S328: Can Authentic Digital Marketing REALLY Boost Sales? With Emma Orlando

If you're tired of trying to force digital marketing strategies that just do not feel like you, this episode of The Remote CEO Life podcast is for you.

We're diving deep into authenticity in marketing, exploring how marketing strategies don't have to feel icky or follow the crowd, plus looking at how to use AI (Chat GPT or others) properly to sound like you in your social marketing content.

In this episode, I’m joined by Emma Orlando, a conscious marketing consultant and former advertising exec turned soulful strategist. We unpack how to use storytelling to connect with your ideal audience - and how to ditch the gimmicks to market in a way that actually feels aligned with who you are.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• How to refine your digital marketing style to feel effortless and authentic
• Why following cookie-cutter strategies often stifles your unique voice
• How to use storytelling to magnetize - not manipulate - your clients
• The first steps to crafting authentic marketing that resonates with your values
• How to make AI not sound like a robot in your social media content.

If you've been searching for a way to make marketing feel more real, this is your episode. You’ll walk away encouraged, energized, and inspired to build marketing that’s both strategic and fully you.

✨Connect with Emma Orlando

Learn more about her conscious marketing approach and how she can help you create aligned, authentic strategies:

🔗 Website → consciouscreatorco.com

📸 Instagram → @consciouscreatorco_

#digitalmarketing #storytelling #marketingstrategies #authenticity #socialmedia #marketingtips #consciousentrepreneurship

Chapters

• 0:00 Journey to Authenticity: Emma's Story
• 6:21 Navigating Authentic Marketing Strategies
• 12:18 The Role of AI in Marketing
• 18:40 Psychology and Human Connection in Marketing
• 24:17 Finding Your Authentic Voice
• 30:07 Defining Freedom in Business
• 39:39 Embracing Authentic Marketing

Transcript

Sophie Biggerstaff (00:00)
If you're sick of trying to market your business in a really

unauthentic way to you, trying to keep up with all the trends and the things that don't actually feel good for you in a way to market. You are going to want to watch this episode of the Remote CO Life podcast because today we are talking about authentic and effortless marketing with Emma Orlando. Emma is a conscious marketing consultant and she helps freelancers and founders market themselves in a way that feels truly authentic to them and completely aligns with who they are as a person, which I love this subject. Authenticity is a huge keyword for me this year.

I'm really trying to show up authentically in everything that I'm doing from a marketing standpoint, even the back end of my business and how I show up and serve clients. So this conversation was so on point. Emma has got a decade of experience in advertising and she has worked with some of the biggest companies and even celebrities at some point throughout her career. And she really helps equip business owners to showcase their brilliance without actually resorting to gimmicks or unethical tactics, which I think is something so powerful in today's market.

the landscape is that we are all just following trends on social media or telling, doing what somebody else has told us to do. Everyone's just following the route to get 10K months. And actually we're all just looking the same. If we can find a point of difference, if we can stand out, which we do by using our unique voice and our authentic self, it can be super, super powerful and a really great way to market yourself. So Emma actually designed a life for herself in Cornwall. is also a retired nomad.

And she truly serves her authenticity by helping her clients through her values and her creative flow. She's proved that building a Freedom Fest business is definitely possible. And I'm super excited about this conversation because it really aligned with everything that I stand for. And we had so many commonalities in our journey. So let's get on with the show.

Sophie Biggerstaff (01:45)
Hey Emma, welcome to the Rowett CO Life podcast. Thanks for joining me.

Emma Orlando (01:49)
Thank you so much for having me, it's great to be here.

Sophie Biggerstaff (01:52)
I'm excited to chat to you and you are currently in Cornwall, which I'm very jealous about because I love Cornwall in the UK. I'd love to hear a little bit more about you, how you ended up in Cornwall, what you've been working on. And I know you used to travel as well. So kind of a little bit of your background would be amazing to hear.

Emma Orlando (02:09)
Yeah, so I'm in Cornwall right now. I am Lucy in Cornwall. I spend most of my time here, but I still do dabble in the odd bit of travel. I tend to go away for a month in the summer because it's really hectic down here and then a month in the winter just to break up those English winters. But yeah, I started traveling about five years ago now. I was the classic story of in a nine to five that was

It wasn't a nine to five actually. I don't even know why I call it that because if you left at five, you were heavily frowned upon. So it was more like a nine to whatever time they wanted you to be there. And actually usually before nine as well. And I studied advertising at university and I went straight into the industry and worked these shiny jobs that looked so cool from the outside. I was flying all over the world. I was running red carpets. I was with celebrities. Like life just looks so great.

And every morning on the train I was listening to anti-anxiety meditations. I was in just such a bad place. And I was in an industry that was supposed to be really creative, but just wasn't creative at all. You get such tight briefs that there really isn't much room for you to express. And I just slowly noticed over time that I was becoming lower and lower and it just really felt like a shell of myself. And I basically decided that I was going to go traveling. I was supposed to go with a friend, but then...

she couldn't come. And so I handed in my notice, booked a flight to Thailand, and then within two weeks I landed in Bangkok. And I spent the next six months just traveling, just having the time of my life. Like I just didn't think about work at all. I was just, I'd saved up enough money and I just felt like me again. And I was very unsure on my marketing career from there because I didn't know whether I wanted to go back into it.

And I ended up going and living in Australia for a year, which was incredible. And as you probably know, you can work in coffee shops there and earn a decent wage. So I was working in coffee shops and then spending my afternoons on the beach with a book. And it was just beautiful. But I actually got approached by several people and I was there to help them with their marketing. And at this point, I was still really resistant. I was like, I don't know. I don't know if I want to be in this industry. And then I kind of just said, yes, I was like, well, I'll just give it a go. And.

accidentally started my own business from there and I have been doing that ever since. And so I was kind of doing the whole remote working, traveling the world, had my marketing business. I also in that time became a yoga teacher and I realized that there was a huge gap within marketing because the way that we typically market versus how conscious entrepreneurs, practitioners, people in the wellbeing space want to market is very different.

And quite often marketing feels misaligned for them to the point that the people doing the best, most needed impactful work are reaching the least amount of people. So I decided that I really needed to niche down with my business. And a lot of this happened actually when I moved to Cornwall, because prior to this, I'd been living in a camper van and very much just doing what I needed to fund my travel lifestyle. That was really the goal was like, how can I just keep traveling?

But then I actually got a bit of travel burnout, which I think is really common when you live in campervans and people don't really speak about that so much, but it's a very exhausting lifestyle. And I decided I wanted to put roots down somewhere. So I bought a place in Cornwall and then actually let my business kind of go down. Like I was renovating a house by myself and life was very different and quite stressful. And from there, I just kind of really restarted again.

And I really focused on the marketing that lights me up. You that kind of creativity I didn't have before. I really put all of my energy into who I wanted to serve, massively niche down my business and have been really doing that ever since. And it's been amazing.

Sophie Biggerstaff (05:52)
I can relate to so many points in your story there. Like definitely get the part around not even being in a nine to five if you're literally in a nine till whenever you are allowed to leave. Definitely was in one of those as well and can also relate to the travel burnout. And actually I had a friend that lived in a camper van for about a year and a half. She lived in a van and I went to stay with her in the van for only like three or four weeks, but

Emma Orlando (05:54)
Thank

Sophie Biggerstaff (06:18)
I could see how on a long-term basis that lifestyle will take its toll. It's so glamorized on social media as a really cool lifestyle and it is a really cool lifestyle. wow, like the amount of hassle that you have to go through sometimes to find where you're going to sleep, to sort out your water, to sort out your gas, like all of these things that you don't have to think about when you're just living in a house because it's already set up for you most of the time.

There's a lot to think about and I can totally see how long, how going in that lifestyle for a long time would burn you out for sure. And you were doing that in the UK as well. So I imagine you also had some weather, weather situations to deal with.

Emma Orlando (06:56)
⁓ yeah, I remember

this one time being in Wales and I was in this little valley and it was just pouring down with rain and it had been for days and I was completely by myself because I had no solar, there was no charge in my van, like there was no electric, my phone died and I remember just being sat in the middle of this field, it pouring down with rain, trying to read my book by my candle and I was just like, this is not the version you see online, like this is not what van life looks like on Instagram.

Sophie Biggerstaff (07:23)
Yeah. Wow. Yeah, that's intense, especially if you're in like bad weather. My friend Elise was living in Spain, so it's slightly, slightly better, but still it's intense. It's intense and it's definitely not what you see on Instagram, as many things are not. And that kind of takes us onto that conversation around, you're talking around like authentic marketing, right? Like conscious entrepreneurs want to push themselves out there in the most authentic way, but actually...

Emma Orlando (07:31)
Bye. ⁓

Sophie Biggerstaff (07:50)
so many people, particularly entrepreneurs, find themselves following trends or like jumping on the latest thing that their competition is doing. And I've always really, really, really struggled with social media marketing because it does feel really forced. It does feel like I'm having to be somewhere that actually in reality, I don't really want to be, but it makes sense, obviously, to be there. So I'm really interested to hear like, how do you approach

authentic marketing and trying to market in a more organic way rather than like jumping on the trends and doing all the things that actually don't feel very natural to you.

Emma Orlando (08:25)
Yeah, and it's so hard, isn't it? Because I often say, like, no judgment to anybody who does that because it's so hard to market your business and you really want it to work. Like most of the people who come to work with me, they're so passionate about what they do and it's so important to them. And they do just, they want it to do well. They want it to have big impact and to be something that they can do and it can be their business. And so it's so easy to just kind of lean in and follow what people are telling you to do. And there's so much noise around.

the 10K months and the six biggest strategies. like, you do just get really swept into it. Even someone like me who's got 10 years in marketing, I sometimes get swept into it as well, because you want to believe that you're going to apply this strategy and it's going to work. Like, of course that's human nature. But I think what you're saying there is what I found with my clients is they can't sustain that because it doesn't feel natural to them. It's not coming authentically. And a lot of them feel very stifled by strategies to the point that they don't feel creative anymore.

They actually can't create content in that way. So it sounds obvious, but I really think the first thing to do is to just tune out of that noise and actually realize that everybody's businesses are completely different. What works for one is not going to work for another. I speak about this all the time, but trial and error is such a huge part of marketing. And I think we don't give ourselves permission to do that when it's our own business. We're very much like, I have to follow this strategy and it has to work. But actually never in marketing would you approach.

anything like that, it would all be trial and error. Let's put this out there. Let's see how it goes. Let's monitor it. Let's change tact. Let's just explore. And I think giving yourself that permission as a business owner to be like, okay, I'm going to play with this. What feels natural for me? If I've got a block in this and I'm really struggling to do it, it's probably because I'm not actually supposed to be doing it. And if it's a misaligned strategy for me, then the magnetism from that marketing is not going to be strong anyway. It's like we can do it. We can put it out there.

but how effective is that actually going to be? And it's starting to lean into what really lights me up. Like what conversations do I want to be having? What things do I want to express online? Where am I kind of putting on this mask of I feel like I should say this and other people are saying that versus what feels true for me right now? And that's really hard because that's vulnerable and it's really scary to do. But that's where the resonance is found. And I always speak about this, but resonance has the highest converting power in marketing.

Like when we resonate human to human level, people don't consider risks as much. Their desire to purchase is stronger. Their desire to purchase again is stronger. And we all hold the ability to create resonance with one another. We're sat here, we're doing it now. I've just told my story, you found resonance in it. But we all have the natural ability to do that. But when we get so caught up in the strategies, we forget that.

Sophie Biggerstaff (11:10)
Yeah, I think that's so true. the, it's really easy to kind of remove yourself from the noise, I guess. But what I find really difficult is allowing myself not to do those strategies, you know, like, cause it feels like, well, am I missing out on opportunity by not being on Instagram? Am I missing out on opportunity by not being on TikTok? How do you approach that with clients that feel that way and like build them a strategy that really feels good for them?

Emma Orlando (11:38)
Yeah, because people have said this to me all the time, like, I'm always like, you need to be on LinkedIn, LinkedIn's your place, you'll find so many clients. And I go to create for LinkedIn and I'm like, I can't do this. Like, I literally don't understand what's happening here. Like, I feel like an imposter in this space. And then I kind of really root into the fact of like, I know I'm most magnetic within my marketing when I'm aligned to it. And so for me, I can show up here and maybe I'll get a bit of interest or I'll get some recognition.

But are they going to be my clients that I love working with, I have true impact for, they tell all their friends about me and it naturally grows my business organically, or are they going to be the ones that actually I just, don't really vibe with and the work's not that great together because I think everyone puts such an emphasis on making more money, getting more clients, but I'm very much, but what's the quality of that? Like, are they aligned clients for you?

because a lot of the clients who come to me, they're actually burnt out from their work. And it's not because they're doing too much. It's because maybe they are working with the clients that feel like a drain or they don't feel totally aligned or they're really making them question their worth. And that actually all starts with our marketing. It all starts with how we're showing up and sharing in the world. So if you can root into the fact of when I feel most aligned, I am most magnetic. And if you can create that trust of knowing that.

there really is no point doing the strategies that feel like you're pulling teeth trying to do them. Because if that's how it feels for you to create it, often that's how it feels to receive it. I can often tell when clients have really forced a piece of content out because they feel like they had to. And it's not nice to receive that. It doesn't create a good feeling for those receiving it either.

Sophie Biggerstaff (13:20)
No, I completely

agree with you. And I love the word that you're using there, magnetic. And I think that's a key word because it is all about attracting the things that you want in your life. If you put your energy into the places where it feels aligned for you, naturally things come to you in that place. You don't have to force it. You don't have to chase it. can come to you. You've attracted it. And it feels like it's in flow. Whereas if you're trying to force something,

that's where people get like that word it feels icky to be in a certain place. Like, I feel like that is when you literally do feel icky because you're you're trying to push yourself into doing something that isn't meant for you. What what I have had a conversation with recently with a friend about was that she she's new to online business. She hasn't actually done this before and she wanted to start

She actually quit her job a few months ago and since September and she's trying to build a business to help support her as and when that ends. And what she kind of came to me the other day was she was like, I just, this is all crazy. Like there's so much effort that has to go into this. can't find a platform that works for me. How do you find those platforms that are going to be aligned with you? How are you?

rather than listening to the noise. Obviously we can tone that out by just switching off, like not listening to what anybody else is telling us. But how do we actually find our place in this?

Emma Orlando (14:37)
I think starting with the type of content you like to create is really key. So for me, I know I love writing. So Instagram doesn't feel like it massively supports that right now. I feel like it used to a lot more, but it feels like it's got to be seven second videos and everything's got to be condensed and short. And I don't love that. And if I try and create for that, I have zero creativity. it just nothing channels. Whereas if I've got blank page in front of me,

and I can channel, I can write as much as I want. Like I'm not restricting myself to fit to an algorithm or to fit my words into a carousel. My creativity flows. So I start with the mode of creation that feels good. Maybe for you it's chatting on a podcast. And then there are so many avenues we can go with that. So maybe I will turn that into a blog post. Maybe then I'll take bits of it and I'll draft it into an email. Then maybe I'll condense it down into a carousel. And then maybe I'll put a little note on a story.

So I have started with where my creativity feels best, because what I see is a lot of creators trying to flip that and that they've got this concept and then they're trying to fit it into these constraints and it doesn't work. Even if it's just like, okay, where am I in flow and letting yourself flow, don't worry about making it content. We can add things like a hook or a CTA on the end of things after, but when we're trying to create from that strategy,

It just doesn't work. Our creativity doesn't enjoy that. It's like, please give me freedom. Please let me express in the way that I want to express. And we have tools like this. If you are somebody that does really struggle with that, AI is amazing for it. We have to use AI very consciously. But if you have a podcast episode or you've written this long piece that you've just channeled naturally and you specifically say to AI, know, keep my wording, keep my phrasing, keep my tone of voice, but adapt it to this.

then that's actually okay, but we can do that. It's just that we have to start from our creative channel first.

Sophie Biggerstaff (16:31)
I fully agree with you and I'm on board with the writing strategy. That for me also feels the most natural. then I'm glad you said that you feel like you just validated me because that's kind of how I work. I start with writing. would write a post for LinkedIn, for example, because I actually really do resonate with LinkedIn in some ways. And then I'm like, right, okay, how can I now create that into a blog post? How can I create that into an email? How can I create that into an Instagram post?

with a slight bit of resistance sometimes around like this, the short form content, but it is something that I would like to feel more comfortable

doing. I was literally as you said the word AI, I was thinking, I wonder what she thinks about AI and like how to use that like in an authentic way. So would you have any advice for somebody that's obviously what we see a lot of at the moment is copy paste chat GPT is very obviously written by chapter GPT people are sounding very similar across the board. It's very hard to make your content stand out.

What's your best advice for making that feel like it is a bit more authentic? Because naturally we're going to use AI. That is the direction the world is going in, but how can we make that still sound like us when we're all just sounding like a robot?

Emma Orlando (17:35)
Interestingly, I realized part of my resistance to LinkedIn was that everyone's just using AI. So I actually came back to LinkedIn last week and I was like, okay, well, I'm just not going to, I'm just going to create and express in the way that I want to. And I'm actually quite enjoying it to be fair. But what I always say with AI is it actually really helps to understand the creative process. So I'll just massively oversimplify it, but it basically has three processes and I've kind of named these difference in ways that I understand them. So the first is experience.

Sophie Biggerstaff (17:39)
Mmm.

Emma Orlando (18:02)
So this is like you drawing your experience from the external world. So that can be you scrolling on Instagram, you listening to a podcast, you watching a master class. And then you have embodiment, which is where you take your own experiences, beliefs, values, feelings towards that. And then you have expression, which is where you then re-express things out into the world with your take, your view, your perception. The problem with AI is when we don't fully go through those three phases with it.

So if we just say to AI, write this, copy, paste, done. What we've done is we've got experience and expression without the embodiment. And that's where it feels like we're reading robotic things, like we're not connecting to it. There's no feeling behind it. It's not interesting because humans don't connect like that naturally. We connect with our embodiment through stories, through feelings, through all of those things that I just listed. So when we're thinking about using AI,

we need to think of it as more as refinement. So with the experience phase, it can give us ideas. It's good at giving ideas. It's good at giving us things to think on and getting the ball rolling. It's also good at helping us with expression. So it's helping us refine things. Like I was just saying there, like cutting things down, changing the style, making things a little clearer. But if it is done without that middle phase of embodiment, where you add your own experience, your own story, your own expression,

it just doesn't work. And we're seeing this, well, like you're saying, you're reading stuff and it's boring. Like when clients send me stuff and I can feel that it's written by AI, everyone was always like, there's these indicators you can look for. I'm like, I don't need to look for those. I'm bored reading it. And that tells me everything I need to know. But if someone uses AI, but there's their deep story within it, or I can really feel their experience or it feels like them naturally expressing, then it's perfectly fine.

Sophie Biggerstaff (19:40)
Yeah.

Yeah, no, I agree with you there. I think the people just don't know how to use it, right? Like there's, it's such a new thing. And I think it's like, see all of, again, we're sold by what everyone tells us on Instagram, right? So it's like, you know, just use this hook, tell it to do this. And then it's going to feed you out all of these things. And it's like, well, yeah, it can do that, but like, you can get so specific. And actually a friend of mine here in Thailand, she creates like custom GBTs and she's taught me how to create custom GBTs. So.

they can sound so much more like me. And cause I have so many conversations with track GPT now, actually the content that it kicks back out, if I write my content and then it'll put up, put it through track GPT to like edit it or whatever. It sounds so much better because I've like trained it on my tone of voice. I've trained it to sound like me, but I feel, I feel like that's a big missing piece at the moment is that people just aren't knowing how to use it and how to, train it, which is essentially like.

If we think about, if we went to a job and you're brand new in the marketing team and you want to learn how to be a copywriter, for example, you don't just automatically have all of the skills to be the copywriter, right? So if we think about training on a job, we would go through, I don't know, six months, years worth of training to actually get into the job that we want to get into. And we need to train ChatGPT like that as the same thing. Like imagine it's our coworker and onboard it as if it's going to be working for our company. I think.

that that could be a game changer for so many people if they start using it in that way. Yeah.

Emma Orlando (21:19)
But also

really connecting to the fact that we have to kind of do the human first. And I think that's what is missing because people go straight to AI. Whereas it's actually like, it be that a memory is triggered for you of a story and then you use AI to help you channel that and to help you express that. But I think the problem is when it's void of any human connection, it's not going to connect with another human.

Sophie Biggerstaff (21:25)
Yeah.

Emma Orlando (21:43)
It's like, imagine if I'm sat opposite you now and you're a robot and we're chatting. Like, it's not going to be the same kind of conversation. And I think people forget that because people really focus on effective marketing. So AI is really good. It's strategic. It makes things clearer. It's effective at what it does, but there is nothing more effective than a human connecting with another human. And I think that for me is the piece that we cannot lose that because everyone's like, AI is taking jobs. It's going to take over the world. I'm like,

But it's not because if you're looking, if AI is looking to connect with humans, you need a human to form that connection. And I think that's what people really need to root into is it's a tool. It's not the creator, you are.

Sophie Biggerstaff (22:25)
Yeah, it's such good advice. I think exactly people relate to people. And there's obviously a whole load of psychological things that happen when we're marketing as well. And I know you've obviously been in marketing a long time, you've been working probably in that way. Like, how do you apply some kind of like psychological principles to that alongside that human connection piece?

Emma Orlando (22:46)
Yeah, so when we think about marketing, like what is actually missing from a lot of marketing at the moment is that genuine human understanding. So it's very, how do we go viral? How do we be seen by the most amount of people? How do we jump on the trends? You know, what we were speaking about when I was in, so I studied advertising psychology a decade ago and it was hilarious because we actually knew more about social media than our lectures. Like they were not teaching us how to use social media, how to create social campaigns.

what they were teaching us is how to understand people on the deepest level, how to tap into their habits, their behaviors, their beliefs, how to create change, how to get them to take action. And that is actually what's really missing from marketing these days. And I've been working with a lot of friends who've been working with Gen Z that are very like, this campaign is going to go viral. And then some of us are kind of like, okay, and then what? Like, what's the point of going viral?

because what you tend to see is influx of sales, then nothing from it. And so when we're talking about psychology, we're talking about, you actually really understand who you are talking to? What do they currently believe? If you have a service that you're trying to sell, what is their relationship to that service? How do they feel about it? What's their awareness around it? What is going to get them excited about it and want to take action on it?

And this is where we need to start putting the focus from a marketing perspective of, yes, we need to share what we want to share. And yes, we need to have some sort of strategy to the marketing in terms of like the words we use, where we post, how we post it. But have we truly understood who this service is for and what their perception and belief around it is? And AI is really not great at this. And this is something that is being spoken about a lot within the industry of like

it hasn't quite mastered that kind of strategy because we're thinking, as I said, about a human experience. We know best actually how to speak to our clients because we understand how it feels to go through a lot of these things, especially as like solo entrepreneurs, when we're working with individuals ourselves, quite often there's parallels between our experiences, what we felt, thought, believed, and what our clients do. And this is essentially the psychological.

component that we need to be focusing on when it comes to marketing.

Sophie Biggerstaff (25:07)
Hmm, it's very, very true. It's, there's so many things to factor into, but the one thing that I work with clients on also, like first thing I always do is like, right, who is this person and what journey do you want to take them on that you're trying to target? Because without that, it's really difficult to do anything. It's really difficult to do all of the marketing stuff. So that was very good advice from like, where somebody should definitely start.

before they even go down the route of building the marketing strategy, right? Do you have any other tips for someone that is really struggling with their marketing right now or struggling to do it authentically? Maybe they're following all the trends, they're not getting the results, they're feeling disheartened, and it's because it's coming from a place of, it's not really authentic to them. So how would you best advise somebody to shift more into that authentic marketing? Where would they start?

Emma Orlando (25:57)
So I think starting with you is the key piece of like, like I said before, what do you enjoy creating? What actually lights you up? What comes naturally to you? Like sometimes that is the simplest of like, what can you create most easily? And what do you feel like the deepest resonance with? What are those pieces that you're like, I'm actually really excited to share that. I want to get it out into the world. And then of course we do also have to consider clients as well of like, where are your clients? What are they receiving? And also like what...

do you want to interrupt because we're so focused on how do I fit in with what's trending? But actually one other way of looking at it is what are people absorbing right now who are like my ideal clients and what are they sick of absorbing? Like what are they sick of being told? And like how can we actually just interrupt the narratives rather than trying to like go with the grain and create like everybody else? What do people crave to hear? What would be like a sigh of relief for them?

when they're scrolling that maybe you can tap into and just create this like, like I did this this week, I shared that I wasn't smashing it in business on my page. And like as someone in marketing who helps people with their businesses, that's like the cardinal sin. You can't say you're not doing well. You've got to be doing well for people to trust you and people to buy from you. And so my creativity was completely blocked. Like I couldn't come up with any ideas because it wasn't feeling authentic. And then I sat with my journal and this is

one of my biggest pieces of advice, not that you need to journal, but get off of socials. Like shut the laptop screen, stop trying to find your ideas in that world, actually come into your everyday life and often the ideas are sitting right there. And I was like, I want to say that I'm kind of struggling right now. Like that's actually what feels true for me, but I've got these beliefs that if I share the truth, people won't trust me and they won't want to work with me. And then when I sat with that, I was like, that's probably how so many of my clients are feeling right now.

they're probably feeling the exact same. Like they've got to share in this particular way. It's not feeling right for them. It's not true. And then if I can just go first in that and I got most engagement I've had in months, I actually signed a client from that. And then I couldn't stop channeling content because I was so lit up and I was so creative. So I think it's really a case of like shutting down from watching anything, which we've spoken about. And then actually coming back to what feels true right now. Like if you didn't have to filter your expression,

and you didn't have to create in a particular way on a particular platform, what would you create? What is what feels true for you right now? And if you're struggling to do that for yourself, think of it from your client's perspective. If they could hear one thing right now, what would they want to hear? What are they absorbing? How can I create a little bit of respite from that noise?

Sophie Biggerstaff (28:39)
I really like that, like the respite bit. think that is the key is there is so much noise. Like how can you do something different? Like how can you be standing out from the crowd? But like in a, in an authentic way, giving somebody the respite from the noise that they don't want to hear. No one wants to hear how to make six figures in 90 days anymore because they know that that's not that realistic if you're starting from zero or, oh, I'm going to sell a 37 ebook, without investing thousands and thousands of dollars into ads. It's,

It's not transparent. Actually, I watched an account a couple of days ago, and I really love this account because she was so transparent about how much money she was spending on ads versus how much money she was making. She was showing all the profits and her whole account. She's clearly doing very well in our business if she's showing these numbers, but it just shows you that there's a whole other side that so many...

coaches, creators don't show you that, you can sell the $37 ebook, but to actually get it to sell, you need to be investing quite a lot of money to get that selling if you're doing like a faceless marketing tactic, for example. And I think there's just a lot of information out there for people to get rich quick or overnight success or go viral, all of these things. And exactly what you said, like, how long does that last? Why? Like, what's the purpose? Why do you want to do that? I think it's about...

Also coming back to the goal that you have for your business, why is that desire? Is it an ego driven thing or is it because you actually want to earn money? And from your story that you just mentioned around creating that post about how you're actually feeling in that moment, you attracted somebody in because you were being really vulnerable and authentic in that moment. And I think that's definitely something also to be said about vulnerability. That helps people connect for sure. Even in-person relationships, online relationships, I think it can be really difficult to portray vulnerability.

through marketing content that is written because you really have to be a good storyteller, right? And I think that that's part of it. But I guess it's about like just coming back, like you say, because coming back to you, coming back to the stories that you want to share, and then there's gonna be support like yourself or even to actually help you work through how to actually tell that story, right? So I feel like there's so many ways to do this, like to be more authentic in marketing is just to come back.

to like, how do you want to show up? How do you want to share? And just getting really clear on like why you're doing it because if you're doing it for the wrong reasons, again, it's probably not going to have that like magnetism part of it as well, right?

Emma Orlando (31:06)
And how do you want to express like, did this with a client the other day, I read her sales page and this is a client I've been working with for years and we know each other really well. And she was like, so what did you think? And I was like, I think that you didn't write that. She is like, that's because I didn't, the robots did. Like we laughed about it, but I was like, she said, how could you tell that I didn't write that? And I said, cause you would never speak about your retreat like that. Like sat down with me right now, having a cup of tea.

As people that know each other and we just naturally converse, you would never speak about your service like that. And this is what I speak about with clients all the time. You have your work and when you're in it, you're probably in flow and you're loving it and it feels so natural. And then you go to market it and you totally step out of that and you kind of put on this mask of like, what do I need to say? What strategy do I need to use? And you've totally forgotten that actually everything that you do in that space is your marketing. And I said to her, was like, speak to me now.

friend to friend, it was actually for mums, but I was like, talk to me about it. And she was like, the other day I just sat down on my sofa, I'd been waiting for this moment all day, I'd made myself a tea, I'd got my book, and as soon as I sit down, it's mum. And then it's, are we having for dinner? And she's like, shit, I don't know what we're having for dinner. And then she finally decides, and then she's like.

but I've got to make three versions of it because one kid wants this and one kid wants that. And just the way that she was telling it had me like in fits of laughter. Like it was just so enjoyable to listen to her say about this tree. And I knew she said to her, away and write the page like that. And she went away and wrote it. And I cannot tell you how much I loved reading the page. Like it felt like I was sat with her again. Like it was just full of so much joy. Even though I'm not a mum, like I could see that experience so clearly.

I felt it in the everyday experience. And I think that we have forgotten that we know how to do that. We don't need another strategy for relating to people and for expressing our work. We just need to connect back to the natural way that we know how to do it.

Sophie Biggerstaff (33:03)
Yeah, it's almost like you need to almost have the conversation with somebody and then like transcript that conversation and then from there curate the things that you want to put out because yeah, exactly. I always say I'm a one hit wonder because I come out with quite a lot of good things when I talk, but I can never remember them again. Like people are like, wait, can I write that down? And I'm like.

I've lost it. Like you should have written it down when I first said it. But I wish someone was recording me because I would have so much content all the time if I could actually remember the things that I come out with on a day to day basis. But I think it is just about like, yeah, if you can.

have a conversation with someone about your offer, like what do you actually say in real life versus like trying to sit down, be a professional, get the robots to write it for you. It doesn't actually come across as authentic. So you've just given me some great, great advice also that I am going to go and check my sales page now and be like, does this actually sound like me? Because I'm very guilty also sometimes being like, I wouldn't say I mask myself. feel like I'm quite.

like you can see my whole life on my podcast and how I relate to people. like then when I actually translate that into content, because I find it difficult, I think I overthink it and then it becomes like, doesn't actually sound like me. So I think that there's a lot of elements of reasons why it probably ends up not being authentic. It probably starts off a little bit authentic and then slowly as it goes through like all of the manipulation processes, it becomes something that actually doesn't sound like you at all.

which is challenging. So just to summarize then, just number one tip, first thing that someone is gonna do right now, if they're change their marketing strategy to start thinking about authentic content.

Emma Orlando (34:44)
What do you want to share? Like if I gave you full permission now, like handed you the mic, you can say whatever you want to say. There's no need to filter anything. What do you actually want to share? And I'm not saying go and share that, but just open up that creativity again. Like I said, we can add these filters in after we can think about adding a bit of strategy, but start with the free creation. What feels true for you right now. Then thinking about clients. Like I cannot stress this enough.

have conversations with people. There are so many amazing freelance communities online. Like, get in front of people and have conversations. So you're really understanding what your clients are experiencing and not in a way that you can then go and like polish it and speak to them in this really professional way. So you can do what my client was saying there, where it's like, you know, sitting on the sofa and just finally getting to sit down and hearing the words, mom, and you feeling like, God, that you're so annoyed. Like, it's those real everyday experiences. And if you can use the language.

that clients are using and speak to them with this deep resonance, human to human, like we get it, that is going to make your marketing so much more impactful. And then when it comes to where to share it, how to share it, I genuinely just think we stress about that too much. I think we're absorbing way too many strategies, like you need this specific hook, you need it to be this length of time, you need to use this trending audio. If you are expressing from a place of truth with those two elements of what you're really lit up in sharing,

what your clients really need to hear and understand because you get them, I really think the means of the sharing is not as important as we put weight on. I think if people find the resonance, they're going to want to read it. And of course we do need to think about some stuff like how much capacity do people have to read really long things on Instagram? Maybe that's not the best place for it right now. Maybe you can share the snippet version of Instagram that leads them to the longer form. Like we can think strategically in that way afterwards, but I just cannot like stress enough.

Start with creatives. If you're really not feeling creative right now, you don't know what to share, you don't know how to express your work, shut your laptop, go out into the world, have conversations, connect in your service, like how am I feeling right now? What's working? What am I transforming? How do I do this process? Come into deeper connection with yourself and your work and the marketing comes from that place.

Sophie Biggerstaff (37:01)
Amazing. I love that advice. Thank you so much, Emma. That was super, super helpful. And one last question before we go. I always like to ask, what does freedom mean to you? And I know that you've obviously been traveling and you've lived life in so many different ways. You're now in Cornwall. I'd love to hear what your version of freedom is and how you've created that for yourself.

Emma Orlando (37:20)
I love that. And it's funny because it's what we've been speaking about within the marketing. Like for me, freedom's authentically. Like if I can live an authentic life that feels like it aligns for me, it doesn't actually matter what I'm doing. It's not being able to travel X amount of like days in the year. It's not being able to do X for work and earning this amount of money. It's do I actually feel like I'm free to express myself, to do what lights me up, to live the kind of life I want to live in an authentic way.

not from like as you were saying this place of ego or this place of should or what everyone else is doing. That to me is true freedom.

Sophie Biggerstaff (37:55)
Yeah.

I love that. I agree. It's also mine and it's definitely something that I've been working on this whole year. I still feel like I have a little bit of way to go and how I portray that in my marketing content and material. But from like a place of like all of the things that I'm currently in the process of like eliminating anything that doesn't feel authentic in my business. Obviously there are tasks that we have to do like tax returns and things like that. That doesn't feel so authentic to me, but I kind of have to do it. But in terms of like the day to day processes, the running, how I work with clients, exactly what you said at the beginning.

Emma Orlando (38:18)
Yes.

Sophie Biggerstaff (38:23)
I'm really selective over who I work with now on a one-on-one basis specifically and I've targeted offers so that it's not just one-on-one that other people can tap into it but I wouldn't necessarily have to work with a one-on-one basis but the people that I do work with on a one-on-one basis I'm super, super selective over because exactly what you said at the beginning I've definitely experienced those burnouts from working with the wrong type of people and not staying true to my own authenticity so it's definitely something that's on my agenda as well so I really appreciate you sharing everything that you've

said today about that subject and if anybody wants to connect with you and see all of your authentic content out on social media or on website, wherever you're sharing, how can they connect to you?

Emma Orlando (39:03)
Yeah, so they can find me on Instagram, combined Instagram and my brand name, ⁓ [consciouscreatorco.com](http://consciouscreatorco.com/) and then [consciouscreatorco.com](http://consciouscreatorco.com/). And that's all of the ways that you can work with me. And I'm very much about like similar to what you're saying. Like I've been the person that devises the strategy with you and sets you up for success and all of these things. Like I've done that path and I know it doesn't feel good. And so now it's very much about like, you know what you're saying there where you can express, you can say so many things in a day and you're like,

Sophie Biggerstaff (39:05)
you ⁓

Emma Orlando (39:30)
That could be my marketing, but I don't quite know how to make it. That's what I sit with you on. I just hold up a mirror. I reflect the things that you already know, you're already talking about, you're already experiencing, and we just translate that into marketing.

Sophie Biggerstaff (39:43)
Amazing. I love that. I'm sure a lot of people need help with that. Even I need help with that. That's amazing. Thank you so much for joining me today and sharing all of your wisdom around marketing. I really appreciate you being here.