Marketing To Crush Your Competitors: Online Business - Marketing Strategies - Fabienne Raphaël

This week, meet Cynthia Johnson.

Cynthia has a very interesting story and background, plus, a very busy agenda.

She deals with a lot of responsibilities and is master at managing each of them.

Here is how she does it:

• Schedule,
• Calendar,
• Content Development,
• Content Repurposing (which is something that so many people forget to do!)

Then, we talk about a strategy that many business owners use to build their brand.

Being a contributor to a major publication.

Have you ever done it?

From her experience, Cynthia advises to first have an expertise and second, find useful content to share. Here is what she thinks about it:

"I feel that sometimes people want to write for publications before they know what they want to write about, and it's really important to first figure out what and why you're writing somewhere."

After that, we dive into building social media presence.

• Having a tribe.
• Contribute and help other people.
• Have conversations.

Remember that those conversations are often inspiration for your content creation.

And the goal about social media is not to become famous. It's to get your message across.

So when you understand that, there is a lot of pressure off your shoulders!

Along with these social media conversations, make sure to add some live streaming.

And the more you add a human element in these live streamings, the more you have chances for them to go viral, to create results beyond expectations.

The moral of the story here is that sometimes, we tend to overcomplicate things. But we shouldn't.

What's the number one element to consider when building your brand, tribe, & business?

Help People by Starting a Conversation.

Period.

Ways to connect with Cynthia

[email protected]

Twitter: @cynthialive

Snapchat: @Cyninla

This week, I made a special episode, just for you.

I am back from 2 live events where I was speaking: Agents of Change Conference in Portland, Maine & Biz Buzz Social Media Conference in Syracuse, New York.

On the first one, I had a workshop on "Small Business Champion Tactics: Connect with Influencers to Boost your Awareness and Expand your Reach"

On the second one, I was a featured expert for the panel on "Influence & Authenticity".

It made me reflect a lot of how crucial attending these events is.

Either if you are starting your business, nor when you are established.

I go through 7 Reasons why you should definitely attend live events.

Now, tell me, what event will you attend next?

Ways to Connect with me:

Join my FREE Community: Connect, Build, Automate

This week, my guest is Amada Goldman-Petri.

And we talk about something that could be contra-intuitive for a lot of people.

The majority of us were brought up to believe that in order to get something in life, you have to work hard and to hustle. All the time. Night and day.

As if there was no other recipe to success, to goal achievement, to happiness…

Amanda has declared the war against hustle!

Seriously.

She shares her own story and how her mindset shifted about hustling.

She also advises you how you can start getting rid of the "hustling" thing.

In life :

• Start by saying no to certain things: when was the last time you said no to someone or to something that is not on top of your list? Saying no to certain things is definitely a sign that you focus on your priority.
• Let go of some stuff: are you still thinking that you should do it all yourself? Delegating could be a great thing to start doing!

In business:

• Think about leveraging: for example, instead of doing one on one, can you group these people and teach one time, but for 20, 50, 100 people?
• Automate the maximum of things that you can

Amanda also shares how she was able to monetize her community on Facebook.

Here was her plan (could be worth it for you to try it!)

• First, she spent 30 days building her list and inviting people to join her group.
• Then, she decided to share solid value for 30 to 60 days, without putting any offer in front of them.
• At the end of the 30-60 days period, she made a 2000$ offer and 55 people bought.

Here are the lessons of this episode:

• Prioritize
• Plan
• Leverage
• Automate
• Execute

Way to connect with Amanda:

www.marketlikeanerd.com

Name of guest: Courtney Daniel

When I was a little girl, my cousin Daphney and I would correspond via mail.

Sending ourselves letters. Secret letters. With special coding. So only both of us would understand the message.

We called our system the Messenger Cousins.

I was 9 years-old.

We still talk about this today and are amazed about how we were patiently writing these coded letters. We also took extremely good care of sending them on nice paper. Always.

Why Handwritten Letters?

I tell you that story because my guest this week is a personal correspondence liaison. She specializes in sending handwritten letters, cards, and correspondence to create lifelong memories.

Courtney is fighting against the posts, the tweets, the text messages or the pictures that are sent quickly on social media. The communication changed through the years…

But even if it did, people are still very excited about getting a handwritten letter, which is more likely to get opened as opposed to something with your typed name on it.

As Courtney says:

"It is more meaningful to sit down and express, in that moment, how someone felt and then for the recipient to get it. They are going to hold onto that for a long time!"

Courtney's business and interview might also be a reminder for you to include direct mail into your marketing strategies.

There is way less competition when you send direct mail then there is in people's inbox!

So could you imagine how much more your message will be read and considered, if it's right on target with what the person receiving it is looking for?

Think about it.

And by the way, if you are grateful for someone being in your life today, send that person a personalized card or letter. The impact on your relationship with that person will be huge!

Enjoy the interview!

Ways to connect with Courtney:

www.cdanieldesigns.com

Facebook & Instagram: @cdanieldesigns

People's number one fear is public speaking.

Are you scared by it too?

This week, I interview Grant Baldwin, and we share the same passion: speaking.

And for both of us, it's definitely not our number 1 fear!

This interview will relate with you a lot if you want to embrace the speaking career, if you don't know where to start or how to do it the right way.

One of the first things we discuss is if a beginner speaker should be paid on his first speech and if speaking for free is worth it or not.

You will be surprised, because both options are possible and both options can end up being very profitable.

We also discuss one of the biggest mistakes that speakers do and it is not to have a plan for their presentation: if someone is sitting in your audience and want to know more about you or the topic you just talked about, what should he do?

Each and every person in your audience will always have these 2 questions in mind after your speech:

• So what?
• Now what?

And you better have an answer for them!

Making your presentation memorable is not enough; you also want to keep providing a solution to your audience after they hear you speak, so they can stay loyal to you and your brand.

And in order to reinforce your bond with your audience, using personal stories is the key.

I'm telling you, you'll get enormous value listening to this interview.

Enjoy!

Ways to connect with Grant:

http://thespeakerlab.com/

Name of Guest: Olivia Charlet

Olivia has a unique background.

You know how online entrepreneurs aim for the location independence lifestyle? Well, Olivia had that type of experience growing up, living in several countries.

And it felt amazing for her.

For some people, traveling abroad might feel scary, or giving the impression that you are losing ground… But in fact, Olivia explains that the "ground" at that time was her family. They were pretty tight, and that is where she felt her security was.

Meeting so many different people and having to adapt to different societies and countries, Olivia became very good at quickly "sizing" people and knowing right away if they are a good fit for her.

And in business, especially in online business, you need that sense of recognizing if a potential client has all the criteria to become your actual client.

Then, we dive into a huge mistake that online entrepreneurs do when they begin: they want to please everyone…

So let's go with a step-by-step in order to find clarity.

• Look at when are the times whereby you are most in flow, when things come naturally to you, where hours roll by and it feels lke it's been minutes, where people tell you: how do you do that so naturally and easily?

• Ask a couple of friends, ex-colleagues, colleagues or parents to list what you are incredible at and own it.

Another struggle that online entrepreneurs have is that they find it hard to stand out online.

And what we discuss is how it is crucial to be in total alignment with your message, being fully unleashed and speaking from the heart, sharing the truty, talking about what you believe in and what you stand for.

In other words, you have to be willing to share the real you, the vulnerable you and that's how you will attract more people to you.

Then, of course, try to find out what your audience wants and give it to them!

And here is one last thing:

Nowadays, compared to a few years ago, people also want to know about you as a person, not only as a business owner. They want to get in touch with your human side too. Be opened to share it with them.

And using live streaming, either if it's Facebook live, Periscope or Snapchat, is an incredible way to deepen that bond with your audience.

A great interview!

Ways to connect with Olivia:

www.oliviacharlet.com

Facebook group:

Dare to Dream with Olivia Charlet

Name of guest: Charm Fernandez

In this episode, Charm and I start the conversation with a big mistake that she did when she was still in the startup phase of her business.

Her website was hacked and she did not host it with a very reputable company.

Since she was helping people with their websites and recommending that company at the time, she realized that she had to up her game and standards, so she would show the right example to her clientele and ensure them website security with another hosting company.

That was a great reminder that as online business owners, we absolutely have to be congruent about what we say and what we actually do!

And since we are talking about websites, Charm states the only rule to apply in order to transform your website into a high-client magnet machine:

Taking your potential clients to a path!

Don't leave them hanging.

Falling on your website and leaving without any call to action.

In extension to call to action, we specifically talk about where you should put your opt-in boxes.

Meaning a place on your webpage, where people can enter their email address and get something of value for free.

But then, if we go back to the only rule to respect, it's important to have a path for that new subscriber of yours who definitely want to know more about you and how to fix his/her problems.

Charm goes also into mentioning the crucial tool to install on your website in order to get input on where people click, what they are most attracted on, etc.

Then, the last subject we dive into is membership sites.

Here are some questions that get answers:

Should you transform your online business into a membership sites?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of them?
• How to craft your membership site?
• What about the content of your membership site?

Lots of value.

Specific and precise actions to take.

Tremendous amount of help, especially if you are in the startup phase.

Success is Predictable.

That is Dr Jeff's Spencer's premise.

And he can prove that he's right about it.

It's a question of applying what he calls the Champion's Blueprint Model: the outcome of very specific actions consistently applied, and most of the problems that people find themselves, and they are 100% preventable.

It's also a state of mind.

Having the right skills, technique and mindset to achieve the goals that you fixed.

It's about your state of readiness to go through that road.

3 Questions to Ask yourself Before Formulating your Goals

When you formulate your goals, here are 3 questions you should ask yourself:

• Are you pursuing the right goal?
• Are you ready to responsibly pursue this goal?
• Do you know how to achieve goals?

Most of the time, people don't achieve their goals because they were not ready to face the challenges along the way.

Then What?

Now that you have formulated your goal, here are the questions you should ask yourself before going forward with pursuing a goal:

• What's my goal?
• What's the impact on my life if I achieve that goal?
• Do I have the mindset to pursue this goal?

This interview with Jeff made me go back to my journal, and answer all these questions.

And I invite you to do the same exercise. It will definitely deepen your commitment to reaching these goals that you have.

And help you become a high achiever.

Ways to Connect with Jeff:

www.drjeffspencer.com

Name of guest: Sarah Kaler

This week, I have a pleasant conversation with Sarah Kaler. She is a leadership coach & business consultant.

And as probably some or many of you, she started her entrepreneurial journey accidentally.

She was good in her corporate job, but she was also surrounded with so many brilliant entrepreneurs.

At a certain point, she decided to start her own business part-time. And she was eventually able to make it grow to her full time income.

Entrepreneurship is no Easy Road

You all know that the road of the typical entrepreneur is not a straight line.

There are bumps.

There are challenges.

There are setbacks.

There are opportunities missed.

But there are also health issues sometimes.

Which is what Sarah faced along the way.

There are 2 ways of reacting to it when it happens.

• Either you let it weaken you.
• Or either you let it strengthen you.

Sarah chose the hard way, but it eventually paid off!

She went through a major lifestyle makeover and finally got to experience balance and success in her life, with the mantra "Less is More" always in mind.

Finally, we end our discussion with a few thoughts on Kevin O'Leary's quote about women in business:

"Women made better CEOs, and all things being equal, given the choice between a woman and a man, I would pick the woman every time."

Listen in and share your thoughts in the comments box.

Name of guest : Laura Allen

Laura is called « The Pitch Girl ». Not that she knows how to pitch a ball (well actually she might), but she's an expert at helping individuals create a better pitch that they can say in just 15 seconds.

What you are doing as an entrepreneur is most of the time related to what you were strong at as a kid, or what you were truly passionate about, or what you were skilled at.

And asking Laura about that, I found out that as a kid, her persuasion skills were already above average.

Entrepreneurship is also about thinking outside of the box and being different than the majority.

Laura said that she was the "weird girl", that she felt like she did not "fit in". She just wanted to do her own thing.

Then, we go on about the pitch.

• How at networking events, people are not prepared for it.
• How sometimes, their pitch is way too long.
• How it is crucial to learn it, so you can nail it when needed.

She created a formula to help entrepreneurs get their best pitch.

4 Steps for your Best Pitch

1. Say your name
2. Say what you do
3. Say why you are the best at what you do
4. Give a call to action

She insists on specificity, so people quickly get what you do.

Remember that a person might meet several others that do the same thing as you do.

The moral of the story is this:

You must stand out with your pitch.

Ways to connect with Laura:

http://www.thepitchgirl.com/

on Twitter: @15SecondPitch