DO I REALLY NEED TO MAKE VIDEO CONTENT TO MARKET MY BUSINESS? (asking for an introvert)

Being an introverted business owner can be a challenge. Particularly the networking and content production side of things.

You, know, the people-ing and putting yourself out there. It’s necessary but can leave you feeling exhausted, drained and wondering if that 9-5 data entry gig might not be so bad after all.

So much of the marketing messaging that comes through the mainstream feels like it goes against the very grain of being introverted.

Being an introvert is actually something of a superpower when it comes to marketing. And video content is where I both see and feel friction coming up for introverted business owners (myself included!).

The idea of being seen can be terrifying – and nowhere is that more raw and visible than in a piece of video content (also – ugh, I hate the sound of my own voice – anyone else feel the same?).

DO I HAVE TO CREATE VIDEO CONTENT TO MARKET MY BUSINESS?

Nope.

You don’t have to create video content to market your business. There are a million and one other ways to market yourself.

Having said that, video content is one of the fastest and most powerful ways to connect with your audience. It accelerates building the critical Like, Know, Trust factors online for small service-based business owners.

If you want to give it a crack – go for it. The more you do it, the better you get at it – but you’ll never know if you don’t start somewhere.

Full disclosure? I still haven’t created a single piece of video content (but there is a cloud storage graveyard of almost finished pieces of video I filmed). I’ve seen it work so I know it works and it’s still something I recommend my clients experiment with from time to time if they’re not sold on it from the start.

INTROVERTS ARE SHY SO VIDEO CONTENT IS OUT.

Is this a thought that’s crossed your mind?

I actually thought this was me when I went to create my first pieces of video content.

If you’re an introvert and you haven’t read Susan Cain’s Quiet get a copy STAT. In the book, she talks about how modern western society rewards extraversion.

Since starting the journey of marketing myself and grappling with creating my own video content, I’ve come to realise that it’s not because I’m introverted – it’s because I find the process of creating content

You’ve got a business you love. You’ve got clients who love working with you. You see a sure-fire long-term business in your future… but you also dread so much as an introvert.

But I have a confession to make. Video content, sticking my face in front of my business, sharing my face and taking up space in this way is still a hurdle I haven’t leapt over yet. The irony is absolutely not lost on me.

WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR ME TO PRODUCE VIDEO CONTENT?

There’s a simple answer here… and a more complex one.

The simple answer for me is that I’m an introvert and a wallflower and I’d much prefer to uplift others from behind the scenes.

Stick a camera in my face and I’ll likely stick my tongue out and make myself look silly, or waffle on incoherently taking at least a hundred tangents before getting to the point.

If someone compliments me I’m in a hurry to serve them up a better compliment to deflect any kind of attention. No eyes on me, please. Definitely no spotlight. See that dark corner over there? That’s why I wore black – so I could literally blend into the shadows.

The more complex answer is that I’ve spent a lifetime being conditioned that my voice and my face aren’t worthy in many areas of life. I never saw people like me growing up having a voice or having one that was applauded and celebrated. The kind of stuff I wanted to do, be and achieve was for other people – not for me. That’s not me making excuses, but rather acknowledging that my conditioning went unchecked and I held these beliefs about the world for a long time.

I’ve also spent most of my life swimming upstream because, even though consciously that was the message that I was being served and internally reinforcing, somewhere in my being I knew it to be false. That little inner knowing is what led me to break the mould in my own ways, especially when it came to pushing back against cultural expectations.

The advent of the whacky world wide web means that I know that my voice does matter, and people like me DO achieve cool and great things. I absolutely believe that things I never thought possible for me before are now much closer than I’ve ever entertained.

WHAT IS HOLDING ME BACK?

FEAR. Fear of being judged, humiliated, looking silly or stupid, and people in my networks thinking I’m being uncool, lame, or strange. Fear that people I’ve moved on from will be poking around and laughing at me. Fear that I’ll regret what I’m doing and it will all be a horrid waste of time. Fear that I don’t offer anything different and that this is all going to fail.

But that’s also not true. Cos I’m here. In my own way. Doing the thing. Already helping the people I want to help. Baby steps. There are definitely moments that expand me too quickly and I need to contract and decompress before I venture out again.

Look, Mum, I’m doing it (even though I know you wish I’d gone to med school or become a lawyer)!

WHAT I’M DOING TO SUPPORT MY INTROVERTED SELF:

There are some key things I like to do for myself when I hit moments like this as I’m striking out and building my own thing:

1. Acknowledge there’s an incongruence between the old me as I am and the version of me that I’m becoming – that discomfort is what I lean into, not run away from

2. Remind myself I will never be perfect, nor have been, and that is okay

3. Understand I am not for everyone and everyone is not for me – and that is also okay
4. If I’m not ready to do a thing, it doesn’t mean I’ll never be ready – it means that I’m not ready now and there’s no shame in that
5. It’s okay to take a step back and take some time away from change, growth and evolution – it’s okay to hibernate and seek out the familiar every now and then (just don’t live there)
6. The only way I’m gonna serve people in the way I want to is to get comfortable with being more visible – let this idea percolate
7. Putting myself in situations where I am encouraged to step outside of my comfort zone – through courses, networking events, beginning to feel my way into the bigger things that scare me
8. Don’t take myself too seriously – remember to have fun with the process of growing and evolving and being challenged

In the spirit of which… here’s a screenshot of the number of times, I attempted a piece of video content that still hasn’t seen the light of day 😂

If any of this resonates for you and you need a little cheerleading, feel free to connect with me – I’d love to hear from you.