Ditch the Vanity Metrics: Growing Your Business with Practical Marketing Strategies - Ep. 83

Ditch the Vanity Metrics: Growing Your Business with Practical Marketing Strategies - Ep. 83.

Link to The Showbiz Side Hustle Handbook: https://ln-k.me/clGQ

📖 SEO Guide: https://www.justthrivemarketing.com/google-business-profile-guide.

Welcome to the Showbiz Side Hustle Podcast, where today's episode features Ellie Hamilton of Just Thrive Marketing, an expert in marketing and social media for creative businesses. With a strong corporate background and a no-nonsense strategic approach, Ellie Hamilton brings much-needed clarity to the often overwhelming world of self-promotion for performerpreneurs. 

In this episode, we explore how performers can refine their marketing strategy, build an authentic online presence and turn visibility into tangible opportunities. Whether you're starting a side hustle or ready to level up, get ready for practical advice on nailing your ideal client, making the most of your website and social channels, harnessing the power of Google Business Profile and blending creativity with tried-and-tested business tactics.

Chapters

00:00 Ellie Hamilton's strategic marketing approach

04:00 Common social media marketing mistakes

08:15 Building a marketing strategy

11:02 Understanding SEO and sales funnels

14:57 Optimizing your Google Business Profile

18:02 Promoting the Showbiz Side Hustle Handbook

21:40 Networking and finding clients

24:09 Connecting with network and resources

📕  Buy The Showbiz Side Hustle Handbook: https://ln-k.me/clGQ

🎭 Join our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Performerpreneur

📕  Download our free guide - The Dream Big Workbook!: https://ln-k.me/GKCR

🎙️ Listen to the podcast: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2386041.rss

Connect with Nicole:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Performerpreneur

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/performerpreneur

Website: https://performerpreneur.co.uk/

#ShowbizSideHustle #PerformerBusiness #CreativeEntrepreneur #performerpreneur

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today I'm joined by Ellie Hamilton from Just Thrive Marketing, who specializes in marketing and social media for creative businesses. Now, Ellie is actually a really intentional part of my associate network because, unlike many of the experts I work with, she doesn't actually come from a performing background, and that's exactly why I wanted her as part of the Performapreneur Pivot Support Crew. Because as we know, as performers and creative entrepreneurs, many of us struggle to know how to promote ourselves and our businesses. It can feel uncomfortable, unclear, and if we're honest, quite cringe. But Ellie brings a completely different business-minded perspective. Her approach is no fluff, strategic, and rooted in what actually works. Cutting through the noise and helping performapreneurs show up clearly, confidently, and in a way that converts. So today we're diving into how you can approach marketing differently, build a stronger presence online, and start turning visibility into real opportunities. You are listening to the Showbiz Side Hustle Podcast, powered by Performapreneurs. Welcome to the pod, Ellie.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Thank you. That was such a lovely introduction. I don't think I've ever been introduced like that, so thanks.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

It's all true and it's all you, and I can't wait to get into this conversation because, as I said in the intro, even though performers and performapreneurs seem really confident and super excited to be on social media, it's actually all a guise. And we just need that no fluff strategic advice that I know you can gift us today in this podcast episode. Yes. Well, I'm gonna try.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I'm gonna try.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Well, listeners, hey, look, if you were listening to a past episode where we had the QA, you've already had a little touch of Ellie's magic and her straight talking, no fluff, really informed expert advice. So go back and listen to that. And I'm sure we'll touch on some more things today as well. Before we go there, Ellie, just give us a little background on who you are, your business, and um anything else you think the listeners should know.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Great. Well, uh my background is mainly been in um big corporate companies working in events, sales and marketing. Um, I've worked for a global investment bank, I've worked for a law firm, um, and all of which I've loved. And then I left that world to become a mum. And when my both my kids had grown up a little bit, I started doing some uh marketing work for friends and family. So um building some marketing strategies for them, doing some websites, uh, doing some social media, and it turned out I was actually pretty good at it. Um, so I thought I I should probably turn this into a business and then just Thrive Marketing was born, and it's been going now for two years. Yeah, two years. Wow, that's gone really quickly. Um, and I've been very lucky that I've uh had some great clients that I've worked with and continue to work with. So that's a bit about me.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Amazing, and as I said in the intro, that corporate knowledge is what we as performers and creative businesses are missing, and so it was strategic when I put you into the network of associates because sometimes we just need telling, we just need directing, we can do all the creative stuff in the world, but actually, if it's not landing and it's not progressing our businesses and our online presence, then it's all a little bit of a waste of time. What are you seeing when you're working with my clients, the performerpreneurs and myself? What are you seeing that we're that we're doing that we could kind of improve on or step away from or do better? Like, what is those things that we think, woohoo, we're we're doing another reel and we've got all our lovely colours, but actually something we should be honing in on.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

I think a lot of the time, sometimes when people are starting a business, they do, and especially if they are more from a creative background, they dive straight into thinking about their business logo, their brand colours, and they'll just start the business up and get on social media and they'll start doing some reels, but there's no clear um direction that they have, and they haven't nailed down into their niche of who they actually or who their target audience are. So I think that's what I do see quite a lot, and and some of the social media content that I see is there's no call to action. So you'll just see that they're posting stuff just for the sake of posting. And I think, and I understand why, because there's so much noise on social media of you've got to post consistently four or five times a week, so you can build um your audience, you've got to go viral. But it's not, I always say to my clients, it's not about going viral. It's much better to have you know an engaged social media following of say 500 people who are people that would buy your product or service than to have 5,000 people who are not gonna buy that product or service. So it's all about the engagement rather than how many views you've had, basically.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yes, and uh, you know, I am also hands up, um, a past version of me, those vanity metrics, they kind of they they fill our performer cup, okay? And it's not until you get a bit more understanding of how this is all gonna work in in terms of business that the vanitary metrics absolutely go out of the window, and we need to dial down on those smaller, more intense kind of conversions, and that's absolutely right. And you mentioned like who we're selling to, who we're trying to attract. Um, you and I know from the business world that that is our ideal client. Um, do you think that is a good starting point?

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yeah, I think when you're starting your side hustle, you want to think about what's your before you do anything, your brand, your logo, you want to think who is gonna buy this product? So I've got this service or product, who is it gonna benefit? How is it gonna solve you know a problem that they have? And instead of thinking, you know, I'm gonna sell to women who are between the ages of 25 and 45, that's not that's that's quite um, I can't think of the word now, but you want to dial down even further. You want to think of create a persona of someone, your ideal client persona, you know, you might have Barbara who's 35 and you know, she works in this profession. Where does Barbara hang out? Is she would she be on TikTok or Facebook or Instagram? Because then that's also important because that would tell you which, you know, where you could promote your product or your service, which platform. Um, you know, if you're doing something that's quite corporate, you might focus solely on LinkedIn rather than Instagram or Facebook. So having that ideal client persona before you do anything. And then once you've got that person, then you can branch out from that and you can think about your brand voice, where you're going to market your products. Um, and so I think that's that's more important than anything else.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

I agree, and you and I have worked on that as well, and so people might see a shift in my own kind of marketing material because of your support and your help and your expertise. So keep an eye on that, um, lovely listeners, and you'll be able to see how that is evolving for me as well. Um, and then within that, you and I worked on a marketing strategy, and that word sounds quite scary to somebody who isn't from a business background. So, are you able to just kind of bring together what that actually means, maybe in terms that a performer, a creative entrepreneur might understand? Because marketing strategy sounds quite scary.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

It does, and when you say that word, it's all a marketing strategy is it's just basically a roadmap of how you're gonna find your clients and your customers basically. Um, so you know, once you've thought about your ideal client, and then you're gonna build your brand, um, and you're gonna think about where you're gonna focus on selling your product or service, and are you gonna create your website? How's your website gonna look? What's the journey on the website gonna look at? Um, so from the point of someone, you know, as soon as you look onto a website, is someone visibly gonna see what you are, what you do and who you do it for, because that's the most important thing. I said this in some content the other week. There's no point on a website just having to welcome to and then whatever, whatever your business name is. Because unless it says, you know, if you're an actual plumber and you've said Joe blogs plumbers, yes, that that says what you do. But if it's just a generic name, that doesn't say anything to who your target audience is. So it's really important to say who you are and what you do on a website. Um, and within the marketing strategy as well, it's important to think what social media platforms are you gonna be visible on.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Oh my god, it's so resonating with me because it is just a step-by-step framework. That's exactly what you're saying. You just start at the beginning and you work through those steps to get to where you want to be. And all of those things that you've just said are absolutely key, but creatively they all feel like they need to be done at once, and then that can become overwhelming, and that's where someone like you takes us a step back, creates the strategy, holds our hand, works us through where we need to be. And then, listeners, obviously, you can now hear exactly why Ellie was handpicked to be part of the associate team, um because she has those skills and that expertise to guide us. So, moving on from marketing strategy, you mentioned websites there. To me, that feels really scary, but also really important, and many of us try to do that on our own, and we're probably falling flat at the first hurdle because we're trying to do that on our own, or do you think there's some systems that actually would work for us?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

I I'm listening I'm all for people building their own website, and there are some fantastic um, you know, thanks to AI now, it's it can be really easy just to build your own simple website, but then where people fall short is they don't think about uh doing the strategy in the website. So some people may have heard of the words SEO, some people think of it and think, oh, that's so scary, but it's not search engine optimization, and it's a massive part when you're building your website, and it's making sure that um say you have put the right keywords in your website. So if someone's looking for a specific, let's say someone's looking for uh a wedding photographer in London, and you've got to make sure that you've done the right keyword research and got that on your website. So if someone puts in a wedding photographer in London in Google, you want to make sure that your website lands in the Google search engine rankings. Now, I'm sure there's tons of wedding photographers in London, so there's a lot more to it than just that. But there's the the SEO strategy behind the website, and there's also thinking about the sales funnel as well, like from when people hit your website, what buttons are they pressing to get to you know, the product or service that you want them to buy? So the journey that the client is taking on the website to get them to actually buy your product or your service.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

So what problems, what mistakes are you seeing, not just in the performing arts industry, but just in websites in general? What are those really obvious things to you, those mistakes that are being made, that could be quite simply rectified?

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Um sometimes people to put can put too much copy on their website, especially their home page. Um and people a lot of the time will spend maybe five five to ten seconds max scanning your homepage to determine if they want to keep going through it. So, and also your call to action, so the buttons that people click on your website that lead them to the various pages is making sure that they instead of just putting click here, it's you know, why is that person clicking on that button to go to wherever they need to go? Those are probably the obvious ones.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

And in theory, the listeners today from our performing arts and entertainment industry background should be quite good at this if we get a little bit creative. There's this there's this synergy of the creativity and the strategy that could really work really well if we start to understand both sides of that creative and entrepreneurial coin. And I always say that I think performers make the best entrepreneurs because they have that creative bit that a lot of entrepreneurs don't necessarily have, um, and we can learn the rest or we can find the support for the rest. Um, it sounds to me like a landing page and call to action buttons that needs a little bit of personality, a little bit of creativity as well as the strategy.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

And you know, I think performers make great like starting a side hustle, they're great because they have the drive and ambition from being in that uh the performance world as well, because you've got that to have that tenacity, so um and they have the creativity to do it as well, it's just finding the strategy to go with it, and we're totally covering that today because I've got another fantastic strategy question, and you mentioned SEO and websites, we've talked about calls to action and the um ideal client avatar, but I know that you're a really big fan and strong believer that there's a step ahead of all of that that is really quite easy and free to get you noticed um in whatever industry, and that's our Google optimization.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Your Google business profile. So this is such a fantastic free tool for any business owner, um, and I find that a lot of people don't utilize it properly, and you can set it up, it probably would take you 20 minutes to set up, um, and it's fantastic for local SEOs. So, say if you are a dog groomer in uh, let's say Essex, and someone taps into Google Dog Groomer in Essex, having that Google Business Profile will help because if you just tap it in anyway, you'll see a Google Map pops up, and various business owners will pop on it, and that is essentially good Google Business Profile. But you can optimize it as well and treat it not like a social media platform, but you can add products to it, you can add events, you can add the service areas that you work, your business hour um hours, people can contact you through it. So it is a really fantastic tool to have, and I urge any small business owner to make sure that they set one up and optimize it properly.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

And this sounds like a lovely little time to plug that because I know you've got a freebie. So talk us through what would be inside that freebie so that anyone that wants to download it can go to the show notes and click um on the button to get that in their inbox today. What kind of things does that talk us through in that that free?

SPEAKER_01 16:21

It's essentially a step-by-step guide. So it goes through every step with you of what you need to do to make sure that your Google Business Profile is optimized fully, and you're utilising the tool as it should be used to help you get found on Google, basically.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

I've been talking to a lot of my clients recently about old forms of marketing. Um, so we're we're discussing kind of the the um virtual aspects of marketing, social media, website, Google, things like that. But what are your thoughts on that old fashioned leaflet magazine, you know, knocking on doors? What do you think there's a place for that?

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Definitely, I think for the right audience, and as it comes back to who your ideal client is as well. Um, and if you're you know, if you're thinking about maybe advertising in say a local community magazine that goes through every door in a certain area, and your your business is in that area, absolutely. Um, and even you know, I'm working with a client at the moment and I'm just about to do start doing some PR outreach for them. They are uh essentially a summer tourist destination, and I'm doing some PR for them to get them into local newspapers, and you know, that's a fantastic form of advertising. Um so you know, it all depends on who your client, your ideal client is, and that's why it's so important to get that persona done at the start when you're doing your business plan.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

So I think you would agree then that the main message for anyone listening that is starting or actually well down the line is to go back and double check who that ideal client is, do the work on ideal clients. And there's actually a chapter in my book, um, The Showbiz Side Hustle Handbook. So I'm just going to pop there, hold there for an advert, and then if you want to dial down and do more about Ideal Client, you can find that inside the Showbiz Side Hustle Handbook. If you're evolving from performer into entrepreneur, whether your Showbiz Side Hustle is just taking shape or already building momentum, this is the roadmap for you. The Showbiz Side Hustle Handbook is exactly what I wish someone had handed me when I started my business journey 20 years ago. Inside, I guide you through my performapreneur success strategy, including identifying your transferable skills, understanding your ideal client, positioning yourself as an authority in your niche, and building visibility so you can show up confidently and consistently. It's practical, it's honest, and it's written specifically for performers navigating the entertainment industry now and what lies beyond it. If you're ready to increase your income, support your industry career, and secure your future, grab your copy of my best-selling book, The Showbiz Side Hustle Handbook, via the link in the show notes below. Thank you and welcome back. We're talking to Ellie from Just Thrive Marketing, and we're covering quite a lot of ground here. Um there's we've gone from websites, SEO, ideal client, call to actions. And there's something that I want to touch on that you and I actually haven't spoken about, Ellie, personally, but I know you'll have some thoughts on it, and that is the AI searchability. Um, where do we, you know, where do we add that into our strategy?

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Um the that is a big question, and I think that's an episode in itself, because AI is just exploding everywhere, and I think you know, everyone uses it as a tool at the moment, and and I do. But in terms of um that you can make it so that your if you're if you've built a website, if you're building a website yourself, depending on what platform you're using, you can you know flick a switch essentially and say that you want your website to appear in AI um you know search platforms like ChatGPT and Claude, so it will pick it up. That's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Interesting. No, I yeah, it is a big topic. We do actually have Michael in the um associate network who is AI, so I'll ask him the same question, but I think you're right, it's just kind of all of these topics are so huge, which is why I, when I set up the Perform Empreneur Associate Network, made that decision to bring in all these people with these specialist skills and knowledge because I don't know everything, nobody knows everything. So for the listeners and for my community to be able to tap in and ask really specific questions to the exact person that will know the answer is um just an amazing facility that our community now has. So, with our community in mind, what would be your three top tips when working with us as a collective, as a um as a network, building their own business? We've said about the call to actions, we've said about the ideal clients, building visibility and the strategy, but which things do you know and can see that they can get on with straight away whilst their confidence and their knowledge is growing?

SPEAKER_01 21:40

I think if someone's building a side hustle and working on that from, you know, say it's it's someone working it from the offset, and that actually, even someone who's got their side hustle and been going for a while, um, you know, number one, who's your ideal client? Number two, I'm such a big believer in Networking, and I don't mean like the traditional sense of networking, it's a sense you know, tell everybody that don't be don't be worried about judgment. If you're starting a business, it's one thing I did, you know, I shut away Ellie who was worried about judgment from people she might know. And I just thought, I'm just gonna tell everybody that I've started a business, and that is how I got some of my first clients. Word of mouth is so powerful, and if you believe in the product and your service that you're offering that you're doing, you will find clients and then they'll recommend you to someone else. So, you know, WhatsApp, everybody, put it on your Facebook, put it on your private social media. Um, so that's the second one, and the third one uh just believe in in what you're doing and remember why you've started the business. And I know there are days when everybody, you know, even the most confident people get imposter syndrome, um, but just believe in the business that you're building, basically, and that it will be a success, and you're passionate enough about it, and you know, it will work.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

It absolutely will. I mean, we are seeing performers pivot with purpose and pride and getting the results that they deserve because of yourself, because of the community that we're building, because of the positive nature of what we are doing and supporting, and telling people it's absolutely possible. Ellie, it's an absolute privilege to have you on the team. Um, you are working with me on my own marketing and whatnot, and I'm super, super grateful for that. Ellie is open to any questions, listeners, on the QA um episodes. Go find it on the website, submit your question anonymously or not, and Ellie will answer it in a future QA um episode. You've also got an opportunity to be linked up directly to any of the associates through the website. Send me an email, I will personally introduce you, I'll make sure that you get seen and spoken to and supported in the way that you need. Um, and then you have Ellie's free um SEO, sorry, the Google Optimization SEO online, who knows what it's called in this in the call to actions below um in the show notes. So do go find that. And Ellie, just give everyone um your social media handle and websites in case they want to just can't wait and they just need to get in touch with you today.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

So, social media handle is uh at just thrive marketing and the website is www.justthrive marketing.com.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Super easy, super easy, super simple. Go check out Ellie and um keep in touch with us here on the um showbiz side hustle podcast. Ellie, it's been a privilege. Anything else you want to leave anyone with, or should we just get them to come find you?

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Uh no, just if you've been sitting on starting a business and you just haven't gone for it yet, just do it.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Life's too short. Just do it with just Thrive Marketing. Thank you so much. Big love. Thanks. Bye. Okay, guys, that's it for today. I hope you've enjoyed the show. Thank you for joining me here on the Showbiz Side Hustle Podcast. So until next time, please do take a little bit of action, that very first step, and make sure that you are doing something for you and your showbiz side hustle this week to move you forward and get you heading quickly and swiftly and strategically towards success.