This is a novel concept to a lot of people, which is funny to me because it's always just seemed like an obvious approach to business marketing in my mind. But you should be treating yourself as a small business even if you aren't. Think: dentists and doctors with their own practice, salesmen, realtors, insurance agents, etc. This is how you set yourself apart from all the others in your industry even if you aren't technically a small business. 

Create business accounts on social media for yourself, spend time engaging with your ICA, create behind the scenes videos, go live, post entertaining, thoughtful content, develop a loyal following, and the in-person business will come easily. 

Hardly anyone in any of the industries that aren't conventionally considered small businesses are marketing in this way. Get started and get ahead of the game before everyone else catches up and the return on investment will be tenfold. Even small businesses in the trades such as plumbers and electricia...

Maybe your product sucks. But if you're confident it doesn't and you're not making the money you want, then you need better marketing.

If profits aren't where they should be, you're either not reaching enough people, not reaching the right people, or not resonating with those people. That is where effective marketing comes in.  

So how do you reconcile this? It's simple. It's not necessarily easy, but it is simple.  You need one or more likely, a combination, of the following: 

+ a stronger brand

+ more relevant content 

+ a defined and strategic marketing plan in relation to specific platforms (email and social media)

+ a more memorable customer experience

These encompass what I call "The Profitable 5 of Digital Minimalism." That is, the five pillars of marketing that will actually move the needle forward in your business. The other so-called strategies and trendy "must-dos" are time-wasters that can be decluttered and purged.

If you're intrigued and could use some more mon...

Have you heard of curiosity marketing? Better yet, are you implementing it in your business? As someone who hates being salesy and using pressure-inducing tactics to make money in my business, curiosity marketing is one of my go-to strategies. 

Think of curiosity marketing as a mutual engagement of information. Content is purposefully created in a way that will leave your audience wanting more. Instead of you as the seller trying to get people to listen to what you have to say (or sell as it may be), they're reaching out to you with questions or wanting more information. Pretty nifty, huh?

You can do this in all kinds of creative ways, but here's an example: maybe you run your own beauty business. You might make a post featuring a customer wearing the eyeshadow you sell and a caption like "Kim says this is, hands down, the best eyeshadow she's ever worn." So instead of naming the eyeshadow brand, the color, the price, and all its features, you're instilling a sense of curiosity in yo...