Written by Are you seen and heard? It’s a question we all struggle with at some point in our lives.
But, I have to say, I recently had an experience that reinforced how I feel about that.
Seen and Heard – The Birthday
A few days ago I had a birthday.
As an incredible blessing, I happen to share a birthday with my youngest grandson.
Filled with gratitude, I rushed to the hospital to hold him in my arms a few years ago, knowing that we will forever be connected in this special way.
For the past two years we got to watch all his firsts and have parties that were all about him….as it should be.
This year, however, my son wanted to do something different.
He took the day off of work, found a sitter for his son, and came over and spent the day with me.
“This is your birthday too. You deserve some attention too.” He said.
I was nearly moved to tears.
We spent the day discussing books we loved, updating my workout room, and even taking some time to make homemade pasta with a manual crank pasta machine the two of us bought before his son was born.
Over the past three years, there just was not enough time in our schedules between children and work to make the pasta we thought would be so much fun.
But on this day, we had a blast making pasta and talking each other’s ears off about the things that mattered to us most.
On this day, it was almost like when he used to live at home and we talked about everything…all the time.
The next day we would gather again with other friends and family members to light a candle for his son and watch him open presents.
But this day was super special for me.
I was filled with so much gratitude and love that he would take time away from work and his family just to hang out with his mom for the day.
There truly is nothing like a birthday to remind you how much you are seen, heard, and loved.
But that wasn’t all.
Seen and Heard – The Marketing
As my son and I were enjoying the day I couldn’t help but notice my phone going off like crazy.
It was beeping up a storm.
As he was pulling out of the driveway at the end of the day, I decided to pick up my phone and see what all the fuss was about.
I have my phone set up so that social media, email, and texts all had different ring tones.
That way I never miss an emergency and can focus my attention and live in the moment.
When I finally picked up my phone and looked, I had over 100 notifications on each of my social media accounts.
Wondering what was going on, I opened them up to find more direct message notifications and comment alerts from clients and others I built relationships with, reaching out to wish me a happy birthday.
The Reward
So often with marketing, what we do is behind the scenes work.
We spend so much time curating and carefully crafting our content.
Many times we don’t know if it’s landing with our audience. Is anyone even reading our content? We wonder.
But it’s the relationships that we’re building with people with that matter.
Some of the people that messaged me that day, I never got the chance to actually work with.
However, they remembered me enough to reach out.
One of the first questions I ask people when I get on a call with them is how they heard about me.
I’m always flattered to hear them say,
“Lisa, I see your content all over social media. You’re everywhere!”
If you’re struggling with your marketing and feel like your message isn’t landing with your audience, I encourage you to stay connected and keep going.
And most importantly, keep connecting with people.
Your marketing efforts are a long game. It’s the relationships you build with people that will carry your practice forward and stand the test of time.
If you’re looking for a memorable way to reach your audience, let’s talk!