Category: Marketing

What's an Email List For?

What’s an Email List For?

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Imagine crowds of people walking the streets. They see a beautiful building filled with people smiling ear to ear. There’s a buzz of excitement. An event is about to happen. There will be spot prizes and free gifts.

The crowds make their way to the door of the building and leave their details at the welcome desk so they can take a good look around and find out what all the excitement is about.

Over time, thousands of people may visit your website.

Those who join your email list are those that made their way into the door of your building and left their details.

Your job as an Email Marketer is to entice people into the door and keep them entertained so they keep exploring each room.  That’s why sending out regular communication is critical.


To answer your question, What’s an Email List For, I’m going to answer 3 important questions first:  What, Why and How.

1. What’s an Email List?

2. Why Build an Email List?

3. How to Build an Email List?

So let’s start with the simplest one.

What's an Email List?

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1. What’s an Email List?

An email list could also be called an email database because it’s a list of your customers or prospects and their email addresses.

Sometimes you may have more information than just a name and email address, it all depends on how many details you requested when you created your capture form.

An email database could well be your businesses most valuable asset. Here’s why.

Why Build an Email List? So your message gets heard.

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2. Why Build an Email List?

In a nutshell, so your message has the best chance of being heard.

Here are 7 important reasons to start building your email list today.

1. It’s Yours

Imagine pouring your heart and soul into building a tribe on social media, only to have it snatched away from you?

I’ve seen this happen many times. Facebook accounts get shut down, you lose your group and access to your contacts.

It’s much safer to build your tribe on your own platform (e.g. a membership site) and far simpler to build an email list.

You own your email list.

2. It Keeps Your Website Top of Mind

Having someone subscribe to your email list is the difference between having someone visit your site once and having someone visiting your site again and again.

3. It’s How You Build Relationships

Trust is built over time. Strong relationships are built over time.

By sending out regular e-mails to your prospects and clients, you foster friendship and goodwill. Especially if you’re sending out valuable information and inspiration and not just promoting offers in every mail.

4. It’s Personal

You can say things to your email list that you can’t say online. Your email subscribers are your inner circle. You can show some vulnerability or let them in on your secrets.

Treat your email subscribers like VIP’s. Allow them access to events earlier than everyone else, you can extend special offers to them.

5. It’s Automated

You can send emails out in your sleep.

6. It can be a Money Making Machine

People don’t buy from you until they know, like and trust you.

Owning an email list gives you the best chance of dribbling out offers and special offers to your prospects and customers.

When you launch a new product or service, your email subscribers are the first to hear about it. And they’ll also be the first to buy into your new idea.

Because you’ve taken the time to build a relationship with them. You’ve offered them value, day in and day out. And they’ve also got to know you, your heart. They get to know you genuinely care about them.

This is why email outperforms every other marketing channel.

7. It’s How You Get Heard

Do you check your emails on your smartphone while you’re sipping your morning cuppa? And every hour or so after that? You are not alone. Cellphones have made it remarkably easy to keep in touch with our business throughout the day.

Emails are your best chance at breaking through all the noise on the internet.

And you can see who opens your emails and who clicks on your links — and when.

The How to Build an Email List

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3. How to Build an Email List?

Keep in mind that the purpose of all content marketing is to

  • Educate
  • Engage
  • Inform
  • Inspire
  • Entertain

Some Quick Tips

Most people sign up to an email list in order to get something in return, a freebie, information or inspiration.

You also want to continually give your subscribers a reason to open your emails.

So make your headlines catchy. Draw them in.

And then deliver so much value in your emails that they keep coming back for more.

Here are the latest, greatest strategies you can use to build your email list right now.

How to Build an Email List (Fast)

I’m presenting these 7 strategies a little differently than my previous 7 points — as a countdown, placing them in order of the easiest strategies to the most advanced strategies.

The 7 Fastest Email List Building Strategies

How to Build an Email List Fast

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7. Create a Sales Funnel

Create landing pages or squeeze pages to offer valuable freebies to your audience and promote your entry-level offers.

I’ve covered this topic in-depth already, so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel.

Read more in this post: What’s a Sales Funnel?

6. Content Upgrades

Have you ever started reading a brilliant post and a few paragraphs in, a pop up appears offering to send you the PDF version of the post? Or a handy checklist or cheatsheet? Or even a free e-book?

Content Upgrades are bonus content you offer to your readers in exchange for their emails.

Content Upgrades are quick and easy to create and they are the perfect way to capture emails by offering valuable information.

It’s also a great way to find out what challenges your subscribers are facing, what problems they would like solved.

Now the best time to do this is as you’re creating a post, but if you’re like me and only learnt this strategy after you’d published hundreds of posts, you can start by creating content upgrades for your most popular posts.

  • Go to Google Analytics and research your page views. (Click on Behaviour, Site Content, All Pages).
  • Then create and add content upgrades to each of them by summarising each post.

You can turn your longer posts or a series of posts covering one topic into e-books. Shorter posts can become checklists or cheatsheets. You could also offer a free video, quick start guide, report, survey, worksheet, assignment, challenge, you name it. Get creative.

5. Exit Pop-Ups

Virtually the same as a Content Upgrade, except that this pop up is designed to appear as someone is about to leave your website.

Love them or hate them, popups convert like crazy and an exit pop-up is the least annoying because it’s the most unobtrusive.

4. Run a Competition

Find some sponsors, rustle up some amazing prizes and launch a competition online. Make sure the prizes are solutions to your customers biggest problems or goodies they simply can’t live without.

3. Create a Tribe on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the fastest-growing platforms online today. And it’s the most professional.

I found it easiest to build targeted connections on LinkedIn. I know have over 15,000 connections, they are ALL women. Most of them are women entrepreneurs.

So I created a couple of groups on LinkedIn to serve my target audience and give them a space to get to know each other and share ideas.

Fempreneurs UniteMompreneurs UniteFempreneurs Unite

Mompreneurs Unite

Invite Contacts to Join Your Groups

At first, I sent messages out daily to my contacts to invite them to join my groups and my email list.

Interestingly, though, I’ve had a number of amazing ladies join my groups who are not my contacts. So I’m about to employ a new strategy.

Welcome Message to new Group Members

Craft a welcome message to new members and include a link to subscribe to your email list. Keep it really simple. Your message could go something like this.

Welcome! Thanks so much for joining my group.

Wonderful to have you as part of my growing tribe of {insert your niche here}

Would you also like to become part of my inner circle? And get handy tips on how to grow your business online?

Sign up for my email newsletter here, http://join.inspiringmompreneurs.com/welcome

Of course, you can use this strategy for any group you’re running, whether it’s on LinkedIn or Facebook.

2. Create Webinars

Creating a webinar is a brilliant way to build your authority online and position yourself as an expert in your niche.

Use your webinar as a lead magnet (freebie) or content upgrade. Use your webinar in your sales funnel.

Host webinars with other powerhouses in your niche, or go the whole hog and…

1. Launch Your Own Online Summit

Coming in at first place is creating your own Virtual Summit. An Online Summit is an event, kind of like a Conference or Convention, except that it doesn’t happen at a Hotel or Convention Centre, it happens on the net.

The format I’ve seen most Summits take is a daily series of interviews with high profile speakers. So on each day of the Conference, you’ll get to watch 5 to 10 videos, each around 30 minutes to an hour in length.

This is a higher grade strategy.

It will take you at least 3 months to create and promote your own online summit. Yet it’s still one of the fastest ways to build your email list. Because all the speakers you invite on your summit will be promoting your summit to email lists. And to sign up for the summit, each participant will have to register on yours. How cool is that?

Conclusion

Now that you know what an email list is, why you should build an email list and you’ve learned some advanced list building strategies in how to build an email list, it’s really simple to answer your primary question.

What’s an Email List For? Get website visitors into the door and keep them in the building.

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So… What’s an Email List For?

For companies (or digital entrepreneurs), an email list is to get people in the door and keep them there.

The best way to build long-lasting relationships with your prospects and customers, making it the perfect marketing tool and your most valuable business asset.

For email subscribers, it’s the perfect way to get to know, like and trust a company (or digital entrepreneur).

Eager to learn how to build a profitable business online as a digital entrepreneur?

Check out my number one recommendation here.

If you purchase anything through a link in this article, you should assume that I have an affiliate relationship with the company providing the product or service that you purchase, and that I’ll be compensated in some small way at no extra cost to you.

Next up, Can You Change Your Money Blueprint?

What's an Online Sales Funnel?

What’s an Online Sales Funnel? (Video)

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I never understood sales funnels until I understood The Value Ladder.

This post will make a whole lot more sense to you if you read this post first: What’s the Value Ladder? A Brilliant Way to WOW Your Customers

You’re back? Great! Now let’s discuss Sales Funnels.

So… What’s a Sales Funnel?

It’s a step-by-step process to lead your prospects down the garden path.  

Haha, no… scratch that. Although… some unscrupulous salespeople… no, let’s not go there.

It’s a step-by-step process to lead your prospects up the value ladder.

Successful sales funnels turn leads into prospects,

prospects into buyers, and

buyers into raving fans, advocates and buyers for life

Sound good to you? Fab!  Let’s jump in.   Here’s an example of a Basic Sales Funnel.

What's a Sales Funnel? A step-by-step process to lead your prospects to make a purchasing decision. Watch the video over at LaurenKinghorn.com #WhatsaSalesFunnel #DigitalMarketing #OnlineMarketing #ValueLadder

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Here’s an example of a simple Sales Funnel that we all understand. If you have children, you’ve probably been to McDonald’s at some point, right?

How does McDonald’s generate leads?

My guess is they get most of their leads from word-of-mouth (referrals), by children seeing their big M, which brings me to their positioning (location, location, location), billboards and Advertising.

Their best form of lead gen in my opinion?

The free toy that comes with the Happy Meal. I often wonder whether my son is begging me for McDonald’s because he wants the Happy Meal or the free toy. Sometimes we go in just to buy the toy because it costs next to nothing (which I think would make it a loss leader for McDonald’s. Don’t worry McD, all is not lost. We usually buy ice cream as well).

What happens once you’ve placed your order?

The clerk upsells you on other products (remember the movie Supersize Me?).

Perfectly working sales funnel right there.

Online Sales Funnels

But you’re building an online business.  So let’s apply this knowledge to digital marketing.  Remember this diagram?

The Value Ladder

Image Credit: Template on Canva Pro

Let’s work through these steps, one by one.

Step 1: Lead Generation

So the first function of any Sales Funnel is to generate leads. In the illustration above, you’ll see a bunch of lead generation ideas.

If you’re building an online sales funnel, you’ll do that by creating a lead magnet or freebie. You then promote that lead magnet on your website, in your posts, on social media and possibly through paid advertising.

Step 2: Turning Leads into Prospects

The lead magnet’s goal is to turn a lead into a prospect. You’re giving out a free sample or taste of your product or service to create awareness and pique someone’s interest.

In an online sales funnel, you can safely assume you’ve converted a lead into a prospect or qualified lead once they’ve joined your email list.

Step 3: Turning Prospects into Buyers

Now you want to expose your prospect as many times as possible to your offers until they buy.

If you’re smart, you’ll do it subtly. So you won’t sell, sell, sell but entice, entice, entice.

The best way to do this in an online business is by offering valuable information that you know your prospect is looking is for, by solving their problems, by delivering information and inspiration and building a relationship with your prospect. We’re back to the Value Ladder.

The more value you give and the more freely you give it, the more your prospects will want to buy from you.

Monthly membership sites are wonderful because it gives your customers a chance to interact with you and each other and fosters goodwill.

Step 4: Turning Buyers into Buyers for Life

Don’t try selling everything at once. Build a solid relationship with your customer over time.

Once in a while, drop in a link to your Premium Offers or Exclusive Offers — not in every article you publish or every email you send out.

As you build trust, you can offer your customers your best products — those products you’ve been working on for years. The products that will give them their best results.

These also happen to be the products with the highest price tag. Your highest value offers will, naturally, be your most expensive — your high ticket items.

The trick is to ensure your buyers feel those high ticket products are worth every cent.

If you’ve built a number of sales funnels that gently take your prospect through the buying process (over time), giving them a positive, transformational experience every step of the way, your high-end offers will feel like an investment.

So always, always, keep the Value Ladder in mind and offer more than something is worth, every step of the way. That’s what will keep your buyers clamouring for more.

How to Create a Sales Funnel

I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty of creating a Sales Funnel here as I’m no expert.

Suffice to say, I started out using Click Funnels for my initial Sales Funnel and I’ve since reproduced that funnel using the free version of Mailerlite.

Want an easy way to build your first funnel?

I received my first shared funnel from Legendary Marketer as I joined Click Funnels. You can too.  Here’s the sales funnel I built.

Please note: Before you go ahead and join the 15-Day Online Business Challenge via my sales funnel for $7, you’ll find two Special Offers in my review post below.

Spoiler alert:  You can get access to Free Traffic Bootcamp for as little as $1 or $1.99.

Next Up:  Should I Join Legendary Marketer? (My Legendary Marketer Review) 

Find all the content I created for the entire 30-Day Challenge here.

*If you purchase anything through a link in this article, you should assume that I have an affiliate relationship with the company providing the product or service that you purchase, and that I’ll be compensated in some small way at no extra cost to you.

What's the Value Ladder?

What’s the Value Ladder? A Brilliant Way to WOW Your Prospects (Video)

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I recently did an Online Challenge to learn how to take my business to the next level.

On Day 1, I learned information that completely revolutionised the way I run my online business.

If you’ve never heard of the Value Ladder and you’re not using a sales funnel in your business, read on.

What’s the Value Ladder?

The Purpose of a Value Ladder is to gently steer your prospects to your best offers by providing value — every step of the way. It’s how you build trust, how you foster long-lasting relationships with your customers or clients. And it’s also how you sell your high ticket products or services.

How to WOW Your Customers into Buying from You again and again

  • The more value you offer in your free gift (lead magnet or content upgrade), the more likely a prospect will turn into a customer.
  • The more value you offer in your initial offer (entry-level product), the more likely a customer will buy your premium offer.
  • The more value you offer in your premium offer, the more likely your premium customer will become an exclusive customer.
  • If you keep providing value to your customers, you’ll gain customers for life.

The point is that for a Value Ladder to work effectively in your online business, you need to deliver so much value that they can’t wait to take the next step.

Here’s an example of a Value Ladder.

Wow your Customers into buying your products again and again by understanding the Value Ladder and creating a Sales Funnel. Learn More... #whatsavalueladder #salesfunnel #digitalmarketingstrategy #onlinemarketingstrategy

Image Credit: Template on Canva Pro

I never understood what a Sales Funnel was until I understood the Value Ladder. So let’s apply this knowledge to your online business.

You have a website and you have products, services, digital products or online courses you’d like to sell.

Here’s an example of simple sales funnel you can set up.

Sales Funnel Page 1: Email Capture Form

Offer a Free Gift in exchange for an Email Address

The first thing you’ll want to do is entice your readers to join your email list.

Because once your website visitors become one of your subscribers you can contact them directly, keeping them updated on your latest posts and special offers. This keeps your website top of mind.

Otherwise, you’ll just have new people visiting your site every time you publish a new post. Your goal is to develop relationships with your visitors and keep them coming back to your site again and again.

This is your first step in turning a visitor into a raving fan and that’s why it’s really important to make a great impression.

So, create something really special for your visitors and offer it as a free gift.

Wow your Customers into buying your products again and again by understanding the Value Ladder and creating a Sales Funnel. Learn More... #whatsavalueladder #salesfunnel #digitalmarketingstrategy #onlinemarketingstrategyImage Credit: Pinterest Pin Created on Canva Pro

Free Gift Ideas for You…

  • eBook — turn one or more of your most popular posts into an eBook
  • Content Upgrade — create a checklist, worksheet or PDF summary of a post and add the email capture form in the post
  • A free trial or free sample — e.g. if you’re an author, you could offer to send the first chapter of your book
  • Video tutorial — position yourself as an expert by creating video training
  • Mini email course — Create a few shorter videos as a mini email course, send 1 video a day
  • Offer expert advice — solve a problem you know your audience is dealing with or offer a 10-minute call
  • Online Challenge — create a 5-day challenge that will help your visitor make a breakthrough
  • Competition or giveaway
  • Quiz or Survey

Sales Funnel Page 2: Product Sales Page

Offer a Product in Exchange for a Small Fee

On your next page, you’ll offer a very low-priced product that gives your visitors a taste of what you have to offer.

Again, you can use any of the ideas above, but be sure to give even more value than you did the first time.

For example, if you gave away a free eBook or the first chapter of your book, you could offer your complete, published book at a discounted price. If you offered a short Online Challenge, you might want to offer a longer Challenge or a more difficult Challenge. And so on.

Sales Funnel Page 3: Thank You Page

On this page, you’ll simply Thank your customers for joining your list or buying your product and tell them what to do next.

You can deliver the product automatically or tell them to look out for an email with their login details.

Conclusion

Can you see how you’re building a relationship with your customers, building their trust by giving VALUE?

Even if you have the most incredible $1000 product in the world, no one’s going to buy it unless they know and trust you.

Even if you have the most brilliant copywriter writing the most amazing sales copy for you, nothing can take the place of someone actually trying out your products or services and experiencing the benefits for themselves.

Use The Value Ladder to WOW Your Customers into Buying from You again and again.

Want to see a Real Live Example?

The best Value Ladder I’ve ever seen was for Legendary Marketer. I learned so much in their 15-Day Online Business Challenge that I created my first Sales Funnel to market it.

Check out my Legendary Marketer here.

Next up: What’s a Sales Funnel? (Free Traffic Bootcamp Day 4)

Find all the content I created for the entire 30-Day Challenge here.

* If you purchase anything through a link in this article, you should assume that I have an affiliate relationship with the company providing the product or service that you purchase, and that I’ll be compensated in some small way at no extra cost to you.

Wow your Customers into buying your products again and again by understanding the Value Ladder and creating a Sales Funnel. Learn More... #whatsavalueladder #salesfunnel #digitalmarketingstrategy #onlinemarketingstrategy
SMS in Marketing

5 Ingenious Ways to Use SMS in Marketing

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SMS in Marketing

SMS messaging can be a substantially productive method to extend your marketing campaign.

Statistically, the number of people who use text messaging has grown by more than 7,700% over the last decade and more than 560 billion texts are being sent monthly worldwide.

We’ve outlined five useful ways to use SMS messaging in marketing that you can utilize to create more visibility for your brand.

1. Using SMS Text Messaging to Encourage Mobile Engagement

Are you harnessing the power of text messaging in your Marketing Strategy? Here are 5 ways you can use SMS in Marketing. #SMSinMarketing #MarketingStrategySMS messaging is an excellent way of reaching out to your customers in a more personal way.

Therefore, it is essential that you take a thoughtful and personalised approach to your writing.

You can then utilize these messages to determine which customers are more involved and build on that.

By offering incentives for calling or visiting you, you can assess which customers show interest in your SMSes and in turn use the information to send them more sales-driven and targeted texts in future without being too overbearing.

2.  Combining SMS Campaigns with Other Platforms

When you are sending out your texts, amalgamate them with other forms of communication approaches with the aim of optimising your success rate.

Another helpful strategy is to add links to the SMSes to direct customers towards your website.

Sending a newsletter soon after can remind them of the SMS offer in case they have missed it.

Driving users towards subscribing to your newsletter via your text messages can consecutively boost their engagement in future from several marketing channels.

3. Adding Personalised Links

By adding personalised links to your messaging platforms using RCS messaging, you can track which users have clicked on them and what is most appealing to them.  You can then apply this data to direct your marketing to targeted audiences in a considered way.

4.  Determining Who Your Influencers Are

Some customers will have more influence on your brand than others and these are the people you should be identifying. You can do this by posting images of your company on social media and seeing who are hashtagging or checking in at your page, who have a substantial following and can spread the love far and wide.

Word of mouth is a significant marketing tool and by assessing who can offer this method by means of SMS messaging is extremely valuable.

By sending out SMSes and asking customers to rate your business on a scale from one to ten for instance, you can quickly see who is texting back with a favourable response.

People like these are the ones you should be focused on and targeting specifically. You can also engage people with customer surveys to learn more about them.

Getting them to complete the survey, you can offer a discount or other free gift upon completion of the survey.

5.  Encouraging Interaction

People are often under the impression that SMS messages are a one-way communication channel with customers. On the contrary, the best method of boosting your marketing endeavours is through engaging with customers in a dialogue.

You can phrase your SMSes in such a way that it is the start of a discussion. For instance, personalise communication by adding their name and maybe finish with a question.

We trust you have found these tip helpful in boosting your marketing efforts with SMS messaging and attracting more customers to your business. Please let us know whether you use SMS marketing and whether it’s been an effective strategy for you in the comments below.

Tips on Becoming a Top Networker

Tips on Becoming a Top Networker

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#TipsonBecomingaTopNetworker

Are you a born networker who just loves connecting with people?  

Or do you dread going to business networking Events?

Either way, you’ll benefit by these notes I prepared to accompany my presentation at Entrepreneurs Indaba on Saturday, 25th May 2019.   I uploaded the slides to Slideshare.  Here you go:

Tips on Becoming a Top Networker from Lauren Kinghorn

When you become an Entrepreneur, it’s virtually impossible to avoid Business Networking Events. Word-of-mouth marketing is still the best form of marketing around, which makes networking events a necessary path to wealth.

*Amazon Affiliate Link up ahead. At no cost to you, I’ll earn some commission if you buy the book I recommend.

Where I Learned Networking Skills

I consider myself a born networker because I’m an out-and-out extrovert.

Yet when I cast my mind back to High School,  I think I can attribute my networking prowess to reading Dale Carnegie’s brilliant book “How to Win Friends and Influence People“.  Get the book on Amazon.  #AffiliateLink

Here are his 6-steps to getting people to like you, just one of the important life lessons I learned from Dale Carnegie.

How to Become Likeable

  1. Take a genuine interest in the person you’ve just met.
  2. Engage them with your winning smile. Be friendly and open.
  3. Do your best to remember their name. Use it once or twice in conversation or ask for it again if it’s slipped your mind. Ask them to spell their name if you didn’t quite catch it.
  4. Listen intently to what they are saying.  Don’t listen just to respond, listen to understand.
  5. Discuss their interests, ask questions, go deeper.
  6. Make them feel like they are important. Give them a sincere compliment on something you’ve observed about them.

I really took his advice to heart at the time. So much so, that after a few months of practising his techniques on my friends, my best friend sat me down one day and said,

“Hey, when are you going to tell me how things are going with you?  You only ever ask any of us how we are and what we are up to.   It’s like you’ve disappeared”.

Teenagers are so impressionable.

Dale Carnegie’s advice is still relevant today. He was teaching how to become an Influencer before it even became a thing.

“The only way on Earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it.”

Dale Carnegie

I went on to become a Network Marketer and eventually became Head of Networking for a company, so I’ve done loads of networking training and gained tons of experience since then.

After all those years immersed in the field, networking just comes naturally to me now.

I find that something that comes naturally can be difficult to articulate, so I did heaps of research online to prepare for this presentation and write this post, getting different perspectives and latest best practices.

The best video I watched by far, was this one by YouTuber and #GirlBoss, Hannah Ashton.  It’s so upbeat, it makes for the perfect pep talk before you walk into a Networking Event. Hannah is GORGEOUS! Enjoy!

Business Networking Tips

Business Networking Tips

1. Be Prepared

First impressions count so dress professionally or dress in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd. Most people are going to be wearing a combination of blue, white and black, so just adding some colour could do the trick.

Don’t leave home without your business cards or marketing materials.

Know your 30-second, 1 minute and 2-Minute Elevator Pitch off-pat. It will help you feel at ease and get the right points across when you’re talking to complete strangers.

How to Craft an Elevator Pitch

Start out with a friendly greeting and give your name, company name and designation.

Here’s a 3-Step Formula to help you craft an Elevator Pitch that packs a punch.

  1. Ask a Rhetorical Question related to your business and what problem it solves:  Did You know that…
  2. Share Your Skills – What do you do best? Who do you serve? How do you help others?
  3. Mention Your Goals – What are your goals and plans in the next few months?  What are you looking for?  Ask for help.

Here’s my current 30-second elevator pitch. I can say more or less according to how much time is allotted in the session.

Hi, I’m Lauren Kinghorn, the Founder of Inspiring Mompreneurs.  Did you know that Content Marketing is replacing Advertising? That’s how I make a living. I’m a Digital Entrepreneur. Companies pay me to write and publish posts on my 3 niche websites.  I also promote Mom Entrepreneurs and I’d like to do more for all the amazing women Entrepreneurs I come across every day, online and offline.  I’d like to teach Moms to build their authority online. So this year, my plan is to create some online courses and publish a book or 3 on Amazon Kindle. I’ve also set my sights on doing a Ted Talk.  I’m currently looking for more paid writing and speaking opportunities.

Once you’ve written your pitch down, all that’s left to do is practice, practice, practice.

Any time you meet someone and they ask what you do for a living, you’ve got an opportunity to give your elevator pitch.

Once you’ve got it down pat, it will flow.

And then you’ll be ready for that day that you step into the lift and your favourite Dragon from Dragon’s Den is there and heading up to the top floor.

2. Set an Intent

Why are you attending this particular event?  Is it to gain referrals, land a new job or get a sale?

Are you about to launch something new in your business and you’re keen to get the word out?

Do you want to bounce ideas off people in the know?

Are you looking for support and encouragement?

Even if it’s just something as simple as to make new friends, make sure you set an intent beforehand.

3. Befriend

Look for the person who’s alone at the coffee machine and strike up a conversation with them.

Or join a big group where there’s already lots of friendly banter going on.

Avoid interrupting 2 people who are already deep in discussion as that probably won’t leave a good impression.

Love it or hate it, business networking is one of the best ways to set yourself up for success as an Entrepreneur. Here's how to ace it. #tipsonbecomingatopnetworker #businessnetworking #networkingevents4. Ask Questions

People naturally love talking about themselves. Here are some great questions to ask to open people up.

A few Conversation Starters you could use:

  • What brought you here today?
  • How did you get into your industry?
  • What inspired you to start your business?
  • What do you love most about your job?
  • What do you love least about your job?
  • What did you enjoy about the last session?
  • What was your biggest takeaway in the last session?
  • What do you do in your spare time?
  • What are your passions or hobbies?
  • What’s your target market?
  • Who would be a great referral for you?

For more questions, click here.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting you bombard them with all of these questions. Just pick one or two you’re comfortable with and make them your go-to questions if you feel you’re at a loss for words.

5. Listen

Once you’ve asked a question, give them the floor.

Now is the time to practice active listening.  i.e Listen to understand, not to interject with your thoughts on the subject. If you listen carefully, your next question will allow you to go deeper and that’s how you get to Connect.

6. Connect

And this is what networking is all about. Making meaningful business connections.

As you get to understand their business and their business needs, you’re looking for connections, synergies or common ground. You’re looking for where you could collaborate or form alliances.  You’re looking for some way you can help each other or inspire each other.

7. Refer

If you don’t think you can be of service, but you know of someone who would be a perfect fit, refer them on to your friend.

This is a great point in the conversation to ask two questions I mentioned earlier:

  • What’s your target market?
  • Who would be a great referral for you?

8. Follow Up

If you’ve made a brilliant connection, make sure you set up another date to discuss further.

Or if you have a great referral for them, put them in touch with each other.

At the very least, visit their website and connect on LinkedIn or their preferred social media platform.

Take the next step to start forging a business relationship.

And here’s my most important tip to bear in mind.  If you forget everything else, just remember this:

Successful networkers give way more than they take. 

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” 

– Winston Churchill

One quick point before I sign off:   If you’re extremely introverted, Online Networking might be the perfect option for you, I’ll cover that in a future post.  I’ll be following up in the next week or two, with separate posts dedicated to Online Networking and Speed Networking.

Were these tips useful? Are you feeling pumped to attend your next business networking event?  Have you got your Elevator Pitch prepared?  Feel free to share it below. Practice makes perfect.

Blogging

Building Your Blogging Brand Through Marketing

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Building Your Blogging Brand Through Marketing

Blogging is one of those things that draws attention from so many people. The reason for that is that there is a little something for everyone when it comes to writing a blog; you can build up an advice website or you can just be adding your voice to a topic you are passionate about. 

The trick is getting people to read your blog and that is easier said than done. There are a few ways that you can attempt to draw in new readers and we will take a look at those options here.

Blogging Brand_pin

Digital Marketing

You might not consider a marketing campaign to be something that is essential to you, especially if you’re happy having a relatively small blog. However, knowing how to promote your blog is the key to getting readers to your site in the first place and is critical to anyone considering making some cash from their work. 

Here are two examples of digital marketing and how you can utilize them.

SEO

    Search engine optimization (SEO) is the name given to the process of improving your website’s online visibility, primarily through the organic results of search engines. 

    What it means is that you will customize your website to the needs of the algorithms that search engines use to determine the rankings of their results. There are many ways that you can introduce SEO from applying keyword research to ensuring your content is of high-quality and encourages dwell time.

    Social Media

      Blogging itself is just another form of social media but we tend to think of it as separate from the likes of Facebook and Twitter. 

      However, in order to build up a readership you will need to make the most of social media channels. This will include finding where your potential readers are discussing the themes that your blog addresses and taking part in that conversation. 

      Build up followers on the social media sites and then convert them into readers of your blog.

      Personalization

      The final thing that we are going to recommend is to be certain that your website is personalized to what you want your brand to be. You might want to take inspiration from other bloggers and the expectations of their readers. If you think about the websites you use, you will quickly notice the patterns between the different genres. 

      For example, while Facebook and Twitter both have distinct brandings, they also have built their sites on very similar bases. That is because social media users have a general expectation of what sites should look like and anything outside of the area can be jarring.

      Branding is incredibly important to any blog that is looking to improve its outreach. The reason for this is that it will help you when it comes to using social media and other methods of promotions. 

      Once again, depending on the topic you are discussing you will have inspiration to draw from others; you can see this happening across every industry from law firms (https://www.templafy.com/blog/industry-branding-series-branding-law-firms/) to movie reviews.

      Photo by LUM3N from Pixabay        

      Are you using digital marketing and personalisation to build your blogging brand?

      Business Promotion Ideas laurenkinghorn.com

      Making the Most of Space: Business Promotion Ideas

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      Exhibition Stands Hire

      Do you own a small business? Perhaps you’re a Mom Inventor?  Or into Arts and Crafts?  Or maybe you’re working from home as a Tour Operator, like the example below.   If you’ve decided to show off your wonderful creations, inventions or destinations at Exhibitions, then this is the post for you.  Here are some excellent points to consider regarding exhibition stands hire.  #businesspromotionideas

      Making the Most of Space: Business Promotion Ideas

      Image by free-photos via Pixabay

      Whatever kind of business we are involved with, making sure we do not go over budget when implementing our latest marketing strategy is not only essential but could also mean the difference between success and failure.

      Smart owners of small business start-up ventures looking to stretch their promotion budget that little bit further would be well-advised to find less ambitious solutions to their big business ideas.

      Are you starting to look into interesting business promotion ideas for your business? A stand at an Exhibition might be a good option for you. Read more at laurenkinghorn.com #businesspromotionideas #exhibitionstandshireExhibition Stands Hire

      By taking the time to scour the internet for experts in exhibition stands that can be self-built or assembled by a team of professionals as part of the package, small businesses should be able to easily stay afloat. But even if we are forced to opt for a small exhibition stand in order to stay within our marketing budget, there is no reason why we cannot make the most of such an investment. Therefore, reading articles is advisable, so we can get a better idea of what we can do to optimise our product display units at an exhibition.

      Of course, it is not only entrepreneurs just starting out in their chosen business niche that will be looking for ideas in small exhibition displays. Indeed, some providers of services with little or no goods to display will decide on small exhibition stands that suffice their business needs.

      Tour Operators

      Companies specialising in providing travel packages to some of the less travelled places in the world are not likely to need a huge space for business events complete with cumbersome exhibition stands to deliver their promotional objectives.

      With this in mind, there is no wonder that most tour operators planning their next marketing strategy at the latest travel and tourism expo will search online for suppliers of small and compact units for promoting their tours.

      If we consider that there are many exhibition stand builder services with years of experience working with travel companies, tour operators should feel confident they can source a company capable of meeting their firm’s exhibition stand needs.

      Of course, there are numerous kinds of businesses that can benefit from using small exhibition stands in order to get ahead in their line of work.

      Some of the more common pros for selecting compact exhibition stands include:

      • The use of mounted plasma TVs
      • Bright and bold graphics that allow you to stand out more
      • High-level branding
      • A more personalised potential customer experience
      • An increased focus on what we have to offer

      Stay Focused

      There will not be too many successful businesspeople who are not aware of the need to stay focused on their brand, no matter how tempting it may be to diversify the products or services we have on offer.

      By employing the services of companies supplying small exhibition stands with a huge impact, company bosses with big ideas should be able to refrain from going off track when trying to increase their current market presence.

      By being prepared to get in touch with a reputable expert in the smaller designs in exhibition stands, businesses trying to stay focused should be able to attain their business goals.

      Of course, in order to get the most of what we spend on hiring well-designed exhibition stands that do not take up too much room, we need to contact one of the leaders in this industry.

      What many of the better suppliers of small exhibition stands for hire are able to do is offer a consultation service that will help all potential clients choose the most appropriate type of stand for their particular business needs.

      This article is published in partnership with Mediabuzzer.