Welcome to the six Figure Business Mastery Podcast, where every week Kirsten and

Jeanie dive into the essential topics to fuel your business growth, from

copywriting to course creation mindset, to video marketing, they've got you covered.

Tune in for expert guest interviews on all things marketing and

business, and learn how to work on your business, not just in it.

So get ready to unlock your business potential and take it to the next level.

So have you ever wondered why some businesses attract clients effortlessly?

Others struggle to get noticed.

Our next guest is gonna show us how to craft a powerful marketing

message that not only connects, but it converts and it drives real growth.

So I'm excited to introduce to the podcast Nikki Chang Pless.

So welcome to the show, Nikki.

It's lovely to have you.

Thank you for inviting me, Jeannie.

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, and I wanna share it

out to a lot of people because it's probably one of the biggest mistakes

people make when it comes to marketing.

Yeah, absolutely.

Your message is so important.

Before we get into that, Nikki, tell us a little bit about you.

Tell us about your business.

Tell us a little bit about your journey to your business.

I started in the corporate world.

I spent over 20 years in the corporate world, and then I

decided, Hey, you know what?

I'm.

I've had enough of this and I'm gonna retire.

That's exactly what I did.

I didn't know what I was gonna do.

And next thing I know, somebody came up to me and said, Nikki, I got laid off,

says I wanna take this package, severance package, and I wanna start a business.

I know exactly what I wanna do.

I have no idea how to start a business.

And you've got all this business knowledge.

Will you help me?

And it was like I stood back and it was like that was what I was supposed to do.

And my exact words to 'em at that time was, sure, why not?

I have nothing better to do with my, I was retired but listening to the

universe and that's what it brought me to work with ex I work exclusively

with small business owners and helping them incorporate some of the concepts.

Through that large organizations use and bring it into the small business owner.

So originally when I started my business, it was working in

business systems, helping people build systems with their business

so they can get consistent results.

Here's the thing that I recognized.

So I started going to networking events to get clients, and I'm sitting here

going and I'm giving them my intro.

People are just kinda looking at me.

Have you ever had that feeling like, I'm not sure if these

people understand what I can do.

And it was really frustrating.

So I kept adjusting my message until one day I went to one networking

event and it was a table of eight women and I was one of them.

And all the seven other women, I gave my 62nd intro and two of 'em.

Looked at me and said, oh my gosh.

It's like, you're in my head.

Can we talk?

And it's bingo, magic happens.

But the question is how do you get that magic to happen?

Which is why over the years I've really specialized and honed in

on how people can get a better investment with their marketing because

there's so much you could be doing.

And I chose to focus a lot on.

Message because let me share with you, Jeannie, is if you can't get

your message across, it's a hard road for marketing without a doubt.

I love that and I love that you started with in-person networking.

'cause I think it's undervalued and you needed that spark of people

saying, ah, that's what I need.

You know what I mean?

And you wouldn't have gotten that necessarily if you hadn't

done in-person networking.

My business partner always says there's a million dollars of.

Business in our own backyard.

Sometimes we just need to get out there and find it.

So ab absolutely mind you, I started my business before that

big C word COVID, so there was no such thing as online networking

back then, it was all in person.

But even now, looking at in-person and online networking, the

connection just is not there.

Online it's different.

It's just different.

I would say it's different as well.

And it's funny, we always talk about systems.

We love systems.

I especially love creating them.

My business partner loves using them, and we always say systems aren't

sexy, but they're so important.

So it goes back to sell them what they want, but give them what they need.

Would you agree with that?

Absolutely.

And systems is the way to do it, and I have come up with systems on how people

can deliver that powerful message.

Now, when I say message, everybody's thinking the 62nd intro.

Would you agree with me?

What am I gonna say outta networking event?

But when I say message, I'm not only talking about the 62nd intro, I'm also

talking about your social media profile.

I'm talking about your website.

I'm talking about your signature talk, and I'm talking about what do you say

when you're being interviewed by somebody.

All of these are part of your message, so it spans, there's a huge span

of what you wanna be consistent.

You want a system that is consistent, that when you're delivering that

consistent message to people will see it in different angles.

That one day, that light bulb will come on and say, I need to reach out to you.

I love that.

So let's talk a little bit about how you help your clients craft that message.

Tell us a little bit about that.

Jeannie, would you be interested in the three steps for a powerful message?

Without a doubt.

Let's do it.

Okay.

So let's go into the steps.

So there's three steps, and I'm gonna start off with step number one.

And I know I sound like a broken record player when I say this.

It's about identifying who your target audience is.

Everybody says how sure we talk about it, but we don't understand it.

So I'm gonna share with you, Jeanie, an example of why it's important that we

understand who our target audience is.

Okay?

I'm gonna look at a massage therapist.

You good with that?

Okay.

Massage therapist.

A massage therapist offers massage therapy services, but this particular

massage therapist decides she wants to target stay at home moms.

And her message might be something along the lines, come get away from

the kids for a couple of hours.

Relax de-stress so you can go back to being the best mom possible.

Let me ask you this, Jeanie.

If you are hanging out with a bunch of rambunctious kids

all day, is that attractive?

Oh, without a doubt.

I have to.

Absolutely.

Exactly.

Now, let me ask you this, Jeanie, would that message attract seniors?

No, I wouldn't think so.

No, no for seniors, this massage therapist might say, I'll loosen up your joints.

I'll work out those knots in your muscles so you can enjoy life pain free, and

spend more time with your grandkid.

Sits the exact same service.

The message between the two demographics.

Are completely different.

This is why it's so important that we do clearly define who our target audience

is, and one of the biggest mistakes that people make when it comes to that

target audience is it's too broad.

It's not honing in on that individual that's going to go, yes, pick.

So that is the first step with identifying, is identifying

your target audience.

The second step is designing a content, designing content

to attract your audience.

I'm gonna share with you a story here, Jeannie.

I'm gonna show up at your doorstep.

I'm gonna knock on your door and you're gonna open the door.

And there I am standing there.

And in one hand I have a box of crackers, and in another

hand I have a brick of cheese.

What's going through your mind?

Where's the bottle of wine?

Okay, excellent.

I love that.

Okay, now I'm gonna take that box of crackers and I'm gonna take that brick

of cheese and I'm gonna put it in a basket and I'm gonna wrap cellophane

around it and put a giant bow on it.

Now, when I show up at your doorstep, what's going through your mind?

Yeah, now I know it's a gift.

Something that somebody sent me or that they've brought to me.

Excellent.

Now.

Would you agree with me?

It's the exact same box of crackers in the, it's the exact same brick of cheese.

Yes, definitely.

Now, here's the thing.

We all have our gifts and skills that we bring to the table.

It's how we package up our skills and gifts.

That's one of the key components to your marketing message.

Now, when I talk about your marketing message, we're going deeper into this.

And this is about what I call getting clarity on your product brand.

Now, your product brand, some people are thinking logo, fonts, and colors.

No, I'm not talking.

That's visual branding.

When I talk about product branding, I'm talking about these key elements.

One is who is your target audience and how do you help your audience?

Okay?

The second key to product brand is how do you stand out from the crowd?

Because to tell you the truth, there's a lot of people offering similar services.

So how do you stand out from the crowd?

Number three is how do you position yourself as the expert?

Okay, so that's number three.

Number four, here's, this is probably one of the most important ones.

How do you articulate the value that you bring for them to justify

investing in your services?

This is absolutely key.

So how do you articulate the value to justify having them

invest in your services?

And number five is how do you lead them?

Into the next stage of your sales and marketing cycle.

So this is really important, right?

Once you get clarity on all of that, then putting together your

message makes a huge difference.

So I had this one client.

She had been going to the same networking event over and over again.

And she wasn't getting anything.

This was back in the in-person days.

Right.

And then, so we worked on getting clarity on her product brand, her target audience,

her product brand and all of that.

And we put together a 62nd intro for her.

And the next time she went to that event, she got up, she did her 60

s second intro and she sat down and she called me that evening.

She said, Mickey, this is the first time they asked me for my business card.

What?

So excited, right?

So when you are able.

To clearly articulate what you, and in that, then everything you do in

marketing will start to come together.

This is how you get your return on your investment, is getting

clarity on your product brand so you can put together your message

and then everything comes together.

Love that.

I love this.

So tell me maybe one of your clients that you worked with and I'm specifically

interested in hearing more about how you helped them articulate the value of

what they were bringing to the table.

That's a very interesting question.

It's actually a process that I've developed to be able to take that

individual through that process.

Jeannie, I wish it was as simple for me to say, here are the questions.

Fill it out in the answers at the end of, jeez, I can do that.

Right.

But here's the thing that's really unique about what I do, because I am

taking people through that process to uncover what their product brand is,

and the three secret sauces to that.

And first of all, I'll be totally upfront and honest with you.

The questions that I ask them are standard sales and marketing questions.

There should be no surprises in there.

However, the secret sauce number one is it's the order in which I ask the

questions because I'm actually taking the brain through a decision making process.

So if a person answers this, we're gonna go this way.

If they answer that, we're gonna go that way.

So it is a decision making process.

The second secret sauce to this process.

It's in the facilitation.

Now, Jeannie, there have been statistics that show that when it comes to

communication, over 50% is nonverbal.

It's in your reaction to the questions or it's in how you respond.

It's not the words that are coming out of the mouth.

It's about me being able to see what you are saying and what you may not be.

So it's number two, it's in the facilitation, and number three,

it's in the collaboration.

So if you say something to me, Jeannie, it might trigger something in my

mind, Hey, have you thought about this or have you thought about that?

And between the two of us brainstorming, oh my gosh.

Magic can absolutely happen.

And those are really the three components that the process that

I take people through AI can't do.

As much as I love AI and I do use ai, there's some things that they

can't, they just can't cover.

Yeah, absolutely.

People realize, because it does have so much information, it

doesn't have feelings, it doesn't.

Passion and you were talking about that.

It made me think of, I had a guest on and he was telling us about what he did,

but when I asked him about a specific client, like he lit up 'cause he was

so excited to tell me about this client that he helped and how he helped them.

And that's part of the whole nonverbal communication is seeing that inspiration

and that excitement in somebody's.

Absolutely.

I had a client the same way as we were going through the process.

Next thing I noticed was how excited she got her voice started.

She started speaking really fast and just the tone and the volume, and

when I asked her, I said, you notice.

How excited you got when you answered that question.

She said, no.

It wasn't until I pointed it out that she realized, oh my gosh,

maybe we've got something here.

And it was like a light bulb moment for her.

It was incredible.

I love that.

I love hearing that.

So tell us, Nikki, what are the top mistakes that people make when they're

trying to craft their messages?

Ah, great question, Jeannie.

That actually leads to the third step, which is one of the biggest

mistakes that people make, and it's about making that connection.

With the audience and choosing the right words to make that connection.

I'm gonna share another story with you.

We, Jeanie, we're gonna bake a birthday cake, okay?

We're gonna bake a birthday cake and we're gonna put in the oven,

we're gonna make the cake itself.

The cake itself is your marketing content, okay?

Now let me ask you this, Jeanie, would you agree with me that how I decorate

the cake for a toddler is going to be very different than how I decorate

the cake for my mother's birthday?

I should think so.

Okay.

But the cake itself is the same.

So the marketing content.

The cake, but the words that we choose to articulate it can be different.

And I'm gonna share with you an example, Jeannie, have you

heard the term elevator pitch?

Oh, yes.

Without a doubt.

Okay.

It's been around forever.

It's been around forever.

Now, here's the thing, Jeannie, I work with heart-centered entrepreneurs.

Many of us work from our home.

We do not have an elevate.

We live in a completely different world than corporate.

And the term.

Elevator pitch doesn't resonate with them.

So you'll always hear me call it the 62nd intro, but it's the exact same thing.

The words we choose to represent it are completely different.

It's the icing on the cake.

So when you ask me what is the mistake is.

Not testing out our marketing content to see what makes a connection.

So one of my clients, she came up to me, she's a marketing person, okay?

She's in marketing, so she should know this stuff, right?

She needed a name, a title for her new program.

So her and I came up with about five different titles and I said, I

want you to take those five titles.

I want you to test it, see what people.

Tending towards.

And she came back and she said, Nikki, they all picked this one title.

And I said, why do you look so glum?

And she said, it's the one that I resonate with least.

And I looked at her.

And I said to her, are you selling this program to those people who voted

or are you selling it to yourself?

And she's, oh, you're right.

It's so hard.

Yeah, it's so hard.

You can't, but you have to find that excitement.

And that can be just a learned thing.

But yeah, the most important thing is that your audience is excited about it.

Absolutely.

And that's probably one of the biggest mistakes.

We may spend hours on what we think is a work of art.

The real question is, does it make a connection with your audience?

That is what really matters.

Yeah, I love that.

So that brings me to think about, what about return on investment?

How do you help your clients get an amazing return on in Invest?

I love the whole cake and the icing thing that's gonna stick with me.

But I'm excited to hear about your return on, in.

Your return on investment, okay?

A lot of people come up to me and goes, Nikki, I've tried Facebook

ads, I've tried social media.

I wrote a book, and all of this stuff.

Marketing doesn't work.

Here's the thing, if people don't understand what you do, and

if that message doesn't really align with your audience, then

it doesn't matter what you do.

It's not gonna resonate.

So in order to get the best return on your investment, start

by focusing on your message.

Once you get that really powerful message that you've tested and that makes a

connection with the audience, and people are drawn to it now, whatever you do in

marketing will have the desired results.

So always start by looking at your message.

'cause sometimes it's not the methods.

The methods work.

They're absolutely fabulous.

It's, does it resonate with your audience?

Yeah.

And that's so important, especially now because there's just so

much noise out there, so much information that you have to know.

What resonates within how to articulate that and get that across and sometimes

in a very short amount of time.

Yes, definitely.

Which is why I do have a gift for the audience.

Thank you.

Yeah, because you brought up a, you're right, there's not a lot of time,

and a lot of people ask me like.

When people ask them, what do you do?

They're totally dumbfounded.

They don't know what to say.

People don't understand what they do, which is why, as a gift to the

audience, is it's, it's what to say when you only have 30 seconds.

And it's a formula that gives you a framework on how to get that

compelling message out there that people will say, tell me more.

And that is, it's the start of your message.

So that's my gift to the, to your listeners here.

So you, Nikki, we appreciate that and we will put a link to

that in the show notes below.

So the last thing I'll ask you, Nikki, is I know there's people listening

who are saying, oh my gosh, I need to talk to her because this is

exactly what I need for my business.

So what's the best way for them to reach out to you?

The best way to reach out to me is through my website and it's ncp consulting.net.

And we'll put that into the show notes.

Yeah, we absolutely will.

And now I'm gonna be thinking about cake for the rest of the day.

But Nikki, thank you so much for joining me.

This has been such a great conversation.

There's so much to be learned here.

And thank you for my gift for your audience.

Thank you very much for having me, Jeannie, and yeah, thank you.

Thanks for listening to the six Figure Business Mastery Podcast.

If you enjoyed listening to this episode and you are ready to leverage video

marketing on all online platforms, or maybe even start your own video

podcast, then you need to check out the Done for You and Done with You program

at the marketing va advantage.com and take your business to the next level.