Marketing is an important part of building a successful brand, but many business owners ignore word-of-mouth advertising strategies. Why is word-of-mouth so crucial, and how can we use storytelling to boost our success? How do we become relevant in the eyes of our target customers?
On this episode, New York Times bestselling author and Convince & Convert founder, Jay Baer explains the importance of storytelling for branding a business.
3 Things We Learned From This Episode
Get your fans to do the advertising for you (17:34- 18:14)
The best brands often have the least advertisements. The reason for this is, they’re being talked about by their customers. The power of word-of-mouth is immeasurable, so we need to make sure we’re giving our customers something to talk about.
Use storytelling to generate word-of-mouth (19:11- 21:17)
Simply being competent and running a good business isn’t enough to generate excitement about our brands. We need to create talking points and put word-of-mouth strategies in place. We can’t assume people will talk about our businesses. We need to give them something to talk about.
Keep your audience small (28:50- 30:14)
To create successful content, your podcast, books, or videos need to be someone’s favorite version of that content. For that to be possible, you need to be targeting a small enough audience so you’re not competing with every other version of your product. Stop trying to generate a huge following - focus on being great at being small.
Advertising is crucial, but relying solely on marketing campaigns is not enough to turn our brands into household names. We need to be focusing on creating stories - whether through unique experiences or inside jokes - that make us relevant in a public space. We can stay small and create awareness and excitement to the point where our need for traditional advertising is reduced.
Guest Bio-
Jay is a Hall of Fame speaker, emcee, New York Times best-selling author of six books, and an internet pioneer. The 7th-generation entrepreneur is the founder of five, multi-million dollar companies, including Convince & Convert, a boutique consultancy that works with the world's most interesting brands.
For more information on Jay and his work, see Convinceandconvert.com
And Jaybaer.com
To follow Jay on social media, visit these links:
http://www.twitter.com/jaybaer
http://www.instagram.com/jaybaer
http://www.linkedin.com/jaybaer
http://www.youtube.com/jaybaer00
http://www.facebook.com/therealjaybaer
To find out about Jay’s Talk Triggers book, head to talktriggers.com
To follow the Talk Triggers show, visit https://talktriggersshow.com/
If we want to take our businesses to the next level and create sustainable success, selling online courses is vital. What content should we be offering? How can we get our mailing lists interested in the courses, and how could we use the courses themselves to sell our other products?
On this episode, I’m sharing how to create a small course that sells big.
Leverage your knowledge and particular way of doing things into something you can sell: an online course. -Dana Malstaff
3 Takeaways
We should never depend solely on our websites to make sales. We need to be sharing our products as much as we can, through as many platforms as possible. Building a small course is an effective platform to promote our businesses, all while making money in the process. Give your clients something of value at every turn, and you’ll sell big.
Owning a product-based online business can be intimidating and overwhelming. Where should we get started in our ecommerce journey? How can we ensure we don’t end up losing a whole lot of money?
On this episode, co-owners of The Product Boss, Jacqueline Snyder and Minna Khounlo-Sithep share how aspiring online store owners can get started and avoid the pitfalls many people fall into.
3 Things We Learned From This Episode
Surround yourself with support (16:04- 16:56)
A lot of moms are hesitant to share the fact that they have families with colleagues and business partners. However, there is a growing online community of working mothers. Join one of these communities for emotional support- there’s no need to feel guilty for being a businesswoman with a family.
Test your market (20:55- 21:50)
Before launching a full line of products, it’s important to test market. We can do this by giving out samples, posting pictures of the product online and gauging whether people are interested in what we’re doing. We can also offer downloadables like graphic prints, for example- and see if the market is printing them up for personal use.
Make sure people are willing to pay (22:27- 23:00)
While it’s great to know people are interested in what we’re doing, remember the core aim of owning a business: making a profit. We have to ensure that what we’re doing has the potential to make money. We need to get to a point where we know people are willing to take out their credit cards and purchase our products.
Business ownership is an exciting journey, but it certainly comes with challenges. To make it easier, we have to make sure we’re surrounded by a supportive community. And remember, the aim is to make money. It’s important to have enough of it to get started, and test our products on the market. It’s always fun to have ideas, but at the end of the day, we need to be sure our market is willing to pay for what we’re offering.
Guest Bio-
Jacqueline Snyder has been an entrepreneur at heart since the tender age of 10.
A fashion designer by trade, she holds a BFA in Fashion Design, and is the co-owner of The Product Boss, and the owner of Designer Consulting Co-Op. Jacqueline first took her business online after moving across the country, and today she runs both her businesses from her basement in New Jersey.
Minna Khounlo-Sithep is an Amazon expert, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising and Psychology, and a Master’s in Business Administration. She is the co-owner of The Product Boss, as well as the owner of Lil’ Labels. Minna has made it to the second round of Shark Tank, and currently has a revenue of multiple-6-figures.
To follow Minna and Jacqueline, check out @theproductboss on all social media platforms
To download The Product Boss’s hacks for new business owners, visit: theproductboss.com/bossmom
Most people spend more time creating content than marketing it, but we can’t build awareness or sell anything through content that’s not reaching our audience. How much time should we spend on creating new content? What percentage of our time should be focused on marketing on that content? How can we market our content effectively? In this episode, we discuss content management and marketing to build brand awareness and authority for business success.
80% percent of your results come from 20% of your efforts, and good, smart entrepreneurs see that 20% and leverage it. -Dana Malstaff
3 Things We Learned From This Episode
We tend to feel like we’re doing things the wrong way when we’re having difficulty nurturing people to buy from us, but most of the time it’s because people don’t know we exist. We need to spend the majority of our time marketing our core pieces of content rather than creating tons of new content that is not marketed enough. When we spend more time marketing our best content, we can build brand awareness and authority through consistent and clear messages that are engaging and that lead to conversions.
As working mothers, we often hold ourselves to an impossibly high standard. How can we break the limits imposed on us by ourselves and an overly critical society? When should we allow ourselves to let go of having full control in every area of life?
On this episode, speaker and bestselling author of Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life, Laura Gassner Otting shares how we can smash our limits.
3 Things We Learned From This Episode
Stop wasting money being cheap (05:52- 07:16)
We tend to think that doing it alone is saving us money, but we could really be doing the opposite if the task at hand is something we’re not good at. If we’re doing activities that could be leveraged to someone else, outsource. We shouldn’t waste our time or money trying to be completely in control.
Forget about balance (13:15- 14:01)
Being a working mom should be celebrated. Rather than trying to separate certain aspects of our lives from each other in the hopes of creating ‘balance’, we need to acknowledge every part of ourselves and find ways for each of these parts to align.
Create a ‘framily’ (26:25- 28:21)
Having a support system is vital to success. We should be surrounding ourselves with a combination of friends and family who support our dreams and can offer valuable insights on our ideas. Sometimes we get caught up in our blood relative’s hesitations, but they shouldn’t be controlling our decisions.
We have the power to achieve anything we set our minds to, but sometimes our mindsets are shaped by other people’s opinions. Learn to identify the people who should have a say in your journey to success. As Boss Moms, our possibilities for success are limitless— but that doesn’t mean we have to do it all on our own.
Guest Bio-
Laura Gassner Otting is a keynote speaker, author and entrepreneur. She speaks with change agents, entrepreneurs, investors, leaders, and donors to get them past the doubt and indecision that consign their great ideas to limbo. Laura also delivers strategic thinking, well-honed wisdom, and catalytic perspective informed by decades of navigating change across the start-up, nonprofit, political, and philanthropic landscapes.
To find out more about Laura, head to:
http://lauragassnerotting.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/heylgo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heylgo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauragassnerotting/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heylgo
You can also complete a 15 minute quiz set by Laura at Limitlessassessment.com
To purchase a copy of Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life, head to: https://www.amazon.com/Limitless-Ignore-Everybody-Carve-your/dp/1940858763/ref=pd_ybh_a_10?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9B5KQ4NAAV8NKR19M7PW