Are you spending way too much time trying to make your marketing look perfect before you hit publish? Guess what, perfection might actually be holding your business back! In this episode of The Hayley Osborne Show, you and I are going to dive into why faking perfect is hurting your marketing and what you can do instead to create real and lovely connections with the awesome audience who follow and love you, authentic engagement (because real is best), and Superhero marketing that actually works.
I talk about:
✔Why perfectionism is keeping you stuck (and how to break free from it)
✔ How to build genuine relationships with your audience without overthinking every post or next move you do
✔ The power of community in marketing (and why it matters now more than ever)
✔ How to show up authentically, even when things feel uncertain
If you’ve ever felt pressure to have the perfect brand, perfect content, or perfect strategy before taking action, well my friend, this episode is for you! It’s time to drop the perfection act and start marketing in a way that feels natural, aligned, and, most importantly, effective.
💡 Doors to Superhero Marketing are opening soon! Join the WAITLIST for exclusive access:
Listen and let’s get real about your marketing!
SUMMARY
0:00:01 – Podcast Intro
0:00:55 – Episode Introduction
0:10:46 – Superhero Marketing Membership Promotion
0:19:30 – Strategies for Authentic Marketing
0:28:14 – Community and Connection
0:35:23 – Marketing During Uncertain Times
0:40:00 – Closing Remarks
0:42:00 – Podcast Outro
Hello and welcome to another episode of this awesome podcast, the Hayley Osborne show. I’m so glad that you are here listening today for Episode 148 and it’s a bit of a big one. Might be a bit of a touchy subject, but I wanted to talk about and explore further the fact of faking perfection is hurting your marketing and what to do instead. And if you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen I’ve been leaning in a little bit to a lot of the BS that’s happening.
More recently, I’ve noticed across social media, like people pretending to be things that they’re not, and it’s quite annoying, because mostly from a trust perspective. So the authenticity and trust that these certain accounts are building,
It’s hurtful for the whole industry. So people are pretending to be something that they’re not, and then they’re making money from it, and across lots of different
types of businesses. But like, I wanted to come to share with you, like, if you are feeling like you have to be perfect and you have to show up in your marketing in a really perfect way, then I’ve got news for you, because you don’t Okay, and I think that faking perfect is hurting your marketing, and will hurt your marketing in the future in a big way, because there’s so many accounts out there now and so many business owners that I’m sure that do what you do, that, you know, I think, learn what to do instead. Okay?
Because there is a sea of perfection, and it is becoming a little bit too perfect, and I think that we need to remember that people buy from people. Okay, so I want to take you through, keep listening, because I want to share some practical things that you can do to like, stop trying to be perfect in your marketing, and I think that’s really important. But
I want you to also know, and I’m really excited. We’ll just digress a teeny little bit. I want you to get ready to really elevate your marketing and get ready to do it without the overwhelm, because imagine having a clear, actionable marketing strategy that actually works without spending hours and hours glued to your screen second guessing every post or feeling stuck in a you know, cycle of trial and error.
I think that is hampering and time sucking right when you could do everything easily. I wanted to let you know that doors are opening soon to my signature membership, superhero marketing. They are opening on the first of April, and this is a place where ambitious small business owners come to learn what actually moves the needle, without the fluff, without the frustration, without the wasted time, because time is money, and that is a big one. So whether you are struggling to attract your dream clients, whether you are struggling to show up consistently, or turning the visibility into real growth, right?
Because if you’re being visible, but you’re not growing, then there’s obviously some holes in the bucket with the support system that you need, which is superhero marketing. So doors are opening very soon, on the first of April, and I think it’s nice to oh my goodness, there’s a mozzie in my office. Go away. Mr. Mozzie. I don’t like mozzies at all, sorry. And as you’re saying, right? As I’m saying, I’m keeping it real. Okay, this I’m not perfect, and I don’t think so.
Your body is. And so I think that that’s a really nice trait to remind yourself. And you know, cue the incoming mozzie to let you know that I am very much real. Oh, what a way to start an episode like this, because perfect is hurting your marketing, and I never want to be perfect in my marketing. And so I want to share with you what to do instead.
So I think that I want you to be the first to know when doors open. So I invite you to join the waitlist for superhero marketing. You have early access before the public launch, which is 48 hours before. So doors actually open on the first of April, and this is the first time that I’ve opened doors in a little while, because if you listen to last week’s episode as well, you’ll know that I had a baby last year, and so my objective was to nurture everybody inside of the membership without actually opening the doors and having my focus there.
But now I’m not doing any of that. I think it’s time to open doors to you. And there’s special bonuses for you, if you are on the waitlist and you do join in the 48-hour window prior to doors opening. And you know, I think that you will get yourself a front row seat into the strategies that I teach to be able to transform your marketing, to be able to step into the superhero that you know that you are.
I know that Done is better than perfect, but you need the knowledge to know what to do, to show up consistently in a way that is strategic. What is done is better than perfect. This membership. It is my first baby, my second baby. When did I launch this so it is near and dear to me, and it exists to be able to help you create activities and strategies in and around marketing so that you have the biggest growth with the least amount of time and effort, and that time and effort is huge.
Okay, so that is where I come in to share with you all of my tools, my templates, my swipe copy so I have every email funnel in there that exists with words and exactly what you need to plug and play into your business. If you don’t have things like that, there are, there is so much, there’s over who.
There are over 50 master classes sitting in there waiting for you that all have done for you, words and everything related from marketing strategies, social media strategy, practical tips, all of my Canva templates, all of my copy templates to make it easy for you to be able to just hit the ground running. Because what I’ve found with a lot of business owners that I work with is, firstly, getting started is the hardest part, and then secondly, sitting in front of your computer researching and second guessing if that is the right thing to do, or, if not, when, why would you waste your time doing that?
When can you just take it from me? And so that is what superhero marketing is. And it is a place where I realized that, you know, I was gathering all of this amazing IP and I was using it for my private clients, and that’s fine, but inside the membership, I share all of that with you, because they never had a place to go.
And so this exists for business owners who want to stay in the know, who want to continue to build their knowledge without the hefty investment of working one on one with someone. So you get me, you still get me. And we go through. We have a master class every single month. I am available for coaching every single month. We have an amazing community inside Facebook, where that exists for you to ask me absolutely anything at any time, and I have amazing guest experts come in to teach you the things that I think are important outside of my scope.
And so I’ve been doing this a really long time, and I have sat and made friends with some awesome, awesome humans that are so great at what they do. And you know, a lot of the time it’s very hard to get a seat at their table, okay, and also, you don’t know what you don’t know. So I am very excited to continue to bring them to you, because I know that knowledge is power, and if you can fill up your knowledge bucket, you do have more power in your business, and therefore that just creates, you know, a wealth of abundance for everyone.
So no one can ever take away your knowledge. And you know, things could get quiet inside your business, but if you’ve got the know-how and the knowledge to actually start to implement the system.
And the processes and the things that I teach, then what is happening is you are plugging the holes in your leaky bucket. And so here’s a really funny example, and I know that we digress, but the other day, I was working with a client of mine, and she came to me with a proposal from a media outlet that had reached out to her for an advertorial, right? So placing an ad, and it was a considerable investment, and she said to me, this is, this is, there’s a deadline with this. I really want to do it. What do you think? And I flat out said, don’t do it.
And I said, the reason why you don’t want to do it is because you do not have your marketing foundation set up yet to cater for the influx of questions and people coming into your world after they see this. Otherwise, they’re just going to come in and go out, because you’ve got no way to capture their attention, which is your marketing foundation. And she was like, oh my goodness, Hayley, you are so right.
So, you know, inside the membership, I teach you all of that, because there is no point in flexing your marketing muscle if you don’t have all of the holes in your bucket plugged, otherwise, you will have people leaking out of your world left, right and center, instead of having been able to save them and keep them and keep them in your world.
Alright? So they’re the little things that I teach inside superhero marketing, and you’ll have a front receipt with me and my knowledge, which you know, it’s honestly some of the best things are happening inside the membership, and I want that for you as well. Marketing doesn’t have to be overwhelming. When you have the right strategy, when you have the right support and community, it becomes fun and it becomes effective, and it becomes something that actually works for your business.
So join the waitlist now over on my website, which is Hayley osborne.com it’s at the top. You can’t miss it. And I would love to welcome you into a beautiful community that I have built. And I am so, so proud of this. It is a small and mighty community, and there’s nothing like it. I think this is the best place in the world to teach you from a very genuine place, how to show up and market your business with style and grace.
Okay, so perfectionism is hurting your business, guys, or we get into this week’s episode, and I think faking perfect is hurting your marketing, and I want to teach you what to do instead. So I think that we are perfect is a marketing trap, because we show up with being, you know, we have the fear of being judged. Okay, when we show up, we are wanting to appear professional.
When we show up, we are thinking perfect equals credibility. But in reality, perfect is very polished, but it is becoming more and more unrelatable. All right, so people connect with real people, not perfect people. And I think there’s a great example of, you know, big brands versus personal brands and smaller brands, and you see it time and time again, how authenticity wins. Okay? So I think perfectionism or the thought of always being perfect is going to stop you from showing up consistently. Okay?
So you’re spending too much time tweaking, fixing, editing, instead of posting, and these things like start and die on your phone and they never see the light of day. Okay? I think when you try to be perfect all the time, it can create a real disconnect with your audience, because that’s not real. People don’t relate to flawlessness, all right? They relate to reality. We want to see the real you behind the business with a strategy, okay? Because you’re right now.
You’re saying, Hayley, that’s fine, but if I start just showing up as myself, then I might run the risk of losing people, or, you know, not getting as many views, or whatever it is. But I think it actually will work in reverse, if you strategically show up as yourself. Okay, so I think that is like the flawless approach is going to get, you know, nowhere. And I think when you constantly try to be perfect, it does slow down your decision making and your progress, because you overthink, you over-edit. And I think it also inputs like, you know, you start.
To have that feeling of you’re never going to be ready. Okay? And unfortunately, you don’t get confidence like confidence doesn’t come from waiting. I’ll wait until I’m confident to show up. Confidence comes from actually showing up more. So if you scroll back to the or if you’ve got the very first email from me, or you see the very first video from me. Oh, my goodness. How times have changed. You know, when I started this podcast, I used to have a full-on script, and now I have dot points, and I might say a few ums and has, but it is far less, because practice makes perfect.
Okay? So, like being perfect is the only thing that it’s doing is hurting your business. Okay? So I think when you start to embrace a bit of imperfection, you know you will see your success change and grow. Okay? So I wanted to talk about some practical strategies, really, for building genuine connections with your audience, and to stop fake, faking your marketing and being perfect, like perfection marketing perfectionism.
Is that the word for it? I think it is. There’s definitely a word and it’s, oh, it’s performative marketing. That’s right. Performative marketing is boring. And you know, if you’re constantly showing up in a way that is constantly sharing your wins, that’s what I mean by performative marketing. Or, you know how good I think that is dying, dead, possibly, and I think we want to be perfect because we are scared to be judged, but it actually has the reverse effect. Okay, so I wanted to share some ideas for you and practical strategies for being able to build genuine connections with your audience.
And I think most definitely, marketing is more than just content, all right? And you’re thinking, oh, boy, that’s new. No, it’s not. It’s about connection. And I think the businesses that are thriving are the ones that create a real emotional bond with your audience. Now hear me out, right? You don’t want 1000s and 1000s of people to like you. You want a handful. You want two handfuls, right? So 1010, genuine connections. So if you had 10 people come into your world right now, okay, that want to purchase your highest priced product or service, you would have happy days forever and ever, okay?
And this was 10 people every single month coming in to buy your highest ticket product or service, because what you’ve done is create an emotional bond with your audience. Okay? So some ways that you can do that is start showing up as yourself. All right, it’s that simple. It’s not Dan. Dan, like we’re going to do the drum roll here. What is she going to say? Show up as you. Okay? People connect with people they don’t connect with Polish brands. Share your stories, share your quirks, share your behind-the-scenes moments, and the more real that you are, the more trust that you will build, and the more credibility that you will build.
Okay, people have to trust you before they buy from you, and I can definitely say that I’ve lost a lot of trust in some businesses and some people recently on their socials, because I know what’s going on behind the scenes in some people’s businesses, and it’s not what they are showing on their social media, and that really shits me off.
And you know, I’m not going, this is not going to be a dirt dishing episode, but I think the more real you are, the more trust you build. And eventually, if you are faking it and you are not appearing as yourself, the wheels eventually fall off, because you can’t continue this facade forever, because that’s not who you are, so eventually, like the truth shines, okay, so just be you. I think you.
One of the other ways is to engage. Okay, don’t just broadcast. So instead of just posting, ask questions, reply to people’s messages and genuinely interact. So treat your social media like a conversation, not a megaphone, all right, and actually engage with other people in your audience on what they’re doing in a really genuine way. I have a business coach of mine who used to be my business coach and.
I can’t tell you; she is an absolute legend. Like she’s so genuine and loving and human and amazing that, like she constantly the things that I see that she writes, it’s just like the most genuine responses and comments like I’ve seen in like, a lot more than I’ve seen in many people. And I try to also portray that.
You probably know that, if you know you’re in my world, if I see something that I like, always comment, because I think it’s lovely and it’s always genuine, so it’s never robotic. And I think there’s something lovely in that, if you can do that and be like that across your marketing, oh my goodness, the world is your oyster. So the more real you are, the more trust that you definitely build.
And you know, like I said before, just remember, social media is a conversation. It’s not a megaphone, all right, it is a conversation. I think it’s important that you share wins and struggles. People love a success story, but they also love relatable moments, and share what’s working, share what’s not, and I think it’s important to share what you’re learning along the way, but I think it’s really important to share the struggling times after you’ve gone through it, and come out the other end.
I think that when you can share the journey and how you handled something and how you overcame it, I think that is much more powerful, and treat it like a conversation, okay, share what’s working, what’s not, and what you’re learning as a conversation. I think that another point is when you can create something that is a little bit more interactive, okay, that creates a lot more realness and less perfectionism, because you’re reaching out to your community across your content. So I think going live is really awesome. I think asking questions, polls, like all the Q and A’s that you see, I think lean into that.
And the more that you help people feel involved, the more the stronger the connection that you will start to have with your audience, and the more involved they’ll start to feel with you. And that then builds more trust, which makes you more relatable, which then converts to sales. So they might not need what you have to offer right now, but when they do need what you have to offer, you are the first person that pops into their mind. I’m getting really passionate now, because I feel really passionate about this, and I would just wish that more and more business owners would step out of their own way and just be real.
Okay, because perfect sucks, so step into it and be real with your marketing and watch your business explode. And you know, I can’t say this like enough social media, and that platform of marketing is free for the most part. So why aren’t you showing up more? Why aren’t you leveraging your content more? The chances are because you don’t know how. Okay, so let’s teach you how to do that, and let’s really open up your business for success. Because why not? I think it’s there for everyone, for the taking. Use your own language you know.
Pay attention to how your audience talks, pay attention to what their challenges are, and start to use those words in your marketing and share that passion. Okay, get on that train. It makes people feel truly seen. All right, if you want to learn from me, segue doors are opening soon to CP hero marketing. I’m so passionate about this community.
Community is something that I think is going to be at the forefront of business growth in the future, because, you know, there is a sea of much, much muchness out there. And I think it’s your community that you surround yourself with that is going to give you that you know, 11th man on the pitch, or whatever that saying is, it is what will help you grow your business. Because I think you can’t do it alone. I think you do need an awesome community around you, and that’s the reason why I built superhero marketing, so that you can feel like a superhero, so that you are armed with all of the superhero bits of ammunition you need to build that knowledge to show up as you.
And knowledge is power, okay, so if everything crumbles around you, you know, social media falls off the face of the earth, or whatever, whatever, your knowledge is still there, okay? And no one can ever take that away from you. So keep building it, because knowledge is power. I think that if you dip out the.
Especially with digital marketing, it moves so fast that you dip out all of a sudden, you feel like you’re left behind, and you are second guessing and questioning yourself. Do I actually have all my marketing foundation set up properly? Am I letting anything slip through? Chances are, if you’re saying I’m not sure, maybe this is the place for you to be able to learn and be sure, because it is important, right? You’re not here for a haircut, you’re here to run a business.
And I definitely believe that, I think that community matters more and more as we like to go further into this year, the world’s noisy, and I do know that trust is at an all-time low, and that’s why community is the new currency in marketing. It definitely is. People don’t just buy from brands, they buy into them, and a strong community turns customers into raving fans and brand advocates, which means that whoever is in your world loves you so much, they are telling everyone about you and how awesome you are. I know that happens to me. My word-of-mouth marketing is so powerful, it’s blown my mind, okay?
And I want you to be part of a community so that you can start to feel what that feels like as well. I think that community builds trust. Okay, so when people see others engaging with and spreading your love and endorsing you, they feel so much safer buying from you. Okay, marketing is no longer a solo game, all right? It’s about collaborations. It’s about partnerships. It’s about your audience and your customers
building and driving those conversations for you.
And if you create a space in your world through your marketing where people feel valued, they will naturally share and support your brand. I want to teach you how to do that. I want to teach you how to step into that place of building trust through your community. Okay, I want to step into that place, or want you to step into that place where you know you’ve got your audience buying into your business and your values and your vision and your mission.
It’s really important, I think that brands that use user generated content to celebrate their audience have thriving communities, all right, so if you want to know more about what that looks like and what that could mean for you.
I would love to chat to you more about that. I think that another example of building a thriving community in and around your business is having a place where people can come and connect. So I can definitely help you with that. If you feel like it’s not for you, I can give you 100 reasons how to do it or like why you should be doing it, and then I think that you should be able to generate a feeling with your audience, to make them feel like they are on the inside. Okay, they are on your inside, and they know a lot about you.
Now, you know that I have three children, if you listen to this podcast, you know, I have three, and I don’t share them on my social media, because I just have chosen not to. I do share that I am a mum a lot, and I share, you know, the backs of their heads and things, but I don’t share them at all on my social media. However, I still have an amazing community. I still have you know people that are and you know, if you’re listening, you’re one of those people.
You know people feel like insiders when they’re in my world, and I have a connection, and I have a strategy that I stick to in a plan that I execute. It doesn’t involve, like, the biggest part of my life, which is my kids and like, I think I’m doing a pretty good job. So if you’re thinking, yeah, Hayley, I don’t want to bear my soul, but I do want all of these awesome things. I do want to be able to, you know, attract and connect with my audience like I just need to know how like that is one thing that I’m really good at.
So have a thing. Start thinking about how you can invite your audience into your world, whether it’s through a membership like mine, a Facebook group or, you know, simply making them feel like they’re part of something bigger than just a transaction. Okay? Because I think that is a sure-fire way to crash and burn. And I’ve said this before, and I think that.
Yeah, social media is definitely a community rather than a megaphone. I think, like there’s nothing more beautiful, and I think that, you know, start thinking about these important questions on how you are, making them feel and how you are, like not sharing perfect and doing all of these things instead, again, because this episode is around faking Perfect, now it’s hurting your marketing and so some other things I wanted to do to share with you that are, you know, practical tips is how to market authentically when things like or even you feel uncertain.
And I think that when you’re feeling uncertain, and I think right now, like things in the world are Prickly, I think that you know, like you can feel overwhelmed by a lot of different things, like in the media, what’s coming out of the US, like it could change the way that you show up. So even if it’s like family things or whatever, how can you push all that aside to market authentically when things feel uncertain.
So that, I think, is the biggest roadblock for business owners to go into being perfect and perfectionism through marketing, I think that we lean into being perfect when things are not going as smoothly in the background, and everyone’s got their own shit going on, like everyone has something, whether it’s family, whether it’s you’ve got, you know, things you’re doing with your house, whether it’s you’ve got a really busy social life. And then you think, oh my God, that’s right, I need to market authentically. That’s what Hayley said.
So even when you or things are feeling uncertain around you, like, how can we help you to be able to be real with your marketing? So, you know, even when things are feeling uncertain, so you don’t slip into that perfectionism. So, you know, I think that the truth is that your audience doesn’t need to be perfect, they just need you to be present. So your audience doesn’t need you to be perfect, they just need you to be present.
So I’ve got a couple of dot points here. There are 12345 dot points. So the first one is to shift from selling to serving. All right. Now that’s hard because we always revert to selling when we don’t have a strategy. I see it all the time. It’s terrible. So shift your mindset from selling to serving, not buy my thing. Okay, we’re here to serve. So when things feel shaky, focus on helping your audience. Okay, so provide a serving mentality and show up as that.
So value insights and be the person that your audience can rely on. All right, the second point I’ve written down here is embrace imperfection, so don’t let your self-doubt stop you from showing up even a simple Hey, I’m figuring this out too, but here’s what I know can be really powerful.
The next point is leaning into your strengths. So on the days that you don’t feel sure. Go back to why you started your business, okay, go back to what it is that you love doing and why you started, what lights you up? Okay? And when you start to share that energy with your audience, it’s infectious. I actually have a lot of comments about my energy in and through my marketing. And it’s really lovely to receive that.
And actually what it does is make you show up like that, more which is less perfect and more real, which builds momentum, okay, and it spreads like wildfire. And I absolutely love that. I think the next point was being transparent, okay, but with boundaries, all right? But with boundaries, you don’t have to share everything. I don’t, you know, I probably share like I share 10% of my life, and there’s a whole other 90% that I do not share, and that’s okay, where you might think, if you following along, that you know a lot about me, and I think that’s beautiful, because it means that I am being transparent, but I have boundaries, and that’s okay. You know, I’m human, and so are you. So you don’t have to share everything at all, but.
With boundaries. What are your boundaries? If you’re thinking, oh, my God, this is so much. Hayley, I’m really not sure, like, let’s have a chat. I’m happy to have a chat with you. Maybe superhero marketing is the right fit for you. You’ve just been sitting on the fence, but I think letting people in on your journey creates trust. Okay? So I think I definitely do that, but I do it with boundaries. Again, I don’t share my kids.
They’re 90% 99% of my life. But, you know, an example of this could be, I’ve been thinking. I’ve been rethinking my approach lately, and here’s what I’m learning, it’s okay, okay, because this makes you more relatable. The last point I wanted to say on this is keep moving, even if it’s a small step. Okay, there’s definitely progress over perfection. Every single time, even posting one valuable thing a week is better than disappearing altogether. So if you follow my social media, I said the other day, if you do one thing this week, create a video that helps you to build trust with your audience, that’s it.
And I think that you know, authentic marketing isn’t about having it all figured out. It’s about showing up with a genuine care showing up like you give a shit, even when things feel uncertain and showing up over, showing up perfectly, your audience doesn’t expect you to be perfect. They just want to be able to establish a connection with you, because connection builds trust, okay? And trust leads to sales. It might not be instant, but if you are consistent, and you are doing it day in and day out, it’s always 1% you’ll be a lot further in a year from now than if you hadn’t done it at all. Okay? So one thing I know is that marketing isn’t about being the loudest in the room.
You know, I’m certainly not the loudest in the room, but it’s about being the most relatable. Okay, I get a lot. Oh my goodness, when people meet me in real life, they’re like, you are exactly the same as how you show up online. You sound the same as what your words say on your website, how you write your captions. It’s because I’m relatable, and I want that for you as well. So when you focus on connection, community and authenticity, you start to build a business and a brand. Yes, you are building a brand that becomes magnetic.
Okay, so I think if this resonated with you, let me know in DM me on Instagram, it’s where I hang out the most. I do also hang out on Facebook and LinkedIn, because I want to hear from you, and I want to hear how this episode made you feel, because I think that there’s too much perfect out there, and it’s noisy and it’s a bit ugly, and I think that faking perfect is hurting your marketing, and that’s they’re all the things that I think you should do instead.
And so if that, if you have been on the fence for a while, doors are opening soon to superhero marketing, which is my signature membership to help you to have the biggest growth with the least amount of time and effort in your business, go and join yourself to the waitlist, because it is the first time that it is opened in a little while, and I’m so excited to bring this to you.
Yeah, any questions, let me know. But that’s it, guys, and I hope to see you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show.
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 at @hayleykosborne over on Instagram and share this post with your audience so they can get learning too. Sharing is caring. If you want more, head over to hayleyosborne.com/category/podcast/ for today’s show notes and links. Catch you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show.
