How to get answers from your dream clients

Speaker 1:
You've made the post and people want to answer your dream client survey questions. So, what's next? It's time to get the answers. Let's get the answers to those questions people.

It’s time to get answers. Here are three ways to get answers to those questions that people want to answer. The first is make a survey in either Google Forms or SurveyMonkey. If there is a better tool out there for this, drop it in the comment section, but these are the two that I use and that my clients absolutely love.

Here are the three ways you're going to, after you develop your survey, ask the questions. So, you're going to go back to all those posts and message everybody who responded.

First thing I'll say is when you do make the posts on social media, if you can save them using the save button on Facebook, if you use Facebook, do that. And, then if you left in the direct messages in Instagram, if you messaged people and people messaged you and said they want to answer your survey, make sure you flag them in the back end of Instagram.

You want to save those posts so you can go back to them after. So, you'll go back to your posts and message everybody who responded, just know not everybody will respond. So, if your goal is to get 10 people to answer your survey, ask 20, and remember that bonus tip, offer an incentive for them in there for taking the time.

I like to give people, if they give me their time, I'll give them a 15 minute session with me for free. If you're feeling brave, and this is something that I do, make a goal to talk to 10 people on Zoom or in person. Now, in person is tricky right now, but here's a bonus tip. If you cannot meet in person for coffee, you get them on Zoom, send them a gift card to Starbucks or a local coffee shop after thanking them.

Somebody did this with me and it was amazing guys. And, this is what I do. I do a combination of both. I'll get 20 people to answer the survey. And, then I will meet with 10 of those people to a one-on-one on Zoom and ask them even more in depth questions. And then they get to their 15 minutes with me right there and then on the spot.

Action step time: Reach out to those people and get their answers. Your next step, go to those posts, those stories, those videos, whatever floated your boat and make sure that.

Shannon Hinderberger is a social media coach who lives in Bend, Oregon. She works with small business owners on how to grow their business using simple digital marketing strategies so they’re less overwhelmed, get results & save time. 

She has over 20 years in the online marketing space and loves helping business owners make an impact in their business.

3 ways to ask your dream clients questions on social media

You've identified who you want to work with, those dream clients. You develop questions to ask them to figure out how to serve them through web content, social media content, messaging keywords, things that go on your website, and so much more. It's time to take that terrifying next step of asking those questions. So today I'm going to talk about how to start conversations with your dream clients and get answers on social media if you're shy about asking. I'm Shannon with Shannon Lee Strategy. I'm a digital marketing consultant and coach who teaches you how to grow your business using simple digital marketing strategies that help you get results and save time and become less overwhelmed. And I've been doing this for over 20 years in the online marketing space, and I'd love to help you make an impact in your business.

I've talked and coached to many of you that are afraid to ask, a/k/a bother, your dream clients for feedback. This is an important step that you do not want to miss in the quest to getting to know your customer. Market research is key for any product or service launch. Any product or service lunch, all right? You should always do this anytime because I've seen big businesses skip this when launching new products and literally fall flat on their face. So there's a couple ways to get the ball rolling in talking to those who you want to serve if you're shy about asking. So here's three ways of asking your dream customers, especially if you're shy.

If you are shy, social media is your bestie. Craft a post on your personal Facebook page with key demographic points. For example, I would put, "Are you an aspiring mom, work-from-home mom, over 35 years old, looking to carve out a little extra time to do your marketing in the day? Let's talk." Or something along this line, "So if this isn't you, do you know somebody? Tag them below." So the reason why I have you do this on your personal Facebook page is you want your friends and family to know exactly what you're doing, and they're usually going to be the first step in building your business. So this is a great place to start. You could also do this on LinkedIn and your Instagram feed as well. So first step is making a post on your personal Facebook, your Instagram, or your LinkedIn, whichever one you play with the most or like the most. Or where your ideal client is the most should be really where you are.

Another way to do this is take that same post, but post it in Facebook and LinkedIn groups where your dream client hangs out. And make sure you're not violating any Facebook rules before posting, make sure you know the posting rules. But this is a great place because these are micro areas where your dream clients are probably hanging out, that people will want to help you. The other thing to do, and I had a coaching client do this recently of mine, is to ask in the Instagram Stories, to ask these questions and get feedback in Instagram Stories. This particular client used the questions and Yes and No stickers. They started with kind of a fun question, and then they went into the nitty gritty.

And a bonus tip on this is those who answer in the backend of your Instagram Stories, follow up and see if they want to take the full survey. Make sure you take note because you're going to lose who that is after 24 hours, but make sure you take note who that is. Send them a direct message and say, "Hey, I'd love some more feedback. Thanks for answering. I'd love some more feedback." And a bonus to this, not required but highly suggested you guys, is to give your dream client an incentive to answer. For example, I have offered to give 15 minutes of my time when somebody has answered the survey. So it gives me time to sit down with them and ask the questions about the products and services that I offer. So this is a great incentive because they're giving to you and you're giving back to them. So something to consider, not required.

Your next step is to go make those posts, those stories, those videos, whatever you feel comfortable with. And next week, we're going to talk about asking those questions in person.

Yes, I'm going to make you also ask in person too.

Shannon Hinderberger is a social media coach who lives in Bend, Oregon. She works with small business owners on how to grow their business using simple digital marketing strategies so they’re less overwhelmed, get results & save time. 

She has over 20 years in the online marketing space and loves helping business owners make an impact in their business.

3 questions to ask your dream clients

Last week we talked about sitting down and mapping out who your dream client is. You can't be everything to everyone because frankly, you're not donuts. So this week we're going to talk about the three questions you should be asking your dream clients, to better serve them. Because when you serve them, you're not really selling, right? All right. So as you know, I'm Shannon with Shannon Lee Strategy. I'm a Digital Marketing Strategist and coach who teaches you how to grow your business, using simple digital marketing strategies to get results and save time. I've been doing this for 20 years. I've been in the digital marketing space for a long time, 22 years, in fact, and I'd love to teach you how to make impact in your business. So this week's topic is, three things you want to ask your dream client. And the whole point of talking to your dream customers, your dream clients, is to figure out how you can serve your dream customers.

Because once you figure that out, you have raving fans, people are buying your services and you're not really selling. Because when you're serving, they get a taste of what it's like to work with you. So hearing from your dream clients helps you develop searchable copy for your website, helps you figure out where to spend time in your marketing, and it also helps you figure out what keeps them up at night, so you can solve their issues with products or services you offer. So you will want to ask basic demographic questions. This is the side of the three most important questions, which I'll get to in just a second. You'll want to ask basic demographic questions, like age, location, favorite podcasts, and gurus, blogs. How they like to get their information, like email marketing or texts. Where they hang out online? That one is key.

While all those are fabulous questions that will guide you -- there are 3 questions you must ask

1.What’s your struggle when it comes to [insert product or service].

For example, if you’re a realtor you’ll ask “What’s your struggle when it comes to buying a house?

2. What do you wish [insert job title or service] understood about you?

For example, if you’re a realtor you’d ask “What do you wish realtors understood about you?”

3. Last question: “If you could wave a magic wand, what [product or service] would you buy if money was no object.”

Your next step … get out that pen & paper and develop those questions!

Shannon Hinderberger is a social media coach who lives in Bend, Oregon. She works with small business owners on how to grow their business using simple digital marketing strategies so they’re less overwhelmed, get results & save time. 

She has over 20 years in the online marketing space and loves helping business owners make an impact in their business.

Start working with your ideal clients

Our topic this week is where to start when it comes to working with your dream customer, as you probably know, working with everybody is not going to be your cup of tea, craft beer, or a kombucha. And the best way to stop casting that wide net is to think about who you want to work with. So here's why you need to narrow down your dream client right from the start. Don't spend nine months like I did doing this.

I'm going to give you some simple strategies to make that happen. So I love the food and beverage industry. I've worked many years as a marketing manager for hotels, restaurants, breweries. And when I found myself starting a new business, it was taking work from any place I could to pay the bills. And it was a total disaster because some of those clients weren't a good fit for me, and I knew that and it wasn't my passion.

When you narrow down your dream customer, this is how you figure it out, okay? This is what helps you. When you narrow this down, you figure out these following things. You figure out where they hangout online or even in person. So you'll discover Facebook groups, which social network they prefer, what networking groups they like to go to. The whole online thing really depends on the age and where those people are hanging out.

The other thing this will help you narrow down is content and messaging that really connects with that client and what they're struggling with. And when you figure that out, it's like the magic happens. It helps you figure out places to hang out and target, like Facebook groups, online advertising, events, hashtags, podcasts to be guests on, targeting for your advertising, who to reach out to on LinkedIn. So that is why you want to figure out who your dream customer is and what they want, and then solve the problem.

Easy peasy, right? This is not an overnight process at all. I spent two years spinning wheels before doing the research, talking to those dream customers, and implementing what I found out in that process. I don't want you to make the same mistake. I always say this. If you know me, this is something that I harp on all the time, don't make the mistakes I did. That is why I'm telling you what to do.

This process takes several weeks and we're going to walk through baby steps each week on how to do that. Now I have talked about this before, but I'm narrowing it down and making it even more simpler.

If you don't know where to start, sit down and really think about who you want to work with. Grab a piece of paper and give that person a name, age, location. You could pick your ideal, somebody that you're working with who's your ideal customer and have that person be your ideal customer.

For example, I had a coaching client named Christina and for years she was my ideal client, and so whenever I did anything; social media posts, email marketing, targeting, I really, really, really honed in on what would Christina want? And yes, I talked to Christina and asked her, and that's how I found out.

The second part of this is, once you figure out who this person is and what they look like, think about the solution to what's keeping your dream client up at night and how you can solve that problem. So over the next several weeks, we're going to dive into the nitty gritty of attracting, talking to and directly getting in the heads of that dream client.

Shannon Hinderberger is a social media coach who lives in Bend, Oregon. She works with small business owners on how to grow their business using simple digital marketing strategies so they’re less overwhelmed, get results & save time. 

She has over 20 years in the online marketing space and loves helping business owners make an impact in their business.

Follow these steps for more likes, comments & followers

The most asked question I get is often about how to get more engagement on [insert social media platform]. The tricks I'll show you are not only helpful to Instagram but other social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, or TikTok.

Here are some simple suggestions (because I'm not a big fan of rules -- YOU DO YOU) to get your brand started on the path to social media greatness.

1) Pick a time each day to be intentional with who you're following & followers. I like to block the late afternoon when work for the day is done to see what my feed is ready to show me. As a rule, I follow my dream customers, brands I admire, and collaborators/friends. I'll like and comment on posts in my feed, which signals to the social network I'm invested in their platform, making it more likely they'll show my posts to users and possibly the explore tab.

2) Don't post & ghost. I like to pick the same time to post as I'll be on engaging. That way, if anyone comments, I can comment back and follow the step above in #1.

3) When commenting, don't just leave emojis -- leave at least a 4 -5 word comment. It signals to the user and the algorithm, you care.

4) Don't be spammy with your user tags. Make sure it's ok to tag the users your tagging and the tag is appropriate.

What questions do you have about getting more likes, comments & followers? 🌈

Shannon Hinderberger is a social media coach who lives in Bend, Oregon. She works with small business owners on how to grow their business using simple digital marketing strategies so they’re less overwhelmed, get results & save time. 

She has over 20 years in the online marketing space and loves helping business owners make an impact in their business.

Be positive when a crisis strikes

Interesting times lead to creative marketing strategies. And so I am here to walk you through content ideas that you can implement during a crisis, such as we're going through with COVID-19. This week we're going to talk about spreading the happy news and ways to do that.

We're going to talk about spreading the happy news when things are very interesting. People crave this. Just so you know, people are craving happy news right now. They want to know what's going on in your business that's happy. Where are you succeeding? What has been working for you? And so we're going to talk about some happy ways to spread the joy when it feels like Groundhog Day.

Happy quotes!
People want to find the good in everything, so any fun quotes or happy quotes that you have out there, positive quotes about what's going on. People want to see that. They want to share that. They want to like that. They want to relate to that and they're relating to that because they're right now trying to find the positive in being stuck at home. So happy quotes, happy quotes.

Show your successes
Another thing is they want to see the successes in your business and a lot of people right now are retooling everything, they're throwing their marketing plans out the window and they want to know what you're doing and how they can help you because supporting local and helping businesses stay alive during this time has been something that I've been, not exactly shocked at seeing, but is happening right now.

So I'm seeing restaurant owners, whose waitstaff and cook staff are probably not working right now, I'm seeing them show them in the kitchen working, putting your order together, going live. I'm also seeing chefs that aren't working right now, maybe in hotels, what they're doing is making meals live, in their homes and showing people how to make those meals at home. You don't want to worry about people not coming to you after because they know how to make your famous marinara sauce because they're going to come to you after because it's just not going to taste the same when they make it at home. Yours tastes better, just remember that.

I'm seeing musicians right now, going live and entertaining their fan base because their tour are canceled through the end of the year. Yes, through the end of the year. People are not going to be able to get outside and enjoy music or inside and enjoy music, so they're going live. Some are going live and asking for donations for their favorite charities. Some are going live and giving comic relief. So share some goodness in the world. I'm seeing hotel GMs cleaning rooms. I worked in a hotel and for the GM to be cleaning a room is a sight to see. And so they are doing things like going live or taking pictures of serving those essential people that are staying in their hotels right now.

Show how you’re supporting your community

Supporting your community is one way to do that. So share how you're supporting your community. Give recommendations. I've seen hotels make playlists. The one I work with has been making a playlist and sharing because they're all about art and music. So they're sharing their favorite music right now with their audiences. They're sharing their favorite book recommendations, audiobook recommendations. They're trying to find ways to keep the public positive. Maybe make a grateful list. This is something I do with my own kids. They've not been having the best time at home with mom while she's working and going to school. So I will make them say what are five things you're grateful for today?

Shannon Hinderberger is a social media coach who lives in Bend, Oregon. She works with small business owners on how to grow their business using simple digital marketing strategies so they’re less overwhelmed, get results & save time. 

She has over 20 years in the online marketing space and loves helping business owners make an impact in their business.

Be authentic when a crisis strikes

We're living through interesting times. Our plans are changing and you may not know what to do. A lot of people actually shut their marketing down when we're dealing with a crisis like we are dealing right now with COVID-19. So I'm here to help you with content ideas to stay relevant, top of mind and for them to remember you when things get back to whatever normal is. This is where you talk about being authentic, personal and empathetic in your marketing.

We’re talking about being authentic, personal and empathetic and what that means. I hope you know that you should always be authentic when it comes to your business, but really right now, you need to be just raw and real and showing what's happening in your business and being truthful. So I'm going to give you a few ways to work through this when it comes to your content strategy, things you put on social, things you put on your website and put in your email marketing. So show how you're dealing with what's going on. Big places like Disney are shut down and people have had plans to go there and they're dreaming of that Dole Whip. Well Disney went and they're showing people how to make it at home. They're trying to stay relevant so that when they open back up, people can come in and enjoy the magic of Disney.

You want to show what's happening behind the scenes. You want to show how your business is shifting. I'm seeing a lot of boutique owners that sell clothes, doing more Facebook Live's and Instagram Live's to sell items or move items in their businesses to pay rent. Such an amazing way to stay in touch and top of mind so when you are ready to buy your fall clothes or ready to buy for summer, that you will know where to go. That boutique is going live and they're showing things every day.

You want to share your struggles too. I work with a lot of beauty brands and beauty consultants and they have to shut their doors. They can't perform those face peels or masks or wax. So maybe develop some kits and send them out. I've seen aestheticians and waxing gals, sending kits to people in the mail, in fact, I got one and gave it to a friend, that are showing you how to do it at home. You may think that that will take away from your business when you open back up. Nope. They're going to appreciate you more because you sent that to them and you gave them instructions on how to do it. So it feels like a luxury when you go back to normal and they can come to you. So sharing your struggles and retooling your business.

Show how you're helping in your community. I'm seeing lots of restaurant owners dropping meals off at homeless shelters, helping those essential workers out at the hospital by dropping off pizzas. So show how you're helping because you will stay top of mind to those people you've helped, so when your business is back open and you are ready to go, they will come to you.

Shannon Lee:
So be authentic, personal and empathetic to what's happening is super key during times of crisis, especially like these interesting times we're living in.

What to say when a crisis happens?

Shannon:
We're living in interesting times. We're all in this together. And you're probably wondering, what should I say right now? What should I be saying to my client base or my customers?

Don’t go silent
The worst thing to do is just be quiet because you want to stay top of mind. When you go quiet and your competitors don't, they're going to remember your competitor and not you. So we're really going to talk about what to say and how to work through things.

Listen, acknowledge, but don't spread fear
We want to acknowledge that we're in a crisis right now. There's this big elephant in the room. Nobody knows when we'll be able to go do things. Nobody knows if we're going to have a new normal. All we know is we're all in this together. So you want to acknowledge it. But at the same time you want to listen and you do not want to spread any fear out there.

Pull the curtain back
Show behind the scenes of what you're doing and the changes you've made. So if you have the general public in your area of business, you'll want to let them know via email and social media, on your website, what you're doing to make changes in your business so people can stay safe and be well.

Go live on social media
Go live, show what you are doing. Show what you are doing. Show the implementations you're making. Live is a lot easier than recording a video and posting it because you will over-analyze that video so much that you probably won't post it. I saw somebody say that they recorded a video something like 30 times to get it right. Going live, you get it right once because you're live, and then you can save that, retool it, however you need to.

Only share from sources that are fact checked
So you want to make sure you connect with your audience and you are helping them feel a little bit better about what's to come with your business. Don't spread fear. Definitely keep your political views out of things. You'll turn some of your current customer base off. If that's what you want to do, you can do that. If you're going to share anything, news-wise, make sure it's from a trusted source.

SLS on 802 Social Podcast

I was recently on the Social Media Dowload podcast with Molly from 802 Social talking about 4 steps to creating a content strategy for web and social media. You can listen to the podcast here.

Tips for serving your audience through content when a crisis strikes like COVID-19

We are living through interesting times. Our kids are home. Our business plans have been shelved. Our doors may be closed. And you're thinking, "What can I do when it comes to content from my web and social?" All right, the first thing you want to do is ask, ask your audience, "How can I help? How can I serve you?" You want to let your audience lead the way.

I've seen some great examples I'm going to share throughout my series. Say, you're a hairdresser with your doors closed and you're stuck at home. Maybe show some how-to trim your bang videos. People are worried about their hair right now. It's one of the things they're worried about. Maybe teach them some skills to stay top of mind, so they remember to book with you when the time comes.

Musicians, I'm seeing musicians out there, whose concerts have been canceled and their live shows have been canceled. They are taking to going live. They are talking about how they're feeling, asking you how you're feeling, and they're playing music to help soothe anxiety. So you want to sit down and ask, "How can I help?"

I'm seeing hotels that are shut down, showing what they're doing when they can come back online and take those non-essential travelers. Things like the GM cleaning the rooms, which I think is kind of funny. I worked in a hotel and I know that when the GM is cleaning the rooms, that's something to document.

You want to listen to your audience. You want to document, and then you want to create things that are going to help them and get them through this time because we're not in this alone. We're all in this together. So where do you ask? Where do you ask folks, "How can I serve you?" You can go live on Facebook, live on Instagram, live on YouTube. You can create fun TikTok videos, Instagram stories, polls, questions. Send a survey out. Send a survey out to your email list and say, "Hey, I'm closed right now. What do you want to see for me?" I'm seeing some amazing estheticians selling in-home kits, and they're sending them to their clientele so they can keep up their skin regimens.

This is the time to retool and pivot. I hate that pivot word, but hey, we are, as entrepreneurs and small business owners, we are good at adjusting. Mark Schaefer said it best, "The thing different from the big depression and now is ingenuity."

This is the time to really step up our game, show up for our audiences, and ask how we can serve.

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