Why Authenticity is Your Best Marketing Tool
There are a lot of marketing “gurus” out there, telling you they can help you get to 6 or 7 figures by following their program. Some of them may even mean it. But what they don’t tell you is this:
Authenticity is your best marketing tool.
That’s right, showing up authentically is the number one way a small business owner can grow their following. Gimmicks, trends, or flash sales (while those all have their place in advertising) don’t compare to consistently showing up, as you, for the people who follow your business.
How do I know this?
I’ve done it.
Case Study:
I was planning my 4th annual Self-Love Women’s Retreat. I was 1 month out from the event and I had ONE person attending. One. By this point in previous years, I at least had 5 or 6 people registered. I met with my planning team and seriously discussed canceling the event. Or at least rescheduling it. I said “okay ladies, I have 1 week before I lose 50% of the venue cost. If I haven’t sold at least enough to recoup that cost by the day before, I’m canceling.
The next day, I met with my business coach and she convinced me not to cancel. She told me to just show up as me, and start talking about it every day. She said “they’ll come”. I took a leap of faith, because in the 2 months we had been working together she hadn’t steered me wrong, and kept the venue.
And guess what happened? I didn’t pay for ads. I didn’t start creating flashy reels every day. I didn’t jump on any trends. I simply shared. I asked my friends to share. I got vulnerable. I posted on my personal Facebook page that my event was coming up really soon and I was scared because I hadn’t sold any tickets, and asked my network to share the event with their networks. I talked on my stories almost every day. I made reels of the presenters talking about what they do. I made reels of me talking about the retreat. I literally. Just. Showed. Up.
And I sold 12 more tickets. My goal was 15. I almost sold out. A several-hundred dollar per ticket event. In less than a month.
Showing up works.
Be consistent. Be yourself. And watch your business grow.
Here are some practical ways to do that:
Speak from the heart
Scripts are great if you need to get across specific points. But every once in a while, go live or record a video to post later just speaking from the heart. Talk about what you love about your clients, talk about what you love about your work, talk about a specific topic or situation you found yourself in. It can be strictly business or you could even talk about something that happened in your personal life. But let your “fans” see the real you, even if that means you stutter or trip up on your words.
Show some BTS
Bring followers along for a “day in the life” by showing bits and pieces of your day. Again, you can be strictly business and only show work moments, or you can even sprinkle in your morning routine or your evening plans. Use short video clips and pictures and create an engaging reel or story of your day.
Take off the mask
Stop wearing the masks you’ve been convinced by society you need. If you’re having a bad day, show up as your cranky self. If you’re excited about something, show that excitement. Be human. People appreciate it and it builds trust.
Go faceless
Not feeling like showing up in a video? You don’t have to! You can still be consistent and not show your face. Use photos of your day, feature your products or a BTS look at your workspace. Take a picture of your lunch, or the view from your window. All the little pieces that make up your world are just as relevant as your face.
Pull from your bank
Use photos and videos from your branding session (😉) or your phone media that did well in the past. It’s not cheating, and it’s still authentic. Throughout your work day take little clips of things you’re doing, or if you see something pretty record a short video of it. You can use all of that at any time to show up on the fly.
I hope these tips help. Marketing can be so frustrating. But it can also be fun. Whatever you do, just be yourself.