Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
From Invisible to Influential: How to Stand Out on Socials with Julie Solomon
72 Plays2 months ago
News flash: You don't have to post every day on Instagram to create an influential brand that attracts client sand lands brand deals. In this empowering episode of This or More, host Tiffany Napper brings in Julie Solomon to reveal the truth behind building a thriving business without the need for a large social media following. What does it take to be truly visible in a sea of brands and influencers—and not just visible, but influential?
Tiffany and Julie dive into the secrets behind building a presence that not only stands out from the crowd but one that pays the bills. From insights on crafting powerful messaging to practical tips on landing 5-figure brand deals even if you have a small following, this conversation offers a fresh, empowering perspective on the world of social media.
We chat about:
- The Power of Engagement Over Numbers: Tiffany and Julie emphasize that it's not about the size of your following; it's about the engagement and genuine connections you foster with your audience.
- Multi-Channel Marketing: Learn how to leverage different platforms—emails, podcasts, and social media—to enhance your reach and credibility, proving that diverse strategies yield greater results.
- True Value and Authenticity: Understand why providing real value to your audience is crucial in today’s business landscape, and how it can set you apart from the competition.
- Navigating a Challenging Year: How this year serves as a "make or break" moment for many business owners, stressing the importance of adaptability and resilience.
- Creating Impactful Content: Discover the importance of mastering your messaging to build a loyal audience, regardless of follower count.
Black Friday Sales are coming... hop on the waitlist! https://tiffanynapper.myflodesk.com/ixauwv48hk
- Follow Tiffany on Instagram
- Follow Julie on Instagram
- Save 50% off the Visibility Accelerator for This or More listeners! juliesolomon.net/more
Recommended
Transcript
The Role of Influence and Content Creation in Online Business
00:00:00
Speaker
If you're an online business owner and you were using social media to share your platform and your message and to to make sales, then yes, you have to be a content creator and you also have to be a woman of influence. Here are some tips how you can get out of the affiliate rat race. And that one blog post spread like wildfire. It was like I had finally said what
Host Introduction and Podcast Purpose
00:00:21
Speaker
everybody was thinking. Welcome to This or More, a wild entrepreneurial podcast adventure for bold and brave creatives like you.
00:00:28
Speaker
I'm Tiffany Napper, your host, holistic business coach, corporate music industry dropout, a seasoned five-time multi-six figure entrepreneur, yoga instructor, and your go-to gal for heart-to-heart coffee chats. On this show, we're not just here to share stories. We're here to ignite a fire within you and make you realize that the reality you envision is just the tip of the iceberg.
00:00:52
Speaker
You're wildly capable of achieving that reality and so
Guest Introduction: Julie Solomon, Influencer Marketing Leader
00:00:55
Speaker
much more. So my friends, grab your cup of inspiration, settle in, and let's dive into another inspiring episode of This or More. Welcome to This or More. I'm your host, Tiffany Napper, and today I'm thrilled to introduce you to my friend and a true leader in influencer marketing, Julie Solomon. Hi.
00:01:12
Speaker
I've had the privilege of knowing Julie since joining her Shine Mastermind in 2021. And as a personal branding and business coach, a bestselling author, a chart-topping podcast host, Julie has dedicated herself to helping women expand their impact. And with hundreds of thousands of followers, she is no stranger to being a well-known influencer. So today we're gonna shine a light on what it took to get there, what it takes to still strive in this current social media landscape, and where she thinks the world of influence is headed. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, friends. How are you? I'm so glad to have
Julie's Journey from PR to Blogging
00:01:44
Speaker
you. And for us to just like dive in and talk about, I mean, you have a wealth of knowledge in so many different um areas that people are, you know,
00:01:52
Speaker
like sitting on the edge of their seat wanting to know more about so I'm excited to get a chance for you to share a little bit bit of that with our listeners but um I want you to start by kind of taking us back a little bit further because you and I shared a PR background that's how you first got on my radar I think was I saw this person and this is when I was living in New Orleans and I saw you and I was like Huh, she's escaped the PR grind. And she's doing some pretty cool things. So take me back a little bit. You were in PR, much like I was traditional PR. you left You didn't really leave it. Maybe you started straddling when you started doing some lifestyle blogging at the same time. Is that correct? It is. So yeah, again, thank you for having me.
00:02:29
Speaker
Um, and yes, we do. We have, you and I have that in common and I think that's always been something that we just kind of see things very similarly. Um, so like you, I started, i I went to school for PR and actually use my major. You know, I had a, I had a communications marketing and PR degree, um, went to New York and did traditional kind of music PR in New York and then did, um,
00:02:53
Speaker
ah publishing PR so I worked in-house at HarperCollins and then I went off on my own and really had almost seven to eight years of that just really steady traditional PR background.
Leveraging PR Skills in Influencer Marketing
00:03:05
Speaker
um Around 2013 I moved to Los Angeles and um had a really interesting opportunity, which I didn't know it at the time. But in LA at the time, this thing that we now know to be influencer marketing was becoming a thing. Back then, we would just call it blogging. And you would have YouTubers YouTubing. And i I saw a lot of these beauty, fashion, and lifestyle, and mom, what we would call them today, content creators, blogging and really trying to make a name for themselves on the social media platforms, and more importantly, monetize it.
00:03:40
Speaker
And as a way to make friends in LA and meet people, I also started to blog because that's what every girl does when she moves to LA, she starts a blog. But I always had my PR background as this unique advantage, whether I even knew that it was a unique advantage at the time. And so when I would create content, write blog posts, um go out to events, I always looked at it as a very intentional opportunity to communicate, to market, and to network because that is really like the foundation of what I did so long for clients. And so I started to very quickly
00:04:17
Speaker
um A mass, not a big following, but I started to amass like a small but mighty monetization platform with my blog. I really realized early on, I mean this was 2014, 2015, that there were there was money to be made. And this was way back when,
00:04:35
Speaker
We didn't have data. we we We had nothing. And so a lot of these brands were just kind of throwing money at bloggers to kind of see what stuck. And because I knew how to pitch myself and because I knew how to communicate and talk to them, I started monetizing my blog pretty quickly, even though I had like no followers. I had like maybe 400 people that would read my blog posts.
00:04:55
Speaker
So really quickly, in LA and the circles of women that I started to meet when I would go to these blogger events, I started to have women say to me, like, Julie, I don't mean to be rude, but like you have no following. And I have 100,000, which in today's age would be like a million. yeah And I'm making no money. And you're making $5,000 here, $2,500 there. like How are you doing this? And I was like, well,
00:05:20
Speaker
i know how to pitch myself. And at the time during this phase, Tiffany, from about 2013 to 2016, I was still teetering in both realms, as you had mentioned. like I was still consulting. I still had PR clients, because that had traditionally been what paid the bills. right And until I could consistently consistently monetize a platform, I couldn't make that pivot
Finding Her Unique Selling Point
00:05:42
Speaker
completely.
00:05:42
Speaker
right But what was always a strength for me, which was pitching, I had the other end of the spectrum that was not always a strength for me, which was at the time, I was really trying to put myself into this typical LA lifestyle fashion mom blogger box. And it just wasn't me. And so I had a really hard time creating content. Like I would try to create fashion content, but I'm not, I mean, I love fashion, but I'm not like a fashion girl, right? um I would try to just be like those girls.
00:06:15
Speaker
Um, because I thought that that was the only way to monetize and it took me about three years of a lot of like, even though I saw some success, it it did never flowed. It felt so heavy yeah and it's because I was really trying to be something that I wasn't. And it was a conversation that I was having with my husband once and he goes, why don't you just be Julie publicist and like, let that be enough. And I remember being like, you don't know what you're talking about. like Of course. How would that make money? you know But it kind of stuck with me. and i And I started to kind of think, like oh, that's interesting. like People do naturally. They're not coming to me for what what you're like to know at Link. right you know They're coming to me to be like, how did you get
Viral Success and Business Transformation
00:06:56
Speaker
that brand deal? Yeah.
00:06:57
Speaker
And so it was the the summer of 2016 that I decided to write a blog post that had nothing to do with motherhood or fashion or anything. And I talked about how the rat race of affiliate marketing, which was LTK at the time, because every blogger back then was just like working 100 hours a week to make $5 off of their LTK. And I basically just shined a light on it. And I said, like this has basically created and a whole new monster. And I'm no longer doing this. And instead, I'm going to start really focusing on what I do best, which is marketing. And like here are some tips how you can get out of the affiliate rat race. And that one blog post spread like wildfire. I mean, bloggers were just sharing it with each other. It was like I had finally said what everybody was thinking and feeling.
00:07:46
Speaker
And that one blog post got more traffic and views than all of my other blog posts combined from the last two and a half years. And I was like, OK, here's my answer. We're onto something. We're onto something. So then I started to study. I would find on YouTube and just other kind of online marketing stuff. I stopped really studying the fashion blogger world. And I started studying what then was the online marketing world. And I started to create things like freebies and opt-ins and just ways to build my list.
00:08:15
Speaker
It was all tips and tricks on how to grow a following and build a platform using my specific angle of PR. And I did that for about nine months. okay And then as I was doing that, so I was creating freebies and building my list, small but surely, of the right leads instead of like people that were randomly there for fashion stuff. I was also behind the scenes creating a course.
00:08:40
Speaker
And it was the first time in 2016 that I realized that there were these things called courses and yeah people could monetize their education. And I was like, well, instead of consulting and doing these one-off things, why don't I just create a course to teach people how to pitch? And so that's what I did. yeah And I launched a course called Pitch It Perfect in the fall of 2016. And that ended up changing everything my entire life in business. um That was the end of 2016. By the beginning of 2018, I had made seven figures off of that one podcast I mean so a podcast course and that was before I had a podcast wow so really pitch it perfect was the basis of the trajectory of the rest of my career and then yeah of course since then I i launched the influencer podcast in 2017 and then I've evolved into a a lot of other things other than brand deals. But that was really the start yeah of my education as an online marketer. And then that evolved into more messaging and visibility tips for people. So that's the background. Yeah. And I mean, I've watched you kind of come full circle and in a way. It feels like this year you're back to talking a lot about brand deals. So we're going to get there in a second. Because if you're listening and you want to know some secrets, we're going to dive into that. But I think it's so fascinating
The Necessity of Content Creation for Business Owners
00:09:51
Speaker
that you know you you you did a lot of trial and error in the beginning and i feel like nowadays people think that it should just be easy that the first thing that they put out into the world is like gonna be the ticket right but if you listen to your story if someone's listening i hope they're paying attention to how many years you were willing to kind of
00:10:08
Speaker
try on different things until you found the thing that clicked and really became your your runway, right? Yeah. Do you believe every business owner is also a content creator in this day and age? I believe so. I mean, if you're an online business owner and you are using social media to share your platform and your message and to to make sales, then yes.
00:10:29
Speaker
you have to be a content creator and you also have to be a woman of influence. You don't necessarily have to be an influencer, but you are someone that influences part of of the game. So a million percent, I believe that. I love that distinction too. So many people ah kind of have this love, hate, maybe more hate, hate relationship sometimes with Instagram. And you've been known to say that you don't feel that way, that you really, you really, uh, love it. And you see it as a gift and an opportunity but to become self-made.
00:10:57
Speaker
so how do you stay so positive about Instagram especially after so many years and watching we've all watched a change over the years and Then what do you say to people that feel just really frustrated and burnt out by the platform? Yeah, so oh this is such a juicy thing and we're gonna we're gonna dive deep into this so um you know really we're the start of with my PR background and what that really means to me is what my genius is in is is really messaging because in order to be a good publicist, in order to effectively run a PR campaign, you have to understand the message that you're putting out there and you have to understand exactly who it's for. So whether that turns out to be brand deals,
00:11:38
Speaker
podcast opportunities, speaking on stages, a book deal, whatever that is. Everything begins and ends, in my opinion, with messaging. So that is really the root of what my genius is. It's how I've helped people, whether that's with pitching or what have you. And I think a lot of times in how this relates to Instagram, and I tell people a lot when they come to me, and they're just like, I can't grow, and I'm so frustrated in the algorithm. i'm like It's because you think that you have a content problem, and you don't. You have a messaging problem.
00:12:06
Speaker
And messaging and content are two completely different things. you know Messaging is really the foundation of your genius, like who you are, what you offer, who you serve, and why it's important. And then the content is really the vehicle. It's the tool that you use to put it out there. Content is also not just social media. It can be the emails that you write, the sales page that you have, the podcasts that you have, the books that you write. And so I think that that's the biggest distinction first for people is that they need to understand that if they're having a problem with content, it's because they're putting a lot of pressure on themselves to just create content for the sake of creating content and not really having a core focus of like, what, what is
Purpose-Driven Content Creation
00:12:42
Speaker
this for? Like we don't create content just to create content unless you're doing a hobby. Like we create content to generate sales and to build visibility. And so instead of asking yourself, what am I going to create today? Ask yourself, what am I selling today? What's the offer? What's the message that I need to put out? And so that's the big distinction of a lot of the problems that I've seen throughout the years. And then honestly, Tiffany, like I've gone through it myself, you know, of like the cobbler's son has no shoes that we can get kind of, um,
00:13:14
Speaker
Like we don't see what's right in front of us. And so for the last really 18 months to kind of go back to what you had said about the brand deals, I have been getting back to basics of like, what is really important here? And I think that no matter what your goal is, whether it's to get brand deals, get partnerships for your podcast, you know ah write and publish a book, speak on stages, lead mastermind retreats, you know be invited into high networking opportunities. Any of those things that's going to leverage your visibility of personal brand It all begins with the messaging piece first. You're not going to be able to pitch yourself. You're not going to be able to really showcase your authority unless you have that messaging locked in. yeah And so I knew that I had to get back to the basics myself with that and what that really meant like for me. So I could actually help the people that kept coming to me and saying, Instagram is this evil thing and duh, duh, duh, duh. Cause it's, it's really, an and to answer your question, that's why I can be so,
00:14:10
Speaker
I guess as just um separate from it as possible because even the seasons where it's like right now, I don't know why it could be because of the election, but it's like my engagement hasn't been that great in the last couple of months. Yeah. But it doesn't matter because the content compounds, I know that I, every single time I create a piece of content, I speak directly to who my ideal ideal client is and it is based on that core messaging that I'm getting across to them. I love that.
00:14:35
Speaker
and so if If you go at it from that angle, you can't lose. Even if the algorithm isn't favoring you or even if you pop off, yeah um there's also something that's really different, the difference between what I would call like engagement content and then conversion content.
Engagement vs. Conversion Content
00:14:52
Speaker
So a lot of times, so We're trying to create content for those likes and those follows, but that isn't necessarily the same kind of content that actually draws in our ideal ideal client to want to work with us. yeah So the intentionality of that is also really key. Yeah. I love when people highlight that because I do think if you haven't heard it before, it's worth really letting it simmer in your mind, the concept between.
00:15:13
Speaker
You know, there's content that you put out there for the purpose of getting as many eyes on it as possible. That's typically going to be a little bit more tapa funnel, a little bit more vanilla. And then there's the content that's going to go straight to the punch, right? Of like the core of the thing that your person needs and wants from you. And that's probably not going to be the general population. So it makes sense logically, but sometimes we don't think about it and we get put all this pressure on ourselves that every piece of content has to be great. And it's like, no, sometimes the piece of content I put up that gets 30 likes is the one that lands someone in my DMs asking how to hire me. exactly you know So I feel that. ah Do you feel like it is, you know you you mentioned it and I'll be transparent as well. I've also felt like this year has been,
00:15:53
Speaker
a little harder to get the same amount of eyeballs or the same amount of engagement as maybe I would have gotten in the past. And I started my Instagram journey much later. I really didn't get on Instagram and start using it as a personal branding platform until 2017 when I was sharing my story of like overcoming burnout and recovering from a marriage to a narcissist and it was a really vulnerable time for me and I kind of just needed to like get it out there and that's my following grew from talking about matcha and yoga and things that are very kind of different from what I share now. But anyway, do you feel like it's harder now in 2024 to grow and get engagement on Instagram than maybe it was in 2015, 16, 17? So
00:16:34
Speaker
No and yes and here's why. I think that it could it can feel harder if you're looking at it from the lens of expecting it to be easy and fluff and surface. So what I tell people is like,
00:16:49
Speaker
Gone are the days where you can just kind of throw up a piece of very generic and service driven content and people like, enjoy it. yeah you know So even though I think that it actually should be easier in today's platform and I think that this is a good thing, it's like it should be easier now more than ever to show up and generate quality content and get your name out there.
00:17:14
Speaker
if what you're bringing to the table is extraordinary. And I think that where we've gotten in this industry, and I'm specifically talking about the online education, online creator, and online coaching industry and service provider industry, where we have gotten in this space is that the sophistication of the marketplace has increased and we should want that. Which also means that their level of expectation of what they expect for that exchange of money, that exchange of time and that exchange of energy has also risen. And so I think that a lot of times people kind of wish that it could be the way that it used to be just because
00:17:55
Speaker
It might've felt easier, but I think that also back then it wasn't as sophisticated as it is now. So I feel like we're actually going into a really beautiful season where it's kind of this post COVID boom, right? Where, and I'll just be very blunt with what I'm about to say, but during that COVID boom, I think that a lot of people that had no business being coaches came in and said they were coaches and created really, um,
00:18:24
Speaker
Not great experiences for people which then gave the coaching industry a bad name and then you had a lot of people that came in That were buying programs and buying courses and hiring coaches that honestly had no business doing any of that either, right?
Post-COVID Market Expectations
00:18:37
Speaker
And so the responsibility is on both ends right on on the coach and on the mentee what I think that we're seeing now is like this clearing out of of all of that. And we don't have to worry about it or do anything about it because it's it's handling itself. But what I think it's going to leave us and get us to the other side of is this opportunity to really show up and to really stand in our power to own our genius.
00:19:01
Speaker
to harness that to really serve the exact person that we're meant to serve, no more, no less. And if we come at it from that way of everything that I put out, whether it's a podcast episode, an offer, a piece of content, is absolutely extraordinary and the absolute best that it could possibly be from me and my message and my mission and my values, then you can't go wrong. So that's how I see it. I love that perspective. And I think, I mean, yeah, Just to echo what you said, I couldn't agree more. i think I said it at the top of this year, and I think we're kind of seeing it play out in real time. I was like, this is going to be a challenging year for business owners. This is going to be a make or break year for a lot of business owners. And I don't know if you've noticed, but a lot of people have gone out of business. Because if you didn't know what you were doing, and if you weren't providing true value,
00:19:51
Speaker
you were not going to stand the test of time. And we're we're four years in into this journey of, like you said, people selling things that maybe weren't really what they said they were or people having less than stellar experiences and getting buyer's remorse and getting, you know, more hesitant to buy again. And so at this stage, it's like the the the cream of the crop is going to rise, right? Was that the phrase? I don't know how that goes.
00:20:12
Speaker
and um And it's the same on Instagram that is what you're saying. Absolutely. Quality content, keep showing up, keep showing your core values, keep being true to yourself, and you'll survive. you know and i So that makes sense that those would go hand in hand. I guess that's where I was going with that. What do you think? Do you see anything over and over again like a repeat message being shared about how to grow on Instagram or how to create influence that just kind of like irks you and you're like, people, please stop saying that?
00:20:38
Speaker
you know i think that I mean, it used to be like grow your how to grow your followers, right? But like we've all heard that now. We know that like a follower number doesn't matter. We know that it's about quality over quantity. And we know that followers does not equal money. I mean, it's like that's just been proven over and over and over again. I think recently, what has kind of ah shown itself, I guess, and this kind of goes back to like the high value piece, is this idea of like,
00:21:03
Speaker
creating so consistent content. Even though I, of course, believe that consistency is important, sure people kind of get lost in that of like, oh, I just need to show up and like throw something up every single day. yeah And even if it's watered down, even if it's surface driven, even if it's actually not valuable to anybody at all, I'm showing up consistently. And so I've kind of been raging against that. Like I've actually even spent this year, I might post, unless I'm in a launch, like I'll post maybe twice a week on my Instagram.
00:21:34
Speaker
Yeah, you know platform. And um I've had some months this year that like it didn't hurt engagement at all. And then I've had some months this year that the engagement hasn't been that strong. But what it hasn't affected are conversions. And it goes back to what you say. I might have only posted one thing.
00:21:50
Speaker
and maybe it only has 30 likes on it, but I've had four people slide into my DMs and be like, this is exactly what I needed to hear. How can I work with you? Exactly. Yeah. And so that is really the key distinction of like, stop creating content just for the sake of creating content.
Quality Engagement Over Follower Numbers
00:22:03
Speaker
You're wasting your time. 1000%.
00:22:05
Speaker
get back to the basics of what do you really why are you showing up? yeah Why do you want to pick up your phone and post something today? And most importantly, what are you selling? I'm so exhausted of seeing so many content creators just bust their bottoms and spending so many hours to make no money. right like Why are you doing that? for like It's not for your health. I know. We're in the marketing business. we are We are in sales whether you believe it or not or whether you want to see it or not. yeah So it's like, do yourself a favor and start actually making money off of all of those hours that you are spending creating content. And you do that not with consistency, but you do that with creating very intentional, thought-driven, thought-provoking, valuable content that leads to something that you sell. Yeah.
00:22:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean obviously I preach quite a bit because of my program I preach like, you know, you can make money without a social media following at all I did it for years right years I never had a social media following and I made a lot of money But yeah, so it's like if you don't understand the messaging which is what you're saying, right? Like who are you there to help? What's the end goal here? Where are we trying to lead them to and then my thing is like and then if you don't know how to confidently have that sales conversation with them if you're too timid if you're too scared if you're a If you're just not secure enough about how to host and handle a sales conversation with someone, then what are we doing?
Confidence in Sales Conversations
00:23:25
Speaker
We're just throwing up a bunch of content, like you said. And then they're frustrated that they're not making any money. So it's this delicate balance. We're not selling anything. Right. Or when you get them in the DMs, you freak out. And you get weird. And you're scared. And you send them like. novels and then you wonder why they ghost you. And I'm like, that was a lot. Like, yeah, that was a lot. Let's bring it back. So yeah, I love all of that. I think, I think, um, I think there's a lot of lessons to be had about just, I think at the end of the day, it's like quality, like, let's get to the. And confidence and just really owning, you know, it all stems from that. Cause the reason why someone's going to do that is because they're not confident in what it is that they're bringing to the table. And so that really goes back to like having to tap into your inner genius. Like, what is your thing? that you know that you are really flipping good at, and you don't need any external validation to tell you otherwise. And that's the thing that we all have it. No matter who you are, I can say I'm not great at a lot of things, but I know when it comes to messaging,
00:24:26
Speaker
and helping people effectively articulate their message. Like, I can do that in my sleep. Yeah, that's your superpower. Really good at that. Yeah. Really, really good at that. And so just owning that is energetically what allows so much of the clutter to clear. Yeah.
00:24:41
Speaker
I couldn't agree more. Okay. Let's talk about brand deals. Let's do it. Okay. So you talk a lot about, you know, how a to echo what you just said, like you don't post all the time and yet you're you know bringing in five figure deals and six figure months on brand deals. And I want to talk about, first I want to kind of just give clarification for anyone listening. What are the current ah platforms that you're able to monetize besides Instagram? Right.
Beyond Instagram: Expanding Marketing Platforms
00:25:05
Speaker
So first I want to say that like when people hear brand deals, and if they don't know what it is, basically it's a partnership between you and a brand, right? And you are promoting said product or service. right A lot of times people immediately think, oh, well, I'm not an influencer. So that doesn't apply to me. And it's like, well, I'm not an influencer either. And I generate lots of money every single year in brand partnerships. So the that's the first thing to kind of clear. Like if you are an entrepreneur online that uses products and services that you love,
00:25:34
Speaker
then you have the opportunity to land intentional paid brand partnerships. yeah like It's not just beauty bloggers or fashion bloggers. right um where people Where brands tend to see the best conversions and where they want to monetize the most is, of course, Instagram. Also, TikTok, which tends to be more of that content creator. That's not necessarily my ideal avatar. I don't work a lot with like your younger kind of Gen Z content creators on TikTok. But that that is a big platform there. And then other opportunities are podcasts. That's a great way to land brand partnerships. And then um anyone that has a strong you know and doesn't have to be a big community, small but mighty community. If you've got a community and a network of people, full email list, mastermind, networking group, you name it, and you are bringing people together, events, another great way to collaborate with the brands that you love. yeah
00:26:26
Speaker
And so that's where I really see brands putting their dollars behind. yeah you know They don't care just to blanket around to a bunch of influencers anymore. They want to hear from online educators, ah thought leaders, people in every industry that you could possibly think of that have a strong community and that have strong engagement and want to share yeah that brand's product, service, and mission to their people.
00:26:50
Speaker
Yeah. I always say like, think about who you have a similar audience with any brand, any product, anything that you have a similar audience with. They're probably going to want to get in front of your audience just as much as you would want to get on in front of your, their audience. And therefore it makes sense to, you know, approach them about a brand deal. I love all that. So what can our listeners, and how can our listeners increase value of their, the value of their content in a brand's eyes? Cause you're really great at kind of like explaining that. Yeah. So it's like, you know, take me, for example, like I do not have millions of followers and I don't have the best engagement in the world. Um, but it doesn't mean that people don't convert. And so I always tell people, and I've been saying this since like I created pitch it perfect. Don't focus on what you don't have focus on what you do have. So if you don't have a lot of followers, then don't focus on that. right Like, focus on your engagement if it's strong. Focus on the open rates of your email list. Focus on how many people listen to your podcast. Focus on you know the fact that you sold out your retreat in 20 minutes. I mean, that data like that is key. And so that's what I tend to do. I tend to focus on what really moves the needle. So for I'll give you an example with the kind of brand that I would work with would be somebody like a Kajabi or a Circle or a Teachable or something of that nature. And I know for them,
00:28:05
Speaker
Me just posting some reels on my Instagram is not what's going to move the needle for them. What's going to move the needle for them is me coming to them and saying, hey, do you want to do an exclusive exclusive partnership
Creating Valuable Brand Partnerships
00:28:15
Speaker
on my podcast? Which means every single episode, which I post at least 52 episodes a year. So every single episode is going to have a very natural mention of you, then you're also going to show up in my newsletter list, which is going out to 107,000 people. We've got a 42% open rate, you know, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh. And we're also going to be able to do maybe a curated training just for your community. yeah I can come in and speak and, you know, I can waive my speaker fee in lieu of this exclusive partnership. You really think about like what makes the most sense for you and your strengths and create what I would call like a 360 deal. Yeah.
00:28:51
Speaker
to give them the cream of the crop, and then you can always negotiate from there. sure But that's really what I tell people. I'm like, think bigger than just like a real right or an Instagram story. Those days are gone. Those days are gone. And I mean, they're still there for the people that that works for. But it's you know for people in the online education service provider or coaching space, really think about the rooms that you're in or curate yourself, whether that's virtual or in-row life. What are you naturally doing every single day? For me, I'm sending emails.
00:29:19
Speaker
I'm on podcasts. you know I'm connecting with my community. I'm you know building my platforms on the softwares that we use, you like whatever that may be. And really think through that. And then that's going to help you get an idea of what partners may make this most sense for you. And then I'm always about making them as feel as exclusive and intentional as possible. yeah So it's about not going necessarily shallow and wide, but narrow and deep. I would rather have three partners a year And we just go all in on those three partners, then 15 one-offs. Yeah. Yeah. It's too much to manage. The brand doesn't get as much out of it. And brands have gotten really smart. Like you said, back in the day, they were just throwing money around because they didn't really understand. It was the wild, wild west of social media. And now they've gotten really smart and they realize too that multifaceted campaigns move the needle, right? If someone in my audience sees it in my email and hears it about it on the podcast and then sees me talk about it on Instagram stories, the buy-in is different, right? So I love that. That's a really good tip. um Can you share with us maybe like an example of a pitching strategy that's worked with someone with a a small following? Like just as an example, we'll use a like a micro influence or like maybe under 10,000 followers. yeah
00:30:33
Speaker
So what's great about micro and nano influencers is that they actually tend to get more consistent brand deals than your macro influencers. And that typically just goes back to that they have a small but mighty engaged audience. And so that is the thing that I would really focus on. If I was just starting out today as a nano influencer, my first focus would be nailing my messaging. you know What is my genius? Who is my ideal dreamiest, juiciest client?
00:31:03
Speaker
and you know really showing up for that person and building a really intentional space for that person. And then once I did that, I would start going to the brands that made sense and I would align like, this is what I offer, now what brand complements what I offer and how can we partner? And I would come from it that way and I would talk about my engaged community, the ways that I effectively and efficiently connect with them the other things that I'm already selling, even if it's my own products and services. And you know what is the lifetime value of my customer? how What are their buying behaviors? What are they interested in? What are the things that they need to use in order to do whatever it is that they're doing, building their business, creating a you know a healthy lifestyle, whatever that is, and I would start to align with the partners that way. yeah And I think coming from it that way, too, what it also allows you to do, and this is another thing that I think people
00:31:59
Speaker
sometimes like snub their nose at. But a lot of times, so let's take like higher dose, for example. right Let's say that you're a wellness influencer, an online educator, and you want to partner with higher dose. Most likely, just because of the price point of their products, they're going to probably offer you a gifted opportunity first. right Well, like let's gift this to you with maybe an affiliate code and see how it does. A lot of times, people will be like, well, I don't want to do that because it's not paid. and it's like Think bigger. yeah This is your opportunity to truly build something with this incredible company that aligns with you and where you're going perfectly. It's not about where you are today. It's about where you're going. So yes, that may mean that you have to create some extraordinary work, heaven forbid, you know on the front end to really show them that the proof is in the pudding, that you can put your money where your mouth is. And really, you should want to do that. yeah You should want to be able to be like, yeah, let me prove to you how
00:32:54
Speaker
Great. My content is how well I serve my people and how much my people are going to resonate with this. So start there and allow yourself to build and grow. Those are the best ways to do it. It's the way that I started way back then. And it's the way that I would do it again. Yeah. 1000% the same. I mean, in the beginning I was just.
00:33:10
Speaker
asking products for freebies to be quite transparent and then I would be like, okay, I'm gonna create. really good I'm pretty good at creating you know creative content, um professional looking content because of my background and writing captions and I'm just gonna prove to them that then I can negotiate up from here, right? But I have to get my foot in the door.
00:33:28
Speaker
You obviously have multiple streams of revenue now. As we mentioned already, you're not dependent upon brand deals. And so what would you say as you've watched the business evolve over the years? so Going from Pitch It Perfect, obviously launching the podcast, the mastermind I was in, other masterminds and programs you've put on, what would you say is the thing that you've learned or maybe struggled the most through the evolution of your
Business Evolution and Staying Authentic
00:33:50
Speaker
business? Yeah. um The thing that I think I have struggled the most with with the evolution of the business is really remembering to like stay in my lane, honor my genius, and what it is that I do. I think that there was definitely a time earlier in my career that I was very impressionable. And you know this person that I respected or admired would start doing this thing. So this meant that Julie had to do that thing. Or this person was speaking at this event. So that meant that Julie you know should want that too. Without really checking in to say, like
00:34:25
Speaker
Do I really want this? yeah Is this really aligned with what I want to do? Because just because it's right for her doesn't mean that it's right for me. And I think that it took me a lot of years and a lot of, you know, even though these experiences might have felt good at the time, the other end of that, I was like, I don't really know how intentional that was. yeah I don't really know if my ideal audience was there. I don't really know if I served to the to the best of my capacity. yeah And so I think that the the muscle of discernment and getting really discerning with how I spend my time, the offers that I create, um who I serve and who I don't serve. Because you also learn that and I'm sure you've experienced this too. When you sometimes call in people that you're not really meant to serve, it's so much heavier.
00:35:14
Speaker
and they're never happy, yeah and they're never satisfied, and you could give them your most premium offer for $15, and they still aren't going to be satisfied. And it doesn't mean that they're bad people or that you're a bad person. It's just the alignment wasn't there from the beginning. yeah And so I think that a lot of people go through that and experience it. I know that I have. But you know where I've gotten now with just the discernment and not allowing myself to be so impressionable, I've really been able to just, again, own what my strengths are. like i have three signature programs, you know, I stay in my lane of messaging and visibility. And and yes, that can lend to other things like brand deals and things like that. But I really just try to root into what I do best and not to get so, I don't want to say like distracted by the shiny things, but it's more about getting distracted about these things that I think if I don't do it, I'm going to miss out on something when really I'm not missing out on anything. Right, right. It's like,
00:36:09
Speaker
yeah It's like, ah um obviously it's like FOMO, right? We all experience it. And I think it's more prevalent now because of social media, because we're seeing what everyone is up to, where in the past that would have been a little bit more private and hidden. Is there any other like negativity that you feel like you've had to, and I'll share mine before I have you answer, but like that you feel like you've had to overcome on your journey of being so visible and so online. So personally, when I was figuring things out and I started on social media sharing my my my story of overcoming burnout and getting out of a toxic relationship. I pretty quickly found out and I was getting these deals with wellness companies and that that felt great but all of a sudden I felt myself comparing my body to all of these other yogis on the internet and I was already in my late 30s at this point so I'm comparing myself to like a 23 year old most likely and it really didn't feel healthy for me and that's when I started to make the pivot. um And then even more recently I've noticed feeling like
00:37:06
Speaker
that little bit of a relevance around like, if I don't show up as much, am I still relevant, right? And I had to work through that in therapy, full disclosure, right? So is there anything for you that you would share that because of being so visible, you've had to do some deeper inner work?
00:37:21
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, the relevancy key that you just mentioned, I think is so real. Like I was just talking to a dear friend of mine, who's a very, very well-known person in this industry. And she was sharing with me like, I don't want to work this hard anymore. And I'm like, you shouldn't have to. And she's like, but will I still be relevant? You know? And so it's like, it's it's a very natural thing that I think so many of us go through. um I think for me, a big pivot was in the beginning,
00:37:48
Speaker
um I felt like I needed to constantly be on and I needed to have all the answers. And and from that, it it made not that it made me overshare, but it made me share things, and I'll give you an example, like my family, that looking back on it now, you know I don't share my family a lot online. um And it's okay if someone does, yeah but for me, there's certain things in my life that are very, very sacred to me and they're just not up for public consumption.
00:38:17
Speaker
And my family and my children are one of those things. um Not to say that you don't see my children sometimes. And i you know if it makes sense, i'll I'll add them in there. But I did not want to have or build a public platform that was contingent upon showing every facet of my life.
00:38:35
Speaker
And I think in the beginning, I felt like I had to do more of that in order to be relevant, in order to be quote unquote relatable, which then just sets you up for so much judgment and criticism. And so now that I've gotten wiser, I think, into the other end of that, what I've learned is like,
00:38:52
Speaker
especially in the online education and coaching space, you don't necessarily have to relate to someone to trust them and buy from them. like you You obviously want to like them, you want to trust them, but more importantly, you want to know that they're going to get you the result that they're promising, not necessarily that you relate to every aspect of their life.
00:39:12
Speaker
And when I started noticing in my own buying behavior that of like, Oh, wow. Like I actually don't know where this woman lives or if she's like married or not, or if she has kids, but like she's speaking to me because she's going to help me solve this specific problem. right I started realizing like that's really the key. It's.
00:39:31
Speaker
And we hear that a lot about you've got to be relatable. But I think people take that as like, I've got to overshare and like share every aspect of my life. And it's like, no, I think that you just have to be relatable in the sense that you are going to get the solutions that you're promising people. yeah And you always always try to have a results first mindset.
00:39:50
Speaker
um and that it's it's not our job to have to be everything to everyone you know that was kind of the other thing that i had to learn as you know there's going to be certain strengths in my world for example i'm going to be way more um strong when when it comes on the strategy side and being results focused i'm not going to be so much stronger necessarily on like the community building side doesn't mean that community is not important to me and sisterhood's not important to me but again that's part of like my private life that i don't I don't necessarily sell that as a strength. And so it's like if you're looking for sisterhood and if you're looking for like community, like there's probably going to be somebody out there that's better suited for you. yeah But if you're looking to like make money and get a specific result, I'm your girl. yeah And so I think it's just about owning that instead of trying to force yourself to be something that you're not. That's so good. I was going to say, as we start to wrap up, um you know authenticity is some a word that I think about when I think about you quite a bit.
00:40:47
Speaker
And I know when I was in your mastermind, we went through some some exercises where we dig we did some digging to really like understand what are our values and how does that shape our messaging. and So I love, I do think that you are the perfect mix of transparent on the internet when it comes to the things that matter, as you mentioned, like we don't, you don't need to know every single thing about someone's personal life to, you know, be invested in them and, and like them even, right. And feel like you've got that like no trust factor. Uh, what, what, when you think ahead of the next, I don't know, five years or so, do you have a vision of where you're, headed with the business, yeah what's next?
Future Goals and Ideal Client Connections
00:41:23
Speaker
I mean, for for us and and for me, it's really about less is more. you know I think that the more that I get older, I just turned 40 this year, and it's like the more that you get older, the more that you get wiser, and the more that you really root into like what you're gonna best support someone with versus not, it allows those things like the FOMO, the relevancy, all of those very natural, normal human things that we all experience, it softens that blow a little bit.
00:41:50
Speaker
And when I really look at the next five years, like I've already said this, like I don't want to be 50 years old, like pedal to the metal, yeah going crazy. you know it's I want to really start to set up this next decade to feel in service, to create extraordinary results for people, to only call in my ideal clients only, the ones that I know that I can really help and serve,
00:42:20
Speaker
And to not have to be everything and do everything and do it all. And I think that the more that I just honor that, it's again about going like narrow and deep. I see it more as like, I want to build an oak tree, not just like a field of wildflowers, even though those are really pretty. yeah I really want to just build that oak tree. So I can really root into like, what is that legacy that I am leaving behind? And I see it a lot with some of my friends who they're very, very successful and they've been in this industry for a long time and they've done a lot for a lot of people, but they're exhausted. And it's not always as amazing and perfect as people may think it is on the outside. So it's really about knowing what your values are and leading with that.
00:43:09
Speaker
So good. So good. Thank you so much for all the nuggets.
How to Connect with Julie
00:43:13
Speaker
Will you tell everybody where they can find you online? Yes. So um I do spend most of my time on Instagram for social media. So you can find me at Joel Solomon. I also have a podcast since your podcast listeners and viewers, the influencer podcast, you can find that on all podcast platforms.
00:43:28
Speaker
I have a book called Get What You Want, How to Go from Unseen to Unstoppable that launched in 2022, which is a great resource to kind of tap into my world. And then if you are someone that wants to root more into your messaging and visibility, we did create a special link for your listeners. Sweet. So it's JulieSolomon.net slash more. Okay. So if you go there, you can get access to my visibility accelerator training and you actually get, it's normally 49, but because you're coming from Tiffany's world, we're going to gift it to you for $22. You get it for half off. Amazing. So feel free to go and check out that if you're wanting to get some really good messaging strategy support. So good. Thank you. We'll put that in the show notes too. So thank you. Thank you. Always good to catch up. Yes. Love seeing you. Thank you. You're welcome.