From a conversation I had today (paraphrased):
“Offering free value isn’t a consistent or sustainable way of attracting clients.
“I offer a lot of free value, but very few people come to me. So, reaching out to people directly to offer my services is what I do instead, and it works far better.”
Here’s the thing. Some of us get a LOT of people coming to us as a result of our offering free value (the “pull” strategy), without our EVER doing cold reach-outs (the “push” strategy).
Like, 50-70 clients per year (or more) for our high ticket programs.
So what gives? Why does it work for us but not for others?
It’s because there is a way to give value that works and gets people coming to you.
And then there are ways to give value that don’t get people coming to you because you’re making them 1) suspicious, 2) blissfully ignorant, or 3) confused.
Let’s break these three things down.
–1–
“Suspicious” comes from the kind of value content that is too high-level.
Like, “5 steps to attracting high-ticket clients” or “5 steps to attracting love”…
…and the 5 steps are all things that people have heard a million times.
That’s probably not going to inspire people (especially high-ticket buyers) to reach out to you because they’ve tried to do those 5 steps a million times and either didn’t succeed at executing them, or did succeed at executing them but they didn’t work.
So when they see you talking about them yet again, they’re suspicious.
“Can this person REALLY help me to get results? Do they REALLY know something that all the other so-called ‘experts’ don’t? I’ve heard all of this before.”
That’s why, in my post-writing framework, we don’t usually write the high-level “5 steps” type content.
Instead, we break our 5 steps apart, and then break them apart again, and then again and again – until we get to a micro-insight from our method that we can expand upon in about 1,000 words – with examples, stories, and analogies to prove to readers that we actually know what we’re talking about and that we understand this problem and solution in a far more in-depth way than other people they’ve hired to help them – and that we’ll have real answers for their challenges if/when they choose to hire us.
Of course, this way of writing also has the double effect of helping our readers to begin to understand what they’re missing when it comes to getting the result they want.
So they feel like they’re already on their way – and can start making some of the shifts we’re sharing, while they prepare to reach out to us for a spot in our program to give them the same kind of thorough insight about their unique situation. (or in some cases they reach out to us the very same day!)
For more information on why NOT to write “5 steps” type content, see here.
And here.
–2–
“Blissfully ignorant” comes from the kind of value content that commits the OPPOSITE mistake of what I just shared.
Instead of going too high-level, here you’re going too granular.
An example of this would be writing some value content about “15 email headlines that get clicks and opens” when you’re an organic marketing coach who helps consultants get $20K clients at least once a month from email.
That topic of “15 email headlines that get clicks and opens” doesn’t let the reader know 1) that you help consultants specifically; 2) that your work helps them to get premium multiple-five-figure clients; 3) that you’re a coach and not a done-for-you copywriter; and 4) probably a million other things that would be important for someone to know before they’d reach out to you and ask about hiring you.
The reader of that piece might enjoy it and start fiddling with some of your headline suggestions, but they’ll be blissfully ignorant as to what you actually do in your paid services, what kind of help you provide, whether or not you specialize in helping people like them, and what outcomes you can help them to get.
So why would they reach out to you?
Except maybe to say “thanks for the useful content”?
For more information on why NOT to write super-granular content that doesn’t connect back to an outcome (and examples of what I mean), see here.
And here.
–3–
“Confused” comes from SO MANY different mistakes in value content that it would be impossible for me to list them all here.
But here are a few:
–You’re actually trying to follow my framework and go deep on one insight or piece of your method and connect it back to an outcome – but your explanation of the insight isn’t that great. It uses a lot of jargon or otherwise doesn’t make sense to the reader.
(that’s one of the biggest things I talk through with my paying clients to help them clear up their explanation – because if I don’t “get” it as a non-expert in their field, I’m pretty sure their readers who are also non-experts won’t “get” it either!)
–You’re not starting out your post by talking about a challenge your ideal client is having, or a belief they have about what it’ll take to solve their challenge – instead you’re doing all sorts of preamble that includes things they don’t care about, like “I remember one time when I went to the grocery store”
(I know that sort of “story” content works in certain contexts, like when you’re well-known and your fans/followers are actually curious about your day-to-day life – but when you’re hoping to grab attention from people who don’t yet know who you are and maybe just friended you a day ago, you’ll want to speak to things they care about – otherwise they’ll be confused about what you actually do and why they should care, and will be scrolling right on past)
–You’re not actually making a pitch for your program in your value content, nor are you relating it back to the topic you talked about in your post while also giving information about what else you help with (that wasn’t talked about in the post) and tying it all together for the reader.
(It’s possible that you could follow my framework to a T except for the part about pitching your offer, and the reader could still be somewhat confused about what exactly it would look like to work with you and what exactly you’d help them with. P.S. Saying “I help with all of this in my paid programs, DM to learn more or for a discovery call” doesn’t count 😉 What’s “this”?)
.
I’ll wrap up here. I hope you found this post valuable.
If you want to learn more about my method for creating client-attracting content in such a way that it actually gets people coming to you consistently – there’s LOTS more where that came from.
I suggest exploring the tag categories on this website – I have these posts tagged according to different topics.
I especially suggest clicking on two things:
First – the “free feedback” tag – you’ll see lots of real-world examples of me reviewing people’s content and pointing out what can be changed.
Second – the “client-attracting content” tag – you’ll see lots of different posts that I’ve written on different aspects of what it takes to create content in such a way that you’ll attract clients from it and get them coming to you without having to pursue anybody or do outreach.
And, of course, if you want to work with me, I work closely with 1-on-1 clients to review their content and smooth out all the issues I mentioned in this post (and more) so that they get weekly clients for their high-ticket program who reach out to them (rather than vice versa) from their content.
I also help you put a simple process into place to qualify and enroll the people who reach out to you, with a very short and simple conversation over Messenger (if you wish).
I also help with your strategy for growing your Facebook connections if you need that, as well as reviewing and refining your actual offer (both how the program itself is structured, and who is the best client for it, as well as how you pitch it and write about it -in my 500-word offer post framework).
DM me on Facebook if you’re interested in the program.
More information about the program is available here.
And, if you’re interested in becoming certified and licensed to teach my methods to your own clients, I’m working on program for that as well. DM me on Facebook if you’re interested in being put on the waitlist.
More information about the certification program is available here.