Prefer to listen?
Most marketing advice you’ll find talks about spectacular numbers and results, it’s explosive and rigid. Marketing gurus say things like: “If you don’t do your marketing like this, what are you even doing pal”. I bet you know what I’m talking about, but growing a business and marketing it is much more nuanced than that.
I bet you tried a lot, but very little worked in your personal journey. And I bet you asked yourself why at least once, but you’re also afraid of the answer because what if it’s just you? What if you just suck at marketing?
so you try to fake it until you make it, but you’re an introvert and you don’t want to fake it. You just want to build a business that works. You know you have the skills, the idea, the product…
So WHY is it not working?!
The reason your marketing sucks, isn’t because you’re “too quiet” or because the algorithm hates you. It sucks because you’re likely making one (or more) fundamental mistake that have nothing to do with your personality.
Fair warning: this is not an easy read, if you’re too touchy this might sting. Now that I warned you, let’s see if you can relate to these.
You’re too afraid of failing
You’ve been sitting on that newsletter idea or that service launch for three months because it’s not quite ready or you’re afraid of wasting time and energy on something that won’t give results. But hey, there’s no magic formula or no spell that will get everyone to buy.
In marketing (and business), perfectionism is just a fancy label for procrastination. You’re afraid that if you put something out there and it gets zero likes, it means your business is a failure, therefore you are a failure.
It doesn’t.
Marketing is a science experiment, not a performance art piece, hello? You need data to grow.
And I’m sorry to say this but in marketing one very good way of getting good data is by trial and error. And you can’t get data from a draft in your Google Docs, so… Just get out of your head.
The Genius Delusion
This one is going to hurt, ready?
For some, the reason is that they don’t have enough self-criticism.
I mean, I get it, it’s not easy. You get an idea in the middle of the night, you think it’s a stroke of pure genius, you launch it, and… nothing.
And this is a good approach, otherwise my previous paragraph would be a contradiction, right?
But this is where some people struggle, because instead of looking at the idea critically and learn from it, they make up excuses. They blame the time of day they posted, the economy, the low-quality leads, or whatever makes more sense in their head.
But if your plan didn’t work, it’s because the idea wasn’t resonating.
Stop falling in love with your own thoughts. A great founder is a professional skeptic of their own ideas. If the data says it’s a no, listen to the data.
You don’t steal enough
Most founders have too much pride.
You want your ideas to be 100% original, birthed from your own brilliance. But like any other creative work, good marketing is often a remix.
You must be like Lupin III, a gentleman thief.
If you see an ad that stopped your scroll, or a newsletter that you actually finished reading, analyze it. Why did it work? Was it the hook? The pacing? The specific and personal anecdote they told?
Being smart in marketing means taking the triggers that work and leaving the fluff you don’t need. You don’t need to reinvent the human brain; you just need to be observant enough to see what’s already resonating and adapt that structure to your own voice.
You’re stealing …too much
Wait Chiara, but didn’t you just said…?
Yes, I know and this leads us to the biggest mistake: copying 1:1.
When you try to copy a competitor exactly, it rarely works. But why?
Because your brand is and should be different. If you follow someone else exactly, you will always be second. You’ll be the less interesting version of the original.
You need to adapt marketing to you, not the other way around.
When you force your brand into a mold that doesn’t fit, trust me, your audience will notice.
You don’t have enough knowledge
90% of the times, this is the one: the reason your marketing sucks is that you are fundamentally uncertain. aka, you lack the basics.
As introverts, we tend to overthink the details but you might be avoiding the big, scary questions. Do you actually know who you are talking to? Not “Young moms 24+” or “Dog owners that live in my city” but the specific person with the specific problem you solve?
Because if you are vague, you are invisible.
Good marketing is about relatability, and sometimes even just a different wording can make a huge difference. If you lack the basics (e.g. clear positioning, nailing the core message, strong why…) it will show. And when your potential clients compare you to the competition that did the homework you look and sound just weak. If you don’t fix that they will keep choosing them until you catch up and differentiate yourself.
So, if you suspect this is your problem but have no idea where to find good marketing basics, you can start by watch this playlist of videos where I explain some of the core pillars of good marketing for small business owners.
Now, last but not least
You’re still waiting for your overnight success
We live in a world where we are bombarded with stories of people who blew up in three weeks. It’s all lies. Or at the very least, it’s an exception that you shouldn’t bet your life on.
The quicker you accept that growing a business is a slow, compounding process, the quicker you’ll actually start winning.
When you think that results should be instant, you make significant mistakes:
- You quit too early, maybe even right before the momentum kicks in.
- You stop seeing the real wins because you’re ignoring the small, healthy signs of traction and only look for an explosion that might never come.
- You start criticizing yourself too much and you cut your own wings.
Accept the process, fall in love with the slow, incremental growth. Once you stop chasing the unrealistic expectations, you actually start enjoying the journey.
Start by a simple reframe
Marketing doesn’t suck because you’re an introvert. It sucks because you’re likely framing it like something it’s not, and underestimating the basics.
Stop being too proud to learn from others, but stop being too timid to be yourself.
Business is a marathon, and the only way to win is to keep running in a way that doesn’t burn you out.
On this, if you’re tired of the hustle-harder marketing noise and you want a chilled space designed for how we actually think and work, I want to invite you to my (100% free) introvert-friendly community on Facebook.
It’s just born but we are already organizing initiatives, take notes:
- 25 March 2PM (GMT+1) – The Monthly Coffee Chat to network in a easy and friendly setting
- Starting Monday 9/03 at 9AM – The accountability group to work on those tedious tasks together
I can’t say much yet, but more will be launched in the next weeks, so join or stay tuned! And if you don’t use Facebook, I will announce them on my Substack or on my Instagram too.
I hope this helped and to see you in the community soon.
Hugs,
Chiara
