Authenticity: The Secret Ingredient to Marketing Success

In this episode I'm joined by Libby Langley to discuss being authentic in your marketing and why it's so important.

So tune in and discover:

• Why being authentic in your marketing is ESSENTIAL to your success in marketing (even if you don't know what it is).
• What authenticity in marketing is - and what it looks like.
• Where you can do your best marketing (and it doesn't have to be social media if you don't want it to be).
• How Libby would react if someone sent her a cucumber in the post.
• The simple first step you need to take BEFORE even considering marketing yourself - and which most HR Consultants miss out (to their detriment).

And much, much more.

So tune in now because this could be an EXTREMELY eye-opening episode for you.

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1 - Take this free quiz to understand why you aren't getting the leads and clients you need.

2 - Get a copy of my book, “How to Land Your Dream Client” - to discover how to get control of your HR Consultancy.

3 - Become my next Case Study Client - Work with me 1 on 1 to earn £70K and above.

Transcript

Nick Poninski: Hello there and welcome back to another episode of Marketing Made Easy for HR Consultants with Nick Pineski.

Nick Poninski: Today we are very lucky. We have got Libby Langley with us and she is going to be talking about how we feel about marketing. Libby, hello. Yeah,…

Libby Langley: Hi. Thank you for having me here,…

Libby Langley: Yeah,…

Nick Poninski: no worries. Thank you for joining me. Do you want to just give yourself a quick introduction so people know who you are and why it's so good to have you on the show?

Libby Langley: of course. hi everyone. I'm Libby Langley. I'm a business coach and have been for 13 years. my background is in social media and digital marketing. I've been doing that since 2009. I first taught social media courses. So that's why I'm here to talk about marketing. My focus now is about growing your business without any kind of hustle and in making life easier, happier, more joyful whilst earning more money than you do at the moment. I'm a published author.

Libby Langley: My book's called Life in Business and I also host a weekly podcast…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: which is also called Life in Business because I believe in simplicity by calling everything the same thing.

Nick Poninski: Nice. I like that.

Nick Poninski: That makes a lot of sense. I considered doing that for my podcast,…

Libby Langley: Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: for my book, but then went in a different angle. God knows why. But I do like that you want to bring in that joyfulness, that fun element of business. That's something I really am trying to focus on a bit more.

Libby Langley: Yeah. The reason that I think it's so important is…

Nick Poninski: So, yeah, that's good. so yeah talk to us let's hear about this making marketing how do we feel about marketing why is that so important so yeah take it away

Libby Langley: because it's the thing that everybody focuses on, you start a business or you start freelancing and the first thing you do and…

Nick Poninski: Yes.

Libby Langley: you're told to do is get yourself out there and it's on day one. That's quite a hard thing to do because you don't know what you're getting out there or what you're getting out there I mean to get clients, sure, but it has to go deeper than that. you have to think about yourself really before you think about clients or getting clients or serving clients because what you want out of life, what you want to help people with, what you're really passionate about, those foundations in your business are what's going to drive everything else and what's going to drive your purpose, your mission, and your success ultimately.

Libby Langley: So I don't think that you can really successfully market something with just a strategy.

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: There's got to be emotion, thought, and feeling and ununice in it or it's going to just be another job, It's going to be another thing on a to-do list.

Nick Poninski: Yes, that is so true.

Nick Poninski: I think when you realize that you've got that mission and there's that unice behind you, then it drives you. So, I do like that. and having those feelings about your marketing.

Nick Poninski: Yeah, it's super important. Yeah. Yeah.

Libby Langley: And I think as well even more so these days.

Libby Langley: I mean I first taught businesses how to use social media back in 2009 and it was Facebook and it was LinkedIn and it was easy, right? You put a post on social media, you made a million pounds by the weekend. it was easy. there was less noise. There was less complication. There were fewer options then. but now I mean there's a million different platforms. There's different types of content. There's short form, there's long form, there's written, there's video, there's reals, there's Tik Tok, there's LinkedIn,…

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Heat.

Libby Langley: there's threads, there's everything, And the choice of that takes over from a considered conscious decision as to what's actually going to be best for you and the quickest, easiest way to reach a client, right? And also it kind of takes a lot of the joy away I think just by I need to do all this without the feeling and the unus behind it and it does lead to a very digit digitally focused marketing strategy. It's not really a trust strategy.

Libby Langley: Whereas there are other options there's the more traditional stuff of postal stuff and meetings in person and all this kind of thing which can work a treat and it's only by looking at yourself and going back inside yourself and thinking what makes me happy what can I keep enjoying forever or…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: for long the life of my business and I'm fairly sure that's not being on Tik Tok. I mean, it might be. I hate Tik Tok, so that's why I choose that one.

Nick Poninski: No, that is so true as well…

Nick Poninski: because I think people do feel like they have to post on LinkedIn because they see everyone else do it. It's kind of that see monkey do. So, they end up doing things which they're not necessarily comfortable with, which don't really speak to them and align with them as a person. and they end up just doing it…

00:05:00

Nick Poninski: because that's what they think that they should do. And it might not be right for them to post on LinkedIn. They might be better off picking up the phone doing some cold calling and Yeah.

Libby Langley: Yeah, I shudder at that.

Libby Langley: But yes, that's absolutely not what I would ever do, nor would I help any of my clients do that because it's just horrendous to me. However, that's me and my business and that's the clients that I work with. I said to you before we started recording that I'm an introvert. also about 18 months ago I was diagnosed as autistic ADHD. So I have all these kind of which in your 40s is what? So the life that I thought I was living was I see…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: 

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah.

Libby Langley: what was wrong but it's those kind of realizations of self that all help with pulling together because there's always tweaks, but this perfect kind of marketing strategy and marketing approach for you for yourself and just, I hate phone calls and it's like, okay, so I'm just not going to do any phone calls then. and that's okay. And I haven't put my phone number on my business cards website or anywhere for I don't know, a decade maybe.

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

Libby Langley: And that's okay. one of the most powerful things that any business owner can do is make those conscious decisions and just own them and just know that they're right for them and it makes everything else easier. And It's the whole point of…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: what you support people with and I support people with.

Nick Poninski: Yeah, it's so funny as all funny to hear that you wouldn't do cold calling…

Nick Poninski: because we're all different, So, I love it. I think it works a treat. I can see you shaking your head. Wow.

Libby Langley: I am shaking my head. No, I mean back in the early days of my career, I had a stint in telemarketing on a predictive dialer, and it beeps in your headset and then you've got the next call. And I mean that was kind of a norm then, but it clearly scarred me. And since the choice came in, which is largely to do with social media and written communication, email and stuff being much been the norm,…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: that I just thought I don't need to do that anymore. So yeah, no, it's not for me. And I know some people listening along will be some will agree with me and some will agree with you. And that again is just great, isn't it? It's like we have the choice to be whoever we are. And I just think that that's so powerful.

Nick Poninski: Yes. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: 100%. There's no point doing something that you don't want to do.

Nick Poninski: When we went into business for ourselves, it was to have control. It was to do what we want to do, to build what we want to build. And feeling like you have to do something even though it's not right for you. What's the point in that

Libby Langley: Yeah. Yeah. it's one of the things that I talk about a lot with my clients and in my own marketing is and it's in my book and it's what my podcast is, there's a lot of that is this kind of should culture and we think and feel so often that we should do something and that's not maybe a conscious thing. we see other people doing things and perceive them to be more successful than us even though success is relative and subjective. and therefore, we should do that too.

Libby Langley: And I think a lot of people in their business, they start it doing something that they used to do for somebody else in a job and they just continue exactly the same structure,…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: focus, marketing, everything, but for themselves,…

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah.

Libby Langley: which to me makes no sense because why would you not just have stayed in the job where you got the pension, where you got the paid leave, where you got the sick pay, where somebody else ultimately was responsible for it all and give up all that security comfort to do exactly the same thing on your own. if you're working for yourself, it's never the easy option, But it's the fun and interesting option. And so you have to absolutely own it and absolutely make it your own. Whatever crazy way that that looks for you, it doesn't matter.

Nick Poninski: Yeah. 100%. You've got to do what's right for you.

Libby Langley: 

Nick Poninski: 100% with you. As I was saying to you before this recording, I've got my one client.

Nick Poninski: I've not got one client, but my one client this morning and I were talking and she was saying she's going to post on LinkedIn because she feels like she should. And I was like, there is other conversations to be had about why she shouldn't be doing that, but ultimately, if it doesn't align with who she is as a person and what she values, then there's no point doing it, right? So, yeah. Yeah.

Libby Langley: I agree.

Libby Langley: No, I agree completely. And it's not LinkedIn that's the issue in that. I would say you could replace LinkedIn for any kind of marketing the word LinkedIn sorry for any kind of other marketing there and that's where it doesn't align and it's this if the should drives us that's when we lose our passion and purpose and it does just become a kind of grind and you wake up two years later wondering what the lemonet you're doing and this isn't how I thought it would be and it's horrible

00:10:00

Libby Langley: And I see it so often, I've been through it many times myself in my 13 years in business and…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: I see it absolutely with my clients when they come to me and it's like I've lost my focus. I don't really know what I'm doing why I'm doing what I'm doing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: Yes, it is interesting that you say that as well…

Nick Poninski: because I've just on boarded a few new clients and I said to them get realistic about what it is that you want to set those goals and then once you've got that business goal, understand why you want to achieve that business goal, and I tell them to identify three W's because then whenever you feel like you don't want to do something, you can then go back to that those three W's and realign yourself and no, that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. But without those guiding markers, why would you be doing what you're supposed to doing?

Nick Poninski: 

Nick Poninski: There's a bit lost, aren't you?

Libby Langley: Yeah, it's funny really because when I first started my business, so I worked in the public sector. I worked for a college. I was commercial development Great job, great pension, tons of holiday, public sector happiness, all that.

Nick Poninski: Nice. Yeah. Wow.

Libby Langley: And really cushy. But I was miserable because I was a commercial person in a public sector world and blah lah blah blah. and so I walked out one day. I did I just left. I was young then, I don't know. I was so desperately unhappy though. and I left and I'd already got my teaching qualification. I'd already been teaching people businesses about social media. I was on the tail end of doing my MBA and the dissertation was in social media marketing strategy. So I kind of had all the tools, right?

Libby Langley: And I said to a few self-employed people, business owners that I knew through networking and said, "Do you think I can make some money teaching people how to use social media?" And they said, "Yes." And I'm like, "Right, brilliant. Let's start the business then." And that was my basis for starting a business. I never said to myself, "Am I really truly passionate about helping people how to use social media?" I knew that I wanted to do things differently for myself and have a bit more autonomy, but I wasn't truly passionate about the topic despite having given three years of my life to an MBA thinking about it but what I've seen over the years and was a long time ago, it was 13 years ago.

Libby Langley: What I've realized over the years is the thing that I'm passionate about is helping people find that drive and that purpose and what the business looks like and how they market themselves.

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: I can help them with all of it, Because I've got so much experience and so worked six and a half thousand people. But it's all so different and…

Nick Poninski: He Yeah.

Libby Langley: that's what I really hope that I can communicate with people is that as long as you stick to the law or the legalities within your industry there is no template for business. they should be ripped up because the way that you feel about what you're doing honestly is the only thing that matters I think really. Mhm.

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah. I can't disagree with you on that one. as we were saying, you don't feel comfortable doing cold calling, whereas I love it, as an extrovert. It's very much in my wheelhouse. So, let me ask you a question, right?

Nick Poninski: 

Nick Poninski: How would someone go about identifying the best marketing method,…

Nick Poninski: lead genen method for them as a self-employed person, as a consultant, as a business All right. Yep.

Libby Langley: Okay, it's an interesting question that actually…

Libby Langley: because I would say you can't answer that without having done the work beforehand. And the thing that I talk about a lot it's the basis of my group coaching space program. It's the basis of most of the talks that I do on stage is a building a house analogy, right? And so you can't build a house roof first. Everybody knows that. And yet when we start a business, we try and do that and the roof is the marketing, right? But you can't. it's not going to work because you haven't got the foundations and you haven't got the walls and the foundations, which is really the thing that I spend the most time with my clients, it kind of gets quicker the farther further up the house you go,…

00:15:00

Nick Poninski: Yeah.

Libby Langley: if that makes sense. The foundations takes a long time. The concrete's got to set for weeks, but that's things like your vision, your mission, your purpose, what you care about, how you're going to change the world, what really matters to you, how you want your life to be, all of that's all the unus, And then the walls are the kind of delivery mechanisms and the money. So, how you actually interact with your clients, how you deliver stuff, what your profit margin is, all that kind of more practical stuff because that's movable, right? Move walls can be added to and moved and all of this.

Libby Langley: And then the roof goes on the marketing. So by that stage, you are so sure and so confident in yourself and…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: what you're doing and who you're helping and how you're helping them that question almost answers itself.

Nick Poninski: interesting. It's funny that you talked there briefly about the foundations,…

Libby Langley: Yeah. Mhm.

Nick Poninski: People try and do the roof and…

Libby Langley: Mhm. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: you are right because people start posting on LinkedIn because that's what they think that they should do. I see a lot of posts there's various Facebook groups and the people are like, " how do I get my business known? How do I go networking?" You're like, "You way thinking problem 25, let's start off with problem number one."

Nick Poninski: 

Nick Poninski: But it's interesting that you talked about the foundations because I've just gone through this with three new clients that I've on boarded this morning and…

Nick Poninski: I like first one is identifying your goal, your milestones, your three W's and then I took some time to write it down. Is that backwards?

Libby Langley: I can't see it.

Libby Langley: My face is over the top of it.

Nick Poninski: It's got to audience.

Libby Langley: Something target audience. Did it say? Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: Yeah, because…

Libby Langley: Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: unless you've got that there is no marketing.

Libby Langley: Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: if it falls apart.

Libby Langley: Absolutely. you've got to decide…

Nick Poninski: So, it's Yes. Yes.

Libby Langley: and who you don't want to work with. All the kind of the opposite negatives of everything that I've said and you've said are equally important because who you don't want to work with. I work predominantly with women. and I work generally speaking with women who are solo business owners. so it's just They might outsource a few bits and bobs, but it's just They have coaching style businesses, so they're service-based people and they're generally speaking between kind of 35 and…

Nick Poninski: Yeah, people like you.

Libby Langley: 55, right? And there are people outside of that, but I'm in that space, as So, I work with versions of me that aren't quite at the same stage as me. And so, we like each other. And that's one of the first ports of call. So if you're a 65 year old guy or if you're a 23 year old, I'm not the best person to help. And I think, however lovely you may be, I'm probably not the most aligned person. And I think just saying that stuff out loud is one of the hardest things that any of us has to go through…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: because we are saying no to people. And fundamentally as service providers, we just want to help people, We want to make people's lives better. But there are other people who better fit some people than us. So yeah, just being really brutally honest. I mean, my list goes on and on and on, right, of my ideal client, but that was the headlines.

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah.

Libby Langley: So if anybody's listening fits that, yeah, but we have to do that and it's kinder to ourselves. we know that we're going to attract the right people. And also to answer the question about which marketing tool is the best, that's going to help that. And I think that that's just important because it eliminates some of the marketing choices that are out there. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: That's so interesting.

Nick Poninski: 

Nick Poninski: Wait, because of who you identify will help identify which lead genen method is most likely to work.

Libby Langley: 50% of it and 50% comes from you. But yeah. Yeah, of course. Mhm.

Nick Poninski: That is I love the way that you've put that across cuz because for me I know that I could send out lumpy mail but it's not right for my audience. lumpy mail is a bit more of a bigger contract. when you're talking about I say to my clients, bit of a tongue-in-cheek one, but if you wanted to work with local mechanic garages, for example, they got 10, 15, 20 mechanics and they've got employment issues or whatever, and a really fun lumpy mail campaign would be to get some cucumbers, get some condoms thrown together in a package and saying, "Yeah, you're getting screwed by your employees.

00:20:00

Nick Poninski: just give me a call. Yeah, but it would work for a garage,…

Libby Langley: My god.

Libby Langley: No. Okay. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: right? Because they would get on board with that.

Libby Langley: Yeah. Yes.

Nick Poninski: They would think that was hilarious, Whereas that would not work for a certain different type of audience.

Libby Langley: I think I'd probably be appalled if someone did that to me. but that's the kind of beauty of it all, isn't it really?

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah.

Libby Langley: as long as you're true to yourself and what resonates with your audience. We are not necessarily all of everybody's l ideal audience. So yeah, no it's absolutely true and I think lumpy mail is overlooked, definitely these days, but also you have to know about the audience. for me, I'd love it if you sent me something in the post, but you're going to have to dig quite hard to find my address because I'm not a physical location.

Nick Poninski: right.

Libby Langley: I work from home. please don't come knocking. and…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: the same with the phone number and stuff. So, choose, all of that goes into who is the ideal audience.

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Interesting. what should someone be looking for in their ideal audience? I mean, I've spoken about this enough, but let's get your perspective. So, let's start off. if someone comes to see you,…

Nick Poninski: they want to feel good about their business and their marketing. What steps should they be taking?

Libby Langley: First of all,…

Libby Langley: looking at what's working and what's not and what lights them up and what doesn't. So, an eliminate elimination process. So, stuff can be cut out because simplification is always a great thing to facilitate growth. and to really know what it is like the feeling of what it's like to work with someone and then okay so flesh out that person what their kind of beliefs what drives them what are the similarities and what are the differences between you and them and you almost have to build a kind of a real person to a certain extent not to be so prescriptive

Libby Langley: that it's like, she's got to be called Sue and she's got to be 47 and she's got to have this kind of can. Not to that extent, but the kind of rounded feeling of I know that I know because you've used these words and…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: this is the particular thing that you're stuck on. And the more you have are confident enough to niche,…

Nick Poninski: Yeah. He Yeah.

Libby Langley: the better it's going to be. Cuz there's tons of generalists. I'm a generalist really in terms of what I can support people with because I've got so much experience. I've learned so many things. I know, I've lived a lot of it. However, my special specialism is this kind of getting people through this wobble period onto the beauty that's at the other side. and the anti-hustle neurody divergence as well, I guess, and so you can be a generalist, but you're also niched, if that makes sense. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. I think the only thing that I just want to circle back to is when you were talking about niche there.

Nick Poninski: 

Nick Poninski: I think you said something along the lines of the tighter you can get on the knees the better. And I know that know what you mean, but just for those who are listening along who might misunderstand that you're, Libby, you're not saying I,…

Nick Poninski: go after, so specific audience that they barely exist. You're not talking about going after onelegged vegan runners who are from Canterbury because …

Libby Langley: How many are there?

Libby Langley: We don't know. that's the thing.

Nick Poninski: yeah. Mhm.

Libby Langley: Yes. And no, Because if you did specialize in, disabled runners who are vegan,…

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yes.

Libby Langley: that's actually probably quite a broad market and you could give a fantastic level of support. What hampers you is the fact that you're also adding Canterbury into the list.

Nick Poninski: And onelegged. Yeah.

Libby Langley: I'm one and Yeah, I did already broaden that. Yeah. but yeah so there's nothing I…

Nick Poninski: Yes. Yeah.

Libby Langley: if the important thing about it is that you have a reason for choosing that niche or appealing to that niche appealing to you and for me my niche is because it's kind of me but back a few steps and I know all the things that I've struggled with in my life and in my business and how I've overcome it and I want to prevent people from going through the same thing as me and building a business because they should rather than the one they want.

Libby Langley: 

Libby Langley: I built to start with my business was a digital marketing agency and I had staff and after a few years I realized it was making me miserable and so I made all my staff redundant and that was within the first four years of me being in business and that's a hell of a journey to go through and I just don't want anyone to have to go through that the t trauma the small T but the trauma of that it's tough and so I can speak absolutely categorically and with quite a lot of passion about my niche and why it matters to me. And that resonates with people. And so that's what I want people So it doesn't really matter how specific it is because the more specific it is, the more of a specialist you are,…

00:25:00

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: therefore the more you can charge, the fewer clients you want. So yeah, if it is disabled vegan runners, Just be clear about why and make sure that you're really really talking to them from you rather than marketing go yeah exactly yeah exactly exactly it's making it authentic and…

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: And you have to have the aligned values as well. if you are not a vegan, you're not going to enjoy working with Nice.

Libby Langley: the word ahentic but authentic and genuine rather than cynical and money grabbing that's what I would say the difference is Yeah.

Nick Poninski: Libby, I don't have anything else. I guess if you were to share one piece of advice and what would you say summarize for us?

Libby Langley: I would say the best bit of advice and I wish someone had said this to me in 2011 before I went and started my journey and I had to discover it for myself is genuinely truly think about what you want and write it all down and what you don't want and then see what fits in what you already have in your business and see what doesn't and start making the changes by saying no to stuff and yes to the right stuff and…

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: that alone will revolutionize your business and make your life just so much happier. Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: I like it.

Nick Poninski: Yeah, it's funny that you say that because that's what I did. That's how I've ended up working with HR consultants and that's why I think I touch on it a little bit more briefly than you in terms of your mantra, but I tell my clients to do a miracle morning. If you woke up tomorrow morning and…

Libby Langley: Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: everything in your life was perfect, how would you know? because after that then everything gets a lot easier.

Libby Langley: Yeah. It's nice.

Nick Poninski: So yeah. Yeah.

Libby Langley: I think we have very similar messages. we express it very differently and I'm less having been practical for so many years and also being autistic therefore loving a spreadsheet, I've had to train myself to really look into the feelings and the emotions and what you want because that's the thing that makes the difference. And my god, if everything could be solved with a spreadsheet, I would be a lot happier. However, it can't be.

Nick Poninski: 

Libby Langley: And so me this not being my natural way of thinking about things actually in some ways kind of makes it better because I don't find it super easy. So that's how I kind of support people. But yeah that's what I would say. That's what I would say.

Nick Poninski: Love it.

Nick Poninski: Okay, Libby. before I thank you for coming along on the show, how would someone be able to get in touch with you, find out more about you? Okay.

Libby Langley: If I've got a free download that might be helpful for people which talks more about the building the house analogy and how you can escape overwhelm by kind of going through this process. So, the web link for that is libby langley.com/guide and they'll be able to get hold of that. and also please listen to my podcast. it's more of this, right? it's life called life in business and it's on all the podcast channels,…

Nick Poninski: Excellent. Perfect.

Libby Langley: but I'm Libby Langley across everywhere, my website, all social media and everything. So, not Tik Tok though. I mean, I'm there, but I'm never going to inter interact with you because I don't use it. So,

Nick Poninski: Thank you for coming along today and sharing your words of wisdom and yeah, that's it. So, yeah, for those listening along at home, thank you for listening along at home. as ever, get marketing because without marketing there's no sales and without sales there's no business. So get marketing.