Dolly Delong: Hey there listeners, I know that I am in the middle of a series all about preparing You for 2025 just had to be more organized and streamlined and just have a better game plan for 2025. And so I’ve been leading these solo podcast episodes, but I am changing things up just a little bit because I wanted this episode to actually feature a business owner who leans heavily into organic marketing, because that should be something within your
Marketing tool belt for 2025. So without further ado, I want to introduce Stephanie case to you. So this episode will be jam packed with a lot of tips and strategies on just how to get started with organic marketing, especially as we are heading into 2025. So I hope you will enjoy this episode.
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Systems and Workflow Magic podcast. I am your Systems Workflow and Launching Guide, Dolly DeLong. And I am beyond thrilled and excited to feature one of my favorite online friends and business owners, Stephanie Case. Now a little bit about Stephanie, just in case you’re brand new to this podcast and brand new to the online space.
Stephanie is a business educator and content creator. She teaches small business owners how to get visible, how to get paid and build a business around their dream life and not the other way around. She has served over 4, 000 online students through her online courses. Programs in digital products, and she’s reached millions with her content online.
Now, besides running her business, you can often find her cuddling her to sheep doodles and hanging out with her husband. And I wouldn’t, I almost said twin girls, but she has twins and she just had another daughter and drinking a chai latte. And so Stephanie, I want to welcome you to the podcast. It’s really good to have you on.
Stephanie Kase: thanks so much for having me. I’m so excited.
Dolly Delong: I’m really happy you’re here. I am genuinely, when I say this, you are a wonderful human. And before we hit record, I was just sharing with Stephanie. I love that we’ve known each other. We’ve met, we’ve met each other in real life, at a conference earlier, last year in 2024. And I. Like it just kind of like solidified, like she is a real deal.
So if you are always, there’s always that at the back of your head, is this person really how they present themselves online? And Stephanie is the real deal, everyone. So I was so excited to have Stephanie on this podcast because she is the queen. Of organic marketing, and she has built businesses from the ground up and she teaches visibility strategies, again, organic visibility strategies to her students.
I’m one of her students. I’ve learned about how to create, YouTube for business. And I have learned a lot about Instagram reels and organic marketing from Stephanie. So I knew I had to have her on because as we enter into 2025, I know a lot of listeners are. Wanting to create a sustainable system around their marketing and not have to depend on paid ads and advertisement.
There’s nothing wrong with paid ads, but if you’re starting out, or if you have a lower overhead, leaning heavily into organic marketing, Is the way to go. And so I knew I had to have Stephanie on so that she can share more about her online marketing club and just like the power of organic marketing. So before we jump into that, what is the organic marketing club and why did you decide to create it?
Stephanie Kase: Yeah, okay, so the online marketing club is essentially a place for anyone who’s selling an online based offer. So that could be a service, a digital product, physical product, but You’re really interested in leveraging, like having an online personal brand, organic marketing in order to bring people into your own paid offers.
And so that’s really what it’s all about when it comes to, you know, like the messaging of that, when it comes to figuring out your ideal client, figuring out where to market, how to make it sustainable for you. I’ve built, I mean, I’ve technically been in business for over nine years now, which is just crazy, but I’ve pivoted a couple of times in my business.
I started as a photographer. Use online marketing to book myself out. I, you know, where I moved to a new city, I like literally knew nobody and booked a bunch of clients through mainly online marketing. And then I’ve also pivoted into education and business coaching and what I do now. And so that’s really the focus of the online marketing club is helping business owners to do that, because if you can figure out organic marketing for your business, like doing ads later on, it’s like the cherry on top because you know, your ideal client, you know, where they hang out, you’ve already had great success with organic marketing, and then you’re able to just go ahead and Ad ads in if you want to and kind of like speed that up because you’ve done a really good job with it
Dolly Delong: I love that so much. So can you share, this kind of merges into my first question for you. Can you share why you’re so passionate about teaching organic marketing strategies? And like you already mentioned, like what inspired you to start the like online marketing club, but why, why are you so passionate about organic marketing?
Stephanie Kase: Yeah, I feel like I mean one for you know We see so much like just to jump into paid ads and like that should be you know That’s the answer and that’s why you’re not like booking enough or why you’re not selling enough of your products but I feel like Within organic marketing, like what makes organic marketing, and when I say organic marketing, that’s like social media marketing, content marketing, blogging, your website, email marketing, like these things that don’t relate to, you know, paying an advertiser, like meta ads, or Pinterest ads, or TikTok ads, to get in front of your idle client.
And I really feel like it’s, it’s foundational things that so many people skip over because they’re trying to see quick success in their business and a quick hack to like making a bunch of money, but then it doesn’t last in the long run, even if it does work for a little bit. And so I am just a huge fan of it because it really lays a lot of that foundational work and in getting your business to honestly like see success, right.
In the sense of like booking clients or, or having sales and doing it in a way that. Honestly, a lot of it comes back to like timeless marketing strategies, even though we’re doing it on social media, which is still like a very new thing, right? Like even the online business world, I feel like has just exploded in the past four to five years.
But a lot of it goes back to like those timeless things that people don’t talk about as much anymore, you know, like building out your brand messaging, knowing how to write strong copy, knowing how to speak to your ideal client, knowing who they are and like. where, you know, what their demographics are and what their deepest desires are and how to translate that into your marketing.
So then you can show up on these different platforms and have it actually build your business in a really sustainable way.
Dolly Delong: I love that so much. So what are then like you had seeded out the perfect word foundation starting out with a great foundation. So what are the first steps you’d recommend for someone looking to create a sustainable organic marketing plan? Where should one start? Because there’s so many, you had mentioned email marketing and then there’s long form content.
And then there is there’s so many ways to start.
Stephanie Kase: Yeah. Okay. So I feel like two things actually come to mind are kind of like almost two different answers, but the first thing that came to mind was like, Oh, Okay, so kind of going back to what I was saying, like knowing your ideal client, like you can’t, even I now, like I literally even yesterday was thinking about ideas and writing notes on my phone and doing market research on my ideal client for likeone of my paid offers.
And you can’t do enough market research on your ideal client, who they are, what they’re thinking, what they want. And I want you to know them. I’m like, They’re your best friend. Like, , you know, in the specifics, like getting specific with that. So for example, like that offer that I was fleshing messaging out for, I was, it’s, it’s for YouTube for business.
Like you mentioned earlier, it’s my YouTube course on marketing, your business on YouTube. And I was trying to get more specific about where is this person at? Where they’re ready to jump into this offer and what are they thinking? Where are they feeling? What do they really, really want? And instead of being so vague you know, market your business on YouTube or get in front of new people with YouTube, like, how can you get more specific with that and speak to them where they’re like, Oh wow, it feels like you’re literally in my brain.
And some of that comes with time and like discovering, you know, you put something out there and then it. Doesn’t resonate as well and you kind of tweak the messaging and then see what resonates but that’s the first thing that comes to mind is just knowing your people like Really get to know them and don’t skip over that step because as you start to show up on different platforms you might see, you know other people doing it in certain ways and be like Oh, that seems like it works for them.
I’m just going to kind of emulate that, but you’re always going to be one step behind them and just copying what they’re doing and not instead having it come from a place of I’ve established this for myself. And then that’s where my content marketing plan comes from. The second thing that came to mind kind of going off of that is figuring out again, where your people hang out, like what platforms and start with one short form timely platform, which.
We’ll talk more about in a little bit. but just keep that in the back of your mind. that’s what I typically recommend as far as like actually starting and building that marketing plan. Like start with one platform. Don’t overwhelm yourself with you know, there are, they’re showing up on YouTube Pinterest and email marketing and like, start with one place and see momentum with that before you start to expand to other platforms.
Dolly Delong: Oh, did you hear that listeners? Okay. Rewind and listen. I mean, who rewinds anymore? I, that ages me. Um, go back, hit the back button and, um, listen to that. Cause that’s so true. So then let’s talk about practical content strategies. where should a person begin in your mind with, long form content?
Stephanie Kase: when you’re choosing your first platform, so I guess I could dive into like the short form and timely and long form. And, so what I like to teach my students is when you’re looking for your first platform, you want to choose one that short form and timely. What I mean by that is short form, types of content is what you’re creating for that.
So it’d be something like Instagram. TikTok, it could be Pinterest, something where it’s not long form content, which is typically like, you know, video content that’s over a minute or a really long form blog post that’s, you know, has a lot of effort being put into that. and there’s platforms that will have both short form and long form, right?
So YouTube came out with YouTube Shorts, so it’s technically short form, but I would say YouTube. Is really inherently like a long form platform. Like that’s what people are going to it for. And like where people are really diving into content there. so picking a platform that’s short form and timely.
And what I mean by timely is that generally it reaches your audience very quickly. Right? So you’re able to like communicate with your people. You’re able to reach them really quickly. And, I would say that one’s almost, more important because you want a platform where people can feel connected to you really fast.
the downside of these platforms, this type of platform, is typically, because it’s short form, because it’s more timely, is that, you know, you go, you create a shorter form piece of content, you post it, You gain traction, maybe 24 to 48 hours. And then that’s the shelf life of the content there, right? Like you’re not getting any more eyes on your business or leads for your business from that type of content.
So it’s great to gain momentum and to really connect with your audience. But on the flip side of that, there’s long form and evergreen content. And typically these go hand in hand, right? It’s like short form and timely kind of go hand in hand, long form and evergreen. Like you’ll see them talked about like together, but there are very rarely, there are some types of short form content that can be more evergreen, but for the most part, it’s like more timely, right?
Versus long form content typically is going to be evergreen, which means that you create that piece of content once. Yes, it’s going to be more effort because it’s long form, but you create it once you put it out there and it’s bringing you views and leads for your business for if not months, like years to come.
Like I have YouTube videos, which is a type of long form evergreen content. I posted in 2021 still bringing me thousands of views to my business today. It’s insane.
Dolly Delong: That is amazing.
So that kind of like you are hinting at, you’re leveraging SEO with the searchable platforms. Can you talk more about how organic marketing is essentially, or kind of like married to SEO? Does that question make sense?
Stephanie Kase: Yeah, yeah, totally. yeah, so organic SEO, like that would be search engine optimizations. Like when someone searches, say like on Google or YouTube is actually a search engine as well. And it’s owned by Google. So it’s like you kind of get a two for one whenever you create YouTube content. And it stands for search engine optimization.
So essentially it’s creating content to get found organically on search engines. Right. Right. so it’s just creating content with the idea of like when someone searches something in Google that you’re coming up and you’re not paying for that. There are like Google ads like people will pay for to get found in search engines, but you, if you’re doing it really well, you can actually get found like via like blog posts, you write via your website, via YouTube videos that you create and get found on different search engines.
Dolly Delong: love that so much. okay, I’m kind of throwing a curve ball at you. cause I want to get your opinion on this. if a service based business owner is listening in right now and they’re like, okay, Stephanie, like I want to try organic marketing,What would your, your advice be to a service based business owner versus a business owner who is like an online based business owner?
Stephanie Kase: Yeah, yeah. So I would say the strategies are very similar and I would say if you are doing services where it is online based, like that is going to be like, that’s what the online marketing club also encompasses. But I do say if you have a service based business that is location based, so like you are very local, there are a lot of different strategies and that’s why I don’t necessarily include that with online marketing club as far as who’s in it and who it’s focused for because there’s a lot of things as Far as like referrals and in person networking and there’s people who teach that stuff and do a really good job at it And so now that you can’t use online marketing, but like, you know when I started my photography business That’s how I booked half my clients is through Google SEO I was writing blog posts and got my website ranked for like different search terms that my ideal client my Wedding photography clients were searching in Google and that’s how I booked a lot of my clients.
So it’s definitely still possible, but I do think it has to be, paired with a strategy for like in person networking to really help get your business visible in person. But if you have a business, say you’re like a graphic designer or a copywriter or something like that, and you serve businesses, like you serve other people online.
It doesn’t have to be business owners, but, Yeah, you have a business that like is an online service.I personally think a lot of these strategies still make a lot of sense and what actually allow you to, I mean, either book out your calendar more, like if you’re not booking your calendar out fully, and with that, you can continue to raise your prices for what you are offering because your demand continues to go up because you’re getting seen by more people.
if you have, dreams of scaling, like it type of agency or something along those lines, it helps get you out in front of more people to get more eyes on your business for that kind of business model.
Dolly Delong: Okay. So I am being very cheeky listeners. So what Stephanie is saying is there’s a strategy, there’s a different strategy for different types of business owners. So I want you as listeners to remember, Stephanie put this so perfectly. If you just see. What another person is doing and you decide, okay, I’m just going to do that.
Kind of like copy paste it. You’re essentially like a few steps behind them and you’re not really figuring out like what works for you, what is unique for you and your audience. So that’s why it’s really important to know, the differences, of what you do, who you serve, are you an online business center versus are you a service based business owner and then make your marketing strategy.
Based on what you know, based on your data. but thank you for letting me pick your brain a little for that, just so that the listeners can start categorizing it and seeing it from different viewpoints. okay. So I’m kind of going to go into it’s 2025. We’re sitting at the top of the year now.
what are some of the goals for online marketing club? what are some of the things that you have planned this year that you’re so excited to share with the listeners?
Stephanie Kase: Yeah, yeah. within the membership, there is already like a foundational bonus mini course that anybody gets access to upon enrolling. That really helps lay some of those foundations that we’ve talked about in this episode. But some of the things specifically we’re going to be covering in 2025 is like in January, marketing different offer types.
So like we were just talking about like how. different offers can have different strategies. And even with the, like how you’re showing up with your marketing could be very different if you’re marketing a very high ticket service versus a 27 product. Right? So we’re going to be talking about that in January and February.
We’re going to be talking about selling in your online marketing. Like when you’re actually posting, like how to create content that is engaging, but also sells and helps to grow your business. So we’re So when I say sell, it’s essentially, you know, helping you to gain leads, email, opt ins, things like that, right?
And new clients for your business. And then we’re also going to be talking about personal branding, which I’m really excited about because that really ties into like building that foundation, especially if we’re thinking about showing up in 2025. people want human connection nowadays more than ever, right?
Likethere’s so many people out there. There’s so many people even, you know, when you’re looking for something online or looking to get help somewhere, there’s so many different options and it’s so hard to tell like who you’re going to connect with, who you’re going to enjoy learning from, or who’s like the real deal.
Right. And so infusing yourself and that human connection is so important. And so we’re going to be talking about that too, which I’m super excited about.
Dolly Delong: I’m excited you all I’m part of the online marketing club. So I’m really excited about diving into these lessons. And, I, I know for those of you who have been OG listeners, you know, this, like this time last year. So at 2024, at the beginning of 2024, I had made the decision to separate my business, cause I had kept everything under one roof of Dolly DeLong photography. And then I decided to do systems of workflow education and I kept it all under one website. And that was so confusing for my users who are coming to my website and they’re like, we just need family photos. We don’t really need, I don’t even know what the system and workflow is. I guess, no, this is not for us.
And then, or, Person would come in to learn about systems, workflows, launching, and then they see photography. They’re like, we don’t really need photos So I had decided to separate, like all of 2024 was dedicated to separating the two brands. And I have now I feel like I’m. I don’t want to say built it up again, but it’s now totally separated.
I’m working on the SEO for both. And I have to have two different types of strategies. So going back to the online marketing club, being a part of the online marketing club, I’m learning like. what you’re saying, I’m learning that I’m relearning in my brain what works for family photography is not going to be the same as online business marketing for lunch strategy and for systems and workflow education, two very different things.
And so I’ve already gleaned so much gold from you, Stephanie. So another reason why I was like, she has to be on the podcast and she has to like, tell other people about this. So I know that this week you’re reopening the doors of the online marketing club because, you have, very purposefully, like you only open the doors at the top of every quarter.
Stephanie Kase: Is that correct? And why do you mind me asking why that is instead of keeping it open all year? so it’s actually the only offer that’s open, closed cart. All of my other offers are evergreen, which means you can buy them at any time. Now, most of the sales for my other offers come from Urgency during a promotion or you know by offering a bonus or discount or something like that. but I honestly just the way I wanted people to join And really feel like they were part of something that you can’t just join at any time, right?
So you have to like wait for that And so I wanted it to feel more like once that cart closes, Mike, my focus is on serving the members inside, not on continually marketing this thing. Right? of course, I’m going to be sharing about when I do new trainings for it. And when we have guest experts or new content drops and share about that with my audience outwardly.
But I really want to just to be focused on. Like serving the community inside in between and then once a quarter for one week We open it and then we’re completely focused on it during that opening as far as like getting new members inside and I also just I just love the idea of that like I loved Honestly, like it was kind of just a preference thing too at the end of the day Like I just prefer to open it up and be focused on that for one week and then close it and then we’re not thinking About it and trying to you know Always be thinking about new ways to get people into that And for me it’s The online marketing club is such like so many that are in there, have some of my other resources already.
And so it’s a way for them to get support after they’ve, you know, taken one of my courses or download one of my products. Like how can they get that ongoing support and continue to get education around like kind of, cause a lot of my products, I talk about building those foundations. I talk about, you know, deciding like what platforms to show up on all those things.
And. this,membership really helps to solve those problems. And so,yeah, so it all came down to just like a preference thing too. Yeah.
Dolly Delong: when this episode airs, the doors will be open to the online marketing club. And so I will be sure to link it in the show notes. and that way you can also get to know and follow Stephanie. And Stephanie,where can people Find you, connect with you and learn from you.
And just in case, they missed out on the, the opening of the 2025 opening of the online marketing club, how can people stay connected with you?
Stephanie Kase: So if you go to stephaniecase. com, that’s where you can find pretty much anything. I’m on Instagram at stephanielinkcase, on YouTube at stephaniecase, and the link for the online marketing club is stephaniecase. com And that also is like the waitlist link in between when it’s open enrollment. So if you’re listening to this at any other time, like you can get on the waitlist there.
Dolly Delong: I love it. And you all, I will have everything in the show notes and the corresponding blog posts to this podcast episode. But Stephanie, like this has been a fun and refreshing conversation for me. And I really hope that listeners will take advantage of learning more about. Organic marketing for 2025, because it is evolving.
It is changing. But like you said that there are foundational principles that are tried and true. So I really hope people will stay connected with you. So thank you again for being on the podcast.
Stephanie Kase: Yeah. Thank you for having me. This is so fun.
Dolly Delong: Yeah. And for the listeners who have listened all the way through, I want to say thank you so much. And I will come, with a brand new episode next week on Monday, next Monday.
And until then stay streamlined and magical. You amazing muggle you, and I will talk to you all next week. Bye.
