Many of the clients I work with market on an impressive number of platforms and channels. Or, if they’re not actually doing it, they feel like they should.
But here’s the thing. Unless you have a marketing team or unlimited time and energy, it is much more sustainable to be very selective about the marketing channels you use.
This goes especially for those of us who are introverted and quiet, who get easily overwhelmed.
In this post, I share my own radical approach to marketing, which is minimal and intentional—and how this approach to marketing doesn’t only feel good, but also helped me grow my business.
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When I started my business, I marketed on at least seven platforms or channels. I had a Facebook page, an Instagram account, a LinkedIn profile, a website, a blog, a newsletter, put up flyers in local coffee places. I also did a little bit of outreach, asking people to share my upcoming events, and had a listing on a local small business site.
I had only one day a week for my business and the marketing quickly overwhelmed me. But I thought that this is what I had to do. I didn’t feel like effective, or intentional, or even remotely joyful. I wished that I didn’t have to do marketing at all.
Now my marketing is minimal. And it finally feels effective and intentional, and even joyful.
There is a slower, gentler and more profitable way of running your business.
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No hacks, no hustle.
Instead: marketing and launching that is slow, gentle and gets results. Clear boundaries and priorities that encourage you to live a life next to your business. Accountability and support to help you create the live and business you crave.
Less Is More
I have three core marketing channels: my website—which includes my blog—, my newsletter and Pinterest. The majority of new blogposts are old newsletters, and I have support from Laura of The Smallest Light to upload them and create pins for them. That means that I personally only create two new pieces of content—my newsletters—a month.
When I restructured my marketing 4 years ago, I asked myself the following questions:
- Which platforms or channels do I enjoy, or could I potentially enjoy?
- Which platforms or channels are evergreen, and do not require me to be ‘on’ all the time?
- Which platforms and channels allow me to schedule content?
- On which platforms and channels can I use my strengths?
- And, which platforms and channels can I choose that can organically work together?
Because I only have three platforms and channels, and I outsource two of them, this strategy feels incredibly spacious and sustainable to me—even when I’m going through a period of lower energy, or a mental health dip.
When I have more energy and/or am launching, I can layer in other marketing activities, like pitching to podcasts or writing guest posts.
Deciding on the channels or platforms that best fit you is not necessarily easy. In a world that tells you to ‘push through’ and do all the things, it can be hard to embrace a radically minimal marketing that centres on your strengths, needs and desires. And it can also be hard in practical terms to figure out what your magic combination of channels is.
In my marketing programme Grow, one of the first workshops is dedicated to just this: creating your calm, clear, confident marketing foundations. This is where I support you to discover what works for you, work through any emotional or practical hurdles, and start experimenting with marketing channels that feel good to you.
At My Own Pace
Traditional marketing, according to other people’s rules, gave me very little joy and burned me out. I simply couldn’t keep up with it: I felt pressured, uncomfortably visible and massively overwhelmed.
But now, I’m marketing on my own terms. With channels that feel good to me and a frequency that is sustainable. That shift has made me feel so much more confident about my marketing. It’s become less hard—even easeful—to share about my business and my offers. Marketing has started to feel organic to me, to my business and the time I have available for it.
In designing Grow, I didn’t only want to support you to create a marketing strategy that is sustainable—I also wanted to make sure that doing programme itself is sustainable. Grow is deliberately non-overwhelming: there are no complex systems to learn, no ten-step formulas to force yourself to follow, no need to be on all the channels all the time.
All Me
Looking back, I realise that there were many reasons why I wasn’t able to keep up with the marketing plans that I was taught early in my business. The frequency they suggested didn’t fit my needs and my life. The kinds of channels I had to use didn’t fit my joys and strengths. And the kind of content I was encouraged to create killed my creativity.
When I changed my marketing in 2021, I did so because I was tired, burned-out and fed up—and my aims with making changes was to no longer feel this way.
What I had not expected at all was that I began to enjoy marketing. I used to be someone who was unable to even say the word ‘marketing’ without cringing—and now, I enjoyed it?
I only realised later that what had happened was that my marketing had become aligned with not just my needs and strengths, but with my joys and creativity. Released from all the rules, I felt free. Free to share what I wanted, in ways that I wanted. I started to feel more confident about taking up space. And my creativity started to flow again.
These past 4 years have not only been different in terms of my marketing, but have also been amazing years in which my business has grown. I will be the first to admit that businesses take time to grow, and not all of the business growth I’ve seen since 2021 has been because of my marketing. But I think a considerable part has.
Being more focused and intentional about my marketing has made it easier to be consistent in the stories I tell. It’s become much easier for potential clients to recognise what I offer (and decide whether to work with me). And being more intentional and focused in my marketing means more evergreen types of marketing, such as website SEO and Pinterest, are paying off more and more each month.
My marketing is also very personal to me, which is why I don’t offer a 10-step plan or a blueprint in my marketing programme Grow. I simply don’t believe that when it comes to business and marketing, there is one size that fits all.
What makes Grow so unique is that it offers a framework of strategies and questions that help you develop a marketing strategy that is all you, no one else’s. The six, self-paced modules are the foundation and throughout you are supported by monthly office hours, monthly planning calls and bi-weekly check-in emails. If I say so myself: the perfect blend of spaciousness and support.
What previous participants loved about the programme:
“The drumbeat of social media can be relentless. It’s hard to shift to what actually works when you don’t get that immediate dopamine hit. Astrid will show you how with her calm, anti-overwhelm marketing” — Celia Cain, mindset coach, healer + mentor
I’d love to know what resonates with you from this post.
Please feel free to share this post it with business friends, in your newsletter or elsewhere. 💛
I’d love to support you in all phases of your business. Providing clarity, focus and next steps is something that my clients tell me I’m really good at. If you’re curious about how we can work together through 1:1 mentoring, check out what I offer or send me an email–no strings attached. I have payment plans available, and flexible options for mentoring calls.
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