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A tree falls in the forest. A giant tree falls in the forest. What is our first reaction We mourn it.
We mourn the beauty that is now lost. We mourn the shade that is no longer there. We look, mourn the habitat for the birds that is gone. And quite often we mourn the fact that it took so long to grow.
And now it’s not there.
A New Beginning
When a tree falls, it may seem like a loss but nature looks at it differently. It sees it as a new beginning.
The leaves now fall on the ground. The seeds now fall on the ground. It’s opened up light. They’re said that may not have grown before now does, because it’s got fertilizer. It’s got sunshine. It’s got the rain that’s able to come through to that forest floor.
Nature doesn’t see it as a loss. Nature sees it as a new beginning.
But why do we see it as a loss? Why do we see it as a failure? We don’t see the habitat that is now there. We don’t see those other opportunities that have become because this tree has given way for a new existence.
What This Has to Do With Marketing
And that’s quite often what we think about with marketing. You might be wondering what a tree has to do with coaching and marketing, but it has everything to do with it. Because of the way we look at things, the way we take one thing as a failure.
So we might be running a webinar and it didn’t quite go the way we wanted it to, so we think that’s it. We are done. Pack up our bags and go home.
We don’t see those learnings there. We don’t see the opportunities that that failed launch or that webinar that didn’t quite go the way we wanted it to. Is giving us so quite often coaches see marketing like that one giant tree.
They see it fall to the ground and that is it. They just want to burn it down from there. But let’s have a look at the way nature sees it and see what we can learn.
You Learned New Lessons
It’s easy to call it as a failure, but what else could be happening? What other questions could we be asking?
What is the confidence that we could have built from that? Did we overcome those technology challenges?
Did we realize that maybe we just didn’t get enough eyeballs? We didn’t send out that email that we should have. We didn’t tell people about it. Maybe it’s a case of we just didn’t get out there enough.
Maybe we ran some Facebook ads, but we hadn’t got it all dialed in first. The pixel wasn’t quite firing properly. And all those other things that can happen when we’re trying to amplify something we haven’t quite got going yet.
Or maybe we had it all perfect, but we just didn’t quite get it out there. There wasn’t enough of the right people there to do it.
So there are lots and lots of maybes. So the first thing you need to do with any marketing is a it. See what it is that’s actually going to happen.
Every marketing that you do leaves behind clues. And are you evaluating what is working and what is not.
Nothing Is Wasted
For instance, a book, even though it’s not an Amazon bestseller, or maybe it’s been an Amazon bestseller and it’s dropped off. What else can you do with that book? You can repurpose it.
You can give out a free chapter as a lead magnet in exchange for emails. You can give it as a raffle gift in an in-person event. You can take it to seminars. You can approach corporations and maybe get bulk sales as opposed to 1 or 2.
There are lots of things that you can do with a book apart from just selling it through Amazon.
So these are the things that we often don’t think about, isn’t it?
So a podcast episode with low downloads might be the perfect thing to send to your client that needs that one question answered, or it could be cut up into snippets and used throughout your socials.
Lead magnets. There’s so many different things you can do there. You can also do follow ups and leave. Measures are amazing because you start to build that relationship with people.
So just think about what you’re doing and evaluate the good things and then amplify that, and then the things that are not working, maybe just tweak them a bit
You Ask Better Questions
So the next time that you’re doing that, what worked what didn’t. What do you need to do again? How can you get more eyeballs?
Because quite often it’s not the fact that what you’re doing is wrong. It’s just you’re not getting it out there to enough people.
Are you using your existing databases? Are you using joint ventures? What are the things that you can do?
And I’ve given you lots and lots of ideas here, so don’t try to do them all. Just take one because nothing is wasted if you’re learning from it. What do they say? You’re either winning or you’re learning. So what is that you can learn? And probably the biggest thing from this podcast is there’s a million ways to do it.
But don’t try to do all of them. Just run with one.
You Stop Looking for the Perfect Tree
We’re just looking for one magic tree, one tree that’s going to blossom and give us all that gold, that perfect funnel, that perfect social media post, that perfect script, the perfect launch.
But that’s quite often not the way it works, because we have to have those real conversations. We have to start making those experiments and building those relationships and learning the lessons and evaluating it.
And remember to pack yourself on the back for those small wins. So even the webinar that didn’t get the result, you did it. You got out there, you hit go, you hit record, and now it’s the case of what else are you going to do with it?
So every time you do it, you build your confidence. You learn your skills.
That’s the forest of the mindset, isn’t it? Instead of asking, why didn’t this work? Why don’t you ask, what can I use out of it? What can I create?
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The Tree That Fell. What Marketing Can Teach Us About Growth
My challenge for you this week is to think about one thing in your marketing that is going well, and amplify that, and then think about one thing that’s maybe not as good as what you’d like it to be.
What do you need to add there? Do you need to add another conversation? Do you need to add another email or is it a case you just need to breathe and learn your material?
There’s many, many ways that you can do marketing and not everything works for everybody. So choose what works for you and go out and do it. And once you’ve done, then you can amplify it.
Listen to the full episode of Small Business Talk episode 351.
You can also find the video versions of the Small Business Talk Episodes on YouTube.
