Mariana Norton, Purposeful Marketing – InnovaBuzz 295
Mariana Norton, The Purposeful Entrepreneur
In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, Mariana Norton, a marketing strategist & business consultant who helps business owners and entrepreneurs leave overwhelm in the dust with marketing strategies that attract the best clients, increases sales, and keep customers coming back for more. Her superpower is distilling a high-level view of the opportunities into tangible actions. Using humor and analogy bombs, she makes even the most complex digital concepts digestible and actionable.
In our discussion, Mariana and I talked about:
- Success being a journey and not a destination – you can BE successful, you don’t arrive at success
- That marketing is having a conversation with people along different parts of the customer journey and building relationships
- How we all have Minimum System Requirements to function
Eman Zabi in episode 270 introduced us to Mariana.
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
Success is not a destination. It is a way of being. It is a way of showing up and existing. @MarianaNorton on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To TweetShow Notes from this episode with Mariana Norton of The Purposeful Entrepreneur
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- Be clear about what you are trying to accomplish. You need to know the right pieces for your business and how each piece is going to align with your business goals and the people you are trying to talk to.
- Be clear about your area of expertise – what are you trying to create and who are you creating it for. Figure out where that path is and create that success in a very purposeful way both in how you show up for your business and in the market space.
- Success is an intersection of yourself, your life, and your business.
- Start from a place of purpose. Be clear about what success in your business looks like, who is it you’re helping and how are you helping them.
- Your business should be financially viable. If it’s not financially viable, then, it’s not a business but a very expensive hobby.
- Success should not be defined solely on the metrics of money. Success that’s tied to the monetary value of your company can be easily be taken away from you.
- Each of us has a minimum requirement in our lives that when we give the time and space for it to all come together, it elevates us to better ourselves.
- Success is not a destination. It is a way of being. It is a way of showing up and existing.
- Marketing can be created in a way that helps support the customer journey.
- Marketing is all about creating conversations at different places along the customer journey.
- Conversations are two-sided and marketing is one-sided, BUT if you can align your marketing to help shape and carry those conversations forward into a conversion or a sale, it creates a more natural progression than trying to time ads in front of people.
- At the end of the customer journey is nurturing. It’s a lot easier to get somebody who has already done business with you to do it again. Get to know your clients and understand what they need from you beyond the initial conversation.
- We live in a time where there are lots of choices for customers. If you’re not taking care of them, someone else will.
- Don’t create content just for the sake of creating content.
- Time spent in training, thinking, and planning is what leads to successful outcomes.
- Success is not a destination. It’s the experience.
- Be very realistic about the goals you are setting. Understand the difference between the outcomes you can control and the outcomes that you cannot control. Break things down and reduce them into pieces that will get you closer to the goal that you are trying to achieve.
- Marketing is having conversations with people. It’s really figuring out what people are looking for and the conversations that they are already having in their head. It’s figuring out how you can join that conversation and move them towards the solution that you have, not in a manipulative way but in a genuine way that is done with value and service.
- There is no way to hack human relationships.
- Love at first sight is very rare even in marketing. For the most part, there is a journey and building relationships.
- Brands are now seen as having a personality. People want to communicate with brands that sound like a person.
- Life is a journey. Business is a journey. Entrepreneurship is a journey. Stay in your lane but be mindful of the exit signs along the way that can take you to somewhere better.
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are Mariana’s answers to the questions of our Innovation round. Listen to the interview to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Trust yourself, the value of your ideas, and what you have to offer. Do an introspection and take a leap with the value that you bring. Give yourself permission to stumble along the way. Believe that what you have to offer has potential and start from there.
- Best thing for new ideas – Sticky notes – capturing ideas and giving yourself time and space to go through them.
- Favourite tool for innovation – Evernote and my Apple watch.
- Keep project/client on track – Reduction to Ridiculous – breaking everything down to the smallest bite size piece.
- Differentiate – Be yourself. Differentiate yourself by doing what you do better than anybody else can. Getting there takes time and it is trial and error. Give yourself grace along the way and take note of the places where you really do seem to shine.
To Be a Leader
Give yourself the space and grace to just show up as the best version of yourself that you can in all areas of your life. It’s important to check on what your current capacity is, and realise that your capacity right now may be different from your usual capacity or your future capacity. Give yourself some grace and adjust where you need to so you can again be that best version of you in all the places that you need to be.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Mariana through her website.
Suggested Guest
Mariana suggested I interview Janice Tomich, a Speaker Coach. So Janice, keep an eye on your inbox for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz podcast, courtesy of Mariana Norton.
Links
- Website – Mariana Norton
- Website – The Purposeful Entrepreneur
- Twitter – @MarianaNorton
Cool things about Mariana
- She’s known as the Analogy Bomber.
- She lives in Alberta, Canada with her family, one Brittany Spaniel, a hedgehog, and two horses.
- She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Neuroscience and Computer Science from Dalhousie University.