Marketing on a budget

Ready to revolutionise your marketing approach without breaking the bank? Join us as marketing strategist Bec Chappell pulls back the curtain on how to align your marketing strategies with your business and sales goals for long-term success. Bec dispels the myths around marketing being just "fonts and colours" by underscoring the importance of strategic planning and branding from the get-go. You’ll discover why following trends might be the worst thing for your business and how tailored strategies can save you both time and resources. 

You'll learn why understanding your product and knowing your target audience are non-negotiables for effective marketing. Bec emphasizes the foundational principles like the five Ps—product, place, price, promotion, and people—and why consistency and strategic execution are key to successful campaigns. Explore how reallocating resources, leveraging client insights, and cutting unnecessary expenses can optimize your marketing strategy. Clear reporting and adapting to evolving consumer behaviours can help you stay ahead of the curve and ensure your marketing efforts are driving real results.

Tune in as we explore innovative marketing strategies to fuel business growth. From the power of below-the-line tactics like word of mouth to the significant impact of personalized gifts, Bec offers unique insights into creative approaches that can set your business apart. We also dig into the current pricing landscape and why it’s crucial to understand what your customers are willing to pay before making any adjustments. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your existing strategies, this episode is packed with practical advice to help you create a profitable, sustainable, and successful business.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:35

You're listening to the Secrets of Successful Business podcast, your go-to source for business tips, tricks and proven strategies that will help you create a streamlined and profitable business. We chat to the best minds in business about their journey, how they started, what they learned along the way. How long are you going to give this Going harder?

Speaker 2 0:55

to get more Focus on growing more with what you have.

Speaker 1 1:00

What they learned along the way. How long are you going to give this?

Speaker 3 1:03

What compromises are you going to make? Just because you can do it doesn't mean that you should do it.

Speaker 1 1:08

It's really important to remember that it's a long game and, of course, we'll ask them for their secret sauce for creating a successful business. If you're not failing, you're not doing it right. You should be struggling at times. That is part of the journey. Join us as we take a sneak peek behind the curtain, talk solutions for those business pain points, working smarter, not harder, mindset and the challenges of fitting it all in with the demands of today's busy lifestyle. If you're a business owner, side hustler or just starting your business journey, this podcast is for you. Now. Here's your host, business coach and content creator, justine McLean from Flossie Creative.

Speaker 2 1:48

Hello and thanks for joining me on the podcast today. In case we haven't met, I'm Justine, a small business owner on a mission to uncover and share the secrets of creating and running a profitable, sustainable and successful business. I've been in business for over 20 years now and I get to use all that I've learned along the way to help other women in business reduce the overwhelm, gain visibility around their numbers, charge what they're worth and make more money. It's about designing a life you love that fits into your definition of success. So, if I can help you create the profitable business you deserve. It's about designing a life you love that fits into your definition of success. So if I can help you create the profitable business you deserve, please reach out Now, without further ado.

Speaker 2 2:29

Let's dive into today's episode. Let's address the elephant in the room. Business is tough right now and getting new customers in the door is harder than ever and for a lot of us, it's impossible to know what to do next. So on today's episode, I've called in a marketing expert strategist and my mate, Bec Chappell, to share how to market on a budget. Bec has worked in marketing for over 15 years and with her goal to amplify brands and help them create clear strategies and messaging to sell their products and services to their ideal client. She is the perfect person to tell us how to market on a budget. Hello Bec, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 3:09

Hello, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 2 3:12

So nice to have you on here and to finally be able to speak to you about marketing on a budget. Love that, what a good topic Now.

Speaker 2 3:21

I know that listeners are going to love this episode because I think right now more than ever, we all need to find those simple but inexpensive ways to get our customers coming back to us new customers through the door, because times are tough and I want to get into all of that. But before we dive in, can you share a little bit about your business and exactly what you do with our audience?

Speaker 3 3:53

Yeah, I'd love that. Thank you. So pretty much what I do is I'm a marketing strategist, which people are like, oh, that sounds a bit fancy or a bit like what the hell do you do? I come into businesses and really help them align their marketing to their business strategy, to their sales strategy, if they have it, and really make marketing the core of their business. Because I know from the work that I've done that when brands build from this marketing and branding piece, we actually see longevity in business.

Speaker 3 4:20

That's how you know, that's how we see successful business, and I think a lot of people tap marketing on after the fact. They're like, oh shit, I should probably market, I should probably get my brand out there, I should probably do all this stuff. And they fall into this trap of doing all of the things that they, you know, see someone screaming at them on Instagram to do and instead of coming at it from a really strategic this is what's right for my business, my individual, my unique, my beautiful business that is unique they just throw in all these tactics and think they have to be doing all of these things, because that's what is trending at the moment.

Speaker 3 4:51

So I'm really here to try and re-educate the market. That marketing has to be strategic. It has to align with your you know your business strategy. It has to have a branding element. You have to be building a brand and that actually is how you don't waste money in the long run, because one of the main things I have people come to me and say is marketing doesn't work. I've spent thousands with XYZ and I got no results and I'm like, uh-huh, well, let's talk about what you did there. So, yeah, that's how I help businesses Generally. You know most businesses that I help. They've been in business for a while, but some of the people they're really, really good and they come to me when they're first starting, which always helps because it's nice to start with a foundation rather than be like let's figure it out later.

Speaker 2 5:40

Yeah, let's play catch up or let's kind of try and unravel this when it's you know we've kind of gone down the wrong road. It's a little bit like finance, in a way. I think marketing and finance are probably those couple of foundations that are missing for most people. Because, you're right, like it's okay, I want to start a business. What's everyone else doing? What's trending on Instagram?

Speaker 3 5:55

I'll get the nice colors and so on, and I'll kind of go for it 100%, that's exactly it, and it's like, instead of actually, you know, especially with finance as well, marketing is exactly the same. You have like you don't have to. But I tell you, it's a lot easier if you actually start by saying what is the brand I want to grow Like? What? Where do I want it? Where do I see this going? Like you don't have to have a 10 year, 20 year plan? Where do I want it? Where do I see this going? Like you don't have to have a 10-year, 20-year plan, but at least have a one-year plan and like aim towards that rather than just going. I fell into a business. Now I'm going to sell as I'm building this. You know, the plane in the sky as they say.

Speaker 2 6:40

So yeah, and I think you hit on it before when you, you know, use that word unique because, all you know, we could be doing the same as the guy next door, but we are unique because we're the driving force behind the business. And I think if more people kind of leaned into that uniqueness about their business and really focused on their definition of success, I think it would be a lot easier.

Speaker 3 6:51

Yeah, and, like you know, I'm very passionately upset about this at the moment the fact that there is so many, I guess, courses and, you know, groups going around that are like I can 100% do your marketing for you, but we're all going to exactly think the same, have an echo chamber of what marketing looks like and instead of businesses, instead of you uniquely being treated, unique and building a brand that is different to your competition or is different to everyone else in the market, you end up building something that's someone else's dream, because you get caught up in this whirlwind, and I think that's the dangerous thing at the moment in the market. There are all these one-size-fits-all approaches to stuff because it seems so much easier. Yeah, it might seem easier, but actually what's easier is figuring out why your business is so good, based on what you bring to it, and therefore you're also honoring the reason why you went into business in the first place.

Speaker 2 7:43

Exactly For anyone listening who's thinking okay, marketing, yeah, I think I kind of know what that's all about. It does cover a lot of ground. Can you just share a tiny bit about what marketing actually means and how it can help our business?

Speaker 3 7:58

Yeah, wow, I'm not going to give you a textbook definition. People can Google that. Please don't so for me. Marketing. Look, I always say marketing is not a person, it is a department. There are so many unique elements to marketing, but foundationally and fundamentally, marketing is you building a brand in the market in which you want to sit and getting sales. Let's really bring it back to the fact that marketing facilitates sales.

Speaker 3 8:26

If your marketing is not facilitating leads and pipeline and sales, your marketing is actually not marketing. It's just flat out not working and I think one. It sounds icky because marketing I think a lot of people think of marketing. I used to always get called fonts and colors department. Love that for me, especially by finance people, by the way.

Speaker 3 8:46

But you know, and I think there's this, really there's this belief around marketing being fluffy and marketing, you know, being all the fun stuff and it 100% is. It is where you get to let your creativity soar, it is where you get to be unique. But at the end of the day, none of that matters if it is not converting into leads and sales because you are in the business to make money. Let's not sugarcoat it, let's not pretend that we're all out there, like even impact-led businesses, have to make money. So your marketing, it is not a person, it is a department. There are specialists in each part, there are specialists in brand, there are specialists in strategy, there are specialists in SEO, adwords, facebook ads, social media, and so there should be, because every single different channel of marketing is really complicated and complex and if you try and get a one size fits all, I guarantee you it will break. So that is probably my definition of marketing.

Speaker 2 9:39

And I think, as you said, within that, it has to come back to your business, what vision you see for yourself, and I think I mean you'll have a take on this. But to be effective, I think with your marketing, you need to first of all know, as you say, what the destination is, where you're going as a business. But then it's about being consistent and remembering that your business is about your clients. It's not about you, it's not the I, I, I, it's the, actually the you, you, you.

Speaker 3 10:08

Yeah, there's so many foundational things that I think people need to get into place here, and that is definitely well. What are you, what are you selling Like? What's your product, your service, and who are you selling it to? You come into it with your unique selling proposition, right? So, the things that you do uniquely, that is where you inject your part into the business. But, over and above that, it's actually about your client and how you're serving them and what product fills the need for them, rather than, yeah, making it about you.

Speaker 3 10:34

You might want to be dancing on reels on Instagram, but you know what you. You might want to be dancing on reels on Instagram, but you know what? Maybe your client doesn't care and they're on LinkedIn or they're actually they really are searching Google for your product and you know there's a lot of. You know you're going to have effectiveness in that channel. So it's really about when you come back to those.

Speaker 3 10:53

You know basics of marketing that they used to be the four P's I call, call it the five Ps but those real basics of you know product place, price, promotion, people. That's when you and we've forgotten about that stuff, right, because none of these bro marketers out there which I didn't come up with that term. I had that coined yesterday by someone in the industry. They're like, they're sick of bro marketing and I was like, yeah, man, like that is exactly what it is being American. Like you want seven figures and it's like follow my exact like recipe and it's like it's not actually going to work. Like there's a reason. There's textbooks written about the.

Speaker 3 11:28

You know the four Ps. I say five because I think people is actually really important and I think when you say people, it's not just the people that you're marketing to, it's actually people internally as well. So, you know, I think we go back to the basics, strip it all back, stop falling for these people that are like advertising. Follow my recipe for success, because I guarantee you, sure there's probably, there is absolutely probably gems in there. Buy their book, don't buy their like. Complete recipe to success. You know what I mean? Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 11:55

And I think that's part of the key right, because, as you said, there are lots of different ways you can market your business. I think it's cherry picking the things that are going to work for you, because you can be doing or trying to do all the things you know the LinkedIn, the Google, the Instagram, the EDMs, the, you know, SEO, whatever you're doing but A you're probably not going to do any of them well, and B maybe that's not where the people that you're selling to are kind of hanging out. I think you have to make sure that you've got that piece right.

Speaker 3 12:25

Yeah, and I think look, nail a couple of channels before you start adding heaps more in. I think, the businesses that really succeed with their marketing. It's about okay, we've switched on EDMs, for example. We're launching a campaign. I know, campaigns wild, we don't talk about them anymore, but we're launching a campaign and it's, you know, it's an omni-channel campaign, so it means it's across multiple channels. And then we've got our sales team on board or, you know, I am a solopreneur, so I've got me as sales. What am I doing if I launch all these?

Speaker 3 13:00

Because, let's not forget, marketing itself often won't be the thing that drives it. It facilitates sales, it is not sales. So, I think, really understanding that, for everything that you're doing in marketing, choose some channels that you can really excel in and then make sure, like when you've got them nailed and you've got it down, that you're being consistent and disciplined, then add something else. But the thing that you need to add is actually your effort to connect with people and, you know, your effort to follow up, your effort to use a CRM. Those things, I think, are so forgotten because people are like I posted something on LinkedIn and I didn't get any sales. Therefore marketing doesn't work. It's like well, what else did you do, my friends? And that's the missing link for a lot of people, I think.

Speaker 2 13:40

And I think you know probably for people listening as well we are in a very tight economy. It reminds me of the, you know, the global financial crisis we had years ago and you know people are struggling to get their customers to buy, you know, to get new customers coming into their world. But I think you know one of the things we probably tend to do that knee jerk reaction is, when things are tough, we stop spending, and one of the things that we will stop spending on could be marketing. So what are your tips for continuing to market our business when we're trying to do it on a budget and to a tight economy? What are some of the things that we can do?

Speaker 3 14:25

Yeah, sure, historically, 100% marketing is always the first to go in a business, and I find this fascinating because there are so many statistics around businesses that have actually been born out of the GFC or out of the Great Depression in the 1920s. So the studies there I won't go through them now. Go do some Googling. It's a really fun history lesson and it really does back up what I'm about to say, because, if you, marketing should not be the thing that you cull yes, you may what I want people to do is get really, really, really focused on their reporting. So understand the channels that are really firing for you right now. If you're finding that you need to actually put in a little bit more of your effort in terms of sales, then switch to a more sales-based marketing tactic for that period of time and say, okay, well, I know, I need to revitalize my network. How do I do that? Look at your subscriptions. Are you paying for HubSpot unnecessarily or have you got like a MailChimp subscription plus like an active campaign? Go through and it's one of those really key things is what are the things in your business you can remove? Have you got people doing stuff that you could do quicker using, potentially AI. Now what are things that you can do in your business to kind of alleviate a little bit of you know pressure there on a financial point of view? But also get really clear on your reporting right now.

Speaker 3 15:45

If you're not one to report on your marketing, I want you to set up dashboards. I want you to go and find a way that works for you to understand your numbers so that you can really see what is driving engagement and sales and, I guess, just activity. And it's a time where we can really reflect on is our message actually what people need to hear right now? Because this is the thing with marketing. We get. We're like oh, I figured out my message. Your clients are changing. They're always changing. Their needs are changing. Their consumer behavior is changing. We as marketers and as business owners have to be on top of consumer behavior at all times. For example, I did like a podcast myself the other week on everyone's going back to. You know we spent two years online, so maybe that's why your online courses aren't selling right now, because people are online out. They're done with it. They also know that course completion rates I think it's like 60, 100 people. So it's like we know that people are getting really savvy about where they spend their money. So, statistically, they know they're not going to do something or they're seeking connection. You know, like I use, I'm currently single, I date right, so I always use this analogy of the dating apps are broken right now. People are going to run clubs, people are going to in-person social events, but these little consumer shifts that we think are irrelevant, they actually are what people are feeling.

Speaker 3 17:08

It's those subconscious choices that they're making that you need to really pick up on, like what are your clients saying right now? All the information you need about what is good marketing for your business, your current clients are already telling you. You're probably just not listening. So get really and you want to.

Speaker 3 17:23

You know, I literally came off a chat just before this one and we were talking about. She was like how do I find more speaking engagements in this area? And I was like ask the people you just did a speaking engagement for. Ask your clients what events are they going to? Where would they like to see? What do they want you talking about?

Speaker 3 17:38

We forget that, like our clients, that we already have. If we love them and we want more like them, they already have all the answers that we need and that's how you save money. Because maybe they're saying I don't Google search or you would reach me easier by doing X, y, z. This is the number one thing that's keeping me up right now at night when it comes to your subject. People keeping me up right now at night when it comes to your subject, people are normally, especially when you make it about someone else. People are happy to talk and we forget to get them talking. Like, how often do you find yourself someone asks you a question? You're like God, I loved talking about me. That felt good to get it off my chest. But, like, ask the questions and I think you know. Come back to what are you spending your money on, what channels are you in, what's your reporting look like and what have you forgotten to actually survey your people?

Speaker 2 18:22

Yeah, go in and ask questions, because obviously there are lots of things we can do right. So if you send out a weekly survey email to your mailing list and you have cracking open rates and a good conversion, we're not suggesting that you dump it just because the you know the world is saying, hey, people aren't looking at emails right now. But I guess it's about, yeah, getting a bit, getting a bit scrappy, looking outside the you know kind of the regular things that you're doing, to think, okay, where can I do something? It might be appearing on a podcast where my people that I'm trying to connect with you know are likely to be hanging out or where they want to hear from me.

Speaker 3 19:01

Yeah, and I think also, like definitely don't ditch the email If you're seeing the open rates and stuff. But even you're not getting the emails back, people are still watching it, right? People are there. Like, so it's about that reporting piece, the research piece, like start getting really curious about different ways, like we, I think once I was talking about like traditional marketing the other week to people cause a lot, a lot of marketers coming through. Right now I have no idea what that is and you know we have things like.

Speaker 3 19:25

You know there was a great old saying that like I don't even think it gets used now, but I heard someone use it the other day. I was like Ooh, I haven't heard that for so long and it was this whole concept of below the line marketing. So we have above the line is obviously everything you're doing in the media, it's social media. Below the line is all of those little tactics that, like you might have forgotten about, like word of mouth marketing, right, like how are you getting referrals happening in your business? Because referrals and word of mouth is an incredibly powerful source of marketing and so just getting you're right, getting scrappy, like thinking about marketing differently If you are doing things, everyone's doing the same thing. Everyone has the same channels, but that's actually not the case. It's just everyone's doing the same thing because they're following trends, right.

Speaker 3 20:09

Don't follow trends and sure maybe there will be an investment right? Maybe your hack into a business that you've been wanting to work with is send the CEO a poem with a dessert box right, bearable like random stuff, like I had a friend that did that. They actually sent the. They wanted to work for this product-based business. They sent the product to the CEO with a poem attached to it Genius, I love that. That's genius. They got the gig right and I'm like these little ideas and sure there's an investment in that, 100%. There is money and I also want people to remember your time is money too.

Speaker 3 20:45

If we're talking budget. If you're spending five hours a week creating reels for Instagram and you're not getting that back in ROI, that is not a good channel for you. So be really curious about you. Know. I think everyone has this concept of I want to get viral, I want to get high vanity metrics. Why Like? Why Like if it's not converting? For you it's not. You know. This is that whole thing around research and reporting. Like know your numbers in your business, same as you know your financials, or you should your marketing? Marketing is a numbers game. Yes, we're creatives. Yes, we love fonts and colors and yes, that stuff's important and the way that you feel with our brand all important. What's super important is how all of the fluffy stuff converts to sales.

Speaker 2 21:27

And you've mentioned the numbers and kind of really measuring those a couple of times now Can you just sort of explain, you know, what that actually means.

Speaker 3 21:37

Yeah, I love that Good question. Everything that you do, so say you send an email weekly and you post like six times to Instagram and you've got a LinkedIn. You do a LinkedIn newsletter. I want you to set metrics that are important for your business. So if you're posting to Insta, maybe a metric that's important for you is how many DMs did that make you know, like, what's the metric that converts to sales for you? Everyone's is going to be different, so I can't say here's your set of metrics, but understand the metrics and the goals that.

Speaker 3 22:09

Why am I doing this activity? Is it branding? If it's branding, obviously your metrics are a little bit different because brand takes time and it's the annoying thing about brand Building. The brand in the marketplace is really kind of harder to report on. But if you're doing specific sales activity campaigns, launches, things like that it's the metrics of how many people did that get into my funnel and what does my funnel look like? Is it Insta DMs? Is it LinkedIn DMs? Is it emails back?

Speaker 3 22:35

Every activity you're doing like things like Google ads super easy to see your metrics on that right. Like, you know the ROI. If you're doing a Facebook ad, you know your ROI or you should Like that stuff is. It's fed to you and obviously it's all these little things. So, if you're spending, understand the time that you spend on your marketing every week too, because that is a metric that you need to know and you know, put a dollar value against that, because I want you. If there's a channel that you're spending a lot of time in and it's not getting you any kind of engagement, that will lead to sales, because, let's remember, like the branding stuff takes time, but it's the engagement that's important. You know how many people you like, for example, linkedin. One of the ones I love is I have clients that will say to me things like Bec, like it's just not working, because we know LinkedIn no one really comments, right, Like it's the ghosting platform, but people watch on there and they read, and their version of engagement is I've read it, I don't have to comment, I don't want to comment, I don't want my boss to see that I've commented, or I don't want my client to see that I've commented, or blah, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 3 23:35

One of the things on there that I think is a metric that's really worth looking at is the titles of the people that are looking at your stuff. So, for example, I would want founder, wouldn't I Like? I'd want, you know, a CEO, a founder, a CMO, even so, for me, I look at those and I was hitting, you know, like a receptionist or something like sure, I'd love to inspire them, but at the end of the day, they're not the ones buying from me. Yeah, so, understanding these, like I know, for me LinkedIn is a driver for business. So I know if I'm continuing to hit those level, those job titles tick, I'm successful.

Speaker 3 24:11

I know that if I get, you know, a thousand impressions and the majority of them are those people, it's a channel that's working for me. I'm getting in front. How do I then do the sales piece, the reach out, the whatever it needs to look like to convert? So every metric will be different, based on your business and where you're showing up. But having key metrics, you know, that are like KPIs, right, like everyone's had them, exactly For your marketing as well.

Speaker 2 24:34

Yeah, and I love that conversion to sales. That's the key thing you've mentioned a couple of times, so important. So we're kind of, you know, we're getting scrappy, we're kind of doing some things that are out of the box. We're sending out dessert boxes with poems. How can we maintain our brand integrity when we're cutting costs on marketing or trying to do it on a budget? I think look.

Speaker 3 24:59

The thing with brand is it's just making sure that everything aligns. So do a little branding exercise for yourself. So just because you're cutting costs doesn't mean it has to be at the detriment of your brand. There are incredible tools out there that in terms of brand identity and the way that you show up in the world. If you have Canva, you have a designer at your doorstep. But I would still recommend making sure that you have your own unique. Please don't use Canva templates. You can get designers to come up with templates pretty cheaply these days. It's worth the investment. It is your brand. So making sure that you have that visual identity so that someone knows what you look like.

Speaker 3 25:36

But the other side to brands, which I'll speak on more because it's something I work with in the strategy space I'm obviously not a designer, so I don't really do the design work. As I said, marketing it's a department, not a person. But in terms of when you're being strategic about setting up like a brand identity, like the feel of your brand and the languaging, really come up with a bit of a. It's fluffy and we're going there, but come up with a bit of a mood board. Come up with thoughts of when people think of my brand, how do they need to feel?

Speaker 3 26:07

And then, every single channel and every message, and every time you launch a campaign, every time you do everything, it comes back to that kind of the way that we make people feel with our marketing, the messages that we really want to get across. If I say that I'm never going to use jargon in my marketing and that is a really big part of my marketing, yeah, I'm not going to throw words at you, like you know SEO, without explaining that, that search engine optimization, or you know, and and understanding that, okay, cool. So if I'm doing a post, if I'm showing up and trying to use social media to like, drive traffic right now, because I know that that's a cheaper channel it's not free, your time is not free and I really want to push that point but knowing that that's potentially a cheaper channel than switching on meta ads or like you know, Google ads or anything like that Understanding.

Speaker 3 27:00

But even if you do switch on Google ads, if you have got a brand identity, your ads in Google no, you're not using an AI generator to create them. You are writing them. You are understanding your client's pain points and all of them. You can still understand your client's pain points and talk to them, but talk to them in a way that is your brand. So make sure that you have that, like you've done that work of as a brand. How are we showing up? And then it doesn't matter if you're investing a million dollars in your marketing or a thousand, because money is no. Money should not affect the way that your brand shows up in the market. And if you want to look like a really royal, regal brand, you don't have to have a shit ton of money to do that. It's just actually about how you language it and how much you've invested. I guess in the starting point of what your logo looks like and the fonts that you use, like. Obviously all of that stuff matters.

Speaker 2 27:42

Yeah, that's great advice. Now, what's your go-to marketing strategy right now?

Speaker 3 27:48

I'm having a bit of fun right now. I've got to be fully honest. I have seen I'm seeing a shift in the moment and I'm actually personally angry and my obviously my branding and my marketing is very different because it's Beck right, so it's reputation based, which is painful but also great because I'm very much known in my business. I guess there's a lot of fun and outspoken and I'm never afraid to say the thing that other people don't want to say. And it's taken me a solid few years to get over my like oh, do I want to be controversial? I don't care, I'm going to say it. If I think that, I'm going to call it out if there's something that I see in the market that's really just not helping business owners. I'm on a mission at the moment, like genuinely a mission.

Speaker 3 28:32

I woke up like probably two weeks ago just pissed off. I was like we're in a shit economy, let's not sugarcoat it. That same day I saw this person put in like a business group on Facebook like oh, don't hang around. The naysayers that are like pulling down people and making them, you know, feel like the economy is bad. I'm like the economy is bad, like they are not naysayers and you've just invalidated absolutely every single person in this group that has written in the last few weeks. They're closing their business because they can't get sales. So I'm on a real mission to absolutely undercut anyone that is giving really bad advice and or saying really detrimental things that aren't helpful right now, and just get good information out there and say things like you know, call it out. So I think I'm on a mission.

Speaker 3 29:16

At the moment, my strategy is honesty, like I'm flat out just at the moment on a band of honesty. I'm really pushing people towards working on their strategy. Yep, and I do that through LinkedIn, through my Instagram channel. My Instagram is just my ranting channel now. It's literally I feel like it's become more of a personal playground of me just going like guys, this is what I saw that pissed me off today and I'm going to talk about it and talk loudly. And then I always have my email that goes out weekly, which I get. I just have fun. For me, my marketing is really about reminding people that if you started a business, it's hard enough. Have a bit of fun.

Speaker 1 29:52

Yeah.

Speaker 3 29:53

You know, and especially at the moment, like I just bring the most ridiculous personal stories into mine. But it's very different because mine is a personal brand. Obviously, when I was in Plum, it was really and that's probably why, to be honest, I felt probably I've never felt an emotional attachment to Plum. Even I had to close, like well, I didn't have to close it, I chose to close it. But even when I moved away from the agency model, I was like, oh yeah, like, but me, obviously, I feel like I have personal attachment to me.

Speaker 3 30:17

Yes, I'm all about kind of having a bit of fun at the moment and you know I don't.

Speaker 3 30:21

I, interestingly enough, I am getting quite a few leads through Google at the moment because I'm, you know, I've really remastered my website because I know I was looking at languaging.

Speaker 3 30:30

So I went on a bit of a mission to understand what people were saying when it came to like strategy, because marketing strategy is a really interesting thing to try and sell, because it's not the execution yes, I have all the execution buddies that I work with and I help businesses too but actually marketing for a strategy and educating the market that you can't go to an agency without one of these and no agency is going to look at your strategy as a whole in with your business strategy, including the people that work in your business, if you have that. So I saw a bit of a gap in the market and thought, well, that's what I did in corporate, so I'll do it here too. But yeah, my strategy is really at the moment just about kind of calling it out, uh, having a bit of fun and, like you know, just fighting the good fight and I think you know I mean, right there, you've said it that's it's that's unique to you.

Speaker 2 31:21

Yeah, so, and that's one of the things that's just so important, and I think you're right. I mean, I think we're all a bit tired of things being sugar-coated. You know, I did a call last week with a big group of well, they were a really eclectic group of small business owners, but all creatives who had, you know, they all made the same comment about this idea of all the. You know, people are saying that the market's terrible, that you only have to turn on the news to see how bad business is, but they've been fed this diet of oh well, you just have to change the way you think about things. You know, just still increase your prices, don't worry about it, just keep leaning into the same market that you've been leaning into.

Speaker 2 32:11

And one of the girls said to me and that's what we've been doing, we've been following this advice, but it's not working. We've put our prices up, we're leaning in to our people, but we're not getting any customers and we need to feed our children. I sort of had a completely different take on that. So I think, yeah, you have to address that elephant in the room. I mean it's. You know it will change, but right now where we are, it's about being honest, it's like I honestly don't understand.

Speaker 3 32:39

Like, when it comes to the pricing thing too, I get really like this. Really, this is the pet peeve of mine too, because, like, pricing is a fun one of the fundamental piece of marketing because it actually doesn't come back to what you want. It comes back to what someone's willing to pay and unless you are a Prada or a Rolex and you have let's not forget, they have if you've got big capital behind you, go for it, because your branding and your campaigns that you're going to need to grow your brand to that level and, you know, even come out of the gates at that level. Or, like you know, maybe you'll be a white fox, for example, and just have viral success because you tack on to an influencer which, by the way, costs money. If you have capital behind you, go for it, a hundred percent, go for it. If they've got buying and they want you to spend a million dollars on your marketing, yeah, you will do epic stuff. There's no doubt in my mind. You it doesn't economy regardless, right, but but for the rest of us that haven't got, you know, we're not a bloody startup tech firm and we're not. We don't have that idea, that of the canvas of the world, or, you know, for those people, I think the reality is your market is going to tell you where you price. Yes, you have a little bit of flexibility in that, in that you know if you're going as a premium or you're going as like. But if you want to market as a premium product, yeah, you're going to have to really go after them. And right now, your premium people, they're probably a bit hurting too. So understand that.

Speaker 3 34:09

This concept, this narrative of raise your prices, raise your prices. You've got a, you've got a. Um, you know you've got an income problem. Just raise your prices. You need less leads. If you raise your prices, I just think it's damn right, dangerous. And if you haven't got research to back up you raising your prices, I don't care if you think you're worth a million dollars now, no one's going to buy it and that's just the reality. Like it's the same as selling a house. It doesn't matter how well you market that house. If it's the best house in the worst suburb, it's still only worth the best house in the worst suburb. Yeah.

Speaker 2 34:41

Yeah.

Speaker 3 34:41

You know, like it's just at the end of the day, if you're not selling in Mossman and you're not selling, who's the guy that's selling his house right now for 25 mil or whatever it is. Maybe it's more 200 mil, it was 200 mil Aussie home loan guy.

Speaker 2 34:54

Aussie home loan guy yeah.

Speaker 3 34:56

You know like the market has told him he can sell his house for 200 mil. But I think you know we think of our own businesses differently to selling a car or selling a house, but it is fundamentally exactly the same. So I really urge you not to fall into that narrative. Do your research and don't undervalue yourself by any means. I'm not saying to do that, but if you've done the research and you know where the market's willing to pay, otherwise, yeah, you're not putting food on the table, and that's the scarier part.

Speaker 2 35:22

Yeah, exactly. Now, what is one piece of advice that you could give to listeners who are now feeling inspired to get started with their marketing or to re-engage in their marketing?

Speaker 3 35:35

Do it, no, I think yeah, just do it. No. The thing, I think start with the foundational stuff. Give yourself a really good go at, because even if okay, so even if you don't have all of the time or the money in the world to do all of the research and tell you all of the places you need to be, start somewhere. But start with a basis of yeah, I've gotten good. Like, start with a little bit of research of your own, ask questions, set up the foundation stuff, because then you can treat it like a science experiment. Yeah, is it working? Is it not working? Have a bit of fun, be a bit curious. Is it working? Is it not working? Have a bit of fun, be a bit curious. Go outside your comfort zone. Try not to.

Speaker 3 36:13

I think we're overwhelmed with information now. As beautiful as it is that we can all get educated, be really careful about how many different sources you're getting information from, because it's just going to confuse you. Like the amount of people I sit down with for like a strategy session, like Bec, I've read this, done this, I'm doing X course, x course, x course. I'm like, wow, your brain must hurt. So you know, come back to the foundational stuff, really understand why you got into business, what it is that you're selling, who you're selling it to, all of those foundation stuff.

Speaker 3 36:43

And then, for the love of God, do not fall into the trap of like requiring instant gratification. It's going to take time If you don't have those huge budgets, which is okay, you don't have to, but just know it takes time. You need to be bored. You need to have said the same thing 15 times. Your audience does not see everything you do, so please give yourself some. Have some patience. It's annoying. It's so annoying. I hear you. We all want the instant gratification, but sadly, if you, you know, and you're better off starting today than in three weeks, when you're three weeks more behind, right?

Speaker 2 37:17

Yeah, exactly Great advice. Strip it back, get back to basics and stop wasting time on things that just aren't going to help you get to where you want to go right Now. You've been in business for a long time now. When you think about your business and you sort of think back, what have you found to be the secret, or the secrets of running a successful business?

Speaker 3 37:37

I think it's really understanding. Like I had this thought last night, actually, because I had an interesting email in my inbox waiting for me last night when I logged on a Sunday night which was stupid. I don't normally do it and I thought to myself I had the moment of imposter which we all get. You know, it doesn't matter how long you've been in business, you're going to get it. And I thought to myself okay, Bec, was that did making that decision to do that work? Did it align with the work that you're actually really, really good at and that you enjoy? And also, was that business owner also excited about their own business?

Speaker 3 38:14

And I was like it didn't tick all my boxes, it wasn't the way I normally work, it didn't excite me in the way that I want to be excited because, at the end of the day, like business is hard. So I think being obviously it's different in an economy like this, where you get into that, oh, I've got to say yes to everything. And look, I think that you probably do have to say yes to some things at the moment that maybe you wouldn't have normally done, like, I think, the old you know saying of only accept the jobs you want. I think at the moment, like, the reality of that is, there's going to be some stuff that you're going to do, that you're like oh, you know, I agree with you.

Speaker 3 38:47

Yeah, stuff that you're going to do that you're like oh, you know, I agree with you, yeah, and, I think, being realistic about where you're at in your business, understanding those things.

Speaker 3 38:53

For me it was like, yeah, okay, I don't regret what happened, I don't regret saying yes to that money.

Speaker 3 38:59

It wasn't the normal thing I'd go for but, yeah, it really makes me realize my strengths more, like take the lesson and understand yourself even better and be like, yeah, okay, like great feedback, get it. How can I improve in my business? So, getting really attuned to what you know, like I had a complete rebrand two years in and I think it was driven from the fact that I wasn't happy, like I think we don't get into business to be miserable and even right now, in the shittest economy, you can still be happy in your business. So, I think, really understanding, yeah, why you're in business and what makes you happy yes, as I said, there's going to be those things at the moment that you're probably going to say yes to that you would have before, like in you know, richer times. Being like, no, that's not my jam, but at the moment, you know, obviously still always try and do things that light you up and are in your skill set. But, yeah, just, I think, really understand what it is that brings you joy in your business.

Speaker 2 39:53

I think that's such good advice because I think, as you said, we didn't get into business to be miserable. We got into business for a whole lot of other reasons, and so if you can really sort of lean into that, understand what brings you happiness, then you're going to wake up every day excited about going to work, or most days, some days are going to be bad, but most days yeah, I have this saying and like people probably hate me for it and they're probably like, how does she?

Speaker 3 40:18

but I love Mondays, Like I really do. Like I love my work and I think I'm in such a position Like look, don't get me wrong, I still have hard days Like I still have cries I had a cry last night but like I still love what I do at the core of it. And I think, if I, you know, I didn't love when I was in corporate, so I created this business because I didn't. I did love what I did in corporate, but like I didn't love the structure of corporate and now I get to do what I did there in my own business, on my own terms, and actually walk into rooms where I can have real impact and like what a blessing, right. And I know that's Absolutely, you know, and I think, yeah, like it's stressful enough running a business because it is. That's not why you might as well bloody enjoy what you're doing Totally.

Speaker 2 41:00

That is an excellent way to wrap up this podcast. Bec, thank you for your words of wisdom. What is the best way for listeners to connect with you?

Speaker 3 41:08

Yeah, so you can find me Beck Chapel, and it's spelt like the cricketers, which I hope people know, but they probably won't, so I'll spell it out it's C-H-A-P-P-E-L-L. And yeah, you can find me on Instagram under that name. Facebook, and they're probably sorry, not Facebook. Linkedin Well, I'm on Facebook too, but LinkedIn and they're probably best way is to find me or my website, which is beckchapelcomau.

Speaker 2 41:28

Fabulous. Now, before we go, not letting you off that easy billboard with anything on it, what would it be?

Speaker 3 41:34

I'd love this question If I could have a billboard with anything on it. Look, to be honest, from a business point of view, what a boring answer. I would have something about my podcast, marketing Espresso. To be honest, yeah.

Speaker 2 41:47

I love my podcast. That's what you can have whatever you like on this billboard.

Speaker 3 41:54

Yeah, I want my faith and my podcast and be like have a cup of with me or have a coffee with me. Have a coffee with me, yeah.

Speaker 2 42:00

Mark people who want to listen to Bec's podcast. Thank you, my friend. Thank you, it's always a pleasure to talk to you. See you, bye. Thank you, it's always a pleasure to talk to you.

Speaker 1 42:08

See you Bye. Thanks for listening to the Secrets of Successful Business podcast. For more information on all things business, head to flossycomau and make sure you hit subscribe on the show so you don't miss another new episode. If you're enjoying the show, please give it a quick rating or review, share it on your socials or with friends who might enjoy it. Catch you next time.