Transcripts
Hello and welcome to the Women Conquer Business Show.
Jen:I'm Jen McFarland, joined by Shelley Carney.
Jen:We're your go-to small business marketing show covering breaking marketing news
Jen:that affects you cool apps we found, and a deep dive into a marketing topic with
Jen:a side of motivation and inspiration.
Jen:We'll also talk a little about our own entrepreneurial journeys as well.
Jen:Are you ready?
Jen:Let's get started.
Jen:So today, we are gonna talk about how to find the perfect
Jen:opt-in to ultimately boost sales.
Jen:Top marketing experts tell us to build our quote business home on owned property.
Jen:That means not on the rented land of social media.
Jen:It also means we need to establish and grow an email list where our most loyal
Jen:and interested audience can be reached.
Jen:But how do we get them to sign up?
Jen:Well, we offer them the perfect opt-in, whether it's a free download,
Jen:an automated webinar, it's some sort of lead magnet that gets your
Jen:people super excited so that over.
Jen:We can offer them our products and services while we nurture and
Jen:build a relationship with them.
Jen:Sounds pretty cool, right?
Jen:? Mm-hmm.
Jen:. How do we know what will be the perfect irresistible opt-in or offer?
Jen:That's what we're gonna talk about in this exciting and revealing episode.
Jen:Hey, revealing woo woo revealing
Jen:. Shelley: That's so awesome.
Jen:. We're wearing a purple today.
Jen:Look at us.
Jen:I know.
Jen:Purple girls.
Jen:Purple girls.
Jen:So what's.
Shelley:What's up over there?
Shelley:What is, I worked really hard all weekend and learned more about
Shelley:Vonza and I got my course up.
Shelley:I got a course up, an entry level easy course that is nine lessons.
Shelley:A mini course.
Shelley:It's up for sale.
Shelley:And I have a special coupon available.
Shelley:That you can use anytime between now and November 18th, 2022,
Shelley:and you can get it for free.
Shelley:What I ask is, if you do purchase this course for free, is that you tell me.
Shelley:What you thought of it write to me with your your review of it.
Shelley:Did it help you?
Shelley:Was it good?
Shelley:What could be better?
Shelley:And may maybe I could use your review in, in, on my website as a testimonial.
Shelley:And that would be a nice win-win for both of us.
Jen:Absolutely.
Jen:And where can we get that
Shelley:course go to course dot, agk media, dot studio, and the to get it free,
Shelley:all caps, a g k saver, and and it's all,
Jen:That's how you do it.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:And what I love about this is you were using your own advice to
Jen:make this course created something that you absolutely loved.
Jen:You used that as like a framework for how this course would be laid
Jen:out, and then you just did it.
Jen:There was no hesitation.
Jen:You got it done.
Jen:You got it out.
Jen:But I bet it feels pretty good, doesn't it?
Shelley:Yeah, and one of the reasons I did it was I had an episode on
Shelley:my show, Shelley Carney livestream coach, that was really good.
Shelley:And I said, this would make an excellent course.
Shelley:So I just took the video that I had done live and I had slides with it.
Shelley:So now I have slides as the resource.
Shelley:I have the course that it cut up into nine different short videos.
Shelley:And then I added captions to it to make it friendly for hearing impaired.
Shelley:And then just learned how to use Vonza by doing that.
Shelley:Now I have another course that I've been trying to get out since
Shelley:May, June, July, August, September.
Shelley:And now that I've done the short course, I go, Oh, now I know how to do this.
Shelley:And it's that much faster to get the other one done.
Shelley:Yeah.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:Well, and one of the things that's really cool about this, it's.
Jen:Creating, publishing and distributing content consistently, which is
Jen:also related to the opt-in that you frequently offer on the show.
Jen:So yes, this is our first how to hot tip is if you are offering something as an
Jen:opt-in, one of the ways that you can get your people to come along with you is you
Jen:continue to offer things in that vein.
Jen:So when you come up, Something that's very attractive that you can talk
Jen:about and speak to over and over again.
Jen:One of the ways that you do that then is to keep them interested by having a
Jen:course by and then by offering a coupon code so that they can engage with you
Jen:in a different way and on a different
Shelley:level.
Shelley:That's right.
Shelley:And it gives them that.
Shelley:That risk free FOMO.
Shelley:Gotta get the coupon now before it expires.
Shelley:All of those little techniques for sales are embedded in that.
Shelley:And that it's, of course, I'm just trying to get people into my world to see what
Shelley:I do, get a taste of my work, and how awesome it is and how much value I bring.
Shelley:So that's how I decided to do this.
Shelley:And like you said, my initial opt-in was.
Shelley:Content creative content framework and schedule.
Shelley:And what this course is is an explanation of how to put that to use in your
Shelley:business so they go intimately together.
Shelley:Yeah,
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:No, I think that this is fantastic.
Jen:I'm sure we will talk about this again throughout the show, but Shelley
Jen:is really mo modeling for you.
Jen:What this, finding a perfect opt-in to boost sales is really.
Jen:It's, helping people understand what you offer and go a little
Jen:deeper and then go a little deeper.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, So the opt-in is really that first level, right?
Jen:And then you continue to help people.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:So as for me, I did not work on a course I am in, like I think I mentioned last week.
Jen:I'm in the process of revamping a few things in my business.
Jen:I am interviewing.
Jen:Freedom Makers tomorrow.
Jen:And what that means is I'm working with an organization called Freedom Makers.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, that is a virtual assistant company.
Jen:And that the idea is that the freedom makers make more freedom
Jen:for me in my business by helping me.
Jen:Nice.
Jen:And this organization, they have been very organized.
Jen:It's been a great experience for me.
Jen:They work with military spouses.
Jen:US military spouses.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, and then they work as virtual assistants in different areas of your business.
Jen:So I'm very excited.
Jen:I'm putting together some questions and some getting some things ready
Jen:for this new person that will be helping me with my business.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:It's a very, it's a very exciting time.
Jen:So that's what I've been working on.
Jen:It's been very heady, backend to-do lists and tracking and
Jen:trying to get things done.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:and also getting ready.
Jen:We were talking before the show.
Jen:Prerecording a few episodes, , that we're gonna do that because I will be on
Jen:vacation and pretty much not available to.
Jen:The internet for a while.
Jen:I just am taking a little break.
Shelley:She's just gonna be hidden away on a tropical
Jen:island to be hidden away on a tropical island . So that is
Jen:really what's going on with me.
Jen:Are you ready for some breaking news?
Shelley:Breaking news?
Jen:Okay.
Jen:So as you may or may not know the, I don't know how you couldn't know unless you are.
Jen:Offline, in which case, I don't know if you listen to podcasts, if
Jen:you're offline or if you watched YouTube videos if you're offline.
Jen:But the US midterm elections are coming up here in about two weeks, I think.
Jen:And what we are finding in terms of the midterm elections and our customers
Jen:is that our customers are researching.
Jen:The brand stances and voting with their dollar ahead of the midterms.
Jen:So it, what that means is you have to really look at what it
Jen:is that you are saying online.
Jen:And if that's like a part of who you are, if it's a part of what it is that you do,
Jen:you can't say one thing and do another.
Jen:That's a really big part of this.
Jen:So you wanna practice what you post, don't say one thing and then do another.
Jen:But then it's also in this article, it was on Marketing Brew, which is
Jen:a pretty, it's a pretty cool website with like ongoing marketing news.
Jen:They have a few different shows.
Jen:So it's not only practice what you post, it's also money, people are putting
Jen:their money where their mouth is.
Jen:So it also means if you're making donations and statements, but.
Jen:You're doing something different.
Jen:, These two things all need to be together.
Jen:And if you think people don't care about where you're making political
Jen:donations don't test that out.
Jen:, I'll just say that.
Jen:People look this stuff up, It's public record.
Jen:It's very easy.
Jen:So what this means and people, it says even in the article, people are
Jen:very on fire about this election.
Jen:From every political persuasion.
Jen:So if you wanna take a stand in your business, and that's part of your
Jen:marketing is to talk about your personal views or your business's views, then
Jen:just be really careful about that and about then the other actions you take,
Jen:the other words that you use, the.
Jen:Things that you are doing because people are in fact watching.
Jen:And I think that if you are taking a stand one, one way or the other then you're
Jen:going to be held accountable for that.
Jen:One of the things that happened, for example, in my local community of
Jen:Portland, Oregon, is after George Floyd was killed, then a lot of local
Jen:businesses in the startup community and.
Jen:In tech in particular here, we're talking a lot about the increased need
Jen:for diversity, social justice, and they were talking about all of the
Jen:different things that they were going to do and then they didn't do it . And
Jen:so it's still an ongoing conversation here in Portland where all of these
Jen:people are saying, Hey, we're still watching you, and you didn't actually
Jen:do what you said you were going to do
Jen:And it hurts the brand, it hurts the marketing, and it does in fact hurt your
Jen:ability to attract and retain customers.
Jen:Many people who are small business owners try to stay out of it entirely.
Jen:What we are finding to though is that many of our customers, they wanna know.
Jen:So it is something that you need to be judicious about.
Jen:You need to think.
Jen:how you wanna address that stuff.
Jen:But just understand that our customers are watching us probably more than
Jen:we think, and their money is going where our mouths go, . So whatever
Jen:we're saying and doing, yeah.
Jen:There are people who are going to be buying or not buying from you.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:and I would en-, I would encourage you as someone who has a business name in Women
Jen:Conquer business that does turn people.
Jen:and turns a lot of people on.
Jen:I will remind you, , that people being turned off by you is okay too.
Jen:It's good marketing, it's good information for you as long as the people
Jen:who are turned off are aligned with people that you don't wanna work with.
Jen:. Mm-hmm.
Jen:. It's when these two things are at odds with each other that it's not working.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. Mm-hmm.
Jen:. And I think that to bring that into opt-ins and what we're talking about,
Jen:You need to make sure that you are in alignment with your brand mission,
Jen:with who it is that you're helping, and be offering things that are
Jen:attractive to them and understand that people are watching you.
Jen:All the time, and they're always looking to see if you are going to say and do
Jen:the things that are a match for them.
Jen:So that is what I have on breaking news.
Jen:Did you, do you have anything you wanna add to this or,
Shelley:Yeah, I'll make it a little bit more close to home.
Shelley:Last week, Toby and I did an interview on Messages and Methods and he was somebody
Shelley:we hooked up with through Pod Match and he had a list of questions that he
Shelley:likes to answer, and so Toby asked him one of those questions and it was about.
Shelley:Freedom commerce freedom, that sort of thing.
Shelley:And he went way, political way, the opposite of how Toby and I believe.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:So as soon as that live stream was over, and right after he finished answering
Shelley:the question we wrapped up the show.
Shelley:And then as soon as that show was over, I went in and cut out that piece.
Shelley:and we didn't, and then we put the, let the rest of it up on our podcast
Shelley:and left it on our YouTube channel.
Shelley:But we took it everywhere, took it off everywhere else, and I didn't
Shelley:blog about it this week because he had given a total opposite
Shelley:political view to what we believe.
Shelley:And we didn't want people thinking that we were like that.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:So you gotta be careful about, you have to be careful like that.
Shelley:And we didn't even wanna talk about politics.
Shelley:We were trying to get it towards what does this mean?
Shelley:And yeah.
Shelley:And it was one of the questions he wanted to answer and we didn't
Shelley:realize it was gonna go that way,
Shelley:. Jen: Yeah.
Shelley:And it's, it's a shame that people do that.
Shelley:I, with my, I don't know if I've told you this story before or not, so when
Shelley:I say not everybody likes the business name, have I told you about the person?
Shelley:Who told me they wouldn't work with me.
Shelley:? No.
Shelley:Based on my business name.
Shelley:No.
Shelley:Tell me.
Shelley:So I gave a talk in town and it was me and my friend, also a woman,
Shelley:and it was part of her group.
Shelley:And we were sitting around a table and it was all men, men, and, which I love.
Shelley:Men . I work with men . And the person sitting next to me, I don't know,
Shelley:futzing around with my business card the whole time, and I was brought in to
Shelley:speak to the group and I was speaking to the group, and the whole time he was
Shelley:almost like a little heckler, And just poking the bear and poking the bear.
Shelley:And I was answering all of his questions and, and I was talking about digital
Shelley:marketing and project management, which are two things near and dear to my heart.
Shelley:And I mentioned some things and it seemed like anything that , he just kept at it
Shelley:and at it and at it and I was like, Okay I don't get it, and kept fighting with me.
Shelley:So we get to the end, people ask questions and everybody
Shelley:was super nice and super cool.
Shelley:And I we're wrapping it up and he looks at me and he holds up my business card
Shelley:and he's I am never gonna send anybody to you because of your business.
Shelley:And I didn't know what to say.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:Like I was like, What?
Shelley:And I was startled because that had never happened to me before.
Shelley:And usually when people meet me and they see the business name it, it makes sense.
Shelley:Like they mm-hmm.
Shelley:, it's not whatever energy people are bringing into it, they meet me and they.
Shelley:They have a different reaction.
Shelley:Women Conquer business is really about a state of being where we
Shelley:are all able to learn and come together and do better and be better.
Shelley:And we help each other and we all rise up together.
Shelley:That's right.
Shelley:And.
Shelley:and I want to work with people who are down with the business name . Cause
Shelley:that's really what it's about.
Shelley:Mm-hmm.
Shelley:. So in the moment, I just didn't know what to say.
Shelley:I just was like, Okay, . Mm-hmm.
Shelley:, I'm pretty sure what I did was just OK.
Shelley:And then everybody left and there was one guy who stayed back and he,
Shelley:I could tell he was just like super protective and like worried about it.
Shelley:I wasn't worried about it.
Shelley:Cuz like I, I'm from Idaho.
Shelley:I've dealt with all kinds.
Shelley:Crazy people and stuff like that, so whatever.
Shelley:Mm-hmm.
Shelley:. So I just let it go and, but I was really taken aback and hurt
Shelley:by the business name, comment.
Shelley:Mm-hmm.
Shelley:. And then it wasn't until like later that night or something, I was
Shelley:like, Wait, that guy was a jerk.
Shelley:I wouldn't wanna work with that guy either.
Shelley:, And so then he
Shelley:self-selected.
Shelley:Thank you very much.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:He
Jen:self-selected.
Jen:And I was like, Okay, cool.
Jen:That is great information and a great tool.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:and something.
Jen:I don't feel bad about anymore.
Jen:Like I'm kinda like, and I don't worry about it.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. And when people say do you work with men?
Jen:I'm like, Well, yeah.
Jen:They just have to be cool with the business name.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. And it's the, and that's it.
Jen:That's, that's the whole story.
Jen:That's the whole vision of the company.
Jen:And so when we talk about things like.
Jen:Politics and our brand, or when we talk about opt-ins and our brand,
Jen:understand that you could not as a business owner, possibly help
Jen:every single person on the Earth.
Jen:That's right.
Jen:Nobody can do that.
Jen:So when people tell you they're self-selecting out, that's a
Jen:favor to you and that person.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, because other people will self select.
Jen:. Now, when we talk about finding the perfect opt-in, there's also what if
Jen:it's really great and nobody's doing it?
Jen:And that's a lot of what we're gonna talk about today is,
Jen:sometimes we make something and then we think, well, that's it.
Jen:And then if nobody responds to it, sometimes we don't realize.
Jen:Sometimes it's the packaging of it Yeah, that causes people to opt in or opt.
Jen:So I feel like this is all kind of setting the stage a little bit for the training.
Jen:Are we in training mode now?
Shelley:Let's see.
Jen:Yes we are.
Jen:Yes we are.
Jen:. Shelley, do you wanna.
Jen:Lead us off a little bit about opt-ins and You betcha.
Shelley:Okay.
Shelley:As Jen said when we introduce the show, there's a difference
Shelley:between having a presence being an influencer on social media and
Shelley:having an audience that you nurture.
Shelley:With an e-, having them on your email list and having them show up on your
Shelley:website and read your blogs and show up to see your live streams and read your
Shelley:social media posts and your newsletters.
Shelley:These are people who have selected.
Shelley:Self selected that they wanna be a part of your world and they are the
Shelley:most important asset you will ever have in your business because they become
Shelley:the people who buy things from you.
Shelley:We want to give them that opportunity to select us, and that's what
Shelley:we do when we offer that opt-in.
Jen:We do.
Jen:And it is because basically it's like saying, Here's a gift for you
Jen:in exchange for your name and email.
Shelley:Exactly.
Shelley:And yet, even though it's a gift and it's free, we still have to sell it
Shelley:because people are not trusting us.
Shelley:They don't know us, or maybe they don't know if it's worth
Shelley:handing out their email address.
Shelley:Oh, I have too many emails already.
Shelley:I have too many newsletters already.
Shelley:I can't even focus.
Shelley:So we have to get through that noise by making sure it's something.
Shelley:They feel that they need and they want to feel included, right?
Shelley:They want to feel like that's for me and I wanna be a part of Jen and
Shelley:Shelley's world, so let me have that.
Jen:Absolutely.
Jen:It's so interesting.
Jen:They say the average value of an email address is $5.
Jen:And I'm like, as hard as it is to draw the email address out of somebody,
Jen:I tend to think it's, we hold on to these more near and dear because
Jen:we don't want to be bombarded with things that aren't aligned with us.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:And so it means we do have to do the work to entice people to come.
Jen:One of the things that's really important is you can be and I think Shelley
Jen:knows people like this, I certainly do.
Jen:You can be like popular on social media and influencer, but you
Jen:don't own those followers, right?
Jen:If you get somebody to give you their name and email address, it's
Jen:not that you own that email address, but they are opting in to be.
Jen:Private audience and it is a list.
Jen:You do own your list and these are your captive audience.
Jen:People downplay the importance of email marketing, and I think especially
Jen:in small business, that's a mistake.
Jen:You wanna have that captive audience in a place that you own because
Jen:social media can change overnight.
Jen:That's why.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, the cool intro that Shelley wrote this week about, rented space
Jen:versus owned space is so critical.
Jen:It's something that you own because, Yeah, algorithms change all the time.
Jen:What's presented on social media changes all the time.
Jen:And in the case of something like a Facebook, which is in a decline, even
Jen:what networks people are using can change overnight or seemingly overnight.
Jen:So there are a lot of factors at play that make the opt-in so important.
Jen:One of the things we didn't talk about, so an opt-in, it can be a free download.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. The easiest thing to make, I think, is you know, you come up with an idea, so
Jen:this could be a guide, this can be a free download that you're teaching somebody.
Jen:And then maybe at the end you include a link to schedule with you that's
Jen:like hyperlinked and things like that.
Jen:I have several different opt-ins, , like things like social media
Jen:Detox Journal is one of my opt-ins.
Jen:The one I have right now that's fairly popular is the free marketing
Jen:self-assessment, because I talk about marketing all the time.
Jen:This is a way that people.
Jen:Check their marketing, see how they're doing.
Jen:And then if they continue to engage with me, I will actually a marketing
Jen:assessment that is not free for people.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, it's a really popular product by the way.
Jen:People love that one when they come to me and get it because
Jen:they get something very in depth.
Jen:But if you want that high level that you can do yourself, that's
Jen:part of the art of the opt-in.
Jen:And do you know where I got that idea for a marketing self assessment?
Jen:I gave a talk and I always have a notepad next to me for questions and somebody's
Jen:like, How do I check my own marketing?
Jen:And I was like, Oh my.
Jen:And everybody was like, Yes, Jen, how do we check our own
Jen:marketing ? And I was like, Oh my God, how is it that I've never had?
Jen:That as the opted and I was.
Jen:And I, and so I made it.
Jen:Yeah.
Shelley:Now you have the perfect answer.
Shelley:You're like let me tell you.
Shelley:Let me tell
Jen:you.
Jen:Here you go.
Jen:And it's like a checklist that is so easy for me to make.
Jen:And I think that one of the things that we all do is we overthink this whole process.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. And so the fir, your first opt-in is really what do you know,
Jen:like the back of your hand?
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:that's related to something that you.
Jen:and that's interesting to people.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:So if you're getting the same questions over and over and over again.
Shelley:Exactly.
Shelley:And you want it to be totally aligned with who you are, what you talk
Shelley:about you don't want it to be some side project because once people
Shelley:sign up, an opt-in to your community because of that opt-in lead magnet.
Shelley:Then they expect more of that throughout your emails and newsletters, your cur-,
Shelley:your offerings, all your products, all your shows, everything has got
Shelley:to be in alignment with whatever you're putting out there as an opt in.
Shelley:That's how you're gonna get a higher open rate on your emails.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:When I talk to this person about being part of Info Stack and they
Shelley:wanna know how big my email list, It's not very big, but guess what?
Shelley:My open rate is 60 to 70%.
Shelley:Same.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:Small but
Shelley:mighty.
Shelley:And his eyes were like, What ? When I said that?
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:He was like, Whoa.
Jen:And it's because if you are consistent about what you offer and you
Jen:speak to it over and over again, then people and you're interesting, then people
Jen:will automatically open and be into it.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:And that's the key when we talk about creating that opt-in.
Jen:So for example, you know we've talked about guides.
Jen:One of the things that I absolutely.
Jen:That people they don't always come up with.
Jen:an opt-in that is slightly more complicated, but is great for people
Jen:who are, say in finance, finance is, this is the perfect one for them, is you
Jen:wanna have some sort of quiz calculator.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:if you're talking all the time about money or how to like, save more time
Jen:or how to, anything with numbers.
Jen:Have some sort of, Yeah.
Jen:Like why is it that you think that you see all these like mortgage calculators,
Jen:it's because people go nuts for them.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, everybody has one because it's a way to rank cuz everybody wants to
Jen:know how much they pay for X, Y, Z.
Jen:And they just draw the most traffic.
Jen:Find something simple that you can create, and if you think, Well, I'm not techy
Jen:enough for some sort of online calculator, it doesn't even have to be that.
Jen:You can make an opt-in.
Jen:That's calculate your budget, calculate your business budget, and you just
Jen:make a little Excel spreadsheet because Excel spreadsheet or Google
Jen:Sheets because that's what you're good at and then that's what you send
Jen:over to people and they can fill it.
Jen:On their own.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:Quizzes and checklists are awesome.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:It should relate to you.
Shelley:So if you are about losing weight or nutrition, you could put out a
Shelley:recipe if you are, or 10 recipes using such and such to, do whatever.
Shelley:And then, or if you're in a fitness trainer, you could put
Shelley:out a little exercise routine.
Shelley:It takes seven minutes every morning.
Shelley:Do this.
Shelley:You just have to find something.
Shelley:Quick and easy to consume because people aren't gonna wanna read an entire e-book.
Shelley:What ends up happening is if they opt in for something, they
Shelley:wanna consume it right away.
Shelley:They wanna look at it.
Shelley:Go, That makes sense.
Shelley:Maybe even print it out and put it up on the wall if it's an infographic or
Shelley:a, some kind of a map or a checklist or, and, They incorporate that into their
Shelley:lives, and that's so much more important than giving them this big complex
Shelley:ebook that they go, Oh, you know what?
Shelley:I don't have time to read this right now.
Shelley:Let me put that in my file and never look at it . So yes.
Shelley:And give them
Jen:something simple to start.
Jen:Absolutely.
Jen:And that quiz.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:or.
Jen:That quiz or that calculator or that thing, like all of your examples
Jen:are great because they're so related to what the next steps would be.
Jen:So then your expectation is, I've done this quick thing I've done my
Jen:calculator, I have done this quiz.
Jen:What's next?
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:And that's your job when it comes to retention.
Jen:Yeah, and if you paid attention to the title of this episode,
Jen:it's about how you boost sales.
Jen:Well, you wanna know how you boost sales.
Jen:You talk about you bring people in with a certain opt in, you speak to it.
Jen:You understand that you need to have about seven or eight touchpoints
Jen:at least before you can then come in and expect to make a sale.
Jen:It's.
Jen:Behavioral science, and the art of marketing.
Jen:And understand that some people will linger on your list for a long time.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:And others will refer their friends.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. Mm-hmm.
Jen:, others will share your newsletter.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:There's so many different directions that this could go, but a lot of
Jen:times what people do is they're like, Oh, I just have to have this opt-in.
Jen:And it's not related to their core message or their.
Jen:offering.
Jen:And so that's where these things can go horribly, terribly wrong.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. So for example, pay attention if you're not a speaker like me
Jen:in getting questions, like I get the same question a few times.
Jen:I'm writing that down and I'm trying to find a way to address
Jen:that question in an often.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, if you're not, or a course.
Jen:Or a course.
Jen:Cause Jen does those too.
Jen:I do those too.
Jen:And that's how a lot of epiphany courses came from.
Jen:A lot of it also came from feedback.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:So that's one way.
Jen:If you're like, I don't do any of that stuff . How do I do this?
Jen:It is about paying attention to your surroundings.
Jen:So if you have customers, what are the questions they're
Jen:asking you over and over again?
Jen:What are the answers that you find yourself giving to
Jen:people time and time again?
Jen:Mm.
Jen:I've got one.
Jen:Can you repurpose that?
Jen:Okay.
Jen:Yeah.
Shelley:If you are doing content like I do every week, putting out shows which
Shelley:ones are getting the most response, which ones are getting the most views,
Shelley:which ones are people commenting on?
Shelley:Do you, did you get any questions from, those are people, excited about something?
Shelley:Double down on that.
Shelley:Amen's sister.
Jen:Yeah, , that's absolutely.
Jen:So you take this information, you collect that information, you go
Jen:on social media, you join groups on all networks that you're active on,
Jen:that your customers are active on.
Jen:You join groups that are related to your customers, and you ask questions or
Jen:you pay attention to the questions that they're asking, and then you offer it.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:And you just see how it goes.
Jen:Now here's the thing, You can't just make an opt-in and be
Jen:like, Well, I made an opt-in.
Jen:It's on my website, and.
Jen:Nobody is doing it.
Jen:that's a dumb strategy.
Jen:I'm
Shelley:not, so I'm like, dig into your file of opt-ins,
Shelley:your file folder of opt-ins.
Shelley:And they're like, what?
Shelley:File folder?
Shelley:What?
Shelley:I just have one I know.
Jen:Or but what I mean is like pe- sometimes people make an opt-in, put
Jen:it on their website, never talk about it, , they just expect people to do it.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. And it doesn't work that way.
Jen:It's like the idea.
Jen:People thinking, I have this website.
Jen:Where are all the customers?
Jen:This isn't field of Dreams.
Jen:It's not.
Jen:If you build it, they will come.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. You have to then draw people into your opt-in your offering.
Jen:You have to talk about your email list.
Jen:You have to tell people that it's out there and that needs to be
Jen:one key piece of your strategy.
Jen:I think we have a future episode about your product ladder that
Jen:we're going to talk about.
Jen:This is the very first rung on your product ladder.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. This is the piece where people who are not ready to buy but are curious, come in.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:But the only way that they will come in and be curious is if you
Jen:are in fact telling them about you and what you offer and what you do.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:to draw them in.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:and then nurturing.
Jen:With emails, it's also, Yeah.
Jen:When I work with clients who are not really comfortable with email
Jen:marketing, we say, Well just put an opt-in form on your website.
Jen:Oftentimes we suggest it goes in the footer of their website, just
Jen:so it's on every single page.
Jen:And then we say, this is a passive way to collect people's email mess.
Jen:Email accounts and names, and you just go from there.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:and we say, when you're ready you can email them.
Jen:So that's the very, very first thing.
Jen:And you might think I bet nobody signs up for that.
Jen:They actually do . I've tracked it at one point on my own website
Jen:when I had it in the bottom.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, and I was tracking the forms on active campaign people engaged with that
Jen:because they may read a couple of posts.
Jen:and it brings them in.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:So don't feel like that's a non-starter , it's actually a really
Jen:good strategy when you're like, Well, I don't know what to do.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, the opt-in is when you're at that next place and you're like, Oh, okay.
Jen:I wanna like really talk and speak to something I'm super good at.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:, and you create that.
Jen:Another one that we've talked about, quizzes, PDFs, or, maybe a Google sheet,
Jen:something that people can download.
Jen:Another thing that I have seen a lot, and I have software for it, it's on
Jen:my bucket list of marketing things.
Jen:I think it's super effective for people who make a lot of courses, who do a lot of
Jen:videos, is the automated webinar sequence.
Jen:So this is what I would say is a more advanced.
Jen:Way of creating an opt-in.
Jen:You.
Jen:There are, there's a lot of different software out there where basically
Jen:somebody's Yeah, I wanna take your marketing masterclass, Jen , for example.
Jen:And that could be like an hour.
Jen:So if you, just to get the lingo right, a masterclass would be, you talk about
Jen:a topic in depth for about an hour and you are having people provide
Jen:their name and email address to.
Jen:Webinar.
Jen:Now, you could do this a couple different ways.
Jen:One way is you're like, I have an event.
Jen:You put it on Eventbrite you promote it, and people come in and
Jen:take that presentation from you.
Jen:They learn from you live.
Jen:They can ask their questions.
Jen:The other way is the automate-, This is your opt-in, is an
Jen:automated masterclass webinar.
Jen:And it looks like when you come in , you are gonna have to wait to take it.
Jen:But really what happens is you provide your name and email address and
Jen:then the webinar opens automatically and people can watch it on the fly.
Jen:And that is another example.
Jen:I would say this is a more advanced example of it.
Jen:There's a lot of different software that does it.
Jen:It's something to look at if you're doing a lot.
Jen:Courses, a lot of presentations, things like that.
Jen:They can be a little complicated to set up.
Jen:Take a lot of time to plan out the content, make sure that you're going.
Jen:It.
Jen:I would say that instead of a masterclass is more, it's longer
Jen:and it's wide instead of deep.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:Does that make sense?
Jen:So you're covering a topic broadly and providing a lot of value,
Jen:but not going super deep cuz you want people to pay for that.
Jen:Right.
Jen:It gets, it's a different thing.
Jen:So it's very useful, very valuable, Very surface.
Jen:For something like marketing, there's 150 different things you could do a marketing
Jen:masterclass about that would last half an hour, 45 minutes, very surface.
Jen:Not a lot of depth.
Jen:Highly valuable for business owners who are not marketers,
Jen:not professional marketers.
Jen:So there, and there's something like that for every single industry.
Jen:You just have to, you.
Jen:Suss out what it is that's within your expertise that you could talk about
Jen:on the fly and would bring people in.
Jen:So the automated webinar, that's another option when it comes to, And then there's
Jen:also, just the regular old webinar where people show up at a specific time
Jen:and ask questions and people come in.
Jen:Some people love them.
Jen:There are some webinars that I absolutely.
Jen:. One of the ones that I really is, it's Totally For Nerds is click minded,
Jen:. They do a lot of SEO webinars and they have these SEO classes and they
Jen:bring people in and by the time you get to the end of the webinar, you're
Jen:like, I'm going to buy this thing.
Jen:It's They get you so excited.
Jen:Yeah.
Shelley:All those sales psychology
Jen:techniques, and but it's.
Jen:It's not scammy.
Jen:It's providing a phenomenal amount of value.
Jen:And then they're getting you super jazzed and you feel like you can do this thing.
Jen:And they're like, Okay, if you wanna know even more, then here's
Jen:the offer that we have for you.
Jen:And it's usually a pretty deeply discounted offer.
Jen:That will go into the how's and the why's and all the different things.
Jen:So all of which is to say you can do a webinar and be very engaging, provide
Jen:people with worksheets, go through a very specific topic in a webinar and
Jen:have it be free and make sales out of it.
Jen:So what you use for your opt-in can be.
Jen:As simple or as complex as you need it to be, the biggest
Jen:thing is to have something.
Jen:So to be clear, the first step, just a form on your website so
Jen:people can engage with you later.
Jen:The next one is some sort of downloadable file, not super long that allows
Jen:people to engage with you, learn a little bit about what you're doing.
Jen:And then after that, it can be all kinds of crazy town webinars, automated
Jen:webinars, quizzes, quizzes that are on that are techy quizzes, embedded in
Jen:your website, all these types of things.
Jen:And then what you have to back that up with if you really wanna boost your sales
Jen:is some sort of email sequence follow up, giving people an opportunity to work with.
Jen:What do you think?
Jen:Shelley's like notes.
Jen:I feel like notes.
Jen:taking notes and I another downloading the information okay, yeah,
Shelley:another one could be a mini course, but it has to be mini so that
Shelley:they can finish it in 10 to 15 minutes and get a really valuable piece of advice
Shelley:that they can take action on right away.
Shelley:Otherwise that, that's too much of a time commitment.
Shelley:An entry level opt-in.
Shelley:And Jan and I talked about this recently.
Shelley:Choose one.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:If you're on somebody else's podcast and they ask you where can people reach you?
Shelley:What do you have to give your our audience choose one opt-in to share with them.
Shelley:A lot of times people will choose to share their podcast because
Shelley:they figure, okay, everybody's already listening to a podcast.
Shelley:It's very easy for them to listen to a different podcast.
Shelley:And then once they're listening to my podcast, then I can make more offers.
Shelley:But get them into your world in the easiest, most friction free way possible.
Shelley:When you're out there sharing things and then once they're in, you
Shelley:can continue to share more things once they're on your email list.
Shelley:You can share it all one at a time, but they'll see it all.
Shelley:So make sure you're, not trying to fire hose everybody
Shelley:. Jen: They say a confused mind doesn't
Shelley:Shelley gave this really great interview on a podcast called podcast.
Shelley:And it was wonderful cuz she, he's like, So what is it?
Shelley:What is it that you do?
Shelley:And at the very beginning he's like, What's that website?
Shelley:And it was like Framework.
Shelley:Framework.agkmedia.studio.
Shelley:That Studio.
Shelley:Studio.
Shelley:And I think that they said that he did, he said it like
Shelley:10 times during the show and I'd laugh every time cause it was
Jen:like so cute.
Jen:And it was so cute.
Jen:But he was also making the point that if you're going to have an opt-in, if
Jen:you're gonna go on a show, if you're gonna do something, then you need.
Jen:Have that call to action.
Jen:You need to mention it at the beginning.
Jen:Like we early and often.
Jen:Early and often, yeah.
Jen:So it's like course dot agk media.
Jen:Dot studio.
Jen:Coupon code agk saver.
Jen:To get in for free.
Jen:Exactly.
Jen:So like you, you sprinkle it in.
Jen:throughout, and that's what really works.
Jen:And it's the same thing with your opt-in.
Jen:If you make a press appearance, whether it's a podcast or you're writing a guest
Jen:blog and they let you put a link in, or you're talking about it on social
Jen:media, you always have to include that.
Jen:Not only because it tells people what you do, but it also gives people a way to
Jen:continue to follow you along the journey.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Shelley:And people love to know that you have a podcast or a live stream
Shelley:because then they can show up and ask more questions and get that free advice
Shelley:without having to like bug you because you're excited when you're doing it
Shelley:livestream and somebody comes in and asks the question, you're excited to answer it.
Shelley:I know and to communicate with that person.
Shelley:But if it's just like social media, No, tell me more.
Shelley:Oh, give me more advice.
Shelley:And you're like, eh,
Shelley:So I show up for our live
Jen:stream . Then ask questions and we'll answer that.
Jen:That's right.
Jen:I think we've covered this pretty well.
Jen:What do you think?
Jen:Yeah, I love it.
Jen:I
Shelley:love it too.
Shelley:I love it.
Shelley:As Jen said, she has a marketing, a free marketing self-assessment that.
Shelley:You can learn all about your marketing and what you need to do more of, and what you
Shelley:need to stop doing is not working for you.
Shelley:So make sure you check that out.
Shelley:And the link is in the description box and in the comments, and
Shelley:that's at sendfox.com/wcb.
Jen:Yep, very excited about that.
Jen:And then as we said a couple of times, Shelley has her course
Jen:how to create published and distribute content consistently at
Jen:course.agkmedia.Studio, and there is a coupon code to gain free access as
Jen:long as it's before November 18th.
Jen:Is that correct?
Jen:That is correct.
Shelley:And the, And I would love your input on that course.
Shelley:That's right.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:And your coupon code for that is a G K Saver.
Jen:All caps, all caps.
Jen:So please be sure to go take that course.
Jen:I think it's gonna be wonderful cuz it's new, so I haven't done it yet.
Jen:Yeah,
Shelley:absolutely.
Shelley:So are we ready for tweak of the week?
Shelley:Time
Jen:So what I have today, I got this from Ann Handley's newsletter.
Jen:Oh, this was so great.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:is, it's called OmmWriter omm.
Jen:Exactly.
Jen:And that's pretty much what it is.
Jen:So what it is, it says here a perfect place to think and write.
Jen:And if you are like, It's really hard to find a distraction free environment
Jen:with, I've got two monitors here.
Jen:I don't know how many tabs I have open . It can be very difficult to find
Jen:an environment where you can write and be on your computer and distraction
Jen:free and still have the benefit of, saving the files and all of that kind.
Jen:There are a lot of programs that do this.
Jen:There's Ulysses, which I used for a while, and then there's OmmWriter.
Jen:This one is my favorite . I'm brand new to using it.
Jen:And one of the reasons it's my favorite is there's a couple things.
Jen:One, the price , which is like $5 forever.
Jen:One time $5, and it's also completely dis- distraction free.
Jen:And it plays Concentrating music, or you can turn it off, it will do
Jen:the typing sounds, which I love.
Jen:Or you can turn that off . And it provides a very calm screen for you to work in.
Jen:So for example, it can be like a white winter background and then just
Jen:a very simple box in the middle and you just start typing and you then
Jen:you can save those files export them.
Jen:In any way that you want.
Jen:And then you open it again and it'll open a blank window.
Jen:It remembers your settings.
Jen:It's, like I said, it's very, very clean interface.
Jen:Very, very simple.
Jen:Just open it and start typing , and it's just very nice.
Jen:I started using this and writing every morning.
Jen:Oh, and it's been a really great way to kinda get my thoughts
Jen:out early in the morning.
Jen:It's very calming, very soothing.
Jen:And it's a great way to just write down tasks.
Jen:They have a second product called OmmNotes, and it is a place to
Jen:just take little notes if you wanna do that and keep that open.
Jen:I have something else that I use for that, but I liked OmmWriter.
Jen:I think it's great.
Jen:It says that they have a million users.
Jen:I think it's because it doesn't.
Jen:Cost a lot, yeah.
Jen:It's something very simple and very easy, and it just clears your screen.
Jen:It's a full screen option, so you just, all is that and it's
Jen:just, it's the best in terms of.
Jen:No distractions.
Jen:You still have to set up things like do not disturb or turn off
Jen:notifications, whatever it is.
Jen:I know that on my Mac I can have like distractions and stuff, but I can block
Jen:all that out and I'm sure there are ways you can do that on your PC as well.
Jen:And it's just a great program.
Jen:So I thought I would share that today.
Jen:I thought it was great.
Jen:The way that Ann Handley presented it, she had a whole list of bunch of different
Jen:distraction free writers, and there was one that just, it actually made my heart.
Jen:Stressed me out.
Jen:And it was one where you're writing and if you stop writing and or open another
Jen:window or anything, it like buzzes a warning and starts deleting words . And
Jen:I was like, I cannot think of anything worse than Oh yeah, you get distracted.
Jen:And then it.
Jen:It just starts like taking off the words and the copy that you've created.
Jen:It's . It's crazy.
Jen:So that's what I have for the tweak of the week.
Jen:What do you have today, Shelley?
Shelley:A thing I just discovered this week.
Shelley:And it's brand new.
Shelley:It's a podcast by Brendan Bouchard.
Shelley:It's called Marketing with Brendan Bruchard.
Shelley:And.
Shelley:Put all of these different trainings and they are really practical.
Shelley:They are, he talks about things that he's done step by step, how it worked, all
Shelley:behind the scenes type of things that, maybe you attended this influencer summit.
Shelley:Here's the truth about what happened and how we put that together
Shelley:and here's how much we spent on advertising and here's, what we did.
Shelley:And it's all step by step stuff, which I love.
Shelley:I love when people share.
Shelley:The nitty gritty details of what works, what doesn't, and here's how it, here's
Shelley:how you do it too, marketing with Brendan Burchard, it's a brand new podcast.
Shelley:It's got about six episodes on it right now.
Shelley:Because he, when he launches a podcast, he says, You gotta
Shelley:have six episodes to start with.
Shelley:So people have stuff to listen to.
Shelley:So to he walk he walks the talk.
Shelley:And so check that out if that's something that you're interested in there.
Shelley:Very deep dive.
Shelley:This one that I just listened to was an hour and a half long.
Shelley:It's really long.
Shelley:It's good stuff.
Shelley:It's very informational.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:Oh, that's awesome.
Shelley:That's my tweak.
Shelley:Woo.
Shelley:It's not software, but it's what I'm doing.
Shelley:Hey, it's great.
Jen:I love it.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:All right.
Jen:So you ready to be inspired?
Jen:I am.
Shelley:All right.
Shelley:Once again, this is from The Daily Stoic.
Shelley:And this is from Marcus Aurellius, and he said there is no good for a human being
Shelley:except what creates justice, self-control, courage, and freedom, and nothing evil
Shelley:except what destroys these things.
Shelley:What's the meaning of life?
Shelley:Why was I born?
Shelley:Most of us struggle with these questions.
Shelley:No amount of travel reading or clever sages can give you those answers.
Shelley:It's not our question to ask.
Shelley:Instead, it is we who are being asked in our lives are the answer.
Shelley:Isn't that interesting?
Shelley:You must find the answer in your actions in living the good life
Shelley:by embodying the principles of justice, self-control, courage,
Shelley:freedom, and abstaining from evil.
Shelley:Do my principles show themselves in my life?
Shelley:Do they show up in my work and the content I produce?
Shelley:Good questions to ponder this week.
Shelley:Absolutely.
Shelley:What do you think?
Shelley:Do you think your principals show up?
Shelley:I think they do.
Shelley:I see you know who you, I see you Jan . . I know that you offer.
Shelley:More value than you ever ask for in return.
Shelley:And that I knew that the first day I met you.
Shelley:And that is why I reached out to work with you.
Shelley:Because anytime I would give you a tip or an idea, you'd give me three.
Shelley:it was like, I gotta be around this lady.
Shelley:She's just amazing.
Shelley:Thank
Jen:you, . I agree, and going through the process of hiring somebody
Jen:to come in, It was important to me that they read the manifesto.
Jen:I have a manifesto on my website and it really outlines the values that I, what
Jen:I'm striving for because that people can be trained to do tasks . Sure.
Jen:I'll, I will help you.
Jen:But if the values are not shared, Yeah, that is a very difficult.
Jen:That's the foundation.
Jen:The foundation is very difficult to overcome.
Jen:Mm-hmm.
Jen:. So I love this.
Jen:I love it.
Jen:How it ties to what we talked about today.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:And being in alignment, sharing your values.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:And, and, and not, and helping people to self select by letting
Shelley:them know what your values are.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:Yeah.
Shelley:I think that's ideal.
Shelley:Excellent.
Shelley:Oops.
Jen:Thank
Shelley:you.
Shelley:Hit the wrong button.
Shelley:Sorry.
Shelley:Just doing my thing over here.
Shelley:. Pay no attention to the man behind the kitchen.
Shelley:Oh my God.
Jen:What
Shelley:about you?
Shelley:I try to encourage people because the people I wanna work with are those people
Shelley:who have a message to share with the world that's going to make the world
Shelley:a better place to live for everybody.
Shelley:Something inclusive, something uplifting, something positive, something
Shelley:helpful, and something helpful.
Shelley:I really appreciate when people give me.
Shelley:Tips I can take action on, not just a bunch of, we feel good, but did we
Shelley:learn anything that we can actually do?
Shelley:And it's because it's like when you watch some of these news programs and
Shelley:they tell you all the bad news, but they don't give you anything to do about it.
Shelley:So you're just stuck there in this bad feeling.
Shelley:So you've got to have some action steps included in that.
Shelley:That's my opinion, and that's what I like.
Shelley:That's the kind of people I like to work with is those who encourage others
Shelley:to get out there and do these things to make the world a better place.
Jen:Absolutely.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:So get out there and share your values, share, share your knowledge
Jen:with people, bring more of your people in, and have a great week everybody.
Shelley:Thank you for joining the Women Conquer Business podcast, posted
Shelley:by Shelley Carney and Jen McFarland.
Shelley:Please subscribe and leave a comment or question regarding your most challenging
Shelley:content creation or business problem.
Shelley:Then share this podcast with family and.
Shelley:So they can find the support they need to expand their brand and
Shelley:share their message with the world.
Shelley:Check the show notes for links to valuable resources and come back again next week.
