Intuitive Marketing Podcast

#3: Unlocking Consistent Visibility - Overcome Marketing Anxiety and Grow Your Business

• Chelsea Fournier + Meg O'Neill • Season 1 • Episode 3

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Overcoming the fear of being judged and embracing authenticity can transform your marketing approach. During Meg’s first solo episode, we promise to unpack five actionable strategies that will simplify your content schedule and help you maintain visibility consistently. 

Whether you're leveraging social media or engaging in-person, you'll find practical advice to align your efforts with your energy and time. Meg offers a fresh perspective on selecting the right platforms and activities to showcase your expertise, ultimately growing your brand and income.

Embrace authenticity and high-impact activities with Meg as she shares her personal journey of managing the anxiety of being seen and misunderstood. Learn the secrets behind amplifying your reach through collaboration on social media platforms like Instagram. 

Meg’s candid stories and self-care techniques provide a blueprint for pushing your visibility boundaries, allowing you to form deeper connections with your audience. 

Dive into the 3 journal prompts that will have you exploring your own excitement and limiting beliefs around visibility to unlock a next level of consistency for your marketing presence.

Ready for Support from Meg & Chelsea?

👉🏼 Looking for the Intuitive Business Community? Visit www.joinibctoday.com for all the details. We're here to help you step into bigger visibility. Bolder opportunities and greater impact with three coaching calls a month, hands on feedback, and a powerful network of like minded women.

👉🏼 We can take a deep dive into your client journey or your visibility strategy and show you exactly what's working, what's not, and how to fix it. Ready for clarity and a plan that actually works book your audit today at www.intuitivebusinessbydesign.com/audit

👉🏼 Explore the services offered by our marketing agency Intuitive Marketing Collective and request a free Discovery Call to explore how we can support your business. Go to www.intuitivemarketingcollective.com

👉🏼 Follow the agency on Instagram to continue to conversation beyond the podcast @intuitivemarketingcollective

Want to connect more with the hosts?

Follow Meg on Instagram @megoneill10

Follow Chelsea on Instagram @intuitivebusinessmentor...

Speaker 1:

Do you have a love-hate relationship with showing up to social media? Do you get super nervous about networking events? I totally get it, and in this episode I'm going to talk to you about the top five things you need to do in order to get consistent with your content and show up and be visible in your business. I'm going to weave in a little bit of mindset around visibility and we will talk about how to create safety in your nervous system to allow you to be consistent. Hey there, friends.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Intuitive Marketing Podcast, where we ditch the bro marketing BS and bring you big sister vibes instead. I'm Meg and this is Chelsea.

Speaker 1:

Your new biz besties.

Speaker 2:

We met on TikTok in 2023. Fast forward to now and we have teamed up here to guide you through the wild world of marketing your business with heart and soul.

Speaker 1:

Are you feeling lost or overwhelmed, maybe unsure of your next steps, but you have a big vision of where your coaching, healing, speaking or writing career could be in the next five years, 10 years. Don't worry, we've got your back. We'll help you tap into your intuition, build a brand that lights you up and leverage proven marketing strategies to grow towards a six or even seven-figure business in a way that won't make you cringe.

Speaker 2:

We're actually here to help you bring the magic back into your marketing.

Speaker 1:

Because marketing should feel good, not gross.

Speaker 2:

Grab your favorite drink, get comfy and let's get started.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so this is my first solo episode. It's Meg and I'm going to talk about all about content, creating content in a simplified manner and showing up, being visible, because what you have to offer the world is so valuable. What holds us back oftentimes is our fear around showing up, being consistent on social media, doing video. Things like that really get in our heads because of the conditioning program, things that have happened to us throughout our life. So what does it mean to be visible? If you are a personal brand, visibility is inevitable. You have to show up in some way or another. Now, I'm not saying you have to show up on social media all the time. You don't have to be writing newsletters five days a week. You have to figure out what feels good to you, where you can also push your edges around visibility, so that you can expand, so that your brand can grow, so that you can get in front of new people that need your work, that are going to be so helped by what you put into the world. But the thing is it can be hard. It's a simple thing, right? I can say just show up on social media, just be more visible. But there's things that stop us. There's programming that stops us. There's that fear that the other moms at pickup are going to be talking about you behind your back saying who does she think she is making those videos? You don't know how often I hear that. So if that is you, I totally understand. I've been there. I get it. We all have those periods in our business where it feels really scary. We are not used to the human brain is not conditioned to say like 5,000 people are going to be watching my video, right, we're used to being in communities of five, six people, but now with the internet, we can start a video and have a platform of thousands and thousands of people watching us, and that can feel really scary sometimes. So I want to talk about these five different ways that you can kind of help yourself get more consistent, because I can give you every plan in the world. I actually create content for people. It's all done, the captions are done and everything, and still sometimes they don't post because they are nervous or scared or whatever it might be. So even with the best systems in place, you have to also work with your mindset and feeling safe in this visibility.

Speaker 1:

So my first tip is looking at what you're already doing and trying to push your edges around being seen. If you are like oh Meg, I am so consistent on Instagram, I'm there creating content three days a week. Consistent on Instagram. I'm there creating content three days a week, but I'm still not drawing in the content, drawing in the customers, the people that I want in my business. So I'm going to say look at that, and where can you push your edges? Where can you show up and be a little bit more visible? Maybe it is joining a in-person networking group. Like I'm not always going to say you have to be doing doubling down on social media. I think it's really important to be aware of your energy, what you have time for and what feels good to you. So I know that I can't do a ton of in-person networking just because my time is so limited. So I love the fact that I have the internet and I have different channels in which that I can amplify my visibility. I you also have a suite of a bunch of different offers.

Speaker 1:

Oftentimes we feel really overwhelmed when we're creating content because we're like but I'm not talking about my other offers, I'm only talking about this. This might be so boring to people. The thing is that oftentimes, if you are visible enough, people will say, okay, hey, meg, I'm not interested in this program that you're doing right now, I already have that all settled but I really want one on one. Do you do that? So, just being that reminder, showing up in some way or another whether it is networking, whether it is on Instagram or on TikTok you're reminding them that you are here, you are a thought leader, you have what they need in order to make the transformation that they're looking for. Try to just be aware of where is a place that you can go to grow your visibility, because when you do that, you are going to grow your brand and, in turn, you're going to grow your impact and your income. So number two is creating a simplified schedule. I think what happens is oftentimes, when we are creating content and we are trying to be more visible, we get overwhelmed because we're like okay, I have to show up five times a week on Instagram, I have to show up five times a week on Facebook, I have to show up, and then now we think we're creating a hundred pieces of content for a week, and that's not necessarily the case. I think it's important to find a theme for your week. So let's go with visibility. I'll make my theme for the week visibility and teaching people about that this week. So I will look at I want to.

Speaker 1:

On Monday, I want to share an education post. How is that going to be the most impactful? Maybe I'll do that in a reel and I will put a little education around visibility. How can I now repurpose that? Whatever I wrote for that caption or whatever that's going to go on top of that B-roll video, I could then use in my email newsletter. Here's another way of getting visible. Then I can take that and I can put that into a LinkedIn post and then I could take that and put that into a Facebook post. It's all of the same writing, but it's creating this omnipresent visibility that you have. So across channels, people are seeing you.

Speaker 1:

Now, most of you are experts in a field somewhere. You did not start your own business to become a content creator necessarily. So hearing me say, oh, I could then post it on LinkedIn and Facebook, that could feel really overwhelming. So if that's you, that's okay. Look at it and say what's one thing that's going to push my edge but not feel completely overwhelming. So maybe if my topic for the week is around visibility and I'm already consistently posting on Instagram. I know that when I go to my networking event I can bring up how I help people with visibility and give them one way in which they can work with me around that. So there's pushing your edge right there. You're not completely overwhelming yourself and you are getting out in front of more people. So in my future episode solo episode I'm going to talk, I'm going to go dive really deep into content systems and how I simplify it for myself and my clients. But overall, what I do and what I try to teach people is look at your content pillars. So that's three to four areas of content and topics that you are running throughout, all of the things that you talk about on social media, in your email, how people know about what you stand for, who you are and what the transformation is that you can provide for them. Then I look at the days of the week and how I'm going to post.

Speaker 1:

I am somebody that does content still fairly unorganized if you're looking at it from the outside. I don't program my content. I like to create for my personal brand, especially on the fly. I really like to be in the energy of the moment. But I know that on Wednesdays I want to share a picture of myself and then tell a story about the transformation that I've had showing up online. So every Wednesday is going to be a picture of myself and a story. So if you look at the week that way and you have your education day on Monday, you have your inspiration day on Tuesday, you have your selfie or storytelling post about yourself on Wednesday. Thursday maybe it is a meme or something relatable Friday it's all about your freebie every week. If you just look at it and break it down that way, you will feel more organized and that's gonna give you a better chance of showing up and being consistently visible.

Speaker 1:

So number three is to get realistic and strategic about your visibility. So realistic means many of us come into these businesses and think, oh my God, I have to be everywhere all the time. A lot of people say to me that like Instagram feels like this weight on their shoulders and I'm like why? Instagram does not have to feel like a weight. You do not have to put the pressure on yourself to show up on Instagram five days a week. It's not going to necessarily move the needle as much as we think that it will. If you think about 50 years ago, if you had your own business, we didn't have social media right, but they had successful businesses. So it is okay to release that weight and say this is end all you. We didn't have social media right, but they had successful businesses. So it is okay to release that weight and say this is end, all be all. Instagram is a wonderful free tool that we can use, but it's not the end all be all. So get really realistic. It's not. You don't have to pressure yourself to do these amazing, crazy thesis statements that are like pages and pages long on your Instagram. It's make it light, make it fun, be who you are.

Speaker 1:

The more that you could show up as you on social media, saying the things that you really love in your industry, the things that you're really passionate about, and then also saying the things that you really don't like, the things that really piss you off, the things that get. That is what's going to convert into raving fans. Less about spending so much time putting a ton of research and information. That is important. I'm not saying totally abandon education content, but being strategic about how you show up and be visible is going to be a lot more potent. So that's where I want you to look at. How can I really take a stand on something in my industry? How can I get comfortable to the point where my nervous system feels safe enough to share the things that I really believe?

Speaker 1:

I was recently in the Functional Nutrition Academy teaching about social media, and we were talking about what are some of the topics that you feel so passionate about, but you're scared to say so. In the nutrition world, that's usually things like weight loss, ozempic. These are hot topic things that you can talk about from a very educated perspective, but oftentimes we back away from them because we're scared of what other people are going to think. Perspective, but oftentimes we back away from them because we're scared of what other people are going to think. My call to you I would really urge you to look at where can you talk about these things in a way that feels safe to you, because that's going to up your visibility, that's going to get people to engage, they're going to share, they're going to DM you about it more, and your time is going to be so much better spent if you do that. So the other way that you can get really realistic and strategic is. Maybe you look at your schedule and you say that in-person networking events or online networking events are where you want to get more visible this quarter in your business Like you feel like that's where you're having the most impact. Then make sure that you're scheduling one day a week where you do your networking, where you and then you can release that weight, that you don't have to worry about posting all of what you were posting in the past on social media, because you know that you are going to be visible in different ways. So I think it's also really important to look at the strategy around when and where you're being visible and how that aligns with your goals.

Speaker 1:

So, if you were in a current season of like, you have a really warm audience on Instagram and you have been nurturing them for a while. They really understand what you're doing and you're like I really need to grow, like I really need to get in front of new people. So where would you do that? Spending time hoping and wishing that you go viral on Instagram is a lost cause. It might happen, it might not. That's not where you should spend your energy. You should look at where are some other awareness platforms or other ways that I can get visible, and I would really encourage you to look at TikTok as an awareness platform. That is where people are going to search how to heal my diastasis recti Is that how you say it? I don't even know how to say it, how to create a content system, how to get pregnant when I've been trying for nine months already. That's where they're going and if you have the solution for them, I would really encourage you to try creating some content around that, because it's a great awareness platform. How's an? If you're like no Meg, I am like so anti TikTok, okay, so let's talk through that.

Speaker 1:

Where's another way that you can gain more awareness? If you are going to spend time on Instagram, then I would really encourage you to do more collabs with people. Reach out to people who have a similar audience to you and ask if you guys can do live video on Instagram together, because that's going to then push you out in front of new people. So you see where we're being strategic here. We're looking. Okay, I am in a season of growth. How am I going to grow? I'm going to do X, y and Z and then I'm going to release that guilt of feeling like I have to be creating content all of the time on every platform, because you will burn yourself out and you're not going to create a sustainable system.

Speaker 1:

So number four is to spend time on activities that are going to have a larger reach. If you are looking at, okay, I'm just trying to stay afloat on Instagram and I'm creating these images on Canva and they're quotes from other people. I'm just doing it to put something up there, but I'm spending an hour a week doing that. I'm going to tell you that. I would rather see you not do that and spend one hour doing a live video with somebody who has a similar audience. That is going to have a better return on investment than if you're doing things just to do them right. So if you're just putting up, it's just not going to get the connection and the engagement that you hope. So I'd rather you look at your calendar and say, okay, where can I push my edge a little bit? I know I'm just like creating these because somebody once told me to and I just want to pop up on people's feeds. Instead of spending that time doing that, I would rather, you see, I would rather see you write like a really potent email to your email list including a picture asking them to write back, or doing a live video or trying a new platform, because that is just gonna get a better return. You're just gonna see, you're gonna flex that muscle, you're gonna be doing something new, you're gonna be in front of new people or you're going to be just nurturing the people that are in your audience, like on your email newsletter, on a deeper level, and that's going to go further in the long run for you. Finally, the last step, or the last tip that I would give you, is to flex the visibility muscle, and I this has been a thing for me for my entire career and my life.

Speaker 1:

I am I'm a very visible person, even in person. Physically, I am a large person. I'm six feet tall, I am over 200 pounds, I take up a lot of space and I had to get comfortable with that. When I walk into a room, people notice I'm usually the big. I'm even bigger than a lot of people that I come in contact with. So I've had that throughout my life. But what I did see throughout my life, too, was the shrinking of my shoulders, trying to fit the very typical beauty standard, because if I was going to stand out. I was going to do it in a way that people expected and as I've gotten older that's something that I'd had to bring a lot of healing around. I had to take up space and be comfortable with that. Now I've let my hair grow gray. I've done things that kind of have pushed my edge. That's always. My personal goal is to see the places where I want to improve or grow and challenge myself in that area.

Speaker 1:

When I was starting my business and showing up on social media, I had a lot of different opinions but I was terrified to share them. I also share a lot from the lens of storytelling and my own personal experience. That's how I relate and write and feel like I can provide the most value. So I had some things that I was, you know, nervous to share or nervous to talk about, and they were personal and had nothing to do with my business. But I saw it as an opportunity that, if I can get really visible in this area, I knew that was going to help me flex that muscle and then show up even more authentically in other areas of my life and my business. So I had started a group called Bi Invisibility with my friend Rebecca, and it was all for people in hetero presenting relationships that were bisexual.

Speaker 1:

That was a terrifying experience for me. I knew that in order to get people to show up to the group, we were going to have to show, we were going to have to talk about the group and we were going to have to give an invitation of some sort and share, and that meant me sharing on social media. When we first did that, my nervous system was so activated. But this was also after years of therapy, personal work. I didn't push myself to share something that felt vulnerable until I did the work around, knowing that I could actually handle it and care for myself. Was it still scary? Yeah, it was terrifying, it was still very terrifying.

Speaker 1:

And after a few times of sharing some comments here and there, I would go to bed and then oftentimes, like my anxiety shows up in the middle of the night. So I would wake up and be like, oh my God, what did I do? So what I would do like the actual practice that I would do is I would put one hand on my chest, one on my belly, and I would breathe through it and I would use affirmations. I would say to myself you are safe, you are safe to be seen. You are safe. This is a simple practice, but it was like a reparenting right. It was like reparenting that inner child inside me that was like so nervous to be seen in that way, so scared of what other people were going to say. And the part of what really helped me was like my ability to look at my children and say what would I say to them? How would I like calm them down? And I would do that to myself.

Speaker 1:

And now I know that the risk of being canceled, the risk of people misunderstanding me online there is that risk that is going to happen. People are going to misunderstand my intention. But I have flexed the muscle enough to know that I can hold myself through it and breath work, hypnosis those are the tools that I personally use. Journaling we shared that. We grew our group and we, our page, grew to. I think it's like at 93,000. Rebecca runs it. Now I'm no longer running the page, but we grew to like over 60,000 people on Instagram in two or three weeks something insane and it really helped me flex the muscle.

Speaker 1:

So I'm not saying that you have to put your deep, dark secrets out on the internet. I'm just saying look at the places where you can challenge yourself, because what it's helped me do is I don't. I can say to everybody, I can tell you all of these tips and tricks and I can give you like a roadmap, but I want my example to be the thing that ignites in somebody else to say I can do it too. So I know that I have to be really embodied in my work. I have to really practice what I preach, because there's no quick fix to say, oh, this is going to be easy, just go out there and create a video and put it out. It's scary. It's scary to be visible at times. So I just try to challenge myself to be that example for people, because I've seen so many examples of women showing up authentically online and making just this incredible impact, and I want to be like that too. So that's like my driving mission. You might have a different driving mission, but just know that your visibility is like going to heal somebody else and that is so powerful to me.

Speaker 1:

So it's really important for us to prioritize doing this sustainably, doing it in a way that feels like you can keep doing this for the long haul of your business. So making sure that you are realistic about how often you can post. You don't have to post five days a week. You don't have to go to 25 networking calls Like where can you really go deep instead of going wide? And you can find that on social media. You can find different ways to go deep and not feel like you are just doing little bits of touches throughout. Really go deep with your Instagram audience. Let them know who you are, let them feel your authenticity. That's going to be much better than just like putting up graphics on five different platforms.

Speaker 1:

As always, we have homework for you, because I want this to be really actionable and the homework lies more around the mindset piece. We will challenge you to create more content, do more videos, but I want you to think about these few journal questions videos. But I want you to think about these few journal questions. You can take out a pen if you want. We'll put them in the show notes. But what does it feel like to be visible on the internet? And then, what does it feel like to be visible in networking groups? I want you to become really aware of what happens. Do you get really tight in the chest? Do you get you feel like your voice cracks? Or do you feel like, when I'm visible, I love it, I feel like the lights are shining on me and I'm so excited. Get really clear on what that feels like to you, because you will start noticing when you go to make a video oh, your chest is tightening. You can see where this pattern is happening and then you can interrupt it. You can work with your body. You can see where this pattern is happening and then you can interrupt it. You can work with your body. You can say, ok, I'm safe. I'm safe to show up on this video. I am safe from the comments that people are going to make. I can breathe through this. These are how you flex that muscle somatically to and train your body that you are actually safe in the experience.

Speaker 1:

What is what comes up for you around being visible, getting out there in a bigger, bolder way? How does that feel? Write through that. Maybe it brings up memories of something that happened in second or third grade. Maybe it brings up a comment that your spouse said to you. Whatever that may be, get really clear on that so that you could see in real time what might be holding you back. And then, finally, I want you to write five to 10 affirmation statements around. Showing up online Now, if this resonates with you, writing these every day when you journal can be really impactful, so some affirmation statements might be. I am safe to be seen. It's so simple. But reprogramming, retraining our brain in that way, using things like subconscious reprogramming, hypnosis around this, can really increase your ability to be visible and get in front of more people.

Speaker 1:

Some other statements that I like are like I am totally capable of handling whatever comes at me because I, like I've said, I have a real thing around being misunderstood. I hate being misunderstood, so I get fearful and I hold myself back from saying certain things because I'm like what if they don't understand me? What if I wasn't as clear as x, y and z? What if I put it? I'm getting to the point and I'm 41 like this has taken a long time. I'm getting to the point where I can say it like this has taken a long time. I'm getting to the point where I can say it's gonna land exactly the way that it's meant to and I can improve. I can make a mistake and I can show up and take responsibility for that mistake. Like I can assure myself that I am going to be able to handle it.

Speaker 1:

So if you do this homework, please reach out to me. I would love to hear what comes up for you. We are here to really cheer you on, walk you through and know that we're doing this too. I hope you found this episode of the Intuitive Marketing Podcast as inspiration to help you bring the magic back into your own marketing. Our goal is for this podcast to be a compass in the chaos. We know you get bombarded with information options and conflicting ideas out there on the internet streets. We hope you tune into the next episode, where Chelsea and I will be covering the very hot topic of burnout how we've been there, what we have done to get out of it and what we do to prevent it. See you next time.