In this episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast, I chatted with Hannah Isted from HI Communications all about why being consistent with your marketing really matters. We compared it to gardening—if you put in regular time and care, you’ll see long-term growth. Hannah, who created the ‘Best 90 Days Ever’ marketing program, shared how to break your marketing into smaller, doable steps so it doesn’t feel so overwhelming. We also talked about the value of keeping things simple, doing things over and over, and making marketing part of your everyday routine. If you run a course, membership, or coaching business, there’s lots of helpful stuff in here for staying visible and on top of your marketing game.
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
- Consistency builds momentum – Just like gardening, regular and steady marketing efforts lead to long-term results, even if progress feels slow at first.
- Keep it simple and doable – Breaking your marketing into small, manageable tasks helps you stay consistent without getting overwhelmed.
- Repetition works – Repeating your message and showing up daily helps keep you top of mind for your audience, which is crucial for growth
If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Connect with Hannah Isted on Instagram, Website
Connect with Teresa on Website, (Grow, Launch, Sell), Sign up to Teresa’s email list, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook
Transcript
Teresa: As membership owners, course creators and coaches, we know that we need to market our business. If we are not visible, if people don’t know we exist, they are never going to be able to buy from us. So that saying, if you build it, they will come just straight up is not true. Also, I like to liken marketing to gardening.
You know, I’m a big fan, but when we garden, we have to get all the things we need to give that plant the most success it can have. We need to water it. We need to plant it in the right things. We need to give it the feed. We need to do all this stuff in good faith that one day my tomato plant is going to give me an abundance of tomatoes and.
We have to do it. If we didn’t do all that work, we have no hope of ever getting those tomatoes, but we do it in good faith that it’s going to happen, and we have to quietly wait for months and months and months and months for that day that it finally pays off. And that is what marketing your business is like.
We have got to sow the seeds, do the thing, give it the water. Constantly and one day that will pay off. When we think that we do something today and tomorrow we’re gonna get a sale. It just isn’t true. But how do you show up consistently? Because that consistency is important and is key to really making sure that your marketing is doing what you need it to do.
Today I talk to Hannah Ice. That who has a great way of breaking down marketing of your business, that it’s simple, it’s not overwhelming, and it doesn’t take you very long if you are struggling to show up consistently and put you and your business out there, this episode is for you. Welcome to the Your Dream Business Podcast.
I’m your host, Teresa Heath Wareing. An international bestselling author, award-winning speaker, TEDx speaker, certified coach, and the host of this number one ranked podcast. I am so excited to guide you on the journey of creating a business and life that you not only love, [00:02:00] but one that perfectly aligns with you and the season of life that you are in.
In each episode, I’ll share with you easy, actionable, and insightful strategies to grow your online business. Plus we’ll be diving into some mindset, tools and strategies that keep you focused, motivated. And are gonna stop you from getting in your own way. So if you’re a course creator, membership owner, or coach, you’re in the right place.
Let’s get started. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. I am your host, Teresa Heath Wareing as always, okay. Today we have an interview with the very lovely Hannah Isted. Hannah came into my world a while back now, she was actually introduced to me through someone else I know, and she actually ended up speaking at the summit when I did my summit back in 2024.
No. Yes. 2024. Couldn’t remember what year it was then. Hannah is the founder of HI Communications supporting small [00:03:00] business owners with their marketing. She is an author of the Best 90 Days Ever book, a marketing membership, and she shares quick and daily prompts that shows businesses how to promote what they do in just 10 minutes a day to make it simple and easy and fun.
She’s worked with hundreds of business owners helping them to increase their online presence through her membership courses and workshops. In her email, newsletter and podcast, the Social Sunday, she shares marketing advice to help product and service-based businesses get out their own way and constantly promote themselves.
This conversation was really timely. As you might know, if you’ve been a longtime listener, I used to have someone do my social media for me and that stopped, and I’ve been doing it ever since. And I laugh ’cause I’m doing it terribly. My long-term plan for the business is to bring someone back to help me with content, where basically I create all the stuff and then they just. Make it look great and put it out and do all that, but I [00:04:00] can get really stuck in my own way of what am I meant to put out? What’s kind of things can I talk about? You know, the wild thing about all of us is that we have no shortage of content, right? Like the conversations today at the point I’m recording this, I actually have something like six calls, I think today, and two of them.
Two of them are coaching calls. One of them is a training session I’m doing. One of them is a podcast interview I’m doing like, I have no shortage of content that I can put out to the world. I talk constantly. There are so many things I can talk about. I have, and I say this on the podcast, I have an entire program full of really cool stuff.
Yet when it comes to sitting down and putting together a post for social media or maybe coming up with a podcast episode or writing an email, I can really get in my own way and get stuck and struggle to think of what to say and do. So today’s episode is [00:05:00] brilliant. If you are feeling like that, if you are feeling the overwhelm of what we should be creating, if you are struggling to know what to do first, this is exactly what Hannah teaches and how Hannah approaches it.
We talk about all things batching. You know, I’m a big fan of batching. That’s a good way of getting stuff done. We talk about how to actually post something when you are overthinking it, because I think sometimes as well, we have this need to want to be creative or to create the post that goes viral or to get a message really right and clear in an email that actually it just paralyzes us from doing anything.
So. We talk about this, we talk about how to get going if you’re feeling a bit stuck, and how to break up your marketing so it’s not as big and overwhelming and as difficult as it might feel when you first start looking at it. And as we know, we have to market our businesses. We have to be telling people what we do and why we do it and selling.
And [00:06:00] also this is something that Hannah has done consistently. So how has she managed to do that? We cover off all of these things. I think you’re going to come away with lots of great ideas, some motivation to get going, and some clear ways in which you can break down your own marketing. I hope you enjoy today’s episode.
Without further ado, here is the lovely Hannah. Hannah, welcome to the podcast.
Hannah: Hello. Thank you so much for having me.
Teresa: My pleasure. So before this episode, I went down a rabbit hole of looking at your content, and I have a question to ask. Do you post every day?
Hannah: Oh, I do something for my business every single day. So it is not always a post. It could be an email, it could be something else like pitching, but I do do something for my business every single day.
Teresa: Because one of the posts that you did, is that what you had learned from showing up for 1,200 and something consistently, and it just blew my mind. [00:07:00] I am always in awe of people who consistently show up because this stuff is hard.
So I want to start there. How, how are you consistently showing up? Not running out of ideas, not getting fatigued, not feeling like overwhelmed by it all? How do you consistently show up?
Hannah: I think the main thing is that I pick the easiest option. So if I’m tired and you know, if I am in that place where I don’t have many ideas, then I will just pick whatever feels easy.
So whether that’s a B-roll video with a little bit of text over the top, you know, a hook, maybe it’s repurposing something that I’ve shared before. You know, I always have this library of content that I can use and go back to whenever I need to. So. I just try and make it as easy as possible, and I kind of know throughout the year when I’m going to have those moments.
So, you know, like Christmas period, I’m busy, I’m outta shopping, doing all this stuff. So [00:08:00] I always try and make sure that I’ve got the stuff there, so I’m prepared ahead of time. So I think it’s a little bit of preparation. Picking the easiest thing. And then, I dunno if you saw my reel this morning, but it’s the stubbornness of I’m gonna just keep showing up because that’s, that’s my only option here.
Teresa: See, this is the thing. I look at your content, and mainly my content is filled with gardening stuff. So the fact when I even see someone’s marketing content is, is impressive. Um, but yours is always like, every time I look at yours, I’m like, oh, I should do that. Oh, I should do that. Or, that’s a great post idea.
And it just feels like you are coming out with great stuff all the time.
Hannah: Thank you. Oh, that’s nice. I do think I have trained my brain to think in that way. I think in a post, even the other day, I went and picked up some frogs from my neighbor, from our port, and I have a reel about that ready to go. I’ve turned that into a marketing lesson because [00:09:00] my brain just now thinks right.
How can I connect this part of my everyday life to something that I’m trying to share? Within my business. And I think once you can start doing that, and I see you doing that as well. Like I’ve seen you do that with the gardening stuff. It just makes it so much easier then, because the thing is, there’s loads of stuff that we are doing each day that we don’t necessarily think is that interesting, but it’s those things that.
Connect our audience to us, so if we can share them and then also find a way to link that to our business, that is the way to like consistently share content because it’s gonna be so much easier because you’re gonna be looking at your seeds, I’m gonna be looking at my frogs and like, you know, I’m gonna be cleaning my house or folding my clothes.
All of this stuff that we do naturally, maybe not naturally actually. All of this stuff we have to do. That can become part of our content as well.
Teresa: Are you constantly filming stuff? Because that in itself, like I’ve had this little, you [00:10:00] know, tiny thought of one day being a YouTuber to do with growing vegetables and raising animals and all this stuff. Is that right?
Hannah: Love that.
Teresa: And, and we watch a lot of YouTube and all my husband and I ever talk about is, that’s a shot. They’ve moved the camera, they’ve done that. Like, this stuff is hard. So yes, I know you’re not filming YouTube, but. Like how much are you constantly filming?
Hannah: Not a lot, and actually that is what stops me from maybe doing more on TikTok and things because we have been having the same conversation.
Me and my husband, I really want to do like a TikTok series and I just can’t figure out how to make it work for the time that I have and. Yeah, the amount that I want to film my business and my life, because I just reuse and repurpose stuff all of the time. So, you know, my Halloween pictures are the same.
My Christmas content is generally the same. I have videos of the sea. You know, the videos that I post this summer are probably [00:11:00] not gonna be from this summer. Because the sea is the sea, the C looks the same every year. Yeah. So I think once you have that, that stuff there that you can reuse and repurpose. You don’t need to be filming things all the time because if you watch, I think maybe not for YouTube, I think that is different.
But if you watch a lot of reels, if you watch a lot of TikTok, there’s so much filler B-roll content in there. You don’t need to keep filming that. Just reuse it. Reuse something that you already have.
Teresa: Yeah. And what about the whole, ’cause the other thing that stops me is I don’t look right as in I need to do my face and my hair and my makeup and my everything and like, you know, so are you batching B roll or batching content?
Hannah: Yeah, when I’ve got my hair and my makeup done. A hundred percent. And you know, there are things like when I, I remember when I unpackaged the book and that’s like a piece of content that I’ll reuse. I didn’t have my hair done and I hadn’t, my roots are showing I like, hadn’t combed my [00:12:00] hair or anything.
And I look at that now and I’m like, oh, I wish I’d just done just spiced up a little bit more. ’cause I knew I’d be repurposing that. But yeah, I think if you. Batching is the best way to do a lot of marketing tasks regardless. So if you don’t want to film until you’ve got your makeup on, your hair’s done, you’ve got a couple of outfit changes, then wait until a day when you can do that.
But prepare for that time. So have that list of things ready to go. Have the shots that you are gonna be filming. Have a little bit of the script written out, and then you are. Gonna get more done in that time period. And I think the same goes for like emails. You know, the same goes for writing captions, even just deciding hooks and things like that.
Do it in one go so that you are not just like doing little bits every now and again ’cause it’s just gonna feel chaotic. Really?
Teresa: Yeah. I have to say with the email thing, that is something I do. So when I, when I record episodes, so Mondays we [00:13:00] email about the. Podcast. And then on Thursdays it’s another email and when we record the episodes, when I’m doing the rest of the stuff that goes around it.
So obviously after this I’ll do the intro. I’ll then record the hook as to why people should listen to this episode, and then I will go and. Start to write that email. Yeah. Because it all fits together, so it’s really easy to do, but also when I’m writing normal emails, I will batch them together because when I’m in that kind of flow of stuff, it’s easy to do. And this is the funny thing, like I’ve just been creating, I have a program called Grow Launch Sale, and basically it’s about exactly what it says in the tin, how to grow your audience, launch your online product and sell it, and. Within the program, I have lots of different modules, and I’ve just recorded this morning, actually the bonus, as in a bonus blueprint, how to create bonuses for a launch, and the science behind them and the psychology behind them. And how many should [00:14:00] you have and how much should they be and when should you time them? And what’s the difference between an early bird bonus and a fast acting bonus? And like. And this is the thing, right? I’ve just recorded a whole module four lessons on how to do a bonus. Like we are not sure of any content are we?
Hannah: No, there’s so much there. And also I think one of the things that you just said, which is a really good tip, is that if you do emails on a Monday about the podcast, you are basically deciding your next 52 emails. Because you, if you’re doing one a week, like you’re gonna have those already decided.
So if you can then also set that aside for your content as well. So whether it’s like every, the first day of every month, I’m going to do my ins and my outs, or my goals and my lessons. You know, have a post that you do. First of every month, maybe have something that you do on a Friday. That’s a format. And you don’t have to say, here’s my Friday post. I do every [00:15:00] Friday.
Teresa: Yeah. That was a really, really old school thing. Like Wednesday we Monday motivation or but to hate
Hannah: Throw about Thursday. All of that. . It doesn’t have to spelt out, but it’s for you to know. On a Friday, I’m gonna do a single graphic image and my caption is going to be, you know, a post that has the call to action to join my email list.
Mentally, you are giving yourself less options and then, you know, it’s, it’s way easier to decide what to talk about. And I think the same goes for like what you were just talking about with the bonus content. You’ve now narrowed it down, so you’ve now got that block of stuff that you can talk about. Pick from that.
Just choose from that. You don’t need to have anything else now. You don’t need to come up with any new ideas. You’ve got four modules full of content now you just use that. So it’s like narrowing down the things that you are gonna talk about.
Teresa: I think as well, I think obviously one of the things you said straight away is like the easy, simple option and also the, the form formulaic couldn’t get my words out.. Format of [00:16:00] creating stuff. I think sometimes where we’re, when we see other people’s creative content, we feel like we’ve gotta be super creative and come up with all these cool ideas when actually like to have a formula. So this is what, and I, I as always on the podcast, if you’re a regular listener, you know.
My brain jumps all over the shop, which is why we get all over the shop. But this is what you teach in your 10 minute marketing. So just tell us about that, like how that works.
Hannah: Yeah, so I have a book called The Best 90 Days Ever, and it’s also a membership. As well, which has been running for almost four years now, which is crazy to me.
And basically every day I give you a daily 10 minute marketing task. So this kind of came about because I just found that a lot of business o owners were overthinking it. They were thinking that these things need to take a long time. You know, emails take hours, posts take days to put together. And I just wanted to show people that [00:17:00] you can get so much done in 10 minutes if you just put your mind to it and focus on it.
And also, let me give you the task, like I’ll tell you what to do. You don’t have to decide. I think that’s like part of the the problem as well.
Teresa: So I’m gonna put you on the spot now. What’s today’s task that you’ve given them?
Hannah: So today is actually batching week. So yeah, we are doing so the. We are on the second week of this current round, so we’re on round 15 and we are doing batching week.
So this week we’ve been batching videos. So I literally filmed a video of me batching the videos and I managed to do 10 videos in 10 minutes, which I was quite impressed with as well, actually. And yeah.
Teresa: What kind, what kind of video? Yeah, I was like, what? How the hell, what kind of videos do you mean? Like little B roll videos or?
Hannah: Yes. Okay. Yeah, little, just little B rolls. I had like three cardigans that I was just switching out, so they looked different. Had some props in there. So I had my [00:18:00] podcast microphone. I had, I was like typing on my keyboard. So yeah, all that kind of different stuff. So we’ve done B roll videos.
Emails, batching email ideas, and today is batching hooks. So thinking about all of these little hooks that you can use for your business and then just popping them on those B roll reels. So potentially if I, once I’ve done the task for today, which I will do ’cause I do do them, I could have 10 reels ready to go. And it’s taken me 20 minutes,
Teresa: which, so if you said like sometimes I see claims like that and you think whatever, but this is the thing. I think you are practicing what you preach in terms of like, look, I’m doing it too. And but also you’re not minimizing. I think sometimes when people go, it’s so easy, you are minimizing someone else going, actually, I really don’t find it that easy.
So you are breaking it up into simple [00:19:00] tasks. And I think there’s a few things that you’re doing that is, that makes this so powerful is, is you are taking the decision fatigue because you’re removing it and going, no, this is what I want you to do. And you’ve broken them down into really small tasks ’cause you understand the process on how to create this stuff.
Hannah: Yeah. And I think that’s the thing that I’m noticing more and more is that when people are struggling and they are pushing back against me on this ’cause they do. ’cause it is, it’s a massive mindset shift. Yeah. Because I think we’ve been told that marketing takes a long time. It has to take a long time for it to be good and it doesn’t.
And so when I see them pushing back, it’s like, well, I can’t make a reel in 10 minutes. And I said, I’m not asking you to make a reel in 10 minutes. I’m asking you to film one video. So do that, and then we’ll do a hook, and then we’ll make the reel. We’ll put it together, then we’ll add an audio, then we’ll do the caption.
And so, because they’re skipping right ahead to publishing a reel, and that’s where the [00:20:00] problem is, like that’s where so many businesses are getting stuck because they’re going straight to not having an email list to I need to send out a lead magnet. No you don’t. What you need to do is go and make an account.
Go to flow desks and sign up, make an account. Then you need to start thinking about what’s gonna go in your welcome email and it’s those like tiny little steps. Then you can go and find a lead magnet and think about what you’re gonna do to grow that email list. But we are just skipping ahead all the time. And I think we just need to like break it down and make it so much easier.
Teresa: Totally. And I think as well, we like the fact that I just mentioned there’s four. Videos on how to add a bonus to one part of your launch. Like it is a lot, right? The, all these things, and of course we see these things. I’m like, oh my God, I need this and I need this and I need this and I need this.
But the people who I deal with and the level that I work with, these are people who understand the online space. They want to grow it, they want to do more of it. And if someone came to me and said, I don’t have a product yet and I [00:21:00] don’t, I’ve never launched, the last thing I’m gonna do is go. Check out that bonus like blueprint because that’s what you really need at this point.
So again, it’s like there’s so much noise around everything and especially ai. In fact, I wanna just touch on that just so people know you did not send Hannah any questions. So she’s literally just answering on the fly and these things come to my mind. She’d start me. How much, ’cause you have done this 15 times, as in you’ve had 15 rounds of launching this.
During that time, AI has moved on considerably. Is that something you’ve included or is it something that actually, when you’re dealing with the basics, you don’t need to include those things?
Hannah: I have done it more for like ideas. So I, we have done around where I’ve given people prompts to put into AI if they want to.
Teresa: So they can just use their own brain, brain AI and ask their brain the questions. Yeah. Really. People do that still so old fashioned.
Hannah: Please [00:22:00] do that. Um, so yeah, they could go in and they can use the prompts in whatever way they want to. So we have done a couple of rounds on that. I don’t, in total honesty, I don’t think what chat GPT gives is better than what I give. You know, I’ve, I’ve like asked it for some 10 minute tasks and I do have to go back to it and say. That is not gonna be 10 minutes. ’cause I don’t know it, it really has the concept of what 10 minutes is gonna take.
Whereas I do know how long 10 minutes is. I know what you can achieve in 10 minutes. And so in terms of like actually creating the prompts, I don’t think I say he, I, mine’s a he, but I don’t think he’s very good at it. But. What it has, I have used chat GPT and like AI for my stuff is in ways of coming up with like creative ideas to get the tasks across.
So, okay. And, and sometimes it’s just me saying, is this a good idea? And he’s like, yeah, yes. Here’s how you could word it, which is quite useful. So like. For [00:23:00] batching week, they all have to pick, they get seven numbers at the start of the week and they have to choose a number from one to seven each day to complete that task and then cross it off.
So you could either get like do seven at the start of the week and leave yourself just one to do on the weekend. Or you might wanna save the seven for the weekend and hope this an easy task. . So it’s things like that that I’ve kind of used AI to help with as well.
Teresa: I think what I like about, again, your concept is the fact of it’s that muscle. It’s that like doing it every single day like that. So what have you learned, like you did your post about the things that you’ve learned about showing up and consistently doing your marketing. So just give us some of those learnings that you’ve had since doing that.
Hannah: Oh my goodness. You’re challenging me now., So I, I definitely said it was simple. , Keeping it simple. I can’t even, that post was like three days ago. What did I [00:24:00] even say?
Teresa: You know what? This is so funny because this happens to me all the time that people will go. Oh, I saw your post. It was great. Or I saw you listened to your podcast and I’m like, I don’t even know what podcast you’re talking about. And what to I talk about? Yeah.
Hannah: What did I say?
Teresa: You said I have got it in front of me. Two seconds as I scroll back up, because I went so far down. You talked about that, that, duh. When I talk about my business, I make more sales. Talk about that.
Hannah: Oh yes. I love that one. And I think. This is something that I’m like really trying to hammer home for the members is that they don’t wanna be salesy.
You know, they don’t, they don’t want people to think, someone said, I don’t want people to think I’m being cocky the other day. And I was like. Let them think you’re being cocky if they are gonna. Yeah. It’s just, it’s crazy. But one thing that I’ve noticed, especially around launching and that consistency part, is that I have to keep talking about this because even though I, you know, I’ve been doing this for so long and literally have a book now, people still [00:25:00] don’t know what the best 90 days ever is.
They still don’t believe you can do it in 10 minutes and like that’s the thing that I, I think I have to like kind of keep. Talking about, and that is why my income has continued to go up the more I’ve spoken about it. And like you can literally just see the direct correlation with it.
Teresa: Yeah. And I think, you know, it’s funny. So I’m interested is your background marketing?
Hannah: My, so I did event management at uni. And then I had a couple of like corporate jobs in PR and social media. I’ve been self-employed for 10 years now, so,
Teresa: so similar amount of time I’ve been, I was gonna say I’ve been 11 years, but that makes me saying like my husband has this saying called someone does 11 a reef. Right. Have you ever heard this?
Hannah: Oh no.
Teresa: But yeah, like, so there’s a place in case someone’s listening, they’re in a estate. There’s a place called Tannery, Right? And if someone goes. I did such and such, like, oh yeah, no, I did this. And they say it even better. Then my husband goes, you know, if you went to Tannery, they went to [00:26:00] 11 a reef. Right. I just thought, as I, as you said, I’ve been in 10 years, I went, I’m good at 11. Like it felt like I was doing an 11 a reef. It’s just facts. They’re just facts. But obviously I and I now have lost where the hell I was gonna go with this. I think I’ve got it back. So I have this saying, it’s not my saying, I stole it from someone, saw someone post it that don’t be annoyed about the results you didn’t get for the work you didn’t do.
Right. And it’s such a good saying, and I was talking to someone the other day, I was interviewing someone for the podcast. It was Lisa Johnson actually, and her rep episode would’ve come out by the time this comes out, and she says on it, I said, how did you build your list? Because she built her list pretty quickly and well, and she went, basically, all I ever did was talk about one lead magnet and just keep pushing it and pushing it and pushing it, and pushing it and pushing it.
And I don’t think, and I hold my hand up high as absolutely, this is me. I am not. Like I think we need to be absolutely. [00:27:00] I can’t think of the word be with Ah, relentless. Yes, that’s the word. My brain is like over the shelf at the moment. Yeah. I don’t think I’m relentless enough with stuff. And I think that is a word that you’ve gotta be, you’ve got to be relentless.
You’ve got to keep showing up, you’ve got to keep talking about it. And I guess you’ve gotta get over that fear that someone might. I’ve seen it more than once or Yeah, that you might irritate someone and, but then there’s gonna be loads of people that haven’t seen it and dunno what you do and dunno how, you know, so like if someone said, Hannah, they’re gonna go 90 day. Marketing 10 minute day, like . And that’s what you’re known for and that’s the point of everything you do, isn’t it?
Hannah: Yeah, I hope so. And I think the thing is there’s only, you see all of your content and if there is other people that see all of your content, that means they’re just massive fans and they love it because they are actively choosing to.
Follow you to be on your email list, to click on your stories, you know, to see all of your stuff. They are choosing [00:28:00] that. And I always say that if someone remembers a piece of content, because you’ve already shared it before, that is because it was so memorable. That it stuck in their mind. And whether that’s like, ’cause it was.
I wanna say aggressive, but that’s not the right word. You know, a controversial post or because it was such a great post for you to be able to stick in their mind when they have seen so many other things just in that one hour that maybe they’ve been scrolling. That’s an amazing thing to want to achieve.
So actually we do want to. We do want to aim for people to remember our stuff, to remember what we are known for. And that is actually what the reel is about with the frogs, is that my, I, I mentioned to basically everyone I know who’s got frogs because I want frogs in my pond and so I need to like gather some frogs up.
And my neighbor remembered that and knocked on the door and said, oh. I just heard someone’s getting rid of some frogs. Do you want some? But imagine if I’d never [00:29:00] mentioned that. Who would never know that I wanted frogs. And it is the same thing with your business. You want people to always think, oh.
Someone was marketing. I know someone who does marketing, you know someone, teachers launching really well. I know someone who I’m gonna go to with that. I can recommend them, I can go to them. You need to be top of mind. And the way, the way to do that is I’ve got a frog in my throat now.
Teresa: So spending way too much time with the frogs
Hannah: the way to do that is to keep talking about those things and being repetitive. So yeah., I think it’s, we’ve got to aim for that really. It’s like that relentless repetition.
Teresa: Yeah. Totally Relentless repetition. Like I almost need that written somewhere so I can see it every single day when I sit down and go, oh yeah, I’ll do that story later, and then never actually do it.
I wanna ask, I wanna ask about your launches in a minute, but before I do that, what if someone. Maybe me, maybe someone else [00:30:00] who sat here going, I just need to do something. But they can’t, like often when we are consistent with something, like there’s a good reason why I can never stop the podcast.
’cause I’d never start again. I’d know it. . I’d never take a break. I’d never start again. So when we’re in it, it’s fine. When we’re showing up, we’re doing the post, we’re doing the stories, we’re in the habit. It’s great when we stop. Oh man, like it’s like 10 times harder to even get going in the first place.
What if someone is sat there right now and going, I know I should do something to market my business or promote what I do today. What could they do today? How do they kind of pick themselves up and just do something?
Hannah: Firstly would say, remind yourself why you’re doing it. And I’m not saying that in like a wishy-washy way. I’m saying it because. I have a mortgage that I need to pay. So I’ve got two big Labradors that need feed in. I need to make money in my business. Like I’m not doing this. This is [00:31:00] something that I kept like having to remind people about during this launch was that we’re not doing this for a laugh. Like I’m not teaching you to create reels ’cause it’s fun, is, is cringe.
It’s really cringey, but they make you money and they make your business successful. And so. It’s something that we have to do practically. What I would say is if you did have a period of time where you were feeling really on it, I know we all have these like bits where we’re like posting consistently, we’re doing all the content, we’re sending emails.
Go back to that time and look at what you were posting. Either just share it again, ’cause it was probably really good ’cause you were in the flow. Or have a look at it and see how you can turn it into something else. So could you turn that reel into an email? Could you maybe turn that email back into a reel or turn it into a carousel post?
Could you just have a look at that content from when you were feeling really good and see what else you could do with it? And I think it kind of, even if you just get, you know, three or four posts [00:32:00] created, that can really help you to kind of spark that. Like interest again, I think, and just put yourself back in those shoes of when you were really on it.
Teresa: Yeah. And then like you said, small and simple. Like just do something. It doesn’t matter how little it is, but I love the idea of every single day doing something, because I think that’s where the magic happens. It doesn’t feel like you’re doing a lot, but you are. Okay. Because obviously I’m launch obsessed.
Tell me about your launches. Tell me what, how have you launched? What sort of methods have you used to launch over the years? Has it been the same or has it been different?
Hannah: I would say they’re probably all pretty similar, to be honest. I think maybe the like lead magnet does change sometimes. So with Best,
Teresa: tell me what your lead magnet is,
Hannah: okay. Well, I don’t actually have one at the moment, which just terrible because
Teresa: you heard her first [00:33:00] people
Hannah: I prefer. I’m saying this, by the time this comes out, I would like to have a lead magnet in place, but I think I’ve kind of stopped that for the time being because I prefer to have like an email challenge or something that’s live, something that’s gonna kind of grow my email list.
So I’ve done. In terms of email challenges, I did a social media sports day, which is my summer launch, which I love because it’s me like with a headband on and a whistle and a wooden spoon. And we have so much fun. Like my husband Tom is a photographer and a graphic designer, and he just, he loves doing these things for me ’cause we just get so creative with the ideas. And then the one that I did for this launch. The April launch was the big Fish energy challenge.
Teresa: Ah, okay. So I saw this, okay, so talk me through, so this is like a challenge, experience and then at the end of the challenge, you’re selling the program. So tell me what the Big Fish challenge was.
Hannah: So [00:34:00] the big fish challenge was about stepping into that kind of big fish energy. So this is my like phrase of the year. My word of the year is audacity. And my phrase of the year is, is big fish energy. So I want to feel, I. Like I’m a big enough fish to be in these rooms with people. I want to, you know, not hold myself back because I don’t think I’m successful enough or, you know, I’ve been doing this for long enough or I don’t know enough stuff.
Like all I do have all of that stuff, I just need to believe it and feel like a big fish. So we basically did each day for five days, some little tasks, kind of in the same vibe of the 10 minute marketing stuff. To help you feel like a bigger fish. So there was reeling them in, there was like hooking people. There was make a splash. So that was like getting your, getting your stuff out there. I can
Teresa: love an analogy.
Hannah: Honestly, and I just, I think if you can get a theme. Then [00:35:00] you can just go really far with it. It makes it so much easier and it makes it so much easier to create content around as well. So they’re my email challenges.
And then I’m also doing a workshop for the next launch of Creative Content Library. So I’m gonna do that as a bit more of a kind of masterclass vibe. I might speak to you about that actually.
Teresa: By all means. Please do so at the end of your, how many days was your big fish energy challenge?
Hannah: That was five.
Teresa: So at the end of the five days, you then, do you sell throughout the week? Do you sell just at the end of the week?
Hannah: So for that one, I did sell throughout the week. I opened it up on the Monday.
Teresa: Okay, cool. And because of the way you do your program, it is, you let people in, you start the 90 days. And the door’s closed. So that’s, that’s a really nice, I, I can talk you in and out of having a cart, open cart closed scenario on lots of products, but that is a genuine, authentic reason why everyone starts the same day.
Everyone finishes. [00:36:00] So actually that’s really nice. And how, I don’t necessarily share numbers unless you wanna share numbers, but how successful was this launch? Are you finding that they’re getting more successful? Are you tweaking things? Are you sending loads of emails? How are you doing that?
Hannah: Yeah. So one of the things that I actually do is I leave the doors open for a week so that we start on the first, we started the 1st of April and I close the doors on Sunday because I do find that ’cause they’re 10 minute tasks you can catch up on them. For about a week after. And the FOMO of other people joining is often what gets people to join.
So during the Big Fish Challenge, I had hardly anyone signing up and I was freaking out. So many of them signed up after we’d already started this round of the best 90 days ever. So that was really interesting. In terms of content, I was sending pretty much daily email and doing a carousel and a reel every day. And they were all like pre-created. Yeah, pre [00:37:00] batched. And I also did four podcast episodes, which I just put out on the same day. And they were like, it was like a, listen, if you need to kick up the butt, listen if you don’t have time. And they were really good actually. And quite a few people mentioned those podcasts in the form when they joined. So that was interesting.
Teresa: Almost. Objection handling.
Hannah: Yes. Yeah, because that they’re the things I hear all the time. I don’t have time, and I think, well, if you don’t have 10 minutes, then no, it is not gonna be for you. But I think you do have 10 minutes,
Teresa: but also you should have 10 minutes. You know, it’s not, you don’t have time. It’s that. This is not a priority or you are not viewing this as a priority. And therefore it’s your marketing skill to change their mind that this is a priority and really, yeah. You know, you and I are in a position where what we teach really should be a priority.
Like Yes. You know, if you’re not marketing your business, then I Well, if you don’t have to, then awesome. Well done. You. Tell [00:38:00] us a secret, however. Most people have to, and therefore we should be, so, yeah. Yeah, I agree. And so, sorry, go on. Go.
Hannah: I was gonna tell you, I was gonna tell you the numbers, but I don’t actually ever talk about, I don’t talk about money.
This was like my, one of my things is I don’t talk about money, but I will tell you, so the launch, the December launch is always the biggest one because people sign up for the year. For like the following year, starting in January. So that one was just over 13,000, which I’m happy with as a membership because it’s 90 pounds or 180 pounds for the year.
Teresa: And that is amazing. Like that’s a lot of people.
Hannah: Yeah, there’s quite a lot in there.
Teresa: That’s really cool. Like you said, you know, with a 90 pound, so basically it’s a pound a day that they’re paying, so it’s a really low cost membership and. To get those numbers. Have you seen, have you had a really good growth in terms of email?
I [00:39:00] know I spoke about you the other day to someone. I actually said that I’m coming to your retreat, which I was talking about and saying I’m very excited about, mainly because the B-roll footage alone is gonna be ace. ’cause the place is running. And I said to this person, oh, have you ever heard of Hannah Isted ? ‘Cause I am going to her treat. And she said, yeah, I’m in her 90 day program. I was like, no way.
Hannah: I think I know who this was
Teresa: she actually said, and we won’t, they were ashamed, but she actually said, yeah, in Hannah’s nine best 90 days ever program. I’ve had my worst 90 days ever. Not anything to do with you, just ’cause she’s had a really, really busy first quarter of the year. But anyway, so yeah, like have you seen a big acceleration in growth of audience or just people getting it know?
Hannah: Yeah, my email list has doubled each year for the last two years. Amazing. So that’s been really cool. I’ve definitely, since the book, I think I’ve seen just a huge change in my business. And [00:40:00] in that time period, like I stopped the social media management, I stopped offering any done for you services as well.
And I did purposely go all in on the best 90 days ever, which. It could have been a risk, I think, but it just seemed like it was the natural step for the time. And so yeah, making that my focus, I’ve, I’ve definitely seen an increase in numbers and I’ve also put the price up as well, so I think I put it up, I.
The last round. Yeah, I did, I put it up for the December round. It was 60 pounds when I started. It was 35 pounds for 90 days. And yeah, I, I think there’s part of that big fish energy is, recognizing my own value within that as well. And I still think it’s probably too cheap for the amount of content and value and I’m in there every single day answering questions.
So. Yeah, I think that kind of shift in my own mindset.
Teresa: I like the numbers and the, the marketing around those numbers though, like yeah, [00:41:00] like that, that feels. Good. Yeah. Like you are right. It’s probably way too cheap for what you’re doing, but from a marketing perspective, that’s a really cool, like just a pound a day like that sounds really, really good.
So what’s the, what’s the, the kind of ambition, the dream, what’s next? What’s going forward in terms of like how, where you wanna take this in the next launch?
Hannah: I think I just want to keep growing my audience now, so I want to, yeah, I just, I want to have more, more people in there. Yeah. I wanna have, and then I also want to kind of focus on.
The different sides of my business as well. So I’d love to do more speaking. I’d love to maybe write another book as well. So there’s all those things. And I do think probably the audience growth is the thing that is like the umbrella over the top of them, which is going to help with everything. So yeah, that’s like, that’s my focus now for the time being, but, but
Teresa: I think for me, since first seeing [00:42:00] you and who someone told, I think it was Liz that told me about you.
I think, but it feels like. You, your visibility has gone at massive. You are feeling much more confident in like, look, this is who I am. Yeah. And you had one of the best book launches I’ve seen because the event just looked freaking ace. And I say this to Hannah every time I see that, it makes me, I just wanna write a book just to have the kind of launch that Hannah had because it was such a cool looking event and you had like.
Cake toppers and stickers and socks and all these really cool swag things, which are awesome. So I loved it, loved it, loved it.
Hannah: It was so good. I would love for you to write a book. Guess I can come to the event.
Teresa: I know, right? I just think it’d be such a cool party and then I think that’s a lot of work for a party, isn’t it? Like a lot of work. But anyway. Anyway, it’s fine. Hannah, it’s been so good to chat to you. Please go check out what Hannah does. I think the, the simplicity, the [00:43:00] ease, the quickness, the getting out of your own way and just doing something. And also you don’t have to do everything massive. It’s funny ’cause I’m kind of the opposite in the sense of like, I deal with, I.
Big ass launches and big things of like, right, we’re gonna go all in on one thing. And it is a massive, massive event when we’re doing it. So it’s kind of nice to go, well, what if something was, you know, and I talk about just an experience, so when someone is launching, how do we make the most of that?
Whereas I don’t talk about the doing something every single day, which I just think is really cool. Hannah, where can people come and find more about you?
Hannah: Thank you so much by the way. That would really lovely. So you can find me on Instagram, I am HR Communications under, and you can join my email list. Then I will have a lead magnet for you. I promise you this.
Teresa: Go and look at her stuff and then you can find a lead magnet. I love it. I love it. Hannah, thank you so much for being on.
Hannah: Thank you.
