Is being a perfectionist holding you back?
“Perfection is the enemy to progress”
I’ve heard this many times - “I don’t market my business because I’m afraid of doing it wrong”.
It’s this voice of their inner perfectionist that holds many people back from reaching their potential and growing their business.
But I’ll let you in on a little secret, marketing is often about trial and error, and seeing what best connects with your target audience. Sometimes a social media post will flop, an ad doesn’t generate any leads or your website isn’t attracting enough traffic. However, it’s from these experiences that we learn and grow. We adjust our messaging, graphics, placement or targetting, to see if that works better. We learn from what didn’t work in order to grow and improve.
We tell our kids that it's ok to fail because it means that you are trying, and we can learn from our mistakes. So why is it that as adults we beat ourselves up when something doesn’t work out as we’d hoped? or don’t do something out of fear of not doing it perfectly?
For example, I create videos and Instagram reels for my own business, and rather than not posting because my lip-syncing isn’t perfect, I can see all my facial flaws or I said ‘um’ too many times - I shared it anyway. I’m determined to not let my inner perfectionist stop me from engaging with my audience in an authentic way. And guess what - my reach, engagement and following have grown.
It’s time to quieten down that inner perfectionist.
Educate yourself. Take some time to learn about marketing because this will build your confidence and give you clarity on what you need to do.
Don’t overthink it. Women in particular go back over things a million times and overthink every little detail. This will not only drive you crazy but will hold you back because you’ll never finalise that project and opportunities may pass you by.
Back yourself. You know your business and customer base better than anyone else and you should trust in your experience, knowledge and skill set. You’ve got this.
Give yourself space. After I’ve written something I will leave it for a few hours or even a day, and then come back to it to review. It means that you’re coming back to it with a clearer mind and will be able to spot anything that needs to be tweaked.
Have someone to bounce ideas off. If in doubt, talk to someone whose opinion you value and see what they think of your idea. Together you can iron out any details and their enthusiasm will help fuel you to make it happen.
Be inspired. Thinking of ideas is one of the hardest things so draw from the inspiration of others. Make a mood board with examples of marketing that you love (from any industry, not just yours) and follow social media accounts that give you ideas.
Celebrate your wins. Reflect on the marketing activity that worked really well and pin examples onto a wall somewhere in your office, including anything else in your business that you are proud of.
Marketing advice that you can trust
If you would like to grow your skills or have someone to float marketing ideas with, I would love to help. Book a 1:1 coaching session with me or take a look at my upcoming workshops.
Email me (Mel) and mel@mazemarketing.co.nz for more info or phone 021 908 820.
Mel Zgomba - Director of Maze Marketing
