DIY Marketing Secrets: How to Leverage Free Tools & Resources

[00:00:00] When we use the term, do what yourself DIY. What we're talking about is not hiring like an expensive

[00:00:06] fancy marketing agency. If you're like, you know what? I'm not going to hire a marketing agency

[00:00:12] to do my postcards. Now, you still have support. Everyone welcome to the S.O.B. Marketing Podcast,

[00:00:19] where we celebrate the S.O.B. that you are and if you haven't figured it out yet, we mean small

[00:00:25] business. We don't mean S.O.B. Listen, we know that as a small business owner, you are working

[00:00:31] hard on the daily to keep your business fully operational while trying to promote it and while

[00:00:37] some days it may feel like the business is owning you. If we're being honest with each other, I bet

[00:00:43] you would admit that you wouldn't give up the insanity for anything. Our commitment here at the S.O.B.

[00:00:49] ThinkPodcast is to give you the real talk, what works when it comes to advertising, marketing,

[00:00:55] promoting your business and then what doesn't really work. And Chelsea and I promise to always

[00:01:00] keep the conversation real. Hey everybody and welcome back to the S.O.B. Marketing Podcast, S.O.B.

[00:01:07] as in small own business. We promised we're not calling you guys names before we get started.

[00:01:12] We just want to say thank you to everyone for listening. If you know a small business owner that

[00:01:18] benefit from listening through this podcast, make sure that you send them our way.

[00:01:24] Because we're here to help all the small business owners do not forget we are doing a giveaway.

[00:01:29] You can win an S.O.B. shirt. Now they don't all say S.O.B. My shirt says small business

[00:01:36] batty. We have a shirt that says minding my own small business. We have a lot of great options. So

[00:01:43] could win a shirt we are picking two winners. All you have to do is leave us a review wherever you

[00:01:48] listen to podcasts so that can be Spotify, Apple podcasts just make sure that you take a screenshot

[00:01:55] of the review that you've left and you email it to help at the S.O.B. Marketing.com. That way

[00:02:02] we can track whose left or review. And if you win we can actually contact you about the shirt that

[00:02:09] one. So that is going on until September 20th, which I think last episode we said was a Thursday.

[00:02:17] It's a Friday. Oh, yeah, our bad. So September 20th we will decide on our social media

[00:02:26] who wins if you win and you're not on social media don't worry. We will email you. But just make

[00:02:32] sure that you go ahead and enter that giveaway. Vivian, what are we talking about this week?

[00:02:39] We are actually doing our own version of myth busters. Okay. Yeah. And so the myth that we are going

[00:02:47] to be busting today is that when you decide as a small business owner to DIY your marketing do

[00:02:56] it yourself that for whatever reason you think that equates to actually doing it all by yourself.

[00:03:04] Okay. That is not true. And that's what we're going to get into today. We're going to get into

[00:03:10] that nitty gritty conversation about the resources and just stuff that you have out there that you

[00:03:16] should be taking forward being a job so that way you don't feel like you are alone in the trenches.

[00:03:21] Absolutely. And I think before we get into this, I just want to say you're never

[00:03:28] completely alone. I'm thinking about last year for Christmas, we had done a Christmas in the

[00:03:35] park sort of thing so we built a Barbie box. Really cool if you guys haven't seen it go check out

[00:03:41] or social media. But you had Alex build in the box. I had him doing stuff too. Like it was not just

[00:03:51] you and I doing something like we got everyone involved. Mom and dad showed up they were helping

[00:03:56] us put everything together while we were there. Like you are not alone and owning a small business

[00:04:02] can be really lonely. Yeah, but it doesn't have to be. I think the one thing that we all get caught

[00:04:09] up in and you know, I say this because I do this. Okay. I'm not ragging on anybody because this is me.

[00:04:19] I'm describing me. There are people out there who just don't want to ask, okay it's that's

[00:04:29] the biggest hurdle. I think the thing is there's some form of pride that we get out of just

[00:04:35] you know handling things on our own and the truth is that as humans I don't I don't for one second

[00:04:40] believe that we weren't intended to do life alone. And whether that equates to having good friends

[00:04:46] that grow with you over the years and into adulthood and you know all of that stuff or finding a

[00:04:54] significant other that can help with alleviating a lot of this or the other thing is just having

[00:05:01] a support system of random people that over the years you have collected in your life to help

[00:05:07] you know be cheerleaders and to help with your ideas or whatnot. Like Chelsea said when we

[00:05:13] took on that initiative of actually putting something together in downtown Somerville and having

[00:05:18] to build out a Barbie box first of all. Listen Chelsea and I are great for painting. We're not

[00:05:23] going to be over there drilling stuff. I have a husband that is a woodworker by trade and he likes

[00:05:29] drilling stuff all day long so that was something we're easily I could say hey if it's not too much

[00:05:34] trouble do you mind doing X-Wansie? Tim your significant other Chelsea was out there helping as well

[00:05:41] putting stuff together and so there are times where you do have to ask for help and I think that's the

[00:05:47] biggest thing going into this conversation. I just want to say there you guys don't get in a ward.

[00:05:54] None of us get in a ward from making things harder on ourselves okay be a ward that you get

[00:05:59] from doing something like that not asking for help when you need it is actually stress and making

[00:06:05] yourself sick and worrying over things that are unnecessary because other people may have a viable

[00:06:11] option that you just haven't thought of because you're keeping everything inside and you think

[00:06:16] you know you have to do it alone so anyways that's my little rant and I'm off of it now.

[00:06:23] Well I am very excited to have this conversation. I want to make it very clear to everyone

[00:06:29] that we're not just going to have like a fruit fruit conversation like oh don't do it alone

[00:06:34] yeah we're going to give you like options. We're going to give you actual resources so don't

[00:06:40] just be like I don't feel like listening to people tell me don't be alone and don't do it alone

[00:06:48] we're going to give you actual resources so listen to this conversation. I want to say starting off

[00:06:54] if you are not using your team your small business team what are you doing?

[00:07:01] Like you hired these people because you had faith in them use them to your advantage.

[00:07:09] Yeah and this can be so a couple different scenarios you have a brick and mortar store

[00:07:16] and you have a team of whether that be sales associates or people that you have hired to just

[00:07:22] you know make that transition or to sell your products and services right? If that's you if you

[00:07:29] have team members whether that be to or 20 then one of the ways that you can effectively do that is

[00:07:39] Embray from our last podcast episode talked about this how she has very clear communication

[00:07:45] and is pretty open with her team. Now being open doesn't mean you have to share everything but

[00:07:50] being open does mean that you give opportunity for feedback and so that's one of the things

[00:07:56] that she says she has found extremely useful is that she says like hey what ideas do you

[00:08:00] guys have because she knows that her waxers are going to get more tips if the company in general

[00:08:06] and the business is flourishing and doing better and so they have skin in the game. Do want to

[00:08:11] give good useful tips for getting people in through the door. So if you're not leveraging your team

[00:08:18] members like Chelsea just said that's one way to do it now. Chelsea let's talk about if let's say

[00:08:22] you're an online business and you have a virtual assistant. You have one person that's maybe

[00:08:27] helping you and you don't meet with them, you know on the daily you're not face to face with them.

[00:08:32] What would that look like? Maybe in that is a great question I think the number one

[00:08:38] rule in this scenario is communication and having a very open relationship when it comes to

[00:08:46] hey can you give me some feedback, you know what are we doing that is not working for you? What

[00:08:53] are we doing that is working for you? Have you noticed anything that maybe we should pivot and it

[00:09:00] could help this business grow allowing them and giving them the chance to interact with you

[00:09:07] and voice their opinions is going to be huge and I want to go back real quick to break.

[00:09:14] I think no matter even if it is break a mortar or an online store allowing people to give their

[00:09:23] opinions is going to help you. Do you need a listen to their opinion? No, I mean you don't have to

[00:09:32] but they have like you said they have skin in the game but they are also the ones

[00:09:37] in the trenches right like they're the ones actually interacting with your customers interacting

[00:09:43] with your clients seeing the nitty gritty. Your personal assistant if you have an online assistant

[00:09:49] they're the ones doing the nitty gritty stuff that you're not doing so they might notice something

[00:09:55] that you haven't noticed yet so giving them the option to say hey you know what I actually think

[00:10:01] you would benefit from doing this this way instead. In the option yeah there are definitely ways

[00:10:09] to I think in all my years of being a member of a senior exec team and also having the

[00:10:17] opportunity to give feedback I think there are ways to confine this so if you're thinking

[00:10:21] if you're a small business owner and you just think well that's going to be giving

[00:10:26] giving my employees way too much like strange like they are just going to when I ask them for their

[00:10:32] feedback they're I'm going to hear a lot of complaining. That's what you think there are ways

[00:10:36] for you to queue it up into you to a confined type of feedback and so maybe that's just oh go

[00:10:44] I'm thinking of a story okay y'all if you ask for feedback and you get just only negative reactions

[00:10:55] and negative feedback you might be the problem like I'm not trying to call you out but I've witnessed

[00:11:04] this real time okay so I worked somewhere and no one was happy to be there okay and my my boss was like

[00:11:18] hey I want to get feedback from everyone I want to know what we could be doing better and I knew

[00:11:24] this was not going to go well but she was like let's make it anonymous so people feel comfortable

[00:11:30] and can say whatever they want it it was so negative that she just shut the whole thing down

[00:11:40] oh and they didn't even do anything with them. She was like well obviously people are just

[00:11:47] using this as a way to say mean stuff about me so we're not going to listen to any of this at

[00:11:54] all we're just going to ignore it don't look at any of the responses and she just completely wrote

[00:11:59] off got rid of it y'all if the only if the only response that you're getting is that negative

[00:12:10] I mean just maybe like really take a good look at what's going on in your business

[00:12:17] yes and because just things can't yes because two things can be true at the same time yes

[00:12:22] you could be the problem and you also I think to me that's a sign that as a leader you didn't

[00:12:30] put enough you didn't give enough guidance as to what the purpose of the feedback was so for

[00:12:38] example what the approach I possibly would have taken is to say hey you know it's really important

[00:12:45] to us as a small business to make sure that this is a place that you know we honor your opinions

[00:12:53] and we want to get feedback from all levels so therefore you know sending something out that

[00:12:59] maybe has four questions and the first question is what do you think we're doing right

[00:13:05] right because then you start to set a positive tone like tell me the things that this

[00:13:10] business is doing good I think I created this quiz do you think I didn't put that in there

[00:13:17] well I'm just saying like the thing is if you there's there's got to be because I will say this

[00:13:23] I didn't think that what are we doing right what are we doing wrong how can we approve

[00:13:28] yes and then one other thing I don't remember what it was and

[00:13:32] according to her it was just such a negative response that she was like we're not looking at this

[00:13:38] and also I don't know and it does I think it does hurt people when they are in management roles

[00:13:46] to hear that maybe they're not doing stuff correctly so I will say and as a small business owner

[00:13:51] amplify that by 20 okay because this is your business your livelihood and your baby

[00:13:57] that you have started from you know inception up to now so we can be difficult to hear

[00:14:03] some of what people have to say and I do think that you do have to take things with a grain of salt

[00:14:10] because there are people too that will will claim something and die on a hill

[00:14:18] because they don't want to accept responsibility in their life or something right so there can be two

[00:14:23] things there so I will say to your point if if you are creating these opportunities for feedback

[00:14:31] and it is important that you do take the feedback you read it and you're like okay well

[00:14:36] is this something that I need to move on right we need to change something is that or enough

[00:14:42] people saying this right before saying that you know and as it relates to marketing

[00:14:49] is this if people are saying like hey people just don't know that we're here

[00:14:54] they're driving past us and what can I do to show them that I've taken that feedback and that

[00:15:00] we are working on that so yeah what's the next tip Chelsea now that we've kind of gotten on this

[00:15:07] little tangent about people and responsibility again but whether or not they accept feedback well

[00:15:13] okay so Vivian really important it depends on the initiative if you are doing

[00:15:21] if you're trying to create a billboard if you are going to send out postcards these are examples

[00:15:26] of initiatives where you can actually get help from experts so for example when you're reaching

[00:15:34] out to the billboard company they usually have a graphic designer on hand so they can help you

[00:15:40] with the process and help you with creating that billboard for postcards now we've done an

[00:15:46] episode on direct mail so if you're interested in postcards interested in direct mail marketing

[00:15:51] go listen to that episode but for direct mail you can DIY it you can do it all yourself

[00:15:57] you can also reach out to the printing company and say hey can I have felt can I have a designer

[00:16:04] they have one on hand to help you you don't have to do that but you know what you can also go

[00:16:09] onto your SPS and they have guidelines and they have steps to walk you through the entire process

[00:16:18] yes and I want to make a clarification here in case anybody's wondering when we use the term

[00:16:24] do it yourself DIY what we're talking about is not hiring like an expensive fancy marketing agency

[00:16:31] and so that's yes two Chelsea's point that's the thing is if you're like you know where

[00:16:37] I'm not going to hire a marketing agency to do my postcards now you still have support okay yeah

[00:16:43] like yes the expensive marketing agency is going to be able to they have their own graphic

[00:16:49] designers they can help you with the branding they can help you with all this but you still have

[00:16:54] access to experts for that specific thing through the vendor that you're using so postcards

[00:17:02] you contact your local print company and you say hey by the way I'm a small business owner

[00:17:07] I would like to do postcards through year through you your turning southern sorry through you

[00:17:15] what do you need what do I need to supply and just ask them for that basic information like Chelsea

[00:17:21] said you can go onto that website for the United States Postal Service and it has great information

[00:17:26] on there but even if you're working directly with that print company they handle all that

[00:17:32] and the best part is they have their own graphic designers so you don't have to go and

[00:17:37] employ a marketing agency to do that you can do that you can manage it you can direct it on your own

[00:17:44] this is also the same for I know Chelsea you said billboard companies print ads

[00:17:52] so let's say you have a you want to take out a old school print ad and a local newspaper

[00:17:59] that you know people read the newspaper will have people on hand as well and so another

[00:18:05] important question for you to ask is don't just assume that they'll do that for free I would always

[00:18:10] just follow it up with oh is that a free thing that you offer to me as a small business owner or

[00:18:16] as someone that's going to be spending money to put in ad out yeah yeah or you know how much

[00:18:21] is it going to cost me yeah and for for the most part in all of my experience it's always been free

[00:18:27] just because they they know that sometimes people aren't going to be working through agencies and

[00:18:33] that they're going to be placing ads you know directly one-on-one on their own in that you

[00:18:39] more than likely may not have a graphic designer helping you with the ads that you're doing

[00:18:43] yeah pro tip though it's in my experience it is free up to a certain amount of changes

[00:18:50] oh yeah yeah it's free until like the third change and then they're like you're changing too much

[00:18:58] so like they don't want a constant back and forth and you saying you know what just here's

[00:19:04] a little tweak here's a little tweak here's a little tweak you know because they also are very busy

[00:19:08] and they have things going on too so it's hilarious to me that we always make rules for the

[00:19:15] exceptions right so yeah people that are painted in the butt or people that just can't get their

[00:19:20] stuff straight listen another pro tip here since Chelsea's started on the pro tips is

[00:19:27] communication is going to be key in that instance as well so what I personally like to do is

[00:19:33] I like having an idea already of what I would like it to look like or what we are targeting or

[00:19:40] promoting and then kind of packaging it up in a way to send to them so the way you package it up

[00:19:45] is if you send one consolidated email in one email you're going to say this is the name of my

[00:19:51] business this is the phone number I want on the ad this is the idea the general idea I have maybe

[00:19:57] include a stock photo of you know a mom laughing with her baby or whatever and also here's my logo

[00:20:06] and you have all of that in one package your logo attached and that way you will eliminate a lot

[00:20:12] of that back and forth and the graphic designers able to give you the best idea that they have

[00:20:18] there likely is going to be communication after that you know you may look at it and say

[00:20:23] everything's great but can you change out the graphic or everything's great but I don't like the

[00:20:29] color scheme can we make this being a different color but at least you're giving them enough

[00:20:34] information upfront that they could give you a good solid idea when they're having a piece all that

[00:20:41] I think it just gets frustrating on their end and then they're like why really don't know you

[00:20:46] know I don't know what they want from me I don't know what you know to promote that's really important

[00:20:50] people cannot read your minds yeah like they can't answer if you would you want if you don't tell them

[00:20:56] can we say a mentor that because I don't want anybody reading the intrusive thoughts I have

[00:21:02] had a mind I'd be locked up in like two seconds just in that true for everyone you know what

[00:21:11] that's probably not true for everyone and that's why you and I are related yeah my next resource

[00:21:20] is going to be one that everyone's like you know it's not true but you know what we're still

[00:21:25] going to say it the worldwide web okay it's easier to DIY literally anything easier than ever

[00:21:35] there is content out there for everything yes and if we if you did not learn this from our previous

[00:21:44] SOB marketing episode where we had Jessica from Southern Curiosity's on who did whimsical taxidermy

[00:21:51] yes whimsical taxidermy there it are resources for every single niche and every single thing that you're

[00:21:59] trying to do and I just want to remind you guys that we actually have under the season marketer

[00:22:07] we have a whole YouTube channel with five plus years I think we're going on seven years now of

[00:22:14] marketing videos that's over 200 videos on marketing topics and tutorials things that we walk you through

[00:22:21] so we know for a fact our channel alone has a plethora of you know information regarding marketing

[00:22:28] that you could go tap into but we're not the only ones there are so many podcasts there are

[00:22:34] so many YouTube channels blogs there are people that will show you step-by-step how to do what

[00:22:40] you need to do so if you're feeling like a little overwhelmed but you don't have the funds to go out

[00:22:47] higher that marketing agency so you're in that weird position of like you know yeah I don't

[00:22:51] enjoy doing my own marketing but I need to because right now I can go out and hire someone that's

[00:22:57] going to charge me $3,000 a month then there are tons of resources for you to tap into so

[00:23:03] utilize that to your full advantage and y'all it's not just tutorials yes you can find tutorials

[00:23:09] but you know what you can find design inspiration mill.com we've talked about it for email marketing

[00:23:16] sending out email campaigns and stuff like that you can go on to mill.com and actually look at

[00:23:23] what other people are sending out to help you get in the creative zone you know you can come up with

[00:23:30] ideas from marketing campaigns that you never would have thought of because oh I looked it up

[00:23:36] like low-cost marketing campaigns and all of this came up and now I feel good about my marketing

[00:23:43] take a look at the time yeah yeah let's also not gloss over the fact that like y'all

[00:23:49] the World Wide Web WWW dot is not the same World Wide Web as it was in 2014 okay yeah the

[00:23:59] World Wide Web of 2014 yeah I graduated college in 2005 yeah graduated high school 2001 college

[00:24:20] 2005 oh that's why I'll to think of that age difference um so yeah let me get back on track what I was saying

[00:24:28] is the yet the in 2024 when you go on Google now if you have your search generative experience turned on

[00:24:40] as GE Google will actually package for you the answers the responses what you're looking for

[00:24:47] so for example if I have that option turned on to my Google then and I say you know how do I

[00:24:56] how do I bake bread it will actually condense it'll crawl all the information it will condense it

[00:25:03] and at the very top it's going to show me the steps to do it yeah so I even have to go clicking

[00:25:08] on like 10 different websites anymore it condenses all of them for me I will say devils advocate

[00:25:14] I would still go and click on some stuff because like is it always right yes there's a lot of

[00:25:22] examples out there of it being hilariously wrong but a true story yeah first sure you always want

[00:25:29] double-check and especially when it comes to like I know the example I used was not a good

[00:25:32] example because I was talking about making bread but you know obviously marketing your small business

[00:25:38] is a lot more important than baking a loaf of bread so hopefully you would have been

[00:25:44] well then it's their business but yeah you do want a double-check and just be sure that you

[00:25:51] are getting the correct guidance but my main point there being if you have something like that at

[00:26:00] your fingertips and they're Chelsea I see this all the time um I have friends that sometimes

[00:26:07] will get on Facebook and they will ask a random question and I'm like do they not have Google

[00:26:15] like I'm just gonna say I would rather a Google then go to my group of friends on Facebook who

[00:26:20] I know are probably going to give me opinions and the wrong answer I don't want opinions I want facts

[00:26:26] okay this is going to make you so mad and it makes him so mad I'll ask a question to Tim

[00:26:33] and he'll say I don't know look it up no I don't want to do that he's like are you serious they'll

[00:26:39] take like two seconds just Google it I'm like hmm you Google it I don't feel like Google it

[00:26:43] he's like oh my god you can just ask Siri like you don't even have to open your phone just ask

[00:26:49] Siri and I'm like oh that's too much work I'm not going to do that usually I mean will

[00:26:53] these me until I do it like he won't let me leave it alone until I look up the answer but

[00:27:00] well and being from the same family I'm the exact opposite of you yesterday we were watching

[00:27:08] the Patriot the movie yeah I went like I started Googling all of these characters I wanted to see

[00:27:16] the kernel like what the kernel actually looked like I wanted to know who Mel Gibson's character

[00:27:22] was actually you know inspired by you know went into this whole thing so I am the googling queen

[00:27:31] I love to be I have to be in the mood to do it like I have to really care

[00:27:37] like I have to be really interested I will say I think part of it

[00:27:42] and we both had different reactions to this but growing up I don't know about you but for me dad

[00:27:49] I would ask him a question and he would say I don't know figured out and then give me like a

[00:27:55] 10 page essay about it front and back you know 12 font times new Roman I want it by tonight

[00:28:04] he was kidding of course but still see for me I think it's because uh you don't remember this

[00:28:11] Chelsea but back in the day we actually had physical and cyclopideas oh god I'll listen I love just

[00:28:17] like opening that stuff up and randomly reading things I don't know I just curiosity yeah yeah so

[00:28:26] I'm a big Googler I'm a big advocate for pulling out your phone when you don't know something

[00:28:31] our UASMAL business owner feeling overwhelmed by marketing we understand that's why we created

[00:28:37] the SOB community just for you imagine having access to expert marketing advice every week through

[00:28:44] our interactive Zoom calls network with fellow small business owners in our community share valuable

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[00:29:04] join the SOB community today going back to the topic at hand when we're talking about leveraging

[00:29:12] you know Google or online resources to figure stuff out when you're you know keeping your marketing

[00:29:19] in house and having to figure it out as a small business owner there are a ton of great blogs

[00:29:24] out there I was reading a blog yesterday just out of curiosity that someone had written from it was

[00:29:32] a marketing agency that had written it and they basically had like a Q&A thing like tips on what to

[00:29:39] do and tips on what not to do when you're working with a marketing agency but they very clearly

[00:29:44] laid out all of the information and the information was really good and so I think that

[00:29:49] you know whatever it is that you're asking yourself if you have any trepidation about going into

[00:29:55] you know creating postcards or hey I want to try to run Facebook ads you can find a plethora

[00:30:01] stuff out there to kind of help guide you give you tips or even show you an online tutorial

[00:30:09] of how to literally click everything you have to click on in order to launch that Facebook ad.

[00:30:16] I will say shameless plug to the season marketer that does take a lot of work

[00:30:23] scouring the worldwide web and finding all that information that's why we specifically try to

[00:30:31] organize our resources in a way that you can find the information that you're looking for

[00:30:37] quickly and that's why we have templates and downloads and stuff like that because we know

[00:30:43] that it can be a lot of work finding all that information so we try to make it as simple as possible

[00:30:48] for you know all our small business owners who want to use us as a resource

[00:30:55] I want to talk about our next resource which is community and I like to think the season marketer

[00:31:01] I hope you guys think of us as a community because that's what we want to be a resource hub and a

[00:31:06] community to help small business owners feel comfortable about asking all these questions but

[00:31:12] community is a great way to get answers and get help from people who are right there with you

[00:31:22] you know so lay Facebook groups Facebook groups are a great example

[00:31:29] yeah Chelsea I think that's Facebook groups are a big one especially because you guys know

[00:31:34] when you join a Facebook group you are intentionally joining it because of the topic at hand

[00:31:39] okay so one of the ones that I love here locally is I'm a part of a Charleston women in business

[00:31:44] so it's exactly what it says women in business in Charleston okay but the cool thing is that

[00:31:51] it's a great place to go and not just put ideas out there or if you have like random thoughts

[00:31:59] like one of the things that I've seen a lot in that particular group and now also in the

[00:32:05] amongst corner small business group is one of the girls is putting together a meet-up and it's free

[00:32:12] but it's just like hey if you're a small business owner and you need to get out there a meet

[00:32:17] other small business owners to talk shop or just to spread the word about your business

[00:32:21] then here's the date and time and so I do think that the community what

[00:32:28] what happens for me I'll tell you is and you guys all right it's kind of like you know when people

[00:32:37] I don't know I don't want to use this as an example but you know when people go off to war and

[00:32:44] stuff and they go back and they have this like you didn't want to use this example

[00:32:51] I'm sorry no go ahead I'm sorry I think it's like unshakable bond right because you've been

[00:32:56] like this traumatic experience and like nobody else back home is going to understand

[00:33:03] what you're doing and but let's take that example down a notch okay because I don't want

[00:33:07] to compare what we're doing to anything that is that is like anytime you have an experience

[00:33:15] well I have an example what military spouses yes yes because they all have a very specific

[00:33:24] and just military families in general that was in the air force when we were growing up that's just

[00:33:31] a very different way to live and experience life and so being able to form connections with other

[00:33:38] military kids and military spouses and stuff like that those are people who understand what you're

[00:33:44] absolutely because the thing is the day-to-day to an outsider made look the same to them

[00:33:50] but they don't know that at home you're you know as a spouse you're worried about not knowing

[00:33:56] where your husband is you know necessarily stationed at maybe or that you don't know if you're

[00:34:03] gonna have to pick up and move the kids within a month because you're getting TTY to another place right

[00:34:10] so the thing is like I do think there are there are just connections that are made when you

[00:34:17] experience something that is a little different and as a small business owner I'm telling you right now

[00:34:22] you are living life differently yeah and the reason I say that is because the stuff that you have

[00:34:31] signed up for the not knowing you know a year from now how things are going to change

[00:34:39] the amount of skin in the game that you have right the money that you've invested the amount

[00:34:45] of the time. Yeah figure it out here taxes the amount of like you having to figure out how to do

[00:34:55] you're marketing how to do your admin how to you know whatever other hats you're wearing

[00:35:01] throughout the day that's very different than what the person who is clocking in nine to five

[00:35:07] is experiencing in their daily life and so take advantage of that in the form of when you meet

[00:35:15] another small business owner start to build that connection in that community you guys are doing

[00:35:20] something that's different right and so you have that commonality and not that you know I'm not

[00:35:26] saying that you have to like every small business owner out there certainly but but I do think it

[00:35:33] going and building from community and using it as a resource and nobody is going to want to see

[00:35:39] you win more than another small business owner yeah can I tell you cool thing I saw recently on Instagram

[00:35:44] go ahead okay there is a gentleman that I follow who is from Atlanta and they found out that

[00:35:53] there was a small black owned business that was having a hard time I guess maybe she had gone

[00:36:00] on Facebook and said like hey we're going to close up shop maybe like we you know we just were

[00:36:06] not getting enough sales you know he got an entire group of people together they streamed it on Instagram

[00:36:12] and they all flooded her small business and went in and made a purchase and I was like how cool

[00:36:19] is that that for one you're showing people are giving her free PR because people probably didn't

[00:36:24] know that she was there secondly you are interjecting funds into her small business that day they're all

[00:36:32] going in and purchasing one item and then on top of it now all those people that were introduced

[00:36:38] that were physically there that day they know they can go back for repeat purchases and she was

[00:36:44] in tears at the end of the video just thinking them and saying thanks for bringing visibility to my

[00:36:48] business but that is the power yaw small business owners were a community we don't want to see

[00:36:54] any small business owner having to close up shop because of the lack of anything yeah I want to take a

[00:37:02] this is kind of off topic but not y'all the holiday season is coming up yes I implore you guys

[00:37:12] to try your hardest to shop small and I know Vivian and I we I have been trying to do this for a while

[00:37:22] now I know Vivian you specifically last year you were like I'm going to try to get like all

[00:37:27] my presence from small business owners it is knowing that the money is going back to your community

[00:37:37] knowing that my purchase means so much not only to the person I'm giving the gift to but to

[00:37:44] the person that I bought the gift from like just try I know you probably can't do all of it

[00:37:51] but just try your best to think you know what can I this gift that I want to get can I purchase

[00:37:58] this from a small business just I think about it and I think I had the best time last year I

[00:38:05] so Chelsea is a much better shopper than I y'all I leave everything last minute I shop like

[00:38:13] you mean planner you don't mean shopper you mean planner I'm already shopping for Christmas yes

[00:38:21] okay so I leave everything last minute that's just the way it goes and last year I made it

[00:38:26] a boy I was like you know what I'm not going to do that I'm actually going to like you said

[00:38:30] I'm going to be conscious about where I spend my money and I wanted to help small businesses

[00:38:36] and actually the thing that to me really stood out is I can buy much more I think cooler gifts

[00:38:47] I can get stuff that actually people will enjoy a lot more Karen Ramano one of our friends

[00:38:55] we went and and I had fun doing it throughout the season because I went to local like

[00:39:02] things right you and I Chelsea I think we went and stopped by part-circle one day

[00:39:09] at what's that place the station yes we love that place right and I was able to get some earrings

[00:39:15] and stuff like that but it's it I had fun doing it so I went to these events and then Karen and I

[00:39:21] we went to one of them she noticed I kept looking at this picture and for Christmas she ended up

[00:39:27] gifting me that picture from a local artist that I now have in my room but it's just it's much

[00:39:32] more meaningful to me than something she could have gotten at Target or something like that yeah so

[00:39:39] just something to consider also real short PSA people like me are already shopping for the holidays

[00:39:48] so keep that in mind as well as the owners you might want to start your holiday planning now

[00:39:56] you should be I mean it's September and I hate to say y'all it gets really your in earlier

[00:40:00] every year but people like Chelsea over there with cash burning a hole in her pocket you know

[00:40:05] you want to be sure that you you get her it just works better for me financially because then I can

[00:40:13] like space out yeah money especially since you're gonna buy your big sister you're really

[00:40:19] great Christmas gift right I roll all right so going back to community you guys though

[00:40:27] the one thing that we also want to mention is our SOB community that we're launching Chelsea

[00:40:37] so by the time you're listening to this episode I can tell you that it's gonna be launching this

[00:40:41] upcoming Monday all right so if you are and because we released this on Thursday

[00:40:49] if you're interested in joining the SOB community you guys we're going to put a link

[00:40:56] to it down below you can get early access to it now even though it doesn't officially launch

[00:41:01] until Monday but Chelsea tell them what the SOB community is and why we created it so the SOB community

[00:41:10] let me start with why we created it actually Vivian and I listen to y'all okay and

[00:41:17] your DIYing it you're doing it yourself you can't afford to hire a marketing agency

[00:41:25] or maybe you can but let's be honest like I don't know if this is an unpopular

[00:41:32] opinion but this is a true opinion okay you can true because it's coming from Chelsea

[00:41:38] I mean you know what I think you yes exactly no but you as the small business owner

[00:41:46] can market your small business better than any marketing agency better than anyone else because

[00:41:53] you understand the core of your small business and sometimes all you need is someone to answer your

[00:42:02] question or all you need is a tutorial or a little guidance sometimes you do just have one

[00:42:08] little question for a marketing individual but you don't have a marketing individual to ask so Vivian

[00:42:16] and I said how can we help small business owners specifically with this problem

[00:42:23] and the best we could come up with and I think it's a really good idea so I don't like the way that

[00:42:29] I said the best we can come up with because it is the best because it's really smart anyways sorry

[00:42:34] the SOB the SOB community so it is a community the small business owners you can interact with each other

[00:42:45] you can build that relationship ask small business owners their opinions you'll have access to templates

[00:42:53] to downloads to tutorials and lessons and marketing and you will also have access to Vivian and

[00:43:01] I so once a week we're going to do an hour long zoom call where you can ask us any of your marketing

[00:43:07] questions no matter how specific they are like if you have a question specifically for your small

[00:43:14] business and something you are trying to do we will answer it because for one that's what we're

[00:43:20] here to do we're here to help you guys but too it's so likely that another small business owner is

[00:43:25] going through the exact same thing as you and has the same question and wants the same question

[00:43:31] answered and I think that the community calls those group calls are really going to be gold

[00:43:37] because like you said Chelsea other people may be having the same questions or the same concerns

[00:43:43] or issues and to be able to have someone ask it directly of a marketing professional and then

[00:43:50] getting their take on it in that time because as we all know marketing changes like for a week

[00:43:56] a week month to month so because we are staying up to date with everything that goes on in the

[00:44:02] marketing world you guys won't have to you'll have to write access to us we're using a platform called

[00:44:09] school which I'm really excited about because of the way that it's set up and it allows you we've

[00:44:16] divided it up into areas that you could go within the community to get responses to like questions

[00:44:24] or if you've discovered something if you need feedback for something you can kind of put it up

[00:44:31] in a certain section of the community so hopefully you guys will take full advantage of that because

[00:44:37] I promise you and as a marketing professional with over 15 years of experience I think I'm going

[00:44:43] over 20 years at this point I'm actually cutting myself off of a few years.

[00:44:50] I've worked with agencies before and I've done it DIY for the longest time because

[00:44:59] the working with agencies sometimes just requires a whole lot more work than what you think and

[00:45:07] Chelsea said if your communication is not on point and sometimes things get lost in translation

[00:45:13] the biggest thing is I want you guys to know that whenever you do decide if you have the funds

[00:45:20] or if you decide to take the plunge and work with a marketing agency it does not absolve you from

[00:45:26] actually doing marketing initiatives for your business. You still have to be engaged and involved and so

[00:45:33] what we saw was there's a gap between where you're doing it yourself, you're keeping your marketing

[00:45:40] in-house and then you're taking that leap to higher an agency to help you with it. There's that

[00:45:47] big gap in between there so what we're hoping to do is fill that gap and we're going to be the

[00:45:51] in-between we're going to be the place where you guys can pay $50 a month and in there you get weekly

[00:45:58] calls with two marketing professionals Chelsea and I and an entire group you know a community behind

[00:46:05] you. Also those calls are going to be recorded. Yes so if you miss a call you can watch it.

[00:46:12] I also want to point out that marketing is different for everyone you'll get Vivian and I's opinion

[00:46:17] okay Vivian and I don't always agree and we don't always go about something the same way so

[00:46:23] you'll get two marketing opinions like even though we're one the season marketer we are two

[00:46:29] different individuals. We are, I know, I mean attached at the hip but still two different

[00:46:37] different paths I do. No I think that's and that's extremely important because the thing is to

[00:46:42] Chelsea are you know for you listeners that don't know Chelsea and I are sisters but we are 15 years

[00:46:49] we are both marketing professionals. We have different marketing experiences and so the thing is

[00:46:55] when all of that combined when you ask someone for an opinion like Chelsea just stated

[00:47:00] hers is going to be slightly different than mine right and that's because she still 20 something

[00:47:06] she sees the world differently than I do as a 40 year old and so neither one of them is 100% right

[00:47:14] all the time. I think marketing is a little more of an art form than what people give it you know

[00:47:21] on go. Yeah exactly. My gen Z is playing on God no cap. Oh please don't I'm not that I want to

[00:47:31] stand. I'm not gonna understand anything you say. If you're joining our SOB community I can tell you

[00:47:37] as a big sister Chelsea will not be able to use lingo like that. Not allowed otherwise she will

[00:47:44] kick it out. So you have my commitment that you know what that's very important I'm sure that's

[00:47:51] the selling point right now. Yeah don't have to listen to Gen Z lingo. Come to a place where the

[00:47:59] lingo safe you understand everything we're talking about but I am really excited because the other

[00:48:05] thing is if you've been if you've known anything about the season market or over the years

[00:48:12] you know we started a YouTube channel a long time ago and what Chelsea and I did for this particular

[00:48:19] community because we're not just linking to our previous YouTube channels because I know they can be

[00:48:24] lengthy at times and sometimes you don't need all that explanation. You just want to be able to pop in

[00:48:29] give me the bread and butter of what I need to do and that is it. So with Chelsea we've gone in

[00:48:36] we've actually recorded some new videos to tutorials for this and so if it's something like hey

[00:48:45] you know you're debating whether or not you want to work with the prank company. Great we have a

[00:48:50] quick tutorial video on that factor as you need to consider pros and cons very straight to the point.

[00:48:56] These tutorials are quick straight to the point. I mean for the ones that I recorded my longest one

[00:49:03] maybe five minutes long. Maybe. Minor a little length here because I'm you know I'm a little long

[00:49:09] blended but it's it's straight to the point as you know I think like the videos on their average

[00:49:16] like Chelsea said maybe five minutes. The other thing is a big benefit to getting in on this

[00:49:24] community now and being active in it is not just that you get to hop on these weekly zoom calls

[00:49:31] with the group and with Chelsea and I and we get to have real discussions about your small business

[00:49:36] and what you could do to grow it but we're also going to have guests that come in. Chelsea and I know

[00:49:42] some really cool people that have some really good experience doing stuff that you know that you

[00:49:48] guys can benefit from so we're going to invite them to come talk about that and the most important

[00:49:54] part of it is that you guys get to shape the direction of this community. Chelsea and I were just

[00:50:00] having a discussion about this how you know we talked about feedback. We are also going to be asking

[00:50:05] you guys for feedback and so what that's going to look like is we're going to say like hey guys

[00:50:11] for the next two quick tutorials that we do what do you want them to be on okay and so you get

[00:50:17] to have direct input on how we build out that library of the topics that we're covering within

[00:50:24] the SOB platform that school community. So all right so if you guys want more information,

[00:50:31] want to see everything that you get and want to join today simply go to school SKOL.com slash

[00:50:40] S O B. All right and Chelsea will link it for you guys down below. Yes I will and just want to say

[00:50:47] the core of this conversation is do you guys why marketing doing it yourself to something you have

[00:50:54] to do it alone. It just means that you're not hiring a big agency to do it with you okay?

[00:51:01] Again like Vivian said earlier when you hire a marketing agency that does not absolve you

[00:51:08] that still includes you as well. Just wanted to point that out again but you are not alone

[00:51:13] you have your team. You have the internet, you have community and hopefully you'll have the SOB

[00:51:22] community to help you along the way. So you'll go out there be the best SOB you can be and go check

[00:51:29] out the SOB community.