From having no strategy and not showing up to THRIVING with Vicky Trop (wow just wow)! This episode showcases how, with the right tools you can transform your business, show up, create change, success and bucket loads of confidence in the process. Superhero Marketer Vicky, is the epitome of taking my teachings, showing up and thriving doing so. Today’s episode of the podcast is a delightful mix of practical examples of what we worked on together to get Vicky to a point of growth. If you feel like you need a little extra support to grow, this episode is for you.
Introduction
You are listening to the Hayley Osborne show with me, Hayley, your host. This is your place to learn how to become the superhero marketer in your business to become the number one in your local community, both online and in your surrounding areas. Every week, I’ll be teaching you how you can achieve the best out of your marketing your business and be the most fearless superhero version of yourself. Small business owners are the backbone of the economy. And I’m here to demystify local area marketing to help you reach more customers, between myself from South Australia and my wildly inspiring guests from across the world. I’m so excited to discuss all things marketing your business with you. I believe in you. So let’s get started.
I would love to invite you to a free masterclass I’m running next week in exactly one week’s time on Tuesday the 28th of June at 10 am Australian Central Standard Time. I would love to invite you to teach you the three best local area marketing strategies to increase sales. One of the most common questions I get asked is What are the best local area marketing strategies to increase sales in my business, Hayley. So I’m going to run you through step by step my three best local area marketing strategies to increase sales in your business right now. I look forward to seeing you online and showing you all of the things my three best local area marketing strategies can do to increase sales in your business right now. Success in you being the superhero marketer in your business is on its way also because I get asked this question a lot. It will be recorded. If you can’t make it at the time, register anyway, and you’ll be sent the recording link afterwards. You can register at www.Hayleyosborne.com. It is at the top you cannot miss it.
Transcript
Hayley Osborne:
P.S. The superhero marketing membership opens next week. Oh my goodness, I’m so excited. And I have the waitlist open for you right now. If you want to join, if you join the waitlist now, you’ll receive a bonus 60-minute one on one session with me. After you join the membership to get you off to the right start, have me your marketing guru in your pocket for 60 minutes to cover all your marketing aspects and have you off to a flying start, I become your trusted advisor, marketing BFF and hold your hand every step of the way to make sure your marketing flourishes strap in because it’s going to be so much fun. And if you know me, I bring the energy hard. And the reason that I do this and the reason it is such high energy for a week for when the doors open to superhero marketing is because that way you get to see the type of person that I am you get to see my energy and you also get a taste for my knowledge and my experience and what I actually can bring to the table for you. So it’s just a taste of you. Getting to know what it’s like to work with me and a pretty good taste at that.
I look forward to joining you next week and registering for my masterclass, which is free. And it is in a week’s time on the 20th of June Tuesday at 10 am. I look forward to seeing you there.
Hayley Osborne:
Hello, my beautiful friends and welcome back to another episode of The Hayley Osborne Show. This is episode 70. I cannot believe we are 70 episodes in and I’m really really excited and happy to bring this episode to you. I have a guest today and I’m so excited to welcome her in. My guest is none other than the amazing Vicky Trop. Now, if you don’t know who she is, I am going to give you a little intro to her before we get started. She is an absolute powerhouse human being. Vicky Trop is a trusted thought leader and event brilliant advisor who has over 25 years experience of diverse experience in event management. With her expertise. Vicky makes event planning easy for her clients supporting them to deliver professional and valuable events that deliver strategic results. Vicky has successfully executed events for reputable global brands such as Visa, Cisco and TEDx. I’m chucking that in because she’s really humble and she might not share that with us. And she’s got massive accolades for her work. She is a powerhouse in this industry. She is your go-to in this industry. And she is here with me to share her knowledge, her skills and her experiences with you to empower you to take your events to new heights and deliver with event brilliance. Vicky is also one of my superhero marketing members. And I have worked with Vicky for a few years now. And I love her.
So without further ado, welcome to this week’s episode. Hello, Vicky, and welcome to the Hayley Osborne show. I am really excited to have you on. I’ve been trying to get you on for ages. And you’re finally here.
Vicky Trop:
Super excited, Hayley. Thank you for having me. And thank you to your listeners for joining the podcast today.
Hayley Osborne:
Yay. So I had to press record because you and I could talk for forever. But I’ve introduced you already. But I would love for you, in your own words to tell everyone who you are and what you do.
Vicky Trop:
Essentially, there are two parts. For me, there’s my event management and conference business Eventful Projects. And this is where each and every day I plan, manage and deliver events for my clients. And the second part of me is my consulting business. And this is called Vicky Trop, obviously, after myself. And this is where I make event planning easy for my clients, supporting you to deliver professional and valuable events that deliver strategic results. And you’re going to be mentored on every aspect of your event, helping you seek the event brilliance, your brand, and business needs to engage your target audience, capture the hearts of many connect to a strategic experience, and deliver critical results to hit your objectives. And the way we’re going to do this is through my templates and toolkits, master classes and coaching. It’s going to equip you with the skills and knowledge that you need to build brilliant events that deliver big results.
Hayley Osborne:
I think that’s a real testament to you. You’ve got two businesses. And one of them obviously is you know, you have some of the biggest clients in the world. And the other business you’ve seen there’s a gap in the market, and you’ve run with it and offer like consulting services. So why wouldn’t you want to work with you if you’re in events to learn how to work with huge clients and deliver, like event brilliance? Because events are difficult, but you make them look easy?
Thank you. And obviously, all of the work happens before the actual event starts. And the exciting part is that not everyone can afford to engage a PCO, which is a professional conference organiser, which is what I do in Eventful Projects. So giving myself as part of a coaching or a masterclass or providing you with my toolkits and resources is a low-cost point. So that you can skill up and level up your events and still get big results from your events so that you can say return on investment.
Hayley Osborne:
I think the pre of organising any event can be really stressful. And I mean, you’ve had years and years of experience in this. So I think it’s a testament to you to package up all of that too, you know, offer it to someone who is fairly like green in the industry but wants to grow quickly. I think it’s a no-brainer in terms of investing because someone can come in and their trajectory can be quite quick with the tools that you have to offer.
Vicky Trop:
Absolutely. And let’s face it, putting on an event or hosting an event is not a cheap exercise. So make sure that you have a strategy around why you’re hosting your event and who are you putting your event on for. Really understanding your customer, and also your the purpose of your event and then how you put that together to give your audience maximum value, what a CTA, so a call to action onto that, that will lead on to your return on investment. And too often, I say clients do events for the sake of it, spend big money and do not necessarily get anything back. And this is a bit I guess I can help all of you with is really coming back to basics. And I say the foundations, it’s like building a house, getting those foundations really solid. So then you can move away from your strategy and into the next steps which are your framework and then delivering your event.
Hayley Osborne:
It’s a lot of money like you said to invest if you don’t do it right to have a return on your investment of people coming through your business in some way, shape or form, like you know, as a brilliant marketer, like I think you know, for you because you are brilliant at marketing your business. It’s silly not to like why wouldn’t you want to capitalise on everything? And also, you know, everything is like you the eyeballs that you get at an event, right? When you’re spending big money and you’re doing it right. That is like gold. I’ve seen this but if people don’t know how to use it, then Hmm, why was it crazy?
Vicky Trop:
Yeah, absolutely. And also when you host an event, you never know. Someone might bring someone that you weren’t expecting or refer someone. And so then what happens is you’ve got people in the room that aren’t necessarily ready for you or your product and your service right now. But when they come in, and they kick the tires at one of your events, they meet you meet your people, your organisation really start to align and connect with everything, then that’s where the magic happens in the start to see the conversion. And I think the most important part of events is it’s not a single-handed strategy. It works hand in hand with your marketing and communications plans. And I always say there has to be that tandem or that cohesive synergy between your marketing and your comps and your event. You can’t just do an event with no marketing or communication strategy. There has to be a 12-month plan. And they’ll work together throughout the year to support each other.
Hayley Osborne:
Let’s talk about Vicky Trop because that is your baby and that you’re so proud of so in terms of, you know, when it comes to putting yourself out there and your business, what would be your biggest aha moment?
Vicky Trop:
There are a few of them. But I think the biggest thing is you don’t become a really good event manager without being a perfectionist and having a high level of detail. And whilst this is really exciting and drives my success, it also does hinder me as a business owner. So the one thing that I guess was my aha moment, particularly working with you, Hayley is that “just do it”. Yeah, done is better than perfect. And the consistency of showing up or doing something is a lot more important than having precise action. Now, I’m not referring to my work. For example, in putting strategies and logistics in place, I need perfection there. But what I’m talking about is creating a social media post for myself, or perhaps doing an Instagram story where I don’t have to invest a whole two days of planning for a story, “just get it done”, do it and put it up and connect with the audience. So the biggest aha moments have certainly come in releasing control where it needs to be released.
Hayley Osborne:
I know. I think we all suffer from that in some way, shape, or form. But it’s how you train yourself to get over it. Because you know, these things have short lifespans in our marketing world of our you know, putting ourselves out there in our business. And people want real things. They want to see the real you and more and more so, like, as this year goes on, it’s like, I want to see behind the scenes, I want that person to tell me a story I want to know about their life. And it’s all those things that you think might not be as important that are actually what’s important. That’s what draws people in. It’s how good a storyteller you are. And so, you know, the polishing and having everything perfect, I find it’s, you know, it’s done.
We want to see you make a few little mistakes and have a laugh at yourself and see that you are, you’re a real person. And I can relate to that. And that makes me feel better about doing things.
Vicky Trop:
I think that’s really valid Hayley. We all know, like, I wish I knew ten years ago, what I know today about how success in business comes through relationships. And when you don’t have your own business and your work for someone, you take advantage or take it for granted, I should say, the amount of access to people that you have. And if you don’t build relationships and nurture them, then they won’t follow you around either to your next workplace or to your business. And I think showing up and using social media and those imperfections in today’s world, or how people can connect with you and then you can start to build those relationships. So I think it’s really important sometimes not to be perfect. Too many times. I personally hear you wouldn’t want to work with us were too small or you wouldn’t want to work with us because of XYZ And sometimes when you have this personal image that you portray of perfection, people feel like you’re not necessarily the right fit for them, which is absolutely not the case. I think sometimes showing people that essentially, you’re not a robot that you are human, and you have the same ups and downs as them, that they then become more comfortable with you. And the one thing owning my business is, and I’m proud of this is that my clients end up becoming friends. And they’re people that I could have a coffee with, or go for lunch with or take the dog for a walk with. And that’s really exciting because that means that this is no longer a transaction or this is all about relationships. So just because people don’t use me all the time. And this is very normal. It doesn’t mean they’re not going to use me again.
There are always going to be ebbs and flows in your business and how customers transact with it. But being confident in those relationships that you build and then showing up on social is going to help maintain them. So if you don’t have that daily contact with someone or monthly phone calls, where they get the dose of you and your business is through that social media interaction, whether it be stories or in your posting, marketing-wise and your EDM. So I feel like there are lots of ways in today’s world, people can still have access to you, but without you physically going and meeting them. And they’re meeting you because we’re so time-poor. It’s very exciting. The way that we can continue our connections has changed.
Hayley Osborne:
I remember when I first started working with you, and you will like nobody wants to hear from me about my emails. I don’t have a big enough list. I don’t want to sit and I was like, trust me, let’s just get started and get it flowing. And then you send out your first regular email and bing, Oh, my God, where have you been? And it’s good things happen. When you start to create momentum, you cannot predict what’s around the corner. And you can then it shows that it works.
Vicky Trop:
I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned in that respect is that you never know where someone is, is in their buying process. So particularly people you know, and even people you don’t know, and Hayley, you taught me something that was someone will stalk you will watch what you’re doing for a long time before they engage with your profile. And then you’ll notice some form of engagement. And it might be as small as a like or a really baby-insignificant comment. And then what will happen is you’ll get a conversion at a later point. And I guess this is the beauty about showing up, either in your EDMs and your socials or across different methods and platforms, is that you’re always there so that when people are ready, they know how to reach out to you easily.
Hayley Osborne:
I think it comes down to Yes. It comes down to being consistent. And you feel at times where you’re like, why am I doing this? I’m getting nothing. I keep putting myself out there; I’m getting nothing. So what has to happen there is being strong in your mind and having a really good mindset. And that’s something that I do within the membership is I bring in, you know, a guest expert every month. And then usually every second month, it is somebody that teaches different parts and pieces of having a strong mindset and you level different devil. And I’ll say, you know, I do invest time in LinkedIn and I put myself out there and I’m always sharing everything. And sometimes the uptake is a lot and sometimes it’s not. And last week, somebody reached out to me through LinkedIn. I know from a previous I met her at a conference and she’s the CEO of a big tech company never engaged with anything that I put out there but has said I have been watching everything and love everything that you do now if that’s not proof that your strong mindset stays consistent. It will come. I’m trying to be living proof that this works. So back to you. In terms of your marketing, what is the number one thing what are you most proud of when it comes to your marketing?
Vicky Trop:
I gotta say is showing up regularly and even yesterday, it was nice I got an email. I used to lecture at TAFE and the university. When it became too much obviously I had to choose between that and my business but they’ve asked me to come back again to teach and it was nice at the bottom of the email they made a mention of love following you on your social media love see what you’re up to. And it’s really exciting because people obviously are enjoying the content and the authenticity of it all, which is great because I’m very much about being authentic and trying to show you the real me for what it is. But I’ve heard this now time and time again since I started showing up on socials, particularly when I’m more present on stories is Oh, I love following you every day, or I love seeing coffee my cavoodle or so she’s called Coffee, the cavoodle, I love seeing coffee on your story. So it’s really interesting when you think no one’s paying attention, or this isn’t working, you got to remember that Instagram isn’t necessarily going to translate into a dollar value. You have to look at it like sponsorship. When I talk about events sometimes is where you get in at a low cost. And you want your branding everywhere because it would be cheaper than advertising. And so you’ve got to look at Instagram as the same. This is like your low level. Branding exposure exercise is free. And what you’re doing is you’re literally just putting yourself out on other people’s feed in their vision of their world so that they can get a dose of you and your business at no risk and for free. And so you’ve got to remind yourself when you think oh, it’s not worth it, I’m too exhausted, I can’t do a story should I don’t have the space for it, you’ve got to remind yourself. Actually, I do have to do this because this is my brand exposure. This is part of my marketing plan. And I have to do it. And I think it’s okay to take a break, you just can’t take a long break. And we’ve spoken about this Hayley where consistency is key. And showing up all day, every day on people’s stories feed, will give you that brand exposure and help people to connect with you so that it will convert into sales. So that would probably be my proudest moment. The other one would be relaxing my standards because it’s not easy to do as a perfectionist.
The biggest thing I’ve noticed working with you, and I’m going to attribute this solely to you is my tone of voice or my check my tone of writing. My copy has changed. And it could be because I was so business focused before on and I had more of a legal mind where things were very exact. Now my writing style and my content are very different. And it’s more conversational. So I really think and I know it’s I don’t think I know this has come from you directly. Because if I look back, it comes back from when we did my marketing and my social strategy and looked at copy. And I’ve taken inspiration from the way you work. And I’ve now developed a way that’s a lot easier for me to write copy, and I think is a lot easier for my audience to digest.
Hayley Osborne:
Oh, absolutely up, you know, I say this a lot is that when you can articulate really easily, like what you do, then your audience can understand it as well and understand you and can get on the same page as you right when you can write as you talk. And it is so you know, think about when you’re trying to add a barbecue and you’re trying to explain Oh, but I do this. And I do that and say hang on a minute. I’m so confused right now I need to go back to basics. I need to reassess what that is. And that will make the journey for a potential customer a lot quicker for you because they can relate to you very easily. And writing like you talk is then they relate to you if they want to work with you one on one if you’re going to be their go-to to help them elevate their event. They’re going to need to get on the same level as you so essentially someone looks at your website because 99% of people will Google you before they pick up the phone. They get Viky they look at your socials. They get Vicky they look at your stories, they get Vicky they want to work with you and then they meet you and you are their event brilliance advisor. They get Vicky. They get the same person that is so smart and clever at what they do. And that’s what they want. So there’s no disconnect. It’s the same as you know. Now you are showing up a lot easier because you’re connected with the rest of your brand. And that has a ripple effect over to your customers.
Vicky Trop:
Yeah, and I think this is super important and I’m happy to share this originally I had someone write the copy for my website. And my branding, and they weren’t aligned with who I wasn’t in as an individual and where I was going. And I wasn’t then connected with my business and my brand. And until I met you, I really felt that it was a struggle to write, copy or explain to people who I am and what I do. Once we revisited all of that, it became a lot easier. And don’t get me wrong over time things evolve. Everyone’s got Business View, and you have to adapt that and that’s critical. And as a small business owner, being agile is the most exciting part. And I think that’s how I often sell myself to clients is that I’m a lot more agile than you when your organisation give me something and I will make it happen. That’s the beauty of bit small business, right?
Hayley Osborne:
And you know your website, no, the words on your website and the words that come out your mouth, you, you relate through and through that to your business through and through, and there’s a huge connection there. And that shines with your clients too. You should be really proud.
Vicky Trop:
I’m proud of the authenticity and what I like about who I am. And my business is I often say we’re one and the same. And I guess, after so many years, my business is me and I my business. And this is why people want to work with me and don’t want to work with others. And I’m really proud that a lot of my business comes from referrals. Or it comes through Google after someone picks up the phone and talks to me because the feedback I often get once they’ve committed as a client is that I just liked talking to you. And I felt like I connected. And if we’re going to work for a long period of time, it’s important that I like the person I’m working with and that they can deliver the results.
Hayley Osborne:
I think that’s a really good lesson that every business owner should take on board. Get it right and show up as you because you can only fake it to a certain point, right? And then and that will hamper you in the long run. So do some internal work. And I’ve learned this and I’ve said this a few times now but stay in your lane. There’s nobody in that lane. Right competitor analysis is great. You need to know who’s out there that does what you do, but no one can ever be you. So owning what that looks like stay in your lane and smash it out of the ballpark because your customers will really appreciate that. So on to the next question. This is a really great segue. What’s the one thing that you wish you’d done sooner?
Vicky Trop:
This is super easy, Because I’m on your podcast, I am legitimately saying this because as a business owner, sometimes it’s really hard when you’re in the forest and you look around and all you see are massive trees, you then make this huge decision to outsource components of your business or to seek help in building a certain part of your business. And it doesn’t work out and it’s not a great experience has happened to me a few times. But with transitioning and building Vicky Trop my consulting part of the business, I did this and I paid big dollars for a branding expert to come up with strategy and copy and build my business for me because essentially, I was in the forest and I needed someone who had this in their zone of genius. And at the time, it wasn’t mine. And I totally accept that the universe gave this gift to me because, at the time I was really upset about it. But when I looked back, it really was a gift and a learning experience. Because what it did is it helped me identify that you need to be really scrupulous around who you’re working with and don’t trust recommendations or face value. Like really interview suppliers. I’m quite trusting. So I just went, oh, this person said that they’ll be really good. So I’ll engage this person to help me. They talk the talk and couldn’t walk it.
So then, when I met with you, Hayley, and we had a few one on one sessions. I had a good vibe straightaway, but I know that I was on to a winner when I think about when we started working one on one together as private coaching. And I had to do a coaching call at my parent’s house one day and mum was in the background doing something with a dog. And when we finished our session, my mum goes this girl she really knows a lot. She’s making a lot of sense. She’s good for you. And I knew definitely I was on a winner. But I knew before then because I felt like we were very much the same. And we could converse, and I felt like you were just clicked into my business and what I was trying to convey. And look, it’s never easy for someone to write copy is really hard when it’s not your business or you’re not 100% across the Intel or the message that needs to come across, but you did such a good job and, and then to take it one step further and look at the marketing strategy and the social media strategy. And then we work together to put a lot of pieces in play. All of that moves so much faster and cheaper than what I did. I guess that’s the one thing I regret is spending the money. But I don’t regret the experience if that makes sense. And the one thing that I wish I’d done sooner was to meet you and I couldn’t change that because the universe obviously had a plan in place for both of us. We were doing what we needed to do at that time before we met. But I’m really grateful for that. And I feel that my views are where it is today if it wasn’t for your input and your mentoring and coaching.
Hayley Osborne:
Thank you. I really get a tissue now. No tears on the podcast. Okay, so obviously, we’ve worked together extensively. I have absolutely been in or loved watching you grow and transform. And even from the beginning, I had these big visions for you of just like walking into an event or as you’re going to want a beautiful lunch or as you’re going to walk in to deliver something one on one with your private clients. Are you just showcasing the whole journey because that’s what people want to see? And now you’re like. I can’t do it. I’m so nervous. And now you’re like, oh, it says go Who’s this woman just like owning her stuff and her space? And I’m so proud of number one, how far you’ve come. But I love watching you. I love watching you shine. I love watching you. You literally did everything I said for you to do. And the results are incredible. I’m proud moment.
Vicky Trop:
Yeah, proud mum moment. It’s so funny. And maybe I’m the ideal client because event managers are so prescriptive like we receive instructions, and our job is to make sure that we convert those instructions to the best possible outcome. And I’m very prescriptive like that. So I don’t know if you notice when we’d have our coaching like I would write notes and notes. And then at the end, I’d be like, Okay, step one, step two, step three, step four, and then we would meet again, and Hayley that Okay, so what have you done, I’m like, Okay, I did all the things. That was important for me because, again, I guess you’re driven by what you want to achieve, right? So and this is part of being a coach or a mentor you can take the horse to the river, but you can’t make it drink. And part of that success from our clients comes from our motivation and from the way that we coach and mentor, and show the skills and the steps on how to do that, but also encouraged them to take action and to stay in action because that’s where the success comes from. And that’s, I guess, the most important part of that process. Um, so yeah, it’s really exciting. I mean, before I’d get on an event and not even think about taking a quick video of setup or whatever. Now I’m like, where’s my phone, and I need to quickly do a video and then I was on site with an event the other day and I didn’t have time. And I was so devastated. I actually felt like I’d let myself down because I couldn’t do a story because and look, sometimes you can’t always do things when you want to do them but you can’t stop the universe from unfolding and I’m going to talk event talk but when we’re bumping in, which is our setup, you know, this event had a one hour turnaround time from the event before the venue’s trying to undress the venue from that event. We’re trying to set up for us there’s so much going on soundcheck audio-visual entertainment, it was chaotic and I understand that I couldn’t but I really did feel like I really wanted to show you that and you know where there’s a will there’s away.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah, but next time though, like live and learn. It’s okay not to punish yourself for missing out but keep it in the back of your mind. And I’ve said this to you before everything is content. Yeah, at some point or another. But you know what, like, this is life. Sometimes there are ways to make it work. Sometimes there’s no like I was saying to you before we started recording, I’m going to run a workshop next month, an in-person workshop, and I did a site visit yesterday. I had my little guy with me, I could not get my phone out, you know, and trying to, like, navigate him and also talk to the owner of the business whose space we’re gonna use. It’s like your brain thinking about already too much. And I didn’t have time to do it. And I got in the car and dammit, I missed that opportunity. But I was like, Okay, well, that’s okay. There’ll be another opportunity. I’ll get something different. And it’ll be okay. So it’s about, like, you know, kind of, and that’s where the mindset comes in is not getting down on yourself, not just rising above and moving through it instead of like, fearing it I guess.
Vicky Trop:
Listening to this podcast there, the mindset mentor, yeah, I’ve been getting into him lately. And he has some really good tactics, but he’s like, sometimes you have to acknowledge the moment release the frustration, release the control, but find the learning. So yeah, I couldn’t do that on this occasion. But where’s my gratitude here? You know what. Maybe I could do a story and explain it to people so paint the story. And also explain, hey, I’m human. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t fit it in. And you know, what, wouldn’t you prefer me to be focused on your event then taking stories? So we were talking before about everything being content. So listening to that podcast and focusing a lot more on mindset and trying to find gratitude because I read this thing the other day that said if your mind is busy on gratitude, it can’t also be busy on the negative being like cranky pants. And so that resonated with me because I thought the amount of energy you can spend getting caught up on something that doesn’t sit well with you. And let’s face it in advance, that can happen a lot. And at the moment, for me, it’s happening daily. But to stop yourself and go hang on a minute, let’s find the gratitude here. And then even going one step further and just writing down, I like to keep a list of lack of a content bank, and just writing down you know what I can talk about this on a story when it’s appropriate to say now, someone, one of my clients might recognise that it relates to them, or what have you, and then down the track, but you can bring it up because the chances are that if it’s affecting you, or it’s affecting one of your clients, is affecting your audience. And so it can be turned in. So you know, I think, again, it very much comes events, marketing, and communication and content really do come hand in hand and work together.
Hayley Osborne:
I think that by you sharing all those things, it’s adding value to someone else’s life and making them you know, realise, oh, okay, well, she’s going through that too, or that’s good to know, I don’t feel so bad. And you might just help somebody get through their day, which is really important. So I wanted to ask you, why did you invest in superhero marketing?
Vicky Trop:
Yeah, so few reasons. That is a very good question. Personally, I wanted to be in the room with other people. And I think as a small business owner, for me, now I’m working from home, I only see people out at meetings or when we’re on-site with events. So it’s really critical for me to be in the room with similar-minded people who are looking to move themselves forward. So that was quite important for me to find
Also a group leader. So it’s all good to be in a community. But if there’s not a community leader or a group leader, someone like you, Hayley that brings it all together for action, messaging and content. The community doesn’t work like we always need some structure. So for me, I was excited that I already knew you from private coaching. So I knew that content was going to be delivered, I knew that I was going to get new skills, new knowledge that is going to work. And from the work we’ve done before I had trust that you would build a community that would be right for all of your clients. So for me, that was a big thing. The other couple of reason I wanted to join Superhero Marketing was because of reconnecting with my business. So really have the ability to take what we learn and the content that comes from our weekly monthly calls masterclasses. They are experts that q&a and apply them in my business. So it’s giving you an opportunity in amongst all the noise to stop and be on the business rather than in it. Oh, absolutely. I really wanted to. I know I still continually want to level up. And I feel that social and marketing not only help me as an individual and my business, but in turn, it helps my clients, both my consulting clients and my event for projects, clients. They all benefit from the skills and the knowledge that I pick up from you from the class from the course content from the community. And I can bring that all to the table for my clients. And the biggest thing was reaching my audience, growing my audience getting engagement, and what we all want is a level of conversion. And we know that that will then be sales, which turns into revenue, but I think you have to be realistic with your expectations around this. But conversion could mean a lot of things, not just dollar value.
Hayley Osborne:
I think you have to be. Yeah, you have to realise as well that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. All the time. Just keep going. You need to do all the things.
Vicky Trop:
Yeah. And we spoke a lot, particularly during my one-on-one coaching around the process. And there’s a way like people will, as I said, They’ll stalk you on socials, they’ll watch, they’ll build their confidence connect with you, then they might start jumping in on a podcast, or they might get a free download. And then from them, they’ll move up the ascension model, and, and that’s the part I think, you need to understand is it’s not a, put a post out, yes, I’m engaged, and I’m gonna buy it today. It’s all about that, proving I call it credibility and validity. So I’ve always said that you’ve got to prove yourself to people. People need to validate who I am and what I do. And that is what my social media is for. And that’s personally how I treat my social media. And it might be very different to someone else. And that’s okay. And we spoke briefly about staying in your lane. And I personally don’t worry about what other people are doing. People often bring it to my doorstep, and then I get quite worked up over it. And then I’ve got to release it. Because I’ve always been from day one. I’ve always been I don’t care what other people were doing. They’re not me and I don’t need to do what they’re doing. Because my wants needs and success model is different. And the fact that people feel like they have to copycat everyone else is not doing themselves justice. So I think it’s really important to make sure you do stay in your lane and your social media support that that’s a critical part that your strategy and socials and marketing support the lane that you’re in. And again, that authenticity, if you stay true to yourself and your business and your clients, you’re not going to have a problem of being all over the place and confusing your target audience and diluting that market. They’re going to be very clear on who you are as an individual in our business and what you can do for them.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah, I love what you said earlier as well about when you are creating and putting together the content, you make a note, and you keep all those notes. And then when you’re ready, then have time to work on the business, you have all those inspiration points as a reference to go back to that’s such a clever way to build out, like staying, you know, consistent in your business. It’s like you’re not always inspired. So it’s nice to like, have those notes in there to, you know, go back to remind you to when you are inspired and you can you do have that thought leadership you can stay consistent. You can, you know, continue to appear. I think that’s really clever.
Vicky Trop:
I think to take inspiration from questions you’re facing frequently so if you’re pitching or you’re quoting, or you’re talking to someone or you find that you get the same questions, I call them the FAQs. Write them down because if one or two people are asking you, most people are interested or if we feel that a lot of your clients are struggling with something or need something in particular, this could be great content gaps. So I often just like I said, keep that list of you know, the other day we were talking with clients and we were having this discussion around beverage package or on consumption for me is an easy decision but for them, they really struggled with it. So I decided to write a post about how you can make that decision and did an EDM around it as well. And hopefully that it helps someone to help make those decisions or perhaps it’s around productivity and how you can prioritise your time and your tasks and do the things you need to do and leave the other things aside. So I think taking inspiration sometimes from your daily work, and this is why I love having my event management business because it keeps me current in my skill set, right? And I can take that and apply what I do every day into the workplace of those clients that I coach and mentor because if I only did the coaching, I wouldn’t be stagnant because I now wouldn’t really have my hand in the pie for event balance, right? And this is the problem I found with lecturing is that in the state that I live in, I’m the only industry-working lecturer on the faculty, so everyone else was a full-time teacher. And we’re no longer in the industry. They were active in the industry, and they still had an engagement with the industry, but they were not physically working every day, doing what we do. And that’s a really important part, I think, is keeping current. So having that currency and bringing it to your clients so that they have the best assets to propel them forward.
Because at the end of the day, as coaches and mentors, we win when our clients win to say people really succeed in something that you’ve taught them or mentored them through, and it might be something big or something small, but irrespective of the size is that I helped you do that moment. It’s, it’s amazing. And I feel the same way. When I deliver an event, the best part for me is standing back at some point in time and going. I created this with my client as the client gave me the instructions. But I’ve put all this together. And I’m watching people and enjoying it and engaging with it and interacting and people giving me feedback. That’s the best part. And so with the coaching and the mentoring, we only win when our clients win because they’re only as good as us.
Hayley Osborne:
I agree. I completely agree. So where do you see Vicky Trop in five years? Where do you see your business in five years? Let’s talk VickY Trop.
Vicky Trop:
This is a really interesting question. Because obviously, anything can happen between now and five years, and I tend to evolve quickly over time. So again, don’t hold me to this in five years if we do a review, but I certainly want to realign my focus and look closely at starting a podcast. And I think that would be really exciting.
Hayley Osborne:
I will actually hold you to that. Sorry. It’s not gonna be five years. It’s got to be soon. That will be Stanley soon.
Vicky Trop:
Yeah, cuz I think, you know, there’s, over the years, I’ve been doing what I do for 25 plus years, and there are a lot of stories good and bad. And funny and interesting. And I’ve worked as you mentioned, with a lot of big names globally. I’ve worked overseas a lot.
Hayley Osborne:
Let’s say those names just so that we can have some perspective here, Visa.
Vicky Trop:
The list is nice. I’ve delivered events for the Chairman and the president of Visa credit cards worldwide. So, Board of Directors, I have worked on Cisco’s flagship event, which is Cisco Live. A lot of pharmaceutical companies like Merck, Sureno, Pfizer, a lot of these companies we know.
Hayley Osborne:
Vicky is the shiz of the shiz in this industry, guys. I’m gonna use that as the introduction. We’re talking about this at the end of the podcast, but that is perspective. This is what we are, like dealing with you you’re an expert.
Vicky Trop:
Yeah. And the beauty of I think what I give to my clients is I take what would be higher pay entail and bring it at a reasonable rate and affordable rate and in a way that people, small businesses, people who work in organisations can afford and access and use it. So the biggest thing is, I’ve lived it. I’ve been in crisis. I’ve been in countries where I’ve had threats in my life. I’ve been in countries where I’ve had heart attacks. I say I’ve had everything fingers crossed except a baby. I’ve had heart attacks.
Hayley Osborne:
I would not wish that upon you
Vicky Trop:
You know, these are the things when it comes to crisis management and project management and managing people and venues and it’s a bit like that Telstra commercial that was going around and it said, You don’t realise that you need us until you need us. And it was about their coverage. When your regional area and it’s a bit like me and what I do, you don’t realise that you need a professional to help you plan, manage and deliver your events until something goes wrong. And then that’s where you see the value. So if you engage upskill, engage with me get the learnings then when the crisis hits, and I can certainly help people, if when, if I’m not involved before the crisis. But when the crisis hits, we’re already in momentum. So we can sit back and go, Okay, where are we at? What do we do? What are our next steps? How do we communicate? How do we mitigate all of this? And these are the, I guess, the assets or the strengths of having someone who has currency in the industry as well? Yeah, I love that. Anyway, answering your question, the podcast. So as we all know, the podcast could be quite eventful.
Hayley Osborne:
I can’t wait for this. Yeah.
Vicky Trop:
The other thing I would love to bring to you all will be an E-course. And I’ve personally. I feel like I love sharing my knowledge and my skills. And I would love this to be a live rather than a pre-recorded thing. And again, this comes back to my personal values. I love to connect with humans, and I get The list is nice. I’ve delivered events for the Chairman and the president of Visa credit cards worldwide. So, Board of Directors, I have worked on Cisco’s flagship event, which is Cisco Live. A lot of pharmaceutical companies like Merck, Sureno, Pfizer, a lot of these companies we know.
Hayley Osborne:
I love this. They’re short-term. That’s not five years. That’s the next six months.
Vicky Trop:
If you haven’t already worked out, I love talking and so great to level or not level up. But just up my speaking game, I’ve done a little bit of speaking where my skill set and my knowledge and my experiences. And the way I do my presentations is quite unique to me. And again, it’s the teacher in me. I want to make sure that people walk away with value. And also I like to make sure that people walk away with tactical information that they can apply to their work life or their business immediately. So for me, I would love to up that game and get out and help more people on a broader scale.
Hayley Osborne:
Well, I don’t think that those things are too far out of your reach. If I’m being honest. I love watching your journey. I have loved being your pillar of support. I’ve loved helping you and I will continue to love watching you shine. Vicky, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. Before we wrap up, I’d love you to tell our listeners where they can connect with you online and learn more.
Vicky Trop:
Sure, so I’m very easy. My social media handles are @eventfulprojects and at @Vickytrop and www.eventfulprojects.com.au or www.Vickytrop.co for the website and I’m always happy to connect with people you can book a coffee chat. You can reach out for a DM and have a call. You can even get a coffee if you live in the same state as Coffee the Cavoodole more than happy to meet real people but please do follow like and share everything Eventful Projects and Vicky Trop has to offer.
Hayley Osborne:
Thanks, Vicky
Vicky Trop:
Thank you, Hayley.
Hayley Osborne:
I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to this episode. If you have hit subscribe so you don’t miss any new episodes released every Tuesday. And while you’re there, leave me a review. I would absolutely love to read it. Also, don’t forget to tag me @HayleyKOsborne over on Instagram and share this podcast with your audience so they can get learning too. If you want more, head over to www.Hayleyosborne.com.au/podcast for today’s show notes and links. I’ve also got an awesome free eBook a new one waiting for you on my website, the 10 Essentials every local area marketing plan needs and I will catch you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show.
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