SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hello and welcome to Marketing Your Truth, the podcast that transmutes the noise of typical generic marketing DS into a method that mirrors the depth of your passion and honors who you truly are. I'm Eleanor Foley, and if you've been searching for a way for your message to be felt and I just heard, you 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. Everything that you're doing in your marketing right now, every platform that you're showing up on, every post that you're creating, every funnel that you might have been building, in general, every strategy that you're following will only work if it's anchored in this one thing. And that one thing is clarity about why you. I call it the why you factor. It's basically the understanding of why your solution genuinely helps your audience break free from whatever's keeping them stuck and why you're the right person, you're the right guide to help them get out of that court and situation and get them to the outcome that they're looking for, to that better version of life that they're imagining or business that they're imagining. Now, that might sound like a simple question, but in reality it's not. It's a very, very deep question. Because to have a clear answer, you have to understand yourself first. That's the real foundation underneath everything in your marketing and what you're doing, every marketing initiative that you're taking on. So what that means is that you have to know the unique point of views that you're bringing into your work, into your solution, the way that you naturally see and solve the problem for your audience with your solution, the beliefs and values that shaped how you approach solving the problem or getting people to that outcome, and why your way is different or is better suited, it's better positioned than any other option out there in your market right now. And this is actually where your real conviction, your real certainty will come from. Because in business, you can't project confidence in your solution and in your marketing if you don't feel it inside first. But when you're clear on who you are and why your solution matters, what gap it fills, and what makes your approach different, everything you say, everything that you share with your audience will carry weight. Your words will land differently with your audience. And the people who are listening or reading or watching you, they will feel that certainty and that confidence. It'll all come through, everything that you're sharing. But as critical as this part is, unfortunately, most entrepreneurs skip it entirely. They go straight into visibility by jumping on platforms, creating more content, posting, chasing attention, believing that if they just stay consistent, if they stay visible, then momentum will follow. And listen, there is nothing wrong with visibility, but visibility without clarity just amplifies confusion for you and for your audience. So if you've been showing up following all the best practices, but it still feels like your business isn't gaining momentum, it's not growing, it's not predictable in terms of revenue and growth, it's because the foundation underneath everything that you're doing hasn't been built yet. And that foundation begins with your why you factor. Now, let me bring all of this into life for you because sometimes it's just easier to see the problem in someone else's story before we can recognize it in our own. So I recently started working with a client who's been in business for more than a decade. So 10 years of doing everything that the marketing world has been telling him that he's supposed to do. So on paper, he's doing it all, right? He had three different offers, an online course, a group coaching program, and a one-on-one coaching package. And of course, beautiful sales pages to go with each of them. He has multiple lead magnets, email nurture sequences, different campaigns, bonuses, scarcity triggers, upsells, down cells, you name it all. He was also on multiple platforms creating content, jumping into networking events, collaborating with other people, writing challenges, hosting free trainings, even connecting and DMing people one-on-one. So from the outside, it looked like he was checking all the right boxes. But underneath all of that, this is what was actually happening. For 10 years, he's been in a lot of ways just marching in place. You know, of course, he'd had months where he'd think, okay, this is it. Things are finally starting to work. I'm in the flow, I'm gaining traction. But in reality, none of it would ever amount to anything measurable. For example, he might gain some visibility and followers on LinkedIn, conversations would follow, but it never translated into enough clients to actually sustain him financially. And then out of nowhere, everything would just slow down for him on LinkedIn. Sometimes it was just as simple as algorithm would change, and all that visibility that he had worked so hard for would just disappear. But the biggest frustration that he had, the one that really kept him up at night, was this. He couldn't tell which of all the hundred things that he was doing, like which posts, which campaign, which effort, which initiative brought the clients that did. So he had no way to replicate what was working of knowing which things were working so he can do more of, so he can get to a predictable and steady revenue stream. And that's something that I see with a lot of entrepreneurs who are struggling with marketing or trying to reach that consistent income level. And almost always, the one thing that would make the biggest difference in their marketing, the work that would actually make every other marketing initiative's work, never gets done. Again, that one thing is the why you factor. Having a clear understanding of what makes you and your solution essential. This is where I start with every single client. Because until you understand your why you factor, every other piece of your marketing, every post, every funnel, every email just sits on a shaky ground. And this first step isn't just the branding exercise. It's about seeing the gaps that you fill in your market, what you see that others in your industry don't, what makes your approach the right approach, maybe even the missing one, and what happens to your audience when they don't follow your way of solving the problem. That's the goal of the exercise that I take people through to help you see with absolute clarity why your solution matters right now in this market with these people at this time. And if you've never done this work before, this is where to begin. Because this work is the part that, like I said, most people skip. And skipping it is exactly what leads to much of the frustration and inconsistencies that you're seeing in your growth. Again, you can know your audience inside and out. You can write beautiful copy, build funnels, hire strategists, run ads, create endless lead magnets, posts every day. But if you haven't anchored all of that in your why you factor, why you, why your solution, why it's the missing gap in the market, again, everything is gonna be wobbly and you're gonna feel it. And of course, your audience will feel it too. It's why so many people walk away from sales calls or conversations thinking, wow, I try to explain what I do, I try to explain what my solution is all about, but I just couldn't get across the depth of it. Or my work is so much deeper than what I'm able to communicate. If you've ever felt that way, this is exactly why. You haven't yet articulated your why you factor in a way that even you can fully understand. And once you have that down, once you have that solid clarity around the why you factor, now you can look outward towards your audience. And I know that sounds counterintuitive because most marketing advice says start with your audience. You have to know their pain points, you have to know their desired outcome, on and on and on. But in reality, you can't truly understand your audience until you understand yourself. Otherwise, your audience research is just gonna stay surface level. But when you do the work to understand what you bring into the picture, everything you learn about your audience has context. You can run it through that lens. You're not just collecting pain points, you're interpreting them through your own unique lens, your own unique point of view. You can now clearly see how you help them specifically, why your way is the right way, why the other methods that they're following or they're being advised to follow that they've tried hasn't worked up to now. And what they need to understand to finally get unstuck, to finally get to where they need to get. Do you see the difference? You're not just studying the problem, the pain points, or the desired outcome. You're seeing the patterns behind those problems and how your work, your solution fits as a missing piece to solve those problems. When you put those two things together, your truth and their reality, everything starts to change for you for the better. Your content, your marketing is just gonna sound different and it's gonna land differently. It's gonna come from clarity and conviction. You're gonna know exactly what to say, why you're saying it, and how it helps your audience to take the next steps. And once you have that foundation in place, now you're ready to start marketing, but doing it intentionally and strategically. But again, this is another place where a lot of people get stuck. When it comes to marketing, most people are still guessing. They're still throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping that one of the stuff that they're doing is gonna stick. And of course, they end up working 10 times harder than they need to because majority of people, when they think about marketing, they're doing one of these two things. They're either creating content to attract, meaning to get in front of new people, or they're creating marketing initiatives to convert, to make a sell. But there is an entire in-between phase that they're not even accounting for. Before someone makes a buying decision, there is always an inner journey happening. Moments where they start to believe, to trust, to feel like this might finally be the thing that would help them to get them out of that predicament that they're in. And that's the part most people never account for in their marketing. They're either focused on getting in front of new people, attracting, posting, chasing visibility, or they're focused on converting, pitching, promoting, running ads, running events, trying to close a cell. But in reality, the real movement, the part that turns awareness into readiness for your clients, for your prospects, happens in between those two. That middle space is where connection and trust forms. It's where people start connecting the dots between their problem and your solution. So if your marketing skips that middle ground, you're gonna end up doing twice the work for half the result. And that's why I teach people to think about their marketing as a flywheel, not a funnel, a system that keeps building connection and resonance and trust and momentum every time someone interacts with you. And to make that happen, to create this flywheel, to create this experience for your audience, there are five different content types that you need to be creating, five ways that your audience needs to experience you so they can naturally move through that journey from curiosity to commitment. So, what I want you to think about is this. What we're really creating in your marketing is an ecosystem that strengthens over time, where every action and every marketing initiative naturally feeds the next one for your prospects and for you. It's not a straight line, it's not a funnel, it's not linear. Funnels were built for a different era when once people found you, you could just keep their attention. You get them into your funnel, send a few North Shore emails, maybe even retarget them with ads, and that was enough to stay on top of mind. But in this current climate, it doesn't work anymore. The noise is higher than ever, inboxes are overflowing, social media is crowded with content that all of them, thanks to AI, sounds the same. So you need a system that doesn't rely on visibility once, but instead reconnects and rebuilds connection and trust over and over over time. That's what this flywheel does. It's not just a marketing system, it's a connection system, it's a trust-building system. Every time someone moves through it, whether they're reading your posts, joining your list, attending one of your events, or opening up your emails, their connection, their trust and belief in you and your solution just deepens. Sometimes that happens quickly, maybe after one or two interactions. Other times it takes longer. They have to go through this ecosystem, through this flywheel several times. But again, each time they come back into your ecosystem, that relationship grows deeper and stronger because each interaction compounds the last one. And that's the difference between a funnel and a flywheel. Funnels push people through a single path. Flywheel creates the right conditions for trust and connection to grow. So people move towards you naturally in their own timing. So why don't we walk through what this flywheel looks like? Again, there are five parts to this flywheel. And like I said earlier, sometimes people enroll right after the first round or even halfway through this flywheel. And sometimes, well, they might circle through a few times before the timing feels right. Either way, each round builds momentum. Now I go into a lot more detail about each of these five parts inside my book, The Service First Framework. You can grab a free digital copy. I've linked it in the show notes below. But for now, let's zoom out and talk about what this looks like in your marketing day to day. Again, there are five types of content that you need to make sure you're building inside this ecosystem, inside your flywheel. Five kinds of experiences that your audience should be able to have with you. Because when someone comes into your world, whether that's through a post or your podcast, a lead magnet or a conversation, they're somewhere on their own buying journey. And if your marketing only gives them one kind of experience, say it's just attraction-based content or purely promotional content, you'll either lose them halfway through or they'll stay in your world, but never really feel ready to take the next step with you. So what we want to do is make sure that your marketing flywheel, your ecosystem, gives them those five experiences so they have every opportunity to build connection, resonance, and trust with you. That's what turns random visibility into predictable growth. And that's how you make the buying decision easier for them, not by adding more pressure or scarcity or bonuses, but by creating that space and that clarity for them. All right, so let's walk through these five types of content and talk about what they are and what each of them helps you achieve. The first one is authority-building content, the kind that will attract your ideal clients and position you as the authority in your space. Here's the thing: when most entrepreneurs think about building authority, they assume it means being visible, showing up often, posting consistently, sharing a lot of smart things, helpful tips, or maybe even listing out their wins or how many clients they've helped or what results they got for their clients. Those by themselves used to work back when knowledge was scarce and information was hard to find. But now, with AI and the explosion of content, the advantage is gone. Sounding smart isn't rare anymore, it's expected. So traditional authority building, posting more, showing up everywhere, trying to outnoise the noise, has become a treadmill that leads absolutely to nowhere. Authority today isn't about information or volume. It's about perspective, offering clarity that no one else in your niche or your market is giving your audience. It's about sharing insights that only you could articulate because they come from something deeply personal. Your lived experience, your values, your mission, your purpose, your personality, the unique way that you see your audience, the situation, and the way you solve the problem for them. So what I want you to do is instead of thinking of yourself as a source of information, I want you to become the translator of that information. Decoding and contextualizing what matters to your people, helping your audience see what's really going on underneath the surface of all the struggle, all the pain points, all the desires. When you consistently show up that way, as a person who helps your audience make sense of their world, they will stop scrolling. And you move away from being one of many voices in a crowded industry, in a crowded niche, to being the voice that they trust to interpret what's true. And that's how you become memorable rather than merely visible. Now, once people start noticing you, they're reading your posts, watching your videos, resonating with what you say. Now you need a way to keep that attention, to turn that initial spark of interest into ongoing engagement. And this is where most entrepreneurs accidentally lose momentum. They start reaching out to people in DMs, trying to book calls, or jump into sales conversations too fast. Or they keep posting and posting and posting, hoping that somehow one of those posts will turn those people who are paying attention into clients. The problem is all of that, both sides of the aisle, is really short-term engagement. And you're building those engagements, unfortunately, in a lot of ways, on a rented land. Most of those engagements are happening on social media on a land that's not yours. Even if you're on Substack and you have this idea that you're building your audience on that platform, you don't own those subscribers. Substack does. And so if you rely just on social media, you're gonna be at the mercy of the algorithm or that platform. Your account disappears or the algorithm makes changes tomorrow, your entire audience goes with it. So instead of trying to chase people or constantly starting over, I want you to think about building a home for your audience, to build a space that's yours and you can dedicate it to your community. That could be your email list, it could be a newsletter, it could be a private community, something that belongs to you and to them. That's where real engagement begins because that's where, again, trust and connection can grow without interruptions. And when you do that, you're not just getting likes or followers, you're building real relationships, right? Relationships that grow in value over time because it's happening in a space that you actually own. So now, once you have that engagement in place, the next piece is connection. Because the reality of a situation is that even if someone's on your email list or inside your community, they're following you, they will forget you really, really fast. Like in a matter of minutes. They could be excited about a free thing that you're giving them, grab it, and just like that, the next minute or in next half an hour, they're gonna forget that you existed. And it's not personal, it's just the world that we live in right now. Noise is at all-time highs, higher than ever. Inboxes are overflowing, people are overwhelmed, they're distracted. And if you just rely on your social media posts or your emails, you're going to lose them. Think about it. We're all in a same environment. We're operating in a same environment. Automated messages, AI-generated content, inboxes overflowing with offers. Everyone's talking at their audience, but very few are really taking the time to connect with their audience. And that's the gap that you need to fill with your content. You have to create moments where people can actually interact with you, where they can hear your voice, ask questions, feel your energy, and see what you stand for. You can't hide behind your posts and your emails. Those moments are what makes you memorable because attention fades really, really quickly in today's market.

unknown 21:59

But the

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Connection that you create during those moments, during those experiences, they will last. And of course, my favorite way to create that connection is through what I call serv events. What are serv events? Well, think of them as webinar 2.0. So back in the day in early 2000, webinars were one of the most powerful ways to grow a business. You could take someone who had never heard of you, a complete stranger, and in about 45 minutes, they'd understand who you are, what you do, and why your solution was the right fit for them. They worked beautifully because attention was easier to hold. People showed up curious, open, and trusting. But that's not the world that we live in right now. People today are more skeptic. They've been burned by too many overpromising sales presentations, their inboxes are full, their feeds are overflowing. And so serve events are built for this new world, a trust-starved, attention short world. They're structured differently. Everything inside a serve event, from how you open to the stories you share to how you guide the audience, is built to answer the natural questions and doubts that come up during a buying decision. Essentially, you're walking them through the same mental and emotional process that they naturally go through to understand why your solution makes sense for them and to feel confident to move forward with you. And the end result is that when someone leaves your serve event, when they experience it and leaves your serve event, they don't just know who you are and what your solution is about, they feel deeply connected to you. You're essentially shortening the path from curiosity to commitment, from I'm interested to I get it. And that's why enrollment rates from serve events are so high because people don't walk away feeling sold to. They walk away feeling seen, understood, and confident that you're the right guide for them. And so for those people who don't enroll, something really does shift for them. They stay connected, they keep engaging with you, you're gonna see their names pop up on social media, they're gonna respond back to your emails, and they're gonna circle back and interact with you because the connection that you've built in that one experience doesn't fade. It actually compounds. It's part of that flywheel that we just talked about. So when you integrate serve events into your ecosystem, into your flywheel, you're not just adding another marketing activity. You're creating the most reliable bridge between visibility and conversion. So you'll definitely get clients and enrollments at this stage, at this connection stage, running people through your serve events. But the fact of the matter is that there will always be people who, for one reason or another, they're not quite ready yet to move forward with you. They're interested, they see the value, but sometimes they're still holding themselves back. And that's exactly why we need this next type of content, what I call the belief-building content. Because let's look at it from a different perspective. If someone hasn't enrolled with you yet, if they haven't decided to work with you yet, it's never because they don't want a result. It's because there is a belief gap somewhere. Maybe they're not fully convinced that you're the right person to help them. Or maybe they don't fully believe that your solution will work for them. Or maybe they doubt their own abilities, whether they can follow through and get results. So your job here at this stage with this type of content is to close that gap. You want to close it through your ongoing communications, through your emails. This is where your emails come in, but not the kind that you might have heard, which is like nurture people, provide value to people, give them more tips, give them more resources. These are belief-shifting emails. They're short, they're thoughtful messages that help your audience see things from your perspective. What I mean by that is every time you send an email, it should connect the dots for them between why they're stuck, what's not working about their current approach, what needs to change to help them move forward, and how your solution fits into that picture. So you're not really trying to convince or pressuring them, you're simply giving them the clarity that they need to believe in the process, in the solution, and of course, in themselves. Because readiness isn't built through information and it's definitely not built through pressure or scarcity or bonuses. It's built through understanding and of course compounding trust over time. And when that trust and alignments are fully in place, the invitation just becomes simple. It becomes inevitable in a lot of ways. Which brings us to the last type of content, which is conversion builder. These are the moments where now that belief that you've been building up with your content turns into a natural yes for them. At this point, you don't need to use pushy tactics or false urgency or clever sell scripts. You don't need to do any of that. Okay, you don't need to handle objections or chase people down. Because when someone experiences all the earlier stages, all those other types of contents, when they understand your perspective and trust in your process and believe in their own ability to succeed, you don't then have to convince them. You just have to guide them. That's what makes this final step so powerful. It's not about manipulation, it's not about pressure, it's about alignment and timing. And what I mean by that is before you make an invitation, whether it's through a sales call, a live event, a sales page, through your email, you need to ask yourself, am I 100% certain that this offer, this solution works for this audience? Am I 100% certain that it's the right fit for the person in front of me? And am I 100% certain and ready to walk beside them, not just sell to them? And this is where everything really comes full circle, back to where we started today, back to your why you factor. Because if you haven't done that work at the beginning, if you don't have that deep conviction in why you're the right person and why your solution is the right one, this moment will always feel really, really shaky for you. You'll either hesitate to extend that invitation or second guess yourself, or you're gonna push through with pressure and hustle, try to make up for the lack of certainty. And in all those cases, I'm telling you, your results will suffer. But when you have that clarity that's anchored in your why you work, your energy changes completely. You don't need to force or convince anyone, you simply guide them with confidence, with clarity, with calmness, and people will feel that alignment, right? That's what makes them say yes to you, by the way. And that's what this entire system, this entire client flywheel is designed to do. Each part reinforces the next, each experience compounds trust. And over time, your marketing stops feeling like a hustle and starts feeling like momentum. Now, as we wrap up today, I want you to take a deep breath and really let this sink in. Everything you're doing in your marketing, every post, every email, every event, it will all work much better when it's connected, when your message is anchored in your why you factor, when your content walks people through those natural stages of connections, resonance, and trust, and when your invitation comes from conviction and certainty, not pressure. That's when your marketing finally stops feeling like a hustle, like a grind, and it starts feeling like momentum and growth. Hey friends, if this episode reminded you that maybe marketing isn't about doing more, but about doing the right things in the right order, then I hope you give yourself permission to slow down and realign. And if you're ready to take what you learned here today and actually implement it with guidance, a plan, and people who get it, that's exactly what we're doing inside the Marketing Your Truth Collective. You get step-by-step trainings, life support, and a community to help you grow your business in a way that finally feels doable and enjoyable. So if you're tired of marching in place and ready to finally get into forward moving momentum, come join us. I'd love to see you inside. Just head over to elinatoly.com forward slash collective.com forward slash collective. And if this episode spoke to you, will you take a second to leave a quick rating or review? It really helps others find this show and join this movement of purpose-driven entrepreneurs using their gifts to make a real difference, not just a living. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here. And if you haven't subscribed yet, now is the time. There is so much goodness coming in 2026, and I don't want you to miss a single episode.