Hey, it's been a big week of birthdays (mine) and Valentine's Days.
To see it out, here are your five nuggets...
1. FBM EXPERT TIP:
Marketing is an art all unto itself. Done right, ads can drive more sales than you know what to do with, done wrong, they can bankrupt your business...
This week, marketing expert Shire Lyon dropped a simple, easy-to-follow six-point guide for creating ads that work:
Take a look at your ads and make sure they tick every box. But, if you don't want to risk doing it yourself, you need to find someone as good as Shire. She has helped:
A brand new dropping company achieve a 2.84x ROI on their ads...
A storage company reduce their cost per lead by $15 while significantly increasing leads (they were getting 50 leads a month, last month they received 225 leads from Shire's campaigns)...
An insurance company, spending on average $2400 a month on marketing, go from ~$2k in closed deals in Feb 2022 to ~$12,500 in closed deals...
And more... So, if you want to start sending lots of traffic to your funnels, send Shire a message here to see how she can help.
2. MARKETING TIP OF THE WEEK:
An important sales and marketing lesson from one of the world's most successful artists...
My wife and I went to a Vincent van Gogh immersive experience here in Nashville not too long ago.
I'd heard van Gogh's 'Verger avec cyprès' sold for $117.2m last year, so I assumed he must have done pretty well for himself while alive. When one of the hosts said he only sold one painting while he was alive, I couldn't believe it. And that was for 400 francs (which, after a lot of searching online, is roughly $2,287 in today's money.)
The painting was called The Red Vineyard. This is it:
Since his death, 10 of his paintings have sold for a total of $721.3 million. That's not including reprints or any other merchandise.
Factoring in all van Gogh-related sales, he has likely sold over $1 billion worth of goods. So, how is it possible he was only able to sell $2000 worth during his lifetime?
After doing a little research, the answer became obvious.
Most of the fascination around van Gogh can be traced back to the work of one woman: Jo van Gogh-Bonger, his sister-in-law. After van Gogh's death, Jo devised a marketing strategy to garner the interest of collectors, museums, critics, and the public. She's the reason his work took off.
In short, van Gogh only sold one painting because he was an expert at painting, not marketing.
When you think about it, it makes perfect sense that van Gogh wouldn't be an expert in marketing. Again, marketing is an art all unto itself. Assuming he would be good is like saying because a person is good at math, they will naturally be good at cooking.
Van Gogh was likely blind to this and didn't see the success his work deserved because of it. This is also true for many new entrepreneurs and business owners.
A successful funnel requires expertise in four areas:
1. Marketing
2. Copywriting
3. Funnel design
4. Your field
If your business isn't having the success it deserves, it's because one or more of these is dragging it down. The only way to fix it is to either down tools and spend 1-5 years studying that area OR hire an expert to come in and work their magic today.
By hiring an expert, you have a much higher chance of unlocking your $721.3m.
If you're just starting out and don't have the budget to hire an expert, you'll be pleased to know many offer services whereby they review your current funnel, emails or marketing. This means you get their expertise for a fraction of the cost.
Design and copy expert, George P, has this funnel audit.
Former funnel builder for Clickfunnels, Mike Harris, has one too.
Shire Lyon will audit your ads.
Adam Moody will audit your emails.
You can have your entire funnel expertly reviewed and improved for under $700. That is an incredible bargain!
3. TOP TIP FROM A FELLOW COMMUNITY MEMBER:
Billions of GIFs are sent every day, but few founders are aware of how GIFs can significantly boost your company's exposure. Even better, you don't have to spend any money!
Tom Orbach shares everything you need to know:
I recently created a simple GIF and put the logo of the company I worked for (Jolt) in the corner. I uploaded it to GIPHY, and it's been seen 25M times!
GIF Engine Optimization (GEO) is a new strategy where people use brand-related GIFs to hit the top search results. Many refer to the field as "SEO’s little sister," and not for nothing: Success in GEO can have a positive effect on brand awareness.
Your first steps with GIFs
1. Create a business account on GIPHY:
You will need a business account. Search results on Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. solely include GIFs from businesses. It's easy: Open a regular account with a company domain email (not a Gmail), post five GIFs of your choice, and then apply for a business account when you are signed in.
Approval usually doesn't take longer than a couple of days. In the meantime, make sure that the GIPHY profile page has a link to the company's homepage.
2. Choose a topic:
Once you are recognized as a business user, the GIFs will be indexed by the search engine, and you can start uploading. Exactly what kind of GIFs should you create and publish?
To choose a topic for your GIF, I recommend checking out the total views on GIPHY and the number of results. If there are more than 100 results and more than 100M views in total, you are likely to have a very hard time making it to the top since many are scrambling to get there. If there's less, that’s better; it means that you've found a smaller niche to take over!
3. Design the GIF:
The graphics themselves can include a mini-guide to using the product, the result of using the product, a metaphor for the success you provide for customers, animated information, or just about anything else. Be sure to embed your logo in the corner of the GIF. I also suggest creating some GIFs with no background, as they can serve as stickers in Instagram Stories.
It is important to know that if the GIF is not good, nothing can promote it to the top. The foundation for GEO is a great GIF.
4. Tagging, tagging, tagging:
When publishing a GIF, attach up to 20 tags. They will help people find it. In most cases, people are looking for GIFs to express an emotion, so your tags should focus on emotions and experiences.
5. Play the waiting game:
Once published, the best practice is to simply wait. Even if a GIF barely gets exposure at first, it can explode later (without any further action from you). Therefore, it's advisable to post branded GIFs as early as possible to reap the rewards down the road. Check your number of views once in a while to predict trends.
Success is not guaranteed, but if you try enough GIFs and improve your tag game after measuring the performance of each GIF, at least one will most likely break out and be exposed to millions. Don't pin all of your hopes on just one GIF, because there is no limit to the number that you can publish.
4. FUNNEL OF THE WEEK:
The feedback I've received for these past few funnels has been brilliant. You're truly helping fellow community members make their dreams a reality!
This week, Daniel Riewe, a graduate biologist (with expertise in the nervous system, the brain and the integration and sophistication of sensory/motor functions), yoga teacher, and professional coach, needs your guidance...
His funnel isn't getting the conversions he's hoping for, and would love your input as to why.
Check it out here, and as always, reply to this email with things you're going to hack and anything you would recommend Daniel change to improve his conversion rate.
Then submit your funnel to get lots of high-quality feedback (and maybe even some hot new leads).
5. FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
“If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
— Vincent van Gogh
Always in your corner,
Lee
Shout out to my Valentine...