I fear one of the biggest marketing mistakes business owners make happens way before they actually start marketing.

Also...Surprise! My podcast, Your Brand Is Showing is officially back! 🎉 New episodes will be hitting your feed every other Thursday for the next few months.

Around halfway into this week's episode, I talk about something I really want you to chew on if you're struggling to produce content that actually pushes your business forward.

Because far too often, we rely on an expert's advice and do what they tell us we should do...without first making sure it's in alignment with what we actually want to build or who we actually are.

Meaning, if you want to move your business forward with marketing...you have to know what direction you want to move in first.

Why are you building this brand? What’s your goal? What do you want your offers to look like? What kind of people do you actually want to work with? What’s your capacity? What kind of life are you trying to create outside of your business?

Nobody else can answer those questions for you.

Not me.

Not another strategist.

Not endless Google searches.

And certainly not an AI prompt.

You started this business. You’re running the show here.

And the reason I say this is because as a marketing strategist, I can absolutely build you a roadmap to move you from point A to point B.

But it makes no sense for me to hand you a roadmap to a destination you have no interest in visiting.

Most people skip the foundational brand decisions and jump straight into marketing, hoping enough momentum will somehow push them to success.

Even though they haven't actually defined what that success looks like.

Or maybe you answered those questions years ago when you first started your business...and then never revisited them as you grew.

So now, three, four, five years later, you're running a business that's successful on paper. But every time you open Instagram or turn on your favorite podcast, another expert tells you about their new shiny marketing tactic or another content framework you should try.

And because you never fully decided where you're headed...every road starts looking like the right one. So you hop on the bandwagon in hopes that this one finally feels better.

But before you know it, you've started following another marketing strategy that feels like an itchy sweater you can't wait to take off.

None of the ideas you end up following are necessarily bad. They might have even worked and pushed you somewhere.

But it probably succeeded in taking you somewhere you never intended to go.

The goal is to become the kind of business owner who knows which ideas are actually right for your business so you can confidently ignore the rest.

Like, imagine hearing someone share a brilliant tip and immediately knowing, "That's a great idea...it's just not for me," instead of letting it totally derail your progress.

That's the type of clarity I want all my clients to have. And that's honestly a huge reason why my strategy intensive, The Groundwork, exists.

I pull the answers to the foundational brand questions out of your noggin and then, once those are locked in, I help you build the roadmap to ensure your marketing aligns with and helps you reach that vision.

You'll leave with your entire marketing strategy mapped inside a comprehensive guide that you (or your team) can put into action.

If that sounds like something you'd want to learn more about. Inquire here.

Catch ya next week,

Marissa

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