Online Business Ecosystem Building – Phase 2

Phase 2 of building your online business ecosystem is all about marketing. This phase is essential to success because this is the point where you grow your community and begin converting it’s members into clients. The focus during this phase is dual purposed: 

1. Community Building
2. Minimalistic Launching

I would contend that there may be some overlap with this phase and phase 1 since when you go to launch you must have a community and email list to launch to.  Otherwise you will hear crickets. 

During this phase you shift from creation mode into creative mode. This is where you get to be creative around how you are marketing your program or course. This shift should be intentional. While you will certainly go back to Phase 1 and make adjustments around the foundation, sales page, nurture sequence etc. It is imperative that you move out of the creator mindset and into the creatively marketing your products mindset.

Often it is during this phase that imposter syndrome rears its ugly head and we feel a pull to go back to fixing and fiddling with the foundation that we laid out. It is essential here that you lean on the process and FOCUS. 

Follow

One

Course

Until 

Success

Shoutout to my business coach Lisa Larter for creating that acronym for me. It easily sums up one of my core business values. Pick one program or course and focus on it for at least one year. Sure, there may be some ancillary products that emerge as a result but do not stop until you have successfully made that product hyper successful and profitable. 

Where you should FOCUS & take action

The primary role of the business owner or entrepreneur during this phase is to market the business, build the community and show value. The goal during this time is to intentionally and consistently marketing your program or course by driving traffic into your funnel organically. 

When I think of traffic, I think of traffic in three different ways :

1. Organic Traffic – Social media, google, youtube, search engines.  The traffic comes to you organically
2. Earned Traffic – Podcast Interviews, relationships, etc. I.E. You leverage your time to get traffic into your funnel by building relationships. 
3. Paid Traffic – Exactly as it sounds you are paying for people to go through your funnel, Facebook Ads, Google ads, etc. 

Now depending on which phase you are in and your business goals will determine the marketing mix for traffic. For the most part, I like to avoid doing paid traffic during phase 2. I like to organically sell my offer and determine that the funnel is converting before I put ad spend behind it. Typically, ad spend just amplifies any problems you may have in your funnel. 

During this phase you, the entrepreneur, focus on showing up very consistently and intentionally on 2 social media platforms. I always recommend starting with two because the goal is to do them exceptionally well. Yes, you can repurpose content on other platforms. With that said, I’d prefer you to position yourself as an expert on two platforms then be spread too thin and do none of them well. 

I encourage clients to pick one piece of macro content (podcast, youtube or Facebook Live), and two social media platforms aka micro content. During this phase, they will create a weekly piece of macro content which they will then distribute to social media plus send out a weekly newsletter. I also encourage clients to participate and show value in 5 to 7 groups, perhaps on Facebook or LInkedin. The goal is to become well known in those groups as an expert. This develops relationships which is an important element to building a long term business. 

I encourage clients to do a launch during this phase. I am very much an anti-launcher. I do not like the big fancy launches. I think they are overdone and there is an easier way. However I am all about the minimalist launch which is all about keeping it simple. More about this on another blog. 

The other piece my clients and I focus on during this phase is earned traffic. My recommendation is do a minimum of 5 reach outs per week to get yourself in front of other audiences. For example, if you know someone has your ideal client in their audience then that would be someone you’d want to reach out to so that you can get on their podcast. This is known as the Dream 100 strategy.  I could talk about this for days so more about this on another blog.

The challenges & struggles you will face

During this time you will feel a pull to go back into the creator mode of Phase 1. Why? Because it is safe. Phase 2 requires you to get visible and getting visible is typically uncomfortable at first. You are putting yourself and your work out there for the world to see. 

Imposter syndrome can creep up and even the most confident entrepreneur can begin to have self doubt. Oftentimes this takes the form of excuses around why you need to go back to phase 1. Tweaks you need to make with your course or scrapping the course in its entirety and going back to the drawing board. Or worse launching then abandoning the launch half way through claiming “it doesn’t work.” Newsflash, most people wait until the very last day even the last few hours to buy during a launch. 

Remember, FOCUS. Follow one course until successful. Yes, there are a lot of mindset challenges that pop up during this phase. If you can push through to the other side the impact that you want to make is waiting for you. 

Let’s just be transparent, every single new level will have its own set of mindset challenges. New level, new devil. I believe that if you have an awareness of what these challenges are it can become easier to face them and then move forward especially if you have a system in place. You simply fall back on the system when the mindset challenges pop-up. 

Things to keep in mind 

We humans have this tendency to over complicate stuff that makes us feel overwhelmed. Fear creeps in and our subconscious mind takes control so that we stay safe. This is why so many entrepreneurs fail to achieve their goals. They stay stuck in the creation cycle and use excuses to stay stuck. My mission in life is to end the cycle of stuck for entrepreneurs. 

Marketing can be simple. We entrepreneurs like to over complicate it. There is an art and science to marketing. There is a system. Stay focused and consistent during this phase to break free from the mindset challenges. It’s like going to the gym, the more you show up the stronger you will become. Remember, you are teaching, educating and showing value so that you can make the impact you desire in the world. It’s time to get visible.

___________________

Are you wondering if your social media marketing is even working? Are you posting and hearing crickets? For a limited time I am offering customized Social Media and Marketing Snapshots for $27. These are a 2 – 3 page action plan designed specifically for your business. Grab yours today ===>>> www.socialmediasnapshot.com