4 Keys to Selling in Your Content

"Selling is hard. But selling in my content -- seems almost impossible!" Today's episode was created just for you if you've said these words.

Not only do we need to cover the four keys to successfully selling in your content, but we also need to go over why what you're doing right now may not be working.

I'm giving you the strategies I've used to increase conversions in my content and what I'd tell you if you're making some of the big mistakes I see daily with creators.

We're walking through how you can improve your selling, earn more revenue, and give your audience a better experience. After implementing these four keys, they'll be excited to buy what you're selling.

So let's get right to it!

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Transcript

4 Keys to Selling in Your Content: 0:01

You know, it's really funny whenever I realize that I am doing a theme inside of a theme that I didn't even realize like this was not premeditated or pre planned. But when I was going to play in today's episode, I was looking at what we've talked about over the last two or three months, right, we'll call it the summer episodes that we have done. And oh, my gosh, the theme of the summer was around selling in your content. We've talked so much about selling this summer. And don't worry, I'm gonna link to all of these episodes in the show notes for today. But I just wanted to recap, we've talked about how often to sell in your content, how to sell one product in your content, how to create a digital product with your backlog, and three reasons people won't buy through your content. Like, these are all really big things. And I like I said, I did this without really seeing the common thread between all of these, which is funny, because today, we're talking about four keys to sailing in your content. So almost feel like if we were like piecing all of this together, like if I were to teach this inside a program or you know, in a workshop, then this would be like the culmination of everything else that we've learned in the episodes that I just listed. So I'm super excited to talk about this today. So let's get right to it. Welcome to the Proffitt Podcast where we teach you how to start launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, Krystal, Proffitt, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today. Because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we? All right. So like I said, In the beginning, we have a lot of episodes that we've already covered a lot of the key things whenever it comes to selling and your content, and maybe you're listening to this, and you're like Krystal, I don't currently

1. Don't Be Afraid to Make the Ask: 3:56

Number one, and we're kind of pulling from some of the other things that we've already talked about, but I want to go a little bit deeper into them today. One of them is the first one. Don't be afraid to make the ask. Now I say that we've talked about this because this was something that came up in one of our other selling episodes. But y'all you've got to be more confident in your calls to action. None of this timid, I think if you have time, if by chance, and no don't do that, like I was seeing something recently with my good friend Heather Sager, she, I love her emails, make sure you're on her email list. Her podcast is also awesome. And I was looking at something she put out the other day on her Instagram. I'll link to her Instagram in the show notes. But she was talking about being afraid to make the ask and how so often today with I don't know if it's post pandemics. stuff, I don't know if it's the blog, just the way that the world is today, but a lot of people are very timid and approaching selling anything, anything, they're just like, well, if I just kind of put it out there, then um, you know, just people will figure it out, right? Like, I don't have to make the ask, I can kind of push them in the direction, if you are selling, like, we're not talking about your everyday content we are talking about, you are creating something with the primary goal to sell in your content, you are trying to sell a digital course a coaching program and affiliate promotion like you are trying to make money, right? This is your goal and your motivation. You cannot be afraid to make the ask to say, you know, I've laid out these benefits, you know, and that's another story where we can talk about how to set up an offer and sell something, but you have to set it up in a way where people are like, Heck, yes, I am ready, because you've created such a killer call to action that they don't even want to say no, they're just like, oh my gosh, yes, yes, yes, yes, this is everything that I've wanted. And so you have to craft that in a way that's going to work for you, your personality, and your content. Because one of the things that I think people do really badly, especially whenever it comes to podcast in YouTube channels is they are imitating their mentors. And I've been guilty of this too. Like I'm gonna tell you straight up, there was a point in time, where I was watching back one of my videos, I was like, Oh, my gosh, I sound just like Amy Porterfield. It's not intentional at all. But I was like something about the intro like something that I said, and I was like, Oh, my God, I've done it, I've done the thing that you're not supposed to do, and I'm blatantly copying someone, and I, you know, it was so cringe worthy. And I just don't want that to happen to you either. So whenever I say have killer calls to action, that doesn't mean steal somebody else's idea or the way that they talk or take on a persona that is not your own, I want you to have a strategy that works best for you. But you can't be afraid to make that ask when you are trying to sell in your content. So that is key number one. have a product. I don't have affiliates that I'm signed up for, like I'm just getting started, like I came here to learn how to get ready with to launch a podcast or how to do a blog or how to do a YouTube channel. And I'm just not quite there yet. Well, this is one of those episodes you want to bookmark for the future. But also, it's one that I want you to hear these principles. Now, as you're building out your content, as you're planning your content, as you're thinking

2. Allow your audience to have a seamless experience: 7:29

Key Number two, you have to allow your audience to have a seamless experience. I cannot stress this enough that you could have created the most amazing product, whether it's a book, it's a course it's a program, it's coaching, whatever it is the most amazing product, but someone cannot access it because you gave them the wrong URL, or you told them the wrong website to go to or you sent them here when you meant to send them there, or you gave them this link, but it was broken. And they're just like everything went to hell in a handbasket. After that. Like, all my gosh, I cannot stress this enough. Where I messed up so much in the beginning and I still do this. I'm not I'm like, I'm telling this to myself, I'm reminding myself I need to do this. But you've got to jump, double check. Man, I cannot talk today. Double check all of your content and your calls to action for broken links, messed up URLs, make sure things aren't redirecting somewhere else where they don't need to go. Before you litter your content with links. And by litter. I mean, you put them everywhere. Because during a launch, I will typically add stuff to my website, I'll put it on social, I'll add it to my YouTube channel, I will put it in my emails. And it's typically one link for the whole launch your if I get that one link wrong. It's botched. Like the whole project could be it could sink very quickly. If I screwed up this one URL, this has happened to me before where I was in the middle of a webinar presentation. And I gave I can't remember if I gave the wrong URL, or if I like mistyped it on the screen like where I was presenting it. But of course I wasn't looking at the screen. I was looking at the camera what I'm supposed to be doing. You're supposed to be looking down the barrel of the camera. That way you're making eye contact with people. And I was just saying the link so maybe I was saying the wrong link and then the right one was on the page. I don't know. I screwed up screwed up big time because I got a bunch of messages after I was finished saying that link didn't work. I went here when I was supposed to go there and I'm so confused. I don't like all of these is our potential sales and I think about a bucket that is just dripping water, right? You're just pouring all this effort all this time, all this energy in, you're trying to fill that bucket up. And there are holes everywhere in your launch strategy, if you haven't QA, QC everything when you're going into a launch. So you have to allow your audience to have a seamless experience, which means you have to no just No, I'm throwing, I'm throwing out acronyms, I don't want to be that person. So if you don't know what QA QC means, I used to work in construction. And of course, we have QA QC, it was usually the, you know, the same guy who was an engineer or somebody on our team, which that title stands for quality assurance and quality control. And I just usually use, I'm going to QA QC things, or I'm going to QA things. And basically what that means is you are going through your experience of your launch, just like you are a listener, just like you are a watcher just like you are a reader or someone that is in your audience, you need to have this experience or better yet have your friend, your partner, your spouse, your child, like whoever that is a like someone that will give you honest feedback and say, hey, you know, I went to your website on my phone. And this looks really funky. Like I don't know, if you meant for this thank you page to show up this way. Or did you know that when you click on this, it doesn't actually go anywhere? Oh my gosh, all these are not things that you want to hear when you're in the middle of trying to sell something in your content, because like I said, you could have created the most amazing product. And you don't want to hear that something is screwed up right in the middle of a launch. So I cannot stress to you enough that you need to have a seamless experience that your audience will have, when you're selling something in your content, it is so so so important. I think it's one of those things that you need to put like on a post it note, if you're about to launch something, or you're in the middle of a launch, but put a post it note that says double check everything before we go live before these links go live because it is so important. Alright, so that is key number one and key number two. about, well, what do I want to talk about? What kind of calls to action do I want to include? Where do I want to steer people, because if you think about these things from the beginning, it gets a lot easier as you look back at your backlog at the different things that you've already created, if you've already thought about them strategically, and said, You know what, I'm so glad that I sent people to my website, because now that I know that there's traffic going there, I can do A, B and C to capture those leads, or to get my product in front of them or to promote this affiliate launch. Like there's so many things that you can do if you set yourself

3. Don't assume everyone will buy today.: 12:24

Key number three is don't assume everyone in your audience wants to buy what you're selling. I see a lot of people screw this up. And what they will do is they will talk to the small minority of their audience that will be interested there am I talking about people that will buy I'm talking about people that are actually interested in what they're selling, instead of appealing to the majority of people that are consuming their content and trying to pull out the minority that would actually want to buy. So this is something and this is this ties in to key number four, which we'll get into that one in a second. But I am such a big believer in making sure that there is something for everyone here on this podcast and on my YouTube channel. It's why you don't see me blatantly selling an every single piece of content. Now, I'm not saying don't sell, okay, we talked about that at the beginning. Like you need to sell if you have an online business, you need to make those killer asks you need to make sure that you are having amazing CTAs there's a seamless experience, it's happening. But don't assume that everyone's going to buy and then be super upset if that doesn't happen. I've actually did this to myself a few times. Whenever I was growing my email list. I remember the first time I hit 1000 people on my email list. I was just like, I lost my mind. I was like, Oh my God, I've hit the pinnacle. This is the highest that I've ever wanted to be like, I was like, it was so funny. Because in retrospect, knowing what I know today, of those 1000 people, I eventually scrubbed my list and I took off all the cold subscribers. And I think it went down to like maybe 600 And that wasn't even like fully engaged. Like I just, I just deleted all of the like unconfirmed codes and unsubscribe people off my list and it went down at 600. And then all of a sudden I was like, okay, yeah, that makes sense. So, what I'm saying is, don't just assume everyone that is listening to your podcast, on your email list, follow you on social on your YouTube channel, whatever platforms you're on. Don't assume that everyone wants to buy everything that you have today because what will happen is you will end up alienating the people that are following you. Now, that could be a potential customer in six weeks, or maybe six months, maybe in a year. And you don't want to do that. Because at the end of the day, what I see that happens very often, whenever I'm turned off from people, and I'm not going to drop any names, but there are some really, people that I don't follow, I don't follow them. It's a man, I'll say that I don't follow him on Instagram, I don't follow him on YouTube, I don't follow him. But his ads will stalk me on all of these platforms. And it drives me bananas, because he's always selling something. He's always super douchey. And everything that he does, and I just, I can't stand it, because that is what he's always doing. He's always selling. He's he, like, you know, there's that mentality in the sales world have always be closing, I get that. But at the same time, it's not always be selling everything every time because he just looks like a huge douchebag. Okay, I'm just gonna call it that's what it is. It's what it is. Okay, I know, I normally don't use that kind of language on here. But it's the truth, okay. And it's a mom my soapbox today. And it drives me nuts, because I don't see any value in anything that he does. He does live events, he has books, he has podcasts, he has YouTube channels, I don't subscribe to what he does, because there's no value in it, it's all about his ego. That's really what I feel like, and I just can't, I just don't subscribe to that. So I want you as you look at your content and how you can sell, don't assume everyone wants to buy whatever it is that you're selling today, you want to do... up from six, from success for success from the beginning with your content. So we're talking about content strategy, we're talking about selling and I just want to make sure that you are setting yourself up for success. All right, so we're covering the four keys to selling and your content.

4. Don't ask more than you give.: 17:23

and this is where we're gonna bring in key number four, you don't want to ask more than you give. And I read this book several years ago, and it was talking about it was I'm trying to think of the name of the book off the top of my head, and I'm gonna be totally messed up. But basically, it was talking about adding value 90% of the time, and then making the ask 10% of the time. And it reminds me of you know, Gary Vaynerchuk has a book called Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. And it's the same concept. It's all about adding value, and then making the ask because people are more likely to trust you and say, Yeah, I mean, I definitely want to work with that person, or I want to buy what they're selling, because they offered all of this other great value for free or for low cost. Sure, I want to purchase their other thing that is more expensive. But also for me, this goes back to just adding value. And as a principle, like, every single piece of content that I create, has to add value to anyone consuming it. Like this is a promise and a commitment that I've made to myself as a creator, but also to this audience that I won't be the person that's constantly selling in my content. I don't want to do that because I too have been bombarded by too many ads, too many people selling and everything that they do, and it's such a turn off. It really is like I have unfollowed people that have been way too salesy that in the beginning, like as their audience grew, they were like, oh, you know, I'm not gonna be spammy. I'm not gonna be there's not gonna be that. But then as they just keep growing, it's like, oh my gosh, like, Dude, it's just selling and selling and selling and I just stopped because everything coming out of their mouth sounds like a commercial. And I don't know about y'all. This is really like fun fact about me. I have been totally spoiled by Netflix and HBO Max apple plus, like, all of these platforms where we don't have to watch commercials anymore. I'm not listening to commercials I'm not I don't do it. I just really don't so when we watch like live TV, it's the most excruciating thing because I'm like, I don't want to watch commercials I have become this person which is hilarious because I'm in marketing and I'm you know, judging these marketing experts, marketing people, but oh my gosh, I just can't stand it. It's too much because unless it's entertaining, unless it's well thought out. I immediately go to a commercial that is about it's a prescription commercial like there's so many because we watch AGT we watch Wheel of Fortune, we watch the new password. Oh my gosh, don't get me started. That's a great show. If you like you need to DVR you need to record password or watch it with Jimmy Fallon. It is hilarious. But it's so painful. It's so painful to watch. These ads and watch these commercials. So I fast forward them, we watch it live, I fast forward through all of them. I don't like it. I don't like listening to commercials. But what I will do, I will still buy from people, whenever they have added value before they make the ask, those are the people that I want to learn from those are the people that I'm still investing in courses, I'm buying their books, I'm buying their audio books, I'm looking at their live events, like I mean, because they've added value. It's almost like this reciprocation of ABS, of course, I want to buy your thing you've added so much value to me, this is my way of paying you back for all the free value that you've given to me whether it's in my personal life or in my business. So don't ask more than you give. I cannot stress this enough. This is one of those principles that I will like die like going fighting, because of the value that I believe every single piece of content should have, whether you're selling or not, everything that you create needs to have value to your audience. Oh, okay. I feel like today was a soapbox one. Here we are. We've made it to the end. But I feel like so I feel like my shoulders just relaxed a little bit. Apparently, we needed to talk about these things today.

Quick Recap & Outro: 22:05

But I want to do a quick recap. So number one, don't be afraid to make the ask. Number two, allow your audience to have a seamless experience. Number three, don't assume everyone will want to buy your product or service today, appeal to the majority of your audience. And number four, don't ask more than you give. Again, I'm going to link to all of the other episodes that we've done recently on selling in your content, I'll link to some of the YouTube videos that we've done as well, because I think those will be super, super helpful. And I feel like we're wrapping up the selling in your content theme of the summer. But if you want to hear more content about selling, I would love to talk about it. I would love to know your specific questions. And we just recently added a fun feature to the footer of my website. So go to the shownotes for today, KrystalProffitt.com/episode367. That's where you're gonna find everything that we just talked about. But if you scroll all the way to the bottom at the footer, you're going to find a way for you to submit an audio question. So really fun, I have created a video all about how I use pod inbox. This is the platform that you're going to be linked to if you click on, you know, submit a question to or submit to be featured on the podcast. And I have a whole tutorial video if you want to go watch it on my YouTube channel, you can just type in pod inbox and type my name in or go directly to my channel. But this is a really fun thing that I want to utilize a lot more I want to hear your questions. I want to answer them here on the podcast. So if you have other questions about selling in your content, or anything else about content, please go and submit your questions. Again. The show notes for today are KrystalProffitt.com/episode367. But that's all I have for you. What a fun episode. What a fun way to wrap up the summer as we're all back in school and getting back to the groove of everything. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast today and for hanging out with me as I went through my soapbox of selling in your content. But as always remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.