Finally, Create A Marketing Plan That Works (So You Can Stop Guessing)

Sep 2, 20245 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

If you're a small business owner struggling to market your business online, I've been there and here's what a whole lot of posting followed by crickets (quantity- you've heard that before), expert teachings, and data mining taught me.

Success is always on the other side of failure.

When I started marketing my services, I had one goal: Get paid for doing work I loved while helping others WIN in business. But —my marketing efforts fell flat.

I ran into three major roadblocks:

I wasn’t familiar with social media marketing. They didn't cover online business and social media when I was doing my MBA.
I didn’t know how to communicate my value in a way that made a stranger say yes. The importance of messaging hadn't carried the weight it should in my thought process.
I had bits and pieces of marketing knowledge but no full-picture strategy.

Sound familiar? If so, here’s what I did to break through—and what you can do too.

Challenge 1: Learning Social Media Without Losing Your Mind

The moment you become a business owner, you’re a marketer and salesperson FIRST—whether you like it or not.

Hello, YouTube University! I followed platform-specific experts—one for Instagram, one for LinkedIn, one for YouTube... you get the idea.

What I learned: Social media is a moving target. Algorithms change. Trends shift. But the real insight—you don’t need to know every trick. You just need to recognize trends that align with your business goals.

For example, LinkedIn recently pushed short-form video content (similar to Instagram Reels). Why does this matter? Because when platforms introduce new features, they give early adopters an unfair advantage—more visibility, more reach, more engagement.

So, if LinkedIn is part of your strategy, you know what to do. Run! Film a vertical video!

Take advantage of the organic reach before it disappears.

But even after learning to ride the waves of change to gain AWARENESS, I still faced a major problem…

Challenge 2: Building Trust with Strangers Online

I could get people’s attention, but I couldn’t get them to trust me enough to buy.

I had no credibility, no audience, and my social posts felt like I was throwing mud at a wall.

Then my sister-in-law (shoutout to Lulu!) suggested I try Fiverr.

At first, I resisted. It felt like a step backward, but let’s be honest—I had nothing to lose.

So, I created a profile, got some family members to buy my services and leave stellar reviews, and BOOM—I started getting real, paying clients. Strangers! It felt like magic.

But it wasn’t magic. It was three marketing psychological principles at play:

Be where buyers are already looking. Instead of trying to convince people on Instagram to come to me, I placed myself in a marketplace full of people already looking to buy.
Leverage social proof. Those two 5-star reviews from family friends? They worked. People saw them and thought, If others trust her, maybe I should too.
Borrow platform credibility. Fiverr acted as a safety net, reducing the risk for buyers. If they didn’t like my service, they knew they had recourse.

These three factors are game-changers in any marketing strategy. Find your audience, show proof, and reduce their risk.

But then, I hit another roadblock. I was getting some traction, but I still wasn’t seeing predictable, consistent sales.

Challenge 3: Creating a Full-Picture Marketing Strategy

That’s when I realized I had only been focusing on pieces of the puzzle. I was doing some social media, but I didn’t have a true lead generation and conversion system.

I was thinking short-term and getting short-term results.

Here’s what I was missing:

✅ Attract → Grab the right audience’s attention with a clear Unique Selling Proposition (USP). (Why YOU? Why THIS offer?) A clear headliner to your business that Marketing Strategist Extraordinaire, Jay Abraham, says obliterates any thought of "SO WHAT?"

✅ Nurture → Move people from “interested” to “ready to buy.” The prospective buyer is on a journey, they need to take on an identity that says - I am the type of person that can profit from this purchase.

✅ Convert → Make buying feel like a no-brainer. Remove the risk in buying. Answer all those nagging questions the buyer has about "what if this doesn't work"

I had been attracting some attention and getting lucky, but I wasn’t priming my audience to buy from me.

Two Missing Pieces:

Doing all the right things in isolation is STILL a slow process.

Business is fundamentally about relationships, period.

Focus on who you know and how you can add value to them. Because when you make the right connections, referrals follow—and those referrals are far easier to convert than cold leads.

A Referral Pipeline – Your best clients come from referrals, but you have to engineer those referrals. Deliberately and systematically seek them out.
Getting into the Right Rooms – Online attention is great, but nothing replaces real relationships. When people meet you, they'll check you out online -- the good vibes will make them interested to know more about you and what you can bring to the table. Identify where you need to be to meet your ideal client and pay to enter those rooms armed with your USP.

What This Means for You

If you’ve been struggling with marketing, you’re not alone. I’ve been there. But every failure is a stepping stone—if you learn from it.

So, let me ask you:

Are you clear on your unique selling point? (Why YOU? Why THIS?)

Are you giving potential clients the confidence to trust you? (Social proof, credibility, and risk reduction matter.)

Do you have a system—not just random tactics? (Attract. Nurture. Convert. Referral pipeline. Right rooms.)

If you’re missing any of these pieces, that’s okay. The key is recognizing the gaps and taking action to fill them.

AND,

If you’re serious about turning your marketing into a growth engine (and not just a time-wasting black hole), it’s time to take a different approach.

Digital Marketing Plan Service : A Strategic Roadmap

Buy Now

The Only Constant In Life Is Change, Taxes, And Death (Too morbid for a Friday?) ~ A Heraclitus & Benjamin Franklin Combo

The mindset of a marketer is realising that trial and error isn't painful, it's just part of the process.

Test. Test. And keep testing... mine those data-gold nuggets.

Marketing doesn’t have to feel like an uphill battle, it's more like a dance. Once you understand the key principles, you can let got an be creatively strategic.

Think long-term.

Have some fun!