Too many people jump to advertising to solve their traffic & leads problem. They believe paid outreach is the end-all-be-all to growing their business. But unless you have the systems in place (and the proven offer), more leads won’t matter. You’re just not quite ready for marketing yet. Here’s what you need to focus on first.

Jeffrey: Welcome to the light in your launch podcast. Today, we're talking to all of those people who want to jump into marketing. When do you start marketing? Stay tuned.

Announcer: Hey, we're the Launch Squad and this is the Lighten Your Launch podcast. We teach coaches and course creators how to lighten their launches. We're bringing you all of the tips and strategies to take your launch from intimidating to money-making. In this podcast, we talk about everything; the sales, strategy, mindset, technical and spiritual aspects of running your best launch ever. So if you're feeling overwhelmed and unsure of the next right step, we're here to bring clarity, confidence, and excitement into your next launch. This is the Lighten Your Launch podcast.

Jeffrey: Welcome back to the show. I'm Jeffrey summer run on backing up the Katie Collins. And, uh, we, we hear a lot, uh, of people come to us for coaching or tech work or whatever it is. And they say, how do I run Facebook ads? How do I market it? How do I start getting more traffic, uh, to my stuff? And inevitably, we come back with the same question, Katie, what's that question? What would you ask somebody or respond to somebody when they say, how do I do marketing? How do I pay for ads?

Katie: Yeah. Well, we always start with the end in mind. So the question's always going to be, do you have a proven offer? And it's not just the offer, but that's a good place to start.

Jeffrey: All right. That's Katie's answer. It was like, how do you have a proven offer? And then I say, well, do you have a system for Selling?

Katie: And that's what I was gonna say. You need, you really need both. You need everything set up on your end to receive the leads. And I think the biggest mistake people are making is, you know, you're here. You need every business needs TLC. I heard this from James Wedmore, traffic leads and conversions. And so, because that's a very linear approach, you got to get traffic and then you've got to turn those traffics and traffic into leads. And then you're going to convert those leads into sales. So people always want to start in the linear way with traffic being number one. But what you've got to do is start with the conversions in mind. Do I have a way to convert these people? And if you don't, then you're wasting your money on ads before you're ready.

Jeffrey: Yes. And I want to reiterate that point because this is something I see time and time again, because what people are learning are linear. They start at the beginning, they here, you need traffic, you need traffic and then you need leads. And then so, you know, conversions are, or any, any form of that linear progression. And then they go, oh, okay. The first thing I heard was traffic, I need more traffic. So I'm going to go for focus on getting more traffic. So I'm going to make blog posts. I'm going to get Facebook and I'm going to get, you know, outreach. And then I'm going to do paid ads and Ooh, that'll increase traffic. Yes. Next I'm going to work on leads. How do I work? Huh? I'm getting a lot of people. What do I do with them? What do I do with it? Right. And honestly,

Katie: We get asked that question a lot. Like what do I do once they come in? So it tells you that you've started in the wrong point, right? On, on the timeline. We always want to start with the end in mind. So really, unless you've got these two things that we're going to talk about, you're just not ready for paid marketing just yet. And that is, that is okay. Because once you get this system in place, um, these two key elements that we're talking about today, your paid marketing will do so much better for you. It just makes sense, like save your money and spend the time. Right. Everything we do is either going to cost you time or money in the beginning it's time. And you've got to spend the time really thinking through the offer and the emails that you're going to write that are going to continue to get people, to stay interested in what you're doing. Um, so anyway, not to get too into the weeds, but these are the two pieces you need first. So the first, first one is really asking yourself, as I said, if your offer is proven, Um, now what does that mean? How do we know it's?

Katie: And another way we like to call it, it's just irresistible. Um, proven. It's like, it's the kind of litmus test of, um, your audience looking at what you're offering and just immediately saying, Ooh, I want that right. It's the, I want that test. So how do you know if they actually want it? Um, I talk about this till I'm blue in the face, but I, I get a lot of people that are coming to me like, yeah, this is what I'm selling. And I'm always like, awesome. Is that what they want? And they get this puzzled look on their face. Like, well, I know my audience really well. I'm like awesome. But did you ask them what they want? That, that sounds an awful lot, Like market research, my favorite thing.

Katie: Um, yeah, until you take the time to do the market research and you know, there's tons of different ways that you could do it. There's some, what I call lazy ways, fast market research, ways like going to YouTube or Amazon and reading other people's words that are talking about the problem you solve, you know, those are fast and easy. Um, and maybe not completely accurate. Um, the most accurate

Jeffrey: We are getting one side of things and you don't know if they're your audience, you don't know if you're your ideal audience, but you can get some dirty information. Yeah. Yes. It's helpful. It's helpful. But,

Katie: Um, really the most accurate market research you can possibly do is 20 minute interviews with your ideal clients, with people that, um, not necessarily people who have already worked with you, but people that you've seen circle around you for awhile, like they're already interested in you get them on the phone. Um, because really the, the likelihood of them signing up to work with you after a market research call is very high, very high. So it, it takes time to do these interviews and compile the data. You know, we've got a whole system for it in our program, but, um, it's, it's what creates the content for your offer. It's finding out what matters to them, why it matters, what they're challenged by, what do they want instead? Right. And it's, it's kind of the, you know, I remember James Wedmore teaching about this. Um, you know, when somebody has a headache and you as the health coach, you know, they need water, but all they want is an aspirin. And if you offer them water, it better be so that they can take the aspirin. Cause that is what they think They need. Even though, you

Katie: Know, it's because they're dehydrated and you're gonna tell them to drink 64 ounces of water a day. That is not where they are. And when you do the market research, you find out where they are and you speak to them from where they are. Right. You get them in, um, by giving them what they want. And then in the program, you're going to actually give them what they need. Right. But all of that is created by doing those market research questions. Um, other, other ways that we can, you know, can see that it's proven quote, unquote, is if someone already bought what you're selling, that you didn't know. So yeah.

Jeffrey: Your, your mom probably bought it. Your brother probably bought it, you know, your dad. And it was like, oh, I love it. That's great. I'll buy it. And you know, that's cool. We, we thank them for their love of us. Right. But really when the, what is the term, the PA the rubber hits the pavement, I always bought that meets the road. Right? Yeah. That sounds way better. That one we'll go with that one.

Jeffrey: You know, when, when is it real, is when someone you don't know, finds your offer, reads your messaging and decides that this is for them, that that's when, you know, like you got it winning,

Katie: Right? Yeah. Yeah. And, and that's true. I mean, you know, all of us, I'm sure have a warm audience of some sort you, I coached for another company. And when I left that company and went on my own, a lot of people followed me, you know, came onto my list, joined my group and, and maintained a friendship with me. Um, and some of those people will buy whatever I put out there. And so that, that's my warm audience. And I'm always so grateful that they stick around. They still like me. It's been like seven or eight years and they're still learning from me. Um, and you know, that's awesome. Uh, and so when they buy it, it's still awesome. But to Jeffrey's point when a stranger says, yes, you know, they opt in for the webinar and they buy the thing. It's like, whoa, that is so cool.

Katie: And it's really cool to even look back and see if you can track where that person came from. Um, a lot of times, like maybe they came from a summit that I spoke at, you know, or, um, he came into my group because of an interview I did or something like that. I can usually figure out where they came from. And so that's super fun too, to be like, oh, wow, look at that, that summit, I thought did nothing for me. It built my list a little bit, but not much, but here I am three months later and I just sold this program to somebody that came to me through that summit. So I'm always kind of look at those anecdotal notes and see, um, just to remind yourself that your efforts are working right. Maybe not immediately, but they are working. Um, another way to know that it's proven is if you have testimonials and results already. So it's why a lot of people offer a beta program. Um, you know, I, I liked the idea of a beta program. I don't like the idea of giving it away for free. I personally don't think anyone should work for free. Um, but, um, blur

Jeffrey: Reasons, right? Uh, one, you do want to get paid for your services. You do, you are investing time in this and two people don't aren't, if they're not invested in their own transformation, then, then it's much less likely that they will receive the transformation. They always say the transformation just starts with the transaction. So you want to at least have them take some sort of action Commitment, some bites it's a commit. Yep. Yeah,

Katie: It's a choice, you know? Um, I do, I found that like, anytime I offered anything for free, um, people didn't show up, they were doing the work. Like they just weren't committed. Um, and you know, your, your stuff is valuable. And for those of you that are somewhat still afraid of sales, quote, unquote, you know, if sales makes you uncomfortable, then it would be easy for you to say, oh, my first beta program I'm going to do for free. And so I'm just suggesting that you kind of start to overcome your fear of sales and get comfortable asking for some dollars for your work, um, for all the reasons that we just talked about. So, um, but that is an easy way to get testimonials and results. And so if you don't have those, if you're wanting to get ready for marketing and you don't have testimonials and results for this particular program, I am sure this is not the first time you've ever worked with a human being in your life. And you can get testimonials and use snippets of, you know, gratitude emails that people have sent you along the way as a way to start building your credibility and positioning. So don't let that stop you.

Jeffrey: Yeah. And specifically for like, you know, coaches and course creators who have like, had a one-on-one practice for decades, I'm sure like, you know, all of those people have worked with you and have found results and in there, you know, just because you're creating a new packaged program or a new package offer all of those results, all of that stuff still still counts.

Katie: Yep. Yep, absolutely. Um, and then of course, back to the, you know, how do you know it's a proven offer? Uh, does it, does the offer convert and more importantly, Jeffrey, does it convert well,

Jeffrey: That's, that's the key, right? And you can always improve that with a selling system, which we can get into,

Katie: Which we will get into. So just to, you know, uh, reiterate the proven offer. So we start with the market research, we're asking your audience what exactly they want. They need, what do they desire? Um, what all that means to them. And then you build your offer based on that. Um, and then, you know, that it's proven if someone that you don't know purchased it, if you've got testimonials and results from it, or from any of your coaching, um, and then, you know, has it converted already? Um, and then if you're, if, if you're saying yes to those to prove to yourself that it's a proven and irresistible offer, then we're moving into kind of key number two that you need to have in place before you're ready for marketing, not when you hire someone to run ads, do you do this stuff? You have to do it ahead of time because you want to do it.

Katie: Well, I can't tell you how many times I, I pause my clients who try to rush through something, or, you know, I know this email series is only, it's seven emails. You know, I'm just going to cut it down to five. I pushed back every time, why not do it the right and proven way, instead of taking shortcuts and trying to do it your way that hasn't been proven, if your way works and it's been proven have at it. But if you're just trying to cut corners to save time, you're missing the point on the entire sales system,

Jeffrey: Or you're avoiding, that seems daunting and formal uncomfortable. You're like, oh, I don't understand it. I don't want to do it. I'll just do it this way. Well, Hey, if that works great, but it doesn't often.

Katie: Yeah. Why not just take out the instruction manual of all of the digital marketers that have done this before you and do it their way until it doesn't feel comfortable. You come up with a better way that actually works, but you have to start by doing it someone else's way first you just do, because if you don't, you're just throwing caution to the wind. Like hopefully this'll work fingers crossed. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to waste my money on Facebook ads if I'm saying that, right. I want to spend money on Facebook ads. When I say, oh, this is going to work. And I can't wait to get a thousand people into this funnel and see what happens.

Jeffrey: Yeah. In college, I went to a graphic arts technical college. So it was an arts college, but it focused on technology. So we used a lot of Photoshop, illustrator and stuff. We did traditional painting and color concepts and all that stuff. But I had one teacher who said something that just stuck with me so much. Um, he was saying, in order to break the rules, you need to first understand the rules. And I, this kind of stuck with me. Oh my God.

Katie: Say that again. That was good. Before you can break the rules, you have to understand the rules.

Jeffrey: Yes. And so many people are wanting to do it differently because that's how they feel or that's what they want or that's what they think. But they don't understand why it was done the other way in the first place. I'm not against doing it differently, but this, this thing stuck with me. Don't break the rules until you understand the rules. And for anybody out there, who's like, I don't understand the rules. Fine. Awesome. Just follow and paint by numbers first. Then you will understand why those rules are there, why that advice was there, and then you can grow and expand and change it. Make it your own afterwards.

Katie: Boom, mic drop

Jeffrey: Jeffrey. I'm going to drop the mic.

Katie: Awesome. That's awesome. All right. So the offer is kind of Katie's lane in the launch squad and the system is Jeffrey's lane in the launch squad. So

Jeffrey: Have a seat, Katie. So yeah,

Katie: I'll, I'll now put my mic down, but, um, you know, Jeffrey, as we talked about, you know, in the beginning of this episode, it's like everyone needs every business needs, TLC, traffic leads and conversions. Right? So talk to us about the funnel system, um, and what people need in place before they start marketing.

Jeffrey: So everyone hates funnels, funnels have been, the word funnel has been dragged through the mud destroyed. You know, if you don't consider yourself a hacker or funnel hacker, you're probably hearing the word funnel and saying, oh, that's just not for me. I get it. I totally get it. But, but what, yeah, it's the fun

Katie: Back in the funnel.

Jeffrey: They can be fun. They really can. They really can. And you know, however you feel about funnels, all we're talking about is a system for selling. And what that means is that you have a system that goes out and gets traffic and brings it in somewhere. And then you have a system for when that traffic comes in to turn that traffic into leads. And then when they turn into leads, you have a system that nurtures those leads, right? And then when they're nurtured and they're getting to know you, now you have a system for pitching your main offer. And that my friends is called a funnel.

Jeffrey: That doesn't sound so hard. That doesn't sound so hard, right? It's not that hard. And chances are, you are already doing this. Even if it's manual, you're already doing this. Even if it's walking outside and saying, Hey, everybody, I've got this cool thing. You want it. And then somebody turns their head and they're like, yeah, what do you got? And you sell it to them. You've just enacted a funnel right now, the spin to this is to create an automated system for this. And we won't dive too deep in the weeds, but that's kind of the, the point when, when people talk about quote unquote funnels, they're really mostly referring to the automations and the technology and the systems behind the, the underlying funnel. Right?

Katie: Yeah. So I want to jump in just quick. Like, um, for me, who was kind of the, you know, I wasn't a non-techie, I wasn't an anti-tech, but I certainly didn't automate anything in my business for several years. I made six figures in my business before I automated anything.

Katie: Can you believe, I know that's a lot of work it's a lot or

Katie: So. So just for those of you that may be kind of at that beginning stage of your business, where networking is, is how you get your traffic and your leads to, to convert. Right. Um, I just, it's like this, you go to a networking meeting and you've got your business card and you're like, okay, I'm going to meet people. I I've practiced my 32nd elevator pitch till I was blue in the face and I've memorized it and I'm going to rock it. Right. So you up and you introduce yourself and maybe you get a few eyebrows raised or, oh, wow. That's interesting. You know? And you're like, oh, they like me. They like me right now. Maybe at the end of the meeting, a couple of people come up and they want your card, or they want to set up a connection call or something.

Katie: So this is the beginning of your funnel right now. Imagine if you didn't have any cards, right. Oh, sure. Let me write down my phone number for you here on this napkin. Right. Imagine if you did it, if you didn't use an online calendar and someone's like, I'm trying to book a call with you. And you're like, you know what? I left my calendar at home. I have a paper calendar it's on my desk. So now I'm at this networking meeting. I can't make any appointments because I'm not ready to receive any leads because I don't yet do business from my phone or from my automated, you know, from my calendar, even just Google calendar, you don't even need a scheduling link or anything. Right. And then imagine you do set up a connection call. Um, and, and you do connect with somebody, but at the end of it, you don't have anywhere to send them. That's what we're talking about here is that, like, you weren't quite ready to start networking because you don't know what you're selling, or you don't know how to nurture those leads and get them into a system where you're continuously touching, you know, reaching out and touching them. So to speak without sounding creepy. Um,

Katie: You know, it used to be that you needed seven touches before somebody was going to buy from you. I mean, now it's even more, I can't think of it. I know, I know it sounds super creepy. It does. We need a new

Jeffrey: Group. Who's the lady she keeps touching me.

Katie: Um, but, but so just to back it up and just let you see a concrete way of seeing, oh, wow. I wasn't really ready for that yet. Right. And, and that's okay, but you can see, oh, I'm really missing this. Or what if you're giving away a free gift, but you haven't yet started writing emails. Why are you collecting emails if you don't have a system to write to these people? Right. So that's what Jeffrey's going to lay out here is just really getting you ready to receive the traffic that you're about to pay for.

Jeffrey: Right. And that's exactly why we work with the end in mind. And we work backwards. So just, just like Katie was, was describing, you went to this networking, uh, event. Right. But before you went there, you made sure you built a landing page and your business card now points to that landing page. Right. And then you have your calendar booking calendar system link on your business card, and that's all set up and it's connected to your Google calendar and it's ready for a, you know, a, a 20 minute or 30 minute discovery, college it's primed and ready. Your email notifications are set up. Your, your calendar is connected. It's all up. You're ready to go. Right? So now you show up to this networking event and you're ready for traffic, right? You are ready for traffic. You start handing out these business cards and they can go right to that link.

Jeffrey: They can call you, they can email you whatever it is, but they go to that sales page or that the page listed on the card. And it's specifically designed for them. It says, I'm glad I met you at this networking event. You know, whatever it is like, that's preparation. And that's kind of where I want you to think about this quote unquote system for selling. When you think about it, think about it backwards, or you think about it linear and then, you know, build it backwards. So if you're out there saying, well, if I got a thousand new people to come to my website, what would they do when they got there? Huh? Well, you know, what I should do is I should offer them some sort of lead magnet, right? Or some sort of little gift or something. And in exchange for their email, I want to get, I want to get them as a lead. How do I do that? Right. I was talking to a client the other day and he wanted me to do ads. And I said, yes, you know this, I would love to do ads. I've got a great methodology for it. And, uh, what's your lead magnet? What are we driving them to? And he looked at me and said, sorry, what's a lead magnet.

Jeffrey: I was like, no problem. Okay. We're starting where you are. Right. So, you know, the idea is to answer these questions, you, you know, you need traffic leads and conversions. What do you do when traffic shows up? How do you convert them into leads when they're leads? What do you do with them? Right? How do you get them to your offer? And when they get to your offer, how do we, how do we funnel them into your offer? And then nurture them, you know, how do we get them to buy? Right. So to ask these super, super important questions, okay, what next, now they're here. What next? Now they're here. What next? And when you answer those questions, chances are, you're going to have to build something, right. If you're saying, oh, let's, let's, uh, what's a lead magnet. Well, if you were asking for traffic and you don't have a lead magnet, now you need to build that lead magnet so that you're prepared for the traffic, right? So you think in linear terms, but you build backwards, build your offer, build your system for selling the offer, build your system for getting leads to the offer, build your system for acquiring leads, build your system for getting traffic, just build the system. That's how you then,

Katie: Right. So, so let's talk about the system because, um, here's, you know, th the shortcut takers I attract the shortcut takers, and I think it's because they're, they're drawn to me because I'm like the teacher that's like do it right. The first time some people need, they, they, I swear. I do. I check that, but, um, okay. So people think, okay, got it. So I needed to get a free gift and then that's gonna invite them to my webinar, and then I'm going to make a pitch and then I'm done. Right. Done. All done. That's all you, that's all. Yeah. Just make the pitch one time. And everyone's going to buy right there on the webinar. So first ask yourself, do you buy right there on the webinar? Says, I mean, you know, obviously some people do, and if there's a reason why there's a fast action bonus, that's usually offered in a webinar.

Jeffrey: Right. That that's why those are there for people. But if there was no, if that wasn't there, would you buy with somebody to say, Hey, welcome to my webinar. Here's a good idea. I think. Yeah.

Katie: Yeah. Even though the program doesn't start for 30 more days. Right. Right. So I was just telling Jeffrey, I'm considering joining a program. Um, and you know, it's $400, so it's not that much money. Um, and she's promoting it, um, in a, in a different way than I would like. There's no actual launch. It's probably about six weeks of Facebook posts, um, linked to the program, linked to the program. The posts are great. They're all organic. The images are great. You know, obviously they're getting my attention, but I don't feel like I need to spend $400 now because it doesn't start for a month. So I just keep putting it off. Like, whenever I feel like spending $400, I'll go ahead and buy that program, but I keep putting it off. So if this woman didn't keep posting about it in the group of hers that I'm in, I wouldn't know about it.

Katie: Right. Or I wouldn't remember is what I'm saying. So if you're doing a webinar and you're making an offer, which you better be making an offer, if you're going to do a webinar, then we need to remind your people over and over and over again. And here's where the discomfort comes in. Because what I just described to you, you're like free gift. Got it. Done. Great. Okay. Webinar did it like love teaching webinars? Yep. Made my offer. Great. Okay. Now you get to write seven sales emails and send them every single day for the next seven days.

Jeffrey: And people just stop in their tracks. No, I can't do that. People, people would hate me for that. I would be, I would be unsubscribed. I would be shunned off of the planet. They'll reach through my, my desktop and punch me. Yeah. They're going to bully

Katie: Me. They're going to tell me I'm annoying. Right? Um, or my favorite, I hate when people do that to me.

Jeffrey: Well, chances are, you're not interested in the actual offer and that's why you're annoyed. Yeah. I

Katie: Mean, really? That is what it comes down to. It's. When you think about when you bought a program from a webinar that you didn't buy on the webinar, the only reason you ended up buying it is because they kept sending you emails about it. It stayed on your radar. Number one, and number two, there was a limiter, there was a cart close. You cannot buy this offer after this date, or you're not going to get this good price after this date. Right. There's reasons that made you act now, as opposed to me waiting another month to sign up for the sport at all our program. Cause there was no reason for me to act now. Um, so these emails, these sale, you know, I call it the sales email sequence. Um, and of course I'm the sales person here at the launch squad. So I keep pushing how important this is.

Katie: And I keep pushing through the resistance of our clients who are afraid that they're going to annoy people because at the end of the day, um, you're targeting a list. You're emailing the list that registered for your webinar. You're not emailing your master list if, if you've set your system up. Right? So yeah, they already raised their hand. They're interested in the topic. Um, they have the problem you're solving and you're reminding them for about a week that you have the system that's going to solve their problem. Hey, by the way, knock, knock me again. You know, three days left and you may feel annoying, but they're like, okay, three days left. I got to find that money. Or I've got to have the conversation with my partner. Or I've got to look at my calendar and ask myself, do I have time for this right now? They're overcoming their own objections in their head every day that they don't buy, but that you email them. They are thinking it through. The other thing is you can see who clicks on your emails. Who's opening the emails. Who's clicking to the sales page. And now you already know who are the warm and or hot leads.

Jeffrey: Okay? Yeah. And here's the mindset shift that a lot of people may need to make. Now we've all been to a used car lot or any car lot. And there's a person there trying to sell you something you may not want. Right? You may be interested in buying a car. You might be thinking about it. Uh, maybe you don't need it right now, but you're just kinda checking things out. Right? But that person is trying to make the sale, right. That's where the term comes from. They're they're trying to convince you that you need to get this right now, which is a much different conversation than somebody who needs what you have and you, and is trying to make that transaction work. That's a really different conversation. So this is the mindset too, to keep in mind that the, those five to seven emails, they're talking to somebody who's leaning in, who's saying I really, really, really, really want this. I don't know how to make it happen. I'm you know, I'm trying to make it happen. How can I do this? I'm ready. I'm willing. I want to do this. That's who you're talking to. You're not trying to convince anybody. Who's like, well, I'm not really interested, but, uh, it sounds kind of cool, right? That that's not who you're talking to. So to shift that this, this directs what you say in those emails and how you say it, right. You're not using the persuasion, convincing language. You're offering solutions that has a big, it is.

Katie: Yeah. I'm glad you said that because just because you may have interacted or, you know yeah. Had some interactions with some like sort of quote unquote sleazy marketing, or, you know, I've heard people call it bro marketing, um, things that we kind of like laugh out at the launch squad, just kind of like buy this now. Right? Like this, like flashing red cautionary, you know, um, you know, seizure and yeah. Like we don't, we don't do that. But, but for you to say, I hate all marketing because you experienced something like that. You're just shooting yourself in the foot. Right. It's putting a hole in your boat before you even get it in the water. It just doesn't make any sense to resist what works. So like Jeffrey said, you know, you have to play by the rules first time and understand the why behind everything.

Katie: And that is how I work with clients. I, I, I not only tell them what to do so to speak, but I explain the why behind everything so that they don't skip it so that they do it. Right. Right. They do it well because this is what works. And then every step along the way, and we have this experience where we did Facebook ads or sorry, YouTube ads together as a team. Right. In every step of the funnel that we were working on in a layout would be like, um, I don't like that wording. Can you guys shift it too? Right? Like it was awesome. Cause she was able to like bring heart more heart into a funnel that someone else gave us that made it more us. So there's no reason why you can't raise your hand and say, I don't like this or this makes me feel uncomfortable. How can we make it better? But you can't skip it.

Jeffrey: Right? Yeah. It's there for a reason. It may not be worded in how you would word it, but it's, it is there for a reason. So how would you say that? That's a really good.

Katie: Yup. Yup. Um, a few other things. And again, I'm just kinda hounding on the email sequences, partly because I was the person that resisted doing this stuff. So I'm telling you from experience how much time I wasted, um, putting on webinars that barely anyone showed up to because I resisted the, your webinar starts tomorrow. The next day. Today's the day, the webinars in eight hours, four hours later, the webinars and four hours, two hours later, the webinars in two hours. Right. And then, um, you know, 15 minutes before it starts, we're about to get started. That's five emails in a 24 hour span to get people, to sign up for your webinar and that's uncomfortable. But again, they opted in for it and lots of people just forget stuff. And so they appreciate the reminders. All they need to do is see the subject line and they, and so if they're like, like for me, I'm pretty organized.

Katie: It's on my calendar. I know it's coming up, I'm going to attend. So I just click and delete all of those. I don't open any of them. I don't get annoyed by them. I just delete them like, oh, I know I know about this. Um, but for some people that works better for them, they get email notifications on their desktop. Like I wouldn't get a thing done all day, if that were the case for me. So that is not how I operate. But that's what we're trying to help you on. See is that your marketing to the masses and different people take in information differently. And for you to expect everyone to act like you or to respond like you is irresponsible. Yeah. And even when you're creating your course, you can't create a course that speaks to one learner way. Right? Oh, I like audio.

Katie: So I'm going to do an audio course. Well, some people don't like audio. They want to see slides. Right? So to teach to one way or to expect everybody to be a homogeneous group that expects you to email a certain way based on your life experience. Um, it, it's just, you're not doing yourself any favors. So it is truly, you want people to show up to the webinar. So you have to email them a bunch. Right. And you have to write those. You have to write them, you have to queue them up and your automated system, you've got to create. Right. And automation, we use active campaign. We can't, it enough, um, super easy. Once you understand how to set up the automations, which I didn't, now that I do, um, it's helpful to have one person set it up for you and then you can deconstruct what they did, right? Yeah. Um, but that, that is all like, then you could just turn it on and off update your dates. You're good to go. So these are things that you just want to have in place before. You're sending people to your lead magnet and trying to get them to register for your webinar. You want all of these things written, done and automated and ready before you spend money on ads.

Jeffrey: And that's a whole nother topic, but it really does tie into the system for selling is the idea that you don't need to be the one that does a lot of this. A lot of this system, uh, can be completely automated so that when it's in place and it's working, um, you're tuning up dials and turning down dials. And what I mean by that is if I'm, uh, let's say you've got a, let's say you're the only one doing sales and it's gotta be by phone. Right. And the only way you're making sales is by a phone call and maybe it's you and a few other people. Well, if you spend a lot of money on traffic and then suddenly you've got a lot more conversions, which means you've got 37 phone calls, Ted day, that's overwhelming. So you get to dial that down. You get to control it. And maybe for this time you turn down your traffic ads. Right. And then you're like, oh, well we only have two calls this week. Guess what? You get to turn up the dial on the traffic. Right. But you can't do that unless you have a system for it. So what do we do when people say, how do I solve my problems with paid advertising? Won't won't all my problems go. Won't I just make a bunch of money if I just pay for

Katie: Ads, you sure will. As soon as these things are in place. Yeah. And it's funny, we've had conversations with Facebook ad experts, um, you know, other, other types of people that are like for the love of God, please spread the message like that. They have to have a funnel in place before they're ready for any of this. So it's really important to not expect your Facebook ads expert, to be your business consultant. They can provide feedback, of course, but you're, you're steering the ship here, you know, your business, you know, your people and you need to have these things in place. Instead of asking somebody whose expertise is Facebook ads for advice in your funnel. Right. They, they, I'm sure they're going to have some, um, you know, some things to say, but anyway, it's, it's not the same role. Right. And you know, the, the team thing, like, yes, you can get a VA to get into active campaign and set up the automations. But you're the one that has to describe what the automation should look like, how it should function, how many days, what time of day, the, the, um, look and feel of your newsletter that is on you to tell them it's not on them to come with that skill or wherewithal to, to understand your business and your system.

Jeffrey: So really what we're saying is that unless you have a proven offer and a system for selling lead more leads, aren't really going to matter. You're not quite ready for marketing just yet.

Katie: Yep. So that's where you spend your time right now is thinking through the offer, the funnel and all the stinking emails that you have to write. There's, there's a lot of emails, but, um, you know, and, and just quickly break down. I mean, we've done this before. You can listen to our past episodes, but like, if you have a lead magnet, you need a nurture sequence for your lead magnet emails. If you're going to invite someone to a webinar, you need reminder emails. And if you're going to make an offer, which I don't know why you would have a webinar without one, then you also need a sales sequence emails. So that's a lot of emails. And so just like literally just doing one step at a time in your funnel. So it's lead magnet nurture sequence, and you're like done, done with part one. Yay. Right. And you can start collecting emails, right. Then as long as you have that done, because you can keep nurturing them with your newsletter as you're building out the next step. So don't feel like you can't market your business. That's not what we're saying. We're just saying don't invest in ads until you're ready with a funnel in place. That's going to actually convert.

Jeffrey: All right. Get those emails written, know your audience and what they want and set up the system before spending money on ads. That's kind of really the takeaway from this. So thank you so much for joining us. And if you enjoy this episode, please leave us a five star review and hit that subscribe button and head over to wherever you're listening to this. Write us a review and you can check out all the show notes at the launch squad, lab.com forward slash episode 38. See you next time.

Announcer: Hey, thanks for listening. If you'd like to have clarity, confidence and excitement around your next launch, join us in the Lighten Your Launch Facebook group today at thelaunchsquadlab.com/facebook. We also invite you to download our free gift, the Lighten Your Launch starter kit, the free guide to creating an irresistible offer, pricing it right, overcoming tech barriers, and tapping into the energy you need for success. Get it now at thelaunchsquadlab.com/freegift.

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About the Show

The Lighten Your Launch Podcast is for Coaches and Course Creators who want a lighter online launch experience. Maybe you’ve done a few launches already, and feel exhausted just thinking about it! Or, it’s been one of your goals, but you don’t know where to start.

Tune in to learn from our team of experts, The Launch Squad, who aren’t afraid to dig into all aspects of launching: sales, strategy, technology, mindset, funnels, and even a bit of woo to get you through the toughest times. Let’s put a stop to perfectionism and procrastination, and finally take your launch from intimidating to money-making!