Ep 16. 5 Signs your marketing strategy wasn’t made for Introverts

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If your marketing feels like you’re trying to squeeze into someone else’s clothes that are probably the wrong size. There’s a good reason for that and it’s probably not what you think.

So today we’re gonna dive into something I see all the time, which is amazing introverts following marketing advice that just wasn’t designed for how our brains work.

And then beating yourself up when it doesn’t feel natural or sustainable.

If you’re new here, hello, and a very warm welcome to Quiet Confidence with myself, Anita Popat. This podcast is all about helping introverted entrepreneurs market themselves without changing who they are.

And today I am gonna give you five clear signs that your marketing strategy might be the wrong fit for your personality type.

And trust me, once you spot these, everything starts to make so much more sense.

Sign number one is that you feel like you’re performing every time you show up.

Now, this is a big one because if every post feels like you’re putting on a character or you find yourself thinking, “I need to be more energetic”, or “Should I sound more excited about this”, then that’s your first red flag.

I had a client once who told me that she had to give herself a pep talk every time she went to post on LinkedIn.

She’d literally stand in front of the mirror and try and psych herself up to be more on in inverted commas. And that’s not marketing, that’s acting.

Real marketing should feel like having a conversation with someone that you actually want to talk to. And if it feels performative, you’re probably following advice that wasn’t designed for someone with your personality.

Sign number two is that you’re constantly exhausted by your marketing activities.

Now, don’t get me wrong all business activities take some energy, but your marketing shouldn’t leave you feeling completely drained every single time.

It should energize you, and you should feel excited to share it.

So if posting on social media feels like you’re running a marathon, or if you go to networking events and then you need like three days to recover, or if content literally feels like pulling teeth, then that’s a sign that you’re doing things in a way that works against your natural energy.

And I know this feeling personally because a few years ago I invested in a coach who’s entire strategy was built around sending 50 cold DM’s a day, yeah, 50 to complete strangers.

I obviously didn’t know that was gonna be the strategy when I signed up to the course, but I was tempted by all the shiny testimonials as you do.

And it felt horrible because his whole strategy was to spend hours messaging people saying, how’s your day going? in a view to turn it into a sales message, and it just felt really icky.

It literally went against everything I believe in about building genuine relationships and surprise, surprise. It didn’t work. And I’m not saying don’t send DMs. There’s a way to do it without spamming people.

They came from a call center environment, so they were used to doing that, but it wasn’t for me. I tried it for a day or two, and then I was like, nah, I’m not doing this. There’s a better way to use DMs.

Sign number three is you’re trying to be everywhere at once.

So this is the classic extrovert designed advice you need to be on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest…just no.

You know by now as introverts, we do our best work when we go deep into one area, rather than spreading ourselves thin.

So if you’re trying to maintain a presence on five different platforms, and then feel like you’re failing at all of them, that’s not a you problem, that’s a strategy problem.

Choose one or two platforms that your sweet spot clients are, but also where you like to hang out as well and focus on those.

Sign number four is that you are measuring success by extrovert metrics.

So likes, comments, shares, follower count. These are all good metrics, but they’re not the only ones that matter.

And for as introverts, they’re often not even the most important ones because I’ve worked with clients who’ve had relatively small followings, but they were consistently booked out because they focused on building deeper relationships with the right people.

And I’ve also seen the other side. I’ve seen people with thousands of followers struggle to get clients because they were so focused on the vanity metrics.

So huge audiences of people who weren’t really their ideal clients.

So if you’re beating yourself up because you’re not getting hundreds of likes or comments, you might be measuring the wrong things.

I want you to focus more on the quality of the connections rather than the quantity that you’ve got.

And then sign number five. The advice you’re following assumes that you love being the center of attention.

So just go live and speak from the heart, or share your behind the scenes constantly, or be vulnerable and open about everything. This kind of advice makes us introverts want to hide under a blanket.

And honestly, that’s a completely normal response ’cause I was like that too.

But there’s plenty of ways to build trust and connection that don’t require you to broadcast every detail of your life or feel comfortable being the center of attention.

The best marketing strategies for introverts work with our preference for meaningful one-to-one connections rather than trying to command the room.

So here’s what I want you to do. Go through all of these five signs and honestly assess where you are right now. You don’t have to tick all five boxes to know that your current approach might not be the best fit.

Even recognizing one or two of these patterns is enough to start questioning whether you need a different approach. You can start looking for strategies that actually work with your personality instead of against it.

Because what you should be striving for is a marketing strategy that was actually designed for how you think, process and connect with people.

And I truly believe that Introverts are naturally good marketers because of our natural personality traits.

So give yourself permission to stop trying to fit into marketing strategies that weren’t made for you and recognize that your thoughtful way of connecting and approaching things has value.

And there absolutely is a way to market yourself that feels like coming home instead of putting on a costume.

We just need to find out what that looks like. As always, thank you so much for listening.

If you did enjoy this episode, I would love it if you could leave a review or a rating wherever you listen to your podcast so that I can help more introverted entrepreneurs embrace their quiet confidence and make a loud impact with their work.

Thank you so much, and I will see you next time.