketing genius, and connects you to the exact right customer. So that’s what we’re going to be talking about today is some ideas around that would it be a kickoff episode for season two without some really good bonuses and resources for you. And there’s a quiz that I wrote a little while ago about finding your own unique content marketing genius, which is really what we’re talking about here. Then also a guide, a PDF guide that’s going to come with that that has some really nice ideas for each of the Each of the marketing genius types that I identified. So we’re excited to share that with you. And if you want to hop over to the website and download those you certainly can do so Cara. The first one is do what you love. And for me this means well first of all, you have to love something. I get pushback from people I’m like, Okay, what do you love to do? Do you love to do video? Do you love to write? Do you love to take pictures? Well, I really don’t know if I like any of those things. Do you like to talk? There’s another one as well? Cara Taylor Swift 5:35 Are you a jokester, you like to tell jokes? Kimberly Beer 5:38 Do you like to be punny? We like to be punny. So yeah, what is your What is your love language? What is your marketing genius? What is the way that you like to communicate? What is the medium that you like to communicate in? And I think looking at that, first and foremost, is the best place to start developing your marketing program. Because here’s what I’ve learned. If you do something that you love, or like, or at the very least, can really tolerate Well, you’re much more likely to be consistent with it. So even though I could tell you market research shows that you should do videos on YouTube. If you absolutely detest recording videos, editing videos, being on video interacting on YouTube, that’s not the best place for your business, no matter what market research says the best place for your business is wherever your marketing genius shows up. So I always start with writing. I mean, I don’t care where I end up. It always starts with the written word, even though it turns into audio here, it starts with the written word. What about you Cara? I bet I have a notion of the way that you like to communicate Cara Taylor Swift 6:50 definitely visually, like I love to have I mean, I’m a photographer. So I like to have that visual content piece in place for sure. And I love that what do you what do you love to do being our first of these, because the big thing is, is all comes down to you as the individual working your little animal based business. Because the truth is, it’s you, that makes your brand it’s you that makes your business and that special ness that you is going to be what sets you apart from your competitors. Because there’s a very good chance that in your industry, there are lots of people out there doing the exact same thing that you’re doing possibly in a very similar way offering a very similar, if not identical type of product. How do you set yourself apart from that? Well, the answer is you. You’re the unique element, you know, and what you bring to the table is a unique piece of that. So Kim is absolutely right when she says is it you know if you if it’s through comedy, if it’s through your knowledge, and you know, if you’re a teacher, you know what makes sense to you to stand out from the crowd. Kimberly Beer 7:55 Absolutely. And you know what, there’s also another element to this, what brings you joy, think about the things that really inspire you are the people that really inspire you, there are people who are joyful in what they do, they have a passion for it, their love of it obviously shows it shows in their faces while they’re doing it, it shows in the work that shows up the resultant written piece or video or photo, whatever it happens to be, there are good time their joy shows up. And I am of the opinion that consumers no different from me, we really want to be attracted to like a magnet to that state of joy. And when you’re in it with your marketing, you’re gonna attract more people, because people want to be present with positivity with happiness with that state of joy. And the better you are at being able to capture that in yourself, the better your message is going to get communicated. And you were just talking about competition. You know, if your competitor is doing what all the marketing geniuses tell them to do, and their heart’s not in it, your message will get heard loud and clear. Even if you’re saying the exact same thing they are because people aren’t going to tune into theirs, they’re going to actually tune out because that person is not coming from that energetic happy space. So it’s so much more than just what people can tell you in a in a book or marketing research. It’s got to come from your heart to really make a difference for the people that you’re trying to reach. And that’s why that’s number one. And if it’s the only thing that you’re doing, you’re going to find a measure of success in your marketing because you’re coming at it with the energy in the right place. \ Every small business owner wants to gain traction in their marketing. After three decades of working with small business owners just like you I have developed what I call my four by four marketing method in just one 90 minute session, you’ll discover the four major focus areas of a successful marketing plan. And together we’ll uncover where your business is getting stuck, you leave the session with an action plan of next steps that engage your revenue engine drop by BeMorebusiness.com to request your session today. That’s bemorebusiness.com. See you there. Cara Taylor Swift 10:23 Absolutely. I love that. And I think there’s probably a lot of people that are sitting out there right now thinking about their horse business or their animal business. And they’re, you know, really trying to think about that joy part of it and like what they bring to the table, and you’re not alone out there. Many entrepreneurs really struggle to show their individuality and their potential to their clients. Right. So one of the things I listed a couple of things here that I think are really good for people to think about in terms of trying to figure out what that secret sauce is like, what your marketing genius is in a great place to start is really sit down and think about why your clients chose you over their competitors. So your existing clients, why did they choose you? You know, is it because they liked your personality? Is it because they liked something that you had to offer that was signature to you, you know, really think about that and start writing those those ideas down? And then I would encourage you to think about what has worked for you in the past. So in the past, what has elicited an emotional connection between you and your clients, if it’s a social media post that you made, and it got a ton of traction, and people really resonated with it. What was it about that that was connecting you in that moment? And is it something that can be bottled and recreated for your business later on. And then the third piece that I was thinking about that I do in my own business is I look to my social proof. We’ve talked about social proof Kim, I can’t remember what episode maybe episode was one of the early episodes, we talked about social proof. So look to that social proof for more information on why those people that you’ve already worked with, chose to work with you and enjoyed working with you. Because if you’re doing your social proof right, there’s gonna be information in there, they’re going to talk about why they chose you, they’re going to talk about what they loved about working with you, and why they would work with you again. So that’s three places right there at the very top of this episode, where you can say to yourself, how do I get moving on this? What do you love to do? And how are my current clients? And then my potential the consumers that are out there looking for a service like mine? Why would they want to come work with me? Kimberly Beer 12:23 Absolutely. And so those clients, I can tell you, when you ask those questions of them, or when you look back at your social proof, or or look at the things that elicited that connection, I can guarantee you, you’re having a good time yourself, you’re you’re enjoying that and your enjoyment and their enjoyment merge together. And it just makes all the difference in the world in how you show up in your business. And then it also gets things started off on a really good foot or something that’s positive, something that’s really moving in the right direction, and really sets that customer experience up to be positive right from the get go. So my suggestion is, if you don’t know what that is, do look to all of the different pieces that Cara just talked about. But then also look to giving tries to all of the different mediums that you can communicate in, try writing, try filming some videos, try doing some audio podcasting, or recording audio classes, pick up your camera, or pick up your phone with the camera and see how you are communicating and seeing how that feels to you. And if you can do it with a smile on your face and joy in your heart and really communicate your passionate message on to your customers, then you’ve found your marketing genius, you’ve found your unique ability to communicate to people out in the world. Now, in the quiz that I created, it’s gonna give you one of six types that I came up with in this document. And it’s not they’re not inclusive, I’m sure you could, I could come up with two or three more off the top of my head right now. And I’m sure you could as well. But the six types are pretty standard. And if you download the PDF, it gives you 10 examples of things that you can try if you’re that type of a communicator. So the six types which I think is important to mention here, there’s the Inspirer so those people who want to inspire us, the empathizer, the person who always understands from their heart space, what their customers are going through the humorist who likes to come at it from a little bit of a fun angle when and inspire people to laugh. laughter is the best medicine After all, the realist who likes to communicate very concrete information, the culturist who is always showing off their lifestyle. And then my favorite one which is the rag bagger which is reaches into their bag of tricks at any point in time and pulls out any one of the other topics, they like it all, they’re very eclectic. So you’ll show up as one of those types. So match that up with whatever medium you like to communicate in and use one of the 10 ideas that are in that PDF and just get going with it. I hear all the time from my clients, I just really don’t know what to do with my marketing, I don’t know how to communicate, I don’t know what to write in that blog post or post on social media. Well, here’s a whole ton of ideas right off the bat for you to be able to work on and to inspire you, which I’m the Inspire, by the way, that’s my type to inspire you to get out there and get going with that. So should we move on to number two? Yes, I Cara Taylor Swift 15:48 just want to say the visual of this little workbook is really cute. And definitely even if you just want to skim it, like pull it up and take a look, because it’s super cute. And there’s a lot really quick and easy takeaways. Kimberly Beer 16:00 Yeah, this is not gonna make you have to, like, think a lot or worry a lot, or Yeah, it’s kind of it’s light, and fun, which is kind of our brand and the way we like to communicate. So number two is once you’ve kind of discovered your way that your marketing genius works, you have to now consider a little heavier even though you may have taken it into account to begin with, you need to really concentrate on your customers. So how do they like to be communicated to it in it depends a lot on your business on your brand on your target market. Some customers, they really are happy doing business digitally. So they don’t even want to they don’t want to come in your store, they want to just purchase and move on with their lives. Other people want to have more of a high personal level of service or they expect you to do things with them live and face to face, even though COVID has kind of put a kibosh on a lot of that for us the last couple of Well, last year and a half, it’s still it’ll be back around at some point in the future. And even though we’ve learned to do a lot more things, virtually I do think that some people still want to have that live in person connection or over the phone. Other people really want to communicate to you on social media. I have clients now that they don’t text and they don’t email, they use Facebook and Instagram messenger. And that’s the way that they prefer to communicate. And as a business, I’ve got to accommodate all of that. And then also know how that fits into my unique way of how I want to show up for my business. What do you think about that, Cara? Cara Taylor Swift 17:40 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I don’t think we’ve done an episode on this yet, Kim, like identifying your target market, your target audience, but we need to that needs to be part of season two, I think for sure. But a couple little things that I think are important, you know, when you’re thinking about where are your customers is really sitting down and doing some work around that. And I think that we’ll do probably end up doing an episode where we go deeper into this. But when you’re identifying your target audience, there are some things that you really should sit down and list out and you can start with what are all the things that you know about the target audience? So who are they not just Who are they? But where do they live? How old? Are they? What type of professional life or careers do they do they typically have? Are they a nine to five job? Do they own their own business? Are they a startup? Are they an animal based business owner? Like who is your target audience? I like to look at things like what’s their home life? Like? Are they single? Are they married? Do they have children? Do they have pets? Are they horse owners? You know, these are all things that are going to be really important to my business? How do they like to spend their free time and part of my target audience is gals that are on their days off there at the barn? You know, like those are my people? And then where do they like to hang out? And that isn’t just online, it is online. So where do they spend time online? Are they on Snapchat? Are they on? TicToc? Are they on Instagram, Facebook, but also offline? You know, do they have places? Are they always going to be at the feed store, the tech store, you know, where are those people going to be found? And I think that’s a great place to start when you’re sitting down trying to think about where are your customers, and then take it a step further and start thinking about identifying the needs that this audience has, that your business can meet. Right? So that’s where you’re going to start generating. You know, that whole piece we talked about in big three number one, you know, what do you love to do? That’s where you’re going to start pulling the content and put pulling it from and putting it together is asking yourself questions like What is your audience telling you they need when they reach out to you? What are those questions you’re hearing from them? What are they telling you? their needs? Are? Kimberly Beer 19:43 Yeah, and how can you match your unique genius up with what they’re wanting? So for example, if you are an inspirer her, look at what your customers are looking for inspiration for so let’s say you’ve created A line of dog collars, right? Maybe they need inspiration on how to accessorize their dog and your social media posts show all the different dog collars and how they look on different dogs and, and leash combinations. And then you’re going out into the different parks that people would want to walk their dogs in, and so on and so forth. So match the two things up together so that you’re meeting your customers where they are with what they need. And also, don’t be afraid to stretch yourself a little bit into other types of marketing genius, like you have yours your zone that you tend to stay in. But get yourself out of the zone, every few posts. And so you know, maybe, maybe with those dog collars and their fashion, maybe you show it as a cultural image in a hot part of town and can show how that fits in with lifestyle. So you can mix and match these up. And use these ideas to really create a holistic marketing program using your own unique marketing genius, but also stretching out of your comfort zone, just a hair bit to Cara Taylor Swift 21:15 Your equine based business has unique needs. It’s your job to tell the story of your horse brand. You know what you want to say. But creating or finding powerful storytelling images that grab the attention of your ideal client can be a challenge, especially when you’re busy running your business. That’s why equine industry business leaders turned to Fast Horse Photography, and the library featuring 1000s of searchable images available for businesses just like yours. And guess what 100% of those images are horse related. Now finding the right horse images for your website, social media, and all your other needs is easier than ever find the perfect images for your equine business right now at FastHorsephotography.com. That’s FastHorsephotography.com. Absolutely. And I think that kind of slides into number three, which is how can you connect the two? So how do you connect what you love to do with where your customers are at? Like, how do you connect those pieces? Did you want to speak to that a little bit? Kimberly Beer 22:15 Yeah, just finding the places where things intersect are great, where you can show your uniqueness and your customers are getting their needs met as well. And I know you have some really specific ideas in here as well, Cara, I think that mine are in that PDF document and you have some great ones to share here. So why don’t you share your your concept around this? Cara Taylor Swift 22:41 Absolutely. I really dug deep on this one thinking about it. And you know, how do you connect those two things. So I always come back to the wow factor, the magic in your business is going to be you you as the brand, your brand your company, you’re going to be that piece. So you know, this is where you can really identify your unique selling points. But then people start thinking but how like, how do I how do I do that? So first of all, I asked people think about what your competitors are offering and how they meet the needs of their audience and determine all those places where your business and their business or all of the other businesses that are doing something similar? Where are you guys different? And then spend some time thinking about that focus on what you’re offering that’s totally different, you know, is the product and service that you’re offering something that’s going to be remembered? Is this thing that you’re different? Is this piece where you’re different? Is it something that you really feel is a good representation of your animal business? Does this place where your your brand and your business is different? Does it address the needs of your clients? And then the last place is, is it something that’s really a signature product or service that no one else is offering? And if you can say that what this piece, this magic piece of your business? Can you if you can answer yes to those things, you know, does it address the need? Is it a signature product? Or is it something really different than I definitely recommend That’s a great area to focus because that’s an easy start place to set yourself apart from the competition around you. So when you’re creating your content, and you’re putting stuff out there, that’s an easy place to start. I also like to think about the question, what would you like your business to be known for? If not today, tomorrow? What are those words that you want people to use to describe your business? Because the truth is, is that that joy piece, right? What’s Kimberly Beer 24:26 your legacy? Yeah. Cara Taylor Swift 24:27 What’s your legacy? What? That’s that joy piece? Yeah. And then one other piece that I think could also be part of this uniqueness is does your business have unique values or a unique purpose? Do you donate to a rescue? Do you support a cause that you feel your ideal client would align with or appreciate? These are all great places, when you’re trying to create unique marketing that really makes you stand out that you can find your people that your people can be drawn to you at, just thinking through That I think to myself, okay, you’ve done this, this groundwork, you’ve gone through the process of identifying, you know who your ideal client is what you love to do you know who your customers are, you’re thinking about how to connect the two. So, okay, you’ve got their attention. Now, what do you do? Right? How do you keep your clients interested? And I think that’s a piece Kim that we didn’t necessarily intend to talk about when we were thinking about this episode. But I think it’s an important piece, because you might grab their attention, like think about that one post that you made, that had that huge connection where you were engaged with your audience, and then it tailored off to you know, you really weren’t having a connection again for a while, and how do you keep them interested? Right? How do you keep on coming back? So how do you prevent them from getting bored and forgetting about you, we talk about all the time, how sometimes it’s just a matter of being in front of the person or being forefront in their mind when they need your product or service. And there’s so much noise out there, how do you keep from getting lost in it. So I have pulled a couple key points. First of all, your marketing has got to be consistent, and always recognizable. And some people will say it needs to be your logo, it needs to be your font, your branding, colors, your imagery, the way that you present it. Of course, all of that’s important. But people should be able to know immediately when they hear a message, or they hear a jingle or they see an image that is yours, that it represents your business and you want to position your business well, you know, you’ve narrowed down that target audience. So now you have to figure out how the heck do you get in front of them? You know, where are they going to be? Where and how do I get there? How do I put myself in those places that you know, they’re going to be hanging out? And then that value piece of it? You know, are you the educator? Are you the knowledge giver? How do you keep that value coming over and over and over again, that makes them look for your blog post, when they come out that make some look for your email. And definitely open it because they know every time they pop up in your email, there’s something cool in there that they have to see. And then I definitely encourage people find creative ways to show your potential customers, the consumers out there that you can get results for them, you know that you can solve their problems. And if you can do it in a way that’s fun, then I that’s always a for me, that’s always a good way, I love to try to pull the fun into it. And then that last piece is it brings us back to episode number 14, where we talked about creating community and customer loyalty programs. So you know, where appropriate, find ways to build community among your clients, they’re going to want to be a part where they want to be a part of it. So they’re looking for it, they’re going to the groups to participate, or to bring guidance. And you know, if you have a loyalty program, or you’re thinking about creating a loyalty program, this is a great place for that. And if you don’t know what that is, go check out season one, Episode Number 14. Kimberly Beer 27:46 So much fun to say season one, Episode 14, Cara Taylor Swift 27:49 it is look at us Kimberly Beer 27:50 exactly. But yeah, how do you keep people motivated to stay with you. And the honest answer to that is just be yourself, you have a lot to share. And also remember that there are people that are coming into your marketing, that aren’t familiar with you, you don’t constantly have to be leveling up the bar, so to speak, or coming up with something completely new familiarity and repetition are comfortable to your clients. And so seeing things that are consistently inspiring for them, even if it’s a little bit of the same thing repeated over and over again. It’s okay. So when you have that really amazing post that goes viral, look at what that is and repeat it. It’s okay to repeat it, you don’t have to try to figure out something new, you found that something that people want to connect to keep going with that. And you can stamp some new stuff in there occasionally. But you don’t have to constantly be coming up with something totally new to completely rock the world. Your customers like that familiarity they like being connected they like knowing what their experience is going to be like or what to expect that all makes us feel really good on the inside. And then if that’s a joyful experience that they’ve had with you, which hopefully it is then they’re going to want to repeat that. There’s an I’ve never met anybody that said oh that makes me happy. I’m never going to do it again. Cara Taylor Swift 29:23 As a matter of fact in the photography world, but we certainly have a saying that is that was excellent one more time. I mean, that’s something that we say over and one more one more time. That was perfect one more time. That was awesome one more time. So yeah, absolutely Kim I can feel that to my core. Kimberly Beer 29:42 Well and it’s true cuz you want to have that fun all over again. I don’t know about you. We just got back from a trip to Montana where Cara and I were together. And I don’t know about you but I never get tired or bored with them running horses past me to take a photograph of even though I have 9000 pictures or probably 90,000 pictures of horses running across the mountainside. I never ever get tired and the smile on my face never lessons to watch that happen. It can only get bigger when there’s somebody cute like those two kids, James and Howdy they were having a race with each other and their sister Cassie. And I mean, it just, it’s so much fun to watch them all having such a good time with each other. I never get tired of that I could watch it 24 hours a day and your clients are not any different. If they’re smiling, if they’re feeling joyful, if they’re feeling happy, that is going to bring them back. And they’re going to want to do it all over again. So that’s the magic formula. Yeah, that’s the magic formula. wash, rinse, repeat. over and over and over again. It’s it you don’t have to like I said, you don’t have to kill yourself trying to come up with something new. Once you’ve latched on to this marketing genius that you have use it and use it and use it again, just to reiterate, our big three for this are do what you love. Find out what it is you love what how you love to communicate your unique marketing genius, and really capitalize on that. Next, find out where your customers are, who they are, really get to know about them, and what would really benefit them. And then the final of the Big Three, I know it sounds so crazy, but it’s this simple, is just connect the two things. How can you use your marketing genius to meet your customers where they are. And then once you find that beautiful magnetic formula, just use it over and over and over again. And just keep the joy and happiness and money and revenue and business success coming rolling right on in. It doesn’t have to be hard. It can be really that easy in that joyful. Anything else you want to add Cara Cara Taylor Swift 32:05 I would just like to remind people don’t forget to head to the website so that you can download the handout and also do the quiz. Find your unique creative genius. Do that quiz definitely would like to send people that way. And we want to hear from you guys over on on Instagram or Facebook like pop on and say hello, let us know what you thought about this episode. And we really need to know from you guys do we need to change up our intro? Do we need to do something crazy for you guys? Let Kimberly Beer 32:30 us know we want to hear. We have to find our own creative marketing genius and come up with a new entrance. Right. So that sounds great. Well, thank you Cara. Thank you all for tuning in. And we will see you on the next episode of The Business Animal. Have a great week. Jaz 32:45 Thanks for listening to this episode of The Business Animal. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you learned something today, leave us a review. To learn more. Find us at TheBusinessanimal.com we’d love to hear from you. Until next time, keep your business well trained with The Business Animal Transcribed by https://otter.ai