Black Run Marketing

What happens when you think you’re ready to conquer the black runs… but can barely master the chairlift?

In this episode, Victoria shares how a ski trip turned into the perfect lesson on business growth... and why sticking to the “easy slopes” in your marketing keeps you stuck.

You’ll learn:

• Why comfy routines kill progress (and what to do instead)
• How to spot and swap old habits for smart experiments
• The truth about overthinking, excuses, and “planning without doing”
• How to build momentum that actually gets you down the mountain

If you’ve been coasting on the blue runs and you’re ready to tackle the black, this one’s for you.

Need more help?

Find out about Victoria's 12 Week Lead Generation Programme (ClientCREATION) here

Grab free templates, checklists and guides at allstarmarketingclub.com/resources - everything you need to market smarter, not harder.

About Victoria: Marketing Coach & Trainer Victoria Vickery serves up marketing advice with fewer buzzwords, more belly laughs, and stories you’ll never un-hear... because memorable marketing starts with memorable lessons.

For More Tales, Tips & Tangents: @victoriav1ckery

Transcript

A while back, my friend and I decided we would book a ski trip. And we thought we'd be zipping down the black runs in absolutely no time at all. But let me tell you, I think the best thing we managed to achieve was navigating the chairlift. And in this episode, I'm going to explain to you exactly why comfy routines are just not what is going to get you where you want to go. Welcome to what's that Got to Do With Marketing, where we start with a story you did not see coming. It might be fun, could be funny, or even a little bit frantic, but in the end, it will all make sense, leaving you with a takeaway a to do or a transformational way forward. And I'm your host, Victoria, and you, my friend, are here for unlikely lessons and unforgettable marketing advice. Just for small B2B expert led business owners. Let's get into it. This episode is called Black Run Marketing. Now, my friend and I, we decided to book a ski trip. And off we went to Andorra. After many, many, many trips to the dry ski slopes, we were doing pretty well, to be fair. And we thought as soon as we get there, we'll get on that snow. And surely everyone says it's much easier on snow. So of course, expecting to be carving up the mountains, having a whale of a time, zipping down the black runs, no problem whatsoever. However, the reality was quite different because we found it a little bit harder than we thought. You've got to carry your skis, you've got to navigate the dreaded chairlifts, you've got to try and slide your way around all of the other people on the mountain. So needless to say, it didn't quite work out as we hoped. And what we would do each day is get on chairlift, try not to fall flat on our faces, and we would ski down the other side of the mountain where we found a really nice pizza place. We would have a slice of pizza and a beer. We'd get back on the chairlift again up the other side and ski back down into our resort where we would hit the apres ski. So we probably got in no more than a couple of hours skiing every single day because like I say, it was very, very tough. So our main, I guess our main experience there, a little bit of skiing, a lot of beer, drinking and eating. So we, at the end of the end of the break, we were still trying to navigate the chairlifts, we were still chasing our skis down the slopes when one went in One direction and one went in the other. We were still finding it really difficult to get up out of the snow once we'd fallen over. It was all just a little bit like hard work. Now, what has that got to do with marketing? Well, the truth of the matter is, when it comes to your business, most people, most business owners, they stay where they are. They stay where they are, doing exactly the same thing that doesn't allow them to advance a little bit. Like me and my friend when we were on our ski trip. And that's great if what you're doing at the moment gets you the results that you want, but if it's not quite getting you what you need, you have to take more action. You have to do different things for new results. So really, my big thought for you here is if you're saying you want to grow and you're not growing and you're repeating exactly the same actions that you've always been doing and it's not working as well for you, then you have to consider doing new things for new results. Because let me tell you, I've heard so many business owners over time saying, well, we just always do it that way. Or, for example, they say we don't have the time to plan out our marketing and our sales properly, so we're just doing the best we can with the time that we've got. They also say, you know, we just need to get something out quickly, get it done, get. Get it out there without all of the proper thinking and just doing what they've always done. And they'll say, well, when things calm down a bit, we'll do a better job. But let's be honest, in your business, when was the last time things calmed down a little bit? We've always got a rather long list of things to get done, and it's never ending. You know, when you're running a business, the to do list never stops. So we cannot make these excuses. And if we are, then we're not moving forward. We're a little bit like me and my friend on the slopes, only doing what we've always been able to do and not advancing in any way. So I have some thoughts for you on how you can start to maybe put in place some new things in your business that will allow you to move forward rather than staying still. Now, the first thing I want to talk to you about is your old habits. So how about we think about old habits that we have? What are we doing time and time again that is not serving us? So with those old Habits, how can you turn them into smart experiments? Now, don't get rid of the stuff that you know is working, but instead let's start to incorporate some smart experimentation when it comes to, to your marketing activity. So this is about maybe increasing what you're doing at the moment and trying new things. For example, if at the moment you're doing social media and you're putting out the odd image and text here and there, how about we start doing either a little bit more of it or we start to incorporate some new types of format, start to do more video content, more reels, and see how that shapes up for you and perhaps the type of content that you're doing. Why not incorporate different types of content? So instead of perhaps the odd post about what you sell, let's start doing some stuff like behind the scenes. Let's do more about the types of questions that you get asked by your customers, the whole Q A thing, top tips, all of this great content, shake it up a little bit, do some new things, rather than just staying where you are right now. I would also encourage you to just think about new types of marketing. Have a little audit. What are you doing with your marketing at the moment and what new marketing channels could you perhaps use or start to create strategies for? Are you relying all on digital marketing? What could you do that's not digital, which is a little bit more traditional? Could you start thinking about events? Could you start thinking about networking? Could you start thinking about direct marketing? You know, good old snail mail. So have a little think about what you're doing right now and how you could try with some smart experiments to do some new stuff. So that's number one. The second thing is you undoubtedly will have some limiting beliefs that are holding you back. We've all got them. And I think half the problem is actually acknowledging that those limiting beliefs actually exist. So that's the thing here. And instead of thinking to yourself, I don't have enough time, I don't have enough resource, I have enough money, I don't know how to operate the tech and therefore I'm going to steal well, well clear of that. So instead of doing that, think about leaping into action and just getting on with it anyway. Prove yourself wrong. Because they are literally limiting beliefs. It's, it's not true. Whatever you're telling yourself is not true. We're all capable. We can all do those things that we want to do to move our business forward. So here's an idea for you. When it comes to these limiting beliefs, when you think I Haven't got time, I haven't got enough resource. I don't the tech. I want you to create an offer, a simple offer that you can send out via email, or even through DMS on LinkedIn, or even through email marketing, wherever you want to send it out from. But let's get that sent. Create an offer, create an email, get it out there. It doesn't have to be to a massive database of people. It can be a small ring fence group, test it, see what happens. It just might be that fuel that keeps you going and starts to get you thinking differently about the activity that you do. Because mark my words, there are people out there right now that want what you've got. But you have to communicate with them. You have to tell them that you're there. You have to show them what you've got to offer, because otherwise how will they ever know? So you've got to create that visibility. And I want you to think about how you can spring into action and stop yourself thinking negatively about it. All right, so coming on to the next one. This is about the whole thing on overthinking. How many times have you just overthought? I mean, I do it myself a lot. I think many people do. You overthink something and it stops you taking action. You end up quite paralyzed by that overthinking. So I want you to have a little think about what is it that you're spending far too long thinking about and see if you can change that up into more of an open mind. Open mind in terms of the resource and support to help you getting it going, but also an open mind as to the structure of what it is that you're doing now, what I want you to think about there is, instead of being really closed off and overthinking it, who can you talk to? Who can you get on board to help you with some accountability to just get that stuff done? Is it someone in your team? Is it a coach or a mentor? Is it a peer in another business that you could say, come on, let's buddy up here and really drive each other forward. Sometimes having someone on your side will really, really help you to move things forward, rather than you sitting paralyzed by your own overthinking. But if nothing else, as I said on the last point, you just get it out there, get it done and see what happens. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be done. So do remember that when you are stuck in that moment where you think, I just, I just don't know what to do next or it's not good enough yet. I'm just going to spend a bit more time on it. No, you don't need to. Doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be done. The next thing is planning without doing. Are you one of those people that you spend so long thinking about something, planning it out, and then you never actually get it out there? If that's you, let's think about how we can proactively work in our business rather than just sitting all the time with the plans and never putting things into action. I see this so often. So what I want to do or what I want to task you with is just spending a power hour, 60 minutes creating the plan. No longer than that. Don't get again paralyzed by sitting down with a plan. Spend 60 minutes deciding what you want to do. And once you've done that 60 minutes of work, let's start putting it into action. Can you see the theme here? This is about action, action, action. Stop spending so long working things through in your brain. We have to leap into action eventually. And finally, the point I want to make next here, when it comes to, you know, shifting yourself and making yourself better and not staying stuck where you are, is thinking about where you have excuses and you're designing them up and pretending that it's all about strategy. So we've got to change the excuses into energy. Excuses need to be changed into energy. And we've not got to focus on, I guess, all of the new stuff all the time. We've got to really be focused also on following up, maximizing the opportunities that are already there. How many people have you spoken to in your business recently? Whether that's on the phone, at events, whether or not that's through email, wherever it is, where are you showing up and talking to people? And when was the last time you thought, oh, I had a really good conversation with that person, I must follow them up and see whether or not there's opportunity there. So let's stop finding excuses for not following up. And I get it. You're probably thinking to yourself, if they wanted me, they would have come towards me already. I got the vibe that they weren't really interested. Don't feed yourself all of that crap, because at the end of the day, that's probably not true. Sometimes you have to put the feelers out there. Sometimes you've got to go and do the hard work, not expect them to come towards you. So let's get some energy behind this instead of excuses and really start thinking about maximizing the opportunities that present themselves. Following up with all of those people that we perhaps haven't spoken to in a while. Following up with those people that you've had good conversations with. Following people up that perhaps you've done a proposal or a quote for and they haven't converted yet. Okay, so have a little think about what you can do there. A lot of people get stuck with, oh, I'll just rebrand or I'll just do a new page on my website before I follow up with those people. Or, or I just should do a little bit more work on my brochure first. That's not going to get you leads and sales in the door. That brochure, that website, great, brilliant. They're wonderful and important to have. But if you are not driving traffic to them, then they are pointless. So reaching out, getting that visibility is really important. Don't get hidden behind all of the strategy and the structure and the process. You've got to make sure you get out there. So if you are ready to level up from the blue runs and start thinking about how you can move forward onto the red runs, onto the black runs and really move your business forward, then here's what I want you to do this week. Are you ready for it? So number one, I want you to name one thing that you have been intending to move forward on or change in your marketing. So have a little think about that. Write it down, that one thing that you have been meaning to to make progress on in your business when it comes to your marketing or sales. Secondly, I want you to take the first step forward. So send that email, create those posts, make that phone call, whatever it is you need to do. Just take that very first step because you will be surprised how much further that is going to carry you. Just by taking that first step, not only are you going to feel good, it's going to really invigorate you, but it's also going to mean that there's this possibility that you're going to get better results. Number three, I want you to make a plan and stop winging it because that is not going to get you down the slope that's going to keep you stuck. You have to make the plan. So spend that power hour, like I told you, thinking about how you can maximize these opportunities. And number four, think about what I've told you today. So it's about, about this momentum. Smart experiments leap into action. Create openness around the structure and the support that you bring into your world. Think about proactivity and put energy into everything that you're doing. And if you can do that, you are absolutely going to go much, much further. You might even find that you need to do a little bit of learning along the way and that's okay because that will carry you forward. So don't be afraid to go and find out new things to get you those new results that you want. So if you want to stop standing still and you want to start moving forward, then I've got a really great way for you to do that. I'm going to tell you today very, very briefly about one of the services that I offer. It's called client creation and it is an absolutely amazing 12 week program. It's for B2B business owners that want to set up a marketing system that brings lead and sales in the door. It's bite sized training coaching directly from me and it helps you build that entire system so that you no longer have to worry about leads and sales into your in your business and you can do exactly what it takes to make sure they come in the door. So if you want to find out about that, then go to all starmarketingclub.com forward/services, forward/client creation for more information. But more than anything, I hope that this episode has nudged you into just doing something a little bit differently and to try new ways. And I'd love to know if there's something in this episode that has made you think has made you take action. Then do drop us an message on Instagram. I'd love to hear how you're getting on and your progress.