**This is part one of a long post explaining how you can market your brand efficiently online. I suggest that you bookmark this page for future reference. You can access Part 2 soon**
Last Dec. 5 2016, I decided to make a long post for beginners regarding growing their businesses using online marketing
It was actually my birthday that day and decided to celebrate it by writing a long post to give back to those who are still confused on how to actually build their sales online
Most people that I encounter are still stuck in deciding whether or not to pull the gun on spending on digital advertising
So I looked for a good story that will relate to the beginners… Story that started from $0 and ended up making hundreds of thousands online
Although the setting is in the United States, the techniques and the story can still be replicated in any part of the world
Building a brand online doesn’t limit your ability to make sales in a particular area. You can grow your it anywhere in the world as long as they can access your website.
So how does one build a successful website online?
We launched on January 28th, 2013 with only 3 products and no established sales. We’ve grown from $1000/month to most recently $40k in October and we are on pace for $60k in November. With the exception of March, we’ve seen growth each month. – Eric Bandohlz
So I encountered this story while I was researching that day. Basically, BeardBrand started out as a passion project by Eric Bandholz
He came from the financial industry as an Advisor but it wasn’t what he wanted all along. That’s when he came out of his shell and built a brand that he truly cares
Building Beard Brand wasn’t easy especially that he is facing personal issues on the side… He and his wife are struggling infertility
Luckily in 2013, after several IVF’s they finally celebrated his wife’s pregnancy. Over the years, he began to give his all out focus to the growth of Beard Brand
According to this article, Beard Brand grew from $0 to $120,000 in less than a month in monthly sales using several techniques that are available online
Below, I’ve made my own observations on how this brand grew and how a beginner brand can learn from his experience
This post is going to be quite long so I suggest that you bookmark this post
1. Build A Well Designed Website
A few months ago, one of our clients kept on insisting on creating his own type of site. Then after a few months of running the site.. He realized that it is not engaging his customers
And it is not getting any sales…
Problem is not all websites are created equal.
As you can see on the screenshot above, BeardBrand has all the right things going on the site. He has a nice logo, professional photos and lead magnets — that I will discuss later on.
Not only that, the site has articles/contents all over.
You can see the brand’s story as you click the different types of menu on the site
So how do you build your website if you don’t have the budget to hire us?
The first step is to signup to bluehost (this is an affiliate link. Meaning, the site will gain revenues once you signup. If you want to know how this works, you can contact me so I can explain)
Bluehost is basically a hosting service where you can store your files and run your site online.
I recommend this not because this is the best but because it’s decent and cheap. I wouldn’t recommend buying high end servers if you are just starting out or just testing the waters.
Our server is liquidweb. If you are more experienced and really serious then that’s what I suggest. You can also let us manage your site. The only difference is we do the work for you for a fee of course.
Once you sign up to their hosting. You will be asked to get a package. Once you get a package, you will be asked if you have a domain already. If you don’t then you can purchase your domain there inside bluehost.
Once done you will be asked for your payment details. Then you will see the install a wordpress button on the cpanel
Once you install wordpress. you can now access the backend of the site.
Inside the wordpress backend, you can customize the theme of the site by clicking themes inside the appearance menu (check the image below)
You can now download different themes from different sites for a fee of course then upload it in your wordpress site.
My suggestion is to head over to the sites below they have plenty of themes to choose from
Themeforest.com (affiliate link)
For Ecommerce:
The only drawback with themes is that it’s not customized to your liking and you need a developer and designer to help you with the customization of the site..
But for starters you can try it out first..
Then if you decide to let our team design an improved version of your site then that’s the time that you invest on a better one.
Always remember to make your site well designed. Use professional photos, create nice content and copywriting and remember to give value to your audience.
2. Create Lead Magnets to Get Prospective Buyers
Once you have a well designed site. It’s time to focus on the marketing aspect of your asset.
I bet you heard the term “Money is on the list” a million times online. But if not, let me expound on it a bit more..
Building your subscribers/list is the most important part of the process since you can remarket to them regularly…
Let’s put it this way, imagine your site as an offline store. Let’s say Nike. Nike builds their subscribers by giving out discounts in exchange for your contact details.
They do this in order to remarket their products to you even if you are not inside the mall or inside their shops.
The same way with your online assets/website. You want your audience to remember you anywhere they are.
If you check out the BeardBrand site. They have two ways to get you as a lead. One, is when you contact them in the leave a message tab and
Two, when you download their tip above the site. These two features are what we call Lead Magnets.
What’s amazing with Beardbrand according to this article is that they have “7,000 email subscribers and 46% of them opens their mail”
Imagine 3000+ people reading your emails and remembers your brand every time you send your message to them.. That is a lot!
So How do you Setup your own Lead Capture Forms?
Their are 3 softwares that you can choose from to setup your lead capture:
- Aweber
- Getresponse
- Activecampaign (affiliate link)
The first step is of course to signup to any of them. My advice is to use activecampaign since this is the one that I am using.
Once you signup, the process is pretty straightforward.
You first create a list name – It can be your brand or any name that you wish
Once done, you need to create your form. In this section, you have to think of the fields that you want your customers to fill in.
You can make it as simple as possible, like asking for the name and email…
Or you can make it complicated and ask things like phone number, country, interest, etc
(check the image below)
The choice is yours.
You will then be asked to get the code of the form and place it on your website. For beginners, You can go to the backend of your site and place it on the widget area.
Once done, you now need to place your autoresponder series so that you can send out inital mails to your subscribers.
So go to campaign and click autoresponder.
Then create at least 7 mails that gives value to your specific audience/persona.
The best way to write your first few emails is to know what your customers want. Create moving stories or give out tips. It all depends how you go about it as long as you give value.
3. Show Social Proofs
Providing people with trust factors is one of the few things that people don’t understand online. A few days ago, one of my clients was asking me why they need to put their clients on the site…
So I explained to him that these are important when building your site. You need to build credibility and trust online and one of the few ways to do this is to put your clients on your site
Another way is to show that you’ve been featured in different media properties
If you check the screenshot below, you will see that BeardBrand placed popular media sites where they were featured on their site to increase the trust of their users
Another way is to put tesitmonials on your site, a good example is our Mainline Power Site that is shown below
Another one is on our Nooovle Site:
As you can see, we even placed the picture of the client to increase the credibility of the testimonial.
Remember, never fake your reviews. I know some marketing companies who use this technique but here’s my take on this
If you strive to get nice reviews it only means that you also strive to give the best possible outcome for your customers…
At first, you might not be able to get those quality reviews.. Maybe because you are still starting out or you have some mistakes in your operations..
But that is fine… as you fill in the gaps and lapses in your business… and if you focus on getting those positive reviews.. Your clients will notice
And it’s a long term strategy, once you get those hard earned reviews… it only means that you refined your product/service…
and that only means that you’ll get more high quality reviews long term. Keep on building your credibility. Keep refining your operations. If you fail at first, don’t fret. Just keep on going.
4. Create Outstanding Content on Your Site
I can’t stress how important this section is.. A few people understand why content is the most valuable asset in the online world
All marketers will tell you that content is KING. and yes it is.
I always believed that this is the bloodline of your business. Every business owner should learn how to be a media company and should learn how craft engaging content online.
This is non-negotiable.
Either you learn how to do it or you can hire someone to do it for you.
According to BeardBrand, His About Us page and Vision Page are the most valuable asset inside his website
And studies show that people are more likely to buy more products once they visit your about us page.
WHY?
BECAUSE STORIES SELL.
If you check the BeardBrand’s content, you will see different stories and tips that gives value to their audience..
Another site that does this is Blue Apron.. You will see how they share recipes, food stories and tips inside their sites.
When Blue Apron launched in the market. The business model that they are planning didn’t even exist. This proves to be a challenge on their end.
But, after 3 years of operating their business, they’ve managed to grow the company to a million customers… Their company is now valued at $2 Billion
Their content marketing is definitely one of the reasons why they grew really fast.. If you check their facebook page
Their company has around 1.5 million fans. Their content is being shared by their followers which proves that their content is valuable and their brand is being shared because of it.
So How Do You Start Your Own Content Machine?
Start by research what your audience wants. You could ask your subscribers through mail or you can research by checking your competitor’s website.
Write down what topics are getting shared and list them down.
Once you determine those topics, start making an outline on your first article.
Another tip is to place a relatable story inside the content. Our formula to create good content is to place a good story before placing stats and lessons in it.
This is a good way to elicit emotions from the reader is they relate to the story. Another reason is that stories release oxytocin in your brain.
This give your content more impact to your readers and will help you convert more customers in the long run.
Conclusion:
Building your business online is quite tedious at first. There are many moving parts in the whole equation but the results are proven to be effective.
Imagine if you could grow your business just like how BeardBrand and Blue Apron did!
Their are tons of other businesses that benefit from these strategies. The only way that you could get the same results is to take action.
Stop waiting in the sidelines and try it out. It’s not easy. It requires work but the results will definitely outweigh the time and effort that you put in or you can also let us do your campaigns,
If you want to learn more on how do grow your business online then I suggest that you download the ebook below while it’s free
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