5 Ninja Skills to Improve Your Email List Building Efforts

5 Ninja Skills to Improve Your Email List Building Efforts

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

If you don't have a community, if you don't have an email list, if you don't have people who are going to ultimately buy from you, you have nothing.

We get right into building our businesses and our brands and we get  focused on what we’re going to offer and what’s on the website, when we need to be focusing on our community growth.

That's why one of the core foundations, I teach inside of all of my programs, is ideal client work.

Without knowing who you're speaking to and without putting the energy and attention into building and attracting those ideal customers, you're going to have a  hard time selling.

And with this emphasis on community building it’s important to share 5 Ninja Skills to improve your list building efforts.

If you want to watch the video, rather than read, scroll down!

Email List Building Tip #1
Your Lead Magnet

The first tips, and something you need with all of your email list and community growth, is the lead magnet!

This is what  starts it all. 

Remember, like 12 years ago, when you would land on a blog or a website and it would say, “Join our newsletter?” And it was like, "Okay, cool. I like your newsletter. This seems fun."

I still see this from time to time and it makes me cringe because the person on the receiving end of that is not attracting their ideal customer. They're not specific enough and saying, "Are you interested in these things? You're the right fit for our program. Please opt into my email list." 

When we just have that very general newsletter approach to it, then we often find ourselves with an email list or a community that is not full of our ideal customer. And we don't want that. 

So a lead magnet is what  sets the tone for everyone joining your email list or joining your community.

What you want to  think about is a core lead magnet for your brand as a whole. One of the core lead magnets I have for my business is my Brand Roadmap. I teach you the steps of my personal brand roadmap so you know those and you understand the three mistakes of branding. 

This free gift works into all of my programs and all of my offers. 

So when you're thinking about growing your community, please focus on growing the right community.

I'd rather you have an email list of 100 people that were 100 ideal customers than an email list of 2,000 people that may or may not actually be interested in what you offer.

Your lead magnet is what  allows you to create a clean and targeted email list and community. This is the ninja skill that everyone misses, I think. 

There's not enough strategic thought process that goes into a lead magnet and what I'm  going to encourage you to do is think about your offer and reverse engineer. 

Think about what you want them to actually do, purchase from you.

Then think about what lead magnet you can use to bring in the right person for that offer.

You'll find that you are bringing in the right people and you're repelling the wrong ones. And that's exactly what we want to do with all of our branding, with all of our messaging, with all of our marketing, with all of our freebies.

Email List Building Tip #2
Make Your Lead Magnet Evergreen

The second thing I want you to keep in mind when it comes to list building ninja skills is that you want this to be evergreen. 

Evergreen content basically means that someone can grab it at any time. There's no time limit on it. It's not a live workshop or challenge happening on a specific date.

While these types of list builders are great and they're great to coincide with a big launch or a promotion or just a big push to build your email list, you always want to have an evergreen lead magnet in the background.

I’ve already shared with you that my evergreen lead magnet is my personal brand roadmap where you give me your name and your email address, and I give you the personal brand roadmap.

I've created a lot of lead magnets in my business long before I actually knew how to strategically create a lead magnet. 

I would create them all the time - so I'm telling you this because I understand that you want to create a new lead magnet every week or you want to create a new one every month. 

The best thing you can do is create a core lead magnet that someone can opt in at any time that's leading them to your core offer. 

Then create these other fun periodic, live lead magnets to boost your list. It can be easy to get 200 people to sign up for a challenge in two weeks because it's exciting and timely. But what happens when that challenge is over?

Make it evergreen!!

Email List Building Tip #3
Passive and Active Promotion

Make sure that once you have your lead magnet created, you have your opt-in, you're promoting it both actively and passively. 

So one of the easiest things to get set up, and something that I think every entrepreneur should do as soon as they have their lead magnet, is the passive side. 

The passive side is the opt-in on your home page, sidebar of your blog, footer of your blog, social media links on your Instagram, in your TikTok, on your YouTube bio.

These different approaches are passive. You get to set it and then it's cool. You get to set it and then you kind of just get to leave it there. 

Then you have the active piece of it. Now, sometimes people will go right into active and forget passive, or what typically happens is they go passive and they forget active. 

Active is actively promoting your freebie, your lead magnet. Some of the ways to do that are obviously social media. I don't want you to put all your eggs in a social media basket, but I know that's the first thing that comes to mind and I encourage you to be creative with it if you're going the social media route. 

Think about incorporating it on your feed, but also think about creating some templates for Insta Stories and saving it as a highlight.

Think about creating a Reel that leads to your evergreen opt-in. So people can see that video at any time and then go to the landing page and grab it. 

You can do live video and share your lead magnet as an opt in.

If you're blogging, create blogs that directly lead people to the lead magnet. 

If I'm promoting my lead magnet, my personal branding roadmap, then I might have a blog that's all about branding yourself in 2021. And I'm teaching them things that they need to do and telling them to grab the freebie as an extension of that.

So make sure that you have this combination of the passive pieces that are always there, always in play, and then the active pieces.

Email List Building Tip #4
Make It Timely and Seasonal

Think about ways that you can reframe that lead magnet based on things that are happening during that time of the year.

For instance, we always have the personal brand roadmap available, but one of the things we do is create new pin graphics on Pinterest that say, “Ready to build your brand in 2021?” or “Branding in the new year”

It’s timely so more people are searching for it which will give us a boost for sign ups.

You don't have to change the lead magnet, at all, you’re just modifying how you promote it and making it exciting, timely, and seasonal. 

It’s all about reframing your messaging around your core lead magnet, rather than creating a new one every season to keep it interesting for your audience. 

Adjusting the messaging or graphics can make a big difference, especially if you’re running advertisements which work so well when they are based on what’s happening in the world.

For example, during Summer 2020 I repositioned my ad copy for the Personal Brand Roadmap to meet the messaging and needs we were seeing online.

I created ad copy that read, "Hey, I know this is on top of your mind. I know you're wanting to scale your business and grow your business quickly because of everything that's going on. Here's a brand roadmap for you." 

It worked really well, because it reframed the messaging and we saw an increase in sign ups and a lower cost per ad.

When you make it timely, it feels like fresh content and they absolutely love it.

Email List Building Tip #5
Consistent Traffic to Your Website

In my program Brandmerry Academy, we focus on consistent traffic and consistently creating traffic to your website and to your lead magnet, so that you can consistently grow your email list, and you always have people coming in the top of the funnel, funneling down into a paid offer or a service.

Traditionally what we are always taught, when we're starting our business, is social media. Just show up on social media every day or post in Facebook groups every single day, to grow your community.

That doesn't work for me. I don't know if it works for you, but I've got a lot of different things going on in my life. I don't want to be thinking about posting in groups every day. I don't want to think about posting on social media.

What happens if you take a vacation? What happens if you step away for a week and stop promoting? Does your email list stop growing? Yes, it does. Unless you have these consistent streams to create traffic to your website, to your lead magnet. 

Two of our favorites over here at Brandmerry are Pinterest and SEO. 

So many entrepreneurs have websites that are just sitting there. I know y'all took a lot of time to build your website because I did too. If you have this website, or a landing page and a lead magnet for your freebie, you want to make sure you're consistently driving traffic to that. 

Pinterest is an amazing tool to be able to do that.

Your content lives super long on this platform. We have pins from 2017 that still get consistent traffic, and as a result, because of all the traffic, Google loves them so those same blogs get traffic from Google. 

The beautiful thing and what I love so much about Pinterest is it's so visual and so you get to play with creating all these different pin graphics. 

You don't have to write a whole new post every time. You just get to play with the graphics and the messaging and the photos, leading them to the blog that you've already written or the landing page for your lead magnet. It’s way less effort than posting daily on social media.

Then, my other favorite method is making sure your website is optimized for SEO. When people are searching for your industry and services, they turn to Google. Then they find you, land on your website and opt into your lead magnet. It’s one of my favorite ways to make sure you’re getting consistent traffic to your website!

So start thinking about ways that you can create that consistent stream of sign-ups. Things like Reels are great because they can go viral. They can show up all the time. YouTube is a fantastic option. SEO, as we've talked about with blogging. Pinterest with blogging, those are some of my favorites. Obviously Facebook and Pinterest ads are great as well, but from an organic, not having to pay anything angle,  Pinterest and SEO all the way!

You don't have to pay a dime to get started on those platforms unless you need to learn how to do it and then you can join the academy and learn how to do it there.

CONCLUSION

Let’s recap! 

It’s important to make sure that you have a strong lead magnet. This is what starts the whole entire thing. You want to make sure that your lead magnet is specific to your ideal customer, bringing in the right person to your email list and keeps in mind your end goal. What are you ultimately going to sell them or promote?

Make sure that the lead magnet that you create is evergreen, meaning that they can sign up at any time and then sprinkle in fun, timely live pieces like challenges or limited time offers. 

Adjust your messaging and positioning for the same lead magnet to make it fresh!

And then finally, number five, make sure that you have a strategy to consistently get traffic to your website and into your lead magnet. Two of my favorites are Pinterest and SEO. 

If you’re ready to build your email list without relying on social media, check out Brandmerry Academy! You’ll learn all the ins and outs of SEO, Pinterest, video marketing, advertising and more so you can grow your list consistently without the stress of posting daily.

Learn more at brandmerryacademy.com.

Want to watch the full training? Watch below. This video was recorded as part of Mondays With Michelle which airs every Monday at 4 pm CST.

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

4-Part Framework for a Simplified Online Business

4-Part Framework for a Simplified Online Business

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

I learned pretty quickly that the mainstream way of starting and growing a business wasn’t going to work for me. 

I started my business with a one-month-old and a desire to leave my 9 to 5 within the year. As I grew my business while working full time I started to recognize the complexity of most business strategies. I made modifications as I went to scale my business to 6-figures.

Then, when my family sold everything to travel full time I made even more shifts to simplify my approach.

What I’ve learned along the way is that there is a simpler way to run your business and it comes down to implementing this 4-part framework.

And this framework isn’t just for people who travel, it’s designed for the woman who has a lot on her plate. You’re busy running a household, taking care of family, working your “other” jobs, you’re so ready for a simpler way to build a business.

Think of the framework as building blocks. Each one leads to another, if you skip one you’ll feel lost and overwhelmed, and that’s no way to grow a business.

By stripping away the access, just like in life, we can’t focus on the areas that yield the best results - this framework is all about that!

ENTREPRENEUR GROWTH PROBLEMS

Look, starting and running an online business can be hard. As we’ve mentioned previously things like a saturated market and imposter syndrome can really hold you back.

But, there’s another piece of the puzzle and that’s all the information online. It can be super easy to consume bits and pieces of information and try to piece it all together, but then you’re left with quite a few holes. 

You might find yourself doing all the things, working for hours in your business, but experiencing little to no results.

Or taking in all the hodgepodge of information and questioning yourself and what you should be focused on to see results or your ability to build your business.

And worse, what I like to call SOS or Shiny Object Syndrome. You go down a path and then see something or hear something and think, “Wait let’s do that instead!”

These things are holding you back because not only are you doubting your ability to do it, but you’re also all over the place (said with love)!

The fastest way to grow is to create a path and give it dedication for at least 30 days. Based on your data, numbers, and feedback you can then pivot (you’ll see this when we talk about marketing below).

By having a clear framework to follow and repeat you’re able to simplify the entire process, optimize your time, and see results.

Ok, let’s get into it!

**If you want to watch the full video and details of the 4-part framework you can watch the video below.

LEVEL 1: BRAND FOUNDATIONS

Every brand needs to start here. These are the foundational pieces of your brand and business and integral in the overall growth and success.

This level includes identifying your niche, ideal customers, messaging, core offer(s), and the emotional or connection side of your brand.

The great news is this stage doesn’t have to be revisited often, if you put in the work now, but it does require work so people skip it. If you skip it you’ll find yourself constantly spinning your wheels and wondering what’s missing.

This stage should take 4 to 6 weeks to complete. I say this very specific timeline because one of the pitfalls of this level is that so many entrepreneurs never leave it.

They stay here rethinking and reworking all the details until they realized their one year into their business and haven’t made any money. This is why guidance at the foundational level is so important!

Remember, this stage is less about creating your logo, picking your colors, and designing your website, and more about the market research, becoming better at messaging and gaining clarity on your niche and offer.

If you want to scale your business, then the foundational pieces are key.

LEVEL 2: COMMUNITY GROWTH

Once you know who you are, who you want to attract, and what you want to offer, it’s time to build that community.

You have nothing if you don’t have someone to sell too and so many entrepreneurs, especially that first year in business make the mistake of assuming they’ll sell to no one - we all know it doesn’t work like that.

Here’s where you gain clarity on and design the method in which you’ll grow your community - the lead magnet and funnel.

When it comes to the lead magnet you want to create something that solves a problem and is in alignment with your core offer. I see so many entrepreneurs go too wide at this stage in an attempt to grow their community quickly, but then they are left with a large list of random people and no ideal clients (paying clients).

Some common mistakes to avoid at this stage are:

• Being too general with your lead magnet/ freebie

• Not solving a problem for your audience (no one needs more stuff)

• Creating a resource that’s not wanted by your audience.

The goal is to attract and bring in your ideal customer, the one that is the best fit for your paid program.

From there, and during this level, you want to create your onboarding funnel or lead magnet funnel. Think of this as the conversation!

If you were at a party and met someone, who might be interested in your services, what would you want them to know about you, your work, and your offers?

So many entrepreneurs make this crazy complex in the beginning, but it’s really just about making sure every person that joins your community knows who you are and can determine in those first few automated emails if you’re the right fit for them!

At this level, once you have these two pieces in place you begin to move into the goal of daily community growth. That’s why this stage is so important because it gives you the tools you need to do just that.

LEVEL 3: CLIENT ATTRACTION

Continuing with our building blocks we enter into level three. Now, level three is where marketing or client attraction starts to happen in full force.

With the simplified business model, every day you’re focused on three things:

1. Growing your community

2. Nurturing your community

3. Making a sale

So, you never fully move through this level, you are just constantly testing, tweaking, and scaling.

This level can look like utilizing social media, blogging, Pinterest, SEO, Youtube, podcasting and so much more.

Personally, I love evergreen types of content as a way to build my community and nurture my existing one. Evergreen content means content that keeps performing, it doesn’t disappear after a few hours, but rather continues to drive traffic and bring in leads.

In my business, this is blogging + Pinterest, which also gives me a major boost with my SEO. So my leads are coming in from Pinterest and Google Searches mostly.

No matter what you choose, all though I HIGHLY recommend evergreen content, you need traffic. Consistent traffic and leads entering your funnel and into your community is key to growing a business. 

It ensures you always have someone to sell too!

The key here is consistently creating content, whatever that means for you. And remember, consistency doesn’t mean posting daily (that’s not simple), it means finding a schedule that works for you at this stage and sticking to it.

If your current approach to level three feels exhausting because you're posting daily on Instagram or engaging for 30-minutes every day in Facebook Groups it’s time to rethink your strategy. Consider one of the evergreen platforms above and the art of repurposing to optimize your time and content strategy.

Remember, this level is going to expand and grow as your business grows!

LEVEL 4: AUTHENTIC SELLING

At this stage, you have people coming into your community and inquiring about your services which is amazing! Now, it’s time to improve your conversions.

Think of it like this; if you have a landing page for your lead magnet and it’s converting at 20% would you choose to scrap the entire thing and start over or make some small adjustments and improve the conversion to 50%?

Hopefully, you picked adjustments because it’s the simpler and less time-consuming approach. Well, sales are the same.

You have to start somewhere and so many entrepreneurs start worrying about how they are going to sell, the conversation or script, etc.. rather than focusing their energy on Levels 1-3.

You need these levels to get people on the phone with you or in your DM’s and then you can fine-tune it from there.

Authentic selling looks like improving your sales conversations, your client onboarding and client retention - because we all know it’s easier and cheaper to keep an existing client than to find a new one.

CONCLUSION

I hope you’ve picked up on the theme here, it’s not about doing more or working harder it’s about making smarter decisions.

I witness so many entrepreneurs get too ahead of themselves. They're worried about the sales call and how they’ll do before they even have someone interested in chatting.

They’re obsessed with their website and making it perfect, but don’t have a marketing strategy to then drive traffic to the website. 

The reality is driving traffic to a lead magnet landing page, in the beginning, is a better use of your time!

As you’re thinking of your own business and some of the holes that might have been exposed while working through this framework, I want to invite you to check out Roadmap to Freedom.

This exact 4-part framework is what makes up my signature group program designed to support you in making money on your terms and create a life of abundant experiences and impact.

Learn more at brandmerry.com/freedom.

Watch the full video training + some insider tips below.

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

How to Handle Imposter Syndrome as a Small Business Owner

How to Handle Imposter Syndrome as a Small Business Owner

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

You're here for a reason.
You saw the title and you're like, this is something I need support with. 

Now one of the things I want to share with you is I’m not promising to rid you of your feeling of imposter syndrome because I don’t think it ever fully goes away.

What I do believe, as with anything mindset related, you have to actively be flexing your muscle to move through something difficult. It’s not that things stop happening to you.

It's not that the feelings stop coming. It's not that you ever stop, comparing yourself to somebody else. It's not that you ever don't feel like there's not a space for you or the market never feels saturated, or your money mindset doesn't come into play and is like, “You can't do that!” 

It's not that those things stop happening. 

It's that you become stronger, and your mind becomes stronger and as a result, you can move through those things quickly and with confidence, and they don't affect you for long periods of time.

Remember as an entrepreneur your goal is to constantly be growing as you work towards new things, so you’re probably going to feel a bit at some time, but what I want you to have are ways to process and move through it quickly so you can continue taking action in your business.

If you want to skip reading the post and watch the video below, I’m sharing the same tips, plus a little inspiration around handling competition.

IMPOSTER SYNDROME

Imposter Syndrome was first discovered in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes and stems from the idea that you’ve only succeeded due to luck, and not because of your talent or qualifications.

As you can imagine this impact two groups of people a great deal:

+ Perfectionist. Perfectionist’s set ridiculously high expectations, and this is coming from a recovering perfectionist herself. Perfectionists often feel like they’re never good enough or measure up to their own expectations.

On the flip side perfectionist also do everything they can to avoid shame or embarrassment so putting themselves out there in a situation, where they could possibly look like they don’t belong is the worse (again speaking from experience here).

+ Experts and Leaders. Those that are considered an expert or leader, think influencers, coaches, mentors, teachers, might feel as if they need to know everything before moving on. 

They spend their time-consuming information, rather than taking action because they never feel ready or good enough to move forward.

As you can probably see, these feelings don’t work well with being an online entrepreneur. As entrepreneurs 90% of the things you will do have to come from experience. It’s one of the golden rules of marketing...test, test, test and then evaluate your results to move forward.

You can’t possibly test if you’re not taking action.

If you let your inner feelings of being an imposter run the show, you're not putting yourself out into the world. 

You're not testing things, you're not marketing, you're not fine-tuning your voice.

You're not finding your authenticity, you're not growing a community. 

And as I've shared time and time again, those things are absolutely necessary when you are launching, running and wanting to scale an online business, there's no way around it.

4 WAYS TO MOVE THROUGH IMPOSTER SYNDROME

1. REFRAME YOUR THOUGHTS

When you find yourself having these feelings of imposter syndrome - feeling like you can’t do it, or you need to overdeliver to be worthy, or that you don’t fit in - I want you to stop and think about how you are acting?

As a result of the thoughts that are going through your head or the feelings that you have, what are your responses and then how do they manifest themselves in action or inaction? 

Remember, it's not just what action you're taking, but it can also be what action you are avoiding. You might find yourself constantly postponing, postponing and postponing until it’s ready, but we know that being ready is totally up to you.

When you recognize these thoughts and recognize the things that are happening you can build up your awareness and that muscle to move through it quickly so that when that happens again, you can be like, “Oh, wait, wait, I know what's going on here. And I'm going to take a couple of minutes to work through this!”

2. ASSIGN YOUR VOICE

This is a little trick, one I’ve used while working through my recovery of perfectionism, and that’s separating my inner perfectionist or in this case the feeling of being an imposter, from my true identity.

I suggest giving your inner critic a name. 

And the next time you hear that little voice that says, “You don't belong here,” you can separate her from you. 

Give her a name. Talk to her and tell her, “Not today, Sally, I don't have time for you to show up today. I've got things to do!”

So this can be one of the things that you do to recognize that this isn't you, this voice isn't who you are, this is a small little voice in your head that does not control the outcome or does not control your success.

3. RECOGNIZE YOU ARE WORTHY

You don't need to justify anything. 
You don't need to justify why you charge what you charge. 
You don't need to justify why you do what you do. 
You don't need to justify anything because you are worthy as you are. 

And you can show up as you are at this moment. If you are changing who you are, and you are changing your voice, then you're missing the point of building a personal brand, you're missing the whole entire mark.

The whole point of a personal brand is to show up as your true self and build community around what you have to offer.

But people don't just buy the products and services, they're paying attention to you. They're here for you. 

If someone sells something similar to what you sell, why did they choose you? Because of the personal brand. 

And one of the best things that you can do for your business is to own your voice. Practice putting your voice out there. 

In order to do this, you have got to start to recognize that you are worthy. 

If you don’t feel it, spend your time working on your mindset around your worthiness. One of my favorite tricks is to put reminders everywhere around you, post it in your bathroom, your office, your can and remind yourself every single day that you are worthy of all of the success.

4. GET SUPPORT

Having someone in your corner who understands when you’re feeling like an imposter can be one of the best strategies for an online entrepreneur. Find yourself a community, a business bestie or a coach that can support you when you’re feeling as if you’re not good enough.

These feelings can keep you from having a successful business, so it’s important that you don’t ignore them or you’ll find yourself feeling stuck in your business for an extended period of time.

CONCLUSION

Imposter syndrome is just one of the many feelings that might come up for you as you build your online business. It’s important that with every strategy you implement you also take the time to build up your resilient mindset.

I recognized this need very early on when I also felt intense feelings of imposter syndrome, comparisonitis and perfectionism, so I got support.

It’s one of the many reasons we have a Mindset Coach inside of my signature program Roadmap to Freedom.

Roadmap to Freedom is a live 90-day program for the new and aspiring female entrepreneur ready to simplify the process of building an online business that allows her to make money on her terms and create a life of abundant experiences and impact.

Doors open October 2020. 

If you’re looking for not only the mindset support to grow your business, but the step by step strategies I’ve taught over one hundred women, through this program, I invite you to learn more about Roadmap to Freedom at brandmerry.com/freedom.

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO AND SOME BONUS TIPS BELOW.

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

Relationship Marketing (or Human-to-Human Marketing) in 2020 and Beyond

Relationship Marketing (or Human-to-Human Marketing) in 2020 and Beyond

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

Relationships.

Not only are they essential to our everyday life, but also our marketing.

When is the last time you thought about the relationship you were building with your online audience?

Is relationship building a part of your everyday strategy as an online brand and business owner?

If not, it needs to be! 

Relationship marketing is the goal as an online brand, it’s not about the instant purchases although those are amazing, it’s about the recurring customers, the loyal fans and the audience members that need a little bit more before buying.

If we’re only worried about the instant and single sale, we miss out on a lot of money!

Bain & Company found that increasing customer retention by just five percent can increase company profits by a whopping 25 percent.

And that acquiring new customers is estimated to be 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining current ones. 

Relationship marketing plays a role in new client onboarding, client retention and the overall success of your business.

Let’s explore it a little more!

WHAT IS RELATIONSHIP MARKETING?

Relationship Marketing, also referred to as H2H (Human-to-Human marketing) is focused on one thing, building a relationship between the brand and the consumer.

It is the new age of marketing if you can call it new. It’s no longer acceptable to rely on traditional marketing setups like B2C (Business-to-Consumer) or B2B (Business-to-Business) and has moved to a Human-to-Human marketing approach.

Relationship marketing builds on the idea that every transaction comes down to a human buying something from another human, when you think of marketing and specifically selling in this way it shifts the way you go about sharing your products and services to a more emotional and empathetic approach focused on connection.

Added bonus not only does this increase conversion rates, but it also increases client retention!

In relationship marketing your strategy becomes 100% about building trust.

It’s about the emotional connection your audience has to your brand, it puts an emphasis on Brand Affinity and as the brand and marketer, it puts more emphasis on storytelling.

This switch is much more effective than the “traditional” way of advertising and marketing your products and services, which can sometimes feel disconnected and inauthentic to your audience.

86 percent of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brands they like and support (Stackla, 2019)

WHY RELATIONSHIP MARKETING IS IMPORTANT AS AN ONLINE BRAND

As we’ve already covered a million times, relationship marketing is about relationships, so with that in mind, there is a two-fold approach.

Can you guess what it is? You probably guessed it...relationship marketing comes down to you and the consumer or potential client.

Let’s first talk about you (aka the brand). No matter if you work for a company, or more likely have an entrepreneurial business (possibly a personal brand) there is a human(s) running the show.

The idea is that the human(s) become the face, voice and connection between the audience and the products. It’s important to focus on creating content that showcases the values of the brand, connects emotionally to the consumer, and shares great stories.

It becomes more about quality over quantity, tieing every single piece of content back to the question, “How does this build a relationship and trust with my audience?”

The other side of the equation is your audience. Remember, you’re talking to a real human on the other end of your emails, social media posts and videos. This can be so easy to forget as we’re living in an age of automation.

However, you can’t automate human connection! 

Think about how you as a consumer hope to engage with a brand, actually take it a step further, how do you like to interact with a friend? My guess is if the only communication you had with them was an automated/ canned response you’d peace out! 

We often overlook the fact that our potential customers are real people, with real lives, looking for real connections.

At the end of the day, humans want to be seen, heard, and understood, and as a brand, you have the ability to do just that through your marketing efforts.

From a marketing standpoint when you can focus on building a solid relationship through your marketing efforts you’ll build trust with your audience much quicker than if you're ignoring the struggles and desires of your audience.

Relationships build trust and trust is what leads to sales.

81 percent of consumers said that they need to be able to trust the brand in order to buy from them (Edelman, 2019)

3 WAYS TO IMPROVE RELATIONSHIP MARKETING BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR AUDIENCE

1. BE CONVERSATIONAL

We already talked about the friend element above, but let’s dive into it a bit further. When you’re speaking to a friend, you’re typically casual, you’re more conversational and my guess you sound like a real human.

Yet, so many online brands forget this simple strategy when they are posting or creating content for the internet. Much of this comes from a preconceived idea of what success means or how we should be showing up online, but this facade can be impacting your ability to build relationships with your audience.

“People can smell inauthenticity!” - my girl Michelle Obama

And it’s true, we’ve seen this time and time with large online brands.

Your goal.
Show up.
Be real.
Focus on the conversations.

A great way to do this is by inviting your audience to have a conversation with you. Encourage people to comment, message you, or send an email and then respond - I know what a concept!

And we’re sitting here rolling our eyes thinking, “Of course we respond!” but think about bots for 5 seconds and then tell me that every online marketer gets this concept...they don’t.

Again, so many entrepreneurs are striving for automation over the connection and it’s hurting.

Say no to BOTS!

2. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS IN YOUR EMAIL FUNNEL

Ok, I know I said you can’t automate connection and I still stand by that, but of course, as a growing online brand, we need a little automation.

One of my favorite places for automation is in the new subscriber email sequence. While many entrepreneurs go into building their email funnel/ email sequence/ lead magnet sequence, call it what you want, with an emphasis on selling we should really be focusing on relationships.

Use this opportunity to introduce yourself, your mission, your values and be of service to your audience. This is a great place to provide high-value content to once again build trust.

79 percent of people say that user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions. (Stlacka, 2019)

3. SHARE STORIES IN YOUR MARKETING

Storytelling my love language, but seriously I talk about storytelling a lot over here on the Brandmerry Blog because it’s so powerful as a marketing strategy. It’s one of the fastest ways to build relationships and trust with your audience and is so freaking fun.

If you’re not familiar with storytelling in business, check out this post here.

Storytelling can…

+Introduce the human side of your brand by sharing your founder story
+Give your audience a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of your brand and business
+Introduce multiple dimensions to your brand, so it becomes less about just the products you offer and more about the brand as a whole
+Help your audience remember your content
+Create an emotional connection between the consumer and your brand

And most importantly storytelling is an excellent way to show empathy for your audience and the problem you solve. Empathy is so crucial when it comes to build relationships and therefore is a must for online brands who are excited and eager to become pros at relationship marketing - hey that’s you, right?!

If you’re wondering where to start with storytelling you can check out 5 Examples of Brand Storytelling to Incorporate into Your Marketing here.

CONCLUSION

A note about authenticity.

It’s time we take back authenticity! It’s become such a freaking buzz word and we’re finding so many brands are living outside of authenticity.

Over here at Brandmerry HQ, we believe that authenticity is the alignment of personality, ideals, and appearance in all aspects of your life. If I meet you in person and you’re way different than how you “appear” online there’s a misalignment with your authenticity.

Authenticity might be a buzzword, but it’s important and crucial to marketing!

Remember that statistic from above?

86 percent of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brands they like and support (Stackla, 2019)

As you’ve seen in this post all of it comes back to authentically showing up online and connecting with your audience on a human to human level.

So check yourself, how authentic are you being with your brand and marketing? 

Is there a misalignment?

Are you acting like someone you feel you should be to make money online?

If so, take the steps to get back into alignment with your authenticity and focus on building relationships with your growing audience.

BONUS

So much of this authenticity comes back to the foundations of your brand. How your brand voice was established at the very beginning!

Inside my free Build a Better Brand Method class, I share the top three mistakes entrepreneurs make when it comes to building their personal brand and the 3-part framework to build moving forward.

If you haven’t attended this class, it’s a must listen to. Sign up for the next available time at brandmerry.com/brandmasterclass.

P.S. If you made it this far, good for you! Let’s take it a step further and dive into your branding as a way to build relationships. If you haven’t already make sure to watch my free class on The Build a Better Brand Method.

It’s a free 60-minute class for female entrepreneurs looking to build a strong personal brand that supports them in standing out online, creating a stream of high-value content, and build a community of fans that leads to a revenue-generating business.

Sign up for the class at brandmerry.com/brandmasterclass.

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

3 Mindset Shifts That Helped Me Double My Monthly Revenue to $20k

3 Mindset Shifts That Helped Me Double My Monthly Revenue to $20k

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

I know why you’re here.

You’re ready for the next level. Maybe for you, that means doubling your yearly revenue, monthly revenue, hitting your first $5k cash or $10k cash month, or just signing your first client.

No matter what brought you here today, I’m thankful you are here.

Over the past three months, I’ve doubled my monthly cash revenue from consistent $10,000 cash months to $20,000 cash months. And while strategy played a major role, what’s interesting is that many of my strategies from $10k to $20k months didn’t change, but my belief in them coming to fruition did.

And now that I’ve seen, thanks to numbers, that this is consistent for my business and growing, I want to share them with you in today’s blog.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MINDSET IN BUSINESS

I am a strategist. I am somebody who loves numbers, analytics and data. I LOVE goals.

So mindset, even from the very beginning of my business has been something that I've had to actively work on.

For some people, the belief of the mindset behind their work comes very naturally to them, and they have to apply more energy and attention towards the strategy. 

Some people like myself, the strategy comes very, very natural, and they have to put a lot of attention to the mindset. 

Since the beginning of my business, I have focused my energy on my mindset, and my resiliency, because at the end of the day, you're the CEO, you're the boss, you make so many of the decisions, if you are an entrepreneur and a solopreneur, that your mindset has to be in peak performance. 

Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t have times where I’m like, “I need a freaking break!” Or have times where I’m like, “Oh my gosh, this isn’t working.”

But, as entrepreneurs we have to treat our bodies, our minds and our souls like an athlete would. We have to make our mindset and our health a top priority, because in the beginning if we aren’t there to show up and put in the work the business will not grow.

So no matter what area you feel is your strength, be it mindset or strategy, you have to work on finding a harmony between the two and giving whichever needs the most attention at the moment the attention it needs to move your business forward.

LAYING A STRONG BUSINESS FOUNDATION

When it comes to elevating your business there’s a beautiful blend of strategy paying off and mindset being at its peak. 

It’s important that before I share these shifts with you, the same shifts that supported me in doubling my monthly revenue, you understand I’ve been putting in the strategy for about seven months prior.

I put in the work to set up a funnel that brings in new leads and sales daily. 

I made the decision to cut back on my 1:1 coaching and rather offer limited-time ways to work 1:1 with me.

I also show up every single week, multiple times a week, including live videos for my audience.

These practices allowed me to sit at $10k cash months for over two years and the foundations were working, but when I was ready to step into the next level that’s where the mindset kicked in.

You can’t skip the strategy.
You have to have it.

That’s why having a strong business foundation is so important. You need a solid brand to move forward with fancy marketing and all the perks that come with that.

If you’re looking to build a solid brand foundation you can learn more in my upcoming masterclass at brandmerry.com/brandmasterclass.

Ok, now that I have all my disclaimers out of the way and you understand that mindset shifts aren’t the only thing that is going to carry you we can jump into it!!

MINDSET TIP #1
CHOOSE YOUR CELEBRATION (VISUALIZE)

In 2017, I discovered this technique for the first time. My coach at the time introduced me to the concept of visualization as a way of goal setting.

I’d always had a vision board, seriously since I was a kid, but this was about truly stepping into the moment when you achieve your goal.

In 2017, I decided that when I hit my goal of signing 10 new 1:1 clients I would fly to NYC to see my favorite Broadway show. I’d visualize every single day what it would feel like to walk the streets of NYC, after watching the show, wearing my black maxi and singing the songs. I saw it so vividly.

And do you know what happened? That exact scenario played out. After hitting my goal, I invested in a mastermind and our first retreat was in NYC.

Since then I’ve used this technique multiple times but recently took it up a notch by investing early.

In May of 2020, I knew I was ready to double my monthly revenue. While shopping I picked up a bottle of champagne, more expensive than I would typically buy and I put it in the fridge with a post-it that said, “$20k Cash Month!”

Every day I focused on the celebration of my goal, I couldn’t avoid it because it was where my food was! I took just a second to feel into the celebration I would have to open the bottle and share it with my family.

At the end of May, I opened that bottle.

I had the strategy in place, I knew what I was going to do, but now I fully trusted that it was going to happen and I knew just how I’d celebrate my goal coming to fruition.

There’s something powerful about focusing on the celebration as you’re working towards your goal. It puts the excitement and joy into your daily actions and raises your vibration.

It doesn’t have to be a trip to another country to be a celebration, it can be as simple as a bottle of wine or dinner at your favorite restaurant ordering whatever you want, but one of the most fun things you can do is choose how you’ll celebrate before you even start taking action.

ACTION STEP: Decide how you’ll celebrate your next goal. If you can invest in it now do that, but at the very least tell everyone about it, print a visual out and put it on your desk and every day imagine the celebration.

MINDSET TIP #2
WORK ON YOUR MONEY STORY

The second thing that I did, and I've been doing this since January, is I have been working so hard on my money story. 

If you're not familiar with a money story, it is a combination of the beliefs that you carry around money. What you believe having money means, what you believe not having money means, what you believe debt means, what you believe working hard for something means.

It’s rooted in how you viewed money or were told about money as a child and young adult.

The beautiful thing about having a money story is that you can always uncover, own, release and write a new one, which is something I’m constantly working on.

I've been doing work on my money story since 2016 when I started my business, but this year I knew to reach a new bracket I needed to dig deeper.

As someone who is a minimalist and travels full-time in a 36-foot travel trailer, I don’t NEED a lot. I’ve often associated having money with having stuff, a belief I’ve carried since I was young, so the idea of having more stuff is not a driver for me to have more money.

But the truth is, I absolutely am worthy of having a lot of money and having more money will allow me to not only grow my business but provide more to my team and community.

Going through this story work allowed me to better understand what having more money would mean. For my personal circumstance it included:

• Increasing my salary

• Increasing the pay to my team and bringing on full-time team members. This is a ripple effect because it impacts their ability to create wealth as well.

• Adding more team members which allow us to help more women in my community. 

• Adding more coaches under Brandmerry to support my clients at a higher level.

• Invest more money on ads so I can attract more people to my brand and therefore help more women. 

• Adding new programs and offering more support.

• Donating more money to the causes that are important to me.

There's a ton of things that I realized, going to this next bracket could allow me to do. Without doing the work on my money story I wouldn’t have realized this and therefore wouldn’t have the same energy and drive to make more money.

You’re probably holding on to a lot of beliefs that are keeping you from making the money you desire. Doing the work on your money story is important and as an entrepreneur, I believe a non-negotiable.

So really think about what you're telling yourself around money, what you're telling yourself about what you're worthy of having and think of what you're going to do with that money when you have it, give it a purpose. 

ACTION STEP: Begin to work on your Money Story. If you’ve never done this work before, I recommend The Universe Has Your Back by Gabby Bernstein.

MINDSET TIP #3
DON’T TIE YOUR PRODUCTS TO YOUR WORTH

Giving a purpose to your money is important. Understanding what you’ll do with your money is a great way to do just that.

However, it’s important that your money and more specifically your products aren’t tied to your worthiness.

You are worthy just as you are, at this very moment.

Hitting the next income bracket doesn’t improve your worth.
Selling your products doesn’t improve your worth.

In order to receive you need to understand that you are worthy of doing just that, every damn day.

However, when you’re an entrepreneur and specifically a solopreneur it is very easy to think, “This isn’t working, this isn’t selling, it must be me!”

When in reality it’s probably just your messaging, but that’s another conversation to have.

Rather than tying your worthiness to your ability to make money, I encourage you to tie your products, services and money to your purpose.

I made this shift deeply in 2020, this year has been the year that my mission became, even more, my driving force and as a result, the products, videos, posts, coaching, etc that I’ve put out into the world are in alignment with that mission.

It has attracted the best people.
It has brought in the money and will continue to do so.
It has felt dang good.

And tying the products to my mission over my worthiness allowed me to continue to work at a higher vibration and never once question my ability to make the money I desire.

If you’re at a place where you want to create an evergreen funnel and get paid while you shower or sleep, or you’re wanting to raise your prices it can be scary because we’re making it about us, make it about your purpose and watch the excitement explode.

ACTION STEP: Catch yourself; become aware of how you’re valuing yourself. How important is your time? How important is your energy? Are your products and services tied to your purpose, or still closely connected to your personal success?

CONCLUSION

At the end of the day, after all the work is complete and the strategies are implemented you have to so deeply trust yourself and that you can do this.

It’s like what we said about the celebration at the beginning if you’re focusing on reaching your goal, then in your mind, you’re already there. You’re fully committed and invested in that happening.

Because as a business owner you have to put yourself out there, but once you've put the stuff out there, once you’re showing up, once the plan is in motion, so much of the success comes down to your belief and your energy.

This work needs to be done and there are so many ways to get started including purchasing Gabby Bernstein’s book, The Universe Has Your Back.

In fact, I have an entire list of books that I recommend when it comes to mindset and belief.

These shifts, especially with your money story, can be as simple as getting a book and when you’re ready there are so many programs out there to support you, including Roadmap to Freedom which includes an R2F Mindset Coach with monthly calls and trainings on money mindset and worthiness.

If you’re looking for more support around your strategy, so you can feel confident moving forward with your goals you can learn more about working privately with me through my Brand Intensives. Learn more and apply for a limited spot at brandmerry.com/intensive.

P.S. Here are some additional blogs related to mindset that can support you on your journey.

3 Mindset Shifts for Entrepreneurs. READ IT HERE

Mindset Techniques for Female Entrepreneurs (Create a Mindset Routine). READ IT HERE

WATCH OR LISTEN TO THE CONTENT IN THIS POST BELOW.

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.