How often can you sell without alienating your audience? - Shiny New Clients!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Shiny New Clients!

Episode: How often can you sell without alienating your audience?
Host: Jenna Warriner
Release Date: October 21, 2024

Introduction

In the episode titled "How often can you sell without alienating your audience?", Jenna Warriner delves into the delicate balance between selling and nurturing an organic audience on social media. Aimed at service-based business owners such as coaches, stylists, and wedding planners, Jenna offers actionable strategies to effectively incorporate sales into social media content without overwhelming or deterring potential clients.

Understanding Content Types: Growth, Nurture, and Sales

[03:15] Jenna Warriner:
"The strategy that I teach my clients on Instagram is that you need three types of content: growth content, nurture content, and sales content. And that is high level."

Jenna introduces the foundational framework for content strategy, emphasizing the importance of categorizing posts into three distinct types:

Growth Content: Aimed at attracting new followers and expanding the audience base. This includes engaging, shareable content that piques interest and encourages sharing.
Nurture Content: Focused on building and maintaining relationships with the existing audience. This involves providing value, fostering trust, and keeping the audience engaged through meaningful interactions.
Sales Content: Dedicated to promoting products or services directly. These posts are crafted to convert followers into clients or customers.

By segregating content types, Jenna argues that businesses can maintain a diverse and engaging social media presence that supports both audience growth and revenue generation.

Balancing Sales Frequency: Selling a Little vs. Selling a Lot

[07:50] Jenna Warriner:
"Using the strategy that I teach? Why are we not going to do it every day? Because you also need numbers when you're talking about Instagram specifically."

Jenna challenges the common notion advocated by many marketers that one must "sell, sell, sell" every day to drive business growth. Instead, she proposes a more balanced approach:

Selling a Little, All the Time: Incorporate sales elements intermittently within the content mix. For instance, posting a dedicated sales message once a week alongside other non-sales content.
Selling a Lot, a Little Bit of the Time: Increase the frequency of sales posts when needed, such as during product launches or special promotions, while maintaining the majority of content as growth or nurture-focused.

This balanced approach ensures that the audience remains engaged without feeling bombarded by sales pitches, thereby reducing the risk of alienation.

Overcoming Sales Discomfort: Authenticity Over Aggression

[13:40] Jenna Warriner:
"Please don't think that in order to sell more, you need to do it in a gross way that makes you uncomfortable."

Jenna addresses a common barrier among service-based entrepreneurs: discomfort with sales. She empathizes with listeners who may have been negatively impacted by pushy sales tactics in the past, leading to a reluctance to sell their own services. Her solution emphasizes:

Authentic Selling: Encouraging business owners to sell in a manner that feels genuine and aligned with their values, avoiding tactics that may feel manipulative or aggressive.
Providing Value: Focusing on how the product or service can genuinely help the audience, thereby making the sales pitch feel more like a helpful recommendation rather than a hard sell.

By promoting an authentic approach, Jenna helps listeners overcome their sales apprehensions and present their offerings in a way that resonates naturally with their audience.

Strategies for Effective Selling

[22:10] Jenna Warriner:
"Have you ever been sitting on someone's mailing list forever and you like them? You like them? Fine, you go, I'm going to work with them eventually."

Jenna shares practical strategies to encourage timely action from potential clients:

Creating Urgency with Value: Instead of relying solely on discounts, offer compelling reasons for the audience to act now. This could be exclusive bonuses, limited-time offers, or unique value propositions that address the audience's specific needs.
Leveraging Promotions Creatively: Jenna provides an example of running a promotion that wasn't a discount but still enticed her audience to engage and convert. This approach maintains the perceived value of the service while still motivating action.
Strategic Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Incorporate clear and persuasive CTAs that guide the audience towards taking the desired action, whether it's booking a consultation, signing up for a freebie, or enrolling in a course.

Avoiding Common Mistakes: Steering Clear of Sneaky Sales

[17:25] Jenna Warriner:
"If all of your content is sales content, you don't have any content out there that is growing your account, that is nurturing people."

Jenna warns against the pitfall of blending sales pitches into growth or nurture content. Such "sneaky" sales tactics can erode trust and diminish the effectiveness of non-sales posts. Key takeaways include:

Maintaining Content Integrity: Ensure that each piece of content serves its intended purpose without hidden agendas. A growth post should purely aim to attract new followers, a nurture post should focus on engagement and relationship-building, and a sales post should clearly promote a product or service.
Respecting Audience Intelligence: The audience can discern genuine value from disguised sales pitches. By keeping content types distinct, businesses respect their audience's intelligence and foster stronger, more authentic connections.

Providing Incentives: Giving Reasons to Choose Now

[28:45] Jenna Warriner:
"How can you give your audience a reason to choose right now? What will make them jump and finally get off the fence?"

Jenna emphasizes the importance of offering compelling incentives that prompt immediate action from potential clients. Drawing from her personal experience, she illustrates how timely promotions can convert passive interest into active engagement. Strategies include:

Timely Promotions: Align offers with specific times or events (e.g., Black Friday sales) to create a sense of urgency.
Exclusive Value: Provide unique benefits or bonuses that are only available for a limited time, encouraging the audience to take advantage of the offer promptly.
Personalized Offers: Tailor promotions to address the specific pain points or desires of the target audience, making the offer more relevant and enticing.

Leveraging Tools and Resources

Towards the end of the episode, Jenna directs listeners to valuable resources that can assist in implementing the discussed strategies:

[35:20] Jenna Warriner:
"There's a free sales post caption template in the show notes of every episode, and it's in my link in bio on Instagram. And it is a formula for a sales post that got one of my clients 10 sales calls in three hours..."

Listeners are encouraged to utilize the free sales post caption template provided in the show notes or accessible via Jenna's Instagram bio. This tool is designed to help craft effective sales posts, providing a structured formula to replicate successful campaigns.

Additionally, Jenna mentions a dedicated podcast episode that walks listeners through using the template, offering guided support to ensure effective implementation.

Conclusion

In "How often can you sell without alienating your audience?", Jenna Warriner provides a comprehensive guide for service-based entrepreneurs seeking to integrate sales into their social media strategy effectively. By advocating for a balanced content mix, authentic selling practices, and strategic incentives, Jenna empowers listeners to monetize their online presence without compromising audience trust and engagement. The episode concludes with actionable resources, equipping business owners to implement these strategies confidently.

Notable Quotes:

Jenna Warriner [03:15]:
"You need three types of content: growth content, nurture content, and sales content."
Jenna Warriner [07:50]:
"Because you also need numbers when you're talking about Instagram specifically."
Jenna Warriner [13:40]:
"Please don't think that in order to sell more, you need to do it in a gross way that makes you uncomfortable."
Jenna Warriner [22:10]:
"Have you ever been sitting on someone's mailing list forever and you like them? You like them? Fine, you go, I'm going to work with them eventually."
Jenna Warriner [28:45]:
"How can you give your audience a reason to choose right now? What will make them jump and finally get off the fence?"

This episode serves as an essential guide for service-based entrepreneurs aiming to enhance their social media marketing strategies. By implementing Jenna's balanced approach to content and authentic selling techniques, listeners can effectively attract and convert their ideal clients without risking audience alienation.

Transcript

A (0:00)

Welcome to Shiny New Clients, the marketing podcast that helps you attract shiny new clients to your business. We'll talk about social media, what makes.

B (0:11)

People buy, how to go viral, and.

A (0:14)

Marketing psychology all in 20 minutes or less. Whether you're a coach, a stylist, or.

B (0:20)

A wedding planner, if you've got a.

A (0:22)

Service based business to sell, this is the show you need to fill your calendar. I'm Jenna Warner, your new marketing coach. And this is Shiny New new clients.

B (0:33)

How often should you be selling to your organic audience on social media? Is there a perfect number, a perfect ratio of sales posts versus entertaining content that gives to your audience? And how do you know? How do you split the difference? How do you know if you're selling too much? How do you know if you're not selling enough? How do you wrap your head around sales if it's uncomfortable for you? All right, let's dig in to, to all of the above. I'm Jenna. Hi. If we haven't met yet, I am a marketing coach. I help service providers get clients from their Instagram content. And this is my expertise. I love when these episodes get to dive into my expertise. So the strategy that I teach my clients on Instagram is that you need three types of content. You need growth content, nurture content, and sales content. And that is high level. And I say that all, all the time on Instagram. And I say it in the free training that I give away. I say it till the cows come home. But I want to add a little bit more nuance for you, dear listener, onto what I actually mean when I say that you're selling in your content every week. Because that is a simpler way of putting it. The way that my clients approach sales is they do it a little bit all the time and a lot, a little bit of the time. And I've only recently realized how different that is than a lot of other people that are out there teaching marketing and teaching social media. And listen, no shade to the other experts, because I really believe that every strategy works like every proven strategy, that one of these big names is selling you. They all work when you commit to them. It's really just about what feels best for you, what feels sustainable for you, and what works for your business model. A lot of the people that I follow and the business coaches and the marketers that I respect talk about selling every day and how you have to sell every single day. Sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. And I, I hear them and I bet that really works for them. But I see the people coming in my door My metaphorical door. Metaphorical, Is that right? You know, it doesn't actually exist, Hypothetically? No, that's not right either. Oh, gosh. We're off to a shaky start. I see the business owners that are coming to me and that follow me. And it's a lot of wellness entrepreneurs, women that work with babies, people in the spiritual space, a lot of the. A lot of people who work with animals, equestrian RMTs and dog trainers. And these are typically the types of people who are uncomfortable with sales, or at least they are when they first get started. Uncomfortable with sales, very conscious of not feeling pushy, not feeling slimy. If that's you, maybe it's because you got forced into buying something that you don't think you should have bought before. You feel like you got tricked into buying something. You bought something under false pretenses. You know, all this life experience adds up to make people resist sales. And then here you are about to give this beautiful thing to your audience. You have clients that need you. You've got babies with Torticollis and, you know, or you're like a nanny or whatever, these really heartfelt jobs. But then because of that experience, you're not selling yourself, and there's people out there that need you. So I get it, and I have these conversations all the time. So let me tell you a little bit more about what it's like to sell a little all the time and a lot sometimes. So selling a little all the time means maybe once a week you put out a sales post, or maybe throughout the week, you sell a freebie that's designed to grow your list. When you're giving away a freebie or a lead magnet or a free training or a free consultation to get someone in the door, you still need to sell. Sell that thing as if it cost money. Right? We really want to hype it up. We want to get people excited about it. We want to use all of our sales and marketing psychology, even though that thing is free. Couple reasons for that. One, it's just necessary. If you want somebody to take action online, you got to sell them on it. And two, because it's really great practice getting comfortable with these types of situations so you can later sell people on your service. Okay, so every week you're going to do a little bit of that. Maybe it's hopping into your Instagram stories and linking people to your work with me page or, you know, a sales page. I do that a lot in my stories. Or it's promoting one of your freebies, or it's promoting your services and telling people to book. You're going to do that a little bit all the time. Why are we not going to do it every single day? Using the strategy that I teach? Why are we not going to do it every day? Because you also need numbers when you're talking about Instagram specifically. You need to get in front of people. Different types of content are going to attract people to you and make them interested in what you have to say and make them share it and make them like comment. And typically that content is not sales content. That's your growth content and your nurture content. It attracts people, it gets them safe seeing more of your post, it maybe starts a conversation with you, it makes them trust you, and then they see the sales content and they sign up to work with you or enroll in your course or whatever. Okay, so if all of your content is sales content, you don't have any content out there that is growing your account, that is nurturing people. You're just selling, selling, selling to a smaller and smaller and smaller pool of leads. Something that I see happening all the time in this scenario is folks will go, okay, well, I'm on social media to make money. I'm on social media to grow my business. So they make a post that's supposed to be growth or supposed to be nurture, but then they sneakily turn it into a sales post. Or they make a post and you'll tell yourself that it's a valuable post that's supposed to be teaching your audience something. But then on the sly, you start seeing slipping in all this sales language and then add a call to action for someone to book with you. Okay, well, it's no longer doing its job of growing and nurturing because your audience is smart and they know what they're seeing and they know a sales pitch when they see one, even if it's sneaky. And that's just simply not the type of content that someone is sending to their group chat of all their girlfriends. And then all those five people are going to come and follow you. It's not the same thing. So we need the growth content, nurture content, and sales content. It all needs to be separate. Can you break the rules once you learn them? Sure. Come and work with me. I'll teach you the rules. You'll practice the rules. You'll practice having really, really specific and strategic content. My clients use a consistent content strategy. In Magic Marketing Machine, we're like super intentional about everything that's going up throughout the week. Then once you do that for a little while, then you can start breaking the rules. But I think it is so important to segregate those content types, especially when you're new to it or even if you're not new to, but you're not getting the kinds of results you want in terms of sales and clients coming through the doors on your Instagram. Now, the flip side, a high percentage of the people who come to me who aren't making sales like they wanted, they're not bringing in the amount of clients they want from their content. The problem is you're not selling enough or you're not saying the right thing when you sell. If you're posting plenty of sales content and you're not getting any bites, okay, we have a messaging problem. If you are not getting any bites and you look back at your last posts and none of them actually promoted what you offer outright and told someone to click a link and come work with you, well, we need to turn up the dial on the amount of sales content that's going out there. Which brings me to selling a lot, a little bit of the time. Stay with me. I hope that this is clear. I'm trying to basically dump into your brain an entire strategy in under 10 minutes. So I hope that this is clear. Trust me that when you work with me, I will break it down piece by piece by piece and make it a lot smaller. But here's my best effort at explaining this all in one go. Have you ever been sitting on someone's mailing list forever and you like them? You like them? Fine, you go, I'm going to work with them eventually, or I'm going to go to that store eventually. But you're just not doing it. And you're just sitting there dormant. What that company needs to do to make you bite is give you a reason to choose. Now, I'll give you an example. I was on the mailing list for this whitewater rafting company for like five years. I signed up for their mailing list at an adventure trade show. And I was never in the right city at the right time to do this whitewater adventure, but I knew I wanted to. And then after many years, I saw they had a Black Friday sale and you could pay and get your slot at the whitewater rafting at Black Friday and go the following June. And I was like, sold. It's a discount. And that gives me all the months to book a flight and accommodations and get myself to that city. And I bought the package. And then my husband and I went out there and we did the whitewater rafting, and it was amazing. They gave me a reason to choose. Now, in this case, it was a discount, but it doesn't need to be a discount. This is where you get to be creative. How can you give your audience a reason to choose right now? What will make them jump and finally get off the fence? Because you probably have hot leads right now who are watching you and they're waiting. I just ran a promotion this week and it wasn't a discount. Wasn't a discount because I'm like, I'm kind of particular about that. I don't ever want to ask someone who I know is probably already changing lives and over delivering and on the verge of burnout like so many of my clients are, to then discount their services. I ran a promotion that made a bunch of people jump to work with me, and I got a lot of messages from people that said, I've been following you for forever. I'm like, awesome. I finally found a reason to help you choose now to make the decision to come here and work with me. I offered you something that was the thing that you'd been waiting for to come and work with me. So that's what you want to do for your clients. This is for any industry, any of the industries I've mentioned or any service provider industry. How can we give them a reason to choose now? Did I tell you to poke your audience's pain points? Did I tell you to put timers all over everything and force people to make a decision they're not ready for? No. You can absolutely do this in a way that feels good and authentic and that gives to your leads and makes them excited when they book, not like they've been pressured. Please don't think that in order to sell more, you need to do it in a gross way that makes you uncomfortable. I don't want you uncomfortable because, quite frankly, I don't think you're going to get the kind of results you want. If you feel, like, highly uncomfortable, we want to push. Push the comfort zone a little bit, but not do something that you're, like, adamantly against or. It feels really gross and inauthentic. It's just not. It's just not how I vibe. All right, this is probably a good time to let you know that there's a free sales post caption template in the show notes of every episode, and it's in my link in bio on Instagram. And it is a formula for a sales post that got one of my clients 10 sales calls in three hours, and then she had to turn off her booking calendar because she was, like, getting overwhelmed and scared about all those sales calls. And we turned that post into a formula. So it's fill in the blank so you can use it for your business. And if you download, you get the outline. But there's also a podcast episode of Shiny New Clients that walks you through how to fill it out. So you can have me in your ear talking at you to give you some guidance on how to craft this very powerful sales post for Instagram. That is officially my rant for the week. I love you, and I'll see you in the next one.