Gina Bell | She Owns It

3 Ways to Gather Social Proof for a NEW Product or Program by @GinaBell

February 22, 2013 by Guest Post 2 Comments

by Gina Bell | Featured Contributor

So, you have a new product or program to launch and you’re working on the sales page? That’s exciting!

Until you realize…

Whether you’re using a copy writing template, a sales page checklist or your swipe files to model sales pages you love, there’s one essential element that can stop you in your tracks…

TESTIMONIALS.

When it comes to a brand new offering – you just don’t have them – YET.

Not to worry! Here are four types of social proof you can use UNTIL you can gather specific testimonials to your new offer…

1. Testimonials about what it’s like to work with you.

Kind words about YOU paint a picture of what it will be like for others to work with you too. These kinds of testimonials are just as powerful as the results-driven ones – sometimes more so!

2. Testimonials that focus on results achieved from other programs you offer.

Your ability to help your clients get results regardless of the specific program or service builds a bridge of trust that you’ll do the same with each new offering. This is why it’s vital to share the cool things your clients are doing as a result of your advice.

3. Quotes from leading experts that corroborate your claim or method.

It’s one thing for you to say X, it’s another thing entirely when your community hears another renowned expert say X too.

When your audience hears the same advice from multiple sources it strengthens your expertise.

4. Endorsements about the strategy itself.

A few years ago I launched a new program called Virtual Events Made Easy to teach online entrepreneurs how to do a telesummit.

I had done several telesummits but I hadn’t taught it – yet. So, I turned to my business girlfriends who either partnered with me in my telesummits OR who had done one too. They shared results and opinions that exemplified telesummits as a hot strategy (That was before everyone was doing them!)

A thumbs-up for you, your other offers and the strategy itself are often more than enough evidence to lead an ideal client from interested in what you do to invested to work with you.

Still convinced you have to have specific testimonials? There’s another way to get them…

Launch your program in BETA-mode.

Gather a group of beta-testers who are excited to have first-time access to your new offering.

Your community gets advance access to a new product creation experience at a fraction of the future price plus any additions or modifications made as a result of their candid feedback and testimonials.

I’ve done a few beta programs over the years and everyone wins!

The bottom line about social proof is your potential clients want to know – Have others invested in this? How did that decision work out for them? What kind of results did they get?

Social proof demonstrates that other people – some of them just like you – have purchased your products and programs and enjoyed results from them. This dramatically increases your chances of making a sale.

Get it. Use it. Enjoy the impact of it.

~ Gina xo

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Catalyst Marketing Expert – Gina Bell from GinaBellinc.com, Regina, SK Canada

Gina Bell is the Founder of Gina Bell Inc, a company devoted to expanding what is possible for women through entrepreneurship; Publisher of Rebelations Magazine, Author of the #1 Best-Seller Success Rituals 2.0 – Winning Habits of High-Achieving Women and author of Invisible-Proof!

What if positioning yourself as the expert and sharing your message with thousands of people could happen quickly?

What if growing your online business was – heaven forbid! – A pleasure? A joy? And, lucrative from the start?

In her career as a Catalyst Marketing Strategist to ambitious women in business, Gina Bell has faced off with these questions — and many others.

She’s found answers that serve her, and is devoted to helping women find their own answers, too — sparking movements that build prominence, dare distinction and ignite a premise for profit (far beyond dollars and cents!)

“There’s marketing and then there’s CATALYST marketing.” Gina says. And with a marketing mantra of: “Why just do it when you can REALLY do it?” it’s no wonder she’s become the go-to-gal for women who want to invisible-proof their expertise and rise to a new stratosphere of success quickly.

Gina’s been coined one of the most responsive women on Twitter so be sure to reach out to her there too!

And if you’ve been feeling invisible in your business there’s no time to lose. Get “50 Ways to Boost Visibility & Credibility” inside the new Visibility Boom issue of Rebelations Magazine.

Guest Post

21 Ways to Leverage Entrepreneurial Writing to Grow Your Online Business by @GinaBell

October 29, 2012 by Guest Post 2 Comments

by Gina Bell | Featured Contributor

One of the topics I LOVE to teach is how to apply the Art of Leverage in your business.

According to BusinessDictionary.com, LEVERAGE is the ability to influence a system, or an environment, in a way that multiplies the outcome of one’s efforts without a corresponding increase in the consumption of resources.

In other words, leverage is the advantageous condition of having a small amount of cost (or effort) yield a high level of return.

Today, let’s apply leverage to all of the writing you do as an entrepreneur.

I think of entrepreneurial writing as the collection of content and copy that entrepreneurs create and use to communicate, promote and grow their business.

How your writing (content / copy) is packaged and presented varies. And this is where we can apply LEVERAGE to make the most of the writing you do and have done.

Some examples are: print books, e-books, special reports, articles, workbooks, info productions, action guides, teleseminar scripts, keynote speeches, presentation outlines, micro-blog and blog posts, press releases, website copy, etc…

When it comes to being a woman in business online there really is a lot of “writing” to do.

The problem is a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with writing projects wondering “What in the world am I going to write?” They often forget about all of the writing and research they’ve already done and most haven’t begun to think strategically about the writing they plan to do in the future.

Thinking strategically about how you might re-purpose and leverage the writing, ideas and concepts you’ve already created and plan to create can make writing simple, easy and much more profitable.

Example: Let’s say you’ve already written a top 10 tips article. This one article provides the base for ten additional articles. All you need to do is expand the content for each tip. You save time and end up with new articles to leverage.

The same tips article can be “chunked down” into micro-blog posts for twitter and Facebook status updates.

Case in point, I could expand on each of the 21 ways presented in this article, digging deeper into how a woman in business online can leverage each specific approach to presenting/packaging their writing/content to grow their business.

The checklist below will get you thinking about how to leverage your writing in new and more powerful ways.

Rather than look at each item as a “new” writing project, think about how you can leverage writing or research you’ve already done and/or plan to do to repurpose and maximize the potential of each idea. You’ll save time and move a lot faster too!

Print Books
E-books
Audio books
Audio programs (tele-class, tele-series, podcasts)
Workbooks/Manuals
Action Guides
Video training/promotion content (i.e. Camtasia, Viral Video)
Coaching programs (Instructor manuals / Participant manuals)
Keynote speeches/Signature Presentations
Presentation Outlines
Newsletters
e-Zines
Press Releases
Articles
Blog posts
Micro-blogging (i.e. Twitter, Facebook Status Updates)
Mini-books/topic based pamphlets
How to checklists
Newspaper ads/articles
Website Copy
Frequently Answered Questions

Now, take a moment to list the other writing opportunities that came to mind as you were reading this list… i.e. product/service descriptions, follow up autoresponder messages after a new client purchases, e-course, announcements… and so on. Your creativity is the only limit here (and really, there isn’t a limit to that).

Have you identified ways that you can apply leverage to the writing you’ve done or plan to do? Share your ideas in the comments okay & Happy Writing!

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Gina Bell: It’s my joy to teach entrepreneurial go-getters how to grow freedom-rich businesses that elevate lifestyle, expand possibility, and influence everyone they touch.

My mission for 2012 is to teach 10 women in business online how to be 10K per month income earners in as little as 90 days working less than they’ve imagined possible (and then, to help them teach 10 and so on!) creating a six-figure spark that becomes unstoppable. http://ginabellinc.com

Guest Post

3 Ways to Get Your Business Groove Back – Fast! by @GinaBell

August 6, 2012 by Guest Post 6 Comments

by Gina Bell | Featured Contributor

I know how frustrating it can be when business isn’t as successful as you’d like it to be despite the blood, sweat and tears you’ve invested.

So, if your dotcom dream has started to fizzle instead of take flight here are 3 simple ways to kick your success into high gear!

1. Be there. If you’ve been feeling invisible in your business it’s probably because – you are. Ouch.

So let’s check in. How often are you communicating with your tribe, your list, your peeps?

And when you do “communicate”, are you adding value? Engaging? Sparking conversation? Or are you simply broadcasting?

Talk WITH your tribe not at them and do it more often in a value-add way so they couldn’t forget about you if they tried!

ACTION TIP: Put a note together right now. What question can you ask them that will get them talking? What can you give them that they’ll be thrilled to receive from you? Send it through email, post it to your Facebook business page, tweet it on Twitter. .

2. Be Bold(er). You’re great at what you do but you’re a best-kept secret. One of the fastest ways to get your business groove back is to become mover visible to your target audience.

And in an online environment one of the quickest ways to invisible-proof your business is to share what you really stand for. Activate your awesome and claim your unique approach to your niche’s hot topics.

Don’t be afraid of turning someone off. You will – whether you stay generic and vanilla or not. The good news is when you get bolder with your message; you become 10 times more visible to your target audience. Trust me on this.

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” ~ Bill Cosby.

A great way to tune in to a bolder voice is to think about what ticks you off right now in your industry. Use it to light a fire and spark a new conversation with your tribe. They’ll sit up and take notice.

ACTION TIP: Write a blog post or article that reveals something that ticks you off and your unique approach to the same conversation. Give your tribe insight into brand-YOU! .

3. Do! The only way your to do’s will graduate to your ta da it’s done list is through action.

Our lives are busy. There’s no way around it and the likelihood that it’s going to magically ease up is slim. Bottom line: You can’t “make” time. We all have 24 hours in a day. What you need to do is “take” time to grow your business.

ACTION TIP: Schedule an appointment with yourself – and keep it! Think of you, the success of your business like your #1 client. Would you cancel on, and keep putting off, your best client?

And just think how great you’ll feel when you get some of your to do’s DONE! .

The life and business you dream about is on the other side of your to do list! So let’s get it done!

Now… before you go, we’d love to know which piece of advice are you going to activate first? Declare it in the comments to keep yourself accountable AND so we can cheer you on!

~ Gina xo

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Gina Bell: It’s my joy to teach entrepreneurial go-getters how to grow freedom-rich businesses that elevate lifestyle, expand possibility, and influence everyone they touch.

Guest Post

3 Ways to Motivate Others to Share Your Content

June 25, 2012 by Guest Post 15 Comments

by Gina Bell | Featured Contributor

One thing I know for sure… being a best-kept secret or feeling invisible despite ALL of the things you do day-in-and-day-out to market yourself online can be frustrating to say the least.

Understanding what motivates your right people to share and recommend your content will give your visibility a valuable boost!

So why is it that people are willing to continually pass on content from certain sites to friends, while not at all for other sites?

Here is some insight into the minds of online consumers and why they pass along certain pieces of content and ignore others…

1. Thinking Emotionally Rather Than Logically:

Really great marketing motivate their tribe to take action by making an emotional connection and tugging at their heartstrings rather than try to win them over with logic.

For example, if a video gets someone really inspired about an event, program or website, they might share that video on their Facebook wall without necessarily double-checking the details.

In fact, I’ve observed videos (blog posts & articles too) shared long after the doors to an event were closed because the video was still worth passing along. AND, the video creator/event host enjoys a growing wait list for their next event.

Why did people keep sharing it? It wasn’t that the video presented specific details about the event. It was that it sparked excitement and inspiration for the viewer.

If you can create content that gets people fired up, they’ll be much more likely to pass it on to their network.

2. Wanting Their Friends to Have a Good Experience

This principle is very basic. It’s the same reason why we recommend restaurants and movies to friends: we just want them to have a better experience.

If you create a website that helps people in a certain industry do things faster and cheaper, there’s a good chance your content will get passed around simply because people want their friends to have a better experience.

To make this process easier, it often helps to have “sound bite sized” pieces of information. For example, if you run a website about how to repair your credit, instead of having someone just pass on your website, it’s much easier for them to pass on an infographic specifically about how to repair your credit before buying a home, if they had a friend who’s on the verge of buying.

3. You Helped Them; They Want to Help You

Have you ever had the experience of getting such great customer service that you wanted to return the favor?

For example, you go to a restaurant whose service is so spectacular that you feel like you want to bring more people to their establishment just because you want to help them out.

If your clients get the sense that you’re really looking out for them and that you really care about them, they’ll often be willing to return the favor.

Ordinary service doesn’t elicit this kind of loyalty. But if you provide exceptional service, this kind of marketing can be one of the most powerful marketing tools in your word of mouth toolkit.

Many campaigns that go viral work based on using just one of these principles. A few of them activate all three principles and really take off. Which one(s) makes the most sense for your business?

And I’m curious…

Have you created a piece of content that got a lot of shares or likes? We’d love to hear more about that. What was it and why do you think people decided to share it? Do share xo

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Guest Post