Marketing For Introverts

In this episode I spoke to Business Psychologist Joanne Wharam, who specializes in culture, behaviour and motivation. We met at a networking group and the first time we spoke she said she liked working with introverts and we talked a lot about values, so I knew she’d be a great podcast guest.

Maybe your values are things you take for granted, or they are something you haven’t thought about before? But if you can identify them and act consistently on them, in my experience, your business will benefit significantly – and you will be happier running a business that is completely in tune with you as a person.

Joanne and I discussed why values are important, we talked about ways to help you identify them and we talked about how we can run a successful business with our values front and centre. This is hugely important topic, so I hope you find it helpful.

Resources

Find more about Joanne and work with him at https://www.smartsupportforbusiness.co.uk/team-development  or connect on LinkedIn via https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannelaw1/

She recommended Start with Why by Simon Sinek which you can buy via the Marketing for Introverts bookshop here

If you want to know when the Marketing for Introverts book is released, I’d love to add you to the list – join the mailing list via my website https://bondfieldmarketing.co.uk/

If you had searched online for the word introvert term 10 or 12 years ago the words shy, reclusive, antisocial and reserved would have been among your answers. The search would have definitely left the impression that introverts were somehow “less than”.

The world has moved on a bit since then, but it can be easy to feel that you can’t do something because you are an introvert. But in my opinion introversion is not an excuse. Many introverts are hugely successful in their chosen field, so why not you?

In this episode I’ll explore some of the strengths of introverts, find some motivation from 2 great writers on the subject and I hope give you the encouragement you need to achieve the next big thing in your business.

If you want to know when the Marketing for Introverts book is released, I’d love to add you to the list – join the mailing list via my website www.bondfieldmarketing.co.uk 

You can also find links to all the resources and the podcast archive on my website, www.bondfieldmarketing.co.uk/podcast

In the last 2 years of hosting the Marketing for Introverts podcast I have had the pleasure of interviewing over 30 guests.

They’ve included coaches, marketing consultants, experts and business owners. There’s a whole lot of experience and expertise in those people, and I’m so grateful that they have agreed to share that expertise and tell their stories.

In this bonus episode I share some of the stories that have resonated with me, I hope you find these comments helpful. You can listen to the full episodes here:

Gabrielle Treanor Comparison is the thief of joy

Laura Robinson Your customer needs clarity

Jo Rawbone What is introversion?

Helen Bainbridge How much of your story should you share?

Pete Mosley Introvert as expert and story teller

Ginny Carter Do you want to write a book?

Dr Ivan Misner Networking for introverts

Gus Bhandal What’s working on social media right now?

Vicki Lovegrove How to thrive as an introvert

Do connect with me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyprocter/ , let me know which episodes you enjoyed and tell me your top tip for marketing as an introvert!

This is a short episode to help you answer this question for your business.

If the festive season isn’t a big hook for your professional services business, you might want to stop posting between Christmas and New Year and have a break. But your clients are almost certainly online, shopping the sales or having 10 minutes to themselves away from family!

Here are some thoughts from me about when to post, what kind of content to post and what to say – I hope it’s useful.

Resources

Want a free trial of social scheduling tool Agorapulse – here’s a link to help you get started

How to stay visible when you have no time – a popular podcast episode from this summer

Thinking of doing some planning? Try this podcast episode to create a 1 page marketing plan

And if you want to browse books (let’s face it, who doesn’t!) here are all the favourite books from this year https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/marketing-for-introverts-reading-list

Vicki Lovegrove has worked as a graphic designer for over 30 years after finding her passion for the subject as a teenager. A conversation with a client a few years ago made her realise that she could support clients in new ways and she retrained as a coach. Today she runs a successful coaching business that supports creative people.

We talked about finding your focus and purpose and the power of giving yourself time to dream. Vicki is a big believer in defining that big exciting goal, and revisiting it from time to time. She described the unconscious mind like a spaniel – which was a lovely comparison and made me smile!

Vicki was particularly interesting on the subject of resilience and how we can grow our personal resilience. She talked about collecting experiences that will help you build your resilience, including failures. Especially in the creative industries, we regularly get our creative ideas criticised, but that can make you a better creative.

We had a very interesting conversation about the dangers  of procrastination and perfectionism. Vicki was passionate about the importance of raising your energy so that you attract other high energy people and projects. The language we use when we talk to ourself is so important – our brains take it all in, so stay positive.

Vicki recommended Creative Blindness by Dave Trott and The Element by Ken Robinson

Find her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickilovegrove/ or www.vickilovegrove.co.uk

Series resource

Download the Define your Ideal Customer cheat sheet to go with the series (which includes 15 ideas for marketing a small service businesses just like yours)

Anita Popat is a social media strategist, who supports her introverted clients to show up on Instagram effectively. She believes that introversion is her superpower, and we had a great conversation about Instagram and how introvert service business owners can use it.

Instagram has gone through a massive amount of change recently, and we talked a lot about the shift to short form video and the introduction of Reels. Not everyone wants to be dancing and lip syncing on Reels but Anita shared a lot of ways to use Reels as a service business.

She is a big advocate for trying all the different aspects of Instagram and seeing what works. Use the data to see what works and ask your audience what they want to know about – Stories are good for gathering this information.

She outlined the need to create different types of content to build awareness, explain who you are and how you work, and finally to sell your services.

Anita recommended Atomic Habits by James Clear

Find her on Instagram @ItsAnitaPopat and get hold of the lead magnet she mentioned here https://www.subscribepage.com/introvertbizownersignup

Series resource

Download the Define your Ideal Customer cheat sheet to go with the series (which includes 15 ideas for marketing a small service businesses just like yours) 

This is a solo episode prompted by something that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. It is also an issue that many of my guests have mentioned.

The introvert hangover is the name given to that feeling when you have spent too much time in the company of other people. I talk about why we get that feeling, how we can recover and how we can look after ourselves and prevent it.

When I started to explore how we get and recover from the introvert hangover, I found myself thinking about mental health for introvert business owners, so I talk about that too. 

It’s an important conversation to have in our small businesses, and I raise a number of issues. But I am not an expert in mental health so if any of this episode rings uncomfortably true for you, please take some steps to learn more about your own situation and talk to someone who is an expert. 

Mental health resources

Resources from the Federation of Small Business: https://www.fsb.org.uk/knowledge/knowledge/mental-health-and-wellbeing.html

Mental Health at work toolkit for small businesses:

https://www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk/toolkit/mental-health-for-small-workplaces/

IPSE resources on mental health including a link to the report I quote in the episode: https://www.ipse.co.uk/member-benefits/ipse-advice/mental-wellbeing-advice.html

Series resource

Download the Define your Ideal Customer cheat sheet to go with the series (which includes 15 ideas for marketing a small service businesses just like yours) 

This conversation is a little different from my usual interviews. Dan Edwards runs an accountancy practice, and we talked about what he does to market his business. He revealed a really comprehensive marketing strategy for both existing clients and prospects, and I was able to suggest a couple of areas for him to work on.

We know each other through networking and that is a big part of Dan’s new business strategy. We talked about the benefits of networking, both online and face to face, and the importance of building those relationships by turning up regularly.

Referrals are also a successful tactic for him, and Dan has a planned process of asking his clients to recommend him in local Facebook groups.

He is also super planned on Facebook – he gets a gold star for having helpful social media posts planned all the way to the end of next year! But like many introverts he struggles with how to be more visible on social media, so we talked about some ways for him to ease into that.

Dan has a great system for keeping in touch with existing clients from a newsletter and WhatsApp, to direct mail. He even sends biscuits!

This episode is a great insight into how much marketing you need to be doing to keep a regular flow of new business into your business, thank you Dan for sharing that with me!

If you are a small business owner, you need to listen to his explanation of the Profit First principle – and find out what he spent his first bonus on!

Download the Define your Ideal Customer cheat sheet to go with the series (which includes 15 ideas for marketing a small service businesses just like yours) 

Resources

Find more about Dan and work with him at https://www.dkaccs.co.uk/ or connect on LinkedIn 

He recommended Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

I had a great conversation with Fiona Minett of Boss your PR. We both worked in PR in our twenties, the difference being that Fiona was calling Vogue and I was doing live interviews about late running trains! Which is why she’s exactly the right person to talk about why PR is such a great tool for your small business and how to get started.

Fiona uses the pick and mix analogy to explain the range of opportunities that come under the banner of PR – talking to journalists is just one of the ways to promote your business. She does have some great tips for finding the right journalists for your business, and approaching them without having to resort to cold calling.

We talked about the importance of your story and how you define that, particularly if it’s something difficult or sensitive – or if you don’t think you have a story. Through snippets and anecdotes you have the opportunity to decide how much or little to share, and make it work for you.

This episode is full of great advice, I hope it leaves you with the confidence to get started using PR in your business.

Download the Define your Ideal Customer cheat sheet to go with the series (which includes 15 ideas for marketing a small service businesses just like yours) 

Resources

Find more about Fiona and work with her at https://www.bossyourpr.com/

She recommended Built to Belong by Natalie Franks

I'm pleased to launch series 4 of the Marketing for Introverts podcast. Throughout this series I will be talking about trying something new in your business marketing.

And those of you who have listened to previous episodes will be saying “hang on a moment Jenny, I thought you were big on saying no to the bright and shiny things” –yes you are absolutely right, I regularly advise clients and podcast listeners to avoid jumping onto the next new thing in marketing. 

But I think every now and then you need to look at what you are doing in your business marketing and decide if it’s giving you the results you need. You need to look at your ideal client profile and make sure that your marketing activity is still reaching those people. Businesses change, algorithms change and sometimes you just want to experiment with something new.

Listen to the episode to find out what happened when I tried direct mail, and jumped onto TikTok! (hint, one was super successful and the jury is still out on the other!). I definitely learned some lessons about each tactic, so listen out for those, they may help you get started in both areas.

Download the Define your Ideal Customer cheat sheet to go with the series (which includes 15 ideas for marketing a small service businesses just like yours) 

Resources

You can access the episode transcript here: Marketing for Introverts series 4 ep 1 Trying something new

The episode on email marketing mail is here https://bondfieldmarketing.co.uk/everyone-should-be-using-email-marketing-with-natalie-rockall/

And networking here https://bondfieldmarketing.co.uk/networking-for-introverts-dr-ivan-misner/