Why I Don't Rely on One Marketing Strategy
Today's episode originally started as a comment on a Facebook Ad, and turned into a perfect segue into something fun we’ve got coming up next week!
So, let’s start with the backstory... I run a lot of Facebook ads, and I get a lot of angry comments from people who are mad that I'm running ads when I teach that summits work so well. It drives them nuts!
I finally started commenting back to a couple, which seems to have chilled them out, but I thought it would be good to share this week why I don’t rely on one marketing strategy, and of course, I’ll share some things that will help you consider what's best for you, too.
So, in this post we’ll cover:
- Why I don’t rely on summits alone to grow and sustain my business.
- Why I’m not convinced that it’s good for ANYONE to rely on just one thing, no matter what their area of expertise is.
- How I found my current happy mix of strategies and how you can do the same if you're still figuring it out.
Disclaimer: I’m not at all claiming that my way is the way. It’s what works for me…
Listen to the episode
Why I Don't Rely On Just Summits
The simplest answer on why I don't rely on JUST summits...I wouldn’t enjoy it!
Some people can do back-to-back summits all year. I have some students who do quarterly summits all year long and have done that for years, but I can’t.
Summits are my main overall momentum tool and strategy for connecting with other people. They’re also a big part of our revenue and list-building strategy. But with only doing a summit every year or two, I need more revenue and list-building strategies that work for me to keep momentum and revenue up between summits.
Why I Don't Think Anyone Should Rely on Just One Thing
Personally, I love trying out all kinds of different strategies. Over the past year or two, we’ve done summits, challenges, paid conferences, a free bundle, a paid workshop series, Facebook ads, evergreen, and I’m sure there’s more. Even though I teach summits, I do a lot of other things. Part of that is because I just like trying new things and changing it up, but another big part of it is that I want to be able to speak from a place of experience.
When someone asks me if it’s a good time for them to host a summit or if they should do something else, I want to give them an accurate answer. I’m not going to blindly say a summit is best just because it might make me some money. And I can’t speak to other strategies from experience if I don’t try them.
But as for everyone else, I’m not convinced there’s anyone teaching anything that could be their only strategy.
A summit is a full-funnel all-in-one, and I do actually know people who literally host a summit every quarter and it is their only growth and monetization strategy.
But I don’t think that’s realistic for most people, and I can’t think of any other strategy outside of a summit that can serve as that full funnel.
You can rely mostly on Facebook ads to grow your audience, but you still need a launch strategy. With any launch strategy, you need a list-building or visibility strategy.
So everyone needs to rely on more than just one strategy.
How I found my perfect mix of strategies
I wish I had an impressive formula for how I did this, but it was trial and error. After years of doing all kinds of stuff, I finally noticed the pattern that my business needed: Every year or two, it needs something big - for me, that’s a summit. Between summits, I need ways to make money from my existing audience to serve and teach them.
I’ve tried a lot of things, but for me, that’s usually challenges, maybe occasionally a paid event to try something new, but challenges are my go-to and the perfect compliment to summits.
And then I need something else to grow my audience between summits since I don’t do them super often so for that we rely on Facebook ads and Collaborations with other people.
Find your mix
Summits and challenges are the core of a strategy mix that works for me, but it will look a little different for everyone. Here's how I recommend finding the mix that works best for you:
Step 1: Get clear on the goals of different types of strategies
People get so confused about the purpose of different types of events. They think webinars, challenges, and paid events are going to grow their email list. They think summits are just for visibility. They think bundles are going to make them a million bucks.
People either don’t pay attention to or don't understand the goals of a lot of strategies they’re using. You need to understand the goals.
- Webinars → sales from existing audience
- Video series → sales from existing audience
- Challenge → sales from existing audience
- Paid conference → sales from existing audience
- Bundle → list growth
- JV webinar → list growth, sales
- Summit → literally everything
Facebook ads can be added to most sales strategies to add a list growth component or used on their own
Step 2: Experiment
If you read this blog or listen to the podcast, I’d be willing to bet that summits are a big part of your strategy and that you might be looking for something to continue monetizing your new summit audience (and existing audience) between events.
Challenges are really perfect for that. There are definitely other strategies that serve similar purposes, but if you're drawn to summits as a strategy, challenges are really a perfect compliment. They're so easy to put together, you can rinse and repeat once you host one, they’re engaging, and they work.
I’m hosting a live strategy session next week to share how I use challenges to make an extra 6-figures per year between summits, and sharing allll of the numbers, details, successes, and failures around the 12 challenges I’ve hosted over the years. I'll also be announcing a new program at the end. Save your seat!
If anyone thinks I’m terrible for doing more than just summits, I hope this clears it up for you. And I hope it also has your wheels turning about what kinds of strategies can be at the core of your business model.
Resources
- Episode 66: Boosting Summit Results Using Facebook Ads with Destini Copp
- Episode 190: A Virtual Summit is a Full Funnel - From Lead Generation to Launch!
- Episode 258: Virtual Summits vs. Challenges: Why I won't stop doing either anytime soon
- Summit Host Hangout Facebook group
- Launch with a Summit Accelerator
- 6-Figure Summits Workshop Bundle
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