In episode 165 we talked about what a sales funnel is and what it isn’t over the next few episodes I’m going deep into the components of a sales funnel – so if you haven’t listened to that go back and listen to episode 165 and then I’ll meet you right back here.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Okay, so the components of a sales funnel are Awareness, Interest, Decision and Action. Once we’ve generated awareness, how do we turn that into interest?
Think about what piques your interest. If you’re researching a particular problem or need that you have, what piques your interest is the seeing a potential solution to that problem or the resolution of the need, right?
Like, the perfect match.
So to generate interest, we’ve gotta know what the problems and needs are desires of our ideal customer are.
This is where a lot of people go wrong – they try to generate interest in the product itself and its features rather than generating interest in the possibility of what life is like once the person has the solution.
The solution could be a product that the person can buy right away and go straight from interest to decision to action all in one moment, but more often for us online business owners who are pretty much nobodies online, it takes a bit longer to build up that credibility and trust with people.
And so that’s why I teach how to actually do the tactic all the online marketing gurus teach – which is to create something that solves the problem or meets the need that you give away for free – and what this does it turn the awareness into interest.
And then once you’re interested, you make a decision to get on my email list and then you take the actual action of entering your name and email and clicking Submit.
This small cycle is repeated over and over until it results in a customer. Aware that I exist. Aware that I have a Free 5 Day Website Challenge. Interested, goes to my website. Decision to join. Enters name and Email.
But in my overall funnel, the one leading to you becoming a customer, you’re still not super interested in everything else I have to offer. YET. You’re just like boom, got my problem solved, moving on. It’s my job now to get you to care.
But not about ME – this is another big mistake that people make in generating interest.
They tell their story. They share their whole life on social media, like every moment like it’s a reality TV show. And sure, that can be entertaining and interesting, but is it strategically going to lead me to buy from you? Not necessarily.
Because in the interest phase, I’m not trying to get you to be interested in ME or my products. I’m trying to get you to be interested in YOU and what could be different about YOUR LIFE when you have met whatever need or solved whatever problem.
And I get you to be interested in YOU THROUGH me.
You know how people say, “I really resonated with that?” That’s because the people that are my customers see a part of themselves in me, and if I was able to get what they want, then it’s possible for them to get it too.
And that’s why you tell stories and share vulnerable things, to inspire people. In fact, I’d almost change the I in the formula from Interest to Inspiration, because this is where you INSPIRE people to want to put the effort into the outcome.
So there are 4 main of ways you can generate interest or inspiration:
# 1 – Freebie – create a free piece of content that solves a problem and give it away in exchange for an email address.
#2 – Go live on all the social media platforms and share your story, the good bad and the ugly – but only if you’ve come out the other side and have something to share that will help people. We’re not trying to get people to feel sorry for us or like they have to take care of us.
#3 – Create consistent content that continues to deliver value and help your ideal customer. This could be a weekly or monthly newsletter, or a podcast, or a video series. Whatever. And it’s gotta be GOOD (as in content) because there are a lot of people out there doing this, but the good news is that a lot of it is very ME focused and not great. You know the secret to making it work.
#4 – Hosting Webinars or Live Conferences where you go deep on a particular topic.
All of these tactics help educate your ideal customer, help them continue to be interested in solving their problem or meeting their need, and also keep the awareness of YOU alive.
And tomorrow, we’ll talk about the transition from being interested to making a decision. So be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it!
Today’s pep talk is brought to you by Bluehost. Go to www.shannonmattern.com/bluehost and get 36 months of web hosting for just $2.95 a month. That’s less than one trip to Starbucks a month – and if you’re anything like me, you’re at Starbucks more than that!
Then you can sign up for my Free 5 Day Website Challenge at www.shannonmattern.com/5day and I’ll show you step by step how to get started building your new website for your side hustle.
