37: Organic Strategies that Boost Visibility & Build Your Email List

Whether you're launching your online business or scaling up, understanding how to attract the right audience and grow your email list is crucial. In this episode I chat with Visibility Expert, Tracy Beavers, who shares invaluable insights into why consistency in visibility strategies can make a world of difference. Listen in for concrete steps that will supercharge your email list growth.

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Transcript:

Lydia: Hi everybody, Lydia here, and I'm so excited for a special impromptu live interview that I'm doing today in our Facebook group. If you're not a part of our Facebook community and you're listening to the replay of this on my Launch Perspective podcast, be sure to join our community. You can go to launchperspective.community. Come hang out with us. It's a great group where I share tips related to tech support and launch strategies for your online business. I have a very special guest with me and we're going to be talking about a very relevant topic for online business owners.

So, if you've been hanging around here in our group for any length of time you know that we focus on the strategies that help you build and scale your business. And one of those key elements is definitely lead generation. How are we finding new audience members? How are we growing our email list? Because without new leads, our business fizzles out or it never gets launched. And so, I'm excited for the guest I have today. I actually met our guest in another community a while back, but she is a member of my Ignite membership. 

And if you have not met Tracy Beavers, you are in for a treat. I love her energy. I love all of the practical, amazing tips that she shares around this topic. She is a visibility strategist and a business coach. And I just want to go ahead and welcome her to our Launch Perspective podcast and to our group today.

Tracy: Hey there. Thanks so much, Lydia. I’m excited to be here.

Lydia: Oh, so much fun. I love doing things together. And you know, actually in our Ignite membership last week, you did a member spotlight. It's something that we offer our members. An opportunity to speak and share inside our group. And you just did an amazing job sharing some powerful tips. And that's kind of why I wanted to invite you to the podcast and to speak in our launch strategies group. Because lead generation is so important, yes?

Tracy: Yes. Yes. Just like you said, if we don't have leads, then we don't have a business.

Lydia: We don't. One of the words I want to really focus on today is this word of visibility. What does it mean to increase visibility and how does it even relate to your email list and the growth of your business?

Tracy: That's a great question. And visibility is all about being seen, being heard by your audience of ideal clients. the ones that you want to draw to you, the ones that you want to attract. Because the online space, as you know, is really, really loud and it can feel kind of crowded.

Lydia: And busy. Yes.

Tracy: And so, it's kind of hard sometimes for us to feel like we're breaking through to reach the people we really want to reach. That's where visibility comes in. It's putting strategies in place to consistently get you out onto the online space in different ways. There're lots of different strategies I teach for visibility, and I want everybody to find the ones that are most authentic for them so that they feel like there's a match there. But, yes, it's all about being seen, being known, being heard so that your ideal clients can go, yes, Lydia is exactly who I've been looking for and I’m going to connect with her, and I want to get on her email list.

Lydia: And you do a great job of this, by the way. I've followed you for a while. And we all struggle with that consistent visibility. And I will say it's amazing how much I see you showing up. And I will say that that is really what made a difference for me in the beginning is being committed to showing up live somewhere, you know, created visibility for me. And so, I would love for you to share with everybody, especially for those who are kind of new to their online business, maybe they've just launched. How do they get started with visibility? Especially if they're just growing that email list. How do they get seen and get heard? What would be those first few steps you would tell them?

Tracy: That's a great question. One of the foundational things I teach is just use the word consistency. Consistency and patience are what we have to use and employ in order to be successful with really anything in life. It doesn't matter if you're growing an online business, if you're trying to get in shape for a marathon, you know, whatever it is. Consistency and patience are going to be your best friends.

I have a very easy exercise people can follow that will help them create 90 days of social media content topics in only 30 minutes. literally mapping out what are their content topics going to be for the next 90 days so that all they have to do is look at the week in front of them. What’s that topic pick? Do you want to post three times a week on social media? You make three posts about that one topic, and you're done, but you're consistent. That's the thing.

If you want to do more posts, you can. If you can only do two posts a week because you're just starting out and maybe you're building alongside a full-time job like I did then do the two posts. But whatever you do, be consistent and set it up where you can do it week after week after week.

Like you were talking about. One of my pieces of social media content from the very beginning has been live video. I'm a massive extrovert. I could talk to a brick wall. And so, video is no big deal for me. And I'm really strong on video and I believe my argument for video is that nothing deepens that know, like, and trust factor faster than letting somebody get to know you on a video.

And so, I decided years ago, one of my regular pieces of content each week was going to be me going live every Thursday at 11:30am. And I've been consistent with it. And I'll tell you, there are weeks when I don't feel like it. There are weeks when I'm like, first of all, I see the topic I mapped out for the week and I'm like, I don't want to do that. And then I don't want to talk about that. And then the second thought is if I've got to go live one more time.

But here's the thing. I'm a business owner. I want the visibility. I've got to be consistent, even if I don't feel like it and even if I don't feel like talking about that topic. Because the minute I say to myself, oh, I'll find another topic for that week. That's where the wheels fall off the bus. Because I'll get busy, and I'll forget about it. And then before I know it, the week has passed, and I haven't put my content out there. So, at a minimum, start being consistent on the platform of your choice and your audience is going to start to know when you're showing up.

Lydia: They really do. And I can so relate to this scenario because the reason why I do struggle with consistency sometimes is because I'm constantly changing my mind on the topic. And just like you said, you just need to decide and do it. Because the more you think, no, maybe I should do this or maybe I should call it this. I can't tell you how many times you're like, oh, now I'm out of time. Now, I haven't shared. I'll just do it next week.

Tracy: Right. It's exactly like when I was in corporate. My friends would laugh at me, but every Sunday I would set out five outfits for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And it reminds me of a time when I would wake up in the morning and I would look at that outfit I was supposed to wear and go, I don't want to freaking wear that. But do you know that the minute I did that, I spent another 30 minutes in my closet trying to find something else to wear. And before I know it, I'm late and my day is gone.

Lydia: Exactly.

Tracy: So, every time I talk about this, I'm like, this is kind of like when I picked out all the outfits and I decided I didn't want to wear that one. You know, the wheels fell off the bus. So, like, put on the outfit. Just put it on.

Lydia: And you know what I think it is. I think the reason we do that is we're constantly in our minds overthinking, we're perfectionists. So, we're thinking well if I can't deliver like this pristine talk, or live, or presentation, and then if I'm not on my A game and if I can't deliver this just profound thing, I shouldn't hit that go live button.

Tracy: Right.

Lydia: And that couldn't be further from the truth. Wouldn't you agree?

Tracy: Oh, you know me. Last week when I did the presentation for Ignite, I had all these plans of being very much like Lydia Martin with my slides and my this and my that. And I thought, I can't even create one more slide this week. So, I decided to ditch the slides and be an example of somebody who keeps it simple and delivers a great training face to camera, just like we're doing right now.

And you probably heard the story of my dog needing to go to the bathroom in the middle of one of my Thursday lives. To the point where I had to go, hold on everybody, I'll be right back. I got to let the dog out to go. And then this same dog threw up in the middle of one of my life masterclasses and my first launch. And I was like. But do you know what? People love it.

Lydia: Yes. And I think people, what they really love is authenticity and learning from someone who is relatable and speaking to them from the heart, right? Not from a perspective of I know it all and I'm a super perfect person and look at me and all the amazing things I know.

And I want people to understand that they can go live and share something that may seem so irrelevant to you or so insignificant. And it just may be the mindset, the tip, the tool, the one thing that one person needed. And so, you have to kind of get out of your head, stop thinking about, oh my goodness, what are people going to think about me? And how can I just show up and serve whoever is listening to my voice today and just hit that button and do it.

And the more you do it, wouldn't you agree the more comfortable you get in your skin and your voice and all the things.

Tracy: For sure. Like a hundred percent. Because if you go back and I don't want anybody to do this, but if you go back and look at my first Facebook lives, I was so boring. I was so boring. I tried to be anchorwoman perfect, you know, like reading the news. Because that's what I saw on TV. And like several weeks later of doing this every single week. I started to find my groove and for whatever reason. I started to loosen up. Like I think I started mispronouncing words, which I'm notorious for making up words, mispronouncing words and getting off on a tangent on something, you know, that I get excited about.

And that happened one day. And I had people, friends of mine texting me going, I don't know what you put in your coffee this morning, but you need to have it in your coffee every single day, because this was the best live you've ever done. And I was like. What in the world? Okay.

Lydia: I love it.

Tracy: Ever since then, I'm like, I'm going to be my goofy self. If I mess up, we're going to roll with it. If the doorbell rings, if, you know, my husband comes home early for lunch, that's happened also. I'm like, well, come on in, honey, you know. Because I'm in the kitchen. This is my fancy studio.

Lydia: Yes. Well, but that's what people don't understand. Just show up, be authentic. Share something that you've experienced, something you've helped a client with. It doesn't have to be this profound thing, but this is the key, and this is the point I would love for you to share with everyone. How does showing up and delivering content, whether it's a tip, a tool, inspirational, you know, talk, a mindset, mantra. How do you take that and then give a call to action that leads them to saying, I want to be on your email list so that you can continue to really communicate with them more effectively. So, I would love to hear how do we get from visible to actual email list lead?

Tracy: Perfect. That's a great question. So, on that list of 12 topics that I want you to map out. I want you to think to yourself, what are my calls to action in my business. CTAs are what a lot of people call them. Calls to action. And it could be join my free Facebook group. It could be check out my latest podcast episode, check out my latest blog post, grab my free lead magnet.

Like how many lead magnets do you have? I want you to list them out. Do you have a free Facebook group? Do you have a podcast, a blog, or a YouTube channel? Where can you send somebody next in that call to action that is going to land on your email list?

And this is where the visibility strategies really are important. And giving that forethought to when I go live If I invite people to my free Facebook group, if that's going to be my call to action, which you'll hear me say that in my lives, I'm always talking to people and seeding through the live training, talking about my group and come join us. It's so much fun.

My Facebook group is set up to grow my email list. By the way, I have the membership questions set up when someone lands there. I help my clients and students understand that every action you take in your business, all roads need to lead to email list growth.

So, when you're going live, I want you to think. What's my call to action going to be that will grow my email list? Now, if you're sending them to your podcast, but your podcast is not set up in a way to grow your email list. Meaning on your podcast episode, you have a call to action where they can do something to land on your list. And then in your podcast show notes, you've got calls to action and links there where they can land on your email list.

You don't want to use that as a call to action. You need to make that podcast work to build your list. You need to make sure your blog is dialed in to build your list. And so, when I'm going live, I'm thinking to myself where am I in my promotional year? And where do I want to send people? What do I want them to do after this video is over? Is it a lead magnet?

And in Q4 of last year, I employed a strategy I learned from Amy Porterfield. It was like a 90-day pre-launch runway thing that she doesn't train on very much anymore. It was in an older podcast that I found. And I thought, I'm going to try this. And her challenge was to go live every week for the next 90 days and offer a free download of some kind as a call to action for them to land on your list.

Well, my team and I did that. And I ended up going from three lead magnets to like, now I have eleven. Because once I created that very simple PDF to go with the video, I could repackage the lead magnet into the video and the PDF. And so, yes. But every time I go live, I'm thinking to myself, where do I want to send them next that's going to land on my email list? Whether it's a masterclass, you know, all the things I just listed.

Lydia: And I think people don't understand how many options there are. And so they're like I don't always want to just say get this one free thing get this one free thing. 

Tracy: Right.

Lydia: Truth be told I did not create a traditional lead magnet in my business for the first 18 months.

Tracy: That’s impressive.

Lydia: Isn't that crazy? My main two lead magnets for 18 months was one that you've mentioned, the free Facebook group. So, the majority of the people who joined my list in my first 18 months were joining my free Facebook group. I have a free Facebook group called Banish Business Clutter with Lydia Martin. And just like you said, I have membership questions. And one of the questions is what is your email address? So, I can send you, at the time I was doing challenges, Banish Business Clutter Challenges. So, I said, I'll invite you to my free challenge if you give me your email address. That was how I built my list solely through my Facebook group and my challenges.

So, I will tell you, it's amazing to me how even just taking one of the ideas that you share can make such a massive difference. Even if you don't have eleven lead magnets, right?

Tracy: Just making that list. Like I had a client, and she was telling me. She's like, I don't know what my call to action is going to be. And I'm like, okay, let's review. What do you have in your business? And she was like, oh my gosh, I wrote a book. I forgot all about my book. I'm like, go buy my book. That's a call to action. Now, hopefully she's got it set up where if they buy the book, you know, there's ways to do that to grow your email list.

But we forget about all the lead magnets we do have. The many offers that are maybe $7 or $9. The big offer you have, that could be a call to action that grows your email list.

Lydia: Book a call, book a discovery call with me. Like, let's have a virtual chat. There are so many call to actions that get people connected with you. And I totally agree. And just like you were saying with going live every week, I think people think it's so hard to create a lead magnet. But if you go live there are so many tools that now that will transcribe your live and then you can take that live use a tool like ChatGPT to summarize it and then you go into Canva and you create a pretty PDF, or you just go into Google Docs, create a little summary and that's a lead magnet. Like, it doesn't have to be uber complicated, right?

Tracy: It doesn't have to be fancy. You guys, if you go and opt in for some of my lead magnets, you're going to be like, oh, well this is easy. Because you're going to get an email that's got the video, the replay, and the little link to the PDF.

Lydia: Simple.

Tracy: Simple. Keep it simple. Yes. No, I love that, Lydia. Because we forget about all the things that we've got.

Lydia: Absolutely. And the same thing even with your website or, you know, your bio link on Instagram. Like where are we sending people to get into our world? Right? But if they're not on that email list, we can't just rely on social media for them to see our posts and all those things. Right? And so, I think this is such an important topic.

And what I love about you, Tracy, is you're sharing organic strategies. So, this isn't even like paid advertising. And you've been able to build such an amazing list and community, even without ads.

Tracy: Yes. I really didn't have any choice, quite honestly. And my business, all of these strategies that I have, came to me because of my frustration with paid ads. I ran paid ads in the summer of 2021, and I might as well have piled up all of my money and burned it. That's how successful it was.

And then I even ran paid ads. I tried again this past Spring. I felt way more confident about it, but honestly, Lydia, those leads were not the people that were buying from me. They did not convert. They were on my list, but then they would leave. And I just am like this is obviously not the strategy for me.

But you're right. I have on my email list now almost 3,000 people. And all of that has been from the visibility strategies I have in place. And a lot of people think because they do see me on social media. I have people say to me, I see you everywhere in Facebook groups and on social and all that. And they think that I'm on social media or in these groups all day long. I'm not.

There are very strategic ways that you can show up on social and appear to be everywhere and giving great content, but not having to spend your day staring at the Facebook app and scrolling and all of that.

Lydia: Absolutely. And I know one of the big things you teach, of course, is when you're doing this live content weekly, you teach people how to also repurpose that content.

Tracy: Exactly.

Lydia: So that you're doing one major piece of content that then breaks apart into smaller pieces that really does make you look like you're everywhere.

Tracy: Exactly. And it's so much easier. So like part of the strategy that Lydia is talking about is I want people to have one anchor piece of content. So, it might be your podcast. It might be your blog. For me, it's my live every Thursday.

And this method of mine came about out of necessity. Because again, when I started this business, I was building alongside a full-time job and two kids that were in middle school and high school and played every sport with a ball.

So, you can imagine how busy I was. I had to get smart about my time. So, I knew that live video was going to be a hit and I'm like, okay. So, I would write out my live training. And I still do this every week, but I have a framework that makes it really easy. I thought, you know, you've got your hook, you've got your intro, you've got the meat of the training and your call to action. So, the only thing that changes each week is the hook and the meat of the training and maybe the call to action depending on where I am in my promotional calendar. But I would write out the meat of that training.

And let's say I gave somebody four tips to building their email list. Okay. I've got my meat of my training written out. I can take two of those tips and create a social media post. Take the other two tips and create a social media post. Or I could take one tip at a time and create four posts. Let's say I'm talking about having a great mindset and courage to do the things that scare you: The Mel Robbins 5 Second Rule. I could grab a quote from Mel Robbins that corresponds to what I'm talking about and use that in my social media content with her name on it on a graphic and copy that talks about the things that I was just talking about in my training.

And then I could take that if I need to get back to making my blog. But I could totally throw that thing into ChatGPT now and say, hey, write me a blog post with SEO rich keywords. Then you plug that thing in, right? And you're good to go. And before you know it, you have what I call a marketing machine of social media content and things that are churning the business for you.

And all you're doing is staying consistent with the pieces that you know you have to do yourself. And the rest of it just starts to happen. Because people see me active in groups. Because I've got my personal profile dialed in, like we talked about last week in Ignite. My cover photo on my Facebook personal profile is an excellent email list strategy. And it does the work for me.

I have loads of people joining my free Facebook group every month. I have hundreds of people that join, and I don't have to invite that many of them. It's because I'm present. I'm visible and they go to my personal profile, and they see my cover photo and they're like, oh, I want to be in that group.

Lydia: I one hundred percent agree that this is such a strategy that works, and I love that you're teaching this. I know it's going to help so many people and it's one of the reasons why I wanted to partner with you. I know you have a free masterclass coming up. So, I definitely want to encourage everybody to sign up for this. This is the link: lydiamartin.info/emailmasterclass.

And I put that on there because I really wanted everybody to remember that this is to grow your email list. Tracy has so many tips. I know you're going be sharing, I believe four main strategies in that masterclass that they can implement right now that are doable for everyone.

Tracy: Yes.

Lydia: Right. It doesn't matter how big your list is now or what you're doing on social now. But I love that you break it down to be so simple with these kind of just step by steps, follow this. Because I agree. I think so many people don't hit that go-live button because they just don't have a formula. Right. And once you get in the groove and you're doing it every week, I just think it becomes like clockwork. So much easier.

Tracy: It does. It really does. I could push the live button now and do my intro in my sleep. Because I have said it so many times.

Lydia: I've actually joked about that. I'm like, wake me up at 3am, give me a topic, I will hit go live, let's chat about it. Because you don't get to that level of confidence, and we don't have it in the beginning. I know I didn’t. But the more you do it, trust me. And I tell people all the time, you know, if live is not your thing, you can do another form of visibility, like a podcast, which is on here.

Right. Absolutely. Use audio as your main anchor piece. Those who love to write can use a blog as an anchor piece, right? There're a lot of ways to be visible, but I so appreciate you sharing these awesome practical tips with everybody today.

Tracy: You bet. And I would love to see you in the live masterclass. The first session is tomorrow. There are four different dates and times you can choose from. There's tomorrow and Friday and then next week is Tuesday and Wednesday, I believe. And the times are either 10:30am central or 2pm central.

You get an awesome bonus too if you show up. I'm so excited about this. So, this is something I created over the summer and it's not anything I sell. It's not anything you're going to see from me unless you come to this live masterclass or you're in my alumni membership. And it's the Facebook growth toolkit. So that you can have my best practices for leveraging the Facebook platform.

Lydia: Love it.

Tracy: Show up live and you will get that.

Lydia: Love it. Okay. So, everybody wants to do that. I'm glad you have a lot of times available. So, go to lydiamartin.info/emailmasterclass, choose your time, go hang out with Tracy. It'll be so worth it. You'll get so many ideas that you can implement right away.

Thank you for being my guest today to talk about this awesome topic.

Tracy: Thank you so much for having me. I really, really appreciate it. 

Lydia: Yay. Awesome, everybody. Well, I hope you appreciated this kind of impromptu live today in our Facebook community or if you're watching on the podcast. Thank you so much for following, supporting, and leaving a review for Launch Perspective. That's where you'll find us on your favorite podcast app.

And I look forward to seeing you next time. Be sure to join Tracy's masterclass. I know that you are going to love it.

Thanks everybody. We look forward to seeing you next time.