Loading summary
Transcript11 lines
- [00:00]
Kate
Foreign. Hello everyone and welcome back to the KH Show. It is November. Wow, holiday season already. This means that you have spent all year marketing your business and you might be wondering, did I do that correctly? Did that pan out? Or was I wasting my time and my money? This is something that every business owner should be asking about anything they're doing in their business at least once a year. But hopefully, you know, two or three times a year we are going to look at the year end marketing review that you should be doing for your business today. And I'm excited because there's nothing more refreshing than being able to cut out things that don't work and lean into and hone in on and have a laser focus on the things that did work. So guys, let's get into what you should be looking at in order to make sure that your marketing efforts, your time and your money are being put to good use. Let's dive in.
- [01:13]
This episode of the Kate show is brought to you by Honeybook. I love using Honeybook for my business because it helps create a streamlined workflow when people decide they want to work with me. Because you know, there's one thing to do the right marketing to get the client, there's quite another to impress them all the way through the end of the project. And with Honeybook, my clients are able to review and sign their proposal, make their payment and then be told what to do next, all in one fell swoop. I've set up automations that remind them when they need to send me certain assets so that their website project can go off without a hitch. And if you've ever worked with us, you know that Honeybook kept you on track. It kept us on track and it.
- [01:57]
Was really easy to use.
- [01:58]
If you're interested in using Honeybook for your business, go to honeybook.com and use the code socialite at checkout for 50%.
- [02:06]
Sponsor Representative
Off your first year.
- [02:08]
Kate
This episode of the Kate show is brought to you by the Foundation. Website guys. If you need a new website for your business, but you can't afford a fully custom site or you just don't have that much time to spare, you should check out the semi custom website design service from the Socialite agency for home pros who need more than just a DIY website template. How many times have you purchased a website template only to never use it or get stuck because you don't know how to complete it, you don't know how to connect all the things and well, doesn't that end up being a waste of money? It does. That's why the foundation website exists. If you want a professional to set up your website, handle your on site SEO, optimize your images and write your copy and you want to maintain full control over that website moving forward, this website is for you. You'll be able to see what's included and what's not included by heading over to katesocialite.com and under the services page click on Semi Custom website design. Every great build begins with a solid foundation and we've made it easy. You'll be able to learn how to exactly how the process works, why we have a 10 business day turnaround, and why we can keep the fees so darn affordable with no ongoing fees to us whatsoever. The cool thing is, and the thing that a lot of our clients appreciate is that when you get our website, whether it's fully custom or semi custom like this one, we are available to help make updates to your site. We only charge you when you actually need an update made, which means that months, years might go by. You don't have to pay us a dime, but when you're ready for help, we're there to help you. Head over to katethesocialite.com and look under the services tab to get the website your business deserves.
- [03:58]
The first thing to ask yourself is that how did you stay top of mind with your leads this year? Different people have different ways of doing this. Some are more effective than others. Some people will send out postcards quarterly can be very expensive. You're not really sure if people look at them, you can assume that most of them go in the garbage. I think I'm giving away my stance on this topic. Some people will send out a quarterly newsletter. Okay, that's a little bit better. You can track the results, you can see if people are opening it or not. Problem is, do you remember the person who only emails you four times a year? No, you don't. So that method falls by the wayside too. Because if people aren't remembering who you are, even though you're trying to somewhat say top of mind, it kind of makes it look like you're sitting on the fence. Like either stop emailing them because it's not working or email them on a more frequent basis. Which as you all know, at this point, listening to the show, emailing every two to four weeks is the best. That's how you stay top of mind. That's how you get people in your contact list to refer you to people outside your contact list. It's also how you help remind people who are already in your contact list about the different ways that you can help them, you know. Okay, story time. I was at the grocery store yesterday and I ran into another mom. She actually is one of the teachers at the daycare that my kids used to go to. And she was like, oh, your daughter goes to such and such private school now? And I said, yeah. And she was like, I thought for some reason they were only a preschool. And I was like, no, It's K through 8th. And it kind of made me laugh because that's how a lot of people treat interior design and organize and staging firms. Oh, I thought you only did that one thing that I hired you for. I had blinders on. I didn't know you also offer X, Y and Z services. I could have used those, but I hired someone else because I didn't know you did that. Oh, that's like the worst feeling. And I have experienced that as a business owner too, for sure. Like, oh, I didn't know you did websites. I just hired a different company, may or may not have had a good experience with them, but, man, it would have been nice to keep it all under one umbrella with you. Well, you know what? That's what made me realize as a business owner, it is my job to to not only educate my potential clients on what I offer as an agency, but also to educate my current and past clients. Instead of assuming that your client knows all the things that you offer and all the ways that you can help them, all the ways that your services might be applicable to their various situations, instead of assuming, you've got to do more telling and showing. So if you have not made a a monthly newsletter part of your marketing strategy, this is something you need to include for 2025. But you have to be careful because some people will say, oh, I tried email marketing. It didn't work. So I'll have them send me a draft of one of their past campaigns. And I can tell you why it doesn't work. It doesn't work because people don't know how to write newsletters. That's just honestly the truth. They will put together an email. It might look visually pleasing, it might not. But that's kind of where it ends. So it'll have. Well, here is our trip to High Point. Here is the organizing seminar we went to. Here is a little project snapshot. If you want to view more, you got to click through to the website. And here's our recent blog post. Click through to read that too. Oh, and here's our Instagram feed. Check that out. Whoa. By the end of it, the reader's like, I don't know what you want me to do here. I looked at it, but there's no action for me to take. I'm not going to click on a million buttons, so bye. And honestly, that is what happens. So what I have realized is that a newsletter is only going to be effective if you talk about one thing and you end with one call to action and you show your face and it's well branded. If you can meet those parameters and, and if the topic that you are sharing makes sense for your business and for your audience, it's going to be an effective newsletter. But the other thing is people give up too soon. So maybe they're sending the appropriate and correct type of newsletter with a great topic, but they do it for two months and then they quit. Or they do it for six months and then they quit. You have to stick with any new marketing strategy for at least nine to 12 months before it will work. I know I've had people on the show who are like, oh, try to try something for 90 days. But 90 days isn't even long enough. Truthfully, 90 days isn't long enough for anything, whether it's a new diet, whether it's a new exercise. Because there's like the honeymoon period in the beginning of like, okay, I can do this. I can be such a girl boss. And then once those first few months are up, it's like, oh, this is a drag now. I don't want to do it. This is cutting into how I want to be spending my time in other ways. This is costing me some money. I don't want to do it. I'm just not going to do it. I'm going to just like, it didn't work. You know, it didn't work there. Now I can say, it didn't work. I'm not doing it. That is the. That is the decline of the resolve that prevents people from being successful, not just in email marketing, but in marketing in general. The other thing that people fall into I've definitely fallen prey to this is I don't really know how to market my business, but I'm going to throw money at some ads because then I'll feel like I'm doing something to get more clients. And if it doesn't work out, at least I can say that I tried. At least I can say I'm doing something to market my business. Problem is, marketing and advertising are two different things. You see the whole purpose of advertising running any sort of digital or print ad. The whole purpose of that is just to get someone's attention so that they start paying attention to your marketing. But if you're advertising and you have no marketing to follow, there's nothing for someone to pay attention to. And the chance of them being like, oh, yeah, I'll hire this company or this person is really, really low. And that's why in over a decade that I've been working with people in the home industry, most of them have said, I ran ads and it didn't work. But the people who say that they ran ads and it did work are people who already have an optimized website, who already have ongoing marketing to support the ads that are running. So some people have misconstrued what I've said on the podcast and they're like, oh, Kate doesn't believe in paid advertising. No, I do, I do. But not as a standalone. It has to be part of a greater strategy. Otherwise there's honestly just no point in doing it. Now. Do I do paid advertising for my business? I don't, I, I, I just don't. I've never run a Google Ad. Um, I dabbled in some, like, Facebook ads one time maybe six years ago, and I was like, no. Just no. So it's completely possible to get high paying clients, great projects, and build a business you love without relying on ad spend. Okay. And I do try to practice what I preach on that. And a lot of people are like, oh, well, is it easier for you to get clients because you're an online business? Well, no, because the opportunity for me to interface with clients in person is like, zilch. So everything that I do must be done through the Internet through this podcast. This podcast is a number one way that I get new clients for my agency. And that's because it's the best way that I have to elicit some sort of relationship with you all. So I cannot count the number of times I've gotten on a discovery call with someone and they're like, oh, my goodness, I can't believe I'm talking to you. I feel like I know you so well because I listen to your podcast and which, which is always so flattering. I so appreciate that because believe me, guys, I am nobody special. No, but it's very flattering. And it just goes to show, like me showing up, you guys hearing my voice, and now that I'm doing video podcasts, you guys actually seeing me talk. This is what makes for good marketing because I am putting myself out there. I'm not hiding behind overly designed posts from Canva. I'm not relying on just a Pinterest strategy. I'm not relying on just Google Ads or social ads. You know, I'm not even using those, as I said earlier. Um, but I am being a real person, talking to real people and taking time to understand your struggles, because that is what a relationship looks like. So in your business, if you want to facilitate that ongoing, deeper relationship with your potential clients, you have to look beyond Canva. I love Canva, but Canva can be very distracting because it can make you think. Well, if I just have these perfectly designed little graphic posts, like a design quote, a mood board, that's going to get me more clients. It. It's not. It's just not. When has anyone ever had a relationship with a graphically designed image? Never. So what you have to do then is focus on interpersonal relationships, which is hard because nobody can do it for you. A marketing agency can't do that for you. You have to go out and do it. But what a marketing agency can do is make sure that your presence is appealing and attractive to whomever you're trying to reach and help you have that street credibility so that you aren't out there trying to talk yourself up and prove yourself. Because that's hard enough in the beginning, trying to prove yourself and then trying to make relationships. But if you can already go forward in confidence, knowing you have proven yourself, now you're just looking for the right relationships, that's a different story. That means you can walk out there with confidence. There are a lot of different ways that my clients have been able to focus on those interpersonal relationships that have really grown their business. One idea that comes to mind is for one of my clients who, like, she. She is so intuitive when it comes to these things, and she will never even acknowledge it or admit it. She's it. She's like, I don't know. It just came naturally to me. Like I was walking, walking past this. This show house, and I was like, I think I'll just go in and introduce myself. Like, oh, okay. So she did. She had a great conversation with the realtor in there. That realtor became a good connection and referral source for her. And it. That's what it is. You know, it's about looking for opportunity, creating your own opportunity, not waiting for opportunity to fall in your lap. The best thing I can say, which kind of harkens back to my episode a few months ago on creating your own priority when you want to sell something in your business. Say yes to the speaking opportunities that make you uncomfortable. Say yes to the coffee date because you have no idea if that person's about to send you a lead. You don't. That person might send you a lead a year from now or a week from now or tomorrow. You don't know. But good businesses with longevity are built on relationships. That is why I focus on the marketing strategies that are very relationship oriented, such as the podcast where I do mostly solo episodes, or my email newsletter that goes directly from me to you guys. And when my clients follow that same route, maybe not doing a podcast but doing the email marketing, they're getting responses to their email newsletter. Even if it's just a oh it's so good to hear from you or oh, this is such beautiful work. I love the project that you did for me. Or hey, I forwarded your newsletter to someone who might be reaching out. That happens quite often. By the way, um, I want you to take a look at your marketing and figure out number one, over the past year, over 2024, what did I do to stay in touch with my past clients and leads? And also what did I do that was relationship focused? Okay, those are very important questions that you should be asking.
- [16:07]
Sponsor Representative
Do you find yourself turning on the news and feeling hopeless? Woke agendas, open borders, inflation due to out of control spending, and the list goes on. There is something you can do about it. Buy from companies that believe what you and I believe.
- [16:20]
Kate
We need to stick together now more than ever.
- [16:22]
Sponsor Representative
And There has been one company willing to stand with you since 2012. Patriot Mobile is America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. They offer the very best nature nationwide 4G and 5G coverage on all networks. In fact, they use the same towers as the major carriers. Patriot Mobile has service plans to fit any budget and their 100% US based customer support team provides exceptional customer support. More importantly, Patriot Mobile shares your values and supports organizations fighting for religious freedom, your constitutional rights, the sanctity of life and our veteran and first responder heroes. Switch to Patriot Mobile now and get free activation with the code KAIT. Go to patriotmobile.com kait and use the promo code KAIT to get free activation. Guys, on a personal note, I have been using Patriot Mobile for about a year and a half and it has been amazing. Not only was I able to keep my phone, keep my phone number and have amazing coverage, I was also able to get on a plan that just made more financial sense for for me and my family. And if you go to patriotmobile.com Kait, you're going to be able to do things like check your coverage to make sure that you will have the right amount of coverage for your location. Choose a plan that works for you. Get a new phone if you need one, bring your own device, keep your phone number and even get cellular Internet. It's kind of amazing. There are personal plans or if you have a bigger business, then you can also get business plans with them too. And get your employees, employees, all your team members on Patriot Mobile, guys, go to patriotmobile.com forward/kait and use the code kait for free activation.
- [18:00]
Kate
The next thing that you need to ask is did you land at least three new referral sources? So individuals, businesses or organizations. This is another relationship thing. This often happens via in person socializing or job site connections. And if you have made any new connections this year, ask one of them to do an audience swap with you in the new year. So if you are on the job site and you made a connection with a painter or a tile company or a showroom or whatever it might be, and you're like, oh, they're serving the same type of client that I am, it would be cool to, you know, refer people to them and vice versa. You can say, hey, would you like me to introduce you to my mailing list? Because I'd be happy to do that. I'll send an email out about you. It'll include your image, maybe an image of your work, a short little bio about you, and a way for them to get in touch with you. And usually people won't turn that down, especially if they understand the power of email marketing, which is vastly more effective, 40 times more effective in fact, than that of social media. So it's not enough to just tag each other on social media. When you work together, you need to actually send out an email about it. And when you send an email out highlighting your favorite vendor or whatever that might be your vendor, you can ask them, hey, can you do the same for me? You can even use my email template, just, you know, copy and paste it, whatever you need to do. And send out an email about me to your people. And here's my headshot, here's a photo of my work and here's how people can contact me. Here's a short little about me. Because you can't trade mailing lists, that's not ethical, it's not legal. But you can promote each other to your own mailing list. So I highly recommend doing that. And if you have not gotten any new referral sources, this year, you probably have some right under your nose that you haven't even considered. So your insurance representative, do they work with other businesses? Are you trying to connect with other businesses? Your house cleaner or the person who picks up your groceries. Any of these people could be good referral sources. It doesn't necessarily have to be the Tyler, the painter, the remodeler. It might actually be someone who's a little bit more integrated into the daily life of your clients. So look at those people. If they don't have mailing lists, if they don't know what email marketing is, that's fine. But you should have at least three new people over the past year that you can point to and say they are a good potential for future referrals that I have cultivated during the year of 2024. And maybe they aren't sending you referrals quite yet. It's your job to stay in touch. Make sure those people are on your mailing list so they don't forget about you, so they can refer people to you when the time is right. Okay? So the next thing that you need to ask yourself is, did you upload new photos of your work to your website at least once? This. This means you should be either taking your own photos or hiring it Done. Either way, photos should be a priority. Now, I have had several clients tell me that the DIY photography course by Linda Holt has helped them a lot. This is not a sponsored ad or anything. I have actually never met her, but I'd actually kind of love to have her on the show because she is teaching people how to take their own project photos on a smartphone. And if your budget is tight or if your favorite interiors photographer is booked too far out but you need photos, taking them yourself is not a bad idea. The clients I've had who've done that have been pleasantly surprised with how good their photos turned out. So if you haven't taken project photos this year yet on it, call up the client, say, hey, I need to come back. It's worth it. And make sure those photos get uploaded to your website. Now, a quick note on uploading photos to your website. Some people will just grab those photos, run to their website and upload them as fast as they can. But that can actually hurt their SEO. Instead, you should first compress each image. There are a lot of free online compression tools out there. I use one called compresstogo.com but you can use others like tinypng. And after you've compressed it for the tiniest file size, don't worry the photo will still look good in most cases, then you need to change the name of the file. So the name of the image file to include the service you provided and the location in which it was provided. So Pantry and Closet Organization in Manhattan, New York, or something similar. That way Google understands what the photo is about. All right, so onto our next point. Did you post updates on your Google Business listing at least every quarter, but ideally every month? Month. This is assuming that your Google Business listing is already set up and completely filled out. This is literally what puts you on the map. So if your business has a physical location or if you're working out of your home, but you're serving clients in a specific geographic location, you need to have a Google Business listing. You need to make sure it's filled out. You need to have posts on it. We do have anecdotal evidence here in my agency that shows that when you post updates, you know, at least like once a month on your Google Business Listing, it does increase views to that listing, which can therefore translate to more website traffic. But speaking of website traffic, did you set up Google Analytics this year and make sure it's connected to your website? Because that's the best way to know whether your website traffic has increased and why. What I'll hear occasionally from my clients is I feel like I'm not getting enough website traffic. However, we can't go based off feelings, because often when we go look at their Google Analytics, I'll tell them, well, actually your website traffic has remained steady over the past year. So what. What makes you feel like you aren't getting enough traffic? And they'll say, oh, well, I just haven't had as many people fill out the contact form. Okay, that's fine. Feelings can be noted, but they're not fact and they're not statistical. They don't. They're not measurable. They change minute to minute. So don't make marketing decisions based off feeling. Make sure that you have the proper free tools in place to measure the effectiveness of your website. Now, one thing that I do want to point out here is that I have seen a rising trend in creating new pages on your website for every location that you serve. So basically, there's a bunch of duplicate pages with a few location keywords changed. That's a very old, outdated SEO tactic and it can actually get you in trouble for duplicate content. I do not recommend it. If your website currently has that, I highly suggest you remove it. You should be listing all your service areas, you know on your homepage in your footer. You don't need to have a separate page for every single one. The other thing that you need to keep in mind is SEO is actually not that complicated. If you have headings on your website that give people a quick summary of what the page is about, and if your paragraphs talk directly to your ideal client and describe their pain points and how you solve them, you probably have pretty darn good SEO. There is some concern from people in the home industry about a thing called domain authority. There are free tools out there where you can put in your website URL and get your domain authority ranking. Domain authority is a made up statistic meant for selling link backs. Unless you intend to charge people to link to them on your site, you don't need to worry about domain authority. It's a meaningless vanity metric. It's like trying to make a decision on how much you should charge your clients based on how many Instagram followers you have. It makes absolutely no sense at all. So don't worry about domain authority, don't worry about geofencing, don't worry about running Google Ads. Because if you have not made sure your on site SEO is good with image file sizes, with page layouts, with copywriting, none of those things are going to help you get better rankings. And also bear in mind that the number one way you receive clients will pretty much always be word of mouth referral. And that's not a bad thing. But if you're so focused on getting more website traffic, you're going to be taking time, attention and investment away from the relationship focused marketing that only you can do in many cases. All right guys, that is my spiel for today. Happy, happy holiday season to you all. Also here in the us Remember tomorrow's election day. I don't know if I should go out and vote or hide to be quite honest. Anyway, guys, may God bless your marketing this holiday season. May you get the rest, the break and the refreshment that you need. Please know that I pray over you guys. I pray over my clients. I want you guys to be successful. I want you to get out of your own way. I have to constantly get out of my own way. We all have a higher purpose and a unique calling on our lives. And if you have been called by God to run the business you are running, you are going to make it through. And maybe this is a stepping stone for you. Maybe it is not your final destination, but whatever it is, I want you to know that you are not alone. And also it's okay to take a break it's okay to take a break. There is. There are no awards given out for busy work. There's only burnout and stress. And the holiday season tends to be some of the most stressful times of year, which is really sad. So as we get into Thanksgiving, and I know that Canada, you've already had Thanksgiving, which I think is actually brilliant. Like, why here in the U.S. do we have two major holidays for four weeks apart? I don't know. I do not know why we do half the things we do anyway, as we get into Thanksgiving. Part of being grateful is just being still and knowing that God is God and that thank God you're not. Thank God we are not God. Thank God we don't have control over everything and that we can give it to him and go to sleep, take a nap, take a break. Because even he rested on the seventh day. Not because he needed to, but because he knew we would need that example. And as we get into Christmas, remembering that it's not about the stuff, remembering that you don't have to feel guilty that you didn't want to shower your kids with gifts, because just loving them is the best gift of all. Because you are loved. All right, that's the end of my sermon for this episode. Thank you all for listening, and keep your marketing simple, your message clear, and I will talk to you soon.