Marketing Strategies that Work and Tactics to Try if You’re in a Rut
Episode 433: Show Notes
Okay guys, we finally stopped putting our things off and worked on some marketing strategies we told you we would test out to see what would happen, and they worked! We’re just a little disappointed at ourselves, but also proud at the same time! We knew they would work and so we’re really glad we did them, even after putting them off for an obscene amount of time! We know everyone listening has their own version of, ‘I put this off,’ when it comes to a marketing strategy they have heard about that works.
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So, today we’re talking about simple marketing strategies we finally put into practice and proved! The only thing you need to do is spend some time setting these strategies up, putting some things in place to prepare, and then actually doing it! Listen along and hear some of the amazing marketing tricks we tested and proved to be a great success!
To Do Email Marketing or Not to Do Email Marketing
It’s funny because Abagail was making over $10,000 a month without an email list, and partly because she was using herself as a guinea pig proving things could work without it. However, after a year and a half of not doing it, she decided it was time to make her start! Today she’ll be sharing tips about it and Emylee will add her own caveat as it relates to Instagram, which while being confused about it previously, she did what she knew would work, and it did! Now, we are not saying if you just use email marketing you’ll make a whole bunch of money! It is a whole ecosystem with each piece being important. However, doing individual pieces can work so well too – see Tyler J. McCall who ran his multiple six-figure business of just a landing page directing visitors to Instagram. So, listen along and do what feels right for you, because at the end of the day these are tried and trusted marketing techniques that can work and give you the results you’ve been looking for!
The Power of Email Lists, and What to Do Before Making One
When Abagail finally got her email list up and running, she had received over 300 subscribers in three days! That sounds like a whole lot and she was definitely grateful about it, if slightly regretful she hadn't started earlier. The fact is that part of why she succeeded so quickly was because of all the other work she had put into warming her audience up before asking for their email! So don’t take this as factual advice that you’ll get all these subscribers if you just make an email list! She talks about what she did before this to build that audience and shares a great tip about how a lot of her business initiatives start with a purely creative impulse. For Abagail, this was consistently posting to her blog. Her blog got tons of traffic and converted into Instagram followers and more, but it wasn't converting into subscribers because she had no email list system set up yet. Emylee, on the other hand, had used a secret SEO optimization strategy to get traffic from other places than Instagram that she weighs in on too. So, what are you doing and more importantly, not doing, that you could jump on today to get your business to level up?
Get Going With That Effective Strategy You’ve Been Avoiding!
Abagail shares the stories of how she slowly shifted her client base and began photographing packaging for food companies and built what was to become Boss Project, all from side hustles! Granted, she was doing side work while at her official work but the point is you can do a lot for your side hustles while still having a main focus! However, we become resistant over time to things we know might work, and the idea of procrastinating working on a project because it is not your main thing is real. We hear about how Abagail’s husband is somebody who has a huge wealth of design knowledge but is still quite in the dark about concepts like conversion rates and SEO. Emylee too had not quite realized how crucial Instagram stories and DMs could play in making a successful side hustle, and she shares how these strategies benefited her earring business which saw rapid growth after starting in August 2019. Again, her pre-existing audience cannot be taken out of the equation here though. So, while it’s not an email list, posting can be fun and make you money, so if you’re avoiding it, or any other strategy that you know will work for that matter, get going with it today!
Abagail’s Sales Funnel for Her Network Marketing Business
People get curious about the architecture behind an online business’s strategy but explaining the intricacies fully is difficult. Abagail does have a cohesive sales funnel, though, on her side network marketing business, and weighs in on how it works. She writes content about her journey with health and has attracted a lot of traffic from people on a similar journey. You are your own ideal client and often creating a product you need is a great way to start a business. Abagail attracts people by showing up on Instagram stories and posting on Instagram at least once a week. Historically she has gotten many followers from posts and friends sharing about her Instagram, and stories are what have driven engagement. She also uses blog posts, and while some say longer form, blog-based marketing is dead, her popular posts have picked up traffic on Google and Pinterest. It’s all about creating content that serves people, and Abagail’s most popular posts have been due to having highly searched keywords about topics that are relevant to many people. She shares about how she warms up new audience members by getting to know them, but prefers the one-to-many strategy. This comes against a bit of a glitch though because once on her landing page, guests get redirected to another business’s page. Abagail has to be careful about what claims she is offering due to this, and this is why guests get her program free after becoming a member. So, Abagail is currently brainstorming how to have a product at a smaller price but that she owns 100%.
Emylee’s Sales Funnel for Her Earring Business
Emylee’s sales funnel is heavily Instagram-based and boils down to her posting continuously about the process from getting new stock to making sales off her website. Being oriented around a physical product, her sales funnel has presented her with some new challenges. It is a one-to-many strategy but does have a personal relationship component to it. While she is not saying what she does won’t work, there is no popular correlation between her strategy and sales conversions. Will blog posts and opt-in strategies that aren’t a discount code work for a physical product? She talks about her product in some shape or form every single day, whether it be sharing photos and stories of behind the scenes processes, preparing the product and photographing it, alerting people that it's live on the website, or reminding them about that by showing screenshots of orders and sharing what is left in stock. She builds engagement leading up to a launch using polls and launch countdowns. She focuses on great customer service and referrals because to make money off a $34 product you need to make a lot of sales! Emylee experienced a spike in traffic after just starting but then new followers dropped and she wonders why this is and talks about new strategies she adopted to cope with Instagram's weird algorithms, such as becoming more active on Pinterest. She wonders what to do to warm up people who don't know her and wonders what ambassador programs or loyalty systems could do to help, although these strategies could change the way her business operates, which is a tradeoff!
Keep Experimenting and Learning from Others
Some final words – there is not going to be one magic bullet that will make you win instantly, so stop trying to figure out what that is. However, there are strategies that work, and by sticking to the fundamentals of creating meaningful content that your audience will find valuable, you’ll be well on your way! While obsessively studying a competitor to reverse engineer exactly what they did can be a little disturbing, keeping an eye out on how other people have succeeded is definitely a valuable strategy. Liz, or @withinthegrove on Instagram, grew her followers to over 50,000 in a year by being super consistent, going full-time, sharing other people’s accounts, and partnering with brands. By applying some of what she did to your own business, you are sure to see some of the same results. Lastly, we understand it is easy to attract people who want to do what you are doing so figuring out how to appeal to the rest is the hard part. So, to wrap things up, some of this might have been a hot mess but we are sure you got a lot of value from it, so get out there and give some of it a run for its money! Good luck!
Quote This
If you can create content that drives people to actually be or buy something they are looking for, we think that is the biggest piece.
Highlights
To Do Email Marketing or Not To Do Email Marketing? [0:03:20.1]
The Power of Email Lists, and What to Do Before Making One. [0:06:17.1]
Get Going With That Effective Strategy You’ve Been Avoiding! [0:12:26.1]
Abagail’s Sales Funnel for Her Network Marketing Business. [0:22:46.1]
Emylee’s Sales Funnel for Her Earring Business. [0:30:06.1]
Keep Experimenting, and Learn from Others! [0:38:36.1]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Marketing, Email lists, Launch strategies, Sales funnels, Building an audience, Side hustles
