Welcome to Connectable #003 đ§âđ¤âđ§
I am so thrilled to have you here!
I want to help your business succeed. I want to inspire change. I want you to question your current processes and align yourself with the needs of your audience / community. I want you to attract the right people, solve the right problem and create superfans.
The medium? Email.
Will you be there to catch them?
Last week we cemented the idea of relationship building before selling, why itâs essential for long-term success and how you might approach it. Today, I want to build on this and talk more specifically about upgrading your prospect quality after this initial moment of connection.
How do you ensure your audience keeps being your audience?
Before I dive into this how, I want to make one thing very clear: there is no magic offer, no copy secret, no fancy research tool and no HTML design that will determine your success or failure.
You can go through all the marketing tools you wish, but none will ultimately guarantee you success.
The one thing you can control, however, and stack in your favour is⌠TRUST.
Now donât go all âI know that already, thatâs marketing 101â and leave, because youâd be surprised how many businesses donât realise how trust works within their strategy.
Trust doesnât come from just one email, or one apology, it grows over time through an interconnected web of interactions between you and your audience.
Have a quick think about a friend or a partner in your life - how long did it take you trust them? And if that trust was ever broken, how long did it take to rebuild?
A quick âthank you, I appreciate you, hereâs some free stuffâ does not build that deep-rooted feeling of trust which humans rely on to get through their busy, ever-changing and often cruel world.
So how do you earn their trust? Here are 4 elements to consider:
1. Integrity
Be who you say you are.
When you say youâll do something, does your audience believe you? Have you given them a reason to believe youâll follow through?
Most audiences want to trust, but we are also a sceptical and cautious species. A person is taking a risk by investing in you - especially if you have exchanged money - so make sure you acknowledge this and react accordingly.
If you do make a mistake (no one is perfect), then own up to it.
2. Empathy
Humans want to be understood.
Show your audience that you understand their problems and pain points and that you want to solve them.
Make sure you show you understand them before you offer solutions.
3. Credibility
Do you have the experience you say you have?
Will you actually be able to solve their problems?
Itâs a scammy world out there - how will you ensure they believe you?
Make sure you share regular content that highlights your expertise and show evidence of the problems your have previously solved for others.
4. Consistency
Trust is a long-term thing.
Itâs not earned with just one email and then you get to move on.
Every single thing you do in your business affects trust. EVERYTHING.
It's a promise that says this is who I am, this is what I believe, this is how I choose to show up in the world, and this is what you can expect from me now and in the future.
Every time we interact with our audience is an opportunity to build â or erode â trust. Take those opportunities very seriously. - Shawn Twing
How might this look like in real life?
Letâs take the on-boarding sequence as an example. Most businesses use it to say âhiâ but with a goal of pushing the prospect through the sequence so they reach an offer or a sale or something for benefit of the business at the end.
Their ârevenue firstâ goal is not gone, theyâve just disguised it in a welcome sequence.
How about after the opt-in, your only goal is to build a relationship.
Try building empathy and credibility without asking for anything in return. Your first email sequence should be all about THEM and not you.
This all goes back to what we were saying over the last two weeks - you donât need to make a sale as soon as possible for fear of losing the chance forever. Show your audience that you donât value them simply for their money. Thatâs how you build long-term success.
I had a great example I wanted to show you, but alas I simply couldnât find it in my inbox anywhere⌠sorry. Instead, iâll show you this example:
This is only one email from the on-boarding sequence but hereâs why I like it:
Integrity - sheâs telling me what she will do, and then follows through.
Empathy - she wantâs to serve my unique needs and wantâs me to get the exact info I am after - she understands her audience.
She isnât sending me links to her courses or ebooks - she simply wants to get to know me and help me.
đ Takeaway: You donât gain trust from one day to the next, trust is earned.
Inspired by Tiny Little Businesses.
Q & A with Kevon Cheung
Kevin is a builder and a content creator helping entrepreneurs build their authentic online voices with a mindset called Building in Public. He is a wonderful online voice for authenticity, building meaningful relationships with you audience and growing superfans.
His life motto: "Comfort is the enemy of growth."
You can learn more about Kevon and also sign up to his newsletter here.
I was so happy we recently connected. Here are some of his insights:
1. In your work as a builder and content creator, you highlight the importance of gaining âfollowers for lifeâ. You encourage people to not aim for the most likes, follows or the biggest audience, but instead, to engage meaningfully and with purpose. Why do you think this is so important?
If you think about it, followers on social media are like pedestrians walking in a mall and you're one shop there. Most of them, even if they follow you, are just passing by your online presence and work. What's most important to you is actually the customer who walk into your shop and with whom you have a relationship.
When you have a large following online, on paper it looks great, but in reality, it means that your audience is fragmented and not all of them actually pay attention to you. It is much easier and better to have a small and concentrated following so you can serve them so well that they become your super fans.
2. Do you have any tips to share on how to approach this kind of engagement? How do you tackle community building?
Most people want a large following so that they can broadcast messages to them. You can imagine a musician performing on stage and everyone else is down there listening. Instead, you should see it as a group of high school students forming a circle in class. They're all peers. They're having conversations and helping one another.
In order to have meaningful engagement, first, you need to put down your ego. Even if you have thousands of followers, treat everyone like a friend in that circle. When they are kind enough to engage with your tweets, take time to respond and mention their first name. Make them feel cared for and special.
Also, you can dedicate time to help the people around you voluntarily without asking anything in return. Relationships are everything online even though most people don't realize it. Make friends and help friends will take you very far.
3. What personal results and successes in your own business have you witnessed with this strategy?
I'm definitely an example of this! For my first 6 months being an online creator, I focused all of my energy on creating free content to help people while I was learning. I dedicated blocks of time each week for deep interactions on Twitter: responding to everyone and providing value publicly.
I've made a lot of friends and supporters during that period and I continue to do so even after I started creating paid products.
Itâs hard to measure success in this sense but I'd attribute my 5,800 followers in less than a year to this approach.
Whenever I launch something new, these friends and supporters are always there to either get it or spread it for me. When people do that for you without you asking, you know they're your "superfans".
đ Takeaway: In order to have meaningful engagement, you need to first put down your ego.
Article of the Week
The Workish guide to building trust â plus how to rebuild it after it's been lost
- Sandy Marshall
This article from the Financial Post is geared toward trust in the workplace, but has some great lessons in it that you can transfer to your audience. đ
Key takeaways:
Relationship gaps arenât always obvious - ask your audience for feedback/send out polls. It could be as simple as âdo you trust me/this business?â
âToo much honesty is the best policyâ - be reliably transparent while managing expectations.
If things go wrong, show them you want to fix it: âSorry to hear weâre not on the same page; Iâd love to make things right.â
Tweets(perations)
Thatâs all for this week, thanks so much for the support.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please give it a like or share it with your friends/on Twitter. Iâm still a newbie, so any help would be awesome! đ
If you have any questions, want to say hi, or want to feature in my Q & As - my DMs are always open @LisanneNausner.
Have a fabulous week full of connection!
- Lisanne đť