 When you try to learn marketing and improve your business, grow your business, you're going to come across a lot of marketing experts that will say, you've got to use this newest technique. Check out this latest new software that will make your business so much easier and our marketing automated. You must use some method to get the audience's attention. This is the latest way you do it. I have been around in this industry since 2009. So what, something like 14 years now. And trust me, I have seen marketing trend after business trend just come and go. And in all that time, what has not come and go is to improve the substance of our marketing. It's true like software will come and go. I have tried so many softwares over the years. Techniques to get the audience's attention or to get the algorithm on social media to feature your content, those will keep coming and going. To try to keep up with trends, some people try, but then they eventually burn out. Most of them do. I mean, I look around my own industry and my peers that started with me back in 2009, most of them are no longer around doing their business, doing the kind of teaching and content creation that I'm doing. I'm still here. Why? Well, I like to believe that it's because I have found a way to ignore marketing trends and focus on the substance. Now, there is truth in that if you chase the trends, you get a bit of a first mover advantage. That's what it's called in the business world or strategy world, first mover advantage. You're one of the first people to figure out this algorithmic change. And so you put your efforts towards taking advantage of that trend and therefore you get seen more or some new tool comes out. So you're one of the first people to go and use it. And then as people start starting union use tool, then you get some traffic. But the thing about it is to me, it feels breathless, to have to chase and to keep up to make sure you don't miss all the emails and the posts and the webinars and the tools. It's not a joyful way to do business in my opinion. And it's actually increasingly impossible. It's been impossible for probably a decade, to be honest with you, but it's only gotten harder over the years to actually try to keep up with all the latest tools, plugins, techniques, strategies, methods. And the people, like I said, who do chase the trends, they do get some temporary advantage, but I don't think it's sustainable because, well, like I said, most of my peers are no longer around and only a few of us are left and still going strong. Why? Because we focus on substance. So let me explain to you what I believe to be the way to focus on substance, to have a sustainable way to keep growing your business or at least keep it stable and thriving and joyfully fulfilling year after year after year. It does take a bit more patience as all good things do, but that patience is well rewarded with actual loyalty from your audience and strength that you're going to feel as you continue operating and growing your business. All right, so these are the three actions to work on the substance of your marketing instead of chasing trends. Number one, and by the way, what I'm gonna say is not, if you've been watching my videos, you've heard what I'm about to say, maybe not exactly in this way and hopefully this is kind of an overview of, okay, got it, George. This is what to focus on going forward to ensure that I have continuous stable success over the years, okay? So action number one, consistent, authentic content creation and publishing. Just, I mean, I try to do the things that I'm telling you, so just watch what I do. Year after year after year, I'm still here doing my Facebook live videos, YouTube videos, Instagram, I post on LinkedIn as well. I send out, I post on my website blog on a regular basis. I send out email newsletters year after year after year. Now, does that sound exhausting? Well, let me tell you why it's not exhausting or let me tell you why it's less exhausting than chasing trends because when you're chasing trends, you're continually having to, you continually have a learning curve. Oh my gosh, a new tool. All right, gotta learn, gotta use it. And then of course, it's outdated within three to six months, maybe if you're lucky within a year, you gotta chase another trend. Whereas if you learn how to tap into your authentic exploration of your experiences and your expression in service to your audience, it only gets better over the years. It doesn't grow old, right? Well, why would it grow old? I'm learning how to publicly journal week after week, year after year. How do I observe the experiences of my life and my work? And then how do I create ideas and teaching moments out of those experiences? And then how do I express that in the most service-oriented way that I can? In the most, with the most authentic voice that I can. That is an evergreen skill that just in my experience gets more powerful, more grounded over the years, more fulfilling, more joyful. So this is why it's action number one to improve the substance of your marketing, a sustainable marketing strategy is consistent, authentic content year by year by year. Now, the rhythm that you do it, I mean, is it exhausting? No, it's not exhausting because you get to design what rhythm of content that you decide to do. My rhythm, as you know, is I, at this time, I make a Facebook live video every week, which then gets put onto YouTube. I also make, after making this Facebook live video, some of you are watching on YouTube and other places, but I've made it as a Facebook live because I avoid perfectionism by going live on video. Otherwise, I'm gonna re-record at least intro five, seven times, and then I'll go halfway and go, oh, maybe this isn't so good, right? But Facebook live allows me to say, you know what, I've thought about this enough, and I'm just gonna go live. So Facebook live video, and after I make this Facebook live, I then turn around and make my Instagram live video, which later in the future gets also posted to, you know, YouTube and other places. Anyway, so what I was saying is that you get to decide your rhythm. Now, you'll notice what I do is I do make a weekly live video and a blog post and a newsletter, faithfully, week by week by week, except during my content sabbaticals, my content sabbaticals, which nowadays, this year, I've been taking them every four to five weeks. I take one week off of making content, of doing any client calls, group calls, et cetera. I'm not fully on vacation necessarily because I still do some work, but it's much lighter during those weeks, during those content sabbatical weeks, again, no interactions and no content creation. So like I said, I take essentially about 10 to 12 weeks off per year from making content. That's a very sustainable rhythm for me. The last two weeks of the year are sabbaticals, and next year, what I'm gonna do is work about 38 weeks out of the year and take 14 content sabbatical weeks off. So it's a little slightly more than this year. And during my regular weeks, and I work most of the year, so during my regular weeks, I am gonna stay faithful to the actions, no matter if I feel like it or not. I always have to remind you, before I start making videos, I don't feel like it. I just came up from a nap. I could have napped longer. It's a Friday afternoon. It's beautiful out there. It's easy for me to just go and enjoy the outside air. I actually went out already today, but it doesn't matter. No matter how I feel, I am here because I see it as a practice. I don't see content creation as a to-do item. I have to check off my list. What a chore. Because if you will always see it as just following the strategy so that I can get clients and do the work that I love, you've missed the point. You've missed the point of authentic marketing. Authentic marketing isn't a means to an end, just trying to do this so that I can get clients and do the work that I love. No, no, no. Authentic marketing is changing how you do marketing so that you can love it. You're changing your marketing into this integration of genuine exploration of your peak experiences, of what's important, your values, the work that you do with your clients. So that's on the one hand, like I always say, it's exploration, genuine exploration on the other hand, and authentic heart of service on the other hand. And that intersection is authentic marketing. And therefore it's a practice that I think is joyfully aligned with a deeper purpose. I believe that I'm in this life to grow through service to up-level my character, my virtues, my values, by seeking how to serve others better. What does that sound like? Authentic marketing, right? It just sounds like I am trying to explore marketing, of course, is communication. So I'm trying to explore what's important to me that I believe will also help somebody else. And that exploration and service connection means, again, back to the first action to create, for marketing substances, consistent authentic content based on a rhythm that is sustainable for you with enough rest, balance with enough rest and looking at it not as a chore, as a thing to do, but as an act of practice exploration, of creativity, fitness, and of service to humanity. So that's point number one to improve your substance. Point number two is to track your audience's reactions to your content and to your offers. Okay, so action number two is something that I know a lot of you probably need some more practice doing, which is to notice, to observe, of all of your efforts in putting your content out there and then sharing your offers, you're creating services, you're creating products and programs, you're putting them out there, which is what typically people think of as marketing, right? You're putting things out there. Do you track which of the many things you put out there are getting the most traction? And this kind of analytical tracking, I see it as a practice of concentration and it's good for your brain. So it's, like I said, I try to bring actions to you that are not only effective for your business, but also good for you as a human being, whether it's good for your soul or good for your brain. In this case, tracking your content response, as well as your offer response, is a good practice of mental concentration and precision that will keep you mentally vibrant for years to come. And of course, the result is that you get to see of your efforts, what of your talents is meeting the world's wants? What of your deep joy is intersecting with the world's deep hunger? The tracking is what allows us to discover that. So I have two spreadsheets, one to track my content over the years to go, oh, that is not interesting, that they want me, that the world seems to be more served when I talk about these kinds of things and not these kinds of things. Spreadsheet for tracking content and a spreadsheet for tracking my offer so that I don't freak out when I launch something and it's like 24 hours later, there's no signups. Two days later, four days later, there's only one signup and then within two weeks, there are 50 signups. If I didn't track those things, I would not have the kind of groundedness that I'm grateful to have developed over the years in my offerings. So anyway, tracking is the second major action to improve your marketing substance. And then the third major action is to consistently connect one to one, if possible with your ideal audience members. Now, some of them may already be your clients and you're already meeting with your clients regularly, but here's the question. Do you ask them and observe from them what their buying patterns are? Let me say that again. This is the third action to improve marketing substance. Do you consistently connect one to one or in a small group with your ideal audience members to discover their buying patterns as related to your work? What are they paying money for? What kinds of courses are they buying as related to your work? What kinds of services are they buying or interested in as related to your work? What kinds of books are they buying? What kinds of webinars are they attending? What kinds of influencers are they following? Because if you don't study their buying patterns, why buying patterns? Because your income comes from the spending of your ideal audience members. Let me say that again. Your income, how do you get money? Do you law of attraction, affirmation and it somehow shows up? That's very fine if you believe that, but your money comes from other people deciding to spend money with you. So you have to become an expert in understanding what they're deciding to spend money on. It's like, why didn't no one ever tell me this? I'm telling this to you now. You've got to become an expert in what your ideal clients are deciding to spend money on because their decision is your market. What is a market? What is marketing? Marketing is to engage with the market. Well, what is your market? Your market is the spending of your audience members as related to your work. Now they might spend on many other things. They might buy coffee. They might buy Netflix subscription. That's not related to your work, but then they also go to retreats. They also take workshops. They also buy books. They also follow people and are considering certain services or have bought certain services, right? So that's the third market. And then lastly, I'll end this video soon by reminding you the tasks that I avoid to not have to chase marketing trends, okay? Step number one, I have long ago, I stopped trying to keep up with the latest software. It's impossible. I mean, as of what, 20, maybe 25 years ago, it's impossible to try to keep up with the latest software even in my own field. Especially nowadays with artificial intelligence, there's 50 plugins that get announced every week or something like that. It's impossible. Trying to keep up with the latest software is a fool's errand, in my opinion. Again, some people really try, at least for a period of their life, and they probably are breathless and it's not sustainable. They probably won't be around as long as I have been around and they get a temporary advantage. It might be exciting. Man, it's nuts. So what I do, instead of trying to keep up with it, I watch other people keep up with the latest software. I watch people try a bunch of stuff. This person will try that. This person will try that. I just watch all my friends and clients and colleagues try a bunch of stuff that they're genuinely interested in, great, wonderful. I keep my eyes peeled, my ears open to see, oh, what are you trying? Oh, okay. How did they go for it? And when I start to hear multiple of my clients recommend, oh, I'm having a good time with the software. Several of my colleagues say, oh, George, this has been great. Then I go, well, let me take a look. It's, I'm busy enough just doing that. Let me take a look. And if it's easy enough to use, then I will be teaching it to you. If it's impactful enough in a positive way for my clients' businesses, and if it's easy enough for most of my clients, and I'll use it and I'll teach it to you in one of my courses, obviously. But yeah, I'll teach it. So number one, I avoid trying to keep up with all the latest. I just let other people do it, right? Number two, I avoid trying to keep up with the latest social media techniques. You're going to see, oh, you gotta try this with a new algorithmic. The algorithm has changed. Now you gotta do this, right? Come on, it changes all the time. Are you breathless? Breathless. So again, what's my strategy? I watch other people. Try the new algorithmic changes. I watch them go. And then I notice what works for them month after month after month. Because guess what? It's too much. But if you don't keep up with the latest algorithms, then you're gonna fall behind. No, no, no, no, no, no. You don't understand social media algorithms. If you're telling me this, you don't understand. Social media algorithms essentially have one purpose, to keep you coming back for more. What does that sound like? It sounds like substance to me, isn't it? If there is somebody who, year after year, produces substance in their content, that makes you go, this person resonates with me. They know what they're talking about. They have a certain energy signature that resonates with my purpose or my values or where I wanna go. It's gonna be reliable. So it's like working on your own character and your own ability to authentically express is way more sustainable and way more effective for the algorithm than trying to, oh God, now I gotta do reels. Oh, I gotta do stories. Oh, I gotta do threads. I gotta do, now if you enjoy it, if it brings a sustainable joy, do it. Yes, of course. But I've already told you the three actions, right? Create authentically from a place of exploration service. Notice what's working for your audience and do more of that, right? Do more of that. And then third, third thing I avoid is trying to be clever in how I get your attention. There are so many techniques, persuasion methods, visibility things, you know, when Instagram, when Instagram reels got famous, it was like, okay, now I gotta like dance on Instagram stories or reels for your point. This word's gonna pop up here. And then, you know, I don't find joy in that. I mean, some of you might find joy in that. You have fun doing it, great. And you might have fun doing it for a while, but you get tired of it, right? Because it's a trend. It's trendy, right? Like I said, it's fine. Enjoy it, have fun. And I just hope that you're improving your substance. That's all the substance of your message, the groundedness of your presentation rather than getting used to putting on one new mask after another mask, which try to get people's attention. So there you go. Anyway, three tasks to focus on improving substance, three tasks to avoid. And the final thing I'll say is back to the core message of this video, which is when you dive into authentic marketing, the joy of it is that it's aligned with a deeper purpose. I believe, I feel it's aligned with my life purpose of growth through service. And marketing itself is making me a better person and it's allowing me to minister, to bless, to serve my audience no matter if they buy. That's the key of authentic marketing. No matter if they buy, I will still show up, explore my experiences in service to them. And obviously the natural by-product is that there is well-earned loyalty and attention and obviously a relationship where I can study their buying patterns and then therefore offer them what they want. You see how this works? Authentic marketing, you're living your purpose anyways and that wonderful, and you get to have a business. You get to have a growing audience. So anyway, I hope this is helpful, it's gone long enough. Thank you so much as always for being here, joining me for the journey. I look forward to seeing if you have any thoughts about this below, what resonated with you based on what I shared and what other thoughts do you have about all this? All right, and how will you implement this? What will you do as a result? Every time you watch one of my videos, see if you can take something that you're going to do a little differently or a little bit more courageously or a little bit more consistently. So thank you so much for watching. See you later.