Lesson 6 – How to turn your subscribers into customers

Almost done!!! If you’re actually reading this… you rock !

Most people aren’t going to hang with me this long.

They don’t really believe their goal is possible, or they don’t have a compelling reason to keep going.

But not you.

The fact that you’re even reading this tells me that you’re going to reach your goal no matter what.

Pretty exciting, right??

Okay, on to today’s lesson:

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Now that you’ve really started to understand what marketing is, and you understand the exact steps to finding your ideal client online and getting their attention, and you know why it’s so important that you get them onto your email list… if you’re like most people, you might have a few questions.

Questions like:

1. What emails I send to people after they’ve gotten my freebie?
2. How do I turn my subscribers into customers?
3. How in the world will I find the time to do all of this?
4. How can I get help executing this strategy?

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Question #1: What emails do I send to people after they’ve gotten my freebie?

After you’ve sent them your freebie, you send a series of emails that follow up and find out if they got the results they expected to get!

You let them know a little more about you and why you’re so passionate about what you do.

And you continue to send them valuable, relevant content on a consistent basis to continue building trust and stay top of mind for your topic (think – a newsletter or your latest blog post).

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Question #2: How do I convert my subscribers into customers?

This is where patience comes in. You can’t expect people to go from first date to marrying you in a week. Building trust takes time.

Think of your email list like a research lab.

When you have access to a list of people that you know are interested in what you do (because they opted in for your freebie), it’s a huge opportunity to make sure that whatever program or service you’re offering aligns with what they want. 

Here’s what I mean:

I teach newbie business owners how to build websites, build their email lists, and grow their businesses.

And I used to say it just like that.

Until I asked my email list what their #1 business struggle is, and they said things like:

• “I have no idea how to market myself.”
• “Getting found online.”
• Getting traffic to my website.
• “I hate selling.”
• “I feel weird putting myself out there as an expert.”

The solution to those problems is exactly what I teach my students, but I wasn’t saying it how they were saying it.

Once I started talking about what I do in terms of what my ideal client NEEDS instead of WHAT I DO, everything changed.

So here are the 3 steps to converting your subscribers to customers.

• Step 1: Find out what their #1 struggle is related to your topic.
• Step 2: Describe your program or service in terms of the results they want (instead of talking about what you do).
• Step 3: Invite your subscribers to work with you. More than once. Some people aren’t ready the first time you ask. But they might be the next time.

If you follow this framework, you won’t have to “sell yourself” or “market yourself”.

You’re inviting people to work with you on a deeper level and giving them all of the information they need to make the best decision for themselves (whether that’s working with you or not).

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Question #3: How in the world will I find the time to do all of this?

I’m not gonna lie, creating a Shareworthy Freebie is gonna take time – probably 3-4 weeks to go from idea to completion depending on your schedule.

Setting up all the tech to deliver it – that takes about an hour.

Then, you shift your efforts to MARKETING.

But here’s where most people get stuck:

They try to find the time for marketing, and they never find it.

You have to make the time.

I side-hustled for 3 years before I quit my day job, and I became a pro at making time.

The thing was… I didn’t need anywhere NEAR as much time as I thought I did – (more on that later).

I’d promised my husband that I would grow my business to the point that it would replace my paycheck before I quit my job so that our personal finances wouldn’t change.

And I was super impatient at first, which led me to seeking instant gratification.

• Every new “traffic explosion” strategy I heard on a podcast, I stopped what I was doing and tried it. Facebook Ads. Webinars. Pinterest.
• Online courses are the way to make six figures? I stopped marketing and built a course that no one on my list ever said they wanted, launched it, and to my surprise, it didn’t sell.
• Membership sites that bring in thousands a month? I stopped marketing again and built it and didn’t get anywhere close to the numbers I wanted to get.
• Maybe I’m not growing fast enough because I need to rebrand? Stop marketing again and rebrand.

None of those tactics got me anywhere close to quitting my day job.

You know what actually worked for me? My Shareworthy Freebie.

While I was off working ridiculous amounts of hours on traffic explosion tactics, people who had taken my free DIY web design training, loved it, and for the first time felt like they’d actually be able to reach their goal were sharing my training all over the internet.

In Facebook groups. On their blogs. Telling their friends. Telling the people taking the same marketing course as them.

That’s where all my traffic was coming from. From my existing subscribers.

The key is to focus your time up front on the right marketing strategies, the ones that work for you and build momentum to the point that they become self-sustaining.

That’s when you can shift your focus to making offers to your email list and working on programs and services – and your list is going to keep growing even while you’re not tending to it.

So back to the question of “How will I find the time to do all of this?”

This is where we come full circle, right back to your goal and your compelling reason that you wrote down back on day 1. 

Your goal and your compelling reason are what’s going to compel you to create the time, to be patient, to keep taking action, to get excited to build a relationship with every subscriber you add to your list (because they are real people, by the way), to try new things that trigger your imposter syndrome and do them anyway, and to stay focused and tell yourself NO when you want to try that shiny new tactic you heard about on a podcast.

And that’s how you jumpstart your website traffic (and keep it running).

So to recap ( exercises are on pages 2 – 7 of your workbook):

• Step 1: Write down your WHAT + WHY.
• Step 2: Write down where your ideal client is today, where the want to be and the steps they take to get there.
• Step 3: Turn those steps into a freebie, in the simplest format possible, and give it a name. (Learn how to set up the automatic delivery of your freebie when people opt in on your website in Day 3 of the Free 5 Day Website Challenge)
• Step 4: Start being helpful and sharing your freebie in relevant Facebook Groups + telling your network about it.
• BONUS Step 5: Ask your subscribers to share your freebie.
• Step 6: Set aside 50% of the time you spend on your business for MARKETING.

Remember, MARKETING is not creating and publishing content. It’s knowing what your ideal client wants and needs, where to find them online, how to get their attention and compel them to visit your website, building trust over time and making offers for your programs and services.

Your action items for today are on page 8 of your workbook:

• Action Item #1: Take the next 5 minutes to review your schedule next week and decide when you’ll work on creating your shareworthy freebie.
• Action Item #2: Block the time on your calendar
• Action Item #3: Hit reply and let me know your biggest a-ha and the very next action you’re going to take toward your WHAT.

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Congratulations! You’ve completed the mini-course!!!