Hello and welcome to Marketing Your Truth, the podcast that transmutes the noise of typical generic marketing BS into a method that mirrors the depth of your passion and honors who you truly are. I'm Eleanor Holy, and if you've been searching for a way for your message to be felt, not just heard, you've found the right place. This is your sanctuary, where we value and amplify the unique wisdom that only you possess. I'm glad you're here. Let's get started. Welcome to the very first episode of the podcast where we explore a transformative marketing concept, marketing your truth. Now, this isn't about yet another super secret marketing trick or technique or tactic, but about aligning your marketing efforts with the deepest truths of who you are. I'm Elena Toly, your host, and I'm thrilled to have you join me on this journey. In this podcast, we'll dive into how you can communicate the true value of you and your solution by creating marketing that feels as effortless as having a conversation with a friend. Today we're going to explore what marketing your truth means, why it's most likely the missing piece in your marketing efforts, and how it will lay the foundation for what we'll cover in the future episodes. Let's begin with the heart and the title of this podcast. What does marketing your truth really mean? Well, we're very much at a crossroads these days in the online marketing space. Since the beginning of 2023, I think we have all noticed some huge shifts in the way we promote and sell our expertise. For example, I just had a conversation with a colleague yesterday. She's a founder of a branding agency, and she's been in this space for more than two decades. Just like so many conversations I've had recently with seasoned experts, she's getting really burnt out. Not by doing the work. She loves that part. She's burnt out by the marketing part. She put it like this everything that I had learned about the way I should promote and sell my services and products is not working anymore. It's like I have to throw it all out and start from square one to learn and figure out what works today in 2024. And then she said, to be honest, Ellie, I'm just so exhausted. I don't know if I have it in me to start all over again. And what she said next truly broke my heart. She said, maybe it's time to dust off that old resume and go work for someone else. Again, this is an agency owner with employees who's been consistently generating multiple six and seven-figure years. Maybe you're feeling the same pressure. Maybe you've been in business for quite some time. And all of a sudden, all the ways that you were promoting and selling that got you here suddenly aren't working anymore. Or maybe you're new on your journey. Just when you were finding your feet, that little traction and visibility you had has gone away and you're not sure what's going on or what to do about it. No matter which situation rings true, this podcast is for you. So let's pull it apart and talk about what has changed. All that stuff that you were doing was working in the past. So why isn't it working anymore? Well, the short answer is a combination of these three. Number one, for more than two decades, low barrier entry to the market has made it really easy for anybody with a passion and as little as hundred bucks to go toe-to-toe with someone with deep pockets who's seasoned and experienced, which is fantastic. But as a result of that low barrier to entry, the market has become very oversaturated. The second thing is that in the online space, it's not easy to figure out who's legit and who's not. Anybody can make any type of claim. You can rent a mansion and a luxury car, pretend they're yours, and use them to sell people a pipe dream of fame and success. And the more far-fetched and exaggerated those overnight results are, the more attractive and appealing what they're selling becomes. At least until now. Which brings us to the third thing. In 2024, today's consumers are very cautious. That's the result of more than two decades of people not being able to tell the difference between who's the real deal and who's not. And so many have fallen for one scam after another. They're being very cautious. They're being extremely careful, even if they're just deciding whether or not to buy a $10 ebook. I can't tell you how many heartbroken stories I've heard over the last decades. People who have lost their homes, gone $100,000, $200,000, or $300,000 in debt, and all types of scenarios in between, because they've invested massive amounts of money in so many courses, in programs, coaching services, masterminds, events, tools, platforms with very little or zero return on their investments. All of which means today's consumers are a lot more informed and more skeptical and very selective than ever before. They don't buy products or services anymore. They buy honesty, transparency, and trust, which means they expect to stay in your ecosystem for a while to connect with you on a personal level, to see if you're telling the truth, to see whether or not you can be trusted. In the past, if your offer sounded good and it lined up with your prospect's desired outcome, they jump right in. You could easily bring a very cold audience from a social media ad into your webinar and sell a 10,000 or 20,000 or even a hundred thousand dollar service or program. That does not fly anymore. Bottom line, if people don't believe what you say, if there is no clear evidence that you're trustworthy, then even the most innovative and life-changing solutions, backed by the most smart and strategic marketing plans, will not save your business. That's where marketing your truth comes in, which is about stripping away the noise, the grandstanding, and the bold claims, and instead leading with something much simpler and more real, which happens to be the thing that your prospects are looking for, getting to know the real you. In its most simplistic form, marketing your truth is really about being true to your values and beliefs, to your unique point of view and voice, and making sure you're communicating all of that to your prospects in every opportunity you get and in every touch point they have with you and your brand. When you make sure your marketing reflects the true essence of who you are as a person, the things you believe in and stand for, people who are in total alignment with you will naturally gravitate towards you. Now, let's unpack that a bit more and look at it from a different angle. Because I'm sure deep down on some subconscious or conscious level, you know all of this. But somewhere along the line, the threat connecting who you are with your marketing efforts has gotten lost. Let me ask you a question. What's the biggest roadblock that keeps most experts from getting their solutions into the hands of those who need it the most? I asked my entire Facebook community this question, and the top answer was, you guessed it. Marketing. How many times have you thought or said to yourself, I wish I could stick to doing the things that I'm passionate about, which is working with clients and not be bothered with the things that takes up 80% of my time, the thing that I don't enjoy, and in most cases, I totally resent. I'm talking, of course, about marketing. Or have you ever thought to yourself, when people work with me, they love my approach and they get results. If only I could find a way to make sure my prospects see that. Many experts already know they have a life-changing solution. They know their solution can positively impact many lives. But the struggle lies in getting the attention of the person who needs your solution most long enough so they can hear what you have to say. And that first encounter is not enough. Once you have this person's attention, you need to know how to continue the conversation so they see the benefit of your solution and decide to take you up on your offer. So, why is this so hard? Why is marketing so challenging? Why is it so frustrating? Well, based on regular conversation with clients and prospects over the last decade of coaching, I believe it's because most people see and treat marketing as a foreign language. They think marketing is something they have to go learn and then copy and practice long enough until it becomes second nature. What if I told you this approach is the very reason that's sabotaging your success? It's the very reason you're stuck and spending 80% of your time doing things that have nothing to do with your skill set or your passion or your expertise. This mindset and the way you treat marketing is causing misalignment. You are out of alignment with who you are and what you stand for. You are out of alignment with your values, with your beliefs, with your voice. You are out of alignment with every single one of the very things that make you who you are. And this misalignment is the reason marketing feels like an uphill battle for you. Because without knowing it, you're forcing yourself to become somebody else. So what happens? Well, one of these two scenarios. If you're a type of person who sticks to established marching orders, you plow ahead, meaning you make that list of social media post contents every day, you write that newsletter once a week, you do your weekly lives, monthly webinars, you do lunch after lunch, you're following orders like a good soldier. But deep down, as you're going along, you know something feels off. You're checking boxes, but really just going through the motions. What you're doing is not aligned with your personality, with your values or beliefs, or even with your mission. So, although you're busy doing things and in your mind you're making progress, everything your prospects get to experience is very surface level. It's very shallow and very flat. Your marketing efforts all look and sound generic because the very essence of the reason someone would want to work with you in the first place is missing. That's scenario number one. Scenario number two is you're aware that what you're being told to do is not in line with who you are. You're uncomfortable consciously or subconsciously. So you drag your feet. It takes forever for you to take action and get things done. And as a result, there's no consistency in what you're doing. I hear it almost every day. I know I have to post on social media daily, but I don't know what to write. Or I know I have to do XYZ, but it takes me forever to figure out what to do or how I should do it. Let me be clear. It's not because you're procrastinating. It's not because you're super busy, and it's not because you're lazy or whatever negative self-talk you might be having in your head. It's because there is a serious misalignment between you and the action you're being told to take. So, my goal with this podcast is to invite you to think about marketing another way, a more aligned way, an inside-out way. Rather than searching outside of yourself to figure out the answers, go inward instead. So that you talk about and promote and market your expertise from a place of your own deep knowing and truth. When you do that, you get out of the cycle of constant confusion, the cycle of constant chase and overwhelm. And you soon find yourself in a place where everything flows effortlessly, where the right fit clients start seeking you out, knocking on your door and asking you to help them with your solution. And the best part, it's not a trend that goes out of style. It's not something you have to go learn. Marketing your truth is part of the very core of who you are. So that's the core of the what. In the next episode, we'll start unpacking the how. I'll share two real life examples that perfectly illustrate the power and effectiveness of staying true to your values and beliefs, as well as the risk of not steering clear of generic marketing tactics, especially the ones that are misaligned with who you are. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating and review, and share it with anyone who might benefit from learning how to market their truth. I'll see you next time. And remember, your real power comes from being who you are.