[social_warfare]
SHOW NOTES
There is so much noise in the digital marketing world.
Everywhere you look there’s a new strategy, a new app, a new platform, a new template.
There are thousands of people telling you to try this, and this, and do it this way, not that.
2021 is the year you need to block out that noise.
If you continue to try something new before you’ve even had time to optimize what you’re already doing, you’re going to kill your marketing success before it’s even had a chance to take off.
In today’s episode of The Hirsh Marketing Underground Podcast, I’m sharing a strong message (I promise it’s not a rant) about the importance of saying no, optimizing your time, and being intentional with your marketing strategy.
Tune in to learn exactly what NOT to do if you want to maximize your success in 2021!
If anything I said in today’s episode resonated with you, pop over into my DM’s on Instagram (@emilyhirsh) to let me know all the details!
And if you want a sure fire support system and team to ensure that your Facebook ad and marketing success thrives instead of dies this year, apply to work with Team Hirsh at helpmystrategy.com.
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Emily Hirsh:
Hello everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. Happy New Year. I have, I guess, kind of a rant, maybe not a rant, but kind of just a strong message for you guys that I think will be perfect going into the new year to make sure you’re thinking about this. And it’s actually something, so I recently caught myself doing this and I was like, wait a second. You know when you have like core beliefs and core values, and then you kind of like stop following your own advice for a period of time and then you want to just like smack yourself in the face? Like, duh, I talk about this all the time and this is what you have to do. Have you had those moments?
So I recently had one of those moments around all of the noise that is out there in the marketing industry. And I’ve spent the last week off, well two weeks really, but one week, like off of meetings and working, which allows, it’s very interesting when you do that, it allows for a lot of time for you to get distracted if you let yourself, because you don’t have as rigid of a schedule. So I still like to create a rigid schedule, somewhat rigid, when I have free time, because it keeps me focused. I think I have ADD. But if you have a bunch of free time, what I find is I will end up on social media more, or consuming more content, or listening to what people are saying, or having more conversations, which oftentimes can lead to more ideas. And so I have spent this, like, we already have our annual goals done, our quarterly goals, done, our January goals are done. I already know, especially for the business, exactly what we’re doing, what projects we’re working on, what we’re committed to, what our targets are. Those are done and I’m not brainstorming those.
And for me, those come from my team and I, as a collaboration. I don’t set our goals and then be like, this is what we’re doing guys. I go to the team and we together set goals. I have been working on my personal goals, but my business goals are done. So I shouldn’t be adding projects. I shouldn’t be coming up with new ideas. If I do, they’re tabled till at least February, if not quarter two, because we’re done with our quarterly goals. But yet, I totally found myself this week diving into a couple of different things.
So first of all, the Clubhouse. I have had several people be like, “you got to get on Clubhouse and you got to do this, and here’s how you do it, and this is the strategy.” And they’re probably right. Like, I think that Clubhouse has a lot of potential. I am going to do some rooms on there. I am intrigued by the audio component. I think audio is great, but also I don’t have time to sit and listen to talking for like two hours, let alone 30 minutes and a day. So I’m going to have to just be very disciplined with my time. And I say I don’t have time. I actually want to rephrase that. I choose to not have time for that. I think we have time for anything we want. It’s how we choose to spend our time. I choose not to spend time that way because I have other things that I choose to do. So I started going in Clubhouse and looking around and seeing what other people were doing. The other thing I’ve been wanting to do is starting one of those texting community chats, where you can reply and then the person, you’re like in their pod, and they can reply to you. I think it’s really cool.
So between those two things this week, and I went down this rabbit hole for like, I don’t know, probably an hour where I was talking to my friend and she’s sending me all this stuff on Clubhouse. And she is also, somebody, love her so much, but she always has a million ideas and new things that you should go try. And so I caught myself. I went down this rabbit hole of like, I got to try Clubhouse, and I want to try this texting pod, and then we’re also doing all these other projects that we already set on our waterfall and so this will like derail my team a little bit, but it’s so important. And it makes you feel like when you do that, when you start paying attention to what other marketers are doing, or this person’s doing this and this person’s doing that. And you see it out there when you’re consuming, consuming, consuming content, then you feel like you need to do all of those things to be successful. And you start thinking like, I’ve got to put YouTube videos up, I need to start a podcast, I have to post on social media every single day, I need to send emails out, I need to do this.
But what I, I stopped myself, like when I was going down that track because I was starting to feel like I’m behind with the Clubhouse thing. And it’s because I’ve actually been on there, somehow I have like over a hundred followers and I’ve done literally nothing, but I’ve been on there for like a month. I just haven’t done a room or anything because like I said, I choose not to have time for that. And it feels like a big time suck right now. Now I believe people are getting good results by having rooms and engagement on Clubhouse. I absolutely believe that. And I think that’s great, but here’s what, here’s the thought I had. When you look at any successful entrepreneur, and when I look at the times that I’ve created the most success for myself, I was not doing a little bit of everything. I was doing very few things, very focused and very well.
So here’s what happens in the online space. You see all of these people, you see people who are doing Instagram organic very well, you see people like me who know paid ads like the back of their hand and all the strategies. And you know, you want to do that. You see people who are doing clubhouse and talking about the newest thing. You see people who talk about email marketing or text messages or ManyChat, or Pinterest and Pinterest ads.Speaker 1: There’s an infinite amount of things that you can consume and see all this content.
But here’s the real thing. People talking about those things as experts, like you’ll find an Instagram organic growth expert. They’re probably doing that and one other thing really well. That person is not also doing YouTube ads, and a podcast, and Facebook ads, and Pinterest ads, and all of those things. They stand out to you as an expert with that one thing. Let’s say it’s Instagram growth and Instagram engagement, and then that’s why they stand out because they’re so good at that. They put quality into that. But what you’re not connecting is they’re not also doing the 15 other things that you think you need to do.
Or you see somebody out there who’s taking off on Clubhouse talking about how great it is, all the followers they’re getting, all the new clients and students they’re getting. They’re putting 80% of their time into that. So they’re not succeeding at Facebook ads. They’re not succeeding at organic growth on Instagram. They’re not optimizing their email marketing. They’re putting and choosing to put all of their effort into Clubhouse.
So going into the new year, one of the most important things you guys can do this year, and I’m talking to myself here, cause I had to have this conversation with myself is say no. Saying no is more important than saying yes. So you have to say no just as much as you say yes. And it’s not about the things that you take on this year and the projects you’re adding in, the new channels you’re going to optimize, and the strategies you’re going to try out. And it’s not about the quantity of the things that you can take on and say yes to and add to your plate, add to your team’s plate, and add to your entire business plan and strategy. It’s not just about that. It has to equally, if not more, also be about the things you’re going to stop doing, the things you’re going to ignore, you’re not going to put attention into, and you are actively choosing to do that.
So for me, an example would be I don’t plan on having any YouTube videos for as far as I can see this next year. That’s just not in the cards, but here’s the thing. Yes, if I was to go and create YouTube videos and put YouTube videos on a channel, I am sure it would bring me some clients and leads, but would it bring me the same amount of clients and leads and success that just scaling what’s working for me already. My Facebook ads, my webinars, my private podcast series, my Instagram growth, what we’ve been putting focus into and scaling – that will most likely, like 95%, get me way more results than starting something new and having to navigate and figure that out and add that in and start that from the beginning.
Here’s where I think people get the most tripped up is they’re like, “well, I know if I start a podcast, or I go on Clubhouse, or I start a YouTube channel, I will get followers and I will get some sales.” Yes, most likely you will. But if you are getting one client a month from YouTube and you could get five clients a month from scaling your Facebook ads, where should you put your effort? It’s not about putting your effort in every place that you can get a little bit of momentum. It’s about putting your effort in the places you can get a lot of momentum and scale that momentum. And you have to be able to say, no. You have to be able to turn the noise off because it is everywhere.
Like I said, the people right now who are singing Clubhouse and how great it is and that you got to get on there, they’re not wrong. You probably could go on there and create a successful strategy and get leads and followers in sales. What you have to weigh is are you going to get more leads and followers in sales doing that, then putting energy and effort, time and money into something that’s already working. And you’re already focused on the answer might be yes for you. You might get more success doing that. And then therefore you should choose to go do that. But if the answer is no, you’re maxed out, you’ve got a webinar funnel, you’re building – you have this new sales page, you need this podcast, you’re launching. If you’re maxed out and then you choose, “oh, I’ve got to add Clubhouse because everybody says I do. When I scroll Facebook, and I see it all, and I have FOMO about it, and I don’t want to be behind in the newest marketing trends.” Then that’s not a reason to do that.
The reason has to be legitimate that you believe. And then hopefully soon you have data to back it. If you put your time and energy into it, you will get more success than if you were to put your time and energy into something that’s already working. Like I said, sometimes the answer is, yes, let’s add that in. I plan on doing four Clubhouse rooms in January. That is a goal of mine. Now I’m going to be very limited with the time I spend on there and my discipline on there, but that is my goal. So I have a clear goal of what I’m going to do, what I’m going to try. And depending on how that goes, I might do more or I might do less going into February, but I’m clear with myself on what that goal is.
And then I’m not doing that just because 15 people on Facebook told me that I should and a few big influencers I follow are starting to do it. That’s not a reason. It has to be that I truly want to try it. It’s authentic to me. And also that I think that amount of energy is going to equal what it should in terms of the output and results that I will get. And the output and results that I could get could be just I just tried it and I saw, and I measured the results, I was getting data back on how that’s doing. That’s fine.
But what I’m saying is don’t go down an avenue where you are adding a project, or an initiative, or a strategy just because other people said you should. And the kind of like realization and connection I had to make for myself this week is these people are not wrong about Clubhouse. Or I see it all the time about like YouTube and Pinterest ads and Instagram organic growth. All of them are right. Those are all great strategies when you have the capacity to put the amount of time and energy into it that is needed. And the people who are singing the praises of it, those strategies, are putting a large percentage of their time into those strategies and not into other strategies.
There’s always going to be dozens of marketing strategies, and new initiatives, and new ideas that you can go and try. And where the power comes in is where you have a filter, where you see those ideas, you take those ideas, cause we should always be learning, we should, you know, it’s my job to stay on top of what’s working and what’s the most impactful and innovative strategies in digital marketing. And I try them all the time, but I have a filter with what I actually want to put myself and my team’s energy and effort into. And like I said, it’s just as important that we say no to as many things as we say yes to. And that is critical because you need to have that barrier where you see a new strategy, you see a new idea or an initiative you should take, and you really put it through some questioning of “if I am to put my time and energy here, is that going to take away from something else that’s working really well? And will I actually get more output by putting time and energy there than I would putting it somewhere else?”
Every time you say yes, it’s a no somewhere else, no matter what. So you have to figure out where it’s going to pull from. And that’s why I said I am changing my language around time, because we choose a hundred percent of our time. We choose where we put our time. We don’t have to do literally anything. So we choose to not read books. We choose to not work out. We choose to not consume that content, we wanted to consume that course we bought that’s been on our list for a week or a month. We choose all those things. And you can also choose to jump around to a bunch of ideas and try new things because you’re excited about them, or say no and have that filter and know “that’s a quarter two thing for me,” or “that’s something I can’t do right now because I’m all in over here with my Facebook ads, or with my organic Instagram growth.”
And as you grow, hopefully you’ll be able to grow your team and then your capacity will increase and you can work on more things, but it’s extremely, extremely powerful to limit that. And I watch a lot of people who they jump around like, “oh, this is the next thing that worked so well for me,” and then in a month it’s a new thing. And they never really give themselves the chance to master one thing for their business and go all in, and they think the solution is like quantity of things to try and strategies to try. And as you go into this year, there will not be a shortage of new strategies that you can try, and the powerful thing is for you to know what are you going to focus on? So I suggest you sit down and get clear with yourself on what your exact goals are with your business and how you’re going to achieve those.
Like I said with the Clubhouse thing, when I kept getting the messages, I mean, I’ve been on there for like five weeks. My friends were like, “you got to get on there, we’ll get you an invite.” And so I joined and I actually removed it from my phone until like three days ago, because it was like, this is lame. I don’t want to sit in these rooms and listen to… I can’t 2X, the audio speed and I don’t have time for this. So I just re like went on there. I don’t even have a bio written or anything. What I did instead of being like, “oh, I’m just gonna not consciously consume Clubhouse and try it out,” I have a specific goal. I’m going to do four rooms that I host in January. That’s what I’m committing to, that’s it.
And I’m gonna from there decide my next move, but it’s a very conscious decision. It’s not like, “oh, let’s jump over here and try Clubhouse and derail my team, and my content writer can write my bio and we got to come up with titles and we got to do it tomorrow, and let’s just do this instead of this webinar.” That would be a very reactionary way to try out a new app. Whereas I’ve stepped back, like I do feel the pull right now when I go on and I’m like, “oh, I have 120 or whatever followers and I’m no bio?” I’m like, “shoot, I need to write that.” But no, I’m not going to just change what I’m doing and derail an hour or 30 minutes of my day to write my bio when I can actually task that to somebody on my team who can do it for me next week. It doesn’t have to be this reactionary thing. We can be proactive with our decisions in marketing and when we try out strategies.
So I felt like this was a message that you guys needed to hear going into the new year because the noise is always there, and the noise is definitely loud right now with the new Clubhouse app, which I look forward to trying it. Come follow me if you want to see me try these four rooms this month and I’ll let you know how it goes. I will, of course, always bring the best strategies to this podcast in terms of what’s working and what’s not working, but I also am going to be super real with you guys about how you need to be disciplined with where you put your time and energy, especially in marketing. Because you could spend all day looking at newest and best strategies and getting information from a bunch of different people and get literally nowhere. So instead, we’re going to limit and filter and put boundaries around that so you guys make massive leaps this year in your business and your marketing. Thanks so much for listening today guys, I’ll see you on the next episode.