Why Content Marketing Works to Grow Your Business

Why Content Marketing Works to Grow Your Business

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. 

Click here to start your free trial to the best software out there!

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!

xox,

Arianne

3 Freebie Ideas To Grow Your Email List (Quicker!)

3 Freebie Ideas To Grow Your Email List (Quicker!)

 

You might’ve been wondering what are some great ways to not only grow your email list, but connect and show your expertise to your, to your audience, to your existing followers and new followers. And guess what? This can all be done with one simple tool called an opt-in page, or in other words, a freebie.

 

A freebie is a powerful tool that takes your audience off of social media, and onto your email list so you can engage with them regardless of what happens to social media platforms, and which can stand the test of time.

 

For example, two of my friends and clients, their Facebook got hacked the other day and they lost so many people from groups they had been building. And the first thing I asked them was, “Hey, have you been getting people onto your email list?”

 

Because the best thing about an email list is that it’s yours. It’s not owned by a third party and it’s not subject to a specific platform. Basically, all your eggs aren’t in one basket.

 

So imagine TikTok goes away and you lose a hundred thousand followers, or Instagram goes away and you can’t communicate with your 2,000 followers? How would you sell your products and services? What would happen to your business? It’s time to make business platform proof and also a place where you give your followers exclusive access to your content and offers… meaning, you’re not subject to an algorithm since they are willingly saying: “please have my email and I’ll see you in my inbox.”

And consider this… you’re giving people a valuable GIFT in exchange for their email! To me, this is a win win!

Another super important reason why having an email list is so clutch is because it actually serves as clout and is great when you’re ready to start running Facebook and Instagram Ads. 

Briefly I realized you also might have said… “Ari, who reads emails anymore? Everyone is on social media!”. I am here to tell you – I read emails, good emails that is. I buy stuff from those good emails I get sent and most of the time, I actually don’t see those people in my social media, which I spend quite a bit of time on (shame on me for not always working on my business!). 

We’ll get into email writing tactics on another blog post, but for now, let’s focus on growing your email because without at least 100 subscribers, creating lengthy and value rich email campaigns won’t be your best ROT (return on time!).

Now here are some freebie ideas to showcase your expertise and truly serve your audience the best way you know how!

 

Freebie 1: A Checklist

It could be a wellness checklist. It could be a diet checklist. It could be a lifestyle checklist. People love to know about themselves. And they love to know if they’re doing things right.

 

And remember, since you are the expert, you have all the knowledge. People want to get their sources from a trusted individual and you are that person.

 

A checklist can be easily created on Canva, or you can even start it in a word document!

 

So now, how do people get this checklist? Well, number one, you could simply ask people to DM you or leave a comment and then you DM them. 

You don’t need a whole opt-in page and a landing page, an email sequence, not in the beginning. I love to say, “how can I run my business on bare bones?“

Well, this is one of those ways you could just say, “Hey, whoever wants this checklist, DM me your email.”

Number two, if you are looking to start your digital marketing portfolio, then you’ll want a simple opt-in page where people can leave their name, email and a phone (optional), then get a very simple automated email sequence that delivers the freebie and follow up emails that help the prospective client to get to know you better and nurture the relationship. You’d use softwares like: Go High Level or Active Campaign which are my personal favorites.

 

Freebie 2: A Quiz

 

Do you guys remember when we had the Cosmo magazines or like 17 magazines? And there was always a quiz, like an astrology quiz or the love quiz, and you would take it and tallied up all your points. Then you read the results, super excited! This is the energy that we are building with our potential clients. We are creating excitement based on a quiz.

 

Like I said, people love to learn about themselves. I do too. I still take quizzes!!!

I recently created an awesome quiz with a client of mine called: “What are your love blocks?” And, so far, she’s been able to grow over 180 people onto her email list, just from organic social media from TikTok and Instagram in 2 weeks.

 

So what does it take to build a quiz? There are some softwares you can build them with like TryInteract and Typeform.

 

Now the cool part about the quizzes is that then you show up as the one who gives them the results. You create the results based on the questions that they answered. And it gives you a chance to show off again, your expertise and be able to really connect with that person and help them out and give them those initial suggestions on how to be a better lover, how to be healthier, how to sleep better, how to detox their bodies, etc.

 

Freebie 3: A How to Guide or Mistakes to Avoid

I love my really easy to follow guides that help me avoid blunders and that help me learn something. These guides can be PDF’s or even videos. To me, videos are quicker to make but this is not the case for all. Also, you have to know your audience well- will they consume a video or rather read… OMG you can maybe even do BOTH! 

We’ll talk about content repurposing later down the line.

But for real, a good guide that shows me the way to achieve a micro win and how to potentially not make some crazy mistakes is extremely valuable and honestly for you as the expert, might even be easy to make since you’ve worked with clients before and know how you’ve helped them avoid things and at the same time reach certain goals or milestones. 

So go back into your client rolodex and start putting together some good ideas!

Freebie 4: A Challenge

 

Now there’s paid challenges and there’s free challenges. Free challenges are a great way to indoctrinate and work with people. These could be prerecorded or these could be live.

 

When you look at a challenge because it’s a more of a time investment and it’s a longer build out of the project. And at the end of the challenge, you are selling a higher level offering or service. Whether it’s a physical product, an online course, coaching, retained services, or an experience – all of it can be sold in a challenge.

 

Think about the challenge as a very invested experience. It’s a wonderful way to generate leads and to have them experience a transformation over a series of days so that they get a result, they get quick wins and gives you the opportunity to really show up as the expert that you are and offer your services

 

Freebie 5: A Video Series

 

A video series creates education and solution-awareness. It could perhaps be three training videos, or a recording from a recent talk you gave. It’s very easy to reach out to your audience and say, “Hey, put your name and email here and get these three training videos to help you XYZ.”

 

I always tell people to give the transformation, the benefit of what’s going to happen when they watch these videos. And you could once again, let the videos come via email, or you give them access to a little online course or membership site, and they can experience the videos, maybe have a question or two that they answer and then see what the next steps are

 

Remember, it’s your responsibility and opportunity as the entrepreneur to keep the connections with your audience alive, strong, and really meaningful.

Here’s your call to action: what can you be doing to grow your email list? What are the steps you can take to create a meaningful relationship with your audience via their inbox?

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How To Make More Money As A Wellness Entrepreneur

How To Make More Money As A Wellness Entrepreneur

 

Today, we’re talking about something super important called offers and being a marketer. That’s right. Why is this so important? Because it’s the foundation of your entire business.

 

What ends up happening with a lot of us who are holistic entrepreneurs, yogis, and service providers is that we get so caught up in inconsistent one-on-one services or an occasional group, but not really having a stack of offers that work together strategically. I do want you to think about how you can get more clients with your time, but also while working smart.

 

As a business coach, I love to talk about offers, also known as offerings, because they are the foundation of you being able to show up as a credible expert, who gets paid well to do what they love to do all day every day.

 

The 2 steps to making more money as a wellness entrepreneur…

 

Step 1: Play to your strengths!

Ask yourself…

  1. Do you like to work one-on-one with people? 
  2. Do you like to be in group settings? 
  3. Do you like to speak in front of big crowds? 
  4. How do you like to show up? 

 

It’s important to determine how you like to work so that we can make sure you are comfortable, that you are going to shine, and that it is going to be fun for you. That’s it! 

 

So once we understand how you want to show up, now we can start creating your magical business layer cake!

 

Step 2: Examine all of the different revenue streams available to you

 

1. Trade Time For Money

 

Although a lot of people say that you shouldn’t trade time for money, this is still a fabulous way to generate an income. And it’s an essential part of every offer ladder.

 

Plus, guess what? As wellness entrepreneurs, I am guessing that you love to work with your clients. You love to interact with them. You love to treat them. Are you an acupuncturist, massage therapist, yoga teacher? There’s still such value in working one-on-one with clients or in a group setting. It’s okay to still trade time for money. 

 

What’s not okay is relying on that being your wealth strategy. One-on-one, small group classes, large classes, being a speaker. This is still trading time for money, and some are scalable, and some are not. 

 

So let’s go over the ones that are limited, and also the ones that you can also charge premium prices for. 

 

So, for example, if I want to get fit, or I want to get flexible quickly. Instead of going to group classes or going to the gym on my own, I might hire a private teacher that way we can address my needs, my concerns, and my body. That’s going to cost me money. If I hire a trainer, if I hire a private teacher, I’m going to pay premium because it’s 100% of their attention on me. 

 

So when you are positioning yourself as a one-on-one teacher, please make sure you charge accordingly. 

 

Now, this is going to vary on your town, your city, your state, your country. Every time I’ve gone to Peru to teach whether it was yoga or Acro Yoga, or even Thai massage. I had to lower my prices a little bit because the currency there is very different, and I wanted to be of service for the people. 

 

What I would charge here in Miami, where prices are a little bit higher, we have premium rates I wouldn’t do down there. So be smart about where you are and how you create your prices. 

Next, determine how much value you’re delivering to decide on your price. This makes sure that your one-on-one prices can become up-leveled, and make it easier to charge a premium because you’re delivering more value. 

 

Maybe your one-on-one work comes with a membership to your online yoga studio, or essential oils, a beautiful treatment, a tote bag, something that is going to allow you to raise your prices a little bit without also feeling icky because I know we’re of service and I don’t want to ever make you not feel like you’re showing up fully as a holistic entrepreneur. 

 

So that summarizes one-on-one work. Pros? You give 120% of your attention on your client. Cons? There’s only one of you, which makes it very limiting. Typically, you could only take five clients a day.

 

2. Group Classes

 

I love group classes! I love people. I’m a group person. If you could just hug me. That’d be great. Why? Because I feed off people’s energy. So for me, group classes is one of my favorite ways of working. Now, pro. Lots of people, lots and lots and lots of people can mean lots and lots and lots of money.

 

But depending on the situation, for example, when I used to own my yoga studio, yes, there was be lots and lots of people for my teachers, but their pay rate was not all the money. Why? Because the model of being an employee isn’t the most fruitful. 

 

Now, if you’re going to do group classes, always get people onto your email list and always, always, always have an upsell. 

 

Cons of group classes is that obviously, you’re not giving 100% of your attention to one person. So maybe people won’t feel that 100% focus on them. But if you’re a good instructor or you’re a good service provider, guess what? You can still have great outcome. 

 

In my yoga conferences, the Global Yoga Conference, and my Yoga Expo, sometimes the teacher teaches to a hundred people. Obviously, there’s no way to personalize that, but there’s still a great way to cue, message, give information that can serve somebody at each part of their experience, their practice, or their journey. 

 

But again, be sure to always have an upsell and always show up as inclusive as possible.

 

3. Small Group Private

 

Why do I love this one? Because it has a blend. You can still charge a high amount, and provide your clients the attention they need, but the difference is that it is scalable. 

 

For example, I run two types of consulting and coaching. I do one-on-one work, and I do group work. 

 

Now, when you’re doing group work, this means you have scalability. You are you to many. It’s going to give you a lot of potential, not only to connect but to also make great change. You can have a deep impact on people because you’re solving lots of problems, and there’s also a sense of comradery and union that gets formed for your members

 

4. Info Products

 

This is where your knowledge is shared to many people. So now this becomes a product consumed by groups of people. This is where the most scalability and leverage lies. 

 

I get this done through my online courses where people are consuming the material in a way that doesn’t take any additional time. When you create an online course, you complete it once and don’t have to add more work as more people join. There’s so much maximization potential.

 

So think about you positioning yourself out there in these four different ways so that you have a variety. You want to be able to help people in different ways so that you’re also supporting yourself, your self-care, connection to others, and your bottom line, which is your revenue.

 

Pick the one that’s going to give you the most money right away. Why? Because if you’re looking to grow your financial side of your business, then pick the one that gives you the highest revenue. That might not be your one-on-one. That might be a group. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean teaching classes for low amounts of money. It could be a program. It could be a retreat. It could be a training. Now, this is what I love to teach! The potential to have scalable business through a group setting with also a nice price point. Teacher trainings, retreats, transformative programs, or group plus one-on-one. These all can have price points of a thousand and up. And it’s the best way to change your financial outcome without needing a ton of people. 

 

If we look at the concept of pricing, we’ve got to see that if you’re like a Ferrari, or you’re a Louboutin, Louis Vuitton. You don’t need to sell a lot. You might only need five clients a month to double your income. 

 

Now, if you need a ton of people to meet your baseline. It might take longer. When you’re creating your products, have a variety and think of it like a menu. When you go to a restaurant, there are lots of things for you to choose from. And in the middle part of the menu is going to be chefs’ choices. So I want you to make your chefs’ choices for the day and see what product you want to promote. What do you want to create that makes sense for you? And you probably want to start at a higher price point.

 

So what can you put out there that’s worth $200 to $1,000? Is it a certification that’s specific?

 

For example, chair yoga or Reiki atunement. Maybe it’s a modality of massage. Again, this is where you also start showing up as an expert. So your confidence level, your credibility, your professionalism gets to shine through even more. 

 

The last thing that’s really important is that I want you to do a goal. How much money do you want to make a month? So let’s say it’s about $5,000. Maybe it’s $10,000. If you are trying to fill your calendar with 40, $50 an hour average, you’re going to need a lot of those hours. But if you can do a few that are $30, $40, $50 an hour, and a few that are $200 an hour. 

 

Now you also want to make sure that when you’re creating your menu of services, that as you figure out what your monthly revenue goal is that we create the price points accordingly.

 

And then all we have to do is fill in the amount of students that we need per thing. 

 

So let’s say you’re leading a certification. You are an amazing massage therapist, like my husband, and specialize in lower back. And you’re going to lead a certification training or give educational credits. Now, perhaps you do a one-day seminar. You charged $85 per person, and you get 10 people. That’s an $850 a day. Pretty cool, right? 

 

Or let’s say that you are a yoga teacher and you have your E-RYT 500. You can give workshops and you do a weekend that is for yoga teachers, all about adjustments, cueing, how to become a better teacher. And you charge $250 for this because it’s only a couple hours a day. 20 people, you’ve got a $4,000 weekend. 

 

So start looking at the possibilities of growing your offerings in a way that feels good to you, to where you’re at in your career. So when you’re doing your menu of services, see where you show up. Are you showing up as a credible professional that can give more value? Are you using your knowledge and turning it into a product? 

 

Are you creating opportunities for people to really get an immersive learning experience from you, maybe through a retreat? 

 

So this is your opportunity to shine in the way that you create your offers that match your goals, that provide the results. At the end of the day, we want everyone to look good, to feel good, and to be good. I’m so excited to see what you put out there! 

 

Drop a comment below if you have any questions, and please share if you think somebody can benefit from this blog.

 


 

How to Create A Holistic Marketing Strategy

Do you consider yourself a marketer? And if not, why? 

 

Marketing stems from confidence and HeartSpace. And I want to highlight how important marketing is in order to have a successful business. 

 

Traditional marketing is tied to sales. The both co-exist, and still do in holistic marketing. But what holistic marketers different from traditional marketers is the magic that happens when they decide to be one with their audience. Holistic marketing is about focusing on where you can give your audience value and providing an essence of support that speaks their language. 

 

One thing that I’ve been focusing on more is seeing how can I provide my audience, not just value, but not making them feel like they’re not complete already. How do we elevate the audience in a way that your service or your product will be an add on to their already existing, and thriving abundance? 

 

I always get a hot seat moments when I sit down with my coach. And he gave me the best way to create a really engaged community: to inspire them to join a movement, to be part of a mission, to be part of a greater vision. And this is the most effective form of marketing – it just so happens to also be holistic!

 

So in your own marketing, hunker down on your mission, and solidify with the movement that you want to create with your services or products. 

 

For example, if you sell yoga clothes. Do you think that you can create a movement where people are more aligned and more in line with the why behind your products? 

 

  • A percentage of profits are donated to a specific cause.
  • Sourcing your materials from a local community you support.
  • Practicing eco-friendly and sustainable business operations.

 

So every piece of your marketing has to have a bigger purpose to it – it really has to nothing to do with the right words.

 

If you think of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Purpose is ranked as the #1 priority. Second to purpose is wants, and finally we have needs. The main idea is that once we work downwards from purpose into desires, then what do you think happens? We now have a purpose-driven business. 

 

So if your business has a movement that people can connect with, your marketing will be so much more effective. It emanates authenticity, and comes from a place of heart. It comes from a place of, of abundance versus from a place of needs and scarcity.

 

And then you’ll be able to serve a bigger purpose, and have a greater impact on the world. And people want to align to that.

 

Look at so many companies out there, like, let’s say Nike with Colin Kaepernick. “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything,” Kaepernick says in the ad campaign. People really rallied to that – especially young people. Gillette also had a whole campaign around the “me too” movement. People really rally for a good cause, or they rally against them. Now this really brings in light. You know, what team are you on? 

 

I recently heard a successful fitness coach say at a conference, “Give your tribe their cause.” Once you give your tribe their cause, they will be so much more in alignment to how you do things, and will support you through your programs and events and practices.

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Why You and Your Biz Are Like Happy Eggs

happy eggs

Why are you and your biz like happy eggs?

This might sound like a strange title I know.

Well, I’m an egg snob and if my eggs don’t have bright orange yolks, I’m not eating them. It actually reminds me of an episode of Portlandia where they went out to eat and asked the waiter if the chicken they ordered was organic. If it was free range. If it had lots of sunlight. What it’s name was and if it had friends. (Pretty funny episode if you ask me).

Well, I’m the same with my products and things I invest it. I only want top notch food for my family and myself and rather spend a couple extra dollars on that knowing I’m also supporting small farmers in the process.

I do the same with my water, my clothes and anything else I spend my money on. Quality always beats quantity and knowing there’s good energy behind it is even more important!

Why is this blog then about Happy Eggs when I’m a business coach?

VALUE. Plain and simple. Your value and how you price yourself to be more exact.

Did you know most holistic entrepreneurs have a tendency to underprice themselves by 10-15%?

In this (our) industry there is a stigma around money and asking for your worth. In my book, The Abundant Yogi I talk about this exact thing in more detail, but to get an idea we have been used to providing discounts and lowering our rates due to covid almost instantly.

happy eggs

Why lowering your rates is a bad idea

First of all let’s talk about perceived value and what it means in the world of commerce. When something FEELS more expensive and is presented that way, you automatically get the essence that it’s more valuable.

Think Happy Eggs vs plain old eggs. Simply the packaging and the promise was good enough to charge $1 more than regular eggs, and if you’ve ever heard my presentation about pricing then you know $1 based on a volume based business can turn into $$$$$$!!!

Now do some quick math for yourself – if you lower your rates or on the flip side don’t raise your prices (ever!), you’re basically digging a hole for yourself that will be harder to dig out of. For example, it’s easier to give someone a discount vs raising your price right?

Let’s say I’m an acupuncturist and my rates have been $100 a session for the last 3 years and then because of covid I dropped them by $10, it’s going to be harder to raise my price back to $100 since now people think my rates are $90. Instead what I could’ve done, is given a 10% off and kept my prices the same.

On another note I’ve seen plenty of businesses raise their prices in the last 6 months or add a covid tax of 99 cents!

So STOP lowering your value and your prices.

What does this all mean for you as a Happy Egg?

You want to create a value 3 ways.

  1. Your experience, wisdom and time. You want to make sure you show that you’re the best at what you do and price according to all the trainings and experience you have under your belt.
  2. The perceived value of your brand and message. Yup.
    You want to show up as a professional and deliver that initial VA VA VOOM feeling when someone opens your website, your social media or anything outward facing.
  3. Making sure your offerings have that added value that goes beyond time. For example, my client Chloe did a 3 week breath course and charged more because she created an irresistible value stack that really (not pretend like many people do) gave over $150 worth of products and services.

Can I side note for a second? This is why ALL my clients create some sort of an online product that can be sold as a stand alone OR can be added as a BONUS on their programs!!!

 

Why should you apply this info right now?

2021 is your year to create and radiate. It’s vital the offerings you create and put out there show off your bad-assery. You deserve to make back all the money you’ve spent in growing your knowledge and wisdom and your diligent service to help others heal and feel better.

Go over your pricing and get it out there with pride and knowing fully you will deliver 110% of what people pay for. And if you haven’t gotten a chance to get your business planning 15 minute discover call – let’s do it!! 2021 waits for no one.

www.calendly.com/ariom/discover

Hugs + Love,

Arianne

Yoga Retreat Mania!

Yoga Retreat Mania!

Yoga retreat mania has hit the yoga scene like an avalanche! And let me tell you why I think this is a great thing… but a double-edged sword.

First of all, I love yoga retreats. I have led them for close to a decade and they never cease to impress me with the quality of amazing people who come together. Retreats are a way for you, the teacher, to affect your students in a much bigger way and in usually gorgeous locations. They also provide a bigger income but before setting anything up please take the time to assess where you are in your practice as a teacher and leader. I suggest you do some soul searching as I don’t want you to set up a retreat and it not meet your expectations.

Yoga retreats gone wrong…

Not only is taking people on an adventure a huge responsibility but the planning process, if not done correctly, can leave gaps in your retreat that could possibly make your life challenging.

I not only have heard of disasters when planning the retreat but also during. This leaves a really bad taste in your participant’s minds and can sour your reputation, to say the least.

Let’s go through a laundry list of things you will need before you even get there:

  1. Where & When
  2. Retreat title & theme (purpose)
  3. Style of retreat (training or fun)
  4. Who do you want to have on the retreat?
  5. How many participants do you want?
  6. Solo or co-taught?
  7. Why would people come (benefits & outcomes)
  8. Landing page
  9. Pricing
  10. Sales strategy
  11. Location (securing the venue)
  12. Marketing

I go into it much deeper in THIS ARTICLE

The Bright Side

Don’t worry! I know that seems like a LOT but the payoff is so sweet. This is why having a plan and a guide is so important as it will allow you to get to your destination happy. Here is one super important tip you want to always be conscious of- don’t book out an entire center without having some for sure YES clients first. This means you had conversations with people, you did your legwork, you even took deposits. YES you took deposits even before sending deposits to the center. I have done this in my last 2 retreats and worked amazingly. Have the right conversations with possible locations and ask them to hold the dates for you at no charge or maybe a small fee while you get your people.

Apart from this, your mental capacity for planning should be in for the big vision. Let’s say you project a $3500 profit from having 7 people attend the retreat for 5 days. Is this what you would make normally in 5 days doing your classes and possible side gig? If it isn’t, then, create time to plan and get all your ducks in a row. Having this foresight to larger income will put things into perspective nicely.

Is leading a yoga retreat right for me?

Here is where I can’t tell you yes or no, but I can definitely give you more insight into qualities of a leader. If you connect to some of these, then most likely you are on your way. Another thing is having enough material to offer during your retreat (and remember it’s not enough to just teach a couple classes a day… this is mediocre). Lead people to an experience. Help them uncover or re-discover something (your specialty). Have the boldness of stepping into your leadership and guiding from the heart with the full knowledge that you are there to serve on many levels.

Qualities of a leader:

  1. Honest
  2. Vulnerable
  3. Authentic
  4. Flexible
  5. Resourceful
  6. Deep listening
  7. Creative
  8. Supportive
  9. Intelligent
  10. Ability to delegate
  11. Big vision
  12. Caring
  13. Kind
  14. Fun
  15. Speaks the unspoken

End result

Not only will you feel happy you planned correctly and took the right steps, but your retreat will be smooth sailing. I really can’t stress enough people who are leading retreats want to offer the best experience with quality teaching, special attention to details, good communication and extreme awareness to your students needs (the spoken and unspoken). The more retreats there are, the bigger reason why you should be the BEST and most special one. Doing that will help you rise above, cut through the clutter and feel authentic that you are giving the best of you.

 

My newsletter and open rates… why do I need to know?

Newsletter hell.

Have you asked yourself this question before? Are you stuck trying to see what cool stuff you send in your newsletter? I know. I have been there. I have been naughty and not sent my newsletter because I had no idea what to send! You know I had a studio for a long time and we had to send weekly newsletters with all the cool stuff going on – arm balance class, workshop, teacher training. BUY! BUY! BUY!

All we wanted to do was sell events and get people interested. Guess what, at some point the newsletter consisted of the same shit every week because we either didn’t have that many events or they were in advance so we needed to send something right?

So annoying.

Yes, this is exactly what it turned into. An annoying task with absolutely no excitement other than maybe making a cool little artwork for the newsletter event. Woohoo. What started happening is that our open rates were low. People weren’t clicking or signing up. People would come to the events, yes of course, but because of the of the interaction at the studio or at the front desk. So few would pre-register making it even more stressful and honestly annoying.

What changed???

I had a vague idea of email marketing a few years back. I knew we needed to collect emails and then send newsletters. That was about it. NOT what I know now. Have you ever said to yourself “If I knew then what I know now…” Well let’s focus on what I know now, vs, what I knew then since it wasn’t that useful.

After taking many courses on marketing and rubbing elbows with some pretty intelligent and successful people, I realized everything I was doing was moving people away from clicking open. Because they were constantly getting yelled at with sign up, events, retreat and nothing else, they had no motivation. No bait as some say.

They were bored of not getting value.

I use this word value like the elephant in the room. It’s huge, it’s sitting there, but we ignore it. Poor elephant. I was scared of giving people FREE information in my newsletters! I just wanted to them sign up for the arm balance workshop, so why would giving them a video about arm balance be beneficial.

The hook.

That arm balance video was my free teaser. Was my lure to get them hooked. VALUE. I offered a video tip on how to get into crow but I didn’t give them a 2 hour long workshop in the email. What it did was spark the interest of the reader to want to learn more, easier and more efficient ways to do arm balances. Do you get it? Yup. This was the magic touch. Tease them with valuable info that they can take with them on their journey. Maybe you are really excited about offering a tantra workshop- well write a really cool article with awesome information about tantra. You aren’t giving away the whole pie. You are only giving them valuable tips to show you are a credible source to make them say, “WOW, that was amazing and I learned so much I want more!!!”

You get it?

Well, this is your time to turn around these email campaigns and get some interaction! Instead of little opens, I get replies from people saying thanks so much, that was exactly what I needed and more! It feels so good to know I can help via one video, audio or blog post.

Try it out!

On your next newsletter try it out and see what happens. Get some catchy titles, get creative, add your voice in the writing so it feels authentic and powerful. And guess what? You don’t always need to sell something!!! So cool right? Give and you might receive, but give anyways. As a yogi hearted business minded human you know it feels right to give from the heart… and even better your clients will feel it too.

Namaste!