6 Ways to Stop Self-Sabotaging Your Online Marketing Efforts
We all have stories we tell ourselves about why we can't do something in our businesses. Whether we chalk them up to impostor syndrome, perfectionism, or something in between, we all find ourselves self-sabotaging at some point during our entrepreneurial journey.
No one is immune to self-sabotage. The stories we tell ourselves about why we can't do something are powerful, especially if we're avoiding something we know would be good for our businesses but also feels overwhelming.
What are these stories we tell ourselves?
Everyone's stories are different, but here are a few I've heard recently from colleagues related to marketing their businesses online:
I don't have time to market my business online. / Online marketing takes too much time.
The market is too saturated. There's no way for me to stand out to clients online.
I don't know where to start / what to do, so I don't do anything to market my business online.
What will people think if I put myself out there?
I don't want to stand out or toot my own horn.
I'd like to market my business, but then impostor syndrome sets in. / I'm afraid to be criticized.
I can't sell (myself).
I'm a perfectionist, and I don't feel my ________ is good enough yet to market my business.
The stories we tell ourselves can cause us to stall our marketing efforts, whether we realize it at first or not.
Related: How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome as a Translator or Interpreter and Smart Habits for Translators Podcast, Episode 2: Imposter Syndrome
I talk to so many colleagues who tell me that the reason they don't market their businesses consistently online is because they don't know where to start, don't know which channels to use, or simply don't have the confidence to put themselves out there. These are all legitimate concerns, but they shift from concerns to self-sabotage when we let them stop us from achieving more, whether it be finding better clients, tapping into a new specialization, or simply updating areas of our online presence like our website or digital profiles.
Just like with any problem we face, the most important step is to recognize that there's a problem. Only then can we decide how to take action to adjust our behavior and actions.
If we're not careful, our businesses can remain stagnant for years, earning less than we are capable of, working for clients who don't pay well or respect our boundaries, or worse… burning out altogether because we haven't taken care of ourselves or our businesses.
How to Stop Self-Sabotaging Your Online Marketing Efforts and Start Taking Action
When you feel stuck or lack confidence in what your next move should be, it's time to draw a line in the sand and make a change.
Here are 6 ways to stop self-sabotaging your online marketing efforts:
1. Ask for help.
None of us can know everything, do everything, or be everything in our business. When you're feeling stuck or stalling out on something related to your online marketing, talk to a colleague, mentor, business coach, therapist, former professor, or someone who can relate and give you a different perspective. It's okay to ask for help, to not have all the answers, to recognize when you need support. If you feel like your online marketing efforts are constantly hanging over your head, talk to someone who can help you start down the path to reach the goals you're striving for.
2. Flip the script.
Limiting beliefs are real. Similar to the stories we tell ourselves, we all have limiting beliefs. Recognize yours and make a concerted effort to shift these beliefs to a more positive and abundant mindset. Sometimes a mindset shift is all you need to start working on your website, polish your LinkedIn profile, or start sharing about your business on the social media sites where your clients are active.
Here are some examples of how to reframe your limiting beliefs:
3. Recognize that it's okay to be uncomfortable sometimes.
When something worth doing is uncomfortable it's easy to make excuse after excuse about why we can't do it. If marketing our businesses came naturally, we would all be steadily marketing year-round. Instead, I see many freelancers going to the opposite end of the spectrum: not marketing at all.
The key is to make your marketing feel like you. Don't follow what everyone else is doing. Learn from others about what works and what doesn't, then tweak these strategies to fit your business and personality. If you don't feel comfortable calling clients to offer your services, it will show. So, take a different approach that feels less anxiety-inducing. Create some email and LinkedIn templates you can use to reach out to potential clients and try to send a few messages to potential clients a week. The more you do this, the more comfortable you will feel reaching out to prospects. You can apply this tip to any area of your online marketing.
4. Make a focused plan.
When you start to feel overwhelmed with online marketing, it's time to make a focused plan. Don't stop yourself before you start because your sense of overwhelm is running the show. Instead, take some time to think about how you can make your marketing efforts consistent and focused. This kind of planning and follow-through over time will lead to results.
5. Remember that no one was born knowing how to market their business.
It's true that everyone has to start somewhere. Think about the colleagues you know, including those you admire from afar. How did they get where they are? How do they market their businesses with grace and confidence? How do they seem to achieve so much on a consistent basis? Just like everyone else, they took the first step. And then they took another and another. Don't let not knowing exactly how to do something stop you from taking the first step.
6. Start small.
Reduce overwhelm by breaking your marketing tasks or projects into smaller, more digestible to-do items. You don't have to do everything at once. That's impossible for anyone! By taking this approach to your online marketing, you will slowly build a sustainable approach that you can rely on to get new and better clients over the long-term.
Even small progress is worth the effort. Take it from our colleague, Corinne McKay:
We often make online marketing much harder than it really is. The stories we tell ourselves are strong enough to stop us before we ever get started. Work on taking a proactive approach and setting aside a few minutes a day. Over time, you can increase the amount of time you put into marketing your business. But starting small is a step in the right direction.
Questions to Ask Yourself to Move Forward
The next time you find yourself making an excuse about why you can't or don't want to work on your online marketing, stop, take a step back, and assess why you feel this way. What brought you to this place where you think you can't or don't want to share your business with clients you know you can help with your services? What's stopping you from updating your website or reaching out to some potential clients on LinkedIn
Sometimes the answers to these questions bring up uncomfortable feelings about who we believe ourselves to be or what we believe we are capable of. Challenge those feelings and thoughts, and push through them to find a way to take consistent action. Even if it's just one step. After all, that's usually the hardest one to take.
What kind of stories do you tell yourself about the hard stuff in your business? What strategies do you use to work through these things? Leave a comment below so we can learn from your experience, too!
