The top tell signs of burnout and how to overcome them to stay motivated
Let’s talk entrepreneur life for a bit? Especially the solo-preneur? Have you figured out how to overcome burnout when it hits?
Yup I’m talking to you hard working, highly motivated, stubborn, freedom loving you out there. I know you so well because I am you and I’ve worked with hundreds of others like you.
I remember the first time I hit burnout. It was a sunny Miami day and I realized I’d been indoors for hours working on my monthly content planning that looked more like scratches on a dry erase than a cohesive content map. Hour 2 of getting absolutely nothing done I texted my husband and said:
“I don’t think I’m cut out for this as I feel like such a fraud! I either need to go back to school or figure something out cause this isn’t working!!!!” Insert some teary eyed emojis.
That turned into my first I hit a wall, exhausted, uninspired moment in my 15 years of entrepreneurship. I’d been pulling late nights working on my new program, the funnels, the content, the launch systems and all the things that come with the online business world. I wasn’t really eating right, my sleep was interrupted by ideas and to do lists… and my yoga practice had fallen to the wayside.
Do you relate at all to this?? If so, keep reading.
Definition of burnout and depletion
According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, the definition of burnout is “physical, emotional or mental exhaustion, accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance and negative attitudes towards oneself and others.”
Can you relate at all?
I am sure you’ve maybe experienced burnout at some point when things didn’t go as planned perhaps. Your program launch didn’t make you the 5 figure sales. The size of your email list shrinks with every email marketing newsletter you send and you’ve grown it by a few in comparison. Your social media following is not doing what all your hard work and effort says it should be doing.
Burnout is real and I’m going to share with you how to deal with it!
Identifying feelings of total drain and lack of motivation
First how can you tell if you’re experiencing burnout let alone overcome burnout? I have struggled with this because of my action centered personality that usually pushes through bouts of “not feeling it”.
But let’s identify some real burnout style feelings:
Putting it ALL on the back burner: This is the sign that you’ve checked out. You skipped social media all together because every idea felt like “blah”. You skipped the newsletter because “why does anyone want to read what I have to say”. Stopped promoting your program because last time no one bought it.
This one is an alert! You’re not excited about what you do! You became an entrepreneur because you love what you freaking do! And now… OMG you’re questioning if you’re even good at what you do and if you should find something else.
The question of how good you really are kicks in. Imposter syndrome coming in strong with this one. I understand you get this feeling every now and then, but when it’s burnout it’s constant.
You literally stop everything and wonder if you should get a job or a therapist. I don’t think we need to delve on this one much do we?
The mood for anything other than binging on tv shows, scrolling through social media feeling guilty for scrolling on social media and the thought of working ON your business is like nails on a chalkboard.
How you can overcome burnout
There’s no real trick here I can simply write out because we’re all different and different approaches are necessary but I will go into some ideas that might help you!
STOP, DROP and WRITE! When I feel burnout happening I stop all work related activities, I drop my clients if I can and I start writing. I don’t call it journaling because I write on a notepad… but you’re probably more organized than I so open your journal. I write 3 things: something I’m grateful for, something I’m excited about and something I look forward to doing. Since entrepreneur life eats so much of our time, I like to always have my eye on the prize… maybe it’s shopping, a trip or a nice dinner out.
GO CRY. Yes, go have a freaking tantrum. Cry, kick, punch a pillow, stomp. My toddler is so good at tantrums I’ve now added some new strategies to my repertoire. The lay face down on the ground sobbing is a good one… I do make sure the floor is clean first. I realized when I have a tantrum, drama filled, wail fest I feel good immediately. They last a few minutes usually and it takes pressure off for weeks!
PHONE A FRIEND. This is not the easiest one for me because the last thing I want to do is bother people… so I usually call or text a “work friend”. Someone who I know is an entrepreneur, whom I’ve shared a mastermind with or whom I know has been there, done that. It’s important to have this work friend because they have more empathy that a corporate friend.
EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS. Food can instantly make you smile. Eat something that’s comforting, that is nourishing and makes your heart smile. I go for something carb laden or that I used to eat as a child. Indulge for once without the guilty feeling. You can walk it off later or take a HIIT class if that’s your thing.
VISION BOARD! Usually when burnout happens we lose motivation right? Grab Canva or a poster board and go to town dreaming and reconnecting to your WHY! I love this video about trying and not being stuck. It always makes me tear up and go do something awesome!
Next steps for motivation
Now that you’ve either cried, eaten and written let’s address how to prevent burnout and step into motivation that’s consistent!
Motivation is a living breathing entity that’s within the heart of most entrepreneurs who are passionate about what they do. It’s not something that you can create, but instead something that’s attainable!
To recap get the energy moving in your body, mind and soul.
Myths With Internet Marketing – Truths and Reality That Can Derail You 😬
So, I’ve been thinking about a few things lately. The transparency in the online space can be a little muddled.
The cool thing is that there’s a huge, epic ton of potential and possibilities — you could literally reach thousands of people in a minute. You can do a TikTok, bunch of people watch it, and automatically you have a bunch of eyeballs on you… but this is the thing: If you don’t have a strategy, if you don’t have a way to move those people somewhere, or engage with them somehow and keep them in your ecosystem, then one-time-view can turn into absolutely nothing.
So, first of all, the online business game, you’re playing for the long haul, right? You’re creating the content so that it starts compounding. Another thing is that people will say, “Generate a six-figure launch.”
And it’s like, “Yes, and tell me exactly how many hours you sat in front of your computer, hustling and creating the graphics and how much money you spent on ads that didn’t work, and how many coaches you’ve hired because the last strategy didn’t work?” And this is where I think a lot of that transparency is not being shared. It’s not being talked about.
And I’m just getting frustrated when I see all these ads that promise you overnight success, “Without having to do this, and without having to do that.” You have to do it.
I’m sorry, I’ve been in this space for a long time and I don’t know a single one of my friends who are seven-figure entrepreneurs who don’t run ads. I don’t have a single friend who doesn’t have some sort of an online community. I don’t have a single friend who doesn’t focus time and energy to create content and being on platforms and being visible.
So, here’s the thing, if you’re really invested in winning at your business, whatever that means to you. If you want to hit five-figure months, there’s a bunch of stuff you need to do. And in order for you not to drive yourself crazy, I suggest a few things:
One, have somebody that knows more than you so they can at least tell you, “Hey, this is what worked for me. And it can work for you. But guess what? I can’t make you any promises.”
I can’t make any promises to my clients. I can make their lives easier. I can make the trying and answering the questions move things way faster. Like for example, today, one of my clients was like, “Hey, how do I find trending sounds for reels?” I was like, well, actually Instagram is favoring creators right now. So let’s focus on you sharing some original content. And because at the end of the day you can’t just win people over by lip syncing all the time. And talking over somebody, saying something that has absolutely no meaning. So talk about the stuff that you’re freaking knowledgeable about. Let people know what that sounds like. Like, what is going to get them where they need to go quicker.
Second, one strategy can’t work all the time. You have to be flexible and you have to be on it and you need to learn skill sets. That’s right. You need to learn skill sets. And this might look like doing stuff you don’t like. I do stuff I don’t like all the time for my business. Like, don’t you think I’d rather just be coaching all the time, versus perhaps making the funnel and doing all the tech and sitting in front of the phone. And sometimes that stuff isn’t fun, but guess what? I get to do it. I get to do it because I know it’s going to help my clients.
Third, allow yourself to be messy. Allow yourself to have breakdowns, allow yourself to be like, “Bah, this sucks!” But also allow yourself to celebrate the wins. Even if they’re small, even if they’re small. And today, one of my clients was like, “You know what? The content that I am putting out, even though it’s not perfect, or even though I messed up saying the certain thing, a lady commented on it and she wants to know more about what I do. And she says that she really enjoys my content.” She’s like, “I’m going to take that as a win.” Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart.
So, if you’re in this journey, make sure you’re in it for the long haul, stick with it, keep learning things, keep seeing what the trends are and answer this question: “What’s your five year vision?” That’s really important.
And truth is, I don’t know what the heck’s going to happen in five years. I have a desire of what I would like it to look like. But for example, two and a half years ago, and I gave birth to a baby. So ask me about three and a half years ago, if I knew that was going to happen. So my five year vision, three and a half years ago, was actually really different than what it is today. And the business model that I was building that time is really different than what it is today, because life changes.
So have a vision, have a goal. I’m Ugh, like so keen on that because I love to help my clients create life designs so that their business matches it. But be flexible, and understand that not everything happens all the time, the way you want it to happen. And also allow yourself to expand beyond what you think is possible. So when we see marketers saying, “Hit your six-figure month.” Know that it really is possible. And that there’s a lot of work that goes underneath there. There’s a lot of stuff that they’re not sharing right off the bat because it doesn’t “sell”.
Me telling you here that creating funnels and spending money on ads and doing all these things, you might be like, “Oh, I’m so discouraged.” But don’t be, don’t be because you get to do that. You get to create this business that you love. You get to make an impact on somebody else’s life through your own business. And most of all, you get to be empowered in the process and allow yourself to really be vulnerable through all the movements. So I wanted to say that today because it’s important. It’s important that you hear, it’s important that you don’t listen to just promises of this grandeur, without even having tried things, that without even knowing what is possible and without even knowing the ins and outs.
So, leverage the power of information as you have so much in front of you. Don’t go and just hire an agency to do things for you because they don’t know you, they’re managing a thousand different clients. You can learn a lot of this stuff. You can be in the driver’s seat of a lot of the aspects of your business. And it doesn’t mean you’re going to do it forever, but it means you get to do it now and you get to be empowered in that process. So, go rock your business, go start the thing that is hard, go and connect with somebody that can support you. And if that’s me, amazing, and you can find ways that you and I could collaborate from a thousand YouTube videos, okay maybe not a thousand, but a bunch of YouTube videos that I’ve done on how to grow your online business, do my challenges that I run on a monthly basis and to my free content that I’d love to share on all the platforms. So I hope this was helpful for you and I’m rooting for you. Bye.
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Making Your Content WORK FOR YOU! (AKA Get You Clients)
Are you tired of your content not doing what you want it to do? Like, get clients? I get you.
Today, we’re going to go over a very simple strategy that I use all the time to know exactly what to post, why you’re posting it, what the result you want it to be. And then how you can use this content to help you communicate and spread your message all over the interwebs.
I’m Ari, your business and digital marketing coach and today, we are diving a little bit deeper into this magical world of content!
When I say content, let’s just pre pre-frame this. This is basically you as the expert, you as the knowledge bringer, you as the source of the information that you want to divulge. So understanding that, I want you to go into your, as I like to call it, your bag of tricks from Felix, the cat, and start thinking, “Oh my gosh, I know so many things that can help people. This is how I’ve been helping my clients. These are questions people ask me all the time.” Start thinking about things that are relatable, that not only make you feel like the superhero, but that really relates to the problems, needs and goals, visions, and aspirations of your ideal clients.
So based upon that, knowing that really the only thing that matters is them, then that’s where we start creating content. And if you’re stuck, you can just go ahead and go to my link and grab my 90 days. It’s called the Content Pro Marketing Guide, where you get 90 days of different kinds of posts done for you, ideas, all sorts of fun stuff, and planning templates. I digress.
Back to your content. So I want you to really come up with the best and most joyful things for you to talk about. What lights you up? What gives your clients, your potential clients, the best results? If you’re a gut and hormone expert, well, let’s talk about the foods to avoid, the myths, the things that happen as you get older as a woman, the different kinds of combinations of food plus exercise, the things you can do for breakfast, the movements, the type of cardio versus weightlifting versus supplements. There’s so much for you to micro-pull.
And nowadays, content, as we know, it’s got to be a little bit faster because people’s attentions are being pulled in a thousand different directions. I call it the adult ADD factor from social media. (Thank you, Instagram and TikTok.) “What is that?”, “What do I want to promote and sell this month?” So if you understand these things, then all the content you basically work backwards. I like to reverse engineer things. So if you work from here, your goal and you shoot it backwards, then guess what? The content all creates breadcrumbs for when you’re in your sales moment, launch moment, because you don’t always want to be selling. It’s like value, value, value, ask, ask. Value, value, value, give, give, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask. Value, value, value, value, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask.
We need to have waves. This is why I like to call business the way I teach is a flow. So these are waves where we are giving, receiving. And you know that, in this name of the game, sometimes the more you give and the more that you show up as this wealth of information, the more you receive. What I also want you to consider is this is going to be a compound effect. Meaning, the content you do, two or three months ago, people are seeing it for the first time then they’re may be seeing the second piece, then the third piece. People have to see you and consume your content, your emails, at least 17 to 20 times. This is how far from our traditional marketing, where it used to be like seven to ten exposures. That’s massively changed.
So what I want you to consider is that it is your time to be a consistent bringer of information, of help, of ways that you can support your clients through whatever transformation they are going through. If you are a financial planner and your clients have a mess in their finances, they’re not doing their bookkeeping, they’re not budgeting. Then what are ways that you could help them so that ideally, cha-ching, your magical product, maybe it’s like budgeting and organization of your money 2022 is the focus. Knowing this will help you feel at peace, feel more confident, feel connected to exactly the steps that you need to do in order to get the results that you want. But we have to start from the backwards.
Now, here’s a separate piece. You’ll see in Content Pro that I have different themes for the month. One of those might be growing leads or connection. Now, these two is where your funnel comes into place, because if you’re just doing content for content versus content for purpose, and you don’t have a way to streamline a viewer into a potential buyer, then we’re just leaving people on this platform. What you want to do is pull people off the platform and you’ll see in the contents of the captions that I’ve written, like, “Go click on my link, click on the URL.” Here is where you’re going to be able to move a viewer into somebody that registers for your freebie, or somebody that registers for your webinar, or somebody that joins your five day challenge, or somebody that joins your Facebook group or WhatsApp group. Wherever you are, either building community or moving people into your marketing ecosystem, you want to be cognizant that there’s certain assets you want to have so that we have a strategic plan of what’s called our customer journey.
I can talk more and more about this, but for that, you should download Content Pro and start taking action (I promise, you’ll learn more that way than by reading!). And it’s going to give you a better picture of this whole digital marketing landscape and you as a content creator, but you as a business owner as well.
So I hope this was useful. Make sure to subscribe, comment, like, and let me know if you have any other questions that I can support you with. Once again, see you. It’s Ari and let’s make it a great day!
It seems lately everyone’s putting such an emphasis on visibility for social media, for being in front of people, and you’re asking yourself, why do you even need it? Today I want to cover exactly what the main reasons are for why you should invest your time, energy, and money into having a more visible aspect of your business.
Well, first of all, to get clients. If people don’t know who you are, how are they going to buy from you? Imagine going to the grocery store and needing eggs, and you go walk down to the egg aisle. If your egg brand isn’t there, how am I going to buy it?
That’s just a very ABC example of what it means to have a visible brand on not only social media but also think about like outside in the real world when you’re out there networking. If nobody knows what you do, why you do it, and how you do it, what your services are, what you can help them with, then why would they purchase from you? The more eyes and ears you get on your solutions that you provide, the higher likelihood that you’ll increase your customer uptick.
Nowadays, visibility is anywhere from running ads, to having organic social media, to going viral on a video, maybe on TikTok and, like I said, it’s also being in front of people in real life. Let’s go over the number one way to be visible on social media.
Let’s talk about Instagram, for example. Right now the hottest trend on Instagram is to do reels. If you haven’t done a reel yet, I suggest doing something easy and fun. Now, you might be able to see other videos that I’ve done or even some of the reels I’ve done about reels, but the last thing you want to do is be inauthentic. Meaning, if you’re not going to dance and lip sync, you don’t have to, you can even do a reel without people seeing your face.
For example, I did a reel about my office space and I think you saw my feet. At the end, you just saw my reflection in the mirror for a half second so I want you to think about all the different opportunities that you have to give micro-bits of your knowledge, your wisdom, the information that you are so passionate about in 15, 30, 60 second bits. Now, reels are also very similar to TikTok so you might be able to grab the video that you make on a reel, apply it on TikTok and vice versa.
You might want to look for trends so think, are there songs or effects that might be trending that you can jump on to get the most views because, at the end of the day, the more views you get, the better likelihood that you’ll either get a new follower or a new potential client. Now, reels, if you’ve never done them before, might take a little bit of learning but that’s why I say don’t expect to become a creator with all these fancy transitions and outfit changes and getting the lip sync right. Don’t worry about that. Step into a place where you feel comfortable, where you can give some great information to the camera or you’re sharing something from your heart or a story, and at least put it out there.
You can always start learning cool transitions, jumping on creator trends later and, at the end of the day, we have so much potential and you never know, maybe in a month Instagram puts something else out there for us to try and get hooked on. Apart from reels, in Instagram we have lives, you can collaborate with other creators, you can do interviews, so not just you going live but you plus three other people and you can do little panels. You can do guides, you can do feed posts, you can do stories, and IG TV. Instagram alone has about five different ways that you can be more visible and, if you do all of them or a good mix of them, you’ll get exposed to different people.
For example, you could do a joint live with three other people, and guess what happens the minute you do so? Their followers are going to get a ding. Ari is live with this person, this person, or this person, and it’s going to give you a higher likelihood to let people from their feed, their audience, come jump on yours. This also applies to Facebook so if you’re still active on Facebook, which some of you are, I am quite a bit, you can have a group, you can invite people to lives. You can invite people to an event. The more that we expose ourselves, then the easier it is for people to, again, connect with us.
Lastly, there’s YouTube, which I happen to love because it’s the number two search engine in the world. Number one’s Google, number two is YouTube, so if you’re looking for a bigger exposure to specific topics that you can help people on, YouTube, I believe, is still a wonderful way to get large amounts of people viewing your work. We could go much deeper into YouTube and reels and Facebook lives on this one, but I’ll go into some of those more specific trainings on more videos ahead.
Lastly, there is still the real-time networking, speaking on stages, going to networking events, being in a room with people and you showing up as the expert, joining different kinds of organizations, being part of a tribe. I get clients often from being in other masterminds or speaking at events and there’s so many great ways to do that. If where you’re at doesn’t have a lot of in-person networking, find a digital one. I run a really great Facebook group and, just like me, there’s so many others so find your tribe online and that way you can support, you can be in front of them. Perhaps you put yourself out there and say, “Hey, can I lead a specific value based thing to your group?” Hint, “If you want to do that online, come and ask me.”
So many different ways to get visibility and, again, think why do you want to be visible? Why do you want people to know about you? Why do you want people to experience your magic? Well, it’s because the minute they do they’re going to feel better. They’re going to be supported. They’re going to look better. They’re going to have more excitement in their life or they’re going to have more understanding. Number two, visibility in your inbox. If you haven’t started collecting and increasing your email list, start today; meaning, how are we going to get more people to be subscribers for the weekly, bi-weekly, monthly newsletter that we send communicating with people.
At the end of the day, guys, visibility is just another connection strategy. Am I right? Because you’re not just being visible for silly things, you’re being visible sharing your knowledge. If we can show up on social media and we can then show up on people’s inbox, now we’re being visible two times, okay? In-boxes and email marketing is still very much alive, trust me. I subscribe to some of the world’s top marketers. I am in their … Trust me. I subscribe to some really high earners and who are some of the world’s top marketers, and you know where I see them? In my inbox.
Because, look, social media I have zero control over; if the algorithm is going to show you my reel, if my feed post of the day, if my live is going to show up, I have zero control over that unless I purposely tag you. The one thing I do have control over is if I’m in your inbox so I like to send one or two emails a week, and most of them are full of value. A lot of them are driving you from my inbox to my social media or to my YouTube channel where I’ve given you something of value, a training, a lesson, a tip, a tutorial, something that is going to make you be like, “Whoa, Ari knows her stuff. I like her.” Or maybe, guess what? You might also be like, “You know what? I don’t like her,” and you unsubscribe, which is better because then that way I have more people that are actually paying attention.
It’s all about quality, not so much about quantity, so social media and being in inboxes. Okay. Visibility strategy number three, ads, paid advertising. I know that ads are the white elephant in the room but they work. Why do I say that? Because if ads didn’t work then the top earners and top marketers out there, top business owners, wouldn’t be running Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Google ads. They would just be relying on these two strategies that we talked about, which are visibility on organic channels. What do ads do? They speed up the runway. You are paying to play, meaning you are no longer waiting for the algorithm. You are no longer taking a chance. You are inserting yourself into feeds, into searches, and into I’m wasting my day scrolling through Instagram. You know that’s you because that’s me too.
Investing money in a good ad strategy is so valuable because it’ll just speed up and you can expect different kinds of results. You can send people to a freebie, to an opt-in and grow your email list. We just talked about how important that is. You can also send people to a video where you’re teaching something so it’s a educational type post, which is going to help cross those know, like, and trust factors. Finally, you can also send them to a page where you’re asking them to invest either their time or their money, so ads have lots of different results, they have lots of different purposes. You just have to say, “Well, what is it that I want,” and then work backwards from that.
We have three top visibility strategies and, at the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves, “Why am I doing what I’m doing? Would people really benefit from having access to the information that I am so passionate about, and what is the quickest and funnest way for me to do it?” Right now, you’re probably focusing a lot of your attention in the organic, which is the Instagram or the Facebook so make sure to do the strategies, pick a platform and do it well because, at the end of the day, if you’re just tiptoeing on different platforms you’re never really maximizing, and if you’re just tiptoeing on different platforms you’re never really maximizing.
I can’t wait to see what you put out there. You can tag me on your social media so I’ll be happy to share, and remember to subscribe, share, like, follow, all the things, and I’ll see you in my next blog.
Welcome to the fast moving world of content marketing that maybe seems a bit out of your grasp sometimes. You might be wondering what this term is and why it matters to you? You’re in the right place with this article as I’ll break down why content marketing is one key tool that should be implemented in your client acquisition and retention process pretty much immediately.
Let’s go over why content is essential nowadays for business owners. First of all, the landscape of marketing and advertising has changed drastically over the last decade where more eyes are on cell phones vs TV’s and where social media apps sway our buying decisions. So it’s essential that businesses have a strong social media presence in order to connect to their potential and existing customers.
Technology is moving so fast and making it so easy to create right at your fingertips! But, which apps are the best? Which ones are easy to use if you’re not techy and which really do what you need at that moment? Especially if you’re creating content you’ll want apps and software that either save you time, money or a headache!
What is Content Marketing?
For many business owners, the best way to connect to their audience is through teaching, giving value and creating a trust bridge towards a purchase. This can be done through valuable content, whether it’s a longer video or a shorter reel, it helps create an affinity with your audience so when you release a product or a new service, they know you are a trusted source of information and problem solution.
By the Oxford dictionary the definition of content marketing is “a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.”
Why Is Content Marketing So Important?
If you want your company to thrive in today’s landscape and have a leading edge, you want to start some sort of content marketing strategies right away.
You can:
Increase your sales
Loyal customer base
Cost savings
Increased lifetime customer value
Content marketing helps your customer not feel like they’re being sold to, but instead be supported through their buying decision. No one wants to feel like they’re getting bombarded with “buy buy buy” as it pushes them away. It’s actually a brain function that moves people into safety and retreat mode and can kill a sale right away!
So what providing useful, valuable, interesting and compelling content does is helps to create a bond between your customer and your brand that helps disarm the run away mode and establish trust.
There’s a fine line between content and advertising that can confuse people. Content delivers value! Plain and simple. It could be informational value or even entertainment value. This is why Instagram reels and TikTok are the hits right now. Many companies combine the information and entertainment to teach while building that trust factor!
Basically one rule of thumb you can count on is to give away content that people would pay for, and the more you give, the more perceived value you get and the more like and trust factors you build.
Types of Content
Website: Your website can be a hub for where you can write blogs that are chock full of value. Your website should connect with the reader and provide opportunities to learn, understand and also connect. Remember, marketing is your chance to solve a problem that addresses a pain point to which you are the solution. Making your website be a content hub where your audience is heard and seen vs a ton of facts can be a perfect way to establish a better relationship. Also, when you’re focused on content you improve your SEO ratings!
YouTube: The world’s #2 search engine is a perfect place to show off what you know! Creating valuable content on YouTube consistently is a strategy as people go there to look for things they need to learn. It is also time consuming so make sure it’s something you want to start and continue doing. I teach people about content repurposing all the time, and usually I have them start with long form content (a longer video) which can be reused, chopped up and shared.
Social Media: Having a solid social media strategy can help a brand stand out in today’s landscape. The top social media platforms right now are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Pinterest. Having a solid plan to share your content on all of these platforms to reach a wider audience can help your visibility grow. Remember most people consume hours of social media daily!
Infographics: These are long form graphics that have valuable information. These can be carousels on an Instagram feed, a blog post on your website, or even a graphic on a YouTube video. These can include statistics, step by step, guides and a combination of all.
Podcasts: Did you know that According to The Infinite Dial 2021, US weekly podcast listeners averaged eight podcasts in the last week. Only 11% of US podcast listeners older than 12 listened to only one podcast in the last week. Most (21%) listened to about five, while 19% listened to anything from six to 10 podcasts per week. This is a great platform to get right into the ears of a receptive audience.
How to Start Content Marketing
Gary Vaynerchuk said something so valuable once that shifted how I create content “Don’t Create Content, Document Your Process!”
Creating new content all the time is exhausting and not really most time effective, so what you want to do is document your process as you work through projects, or do behind the scenes or even just explain the why behind what you do. Most importantly, content marketing helps you be seen and understood.
People want to connect with a person vs a brand and thus why brands such as Nike use spokespeople to showcase their products.
It might not feel natural to start making videos or showing up consistently on social media, but trust me once you create a strategy, get some coaching and start implementing, it will feel easier.
It’s also priming your potential customers to an easier purchase and almost crushing their objections before they get to the buy. It makes the runway shorter and why companies see a huge return on their marketing.
Essential Tools
In today’s landscape there are so many softwares and tools to help you stand out as a brand. These are my daily suggested essential tools that you need in order to create great content that can show you off as the expert, so you can help your potential clients get the results they’re in need of.
In this blog, you’re going to learn exactly what these tools are, how to use them, and why they help maximize your time so you don’t get sucked into tech land.
Tool #1: The Voice Memo App
You don’t have to be sitting in front of your computer if you have a great idea – you can whip out your phone! It’s free, it’s easy to use and it helps you capture moments when you’re not at the computer.
Any time you have thoughts that you haven’t had the chance to write down, grab the voice memo app and record exactly what it is.
If you received a download during meditation, or if you had a meaningful conversation that sparked an idea – don’t forget the value of this resource in your pocket.
The second way you can use your voice memo app is to get professional audio while you’re recording a video.
This is a little-known hack that can improve the audio quality of your videos and even help you to repurpose your content into a podcast! You can even record your next book as a dictation and then transcribe it.
The voice memo is a resource most people underestimate!
Tool #2: The InShot App
Use this app to edit your videos in a super easy way and on the go.
InShot has made editing videos for different platforms extremely easy. From cutting clips, trimming, editing sound, adding music, text and stickers and even making your own videos, this app is very handy and user friendly.
There’s many video editing apps out there, and I’ve tried several and InShot is still my favorite. It’s $14.99 per year, making it a low priced app that’s easy to use immediately.
It doesn’t do advanced editing techniques like splitting the screen or adding custom graphics, but you’ll edit a video in minutes.
Tool #3: Later
This is the app I use for scheduling on social media that saves me hours.
This helps you to not feel like you’re constantly in the hustle and bustle of social media, and you can feel at ease about your content for the week so you can focus on engaging with people on social media more.
Later is a leader in the industry for scheduling as they have been one of the initial softwares to do this type of work. It saves you a ton of time by pre scheduling your feed posts and stories. It also has an information full blog to help you navigate the ever changing landscape of social media.
Tool #4: Canva
This is hands-down the best tool for creating the graphics you need for your social media, branding materials, client materials, freebies, video editing, and so much more. Canva has the ability to make anyone a graphic designer.
With pre-made templates for just about anything, Canva helps you stand out as a brand in minutes. It has grown extensively as a graphic editing platform where you can even edit videos, create presentations, websites and printed materials. One of my favorite tools is the background remover which with one click allows you to position a photo anywhere on a canvas and create really dynamic graphics!
As a business owner, Canva can be one of the most useful tools in your deck and at a low price that ranges from $10-$14 a month, it really can’t be beat.
Tool #5: A CRM that brings it all together and helps you focus on sales!
Now that you know how to use tools to generate content, you can’t forget that you also need to find a provider for your landing page creation, email sending, and customer relationship management.
My tool of choice is HighLevel. With this system, I can build my landing pages, send emails, SMS messages, and even create pipelines for my potential leads all in one place from email marketing to building funnels and having a snapshot of client acquisition and your potential monthly revenue.
It’s one of the most robust tools out there that helps you organize your business, have stunning landing pages to help you sell your programs and services.
All in all, the tools you are using for your business mean nothing if you don’t have a strategy in place for executing on them in a thoughtful way. Make sure you have daily accountability towards your execution of your strategy so you can achieve meaningful goals for yourself and your business.
I’ve been marketing for years and once I began applying a strategic content marketing bringing clients in has never been more fun and makes me feel like I give in order to receive! Get started with your authentic marketing systems today!
First of all, I want to make you money. But overall, when you’re creating a website or a landing page or any sort of marketing material, the steps that we’ll learn today are going to be very useful for anything else that you create in the future, because we’re going to have certain concepts in mind and we can just rinse and repeat. I’m all about being efficient and effective.
#1 Must-Have: Clarity in your customer journey.
If the customer is confused, they’re not going to buy. They’re going to leave. They’re out. Peace.
People have the attention span of an ant, and the reason is your phone, your child, your distractions, all add up in life so we need things to be given to us quickly. I mean, we can order something from Amazon today and it will arrive in our house tomorrow or sometimes the same day. So we’re used to instant gratification. If that doesn’t happen on your website or on your landing page, a sales page for your product or program, then guess what? You’re toast.
It’s all about them. The client doesn’t want to really sit there and learn all about you, like read things that don’t pertain to them. There’s an emotional connection that needs to be made and I’m going to ask you, “What is the first thing that they see and feel?” Feel here is the magic word.
So if you’re speaking to them on that emotional level versus a logical level, then great. But if you’re not, ask yourself, “What can I change? How can I connect with them?” and this applies to you if you already have a website or a landing page or if you need to build one.
So what makes a customer stay? Let’s map their journey. We’re going to look at this from the bottom-up. If you were making it all about them, then we really need to understand who they are.
#2 Must-Have: Appeal to emotion in your copywriting.
Emotion sells, right? Psychology Today, which is a very renowned magazine and who’ve actually knocked on just one study, but several studies about purchasing behavior, “Studies show that positive emotions toward a brand have a far greater influence on consumer loyalty than trust and other judgments, which are based on a brand’s attributes.”
A brand’s attributes are the “why” behind its existence. We’re creating a culture that indoctrinates your customer into feeling seen, heard, and loved.
For example, I worked with my client Poppy and Libby, and we were creating a website for their retreat business. When I opened this website, guess what happened? It was like fact, fact, fact, fact, fact, fact, fact, fact. So we had to recreate the entire site, recreate the entire marketing approach so that it was more why centered and made it easy for people to engage with, and ultimately, purchase from.
#3 Must-Have: Highlight your strengths in your Call To Action.
So if we know our potential customer’s problem, which means we know our client inside and out, we know their pain points, we know where they’re hanging out and not just like on social media or Instagram… then ask yourself “what are they willing to share?”, and then use those exact words to try to back out a unique value proposition to you and your skillset.
It’s not enough to just ask for the sale – Is your call to action clear? How are you moving your customer from where they don’t want to be, to where they want to be? Is it easy to take the next step, or are they confused?
So this can relate to lots of different things, but mainly you want to know, “Am I helping my client take the desired action in easily identifiable ways?”
One thing I learned from one of my teachers when I was in college is when you’re designing your page or any sort of marketing material, you need the eye to jump.
Meaning, if I’m not reading, I need whatever my eye is jumping to, to make a complete sentence related to the problem that I have that I need solving.
So if you have these tiny headlines or if you have little words and you don’t have graphic elements or images that can also portray a message, then, again, you’ve potentially lost your client. So are they confused, are they lost, and is your map clear enough? Ask yourself that question.
Don’t be afraid to drive to the sale. Like sometimes we make it hard for people to buy from us, just make it easy. Sign up today. Get your product. Claim your offer. Have clear, concise call to actions. Drive the person to the sale.
Because once you make these shifts, you speak to them and help them overcome problems and objections. You create the flow of customer journey before you start, and you’re clear on the outcome of the action you want them to take, then you’re setting yourself up for success.
Today we’re going to discuss why a sales page is so important, and what the key pieces are to making sure you have the elements that can turn a viewer from interested into a client.
So people ask me all the time, “Ari, why do I need a sales page? Why can’t I just send people to my website?”
Well, let’s talk about the one main reason why you don’t want to just send people to your website – your website has a lot of exit strategies. Meaning menus, buttons, social media, all the things that could take a person from interested, engaged into “see you later”.
A sales page helps you to guide a potential through one goal, one offer, and one solution.
Now once you have a sales page, here are the main elements you need to get it to convert into sales!
Consistent branding, colors, mood and imagery.
Soft queues instead of really harsh and direct “buy this thing now” messaging
Sales copy that speaks to the heart instead of to the logical brain
Testimonials – share client love!
Add a video. Help people connect with you as a person, not a transaction.
And if this is your first time designing a sales page and you’re stuck, this is what I love to do with my clients. Drop a comment below and I’d be happy to answer your questions!
There are three essential tools that you need in order to create great content that can show you off as the expert, so you can help your potential clients get the results they’re in need of.
In this blog, you’re going to learn exactly what these tools are, how to use them, and why they help maximize your time so you don’t get sucked into tech land.
Tool #1: The Voice Memo App: You don’t have to be sitting in front of your computer if you have a great idea – you can whip out your phone!
Any time you have thoughts that you haven’t had the chance to write down, grab the voice memo app and record exactly what it is.
If you received a download during meditation, or if you had a meaningful conversation that sparked an idea – don’t forget the value of this resource in your pocket.
The second way you can use your voice memo app is to get professional audio while you’re recording a video.
This is a little-known hack that can improve the audio quality of your videos and even help you to repurpose your content into a podcast!
Tool #2: The InShot App: Use this app to edit your videos in a super easy way.
Not only is it quick, but it also has really cool features like stickers, filters and music.
Tool #3: Later: This is the app I use for scheduling on social media.
This helps you to not feel like you’re constantly in the hustle and bustle of social media, and you can feel at ease about your content for the week so you can focus on engaging with people on social media more.
Tool #4: Canva: This is hands-down the best tool for creating the graphics you need for your social media, branding materials, client materials, freebies, video editing, and so much more.
Tool #5: A CRM that brings is all together: Now that you know how to use tools to generate content, you can’t forget that you also need to find a provider for your landing page creation, email sending, and customer relationship management.
My tool of choice is HighLevel. With this system, I can build my landing pages, send emails, SMS messages, and even create pipelines for my potential leads all in one place.
All in all, the tools you are using for your business mean nothing if you don’t have a strategy in place for executing on them in a thoughtful way. Make sure you have daily accountability towards your execution of your strategy so you can achieve meaningful goals for yourself and your business.
What visibility ultimately is, is the ability to be seen or heard.
If you think about the different ways we can get visibility, they are vast options for achieving this online!
We have YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, Podcasts and SO much more that are completely free resources where you can share your brilliance.
All of these platforms are able to give us “reach” which is exposure to audiences from all around the world.
However, this is not always the fastest medium to forward with, but it is an essential first step if you’re just starting out.
Another way that we have potential to achieve visibility is through offline platforms! This can mean speaking engagements, networking and collaborating with other entrepreneurs in your area.
When you’re creating your strategy for getting more visibility, it’s important to have a dynamic strategy between the two (even if you’re a digital entrepreneur!). Remember, visibility is the art of being seen and heard for the purpose of getting more people to know what you do, why you do it, and how you get it done. So reach for this from all angles.
Because when more people know what we do more clearly, it creates opportunities for you to be recognized as a reputable source of reliable solutions. In other words, visibility helps you create credibility and trust.
To close this out, you need to understand the most important piece of all to get visibility…
Consistency.
It’s not enough to share one-off posts about your services, only send emails when you have something to sell, and not nurture the relationships of people who have already indicated that they are hot leads of your products and services.
You have to be visible consistently.
Visibility is a long-game, and if you’re looking for short-term gains, you’re going to exhaust your entire warm network of potential buyers and not have a business to run after a year.
My biggest advice to you is to get excited about creating content. When you’re aligned with your mission and purpose, you can’t wait to share your brilliance with the world! Find that place to create from, and I promise, it’ll feel easier than it ever has before. It’s simply a commitment.
Be credible, be seen and heard about what you’re so passionate about and start growing your business. One video, one audio, one real one post at a time.
There are four different layers when it comes to creating visibility strategies.
Layer #1: Let people know who you are, what you do.
Layer #2: Let people know how that relates to them and the way in which you are going to make their life a little bit easier, simpler and more successful.
Layer #3: Giving people free valuable content you’d like them to engage with.
Layer #4: Promoting your programs and products.
The beauty of having all four of this layers work together is that you take someone who doesn’t have an idea of who you are, show them what you to, let them know how you can help them, build trust through sharing your expertise, and ultimately give them the opportunity to get your solution to their problem by becoming a client.
Once you have this layer cake in place and working together, the next step is to develop a freebie so you can collect your follower’s emails in exchange for a free gift!
This free gift can be something like an ebook, training, downloadable template, planner, challenge, or even a quiz.
When we’re trying to be visible on social media, we have to keep in mind what it was invented for: connection.
The more visible you become, the more calls to actions you should share to invite people to take the next step with you. This could be inviting them to download your freebie to join your email list, asking them to join your Facebook group, sharing the opportunity to hop on the phone for a Discovery Call, or participating in an upcoming workshop or challenge.
By becoming more visible, you’re generating potential leads. Don’t underestimate how big this opportunity is for your business!
First how can you tell if you’re experiencing burnout let alone overcome burnout? I have struggled with this because of my action centered personality that usually pushes through bouts of “not feeling it”.
But let’s identify some real burnout style feelings:
