151: The 3 marketing essentials your small business needs to boost sales this year
The marketing landscape has changed big time, and today’s buyers are more cautious, more skeptical, and taking way longer to say yes.
In this episode of Ill Communication, I’m breaking down the three essentials your business needs to sell with more clarity and ease in 2025, especially in what many experts are calling a “trust recession.”
Welcome to: The 3 marketing essentials your small business needs to boost sales this year.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
How to clarify your core message so your dream clients immediately know you’re talking to them
Why your brand voice and personality are more important than ever (and how to show up like you across every touchpoint)
What it really means to have a strategic sales plan so you’re not scrambling last minute or repeating the same rushed copy every launch
Plus, I’ll introduce you to Copy Camp, my summer sales and messaging accelerator built for high-touch founders who want to finish the year strong without the hustle.
This episode is your permission slip to pause, recalibrate, and rework the way you market and sell with a strategy that’s thoughtful, flexible, and designed for real results.
Join 🏕️Copy Camp🏕️!
Copy Camp is my summer sales and messaging accelerator built for high-touch founders who want to finish the year strong without the hustle.
🔥 Join me around the campfire at https://kimkiel.com/copycamp
Questions about Copy Camp or the Joy of Copy Club?
Hit me up!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/KimKielCopy
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kim_kiel_copy
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kimkiel
Voxer: kimkielcopy
-
[00:00:00] Welcome to ill Communication, copywriting Tips and Sales Strategies for Small Business. I'm your host, Kim Kiel. I'm a copy coach, sales strategist, and direct response copywriter. It's my mission to help women leaders and change makers amplify their voices through copy. It's why I am dishing out all the juicy tips, writing prompts, and sales formulas to help you generate more leads, book more calls, and get more high value clients on repeat.
[00:00:33] Sounds pretty good. It's time to ditch the overwhelm you might be feeling and find confidence in your copywriting so you can get your message out there and attract more soulmate clients. Let's get started.
[00:00:54] Hello, my sweet friend and welcome back to the Ill Communication Podcast, episode 1 51. And I just want to start by saying something out loud that you may be thinking and feeling shit is kind of feeling harder these days. And if you feel like your sales are sluggish, your marketing isn't as effective as it once was, and everything feels a little slower and harder, you're not wrong and you're not alone.
[00:01:21] The sales and marketing landscape has totally changed and so have your buyers. If you've been wondering why your content isn't hitting the same way it used to, or your best offer is getting less traction, or your sales cyclers are. Are longer and people are taking forever to buy. It's because the consumer landscape has changed.
[00:01:44] Buyers are slower to act, they're more cautious, they're more skeptical. Audiences today are much more sophisticated and savvy than they were in the heydays of 2020s in what many marketing experts are calling [00:02:00] the trust recession. Consumers today need more time, more nurturing, more connection, and more clarity before they say yes.
[00:02:11] So if you wanna grow or even maintain your sales momentum throughout the rest of 2025, you have to evolve how you show up and what you say. And that's why I wanna share the top three things your business needs to boost sales this year. Let's dive in. To stand out in today's market, you number one, need a crystal clear message.
[00:02:36] And no, I'm not talking about like a clever one liner or like a little branding soundbite. That sounds good, but really says. Nothing. I mean, you need a message that makes your right fit buyer. Stop scrolling. Stop flipping through the inbox and say, oh my gosh, she is talking to me. Your message needs to be clear.
[00:03:00] Confident and completely aligned with what your audience is thinking and feeling right now. Because if your message is vague or generic or sounds like what everyone else is saying, it's going to get. Ignored people will not trust your message. So how do you sharpen your message? You start by going deep into customer research.
[00:03:27] You listen to the exact words your customers use to talk about their pains and problems and what they want for themselves. You need to deeply understand what your. Ideal buyer is saying about themselves and about the world around them. Now more than ever, you also need to be crystal clear on your niche.
[00:03:50] What services do you offer and whom do you serve? If you haven't picked a niche and your sales are sluggish, this is the time to really [00:04:00] dial that in, and your niche can be around the services you offer. Or around the audience, but now is the time you really wanna refine and evolve that, especially if you haven't done that work in the past.
[00:04:15] And with your crystal clear message, you need copy that connects the dots between what your customers want, what they say they want, and what they do. And so if you've been feeling like your messaging is a little bit of meh, if you're not sure what to say. To speak to your ideal buyer, then you really need to sharpen your messaging and get clear on your customers.
[00:04:42] The second thing you need to get clients and sales in 2025 is a consistent and unique brand voice and personality, and I can't. Share with you how important this is, especially now that AI generated content is everywhere. Your voice and personality help you stand out. It lets you become authentic or appear authentic, like we're building a relationship with a real human being.
[00:05:13] When we can see and sense your personality and your messaging and marketing. Your voice and personality help you stand out. It creates connection, and most importantly, it builds trust, which in this trust recession is incredibly important. You could have the sharpest message and the clearest message in the world, but if your voice, your brand voice is inconsistent, if you.
[00:05:37] Write or speak in a way that sounds stiff or robotic or like Cha JPT, it's just not gonna land. Your voice needs to feel like you and represent you across every single touch point that buyers interact with you, whether that's a sales page, a podcast, guest session, an Instagram post, or your launch emails, [00:06:00] and you have to keep this in mind.
[00:06:02] Buyers are lurking, especially high ticket buyers. They're lurking in the background, and when they're ready to buy, they're going to start binging your content. And so you need to make sure that across all your channels, you are showing up consistently. But that doesn't mean it has to be a lot of work or difficult to do, but you just need to sound like you wherever you are.
[00:06:26] More and more marketers are investing in developing brand voice and personality because they want to build those authentic relationships with their audiences and subscribers. And I always take a cue from what the big marketers are doing to let me know what small businesses should be doing. And this is a clear, clear sign that now is the time to go all in in developing your brand voice in your business.
[00:06:55] It's imperative to to define your brand voice, to identify your messaging and content pillars so you can consistently show up across all channels and build relationships, and most importantly, that know, like, and trust. And the third thing, you need to really nail your sales. 4, 20 25 is a no brainer. You need a sales strategy.
[00:07:21] You need a solid proven sales strategy. And you know what? I just gotta have to, I have to acknowledge like it's summer. Summer is just starting. And, I'm like you, I kind of wanna unplug and enjoy myself. But I also know that the fall season is coming, and this is one of the most lucrative times for your business.
[00:07:44] This final quarter of the year can make or break your revenue goals. If you're launching in September or October or November, you need to start planning your strategy and writing your sales copy now, because if you wait until September, you'll be [00:08:00] scrambling. You'll be in a, you'll write your sales P page in a huge panic.
[00:08:05] Your emails will be rushed. There won't be any strategy. It'll be just a mishmash of saying the same thing over and over again, and they will not work. And that last minute energy shows a focused sales strategy means you know what you're selling. You know how to talk about what you're selling. You know who you're selling to and you know when and how, and it means that your copy is done before you hit launch mode.
[00:08:31] Of course, there's gonna be last minute pieces of copy to write, but I really want you to show up to September, having you copy and strategy for selling in the bag instead of going through the summer slump. You should use this window to thoughtfully and strategically get ahead. It's totally possible now if you've been nodding along and thinking, yes, I need to sharpen my message.
[00:08:57] I need to strengthen my voice and I need to stop flying by the seat of my pants during launches. Then you're going to love what I have created for you. It is something I'm so excited about. It's called the Copy Camp and it is your three. Month, summer marketing and sales accelerator. From July 8th to September 30th, we're gonna gather around my proverbial campfire.
[00:09:24] We are going to clarify your niche, your audience, and your messaging. We are gonna strengthen your brand voice. We are going to build strategic sales campaigns, . You're gonna write Powerful Personality Pack copy with ease, not with hard.
[00:09:43] It's, we're gonna make it easier for you to do that. The coffee camp is a riff on my regular offer, which is the joy of copy club, but it's scaled back so you have a little less pressure over the summer, but you're still gonna move forward in developing [00:10:00] your authentic marketing message. You are gonna get two drop in coaching and co-writing sessions each month.
[00:10:10] Now, a lot of founders and entrepreneurs struggle with having a writing process or a structure to write, so these co-working sessions become your blocked time to think. Strategize and actually put your head down and write. Many of the folks who are the most successful inside the Joy of Copy Club are those who show up to the calls as many Tuesday calls as they can, or they submit their copy in time for the calls so that I can live, edit, and review.
[00:10:39] On those calls, and just as a side note, you get unlimited copy reviews when you join the copy club or the summertime copy camp. You're also gonna get campfire sessions, which are many masterclasses to spark your ideas. Strengthen your copy. Over the next three months, I am curating a special summer camp curriculum to help you sharpen your message, build out your voice, and strategize your sales copy.
[00:11:09] In July, the focus is on your customer and messaging clarity. In August, our focus is on brand voice and personality, and sharing that consistently across your channels. And September is our sales sprint. We're gonna. Build out a strategic sales flow for you from the emails to the sales pages, to the show up copy.
[00:11:32] Everything is going to be done for you by the end of September. It also builds on the work we did in July and August so that when you're actually writing your sales copy in September, you have all the pieces you need. You are also gonna get weekly writing prompts to take the thinking and guesswork out of creating content for emails, blogs, social posts, podcast episodes.
[00:11:56] And this kind of these weekly prompts will help [00:12:00] you consistently show up and flex your voice and personality to build that long-term relationship with your ideal buyer. Of course you're gonna get access to my treasure trove of templates, frameworks, and swipe files inside the copy vault. So even if you're working on something outside of our monthly theme, if you want to do a quick flash sale for something, or you're writing a welcome sequence, or maybe you decide you need to send a postcard for some direct mail, I have.
[00:12:34] All kinds of resources, templates, and frameworks to share with you. So you're never starting from scratch. You're always starting with some strategy in place for every piece of copy that you write in your business. So that's all accessible to you in the summer copy camp. And I want you to hear that copy camp is gonna be breezy, it's gonna be easy, it's gonna be flexible, but it has just the right amount of focus to give you a roadmap for your fall and year end promotions.
[00:13:02] It's built specifically for high touch founders who want to create and sustain some momentum in their marketing, but without feeling. The hustle and the hard, and I've already welcomed a few new campers who will be joining the regular Joy of copy crew for the summer. But I just wanna mention that if you're among the first three to join before July 4th, you'll receive a bonus one-on-one.
[00:13:29] Power strategy session with me. This has a $500 value. People who book my strategy sessions are often like wowed by how much copy and messaging we can accomplish in just 60 minutes. It is gonna be the thing that gives you the fast path to the copy you're wanting to write. So if you're thinking of joining the copy clamp, please don't wait.
[00:13:50] Grab your seat to claim your one-on-one power session with me. Speaking of value, the camp fees are a fraction of the cost [00:14:00] of the full copy club membership. So if you've been kind of thinking you might be interested in the joy of Coffee Club, this is the perfect way to dip your toe into it. Your membership inside the camp starts at just 3 75 a month, or
[00:14:13] a single payment of. $1,125, which don't forget, could include that $500 one-on-one power session with me. If you're one of the first three to join Copy Camp has been intentionally designed for the summer season. It's flexible. Just drop in when you can catch the replays when you're hanging out on the beach.
[00:14:33] Use the summer to thoughtfully and strategically prepare so you're not scrambling in September. Now, keep in mind that the summer's generally a slower time in many businesses because everyone else is on a holiday. So it's a perfect way to use your downtime strategically. This is not something else you need to keep up with or add into your schedule.
[00:14:55] It's a place to slow down. To get intentional and to write stronger, more effective sales copy with less stress. 'cause isn't that what we're looking for this summer when other business owners are stepping back and going into vacation mode? You can use these quieter summer months to clarify your core customer and message to make sure you're saying the right things in the right way to call in your right foot buyers, you can use it this.
[00:15:24] Time to fine tune your brand voice so you will stand out in a sea of AI generated drl. You're gonna maximize your Q3 Q4 revenue because you will have strategic sales copy for your fall sales and promotions. You're gonna develop momentum and consistency and authenticity in your brand voice and in your marketing that will position you as the go-to expert.
[00:15:52] It's gonna nurture your best prospects and drive sales, and this is something you rinse and repeat. This is gonna serve you for [00:16:00] well into the future of your business. If you wanna see if copy camp is right for you, please go to this website, kim Kiel.com/copy camp. There you'll find an invitation letter with more details what the summer schedule looks like.
[00:16:18] I'm also happy to answer any questions, so feel free to message me on Voxer, Instagram, LinkedIn, or on email. I'll drop all the links into the show notes. Just know I'm very happy to hop on a call and give you a private tour of the copy Club materials. And exactly what copy camp is gonna look like for you.
[00:16:38] So please reach out. But my friend, if you've noticed that your content just isn't hitting how it used to, if your offers are getting less traction and your sales cycles are longer, it's time to pause, recalibrate, and rework your message. The market is so sophisticated right now that you just cannot wing.
[00:16:58] Your copy, you just can't start writing it willy-nilly. You can't rely on chat, GPT or CLO to create the level of copy and strategy that's gonna speak directly to your buyers in an authentic and encouraging way that gets them to buy. That feels really ethical and non sleazy. I want you to use these next few weeks of summer to send yourself to coffee camp.
[00:17:23] It's gonna be fun, it's gonna be effective, and instead of losing momentum in your marketing over the summer, you're gonna build and accelerate it in an easy breezy way. You will know the right words to say to your audience. Anytime you sit down to write a message or craft a message, you are gonna know exactly what to say when your fall promotions.
[00:17:44] Come about, you are gonna have everything already in the bag and ready to go, and it will be strategic and thoughtfully crafted. As you know, camping trips are always more fun with friends who can share their campfire stories and their best camping meals. I mean, that's some [00:18:00] of my favorites, uh, but things about camping, but that's the vibe we're gonna create here at the copy camp.
[00:18:06] We kick off July 8th, so please don't wait to take your seat around our. Copy campfire to join or to see if it's right for you. Shoot me a message or please visit kimkiel.com/copycamp. I cannot wait to hang out with you over the summer and help you boost those three things that you need to sell more in 2025.
[00:18:28] Bye for now.
[00:18:29] Hey, would you like to hang out with me and other women business owners doing rad things in the world just like you? Then you should join the Joy of Copy Club. It's a group copy coaching experience where you receive access. To all my sales templates, writing prompts, and copy recipes, so you're never wondering what or how to write.
[00:18:55] Once a week you can pop into my open office hours where will live, review and edit any kind of copy you've written seriously. You can bring a social post and email, or even some edits to your homepage, and I'll help you optimize it before you send it out into the world. The Joy of Copy Club gives you the tools and the confidence to get your message out there so you can grow your impact and your revenue.
[00:19:17] Find out more at kimkiel.com/copyclub. I'll see you next week.
Additional Resources
Follow & Review
Are you following the podcast? I want to encourage you to leave a review and follow today so you don’t miss any future episodes.
I would also appreciate it if you would leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! I read each of them, and they help me make sure I am providing the content you love to hear! Plus, you get to pay it forward because it will allow other listeners like you to find the podcast!
