Latest / Ambitious Podcast / EP.122: AI, Sales & Positioning: The Online Space Has Shifted PT 2 | The Ambitious Podcast

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EP.122: AI, Sales & Positioning: The Online Space Has Shifted PT 2 | The Ambitious Podcast · Ambitious Podcast

0:00
If your competitors are integrating AI, they're
0:02
operating and moving at such a fast pace because of the fact
0:06
that they have AI on their side, whereas you don't.
0:09
I feel the way I feel about AI, but how does my consumer feel
0:12
about AI? How does my customer feel about
0:14
AI? And that's the actual thing that
0:16
you have to be thinking about. AI is not like wiping out your
0:19
business. It's changing the way your
0:20
business operates. The relationship is something
0:24
that really AI in this current moment can't touch.
0:27
How fast you integrate it will, in my opinion, can be the
0:31
determining factor of the success you're going to have in
0:34
the next 12 months within your business.
0:36
Hello and welcome back to Ambitious.
0:38
Today we are talking actually about Part 2 of things that are
0:42
changing in the online space or in the online business world.
0:45
This was such a requested piece of conversation and a requested
0:49
topic, frankly, that we actually had to split this into two
0:52
episodes because there is so much that has shifted and so
0:55
much that has changed in the last, I want to say like a year,
0:59
but definitely in the last like 9 months, we have seen a lot of
1:02
shifts. And so in episode 1, we covered
1:04
a lot of different buckets. And in this episode, we're going
1:07
to be talking about all the things that we didn't quite get
1:09
to in the first part of this series, which is the changes
1:13
being made to the online space. So I want to talk about a bunch
1:17
of different categories, marketing, sales.
1:19
We have AI coming up right after this to talk about the impact of
1:23
AI and what it is that you need to know.
1:33
I want to start with something that I feel like many business
1:35
owners, myself included, always are looking for, which is
1:38
premium buyers. And even the, you know, label of
1:42
premium buyers, some people will ask, well, like what does that
1:45
mean? What do I mean by premium
1:47
buyers? Premium buyers basically in
1:49
essence are the people that are your ideal client who are
1:52
wanting to invest and to pay the rates that you're looking to
1:55
charge. And so how do we attract those
1:57
people and how do we attract frankly high ticket clients
2:01
consistently? And what has changed about that
2:04
with the changes of the online space?
2:05
Has it been affected? And I would actually say that
2:08
the high ticket client space has been affected.
2:11
I think more than ever, people are being very selective with
2:15
who it is that they invest with and intentional about why
2:19
they're taking that next step. And one of the things that I am
2:23
seeing is that people are really leaning into specialists over
2:27
generalists when they're investing now.
2:29
So they're not looking to work with somebody who's like a Jack
2:32
of all trades. I can do anything and everything
2:35
they want to feel like if they have a very, very specific
2:37
problem that you are the person who has the very specific
2:41
expertise to help them to overcome that problem.
2:44
So this is also why if you are somebody, for example, who is
2:50
like a freelancer who's like, I literally can do everything.
2:53
I can do anything. They're wanting to work with
2:55
someone who says, Hey, I will be the the go to person to help you
3:00
to get this outcome or to solve this problem.
3:03
And we want to feel like if we, especially in the day and age of
3:07
AI, we're going to be spending with people.
3:10
We want to feel like that spending is something that
3:13
someone doesn't have the same level of information that we
3:16
have about it. Because the reality is with AI,
3:20
information has never been more accessible.
3:22
And so if there's something that even right now you're like, I
3:26
don't really know a lot about this, but I feel like if I
3:28
researched it, I probably could get a level of understanding
3:31
about it. You don't want to be hiring or
3:33
delegating to somebody or frankly spending for someone
3:37
else to use AI in the same search or approach way that
3:41
you're using it. You want someone who has an
3:44
expertise and understanding of their industry, of their
3:47
category, of their field that you feel like, OK, yes, they may
3:51
be using AI to be faster. Yes, they may be using AI to
3:55
help to integrators execute. But you're really ultimately
3:58
investing with them because you feel like they have such a lens
4:02
of specificity to their understanding of their category.
4:06
IE if you're someone who does ads, you are extremely
4:09
knowledgeable about ads and that's what I'm really buying.
4:12
Or if you are someone who, for example, does SEO or AEO, I'm
4:16
really investing with you not because I can't search what
4:19
keywords I should be using, but because I want your brain to
4:23
help me assess the data of performance and make pivots to
4:26
my strategy accordingly. That's really what people are
4:29
investing into now. And So what we want to ensure is
4:32
that you're positioning yourself as a specialist to say, OK, if
4:36
someone's going to invest with you tomorrow, which I'm
4:39
manifesting for you, if someone is going to invest with you
4:42
tomorrow, I want you to ask yourself, what are you a
4:44
specialist at? What is the thing that you're
4:45
like, oh, I'm definitely known for blank.
4:49
What is that thing? And I think it's important that
4:51
we define what that is because if you can't define it, your
4:55
audience and the people consuming your marketing are
4:58
also not going to be able to define it.
5:00
So I think because of the specificity that they're looking
5:04
for, it also means that truthfully, standards have gone
5:07
up. Like this idea of just, I am
5:10
someone who has general information, who can provide a
5:13
general level of support. It's just not enough.
5:16
The market is so saturated and there's so many options for
5:19
people to choose from that I think people are being really
5:22
critical of asking them a very genuine question.
5:25
Why should I spend my money on this person?
5:27
Why should I invest with you specifically compared to 15 or
5:32
20 other people who do exactly what it is that you do?
5:36
And I think this tolerance for mediocre has really become
5:43
super, super low. I think that, you know, a couple
5:45
years back when I was in this space, there was a lot of people
5:49
who would do the exact same thing.
5:51
And I think the perspective at that time several years ago was
5:54
when you invested, you kind of just picked truthfully from the
5:57
person that you resonated with the most.
5:59
So there was kind of this understanding that there was
6:02
like a general shared knowledge, a general shared understanding
6:06
of what was being taught. So let's just say as a business
6:08
coach, there was some kind of core pieces you knew you would
6:11
learn. You know, if you were looking to
6:12
become a virtual assistant or an OBM, there's a couple different
6:16
options of people that you could be working with.
6:18
You kind of knew that all of them could help you get to the
6:21
same promise. But the thing that really
6:23
allowed you to invest with one person over the other is the
6:27
fact that there was just a connection that you have with
6:29
that person and their brand, which yes, in some regards still
6:32
exist today. But I think more often than not,
6:35
people back then weren't critical of the shared
6:38
information now because shared information is accessible to the
6:42
consumer, meaning the information used to just be
6:44
shared between the people in that field, But now that same
6:47
information is being shared with the person who's investing.
6:50
So it's like, OK, I have access to this info.
6:53
They have the same info as me. What am I really buying into and
6:56
what is this person going to do that the person next to them is
6:59
not offering or doesn't have the expertise to provide?
7:03
And so I did think there's a lot of more critical assessment of
7:06
how people are investing. And I think also there is this
7:11
positioning that's associated with that.
7:13
So when I say specificity, specificity basically means for
7:17
you as a brand, you need to make sure that you are abundantly
7:21
clear within your brand, within your marketing, what actually
7:24
doesn't make you different? Why are you actually the obvious
7:27
choice in comparison to your competitors?
7:30
And if you don't know that answer, it means truthfully,
7:34
your audience doesn't know either, which is part of why
7:36
they may not be choosing you because they don't actually see
7:39
why they should in a sea of other people who look, feel and
7:44
deliver the exact same thing that you do.
7:47
So I think that there needs to also be visible ways to see your
7:54
expertise. So I had somebody the other day
7:57
who had said to me when she was thinking about investing and she
8:00
had said, you know, I went through your testimonials and
8:03
she's like, I realized you have a lot of peers that don't have
8:06
testimonials. And it's one thing that I feel
8:09
like I've always really tried to prioritize with clients over the
8:12
years. And that's because I recognize
8:15
like it's really great for me as a brand to say that I am like
8:19
the go to to work with or that I'm get you this great result or
8:22
I can support you in the following way, or here's how
8:24
we're different. But the reality is no one trusts
8:28
the business who's like you should work with us.
8:30
They trust the person who's like you should work with them, who's
8:32
the customer. And so one of the things I think
8:35
is really important when it comes to marketing yourself is
8:38
to also ensure that you have what's considered to be like
8:42
expert signals within your marketing and within anything
8:46
that you're putting out. So if you are, you know, for
8:49
example, certain amount of clients served, if you get a
8:51
certain result that most people don't, if you have a certain way
8:55
in which you get people results that is really unique to you.
8:58
If you have a specific perspective, that really is not
9:02
something people can get access to elsewhere.
9:04
That's something that we want to double down on and make sure
9:07
it's present through anything in your marketing that people are
9:10
going to consume. Because ultimately you're really
9:14
in this current stage competing on who you are and what you
9:19
stand for, not on your price and not on your deliverables.
9:23
And it used to be very high, high on price and high on
9:27
deliverables. We used to be in this era where
9:30
someone would go to invest into let's just say a mastermind and
9:34
they would see person A and their mastermind is $20,000 and
9:37
person B and their mastermind was $28,000 or $30,000.
9:42
And so they would look at, OK, like I get one-on-one calls
9:44
here, I get one-on-one calls here.
9:46
I get to learn these principles here, these principles here.
9:50
There's so much of the same thing that is happening.
9:54
And so because of that, when the products look too similar or
9:57
your service looks too similar to other people, the only thing
10:01
that really now is that it factor of why they're choosing
10:04
you is truly marketing your brand beliefs and who you are
10:08
and most importantly, what it is that you stand for.
10:11
So if you're not doing those things and you're like, well,
10:13
we're the cheaper option or we have more stuff we provide, or
10:16
we like say you're a social media agency and you think to
10:20
yourself, will we provide more posts than our competitors or we
10:24
give more calls inside of our offer?
10:27
OK, if you want to negotiate on price and deliverables alone,
10:32
you can. But I just, I'm going to be
10:34
honest, it's not the thing that's helping people to invest
10:36
with you. And I would actually argue that
10:40
because people are so focused on getting the outcome that they
10:44
want, solving their problem, establishing that desired
10:48
destination, they want the person who is confident that
10:52
they can actually achieve that for them.
10:53
And most importantly, like I mentioned earlier, has proof
10:57
that they've done that. If you are someone who can get
11:00
somebody to an outcome with two posts a month or two calls a
11:04
month, then great. The person besides, well, we
11:07
offer four calls. If I end up at the same place,
11:10
it doesn't really matter. The person that people are can
11:12
like convicted to convert with or invest with is the person
11:17
that has full confidence that they can get where they want to
11:20
go. And also with that potentially
11:22
the speed of how fast they can achieve it.
11:24
So I say speed because I'm not asking you to market overnight
11:28
results, but speed is important because think about even for
11:31
yourself, you're wanting to do things now at lightning speed
11:35
because of AI. You're moving so quick, very
11:38
fast in the things that you're integrating.
11:40
You're trying to keep up with all the changes.
11:42
And so the speed of results is also not like these big bold
11:46
promises that are not true. It's more a matter of saying we
11:49
are on the cutting edge of the fact that we can get you here
11:52
quickly because of all the things that we're using and
11:54
because of all the things that we know.
11:56
So let's just say you're somebody, for example, who edits
12:01
videos. If you're editing videos, like I
12:03
was talking to one person that is a video editor and they need
12:06
two weeks of production time. I was talking to another video
12:09
editor and they have 72 hour production time.
12:13
Now I want you to think about this, the 72 hour think about
12:17
the consumer. The consumer says themselves,
12:19
OK, well if I film a video within three days, that video
12:21
can go out. Whereas the other person says, I
12:24
film a video, but then two weeks need to wait and kind of occur
12:29
and pass before I can get that video out.
12:31
So for the consumer, which of the two do you think is the
12:34
thing that's actually going to make their life easier, Their
12:37
life simpler? It's the person who's faster.
12:40
Now. When we think about speed, it's
12:43
because we want people to understand that they're able to
12:46
get to their result quicker. So if you're looking at these
12:48
two options and you're, for example, the slower option and
12:53
your competitor is like, we do the same amount of production,
12:56
we make you the same amount of videos, but we do it in half the
12:58
time. Who do you think you'd be more
13:00
inclined to work with? Now?
13:02
You might say, well, it depends on what their products like.
13:04
Well, what if their products identical meaning that they're
13:06
both great editors, they both create great work and they both
13:09
do it to the same level or quality of production, but one
13:14
doesn't half the time. So this is where with AI we are
13:18
experiencing this, which is what kind of the next bucket is of
13:21
the changes in AIAI is putting pressure on multiple different
13:25
categories and also different ways that before we've never
13:30
really experienced. So I want to kind of talk a
13:32
little bit about AI specifically because I know it's the thing
13:34
that everybody wants to know. What is happening with AI?
13:37
What does it mean for me and what I need to be aware of?
13:40
So AI, what has changed in the last little bit?
13:44
AI went from being something that people were using because
13:47
they were trying to get ahead. They were using AI to try to
13:51
just be able to use like a ChatGPT search.
13:54
We were using it as just like additional information.
13:56
It was almost this like glamorized Google search is how
14:00
for a while people were using AI, but AI is now shifting from
14:05
10% of people who were really using it.
14:08
Then it became 30% of people. Then it became like my mom was
14:11
using ChatGPT to look up things. And you start to see that it
14:15
becomes more mainstream. I literally this morning was
14:18
going to get a coffee and I heard this table of women
14:20
talking about how AI was impacting their corporate job.
14:24
Like, this is not a niche topic any longer.
14:28
AI is not something that you can ignore.
14:31
And you can say, well, you know, that's just not something that I
14:33
feel like I'm into. There used to be this kind of
14:37
decision where you could say, like, OK, I'm just not going to
14:39
use it. And you honestly could get great
14:41
outcomes. But now because so many people
14:45
are integrating AI, you're kind of being pushed to use it or
14:51
potentially get pushed out of your industry.
14:52
And that's because if your competitors are integrating AI,
14:56
they're operating and moving at such a fast pace because of the
15:01
fact that they have AI on their side, whereas you don't.
15:03
And I know that there's this belief that people will say,
15:06
well, people love human. People really want human and I
15:10
actually agree to some extent with you that people do want
15:14
human connection. They don't want to feel like
15:16
their entire life is AI. They do love people to people
15:19
interaction. We're seeing events are still as
15:22
successful as ever. People doing in person business
15:24
is still definitely something people desire.
15:27
We love connection, especially post COVID, so many of us are
15:31
looking for connecting with other people in like a real
15:34
authentic, deep way. But the other thing you have to
15:37
also recognize is like when someone has an outcome they
15:40
want, and I want you to think of yourself like I was saying with
15:43
the video editor example. If you had something that could
15:47
be providing relief to you or gets you an outcome faster than
15:52
you anticipated, whatever the the results may be, if that's
15:56
something that was possible because of AI to make the price
15:59
of something you're investing into cheaper, the result
16:02
happened for you and your business quicker.
16:05
If the only thing that AI did was benefit you, your budget,
16:10
your time, your energy, would you be upset that someone's
16:13
using it? Or would you say, no, no, I want
16:14
to spend more time. No, no, I want to spend more
16:16
energy because I want to work with a human.
16:19
Will there be 10% of people who say that?
16:21
Yes, but the other 90% are saying no, I'll take the cut and
16:26
budget. No, I will take the reduction of
16:29
time. No, I will take the reduction of
16:31
energy because that helps me as the consumer.
16:34
So this is where I will say it used to be optional to integrate
16:38
AI. It's just not any longer.
16:40
And so there was a study that was done in actually in 2025 and
16:45
it was saying by twenty, 2660% of all apps, all apps on the App
16:51
Store, will it include in some way, shape or form AI
16:55
integration. So if you're using like a a food
16:58
tracking app, it will give you an assessment of where to
17:00
tighten things up. I have a client who uses an app
17:04
for social analytics and it provides automatic personalized
17:07
assessments for clients. I have a finance app that I was
17:12
helping to launch and get out, and now it's doing AI
17:15
recommendations for savings plans and managing of money and
17:18
strategy around money, all rooted in this person's
17:21
framework. Like this is not a OK, yeah,
17:24
we're just deciding we're not going to integrate this.
17:26
It's really part of what's becoming mainstream
17:30
expectations. And so the businesses, the
17:34
agencies, the coaches that are using AI are able to produce
17:37
more in the same or less amount of time.
17:40
You are able to serve more clients typically at the same
17:43
level of personalized support. And I think which is the most
17:47
important factor you're spending time on what is actually
17:51
leverageable. And I think that that's the real
17:53
differentiator. Even myself, I am in a coaching
17:56
program for myself. Like I, I believe in myself
17:59
having coaches and I'm in a coaching program.
18:02
And inside they will have, for example, like a module, so
18:05
something that they teach as a core principle.
18:07
And then underneath they will have an associated AI resource
18:12
that has been fed that framework or fed those principles that
18:15
helps you with integrating it at lightning speed.
18:19
So no longer are we like sitting inside of these worksheets and
18:22
we're trying to do everything manually.
18:25
There is literally for every single resource pretty well
18:28
inside this program, there is an associated AI that supports you
18:32
with integration to do it at half the speed.
18:34
So again, think about being a consumer and going into a
18:38
coaching program that doesn't have any AI and everything is
18:41
manual. Or going into a coaching program
18:44
that says not only are we going to help you build your business,
18:46
but we're also going to help you to build your business in half
18:48
the time because we have AI resources that are accompanied
18:52
to each module. Whose program are you picking?
18:55
There's a very obvious choice there.
18:57
And so this is where, again, we can have this personal
19:00
perspective around AI, but at the end of the day, there is
19:03
kind of just this, you know, acknowledgement of you can feel
19:07
any way that you want about AI with you and your particular
19:10
business. But one of the things I don't
19:12
think enough people and potential yourself are asking is
19:16
I feel the way I feel about AI, but how does my consumer feel
19:20
about AI? How does my customer feel about
19:22
AI? And that's the actual thing that
19:24
you have to be thinking about and that you have to be worried
19:26
about. Because if you don't integrate
19:29
their perspective and what they care about, you will lose their
19:32
business to somebody else who is listening to what they want and
19:35
who is listening to what they care about.
19:38
So it means that there is this gap being created.
19:41
And I'm already seeing this divide very quickly.
19:44
There is the gap of the people who go, yeah, I don't really
19:46
know a lot about AI. Like, I don't really, it's not a
19:49
huge deal for me. I don't really play with it a
19:51
lot. Like I'm not super into it.
19:53
And then there's the people on the other side of the spectrum
19:56
who like live and breathe AI and they're like coding on the
19:58
weekends. I would love for you to fall
20:01
somewhere in the middle to the coding on the weekend side.
20:05
And here's my recommendation for you because someone I actually
20:07
work with, she had said, you know, I don't know anything
20:12
about AI. I was teaching something and she
20:13
was like, Kate, this is like so. New for me, she's like this
20:17
literally feels like a new language and I said to her,
20:19
listen, this is something that you can master.
20:23
And she said, do I need to take like a course or something like
20:25
is do I need to like go hire someone to learn this?
20:28
And I just was very frank with her.
20:31
If you are not someone who is accustomed to AI and you don't
20:35
know squat about it, I first want to say great.
20:39
Acknowledging the fact that you don't know anything is the first
20:41
step in recognizing where you need to go from there, which is
20:45
AI is not really a matter of a course.
20:48
In my opinion. AI is moving so quickly that if
20:51
you buy a course from somebody who made that course, I don't
20:54
even know a year ago, the information they're teaching has
20:57
likely already developed since the moment that they created the
21:00
course. I'm less of the mindset of like
21:03
hire an AI coach or consume an AI course, and I'm more in the
21:06
perspective of why don't you dedicate 2 to 5 hours a week and
21:12
play with AI and I want you to use chat features, try out
21:16
coding, start creating agents, think about different ways that
21:20
you can use this. And what I tell people to start
21:23
with is look at the problems you're experiencing in your
21:25
business. Pick one to three of those
21:27
problems and go into AI and look to solve those problems strictly
21:32
using AI and just get curious. Don't feel like you have to
21:35
become this like AI ninja. Go into AI and start to play
21:39
with it because they think many have this perspective that it's
21:43
so daunting and it's so overwhelming and it's so hard.
21:46
And then you go in and you realize, oh, that was easier
21:50
than I thought. And that's what we're seeing
21:51
with our mastermind clients. Like we did an AI training
21:54
talking about this exact topic and why people need to be on top
21:58
of it. And one person said, again,
22:00
like, I'm not, you know, somebody who's really good with
22:03
this stuff. I said, great, this is a lot
22:05
easier than you think. And the best part is AI can
22:07
teach you how to use AI. So like, don't feel like this is
22:10
something you have to kind of figure it on your own.
22:13
And so as a result, what I had shared with them is avoiding AI
22:17
is not a safe move for your business.
22:20
Again, I'm not asking you to become an AI coach or ninja.
22:23
It's more that if you are not learning in some way to
22:26
integrate AI into your business, whether it is client facing or
22:29
just behind the scenes, frankly, you are going to fall behind.
22:34
And it hasn't gotten to such a place that if you started right
22:37
like today that you're behind in this moment.
22:40
You are at this critical point listening now to say, OK, great.
22:43
I've really not been putting a lot of energy or time into it,
22:45
but I am moving forward really going to be focusing on this.
22:49
This is a great pivotal time for you to say I'm going to dedicate
22:52
2 hours a week. I'm going to dedicate, you know,
22:54
two hours on a Friday, half an hour each morning.
22:58
Set aside that time because AI is not replacing businesses.
23:04
And this is something I also want to explain because I think
23:09
there's a lot of fear mongering around AI of like, you're
23:12
doomed, we're all going under, and that's not true, OK?
23:16
AI is not like wiping out your business.
23:18
It's changing the way your business operates.
23:21
So it's, I just was talking on Instagram actually about this
23:25
article that I saw about how marketing agencies are getting
23:28
hit because AI is doing things that they used to do manually
23:32
much, much faster than they ever could.
23:34
And if you are somebody that is OK, like I'm worried about what
23:38
AI looks like for my business. Here's what I would tell you as
23:40
a client. If you're an agency, you need to
23:43
look at how you can leverage your strategic insights, not
23:48
just the busy work. And the busy work means that if
23:52
you were going to be using AI for your busy work, IE for your
23:54
deliverables for clients, the competitive advantage to start
23:59
is going to be able to offer more deliverables for the same
24:02
price point because the efficiency you've created.
24:05
And that's because truthfully, clients are asking us of you.
24:08
They're saying, why am I paying the same, let's just say $2000 a
24:12
month for this service when I fully know that it's taking you
24:15
like 2 hours to do this because of AI.
24:18
Any critical thinking customer is going to eventually at some
24:21
point here start to say, wait a second, I can do this with AI,
24:25
that with AI, that with AI, what am I paying for?
24:28
And there is going to be this curiosity that starts to happen.
24:31
So you can be on the cutting edge of that by saying I am
24:35
going to provide even more deliverables because we are so
24:38
efficient. The other way that you also can
24:41
be leverageable in this is leveraging strategic insights
24:46
that are not possible through AI.
24:49
So there is again, this lived experience, this expertise
24:52
aspect that just cannot be duplicated in its current moment
24:55
right now. So you want to be leveraging
24:58
that and ensuring that's part of your service, not just we take
25:01
this off your hands, we manage this for you.
25:04
If your core promise as an agency is we take care of the
25:07
busy work, you're probably 6 months away from feeling some
25:10
serious resistance from your clients.
25:12
On the contrast, the same thing is actually true when it comes
25:15
to the coaching industry. So just as I was mentioning with
25:17
that program, I'm part of what we're seeing in coaching is if
25:20
you are not teaching or helping your clients to leverage AI as a
25:24
coach, it again is going to start to put some pressure on
25:27
your business. So even for myself, what I
25:30
focused on, as soon as I saw that AI was becoming a little
25:33
bit more mainstream and not just a very like niche couple people
25:37
who were nerding out on this, it became very present.
25:40
I was like, hey, this is not like a choice to do it.
25:42
It's an essential thing. My clients are either going to
25:45
learn this from me or they're going to go somewhere to find
25:48
this information. So AI and coaching can help you
25:51
to provide faster services, easier services to people, help
25:55
them to take your frameworks and you can make those in AI and
25:59
give those AI frameworks to your clients.
26:01
There's a lot of creative ways that we can be using this.
26:04
But again, the idea of like, I'm going to stick my head in the
26:06
sand. I'm not going to be integrating
26:07
this. If I was to be totally direct
26:11
with you, it's just one of the fastest ways for you to dissolve
26:14
your own business. And that's because this is no
26:16
longer in this category of it being an option, it's a
26:20
requirement. How fast you integrate it will,
26:23
in my opinion, be the determining factor of the
26:28
success you're going to have in the next 12 months within your
26:30
business. So we are seeing a shift.
26:33
And how I look at this is layer 1 of integration of AI automate
26:37
the busy work. So we're talking scheduling,
26:39
onboarding, reminders, call recordings, content repurposing
26:44
is huge for this right now. And then you can also use the
26:48
second layer, which is kind of amplifying delivery.
26:51
So like layer one of AI for you automate all the busy work as
26:54
much as you can to buy back your time. 2 helping to use AI to ask
26:59
how can we automate this for client delivery, not just for us
27:02
internally. So I have, for example, an ads
27:05
company that I work with, they basically for all their ad
27:07
retainers, the entire thing is managed by AI, their team
27:11
overseas, the AI strategy that's happening, they basically
27:14
monitor the, the robots, if you will, but they're not
27:18
necessarily doing the stuff manually anymore.
27:20
And that's because they recognize that we can take on a
27:22
lot more clients and we can provide frankly a lot more
27:25
service per client if we actually had these AI pieces
27:29
integrated. The third, which I think is kind
27:32
of the, you know, the real leverage is really protecting
27:37
the human layer. And I think that it allows for
27:41
anybody who is in a relationship based business, which frankly,
27:44
for most of us being service based businesses, that's where
27:47
we are. The relationship is something
27:50
that really AI in this current moment can't touch.
27:54
So if you are someone who has interfacing with clients, if you
27:57
have meetings with clients, if again you have this connection
28:02
with them, you want to be really intentional about protecting
28:05
that. And by having the busy work of
28:08
your business and having your delivery streamlined with AI,
28:11
what you're really doing is you're allowing your time to be
28:14
in the bucket that AI simply cannot replace, which is the
28:18
relationships and it is the personal insights.
28:22
It is the time where your personal energy is most
28:28
influential for your business and making sure that you have
28:32
the time you need to pour into those spots, wherever they may
28:35
be. So I think over time we're going
28:40
to start to see that the thing people want is they're investing
28:44
in people that are leveraging AI, that they also feel they
28:47
connect with the individual who's running it.
28:50
So like, again, agencies, coaches, everybody is going to
28:53
be integrating AI, but they're like, OK, if I have to interact
28:57
with someone as part of this experience, who do I want to be
29:00
interacting with? Who do I want the relationship
29:02
with? Who do I want the connection
29:03
with? And are you feeling that in your
29:06
business or you kind of just like, yeah, we'll like we
29:08
provide the service, you know, clients don't care at at the end
29:12
of the day, it actually is the thing that will make you the
29:13
most replaceable. And that's because once AI for
29:18
your industry catches up to being the button pusher instead
29:23
of you or being, you know, the piece of integration instead of
29:28
you, the real leverage is the human factor.
29:31
So if you are ignoring the human factor now and your biggest
29:35
thing is just integration, integration, integration, what
29:38
it means is when your integration is possible by AII
29:41
have basically essentially removed the need for you to be
29:44
involved. So I almost want you to see this
29:46
as an opportunity to leverage the human factor, leverage
29:49
relationships, leverage connection with your clients,
29:52
leverage interfacing with people.
29:54
It can be the difference factor of why people want to stay
29:57
inside of your world. Now what also kind of to
30:00
piggyback on AI has happened is that with AI, how clients are
30:05
finding you is also changing. So AI powered search is
30:09
something that is definitely taking off.
30:12
We've done even here episodes about SEO.
30:15
But you know, the thing you need to be really considering is AEO.
30:19
So AEO for anybody who's not familiar is basically the, I
30:22
would say cousin to SEO, but it's powered through AI.
30:26
So it's really a matter of how are we feeding AI to find you
30:31
when people are looking. So if someone asks Claude or
30:34
asks Chachi BT for specific resource or referral, if you
30:38
are, let's just say searching on AI and you say, this is my ideal
30:42
client, This is how the stage of where they're at.
30:46
This is the things that they want.
30:47
And I want you to go find my top 5 competitors who it discovers
30:51
is going to be based off of your AEO score.
30:55
So as a side note, if anyone else wants to like nerd out on
30:57
this, you yourself actually right now can go to online
31:01
sites. There's a lot of free of free
31:03
ones that exist and you can actually search your own AEO
31:08
score. So this is really again like a
31:10
grading tool of understanding right now, what is your kind of
31:14
current discovery within the online space.
31:16
So if someone is searching, what is kind of your likeliness of
31:21
showing up within their search? So a lot of factors impact AEO,
31:26
but I think in the context of today, what would be most
31:28
helpful for you is to understand AEO is going to pick up a lot of
31:33
different things. There are definitely kind of
31:36
like backlinks on different sites.
31:38
There are also, which we're also seeing with social, a huge
31:41
emphasis on YouTube actually and YouTube shorts because YouTube
31:46
shorts and YouTube content are very SEO driven, meaning that
31:50
Youtubes algorithm literally is structured based off of people
31:55
searching for a topic and your videos coming up even more so
31:58
frankly than anything TikTok or Instagram does.
32:01
And it's always been the way that their algorithm has been
32:03
powered. So in this next phase of AI
32:06
taking off and AI search taking off, meaning people are using AI
32:10
for all their basic inquiries now, almost more sometimes than
32:15
Google slash Gemini, a lot of people are using claw, they'll
32:18
use ChatGPT, they will use these other platforms.
32:21
And so the question is, are you coming up on them?
32:24
And if you're not, not, what it means is as we move further and
32:27
further toward people using AI to search for questions they
32:32
have, search for resources, search for services, it means
32:36
that if we know that that's somewhere that things are going,
32:39
we know that's the direction that the path is leading.
32:42
What are you doing to plant seeds to allow yourself to be
32:47
discovered? And so like one of ours, full
32:50
transparency, is that we are going to be leaning deeper into,
32:54
well, phase one will be YouTube Shorts to really basically take
32:57
all of our content and make sure that it can be mainly video
33:02
moving forward, which I haven't done in the past.
33:04
I've mainly been the static person who does pictures,
33:08
carousels, things like that. But moving forward, we're really
33:11
leveraging short form video. And that's because we recognize
33:15
that YouTube specifically is going to be a great place to
33:18
plant seeds to be discovered in the future of AI.
33:21
And so it means that literally my mindset has always been watch
33:25
the market, observe the pivot and adjust yourself to the pivot
33:30
or recognize that you can become basically removed if you don't
33:34
adjust. And even for myself, as I said,
33:36
like I've mainly been a static creator, meaning like I mainly
33:41
make carousels, pictures, text heavy pieces.
33:45
It's not something I would say that like I've always nerded out
33:47
on being a video creator. I love the podcast, but other
33:50
than that, that's like my main source of video.
33:52
And so what's been interesting is to see the surge of what is
33:57
happening or what is being asked of people to pivot in their
34:00
approach. And that's because people are
34:02
adjusting so that your website is being discovered, your
34:05
personal brand is being discovered.
34:07
This is, it's a reputation thing and it's a positioning thing.
34:11
So what AEO is looking for is, yes, obviously your literal
34:16
volume of mentions online, but what it's trying to do is it's
34:20
trying to create a complete picture.
34:21
It wants to know not only that you have a lot of presence
34:24
online. It's using that as one factor,
34:27
but it also wants to ensure that you are who you say you are.
34:30
So it's looking for proof, it's looking for credential pieces to
34:34
ensure that it can verify you as a trusted resource to recommend
34:40
to users. So that's another piece you want
34:42
to keep in mind is like consistency of your messaging,
34:46
the amount of marketed credentials you have, the volume
34:50
of how much you're putting out, or like basically the the market
34:54
share of your space on the Internet.
34:56
These are things we want to start thinking about.
34:58
And again, I'm not saying this to you as in like, Oh my God,
35:01
like AEO is here, like, what am I going to do?
35:03
This is not you freaking out and throwing out your old strategy.
35:08
What I want you to do is just take a second and ask what are
35:11
the seeds I'm planting today for the future I know exists
35:15
tomorrow? That's the only question what
35:18
you'd ask. And so again, like, I'm not
35:20
myself. Like just not everything we were
35:22
doing. We're doing everything different
35:23
Now. It's more, what do I need to
35:26
adjust? What do I need to pivot?
35:28
What are small incremental changes of things that I can
35:33
plant seeds with that would really benefit me long term in
35:37
being ahead of the curve in what I kind of know is inevitable
35:41
when it comes to AI? So build your online presence.
35:46
We want to look and make sure that we are specific enough and
35:49
we are consistent enough for AI to recommend us.
35:52
You want to build your reputation on multiple
35:55
platforms. So we want to make sure there's
35:56
easy reviews to find, there's mentions, there's third party
36:00
validation of your existence. So for example, not just me
36:05
having a podcast, but me being on other people's podcasts, you
36:08
know, not just me saying that I have great results, but other
36:13
people saying we have great results.
36:15
Like that's what we're really focused on and really wanting to
36:18
make sure we have that footprint online.
36:21
And again, remembering it is about clarity of who you are and
36:24
credibility that backs up who you say you are.
36:28
Now I want to pivot to a different change we're seeing.
36:32
And that is because I know this is something that you're
36:34
feeling. And if you are experiencing what
36:38
you can only put your finger on is like, something's different
36:41
about my sales. Something's different about the
36:43
way people are buying or the speed at which they're buying.
36:46
Please let this be your validation that you're actually
36:49
correct. The traditional funnel as we
36:52
once knew it is really frankly dead.
36:55
And that is because this idea of someone discovering you and your
36:59
business, IE being attracted to you, nurturing through X amount
37:03
of pieces and then poof, they buy that like really linear
37:07
funnel that for many years was super effective and generated
37:12
the outcomes that many people were looking for.
37:15
It actually doesn't work in that process anymore.
37:17
And that's because we really are going from people discovering
37:21
you. And then I want you to think
37:23
before it was like this pipeline of I would discover you, I would
37:26
warm and then I would convert. Now it's like they discover you
37:30
and then they bop all over. They go to your YouTube video,
37:32
they go to your podcast, they go to your download on your
37:35
website, they scope your website, they go back to your
37:37
social, they look at your reviews.
37:38
They are bopping all over. There's like this like web of
37:43
experience and then they convert the funnel of how someone goes
37:47
from discovery to conversion is not perfectly linear anymore.
37:53
And so something that I'm seeing with a lot of the businesses
37:55
that are winning right now is that they're recognizing that
37:58
the the nurture aspect of someone becoming a customer now
38:03
and going from curious, I found you to conversion, they
38:07
recognize that the middle is an ecosystem.
38:09
It's like a web and they design, they're nurturing around that.
38:13
They're not looking at these like perfectly linear funnels.
38:16
They recognize there's like this maze that people go through in
38:19
this ecosystem. And if we design that ecosystem
38:23
with intention, we will get the sales that we're looking for.
38:27
So I'm going to give you an example when a funnel used to be
38:30
like I find you, I consume 5 posts, I message you, boom, I
38:35
want to buy. Now it's someone finds you.
38:38
Let's just say on TikTok. And the TikTok that you put out
38:42
is a podcast clip. So they go from the podcast clip
38:46
on TikTok to consuming your podcast.
38:48
And then on the podcast, you mentioned a resource that they
38:52
can message you for on Instagram.
38:54
So they go to your DMS on Instagram.
38:56
Now they're consuming your Instagram feed and they message
38:58
you for the resource. They consume the resource and
39:01
they go, Oh my God, this is exactly what I'm looking for.
39:03
This is everything. And they go from that to booking
39:07
a call. So you're like, OK, well, this
39:09
is not like I put this video out.
39:12
They message through TikTok they bought.
39:14
It's not that linear. We're seeing people who are
39:17
working their way through your ecosystem with these multiple
39:20
touch points. What we want to ensure is that
39:23
if someone discovers you and you have this ecosystem that's
39:26
designed to nurture, do you have a well structured ecosystem?
39:29
Meaning that no matter where they bop around and consume you,
39:33
that it's all designed to bring them back to a home base, which
39:36
is conversion. And if you have right now this
39:40
kind of marketing nurturing system of they find meat, they
39:44
warm, they convert. What most people will find when
39:47
they don't have that proper ecosystem developed is that
39:51
sales are slower. You're going to have less ideal
39:53
clients that you want to actually be working with.
39:55
People might come through, but they're not really the people
39:57
that you want to be working with.
39:59
Or people come through and they are the people you want to be
40:01
working with, but they are not pre ready to go.
40:05
Meaning like if someone is watching One Piece and it's like
40:10
I saw one piece of content and I'm ready to move for most
40:13
brands when that happens. That's not usually the only
40:18
piece they've ever consumed. It was the piece that got them
40:20
over the finish line, but it was potentially the eighth piece or
40:24
the 10th piece or the 15th piece of something they've consumed
40:27
from you. So it's really important that we
40:30
look at what is that ecosystem you're creating and how do you
40:34
have that mapped out as a journey for somebody to take to
40:38
bring them where we want to go? Because if you're expecting,
40:40
it's step one, Step 2, step three, they buy.
40:43
Unfortunately, the funnel of that perfect linear funnel just
40:46
does not exist anymore. So with this in the same
40:50
marketing vein, we're also seeing a big shift in the change
40:56
and the shift of a launch model. And this is something that would
41:00
say launching was everything between like 2019-2020, 2/20/23,
41:07
that era of like those probably I'd say 3-4 years launching,
41:13
everybody was launching and it was a very profitable thing.
41:17
It was a very successful way of marketing, no question.
41:21
But we're seeing launching has changed since 2023.
41:25
And I think the biggest thing that I would advise of why that
41:28
is, is I think that there's been a lot of superficial fake,
41:33
truthfully not authentic promotion that's been happening.
41:36
And the fake countdowns, the fake timers, the fake limited
41:40
spots available, people are just not buying it anymore.
41:44
And that's because there's been so many years of this fake
41:48
urgency and this fake push that buyers are really hesitant to
41:52
invest into those brands now. So with launches, people want to
41:58
feel number one of the launches actually authentic, IE there
42:01
truly is limited spots. There truly is a limited time.
42:04
They want to feel like it is honest and it is authentic.
42:08
And with that I'm seeing two things do really well right now
42:11
#1 Evergreen sales. Evergreen sales is something
42:14
that I feel like people really love the idea of like I have a
42:18
problem and I can invest at the moment that I have it.
42:22
The other thing I'm seeing which is not necessarily a launch
42:25
model, meaning you're not doing this like big multi week
42:28
campaign of like 3 weeks of like nurturing people, pre sale, all
42:33
of that. What I am seeing is what I would
42:37
consider to not be a launch but a cohort style model.
42:40
Basically having structured enrollment periods that you're
42:44
very transparent about, IE hey, we only enroll into our agency
42:49
or into our offer program once a month.
42:52
And you make that something that is noted and that it is shared
42:56
with your audience as part of your model, less of a tactic
43:01
that you're using to generate sales.
43:03
And I think that that's really the most important thing here is
43:06
again, the authenticity connected to the marketing
43:09
itself because the Evergreen allows people to know like, hey,
43:13
this is open. It's a, if we have spots
43:15
available, you can join anytime you want or you're put on a wait
43:19
list, which is again an authentic wait list because
43:21
potentially you only open your offer once a month.
43:25
There is a understanding with the audience of kind of what
43:28
your structure is. Think about even a apparel
43:32
company, there's a lot of active wear companies that will do
43:35
things called drops, which are basically that they have like a
43:38
short window where they launch a new line.
43:41
It's available for a limited time and if you don't get it,
43:44
then it's gone and it won't be offered any longer.
43:46
So when a audience knows that, when someone knows that this
43:50
person's business model is literally designed around drops,
43:55
it means that they recognize like, I'm going to need to buy
43:57
these sweatpants now because if I don't buy them, they won't be
44:00
available any longer. They literally won't be
44:02
available for purchase. So when you market that to your
44:05
audience and you've shared with them that we do drops, this is
44:08
really the structure of how we do things.
44:11
There's not this lack of trust there anymore.
44:13
There's not this, oh, well, they're trying to, you know,
44:16
push a campaign on us or they're doing a launch.
44:18
The company basically has said, listen, this is our model, this
44:22
is what we have available. It is truly A2 month window.
44:25
If you don't buy it, you don't get it and that's it.
44:28
Like it kind of is an open and closed.
44:31
When people are honest about that, the audience is able to
44:35
make their decisions accordingly.
44:37
Or even Evergreen if it's open anytime, you can have your
44:42
audience understanding that maybe it's like, you know, we
44:45
only have 20 spots in our program.
44:47
It technically is open anytime. So as people leave, you can
44:49
join. And when you do that, you know,
44:52
we just say, hey, we have one spot left.
44:54
We have two spots left. And it's authentic because it's
44:56
true. It's when we create these false
44:59
narratives of scarcity, these false narratives of countdowns
45:04
and timers and limited spots. And you're like, OK, Sarah said
45:09
it was limited spots last Tuesday.
45:11
And then now she's promoting the same offer two weeks later on
45:15
Tuesday with 10 spots available. So I'm not sure what's happening
45:19
here. That's what's killing brands and
45:21
that's what's killing people's sales is that you may be
45:25
integrating tactics or integrating approaches that you
45:28
believe are something that you're like, great, this is
45:30
showing scarcity. And it may, but it also may be
45:33
showing it in a way that feels dishonest and also in a way that
45:38
your audience is picking up on is not actually real.
45:42
And so it's really breaking trust over time every single
45:44
time that you do it. The other thing I want to note
45:47
is e-mail. So I want to be very clear,
45:49
e-mail is still very effective. So if you are someone who's not
45:53
in this belief of like, oh, e-mail is an old thing, it's
45:56
not. I have a lot of clients that
45:58
leverage e-mail, weekly newsletters, 3 to 5 emails a
46:01
week to their list. People still want emails.
46:04
But I want to share some insights around e-mail
46:06
specifically. Open rates are not as easy as
46:10
they once were. And that's because your ideal
46:13
client is getting spammed with e-mail.
46:16
Think of yourself and how many emails you get.
46:19
You've got so and so story and you've got like the promotion
46:21
for the skin care. You like that you're getting
46:23
sent and you're getting, you know, e-mail reminders of of
46:26
calendar invites and all these things.
46:28
As a business owner, your e-mail is getting stacked with
46:31
notifications. And one of the things I think is
46:34
important is we recognize e-mail open rates are harder, but they
46:39
are still happening, OK? And I would say one of the best
46:43
things I learned through coaching for myself was the fact
46:47
that the open rate that someone is getting now is often times
46:51
less attributed to just the subject line.
46:53
While it is a factor, it's less about just the subject line.
46:57
It's actually more about the relationship to the sender.
47:02
So like, think for yourself right now, who's somebody that
47:04
sends you emails all the time? And I want you to think for that
47:07
person that you're thinking of. Do you open their emails like
47:10
every week? Are you like, Oh my God, I can't
47:12
wait to see what they shared. I can't wait to see what they
47:14
what they wrote about or I can't wait to see the tips inside.
47:17
If you in your head are like Steve, he's always sending me
47:21
emails or you like, Oh my God, Steve's e-mail.
47:24
Think about how you feel about the sender based on the emails
47:29
that you get. And does this person spam you?
47:32
Does it feel like they're helpful?
47:33
Are you excited to get them? Are you annoyed when they show
47:36
up? How do you feel about the sender
47:39
before you even open it? That feeling is something you
47:43
want to be very clear about as to how your audience feels about
47:46
you because the correlation to the open rates is also connected
47:54
to the relationship of the sender.
47:57
Meaning, if you see my name in your inbox, how does it make you
48:00
feel? If someone sees your name in
48:03
their inbox, how do they feel receiving an e-mail from you?
48:06
Are they excited? Do they feel like they're
48:08
connected to storytelling? They're valuable?
48:10
Are they spammy? Are they promotion oriented?
48:13
Do they feel tone deaf and it's like annoying follow up after
48:16
follow up. Ask yourself what that
48:19
relationship is because that is just as important today to the
48:22
subject line that you are sending that e-mail with.
48:25
So if you want to keep your open rates high, don't just focus on
48:28
like OK, the structure of the subject line.
48:30
Also ensure that you're considering the context of the
48:32
relationship of where you land with that person as a sender to
48:37
their e-mail. So this is also being seen with
48:40
people becoming less likely to subscribe.
48:43
People are protecting your emails now more than ever.
48:46
They're asking themselves, and you may even ask yourself this
48:48
now, when you buy things or when you opt into something, you say
48:52
like, do I want this person having my e-mail?
48:54
Do I want this person to be spamming me every week?
48:57
There's this thing of like, I don't want to put my e-mail in
49:00
or like, I feel like this. When you go to, like the grocery
49:03
store and they ask you, yeah, like, can we just get your
49:05
e-mail? And I'm like, no, because I'm
49:07
like, I really don't want more emails.
49:10
Or when you sign up for something, I signed up for a gym
49:12
today and they'll say, you know, can we send you newsletters and
49:16
more marketing and promotional information?
49:18
And I'm like, no, because I'm like, I don't want emails unless
49:22
I feel like it's connected to something deep value wise.
49:25
So it's also people are being more hesitant to provide emails
49:29
and they're being more conscious of who they're giving them to
49:33
and why they're giving them to them.
49:35
Now also kind of in the vein of the sale side here, OK, I want
49:40
to talk a little bit about messaging based selling.
49:43
I think messaging based selling, there's two things I'm seeing
49:46
with sales, OK? Sales calls are still very much
49:49
something that clients desire. I think that even with their own
49:53
business, I've seen a real uptick in people that would love
49:56
to be able to get on a call. And I think that again, is
49:58
because people are really in this lack of trust economy right
50:02
now. They're in this place where they
50:03
feel like they've been burned so many times.
50:05
So when they're making a big investment, they really want to
50:07
feel like they have trust with the person that they're able to
50:10
invest with. So I think that's part of it.
50:11
Some people also just like doing sales calls, like I like sales
50:14
calls. So because of that, like I don't
50:15
see myself necessarily ever entirely removing them from my
50:18
business. But there also is this other
50:21
structure that's very, very popular right now, which is
50:25
selling via chat. Now, selling via chat is not
50:27
something that is new by any means.
50:29
People have been doing this for years.
50:31
But I think how we're doing it is a little bit different.
50:34
So there are what I'm seeing with a lot of different
50:37
businesses, people who are reaching out in chat, they will
50:40
have a discussion in chat and basically providing of a
50:43
resource. Some people have this kind of
50:45
like a private sales page. Some people kind of have it as
50:48
like a, a document basically that you send information of
50:51
your offer. But people are buying directly
50:53
from chat as high as 60,000 dollars, $70,000 investments for
50:59
like multiple months of support are being sold to people through
51:02
chat. Again, I think it's a couple
51:03
reasons why this is happening. People are really protected with
51:05
their time. People don't want to feel like
51:08
they're being put through a bunch of different motions in
51:11
order to need to get the information they're looking for.
51:14
So again, they like the transparency, they like the
51:16
directed, like the direct nature of the sales process.
51:20
And I think, you know, most importantly, what allows this to
51:24
happen, if I'm going to be honest, is your marketing.
51:26
If your marketing is not doing heavy lifting for you, you are
51:29
always going to feel like your sales process needs a lot of TLC
51:33
and a lot of time. And that's because typically the
51:36
marketing that you're putting out hasn't pre sold people.
51:39
So it's why you're yourself needing to be the real sales
51:42
driver behind a conversation because frankly, without that,
51:46
they're not going to buy. And so that's something we're
51:48
seeing. I would say there's still sales
51:50
calls demand, no question. But I think also there is this
51:54
interesting DM to resource in the DM that's also converting
51:58
very well. The other thing I would note is
52:01
video is no longer the differentiator, it's the
52:05
baseline. And I think that before I kind
52:10
of like I was saying, I'm making changes in my business before I
52:13
think video was something that we used to be able to say, oh,
52:16
this person does a lot of video. This person does a lot of
52:18
writing. And I think I always will attest
52:22
to the fact that like, you should lean into the thing that
52:24
is your most dominant meaning. If you're a writer, you should
52:26
be leaning into Substack. If you are someone who's on who
52:28
loves video, you should be leaning into YouTube or you
52:31
should lean into short form content, TikTok, podcast,
52:34
something that really showcases your skill.
52:38
But I do think in some regard, there is kind of just almost
52:41
this expectation of people wanting to see the person that
52:44
they're investing with or to feel like they have that
52:46
interaction. And we're seeing this with even
52:49
larger brands, brands that are huge companies or celebrity
52:54
based brands where the celebrity themselves is doing like car
52:58
videos or at home get ready with me videos and things like that.
53:02
I don't personally feel like that is a surprise.
53:05
I think there's this desire from consumers to feel like they're
53:09
not just consuming mass marketing that they're feeling
53:12
they actually get a connection point with the business or the
53:16
brand that they're investing with.
53:17
So by no means I want to be very clear.
53:19
Am I telling you to like go be a vlogger or like a go become an
53:22
influencer. You do it in a way that feels
53:25
good for you. So like even for me with this
53:26
podcast, I love doing these episodes and I love recording
53:30
these definitely much more than I love recording like 75 TikTok
53:35
videos. Like that's definitely not my
53:37
flavor, but I recognize that video is something people
53:41
expect. They want to feel like they
53:43
really know who they're working with.
53:45
They really know who they're investing into.
53:47
And I think video is no longer something that was like, oh,
53:50
that's their style versus my style.
53:52
I do think it's inching much closer toward expectation of
53:56
most brands and most businesses and again, doing it in a way
53:58
that feels good to you. The other thing I also to want
54:02
to note is 2 things. I think that sub stack is
54:07
something that everyone should be keeping an eye on.
54:10
I will say of the businesses that I'm working with behind the
54:13
scenes, sub stack is definitely on the rise.
54:15
Number one, incredible for building your e-mail list.
54:18
If you are someone who loves to write, you are going to love Sub
54:21
stack. There are definitely features of
54:23
short form writing on there as well as long form writing.
54:26
Incredible way to also nurture an e-mail list.
54:28
There's a lot of different features from a writing
54:30
perspective that can be great. But the real reason that I'm I'm
54:34
seeing a trend with it is because sub stacks similar to
54:38
when TikTok was around and TikTok was, you know, kind of in
54:42
its infancy. It felt like you could post a
54:43
video and it could get seen by like 3 million people.
54:46
We're kind of seeing that similar infancy in the platform
54:50
with sub stack right now, which is that sub stack doesn't have a
54:53
ton of users on it in comparison to the other major social
54:56
platforms. So what it means for you is that
54:59
the leverage you have by getting started today is at an all time
55:03
high. So you could easily get
55:05
discovered easily build community, easily find a way to
55:09
like carve out your section of the market on sub stack in a way
55:13
that would have been much harder in and will be much harder in
55:17
the next like say three to four years.
55:19
So listen, I want to say all of us only have so much time.
55:22
So I recognize you for like more content, more places, more
55:26
platforms. But part of the reason I mention
55:29
this is because, which is kind of the other piece of, you know,
55:32
a business risk that we're seeing is I think the brands
55:36
that are more platform diverse are actually the most resilient
55:42
and frankly the best leverage and setup for success for the
55:46
future. So I think if you are like, I
55:48
only have business on blank platform, I only have an
55:51
audience on this platform, you are at a very high risk as a
55:54
business. Like think about the discussions
55:57
that were happening with TikTok being banned.
55:59
And even when the sale of TikTok happened, a lot of my clients
56:02
who use TikTok instantly started to see shifts within their
56:06
views, their reach, their visibility.
56:08
And I don't think that's, that's a surprise when things change
56:11
with platforms, the people who are using those as their, their
56:14
core dominant place of business are also going to feel the
56:19
domino of that. So I think for you, when you're
56:21
looking at like, how do I protect my business with all
56:25
these changes? I think it's looking at how can
56:27
we get platform diverse and then recognizing you'll still have a
56:31
dominant, but you want to plant seeds elsewhere.
56:33
So even for me, you know, having a podcast was a place of yes,
56:38
having a second platform, putting those onto YouTube, onto
56:41
YouTube Shorts, putting that onto TikTok, like having this
56:44
ability to maybe not create organic content, all those
56:47
places, meaning I'm not creating multiple TikTok videos a day.
56:51
I'm not creating, you know, multiple posts on LinkedIn a
56:54
day. Like I'm not on every platform
56:56
making organic posts. And I don't necessarily know
56:59
that you have to be doing that either.
57:00
And if you are feeling that way, recognize that typically most
57:04
the brands that are doing that have good sized teams behind
57:06
them that assist with making that happen.
57:08
So if you're somebody who really wants to add a level of like a
57:13
baked in insurance policy for yourself, my recommendation
57:16
would be just start taking content you have somewhere and
57:19
put it somewhere else. So if you're making TikTok
57:21
videos, put them on YouTube Shorts.
57:23
If you have threads you're putting out, take that same
57:26
structure of those short form pieces and add those to the
57:29
notes on sub stack. If you're doing e-mail
57:32
newsletters where you do blogs, take those blogs and reiterate
57:37
those with a fresh perspective on sub stack.
57:39
Try to look at where you can just be really smart with
57:43
repurposing. I think it also, especially with
57:46
the rise of AI, this has become easier than ever because AI can
57:49
help you to execute that repurposing in a streamline way
57:53
that doesn't cause a lot of strain on you.
57:57
And so lastly, I'll note that I think I've always said this, but
58:02
I think more than ever, it's literally more true now than
58:05
ever before when things are changing in marketing and sales
58:10
with offers, AIS, all these things moving.
58:13
Here's one thing that will never change, referrals.
58:19
Referrals are something that will never change with your
58:24
business. If people love your product, if
58:27
they love your service, if they love your program, they love
58:29
your agency, they will scream it from the rooftops.
58:33
And that is because they believe in you, they believe in your
58:38
brand, and they believe in what you do to get results.
58:40
And so one of the best forms of marketing that you can literally
58:44
have is people who are out there in the streets saying you got to
58:48
work with so and so. This is the person you need to
58:51
be working with. This is the person you got to
58:53
hire. There is, again, a lack of trust
58:56
people have. There's a lot of people on the
58:58
market. There's a lot of ways people
58:59
could go and people want to feel like they're making the right
59:02
next step. So I find referrals are
59:05
something that many are not leveraging, meaning that we're
59:09
not leaning into asking for referrals.
59:11
We don't have referral programs, we're not tracking our amount of
59:15
referrals we're getting. And I think that it's a missed
59:18
opportunity because there's so much noise right now.
59:21
And even like I shared today, there's so many things that you
59:24
can look at when it comes to marketing and sales and brand.
59:27
And like they just feel like there's this endless sea of
59:29
opportunity. And in fact, there is.
59:32
But one of the things that is a through line is that people want
59:34
to work with people that get results and people want to work
59:37
with people they can trust. And one of the fastest ways to
59:41
have someone confident that you can get results and confident
59:43
that they can trust you is to have somebody else say how great
59:46
of the results were that you generated and to have them say
59:49
you got to work with so and so, which is shared trust.
59:52
So I want to leave it as the last piece because I think with
59:55
all of these aspects, they're going to be so much and it feels
59:58
so overwhelming to be like, what do I do?
1:00:01
And I think it's really about focusing on one piece at a time,
1:00:05
taking a little bit of this information and saying, what can
1:00:09
I do to plant a seed? Do not overhaul your entire
1:00:13
business, trash it to the ground and rebuild it.
1:00:16
That's not necessary. What you need to do is say I'm
1:00:19
going to pick two of these things.
1:00:20
I'm going to double down our referrals.
1:00:22
I'm going to start to become platform diverse, or I feel like
1:00:25
I don't really have my positioning nailed, so I'm going
1:00:28
to focus on that. Or I feel like I don't
1:00:32
necessarily have a good understanding of AI.
1:00:34
So my next action item is I'm going to put 3 hours a week to
1:00:37
playing with AI. What I really want you to focus
1:00:40
on is just a bite by bite perspective.
1:00:43
Don't overwhelm yourself. It can be with topics like this,
1:00:47
and which is why I really preface this as like the most
1:00:50
important instruction for you. It can feel daunting.
1:00:53
It can feel like, Oh my gosh, like, how am I going to survive?
1:00:56
I get it. Like I've had clients who felt
1:00:58
that way. Even I felt that way when AI
1:01:00
came out. I was like, what the heck does
1:01:01
this mean? Like it was so overwhelming.
1:01:04
But then I rooted into, OK, it's only overwhelming if I'm doing
1:01:07
nothing about it. So what is the first, second,
1:01:11
third thing that I can do? And that's what I'm going to
1:01:13
focus on because if I try to do all of it, I'm going to do none
1:01:16
of it. It's because it's just going to
1:01:18
be too overwhelming and you're also going to be too scattered.
1:01:21
So what I would love as almost like a homework piece for you is
1:01:24
to take one thing, two things, Max, Max, Max, three things that
1:01:29
I've shared between today and last week's episode of the
1:01:32
changes that are happening in the online space.
1:01:34
And I want you to put those on a sticky note, OK?
1:01:36
I want you to ideally have one of those BAI would be my ideal
1:01:40
recommendation or prescription for you.
1:01:42
But if you could have one of those BAI and pick two others,
1:01:45
put that on sticky note and put that on your laptop, put on the
1:01:48
side of your monitor, put it in front of you when you're
1:01:50
working, put it on your desk and understand that that's just
1:01:54
seeds you're planting, seeds you're planting and check in
1:01:57
each week and say, how am I doing with those 3 buckets?
1:02:00
Let's just say it's AI, focusing on your differentiator, what
1:02:03
makes you different and increasing referrals.
1:02:06
Let's just say if those are the three that you feel like you
1:02:09
really want to double down on, all I want you to do is just
1:02:11
have awareness of those things and check in on them every
1:02:15
single week, every Friday, every Monday.
1:02:18
Did I dedicate time to AI? Do I feel like I planted some
1:02:21
marketing that shows how I'm different?
1:02:23
And do I feel like I got referrals this week or did I set
1:02:25
an intention to get more referrals next week or next
1:02:28
month? This is where I would say you're
1:02:32
going to win versus those who are like, OK, we're going to
1:02:35
start on sub stack, We're going to become a YouTube.
1:02:36
We're going to start doing vlogs like that is not it's not going
1:02:40
to work. And I can tell you with someone
1:02:41
who has the classic squirrel's brain and also has the constant
1:02:46
desire to do everything and be everywhere and be all things at
1:02:50
one time, you can't do it. It's not possible, and you're
1:02:53
going to get burnt out and frustrated with yourself in the
1:02:56
process of trying to achieve it. So that is your homework with
1:02:59
these last two episodes. I know a topic that many can
1:03:02
feel. What does this mean for me?
1:03:04
What do you recommend? And so I want to just offer a
1:03:06
full give. If you are somebody who is
1:03:09
listening to this and you feel like you want my advice, shoot
1:03:13
me a message on Instagram, say hey Kate, I listen to the online
1:03:16
space changes episodes. And here's some questions that I
1:03:18
have. My DMS are open.
1:03:20
I will give you my honest, direct feedback and advice as to
1:03:23
what I see for you and what specifically are some things I
1:03:26
might consider. I know this can feel like a
1:03:28
weird time with so many things adapting, but I also want you to
1:03:32
know this is what you signed up for.
1:03:33
You became an entrepreneur because you were ready to ride
1:03:36
the roller coaster of the UPS, the downs, the loops, the
1:03:39
everything in between. And so this is just one of those
1:03:42
loops that maybe you haven't felt in a little while.
1:03:46
And I want to use this as an opportunity for you to realize
1:03:48
you can and will handle this. You can and will survive the
1:03:54
changes as long as you are making the crucial steps to
1:03:58
start to plant seeds. And so if you're feeling a
1:04:01
little bit frozen, if you're feeling a little overwhelmed, or
1:04:04
if you're feeling even a little bit nervous, maybe scared, maybe
1:04:07
you're excited, there's a mix of emotions that can happen in
1:04:10
these times and you want some support with it.
1:04:12
Just shoot me a message. I'm happy to give you my
1:04:14
unfiltered device. There's no offer, there's no
1:04:16
pitch. You know where to find me if you
1:04:17
want to work with me. It's not about that.
1:04:19
I want you to feel like you have a grounding aspect of advice for
1:04:24
you to take a next step with. So if I can help you in any way,
1:04:27
you know where to find me. Shoot me a message DMS, I would
1:04:29
be happy to chat with you and give you my insights for you.
1:04:31
But with all that being said, I hope today was helpful for you
1:04:33
and that you took some good notes.
1:04:35
And with that, I again want you to remember sticky Note 3 core
1:04:38
pillars Max, if not 2, even better and focus on that for the
1:04:42
next three to 60 days. And I think you will be in a
1:04:44
great spot to prep yourself for what are the changes to come and
1:04:48
how things can be shifting inside of your space.
1:04:50
So with that being said, we'll see you on next week's episode.
1:04:53
And, as always, stay ambitious.