If there’s one thing my client coaching and entrepreneur experience (plus church) taught me it’s this: Your plans are only as strong as the foundation they’re built upon. That’s why today I’m sharing the 3 marketing strategies (the “foundation”) you have to master if you want a profitable AND sustainable online business that does work for you.

*Spoiler alert, if you’re not in this entrepreneur game for the long haul, not interested in serving before selling, or you’re looking for a get rich quick scheme… this article is not for you.

Consider this your marketing strategy roadmap if you will.

Marketing Phase 1: Branding

If your branding is done right, your branding becomes your superpower. It’s the marketing messages, your brand’s story, positioning, visual identity, values, and experience you deliver that will set you apart from everyone else and make readers choose YOU.

Getting crystal clear on who you serve, what you serve, how you serve, and WHY you serve has to happen or you’ll have zero motivation or direction for the work you do and your audience will have zero motivation to care either.🤷

Branding done right creates the “know, like, trust” factor that’s needed for your readers to buy from you and branding done wrong just makes you another commodity and noise on these internet streets, so it’s crucial that you take time to invest in this if you’re just starting out or to revisit it if you’re feeling all “stuck” or like no one even “gets you”.

Marketing Phase 2: Content Marketing Strategy

Once you’ve got your branding nailed down, it’s time to get that brand out into the world. Cue your content marketing strategy.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:

Your content marketing strategy is single-handedly the most important strategy your brand can have. #contentisking

I talk about content marketing strategy a LOT because it’s literally the bulk of all your day-to-day responsibilities as an online business owner. It’s the social media captions and stories, the email newsletters, the blog posts, the videos, and any other message you use to promote and sell your products or services.

If you’re just getting started in business or the idea of putting out regularly recurring content overwhelms you, stick with these 2 things to start:

1.Choose one main content platform (not social media!) to host your most valuable information on whether it’s a blog, a podcast, or Youtube channel. Having this type of content platform:

• Shows your readers that you’re an expert in your field and builds credibility and authority in your niche
• It’s how your brand will get found online through search engines like Google and informs and inspires your readers to take action.
• Tells your story and sets you apart from everyone else. And if you’re a personal brand (like many online businesses these days) especially, it’s kind of a big deal to stand out when it seems like everyone is just “doing it for the gram”.

2. Choose one social media content platform to promote your main content platform above. It’s important to show up on social media since there are zillions of people (read: ideal customers) on there regularly.  Personally, I recommend Instagram to start with because:

• You can toggle a switch in your settings to auto-post the same caption over to your Facebook account and kill two content birds with one stone.
• Instagram is about storytelling and allows you to connect with readers emotionally (which you need if you want them to buy from you).
• You can include hashtags in your captions which allows you to get new reach (traffic/eyeballs) you wouldn’t have otherwise received organically.
• 1 billion users (literally) are on there so ya…. big opportunity to get your content and brand seen!

Choose a consistent schedule for your main content platform and social media platform of choice to start to get more comfortable with showing up routinely. Once you’ve got the hang of it and you’re putting yourself “out there” regularly for a few weeks, move on to the next phase.

Marketing Phase 3: Email marketing strategy

So yes, you really need a blog (or main content platform like I just mentioned and yes, you really do need an email list if you’re trying to run a successful online business.

Choose an email service provider to get started with and create an account. If you want a free version, I recommend Mailchimp but if you can swing less than $30 a month and you’re serious about biz growth, I highly recommend (and am a proud affiliate for) Convertkit.

Create a “lead magnet” or downloadable freebie in exchange for an email address, promote your freebie on social (and put it in your bio!) and at the end of your blog posts, and then start emailing your list regularly to drive traffic back to your latest blog post.

PSST: Convertkit has ALL the info and templates for lead magnets and promoting it well. They literally walk you through it all step-by-step.

Your email list is where you can share even more personality with your readers and send them exclusive updates, discount codes, or offers to reward them for letting you serve them in your inbox. And that my friend is how you’re going to create raving clients and dollar bills.

Once you have these 3 marketing strategies up and running you’ll be able to

• learn from your audience and tweak what’s not working,
• have a genuine relationship with your reader and confidence to “sell” them after you have served them well,
• and next-level your marketing strategy by adding new platforms or strategies knowing that the basics are already in place and you’ll be able to get through new strategies much quicker.🤗

But where most people fall off during this 3 phase process? The “doing all this regularly part”.

Most folks get discouraged because the dollar bills aren’t rolling in right away after one or two blog posts…

A lot of people get overwhelmed because creating content is time-consuming…

But hey, Noah didn’t build his ark in a day, right? He didn’t see any rain for YEARS!

I believe in mastering this 3 phase process first because I believe in serving your audience well before selling them.

I mean, if I just showed up on Instagram and said “Hey buy my product!” you would probably say, “Um, who are you and why should I care?”, right!?

BUT you’ve stumbled upon a personal caption or signed up for my newsletter and you made it all the way to the bottom of this post because you *kinda* like me and value what I have to say… and MAN–I hope you know that just means SO much to me!

That’s the power of branding, content, and email marketing that I want you to create.

Don’t lose hope because laying the foundation takes a little while. Don’t grow weary serving your people before you sell to them because you don’t see fruit right away or because the “gate” isn’t wide and easy.

Say “Heck yes!” to laying the foundation so you can create not just a profitable business, but a sustainable business that works on auto-pilot for you and frees up more time to be with your fam.

Then I’ll show you how to do add another social media platform or do all the flashy stuff like webinars, paid ads, collaborations and more, deal? deal!

Stay bold.