The Ali Dee Show

Ep 94: What Really Sells Products Online

• Ali Dee • Season 1 • Episode 94

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Tired of chasing viral trends that never translate to actual sales? In this eye-opening episode, I'm cutting through the noise to address what I'm seeing everywhere product-based business owners desperately trying to go viral with trending audios, believing that's the golden ticket to success. SPOILER ALERT!! It's not.

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Speaker 1:

Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to the Allie D Show. Why do I always sing the intro? I don't know. Okay, welcome to today's show. That sounds more professional. Welcome to today's podcast.

Speaker 1:

On this episode we're going to discuss just kidding. We're going to discuss one very particular thing that I am seeing time and time again as I am scrolling on the internet, as I am reading your emails and your DMs. Is this notion that you are really super and I see this in my comments too, by the way, and I'm like no, but I see that our industry, our community, is very, very focused on the idea that going viral using trending audios, trending sounds, trending skits is going to solve all of your problems and that if you could only go viral, everything would be great and your products would fly off the shelves and everything would finally click and you'd be a gazillionaire. And listen, I love you, but I'm here to tell you, if growing a seven-figure business all it took was a trending audio, we would all be gazillionaires. So it sounds kind of funny when you put it like that, but people on the internet are selling you this kind of jargon all the time, especially, like I see it, really, really heavy geared towards product-based business owners. And I think it's because, honestly, most of these quote-unquote gurus out there have never built their own seven figure business selling products. So they just think, oh well, I'm just going to like hook these people in and tell them that if they can just like follow my account and save all my trending audios, that it's actually going to work to convert their content into sales.

Speaker 1:

But, as we know and you're listening to this podcast that is not the case, even though we still like well, not me, but lovingly you guys still hold out this hope that that's all it's going to take for you to grow and scale your business. But again, we know, at the end of the day, that ain't the truth. So I have come up with three things that I'm going to talk about today on this podcast that are actually going to be ways you can grow and scale your business. Okay, real, tangible things that you can start doing immediately so you can start getting more sales. Because, listen, at the end of the day, we're not running businesses. You know, just to like, I mean maybe a little bit. Okay, just just because for fun, right, this is fun, but if it doesn't feel fun, it's because it's probably sucking life out of you because you have spent the last year studying Instagram trends and I want to let the the chains go of that. I want you to be able to step out of that never ending hamster wheel of always trying to figure out the next best thing and start actually making sales. But here's how I want to qualify this.

Speaker 1:

Okay, some of you and this is fine, some of you actually really like making these little trending audio. Trending, you know, skit type of content and you do well at it. So I don't want to say like you don't do that. If you want to grow, if that's something you like doing and you think it's funny to like add that kind of stuff into your brand and it matches your brand values. Like go get it girl. Like go for it. But if you're someone that really that's not your vibe and you just want to show up with more intention and be like I really have, I give two Fs about a trending audio, which is more for me. That's how I am.

Speaker 1:

Now, again, if this is, you don't feel bad. I just want to let you know there is a place for you to grow and scale a business online without having to focus on the trending stuff, okay. So that's what I want you to know. Again, if you do it, great, I'm giving you a high five through this podcast. If you don't do it, and you don't want to, here's what you need to focus on instead. Okay, you ready? So another thing I want to mention actually is, um, your, your, your main problem is not that you're not up to date, okay, or you're like too old, or your personality is too introverted or all these things. I want to mention that before I get into the three things, because I want to make sure that you understand that all of those excuses have nothing to do with why you're not seeing success online. It has to do with your strategy and your systems and how you show up and where you're focused in your energy. So I just want to be clear on that before I get into it. So, now that we're clear on that, no more excuses. Here's hardcore. Just the facts, ma'am. What actually sells?

Speaker 1:

First of all, you need to be specific in your content, not vanilla. Here's the truth. 99% of you are not specific enough. Period. Like you think you're being specific. Maybe I don't know, but you are not even close to being specific. You're still very generic. You're still standing in front of like I don't know like some kind of cute background, like a white wall with a little plant next to you, and all of your content looks like that. You know whether you're doing a trending audio or you're taking product photos or you're, it's just very vanilla. There's no creativity, there's no life in your content, and so what happens is that content falls flat and it always will.

Speaker 1:

So you have to focus on showing up in your content and being specific and talking to the right people. You're not trying to go viral with everyone. You're just not. So let that go. You're only trying to convert the right people. That is the whole point of your content. It's not to look cute, it's not to be aesthetically perfect. It's to convert people from strangers to customers. So you got to make them say like, wow, this girl is like talking to me. You need to speak directly to the buyer with everything in your content.

Speaker 1:

So that means the background, your hook, what you're saying, what the imagery represents, like the content. I need you to go deeper on this. You can't be lazy on this part. Now this worked. You could be lazy back in, I don't know, 2018, 2017. Okay, when all of us were just like literally setting up the leaf background. You know, you know what I'm talking about. You may still use this. I'm calling you lovingly out on this the like, the like background that's all Ivy with. Like a neon sign that's the name of your business, right, like that worked in 2017, 2018. That doesn't work anymore. So if you're still doing that or you think that that's cute and that's what's going to convert, I'm here to tell you it's not. Instead, get your booty out and get pictures of your products inside places or around imagery that aligns with your ideal customer. Okay.

Speaker 1:

Let's give an example. I always love going to my corporate girly because I think it's such a straight-up visual that everybody can understand. Let's say you're selling like a two-piece suit Okay, it's a blazer and some pants, some trousers Okay. And let's say the way you've been showing up is like doing a try on. Maybe it's, I don't know, in your guest room or whatever. You have a cute little background set up and you're showing up and you're trying on the blazer and the pants okay, and you're not seeing any sales. Here's why there's no emotional connection with that with your right buyer, because your right buyer for the corporate girly is probably for this particular business. Okay, this could change, obviously, depending on what you're selling.

Speaker 1:

But for this business, let's say that her right buyer, that she wants her content to reach, is the woman who's working downtown. She's into nine to five or she's working at a nine to five. She's into going out after work and like having cocktails at the swanky bars and like all the things and like just a very, you know, a very specific lifestyle. And you're still taking product photos in your guest room in front of a cute mirror and a plant and wondering why it's not selling. Instead, like I said, you need to get your booty out, put on the trousers and the blazer, get outside to a downtown and take some pictures. Put the outfit in the setting where it belongs and is aligned with your ideal customer, or put the product in the setting that invokes emotion for your ideal customer.

Speaker 1:

Don't just show me a candle on a white background, like I'm sure the packaging is cute and it's great and all the things, but put the candle somewhere, set it up, paint the picture, make the vibe, do the work. Okay, I love you, but we're not being lazy about our content anymore, right? So you have to be specific, not vanilla. This is the first thing I want you to really understand and, by the way, if you don't do this part, nothing else matters. If you don't do this part, nothing else matters. If you don't do specific messaging, nothing else matters. The next thing's not going to matter. The third thing's not going to matter. Nothing else you do in your business is going to matter if you can't figure this part out. Okay, this is like the very non-negotiable must do thing.

Speaker 1:

So audit yourself today. Go look at your content and be real and go okay. I just listened to Allie's podcast. She told me to go look at my content. Is it vanilla? 99% of you are going to go, oh, shh, s-h-i-t right, uh-oh, she's right. And then don't feel bad. Don't get like all worked up about it. Don't even be like, oh my God, how am I going to do this? Just have an honest conversation with yourself and go okay, you know what? Actually, what is my customer doing right now and how could my product help them? Whatever it is, that question works for any freaking thing you sell. Answer that question. Then go make your content.

Speaker 1:

Don't just be like, well, I have eight new arrivals I need to take pictures of, so let me just swap it all on, grab some pictures and go like, no, it doesn't work anymore. And you know what's going to happen is you're going to show up day after day after day doing that same thing and you're going to get burnt out and you're going to go. Oh well, I guess it wasn't for me. I'm telling you it ain't going to work. Okay, so we got to switch that Again.

Speaker 1:

If you're not doing number one, the rest won't matter. Am I crystal clear? You're going to go audit yourself. You're going to fix it, okay. Number two you need to sell way more than you think you need to. Okay, most of y'all are barely scratching the surface on how much you actually need to sell, and I'm not talking about you need to post a hundred times a day. Okay, that's not it. But you do need very specific ways of selling your products and showing up over and over and over again and not giving up because you posted like two photos, called it a launch, no one bought, and now you're like no one's going to buy my stuff. I'm going to give up. Right, that's not a launch, which we know from the last episode, right? If you haven't listened to that, go back and listen to the last episode. I give you the three phase launch system and it's going to help you understand so much more about launching your products.

Speaker 1:

But remember, it's not just showing up and posting a couple of times and calling it a day. People aren't. You know. I hear this all the time. Oh, my audience must just be over it. They're tired of seeing the same thing. And I'm like listen, if you've posted the same thing a hundred times maybe in the past month, but if you've posted two or three times and you start to think, oh well, no one's buying, no one likes it, you need to give yourself way more time to sell your items. I'm talking weeks here. You can't just post it a couple of times and give up. You got to post again and again and again.

Speaker 1:

I tell you guys this all the time, not only because do I see it for myself in real life every day. I see it with my clients in their businesses every day. But it's statistically truth, it is a factual statement when I tell you that people need to see your stuff six or seven times before they buy. I'm not lying just to torture you into posting more. Okay, it's the real truth. People have to see your stuff time and time and time again. So you need to sell way more than you think you need to. You need to show up and not just be so focused on social media. There's other ways you can be selling and moving product that doesn't involve you posting on Instagram and praying to the Instagram gods that they're going to bless you with putting your stuff into feeds.

Speaker 1:

Okay, this is why I always talk about email marketing. It converts 40 times more than social media. But you guys like you fight me on email marketing so hardcore, and it's why I'm including it inside the 21 day challenge, because I'm not letting you slide when it comes to email marketing and other ways you can be selling. That doesn't involve you having to figure out how to be a freaking influencer. Okay, oh, I didn't tell you, by the way, so I think I mentioned that I have a free challenge that's starting on August 18th. So if you're listening to this and it's not August 18th yet, you need to jump in now. It's alidceocom slash challenge, or you can DM me on Instagram or TikTok or go to any of my link in bios. It'll be right there. I'll put it in the show notes of this episode, but what it is is it's going to be a 21 day free challenge with me, because I'm seeing the same things over and over and over again, and it's really just comes down to you learning more skills, to you being more skilled, you having more tools in your tool belt, you actually learning strategies and systems and putting them in place, and stop showing up and just you know, running your business on a whim. That's not going to grow and scale your business. So I want you to join this free challenge. I am officially inviting you inside. Okay, this is your official invitation. Um, so yeah, I'll just put the link in the show notes, which means you could just look at description or notes and it'll be right there. Or again, if you can't figure that out, dm me or get on my email list and I'll get you the link.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so that's the second thing. You need to sell way more than you think you need to. And, by the way, can I just tell you this one thing before I move on to number three Remember, you are not annoying. You are not annoying. You are running a business. Okay, say this out loud to yourself, put it on a piece of paper, tape it to your mirror so you can look at it when you're brushing your teeth, but you got to sell more. You're not annoying, you're running a business. This is the point. Okay, you're running a business based on sales, so we got to act like it. All right. Number three make your content do the heavy lifting.

Speaker 1:

So what I want you to understand about content is it's not just what you post, okay, it's not just a trending audio, it's not just a viral gimmick. It's how you post. How you post, meaning every post has a reason, every post has a purpose. Your content is truly the lifeblood of your business. And, again, it's how you're going to turn strangers into loyal repeat customers who are ready to buy. Every time you drop something new. That's not going to come from you showing up and put in a bunch of trending audios out there and hoping that a reel goes viral one day. Your content is meant to do heavy lifting.

Speaker 1:

You guys know I talk about this in my three bees content strategy. It's inside trendsetter, if you're in there already. If not, we got some surprises coming up for you. But first and foremost, I will be going over this all inside the free challenge. Did I tell you what it's called Moneymaker? Shake your moneymaker yeah, that moneymaker. So I'm super excited we're going to learn so much in there.

Speaker 1:

But, yeah, content is not just about you know which I this is, the best thing that I ever learned about content is that it's not just about trying to go viral and get more followers. In fact, like follower count is is less and less important every single day on these platforms. I mean, it's really not important at all. I think on TikTok, it gives you a little bit of credibility, yes, but you've seen people who go viral on TikTok that have like a couple hundred followers. It's because it's the piece of content that is causing their stuff to be pushed into the feeds. So I want you to stop thinking that, like you have to have a zillion followers in order for your stuff, to thinking that, like you have to have a zillion followers in order for your stuff to sell out, or you have to have a huge audience. All you have to have is the right audience, and it could be a hundred people, and I've seen this before. I've worked with women that have literally hundreds of thousands of followers and are barely squeaking by with any sales, and women that have under a thousand followers that are killing it and are wanting to learn how to grow even more.

Speaker 1:

So across the spectrum, the one thing that is the connecting thread, if you will, is that the content is what's going to drive so much of the success of the conversion. What's in the content, how you're showing up in it. So don't get bogged down by all the other stuff that everyone's trying to sell you, okay. So let's just recap the three things. Number one be specific, not vanilla. Number two sell way more than you think you need to. And number three, which I feel like I really harped on a lot in number one, but number three is just another way of telling you how important content is. Is your content needs to be created with the intention of doing the heavy lifting and nothing else, right?

Speaker 1:

What happens when you do these three things, instead of just focusing on, like, getting a trending audio, is, instead of wasting your freaking morning because I know what you do you wake up in the morning, you grab your phone, you're scrolling. You're like, oh, here's someone telling me this trending audio. Let me save these posts, I'll make them later, right? Maybe you make them, maybe you don't, but you're wasting so much precious valuable time where you could actually be doing some money-making activities, scrolling for trending crapola. So instead of that, in the morning you're going to wake up, you're going to open your laptop. You're going to see that you-ching during the day because your content is now doing its job, which is again not to look cute or, you know, be popular, be viral. It has a purpose which is getting into the feeds of the right people and then getting them to buy from you. And it's not going to be because you danced to some trending song Okay, can we just get a like a hallelujah for that, a little round of applause, because that was a huge, huge, huge mental block for me in content years ago was that I thought I was gonna have to do and I feel like it was like more lip syncing back then.

Speaker 1:

Do you guys remember when, like it still happens a little bit now, but there was a time when it was very heavy of like lip syncing audios or doing like dances? The dance thing is even definitely, like you know, started to chill out, but it was this showing up oh, here's a little siren, okay, but it was showing up and having to do these like lip syncing things and it was just, it was too much for me and I was like I'm not freaking, doing it, I'm not doing that, I'm not showing up like that. So I figured out a whole different way of showing up which actually works, which is actually perfect for business owners, and it's why I'm so obsessed with teaching you, because I want you to know you don't have to do that either, unless you like it. Okay, so I'll see you inside the 21 Day Challenge Again, don't forget.

Speaker 1:

You can go to slash challenge to join Ali A-L-I-D D. As in David E. As in Edward E. As in Edward CEO. Okay, alidceocom. Slash challenge. Pull it up on your phone right now. Look at the cute graphic that I made, okay, and then here's the deal. I love this, but the first action step when you join the challenge is DMing me on Instagram to let me know you're in, because I want to follow you, I want to support you and I want to see what, like how, you show up throughout the 21 days working with me inside this free challenge. Okay, I'll see you inside, moneymaker. I love you. Dm me, of course, if you have any questions about the challenge and, um, see you next time.