Podcast Ep 28: The Struggles of Marketing Yourself

I struggle to market my work – it’s quite a mental block. But I thought I’d share how I’m looking to overcome that. Listen here to know more, but if you can’t have a listen, then you can read what I’ve said too:

The Struggles of Marketing Yourself

“Hi! I’m Shruti and this is my podcast space where I speak about life lessons, chronic conditions, mental and physical health tips and experiences.

Please note that this podcast is available in text format on my website allthingsendometriosis.com in the podcast section. And very importantly, this podcast does not aim to substitute any medical advice because I am not a medical professional. I’m just sharing what I’ve observed and learnt over time.

I can’t seem to talk about my work – umm…I know many humans who like me struggle to market themselves.

I also know humans who have no such problem and balance it quite well… I mean balance in a way in which they market themselves without overdoing it and making it annoying.

I’ve also seen some that do overdo it.

There are all kinds of us but I feel I can safely say that most tend to experience the struggle of it.

Like for example, in all these weeks – I don’t remember having mentioned in this podcast series that I revived my YouTube channel or if I have that it ended up having some significant mention to it or shared which topic has been posted on YouTube… I’ve actually uploaded 13 videos in these 13 weeks – once a week… and I don’t speak about it on this platform whereas logically I should. The name of this podcast and the name of my YouTube channel are the same. Footprints, No Boundaries. They are both connected yet – nope I haven’t gone all out to market it despite me putting out a Tweet, an Insta post, a weekly story… I’m just not aggressive about it.

Why?

Why aren’t many of us aggressive about spreading the word on what we do?!

It’s because we feel a bit embarrassed in advocating for ourselves, we find it uncomfortable to constantly remind the world what we’re up to – even if it’s helpful. Like for me, I put up content related to health – but no, even then, it’s tough!

Also, we don’t want to sound like an advertisement.

And many of us are shy – we just hope people will understand what we’re up to with that one post on social media.

Another truth and the one I’m very happy to admit is – we just don’t know HOW to market ourselves. How to get that balance right.

I started my blog allthingsendometriosis.com in January 2020, I then started this podcast in March 2020 and in July 2020 I restarted my YouTube channel.

I have done loads of work this year while recovering from surgery, dealing with new medical diagnosis, struggling to breathe and sleep – I’ve also enjoyed the benefits of lockdown – I’ve looked to channel my energy in my purpose to inform about health – mental and physical, during this time.

Yet, my marketing is terrible!! It’s… really bad!

And somewhere I’m saying all this, telling you the work and effort I’ve put in but feeling uncomfortable that does it sound like I’m advertising myself – am I sounding like I’m making the point I wish to or am I sounding like one of those people who is preaching about themselves and coming across as overbearing?!

It is this very thinking that stops people like me – well at least me – I guess it would be wrong to assume it’s the same for others.

But this web of constant cross questioning leads to not marketing at all or not marketing enough.

I become such a big critic of myself that I hold my growth back. I am so caught up in how I’ll be perceived – actually that’s partly true – I’m also caught up in how I’ll appear to myself.

That’s where, in all this, because my work is so personal to me, because I wish to educate through my health experiences – my marketing isn’t really about me having a strategy that’s loud and over-the-top, instead, my marketing has to reflect me – it has to be real.

Yes I do agree that I need to push that boundary a bit more to be seen and heard in this world of easy information, but it still has to reflect the personality my work exudes.

I think many of us who struggle to market ourselves need to begin there – need to realise that people will connect to the real. ‘Fluff’ and ‘loud’ has a shorter shelf-life and less substance to it – well that’s what I feel.

Being yourself and pushing your own boundaries a centimetre or even inches at a time should help us explore what works and doesn’t work for our work without lowering the quality.

So I think it’ll be best if I share an example.

So, for example, let’s say I have a product – I create a tangible product. The product is personal to me because I’m making an effort to create it. The final product is what people see, but what someone will connect with is the story behind the creation of it – why or how it was created. It makes it more human.

But it doesn’t end there – the next will be how you present that story – if it’s through images, are they relatable and do they showcase your product and your story in the best possible way? Can you improve the quality of your images? choice of words? even the lighting in a video story?

And then finally understanding how often should you share the process, the journey, the story behind the product and even about yourself?

I feel when we share the real, the story, the journey – the journey in which we share mistakes and success – we connect with people better. If we’re constantly praising ourselves then it does sound like an advertisement.

So what I’m getting at is that if we’re real, it won’t seem like marketing.

I also wanna give an example of if you have a product that isn’t tangible, like mine, which is a website, a podcast, a YouTube channel in which I speak about mental and physical health… what about that?! How do I market that?

It’s the same way – by being real. By speaking of the issues but their treatments too. Rather than it sounding like I am only speaking of problems which can give a negative feel, it’s important to speak of possible solutions and what’s been tried – what has and hasn’t worked.

But what I do need to change is the frequency of the sharing – I don’t share often. I get tired and like I said earlier, judge myself thinking whether I’m doing it too much.

But I’m not.

I realise that I need to give my time more respect, my experiences more respect because the 80+ posts I’ve written, or the 13 YouTube videos or these 25+ podcasts that I have done so far… which all have interlinking topics, all took a lot of time and thought to write, create, produce, edit and present… If then, I don’t market it or shall I say share it – then I’m not respecting the effort and I’m not respecting the life experiences that have gone into – I’m basically not respecting my purpose to spread the word, to share. So why am I doing it in the first place. Why is my inability to market it coming in the way of fulfilling my purpose?!

So I’ll say this to all of you out there – if you struggle like me to market or share your product which can be a tangible piece or a store, or work that’s content driven like me then just then replace the word “market” with “share” – and share your story in a way that is real.

I promise to make more of such an effort in the coming weeks and over the course of the many months ahead, I hope to share with you not just the work progress, but the mental progress in removing my mental-blocks towards marketing and how I feel about myself.

So that was all about me and how I promise to help myself, but do you struggle to market yourself too? How do you overcome this? It would be so good to hear your experiences on this which I’d love to share in another podcast that way we can help each other out.

I really look forward to hearing from all of you and as you know, you can message me through Instagram – my Insta handle is @footprintsnoboundaries or email me on [email protected].

Thank you as always for listening! B-byee!!”

Read Here For:
Podcast Ep 12: Blogging When You Don’t Like Writing [and Have a Chronic Illness!]
Podcast Ep 22: How Do You Talk To Yourself?
How To Make the Most of Social Media for Chronic Illness Patients
How To Work From Home if You Have a Chronic Illness

I’d love to know what you thought of today’s podcast. Please do share your thoughts in the comments section below…

Previous: Podcast 27 – Is Being “Okay” Enough?

Up Next: Podcast Episode 29 – How Saying “I’m always busy” Helped My Mental Health

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Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. I am a patient and have created this platform to share my experiences. This is all purely informative and in no way am I providing medical advice. Please consult a medical professional.