Creative marketing - how to not be such a scaredy pants

Is your business doing well, but you know deep down that you could be doing a better job with your brand and marketing?

One thing that has stood out for me in the last few years is the incredible power insecurity has over even the most successful business person. This tends to be an even bigger issue in services businesses where the people are the brand. Once you are your brand, every word, every mention, every piece of attention becomes about you.

Whether it is fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of seeing their face, fear of being judged... Whatever it is a lot of service businesses simply choose not to do things that they know work because they are too afraid.

The truth is, I can completely relate.

I hate seeing myself. I hate hearing myself. I look forward to a day when my face is not attached to my business. But it will always be, so I just have to suck it up, or I have to accept sub-optimal outcomes. At the end of the day in services businesses, people choose to do business based on trust, and people do business with people.

So how do you overcome insecurity to supercharge your marketing?

1. Understand everyone feels it
2. Link the action to the outcome
3. Be yourself
4. Make something you are proud of
5. Enjoy the process
6. Outsource publication
7. Understand everyone feels it

Sorry to say but everyone is scared. It does get better the more you do it, but you will always be your harshest critic. Understanding that the person who seems confident is just as self-conscious as you are can help.

1. Link the action to the outcome

The one sure-fire way to make sure you don’t attain a goal is never to make one. In this context, you need to be really clear on why you are doing it, the benefit to you of doing it, and the upside you will get. Once you are clear on that it is a hell of a lot easier to bite down and accept the discomfort.

2. Be yourself

The fastest way to make people uncomfortable is to make them try to be something they aren’t. That is not the same as saying “I don’t look good on camera so I won’t bother” though. What it means is that you need to speak to the things you are most confident in, and make content in a way that allows you to shine. No matter who you are, there are ways to make video, audio or written content that will fit with who you are.

3. Make something you are proud of

An underlying issue for perfectionists is simply the fact that they are rarely satisfied with their product. With content that is of a high quality you can overcome some of the fear.

4. Enjoy the process

Try to have fun with at least the “making” part of your content. Whether that is enjoying the time shooting video, or preparing scripts, or writing a blog, or doing some creative design… if you enjoy the process you are more likely to value the end result.

5. Outsource publication

There is no greater obstacle to great content than our own ability to hijack it by never even hitting publish. Outsourcing the creation and publication of content can make a huge difference to dealing with the insecurity we all feel. We even do that internally, with different people publishing to those who make it in our agency.

So there you go!

Whatever you do, make something creative and memorable, even if it makes you feel super uncomfortable.