Refocusing Marketing towards Human Connection

I started my entrepreneurial journey in 2013 when I co-founded SwanWaters, a platform for people recovering from emotional abuse. This is where my personal story and business first intertwined and I became fully aware of the power of personal stories. I learned some of those lessons the hard way, leaving me feeling exposed and anxious. So, I decided to help others tap into the power of their story, without the massive vulnerability hangover.

I now work with passionate entrepreneurs to leverage their stories and expertise to build authority and create collaborative connections with like-minded entrepreneurs.

My collaborative partner Andrew Lopez and I sat down recently to talk about House of Hives and how I support trailblazers to show off their magic and realise their vision.

Q: What is the mission you are on with House of Hives?

I think it's important for this world, that women gain more financial independence. It gives us greater independence and increases our influence in the world. When women get more cash flow, and more financial freedom, they can make different choices for themselves, for other women and for their community.

One of the ways that we can do this is by having our own businesses. I always wanted House of Hives to be a place where I could support women to build their businesses and amplify their influence in the world.

I work with people who have a vision for the world, who want to change the world. They are all out there influencing the world in their own ways. Whether they are working on diversity, female empowerment or environmental sustainability, they all contribute to building a better future for the world. These are people who, like me, want to break the mould and do things differently.

Q: How does storytelling tie into this?

Storytelling has always been important in my life. It is a way that we can show up in meaningful ways, and add voices to a global narrative that has been pretty one-sided.

When you look at how humans have evolved to learn and relate to each other and open themselves to new ideas, then it's through storytelling. When we were walking around in furs, we were sitting around fires telling each other stories. Our brains are made to process stories.

Even in your everyday life, your brain is constantly telling you stories. You’re constantly filling in details, with stories. Why did that person give you a weird look? Why is your partner being grumpy?

Using that natural propensity for storytelling in a way that supports your goals has value in and of itself. When we add the perspective of sharing our human experience in all its different points of view? This gives us a powerful tool to create change in a world that is desperate for innovative solutions.

Q: How does this tie back into marketing?

In the world of marketing too, there is a pretty one-dimensional way to talk about what success is, and how we are supposed to achieve it. Especially when we go by the general rhetoric on social media. Be consistent, be authentic, do video, make reels, grow, scale, make 7 figures, play to the algorithm…

We've been doing marketing in essentially the same way for a long time. Push the pain points, tell people how awful their lives will be if they don't spend x amount of money for your solution. Then repeat that message to x number of people, so you can convert Y percentage to clients and blah, blah. Especially on social media, we've become so obsessed with the stats. How many people have seen this? How many have liked this?

What we've taken out of the equation is the fact that what actually sells is our connection to people. People feeling aligned with who we are, the transformations we want to create, and whether we’re someone they will resonate with.

We need to get out of this idea that we always have to be closing. You can't constantly sell to everybody, but you can build relationships and connections. Then people will start talking about you to their network or their friends, and that's what builds momentum for our business.

If you just need your social media numbers to go up? Pay Facebook to show your content to more people. That's how that works, right? The algorithm’s not meant for you to reach people, the algorithm is meant for you to NOT reach people so that you will pay Facebook to reach the people for you. That's their business model. The internet is full of people who are trying to hack the algorithm, but it keeps changing because the platforms actively want to prevent people from working that out.

If you want to breed connections with people and have conversations with people, then shift your focus to connecting with like-minded people and begin collaborating. You can reach more people and create greater impact together.

Q: How would you encourage people to take the focus away from the algorithm?

Something I say to people a lot is that how we communicate with our clients shouldn't be significantly different from how we communicate with our audience.

As an example, let’s take the discussion about whether or not you HAVE to be on video. Video is currently what the algorithm prefers. But if you hate being on video, you're not going to shine on video. Or if you don't particularly like watching videos, you likely won’t utilise video in how you deliver your service to your clients. Everybody has their own preferred methods of taking in information. But we also have ways that we like sharing information. Sharing your message in the way that feels best for you, it's going to make you shine the most and will attract the people who like how you communicate, people who will enjoy working with you.

If you are constantly on video and you attract a bunch of people who like watching videos, then when you deliver your service or your coaching programme, there is zero video. That's weird, right? That's a little bit of catfishing. It’s inauthentic.

So, stop thinking about what the algorithm wants, because mostly the algorithm wants you to pay for advertisement. Instead, think about what you want. How do you like communicating? Do that and find the people who appreciate it. Find other people who like your message and are happy to share it with their audience too, so you can reach more people that way. It takes it out of the current format that the algorithm wants it to be and instead invites people to genuine human connection.