If you couldn't already tell by my personality, I'm a Virgo. 💁🏻‍♀️

And I get such a damn kick out of the memes like this because LOL IT ME.

But why tf am I telling you this?

WELL.

My husband doesn't use social media. Like...at all. He actually despises it. He knows I post every day, he understands what I do, but he's never really sat down and watched my content...

...until this weekend.

And his honest reaction had me absolutely dead because after watching a few videos, he goes, "lol yeah, that tracks. So you basically yell at people and tell them to get their head out of their ass."

I mean, yeah, kinda. More or less 😂

Apparently, my entire IG presence can be summed up as lovingly yelling at people.

Kinda cute of him for thinking I'd be anything less than my true self on the internet.☺️

But here's the part I think everyone misses when I say it's important to let your 'you-ness' come through in your content.

I'm not saying it because it sounds nice. I'm saying it because IT F*CKING WORKS.

Because people aren't just trying to figure out if you're good at what you do.

They're trying to figure out what it would actually feel like to work with you. How you think. How you explain things. What you care about. What you'll probably call them out on. Whether they'll enjoy spending hours with you inside a project, a coaching container, or a Slack channel.

Your content lets people experience you before they ever inquire.

Now, that doesn't mean you throw your expertise out the window and full-send your content into influencer mode. That would be bonkers.

What I am saying is this: Show up as the expert you are...through the lens of your actual personality.

The version of you that would show up to client meetings. The version of you that grabs coffee with a potential lead and somehow ends up talking about business, childhood memories, and conspiracy theories all in the same conversation.

The version of you who's unapologetically yourself and just so happens to be really freaking good at what you do.

Because here's the hard data that I left out of this brand refresh post.

Every single client I've worked with since 2022 has done at least one of these three things:

— renewed their contract

— continued working with me in another capacity later on

— referred me to someone else

Every single one.

Not only that. But these clients all discovered me and chose to work with me because of the content I produced that helped them make a confident purchasing decision.

My biggest lead-generating platform is Instagram (no surprise, it's where I'm the most me).

My second biggest? This email list.

Which honestly makes me laugh because the only place I really promote this email list...is Instagram. So odds are pretty high that you only ended up here because you liked what you saw over there. (love ya!)

My third? Referrals.

And if you've been around here for a while, you already know my thoughts on referrals. People don't get referred and blindly say yes. They stalk you first. Binge your content, creep your Instagram, etc.

They're still making a buying decision based on you in your content.

Which brings me to the most ironic part of this whole email.

Do you know what gets the most traffic in my business? My website. Specifically, my blog.

Thanks to Pinterest, I've had a ridiculously steady stream of traffic going there since like...2020.

And do you know what that traffic does for my business right now?

✨Absolutely nothing.✨ It's a wet sock.

It's the least Marissa-ified place in my entire business, and I know it. (I'm fixing it, okayyyyy.)

It's basically the cobbler's kid having no shoes. I know exactly how to solve this problem for my clients. I've just been ignoring my own shoeless kid with blisters.

BUT I DIGRESS.

Here's the point - if you want your content to actually move the needle, it's so much less about getting more traffic or more visibility...and so much more about making sure the right people can actually see themselves working with you.

Especially if you're building a founder-led brand like a service provider, coach, consultant, educator, etc.

People are buying into you just as much as they're buying your offer.

So stop trying to sound like the version of yourself you think people will hire and give them the version they'll actually get.

Because that's the version they'll either connect with or realize isn't for them and move on (saving you both the headache!)

If you're ready to figure out what that version actually looks like inside your brand, that's exactly what we do inside The Groundwork.

We strip everything back and get ridiculously clear on who you are, how you think, and why people choose you over someone else.

You in? You can learn more about my brand and content strategy intensive here (again, I apologize the website isn't the most marissa-ified thing you'll see today lol)

But the Groundwork is the first step to building a brand that feels like home to you and your best-fit clients. Promise. 🫶

Catch ya next week,

Marissa