How To Create Free Content That Leads To Your Membership – Episode 69

Melissa: So let's get started with Kim.
Kim: Hi, my question is I'm just starting to put together my marketing.  For mostly Facebook,but I don't know how much information to put. So I'm basing it on the five pillars of my free course, which will lead into my membership.
And so I'm doing kind of some memes or infographics for my business page. So the format that I'm following is an overview infographic for my business page, then slightly more in depth for my free group, but I've got to be careful.I don't give too much away because otherwise why would they are doing the course? And then the bit I'm stuck on is if I'm going to keep it all on theme and tie it all together, what do I put in the email then?
Because if I give them something free, they're not going to sign up to the course. So I'm like, I don't know what strategy should I follow here.
Melissa: Excellent. Great. All right. So we're gonna open this up to the group with any thoughts on how you're marketing your memberships. If you have free offerings and kind of how you put it out there and lead people, any thoughts and ideas?
I know this is a, this is a big question. I see Meg.
Meg: Hi everyone. Yeah, I think, I don't know what Paul and Melissa are going to say, but I think that there's some mindset  issues here. If you're thinking that just because you give something away for free, they're not going to join the lot of people. And, and not that it's always right. Cause I a hundred percent agree with Paul.
It's like people don't always give things away for free. This is just what a lot of the well-known people are saying to do. There's all different ways that you can do things. But I think, you know, stop telling yourself that because if you keep telling yourself that then it's going to happen.  
Paul: Excellent. Thank you. Do have anyone else that wants to contribute?
Kim: It's already a free course.
So they funnel is that there's going to be these memes in the marketing to funnel them into a free course and then the free membership. So I'm just worried about how much I put in the marketing, because otherwise I might have given them too much for the free course.  
Meg: you could limit the free course to like five days or something like that.And then, you know, again, stop telling yourself that, it's not going to work because I tell my clients that all the time then congratulations.
Kim: Because it won't, that's just my 2 cents. I hope that helps somebody. Yeah.
Paul: Great. So any other input? Oh yeah. Lisa.
Lisa: I was thinking that in the content that you're giving out,you keep it high level. So you're not going in as deep as you could. You give them enough that can get them started that it's valuable information.
Kim: You give them enough to set yourself up as a professional in this realm of whatever you're you're doing, but you don't, but you leave them wanting more. Right. So I think it's a balance. Absolutely. You want to give, you want, you don't want them to come and go, okay. That was a waste of my whatever amount of days you're going to do it for.
But you also, like you said, you don't want to give too much away, but I think that you could still give quite a bit away and still have them join you because they realize that if you've given this away,what are you keeping back? So I think it's, I think that, you know, you do have to be careful of the limiting mindset, but I also think that just, you know, give as much as you can.
That's not overwhelming cause you don't want to overwhelm them either. So I think it's like this. I think it's like a tight,tight rope walk. It's it's you gotta be careful. You want to give them, you want to make sure they walk away going, wow, I got value. Wow. She knows what she's talking about and you don't want to overwhelm them.
You don't want to underwhelm them and you don't want to give away everything. So I'm not sure that helps,but I think that I think Meg was right. Don't be too much of a mindset of scarcity, but give with your heart. And I think people recognize that and I think you'll be rewarded for that.
Melissa: All right. So I'll just tag on. I love, I love the feedback that everyone's given so far and it,it totally is a balance between the two where you want people to feel like it is worth their time and worthwhile to spend that time with you and get that value. But yes, you don't want to give away too much.
So I would . Almost narrow it down. If you could have like a specific theme with that course where you're going to teach them some knowledge, some tips help them get like that first win. If you can have them at least get like that first win and just really nail it with that, then it's going to be like, Oh my gosh, I finally learned how to get my dog to XYZ.
That's like the first win,then they're gonna have questions. Well, now I want my to get my dog to do this. So it's kind of like the next step would be to join the membership, joined the program you're presenting on the, on the back end of that. So give them  a really quick, easy win so that they can see that it's possible because I think that's the other thing too,is that sometimes people are a little closed minded and they're like how is this free thing really going to help me out? But if you can give them  a quick win and show them, yes, this is possible. And just look what we did within these five days or however long the is can you imagine if you're working with me on an ongoing basis,the kind of wins and success that you'll be getting on that ongoing basis.
So I would just really hone in on that quick win. And then you'd ask about email copy. So I would just, again, use the same languaging around that. Let's help you get that first win with this. Let's help you master this skill, you know, learn this technique really well, so that you feel confident about it.
And then present the opportunity and guess what? This is just the beginning. You're just getting started. I want to be, you know, your support to help you with this journey and that's where you would lead them into your program.
Paul: I know if people will listen to this on a podcast, they're not going to see the visual. So we'll help out with that. Do any of you that have been on these calls? Do you think that we hold back any information at all when we're on these calls and these calls are a hundred percent free,just from a visual standpoint, can you raise your hand if you've bought anything through us at any point in time, any of our programs, any of our systems, any of our memberships or anything like that?
So, so Kim, do you think by saying all the hands, which is more than 50% plus, do you think that it has hurt our opportunity of selling into our paid programs?Because we give a hundred percent on the outside and as you can see it, it hasn't, you know, so I just want, I just want to bring that up to you, just so you know,  you know, so you see that now at the same time, whenever you have a free group, like definitely look at anything you're doing,instead of looking at it, like we do these days as a funnel, you know, and some people can't get their head around that.
We used to call this a pipeline. You know, this is, it's basically the same thing, but it's wrapped differently. And if you think of a pipeline, like it has a beginning and an end to it,right? So it's linear. It kind of feels linear. And if you think about it at the end of the pipeline, that's like where your, your paid product, your program or anything is, right.
The whole idea is you're going to lead them through this path. So you're going to have all the good stuff at the end. So what you want to do though,is you want to create excitement, anticipation. So people will take the next step and then take the next step and then take the next step. So your email needs to create desire for them to want to go into the free program, but also that Facebook post or that Facebook group post or whatever you're doing has to create that same type of desire.
Now we also have to keep in mind,is all of our email open rates. Even if you get 50% open rate, that means half the people did not see or open that email when you're online and in social, no, that probably at best 6% of people are going to see your, your post and your Facebook. So that means that that same message.
Even if you echo the same thing,they get people to take the next step. The majority of the people still didn't,see it. The majority of people still didn't see it. So there's for all of us sometimes we need to see things in a couple of spaces in order to take the action. Very rarely do we see something once, but when we have the echo effect, when you see it online,I mean, how many of you went to buy something and then you decided not to, and then that thing followed you around the internet and you find like, Oh gosh, I'm going to buy it now, you know, you're going to click it, you know, because cause they get retargeted right.
Yeah. I get, it's really interesting. Cause I can tell when she looks at anything,cause I started seeing the ads, the retargeting ads on my Facebook. So it's like, Oh, I see your, what you're what you're looking at. So, so give yourself permission because there are people when, I mean, we, we can take people right into a paid thing, not everybody's looking for free and that's definitely a topic in conversation like Meg was referencing into.And at the same time, when you are bringing somebody into a free thing, just, just now like how we used to do it.
We normally, I would sketch this out, we look at it as a bullseye, like in the center of that bullseye, that is where your paid offer is. And then the outer ring, that's just outside of that.That's what you're trying to pull from into. Well, that's the properties that you own, your email list, your Facebook group, your page, your blog, the assets that you own.
And then from there you have a ring on the outside of that. That's other people's podcasts, other people's blogs, other people's Facebook groups, other people's properties. The idea is to get from the outside to get them into the one ring and from there to get them into the center.So the whole idea is to pull them closer into your ecosystem.
What you need to do is tease as you go out. So if inside your free phase or inside your free program, you give five tips. Then just talk about one or two of the tips in your free group that calls desire to come into the program. And then on your Facebook page say,Hey, I just shared this in my Facebook group.
I'm going to give you one tip right now, but I share two tips inside the Facebook group. And on your email, you can do the same thing. Oh my goodness. I went live earlier on in my, in the Facebook group and I gave two tips. You should go check it out.Here's the link to it. When they click on the link, they're not part of the Facebook group and now they need to join in order to get those two tips.
So you're pulling people through, into your world, you know, step-by-step so just look at it more linear. Like how do you pull people in from each step? But I'm just like,this is just a, just a prime example. I just want you to see that you don't really have to hold back, but what it is, is it in, just understand is that we don't have to sell any of our programs here.
It creates awareness. While we speak into our programs here, the right people that are aligned with our offers then say,Hey, wow, Paul, Melissa really knows their stuff. They have background expertise, knowledge, they transfer it, let me go see what they offer. And then the right people, you know, come into our world that way.
So, but I would just, I would definitely from the mindset standpoint, don't don't think that everybody's consuming a hundred percent of everything that you're giving.And if anything, it's, it's upleveling your perceived value and your expert status. And they're going to want more.
Kim: Thank you.
Paul: Oh, you're welcome. Thank you. Have a great question.