As a physician, I naturally like to think of things in terms of the human body–down to the smallest parts, the cells. I can then relate that in terms of an online business. So here is how it looks to think of your body as a metaphor for your coaching business.
Your human body is composed of multiple organs in systems, i.e. the circulatory system, the nervous system, the gastrointestinal system. Those organs in your systems are composed of cells and the nucleus within each cell is responsible for the growth and development of that cell. So think of the vitality of your whole body as coming from each of those nuclei.
Now apply that analogy to your business. Your coaching or wellness business corresponds to your human body. Your body organs correspond to your products and services. Your products and services are viable due to your content and marketing strategies. And these strategies can only be effective and viable if you have a healthy email list–which we’ll consider as the nucleus for your cells.
Focus on creating a healthy email list (your nucleus) as the pathway to growth and vitality for your business.
You know content is king online.
But just how do you maximize your content marketing efforts to create the biggest impact? Listed here are a few things to help you hone in on the best use of your time and efforts :
• Put your focus on building a list and you’ll have a valuable asset to tap into with each new campaign.
• Numbers don’t matter as much as results. Focus on creating a responsive list of people who want the results that you’re promising.
• Don’t think you have to do all the work by yourself. Employ the help of guest writers, ghost writers and private label content to create your content.
• Work smarter, not harder. Spend more time creating effective strategies. That’s where the money is.
Building a List Is Priority Number 1
Don’t think of scheduling tasks, think about what you can do to get the results that you want. You may have heard that you need to blog daily or write so many articles per week. Whatever you’ve decided your schedule to be, this is NOT your magical formula to a successful online business.
Your key to a successful online business is knowing where to spend your time for maximum results. It’s worth repeating – your key to a successful online business is knowing where to spend your time for maximum results.
There will always be someone who says you must do this or that for your business in terms of social media, blogging and other new and modern ways of communicating online. There is one key asset to your online business that you never want to forget about. And yes, it’s your nucleus–your mailing list.
Of course, all those other activities – like blogging, distributing content and “socializing” are important to your online business and they are what drives your list building. List building is the number 1 priority.
It’s not enough to just have a list. Maximize that resource as well.
Once you build the list, what are you going to do with it? Answer: you’re going to build a relationship with your readers, give them great advice they’ll come back for over and over again and you’re going to deliver AWESOME products to them so they get the results they crave.
Here are a few tips that will help you make the most of your list:
• Keep in regular touch, but don’t knock yourself out when you don’t have something to share. You want your readers to remember you and readily open your email, so email them when you have something interesting and useful to tell or sell them.
• Speak directly to your audience. Get to know your readers and their desires. Understand their dreams and their pains, so you can deliver what they want when they want. Write to them as if you’re writing a letter to a dear friend who needs your help. Be sincere. Be real.
• Give information, but also give regular and relevant offers. If your goal is to sell a product, put your focus on that in that particular email. And better yet, be informative when you sell. The products you sell and recommend should enhance your readers lives, help them achieve their goals and/or solve their problems — your promotions can do the same.
• Limit the number of links you include in an email. If you want them to really click a particular link, make that the only link in your email. If you have a newsletter with a few different topics or sections, make sure to mention the most important part at the beginning of the email. As interesting as we hope to be to our readers, their attention spans are short and they are more than likely scanning rather than reading your email.
As your business and your list both grow, be prepared to adapt to your ideal client’s ever-changing needs. As your list grows…you’ll gain new insights, realize what works and know what doesn’t. The more you can adjust where necessary, the more valuable a resource your list will become.
If you would like some more ideas about how to work smarter, not harder to help people find you, you will find a tip sheet in the free Resource Library titled, “50 Ways To Help People Find You”. If you would like access to the library, it’s free (and it’s constantly growing with the best resources to help you grow your business). Go here and register for the password. You only have to register once. Every time a new resource is added to the library, you will have instant access.