Today is a little different, we’re going to cover another way you can build your list, it’s different only because it’s not online.
We know you’re doing all the behind the scenes marketing work, like blog posts, email marketing, creating your own marketing graphics, recording videos, and connecting on social media. That’s great, we know there are lots of wonderful opportunities doing these things but would you believe that you can also build your list and market your business attending live events and conferences?
Attending live events is a major marketing opportunity that many business owners shy away from for a variety of reasons. But remember that in your overall business plan, you shouldn’t be planning ONLY for the quick sale. Ultimately, you want people to remember you and you should develop relationships with others both online and in real life so they will refer you to their circle of friends. Forming that relationship is also how people will get to know, like, and trust you, which will lead to sales and other referrals.
Yes, you can develop relationships online via social media and videos but why pass up the opportunity to meet people in real life? You never know who you will meet; your next big client may be somebody who lives in your home town. Or maybe you’ll meet your favorite icon at a conference and become inspired to achieve more. Or maybe you’ll meet someone who offers services you can use in your own business. You can never predict who you’ll meet at different events.
Working an online business can also become very lonely, so attending live events is simply a way to get out of the house! Start off easy by attending a business networking meeting or a simple Meet Up in your area. If you enjoyed the experience, you can certainly expand your horizons with a BNI membership or joining a local networking club. Once you start researching, you’ll discover a whole variety of opportunities, from those local events that meet weekly or monthly, to conferences that last for multiple days.
Live events also offer the opportunity to learn new things through classes or workshops held during the event. For example, the Beachpreneurs event is held annually in Florida for 3 days where the women attendees listen to the guest speakers but also break into workshop groups to work through what they’ve learned from the speakers. This also allows the attendees to share their business stories and experiences, which is also perfect for learning how to handle certain tasks or situations that may arise in business.
Another example is the WPPI photography conference held annually. Those four days are crammed with classes in which experts teach different photography techniques. Not only can attendees ask specific questions but they get hands-on practice in class and then can develop the technique to use in their business. Even though you can watch a video tutorial on how to perform these same photography skills, there’s just something magical about being in the same room as the teacher. Live conferences make the instructors more approachable than when you’re watching their video online. At live events, they welcome questions and enjoy engaging in conversations with attendees. You never know what valuable snippet of information you’ll learn from an instructor just by having a private conversation with them.
Which Events Are Right For You
When choosing events that will benefit you and your business, first think about your personality. Are you an extrovert who thrives on big gatherings or an introvert who prefers conversations in smaller groups? While there’s something to be said about stepping out of your comfort zone, how beneficial is it for the introvert to walk into a huge event, alone, on the opposite side of the country? Likewise, will an extrovert get bored at a local event with 100 people or less?
Another crucial task when determining which events are right for you is to set up a budget. How much expendable income do you have for plane fares, event tickets, hotels, food, taxis, entertainment, and babysitters for the kids or pets? Obviously, traveling will be more expensive than going to a local event but you’ll need to weigh the benefits of traveling vs staying local and determine which event will give you more ROI.
Now, let’s explore the pros and cons of each type of event:
Big vs Small
Social Media Marketing World boasts an attendance of 5,000 social media managers, bloggers, podcasters, and industry leaders and is held in San Diego, CA in February. That huge number of attendees means you’ll have plenty of people to network and socialize with but you’ll only meet a small fraction of those attending. Big conferences like these also boast the more well-known guest speakers, names you’ve likely heard before and probably follow online. But…because the speakers are more well-known, and it’s high priority travel season for San Diego, the event ticket prices will also be more expensive.
On the other hand, a smaller event, such as Exposure and Profit, will have a smaller venue, smaller attendance, and the speakers might not be as well-known. However, you still have the opportunity to mingle and network with other attendees and you’ll have a better chance of meeting everyone in attendance. You’ll also have a better chance of meeting the speakers because of having fewer attendees. The event ticket will also be less expensive so it will likely fit into your budget.
Niche vs Broad
A niche conference is one that focuses on one particular group of people or one particular type of business. It’s very specific and will have very specific goals for that niche. One such event is Beachpreneurs. This event caters to female business owners and aims to create a sisterhood or camaraderie among its attendees. A benefit to a niche event is you’ll be among other like-minded people who belong to this niche. While your experiences won’t be identical, though networking and mastermind workshops, you can learn new skills or strategies from the speakers and attendees. At Beachpreneurs the speakers also participate in the mastermind workshops, making themselves very approachable to the other attendees.
The Traffic and Conversion Summit is considered a broad event because under the broad title of “traffic and conversion” there are many different ways to attract traffic to your site and to convert those visitors into buyers. You could probably hold a niche event for each of the topics they will cover at their next summit! A benefit to attending a broad event is you’ll get more of an overview of the subject matter with speakers adding in their more detailed viewpoints but a common downfall to this format is it can be extremely overwhelming to have SO much information thrown at you at once. Knowing how to determine what information you need and how to implement it properly is key to making broad events beneficial to your business.
Local vs Out of Town
For obvious reasons, sticking with local events will be easier on your budget because you won’t have to pay for hotel, cabs, or airplane tickets. All you’ll need to spend money on is your event ticket, food (if not included in the event ticket), parking, and gas money. If you’re in the San Diego area, Traffic and Conversion as well as Social Media Marketing World would be considered local events for you, so don’t equate “local” as meaning “small”.
So far, all these events we’ve mentioned are days-long events but those are not the only types of events to attend. Have you visited a BNI chapter yet? BNI has over 8,000 chapters worldwide and they meet on a weekly basis, usually early morning hours before most businesses open. You have to apply for membership and they usually limit the types of companies they accept so members aren’t competing against each other. Some chapters are large while others are small but the object for all chapters is to learn what the other members do and to refer prospects their way.
Look for other networking events through your local Chamber of Commerce. They usually hold quarterly networking events that include a guest speaker, networking time, and possibly dinner. They also have different committees on which to serve, thus meeting even more local business owners on a regular basis. The biggest benefit to staying local is you meet other business owners in your community, which is great for passing along referrals or asking for sponsorships or gifts for charitable events.
Look on Facebook for other local niche groups, such as professional women networks or other local networks specific to coaching. Most of all, no matter what event you choose to attend, don’t be afraid to interact! If you’re excited about your business, others will be drawn to you.
Putting out high-quality content can work wonders for your traffic and list building goals. For one, it builds you as an authority figure. People start to trust you more, which will have them linking to you and talking about you more. It’s also exactly what Google is looking for, which means you’ll quickly see big boosts in search traffic.
So how do you create high quality content that people and search engines love?
Start With an Interesting Title & Concept Your title plays two crucial roles. First, gets people on your website to stop and read. But what many webmasters don’t realize is the role it plays in Google. Your title is what people see in search results – it’s the main piece of information they use to decide if they click on the link and come to your site. It’s your headline in the search engines.
If you’re writing about toddlers needing sleep, a title such as “my sleepy toddler” will not cut it. Instead, use something like “Why toddlers need naps” to grab the attention of both search engines and readers.
Make it Emotionally Engaging People want to have an engaging experience when they’re reading content. Even if their primary goal is educational, it still helps to make your content engaging. Add in personal stories, interesting anecdotes or a dash of personality to help keep people engaged.
Explain Concepts in Easy to Understand Language Avoid using jargons. Use simple language that an 8th grader could understand, even if you’re describing a complex topic. Make sure your readers walk away with several “aha” nuggets of knowledge.
Build Out Evergreen Content Evergreen content refers to content that isn’t seasonal. Instead, it addresses questions and needs that people will have for months and years to come. Use tools like online forums, blog comments and the Google Keyword Tool to find questions that people ask regularly. Address those questions.
Quality Over Quantity The first and most important factor of your website’s success will be the quality of your website’s content. Quantity – how many articles you publish – is secondary to the depth of the information you share.
Publish at least one in-depth, information packed article every month. Naturally, the more often you can publish these types of articles, the better. But don’t sacrifice quality for quantity.
Add Pictures! Web statistics show that users tend to stay on pages with images far longer than plain text pages. Add screenshots and illustrations to demonstrate the concepts you’re talking about. Add photographs of real life events. Or use stock photos to add some pizazz to your content.
If you publish this kind of content regularly, in a few weeks or months you’ll find your website’s traffic growing by leaps and bounds and help you build your email list.
What I suggest is you write a new piece of in-depth content. Spend some time making sure you have both an interesting idea to share, as well as an attention catching title. Ensure it is emotionally engaging and any concepts you describe are easy to understand. Include a picture, screenshot or stock photo when adding it to your website.
Plan a minimum of 3 more pieces to be written throughout the next 30 days.
Is your ideal community driven to reach a measurable goal, such as losing weight before summer, publishing a Kindle book or landing their first client?
If your answer is “yes”, running a time-limited challenge may be the best kick-starting strategy for you to build your list.
Challenges are wonderful because they tend to attract people ready to break past long-term obstacles and take action. Once you understand the psychology of this, you have a captive audience that is not only eager but motivated to succeed.
Make sure that your Challenge benefits and advances your ideal member in a transformative way.
For example:
Helps your challenge member achieve a specific goal or fulfill a dream
Empowers your challenge member with the confidence and/or skills to finally take the next step
Provides her with a knowledgeable community offering support and encouragement
Provides her with validation—from other members, as well as from you
Allows you to share in—and celebrate—her success
Challenges are exciting. They make people feel “in the moment” and alive. Members of your Challenge are drawn together by a common bond and goal—and they all look to you for guidance.
Reasons to use it:
For your own benefit, there is no more powerful testimony than from a person you have directly helped to succeed in attaining a measurable goal or result. As with a Facebook Group, you will also receive priceless feedback in the form of questions, praises and comments.
You will be able to gauge:
What really excites your typical member
What she still struggles with
What major obstacles she finds hard to overcome
What she finds easy
What she still needs
What she desperately wants next
And, of course, you are interactively engaged—with multiple members and potential clients at once.
How to Use it:
Setting up a Challenge can be done in several ways such as via a Facebook Group, through a membership site—whatever works best for you and your ideal audience.
You can set up instant or mini-challenges in contest form. You can use challenges within challenges to keep your members fired up and moving forward: For example, while you are running your Sixty-Day-Finish-your-Novel Challenge, throw in weekly mini-challenges with prizes, such as “Best Title”; or if your paid Challenge includes a deal on software such as eCover Authority, “Best eCover Design”.
Mini-challenges give people small, attainable goals—and there’s no shame in deciding not to participate in optional mini-challenges. They also boost confidence and keep excitement levels high—and let’s not forget that large successes are often built on smaller successes.
That being said, make very sure any Challenge you create is neither too easy nor too hard. It should feel like a “challenge”—but inspire your participant with the feeling that they can do it!
You can also create a free mini-version of your challenge to inspire people, give them a taste of what you’re offering and create momentum. Create milestones, check-in points and those mini-challenges—and decide in advance if people will be permanently eligible for the next time you run the Challenge; if they can put your Challenge “on hold” if some life event throws a wrench in the works, or if they have to pay full (or partial) price to start again.
Challenges create focus for you, as well as for your members. They help you fast-track your members—and your reputation-building and visibility too.
Challenges create a core community of loyal, engaged followers and subscribers.
Today I’d like to talk about the list we’ve built so far and some actions you need to take. And if you’re worried that your list is too small for these actions, remember no one opens up their brand new email management system and sees thousands of prospects from day one. We all start with a single subscriber, and we grow our list from there, so no matter your list size this applies to you.
What you do while your list is growing is critical to your future success.
It’s never too early to start promoting. This is the number one mistake those with a small list make. They believe—wrongly so, it turns out—that there’s no point in promoting to a small list.
There are two reasons this is a mistake. First, when all you send your list is information, and you never make an offer, you’re training them that there will never be an offer. Then the first time you send out an email promoting something, they’re not happy.
The second issue with not promoting to your list is that you’re creating a bad habit. Yes, it’s important that you offer value to your list. It’s just as important to present offers regularly.
It is possible to promote too much. Despite what I just said, it is possible to burn out your list with promotion after promotion. If all you do is send your subscribers offers to buy, watch your unsubscribe rate grow.
Instead, remember to set up a system of nurturing your list by providing them value. Teach them to open your emails by striving to always include information they want and need. Share your stories with them. Tell them what you’ve learned. Interact with them. Promotions are necessary, but they’re not the primary way to connect with your list.
Make good use of segmentation. Not everyone on your mailing list will benefit from the same information or promotions. Some subscribers may be at the beginning of their journey and just learning about the topics you cover. Others will be more advanced and in need of different advice. Some subscribers will be active buyers and jump on offers quickly. Others may not.
By creating segments in your mailing list software, you can offer your subscribers exactly what they need when they need it. This targeted approach will result in more sales and happier subscribers.
Whether your list is 50 or 10,000, these strategies will help keep your list profitable, active, and responsive. And a responsive list is one of the most valuable assets you’ll have. Take good care of it, and it will take care of you.
It’s getting harder to get people to come to your website and stick around long enough to see what you’re offering. In fact, most people spend less than 20 seconds on a website before they click away, never to return. Thankfully, there are solutions to that problem. The way to attract more prospects, engage viewers, get more email subscribers, and make more sales is with video and specifically, YouTube videos.
Create a niche YouTube channel, with lots of great information. You don’t need thousands of subscribers to make it work. You just need to target and market to your viewers effectively on your YouTube channel, as well as other places. Let’s get started by looking at how to create your channel.
Create a Targeted Niche Channel
The first thing you need to do is create your YouTube channel. Give this a lot of thought because you want the name and branding of your channel to describe what your viewers can expect.
Design – YouTube allows you to create a cover photo, backgrounds, and other branding that will make a lot of difference for spreading brand awareness.
Watermarks – Use a watermark for your videos to help keep your branding there along with the YouTube branding. In your dashboard, under channel, you’ll find a link to “branding” that will help.
Intros & Outros – Create a standard intro and outro for your videos. That will also help a lot with the branding of your channel. You can use your video editing software to pop your newest video into the middle of the intro and outro.
Keywords – When you create your “about” description take the opportunity to include as much information as space allows using keywords that your audience will use to find you. Look for keywords under your dashboard, channel, advanced.
Cross Promote – Include a link to your website as well as your social media accounts. This gives visitors the ability to choose what works best for them. You’ll find this information under the dashboard, channel, advanced.
Contact Info – Just in case someone wants to use you as an influencer (that can mean a big payday) include plenty of contact information.
Use keywords and information that helps anyone know exactly why you’re on YouTube and what you’re promoting. Keep it friendly and valuable. Avoid hard sales tactics because visitors are coming to you for information and solutions, not ads, links, and annotations that distract them from getting the info they want.
Create Videos that Get Views & Shared A lot of people do have videos “go viral” by accident but you can, with planning make sure that you have a bigger chance of a video going viral. Going viral can be defined as being shared a lot more than other videos but how much depends on your niche. For some niches, that can mean a million views. For others that might mean 1000. It just depends on your niche. However, you will have more of a chance of going viral if you follow the tips here.
Lighting & Sound Matter If you really want a video to go viral, invest in the tools necessary to create high quality videos. Don’t worry about perfection. Just concern yourself with ensuring that people can see clearly and hear what you’re saying. The more professional the video appears and the better the information you provide, the higher your rating will be.
Add in Some Background Music When Appropriate For some videos, adding a little mood music can be helpful. However, don’t make it too long or loud. Background means that it’s more like subtle white noise. Also, make sure that you have the right type of royalty free music. If you use music that is not approved for this use, your video will be taken down for copyright infringement. YouTube has music you can use but you can also do a search for “royalty free music” to find more options.
Create Custom Thumbnails The best way to get attention for your videos is to create custom thumbnails that draw attention to the topic you’re going to talk about. You can pick a thumbnail that YouTube snaps from your upload or you can upload a special thumbnail. Branding will be increased if you use custom thumbnails that help the viewer determine what’s inside.
Be Authentic That might seem like an obvious statement but a lot of people get so nervous doing any type of video that they start sounding like a robot. The best thing you can do is know your topic very well and just keep an outline in front of you about what you want to talk about, then just talk about it without memorization. It’s okay to look down at notes, share your screen, or look away from the camera. However, it’s very important to talk to the people as if they’re in the room with you and are your friends.
Keep Them Short YouTube videos work best if they cover only one point of action. This means that a video less than 10 minutes is ideal. If you can get your videos down to two minutes, it’s even better since those tend to do best on YouTube. You want to cover one point, one “how to,” and one call to action in each video.
Interview Others When you can involve other people in your videos, it makes for something more exciting than one person talking to the screen. Interview successful people within your industry, a customer who has had success with your products, or even a famous influencer that you know your audience will enjoy hearing from.
Keep Posting When you first start posting YouTube videos try to stick to a schedule. Usually, it’s best to post one short video a day than it is to post one long video per week. After you’ve gained momentum, you can slow down, but at first plan on posting one video a day for 30 days for the best results.
Finally, make sure that you appear in your own videos. You can make plenty of videos that don’t include you but the ones that include your face will get a lot more results than videos that only include products or screen shares. With over 1.5 billion active YouTube users online watching videos, you’re sure to find your audience.
Pinterest is a virtual pin board service. Users can create boards that they pin content to. This content is usually in the form of pictures but it can sometimes be video. A user can have multiple boards spanning different topics.
Marketers love Pinterest because it sends customers to their websites. In fact, Pinterest is one of the best social media platforms to use if you’re trying to sell a digital product. Here’s how to use Pinterest to get more traffic which will in turn help you build your list…
Think of boards as categories. Some marketers struggle with the concept of Pinterest boards. That’s why it can be helpful to consider boards as categories for your content.
If you’re in the health and wellness niche, you may have content on topics like ‘healthy meal prep’, ’10-minute workouts’, or ‘weight loss success stories’. Take each of these categories and turn them into a board on Pinterest.
Describe your pin. It isn’t enough to just grab an image from your website or blog and add it to your Pinterest board. Take a moment to describe what the content is that you’re linking to.
Tease readers about what they’ll get and make them eager to clickthrough. Don’t share something boring like, “Learn 5 Tips for Clean Eating”.
Instead, spice it up a bit. Try using this instead, “Discover the 5 Secrets All Clean Eaters Must Know to Succeed. If you’re struggling with clean eating, these tips will motivate and inspire you. Be sure to download the free eating plan mentioned.”
Sign up for a business account. If you’re using Pinterest to send traffic back to your website, you should make sure you have a business account. This will give you access to statistics about your pins. You’ll know when the best time is to pin, what keywords your audience loves, and which pins get the best traction.
If you’re already created an account, you don’t have to lose your pins. You can simply convert the account by going to Pinterest Business Accounts and filling out a short form.
Use group boards. Some Pinterest users create a group board and allow other members to contribute pins to it. Often, the group board is built around a theme that other users may find helpful like ‘Best Weight Loss Tips for New Moms’ or ‘Styling Tips for Petite Women’.
Group boards usually get thousands of followers, so pinning to one is a great way to increase your traffic. But you need to read the owner’s rules before you attempt to pin. Some owners will want you to email them so they know you’re a real person. Others may ask you to follow them on social media before you contribute.
Pinterest is a great source of traffic, but it can also be a huge distraction if you’re not careful. To keep this from happening, try to schedule your posts and only login when you have a few spare minutes. Otherwise, you may find your productivity goes down when using the site.
