1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:07,160 Catching attention online isn't about having beautiful graphics and lots of exclamation marks and exciting, 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:13,000 catchy language. It's not about that. It's simply about reading our ideal 3 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:18,640 client's mind, sharing writing something that when they read that, even when they 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:22,239 skim through it, they're like, Oh, this person gets me. This 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:27,679 person's reading my mind. I'd better keep reading. Welcome to Imperfect Action. 6 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,760 I'm Steph Taylor. For years, I read all the books, downloaded all 7 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:35,880 the freebies, and did all the courses. But it wasn't until I started 8 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:41,840 taking imperfect action that my business had its first million dollar year. Imperfect Action 9 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,640 is about doing things before you're ready, prioritizing consistent action over perfect action, 10 00:00:48,119 --> 00:00:52,640 and moving forward even when you're not sure you're doing it right. On this 11 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:57,079 show, you can expect mindset advice, actionable marketing tips, and strategies to 12 00:00:57,079 --> 00:01:00,320 build a business that brings you more profit, more free, and even more 13 00:01:00,439 --> 00:01:06,879 joy. Are you on the list to get my daily businesses? Every day, 14 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:10,159 I'll send you a bite sized prompt designed to help you grow your business 15 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,200 in a more intentional way. Sign up at step Taylor dot co, forward 16 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:21,319 slash DBB, or at the link in the show Notes. Hey, welcome 17 00:01:21,359 --> 00:01:23,680 back to Imperfect Action. This is episode seven hundred and ninety three. Today, 18 00:01:23,879 --> 00:01:30,040 I'm sharing five questions to ask your audience so you can create targeted content 19 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:34,400 that lands. Because sometimes we like to think that we know everything about our 20 00:01:34,439 --> 00:01:38,599 audience, about our ideal clients, and a lot of the time we're just 21 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:44,280 guessing. Now, whenever i run out of ideas for content, whenever I'm 22 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:48,599 stuck with my marketing, whenever I'm stuck with messaging, writing copy, anything 23 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:53,519 like that, I always go back to the audience research that I have done 24 00:01:53,599 --> 00:01:56,799 in the past. I always go back to the answers that I have got 25 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:01,519 from my audience and from my ideal client whenever I have talked to them one 26 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:06,599 on one or if I've sent a survey to my list. And today I'm 27 00:02:06,599 --> 00:02:09,520 going to share with you five questions that I personally do ask my audience from 28 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:14,280 time to time in my own business. Now, a couple of tips before 29 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:19,120 we jump into the questions. Surveys are great. I love surveys because they're 30 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,080 great for getting lots of answers. But bear in mind that not everyone is 31 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,439 going to give you in depth answers, and not everyone who is answering. 32 00:02:27,479 --> 00:02:30,919 Your survey is your ideal client, so you do need to take it with 33 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:35,280 a little bit of a grain of salt. You know, not every answer 34 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:38,919 is going to be worth listening to. Some people might tell you your price 35 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,639 is are way too high and I can't ever afford to work with you. 36 00:02:43,719 --> 00:02:47,199 And it's very easy to take that answer on board and be like, maybe 37 00:02:47,199 --> 00:02:51,919 I need to drop my prices, But in reality, maybe this person just 38 00:02:52,039 --> 00:02:57,919 isn't your ideal client, and your ideal clients are absolutely okay with your prices. 39 00:02:59,199 --> 00:03:01,080 A great tip I picked up a little while ago, and I'm not 40 00:03:01,199 --> 00:03:06,400 sure where I got it from, was to pay more attention to those who 41 00:03:06,439 --> 00:03:10,520 put effort into their answers. So the people who are giving you longer answers 42 00:03:10,599 --> 00:03:16,520 on their surveys are probably a little bit more invested in what you're doing. 43 00:03:16,599 --> 00:03:21,479 They care a little bit more than the ones who are giving you three word 44 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:27,000 answers. With surveys, you may need to incentivize someone to complete the survey. 45 00:03:27,479 --> 00:03:30,879 I generally will offer you a five dollar donation on behalf of each person 46 00:03:30,879 --> 00:03:35,719 who completes the survey. And when we've done audience research in the past, 47 00:03:35,879 --> 00:03:38,520 I think sometimes we've done two or three dollars because we get a couple one 48 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:43,840 hundred people answering, and it could it could end up being a very expensive 49 00:03:43,879 --> 00:03:47,520 audience research exercise. Like I love that it's going to charity, but a 50 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:53,280 lot of the answers that we get from people who filled it out, they're 51 00:03:53,319 --> 00:03:57,400 like, not really very valuable to us because they've given us like one word 52 00:03:57,439 --> 00:04:01,639 answers. Right, how you frame your survey or whatever kind of research, 53 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,360 if it's a call, how you frame it will impact whether someone is going 54 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,560 to do it. This is a pick a tip that I picked up off 55 00:04:11,199 --> 00:04:16,319 Kirsty Fanton where she talks about how you know if you frame it as, 56 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:20,199 hey, it's five questions and it's going to take you two minutes, that's 57 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:25,560 a lot more appealing than hey, will you do my survey? And somebody 58 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,000 has no idea why should they do the survey? How long is it going 59 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,199 to take them? What questions? How many questions? So somebody is much 60 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:36,920 more likely to do it when they know a little bit about what's involved. 61 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:43,680 Zoom calls with your ideal clients are always going to yield more meaningful responses than 62 00:04:43,759 --> 00:04:48,160 a survey because you can ask follow up questions. A survey doesn't give you 63 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:53,680 the ability to ask why, or to go a little bit deeper into somebody's 64 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:58,319 answer and find out the real motivation behind it. A survey is just the 65 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:00,560 answer that they give you, and then you kind of have to take it 66 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,800 at that. You can't go any deeper. Whereas a few zoom calls you 67 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:12,199 can kind of ask follow up questions tap into what's going through their mind when 68 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,959 they are giving you these answers. Okay, So having covered off on those 69 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,600 tips, now here's the five questions to ask your audience so you can create 70 00:05:19,639 --> 00:05:25,600 targeted content that lands Number one, what are you struggling with when it comes 71 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:30,240 to your area of expertise? This question? I love it because it uncovers 72 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:34,639 potential problems that we can solve, and it also shows us where there might 73 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:41,040 be a disconnect between what we as the expert and what we do know is 74 00:05:41,079 --> 00:05:44,480 the problem. So the expert problem, what I call the expert level problem, 75 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,439 versus what our audience knows is the problem, or how our audience is 76 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:56,879 experiencing the problem. I love the analogy that James Wedmore uses around you're the 77 00:05:56,959 --> 00:06:00,680 expert in headaches and your audience has a headache, and you know that your 78 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:06,399 audience's a headache is caused by dehydration. But for them, they are experiencing 79 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,720 it as a headache. They're not experiencing it as dehydration. So if you 80 00:06:10,759 --> 00:06:14,360 go and give them, sell them a cure to their dehydration, they're going 81 00:06:14,439 --> 00:06:15,920 to say, no, thank you, I've just got a headache. So 82 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:21,199 by asking this question, what are you struggling with? It opens up the 83 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:27,480 door for our audience to explain to us how they are experiencing the problem. 84 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,199 Even if it's already a problem that we know they have, we get to 85 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:34,160 hear it in their own words. It's highlighting the language that they are using 86 00:06:34,199 --> 00:06:38,519 to describe the problem so that we can speak to them in their words, 87 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:42,079 not in our words. And as soon as we start to speak to somebody 88 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:46,680 in their words, that's when we can catch their attention. Right. Catching 89 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:54,319 attention online isn't about having beautiful graphics and lots of exclamation marks and exciting, 90 00:06:54,439 --> 00:07:00,920 catchy language. It's not about that. It's simply about reading our client's mind 91 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,399 sharing writing something that when they read that, even when they skim through it, 92 00:07:05,439 --> 00:07:10,240 they're like, oh, this person gets me. This person's reading my 93 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:15,399 mind. I'd better keep reading now. This question also gives really great content 94 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:20,680 ideas. It gives ideas for offers because the best offers solve a problem, 95 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:26,720 and it helps us with our messaging when we are selling these offers. So, 96 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,319 like I said, great things that stand out messaging online that stands out 97 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:35,160 is messaging where your ideal client feels like you are reading their mind. It's 98 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:39,279 the same with a sales page. If your ideal client is reading that sales 99 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:46,720 page and they're like, Wow, this is exactly what I need, then 100 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:51,399 they're much more likely to buy. And that all starts with listening to the 101 00:07:51,399 --> 00:07:55,480 words, the language they are using with when it comes to what they are 102 00:07:55,480 --> 00:08:01,120 struggling with. The next question to ask question number two what your goals as 103 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:05,600 it relates to whatever your area of expertise is this year. So, for 104 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,279 example, I asked what are your goals for your online business this year? 105 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:16,399 And this question I love because it uncovers what they really desire, what they 106 00:08:16,399 --> 00:08:20,199 really want. It shows us ways that we can help them with our free 107 00:08:20,199 --> 00:08:24,439 content, with our paid offers, and how we can communicate in our messaging 108 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:31,199 in a way that we're communicating the transformation so that they actually want it rather 109 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,559 than what we think that they want. We're using the words that they use 110 00:08:35,639 --> 00:08:39,759 to describe what they actually want. For example, maybe maybe I would be 111 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:45,240 imagining that my ideal clients want to build an empire because that's like the biggest 112 00:08:45,279 --> 00:08:48,600 possible transformation they could have. But then talking to them, I find out, 113 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:52,000 oh, actually they just want a lifestyle business that gives them time freedom 114 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:58,240 and financial freedom. So if I'm using messaging around here's my course to help 115 00:08:58,279 --> 00:09:01,240 you build an empire, to say, no, thank you, I really 116 00:09:01,279 --> 00:09:03,720 just want to build financial freedom and time freedom. I want a lifestyle business. 117 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:11,120 Now. The other thing that's really interesting with this question is the words 118 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:18,600 that they use your ideal clients use to articulate what they want versus the words 119 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:24,919 that you think they will use sometimes can be a very big difference, So 120 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:28,200 we want to make sure we're paying attention to what words they use. This 121 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:33,759 question also encourages them to think about what they want. Maybe they haven't actually 122 00:09:33,759 --> 00:09:39,440 thought about what their goals are, and it's forcing them to consider, hey, 123 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:43,679 what do I actually want to achieve this year? Maybe it's forcing them 124 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:46,720 to even think about what's possible for them to achieve, so it can be 125 00:09:46,799 --> 00:09:52,440 kind of inspiring for them as well. Question number three, what's standing in 126 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:58,399 the way of you reaching these goals? This question is great for uncovering the 127 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:03,200 potent obstacles that are holding them back from having what they want. Now. 128 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:11,480 These obstacles come in two forms, real obstacles and imagined obstacles. Most of 129 00:10:11,519 --> 00:10:15,159 the obstacles will be imagined, you know. It's like, I have to 130 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,080 do this, this, and this before I can achieve my goal. And 131 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:22,840 it's probably because they are overcomplicating it, or maybe they're overwhelmed, or maybe 132 00:10:22,879 --> 00:10:26,559 they are afraid. I get this one a lot with my audience where they're 133 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:28,600 like, oh, I have to get more followers before I can launch my 134 00:10:28,639 --> 00:10:31,840 course. I'm just waiting to have more followers, and that shows me, 135 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:35,080 Hey, okay, so I need to do a bit more educating around how 136 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:41,559 you can launch for the first time and you can launch multiple times even before 137 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:45,120 you've got lots of followers. Or the other one that comes up is I 138 00:10:45,159 --> 00:10:48,000 have to find a videographer and decide where I want to host my course before 139 00:10:48,039 --> 00:10:54,039 I can create it. And that's actually a backwards approach. So I now 140 00:10:54,039 --> 00:10:56,759 know, okay, I need to do some educating around why that is a 141 00:10:56,759 --> 00:11:01,279 backwards approach. Now, these imagined obstacles, they're ones that you can overcome 142 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:07,639 both in your free content and in each part of your sales process. So 143 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:11,600 if you have a webinar, or if you have sales calls, card, 144 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:15,960 open emails, sales page, all of these are elements of your sales process, 145 00:11:16,519 --> 00:11:20,799 and you can use these parts of the sales process to help your ideal 146 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,600 client to see how these obstacles aren't real obstacles. They are obstacles that they 147 00:11:24,639 --> 00:11:28,799 have created in their mind, and that it's actually a lot easier for them, 148 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,600 or a lot closer for them to reach those goals than they thought was 149 00:11:31,639 --> 00:11:37,679 possible. Now, the real obstacles, the ones that aren't imaginary obstacles. 150 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:43,879 These could give you ideas for other offers that you could potentially create as well, 151 00:11:43,519 --> 00:11:46,600 or they could give you ideas for free content you could create for your 152 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:52,320 ideal clients. All right, question number four, if you could waive a 153 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:56,960 magic wand and achieve those goals, how would you show up differently? What 154 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,519 would you do differently? What would be different in your life? Life? 155 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:05,720 And this question is really getting them to visualize their future selves, and it's 156 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:11,159 giving you inspiration for your messaging and your copy that you can use when you're 157 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:15,360 selling your offers. Because when somebody is buying your offer, they're really buying 158 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,720 a future version of themselves. They're buying into this future identity that they don't 159 00:12:18,799 --> 00:12:22,279 currently hold and that they really want to hold. So, for example, 160 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,399 let's say right now they are an unsuccessful business owner. That's the identity they've 161 00:12:26,399 --> 00:12:33,399 given themselves. When they are buying your course on how to market their business 162 00:12:33,399 --> 00:12:35,360 better, or how to write copy, or how to launch or any of 163 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:41,159 those business related courses, what they are really buying is this idea that one 164 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:46,879 day their future identity is going to be a successful business owner or whatever that 165 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:52,679 identity is for them. So when we get to when we ask them about 166 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:56,759 their future selves and a question like this, then we can really speak to 167 00:12:56,799 --> 00:12:58,120 what they want to be and who they want to be in the future, 168 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:05,200 and our becomes so much more compelling to the ideal client. This is also 169 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:09,440 a really inspiring question for them to answer, because chances are they haven't stepped 170 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:15,200 into the future of themselves their future selves in a little while. They probably 171 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:20,519 haven't reflected on this, so allowing them this moment where they can visualize what 172 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:22,720 their future might look like. It's pretty cool. It's kind of cool for 173 00:13:22,759 --> 00:13:28,480 them. And then question number five, the final question is what questions do 174 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:33,120 you have about whatever your area of expertise is? And if you have multiple 175 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:37,519 areas of expertise, you can ask this question multiple times. You know, 176 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:43,159 I would rephrase this in different ways. What questions do you have about digital 177 00:13:43,159 --> 00:13:46,320 product launchers is one? What questions do you have about building an online business 178 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:50,960 that's profitable when you're offline? That's another one. I would ask what questions 179 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:56,080 do you have about building out your office suite? What questions do you have 180 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:58,519 about growing your audience? What questions do you have about launching a podcast? 181 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:03,600 These are all different my areas of expertise, based on my different offers, 182 00:14:03,399 --> 00:14:07,039 and I wouldn't ask them all in one survey because you know, the more 183 00:14:07,159 --> 00:14:09,759 questions you have in the survey, the fewer people are going to respond. 184 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:16,159 But I would alternate between these depending on what the goal of the survey is. 185 00:14:16,799 --> 00:14:20,519 This is my favorite question for content ideas. Honestly, I ask it 186 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:24,639 every time I send a survey to my list. Every time I do it, 187 00:14:24,679 --> 00:14:28,720 I end up with dozens of new podcast topics. And this is how 188 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:33,000 I've managed to do seven hundred and ninety three episodes without running out of ideas 189 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:37,639 yet. And honestly, I have still so many more in my idea bank, 190 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:41,039 and it's just it's multiplying because my team and I now we do brainstorming 191 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:46,759 calls every month content brainstorming calls where we come up with new topics based on 192 00:14:46,879 --> 00:14:52,279 past ones, based on questions that people have asked, based on the survey 193 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:56,120 responses that we have, we think about different ways that we can approach all 194 00:14:56,159 --> 00:15:00,240 of these different topics. So there you have it. Five questions to ask 195 00:15:00,279 --> 00:15:03,679 your audience. What are you struggling with? What are your goals? What 196 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:05,919 is standing in the way of you reaching those goals? If you could waive 197 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:09,080 a magic wand and achieve those goals, how would you show up differently? 198 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:13,840 What would be different in your life? And then lastly, what questions do 199 00:15:13,919 --> 00:15:18,360 you have about my area of expertise? If this episode has been helpful for 200 00:15:18,399 --> 00:15:22,720 you, hit subscribe or follow in Spotify and it'll just make sure you get 201 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,600 each new episode straight to your podcast app every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 202 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:30,120 And if you haven't already left a rating and a review. I read every 203 00:15:30,159 --> 00:15:31,840 single one of them, so please take thirty seconds to do it. It 204 00:15:31,919 --> 00:15:35,559 means a lot to me. And that is it for today, so thanks 205 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:37,279 so much for listening. Catch you next time.