056 Trust Your Own Marketing Mojo 👶
Why trusting your creativity might be the smartest move in your marketing strategy yet.
Quick Quiz Time 🥳
What is the 10 - 20% rule Zoë recommends for your marketing strategy?
A) Spend 10 - 20% of time watching trends
B) Allocate 10 - 20% of your budget for creative experiments
C) Use 10 - 20% of social media platforms
-
Correct Answer: B) Allocate 10 - 20% of your budget for creative experiments - How do you know if something will work if you don’t try it 😁
056 Trust Your Own Marketing Mojo *Baby*
Marketing doesn't always offer neat, immediate results, and that's okay. Learn how embracing creativity, experimentation, and a bit of blind faith can lead to powerful brand breakthroughs.
Not everything in marketing can be neatly measured, and that’s exactly why creative risk is so valuable. In a world obsessed with analytics, it's refreshing and frankly, powerful to trust your gut. Whether you're DIY-ing your marketing or outsourcing it, staying creatively involved is non-negotiable if you want messaging that genuinely resonates.
🎧 Listen To Next:
054 Pick One Platform, Rule Them All
044 Why Your Website is Your Priority
Zoë introduces the 10 - 20% rule: carve out a sliver of your time or budget just for experiments, no ROI pressure, just play and possibility. It’s about seeing what weird, wonderful ideas stick, from quirky videos to actual snail-mail postcards. Even when these ideas flop, they give you data, insight, and maybe a new direction.
From handwritten notes to colour test postcards and peachy giveaways, it’s clear: doing what no one else dares to do makes you memorable. Marketing is about sparking emotion, not just hitting metrics. If you want to make people feel something and actually get seen, it’s time to embrace your creative instincts and take some playful risks. Want help crafting those bold strategies? Hit up Zoë from Video Confidence Coach and start building your confidence with a video strategy that stands out.
What Was Discussed This Episode + Timecodes:
00:00 – Welcome and George Michael moment: why marketing needs faith, not just numbers.
06:21 – Measuring creative impact when data falls short and why you still need to be involved.
12:03 – Introducing the 10–20% creativity rule: budgeting time and money for experiments.
15:45 – If it flops, it’s still useful! Why failure is part of the process.
20:00 – Real examples: QR-coded postcards, handwritten notes, guerrilla tactics and secret surprise content.
-
Zoë Wood 00:00
You gotta have faith. You gotta have faith. George Marco, please don't sue me if you're tired of the old cookie cutter marketing advice and want to take your personal brand to the next level with bold, actionable strategies that truly reflect you. You're in the right place. Let's untangle your marketing mayhem with zo the video confidence coach on the unborn, your brand. Podcast unborn, your brand was recorded on waterung land. Yes, like I said, Let's have faith, and specifically, faith in your marketing. Me talking about marketing never so today I wanted to talk about in the podcast is specifically having faith in your marketing endeavours. Not everything in marketing can be measured down to the decimal point, despite what Google insights and meta insights and all of those platforms say that they can do, yes, they can give you a bunch of numbers and a bunch of analytics and a bunch of data, but not everything can be measured with numbers. Despite how fun people feel, sometimes you just have to trust the process and take a creative risk and see what happens. So what I recommend for those who are listening or watching our podcast today is, if you're able to, if you're driving, don't do this, but if you're able to grab a pen and paper or maybe a note app within your phone to be able to write down some of these ideas that are generated, if at all, during today's podcast. And if none of the ideas that I give you today do not resonate, that is okay. I'm sorry if that's the case, but I do hope that I'm able to give you something to work with here, specifically about having faith in your marketing, but also having faith in your creative ability. As someone who is maybe doing the marketing themselves for your brand, or maybe you're hiring someone else to do that work for you, you still need to be able to be creative in your own ways, to generate ideas, to help lay out plans to because one thing that I recommend for people at all, even if you are handing over everything to someone else because you absolutely are poor marketing, you absolutely hate it, please, for the love of God, check in with it. Make sure that you agree with what's being said, that they ask you plenty of questions about why you're targeting this person who is your like, customer that you want to bring in, who is going to generate leads? Because your marketing is the thing that is going to generate you leads is spreading your message far and wide. So you need to have knowledge of it and control of it. But if you are doing it yourself, or you're having someone else do it, please do your best to write down these ideas and hopefully give it to them or utilise it in yourself later on. Make sure you schedule in time to do so. So trying something different. So why? Faith in your marketing matters. And this may seem a bit contradictory as someone who is in the marketing field, but I am a fairly creative person. I trust the process of what others have done or what others have shown, but not everything in Marketing provides an instant result. Not every single action that you take is able to help you give to the minute detail to make business decisions with. And I'm not talking just about digital advertising. You may think, you may think I'm just talking purely about ads, but these are about any activities that you're doing that is able to give you any sort of metrics to measure by. Not everything is able to gonna is not every single marketing activity that you are going to do for your brand is going to move that needle straight away, or is going to get you seen by anyone and everyone, or that million dollar client who's going to give you all the money and not hassle you and be the best Client ever. The rewards aren't always instant and but letting that non instant tandem, I forgot what the word is for that one, but it's going to take some things, take time to build momentum, and marketing is definitely one of them. Creativity can't be measured. And when you are doing it, especially you're doing yourself in an area where there's maybe not a lot of resources or tutorials or examples out there, it can definitely feel isolating. But your creative creativity, even though it does not have a metric number to it, is not valueless. Honestly, it is more valuable than anything because people crave and I'm talking people broadly crave creativity. They crave freshness. They want genuine ways to connect with other people, but also with other brands. So. I might that may seem a bit contribute contradicting, because people don't want to connect with brands. Zo, no, I focus in on personal brands. People want to connect with personal brands because they want the help that is the, you know, the way to solve their solution. But people also want something unexpected. They are going to pay attention to the things that are unique, that are interesting, not just the cookie cutter of everyone else around them, or in some cases now, what the AI spits out at the end of the day because it is trained on all the data that it already exists, all the creativity that's already out there. It's already done, and that's boring, and that's not going to get you seen, especially when your message may be similar to your competitors. There is no unique way of standing out. You don't have a very clear why message so why you are doing, what you're doing, who you're serving. You don't have any of those lined up. It's going to seem really generic. And when it comes to the creativity that you're going to do, you're going to find that you're going to be shouting out into the void because you don't have any direction. You don't have anywhere to focus your creativity. So one thing that I would like to you to do, or take the time to do, is to start experimenting. So I like to use the 10 to 20% rule. So when it comes to your marketing budget, and in those of our cases, people who maybe don't have a marketing budget established, maybe thinking about what you can use as the, you know, crux of your ability to start marketing, you know, give yourself an opportunity to be like, Okay, I need to generate leads. Some people's marketing efforts are different depending on, you know, the regular what people pay on a regular basis with you and your business for me and the people that I work with, it usually is around the $502,000 mark on average, just because of the knowledge that me and my customers can bring. But that may not be the case for you. So there's still this. I'd say this still applies to you, no matter what you are eventually selling. But for those who you know, take that time. So back to the rules, Zo, 10 to 20% of your marketing budget should be for creative marketing experiments. Take the time and opportunity for 10% 10 to 20% so this can be of time. This can be of money, combination of the two, whatever your marketing budget is. So if you're doing free ways of marketing yourself, you're gonna have to be a little bit more creative and spend a little bit more time doing it. But again, the 1020 rule still applies. Give yourself permission to try new ideas without the pressure of immediately getting return on investment, and especially for a lot of people, and especially if you are starting out and you're down on funds, I can understand that need, or that drive to forgo creativity and just focus on the stuff that give me money. Cool. That's what the 80% is for. The 20% I want to give you that opportunity to be creative, to try new things to see, maybe what other people are doing in other industries that are not related to yours. And you go, Oh, that's actually quite cool. I think I can do it better, or I can do it differently to serve my customer. Awesome. I'm going to do that. That is that 20, 20% working that is that creativity to give you that opportunity to try something new. Maybe that is not necessarily within your wheelhouse. It's going to be hella scary, but it's definitely going to pay off for you, and if it works. So if that like, you try out maybe a video or a unique way to get your message in front of people. And of course, I'll give you some examples as we go on. And if it works, awesome. Double Down. See what you can do. Try some of some new things in that same area. Like people really resonated with this type of video. Oh, it's really easy to make. I can do more of that. And if it was difficult to make, okay, what can I do to make it easier on myself? So take that opportunity to double down. If it works and if it flops, you've definitely learned something. I've forgotten which philosopher said this, but when I should really stop saying but Zo, if there is failures or mistakes, you end up learning more than you did if you succeeded, and if you succeeded, great, awesome. But like you probably didn't learn as much as you did if you made mistakes or if it failed. I mean, it should actually preface that. So in that event of that failure, you can learn a lot more, not just from the analytics or the numbers or the lack of ROI, again, return on investment for the amount of time energy and money you've spent on producing that thing. But again, it's only 1010, to 20% of your already marketing budget allowed marketing budget. So if it were, if it doesn't work, cool, but I highly doubt that none of it would have worked. So in that event, you can learn, you maybe take a couple of the bits or elements that did work. Maybe you found a tutorial online that maybe, like the thing itself, didn't really work, but you'd like the tutorial itself so you end up following more from that creator, and you're able to see other unique ways that you can apply that knowledge to other areas of your marketing endeavours. See, see, not everything is broken, so some ideas that are unique ways of marketing your business. And of course, I specifically, or mainly, talk to women and non binary superstars who want to grow their personal brands with killer video marketing strategies. But this will also work for people who are outside of that scope. So don't worry. I haven't forgotten about you. Sorry. One thing that I am personally using in my own business is sending physical postcards with a QR code to a surprise freebie. So maybe say, for example, you have a CRM So customer relationship management tool. So this is a way that you can organise everything your people and your customers and stuff. Or maybe you have an email list of people who and you've also got some postal addresses as well, maybe from recent marketing students that you've done in the past, again, the other 20% that you've done the past, what you can do is start sending physical postcards with, yes, your branding on it, but maybe a QR code to A surprise freebie for people who are, were or are, or are genuinely interested in what you offer or what you can offer. I'm currently and for those who may be interested to know, I'm currently setting up some postcards that I'm going to get delivered over the next month, maybe by the time you listen to this or watch this, I've already got them, but I'm going to be sending postcards to people who are interested in my services with colour test cards. So essentially, a colour test card is what people use on sets, but also when you are getting a camera and the lighting to look perfect, having something that is essentially a shape with different colours on it and different shapes and some things overlapping, so that you can put it next to your face, so in the camera. So if you're seeing me now, I don't think I've got anything that I can use as an example right now at hand, but you have this usual post postcard sized card that you can use to be able to make sure that your lighting is good, or be able to get the same lighting and same look and feel between different shots. And it's a simple postcard that I can print through Office works. And it is both a practical tool, so people aren't going to get rid of it, like a magnet, like a thermometer, like a bookmark. People aren't going to get rid of that stuff. It is useful to them. Also, it has my branding on the front and on the back. And also it takes a QR code on how to best use it for people who may not be aware on how to use the tool. But also allows me space on the back to be creative with my messaging. And also just say, you know, remind people of, hey, you attended a workshop, or, you know, we talked three months ago. I wanted to make sure that your marketing journey is going well. I wanted to give you a gift, a simple postcard. Maybe takes $1 and a bit postage stamp wise, but it's unique, it's creative, and people are already loving the idea. And when I officially get those printed, people will love it too. So take that opportunity. Another one that I have is reviving old school marketing tactics. Now, of course, as you can imagine, there is a lot going on out there. People are bombarded by digital ads every day. So taking this opportunity to do some snail mail, like some write some letters or postcards, writing handwritten notes, especially if you are someone who charges a lot for their services, to be able to take that opportunity to have a handwritten note is going to change people's perception of you and your brand to the point where they are going to say, Oh yes, like, I got a letter from you, like you took the time to handwrite me a letter. I am I going to care about what you say? Because we don't get hand letter handwritten letters as much anymore. You can also use some guerrilla marketing tactics. So gorilla marketing tactics are essentially cheap, fast, easy marketing tactics that are used to stand out and gain, also virality fame. But these gorilla tactics can be something as simple as you know, going out to a client meeting and recording their expression as you provide maybe some flowers or maybe something really important to them, maybe like that. Who knows, see how you go. Now, of course, I'm trying to nice and broad, but also nice and specific. Another one is that you create a secret digital space, a hidden page on your website, or a private podcast episode or an exclusive video message that you offer to people who have reached a certain threshold within your business. Maybe they've maybe they're a regular client of yours, and they've given you $1,000 over a cumulative amount of time, and then you give them a gift, people are going to remember the fact that they gave you a gift and. Over what the actual gift was, but they're going to remember that. They're going to rave about it to their friends and family, they're going to look you up, they're going to see how cool you are, and then they're going to expand you from there. Because word of mouth is the best way of marketing yourself and your brand. So in turn, make sure to stand up creatively to do so. Another way is you can un host. You can host an unconventional giveaway. Now, of course, when it comes to giveaways and lotteries and those alike, make sure you check the laws within your state or country, because some of those things can be scams. A lot of those things can be scams. So make sure you just keep, you know, the platforms and all that good stuff. But an unconventional giveaway can be something like not just the tag three friends and share this post, which I don't think is very creative, very, very same, same, but it can be something fun. You can say, for example, I worked with someone who had a peach as, let's say they had a peach, like a as a logo, and they offered to their, like, very elite group of people, and they offered the opportunity to, hey, if you, you know, refer me to three clients, I will give you a secret prize and, like, without even really describing what it was, she was able to get, like, a good 20 grand worth of like, locked in referral leads and contact and what did she give these people? She gave them a box of in seasoned peaches, and they and the stories that she got back from these clients. Now, of course, keep in mind that these were people who already loved her and worked with her in the past, but they got reminded and they got given a giveaway, because they already know, liked and trust her, and now she's given them an entire like container worth of in season ripe local peaches, to the point where people have been like raving about it for years. So that is also a useful, creative and unique tactic. And one last thing that I will get onto today is surprising and just delighting your audience. Now this can be your potential customers, so people who you haven't worked with yet, your current customers and also your past clients as well. Because your past clients have already worked with you, they've already loved you, they're more likely to share word of mouth marketing techniques and tactics. So being able to delight them with unexpected bonuses or just random acts of kindness is something that I can highly recommend a lot of people who go through my CRM so my client relationship management system, they have a bunch of small little questions in there that I provide. Sometimes, when people are signing up, not everyone, but sometimes and they just completely throw them off, because I like to have a bit of fun with my marketing and what I do. And people remember that. People remember that it was fun. It made them laugh, it made them smile. They don't remember why, but they remember connecting that feeling with, oh yeah, I chatted with Zoe, or I signed up to one of zoie's things, or I checked out some of the stuff that she did, and it brings a smile to their face. And when it comes to marketing your business, getting the leads in, but also having that genuine human connection and helping and serving people, you need to be able to get people to smile have a positive or negative reaction to you, as long as it's polar opposites. Either way, I'll talk about negative marketing in a future podcast. But at the end of the day, marketing isn't just numbers and algorithms, though the tech billionaires may make you feel that way. Marketing is about making people feel something to spur them to action. And yes, that action may be give you money, but that action may be something that benefits them as well, not saying that giving you money is not going to benefit them, but allowing them to see what they can possibly achieve. Make them feel something with your marketing and with your messaging, take a risk. Get creative and see what happens, because being creative will automatically mean you will definitely be seen. I highly I can I can bet that. I can guarantee that being creative in your marketing will lead to you being seen. Thank you again for joining us today on this podcast. Make sure to check it. Check us out on Apple podcasts or Spotify, and when you're there, give us five stars and give us a good review. In the meantime, also feel free to give me re feedback on this podcast. I'm happy to update my processes and maybe be a little bit less rambly. You can feel free to yell at me, at me. Zo, feel free to do that. Look forward to seeing you around. Bye cherry says, Thank you for listening or watching unblouring Your brain. End, you can find detailed show notes with tools, offers and episode transcriptions. Just click the first link in the description or go to Vcc dot training slash podcast. Get involved and ask me anything about personal branding, video strategy or just a friendly Small Business chat via my email. G'day at Vcc dot training, that is G, D, A, y, at VCC, dot training, the video confidence coach, would like to acknowledge and pay my respects to the wadawurrung people of the Kulin nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which I record my podcast. I pay my respects to their elders, past and present. I stand with the traditional custodians of these lands and working towards a more equal future, always was, always will be Aboriginal land. Look forward to me chatting at you next week, superstars.
The above livestream episode description and transcript were generated together human knowledge + ai.
Who is your host?
Feeling stuck trying to build a personal brand that actually turns heads? Women and non-binary super-stars deserve more than just a cookie-cutter approach to their worries. Zoë Wood the Video Confidence Coach untangles your marketing mayhem, helping you own the camera, craft killer video strategies, and connect with your audience like never before. You’ll leave with the tools to show up, stand out, and smash your goals.
Find out more about how to grow your personal brand with the power of video right here on vcc.training
Smashing Your Marketing Mayhem With Killer Video Strategies 🧡
Other related podcast episodes
Related weekly livestreams
*Please note that this podcast was previously called THE "Video Confidence Coachcast" and the "Do Video Podcast" previous to 2025. THANK-YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AS I TRANSITION THE BRAND TO BE MORE CONSISTANT FOR YOUR LISTENING AND WATCHING PLEASURE.