Mastering Marketing: Insights and Strategies from Nikki
If you’ve read our blog or visited our media page, you’ll see that our founder, Nikki, is frequently invited to share her opinions on various topics. In preparation for joining a conversation with the Figure 8 Mastermind, founded by our dear agency friend Madeline Pratt (of Fearless Foundry), we’re sharing Nikki’s insights on a few key subjects here!
Madeline: What are the mistakes that you see entrepreneurs make most commonly when it comes to marketing?
Nikki: It’s two-fold:
First - Overcomplicating their marketing efforts. After you identify your target personas, the focus should be on understanding their buyer decision questions. What do they need to know about you, your service, or your product to be convinced that you are right for them?
This can be distilled into five ‘angles, hooks, or themes’ to focus on within your marketing content:
Connect: Be personable. Discuss, recommend, supply tools, and rant.
Strategy: Add value. Teach a lesson, ask questions, provide a guide or tool.
Character: Show you are human. Share your story, a lesson you learned, or teach them something.
Convert: This is when you sell. Provide a lead magnet, webinar, or another story.
Case studies: Build authority.
For example, if the buyer decision question is “How do I find a long-wear yet clean makeup brand?” you can break this down using the hooks:
Connect: Rant about all the products you tried and why they didn’t meet your standards.
Strategy: Provide a guide, such as a list of ingredients to avoid.
Character: Share a lesson learned, such as how you once formulated a product for M.A.C. that was clean but not preferred due to texture issues, highlighting the need for more consumer education.
Convert: Offer a free sample.
Case studies: Share statistics about the environmental impact of consumers switching to your product and how it improved their lives.
Second - Abandoning marketing when they are too busy operating. I am guilty of this too. Building a presence takes time and is an ongoing job. Whenever I don’t have time to review or create content, I also don’t have time to ensure it addresses our buyer decision questions. As a result, content may be filling our calendar and making our marketing look busy and active but lacks intent.
Madeline: What are the areas where you have struggled in your own marketing?
Nikki: Everything we just talked about! Haha! But to elaborate, you cannot jump into marketing by copying your favorite competitor and putting your brand spin on their strategies. Stop and identify your core values, mission, and purpose. At my agency, we value accountability, transparency, and education. While considering our target clients' buyer decision questions, we share content that resonates with our values. Our ideal customer profile (ICP) is a female CMO at a female-founded lifestyle or beauty brand with $1-9M in annual eCommerce revenue. This CMO is experienced and knowledgeable about marketing. If my team produces basic content, like advising on email capture pop-ups, we lose her interest. It signals that we’re targeting very small businesses, not her level.
Madeline: Where do you believe entrepreneurs should invest their marketing dollars early on to get the best return?
Nikki: It really depends. It depends on the entrepreneur’s team, their strengths and interests, and who their ICP is. While video is a popular medium, an entrepreneur who prefers to operate behind the scenes won’t flourish making TikToks. Focus on where your ICP spends time and their buyer decision questions. If targeting café owners, engage with café entrepreneur groups and facilitate conversations and resources. If you’re unsure, start by contacting your ICPs, stating you’re writing a white paper, and gather information on their pains and struggles. Trends will emerge, guiding where to start.
But remember, it is work! For a service-based business, we invest in podcast guesting, paid ads where our ICP spends time, and a sales agency to book leads for us.
Madeline: What advice would you offer to a founder struggling to bring her authentic self to their marketing?
Nikki: I have a hard time telling someone how to be authentic. Haha. I’d say spend more time with yourself. Engage in meditation, breathwork, or whatever grounds you. Remind yourself of what excited you as a child. There is magnetism within you, and if you follow the crowd without true alignment, it’ll fail. In our digital age, numerous ways to succeed are acceptable. You can present yourself authentically in many ways online. Don’t box yourself into a path that isn’t true to you.
Madeline: What are the most important lessons you have learned about marketing over time?
Nikki: Don’t follow someone else’s playbook; write your own. Masterminds provide valuable tools, but you must make them your own. Early on, I was overwhelmed with advice from advisors, groups, and clients. I tried to follow every directive and became paralyzed. Trust what you can commit to and what excites you. Build your marketing plan around that, using gathered information as guardrails.
As a data enthusiast, if metrics like follows, impressions, likes, and clicks are not improving, read the signs and pivot.
Madeline: How have you seen the world of marketing shift over the past three years?
Nikki: In paid media, ad creative and messaging are now the primary drivers. Ad platforms can target effectively, so no need to obsess over that. In earned media (PR, referrals, etc.), working with creators who educate your ICP on why you meet their needs is trending. It makes selling more pleasant since you don’t have to do it yourself. For owned media, TikTok is a hot platform, SMS is growing in engagement over email, and SEO is evolving. If producing blog content, ensure it’s high quality. Don’t rely solely on AI.
Madeline: What resources would you recommend entrepreneurs explore to bolster their marketing skillset?
Nikki: DTC Index, Common Thread Collective, and industry publications like Beauty Independent, Beauty Matter, and eCommerce partners like BiddyCo, Dillie, and Fermat.
Madeline: What areas do you think entrepreneurs should focus on outsourcing in their marketing?
Nikki: Outsource whatever you’re not good at, except organic social media. This should remain in-house. If you’re uncomfortable, hire a person or firm to start with ‘done for you’ services but is willing to scale to ‘done with you,’ providing the knowledge to do it yourself.