She's On The Money - Marketing 101 (Part 2)

Episode Date: October 29, 2024

Ready to take your marketing game to the next level? In part two of our Marketing 101 series, we’re diving into paid and earned media strategies to help you reach new audiences and build lasting brand buzz. From using ads strategically to making the most of organic PR, this episode covers everything you need to create a balanced, omni-channel strategy that doesn’t break the bank. Tune in for practical tips, insider tricks, and real-world examples that’ll make your marketing efforts work harder for you! Pre-order Victoria's book, The Business Bible, here. Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that helps you build a business that thrives. Yes, we're back for another Business Bible episode and I am Victoria Devine, an ex-financial advisor who has a background in psychology, and I currently run several successful businesses. As always, I am joined by my beautiful co-host and friend who is one of the hardest working side hustlers I know, Miss Jess Griechi. Welcome back. I'm so excited. I've been waiting for this episode because I feel like we did part one and everyone's like, where's part two? Today's the day. Girl, we only do one Business Bible episode a month. We are doing the best that we can,

but welcome to part two of Marketing 101. This topic, it's juicy. We love talking marketing in this team. We had to split it into two episodes because it was so juicy. So if you missed part one, don't worry. I will obviously have you covered. I will link it in the show notes. In the first episode, Jess and I, we laid down the foundations of our marketing strategy. We dove really deep into the imports of branding and how to define your brand identity and then really lock in your USP or your unique selling position, which is the thing that is going to make you stand out from the crowd. Then we got into what's called owned media. We chatted about your website, your email list, all the stuff that you control completely. It's the foundation of

your marketing, arguably the most important part where you're not actually playing by somebody else's rules, but you are speaking directly to your audience and building a real connection. So if you didn't listen to that, I think you should, because to me, that's the thing to absolutely nail. But today, we're going to talk about some stuff that you can have a bit more fun with. Like, you want to nail the first part, and we all want to nail socials, right? Absolutely. Jess is really good at socials, so we've got tips and tricks from her, but those things

should come as kind of like the base, right, Jess? Yeah, definitely. And we'll link that episode in the show notes if you haven't listened to it already. Definitely go back and give it a crack. but we've laid down the branding and own media foundations. And it feels like the next logical step is to chat about socials, which to use the metaphor that we were talking about in the last episode, it's a rented category, right? Yeah, absolutely. It is time to get your socials sorted. Maybe this is the kick up the butt that I need to get back into creating TikToks and

back into, you know, putting my face everywhere. I know that sounds really lame, but Jess, you and I both know deeply that the type of social media that converts is the type of social media that feels personal. I have fallen off the bandwagon personally. So I feel like this episode is for me as much as it is for our community. So hopefully by the end, both of us can get our stuff together. So I am with you. I call this the rented space because while it is a really good tool for building visibility and engaging with your audience, you don't actually own Facebook or you don't own Instagram or you don't own TikTok. And this means that you're kind of always at the mercy of the algorithm changes or like if there are platform updates or even

Jess, which can be really scary, you could be at the risk of having your account suspended or hacked. Like if too many people report your content, even if it is really great content, Facebook might be like, well, that account's too much issue, just suspend it. What a nightmare. And relying solely on social media for your marketing, I would say in this day and age, relatively risky because what works today might actually completely disappear tomorrow. However, that said, I would say it's a very critical, very important part of your overall strategy because socials can be completely free. It enables you to reach a really broad audience. You can kind of give your audience an insight into your brand's personality and you're able

to drive a heap of traffic to your own channels like your website or your email list. And you can consistently be working on going, hey, Jess, so I see you. We're on TikTok together. Sign up for my newsletter. So I think that that's a really powerful connection there. And the key is, Jess, I feel like I'm telling you stuff you already know, but it's to use social media as a way to build relationships and drive people back to those spaces that you completely own. So at the start, I know it's really tempting to jump on every single social media platform. I mean, I did. That's why I own every single social media handle for every single platform. I'm like, well, if we're going to go all out with this, she's on the money thing. She's on the money

Twitter. She's on the money TikTok. She's on the money back in the day musically. Yeah, Yvonne. I was across it. But you know what? I might have had the platform, but does that mean I used it? Absolutely not. So I would say right now that while it's super tempting to get across all socials, because like Jess, as we said before, free, money win. In my opinion, it is a one-way ticket to being overwhelmed. And at the end of the day, like focusing on one thing and doing it really bloody well is so much more powerful than doing it across a whole heap of platforms not so well. Yeah. So Jess, let's talk about how we can avoid this when it comes to social media.

I said before, it's best to start with one and do it well. How would you pick which one's good for you? I think it's going to depend a little bit on what type of business that you have. And it's also probably going to depend a little bit on who or what is in your team and what you want to achieve. so different platforms are great for different reasons. I think that we love TikTok because reach is really vast on TikTok. It's a lot more organic. It's a lot more organic and there seems to be a lot more predisposition to virality. Yeah. The tricky thing is, is it can be hard to figure out what will work and what won't. You have to just test and test again. You have to do a lot of A-B testing and often it'll be the most lo-fi content that does well. The thing that you least

expect. Isn't it so annoying? Five seconds to make reaches four million people and you're like, how did that happen? Me trying to show you guys how to open a lettuce. Yeah, exactly. But it's stuff like that. And I think TikTok is really great for showing brand personality, showing behind the scenes content. I think we've spoken before to companies that we just love consuming their content. Duolingo. We love Duolingo. We love the Jazz Handmade girls. Oh my gosh, they're iconic. The Remy brand girls as well. I feel like they do an awesome job of taking you behind the scenes and they do that really well on TikTok. Yeah. A hundred percent. I feel like I'm obsessed with the jazz had made content. They're so fun. Yeah. Instagram, you can share

that same sort of content and it's really fun for real time content because obviously you have the stories feature. So when we travel, you'll often see, you know, the shiz and the money Instagram stories will be popping off because we're keeping you updated in real time. But I think it's really reflecting on what you want to achieve and assessing what those platforms offer and how that could align to your social media strategy. A hundred percent. And I mean, there can be like a two birds, one stone moment. So a lot of the time, if I'm filming a video for TikTok, I will also replicate that and post it on Instagram because it is wild how if I post something on TikTok, you know, I might get 500 views and I'll be like, oh, that is not going

as well as I thought it would. And a very good example, obviously not about brand, but like I posted a video of my baby bump when I was pregnant on TikTok got like three views. I posted it on Instagram and it got millions and it is still getting views today. Don't know why the algorithm has picked it up, but the algorithm on TikTok clearly didn't like it. So sometimes it's not your content. And I think that that's a really good lesson in just not taking it personally either. Like if your content isn't performing, you just need to get back up and do more content the next day like sometimes you just need to try and try again as opposed to going like oh my god that's so embarrassing like my video got no views yeah sometimes you're just a victim of the algorithm

and that's okay yeah and I think that the hardest part and like I suffer from this a lot at the moment the team are at my neck at the moment being like there you need to do more content like we need more face to camera pieces of video it's a lot about confidence and feeling like oh my god like, I don't know if I want to put my face to the brand. Like, this is so awkward. I've never spoken on camera before. You can practice. You can take a whole heap of videos and not post them. Like you can play with it and see how you go. I think it's about just getting out there and having a crack at it because at the end of the day, content is challenging because there's such a higher level of expectation nowadays of the style of content. But like Jess,

one of the tips I've got now that you and I are both really good at, batching. What is batching? So batching is filming your content in bulk. And so I guess sometimes when we think about the content that we're filming or that we're consuming day to day, it might seem like it's all being captured that moment and we're sitting at the airport or we're sitting in the office, we filmed something and they're quickly editing it and posting it. And absolutely like that is a valid way of working and sometimes we do it. But batching is really great because what you're doing is you're generally coming in with a plan. So maybe you've got six videos that you want to film and it allows you to make the most of your time. So you might go, okay, I've got these

six videos. I know exactly what I want to touch on in all of them. And so I'm going to film them back to back. I'm going to lead into one another. So I might do a three-part series and I film them all at the same time in the same outfit, in the same spot, because it's really easy. And then I edit it down into three separate videos or something like that. So you're batching it up all at once. If you're someone who like me has a nine to five, maybe a bulk filming on the weekend and you set aside a day to do it. Or if you're a business, maybe you have a dedicated day where you know you're turning up with hair and makeup because that makes you feel confident. Oh my gosh, if I have my hair and makeup done, I'm always like, is there anything else you wanted filmed?

Because I'm looking and feeling my best right now. Exactly. So it's about like finding a time where you're in the mood, in the zone, because I do think you kind of have to be in the right headspace to be creating content. Yeah, you do. And I feel like that's such a big part that people don't talk about, like the headspace to film pieces of content is actually a really real conundrum. Yeah. And then you're capitalizing on that energy that you've got and you're filming all of the things you want to film at once. Maybe you're filming five videos, maybe you're filming 20 videos, whatever. And then you have content to drip feed out slowly. Yeah. And what that does is it means that you're not getting to the end of the day and going, oh God, I haven't filmed a TikTok.

I need to film a TikTok. Yeah. Because I haven't been on the internet at all. Yeah. It's like what Cheese on the Money does, right? So like we do a heap of batch content and that batch content sees us through the week, right? So like you might see a Monday video, a Wednesday video, a Friday video from us, and that might've been planned. But any of the stuff in between that is us going, oh, we do have capacity. We'll jump on so that we get that balance of batching content and also feeling organic. But the pressure's taken off because if we get to Friday and we're like, oh my God, Jess, I've forgotten. What's my unsolicited recommendation for the newsletter? and we get completely sidetracked, the social side of things is still ticking away and it's

totally okay if we fall off the bandwagon for a day because don't worry, organically we'll jump back on it, but there's never been a blip for our consumers, right? So what I do is get comfortable on one platform and then you can start expanding to other platforms. And a great way to doing this is repurposing content, which I touched on just before, but there are literal platforms that you can use. So repurpose it is a website that you can use that you link all your socials up and it will repurpose the content for you. So you don't even have to manually go on and download your TikTok video, remove the watermark, upload it to Instagram stories, write a caption. It will actually in the background, just do that for you and push it to multiple channels. So one video

that you film, let's for example, say for TikTok, you wouldn't upload to TikTok, you'd upload to this platform and it would push to YouTube shorts. It would push to Facebook videos. It would push to Instagram. It would push to your TikTok. It would also push to like LinkedIn short videos. And you've got that one video going to multiple different platforms. And by doing that, you would set rules for that platform. So I don't love a hashtag because hashtags recently have become pushed down by the algorithm. So people who use hashtags on Instagram don't get as many views as people who don't, right? So for me, I go, right, no hashtags on Instagram. But on TikTok, TikTok is now being used more as a search engine. So using hashtags is actually really helpful on

that platform. So you can pre-code it so that it will add particular hashtags if you use a certain video or whatever. Anyway, it does a lot of the hard work for you. Yeah, incredible. And what about paying to appear on social media? This takes us to the paid category. I think that's a good place to go because I could go on and on about repurposing content, Jess. But paid ads on social media like on Facebook or Instagram, you've probably seen them a million times. You as a business owner have probably thought about them as well. But they're your way to show your content to a bigger but more targeted audience. So they're really good for getting your product or service in front of the right people. If, you know, maybe those people haven't followed you on Instagram or

maybe don't even know about you yet, but you can target the right people based on their age or their location or their interests or even their behavior, like whether they've visited your website before. So say, Jess, I owned a clothing shop and you were looking at a top of mine and then you were smart because you listened to She's On The Money and you're like, I'm going to put 24 hours between me and my spending. I, as the owner of that shop, Jess, I really want you to buy my top. I know that you're putting 24 hours between you and your spending, but I hope at the end of that 24 hours you come back. What I'm going to do is retarget you. So I know that you, Jess, as an individual, have visited my website before. So I'm going to send you an ad specifically that

says, hey, saw you were browsing on our website. If you want to come back for something special, here's 10% off to get you to come back to my website, which is really handy and actually, honestly low-key smart yeah but also if you're not a business owner and you're listening to this part yeah as a marketing trap but also as a business owner that's a very smart way to remind the audience that you are marketing to that you still really want our product jess yeah and like it's finding the fine line so for example like i always use the candle business right so you could target people who follow home decor accounts or who have recently searched up like home fragrances as well so they don't necessarily have to have been to your website. But Google ads are a little bit

different to like Facebook or Instagram ads. These are kind of like ads that sit at the top of your Google search. So if you were searching something specific, like you've jumped online and you're like, I really want to know best local candle, maybe you're looking for a digital marketing tool and you've typed in most affordable digital marketing tool, for example, Google ads is actually going to help your business to appear first when people are searching for something similar to what you are offering. It's like putting your business in front of people when they're already like at the store ready to buy. It's like putting it at eye level. Yeah. Like there's a lot of research that says the most profitable sections of the supermarket are the

ones at about four and a half feet. Why? Because people can see that easily. I don't have to bend down to the bottom shelf. It's why home brands always on the bottom shelf. A really good example of this is you guys know we love marley spoon in this team we work with them all the time but did you know if you plug marley spoon into google the first thing that shows up right at the top hello fresh isn't that so cheeky and you know that that's because their marketing team has gone okay well if we know that people are looking for marley spoon we know that they're one of our biggest competitors we know that i don't want hello fresh i want my marley spoon correct but they've gone you know what we'll do we'll make ourselves the first link the reason i know this

because it happened to me. I Googled Marley Spoon to like log into the website. I've done it too, yeah. Clicked the first link without even looking. I'm like, how did I end up here? What? Yeah. That's so cheeky, but it's so true.

And I'm not saying go dog all your competitors, but like let's be smart because your competitors, if you sell lip glosses, are probably buying that space. So make sure that you are at least considering what that looks like because if you're really niche, like you are maybe going to have a really niche clientele. And I want to make sure that I'm the first person they think of. Completely. I do prefer Mally Spoon. So all of this could be a little bit confusing just because you're like, oh my gosh, you've just talked about Facebook ads and

Instagram ads and Google ads, and it can feel really all consuming and overwhelming. But you know what? Google actually want you to place ads because obviously that generates some revenue. So they've made it as easy as possible. They have whole libraries of videos online that take you through how to do this, how to do it well. And they actually offer free access to Google ad experts if you're on a really tight budget, which I think is really cute. Like they're here to support small businesses, which not paid by Google to share that. But I think it's really important that often if you're consuming content like mine, like you're going, oh, I really want to listen to this business Bible episode because like I need to be better at marketing and I have literally no

cash. Yes. You can be like, oh my God, V talked about ads. I don't have ad budget. Do you know what you do have though? Time. And do you know what you can do with your time? Learn about what this might look like so that you can either do really low cost things or you're ready when you do have budget. So I think it's important to do your research. But if you are going down the route of paying for traffic to visit your website, I think it's so important to make sure that your website is optimized for conversion before you start. Like I have recently finished writing my book, The Business Bible, which comes out literally right now. But I finished writing this book and I got to interview my beautiful friend, Angela Sobrano, who is the founder and CEO of Flourish

Pier. And all throughout that book, I've waved founder stories because I think it's so important to give real context and real examples. Anyway, when I was interviewing her, she told me this beautiful story about like clients that come to her and they're like, I really want to work with flourish because they have a really good reputation, right? And she's like, yes, I see you want us to do PR. And PR is essentially putting your brand somewhere so people come back to convert. But your website, my friend, it is trash. And I do not want to give you all of this PR. I could get you on the news. I could put you on the front page of The Age. I could do so much stuff. I could have Jessica Ricci talking about you on her Instagram. If then your website is trash when they go to that

website, they're going to be like, oh, this is not what I thought it was going to be. Jeff said this was the most amazing lip gloss company. Their website is so hard to use. I don't even know how to look at their products. Also, they don't even have a newsletter. Like I can't sign up to stay in touch. Like people are going to go to your website and leave it in 0.2 seconds. So making sure that your website is optimized for conversion is so important. So making sure your site is easy and navigate? Like, does it load too slowly? Girl, if it loads too slowly, I'm out. Does it look good on a phone as well as a desktop? That's a big one. Because if you're going to go to a website, right? Like, and this is just from a business owner's perspective. If I'm building my website,

Jess, I'm doing it on my desktop. I have carved out business time. I'm sitting at my desktop. I have my two spaceship screens and I am in the background clicking and dragging things around, making it look beautiful. I'm not designing that website on my mobile. It is so easy to forget that most consumers are going to visit your website for the first time on a mobile device. Well, especially if I get an ad on my Facebook or my Instagram, I'm just going to click the link on my phone. 100%. We are all social first and we have this phone in our pocket. So making sure that your website is optimized for mobile is essential. Think about it, Jess. Is there any point in you paying to get people to visit your site if it's not turned on and you can't turn

those visitors into customers. It seems like you're throwing money away. It's so silly. But what about if people don't have budget for ads? Like if they're like me and it's just a little small business and you just genuinely don't have the money to spend. They are so optional. I mean, I'm talking about it because it's important for you to understand, but you do not need to use ads. I would say that they are an optional extra. They can work really well if you've got a solid strategy. But from my perspective, it's all about timing. And this is a really good example. Jess, remember the time we hired a Facebook ads quote specialist. Yeah. Didn't go well for us. And like, this is just a learning for you guys because we weren't ready. Yeah. And not only were we not

ready, the ads company was definitely taking us for a ride and they were like, yeah, we can run ads. We can do this. We can do that. But they didn't help us set up any framework at all. Like there's so much wrong with that situation, but it's definitely all about timing. So if you're still figuring out your audience or you're refining your message, my friend, paid ads are not for you. Do not waste your money. But once you've really dialed those things in, maybe once you've solidified a social strategy, you are posting consistently on Instagram and on TikTok, you know, you've found a whole heap of content that if people found your ads and they were looking for more social proof, they could go back to your content and consume all of the free stuff.

Once you're dialed into those things, maybe ads can be a fantastic way to amplify what's already working. That's a really good point. And I mean, to that end, you built She's On The Money with the exception of that one example. I mean, that was when we started to get a little bit of money in the door. And I'm like, Jess, we really need to reinvest in the business. Yeah. One out of 10. Let's go to a really quick break. And when we come back, I want to pick your brain about ways that businesses can get noticed without having to pay any money at all for visibility. all right jess we are back and before the break you said v i want to focus on how we can get some visibility without having to pay for it and i think that's why we're all here right like we

all want to know how to get more for literally free and i think i would start by recommending that you focus on the earned category which we haven't spoken about a lot right now but the earned category is things like word of mouth on a larger scale those moments where your customers or influencers or even like the press are actually talking about your brand without you having to pay a cent for it. So think about like reviews, think about shout outs, think about PR or even like viral user generated content. It's not actually about advertising. It's a third party endorsement which carries so much weight. Jess, you know I'm a bit of a stats gal. You love a stat. I love a statistic, 93% of consumers consult the customer reviews section and recommendations before buying.

I'd believe it. I wouldn't buy a single thing without reading a review. Never in my life. Really? Never in my life. I want to know if it's good. I'm putting my money down. See, I'm exactly the same. And this is so funny. Meshki. I have recently discovered Meshki again. I love their dresses. See, I used to adore their dresses. And then for some reason, I forgot that they existed. And then I've had a whole heap of events recently. So I've been buying dresses on mesh key and I rediscovered them because of word of mouth user generated content I saw some really nice dresses on some girls that I already followed and I was like girl where's that dress from clicked on it do you know what then I did I was looking at the reviews on their

website and scrolling through and just like getting that social validation of like yes I'm glad that Bridget 101 thinks that this dress is very well fitting and oh yes it is true to size like why was I so validated by that content just I already knew I wanted the dress I saw it on that girl on Instagram yeah but like this really pushed me I suppose over the edge and I feel like someone somewhere is going to be like oh my god V that was me that's exactly how I do it but like if you've got a customer review section on your website I am consulting it I want the random people's recommendations that I take as gospel Bridget 101 thank you for your service thank you for your service she loved it so therefore I probably am going to as well and we touched on this in part

one but that statistic really reinforces why it is so important to be asking people for reviews so don't be shy about following up with happy customers like completely there's nothing ick about asking for a review no hey you loved my business can you tell someone about it the other thing which is user generated content it's actually one of the easiest ways to build trust and boost engagement for your brand so it's all there's like photos and videos and then the reviews which we love and social posts that your customers create about your brand do you know what i think is unhinged to jess what when i go to a brand's instagram page and i click tagged because i'm always clicking tagged i know you do the same thing absolutely and they don't have any tagged

photos because they've like blocked it that is insane to me right that is free marketing and you're like no this is such a big brand they've absolutely been tagged but you can actually turn that feature on and off so if i didn't want people tagging she's on the money i would just not let you tag yeah but like social validation like i don't understand why any brand would not want their brand tagged in user generated content it is literally free it's basically social posts that your customers are creating about how much they love the brand yeah why would i buy a mesh key dress post in my mesh key dress and tag the brand if i didn't think i looked fire in that dress totally you know like i want other people to see that a little sidebar though for small businesses

and brands don't take people's content and repost it without asking that's a whole nother conversation i've had some fights recently but just because someone do you remember when i had that fight it and i understand side note you can absolutely message someone like jess who may be posted and this is not mesh key we're just talking about because i love dresses but like imagine if jess posted in a beautiful dress and she was like oh yeah great it's from this brand you take taking that and using as your advertising material, I'm sorry, you either need to pay or ask for that. Yeah. Always ask commission. And some people are really happy for you to do that, but just keep that in mind because I know that that's something that particularly for small

business, a lot of us might not have thought about. And that's much more, I think, not acceptable, but I would understand it a lot more. I understand small business, the person that did it to me. So this is wild. And I think you guys will just find it juicy, but I posted a picture of my baby. So as you guys know, I don't actually share photos of my son's face online. So I didn't share his face, but I shared a picture of a baby item that I was using and loving as like, kind of like a recommendation to all of my mum followers and whatnot. But I didn't tag the brand because I wasn't trying to, you know, promote the brand. I was just sharing a mum to mum recommendation and the brand somehow saw it. They screenshot it, they put it in an ad and then

started sharing it. Boy, did I hit the roof. I was not happy with that because one, I already don't share my child on socials. Don't get me wrong, but that's my space to moderate, not yours. You don't get to pick a piece of content that I shared about my child and then use it to gain income. Absolutely not. Thankfully, it was a really big company and I was like, I'm going to jump down your throat about this. I would have been very different if it was a small business, like if someone had, you know, they thought it was really cool or something like different story, but they should have known better. Just a really good FYI, because as you were saying, like having those UGC videos is so invaluable. When I think about any of the purchases I've made in the last

year, I would say like 75 to 80% of them are things that I've seen people recommend on TikTok. And it wasn't an ad, but they've just gone, look at these cute pajamas that Kmart has. Oh, 100%. Or something to that effect. And that is so invaluable. But if you are taking somebody's content without their permission, that is actually stealing. And so that's not okay. Absolutely not. Anyway, don't get yourself into trouble, but it is also important to see how that works. One way to get around that, Jess, is actually to create a custom hashtag. So like be seen in she's on the money or something. And in your bio, you could say, use be seen in she's on the money to maybe have your post reposted by us or something. And that is going to give

explicit consent because by them using that tag, it means they want their content to be shared. Yes, exactly. So there are different ways about it. But anyway, the crux of this story and the reason sometimes small businesses accidentally steal content is because people trust real experiences from other users way more than polished ads. In fact, 79% say it influences their decision to buy, which makes sense as to why you would want more of this on your feed. By showcasing UGC content on your channels, you're not just building credibility, you're actually fostering a community around your brand. And the best part is organic advocacy like UGC content, it's priceless.

It's one thing to pay for ads, but I know for us when people are out there talking about She's On The Money just because they genuinely love the podcast. You're my favorite type of people, by the way. Yeah, but it's something that money can't buy. And I think as a small business owner, it brings you a lot of joy to say that people are resonating with your content, that they're loving your content, whether they're commenting or something or tagging you in a post or a video or whatever it's really I think validating and lovely as a business owner also it does provide that social proof to others and allows you to reach more people because if I post a video and my friends see it they might do exactly what VD did with the mesh key dress and go I love that

dress I'm then going to buy it a hundred percent I'm like screenshotting it saving it on Instagram because I'm like can't wait for an event where I can wear this like it's so important and there's so many things that you can do to promote user-generated content. So, you could run contests or giveaways that actually ask your consumers to share photos or videos for a chance to win like maybe a gift card to your store. If they already love your dresses, they're going to want more money to spend on your dresses, right? It's a fun way to boost engagement with them one on one, creating community, but also to create some more content so that you can use it. And then post-purchase emails. So we're going back to that stuff that you own, Jess. Post-purchase

emails are a really great way to encourage shares, like maybe with a tag or maybe even like an incentive to say, hey, like if you share a photo and tag us, we'll send you a code for 10% off your next purchase. Like there are so many things that you could do that really promote that. Even a simple call to action in your packaging. Like maybe there's like a little note or a QR code that prompts customers to share their unboxing moments. Like there's nothing I love more. And I don't love influencer content on this. So like you've got a hundred thousand followers. This is not something I want to see from you, but I do want to see smaller content creators. Like, and I know you've done this Jess before where you're like, oh my gosh, I have wanted this dress for

ages and I finally bought it. Unbox it with me. Yeah. I want to watch that. I want to see the dress that you saved up for. I want to see what you look like in it. Cause I probably want it now to. So I think that the goal here is to make it easy. It's to make it rewarding for the consumer to turn your customers into content creators who then amplify your brand. What about getting featured in traditional, I know we have new media and we're like, traditional media, but like news outlets and magazines and stuff. But it's so important as well. And it also plays into that social validation. So like, say you get a feature in a magazine, Cosmopolitan has come back. I got a whole

column in Cosmopolitan for it to reissue, which was so cool. But say Cosmopolitan feature your product. You can then use that as content to post on your socials, which adds to that social engagement, which adds to that social validation. So before you start thinking about getting in magazines and traditional media, it's always good to keep in mind that these outlets are looking for content. Like at the end of the day, they are on the prowl, you could say, for good content that they can share that their community is going to find engaging. When someone pitches a good story, it's actually making their job really easy. So you need to put on your hat and go, okay, I need to make this as easy as possible for the journalist I'm pitching to or the publication

I'm pitching to. So if you've got a compelling story, don't be scared to pitch it. The worst thing that can happen is they say no, but what I want you to do is make it as easy as possible. So, if you are going to pitch something, given they're looking for content and not doing more work, you need to make your stand out. So, start by doing your homework. Research the outlet. Tailor the pitch to align with their audience and the types of stories that they usually cover. Pitching a makeup brand to the age? Probably not.

Pitching a makeup brand to Cosmopolitan, though, that makes a lot more sense. so make sure your pitch is clear concise to the point and lead with a really strong headline or a hook that grabs attention immediately i'd also focus on the value that the story brings so not like hey i really would love to be in cosmopolitan because like i'm actually like super impressive like i built like all of she's on the money and like that's something that your community should know about yeah they literally don't care you want to focus on the value that your story brings So, I would not pitch to a media outlet and say, I'm amazing, feature me. I would say, I have saved every single person in my community at least $500 and I can show

you how to as well. Like they want something that makes their readers get engaged. So, whether it's a unique angle or some relevant news or some expert insights, make sure you include the essential details, but also they don't want a thesis. They don't have the time. They don't have the energy. and the other thing I'll say is these inboxes are going to blow up. So, don't forget to follow up. So, following up and being like, hey, was there anything else that I could help you with? Sometimes

a polite nudge can be the difference between getting featured or being lost in the shuffle of a busy inbox, right? I would also say if you have any social proof to provide, that's really handy. I know both of us have had articles written about like viral posts that we've had a news.com or a yahoo or someone has gone oh my gosh we want to take this like viral concept and repurpose it into a story so if you're actively going out and pitching and you've got some kind of social proof if you had a video perform really well or if you have a facebook group with a huge you know thread of comments or something like that i would also include that in your pitch because i think that it shows that there is consumer interest in the topic yeah and

i think that giving them as much information as possible and this is maybe going a little bit overboard. But if I'm pitching an article that I'd love, so say right now, I've just finished writing my book, Jess. It is about to come out. It is so exciting. However, I would love lots of news articles to pick that up. How many news articles actually care? Victoria Devine writes another book. No one cares. But you know what I can do? I can create some content. I'm going to look at the news. Cost of living is really insane right now. How about I craft an article about how to start your side hustle during a cost of living to take off some financial pressure. I'm going to pitch that article to the media. And at the bottom of the article, I can be like, learn more about

Victoria Devine. Her new book comes out. So you need to make sure that you are making it relevant. The other thing I would say when it comes to giving more, maybe this is crazy, Jess, you know I do this. I send a Dropbox link with a heap of photos. So obviously, I'm not just going to read an article because there are words on a page. I need an engaging photo. And sometimes my corporate photos aren't going to cut the mustard. They want something a little more casual. So I have a whole Dropbox full of photos that I would be very happy for media to use. Some in portraits, some in landscape, some of my books, some of me with my books, some of me not with my books, all of that so that they don't have to have a lot of back and forth. Like I'm telling you right now,

a journalist that gets a pitch like that into their inbox, they go, oh my God, that's going to make my life so easy. I've been thinking about this, you know, position that I'm trying to fill for this Friday. I'm going to slip that in. Maybe they saw it and were like, I can't deal with that right now. They've got something else pressing. That's why we follow up. Oh my God. Yes, that girl, she emailed me. So it's really important to kind of keep your finger on the pulse. And Jess, there's also a clever website that you can sign up for to find PR opportunities. It's called Sourcebottle, which I think is funny. It's S-O-U-R-C-E. Yeah, not sauce like tomato. Not sauce like tomato. But you know how you always see like expert quotes in articles and you might

go like, how the hell do people get featured like that? You know, maybe you're a finance expert and you want to be featured. Well, Sourcebottle actually connects journalists and like bloggers looking for sources. That's where the Sourcebottle comes from. I like it. Experts just like Tinder, but for like media opportunities cute so journalists are gonna go on and they're gonna pitch an article and they're gonna say we're looking for a tree expert i need somebody who can talk really well to fiddle leaf figs and you might see that and go far out brussels sprout i've got a fiddle leaf literally but it might fit your expertise but they've never heard of you because that's a bit

niche. It is. So you can pitch yourself as the perfect source. Amazing. So you can say, hey, I'm the fig expert. There you go. Would you be so kind as to feature me? It's so handy. And instead of waiting for the media to find you, putting your hand up and saying, hey, I've got something to say about this topic, particularly if you're keeping on top of things that are relevant and trending and current, I think is the perfect opportunity for small businesses and startups who are trying to get their name out there, but maybe don't have all of the funds to spend on a 100%. And it's free because obviously the journalists just want someone to comment. And I mean, me laughing about the fig thing, like it doesn't actually have to be specific. So back to

our candle example. So you're a candle business owner and you sign up for Saucebottle. You are not just looking for opportunities to talk about candles. You're a small business owner. There might be a journalist looking for a small business owner to talk about how hard it is in this current market. You might have a journalist that's looking for somebody just to talk about the pressure on packaging because maybe there's a really big article in the media at the moment about how packaging coming out of China is delayed. They want sources that can just make their articles more juicy and going through that, like use it as your morning paper. Go through that and go, are there any opportunities today that I could get a feature in? Because often if the journal

is going to do it, they're going to be grateful because you're adding validity to their content, but they will always be like, yep, and Jess from She's On The Money said, and you get your brand in the places that you want it. And when you're featured on someone else's website or in another article, it usually links back to you. It's called a backlink, which is really good for boosting your SEO and helping your website rank higher in search results for free, Jessica. We love free. We love a little business money win. I feel like we've covered a lot today. So much, so many rants, but I feel like you learning about me taking on people who steal my content, me talking about figs. It's been a lot, but it's been a

journey and I hope you've learned something. There you go. All right. So Jess, here's the thing. You don't have to do everything all at once. I do try. It is exhausting, so don't recommend. But if you're a small business owner, I totally get it. It can feel all consuming and overwhelming because you're wearing all the hats and sometimes those hats don't fit quite right, including being your own marketer, if that's not your niche. But the key is you don't actually need to be everywhere right away. What I would do personally, start with the foundations of the things that you own. So your owned media is what we're going to focus on, like your website and your email list. These are the things that you control 100%. So from my perspective, get those foundations right,

because as I said before, what is the point of driving traffic and creating all this beautiful social content if the home that you're sending them to is disheveled? Absolutely silly idea. but once you've built that solid foundation out you can then kind of layer in rented media like social media platforms and these are great for visibility but you need to remember that you are renting this space Jess so you don't actually own the audience and then over time you can add in earned media through like reviews and some PR and some UGC and eventually paid ads to scale up like you don't have to jump into paying for things immediately. And by slowly building this platform, you're creating what I would call, get this, a solid omni-channel strategy is what I've written

down here without overwhelming yourself. Very fancy. I think definitely start small, get comfortable with one platform or one focus at a time. And eventually you'll find yourself with a well-balanced strategy that works for you and your business. Exactly. And if today you are starting your candle business and you're like, but it's all consuming and overwhelming and all of my competitors are on every single platform. They were once in your position too. So, it is so important to not compare somebody else's like middle game or their end game to you at the very beginning. Maybe use those things and be like, oh, that's good learnings. I wonder what they had to learn to get here and like start taking things from that. But Jess, that is sadly all

we have time for today. So, if you want even more tips, support, maybe a little bit of inspiration, I'm there. Join the Business Bible community on Facebook. It's a space where like-minded business owners can ask questions and share advice and connect with one another that's the perfect place to find your people other small business owners who are going through the same challenges that you're facing and can share what's worked for them it's like a little built-in support system a hundred percent and if you didn't hear it my book a book i wrote another book and pre-sales are available for my book the business bible it comes out on november the 26th which is wild so i'm going to link that in the show notes because i heard it was a really good book

And takes you from start to finish, step by step of everything you need to know. Literally. And it's got so many little founder stories intertwined into it. And do you know how much stuff I've packed into there that you can do for free? Like that's literally my bread and butter. We will see you next month for another episode of the Business Bible, guys. Bye. The advice shared on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a

financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.