To me, marketing is an art. It’s fun and should be full of personality, inspiration, creativity and a process that feels like a passion project! In this episode of The Hayley Osborne Show, I am chatting all about infusing creativity and artistry into your marketing, making them more engaging and awesome for both you and your audience.

I share some simple effective ways to transform your marketing from a boring routine task into something that feels dynamic, fresh, and meaningful.

It’s time to get creative while going back to basics on how to turn your marketing into something that feels like art, not work!


SUMMARY

0:00:01 – Episode introduction and podcast milestone celebration (10,500 downloads)

0:02:39 – Discussion about making marketing feel like art, not work

0:10:38 – First strategy: Start with your “why”

0:19:13 – Second strategy: Visual storytelling and brand aesthetics

0:25:46 – Third strategy: Interactive experiences and audience engagement

0:30:00 – Importance of infusing personality into content

0:35:00 – Focusing on emotions over features and benefits

0:40:00 – Staying consistent while evolving in marketing approach

0:45:00 – Closing thoughts and call to action to subscribe to the podcast

Hayley Osborne

Hi and welcome back to another episode of my awesome podcast. Thanks for tuning in today, and if you follow me on social media, you would have seen that this podcast now has 10,500 downloads. 500 almost 500 Yeah, 10 and a half k of downloads. I’m pretty stoked, actually. And I like to be fair; I don’t have time to always check the stats . Now they capture all my analytics every week. I’m not the one that does it, though, so I check in and out all the time, and I haven’t for a little bit, because I’ve been busy, you know, living my life.

And I checked and I could not believe my eyes there were. I kind of had to rub them a little bit because I was like, oh my gosh, okay, 10, over 10,000 downloads, this kind of has to be celebrated. So, you know, I announced it on social media, and it feels good like it feels like a lot of hard work has paid off, and you guys are listening, and you’re obviously loving it, because you’re coming back for more. So thank you so much. This is episode 159 and over the last few episodes, I’ve talked about different things and ways and feelings that you can start to add into your marketing. So for two episodes, I spoke about how to sort of evoke that curiosity with your audience.

In the last episode, I spoke about how to introduce, like, that luxury VIP experience into your marketing funnel. And this week I wanted to talk about it because it can get quite icky. And, you know, marketing can start to feel like you’re just falling into selling. And that’s not what it should be, right? It should be like, evoke those feelings of why you started your business in the first place, that passion, and, you know, dedication, commitment, like all the things.

And you know, I think after a while that you’ve been in business, and depending on where you’re at with your business, you might start to resent it. And I wanted to talk about today how to manage your marketing, to feel like art and not work, because that feeling like art kind of evokes a lot of creativity and like love and just thinking outside the box.

And that’s what I meant today. So we’re kind of following this little pattern of, like, helping you to be able to think about your marketing differently, and coming up with ways to be able to do things differently, because that there is a sea of sameness at the moment, and I think it’s only going to get worse just using, you know, AI and everything like that. And I think it’s a beautiful tool to be able to research, but you know, the best ideas, and my best ideas come from inside my head, and I want you to start thinking the same.

So treat your marketing like art as opposed to like work, because when it feels like work, it becomes disconnected, and you become disconnected from your marketing, and you become disconnected from your brand. And that sucks. So to paint a picture, if you’re listening to me in your ears at the moment, I’ve bought this beautiful new hat. It’s like a sort of a suede, like a velvety, kind of a hat, and it’s like a, I don’t know, a neutral kind of cream color.

It’s like a leather band around it. It’s a wide brim with a bit of an indent at the top. I hope you’re painting that picture. And I’m wearing it at the moment, because I’m in love with this hat, and it’s like the perfect fit. And I thought, yep, I’m going to wear it for a podcast episode. So here we are. Got my gorgeous hat on. My hair is down. It’s very curly right now. That is a byproduct of just having washed it. So the day of washing it is always at its best Kels.

So I don’t know if any of you have curly hair. Hair, and you’re listening to this podcast episode, but like, send me a DM if you agree that the day of washing your hair is always the best for cows, not straight away. It’s like a layered approach with curly hair. And I find it hilarious that the amount of people that actually ask me what products I use in my hair. I know we’re digressing, but I feel like I need to talk about this. Maybe this is another episode.

There are so many people that I get asked, and to be honest, I don’t use the fanciest products at all. I use lots of different products at once, and it’s like a layered approach over a couple of hours. It’s time consuming. Is all hell. But, you know, I do have extremely curly hair, and so it might not look like super fancy at the moment. It’s a bit frizzy, but anyway, whatever. So that is painting the picture of where I’m at right now, feet up in my office with my mic recording this episode for you, because I wanted to lean into that feeling like art and not like work, because this podcast is essentially your first taste of what you get when you work with me, right?

And so this is my form of marketing, and it does have to feel easy. It has to feel like, oh. It has to be like, let me be creative. I love what I do, and I want that to shine through my voice and shine through my teachings and how I help you, because you get what you get with me. There’s no gray area and how I show up in my podcast and on my socials, and if you’re part of my beautiful email newsletter every single week, you’ll know that I’m pretty authentic the way I show up, and I want you to know that, and I want you to be able to feel that and learn something.

And if you get that one takeaway, like today, or, you know, the curiosity episode, or the luxury VIP episode, start to add these beautiful things into your marketing, because it’s not just linear. There’s lots of different ways to do things, and you’ve got to figure out what feels right, and you’ve got to be able to differentiate yourself from the rest of the noise out there. It is a lot, but I feel like with our never ending to do list and everything like that, we’re always feeling like we should be posting on socials, we should be sending emails, we should be creating content, and it can start to feel like just another task that we have to do every single week.

But what if we could make it feel more like us, like a passion project, like the way that you know what got us? What were those feelings when you wanted to start your business and let’s strip it all the way back and bring it back to basics, rather than it feeling like a chore, rather than it feeling really hard. And the word, you know, marketing, the words strategy, the word sales, like all those words, I know that they sound overwhelming and they sound confusing and they can be a little bit icky, but I guarantee you like, if you listen back to some of my podcast episodes, you’ll start to understand that why I’m talking about it feeling like art, and this was the most beautiful way to continue on the last couple of series of episodes.

So I want to talk about different ways that you can infuse that creativity back into your marketing. Because, to be honest, like I am, I have been feeling over, not now, and you’ll start to see this, which is why I’m talking about this. You start to see me showing up a little bit differently, because I feel like I went through a bit of a dip, and now I feel like I have come out the other end, and I’ve got a little bit more clarity and a bit more of a spring in my step, and I am loving showing up, so you’re going to see a lot more of that that I have planned. So I’ve been doing heaps of work in the background on my business. I have a new coach, which is really cool, and that’s probably the reason why I just knew that I was way too close to my business.

And now for me, it’s starting to feel a lot more creative, a lot more like a lot less like work, which is how it should feel, right? Which is why I started my business in the first place. Okay, so I think number one is why. So that’s, you know, why I started my business in the first place, but I want you to think about why you started your business in the first place.

So start with your why. Everything starts with your why. And I think if you can remember this and go back to basics, the way that you market your business should no longer feel like work, especially because it becomes, then an opportunity for you to share your story, reshare your story, like you did in the beginning. And you know, showcase that passion that you have now more than ever, that you’re a bit more in your business, and if you’re just starting out, like, dig into what that feels like, what that passion is.

Feels like, if you are well into hitting the ground running, like, think back way back when, when you started, what? What was that? What did that feel like, and what did you want to share with the world? I bet you wanted to scream it from the rooftops and just reach as many people as possible. So have a think about your why. What made you start your business in the first place? And you know, was it, what was the personal story behind it? Was there one like it, what was that need or desire to solve that problem?

Did you figure out there was a gap in the market you could make a different impact to what others were doing, and tap into that energy and let that be the fuel to your marketing efforts. That’s it. It’s such a powerful place to be the driver. And I think every piece of content that you create, I’m talking like out. I’m talking social media, but even beyond that. It should reflect that passion and that initial why, okay, and I think when you’re a marketing aligns, when your marketing aligns with your purpose and your passion, it becomes like an expression.

It becomes like, ah, it becomes a reflection of who you are and why you are doing what you do now, I am not by any means saying, like, you need to be, like, super flamboyant and creative, and, you know, very eccentric and like, all the things. That’s not what I’m saying. But I’m saying, like, what is that? What is that for you? Okay, because what it means for me is something different to what it means for you. So start with your why, and let that guide you to reignite what that looks like for you. The second one I wanted to talk about is storytelling.

Okay, so tell a story. Marketing that feels like art tells a story, and it tells a great story. And what stories do is capture attention. It creates an emotion within whoever’s watching you. And also it creates a connection. Now, the connection is the piece that you want to be able to receive, all right, because everything starts with connection. When you can connect with your audience. You know they are more likely to continue to want to follow you in your world. Now I’m not even talking about sales, but I’m talking about connection because a connection is the thing that happens before the sale happens.

Okay? And it’s also a way to be able to bring your business to life and talk about all the things. Okay, so storytelling is one way that you can create such a beautiful path to be able to educate your audience as to who you are, what you do, why you do it, like telling that beautiful story. And you know you might be thinking, oh, Hayley, my story is so boring. No one wants to hear that I am telling you. Now. I’ve said this before.

Everyone’s really nosy. People are nosy, and humans buy from humans, so I don’t care how boring you think your story is, like, why did you start? I think that you would be very surprised when you start showing up and telling that story as to people’s reactions. Okay, my story, how I started my business, I think, is like, Oh, well, it’s not that special. But every time I tell it? Everyone’s like, wow, and I think no, not well, but you know it’s true. So you know, do yourself a favor and step out of your comfort zone and tell your story as to why you started your business, and if it is for the sheer fact that you wanted to make more money.

Because let’s be honest, freedom and more income is one of the two biggest drivers of why we start our businesses. Then just say, say that, I think call a spade a spade. And you know, how are you doing that? So I think, you know, if you are a health brand, a chiropractor, a physio, like, how do you help your customers? How do you help the people that come through the door to be better, highlighting the experience that they have when they walk through the door, not just focusing on the services that you provide?

How do they feel when they leave? Okay, stories humanize brands, and that’s just the way it is when it is when it comes to marketing and brand building and all the things that I’m so passionate about. But they do stories humanize brands, and they help your audience to be able to connect with you and relate with you on a much deeper level. And it is really beautiful. And so I think when you can weave that story, that narrative into your marketing.

So I think you’re turning something that is salesy and transactional into something that is way more meaningful and can have way more impact with those that you want it to. So do the work, dig in and tell your story. It’s a funny story. I was watching football on the weekend, and the on TV, and my team won, and the other team really tanked hard, and they were the coach had an interview after the match, and he came on and he said, you know, it’s because, like, we need to go back and we need to do the work. We need to put in the work to be able to, you know, show up the way that we want to.

And so it’s the same in business, you know, you might see people like showing up feels so easy and effortless, and their storytelling, and they’re killing it, and there, you know, being really human, and all the things, because they’ve done the work this stuff, I was going to say this shit doesn’t come easy.

It doesn’t come easy. So you have to do the work, put it in to be able to tell your story, so it shows up effortlessly, and honestly, people connect with what I am telling you, and if you think otherwise, what have you got to lose? Give it a go, send me a message and tell me I’m right. Okay, moving on. Third, your visuals should create a mood. Okay, so there’s two things here. There’s your writing and how your visuals are. Now, I think that is the thing that stops people from scrolling first, and then if it’s good enough, and if your hook is good enough, they’ll read more.

Okay, visuals play a massive role in marketing to be able to then make it feel like art. So here we’re actually dipping into that. And I think instead of just posting a photo or using a template from Canva, have a good think about how your brand fits, and is your brand aligned to how you are showing up, storytelling? Is it physically, the look and feel, how you show up? And if it’s not, it might be time to have that looked at, and that’s where a social media strategy can come into play, which is something that I do, and I do find a lot of like Allied Health brands in particular, have a lot of trouble with the visual element of how they show up.

And I’m not saying all, but there’s work to be done in this space. So much work where you are able to make creative brands, I think it comes a lot easier, okay, but the way that you know any service-based brand shows up is a teeny bit harder to be able to create those engaging visuals and make it feel like you got to do the work. You’ve got to have all your fonts, you know, the same and laid out.

You’ve got to have your colors laid out. You’ve got to have that look and feel and that then it makes the brand feel like you, and that brand recognition then becomes strong, okay? Whereas, if you’ve got your fonts all over the place, your colors are always different, and that imagery is always different, how is somebody supposed to connect the dots that are just getting to know you in your world, it’s really hard, and so I think, like color, texture, composition, the way that you show up, geometrics, all that sort of stuff, really tells a visual language to in your marketing and communicating your message Before anyone even clicks on see more.

Okay, so think beyond the basic templates in Canva and create something that is unique to your brand. It’s really important because the sea of sameness is so boring and setting yourself apart and different from everybody else can only be uniquely you. So come up with something that is not templatey, that speaks to you.

Yes, it is more work, but to have the wins, you have to do the work. So I think if your brand is all about you know, you’re a massage therapist, and your brand is all about serenity and peace. You know you might want to be using soft, calm tones that are natural, that are more minimal in the way that your design elements kind of connect. And if your brand is high energy, like you are at a gym, for example. So don’t be afraid to use, like, really bold colors and dynamic layouts, and your visuals should feel really bold.

And you know, like your story belongs, and it’s just not just an advertisement, which I think that’s how we get we revert to advertising and sales in our captions and our creative when we haven’t done the work. Because that is the fallback, right? That is the panic posting shit I haven’t posted in a week. That is an easy win. I came for a massage today that never, ever sells, or, let’s, you know, do our, I don’t know, kickboxing class, and it starts at 530 guys, boring, boring, boring. That does not sell and that does not you . We’re not using visuals in any way to create any kind of mood with that kind of the way that you show up in that way.

So I think it’s important to be able to show up, be different, and really think beyond classic templates and classic words. The next one I want to talk about is and some of you might roll your eyes at this, and some of you might be okay with it, but using your personality in your content and infusing it into your content. So I think marketing is much more engaging when it reflects who you are. I don’t care if you’ve got 20 staff, if I had 20 staff, and I have a few staff, I still speak in the first person, I don’t say we.

And I think infusing your personality into your content is everything. I think if you’re quirky and fun or a little bit edgy, let that shine through your posts. If you are quiet or a little bit more reserved, let that shine through your post. Call a spade a spade, right? That wins hearts everywhere, rather than just being generic. If you feel like, oh, I don’t have the personality that’s like, super quirky and out there and blah, blah, blah, to show up, that’s okay, but say that and lean into who you are. And I think the more that you do that you show up with confidence, regardless that the person and the brand that you are meant to be starts to evolve, and that’s what you morph into.

But you don’t become confident by waiting on the sidelines and thinking, No, I’m too shy. I’m too with this. I am sure you will be confident by showing up. All right. So you know, in another like, for another example, if you want to, if you are the jokester, incorporate that in your content and make it feel really authentic. I think every single time, hands down, when marketing comes from a real person, not just a brand, it becomes so much more relatable and so much more enjoyable for your audience to consume. Now we’re seeing across the board, massive brands doing this.

Okay? Huge brands do this. Nike does this. Who else have I seen recently do this? I have a mental blank, because I’m just, you know, I’ve got some top points here, but so many brands are going back to adding beautiful personalities into their content. Now, how do big brands do? They get brand ambassadors to do that. Okay, but those brand ambassadors, be they big basketball players or whatever, fit the same energy as the brand. It is aligned.

So think about how that looks for you. The next one I want to talk about, to be able to manage your marketing and make it feel like art and not work, is emotion, alright? So focusing on emotion and not just features and benefits, so everyone connects with emotions, not just the features. And I think instead of solely focusing on features, because no one cares that if, if such and such as 10 pages, it lasts for an hour, you know, you can also catch me on Voxer or this and that. I think no one gives a shit about that.

We want, we want to know how it makes people feel. All right. This stuff is hard to do, but if you are selling a wellness service, for example, don’t just talk about the specific service itself. Okay? It’s a 60-minute massage. You know, you can come into my rooms this and that. I think, instead, it makes you feel relaxed. It makes you feel rejuvenated. It makes you feel like you’re ready to. Take on the world. The emotional payoff is what will resonate with your audience, and it will make marketing feel more meaningful. And you know, we’re peeling it back to make it feel like art and not work. And I think that marketing speaks to emotions, relaxed, rejuvenated, you know, like you’re ready to take on the world. It’s not just selling.

It’s an invitation to your audience to be able to experience something uniquely special, all right? And when you start to use those types of words consistently in your marketing, that’s where the sweet spot is, okay? That is what we call the chef’s kiss, and it’s beautiful. The next one I want to talk about is interactive experiences. Okay, so how can you make your audience feel like they are part of this experience? And it’s not just about telling them something, it’s about engaging with them in a way that makes it feel personal and like you are speaking to them.

So you know, if you haven’t done the obvious, like run a poll or a quiz on your Instagram Stories, inviting your audience to be able to share their thoughts in your comments, going live, asking questions in emails to get a response. Oh my gosh, I did this the other week. I asked my audience, my email list, to reply. I can’t remember what I asked them, but I was dumbfounded . I don’t know about 10, maybe more people replied to my email. And I was like, wow, that’s cool. I’m going to start doing that more, because it shocked me. So if you haven’t actually asked your email, it is to reply to your email in a clever way, see if you can weave that into your content. Okay? And I’m trying to do that with some of my clients now.

Helping them to be able to get responses from their audience from their email is because it’s a warm audience, guys, so use it and treat it like that, because these people that have signed up to your email list actually want to hear from you. And if you are not nurturing them every week or every fortnight, or whatever your frequency is, it’s kind of like spamming in reverse. So make sure that you are if they sign up to the email list, send them an email. It’s a beautiful thing. And I think that when you start doing it, and you engage in that way, it builds such a lovely connection with your audience. And, you know, it makes it come alive. It makes people come alive.

It makes people respond to you. And then there’s this, there’s this two-way street, and that is so good. The next thing I want to talk about is, you know, stay consistent, but evolve, okay? And I was going to make that the podcast episode title, but I think, you know, art doesn’t stay the same. It evolves over time. It’s the same with marketing. So you should remain consistent in your messaging, but you should always be open to evolving and to trying new things, and that’s what I’m going to be doing as I show up now.

And I love that. I love it. I love how we as business leaders can and I’m just like pulling my hat down. We’re wearing the hat. We’re the boss. We decide who we are, how we show up, what we do, what services we provide, like how it makes us feel, and if we don’t like it, don’t do it. It’s as simple as that. So stay consistent, but evolve. And I think if you can keep pushing those creative limits, sky’s the limit, right? And if you think, oh, Hayley, I’m not creative, speak to someone that can help you to get more creative, or speak to someone who can extract that out of you and give you ways that work with you to be able to help you be more creative.

Okay, and plugging it into AI is not the answer, because AI is giving other people the same answers. So don’t do that, but experiment with new tools to help you, like Canvas, a great one, but lots of people use Canva. So like I said, don’t template stuff. Think outside the box. And I think thinking about new formats and mediums to be able to show up, I think, is beautiful and a really nice way to be able to connect and reconnect with your audience. That shows that you are evolving. Right? It’s important to meet people where they’re at on their journey of working with you, but I think for you to be able to continue to evolve in your business, I think be consistent, but evolve. And when you are consistent, that’s what happens.

Okay, you show up, you’re like, oh, I like that. Now. I don’t really like doing that so much, or I don’t really like that service, or that service just isn’t working, and you show up and you morph and you change, or you get a heap of questions about the same thing over and over and over, and you’re like, this could be a thing. What if I built this instead? And that’s what being consistent helps you to be able to achieve, is to be able to evolve. So I think so. While you evolve, make sure that your core message stays true, your why? Why’d you start the business in the first place? Because that will answer a lot of questions and help you decide whether you go left or right, but make sure that you are, you know, true to your brand.

And I think that when you can consistently show up with fresh, creative, awesome ideas. Your audience will really look forward to your next piece of marketing, your next piece of content, the next way that you show up, what’s she going to do next? So there you have it, guys, there are a few ways there to be able to help you to manage your marketing, to feel like art and not work. I think when you can infuse your passion, your creativity and your personality into how you show up in your marketing, how you show up in your campaigns, it starts to become rewarding. If you’re a one-man band, like most small businesses are, then you have to do this, because it’s the little things, right, the little things that reward us the most, the little things that keep us inspired.

And I think you know, remember that this, this space, should never feel like a chore, and if it does, then you need to reevaluate what it is that you’re doing and how you’re showing up. But it is such an opportunity to be able to share your story, share your why, share your values, and share your vision in a way that is going to connect with other people, and, you know, evoke that human experience, because humans buy from humans, and I think when you can let all those pennies drop, the possibilities for your marketing are endless. But you have to do the work, guys, and that’s it. That’s all I wanted to talk about.

So thanks for tuning in today. Let your marketing feel like art and not like work. And if you haven’t subscribed already, please subscribe to the podcast. I think it is. It’s awesome to see so many people subscribing. And you know, if you want to send me a DM, if you’ve loved this episode, just flick me a message on Instagram or LinkedIn or Facebook. I am always there. Instagram’s where I obviously hang out the most. Anyway, Have a beautiful day, a beautiful rest of the day, and I’ll see you next week. Bye. 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 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 you.