Marketing. How does that word make you feel? Uncomfortable? Scared? Squirming in your seat?

You’re not alone. Just think about our experiences with marketing. The unhealthily skinny models in girls’ magazines that made us feel bad for not looking like that in a crop top. The same repetitive overly dramatic ads that interrupt our Youtube viewing. The makeup products that look great on your favourite beauty guru but awful on you. Only to find out that they were paid to mention the product and put loads of filters on their photos using the product. It’s all disappointing, annoying and just makes us feel bad. 

We don’t want to make anyone feel bad. We started our businesses to do the opposite. At the same time, if we don’t engage in marketing, how can we expect to get new clients?

It can get messy very quickly. Here are the top signs that your relationship with marketing needs some work…

1 - It’s a love-hate situation

You bounce between creating loads of marketing material and then none. You can’t get into a proper routine because you get burnout, frustrated or imposter syndrome takes over. Marketing isn’t going to work unless it’s consistent and you give yourself the time to settle in and find your groove. 

2 - Worrying about what people think stops you from showing up

It’s one of our main faults as humans - we get so obsessed with what other people think. I guess that the social side of us. But seriously, it doesn’t matter. Your ideal clients aren’t people who are highly critical of your posts. They’re excited to see what you’re putting out. You’re not marketing for the haters. You’re marketing for the people who love you and what you do. 

3 - You see a lack of engagement as rejection

Hey there people pleasers, this one is for you. I’m so guilty of this too. When you work really hard on a piece of content, it hurts when you barely get any likes, comments and the other analytics that indicate people enjoyed what you put out. The truth is that your audience has a lot fighting for their attention so them not engaging with your post doesn’t mean that they hate it and hate you, it just means it hasn’t resonated with them enough for them to take action. That’s fine. That’s information you can use for future posts. Marketing is a lot of experimenting. 

4 - You keep putting it off

You’d rather clean behind the fridge than sit down and write some marketing content. I don’t need to be a qualified therapist (which I’m not) to tell you that if you’re avoiding something, it’s probably a problem area that you need to look at. You put marketing on your to-do list, even schedule it in your diary, but still it doesn’t get done because there’s always something else you’d rather do. People can’t work with you if they don’t know you exist or know you enough to go for it!

5 - You feel uncomfortable tracking your analytics

You do what you’re supposed to do, sharing marketing material regularly. You tick the box. But when it comes to looking at how well that content is doing and how you can refine your approach, you get avoidant. Looking at the raw numbers is scary. That means you can’t improve because you don’t know the areas for improvement. You’re stuck doing the thing but not doing it as well as you could be. 

I could go on but I think you get the point. If you have negative feelings about getting your business out there that cause avoidance of some, or all, areas of marketing, you need to have a little look at that. Otherwise, your marketing isn’t going to be as successful as it can be and neither is your business. 

As a copywriter and content writing membership host, I know how hard it can be to market your own business. You need a healthy marketing mindset and not a lot of us have that going into running our own businesses. So I’ve decided I need to intervene and help business owners show up online in the best way possible. Join my free 5 day challenge ‘Heal Your Relationship With Marketing’ to work through your feelings and create the mindset you need to market confidently and successfully. Check it out here: https://lu.ma/49nqngu3 

Is your relationship with marketing pushing you forward or holding you back?