Ep 170
===
Melissa Kellogg Lueck: [00:00:00] Welcome. I am marketing expert and business coach Melissa Kellogg Leuck, and this is the Doing Business like a woman podcast, where we are exploring and teaching you how women are reinventing the way business is done and money is made to help you create greater impact and financial freedom, one business at a time.
Today I'm gonna talk about marketing simplified, how to stop spinning and start building. I am gonna teach this in a way that I haven't really taught before. Even if you have heard me teach my marketing, my three-step marketing plan before, today's gonna be a little bit different.
So I hope you love it. Can you believe it? This year is half over. It's crazy. Today is really a great point in the year to really think back to the first six months of the year, how things have gone evaluate what's [00:01:00] working, what's not working, and what you wanna do differently the rest of the year.
We have talked about that over the last couple of weeks. you're always welcome to go back and check those out. It's on my podcast And so yeah. Today we're gonna really just jump off by helping you to create marketing simplicity.
I suppose I should introduce myself, speaking of that. I'm like the queen of simplicity. That's a big part of the work that I do. so my name's Melissa Kellogg Lueck. I'm the founder and CEO of the Avanti Business Academy for Women, and I absolutely love working with women entrepreneurs who are overwhelmed by marketing, and really help them to simplify what they're doing, and really get down to the marketing strategies and activities that actually work to bring in clients, and reduce complexity so [00:02:00] that you can get back to the work you love, working with the clients you love, and having a life in the process, right?
Who has time to be marketing all the time? None of us. But we feel like we have to. I know. So this teaching today is for those of you that might be feeling like you're doing a lot of marketing in your business and not really seeing the results that you want. Maybe you feel like you have more ideas than you have the capacity to execute, or maybe you have tried something new.
Every time a new shiny thing comes out that apparently everyone is doing and everyone is being successful with, how many of you have done that, right? We all have, right? So that becomes like the spin, right? It's and it's exhausting. Like we're over here doing all these things and it's not creating the results we want.
So then something new comes out and we're going to add that to the [00:03:00] mix. And then we go and we do that. And then we're never really giving time for any of it to gain traction. And so I know this myself and my own business and my own journey. I have been building my business now for 21 years.
It has gone through lots of different iterations. But the foundation has always been helping small businesses with their marketing. And so when I started my business, I'd been working in corporate as a marketing manager full-time. I had my MBA in marketing. And so I had that experience that those years working in corporate marketing where I was able to work on marketing the company I was working for full-time, like eight hours a day, five days a week, I'm doing marketing.
And so when I started my own business 21 years ago, I realized that being an entrepreneur and [00:04:00] marketing is a whole different skill, right? I learned it was much easier to market others and do this work for other people's businesses and be able to do it full-time. Then when I decided I wanted to grow and scale my business and I had to come out from behind the computer and I learned it was much easier to be marketing others because I believed in them and the product and the service that they were offering much more than I believed in myself and what I was offering.
And so there was that part of it that made it very difficult as an entrepreneur to do marketing. But then I also realized that the strategies were very different, as an entrepreneur doing all the things in my business, I couldn't be marketing eight hours a day, five days a week. I had to be marketing, I had to be selling, and then also I was in charge of client delivery, right?
And finance and all the other things that we have to [00:05:00] do. So I realized that I had to do something, I had to create a marketing system that was very different. And even before that, I had to attend to the internal marketing, right? Of believing in myself and what I had to offer before I could ever market it externally.
And, make the external marketing strategies actually fruitful. So over the last 21 years, here's what I've learned myself in my own journey as well as working with hundreds of small businesses and women entrepreneurs, is that all marketing works, right? The marketing strategies that I'm using now are completely different than the marketing strategies I used 21 or 25 years ago when I started my career in marketing.
But we were making money and signing clients all along the way. So Facebook or social media wasn't the only way, 'cause we didn't even have that when I started my business, [00:06:00] right? So every strategy, every tactic, every platform, they're all tools, and they all work, right? But it's not just one of them that works.
The problem is never the tactic or the tool that you're using. The problem I see is the scattered focusand not enough consistency that is really what is hurting results for the entrepreneurs that I work with. Plus, I think a lot of us, we try to do the things that everyone else is telling us are working for them.
But when I'm teaching all marketing works, the reason I teach that is because all marketing works because the tool is simply a tool.It's the energy that you bring to the tool. So if you focus and decide and deploy a tool where you can bring your [00:07:00] best energy and the best of who you are, that energy is what actually attracts new business, right? It's not the tool itself. Does TikTok work? Yes. Does Facebook work? Yes. Does LinkedIn work?
Does door-to-door sales? Does direct mail? It all works, right? But it works because of the energy, the quality, the value that you bring to that activity, and so we're gonna talk about that today. what you're gonna learn and what I want you to be able to take away is my three-step, simple three-step framework that replaces all of the noise and really helps you set up a clear, simple, repeatable path forward in your marketing.
And today is the perfect jumping off point, right? So maybe this is your day, your line in the sand, right? Where after today, [00:08:00] everything is different for you in your business, right? what I want you to be able to do is before you leave know exactly which piece of this three-step framework is either missing or needs some improvement, right?
So one of the things that often I get pushback in talking about simple marketing and simplifying your marketing is that what about the quality, right? What about, what if I'm missing something, missing a particular tool or activity over here? If I simplify, maybe that means I'm gonna miss out on all the other good things, right?
But that's not really the case, right? If you've been spinning, the idea of simplifying can feel like giving up or like you're gonna be missing out on something important. I'm not talking about, not quality or jankity or not knowing what's going on in the marketplace. It's really doing the right things for [00:09:00] you consistently with greater quality and improving them daily Which is what really creates momentum, right?
One of my favorite books is Essentialism by Greg McKeown. So if you've read that book, let me know. If you haven't, I highly recommend it. But he talks about how you can go in 100, you can go an inch in 100 different directions, or you can go 100 inches in one direction. And where do you think the momentum is, right?
Where do you think you're gonna create the greatest amount of progress? It's going a further distance in a fewer different directions, right? So the reason why I see so many women they keep chasing new things and new tactics, new tools, is not [00:10:00] because they're doing it wrong, but because
They believe there's only one right way to be marketing, and that someone else knows it, and they don't. And so they've got to go and find that one right thing, and then once they do, then, the heavens will open up and all the clients will flow, into their business. But that's not really the way it works.
The way it works is if you do the few right things according to this framework that are that are right for you, that are the way you like showing up, then you do those consistently, and you're consistently offering quality and value and service and connection then that's what is going to create the clients and the opportunities coming into your business.
So the one right way is your way, done consistently with consistent improvement, right? Okay, who's in? We're all in? Okay. All right, so [00:11:00] what are the things that we need to be doing? So I have a three-step marketing formula that I've been teaching for years, and this comes out of my own experience, right?
My own experience of what I was talking about earlier in my story, that when I first started my business, I had come out of the corporate marketing world. I knew all the complex ways of marketing, right? But being an entrepreneur and marketing our businesses is very different. It has to be simplified, number one, but also for those of us, and I work with women in trust-driven service businesses, and so our clients need to trust us before they wanna work with us.
And so it takes time to create trust, and it also requires connection, right? So I'm always thinking about [00:12:00] what is going to create connection, right? And so as I'm going through this formula, think about for you, how do I, in which within these three pieces of the framework, how do I like to create connection?
because connection will build trust, and that creates trust quicker, right? So the first step in the formula that we always need to be doing, it's only three steps. The first step is always be bringing in new people. The second step is always be nurturing relationships. And the third step is always be making invitations and offers.
Okay? So step one is bringing in new people. your universe can only grow if new people are entering it. And if you're not having enough people in sales conversations, 'cause the purpose of marketing is to create sales opportunities. And so if you're not getting enough sales opportunities, that means you need to [00:13:00] be meeting more new people, right?
You need to be filling the top of the funnel, so to speak with more new people. So how do we do that? Those are your visibility activities. How are you getting out into the world and allowing people to discover you? And there are 100 different ways to do this, and all marketing works. There's not one right way except for the way, and I tell my clients, one, choose one, two, or three ways that you meet new-to-you people that are fun for you, that, that allow you to bring the best of who you are to that activity.
Is TikTok a way to do it? Probably it's not for me. That's not my jam, right? But what I know about myself is I've been in business for 21 years, and the one thing that's been consistent for me all the way through is networking, is meeting new people in person. And so [00:14:00] that's always been a way that I've met new people, so that's one way that I do it.
But, there's other ways, like social media. You can definitely meet new people on social media. You could be on LinkedIn and connecting with, 50 new people a day if you wanted. Other ways might include speaking engagements or guesting on podcasts. You think about how can you meet introduce yourself to other people's audiences, so that would be like podcast guesting.
Collaborations where you can be introduced to other people's networks. Those are ways, some of the ways. They're not the only ways, but just think about how do I like showing up to meet new people, and do that thing. And if it's only one thing and you master it, perfect. If you want one, two, or three things and you can stay consistent with them, and have the time and the energy to evaluate and improve all along the way, then [00:15:00] do that, right?
The key mindset here is I want you to bring intention to every activity When you go to a networking event, for instance, it's not just I can check the box because I walked into the room and I looked around and I saw the people and I left. No, that's not bringing intention. You have to have a goal.
You wanna meet two new people, have two meaningful conversations, have two follow-up two people to follow up with, right? Think about, and that's just, might be something I would do, but you get- you set your own goals based on the results that you want and have intention. So you, so in our businesses, In life,we have limited time, right? Time is the non-renewable resource. So we have to make the most of each minute that we have each in our workday. And the way that we do that [00:16:00] is create intention. Have an intention for every minute and every activity that you're doing. So I'm never walking into a networking function and, just winging it.
I'm thinking, "All right. I wanna meet two new people or three new people because I have a goal of meeting 25 new people every week. So if I'm gonna be here, I'm gonna spend my time, my precious time, and maybe my money to be here, I'm gonna create a result." And so having that intention is very important.
So think about how, step one is how am I bringing new people into my world? And so we've always gotta be meeting new people. Step two is then nurturing those relationships, and this is super, super important. Meeting new people is just the beginning, right? And for some people, this meeting new people is the easy part.
They'll go out and meet hundreds of new people and collect business cards and connect with them on social and all of this, [00:17:00] and then that's it. There's no nurturing going on. But so step two is nurture relationships. Meeting people is just the beginning and you are responsible.
I take personal responsibility for shepherding each relationship, each person that I meet, to shepherding a relationship forward with them. I don't give them my business card and say, "Call me." I say, "May I have your business card? I'll call you." And because that's part of that intention piece, right?
So you're responsible for shepherding the relationship. I always think about it like it's an energy flow. So you meet someone, you have a great conversation, you exchange contact information. When someone new comes into your world, that relationship has energy.
And so if you don't create intentional touch points with that person, the energy dips, it falls off, or maybe even goes away. [00:18:00] So you want to keep the energy of that relationship going, right? And this is where I see so many, I would say the vast majority of people don't follow up, they drop the ball, the energy of the relationship dies, and they've lost that opportunity, which we probably have no idea what the totality of that opportunity could be, right?
So my system, the way I do this, and you don't have to do this, but this is how I set up a system for myself. And so you need to have a system for your follow-up. So my system is if I meet somebody new at a networking event or I connect with someone on social media or here in Substack, if someone subscribes to my to my publication, I reach out within 24 hours, ideally.
I'm not perfect. [00:19:00] But my process is I reach out within 24 hours and say, "It was so nice to meet you." And I invite them to something, or I ask a question, right? So if I meet someone networking, I will invite them to an event, or maybe it's this free master class, or just to opt in to my email list or subscribe to my Substack, right?
And they will get to know my work. But Then I put them on my list. I have a spreadsheet that I keep for this. It just keep it super simple. I have a spreadsheet so I can have people from Sub Stack on there, people that I connect with on LinkedIn, people that I network with. Like I bring it all into one list.
And then I follow up with them I have intentionally two touch points with them each month, and that is, the purpose of that, the intention of that is to get to know them, get to know their [00:20:00] business, get to know who are good connections for them, and make connections, and introduce them to people.
And then I also can make offers and invitationswhen they communicate a need to me. If they wanna come to one of my events, or if they want to if they need help with marketing, I can talk to them about the different ways that I do that. And so the relationship always comes before revenue, so this nurture piece is super, super important.
Okay? And so your system does not need to be elaborate to do this. You just need to have a system that you follow, and consistently every dang day. Personally, I spend two hours every morning doing this sort of follow-up and nurturing. And then I also have email, weekly emails my, broadcast.
I have my podcast, other things that are [00:21:00] nurturing activities. So you don't have to have an elaborate system. You just need something that you can do consistently because doing that, you're gonna stand out from the vast majority of other entrepreneurs because most people are not doing this, and they're really missing out on an opportunity.
And this is the way I like to think about it. So it's like a bell curve. The number of people all the new people that you bring into your universe, if you put them in a bell curve, you'll have 20% that you meet that will be on the front end tail.
that tail of 20% of people are gonna be ready to buy from you right away. They're gonna meet you, they're gonna know you're their person, and they're just gonna click with you, and they're gonna be like, "Okay, I'm ready. Let's go." And they're quick decision-makers, and they're ready to roll. And we love those people, right?
We love those people [00:22:00] because they make it so easy for us as an entrepreneur. And then you're gonna have 20% of people that will never buy from you. They will be in your world for years and years and years and years and years, and they will take advantage. They'll be your biggest fans.
They'll tell other people about you, but they're never gonna buy from you, and that's okay. It's just part of the process. That's fine. But then there's the 60% on the tail end of the curve that 60% that are always available for conversion. They're always available to be invited to that next step in the relationship journey with you And I think that is the largest opportunity for all of us, and it is the most missed and neglected part of our network, right?
Is not shepherding that 60% along in the relationship journey with you. So if you haven't been doing that, [00:23:00] there's a huge opportunity. You probably have, and I tell this to my clients that I coach with one-on-one. It's like I'm willing to bet that all the business that you have capacity for right now is already around you.
You need to stop looking over their heads for the next new person and start really shepherding and attending and nurturing those relationships that are already around you. And when you do that, you'll see that all the business is already there. And so that's step number two. And then step number three is we always need to be making invitations and offers.
So this often gets skipped as well and I've been guilty of this many times, is we're putting out value, helping people, doing all the things and never telling people how to work with us. And I think as women entrepreneurs, we are especially guilty of this because [00:24:00] we are in the work because of the impact and the love we have for it and the love we have for the people that we work with.
But we also have to remember we are in business. And to shift our thinking about making offers, and think about making an offer as the greatest service that you can give to those in your world, right? I have worked with many many women in healthcare or have formerly been in healthcare, doctors and nurses.
And so I started using this analogy that really hits home with them, but it hits home with all of us. if you went to the doctor, and you got into the exam room, and they sit you down, and they say, "Okay, tell me what's going on." And say you have a sore wrist, right?
And so you tell them all about your sore wrist. It hurts here, and they manipulate it. They push on things. They do all [00:25:00] their diagnostics. They take X-rays all the things. And then they bring you back in the room and, they say, "I know exactly what's wrong. Your wrist is broken."
And you say, "Okay, great." And then the doctor walks out of the room and never offers to fix your wrist. This is the same thing we are doing if we're not making offers and invitations. We are helping our people to see what the problem is and understand what the problem is, and we're not offering to fix it or to help them fix it, right?
And so that sort of thinking about the power of making offers can totally shift your ability and your frequency of making offers. So if I am helping you today understand and finally see why marketing has been overwhelming to you and not enjoyable and not working [00:26:00] and then don't offer to help, that is a disservice to you, right?
So if you're not inviting people to your next thing or the next step in the relationship, or you're not offering to help them with their problem, you're actually doing them a disservice. if you believe that your offer is just bothering people or trying to talk people into something they don't want you definitely need to shift that line of thinking, because that kind of thinking is going to result in much lower sales than you are capable of, and than you need to be making to survive as a business, right?
Making offers is a huge part, a very important part of the work that we do. And I have a client that told me this is a direct quote from her. She says, "Always be making an offer," which is what I teach, what I taught her "was something I failed at for the first many years in my business. I was just like, 'When you're ready for this, I'll be [00:27:00] here.'"
Right? Having timeliness to things has always been a key for me, she said. And that was the missing leg. This is the missing leg for so many trust-driven service-based businesses is we bring people in, we nurture beautifully, and then we wait, right? And waiting is not a strategy, right?
And often what I find in my work and with a lot of my clients is that people are just waiting to be invited. They just want us to say, "Listen, I would love to work with you. I can help you. I understand exactly what's going on and I can help you." And so when we neglect doing that, we are missing out on opportunities.
And making an offer doesn't have to be pushy. We're never trying to talk people into something they don't want. It means having something specific and timely to invite people into. So always be thinking about in every step along your [00:28:00] marketing journey, in every step and in everything that you're doing with your future clients is what is how I think about marketing, is simply serving your future clients.
And always be thinking about what is the next step that I can invite them to allow them to get to know me better, to be in my energy, to answer questions, and always be making those invitations whether it's a master class or a consultation or a trust-building, low-ticket offer. Whatever is that next step Continually be making those invitations.
And if you don't know what those invitations, what that relationship journey looks like, I can help you with that. I would love to help you design and really understand what is the natural journey for you. And so it never feels icky, right? It's just always feels aligned with the way that you like to build relationships.
Okay. So those are the three steps. this is where I really want you to pause and take stock a little bit [00:29:00] to begin to put this in action right now. Because we know that when we take action on something that we learn, it cements it inside of us, right?
So this is where you're gonna make it cement it in this this new way of thinking. I want you to rate yourself from one to ten in each of the three steps. So how are you doing with bringing in new people on a scale of one to ten? How are you doing with nurturing relationships on a scale of one to ten?
And how are you doing with making invitations and offers? Are you making offers every day on a scale of one to ten, rate yourself. And just, first number that comes to mind, right? And so what I wanna offer is that the lowest number, whichever one came in lowest, is almost always where the biggest problem lives, right?
That's obvious. But what I would suggest is begin by addressing that lowest number. I don't want you to burn everything down or change [00:30:00] everything. Just start simple, and simplicity is the key. So say bringing new people into your world was your lowest number. So think about right now, just while we're here together, how could what is one, two, or three ways you could meet more people, bring more new people into your world?
And think about how many new people that you're currently bringing into your world and how many you would like to be bringing in, right? And give yourself a goal of increasing that incrementally. when I have a consultation or spend some time with a brand new person a new potential client, I will ask them what is their greatest challenge in their marketing right now?
And most of them will say they're not bringing in enough clients, right? And so I talk them through this process. And what I'll see is, oftentimes people that are really great at meeting new [00:31:00] people, they will be the ones where they, are great at networking, they're great at going out and meeting new people, and they have tried to build their business on that 20% that buy right away and so the work that they need to do is nurturing. So what I'll often see is they're the ones that have, the stacks of business cards on their desk that they've never followed up with, I had one gal in a class one time pull out a gallon Ziploc bag full of business cards that had been sitting on the bottom of her purse and she hadn't followed up with any of them, and God only knows all of the opportunities sitting in that Ziploc bag
so that is one issue. And with those that are great at nurturing, I'll often see, they have a small stable of clients but they're hitting a ceiling because all of those clients have done all the things with them and have, taken advantage of all their offers.
But because they're not adding new people in to their [00:32:00] world, their business, their revenue has ceilinged, right? Or I'll see women that They're out meeting a lot of people, they're putting out a lot of value, they're nurturing relationships like crazy, and they're still not closing business.
Nine times out of 10, it's because they're not making offers, right? So if we get them making offers, then it turns around very quickly. So just think about what that could what might be your first one, two, or three actions you take as a result of today. And I always say cherry-pick the easiest win.
What seems like the one thing you could do to get a quick, easy win? And 'cause that gets our momentum going, right? And then you continue. What's the next win? Don't try to overhaul your entire marketing plan. We're not burning everything down. I want you to look at what's working, lean into that.
Where do you enjoy showing up, and how do you enjoy meeting new people and nurturing relationships? And what's [00:33:00] one activity, one, two, or three activities that you could commit to staying consistent with all throughout the month of July? You can turn the page. It's all a brand-new month, brand-new quarter, brand-new second half of the year.
So that's your one action that I want you to take away, right? And give yourself permission to really lean into what is already working because there is not one thing that works. It all works. You get to decide what you wanna make work with the energy that you bring to it, right? So this is what I have for you today.
This is what I wanted to share with you and teach you. I have taught this three-step marketing framework over and over, and it has just been so life-changing for so many women entrepreneurs, and I hope it is for you as well. And this has been the foundation of everything I teach my clients, and I've helped hundreds of women to ditch the overwhelm, ditch the [00:34:00] marketing and sales overwhelm, and get back to the work they love and create consistent clients and revenue on repeat, so they can build a business that they enjoy, that they can make a living from, and enjoy life, right?
So if you would like me to take a look at your marketing and diagnose what I can see might be missing for you, I would love to do that. I wanna really help you get the understanding of what's keeping you from creating consistent clients. And I always offer a complimentary consultation where I walk you through a specific evaluation that gives you a crystal clear understanding of what's happening.
And then together on that one 60-minute session, we build a roadmap together with you, so you know exactly the next steps that you need to take to achieve your goals. if I can serve you in that way, I would absolutely love to.
This is definitely the joy of my [00:35:00] life is helping women entrepreneurs to grow businesses that offer them financial freedom and wealth in all of its forms. And so if I can do that for you, I would absolutely love to.
thank you all for being here. I will see you around, and see you back here next week. Bye.
Melissa Kellogg Lueck: Hey, if you like this podcast, I wanna invite you to become part of my community Each Friday, I'm gonna deliver to your inbox my weekly celebration, as well as my thoughts on the latest and business and marketing. I wanna keep you in the know about my upcoming events.
Free trainings, book clubs, all the fun things, even some free gifts. And of course, I'm gonna let you know about these new podcast episodes. I'll see you there.
