272. Marketing Not Working? This Might Be Why with Victoria Hajjar

Did you know that only 2% of female business owners break the million-dollar mark? If you've ever struggled with marketing, thinking it’s just not working, or you’re wondering if you’re wasting marketing dollars on paid ads, today’s guest will show you where to focus.

Victoria Hajjar, founder of Ugli Ventures, specializes in assisting startups in scaling from 6 to 7 figures. She focuses on helping entrepreneurs optimize sales and marketing strategies, team building, and leadership development to establish sustainable and profitable 7-figure enterprises. Her clients have had million-dollar months and earned billion-dollar revenues in their businesses, and she has mentored women who have landed Forbes 40 under 40. 
 
Listen in to what Victoria shares about how to market, the power of your storytelling, and the fear that so many of us have around really connecting our stories to our businesses, which is the one thing, especially if you're worried about AI, that will continue to set you apart.

“As a business owner, you need to understand how to sell the words that sell,” says Victoria. “You need to know your customers more than anyone else. And it's not something you can easily outsource 100%."

Victoria says she's seeing an increasing divide between brands that make genuine effort to create copy that tells stories and brands that post regurgitated AI. Using AI posts and comments can be an ineffective marketing strategy when people crave effort and authenticity.
However, AI lends itself well to help with brainstorming and generating ideas. 

She says you can have massive growth by writing an amazing blog or doing a podcast—whichever channel you choose to optimize. But it needs to start with something that you like. 

If you enjoy podcasts and want them to be your lead generation tool, there are so many avenues for getting exposure. You could advertise other podcasts. You don't have to show up on social media.

You could write an excellent newsletter and focus on making it incredibly rich. You don't have to show up on social media every day to connect. Ask where social media sits in your marketing strategy. 

"I think so many of us assume that social media is an awareness strategy, meaning we're going to be reaching brand new people, like brand new prospects and leads through social media," says Victoria. "But the reality is, if you're not really all in on your social platform, you are not going to be getting exposure to anyone new."

She says some people believe that they can just remove social ads and that their organic audience will grow. If you've earned your way into your organic audience on social media, then it is a good time to start supplementing that with some paid traffic.

She says she's seen many companies where the owner doesn't understand what success looks like and wants to hire everyone to do it for them. Those businesses often fail. 

“You have to understand how to sell, how to market,” says Victoria. “And then I believe it's the moment where you can start giving it away, and you can start outsourcing it and all of those things.”

Victoria says the most important thing to focus on as a business owner is building a sales-focused marketing strategy.

It's the steps of your client journey – from finding prospects to converting them. She says the problem is when you learn the basics and do the minimum at each stage across each channel. You spread yourself too thin, and when nothing works as you expect, it's easy to get discouraged. Learn to do one channel well.

You don't have to go fast, says Victoria. You just got to keep going. Listen in for more about how to leverage a marketing flywheel with your team.

Connect with Victoria Hajjar: A Free Guide to End Marketing Overwhelm, which teaches the number one marketing system founders need to streamline their marketing effort, measure results, and make data-driven d