Imperfect Marketing
Imperfect Marketing
What's the Secret to Sustainable Growth Without Burnout?
In this episode of Imperfect Marketing, host Kendra Corman sits down with Dr. Christiane Schroeter — marketing professor, wellness advocate, and TEDx speaker — to explore how intentional, bite-sized actions can help entrepreneurs and professionals create lasting change without burnout.
Dr. Schroeter shares her journey from a fascination with advertising in Germany to teaching marketing, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the U.S., blending her academic expertise with her passion for wellness. Together, she and Kendra dive into how mindful, structured habits — what Dr. Schroeter calls petite practices — can transform not only your business but your life.
🌱 The Power of Petite Practices
- Why sustainable change comes from small, intentional steps — not all-nighters and burnout
- How 15-minute bursts of focus can create real momentum
- Practical tools to manage time and avoid distraction (including Dr. Schroeter’s favorite timer hack!)
- How to infuse joy and balance into your workday to stay aligned and productive
🎙️ The 3P System: A Framework for Visibility
- Dr. Schroeter’s 3P System — Podcasting, Publishing, and Presenting — as a roadmap to greater visibility
- How to turn your ideas into impact, starting with simple writing
- Why sharing your story authentically (not perfectly) helps you connect and grow
- Building confidence from writing → guest podcasting → public speaking
🔥 The TEDx Experience: Turning Your Story Into a Message
- What it really takes to prepare for a TEDx talk — and why it’s more intense than you think
- How to craft a story that resonates with an audience and inspires change
- The key mindset shift every aspiring speaker needs: it’s not about you, it’s about who you help
💡 Marketing Lessons You’ll Want to Steal
- The importance of a runway before and after every launch
- Why behind-the-scenes storytelling matters just as much as the final reveal
- How visibility, vulnerability, and consistency build trust and connection
- The reminder every marketer needs: people don’t buy products — they buy stories
Connect with Christiane Schroeter:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianeschroeter/
Whether you’re building your brand, preparing to share your message, or simply trying to balance business and wellness, this episode is full of actionable insight and inspiration to help you grow with purpose — one petite practice at a time.
🎧 Tune in to learn how small, intentional steps can lead to powerful, sustainable change in both your business and your life.
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Hi, I'm Kendra Corman. If you're a coach, consultant, or marketer, you know marketing is far from a perfect science. And that's why this show is called Imperfect Marketing. Join me and my guests as we explore how to grow your business with marketing tips and, of course, lessons learned along the way. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Imperfect Marketing. I'm your host, Kendra Corman, and I am super excited today because I'm going to be talking with Dr. Christiana, and we're going to be talking about intentional practices and building a sustainable business. Thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate you coming on the show to share all of your wonderful knowledge. Now, I do have a question though. How did you get into this? I mean, we're talking about intentional practices and change management and visibility and just so many different things. How did you get started with all this?
SPEAKER_01:I think my passion was always in marketing and in advertising. I remember I'm from Germany. I remember actually watching a lot of TV shows just because of the advertising. It was just anxiously waiting for the advertising. And of course, here we are in the United States, uh 2026 Super Bowl coming up. That's like the advertising feast of the nation. And I do really adore marketing. And when it's done well, it's just also entertaining. It's my absolute passion.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's fantastic. So you're doing some business and wellness coaching. Is that what you're doing now? How long have you been doing that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's a great question. So I am a full-time marketing professor, teach marketing, innovation entrepreneurship. Really at the college level, in the summer, even teach high school students from all over the world that come and take my intensive innovation entrepreneurship class. I also teach a lot of graduates. So I basically see the solopreneur, the small business, and mid-sized business, then as they scale after they graduate and I help them out with coaching. And because we can't just run a business while we don't take care of ourselves, I am also deep down really passionate about wellness. And to make this like, you know, super knowledgeable, so to speak, in my dissertation, I have a PhD in applied economics. I actually focused on obesity and how we can improve our wellness and our health with price and income strategies. And I will also tie in with what we'll probably talk about in a little while with my PT practices.
SPEAKER_00:Very cool. So I'm like totally geeking out on all of this stuff because I also teach at the college level and I teach marketing. I also teach strategy. So um I haven't taught any innovation classes, but I've taken quite a few. So very, very cool. I love that you're doing this. And I love the field of education because there's so much information that we can share. And a lot of our students, at least mine, you know, they're leaving to start businesses. At worst case scenario, they've got a side hustle ready to go, off the shelf from what they're learning in college, which I think is amazing and just it blows my mind because I never even would have thought about that back when I was in college. So it's really, really cool. So let's go ahead and jump in and let's talk about these petite practices. Let's talk about the small intentional practices that can help you create lasting change. Because I think, you know, with AI, a lot of people being unsure about different things, there's just so much there, right? Um, so how do we create that lasting change? Oh, beautiful question.
SPEAKER_01:And I also like that you already put in some trends and maybe, you know, challenges, even there, if you want to call AI a challenge in a certain way. So maybe deep down, just like thinking about how change really happens. We sometimes feel it needs to be like this big push where we're hustling, we're staying up all night, and we're working and we're aiming for the deadline. In reality, that's probably the unhealthiest way of really accomplishing change. Because if you think about your life, you can't do this on a daily basis, right? You will completely get burned out. And why I personally don't like that word burnout, to really lead a life where you're seeing change and you're seeing momentum and you're feeling passionate about going back to your desk and opening up your laptop and get started and working, is when you take smaller time frames. And I love Kendra that you use the word intentional, when you're really sitting down 15 minutes, maybe three times per day, if you're working a full-time job or you're a student and you're spending some time towards your goal. And now keep in mind, because these are small bursts of energy, those are frequently the ones where you're kind of like excited about, like, oh my gosh, I really want to do this right now, I really want to do that. And you will see the needle moving much faster, much more sustainable. And of course, you're also going to be much more passionate because you're feeling your brain and your body is actually aligned instead of just like throwing stuff together at the last minute and feeling this is not quite your best work, but that's just the best you can do in that time. And with AI, I also feel that especially that more human approach of taking a slow step with it, is just so much better than just throwing something together that is, you know, you know, maybe perfectly written, but it doesn't have your own voice in it. So rather take a little time brainstorm with AI, but then come back and really rewrite it in a way that you would connect with your consumer, that you would talk to your client that really feels like you're addressing their struggles in a way that you're getting those keywords across. And that's really what petite practice is. So it's a small practice that leads to progression.
SPEAKER_00:So I love that. I'm a huge fan of Pomodoros. So, you know, work for 20, 25 minutes and take a five-minute break. That really keeps me frushed, especially when I have to focus on things that I don't always necessarily want to do. So, my question for you is these 15 minute, these three times a day, whatever that happens to be for people, is that like, do you set a timer to try and move that forward? Or do you just go and try and do it? And if you get lost in the task, you get lost in the task, and good for you.
SPEAKER_01:I'm looking for my timer. I have one on my desk here. And maybe my kids took that guy. Yes, I have that exact same one in the time timer, yes. It's a visual, you can see it.
SPEAKER_00:I have it on all of my desks, my desk here at my office, my desk at the university, and one at home because I said it all the time.
SPEAKER_01:I haven't even better one. And it's like I say, I think my kids took it because they just played some games. Uh-huh. And they might have taken that. So the one that I have is like a little timer cube, and maybe you can pop it in the show notes. And it has five, 10, uh, 15, 30, 45, 60 minutes on there. So depending on the time that you want, you just flip the side up, and then you can choose whether you want it flashing or beeping or whatever, right? It's totally up to you whether you want the stimulation or you just want to keep it quiet. But then after that time, it will signal to you that the time is up. Um, why does that work so well? Because it's in a certain way, uh, you know, we don't work in a vacuum. It's in a certain way your time is the most important resource, and you want to feel that you're actually filling a void with productivity and not just like tinkering around and getting sidetracked here and looking there, and then going down that rabbit hole over here. So that the timing works really well. At the same time, it's also something to where you can even set yourself a reward system. So it's not always just 15 minutes for productivity. You could also say 15 minutes and I'm going to go on a walk and I call my friend, or 15 minutes, and I step away from my desk and I make myself a lunch and I sit on the couch. Well, that could be 30 minutes or whatever. So you could structure your whole day in these little pieces of joy. And that will actually create much more momentum than like, oh my gosh, here it is, two o'clock. I haven't even not eaten lunch yet. And where does the time go? And all of a sudden, there is your system right there. Where does the time go? It's because you're becoming more intentional of how you actually use it.
SPEAKER_00:I find if I don't do pomodoros or if, you know, and I've got a block of time, I will leave the office and my husband will say, Oh, so what'd you do today? I I don't know. Again, not a not a clue what I did today, right? But when I'm intentional about those 20-minute sprints and I and I do them and I get it done without distractions, I actually know what I did too. So I think that that's hugely important. Now, with each 15-minute time break or time set, is it they're all working towards the same goal? Do you identify the goal and identify tasks that need to be done to help you achieve it? Like what's next? Or what do you recommend there?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's a great question. So my calendar looks a little bit like a fruit salad. I am believing in color coding functions. Mine's all color-coded.
SPEAKER_00:It's a rainbow.
SPEAKER_01:Right. So I'm a firm believer that whatever you want to dedicate your 15 minutes to, pick a color that you associate with that particular function, right? So it could very well be your wellness 15 minutes, or you step away from social media 15 minutes, or your I'm going to answer email 15 minutes. That is really totally up to you. But in reality, I would really strive for a variety in your day. So don't put more than three big things on your to-do list, and then you can break them up over the day and how you tackle them. Because in between, we have like the random other things that come up, right? The text messages, the emails, maybe the people that show up at the door, people that are calling you. So that will pull you away from accomplishing three things as much as you can. Try to avoid in looking at your notifications. I mean, if there's somebody in the door, go there, of course. But in general, I would really encourage you three big tasks. And if you feel you can't accomplish them within an hour, then go ahead and break them up a little bit. But you want to feel at the end of the day, you actually can tick them off from your to-do list.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. I'm definitely a check off the to-do list type of person. Um, I'll even write things down so I can check it off just because I love checking things off lists. Um, and that means getting, you know, getting it done. And three, I think, is the right number. I use my full, I have a full focus planner and I love it because it tells me what are the three things I need to get done today before I leave the office, right? There's a lot of other things, other distractions that come in, but I know I have to get those three things done to help me move me forward towards my goals. And that's just super important. I love that. All right. So since you're a marketing expert and um teach marketing at the collegiate level, I think that's important because I I love that. Let's talk about visibility because you've got a system, right? The three P system of podcasting, publishing, and presenting, which I think actually sounds like what I actually do in my business side of my life that has really helped my business grow. So tell me more about that system and and how that helps with visibility. Beautiful. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and of course, you mentioned it's three Ps. I also think that you got to give things fun names, right? And and frequently the best taglines or the best little bridges to remember something is when you have things that start with the same letter or anything like that. That's where I always tell my students make it easy, make it fun, make it memorable. So, why am I thinking about the three P system as like your bridge to visibility? Well, if if you think about yourself, you have some type of superpower. And actually, it's the name of one of my books is Discover Your Superpower. So, what's the best way of being a good marketer is sharing that superpower and tapping into the superpower and really utilizing that in your business. And the best way you can do it is you can start writing or voice recording or anything like that. And then, based on that, you can start extracting like little nuggets that you can use to build your business or expand your business or really form new product ideas if you already have something going from that. So the writing for me always comes first. And it doesn't even have to be that you share that with the world, but it's just getting your idea out of your head. And then comes the really next important step, which is you actually have to share your writing. And whether that just means that you're telling your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, whoever you see at Starbucks in line, you have to tell them about it, right? Because then all of a sudden, your idea is not living in your brain or on paper or on your computer, but it's actually becoming a much bigger vehicle in the world to maybe help some others as well. Again, you were struggling with something, you overcame it, other people as well. And the best entrepreneurs are the ones that actually share their struggles with the goal to help others. Now, that could be when you present. And if you are maybe uncomfortable with that thought, you could start with podcasting, right? You don't have to immediately start a podcast on your own, but you could be a guest on a podcast. So publish something, a podcast. And then lastly, once you gain more confidence with that podcast, then that's maybe when you're ready for the big stage, so to speak. Doesn't have to be immediately a TEDx. I just presented my TEDx talk last month, and I can definitely tell you that it's um a completely different animal. But if you're more like into like, oh, I just want to get started with like a little animal, like you know, like think hamster, not horse, you know, then start with a little animal, you know, like maybe there is a little uh group locally, a writer's group, maybe um a group of real estate agents, somebody you can share what you actually accomplished in your writing or in your podcasting, and they might be really excited to hear from you. And it's not immediately a thousand people when you're presenting your TEDx, but it's maybe 20. And then keep that wheel going because you have to get the pipeline going. So keep back your writing, go back to your podcasting, go back to your presenting. And it works really well because it keeps visibility fresh, but at the same time, you don't always just want to present or be a podcast guest. You also want to take some time and write and really figure out what's important to you. And those three elements allow you to be an extrovert, an introvert, an embivert, wherever you are, and you can be on all sides and just be the best yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Discovering your superpower, right? Well, and I think it's so important because you started with publishing, right? You started with writing, getting your ideas out of your head and onto paper. And I think that that's really important because as we do things, as more AI comes into place, I think there's a lot less of people's ideas coming out into the marketplace, right? People are creating podcasts with notebook LM. And so everything is scripted and created by AI and it's done by AI. And it's no, we want to hear from you. Your ideas, your experiences, those put together can't be matched by AI. And don't get me wrong, I love AI, saves me 30 to 40 hours a week on average. I show people how to use AI the what I consider the right way, which involves a human in the loop, right? Um, very important stuff. But I think starting with that publishing, starting with your ideas is key. And then leveraging podcasting, guesting on podcasts, and presenting is just so important. Um, locally here in Metro Detroit, we have a group called, well, it's it's bigger than that. It's international members and stuff like that. But we've got a local group that I go to that's called Inforum. And it's um for women executives um and women in in their careers. And yeah, there's a ton of little affinity groups that, you know, 10, 20, 30, 40 people go to. You can, as a member, you can sign up to speak to those small groups, right? You can get your feet wet in a supportive environment where they'll help you, right? They'll help you get your comfortable with speaking and help you refine your message and all of those fun things, which is great. And then as you can see, I have a podcast and I love podcasting. I think it's one of the best ways to to reach new audiences and to create great content um without a ton of work, which everybody's always looking to save some time. So I love that, love that. Um, let's talk a little bit more about that TEDx thing that you mentioned. Um, you talked about that, you recently did it. What's different about it? How does you how do you turn a personal story or experience into a marketing tool?
SPEAKER_01:That's a beautiful question. So when if you think, oh my gosh, I want to stand on a big stage, I want to apply to an organization that's really going to um allow me to speak on that stage, and it's very structured in the way that they run their organization, then TEDx might be something you ultimately want to go for because of course they have the credibility and the authentic feel that will really allow you to feel like, okay, now I think I passed the test. I am a speaker. So with your story, what's always really, really important is that you feel you can actually help somebody. So the right motivation to become a TEDx speaker is that you immediately know no one cares about you. It's just not the reason to become a TEDx speaker. As amazing as your family think you are, and that's the right reason for sitting in the audience. At the end of the day, the talk really needs to be about how can my message help others and what can I share with the world that I feel they can actually look at this as of value to change their lives. And those are, you know, seven, 10, 15-minute talks max as and on the text stage. So it needs to be very succinct and short. And it needs to be, of course, presented in a way that it's engages, engaging that the consumer actually feels like, oh my gosh, I really listened to this now, and I didn't even notice that those 15 minutes went by. And I think that's a good practice in general to condense things down and also build a good talk, have a hook, have the middle section, and then at the end, kind of tell them what they just learned, because it makes you in general a better thinker when you present ideas. So the TEDx preparation in itself, it's the one word I would use is intense. There is no way around there. There is no like pretty painting I can do for you right now. It's intense. But even the whole runway is probably, and we're going to talk about this in a little while, is one of my biggest learning lessons in marketing because there's so much you learn about yourself when you prepare to do about it for your work ethic, for who you are, what matters for getting up when you feel those are some duff days to prepare for this. And of course, again, it doesn't have to be a TEDx talk, but of course, what I'm telling you is always the exact same thing. The best keynote speakers, they get on that stage in thinking I can want to change one person's life in the audience. And if it's multiple people's lives, I did the best thing I could and I did why I came here. That's really what you have to think about. It's it's not about like making you look good there, it's about making the audience feel something.
SPEAKER_00:I like that. I I really like that because you should always be thinking about your audience, right? And how you can help them and how you can make a difference for them. Because whether you've got a product or a service or a presentation, people aren't going to buy it or sign you up for it or whatever it happens to be, right? If it doesn't solve a problem for them, right. And so helping people is just so, so key on that. Well, I have to say thank you so, so much for joining me today on this. I love talking about the petite practices, finding and identifying those 15-minute intervals on your calendar, scheduling that joy that's going to move you closer to your goals is just, I think, brilliant. And I I love that you shared that because as we're in the holiday season here, uh I think it's very important for people to make sure that they're scheduling time for that joy and not just getting overwhelmed with their schedule, right? Whether it looks like a rainbow or fruit salad or a game of Tetris gone wrong, um, you know, that's they have to find room in their calendar for that. And then I love the starting with publishing, moving to podcasting, and then presenting. And thank you so much for also sharing your experience with TEDx, because I think there's a lot of people that want to get on that TEDx stage and give it a try. So hopefully maybe somebody will want to do that. So before I let you go though, I do need to ask you the question that I ask all my guests. And that is that this show is called Imperfect Marketing because marketing is anything but a perfect science. What has been your biggest marketing lesson learned?
SPEAKER_01:My biggest marketing lesson learned, and I hinted at it earlier, is really that you need to create a runway before and after launching a product and service. You can't just come out of the woods and say, Ta, here it is, and expect that people are going to run to you and push money in your hands and grab the product out of your hands. Um, because as amazing as this thing might be, all the best brands, all the best services, they will have a long runway letting us know that it's coming. And whether you're writing a book, whether you are launching a service, or whether you're giving a TED Text talk, you need to let the audience in that this is going to happen. So when I did my whole TEDx presentation, I every other day, maybe not even every day, I was on Instagram and I shared with them what I'm doing on that day. I said, today, yeah, today I'm memorizing, today I'm trying on clothing, today I'm preparing and I'm maybe like checking out what earrings I'm going to wear. So now interacting with a microphone. And you know what? So many people love that behind the scenes because they know that it's not just like stepping out on the red dot and giving a talk, but they don't know what's involved because they haven't done it themselves. I mean, of course, some of them might have, but maybe they prepare differently than I did. And I've I always tried to make it fun. Of course, there were a couple of videos when I was actually crying, one of them because I was, you know, exceptionally stressed out, and the other one because I was very happy. So tears of joy and tears of stress. And that's important too. So if you launch, write, produce, create, you cannot shut the world out. You need to let them into your process because it makes you the story that the consumer ultimately wants to buy. Because that's so important in marketing. Nobody buys a product and service, they buy a story, and you need to let them in on that story. And you really need to tease it ahead of time. And then after launching, even like tease the after. So after my TEDx talk, I started hustling like crazy and sharing that link and said it's here. Um, watch it, and and you see how my hair turned out on stage. And I went for the Greek goddess vibe and check out those shoes and everything. And you have to do that in marketing. People love you and they care about you, but you have to be fair. There's a lot of noise out there, and you just have to make it just a little easier for them to understand what you're actually doing.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, I love that. I love the runway before and after. Because I think some people think about the before one, some people think about the after, but people don't think about bookending that launch with both pieces. And that's so important. I was working with a client on a book launch recently, and it was the same thing. It was like, all right, how are we gonna lead up to this? How are we gonna start talking about it? Where do we want to start showing, you know, what you're doing? And yeah, it's important to take those photos and to document and to share because people do want to understand your journey, right? They're very curious and want to learn more. And I think that that's fantastic. Thank you so, so much again for sharing all of these wonderful tips and information with us today. I really appreciate it. We'll have definitely a lot of information in the show notes to connect and engage with all of the different things that we were sharing today. If you learned something today, and I know you did because I did, it would really help me out if you would rate and subscribe wherever you're listening or watching. Until next time, have a great rest of your day.
