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Have you ever looked up from your desk and thought, “Is this why I built my business?”
If you are like me, you built a business to spend less — no. more — time at your desk. You wanted time for your loved ones, recent business ideas, and, truthfully, just more time to not work.
We all start a business to create amazing, precious offerings that may change the lives of our customers, to not spend every waking moment at a desk running the business.
I had heard other digital business owners talk about their free challenges and 80-hour weeks before launch. But I didn’t wish to put in the time and energy of people that didn’t pay me anything neglecting those that had I invested in my programs.
I knew there needed to be one other way—an easier way that may allow me to make sales without compromising my health and common sense.
The “Everybody’s Doing It” Marketing Tactic (But You Shouldn’t)
The online business world is an echo chamber of bad advice. And when the entire digital marketing space convinces us that we *must* sell our program a certain way, it’s easy to lose perspective.
I assumed the “everyone is doing it” marketing tactics that work for the big names in the industry would work for me: go live, memberships, challenges, SLOs, all the pieces. But I learned the hard way ($55k in consumer debt, that’s a bit harsh) that if you don’t build a name for yourself, those are pretty poor marketing tactics for the remainder of us.
Here’s what I learned about why these methods often fail.
Live firing is a risk
Going live is often presented as the ultimate, ultimate marketing strategy. But in reality, it’s chaotic, dangerous, and emotionally draining.
Yes, a live launch *can* work, and many business owners achieve their goals. The problem is that subsequent launches — where they do the very same thing — don’t have the same success. This signifies that a live launch is incredibly unpredictable, making planning and running a business nearly not possible.
If your audience has the same sign-up period, you’re essentially risking your whole revenue for one or two weeks of the 12 months. What if you get sick or there’s a major public health crisis? (I’m looking at you, Covid.)
When so much depends on one launch, it’s no wonder many business owners crumble under the pressure. The emotional burden of not knowing the consequence of your launch and having no control over the way forward for what you are promoting is exhausting. And when you don’t hit your numbers, you query the validity of your entire business—when in all likelihood, the problem is the method you’re using to market what you are promoting, not the business itself.
Evergreen Doesn’t Convert Like Most People Do
Evergreen Offer is often positioned as an alternative to the countless live launch cycle, allowing you to sell an offer at any time. While this will seem to be an “easier” strategy, there are two important the explanation why it is very ineffective:
- Lack of urgency: Without deadlines, there is no reason to take motion.
- Raising before sales: People are most excited when they first meet you. The longer you nurture them, the more that excitement wanes.
Our potential customers need our offer. We have to provide them what they need, when they need it and how they need it. Live launching and evergreen dissuade people shopping. We don’t need to be an obstacle — we would like to be the solution.
So what do you do as a substitute? Here are some strategies that have worked for me and may match for yours too.
Capture your customers’ attention at the peak of their excitement
People won’t ever be more excited or motivated than when they first encounter you and your offer. The key is to harness that excitement and motivation by immediately presenting them with your most compelling offer.
We often hear that “you have to nurture first” – otherwise it’s like proposing to a stranger. But the thing is, our clients have come to us us I’m looking for a solution. It’s not like I’m proposing All!
If customers have to go through a series of emails, watch multiple videos, or participate in a multi-day challenge before they have a likelihood to purchase, their excitement will wane. Instead, you’ll be able to sell AND nurture concurrently by focusing on the most tasty offer to maximise sales before customer motivation wanes.
Give your clients deadlines
People are not compelled to purchase when they will simply get something “anytime.” They are spurred into motion when they have a deadline. There is a very clear, strategic reason why sales and promotions have end dates—urgency tends to increase conversions.
Furthermore, by providing a deadline, you help your customers prioritize your offer or product. Consequently, prioritizing your offer signifies that customers myself priority.
But you have to make use of true deadlines. We’ve all received those “Sale Extended!” emails after a “limited time” offer. Using false deadlines like it will only damage your status and undermine your audience’s trust.
Build trust through breakthroughs
Many digital marketers encourage us to show like crazy, run webinars and challenges to make prospects win and wish to buy more. But learning does NO lead to buy.
Delivering breakthroughs that change the way your audience thinks and offer hope they previously struggled with builds trust. For example, you’ll be able to show how your financial planning service can turn financial stress into money confidence. Showing how your solution revolutionizes a fundamental aspect of their lives makes people wish to hear more from you—and ultimately, buy.
If you are using traditional marketing tactics without success, it isn’t your fault! It’s ours. he said to do. The excellent news is that you could free yourself from the stress and constraints of outdated approaches like live launching and evergreen.
When you stop chasing the next shiny marketing tactic that “everyone is doing” and focus on tactics that Work Down your business, this is when you’ll experience the biggest breakthroughs in what you are promoting.