Not every business can afford to hire a huge marketing team or outsource all their marketing to agencies or freelancers. But doing your own marketing when you’re not a marketer can be tough.
So what do you do? How can you get the support you need without having to commit to long-term investment?
You could try and figure it out alone. Or you could invest in a marketing mentor.
A marketing mentor can give you the tools you need to get your marketing working for you.
It’s what I do as a mentor for my clients.
A mentor is someone who provides guidance, advice and support that helps you get from where you are now to where you want to be.
Most of us have unofficial mentors throughout our life – people who we look up to or learn from either personally or professionally. But as well as our unofficial mentors, we might also have mentors who work with us in a more structured or formal way to help us get results.
Formal mentors can be people who work in the same company as their mentees – for example, senior employees who mentor their less experienced colleagues. Or they can be external mentors – people who are brought in because they have experience in a particular area or can help achieve a specific goal.
Many business owners work with coaches or mentors when they are starting out, looking to grow, or facing a specific challenge. Depending on the size of the business and the objectives, mentors may work with just the business owner, with a handful of individuals, or with the entire team.
Ideally, you want a mentor who has already achieved what you are trying to achieve or has the knowledge to help you achieve it.
Some marketing mentors support people trying to break into the marketing industry. They offer career and development advice and help their mentees connect with other marketers. This article is not about that type of mentor.
This article is about marketing mentors who provide marketing advice, support and guidance to businesses. Mentors who work directly with a business owner, or with the entire marketing team, or with an individual within the company.
Their role is to guide you in the same way a traditional mentor would but with a focus on building your knowledge and skills in marketing.
A marketing mentor helps you get clarity over your marketing, build your marketing strategy, and make good investments with your time and money.
You can get honest feedback on your ideas and receive expert guidance on how to market your business more effectively.
The support you get from your mentor will depend on what stage you are at with your business, and what you need support with.
When you start your first job or any new job, you learn from your colleagues – the people who were there before you. Why? Because they already know how to do the job. It doesn’t make sense to figure it out by yourself when there are people who can show you how to do it.
It’s the same in business. Why try and figure everything out by yourself if you can get someone who already knows how to do it to show you?
When I started my business, I tried to do it all by myself. I would find as many free or low-cost resources as I could – blogs, articles, eBooks, videos and so on.
I spent hours learning how to do things – some of them were useful, some were pointless, some weren’t right for me.
I might have been saving money by doing it by myself, but I was wasting time – time I could have used to make money. And I could have gotten where I am now much faster if I’d had help from someone with experience. Someone who could have told me how to achieve what I was trying to achieve without me having to sift through endless amounts of information or go through trial and error.
One benefit of mentoring that doesn’t get promoted enough is the support aspect.
A mentor will be almost as invested in your success as you are. After all, their success as a mentor is linked to your success as a mentee.
If they don’t help you get where you want to be, it will reflect badly on them. If they do help you, you’re more likely to recommend them.
And because they are so invested in your business, you feel as though you always have someone in your corner with you. They are a sounding board. They help you work through decisions. They celebrate your successes with you and pick you up when you’re having a bad week.
It’s not until you’ve had this kind of support that you realise how valuable it can be.
Mentors are teachers. They have already built their knowledge and skills and can share the most relevant and useful parts with you.
Rather than spending hours on end trying to find the answers yourself, your mentor can give you the answers and help you make sensible choices.
When you’re the sole decision-maker, it can be stressful – there’s a lot of pressure on you to get it right.
Having a mentor will give you more confidence as you have someone to talk things through with.
And although you still have the final say, you won’t feel completely responsible if it doesn’t go to plan, because you sought advice and discussed all the options with someone else.
I know from personal experience how frustrating it is to feel as though you’re stuck in a rut with your business.
Working with a mentor helped me get back on track and move forward. It could help you too.
You’ll get a fresh perspective from someone who can see the bigger picture and spot the things you’re missing.
Things will only change if you do something to change them and a mentor can help you change the right things.
I used to think mentors were a luxury I didn’t need. They were great for people who needed a bit of direction but they weren’t necessary for me. I knew what I needed to do, I just needed to get my ass into gear and do it.
I didn’t particularly like the idea of someone telling me what to do. Or paying someone for advice I could probably get for free if I watched enough videos or read enough books.
I was an idiot.
I wish I’d gotten help sooner.
But luckily, I did get help (eventually).
When I started working with my first mentor, I had completely fallen out of love with my business. I was stuck in a rut, wondering if I was ever going to have the business I dreamed of.
They gave me the kick up the arse I needed. They helped me refocus, make some changes, and feel excited about my business again.
My second mentor helped me take things to the next level. They helped me figure out what I really wanted and taught me how to build a business that worked on my terms. I made some significant changes to my business and went all in on the training, consulting, and mentoring services.
After working with them for a few months, I felt so much happier with my business, and so much happier in my life. I realised it was possible to make good money doing the thing you love for people who are great to work with. I was doing it. And I wanted to help others do the same. That inspired me to write The Freelance Fairytale: How to Create Your Happy Ever After.
So if you ask me “Are mentors worth the cost?” I’ll tell you they are. And that’s not just because I am a mentor myself – it’s because I have experienced the benefits first-hand.
It might be possible to get where you want all by yourself, but you’ll get there much quicker with the right help and support.
Getting a mentor is hugely beneficial, but only if you choose the right one. Do not rush into working with someone until you have done some research.
Once you’ve got your shortlist, here are some things you should look for.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of scammers out there claiming they have a secret success formula – they don’t.
If you see someone you think could be a good fit, do some due diligence.
Look at their website and their social profiles. Does their business look legitimate? Are the reviews left by real people (check reviewer profiles to see how legit they are)?
Check Companies House – is their business registered, have they been in business as long as they say they have, and are they filing their accounts on time?
Do they have any free or low-cost content you can check out to get an idea of whether they might be the right mentor for you? For example, I have a blog full of helpful articles. I also have a free daily email and a book (£9.99). All this content will give you an idea of my style and personality as well as my credibility, experience, and approach to business and marketing.
Figure out what you want to gain from working with a mentor. What do you need help with or what are your biggest challenges?
Once you know what you want, you can choose someone with the right experience – someone who has achieved what you want to achieve or who has proven experience helping others achieve it.
A mentor’s job is not to tell you how great you are and boost your ego. Their job is to help you get where you want to be.
So you need someone who will challenge you and question your approach and ideas. Someone who will hold you accountable and give you a kick up the arse when you need it. Someone who will get the best out of you.
While it’s important your mentor challenges you, that doesn’t mean you want someone who destroys your confidence and belittles everything you do.
You want someone who is honest, but who also respects you. You are going to them for their experience, but that doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything they say or do everything they suggest.
You’ll only get what you want from your mentor if you can be honest with them. This means you might have to share things about your business and you need to feel comfortable doing that.
So choose someone who you feel at ease with. You don’t have to like them, but you do need to trust them.
Getting the right mentor is important, but they’ll only be able to help you if you’re willing to be helped and put in the work.
Here are some things you should do to get the most from your relationship.
Mentoring isn’t a magic bullet – you need to do some work and your mentor isn’t going to do it for you. They might tell you what action you need to take, but you have to be the one who takes it. Their advice will only work if you implement it. So be prepared to invest time and effort.
If your business isn’t moving forward, then something needs to change. And that change might involve doing things you haven’t done before. Sometimes that might feel daunting or uncomfortable, but your mentor wouldn’t be recommending it if they didn’t have a good reason. Of course, if it really doesn’t feel right, don’t be afraid to question it.
Sometimes your mentor might ask some tough questions. They aren’t trying to catch you out – they just want to get to the heart of your challenges so they can help you overcome them. It’s important that you are honest – if you don’t tell the truth, you might not get the advice you need.
Your mentor won’t always tell you what you want to hear. You should be prepared to listen to what they say, even if it’s hard to swallow. You don’t have to take their advice – ultimately, it’s your business – but at least listen to their recommendations and consider their opinion. You’re working with them for a reason.
Am I the right mentor for you?
We won’t know for sure until we speak, but so we don’t waste each others time, here’s some things that might help you decide.
I work with freelancers, solo business owners, and small businesses. My goal is to help my mentees attract and convert more of the clients they want.
Usually, this involves working directly with the business owner, but I also mentor solo or junior marketers within small teams.
If any of the following statements apply to you, chances are I can help:
If any of the above resonate, then chances are I can help you.
My 12-week programme is a combination of teaching and mentoring, theory and application, learning and doing. It’s about giving you the tools to start getting results from your marketing.
I don’t want to give you my life story, so here are the key highlights:
But I guess the most relevant experience is that I built my business from scratch. I’ve been there, done that. I didn’t just learn the theory of what I do from a book – I have first-hand experience of it.
I had to learn how to market myself, how to get clients, how to price correctly, how to create effective marketing and sales processes, how to deal with enquiries, how to spot the timewasters, and how to build a profitable business that gives me the lifestyle I want.
Most importantly, I learnt how to manage marketing when you’re a small business that doesn’t have endless resources.
Because when you are a small business, you can’t do it all. You can’t be on every platform, doing every activity, creating endless content.
One day, you might be in a position to outsource your marketing or hire an entire marketing department. But until you are, you need a marketing and sales process that is manageable and sustainable, but that gets results. I help you create and implement that process.
I don’t expect you to hand over a big chunk of cash before either of us know whether we’re a good fit.
So the first step is to book a 90-minute consultation.
During this time, we get to the heart of your challenges and discuss how you can get from where you are now to where you want to be. I’ll give you some actions you can take immediately to improve your marketing and we’ll discuss longer term strategies too.
The fee for this is £150+vat.
This consultation call is not a sales pitch. I want you to get as much value out of the 90 minutes as possible and will not be pushing you towards my programme.
The call will have one of three outcomes:
I only open up three new places per month and have a maximum of ten mentees at any one time, so I only recommend my programme if I’m sure I can get you the results you want.
If you think you’re a good fit for one of the places, book a consultation or email me at lisa@makeyourcopycount.com.
If this is your first time here, thanks for reading.
I’m Lisa – owner of Make Your Copy Count Ltd.
I help small businesses attract more of the clients they want by providing copywriting training, marketing consultations and marketing mentoring.
I also run a publication where I share my learnings and results of launching, growing and monetising publications and email newsletters. Check it out here.
