When you visit an ice cream shop, you can usually get a free taste of any flavor ice cream you want before you make your decision on which scoop you're going to enjoy.
Giving you a taste (or as many tastes of different flavors as you'd like) is an effective way to ensure that you not only order a cone at that moment, but it's also a way to bring you back to try more flavors on another day.You can use this brilliant marketing strategy in building your business as well.
This is a critical step for building your business online. Marketing 101 says that a prospect needs to see your message anywhere from 5-12 times before they will feel confident enough to risk handing over their money to you. You want to give your prospects a taste of what it is that you offer in exchange for their email address, so you can start to build a relationship with them. Without that relationship, you don't have a business.
Offering your prospects a taste of what it is that you provide is a proven and easy way to get people to become part of your community, and part of your marketing and product funnel. By offering them a sample, you're giving them an opportunity to get to know you without risking anything more than perhaps a bit of time.
So, what can you offer of value in exchange for their email address? A newsletter, an ecourse, an audio clip, or a special report, are all good options. Personally, I like the offer of an ecourse AND an ezine. You give them a taste of what your services are like with the ecourse, and then you keep in touch with them on a regular basis with the ezine. The ezine allows you to build a bond with your readers in a uniquely personal way, letting them get to know, like and trust you over time, with you having to build that bond one-on-one.
So what's your taste going to be? Here are some other ideas:
- write a Top Ten article about the benefits of your products and services, convert it to a PDF file, and offer it as a special report.
- record a short audio about the three key things your niche needs to know about X.
- create a mini ecourse that encompasses the five steps to getting started for your market.
- or create a quick-start guide that helps your market focus on how to get started.
Once you've given them a taste, they will likely come back for more, eventually turning from a potential client or customer into a paying client or customer. Creating a taste of what you provide is easy and it's fun. Try it and watch what happens!
