Marketing & Cocktails

Episode #14 Autumn Pimms Cup

[00:00:00] Terrica: Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts. Terrica Strozier, that's me a brand designer and sugar addict and Vanessa Shepherd, launch strategist and content creator. With a love of all things Disney. Each week, you'll hear our behind the scenes conversations and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer a product while doing it all ethically and organically.

And giving that bro marketer advice the booth. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Welcome to episode 14 of the marketing & cocktails podcast. And we have another cocktail hour guys. So today's episode, I have done a spin on the traditional parents cup. We are a segway digging into what is really fall for most of the country, but as 2020 has already set the pace to be a truly odd year in Georgia.

[00:01:00] It's just starting to get just a wee bit cold. And when I say cold, I mean, we finally got the low 50's at night. For like a week or two. So, but anyhow, I decided that I wanted to do a fall version of a traditional Pimms cup. So for people who are not aware of Pimm's, Pimm's is a gin-based liqour that was originally created to be a digestive, like basically to help with your digestion.

This was back in the 1800s. So. I also figured out that the liqueur is named, was it the name of it is Pimm's, but it's Pimms number one, because the original creator of Pimms used to serve in a small tanker known as a number one cup. And so that's how it got the name Pimm's cup. And the liqueur is, labeled Pimm's number one.

[00:02:00] So. At one of my favorite, local restaurants here in Atlanta. Well, it's outside of Atlanta in Decatur. It's called, No. 246. They had this, Oh my gosh. Amazing. autumn take on a Pimm's cup. And that was the first time I ever had it. And I was like, this is so good. Eventually I have to make my own version.

So I wanted it to be simple and I didn't want it to be like really, really complicated or take a lot of, different bakers and look cores and bitters and all that jazz. because sometimes you just want like an easy to make comforting type recipe. So Pimm's cup is normally made with a combination, of lemon juice, ginger ale, and then some people even add in like cucumber and mint, like really refreshing AHS, usually served during the summer.

And as a fun [00:03:00] fact, it's the favorite cooler at Wilmington. So. I tried it originally, how it was meant to be served. And I did it with lemonade and some ginger real, and it's really nice, super simple, really refreshing, easy cocktail. But I, my brain started turning and I said, how can I take an out and twist on this?

So one of my favorite drinks. Especially during the fall is Apple cider. I love, love, love Apple cider. I have made my own at home. I, if I'm on a run, I'll stop at Starbucks and get the, they don't call it Apple cider. What is it called? It's like steamed Apple juice with their cinnamon Dolce syrup in it and a little whipped cream.

Oh, so, so, so, so good. So I said, how can I combine these two? So I came up with my autumn [00:04:00] Tim's club. So what it consists of is, okay, I use an unfiltered Apple juice. I went to my local grocery store here, which is Kroger and they had their own brand and it's a honey crisp Apple. I could not find any Apple cider.

I guess everyone has the same idea that I had. And. All the Apple cider was gone. So this is the closest, you can also use, just a pure Apple juice. You want to get that? Just like. Clean flavor of it. So it consists of Apple juice, pamphlet core. Then I add a orange core and you can literally find any orange, little core that's in your local liquor store.

there's a few brands that go by like P street. You can do a contrary. All I found a French orange little core. And it was really, really good. So that's what I used. And then I decided, okay, [00:05:00] like I said, one of my favorite drinks is the one that Starbucks and they use a cinnamon, Dolce syrup. I found a, homemade version of that and I've made it before and it's good.

But I said, how can I elevate this? What makes me think of fall? And I was like, Ooh, warm spices. Okay. So how can we get those warm spices in a drink? And then I thought, Oh, my other favorite thing, chai tea, and the spicier the better. So I made a chai spiced, simple syrup, and that includes. I did have bound sugar, have white sugar, nutmeg, all spice, cinnamon steaks, ginger peppercorn, Carmen, and, and guys.

Oh, it's so good. So spicy with the sweetness. It's it's perfect. So. What you do is you can just literally mix it yeah. In a shaker, or you can build it in a tall glass with ice. So [00:06:00] you're going to do ice. You're going to add four to five ounces of the Apple juice, an ounce and a half of the pencil core. A half an ounce to an ounce of the orange, the core, depending on how much, orange flavor you like orange and Apple pear really well.

So that's why, I added that. and then a apps and a half of the chai, simple syrup. You can also sub in a cinnamon, simple syrup as well. If you just don't want to go, through. Through the painstaking, think of making your own simple syrup or you can't find the ingredients for, a cinnamon, simple syrup can be easily found in most stores.

if you go by the coffee section and just like buy one of the, a simple syrups that they include there, and then you just shade, or if you're mixing and tall glass, take a tall spoon and swirl guys. Really easy, really refreshing. I also added did a different version and I added about a half an ounce to an ounce of bourbon.

And that was really good as well. [00:07:00] Now what really took it over the top is I said, let's make this and hot toddy version. So I warmed up. the Apple juice, you can steam it on the stove, however you prefer. And then you're going to build everything in it. So you're going to steam the Apple juice. adding the orange lip core out in the chest space and adding the pencil core.

And that is really tasty. And if you're not, if you try a Pimm's and you're not a big fan, you can literally make this a hot toddy version, take out the pencil core and then just do the Apple juice, the orange, the court that the simple syrup and bourbon or a whiskey or a rum and guys. Oh, so good. So comforting just feels like home in a cup.

So I hope you enjoy this. guys, we are on the cups of Thanksgiving. this would be a really great, drink to serve if you're having some adults there. and [00:08:00] if not, then just take, A nice evening and make the high tidy version and curl up on the sofa with a good book. a furry friend, even the human variety, they work too.

Thanks for listening. Y'all you can find the show notes at she's got vision.com/podcast. If you've enjoyed what you've heard today, please leave a review and subscribe to the podcast. And because word of mouth is still the best marketing Avenue. Please tell a friend to share it. If you do, don't forget to tag us as she's got vision on all platforms until the next time y'all were wishing you much success.

And remember, there's always time for cocktails.

Episode #13 - Essentials to a Solid Marketing Foundation

[00:00:00] Terrica: Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts, Terrica Strozier, that's me a brand designer and sugar addict and Vanessa Shepherd, launch strategist and content creator. With a love of all things Disney. Each week, you'll hear, our behind the scenes conversations and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer a product while doing it all ethically and organically.

And giving that bro marketer advice the booth. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Welcome to episode 13 of the marketing and cocktails podcast. Today's podcast is all about the essential keys to a solid marketing foundation. A solid foundation is essential to the growth of your business. So today we've decided to give you a few tips and tricks to just strengthen the foundation of your business.

So if marketing has been on your to-do list for awhile, take a listen.

Vanessa: So we're back with some [00:01:00] marketing foundation chit chat about all the things. That you kind of need to have to have an awesome, solid foundation for your business and all the things that you really need to be reassessing and fine tuning as you go. So the cool part about creating a business is that it is always going to keep evolving.

You're always going to have to be making sure that you were kind of coming in and looking at everything and how it's working, where it's not working and adjusting it just because you have. Something today, whether it's a product or a service that isn't selling doesn't mean that you're not on the right track or you're not on the right vein.

It just means that maybe it's not reaching enough people or maybe your messaging is a little off, or maybe the people that you thought would vibe with it. Aren't actually the right people. And some other group is going to vibe with it instead. So we're going to kind of cover some of the essential marketing foundations and then talk a little bit about, even how to like, look at fine tuning some of those pieces as you go as well.

So [00:02:00] one of the big things you've probably already heard about, and you're going to keep hearing about if you're in the online business space is a sales funnel. that's something that. There's some people out there that they say, you, you know, you have a bajillion funnels and you do this really, all you need is one, one way to get people in and to get people converting from somebody that's just viewing you on the outside to actually signing up for your email list to actually purchasing your product.

However, that is what ever that is. Whether it's a product you're selling our service, you're selling. So a funnel is basically just. A flow of how you attract a lead, turn them into a prospect and finally turn them into a customer. So it's basically a process of gaining awareness, enticing those people to sign up for your list and then nurturing the relationship so that those people will become lifelong customers.

And the reason why we use a funnel is that it starts [00:03:00] out, as a way, just to demonstrate the fact that you have to put yourself out there. And that you have to get people aware of your brand. think of like the shoes that you buy, the brand, you chose, you chose it because you became aware of the brand and then you became aware of the product and the features and how it could benefit you.

You knew what your needs were and you made that final purchase because it checked all those boxes on your list. So a funnel is basically going to help people do the exact same thing with whatever that you're selling. It's kind of a, a flow of a way to get leads in, get the leads, learning about you.

Seeing him as the expert, seeing him as somebody with the right solutions to help them solve their problems. And eventually they're going to basically buy your product because they see that you are able to help them in solving this specific problem.

Terrica: Yeah. I always look at funnels as just the direct implementation of a [00:04:00] customer journey.

So if you look at super simply, I want someone to walk into, I'm going to say, even if you don't have a real store, is it if you have a brick and mortar, but we're going to have like give a digital store or a digital storefront. I want people walking in. I want them to feel this way. As soon as they come in, they're like excited.

You know, the lighting's amazing, the music, the ambiance something catches their eye, whatever. Then I want them to direct to like this product I have, maybe it's the clothes. And then they pick up the clothes and then they're like, Oh, this is amazing. And then you like brought that up. But then while there, you know, Picking up a little clothes that intrigued them, the sales person comes along and says, Oh, Hey, you liked this sweater.

Gorgeous. Did you see the pair of pants that are looking at amazing with it? You know? And then now you have digitally, you have an upsale, but in a regular store, you would have a sales person telling you, you know, something else that [00:05:00] will boost up what you've already chosen or what you already purchased because you came in there with this need.

And so now. Hopefully along the way, by the time someone gets to the register and they walk out, they have this full, complete outfit, even though they came in thinking that all I needed was a sweater. And then now they feel amazing. And they're like, everybody used to go to said store because they help you get the complete op outfit.

You just don't need this sweater. They don't tackle one thing. They tackle everything. And now I feel amazing about myself. I have like all these options mean you can do this with a service or product. To me, that's how my brain sees funnels because funnels can get really complicated and convoluted and all of that jazz.

And my brain is like simple, simple, simple, simple, simple. How can I make what I want people to feel? And then put it into a way that is application. And then on the tail end, we both get what we need.

Vanessa: Exactly. And we [00:06:00] can't stress enough that what you're doing in your marketing, what you're doing with, you know, running a promotion, running a launch, creating a product, creating a service.

It doesn't have to be complicated. It can be really, really simple. And actually when things are simple, they're more effective. because they they're eight people are able to just glom on. They're not, they're going to be less overwhelmed because there's not a ton of things going on. they're going to be able to kind of hop into something and be really clear, really fast on what it is you do and how you can help them.

And the simpler things are. The better it is for you now over time. What started out as one, one simple thing , you might, eventually expand some way of like maybe getting awareness or expand the process a little bit. That's okay. Because it's not going to, over-complicate what you're doing.

It's just going to like accent what you're doing. It's like throwing a scarf on top of an already awesome outfit. What we need to get you to in your marketing is having that already awesome [00:07:00] outfit, which is like the core of your business. So to go with a sales funnel, you definitely need an email so that you can do email marketing.

And this is something that you're not going to run out of your Google inbox. Please do not do that. So you're going to need an email list service kind of like ConvertKit, which is what we use or like Flodesk. Oh, it's basically a service that allows you to collect people's email addresses when they sign up for an opt-in.

And it allows you to email them on mass, something like your ordinary email service provider. Like your Gmail is only designed to send emails to a few people at a time when you need to email hundreds of people at a time, you need to use a special service so that your emails actually get priority. And they're not treated like spam.

Terrica: Yes. Yes, guys. I've, I've been behind the scenes at a business who ran like this, like no joke. Everything was in Gmail. We used to send, or [00:08:00] I used to send emails to 200, plus people blind, copied as groups. The issue, then what you get is the deliverability there's people who are like, I never got your email and never showed up.

Then what you get is from Google is. Oh, sent at this point, essentially 600 emails in a day, and then they penalize you and you can't send anymore. Yeah. And then you wait too, like you're out of Google jail, email jail, and it's like, you're free to go. Don't do it again. Watch out. And then what we go do we do it again.

And this is revolving cycle. When you have an email service. There's no limit. I mean, you can email 10,000 people at a time and they take a while you won't get it done instantly, it may take an hour. It may take, you know, whatever the service is, maybe 30 minutes and maybe it's dripped [00:09:00] out for a couple of hours because it's such a massive amount of emails, but you don't get penalized about that.

So please guys, don't conduct your email marketing from Gmail and groups. Lesson learned.

Vanessa: Yeah, the other great part about using a service like convert kit is that you get data built in. So if you think about your, your Gmail inbox, you have no idea. If your email say, if it was delivered, if it was opened, but an email marketing provider will allow you to see things like your email open rate.

Or the email link click-through rates, how many people are hitting the unsubscribe button, how many people are actual

Episode # 12 – All About Pinterest

[00:00:00]

Terrica: Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts, Terrica Strozier, that's me a brand designer and sugar attic and Vanessa Shepherd, launch strategist and content creator and  lover of all things Disney. Each week, you'll hear our behind the scenes conversation and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer or product while doing it all ethically and organically.

And given that bro marketer advice, the book. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Welcome to episode 12 of the marketing and cocktails podcast. Today's podcast is all about Pinterest. We are going to talk about the full gambit on Pinterest today from why you should be on Pinterest. If you're not already to Pinterest ads, Pinterest strategy, how I got started on Pinterest and how I started with five monthly viewers and so much more.

So if you're ready to dive in. Take a listen.

All right, guys. All about Pinterest and where. I wouldn't say where it should be your next step. If it's not already in your repertoire right now,

Vanessa: Most people's audiences are on Pinterest. Take, for example, we've had, we've had one client say that their, their audience can't be on Pinterest.

I love when people assume, never assume, never assume it makes you donkey. So this, this [00:02:00] person, they target other people who are in the wedding industry and the travel industry kind of as a whole. So they're targeting travel agents and they're targeting wedding planners and event planners and people who want to get into the wedding space.

And they think that their audience isn't active on Pinterest when the opposite is actually true travel agents. I've picked up on Pinterest really, really, well over the last couple of years, especially. They've kind of gotten a little bit more online savvy. They're popping online more. They're starting to blog more share social media content about, you know, fun vacations photos there people have submitted.

it's actually really crazy to see how many travel agents have globbed onto it and hopped on Pinterest and are actually driving traffic for their local business or their online travel agency. Through Pinterest. It is a long game, but they've invested in it for the long game. And in telling these clients, this they're there, they were kind of like a little bit skeptical, but over time, they're starting [00:03:00] to see that that's kind of the way to move.

but at the same as the wedding industry, like it's not just brides on there. It's people who are within the wedding industry as a whole people who are thinking about getting in, like maybe. It's the, it's the mom who  uses Pinterest to plan her kids, parties now. But when she sends those kids to school, she's like, you know, I have the, all the skills that I've developed.

I'm say help, mom. I don't want to do whatever. You know, my degree has given me, I don't want to go down that career path again. I want to do something that I actually enjoy. I really enjoy this thing. I like weddings. Maybe I want to get into the wedding industry this way. And then they become somebody who pops in and is a potential lead.

Who then becomes a customer like you're playing the long game with people's psychology on Pinterest, but it's so cool to watch it evolve.

Terrica:  I mean, and if you do, if you are not a B to C and more of a B2B, then all of the vendors who were heavy in the wedding industry are on Pinterest. So that's even a better way to connect and find people because if [00:04:00] you are a wedding planner, let's say for instance, You need to have that go-to resource for your clients.

So that may be okay. Well, I need to have like this amazing stationer. I always go to a calligrapher or someone who does this style or this person who can give me this kind of decor or an amazing florist or a photographer

Vanessa:  all those little bits and pieces and there's a break people.

Terrica: Yeah. But those people are heavy on Pinterest and they're heavy on Pinterest because I like to think everybody says that Instagram is like the original visual platform, but to me, Pinterest is all day. Like as soon as you click on it and you search. And if it has this easily, serves as this double duty, that is a search engine plus a social platform.

But as soon as you search, what do you get guys? A [00:05:00] ton of photos. So how can this not be the ultimate visual platform? And if you work in an industry where people. Pick you and choose you initially, because they say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know that visual, you know, aesthetically, that's what intrigues us.

Everybody says that you eat with your eyes before your mouth. So if it looks unappetizing, you'll never pick up the spoon or the fork and be like, Oh, this is tasty. And I'm like, it's disgusting. Why does it look like that? I don't even want to touch it. If it looks bad, it must be bad. So if, all of these people are on Pinterest  you're going to showcase  the ultimate, visual representation of your work so that when people do it and then people will follow you.

And then the traffic trickles down that way as well, like on both sides of the coin.

Vanessa: Yeah. You get the people that are your customers, so the B2C aspect of it, and then you get the people that are. You're partners in helping to build up and get those customers, those BB people. And that's really cool, like, [00:06:00] especially within the wedding industry, as a whole, like, I had a different client a few years ago and she was, a wedding planner and she did a lot of, she did like printables for weddings, but for people who wanted to DIY.

And it was really cool because she had gotten herself organically and managing her own Pinterest to a certain point, and needed help, like taking it over the top and kind of growing her numbers. And w I took her from, a few hundred thousand kind of views and impressions, a month, all the way up to like over 3 million by the time.

Terrica: Wow.

Vanessa: I stopped working with her, which is really crazy. I'm really cool. But the one thing that I made sure we kept in mind was that. For her specific audience, we always kept in mind that planning on Pinterest starts early. And the way that that happens, if you need like a little visual is taking somebody from inspiration to the shopping cart.

So it's, it's the customer journey. It's no different on Pinterest than it is anywhere else. [00:07:00] Like your basic marketing foundation. But what that really looks like is people. Start thinking about, Oh, I have this event or have this party or have this thing that I need to accomplish. So they start thinking about it.

They start looking for inspiration and it might not even be. Anything that they are like landing on right now, because I think about you, like, if I have something, like if I want to decorate my house for Christmas and I want it to look a certain way, or I want it to look a little different this year, I don't have a set idea of what I want it to look like, but I look for inspiration first.

So you collect a bunch of ideas, you save a bunch of ideas to Pinterest. You kind of start curating them into little boards or sub boards, to kind of really feel out what you want, your party or your event to look like. Then you start getting a little bit more specific on your searches. And then you're like, Oh, I've, I'm super inspired about this one thing.

Or this one style, this one design, like maybe you decide on a style or a color or a theme or something. He started making little incremental decisions and you start your painting starts getting more and [00:08:00] more and more specific. And then the final end, you know exactly what you're looking for. And the ultimate trifecta would be finding exactly what you're envisioning.

Which if it's close, doesn't always happen. but then you make a purchase of something and if it's a wedding you're going through inspiration and narrowing down your choices. And maybe that looks like I need to find a local photographer, or I need to find a, if I'm having like a nationally kind of destination wedding and I'm going to a different state or a different area of my country, I need to find somebody in that area that can provide whatever service so that I don't have to like.

Pay the cost of having somebody fly from where I live to this new place. so no matter whether you're serving B to B or B to C, that journey is going to look the same. and the people you connect with and the way you network and, and kind of get in touch with people might look a little bit different than it does on other platforms.

But you're always going to be thinking about planning earlier than you think you would need to start planning. There are people out there who aren't even [00:09:00] engaged yet. They're already planning their weddings. There's people out there who are, you know, thinking about having a baby, but not going to do it for the next like five years, no matter what angle you're kind of coming at, people are starting to plan early.

And even earlier than sometimes they're willing to admit that they're planning for, Like, you're always, people are always kind of tapping in and curating things from different angles and are different topics, which is really, really cool. So if you can have your content geared towards really planning and planning early, you're going to win the long game a little bit faster because Pinterest is a long game.

It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. Yo

Episode #11 Minisode - Top 4 Launch Mistakes + Tips

[00:00:00] Terrica: Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts. Terrick astrologer, that's me a brand designer and sugar addict and Vanessa shepherd launch strategies and kind of to create her with the love of all things Disney each week. You're here, our behind the scenes conversation and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer or product while doing it all ethically and organically.

And given that bro marketer advice, the boot. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Welcome to episode 11 of the marketing in cocktails podcast. Today is a mini episode and another solo episode for Vanessa where she will cover the top four mistakes that we see often when people are launching their product or their offer, while also giving some actionable tips to elevate your next launch.

So without further adieu, Vanessa take it away.

Vanessa: let's dive in to some tips for making your next launch rack. [00:01:00] So the top four mistakes we see people make with their launches are failing to plan their launch, neglecting to do a pre-launch phase, cramming too much into their launch phase and skipping over a post launch breakdown. Failing to plan. Your launch can lead to a whole host of issues from emails, not delivering properly tech going haywire and your audience not being primed to convert.

If you have an audience at all before you launch and neglecting to do a pre-launch phase means that you're leaving money on the table. Think about how annoying it is when someone pops in your inbox with like, Hey, buy my stuff. And you've never heard of the product before. Heck, you don't even remember if you've heard of this person before.

That's what it's like when you don't prime your audience to buy in the pre-launch phase. You want your audience to see you as an authority in your zone of genius, become educated about your product and have them vibing with the pain points so that they see that your product will solve their specific problem.

That way, when you [00:02:00] head into your launch phase, your audience is already excited and prime to buy. You just need to open the door and let them in.

I'm cramming too much into your launch phase causes a lot of confusion. If you're doing a webinar stick to a webinar, don't add in a challenge or an email mini course or a live video series or a whole house of brand new lead magnets. You want to keep your launch activities focused on the main way that you want to convert people so that you can keep your audience really honed in on what you're saying and offering to them.

If you have too much going on, people will get easily distracted and overwhelmed and they won't show up anywhere, which is a surefire way to lead to the really bad, poor performing launch. You want to avoid that as much as humanly possible and then skipping over a post-launch breakdown means that you miss learning from the launch that you just did.

And see in that launch, you collected buckets of data and every launch has [00:03:00] buckets of data from the way people interact with your brand, the things they said, the data from Google analytics, your Facebook pixel, and your Pinterest tag, all of those little data points. Really come together to give you buckets of data and failing to stop and examine all that data and compare it to pass lunches or just your everyday normal performance means that you have no way to really learn from what went right.

And what went wrong. And if you're not learning from your launches, then you're destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Uh, no, nobody wants that. So if you plan out your simple launch, Break all the tasks down into a project management timeline with goals, attract, inspire, and convert your audience, and then stopped to examine how that launch performed.

You're setting yourself up for growth and profits and in the end, that's what everybody wants.

Terrica: Thanks for listening. Y'all you can find the show [00:04:00] notes at she's got vision.com/podcast. If you've enjoyed what you've heard today, please leave a review and subscribe to the podcast. And because word of mouth is still the best marketing Avenue. Please tell a friend to share it. If you do, don't forget to tag us at she's got vision on all platforms until the next time y'all were wishing you much success.

And remember, there's always time for cocktails.

Episode #010 International Gin & Tonic Day

[00:00:00] Terrica: Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts, Terrica Strozier, that's me a brand designer and sugar attic and Vanessa Shepherd, launch strategist and content creator and  lover of all things Disney. Each week, you'll hear our behind the scenes conversation and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer or product while doing it all ethically and organically.

And given that bro marketer advice, the book. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Welcome to a special episode of the marketing and cocktails podcast, because we are celebrating international gin and tonic day. So I am going to bring two recipes to you all today, which are a spin on the traditional gin and tonic, which is just a combination of ice, gin, tonic water and lime. So super simple drink.

[00:01:00] these are some twist that I found that I have really, I really enjoy lately. So I'm sharing them with you. So the first it's going to be, be a take on the gin, Ricky, which is really, really similar to the gin and tonic. It's just a combination of Jan Aline and club soda. So. I stumbled upon this recipe a while ago, and I've kind of been making it a little bit nonstop even as we transition seasons because guys I'm in Georgia and the season just don't really change that heavily.

We are in and the myths of what they call false fall. So it is a whopping I think today, 75 degrees. So. This take on the gin. Ricky is going to include a frozen linemate concentrate. [00:02:00] The ones that you get in your normal grocery store that come in a little, the little tin, I think that's what they're called, like little, tin.

They almost remind me of the same container that you get, canned biscuits in, but you all know what I'm talking about. So. It is that your gen of choice. And the last couple of times I've been using the London dry gin and that works really nicely. And then this recipe calls for clips soda. Now I normally don't have club soda on hand, but recently my husband has really been into seltzer waters, which they're all pretty similar tonic water, adds in the.

Quinine or Quinine guys don't. Get me started on pronunciations, but that has that addition and title water. then you have clubs, soda, and seltzer water, and they're all different versions of carbonated water with their own additions. So [00:03:00] I feel like they're pretty interchangeable. So I have you sell salt water.

I've used plain seltzer water. Or, we have gotten a little fancy and we have had a cucumber melon, seltzer water, or lemon line, seltzer water. All of them are really great additions. so this one just includes one and a half ounces of gin. Two tablespoons of the frozen Limeade and then four ounces of club, soda, or seltzer water, or even tonic water.

whatever you decide to use, you are just going to combine the gin and the frozen line made in a, the recipe. Cause it put it in the shaker. I'm going to be honest guys. I was a little bit lazy and I didn't even want to do that. So I had to do two tablespoons of lie made into, a tall glass. Then I. added in ice.

And then I added in my Jane stirred that together and then just poured the seltzer [00:04:00] right on top and start that one more time. And it turned out really delicious and refreshing. But if you want to go. just by the book you're going to combine the gin in the frozen lemonade is shaker. We're going to shake that up, pour it over ice and a tall glass.

And then top with, again, like I said, soda club, soda, tonic, water, or seltzer water. And then if you want to be really fancy garnish with a little twist of line. so that is the first recipe. And then the second one is I've had gin and tonics. And they were okay, but I felt like I wanted just the little different flavor profile, but similar.

So what I decided to do is add in grapefruit juice. So the normal kind of ratio for gin and tonics, depending on your level, level of preference, if you really, really love [00:05:00] alcohol and you wanted a little on the heavy side, That send me some days, or if you want to go a little bit lighter, you can just do one Oh one.

well, one Oh one is probably going to give you right in the middle of road, or you could do one to three. So one part Jan to three parts tonic. or some people do a two to four guys. You just have to kind of play around with it and see which measurement kind of gives you the preface that you like, the palatable kind of tastes that you can kind of handle and the alcohol level that you, so what I did was added, I did about a week, one to one ratio of everything.

So one part grapefruit juice to one part, gin. Okay. And then we tried a grapefruit mango seltzer water, and that one was really tasty. And I did that on top and then just, added, I just use actually a low ball glass cause that's, what I just kind of grabbed. So I put ice in that, out at the grill fruit, the [00:06:00] gin, and then a seltzer water.

Gave it a little quick stir and guys again, a really easy refreshing take on a normal gin and tonic. So. I want you to try these guys, celebrate today as international diatonic day. if you do try these recipes, please let me know, and I will have the recipe below for everyone to try. So again, guys, thanks for coming and joining me today on today's episode.

And I was really glad to share. Two favorite two of my favorite, gin recipes.

Thanks for listening. Y'all you can find the show notes at she's got vision.com/podcast. If you've enjoyed what you've heard today, please leave a review and subscribe to the podcast. And because word of mouth is still the best marketing Avenue. Please tell a friend to share it. If you do, don't forget to tag us.

Yeah, she's got vision on all platforms until next time. Y'all we're wishing you much success. I remember [00:07:00] there's always time for cocktails.

#009 Cocktail Hour - Sangria

[00:00:00] Terrica: Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts. Terrica Strozier, that's me a brand designer and sugar attic and Vanessa shepherd and launch strategist and content creator. With the love of all things business each week, you're here, our behind the scenes conversations and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer while doing it all ethically and organically.

And given that bro marketer advice, the book. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. Today's episode. It's another one of our monthly cocktail episodes. This is where we just. Are able to showcase another side of us and really show you the cocktails that we love and their,

Fixture in our lives. So this cocktail. Came to me by way of a local restaurant here in Atlanta. There, unfortunately just closed. [00:01:00] Well, not just closed, but it closing. This past December of 2019, and it was called legal seafoods and it was located downtown right off lucky street. And we went there for one father's day because my dad was an avid fishermen and he loved his seafood. And I was like, this is a perfect place to go.

As soon as we got there, I'm always looking at the cocktail list, I know most people immediately go for the food and I'm a foodie, but I love to see the cocktails that each restaurant or bar comes up with because there are some. Beautiful and crazy inventions and twists on classics. So I had never really had sangria before then, but I saw the description and it looked interesting. So I was like, you know what, let me just get one of those house ingredients and see what this is all about.

Guys. It was amazing. So, so, so good. It was the perfect balance of sweet with a little bit of tart. And then [00:02:00] there's this underlying taste of almost carbonation, but not quite like a full on soda. So while my palette was completely teased and so happy my mind was whirling. Like what's in this, Because there's no detailed description.

minus like our house. I think they described it as maybe their house, summer sangria. Some people, we'll have some summer sangria. Some people do a white sangria or red sangria. I believe maybe it was, A red and a white sangria. Those were the options. And I got the red. So after.

our visit was done. As soon as I got home, I started scouring the web and Googling like  crazy, trying to find. A recipe basis. Cause I'm like, I know that if I enjoy this sangria, as much as I did, then someone else has been illegal seafood and has enjoyed it as well. And. The one in Atlanta, wasn't their only [00:03:00] location. So I just made a general assumption that maybe they serve this as all of their restaurants. So finally, after.

What felt like hours of scouring? I found a recipe and it looked pretty legit based on what I remember tasting. So I said, you know what? I'm just gonna buy all these  components and we're just going to try it at home. And while I love cocktails, guys, my husband is the resident mixologist. So I said, Hey.

Whatever you think we should get. If we can't find this, can we sub it with this? So we were just in liquor store is trying to make it work. So we came home and that was our first batch and we tasted it. We were like, This is it maybe with little tweaks, but this is, this is really it. So. It just felt so good. and then the next time we made it, we made it for friends. Cause we are always entertaining and [00:04:00] our friends know if they come over our house, they're gonna eat good and they're going to drink. Good.

And people raved and love the sangria. So along the way we've made our own little personal tweaks. to the recipe and I will insert recommendations as well so that you can put your own spin on it too. But the basis of this is just so perfect. it is an amazing summer drink. just kind of relaxing outside, but it can definitely be a fall drink as well. Just look at how you decide to make some additional, changes to it. So we end up.

taking this recipe and making enormous batches of it. And it was a signature cocktail at our wedding. And I'm telling you guys, it made quite the impact. Not only with taste. But impact people had an amazing time because of the sangria. So, that just giving you a little bit of backstory. So I'm gonna go ahead and just hop into some of the components of the sangria.

[00:05:00] So your basis is going to be, a dryier red wine, like a Shiraz or something similar. I have done a red wine blend before. . So see what your local. Liquor store grocery store has to offer your favorite one Mart, whatever. Maybe you already have a personal favor. Doesn't have to be anything expensive. Guys do not spend a ton of money on the basis cause you're going to be adding so much other.

Spirits to this that there's just no reason to go spend 40,  $50 on a bottle of wine. So. again, at the basis, it's going to be this bottle of red wine, then you're gonna add. In the original recommendation was a  Bacardi Limon, but what you can do is you can do any citrus space rum.

So we're talking about Bacardi or Cruzan or any of those brands that do a lot of the amazing, infusions and flavors. So you can go for lemon or a [00:06:00] lime or something. Along those, flavor profiles, then you're going to add. In. A raspberry vodka and a strawberry vodka. Again, we have played around a bit with.

Our choices of this vodka, but along that berry family, it's gonna be amazing. So any kind of combination of those two, you're going to add those then the original recipe calls for a peach Brandy or liqueur. So we just go, in our local liquor store, they always have a peach liqueur called Peachstreet.

And so we'll grab a bottle of that and then add that in. You're going to also add in a sour mix now. This recipe is going to include a homemade sour mix. Don't be intimidated. Guys is super simple. It's just water, sugar and citrus. So you're going to do equal parts [00:07:00] of sugar and water. So just basically almost like a simple syrup, then you're going to boil cool that, and then add in some freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice. And then now you have an easy homemade sour mix. So outside of the sangria recipe, it's amazing to add to your margaritas.

Or any other places you need a sour mix so much better than a bottle version that you get from the store. So after that, you're also going to add in. Two cups of Sprite. We've done Sierra mist . Anything that's along that similar flavor profile

and then the last option  calls for Cointreau, which is an orange base liqueur so. an easy alternative. It's just a bottle of triple sec. And that's the addition that we have made as it's a lot cheaper than a bottle of Cointreau

that is the basis of this sangria. You literally just add it [00:08:00] all into a big pitcher. you can double, triple, quadruple it. We made enough for a hundred people. Two times over. So believe me, the recipe is easily expandable. then you're gonna take. Some lemons, limes, oranges, slice those up, throw those into your pitcher to help just infuse that citrus flavor. You can add in some other fruit, if you would like especially if you're going into the fall, maybe adding in some apples or cherries or things of that nature. So guys that is the basis of my sangria recipe.

I would love if you would try it out. If you do, and you make a batch, please take a photo. Post it on social media tag us at she's got vision on all platforms and let me know what you think. So until next time guys, remember there's always time for cocktails.

Episode #008 It’s Not About You It’s About the Customer

[00:00:00] Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts, Terrica Strozier, that's me a brand designer and sugar attic and Vanessa Shepherd, launch strategist and content creator with a love of all things Disney. Each week, you'll hear our behind the scenes conversation and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer or product while doing it all ethically and organically.

And giving that bro marketer advice, the boot. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Welcome to episode eight of the podcast. And today we're tackling a really important topic, which is customers, and that it's not all about you. And it is about the customer. The customers are at the heart of your business. So if you want our advice on how you craft offers and keep the customer at the forefront of your mind, even though they're not always right, stay tuned to this episode.

In business, it is not all about what you want, [00:01:00] but you need to create your offers and your items that you sell or services that you provide with your customer in mind. So, while I don't love the ideal customer avatar, there does need to be, I'm going to, I'm going to keep saying this guys, whatever, here we go.

Terrica: You do need to have an end goal for your customer, whoever that customer is, having some specificity on that customer will allow you to craft offers and, products that fit the needs of that client. But along the way, one thing that I focus on a lot is the customer journey. When people work with me or purchase something from me, I want that process to be seamless.

I want it to be easy. I don't want them to feel that they have to click on that about 10 gazillion links [00:02:00] or get inudated with like popup ads all the time. Cause that'll make people run like so fast. I want the people during the process to feel like, Oh my gosh, this was so easy to buy her product.

I love it. I love the support that I got. I love the process of it all. So having that in mind, when you're crafting these things is like paramount. I know that we create businesses based off of what we're good at or what we want to put into the universe, but it's not all about you. It's not, it's not, it's not.

And if you focus on yourself, Then even if you do make money, cause I'm pretty sure there's people out there there's always an exception to a rule. You will get to a point where you plateau, you will get to a point where you can't go any further or you will get to a point where people really start to see you for you are not saying that's a bad thing, but in business it could be on the end that.

[00:03:00] Someone says, Oh, I mean, their products are nice, but the customer service socks, or they don't care about me. And I sent an email, never, no one never answers. Like, do they not value my money? Do they not value my time. Well, if they don't value me, then I'm going to go to their competitor. maybe across the physical street or across the proverbial virtual street and I'm going to purchase from them because they obviously don't value me.

Vanessa: That happens so often in business. And there's even like a whole, whole segment of industry research around being able to craft those awesome customer experiences. Like, I don't know what it was maybe four or five years ago. Now I went to an entire conference that was just around customer experience, customer journey and customer service.

And we spent 48 hours talking. Nothing else. And let me tell you the ideas that were coming in were wicked. And I went, you know, went back to my corporate job cause I was one of two people that got sent or no, there's three of us on that [00:04:00] trip. But two people from the area I worked in and we went back and I was like, let's implement, you know, some of what we learned, not all the things, cause not all of them made sense, but, and the other person was like, No, we're good.

It was a fine conference. It was got me in the office. I was like, Whoa, we can be doing so many. I think better if we actually were approaching the way we do business with that end customer in mind, even, even though like at the time, our end customer was just people in a different department. I said, if we think about those people as our customers a little bit more than our coworkers, then we can actually come out with.

A process and assistance and collaboration that works and, and strengthens that relationship instead of us always butting heads with them or them always butting heads with us. And I actually got to spearhead that whole, kind of like kickoff of the project to be able to frame out what [00:05:00] would work and what didn't work.

And we had so many different conversations about it that it actually reformulated the entire way our department was structured and the way we brought people in. And that shift allowed there to be a lot less contention between what our department did and what the other department date. And now the collaboration is even stronger than where it was when I, when I worked there a few years ago

Terrica: And see, I love that. If you all don't know, then people are my jam, but then we get into customer experience. And it's really, my jam is it's combining my love for people and my love for making people happy and satisfying a need. But that's here nor there, regardless of that, what I really love about that is it shows you that it doesn't always have to be a.

Business to customer type relationship, relationship for you to really have that, that end goal in mind [00:06:00] that it can be, I think, at the baser level it's relationship building. Cause that's what it is. And even super, super foundational book below that, to me, it's. Having that empathy in mind and putting yourselves in the shoes of your customer on a consistent basis.

It's not only a one time deal. Guys. You don't start your business or, or craft an offer or craft a product and say, Oh, this is going to be an, you know, the customer journey of the customer is gonna start here, here, and I'll walk into our store. They will be greeted. Then they will be able to browse for X amount.

And then they get here and they buy, they sell, we follow up and it's done. That's great that you have that laid out and you should have it, However, this is an ongoing process. Your customers will change as your offer shape as your product changes as the market changes because the world is always changing and being in tune with your customer being open, [00:07:00] being receptive, the feedback and not immediately taking it as a hit to you.

I know guys. to quote Erkyah Badu, I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit. I am. So when you tell me you don't like it? Yes. There's initial like pierced to the heart, like, Oh, I spent so much time and it's amazing, but I have to step outside of myself and then see, okay. What was it about it that you did not like, how can I make it better?

And that openness to changing and crafting and pivoting yourself in a way that really serves those people will have you with, you know, what we call super fans. I mean, look at Apple guys, and I'm an Apple super fan. I, you know, iphones, they annoy me and they're like sometimes glitchy, but I keep buying one.

I will keep buying one and I will buy another Macbook. And, and right now I'm sitting on my [00:08:00] desk. I have a Macbook an iphone and a iPad. Air pods, Apple pencil.

It's a bad, however, I am so going to cause cause when I go into an Apple store, I'm immediately greeted. I mean the atmosphere's is light and it's bright and you see all these new tech goodies that just get you like the little kid, that little gift that goes the little girl that gets skipped so excited.

Like I just want to go play with them. I want to touch it. And even though people tell me the price point is like, Oh, ma'am,you like that that's $1,400. I'm like, shit. But then I'm like, Oh, it's Apple. I'll buy it. I don't know what I gotta do to pay for it, but I'm gonna buy it. You want people to have that feeling and that experience when they engage with you and your business.

Vanessa: Absolutely. Like, there's so many different reasons. Like if you, if I actually think about all the different reasons that I've [00:09:00] boycotted a brand or that I've like gone in and gone out of my way to drive clear across the city to shop at a store when I probably could have found something similar, you know, probably in my neck of the woods.

I don't know there stores I don't shop at here because the services sucks. And there's stories that I'll go out of my way to shop at because services is awesome. but it's about that experience from the way it looks the way it feels all the way down to how your people interact with, with the customer when you're in the store, all of that matters and listening.

Oh my gosh. So if you ha, if you do, if you're doing everything right, if you're checking all the boxes all the way down, but you're not actually listening to the customer in the end, The again, you're going to get, like I said, I'm just going to go somewhere else because people want to feel like you're actually hearing what they have to say.

and internalizing it and, and making what you do even better. It's a kind of a continual, its a continual cycle that is never going to end for as long as you're in business

Terrica:  And that is so [00:10:00] true. we've seen it. So many times I've seen it in, in really small businesses where, where people give a service and people at their core, they love it. They're like we really don't want to go anywhere else. We want to st

Episode #007 Repurposing Your Content to Create Digital Products

[00:00:00] Terrica: Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts. Terrica Strozier, that's me a brand designer and sugar attic and Vanessa Shepherd  launch strategist and content creator. With the love of all things Disney each week, you'll hear, our behind the scenes conversations and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer while doing it all ethically and organically.

And given that bro marketer advice, the book. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Welcome to episode seven of the marketing and cocktails podcast. Today's episode is all about repurposing your content to create digital products, which is super important as we embark on the holiday season.

And many of us are prepping for launches first and foremost, black Friday, which is right around the corner.

So hopefully today's episode gives you some ideas on products to [00:01:00] create. If you don't have one already lined up. And help make your upcoming launch. If you do decide to launch just a little bit easy because in this day and age, We all deserve just a little bit of easy so let's jump right in

So let's start about using what you have to create digital products.

Vanessa: So we can't stress this enough. Absolutely. Can't stress this enough. If you create content on a regular basis, you literally have. A treasure chest that you can pull from any time to whip out a brand new product. And I know that sounds crazy to a lot of people cause like, I don't understand how that, how that works.

I'm creating one thing, I'm putting it up in one spot. How is that supposed to lead me to create a whole bunch of other stuff really easily? Well, let's walk through a few examples. Shall we? the best one that I, that comes to mind that has the most flexibility. Is blog posts.  if you blog, [00:02:00] even once , a week, once a month, by the time you do it for, I don't know, a couple months to a year, two years, however long, depending on how often you're creating stuff, you can actually take those blog posts, find common topics or common threads, and reassemble them in different ways.

So you can use say a blog post on a specific topic. I don't know. Maybe you're. Blogging all on a set of recipes and you can, you can actually take all those blog posts and all the recipes and assemble them into a recipe book. And you can have that as a digital product, as an ebook, when you're ready, when you have like a huge audience and you want to go, into like the offline realm, you can also assemble it into a physical product.

There's so many different ways that you can repurpose. Your blog posts and reassemble that content into creating digital products. We took all of the blog posts that had ever done on the topic of Pinterest and I assembled them into a course, and that was the first ever Pinterest course that I created [00:03:00] Pinning for Business.

You can also take them and make them into, to digital downloads. You can take how to blog posts and turn them into worksheets. Like there's so much potential. And that's why I keep stressing that if you create content, you have so much potential to pull out other types of content without having to really reinvent the wheel and waste a ton of time in the process

Terrica:  I'll come at it from a different angle.

Cause I don't blog a lot. but as a designer and anyone else who is in more of a one-on-one creative field, so photographers or designers, or even web designers, many of us have. Either done something for a client  it was a rejected concept.

Nobody decided to use it. Maybe you decided to design something for yourself and then you don't quite love it, but you started, but you never quite [00:04:00] finished or that's just sitting on your hard drive. I have a whole folder of half done projects  I would take some of my all rejected concepts, spruce them up a bit and. if I wanted to, depending on where your audience is, you could use Canva or InDesign or make them an editable PDF. And then now you have a template that you can like pop up in your shop and sell, and it hasn't really cost you any time because you always had it there. So now you're just sprucing up it and making it like cohesive and come together.

Also, if you have a process that you do for your business, that for some people they think yeah. That nobody will ever know, but I'll use an example. A lot of creatives used Dubsado. People are always looking or ways to effectively use that CRM. Even better than what they have. And if they're in the same niche as you, or the same industry that really [00:05:00] could use it, you can easily turn that into a quick little ebook or a little mini course so that someone can use those and they can immediately see the results in their business.

Vanessa: Absolutely. Like even. You know, you're talking about those digital service providers like photographers. I know so many photographers who like go out and they have edits and they saved the way they edit certain things.

That's like instant presets, bundle them together, sell them individually. You could pop up. A set of presets. You could even go through like the process that you do to onboard people, on onboard clients or to get people thinking about their brand or what they want out of a photo session, turn that into a worksheet or turn all your expertise and your brain into a tip sheet, even on how to get ready to do a session or how to, plan for one, you know, in the months before you're ready to do.

And there's so many ways. To use all this information that you have at your fingertips. And there's so many [00:06:00] things that I think people don't, they don't realize what they have until they start going through it. Heck I don't realize what I have until I start going through like Google type folders and they have that in there.

I wrote that for fun one time or, Oh yeah. I started creating that and I didn't finish it. Go through what you have, think about it and kind of sit down and come at it from a different angle of not, maybe not like how can I use this or what was the original intention, but. What else can I use this for? How else could this be beneficial?

Just because one person rejected your design or one person rejected, you know, a certain concept doesn't mean that somebody else out there isn't going to love it and fall in love with it instead.

Terrica: Exactly. And another way, even though we're talking about creating digital products for sell, you can easily use a blog post that you wrote, or maybe you even wrote an Instagram caption and you got really good engagement and you're like, Oh, people need more information about that. Or they're really in tune with that. You could use that to create a lead [00:07:00] magnet.

So even though you're not making initial money off of it, you literally put that out to the universe. It's for free people get immediate access to it and they can learn some from whatever you're offering, but then you, as the creator can see, use it as a test. Do people really want more information about this?

Is this really effective? How can I change it? How can I make it better? And it's like immediate,

Vanessa: it's, it's putting it out there and testing your audience. I know exactly where you're coming from. It's all good.

Lead magnets are an excellent way to test the waters. And if you're out there, especially if you're somebody who's creating awesome Instagram, captions, and. You're like, man, people love what I'm putting out on Instagram, but they're not, they're not loving so much on my website. Paul, you can pull things, the pull those like little nuggets from there and infuse them into your website.

You're probably infusing more personality into Instagram than you are into some of your website copy. So you can [00:08:00] take that into consideration too, and even use what you have to, to fix up what you already are putting out in the universe to make it even better.

Terrica: Right. And when crafting. An idea, some of the things I know you're talking about going through a lot of your old folders and what do I have, but the easiest access that we have to information is our brains.

And there's so much stuff that's really simple that we would never think that people want it. I was on Facebook recently in a group and, someone posted and they thought it was just like, Really funny, but at the same time enlightening that their mom who's older.  came to them and was like, look, I was on YouTube and I saw this video and it was  10 things you need to have in your home.

And she's like, Oh, okay. That's really interesting mom.  Well, what where they? And she's like, Oh wait, let me go back. And she came back with a notepad [00:09:00] and she wrote down in that YouTube video, the 10 things that you should have in your home. And none of these things were rocket science or anything.

It's like. You should always have a duvet and you should always have a really large area rug or a runner for your dining room table. It was really simple things, but she said, what was enlightening for her mom is even though these were simple things, she said it helped. Kind of corral her mom's thoughts. And when she was deciding to spruce up her home, rather than thinking about all the things she could buy, now, she had a list of 10 things that she's like, Oh, I don't need a new cupboard, but I do need new knobs on my cupboard.

So I'm going to go buy new knobs on my cupboard and it helped. Corral her spending so that she wasn't lik

Episode #006 Leverage Your Business and increase Profits by Creating Products

[00:00:00] Terrica: Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts. Terrica Strozier, that's me a brand designer and sugar attic and Vanessa Shepherd and launch strategist and content creator. With the love of all things Disney each week, you'll hear, our behind the scenes conversations and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer while doing it all ethically and organically.

And given that bro marketer advice, the book. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Welcome to episode six of the marketing and cocktails podcast. Today's episode is all about taking your business to the next level by creating products.

This is going to be a solo episode for Vanessa. I will be back on the podcast next week, But today you'll get an insight into the genius marketing brain of Vanessa's so without further ado here's today's episode

Vanessa: all right. Let's talk about leveraging your business and increasing profits by creating products. [00:01:00] We're all faced the same 24 hours in a given day, but how you use those hours is what differentiates a successful business from a floundering business. If you're filling your available hours with coaching clients or working one on one.

With clients or even subcontracting to somebody else and still aren't bringing in the money you'd like to bring in. And then maybe it's time to try something new. Having multiple streams of income can help to grow your business, expand your reach, and increase your profits all in that same 24 hour time period.

So let's look at a couple of examples of other streams of income that can help your business and your income explode over time. So the first one we're going to talk about is product creation. I absolutely love creating products. It's one of those things that I get excited about when most people dread it, it's kind of fine, but no matter what type of product you create, whether it's a webinar or an ebook, a downloadable [00:02:00] packet, online classes, you know, an actual physical published book, printed materials that you're mailing out to people.

No matter what type of product that is once the work is done, you can actually sit back and sell those products for years to come. Sure. With some things like courses and dental, little packets and things, depending on what your material is on, you might need to update them, repackage them, make sure they're, you know, still up to sniff and still valuable with what's going on in the world, around you.

But the bulk of the work gets done right up front. And of course there's work involved in promoting those products, but many entrepreneurs and business owners find that the marketing work is easier than the actual product creation. So products are priced lower than, say a one on one coaching service or one on one, , service that you're gonna offer to your clients.

So your products are still offering to help those people that aren't quite ready for that larger investment. The lower price point also helps to expand your reach to your target audience because you're offering more options [00:03:00] for people you're being able to hit them no matter where they're ready to make an investment, the chances are pretty high that you'll attract people with products first.

And then they'll kind of travel through your sales funnel and hopefully purchase say private coaching or one on one services where they're convinced that you can help them. You may also want to consider hiring a customer service agent who can handle all of your product inquiries and problems with some training, your customer service agent can handle all those inquiries without bothering you.

And that allows you to have more time for work with your clients. You can also consider your product library as separate gear in your business. One that works in the background where you focus on working with clients and providing that value and building those one on one relationships. So the next thing we're gonna talk about is group coaching, creating group coaching classes still involves you being personally involved, more so than producing a physical product.

So it's a lot more of a time investment, [00:04:00] but the great thing about it is that you're still able to reach more people at one time. Then you would, if you were kept working one on one with clients, So you can consider this type of product, a step up from an ebook or a signature course, because you were involved in leading the group.

They're getting that one on one time with you. it's just more of a one to many kind of time with you, but they still get to interact with you. They still get to hear from you. They still get that feedback, that you would give them in a one on one environment. But you're actually able to help more people at once.

And the cool thing is that those other people are often able to help each other too. So there's multiple win-win situations going on. You can use the time that you spend, to showcase your expertise by personalizing your advice for every person, by being able to facilitate dynamic conversations. Like there's so many ways to use your skills, to be able to help people, one group setting, think of it like how a teacher helps in a classroom.

They're able to help, you know, 20, [00:05:00] 30 students at a time. And those students actually learn from it other as well, and get more value out of that experience as long as everybody's, you know, involved in and actually involved in the conversation and making the conversation better. And even in a group coaching situation, your group members should feel that they're getting the advice they need.

Not simply one size, all one size fits all advice. if you're not able to be able to tailor advice specifically to people on the spot, then group coaching may not be a good fit for you. So just keep that in mind, if it's something that you're considering adding to your product lineup. And the dynamic group often dictates the conversation, but you should still plan kind of like a course outline of what specific topics you cover in each session.

The beauty of group coaching is you can take notes on what works, what doesn't work, so you can fine tune your next session and you can keep learning and building. And the more you do them, the better they'll get over time. And even if you continue group coaching on the same topic, [00:06:00] it'll always be different based on the people in the group.

That's the really cool thing about having a class based situation is that it can be totally, yeah. Different depending on who speaks up, who joins who's in the group, what experience they bring. It can be really fun to take one topic and see how many different ways it can go over many classrooms I've taught on.

The topic of Kendra, is there talking to the Facebook ads or just creating content and depending on which people are in the room, those conversations can go a thousand different ways. So it's really, really cool to see what I'm bringing to the table, the same kind of skills. they grow a bit over time too, but it's basically the same topic, the same kind of skillset.

And then you add other people to that. You kind of plugged them in there and the conversations get really, really cool. So as you can see, adding products or a group coaching package to your business offering allows you to help more people while also earning more profits. But simply creating a product doesn't mean that it will sell.

You need [00:07:00] to have a large sequence in place so that you're ready to promote your product. Even before it's completed, you're going to have a live launch sequence. You can have an evergreen launch sequence. You can have something that, is only turned on when you're on vacation. There's so many yeah.

Options to be able to launch this product to your audience, that it gives you a bunch of different options that you can use to plug into your strategy, depending on where you're going. So this is something that interests you, this something you want to do, but you're like, Oh, I don't want to go it alone.

Join our membership group. Launching made simple what we'll be discussing all things, launching, marketing, your products and services and how to fine tune your marketing for increased profits. I'm all about fine tuning things and testing and making them better and actually making sure that you're having.

Your launches in business run in a way that's profitable and that works for you and your unique needs and your audience's needs. So we're giving our students lots of action steps that they can put to use right away with feedback to help keep it improving their [00:08:00] offers, funnels, and launches. Visit she's that vision.com to join.

Terrica: Thanks for listening. Y'all you can find the show notes at she's got vision.com/podcast. If you've enjoyed what you've heard today, please leave a review and subscribe to the podcast. And because word of mouth is still the best marketing Avenue. Please tell a friend to share it. If you do, don't forget to tag us.

Yeah, she's got vision on all platforms until next time. Y'all we're wishing you much success. I remember there's always time for cocktails.

Episode #005 - 5 Tips to Conquer Your Fear of Selling

Show Description

This episode is all about actionable tips to help conquer your fear of selling and transform it into a routine part of your business that feels good.

Show Notes

[00:00:00] Terrica: Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts. Terrica Strozier, that's me a brand designer and sugar attic and Vanessa Shepherd a launch strategist and content creator. With the love of all things Disney each week, you'll hear our behind the scenes conversations and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer while doing it all ethically and organically.

And given that bro marketer advice, the book. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Welcome to episode three of the marketing and cocktails podcast. Today, we're going to give you some practical tips and tricks on overcoming your fear of selling. I know that this is a really weighty topic for many business owners as we try to find that comfortable balance of selling, but doing so in a way that feels good and true to us so let's dive right into this episode

Vanessa: Alrighty today, we're talking about ways you can overcome your fear of [00:01:00] selling. If you have a business, your goal is probably pretty likely to make money. I know most people say, but the only way to make money is to sell something. Either products or services. So what really happens if you're really like definitely afraid of selling, you're probably going to not make as much money and you're going to become managing  a hobby instead of running a business.

But if you're ready to ramp up your income, then you need to overcome your fear of selling. So we're going to go over some tips for being able to reframe your selling mindset and overcome your fear of selling to the people who are going to absolutely love what you have to offer. Once they get to know you.

So the first tip we're going to run with is don't think of it as selling, think of it as having conversations. So if you're worried about being perceived as someone who's pushy, hard selling, you know, the used car salesman that everybody hates, then you can start off by simply having a conversation and getting to know the other person.

[00:02:00] You're not gonna be able to convince everybody to buy the first time you meet them, just like in real life, you know, become friends immediately. As you're going to be able to ask them questions about their business, maybe about their personal life, whatever it is that's going to help you really understand them in a better way.

By asking those questions, you'd be able to qualify them as potential prospect or somebody who is not a good fit for you. And then you can follow up with them at a future time. And what we're talking about, having conversations, it's not something that. It's just one method. So there's so many different ways to communicate with people that you can find what works best for you.

So some people might like to go and. Have conversations in DMS on Instagram or Facebook. Other people are email people. Some people are face to face people. I think people love taking phone calls. it's a matter of finding what method is that you're most comfortable with and that you're just like [00:03:00] feeling that this is a way that you can actually have a conversation and get people to know you a little bit better.

Terrica: so I'm gonna ask this question, cause I know you have a good answer. And it's one thing that I, struggle with a little bit when I first started is having the conversations for some people. once they, like you said, they kind of, you know, get into it, find a commonality and just kinda like talk to someone like they would in person.

But then there's a lot of people who say, Well, I don't have anybody to talk to. I don't, I don't have an audience,  where do I find the people?, Do i have to basically enact the digital version of cold calling , do I just go into somebody's DMS and be like, Hey, how you doing? my name's Terrica, nice to meet you. does that work? Is that sleazy?

Vanessa: With that high pitchy voice to dude that's awesome. Please don't do that. Yeah. Calling cold [00:04:00] calling drives me a little bit. Nuts. It does work for some things. It works for some industries. If you're a salesperson, you will spend half your life, cold calling people, but.

The people who wind up,  the MLM, people that hop into your DMS, they find you on Facebook and they're just there to try and sell you. Those are not people who are open to having conversations. And those are people that almost everybody hates so much so that they get mad from Facebook.

So if. And everybody has had this problem. Everybody will have this problem. And it depends on how big your network is or how small it is or what your, I don't know how comfortable you are with going out and talking to people. You can find somebody to talk to. Just about anywhere and everywhere and yeah, it's going to be hard and it's going to be awful and it's going to feel gnarly.

And there's something in your brain. That's going to tell you that I have nobody to talk to you like ever. Cause I never leave my house and I walk around my bathroom and nobody wants to talk to somebody who's walking around their house in their pajamas all day, but you have to get [00:05:00] out of your head. So think about how many Facebook groups are you in.

Or how many people do you know in your family, your circle of friends, your alumni from school, there's so many different ways to tackle it. That if you really start to think about it, you can probably find at least one person to talk to. Even if it's just a friend to be like, okay, I have this thing.

I'm trying to find people that I can. I talked to you about this thing. Do you know of anybody? That type of conversation helps too. That's the type of conversation that salespeople have to have all the time. I know when I was in sales and I thankfully did not have to cold call that many people, because there was always somebody that I could talk to who could refer me to somebody else.

And it started with, just talking to people that came into the store that would actually reach out because they found our information through awesome marketing materials. But those times when it was kind of dead and dry and I had to start finding people and pulling them out of the woodwork to talk to you, then I would go [00:06:00] back to the people who I had either already talked to or people I like, sort of knew I'd strike up conversations with them, even if it was just like a, Hey, hi, how you doing kind of angle to get in, to be able to talk to people.

So even though things feel hard, conversations are hard. I dunno, especially on a Monday, like there are times where it's going to feel like awful, but know that that's completely, honestly normal and everybody has that thought that I have nobody to talk to. But yet when you really start to think about it and journal it out, write it down, make a list of all the different people that you could talk to.

Even if you think that those people. Would have nothing to do with what you're offering. I've made a list of people and been like, these are the people I know the chances of them actually buying what I'm selling are pretty much slim to none, but nine times out of 10, when I talked to those people, those people know other people that I can talk to.

Terrica: That's true. a super [00:07:00] easy way that I've done this and. Ironically, I did this when we were in a creation phase. one of our upcoming offers is while I be classified as an introvert and just say this guy's not all introverts are antisocial just means that you don't get your kind of fuel from people.

You get your fuel from yourself. So, I said, you know what, I'm just gonna write a Facebook post on my personal one. I'm just going to put it out there. I'm going to let people then come to me. Cause I know that at this point, I don't really remember. I think I have maybe 500 to 800. Yeah. Facebook friends.

I'm like, somebody is going to see this post. Somebody will like it. Somebody will comment. And because they comment and it'll show up in like their feed and then somebody else will see it. And I don't really have to do any of the hard work. Minus respond to the people who already felt some visceral reaction and say, [00:08:00] Ooh, yes, I have that problem.

Or, Oh, I have a solution for you. And then I'm like, Now I can just use, like Vanessa said my own community online without having to pick up the phone and talk to anybody, or I don't even have to reach out to somebody and send them like a text message. I just put a post and said, Hey guys, this is what I'm doing.

do you think it's a good idea? what could make this better? and you have an easily warm audience. These are people where you are used to talking to, like you said, you went to school with them, you know, them through something and then. Sometimes I always like at the end to put like a little simple, just piggybacking off of what you said call to action.

Hey, if you know somebody else tag them, let people work for you.

Vanessa: And that's like the power of people, the power of networking, even if you're not like, quote unquote networking, we're going out to mixers or whatever. It's a matter of just letting people, putting it, putting your offer out there or putting what you're do out there or who you serve, or some little snippet of.

What you're doing. [00:09:00] It's amazing that just putting it out there, how other pe