Having a business can be tough as it is, so why get stuck with marketing that does not spark joy? In this episode, Juliet Clark invites someone who is all about it, living with the mantra, “if it isn’t joyful, we are not doing it.” She is with Shannon Hernandez, a Marketing Strategist known for her Joyful Marketing Methodology, to help us learn how to market and sell from a place of joy first and build a profitable business. She then shares with us the program she has to get more joy to people’s marketing as well as some tips to implement it in our content and more. Joy is contagious. Add that to your marketing, and you’re likely to get the engagements you’re looking for. 

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Building A Profitable Business Through Joyful Marketing With Shannon Hernandez 

Before we get started, and I’m excited about our guest, I wanted to remind you to go over and take the Promote, Profit, Publish Quiz. You can find it at www.PromoteProfitPublishQuiz.com. Find out if you’re ready to publish. Do you have your audience built? Have you done all the pieces you need to have a successful book launch? We’re going to talk a little bit about those joyful things as well. This will be helpful for you. Don’t forget to go over to our YouTube channel, Superbrand Publishing, follow us over there. If you’re somebody who likes visual, as opposed to listening to the podcast or reading a blog, that’s the place to go because you can see all of these people. They’re real people. I don’t make them up. They’re awesome.  

Our guest is Shannon Hernandez and I am so excited to have Shannon because I’ve heard about her for years, a long time ago. I guess you and I talked many years ago. One of my clients referred me over there and we never connected but now we’re all part of the Dames. I’m excited to bring her to you. Shannon is all about that joy in life and biz and is specifically known around the globe for her Joyful Marketing Methodology. She works with online coaches and consultants, teaching them how to market and sell from a place of joy first and build a profitable business that includes abundant time off and who doesn’t like that? 

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Welcome, Shannon.  

Thank you. I’m so excited to be here.  

I’m excited to have you. I’m excited because I was on a podcast a while back and the name of it was Jonny Hates Marketing. You’re the exact opposite, even though he is cool and sarcastic and I love him. You come from a different place where it’s like, “If you don’t dig it, it’s not happening.”  

That’s it. We’re going to lay it all on the line and open with our mantra that all of our clients and our community and our students get behind. “If it isn’t joyful, we are not doing that stuff.”  

If you can’t cuss, you are not worth the fuss. How’s that? There we go. We’re not going to do poetry here. Let’s talk a little bit about this in detail because people go out and it’s the beginning of the year when you and I are talking, even though there’ll be a little bit later, and they’ll say, “This year, I’m doing a blog,” and they get 3 or 4 in and they go, “Yes, this takes a lot of time. I’m not into it. I’ve run out of things to say.” Why does that happen?  

There could be many reasons, but the first reason is the mantra is, “If it isn’t joyful, we are not doing it.” Why would we keep doing things that aren’t joyful for us? This is how the whole brand developed, Joyful Marketing. People would come to me and they say, “I want to blog.” They’d blog and they’d stop. “I want to write a book. I want to do podcasts.” At the end of the day, that actually wasn’t what they wanted. They thought they wanted that. That was the key. We’ve seen this. If you’ve been around any amount of time, like, “Now it’s all about Clubhouse. Everyone’s talking about Clubhouse.” No. If it isn’t joyful, we’re not doing it. Part of it is giving yourself permission to let all the things you think you should be doing go and find 1 or 2 that lights you up like you’re on fire for it. That’s how marketing actually works. It’s the contagious, joyful energy that gets people on board.  

I would agree with that. I’m actually not on Clubhouse. I got off social media with the exception of LinkedIn and I’m a much happier person, so I’m not going back. Are you on Clubhouse?  

I went over there to see what all the rage was because I have clients who were asking me, “How can I use Clubhouse as a strategy?” Am I there? Yes. Am I going to do anything with it? Probably not but here’s the key. Years ago, people would come to me for this exact same thing. “I want to write a book. I want to do a blog. I want to do all these things.” I thought, “Do you really want to?” They’re like, “No. I heard that you should.” I developed a quiz years ago that has helped people find their content marketing personality. It’s called the Content Personality Quiz. You‘re either video, audio, live in person written or visual. Those are the five ways you can put content out into the world. In a matter of three minutes, you can take this quiz and you can find, “This is how people would best relate to me.”  

It’s backed by years and years of research. I know you’re a quiz person, so we could geek out on this. The point of this is that I used to love to write and I do love to write but my writing does not convert to people signing up. I thought there’s something going on here. Just because I love to write, it’s not how my energy comes across. I went on this exploration, we developed this quiz. Thousands and thousands of people have used it to get into alignment and their business and here’s what we found. My way that people love my energy and love to experience me is either live in person or video. When I go live or if I got back from San Antonio, believe it or not, in the middle of a pandemic, I was the keynote. It was so fun. When I speak, when I go live, when I have an interview on a podcast, that is when people actually engage with me. As a side note, everyone should take the quiz if you want more joy and to see how do people relate best to you. To answer your question, Juliet, audio is number 5 out of 5, which is why I’m not loving Clubhouse because it’s an audio–based platform.  

It’s also not about where people relate. It’s also about what you will do consistently and what you enjoy. I would imagine since you’re good on video, you enjoy doing video, which I do too. I didn’t do it first, but I do now.  

Sometimes we have to have a little learning curve. The other thing I think that’s important is all of us will find and do find more joy when people are engaging. Who wants to write a book that nobody buys? Who wants to do a video that nobody watches or comments on? No one. It’s like crickets. It’s the worst. Part of it’s like if you’re video or you’re written for blogging or whatever it is, how are you then going to have a little bit of a strategy for engagement and getting people there and getting people talking? That’s the crux of marketing. How are you starting conversations that people are actually engaging in? That is marketing at the end of the day.  

I think with COVID, it’s become even more important. We used to talk about conversion, but a click is not doing it for people anymore. We’re not out talking to people the way we used to. We’re not networking. You have to carve out time every week to be on Zoom. I know we’re all super Zoom exhausted at this point but you have to do it in order to make real conversations and real connections. It’s a lot like dating. You would never click online and go, “You look good. Will you marry me?” You got to slow it down a tad bit. You wouldn’t do that in person either and people don’t realize that. When they set up these big funnels, you don’t do anything in online marketing that you wouldn’t do in person.  

Juliet, as a side note. I have a word for the Zoom fatigue. Zoom Zombie. I love alliteration, so it works.  

I do love it too because by the end of the day, we have a Zoom meeting and I know by 3:00 or 4:00, I will literally be like, “Am I going.” It’s bad. Tell us a little bit about what you’re doing with your joyful marketing. I know you have a new program. How is that working and how do you stimulate that engagement with people?  

The first thing that I think I’m doing in the world is reading and saving the world from shitty marketing, which is going to be clear here. This is my passion. This is my mission in lifelike, “How do I get more joy into people’s marketing, so they make more money and have more time off?”  

You need to get you like a superhero costume with a big SM thing. We need to get you a superhero because you’re saving the world from shitty marketing.  

Joyful Marketing: Give yourself permission to let go of all the things you think you should be doing and find one or two that lights you up like you’re on fire for it.

We can fly above the world. That’s the first thing. I like to say this, I know you have smart audience that reads this show. I am shifting paradigms around marketing. I wake up every day and I’m like, “How am I going to do this today? What’s the word I’m going to use? What video am I going to do? Who am I going to engage with? Who can I help with their marketing?” That’s the very first thing. How it translates into the programming, I decided in 2020, I was leading all marketing teachings and trainings. You’ve seen this in the Dames, I’m sure, where I’ve taught, with pictures. Hand–drawn, fun pictures, that explain stuff. That’s been super fun in 2020. Everything in my program has the word joy in it.  

We’ve got The Joyful CEO, which is a mastermind for people making above six figures in their business and they want to scale. Guess what? Scale the joy and the time off first and continue making the money and make more money. Joy is everywhere. My goal is that anytime anyone hears the word joy, I hate marketing, Johnny Hates Marketing. I love him. I’m in his Facebook group. I need more clients. I want to make more money and have more time off. They’re like, “You got to talk to Shannon. She’s all about scaling the joy first and the rest follows.” It’s an exciting year to be bringing more people back around to this idea of joy, engagement and building relationships with the marketing. At the end of the day, if you build the relationships, it’s the know, like and trust factor. They‘re going to refer you. They’re going to take your programs. They’re going to ask you to be on their stages, on their podcasts. That’s how marketing works.  

No excuses this year. I mentor for a program once a month. We talked about, “You can’t use the excuse, I don’t have time. The content is your trust builder. You can’t use the excuse, I don’t want to be seen, because that’s not going to sell a business.” You have to find the right platforms to be able to do this on. That’s where your audience is, not where you are comfortable with. I know that goes back to what you’re doing too with the joy. If you’re not connecting, it’s not going to feel good. If you’re a solo to CEO mentor, you can’t be over on Facebook. Your people are on LinkedIn. You have to put a certain amount of training into where that core audience is at too. How do you do that with joy? Nobody wants to learn.  

I don’t know. I find a lot of people that want to learn.  

They do. I hear that a lot with the entrepreneurs, “I don’t have time.” They’re a lot of excuses around the connecting, which you and I talked about a little bit before we got on about knowing your numbers and being engaged. Many people go out and they hire a company and then they’re shocked when the marketing company fails. If you ask them, they’re not engaged in what they’re doing.  

I’m going to tell everyone a story. This is going to be a good story. In 2019, my business brought in $225,000 in revenue. My expenses are around $10,000 a month. I’m super profitable. I got a lot of money left over after everything’s paid, including my salary. That was no ads because ads do not bring me joy. I cannot control a lot of things. I decided I’m not doing ads. It isn’t joyful. I’m not doing it. That was 2019. I started 2020, like everyone else, pandemic. I almost also died during the surgery. It was a crazy year. In March, when I came out of that surgery and decided I was living for the rest of the year, I said, “What is going to bring me joy this year?” Here’s the question. This is what I help all my people with. “How do I double the revenue and work half the time?” Remember that. It’s the most brilliant question ever. Fast forward, end of 2020, we brought in $440,000 in revenue. My expenses still stayed $10,000 a month. Way more profit. I worked three days a week.  

How did I do it? I embraced my content marketing personality, which is video. I learned to tell great stories. Part of what I’m known for is story marketing. How do we craft stories that sell? This is great for people that are a little nervous too. They’re visible. The visibility makes you nervous. Tell good stories. Tell stories about your clients. Tell stories about why you invented the program. Why are you writing the book? Why do you have the podcast? People love a good story and I’m super proud of that growth and even more proud that I didn’t go to ads. I didn’t force myself out of alignment. I didn’t give up on my content. I didn’t quit because COVID was here. There were a million reasons I could have quit in 2020. I didn’t choose any of them. This joy thing is real. This no excuses thing is real. It works.  

Good for you on the ads. I gave them up in 2019 as well. I didn’t find them effective. That’s when we started heavily using the quiz and talk to people. Actually, we were using it a little bit before but that was the point. I was like, “I’m not doing this ad thing anymore. It’s no fun. It was stressful.” I don’t think I was getting the ROI, so good for you to do that. FYI for you guys, I hear a lot of people, they would say, “Why are these ads in front of me? I don’t click on them. I don’t want them. How do I get rid of them?” It’s almost become an annoyance over on Facebook to see them.  

Every time I pick up my phone and go to Facebook, always the second post is an ad.  

I never noticed that. I haven’t been on it for a while now and I’m a happier person for it. I also get a lot more done without social media, so it’s a good thing. You have some events coming up. When is your next one? How can we get ahold of you?  

First, if you’re interested, take the quiz. It’s MShannonHernandez.com/quiz. That’ll help you with your content personality, help you get into alignment, find some joy. All of my programs are rolling entry. That was another joyful move I made because being in launch mode pushed me way out of joy. Now the doors are always open. That has its own unique set of things that have to be dealt with but way more joyful to do that. We’ve got programs. If you are coach or consultant making under $100,000, we’ve got a program for you called The Confident Expert Program and we help you with this joyful marketing strategy. If you’re making over $100,000 and not yet $750,000, it’s The Joyful CEO. In all of the programs, we talk to first, we love on you. We help you make a good decision and make sure it’s the right one for you. The very first step is to fall in love with your marketing. When you can fall in love with your marketing, 95% of the battle is over.  

The rolling program concept. I started doing it back in 2019 and I love it. You don’t need the Facebook ads. You don’t need the launch protocols. I found all that extremely stressful. Is that why you did it too, why you got rid of it?  

It was so stressful because basically, with the launch model, you’re basically betting that in 1 or 2 weeks’ time of your doors being open for your program, you will find all the perfect people in that two–week time and sign them all. It is exhausting. The funnels that have to be created and it’s not a five–hour workday anymore. Forget that. It’s way longer. We actually said, “How can we flip this?” There are things I love about the launch, like a little bit of the buzz and people are excited and they’re talking about it. How do you have that joyful piece without the exhaustion? We’ve played with lots of different things but by and far, I am so much happier not in launch mode. It felt disingenuous to say, “My doors are closing,” when it’s an online program.  

If Johnny, who hates marketing, came by and he’s like, “You finished in June. I was on vacation. Can I join in July?” Of course, we said yes. Were the doors closing? That was weird. The other thing that got me out of this was that I know most of my people come and find me about 90 days before they’re actually ready to purchase. They’re looking for the education. They’re checking me out, they’re checking the trainings out. They’re like, “What is this Joyful Marketing stuff that she’s talking about?” If you know you’re buying cycle, which by the way, everyone, it’s all about 90 days. If you launch, you turn them off right away. You’re pushing. We were losing people with good intentions of having high energy launches but they weren’t ready to buy. They left and now I have no idea where they are. They’re probably buried in bad marketing somewhere and hating their lives  

Joyful Marketing: The very first step is to fall in love with your marketing. When you can do that, 95% of the battle is over.

You brought up such an important point, knowing your sales cycle. Mine usually is about 30 days. I have a little bit less, but I have a much lower price point online. That makes a lot of sense. You guys need to know what is your sales cycle? The number one thing I hear from coaches is, “I can’t predict my cashflow.” If you know that sales cycle, you have a relatively good idea what your cashflow looks like and knowing your closing rate as well. If I have a referral, I can usually close them first time. If I have somebody cold, it’s 2 or 3, maybe 4 times. Important stuff. I love stuff like that too. I could totally geek out on the numbers.  

I have a Zoom Zombie date with something fun and geek out.  

We should invite the other Zoom Zombies too. That’s great. I’m stealing it from you. Thank you so much for and thank you for sharing your wisdom. Go ahead and get ahold of her. It’s MShannonHernandez.com/quiz. I actually took it, I think in December or is this a new one? I know you said you revamped it.  

Nope. There’s another new one but first, they need to know their content personality. That’s the first thing. You took it in December.  

Thank you so much.  

Thanks for having me. 

 Important Links

• www.PromoteProfitPublishQuiz.com 
• Superbrand Publishing - YouTube 
• Shannon Hernandez 
• Jonny Hates Marketing 
• Content Personality Quiz 
• The Confident Expert Program
   

About Shannon Hernandez

M. Shannon Hernandez is ALL ABOUT THAT JOY in life and biz—and specifically is known around the globe for her Joyful Marketing Methodology. She works with online coaches and consultants—teaching them how to market and sell from a place of joy first—and build a profitable business that includes abundant time off.

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