Find Your Perfect Opt-In to Boost Sales

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Women Conquer Business Show. I'm Jen McFarland, joined by Shelley Carney. We're your go-to small business marketing show covering breaking marketing news that affects you cool apps we found, and a deep dive into a marketing topic with a side of motivation and inspiration. We'll also talk a little about our own entrepreneurial journeys as well.

[00:00:28] Are you ready? Let's get started.

[00:00:35] So today, we are gonna talk about how to find the perfect opt-in to ultimately boost sales. Top marketing experts tell us to build our quote business home on owned property. That means not on the rented land of social media. It also means we need to establish and grow an email list where our most loyal and interested audience can be reached.

[00:00:57] But how do we get them to sign up? Well, we offer them the perfect opt-in, whether it's a free download, an automated webinar, it's some sort of lead magnet that gets your people super excited so that over. We can offer them our products and services while we nurture and build a relationship with them.

[00:01:15] Sounds pretty cool, right? ? Mm-hmm. . How do we know what will be the perfect irresistible opt-in or offer? That's what we're gonna talk about in this exciting and revealing episode. Hey, revealing woo woo revealing .

[00:01:30] That's so awesome. . We're wearing a purple today. Look at us. I know. Purple girls.

[00:01:37] Purple girls.

[00:01:38] So what's.

[00:01:39] What's up over there? What is, I worked really hard all weekend and learned more about Vonza and I got my course up. I got a course up, an entry level easy course that is nine lessons. A mini course. It's up for sale. And I have a special coupon available. That you [00:02:00] can use anytime between now and November 18th, 2022, and you can get it for free.

[00:02:05] What I ask is, if you do purchase this course for free, is that you tell me. What you thought of it write to me with your review of it. Did it help you? Was it good? What could be better? And may maybe I could use your review in, in, on my website as a testimonial.

[00:02:24] And that would be a nice win-win for both of us.

[00:02:27] Absolutely. And where can we get that

[00:02:30] course go to course.agkmedia.studio, and the to get it free, all caps, AGKSAVER, and and it's all,

[00:02:43] That's how you do it. Yeah. And what I love about this is you were using your own advice to make this course created something that you absolutely loved. You used that as like a framework for how this course would be laid out, and then you just did it. There was no hesitation. You got it done. You got it out. But I bet it feels pretty good, doesn't it?

[00:03:06] Yeah, and one of the reasons I did it was I had an episode on my show, Shelley Carney livestream coach, that was really good.

[00:03:13] And I said, this would make an excellent course. So I just took the video that I had done live and I had slides with it. So now I have slides as the resource. I have the course that it cut up into nine different short videos. And then I added captions to it to make it friendly for hearing impaired.

[00:03:31] And then just learned how to use Vonza by doing that. Now I have another course that I've been trying to get out since May, June, July, August, September. And now that I've done the short course, I go, Oh, now I know how to do this. And it's that much faster to get the other one done. Yeah.

[00:03:50] Yeah.

[00:03:50] Well, and one of the things that's really cool about this, it's. Creating, publishing and distributing content consistently, which is also related to the [00:04:00] opt-in that you frequently offer on the show. So yes, this is our first how to hot tip is if you are offering something as an opt-in, one of the ways that you can get your people to come along with you is you continue to offer things in that vein.

[00:04:19] So when you come up, Something that's very attractive that you can talk about and speak to over and over again. One of the ways that you do that then is to keep them interested by having a course by and then by offering a coupon code so that they can engage with you in a different way and on a different

[00:04:37] level.

[00:04:37] That's right. And it gives them that. That risk free FOMO. Gotta get the coupon now before it expires. All of those little techniques for sales are embedded in that. And that it's, of course, I'm just trying to get people into my world to see what I do, get a taste of my work, and how awesome it is and how much value I bring.

[00:04:56] So that's how I decided to do this. And like you said, my initial opt-in was. Content creative content framework and schedule. And what this course is is an explanation of how to put that to use in your business so they go intimately together. Yeah,

[00:05:16] Yeah. No, I think that this is fantastic. I'm sure we will talk about this again throughout the show, but Shelley is really mo- modeling for you.

[00:05:24] What this, finding a perfect opt-in to boost sales is really. It's, helping people understand what you offer and go a little deeper and then go a little deeper. Mm-hmm. So the opt-in is really that first level, right? And then you continue to help people. Yeah. So as for me, I did not work on a course I am in, like I think I mentioned last week.

[00:05:48] I'm in the process of revamping a few things in my business. I am interviewing. Freedom Makers tomorrow. And what that means is I'm working with an [00:06:00] organization called Freedom Makers. Mm-hmm. That is a virtual assistant company. And that the idea is that the freedom makers make more freedom for me in my business by helping me.

[00:06:11] Nice. And this organization, they have been very organized. It's been a great experience for me. They work with military spouses. US military spouses. Mm-hmm, and then they work as virtual assistants in different areas of your business. So, I'm very excited. I'm putting together some questions and some getting some things ready for this new person that will be helping me with my business.

[00:06:34] Yeah. It's a very, it's a very exciting time. So that's what I've been working on. It's been very heady, backend to-do lists and tracking and trying to get things done. Mm-hmm. and also getting ready. We were talking before the show. Prerecording a few episodes, that we're gonna do that because I will be on vacation and pretty much not available to.

[00:06:56] The internet for a while. I just am taking a little break.

[00:07:00] She's just gonna be hidden away on a tropical

[00:07:02] island to be hidden away on a tropical island. So that is really what's going on with me. Are you ready for some breaking news?

[00:07:09] Breaking news?

[00:07:13] Okay. So as you may or may not know the, I don't know how you couldn't know unless you are.

[00:07:20] Offline, in which case, I don't know if you listen to podcasts, if you're offline or if you watched YouTube videos if you're offline. But the US midterm elections are coming up here in about two weeks, I think. And what we are finding in terms of the midterm elections and our customers is that our customers are researching.

[00:07:46] The brand stances and voting with their dollar ahead of the midterms. So it, what that means is you have to really look at what it is that you [00:08:00] are saying online. And if that's like a part of who you are, if it's a part of what it is that you do, you can't say one thing and do another. That's a really big part of this.

[00:08:13] So you wanna practice what you post, don't say one thing and then do another. But then it's also in this article, it was on Marketing Brew, which is a pretty, it's a pretty cool website with like ongoing marketing news. They have a few different shows. So it's not only practice what you post, it's also money, people are putting their money where their mouth is.

[00:08:33] So it also means if you're making donations and statements, but. You're doing something different. These two things all need to be together. And if you think people don't care about where you're making political donations don't test that out. I'll just say that. People look this stuff up, It's public record.

[00:08:52] It's very easy. So what this means and people, it says even in the article, people are very on fire about this election. From every political persuasion. So if you wanna take a stand in your business, and that's part of your marketing is to talk about your personal views or your business's views, then just be really careful about that and about then the other actions you take, the other words that you use, the.

[00:09:23] Things that you are doing because people are in fact watching. And I think that if you are taking a stand one, one way or the other then you're going to be held accountable for that. One of the things that happened, for example, in my local community of Portland, Oregon, is after George Floyd was killed, then a lot of local businesses in the startup community and.

[00:09:50] In tech in particular here, we're talking a lot about the increased need for diversity, social justice, and they were [00:10:00] talking about all of the different things that they were going to do and then they didn't do it. And so it's still an ongoing conversation here in Portland where all of these people are saying, Hey, we're still watching you, and you didn't actually do what you said you were going to do

[00:10:16] And it hurts the brand, it hurts the marketing, and it does in fact hurt your ability to attract and retain customers. Many people who are small business owners try to stay out of it entirely. What we are finding to though is that many of our customers, they wanna know. So it is something that you need to be judicious about.

[00:10:41] You need to think. how you wanna address that stuff. But just understand that our customers are watching us probably more than we think, and their money is going where our mouths go. So whatever we're saying and doing, yeah. There are people who are going to be buying or not buying from you. Mm-hmm. and I would en-, I would encourage you as someone who has a business name in Women Conquer business that does turn people.

[00:11:08] and turns a lot of people on. I will remind you, that people being turned off by you is okay too. It's good marketing, it's good information for you as long as the people who are turned off are aligned with people that you don't wanna work with. Mm-hmm. It's when these two things are at odds with each other that it's not working.

[00:11:30] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I think that to bring that into opt-ins and what we're talking about, You need to make sure that you are in alignment with your brand mission, with who it is that you're helping, and be offering things that are attractive to them and understand that people are watching you. All the time, and they're always looking to see if you are going to say and do the things that are a match for them.

[00:11:58] So that [00:12:00] is what I have on breaking news. Did you, do you have anything you wanna add to this or,

[00:12:04] Yeah, I'll make it a little bit more close to home. Last week, Toby and I did an interview on Messages and Methods and he was somebody we hooked up with through Pod Match and he had a list of questions that he likes to answer, and so Toby asked him one of those questions and it was about.

[00:12:23] Freedom commerce freedom, that sort of thing. And he went way, political way, the opposite of how Toby and I believe. Yeah. So as soon as that live stream was over, and right after he finished answering the question we wrapped up the show. And then as soon as that show was over, I went in and cut out that piece.

[00:12:45] and we didn't, and then we put the, let the rest of it up on our podcast and left it on our YouTube channel. But we took it everywhere, took it off everywhere else, and I didn't blog about it this week because he had given a total opposite political view to what we believe. And we didn't want people thinking that we were like that.

[00:13:04] Yeah. So you gotta be careful about, you have to be careful like that. And we didn't even wanna talk about politics. We were trying to get it towards what does this mean? And yeah. And it was one of the questions he wanted to answer and we didn't realize it was gonna go that way.

[00:13:16] Yeah. And it's, it's a shame that people do that.

[00:13:20] I, with my, I don't know if I've told you this story before or not, so when I say not everybody likes the business name, have I told you about the person? Who told me they wouldn't work with me? No. Based on my business name. No. Tell me. So I gave a talk in town and it was me and my friend, also a woman, and it was part of her group.

[00:13:45] And we were sitting around a table and it was all men, men, and, which I love. Men. I work with men. And the person sitting next to me, I don't know, futzing around with my business card the whole time, [00:14:00] and I was brought in to speak to the group and I was speaking to the group, and the whole time he was almost like a little heckler, And just poking the bear and poking the bear.

[00:14:08] And I was answering all of his questions and, and I was talking about digital marketing and project management, which are two things near and dear to my heart. And I mentioned some things and it seemed like anything that, he just kept at it and at it and at it and I was like, Okay I don't get it, and kept fighting with me. So we get to the end, people ask questions and everybody was super nice and super cool. And I we're wrapping it up and he looks at me and he holds up my business card and he's I am never gonna send anybody to you because of your business. And I didn't know what to say.

[00:14:47] Yeah. Like I was like, What? And I was startled because that had never happened to me before. And usually when people meet me and they see the business name it, it makes sense. Like they mm-hmm, it's not whatever energy people are bringing into it, they meet me and they. They have a different reaction.

[00:15:08] Women Conquer business is really about a state of being where we are all able to learn and come together and do better and be better. And we help each other and we all rise up together. That's right. And. and I want to work with people who are down with the business name. Cause that's really what it's about.

[00:15:28] Mm-hmm. So in the moment, I just didn't know what to say. I just was like, Okay. Mm-hmm, I'm pretty sure what I did was just OK. And then everybody left and there was one guy who stayed back and he, I could tell he was just like super protective and like worried about it. I wasn't worried about it.

[00:15:43] Cuz like I, I'm from Idaho. I've dealt with all kinds. Crazy people and stuff like that, so whatever. Mm-hmm. So I just let it go and, but I was really taken aback and hurt by the business name, comment. Mm-hmm. . And then it wasn't until like later that night or [00:16:00] something, I was like, Wait, that guy was a jerk.

[00:16:01] I wouldn't wanna work with that guy either, And so then he

[00:16:04] self-selected. Thank you very much. Yeah. He

[00:16:06] self-selected. And I was like, Okay, cool. That is great information and a great tool. Mm-hmm. and something. I don't feel bad about anymore. Like I'm kinda like, and I don't worry about it.

[00:16:19] Mm-hmm. And when people say do you work with men? I'm like, Well, yeah. They just have to be cool with the business name. Mm-hmm. And it's the, and that's it. That's, that's the whole story. That's the whole vision of the company. And so when we talk about things like. Politics and our brand, or when we talk about opt-ins and our brand, understand that you could not as a business owner, possibly help every single person on the Earth.

[00:16:47] That's right. Nobody can do that. So when people tell you they're self-selecting out, that's a favor to you and that person. Mm-hmm, because other people will self-select. . Now, when we talk about finding the perfect opt-in, there's also what if it's really great and nobody's doing it? And that's a lot of what we're gonna talk about today is, sometimes we make something and then we think, well, that's it.

[00:17:17] And then if nobody responds to it, sometimes we don't realize. Sometimes it's the packaging of it Yeah, that causes people to opt in or opt. So I feel like this is all kind of setting the stage a little bit for the training. Are we in training mode now?

[00:17:34] Let's see.

[00:17:37] Yes we are. Yes we are. Shelley, do you wanna.

[00:17:40] Lead us off a little bit about opt-ins and You betcha.

[00:17:44] Okay. As Jen said when we introduce the show, there's a difference between having a presence being an influencer on social media and having an audience that you nurture. With an e-, having them on your email list and having [00:18:00] them show up on your website and read your blogs and show up to see your live streams and read your social media posts and your newsletters.

[00:18:08] These are people who have selected. Self-selected that they wanna be a part of your world and they are the most important asset you will ever have in your business because they become the people who buy things from you. We want to give them that opportunity to select us, and that's what we do when we offer that opt-in.

[00:18:30] We do. And it is because basically it's like saying, Here's a gift for you in exchange for your name and email.

[00:18:44] Exactly. And yet, even though it's a gift and it's free, we still have to sell it because people are not trusting us. They don't know us, or maybe they don't know if it's worth handing out their email address.

[00:18:56] Oh, I have too many emails already. I have too many newsletters already. I can't even focus. So we have to get through that noise by making sure it's something. They feel that they need and they want to feel included, right? They want to feel like that's for me and I wanna be a part of Jen and Shelley's world, so let me have that.

[00:19:21] Absolutely. It's so interesting. They say the average value of an email address is $5. And I'm like, as hard as it is to draw the email address out of somebody, I tend to think it's, we hold on to these more near and dear because we don't want to be bombarded with things that aren't aligned with us.

[00:19:40] Yeah. And so it means we do have to do the work to entice people to come. One of the things that's really important is you can be and I think Shelley knows people like this, I certainly do. You can be like popular on social media and influencer, but you don't own those followers, [00:20:00] right? If you get somebody to give you their name and email address, it's not that you own that email address, but they are opting in to be.

[00:20:11] Private audience and it is a list. You do own your list and these are your captive audience. People downplay the importance of email marketing, and I think especially in small business, that's a mistake. You wanna have that captive audience in a place that you own because social media can change overnight.

[00:20:33] That's why. Mm-hmm, the cool intro that Shelley wrote this week about, rented space versus owned space is so critical. It's something that you own because, Yeah, algorithms change all the time. What's presented on social media changes all the time. And in the case of something like a Facebook, which is in a decline, even what networks people are using can change overnight or seemingly overnight.

[00:21:00] So there are a lot of factors at play that make the opt-in so important. One of the things we didn't talk about, so an opt-in, it can be a free download. Mm-hmm. The easiest thing to make, I think, is you know, you come up with an idea, so this could be a guide, this can be a free download that you're teaching somebody.

[00:21:21] And then maybe at the end you include a link to schedule with you that's like hyperlinked and things like that. I have several different opt-ins, like things like social media Detox Journal is one of my opt-ins. The one I have right now that's fairly popular is the free marketing self-assessment, because I talk about marketing all the time.

[00:21:41] This is a way that people. Check their marketing, see how they're doing. And then if they continue to engage with me, I will actually a marketing assessment that is not free for people. Mm-hmm, it's a really popular product by the way. People love that one when they come to me and get it [00:22:00] because they get something very in depth.

[00:22:01] But if you want that high level that you can do yourself, that's part of the art of the opt-in. And do you know where I got that idea for a marketing self assessment?

[00:22:14] I gave a talk and I always have a notepad next to me for questions and somebody's like, How do I check my own marketing? And I was like, Oh my. And everybody was like, Yes, Jen, how do we check our own marketing? And I was like, Oh my God, how is it that I've never had? That as the opted and I was. And I, and so I made it.

[00:22:37] Yeah.

[00:22:38] Now you have the perfect answer. You're like let me tell you. Let me tell

[00:22:41] you. Here you go. And it's like a checklist that is so easy for me to make. And I think that one of the things that we all do is we overthink this whole process. Mm-hmm. And so the fir, your first opt-in is really what do you know, like the back of your hand?

[00:22:57] Mm-hmm. that's related to something that you. and that's interesting to people. Yeah. So if you're getting the same questions over and over and over again.

[00:23:10] Exactly. And you want it to be totally aligned with who you are, what you talk about you don't want it to be some side project because once people sign up, an opt-in to your community because of that opt-in lead magnet.

[00:23:26] Then they expect more of that throughout your emails and newsletters, your cur-, your offerings, all your products, all your shows, everything has got to be in alignment with whatever you're putting out there as an opt in. That's how you're gonna get a higher open rate on your emails. Yeah. When I talk to this person about being part of Info Stack and they wanna know how big my email list, It's not very big, but guess what?

[00:23:52] My open rate is 60 to 70%. Same.

[00:23:56] Yeah. Small but

[00:23:58] mighty. And his eyes were like, [00:24:00] What? When I said that? Yeah. He was like, Whoa.

[00:24:04] And it's because if you are consistent about what you offer and you speak to it over and over again, then people and you're interesting, then people will automatically open and be into it.

[00:24:16] Yeah. And that's the key when we talk about creating that opt-in. So for example, you know we've talked about guides. One of the things that I absolutely. That people they don't always come up with. an opt-in that is slightly more complicated, but is great for people who are, say in finance, finance is, this is the perfect one for them, is you wanna have some sort of quiz calculator.

[00:24:38] Mm-hmm. if you're talking all the time about money or how to like, save more time or how to, anything with numbers. Have some sort of, Yeah. Like why is it that you think that you see all these like mortgage calculators, it's because people go nuts for them. Mm-hmm, everybody has one because it's a way to rank cuz everybody wants to know how much they pay for X, Y, Z.

[00:25:02] And they just draw the most traffic. Find something simple that you can create, and if you think, Well, I'm not techy enough for some sort of online calculator, it doesn't even have to be that. You can make an opt-in. That's calculate your budget, calculate your business budget, and you just make a little Excel spreadsheet because Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheets because that's what you're good at and then that's what you send over to people and they can fill it.

[00:25:31] On their own.

[00:25:32] Yeah. Quizzes and checklists are awesome. Yeah. It should relate to you. So if you are about losing weight or nutrition, you could put out a recipe if you are, or 10 recipes using such and such to, do whatever. And then, or if you're in a fitness trainer, you could put out a little exercise routine.

[00:25:50] It takes seven minutes every morning. Do this. You just have to find something. Quick and easy to consume because people aren't gonna wanna read an entire [00:26:00] e-book. What ends up happening is if they opt in for something, they wanna consume it right away. They wanna look at it. Go, That makes sense.

[00:26:07] Maybe even print it out and put it up on the wall if it's an infographic or a, some kind of a map or a checklist or, and, They incorporate that into their lives, and that's so much more important than giving them this big complex ebook that they go, Oh, you know what? I don't have time to read this right now.

[00:26:23] Let me put that in my file and never look at it. So yes. And give them

[00:26:31] something simple to start. Absolutely. And that quiz. Mm-hmm. or. That quiz or that calculator or that thing, like all of your examples are great because they're so related to what the next steps would be. So then your expectation is, I've done this quick thing I've done my calculator, I have done this quiz.

[00:26:48] What's next? Yeah. And that's your job when it comes to retention. Yeah, and if you paid attention to the title of this episode, it's about how you boost sales. Well, you wanna know how you boost sales. You talk about you bring people in with a certain opt in, you speak to it. You understand that you need to have about seven or eight touchpoints at least before you can then come in and expect to make a sale.

[00:27:15] It's. Behavioral science, and the art of marketing. And understand that some people will linger on your list for a long time. Yeah. And others will refer their friends. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. others will share your newsletter. Yeah. There's so many different directions that this could go, but a lot of times what people do is they're like, Oh, I just have to have this opt-in.

[00:27:36] And it's not related to their core message or their. offering. And so that's where these things can go horribly, terribly wrong. Mm-hmm. So for example, pay attention if you're not a speaker like me in getting questions, like I get the same question a few times. I'm writing that down and I'm trying to find a way to address that question in an often.

[00:27:56] Mm-hmm, if you're not, or a course. Or a course. Cause Jen does those [00:28:00] too. I do those too. And that's how a lot of epiphany courses came from. A lot of it also came from feedback.

[00:28:05] Yeah. So that's one way. If you're like, I don't do any of that stuff. How do I do this? It is about paying attention to your surroundings. So if you have customers, what are the questions they're asking you over and over again? What are the answers that you find yourself giving to people time and time again?

[00:28:24] Mm. I've got one. Can you repurpose that? Okay. Yeah.

[00:28:27] If you are doing content like I do every week, putting out shows which ones are getting the most response, which ones are getting the most views, which ones are people commenting on? Do you, did you get any questions from, those are people, excited about something?

[00:28:42] Double down on that. Amen sister.

[00:28:45] Yeah, , that's absolutely. So you take this information, you collect that information, you go on social media, you join groups on all networks that you're active on, that your customers are active on. You join groups that are related to your customers, and you ask questions or you pay attention to the questions that they're asking, and then you offer it.

[00:29:07] Yeah. And you just see how it goes. Now here's the thing, You can't just make an opt-in and be like, Well, I made an opt-in. It's on my website, and. Nobody is doing it. that's a dumb strategy. I'm

[00:29:19] not, so I'm like, dig into your file of opt-ins, your file folder of opt-ins. And they're like, what? File folder?

[00:29:24] What? I just have one I know.

[00:29:25] Or but what I mean is like pe- sometimes people make an opt-in, put it on their website, never talk about it, , they just expect people to do it. Mm-hmm. . And it doesn't work that way. It's like the idea. People thinking, I have this website. Where are all the customers?

[00:29:43] This isn't field of Dreams. It's not. If you build it, they will come. Mm-hmm. You have to then draw people into your opt-in your offering. You have to talk about your email list. You have to tell people that it's out there and that needs to be one key piece of your [00:30:00] strategy. I think we have a future episode about your product ladder that we're going to talk about.

[00:30:06] This is the very first rung on your product ladder. Mm-hmm. This is the piece where people who are not ready to buy but are curious, come in. Yeah. But the only way that they will come in and be curious is if you are in fact telling them about you and what you offer and what you do. Mm-hmm. to draw them in.

[00:30:30] Mm-hmm. and then nurturing. With emails, it's also, Yeah. When I work with clients who are not really comfortable with email marketing, we say, Well just put an opt-in form on your website. Oftentimes we suggest it goes in the footer of their website, just so it's on every single page. And then we say, this is a passive way to collect people's email mess.

[00:30:55] Email accounts and names, and you just go from there. Mm-hmm. and we say, when you're ready you can email them. So that's the very, very first thing. And you might think I bet nobody signs up for that. They actually do . I've tracked it at one point on my own website when I had it in the bottom.

[00:31:13] Mm-hmm, and I was tracking the forms on active campaign people engaged with that because they may read a couple of posts. and it brings them in. Yeah. So don't feel like that's a non-starter, it's actually a really good strategy when you're like, Well, I don't know what to do. Mm-hmm, the opt-in is when you're at that next place and you're like, Oh, okay.

[00:31:32] I wanna like really talk and speak to something I'm super good at. Mm-hmm, and you create that. Another one that we've talked about, quizzes, PDFs, or, maybe a Google sheet, something that people can download. Another thing that I have seen a lot, and I have software for it, it's on my bucket list of marketing things.

[00:31:52] I think it's super effective for people who make a lot of courses, who do a lot of videos, is the automated webinar sequence. [00:32:00] So this is what I would say is a more advanced. Way of creating an opt-in. You. There are, there's a lot of different software out there where basically somebody's Yeah, I wanna take your marketing masterclass, Jen, for example.

[00:32:15] And that could be like an hour. So if you, just to get the lingo right, a masterclass would be, you talk about a topic in depth for about an hour and you are having people provide their name and email address to. Webinar. Now, you could do this a couple different ways. One way is you're like, I have an event.

[00:32:35] You put it on Eventbrite you promote it, and people come in and take that presentation from you. They learn from you live. They can ask their questions. The other way is the automate-, This is your opt-in, is an automated masterclass webinar. And it looks like when you come in, you are gonna have to wait to take it.

[00:32:58] But really what happens is you provide your name and email address and then the webinar opens automatically and people can watch it on the fly. And that is another example. I would say this is a more advanced example of it. There's a lot of different software that does it. It's something to look at if you're doing a lot.

[00:33:18] Courses, a lot of presentations, things like that. They can be a little complicated to set up. Take a lot of time to plan out the content, make sure that you're going. It. I would say that instead of a masterclass is more, it's longer and it's wide instead of deep. Mm-hmm. Does that make sense? So you're covering a topic broadly and providing a lot of value, but not going super deep cuz you want people to pay for that.

[00:33:46] Right. It gets, it's a different thing. So it's very useful, very valuable, Very surface. For something like marketing, there's 150 different things you could do a marketing masterclass [00:34:00] about that would last half an hour, 45 minutes, very surface. Not a lot of depth. Highly valuable for business owners who are not marketers, not professional marketers.

[00:34:14] So there, and there's something like that for every single industry. You just have to, you. Suss out what it is that's within your expertise that you could talk about on the fly and would bring people in. So the automated webinar, that's another option when it comes to, And then there's also, just the regular old webinar where people show up at a specific time and ask questions and people come in.

[00:34:43] Some people love them. There are some webinars that I absolutely. . One of the ones that I really is, it's Totally For Nerds is click minded, . They do a lot of SEO webinars and they have these SEO classes and they bring people in and by the time you get to the end of the webinar, you're like, I'm going to buy this thing.

[00:35:02] It's They get you so excited. Yeah.

[00:35:04] All those sales psychology

[00:35:06] techniques, and but it's. It's not scammy. It's providing a phenomenal amount of value. And then they're getting you super jazzed and you feel like you can do this thing. And they're like, Okay, if you wanna know even more, then here's the offer that we have for you.

[00:35:20] And it's usually a pretty deeply discounted offer. That will go into the how's and the why's and all the different things. So all of which is to say you can do a webinar and be very engaging, provide people with worksheets, go through a very specific topic in a webinar and have it be free and make sales out of it.

[00:35:45] So what you use for your opt-in can be. As simple or as complex as you need it to be, the biggest thing is to have something. So to be clear, the first step, just a form on your [00:36:00] website so people can engage with you later. The next one is some sort of downloadable file, not super long that allows people to engage with you, learn a little bit about what you're doing.

[00:36:16] And then after that, it can be all kinds of crazy town webinars, automated webinars, quizzes, quizzes that are on that are techy quizzes, embedded in your website, all these types of things. And then what you have to back that up with if you really wanna boost your sales is some sort of email sequence follow up, giving people an opportunity to work with.

[00:36:46] What do you think? Shelley's like notes. I feel like notes. taking notes and I another downloading the information okay, yeah,

[00:36:53] another one could be a mini course, but it has to be mini so that they can finish it in 10 to 15 minutes and get a really valuable piece of advice that they can take action on right away.

[00:37:03] Otherwise that, that's too much of a time commitment. An entry level opt-in. And Jan and I talked about this recently. Choose one. Yeah. If you're on somebody else's podcast and they ask you where can people reach you? What do you have to give your our audience choose one opt-in to share with them.

[00:37:22] A lot of times people will choose to share their podcast because they figure, okay, everybody's already listening to a podcast. It's very easy for them to listen to a different podcast. And then once they're listening to my podcast, then I can make more offers. But get them into your world in the easiest, most friction free way possible.

[00:37:41] When you're out there sharing things and then once they're in, you can continue to share more things once they're on your email list. You can share it all one at a time, but they'll see it all. So make sure you're, not trying to fire hose everybody .

[00:37:55] They say a confused mind doesn't buy, and that's exactly what it means.

[00:37:59] Shelley gave this really [00:38:00] great interview on a podcast called podcast. And it was wonderful cuz she, he's like, So what is it? What is it that you do? And at the very beginning he's like, What's that website? And it was like Framework. Framework.agkmedia.studio. That Studio. Studio. And I think that they said that he did, he said it like

[00:38:17] 10 times during the show and I'd laugh every time cause it was

[00:38:20] like so cute.

[00:38:21] And it was so cute. But he was also making the point that if you're going to have an opt-in, if you're gonna go on a show, if you're gonna do something, then you need. Have that call to action. You need to mention it at the beginning. Like we early and often. Early and often, yeah. So it's like course.agkmedia.studio. Coupon code AGKSAVER. To get in for free. Exactly. So like you, you sprinkle it in. throughout, and that's what really works. And it's the same thing with your opt-in. If you make a press appearance, whether it's a podcast or you're writing a guest blog and they let you put a link in, or you're talking about it on social media, you always have to include that.

[00:39:01] Not only because it tells people what you do, but it also gives people a way to continue to follow you along the journey. Mm-hmm.

[00:39:10] And people love to know that you have a podcast or a live stream because then they can show up and ask more questions and get that free advice without having to like bug you because you're excited when you're doing it livestream and somebody comes in and asks the question, you're excited to answer it.

[00:39:26] I know and to communicate with that person. But if it's just like social media, No, tell me more. Oh, give me more advice. And you're like, eh,

[00:39:37] So I show up for our live

[00:39:38] stream . Then ask questions and we'll answer that. That's right. I think we've covered this pretty well. What do you think? Yeah, I love it. I

[00:39:48] love it too. I love it. As Jen said, she has a marketing, a free marketing self-assessment that. You can learn all about your marketing and what you need to do more of, and what you [00:40:00] need to stop doing is not working for you.

[00:40:02] So make sure you check that out. And the link is in the description box and in the comments, and that's at sendfox.com/wcb.

[00:40:13] Yep, very excited about that. And then as we said a couple of times, Shelley has her course how to create published and distribute content consistently at course.agkmedia.studio, and there is a coupon code to gain free access as long as it's before November 18th.

[00:40:33] Is that correct? That is correct.

[00:40:34] And the, And I would love your input on that course. That's right.

[00:40:38] Yeah. And your coupon code for that is a G K Saver. All caps, all caps. So please be sure to go take that course. I think it's gonna be wonderful cuz it's new, so I haven't done it yet. Yeah,

[00:40:54] absolutely. So are we ready for tweak of the week?

[00:41:01] Time

[00:41:06] So what I have today, I got this from Ann Handley's newsletter. Oh, this was so great. Mm-hmm. is, it's called OmmWriter omm. Exactly. And that's pretty much what it is. So what it is, it says here a perfect place to think and write. And if you are like, It's really hard to find a distraction free environment with, I've got two monitors here.

[00:41:33] I don't know how many tabs I have open . It can be very difficult to find an environment where you can write and be on your computer and distraction free and still have the benefit of, saving the files and all of that kind. There are a lot of programs that do this. There's Ulysses, which I used for a while, and then there's OmmWriter.

[00:41:53] This one is my favorite . I'm brand new to using it. And one of the reasons it's my favorite [00:42:00] is there's a couple things. One, the price , which is like $5 forever. One time $5, and it's also completely dis- distraction free. And it plays Concentrating music, or you can turn it off, it will do the typing sounds, which I love.

[00:42:17] Or you can turn that off . And it provides a very calm screen for you to work in. So for example, it can be like a white winter background and then just a very simple box in the middle and you just start typing and you then you can save those files export them. In any way that you want. And then you open it again and it'll open a blank window.

[00:42:43] It remembers your settings. It's, like I said, it's very, very clean interface. Very, very simple. Just open it and start typing , and it's just very nice. I started using this and writing every morning. Oh, and it's been a really great way to kinda get my thoughts out early in the morning. It's very calming, very soothing.

[00:43:04] And it's a great way to just write down tasks. They have a second product called OmmNotes, and it is a place to just take little notes if you wanna do that and keep that open. I have something else that I use for that, but I liked OmmWriter. I think it's great. It says that they have a million users.

[00:43:25] I think it's because it doesn't. Cost a lot, yeah. It's something very simple and very easy, and it just clears your screen. It's a full screen option, so you just, all is that and it's just, it's the best in terms of. No distractions. You still have to set up things like do not disturb or turn off notifications, whatever it is.

[00:43:47] I know that on my Mac I can have like distractions and stuff, but I can block all that out and I'm sure there are ways you can do that on your PC as well. And it's just a great program. So I thought I would share that today. I thought [00:44:00] it was great. The way that Ann Handley presented it, she had a whole list of bunch of different distraction free writers, and there was one that just, it actually made my heart.

[00:44:09] Stressed me out. And it was one where you're writing and if you stop writing and or open another window or anything, it like buzzes a warning and starts deleting words . And I was like, I cannot think of anything worse than Oh yeah, you get distracted. And then it. It just starts like taking off the words and the copy that you've created.

[00:44:30] It's . It's crazy. So that's what I have for the tweak of the week. What do you have today, Shelley?

[00:44:36] A thing I just discovered this week. And it's brand new. It's a podcast by Brendan Burchard. It's called Marketing with Brendan Burchard. And. Put all of these different trainings and they are really practical.

[00:44:51] They are, he talks about things that he's done step by step, how it worked, all behind the scenes type of things that, maybe you attended this influencer summit. Here's the truth about what happened and how we put that together and here's how much we spent on advertising and here's, what we did.

[00:45:08] And it's all step by step stuff, which I love. I love when people share. The nitty gritty details of what works, what doesn't, and here's how it, here's how you do it too, marketing with Brendan Burchard, it's a brand new podcast. It's got about six episodes on it right now. Because he, when he launches a podcast, he says, You gotta have six episodes to start with.

[00:45:26] So people have stuff to listen to. So to he walk he walks the talk. And so check that out if that's something that you're interested in there. Very deep dive. This one that I just listened to was an hour and a half long. It's really long. It's good stuff. It's very informational.

[00:45:42] Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. That's my tweak. Woo. It's not software, but it's what I'm doing. Hey, it's great.

[00:45:49] I love it. Yeah. All right. So you ready to be inspired? I am.

[00:45:54] All right. Once again, this is from The Daily Stoic. And this is from Marcus [00:46:00] Aurelias, and he said there is no good for a human being except what creates justice, self-control, courage, and freedom, and nothing evil except what destroys these things.

[00:46:10] What's the meaning of life? Why was I born? Most of us struggle with these questions. No amount of travel reading or clever sages can give you those answers. It's not our question to ask. Instead, it is we who are being asked in our lives are the answer. Isn't that interesting? You must find the answer in your actions in living the good life by embodying the principles of justice, self-control, courage, freedom, and abstaining from evil.

[00:46:41] Do my principles show themselves in my life? Do they show up in my work and the content I produce? Good questions to ponder this week. Absolutely. What do you think? Do you think your principals show up? I think they do. I see you know who you, I see you Jan . . I know that you offer. More value than you ever ask for in return.

[00:47:08] And that I knew that the first day I met you. And that is why I reached out to work with you. Because anytime I would give you a tip or an idea, you'd give me three. it was like, I gotta be around this lady. She's just amazing. Thank

[00:47:23] you, . I agree, and going through the process of hiring somebody to come in, It was important to me that they read the manifesto.

[00:47:31] I have a manifesto on my website and it really outlines the values that I, what I'm striving for because that people can be trained to do tasks . Sure. I'll, I will help you. But if the values are not shared, Yeah, that is a very difficult. That's the foundation. The foundation is very difficult to overcome.

[00:47:55] Mm-hmm. . So I love this. I love it. How it ties to what [00:48:00] we talked about today.

[00:48:02] Yeah. And being in alignment, sharing your values. Yeah. And, and, and not, and helping people to self select by letting them know what your values are. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's ideal. Excellent. Oops.

[00:48:19] Thank

[00:48:19] you. Hit the wrong button.

[00:48:20] Sorry. Just doing my thing over here. . Pay no attention to the man behind the kitchen. Oh my God.

[00:48:30] What

[00:48:30] about you? I try to encourage people because the people I wanna work with are those people who have a message to share with the world that's going to make the world a better place to live for everybody. Something inclusive, something uplifting, something positive, something helpful, and something helpful.

[00:48:52] I really appreciate when people give me. Tips I can take action on, not just a bunch of, we feel good, but did we learn anything that we can actually do? And it's because it's like when you watch some of these news programs and they tell you all the bad news, but they don't give you anything to do about it.

[00:49:09] So you're just stuck there in this bad feeling. So you've got to have some action steps included in that. That's my opinion, and that's what I like. That's the kind of people I like to work with is those who encourage others to get out there and do these things to make the world a better place.

[00:49:24] Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So get out there and share your values, share, share your knowledge with people, bring more of your people in, and have a great week everybody.

[00:49:39] Thank you for joining the Women Conquer Business podcast, posted by Shelley Carney and Jen McFarland. Please subscribe and leave a comment or question regarding your most challenging content creation or business problem.

[00:49:51] Then share this podcast with family and. So they can find the support they need to expand their brand and share their message with the world. [00:50:00] Check the show notes for links to valuable resources and come back again next week.