Women Entrepreneurs: How to Market Your Business Online (Even if it Feels Scary)

Sharing is caring!

As a woman services entrepreneur, it can be intimidating when you consider how to market your business online.

Not only do you hate the thought of coming off as too pushy or “sales-y” but you can also feel like an imposter trying to promote your own business. It can be overwhelming just thinking about where and how to start with content creation, leaving you feeling stuck and like throwing in the towel.

You’re not alone. I hear this all the time from women life coaches and health and wellness coaches

But marketing your services doesn’t have to be so hard! In this blog post, we’ll dig deep into how women entrepreneurs can get started strategically with online marketing—even if it feels scary.

You are capable of promoting yourself online in an authentic yet effective way! The truth is that with smart boundaries and key strategies, you CAN create content and market yourself without freaking out.

Want to build credibility so you can attract ideal clients?

Here’s the deal: you want your message and your business to be discovered and followed by your audience, right?

That’s why online marketing is so vital to your client growth, even if you’re used to meeting your clients at in-person events.

Before you start feeling anxious, there’s good news. Once you begin building your audience of dream clients-to-be online, you’ll make it easier to:

• Confidently build your credibility with followers and subscribers
• Happily turn strangers into followers and email subscribers
• Enthusiastically encourage followers and subscribers to join your programs, attend your events
• Powerfully convert your audience into paying clients, customers, and students

Doesn’t that sound like what you want for your business? Yes?

Great, next…

Become intentional about how to market your business online

The truth is, online marketing is like any other aspect of growing your business.

You want to set goals, work toward them intensely, and then…be ready to pivot.

That means, shifting your tactics, tools, and practices if they’re not getting the results you want.

Because, as you know, life, business—and especially online marketing—are all one giant set of experiments.

We do our best to learn what type of content and which social media platforms work for us and for our audience, put it into action, and then tweak it, so we can reach more of our dream clients. That way, we get better every day. Every week. Agreed?

If you want help getting your online marketing strategy in shape, let’s talk: click here.

What if you became more intentional about marketing your business online?

For starters, you’d set simple online marketing goals.

Base your goals on how much content creation and sharing you’re doing right now, and how much more you’re willing to do.

When setting priorities, first think of how you can get more dream clients visiting your website.

Because social media is an excellent way to “meet” new future clients, but you don’t own your profiles or your followers. The Zuckerbergs of the world do. Facebook can (does) change its algorithm constantly. All the platforms do. What’s your best choice?

The best way for you to use social media is to share snippets of your expertise and encourage folks to join your email list, go to your website. So yes, here’s where your blog posts are gold. Because…

You own your website and your email list, so, do you want to:

• Grow your email list? (This must be a loud YES.)
• Attract more website visitors?
• Test your ideas for writing a book, adding a new program, or public speaking?

There are no wrong answers here, my friend.

Let’s say you’ve not paid much attention to updating your website content…

…Or writing emails to your list to deepen your relationship with them.

…Or focused regularly on adding subscribers to your list.

To get warmed up, can you write a blog post (or create another piece of content) twice a month?

Blogging.

Yes, your eyes are rolling at this moment, so let’s drill down just a bit.

Here’s a quick refresh of the boatloads of business benefits when you blog:

Today, blogging is pretty much the old man of the internet. Yet, it’s an effective strategy for so many reasons, including building your credibility and more. Blogging is awesome for a ton of reasons:

• When you create a blog post each week, you’re educating followers and increasing your credibility. (The same goes for an article, video, or podcast.)
• You’re giving your audience a glimpse of what it’s like to work with you, or enroll in one of your programs.
• Bonus: while you’re helping followers get clarity about solving their problems, you’re also helping yourself.
  • You’re gaining clarity about topics you want to teach.
• Blogging helps you work out the thoughts you want to teach clients and students.
• Writing out simple lessons, or tips, is so valuable to how you lead your clients.
• Time savings. Your blog post not only educates your website visitors, you can get a ton of social-media-mileage out of them.

When you blog, create content regularly, and write out simple lessons or tips, you’re clarifying for yourself the best ways to teach key lessons to your clients.

Website updates: you make the Google gods happy with weekly fresh content on your site.

Can you turn on your phone and create a short video speaking from your heart to your ideal client? Maybe once a week?

How about when you’re dressed to go to a business event anyway (and you’re camera ready)?

 

Be your exact, authentic awesome self when marketing your business online

Are you outgoing? Talkative? Funny?

• Is your style a bit quieter and reserved? Do you select carefully who you wish to talk with?
• When you first meet new folks, do you start conversations somewhere in the middle of a juicy story? (I envy women who can do this.)
• Are you (like me) a teacher at heart? A master of explaining step-by-step lessons?

Just so you know, these are all effective communication styles. My point is, it doesn’t matter what your “conversation starter” style is.

The important thing: you want to ensure your personality comes through when marketing your business online.

How do you do that? How do you be effectively yourself with your online marketing?

For starters, you want to dig deeper into your reservoir of inner gifts.

So you can show up as your best self—exactly like you would in person.

The best way to do that? Choose a content creation style based on what you are most likely to be faithful (consistent) at. It’s how you market your business online successfully.

Choose the content type you’re comfy creating

Yes, getting out of your comfort zone is important if you want to grow your business. And yet…

If today you’re becoming intentional about how to market your business online, start with a communication style that’s comfy for you.

Later, you can become bolder and take on a video show or a podcast.

This is going to be different for each of us. Some women are natural talkers, have the gift of gab, and are totally at ease in front of the camera.

Others of us, myself included, not so much.

You want to choose a style that works for you, so you can blissfully and enthusiastically show up for your future clients.

6 Steps to comfy content creation

1. Make a list of how you’re comfortable showing up online with your content: blogging, podcasting, Facebook lives, short videos on Instagram.
2. Decide how to work your creation method into your schedule.
3. Create a content plan of topics that matter to your dream clients.
4. Add the activity (writing, recording) to your calendar.
5. See what works.
6. Adjust. Pivot. Refine.

Aren’t you glad you own your business?

You’re the boss: you get to decide when and how to change course and execute new strategies and tactics.

Be ultra-specific in your content so you can grab your clients’ attention.

You may be thinking that the online world’s just crammed, busy, and saturated with content. And you’d be right.

The good news: your ideal clients (the ones who can learn best from you) are still looking for your guidance, expertise, lessons, and coaching.

As long as you’re not spinning your wheels by creating content for EVERYONE who has the problems you solve, you’re on the right track.

Further reading: How to create content that makes your ideal clients say, “Tell me more!”

Avoid spreading your amazing self + your wondrous content too thin

As you’re stretching your online marketing skills, it’s a giant mistake to try to be on every social media site at once.

I promise you, you don’t have to be everywhere. Especially not when you’re beginning to focus on how to market your business online.

Later, you can adopt social media sharing tools like Tailwind, Edgar, Hootsuite, or another scheduling app.

Be Nancy Drew: invest one hour and see where your dream clients spend time posting and commenting.

• Having a profile doesn’t mean they’re active on the social media platform; be sure they’ve shared content regularly and recently.
• They’re likely posting regularly on Facebook, but confirm that.
• Are they active on Instagram?
• When’s the last time they made a post on LinkedIn?
• Where are your ideal clients commenting on others’ posts?
• Remember, don’t just look for their profiles; go further to check their recent activity.

For example, if their last post on Twitter was two years ago—decide if it’s worth your time to be there.

Once again, be selective

Use your investigation to choose one social media platform. Then, for the next two weeks actively post at least once a day and check your results. Are folks commenting or liking your posts?

Don’t forget, you want to engage with your ideal clients’ and prospects’ social media posts as well.

What does it mean to ‘engage’? That’s the fun part, because you’re going to interact with your audiences’ posts, for example:

• Cheer them on by liking and sharing their posts.
• Make meaningful comments on their posts, to show your support.
• Post 3 emojis that express fun, agreement, friendship, or whatever you want to say.
• Don’t simply say, “Great post.”
• Use your comments to tell them why you support, like, or agree with what they’ve posted.

You don’t have to post on social media manually all the time. Choose scheduling apps to make it easy-peasy to market your business online by sharing your content snippets automatically.

Pro tip: While it’s smart business to auto-schedule most social media posts, you must also show up live to engage with your potential clients’ posts and interact with them in real-time.

Devise a tough strategy to deal with your “Perfection Patty”

Whatever you’re doing now to market your business online,

First: You don’t have to be perfect. You only have to be yourself.

Sadly, as women entrepreneurs, we often tell ourselves we need to look perfect, sound perfect, and pound out a flawless image, article, or blog post. Every. Bloody. Time.

If you believe every post, comment, article, video, or web page you publish has to be perfect, let’s dump that belief right now.

Toss it where it belongs, in the giant ash heap of it’s-not-true.

Instead, remind yourself that online marketing (like a live networking event) is one giant, lively, messy, noisy, ongoing conversation.

When posting on social or your website, the only question you must answer, which I know you will is: only post online things you’d say in real life.

The reality of dealing with perfectionism?

If you want to market and grow your business online, you must share your true personality. You’ve heard it a million times, yet it’s true: be yourself so that future clients feel that you “get” them.

Have a chat with your inner mean girl

As for your inner mean girl, Perfection Patty, have a chat with her.

Let ‘her’ know that some of the actions you take, and the content you post online is going to resonate, make connections, and sometimes even be shared.

Other times, with other posts you make, you’re going to hear crickets.

Explain to Perfection Patty, that in the end, it’s all going to work out. Just like it does with your other business efforts.

Always use calls-to-action to deepen relationships

A colossal mistake we women business owners often make: not regularly asking our blog readers, social media followers to take a small next step (Calls to Action) to join our world.

Want to know how to best market your business online? For starters, you want to faithfully and consistently use “Calls to Action” (CTAs) in your marketing content.

What? I know what you’re thinking, that you’re not selling services or programs all the time. Such a smartie, look at you.

When you’re developing your online marketing processes, your main intention is to form relationships with your followers, isn’t it?

Exactly. That’s the reason your calls to action are small (or big) invitations to your followers online to take the next step in a deeper relationship with you. by small CTA, we mean you’re asking for “a smaller commitment” from your reader. Smaller commitments include subscribing to your email list or making a comment on your blog.

You have a bunch of choices here. Your small(er) CTAs can be:

1. Want my weekly email packed with tips? I share [fill in the blank] tips (if you’re a stylist, organizer, mentor, or other expert).
2. Leave a comment on my blog. Ex.: “What did you agree with, disagree with, or what did I leave out?”
3. Want more lessons like this? Let’s connect on LinkedIn so we can share content and learn together.
4. Share this post with a friend who could benefit from these tips.
5. Save the date for my Fall Mastermind & Retreat

Then, of course, you’ll use strategic, bigger calls to action when you’re launching a new course, book, service, or program. That’s when you invite readers, subscribers to invest money or time to get on the path to becoming paying clients.

Strategic CTAs might look like:

• Looking to save time with technology? Enroll in my upcoming Masterclass
• Want to love your body again? Join my free webinar
• Wish you knew your next big career step? Get your Early Bird ticket now for my Spring Retreat!

Conclusion

As a woman business owner, life/wellness coach, course creator, retreat leader, or expert, one thing is mandatory in today’s digital universe.

There’s no getting around it, you must learn how to better market your business online.

At this moment, take 3 actions from this post:

1) Set your intention to learn more about how to market your business online.

2) Find your best way to show up online for your dream clients and students. Consistently.

• Is your chosen method blogging, writing articles, shooting video, or recording podcasts?

3) Be you. No matter which content creation method you choose, let your distinct, awesome personality shine through.

I can’t wait to see how you grow your business, after you begin showing up for your dream clients and students.

Sharing is caring!