Meet Kristina Martinez

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristina Martinez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristina, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

Have I overcome it though? That’s a tough one.
That whole “fake it til you make it” only gets you so far until you feel like such a fraud you might have a nervous breakdown! But the truth is, we all feel like we’re faking it! I have over 10 years of Marketing under my belt. Yes, I know what I’m doing, but sometimes that voice creeps up and says ” but are you really even a Marketer? Should you call yourself that when you’re talking to clients? Seems fake.”

But how many campaigns do I have to run to be a “Marketer?” how many miles does someone have to run before they’re called a “runner?” The answer: As many or as few as they want, cause who cares?

I remember when I was just getting started as a Business Development Officer and about to give a presentation in front of a group of Realtors (tough crowd if they smell fear!). My colleague knew I was sweating bullets. “What if they ask me something and I don’t know the answer!?” “So?” he responded coolly. What!? They’ll tear me to shreds, eat me alive, or I’ll just run away and no one will ever see me again. He explained you don’t have to know everything. The key is to just be confident and tell them that’s a great question, and you’ll follow up with them when you can verify the answer.
Well, that’s easy. And something I can do! Verify AND follow up! Genius!

I don’t know where I first heard it, but one of my favorite things I tell myself on bad days, is that there is someone out there successfully doing what I want to be doing, with way less knowledge than me. They’re just ridiculously confident.

So maybe we’re overcomplicating all of it. Don’t fake it ’til you make it, don’t feel like an imposter. You don’t have to know all of the answers right now. But you know how to get them, and learn some things along the way; And as long as you know that what’s stopping you from being just as badass as anyone else who’s doing it?

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Absolutely no one:

Every Marketer: Did you know that Kellogg’s was originally a doctor at a mental institution and fed his patients corn flakes because they were bland and “clean” to promote clean thoughts, so his brother added sugar and sold it to the masses as a breakfast food.

Ha! I’d like to apologize on behalf of all marketing people. We really can’t turn it off, and honestly we don’t want to. We love swimming in all the creative ideas that pop into our brain. Some of my favorite campaigns I’ve thought up are for companies I’ve never worked for. I can’t explain it.

I haven’t introduced myself yet! Hi! I’m Kristina, the owner of Neon Sandia. I have over 10 years of experience in Marketing, and I’ve found my biggest passion to be in Social Media Ad Strategy. What does that really mean? So glad you asked!

When a company is established, has a good sales system down, and wants to take their goals to the next level; Social ads may just be the answer. They are a crazy awesome tool to keep a steady flow of customers or leads coming your way. Depending on the type of business you are, I tailor the approach to you and your goals. I know your time is precious and could be spent a million different ways so I also feel that my job is to take this weight off of you and know that I consider myself to be a part of your team and help lead you to success.

I have years of experience including working within an agency, and have learned so much about how I want to run my business. As a one-woman show, I’ve set myself up so that I only take on a limited number of clients to ensure the highest quality and communication. What does this mean for you? I only take on clients that I feel are in the right place to be running ads, and that I align with. So I only say Yes if we’re really a good fit!

That being said, not everyone is ready to run ongoing ads with an Ads Manager yet and that’s ok! Because of that, I offer other one-time services which include Ad Audits so I can look at your ads account and tell you what I recommend. Done for you ads- I set up a whole ad campaign for you and you just flip the switch on when you’re ready. Or the tried and true- 30 Days Ad Sprint! In 30 days I set up a campaign with tracking, ad creatives to test, custom audiences to test, and use a lead magnet to gather email addresses (warm leads for you!) over the course of the ad time. At 30 days I give you everything I’ve learned about your audience to help you continue to run successful ad campaigns, and a report of what was accomplished.

While my specialty is in Real Estate and Hospitality Industries, I have experience across many types of businesses and event launches, and welcome a conversation with anyone that’s ready to jump on the digital marketing bandwagon!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Be willing to learn. I know that sounds obvious, but be willing to learn A LOT and never stop. I already knew how to run ads and create a strategy before starting my own businesses. But I wanted to know I was not only as up to date on everything as possible but I wanted to learn from different people how they approach running ads, what their strategies were, and most importantly what could I take away from them to improve my process. There is always room to be better and learn more. Be open. Everything moves so fast these days, if you don’t pivot with changes you will get left behind. keep up.

Patience. This is a tough one for all of us. As humans we want instant gratification, so it’s hard to put in so much work and not see the payoff YET. But you will. Keep showing up, keep having a clear vision, and keep working toward it.

Don’t wait for everything to be perfect. When you’re just starting out, you want everything to be perfectly set up and pretty before you have your first client. But if you wait for that, you’ll always have a reason not to start; that to-do list will always be there. Get the basics down and put the rest together while you go after business. It’ll be fine, and you can make everything great over time. Get your clients now, because that will also take time.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

Getting overwhelmed is something we’ve all experienced. We know what it feels like when you have a to-do list a mile long which all feels equally important and you’ve just spent the last of your energy. In all honesty, it makes me freeze up and my brain becomes a very loud place. While I allow myself a SHORT freak out, I can’t live there. So it’s time to pull it together. Deep breath:
“How am I going to accomplish all of this?”
“How long would this take?”
“How long do I actually have?”

Ok- this whole list cannot be completed today.
SO- first I pick out the ones that will affect other people if they don’t get done. By urgency, I figure out what I can accomplish today, and reach out to let the others know I will have to push their tasks to tomorrow. These are top priority tomorrow.

Next- what’s most urgent for MY needs. Anything that can be pushed, will. If I end up completing my “today” list early, this is the first list I will start pulling from.

Last- the sort of “busy work” things that I know I need to do as soon as possible, but it doesn’t affect anything if it doesn’t happen today. Push these.

If time blocking is helpful to keep you on task, do that. Estimate the amount of time each task should take and block it on your calendar. This helps keep you accountable and makes it harder to ignore the time you might be wasting elsewhere.

Know that you can only do so much in a day, don’t beat yourself up for not getting everything done. Unless it’s absolutely detrimental to your business, you can do it tomorrow. And recognize yourself for everything you DID do that wasn’t on the dang list.

Hustle Culture is so 2019.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://neonsandia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neon_sandia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theneonsandia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kmart8381/