#647 Creative Growth: Scaling with Strategy Over Content Overload

What if scaling your business had less to do with creating more content and more to do with building the right strategy?

In this powerful conversation, Rose Davidson sits down with Dubai-based marketing strategist and entrepreneur, Soha Ashrafian, to explore the difference between noise and true growth. By the age of 27, Soha had already co-founded four ventures — from a creative agency to a beauty brand and even a game design studio — all while driving growth across global markets. With over six years of experience, she knows what it takes to scale intentionally.

Soha reveals why so many brands confuse visibility with real growth, and how this mistake drains time, budget, and energy. Instead of chasing trends or pumping out endless content, she explains how clarity, positioning, and creative campaigns create lasting impact. With real-world examples from her own ventures and client successes, Soha shows what strategic marketing looks like in action.

Listeners will discover:

• Why visibility alone doesn’t equal growth
• How to create trust-driven content that resonates
• The anatomy of a creative strategy that delivers results

This episode is perfect for founders, creators, and business leaders ready to grow smarter, not louder. If you’re tired of the pressure to “do more content” and want to build a brand that people actually remember, you won’t want to miss Soha’s insights. 

🔗 CONNECT WITH SOHA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soha-ashrafiyan/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soha_ashrafian/

Website: http://temismarketing.com/

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Chapters

• 1:39 Soha explains that successful entrepreneurship requires taking action on ideas that feel right rather than overthinking details like money, connections, or expertise requirements.
• 7:12 Most brands incorrectly confuse visibility with actual growth, leading to ineffective marketing strategies that don't convert viewers into customers.
• 7:40 Creating an irresistible offer that customers cannot refuse is fundamental to business success, as referenced from Alex Hormozi's "$1 Million Offer" book.
• 14:24 Building trust requires purchasing an Instagram page with several thousand followers because people believe what they see in follower numbers rather than engagement quality.

Transcript

Intro | 00:00
Business insights on talking with the experts. Hosted by Rose Davidson. 

 Rose | 00:10
Do you know the difference between a noisy marketing strategy and strategic growth? Soha Ashrafian will share how clarity, position and creative campaigns are better than chasing a trend. Now, soha is a Dubai-based marketing strategist and serial entrepreneur who has co-founded four ventures by the age of 27, including a creative agency, a beauty brand, a game design studio, and a marketing platform currently in development. With six plus years of experience growing brands across global markets, She specialises in strategy-led campaigns that combine creativity with business results. 
 Soha has worked with both early-stage start-ups and international businesses, helping scale through storytelling. UGC strategies and high impact marketing systems. She's now sharing the behind the scenes lessons from years of building, not just to inspire, but to give creators. And found as practical tools to grow with focus and not noise. 
 Soha, welcome to Talking With The Experts. It is such a pleasure to have you. 

 Soha | 01:23
Hello, Rose. It's great to be here and thank you for having me. 

 Rose | 01:29
How did you start doing what you're doing? What prompted you to go into helping others create, you know, impactful marketing systems? 

 Soha | 01:39
Yeah, actually, my past was kind of simple and complicated in the same time. But I'm going to give you the short answer of that. Actually, whenever I came up with an idea that felt right and I knew I could turn it into a competitive edge, I just went for it. I actually think what holds most people back is that when they want to start something, they overthink all the details. How much money it will take, how many connections they'll need, how much knowledge or expertise it requires. And so there is always an excuse not to start, you know, and maybe you've got... Another commitment, maybe you think you need to learn more first. Maybe you think you need to raise money or anything else. And there's always some excuses to not to start, but first. And actually, most people believe they don't have enough money or time to waste on ideas. Because they're too scared to ask. To start because they think launching a business requires massive investment and they need so many resources to start and something like that. But actually, that's just not true. If... You're afraid of failure. The trick is simple. Learn to fail small, you know, if we are going to start a business and you're just too scared that, OK, I'm going to spend lots of time, lots of money on that. And at the end, I'm not sure that it's going to work or not. I'm going to be a loser or not or something like that. You have to just learn to start small. 
 So then fail small. Build your resilience by breaking your project down to the smallest version possible is really what do you have to do at first of becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business? Creation journey, you know? So that formula is kind of easy. See? If you've got an idea that you're believed in and you think it works, most people immediately think they'll need an office, employees. 
 Software, and suddenly they started at 10k just to start. But if you're like a If you're like me, when I was starting at the beginning, you probably don't have a penny of that. 
 So you have to break down your projects into smaller parts that don't take that much money or time from you. And it gives you the braveness of just starting it out. 
 So what you have to do is first, Make sure your idea is unique. I mean if you have an idea of starting a business and it's like that. Another thousands of brands and businesses in the market and you don't offer anything special. You're going to Not one, you know, you're not going to be successful or you're not going to be that successful at least. If you are going to start a business, the idea must be unique or at least you have to have a competitive advantage over your competitors in the market. Once you got that, move to market testing. And this is the part that I want to explain about the concept of MVP. MVP is the minimum viable of product. It means if you want to start a business from scratch, you have to Of course, you have to have the You know big picture what is going to be in the next 10 years? But before that you have to have the smallest version of your product that you can offer to the people for example, if you are thinking about a I don't know, having an agency in marketing, in branding, in anything. You're thinking, okay, I'm going to have content creation team, I'm going to have marketing team, I'm going to have graphics, etc., etc., But okay, what is my core offer? What is the thing that makes me different, makes my agency different from others? I will start with that special small steps and start offering people that special offer, that special core offer and competitive advantage that I think it's something that makes me want in the market. And see how it works, you know? You just have to test. 
 Yeah. 

 Rose | 07:12
So why do most brands confuse visibility with growth and how can we fix that? 

 Soha | 07:19
- Perfect. - Okay. - Okay. Bye. How can you fix - Exactly what? 
 Sorry. 

 Rose | 07:27
- People want brains confused, you know, visibility with growth. So if they're out there in the market, I sold the time. But their content isn't that great. How can they fix that? 

 Soha | 07:40
Yeah... Actually... When you want to start something, you have to keep asking yourself, what is a special thing that people really are looking for? And what is the thing that if I, Alex Hormuzi has a great book that I'm pretty sure most of your listeners has already read that is $1 million offer. And she perfectly says that in that book, that if you want to sell something to people, you have to make an offer that people cannot buy. Cannots don't accept that, you know, they have to accept, they feel crazy if they don't accept that. 
 So first of all, you have to find out your special offer. And after that, You found out that offer, you have to create the simplest advertisements that you can. - I mean, most of the people think When it comes to You know? When it comes to advertisements, most of the people think... Creating organic content and organic marketing is something that is the cheapest way, fastest way. And they think, OK, if I create content on Instagram, I create content on Snapchat, I create content on LinkedIn, it would be free. It's not that time taking. It's definitely time taking. It would be that free. I don't have to pay for advertisements, for paid ads or something like that. But it's one of the most expensive work that small businesses do. Because you don't have that much money to put on creating videos, creating good pictures that goes viral. You have to spend lots of time on creating content. And at the end, you don't know they are going to viral or not. And even if they go viral, none of those viewers will... Probably don't become your customer. At the end, And there is three simple reasons for that, you know? Viral content can't be direct ads because ads don't go viral. 
 So people who are watching your videos, your actual reels, your content on LinkedIn or anywhere else won't even understand your offer. They are just watching ads. A funny video or educating content or something like that. 
 So you cannot advertise directly via your reels, your content on LinkedIn or anywhere else. Second, most viewers are in local. 
 So if you're a local business, if I don't know, you are shipping something in your city, you are selling a product, you have a restaurant, you have a gym and any businesses that are local, it cannot be international. Most of the viewers aren't local. 99% of the people who are seeing your viral reel don't even live in your region. 
 So they cannot turn to your customer. And the third reason is even the 1% of people who are watching your reels to your Exact audience. 
 I mean, For example, if you're offering a service or a product to Working moms, for example, And your reels goes viral, okay? So many moms in all over the world see your reels. They love it. They save it. Maybe they share it with each other. But at the end, first, they don't know what you do exactly. Because the content that goes viral must be educational, must be funny, must be something that is not about your business. Second of all, they are not in your region. And third of all, most of them might not be even moms, might be even not working moms, even if they're in your region. They're watching your reels. 
 So one of the most expensive ways for businesses to start doing their own business and doing their marketing journey. And I'm seeing this mistake a lot about around me, even in Dubai that, you know, you think if people are coming to Dubai and start a business, they have to know how to do the marketing because the market is so competitive and People have to have some ideas of, okay, I have to turn this marketing into money very fast. Otherwise, I lose lots of money every day on the expenses that actually happens here. But you start doing organic marketing, I think, is the worst decision for small businesses. 
 You know, when you're a small business, You just have to find a... Direct way. To... - grab your, potential customer to grab their attention. Tell them you are in the market, tell them that you are doing what they really need, and sell them very directly and very easily. It's very easy, even if you're an advisor, you're a constructor, you're a B2B business, you're a small business. First of all, you have to create cash flow. And for that, you need advertisement, not organic marketing. Organic marketing is for businesses who are doing branding, who they want everybody to see their content, listen about their brands, you know? And These mistakes... That's a few-fold thing. Okay, if I... Span on advertisement i'm actually losing money it's it just mistake you know it drives me crazy because come on it's your business you have to spend for advertisement for that always you won't make any money on that you content first Yeah. 

 Rose | 14:11
Know so how do we build the that builds trust so hard at the So how do we create this content that builds the trust? 

 Soha | 14:24
There is some steps for that as well. Okay. I'm hearing a lot that people say you have to create a page, you have to create some reels, post reels every day, and, you know, post stories. 
 So you make people engage with your content and people start buying from you and something like that. That's just crap. It doesn't work at first. What you have to do is change. You have to buy up. Instagram page with a couple of thousands of followers. Because people believe what they see, not what really is happening. They don't care if you're... Content is if your page doesn't have real followers, they just see the numbers. They don't even check the numbers is matched with the number of likes and views on your page or not. They just see the first number they can see, you know. 
 So first of all, you have to buy a page. I'm sure that people in marketing who are listening to this right now are like, what? You don't have to buy a page, but yes, if you want to... Create trust in people, you have to buy a page with a couple of thousands of followers. 
 And then You have to start creating some very simple content from what you have. If you are providing services, you'll just simply create some contents about your services that you're offering. If you're, I'm not sure, you're selling products, some good pictures from your products, something that your page. Actually demonstrate what you're doing in your business, the services you're offering, the products you're selling, and something like this. 
 So if people come to your... I'm sorry, can you hear me? 

 Rose | 16:28
I think. Yes, I can. Yep. Keep going. 

 Soha | 16:33
I've lost. 

 Rose | 16:35
That's alright, keep going, it's all good. 

 Soha | 16:40
Okay Yeah. So... You have to post some pictures of your products and your services on your page, and you have to have some highlights on your page. And tell people if they are coming to your page, what they exactly do and how can I order or how can I connect with them. 
 So four or five different highlights on your Instagram page with contact us, about us, our products or our services, our clients, something like that. Something that people can easily observe when they come to your Instagram page. Okay, you have the interface here. You have the Instagram page with good number of followers. You have beautiful pictures and beautiful contents on your Instagram. And you shouldn't care about how many, I don't know, views they got or If they went viral, they didn't, it doesn't matter. Then you start testing different advertisements. You just need something like $200 for that, you know? You just need $200 to run advertisements on different creatives and on different offers and on different titles. 
 So you would see which one works best. So basically, you start a business with something like $200, and you can test which offer works best, which services has more customers, and so on. Here we are, you know? You are all set. 

 Rose | 18:22
Wonderful. Wonderful. If you want to get in touch with Soha, you can find her on LinkedIn, on Instagram, obviously on Instagram, because that's what she's been talking about, and at teamlessmarketing.com. 
 Soha, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for sharing with us about how we can make better marketing and better strategic decisions on our marketing. 

 Soha | 18:46
Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure talking to you. I hope listeners can really use the conversation we had for their Thank you. 

 Rose | 18:56
Businesses. I'm sure they will. Thank you so much again. Bye for now. 

 Soha | 19:02
Have a good day. Bye-bye. 

 Outro | 19:04
You've been listening to Talking with the Experts with Rose Davidson. The podcast that brings you real stories, bold insights and strategies that work. Be sure to subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast channel so you never miss an episode and dive into our full library anytime at TalkingWithTheExperts.com. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing and keep talking with the experts.