Client Journey Ebook

The Client Journey T H E R I G H T C O N T E N T A T T H E R I G H T T I M E F O R T H E R I G H T C L I E N T S & P R O S P E C T S N A M R E H

Y B B A

Y B

D E C U D O

R A B B Y M H E R M A N . C O M P

About Abby Abby is a content strategist and content coach for small business owners who want to gain visibility for their businesses with personalized content strategies and implemen- tation. She specializes in idea generation and content strategy and delivery so her clients can keep doing what they love in their business while making the marketing piece feel easy. She also hosts a growing membership program, Content Mastery Lab, to help newer business owners DIY their content marketing, because she knows from experience that there’s nothing more frustrating than not knowing where to start. You can connect with her on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn or check out her podcast, Stories in Small Business. About Write Solutions

Write Solutions is Abby’s “other” baby (aside from her real, human child). It launched in 2007 as a freelance writing business, to help Abby make ends meet while she worked full time in public education.

Eventually, something had to give. And in May 2013, Abby hung up her teaching shoes to grow Write Solutions into what it is today. It’s still a one-ish woman show (with a small team of support contractors) and likely always will be because Abby loves the personal connections she gets to make with everyone she works with. Be- cause that’s what this entrepreneurial thing is all about—connections and relationships. How to Use this Guide

This ebook is designed to get you started on the right path to developing the content that you need to meet your audience where they are in their journey with your brand. This is only the beginning.

Throughout the document, take notes on what content you’re currently creating and what you can do more of to help build relationships with those you want to work with and maintain relationships with those you’re currently working with. Then check back and make sure you’re creating the right content for each stage of your client journey.

Copyright I invite you to use this book to help you grow your content bank for your audience—at all stages of their journey with you. Please don’t steal, reproduce or republish any of the contents of this book. For more information, contact Abby Herman at [email protected]. © 2020 • Write Solutions • abbymherman.com 3

Why the Content Journey Matters

When you go into business, no one knows who you are. It’s up to you to find your tribe, those people who want and need what you have to offer, and then encourage them to follow you.

How you do this is part of the journey your audience goes on before they buy from you. And you encourage the follows and progression of that journey through the information—your content—you put out there for the masses and smaller audiences, when appropriate (more on that later).

But it’s not enough to slap some content on your website or post a bunch of links on Facebook. You need to be able to take your audience through specific checkpoints, both with your brand and with the information you share.

Every person who buys from you goes through the same journey. Some just make it through faster than others.

The Start of the Journey. While you’re looking to get found, your audience is looking to find you. They need what you have to offer, which is why they’re drawn to you in the first place. They consume the content you put out there (also known as mild internet stalking) and gather information about you and your brand. Eventually, they may interact with you until fi- nally—sometimes days, weeks or even months (and months!) down the road—they buy.

Every person who buys from you goes through the same journey. Some just make it through faster than others. And every person uses the content you create (as well as outside sources) to make a decision about whether to buy from you and when.

This journey matters. And it’s important that you pay attention to the journey as you create content. Because while one piece of content may work at one stage of the journey, you need an entirely different piece of content to move an audience member to the next stage.

You wouldn’t buy a big-ticket item from someone you didn’t trust, and you can’t expect someone to buy from you without going through the client journey.

What are ways you currently nurture your audience—whether they’re still getting to know you or you’ve been working with them for a while? Jot some notes now, before we dive into the stages of the client journey.

How do you build trust with your audience? What content do you currently create that’s designed to educate your audience and build their trust?

Trust is Huge. You wouldn’t buy a big-ticket item from someone you didn’t trust, and you can’t expect someone to buy from you without going through the first few stages of the client journey.

Someone first learns about you through your videos and blog posts—even those they find on someone else’s site in the form of guest blogs. They grow to trust you when you nurture them with valuable emails and trainings as you educate them and give them the information they want.

All of this needs to happen before someone buys because you have to build trust and show that you have value to give to them. You reinforce and maintain this trust as you continue to share information in later stages of the journey, but the first few steps are vital.

While most content is designed for a specific audience at a specific stage in their journey with you, some content spans multiple stages. Know that one piece of content you create may be consumed by audience members at all stages.

Your Audience Grows. When you create content that focuses on the journey, your audience will grow in size. But more importantly, they will grow in knowledge.

You’ve nurtured and educated those in the first stages of the journey, and they become your clients because they need and want more from you. As you work with them, there are opportunities to continue that relationship with more value and bigger offerings—but only when presented in the right way with exclusive content.

You see, your audience in later stages of their journey with your brand has more knowledge and expects more content—different content than what you provide to others. They already know, like and trust you, but they’re looking for more.

It’s likely they’ve already bought from you, but are ready to take the next step—a higher-priced offering or another service you provide. You must continue to nurture this audience with additional content directed specifically to them. And you can do that through the six stages of the client journey.

6 Stages of the Client Journey

You know you need to create content for your audience because that’s what draws your audience to you. Content helps you establish a voice in your industry, and it allows your audience to grow to know, like and trust you.

But when you start to create that content, you need to know who you’re creating it for.

There’s a lot of talk about targeting your ideal client avatar, and while that might be helpful, it’s definitely not ideal. Here’s a few reasons why you shouldn’t write your content for an avatar.

1. An avatar is fictional. As in, not real. 2. An avatar is made up of characteristics of someone fictional who you want to work with—not who you’re actually working with. 3. Your actual audience (the real people) are all at different stages of their journey with your brand. 4. Your actual audience (the real people) all face different challenges and they have different characteristics. (Do you really need to know their pets’ names?)

Instead, as you’re planning and creating your content, think about who you like to work with (the real, actual people) and who do you want to work with (the real, actual people). You’ll get a lot closer to hitting the mark with your content if you think that way.

Who are the people you’re working with now that you like working with?

Who are the people you’d like to work with in the future? Think of real, actual humans. It’s okay to name names. Write down what it is that makes these prospects so appealing to you.

The Content You Need. Once you know who you’re creating content for, what do you need to create? Like most questions relating to business, the answer is, “It depends.”

A lot of factors go into deciding what content to create and where to put it. And the biggest factors are who, exactly, you’re creating it for and what you want them to do as a result.

Enter the Client Journey. Every client you have had in your business has gone through a journey with your brand. First, they got to know you and your brand, then they learned more, eventually they bought and then (hopefully) they continued working with you or purchased more.

Some of these clients travel through this journey quickly, in a matter of days, while others might have taken weeks, months or even years to complete the journey. In fact, you likely have audience members at every stage of the client journey right now.

The rate at which a client moves through their journey with you depends on a lot of factors, only one of which is related to the content you create for them. Each stage of the client journey requires a different type of content to move the audience member to the next stage. Each stage serves a different purpose and, therefore, includes different types of content.

Now that you know what each type of content does at each stage of the journey, let’s look at what type of content serves these purposes best.

Each stage of the client journey requires a different type of content to move the audience member to the next stage.

Stage 1 - Brand Awareness When someone first discovers you, they’re trying to get to know you. They do some mild internet stalking (you know you do it too) to find out more about you, often because they saw your guest blog on someone else’s site, heard you on a podcast or stumbled upon a YouTube video. Or maybe they heard your interview on their favorite podcast.

At any rate, you gained a new audience member—someone who recognizes you by name and likes your messaging. At this stage, they’re not ready to give up their email address to you quite yet, but you’ve piqued their interest.

Content you can create to help grow brand awareness includes:  YouTube videos  Blog posts  Facebook group challenges  Guest blogs  Infographics

Of course, there’s a lot of other ways to grow brand awareness that may not include you actually creating “physical” content. Online summits, podcast interviews, being part of roundup blog posts. But that’s a conversation for another time.

At this stage, your audience hasn’t paid you for your services. Take a moment to write down some of the ways you’re currently building brand awareness, educating and informing your audience and demonstrating your expertise.

Type of Content How it Builds Brand Awareness

What types of content could you (realistically) add to your strategy that would build more awareness? Where would you post this content?

Stage 2 - Educate & Inform You now have followers who are watching what you’re putting out there. But they want more. More value, more information and more content from you.

At this stage, your audience knows your brand and believes in you. They’re ready to hand over their email address to you so they can gain access to some exclusive content. To grow this relationship, you need to have that content available and easy to access.

Content that can help you educate and inform your audience includes:  Ebooks  Whitepapers  Opt-ins  Free courses  Webinars  Slideshares  Nurturing emails

They key here is that you keep the content coming so you can stay in front of your audience. They know who you are now and they’ll notice if you suddenly stop creating!

Are you consistently creating content? What educational content can you create on a regular basis? (Your nurturing emails should be a given—developed and published at least twice a month. Think outside the box and jot down ideas of other content you can use to educate your audience.)

You are an expert in your industry, and your audience found you because they want information from you. But before they buy from you, you need to prove your expertise. What content can you create to demonstrate that expertise? Do you have testimonials on your website? Do you offer free introductory calls?

Stage 3 - Demonstration of Expertise You now have some loyal followers. They’re reading your emails, downloading your freebies and attending your webinars. And they probably know that they want or need your help—if only you offer exactly what will help them.

This is when your audience dives into your website to gather more intel on you. They want to make sure you’re legit before they commit to buying something from you. And this is also where the look and feel of your content may shift a bit, so bear with me.

At this stage, your audience knows what your free content looks like. Now they want to know that you can deliver if (and when) they pay you for something. They’re looking for proof—something that isn’t delivered through traditional blog posts and free webinars.

Content that demonstrates your competence and expertise includes:  Case studies  Testimonials  Client interviews  Samples of your work  Free discovery calls  FAQ page

While some of this content isn’t necessarily something you would create (the testimonials, for example), you absolutely want to include them on your website or on your social platforms. Put this information out there for others to see, and see often.

Your audience wants to know that you can deliver quality content if (and when) they buy from you. Show them you can.

Step 4 - Convert to Customer Your audience is hooked. They’re almost ready to buy, but they need one more piece of content from you before they pull out their wallets. They need specific information about the exact product or service offering they’re interested in. So you haven’t closed the sale yet.

Content that helps to convert your audience to customers includes:  Sales page  Work with me page  Pricing sheet  Free trial  Proposal/quote  Fact sheet  Demonstrations

Once you’ve nailed these pieces of content, your audience is ready to buy. Now it’s up to you to nurture that client relationship—through exceptional customer service, amazing value and targeted or exclusive content.

Time Out Have you noticed something yet? You’re FOUR steps into content creation, before you even convert an audience member into a client!

Nurturing and growing a relationship with your audience takes time. That means you need to continuously create and deliver content to your audience for weeks or months before you earn enough trust that they’ll buy from you.

It’s easy to get discouraged and give up. But if you persevere, you’ll get there.

Step 5 - Expanding the Relationship Now that you have this wonderful new relationship with a client, it’s up to you to provide the clear communication needed to keep it moving forward. So your client’s journey doesn’t end when money changes hands. Now comes the hard part.

Your clients bought from you for a reason. You provided tremendous value in the first four stages of their journey with your brand, and you earned their trust. The content designed at this stage is aimed at maintaining that trust while continuing to deliver exceptional value.

The content that expands your relationship with your client includes:  Onboarding materials  Added bonuses  Webinars  Nurturing emails  Limited time offers  Nurturing videos  How-tos

You’ll notice that we’ve gone back to some of the original brand awareness-type content here. You’re at a very different stage in your relationship with these audience members; now they need similar content, but at a different level. Think about what happens next and how you can establish a community with these clients.

Think about how you’re currently attracting clients and growing that relationship with them. When you look at what’s attracting those clients to you, what content is most prominent?

What content do you create to grow your relationship with your current clients? What more could you be doing to nurture them?

Step 6 - Retain Relationship Whether you offer one-off products and services or you’re in it for the long haul, it’s important to maintain communication with the people you work with. So even after the project is over or the client is ready for the next step in their journey in your industry, you need to stay top-of-mind with the amazing service and content you provide.

It doesn’t matter if you want to keep the client around or if you know your client will move on after this project. The people you’ve worked with are your biggest cheerlead- ers and most important marketing assets. They give you the shout-outs, the testimonials and, hopefully, the referrals.

The content that helps to retain your relationship with clients includes:  Nurturing emails  Custom, 1:1 emails  How-to content  Real-time contact, including Voxer messages and phone calls

At this point in your relationship with your clients, you’ve likely developed a rapport that makes it easy and natural to communicate. If not, I recommend working on this.

What are some ways you retain your relationships with current and former clients? What can you provide this audience that no one else receives? How can you make it more personal?

A Closer Look at Content

Not every stage is created equal. While it all serves a purpose, there’s one stage that stands out from the others, in terms of importance. And there’s a lot you can do to fi- nesse it to make it work for you. And you need to keep creating content for your audience for free—to continue growing.

Most Important Stage in Client Journey While you need to be aware of the different stages you’re taking your audience through with your content, there’s one stage that stands above the rest in terms of importance.

If you’re not building brand awareness with your audience (or prospective audience), you’re dropping the ball. Big time. No one will like and trust you, let alone know who the heck you are, unless you’re publishing regular, consistent content.

Brand awareness makes you more visible to others who are looking for your expertise and shows off your personality and abilities. It makes readers and viewers want to learn more about you and what you do, as well as teaches them how to do something in your realm of genius.

How to Build Brand Awareness with Content Brand awareness isn’t just about creating content. It’s about creating meaningful, valuable content that your audience needs in order to be successful in their own business. But there are a lot of facets to consider, including making sure you deliver what your audience needs, wherever they are in their journey with you.

Beyond that, there are things you can do to make sure you’re in front of as many new prospective audience members as possible. Because one blog and one YouTube video each month isn’t going to cut it. Brand awareness is about being present, and being present often.

Be Consistent. Consistency doesn’t mean that you have to publish a blog post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It also doesn’t mean you need daily YouTube videos. Nope. Consistency means that you figure out a cadence that works for you (and your budget and business) and stick with it.

Know what your schedule and budget will allow, create a content strategy and deliver on the content your audience needs. That might mean you publish a blog post once a week or every other week. Maybe you only have time for YouTube once a month. Whatever you decide works for you, commit to it and do it. Don’t leave your audience wondering.

Are you building brand awareness with your content? What changes can you make to ensure you’re reaching the right people, at the right time, in the right place with your content?

Show Up in Different Places. Having a broad range of content types you create for your audience gives you more exposure to new people. Most people start creating content on their blog because, aside from social media, it has the lowest cost of entry.

Grow beyond that. Guest blog for an expert in your industry. Start a YouTube channel. Respond to requests for industry experts in Facebook groups. Put together a group challenge. Find ways to produce more content on different channels—after you’ve mastered the channels you’re currently on.

If you’re just starting out in your business, this may not be an ideal route, but it will be. As you develop processes for your content creation, you’ll find it easier and easier to publish content regularly. So eventually, it may be time to up your game and add to your content streams so you can reach even more people.

Show Off Expertise. When you create content, you do so around your zones of genius—the ideas and information that you excel at. Think about the blogs you post to your own website. The topics you write around include services you provide, words of wisdom you offer and ideas you know a lot about.

Use your Stage 1 content as your opportunity to show off what you know. It allows you to educate people—people who don’t even know who you are right now—about all things relating to your industry. Or at least the things you love to create content around.

Whether you’re guest blogging, YouTubing or posting on your own website, make sure your content provides the best value and information possible. Because this content is what will help your audience move to the next stage of their journey with your brand.

Some audience members grab your free content and will never hire you. That’s okay. They’re not your ideal clients anyway. But don’t stop giving away content.

Why You Should Give Away Content for Free There’s a lot of skepticism around providing big value to those who have not purchased from you yet. After all, most of the time, providing value means teaching your audience how to do something. I get it. You’d rather they spend their money on you, so you can do the work for them, than have them simply grab your free content.

Here’s the thing though. The audience members who just grab your free content without paying you are not prospective clients. They are people who want to DIY whatever service you offer. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

If you’re like most business owners today, you also spent the first few years bootstrap- ping and Duct-taping your business together with the information you can learn and implement on your own. Again, nothing wrong with that!

But eventually, these audience members will be ready to grow and do things the right way. They’ll be ready to hire you. And if they already know, like and trust you because of all the content you created in the first stages of the client journey, they’ll come straight to you when they’re ready to plunk down some cash.

Be the one in your industry to give free content and BIG value to others so people come to you, first, when they need your paid support. And maybe they never hire you. That’s okay too. Others will, I promise!

Best Platforms for Building Brand Awareness You know what content works well for brand awareness, but what content works best? As with most things in business, it depends. (Super clear, right?)

But it really does depend. It depends on who your audience is, where they’re most comfortable online, where you’re showing up and what type of business you’re in.

Let’s take a look at a few types of content so you can decide what will work best for you and your business.

Podcasts Podcasts, both hosting your own and being interviewed on someone else’s, are a great way to get in front of a large number of people. You’ll wat a really clear message and a few core topics you talk about again and again so you can become the go-to expert in your field. An added bonus is that this is audio so there’s no need to do your hair or makeup. Podcasts have become very popular but it’s not too late to jump in if you can do it well (think: good sound and good editing).

Blogs & Guest Blogs In general, blogs and guest blogs are great because they allow you to showcase your expertise. You can often write about any topic that relates to your business—the subject of an upcoming launch or an area in your business where you’d like to draw more attention. And they live on a website forever so you can share and reshare!

YouTube Videos YouTube videos help audience members to get to know your brand because they show your face and voice—and your personality. These require a little more technology as well as a decent camera (your iPhone works!) and either editing software or a budget to hire someone to edit for you.

Challenges If you want to get in front of a large number of new audience members, or really demonstrate some of what you can do to people who have heard your name but haven’t worked with you, challenges are the way to go. If done right, you can gather email addresses as people sign up and you can host in a variety of places: a Face- book group, MemberVault (or another teaching platform), YouTube or elsewhere. Simply create some homework or extras and require an email address on a simple landing page to access.

Infographics Infographics are easily shared, especially on Pinterest, giving you tons of exposure and SEO value. And they don’t have to be difficult to produce. If you’re not ready to hire a designer for an infographic, head to Canva for some great templates that are easy to customize with your own images and brand colors.

What platforms are you using to build brand awareness? Where can you expand on your Stage 1 content?

Top Content for Educating Your Audience Your audience comes to you because they need something. Whether that’s a paid service or information on your site so they can DIY something, they need you. So you need to deliver.

You’ve already built your brand awareness with your blog posts and videos. So aside from tutorial videos, challenges, podcasts and blog posts, what’s the best way to educate your audience?

Opt-ins You don’t own your Instagram followers or the likes on your business Facebook page. The only way to “own” your followers is to collect their email addresses so you can communicate with them outside of social media. And opt-ins are the way to do that.

An opt-in is a downloadable worksheet that allows your audience to take your content one step further. Here’s how it works: Someone visits your blog and finds a killer post about one of your zones of genius. You have an accompanying worksheet that they can use to put the information in your blog into practice, but readers must first provide their email address to access it. The reader adds her email address to a form embed- ded on your website and voila! You have a new subscriber, and that subscriber has a valuable piece of information right in her inbox.

The possibilities for opt-ins are endless, but I recommend creating a few high-quality opt-ins for each of your zones of genius and rotating through those. Any more than that and you’ll spend unlimited amounts of time creating them (and they’ll clog up your email service).

Nurturing Emails Once you have those subscribers on your site, you need to stay in front of them. Pop- ping into their inbox from time to time with new, exclusive information keeps you top-of -mind when they need someone with your expertise.

Here’s the (big!) catch: Your emails to subscribers are not Blog, Part II. They’re not the place to regurgitate what you’ve already included in your blog post, YouTube video or podcast episode. Any smart subscriber will quickly figure out that you don’t have a lot to say because your emails are simply a repeat of your blog.

Each nurturing email needs to be original. It needs to offer new value. And it needs to be interesting. Focus on similar ideas or themes as you have in other content you’re producing, but give your email subscribers something new and different. After all, they did trust you with their email address. Respect that.

Free Courses You can use free courses as a high-level opt-in or simply as a way to showcase your expertise to a wider audience through an online summit or someone else’s audience. It goes beyond the traditional one-off opt-in to provide more value and a more visible depth of knowledge.

A free course can be hosted elsewhere, too—on a Facebook Live on your business Facebook page, through email, on a YouTube Live series. The beauty of offering something like this is that you can make yourself visible to people in places where you may not have had a presence already.

eBooks An ebook goes beyond the blog post and opt-in. It’s an opportunity to dive really deep into a subject and educate your audience. It’s easy to write an ebook as a compilation of your other content and show how everything fits together.

The great thing about ebooks is that they’re easy to update and revise. So if something changes, just grab the file and replace it with the updated content (you’re currently reading the second version of this ebook!). It’s also fairly easy to turn an ebook into something much larger, depending on the goals in your business. (Masterclass, anyone?)

Don’t write this option off (pun intended) if you’re not a writer. If you blog regularly, you have what it takes!

What are you doing right now to educate your audience? What can you do?

How You Craft Your Content

Now you know what kind of content you need at each stage of the client journey, but that doesn’t do you much good if you don’t know how to actually craft it for your audience.

Content needs to connect, with the right words, to the right people. You need to pay attention to the big-picture message you’re putting out there to the world so you can hold onto the audience you have while you grow.

Connecting Your Voice to Your Audience Your personality will help you attract people to your content, but it’s the value that will ultimately keep them there. To get noticed by the right people, you need to speak to them directly.

Your Client Avatar There’s a lot of talk in the online space about writing and speaking to your ideal client avatar. While it’s helpful to think of certain characteristics while you’re writing, a client avatar is not the way to go. See, as discussed earlier, an avatar is made up of ficti- tious traits. As in, not real. So if you’re focusing on an ideal client avatar when you’re creating content, you’re writing to someone who isn’t real.

Instead, think of someone you’re currently working with who lights you up. Or someone who you’d really love to work with. And create content for them.

Your Tone It’s important that any content you create be easy to consume. So put away those 5- paragraph essay rules you learned in sophomore year English. And forget about those research papers and citations from college.

Online marketing copy looks very different from these formal, academic (boring!) doc- uments. Write in a conversational tone that makes the reader feel like they’re talking to a friend. Because ultimately that’s your goal, right?

Be Yourself Being in business online is all about trying to stand out from the crowd. Your content needs to be fun and engaging, but truly your own. If you’re following the fairly typical snarky-and-sassy copy template that’s making the rounds these days, you’re trying too hard (or not hard enough, depending on how you look at it).

Focus on just being yourself to attract the audience you want. And put aside the snark—to a point. Too much and it’s just not becoming.

Using Content to Inform and Educate (Not Sell) Here’s the thing about using content to market your products and services: Content, in general, is not a tool for selling. It’s a tool for connecting with your audience. For growing your audience. For educating your audience so they can make informed decisions.

Your content will help you gain sales, but that’s not its primary role (sales pages and sales funnels being the exception). It helps you to establish a relationship with your audience so you can teach them something that will help them. With the right balance of information and support, you’ll eventually persuade them to work with you further.

No one really wants to be sold to. That’s why No Soliciting signs were made. (Too bad we can’t hang them on our inboxes and contact forms, right?)

Your audience doesn’t forever want to hear about why your service is better than your competition’s. That’s just not good marketing practice.

People don’t want their inboxes bombarded with content that spouts off your latest and greatest course, program or service. They don’t forever want to hear about why your service is better than your competition’s. That’s just not good marketing practice.

So instead, create a two-way street where you provide your audience exactly what they need to grow in business and in life. That includes:

Demonstrating Your Expertise Provide content on a topic that you excel at, on a platform you love. Give that content away for free so you can nurture relationships and set yourself up as the expert you are.

And then, take it a step further. Once someone has read your blog post or watched your video, give them something to take away from it. A workbook, an opt-in, an ebook. Something they can hold onto and actually use so they’ll remember you later.

Getting to Know Your Audience You don’t know that you’re providing the information your audience needs and wants until you ask them. Send out a survey so they can tell you what it is that they want from you—and then give that to them.

This is a sure-fire way to deliver exactly what your audience wants. You can guess all day long what your audience is looking for, based on what they already have. But in order to really get inside their heads, you need to take the time to have those conversations and ask. You can do this via an online survey, or talk one-on-one with them.

Avoiding the Norm There’s a common misunderstanding out there that your blog and the other content you provide should spotlight you and your business. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Your audience doesn’t want to hear about how wonderful you and your services are. You need to show them by giving them what they want at the level of expertise you want to be known for.

Your content is about your audience and their wants and needs. Take a step back and make it about them. Give them answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. Educate them. Don’t sell to them.

What can you teach really well to demonstrate your expertise?

What does your audience really want to know, based on surveys you’ve put out, conversations you’ve had with them and questions they’ve asked in groups?

Do a quick content audit. Are you answering questions? Teaching something? Or are you publishing content that only serves you?

Creating Content That Converts Creating content to market your business is a must. If you’re here, you likely realize this. And, of course, marketing isn’t about selling—not primarily anyway.

But eventually, you will need to sell to your audience. Because you can’t dish out free content to everyone forever, right? Once you’re at this stage in the client journey and you’ve gained the trust of your audience, there’s certain content that you’ll want your audience to see. Whether it’s because they found the information on your website or you provided a link, this content is ultimately what will convert your audience into paying customers.

You have a lot of options here, one of which is your traditional sales funnel for a launch. Because sales funnels that land in inboxes are used often (and often over- used), that’s a subject for a larger platform. But let’s address some of the evergreen content you should have available to your audience the moment they need it.

Sales Pages Sales pages are often confined to launches for specific programs and services, however it’s helpful to think of any page where you offer your products and services as a sales page (even though, technically, it isn’t).

Marketing isn’t about selling, but eventually you do need to get around to that conversation—and you can do that with your evergreen content.

The features of your products and services are what make your goods so valuable, but that’s not what your audience wants to know about. They want to know that you understand them and their problems—and you’re going to solve those problems.

When crafting copy for sales pages, focus on emotions—where your audience is right now—and how they’ll feel after they have and use your services. And by all means, give them the price! There’s nothing more frustrating than finding an amazing new program or service and then having to jump through hoops to find out if it’s in your budget. Save yourself and your prospective customers some time and frustration and make the price easy to find.

Work With Me Page Similar to sales pages, your work with me page is often a landing page that convinces your audience that you have the expertise needed to solve their problems. But that doesn’t mean it’s about you. Your copy is still mostly about your audience.

Work with me pages that convert make a personal connection with the audience. They are clear and straightforward, with the pricing and outcomes outlined. A work with me page should also make it clear that you’ve been there, done that, and know how to help your audience.

Free Trials While free trials don’t work for many business models, this is a good option for SaaS (software as a service) businesses or those that have evergreen courses that aren’t released all at once.

With free trials, it’s not just about the content that got the customer to sign up for the freebie. Rather, it’s about the content within that free trial and the email follow-ups that introduce new features and encourage the audience to use the software to its fullest.

Pricing Any time your audience asks for pricing, the content that accompanies those numbers matters. Is there a timeframe for service? Payment plan? Discount for paying in full?

In addition, pricing should be clear and upfront—without your audience having to dig into your website, fork over an email address or fill out an application. Your prospect’s time is just as valuable as yours, so don’t make them do the extra work to find out what pricing looks like. It’s a huge turn-off for many and a clue that a hard sell is coming.

Take a look at your evergreen content. Are you asking for a sale? If so, how is the content converting?

But You Have an Aversion to Selling “Selling” is one of those business activities that many of us struggle with, especially creative business owners. Let’s look at why that is:

 You don’t like to be sold TO, so you struggle with actually closing the sale  You know you’ve provided great value to a client and don’t want them to think that you’ve been holding something back  As a business owner, you know the triggers (the sales-speak, if you will) when someone is trying to sell something to you—so you try to keep that language out of your business and your content

Take “sales” out of the equation for a minute. Do you have brands that you go back to again and again? Do you have people and businesses you are drawn to?

At some point or another, that brand—that person or that business—got to you with their sales-ese. They knew the right words to use, at the right time, and they used them on you.

Do you feel dirty and sleazy now? Think you’re a sucker? Probably not, because you find value in the purchases you made. That’s a good thing.

There are plenty of ways you can get your message out there to your audience that will allow you to sell your products and services, without feeling sleazy. Of course, there’s a lot that goes into being a sleazy salesperson—much more so than we can cover here. But let’s focus on the words that you use and how you present your offers online.

Make a list of all the ways that you’ve been successful at closing a sale. Think about where your clients come from and what they tell you when they buy from you.

Words That Convert Word are powerful, but some of them are more powerful than others. When creating content for your audience, you need to use the right words—the words that will convert readers and viewers into subscribers and, eventually, paying customers.

Calls to Action Any content meant for your audience must include a call to action. Your readers need to know what they’re supposed to do after they consume your content. Whether that’s clicking on a link to find out more, watching a video, heading to a blog post or buying something, make it easy.

Avoid Clickbait If you respect your audience, avoid clickbait. It might work for Buzzfeed, but if you value giving your audience what they want and expect, just don’t do it.

Clickbait is an eye catching headline or image that just begs someone to click on it. For example:

 “10 business systems you didn’t know were dead—it will shock you”  “Stunning new software that will change your life”  “Never get a “no” from a prospect again with this trick”

And then there’s my least favorite. The “Sorry I missed you” or “Re: [Invoice]” subject lines that make you think you missed something (you didn’t). When clicked, the at- tached article is really a sales page for some product or service you’re offering. Not cool. And you’ll quickly lose your audience’s trust and respect if you use this practice.

Use Powerful Words Some of the most powerful words in marketing include you, new, free and because. Let’s explore why:

 You - Eager to tout their latest and greatest, many business owners focus on them- selves in their content. Dump the “I” in your copy and use “you” instead, relating to your audience and making them feel like you’re talking directly to them.  New - Everyone wants the latest and the greatest, and novelty often has a big pull on our brains. Using the word “new” piques interest, but only use it if the product or service (or software or system) truly is new.  Free - Freebies allow your audience to try things out and get added value on a program or service. However, don’t let the word “free” discredit your products and services. Use the word too often and your audience will start to think that what you offer isn’t valuable. Why else would everything be free?  Because - If you’ve spent any time around young children, you know that “because” is often their favorite word. It qualifies the information they’re receiving, and your audience isn’t any different. Use the word “because” to give more information and to give value to your content. © 2020 • Write Solutions • abbymherman.com 28

Some other words you can infuse into your content to make it stand out and convert:

 Use a verb; an action like: Get, try, grab, start  Value-driven words like: Quality, included, satisfied  Show credibility like: Guaranteed, expert, trusted, secure  Elude to urgency (within reason; not everything is time-sensitive) like: Limited time, today, hurry

Of course, none of these words are a shortcut because in the end you need to listen to your audience and what they want. You need to write for people, not conversions. When you write for the actual humans who are your audience, your content will convert.

Using A/B testing on your emails, sales pages and ads also helps you to identify what copy your audience responds to best. So does actually asking your audience for feed- back and doing some market research before publishing.

Selling More Without Being Sleazy Surely it’s happened to you: You’re at the stereotypical car dealership, looking for a new (or new-to-you) car. You know what you’re looking for and are able to go straight to the car you want and tell the salesperson, “This is what I want. This car, right here.”

A trip back to the sales office has you forking over thousands more because you’ve been talked into the floor mats and sunroof and alloy wheels and...you get the picture. Don’t be sleazy by trying to upsell your clients thing they don’t want or need. You’ve earned their trust and respect. Keep it.

 Offer the best experience possible  Have offerings that naturally go with current offerings; build on one another  Give more value, value, value

Marketing yourself and your business can be time-consuming. And difficult. When you land those clients you love to work with, you need to deliver killer value so they’ll stick around for more.

Whether you offer a straight one-on-one service, group programs or even evergreen courses, opportunities abound for hanging onto those clients you want to keep coming back for more.

We’re not necessarily talking about upselling clients here; we’re talking about keeping them on retainer and being their go-to in your industry when they need what you offer.

Maybe you’re a technology guru who helps business owners set up tech systems and processes for their business. Your average business owner will need you multiple times during their business ownership journey because as you grow, your needs grow and change.

So aside from becoming your clients’ BFF, how can you maintain your relationship and stay top-of-mind? Easy, by staying in front of them in a non-sleazy way that provides continued value and support.

Exclusive Offers As your audience’s needs grow, you may expand your own content and offerings so you can grow with your clients. If you choose to stay within your own niche and in your own lanes, good for you! But many business owners like to break the mold and grow in different ways.

Or maybe you’re continually honing your craft so you can do better work and be more efficient while you’re doing it. You’re not alone. This is how many business owners grow their businesses and raise their prices—by providing higher-quality services to new and existing clients.

So how do you get your current clients (and higher-end prospects) to buy into this relationship of sticking around for bigger and better things? By creating exclusive content just for this audience.

With an organized email list, you can tag and segment your subscribers so they’re on specialized lists based on their interests, how they’ve worked with you, what they’ve downloaded from you, etc. This allows you to create content that’s not only tailored to what they need and want, you can also provide content that no one else on your list receives—simply because they’ve purchased from you.

Nurturing Emails This audience may not respond to the traditional nurturing emails that the rest of your audience receives. That’s not to say that you need to create a specialized email with entirely new information. Instead, add additional value to your exclusive list—from a new downloadable to a trial offer to entry into a contest. Anything that makes this group of clients and prospects feel special is a bonus for them.

Additional Access When you’ve been working with someone for a while, chances are you’ve developed a relationship with them—one that involves mutual respect and trust. If you’re in that space, give this exclusive group additional access to you, either through a private Fa- cebook group or Slack channel or through coworking sessions where they can ask you questions. It needs to be something small and intimate, so they understand that they are special in your eyes.

Why Going Non-Tech Works Today When was the last time you sat down with a client, face-to-face and in person? With Skype, Zoom, Slack and other online tools, it’s so easy to stay in our own little bub- bles and not have that real-life human connection.

One of the benefits of business ownership today is that you don’t have to leave your house for meetings, even local ones. Networks are wide and reaching because it’s so easy to work with others across the globe.

But that also means that there’s a big disconnection with personal connection. This is lost on many Millennials because they grew up in a time where tech was the way to go. And that’s what makes human connection and non-tech even more important, lest we forget that we were once fully dependent on a tribe (clan) of people for survival.

One of the best ways to grow your audience and to become that person truly known for connection is to dig out the stationery and the colorful pens and write a handwritten note. Put away the automated client gifts and give something with meaning—picked out specifically for that one client.

No matter what your love language is, chances are you understand the personal touch that a handwritten note and hand-picked gift provides. It takes some thought and it takes time—but not so much that you should pass up this old-fashioned practice.

When you go non-tech with client gifts and notes, it’s so much more about the client than an automated email or a gift that goes to every one of your clients. And when that thank you note comes from the client, there’s even more opportunity for connection.

When was the last time you went non-tech to connect with someone in business? So long ago you can’t remember? Make a list of people you can connect with in-person or with a non-tech gift or note within the next 10 business days.

Keeping Up with Brand Awareness So, Abby...This is great and all, but...really? Is there really this much to creating and growing my brand awareness so I can sign new clients and grow my business?

Yes, dear reader, there really is. But that doesn’t mean that it needs to consume your life. After all, you have clients to work with and other projects on your place. But with some planning and a carefully thought out strategy, you’ll be on the right track.

Without brand awareness, you don’t have a business. People don't know who you are and can’t possibly know to work with you. So get started with Stage 1 and create that next blog post or YouTube video and you’ll be on the right track.

And when you get stuck, you know where to find me!

Next Steps This guide was designed to get you more clear on how to walk your prospective clients through a journey with you so that you can create exactly the right content for them, at the right time.

But if you need additional support, I’m here for you! Content Mastery Lab is my membership community designed for business owners who are ready to gain more visibility and grow their businesses. It’s THE place for all things content, strategy, marketing and online business, complete with a community of supportive business owners just like you. JOIN NOW! contentmasterylab.com