5 Tips for Being a Better Listener for Your Coaching Clients

If you’re a coach, you better be a good listener. You need to hear what your clients say; no daydreaming allowed. Yes, you need to have expertise to help them work through their problems or to improve their mindset, but you won’t know which advice to offer if you don’t listen carefully.

In today’s busy world, however, it’s very easy to get distracted, which doesn’t bode well when you’re trying to build trust with your clients. A distracted coach is one who doesn’t fully care about their clients and is only in this business to make money or to make a name for themselves.

Take an assessment of your listening skills today. Do you really listen to what your clients say? Do you have a firm grasp on what areas they need help? Have you ever tuned out while looking at your phone? Be honest with yourself.

Here are 5 ways you can become a better listener:

1. Keep eye contact. Meet in a webinar conference room or in a real physical location and focus on the person’s face because looking around aimlessly gives the impression that you’re not listening. If you’re taking notes while on a video call, tell them that so they don’t think you’re on your phone or dozing off when you look down.

2. Pretend that you’re going to repeat this conversation. This is a mind exercise because, obviously, your clients want their sessions kept confidential. However, thinking that you need to remember the most important parts of the conversation will help you stay focused. Use this as an aid for taking notes, too.

3. Turn off your phone. Or put it on silent mode and keep it in your purse or in a drawer away from your desk. The only time it should come out during a session is when you’re scheduling a follow up session and you check your calendar.

4. Ask open-ended questions. Coaching sessions are meant to be two-way conversations so instead of focusing on taking notes, pay attention to details and ask related questions. Don’t try to be a mind reader and don’t make assumptions. Simply ask questions and allow your client to elaborate.

5. Summarize the session. At the end of the session offer a summary, either verbally or via email. Also include the next steps your client should take before your next session. If they say anything during the session that is unclear or confusing, offer a summary immediately by saying, “I hear you saying…” and add in your version of what they said. They can correct any

misunderstanding right away while you show them that you’re paying attention to the little details.

If you’re doing all of these things, great! Your clients should feel good that you’re listening and actually hearing what they’re saying. If you admit that you’re not a great listener, there’s no time like the present to make that change and improve your trustworthiness.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan check out her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected]Ready to find out how to take your business to the next level? Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to discuss your marketing and website/social media presence, here!

How Much Transparency Is Too Much?

We’ve talked before about storytelling and authenticity, and how being your true self is your most powerful branding tactic. But just how open and honest should you be when it comes to sharing your story?

Pat Flynn and Jon Lee Dumas are notorious for their transparency, even going so far as to post monthly income statements. You might argue that when you’re making the kind of bank they do (6+ figures each month) it’s easy to share—perhaps even inspirational to your audience. But it might also be off-putting to some, since talking about money is often seen as vulgar. In this case, though, it works to attract the exact audience they are after. Others will find other mentors, and that is, after all, the point of marketing.

Transparency comes in other forms as well. Struggles with alcoholism, depression, cancer and other health concerns are commonly shared. Stories of marriage and relationship triumphs (and tragedies) are told. Even spats between competing businesses aren’t off limits for some marketers.

That doesn’t mean, though, that you have to be frank and honest about all areas of your life and business. With a little forethought and planning, you can keep certain aspects of your story private.

Watch Your Social Media Profiles

Here’s where a lot of business owners falter, especially when it comes to Facebook. You have your personal profile, to which you invite friends and family, and your business page, where you talk, well, business.

But there will inevitably be some overlap. Colleagues will slowly filter into your personal timeline, and you into theirs. Pretty soon, your businesspeople are hearing all about your latest bout with the flu and that snarky thing your mother in law said yesterday. Too much? Maybe.

When it comes to your social media sharing, it’s important to pay close attention to not only what you say, but who you’re saying it to. Using privacy settings, contact lists, and even limiting who you “friend” can help maintain your privacy while still being transparent about your business offerings.

Remember, the Internet is Forever

While privacy settings can help, a better way to keep your personal business away from prying eyes is to simply not post it at all. Think of every blog post, Tweet, Facebook status update and Instagram pic as a billboard. If you wouldn’t post it on the side of the highway for all who pass to read it, don’t put it online either. The chance that it will “leak” (despite your best efforts) is great, and once it’s out there, you will not ever get it back.

So think twice about those nasty replies, intimate details, and other confidential information. You just never know who might be reading, and they will affect your brand image.

The bottom line? Know your audience and know yourself. If you’re not comfortable sharing certain aspects of your life and business, chances are they won’t be comfortable hearing about it, either. It’s okay to maintain some privacy, even in this transparent world of online marketing.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan check out her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at Jeannine@accbizsvcs

Ready to find out how to take your business to the next level? Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to discuss your marketing and website/social media presence, here!

5 Tips for Being a Better Listener for Your Coaching Clients

If you’re a coach, you better be a good listener. You need to hear what your clients say; no daydreaming allowed. Yes, you need to have expertise to help them work through their problems or to improve their mindset but you won’t know which advice to offer if you don’t listen carefully.

In today’s busy world, however, it’s very easy to get distracted, which doesn’t bode well when you’re trying to build trust with your clients. A distracted coach is one who doesn’t fully care about their clients and is only in this business to make money or to make a name for themselves.

Take an assessment of your listening skills today. Do you really listen to what your clients say? Do you have a firm grasp on what areas they need help? Have you ever tuned out while looking at your phone? Be honest with yourself.

Here are 5 ways you can become a better listener:

1. Keep eye contact. Meet in a webinar conference room or in a real physical location and focus on the person’s face because looking around aimlessly gives the impression that you’re not listening. If you’re taking notes while on a video call, tell them that so they don’t think you’re on your phone or dozing off when you look down.

2. Pretend that you’re going to repeat this conversation. This is a mind exercise because, obviously, your clients want their sessions kept confidential. However, thinking that you need to remember the most important parts of the conversation will help you stay focused. Use this as an aid for taking notes, too.

3. Turn off your phone. Or put it on silent mode and keep it in your purse or in a drawer away from your desk. The only time it should come out during a session is when you’re scheduling a follow up session and you check your calendar.

4. Ask open-ended questions. Coaching sessions are meant to be two-way conversations so instead of focusing on taking notes, pay attention to details and ask related questions. Don’t try to be a mind reader and don’t make assumptions. Simply ask questions and allow your client to elaborate.

5. Summarize the session. At the end of the session offer a summary, either verbally or via email. Also include the next steps your client should take before your next session. If they say anything during the session that is unclear or confusing, offer a summary immediately by saying, “I hear you saying…” and add in your version of what they said. They can correct any misunderstanding right away while you show them that you’re paying attention to the little details.

If you’re doing all of these things, great! Your clients should feel good that you’re listening and actually hearing what they’re saying. If you admit that you’re not a great listener, there’s no time like the present to make that change and improve your trustworthiness.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan check out her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at Jeannine@accbizsvcs

Ready to find out how to take your business to the next level? Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to discuss your marketing and website/social media presence, here!

Are Your Clients Happy? How to Measure Client Satisfaction

If you don’t hear any complaints from your clients, you might assume that they are satisfied with your service or product. But are they really satisfied or are they just non-confrontational and looking for another provider behind your back?

The easiest way to attain client feedback is with a survey. You can set these up with a service like SurveyMonkey and ask just a few simple questions. They can be scheduled at the end of your service package, the end of your class, or semi-annually to your current clients.

One common complaint is that clients don’t take the time to look at the survey or answer the questions. If you want to avoid this scenario, offer a free gift for taking the survey, such as a coupon code for an upcoming product or a free checklist or other tool they will find useful. Sometimes gifts like these provide just enough incentive to get the answers you need.

To make your survey even easier, simply ask for a customer satisfaction score, such as 5 stars. This can be done via SurveyMonkey, email, or even a Facebook Messenger chatbot. If anyone gives a low score, you can follow up with a personal phone call or email to get clarification of what happened.

If you want to avoid the whole survey process altogether, simply ask your client at the end of their package or class if they are satisfied with the results. Ask if there was anything missing that would have helped them during the process. If they are happy, always ask for referrals.

What If My Client Blasts Me with Negative Feedback?

It’s bound to happen at some point that you and a particular client just don’t mesh for any number of reasons. When you ask for feedback – which can be a simple question of “Why don’t you want to continue your sessions?” – you probably won’t like what they have to say. However, it’s important to listen objectively and not take the negative feedback personally. Think back to your interactions objectively; is there any validity to their complaints? If so, make note of those complaints and work immediately to resolve those with other clients.

If your unhappy client turns to social media to blast you, remain calm when crafting your response. Yes, you should respond to unhappy clients so it shows anyone who’s reading that you’re receptive to resolving the issue. But take the high road and don’t resort to name calling or throwing insults, no matter how tempting. Showing a calm demeanor online can build up your professional image and credibility.

Monitoring your social media should be a daily practice so you can catch any kind of negative talk right away. Your virtual assistant can monitor your profiles and can set up Google Alerts, Mention, or SocialMention so you’ll know when people are talking about you online. Lots of positive shout outs occur on social media so keep an eye out for those mentions, too. Don’t be afraid to share the positive feedback you receive either on social media or as testimonials on your website.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan check out her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected]

Ready to find out how to take your business to the next level? Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to discuss your marketing and website/social media presence, here!

Spread Kindness to Ensure Loyalty…From Team Members to Clients

Hiring and training new team members is a time-consuming experience so it’s worthwhile to value their skills and treat them well, so they remain loyal to you. Of course, no one can predict when a change will become necessary but valuing your team members can lessen the chances of them wanting to jump ship within the first year.

No matter how many team members you hire, they all want to be treated well and paid what they’re worth. What does that mean exactly? Don’t expect to hire a talented graphic designer for $20/hour. Don’t hand off a project to your virtual assistant without answering her questions or expecting her to read your mind of how it should be completed. Instead, be aware of the going rate for graphic designers and try negotiating with your chosen artist to reach a mutually beneficial price. Call your virtual assistant or film a quick training video for her showing the details of the project.

Your team members also want to be heard. If your VA notices a problem with a recurring monthly project or has ideas for making your backend processes run more smoothly, explore other viable options to make the project or the business run more smoothly. Even if changes can’t be made, at least your team members will know you listened to their ideas. Remember, not only are you building relationships with your clients but you’re also building relationships with your team members and communication is a two-way street.

Toxic managers are a top reason why people leave their traditional jobs or drop their clients. Micromanaging every little detail, criticizing every step, and setting unrealistic deadlines time after time is enough to stress out the calmest and laid-back person. Yes, sometimes there will be rush jobs but if every single job has a rush schedule, think about how you can better schedule your time – and that of your team – so everyone can be calm and less likely to make mistakes.

Be respectful of your team members’ work boundaries. If they don’t work weekends, then try not to schedule Monday deadlines. If they tell you they don’t work late evening hours, then don’t be upset when you don’t receive an answer to your email until the next business day. As a business owner, it’s well within your rights to pick and choose those service providers who work your same hours, and they are valid questions to ask during an interview. Ultimately, it’s up to you to ask the questions and choose those team members whose schedules and work ethics match up to yours, provided they can also handle the workload.

Lastly, remember that your team members are people, too, who celebrate birthdays, whose kids hit milestones, and whose families sometimes suffer crises. Sending a small birthday gift or mentioning the birth of a new baby is endearing. Likewise, having a backup plan for getting the work done when a team member suffers an emergency can be a great relief to both you and that team member. Treat your team as you would want to be treated.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan check out her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected]

Ready to find out how to take your business to the next level? Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to discuss your marketing and website/social media presence, here!

Developing a WordPress Site for Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketers are constantly in search of the most effective development and marketing platform. From ultra-effective HTML and CSS websites to Joomla-powered affiliate product shops and commission shopping databases, the range of affiliate websites built using different programming languages and content management systems is truly staggering.

However, beyond simply being effective, there is very little that makes an HTML website or Joomla-powered online presence all that wonderful. Sure, they work, but they are not the best websites that they could be. With WordPress, the most popular free content management system available, marketers have a greater degree of flexibility and power over their websites. Small changes no longer take hours, and adaptability — one of the most important site characteristics for good marketing — gets amplified to the point where it is dangerously good.

These four tips, strategies, and development tactics will help you design your affiliate websites using WordPress. When it comes to the top affiliate and CPA (cost-per-action) products, only the best will do. Give your best web assets the WordPress treatment, and make them ultra-fast, very flexible, and more adaptable than any other online presence.

1) Create templates and standard structures for your affiliate websites.

One of the most important qualities of any affiliate website is its development time. Manual HTML websites can be highly powerful and very customizable, but they’re slow. They take days to make, weeks to refine, and when other programming languages are introduced, months to perfect.

Use WordPress as it should be and create a range of templates for your affiliate websites. With a large enough library of WordPress user themes and pre-made template designs, you’ll be able to roll out new sales pages and product websites in minutes, not days.

2) Use SEO plug-ins to gain natural search traffic and cheap sales.

Whether you’re marketing through PPC, SEO, or social traffic, the importance of maintaining a search-friendly website remains the same. With WordPress’s huge range of built-in SEO options, crafting a decent search presence is simple.

However, most marketers don’t want “decent” search power, they want great search power. Add some plug-ins and SEO extensions to your WordPress installation and you’ll gain more than just decent search juice — you’ll become the most powerful website in your niche.

3) Use pre-made templates for quick sales pages.

Due to its position as the de-facto platform for affiliates, a range of themes and templates have been designed for WordPress with the specific purpose of making affiliate marketing and CPA advertising easier. They range from sales page templates to ultra-flexible “review” style themes, and they’re all very helpful. If you’re short on time but high on ambition, download a few and use them to cut down on development and website deployment time.

4) If you’re a high-volume advertiser, consider changing to HTML.

WordPress is brilliant, but it does have its limitations. One of them is its server load, which can be quite crushing at times. If you’re driving hundreds of thousands of views to your pages daily, it might be worth changing them to static HTML and CSS. Speak with a marketing expert and decide for yourself — a mistaken change could end up doing more harm than good.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan check out her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at Jeannine@accbizsvcs

Ready to find out how to take your business to the next level? Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to discuss your marketing and website/social media presence, here!

Keep Your Business Organized with a CRM Program

Staying organized is paramount if you want to run a successful business, especially if you have multiple clients. Investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software program is one such way to stay organized while building your client relationships.

In its simplest form, a CRM program is similar to an online address book, or an old fashioned Rolodex that keeps your client’s information all in one place. Basic info such as address, email, phone number, and birthday can be collected when they sign up for your services and as you get to know them better, you can also ask for their family members’ names.

Many CRM programs have spaces for notes and next steps, such as follow up phone calls or sessions, so at the beginning of each day your CRM will provide an automated to-do list based on those next steps. If you have tried to keep all these details in your head or logged into your phone calendar, you’ll know that sometimes items get missed or forgotten, which can damage your credibility. Automating the to-do list process saves you time and embarrassment.

Adding a Personal Touch to Your Client Relationships

Building a client relationship also means building a friendship with that person. Yes, YOU are the one with the expertise but that doesn’t mean you can’t be friendly outside of business. Learn about their business or their life; ask about their family; wish them a Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary; ask questions about their latest vacation. Any little tidbit of personal information that comes up in your sessions, emails, or other conversations can be noted in your CRM program and added to your to-do list. A simple email with, “Welcome back from vacation! Let’s get your next session booked,” adds a personal touch to your relationship.

Have you ever considered sending birthday cards to your clients? If you gather that information during the client onboarding session, note it in your CRM program. Then every week or every month you can do a search for birthdays and send out the cards. Sending eCards is certainly simple but also consider sending handwritten birthday cards with a simple message. That’s one way to stand out from the crowd since everyone’s email is jammed these days.

What Else Can a CRM Program Do?

Very often CRMs have an email system integrated so you can send individual messages or bulk messages instead of paying for a separate email provider. These email services also allow you to segment your clients based on what packages or products they purchased so you can run dedicated campaigns just to those people touting your latest products.

CRMs also offer ways to track leads so you can follow up with them on a regular basis or send them emails specific to their needs. This is especially handy since you always want to gather people into your sales funnel and you don’t want anyone falling through the cracks.

As you can see, CRM programs can handle a variety of tasks that help keep your business organized. One note: there are dozens of CRM programs available so do your due diligence when researching. Pricing structures vary considerably but also, in this day and age of high technology, choose a program from an established company that offers support and security updates.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan check out her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at Jeannine@accbizsvcs

Ready to find out how to take your business to the next level? Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to discuss your marketing and website/social media presence, here!

Content Marketing: How Sales-Oriented Should Your Content Be?

Amongst online marketers, two very different disciplines are often confused: content writing, and copy writing. It is likely just a simple misunderstanding, but the difference is often something that gets mixed up on the page, too. Article marketers are especially guilty of confusing the two and introducing unnecessary sales copy into their content. At the same time, boring content writing is often mistakenly put into sales copy, robbing it of its effectiveness.

Distinguishing between the two different types of writing is absolutely essential for online success. While copy and content have their places, it is rarely together, and it is especially erroneous to mix them up in a promotional article. This simple guide explains how to balance sales copy and promotional content, and where to use each of them in your article marketing efforts.

A) Incorporating sales content into articles:

It is best to keep sales, or even pre-sales talk minimal throughout a promotional article. While the purpose of a promotional article is not necessarily to inform the reader, it is certainly not to sell them straight away. Think about it this way — if the reader is being sold within the article itself, where will they click to buy the product?

Save the sales copy for your landing or sales page. By all means incorporate pre-sales copy into a promotional article, but even then, it shouldn’t be a major factor. The purpose of a promotional article is to achieve one thing — convince the reader to click through to your website with a slight intention to buy. If your articles are not achieving that, you need to work on flow and readability, not sales copy.

B) Where to start the pre-selling:

The basic structure of any article, or really any written text, is introduction-discussion-conclusion. The first section of your promotional article should introduce a problem, a situation, or an opportunity. Once you have established the situation, move on to the body text. What is going on in this situation? How could this opportunity affect the reader? Where are the best places to find these opportunities?

Finally, once you have established and discussed all that you can, introduce a potential solution for the reader. Do not sell the idea straight away — that is the job of your sales copy — but push the reader slightly so they feel like moving towards it. It is not your job to sell them in the article, just to get them to click on your link.

C) The transition from pre-sell to actual selling:

While your content itself should not sell, it should work in tandem with your sales copy to achieve a sale. Before you start on an article marketing campaign for any product, familiarize yourself with the sales page and landing pages to the point where you can naturally incorporate elements of them into your writing.

Customers love familiarity and trust, not unknown situations. When you can design an article to prime a potential customer into moving to your sales page, and have them arrive full of confidence and intrigue, you have found a formula for guaranteed article marketing sales.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan check out her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at Jeannine@accbizsvcs

Ready to find out how to take your business to the next level? Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to discuss your marketing and website/social media presence, here!

Four Weeks to Supercharging Your Marketing to Increase Profits

If you want to be successful at online marketing there are several things you can do to increase your chances. The first is to sit down and think about everything that needs to be done in your business to make it a success. After product discovery and / or creation; marketing needs to be tops on that list. Marketing sometimes can be left to the wind. But, if you really want to be successful, you have to place a high priority on it.

Week One – Planning Ahead

One of the most important things you can do to ensure marketing success is to plan in advance what you will be marketing and the different ways in which you will do so for any given product or service. It’s not a “one and done” proposition. It takes a few weeks to get the message out and get people to answer your calls to action. They’ll need to see them in multiple ways. Create a separate plan for each product and marketing channel.

Week Two – Email Marketing

Arguably the most important way to earn money, practically on demand, is to build a healthy email list full of hungry prospects. Make it your goal to fill your list so that you can market your products and services repeatedly to your audience in a more direct way. Create ongoing campaigns for your auto responder segmented by where, when and how a prospect signs up for your list. If you know in advance what you will write about on your blogs, social media and in email marketing, you’ll be more successful.

Week Three – Smart Promotion Tactics

You’ve likely read a lot about promotional tactics but some of what you read just doesn’t feel right. The fact is you don’t have to resort to sleazy tactics to succeed at earning money online. You can market your products with integrity and pride because all the products you create and find are exactly what you claim they are. No marketing “puffery” required. When you are proud of your products you can promote them on social media, within blog posts, and in email and feel great about it. There is never a reason to feel guilty about making money from your products and services when they are of high quality.

Week Four – Getting Exposure

Even if your business is 100 percent online, getting exposure may require that you step outside of your comfort zone and start using other mediums such as online radio interviews, guest blogging, authorship, speaking engagements and more . You might also want to look into strategic joint ventures and / or pay per click advertising on Google or Facebook.

Planning out what you will do each week, then simply repeating it every time you have a new product or service will help you become more successful than you ever thought possible. If you play your cards right, the truth is, increasing your profits is simply a few weeks away.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan check out her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected].

Ready to find out how to take your business to the next level? Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to discuss your marketing and website/social media presence, here!

Is Your Email List Your Friend or Foe?

“You need a list,” they said. “The money is in the list,” they said. “You need an autoresponder,” they said. So you purchased an autoresponder; you added an opt-in box on your website; you have a couple of subscribers; now what?

Now, you sit down and plan out what you’re going to send to your list. The money is in the list ONLY if you stay in contact with the list. If you send out random emails every few months or every few years (yikes!) chances are you’ll have several unsubscribes and maybe even a few spam reports. Simply because you weren’t consistent in your communication and your subscribers probably don’t remember who you are or how they got onto your list.

Know Your Subscribers

Your subscribers should also be your ideal clients. You may have a few who don’t fit that ideal description and maybe they subscribed because something about your opt-in offer intrigued them but basically, speak to your ideal clients.

What do they need? What are their pain points right now, this minute? How can you help them? What services or packages can they use in their lives right now?

Knowing the general details of your subscribers’ lives and their needs will naturally tell you what kinds of offers to make. Of course, offer your own services and products first but also investigate affiliate programs of products that compliment what you offer.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions

In this social media age, people are gung ho to offer opinions on absolutely everything, so don’t be afraid to ask open ended questions about what your subscribers need. This is market research and shouldn’t be construed as an invasion of privacy. You want to fill their needs and guessing isn’t a productive way to use your time.

Get Used to Planning

Consistency is key to developing loyal followers so plan your emails to correspond with your other content efforts during the month. Decide how often you will email your list then pick a specific day of the week. Mark it in your calendar so it’s official (yes, you should consider yourself a client). At the very least, tie in your weekly blog content with your email theme/offer or get adventurous and choose a monthly theme. Write it all down so nothing falls through the cracks.

Your Clients Want Your Content…Are Your Producing?

Email marketing is just one small part of content creation that every online business owner should be doing. If you’d like some more tips for creating content your clients want, please connect with me.  We’ll talk about how to create content, how to repurpose content, and mistakes to avoid when creating content. Don’t miss it!

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan check out her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected]

Ready to find out how to take your business to the next level? Schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to discuss your marketing and website/social media presence, here!