Thinking about and implementing marketing strategies
There are lots of ways to market a business/product/person - here's how I think about and evaluate them...
Happy Monday folks,
With the holidays in the rearview mirror, we’re back up to full speed this week.
Let’s jump in:
Story: getting new marketing strategies off the ground in 2024
Now that a lot of people are back to work and done catching up with their inbox from over the holidays, we’re revving up our operations and most importantly, sales and marketing efforts.
There are a few key efforts I focused on last week that I think are worth mentioning.
First is a podcast. As many of you know I’ve been podcasting in all shapes and sizes for the last 5+ years. Interview shows, solo vlogs, video, audio-only - you name it, I’ve tried it.
And quite frankly, I also just enjoy it.
I think that podcasting is a great brand building activity and I also think that I make for a pretty good podcast host, so it helps to focus on things you have a natural proclivity to. For example, if I thought I was a crap podcast host, I would probably focus on something else like written content, or faceless video content, etc.
But since I enjoy it and think I’m pretty good at it, we decided to start up a new podcast specifically interviewing Canadian immigration professionals. As many of you know I’m an immigration lawyer myself and at my tech company, Visto.ai, we also sell to immigration law firms.
Not only do I think it’s a great opportunity for good content (because I haven’t seen another consistent, quality podcast doing what I’m trying to do), but it will also allow us to position our company as an authority and build relationships with other professionals in our industry.
Win-win-win?
You might also have noticed my emergency Substack post earlier this week looking for a few more people to fill a serious accountability group for this year, and I’m proud to say that not only did a bunch of you respond with serious interest, but I actually had so many people interested in joining the group that I had to start a waitlist!
So a big “thank you” to everyone who responded and I’ll definitely keep you posted on how the group goes (it was officially formed yesterday and we’re already off to the races!).
Key takeaway: evaluate options strategically
Over the years I’ve really found myself enjoying marketing more and more, and as you learn more, you also see that there are so many great ways to market your company (or brand, product, self, etc.).
The key is picking the few that give you the best chance at success, trying them and usually doubling down on/scaling what works. And like many things in business (and life?), the best approach is to find the overlap between interest, skill and opportunity.
Take my podcast from above as an example. There are hundreds of ways we could market our company/product, so why start a podcast? Well, we first did some research and thought it looked like a good opportunity, and it’s also something I really enjoy doing (interest) and have quite a lot of experience with (skill).
When thinking about starting a new business, or product, or project, or marketing activity, or what to focus on, or probably anything, think about:
is this a good opportunity? Does it make sense, based on some research and also some gut feeling?
is it something you have enough experience with, or could learn quick enough? Or pay someone else to teach you, do well enough for you?
do you like it? do you like the sound of it? When the going gets tough (as it usually does), do you enjoy it enough to grind it out through the hard parts?
Find that intersection and I think you’ll be alright…
Content for the week:
Vlog: as per usual, here’s my weekly vlog going into more detail on our sales and marketing efforts, book I’m reading and more:
Book(s): I’m currently about 20% of the way through Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul. Still very early in the book of course, but so far it’s been really good.
Not only is it an interesting story about the big struggles Starbucks was going through around 2007/8 (which I had no idea about), but Schultz really goes into detail of what was happening at the time, what he was thinking and gives you a birds-eye view of an attempted huge company turnaround. More details when I’m done it…
Tiktok: my most viewed Tiktok vid from last week was this clip on why one of our focuses is to sell to large law firms in 2024 (as opposed to smaller ones).
Thanks as always for following along on my journey and have an awesome week,
- Josh Schachnow
Canadian immigration lawyer, CEO at Visto.ai
If you’re looking for more of my help, you can check out:
My immigration tech platform, Visto, that helps Canadian immigration firms prep and file applications much quicker.
Make sure you’re subscribed on Youtube where I post the weekly vlog and am also posting shorter snippets of my tips/advice as Youtube Shorts!