Last month, I wrote about how, if you want to really stand out in your business, you should dress to impress – for the audience to whom you want to speak. In case you missed that issue (or you’d like to read it again), click here. I shared my views, which some people might find a bit strong; other people might disagree with my opinion. As a result, I had the highest number of people unsubscribing for some time. I’m thrilled! Why am I so pleased that so many people unsubscribed from my mailing list last month? They’re people who aren’t worried about what they wear, or about making sure that they stand out through what they wear.

That means they’re not my ideal clients. If they asked me to mentor them, supporting them with their marketing, they probably wouldn’t take my advice. Which means that they don’t need to be on my mailing list. I would rather have a smaller list of people who really want to hear from me and take my advice.

Standing Out

Here’s another strong opinion for you. Marketing is not about the quantity of the ‘likes’ we get on our posts, or the open rate of our newsletters. Marketing is about the quality of the content that we share with our potential clients. It’s not about vanity – how much people ‘like’ you. It’s about sanity.

One of my secrets to effective marketing is this: do more of the marketing that works and less of what doesn’t work. How do you know what works? You measure your marketing. But what do you measure? Well, it’s not the number of clicks you get on every one of your posts. The main metrics that we should all measure are how many new clients we take on and how they heard about us; and how many leave and why. A ‘like’ on a LinkedIn post might give me a warm, fuzzy ‘somebody likes me’ feeling. But it won’t necessarily translate into a new client.

On a regular basis, I measure my marketing by checking how all my clients first heard about me. Every time, the same three marketing tactics are top of the list – networking, speaking and referrals. They might change order now and then, but for many years, those three have been the most effective.

This means that when I want to do more marketing or improve what I’m doing, I up the quality of the content that I share through those three tactics. Better advice on marketing being shared when I speak at an event – it’s not about me but about the audience. More support offered at networking events – no selling, just lots of asking questions of the people I meet, to see how I can help them. And more collaborative conversations with the people who can refer me – instead of just asking who they can introduce me to, we talk about who else they need to meet.

Stamp it Out

If you want to grow your business and your reputation, stop being vain about the number of ‘likes’ on your social media. Stop worrying about how many people follow you on Twitter. Stop trying to churn out a blog post every day, just for the sake of it.

When you provide a service, rather than a product, people will buy from you because of the relationship you build up with them. You can’t build a solid relationship on a social media platform. Take the conversation offline as soon as you can. Meet up and chat over a cup of coffee – even if it’s a ‘virtual’ one and you’re meeting over Zoom. That’s how you find out if someone really likes you!