Imagine waking up, checking your bank balance, and realizing you have enough money to see the whole month out – and then some.

You haven’t even gotten out of bed yet.

The best part?

You don’t have to.

You could take the day off if you really felt like it and the money would keep rolling in. You’d have no boss calling and asking where you are.

This lifestyle isn’t just a fantasy.

Traditional 9-5 jobs are no longer the only path to financial stability. But while making money without a job is possible, it’s not easy.

If you want to be successful, you need to do it right.

Below, we’re going to go over 8 ways to make money without a job with real-life examples of how people used each of them to make $1 million or more.

How to Make Money With No Job

Here’s a quick story about Russell Brunson, the co-founder of ClickFunnels.

He got married while at Boise State University trying to make it as a wrestler, but his passion for wrestling didn’t pay the bills.

His wife had to work to support the both of them.

That didn’t sit right with him.

Russell wanted to start making money but in a way that would let him keep wrestling and be in charge of his own schedule.

So, he tried everything:

• Selling on eBay
• Selling on Craigslist
• Getting into affiliate marketing

But nothing worked.

The First ‘Online Course’ That Made Russell Brunson $3,000

Then one day during spring break, Russell and his friend built a potato gun just for fun.

They had a blast.

And suddenly it hit him: what if he could turn building potato guns into a business?

He filmed himself and his friend assembling the potato guns and turning it into a DVD. They sold it using Google Ads and made $3,000 in the first month. When they added extra products, like the actual materials to build the guns, they started making even more.

The process of turning ideas & information into online money set the foundation for the ClickFunnels platform.

Today, it helps over 100,000 people the world over to:

• Have financial security
• Earn money without a 9-5 job
• Spend more time on their passions & interests

Having a job is no longer the only way to achieve these goals.

The potato gun story is a bizarre product to sell. But it demonstrates the fact that you can sell almost anything online and make enough money without a regular 9-5.

How do You Choose What You Should Sell Online?

If you’ve gotten this far, you’re probably excited about the idea of making money without a job. 

But you might also feel overwhelmed. 

Maybe you’ve tried something before only to see it fail. Or maybe you’re worried about picking the wrong path and wasting months going in circles.

And it’s a valid concern. 

Think about Russell Brunson’s potato gun story. 

He eventually made thousands of dollars selling that course, but that success didn’t come overnight. 

So, the real question is: how do you make sure you start in the right place? 

You need to pick something that will work and keep you motivated through the inevitable challenges.

The Secret to Making Serious Money Online – Without a ‘Regular’ Job

The potato gun story comes straight from Russell Brunson’s book Expert Secrets.

In the book, he explains how info products are one of the most profitable ways to make money online today.

The info product or digital education market is expected to explode to a valuation of $67 billion in 2028 – and is one of the fastest growing in the world.

Russell Brunson says there are two ways info products can work in a business

1. You can either sell the info product itself 
2. Or you can use the info product to generate leads for an existing business

Since you’re likely starting from scratch without a pre-existing business, we’ll focus on creative ways to sell info products from the ground up.

Below, you’ll find 8 proven methods to help you start making money with info products, and each one is backed by real-life ClickFunnels users who turned it into $1 million or more.

No job required.

Just creativity, dedication, and the power of selling info products online.

Now, let’s dive into these methods and start building your path to financial freedom.

1. Online Courses

Product

A series of videos that teach a skill or provide niche information, delivered via an online platform.

Business Model

Sell access to the online course via a one-time payment or subscription.

How it Works

Online courses are typically priced anywhere from $50 to $2,000, depending on the complexity and value of the subject matter. These courses are often sold through funnels, where free content (like webinars or free lessons) leads potential customers to purchase the full course. You can promote the course through advertising or by leveraging social media or a blog. Also, courses can lead to upsells like coaching services or advanced workshops. To succeed, it’s important to have expertise in something that other people want to learn. Popular online courses include business training, personal development, fitness, and technical skills.

Example

Russell Brunson, co-founder of ClickFunnels, launched his How to Make a Potato Gun course as one of his first ventures into info products. He created video tutorials that taught people how to build their own potato guns. As a college student, he and his friend made $3,000 in their first month. The original course was actually a DVD – i.e. not a digital product – but it shows how you can make money without a job selling almost anything.

2. Public Domain Products

Product

Repurposed content from the public domain, such as old books or manuscripts, converted into new formats like audiobooks or eBooks.

Business Model

Sell access to repurposed public domain content via a one-time fee or as part of a package.

How it Works

Public domain products can be created by finding content that no longer has copyright restrictions and transforming it into new formats. Pricing can range from a few dollars to several hundred depending on the uniqueness and value of the product. Public domain products can also serve as bonuses, lead magnets, or upsells for other offers. Leveraging your knowledge of a particular field or era can help create a more appealing product. Examples include republishing classic literature, creating new commentaries, or producing audiobooks.

Example

Russell Brunson also ventured into public domain products with his Secrets of Success books. Since 2023, he’s been republishing works from the New Thought movement, including authors like Napoleon Hill, Charles F. Haanel, Orison Swett Marden, and more. Although it was just launched in October 2023, Brunson paid over $10,000 to acquire a rare edition of just one book. The potential for profit in the public domain niche is vast as you can, in theory, get the original content free. You don’t even need to be an expert yourself – but you do need to understand what might be appealing to your target audience.

3. Podcasting

Product

A digital audio show is available to listeners through platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your own website.

Business Model

Monetize through sponsorships, paid subscriptions, or by promoting your own products/services.

How it Works

Podcasts usually generate income through sponsorship deals: brands pay you to mention their product during the show. However many podcasters offer premium episodes or memberships for access to exclusive content. Building a loyal audience is key, and this can be done through consistent, high-quality content. It’s important to build on your expertise to provide value in a specific niche, whether it’s business, personal growth, or entertainment.

Example

John Lee Dumas created the Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast, where he interviews successful entrepreneurs and offers value-packed content. The podcast, launched in 2012, has generated over $27 million through courses, books and sponsorships. The website has an ongoing income report which shows a breakdown of income sources. In August 2024, the podcast had made $1.2 million in the year to date with 86% coming from sponsorships, and the rest from info products & affiliates. John Lee Dumas is one of hundreds of entrepreneurs who’ve earned a ClickFunnels 2 Comma Club Award for generating $1 million on the platform.

4. Licensing

Product

Selling the rights to use your intellectual property (such as your course, brand, or materials) to others.

Business Model

Generate income by licensing your content or brand to other companies for a fee or percentage of sales.

How it Works

Licensing allows you to monetize content or intellectual property you’ve already created by allowing others to use it, in exchange for payment. For example, you could license your course content to be taught by other trainers. Or you could productize a unique business model and sell it to someone else, for them to implement just like you did. Licensing agreements can provide a steady stream of passive income, but they require strong expertise and a proven product or brand that others would want to use. This model is particularly popular in fields like education, software, and creative works.

Example

Alex Hormozi, founder of GymLaunch, built a business around licensing a model that helps gyms scale their revenue. He sold advertising templates, meal plans, sales scripts, and other niche-specific tools to over 4,500 gyms across 13 countries. In its first 12 months, GymLaunch made $17 million in profit. Hormozi is another ClickFunnels 2 Comma Club Award winner, as he used the platform to sell his licensing deals.

5. Tiny Challenges

Product

Short-term challenges that guide participants through a transformation, such as fitness goals or productivity boosts.

Business Model

Charge a one-time fee for joining the challenge, and sell additional products through upsells after the challenge ends.

How it Works

Tiny challenges are designed to create a small but significant transformation for participants in a short time. They’re a great entry-level offer for new online coaches. Challenges build trust and demonstrate results, which makes participants much more likely to buy higher-ticket offers like coaching programs or premium courses afterward. But you can make an income just from the tiny challenges themselves. As a coach or expert, your challenge should align with your area of expertise to attract participants. Popular examples include fitness, diet, or business growth challenges.

Example

Richmond Dinh built his online coaching business by teaching others how to run 5-day ‘tiny challenges,’ positioning them as an entry point to full coaching programs. His method has been highly successful, earning him a 2 Comma Club “X” Award for generating over $10 million through a ClickFunnels funnel. This proves that tiny challenges can create large revenue streams with the right strategy.

6. Ebooks and Audiobooks

Product

A digital book or audiobook providing detailed knowledge or insights on a specific subject.

Business Model

Sell eBooks or audiobooks as standalone products directly to customers.

How it Works

Ebooks and audiobooks are relatively easy to create and can be priced anywhere from $5 to $100, depending on the niche and value of the content. After selling an eBook or audiobook, you can upsell higher-priced products like coaching sessions or digital courses. To succeed with eBooks, focus on leveraging your expertise to provide deep insights on topics you know well or have researched thoroughly. Popular eBook topics include personal finance, self-help, fitness, and business strategies.

Example

Russell Brunson turned a transcript from an interview with Vince James, a businessman who made $100 million in 23 months, into an audiobook titled The 12-Month Millionaire. He sold the audiobook along with an upsell for a physical copy, generating his first $1 million sales funnel using ClickFunnels. This demonstrates the potential of repurposing existing content into profitable e-books or audiobooks.

7. Membership Sites

Product

A platform offering exclusive content or services to members who pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee.

Business Model

Generate recurring income through subscription payments.

How it Works

Membership sites provide ongoing value in exchange for a recurring fee, typically ranging from $20 to $100 per month. The key to success is consistently delivering fresh, high-quality content or services, such as courses, webinars or downloadable resources. You can create multiple tiers of access, with higher-paying members receiving more personalized support. Membership sites work best when you leverage your expertise to attract an audience looking for continual learning or guidance. Popular examples include fitness coaching, business mentorship or specialized training communities.

Example

Liz Benny, known as ‘The Queen of Kapow,’ created The Kapow Club, a membership site offering weekly calls on marketing and mindset for $97 per month. Through her life coaching business, she attracted people looking to advance their careers and has earned over $1 million using ClickFunnels, proving that membership sites can generate significant recurring revenue.

8. Templates, Guides or Planners

Product

Digital or printable templates, guides, or planners for various tasks, such as budgeting, planning or design work.

Business Model

Sell templates or planners as one-time purchases or part of a bundle.

How it Works

Templates, guides, and planners are quick to create and can be sold for $5 to $100 each. They save customers time by providing ready-made solutions, whether it’s a financial planner, social media content calendar, or design presets. To succeed, use your expertise to create highly functional, well-designed solutions that save your target audience time or money in their day-to-day work.

Example

Cole Humphus started with a photography blog and scaled it into a successful business by selling photography guides, tools, and presets. His templates and tools helped photographers improve their craft. Cole is another ClickFunnels 2 Comma Club Award winner as he earned over $1 million through this niche. Later, Cole sold his blog to a photography software company, showing the potential of niche templates and planners as profitable info products.

What Platform Are You Going to Use to Actually Sell Info Products?

So, you’ve had a spark of inspiration. 

Maybe you know exactly what kind of info product you want to sell, or you’re still weighing your options. 

But one big question is probably hanging over your head: How are you actually going to sell your info products?

This is where many people get stuck.

Luckily, platforms like ClickFunnels exist to make the process a whole lot easier.

ClickFunnels is a tool designed for people like you – people who want to build a business fast, without getting bogged down by technical details. Whether it’s an online course, eBook, or subscription-based membership site, ClickFunnels provides plug-and-play funnels that you can customize to sell all of the info products we’ve just talked about.

Here are some benefits of using ClickFunnels:

• Quick setup with no coding required: Build your sales funnel in minutes using ready-made templates.
• Optimized for conversions: Every page is designed to lead customers step-by-step toward purchasing your product.
• Seamless integration: Connect payment gateways, email marketing tools, and membership sites with just a few clicks.
• Scalable for growth: Start small and add upsells, cross-sells, and additional products as you grow.
• Start for free: ClickFunnels offers a free trial, so you can test out the platform before committing to a paid plan.

With ClickFunnels, you have everything you need to turn your idea into a full-fledged online business.

Try ClickFunnels For Free!

Final Thoughts: How to Make Money With No Job

In today’s world, making money without a job is not only possible, it’s becoming more profitable than ever.

From online courses and eBooks to public domain products and membership sites, there are countless creative ways to build a business that earns you real income – all from the comfort of your home.

 And the best part? 

You can be your own boss, working on your own schedule with unlimited earning potential.

We’ve looked at several examples of people who have taken these ideas and turned them into six- and seven-figure businesses, using platforms like ClickFunnels to make it all happen.

Whether you want to:

• sell a digital course
• start a podcast
• create a 5-day challenge
• republish a niche book from the public domain
• teach people to make potato guns

ClickFunnels is a tool that makes it easy to launch and grow your business. 

With plug-and-play funnels, optimized pages, and the ability to start for free it’s the perfect platform for turning your ideas into profit.

So, if you’re ready to stop relying on a job for financial stability and start building your own future, there’s never been a better time.

Dive into the world of info products, and create a new boss-free life for yourself!

Try ClickFunnels For Free!

Thanks for reading Making Money Without A Job which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Should you build your landing pages from scratch?

That might be an interesting challenge if you are learning to code.

But in the business context, even if you have the skills to do it, it’s a terrible idea. Everyone is using landing page builders for a reason!

Introduction to Landing Pages

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is a web page designed with a specific conversion goal in mind.

Classic landing pages are standalone web pages with their own domain names that don’t have any clickable elements except for the call-to-action buttons.

This means no navigation bar, no links to the blog, no links to social media, etc. If the visitor wants to leave the page, they need to either press the “Back” button in their browser or close the tab. 

The reasoning behind this is simple: every clickable element that is not a call-to-action button lowers the conversion rate because it distracts the visitor from the conversion goal!

Lead Generation Landing Pages

The purpose of lead generation landing pages is to convert visitors into leads by persuading them to give you their contact details.

Typically, this means offering them a lead magnet in exchange for either just their email address or their name and email address. 

That being said, some companies ask for more information on their lead generation landing pages as a way to qualify leads. 

That might mean asking the visitor for additional contact details such as their phone number or for more context such as the name of the company that they work for, the size of that company, their job title, etc.

Something to keep in mind here is that the more information you ask on the landing page, the lower the conversion rate of that landing page is going to be. So you want to think carefully about what information you need at this stage in your sales funnel.

Generally, we recommend only asking for the visitor’s email address because that will allow you to get the highest number of leads that you can then qualify in the next stages of your funnel.

Of course, if you find yourself overwhelmed by the number of incoming low-quality leads, then you might want to start asking for more information up front to weed out the ones that are the least likely to convert into paying customers.

Sales Landing Pages

The purpose of sales landing pages is to convert visitors into paying customers by persuading them to buy your product or service.

Typically, online marketers refer to lead generation landing pages as “landing pages” and to sales landing pages as “sales pages”.

Though sometimes you do see them call sales landing pages “landing pages” as well. It can be somewhat confusing!

That’s why whenever you are reading something about “landing pages” you need to make sure that you know exactly what type of landing page that person is talking about!

What’s the Difference Between a Landing Page and a Website?

A landing page by definition has only one conversion goal while a website can have several conversion goals.

While classic landing pages don’t have any clickable elements except for the call-to-action buttons, websites typically feature a navigation bar, email opt-in forms, a blog, links to social media profiles, etc. 

Consequently, due to all these potential distractions, websites tend to convert much worse than landing pages. 

In fact, you don’t even need a website to start making money online, you can build a sales funnel and then drive traffic directly to your lead magnet landing page. That being said, you should probably still have one because that’s what people have come to expect.

After all, if someone googles your company and can’t find a business website, that might sketch them out. Remember that it’s important to not just be legit but also to look legit in the eyes of your dream customers!

Can You Have a Landing Page on Your Website?

Nowadays, it’s common to use a hybrid approach where a website’s homepage is basically a lead generation landing page except that it has a navigation bar.

Typically, the homepage is the page that gets the most traffic, so using a landing page design for it makes sense because it allows business owners to make the most out of that traffic.

For example, our homepage has a navigation bar like you would expect from a traditional website but it was designed with a single conversion goal in mind like a landing page.

In fact, not just our homepage but our entire website has a single conversion goal: we want to persuade visitors to sign up for our free 14-day trial.

That’s why most of the pages on our website feature “Start Your Free Trial Today” call-to-action buttons.

This allows us to meet the expectations of our dream customers who are used to software companies having traditional websites while also making the most out of the traffic that we get.

That being said, we also have a bunch of classic standalone lead generation landing pages with their own domain names.

We recommend using the same hybrid approach: implement landing page design principles on your website and also have standalone landing pages for your lead magnets. Why limit yourself when you can get the best of both worlds?

How Landing Page Software Can Help You Improve Your Business

Okay, so now that we are clear on what landing pages are, let’s discuss the three key benefits of using landing page software.

#1: Landing Page Software Enables You to Quickly Test and Validate Ideas

One of the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make is taking ages to get things done. They lack speed of implementation!

This might seem like a productivity issue at first glance but when you take a closer look, it quickly becomes obvious that it’s in fact a mindset issue. How so?

They haven’t tested their idea, they haven’t gotten market feedback, they haven’t gathered and analyzed the data… Yet they are obsessing over irrelevant minutiae!

In the startup world, this phenomenon is known as “premature optimization” and it’s a trap that pretty much all entrepreneurs continue falling into until they learn their lesson. But what does any of this have to do with landing pages?

Entrepreneurs often spend way too much time tinkering with landing pages because they want to get the design, the copy, and the offer just right before they start driving traffic.

And if you are building your landing page from scratch, it will slow you down even more. You will waste time coding the entire thing yourself when landing page software could generate a landing page for you in a matter of seconds!

The problem here is that you are hoping to create a perfect landing page without any market feedback and only then present it to your dream customers. 

But you need market feedback to know if what you are doing is working. And until you put your offer in front of your target audience, you are literally just guessing what might work!

That’s why a much better way to go about it is to create your landing page as fast as possible and then start driving traffic to it to see if it converts. 

Landing page software enables you to do that because it drastically speeds up the process of building landing pages. 

This allows you to quickly test and validate your ideas before you start pouring resources into them!

#2: Landing Page Software Provides Proven Landing Page Templates that Have Been Optimized for Conversions

Pretty much all landing page builders include a library of landing page templates that have been optimized for conversions.

This is extremely helpful because designing your landing page from scratch is a terrible idea unless you are familiar with the principles of conversion rate optimization.

You see, online marketers have been relentlessly optimizing landing pages for at least two decades now. So at this point, it’s pretty clear what works and what doesn’t when it comes to landing page design.

And sure, there are always exceptions, maybe some crazy innovative idea that you have will boost your conversion rate. That’s quite unlikely, though.

Generally speaking, if you want your landing pages to convert, you should follow the established landing page design principles.

So pick a template from the template library, customize it to match your branding, add copy to it and publish it.

Once your landing page is live, start driving traffic to it so that you can establish its baseline conversion rate.

Then, once you have that baseline conversion rate, you can begin optimizing your landing page with A/B testing.

#3: Landing Page Software Enables You to Optimize Your Landing Page With A/B Testing

A/B testing, also known as split testing, is the primary conversion rate optimization technique that online marketers use to optimize web pages for conversions.

The main idea is this: you create two variants of the same page with just one difference between them, then drive an equal amount of traffic to both variants and see which one of them converts better. 

Say, you can create two variants of the same landing page where the only difference between them is the call-to-action button color: on one page the button is red and on the other page it’s green. Other than that the pages should be identical.

Driving an equal amount of traffic to both variants will show you what effect the button color has on the conversion rate.

In fact, this is exactly what Performable did in their famous A/B test that led to online marketers developing an obsession with call-to-action button colors.

Here are the two-page variants that they tested. Which one do you think converted better?

When Performable’s team decided to run this test, they expected these two-page variants to have similar conversion rates. Surely a call-to-action button color wouldn’t make much of a difference, right?

But to their surprise, the variant with the red call-to-action button outperformed the variant with the green call-to-action button by 21%!

It’s not entirely clear why that was the case. Some believe that it was because the red button stood out more in that particular color scheme while others argue that it’s related to color psychology and that color red is just generally a better choice for call-to-action buttons. 

The takeaway here is that A/B testing various elements of your landing page can help you significantly increase its conversion rate.

Another takeaway is that you need to keep an open mind: a seemingly minor change like a call-to-action button color might have a drastic impact on the conversion rate. 

You can’t really predict the outcomes of A/B tests so you need to keep running these experiments and hopefully, you’ll eventually stumble onto a big win. 

That being said, you shouldn’t scoff at the small wins either because a 1% conversion rate increase here and a 3% conversion rate increase there can add up over time. 

Typically, landing page builders either include a native A/B testing functionality or can be easily integrated with A/B testing software. So they enable you to not just create landing pages but also to optimize them for conversions!

Specialized Landing Page Software vs. All-in-One Marketing Platforms

There are two types of landing page builders:

• Specialized landing page apps that only include the functionality that you need to create landing pages.
• All-in-one marketing platforms that aim to provide everything that you need to build an online business.

Let’s discuss the pros and cons of each option:

Specialized Landing Page Software

Specialized landing page apps tend to be much cheaper than all-on-one platforms because their functionality is so limited.

Going with a specialized landing page app makes sense if you don’t have anything to sell yet but want to start building an email list.

In that case, all you need in order to set up a simple lead generation funnel is landing page software and an email marketing app. This can be super affordable!

All-in-One Marketing Platforms

All-in-one marketing platforms tend to be much more expensive than specialized landing page apps because their functionality is much broader.

Going with an all-in-one marketing platform makes sense if you have an established business already or at least know what kind of business you want to start!

How to Choose the Right Landing Page Software for Your Business

Here are the three key factors that you should consider when choosing landing page software:

Pricing

Realistically, your budget is probably going to be your main constraint so you need to decide how much money you are willing to spend on software. 

As we just discussed, landing page builders vary wildly in terms of functionality and that is reflected in their pricing.

A basic landing page app might only cost a few bucks per month while a sophisticated all-in-one platform is more likely to be somewhere in the $150 – $300/month range.

It’s important to look not just at the price tag of any given solution but also at how the functionality that it provides will fit into your business workflow.

You may come to realize that paying for an all-in-one platform and paying for a bunch of different apps cost a similar amount of money but the latter option comes with all kinds of additional headaches!

Features

Here are the basic features that you will need in order to build landing pages:

1. A landing page template library
2. A visual editor that you can use to customize those templates
3. An email marketing functionality that you can use to collect email addresses, set up automated email sequences, and send one-off broadcast emails
4. A way to take orders and accept payments if you want to create not just lead-generation landing pages but also sales landing pages

Any landing page app will have the first two as that is the core functionality of landing page builders.

As for email marketing, you can either go with landing page software that has an in-built email marketing functionality or use a separate email marketing app for that.

And when it comes to taking orders and accepting payments, it all depends on what it is that you want to sell.

For example, if you want to sell services, ebooks, or downloadable software, all you need is a “Buy” button. You can then handle the rest of the transaction via email.

But if you want to sell online courses, start a membership community, or launch an e-commerce store, then you’ll need the functionality that enables you to do that.

In general, the more sophisticated your business, the more it makes sense to go with an all-in-one platform that provides all or most of the functionality that you need to run it.

If this is the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey, you can start with a simple landing page app + email marketing app + payment processor setup and then add more functionality as your business grows. 

That is the frugal approach but it can create problems down the road once you have an established business and need to move everything to a new platform, teach your team how to use it, and change all your existing standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Alternatively, you can build your business on an all-in-one platform right from the get-go, which will be more expensive but also prevent the aforementioned problems associated with making the move later. 

Integrations

If you already have an established business, then you also need to consider how your landing page software will fit into your existing workflow.

Ideally, you want to go with a landing page builder that offers integrations with the apps that you are already using. 

Also, when you are evaluating different options, check for a Zapier integration because it can enable you to connect that landing page builder with thousands of popular web apps. 

Finally, if you have access to technical resources, meaning, you either know how to code yourself or can afford to hire a developer, you might want to see which landing page builders provide APIs.

Having API access can enable you to develop custom integrations and streamline your workflow beyond what’s possible with native integrations or Zapier! 

ClickFunnels: The All-in-One Marketing Platform that has Everything You Need!

ClickFunnels is an all-in-one marketing platform that has everything you need to start, manage, and grow an online business!

ClickFunnels Features

Here are some of ClickFunnels’ most notable features:

• Websites – Our software includes proven website templates that have been optimized for conversions and a visual drag-and-drop website builder that you can use to customize those templates and create your business website.
• Lead generation and sales landing pages – Our software includes proven landing page templates that have been optimized for conversions and a visual drag-and-drop page editor that you can use to customize those templates and create landing pages.
• Lead generation and sales funnels – Our software includes proven funnel templates that have been optimized for conversions and a visual drag-and-drop funnel editor that you can use to customize those templates and create sales funnels for your business. You can also build funnels from scratch!
• Email marketing – Our software includes an email marketing functionality that you can use to collect email addresses, set up automated email sequences, and send one-off broadcast emails.
  
  There are also some advanced features such as list segmentation and email workflows that can help you make your email content more targeted and relevant.
• Online courses – Our software includes an online course functionality. You can use our proven course templates and our course builder to create your courses.
  
  There are also various course management features that allow you to manage course enrollment, track the progress of your students and control their access to course content.
• Membership websites – Our software includes a membership site builder that you can use to create a paid online community that revolves around exclusive content.
  
  This functionality was designed with community “stickiness” in mind and has various features that can help you reduce churn, such as the survey feature that you can use to get feedback from your members.
• Ecommerce stores – Our software includes an ecommerce functionality that you can use to create an online store.
  
  Pick one of our proven online store templates, use our store editor to customize it, add products to your catalog and start selling them with cart funnels.
  
  There are also various inventory tracking, shipping, and fulfillment features that can help you manage the logistics of running an e-commerce business.
• CRM – Our software includes a customer relationship management (CRM) functionality that you can use to centralize all contact information in one place, make notes about each contact that you can then refer back to later, and see everything that is happening in your sales pipeline on a single dashboard.
• A/B testing – Our software includes an A/B testing functionality that you can use to optimize your entire sales funnel. What’s cool is that you can test more than two versions of a given variable at the same time, which can really speed up the conversion rate optimization process!
• Analytics – Our software includes an analytics functionality that you can use to keep track of the most important business metrics. It also allows you to see the short-term and long-term performance of your marketing campaigns and to compare those campaigns with each other. This can help you figure out what marketing strategies work best for your business!

In short:

Our software can replace landing page builders, funnel builders, website builders, online course builders, membership site builders, email marketing apps, customer relationship management apps, e-commerce platforms, A/B testing apps and more!

So why pay for a bunch of different software subscriptions when you can get all the functionality that you need in one place?

ClickFunnels Integrations

ClickFunnels offers native integrations with some of the most popular web apps. We also have a Zapier integration!

ClickFunnels API and Webhooks

If you want to streamline your workflow even more, you can use our API and webhooks to create custom integrations!

ClickFunnels Pricing

We currently have two pricing plans:

• The Startup plan that costs $97/month. A 30% recurring commission would be $29.10/month.
• The Pro plan that costs $297/month. A 30% recurring commission would be $89.10/month.

It’s also worth noting that the Startup and Pro plans include API access that you can use to create custom integrations!

ClickFunnels Official Facebook Group

We know that entrepreneurship can be a lonely path.

That’s why we created our official Facebook group which has 297.7k members from all over the world at the time of writing.

This is a super active community: our members created 53 posts just today and a total of 734 new posts last month.

It’s a great place to meet other entrepreneurs, discuss cutting-edge marketing strategies, and make new business connections.

And if you have questions about sales funnels, you can ask them there as well!

What Real Customers Say About ClickFunnels

Try ClickFunnels Risk-Free!

Let’s be real:

We are biased in favor of our software.

So we understand if you take what we say about it with a grain of salt.

Fortunately, we have a free 14-day trial, so you don’t have to take our word for it. 

You can go and see ClickFunnels for yourself without any risk!

So what are you waiting for? 🧐

Start Your Free Trial Today

Thanks for reading 3 Ways Landing Page Software Can Improve Your Business which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

People are procrastinators. 

Even if someone really needs something, they will often wait until the last possible second to make the leap. 

That’s why urgency is one of the most important (and proven) marketing tactics. 

You don’t just need to give people a good reason to buy… you need to give them a good reason to buy RIGHT NOW. 

Both Deadline Funnels and ClickFunnels give you the ability to add urgency to your sales funnels… but which is better in 2024?

TL;DR Overview of ClickFunnels vs. Deadline Funnels Review

In a hurry? No worries. Here’s the TL;DR version of our ClickFunnels vs. Deadline Funnels review.

• Deadline Funnels makes it easy to add urgency to your existing funnels (must be hosted/created elsewhere). You can create both evergreen urgency (individual to each person) or live launch urgency (for a set time period).
• Deadline Funnels is great at what it does, but it’s a bit of a one-trick pony — you can only use it to add urgency to a funnel you’ve built using other software.
• With the launch of ClickFunnels, you can now use our Countdown Funnels Feature to add either evergreen urgency (individual to each person) or live launch urgency (for a set time period) to ANY sales funnels or pages you’ve built inside of ClickFunnels!

Try ClickFunnels Now For Free!

What’s the Difference Between ClickFunnels and Deadline Funnels?

At its core, Deadline Funnels is laser-focused on introducing urgency to your marketing campaigns. It’s a tool that lets marketers instill both evergreen urgency, tailored to each visitor, and live launch urgency for specific timeframes into their existing sales funnels. The catch? These funnels need to be hosted or created on other platforms.

ClickFunnels, on the other hand, is a broader platform offering. Not only does it allow users to harness the power of urgency through its Countdown Funnels Feature, but it also caters to the creation and hosting of these sales funnels directly within the platform — plus we give you everything else you need to build a successful online business (see a list of our features below!).

ClickFunnels Features

Here are some of ClickFunnels’ most noteworthy features.

Countdown Funnels

With our Countdown Funnels feature, you can add evergreen or live launch urgency to any page or part of your sales funnels!

Learn More About Countdown Funnels!

Course Creator

Considering venturing into the realm of online course sales?

ClickFunnels streamlines the process. Not only can you design and offer your courses, but you can also design the sales funnels, manage payments, facilitate course delivery, establish a member zone, and host the entire process directly within ClickFunnels.

Forget the hassle of juggling various third-party tools for course creation and sales. With ClickFunnels, it’s as straightforward as drafting and sharing a blog entry.

Learn More About Course Creator!

Website Builder

No coding skills? No worries!

ClickFunnels allows you to craft stunning websites in no time. Beyond just websites, it’s adept at creating storefronts, product showcases, landing pages, sales funnels, and all the essentials to make your online presence impactful.

Our platform ensures rapid site speeds and boasts an exceptionally user-friendly drag-and-drop editor — one of the most innovative in the market (and it’s currently in the patent process!).

Learn More About Our Website Builder!

Visual Funnel Builder

Visualize before you actualize. ClickFunnels introduces a state-of-the-art visual funnel builder, allowing users to sketch out their funnels, identify gaps, and customize user experiences. Dive into split-path customizations and auto-triggers based on user behavior, cementing its status as the market’s premiere funnel builder.

Learn More About Our Funnel Builder!

Ecommerce Features

Set up an e-commerce store with ClickFunnels’s seamless features. Add products, tailor product pages, determine pricing and stock, and roll out attractive discounts. Crafting an e-commerce store has never been this straightforward.

Learn More About Our Ecommerce Features!

Comprehensive CRM System

Address high-ticket sales with an integrated CRM system. With ClickFunnels, manage your sales pipeline, track opportunities, monitor conversations, and keep tabs on your sales team’s performance. Say goodbye to third-party CRM systems.

Learn More About Our CRM!

High-Converting Landing Pages

Launch effective landing pages with ClickFunnels. Begin with our conversion-optimized templates and modify using our enhanced drag-and-drop editor to match your brand’s aesthetic.

Learn More About Our Landing Page Builder!

Membership Platforms for Recurring Revenue

Boost business sustainability with subscription models via membership sites. Design them, integrate sales funnels, offer exclusive content, and create a thriving community, all within ClickFunnels.

Learn More About Our Membership Sites!

All-in-One Email Marketing Solution

ClickFunnels isn’t confined to funnels and websites; it’s a full-fledged email marketing tool. Segment subscribers, automate workflows, and stay engaged with an array of professional email templates.

Learn More About Our Email Marketing!

Instant Customer Interaction with Chat

Foster loyalty by facilitating real-time conversations with your clientele. With a live chat feature, rekindle customer interactions via SMS, share conversations with your team, and ensure queries never go unanswered.

Learn More About Our Chat!

Continuous Optimization via A/B Testing

Stay ahead in dynamic markets with A/B testing. Refine funnels, landing pages, emails, and more with ClickFunnels to ensure you’re always resonating with your audience.

Learn More About Our A/B Testing!

Blogging Made Easy

Expand your online reach through consistent blogging. ClickFunnels’s blog builder is intuitive, offering features like SEO optimization, author selection, tagging, and advanced settings.

Learn More About Our Blog Features!

Unified Calendar Management

Merge all your calendars for an organized view, ensuring no missed appointments. ClickFunnels aggregates your various calendars for a consolidated view, optimizing your time management.

Learn More About Our Calendar Funnels!

Customized Customer Centers

Provide your clients a central hub to manage their interactions. ClickFunnels lets you establish a dedicated customer center without external integrations.

Learn More About Our Customer Center!

In-Depth Analytics

Access pivotal data points like conversion rates, A/B test outcomes, sales figures, and live analytics. Understand your performance metrics inside out with ClickFunnels.

Learn More About Our Analytics!

Drag-and-Drop Mastery

Experience unparalleled flexibility with ClickFunnels’s editor. Drag, drop, and customize every element effortlessly, ensuring brand consistency across pages.

Learn More About Our Editor!

Streamlined Marketing Automations

Set up marketing workflows to nurture leads, schedule calls, and promote timely offers. With ClickFunnels, make sure no lead goes unnoticed.

Learn More About Our Automations!

Optimized Checkout Funnels

Revolutionize the checkout experience. With features like one-click checkout, upsells, and downgrades, combat cart abandonment and enhance customer experiences.

Learn More About Our Checkout Funnels!

In-House Community Building

Move beyond limiting platforms like Facebook groups. Engage and grow your community on ClickFunnels, offering them a sense of belonging and value.

Learn More About Our Community Features!

One-Stop Product Management

Craft your product once and market it across various funnels. Whether as an upsell, main offer, or checkout add-on, manage it all seamlessly with ClickFunnels.

Learn More About Our Global Products!

Domain Management

Manage all your domains under one roof. With security and configuration already taken care of, ClickFunnels ensures your online presence is robust and uncompromised.

Deadline Funnel’s Features

Here are some of Deadline Funnel’s most noteworthy features.

Email Countdown Timers

Infuse your email campaigns with a sense of urgency. With Deadline Funnel’s email countdown timers, you can integrate real-time countdowns directly into your promotional emails, nudging subscribers to take action before time runs out.

On-Page Countdown Timers

Enhance your landing pages, sales pages, or checkout pages with these dynamic countdowns. They serve as visual reminders, compelling visitors to act swiftly to secure deals or offers.

On-Page Popup Widgets

Interact with your audience proactively. These pop-up widgets appear on your webpage at strategic intervals, presenting time-sensitive offers or reminders, capturing attention without being intrusive.

Lead & Sales Tracking

Beyond just urgency, Deadline Funnel provides insightful metrics. Monitor the effectiveness of your campaigns by tracking leads and sales, helping you refine strategies for better conversion outcomes in the future.

ClickFunnels Case Study & Reviews

Here’s a video of Garrett J. White used ClickFunnels to build his coaching business!

Third-Party Reviews

• Capterra: 4.5/5
• FinancesOnline: 9/10
• G2: 4.5/5

Deadline Funnel’s Case Study & Reviews

Here’s how Amy Katz used deadline funnels to sell her ebooks!

Third-Party Reviews

• Capterra: 5/5
• G2: 4.2/5

ClickFunnels vs. Deadline Funnels: What’s the Right Tool for You?

Choosing the right funnel-building tool can seem like a daunting task, especially when faced with several options in the market. Both ClickFunnels and Deadline Funnels bring unique features to the table, and while Deadline Funnels has its strengths, it’s essential to consider the bigger picture.

ClickFunnels is not just a funnel builder; it’s an all-in-one platform that allows businesses to craft their entire online presence seamlessly. From e-commerce integrations, comprehensive CRM systems, to an in-depth analytics suite, ClickFunnels offers a holistic approach to online marketing. This means fewer integrations, fewer chances for tech glitches, and a more streamlined user experience. Moreover, with its continuous updates, like the features in ClickFunnels, the platform remains ahead in innovation and user-centric design.

Click below to try us for free!

Try ClickFunnels Now For Free!

Thanks for reading Deadline Funnels Vs. ClickFunnels: Which Is Best In 2024? which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Wondering whether you need an email marketing vendor?

Today we are going to discuss the five ways an email marketing vendor can transform your business and explain what you should look for when choosing one. 

We will also make the case for why you should go with our software, ClickFunnels! 😉

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is a form of marketing where you pitch your products and services via email to people who have subscribed to your email list. 

This can be done manually with one-off, time-sensitive broadcast emails.

Or it can be done automatically with automated email sequences where you write a series of emails, load them up into the email marketing software and then set them to be sent when a particular condition is met.

These conditions can be either temporal where the sequence is triggered at a specific time or behavioral where the sequence is triggered by a specific action.

It’s probably safe to say that the most popular automated email sequence is the welcome sequence which is triggered when someone subscribes to that email list.

Automated email sequences can be as simple or as sophisticated as you want.

Email sequences that branch out based on behavioral triggers are called email workflows and can get really complex.

The benefit of using email workflows is that they enable you to automatically tailor your email content to each individual subscriber based on that subscriber’s behavior. 

Here’s a sample email workflow screenshot from our software:

Ultimately, email marketing is about building a list of leads, gaining their trust and then capitalizing on that trust to sell them your products and services!

What’s the Difference Between Email Marketing and Cold Email?

Email marketing is about sending mass emails either to your entire email list or to a specific segment of it.

Meanwhile, cold email is about sending customized unsolicited emails to sales prospects one at a time. 

Of course, some people use cold email software to send out 100+ cold emails per day, but that may be crossing over into spam territory…

What’s the Difference Between Email Marketing and Spam?

Email marketing is about sending mass emails to people who have consented to receiving those emails by subscribing to your email list and can revoke that consent at any time by unsubscribing from it.

Spam is about sending mass emails to people who did not consent to receiving those emails and cannot opt out from getting them except by marking them as spam.

Everyone hates spam so Internet service providers, email service providers like Gmail and email marketing vendors might shut down your access to their services if they have a reason to believe that you are a spammer. 

Moreover, while email marketing is perfectly legal in most jurisdictions, spam can get you in trouble with the law. 

For example, if your business is based in the United States, you should familiarize yourself with the CAN-SPAM Act. 

According to the Federal Trade Commission, each separate email in violation of this act is subject to penalties of up to $51,744! 😱

That’s why reputable email marketing vendors have a 2-step opt-in process.

Typically, in order to subscribe to an email list, the person has to not only provide their email address but then click on the link in the confirmation email to confirm their subscription.

This protects people from getting signed up to random email lists without their consent!

What is an Email Marketing Vendor?

An email marketing vendor is a company that sells email marketing software.

Typically, email marketing vendors follow the SaaS business model where you pay a monthly or an annual subscription fee in order to get access to the software. 

There are two types of email marketing vendors:

1. Specialized email marketing apps
2. All-in-one marketing platforms that include email marketing functionality

Both of these options have their pros and cons:

Specialized Email Marketing Apps

Specialized email marketing apps are solely focused on email marketing.

Consequently, these apps tend to have better email marketing functionality than all-in-one marketing platforms.

However, this sole focus on email marketing also means that the functionality of these apps is limited to just that. 

This means that you will need to pay separately for other software solutions to get the rest of the features that you need to run your business.

All-in-One Marketing Platforms

All-in-one marketing platforms offer not just the email marketing functionality but also various other features.

Due to this broader scope, these platforms tend to have a worse email marketing functionality than the specialized email marketing apps. 

However, this broader scope also means that you may be able to get everything you need in one place.

Something to consider here is that the more separate apps you add to your business workflow, the more fragile the system becomes. Why?

Because if something goes wrong with one of these apps, it might disrupt the entire workflow. More apps mean more points of failure. 

That’s why all-in-one marketing platforms tend to be more stable: it’s just one app created and maintained by one company. 

Since there’s just one point of failure in the workflow, you are less likely to experience serious disruptions!

Should You Go With a Specialized Email Marketing App or an All-in-One Marketing Platform?

The technical resources at your disposal are an important factor to consider here. What do we mean by that?

If you are a non-technical person who doesn’t have access to in-house developers and can’t afford to hire a freelance developer, then trying to patch a bunch of different apps together to create a business workflow might prove to be a headache.

In that case, you might want to go with an all-in-one platform that already has all the features that you need to run your business. 

Meanwhile, if you are a technical person yourself, have access to in-house developers or can afford to hire a freelance developer, then going with a specialized email marketing solution might be worth considering.

After all, with those technical resources, you should be able to integrate various apps to create a streamlined business workflow that is custom-tailored to the needs of your company.

We will talk more about how to choose an email marketing vendor later in this article but here’s the TL; DR version of it:

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. It all depends on what makes the most sense for your business!

How Can an Email Marketing Vendor Transform Your Business?

An email marketing vendor can help you:

#1: Take Back Control by Building a Lead List That You Own

There’s no denying that building a social media following on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube can help you grow your business.

But here’s the problem: you don’t own that following. If any of these platforms decide to ban you for whatever reason, you won’t be able to take the following you built somewhere else. 

It may be tempting to think that this would never happen to you because you abide by the terms of service, behave in a civilized manner and stay away from controversial topics.

However, these are massive platforms that have billions of users, so the companies managing them are bound to make mistakes that lead to people who haven’t done anything wrong getting banned. 

In fact, this happens all the time, we just don’t hear about it when the victims of these unfair bans are regular people who don’t have massive audiences. Are you sure you want to bet your livelihood on the hope that it won’t happen to you?

This is where email marketing comes in. You see, unlike a social media following, an email list is an asset that you own and can take elsewhere.

Sure, any given email marketing vendor can refuse you service for whatever reason, but if that happens you can simply export your email list in a spreadsheet format and take it with you to another vendor.

That’s why building an email list should be your top priority. It’s the best way to take back control from the social media giants, protect yourself from unfair bans and become “uncancellable”!

#2: Earn the Trust of Your Dream Customers

Email marketing allows you to gradually build trust with your dream customers over an extended period of time that you can then capitalize on to sell your products and services. 

We believe that the best way to go about it is to create a Value Ladder sales funnel for your business. 

This sales funnel has four stages:

1. The Bait stage where you offer the potential customer a freebie in exchange for their email address.
   
   This freebie is also known as a lead magnet. It serves as bait that you use to attract your dream customers.
2. The Frontend stage where you use email marketing to pitch your least expensive and least valuable offer.
3. The Middle stage where you use email marketing to pitch a more valuable and more expensive offer.
4. The Backend stage where you use email marketing to pitch your most valuable and most expensive offer.

At each stage of the funnel, you build trust by providing value, then capitalize on that trust in the next stage. And the more trust you build, the more expensive products and services you can sell!

#3: Increase Your Marketing Spend ROI

There are two problems with using your marketing budget to drive traffic directly to your sales pages:

Problem #1: People Tend to Buy From Brands That They Already Know and Trust

Sure, everyone makes random impulse purchases here and there, but that’s not the dominant pattern of consumer behavior. 

This means that even if you manage to get someone who has never heard of you before to click on your ad, they probably won’t be ready to buy yet. 

So you paid for that click but didn’t make the sale!

Problem #2: People are Busy and Distracted

Moreover, if someone who has never heard of you before clicks on your ad, checks out your product and decides that they aren’t ready to buy yet, they are probably not coming back. Why?

Because in all likelihood, they will completely forget your product five minutes later when a funny cat video catches their eye or they start arguing with some random stranger about politics.

Again, you paid for that click, but didn’t make the sale!

Why Email Marketing is the Solution to Both of These Problems

As you can see, just because everyone is doing it, doesn’t mean that driving traffic directly to your sales pages is a good idea. It’s actually a waste of money!

It makes much more sense to drive traffic to your sales funnel by promoting your lead magnet. 

As we just discussed, someone who has never heard of you before is unlikely to buy your product or service there and then…

But they might be willing to give you their email address if you offer them an appealing freebie in exchange for it!

Then, even if they get distracted and forget all about it five minutes later, the next time they open their inbox they will see an email from you asking them to confirm their subscription.

Then, after confirming their subscription, they will get their freebie. If your lead magnet is genuinely valuable, they will start trusting you more once they check it out. 

And now that you have their email address, you can continue building that trust by providing free value in your email content and pitching them increasingly more expensive paid offers.

This approach can help you increase your customer lifetime value (CLV) and get a much better return on your marketing spend!

#4: Gain a Competitive Edge

Our co-founder Russell Brunson loves to quote Dan Kennedy:

“Whoever can spend the most to acquire a customer wins.”

In one of our events, he had an opportunity to sit down with Kennedy himself and discuss this idea:

Basically, the higher your customer lifetime value (CLV), the higher customer acquisition cost (CAC) you can afford and the more aggressive you can be about acquiring customers.

And if you can outspend your competitors on customer acquisition, you may be able to grow your business faster than them and become the dominant player in your niche. 

If your rivals are either not using email marketing at all or are underutilizing it, you can probably gain a competitive edge simply by building a Value Ladder sales funnel and driving traffic to it!

#5: Increase the Value of Your Business

Business valuations can vary wildly.

However, one digital asset that is pretty much guaranteed to drastically increase the valuation of your business is an email list.

This is especially true if you have a weekly email newsletter with high open and click-through rates. 

In fact, newsletters are so valuable that there’s an entire market for buying and selling them, with acquisitions ranging anywhere from a few hundred bucks to eight figures (yup!). 

You can check out Duuce to learn more about newsletter valuations. If you want to see the going prices, browse the newsletters that are currently for sale.

Meanwhile, They Got Acquired has published a Newsletter Deals Report that covers 13 newsletter acquisitions, including some of the biggest ones to date!

How to Choose the Right Email Marketing Vendor for Your Business?

Here are the three key factors that you should consider when choosing an email marketing vendor:

Features

All email marketing vendors provide the core email marketing functionality.

This core functionality enables you to collect email addresses, send one-off broadcast emails to your subscribers and set up automated email sequences. 

You want to get clear on what other features you need beyond that, both for running your business in general and for email marketing in particular. 

We recommend documenting your entire business process and listing the features that you need at each step. 

If you don’t have a business yet but want to start one, write down what you expect your business process to look like and list the features that you believe you will need.

Integrations

Does your current workflow include specialized apps?

If you want to continue using these apps, see which email marketing vendors offer native integrations with them.

Also, if you have access to technical resources, you may want to check which email marketing vendors provide APIs. You can use APIs to develop custom integrations!

Pricing

Your budget is probably going to be the main limiting factor when choosing an email marketing vendor.

But making the right decision isn’t as simple as comparing the price tags of various options. Why?

Because you need to look at how the features that each vendor offers would fit into the big picture of your overall business workflow.

For example, our Startup plan costs $97/month, while there are specialized email marketing apps that only cost a fraction of that.

However, ClickFunnels is an all-in-one platform that can replace a wide variety of specialized apps, not just the aforementioned email marketing ones.

So when you are evaluating our software, it makes sense to do so in the context of all the functionality that you need to run your business. 

You might discover that although each specialized app that provides something that you need costs just a fraction of what we charge, when you put them all together it adds up to way more than $97/month!

Moreover, the time, energy, and money required to get a bunch of different apps to play nicely with each other is a hidden cost that you need to consider as well.

On top of that, fixing various technical issues that are pretty much guaranteed to be a regular occurrence with this setup will also require resources.

Finally, as we already discussed, the more apps you add to your business workflow, the more fragile the system becomes. This means that you risk losing revenue if it goes down and people can’t buy your products and services until it’s back up again!

ClickFunnels: an All-in-One Marketing Platform That has Everything You Need to Grow Your Business

ClickFunnels has an exceptional email marketing functionality.

That being said, it’s not just an email marketing app, it’s a complete all-in-one marketing platform that has everything you need to start, manage and grow an online business!

ClickFunnels’ Features

Websites

ClickFunnels has a website builder functionality that enables you to create a business website that you can then host on our platform.

This website builder is easy to use and doesn’t require any coding knowledge whatsoever. 

All you need to do is pick a website template and then use our drag-and-drop page editor to customize it!

This functionality can replace website builders such as Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, etc.

Online Stores

ClickFunnels has an ecommerce functionality that enables you to build an online store.

It includes:

• Store templates that have been optimized for conversions.
• One-click upsells designed to help you increase your average order value (AOV) and your customer lifetime value (CLV).
• A lightning-fast checkout.

…and more!

This functionality can replace ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, etc.

Membership Sites

ClickFunnels has a membership site builder functionality that allows you to build a community around exclusive content that only paying members can access. 

It also includes various features designed to help you reduce your churn rate and increase customer lifetime value (CLV). 

This functionality can replace membership site builder and online course builder apps such as Skool, Kajabi, Thinkific, etc.

Online Courses

ClickFunnels has a course builder functionality that enables you to create online courses.

It includes:

• Course templates that can help you build your courses faster.
• A drip feature that you can use to gradually make your course content accessible over time instead of making it all available immediately.
• Various advanced course management features that allow you to manage user enrollment directly inside your courses.

…and more!

This functionality can replace membership site builder and online course builder apps such as Skool, Kajabi, Thinkific, etc. 

Sales Funnels

ClickFunnels has a funnel builder functionality that enables you to build sales funnels that convert.

It includes:

• Sales funnel templates that have been optimized for conversions.
• Page templates for all the pages that you might need to build your funnel, from squeeze pages to thank you pages.
• A visual funnel editor that you can use to customize funnel templates or build sales funnels from scratch.

…and more!

Email Marketing

ClickFunnels has an email marketing functionality that you can use to build your email list.

It includes:

• An email editor that enables you to design beautiful emails.
• A broadcast feature that enables you to send one-off, time-sensitive emails to your list.
• A scheduling feature that enables you to compose your email and then schedule it to be sent to your list at a specific date and time.
• An automation feature that enables you to set up automated email sequences that get triggered at a particular time or by a certain behavior.
• A workflow feature that enables you to create complex email sequences with multiple branches.
• A segmentation feature that allows you to segment your list based on criteria relevant to your business and then target specific subscriber segments with your email campaigns.

…and more!

This functionality can replace email marketing apps such as Convertkit, Mailchimp, GetResponse, etc. 

CRM

ClickFunnels has a customer relationship management (CRM) functionality that you can use to keep track of everything that’s happening in your sales pipeline.

It includes:

• A centralized database for all the information that you have on each contact.
• A note-taking feature that enables you to add notes to each contact’s profile that you can then use to personalize communication, build rapport and keep them accountable for what’s been agreed on.
• An overview of each contact’s customer’s journey where you can see everything from their enrollments to their purchase history to their billing details in one place.
• An overview of your entire sales pipeline.

…and more!

This functionality can replace CRM apps such as Keap, Freshsales, Hubspot, etc.

A/B Testing

ClickFunnels has an A/B testing functionality that you can use to optimize your entire sales funnel for conversions.

It allows you to test everything, from your landing pages to your email content to your offers. 

You can even test multiple versions of the same variable simultaneously, which can speed up the optimization process!

Analytics

ClickFunnels has an analytics functionality that you can use to track all of the most important business metrics, including:

• Total pageviews
• Total opt-ins
• Total orders
• Revenue
• Conversion rates

…and more!

Our analytics functionality allows you to track both the immediate results and the long-term results of each campaign as well as compare the performance of various campaigns.

Moreover, there’s also a sales projection feature that enables you to use historical data to model the future performance of your business. 

It can help you see whether you are on track to reaching your sales targets and course-correct if necessary!

ClickFunnels’ Integrations

ClickFunnels offers a wide variety of native integrations with various specialized web apps. 

This means that you don’t need to give up your favorite apps in order to use our platform. You can simply integrate them with our software!

Moreover, if you can’t find a native integration, you can always use Zapier which enables you to connect ClickFunnels with thousands of popular web apps!

ClickFunnels’ API and Webhooks

We also offer API access and webhooks that you can use to create custom integrations and streamline your business workflow.

ClickFunnels’ Pricing

ClickFunnels has two pricing plans:

• The Startup plan which costs $97/month and allows you to have 3 workspaces and 3 team members. It includes unlimited funnels, courses, members, contacts, pages and domains. You can save $194/year if you choose to pay annually.
• The Pro plan which costs $297/month and allows you to have 10 workspaces and 10 team members. It includes unlimited funnels, courses, members, contacts, pages and domains. You can save $594/year if you choose to pay annually.

Both plans have a free 14-day trial!

ClickFunnels’ Official Facebook Group

We also have an official Facebook group with 297.6k members at the time of writing.

This community is a great place to talk shop with fellow entrepreneurs, get answers to your questions and make new business connections.

It’s also really active: members have created 28 new posts just today. Meanwhile, last month we had 709 new posts in total!

Try ClickFunnels Risk-Free!

Let’s be real:

We are biased in favor of our software.

So we understand if you take what we say about it with a grain of salt.

Fortunately, we have a free 14-day trial, so you don’t have to take our word for it.

You can go and see ClickFunnels for yourself without any risk!

So what are you waiting for? 🧐

Start Your Free Trial Today

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Thanks for reading 5 Ways An Email Marketing Vendor Can Transform Your Business which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Wondering whether ClickFunnels is worth it in 2024?

We hope that this comprehensive overview will help you decide!

ClickFunnels Features

Sales Funnels

Here are some of the key features of our funnel builder:

• Sales Funnel Templates – Whatever it is that you sell, we have a funnel template that has been proven to work for businesses just like yours!
• Page Templates – We also have proven templates for all types of pages required for building funnels: squeeze pages, sales pages, thank you pages, you name it. 
• Visual Funnel Editor – Creating funnels with our software is simple: all you need to do is pick a funnel template and then customize it according to your needs with our visual drag-and-drop funnel editor.

Our funnel builder also makes it easy for you to add urgency to any funnel with our countdown feature. That can help you nudge people who are still on the fence in the right direction!

Email Marketing

Here are some of the key features of our email marketing functionality:

• Broadcast Emails – These are the one-off emails that you can send to your list to announce time-sensitive offers and share important company news with your customers. 
• Scheduled Emails – These are one-off emails that you schedule to be sent out at a future date. You can create email content in batches and then schedule it in advance.
• Automated Sequences – These are the series of emails that are sent out automatically. It’s probably safe to say that the most popular type of automated sequence is the welcome sequence which is automatically sent to every new subscriber. You can also use automated sequences to sell your existing offers and launch new ones.
• Behavioral Triggers – You can add complexity to your automated sequences by creating branching workflows based on behavioral triggers. For example, you can create two branches of the same sequence based on whether the subscriber opened the first email in that sequence. This allows you to automatically tailor your email content to each subscriber based on their behavior. 
• List Segmentation – Segmenting your list can help you make your email content more relevant. Say, you can segment it based on your subscribers’ purchase history and then only send promotional emails to people who haven’t bought that particular product yet. 
• Deliverability Training – If you want your emails to convert, you first need to make sure that they land in your subscribers’ inboxes instead of being banished to their spam folders. That’s why we provide training that can help you increase your deliverability!

Our email editor is simple and easy to use: it allows you to create and send emails in a matter of minutes!

Save Money with ClickFunnnels! 💰

Our email marketing functionality can replace email marketing apps such as Aweber, MailChimp, ConvertKit, GetResponse, MailerLite, Moosend, and others.

Websites

Here are some of the key features of our website builder:

• Website Templates – We have proven website templates for various use cases including a B2B template, an e-commerce template, a coaching template, and more.
• Visual Website Editor – Once you have chosen a website template, all you need to do is customize it according to your needs with our visual drag-and-drop website editor. No coding is required!
• Blogging Tools – You can use our blogging tools to write articles, edit them, schedule them, publish them and then repurpose them and distribute them across your social media. 

Our website builder is designed for entrepreneurs. We made it easy for you to direct your website, and visitors, to your sales funnels and then convert those visitors into leads, leads into customers, and customers into repeat customers!

Save Money with ClickFunnnels! 💰

Our website builder functionality can replace website builder apps such as WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Webflow, and others.

Online Store

Here are some of the key features of our online store builder:

• Online Store Templates – You can use our proven store templates that have been optimized for conversions. 
• Visual Store Editor – Once you have chosen a template, you can customize it according to your needs with our visual drag-and-drop store editor. 
• Store Funnels – You can easily build sales funnels for the products in your store catalog. 
• One-click Upsells – Adding one-click upsells to your products can help you maximize revenue. 
• Smart Checkout – Our checkout page is super-customizable, lightning-fast and allows you to add one-time offers to your checkout experience. 

Our e-commerce functionality has everything you need to launch and grow your online store!

Save Money with ClickFunnnels! 💰

Our e-commerce functionality can replace e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and others. 

Online Courses

Here are some of the key features of our online course builder:

• Online Course Templates – We have course templates for various styles of teaching and learning. This means that you don’t need to build your course from scratch: you can simply choose a template, customize it according to your needs, and then add your course content. 
• Scheduled “drip” Content – You can either make all your course content available immediately or you can use our “drip” feature to schedule each module to become available at a set time. 
• Advanced Course Management – With our advanced course management features, you can manage user enrollment and modify their access to the content inside your courses.
• Internal Note-taking – You can use our note-taking feature to jot down quick notes inside your courses: ideas, observations, issues that need to be addressed and so on. These notes are meant for internal use and won’t be visible to your students. 

Our online course builder functionality has everything you need to create, launch, and manage online courses. Plus, you can use our proven sales funnel templates to sell them!

Save Money with ClickFunnnels! 💰

Our online course builder functionality can replace course builder apps such as Podia, Thinkific, Kajabi, and others. 

Membership Site

Here are some of the key features of our membership site builder:

• Communities – You can create a community, use a hierarchical structure to keep it organized (groups -> topics -> posts -> comments), and create a welcoming and safe environment with various moderation features. 
• Premium Content – You can offer paying members access to premium content such as articles, videos, and courses. 
• Member Feedback – You can gather member feedback on autopilot with our feedback feature. This can help you come up with new product ideas.
  For example, you can automatically ask paying members what they want to learn next and then use that information to create online courses tailored to their needs. 

Our membership site builder has everything you need to launch, manage, and grow an exclusive online community. 

It was designed with “stickiness” in mind: we made it as easy as possible for you to consistently provide ongoing value to your paying members so that they would stick around month after month!

Save Money with ClickFunnnels! 💰

Our membership site builder functionality can replace membership site builder apps such as Kajabi, Skool and others.

CRM

Here are some of the key features of our CRM functionality:

• Everything in One Place – You can see the entire customer’s journey of each contact. And if you need to look up specific information – their orders, enrollments, billing details, etc. – you can easily find what you need. Having everything in one place can save you a lot of time!
• Contact Activity Insights – You can gather valuable behavioral data on each contact, analyze it and use it to create a personalized customer experience designed specifically for them. 
• Personalized Communication – You can create notes and store them together with other information on that contact, then check them before reaching out to that person again.
  
  This enables you to build rapport by referencing the little details that they mentioned the last time, document what was said and agreed upon during each conversation, and keep clients accountable by following up on their commitments. 
  
  This feature is particularly valuable for businesses where several people on the team are talking to the same contact because it makes it easy for everyone to know what’s going on at any given time.

Our CRM functionality can help you stay organized and build stronger relationships with potential and existing customers!

Save Money with ClickFunnnels! 💰

Our CRM functionality can replace CRM apps such as Hubspot, Keap, Monday and others. 

A/B Testing

Here are some of the key features of our A/B testing functionality:

• Offer Testing – You can use A/B testing to test various offer ideas so that you could figure out what your target audience is interested in the most. 
• Landing Page and Sales Page Testing – You can use A/B testing to optimize your landing pages and sales pages. Consider experimenting with various layouts, color schemes, images, headlines, subheadlines, etc. Even something as seemingly insignificant as the color of your call-to-action buttons can have an impact on conversion rates!
• Email Marketing Campaign Testing – You can use A/B testing to optimize your email marketing campaigns from your subject lines to your body copy to your calls to action. This can help you increase deliverability, performance, and engagement!

It’s worth mentioning that you can test not just two but multiple variations of the same variable simultaneously which can drastically speed up the conversion rate optimization process. 

Our A/B testing functionality can help you create offers that resonate with your dream customers design landing pages and sales pages that convert and improve your email marketing!

Save Money with ClickFunnnels! 💰

Our A/B testing functionality can replace conversion rate optimization apps such as Unbounce, AB Tasty, VWO and others. 

Analytics

Here are some of the key features of our analytics functionality:

• Course Analytics – You can track how your customers are progressing through your courses and identify where they tend to drop off. 
  You can then use that data to improve your content to make it more engaging and provide encouragement at the right times to help your customers persevere and complete your courses. 
• Funnel Analytics – You can look at various funnel metrics such as page views, opt-in rates, open rates, click-through rates, sales conversions, average order value, and more to see how your campaigns are performing. 
• Funnel Comparisons – You can also compare funnels with each other to better understand what works and what doesn’t work with your target audience. 
• Immediate Performance – You can observe the immediate performance of your funnels in real-time. 
• Long-term Performance – You can analyze the long-term performance of your funnels over time. 
• Future Performance – You can use historical funnel data to create sales projections and see whether you are on track to meet your sales targets. The more data you accumulate, the more accurate these projections are going to be. 

Our analytics functionality can help you optimize your sales funnels for maximum conversions and make better, data-driven business decisions. 

ClickFunnels Integrations

ClickFunnels offers integrations with some of the most popular web apps out there.

Here are just some our native integrations:

• Email Marketing Integrations with email marketing apps such as MailChimp, Aweber, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, GetResponse and Sendlane. 
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) integrations with CRM apps such as Keap, Pipedrive, and HubSpot. 
• Communication Integrations with apps like Slack, Zoom, and Twilio. 
• Webinar Integrations with WebinarFuel and GoTo Webinar.
• Workflow automation Integration with Zapier. 

It’s worth noting that Zapier integration allows you to connect ClickFunnels with thousands of popular web apps. 

This means that if you don’t see a native integration with a particular app that you use in your workflow, you may still be able to integrate it with our software through Zapier.

In short, if you have an existing business with an established workflow and don’t want to move away from the apps that you and your team are familiar with, you can simply integrate them with ClickFunnels!

ClickFunnels API and Webhooks

ClickFunnels also offers a developer API and webhooks. This provides additional automation opportunities.

If you have web development skills yourself, can afford to hire a web developer or have an in-house development team, you can use our API to take automation to the next level by creating custom integrations.

Moreover, if you are working on a software product, our API makes it easy to create a native integration with our app.

Considering this: ClickFunnels is the most popular funnel builder out there and is currently being used by over 100,000 people worldwide.

This means that offering an integration with it can help you make your product more appealing to potential customers!

ClickFunnels Community

ClickFunnels Official Facebook Group

Our official Facebook Group has 296k+ members from all around the world. It’s a great place to meet like-minded people, make connections and exchange ideas. 

Want to discuss business topics with fellow entrepreneurs? You can always do that in our Facebook group. 

In fact, just last month our members created 785 new posts, with 25 posts submitted today!

Funnel Hacking Live

Funnel Hacking Live is our annual live event that we have been hosting since 2015.

Attending it in person is an incredible experience. You get to meet other entrepreneurs, talk shop with them and make new business connections. And who knows what those connections might lead to in the future? There’s truth to the saying “Your network is your net worth”. 

Of course, we understand that not everyone can travel to an event like this, which is why we also livestream it so that people who can’t attend it in person would still have an opportunity to learn from our amazing speakers!

The Inner Circle

The Inner Circle is our exclusive mastermind that is application-only and has strict revenue requirements. Joining it provides an incredible opportunity to network with other successful entrepreneurs and learn directly from our co-founder Russell Brunson.

ClickFunnels Pricing

We currently have two pricing plans:

• The Startup plan that costs $97/month. A 30% recurring commission would be $29.10/month.
• The Pro plan that costs $297/month. A 30% recurring commission would be $89.10/month.

It’s also worth noting that the Startup and Pro plans include access to our developer API that you can use to create custom integrations.

We offer a free 14-day trial so you can check out our software without any risk!

ClickFunnels Support

Have a problem?

• ClickFunnels Knowledge Hub – You can go to our knowledge hub and search for the solution. We created extensive documentation for our software that covers all of the most frequently asked questions. In all likelihood, whatever it is that you are struggling with, you’ll find your answer there.
• ClickFunnels Facebook Group – You can go to our official Facebook group and ask for help. Quite a few members of our group have been using our software for years, know it inside and out, and love to help new ClickFunnels users. If you couldn’t find an answer in our knowledge hub, you might be able to get some guidance from fellow entrepreneurs in our community. 
• ClickFunnels Customer Support – You can contact us directly via email. Our customer support team usually responds in 1-2 hours during business hours.
  There’s also live chat support that is available from 3 am to 8 pm EST Monday to Friday. 

We want to empower our users to help themselves and each other but we are also there for you if you need us!

So is ClickFunnels Worth it? 🧐

It’s time for the verdict. Is ClickFunnels worth it? 

Of course, we think that it’s worth it. We created it! 

Our obvious bias aside, it is a solid all-in-one marketing platform that has everything you need to launch, manage, and grow an online business. 

In fact, as we have pointed out throughout this article, our software can replace a whole bunch of specialized apps that you would need to cobble together to get a similar functionality. 

Most importantly, it includes an excellent funnel builder and a library of proven sales funnel templates for all of the most common use cases. All you need to do is pick one and customize it according to your needs. 

Finally, there’s our thriving community of entrepreneurs just like you who are using sales funnels to grow their businesses. 

After all, the reality is that the entrepreneurial path can be a lonely one. That’s why having a community of people who are on the same journey as you and who understand what you are going through is so valuable!

Let’s be real, though. You are probably skeptical of what we are saying because we are obviously biased in favor of our product. That’s okay, we get it. Don’t ask a barber if you need a haircut, right?

Fortunately, you don’t have to take our word for it. We offer a free 14-day trial so you can check out our software without any risk. So why don’t you go see it for yourself?

You don’t have anything to lose!

Start Your Free Trial Today!

Thanks for reading Is ClickFunnels Worth It In 2024? – Let’s Break It Down… which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If you want more customers in your business, you need to develop a strong customer acquisition plan.

A good plan starts and ends with understanding which stages customers are going through as they become aware of your business and (ultimately) become brand advocates for you.

Between each of those goals — from new customer to brand advocate — specific things need to happen.

In this guide, we’re going to break down what those are, how you can attract more customers by knowing what they are and how you can set your business up for long-term growth.

As you’re mapping out your customer acquisition plan, spend time breaking down each of the customer acquisition stages and how you’ll move people from one stage to the next.

This will help you determine where you should focus your effort, whether that’s on getting the word out about your brand, turning leads into customers, or turning customers into raving fans.

But first…

What are Customer Acquisition Stages?

When it comes to acquiring customers for your business, there’s 6 main stages they’ll go through.

Depending on the stage they’re in, you’ll need to adjust your approach to accommodate them and move them into the next stage.

Your customer acquisition plan should include everything from lead generation, to lead nurture, and then finally into converting your leads into new sales and then brand advocates.

To help you understand your potential customers at each stage, you’ll need to understand the stage, itself, and what needs to happen to move them forward to the next stage.

Stage #1: Awareness

In the awareness stage, potential customers become aware of your brand or product.

This stage is all about getting visibility and is often achieved through advertising, social media, content marketing, events, and other PR efforts.

Your primary focus at this stage is to capture as much attention as possible.

Stage #2: Interest

In the interest stage, potential customers have become aware of your brand or product and begin showing interest in seeking more information.

They might visit your website, follow your social media accounts, or subscribe to your newsletter.

Once a potential customer has shown interest, your marketing will need to shift as your potential customer’s interest level shifts.

Stage #3: Consideration

Then, inside the consideration stage, interested prospects have begun considering whether or not they want to purchase your offer.

They will begin to evaluate your offer, product, or service against their own needs and what your competitors are currently offering.

They might read reviews, compare prices, or even test out the product, if possible.

Stage #4: Purchase

This stage includes the act of buying your product or service and includes the transaction process.

You want to ensure that the process is as smooth and straightforward as possible to help lower your cart abandonment numbers.

Then, you can put processes in place to recapture people who may have abandoned their carts.

Stage #5: Retention

After they’ve made a purchase, your focus should shift to retaining them for future sales.

This can involve follow-up communications, customer support, loyalty programs, and efforts to ensure they’re satisfied with the purchase they’ve made.

Stage #6: Advocacy

When a customer is satisfied with their purchase and your product, they can become advocates for your brand, recommending your products or services to others and often providing valuable feedback.

This stage can significantly enhance customer acquisition through social proof and word-of-mouth.

Once you understand each of the stages a customer will go through on their way to becoming your biggest brand advocates, you can start back at the beginning by focusing on raising their awareness.

How to Raise Awareness for Your Product?

Before you can convert people into new customers and brand advocates, you’ll need to make sure they know who you are, what you do, and what problems you solve for them.

In this stage, they’re seeking answers to their questions.

If you provide the most relevant answer, you have a chance to get discovered.

That means you’ll want to focus on speaking to their pain points and connecting your brand story to the values they currently hold.

When you get that right, it’s easy to put your brand in front of people in the awareness stage.

To do that, here are a few strategies you can implement right now.

Create top-of-the-funnel content

Top of funnel content, or TOFU, if you’ve never heard the term before, refers to the earliest stage in your customer’s journey.

They’re at the widest part — or the top — of your marketing funnel.

People in this stage are looking for solutions to problems they’re experiencing.

For instance, if you wanted to build a webinar funnel and searched Google for “building a webinar funnel”, you would land on this blog:

Then, when you click the link in the search results page, you’ll be taken to this blog post:

You would also be given an opportunity to discover our product which you may not have been aware of until you read through the blog post.

Then, you’ll see that ClickFunnels is the authority on funnels, especially webinar funnels.

Apart from just establishing authority, you can also leverage storytelling inside of your content to cultivate an emotional connection with your audience.

Humans are naturally drawn to stories and emotionally engaged customers are more likely to remember a brand and make purchasing decisions based on this connection.

If you aren’t already creating top of funnel content for your audience, you can use ClickFunnels.

You can customize your blog post by adding images, buttons, links, videos, etc.

Creating content that introduces your product or brand to your prospects is the easiest way to bring them into your funnel and give yourself the opportunity to nurture them into customers.

If you haven’t already tried ClickFunnels, click here now to start your free 14-day trial.

Here’s another example of great top of funnel content from Uber Eats.

They create humorous, storytelling videos that keep people interested in watching.

Then, as they watch, they begin to discover problems that the brand can help them solve.

By consistently providing content that aids in relaxation and mental wellness, Calm reinforces its brand association with these concepts.

The content they create helps strengthen their positioning within the wellness market.

Engage in PR Activities

Another great way to raise awareness and positively influence your brand is through PR.

Media publications typically have millions of readers so using your public relations skills to get in front of them and secure a spot in their publication can help you make major headway with people in the first stage of your customer acquisition plan.

For example, Olipop perfectly executed this strategy.

You can find their content on thousands of different online PR websites.

They feature their press mentions prominently on their website.

Then, you can see what one of these pieces actually looks like below:

Here’s another example from their PR strategy:

And again on Beverage, a publication with millions of readers:

To start tapping into this strategy, you can use a free service like HARO.

HARO stands for “Help A Reporter Out” and it’s a service that connects journalists seeking expertise with people who can provide that expertise.

It’s a great tool for gaining media exposure without a massive investment.

As a small brand, you can register as a HARO source and set your preferences to receive queries related to your industry or area of expertise.

Then, you’ll receive emails from journalists three times a day.

You’ll want to monitor these queries closely, looking for opportunities that align with your brand.

Whenever you find a relevant query, you can respond with a concise, informative pitch.

Make sure you include your credentials, why you’re a good fit for the story, and any unique insights you can offer.

This is what a typically HARO email will look like:

Run Facebook Ads With Lead Magnets

For potential customers in the awareness stage, you don’t want to directly advertise your products.

Instead, when you advertise, you want to run lead magnets to give you a chance to get them into your email list so you can nurture them into becoming customers.

Free materials like masterclasses, webinars, eBooks, and guides work great.

To give you an example, check out this ad:

This ad from Russell reaches out to the right target audience — people who want to launch their online businesses.

Instead of trying to sell a product it offers something for free.

This encourages the chances people will become a lead compared to if he was attempting to sell ClickFunnels directly from the ad.

You can use ClickFunnels to create and edit your landing pages where people will go after they click your ad, letting them download your lead magnet:

If you’re not already using ClickFunnels, click here to give it a free test run now.

Try ClickFunnels FREE Today!

Sponsor Newsletters, Podcasts, or Blogs

Right now, there are hungry audiences waiting for brands like yours to solve their problems.

These audiences are already congregating on newsletters, podcasts, and blogs, too.

If you sponsor those newsletters, or appear on those podcasts, or have your content featured on those blogs, you can open up entirely new audiences to your products.

Take a look at this example:

You can see the sponsored ad from Superside in the email.

Here’s another example from the Tim Ferriss podcast:

While these sponsorship placements are a form of paid advertising, what you’ll spend on them ranges from incredibly affordable to incredibly outrageous.

Before you start sponsoring content on newsletters, podcasts, or blogs, you’ll want to understand your marketing budget and metrics to ensure you don’t overspend and get minimal results.

How to Generate Interest in Your Product?

Once you’ve raised awareness, you need to start getting people interested in your brand.

At this point, people will want to subscribe to your email list or download resources to learn more about you and the problems you solve.

You’ll want to provide these touch points for them to engage with.

If you just give them information without being able to stay engaged with them, chances are high you will lose them and they’ll move on, forgetting about your brand.

There are a few strategies you can use to drum up interest once you’ve captured their attention.

Create a Signup Process & Send Automated Email Campaigns

Letting people sign up for your newsletter or request to receive updates (or some other incentive) is a great way to engage with people.

Since they’re now aware of your brand, you have an opportunity to immediately capture people who have high intent — meaning they are more ready to buy right now than other potential customers.

For example, check out this landing page from Ramit Sethi:

Here’s another example from the boxed wine brand, Juliet:

Each of these examples are incentivized to help entice more people to become subscribers.

Then, after subscribing, you can engage with your new subscribers via automated emails.

Take a look at this email from Ramit Sethi:

Here’s another great automated email from the app Ten Percent:

It’s not yet attempting to pitch a product or service.

Instead, it’s building interest in their brand and their products.

Remember, at this stage, your goal is to cultivate a relationship with your subscribers and move them through your customer acquisition plan.

While some people in this stage may be ready to buy right now, the majority of people are going to want to learn more about you.

Take the opportunity to connect with them and nurture that relationship instead of immediately trying to sell them something.

That opportunity will come later.

Invite to Events & Workshops

When you want to help people learn more about you, events and workshops are some of the best ways to do it.

These give your audience a chance to meet in person or virtually while you have their captured attention, making it easier for you to ascend them through your acquisition plan.

One brand that’s great at this is Ahrefs.

They recently emailed their list, inviting people to their in-person conference in Singapore.

If you’re hosting events or workshops, or attending them, make sure people know you’ll be there.

Then, invite them for an opportunity to connect with your brand on a deeper level.

Use Live Chat on Your Website

With potential customers in the awareness stage, they’re going to have questions.

To move them from the awareness stage to the interest stage, being able to actively answer those questions can help you quickly make the transition.

A live chat function directly on your website is a great way to answer their questions.

There are two ways to do this, too.

You can either put someone on your team in charge of answering questions that come through the live chat or use AI chatbot tools to provide answers to the most common questions people will have.

How to Move Potential Customers to the Consideration Stage

Once you’ve raised awareness and generated interest in your brand and products, the next step is to move people into the consideration stage.

In this stage, your potential customers have already identified their problem but are weighing the various pros and cons of various different solutions.

This is when you’ll want to introduce middle of funnel (or MOFU) content.

Potential customers still aren’t quite ready to make a purchase yet.

They’ll want to learn more about why they should choose you — or why they should choose you over your competition.

This is where content like videos, blogs, emails, social media posts, and others can do the heavy lifting for you.

In this stage, with your content, you want to focus on nurturing your leads and educating them.

If you aren’t nurturing them, your leads can quickly lose interest in your brand and move on to one of your competitors.

The content you produce here is what turns leads into great leads — which is what your sales team is looking for.

To turn new leads into great leads, there’s a couple strategies you can use.

Show Comparison With Other Products

Since prospects are going to be thinking about whether your offer is better than an offer from one of your competitors, you can compare yourself side-by-side with them.

Check out how Ahrefs does it:

That comparison is featured directly on their website.

Podia is another great example of making comparisons while nurturing leads.

In this example, Podia has listed out every single competitor and then created content around where Podia excels and where its competition may excel.

In these reviews and comparisons, transparency is critical.

If a competitor is better in a certain area than you, make it known.

The last thing you want happening is over-selling someone by making yourself look better than one of your competitors in an area that you’ve actually fallen short.

Instead of over-selling yourself, if a competitor is doing better in a specific area, you can focus your efforts on improving in that area.

Or, if you’ve decided that you don’t want to compete in that area or on that feature, you can downplay the importance of it and show how you excel in other areas.

Then, you can put the comparison content you’ve created inside blog posts or on your sales pages.

DTC brands typically include the comparisons directly on their landing pages:

Remember, the key here is to provide transparent, accurate comparisons.

Since people will be in the consideration stage, they will place any comparisons you make under increased scrutiny due to your own bias.

It’s perfectly normal to place your product in a better light than your competitor’s products.

What you don’t want to do, though, is over-hype or oversell your own offers, especially if your prospects have already performed deep research on your competitors.

Offer free trials or samples

Another great way to move people into the consideration stage is to simply offer free trials or samples.

This is a risk-free way for your potential customers to experience your offer and people are more likely to try something new if it doesn’t cost them anything.

Offering a free version or trial can help differentiate you from your competitors who aren’t currently offering the same option.

As an example, check out this free trial offer from Notion:

DTC brands also make great use of free trials.

Hanz De Fuko, the men’s styling brand, will include a sample of something new that they’ve recently launched or something they know you’ve never tried before.

The sample is often enough to experience the product and then decide to commit to making a full purchase of it with their next purchase — or for their first purchase.

You can see an example of their approach below:

Stitch Fix also uses free trials flawlessly.

When people subscribe to try on clothes, they’re given the option to only pay for the clothes that they decide to keep.

This way, customers can see how great the brand is before they fully commit.

Since buying clothes online can be so difficult, using this free trial (or try-on) model is a great way to get people out of the interest stage and into the consideration stage.

Try ClickFunnels FREE Today!

How to Nudge People to Make a Purchase?

The next stage in your customer acquisition plan is moving people from the consideration stage to actually making a purchase.

While many people will naturally purchase as soon as they’ve decided they want to work with your brand or access your products, many people will not.

There’s still a chance to lose these potential customers to your competition.

The reasons they’ve decided to wait on buying could be anything from objections that have gone unanswered, having additional questions, or simply because life is busy and they haven’t had a chance.

For these people, they may bookmark your products or services and fully intend to come back but then get caught up in life’s day-to-day and simply forget.

To avoid losing these prospects to one of your competitors, there are strategies you can use to gently nudge them to make a purchase.

Implement a Follow-Up Strategy

An automated followup sequence is one of THE easiest ways to stay top of mind with these prospects and give yourself an opportunity to convert them into a new customer.

You want to make sure these emails are timely, though.

To make your followup strategy as effective as possible, you can use 3 separate sequences.

One for people who subscribe to your email list and want to learn more about your brand and products.

A second sequence for people who have placed products into their shopping cart but then abandoned the cart for whatever reason.

Finally, a third sequence for people who may have accepted a free trial or when their free trial may be coming to an end.

Monday.com executes this strategy flawlessly.

They use a followup email sequence to stay in touch with potential customers as their free trial is nearing its end — gently nudging them to become full-paying customers.

In this stage, the sequence should be focused on showing people the problems you can help them solve, new creative ways to use the product (or software, in this case).

If you’re selling services, these emails can be more personalized.

They can be sent whenever someone is thinking about your offer as a solution to their problems but doesn’t necessarily make a payment to get started.

Take a look how Sleek does it:

The key with your sequences is to think about the different reasons people may not buy.

You can address their concerns and handle their objections with the sequence you use to help show them why your product or service is the solution they’re looking for.

Use Retargeting Ads

You can also use retargeting ads to follow potential customers around the internet.

Retargeting ads are great for helping show potential customers why they should choose your offer.

Here’s an example of a great ad from J. Crew:

Similar to your followup sequences, you want your retargeting ads to focus on specific messages.

You want to spend some time thinking about the different reasons people aren’t buying.

Whether that’s an objection they have, a question they may still have, or because they aren’t quite sure how the product can solve their problems, using retargeting ads to put this information in front of them is a low-cost way to convert more people into new customers.

Share Case Studies and Testimonials

One of the best types of content to include in your followup sequences and retargeting ads is case studies and testimonials from previous customers.

Marie Forleo LOVES using testimonials and case studies in her emails.

Here’s an example of one of them from her recent B-School launch:

At ClickFunnels, we also use our blog to show exactly how powerful our software is and how a wide range of businesses are using it to fuel their growth.

You can check it out here.

On your own website, you can create sections that solidify social proof you’ve collected.

This social proof is HUGE for showing your potential customers that other people like them are having a great experience with your product or service.

Offer Flexible Payment Options

You can also offer flexible payment options for people who may be on the fence and want a lower barrier to entry.

A large payment can sometimes be a reason that people won’t make a purchase now.

Offering them flexible payment options gives them a lower-cost way to experience your offer or service.

Ramit Sethi uses this strategy to help drive increased sales:

They have multiple different options.

The most popular is their smaller payment plan of $29 per month for 12 months.

If people want to purchase an entire year’s subscription, they can save even more money.

For DTC brands, there are ways to offer flexible payment plans, too.

Check out how Altitude Sports does it:

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How to Retain Your Customers

Now, once you’ve converted a new lead into a customer, your customer acquisition plan should shift into retaining them as customers and giving yourself an opportunity to convert them into advocates.

Acquiring a new customer is MUCH more expensive than retaining the ones you already have.

By shifting your focus to retention, your marketing efforts will be a lot more cost-effective.

These customers also provide you with a consistent feedback loop that helps you improve your products and your marketing — so you reach more customers and new market segments.

Retaining your customers also generates a higher CLTV, or customer lifetime value.

That means the initial cost of acquisition is spread out over more transactions, improving the return on investment for each new customer acquired.

To shift into retention, there’s a handful of strategies you can use.

Send a Discount After Their First Purchase

One of the easiest ways to do this is by offering a discount after customers make their first purchase.

This encourages repeat purchases.

With discounts, customers feel valued and appreciated, making them more likely to return to your brand in the future.

Instacart offers discounts on new customer’s next 2 orders:

This type of offer can be automated, too.

Using a tool like ClickFunnels, after someone becomes a customer, you can tag them with “customer” and then insert them into a new automation.

That automation can focus your messaging around retaining them and encouraging them to make purchases of other products or services while offering a discount at the same time.

If you haven’t already tried ClickFunnels, click here to start your free 14-day trial now.

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Offer Subscription Services

Offering subscriptions is another way to increase your revenue-per-customer and retain customers for a longer period of time.

Subscriptions help remove the burden of making repeat purchases, offering a seamless and convenient experience for your customers.

They also make growing your business incredibly predictable.

Subscription models help ensure that customers regularly receive products or services which helps keep your brand top-of-mind and lets you integrate into their daily lives.

Olipop uses subscriptions to retain its customers:

Mindvalley is another company that utilizes subscriptions to prime their business growth:

The key to subscriptions is giving people a reason to want to stay subscribed.

Implement Loyalty Programs

Once you have happy customers, the next strategy you can use to retain them (and get them to help drive even more new customers into your business) is a loyalty program.

Loyalty programs offer rewards, discounts, and other special incentives as a way to attract customers.

This helps retain customers by showing that you appreciate their business.

It also helps encourage repeat purchases and lets you create personalized offers.

Take a look at this loyalty program that offers travel credits for repeat business:

For your own program, you can use anything from a points system to tiered offers and even different subscription levels.

Starbucks uses a points system to drive repeat business:

Sephora combines a points system with a tiered structure:

Share ‘How-to’ Content Around Your Product

You can also share How-To content around your products or services.

When customers fully understand how to leverage a product’s features, they’re more likely to be satisfied with the purchase they’ve made — and return for future purchases.

The delivery of this content can be done through your email list.

Check out how You-Need-A-Budget (YNAB) uses email to share new ways to use their product and help customers get maximum value from it:

You don’t have to send these emails manually to everyone who has signed up.

The process can be fully automated with a tool like ClickFunnels.

The built-in automations can be triggered based on a customer’s behavior.

If they’ve purchased a subscription, you can stagger your email sequence out over the course of months to help retain their subscription even longer.

You can also deliver this how-to content to new customers to ensure you’re cultivating a great relationship and showing them exactly how to get the most out of your product or service.

To give them a try, click here to start your free 14-day ClickFunnels trial now.

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Create a Community Around Your Customers

Building a community around your customers is another great way to retain them for the long-term.

There’s a few different ways you can do this.

Some of the most popular are Facebook groups, Reddit forums, and Slack channels.

This strategy works so well because it goes beyond simple transactions.

It allows you to engage with customers and directly builds trust while enabling peer-to-peer support

To show you what it looks like in real time, check out how Ahrefs has done it:

They have built a 15,300+ member Facebook group exclusively for their paying customers.

Inside the group, they post product updates, answer any product-related questions, and give tips on how to make the most out of the software.

Ask for Feedback and Act on it

Another great perk of having your own community for your customers is being able to directly ask for feedback — and then act on implementing it.

This can also be done through email marketing campaigns using ClickFunnels.

Saral (in the example above) consistently asks their customers for feedback on their experience.

Then they use that feedback to improve their products and delivery — which helps provide an even better experience for new customers.

How to Turn Loyal Customers Into Brand Advocates

The final stage in your customer acquisition plan is turning your loyal customers into long-term brand advocates for your products and services.

This word-of-mouth marketing is one of THE most cost-effective ways to grow your business.

You not only reduce the cost to acquire new customers but you also turn someone aware of your brand into a new customer very quickly.

To make this easier, there are a few strategies you can use.

Referral Programs

The first strategy is a customer referral program.

By incentivizing your existing customers to recommend your business, they’ll let friends, family, and new contacts know about your products or services.

As an example, you can offer them a discount on their next purchase for every successful referral.

This is how ClassPass does it:

The Tonic also incentivizes their email subscribers to recommend their newsletter to people they may know who could benefit from it:

You can also implement affiliate referral programs.

In these programs, you can partner with individuals or other companies who may be willing to promote your products or services in exchange for a commission.

For example, paying bloggers a percentage on the sales that come from your referrals is a great way to start tapping into new audiences while gaining instant credibility within them.

Magic Spoon uses affiliate programs to grow their revenue:

Each time a blogger or influencer recommends Magic Spoon to their audience and their audience uses a link with built-in tracking, the blogger or influencer gets paid and Magic Spoon acquires a new customer.

Encourage Social Sharing 

You can also encourage (or even incentivize) social sharing.

One of the ways Notion does this is by sending swag to its top users and brand ambassadors and then encouraging them to share it across social media.

This helps build brand awareness while also bringing in new customers.

Offer Commission on Every Sale They Bring in

You can also offer your existing customers a commission on every sale they generate.

We use this strategy at ClickFunnels.

When one of our customers has a great experience with our software, they’re more likely to want to share their experience with other people in their network.

By sharing their experience along with their affiliate link, they can earn a recurring commission for each new customer they recommend.

To date, we have paid out over $143 million in affiliate commissions using this strategy.

In your own business, though, you’ll want to lay out detailed plans for how you will move customers through each of the stages we’ve broken down for you in this guide.

Then, when you’re ready to make ascending them through your customer acquisition plan as simple as possible, you can use a tool like ClickFunnels to help.

From your landing pages to your automations, moving customers through each stage in your customer acquisition plan is incredibly simple.

To see what we mean, click here now to start your free 14-day ClickFunnels trial.

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Thanks for reading The 6 Stages Of A Perfect Customer Acquisition Plan which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Every day, thousands of new products make their grand entrance into the market.

Some come in with a bang — others come in and quickly fizzle out like a dude firework.

Even if what you’ve created is nothing short of revolutionary, the harsh reality is that it could still end up getting lost in a sea of endless launches.

To keep this from happening, you have to be smart and strategic about launching your product.

In this guide, we’re going to give you 6 time-tested, proven ways to crush the marketing for your new product and increase the chances it makes major headway in your industry.

Launch a Free Mini-Course Or Webinar

Launching a free mini-course or webinar BEFORE you actually launch your offer is a great way to start preparing people in your audience for the launch.

To help you see what that looks like in practice, take a look at the example below:

Marie Forleo is preparing to launch her “B-school” training program.

Instead of just announcing that it’s coming, she’s laying the foundations to generate interest in the launch.

She’s preparing by launching a free masterclass on building a thriving business and advertising it inside the menu on her website.

When people click the link to the free training, they’re taken to this landing page:

In a similar fashion, Evercoach uses a masterclass to start building buzz for their product.

You can see how they’re doing it in the emails below:

Whenever subscribers click the links inside each email, they’re taken to a landing page to register for the free webinar.

Then, after the webinar, Evercoach begins sharing details for the course:

These strategies are incredibly effective for a few different reasons.

First, they provide value upfront before asking for something in return.

Where most marketers and entrepreneurs get this wrong is by simply asking people to buy their product BEFORE providing value to their audience.

This leads us to the second reason a pre-launch mini-course or webinar is so effective.

Using this strategy helps build trust in your audience.

It shows them that you understand the problems that they’re facing or that you understand what potential solutions could look like.

And by delivering value upfront, you give yourself an opportunity to build that trust with your audience.

Then, you can segment your subscribers into a separate list based on their interest in the free webinar or mini-course, helping you keep your lists organized and increasing your conversion metrics.

To implement this strategy, you’ll need a few things, like a landing page to promote your free class, a signup page, and a series of followup emails.

While you may be great at creating content related to your business, the last thing you want to do is fight with software to put this strategy into motion.

That’s where ClickFunnels comes in.

You can build your landing pages with professionally designed, conversion-optimized templates.

Then, you can create email workflows easily using the built-in automations.

If you haven’t already, click here to start your free 14-day ClickFunnels trial now.

When you log in, you can begin choosing a template to base your free webinar or mini-course on:

Then you can use a pre-built email automation workflow or begin creating your own:

Once you have both of these in place, you can begin promoting the free mini-course or webinar to your audience, raising their awareness and generating buzz around the launch.

This brings us to the next strategy you can use to crush the marketing for your new product.

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Build Anticipation

Generating buzz and building anticipation for your upcoming product launch gives you a huge advantage.

Instead of just dropping an announcement that you just launched, spending time letting people know what you’re working on, how it can help them, and when it’s coming is a great way to build interest.

By preparing for the launch using this strategy, you can increase the number of people who may want to purchase the product as soon as it’s launched.

To see how powerful it can be, take a look at some of today’s biggest brands and how they use it.

This is an ad from one of Apple’s recent launches:

Nike is another great example.

In the image below, you can see one of their latest shoe drops on their website:

The shoes weren’t available as soon as they were dropped.

Instead, they were listed on the website, and then notifications went out letting people know.

Social media was used to help generate attention and anticipation, getting people talking about which style they liked best.

This strategy helped them generate a TON of free marketing and drive even more traffic to their launch.

Which is something Ahrefs has mastered.

Take a look at the example below to see how they’re using social media to create anticipation:

A simple question posted to their social media has people reacting to the post and asking questions.

Then, as more people interact with the post, the social media algorithms will begin promoting the post to even more people.

By the time Ahrefs launches, they’ve generated a TON of extra attention — all from one post.

They’re not the only business capitalizing on this strategy, though.

Take a look how Amir Salihefendic uses it:

He posted a screenshot from his upcoming launch and generated almost 20,000 views.

If you have an email list, you can start announcing your upcoming launch to them, too.

Check out the example from Whitney Wolfe’s MasterClass below:

Here’s another example from Last Crumb, promoting their new Platinum cookies:

With this strategy, your goal isn’t just to raise awareness and generate anticipation, though.

You also want to make sure that you’re getting people who are anticipating the launch onto their own waitlist so you can announce it directly to them when the time comes.

Marie Forleo regularly announces new launches and moves people onto a waitlist.

Last Crumb loves using waitlists to generate anticipation for their launches.

When they release a new cookie lineup, they’ll let people subscribe via email and SMS messaging to get instantly notified when their new cookie gets released.

Instead of simply just dropping a new product on your audience, take the time to let them know what’s coming.

Get creative with how you tease the product like Nike and Apple have done.

Have some fun with it like Marie Forleo and Last Crumb.

This will help you cultivate the attention and anticipation you need to ensure your product takes off out of the gate, instead of launching to crickets.

Niche Community Engagement

Niche communities can be absolute goldmines for helping your product launches take off, too.

By tapping into these communities and developing a strong reputation, you can use them to build brand awareness and credibility.

The key to accomplishing those two goals, though, is by providing valuable content and insights and then participating in discussions.

For example, the post below provides value first and then subtly introduces their product:

If all you’re doing is spamming your products or telling people to buy, chances are you’ll be booted from the community fairly quickly.

That will leave a bad mark on your brand image since these communities tend to be so small.

Now, in the example above, take a look at the forum: Shopify Zero Marketing Budget.

It’s a place where eCommerce companies are hanging out which is the perfect target audience for a tool that focuses on influencer marketing.

Since so many Shopify store owners use influencer marketing to help generate buzz and drive sales, by legitimately helping them inside these small communities, SARAL is able to build a brand presence.

When done the right way, though, it doesn’t come across as spammy or promotional.

Take a look at this to see what we mean:

The example above is someone directly selling their services to a niche community.

The post doesn’t come across as spammy or promotional, even though it is a direct sales pitch.

It starts by providing value and then encourages people to connect with him if they want to learn more.

People who reach out to him become leads and then customers.

The community he is posting to is DTC Founders on Facebook, giving him a huge audience to tap into as long as he’s taking a value-first approach.

The key to making this strategy work is identifying the right community before you start.

Take a look at the chart below for some help hints on finding your perfect niche community:

Then, when you find the right community, you’ll want to create value-driven posts.

Check out some of these examples to help get your creative wheels spinning:

• Tech & Startups: “5 Common Pitfalls When Launching Your Tech Startup and How to Avoid Them – would love to hear your thoughts and any lessons learned you might have!”
• Health & Wellness: “Compiled a list of nutrient-dense recipes for busy professionals. Tried incorporating [Your Product] in a few and the results were surprising. Feedback?”
• Beauty & Fashion: “Exploring sustainable fashion trends for 2023. Recently tried out a new eco-friendly fabric for our upcoming line – thoughts on sustainability in fashion?”
• Gaming: “Developed a tool that helps optimize gaming setups for better performance. Tested it on [popular game], here’s what I found. Would love your input!”

Before you jump in and start posting in these communities, though, take some time to read the room.

Figure out what other businesses are doing to generate attention.

Don’t directly copy what they do but dissect their strategy to determine what’s working — then replicate their strategy with your own flare.

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Collaborate with Non-Competing Businesses

One of THE best ways to nail your product launch is through collaboration.

Large companies collaborate with each other on a regular basis.

For instance, Uber and Spotify collaborated to allow riders to play their Spotify playlists during their uber rides.

This collaboration generated a ton of attention for both brands.

Starbucks and Barnes & Noble also collaborated to allow customers to enjoy Starbucks coffee while browsing through books at Barnes & Noble.

This helps enhance their overall shopping experience while ensuring a large audience for new product launches and future collaborations.

Then brands like Graza collaborate with other food brands and chefs all the time.

These types of collaborations help consolidate audiences, introducing new people to one brand while the other brand drives revenue — and vice versa.

These collaborations work for a few different reasons.

First, they increase your credibility when you’re partnering with a more established brand.

Second, they help you broaden your reach into your target audience.

They’re also incredibly cost-effective as both brands tend to share the costs involved.

Finally, people in the audience get added benefits from both businesses.

To get started using this strategy, you want to spend some time thinking about businesses you would be open to collaborating with, and then figuring out if they’re open to collaborating with you.

The best approach to take is to reach out to businesses that aren’t your direct competition.

For instance, if you’re a life coaching company, you could partner with fitness trainers, nutritionists, or professional development workshops.

If you run a lawn mowing or landscaping company, you could partner with gardening stores, outdoor furniture companies, or home improvement services.

You want to ensure that the businesses you’re partnering with share a similar target audience and have similar brand values to your own.

Then you can reach out with your proposal.

It should clearly outline what’s in it for them, such as access to your customer base, shared marketing efforts, or enhanced service offerings.

Doing the leg work and suggesting creative ideas can help increase your conversion rate on these proposals, too.

This could range from co-hosting a webinar, cross-promoting your services, bundling services for a discount, or creating content together that highlights both services.

Send Your Product as a Gift to Influencers

When Graza first introduced its new line of olive oils, it sent out free gifts to influencers.

This strategy led them to completely sell out within the first 24 hours of their launch.

When Gymshark launched, the founder, Ben Francis, would send his products to YouTube fitness athletes that he admired.

No strings attached.

Just sent the products to them as a goodwill gesture.

Then, as the influencers began receiving the products, they started wearing his apparel in their content and people started taking notice.

This is incredibly common for brands today.

There are so many posts from creators and influencers sharing the gifts they’ve received from brands.

If the influencer is already speaking directly to your target audience, you can consider the costs involved with sending them free gifts as an advertising expense.

Many times, this advertising expense is significantly lower than you would spend trying to generate the same amount of attention.

This strategy works so well because the peer influencer already has access to your target audience.

Their audience watches the content they create and listens to the recommendations they make.

Then, as more and more people see your brand and products, it begins creating FOMO (fear of missing out) among the people who didn’t get the product.

This is especially true if you have a truly limited amount of the product available.

You also get the increased social proof that comes from influencers posting about your product.

To leverage the strategy, you don’t just want to randomly send products to people.

Instead, you want to personalize your gift.

You can include a personalized note explaining why you chose them and how you envision your product fitting into their lifestyle.

You’ll want to highlight what’s unique about your product, emphasizing what makes your product special or innovative to help pique their interest.

Finally, share your story and how the product came to be to help establish a connection with the influencer and make them more likely to share it with their audience.

You can see in the example above, the influencer shared the handwritten note included with their gift.

Making your packaging share-worthy helps increase the chances they’ll post about it, too.

With your message, you’ll also want to express gratitude, no strings attached.

Make sure they know you’re sending the product as a token of appreciation for their content with no strings or obligations attached.

Then provide your contact information.

Include your contact details, encouraging them to reach out if they love the product or want to learn more or collaborate in the future.

Finally, make sure you follow the influencer and then engage with their content.

You want to start building a relationship ideally before you start sending your product but definitely after you send it to them.

Launch on Forums Popular for New Products — PH & Kickstarter

To help your next product launch perform even better, you can crowdsource your growth.

Platforms like ProductHunt and Kickstarter are amazing for helping you get the word out.

ButcherBox ran a campaign on Kickstarter for both funding and to raise awareness.

Native Deodorant launched a campaign on ProductHunt and did 50 sales to test the waters.

When they saw the response from the campaign, they built the confidence to begin manufacturing.

Platforms like ProductHunt aren’t just for tech products, either.

You can see the different categories listed below.

With each of these platforms, though, especially if you’re in pre-production or limited on budget, you can start raising awareness quickly — even before you have a product ready to sell.

People who opt into your campaign will help fund the initial production run.

To make this work, you’ll want to give them exclusive bonuses to help incentivize joining the campaign before you have something ready to send them.

Then, once you hit a specific milestone, you can take the earnings from the campaign and enter into your first production run.

By using the other 5 strategies on this list, you can also promote your Kickstarter or ProductHunt campaigns to raise even more awareness and drive even more sales.

The key here, though, is making sure that you’re getting people onto your own email list at some point.

You want to capture the attention that you’re generating so you can use it to fuel your future launches.

ClickFunnels is a great tool for this and makes it simple for you to get up and running.

If you haven’t already used it in your business, click here to start your free 14-day trial now.

Then, put together a landing page and thank you page using our proven, time-tested, high-converting design templates.

Once you have that in place, make sure you’re following up with people who join your list.

You want to keep their attention while you’re working up to your launch so that when you are ready to launch you already have eager people waiting and ready to buy.

Then, work on promoting your products using each strategy in this guide.

When you do, you’ll crush your marketing and take your product launches from flops to sold out.

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Thanks for reading 6 Ways To Crush Marketing For Your New Product which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Have an online course?

Today we are going to discuss how you can increase your sales!

Real Talk: Does Selling an Online Course Even Make Sense at This Point in Time?

Online courses offer an incredible business opportunity: 

They are relatively inexpensive to create, can be delivered to buyers instantly, and have insanely high profit margins. 

However, we would argue that if you have just started your entrepreneurial journey, this business model may not be the best choice for you. Why?

Because you probably haven’t found your niche, validated your offer, and streamlined your methodology yet. 

Moreover, you probably don’t have any social proof, which will make it extremely difficult for you to sell your course because you can’t back up your claims. 

Vanessa Lau went from quitting her corporate job and working for a minimum wage as a barista to making her first million dollars on social media in just a few short years. But how did she do it?

At first, all she knew was that she wanted to become a YouTuber, so she started posting YouTube videos.

Initially, her channel didn’t have a clear direction, but once her video on how to gain Instagram followers went viral, she started making more content about Instagram marketing.

Her subscribers started reaching out to her and asking if she offered one-on-one coaching. At the time, she didn’t have any paid offers, so she saw this as an opportunity to monetize. 

However, given that Vanessa had never coached anyone before, she didn’t feel comfortable charging money right from the get-go.

Instead, she agreed to coach a few people for free in exchange for feedback and a testimonial.

That allowed her to develop her skills as a coach, see what type of results she could deliver consistently, and gather social proof.

Then, once she gained some confidence, she started taking on paid coaching clients and gradually raising her prices.

Eventually, she hit the limits of this business model because she was fully booked with a waitlist of several months. 

That was when she decided to create an online course designed to help other coaches in various niches get clients via Instagram.

At that point, she has done it herself, she has taught a bunch of other people how to do it and she had proof to back it all up.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that her online course was a huge success and she managed to eventually scale her business to $200k – $300k in monthly revenue (over $100k in profit) with just that course alone. 

Vanessa shares her story in this video, where she also advises entrepreneurs to follow the same path from free coaching to paid coaching to selling an online course. 

The most common mistake that we see in the online course space is entrepreneurs setting themselves up for failure by jumping straight into selling courses. 

They see stories like Vanessa’s, get dollar signs in their eyes 🤑, and launch an online course without putting in the work to validate their expertise, gather social proof, and build an audience.

Then they wonder why they aren’t an “overnight success” like Vanessa.

But she wasn’t an “overnight success” either, it took her several years to get to that big course launch.

The reason why she managed to achieve success so fast is because she followed the proper progression of free coaching -> paid coaching -> online course. 

So ask yourself this: is launching an online course the right move for you at this point in time?

If you are just starting out, it might make more sense to:

1. Focus on free coaching for the time being
2. Advance to paid coaching once you feel confident that you can consistently deliver results
3. Eventually, systematize your knowledge, package it into an online course, and start selling it to your audience

This is the fastest path to launching a wildly successful online course!

The Single Most Important Factor that will Determine Your Sales in the Long Run

Let’s say that you do have the expertise, the social proof and the audience. Launching an online course makes sense. But what can you do to make it a success?

Entrepreneurs tend to obsess over product launches. And don’t get us wrong, the launch day is important. But it will come and go. It’s not what will determine your sales in the long run. So what will?

The single most important factor that determines whether a product will be a failure or a success is the product itself. 

Alex Hormozi often emphasizes this point in his social media posts, YouTube videos, and podcast appearances. 

Basically, if you create a truly amazing product that exceeds all expectations, its sales are going to continue increasing as time goes on even if your marketing efforts remain the same. Why?

Because happy customers will start recommending your product to their families, friends, and audiences all on their own, without you having to incentivize them to do so.

And the more people buy your product, the more happy customers you will have, and the more word of mouth will spread, creating a virtuous cycle of ever-increasing sales.

That’s why Hormozi advises taking the time to create a truly exceptional product that your customers will then promote for you. 

We encourage you to heed Hormozi’s advice because what he’s saying is true: your product is the best marketing.

Time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well focus on building a sustainable business instead of chasing quick money. Your future you will be thankful that you decided to play the long game!

The Top 5 Sales Funnels for Selling Online Courses

Okay, so you created an amazing online course, but what’s the best way to sell it?

The answer is simple: sales funnels!

What is a Sales Funnel?

A sales funnel is an automated system designed to convert visitors into leads, leads into customers, and customers into repeat customers. 

The most effective way to sell anything online is to create a sales funnel and then drive traffic to it. 

But there are so many different sales funnels out there. Which one should you use to sell your online course?

Here are some of the options that you might want to consider…

Sales Funnel #1: The Product Launch Funnel

The product launch funnel is a sales funnel designed to help you build a pre-launch email list, create excitement around your upcoming launch, and then launch your product to your email subscribers.

Here’s how the product launch sales funnel structure looks like;

Page 1: Squeeze page where you present your lead magnet and ask the potential customer for their email address in exchange for it.

Page 2: Video #1. Share how you struggled with the same problem that the potential customer is struggling with, explain how you solved that problem, and establish credibility by providing social proof. 

At the end of the video, bring up the objections that the potential customer might have to buying your online course, but instead of addressing them immediately, say that you are going to address them in tomorrow’s video.

Page 3: Video #2. Start the second video by addressing the most common objections.

Then follow that up with more social proof in the form of a case study where you demonstrate how your online course helped someone who meets your dream customer profile get the results that they wanted. The more detailed the case study, the better so make sure to include relevant data such as timeframes, measurements, numbers, etc. 

Finally, end the video by foreshadowing tomorrow’s video, where you will help the potential customer envision how your online course can help make their life better. Your aim should be to pique their curiosity so that they would feel inclined to watch the next video. 

Page 4: Video #3. Encourage the potential customer to take a step back and look at the big picture. How would their lives improve if they bought your online course, went through the whole thing, and took action to implement what they learned? Really help them visualize it.

Just be careful to frame it as what’s possible, not as a guarantee that they will get specific results. Remember that while you can give them all the information they need, it’s up to them what they do with that knowledge. This means that their results are outside of your control. Never make promises that you can’t keep!

Page 5: Video #4. Launch your online course, mention the launch perks (e.g. discounts, bonuses, exclusive content, etc.) that are only available for a limited time and direct the potential customer to your product order page. 

Page 6: Product order page where the potential customer can provide their payment details and finalize the purchase. 

Page 7: Thank you page where you thank the customer for their purchase and explain what steps they need to take next in order to access the course.

This funnel will work best if you are about to launch your product. But what if your launch is still several months away?

In that case, start building your pre-launch email list with a squeeze page funnel or a reverse squeeze page funnel, regularly send your subscribers content designed to get them excited about your upcoming launch (course trailer, sneak-peeks, case studies, etc.) and then use the product launch funnel email sequence to launch your course.

Sales Funnel #2: The Squeeze Page Funnel

The squeeze page funnel is the most popular sales funnel out there. It’s both the easiest to build and the most versatile.

Here’s how its structure looks like:

Page 1: Squeeze page where you present your lead magnet and ask the potential customer for their email address in exchange for it. 

Page 2: Thank you page where you thank the potential customer, explain what they need to do in order to access your lead magnet, and tell them what they can expect from you going forward (e.g. maybe you have a weekly newsletter that you send out every Friday). 

Sales Funnel #3: The Reverse Squeeze Page Funnel

The regular squeeze page funnel and the reverse squeeze page funnel have the exact same structure. So what’s the difference between them?

With the former, you keep all the free value behind the opt-in wall and offer it to the potential customer in exchange for their email address.

With the latter, you provide some free value right there on the squeeze page, no opt-in required. Then, you offer the potential customer more free value in exchange for their email address.

In practice, this typically means displaying a free video on your squeeze page that the potential customer can watch without needing to subscribe to your email list.

You can structure this free video as a sales pitch for your lead magnet: hook the potential customer with an attention-grabbing intro, create an emotional connection by sharing your story, establish credibility by providing social proof and end the video with a call to action encouraging them to get your lead magnet.

Alternatively, you can take the “free sample” approach. 

In that case, the video should provide a solution to a small problem that the potential customer is struggling with that is a part of the larger problem that your lead magnet addresses. 

That way, watching the free video will give them a taste of the value that they can expect from your lead magnet. 

For Example:

Let’s say that you are in the fitness niche and you sell a calisthenics course where you teach advanced skills such as muscle ups, front and back levers, etc.

Your lead magnet is a free online course where you teach basic calisthenic skills such as bodyweight squats, leg raises, dips, push-ups, pull-ups, and so on. 

You can either use the free video to share your calisthenics journey, show off your progress over the years, and get the potential customer excited about your lead magnet.

Or you can give away one of your basic skills lessons, say, the pull-up progression. If they like the quality of that lesson, they will probably want to get your lead magnet. And if they go through your free calisthenics course and then implement what they learned, they will remember you as the person who helped them master the basics. 

Consequently, once they are ready to move to the advanced skills, they will probably consider buying your online course. After all, if you already taught them how to do pull-ups, they will probably go to you if they want to learn muscle-ups next!

The reverse squeeze page funnel can work really well for selling online courses, especially if you teach physical skills that are best taught via video (e.g. working out, cooking, drawing and painting, knitting, etc.)!

Sales Funnel #4: The Webinar Funnel

The webinar funnel is a sales funnel where you use a webinar as a lead magnet. 

Here’s how its structure looks like:

Page 1: Webinar registration page where you explain what your webinar is about and encourage the potential customer to register for the event by providing their email address. 

Page 2: Registration confirmation page where you let the potential customer know that they have successfully registered for your webinar and that you will send them reminder emails 24 hours, 1 hour, and 15 minutes before the event.

Page 3: Webinar page where the potential customer can either attend the event live or watch the recording. You can introduce an element of scarcity here by making the playback available for a limited amount of time only, say, 72 hours. This should help you get more people to actually watch it. 

Page 4: Your online course sales page where the potential customer can buy your online course. 

The webinar itself should last around one hour:

• 45-minute presentation
• 15-minute sales pitch

In your presentation you should provide a solution to a problem that the potential customer is struggling with. Ideally, that problem should be a part of a larger problem that you address in your online course.

Say, if you have an online course about dating, you can create a webinar where you teach people how to optimize their dating profiles. 

Some of the attendees will watch it and will be so impressed by your presentation that they will go and purchase your course immediately to get more dating advice. 

Others won’t be ready to buy yet but will still walk away with a bunch of actionable tips. And if they implement what they learned and see measurable results (an increase in matches on dating apps), they will probably consider investing in your course!

We have noticed that entrepreneurs who are new to doing webinars often struggle with the transition from the presentation to the sales pitch. 

That’s why we recommend using this script at the end of the presentation part of your webinar:

“So now I’d like to offer you guys something that I’m really excited about. It’s something that I think is going to change tons of lives and businesses for the better. But I don’t want to do it without your permission. If you guys want to learn more about [PRODUCT/SERVICE] then just type “Yes” in the chat bar.”

If you provided a lot of value in your presentation, they will probably want to hear about your online course.

However, if the attendees don’t seem interested, you can make one last attempt using this script:

“Okay. Well I don’t want to take up too much of your time. But I really think this is going to be a game-changer for you. Is it okay if I just spend 10 minutes showing you this offer I put together?”

If they still aren’t interested, simply thank them for attending your webinar and end the event. Awkward! 😬

Their lack of interest in hearing about your offer is valuable feedback in and of itself, though. Your presentation probably isn’t valuable enough. 

This means that you either need to improve the existing presentation or create a new one that’s better. 

While the webinar funnel can be automated, we don’t recommend doing so right from the get-go. 

Our co-founder Russell Brunson advises doing webinars live at least once a week for an entire year.

The reason why doing webinars live is so important is that it allows you to test various ideas, get immediate feedback from the audience, and gradually optimize your webinar for maximum conversions through trial and error.

Once you are sure that you have an amazing webinar that resonates with your target audience, you can create a pre-recorded version of it and automate your funnel.

Of course, if you decide to go this route, make it clear to the attendees that this is a pre-recorded webinar and adjust the script accordingly (e.g. drop the aforementioned transition to the sales pitch that relies on the audience’s response). 

Remember that the whole point of the webinar is to build trust so misleading the attendees into believing that this is a live event would beat the purpose.

The webinar funnel can work really well for selling online courses, especially if you teach something that is easy to convey in a presentation format (e.g. dating advice, career advice, business advice, etc.)!

Sales Funnel #5: Squeeze Page Funnel + Webinar Funnel

You can also take it to the next level by:

1. Building a squeeze page funnel
2. Building a webinar funnel
3. Combining them

Here’s how the structure of this combined funnel looks like:

Page 1: Squeeze page where you present your lead magnet and ask the potential customer for their email address in exchange for it. 

Page 2: Thank you page where you thank the potential customer, explain how they can access your lead magnet and invite them to your webinar.

Page 3: Webinar registration page where the potential customer can sign up for the event. You already have their email address, so you don’t need to ask for it again. Simply display the event information and a registration button.

Page 4: Registration confirmation page where you let them know that they have successfully registered for the event and that you will be sending them email reminders 24 hours, 1 hour, and 15 minutes before the event.

Page 5: Webinar page where they can attend the event live or watch the replay. 

Page 6: Your online course sales page where the attendees can purchase your course.

This combined sales funnel is likely to be more effective than either the squeeze page funnel or the webinar funnel alone. Why?

Because it allows you to provide more value and therefore build more trust before pitching your online course. And trust is the most important factor when it comes to closing sales!

Five Marketing Strategies that can Help You Get More Traffic

Okay, so now that you have built a sales funnel for your online course, it’s time to start driving traffic to it. But what’s the best way to do that?

There’s no one “best” marketing strategy because it all depends on your skills, resources, and assets. 

Here’s a quick overview of five popular marketing strategies that you can use to promote your lead magnet:

Marketing Strategy #1: Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the easiest way to get traffic if you don’t have much of a marketing budget to speak of.

Set up a webinar funnel and then start reaching out to people whose audiences overlap with your target audience.

Pitch them on an affiliate partnership where they promote your webinar to their audiences and then you split the proceeds once the event is over.

Marketing Strategy #2: Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is another great way to get traffic without having to spend money. However, unlike affiliate marketing, it’s a long game, so don’t expect immediate results.

You can build a social media following on any platform for free by consistently posting high-quality content and interacting with your followers to create engagement. That’s pretty much all there is to it.

The catch is that it will probably take you at least 12-18 months of work to reach the point where your audience growth starts gaining momentum. 

Marketing Strategy #3: YouTube Marketing

YouTube marketing is another long game that can pay off handsomely if you keep at it.

It’s probably best suited for those who already have video production and post-production skills and have access to the equipment needed for filming.

Alternatively, it can also work well for those who can afford to outsource video production and post-production. 

Either way, just like with social media marketing, it will probably take you at least 12-18 months of work until your audience growth starts gaining momentum.

Marketing Strategy #4: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is yet another long game that requires consistency over an extended period of time.

But it’s more challenging to generate traffic this way than with social media marketing or YouTube marketing. Why?

Because everyone is competing for the same ten spots on the first page of Google. In fact, merely reaching the first page may not be enough because the top three search results get the majority of the clicks!

Moreover, there’s this popular misconception that search engine optimization is all about creating high-quality content. 

While it’s true that great content is the foundation of SEO, you also need to build backlinks to it if you want it to stand a chance of ranking for its target keyword. In practice, this means reaching out to other websites in similar niches via cold email and doing guest posts for them in exchange for 1-2 backlinks per post.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. It’s still possible to build a niche blog, you just need to understand what it will take and be prepared to go the distance. 

If you are willing to put in the work – both in terms of content creation and in terms of link building – you should start seeing results within 12-18 months. 

Marketing Strategy #5: Social Media Advertising

We highly recommend investing in social media advertising if you can afford it. It’s the single fastest way to validate your lead magnet.

However, it’s important to understand that if you have never run ads before, you will inevitably end up losing money until you learn the ropes.

We recommend using the agile marketing approach: come up with an idea for an ad campaign designed to promote your lead magnet, create a minimum viable version of it, and start running it with a minimum viable daily budget.

Your campaign probably won’t be profitable right from the get-go but you might be able to get it to profitably by optimizing it with A/B testing. Experiment with the color scheme, visuals, and copy of your ads until you discover what works best.

If you find yourself in a situation where you have tried a bunch of different things but you can’t figure out how to make your ad campaign profitable then it’s entirely possible that the problem isn’t the ads, it’s your lead magnet.

You may need to test several lead magnet ideas until you find one that resonates with your dream customers. Don’t feel disheartened, that’s completely normal.

Also, once you find a winning lead magnet idea and get your ad campaign to profitability, don’t go crazy with scaling. 

Ad campaigns don’t always scale linearly and might stop working somewhere along the way. It’s best to scale gradually just to be safe.

We recommend starting with one social media platform first, getting your ad campaign to profitability and then scaling it as much as possible.

Once you feel that you have mastered paid advertising on that platform, you can begin expanding to other platforms one by one, repeating the same process on each of them.

Use Marketing to Promote Your Lead Magnet!

The purpose of marketing is to drive traffic to the first page of your sales funnel so that you could then convert those visitors into email subscribers.

That’s why you should use the marketing strategies we have just discussed to promote your lead magnet. And make sure that it’s immediately obvious to potential customers that your offer is FREE!

We understand that when you have a paid product to sell, this idea of promoting your free offer instead might seem counterintuitive, especially if you are spending money on ads. 

You can easily test both methods to see which one works better: 

1. Set up one ad campaign designed to promote your lead magnet and drive traffic to your sales funnel.
2. Set up another ad campaign designed to promote your online course and drive traffic to its sales page. 
3. Let both campaigns run with the same budget and then compare the results. Which one generated more sales?

We are confident that you will learn that our approach is more effective! 

Want to Learn How to Build Sales Funnels That CONVERT? 

Our co-founder Russell Brunson used sales funnels to take ClickFunnels from zero to $100M+ in annual revenue in less than a decade.

He is now widely considered to be one of the top sales funnel experts in the world. Want to learn from him?

His best-selling book “DotCom Secrets” is the best place to start because it covers everything you need to know in order to build sales funnels that convert.

This book is available on Amazon where it has over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.

But you can also get it directly from us for free…

All we ask is that you pay for shipping!

So what are you waiting for? 🧐

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

Thanks for reading 5 Strategies To Market Your Online Course And Increase Sales which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

You’ve heard it before. All of it. And you’ve had it up to here. People shouting from the rooftops. All of them claiming they can teach you how to make money online. You’ve read all of the same suggestions. Promote this. Market that. Make money fast. In your sleep. Without lifting a finger. None of them work because you’ve tried them all before. Right?

You’re a non-believer. I get that. You’re frustrated. Upset. After all, you’re tired of chasing money. You’re sick of not having money at the end of each month. And nothing you try seems to work. Ever. But hear me out for a moment. Maybe you’ve tried to make money selling online courses. Maybe you haven’t. Either way, there is no denying that we are in the midst of a revolution in online learning.

The knowledge and the wisdom you have right now inside of your brain can be unlocked. And it can be used to make money online. A lot of it. Yes, even in your sleep. Why? Because online courses are always available. Always selling. Generating passive income like clockwork. It’s like having a small army of workers selling for you every moment of every day. When you properly structure how you market your online courses the right way, so much is possible.

So how do you do it? How can you actually make money by creating powerful little online courses? Is there some secret strategy to this? And where do you sell your online course once you create it? What platform do you use? Do you create the course on your website or do you use one of the popular education platforms to sell your course?

How to Make Money Selling Online Courses

Most people think they need to be experts to create online courses that actually make money. They think they need specialized knowledge in sizzling-hot industries like web development. While that can help it’s not absolutely necessary when you understand a few things. Most people approach online courses the wrong way. They pick a topic, build a course, and cross their fingers hoping it will sell once it’s done.

That’s not how you approach this. Instead of picking a topic, you must pick a problem. And you must know the person (or avatar) who is struggling with this problem (aka your dream customer). Let me explain it this way. There are so many categories and industries where people need help learning a skill. Let’s say you pick time management. That’s a broad topic, right? You could build an entire course around time management. Will it sell? Probably not.

Instead of picking a broad topic. Find a problem that people struggle with and niche down. Instead of training people on how to manage their time, you could niche down to time management for salespeople. But that’s not enough. You need to go further. Time management for high-ticket insurance sales? Time management for high-ticket life insurance sales?

The further you niche down a couple of things happen. The first is that you can charge more money. Meaning that you will make more money selling your online courses when you get more specific about the problem. An online course on time management might sell for $37. If you’re lucky that is. And it won’t sell much. But an online course specifically designed for high-ticket life insurance salespeople? $1997? $2997? $3997? There is just so much more potential here to make money.

How to Build an Online Course

There are two ways to approach your online course. There’s the lazy way and the hard way. Both will make you money. But the hard way will make you much more money. It’s okay if you want to make money the lazy way. There’s nothing wrong with that. You’ll still need to do work. When I say lazy I don’t mean that it’ll be effortless. It will just be far less effort than the alternative.

The reason? Because when you choose the lazy way there’s less marketing involved. The lazy way relies on existing platforms to do the selling for you. Those platforms may heavily discount your course. That’s okay when you have tens of thousands of sales. But most never reach that point. The truth is that it’s much easier to sell one course for $997 than it is to sell one hundred online courses for $9.97.

That’s why if you’re serious about making money with online courses you must build the online course and have full control over it. That means you need to set up the course using software specifically designed to build and sell online courses. But the cool part is that you don’t need to be technical. There’s no coding or advanced tech skills involved. And you can use premade templates with a drag-and-drop editor.

Once you build the online course, your work isn’t done. You need to start marketing it if you’re serious about making sales. That’s the part that most people struggle with. So how do you actually make money by marketing your online courses? There are hundreds of ways to approach this. But only some of those ways actually work fast enough to count.

Start Building Your Online Course Today

1. Build a Lead Magnet

Creating an online course is not enough. If you want to make money selling that online course, you must bring people into your world. To do that you need to create a powerful lead magnet. What’s a lead magnet? It’s a valuable piece of content that comes in many forms. So what makes it different? Lead magnets are given away for free in exchange for a person’s contact details.

Building a lead magnet doesn’t happen in a silo. It’s part of a larger lead generation funnel. That lead generation funnel has a landing page that must create enough curiosity for a person to want your lead magnet. How? By writing a powerful headline that targets the main problem (pain point) the prospect is struggling with.

Lead magnets are built around a particular problem. Think of it as an extension of your online course. Your online course solves a problem in an in-depth way. Your lead magnet solves a problem in a summarized way. Even if your lead magnet has the same content as your online course but summarized, it will still deliver value. And people will want to get the full version to dive deeper with you.

Lead Magnets Help Sell Your Online Course

Most think that if they give away the farm with a free lead magnet no one will pay for the thing that they’re selling. And that is absolutely not true. The lead magnet builds reciprocity. Reciprocity just means that you feel indebted to the person giving you value and you want to return the favor. It’s simply human nature.

That’s why supermarkets give away free food. It’s not because they’re feeling generous or being altruistic. There’s a reason why they’re doing it for free. They know that most people who try it and like it will buy it. Same concept. Different format. You may also see a free 5-minute massage in a shopping mall. That’s their form of a lead magnet. Once they start, they know you’ll continue because you feel indebted to them.

Your goal is to create a lead magnet so good that you feel uncomfortable giving it away for free. That’s how you’ll eventually make a lot of money with your online course. It will feel strange to you. Because you have to put in all this work creating a lead magnet and then give it away for free. But trust the process. And do not avoid doing this.

Your lead magnet should live in a lead generation funnel. You can build that lead generation funnel as a squeeze page or a reverse squeeze page. Squeeze pages are designed to extract contact details by providing the free lead magnet in exchange for their information. A reverse squeeze page provides the value upfront before asking for contact details. Reverse squeeze pages typically result in a higher-quality lead.

2. YouTube Marketing

YouTube is a great way to promote your online course. Simply build free content on YouTube and post those videos. Then turn them into YouTube shorts because those get many more views. The YouTube Shorts will also propel the standard-format videos to do better. What type of videos should you create for free? Videos that tackle the problem your online course targets.

The videos should provide solutions to part of the problem. Again, the YouTube videos are free. And if they’re good they create reciprocity. But they also create authority. Meaning that the prospect who consumed that content and received value from it, now perceives you with authority. That just means they respect you as someone knowledgeable in that field.

Inside your description should be a link to your online course. It should be a trackable link. This way, you know how many people clicked it and how much traffic is flowing through your YouTube content. Take the lessons from your course and recreate them or repurpose them for YouTube. Make the content clear and engaging if you want to succeed.

3. Do a Product Launch

If you have an existing email list you can do a product launch to promote your course. If you don’t have an existing list, you can build one using a lead generation funnel and a powerful lead magnet. Product launches work best when you have an audience. If you don’t have one, then this approach may not be the best for you.

Product launches are the brainchild of Jeff Walker who created the Product Launch Formula. This formula popularized the approach of a 4-day launch. Each day drips valuable video and information to the prospect teasing the launch. On the fourth day, the cart opens for a short period. People are informed that there are only so many spots or so much time to sign up and purchase the offer.

This creates both scarcity and urgency. You can use the product launch formula to roll your online course out and sell it to an existing audience. If you don’t have an existing audience, you can get out there and build one. You can also load the product launch formula on the back of a lead generation funnel and run paid traffic to that.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliates are a powerful way to make money from your online courses. However, signing up affiliates to sell your course relies primarily on your relationships. If you have existing relationships with top affiliates, then you’re ahead of the game. Onboarding affiliates shouldn’t be too difficult. Especially when you build your online course with our software.

However, even if you have no relationships with top affiliates, you can still succeed with affiliate marketing for your course. All you need to do is convince at least one top affiliate with a large audience to promote your course. But that’s not going to happen unless you have a proven track record. Why? Because top affiliates get to pick and choose what they promote. And they always go with either a person that they know, like and trust, or a course with a proven record of sales.

If you don’t know affiliates you can use the Dream 100 Strategy. In The Ultimate Sales Machine, Chet Holmes introduced the concept of the Dream 100 as a way for small businesses to form partnerships with larger companies. However, it was later popularized by Russell Bruson as a way to target dream relationships in business. These are people with existing audiences or established entrepreneurs whom you would love to partner with.

5. Content Marketing

Although content marketing isn’t the fastest way to make money selling online courses, it is a powerful way to approach it when done right. Content marketing means you’re creating content around the problem and the online course. That content is picked up organically by search engines like Google, Bing, and others.

You do content marketing in many places. But you should first ensure that your online course is hosted on a domain you own so that you can control the marketing. Build that online course using easy-to-use software like ours. Then, you can build content using the same software around the problem that your online course solves.

Build content on your domain but also build content away from your domain. Use popular websites to build that content such as Medium, Quora, and Reddit. Push and promote the original content. Although this doesn’t lead to overnight course purchasers, it will eventually lead to organic sales. After all, that’s the best kind of traffic because it’s highly relevant and you don’t have to pay for it.

6. Webinars

Webinars are a great way to make money selling online courses especially when your courses have high-ticket prices. Webinars are an ideal way to sell things that are $997 and up. They work by breaking and rebuilding false beliefs. People have false beliefs about many things. And those false beliefs stand in the way of the sale.

False beliefs come in many shapes and forms. People harbor false beliefs about products or services without even knowing it. Those false beliefs stand in the way of the sale. Maybe they’ve had similar experiences with online courses that didn’t pan out. And they’ll subconsciously equate your course with that one because of their false beliefs.

People also harbor internal false beliefs. Meaning that even if they believe your online course could help solve the problem, they don’t think they’re personally capable of doing it. Maybe they’re not smart enough, skilled enough, hard-working enough, or something else. They also harbor external false beliefs. They might think even if they’re capable of something, time or money will get in their way.

If you want to learn more about how webinars work, check out the Perfect Webinar Blueprint here. You should also grab a copy of Expert Secrets to understand exactly how to build webinars the right way to make money as fast as possible by selling your online courses. There is a way specific structure for building the webinar to maximize your chances for success.

7. Paid Ads

Paid ads are a surefire way to make money with your online courses. However, paid ads should only be run to a front-end offer such as a lead generation funnel or a webinar funnel. This way, you can maximize your chances of converting browsers into buyers. And even if they don’t buy, you can ensure that you build your email list.

Paid ads bring people into your world through powerful funnels. Without a funnel, you’re throwing money away. Funnels help you make money by gaining someone’s awareness and converting it to interest. It then moves them through other stages that create desire and help the prospect take action. That means either filling out the lead form, an application, or buying the thing that you’re selling.

Before you start running paid ads, ensure that you understand what you’re doing. Start with top-of-funnel ads to build awareness. Then continue using ads and email marketing to move those people down through the funnel and eventually towards the action you intend them to take. There are so many facets to paid ads. But this is a great way to turn on the faucet for sales very fast.

8. Facebook Groups

When you understand your dream customer and who they are, you can find them in Facebook Groups. Facebook Groups are a goldmine. They offer tremendous untapped potential. But they must be tapped the right way. Not by spamming or requesting endless friends. You must approach Facebook Groups from the angle of giving. Meaning that you must give value first.

When people see you giving value inside of a group, it creates reciprocity. They feel somehow indebted to you for helping them. And they naturally become curious about who you are. They’ll click on your profile to get a quick summary. That’s why it’s important to maintain a professional profile with information about who you are and what you do.

You must give without the expectation of things in return. If you don’t seem authentic, this strategy won’t make you money and it won’t help you sell your online courses. But when done the right way, it can turn your Facebook profile into a lead-generating machine. Yes, it is that powerful. Especially when you target the right Facebook Groups.

9. Social Media Marketing

Social media is one of the most powerful organic marketing methods. It’s fast and it’s free. All the world is connected on social media and you can create an audience of millions of people in a short period. Yes, it takes hard work. But it’s by far the best and fastest way you can sell online courses beyond running paid ads.

So how do you use social media marketing to make money selling more courses? You must build an audience in a specific niche. It must be related to your online course if you want to supercharge sales. Focus on all the objections people have. Go in-depth with videos. And make sure that your social media profile has a link to your lead generation funnel or even a hero funnel.

A hero funnel is similar to a lead generation funnel. Except that it doesn’t always rely on a lead magnet. Sometimes it can be used to simply join your list or your newsletter to bring people into your world. It then delivers some form of value. That can be a video with some information about you, social proof, and so on. It can also be used to get people to follow you across all your social media accounts.

10. Pinterest

Many people sleep on Pinterest. They don’t think it can help them sell more online courses. But it can. Pinterest is a massive search engine with a wide organic reach. And by posting relevant images and using Pinterest the right way you can extend your organic reach and sell more courses. You can use Pinterest for marketing in a few different ways.

The first way is to create simple Image Pins. Image Pins are seen all over Pinterest and they’re very popular. But you must approach it the right way with beautiful graphics. You can hire someone on Fiverr to help you or even use Upwork or Freelancer. Create beautiful pins with optimized descriptions and hashtags that point to your content.

The other types of pins are video pins, product pins and rich pins. Video pins are powerful and can be used to push people into your lead funnel or even to webinars. Product pins can be used to sell products. Rich pins update when a page updates with information such as pricing and other details. But the focus to sell more online courses should be on Image Pins and Video Pins.

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