The Amy Porterfield Show

Last year, one of my most popular podcasts was an interview with John Lee Dumas. But I invited him back this week because I wanted to talk about podcasting again, in a whole new way.Today, I want to focus on about podcasting for somebody who already has a platform. Maybe you have a business with a blog. Maybe you have an online training program or course that you’re constantly perfecting and promoting from one year to the next. Maybe you are a coach or consultant.Bottom line, you have something important to say. And maybe you’ve been thinking the podcast thing seems to be growing even bigger, and might be a good way to help your business get bigger, too.Well, you’re right. It is.No question, podcasting requires a fair amount of work, especially to get it all set up. But it can also be a huge boost to your business’ visibility, to establishing your brand as a leader, and ultimately to your sales.John is a podcasting superhero. His show Entrepreneur on Fire is consistently ranked among iTunes’ top business podcasts—he even got a Best of iTunes recognition within his first year! More impressively, though, he puts out a new episode every day! (As in seven days a week—no weekends off for this guy.) This makes him the perfect person to explain why podcasting is worth it, how he gets it done, and how he manages to stay fired up about it every single week.Why Should You Podcast?As entrepreneurs, we are always looking for other avenues to grow our audience. That’s why we use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, that’s why we blog and send emails to our list. The podcasting sphere is just another way to reach more people—a lot more people. iTunes has 525 million active subscribers, and SoundCloud, Stitcher and Spotify are catching up fast.Podcasters are an obsessive crowd—they are constantly looking for new content to listen to during their commute, while walking their dog, while they’re waiting at the airport…you name it!That’s the great thing about podcasting—it doesn’t require you to say “no” to something else, the way a lot of content does. In our multi-tasking culture, it’s the perfect way to get your message heard and deliver free, valuable and consistent content to your audience.But Wait...There's More!John has some incredible free content for you. If you want to learn about how to find your ideal podcast topic, your ideal podcast listener, how to get your show noticed in the ever-growing podcast arena, and so much more, click here to get into his free podcasting workshop.

You know me--I teach what I know best. And what I know by now, more than anything, is that the key to making a sales plan work is having a proven, foolproof system. So today, I'm going to walk you through my project management system, line by line. This is one I've spent hours mapping out with my team. Some of it will be familiar to you, but it's in the little details that you'll find the most value--the tiny things that make your promotion polished, professional and, most importantly, effective.Another great thing about putting together a promotion with this system is that it sets up your content to be "evergreen"--meaning you can use it over and over again to sell your product and build your business.There's a lot of content in this post and in the podcast. But don't worry. I've put together a special checklist for you, so that you can put all this information into action right off the bat. No matter what kind of promotion you're planning, this checklist has all the basic steps you need to make sure it launches successfully. Click here to download it instantly.EPISODE FREEBIE Click Here to Get "The Project Plan Checklist" FREE DOWNLOADI divide all my promotional planning into three categories: The Pre category is everything you do before the cart opens (i.e., your product becomes available for sale). The Live category is everything you do when the cart is open. The Post category is everything you do after the cart closes. I've launched promotions in the past that I've had just a few weeks to pull together. As my business has grown, I've had more time to plan and prepare. But here's the thing: it's never enough time! Let me encourage you to always get started on this system earlier than you think. There will always be last-minute tasks that have you scrambling. That scramble will be a lot less stressful, the sooner you get started. (Right now, I'm already starting on this system for a promo set to launch in October!)Category #1: Pre-PromotionCategory #2: Live Promotion Maintain the New Customers AreaCategory #3: Post Promotion Shut Down Ads Redirect Promo Pages to Your Waitlist Remove Promotional Imagery from Website/Social Media Celebrate! I’m always ready for a virtual champagne toast by the end of the process. I also send out thank-you notes to everyone who has helped: team members, affiliates, experts, etc.

As humans, we are hardwired to connect emotionally with visual content. Pictures in particular--we process them very quickly--faster than text, video, or audio. Pictures allow us to make a really quick decision about whether we are going to engage with something.It's no secret that some of the most successful brands in the world owe their popularity to their visual content strategy. Notice I said strategy--in other words, not just any visual content will do.Fortunately, one of the world's biggest experts in visual social media and content strategy is also a good friend of mine.You probably know Donna Moritz already as the power behind Socially Sorted, the award-winning blog about using visual content on social media. I know her as my #1 student from the very first Profit Lab course I ever launched. She's also shown up on this site more than once.But today, Donna is here to school me--and you--in how to set up a visual content strategy that supports your sales and sends your message.She's also put together an amazing freebie for us--a three-part video series that walks you through the process of creating polished imagery. This is where you'll learn how to use all the tools mentioned in this episode. Trust me--it's a must-have.EPISODE FREEBIE Get Donna Moritz's Free Guide To Creating Visual ContentFREE DOWNLOADBefore she became the renowned expert she is today, Donna learned all the ins and outs of visual content strategy through simple practice. After working in several different businesses--sometimes for others, sometimes for herself--she saw how visual content really created that initial resonance with a target audience that makes them want to learn more.The main thing with your visual content is to "stop the scroll"--in other words, arrest your audience's attention so that their finger pauses above their mouse or smartphone screen, and they take the time to engage with your message.The more Donna learned, the more excited she got about the potential of various kinds of visual content. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer variety of visual content styles out there, don't worry--Donna is here to break it into three basic levels.These are the really easy-to-create, easy-to-share individual images that would be on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Think funny photos, behind-the-scenes shots, images that incorporate quotes, tips or other short bits of text. They are really a good jumping-off point to lead into a longer message.2. Step-by-Steps3. ShowpiecesThere's so much more to learn about visual content strategy in my interview with Donna, so make sure to listen to the whole episode. Also, click here to get the amazing freebie she designed for us--it's a three-part video series where she walks you through the specifics of how to create images. It's a must-have for anyone who's ready to put their visual content strategy into action.EPISODE FREEBIE Get Donna Moritz's Free Guide To Creating Visual ContentFREE DOWNLOAD

When it comes to communicating the value of a product or service, Ray Edwards is a true legend in the industry. I met him way back in my corporate job days when my boss hired him to work his magic on a new sales letter for a product we were launching. That was when I saw the true power that words can have in generating sales and building a business. Since then, I decided to become a devoted student of copywriting, and a student of Ray’s, in particular.Why Is Persuasion So Important?In a perfect world, we could just say “Here’s what I have, it’s good, buy it if you want to,” and all the right people who need our product would click Purchase. But the thing is, we’ve all become really smart, and really skeptical.Ray points out that even Apple isn’t immune to the need for writing sales copy—they’re just so good at how they present it that we don’t realize we’re consuming their copywriting!Very few of us like thinking about “sales writing.” It makes us think of smarmy used car salesmen, trying to con hardworking people out of their money. Ray is familiar with this aversion to copywriting, and here’s how he explains the way to avoid sounding “sales-y”:"I think people get confused about persuasion versus manipulation. I like to define the difference this way: persuasion results in you making a buying decision that you will celebrate later; manipulation leads to you making a buying decision that you will regret later."The key to guiding your clients toward a decision they will celebrate is—no surprise—knowing your clients really well! You think of the problem that you’re solving, and you write about it from the perspective of the person who has the problem, and you describe their pain. Someone once said that the more accurately you can describe the pain of the person you’re selling to, the more they feel as though you automatically have the solution to the problem.Whew. Great stuff, huh?Get even more of Ray's insights on how genuine, emotionally persuasive copy can make selling a breeze. Click here to listen to the whole episode. Okay, now let’s get into the nuts and bolts of writing great copy.Ray has a couple of frameworks that he teaches anyone who is trying to improve their copywriting skills. The first one is called...The "Pastor" FrameworkThis one gets its name from the original meaning of the word “pastor”—having to do with being a shepherd. (Kind of an old meaning of the word…look it up.) Not only does this word help you remember the purpose of your business—to help and take care of people with what you sell—but it also just happens to be a handy acronym for setting up the points of your sales page.P — ProblemA — AmplifyS — StoryT — TestimonialO — OfferR — ResponseAsk people to take action.EPISODE FREEBIE Get 100+ Email and Headline Templates from Ray EdwardsFREE DOWNLOADThis last piece of the Pastor framework brings up an important point that should be present in your copy:Any Decision Is Better Than No DecisionStep #1: The Existing SituationStep #2: The Dream SolutionStep #3: Discovering the Trusted GuideStep #4: Presenting the Unique SolutionStep #5: Describe the FeaturesStep #6: Describe the BenefitsStep #7: The Transformative OfferStep #8: Present ProofStep #9: Justify the ValueStep #10: Eliminate Fear and RiskStep #11: Offer BonusesStep #12: Invite a DecisionMake sure to listen to my full podcast interview with Ray Edwards--we covered so much more than I could fit into this blog post! And don't forget to sign up to receive more than 100 templates for writing your own persuasive headlines and emails. This is the stuff that Ray normally offers only to students of his copywriting course, so you're not going to want to miss it!

One of the business guides I return to again and again is the book Great Leads. This book tells you everything you need to understand about communicating with your audience in a way that cultivates the relationship and results in increasing sales.No matter how many times I've read this book, I'm always blown away by the statistic they open with:“80% of emotional impact will be determined by the first 20% of the copy.”Did you know that? Because I sure didn’t!The first few hundred words of your copy are known as “the lead.” And if those first hundred words are the entryway to a sale, your headline is the front door that every client has to walk through, in order to get to your product.Of course, what you really want is for them to be stampeding through!To get this, you need a killer headline for your sales page.Four Essentials of a Killer Headline#1: The Rule of One#2: You need to provoke emotion.#3: Determine Which Lead to Use#4 Determine Your Reader's Awareness LevelCreating a Gateway for Your Ideal CustomerAs you might remember from earlier episodes, there are a few different ways to determine your target market's awareness level. Go back and listen to Episodes 55 and 56 if you need a refresher.Or, if you're ready to take a deep dive into the strategies for finding your ideal audience, you can sign up now for the Profit Lab--but hurry! Registration is closing soon, and today is the last day to get a massive "early bird" discount on this course.Finally, click here to download this week's free guide--it will walk you through each of these four essentials to create a killer sales page headline of your very own.

Last week, I put out an invitation on my Facebook page. I invited you to throw all your questions about online marketing at me! What do you want to know? Where are you stuck? What are you confused about?Well, the overwhelming majority of the questions people posted on my Facebook page were about--surprise!--Facebook. And the questions showed me that it's time for a major reframing of how we think about Facebook. Most people are just not looking at Facebook in a way that's going to serve them.And since my mission is to help you get results with your online marketing, including your Facebook marketing, we’ve got to address that...stat!The Facebook System that Changes Everything!Larissa asks:"How do I increase my FB followers? It seems I have hit a plateau. Also, I don’t want to spend copious amounts of money with FB ads…I feel they keep changing the algorithm to line their pockets by making you pay for advertising through them, and no one will see your post." If you feel this way about Facebook ads, then I’m guessing they haven’t been working for you. And believe me, I don't want you using Facebook ads if you're not generating revenue.This is where we need a reframe. I want to help you see FB as a place where putting in a little bit of money will result in bringing back a lot of money.The first thing to realize is that Facebook ads cannot work on their own. You have to incorporate them into a social media sales funnel--a system that turns your fans and followers into subscribers to your email list, and turn those names into paying clients. I know lots of people who make money every week from Facebook ads, but they aren't just using that ad to send people to their sales page. They're using those ads as part of their sales funnel system. That’s the key to getting the Facebook marketing results you’re looking for.How to Make Your Business BloomTara asks:"I would love to see a visual of how your business blossomed. I mean, there are so many things we’d like to do in our business, but how did you prioritize the tasks over the years, and most of all, what makes sense to do what when?" Back in 2010, I’d just quit my corporate job. I didn’t have a product ready to sell yet, so I took some social media consulting clients. By the end of 2011, I looked at my business and thought “Freedom is a joke!” I was a yes machine to 8 bosses, practically chained to my desk but never working on what I really wanted to do. I’d tried to sell a couple of my programs, but they never went anywhere…much like what some of you are feeling!We all talk a lot about freedom when building our businesses, but there’s not really freedom when you’re not generating revenue!2012 is when I hit upon the importance of this sales funnel system. With a product to sell and a lead magnet to capture interest, I fell in love with Facebook ads, because I realized how to make them work!The secret to my business blossoming is all in using this system.I don’t want you going to bed each night worrying about where the next dollar is going to come from! All that does is squash your creativity and confidence.Instead, I want you to wake up excited to build your business each day, enjoying the freedom to work on all the projects that help your business grow, and taking time for the rest of your life.*The masterclass registration has passed but to be sure to stay on the list for future webinars! Subscribe to my list or checkout one of my free cheat sheets here.

In case you haven’t noticed by now, I want you to succeed.It is genuinely important to me to help you reach that place in your business where you can say, “Yes, I made it; I love my work and I love my life!”But there is something else that is equally as compelling that I want for you:I want you to enjoy the journey—the process of making it all happen.If you’ve been with me for a while you know that I often talk about the kinds of strategies that have worked for me, that I know can work for you too. Things like building your email list early in the game, effective ways of using Facebook to engage with your audience, and the importance of having a marketing plan—knowing what you’re going to do before you set out to do it.I stand behind all of these things 100%, but there is something else you need to know. Something so critical it can actually make or break your online business dreams.I'm talking about what you believe regarding your ability to achieve success in your business.The 3 Beliefs You Must Have to Achieve Success in Your BusinessBelief #1 - I believe that one of the biggest strengths in my business is knowing my target market intimately. Knowing how they think, what they need, and what words and emotions they use to express themselves is crucial to my success.Belief #2 - I believe that I am not alone, shipwrecked on a desert island needing to have all the answers myself. I thrive and my business thrives with a few core mentors that I trust and can turn to again and again.Belief #3 - I believe I have a great idea (product/service) that will impact people’s lives, and that my idea needs a clear and easy-to-navigate system to generate sales.Understanding the Three BeliefsLet’s examine each belief more closely and see what’s important about it.#1 Knowing Your Audience#2 Finding Your Mentor#3 Having a SystemWhy You Need These 3 BeliefsI said at the beginning that belief is a tricky concept, because it’s not something I can teach you. I can only tell you, and back it up with my story and many others. But at the end of the day, the best proof of a belief is to look at your own situation.If you don’t have these beliefs, how are things going for you? Is your business on track with your vision? Are your sales what you want them to be?And if they’re not, isn’t it time to change your beliefs?I know it isn’t easy at first. It’s scary to change, to risk spending money or time on learning to do things in a new way. Don’t let fear hold you back.The purpose of belief is to shape the actions we take. And as soon as you begin taking action on these beliefs, you already have them. You will feel the difference inside you—you’ll feel your confidence growing, and your sense of purpose will feel more grounded than ever.Before long, you’ll also be seeing the difference on the outside—more email subscribers, greater audience engagement, and an increase in sales. I want all of that for you, from the bottom of my heart. I would love to hear your experiences in the comments below. Have you tried a system that has worked well for you? How are you getting to know your audience? Do you have the kind of mentorship you need to succeed? Keep moving forward and know you are not alone!Don't forget to join me on my FREE, Master Class where I'm revealing the EXACT marketing system I use (and where Facebook fits into it to!) generate multiple sales every single day.*The master class registration has passed, but be sure to stay on the list for future webinars! Subscribe to my list, or check out one of my free cheat sheets here.

There are two kinds of content in this world: content that attracts and content that sells.It's easy to spend all your time and effort focusing on the second part. Eyes on the prize, right? And believe me, I want you focused on that end result.But it's crucial to remember that the end result needs a strong beginning. In other words, you'll never get to that sale if you haven't attracted the people who want to buy your product!Today is all about the first half of the sales equation.The more you craft content geared toward your ideal customer, the more sales you'll make. And these won't just be one-time sales. You'll be talking to people who want to buy from you over and over, because they feel connected to you and your product. When you create content that makes them feel understood, that communicates an empathy for their situation and an excitement about helping them with your product, they are going to be watching their inboxes for your emails and jumping up and down each time you launch something new.These are the people you want to find, right?So let's talk about how you can reach them.First, the Good News...When you know your target market really well, creating content for them becomes incredibly easy. We talked last week about creating a survey that helps you get inside the heads of your target market. Once you're there, you'll be able to instantly rattle off ten things they need...Which then become the topics of each piece of content you create.Let me jump ahead really quick to tell you that our free giveaway for this week is a list of inspiration boosters for creating magnetic, empathetic content that your audience can't resist. Click here to get it now.EPISODE FREEBIE Get the Free Guide: "15 Content Inspirations To Help You Attract Your Target Market" FREE DOWNLOADWhat Counts as Content?Ready for some more good news? Everything you do online is content.A Facebook post counts as a content piece, whether it's video or words or simply an image. So does a tweet. An email (whether to your whole list or just a segment of it), the text and imagery on your landing page, a free giveaway, a podcast, a thirty-minute webinar...You get the idea.We all have our favorite places to post content. Maybe you're Twitter-happy and can post 140-character quips all day long. Or maybe you love doing quick video updates from wherever you happen to find yourself.So don't worry if you're not the world's most prolific blogger. If you're making your voice heard online, you're creating and posting content, and you are ahead of the game.Simplify by DiversifyingOkay, so say you have a lot of fun within creating short Facebook videos, but your brain dries up the second you sit down to write a blog. Does that mean you should abandon writing and just rely on Facebook videos to communicate with your audience?Definitely not. First of all, you're going to miss a huge segment of your potential customers by relying on only one form of content. Second, there are just things that a blog can communicate that videos can't...and vice versa! You don't have to do all kinds of content in equal measure, but if you want to reach as many people as possible, you're going to want to use as many different kinds of content to catch their attention in all the places they might be hanging out.Fortunately, every idea you come up with for one kind of content can be easily translated into a totally different piece of content. Your videos can be turned into a blog post. Your blog post can be turned into a slide deck. Your slide deck can be turned into a series of Twitter images.In other words, creating different content pieces just got a lot simpler.Get more of Amy's insights on creating content, including an interview with social media maven Donna Mortiz. Listen to Episode 56 in full. EPISODE FREEBIE Get the Free Guide: "15 Content Inspirations To Help You Attract Your Target Market" FREE DOWNLOAD

In the last several weeks, I’ve been getting a product ready for launch. It’s called the Profit Lab…or, if you want the full title,The Profit Lab: How to Create Marketing Systems In Your Business So That You Can Find Your Target Market, Grow Your Email List and Sell More ProductsI launch this product twice a year, and every year, I recreate it so that it stays fresh and valuable, even for people who have gone through it before. I make new videos, I rewrite the worksheets, all that good stuff.This year, as I’ve been getting this product ready for launch, I wanted to make sure I was truly connecting with my target audience. After you’ve had some success with a product, it’s easy to start coasting on that success, which means you stay the same while your audience continues to grow and change and develop new needs. Not my style. ;-)To find out more about my target market, I needed to find out: Where they are at, in terms of their business goals and growth. What they needed from me Where they were struggling, not just in their business as a whole but with the versions of the Profit Lab I’d released before. Knowing all this was going to help me tailor this new version of the Profit Lab into exactly what my target audience desperately needs right now.So I put together a survey. And the responses knocked my socks off!The thing is, I knew who my target audience was, but I didn’t really know them the way I thought I did. The survey gave me a chance to understand how they think, what kind of language they use, what keeps them up at night, and why they come to me as opposed to anybody else in the online marketing world.I learned so much from this experience of surveying my audience that I wanted to share some of those insights with you…how to create a survey that gets you into the minds and hearts of your target audience, so you design, redesign or market your products in direct response to their needs.The result of this will be that you sell more of your products to them.And don’t worry if you’re just starting out and your list isn’t that big yet. You can still design a survey that gets you these answers and helps you build your list...and I’ll tell you how.I've also got a great freebie for you to download this week, which will give you lots more insight on creating a survey, as well as how to use the information it yields. Click here to download it now!EPISODE FREEBIE Get the Free Guide: "The Product Maximizer: 4 Smart Ways To Sell Products Online" FREE DOWNLOADFirst Step: Design Your QuestionsSecond Step: Get People EngagedThird Step: Getting Your Survey Out ThereThe Bottom LineSending out a survey is kind of like going on a first date. If you spend the whole evening trying to make sure the other person understands you, you’re probably not going to get to see them again. But if you spend the whole time asking them questions about themselves, you’ll come away with a really good understanding of who they are, and whether you have what they need.When you’re creating this survey, don’t think so hard about what you’re trying to accomplish in your business. Think about getting to know your target market, and the goals of your business will fall into line.

I hope you’re buckled in, because my guest this week is an online business expert who is renowned for “telling it like it is.” Ramit Sethi is a master communicator who pulls no punches. When it comes to sheer mental confidence, there's no one quite like him in the online marketing world.As a result, he’s had massive success in developing products that get huge results for his clients. His secret to developing these products is just one of the things we discussed in our interview. Our conversation was a great mix of lessons on mindset and tactical product creation strategies.You should really listen to the whole interview, because there's way too much to fit into a blog post. But here are some of the highlights:Redefining a Rich LifeRamit’s landmark book is called I Will Teach You To Be Rich. But the strategies he teaches in this book and elsewhere aren’t aimed exclusively at people who want to blow $5,000 on a weekend in Vegas (but if that's your jam, Ramit thinks it's great!). Ramit says that the rich life is different for each person. For many of us, a rich life simply means being able to work from home, take our kids to work with us, building a business where money is automated and we can focus more time on the things we love.In other words, money is an important part of having a rich life, but money is not the whole picture.No matter how you define a rich life, Ramit says it all comes down to just a few big “wins.” If you get just five or ten of these wins, you don’t have to sweat the small stuff, and you can focus more on the things you really love.How Fear Will Hold You BackRamit talks candidly about the toxic influence of fear, which gets in the way of achieving these big wins. You’d never know it to hear him talk now, but Ramit himself struggled a lot with fear in the early days of starting his online brand."I had been writing my blog for about two or three years and I had never made a cent. I didn’t want people to think I started my blog just as a way to make money because that was never the intention.I was absolutely petrified that people would not buy it or, even worse, that they would call me a sell out. You can see it in the sales copy that I wrote. The way I wrote that sales copy was so cowardly.I literally said, 'Why should you pay for this? I know you can find a lot of stuff for free.' My self confidence was so low that anyone would buy it that … I literally tried to defend it before they even bought."But people did buy it. And they thanked Ramit for putting his information out there. What’s more, those buyers ended up opening his emails, joined other courses he offered, and took action on the things he taught them."The real people, the people I actually wanted to focus on, were buying and they were delighted to pay."In other words, Ramit had found his target market. (Want to listen to the entire interview? Click here now!)"My belief is if I’m not adding multiple failures to that every month then I am probably not trying ambitiously enough. If you go talk to a successful person and ask them to tell you about their failures they ask you if you have all day, because they have 50 things they have had problems with."FREE DOWNLOADTo listen to my entire conversation with Ramit, click here now.