Episode 61: Marketing for Home Professionals with Kate the Socialite

Welcome to Episode 61: Marketing for Professional Home Organizers with Kate the Socialite

This episode of the podcast has Jen and Melissa interviewing Kate The Socialite of The Socialite Vault about marketing for home professionals.

Kate is a marketing guru who decided to focus on home professionals--interior designers, organizers and stagers. She is passionate about professional organizers knowing that marketing doesn't have to be scary! Many pro organizers get scared when they hear the word marketing. But Kate is here to tell us that it's accessible and there are some clear tips and tricks that you can put into your business right away.

What Kate has to say to pro organizers: "Marketing isn't magic, and it also isn't difficult. Like you, I once laughed when I heard people say this. Marketing seemed like the most difficult, ambiguous thing in the world to me (because I did not start out as a marketer). I learned the 'hard stuff' and found a way to make it easy, actionable and profitable for you."

Links from the episode:

How to Grow your Pro Organizing Business: The Kate Show Podcast

The Socialite Vault Marketing Resources

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FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Melissa Klug: Hey everyone. It's Melissa Klug. I'm the co-host of the Pro Organizer Studio podcast. And today, Jen and I are thrilled to be bringing you a new episode with our friend Kate Gruenke of Kate The Socialite. She is a marketing professional that works only with home pros. So she works with interior designers, professional organizers and staging businesses, which makes her an expert in what is going on in our industry.

She is a marketer at heart and she believes that marketing isn't magic. And it also isn't difficult. And if you are shaking your head going, yeah. Uh, yeah, it is. I promise you this episode is going to bring you some great tips and tricks and really actionable things you can go do in your business. If marketing feels overwhelming to you, we would love to give you some ideas today to try to dial down that level of overwhelm and help you know, that there are some great things you could be doing in your business to go find clients.

So let's start the episode. 

Jen Obermeier: You're listening to the Pro Organizer Studio podcast with Melissa Klug and Jen Obermeier. Thank you so much for joining in our mission to broaden the horizons of savvy business women in the organizing industry by instilling confidence and inspiring authenticity. You'll gain new insight into strategies designed specifically for professional organizers.

So now let's get started. 

Jen: Hey, Kate The Socialite. And it's so good to have you on our podcast and Melissa's here too. So say hello to everybody, ladies. 

Kate and Melissa: Hello. 

Kate: Thanks for having me nice to be here. 

Jen: This is such a good, the conversation that we were going to have today, because so I was recently on Kate's podcast and here she is over here.

We're kind of sharing that with each other's audiences. But what is really good is that she is a specialist for, many types of many types of people in the home industry. We had a great conversation on her podcast. If you haven't checked that out yet, go listen, where we're talking about this right now is such an interesting time to be in the home services industry.

Now Kate happens to have a business and specializes in helping people with their marketing, but just in general, Kate, can you kind of like speak to first of all? What, what is this like audience and environment, like right now, considering that so much of our life is going on at home. Uh, not just for our clients, but for your audience too.

Kate: Yeah. So the organizers and stagers and designers and work rooms that my agency works with have been experiencing some pretty unprecedented results as a result of the pandemic. Really, when the pandemic started, everyone was freaking out, understandably, because everything was shutting down, but what a lot of them did not expect.

And honestly, wha I did not expect was that because all their clients were stuck at home, they realized how disorganized they were. They realized how ugly their kitchen is. And they realized that they needed everything updated right then and there, like as soon as it was. Safe to do so as soon as they were allowed to do so.

And the cool part is the virtual consultations were happening. I mean, it was like a firestorm on zoom and I'm surprised that zoom could even handle it at that point. But I believe it was Forbes that recently wrote an article about how businesses have survived during the pandemic. And they said that the home service-based industry has grown as a result of this. And that is just a silver lining in a very difficult year. So that's my take on it. Um, it's been surprisingly positive. 

Jen: Oh, that is a really positive thing. And I think that this is a great jumping off point to have this conversation, because I think people want to feel reinvigorated and have some hope like moving forward.

So give us the background about your business and how you got to where you are today. 

Kate: Yeah. So, you know, those rags to riches stories that people like to make movies about. Yeah. That's not quite, yeah, well, not quite, but kind of. So I started my business, back in 2014 and I was doing writing and editing for businesses because that's what I was good at.

I became a published author in high school and I thought, this is my thing. This is what I am going to do. But what I didn't know how to do was market myself. And I also had very low confidence. And all of those things just kind of snowballed into this mess of a business where my branding was so DIY and my messaging was just I'll work for anyone and for any price. And I will have, you know, just like really low rates and it was terrible. 

I had awful clients, but you get what you put out there, you know? And I wasn't putting out the right thing. My marketing was not on track and I ended up struggling my way through it. Lots of Google searches, lots of frustration. And I wanted to quit so many times, but my husband's actually the one who was like, don't quit. You have something here. There is something. And he was right. 

So around. A year and a half into business, I took a course called B school from Marie Forleo and she just totally rocked my business world because I realized I didn't have an ideal client. And through that, I was able to figure out that my favorite type of client was someone in the home industry.

And from there, I decided to specialize and that is what grew my business. And then I had to work on setting up my own sales funnels. So I went from having $4,000 in my bank account at the very beginning of business to now being able to say that I'm the main breadwinner for my family. And it is absolutely incredible. We have a team across the U S now some team members are outside of the US and it so much is possible. Even with every roadblock you can imagine. Whereas like, with me, my biggest roadblock or so I thought was a roadblock was, I was from nowhere, Wisconsin. I'm still living in nowhere, Wisconsin.

That doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter where you're looking catered or what your background is. Uh, definitely came from the redneck area of the state, but it didn't hold me back. And so I just want to let all the listeners know out there. It doesn't matter where you are. If you have a dream, you can go for it.

Melissa: I love what you're saying right now, too, because I think right now, it totally, it goes with what you said before about zoom has given us. This opportunity to be able to reach so many people. So now, especially professional organizers are not beholden to where they live. You can be a professional organizer in the middle of nowhere and organize someone across the country. Are you seeing a lot of people taking advantage of those opportunities? 

Kate: Oh, for sure. Just crazy that we can do so much virtually. And I think the struggle that comes out of that is people aren't quite sure then how do I market that? How do I price that? And how do I explain the value that I'm giving? But no, it is a huge thing and people are definitely hopping on it.

Jen: Are you seeing with the people so on the pricing front, and we're going to get into kind of your whole sales funnel idea in a second. But I do think that there are a lot of people that are struggling with, do I price virtual the same as I price in person? What kind of services should I offer? Uh, do you have any kind of thought processes around mindset about pricing and in-person versus zoom and what kind of value that they're getting?

Kate: Yeah, so, well, I can never say this is exactly what someone should charge. What I can say is a lot of it is mindset and a lot of it is confidence related and it's something that we all have to go through. As business owners. We have to realize that we can claim our space, that we can charge these rates as long as we are delivering a value that exceeds those rates. I mean, you can charge whatever the heck you want. And there is actually a danger in charging too little because then you're just attracting the bargain hunters and nobody wants to work for a bargain Hunter. So that's where your pricing actually affects your branding and your branding is a huge part of your marketing.

So it's all connected. And that's why I cringe. When I see people in the home industry offering free consultation. There is no such thing as a free consultation, you could do a discovery call. That's one thing you're just trying to figure out if you should work together, but a consultation is where you're just giving away all your advice and your knowledge and like for nothing. So yes, everything is completely connected. 

Jen: Okay. So when you talk about the concept of a sales funnel within the home organizer or professional organizing group, can you tell us a little bit about what sales funnel means? What are the parts of sales funnel? Give us all that magic. 

Kate: Yeah. So the term sales funnel tends to scare people because they think that you need like really complex email automation sequences, and you have to hire somebody from a different country to do it because nobody knows how to do it. Now it's actually so easy. A sales funnel is a fancy term for the path that someone follows when they first find you, or like, know that you exist in the world to actually writing you a check or paying your online invoice and you get to control that path.

And there is so much power and being able to do that, to say, I know where my next client is coming from, and I know that this system is working for me. So to answer your question of what does this actually look like? What are the steps? 

Step one, at least in our digital age, and especially during the COVID season, step one is often social media, but social media is not the end all be all. And a lot of people will say, well, I don't get leads from Instagram. I don't get new business directly from social media. Well, that's true. You actually shouldn't because it's all about being social. So your social presence is a great way to get connected with people and help them get to know you because they're not going to really care about what you do until they actually get to know you as a person.

So you're using social media for that. And that's what I tell people. Post three times a week, be consistent. You need to be sharing photos of your work and of yourself and, you know, tips about organizing that can be like small wins for people because that is going to encourage them to get to step two of the sales funnel, which is your website, which means you need to have a good website.

Now it doesn't have to be like your forever website because you'll get a good website two years later, you'll think. This is crap. I need a new one, you know, so it's the process that's never done. But if you have a website that is really speaking to your ideal client and not so much about your business, I see people make this mistake a lot.

They have a website and all it does is say how great they are. And it says nothing about how they impact their client. You need to have a website that says that you specialize in working with this type of client and here is how their lives are transformed. Once you're done organizing their, you know, whatever it is.

But the big thing about your website is it also needs to capture people's email addresses. So you have to give them something. That will entice them to sign up. A lot of times that is a branded magazine that explains how home organizing works, or it could be for some people, a short little video that you made, you know, whatever is going to make the most sense for your ideal client.

Once they are in your mailing list, that's where the next step comes into play. And that is the email newsletter. And when I say email newsletter, a lot of people just glaze over because they're like, didn't that get outdated? Like a decade ago? Well, no. 

So email marketing is 40 times more effective than social media. And that is a recent stat from HubSpot as of January, 2020. So this is current stuff. And if people listening are not using email marketing, they are losing out on so much business that it like just makes me feel sick for them thinking about it. But. With email marketing and email newsletters. It's something that you only have to send out like every four weeks.

You know, I have some people who will send it out every two weeks, but really what you're doing is just popping up in their inbox saying, Hey, Are you wondering how you can make your pantry look Instagrammable? Just like all the other ones that you see? Well, here are a few tips on how to do that. And then you put at the end, you put a little link where they can book a call with you, or they'll just hit reply and talk to you that way.

But that's a conversation starter and that's where we see all these leads actually converting into paying clients. So that's a sales funnel, social media website, lead magnet. Email list and then the newsletter. And we see this happen again and again, with home professionals in the US and Canada and Australia, it works the same in every country.

It is just a very simple, no nonsense way of converting leads. 

Melissa: I have so many questions for you. This is awesome. Um, so, all right, so let me start with something that you said about social media, because I think like many people, I have kind of a bit of a love/hate relationship with social media. Like sometimes I'm really into it. It's super fun. I'm excited. Like yesterday I filmed a fun video that I'm excited about, but then sometimes I go three weeks and I'm like, man isn't really getting anything. 

So you're saying social media is essentially just kind of an entry ticket. It establishes your credibility. That type of thing, but it's not maybe the place where you're going to get your actual clients.

Kate: Exactly. And I think a lot of people get burned out by social media because they think they have to post every single day and that if they aren't getting clients directly from it, then they must be doing something wrong or the algorithm hates them or, you know, something like that. But that's not the case.

And that's why I say post three times a week, like Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, make it very doable. Because then at the beginning of each month you could sit down, map out those 12 social media posts, just 12 suddenly that becomes like, Oh, okay. I could do that. And then make sure that each post is covering a category.

So every Monday. You should be talking about, one of your past projects. So you could share a photo of your work every Wednesday, share a tip. People love organizing tips every Friday, share a photo of you, your family, your team, a behind the scenes of you working with a client, whatever you want, because you need to make sure that you are establishing that personal connection and not just hiding behind photos of your work, because I see people do that a lot more.

So in the interior design sector, right? But a lot of times we just discount ourselves and we make our Instagram feeds all about our work or worse other people's work. And then we just become one big magazine and it does nothing. So yes, that's why I am always on a rant on my own podcast and everywhere else about social media, because we can't look at it to be the savior of our business. It is just a small piece of a much bigger pie. 

Melissa: Well, you're my new best friend by saying this, it makes sense, very happy. One thing I think that people struggle with, I see this a lot in the professional organizing groups that I'm in is people struggle with what to write. So people get very concerned about, well, I need to write like 14 paragraphs of relevant information on social media.

Like, are you kind of a shorter is better or somewhere in the middle? Where do you land on that? 

Kate: So I look instead at who is their ideal client, because when I'm consulting with people, through my membership and they're telling me, I don't know what to say in my social media captions. And then I tell them, well, actually the caption is more important than the photo.

Well, that just freaks them out even more. But it's not really the length we're looking at. It is actually, are you speaking directly to your ideal client? Do you even know who your ideal client is? And when I ask people who is your ideal client, they'll say. Well, you know, anyone who likes, um, organized spaces and I'm like, well, we all do.

So that doesn't really help. You have got to narrow it down. Are you going to have a specialized service where you are only organizing pantries or you only do closets? Um, and it doesn't mean that you can't accept to work outside of that, right? But it does mean that that gives you something to market and then you can drill down even more and say, well, if you're only doing closets, let's say you're doing like, not just the hall closet you're doing like the huge walk-in bedroom closets of let's just say you want to target the Instagram influencer who has so much clothing. So many clothes coming in every single month, she can't keep track and she needs someone to actually come in there and organize this for her. Well, now you're drilling down a little bit further. You're not just doing closets, you're doing them for a millennial female. Um, she's likely living in this size home and this area, and here are the social platforms she's on.

Well now, you know which social platforms you need to be on because you don't need to be on a social media platform. If your ideal client's not there. That would just be a waste of time, but now, you know, you can get on Instagram and you can talk directly to her. You are not talking to the mom who has messy closets because her three-year-old keeps rearranging them for her. You are talking to the millennial influencer who just can't keep up with all her packages that are being delivered. So that changes the tone of what you say in a caption. And it doesn't matter so much how long it is. It's just can your ideal client recognize that you're speaking to her because that is where a lot of people get tripped up on their marketing.

Jen: I love that. Truth time. Did I catch you multitasking? Chances are, if you're listening to this podcast, you're the type of gal that loves efficient ways to learn and stay inspired in business. Please screenshot this episode right now, post it your Instagram story and tag me at Pro Organizer Studio. Tell me and your audience that you're listening in and together we'll make pro organizers everywhere, more savvy and productive on the go.

Melissa: I actually know someone who has, she goes to the length of she names her ideal client and talks about that person as if she is a real person. And it helps her. She is laser focused on what she's doing. 

Kate: That’s so smart. Yes. 

Melissa: All right. So website, that's another one of my big things. I'm super, I am personally super passionate about websites and tell us a little bit about some of the pitfalls that people get into. I love what you said about, again, talking to your ideal client and giving them the results. So can you talk a little bit about the magic of websites? 

Kate: Yeah. So when it comes to having a website, a lot of people are attracted to, well, it just needs to look pretty. But I've seen a lot of pretty websites that have terrible SEO.

It's a terrible user experience. You can't find anything. And that is not a great experience for a potential client, because if they're trying to work with you and they can't even navigate your website or they get to your website and let's say they can navigate it, but they really don't feel connected to you at all.

They don't feel like you understand their issues or that you're going to be there for them. That is great. For, you know, increasing your bounce rate, which we don't want. Um, and a bounce rate, by the way, for anyone listening, who doesn't know is when someone comes to your site and then they just leave, they don't click around.

They just are like, no, this is not for me. We don't want that. What you need to do is make sure that your website not only speaks to your ideal client, but that it ends each page with a call to action or a button of some kind that takes them further and further into your website. Now, ideally you'll want them to go straight to your contact page and then reach out.

But a lot of people aren't ready to do that. And that's why that lead magnet is important too, because it's like, okay, maybe you don't need me now, but you'll need me later. Here's something free. Go on your way, because I'm going to follow up with you and that's just professional for one thing, but it's also really smart because email addresses are currency.

And if your website is not letting people sign up for something, if it is not collecting email addresses, it is not doing you any favors. And that's why going back to you, you can't just have a pretty website. It's a pretty website. It's just, it's just sitting there looking pretty that doesn't put money in your bank account.

And I don't know about you, but I kind of like having money in the bank, so yeah. So we have to make sure that these websites are functional, not just beautiful and also. That they don't look like everybody else's website, because I do see a lot of websites and a lot of branding that it could all be one business.

It is so blurred together, but that, again goes back to when people are getting their websites built by someone else or doing it themselves or getting their brand created. They're doing all these things without going back to their ideal client. They're just, you know, they're picking the color palette. They like, they're picking a website template. They like, they're not thinking about, well, what's going to be best for my clients. So we always have to go back to the ideal client. 

Melissa: I love that. I actually, uh, I had an experience the other day of, I wanted to hire a photographer. I needed some new shots and I could not find a place on her website to contact her. I'm not exaggerating. I had to click through seven pages just to even get to a contact form. So even just little things like that. So not only speaking to your ideal client right, but making it a functional piece of your marketing. Yes. Um, so when you talk about that lead magnet idea, so making your website work for you, capturing those email addresses and email marketing.

So I was fascinated by something you said, which is that you maybe only have to do a newsletter once a month to get that impact. What would you recommend? Would you recommend once a month or would you recommend a lot more than that? 

Kate: I would recommend sticking with the once a month, because if you do it more than that, You're going to irritate people.

Jen: We’ve all been there. You know, I, there are some companies that email me multiple times a week. And even though I love the brand, I will still unsubscribe because I'm just like, this is too much. You are stalking me, knock it off. And the other issue is people say to me, well, maybe I'll just send out a newsletter every quarter.

Kate: Well, that's kind of a problem because do you remember any emails you got three months ago? I don't. And that is not a good way to stay top of mind. That's why, what I have found is that every four weeks you are sending out this sweet, short, helpful little piece of information, and it's enough to stay top of mind.

It's not enough to irritate anyone and it helps people get very familiar with seeing your name and your brand in their inbox, which is far more personal than just scrolling through and seeing your posts on a social feed. Okay. 

Jen: So can you talk a little bit about lead magnet is another one of those phrases that I think is out there. Can you just dive a little deeper and talk about some things that you have seen home professionals use successfully as lead magnets? 

Kate: Yeah. Well, and first of all, the term lead magnet, Kind of sounds fancier than it is. It's basically just a way to attract new leads. So they use the term magnet because we all know what a magnet does and sticks to things that tracks other things.

And the lead magnets that I have had the most success using for our clients and our members is what I call a branded magazine. And this is something that you can create in Canva. It's not difficult. I have had people hire professional graphic designers, nothing wrong with that either if you have the budget for it, but basically you make it look just like a shelter magazine, so traditional home or, or so Domino or whatever it is, you can have the actual cover of a magazine, but it's all about your ideal client and your brand.

And then you can have a welcome letter from you, you can have photos of your team. If you have a team and you can outline your services and even a brief, like how we work page, because now you're teaching somebody how to work with you versus teaching them how to go organize their own stuff. Because if someone is looking to hire a professional organizer, chances are they’ve been down that DIY road. And they do not want to go back because they don't get their projects finished. So that's why, unless you're trying to make money off the DIY market. And I'd say most professional home organizers are not. They're looking for the people who don't want to do it themselves. Don't feel like you have to create a lead magnet around how to organize your closet in three easy steps.

Because that's just not what they're looking for. They just want to know how will you help them? How are you going to do this for them? And can they trust you enough to bring you into their mess of a closet? Because that is also super personal. And that's why upfront you have to establish that trust.

Melissa: That’s interesting because I would have saw it, like if I were just going to create a lead magnet, I would have said, I would have gone more down that route of the three easy ways or here donation resources or something like that. So you're saying be a little bit more aspirational and again, make them want to hire you.

Kate: Yes, exactly. 

Jen: Kate, this is super educational, definitely for people who are intimidated by that term sales funnel. So now we kind of understand like, okay, it's not, it's not overly complicated. It's just leading your potential client down this path. This all sounds great. But talk to me like I am one of the super overwhelmed, I mean, whether I'm a professional organizer or not, um, you know, one of the someone that you would work with who is like, just super stressed right now where they're like, yes, all this marketing stuff sounds so good, but how do I multitask and get all this done?

Like where do you tell them, do start here and forget the rest for now? Like how do you simplify that process? So they know what to work on first. 

Kate: That is a great question. And that's actually what I've gotten quite a bit lately. So the main thing you need to do is stick with the part of the sales funnel that has the highest conversion rate or the low-hanging fruit.

And that would be the email list. So if you already have an email list, you need to start sending out email newsletters. And this is where a lot of people will say, but I don't even have an email list and I'll say to them, well, have you worked with clients? Yes. Okay, so you have an email list. You're just not calling it that you need to go back through your emails, your files, your, um, CRM or QuickBooks, whatever you're using and export their names and their email addresses.

Because if you have worked with them, you can email them. If you didn't work with them, but they contacted you. You can email them. Now don't go through them. The some sort of directory and like steal people's information and then email them. Cause that would be a huge no-no. I have a lot of people asking me if they can do that.

And I'm just like, no, like, no, you don't want to be fined it's it's not good. But if you have worked with clients or you have leads, then you can certainly email them. Um, so that would be the part that I would focus on. If you don't have a lot of time or you are overwhelmed, at least start with that, but.

Jen: But even before that, I would say, just make sure you know who your ideal client is. I mean, I love Melissa what you said about how, um, someone, you know, actually gives her ideal client a name, you know, a face, you can find a stock photo that you think really represents your ideal client, print it out, put it on your office wall and just look at that and be like, all right.

What does she need from me? How are my services going to help her? Do I need to repackage my services? Do I need to change the name of my services? So they're more aligned with her and then go back to that email list and create your first email newsletter. So it sounds like, and I love to be like super big picture and tie things back together, but it sounds like the number one takeaway.

From everything that you said is that, you know, when we ask owners are stressing out about the pandemic and how is it affecting business and how is it going to affect the home industry that it really isn't, you know, when we're sitting here and wondering that ourselves, like, am I going to continue to have clients, like, is it worth investing in this marketing funnel, blah, blah, blah.

That sounds like the wrong question to ask, because it sounds like what we have to do is get very specific in our minds about how COVID is affecting our ideal client and then therefore adjust our marketing message to her. And don't talk to everybody all the time, because we can't possibly take into consideration like every possible circumstance that somebody might be going through.

So that, that right there seems like it would ease some of the anxiety around how do I continue to market my business, which is a luxury in most, every case, um, during this time. And so I'm going to go and put words in your mouth probably, but like, if you are that mom that has a bunch of kids that you need to be talking about, the benefits of, of whether it's decorating or staging, cause somebody's moving or organizing the benefits as it specifically relates to her, not as it generally is like great for everybody. Would you agree with that? 

Kate: Absolutely. Because then it becomes a conversation with that ideal client. And when you're just starting out and you finally figured out who your ideal client is, it's not what they're going to find you immediately, but here's the thing. It is much easier to generate organic publicity for your business.

If you are a specialist in something versus being a generalist, I mean, even look at the medical community, the general practitioners do not make as much money as the specialists do. The specialists are always booked out and there's a reason for that. So a lot of times when something unexpected happens, like COVID.

I've seen people add even more services to their business, to the point where I can't tell what they specialize in and now they have to market all these extra services, which really wasn't their intention at all. They thought, well, if I add more services, maybe I'll be able to keep my business afloat.

But all they did was add more rocks to their backpack instead of taking some out. And that's why yes, to your point, you have to be very specific on who you serve. So you can talk about your services in a way that relates to who you're serving. 

Jen: Mm, for sure. And I think too, going back to one of the things we were talking about at the beginning with the new possibility of virtual services, I personally would rather work with somebody who is super specific to what I need virtually.

Then I would have somebody general even come to my house and be working with me personally. I think I would get more out of that. I think I'd be more motivated to follow up on it. Um, and, and I think that people who, um, start to think about their marketing beyond their local area, um, really have to go all in on that idea of like, what, what specific problem do you want to be known for solving?

Because that's like, That's the goal that's so fair. Is there, uh, I will try that. It makes us sound as polite as possible, but right now, obviously there is a lot of, you know, kind of pain in, in the world, right. There are people that are having to homeschool their kids and there's a lot of stress. And even if your job is okay, I think all of us have like extra stressors.

Melissa: So. Is there a messaging right now that you would recommend in talking to your ideal client in the home industry about how our services can actually help them? So you're not capitalizing on the pandemic, but you are saying I have a service that can actually help you physically and mentally. These are challenging times.

Do you recommend changing messaging right now? 

Kate: I do think that we need to be aware of how our particular clients are being impacted by this. So if someone's ideal, client is like a young family and. Let's say the kids would be in school, but they're not that you parents both work, but one had to give up their job so that they could stay home and homeschool.

Uh, yeah, that is an extremely difficult situation. So now is not the time to be saying, Ooh, I'm running a sale on, you know, you're going to get 20% off if you book now, it's like, no people really aren't looking for a sale. But what they're looking for is someone who understands them. And if they're your ideal client, you understand them, or at least you should, what I suggest.

And actually this is what we've done in the membership. I run two, we actually created email newsletters that were specific to COVID that people could send out where they were not selling anything. They were just literally saying, Hey, how are you? This is a really difficult year. And I just wanted to check in and I cannot tell you the crazy level of response my clients have gotten from those emails because they were personal, they were getting responses left and right. And they were booking consults, which like, they weren't even trying to sell the consults, but people were just so touched that a business would reach out and you know, there's no sale.

There's no promotion. There is no angle except to say. I'm a human and I want to check up on you because you're a human too and this is affecting everybody. So yes, I do think that we need to be careful not to lead with a sale or a promotion, but I honestly, I say that even if COVID never happened, Even if the difficult things in the world never happened because we're not businesses marketing to people.

We are people trying to have relationships with other people. And if the services that we offer are genuinely going to make their lives better, then we can approach them in a genuine fashion and not in a, like a car salesy, slimy fashion. It's more like, I know you, I know your pain and I have a solution.

Jen: So let me help you tell us more about who your membership is perfect for and what they get. I want the details. 

Kate: Yeah, for sure. So my membership, which is Socialite Vault is for people in the home industry, organizers, designers, stagers, fabricators, mainly like window treatment, fabrication and window treatments sales, but we set up sales funnels for people.

And there are different levels of membership depending on what you need or what you can do right now. And everything is just month to month, no contract, but we have the social media templates, lead magnet templates, like a branded magazine client, welcome packets, email newsletter, templates, everything that you need.

Every piece of the sales funnel that I have outlined we have. And. We also offer website templates. Now they're not part of the membership as a separate thing, but, um, everything that you need is there. So it's very much plug and play, but the beautiful thing is you can customize it all to your brand. So it looks like it's all coming from you.

It's not cookie cutter. It's not some sort of a boiler plate. Cause I do get a lot of questions about that and you can make sure that you're going into the membership area. You're picking the templates. That makes sense for your ideal client. And the other thing is everything's already written. So a lot of people will say to me, I don't, I don't like to write, I don't know how to write good stuff.

I like, and they're just like, they're very upset about this, like for real. And so everything has already written for you, but. It's very easy to edit. Know it's like going back and proofreading an email that you wrote and just, you know, making an adjustment here and there using your photos or using our stock photos, whatever you want to do, it's already been done for you so that there's no excuse. Now, now you can have a sales funnel and it doesn't have to take months. 

Jen: That is amazing. I know that's a huge pain point, even for people who are slightly good at writing, it's hard sometimes to write like about yourself or write to like a whole email list. And you're just like, ah, I just want somebody to, you know, kind of, you know, help me, help me get the outline and then I can fill in the blanks. Like that's that's genius. So I know that's going to be super valuable, um, for if we're anyone in the home services industry. But especially right now, we're more like, yeah, I want to be working on my business, but I've got like 50 other things going on in the background. And so to have that help and save so much time, it's brilliant. 

Kate: Yeah, thank you. It really does help people. And we recently have also added blog post templates because a lot of people are like, I know I need to be blogging. I don't know what to say. I. I like they just there's so many roadblocks because they don't have time because they're not sure what topics are going to work.

They don't know how to optimize a blog post for SEO and blogging is so important for SEO. So we put a lot of emphasis on that and we help it all come full circle so that you have the SEO working for you in the background, on your website, you have the sales funnel also bringing you in new leads. And it just makes sure that as a business owner, you can look at your marketing and feel confident knowing that you're doing absolutely everything that you should be doing that way you don't have that little irritating thought in the back of your mind.

Like, am I supposed to run a Google ad? Yeah. Am I supposed to do post a Facebook post, but am I supposed to do here? Because that's a terrible feeling. So yeah, none of that in Socialite Vault, we take the paranoia out of marketing. 

Jen: Hmm. That's a, that's a, that's a really good tagline. Is that official? 

Kate: It is not as simplified, but yes.

Jen: Good. Okay. Can you tell everybody where they can find you? You have an amazing podcast to start there and then obviously, um, give them, just tell them where to go from here. 

Kate: Sure. So my podcast is The Kate Show and you can find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google play, and you can also go over to my marketing membership, which contains all the things I just told you about at Socialitevault.com.

And if anyone wants other services, I have multiple brands. So the other one is Katethesocialite.com. I mean, there's a lot to choose from, but it's all very specific to the home industry. 

Jen: Um, incredible. So valuable. Thank you so much. These are, I mean, really great takeaways from today, and I know I'm getting to have this, getting to have this conversation in sort of what's happening right now is always really important to you because you know, marketing is not just like a one-time thing that you do. It is something that has to continue to evolve. So I love that you, um, have created this resource where people can continue to work on it and have it be relevant to their ideal client.

Great, great tips. Thank you so much. I'm going to go find a picture of my ideal client and I'm going to just put her up on my wall and talk to her for the rest of the day. I think that's what I've decided. Yeah. All right. Thank you Kate, for being here. Thank you Melissa for a guest hosting with me and we will talk to you all next time.

Thank you so much for listening in to the Pro Organizer Studio podcast. If you'd like to get our roadmap for success as a pro organizer, head straight to www.poroadmap.com.