"I created Profit Acceleration Software™ so you can BOOST bottom-line profits using the power of compounding growth without spending more on marketing."- Karl Bryan
Driving Small Biz Traffic and Bad Business Models
I’ve got one LinkedIn advertising campaign that’s locked in over 1 million dollars of recurring revenue for me.
I’ve done similar on Facebook and Instagram but with a very different strategy/approach.
We get over 200 new subscribers (not opt-ins) to my business coaching magazine every single day.
I intentionally don’t put myself out there as the ‘internet guy’ (cause I’m not) but the reality is my understanding of marketing and… means my profits/results are a lot better than many of the big names.
Selling $50 crap on Amazon is the stupidest thing I could ever think of for 98% of the population.
If you’re not tech savvy … please stop it and invest your time into something realistic.
In case you didn’t notice the guys selling you “how to make money selling online” make 90% of the money.
Real estate is similar
I can help a realtor better than almost anybody (hint: buy and sell homes/condos where you can add a bathroom and a toilet. I’ve got lots of other Jedi tricks to dominate local real estate but that one alone is a total game changer when properly implemented).
Doesn’t mean I’d ever recommended becoming a realtor as a business model.
There’s no recurring income, therefore done in a traditional manner it’s a promotion – not a business. The guys selling you “how to make millions in real estate” and creating the realtors (RE/MAX) make all the dough.
Then there’s the Uber driver that ruins a $50,000 car to earn $75,000.
A guy that builds swimming pools but refuses to sell chemicals because it’s too difficult (hint: the real money is in the recurring chemical sales, not building the pool).
A guy that sells purebred dogs but doesn’t sell dog food (hint: I’d pretty much give you the purebred for free to sell you the recurring dog food).
A “grief coach” starts a business … The whole idea behind the business is to get people out of grief… therefore success means you lose your client and need to find a new one.
Then lose them too.
If you have a rich husband/wife and don’t need money … then have at it and it’s a very noble pursuit. I’ll call you if anything bad ever happens around here.
But a horrific business model.
Career coaching is the same.
Career coaching
Find someone their dream career and then lose your client and have to find a new one. A coach that charges hourly rates … don’t even get me started.
Ummm … How do they sell people into this crap?!
Good news: business coaching is a real business model.
You need less than 6 clients at $1,500 per month to hit $100k per annum, recurring.
I’ve had coaching clients paying me monthly fees (plus royalties) for over ten years. No breaks or holidays asked for or needed.
Follow my lead.
The reason I explain all of this is that if you want to do well online you need to have a business model with recurring revenue to support it.
Your clients do also. Anyhoo … that took a little longer than planned but I hope you were paying attention and taking notes it’s critical.
Now let’s talk about getting some recurring coaching clients online.
High-end clients
Basically, as a Business Coach looking for high-end clients, there are only 3 platforms you should be concentrating on.
LinkedIn (LI)
Facebook (FB)
Instagram (IG)
The best for a business coach wanting to attract small business coaching clients is LinkedIn … As a social media platform, LI has come a long way. It started for job seekers posting resumes and connecting with people you knew.
It’s quickly become a major content platform. Similar to the way you share pics of your kids, travel, and activities on FB … you do that but business interests and articles on LI.
It’s more professional so don’t expect to see a ton of funny jokes or baby pictures. It’s still at an embryonic stage … and therefore the organic reach is super high. That means you can reach people easier and for free.
Facebook was like that 7 years ago. You’d see pretty much everything your friends posted. Now when you visit a friend’s profile, you’re often left thinking “when did they have a baby …?”
So, how do you use LI to connect with business owners and find high end coaching clients?
Firstly, always remember my mantra:
“You don’t have a client problem.
You don’t have a money problem.
You have a refusal to help people before they pay you problem.
That’s the problem.”
Therefore, the only way to hit home runs through social is to deliver value. Genuinely help business owners.
1. Value comes in two basic forms online:
a. Entertainment – Being funny, charismatic, being attractive (lucky for me I’m a solid 8.5 rolling out of bed), controversial, sharing cool material, etc. …
b. Education – Taking an email and turning it into a blog post, providing your point of view, sharing educational content that will help them, etc. …
A great strategy Gary V teaches is his $1.80 strategy.
Add your 2 cents 90 times per day (for those bad at math, that’s $1.80).
Here’s how you’d do it on LI. Find top performing posts (Look in the “what people are talking about now” section) to see what topics are trending.
Scroll through and add your 2 cents by way of being entertaining or educational. Do that 90 separate times per day, every day, and people will start taking notice and you’ll create a following.
I also find “standing against” gets more attention and engagement than “standing for” something.
Yesterday I put a post up and it got Instant engagement on social media.
“Attention Business Coaches: Systems stifle creativity. Please stop preaching it like its some sort of religion unless your client hires 16-year-olds. And before you mention the E-Myth … Michael Gerber never actually built a business. He wrote a book. Carry on.”
Question: What do you stand against?
2. Write Native Articles on LinkedIn
Think of it this way… you can either ‘create’ your own content or ‘engage’ with someone else’s.
The $1.80 strategy is about engagement. Seeing what is popular and joining the conversation and providing comments.
The other way is to create articles like this one you’re reading, audios, videos, etc. … that add value and post them. Others will start to engage and this will accelerate greatly when you’re active on their posts also.
Otherwise stated if you want to double the engagement on your posts … triple your activity (comment, share, interact, like, etc. …) on theirs.
Yes, this takes work.
Different platforms call for different approaches. Instagram is more personal and LinkedIn more professional.
If your client was a realtor to do this properly, they could post beautiful pictures of houses available for sale on Instagram.
And then on LI post a chart with increased home values in specific suburbs so we can see the areas trending upward and those due for a spike (best time to buy real estate is at the beginning of a boom. You can buy a house and make $50,000 – $100,000 before moving in. Go to the bank, refinance on increased value and you just got your down-payment back [go buy another with it?]. FYI – High percentage chance the boom starts in the spring).
Content
Gary V creates 100 pieces of content per day.
Many big businesses only create four pieces per year and then spend a fortune on getting those pieces far and wide.
They only put out four pieces so they’re going super “generic” and therefore the message gets diluted.
Then they wonder why Gary V is kicking their arse on FB, IG, LI.
Rather than a generic piece that goes “broad”, it’s way more effective to break your prospect base down into segments. Then create content specifically for each one of those segments.
For example, I’m a hockey guy and a mad Toronto Maple Leafs fan.
If someone tried to sell me on travel to Vegas … and highlighted the Maple Leafs would be playing the Vegas Golden Knights on a specific date … I’d be engaged.
The city I live in has a ton of pro hockey players. If a realtor highlighted “four pro hockey players live in the neighborhood… you should check out this house.”
Hockey guys would have higher levels of engagement.
The reason big businesses are afraid to go narrow on targeting is because of increased CPMs (cost per one thousand impressions).
The broader they go the more generic the messaging needs to be.
Old days of marketing
Brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, and Skittles have used slogans like “Just Do It” “Open Happiness” or “Taste the Rainbow.”
In the old days of marketing, it wasn’t possible to segment the way you can now. They’d create one magazine ad, a TV commercial, a radio clip and some point of sale material.
They’d use it for six months to a year and the same creative would be seen/heard by everyone. The slogans and creative therefore had to be generic.
When you go tight, you’ll pay higher CPMs, but your marketing has a much better shot at converting because you can tailor your message to your segment.
e.g. Toronto Maple Leafs.
Large companies get excited to pay a lower cost for higher reach, then get confused when their creative doesn’t get anyone to do anything. In fact, they don’t notice because they don’t even track it.
3. Your LinkedIn Profile
A good business coach sends a ton of emails. Your email signature is a place to control what they see and establish your pre-eminence. Never send an email without a link to your LI profile.
And write your profile in such a way that when your prospect reads it, they feel like they can’t live without you and the results you provide.
Hint: if they see your profile and it says you’re able to find any business owner $100,000 in 45 minutes without them spending an extra dollar on marketing or advertising. And you’ve got testimonials confirming it …
There’s a good chance you’re about to get engagement. Therefore, you might want to send a few more emails and don’t be shy to tell them to share it with anyone suitable / needing your help.
A confident person that believes in their own magic, tells people what to do.
If you have a $50 unit of sale on Amazon the above will get you nowhere. If you’re a career coach and lose every client you’re successful with, it’ll be equally unexciting.
If you charge $1,500 per month for business coaching and help your clients grow (so they need you more as time marches on, not less) … four successful engagements through LinkedIn can be worth $72,000 per annum.
A worthy use of your time and a little research. But you need a proper business model to get it done. Your clients do also.
There’s more to it but that’s how I use LinkedIn effectively to get coaching clients falling off a log.
Obsessed with your business coaching success,
Karl Bryan