Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amy Jacobus. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Amy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

I always say “I started my business by accident.” That is, I quit a full-time job that wasn’t fulfilling with no real plan on what I wanted to do next.

I knew I wanted to help people with their marketing, and I also knew I could leverage my skills and strengths into services. But it took me several years to realize I wasn’t “just a freelancer” — I had an actual business. That’s when I started to build my business with intention.

In looking back to those early days, I see myself approaching the work like a freelancer collecting gigs instead of a founder executing a larger vision. I wish I had the foresight to set up a strong, online foundation at the very start, and commit to a consistent marketing routine of my own, to demonstrate my credibility in my field and expand my audience for my services.

I wish I had:
– better defined my strengths & turned them into concrete offers
– launched a website that made it clear who I was, how I served clients & how to hire me
– started an email list early to communicate regular updates and send sales messages
– established a portfolio of thought leadership and case studies on social media

I didn’t need fancy bells & whistles or to show up daily, but I wish I had made it easier to find out about my business endeavors earlier on.

Hindsight is 20/20, and it actually inspired me to create a “Marketing Starter Kit” for new business owners — a guidebook for approaching communications more intentionally from the very start. I wanted to gift more entrepreneurs with exactly what I pieced together once I admitted I was growing a business. Sharing that roadmap with others has been really satisfying. (You can now find that Starter Kit on the Resources section of my website, if interested: https://amyjacobus.marketing/resources)

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Amy Jacobus Marketing builds brand + marketing strategy for coaches, consultants and creatives who wish to market with integrity and purpose.

My team and I believe the secret to a resilient and profitable marketing strategy is grounding your plan in purpose & humanity.

Because we work with small, creative companies, we get the chance to really know our clients – how they roast their favorite kind of squash, why they chose that name for their dog, and how and why they’re the best at what they do.

A lot of our clients are solopreneurs or have a teeny-tiny staff, so they’re stretched thin for time. Because of this, we flat-out refuse to make a plan that collects dust on a shelf. Our marketing strategies and solutions are as organized and doable as they are effective. Meaning that even if you’re going it alone and have limited capacity, you can implement our suggestions and grow your impact at a steady, practical pace.

Before I started consulting on marketing, I pitched dance stories to The New York Times as a PR professional. I survived tight grant proposal deadlines and wrote copy for performance programs with a ballet company. I met my partner Ben working coat check at a museum downtown. I choreographed and produced my own dance performances. I coded email campaigns and updated WordPress sites in various internships.

All of these experiences shaped how I balance big picture with expertly planned, incremental progress. And stay organized doing it.

I have degrees in dance and journalism, so I like to think of myself as an artist, an investigator and a storyteller. My interview skills come in handy as I get to know new clients and their goals, and my creativity and improvisational skills come into play as we design strategy.

Currently, our marketing consulting comes in four formats:

1. Grounded Growth Strategy: a custom, 1:1 brand + marketing planning experience.

2. Grounded Marketing Mentorship: a group program with weekly meetings and opportunities to get feedback on your marketing in real-time

3. Grounded Goal Getting Sessions: 1:1 strategy sessions to plot out the details of launching your new offer, redesigning your website, or any other one-off marketing project

4. Grounded Game Planning: a quarterly content marketing planning service

Our Grounded Growth framework references marketing best practices but centers actual plans on individual needs, strengths and capacity. We provide applicable strategies for web, email, social media and content marketing by taking into account each client’s goals, voice and gifts.

I’ve designed courses, facilitated workshops and participated in panel discussions for University of Denver, LEAP at St. Mary’s College, Barnard College, New York Foundation for the Arts, Gibney Dance, The Artist Co-op, and Pentacle, among others.

We’ve worked on projects with Capacity Interactive, Christopher Duggan Photography, Curious Jane, Dance Education Laboratory, Dorrance Dance, Helen Simoneau Danse, Heyterra, Jacob’s Pillow, Liz Lerman, Mariclare Hulbert Consulting, Nel Shelby Productions, PENN Creative Strategy, and more.

Learn more at amyjacobus.marketing and follow me at @amyjacobus on Instagram.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Like many families in 2020, mine was forced to make tough decisions when it came to life’s big events.

We recorded videos for birthday celebrations. We participated in a memorial service via Zoom. We canceled family vacations, planned virtual bachelor parties, altered or postponed weddings… We carefully scheduled in-person visits after safe quarantine periods.

Physical distancing and the pandemic shook the way we connect. And the stress and uncertainty around coming together didn’t just affect our personal lives—it had a big impact on how we build and engage communities in business.

All of my clients were forced to pivot their thinking at the very beginning of the pandemic. For some, this was relatively simple: in-person sessions became virtual meetings, or previously planned content or services were updated with a timely twist. For others, not being able to gather in person drove their existing business models into (temporary) extinction. For all, online content and interaction became more of a priority.

In the first week of our citywide quarantine in NYC, I took an afternoon to write personal emails to all of my clients (past and present). I was anxious and I thought it would soothe me to feel helpful. So, I offered some ideas for their communications: who to contact from their networks, how to share news of cancellations, how to reassure clients, and how to show up with integrity in a really scary moment.

(I don’t know if you remember, but there was so much unnecessary NOISE in those first few weeks. I was getting emails from salad places I went to one time 3 years ago with detailed information on their cleaning routines!!)

Those personal emails opened a window for folks who had just watched all the doors slam shut.

Suddenly, their marketing and communications plans were top priority. And it makes sense, doesn’t it? Our time spent online increased more than anticipated in 2020, and all age groups said they were spending more time on social media than they were pre-pandemic. People relied on websites to have in-the-moment updates, and emails allowed for timely, relevant messages to audiences who needed them.

But in many cases, companies were rushing to employ a higher volume of virtual events, touchpoints and content, rather than pausing to construct a thoughtful or streamlined new strategy behind their online efforts.

A focus on volume rather than strategy is a panic response, rooted in fear. It compels you and your team to over-work and over-produce in an effort to preserve your relevance and relationships with your audience.

I realized in the last few years that because my clients’ were already investing in intentional and consistent online marketing pre-pandemic, it was easier to combat the impulse to create things for the sake of relevance alone. They were already well-versed in creating, sharing and connecting with clear objectives.

They already valued quality over quantity. They knew that excellent experiences encourage word-of-mouth marketing, so they continued to prioritize great customer care. And they already had a routine of scheduling social media posts and emails with regularity, updating their websites systematically and finding clear rhythms in their outreach to current and potential clients.

Many of my clients saw their businesses flourish in unexpected ways during the past few years. They rediscovered their passion for their work, they grew their teams and added new offers, they kept attracting leads while waiting for the world to reopen…

I truly feel like their resilience is my resilience, and I’ll be forever proud.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I have a reputation for changing people’s minds about marketing… For making marketing feel doable and even enjoyable.

And I think I came to have this reputation by listening to my client’s concerns and doing the best I can to build them a plan that takes those concerns into consideration.

There are many marketing professionals who share various guides to taking your business to the “next level of success,” whatever that means to you. What those guides don’t take into account is that marketing is not a one-size-fits-all process.

People have different goals, different audiences, different skill sets and different strengths.

My process is to find out what is unique about each of our clients and to create a plan that actually fits how they want to show up and how they best show up. I know that if your personality, values, voice and actual interests aren’t part of the plan, you’re not going to actually do the work. If you hate every marketing to do on your list, you’ll just stop doing them.

This individualized approach stems from my company’s project values of strategic thinking and using an integrative approach. For us, strategic thinking means making a marketing plan that builds a strong foundation, looks long term, and aims for resilience.

Having an integrative approach means referencing industry best practices and learning from existing insights and analytics, but also considering the client’s willingness or enthusiasm or enjoyment. I want you to actually like your marketing. There needs to be integrity, heart and humanity in addition to smart tactics.

So, my reputation is to provide marketing plans that work, but don’t feel like an absolute slog. And it all comes down to years of listening, caring and adapting to our client’s unique needs. The personalization we provide is important to the client, and it also makes our job a lot more fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://amyjacobus.marketing
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/amyjacobus
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmyJacobusMarketing/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amynjacobus

Image Credits
photos by Christopher Duggan or Whitney Browne (name of photographer in each file name)