We’ve hit a SUPER exciting milestone on the pod today — episode #50! I’m so glad you’re on this journey with me as you figure out the right marketing funnel for your own business.

To mark this exciting day, instead of listening to me talk about marketing funnels, I decided to invite a few of my students to come on the show to have me coach them through a specific question about their marketing funnel.

I want to give a shout out to all these students because it’s not easy for everyone to raise their hand and publicly ask questions and be vulnerable with where they’re at. These students were super brave in bringing their questions out from behind our 1-on-1 interactions and into the podcast for a few reasons.  

First of all, they personally get a lot out of these conversations. I’ve gotten to know each of these students — including their goals and their audience — so the advice I give them is super specific to what they want to accomplish.

Secondly, many of these people are just like you. They’re not marketing experts at all. They’re people who are experts in their specific topic areas AND they want to figure out how to get a marketing funnel up and running so they don’t have to market themselves all the time.

And, finally, all of these questions are questions I hear all the time. I was so honored and thrilled that these students would bring their vulnerable questions to the forefront because our coaching discussion WILL help you.

It’s so powerful when we discover we’re not the only ones who are confused and struggling.

In this episode, I’ll be talking with Annette Bond, Emily Perron, and Kirsten.

Let’s dive in!

Biggest Show Takeaways:

• Annette Bond’s challenge: Annette’s current funnel is working great for when she is speaking on stages and going to in-person networking events. The challenge is that she cannot be up on stage or out networking all the time, so she needs to figure out how to fill her funnel with people outside those interactions.
  • When your business is built mainly on in-person interactions but you’re looking for ways to grow, it’s time to consider some online strategies.
  • You need to figure out how to capture the magic of “live” interactions and translate them into the online space. You want to bring out the best of your strengths and what attracts the right audience.
  • Video is a platform that allows you to convey your message simply and quickly. Video is the next best option if you can’t do face to face.
  • Webinars are also another option as a platform to share information as you can recreate your in-person talks.
  • Social media, like Facebook and LinkedIn, can be used to share content and get your audience to share as well.
  • Content should speak to the audiences’ pain points. Start with a simple video and then invite them to a webinar where they can get more in-depth information.
  • Leverage existing content where you can enhance what you’re already doing (like posting pictures) and use FB live instead.
• Emily Perron’s challenge: Emily created an opt-in quiz but is struggling to get a lot of traffic to it. She originally thought it was a messaging problem, but when she dove in and started to look at the numbers, she found she wasn’t getting the volume of people to actually know for sure if the messages are even working.
  • People usually try for a 20% opt-in rate on cold traffic so that should be the starting baseline target. If you’re below that 20% mark then it’s time to examine where the disconnect is.
  • Emily’s funnel is not currently 100% completed — there are the opt-in quiz, opt-in page, and a few emails — but there are a few more emails required for an additional low price offer.
  • Emily doesn’t love blogging. While she has been consistent for several months, she is feeling resistance because she’s bored. It’s not bold, interesting, or innovative, so if she doesn’t love it, she shouldn’t be forcing it every week.
  • The solution is to find other avenues to connect with her audience in ways that speak to her and feel authentic — not forced — and will hook her audience.
  • Video content: Instead of using blogging as content to be promoted on different channels, try video. It can be more spontaneous and create a flow that feels less rigid from week to week.
  • Instead of following whatever “rules” you think are necessary, give yourself permission to do things in your own genuine way that feels real. This will translate to your audience.
  • Focus on creating one piece of content each week, and look for ways to reuse your existing content in different ways through a variety of channels.
  • Look at implementing a rolling 2-week process instead of trying to plan so far ahead.
• Kirsten de Greling-Visman’s challenge: After restarting her business from scratch again this year without a local network to lean on, Kirsten has been working to rebuild her list. Realizing that she needed to incorporate more Facebook Lives into her marketing (despite the fact she finds them kind of scary!), she needs a plan to effectively implement these and feel like she’s on the right track.
  • The content is the current struggle — you want to avoid sharing information that’s all over the place and loses the point. Your content needs to show value.
  • Consistency is the way you keep your audience’s attention.
  • When you’re struggling for content ideas, you can focus on answering the questions that are already going through your audience’s mind.
  • Take a look at what the fears, pain points and stories are that your audience is telling themselves. Put together a list of 3-4 themes that relate to your audience.
  • Pose questions to the group. Once every few weeks, throw a question out there to see what gets people interested in talking.
  • Identify what level your customers are at so you can engage them appropriately.
  • Consider creating evergreen content that doesn’t require you to come up with new ideas over and over.
  • Use the Facebook group for interactions and not just doing Facebook lives.
  • Previous videos can be recycled into blog posts.
  • Direct people to take action at the end of all videos and posts. Send them to your opt-in as you want them from one step into the next. Figure out what the pain point is and what the next step will be to keep the conversation going.
• Want to know which marketing funnel is right for you and your business? Take this free and easy quiz, and in less than 5 minutes you’ll know EXACTLY which funnel is right for you.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Annette’s website: www.AnnetteBond.com
• Emily’s website: www.EmilyPerron.com
• Kirsten’s website: www.ClarityCompassCareerCoach.com
• HowToFascinate quiz: www.howtofascinate.com
• Build Your Funnel Bootcamp: www.michellelevans.com/join

Marketing Funnel Quiz: https://www.michellelevans.com/marketing-funnel-quiz/