Mastering the Art of Marketing Your Creative Work: Insider Tips

Have you ever poured your heart into creating something incredible, only to realize you've neglected to shout about it from the rooftops? I'll be the first to admit that I've fallen into this trap. 

Today, I'm laying it out on the table, providing a candid confession and a blueprint for ensuring your marketing efforts match your creative ideas. We're breaking down the house of content creation, focusing on the foundation—marketing—so you're not left with a masterpiece that no one sees. 

As we pull back the curtain on the pre-launch buzz, I'll guide you through four ingenious, cost-free tactics to captivate your audience before your content debuts. Picture this: sharing those raw, candid moments of your process or inviting your community to weigh in on your creative decisions. 

This kind of insider access and collaboration can turn followers into fans who are just as invested in your success as you are. They'll count down the days alongside you, eager to support your splash in the vast digital sea.

So, whether you're at the starting line or gearing up for your next big launch, tune in and join a community of creators who are making every step of their journey count.

Want to learn from Marie Forleo and steal her incredible business ideas...for free? Register for her Masterclass "Steal My Strategy" here today: https://krystalproffitt.com/steal/.

Take the "What’s Your Hidden Content Talent?" quiz and find out if you're an Idea Innovator, Engagement Expert, Tech Whiz, or Brand Builder today! Go to krystalproffitt.com/quiz now.

Click the "Send Krystal a Text Message" link above to send us your questions, comments, and feedback on the show! (Pssst...we'll do giveaways in upcoming episodes so make sure you leave your name & podcast title.)

Transcript

Krystal Proffitt: 1:52

Today I have a super juicy topic that I feel like. Over the years, I have covered this exact same thing probably 50 times, but it's one of those that, in 450 plus episodes, we cannot say enough, because, as a brand new podcaster or a seasoned podcaster, I still see you making these same mistakes over and over and over again, and I feel very confident that I can call you out like this because I do this too. Okay, so we're all. It's like level playing field. It's not just me like preaching at you, that like, oh, you know I'm better than you and this is no, I do this too, which is why it's also a reminder for me to make sure that we're all doing this and holding each other accountable, because the top mistake that I see podcasters making, content creators making, business owners making is what we're talking about today. So let's get right to it.

Krystal Proffitt: 2:58

Welcome to the Proffitt Podcast, where we teach you how to start, launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, Krystal Profit, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today, because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time-saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we? Okay, welcome back Krystal here today. And I am so excited about this topic because, as much as I have been kind of like preachy and, like you know, this is what we need to talk about. Like it is so freaking important because we're talking about marketing, okay, and we're not talking about just general marketing or content marketing or podcast marketing. Like we are really breaking down the one thing that so many of you struggle with that you don't even think about until after the fact. Okay, and, like I said, I do this too, but once you've adopted this principle today, like, never again will you have this issue. I'm going to give you lots of permissions, as I do whenever we're coaching, and like we're knee deep in a session where I'm just like, okay, we're on podcast therapy, okay. So, if that's the kind of mindset you need to get into today, totally fine. Grab your like comfy pillow, get a cozy blanket, you know, snuggle up. Or maybe you're out on a walk, like let's do this together today, because there's some hard things that we need to talk about, but, with my help, like hopefully, you're, you know, part of our podcast community. We have a free Facebook group. Message me on the podcast, which is a fun new feature that you can do. You can go and send me a text message right to the profit odcast on Apple or Spotify or wherever you're listening on your audio platform. Reach out, because you should not struggle alone with this.

Krystal Proffitt: 4:50

But this is like I want to set this up because, like I said, I've done this and I see this happening over and over and over again and so many of you are like Krystal, why didn't I have a bigger launch? Or why is you know my podcast isn't getting the attention that I thought it would? As soon as I hit publish, or no one's buying my product, or no one's even looking at my YouTube channel. What can I do? So this is for those of you in that middle ground like, maybe you haven't launched your content, or maybe you have and you're looking to launch your next thing, whether it's your digital product, or maybe you're launching a book, or maybe you're launching something else in your business. That's your next step, because I don't stop launching things. Like I launch things all the time. Actually, like just this year, I launched multiple things and these are some of the things that are going to help you in your next launch of whatever the thing is.

Krystal Proffitt: 5:46

But here's really the key mistake that I see so many content creators and online business owners making, and that is you put all of your time and your energy and your efforts, and maybe even your budget, your money, into making the thing that you don't actually tell people about the thing. Do you like? Do you feel called out? I feel called out. Right, this has been my tragedy before.

Krystal Proffitt: 6:15

When, when I first created my very first course, I remember I was like okay, I'm going to you know, this is all the content, this is the modules, this is the names of it, these are the lessons, these are the videos. Like, I spent so much time on the actual thing that I was creating. I never thought about selling the thing. I was just like just get me to the finish line of getting this thing. Thought about selling the thing, I was just like just get me to the finish line of getting this thing launched out into the world, and that will be the hard part, right, the marketing will take care of itself. Um, no, that's not how it works. Like, I hear, like I hear you laughing at me. Okay, I hear the laughter that is coming from someone that just launched their podcast and they're like oh, no, no, no, no, that's not at all how it worked for me, Krystal. Like you're, you're lying here, but okay, this is why we have to talk about this, because I actually want to lay this out. Like it's building a house, okay, and if you've never worked in construction, like I feel like I have an advantage on this conversation.

Krystal Proffitt: 7:17

I worked in construction for a few years. I worked for a huge general contractor, a big builder. Plus, I grew up with a dad who was a plumber. So, like I've been around construction my life, like I've seen things get built, from having a for sale sign on a piece of land to, all of a sudden, it's like coming soon and it's like a gas station or a restaurant or a hospital or like whatever it is that is being built. But I really want to take it down to the foundation, like no pun intended, right the foundation of building a home, cause we can all relate to that. Right, we've been in someone's home, even if we don't own a home ourselves. We have been in a house and we can recognize what goes into it. So let's just say you are scouting for a piece of land, right. So you find your piece of land. You're like this is the property that I want to build my house on.

Krystal Proffitt: 8:10

Then you have to hire an architect to draw up your blueprints and have this home designed. Is it going to be one story, is it going to be two story? Is it going to be a ranch? Is it going to be like? That's kind of like. My knowledge of HDTV shows stops there. It's like, about all I know, one story, two story, a ranch, yeah, is, is that it? Because I, uh, other than that I don't know.

Krystal Proffitt: 8:33

But then, after you have your blueprints, then what has to happen? You need to kind of have like the model of like, okay, well, where's the door going? Is the front door going to go here? Is the garage going to go here? You have to do the actual like schematics on your piece of property. Then you start doing the dirt work. Then you're going to start pouring the foundation. You got to have those huge concrete trucks come in and they're putting out the foundation. Then they have to level it, and before they do that, when they're doing the dirt work is actually when they start doing the plumbing.

Krystal Proffitt: 9:04

I can't even tell you how many times. Maybe I shouldn't say this. He doesn't have his own business anymore, so it's fine. Statue of limitations is gone. He doesn't do this anymore. But I would go to his jobs and drive the tractor when he was doing a rough in. This is my dad Like.

Krystal Proffitt: 9:21

I remember being a little kid being on the tractor with my dad and he was like, okay, like we're going to lift this up. It was like the backhoe or the excavator, I don't even know what it was, but I was couldn't even drive a car. Yet here I am on this super heavy piece of machinery. So if you're an insurance agent and you're like clutching your pearls, like oh my God, the audacity. I know, I know, okay, I was a little kid, it happened a long time ago but you have to do all that dirt work, then do all of your plumbing, all the things that have to happen. Then we're pouring the concrete. So I got a little out of order. But you get what I'm saying right.

Krystal Proffitt: 9:52

There's steps, there's a lot of steps involved and this may take days or weeks to make this happen. You can't rush these things. It's not like you can say I want to throw it all together and have a house in a day. I mean you could, but is it going to last? Like I don't want, that's not the kind of house that I want to live in. But the next steps and I'm actually I'm looking back and forth to my notes because I wrote these things down the next one is working with a design team to see what kind of attributes do you want to have. Like, where are your stairs going to go If that wasn't like fully laid out in your blueprints of like, okay, like, are you going to have a round staircase? Are you going to have, you know, a door here to your closet? Are you going to have this? You're going to have that Like, all of these things that may have been like kind of in the backlog of like, okay, we'll answer those questions as we build out this house.

Krystal Proffitt: 10:40

And then you're going to actually see the walls go up, and by walls I don't mean like actual, like drywall and paneling, I'm talking about like, just like you've driven by houses, right, we live in a house that it was a newer home and when it was getting built we didn't live here, we didn't live in this area, so we actually couldn't see it as it was getting built. But I can't tell you how many of my neighbors that I have met and they're like, oh, we walked through your house when it was just walls and I'm like, well, that's weird. Everyone, everyone. I met like five or six neighbors. They were like, oh yeah, we've walked totally through your house whenever it was just like the studs and there wasn't anything there and I was just like I kind of felt like it was an invasion of privacy. I was like, wait, hang on, you've been in my house before. It was like technically like all moved in, but anyway, you know what I'm saying. Like you can see through all the walls. There's just boards up.

Krystal Proffitt: 11:31

That's another big step in building a house. They've like installed the stairs and maybe the doors are in, maybe they're not, maybe you don't even have windows installed in your house, but then you start working on the insulation and the drywall and then they put the fixtures in and then maybe they start painting and putting the flooring in and doing the tiling or whatever kind of flooring, the carpet that you want to put in. Like you know, carpet upstairs, like no carpet, downstairs, like that's. That's like next level for me is like if I ever buy, purchase another home or if we renovate a house. I'm like no carpet downstairs, no, and preferably no upstairs. Like that's, that's that's where we're going on. My journey is like I live in a very small cottage on a Lake with just me and my husband and like seven dogs. That's like where our retirement dreams, like that's what they're made of. And you know, once all the kids are out of the house, that's likely where we're going to live.

Krystal Proffitt: 14:07

But the next part are just installing those major appliances. Maybe you have to go and like coordinate. Like okay, you know we decided on these last fixtures. Like do these appliances go together? Do I want to have matching? You know an oven and a stove and a fridge, and maybe you know the laundry like all. Like do I want all those to match or do I not care? Like go get me the bargain hunt. Like deals, Like these are all decisions you still have to make.

Krystal Proffitt: 14:32

And then what about the roofing? And then you have to stage your house right, like you're not just building this to live in it, you're building it to sell it. Okay, this is like kind of flip of the switch, cause maybe this whole time you were thinking oh yeah, like my dream home. Maybe some of y'all got lost in, like the HDT world of like, oh yeah, and then we could have shutters and we could have a courtyard out in the back with this beautiful garden. Well, come back to me, okay. Like come back to what we're talking about today, because maybe you're already tired and you tuned out. You're like Krystal, that was a lot of steps, like that was way too much stuff. You lost me when you started talking about blueprints. That's okay, because what we're bringing it back to now is that is the same amount of before you even get to pricing and competitive analysis and actually getting to the point of selling a house.

Krystal Proffitt: 15:28

You have to do all of these things just like a podcast. You gotta pick a title, you gotta do your artwork, decide. Is this a solo podcast or an interview podcast? Is this gonna be long form or short form Video? No video. You have to make all of these decisions and get into action to make them happen. You are exhausted. You are freaking exhausted.

Krystal Proffitt: 15:49

By the time that launch date rolls around, you're like, can't somebody else just do this? Can't someone else talk about it? Like I've been behind the scenes creating all this stuff and I'm just ready to sit back and watch the virality. You know, like just take it off, like just upload it into an algorithm and let it go on its merry way and get me millions of downloads, thousands of views and make me an overnight celebrity. You can say it, you can admit that these have been part of your dreams, because these have been my dreams too. Anytime I create something, I'm like this is going to be the time. This is when it's going to happen. I know that the algorithm is just going to love the way that I designed this perfectly in Canva and I grabbed the right fonts this time and I have the right code on my website and my graphics look good and my colors are popping and all the things.

Krystal Proffitt: 16:45

But at the end of the day, so much of this could have really been building the momentum that by the time I launched it out into the world, it kind of took off on its own and really had some legs to run with to where all I'm doing is saying, okay, let's just keep the conversation going, and that's really what I want to talk about. So, while all of this is not as complex as building a house like whew, thank God, right, like it is not that complicated, there are four ways that I want you to start marketing your podcast, your YouTube channel, your product, whatever it is, while you are in the process of creating it. So, while you're building it, there are four key things that you can do to ensure that, when it launches, when you press that, go live, when you put your book on Amazon, when you go live with your sales page on your next digital course, course, that you have sales, you have buyers, you have listeners, you have an audience, and so these are the four ways to make that happen. So, if you're writing notes, this is when you can start writing them. If not, if you're driving or you're running or doing whatever, then these are gonna be in the show notes, so make sure you go check them out.

Krystal Proffitt: 18:00

The first one sharing the behind the scenes and all of these things are free. By the way, Can we throw that out there? Like everything I'm sharing here with you today, all of it is free for you to do. So I'm not going to sit here and tell you go buy a bunch of ads, do all these other things. All of these things are free, and this is a smart way for you to market your content or your thing while you're building it to market your content or your thing. While you're building it, share behind the scenes. What are you doing? Are you launching a podcast and you just bought a podcast microphone and a boom arm.

Krystal Proffitt: 18:34

Well, take a picture of it, like, snap a selfie while you are in the middle of, you know, setting it up. Maybe you're like, oh, this feels kind of weird, but it feels exciting and it feels fun, like, take a picture. Take a picture of that Cause, one you're going to love to remember that I love that I snapped a picture of my very, very first interview I keep hitting my microphone of my very first interview. I cherish that picture. I'm so happy that I have that picture. I can share it in webinars that I do. I mean here we are multiple years later and I still talk about that picture. I can share it in webinars that I do. I mean here we are multiple years later and I still talk about that picture and I still remember that day. If I did not have that picture, I may not remember all the details, all the visual elements of everything that happened that day, but I was so happy that I snapped that picture.

Krystal Proffitt: 19:19

So if you're in the middle of launching your podcast, your YouTube channel. Maybe you're setting up your YouTube backdrop and you're just like I don't, I don't know if this is right Like snap a picture and then the next thing I'm gonna talk about, like we're going to circle back around to that one, because, yeah, we're going to circle back around to that one, but I want you to snap a picture like share the behind the scenes. If you're creating your products, oh, they took a screen grab of something they created and then they, like you know, blur it out, or they pixelated, or they put like fun emojis over it. It's like, oh, something fun is coming. You're building that momentum as you are still creating the thing, because, remember, the thing isn't ready. Your launch date hasn't even come. It could be weeks out, it could be months out, it could just be days out, but you are teasing out what you're creating. So it's building that marketing buzz before you even put it out into the world. So, instead of when you hit launch, it's crickets and no one knows what's going on, you hit launch.

Krystal Proffitt: 20:25

People are like, oh, she shared about that a few weeks ago. Like I'm curious to see what this is. Or oh, I've been following along all the things that she's been sharing behind the scenes. I like I want to go check this out. Like I, they feel involved, they feel part of it. They're just like, oh, this is so fun, and actually while I was um writing my book.

Krystal Proffitt: 20:47

So I have a book on Amazon. It's called start, a binge worthy podcast, and while I was writing that book, I would set up my phone on a time-lapse of me writing. You can make this as personal as you want. Okay, I'm not going to sit here and tell you to do exactly what I did, but I'm pretty comfortable putting my face out there, Like I have no makeup on. My hair was in this crazy messy bun. I'm like clearly still in my pajamas and I have my coffee and I'm sitting there. But I'm doing all my writing and I did these like time lapses and again, I'm so grateful that I have them just for me. But it was awesome to share those little snippets. It's like, okay, you know I got in today's writing or I edited another chapter and I would share that with my audience and they were just really bought into it. So anytime you can share behind the scenes, it's just another fun way to connect with your audience.

Krystal Proffitt: 21:37

But that actually gets me to my second point, which is what I was going to say a second ago, is getting your audience involved in the decision-making process. So if you're setting up your YouTube backdrop or your podcast studio or whatever it is, you snap a shot, share it on social, put it in your email, put it wherever you have a community to give you actual feedback and say what do you think about this? Do you like my colors? Like you know, if you're watching on the video, I have my moose background here and I have my books over here that are kind of color coded. I keep wanting to like write something on my whiteboard, but it's just, it's just blank for now. But it's like I could say oh you know, what do you think about my moose head right here? Or the P that's here, like should I rearrange these or do something different? Or, you know, do you want to see my books here that are color coded? Or do you want me to put my favorite knickknacks up here? Like you could do what you want with the information that you get back, but it's really just bringing in your audience to the experience and this could be something like helping you, like let them help you name your podcast or name your product.

Krystal Proffitt: 22:47

I actually see, you know people do this really well. They'll put out like a few different like webinar titles and they'll say, okay, I'm creating a training. They don't call it a webinar. They're like I'm creating a training, I'm creating a product, I'm doing something for my audience, for you, and I want to know what are the things that you're most interested in. And they give you like four options right, it doesn't need any more than three or four. And then they have their audience vote on it and they're getting active participation with their audience. Like that is building momentum to get people excited.

Krystal Proffitt: 23:19

Again, you're building that marketing buzz while you're still creating the thing. You don't have to create in a silo and say, oh, it's just me, I have to make all of these decisions myself. No, you do not. You could absolutely get your audience involved. And again, when they see that later, they're like that's the webinar that I voted for, or that's the name of the podcast that I picked out, like I'm absolutely going to go listen to it. They feel like they have some ownership in what you're creating and it's just a fantastic way to get them involved. So that is. Number two is getting your audience involved in the decision-making process. Now number three I love this one so much it's telling your audience how they can help you as you're launching.

Krystal Proffitt: 24:06

So I've done several versions of this over the years and I've shared multiple times that I've been a part of some really big book launches. So I have been part of Brene Brown's book launches. I've been a part of the whole Ramsey team, like multiple books that they have launched over the years. Part of Amy Porterfield's book launch had been part of Marie Forleo's, like Jamie Kern Lima, like Jordan Dooley, like all these people. I could just keep going on and on that. I wanted to participate so that I could see behind the scenes.

Krystal Proffitt: 24:37

And one of the things that they did so well all of them collectively was really adding in what the customer or the listener or the participant could do to help them. Because, yeah, maybe one of the prerequisites was like, well, if you pre-order the book, then you get to be part of the book launch. Great, I don't mind, I was going to buy the book anyway. No skin off my back, like let's do this. But the other part of that was they would say and here's how you can help. When the book launches.

Krystal Proffitt: 25:07

You can leave a writing in review. You can go, like, post on good uh, what is it? I was going to say good pods, good freads. You could go post on Amazon. If you bought it on Amazon, you could, you know, go to target and write a review, like but it was very clear, cut steps and I actually do this. If you're a Proffitt P odcasting student, this is in our marketing module where we talk about launching, and I actually give you a full template of this. Is exactly what you say to your audience, like a month before, a week before the day that it launches, maybe even after your show launches. It's like clear steps that you can send to your audience and you could put this in a social post if you want to. There's graphics that go along with it, but it says like hey, leave a rating or a review for the podcast because it helps bump us up in the algorithm and it will just help us get in front of more people. Here's how you can share. So maybe people don't even really care about the topic that you are actually talking about for your show. They're interested in what you do for something else, but they don't mind sharing about it.

Krystal Proffitt: 26:15

I love when creators love helping other creators, and actually my good friend, Heather Sager. She's been on the show multiple times, but she does this so well. Anytime she's doing a launch, she will explicitly tell people how they can help her in helping get this launch out. Like to more people. So she will say, hey, you know, if you're a previous client or customer, like, please share this to your Instagram story. It's not a big ask, it's not a big ask at all. It's like, hey, go to this latest reel. And she'll like have the real up there. And she'll say you know, please share this with your audience. If I've ever provided value for you and, of course, like Heather's the best, everyone's always like yes, absolutely. And then so she's able to reshare what they have shared. So it's like this domino of social proof that really gets stuff out there and all she's doing is she's leveraging the audience that she already has. So it's like super slick move, but telling your audience exactly what they can do to help you promote is just such an easy, simple and free way to get in front of more people with what you're creating.

Krystal Proffitt: 27:27

And now, finally, the fourth one, and this is the one that makes people uncomfortable, but it's why I'm here. It's why I'm here to tell you this today. It's don't stop talking about it. Don't stop talking about it. And just when you're getting to the point where you're like, oh my gosh, I cannot hear myself talk about my podcast or talk about my YouTube channel or talk about my product one more time, you're probably just barely scratching the surface of how many people have heard you talk about your podcast, talk about your YouTube channel, talk about your product. Okay, I don't even know what the stats are today, but I remember, you know, there was market research a few years ago that would say people have to see your stuff like 12 times before they even recognize it or they even commit it to memory 12 times. I don't know what the numbers are today, but that still seems like so much content is coming at us that if you just say one time oh, by the way, I'm launching my podcast. It's coming out on July 4th. That's the only marketing that you've done. It's not enough. It's not enough. And I told you today was going to be a therapy session, it's going to be a coaching session. But here we are. You cannot stop talking about it, even after it's launched. Here we are.

Krystal Proffitt: 28:47

I launched this podcast in 2018 and I have not stopped talking about it since. I have not. I still tell anybody that's like oh yeah, I think I want a podcast. Oh, okay, you got to listen to my podcast. It's about X, y and Z. This is the type of audience it can serve and I keep talking about it. I just mentioned my book in today's episode. I keep talking about it. Do I talk about it all the time? No, I don't, cause I don't think it's relevant to put into every single episode, but I launched it in 2020. It's four years later. I am still talking about it. So do not stop talking about the thing.

Krystal Proffitt: 29:24

Once you've created it, you have to feel comfortable making it about the product and the value that it can like really offer to your audience, instead of making it about you, cause I think that's where people get really uncomfortable. They're like Krystal. It feels braggy, it feels very selfish. I feel like I'm just putting all the spotlight on me. I don't wanna talk about myself. Great, don't talk about yourself.

Krystal Proffitt: 29:47

Talk about the value that your audience will get from listening to your podcast, from watching your YouTube videos or from buying your digital product. That's what you should focus on? What is that value? What is the benefit that they're going to get from what you created? Right? This is the thing that you have to focus on, because if you're not doing this, no one's going to do it for you. Let me repeat that If you're not talking about your stuff and you're not marketing it, no one is going to do it for you. You have to do it first. You need to be the example. You need to be the best daggum marketer that your business has ever seen. Right? You are the chief marketing officer of your podcast, of your YouTube channel, of your products, and you've got to get it out there and keep talking about it. So let's recap real fast. So, building a product or a podcast or a content is like building a house. It may take some time, but there are ways for you to talk about it and promote it while you're in those building stages. Now I want to recap the four ways to market while you're building one more time Share your behind the scenes, get your audience involved in the decision-making process, tell your audience how they can help you launch it and don't stop talking about it.

Krystal Proffitt: 31:12

This was a fun episode. Like I said, this is not the first time we've covered this. I've covered this probably once or twice a year since we've launched and I just love coming back to this because it's the same tried and true principles that we've taught here on the podcast for so long and I still find them so relevant today. So I hope that you found value in today's episode and I would love to hear from you. So, actually, buzzsprout has this fantastic new thing that I just enabled on the podcast. That's called Send Us a Text Message. It is literally in the app where you are listening to this if you're listening to the audio version so Apple Podcasts, spotify it says right at the top Send Us a Text Message.

Krystal Proffitt: 31:55

I said it's called Send Us a Text Message.

Krystal Proffitt: 31:57

It's actually called Fan Mail.

Krystal Proffitt: 31:59

It's not called Send Us a Text Message, it's actually called Fan Mail. It's not called Send Us a Text Message, it's called Fan Mail, which I just had a conversation today with Albin, who's the head of marketing at Buzzsprout, and we just gushed over Fan Mail and all the incredible features that it has. So that is upcoming. We will give you all the dirt, all the details on Fan Mail, but Send Us a Text Message. I want to know what you thought about today's episode and I may read your text message on a future episode, because we actually did that live on the air in the episode that I recorded with Buzzsprout, so I would love to feature you on the show. So click the send us a text message link wherever you are watching and listening and I would love to hear from you, but that's all I have for you today, so make sure you hit that subscribe follow button wherever you're watching and listening to this today. Stay tuned for more content all about content creation and, as always, remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.