It was the SECOND paper trimmer I'd bought in a week.

And it somehow still wasn't working.

I sat on the floor of our apartment sobbing.

My husband (perhaps just a teensy bit scared at what he'd signed up for marrying me) pulled out a pair of scissors, and we got to work, meticulously trimming the 150 wedding programs I'd designed for a client.

How did I end up here?

Because I didn't have a marketing plan.

I was accidentally working on a new business idea at my wedding.

Now before you call me a hopeless romantic 💁‍♀️ let me explain:

When my husband and I were getting married, we realized for several of our guests, this would be their first time in a Catholic church in a really long time - aka, we had a prime opportunity for evangelization.

So instead of a normal wedding program, I created one that walked them the parts of the Mass and why we were doing them in really down-to-earth language.

Well the priest who celebrated our nuptial Mass LOVED it.

Like, loved it so much he pulled me aside after the wedding and told me I should make them for other couples.

(Fun fact, he was also the priest who first told me that Catholic marketing was just like evangelization, which exploded my brain and eventually became this business. Thank you, Fr. Quinn.)

And since I was in that super fun early stage of business where you'll do anything to make money, even if it doesn't quite match what you're actually doing...

Gloriam Marketing soon offered marketing services, event planning, and...wedding program design.

It was confusing, even to me. Totally different audiences, mismatched messaging, and basically two different businesses awkwardly squished into one.

And that's how I came to regret my life choices, sitting on the floor of our apartment trimming wedding programs by hand because somehow not one, but two paper trimmers had failed me in one day.

All for something I'd never even really wanted to offer.

And all because I hadn't taken the time to set up the most important part of my marketing strategy.

(Needless to say, I removed wedding program design services from my website shortly thereafter.)

Yours probably isn't wedding program templates.

For you, it might look like reactively making a whole bunch of random products because maybe THIS will be what people want to buy from you - or taking on clients who you can help, even though it's not what you really want to be doing.

Or it might look like never knowing what to post on social media or send in an email newsletter.

Or it might look like that deer in headlights feeling when someone asks you what you do, and you can't figure out what to say because "it's complicated."

Eventually we get to the point where we realize our marketing is so muddled and messy because we don't even know what exactly we're doing or how to describe it to other people - so how can we possibly market it well?

That's why the most important part of your marketing strategy isn't actually marketing.

It's taking the time to know who you are and how to share it first.

In the Market Like Jesus course, I call this the "Know" phase of developing your marketing strategy, and we spend a ton of time on it.

It involves praying, discerning, and planning until you know exactly:

• What you do (niche)
• Who you serve (audience)
• What their problems are (pain points)
• How you solve them (transformations)
• What makes you different from everyone else (SWOT and differentiator)
• And how you talk about that in a way that gets people to care (messaging / value proposition)

If you can't answer all of those backwards and forwards in your sleep...that's probably why your marketing feels so hard and isn't working as well as you want it to.

It's hard, grappling work. It's not flashy. And it won't catapult you to six figures overnight.

But without it, your marketing almost definitely won't work.

It's kind of like faith: We spend a lot of time learning about and knowing Catholicism before we share it with others.

Same goes for marketing. We have to know so fully who we are and what God has called us to do before we can invite others to share in it through our marketing.

(By the way, Jesus did this too! He spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert praying and preparing before beginning His public ministry, and then He used every one of those strategies above to spread the news at the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.)

​ ​Market Like Jesus​ ON SALE THROUGH OCTOBER 22! ​ The marketing course that feels like a Bible study while helping you grow your Catholic business or ministry ​ For the next six months, I'll help you discern who you are as a Catholic business or ministry, develop a marketing strategy of where and how to communicate it so people care, and create a plan to execute that strategy so you can grow your business or ministry and draw more people closer to Jesus. Aka: Marketing will feel a lot more holy and way more fun! ENROLL NOW

Once you know all of these things, marketing gets so much easier and works better!

Because once you know your audience, you can figure out which marketing channels to use.

And once you know their pain points, you can figure out how to explain what you offer convincingly, in a way that gets them to go, "Whoa, have you been in my brain??"

And once you know what makes you different, you automatically start to create community and word of mouth referrals because you stand out.

Want to grow in SEO? You need to know your niche first.

Need to reach more people? You need to know who you're reaching first.

Everything in marketing flows from these key areas.

So if you don't "know" your business or ministry yet...let me help you discern it in Market Like Jesus!​

I'm not going to lie to you - it's not easy. Making these decisions requires a lot of time and discernment, and you first have to understand what all of those marketing terms even mean!

But through Market Like Jesus, I demystify marketing, explaining everything thoroughly (with examples from how Jesus and other Catholic businesses and ministries use these strategies) and in real, down-to-earth language so you can finally "get" marketing.

Then, in the workbook, I give you step-by-step prompts to answer to help you form your strategy.

By the end of the first part of the course, you'll know your niche, audience, pain points, transformations, differentiator, value proposition, tagline, and more - then we get into the fun stuff of applying all of that so you can reach and convert more people!

And along the way, if you get stuck or need to ask someone "Is this target audience specific enough?" or "Does this tagline sound exciting enough?" -

You can hop on one of the monthly live calls and I'll help you figure it out specifically for your business or ministry!

God gave you this call.

I want you to know it fully.

Because it's only then you'll have the confidence to share it with the world - and your mission is too important not to be shared.

For His greater glory,

Emily

P.S. Helping people discern their "Know" pillars like finding your target audience, leaning into what makes you different, and developing your marketing messaging is one of my favorite things to do.

If you kind of hate marketing or feel stuck because you just don't get it, please consider joining me in Market Like Jesus. I would truly love to help you figure it out so you can grow the call the Lord has placed on your heart!

The course is on sale through this coming Thursday, so enroll now and we can be chatting in real time on our October Q&A call at the end of the month!
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