When To Keep Your Distance

There is a place called North Sentinel Island off the coast of India that’s home to a tribe of people who are completely isolated, virtually untouched by civilization.

Of course that hasn’t been for lack of other humans trying.

Humans seem to have a deep-seated need to connect. To communicate. To engage. To convert.

A few people have tried to make contact with the people of North Sentinel Island over the last 100 years.

It doesn’t usually end well.

I usually ends with that person being on the pointy end of a spear.

Recently a modern religious missionary, who despite repeated dire warnings was steadfastly convinced that if the tribes people heard his message they would welcome him and be converted.

He spent incredible effort, travelled thousands of miles and spent thousands of dollars to get there.

But they didn’t want to hear his message.

They killed him the moment he set foot on their beach.

As marketers we can locate our target, over-spend our budgets and ignore the analytics warning signs.

But no matter how convinced we are an audience will welcome what we have to offer, no matter how much we want to expand our influence and connect with a certain group…

…Sometimes we must accept that not everyone can be converted.

Find a warmer audience, or your brand might just end up on the pointy end of a spear.

What's It Sound Like?

One of the problems with electric cars is that they are almost silent. You don’t get much auditory feedback. When you press on the accelerator you don’t really hear anything. You just start moving. You don’t get that satisfying “Mrrrrr” sound like in a gas-powered car.

BMW calls this “a gap in the emotionality of the driving experience”.

I call it an opportunity. An insanely cool branding opportunity.

So BMW has hired some sound designers to create a series of sounds to integrate into its electric cars.

If BWM is smart, these designers won’t be limited to approximating car sounds. They should be allowed to consider any sound.

Now, what would an electric BMW accelerating sound like?

A growling panther? Gene Simmons of KISS hitting a E note on his bass? A steel saber hitting armor? Thunder? An avalanche? A galloping stallion?

The possibilities kind-of boggle the mind.

But that’s what we do as branding people and designers. We assign things. We create associations.

When those associations are repeated thousands of times, eventually hearing, seeing, smelling one thing makes you think of something entirely different.

Red and white means Coca-Cola. Brushed aluminum means Apple. Gold arches means McDonalds. The aroma of butter and cinnamon means Cinnabon.

And maybe one day, the sound of Gene Simmons hitting an E note might mean BWM.

One can only hope.

What's Your Perspective?

I try to feed my brain high-quality food. That is, great educational content on branding, marketing, design, entrepreneurship, strategy and process methodologies. But my brain also craves junk food sometimes.

So in moments of weakness I find myself scrolling sites like Bored Panda, KickAssFacts, or Listverse.

Imgur, a meme site, is probably the junkiest of my junk food sites. The viral image feed is incredibly eclectic. The next image could be a silly cat video or it could be something really inspiring.

I was cruising Imgur when an odd image caught my eye. It was a map of the world. But not like any map I’d seen before. It was a map of the world, but from a whale’s perspective.

All the oceans were connected into one big shape. The map ended where the water ended. Because as a whale, why would you even care what’s beyond the coast? The map covered only what’s important - to a whale.

Looking at that map I was struck with how limited our personal perspectives are. They are informed by our individual experiences or perceived boundaries. We make the mistake of thinking everyone sees things the way we do.

In our professional lives, when we design or communicate to a particular target market we may need to radically alter our approach. Transform the way we see things. Draw the customer journey map from a different perspective.

Try to see things like a whale.

This Might Get Loud

In 1883, Earth made a noise. It wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill Earth noise like an earthquake or a tornado. This one was loud. Really, really loud.

In fact, scientists have discovered that when the island of Krakatoa, near Sumatra exploded in a massive eruption, it created a noise that was the loudest noise in recorded human history.

The explosion was heard 3000 miles away in Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The sound took 4 hours to get there. Then it circled the earth. Four times.

The rocks that spewed out of the volcano were traveling at 1,600 miles per hour. That’s more than twice the speed of sound. They calculated that Krakatoa actually shot rocks into outer space. At that velocity, the rocks just keep going and have by now left our solar system.

As creative communicators it is our goal to amplify messages. Amplifying our clients messages using design, imagery and copy. Amplifying our own messages by publishing content, through social media, and interacting in professional communities.

Usually we try to do this tactfully, with a certain amount of finesse, so hopefully it will fall on receptive ears.

But sometimes to be heard over the din of the internet brand-o-sphere, you just have to be loud.

Really, really loud.

Put This On Your Radar

In December 1955, a marketer at Sears had an idea. They thought…”Let’s run an ad with a Santa hotline!”

That’s when it happened. They made a typo in the ad and listed the wrong number.

So who’s phone number did they actually print? NORAD, that’s who. As in strategic-air-command-nuclear-missile-button NORAD.

Oh, and not just any NORAD number. They printed the number for that red phone. You know, the one that connects directly to the Pentagon.

Oops.

So when kids started calling with their Christmas wishes, they were greeted with a soldier yelling “Is this some kinda fucking joke buddy?”

After discovering this response usually made the child on the other end of the line start crying, the hard-as-nails Air Force guys shifted their approach. They started sharing reports of mysterious flying objects on their radar that were shaped like a sleigh. Or updates on cities where reindeer had been spotted in the skies.

When radio stations heard about it, they started calling to get sleigh updates to share on the air. And so, this is how the “Santa Tracker” tradition got started. With a typo.

But more importantly, from a reaction to a typo.

Sometimes the universe throws you a curve ball. Something completely out of context. Instead of reacting in a knee-jerk way, how can you approach it from a totally different angle? How can you bring to it a dose of humor, a bit of personality, a level of humanity?

Because we’re all just people after all.

People with a wish we want to come true.

Are You Mixed Up?

Office supplies are kinda boring.

And that was a problem for 3M. Their office supply product development teams were stagnant. They needed to come up with some innovative things to sell. Now.

3M had their offices set up in “silos”. The tape folks sat together in the tape department and the plastic box people sat together in the plastic box wing. But the CEO had an idea. Why don’t we mix things up a little?

After the moves, the paper people were sitting with the adhesives people.

This change to 3M’s seating chart was the catalyst for one of the greatest office supply innovation stories ever.

It seems the paper people were trying to invent a new multi-functional notepad. Meanwhile, the adhesives people had accidentally formulated a disappointing new glue that didn’t stick paper together very well.

Just like chocolate hitting peanut butter for the first time, a miracle happened. The Post-It Note.

Sometimes when you need to come up with something innovative, it’s not a question of discovering something new. Sometimes it’s just a question of combining misfit ideas with failed experiments to see what happens.

What happens is sometimes amazing.

How can you mix things up a little?

Are You a Deer in the Headlights?

I live in the suburbs about 2 miles from a 2000 acre park. It’s very wild, mostly woods and trials…and animals. Raccoons, groundhogs, turkeys, opossums, and lots and lots of deer.

The other night, my wife and I were driving home. Suddenly, frozen in the middle of the road in front of us was a 300 lb. buck with an 8 point rack of antlers.

We thought, “You nut! Why are you so far from the park?”

Then I attended a lecture on “Urban Wildlife” at our local animal rescue and learned that animals don’t see any difference between “city” and “country”. They just see “the world”.

To deer, there is “world with bumpy grass ground, trees and tasty shrubs”.

And there is “world with smooth rock ground, big wood boxes and tasty shrubs”.

It’s all the same to them. No boundaries.

In business, we make decisions about what customers to pursue, what industries to focus on. We set artificial limits and boundaries on where we will “feed”. But what if we saw the business landscape with no barriers? No big companies vs. small companies? No B2B vs. B2C?

Who says we have to limit ourselves? Who says we can’t go to where the customer landscape is a little different?

Because maybe there are some tasty shrubs there, too.

Break Your Own Rules

Fem Hy is what the CPG industry calls products in the feminine hygiene category.

These products use a strict visual “language” in the packaging. All white and pastels. Flowers and daises. Sparkles and sprites.

Why do package designers use that language? Because white and pastels communicate “clean and fresh”, what women want in these products. Consumers expect to see that on Fem Hy packaging.

Kotex owns the feminine hygiene aisle. Hell, they created that language. But when they were about to launch a new product they were confronted with a challenge. How were they going to stand out when everyone is using the same “language”?

Not only stand out from their competitors, how would they stand out from themselves?

The answer? Black. Kotex shocked the Fem-Hy world by creating a line of products packed in predominantly black packaging. Sure, they had a few bits of color and spritely shapes on the pack, but it was still black. Black in an aisle of white.

 Let’s just say it stood out.

We all can get stuck in a rut. Using the same old visual language over and over. But if you want to turn heads, if you want to make an impression, sometimes you have to break even your own rules.

Yes, you need to stand out from the competition, but you may also need to stand out from yourself.

Taking The Plunge

The first time I went scuba diving, I dropped into the water at Grand Cayman Island and I was suddenly on another planet. The colors were different, the animals were different. You didn’t have to walk, you could just float weightlessly. But to breathe, to survive, you needed to follow some critical new rules and use some unfamiliar equipment.

I’d spent 40 years living on solid ground and suddenly I was experiencing a whole new world.

I felt exactly the same way when I started my own business as a creative entrepreneur.

I’d spent 25 years in global corporations and agencies. Structured business environments with a department for everything: HR, finance, account, production, marketing. Suddenly, I was creating a personal brand hands-on: building an email list, content marketing, publishing videos, podcasts, e-books, listicles and lead magnets.

When I started, I was completely out of my element. I was on another planet and I had to figure out how to breathe. How to survive.

So I studied the new rules, I explored new resources, learned how to use some unfamiliar equipment. Soon I was floating weightlessly.

Where do you want to to go next? What do you yearn to explore? What do you need to learn?

Take the plunge - because there is a whole new world waiting for you.

How To Set Up A Kick-Ass Mastermind Group

Mastermind groups are designed to be the best growth hacking tools around. My experience with masterminds has been incredible. I've been in three masterminds over the last four years and I have found them to be powerful tools for growing my business. They have added jet fuel to my growth as an entrepreneur. 

Masterminds have helped me move from running a YouTube channel with my siblings and wife as subscribers to having over 180k dedicated followers and a catalog of branding videos with over 3.5M views. They helped me grow my email list of zero to 15k - now I’m publishing an industry-recognized newsletter, brand•muse, for over 3 years. I was named by the entrepreneurship guru Chris Ducker as "Youpreneur of the Year" last year in London. I could never have done all this on my own. 

You can leverage the power of the group to step up your business too.

The agendas in a mastermind setting are highly organized and the roles are very clear, so each member can get the most out of each meeting. The roles and agenda can seem rigid and complicated, but it’s really very simple to get started with a mastermind group. You just need to know the basics.

So what are the basics?

Step 1: Find An Existing Mastermind Group Or Create Your Own?

You can find a group that’s right for you by looking at your LinkedIn Groups or Facebook special interest groups. Also, research relevant professional organizations. For example, designers might search the AIGA for suggestions on masterminds they could join. Or in other industries, when you attend conferences, trade shows, or events, ask if anyone is involved in a mastermind. This is an easy way to get introduced to an existing group. 

You can also consider larger-scale paid mastermind communities. Many communities charge an annual fee to join a group as small as 5 people or as large as 400 or more. The advantage of these groups is that they are led by a facilitator who has an area of expertise that is particularly helpful to the group. 

Once you get going with a paid mastermind, you can form a breakout group; curate your own advisory board of like-minded people. I did exactly that (started with Chris Ducker’s Youpreneur group, then formed breakout groups including other Youpreneur members) and it worked very well for me. 

If you can’t find an existing group that’s right for you, start your own. 

Begin with your professional network first. Reach out on social media, especially Linkedin, to survey your network connections. If you belong to any specialized Facebook groups (e.g. one for creative professionals, business owners in your category, a resource-sharing group, etc.), start there. Poll the group to see if there is interest. Email past coworkers or classmates to gauge their interest. 

Step Two: Who Are The Right People For Your Mastermind Group?

It’s human nature to go with what you know, but stepping out of your comfort zone right from the start can really pay off. A great tip is to resist the urge to pick members who you know very well; your strong professional ties. “Weak ties,” or connections you keep in touch with once or twice a year are likely to be better mastermind partners. They can more easily help you expand your sphere of influence and widen your horizons with fresh resources, ideas, and connections. 

Be sure to choose some people who are in your industry so you can share ideas, ask them for feedback on your work, and see how they're progressing in their work. It’s also great to have entrepreneurs in other industries or categories who are doing the same kind of marketing and branding activities. Those in other industries will add even more scope on your problem-solving. A graphic designer for packaged goods, for example, will have experience that will benefit others in a mastermind for publishing designers. This will add different and valuable perspectives, and bring a particular level of expertise and application of that knowledge to the group. 

The people in your group will need to be ambitious, engaged, and driven. They need to be serious about what they're doing because you will be asking them to make an earnest commitment to attend and actively participate in meetings over a long time. The long timeline, about 6 months to start, helps you develop relationships within a mastermind group. These relationships directly relate to achieving your goals; the support you get from your group is going to help you accomplish your mission.

I suggest keeping the group size to 8 to 10. This size will give you enough time to share a variety of brainstorming ideas and input from everyone while allowing enough time to discuss and react to ideas.

Step Three: Where Will You Meet?

You can meet in person or online. If your group decides to meet in person, there are many options. You could rent a conference room in a co-working space or hotel, or you can meet in someone's conference room in their office. You can even meet if it's convenient in someone's home. 

More often than not masterminds happen in the virtual world. Zoom conferences or Google Hangouts or group Skype calls. This makes it easy for participants to be across the country or even across the globe. Developing international business relationships and getting international perspectives are a significant added benefit of masterminds that use virtual meeting technology.

Step Four: What Are The Key Roles And Formats In A Mastermind?

Generally, there's a leader or a facilitator who starts the meeting. This can be the same person every week or you can switch periodically. The timekeeper is watching the clock to make sure everyone is sticking to the agenda and nothing runs too long. A good timekeeper will make sure everyone gets their turn and the meeting ends on time. This role can rotate as well.

Most mastermind meetings start with 5 or 10 minutes of "quick wins;" everyone briefly shares their successes since the last meeting. This gets the group focused and realigned with each person’s current goals. 

Next is the "hot seat," which takes up most of the meeting time. The member on the hot seat gets to put a spotlight on their business issues. They can present a business problem, workshop an idea, or surface a particular topic that everyone will share about and offer ideas around. 

The last 5 or 10 minutes of the meeting each member states the goals they will accomplish before the next meeting.

Take it slow

If masterminds are so great (and they are) you may be tempted to join more than one. I suggest taking it slowly and try only one to start. It takes a lot of commitment and focus to be part of a mastermind and it may be difficult to develop deep relationships with a broad group of people too quickly. Start with one and if you feel like you have the bandwidth or you really need a wider range of input, then get involved in another one after a few months. 

Tangible results

I have met people who are supportive, driven and highly talented. Their perspectives have helped me go farther and faster in my business - perspectives I never would have known any other way. Masterminds have introduced me to more specialists, including writers, coaches, software developers, strategists, and researchers. I've broadened my network significantly which has led to new business opportunities. 

Even though business building is not the focus of a mastermind, I have found that masterminds have been the most powerful thing in my business hands down since I have started my entrepreneurial journey. My interactions and participation in masterminds have accounted for an estimated 20% of my new clients over the last 3 years. What would you do to create a 20% bump in sales with an investment of a couple of hours a week? 

Sounds like a good deal, right? Believe me, it is. 

I encourage you to start your journey today.

Something To Crow About

I just came back from Kauai, Hawaii where Beth and I celebrated our anniversary. It was a spectacular trip full of scuba diving, a helicopter ride around the Na Pali Coast, eating seafood…and looking at chickens.

We were looking at chickens because, well, there are a LOT of chickens on Kauai. I mean they are ev-er-y-where. Go to the beach? Chickens. Go out to eat? Chickens. The Scenic Look Out at 3600 ft. in Waimea Canyon Park? Yup, chickens.

Kauai is largely rural and chickens had always been part of farm life. But hurricanes Iwa in 1982 and Iniki in 1992 destroyed thousands of coops and set the birds free. There aren’t any mongoose on Kauai like there are on the other islands, so without predators the population exploded.

And these aren’t ordinary white hens. These are spectacular birds. The roosters have amazing plumage. Reds, oranges, greens, turquoise, iridescent purples.

Instead of despairing about the feathery infestation, Kauaians embraced it. They recognized that the chickens made Kauai unique. Memorable. They put them on T-shirts, coffee mugs, signs, bags of chips. Kauai decided to own the chicken.

So take a look at your brand. What do you have that is a little out of the ordinary? A little unexpected? Celebrate it. Own it.

Crow about it.

Top 5 Reasons To Join A Mastermind Group

Masterminds are an incredibly powerful business accelerator tool. I’ve been a member of several masterminds during the last four years and am constantly amazed by how much they have helped my business grow. I’ve gone from zero to a thriving branding consultancy with an international roster of clients across a range of categories including healthcare, medical technology, health and beauty, fashion, architecture and lifestyle startups.

The upward trajectory I’ve experienced as a result of a mastermind is not unique to me. Historic icons like Franklin Roosevelt, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison each had mastermind groups helping them achieve their goals, and many modern-day CEOs and entrepreneurs are using them too. In the age of growth hacking and business incubators, mastermind groups are among the best tools for business advancement.

What is a mastermind group?

Simply put, a mastermind is a group of people who help one another sharpen their business and personal skills. These peer-to-peer groups are a forum for members who solve their business challenges by:

• Brainstorming

• Sharing personal experience and resources

• Educating each other

The members support each other in reaching their business goals by:

• Creating a system of accountability

• Inspiring and challenging each other to push their limits

• Cultivating networking opportunities

Napoleon Hill, known as the father of masterminds, wrote, “No mind is complete by itself. It needs contact and association with other minds to grow and expand.” That growth and expansion are exactly what most entrepreneurs and designers need to achieve exponential results. Meeting with a mastermind group helps you consistently tap into this power.

How Do Mastermind Groups Accelerate Business Growth?

Hill, who wrote the famous Think And Grow Rich, introduced the idea of masterminds in his Master Keys To Success principles. In the 1960’s Master Keys To Success became a multi-part television series. In this episode, he explains:

“[In a mastermind] you may borrow and use the education, the experience, the influence, and perhaps the capital of other people in carrying out your own plans in life. It is the principle through which you can accomplish in one year more than you could accomplish without it in a lifetime if you depended entirely on your own efforts for success.” (excerpt from The Success Alliance)

This is very true. Using or “borrowing” the education and experience of the others in your group is the “secret sauce” of a mastermind. Getting the perspectives, opinions and input from everyone in the group gives you the extra confidence and courage to make decisions faster, see results sooner, and achieve your goals more quickly.

It has been true for me; I have accomplished more with my mastermind groups than I could have on my own. I started a YouTube channel that now has over 180k subscribers, publish an industry-leading newsletter to 15k subscribers and I’ve appeared as a featured guest on 30+ podcasts and virtual conferences. I could not have done even half that without my mastermind groups.

The 5 Benefits of Mastermind Groups for Entrepreneurs and Designers

Here are some of the benefits I’ve experienced from my mastermind groups:

1. Community: One of the hard parts of being an entrepreneur is the “mental load” of being the chief decision-maker. The group helps lessen that weight. It takes the edge off of the isolation most entrepreneurs experience.

2. Accelerated learning: You learn from others’ knowledge and experience. The mastermind is a confidential space that allows you to ask questions, experiment, and discuss challenges specific to your business.

3. Building a network of business partners: Develop trusted relationships and increase your connections across a broad range of industries.

4. Inspiration and motivation: Hearing what others are doing will push you to do more in your business. Learning about the wins and even failures of others will spur you on. You’ll share in their successes because you’ll have offered them advice, held them accountable and cheered them on. Being a part of others’ success boosts your confidence; something that takes a beating as an entrepreneur.

5. Goals & Accountability: Goals setting on steroids. You’ll see how others set and accomplish goals. Share goals with each other and hold each other accountable so everyone gets more important work done. Studies have shown that people perform better when others are watching (Johns Hopkins University, 2018). A small audience, such as a mastermind, may be just the thing to kick your business growth into high gear.

I created a video called “The 5 Powers of Mastermind Groups,” where I discuss these benefits in more detail.

Where will the power of the group take you?

The only way to know is to join a mastermind and find out. I am certain you will feel the compounding effect of having 4 or more brains working on your business, more meaningful professional connections, and accountability. Don’t wait another minute.

Like Bears To Honey

In northern Turkey, the Trabzon-Sürmene province is known for their honey. People love their honey.

But İbrahim Sedef, an agricultural engineer and beekeeper had a problem. There are bears in Trabzon-Sürmene. Big bears. Bears that just happen to love honey too. And they were destroying his hives to get it.

The bears kept eluding all of Sedef’s methods of protecting his hives. He assumed he could lure them to relocation traps with tasty food scraps. But it wasn’t working.

He needed to learn more about what really motivated them.

So every night he set out trays of the full range of honeys he produces. Then he set up a night vision camera and videoed the bears for 4 months.

The bears consistently made a bee-line for the premium Anzer honey that sells for $171 a kilo. Then they moved on to the chestnut, then flower and finally pine-wood honey. They wouldn’t touch the cherry jam made with corn-syrup.

Who knew bears had such discerning palates?

As marketers and branding people, when we need actionable insights for our clients, user research helps us dispel assumptions that might be incorrect. It helps us understand true preference and motivation.

So we can help them attract customers. Like bears to honey.

Want To Be Likable? Do This.

I recently came across a list of words that give a name to emotions that are hard to explain. My favorite one was “anecdoche”.

Anecdoche (n.) [ah-nek-duh-kee] is a conversation in which everyone is talking but nobody is listening.

I was immediately reminded of a scientific study I’d read about.

In the experiment, they sent two people into a networking type of gathering. Person #1 was instructed not to talk about themselves at all. They were instructed to only ask questions about the person they were conversing with.

Person #2, on the other hand, was allowed to share what they did, how they liked their job, their industry, the clients they were working with.

When the participants who had conversations with these two people were interviewed afterwards, something strange happened.

When asked which of the two people was the most interesting, accomplished and likable, they invariable chose Person #1. The person who only asked questions — the one who had not actually shared anything about themselves at all. 

When you ask questions and show genuine interest in someone it actually makes you seem more interesting, accomplished and likable.

At this point, I’d usually ask: So how can you use this method in your business? 

But instead I’ll just say: Stop having freakin’ anecdoches with your clients.

Shiny Objects

A little girl in Seattle named Gabi Mann has a collection of beautiful trinkets. A shiny earring, a green glass bead, a silver charm with the word “best” engraved on it. But, Gabi didn’t collect these treasures herself. They were given to her.

She didn’t get them from her friends. Gabi was given them as gifts…by crows.

It seems Gabi was in the habit of feeding the crows in her neighborhood. Every day for years she put out peanuts, seeds, tasty crow-appropriate treats in a metal bowl in her back yard. But then a funny thing happened. The crows started leaving her presents. A sparkly paper clip, a bright red piece of plastic. “Quid pro crow” as it were.

When you give to your community with no expectation of return something wonderful happens. I like to call it “subliminal reciprocity”. You help people and over time they just naturally want to help you, too.

That’s how content marketing works. You give people value, something that will inspire them, provides them with knowledge that helps them succeed, that will nourish their business. Before you know it, they will want to return the favor. Entertain a request you make. Maybe even refer some new clients to you.

You know, in a quid pro crow kind of way.

Lead Magnets That Deliver: A Quick Guide To Growing Your Email List With Content

Email marketing is an undeniably powerful marketing tool. Studies show that “email is the third most influential source of information for B2B audiences, behind only colleague recommendations and industry-specific thought leaders,” according to Wordstream.com. In the B2C world, ”Consumers who purchase products through email spend 138% more than those that don’t receive email offers.” Wordstream reports that 77% of people prefer to get permission-based promotional messages via email (versus direct mail, text, phone, or social media). Connecting with your audience through email is preferable and effective. You cannot deny it.

The reason it is so effective is because people have given you permission to market to them, which is unheard of in any other marketing channel. Most marketing comes to you in the form of advertising; online, television, print or outdoor advertising, and you have no control over when or where the ads are served. The media channels choose that.

Email marketing is different because people have signed up to hear from you. They have entrusted you with their email address which is one of the highest forms of trust today. Sharing an email address says, “I trust you to give me information I need, and that you won’t pester me by contacting me too often or with news I don’t care about.”

The best thing about email marketing (or permission-based marketing) is that the customer is in control of the relationship. The customer can decide when to stop receiving your emails - they can break up with you if you don’t serve them well. They are in the driver’s seat, but they are also qualified, highly interested in what you are doing and very likely to listen to what you are saying. Think about how your business would dramatically change if you had 5,000 or more subscribers attentively listening to your every word. You’d be unstoppable.

But what if you don’t have a large email list or what if your list is not chock-full of engaged, ready-to-buy subscribers? How do you get people to sign up?

You ask people to “trade.” The item you trade for an email address is a bit of content called a lead magnet or an opt-in magnet, which can take many forms. It’s usually a digital file; it can be an ebook, checklist, guide, report, resource list, or even access to a quick video training course.

When a prospect clicks to download the lead magnet, they have to enter in an email address in exchange. It's a reciprocal agreement; they're getting something of value and you're getting something of value. So this even trade kicks off a relationship based on mutual trust.

One of the most common forms of lead magnets is an ebook. Ebooks are inexpensive to create because there is no physical production involved. All it takes is some time, energy and a bit of brain power to pull one together.

Ebooks don't have to be a monumental project. They could be a mini-ebook, a two or three-page pamphlet. As long as it is valuable to your viewers and visitors, it will make a great lead magnet.

If your ebook is not based on current news or events it will have a longer shelf life so it is best to focus on content that is “evergreen”. You can offer a single ebook for an extended period or create variety by rotating through multiple ebooks as you continue to develop more. Before you know it, you will have a valuable library of evergreen email list-growing content.

You don't necessarily have to produce original content specifically for your opt-in magnet. Think about how you can repurpose other content of yours and deliver it in a way that is helpful for your potential customers. If you have videos or podcasts piling up, transcribe them into written form and offer that as an opt-in magnet (rev.com is a terrific transcription service, as are descript.com and temi.com. YouTube offers a free transcription service for videos on its site). Even if the viewer has seen the video or heard the podcast you’ve transcribed, offering it up in a different form may be of true value to them.

If you write blog posts or articles you can offer those in a different format, expand on them, or bundle them together as an ebook for your lead magnet. Prospects may not have come across your writing where you originally posted it, so offering it in another format will expose them to that information and provide value that they wouldn't have otherwise received.

You can also include additional promotional information about your products or services in your lead magnets. An incentive to buy sooner, offering add-on services, or free shipping offers can be very effective in a lead magnet.

Key Elements of a Lead Magnet

Title Tells All

The title must be really enticing, motivating viewers to have to know more. Spend some time researching which titles tend to be successful in your industry and try to create something that will draw people's attention.

Present Your Best

After you’ve piqued their curiosity, you have to deliver the goods. Make sure that you're not disappointing your readers. Remember, they are giving you their email address, so you want to make sure you're delivering top-notch information to them.

To ensure you are delivering the best, make sure that your piece has:

●       A design that reflects your brand

●       High technical quality

●       High factual quality

●       Good structure, flow and is well-written, in your brand voice

●       A call-to-action, it can be subtle, but it should be in there

Hire a copywriter to help you write or refine your piece, or if you can’t afford that, enlist an editor to make sure your work is free of grammatical and spelling errors. At a minimum, run it through free grammar and spelling checking software like Grammarly or Hemmingway.

Be A Trusted Resource

Deliver value early in the piece and you will get the attention you deserve. Starting with a strong assertion makes people take notice. Don't spend 5 or 10 pages leading up to the “big idea.” Give them value early.

Promoting your Lead Magnet

One of the best ways to promote your lead magnet is on social media. Include links and teasers in your Twitter and Facebook and Instagram posts. Use Bitly or TinyURL to create a nondescript link to your downloadable content. It’s a great idea to put links in your email signature and rotate the magnet you’re offering, so virtually every person that you send an email to gets access to a piece of valuable content.

You can also promote your lead magnet through a pop-up on your website. Everyone hates pop-ups, (I hate pop-ups too) but they work really, really well. About 75% of my email sign-ups come through the pop-up on my website. You really can’t argue with that kind of efficacy.  

Lastly, ask people to help you promote your opt-in. Ask people to share the link to your content - you’ll find that people want to help and if they do, you should do the same for them. Use this opportunity to create a great network of content-sharing professionals.

Once you get started with leveraging lead magnets, you‘ll see how easy it is to attract qualified, interested leads to your email list. You’ll be delivering great value to your audience, which is a solid start to the relationship. As long as you respect their time and attention, you are fostering a mutually beneficial partnership that will build your business and cultivate a tribe of brand devotees.

A Note From A Goat

For as long as I can remember I’ve loved soap. Not store-bought soap, the good stuff. Hand-made artisan soap. My wife calls me a “soap-hound”.

I was at a craft festival in Woodstock when I happened upon Sweet Rama’s Soaps. The owner explained that their products were made from milk from their own goats. Hand-milked by her children.

So, I bought a few bars. Fresh Cut Grass, Juniper and Sage, Citrus and Basil and few others. The soap was amazing. A few months later, when I ran out, I decided to order some more from their website.

When my order came, at the bottom of the box was personal note with X’s and O’s written on the back of a photograph from Midgie, Stella and Puck thanking me for my purchase.

But Midgie isn’t the owner. Midgie is a goat. And Stella and Puck are her kids.

In marketing, “customer lifetime value” is a term used for the prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.

My customer lifetime value to Sweet Rama’s was drastically increased by a note from a goat.

What personal touch can you put on your customer experience that can have the same effect?

The Big Ask

It was hard to say positive with just $87 in the bank.

Brothers Bert and John had a T-shirt business. For years, they’d been traveling hundreds of miles in their mini-van trying to sell shirts at every university and street fair on the East Coast.

But nothing clicked.

They wondered, maybe our designs are bad? They didn’t know the answer. They needed to ask. To get feedback, they started to throw keg parties at the end of every trip and asked students what designs they liked.

With money running out, the brothers confided in each other how hard it was to stay positive. Bert asked, “What if there was someone who was always happy no matter what was happening?" So John did a doodle. A bohemian guy with a beret and sunglasses and a big smile. This is that guy. So, they put it on a shirt.

The college kids at the next keg party loved the bohemian guy design. The first run of tees sold out in an hour.

Today, Life is Good, has 160 employees and does $100M/yr in tee-shirt sales.

You may think your products are great. You may be putting in the miles. But the secret to success isn’t in your head. It’s in your customers.

You just have to ask.

Can You Feel?

Dominique Apollon is 45 years old. But he almost started crying as he put on his band-aid.

It wasn’t because his cut hurt really bad. Although it probably did. He was almost brought to tears because his bandage was brown. Because Dominique is brown, too.

After he pulled himself together, he took a picture of the bandage on his hand and posted it on Twitter. It got re-tweeted over 100k times and picked up by major media channels.

People really felt it.

Tru-Colour Bandages, the company that made the bandage that Dominique was wearing was started by a man who was discouraged when he couldn’t find a band-aid that matched his African American son’s skin tone. 

But the power of the Tru-Colour brand isn’t that it stops cuts from bleeding better than other bandages. Or that it sticks better and doesn't come off when it gets wet. 

The power is in how it makes people feel about themselves. As Dominique put it, “I really just felt like I belonged, like I was welcomed, like I was valued.”

What can you do to assure you are delivering a product, a service, or an experience with that kind of benefit?

Something people really feel.

Creating a Customer Journey: 10 Steps to Web Copy That Converts

Is your website under-performing? Did you create your site thinking that customers would flock to it to buy your goods and then…crickets. The phone isn’t ringing. The order confirmations aren’t flooding your inbox. You wonder, “Why aren’t people engaging on my website? Why aren’t people calling me, emailing me, or downloading my freebie when they visit?”

The answer: It’s because you haven’t told them what you want them to do.

You need a customer journey.

Simply put, a customer journey is a path of movement and action for the visitors on your site; from the first headline they read, to the last click of the mouse. This path, laid out by you, tells the visitor where you want them to go and what do you want them to do when they get there.

A successful customer journey gives your site visitors a focused and seamless interaction with your brand — something every website owner aspires to.

Done correctly, the customer journey motivates your visitors to interact with you.

It shows them that you understand their problem and that you have the exact solution they need. It instills a feeling of trust and credibility toward your brand and products. It also helps the customer to feel empowered, engaged and in control of their decision, rather than being bombarded with Buy This NOW! messages.

The famous saying goes, “We buy from people we know, like, and trust.” A customer journey allows your audience to get to know you a little, like you (or at least like what you are saying) and trust that you have some expertise. However, it is not necessary to talk excessively about yourself, your company or your products to have people know, like and trust you. In fact, the biggest mistake most businesses make is talking too much about themselves. Keep the focus on reflecting the customer’s point of view, because that is what’s critical to creating more sales. Design consumer-centric communication and your customers will respond positively.

To begin, you need to know about your customer.

My video on how to develop a customer avatar will help you get started. Understand your customer, specifically:

• What motivates them? What are their values?

• What is their goal for visiting your site?

• What problem are they looking to solve? What pain points do they have?

• What other solutions might they be looking at? Where are they getting their information?

• What reasons might they have not to buy?

Next, you can start laying out the customer journey.

Ask yourself:

• How do you want people to engage on your site?

• Which pages do you want them to visit?

• In what order do you want them to visit those pages?

• What do you want them to do on those pages?

You need to take charge of the way visitors consume the information on your site. Don’t just trust or take for granted that they will arrive at the right page or see the right button at the right time. People rarely do — don’t leave it to chance. You need to lead the visitor through a thought process. It needs to be logical, simple and always come from their perspective.

Start with a hypothesis.

Build from an idea or a structure of a journey that you think will work. Later you will be checking your Google Analytics to get a sense of how people are actually interacting with your site. Take note of which pages they’re going to and how long they’re spending on those pages. Start to iterate, change and evolve the site over time using customer feedback, data, and quantifiable results.

Here are my 10 steps for creating a customer journey that converts:

Step 1: State the problem

Demonstrate to the customer that you understand their problem by writing a solid headline. Get their attention by showing them you know what they’re looking to solve. You’ve got about 3 seconds to prove you understand them, so the headline is very important. But don’t worry, you can change it if it’s not working or not working as well as you like. Keep testing this important piece of copy because it’s worth getting right.

To really show you understand the reader, use examples of the kinds of thoughts they may have or the other solutions they may have tried. In the body copy, use tangible examples in a storytelling format so your audience can really identify with it.

Step 2: Identify with the problem

Next, you need to show that you understand the problem and more importantly, have empathy for them as they wrestle with all the ordeals they have in experiencing the problem. Spend a line or two letting them know that solving their problem matters to you.

Step 3: State the solution

What is the solution to their problem? Describe the solution in general terms. Don’t mention your particular product or service just yet. State the solution in a sentence or two at the most.

Step 4: Describe the solution

Give the reader an introduction to your products and services. This is the “what” of what you offer. You can begin to talk about yourself a little in this section. A few sentences that help the reader understand what you do is ideal.

Step 5: Why you?

Let the reader know how your products/service solve the problem. Let them know what your specific solution is, and how it can help them. Be sure not to be long winded or braggy. What will you do for them? How will you do it? Be careful to steer clear of features here. Avoid talking about the all-leather soles of the boots you are selling, but instead, focus on how comfortable your customer will feel in those boots.

Step 6: Why you’re unique

Now that the reader knows you understand them and you understand that their problem is frustrating, they are likely to begin to feel like you understand them. This is the perfect time to let the reader know how your products and services are different. Demonstrate, through examples if you can, why your solution is different from the other people in your industry who do what you do.

Step 7: Get slightly braggy

This is your opportunity to lead them to understand that you’re the one they should choose. Talk about your products and services and how they’re better. For example, if you sell lip balm, let the reader know your product will heal and moisturize their dry, cracked lips (Step 6). Telling them about the healing properties of vitamin E and the moisturizing properties of avocado oil that you use, and how it’s helped hundreds of other people (Step 7) will help them understand why they should choose you.

Step 8: Results for them

Turn the spotlight back on them. Describe the result of using your product and remember to stay focused on benefits. Explain the emotional benefit as well as the functional benefit from engaging with you and buying or using your products or services. How are they going to feel? Remember, people buy results, not products.

Step 9: Barriers to purchase

Barriers to purchase are the thoughts that are going on in the customer’s mind that dissuade them from buying. Thoughts like, “No, I’m going to wait,” or “I’m not going to buy it because x,” If you can understand what x is (it’s often something like, “It’s too expensive,” or “It takes too much time,”) you can be preemptive about describing why they can feel confident in buying your product or service. Address any barriers to purchase by mirroring their inner voice exactly.

Step 10: Call to Action

Lastly, you need to tell them where to go and what to do.

Examples are:

• Follow this link

• Click this button

• Fill out this contact form

• Schedule time with me

• Download this thing

• Take this course

Be very explicit about telling them what to do next. After all, you’ve led them through this customer journey and now they believe you can solve their problem. Take the last step and tell them what they need to do to set your solution in motion.

Your customer journey may start out very simple and over time become more nuanced and detailed.

If you remember to keep the focus on your visitor’s goals and motivations for coming to your site, your customers will respond. Be willing to get in their shoes and think about their problem; what motivates them to change or take action?

If you do that along every step of the way, you will create copy that converts.

Philip VanDusen is a creative thought leader and principal of Verhaal Brand Design, an agency that specializes in leveraging brand strategy and design to build brand affinity and equity for companies and entrepreneurs. Get more from Philip in his newsletter brand•muse, join his 160k subscribers on his YouTube channel or connect with Verhaal Brand Design on Facebook.