The Golden Nugget of Internet Marketing
Internet Marketing can be daunting for service-based professionals.
I know because it was for me. And yet it is also incredibly valuable and a way for you to begin to leverage your expertise and your experience. Trading time for dollars can get to be very old after awhile.
So I want to share with you what I think is the Golden Nugget from the field. I call it this because your compelling free offer can help you to start building your email list in a way that is automated. This is a key piece of building your Village of people who know who you are, who are interested in you and what you do, some of whom will buy from you now and into the future. Once you’ve got an email list, you can begin building your relationships with your people, and that’s a key foundation of your business and your marketing.
Four years ago I knew I wanted to learn more about marketing. I had a practice as a Soul Healer using Clarity Breathwork® and advanced forms of Light meditations as my main modalities. I was doing all of this in person either one-on-one or in small groups. Much of the work was very intimate and intuitive, customized on the spot for the individuals involved. How would I ever do this on-line, I wondered.
I started looking on the internet and discovered the world of internet marketing. Before that I had done pretty well using flyers, postcards, word-of-mouth, and talking with people to build my business. I just found it hard to get beyond a certain size and scope doing what I was doing. I had a practice, not a business. Maybe you can relate?
Creating my first free offer forced me to articulate and write down what I was doing with my clients. Up until that time what I did was so intuitive, that I didn’t ever capture it in writing or any other way. It was like footprints in the sand–very clear and deep for a bit, and then washed away with the tide.
The task also required me to write in a way that is conversational. And I knew, from everything I read about internet marketing, that I needed to use language that was appealing to people who were not already familiar with my modalities. In other words, I realized I needed to begin a conversation, offer valuable content, and make a good impression.
It took me quite some time to create that first free offer, and then to create my first teleseminar series. But I did it, and now I’ve done it many times. And so can you.
Lisa, if you are feeling stuck in creating your compelling free offer, here are some pointers to get you started:
Choose something juicy that is specific enough to make people want more. Your free offer should be about quality more than quantity.
Help people get an immediate result of some kind. Rather than trying to give an overview of your work, which you really can’t do anyway, help them get a result. Give them something tangible and specific to do to get that result. That way you will help build their confidence that they will get results from working with you.
Know who you are creating your free offer for. That will help you a lot in focusing what you want to offer and say. Speak to their issues, and offer a potent solution. AND-if you don’t know who they are yet, don’t let that stop you.
(When I did my first one, I didn’t have a “target audience.” I didn’t know how to focus in like that then. But I had had clients for a number of years, so I just thought about them in general. That was enough to get me off to a good start. Now my free offers are much more targeted and they are more successful in a marketing sense. But my first one provided good value and helped me begin building my list, too.)
If you are accustomed to working one-on-one, like I was, then imagine being with someone specific and doing or teaching something you would with one of your clients. That can help you get started.
Use more than one medium if possible. Different people respond to different media. Many people love video, so you could do that if the technical aspects don’t deter you. Otherwise print and audio are great. Audio and video are warmer, and if you are used to working in person with people, they are better at mimicking that intimacy. Make sure whatever you do is downloadable.
Do not get too attached. You will create another one before too long. And that’s a good thing because you will get clearer about how to do this, who your people are, and what you can offer them.
Just do it. The important thing is to begin, take the first step, and then the next. Don’t think too much. You actually do know how to do this already.