5 Marketing Moves That Actually Work (When You'd Rather Do Literally Anything Else)
You Don't Hate Marketing. You Hate How It Feels.
Let me guess: You've got the browser tab open. The caption is half-written. And that familiar knot in your stomach that whispers, Who am I to say this? What if no one cares?
Yeah. I know that feeling.
Here's what I've learned after coaching dozens of smart, capable entrepreneurs who swore they were "bad at marketing": They weren't bad at it. They were dealing with visibility blocks, imposter syndrome, and emotional resistance that made every post feel like walking onto a stage naked.
So let's try something different. No pressure. No performative nonsense. Just five things that actually move the needle — especially if you've tried everything and still can't seem to stick with it.
1. Stop Trying to Be Everywhere (Seriously, Just Stop)
You know what kills most people's marketing? Trying to post on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, and a blog while also sending newsletters and maybe starting a podcast because someone said you should.
It's exhausting just reading that sentence.
Here's the truth: You don't need seven platforms. You need one that doesn't trigger your fear of being seen every time you log in.
My client Haley picked Instagram. Just Instagram. Within six weeks, her practice was fully booked. Not because she had some magical strategy — because she finally had enough mental space to actually show up without the strategy freeze that comes from doing too much at once.
Pick one offer. One audience. One platform. Give it 90 days before you even think about adding anything else.
What this really addresses: When you're dealing with imposter syndrome, spreading yourself thin makes every symptom worse. Simplifying isn't just a smart strategy — it's how you get over imposter syndrome one small step at a time.
2. Create One Thing People Can Count On
Marketing doesn't mean posting every day. It means showing up predictably.
Think about it: You don't follow people because they post constantly. You follow them because you know what to expect and when to expect it.
My client, Susan, started sending a short Friday email she called From the Desk of Susan. That's it. One email. Every Friday. Within a few months, her referrals tripled because people started waiting for her message.
Pick your anchor: A weekly newsletter. A Monday morning post. A monthly blog. Whatever feels doable. Then protect it like you'd protect coffee with a friend — because that's essentially what it becomes.
The mindset shift: This is about building a founder mindset that values consistency over perfection. Your audience doesn't need more from you — they need to know when you'll show up.
3. Talk to Them, Not at Them
Every time you sit down to create content, ask yourself: How does this actually help someone today?
Not "How does this make me look smart?" or "Does this prove I know my stuff?" Just: Is this useful?
My client JoAnna had been sharing tips about her process for months. Crickets. Then she posted one video that started with, "Here's what finally worked when I was stuck exactly where you are."
1,000 views. Two new clients. All because she stopped trying to impress people and started trying to help them.
When you make it about service instead of self-promotion, something shifts. The pressure lifts. And ironically? That's when people actually listen.
Why this matters: Overcoming self-doubt in business gets easier when you focus outward. Service replaces self-consciousness. An abundance mindset replaces the scarcity that keeps you hiding.
4. Think Smaller (No, Smaller Than That)
Big goals are inspiring. They're also paralyzing.
"Post every day" sounds great until Day 3 when you're staring at a blank screen, wondering what you could possibly have to say that hasn't been said a million times already.
My client Tina had a 42-item marketing to-do list. (Yes, forty-two.) So we replaced it with three tiny daily actions:
Leave one thoughtful comment
Send one genuine DM
Share one quick insight
Three weeks later, her engagement doubled. Not because she did more — because she finally did something consistently.
Small wins stack. And they tell your brain, "Hey, this isn't scary. We can do this."
What mental blocks look like: That voice saying you need to do it all perfectly? That's not ambition. That's often trauma blocks to success dressed up as high standards. Success without burnout starts with doing less, not more.
5. Deal With the Real Reason You're Stuck
Here's the uncomfortable truth: Sometimes the problem isn't your strategy. It's that your nervous system hits the panic button every time you think about being visible.
My client Patricia had everything figured out — great offer, clear message, solid plan. But every time she went to hit "post," she'd freeze. Or overthink. Or suddenly remember 47 other things she needed to do first.
Sound familiar?
Once we worked through why visibility felt so threatening to her, everything changed. Not because her strategy got better — because she finally felt safe enough to actually use it. Two weeks later, she signed two new clients.
You can't think your way out of a nervous system response. But you can learn to work with it instead of against it.
The deeper work: This is where entrepreneur mindset coaching goes beyond tactics. When you address the emotional resistance in business — the actual fear of being seen, not just the logistics — everything else gets easier. That's the kind of success mindset work that sticks.
The Bottom Line
Marketing doesn't have to feel like pulling teeth. Start with these five things:
Simplify your focus (and quiet the strategy freeze)
Show up predictably (even when imposter syndrome shows up too)
Make it helpful, not impressive (abundance over scarcity)
Celebrate tiny wins (rewire your nervous system response)
Address what's really stopping you (the visibility blocks no one talks about)
That's it. That's the foundation.
As a business life coach, I've seen how money mindset coaching and confidence coaching for women entrepreneurs transform when we stop treating marketing as a performance and start treating it as a practice. One that you can actually sustain.
Want to see how these five moves turn into an actual system you'll use? Check out my next post: How to Build a Marketing System You'll Actually Stick With (even when pricing panic or self-doubt try to derail you).
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If you secretly dread marketing or maybe
you just outright hate it, you're not
broken. And I'm going to prove it to you
today because there's actually five
marketing moves that work really, really
well for entrepreneurs who hate selling
themselves. and they're a lot simpler
than all of the stuff that you've been
filling your brain and possibly your
business with. These are the same
strategies that I use with my private
clients to help book out their calendars
and they do it without challenges and
30-day email sequences and dancing reels
and burnout to be quite honest. So
during this video, you're going to
discover the one marketing simplifier
that's going to double your inquiries
fast.
A two sentence post that can replace
hours of content planning.
The micro habit that rebuilds
consistency in under 10 minutes a day.
Why You're Not Broken: Overcoming Self-Doubt
So, I've been coaching small businesses
for a few years now, and many of the
people that I work with have spent a ton
of money on every course, every um coach
out there, all the freebies.
They've listened to all the gurus, and
they know exactly what to post. But
every time they sit down to do it, they
freeze. And that's when I realized that
the problem wasn't strategy. So I
stripped marketing back to its
essentials. I have five calm, easy,
repeatable moves that I recommend to my
clients. And suddenly even the most
introverted ones and I work with a lot
of therapists and they're really
introverted sometimes, but even they
were starting to land new clients. And
those are the things I'm going to go
ahead and walk you through right now
because I want you to get traction. So
Move 1: Shrink the Playing Field: Focus on Simplicity
move number one, I want you to shrink
the playing field. Stop trying to market
everywhere. Stop trying to be everything
to everyone.
You need to pick one offer, one
audience, and one platform to market to
for the next 90 days. Here's the thing.
If you're too many places, if you're
talking to too many people, you get lost
in the blur. People don't remember you.
They don't have a a hook in their brain
to hold on to you. I want you to do this
for your marketing.
I want you to create that picture in
someone's brain, but we're going to pick
one audience,
that one ideal client that we're going
to talk to. We're going to pick one
offer
because you know what science shows?
Science shows that you get confusion.
You get overwhelmed when you have too
many choices. You get what's called
choice fatigue. But I want you to start
with one, right? Because one is easy.
You can have the others in the
background, but we're only going to
promote one.
And then you're going to pick one
platform. Next thing I want you to do,
Move 2: Build a Weekly Anchor: Establishing Consistency
move number two, I want you to build one
weekly anchor. This is where we're
getting into that habit, that
consistency.
We're going to choose one single weekly
habit that guarantees visibility,
something where people are going to know
that you're going to be there no matter
what.
Um, and as since you're just beginning
this, uh, unless you've already have a
weekly habit, um, I want you just to
pick one.
Now, as you've got that one and you're
getting it mastered, you can start to
layer. So, pick something that you can
feel confident in doing regularly. Um,
I've got a client, uh, Susan, and we did
this, and the fact is is that her
referrals have tripled because her
audience knows that she's going to be
there. They know that every Friday
they're going to open up their email and
they're going to find a tip and it's
going to be something that they can
usually use. So, predictability is going
to beat frequency. She's just doing the
one email, but her audience is there and
they're absorbing it. So, you've got
your one audience,
your one offer, your one platform. Now,
pick one thing to do on it on that you
know that you'll do every week. Little
or big, you can always build on it.
Move number three,
Move 3: Make It About Them, Not You: Customer-Centric Marketing
always make it about them and not you.
This one can be really hard to do
because we are taught that we need to be
a personal brand. We need to show the
world who we are and we need to make
sure people know how we're doing and how
our life is going. Instead, your content
needs to be about your reader, your
listener, your watcher. You need to
answer the question, how does this help
my reader right now? Is it a tip that
they can use? Is it a mindset shift?
Is it a different uh way to approach
something that they'd never considered
before?
Is it a product or a promotion,
something that you are putting out there
that they can use?
Maybe it's just something that
they need to know about themselves,
like they hate marketing. And it's okay.
When you walk into
something with in a with a service
mindset instead of is this going to get
me clients? How is this going to end up
paying my bill?
Um there's just a different heart about
it.
and you can be less self-conscious. But
what you really care about is are these
moves going to help you, right? And
that's why I can be here and be calm and
comfortable
because I know what really matters
is the results you're going to get. Move
Move 4: Stack Micro Wins: Achieving Small Successes
number four, speaking of results, I want
you to stack those micro wins. I want
you to forget the giant goals like
post every day. Um, you know, what
whatever your weekly thing is, I want
you to celebrate each step along the
way, celebrating the fact that she got
it into her email and wrote the email
and then that she did send it. And so,
there's a number of different wins
associated
with just sending that email. So, we've
got to learn to celebrate the little
things and then start noticing those
patterns of when we do get stuck. Don't
get caught up in only big wins. Those
little wins make it so much easier to
create momentum because you get that
little dopamine hit each time. There's
even a um
what is it? There's a study, there's a a
course that I took that says those micro
wins instead of just going, "Yay, I did
it." They recommend you, you're like, "I
did it. I moved everything over and I
consulted chat GPT. Yay, I did that."
Just really get into it. Get it
physical. Make it loud.
And your body remembers that so that the
next time there's something else.
Your body goes, "Oh, I'm gonna get to
celebrate."
Your brain likes that. Your body likes
that. So, be silly. It's okay.
Especially if you work at home by
yourself.
Why not? Four moves. Great. I know all
Why You Still Can't Do It: Identifying Barriers
these. And I still freeze. I still can't
do it. I still hate this marketing
stuff. And this is where I would say
that I spend most of my time as a coach
because this is the part people don't
talk about. You can have the best
strategy in the world and not use it.
It's not because you're lazy, but
instead it's your brain doing its job.
Your brain's job is to protect you.
It is not worried about you being
successful. It wants to make that you're
safe. Safe from judgment, safe from
rejection, safe from failure, safe from
success.
Visibility can feel like a risk. And so
your brain moves in and just hits the
brakes a little bit and says, "Yeah,
we're not going to do that." And that's
when you get that procrastination, that
feeling in your stomach that's like,
"Gh, I just can't do this." Strategy
sets your direction.
But you have to feel safe
for it to be consistent.
Right?
So, those are the five moves that
The 5 Moves That Finally Make Marketing Work for You: Effective Strategies
finally make marketing work, even if
you've hated it until now.
And so what I want you to do is if this
is clicking for you, the next step is
going to be learning how to turn those
calm marketing moves into a repeatable
visibility system that's going to grow
with you. Um, but you want to watch the
next video.
