Marketing

Today I’m thinking about all the formulas that are out there being taught. And I want to help you change your approach and your perspective on them. These teachers tried a lot of things, and then something worked for them, and they became successful. Their success attracted attention and questions, and then they realized people would pay to learn how to be successful the same way they did.

It is a powerful and valid principle to study those who have accomplished what you want to accomplish, but I see too much of success being boiled down to specific formulas and then sold, and then people paying for the formula and then following it (or not) and perhaps having some initial success (or not).

What you need to know is that business success is about so much more than a specific marketing formula.

First, the formula itself may be valid but it needs to match you. What are your goals, your business model, your personality, your lifestyle requirements? Not every formula will work for you, or necessarily produce the kind of success that is right for you.

Second, you need to build your character if you want to have success. Focus, persistence, hard work, creativity, discipline – these are the kinds of traits you will need to cultivate, and you will need them in varying degrees depending on who you are and what you are trying to do.

The point I want to make here is that none of these marketing courses talk about the underlying character disciplines that are necessary to truly implement these formulas over time in a way that they will work if they are in fact the right process for you.

Third, the best way forward is to learn from others but focus on creating your own customized strategy or formula, that you use and tweak until you find what works for you.

I see two good options in discovering the right marketing strategy for you. The first is to follow the online teachers and buy their courses and follow their podcasts and read their blog posts – and think critically about them. Compare them to each other, ask yourself what they are telling you that is about the technical tools or the nature of the online world, and what is from their experience. Consider what character qualities they exhibit. And then once you’ve done your research and learned a lot of good information, take a season of time to shut it all out and focus on yourself and your business.

If you want to keep learning, focus on personal development stuff that will help you be the person you need to be, to run the business you want to have.

And get creative. And start building your own custom marketing strategy. Find what you love, find what they need. Make it match your lifestyle needs, and make sure it puts you working with the kind of people you want to do life with. Sketch out a basic plan, and as soon as the core idea is formed, start doing it. Then learn from that, look at how it is or is not authentic to you.

As your business model takes shape, and you do marketing activity, does it feel good to you? Do you like how you are spending your days? Are you getting any engagement? Don’t worry about getting a lot of response online at first, because you want. But if you see hints of the right kinds, and your daily and weekly activities resonate with you, at your core, then just keep working your plan, and adjusting as you go.

This is what I’ve done. This will be one of the posts I’ll point to when people ask later how I became successful, which course did I follow, which formula worked. And I can tell them how often I posted and where, but I’ll tell them that won’t matter to them.

What truly matters in making a marketing strategy that will bring you the success you’re seeking is to learn the basics of what is available and possible online, and then to search your heart and your mind to discover what you want to do with the possibilities. The other thing I’d tell them that matters immensely is to embark on a serious personal development journey, and to go wide and deep with it. But that’s a post for another day.

I mentioned that there are two options for discovering the right marketing strategy for you and your business. The first is the process I just outlined of doing the research and then applying it to yourself. The second is basically the same but with a strategic shortcut: hire a coach.

You could hire a marketing coach to help you do this process more effectively, and authentically. As a coach they help you identify important details about what you really want for yourself and your business. And as a marketer they have a ton of knowledge about what is possible and the big ideas and formulas that have been put out there, which means working with them saves you a ton of time and money in doing the research to get the bigger picture than just one teacher or one course. They bring their knowledge of marketing and passion to help people, and develop a relationship with you and become a partner with you in your journey toward personal success. They help you identify and pursue your goals, keeping you on the right track as you try things to see both what works for you, and what you want for yourself and your business.

This is what I do, and this is why I do what I do. If you are looking for a marketing coach, I’d love to get on a free call with you to explore what you truly need, and see if we are a good fit to work together. You’ll find a link below this post to schedule a discovery call.

But the most important thing that I want you to know, is that there is an amazing world of opportunity online, and that the most powerful thing you can do is creatively design a unique approach and angle that fits you and that will stand out in the marketplace.

You do this not by following cookie cutter instructions, but by doing a) further research online, and b) a lot of soul searching, and then when you begin to find something that speaks to you, you work hard at it, and when you love it and you’re motivated, you really begin to build the character disciplines that will enable you to go the distance and make tangible progress toward your big goals and dreams.

When you do this right, you won’t have time for netflix and magazines and surfing the web anymore. But you know what? You won’t miss it.

You can have a focused, purposeful, authentic life around building a profitable business that you love. But the road to get you there is so much more complex than buying a single expensive course and following all of the steps.

I told myself that this year I would tell you the honest truth from my heart, to help you know the true path to success.

And this is what was on my heart today, so my challenge to you is to dream big, and to find the courage to write your own story. Learn from others, but embrace the journey of finding your own path. Once you find it, you’ll know, and you’ll never look back.

To your future,
Alicia

Do you know what the only thing better than having nailed your avatar is?

Turning her back into 3 avatars!

Ok, ok, I know that sounds crazy; before you label me as a heretic, let me explain.

What makes having a really clear avatar so powerful? It’s the fact that you speak to a particular person in a particular situation. You stop being vague and inclusive, you talk to this new friend you’ve discovered and you figure out how to relate to her and to provide value to her life.

And then you discover there are thousands – or more – women in the world who relate to her, and you! And that is exhilarating when they first discover your blog.

But the fact is, you’re not just writing to her, you’re writing to the thousands of women who read your blog and identify with your avatar. But they are not all your avatar. They have their own unique life situations and, most importantly, are at various stages of the journey you envision for your avatar.

A Goal

What is your avatar’s goal? We don’t always think about it this way, but every blog has a focus, right? You have a topic or challenge or life situation that you are helping your avatar to learn, deal with, thrive in, etc. You have a goal for your avatar to achieve, which creates a need for you – and your amazing content, resources, services, etc. – in their life.

And where there is a goal there is a journey.

What is the journey that you are taking your avatar on? If you’ve heard successful bloggers talking about leading from ahead or beside, they are alluding to the journey. Are you closer to your goal than your avatar, or are you at the same stage as her? Some bloggers start their blog at the beginning of the journey and over time they pay off their debt, become better parents, learn how to decorate their house, etc – and their blog represents the various stages of their journey.

If you can identify the journey of your avatar, and then segment that journey into stages, that becomes a much more powerful foundation on which to build your blog, and especially to turn your blog into a business.

Here is the easiest way to do this. Pick the primary goal you are helping your avatar with, and then list three stages that basically represent them 1) being interested in or aspiring to the goal, 2) working toward the goal and experiencing obstacles, and 3) achieving some measure of success in achieving the goal.

What does that look like for your avatar? Once you have acquired any significant amount of traffic, you certainly have readers who fall into each of your three new stages or categories.

Which readers have you talked to that fit into those different stages? Take time to jot down some notes about what each stage looks like.

For more on this watch How to Create a Journey for Your Avatar

Let’s talk about what you can do once you have identified who your avatar is at each stage in her journey.

Using 3 Avatar Stages

Having a single avatar is crucial for maintaining focus when you are creating your site identity, mission, tagline, site design and core content. This ensures the pieces are cohesive and will appeal to that single person you are speaking to.

But segmenting that avatar into 3 versions of that avatar into 3 stages will let you do things like:

• Segmenting your opt-ins, targeting each stage with a different lead magnet
• Segmenting your initial follow up campaign – speaking to new subscribers further about the very topic that convinced them to join your list
• Incorporate tags that allow you to pitch:
  • Affiliate products that are most relevant during the early stage
  • Your own products that are most relevant for the middle stage
  • Your services to those in the advanced stage
• Segmenting your nurture campaign to keep your list engaged, improving open and click rates
• Tracking their journey and identifying those who have done things like
  • Advanced through the stages
  • Engaged your emails
  • Recommended you to their friends

These are some of the many benefits of segmenting your audience – which in turn allows you to tap into the power of tags, trigger links, rules, workflows, and various automations available in many email marketing systems.

Ok, you’ve got your avatar, you know exactly who she is. You’ve written some amazing content and started to drive traffic. Then you agonized over an opt-in, finally picked one and finished it. And surprise – your readers loved it! They signed up for your email list, and now each week you think of something to say and send them a weekly newsletter.

Now what?

The first step you need to take is to create a welcome campaign tailored to your opt in aka lead magnet. This will let you do two things: tailor the first few emails your new subscribers receive to their unique situation, and relieve you of the pressure of being on your ‘A’ game for new readers every time you write your weekly newsletter.

Creating a Follow Up Campaign for your Lead Magnet

Pull out your lead magnet, the opt-in you’ve made available to encourage readers to subscribe to your email list. Get your head back into who you wrote it to.

Yes, you have a specific avatar. What were you thinking about when you created this resource for her? What is going on in her life? What kind of week is she having?

Brainstorm some notes, and then find time to sit down and write 3-6 emails for a new subscriber to get specifically right after they receive that lead magnet. I recommend opening an empty document file and writing as you would to a friend, and getting all the text down. Write a subject and email body for each email, and get the main content down. Somewhere in the middle incorporate a welcome message and a little bit about yourself and the site – and tailor it to the topic you’re talking about. You might want to share a story about your life or a motivation you have for what you do the relates to the topic of the lead magnet.

Now come back to your file and consider the best spacing for your content. Decide how many days apart to space your emails. And depending on your content and how long your campaign is, it might be appropriate to include affiliate links or even links to one of your products if it is on-topic.

Your goal is to follow up the opt in offer with content that the new reader who was intrigued by the opt in will enjoy as well. You want to win her over, you want her to be a fan by the end of the email campaign. And you do this by being yourself, providing value, and talking to her.

Set up your emails as a Campaign, (some programs call it a Sequence), and set it up to deliver on the schedule you chose, when that particular lead magnet form is filled out. Make sure that you start by delivering the lead magnet, if you haven’t already done that as part of your confirmation or thank you email.

You can repeat this process for each of your opt in offers if you have more than one. And you may or may not want to call this series an email course or mini-course, that depends on your topic.

Incorporating Tags using Rules

Once you have your system set up to deliver the lead magnet and send the follow up campaign for it, you need to add tags so that you know which subscribers have received them.

Add these as tags in your system, using the name of your lead magnet and your campaign/sequence: ‘received_[lead_magnet]’ and ‘received_[campaign]’.

Now you will set up rules that will automatically apply these tags to new subscribers who use the opt in form.

Each rule has a trigger and an action. Create a new rule and for the trigger select subscribes to form’ or ‘filled out form’, and select the form of your opt in. Then for the action select ‘add a tag’ or ‘apply a tag’ and select your tag. Repeat and for the trigger select ‘subscribes to a sequence’ or ‘subscribes to a campaign’. (I’ve included the wording used by Drip and ConvertKit.)

Create a rule for the lead magnet and for the campaign.

Now you’ll be able to look at subscribers and know what they’ve received. As you add more topics and lead magnets, you’ll be able to identify which subscribers were interested in each topic.

That will be really helpful later, but what we want to do right now is exclude these new subscribers from your newsletter list until they have finished the follow up campaign from the lead magnet.

You can do this by adding another rule. Create a rule where the trigger is Completed a Campaign/Sequence and select the campaign for the lead magnet. Then for the action, select add a tag, and add the tag ‘weekly newsletter’.

Now you can send your weekly newsletter to all of your subscribers with that tag, and you know that new subscribers are receiving a campaign tailored to them before joining your main email list.

For more on this, read Why You Should Segment Your Avatar