5 things to do

Entrepreneurs like you don’t want to climb the corporate ladder. But you’ll definitely want your audience to climb the “offer ladder.” But first, you create one.

Based on the wisdom and practical experience shared by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing at CEX, here are five things to do to begin construction.

1. Think of your audience as members, not customers: In business, sales and marketing usually adopt a customer mentality. It’s all about research, purchase, and refer. But when you see the audience as members, it’s all about engage, invest, and evangelize.

“A customer wants to buy. Members think about investing in something they believe in,” John says.

2. Begin with the Know rung of the offer ladder: It’s all about the free content and outreach partnerships to bring in organic traffic. At least twice a month, John does a webinar for another business to educate and connect with their audience. He shares problem-specific calls to action and the places where they can get more information on what he’s talking about in the webinar.

You could do webinars for others, be a guest on a podcast, or write an article for a site that has an audience you want to attract.

3. Go for Like, not an upsell: Now that you have someone who’s raised their hand to indicate interest, a lot of businesses go for the upsell. Instead, seek to strengthen your connection to the new audience member. John sells workbooks at a nominal price ($17 to $102), and includes a call with an adviser.

4. Get their Trust: After finding value in your free and nominal fee content, the audience member will ask, “What else do you have?” In John’s case, the next level involves self-guided training ($199) and a subscription to their academy – a digital library of sorts – at $49 a month.

The Know, Like, and Trust rungs aren’t designed as money-making endeavors for the business. They’re designed to engage the new member and strengthen their connection to the business. It’s all about creating WTP – willingness to pay.

5. Add the Try, Buy, Repeat, and Refer rungs: At the Try rung, you sell something that will help the member address their immediate need or problem. In John’s case, the offer is problem-specific coaching ($1.5K to $3K)

Once the member has sampled a higher-priced ticket item, they should be more ready to step up to the Buy rung – your premium product offer. For John, that’s membership in a flagship program and network ($7.5K to $10K).

Now is when the real magic begins in the member relationship – give them the chance to move up to the repeat (retention) rung by purchasing or renewing their purchase of your product. (John offers small group, short-term cohorts priced at $5K to $400K.)

And get them to the Refer stage by offering a value-added service for paying members to entice them to refer high-quality members. For John, that value-add is a free, invitation-only mastermind group. His participating customers get automatic admission and the ability to invite a few people to join.

Once they become customers, we are doubling down on the value, giving them the ability and the tool to introduce us to somebody else who needs what they’re getting. The ROI is ridiculous. They become strategic partners, John says.

Make plans to join us this May for Creator Economy Expo 2023. Register now for the best available rates.

– Ann Gynn

5 things at the tilt

Did the advice and coaching that Daren received this season on the 10K Creator podcast make any difference in the growth of his business? Check out the final episode to find out. [10K Creator podcast]
Joe and Robert discuss the implications of ChatGPT on content creation and content marketing. Is singularity closing in on marketers? [This Old Marketing podcast]
Learn about the business of creators and working with brands in the new report The Business of Creators from The Tilt and HubSpot. [free report]
Technology is important and choosing the right tools can make all the difference in growing your business. Check out The Tilt Tech Stack.
ICYMI: Are You a Creator Ready To Open a Merch Store?

5 things to know

Money

Revenue boost: Discord now lets creators sell server subscriptions. Paid subscription plans can offer unique roles, perks, and benefits as determined by the creator. You receive 90% of the money after applicable deductions. (Discord)
Tilt Take: When you sell something that was previously free or unavailable, think about how to create value around the offer.
Star season: Meta will give virtual gifts to entice viewers to make Stars donations to creators on Facebook and Instagram. Creators also will receive bonus incentives to earn more revenue through Stars promotions through the end of the year. (Social Media Today)
Tilt Take: If you already engage in Stars promotions, this could be a nice bonus. But the holiday incentive shouldn’t be what gets you into the Stars program.

Audiences

Subscriber thoughts: A new survey from Toolkits finds 69% of people who pay for digital publications pay for more than one, and 23% who have canceled a subscription say they did so because they didn’t use it enough. (Toolkit)
Tilt Take: Find subscribers already primed to pay by marketing to audiences of digital products with similar missions. And regularly connect with inactive subscribers to learn why they aren’t using it or remind them about all the content they can access.

Tech and Tools

Advance it: Instagram rolled out the 75-day reels, photos, and carousel posts scheduling tool. (Instagram)
Tilt Take: Scheduling tools can be helpful to maximize your time. Just don’t forget to check what you’ve scheduled if an event or something happens that could make content irrelevant or inappropriate for its publishing date.

And Finally

Bad swing: Creator Katie Sigmond hit a golf ball (and her driver shaft followed) into the Grand Canyon, airing it all on TikTok. Now, she faces three federal misdemeanor charges and three federal violation notices. (AZ Central)
Tilt Take: You don’t do stupid stunt content, but you should still pay attention to other laws that can affect your business. Think giveaways, promotions, image rights usage, etc.

5 things to read, watch, or hear

The Making of a Six-Figure Author: How Authors Evolve With Income [survey report + 19 mins]
Walk through the story of YouTube stars Rhett and Link, their Mythical Entertainment company, and the interest from big names in buying a stake. [article + 6 mins]
Explore why building a general media business is hard. [article +7.5 mins]
Selling a business when you are the brand can be hard. Three entrepreneurs (including Joe Pulizzi) share how they did it. [article + 10 mins]
Building a $250K business in today’s creator economy.

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the tilt team

Your team for this issue: Joe Pulizzi, Pam Pulizzi, Ann Gynn, Laura Kozak, Marc Maxhimer, and Dave Anthony.

Don’t Climb the Ladder. Create This One.