Content Sells: Attract, Convert & Keep Your Ideal Clients with Content Marketing That Works

We know many of our listeners have some form of recurring revenue in their business model – whether that’s a membership site sharing information, or a repeatable service, a high dollar coaching program, or even a retainer arrangement – these are all recurring revenue models and you want to RETAIN as many of your recurring customers as possible. In this episode, your hosts, Suzi Dafnis and Michelle Falzon, are diving into their many years of experience with memberships to give you their best ideas and inspiration, sharing 6 specific and powerful membership retention strategies. And even if you DON’T have a membership, there’s lots here you can map over to your business in terms of client retention, adding value and creating happy customers that refer more people to you! Listen to this episode to hear more about: -> The “leaky bucket” problem most memberships have and how to plug the gaps! -> The power of personal outreach and why you might want to add some 1:1 connection into your renewal process! -> Tips on how you can customize client interactions that have a high perceived value without taking too much of your time (and why this matters!). -> How you can use anticipation as one of your most powerful “stick strategies.” -> How to know if you have enough ‘pain of exit’ built into your membership. -> Why the right kind of rituals and celebrations can be one of your most effective ways to keep members happy and feeling like they’re making progress (and not wanting to leave!). -> And much more! Also Mentioned in This Episode: -> HerBusiness Marketing Success Mastermind -> The REACH Retreat in Hawaii

Anyone who’s listened to this show for a while will know what big fans we are of both DOING customer surveys and gathering customer language. It’s one of the best ways you can deeply understand your market… and ALSO create powerful marketing language. So we thought it was high time we did an episode dedicated to giving you some frameworks for doing just that. In this episode, your hosts, Suzi Dafnis and Michelle Falzon, share how you can write slam dunk marketing copy using your customer’s own words by going direct to the source and literally transforming your customer SURVEY responses (and other raw language you get from your customers through interviews, emails etc) into powerful headlines, bullet points, video scripts, sales pages, emails and more. Listen to This Episode to Hear More About: How we use Ryan Levesque’s Deep Dive Survey methodology to gather customer language. How to identify (and get rid of) useless jargon that’s actually alienating you from your ideal customers. What clues to look for when scanning your survey responses for the most powerful insights. The value of doing customer interviews (and how to ensure you don’t “knock the edges off” your customer language). Why you’re looking for the longer, more emotive responses from your customers (and what to do with them!). Michelle’s step-by-step process for turning raw customer language into powerful copy for headlines, bullet points and more. How you can use your survey data to create your Content Plan. A real-life example from Suzi’s customer language and how she’s applied that raw language to create powerful marketing copy. And much more! Also Mentioned in This Episode: -> HerBusiness Marketing Success Mastermind -> The REACH Retreat in Hawaii -> Content Sells Episode 31 “How To Use Surveys to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want - With Ryan Levesque” -> Content Sells Episode 67 - Client Avatar Interviews Why You Need Them and How To Do Them -> Michelle Pritchard from Aligned Business Consulting

In this episode, your hosts, Suzi Dafnis and Michelle Falzon, are shaking things up and for the first time ever, are interviewing not one, but THREE guests as they talk about their breakthroughs when it comes to the MONEY part of Marketing! This is a topic we’ve touched on at different times over the years, but it’s the first time we’re approaching it like this bringing in 3 people who’ve had money breakthroughs in 3 important ways that relate to how we do our marketing: -> Mindset Breakthrough -> Price Breakthrough -> Investing in Paid Traffic Breakthrough Listen to this episode to hear more about: -> Why the “DIY” approach to your marketing where you “think” you’re SAVING money can actually be COSTING you more! -> The powerful reframe Shandra Moran of the Transit Lounge had that marketing, when done well, is actually an investment and a part of business operations. It's not just a cost or an expense. -> The importance of asking “Where is my money best INVESTED” and how treating your marketing budget like an investment can transform your results. -> How to deal with money blocks around the price you charge. -> Shifting my criteria based on where I spent money and what I spent it on. -> The “internal” work around reframing money stories and beliefs that made a difference for these 3 business owners (and what you can learn from their experience). -> What Fertility Specialist Tasha Jennings, did to get congruent with the value she was providing and charge more for her services! -> The very special list Tasha made that completely transformed her belief in the value she brings to her clients (this one tip can completely change your business!). -> How Fashion Stylist, Fiona Keary made the leap to paid traffic and scaled her business. -> And much more! Also mentioned in this episode: -> HerBusiness Marketing Success Mastermind -> The REACH Retreat in Hawaii -> Content Sells Episode 82 - 3 Profitable Pricing Strategies for Small Business Owners -> Content Sells Episode 160 - Why Being Opportunistic is Costing You Opportunities -> Episode 183 - Why You Don’t Need to Change Your Marketing (the Benefits of “Project Broken Record”)  -> Content Sells Episode 184 - How to Raise Your Prices – 5 Strategies For Making More Money (Without Losing Customers) -> Content Sells Episode 204 - The Perils of Overthinking and Underdoing -> Shandra Moran - The Transit Lounge -> Tasha Jennings - TashaJennings.com.au -> Fiona Keary - Style Liberation

AI is here to stay and it’s changing the marketing game for small business owners. In this episode, your hosts, Suzi Dafnis and Michelle Falzon, deliver their first AI-related show (it won’t be the last!). They discuss the importance of crafting great prompts to get the best out of AI and share a simple “Prompt Crafting” framework you can follow to optimise the results you’re getting from AI. They also discuss the incredible opportunities available to small business owners through the use of AI for research, brainstorming ideas, creating content, translating, summarizing, editing, proofreading, and giving advice. They also discuss the limitations of AI, such as inaccuracies and biases, and how to verify the results provided by AI. Listen to this episode to hear more about: -> How we used AI to create this episode, including the graphics, show notes, content outline and marketing materials! -> What AI really means and why it’s so important for business owners to understand how it’s been designed to mimic human intelligence and behavior -> What Natural language processing (NLP) is and why it’s a game-changer for making AI more usable, accessible and powerful. -> What tools to use -> Why AI is not to be trusted – do not believe everything it tells you (and here’s why!) -> Examples of how the results can seem “plausible” but not accurate and tips on how to verify what AI is telling you BEFORE you publish! -> Our favourite uses for AI right now (and what we DON’T think it’s any good for… yet) -> How to use AI to create emails, blog posts, headlines, split tests and more. -> Real-life examples from Suzi’s business (and the prompts she’s using!). -> What’s the story with AI and copyright?” -> How to inject more of your tone of voice and style into your AI-generated content. -> And much more! Also Mentioned in This Episode: -> HerBusiness Marketing Success Mastermind -> The REACH Retreat in Hawaii -> EP 199 - Creating a Runway: How to Pave The Way For The Sale & Get More Results For Less Cost -> Samantha Konyeshi from My Uno Home Drafting Design -> FREE Download: AI Tools for Content Marketers  

Today, we’re talking about the elements of a successful sales page. A sales page is a web page where you’re… selling something! And while that might seem obvious, there is definitely a science and an ART to creating a high converting sales page. In this episode, your hosts, Suzi Dafnis and Michelle Falzon, draw on their decades of experience creating sales pages to share their checklist of 16 Essential Elements of a High-Converting Sales Page. Listen to this episode to hear more about: -> How to find the BIG IDEA for your Sales Page (and why you NEED one!) -> How to use your customer’s objections as the inspiration for much of your Sales Page content. -> Will you have a video on your sales page or not? We’ve got opinions! -> How to give people a reason to buy now. -> Social proof tips that will drive up conversions. -> And much more! Also Mentioned in This Episode: -> HerBusiness Marketing Success Mastermind -> The REACH Retreat in Hawaii -> 23 - How to Craft an Offer That Sells -> 27 - Videos that Sell with James Wedmore -> 66 - Turning Content into Sales With “The Problem/Solution Dance” -> 126 - Hooks: Why You Need Them In Your Content and How To Create a GOOD One! -> 134 - How To Use Bonuses To Get More Sales (Even From Your "Fence-Sitters") -> 168 - How to Use Social Proof to Increase Sales -> 179 - Why Your Marketing Needs to be More "BOOFY" -> 202 - The “Features” Trap – Why You Need to Focus on Benefits vs Features to Make More Sales!

We’re discussing a topic that underpins everything we do as business owners, and particularly what we do as marketers and content creators. And that is this idea of Owning More Space. What we mean by that is expanding into a bigger expression of yourself and your business in all the ways. Whether that’s… Charging more for your products or services Becoming more visible in your marketing Becoming more audacious in your messaging Offering something new that you know your market needs you to bring to the world but maybe feels a bit intimidating Owning more of your personal space and taking more downtime from your business Just to name a few ways you can own more space! In this episode, your hosts, Suzi Dafnis and Michelle Falzon share practical tips for owning more space. Listen to this episode to hear more about: -> The 3 Fundamental Orientations (and how to shift more to the “Expansion Orientation”). -> The unconscious beliefs that can cause us to shrink back from opportunities. -> Do you get the “push/pull” happening that has you take one step forward and one step back when it comes to growing your business? Find out why that might be (and how to get past it). -> The important difference between OWNING more space and TAKING more space. -> The conscious step Suzi took to deliberately own more space. -> The surprising role “practice” plays. -> The revealing questions you can ask yourself to see where you are maintaining the status quo and shrinking back. -> Why you don’t have to own more space in ALL the places! -> How to find your flow when it comes to growth and expansion - shifting from forcing to flowing. -> One of the biggest wasted opportunities on most sales pages (and the simple fix!) -> What makes a great headline for your sales page. -> And much more! Also Mentioned in This Episode: -> HerBusiness Marketing Success Mastermind -> The REACH Retreat in Hawaii -> EP203 - 12 Questions to Ask BEFORE You Rebrand Anything! -> Katy Abbott - The Artist Mentor -> Liz Van Vliet, My EA Career

Today we’re looking at something we see happen to a lot of business owners. Especially when you’re moving into new territory. For example, if you’ve never done a webinar before, or you’ve never paid for traffic before, or you’re launching a new product or service that’s different to what you’ve done before. And that is to OVER think and UNDER do! This approach comes with plenty of perils… Because new territory, while full of potential and opportunity, can also become a big hole we get stuck in when we OVERTHINK things to the point where we aren’t taking enough ACTION. Feeling like we have to “know more” or “have more planned out” or “get things perfect” before we start, can put us in a loop of procrastination and second guessing that can lead us to doing more work than we need to, delaying getting the results we want and, in many case, even prevent us from getting the results we want. In this episode, your hosts, Suzi Dafnis and Michelle Falzon share their top tips for getting out of “analysis paralysis” and shifting into a more action oriented approach. Listen to this episode to hear more about: -> Our top 3 tips for escaping the overthinking / undergoing trap and reaching your business goals sooner and with less stress. -> How to balance “being strategic” with “getting stuff done!” -> How to tell when you’re obsessing over details that don’t matter. -> The glorious benefits of taking imperfect action. -> Why thinking you need to “learn more” can sometimes work against you. -> The benefits of knowing “just enough to be dangerous!” -> What a teenage garage band can teach you about escaping overthinking and undergoing! -> When to seek advice (and when not to!). -> How to take bigger action than you might feel comfortable with (and why it’s so crucial!). -> Why you need to take action much EARLIER than you might think and MORE OFTEN than you think. -> And much more! Also Mentioned in This Episode: -> HerBusiness Marketing Success Mastermind -> The REACH Retreat in Hawaii -> James Clear - Atomic Habits -> Shandra Moran - The Transit Lounge

We’re talking about rebranding… and specifically the 12 questions you need to ask yourself before rebranding anything! Because this is definitely something where there can be more worms in the can than you might first imagine! And we’ve seen too many people undertake a rebrand when it was NOT needed! BUT… if you DO need a rebrand (and we cover the reasons for a rebrand in today’s show) - you definitely want to get clear on these questions FIRST. In this episode, your hosts, Suzi Dafnis and Michelle Falzon share from their decades of branding experience how to set yourself up for success with your rebrand (and also how you can tell if your rebrand is not needed!). Listen to this episode to hear more about: -> Reasons a rebrand may be needed (plus the number 1 reason NOT to rebrand!) -> The big WHY behind Suzi’s rebrand from ABN to HerBusiness (and how to get super clear on YOUR big why for your rebrand). -> How one business owner used these questions to realise she DID need a rebrand, but not right NOW (and why the TIMING of your rebrand is so important). -> Why you need a branding STORY and how to use that story to enlist the support of your team, your customers and your wider market and key stakeholders. -> How to get clear on what you need to prioritise for the launch of your rebrand (and why you don’t have to do EVERYTHING at launch!). -> And much more! Also mentioned in this episode: -> HerBusiness Marketing Success Mastermind -> The REACH Retreat in Hawaii -> Content Sells Podcast Episode 2 - Your Ideal Client -> Content Sells Podcast Episode 23 - How To Craft an Offer That Sells -> Content Sells Podcast Episode 133 – How To Use Photography to Advance Your Personal Brand with Jamie Swanson -> Content Sells Episode 196 - Campaign Thinking Vs Ad Hoc Marketing -> Content Sells Episode 199 – Creating a Runway: How to Pave The Way for the Sale & Get MORE Results for LESS Cost! -> Jo Alilovic, 3D HR Legal

We’re talking about the “Features Trap” that most business owners get stuck in. We’re all in love with our own product and we can become obsessed with all the “things” that make our product great… but guess what? Your market is not interested in your product or services FEATURES! They want to know about its BENEFITS! In this episode, your hosts, Suzi Dafnis and Michelle Falzon share how you can rewire your marketing brain to be more BENEFIT focused and less stuck in the Features Trap! Listen to This Episode to Hear More About: -> Why it’s so hard to let go of talking about your product’s features and the massive boost in results you can get when you make the leap and focus on benefits instead. -> How to turn a feature into a benefit (this is the way to escape the “Features Trap!” -> What benefits to focus on to overcome and obliterate objections. -> The simple framework for articulating your benefits that is a NO BRAINER and guarantees you focus on benefits vs features. -> Why and how to obsess over the transformation from “Pain Island” to “Pleasure Island” and less about “the boat!” (Hint: your product is the boat!). -> The counterintuitive message you need to share with your audience to get them buying from you more often. -> And much more! Also mentioned in this episode: -> HerBusiness Marketing Success Mastermind -> The REACH Retreat in Hawaii -> Skye Anderton of Ruby Olive Jewellery -> Content Sells Podcast Episode 2 - Your Ideal Client -> Content Sells Podcast Episode 23 - How To Craft an Offer That Sells

In this episode we’re doing something that’s become a tradition! It’s our annual Best Content Marketing Books episode! Your hosts, Suzi Dafnis and Michelle Falzon LOVE talking books and they’ve got some GOODIES to share! Plus we’ve released our newly updated 2023 Content Sells Reading List which you can get here! Listen to This Episode to Hear More About: -> The book Michelle read early in the year that “just wouldn’t leave her alone.” -> How one author is demystifying “charisma” and why you need to be more charismatic in your marketing. -> The books Suzi loved so much she literally bought HUNDREDS of copies of to share! -> The non-business book that Michelle can’t take off her bedside table and the “rules” it contains (which, unlike most rules, can give you more freedom and expansion in your life!). -> Why asking the simple question “who?” instead of “how?” can be a gamechanger for you and your business (and the book to read to help you build more leverage, growth and support into your business. -> And much more! Also mentioned in this episode: -> HerBusiness Marketing Success Mastermind -> Content Sells NEWLY UPDATED Reading List for 2023 -> Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication – Vanessa Van Edwards -> Chill and Prosper - Denise Duffield-Thomas -> Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal Connections, Spark Innovation and Sell Our Greatest Ideas - John Pollack -> The Gap and the Gain - Dan Sullivan, Benjamin Hardy -> Wolf Pack - Abby Wambach -> Who Not How - Dan Sullivan, Benjamin Hardy