Ask Muse Part 2: Our Recommendations for Positioning & Branding So You Resonate with Virtual Audiences #007

Show Notes

In part one, Lori and Nola heard the challenges entrepreneur and business coach Carol Boston was having resonating with virtual audiences. Now hear their suggestions for messaging that is sure to get Carol’s target audiences' attention. In addition, Nola and Lori designed and presented Carol with two workflows. One workflow helps her choose virtual events that are a good match for her business, and the other is to help her ‘Master the Art of the Virtual Appearance.’

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Sticky Brand Lab

Exciting possibilities are in the works. Come have a listen!

In This Episode You’ll Learn

• What a ‘teaser’ is and how using it is a great way to ignite curiosity in a listener
• The two distinct approaches for capturing a listener or viewer's attention
• How to use a ‘guest appearance’ workflow to evaluate virtual appearances 
• Ways to stop trading time for dollars so you can maximize your ROI on guest appearances

Lori and Nola have come up with three specific brand messages Carol can use to attract her prospective clients. In addition, they’ve designed two workflow systems, How to Evaluate a Virtual Appearance and Mastering the Art of the Virtual Appearance. Both workflows are available for listeners and can be found on the stickybrandlab.com/resources page.

(3:59.14) Use this technique and you're more likely to get your audience’s attention and increase their desire to learn more about you. 

(7:32.34) Carol explains how passion for helping women find their voice is rooted in her own experience.

(12:53.43) The workflow system designed to help you determine if a podcast or virtual event is right for you and your business.

(14:22.99) A simple technique that can endear you to the virtual host and their audience.
​
(19:41.78) The two models you should be using to get a virtual audience to instantly connect with you.

Resources
This episode was supported by: Middle Kid Media

• Logo Lite and Social Packages for $475 see our offers page for details
• Additional Savings for Other Branding Services Coupon code SBL20 (Excludes Logo Lite & Social Packages)

How to Evaluate a Virtual Appearance

Mastering the Art of the Virtual Appearance 

Transcript

Nola: [00:00:00] And so how do you feel about these 10 questions or nine questions and one command?

Carol: [00:00:06] Well, like I said, I love the fact that it gives me structure and it'll help me get, more consistent, and I think I'll get better results.

Announcer: [00:00:17] You're listening to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast, where time-strapped professionals like you learn how to create a business you love in as little as three hours a week.

Lori: [00:00:30] Welcome side hustlers. We're excited to have business coach Carol Boston back for this second half of her Ask Muse session. But before we get started, make sure you subscribe to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast and give us a review so we can help other aspiring entrepreneurs, just like you find our show.

Yay. Now let's get this episode rolling.

Nola: [00:00:54] So Carol, when we last met, you were talking about your challenges. Now that everything is going on screen and on video and on podcasts and on audio, you're having a harder time making that connection because you're so used to people just being able to enter into your atmosphere and just the behavior and the conversation that takes place differently on screen and on audio and in phone calls than it does in person.
So you recognized that as a challenge, you found that after everything seems to go well, you got a lot of raving fans, but no clients. You recognize that, number one, you want to be able to come up with messaging that really resonates with your ideal client right off the bat.

 And number two is on a platform or an opportunity where those clients reside. And so you need a way to be able to identify, is this going to be the right and the right opportunity for me? Does this have my ideal clients? What do I say to them? How do I hook them right away? And how do I make them into clients?

Carol: [00:02:00] Absolutely.

Nola: [00:02:02] So I think we can help.

Carol: [00:02:05] Yay.

Lori: [00:02:05] And remember that in our first episode, one of the things that you had mentioned was you weren't quite certain yet who your target audience was. And since then you've actually narrowed it down to who you'd like to work with.

Carol: [00:02:20] Yes. My campaign is going to be towards female family lawyers. When I took a look at. Who's hired me the most, who's hired me the easiest, who never batted an eye at the investment and who got great results, it was female family lawyers. On Facebook and in other venues,  then it will be established female business owners.

Lori: [00:02:38] And I think just the way to think about it is not necessarily the platform that you're using, but who your target audience is in general, because there's going to be crossover. It's not as though female family lawyers are only found on LinkedIn or female business owners are only found on Facebook. You just want to think those are two market or industries that I'm targeting.

Carol: [00:03:08] Okay

Lori: [00:03:09] And the person is female.

Carol: [00:03:12] Yes.

Nola: [00:03:13] So excited. We, Lori and I met and we had so much fun coming up with ways that we can help. And so we're so excited to tell you some options that we came up with.

Carol: [00:03:24] Okay. I'm excited. I eager.

Lori: [00:03:26] We really want to help you get noticed online. And what we really want is for somebody to hear you talk and say, I want to work with her.

Carol: [00:03:34] Yes.

Lori: [00:03:35] So we used your personality. We came up with three options for messaging, and we hope that one of them really is the one for you. So keeping in mind that your target audience is female lawyers and female business owners, we set it up so that there's a teaser. So if you're on a podcast or you're on a webinar and you're being interviewed.

The teaser is to capture attention. We want somebody to hear you describe that and want to ask, what is that? Basically they lean in. And your message then is that opportunity,  almost a second kind of pause, that lets you explain it a little bit more to get more interest and peak more curiosity.

Carol: [00:04:24] Yes.

 Lori: [00:04:24] Perfect. Well, so the first one is, I'm a success coach. That in general is pretty awesome. Who wouldn't want to work with somebody who automatically says I'm a success coach?  So, "I coach successful female lawyers so they can shatter the invisible barriers that keep them from being at the top of their game."

Carol: [00:04:47] I like that.

Lori: [00:04:48] And it's a positive focus. So one of the ways to think about it is you can either talk to somebody about their pain point, or you can do the reward system. So the fact that it's a success coach, that already says reward, right? Who doesn't want to think of themselves as being successful in what they're doing? And the coaching then takes them to the next level.

Carol: [00:05:20] Makes total sense, because my best clients have been established female business owners, right? They've already had some success. But they're stuck.

Lori: [00:05:28] Exactly.

Nola: [00:05:32] So the next option we came up with is, I'm a transformation coach. That's the teaser. And when people go, huh? What is that? You say, "I show women the small strategic shifts that lead to the biggest changes in their law practice, relationships and life."

Carol: [00:05:53] I do that too. And Nola hasn't heard me talk, but Lori's heard me.

She's worked with me several times. Like one of the tools I use is tacking, right, which is a boating term.

Lori: [00:06:01] Yep.

Carol: [00:06:02] And we take those small strategic steps and celebrate them.

Lori: [00:06:05] And option number three. So one of the things you said in the first episode is that you're a rule follower, but then later you talked about all the ways you break the rules, you can't be boxed in.

So when we were thinking about it from that standpoint, we realized that you yourself are a rebel. And so if you are a rebel, how fun is it to work with other rebels?

Carol: [00:06:34] That's awesome.

 Lori: [00:06:35] And so this teaser is, "I coach rebels. Women who are ready to break through to the next level of their business, leadership and authority, so they can create the life they were destined to lead."

Carol: [00:06:50] I love that. I was just telling when you were offline Lori. I was telling Nola about a time when my dad had actually come one time to visit me and went to therapy with me. And the therapist said, describe Carol when she was growing up. And the first word he used was, she was a rebel.

Lori: [00:07:06] Oh, awesome.

Carol: [00:07:08] This is a, this I'm not making this stuff up.
This is a true story. And I kind of took that negatively at first. Cause I didn't understand. And my therapist was like, no, no rebels bring about change. Rebels are good.

Lori: [00:07:17] Exactly.

Nola: [00:07:18] And the thing is you found out that he defined rebel, ultimately, as you insist on being your true self. Isn't that crazy, you insist on expressing you as you are.

Carol: [00:07:32] And that's one of the things I love helping women do is to find their voice because I understand what it's like not to have one and to be kind of squashed down and to have someone else try to control you.

 Actually in the talk that I gave Thursday night is called dare to be different. The power of no. And I talk about the first time that I stood up for myself to my mother in, in the face of possibly losing that relationship. And I said at that point I became more honest. So I became more real. I became more authentic to me.

Lori: [00:08:00] Exactly. So all three of these were based on our first episode and talking to you and getting to know you and understanding some of the struggle that you were facing, but obviously you have to pick the one that works for you.

So at this moment, and we know that you're going to digest it, but does any one of them stand out more than the other?

Carol: [00:08:27] Well, I personally love "I coach rebels." When I look at my success track with my past clients, I would say "I'm a transformation coach." I, my question is, do I have to pick just one or is it, can it be situation specific?

Lori: [00:08:42] Love that question. And the answer is you don't have to pick just one. It can be specific to the situation that you're in. And more importantly, if you like them all, practice using them. See how it sits with you.

Carol: [00:09:01] The question is from a branding perspective, is it important to have consistency? In other words, is it better for me to find one that, really not only is comfortable for me that works. And then just take one, no matter what, the situation from a branding perspective, so that there's. I dunno, continuity, if you will?

Lori: [00:09:19] Excellent question. From a branding perspective, the information that you have for your website, for your collateral material, for your handout material, there's continuity that needs to happen there.
And that happens with your logo, with your colors, with the fact that you identify yourself as the business coach. Here the continuity is all variations of you. These all speak to you about you and who you love working with. So think of that now as shades of blue.

Carol: [00:10:00] Okay.

Lori: [00:10:01] So Carol, are you familiar with the term workflow?

Carol: [00:10:05] Probably more so from a sales perspective, you know, having been in sales in corporate America. So I understand that process. So I might not be clear on exactly what you're talking about.

Lori: [00:10:14] Wonderful. So just to put it simply a workflow is a clearly defined sequence process to help you get things done.

Carol: [00:10:22] Okay.

Lori: [00:10:23] So you don't have to recreate the wheel each time.
One of the things that you loved about corporate was that there were processes already in place, and you didn't have that in your current business. So we set up workflow system. So for you, when you are going to be working virtually, you can follow this process each and every time and just change it for who you're talking to or what the situation is about.
So when we come back, we're going to show Carol two workflow systems we developed for her that you, our listeners, can use to help you master the art of the virtual appearance.

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Lori: [00:12:05] Welcome back to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast. The show that lovingly kicks aspiring entrepreneurs in the butt, because there's no better time to take action than today.

Nola: [00:12:17] So, Carol, as we had talked earlier, one of the main problems you had was conducting business any way other than in-person. Whether on the phone. By a podcast. Video conference. It's just so much different to be able to connect with your clients and your colleagues, et cetera.

Lori: [00:12:37] So now let's move into the workflow because I think it's going to help you now think about where you spend your time and is it worth it?

And, and then if it is, what do you do there? So the first one is guest appearances. So this workflow is a guest appearance evaluation workflow. And the reason for that is, again, you're wanting to get business, but if you go on every show that asks you, you're trading your time, for dollars. Because the audience isn't correct for you.

So what do you have to know? What's a good system that you can always put into place. And so the very first piece here is before you  accept an appearance, know what you want, right? So the first thing is to be clear on actually what you want to get at, out of this. Are you trying to promote your coaching services? Are you trying to promote. your new book that you're a part of? Are you trying to get the audience on your email list so you have a way of building those touch points with them?

Nola: [00:13:49] You've decided, okay, this is, this might be possible, but first let's just hear a couple of episodes. You know, it might seem at first blush that that opportunity might be ideal. But before you say yes and jump to it, just listen to a couple of episodes, make sure that it resonates with you. And also if it seems like that Is the case. It's like, okay. It seems like there might be a fit here. I can see my brand kind of meshing with this.
If you listen to some of the episodes, you're able to pick some nuggets that later on, when you do appear on that show. If you bring them up, it'll instantly endear the host and their audience to you because you have identified yourself as already being part of the tribe. You get them, because you're able to, you know, talk about something that has been part of the conversation.

Lori: [00:14:48] That's super important. You know, when, when Nola and I were planning our podcast, we did a lot of research by listening to other podcasts, um, that talked about the same audience, right? So they were for the side hustler, they were for the emerging entrepreneur. And what we discovered is they were for people who already had been in business.
Ours is aspiring. Ours is taking people to the next level. We figured out where our niche was. But we wouldn't have known that if we have listened to other shows. So we saw that that would benefit us because we were serving a certain tribe that, that show wasn't serving. And so from your standpoint, as a guest, you want to make sure they're serving the tribe your trying to resonate with.

Carol: [00:15:40] Exactly. Had I known this a few months ago, there's some podcasts that I wouldn't have gotten on.

Lori: [00:15:46] Exactly. That's exactly why we did this for you. So that brings us to, what do you bring to the table? One of the gifts you have is the empowering questions. That's a win-win all the way around. Right? You have something to teach and people lack that skillset.

So this workflow is designed to help you just set up the appearance first. The second workflow is about organizing your thoughts. So let's just go through this process. So the first thing is. Does this show align with your brand, your target audience and the services that you're offering? If you're offering coaching, but you're on a show that doesn't support that. That's not going to work for you.

Carol: [00:16:38] Right. Waste of time.

Nola: [00:16:39] So step two really does relate to that. It's that do your research on the show, again, you still need to go through some more of the evaluation stages, but yes, do that research.

Lori: [00:16:51] And the other thing that's really important here is that worth your time.

You want to know how, when and where the host will promote your appearance. So that's the question you're going to ask them. How do you promote me? How do you promote your show? What are the ways? How far in advance do you do it? You want to ask those questions.

And be clear about what the expectations the host has for you as the guest. Knowing what the expectations are, what the structure of the show is, that's step four. And then for you, step five is determine if you want to have it, an appearance on that show.

Nola: [00:17:30] What you want to get out of it.

Lori: [00:17:33] If you follow these steps and you get to number five and you say yay or nay, that's an indication right there. If you say step six here, if it's a go, then be memorable. Have fun. Get something, deliver something for the audience. But do do this step-by-step. Because if you get there and you have no idea, then it wasn't worth your time. Each step guides you to the process. So if you get to step six and you're saying it's a go, then you switch over to work flow sheet number two.

Nola: [00:18:13] So we've created this workflow based on that, that if you go through it, step by step it's 10 steps series of questions that you ask yourself one at a time in order.

So that by the time you get to the end and you've adjusted your appearance for that opportunity, you'll be able to generate a message that inspires participants to say, yes, I want to work with her.

Lori: [00:18:45] So step number one, what message do prospective clients want to hear? What are they tuning in to learn?

Carol: [00:18:52] Right.

Nola: [00:18:53] Their choice to view that show or listen to that podcast, there's a reason they're tuning into that because they expect to benefit from something specific by listening to that podcast, and you want to be able to deliver for them.

Lori: [00:19:07] Keep it simple, sister. You've got a lot to offer the audience when they listen to you, Carol. But if you share too much with the audience, you lose them. ,They're overwhelmed, they're floating, they're all over the place. So if you keep it on one topic two at the most, but one, you will have their attention. So it's not about how long you're on. It's about the importance, the nugget that you're giving them. Better to get it delivered in 20 minutes, than 59 minutes.

Nola: [00:19:39] The step three is to ask yourself, will you connect with these prospective clients through establishing the business first approach or the common ground first approach? When you start off with a story, remember their attention span is shorter than a goldfish. So even if you're starting off with the story, make sure that they know what's in it for them before you get too far into it, or you will lose them. So that's just a nugget.

Carol: [00:20:11] OKAY

Nola: [00:20:11] That's buried in this information that I just want to call out again.

Lori: [00:20:16] That leads right in perfectly, am Nola, when you talk about step number four.

Nola: [00:20:20] There we go. That's right. Well, your presentation be focused on overcoming pain or rewarding pleasure?

Lori: [00:20:28] If you're picking overcoming a pain point or rewarding pleasure, you want to have applicable tips, techniques that you'll be presenting. You're telling one scenario story with a tip to it. Or you're getting into business, giving them the idea of what that technique is and relating a story that reinforces the benefit of using it or how the pain of not knowing that you could have used it and how it really changed your life and the trajectory of, of you being a coach. So that's step number six, really: What's the personal example you want to share with your own audience to establish common ground?

Carol: [00:21:13] You always give a personal story. Is there a time when you would use a client story?

Lori: [00:21:19] Really good question. You would put the story of the client out there in their pain or their rewards story, not how you helped them. But you want to make your client the hero. So you want to then convey the pain that they felt and the technique they used to change the situation around. So you make them the hero. So you're really focused, not on, I taught her dah, but how her story that the audience can relate to and using empowering questions, change things around for her.

Carol: [00:22:00] Okay. Cool. Thank you.

Nola: [00:22:02] The number seven is what call-to-action do you want prospective clients to do? For example, do you want them to schedule a free consultation?

Lori: [00:22:12] And make it a single call to action. If there are too many calls to action, you overload. People can't remember what they're supposed to do. So it's better to make it one thing.

So if you can get them on a free call and you tell them what the benefit is of coming to that free call. You are conveying a free 20 minute, but I'm just giving it a scenario, a free 20 minute consultation, and I'm going to teach you, or during that call, we'll practice using one of the empowering questions so you can go out and use it in your business. By having to sign up for it. You automatically get their email address.

Carol: [00:22:55] I want to ask you a question. So I spoke Thursday night. My call to action was to get on a call with me, bring me your biggest challenge, whether it's business or personal, and I will help you reframe it, give you three to five empowering questions around it and when you leave that call, you'll have a strategy put in place to overcome it.

Lori: [00:23:09] That's a lot.

Carol: [00:23:10] Yeah, I didn't get one response. But what my coach said was when I said, bring your biggest challenge. She said, that sounds like work to people. They're going to have to think, well, what is my biggest challenge? So I need to be more succinct I guess.

Nola: [00:23:22] Step eight is asking yourself, will you offer a special enticement to prospective clients, people who are listening? So in addition to that, the call to action. Is there something that listeners will have as like a special discount or some kind?   For example, something we thought for you is typically your consultation might be 15 minutes. But for listeners of that particular show and that episode, they will receive an extra 15 minutes.
So instead of getting a 15 minute free consultation listeners who sign up by such and such a time, we'll get a 30 minute free consultation. So you've had the call to action, but you've also, you've also made it a little sweeter.

Lori: [00:24:09] Yeah. And you could give them like a code use code, what's the name of the show? The show is ABC 2020. So you, then you can keep a record of it. And so, you know, which shows are, are helping you.

Carol: [00:24:21] Oh, that's a great idea.

Lori: [00:24:23] So step nine. What is the download that you're going to provide to listeners that they can get through the host either in the show notes or the transcript?

So, if you were giving out three empowering questions to turn an argument, into a collaboration. You talk about it, but you tell the listeners, Mary Jane has a handout that you can download. And Mary Jane, where, where can listeners get that handout? So they don't feel like they have to take notes . Right. So what happens is it's a branded sheet that they can access. It's a gift to the host because now people are going to a specific location to download it. So it's a win for you. It's a win for the host and it's a win for the audience.

Carol: [00:25:16] Sounds good.

Nola: [00:25:17] Step 10. Go forward with confidence and have fun. Have fun

Carol: [00:25:25] I have fun.

Lori: [00:25:26] So that brings us back to kind of looking at this from the whole beginning. When your offer was, bring me your biggest challenge, while you love a big challenge that was not written with your audience in mind. It was set up as a negative and they had to then think about it.
 Now you're a total stranger and they have to confess something that they're embarrassed about. So.

Carol: [00:25:54] It makes sense.

Lori: [00:25:55] When you start from step one and you realize, what is the message listeners want to hear? Not what you love doing. Oh, I love helping people overcome their biggest challenge.

Yes, but that's not what your listeners ready for.  You have to treat every appearance as a first touchpoint. Because you can't see anybody, you don't know who might've heard you. Seen you. Researched you before. You have to make the assumption from jump street first time, first touch point. What is the listener want to hear? Keep it simple.

Nola: [00:26:33] And specific.

Lori: [00:26:34] As we said, Simple and specific.

Carol: [00:26:37] Got it.

Lori: [00:26:38] Are you establishing your connection by immediately giving them some business, which is teaching them a tool technique, something to that? And then you're going to use a story to reinforce it? Or are you going to tell them about a story in which you were successful using the technique that you're going to teach them?

Or a story when you didn't use the technique and that's why you spent time learning it and now teaching it. Because you don't want anybody else to lose a job because they didn't stand up for themselves. You lose in a relationship because they didn't know how to communicate in a win-win. Whatever that is the difference in a pain point, pleasure, reward, business, or commonality.

Carol: [00:27:28] Well, the first part is going to help me, um, not waste time.

Nola: [00:27:32] And so how do you feel about these 10 questions or nine questions and one command?

Carol: [00:27:39] Like I say, I love the fact that it gives me structure and it'll help me get, um, More consistent. And I think I'll get better results.

Nola: [00:27:46] And you can print this out since you're a paper and pencil person, you can print this out for every opportunity and literally answer those questions.

It makes you think them through, but it'll probably save you a lot of time in the end.

Carol: [00:28:00] I have lots of paper.

Nola: [00:28:01] And  it'll also help you keep track of what offer you made to what audiences, um, how those worked.

Carol: [00:28:09] I liked it a lot, because that was one of the things that helped me be successful in corporate America.

Like when I went to work for Paychex, it was the first time I had a sales job where I pounded the phones 40 hours a day. I mean, I mean, 40 hours a week, I was pounding phones and 99% of the time I got a voicemail. So I would make sure that this week, this is a script I used. And then I would see how many people call me back. And I would ask them, what in my message made you call me back?

So this is going to give me something like that, that I can go on. There's more of a structure that I can measure results on, which will be helpful.

Lori: [00:28:36] That's awesome.

Nola: [00:28:37] That's cool.

Lori: [00:28:38] Thank you, Carol, for being on the first edition of Ask Muse. And if you'd like to learn more about Carol and her coaching services, visit CarolBoston.com.

Nola: [00:28:49] Listeners check out our show notes to download the workflow charts mentioned in today's episode. And if you'd like to be a guest on Ask Muse yourself, visit stickybrandlab.com and click on Ask Muse and apply today.

Lori: [00:29:04] Action creates results. So tap into your desire by taking 1% action today and every day.

Remember small steps, big effects, and until next, Byeee

you were on as a guest to talk about fishing or hunting, that's probably not a good audience for you.

Carol: [00:29:30] What one thing can I do to catch more fish?