Light and Easy Marketing + Mindset with Guest Shelley Niehaus

Monica Pitts 0:07 Hello again. And welcome back to marketing with purpose. I'm your host Monica Pitts. And today no surprise, we were talking about marketing again. But luckily today, you do not have to listen to me talking about it all by myself. I actually have a guest with me today, Shelley Niehaus. And she is a business coach and personal brand strategist. So she's going to field all of our marketing questions for us today. So hi, say hi, Shelly. Shelly Niehaus 0:31 Hi, I'm so excited to be here. And to jam on marketing is my favorite thing. So this is such a great opportunity to just talk about the thing we're both passionate about. I always Monica Pitts 0:42 learned so much from other marketers, because I feel like I'm on a continuous journey. Like it's not a stagnant art. So I love hearing the opinions of other folks like you. I think it helps me as much as it helps my audience, I'm sure, Shelly Niehaus 0:54 absolutely. Monica Pitts 0:55 So tell me a little bit about your backstory. You started off as a photographer. Yeah, right. And but then like you rolled into this business coaching mode. So I want to hear how that happened. Shelly Niehaus 1:08 Well, it was by accident, as I'm sure you've heard other people say they found their lane or zone of genius in life. But I actually owned several service based industry businesses in three different industries for over 20 years. And the last one was I was a commercial photographer in the Dallas area for 10 years. And I think it was about 2018 2019, I was leading a lot of local masterminds, teaching other photographers how to market and sell their business. And one of the ladies finally looked at me and she said, Why are you still taking pictures, because you really need to be teaching other people how to do this, this is how you can make a bigger impact in the world. And I thought about it, but I didn't really do much with it. Because you know, it takes time for things to really, you know, actually materialize. So I put that on in the back of my brain continued with my my life. And then we decided in 2021, to literally pack out leave Dallas leave the only life we had ever known and move across the country and start over. And what better way to start over and moving physically locations, but also completely pivoting your business and deciding you want to do something else. And when I got here, I thought I was going to do photography again. And it just the doors didn't open. And you know, just like that my favorite that season was over. And I felt it. And I knew it was time in that conversation we had came back. And I thought I love marketing, I feel like I'm really good at it my own business. So if I could teach other people how to do it and just lift that heavy, I feel like marketing is one of those things, it's so many people make so hard. You know, they just, you know, they made through all these fancy terms, put all these big systems around it. And if you're a business owner, that's trying to do what you love, you're trying to be a technician in your business and also market it, you don't want to have this big heavy marketing strategy and limitation system. So my passion was how can I make marketing simple and make it fun for the service based provider or for the online business coach or something that's just, you know, starting out probably three to five years into their business and knows they need to do better, but they want to do it in a way that's fun and easy for them. And that is kind of what I I pivoted and and went into that direction and have not looked back Monica Pitts 3:25 on and easy. Yep, those are not two words that we hear all the time associated with marketing. I feel like parts of it are fun for me because I get to do things that I like. And then other parts of it are pretty grueling because I don't love repetitive things or processes. So yeah, how do you bring that on into it? Like, how do you hope people know what what simple and fun is right for them? Shelly Niehaus 3:52 Well, first of all, as we all it kind of starts with the mindset issue. A lot of people think marketing is self promoting. They think it's salesy. They think it's sleazy, and if you're coming from it, or do edit it that perspective, it will be it's gonna be hard and heavy and and so it's you start with backing up and saying, What is your why, like, Why do you get out of bed every day? What is your purpose? And what do you feel called in this world to do? Like, how can you make an impact? And when you start to remember your why, and how you're actually showing up and you're serving? And then I always say whose life would be different if you weren't doing what you were doing? Like who whose life are you changing today, and when you come at it with that your whole personality, your whole mindset shifts, and you show up from that position of serving and offering value. And you know, helping people versus buy my stuff, buy my stuff by myself. So we always lead with that organic relationship building that organic, you know, positioning of letting them build that relationship with you. And when you start to look at marketing is it's simply having conversations with people that you could help, it's it changes it. And that's what I always tell my clients, I'm like, weird, you're just out there having conversations every day with people that you could potentially help and make their life better. So if you just do that, then all of a sudden it takes it changes the whole way you approach it, and then everything from there has a different lens. Monica Pitts 5:19 I love whose life are you changing today? That's a great statement, I wrote it down, because I want to remember it. Because that's, I mean, I, my husband, he's been a loan officer, like for veterans loans, basically, for 12 years. And sometimes he'll come home and he'll just be like, This is the worst job ever. Monica, people yell at me all day. And I'm like, you have a noble job, my friend, you change people's lives by allowing them to buy a home when they would never be able to buy a home before and you're you're changing their lives. And then he's like, Okay, well, I haven't thought about like, like, thought about it like that in a few days. So thank you. But it's just yeah, like the like, flip it over, we got this like, so I love that positivity. Now, you specifically seek out entrepreneurs over the age of 40. So those are the people whose lives you're helping to change. And that's kind of a brave like statement, because people talk about target markets all the time. Or they don't, quite frankly, like, there's a lot of like, well, just anybody with a house, and I'm like this is I don't know how we're gonna make this work. I gotta have pictures that people can see and relate to on your website, right. And if it's just anybody who owns a house, like, that's not very descriptive. So, um, what made you focus on that group of people, because I bet there's a lot of people, they could do that focusing in with their demographic, and it would help them build their business. So Shelly Niehaus 6:54 I really focus a lot on online marketing, that's i My passion is, you know, list building and helping you grow your audience online. And again, everything kind of comes through just having conversations with the people that you're helping, I started to see a clear line of how entrepreneurs approach marketing online differently. It's specifically social media, around the age of 40. The Gen Xers did not grow up with social media, we did not grow up with email marketing campaigns, and, and all those things. And it's, it's a heavier lift to figure out how to learn, it's like we have a bigger learning curve. And I see a lot of specifically women in this type of genre or this demographic, they want to hide behind their products, they don't want to put their face out there. They don't want to be the face of their brand. They don't want to be the face of their business. And they're not doing that connection. They're not connecting online with photos and stories and imagery, because they think they can simply just build it and they will come. And and I always say, you know, when our parents used to want to buy something, what did they do, they went to the phonebook. And so now your online presence is, you know, that's your brand, you've got to you know, you got you got to stand out. So really, it's helping them come over there, overcome that hesitation, in teaching them how to market online, whereas people, you know, under 40, I feel like they get it like and they it's not as hard they understand it, they know how the game is played. They, you know, my kids have never, not no one an iPhone is, and they you know, they can teach me things on the iPhone. So it's just a different mindset shift in how people market. And it really does kind of happen around that 40 mark. So 40s just kind of an arbitrary line in the sand. But I'm really looking for the people that did not, you know, weren't immersed in the online marketing space growing up and are having to learn how to do it at a later point in life. Monica Pitts 8:58 Now, I know that there's a lot of companies and nonprofit organizations that are trying to connect with the same people that you serve, like so many of my nonprofits are like, you know, what I, I need to get into this donor group, it's really difficult to, you know, get to the people who are 35 to 45 years old, and I Tom Yeah, well, part of it is because they have little kids and they're really busy. But then on the other hand, too, like they they do need to keep some of them are like, my donors are dying. And I'm like, Oh, heavens, like this. morbid. That but it's real, right? It's real. So how do you attract those folks to your business? Like what advice would you give nonprofits and businesses who are looking to attract that same demographic of people to their businesses, like based on your experience? Shelly Niehaus 9:46 Well, again, you always kind of have to look at where they're hanging out and what the conversations that generation is having and a lot of my clients are hanging out in networking groups that I see are kind of specifically designed for the older entrepreneur, if you even Google entrepreneurs over 40, or women over 40 networking groups, and women over 40, Facebook groups, women over 40, podcasters. I mean, they're you, if you just even start putting in some keyword searches, there is, you know, that's the beautiful thing about the online space, we can create a community around anything. So if you are looking at the conversations are having, and again, people over 40 there, how do I send my kids to college, what you know, menopause for women, perimenopause, like if you're just looking for the conversations are having, those are the ways that you connect Facebook groups in person events. And that's really what I started doing, I started just kind of paying attention to what conversations they were having adjacent to business, not necessarily around business and getting out there and just making those organic connections. And then they start leading into talking about, and especially if that demographic, what I've learned is a lot of women specifically are starting a business, they raise their children, they've, you know, had their corporate career. Now it's time for them to do something they want to do. And those people are starting to want to be in business or a passion project. So that's a really good demographic to target because they're starting to have that time, especially once their kids get to be a little older and start driving. My kids started driving last year and my whole world change. So maybe look for parents with teen teenagers that are now driving and going off to college, I don't know. But you start to get your freedom back. And you can actually like think about, well, maybe what do I want to do? What is the next phase of my life look like? And that's, some of the conversations are having. Monica Pitts 11:43 Okay, so we need to look not necessarily to look, let me start that one over again. So you're saying don't look for the obvious, like, Where can I find a nonprofit to give money to instead, it would be like, What are these people talking about? Where are they online? And like start making your connections that way? And maybe not online? Like it could be in person to write so right? Yeah. Great advice. I 100%. Agree. So as you are advising these wonderful female entrepreneurs over the age of 40, I love it. I'm one of those humans. Only I started my business at 25. So I don't know. It's, it's been well, I Shelly Niehaus 12:25 didn't do it. Yeah, different. There was no Facebook, I started my business. No, Monica Pitts 12:31 me either. Like, I mean, maybe there was but I wasn't on it. Like I wasn't, it was. Yeah. late adopter for that one. What are you seeing that's working right now, like as far as tactics that they're employing? Shelly Niehaus 12:49 Well, I think just with the whole shift of the world and AI and social media and the love hate relationship with social media, the number one thing and I'm having so many conversations with this is you have to own your audience, you have to have an eye, you know, I one of the things that I work on my clients on is their list, building their email, you need to be able to have that relationship so that you can speak directly to your audience. And especially if you're promoting something, You've nurtured them with that email list, and they're the ones that are going to buy, I would say almost 95 to 100% of my sales come from people on my email list. And if you do the the list building, and you actually do it with integrity, and you nurture and you show up and add value, those are the people that are really pulling out their wallets to buy from you, or to you know, donate to your cause or whatever. When you have something to offer and promote what I see that it's not working is to meet people are trying to sell exclusively on social media, or promote social on social media. And when you look at just the percentages, I think it's like 2% to 5% of your audience even sees your post. And the average life of a post is about four hours. So stop putting so much energy into social media and content creation. And think about what types of things are longer, more evergreen, that are gonna give you a better return on your investment. Another one is podcasting. Creating a podcast because those are evergreen. I always tell all my audience make go get on podcast, guests on podcasts. And if you're a local service provider or local nonprofit, you should be on every local podcast that is related to your you know, feel because you can be that guest expert. So you know, get on podcasts or you know, do the list building but do things that are going to give you that long term return on investment that are a little long bit longer in Evergreen, and stop spinning your wheels, constantly creating reels and dancing on Tik Tok. Not that that's bad. That's just not where you should be putting your Primary marketing efforts. Monica Pitts 15:01 Well, and that bad advice actually does speak a lot to the demographic that you're helping because when we grew up you the only thing you would pay monthly for is like utilities, right? You weren't renting a phone, you bought a phone, and you use the phone. You mean and and so the very idea of having to pay every single month for everything. It's like, we're really like, mortgaging our lifestyle right now. Like, this is crazy, right? But that's not the way that we started life. And so it feels really weird to be, oh, I'm going to put this social post out, and it's only going to be there for four hours. That doesn't that's like that's like renting my iPhone. I every time I go, every time I renew my iPhone, I like bring it in. And I'm like, Alright, so we're gonna sign the paperwork. And I'm just gonna pay you outright for the iPhone. Yep. And that's because I'm not making monthly payments on it. I don't care, like, and they're like, Well, ma'am, you're still gonna have to sign the rental paperwork. I'm like, that's fine, as long as we can cancel it as soon as I write you the check. Because I don't want to rent the iPhone. And it's not that it doesn't cost the same amount of money. It's that like, I'm nuts, and I can't handle it. Right. Shelly Niehaus 16:14 It was good that ownership? Monica Pitts 16:16 Yeah, it does. And I feel like when you do the marketing, like you're talking about bullet list building, and podcasting, or blogging, or even videos out on YouTube, you're like owning those pieces of content that are available forever. And not just available. Like for those that small window of time? Because, yeah, we'll show them to people. Shelly Niehaus 16:36 Yeah, absolutely. Give Google love. Monica Pitts 16:42 So crazy question. I know that the number one factor that is holding businesses back from doing great marketing is time, I swear, that's the thing that people say all the time, I just, I just don't have time. So how do you help people get it all done? Do you have any tips for people who are like in that time crunch and, and need to get it done? Shelly Niehaus 17:06 So again, I think it depends on where you are in your business, obviously, my end goal for every one of my clients is for them to create systems and standard operating procedures that they can outsource, you know, you're we we all need to be working with the team. Because we can't be wearing all the hats on our business. And even if you're good at marketing, that might not be your best. Yes, that might not be your best, you know, time way to spend your time. And so my end goal is to get everyone to you know, hire a virtual assistant get help with the marketing, just so that they can be the as the business owners spend more time on the strategy piece. Like where do I need to be creating new content, what channels like, like, you need to be the big thinker, and not necessarily the person creating all the Canva graphics and stuff like that. So that's our end goal. And we always need to start with the end in mind, you know, where are we going in that. And so if you're not there yet, because some you know, when you're starting out, you're bootstrapping, you have more time than money. So you're gonna spend your time doing that. But the goal is to get it organized so that you can eventually outsource it. And you know, when you have more money, than it frees you your time up to go do other things. But if you're just starting out, I really recommend you know, first of all, you've got to be very strategic. So you but you have to start with, I always say you have to have some time scheduled to actually work on it. So we can't do your marketing, if you don't have any dedicated time set in your calendar to actually work on your marketing. So the first thing we do is we time block. And you know, I talked about theme days, sometimes where you do different activities on different days, whether you're working with your clients or working on your business. And one of those is a marketing day, I used to call it marketing Mondays, where you you know, and I always always says like your oxygen mask, you put your own oxygen mask first, and you will kids gonna get your move your business forward. And then you step into serving your clients for the rest of the week. So a lot of my clients do have this marketing Monday. So now that you have the time set aside, you have to figure out what are you going to work on. And you can't be on every software platform, you can't be in every social media platform. If you're starting out, if you've got a team and you've been doing this for years, you can do that. So where's the best return on your investment for you to spend time, and that's where your clients hanging out? You know, are your clients on LinkedIn are your clients on Instagram, you know, are your clients on Facebook? And again, that's just the social media part. So I would say pick a platform, and then try to show up consistently with focus content for 30 days. And again, you've got to make this sustainable. I would rather you post three times a week. And that's it to one platform than to do the whole you go in and you're nailing it for you know 30 days and then they ghost you You are you ghost them your platform and they don't see you for another, you know, six months so and that's the consistency. So whatever you choose pick a platform focus and consistency. And then back to the even if to take that one step further, find a way that you can create content that's easy for you. I'm a, I've got the gift of gab, I love to talk to that's why I'm a podcaster. So my core piece of content that I create as a podcast, some people love the right, it's a blog, you know, other people love to do video, and so they're creating a video. So choose one way to create content, and then start figuring out how you can repurpose that content, so that you're not constantly creating new things. So if you are making a video, thankfully, we have so many beautiful AI tools now, that will strip that video out, make sure it's take your transcript, you know, turn into blog. So again, you create your content once and then you're just repurposing it. And so now you're not writing a blog, writing a newsletter, recording a podcast all with you know, separate energies, you're just doing it once, and then you're dripping it out to all the different ways that you are prepared to do it at that time. And Monica Pitts 21:11 you can always start with one, and then builds over time because we didn't all start with everything. Right and right. Even when we started the marketing of purpose podcast, for we had been blogging that we started in, like 2019. But we've been blogging since 2008. So I like for the first year, I went back to my blog posts that were doing well in search engines, and I read them the podcasts. I was like, well, like why wouldn't I and then when I didn't have them anymore, it was more time consuming, because I then had to like write blog posts to accompany the podcasts that he got me like a long way, you know, the the dual purposing of it. And I liked it. Well, yeah. Shelly Niehaus 21:58 And just to follow up on that, just because you wrote you drop a podcast once or you post a blog once, don't let it sit on the shelf and collect dust. You know, if you have you know, I one of the things I teach my clients is rinse and repeat. So if you're in the month of may go back to the month of May last year, look at everything you posted on social media, look at the conversations you're having, there's a really good chance most of those are very relevant still today. So I always look at what can I repurpose from last year, before I start to create new content, because you don't need to constantly be creating new content, that stuff is evergreen and can always be, you know, refreshed and repurposed. You know, one year later, I Monica Pitts 22:39 100% agree, and especially for my nonprofit listeners who do a lot of event based marketing. I know some of the most successful, like marketing teams out there for great organizations, including when we promoted our communities year end, giving campaign week, posted almost the same social posts, but freshen them up every year, same emails every year, we would make them better, maybe make them shorter, maybe write a more snappy title based on what was the year before. But all of us are just recycling and we got more gifts every year. You know, it wasn't about writing something new. They don't know. Like they're fine with it. Like if it was good to begin with. It was good, right? And then there were some that we would just rewrite because they didn't do well. But right. Yeah, I love it. I love recycling. Shelly Niehaus 23:34 Work smarter, not harder. Exactly. Monica Pitts 23:36 So then, like piggybacking on that question, what's the biggest mistake that you see people making in their marketing. Shelly Niehaus 23:47 I see people overestimating what they can do. They don't give themselves they don't understand. And this is just my experience with everything in life. Everything takes two to three times longer than you think. And it's so they like, you know, create this 90 content calendar, their posts, they think they're gonna post every day, they come out of the gates, you know, swing in, they're doing great, and they are burnt out. It's not sustainable. And I would just always start small progress over perfection. Just do something and you got to look at your season of life. If you've got small kids, and you're running carpool, and or else you're caring for aging parents, you have to take into consideration that you may not be in a place if you don't have a team to execute that. So before you ever start putting out there, look at what's realistic for you to execute. And then the second thing is they have this they have to they have to constantly be creating new stuff. And I guarantee you probably most of your listeners have a library of things sitting there. All they have to do is refresh. And that way they can make it easier on themselves. So back to Making hard. People make this hard and they come up with this big energy and this big system. And when they really should just be starting small, and taking it and growing little by little, and just, you know, one of my coaches is a great example. The iPhone did not come out in the current state that it is, like the first iPhone. I don't did not take video. It didn't, you know, maybe had a camera. It was awful. Yeah. If you look at what the very first iPhone looks like, so what is your iPhone version one, you maybe like my might be the iPhone version 15. You know, whoever you're looking at in the in the business world, they may be it, iPhone 15 or 16, or whatever is out. But you may be only ready for iPhone version one. And that's okay. And then next year, you can relaunch your next level up and like don't feel like you have to go to this massive strategy if you're not ready for it. Monica Pitts 25:52 I love that that is perfect advice. You start where you are. And each campaign builds on the next one. So yes, it's okay. Everybody allowed to be exactly where they are right now friends. But you got to do something, you can't do nothing that that also doesn't work either. So what is the one marketing strategy that you can't do without in your business, like the best investment of your time and money for your personal business, because I know it's different for everyone. Right, Shelly Niehaus 26:25 I think you should find the number one way that you can connect with your clients and put energy into that. And for me, it's a podcast. And you have to get everything has to start with the end of mind. So my podcast leads people into taking advantage of different freebies or opt ins and getting on my email list. And then eventually, hopefully working with me in some type of a coaching capacity. So putting effort into my podcast, because that's where I'm actually out there meeting people. And raising awareness is what works for me. So I you know, whether it's your YouTube channel, a podcast, a blog, if you're working with speaking circuit, find that one thing that really works for you, and put your energy into that. But also make sure that you have a strategy for how that is going to lead from this community that you're building into people actually working with you being clients or donors, because a lot of us are really good at creating immunity. But there's no through line, or there's no roadmap to get them to actually working with us in our business, you've got to make sure you have that connection. And it's very clear path on how they can go from one step to the next. Monica Pitts 27:40 Yes, like, for example, I'm like will occasionally mentioned a resource in my podcast, but I don't have a sponsor for my podcast. And I just realized this, you know, everyone else has sponsors for their podcasts. And I was like, I think that I should let one of my resources sponsor my podcast for each episode and be like, no straight up people. This podcast is sponsored by MayeCreate design, that is who sponsors this podcast, but people that build websites, and here's a resource if you would like it, this is this is the episode sponsor this resource because I was like, wait a second here. I'm not telling people to go do something, I'm just giving them information, which is great. I still am happy to help, right? But still like, but Shelly Niehaus 28:25 they may take that next step with you or me. And so what I always say reminding us kind so remind them how they can take the next step remind them of what the next step is on the journey. And and that's in every business. So if you're whatever you're doing, your call to action should be how can they take that next step with you. And it doesn't have to be book a call by my product, it's what's the next small logical step for them to take the relationship from, you know, maybe casual dating to a more, you know, serious dating relationship or something like that, like think about how you would execute that in the real world. Monica Pitts 28:59 I love that reminding is kind so you're not bothering people, you reminding them and everybody needs a reminder because we're busy. We forget and we feel stupid when we forget. And so when you remind us then we don't have to feel stupid, because then we can feel smart and like we're in control because we have a person that's helping us you who is reminding us this great. Okay, so my second last question for you, which I really like asking marketers is what is your favorite marketing tool? It can be a digital tool it can be a physical tools, some people like post it notes other people like airtable What's yours? Shelly Niehaus 29:35 So I love a good CRM. And you know, I'm actually working with two I've been with ConvertKit for a long time. I love ConvertKit like even people that just don't aren't very tech savvy, can get in and create beautiful landing pages, they can start to grow their email list, they can, you know, deliver their you know, lead magnets and freebies. So even if you don't have a website yet, you can start with a good CRM like ConvertKit. To start building your audience, now, you still need to go build a website. But I like some people that I'm like, while you're building the website, or while you're doing, you know, building on your social platforms, get started with connect with collecting these people, and start to build these organic relationships with them through, you know, just your email marketing. So I really love ConvertKit. That's, and I always recommend that for every beginner business owner marketer out there, because they're so you know, easy. I've had people that are like, I'm not tech, and I figured this out. So I love that it's so user friendly. If you're looking for a more robust system, and you really want all the bells and whistles, I like go high level, because it'll do everything for you all in one system. But it's a beast, you got to learn it. And so you know that that's for somebody that's ready to I always just like moving, you got to spend a lot of time setting up all your closets in your room like this is your virtual home, and it takes time. So that's a heavier lift. If you are ready to do that, though. It's a great all in one software platform. Monica Pitts 31:06 Awesome. Well, thank you so much for all of your advice and time today. Tell our listeners where they can connect with you. Shelly Niehaus 31:15 Well, I think the first place is my podcast, it's educated, empowered, inspired. And I just provide business apps and marketing tips for service based providers, solopreneurs and entrepreneurs. So we just we jam on marketing every week, it's a great place. And we do lots of marketing tips and strategies. And then outside of that, I have a lot of resources on my website Cellini, house.com, including, you know, a free email quickstart guide, just all kinds of different things for them to just and again, I really target the person that is not the master marketer. They need help just getting started and building momentum with their marketing. So these are not advanced, you know, email marketing strategies. This is how a five step strategy process to get email started in your business. Monica Pitts 32:01 Thank you. This is awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. And everybody. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, go forth and market with purpose.