💀✉️ Is the age of email marketing dead?

Word on the street . . .

Is that your time for explosive list building that earns you ideal clients is far from over.

I'm here to share the good news: There is no better time to bring new leads into your offers via the power of email marketing than now. 🥳

What we do need to wave farewell to in this post-freebie-saturated era of online entrepreneurship:

👋💀 PDF Freebies. A simple guide or short checklist is no longer enough to entice your best-fit people.

👋💀 Generic value. A "12-steps every online entrepreneur needs to get organized" is too vague and unspecific to attract the most problem-aware leads in your audience.

What to do instead? Create a monetization strategy for your email list building efforts.

I don't want to see you waste one more minute of your precious CEO time pouring your energy into a freebie that doesn't convert (or one that converts . . . only to fill your subscriber list with quiet watchers who never actually convert to paying clients).

⭐ Your 4-Step List Building Monetization Strategy ⭐

It's time to explode your email list by creating a lead magnet (aka, "freebie") your ideal client can't wait to get her hands on.

💖 Solve one problem, and solve it completely.

Can your ideal client's entire health/business/spirituality/mindset/relationship/energy/fill-in-the-blank be fixed with a snap of your fingers?

Not unless you've got Hermione Granger magic hiding up that sleeve of yours. 🙃

Likewise, you know a single freebie won't solve the magnitude of problems your ideal client experiences in your area of expertise. Yet I see too many pros fall into the trap of thinking: "I'll just give them a getting-started taste of the solution. Then, they'll be so excited to implement, they'll work with me."

The error in this logic is overlooking the core of who your ideal client is.

Who is your ideal client? A hard worker. Someone ready to show up and put in the effort to see massive positive change.

When this dedicated ideal client gets her hands on the value-packed freebie you've created, she is determined to take action.

So determined that she will not progress into the next step of your funnel (ie: reach out to work with you or book a call) until she feels she has accomplished all the tasks you've already been kind enough to set on her plate.

If you've set the task ahead of her in grandiose terms, say, reorganizing her entire house or bringing intimacy back into her relationship, you are never going to hear from her. Why? Your hardworking girl is too busy grinding away with the freebie you've already given her!

Or, out of respect for your time and her own, she's tabled it to the graveyard of Desktop downloads she'll get to *someday* because she "really should give it her best effort" before reaching out to a pro like you.

Instead of saddling your ideal client with a diluted version of your expertise, choose one finite (measurable) change she could accomplish without you, and give her all the steps she needs to do so. Once this step is "checked off" her mental to-dos, she'll feel empowered and ready for the next step of working with you.

💖 Add perceived value with the "Rainbow Rule" of variety.

The "Rainbow Rule" was coined by the marketing geniuses behind Funnel Gorgeous, and refers to the concept of adding different forms of value to a single offer. 🌈

Before you toss out your 12-step PDF checklist, apply the Rainbow Rule. Could your people benefit from an accompanying . . .

✨Video Training?

✨Audio version?

✨Template / Swipe file / Done-for-you example?

✨Follow up email course / series?

Applying the Rainbow Rule is the fastest way to increase the perceived value (and, therefore, conversions) for your existing lead magnet. Forget starting from scratch, let's make what you've already created work even better.

💖 Choose a topic that attracts problem aware clients.

Feel like your marketing efforts have devolved into a never-ending struggle to "convince" your audience that they should work with you?

Then you're speaking to the wrong people. Or, to be more accurate, you're speaking to the right people at the wrong stage.

Instead of targeting the topic of your freebie to your unaware ideal clients (people who have no idea that they even need the solution you provide) ensure your freebie is specifically designed for those problem-aware and solution-aware people in your audience.

Let's look at example thought processes of unaware, problem-aware, and solution-aware clients in two industries:

Example #1: Mindset Coach

Unaware Ideal Clients: "What mindset struggles? I'm rocking my morning meditations - I'm set!

Problem Aware Ideal Clients: "I am so sick of feeling stuck / angry / sad / unsure. I wish I could just feel whole and happy again.

Solution Aware Ideal Clients: "I really need to work with an expert for help with these thoughts. I wonder how I'll pay for expert help, or make the time..."

Example #2: Bookkeeper

Unaware Ideal Clients: "I've got my DIY money spreadsheets, I'm set!"

Problem Aware Ideal Clients: "I feel like my business is drowning in money issues. If I have to try to figure out Quickbooks / spreadsheet / profit & loss statements one more time I'm going to up and quit."

Solution Aware Ideal Clients: "I really need help organizing my business finances. I wonder who I should work with, or how they'll handle cleaning up my diy-ed disaster . . ."

Consider whether your own lead magnet is addressing the issues of your unaware, problem-aware, or solution-aware ideal clients. The fastest conversions will come from those problem-aware and solution-aware people you entice into your funnel.

Brainstorm with the following questions to get you on the right path:

？What questions do my problem aware people have? What's keeping them up at night?

？What questions do my solution aware people have? What's keeping them up at night?

💖 Follow up with auto-detonating marketing.

If your strategic lead magnet is filling your list with problem-aware and solution-aware clients who are perfect fits for your offers, that's only half the battle.

If you do not have an automated Sales Nurture Sequence sending to your new subscribers, you're wasting all that effort you put into your lead magnet in the first place.

I'll be a forever fan of the Sales Nurture Email Sequence strategy because it:

🙌 Saves YOU time

🙌  Creates a personal connection with your audience members

🙌  Builds your authority as an expert in your industry

🙌  Increases brand familiarity so your people step from "subscribers" to fans

🙌  Creates conversion to your first step CTA (call to action) ⬅️ And gets you clients!

Cheers to your next client-attracting lead magnet. 🥂

Psstt...where do you send your leads once they click your email CTA? Hopefully to a kick-ass conversion creating website you're really proud of! Not quite there yet? Team SLD is just a click away. 💗