A lot of people will talk about the importance of having a solid marketing foundation for your business, but how does it actually make your business and your life better?
This is part 2 of my Clients From Heaven series. Read part 1: How to Be a Great Client.
After a terrible experience with my last web development client in 2018, I quit done-for-you website work altogether and started a coaching program called Content Boot Camp.
It was the most rewarding and also the most financially challenging year of my business. I didn’t make a slow pivot, building up my coaching business while keeping the lights on with web development.
It was more like a record scratch than a slow fade. Not recommended, but necessary at the time, for my mental health.
I got my first few clients in Content Boot Camp and I started teaching them what I knew about creating compelling content that can sell for you. I was asking them to get out of their comfort zones and show up in a way they hadn’t before.
They balked, they groaned, they protested…but they did what I recommended, and inevitably came to the coaching calls week after week, almost disgruntled that I was right. “FINE, I did what you said and IT WORKED!”
As they gained more confidence that yes, marketing can work for them and no, they didn’t just have to do what some million dollar guru was telling them to do… another challenge emerged.
Their technology sucked.
Your Technology Will Empower or Limit Your Marketing
There were things I was teaching them that they couldn’t do effectively with the Squarespaces and Mailchimps of the software world.
Naturally, they asked me for help.
I was torn. Of course I could help. I wanted to help. But I didn’t want to go back to just selling websites. I knew it was going to take more than that.
I went back to the drawing board and I looked at all the technical challenges our clients were having.
I put together a suite of services we could deliver to solve their problems and really create a marketing engine. I bundled it all together under simple retainer pricing and called it InSourced.
I wanted to convey that we wanted to more than just an outsourced agency. We care about our clients success and we wanted to be considered a vital part of their team.
We rolled this out to our Content Boot Camp clients and many of them went on to engage us to help build websites, learning management platforms and automated email marketing systems to augment the marketing and messaging that had been tested and proven during their time in CBC.
Adrianna was our first ever InSourced client.
It started when she sheepishly revealed that she was burnt out trying to DIY her website on WordPress.com and was thinking of rebuilding it on Squarespace.
I knew what kind of business she was trying to build and I instantly rejected this idea. #notonmywatch.
We started by rebuilding her website in just two weeks into something that more fully represented her vibe and welcomed her new prospects and clients into her world.
From disorganized DIY to professional presentation in two weeks.
A Solid Marketing Foundation Lets You Move Faster
This served as her foundation for branching out into other types of business, like creating a group wellness program, and entering the world of products with Massage in a Box.
Over a period of 18 months, we worked on various parts of her online marketing. The result is that she ended up with a solid foundation that allows her to keep building based on how her business grows and changes.
Some things we were able to do because of this included:
She came to us a week before her birthday with an idea for a birthday campaign for Massage in a Box. She wanted to sell the product, but also allow people to give it as a gift, with specific follow up and support for both the buyer and the recipient. We built the entire sales campaign and product follow up system in 3 days because we had a good technical foundation to build on.
She decided to later offer a cannabis version of Massage in a Box and because she built her website on a WordPress platform that she owns, she was able to do so. Selling cannabis products is against the terms of service of platforms like Squarespace and Wix. The early decision to build her own platform meant she didn’t suddenly have to confront rebuilding everything in order to move forward.
Adrianna has continually been able to update her website on her own as her business changed - deciding to return to in-person acupuncture work, building an e-commerce add-on, adding profiles for new staff people - all this was made easier because of the tools we helped her choose and build. These choices continue to pay dividends.
A Fair Value Exchange
One of the best moments of my entrepreneurial career was when I let Adrianna know that we would be raising the pricing on our InSourced services, but that she would be locked in at her current rate. She said to me, “please charge me the new rate for the past month of service. This work has been so valuable and I want to pay you for that.”
As a Black woman in business, I’m more used to people balking at paying than offering to pay more. No one ever in the history of my business career had ever said anything like this and it moved to me to tears to have that recognition (and yes, I sent the invoice).
A lot of people tell me they love our podcast, Begin as You Mean to Go On, but it’s one thing to love the idea, and another to stay the course building your foundation in a world where so many people are promising ‘right now’ results.
If you’re someone who understands the importance of slowing down to really get clear on what what you need now and 2-3 years from now.
If you’re the kind of person who is willing to invest in yourself even if it means stretching out of your comfort zone.
If you’ve been consuming my content and thinking, HELL YES to our philosophy and the way we think about strategy and technology
If you’re coachable, willing to consider new ideas, and like having a fresh outside perspective even when you think you have it all figured out..
You might be our next dream client.
Click here to get the conversation started and see if we’re a great fit to work together.
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I just want to give a shout out to Kronda Adair for making my automation and tech dreams come true. I’m nearing the end of my first online launch and it’s been amazing. I’m exceeding my goals and I’m not exhausted! And, it’s largely because of Kronda.
When I first signed up with Kronda a year ago I knew I needed to upgrade my tech and build an online platform I could leverage. I had a Dixie cup and needed a reservoir so that when I started marketing and turning up the flow I had something to catch all the goodness.
And now that’s what’s happening. It’s exciting that I’m getting sales and doing the work I love to do. It’s even more exciting knowing that this is completely scalable and that if I went viral tomorrow my biz would bend but it wouldn’t break. I’m so glad I did this work at the beginning instead of investing in tools that I would outgrow when things really started to get going in my business. I see this happening to other businesses all the time.
If you’re just getting into scaling up your marketing, are running into the limitations of your all-in-one, are still manually entering client info, or having trouble onboarding and are serious about your business, just do yourself a favor and book a session with this woman. She blew my mind just in the complimentary strategy session she offers.
I am a forever fan
