To achieve this, they sought to expand their existing team of four to include twelve additional members and secure a larger office space to accommodate this growth. However, they wanted to achieve this without resorting to traditional, sales-driven marketing techniques. Instead, they aspired to build genuine connections, establish a strong online presence, and attract new clients through authenticity.

Dóchas Psychological had several key objectives, including:

Position the Dóchas team as the best place to find a psychologist: They wanted to raise the profile of their entire team and make them the top choice for those seeking psychological services in Spruce Grove.

Leverage technology for broader impact: Dóchas was keen on exploring innovative ways to reach a wider audience using the web and other digital tools.

Elevate Kim Long, the owner, as a mental health expert: Dóchas aimed to position Kim Long as a trusted authority to leverage her brand to sell courses and create other income streams in the future.

In response to these objectives, Fesyk Marketing devised a marketing strategy deeply rooted in fostering a sense of community and authenticity. It included:

Building a Unique Brand Identity

Fesyk Marketing facilitated the creation of a unique brand identity that would be memorable and resonate with the audience of Dóchas. The website was also restructured, introducing user-friendly features and selected promotional items to increase awareness about Dóchas Psychological Services in Parkland County.

Creating Authentic Cornerstone Content

A pivotal component of the overall plan was the creation of the “Voices of Dóchas” blog, which served multiple purposes. It would:

• Provide valuable information to the community about mental health topics.
• Demonstrate the expertise of the Dóchas team.
• Empower team members to express their thoughts and build a portfolio aligned with their aspirations.
• Enhance the website’s SEO by consistently producing high-quality content.
• Anchor social media efforts and bolster Dóchas’ online presence.

Connecting Authentically on Social Media 

Recognizing the importance of fostering a connection between Dóchas team members and potential clients, Fesyk Marketing introduced a series of regular Instagram-friendly videos showcasing team members in their real-life contexts. Consistency was key to reinforcing authenticity and commitment to the brand.

Engaging the Community

An email outreach strategy was employed to connect with the local community and generate word-of-mouth referrals authentically. A regular newsletter helped engage the audience and fostered a sense of community and trust.

Empowering Team Members

Every team member was encouraged to play a role in marketing their services. Workshops were held to brainstorm ideas, ensuring that everyone had a voice and a role to play.

Leveraging Technology

Supporting the creation of a mental health app.

Collaborative Content Creation:

To keep the budget low, Fesyk Marketing empowered the entire Dóchas team to contribute to content creation, fostering collaboration and authenticity.

Community Relationships:

Building and nurturing community relationships were at the core of the strategy. Email marketing was used to connect with valuable referral partners.

Authenticity and Warmth:

Authenticity was key, and it was reflected in all online branding and content.

The primary challenge encountered was gaining buy-in from a team of 14 psychologists. Fesyk Marketing assisted in overcoming obstacles such as writer’s block and imposter syndrome, providing support when team members struggled to allocate time for content creation. Additionally, biannual workshops were introduced to bolster the team’s commitment to marketing efforts.

Key Results

Between November 2020 and August 2023, Dóchas Psych grew in the following ways:

Facebook Followers

Percentage Increase 141%

Instagram Followers

Percentage Increase 1612%

YouTube Subscribers

Percentage Increase: 3075%

Monthly Website Visitors

Percentage Increase 1124%

YouTube Video Views (that month)

Percentage Increase 1537%

Newsletter Subscribers

Percentage Increase 990%

Total Followers / Subscribers

Percentage Increase 626%

Dóchas is thriving. The team has grown from four to fourteen therapists and the space has expanded accordingly.

Dóchas Psychological was a nominee for best marketing in 2021 and 2022 within the Parkland County Chamber of Commerce.

The Dóchas Lifejacket app launched in the spring of 2023 and recently celebrated 300 downloads. Fesyk Marketing supported this launch with a PR campaign and additional marketing support that included a social media campaign and targeted outreach.

Future Plans

With a substantial body of work, Dóchas Psychological is working on developing passive income streams that include webinars and digital courses. They are working on an educational hub for both therapists and clients and are creating a low-cost counselling initiative for those who can not afford therapy or do not have third-party insurance to cover the costs.

So what’s the takeaway? 

The true power of marketing lies in the art of building a genuine community and sharing content that resonates deeply with people, and the marketing for Dóchas Psychological Services shows this. This isn’t just about metrics, budgets, or fleeting trends; it’s about nurturing lasting connections and making a meaningful impact on individuals’ lives.

At Fesyk Marketing, we’ve seen firsthand how embracing authenticity and cultivating a sense of belonging can drive remarkable growth for businesses like Dóchas.

Here’s why this approach is not just a strategy but a philosophy that can shape the future of marketing:

Community is the Heartbeat of Success: 

In a world inundated with information and choices, people crave a sense of belonging. They want to be part of something meaningful, something that aligns with their values and resonates with their aspirations. By focusing on building a community, Dóchas Psychological Services didn’t just attract clients; they created a family of individuals who shared their passion for mental health and personal growth. This sense of belonging is a powerful driver of loyalty and long-term success.

The Power of Establishing Thought Leadership: 

Expertise isn’t just about knowledge; it’s about trust. Dóchas understood the importance of this and used it to their advantage. Through their dedication to showcasing their team’s expertise, they built a reputation as a trusted authority in mental health services. This trust is the cornerstone of enduring relationships with clients and partners.

Authenticity is the North Star: 

Authenticity is not a buzzword; it’s a guiding principle. Dóchas Psychological Services embraced authenticity at every turn. Their commitment to showcasing their team members in their true, unfiltered environments conveyed a sense of honesty and warmth that is often lacking in traditional marketing. In a world of polished perfection, authenticity stands out like a beacon, drawing people closer and forging trust.

Long-Term Value Endures:

In our fast-paced, instant-gratification world, the allure of quick wins can be tempting. However, Dóchas’ journey reminds us that long-term value is the true measure of success. By patiently nurturing their community and consistently delivering valuable content, they achieved remarkable growth over the years. Content marketing isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon that rewards dedication and persistence.

Impact Transcends Metrics: 

While the impressive percentage increases in followers, subscribers, and downloads are undeniably exciting, the real impact of Dóchas Psychological Services’ approach goes beyond numbers. It’s the lives touched, the individuals helped, and the communities strengthened that truly matter. This approach to marketing is not just about driving revenue; it’s about making a difference and leaving a positive mark on the world.

In conclusion, the journey of Dóchas Psychological Services serves as a testament to the enduring power of community, meaningful content, authenticity, and a steadfast commitment to long-term value. It’s a reminder that, in the world of marketing, our greatest achievements are not just measured in percentages and statistics but in the meaningful connections we create and the positive change we inspire.

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Step 1: Start spilling the tea… slowly!

Building the anticipation is just half the fun of getting people excited about your event. You might ask yourself, how in the world do I do that? Well, I’m glad you asked! Get people buzzing by revealing- or as I like to say, ‘spilling the tea’ on special event guests, performers, chefs, signature cocktails, cute dogs… the options are endless! Start by planning these posts out well in advance or as soon as you confirm all the event goodies! You will want to get in the habit of spilling a bit of tea every week prior to the event. This will result in getting people talking and selling more tickets! 

Step 2: Early birds get the worm!

In the case of events, early birds always get the worm. I can’t stress enough how important it is to regularly post about early bird deals. Why? Because it builds urgency. You want people to feel a little rushed so they can first, buy their tickets, and second, convince their friends to buy tickets- because who doesn’t like going out with their friends? You need to be active on your account daily to inform prospective attendees about when the deals are happening and when they’re going to end- I personally LOVE the countdown feature for this on Instagram stories. 

Step 3: Feed the FOMO (fear of missing out)

Maybe it isn’t your first time running your event. Maybe you had people who were on the fence about attending your last event and now they are still unsure. Feed that feeling with sharing some event throwbacks to your grid. Is your event brand new? Maybe start with a little contest for tickets or offer discount codes to new followers to your page. Give attendees a chance because we all know that we only get so many chances. You really want to make them regret not coming- as sassy as that sounds! 

Step 4: #Hashtag it up!

You will need to create your own custom event hashtag (or a couple) to really pin yourself to the digital map. You will want everyone and their mother sharing that hashtag to their personal pages to get you that organic growth that we all need and love. 

Step 5: Document the day!

Not only should you be sharing everything above on your Instagram story but you should be posting to your story as the event is happening! This goes hand-in-hand with that FOMO stuff. You want to showcase what’s happening behind the scene and maybe make some people a tiny bit jealous in the process. To make live story posting successful, dedicate this role to someone who will live document the set up, opening, live entertainment, speeches, and anything and everything under the sun at your event. Have detailed notes prepared for that person so that nothing gets missed! Pro tip to find yourself a Gen Z for this role because a few TikTok dances never hurt anyone. 

Looking for inspiration? We’ve got you. Check out our starter event social media checklist: Event Social Media Checklist

Well, here we have it. I hope that these 5 Instagram tips to make your next event a success will bring a big boost to your big event. Remember that if you have any questions about marketing and social media to reach out to us here at Fesyk Marketing to get more advice on how to build your brand and create your community!

The post 5 Instagram Tips To Make Your Next Event A Success appeared first on Fesyk Marketing.

I often say that when I go out to eat I need the food to be good and the service to be great. If I’m honest, I actually have two lists of good restaurants in my head—one list where I know the food will be great, and one list where I know the food will be great AND the service will be great. You can probably guess which list gets more referrals.

I just don’t have the same feeling of connection to a place that has great food but the service is lacklustre. Don’t get me wrong, great food can incentivize me to become a loyal patron of a restaurant but great service gets my referral and a good Google review 100% of the time.

Here’s an example. On the weekend, we went out for dinner. The service was slow and the restaurant ran out of a lot of food because they were so unexpectedly busy. It could easily have been a bad experience. But the owner of the restaurant made a point of stopping at every table, to chat up the patrons. He shared the news about the menu limitations and made recommendations about the food that was available.

He put us at ease and made it easy to overlook the fact that the food items we’d planned to order weren’t available because there were other great options to choose from. He managed our expectations and we felt valued as customers because he had taken the time to talk with us. He didn’t hide out in his office in the back somewhere, leaving it to his service team to inform customers that they were unable to serve more than half of the menu. Though, I think we would have felt the same way if our server had taken the same care and consideration in letting us know about the menu.

I often think about what makes for good customer service within the context of how we create and deliver content for our clients, and this experience demonstrates what we should all be striving for in our business. Opportunities to build great client relationships come by showing up, being transparent about limitations and exceeding expectations on what you can deliver on.

The things you do to go above and beyond are what will be the difference between a one-time customer and a loyal client. The key is making your customer feel important.

This restaurant owner did not expect to run out of food, but by showing up, being authentic and managing our expectations he found some new loyal customers that will spread the word about his world-class food and excellent customer service.

So how do you take this concept of increasing loyalty and referrals by providing great customer service and integrate it into your business?

Advice: Be Present For Your Customer

Good customer service = showing up + listening to the customer + speaking honestly. 

Choose to spend part of your day with customers if you can. Experience what they are experiencing. Connect with them and share your knowledge or ask them if you can help them find what they are looking for. Be their trusted source. If you’re a service-based business, move away from the task-oriented mindset to a connection-focused mindset. Take the time to ask questions and build a relationship beyond the service that is being provided. The more they connect with you the more likely they will be to become loyal customers.

And if you can’t be in front of your customer in this way, give your team the tools to do this on your behalf. Hire staff that are knowledgeable and passionate about what you’re selling. Create a culture where staff can take the time to follow up and speak with clients. For example, it’s easy to bog your receptionist team down with tasks, but make sure they understand the importance of spending time with customers, and setting aside tasks to pay attention to the customers in front of them.

What if Something Goes Wrong? 

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan. And more than finding “exactly” the right words to say when something goes wrong, showing up is the action step that will make your customer feel important and appreciated. Just like Ray from the Transit Hotel Smokehouse, when you run out of ribs and brisket on Father’s Day, show up, be friendly, listen and recommend the amazing pulled pork.

Need help with your marketing? Whether it’s advice on customer service, or target audiences, or content creation, we’ve got your covered. Contact us at Fesyk Marketing, or check out our blog for more resources on marketing your business.

Need a little more help with your marketing planning? We’ve got more on target audiences here:

• Have Fun Identifying Your Target Audience
• Understand Your Target Audience to Give Better Customer Service
• What Kind of Community Do You Want to Create?

Or check out our previous blogs on goal-setting:

• Discovering Your Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal
• Why Does Your Business Need a BHAG?
• Why is Goal Setting So Hard?
• Why OKRs Are a Great Tool for Setting Goals

The post Making Your Customer Feel Important Can Be the Secret to Loyalty and Referrals—A How-To appeared first on Fesyk Marketing.

What if, instead of thinking of jargon like target audience, you think of the word community? Instead of “targeting” potential customers, you are building a community of people who connect with your business. You guessed it—this week I want to talk about something that is very important to me, which is community building. There’s a reason “create your community” is part of my slogan, and it’s because community-building is something that truly lights me up.

If you are a small business owner then you probably are creating something important and meaningful to others. It’s no easy task to start and grow a business. It requires passion, patience, planning and plenty of resilience. There is a lot more than financial gain to be had by successful business owners. And those of us who choose business ownership as a career are usually in it for more than just the money. So why not think about building your business as if you were building a community.

Community creates connection. It provides a space to build and cultivate relationships. It allows for continued opportunities to build trust and loyalty in others. These are all things I think business owners should strive to achieve for themselves. And there is tremendous opportunity if you consider your business to be a place for building community.

So if creating that long list of traits and interests of your target audience and then developing a marketing plan to get in front of that ideal customer, feels overwhelming and daunting to you, try this approach. Consider answering these questions instead. Inspiration may strike and the foundation of a plan might be formed… give it a try.

1. Who do you want in your community? Is this an inclusive or exclusive community? What would you do differently if it was one way vs. the other?
2. What does someone need to do to be a part of your community? How could you make someone feel like they are part of a community? What do you need to feel like you’re part of a community?
3. What does it feel like when you feel emotionally connected to something? Do you feel more fulfilled? Is there a way to encourage customers and clients to feel this way when they work with you?
4. Are there other people or businesses in your community who might be willing to help you grow your community for your business?

When you’re thinking about marketing, consider envisioning the kind of community you want to create for yourself and for your business.

Why does this matter? Taking the first step in creating a vision for the community you would love to build around your business is a way to inspire action in your marketing. Suddenly you’ll have ideas about who might be a good person to share business ideas with, or content that you’ll want to create on social media or what information you want to share on your website. If this resonates with you, go even further with it. Create a to do list and plop some of these inspired action steps in your calendar. See what happens when you start from a place of hope, inspiration and positivity.

Hope this helps get you on your way to creating that community you’d love to be a part of! If you have any questions about marketing, reach out to us here at Fesyk Marketing to get more advice on how to build your brand and create your community.

Need a little more help with your marketing planning? We’ve got more on target audiences here:

• Have Fun Identifying Your Target Audience
• Understand Your Target Audience to Give Better Customer Service

Or check out our previous blogs on goal-setting:

• Discovering Your Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal
• Why Does Your Business Need a BHAG?
• Why is Goal Setting So Hard?
• Why OKRs Are a Great Tool for Setting Goals

The post What Kind of Community Do You Want to Create? appeared first on Fesyk Marketing.

While it’s important to look back at what you’ve done so that you can make informed choices about your marketing, it’s essential to enjoy the process and stay away from the state of overwhelm that prevents you from moving forward. And we are all about forward motion here! And we know, that we all get stuck once in a while so here are some tips on how to take on your marketing audit with open arms.

Use the Marketing Audit as a Moment of Creative Inspiration

The first thing that will help is to keep your eyes on your goal. Why are you doing a marketing audit in the first place?

When we do an audit for a client, I look at it as a source for creative inspiration as well as a way to find new opportunities to be more successful. Inspiration strikes when you make space for new ideas to come through, and what better way to do that than to look at what you’ve already done and find ways to improve it.

Looking at your social media you might decide—hey, my target audience seems to be on Instagram, and there are so many tools I’m not using on that platform. Or, wow—TikTok is really cool and I love creating video content, maybe I should give that a go? Or, my Facebook Page isn’t really doing much for my business right now. Maybe I should refocus and spend a little more time creating content for LinkedIn?

This is your chance to weigh in and make real changes that help you get closer to achieving your big goals.

Keep it simple

Conducting a marketing audit is not rocket science. It is simply an opportunity to reflect on what you’ve done so far and make some choices on how to do it better.

Just because it’s simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy to motivate yourself to do it! By reminding yourself it’s not rocket science, you’ll take some of that feeling of overwhelm out of it, and help you face this task.

Next, take your time and try to enjoy this process. Get grounded, listen to binaural beats, meditate, do whatever you do that helps you get into a place where you can slow down and focus.

Finding a way to get focused is actually harder than doing the audit itself. Promise.

Take it piece by piece

You don’t have to do your audit all in one sitting. In fact, you’re far more likely to get creative when you can sit with one area of your marketing and spend time reviewing all of the elements. Give yourself a week to take on the entire audit. It won’t take you more than a few hours, max, but you are allowed the freedom to do it in more than one sitting. What works well for me is to schedule my time like this:

• 60 minutes on the website
• 60-90 minutes on the social media platforms that are already being used
• 30 minutes on your online reputation
• 60 minutes exploring platforms that aren’t currently being used

There are no rules!

If you’re a non-linear thinker like me, you might struggle with step-by-step instructions. If you’re using our marketing audit guide, you don’t have to answer every single question. In fact, don’t even think of them as questions that need answers!

Really, the questions are just prompts to help you think critically about your marketing. What is most important is that you consider what kind of content your audience is responding to best, where they are responding to it and how that is helping you achieve your overall business goals.

Remembering there are no rules will help with that feeling of overwhelm!

My last piece of advice is this: quit with the negative self talk. The audit is an opportunity for growth and improvement. Pat yourself on the back for even creating content to audit in the first place. Give yourself another pat on the back for deciding your business is important enough that you are willing to take a look at what you’ve created and find opportunities to do it even better.

Want to get your hands on the marketing audit worksheet, if you haven’t already? You can grab it by clicking here. And don’t forget to sign up for updates, to make sure you don’t miss out on more useful marketing tools like this one!

Need a little more help with your marketing planning? We’ve got more on target audiences here:

• • Have Fun Identifying Your Target Audience
  • Understand Your Target Audience to Give Better Customer Service

Or check out our previous blogs on goal-setting:

• • Discovering Your Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal
  • Why Does Your Business Need a BHAG?
  • Why is Goal Setting So Hard?
  • Why OKRs Are a Great Tool for Setting Goals

The post Taking the “Overwhelm” Out of Auditing Your Online Content appeared first on Fesyk Marketing.

Why?

After looking over past social media assessments, we found that small, essential things would sometimes go unnoticed, even under the most critical eye. As a small business owner, it’s hard to keep track of all of the details of every social media platform you might have a presence on, which can harm your social media plans moving forward. We know that no plan or company is the same. Although it might seem like a good idea to develop a different approach for each campaign plan and marketing audit, it’s good to have a consistent plan that can cover everything to make sure nothing goes unchecked.

Checking Consistency

This download ensures your social media analysis is consistent and accurate.

When we audit social media campaigns for clients, one common problem we notice is inconsistency. Your website might have an up-to-date logo, but the Twitter account you forgot you had has an old one. Your old website may not redirect potential customers to your updated website. Unless you notice you have a sizeable following and decide it’s a great place to build relationships with the kind of customers you want to work with, it might be time to delete some of those inactive social profiles you no longer use. To make these kinds of decisions and track down all the inconsistencies in your online presence, check in on the past areas where your business has been active online.

Because every community, every plan, every business, and every person is unique, this worksheet is easy to digest, informative, and logical. It walks you through some important social media planning components to assess what works and what needs attention. You might even learn something new about yourself and your business along the way!

Don’t worry; you don’t need experience in marketing, business, or communications to grasp where you need to go with your marketing plan. This download will help steer you in the right direction.

Sneak Preview: Using the Worksheet to Analyze Your Brand’s Identity

Are you interested? Well, I’ll go into one of my favourite components of the worksheet. Think of it as a teaser for what kind of results you can expect. This component is known as “Analyzing your current brand’s identity”!

Simply put, your brand identity is how you portray your business to the public. If you want to build a meaningful relationship with your customers, you have to wear the proper attire to fit the right occasion. If you wanted people to donate to a fundraiser, you wouldn’t wear a tie-dye shirt to a black-tie event. It’s important to look at how you previously represented your organization and how that presentation may have benefitted or even harmed your image. Analyzing your brand identity may start with answering the simple question: “What makes you special?”

You probably asked yourself this before, but coming back to it can help shine a light on some of your future marketing strategies. Your business plan may have changed since you last plotted your entrepreneurial approach, so if you take the time to find that angle that nobody else has (again), you immediately become the go-to business for that service. Boom!— There’s a marketing plan right there.

Sneak Preview: Use the Worksheet to Reassess Your Logo and Business Name

Another practical question for assessing your brand identity is taking five seconds and looking at your company’s logo and name. What immediate reactions, thoughts or assumptions can you make about your company in the first five seconds? The biggest hurdle with this might be your own positive bias towards your company– not that there’s anything wrong with that!
However, if this is the case, get a friend’s opinion and see what they think! It helps to get as many opinions on this as you can, so try reaching out to specific customers you’re trying to attract and get their feedback.

This worksheet is filled with easy questions like the ones above.

Completing it and working your way through this worksheet will give you a good idea of where you need to take your new social media marketing plan to build some mutually beneficial customer relationships.

Want to get your hands on this worksheet? Click on the cover image below. And don’t forget to sign up for updates, to make sure you don’t miss out on more useful marketing tools like this one!

Need a little more help with your marketing planning? We’ve got more on target audiences here:

• • • Have Fun Identifying Your Target Audience
    • Understand Your Target Audience to Give Better Customer Service

Or check out our previous blogs on goal-setting:

• • • Discovering Your Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal
    • Why Does Your Business Need a BHAG?
    • Why is Goal Setting So Hard?
    • Why OKRs Are a Great Tool for Setting Goals

The post How to Audit Your Own Marketing and Social Media + Free Audit Worksheet! appeared first on Fesyk Marketing.

If you spend some time considering who is buying or who you want to be buying from you, you might be able to identify a few of the things that are really important to them. And also what might not be as important to them!

Taking the time to consider all your audience’s characteristics, from geography to age to values and interest, will help you to meet or exceed their expectations. And there is no better way to do this than to identify your target audience and build your brand based on creating opportunities to connect with them.

How Knowing Your Audience Makes a Difference In Your Service:

A recent customer service experience I had really underscored this for me. My family had the opportunity to do a trip together to Mexico, and we spent time at a lovely resort. However, my son forgot his toothbrush. We are members of the travel club at the resort, so I mentioned this at the desk and asked if it was possible to get a toothbrush sent to our room. They said “sure!”—great customer service, right? But when we got to the room, we had received a razor instead of a toothbrush! Well, everyone makes a mistake.

I let our representative know there’d been a mistake, and I was assured we’d receive one soon. When it still didn’t arrive, I spoke to someone else who assured me she’d make a personal trip to a nearby Walmart and bring one to me. This personal touch made me feel great. Until I walked into the resort gift shop and saw they had a whole wall of toothbrushes for sale there. I was so surprised! Why hadn’t anyone let me know it was as simple as walking into the gift shop to get a toothbrush?

What would great customer service have looked like in this scenario? It was great that the resort made attempts to go above and beyond for me, but in the end what I as a mother valued above all was for my son to have a toothbrush so he could take care of his teeth. I honestly didn’t mind if I had to pay for it! While it was nice that the resort wanted to provide one for free, the added time this took to achieve meant he went quite a while without a toothbrush, and it might have been even better service to mention that toothbrushes were readily available in the resort gift shop during one of my first interactions with the staff.

If you were in the business owners’ shoes, it’s understandable that you might hesitate to mention that I could have bought a toothbrush. You might see this as an opportunity to offer me a perk. However, if you had a thorough understanding of your target customer—mothers with children—you would also consider the priority they place on making sure their children are taken care of. This might change your approach—you might consider mentioning all the options to get a toothbrush as soon as possible. You see how a solid understanding of your audience can shift your approach?

Fall in Love With Your Target Customer and Let Them Guide You

Having a target audience gives you a starting point for creating and activating a marketing plan that works. It can influence everything from the location of your business to the colours in your logo to the unique perks and benefits you promote, because you’ll understand what your customers are looking for.

The more you know about your ideal target audience the easier it will be to do this.

One of my favourite quotes about customer service is this: “Success isn’t about falling in love with your products or services – it’s about focusing entirely on showing love for your clients.” (Tony Robbins). As business owners, we can forget our number-one motivator for why we do what we do, when we get distracted by details. But why are we creating products or services? Because we know we can help people with what we do.

Need help identifying your ideal customer? Talk to us here at Fesyk Marketing and learn more about how we can help you develop your marketing strategies!

The post Understand Your Target Audience to Give Better Customer Service appeared first on Fesyk Marketing.

Why is that? Well, maybe it feels kind of fluffy to devote time to creating this idea of who would buy your product. Or maybe it just feels like work—lots of work when you have a thousand other things to do. You might wonder if it actually results in increased sales.

Let me tell you that a laser focus on marketing to your ideal customer will benefit your business. Take Lululemon for example. When the company began, they had a clear vision of who they were selling to: “a 32-year-old professional single woman named Ocean who makes $100,000 a year.” This clear focus helped propel the company to the big business it is today.

So how do you make this easier on yourself? How do you focus on defining who your ideal customer is when you have so much to do?

Here are a few ideas. First, lean into it and make it fun. Use the internet to find pictures of what they might look like. Let your imagination run wild dreaming up their typical day, and what they wish their typical day looked like. This is one area you can really let your creative side shine as your flesh out who your ideal customer is.

Second, your target customer doesn’t have to be you, or someone like you. Your goal is to identify the type you love to work with. There are no rules. Let yourself picture exactly who you’d love to spend time doing business with.

Lastly, you may be wondering what kind of questions to ask to define your ideal customer, and where to start. Fortunately, there are a million resources out there already! Rather than reinventing the wheel, I’m going to share one great resource that really helped me. This is a great ten-minute podcast from Kaitlyn Ryan at Marketing Not Magic which has all kinds of questions beyond the usual age/gender/income questions.

Here are a few sample questions to give you a taste:

• What does your prospect’s typical morning look like?
• Work from home? Do they drive? Do they take an Uber?
• What are they listening to?
• What are they drinking/eating?
• What apps are they checking?
• Who, if anything are they caring for?
• What’re they wishing they could make time for?

You can find the podcast here!

In summary, my advice is—have fun with your target audience and get creative imagining them! And if you want to talk about your audience and bounce ideas off someone else, get in touch. I love working through the brainstorming process with clients.

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Taking action can be terrifying because by taking a step you allow the possibility of failure. If you never did anything, you wouldn’t fail either. Sometimes our fear of failure overtakes our motivation to achieve our dreams, and we fall back on doing things the “safe” way. This often looks like avoidance or procrastination. We avoid setting goals with a specific measurable objective, or a specific deadline. Or we set these goals, and then we procrastinate about achieving them.

I have experienced these feelings myself. I spent this very morning taking the first steps toward achieving one of the 2022 goals that I set for Fesyk Marketing.

If I had to categorize this goal it’s one of the many smaller steps to achieving the big goal (my BHAG) and yet it feels enormous at the same time. You see, it is an action step that is way outside of my comfort zone. It is something that lights me up and aligns with my BHAG in a meaningful way. It is something that makes me feel inspired, creative, but also vulnerable AF. This goal relates to content creation and I think almost all of us can agree that creating authentic, meaningful content feels a little like we are exposing ourselves.

When we feel exposed and vulnerable, our little lizard brain, our amygdala screams “don’t do it!”. So we stop. And we tell ourselves stories like “I don’t have anything original to share,” “Why would anyone want to hear about what I have to say”  “Wait, what was that great idea I had again? I had it, but now it’s gone”. The ancient part of our brain does not see this as holding us back, its job is to be a protector and to prevent us from the dangers of life like being eaten by a lion. It’s not very practical in this day and age but evolution hasn’t been able to erase these little connectors deep inside our brain that are stopping us from doing the things that help us grow and achieve success.

So today I want to tell you the strategy I use to shush the part of my brain that holds me back and focus on what is actually important, which in this case is setting and achieving smaller goals to help move closer to my BHAG.

My secret is this. Do it anyway. One tiny step at a time, as much as you can possibly muster in the moment. How does one go about doing it anyway, you ask? Here are a couple of options.

#1 Mark time in your calendar or add an action step to your to-do list.

It’s so easy to procrastinate, but if you continue to create space to work toward achieving your goals the more likely you are to take action. One of my favourite sayings is: where the attention goes the energy flows. So, if you intentionally carve out time to focus on achieving your goals you surely are more likely to achieve them.

#2 Daydream.

Picture yourself achieving your biggest goal. Next, picture yourself achieving your small goal. Both feel really good! Whether it’s a smaller goal like ticking the box, leaving a networking meeting with five new connections, publishing a blog or social media post or, actualizing your BHAG, it’s important to take time to feel what the result will be like when you get there. If you feel a bit of fear or imposter syndrome when you lean into your dream, do a gut check and spend a little time writing down what it feels like to get the results you’re looking for.

#3 Brainstorm.

If you’re out of ideas on what to do next in your efforts to achieve your goal, set aside 20 minutes and list 10-15 things you could take action on right now. Stretch yourself a little. Tap into your intuition. There are no bad ideas. Once you’ve got your list pick one or two that you find a little more inspiring than the others and take action on those. If you need some inspiration for this check out this goal-setting worksheet we put together to help you.

#4 Move!

If you are staring at a blank screen, completely blocked of creativity and inspiration, the best possible thing you can do for yourself is to move. Go for a 20-minute walk, take a shower or jump onto YouTube and do a 20-minute workout or yoga class. Movement begets movement so as my favourite YouTube yoga teacher Adrienne says, “find what feels good” and get moving. You will be astonished at the results.

#5 Stay Accountable.

As I actively work toward creating a course to help business owners take action and create their own marketing plan, I get overwhelmed by the number of things there are do. I get stuck in overwhelm and sometimes it’s hard to take action steps forward. So my last piece of advice is to find motivation from others going through the same thing. An accountability partner can provide a sense of inspiration and help to create momentum too. You definitely don’t have to go it alone.

Those are my five tips! They help me to stop procrastinating and to start moving time and time again. Let me know how these work for you, or if you have some tips that always help you take action, let me know in the comments below. Keep going! You’ve got this.

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Key Takeaway

You need two things to achieve your goal. The first is vision. A picture in your mind’s eye of you achieving your goal. And the second is action. Achieve that vision by creating smaller, measurable goals and taking action steps as often as you can. Celebrate your wins and keep going!

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Need a little more help setting goals? Check out our previous blogs on goal-setting:

• Discovering Your Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal
• Why Does Your Business Need a BHAG?
• Why is Goal Setting So Hard?
• Why OKRs Are a Great Tool for Setting Goals

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