Powerful Women Rising - A Business Podcast for Female Entrepreneurs
Welcome to Powerful Women Rising, the no-nonsense, laugh-out-loud podcast for heart-centered female entrepreneurs ready to make an impact (and a profit) while staying true to themselves!
Forget cookie-cutter, one size fits all advice. Each episode provides customizable advice and strategies to help you grow and scale your business - from leveraging authentic connections to mastering the art of marketing without feeling like a salesy weirdo. Plus, you'll hear insightful interviews with experts who shed light on those sneaky blind spots in your businessand dish out practical, no-BS advice for making more money in a way that feels good.
Tune in and transform the way you do business – because when women rise together, the sky's the limit!
Powerful Women Rising - A Business Podcast for Female Entrepreneurs
Values-First Marketing: Authentic Strategies That Convert w/Megan Kachigan
Your business deserves better than fear-based marketing and fake urgency - and so do your clients.
In this episode, Digital Marketer and Copywriter Megan Kachigan proves that you don’t need to manipulate people into buying - you just need to be clear, aligned, and human.
Megan walks us through her exact three-step framework for values-based marketing, helping you connect the dots between what you believe and how you show up in your content (in a way that actually leads to clients).
In this episode, we cover:
- Why your values are more than just buzzwords and how to use them as a marketing compass
- How to set yourself apart (even when, on the surface, your offer looks like everyone else’s)
- The sales psychology behind messaging that builds trust instead of pressure
- How to use tools like ChatGPT without losing your voice or your edge
- Why the long game of values-first marketing leads to better clients, stronger boundaries, and way less burnout
If “buy now or you’ll die sad and alone” isn’t the vibe you’re going for, you’re gonna love this conversation.
Links and Resources:
- Join us at our next PWR Virtual Speed Networking Event!
- For even deeper connections, check out the Powerful Women Rising Community!
- Get Megan's Messaging Clarity Journal for just $7 ($30 saving!) using promo code "journal7" - it's the perfect starting point for values-based marketing!
- Learn more about Megan, her Values-First Marketing podcast and her Copy Critique Club HERE!
Connect with Your Host!
Melissa Snow is a Business Relationship Strategist dedicated to empowering women in entrepreneurship. She founded the Powerful Women Rising Community, which provides female business owners with essential support and resources for business growth.
Melissa's other mission is to revolutionize networking, promoting authenticity and genuine connections over sleazy sales tactics. She runs an incredible monthly Virtual Speed Networking Event which you can attend once at no cost using the code FIRSTTIME
She lives in Colorado Springs with two dogs, her soul cat Giorgio and any number of foster kittens. She loves iced coffee, Taylor Swift, and Threads.
Okay, hello, megan, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:Glad to be here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so excited to talk to you today about all the things, but one of the reasons, okay, I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 1:First and foremost, you were the first person that I booked on this podcast when I opened up applications again, and I'm going to tell you why. For the people who are listening, who want to be podcast guests Number one, I have this little secret thing in my application that says, if you actually read all of this, tell me somewhere in your application what your favorite fruit is. And you were the first. There were at least like 47 before you who did not tell me what their favorite fruit was, and it seems really silly. But also, if I'm going to have you on my podcast, I want to know that you've read all of that information about like, what makes you a good fit, what doesn't make you a good fit, that you're not just like robotically applying for all podcasts, and that you care enough that you're a good fit for this podcast to like actually read all the things. So good job, you. And your favorite fruit is mango. It is.
Speaker 2:I've been having a lot of mango smoothies this summer and they are delicious.
Speaker 1:I love it, so I told you before we started recording. I just started a part-time job. I did not tell you that it was at Starbucks and we have I don't know if you're a Starbucks girl, but they have these mango dragon fruit refreshers that are really delightful. I just had one today. It was really good.
Speaker 1:Sounds great. Okay, so we're not here to talk about fruit. We're actually here to talk about marketing, and I know that the way that you do marketing is very aligned with the way that a lot of our listeners want to do marketing or are currently doing marketing, which is the opposite of bro marketing and really leaning into, like, what your values are as a person, what your values are as a brand. How does that come across in your marketing? When do you listen to, like what the quote unquote experts say about what you should be doing, versus when do you do what feels better to you, because that's just the kind of person that you are. So we're going to start by just talking about what values-based marketing is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's a great place to start because I feel like when we first start our business, your first business coach or whatever has you like do your this worksheet and it's like what are your core values? Which is a great place to start, but then it's like we often just kind of forget about them or they don't actually integrate into our business and it doesn't actually serve us. So my framework takes it a little bit deeper and actually integrates it into our marketing so that we are attracting people who share our same values, so that our clients especially for the service providers you want to work with people who you actually want to work with and who aren't going to burn you out. And so when you're aligned with your values, you don't have to feel salesy or gimmicky or weird tricky, urgency, fomo, all these kinds of tactics that people use to close the sale, and it's like when you lead with your values and weave your values into your messaging, you don't have to do any of that. You're selling so much more, naturally, because you don't have to convince anybody. You don't have to persuade anybody. You're already on the same team because you share the same values and they want to be a part of what you offer and it's just so much easier to sell that way and you don't even feel like you're selling and from, like, a long-term retention point of view, it actually works way better than discounting or using these, this fear-based or scarcity-based marketing, which the psychology, like the science and psychology, says it works, but it works for that one sale. It works for that short-term cash injection, but what happens once they're actually inside your program? What about the lifetime value of that client? It doesn't talk about that, um, and there's probably a reason why that is usually strategically left out of those conversations.
Speaker 2:So anchoring it in your values is one. What is going to keep your messaging from sounding robotic, which is exceptionally important in this day and age, um, and when you lead with what you believe in, your message becomes so much more irresistible and unmistakably you You're not going to sound like everyone else out there who's in your industry. So I have three steps to my framework. It is very simple. So one is to identify your core values. Two is to align the values with your actions. Identify your core values. Two is to align the values with your actions. And then step three is to let your values lead the message. So I can go a little bit deeper into what those three things actually look like. That would be helpful. Yeah, that'd be awesome, all right. So step one is identify your core values. So your values are really your GPS, right. They help you make decisions, they build your boundaries and help you just communicate what is true for you.
Speaker 2:So a couple of questions to either journal about or think on would be like why was this company really started? What gap am I filling here? What do my best fit clients believe in? What do I want to be known for? So if you pause and think about those questions and if you're listening on the podcast, literally give you permission, you can pause and like talk to text on your phone or write it down real quick, because when you come, like jot down what comes to mind right away, like what is popping up for you, that is going to be super, super helpful to have written down. And, honestly, so many people have taken their responses here and just like turn it into content, turn it into emails to their list. Um, it's been so helpful for people to get clarity by just word vomiting their answers to these questions, and this is how you start to move from blending in to really being known for something deeper. It's going to help you figure out why you.
Speaker 2:What makes you different from everyone else in your industry? All the other you know health coaches, photographers, other fill in the blank. Why are people going to choose you over them? And, yes, it could be your lived experience, your credentials, um, your perspective, but oftentimes it comes down to your values. Um, another photographer, for example, could be just as great as the next one and you. Maybe they have a similar style, but if they align with your values, better they're going to choose you over the next person. Um, so first we got to know what our values are.
Speaker 2:Step two is aligning your values with your actions. So most people just stop at step one and that's not actually helpful. So you have to obviously do what you're saying you're going to do, integrate them into your business and live them out in your life as well. Like this is where the rubber meets the road right. So it's easy to say you value community or you want work-life balance, but what would someone see if they looked behind the scenes of your business?
Speaker 2:So I have a client who her value is community, but she sells like healthy bars and one of the ways she sells them is through farmer's markets, and so at a farmer's market she has a kid zone once a month to bring in community, and community has been the thing that like kind of keeps her going when entrepreneurship gets hard. Kind of believed in her when she was first starting and community really matters to her and this is a way she's building community around her brand, even though a health bar has nothing to do with community, but she's still incorporating this value around her product. And I'm going to give more examples a little bit later on, but some questions you can reflect on to figure out well, what is this for you you can think about? Are my values shaping my pricing, my partnerships, my policies? Are you modeling what you say that you believe in? How are your values actually showing up in your work? So I know this can be feel like a lot, but I would encourage you to pick one value and ask how can that show up more clearly in your decisions or your customer experience? What does that value actually look like when it's played out, when it's lived out? And then that leads us into step three.
Speaker 2:Now that your values are clear and they're visible, it's time to turn them into your messaging and your marketing. So here's what that means you can share, like behind the scenes, decisions rooted in your values, how you came to make that decision. Use stories to illustrate the transformation and get that like oh my gosh, me too Kind of a moment from your audience who is also believing the same things. And good thing. It's going to repel the people who don't believe the same things, and that's a good thing, because you probably would not enjoy working with them anyways. So it's going to save you a lot of stress and hassle down the line and really attract your most aligned clients who are just like oh my gosh, going to be so loyal to you and your brand. Um, and then reflect your audience's own values back to them. Show them that like, hey, we're on the same team here. We're believing the same things. So I'll get into an example, because I think that's it's just helpful to like okay, tangibly what does this?
Speaker 2:look like yeah, so um, like a dove, for example, like the soap and shampoo company. So they have a now iconic real beauty campaigns. If you've never watched them, I'm sure you have. Um, you can just YouTube dove real beauty and watch them.
Speaker 2:They're so good they like, still give me goosebumps, and so that campaign. They're not really even selling soap or shampoo in it. They are responding to the unrealistic beauty standards in the media. So they're featuring real women of every size, race and age, not models. They are banning the retouching of of images and they are launching educational initiatives to boost self-esteem in girls worldwide. Never once do they say our value is self-esteem in girls? Right, but they're demonstrating it by by doing it. They are.
Speaker 2:They're using their marketing to push it back against that cosmetic perfection and pressure that a lot of women feel. So their brand voice centers on compassion, empowerment, confidence, and they're staying aligned across the commercials, the product packaging, the partnerships, and so, as a result, dove is a leader in this crowded personal care, self-care industry, and it's not because they sell soap, it's because they're championing women. So it's their value of self-esteem is evident across their brand and their social good is so embedded in the brand that people feel good about buying their products and like and they also get soap, you know, as a result of supporting, championing women, like you know. So it's so funny how it just comes a full circle and like. That is such a great example of leading with your values, attracting the right people, and your product or your service is going to sell naturally as a result of that.
Speaker 2:And then the other benefit is you're not going to get burned out because you're showing up for a mission that you're excited about. You're showing up as your whole self. You don't have to mask anything. You're just saying hey, here I am, this is what I believe in, and if someone doesn't agree, it's a lot easier to be like, then this isn't for you. Respectfully, um, because this like is the hill I'm willing to die on, this is what I truly deep down believe, and like going to plant my flag in the sand for this. So you really build a more sustainable business as well by um marketing with your values. First, you're attracting people who actually want to be in your world, and not just because you twisted their arm or had to do these like crazy sales things, but because you just crafted a values-based message that actually felt like home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love the way that you put that and I think I really like the examples that you gave to, the one about Dove and then the one about the client that you have with the health bars, because I think sometimes it's hard to think outside of the box about how these values actually, like, apply and show up in our business.
Speaker 1:Right, like, if your value is community, then shouldn't you be running a community? Like, you know, that's what, that's just like, what we think makes sense. But I love those two examples because, like for Dove, it's not like our value is cleanliness, right, maybe it is, but you know, there's a roundabout way that the value still show up in that business. That may or may not be directly related to the product or the service, and it's something that you said too. I don't know if I heard it on your podcast or on your website, but something that you've said before is that when your marketing and your messaging is infused with your values, that is what takes you from being a service provider to being a brand, and I think that Dove example really highlights that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it raises you to more of a thought leader rather than just another business out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that's so important, especially for people who are still struggling to get to the point where they're making consistent income or they're feeling frustrated, because I know for me, when I first became a coach, I thought there were no other coaches out there and then I became especially dating and relationship coaches. Then I became a dating relationship coach and that's like all I saw everywhere and it feels sometimes like that's why it's not working right, because there's 500,000 other people doing exactly what you're doing, and so what you said in the beginning is part of the values. Work is what sets you apart from all the other people who are doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, totally. It just brings in people who feel like my work is such a breath of fresh air from all these gurus who are telling them they have to market this way, they have to follow this cookie cutter advice, they have to do X, y and Z to reach 10 K months or whatever it is, and it's actually like well, wait, you don't have to do that. Um, it can be simpler, it can be more authentic, and it's so wonderful to get that feedback from people in my copy clarity club membership or even like my done for you retainer clients and just to hear them be like wow, I can just show up and like not have to be prepared, not have to be perfect, and then we take it and turn it into marketing that like feels good and feels them and they're like confident oh, this is going to sell. This is what my audience needs to hear and this is what's going to get the right people in my programs so that that coach can stay in their zone of genius and serve their clients and make the impact that they started their business to make.
Speaker 2:Right, because you're going to start your business to like become a full-time marketer? Probably not, most people did not but then it ends up to get the clients we have to do the marketing, and so it becomes this vicious cycle. And this helps you break out of that cycle, make marketing a little bit more fun, I would like to think because you're energized by your mission, you're energized by what you actually care about and the message you want to put into the world, and then you're getting clients naturally as a result of just like having these good, inspiring conversations with people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. So. I think we can't really talk about marketing and copywriting without at least talking a little bit about AI. So can we talk about how the values-based marketing and knowing these values and still being able to utilize some of those tools to make our lives easier how do we blend those two together, or can we even yeah, I think it's definitely a both and kind of situation.
Speaker 2:I feel like I initially came off kind of anti-AI because I really value building your critical thinking skills as a muscle and it will atrophy if you don't use it. And I really value creativity, again, and it's a muscle and it will atrophy if you don't use it. And so I was very hesitant with AI at first because I also saw the flip side, like the dark side, I guess, of maybe an over-reliance on technology. I've read books like the Anxious Generation or Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport and just how these things are designed not necessarily with our best interests in mind right, the company has its own capitalism, its own like it's a business that needs to make money, right, some people for at whatever cost. And so it gave me a lot of caution and pause. But then I've kind of developed, like right now I'm just going to say like I use chat GPD pretty much every day, not always for business things sometimes, um, and I think about it differently and I realized I'm not as anti AI as maybe I thought I was.
Speaker 2:I'm anti like the thoughtless AI that kills the critical thinking and creativity.
Speaker 2:I'm anti AI with like bad prompting or minimal prompting or only one sentence of prompting, or even only like a couple sentences of prompting Not enough. I'm anti using AI as a substitute for your heart, your brain, your humanity. Right, marketing? You're a human trying to connect with another human, but you're trying to insert a robot into that human connection, like why? I don't know that that makes sense. But there's a way to use AI where it's actually going to be helpful and supportive and efficient, without letting it take over your authenticity, your humanity, your actual voice. So I offer an intensive where we get to the heart of your brand message, your brand voice, and really hone that in first and like that's the thing that you feed AI to then give you a first draft, right. But again, there's another mistake is people just post the first draft and leave it at that, versus it still needs a little massaging, it still needs a little work, it still needs editing. You can't just stop there, even with really excellent prompting and instructions and knowledge base and all of the things.
Speaker 1:No matter what you do, it still won't be you. Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, exactly. I find it's most helpful to save me time with maybe other tasks, not necessarily writing the final draft. It's great for brainstorming, it's great for batting around ideas for hooks or headlines, or maybe creating an outline, or brain dumping my thoughts and having it organize my thoughts. Um, maybe occasionally use it for again a first draft, but don't leave it at the first draft. Um, we need to work it from there, because a lot of people join my copy clarity club when they realize, oh, I saved so much time with AI, but then it's not converting, they're not getting clients from it. So, like, did it really save you time? So then they come join my membership to get a real human. Okay, now we have a first draft, let's work with that. Here are the specific things I would tweak try that, test it, see how that improves your ROI there and actually get results. So again, it's not bad, it's a great starting point, but don't leave it at the starting point. We need to work with it from there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I love that you mentioned your copyright club. I was looking at your website before we started recording and I found that and I was like I was like signing up for it. I was like ready to go. And then I was like your website before we started recording and I found that and I was like, right, I was like signing up for it. I was like ready to go. And then I was like, okay, melissa, maybe like take a breath. This is how. This is how I end up spending a lot of money on stuff.
Speaker 1:And it's really unfortunate because I have the best guests on this podcast and inevitably, like at least halfway through the podcast interview, in my mind I'm like I need to hire her. I'm totally going to hire her after that and I'm like, okay, you can't hire every single guest that you have on the podcast. Maybe someday, but not all today. So if people want to learn more about that or I know that you have a really awesome resource on your website for people who are thinking about their values or you know, or trying to figure out what they are maybe revisiting them for the first time in a while, or maybe they just want to know about you. You're done for you services, or they just want to connect with you as a human. What's the best way for them to learn more about you?
Speaker 2:Yes, so connect with me at the Values First Marketing Podcast and you can find all my links through there. Otherwise, you can find me at Megan Katchigan on Instagram or megankatchigancom, but I know that is hard to spell, so Google values first marketing podcast and then find my links from there. Um, would probably be the easiest way to connect with me. And then I know in the show notes you have the link to my messaging clarity journal and that is a great start for so many people who are either just starting out for solopreneurs or you're maybe rebranding or just need to revisit the basics because it's not working for you. That is such a great place to start.
Speaker 2:And if you liked some of the questions that I asked in the episode and you're like, yes, I need to think on that, like that is something you know worthwhile to put my time into or I need to, I would love to use ChatGPT. Where do I even start with this? This is the foundational work that you need before you can even consider, you know, hiring, help for marketing or using ChatGPT and actually getting a good result out of it. So, as a thank you for being a podcast listener, if you use the code journal seven, it will give reduce the price from $37 for the messaging clarity journal down to just $7.
Speaker 1:Awesome, thank you, that's great. So I will put the link for the messaging clarity journal in the show notes with that promo code. I'll also put your other links, if people can't remember how to spell your name or can't figure it out, and the link for your podcast as well, because your podcast is awesome. So thank you so much for joining us. This has been really good information. I love the. I love the idea of the values first marketing. It just makes so much sense on a person to person level. I was talking to somebody the other day who said, like it doesn't matter if you are B2C or you're B2B, you're still H2H, right, like we're still communicating.
Speaker 2:This works across industries, across. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I love that. Thank you so much for being a guest. Yes, I appreciate it.
