The Visibility Impact Show: Marketing & Growth for Women Entrepreneurs

How to Simplify Your Marketing and Build a Genuine Connection Online with Berlyn Komar

• Crissy Conner • Season 16 • Episode 592

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Feeling overwhelmed by all the marketing advice out there? In this episode, I sit down with digital marketing strategist Berlyn Komar of Planted Marketing to unpack how solopreneurs can simplify their strategy, show up authentically, and build visibility without burning out. We dive into foundational brand work, the myth of needing to be everywhere, and how to make content creation actually feel fun. If you're ready for marketing that aligns with you, this episode is a must-listen! 

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Welcome back to the visibility impact show. Today we have an amazing guest. Her name is Berlin Comar and she is a digital marketing strategist, founder and all around marketing hype woman with over 10 years of experience helping small businesses grow. She knows how to build brands without sleazy tactics. Her agency planted marketing is all about helping purpose driven brands bloom. She is also passionate about helping solopreneurs. So she launched the greenhouse a marketing hub designed to help DIY marketers grow their businesses with confidence and way less stress. Berlin Welcome to the show today. well, thank you. I love pumping my clients up. I know you are a hype woman as well. So the more I can pump them up before we get this show started the better. so let's talk about how did you get into marketing? What's your background? Like, how did you get from where, whatever you were doing into marketing? Yeah, so I feel like a lot of us in this industry just kind of stumble upon it and that's what pretty much happened to me. So my background is in photography and I was working with a lot of small businesses back in the day when Instagram was just like posting little pictures. And so that also led to other small businesses being like, hey, can you do this for me in this on top of all the content creation? Um, so I really loved that. loved kind of like learning more about marketing and diving into that space and the opportunities that came with it. So I just taught myself everything and dove in and have been doing that for a long time. And then in 2020, I was able to go full time and launched my agency shortly after that. So one of the things that we talked about in our pre-interview was I was really interested in how you talk about simplifying marketing. So can we talk about like, did you feel at one time that marketing wasn't so simple and that's what led you to making it more simple for your clients? Yeah, so I love talking about simplifying your marketing because I feel like it's very overwhelming and anything that we don't know is overwhelming, right? So I work with a lot of solopreneurs still, like with the greenhouse that you mentioned. And with that, I just love teaching people to kind of like step back, look at the bigger picture, be authentic with yourself and like how you want to create content and just basically creating connections with your audience. I think it's very overwhelming to be a solopreneur, obviously, and do all the things. We have to learn so many things. Like we started our business because we like to do something, and then suddenly we have to learn our taxes and money and hiring and marketing and sales, and like it just becomes so much. So I love just kind of like teaching people how to make this process a lot simpler. Yeah, absolutely. So you, when you help business owners simplify their marketing and make it more fun, what does that look like in practice? Yeah, so it starts with a lot of foundational work. So there are things that you need to have to like get started with that, which is your website, you know, that's your always on at 24 seven hardest working employee. So it's really worth the investment to either have somebody do it for you or like the time investment to set that up correctly. And then that the next part is like your brand foundation. So your mission, your values, who you are as a brand and really taking time to dive into that. The next step is your target audience. So just knowing who you want to talk to, how you're helping them and like how you can, like what your transformation is for them. And then the last step to that is just your systems and automation. So just having everything really easy, ready to go. I think this is something that really evolves over time as you kind of learn, like you figure out better systems, but diving into that in the beginning really helps. a lot. So I would recommend focusing on those four main things. And then once you have that, like the ongoing marketing process I like to think about is just what do you enjoy doing day to day? So if you are going to be the sole content creator for your business, if you particularly, particularly if you're a service provider, you are going to be the one representing your brand. So it's really important to bring in that like authentic connection. So I love just to recommend, like, what do you like to do every day and how do you like to create content? So if you are a writer, you're going to be doing like blogs and newsletters. If you like to just talk to camera and like do things like this. So maybe you're doing podcasts or you're doing short form video reels and stuff. If you like to write and like design, so then maybe you're doing Instagram carousels and posts and things like that. But really just figuring out what it is that you feel called and enjoy doing because consistency is the most important thing and you'll only be consistent if you like to do it. Very true, very true. Can we talk about cutting through advice overwhelm because I feel like everybody has the way everybody has the platform, everybody has the tactics. And so what do you suggest when people are like, everybody's telling me to do something different? Like what would you say to someone who was struggling with that? Yeah, it is very overwhelming. I even get overwhelmed when I'm learning about things and like, what, how do I do this and this and this at the same time? so I recommend like spending time to learn obviously, but then also just like cutting out all the noise. You are a solopreneur, so you are not a marketing agency. It is very unrealistic for you to do all of the things. So that's why I like to say, find what fits you and then just be really consistent with that. feel like just think about how it feels when you hear certain pieces of advice. Does it feel aligned with you? Does it feel like something that you can do even? and then if it does feel like that makes sense for me in my business, then like, how can I leave that in slowly? How can I bring that into my system without like overwhelming things? but just being really, particular about the advice that you're bringing in and just knowing like, does this make sense for me? Yeah, absolutely. So I believe that visibility can look really different for everyone. So how do you help clients really defined what their version of visibility and showing up online is? I think it's important to, know, there's a lot of talk about AI right now. so visibility is very huge because we don't want to blend in. So we can tell who's using AI, everybody's sounding the same. so visibility and like authenticity is very easy to do. It used to be hard, right? And now it's just like simply showing up and being yourself. writing your own content, which is another thing that I think is important to talk about is when we think about marketing as a whole, it feels very overwhelming. And it's like, how can I write this? And then you start learning about like the sales and marketing psychology, and that's when it starts getting complicated. But these days, it literally is just you being authentic and just sharing your thoughts and sharing how things help in your own voice instead of using AI to write. So I love that. Visibility is actually my award of the year this year, so I think it's really huge to incorporate that and just be authentic online. It's as easy as that. Yeah, absolutely. Somebody I interviewed when we were talking about authenticity, she said some people struggle with that word. And she said, just be genuine. And I was like, that's like so good. Like, I love that. Because I do think that some people are like, what is it? What does it mean for me to authentic, right? And so being genuine, just means you're being real, right? And so I love that shift on that. So I always talk about that whenever authenticity comes up. Next question, you work with solopreneurs and people who want to DIY their marketing. What are the biggest mistakes that you see them make? Yeah, so where to start on that? I think the biggest mistake is it's really not taking time to build that like strong brand foundation. We get really excited and I'm definitely guilty of this. I'm on my fifth year full time and I'm literally just now doing my own strategy and I'm like, okay, this is obviously game changing. Why have I waited so long? But we get so excited. We want to dive in and we want it to like, we want it to be real. So we kind of forget about all of these foundational aspects until we're like deep in the weeds and we're like, my gosh, why haven't I done this or this and this? I think just really building a strong foundation, knowing your brand foundation or values and like mission voice, what you want to represent online, taking time to really dive into your target audience and you know, what are they searching for? How can you show up? meet them where they're at online and then connect with them, which again just goes back to that visibility piece and authenticity piece. And when people also think of brand voice and messaging, that feels overwhelming. But if you are just doing this on your own, think of it as talking to a friend. How are you explaining things to them? How can you just be conversational about it? And it doesn't have to be this deep process. Mm-hmm. So can you talk about the myth that you have to be everywhere to be effective? Yeah, I think that's very true. I do fall into that. I am everywhere. I make things very hard for myself. But that's not the case at all. The most important thing, again, is that consistency piece. people, the rule used to be like, you have to see something seven times before you're ready to convert or whatever. And now I think it's like a million times because we're just flooded with content everywhere. So I think you don't have to be everywhere. For my full service clients, do really have more of an omni-channel approach because there's a lot of benefit to it. But again, if you are doing this on your own, it's very not doable for you to be everywhere all the time. So just find the platform that you enjoy being on. If you like to make videos or you're on TikTok, or if you just like to talk, maybe you're on threads or Instagram. I've seen a lot of success from threads already. which I avoided until like just a month or so ago. But just show up where your clients are on one platform very consistently and you'll see the same results as if you're like everywhere. Yeah. So you said that showing up authentically can build a real engaged community. So what would you say that looks like in the day to day for somebody who obviously we're getting rid of the, you got to be everywhere thought process. But if they're really wanting to build this online business, what does it look like day to day? Is it take all day? Do they need to live on social media? What does that look like for them? Yeah, I don't think you need to live on social media. But I think that's also just a conversation with yourself. Like, what are my boundaries for social and how can I make this, you know, not ruin my life or my mental health? So what that could look like day to day is really up to you. Maybe you're showing up on Instagram stories. I think Instagram is a really good place to be like really diverse and build. Hit every stage of the funnel, like from brand awareness to like conversion. So you can be on stories a lot. That's a really great place to kind of like nurture your audience, get feedback and start conversations. You could spend time like messaging people. If you are a service provider, I think this is a really good strategy to just kind of like continue to nurture these conversations, chat with your target audience or chat with like good referral partners. For me, it's all about just keeping conversations going. I'm personally not like a big salesperson, which I think is my next hurdle that I'm working on myself. So I'm not really like a direct DM salesperson, but I do like to keep conversations going. And again, like, what does that look like for you is like for me personally, I go in in the morning. I respond to all these messages. I'll go through stories and respond to people or comments and things like that. And then I do it once again at the end of the day. And I'm not just like spending my entire day replying to people and like keeping that conversation going. So just find what works for you in your schedule, but definitely have like a time block maybe each day or every other day that where you are like engaging and interacting with people. Do you believe that visibility, and I'm going to say specifically video, but I'm open to hearing your, especially because you talked about AI earlier. But how do we create more visibility that leads to more connection with our audience, not just noise? Yeah, I am with you. I'm a big video person. think that's obviously where the most connections are going to come from is you making eye contact with people and speaking in them, hearing your voice and hearing the way that you say things, even your tone doesn't come across in captions and things like that. So I think that's the most valuable connection. But not everybody's super comfortable with that and there are ways to of like ease into that or again, like if you're not comfortable with that, maybe you're doing networking or some other way to make this like face-to-face connection. But I would say go for video, make it work for you. You'll get comfortable over time. It's definitely uncomfy at first, but yeah, right now everything, you know, We have Canva, which I love and I use all the time, but now everybody's designs look the same. Everybody's using the same templates and now everybody's using AI to write their captions and it all sounds the same. So there's really so much lost connection and I don't even feel like we're recognizing anymore. We're literally just scrolling. So it's all just a waste of time on both ends. So I think video is very huge for that and it's... worth overcoming that nervous feeling if you have it. Yeah, absolutely. So how would you say that visibility has supported your own business growth? Yeah, I would say I spent the last year and a half being more active. So in the first few years of my business, things just kind of came to me, luckily. And now it's time to put in that work and build connections. So I've been doing a lot of networking. I've been doing a lot more of my own marketing and showing up more on reels and podcasts and workshops and things like that. Just simply like not even about my business, having or like making clients, but just having those connections have helped so much in terms of like finding support for your business. I was just saying this earlier, like we feel very alone in business and we hear a lot like, you just have to do this on your own. You have to figure this out. But I think having a strong community, you're not alone. And there's a lot of people who will offer their support and like. guidance and it's not always like a paid situation but there are people willing to help you when building that community and it's really important I think. So what would you say to someone, specifically a woman who is listening and wants to be visible, but she feels maybe overwhelmed, afraid or awkward? Yeah, so that is me and it's definitely, I think like, you know, we go into business because we want to do things our own way. Like that's something probably we all have in common. And for us that also could mean like, I don't want to show up. Like it's very scary, right? And so we kind of go on this venture so we can do things our own way. But the reality is, you have to show up and owning a business will be the biggest personal development journey you're gonna go on and whether you're ready or like it or not. As I mentioned, yeah, I really started putting myself out there and it was very uncomfortable and very cringeworthy. I started doing monthly workshops last January as well. I will never watch those replays. I'm sure they're not good. So I think just like knowing or just committing to the process, knowing it's going to be uncomfy, but it really does get better and it gets better quickly. Like I'm very introverted. I'm not a teacher. I'm not a speaker, but I really like it now. Now have I been in like an in-person networking thing? No, still working on that. think I think I'm an introvert too. And I think we should consistently be stretching, like pushing our edges like, okay, this is comfortable now, but what's the next thing that I can do? Yeah. And what do you think is your next thing? so I get to do more in person where I'm not the speaker, because when I'm the speaker, I walk in very differently than if I walk in just like a net like in a networking event. So I will say this, as an introvert and somebody who's on video a lot, walking in a networking events locally is a lot easier than it used to be because people know who I am. And so they start the conversation. So there's no because I'm socially awkward. Like if I don't know anyone, I'm just like weird. I'm such a weirdo. That's just the truth. But when I walk in and they're like, my God, I follow you on Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn. And it's like, boom, instant connection, because you know who I am, you know what I'm about, if you follow me and you see my videos. And so so but it is going to more networking events that people probably wouldn't know me. Because I do get to get outside of my comfort zone. And I do think that there are multiple ways of getting visible, like we said, like video, but also in person, like in person is just a different connection. And it is a way to get visible. Sometimes it's a one on one visibility. And sometimes it's one to many. But yeah, more in person, getting over my awkward conversations, I even online getting in like an online networking group where I don't know anyone because I still struggle with introducing myself, even though I've been doing this since 2016. I still like, that is the most awkward question you can ever ask me. What do you do? And all of a sudden, every insecurity that I have in my life bubbles to the top. And that's what I start thinking. Yeah, I think that's really... I love that you said that. Like, it's been almost 10 years and it never... like, there's a point where it kind of like never gets easier no matter how much you practice. So I think like even just knowing, okay, everybody else is also uncomfy, that makes it easier too. But yeah, it never gets easier. That's funny. I have the same thing. Like I'm not going to go to in-person events because it's weird for both of us, right? I'm weird. I'm making you weird. Like let's just pass. But yeah, I think it's cool. Like people should talk more about how uncomfy it is because that just makes it better. It makes it more comfy. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, so let's shift gears for a second and let's do some fun rapid fire questions. So my first question is, is there a book or a podcast that changed your life or perspective about something that you'll never forget? Man, that's tough. I read a lot. I read like over 10 books a month. I can't even... That's a tough question. Okay, okay. Is there one you read this year? Let's see like business related Hmm that feels like it's shifted your perspective or changed something that you did? I know that's not supposed to be a deep question, but I'm like trying to cycle through all my books. I don't know why this is the one coming to mind, but I just read Light Eaters. It's about plants. It has nothing to do with what we talked about, sort of. If you haven't read it, it's about how plants evolve and know things and pass things on to their generations. And I think it's just really insane. And I think... It is really cool. It kind of ties back to this because it's about how like, you know, we don't really see a lot of things and there's still a lot happening behind the scenes. I don't know. I think it's a cool book. Not related to this at all, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. what is your favorite way to like reset or reset your energy? Mm-hmm. I just love to go outside and touch grass. I think we're just stuck inside a lot and that's a that's a good way to just get right to it. I love that. So good. Do you have a guilty pleasure? I was going to say TV show, but maybe even guilty pleasure book that you've read. Yeah, TV show yeah, I'm definitely I mean TV world I'm a reality person I love like married at first sight and like those very scary Married dating shows. I think those are just so crazy. So I love watching that I love it. What's your favorite platform? I spend a lot of time on TikTok, so I would say that's my favorite, and Pinterest, think Pinterest is huge. Pinterest is something I love talking about business-wise, because not a lot of people think about it. So probably TikTok and Pinterest. Okay. And then do you have a hype song that gets you maybe to help get on video or do something scary? Ooh, I do. I can't say it, say the name, but please message me if you're curious because it's a great hype song. I would love to send it to anybody listening, This is not hype at all, but I love to like listen to lo-fi or like jazz stations in the morning or as I'm working. It just like kind of puts you in this like elevated headspace and I love it. Okay, so I'm gonna ask you another question. And if your business were a plant, what kind of plant would it be? Wow, you think I would have thought about this with my theme going on, but maybe like a money tree? Ooh yeah, that's a good one. Yeah. is a good one. That is a very good one. I never even thought about that. But that is such a great response. I love it. Well, thank you for participating in the Graphifier round. It's just always fun to get to know my audience or for my audience to get to know you a little better. But where can people connect with you to learn more about you and what you do and how you can serve and support them? Yeah, thanks for asking. So you could go to plantandmarketing.com for like tons of resources. I have free workshops, I have free downloads. You can learn more about the greenhouse or I'm on every social platform as Plant and Marketing. So you can find me anywhere that you live and I will be there. Okay, I gotta ask really quick, where did planted marketing come from? Because obviously you said you read a book about plants. So I gotta know like, this just a path in Yeah, so plant and marketing came to me because when I started all of this, I was working with brands who people would come to me with their idea and be like, what do do now? So I was building everything from scratch and I was planting their roots and that kind of stuff. And then I just stuck to the bit and named the greenhouse, my community, the greenhouse, and that's my whole vibe now. I love it. love it. So on where you said for everyone to go and we'll put all these links in the show notes. So no worries. Is there like a free resource or something that you want to share? Yeah, so if you go to my website and go to the small business resource page, there's tons of free resources. But what people love the most is the Airtable social calendar template. So if you're struggling with everything that we talked about today or just kind of want more structure with your ideas and kind of getting them all together, I have a template for you on Airtable, which is another one of my favorite free platforms. even if you just kind of want to To learn more about Airtable, that's a good place to get started too. Is there anything else that maybe we didn't talk about or you'd like to reiterate for my audience today? Yeah, I would say I feel like we did a really great job and covered a lot, but I would just remind people to kind of zoom out. Remember, remind yourself that what we're struggling with are really not big issues and it's always great to like have maybe a person that you can brainstorm with and talk to because just kind of speaking about things and getting feedback from somebody getting out of your perspective. we'll get you over like any hurdle. So that's what I would say. Just remember nothing is that crazy. Nothing is that serious. And we can do this together. I love that. That's so good. Berlin. Thank you so much for being a guest on the show. If you are listening to this episode, and you love what you heard today, make sure you share this episode with someone you know, make sure you connect with Berlin and the links that we have in the show notes and reach out to her connect with her on social media and give her a loads of love, because we love to fully support our guests on this show. So thank you again for listening and stay tuned until the next time.

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