Business Building Tips Archives | Your Online Marketing Team

How Many Opt-in Gifts Do You Need to Grow Your List? (Well, how many subscribers do you want?)

February 13, 2020 by Jama Leave a Comment

While it’s not literally true that you will need 100 opt-ins to get 100 subscribers, it is true that, all things being equal, you will need more than one giveaway to substantially grow your email subscriber list – or to get one started. (Of course, with something like 1.7 billion websites competing for attention worldwide, all things being equal in online marketing is a bit of an oxymoron, so… )

The critical thing to remember when you are working on list building is this: there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to the pain points of your clients.

Yes, we know you tell your clients this, and we know that you offer customized, real-world solutions to their dilemmas. And yet, we also know that you are hoping we will tell you that there IS a single solution to your email marketing and list building questions. (Yeah, we’ve been doing this a while now. LOL)

What does this mean for your list building strategy? Simply, that you will need a variety of opt-in gifts to generate interest, based on the varied needs of your target audience.

What Your Opt-in Offer Should Accomplish

Let’s define some terms here, first:

An opt-in offer is the presentation of a gift (usually digital) in exchange for the email address of a visitor to your website; perhaps the most valuable thing they have to offer in the age of online relationships.
Typically, the opt-in offer is a bit of high-value information that is designed to resolve a particular issue that is important to a member of your target audience.
The most common form of opt-in gift is an article or “whitepaper” that can be downloaded in document form, though a mini-eBook (a 3-5 page PDF) is a very popular choice, as well. Free video or audio training are also very popular opt-in gifts.
Critical to the success of such an offer is that the information you share must be targeted to a particular portion of your audience and that your solution be laser focused on a specific issue. Do NOT try to be all things to all people. Instead, provide a REAL solution to ONE problem.
Finally, the most successful opt-ins offer huge value in exchange for something of equal value – your visitor’s email address. In other words, the solution you share in your opt-in MUST be something that a client would be otherwise willing to pay you for.

Now that you have their email address, you have an audience with whom you can engage through the use of newsletters, nurture email campaigns, “check in” emails, event notices, and promotional materials. This is how you begin building relationships in our digital world; relationships that show your expertise, grow trust, and have the potential to generate conversions.

Types of Opt-in Offers

Since our audience is so diverse, it’s virtually impossible to share every type of opt-in offer that you might be able to offer but, the following are some of the most common – and effective – examples we have helped our clients create:

Nutrition Coach: It goes without saying that many, if not most, people who consider working with a nutrition coach are interested in weight loss, weight maintenance, or both. The problem is they may not be the same people, which means your weight loss audience may not respond to an opt-in gift that offers maintenance tips – and vice versa. Then again, others may want help with healthy menu planning, healthy shopping tips, how to read nutrition labels, or even nutrition tips for their children.

Secrets to Losing Weight
Secrets to Keeping Wight Off
Virtual Grocery Shopping Tour
Nutrition Label Guide
Healthy Meal Panning Guide (with menus for healthy breakfasts, lunches, and dinners)

Since each of these opt-in gifts will appeal to a different segment of your target audience, you will be able to build your subscriber list with a diverse mix of potential clients.

Business Coach: While many business owners are looking for tips to boost profits, other are looking for ways to increase revenue, launch new products or services, increase efficiency and/or production, etc.

Goal Setting Tips
4 Easy Steps to Boosting Annual Revenue
Business Start-up Checklist
Employee Engagement Tips
Increase Profitability Starting Now

While each of these subjects will likely have an effect on the others, you goal is not to offer a free, all-in-one training that is equivalent to a master’s degree in business.

Product Launch: Launching a new product (or service) presents a seemingly endless list of challenges for a small business owner. In fact, the newer your business, the more challenges you will face – until you have a few launches under your belt. Enticing prospects to buy your products or services can be advanced by offering other items at no charge.

Get Your Free Sample (of ___) Today!
For a Limited Time, Save $$$
Free Trial Offer for Subscribers Only!
For a Limited Save 50% Off!
Help Us Test Our Newest (Product or Solution) and Get a Free ___!

Remember, free stuff generates interest and interest can eventually lead to conversions! For example, you can download a copy of our FREE Product Launch Checklist here! (See what we did there?!?) 😊

Well, that about does it for a blog post, where space and attention spans are limited. In closing, it’s important to remember that a good opt-in gift solves a single important issue for your audience. It should then be followed with a series of emails to discover if the information you shared was helpful (which is another subject we can deal with later).

For now, follow these tips to grow your list and let the rest take care of itself. Are you looking for more tips on email marketing, help with your online marketing strategy, or other marketing ideas? Get in touch with the YOMT Team today.

Your Email Marketing Strategy: Why to, When to, How to…

January 30, 2020 by Jama Leave a Comment

An effective email marketing strategy begins with list building; that is, getting more subscribers to your email list. Of course, doing this is not as easy as it sounds (as you may have noticed already!).

In fact, according to the experts at HubSpot, even if you have a solid subscriber list, it’s likely to degrade (lose subscribers) by 20%-25% per year. This means that you not only have to work hard to get subscribers, you have to work just as hard to keep them.

As they explain: “An email list is a collection of email addresses that a business can create by engaging with potential customers through lead-generating campaigns. Email lists can shrink as members opt out of email subscriptions, and grow as the business solicits contact information from website visitors.” (emphasis added)

First, let’s review some of the reasons HubSpot gives for beginning your email marketing strategy:

On average, email generates $38 for every dollar spent, which is a 3,800% return on investment.
Two thirds of customers have made a purchase as a direct result of an email marketing message.
Only 20% of leads that are sent directly to sales are qualified, meaning they need to be nurtured via email and great content.
When it comes to customer acquisition, email is 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined.
Perhaps the best reason to use email marketing is that you own the channel. Outside of compliance regulations, there is no external entity that can impact how, when, or why you reach out to your subscribers.

If you need them, there are quite a few more reasons that we offer in a previous post, No, Email Marketing is Not Dead (Though you may be trying to kill it!).

So, now that we’ve explored the “Why to”, let’s look at the “When to”.

When Should You Send Emails to Your List?

The easiest answer to this questions is… it depends. The type of communication you’re sending will normally determine the frequency, length, and content.

Simple email communications, just “keeping in touch” can be sent weekly.
Newsletters once or twice a month.
Promotions for products or services, less often.

Also, keep in mind that few of your subscribers are going to be available during normal commute periods. While there are no hard and fast rules to success, mid-morning or mid-afternoon/evening are the best times to schedule your emails. The best advice is to test your list by trying different days of the week and different times. Once you have a trend in responses, stay with the results.

The key here is to remember that your subscribers will NOT appreciate receiving a hard sell from you every time they open your emails. In fact, that’s about the quickest way to make them unsubscribe!

The most important component to any email campaign is to offer value. High quality content is what your subscribers are looking for and, if you fail to supply it, you’re going to lose them.

How To Start List Building

As the saying goes, real estate is all about location, location, location. Similarly, email list building and marketing are all about content, content, content.

Truly, the worst thing you can do to your subscribers is to waste their time with meaningless drivel, platitudes, or hard sell marketing. These all show a lack of respect for their time and effort – costing you the very subscribers you’ve worked so hard to acquire.

With that in mind, the best (the only?) way to gain email subscribers is to offer visitors to your website some high-value information in exchange for their email address. That is, the tried and true opt-in gift that is ubiquitous at websites across the globe.

Again, we offer valuable guidance from HubSpot that says:

Create a valuable lead-generation offer – Develop a free eBook, article or whitepaper and host it on a landing page that asks visitors to provide their email address in order to download it. This is called a “gated offer”. (Click here for 20 ways to create lead-generation content.)
Create a free online tool or resource – Free online tools make your users’ lives easier, and all they have to do is sign up with their email address. (For example, we’ve created quite a few free tools, like our Product Launch Checklist, to gather email addresses.)
Create “Bonus” Content – Not all gated content is worth it to a website visitor. In order to gain their interest, you need to give them free content first. Start with a blog post that offers beginner advice on a subject, then offer “bonus” content with more advanced tips that they can access by submitting their email address via a landing page.

There is a word that is particularly important to remember in all of these because, for most potential subscribers, “high-value content” is free content – free content that offers an answer to a Big Question or a solution to a Pain Point.

*If you’re not convinced about this, take a minute and think of the lists to which you’ve subscribed over the years. It won’t take long for you to realize that you gave away your email address for a freebie, right? So…

There is much more to say about why, when, and how to implement an email marketing strategy but, the limits of space and time (yours) prohibit an all-in-one approach. So, stay tuned for more high-value information in upcoming posts! (See what we did there?)

Looking for more tips on email marketing, help with your online marketing strategy, or other marketing ideas? Get in touch with the YOMT Team today.

No, Email Marketing is Not Dead (Though you may be trying to kill it!)

January 16, 2020 by Jama Leave a Comment

Depending on how you frame your query, a Google search that asks if email marketing is dead should bring you around 200 million results. Something like half of these result will tell you it is, while the other half will tell you it isn’t – and some will use a headline that says it is, then argue that it isn’t.

You know, your typical search results these days.

So, what is the real answer to the question? As always… it depends.

It is a simple fact of human nature, and perhaps of harried email subscribers in particular, that not all of your subscribers will respond to the same message. (Well, they won’t all respond the way you hope they would, anyway.)

In other words, while all of them may have willingly shared their information with you, and while this means they are interested in something you have to offer, it’s difficult for you to know exactly what that something may be. That is, until and unless they respond to a particular call-to-action.

Segmented Email Lists and Personalized Email Messages

As explained in an article by Kim Moutsos, at ContentMarketingInstitute.com:

“Needs and expectations vary among the groups (and additional segments you might create based on, say, demographics). Tailoring content to the unique needs of each should give your open rates and engagement a lift. It can even help reconnect dormant subscribers (or at least clean up your list).”

To help illustrate this, she offers a potential list of subscriber types to whom you might direct different messages, put together by fellow Institute author, Kevin George:

New subscribers
New customers
Active subscribers/customers
Dormant subscribers/customers
Reengaged subscribers/customers

Segmenting your subscriber list by where subscribers are in the customer lifecycle ensures that your messaging is focused on their needs, rather than your need to make a sale. Of course, by making your content truly relevant to each segment, you personalize your message and greatly increase the odds of conversions.

Proof that Email Marketing is Not Dead

Whether you segment your list or not, it’s important to remember that your subscribers have shared something very valuable to them (and to you), their email address. Most do not do this lightly. Respect them at all times and always offer value in your communications with them.

As far as proof that email marketing is alive and well, we offer these stats from HubSpot.com:

91% of shoppers want to hear from companies they do business with via email.
59% of B2B marketers report that email marketing is their most effective channel for generating revenue.
56% of brands using an emoji in their email subject line had a higher open rate than those that did not.
86% of professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes.
78% of consumers have unsubscribed from emails because a brand was sending too many emails.

Be forthcoming and genuine with the information you share, whether a quick note, a monthly newsletter, and even with promotional materials. Valuable information will help them take action on their goals which can only benefit you. So, focus on them in your emails, not yourself. The payoff will be that they will begin to trust you and will offer their loyalty, which will greatly improve the odds of them eventually hiring you.

It goes without saying there is a ton more stuff to share about implementing a successful email marketing strategy (like why you need a strategy and what that means, as just one example), but that must wait for a future post. So, stay tuned for more and remember – when it’s done right – email marketing is definitely not dead.

Looking for more tips on email marketing, help with your online marketing strategy, or other marketing ideas? Get in touch with the YOMT Team today.

New Year’s Resolution – Don’t Waste Your Time or Energy on One!

January 2, 2020 by Jama Leave a Comment

Wait, wut? Don’t waste time or energy on a New Year’s resolution? But… But… But, every coach on the planet says I have to or my business will fail!

Does this sound like you? Yeah, you’re not alone (believe it). You’re also not alone if you’ve made resolutions every year for decades and rarely (if ever) followed through on them.

As mentioned in a previous post, and depending on whom you believe, something like 80% to 90% of resolutions go bust within the first month or two of every year so, why keep doing the same old thing and expecting a different result? (We all know what Einstein said about that, right? Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs!)

Why does this happen so consistently? Well, stated simply, it’s because you’re human: life and work get in the way while enthusiasm fades. Other priorities kick in. Old habits persist and are hard to change. Limiting beliefs hold you back. It’s hard to let go of last year and focus on this year. You always aim too high and fall short. The list is almost as long as the number of people who make resolutions each year.

So, what to do? What to do?

Change Your Mindset to Change Your Life

Making changes is NOT easy. Truly, old habits die hard and familiar ways of thinking (and feeling) become like that worn out but comfy old sweater you can’t throw away. Yet, it’s also true that sometimes what’s familiar doesn’t work – and that’s when changes need to be made.

(BTW… Though this is a business blog, these lessons apply to both your personal and business lives.)

In practical terms, change is stressful and can be frustrating. Failing to reach goals is discouraging and the resulting negative expectations leads to self-fulfilling lack of faith in yourself. All of this can lead to a persistent, negative mindset that virtually guarantees your goals will not be realized.

“The unfortunate truth is that change, all change, entails some degree of emotional friction, which in turn generates a ‘heated state’ we call stress. Whether you’re feeling anxious, depressed, frustrated, fatigued, weak and out of control, or simply bored, emotional friction (stress) becomes the high-octane fuel of failure. When it comes to handling the stress involved in change, many well-adjusted, happy, overweight, out-of-shape people share the fundamental problem of self-sabotage.” (USNews.com)

So, unless you change your mind first, you can’t expect change to follow.

Power of Positivity & Successful Goal Setting

Having shared a goal setting strategy previously, it’s time to talk about mindset; the way you see the world and your place in it.

Professor Carol Dweck at Stanford University has found that, when it comes to achieving success, more important than believing in our abilities is the belief that we can improve upon our abilities. While much has been written about how these beliefs shape our individual success and wellbeing, her latest research suggests that these beliefs also exist within our organizations, and shape our ability to create innovative, risk-taking cultures and have happier employees.

Research done at Harvard has shown that, if you train yourself to see stressful situations as challenges rather than barricades, a situation to overcome rather than an impossible barrier, you are far more likely to experience “good” stress rather than “bad” stress in that situation. Doing this then leads to the release of the “feel good” enzyme dopamine which leads to a more positive mindset.

Further, as presented by researcher and psychologist Shawn Achor in his entertaining Ted Talk, there is also ample research that shows a positive mindset affects every aspect of life, including work. Positive people are happy people and happy people are successful people – not the other way around.

As he explains, and as the latest research into the structure and function of the mind suggests, success does NOT lead to happiness; happiness leads to success!

In other words, mindset is the key to success in life and business because a positive mindset leads to:

23% Reduction in stress
39% Better health
31% Increase in productivity
34% Increase in positive social interaction (relationships)
37% Increase in intelligence

“Huh?” Yes, take a look at that last one again. A positive mindset will not only reduce stress, improve your health, make you more productive, and improve your relationships – being positive will also make you smarter!

While there is plenty more to be shared on the relationship of mindset to successful New Year’s resolutions and goal setting, we’ve pretty much hit the limit for a blog post. So… stay tuned for more in future posts.

Looking for more tips on goal setting for your business, help with your online marketing strategy, or other marketing ideas? Get in touch with the YOMT Team today.

Goal Setting (Or, How to Set Up Your Business for Success)

December 19, 2019 by Jama Leave a Comment

Advice about goal setting for your business (and life) is ubiquitous among coaches of all types, and that’s a good thing – sort of. This is especially true as we head into a new year.

The problem develops when you learn that, on average, 80% of New Year’s resolutions are never realized. In fact, four-fifths of them are forgotten by the end of February each year. That is a stunning lack of success in the face of so much “expert advice” about how important it is to set goals.

The possible reasons for this failure rate tend to be more a matter of opinion than of scientific fact but, one thing must be said… If you regularly struggle to set and reach business goals, it’s because you’ve not been taught how.

Wait, wut?

Yes! Goal setting is a learned skill that requires training and practice. It is not “instinctive” and is barely intuitive. Despite our tendency to endlessly look to the future, hoping always for good things to happen, we are frequently blinded to the present by our focus on tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year.

In other words, we lose focus on the practical daily steps that need to be taken to reach the end result we hope for; that One Big Goal every coach tells you to set each year.

Successful Goal Setting Starts Small

Turns out, successful goal setting requires you to focus on the small steps you need to take to get to your Big Result; the boring, daily routine that will eventually get you where you want to go.

While this may fly in the face of currently popular belief, the truth of such a claim should be obvious. After all, if you’re climbing a ladder to reach the roof of your house, you have to do it one rung at a time. The same is true for reach your One Big Goal; there must be a clearly outlined, step-by-step process to get there or you will fail again.

The steps required to set and reach your goals can be found all over the internet. (Just try searching the phrase “how to set goals” to receive over 2 BILLION links in the search results.)

You Need a Goal Setting Strategy

So, rather than repeating those steps here, let’s take a look at what your goal setting strategy should be:

Be realistic – No matter how high you want to reach, if your goal is unrealistic, you’re setting yourself up to fail and you will never get there. Big goals are fine because they give you something worthwhile to aim for. However, they have to be reachable or you will remain in that 80% of folks who never reach their goals.
Set positive goals – Setting negative goals for the new year is probably the most popular approach; to lose weight or quit smoking for example. These are rarely successful. Instead, it’s better to put a positive spin on the changes you want to make: to get more exercise, to eat healthy, to wear the patch, etc. Turns out, a positive mindset is far more powerful than negative thinking.
Recruit others – Sharing your goal with others will help you stay focused. Sharing it with your team will enable and engage them in helping you get there. Do NOT by shy about telling someone about what you hope to achieve. Instead, get them on your side and allow them to encourage and support you in your efforts.
Make a plan – You’ll need to outline the steps along the path toward the result you want to achieve. It’s important to always remember that you’re in the middle of a process here; a progression from point A (setting your goal) to point B (the realization of your goal). There are no shortcuts.
Daily follow through – If small daily goals are the secret to successful goal setting, then following through on them is the only way to get there. This is your responsibility and only you can ensure these tasks are completed. The benefits of being diligent are outlined below.

Of course, all of these ideas are great in the abstract but, that begs the question of how to put them into practice. Below is a very simple example of how to reach a new business goal for the year.

Big Goal: Increasing Income!

So, at the top of the pyramid: Big Goal = Boost Income 25% this year
Next level of the pyramid: 4 Quarterly Goals = Boost Income 6.25% each quarter
Next level of the pyramid: 12 Monthly Goals = Boost Income 2.1% each month
Next level of the pyramid: 50 Weekly Goals = Boost Income 1/2% each week

Do you see how easy it is to increase your income by 25% next year – IF you think of doing so in terms of Less Than 1/2% per week? Your half-a-percent per week goal quickly becomes more than 2.1% per month, which is more than 6% each quarter, which will easily surpass your 25% Income Boost for next year’s Big Goal!

Easy peasy! Who knew boosting your income could be so simple?

Looking for more tips on goal setting for your business, help with your online marketing strategy, or other marketing ideas? Get in touch with the YOMT Team today.

Do You Want Another Checklist or a Real Product Launch Blueprint?

December 5, 2019 by Jama Leave a Comment

If you perform a Google search for “product launch checklist”, you’re going to get somewhere over 28 million search results… 28 million! Plus, some of those results will be from companies selling “product launch software”, while others offer some sort of product launch template as a guide, and a limited number will actually present recommendations for a checklist.

Yeah, sounds like typical Google search results, right?

Of course, even if you discover a reliable site with a decent checklist for your launch, you still have to act on it. You still have to shoehorn that list into a process that works for you and your product. You have to set priorities. You have to figure out the timing. You have to set deadlines for content creation. You have to assign tasks, to yourself and your team. You have to… have to… have to…

You have to do all the detail work and, if there are any problems, you have to take all the responsibility for not being prepared! YIKES!

What If You Had a Blueprint for Product Launch Success?

Now, as you sit there contemplating all the things you have to do to launch your product, you’re likely wishing you already had a process in place; a process with tasks, responsibilities, and timing ready to rock and roll.

As we explained in a previous post, we’ve been there and done that – for our clients and for ourselves. That means we know exactly what you need to make your launch a success. You don’t need another checklist to figure out; you need a blueprint – a done-for-you solution to make your product launch run smoothly, with fewer headaches and less stress.

While your product launch to-do list may seem endless right now, we believe we’ve developed the perfect solution: our Product Launch Sequencing Template.

The real genius behind the concept here is that the template does most of the work for you – literally.

Product Launches Made Easy (Well, certainly easier!)

All you have to do is download the template, enter your targeted launch date in the yellow box, and watch the magic happen – as the spreadsheet adjusts the target date for every task in the process!

All of a sudden, you have a comprehensive to-do list that includes who, what, and when: person responsible, type of task, timing and deadline! This includes critical launch tasks like:

Content creation – lists of promotional materials, types of videos, blog posts, social media posts, etc., + Due Date.
Subscriber list promotion – email creation, nurture campaign, newsletter announcement + Due Date.
Affiliate marketing – SWIPE file content needed, promotional content, affiliate agreement, etc., + Due Date.
Graphic design for Sales Page – headers, images, upsell and downsell pages, + Due Date.
Shopping cart setup – when to pick one, when to set it up, when to launch + Due Date.

(Why do we keep adding “+ Due Date” to all of these tasks – because this is where the template helps you out so much – by automatically scheduling Due Dates for every launch task you and your team need to perform.)

More than a simplistic checklist; more even than an overly simple template; this is a blueprint for a successful product launch unlike anything you’ve seen before. AND… It’s FREE!

So, click here to download our FREE Product Launch Template today!

Do you still think you might need help with your product launch? We’re here to help , so get in touch with the YOMT Team today.

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New Year’s Resolution – Don’t Waste Your Time or Energy on One!

Goal Setting (Or, How to Set Up Your Business for Success)

Do You Want Another Checklist or a Real Product Launch Blueprint?

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... to save you time and money