Suz Chadwick [00:03:16]:
But we really want to be working on our business when we think about future proofing it too. So that's what we're talking about today. But without further ado, let's dive into today's episode. Okay, let's dive in. So in this episode, we're going to be looking at really reviewing what is happening in your business now so that you can start to get thinking and brainstorming as to what might need to shift and change based on where the market is going and what's happening. So the first key question to ask is around business model. So are there any elements of your current business model that you think you need to change or adjust? Now? Because I'm an online business coach and a lot of my clients and audience are online businesses, specifically service based businesses. I know that if you're a product based business, we do have some product based businesses within our community too.

Suz Chadwick [00:04:17]:
But really starting to look at and thinking about, does everything require you? Are you the one that's always delivering everything that you offer in your business? Now I actually am a big believer in having a mix and having obviously different revenue streams, which is another question to ask, like how diverse are my revenue streams? Am I building a business that is allowing me to earn money through the resources, products and services that I create where people can just go buy them? Now listen, in 2025, as an online business, I just think it's an absolute must that you have digital products in some way, shape or form on your website. If I go to your website and I can't actually give you money, as in go to a cart, check out, purchase, et cetera, I think you are just missing a huge, huge opportunity. And so we just want to really make sure that we're doing that. Well now for those of you who already have the digital products, it's worth doing an audit. So really taking a look and saying, what have I got here? Who am I targeting? Like really doing your brand strategy again. One of the things I talk about in Brand Builders Academy is I really relook at my brand strategy Every year I look at my business strategy, marketing, sales, et cetera and so looking and saying okay, am I still targeting the same client, the exact same client? Because even for myself I feel like one of my avatars have definitely shifted. I'm definitely moving towards and doing a lot more consulting and one on one coaching with clients who are multi six to seven figures who are wanting to build their personal brands and move out of the done for you into the coaching consulting, speaking arena. And so really taking a look at who that ideal client is to me and obviously still my brand builder academy level clients too.

Suz Chadwick [00:06:17]:
And then for bvc I've also got my avatar there which kind of sits with the avatar I just mentioned around one on one coaching and personal branding. And so I think every year you just need to reassess do I still want to work with the clients I've been working with or do I want to shift what I'm known for and who I'm working with? And so based on that, what do the products and services in my business need to look like? Am I still keeping everything? Am I bundling things? Am I renew naming things? Am I repackaging things? And so really looking at your business model and the products and services that you have is going to be really important because one of the main things that we're being seeing a shift for a long time too and that is just only going to get bigger and bigger. Bigger is obviously the digital monetization strategy. And so even taking a look at if there's anything else that you could be doing around selling online is going to be key to future proofing your business. The other interesting thing that we're seeing a lot in the market and the Trends coming in 2025 and Hootsuite put out a report, I will drop the link for you to check that out as well is that 43% of organizations and brands have actually tried a new tone of voice, personality and Persona on social media in the last year. And so creative content is something that is really being focused on for a lot of businesses. We already know this. I'm just going to say it because I think it's important is that your ability to become a better content creator is just a non negotiable.

Suz Chadwick [00:08:06]:
You've got to figure out how you're going to do it so that you can capitalize on organic content because it's been really interesting as well from a sales and marketing perspective and building brands is that the whole, you know, conforming to your brand star guide and your brand Strategy is something that is kind of being not thrown out the window, but bent a little bit, and it's becoming a bit more flexible where brands are trying new things. They're not being so strict on sticking to the guidelines of what the company or the business is or has been doing. And so the one thing that I want to say here is that being nimble, being somebody that can move quickly, somebody that can test and try different types of content is important. Now, virality is actually not something that is being looked upon favorably nowadays. It's something that was definitely what people were hoping for in early 2024, but now it's really about connection and community, and it is about really looking at how your business is connecting on a deeper level with your audience and building that community. So a really key part of your brand strategy and your marketing strategy for 2025 is to work out how you're going to become a really great content creator and how you're going to adapt to what's happening in the market quickly and be flexible as well in the way in which you test things online. Because people are not responding as well as they did to paid ads. And it's been really interesting.

Suz Chadwick [00:09:46]:
I've watched a lot of trend marketing reports on the 2025. It's not to say ads aren't working, they absolutely are. But as far as the new generations go, they are really wanting to see brands build community and connect on an organic level. The ability to just sell to them with ads is not working as well as with older generations. And the trend is that with older generations, they end up following the lead of younger generations when it comes to marketing and sales. And so I've seen so many videos from experts on the fact that the funnel is changing, and rather than it being that you just get a whole lot of people at the top of the funnel and you cram them in and then you take them down the funnel and then you want them to buy from you. What we're really seeing in the market, from what I have seen, is that it's about building that relationship and people wanting to have that trust built and then making the decision to buy. And so they're buying based on what you're sharing, the quality of what you're sharing, the insights that you might have, the fact that you are consistent, that you are credible, et cetera.

Suz Chadwick [00:10:56]:
And so just buying from an ad is just not working as well as it used to. So it'll be really interesting to see where paid advertising goes in 2025. I found it really interesting that I was watching a video on 2025 trends. I'll drop it in the show notes too. But they were just talking about the fact that even from an organic perspective, people are writing a lot more. So getting back into the long form content that then ranking Google searches and turning a lot of those blog posts into more sophisticated sales Pages. Things like LinkedIn newsletters are also something that seems to be working a lot more. Once again, longer form content, building organic relationships, building that trust, being somebody who's seen as being consistent and then people buying from them.

Suz Chadwick [00:11:46]:
And so when you are looking at your brand strategy and your marketing strategy, I think it's important to understand what's happening in the market, the behaviors and the trends, so that you can make a decision about what you're going to do and how you're going to do it. Right now I'm testing a few things myself where I'm posting more, I'm creating more speaking to camera videos. We're going to be shooting a day of B roll so that we can start to play with the type of content that we're creating as well. And I'm going to do it for like a month and see and test what the traction and the response is like. And then I'm going to test a different idea and a different strategy come December and January as well. So I think that it's just important for you to understand your target market and your audience and what it is that they need and that they want from you. The other thing to overlay with that around your market position is what's happening in your industry, because each industry is quite different. One of the things that I find really interesting that's happening in the coaching space is that there are a lot of newbies coming into the space.

Suz Chadwick [00:12:57]:
And because they're good at content creation, because that's something that they've grown up with and it's kind of natural to them. So they're growing really large audiences, they are attracting a lot of clients because of their ability to show up and deliver that content. And so it's been really interesting to watch that happen within the space. And I think the one thing that I do want to say here is that if you are a business that's been around for a long time and you are struggling to make that transition and become the content creator and shift the way in which you're working, that is what I work with a lot of my clients on right now is how do you put your personal brand into the work that you do? How do you start to show up in a way that's actually going to give you traction where you feel confident? And I think that as an industry, as far as online business goes, coaching, consulting, et cetera, it is something that as an older generation we've kind of got to work with and move quickly on as well. It's not something where you can wait three years before you decide to get into it. I think that it is absolutely something that has to happen now and you've got to put the time in. Even one thing that I'm doing is that I'm spending more time where I'll just sit for two hours, I'll have a whole lot of content ideas and I'll sit and I'll just record. I'm not editing, I'm not doing anything else, but I'm just becoming used to doing it on a regular basis where it just feels completely normal.

Suz Chadwick [00:14:31]:
And so really understanding what's happening in your industry, where that market is going and what you, you need to do to shift with it is important. The other thing to ask yourself is what is your unique value proposition and your differentiator when it comes to what's happening in your market? What exactly is the problem that you're solving? And I think one big thing that I'm working on and that I am working with a lot of clients on is specificity. There is no space right now for being general. There is no space for big general, you know, terms that aren't really specific about what it is you do, how you help, you know, what your differentiator is, how your clients can work with you. Because there's so much noise in the market, we kind of have to drill it down and make sure that the way in which we're writing our sales pages, the way that we're communicating online, the content that we're creating, really positions us as the go to person in our space and is very specific around who exactly we're speaking to and what it is that we do for them. And that's something I've been working with a lot of clients on recently, is making sure that we're naming and claiming our audience so that you can really cut through the noise and make sure that they know that you're speaking to them. So really think about is that something that you're doing? Are you being specific? Are you really clear on exactly who you want to work with, who your dream client is, what it is that they're experiencing right now in this moment in time? What are they saying? What are they thinking. And so you can then obviously use that within all of your sales and marketing messages, your copy and your content.

Suz Chadwick [00:16:20]:
The next element to really think about is team and skills that you need. So what new skills do you think you need on your team now? For me, I've got my virtual assistant and she does obviously a lot of the back end. The other thing that I know that I'm going to need probably in the next three, six months is bringing a video editor on board and somebody around social media and content marketing. So I've been looking online recently at, you know, who might be able to help me with that. I'm not sure in what capacity yet, but I'm kind of like, okay, for Bold Vibes Consulting, if we want to do more personal brand management for clients, then we're going to need to have better video editing or, you know, somebody doing more of the video editing and then potentially also social media, content marketing support, et cetera. So thinking about what that looks like, where we're going to find great talent, how we're going to onboard them, how we're going to manage that so that we're not going through different people, but that we've got people that we bring on board, they understand how we work, what we want to do, what our clients need, and we're able to do that as well. And so really think about who you might need on your team for you to be able to take your business forward and into the next chapter in 2025. The next one to be thinking about and reviewing is technology.

Suz Chadwick [00:17:44]:
Now, obviously, we all know that there's emerging technologies that are disrupting the industry at the moment. AI is the big one. Whether you like it or not. It's here to stay. And you really need to understand how it's going to impact you and the work that you do with clients. Because I can tell you now that there will be businesses in your industry that will work out how to use AI to save time and to make the process a lot easier and to also increase productivity and output. And so I know that there are people out there that are like, AI is the worst, it sucks all the rest of it. But the bottom line is, is that, you know, even if you don't want to use it for writing or things like that, you do want to look at it and say, how can we use it in the business? Like, are there opportunities for chatbots, you know, where I put in all of my information or my work, et cetera, and it's private chat bot and my clients get access to that, is there a way that it can do repeatable tasks within the business that actually save my VA time so that she can maybe be working on other things that are going to be more beneficial to the business? And how can we make sure that we're really keeping up to date with what's happening in the market from a technology perspective? Yeah, and I think one of the things that I'm really looking at AI for as well is around data analytics.

Suz Chadwick [00:19:07]:
So when we take a look at, you know, our Google Analytics and the revenue coming into the business and the number of people that we've got on our email list, like whatever it might be, wherever there are numbers in the business, is it possible for us to look at AI to bring together some insights and learnings across the business? So my hubby is a bit of a programming AI tech lover and so that's something that I'm sort of speaking to him about to say, is there a way to bring in all of the information in the business to be able to gain some of those insights into what we could be doing better? Where there's opportunities, is opportunities to generate more leads in the business, to generate more traffic. Are there things that we can do to grow either on socials or elsewhere? And so asking yourself these questions I think is really important because just keeping up to date with how quickly things are moving, you don't need to be at the forefront, you don't need to know everything. But I do think that it is good to stay informed so that you can really look at your business in particular and say, is there an opportunity here for us to either get insights or to be able to save time, money, have better processes, have better efficiencies with the technology that's available to us? And the last thing that we're going to cover in future, proofing your business, part one is really around your customer management and relationships. And so the question is, you know, how are customer relationships changing? Is there anything that you can see where your customers are buying differently? You know, I've shared before that, you know, our courses have always done really well, but in the last year or so we've definitely seen a much bigger uptake in one on one coaching where people may have done courses in the past where they feel not our courses of course, but have done other courses where they didn't implement or they didn't feel like they got the support that they needed. And so now they're looking for one on one coaching and accountability. So I've seen a massive uptake in one on one coaching. And so what does that look like in the business? Because obviously it's not scalable. And so what do I want to do around one on one coaching? I love one on one coaching.

Suz Chadwick [00:21:33]:
So that's something that's not going anywhere for me. But obviously also wanting to work more closely with clients in BBC and then also making sure that we continue to support our clients so that they're able to implement and get the results from our courses, which is Brand Builders Academy and the Amplify Accelerator, and just continuing to evolve those as well. And so, you know, asking yourself when it comes to your customer management and relationships, what channels will be most relevant for you in 2025 and really play to your strengths here. Yeah, because so one thing I'm really looking at doing is setting up YouTube and making sure that we are, you know, creating the content for that channel so that we can have evergreen content and lead generation happening from that platform. Because from What I'm seeing, YouTube continues to dominate. YouTube continues to be the platform that seems to be growing and building. And it's been really interesting. Even Spotify is now in the video, you know, market as well.

Suz Chadwick [00:22:40]:
And so they're looking at how they're trying to get a slice of the creator economy pie. And that's been really interesting to listen to and watch because obviously our podcast is on Spotify. I listen to a lot of podcasts on Spotify and I watch the videos when they're uploaded as well to Spotify. So YouTube and Spotify are both video platforms that I am regularly watching and listening to. But we just really want to make sure that we are keeping our finger on the pole pulse of what's going on with our customers so that we can continue to listen to them, know what it is that they need, and they want to actually see whether buying behavior is changing so that we can start to shift and move with the times as well and make sure that we are future proofing our business and that we're not just sticking to what we've always done, because that's what we know and that's what we're comfortable with, but that we are able to evolve with the market and be able to evolve ourselves as well. And I think that's just something that's just so important and something that's more important than ever now as the market does start to change rapidly, is really challenging yourself to be an evolver, challenging yourself to be somebody that's able to move quickly, learn, adjust, adapt and keep going. Because obviously we want to still be in business for years to come. And we want to make sure that our business is working in a way that not only works for us, but works for the market, works for our customers, so that we can continue to work with the people that we really want to work with.

Suz Chadwick [00:24:17]:
So hopefully that has given you some things to think about. I've got all of the elements that I've talked about today in the show, notes as well that you. You can obviously go and take a look at. If you've got any questions, you can DM me @suzechadwick on Instagram. I'm more than happy to have this conversation as well, but I think that this is a. I feel like this is a conversation we needed to have, and I think it's an important one for you to be on top of. And if you're struggling with this, if you need help to really look at your business objectively and understand how you're going to become a founder, creator, how you're going to start to look at your business and how you can be more productive and stay ahead of the curve, and you need help with that, then obviously you know where to find me. More than happy to have a conversation about how we can work together.

Suz Chadwick [00:25:07]:
But listen, we're going to leave it there because that was a lot. I know it was a lot to digest. And next week we're going to be in part two, what's coming, what's happening, and what we can be doing as business owners as well. So I will speak with you soon.