142 | Social Media Isn't The Answer: Marketing Your Organizing Business in 2023

Since I became a business coach for organizers a few years ago, if I had a way to add up the amount of time that I talk about social media in relation to a lot of other topics in business--I think it's an outsized part of the conversation that exists for how to grow our businesses. I wanted to have a really candid talk with my guest about what social media is and what it isn't for organizers. My guest is Kate from Kate The Socialite, and she is a marketer for the home services industry, including many great professional organizers. We are talking about why soical media isn't the answer many people think it is--and why.  LINKS FOR LISTENERS:  Information on our signature program Inspired Organizer®: CLICK HERE Kate's marketing business for organizers, Kate The Socialite: CLICK HERE Our free workshop, The Pro Organizer's Profit Plan: CLICK HERE A QUICK TASTE OF THIS EPSIODE: Melissa Klug: Hello to all of my favorite organizers. I hope you are having an absolutely awesome day. I listen to a lot of podcasts. It's a medium that I really like, I could easily fill 24 hours a day with all the great content that's out there, whether it's business or things that I'm interested in personally. But I will tell you, I. So thrilled when I find a podcast that I connect with so much and that really connects with the things that I believe about business and life. And today's guest is one of those people for me. But before we start this conversation, which is all about social. And it may not be what you think it's going to be. I want to give a little preface about some of the things that we are talking about today. Since I became a business coach for organizers a few years ago, if I had a way to add up the amount of time that I talk about social media in relation to a lot of other topics in business. I think it's an outsized part of the conversation that exists for how to grow our businesses. And today I wanted to have a really candid talk with my guest about what social media is and what it isn't for organizers. Over the last few months, I've been listening to her podcast it's called The Kate Show. I've been listening intently to her podcast and her candid takes on social media for organizers. And I wanted to have a chat with her about these topics and many, many more. So we're going to break this up into two episodes. This episode will cover social media specifically, and then a second episode is going to be on what is working in 2023 to build an organizing business? I really hope that it will give you some clarity or some freedom in your business or really just give you some things to think about. So with all of that, I am happy to introduce Kate from Kate the Socialite. Melissa Klug: We are back with a prior guest and I am so excited to talk to her. Kate was on our podcast in episode 61, so it was a while ago, it was a couple of years ago. But I am a regular listener to her podcast and I have just connected so deeply with a lot of the things that she has been saying that I really wanted to bring her on and have a conversation about one of my favorite slash not favorite topics. So Kate, the socialite, welcome back to the podcast.  Kate: Thank you so much for having me. I, it's an honor to be here yet again. I love it when your listeners contact me and I actually got a wave of that recently, so thank you, what you did on that end, but I did nothing. . Okay. Well clearly they're listening to the show, your show, and then they come over to me and they're like, I heard you on Pro Organizer, and I wanna, you know, do this and that. And I'm like, okay, awesome. Because the people that find me through you guys are so nice. And they're so professional, they really care about their businesses. So it's just a joy to be back.  Melissa Klug: Well, that's awesome. We do, honestly, and I'm, I am absolutely not just saying this. We have the loveliest community of people.  It's just, it's so refreshing. I mean, I used to be in a corporate job where everything was very cutthroat, and it was so lovely to get in an organizing and be like, oh my gosh, people are so nice. And are people in particular just the listeners of the podcast and the people we have are great. So I'm happy to share that with you. Well, can you give people a recap of if they haven't listened to the past podcast, tell us a little bit about what you do for the organizing industry.  Kate: Yes. And before I do that, I better give a disclaimer because he has already snorted in the microphone here, But I have my seven month old son with me, he is my second. And no, I have not figured out how to do Zoom calls with a baby yet. It is just what it is. So thank you for your patience, .  Melissa Klug: Oh my gosh, we love it.  Kate: He's gonna giggle now cause he thinks this is just great. But, to answer your question, . I run a marketing agency that specializes in helping professional organizers market their businesses simply because I really feel that marketing has gotten overcomplicated and way too expensive. It's gotten to the point where, and I have my clients tell me this all the time. I feel like I have to have two separate full-time jobs in my business. One is marketing and the other is doing the actual thing that I wanted to do, and that just, that doesn't make any sense. And I understand why they feel that way because we are bombarded with messages that say you need to be boosting posts on social media. You need to be posting constantly on social media. You should be showing up in video, and then you also need to blog and you do email marketing and do all these things. Yeah. Who has time for all of that? Because a lot of the organizers I work with, they are also mothers. So it's not like they can just drop everything whenever it feels right and then go work on their business. It just doesn't make any sense. So we have developed simple ways that people can save money, get better, return on their investment  and here's the crazy thing I'm gonna throw out there cause I'm sure we'll dive into it later. The return on investment for email marketing versus social is 40 times higher.  Melissa Klug: Okay. So I want everyone to stop and absorb that because I do, I talk a lot about like it's and we're gonna talk about this, but email marketing is the most slept on thing in our business. I think it's something that people maybe know that they should be doing, but 40 times the return even, I assume you're gonna agree with this. With a small  Kate: list. Even with a small list. And we have a lot of people who come to us and say, well, I only have like 20 people on my list, or 60 people. Totally fine. Yeah. Because those people will either refer you to someone else by forwarding your newsletter and then that third party ends up hiring you. We see that happen a lot more than I thought we would. Kind of surprising. But that's just because the word of mouth referral method is not dead. No, and that's why email marketing is not dead. That's why it's worked for decades and will continue to work.