Case Study: Shoshana Sadia

Case Study: Shoshana Sadia

by | Apr 6, 2021 | Case Study, Email Marketing, Marketing, Mindset, Productivity, Strategy, Time saving

Today’s case study is focussing mostly on the work I did with Shosh, supporting her with her MailChimp, although we have done lots of other things together like course creation, Facebook ads and website development. 

Shoshi is a “Womxn’s Empowerment Mentor and Cycle Guide”. She helps women to use their cycle as a superpower which invariably creates a lot of magic in their lives, harnessing the energy that is available and nourishing themselves when that is called for. 

If you want to have a better relationship with your womb, you can grab her free Womb Meditation or if you want to go all the way to SuperHero status you can take the 5 week course, “The Cycle”. Or you can just follow her on Instagram for loads of inspiration and tips to make the most of being a woman creatrix. 

When I started helping Shosh with her MailChimp she was finding it hard to get her emails to look good.

She found that the formatting and fonts were always weird when she copied the text over from a word doc or from her socials. I also noticed lots of in-text links instead of buttons because she didn’t know how to get sexy buttons. She wanted to have reliable templates, so she could use that one good email with text, buttons, images and colours in place and then just duplicate it to create automated email nurture sequences and to send out campaigns.

Shosh has the lowest paid version you can get on MailChimp, so she gets 3 audiences, and automations but she felt like there was more she could do using tagging and segments if only she knew how. 

All of this together meant that she didn’t feel comfortable sending out emails to her gorgeous people and she wasn’t hosting free webinars, masterclasses or launching her course. Because she couldn’t use the tool. 

We did a mixture of things to get her MailChimp account ship shape and highly functioning. 

One thing Shoshi was nailing already was creating landing pages in MailChimp and using tags to deliver freebies all through her one list (before she upgraded to paid). But some of those landing pages weren’t as sexy as she hoped. Step one was a revamp of her landing page header images and text formatting. 

What I was seeing was inconsistent fonts and way too many different fonts in general.

I recommend choosing one font for headings and one font for body text. No more than that 🙂

So I edited the landing pages to have consistent font use and sizing which gave us an immediate relief. 

I also created a new header image for the landing pages that was just like the images on the website banners.

Getting Shoshi a template she could use for all emails and automations was another easy fix focussing on these 3 things: 

  1. Consistent font types
  2. Consistent font sizing
  3. Creating branded buttons

Once I set these, Shosh had a template email she could use for campaigns and automations. 

There was another trick too: the address had changed but that wasn’t showing up in the footer even though Shosh had edited it in the email. This is because the “From” address in the footer isn’t set on a per email basis. There are actually some settings in your account info you need to go and edit. You go to Account > Contact Info and edit your address there. So that is fixed too!

The final step was to set Shoshi free to create gorgeous emails for herself. I did this by making short, screen share videos of how to set the fonts, how to create the buttons and a number of other things she does on the regular like moving people from one list to another. I use a screen recorder tool and do the task with verbal instructions which I then send over to my clients so they can follow along and do it themselves. These recordings are available as long as the interwebs exist as a future resource for my clients. 

Shoshi hardly needs me for MailChimp related support at all these days and can use her email marketing smilingly and confidently.

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Learn more about Online Marketing and Business that doesn’t require you to sellout on your soul.

Do you just want to learn how to master MailChimp?

I’m currently delivering MailChimp mentoring in a group program which will probably run again later this year. I also love helping people 1-1 with MailChimp so feel free to book a free chat or check out the MailChimp mentoring info here: 

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Is MailChimp any good?

Is MailChimp any good?

by | Mar 15, 2021 | Email Marketing, Marketing, Mindset, Productivity, Time saving

When I started my business I was using MailChimp. 

You could get so much for free! But is MailChimp any good?

I have really mixed emotions about this. It’s not that MailChimp is bad. I just have trouble saying it is good. 

I think that the team at MailChimp wondered the same thing as me: 

What do you get any better than this in the paid version??

And over time (5.5years I’ve been in biz) I have seen MailChimp change their appearance and functions, the names of things (lists are now audiences) and most of all they’ve changed what you get for free and what you get on paid versions. 

Let’s go a bit deeper. 

I do not adore MailChimp but it is not bad. I just have a lot of trouble saying it is good 😌 🤣

I’m going to commit right now to: not going on and on about what you used to get for free. And if you have an account from before the major changes to the free pan you will find that you still have all of your lists and automations intact – so DON’T DELETE ANYTHING!! Just rename things and make the most of it. 

Rather than rubbing it in about how much better it used to be I will contrast it with alternatives that are free services. 

MailChimp is a free or paid email marketing service. If you’re not clear on what email marketing is or whether it is relevant for your business, I have a video about that here.

On the free version of MailChimp you get one audience (list of subscribers) and if you create an automation, you get one email in the workflow.

MailChimp is the big name in email marketing and it used by some big companies – but that doesn’t make it the best value or the best free service

Good things about MailChimp

MailChimp is great for beginners to email marketing. Mostly because they have been around for aaaages and so there are a lot of YouTube videos to help you and you probably have friends in biz who use it and could help you. 

Having said that, any of the alternatives like MailerLite or SendInBlue are just as good for beginners and will actually grow with your business quite a bit before you have to pay. 

Struggling a bit here, to find good things about MailChimp. 

It is not BAD okay. It’s just not the best free version anymore. 

And even if you pay, the first upgrade gives you 3 audiences, lifts the limit on automations and gives you MailChimp support, but you don’t have unlimited audiences and the support is pretty average in my opinion. If you’re going to pay – I don’t advise you to pay for MailChimp unless it feels way too overwhelming to shift platforms. 

If you have maxed out your MailChimp, I suggest you begin a gradual transition to another platform:

leave your existing MailChimp set up alone,

maybe export your list  + send newsletters from somewhere else

and gradually move over your automations

OR just have a Frankenstein set up with some here and some there. 

What I don’t love about MailChimp

It’s just not intuitive to use!

People struggle to send a basic email that looks good!

I mean c’mon team!

MailChimp have tried to improve the user experience over the years, but it’s still just not easy to use. Most people struggle with font appearance, and formatting. Getting it looking branded and gorgeous.

It’s not that  you CAN’T get it looking good, it’s just not straightforward.

Keep an eye out for a new video coming up about “How to create a gorgeous email in MailChimp”. This week or next week. Jump on the newsletter so you definitely hear about it.

Further to that: if you want a free email service that gives you more, SendInBlue and MailerLite are definitely better contenders. And if you want to pay, I highly recommend ActiveCampaign because their system offers more actions that save you time and do more spiffy things that MailChimp does even on the paid version. Plus – their support is instant and they will stick with you till your issue is resolved. Love those guys.

Do you have more questions about email marketing? There is not one blanket solution I will offer here, because everyone’s set up is so unique. So ask me anything below or make time for a free chat.

I also have a group mentoring program in development for MailChimp where I will teach you all my time saving and beautifying tips AND support you with your unique needs. Jumping on the newsletter is the best way to stay in the loop about that which will run later in the year.

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Learn more about Online Marketing and Business that doesn’t require you to sellout on your soul.

Do you just want to talk to me about your business and email marketing?

I’d love to chat. You can book a free chat and we can discuss your business, your email marketing or anything else you like!

Go ahead and book a free chat here:

BOOK HERE
How to share Facebook + Instagram videos in a MailChimp campaign

How to share Facebook + Instagram videos in a MailChimp campaign

by | Mar 8, 2021 | Canva, Email Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Video

Do you like to make video content on Instagram and Facebook?

And then, of course, you’d love to share it with your newsletter subscribers in MailChimp…

But MailChimp will only let you embed YouTube and Vimeo videos….so how do you do it???

It IS possible with this manual workaround 🙂

You will need this video to watch along and pause me to make it happen. Some vague instructions are outlined below the video. 

Basic written instructions

 

Basically, this process involves grabbing a screenshot of your social media video post, turning that into an email suitable sized image and linking the image in the email to the social media post. 

Which sounds great as a one liner, but there are a few hurdles, like what size should the image be and how to get the correct URL for the social media video. 

So let’s get to it. 

  1. Go to your social media video on Facebook or Instagram
  2. Take a screenshot of the video
  3. Find the URL of the video. If you’re in Instagram it’s relatively easy from the desktop to get the URL. You DO have to make sure you’re in the actual post page and NOT the preview. But if you’re on Facebook, it can be confusing. You need to find the permalink of the post which you can find by clicking on the time it was posted. This is displayed under the name of your page like the image above. Once you click on that link, you get the URL of the video. Not making sense? Check out the vid.
  4. Now it’s time to go into Canva and create an email freindly image. What do I mean email friendly? Well, if the image is too large, it won’t send well from MailChimp, so it’s better to resize it first. PLUS, this way you get to add a “Play” icon on top so it’s clear to click play and watch.
  5. Once inside Canva create a custom image, like 500x500px. 
  6. Then you can import your screenshot. 
  7. Drag the image into the design space. 
  8. Click “elements” on the left sidebar and search for “play” – you can choose a play icon you like. You can change the colour or whateer you like. 
  9. Now it’s time to download your design. Click download – png or jpg is great. 
  10. Go to MailChimp and start your email campaign. 
  11. Once you’re in design mode, drag “Image” over from the right sidebar  options.
  12. Pop your image in
  13. Link it to your video url/permalink
  14. Voila!

Now you should have a link in your email from people to view your social media video! 

How did you go? 

 

Let me know if you have more questions and I’ll make another video to help you 🙂 

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Learn more about Online Marketing and Business that doesn’t require you to sellout on your soul.

Got more MailChimp questions?

I now offer MailChimp mentoring so you can tame your MailChimp and really get the most out of it. It’s currently in Beta mode (test run) so I don’t have a fancy sales page for you 🙂

However I do have this social media post.

If you would like more information, you can email me. I’m also offerring this for MailerLite. 

EMAIL ME
The 3 most common mistakes I’ve seen working with 150 clients

The 3 most common mistakes I’ve seen working with 150 clients

by | Sep 21, 2018 | Email Marketing, Facebook™, Marketing, Mindset, Productivity, Social Media, Time saving

I’ve been serving women in their marketing for 3 years and in that time I’ve noticed a few patterns; a few things that people do over and over that can get in the way of growing their business. Things that stop them from making more impact and making more money. If I can save even one woman from making these same mistakes it will make my heart sing. So here goes:  

The 3 most common mistakes I see made by smart women in business

 

1. Too much time on social media

I spoke to a woman the other day who spends 80% of her time on social media. She wanted to know how to make her time spent there convert into more $$ revenue in her business. At the moment she is converting her time into less than $150 a week. I nearly cried. Nearly every woman I speak to is spending too much time on social media. There are exceptions. Some women have really engaged audiences on their Facebook page and are hanging out here, in their comments, deepening relationships and selling spaces on their events, workshops and coaching packages). Most of them are worrying too much about how many times a day she should be posting, and kind of missing the point about what social media is for. Yes – people have gone viral and made a million dollars. Is that going to happen to you? Probably not. Social media is great for deepening relationships. It’s great for storytelling, delivering your product, brand building. It’s great for heaps of things but creating content and posting is not an end in itself. Sorry. It can be fun. But it is probably killing your creative flow in terms of better ways to use your energy. Like setting up a great lead magnet. And a nurture sequence. And nailing your message. And serving your peeps.  

2. Boosting posts or running ads at the last minute

“Facebook ads” is one of my favorite marketing toys. It is the best place to spend money on advertising for most businesses. Mostly because of the huge number of people on Facebook and the quality of data/analytics that you get when you run ads. If you know what you are doing on FB ads, you can know for sure how many people saw your ad and what actions they are taking. That’s a lot more than you can get from running newspaper, radio or magazine ads not to mention flyers, F2F networking etc. BUT

If you want to just jump on Facebook ads a week before your event and throw $50 at an ad to get loads of ticket sales – it’s just not going to work.

As well as Facebook Ads having a bunch of nuances you need to be savvy to, ads work best within a strategy. Something like this: For 2-3 months before it’s time to launch my product/service, I’m going to take time to set up the before and after of my Facebook ad AS WELL AS use social media content like videos, images, and posts to allow people to get to know me. I might even run an ad to increase my reach and brand awareness so that when I’m ready to sell to these people, they actually know who I am, what I stand for and how I can help them.

3. No Video

Making videos in your business is going to move the needle. It’s a key marketing and business growth tool that you can’t afford to be leaving on the table. If you’ve only heard this everywhere lately you are probably going to scroll past this part of the article here too – because there’s something stopping you from doing video and you don’t want to be reminded about how important it is for growing your business! I am not going to ease up about it either. The two main reasons are both fear based and involve either:
  1. Perfectionism or
  2. Low self-confidence
If you think your case might be about perfectionism I suggest you go ahead and watch my incredibly cringe-worthy YouTube video that has had over 45,000 views on YouTube. What you can learn from this: You can win even with imperfect video. Why this video performed well:  It gave people an instant win.
Other arguments that perfectionism might make:
  • I need better gear
  • My backdrop is not good
  • I make mistakes when I do a single take
  • I want it to be good
I disagree. You don’t need anything more than a smartphone or your computer and the free version of Zoom to create a video today. You only need to create a 1-meter nook in your home with decent light to create a backdrop – the rest of the house can be a bomb site No-one minds if you get a word right. It makes you fallible, loveable and real. You become an imperfect person that others can relate to. Relatable. Did you see my video? Was it good? I recommend you talk about something you know inside and out, and that you don’t scratch your nose and your bra endlessly and your video will easily be better than mine. If it’s a self-confidence issue: Get some coaching. and/or Just make some videos anyway and don’t share them with the world immediately. Get used to seeing and hearing yourself. OR Don’t watch them back. Just post them on your Facebook page. And then look at your analytics. See how well video performs? It outperforms any other kind of post on Facebook PLUS it’s let’s people get to know you while you: clean the house, spend time with your friends and family, lie on the beach etc.

Ready to leave these mistakes behind and get set up for success?

I know you’re ready to stop making the same mistakes over & over. Imagine how great it will be to sit down at your computer every day knowing what you’re going to do & why. Stop dreaming – join me on the Elevator. The Elevator is a unique 10-week business growth experience where I support you to get clear on what to do AND  how to do it so that you are taking action towards more impact and more revenue.
Learn More

Learn more about Online Marketing and Business that doesn’t require you to sellout on your soul.

Want more help with your online business presence?

Do you need a hand with all the different ways your business can show up online? Video, Facebook, website, Instagram, Facebook ads, email marketing. The list can be overwhelming. 

Book a complimentary chat with me and let's see if I can help:

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Grow your email list – MailChimp tutorials

Grow your email list – MailChimp tutorials

by | Sep 2, 2018 | Email Marketing, Marketing, Time saving

Once you are set up on MailChimp you might be ready to grow your list and have more people you can communicate with who are interested in your business.

I have pulled together some of my most watched MailChimp tutorials to help you grow your following, create more impact and make more revenue in your business.

PLEASE NOTE: a number of these videos are older so my directions aren’t as aplicable because MailChimp have changed the names and placement of things – however the overarching principles still apply.

Aso a number of the features of the free plan have changed so you may not be able to perform these functions on the free account anymore.

I am delivering a Beta version of my MailChimp Group Mentoring March 31-April 30 2021. If you would like support with your MialChimp you might consider joining us there. MORE INFO HERE.

You can get sign-ups from your website

Keep the conversation going.

Once people have checked you out on your website, it’s important to stay in touch with them and allow them to move along in their customer journey with you. A website sign-up form is a great way to do that.

If your website uses a builder….

Then it’s slightly different…

Here’s an example of putting a sign-up form on a website with a builder. This time you need a tiny piece of code. I’ll show you how.

What about automations?

These are also called nurture sequences…

Here’s how you can give a lot of love to your followers. This is likely to help them get to know you and be more ready to buy.

Once people sign up you might like to send them to your website…

Maybe you want to deliver an eBook or up-sell to another product…

MailChimp has got you covered. Here’s how:

Do you have an eBook you want to give to people?

You can do that using MailChimp.

Once you have it read as a pdf. file you can deliver it using MailChimp. Here’s how:

And now you’ll need a landing page to get your eBook in front of people

You can use the free version of MailChimp to create a branded landing page for your eBook.

Here’s how to set it all up so it’s branded and appealing – not like the simple sign up form.

After you’ve given the free eBook..

It’s a good idea to mention a paid service or product.

Here’s how to make a template from a previous email you sent out.

Move people from one list to another

If you’ve run a challenge or webinar you might want to add people to your main list.

The best ways to build your lists is with great freebies. Challenges, mini-trainings with multiple videos, webinars, and masterclasses are all great options. And then afterward you’ll want to move those participants over to your main newsletter list to keep the conversation going.

Notifications for new subscribers

Do you want to hear from MailChimp for every new subscriber you gain?

Whether you want to hear from MailChimp more or less often, here is how to edit your notification settings.

Learn more about Online Marketing and Business that doesn’t require you to sellout on your soul.

Want more help with your online business presence?

Do you need a hand with all the different ways your business can show up online? Video, Facebook, website, Instagram, Facebook ads, email marketing. The list can be overwhelming. 

Book a complimentary chat with me and let's see if I can help:

book now

MailChimp for beginners

MailChimp for beginners

by | Sep 2, 2018 | Email Marketing, Marketing, Time saving

I remember when I learned how to use MailChimp. It was 11’o’clock at night and my eyes were hanging out of my head. I was probably swearing in the half-light trying not to wake anyone with my frustration.

I know how confusing and tricky it can be so once I nailed it I started teaching other people what I know through my YouTube channel with how-to videos.

A lot of people have told me how helpful these are, how easy I make it with my explanations and my unique sense of humor. What beautiful compliments!

I thought I’d create a hub for a bunch of the MailChimp videos to make it easy for people to work through them in order.

So here goes:

 (PLEASE NOTE: a number of these videos are older so my directions aren’t as aplicable because MailChimp have changed the names and placement of things – however the overarching principles still apply.

Aso a number of the features of the free plan have changed so you may not be able to perform these functions on the free account anymore.

I am delivering a Beta version of my MailChimp Group Mentoring March 31-April 30 2021. If you would like support with your MialChimp you might consider joining us there. MORE INFO HERE.)

What should you do first?

Make a list!

Once you’ve logged in and filled out all of the required information to create your account, the best thing to do first is to make a list. Here’s how:

The new look MailChimp

Things look a little different…

Since I made some of these videos, some of the look and feel of MailChimp has changed. Here’s where all the things can be found since the update.

What do all the buttons mean?

Once you’re a little set up – here’s a look around.

You can also watch this one first if you’re just curious about how it all works.

Next! Send your first email.

Now it’s time to send an email.

You’ve got your list, you know what some of the buttons mean – now let’s send your first email to your audience.

Import your contacts

Maybe you don’t have your people in your list yet…

Here’s how to import an Excell file of contacts in to your list.

Create a template for your emails

Don’t recreate the wheel every time.

Here’s how to create a template for your emails so you can save time.

Another way to make templates

Once you send a really great email, you might want to use that style again.

Here’s how to make a template from a previous email you sent out.

Is it worth paying for MailChimp?

Here’s my two-cents on whether or not  you should pay for MailChimp.

If you’re going to take your email to the next level I actually recommend moving over to ActiveCampaign or Kartra.

Edit your social share buttons

If you don’t edit your social share buttons you’ll be sending people to the MailChimp website and Social media

Here’s how to make sure you’re sending your people to YOUR website, Facebook and Instagram etc.

Did you know you can resend to people who didn’t open?

Sometimes people just get busy…

But you can easily resend your email to people who overlooked it the first time. Here’s how.

Write your email on Tuesday and send it on Saturday

The marketing statistics seem to indicate emails convert better on weekends…

But no-one wants to be writing emails on the weekend. Here’s how to schedule your emails and when to send them.

Learn more about Online Marketing and Business that doesn’t require you to sellout on your soul.

Want more help with your online business presence?

Do you need a hand with all the different ways your business can show up online? Video, Facebook, website, Instagram, Facebook ads, email marketing. The list can be overwhelming. 

Book a complimentary chat with me and let's see if I can help:

book now