Brandmerry Blog Archives

brandmerry 11/29/18 brandmerry 11/29/18

List building 101: What you need to start building a community

11/29/18

List building is the #1 thing I see entrepreneurs missing out on. So today, I want to share with you exactly what you need to start building your lists and some of the mistakes I see entrepreneurs make when it comes to list building.

I’ve found that it doesn't really matter what stage you’re in, list building is key. I teach it in my membership site, my signature program Roadmap to Freedom and even my high-level mastermind.

If you are relying on a social media platform to build your community, you could be in trouble. You don’t own your social media platforms, but you do own your list.

Even if you’re product based, or you mostly do in person, you still need a list. It doesn’t matter what type of business you have, you need to have a list. What I’m talking about today is an evergreen webinar strategy. A strategy that keeps growing your list even when you’re not actively promoting.

What is Needed to Start Building Your List

1. You have to know your audience

You can’t create anything if you do not know your audience but it’s extra important when it comes to list building because you are tying to attract people that will ultimately buy from you.

2. A free offer

You need to create a free offer that will pull in your ideal audience. You need to have some sort of gift to get people on your list. They’re not going to sign up for no reason at all. This could be an e-book, a video series, a discount code, a checklist, etc.

3. A landing page

This is the place where they opt-in for your free offer. This is where you get the actual email address for your list. There are so many options for landing pages right now. I use Leadpages in my own business, but another option is built-in landing pages on your email marketing platform or custom landing pages on your own website. There are paid and free options, which mean there’s no excuse!

4. Email platform

You need an email marketing platform to actually send emails to your list. My favorite is ConvertKit. A free option is MailChimp, which again, there’s no excuse for not doing this!

5. Automation

This is the sequence, funnel or email series that will go out to your new leads. A really simple funnel to start with is:

The Welcome Email - Introduce your business and give them the free gift they opted in to
24 hours later - Introduce yourself
Share your super power - give them value, share tips about what you know

This funnel is warming up your leads, starting the relationship with them.

6. Promotion

Talk about your freebie all the time! Put the link everywhere you can. You don’t have to put ad money behind it, and I actually encourage you to test it organically for at least 2 weeks before even considering ads. I recommend promoting your freebie at least 3 times per week. Actively put it out into the world. You absolutely do not need ads, but you can if you want after you’ve tested your offer.

The #1 mistake entrepreneurs make is assuming that everyone is just going to give them their email address. We need to treat the promotions of our free offers the same as the promotions for our paid offers.

Head over to my Facebook Page and be sure to like and comment on the video while you are over there to help more people see this information ↠ https://www.facebook.com/brandmerrycoaching/videos/268720923993543/

And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!

Branding and Business Coach | Michelle Knight of Brandmerry

brandmerry 11/22/18 brandmerry 11/22/18

How You Can Sign 3 Clients in the Next 30 Days

11/22/17

Improving Your Confidence in Sales | How to sign 3 clients in 30 days | via Brandmerry Blog

The doors to Roadmap to Freedom are open, and the biggest objection I receive is that women tell me it’s not the right time because they can’t find clients.

So today, I want to help you move your business forward so you can sign 3 clients in the next 30 days. Before we dive in, I want you to know that you’re not alone; it’s scary to invest, I’ve been there and so many of my clients have been there too.

To support you in feeling amazing about your next investment (because investments are necessary in your business) you need to stop downplaying your business.

Stop downplaying the services you offer.

The second you dive fully into what you do and take your business seriously it will take off.

Now, let’s get into these tips.

1. What you're currently doing that isn't working:

Inconsistent promotion

Your very inconsistent with what you’re offering and how you’re sharing that offer with your audience. If you want to sell, you have to be consistent with your promotion. Your audience needs to hear it 7x on average to take action.

Not clear on offer

It’s not that you don’t know what you offer, but you’re not clear on why your offer supports your ideal client - why they need that offer right now. I want you to know your offer so well that you could sell it to your mom or someone who’s definitely not your ideal client.

Don't fully know your audience

When it comes to selling, you have to know your ideal client like they are your best friend of 25 years. You have to know what they’re struggling with, present your offer in a way that fixes that struggle and gives them the desire to buy.

No urgency

If someone thinks they can sign up later, why would they sign up right now? There has to be that urgency. This can look like special pricing, special bonuses, cart closing, etc.

2. It's not working because…

Your audience thinks they can just take action later.
Your audience isn't hearing about your offer enough. I want you to put your offer our there at least 7 times. Research shows people need at least 7 touchpoint before they join.
Your audience can't see the benefit. Everything you create needs to be benefit driven.

3. What you need to do:

Become clear on your offer and how it supports your audience AND you need to write down the RESULTS they will receive if they follow what you’re offering them.
Create a plan to consistently promote your offer. How are you going to show up and consistently promote that offer? How many times per week? Where are you going to show up? How are you going to present your offer? You need to be talking about your offer at least 3 times a week. At least.
Add urgency to your offer. You’ve got 30 days to sign 3 clients. That means your offer ends in 30 days period :)

4. 3 Actionable Tips

1) Offer an assessment for your business

Assessments work because your audience is coming to you, and you get to show them what it’s like to work with you.

2) Use video to promote and encourage DM's

Live vide is an excellent way to connect with your audience and talk about your offer, give guidance and encourage people to message you.

3) Create a free offer direct to your paid offer

This is for the action takers. By this stage, you should know your paid offer so well, so now you can create a free offer that leads them to the paid offer.

You have all these big desires for your life and right now it feels like you are being pulled to something more than your current story; your current situation. This is just the beginning for you. We go over all this and way more in so much more depth in my program Roadmap to Freedom.

Just like you I had a desire to...
• Leave the 9 to 5 life for good (goodbye to a life of shoulds)
• Travel the world and not have to ask for permission to make it happen
• Work from a laptop, wherever and whenever I damn well pleased (yes, vacation, but more importantly next to my son while he plays)
• Exceed my 9 to 5 income without having to sacrifice the life I had created + live a life greater than I had ever imagined before

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY I WANTED TO DO IT ALL WITHOUT HAVING TO SACRIFICE THE VERY REASON I STARTED MY BUSINESS IN THE FIRST PLACE...my desire for freedom.

Roadmap to Freedom

Roadmap to Freedom is a 6-month group coaching program for the new female entrepreneur who is ready to launch an online business that allows her to make money on her own terms.

I HAVE TO ASK...

↠ What would it feel like to have all those missing pieces laid out for you?

↠ To be able to pick and choose the ones that work best for you, your life and your business?

↠ To have the support to ask questions & brainstorm having someone who has been exactly where you are now helping you dig deeper than you could ever do on your own?

↠ How would it feel to create a life that allowed you to work with location independence; to travel, to take off when needed and not ask permission?

↠ How would it feel to have the time to do the things you truly enjoy; to go to yoga, to spend time with your child to go on dates with your husband?

↠ How would it feel to have financial freedom to be able to pay off debt, to be able to live a life that doesn’t revolve around paycheck to paycheck?

All of this is possible for you, and I’ve got the roadmap to support you in making it into a reality.

If you are feeling that pull for more, for something different, I encourage you to learn more about the program or join here: https://www.brandmerry.com/freedom

And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!

brandmerry 10/4/18 brandmerry 10/4/18

The Importance of Consistency and My Top Tricks for Remaining Consistent in Sharing Your Message

10/4/18

Consistency is one of the most important parts of running a business. One of the things I’m super proud of about myself is my ability to be consistent. Since day one, I’ve always shown up, gave value and remained consistent. So I’m really excited to share 5 tips that will help you remain consistent in your own business and why it’s so important.

It takes 7 times for someone to take action on your offer, so if you are wanting to sell something in one week, how many times should you be showing up? Every FREAKING day. That’s why I can’t stress enough the importance of consistency.

I’ve outlined all 5 steps in this blog, but if you want to skip ahead and watch the in-depth training, just scroll down!

1. Stay Inspired

The key to motivation is constantly being excited about what you’re doing, and I think the same goes for inspiration - constantly being excited about what you’re working on. One of the ways I stay excited is because I’m taking the time to get inspired. I give myself time to write and reconnect with my inspiration. It’s so important to come from a place of inspiration rather than desperation.

2. Ask, ask, ask!

Ask your community. Ask the online space. Seriously, if you’re at a loss, just ask your audience what they want! If you are unsure what to talk about when you show up - look around you and see what your audience is asking for!

Post in a group and ask them “What do you need right now?” “What are you currently working on"?” And if you don’t currently have a community of your own, look in other communities. What are people talking about? What are they excited about?

I promise you if you take 10 minutes to look around social media, you will find tons of content ideas to use in your business.

3. Know Your Story Matters

One of the things I hear the most from my clients is that they don’t believe what they have to share matters. They don’t think people will care about their story or what they have to say. They don’t feel worthy.

So you have to know and truly believe that your story matters. You have to be so clear about who your ideal client is and how much value you’re going to give them because that’s who you’re talking to. That’s who matters. I want you to create consistent content that converts, and one of the things that is going to help you is feeling really worthy of your story. You are worthy of people receiving that content from you.

4. Plan, Baby Plan

Please start planning. If consistency is a struggle for you, it’s probably because you’re flying by the seat of your pants. Start getting in the habit of planning out your content and planning out your launches. Planning is so important and it’s going to help you show up consistently because you won’t have to rush at the last minute to get something up and ultimately end up not posting.

My favorite way to plan is with Trello. I encourage my clients to map out launches and content at least 30 days in advance to make sure they are always ahead of the game.

5. Pre-Schedule/Bulk

I’m favorite trick in improving consistency is to bulk schedule my content. Giving yourself a specific time to focus on content and be in your creative zone and a specific time to focus on client work will allow you to remain in an inspired state. On the days you are taking the time to create your content, I also encourage you to take it a step further and schedule your content to post later that week on your social media platforms.

You should not be waking up every day and then deciding what to post that day, that only leads to overwhelm. Creating content the day of should be in addition to the pieces you already have planned so they come from a place of inspiration, rather than a place of “Oh sh*t, I need to post something!”

I promise you, scheduling will change the game when it comes to consistency.

Want more details about my tips around consistency? Watch the video training below!

And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!

brandmerry 8/16/18 brandmerry 8/16/18

How I Made 3/4 of My Income Goal in The 2nd Half of 2017

08/16/18

Last year, I had a goal to make $100,000 in my business. That number felt good to me, and the reason I'm sharing this with you today is because I made 3/4ths of that in the second half of 2017. Which means that it's to too late for you if you feel behind in your own goal for the year right now. My biggest months last year were September and October which were both right around $14k and December which was closer to $18k. So it's not to late for you to reach your goals, you just have to take some steps in order to get there.

Believed in My Goal

I believed so much in my goal. I was so grounded and rooted in hitting $100k - in hitting 6 figures. Be super clear and specific on your goal. I felt that number in my soul. I was invested and excited in that number.

I visualized every step of the way, every month, every time I hit a goal. I was super clear on my visualization process. I was really inspired by this number. It was about how that would make me feel. I also had to do the inner work. I really started to bust through my old beliefs around money, and I also had to release my inner perfectionist.

I was always checking in on where I was at in my goals and where I might need to pick up slack.

Planned for a Big Launch

I had planned for a big launch. Launches are a great way to bring in a big influx of money when you are trying to reach a big goal. I had been planning mine for 9 months and growing my list since January!

I did the prep work and knew this was a big part of the end of the year for reaching my goal, so I took time to prep for it and get those pieces in place.

I really focused on building relationships and nurturing my audience. I started going live regularly. I started doing more workshops and webinars. Building trust with your community is massive. I really credit the relationship building I did to the success of this launch.

I truly went all in on this launch! There was no holding back. Everyone knew I was launching. I put money in a mentor and Facebook Ads and the return on investment was huge.

Focused on New Eyes and Ears on My Brand

I focused on growing my list daily and taking sales action, but also community action.

I used FB ads, Instagram and organic reach through groups to grow my list through webinars, workshops, live videos, freebies, challenges, etc (everything I do has some sort of opt in ;))

I created a welcome sequence so people really got to know me through my free offer, so when I rolled out a new offer, they were ready to invest.

Strategically Stacked My Offers

I always had and still have a next step for my clients so they feel supported. If someone finishes a program, I have a next step for them. I planned out my launches and cart opens to lead clients from one into the other

With this in mind I heavily introduced my intensives as a welcome to coaching and focused on filling that from August - December, this led to my 1:1 clients at a higher ticket price. So you can bring people in at a lower cost level and then funnel them to the higher ticket prices.

Separated From The How, BUT Took Action

I had my big goal in mind and things I was working towards daily, but I wasn’t obsessed with one thing working over the other.

I focused my time and energy on taking action and if something didn’t work I found something that did.

I was constantly showing up, taking action and investing back into my business to get it to work. Always take action. Don't just wait for the best idea to fall into your lap. It will come, but always take action.

And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!

brandmerry 7/5/18 brandmerry 7/5/18

How to Use IGTV to Increase Brand Awareness

3 simple steps to a client converting about me page for your online business

How to Use IGTV to Increase Brand Awareness

IGTV is a new addition to Instagram. It's another way to show up on that platform, get super visible and increase brand awareness and it's all about video. Not only are we going to talk about how you can use IGTV to increase brand awareness, but also how you can use it if live video really scare you.

What is IGTV and How to Start Using It

Essentially it is a longer, pre-recorded video platform on Instagram where you can share content and do more of a Youtube style video. This gives us a beautiful opportunity to get clear on our messaging. Smaller brands only have the ability to share 10 minutes of content per video, which will help us be really clear and concise in our messaging and the content we are sharing.

The other thing I love is the cross promotion within the platform which we will talk about a little later in the post as well, but Instagram is giving you the ability to link straight to your IGTV videos in stories. You can share as an in-feed post, etc.

The next thing I want to talk about is hashtags. Hashtags are searchibility on Instagram and now we can use these in our IGTV videos. There's so much flexibility in one platform which I'm absolutely loving. If you know your audience is on Instagram, you can now focus on this one platform to start building massive brand awareness.

Afraid of Video? IGTV is your answer

We know how important video is - it's where we, and every platform are going because it really takes your brand to a new level. It's all about taking your business and brand to the next level because when you do video, your ideal client will start to feel like they know you. So video is so, so important for increasing brand awareness and building a successful business.

I know from talking to a lot of you that live video can be scary. You want to be using it, but it scares you and this is where IGTV comes in. IGTV kind of takes away the scariness of live video, but has the same feel of live video. This gives you the opportunity to practice, record yourself and still ask for engagement. It's an introduction to video that is really going to be so powerful for those of you who are just starting out in video. Not only are you increasing your brand awareness, but you're getting yourself comfortable with the camera. You also have the ability to share this on various platform, and what I love about IGTV, you can grab the URL and send people from your email to your IGTV. You can even cross-promote on other platforms as well like Facebook.

If live video scares you:

Get comfortable with camera
Play with asking for engagement
Sharing on various platforms

How to use it in your biz for brand awareness

1. Focus on building one community - Instagram

The idea of being on all of these platforms can be super scary, so I always recommend to start with one and focus on it, get really good, and then add another. What I love about Instagram is it gives you so many touch points, so I think it's a great platform to start with.

2. More personal and less polished than other video

IGTV gives you the opportunity to be more personal and less polished than Youtube or even live video. It's about showing up as who you are with an already established platform.

3. Now have 3 points of contact on IG (posts, stories and IGTV)

This gives you the ability to show up for your audience in different ways on just one platform. It's so important for you at this stage in online entrepreneurship to have these multiple touch points.

4. Sharing options (cross promotion - within stories, via email, accessible in feed)

I can now use the swipe up feature to my new IGTV episodes. I really think easy access is so important and Instagram allows you to make your videos super accessible. You can also pull the URL from your video and share it in an email or on Facebook. Extend the life of your content!

5. CONSISTENCY!

Be consistent with your postings. What time, what day and what type of content? Think of a TV show. This helps build trust and accountability within your community.

You can watch the whole video for a more in-depth version of this and several bonus tips below!

And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!

Branding and Business Coach | Branding Coach | Business Coach | Michelle Knight of Brandmerry

Michelle Knight is a Branding and Business coach for female entrepreneurs who are struggling to gain visibility and traction to take their business to the next level. She works with her clients to dive deep into their story so they can create a brand and message that positions them as an expert and allows them to create their desired income to free up time in their schedule for what matters most. Learn more >>

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List building 101: What you need to start building a community