How to Prepare Your Online Brand for Fall
Fall Is Just Around the Corner
Last week Denver had a beautiful two day Fall preview. It was cool, rainy and felt amazing. I even took a nap. On Thursday, several community members from Creators Getting Paid and I met for an all subscriber Fall content/business planning session.
It was a fun two hours of learning about one another’s projects, the communities that we are building and some things that we should consider as the summer winds down and we begin the push towards the holiday selling season. I was left impressed, inspired and ready to work.
If you didn’t get a chance to join the session keep an eye out for more during the fall. Do note that paid subscriber meetups happen more often than all-subscriber sessions. I thought it would be good to share some of the key takeaways I left with from the conversation and I hope they will be helpful to you as you begin working on your fall content creation.
Substack Series
I’m working on a series all about Substack. It will be hosted on my podcast and Creators Getting Paid website. I’ll be reflecting on and answering questions about Substack ranging from monetization, should you have a separate email list and more. I’ll even share why I'm choosing to publish this series on my personal platform vs. within the Substack eco-system. I will share the episodes here and backlink to the show notes on the website.
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Content Creation Tips for Fall
Tip #1-Audit Your Brand
Spend some time reviewing the work that you’ve done so far this year.
Look at the analytics-What do they tell you about the work that you’re doing? What has resonated with your audience?
Check all of the comments that you’ve received across your platforms-What is the common thread and what keeps coming up? That’s probably a product/good or service?
Ask yourself some questions
What lights you up AND gets you paid?
What feels really difficult to do and drags down your energy?
Maybe it’s time to put that project or area of content on hiatus
How are people finding you to work or collaborate with you?
What type of work or collaborations keep coming up?
How much time does it take for you to produce the content that gets you paid, generates leads or grows your brand?
Use this information to help you make better informed and more strategic moves in your business.
Tip #2 Pitch Sooner Rather Than Later
You need to give people/companies/organizations time to make decisions…especially if they involve spending money. Pitching happens in a number different ways. Also, some “pitches” should be thought of as starting the initial conversations leading to what you’ll eventually ask for vs. the actual “pitch”
What does this look like? Building systems that solidify the foundation of your brand.
Growing the number of community members/subscribers/customers that you’re helping.
Notice that I didn’t say “followers”
This is list building. List building happens in every aspect of your work.
Design systems for prospecting the different people that you would like to serve. Those systems could include:
Sharing a helpful resource in your podcast, video, or in-person experience that brings interested persons into your space.
Literally SAYING that you would like to work with certain types of organizations, etc. In your content and sharing how they can contact you. Build up those in-bound leads.
Hosting an in-person event that helps your community members who are local to you or in a town that you’re visiting.
Develop the content you would like to be known and hired for
Start telling people NOW about the products that you plan on selling during the holiday season. Especially if you're developing a signature product and hint around what the cost maybe or if there will be payment plans. You’ll see me doing this with a couple of different products as we head towards the holiday season. I want to create awareness around what I will be selling, what to expect and when to expect it. You don’t have to share all the products you’re selling during the holidays. Leave some surprises. Do share that you will have some things coming. Some great examples of online entrepreneurs who do this:
Amy Porterfield-She talks about the doors opening to her signature event in late August/September ALL YEAR LONG because the doors only open once a year. And she builds her list ALL YEAR LONG and warms up her leads for that sale.
Stu McLaren-He also uses the same approach as Amy Porterfield. He opens the doors once a year to his signature program The Membership Experience. He even used to host a podcast during the Spring to build up momentum and story telling around the results that his members were experiencing within his program and community.
Gold City Ventures-They sell an E-Printables course and open doors very infrequently to their program. If you’re looking to learn how to grow income via printables keep an eye out for this course. Doors open sometime in September. They’ve even published a free e-book to get you started.
Want to work with sponsors for your event-You need to start those conversations now. Especially if what you’re working on is happening in 2025.
Some food for thought:
Don’t assume that marketing budgets have already been spent for 2024. I’ve actually worked with brands that signed me on in DECEMBER because they still had budget to spend.
Some organizations may spend with you more than once. Late fall spend and then sign on again for 2025. Give them the opportunity to do that.
Cold pitches work-They just need to be super dialed in and compelling for the organizations that you’re reaching out to. You’ll get rejected. Get over it. Cold pitching does work.
Warm pitches work-These are my favorite pitches! Reach out to the people that you know who you think would be wonderful to collaborate with on an event. They will say or do one of the following things:
Yes
No
Maybe
You won’t hear from them (don’t take it personally)
Lesson learned from this tip? A closed mouth doesn’t get fed. Build pitching into your content and the systems that you’re designing to build your brand.
Become a Paying Money Sprouts Community Member Today
A paid subscription gives you access to the following:
📹 Pre-recorded and live-conversations with content creators who have grown online brands in thoughtful and empathetic ways.
🧠 🏛Pre-recorded or live-workshops on different topics related to monetizing an online brand. Free and paid workshops. Discounts on paid workshops are offered to paid subscribers
🙍🏿♀️ Zoom and In-person Q & A’s and meet and greets with Michelle and the Creators Getting Paid Community
Upcoming Event: Fall Monetization Strategy Session
For Paying Subscribers
What to expect on Tuesday
We’re going to focus on your fall/winter monetization efforts.
Creators Getting Paid has a specific interest and focus on building at least one recurring income stream in your business. We’ll discuss what that income stream currently is in your business or help you to identify what that could be as your business is currently designed.
You’ll have the opportunity to ask me and other community members questions about your monetization push for the rest of the year. These sessions tend to be cozy (read small) so it’s a great opportunity to ask questions.
When: This Tuesday, August 13, 2024 at 6:00 pm MTN/8:00 pm EST. I will send a Zoom link to you on Monday, August 12, 2024.
Before attending, I strongly encourage you to check out the following post I wrote about the purpose of “Intent” as it relates to your content strategy, product positioning and what you’re trying to sell.
Come prepared to develop your fall monetization strategy.
Get feedback on your marketing strategies and campaign.
We’ll talk about pricing
And, we’ll discuss other monetization topics that may come up depending on the time.