Reframing Marketing (Simon Batchelar)

I’ve been tricked into working for social media platforms for free.

And so have you.

Every time you post on social media, you’re creating content for them to monetise. They position Ads around your content and they keep the Ad revenue.

Sometimes, they even get you to pay to put content on their platform, by paying to promote that content more widely. Which boosts their Ad revenue.

This isn’t how the platforms frame it, of course. You’re encouraged to see all this as ‘getting your content in front of your audience’.

But it’s not really your audience. When you build an audience (followers, subscribers) on social media, you’re paying to reach them, either through promoted content or simply in the time it takes to show up and play the game.

So why do we still do it? In this video I explain another, more effective way to connect with people.

This week I've been under the weather and low on energy so I've been fixing my broken website and trying not to force the creativity.

Order the revised edition of the book: https://reframingmarketing.com/buy/

In marketing, rejection can be hard to take.

We’ve all had a no, when we were expecting a yes.

Perhaps you had a great conversation, and it was all pointing towards someone saying yes to working with you.

Maybe you spent ages on a proposal. It was really well received, only to be met with a no in the end.

Maybe a referral seemed a good fit and really keen to work with you, but ultimately it didn’t pan out.

One of the reasons for these ‘no’s might be your marketing.

In marketing, it’s all too easy to focus on attracting and connecting with new people and showing them how great your offer is. After all, this is the fun, sexy part that gets you that dopamine rush.

But marketing is also about helping people make well-informed decisions based on whether your offer is right for them.

So, how can your marketing help more of the right people say yes?

This week, I share how a recent post got some great engagement and got a lot of people thinking while I was struggling to narrow down my next blog topic.

If you sometimes feel you’re not getting many clients or people aren’t buying what you’re offering then you’re not alone. I speak to a lot of coaches and consultants who struggle to find clients.

The most common question they ask themselves when they find themselves in this position, is “What do I need to do to sell more/ better?” Their natural response is to try to work out how to beef up their marketing messages – make them more persuasive or impactful.

But this is the wrong question to ask. It’s looking at the situation from the wrong perspective.

What’s your niche?

Do you describe it as a job title or role?

Or do you describe a profile of what your ideal clients look like and where they live?

Most people think of these two things when they think of a niche, and I don’t think this works for coaches and consultants.

Demographics used to be how marketers divided up the world and it’s still what most marketing and sales advice tells you to do. For a time this seemed to work, but in today’s world it increasingly doesn’t.

And for coaches and consultants, using demographics as a niche almost never works.

So what’s a better way to find your business’s ‘fit’ and reach out?

This week, I share a fantastic example of showing up generously and why I make this podcast.

I also talk about Asis Patel and his brilliant podcast episode (biased of course!) which you can listen to here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/72CtNcLb6YKNcjE0WDTzbi?si=bba9ac9eea984541

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, what I have been editing and a deeper dive into what I use for editing and a real example of how coming up with content ideas is simpler than it might seem at first.

https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signup

AI is flooding the internet with content, which means the internet and marketing as we know it are changing.

From low-quality spam to near-perfect imitations of human writing, AI's impact is undeniable and unstoppable.

In this episode, I explore how things are changing and what this means for marketing. Here are the key points:

AI Content Surge: Platforms like Google, Meta, TikTok, and X thrive on user-generated content. But now, AI is challenging their business models by producing vast amounts of content, which they struggle to distinguish from human work.

Advertising Disruption: Businesses rely on placing ads within content and search results. The rise of AI content complicates this, as search engines send less traffic to websites.

Quality Decline: The sheer volume of AI-generated content dilutes the quality of information online. Platforms are struggling to maintain the engaging, high-quality experience users expect.

Outpacing Humans: As AI improves, it will mimic and copy human content faster than humans can keep up with, potentially stifling creativity and originality.

Human Creativity Shines: Amid the flood of AI content, genuine human creativity and originality stand out. Unique, authentic content will always have a special place and be one step ahead of AI.

Listen to learn more. You can also find the podcast version by searching for Reframing Marketing wherever you listen to podcasts.

This podcast was inspired by and referenced in part from the podcast: Will AI Break the Internet? Or Save it? - The Ezra Klein Show

Are you selling what people want, or what people need?

It’s important to consider becuase, people don’t buy what they need. People buy what they want.

The two may be linked but they’re not the same thing at all. Wants and needs are very different and in marketing, it’s easy to get the two confused, or focus on the wrong one.

So what’s the difference between people’s wants and needs and why does this matter for your marketing?

No one opens a restaurant with a Michelin Star on the door. You have to earn it.

The same is true with marketing. You can’t go straight from doing no marketing at all to showing up every day with a wide range of engaging multimedia content. Yet this is often the expectation people put on themselves. And not least because they regularly hear from ‘experts’ that this is how to make it work.

Just like a good chef, you have to experiment with your marketing menu, learn what gets a rave reaction, what the regular favourites are, and what comes back to the kitchen uneaten. After a lot of practice and experimentation, you create a marketing menu that people can’t resist.

You can watch the bear on Disney+ https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/series/the-bear/52m6nx7HoP5F

Not everyone likes being in front of a camera. Not everyone likes posting on social media. Not everyone likes promoting themselves and their work with clients.

Basically, not everyone enjoys being the centre of attention.

And yet, most marketing advice will tell you that this is exactly what you need to do – not just once but regularly!

I believe there is another way to effectively do marketing for those who find being in the spotlight isn’t for them.

This week, I share how scaffolding work has turned my week upside down and how the long-awaited AI course is now very nearly ready to go live.

Try NotebookLM - https://notebooklm.google.com

Become a subscriber and find out about the AI course first https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signup/

Paid ads are a highly ineffective way to attract new clients for coaches and consultants.

Paid ads promise to bring you more business. Paid ads are relatively easy to use. Paid ads are a tempting marketing option…

It’s tempting to take what looks like a shortcut. At first glance, paid ads seem to promise to let you skip the queue and get you in front of a lot of people.

So why am I saying they don’t work?

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, the concept of Future Island.

This week I talk about all the things I've been working on and why I'm taking a break.

It’s easy to fall into the comparison trap. You see someone else doing what you do but more successfully and think, why aren’t I more like them?

You see their social media posts: selling out their programs, having six-figure weeks, getting a million views… and you feel you have to try to keep up.

But is any of it real? Remember, social media makes it easy to create the appearance of success.

And more importantly, is what they have really what you want?

This week I share what podcasts I have been recording and why I am reluctantly coming back to Instagram.

No one really knows how AI works, not even the people who created it. This has puzzled me for a long time. Why does no one know how it works?

If we created it, we should know how we built it 🤷🏻

I recently read Mo Gawdat's book Scary Smart, where I learned that the reason we don't know how AI works is that we didn't create it. AI built AI.

In this episode, I explain how AI can build itself and how the complexity of the code it creates means that no human will ever truly understand how it works.

When you're unclear on what you want to say, ChatGPT can't help.

The problem is the problem!

So, how do you ask AI to help with something you cannot articulate clearly?

This is the problem I faced when trying to write my latest podcast, and while I didn't end up writing what I set out to write, it did inspire me to share how sometimes the human in the chain is not the problem but rather the best thing about it.

This week, I want to show that while AI is not a magic cure-all solution every time, sometimes it can help you get clear on your ideas.

This week, I share why I've been away from making regular content for a few weeks and what happened at Summercamp this year.

The storytelling workshop was hosted by Ellen De Vries: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellendevries

The Money Mindest workshop was hosted by Charlie Davis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrcharlesdavies

You can become a subscriber at: https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signup

Do you need AI for your business?

The short answer is no.

Despite the AI hype machine, it's not essential for your business - yet.

That said, it is really good at specific tasks, and if you don't at least explore the possibilities, you might miss out on a helpful tool.

The challenge for any business is knowing where AI offers efficiencies and where it can waste time or be a real risk.

How can you decide which AI is right for your business?

This week, I'm rising above all the AI hype to examine whether you need AI in your business. I meet many people who are not using it and doing just fine. I also meet those who have gone all in. So how do you decide what's right for your business?

Targeted online ads have so far promised a lot more than they delivered.

Having worked with targeted ads for many years, I have found that they work more by accident than design. If you throw enough ads at enough people, some of them will convert by default.

However, the world of targeted advertising is about to change – drastically!

Thanks to AI, ads will go beyond ‘targeted.’ Big advertising platforms like Meta and even Mailchimp are working on AI-generated marketing messages and content that are created and tailored not just for groups or cohorts, but for individual users.

Ads are about to get alarmingly personal!

This week, I talk about taking a short break and my new AI course coming to subscribers first in September.

To become a subscriber go to: https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signup/

The tried and tested "landing page" business model is game over.

Creating content on your website to get Google traffic is no longer a good idea. In fact, it’s now a waste of your time and effort.

Google recently announced that it is going to use AI to start answering search questions on the Google results page.

It calls this “doing the Googling for you” 🙄

But what it means in practice is that even if your content shows up as the ideal answer to a question, the searcher is unlikely to click through to your website.

Instead, Google’s AI will come to your website, read it, learn it, and then use your content to answer the question on the Google search page.

This makes most marketing advice out there – even some that I have shared in the past – increasingly irrelevant.

This means fewer email sign-ups, fewer ebook downloads, and fewer course and programme sales.

The internet is changing. So what do we do now?

This week, an update on upcoming content and why I'm focusing on the fast-changing world of AI.

If you want to receive my video updates, you can become a subscriber on my website:

https://simonbatchelar.co.uk

Find out more about Summer Camp:

https://happystartupsummer.camp

So much online content these days is video-related (think of the success of TikTok, Instagram and Facebook have their Reels, and of course, the classic YouTube) it’s no wonder that video is a highly effective marketing tool.

So, why does making that first video of you talking feel so hard?

Maybe because while video is a great way to share information, you’re also sharing yourself at the same time. Personal branding is, well, personal. A lot of coaches and consultants I work with tell me that going from ‘never done it before’ to making their first video feels like a huge task.

The kind of task that is easy to put off.

But what if there was a step in between that would make the process feel easier and less scary?

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, how AI generated content is coming fast and how you can stand out when it arrives, and how an IT nightmare unfolded for me this week.

Ezra Klein podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/will-a-i-break-the-internet-or-save-it/id1548604447?i=1000651522107

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4mFwx4xGGmXrxTzHfgYpLG?si=3-0up7FnSGOz_Os7HnCurg

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, how frustrating typesetting can be and how I have been revisiting the content ideas from the last few months to make some new exciting plans.

https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signup

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, what I have been writing about, how frustrating I find typesetting and book updates.

Simon introduces the new podcast, from inside the Massive Marketing Machine!

You need almost no one to make your marketing work.

If that sounds counterintuitive, it’s because most people will tell you something different – especially influencers and social media channels.

Why? Because they have a vested interest in making you think the opposite is true. They want to extend their influence or sell you their services.

So, why am I saying that you need almost no one to make your business work? Let’s find out…

Why do selling and marketing so often feel like an uphill struggle? I believe it’s because we’re often trying to persuade people to get interested in the products or services that we have created. It’s tough to convince someone they really need something they don’t even know about. Trying to sell coaching or consulting can be especially hard when the people you’re pitching at haven’t even begun to consider those services.

But here’s the secret to making marketing easier: switch your perspective 180 degrees.

Instead of trying to find people for what you’re selling; trying making and selling what your people are interested in and asking for.

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, a big update about my book Reframing Marketing and some observations about AI and how much it has infiltrated businesses.

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, what blogs I've been working on and how I try to get ahead when I'm in the flow

This week, I share what I've been working on and why the trademark system is so frustrating!

You can find out more about the AI course here: https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/marketing-courses

You can be the first to know when it's ready by becoming a subscriber here: https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signup

It’s time to look beyond Google search for results

As AI changes Google search results, relying on traffic to build your audience and authority will become increasingly difficult.

People are moving away from search engines to find answers, recommendations, and inspiration. To reach them, you need to show up where your audience is hanging out.

Your content is still the key to finding and engaging with the people you want to work with.

Diversifying where you show up and how you deliver content is an effective marketing strategy that doesn’t rely on Google or any other platform.

For example, I post weekly content on LinkedIn and YouTube, release two podcast episodes, and email my subscribers. It takes a little longer than posting once, but it's less than four times the work. It also ensures I'm not beholden to a platform's obscure AI decisions.

Where else could you be showing up?

A lot of people don’t like the idea of ‘selling’. There is a particular feeling that arises in people if you talk to them about ‘making a sale’; and I would say that for most people it’s not a feeling they like.

It can be even less appealing when what’s being sold is intangible – such as when you’re a coach, consultant, or freelancer and what you are selling is the work you do.

And yet, you’re a business trying to make money and selling your service is how you do that.

Hence, there is a natural, often pressing need to ‘make the sale’ which can feel in conflict with your desire to be authentic. In other words, if you’re at all ethically minded, it can feel like selling is ideologically opposed to how you work.

In this podcast, I’ll explain how you can balance being authentic with selling in a way that doesn’t feel conflicting.