113: How To Create A True Marketing Plan For Your Launch With Kelly Sinclair’s “Visibility Tour” Method (The Systems & Workflow Magic Podcast)

In this in-depth podcast episode, I welcome Kelly Sinclair, founder of Entrepreneur School and a brand strategist. We discuss the concept of the ‘Visibility Tour Method’ for pre-launching business strategies and how it aids in creating a snowball effect for business momentum. The importance of making external daily connections, content planning, capturing leads, measuring results, and utilizing unique communication strategies for individual business needs are also covered in this discussion.

The Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast is brought to you by Dolly DeLong Education. This podcast is for creative business owners who want to learn tangible steps to automate their business through workflows, systems, tools, and strategies to go from scattered to streamlined with purpose because even muggles can become automated wizards!

Meet Kelly Sinclair

Kelly is the podcast host and founder of Entrepreneur School, an education hub for ambitious moms who want to start and grow businesses. She’s an award-winning marketer and brand strategist, visibility maximizer, and girl-mom of 2, constantly juggling hockey practices and marketing plans. She’s your Fairy brand mother waving the magic wand to give you the confidence, guidance, and support you need to get to your next level of success.

🧩Interested in getting started with Systems & Workflows For Your Own Business?

🔗Links mentioned:  ⭐️The Systems & Workflow Magic Bundle (this comes out at least once a year, and even if you miss it, you should still get on the waitlist to be notified of the next bundle!) (click here or click on the banner below) ⭐️A private podcast about the 4 different launching phases (here or click on the banner below) ⭐️A free workshop on how to get started with refining my top 5 recommended systems, workflows, and sops to impact the backend of your own creative business today! Sign up for this free 90-minute workshop and walk away with a game plan of action!

Connect With Kelly

• Website – www.ksco.ca
• IG – @ksco_kelly

Connect With Dolly

• Website: https://dollydelongphotography.com/
• IG: https://www.instagram.com/dollydelongeducation/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dollydelong
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dollydelong/
• The Systems & Workflow Magic Podcast: https://www.dollydelongphotography.com/podcast

Want to listen to the other episodes in this series? Check them out here! Start with Episode 105 ⬇️

Episode 105: https://dollydelongphotography.com/2023/11/16/copywriting-tips-for-launching/

Episode 106: https://dollydelongphotography.com/2023/11/25/how-to-use-tiktok-for-launching/

Episode 107: https://dollydelongphotography.com/2023/12/03/easy-launches-during-busy-seasons/

Episode 108: https://dollydelongphotography.com/2023/12/10/how-to-host-a-webinar/

Episode 109: https://dollydelongphotography.com/2023/12/16/how-to-have-a-powerful-pre-launch/

Episode 110: https://dollydelongphotography.com/2023/12/19/how-to-create-a-marketing-workflow/

Episode 111: https://dollydelongphotography.com/2024/01/01/launch-metrics-to-track/

Episode 112: https://dollydelongphotography.com/2024/01/08/how-to-create-pre-launch-content-using-the-story-brand-guide/

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Read The Shownotes + Transcript Here

Dolly DeLong: Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Systems and Workflow Magic podcast. I am your systems and workflow BFF and guide Dolly DeLong. And today I am pumped to have a new friend on the podcast, Kelly Sinclair. Now Kelly is the podcast host and founder of Entrepreneur School, an education hub for ambitious moms who want to start and grow businesses. She is an award-winning marketer and a brand strategist, a visibility maximizer, and a girl mom of two, constantly juggling hockey practices and marketing plans, which insert, by the way, I love. That your daughter’s Keplaysplays hockey. I think that’s great. I love it so much. Now, Kelly is your fairy brand mother, waving the magic wand to give you the confidence guidance, and support you need to to get your next level of success.

So Kelly, welcome to the podcast.

Kelly Sinclair: Thanks for having me, Dolly. I’m so excited. I love that the title of your show has the word magic in it. And I have a wand. I feel the need for props right now.

Dolly DeLong: I love it. I love it. you’ll lean into not only your business but also that girl’s mom’s life.

Cause I remember having one of those when I was younger.

Kelly Sinclair: my, yeah, my littlest was like, did you get me one? I was like, Nope,

Dolly DeLong: this is mommy’s so much. I know I just gave a more formal introduction of you, but do you mind, giving the inside scoop to my audience more about what you mean? this is more for me, like curiously asking, what do you mean by fairy brand mother?

Um, I’m curious about that. And I would like to know more about you and your business.

Kelly Sinclair: Yes. Yeah. So what are titles anyway, right? we give ourselves titles as business owners. And I don’t remember who gave me the title of fairy grandmother, but there’s, it has to do with the fact that I’m obsessed with Disney.

I had this vision one time before I started my business, when I was working with a coach and she was asking me to visualize my future. I visualized the fairy godmother, and then I remembered it was, oh, I’m getting goosebumps even sharing this story. I remember when I was three years old, that’s actually what I said I wanted to be.

That’s why I told my parents that I wanted to be a fairy godmother. And to me, and as a brand strategist, which is what I am, but nobody knows what that means. So I needed a different name to make it connect and leaning into parts of your personality is important in branding so that you can stand out and you can be remembered.

And I love it anytime anybody introduces me as the fairy godmother there. I’m like, Oh, let me just get my wand. Watch out. and the whole idea is that, as a godmother, or the like. is behind the scenes and she does the stuff and then she sends Cinderella to the ball and I have this background in public relations where that’s all the ways how it’s been right behind the scenes behind the camera smiling at my client who’s getting interviewed right now trying to make them look good.

It’s all about making my clients look good and helping them to shine in their unique authenticity. So that’s how it all connects back to what I do in the world of branding and visibility.

Dolly DeLong: I love it. Thank you so much for explaining it like that. That, in my mind, helps bridge the gap a little bit more.

And I didn’t know you had a background in PR. That’s so cool.

Kelly Sinclair: Yeah, that’s what I went to school for. I went to school for a science degree and then three days later, I was like, Whoa, what’s the opposite of this? That’s not for me. So, found the faculty of communications. I’m like, I belong here.

This is better. And I worked in a variety of different PR jobs. The great thing about PR is that there is so much variety. So I worked in government, I worked in corporate oil and gas, and then I ended up working at an agency for a long time. So I got to dabble in a variety of different types of PR.

Ultimately, for me, when I thought about how to bring that skill set into whatever I was going to do when I decided I was starting a business, it meant understanding communications and communications. What are you talking about? Who are you talking to? What do you need to say? And how are you going to say it?

Yeah, and really communications and marketing are very like Just two sides of the coin where marketing has a goal to Generally create a sale for somebody so I was like this applies very easily to business owners. And I wanted to support entrepreneurs because I think entrepreneurs are like a special breed of people.

And now that I am on, I understand this even more because you’re passionate about what you do. And it’s You just live it and breathe it and you want it to be successful. And I feel like if more people could be successful and get what they want out of their business, then they’re going to be happier.

That’s going to raise the vibration for everybody. Like the world will be a happier place. So bigger picture.

Dolly DeLong: I love that. Well, thank you for letting me ask a little bit more about your background and sharing all that information. And of course, I’ll say it again and over again. I’m just really grateful.

I’m always thankful whenever someone comes on as a guest on the podcast. So thank you so much for taking your time. if you are listening in or watching on the YouTube channel as well, you will just fall in love with Kelly. She has so many amazing, strategies that she’s going to be sharing with us soon.

so think of this, if you’re watching this, think of this as a lunch and learn for those of you in the past, like if you had a 90 nine to five, which I know both of us used to have a nine to five. I used to go to lunch and learn all the time and I sometimes loved the topic. So think of it as a lunch and learn if you are watching on the podcast channel.

so, Kelly, I know that you were a part of the systems and workflow magic bundle, and you are here to talk about a fun launching strategy that business owners. I believe you’re not digging into it, and you call it the pre-launching system using the visibility tour method. So what is visibility?

Kelly Sinclair: tour method?

Yes. So I think first of all, we need to point out that pre-launching is so important and it is, just meaning, the time before you are thinking about doing some kind of a launch, you need to be strategic and focused on what you’re talking about, because it does, I think, is so important.

Yeah. And I am late to the party on this I will admit because I’ve done launches because I’m like, yeah, let’s do everything fast. I like that. let’s go all in. I can I’m a generator in human design as well. So I can just crunch out a launch in like the 10 days and like go for it. But then I’m like, why didn’t that work as well as I wanted it to?

And the reason is that you didn’t talk about any of those things for the time leading up to it, so it catches people by surprise. And yes, you’re being splashy and loud about it, but if they didn’t have any time to think and process, or go along a journey with you to get to the point where they’re ready to hear that and maybe join what you have to offer, then it’s not going to work as well as if you spend some time focusing beforehand.

This visibility tour math method came as a result of an experiment that I did throughout the summer where what I know to be true is that if you are not spending time daily, doing some kind of external facing visibility for your business. You dig yourself into a hole, right?

We can spend so much time like hands up, putting a finger down. If, you just, rewrite your website, copy, look at your analytics, stay behind the scenes, try to do all of those like internal stuff. Are you like, Ooh, I’m going to listen to more podcasts. I’m going to read books. I’m going to like get smarter on this.

And yes, those are all great things, but I challenged myself over the summer to every single day, make sure I was connecting with somebody. External facing means bringing somebody else in and that could be posting on social media because there’s an audience there or speaking or connecting with someone like you, Dolly, behind the scenes and planning to be part of a great collaboration like this bundle that we’re doing together.

So external facing is the core of the visibility tour method. It has four parts. Before I jump in, do you have any more color comments or questions about that?

Dolly DeLong: I don’t know if you see me, but my audience knows this about me, but I usually take notes while the speaker, while the guest speaker is talking and I’m like, wow, these are all really good points. So I’ve just been typing and listening. Like I am in a lecture hall right now. This is great.

Kelly Sinclair: I like to have, I’m still doing this by the way, because it’s so effective, the things that. Happens like when you do something you never really know, in business, you never know what the one thing is going to be that day that I talked to that person that introduced me to that other person that led to my next client.

You just don’t know. I still do this and I have a calendar I’m showing you right now, where I write down every single day, today’s Dolly’s podcast is on my visibility. Some days it’s applied for a speaking opportunity or some days it’s like reaching out to that person who I met at that event or buying a ticket for an event.

Like I’m going out and I’m doing things and I’m getting myself out there in a variety of different ways. Because putting all of your eggs into one visibility strategy is not a good plan. 

Dolly DeLong: Okay, I know what you mean by that, but can you explain what, let’s say, ’cause I have a lot of business owners who listen to this podcast. They fall into one of three categories. One, they are brand new to business. they’re creative business owners and they’re navigating what it’s like to run a business too. Business owners who are in the messy middle, like they’re three years three or year five, year seven, they’re running their business.

they have traction, but it still feels messy on the backend. And then I do have those advanced, business owners who listen in, Hey guys, thanks. Thanks for the love. It’s mostly for the love for me. And, but let’s speak to the first two business owners who may not. Understand what you mean by, okay, don’t put all your eggs in one visible, if I’m saying it wrong, please forgive me, in one visibility basket or something like that.

Kelly Sinclair: Yeah. So when you think about visibility, it’s putting yourself out there, right? And there’s so many ways that you can do it. One of the key ways everybody thinks of naturally, because it’s easy and very popular, is social media. And yes, totally support social media as a method for reaching and connecting with people.

That’s how we found each other. That’s how I find a lot of great connections, but also remember to, take those conversations offline into some other kind of a platform like this. So social media in-person opportunities. Also thinking outside of the box into some of the more if you’re, speaking, like getting on stages, getting on podcasts, pitching media about your business, about what you can speak to as an expert, all of these kinds of things.

And like collaborations, these are the types of. visibility strategies. I put them into three categories. and I call this my visibility trifecta. So it’s branding, marketing, and PR. So the brand stuff is just really an acknowledgment that when you go to put yourself out there, you start wondering what to say how to talk about your business, and how to position yourself.

What do I want to position myself as and who am I talking to? And having that clarity is important. around your brand to, have the confidence to start going out there. And I will say this, don’t, I don’t want you to worry about that too much before starting to create traction because it’s momentum that’s going to teach you.

It’s going to give you the clarity, the more that you’re doing things like this, speaking, talking to people, engaging with people on social media, on Zoom chats, on coffee dates, at events, whatever you’re doing. The better you’re going to get at it. I recently built a program called the Visibility Revolution, and I decided that this is, in fact, the first step.

So some people will do it differently, and I’m not saying there’s one right way or one wrong way. Where you should have all this clarity, I’ve tried this too, because I have a program about brand messaging, and people don’t know that’s necessarily the first thing that they need. So what I suggest is Let’s go create momentum.

Take these actions, build up confidence and clarity along the way, and then adjust because brands evolve. Your message evolves, your ideal client evolves, your business structure evolves, all of it. So starting with visibility, taking action getting that ball rolling, and putting some core pieces in place, which is now finally the segue into what the visibility tour method is.

Because in the visibility tour, you need to create a tour plan, which means just we’re looking at this as a period, which I would say is 60 to 90 days. Before you’re going to plan to launch something, the point of the visibility tour is not selling itself. It may lead to that because if you have these kinds of conversations, like you go to an event, you meet somebody, who wants to work with you.

Cool. But it’s not about we’re not going to say my thing for those 90 days.

Dolly DeLong: Gotcha. So it’s like planting a seed. Yes.

Kelly Sinclair: Okay. Because you’re picking a topic. Being one topic, if you are a multi-passionate entrepreneur with various services in your business, so for you, Dolly, would be either choosing to talk about systems or choosing to talk about photography for that period. And not doing both because, the more you’re shifting the message, the more you’re diluting it. And generally, you probably have different audiences for the different things that you do.

Dolly DeLong: That’s very true. This is why I don’t recommend this to everyone, but this is why I have two separate Instagram accounts and two separate segments in my email list. So I don’t confuse my audience.

Kelly Sinclair: Yes. Yeah, and yours is quite a lot different versus somebody like me who does, visibility and then brand strategy and then maybe some one-on-one private coaching, these are like different pieces, but I’m not talking about all of them at the same time.

Yeah. So having that, topic to give you a bit of a, like some guideposts, some I feel side, guardrails on the highway. Gotcha. I like that.

Dolly DeLong: So if you guys want a tangible example of how I’m doing this, hopefully, I’m thinking of it in the same way. Like I’m doing it in the way that you mean, Kelly, I am technically doing my visibility tour right now, by talking just about the systems and workflows of launching. And because I am leading into this huge launch collaboration bundle where I want to feature others. Contributors and other resources all to help the creative mind of business owners, understand the different components of creating a launch plan for their own business. And so I, hopefully, think of it as, yeah, I’ve been definitely. Doing my visibility tour for the past 90 days for sure.

Kelly Sinclair: Yeah. Because you’re just focusing on talking about helping people with launching versus helping people with the other millions of systems that you can help. 

Dolly DeLong: Let’s talk about Dubsado this week, or let’s talk about Zapier here next week. That would confuse a person leading

Kelly Sinclair: up. Yes. Yes, 100%. So when you do that, the second piece is having a content plan, right? So figuring out like, you know what you’re talking about, but and where are you talking about it and being able to map that out. I know we’re going to share in a minute about the contribution that I made to the bundle.

This is exactly what I use as a for myself and as a framework for helping with content planning. And then the third piece that’s so important is that you need a mechanism for capturing leads. Because visibility, as I think about this as a parade, if you just are in a parade and you’re like, look at all the hundreds of thousands of people that saw me in this parade.

Cool. Do you know any of them? Can you call any of them? Can you email any of them? Yeah. Yeah. How do you talk to them now? Like that, it’s all about making a connection and building a relationship. So ensure that you have some form of a lead magnet or freebie offer. Whatever it is a method for them to connect with you and for you to connect with them because we want to make sure that we’re getting something out of this visibility so that we can bring that into a nurturing phase when we’re able to then shift into that eventual launch phase and then measuring the results of your visibility tour.

So this is like I said, it was an experiment for me and it can be an experiment for you because I’m the kind of strategist who. says there is no such thing as cookie-cutter plans. I have never written the same plan twice in over 15 years of working with different clients because your business is different.

Your goals are different. Your message is different. Your audience is different. All of those things contribute to how you actually can show up and what’s going to be effective. Some people like it. I know that this is as much as I want you to go and do lots of videos and go live on social media and do stuff like that.

Some people are like, I just, I can’t, I don’t want to do video. and so there are other ways. It doesn’t mean you’re not going to grow your business just because you don’t want to do that particular method. Yeah. Finding what works for you and seeing what’s effective. If I could give you an example for a fun story since I have a background in PR and relationships with our local media here because I worked with them with clients and such, I decided I was going to, my podcast turned six months, I wanted to share about that and talk and celebrate it.

With the local media, because I know, the audience in our town is relevant. They, there’s a lot of entrepreneurs here. That’s why I started a business serving entrepreneurs here. So I, it was really hard for me to, try and make myself sound. great about myself. So I use chat GPT to help write a press release.

No tip there. And then I got amazing media coverage. So I got a radio interview, which also included an online story and an online story in the local newspaper. And then they printed a half-page article about me in the paper. And they put me on the front page, like referencing my article. So I was like, this is massive.

That is thousands of dollars in advertising that I got for free for pitching myself. So if you take that step, and reach out a little bit beyond your comfort zone, you can have these great results. And not only did I get this media coverage. Coincidentally, like definitely related, my podcast listenership boosted and it spiked my ratings right away afterward, right?

So I was talking about the podcast and then you know how you get pitched when you’re a podcast host. So I like all these people who have PR firms like pitching them. Yes. Well, I got pitched this guest. Who turns out to be this, huge, name? I can’t say it because it hasn’t been released. Well, it will be by the time we’re having this.

Dolly DeLong: I can’t wait to find out later on. That’s awesome. 

Kelly Sinclair: Yeah you’ll have to, you’ll have to DM me. it will be available for you to listen to. And I’m going to tell you, so DM me and I’ll send you the episode. But this person is, Selling out 8,000-person stadiums for his events and friends with people like Ed Milett and Gary Vee and Russell Brunson and I’m like, yeah, I think we’ll talk.

So we had the podcast interview and it went so well and it’s what it’s leading to more things. So the whole point of this is that your visibility action is, I never would have X if I didn’t Y. Right? and you don’t know, we don’t have that moment where it’s okay, this is it. This is the finish line.

This is the thing I’ve been working for. This is me walking onto the stage of America’s Got Talent. And somebody is going to tell me if I can make it now. We don’t have that so much in business, right? We need to find the little things that are hidden under rocks explore and follow the leads and follow our gut.

And by doing that, by making sure that you’re taking this action, it’s building the momentum and it’s. A big snowball now rolling down the hill.

Dolly DeLong: I love that so much. Kelly, can I ask you a question? You probably are going to answer this, when you hint about your resource, but do you have any, like a marketing calendar in your, do you have a shop where you sell, here is a visibility marketing calendar or something like that.

Kelly Sinclair: So the visibility, so I, okay. I’m debating putting these things together, but they’re currently separate. So the tool system that I Giving out is called the Simplified Content System, and it is a calendar. It’s a calendar that helps you track your social media content, your emails, and your collaborations.

If you have a podcast, you can put all of those things on there, so you can see it from that big-picture view. And know what you’re going to talk about. we can talk about it in themes, or we can talk about it in specific, post content. You can link to the captions, you can link to the Canva. Graphics you make.

You can do all of that inside of this tool, and I also have another gift. If you want to add this, I call it the ultimate visibility toolkit, and it is again a calendar, but it’s broken down with suggested actions. Based on the visibility trifecta that I was talking about before. And you can grab that so that if you’re like, I just don’t know where to get started.

Yes. I want to make sure that, I’m doing something. So Kelly, tell me what to do today. And you’ll pick something from the drop-down menu and then you’ll take action. if that’s the push that you need, absolutely have that for you.

Dolly DeLong: That is amazing. Yes, I’m excited to get that in my audience’s hands. And that’s going to be part of your contribution. Is that correct? Or did I separate freebies?

Kelly Sinclair: That’s a gift that I just currently available.

Dolly DeLong: Kelly, that’s like that should be a paid resource.

Kelly Sinclair: Well, it is. Yeah, it is part of my course. So yeah,

Dolly DeLong: you all, if you’re watching this and if you’re listening to this and you’re like, Dolly, you’re making this up, like you, you are, you’re being fake.no, I’m actually like, I am being genuine. I’m like listening to Kelly describe this. And I’m like, Kelly, this should be a paid resource. This is an amazing resource that a lot of business owners need in their lives. That’s awesome.

Kelly Sinclair: I understand that I’m a little bit weird that I’m fairly self-accountable. Like I think that’s one of my skill sets and I’m also pretty good at helping hold other people accountable. And I know that a lot of people need accountability. Yeah. And so that’s really what this is built on. To, I used to run a group where they would come and we would talk about, okay, here’s your challenge for this week and you’re going to do it right now. Like I’m like, let’s do it right now. rip off the bandaid. It’s going to take less than 10 minutes. Yes. Do the thing. It is. And do the thing is like my whole mantra.

Dolly DeLong: I love it. Isn’t there, I know that there’s some sort of like study or I’m probably going to butcher it, but the thing that we as humans, I’ll just say we as business centers in this example, keep on putting off there are things that we put off and we’re like, I know I need to do this, but I’ll just put it off until tomorrow.And then we do it. And it takes two or three minutes.

Kelly Sinclair: Yeah. And that’s one of the things on my list do the thing, you’ve been procrastinating. Like I, I know exactly what that is for me right now where I was like, I have to send this video. I have to send a video pitch to someone. That’s what I have to do. Oh, Kelly, do it. You should

Dolly DeLong: You should do after this.

Kelly Sinclair:  I’m gonna do it right after this conversation because I’m like, I knew I was gonna get in the right energy having this podcast interview and then be ready for it. and I have to sometimes set a deadline. So I had to, put the seed there. I asked the person. I was like, I have some ideas for the thing, can I share them with you? And I got a yes. So I’m open to sending the video pitch. Yes. So that next everybody. Check-in with me after

Dolly DeLong: you got it. You got it, you’re going to get it. I’m just so confident you will. because this has been such an amazing interview and I’ve learned so much. Again, I want to stress to everyone that Kelly is going to be a part. She’s a contributor to the systems and workflow magic bundle. 4. 0 launch edition. Cause there have been different editions of this bundle. And it all centers around the topic of systems, workflows, and SOPs of a specific topic. And the topic that’s coming up is about launching.

And so you share it a little bit with the audience about what you’re contributing to the bundle. And I’m excited about that. And look, I even thought that freebie was a part of the bundle. You’re like, no, this is. This is a free resource. I’m like, wow. I’m serious. I’m not trying to make your head big, but I hope I am making your head big.

Like I’d like this like a freebie. if it’s free, then can you imagine what the paid products are going to be like? I, this is why I love all the contributors who are part of this bundle because they put forth so much. Amazing resources. So everyone, if you are ready to find and follow Kelly and get to know her Kelly, where can people find you, follow you and, just get to know you?

Kelly Sinclair: Yeah. Please connect with me on Instagram, but I would love for you to jump into my email world by being part of this bundle and, or grabbing that free ultimate visibility toolkit so that we can be in each other’s inboxes. And I have

Dolly DeLong: the toolkit in the show notes. So it will be in both the podcast show notes, the blog show notes, and also this YouTube channel’s show notes as well, or the YouTube episodes show notes. So anyway, thank you so much, Kelly, for being on the podcast. And I am just so thrilled again to have connected with you and, to have learned so much about the visibility tour method. I’m like literally going to dig into this resource this week too. So thank you so much. And everyone, thank you so much for joining us on episode 113. 

I am pumped that you decided to listen through all the way, or if you have been watching on YouTube, thank you for watching all the way through. I want to encourage you to please share this with a business friend who may need some systems and workflow encouragement. And support for their own business.

So please share this with a friend. And until then, I will talk to you later. Stay streamlined and magical. You amazing muggle. You have a wonderful day and I’ll talk to you later. Bye!