This IS the beauty industry, right? We're out here making people look beautiful and confident and our marketing strategies have to match that!
A lot of people that I see on Instagram, they're just doing what I call hope marketing. And hope marketing, though it may sound nice, is only hurting their businesses. Hope marketing is blind marketing. You need to have a plan if you want your business to succeed.
I know that it can be hard, especially at first, to know how to market yourself and your services. A good coach, like the ones in our Pretty Rich Bosses program, can help you develop a solid plan for marketing your business, but I'm going to share some tips with you for free, in this episode. We're going to talk about the six boxes to check for sexy continent marking that is sure to boost your PMU brand on Instagram.
Let's go!
Here are the episode highlights:
‣‣ [02:22] What is "hope marketing"? Well, it's probably what you're doing right now.
‣‣ [04:01] Let's talk about the difference between someone who has 10K followers and a true influencer. Are they the same thing?
‣‣ [06:15] So what are the three personas that true leaders who really influence their communities and make great marketers have? This is the first one: the friend.
‣‣ [07:12] This is the second persona: the teacher.
‣‣ [09:40] Number three, the thought leader.
‣‣ [12:40] Number four is very similar to dating. It's familiar in a lot of relationships really - be a mind reader.
‣‣ [15:34] Number five - and this is really important - a curious conversationalist.
‣‣ [18:12] And finally - it's all about offering your service.
You can follow me, Sheila Bella, on Instagram @realsheilabella!
Here are the links that were mentioned in the podcast!
You can enjoy this podcast by downloading it on iTunes here.
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You can enjoy a transcript of the podcast here.
Sheila Bella:
Sexy content marketing. What? I'm spilling the tea, you guys. I'm spilling the tea on the most attractive types of content that build trust. Sales is like dating. You don't sleep with anyone you don't trust. At least, quality customers don't. So, you got to build the trust. You got to build the trust on social media before you can expect anybody to buy from you. So, today, like I said, it's going to be a good one because I'm going to show you the six types of content that you need to be creating in order to sell on social media in the new year. Hello.
So, if whatever content you're producing isn't garnering any sales or is not positioning you in a place of authority, you feel like it's going unnoticed, you can not miss this episode. I'm glad you're here. Stick around. I'm Pretty Rich Podcast.
Welcome to Pretty Rich Podcast where you're totally the heroine of your own story. I'm your host, Sheila Bella. And I've built a seven-figure PMU beauty biz, and a seven-figure online biz without a degree, without a fancy website, or a sugar daddy. And if you and I hang out on here long enough, you're going to start to believe that you can do it too. How about that for a side effect of listening to this podcast? Because you really can. I know you think I don't know you, I have no idea who you are, but I do. I really, really do because I am you, I was you, and I believe we are all on the same journey together. My perfect job didn't exist, so I created it. The job I wanted wasn't hiring me, wanted nothing to do with me. So, I skipped the line and hired myself as CEO, just like you can. So, consider me your secret beauty biz BFF, in case you need to be reminded on a weekly basis, that power is never just handed to you. You have to take it.
Are you ready beauty boss? Let's jump in.
What's up friends? It's Sheila Bella. Oh my goodness. Here we go. Sexy content marketing secrets. I see you. I see you posting, and hoping that whatever it is you post will hopefully convert into a sale. You are hope- marketing, and hope-marketing... You're a hope marketer. That's not a real business strategy. Your livelihood and the livelihood that your family relies upon, cannot rest on you guessing. No way. You can do way better than that. So today, I'm going to give you a sneak into the types of contents that I've been using for several years that has built my audience, built my authority, and has positioned me as an expert in my field. My Instagram is growing, you guys. It's growing a lot. I'm so happy because I've been working on this for a really long time. And it's so much fun seeing it grow. I am at 62,000 followers now.
But here's the thing; more followers does not necessarily mean more money. It doesn't. It's all about your sales. I know people who have a million followers but ask for discounts when it comes to brow services because they're going through a rough time. I'm like, "What? You have like four million followers. What's going on?" And I also know people who have like 5,000 followers and who are making six figures a month like me. It's all about learning how to sell on social media. Now, before we get to my sexy content marketing strategy, I want to talk about The 10K Effect. Now, The 10K Effect is basically when we put someone on a pedestal purely because they have the correct number of followers that Instagram deems worthy of special tools, like the swipe up tool, et cetera, et cetera.
Now, let's talk about the term influencer. Should the term influencer only be reserved for those who achieve 10,000 followers on Instagram? I don't think so. Because anyone can influence anything. My kids influence my decision. They inspire me and influence me. My team challenges me, and they move me to be better. So, technically, they're influencers in my life. My husband motivates me and gives me perspective, so he definitely influences a lot of my thinking. So, who are you allowing to influence your thinking, and how are you using your social media to influence the people in your social media community? You are their community leader. No matter how many followers you may have, you are still a community leader. If you have 500 followers, you have the power to influence 500 people. That's crazy. Have you thought about that? That's not just a number, that's a heartbeat.
Okay. So, knowing this, number one, stop idolizing people on Instagram. Before you hit follow, ask yourself, "How does this account, how does this person make me better?" And before you hit post, ask yourself, how does this post or this thought make other people better? It goes both ways. Ask yourself; "Is what you're consuming, making you a better person? Is what you're creating, making others better people?"
So, with that said, I wanted to go over my sexy content marketing strategy; the different personas that leaders have, that have the power to influence others. Okay.
So, number one is the friend. So, being a friend on social media, or feeling like a real friend on social media, has the power to influence. So, when you are posting be the friend content, you post things like storytelling, behind the scenes, sharing moments in your life even if you think it's boring and nobody's really going to care. We want to see how you're decorating your house for Christmas. We want to see your Target haul. We want to see what you had for breakfast this morning. People are nosy, and we're nosy with our friends. We care. We deeply care. So, when you're posting friend content, just think about it like you're FaceTiming a friend or you're writing a text to a friend. Because we trust our friends. Okay. So, that's persona number one.
Number two is the teacher. I always say that we don't follow accounts that don't do something for us. The reason why we follow most accounts is because they solve a problem, either it's the problem of boredom, they're entertaining, or they teach us something. They continue to educate us through their posts, through infographics, charts, many trainings. They keep us in the loop when it comes to current events or what's going on in our industry. I have to say that if you are trying to be a trainer or an educator, lean in to be the teacher type content, double down. If you are serious about being seen as an expert in your industry, I would say, about 50% of everything you post should be educational. It should be the teacher.
Brow and lash clients are getting pickier and pickier. If they can't get an appointment right away, they're going to go somewhere else. If you're an artist who's booked out for months, before you congratulate yourself, that's not always a good thing. Why? Because you're losing money as a solo act. You're losing scalability. You're so busy working in your business that you don't have time to work on it. Wasn't the whole point of getting into the beauty business, having freedom of time, being able to make your own schedule, making lots of money? But I know it doesn't feel like that for a lot of people. You feel like a brow or a lash robot, right? So, stop limiting yourself. If you know you need to expand, you need to delegate tasks, you need a clone, you need to multiply yourself, but you're scared. I get it.
I've hired 14 artists to work for me at Sheila Bella Microblading, and it's great. My business makes money even when I'm not there. And I have people that I can really trust. So, if it's possible for me, it's possible for you. If you know you need to expand delegate tasks, multiply yourself, heck, find your clone. You can do it. But if you're scared and you don't know where to start, I have the perfect thing for you, sister. Download my free Beauty Biz Hiring Guide. It's for artists who are overworked and underpaid. And all you need to do is text the words, hiring guide to (310) 388-4588.
Number three is the thought leader. The thought leader; I post a lot of thought leader content, I think, actually. So, the thought leader challenges industry myths. They use thought reversal a lot. They go against the green. And thought leader type content builds authority because their posts are thought provoking. They inspire. Here are some examples of thought leader contents; skills are cheap, passion is priceless. Another thing is thought reversal. Thought reversal is when somebody says, "If I wasn't so depressed, I'd have more energy and I could do more." Thought reversal leadership content says, "Try pushing yourself to do more, and you may actually begin to feel less depressed." Thought leader content also challenges industry standards. For example, everyone uses numbing. Everyone uses lidocaine, or tetracaine, whatever caine, to numb their permanent makeup procedures.
But you could be the artist that says, "I don't use any numbing because I don't believe in it. It makes the skin rubbery. It changes the elasticity of the skin, and the pigment doesn't go in as easily. And my clients are all comfortable." When you challenge an industry standard like that, it's attention-grabbing, and people are interested to find out why you would say such a thing that was going against something so sacred in the industry. So, when thinking about thought leader content, think of ways that you can challenge industry myths, that you can inspire. Think of things that you believe in that go against the grain. If you want to establish authority and be a leader, you can't think like everyone else. You have to guide everyone to think another way, an original way. So, yeah, be a thought leader, be a rebel. Do it. Come on. Think outside the box, open our eyes to another thought pattern, another perspective, another way of thinking.
Hold on. You know what? I'm going to give you guys another example. This came from one of my clients, actually. I have pretty rich bosses. One of my business coaching clients, Brows by Laurie, but she didn't know I was going to do this. So, something she says all the time that is so thought leadery is, they say brows are sisters not twins, and she's like, "Ah, what? Why can't they be twins? Is that just an excuse for mediocrity?" And then she also says, "Of course, if you're tattooing them, they should be twins." And I was like, "Oh my gosh, you just called me out." She called me out. And I was like, "Laurie, you should say that more often." Guys, I'm talking about things like that. Things that challenge the industry standard, something that's just accepted no matter what. Think of what those things are and how you can challenge them.
Okay. Sexy type of content, number four; be a mind reader. This is very similar to dating. When you're on a date and you feel like somebody can just read your mind or they just know how you're feeling. You're like, "Oh my gosh, I am totally going to marry this guy." So, it's the same thing with marketing. When you're a mind reader, so to speak, people are like, "Whoa, whoa, she's my friend." So, you want to name feelings. You want to get good at naming the feelings. Naming the feelings that your prospect has. The desired reaction should be; they come across your posts, and then they're like, "Oh my gosh, how did she know? How did she know I was feeling that way? That's exactly what I was feeling this morning." Or like, "Oh my gosh, I totally know what that's like. You described that feeling better than I could." Guys, the thing about leadership on social media is you don't even necessarily need to solve the problem, you just need to get good at naming the feelings. Name the feelings.
So, how do you do that? Study people, market research, collect statements of fear that people make when you speak to them. Your consultations that didn't result in a sale, that's not a waste of time if you're taking notes and you're writing down their pain points. What are people complaining about? Talk about those things. So, let me just give you some examples. Let's say you have a microblading workshop. Great. And you're trying to sell your microblading workshop online course. And the common complaint in our industry is, "I feel neglected by previous trainers who didn't follow up with me after certification." So, your posts should be something like, "Do you feel neglected by your previous trainer who didn't follow up with you after certification?" And then everyone's like, "Oh my gosh, let me read some more because this is totally me." You have to be specific, you guys, as if you were talking to one person.
So, let me see. Me as a business coach, I totally know what you guys are going through because I talk to you. A good shepherd smells their sheep. So, a common thing you guys say, "I have major anxiety about being shut down again. I don't have another way to make money. I feel so helpless. How will I get by? I just don't want to sit back and collect unemployment, and that's not enough." "I know what you guys are thinking. I know what you guys are going through." That's what you say right? So yeah, my next post might be about, "Hey, do you have major anxiety about possibly being shut down again by COVID? If so, keep reading." See? Okay.
Type number five is to be a curious conversationalist. Again, it's like dating. You don't want somebody that's just going to run their mouth and just talk about themselves. It's sexy when a guy is curious about you. Genuinely curious about getting to know you and what you're all about. It's also sexy when a guy talks to other people, and there's a good conversationalist. So, my suggestion to you, if you want to grow in influence and also in numbers, is to do as many collaborations as possible. Many collaborations as possible on Instagram, on podcast, on YouTube. Find people whose audiences you want to get in front of frankly, and interview them, have a conversation with them, have a list of people you wish you could sit down and pick their brain about their lives, about their expertise, about some elements that you find that they're doing really well, and reach out. Invite them on an IG live. Invite them to be our guest on the podcast, or perhaps a YouTube interview.
Be a curious conversationalist. People love that. It makes you look like a collaborator, a facilitator, a friend. And honestly, it's great to be associated with liked people, with admired people. Heck, I do it on this podcast. Why can't you? Content type number six and seven is pretty simple. Okay. Number six; you got to trickle in some social proof, post testimonials, screen capture text messages or emails or direct messages that your clients have sent you, thanking you for your services, talking about the results that they've gotten from your program, with their permission, of course, with their permission. But whatever it is, share it. You need social proof. You want to show that you're consistent and you're creating transformations, left and right. Also, it reminds people that you don't just inspire on here for free. You have a service. I've talked to people before, who have said that sometimes their own friends in their first tier, didn't even know that they had an online course. They thought that they were just posting on Instagram for fun. So, post your testimonials. Post it.
And last but not least is, offer the service. Post about a special, offer the sale, talk about what you do, tell people you have openings for bookings or openings in your online course, or opening in your training, talk about the service. But guys, the common mistake that I see in a lot of artists is that all they do is they talk about the service. That's it. So, your followers just feel pitched to. And that's not a good feeling. And that's why I decided to do a podcast on the five types of content that really build authority and also build trust because trust is an essential feeling anyone needs to feel before investing in you, before investing in anything, before buying anything, before being able to give somebody your credit card number, make a deposit over the phone, whatever. You first need to feel trust.
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. If you want to continue the conversation longer, check me out on Instagram. It's my favorite place to connect with you guys @realsheilabella. I'm happy to answer any of your questions or simply to chat and get to know you better. And if you end up doing something super awesome like screenshotting this episode and reposting on your stories, that would put the biggest smile on my face. Don't forget to tag me. I appreciate every share, and love feedback from my listeners. Also, do you have my number? Because if we're going to keep hanging out, you should probably have my number, so you can actually text me. That's right. You can text me at (310) 388-4588.
And if you're sick and tired of doing business alone, and you're interested in accelerating your success by hiring a business coach or joining our mentorship program called Pretty Rich Bosses. Go ahead and just apply. Why not? Check it out. Go to sheilabella.com/apply, and we'll schedule a free strategy session with either myself or one of my advisors. And of course, I got to include my kids. So, here to send us off are Beau and Grey. Grey, say share with your friends.
Grey:
Share with your friends.
Sheila Bella:
Please review my mommy on iTunes.
Grey:
[inaudible 00:20:48] mama iTunes.
Sheila Bella:
Thanks for listening.
Grey:
[inaudible 00:20:52] for listening.
Sheila Bella:
Hey Beau, can you tell everybody what our family motto is?
Beau:
Yeah. I can do hard things.
Sheila Bella:
I can do hard things. Good job, buddy.
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