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Marketing is confusing and overwhelming because we listen to ALL of the things we should be doing and chances are, if you’re just starting out – or even if you’re established, you’re walking around with some guilt or shame in feeling like you KNOW what you need to do but you either don’t know HOW to do it or don’t have the bandwidth to do it all. 

Let me take you back over a decade to one of my business courses in college where they taught us the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. I literally remember learning about these “ps” sitting next to Drew in a course and when I think about knowing how and where to market your business, it’s important we take these four p’s into account. 

The 4 Ps were first formally conceptualized in 1960 by E. Jerome McCarthy in the highly influential text, Basic Marketing, A Managerial Approach. In his book he says, “Developing the ‘right’ product and making it available at the ‘right’ place with the ‘right’ promotion and at the ‘right’ price, to satisfy target consumers and still meet the objectives of the business” 

I’m going to let you establish your product and price – I have a few good episodes on pricing strategies, and we’re going to focus on place and promotion in today’s episode! Are you ready to dive on in as we talk about what to focus on first in your marketing?

Consistency and ease are key 

Here’s my question that I always kick off when people are like, “I don’t even know where to begin,” or, “my marketing isn’t working.” I ask, what is the easiest way for you to show up? Like, how can you show up consistently and easily without overcomplicating? What I want to recommend, especially when it comes to marketing, is understanding the concept that less is more, consistency is key. When you know these two things, it helps you to kind of eliminate all of those shoulds and get back to what you can be doing. 

And here’s the thing, you do not have to do it all. So I want you to exhale and let go of the guilt of not doing it all because you don’t have to. And where I would recommend beginning is choosing one very small thing. Start super small in a place where you know you can be consistent. It is better to be great at one or two things than mediocre at everything. If you want to have consistency, you have to have ease so that you can keep showing up with confidence and without complication. And when you focus on that one thing that feels easy, what you’ll start to see is that your consistency is going to lead to results.

Find where the people are

When we think of the P promotion, we have a lot of different options from different marketing channels, whether it’s paid or organic marketing, for all the places you can be. We want to think about where you will promote and how you will promote consistently. Modern research says that you have to see an ad for a product seven to eight times before you even consider becoming a paying customer. Crazy, right? So what does this mean for us? That we can’t just quit if we don’t get results the first time.

When we know this data, that it takes multiple exposures for people to make a decision or to even understand what the product is and why it might be for them, we have to focus on ways that we can show up and get in front of the right people multiple times. And so it’s really important as we talk about promotion, that we also think about place. Finding the right place to market and sell your product is a key factor in reaching your target audience. The right place can help you connect with your target audience and set you up for success. 

If I were to have two scales here, and one scale is ‘show up where your ideal client is,’ and the other is ‘show up where it is easiest for you to show up,’ I would say show up where it is easiest for you to show up first and figure out how to systemize that piece, and then expand where your ideal client is.

Know and understand the BIG picture

One thing that I love about marketing is that when you understand the big picture, it is far more simple than we make it. This has the power to transform the way that you market. Every single thing I do in my business from a marketing standpoint has just one goal in mind: to get people onto my email list. My email list is my number one. It is the number one way I drive sales. It is the indicator of the health of my business. It is something that I own and can control, and it is a far more intimate experience than marketing on social media platforms. 

My email list allows me to guide people on this path through the sequence in what I send. It allows me to serve people so well, and then eventually sell to them. So when I think about marketing and I think about the big picture, every single effort that I do when it comes to marketing funnels to the list, all roads lead to my email list. That is the number one focus for me and my business and my team, and that is how you are going to move the needle the most in your business.

How to build your email list

If you are reading this right now and you’re like, Jenna, I didn’t want to feel guilty, you’ve been talking about this for years and I haven’t taken action and I know it’s something that I need. If you have no clue where to begin with this, I have an incredible free challenge. Almost 40,000 people have taken it. It is called the Zero to 250 Subscriber Challenge. It literally helps you start at zero, or if you’ve already started and kind of fallen off the email list bandwagon, jump back in and grow your email list quickly and easily. I literally walk you through every single step to send out your first email to deliver your freebie. It’s free and it has tutorials that walk you through all of the tech. 

So if you want to just get this piece of your strategy set up, go to listbuildchallenge.com. Jump on in. It is a five-day challenge and every day is about 10 minutes or less. It’s very, very approachable and it’s an incredible way to start growing your number one asset in your company. 

More from this episode

I hope this episode was super helpful and just gives you a place to start, you can listen to the full episode to hear the rest of my tips on how to simplify your marketing to-do list. 

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