Remixing your assets

"Foreign."

Stuart: Welcome to another episode of the book More Show. It's Stuart Bell here with Betsy Vaughan. Betsy, how's it going?

Guest: Fantastic. Stuart Bell, how are you?

Stuart: Very good, thank you. Although immediately slightly distracted because out of the window at the house here is the, the road in front of the house and it's a one way street but like maybe a third of the traffic doesn't believe it's one way street. So constantly comes down the wrong way and a truck came down here the wrong way yesterday which caused all sorts of problems and a car just was parked outside the house but just turned around and went the wrong way anyway.

Guest: At what point do they realize it? I mean like when there's a car coming towards them.

Stuart: Yeah, no one seems to care. I had to start off with a bit of a catch up because it's a little while since we recorded so we don't move across. I had to do a driving test so care learners, despite driving for 25 years get a learner's permit and do a driving test across it. And it definitely seems to be the case that road signs are advisory rather than instructions here where in the UK it seems to be a little bit more prescriptive.

Guest: Yeah, I would say so. You know, you just sort of. People kind of just do what they want, you know, you're right one way, whatever. Let me just. It's convenient. I'll just go this way instead, you

Stuart: know, because obviously why would it apply to you? Because it's more convenient. Another direction.

Guest: That's a one way for everybody but me.

Stuart: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so catch up. Let's crack on with some work. So today we are going to talk about what's the best way of describing this. I shot a quick video and posted it on the Facebook page the other day. I'm not sure how many people listening. Follow the Facebook page. We don't put that much stuff up there but definitely trying to do that a little bit more now than we have in the past and use it for the more kind of ad hoc little pieces of advice or thoughts or suggestions that come up in the, in the day to day stuff. So if you're not already head over to facebook.com forward/90minutebooks and follow along there. But the short video that I posted there was talking about a call I had earlier in the week where it really came. The gist of the conversation moved towards using the book as an asset at various points in the funnel and not just at the top, the top end, the entry point. So we talk A lot about the funnel being a great way to get people to raise their hands, making visible prospects visible. So it's all this top of the funnel stuff, that beginning of the conversation, but it's just as valid in the funnel and at other points or to use with people who are already on the list. And once it's created and once any assets created, really not just the book, but anything, you've got the opportunity to look around and see where you can use that in other funnels or other communication touch points. So I just wanted to dive into that a little bit deeper today. I'm not sure whether we've ever really talked about it here. We've obviously talked about it quite a lot, but I'm not sure whether we ever talked about it here. And if we have, it isn't. It hasn't been recently.

Guest: So I think, yeah, I think it's definitely worth revisiting. I think you said some good things that people, you know, will. Will grab on to there. So let's dive in.

Stuart: Perfect. We wrote a book, or I wrote a book a couple of years ago now that came off the back of a webinar that we did called something I've completely blanked on the name of. What was the name of the webinar? Anyway, it doesn't matter. The book we call Kind of Hot Prospects and see the nature of it. And really it was an exercise to demonstrate on the webinar how easy something is to create. So it literally was that talk presentation edited going into. I knew it was gonna. We were gonna do that, record it as a book. So it was. It was fit for purpose in that sense, edited up and. And captured together. So one of the modules in there talked about this idea of multiple funnels. So if you think about a regular campaign, you'd have the touch point at the beginning, the starting position, and then they'd. People would opt in and then you'd move them through the email sequences, educating and motivating people over time to take the next step. And we've certainly talked about that over the last couple of shows recently. This idea of the initial touch point is the start of the process, but really it's the majority of people who convert at a later date rather than the minority who convert immediately. So it's well worth making sure that you kind of orchestrate that funnel and go through. But when you think about it, creating those assets. So let's think about what those could be. So the book, obviously at the. At the top of the funnel, the thing that people can opt in for further down the process. You might heard of us talking about scorecards and scorecard books. So we've got those on the breakthrough blueprint side and the 90 minute book side and the listing agent lifestyle side. So this is another thing, another way that people can score themselves across or against a framework that you've defined in order to evidence their own position and, and identify that they are in a position to want the next steps. It could also be reports or video content or audio content or infographics. All of the things we talk about in the beyond the book type mindset of the book blueprint scorecard. All of these things that you can initially create to lead people in that educational motivational stage, to take them step by step and amplify the points you make. But each of these things that you create is an asset in its own right. And in the first mix, in the first plan, we're talking or setting up the funnel, the process in a kind of a linear way, assuming people will join at the front and then go through stage by stage. But it doesn't take too much of an imagination to think that, okay, over time, as that list of asset builds, then you've got the opportunity of introducing people in different ways. So let's take scorecards as an example. Scorecards we talk about in the model I just described as a kind of educational and motivational piece. It amplifies the things that you've already talked about in the manifesto book to begin with. We use it as a profit activator 3 tool, not profit activator 2 tool. So rather than getting people to raise their hand, it's to educate and motivate them towards that next step. But once you've got that audience built, once those names are collected over time, you'll be attracting audiences from other people. You might have opportunities to speak in other contexts where that, that talk either on someone else's podcast or webinar, or live on stage or a small business event or a meetup group, or all of these ways where you can get in front of the audience and really talk through the content of the book, talk through the, the kind of manifesto, the explaining piece. So then you'll have to be like, okay, well what's the, what's the opportunity to get people to opt in and join the, the overall funnel, overall overall list or campaign. And a scorecard is a great way of doing that because it builds on the thing that you've already had the opportunity to talk about. So if it wasn't a scorecard it might be an amplification piece of one of the points that you're talking about. So it might be an infographic to demonstrate a particular point or illustrate a particular point you're trying to make in the talk or the, the book that you've already written. It might be a white paper that goes on to further explain one particular part of the puzzle or one particular, slightly more, not scientific but slightly more numbers based element of, of the thing you're talking about. So in the retail model, the real estate model rather, it might not be a white paper as such, but it might be more of an explanatory report talking about house prices subsector or certain community that could be backed up with a little bit of anecdotal information backed up with data on house price sales in that particular area. The often referred to Jim Hacking and their immigration business. So a report on fiance visas, a report on H1B1 work based visas, that data driven thing that is nicely positioned in a report that supports the premise, the, the approach that you're trying to highlight in the book in the first place. All these additional things can later be used as assets to introduce people and get them to opt in in the first place. So you've got the opportunity to speak about the, the broader subject and then asking people to opt into something. The something can be. Because remember, we still want a cookie to get people to opt in too. But that cookie can be the report. That was a lot of words to start off with.

Guest: Yeah, I was, I was following that and I was just. Yeah, so I'm, I'm just thinking about those things and, and that you brought up and those are all great things. And I'm just thinking about why people are hesitant to not. It just seems like a no brainer. So why are people so hesitant to, to not provide this, you know, information? You know, because I think people get lost. They just don't. I don't know and I don't want to say it's laziness. It's just they don't do it and

Stuart: I think a couple of things. So from kind of five years of, of doing this now three years of doing this now. Five years. I'm losing track of time anyway, in the number of years I've been doing it.

Guest: Do you know that I came to this conversation three years ago today? Yeah.

Stuart: Is it today?

Guest: It is today.

Stuart: Early in the week.

Guest: Yes. Yes.

Stuart: Special anniversary episode. So.

Guest: Yes. Anyway. Yeah. So you've been doing it long.

Stuart: Congratulations to Betsy Vaughan@90minutebooks.com yes, in five years. Five years we've been doing this for now in that time in talking to people, it's typically one of two or three things that is always the case. And sometimes people kind of explicitly say it and sometimes people kind of. It comes out in conversation and sometimes it's kind of. It's a, it's an undertone of the conversation. But, but you can tell. And I think that falls into number one, not thinking about it. This is easy for us to think about because this is day in, day out what we do.

Guest: True.

Stuart: So it's easy for us to think about and spend time thinking about the bigger picture. Not everyone has that luxury of time or the luxury of expertise to be able to think about how the bigger thing fits in. I think connected to that is also a lot of I just want to get this done. I know this is something I should do. I'm going to do it. I just want it done. But so often, and not just this, but in many, many things, it's the, the mental effort is taken up with doing it and then you kind of just want to move on to the next thing and be done with it and not have to think about, okay, well, that's really the, the, the beginning piece is now done, the things created. But actually how I use it then and how I can use it going forwards is something that people to think about because they've kind of exhausted their mental supply. That's why the beyond the book book that we send out to the clients to think about how you could use it afterwards. That's why a lot of the stuff that we talk about here, the strategy calls that we do for the pro customers, all of that is around, okay, the, the doing, it's great, but that's just executional. That's why you've come to us in the first place to get that execution piece done. But the real, the rubber hits the road when you start using it. And I think for a lot of people that's just one mental step too far to begin with. And I think the third thing that comes up is again, not really a lack of imagination isn't the right way of describing it either, but just a not really thinking about how they could do it. So when we talk to people about, okay, so you wrote this thing in the book that talked about these numbers. Why not write a, write a white paper or write a special report, which really is exactly the same information, but just positioning it in a slightly different way. You may be including a couple of more desired elements to it maybe there's a couple more chart elements to it that it didn't make sense or weren't ready in time to put in the book. But adding those things afterwards, if you like the content that's already gone into it, it's a very small additional step. But it is something that people rarely think about because. Well, I don't know why, but for whatever reason, I don't think about including those additional things. Things.

Guest: Well, you know, I think that's. We had somebody recently who did a book and he had these random links throughout, you know, to these videos. And when I was double checking, I'm like, you know, there's these. Don't go anywhere. And so he's like, I know they don't, but they will by the time this book is finished, you know, and he said, because that was his goal, he's like, I will have this finished. You know, I have to do this. And. And it was. It was important information because he was, you know, talking about it throughout the book and it was sort of. It put the pressure on him to go back and make sure that he did these. Yeah, exactly. And so I think.

Stuart: Exactly. And that is so beneficial on so many levels. So we're thinking and talking about creating those additional assets that you can use in different ways. We're talking about kind of remixing the funnel. So the starting point at the top isn't always the book, but the book could appear in the funnel at some point to amplify and reinforce the message. And really what we're aiming to do all the way through this process is identify invisible prospects, get them to raise their hand, educate and motivate them over time to make that decision to take the next step and where possible, kind of track and keep an eye on those fill on those people who are filtering themselves to show as hotter versus colder. So if you can imagine in your CRM system as all of these people are in. In there at the first level, so they've got kind of one level of one bar against their name because they've opted in for the first thing. But if they then clicked on a link that showed them one of these videos that we were talking about just now, one of the videos to emphasize the point, that gives them another tick because you can track that link click, they watch a second one and it's a second click, a third one, and it's a third click. So they then go to download and re opt into a scorecard or special report. So that's a fourth or fifth tick when you're going back through all of the list of people that you could deal with, the list of people that you want to send a nine word email to, a kind of a spear email, short person expecting a reply. Just as in the way that we say that the book is a great way of identifying invisible prospects. So from the whole of the planet, here's a group of people who are broadly interested. Now we're getting to the point where we can identify groups of people, subsets of people who are specifically interested. So if someone's opened every email that you sent them, clicked on every link, then they're much more likely prospect, a much more engaged prospect than someone that never clicked on anything after opening or after engaging with that first piece. So having these additional pieces, ideally pieces that amplify the message that you already do it, not going off on a tangent somewhere, but kind of reinforcing that message, kind of taking people, educating people closer and closer to the subject by providing a deeper dive information or more context, then all of these things compared with doing nothing or compared with doing something random, all of these things are dialing in that focus and turn that spotlight on the people who are self selecting all the way through this process. Because remember everything that we've talked about so far, once you've created those assets, then the campaign in your CRM or the way you have your website set up can be automatically identifying all of these pieces. So in the bigger picture, it's just from that initial seed of an idea, which in the context that we're talking about is the book, you're then able to create a set of assets, a set of things that you can offer to people that either identify them as more, more, more interested, more engaged, a hotter prospect, or gives you more ways of introducing them in the first place and getting them to raise their hand. So I want to elaborate a little bit more on that second point. But in terms of that getting those X ray specs, being able to identify the hotter prospects from the colder prospects, does that, does that make sense?

Guest: Yeah, it makes total sense to me, you know, absolutely. Yeah.

Stuart: So looking at that second point I was making that the. Once you've got the assets created, there's various ways of, of using those to introduce people. That's really the conversation I was having the other day with, with the guys on the phone, and that's the point I want to illustrate here or reinforce. It is not necessarily thinking about the funnel just as a linear piece. So as we said when we started the call, you may be in a situation where you've got a chance to speak at an event or be at someone's podcast, or you've got access to an audience that isn't necessarily your audience. But offering them the book might not be the right thing for a variety of reasons. It might be that they already know that content because it's an audience you're already talking to. It might be that you're actually going through all of the content so you don't feel like you want to just give them the same thing that they've. They've already got. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure whether that's such a valid concern. I think I'd always offer it because it is, it is. Particularly if you've got physical copies of the book. It's. It's something tangible. But these other assets, being able to point people towards the video and you structure that so that it's behind something that people opt in for, pulling the data out and creating a report so that, that is something that people can opt in for. And at each of these opt in points, then having the rest of the funnel behind it, that kind of follows that flow of. I know how I want to educate and motivate people over time. So I know these are the seven steps, but it's just that first one that's getting swapped out. So it's not always the book necessarily, but the book appears further down in the list then to kind of reinforce the. The message. Just thinking about that remixing of the funnel model of having multiple entry points that lead into similar ish funnels on the back end. So it's easy to manage. We're not talking about reinventing the wheel every time, but thinking in terms of that doing the work, wants to create it, but then being able to amplify the message and reinforce the message and increase the number of entry points is a great way of not just getting stuck in that single funnel mentality. And the things that you can create to back that up are all the things that we've already talked about and any number of variations of that. I mean, it's definitely not the case that everyone should start shooting video because for some people it's super uncomfortable or the barrier to entry is too high, or they're just not interested in it. So if that's the case, then maybe try audio, because for a lot of people that's quick and easy to do and it's a lower technical overhead. I mean, at the end of the day, you can just record a voice memo on your phone and and use that as the audio. Stick that up on a site somewhere. It could be you can use services like Fiverr to get infographic created based off some data that you've got. Ideally it would be data that's kind of unique to your business that no one else got access to to because you're remixing it yourself and adding in your own insights to it. But if it's just industry wide data, then you can use that same, assuming you've got permissions, but use that same data but add your own analysis to it or commentary to it and that's what makes it valuable. Then whatever it is that you can create, it's less of an issue of what it is and it's more of an issue of picking something easy that's, that's achievable for you to do. For you to create either because you're comfortable doing it already or you've got people on the team that can do it or you can easily find an outsourcer to do it. The what it is is less important than the fact that you do do it. And then once you have done it and you've got those assets, mixing them in various ways into funnels that can identify invisible prospects at the front and then educate and motivate them over the time by providing the. All of the other pieces that they didn't opt in for initially to identify those hotter prospects rather than colder prospects.

Guest: Brad, you need to take a drink of water.

Stuart: Can you tell my voice was kind of getting quieter by the end of that paragraph.

Guest: That's it. I was eating a sip for you. Yeah, well, I think for people you gave some great ideas because I think sometimes it's overwhelming to think like oh video, like that's not me, that's not who I am. That's putting myself out there too much and, and again it's, it's too much. But okay. But I can. It's simple to, to hit the button and record something quickly, you know. And that I can do, you know that that's easier for people, you know. So I think there's some. You gave some ideas there for people to think a little bit outside the box, you know.

Stuart: Yeah. And I think that whole thing exactly as you've seen that kind of outside of the box of what you'd normally be thinking about. And it's almost handy. Should create this. Might get lost in translation a little bit. But when you were a little kid, did you remember those books that were kind of cut in three horizontally or four and then there'd be a head at the top and then a torso and then legs and you kind of flip them over and you'd create like different things or the game that you. I was playing it with the kids around here the other day over the summer rather where you kind of fold a piece of paper in four and one person draws a head and the other person draws the body and.

Guest: Right.

Stuart: And you come up with a. Yeah, yeah, you can almost do with the same thing for assets like funnel assets. In fact, if someone steals this idea and does it before me, feel free. But at some point. But on the one thing, on the, on the top line you could start with the piece of information so the, the, the nugget of the idea that you want to share. And then on the next line down you can have the, the, the type, the, the asset class if you like the thing that you're going to create. So audio, video, image, infographic, blog post, special report. What other things might there be? Can't think that's oh, Instagram video, Facebook video, tweet interview. And as you listen to this, think about 10 more of your. But as a separate exercise rather than thinking, okay, I've got this piece of information, what should it be? Which automatically narrows and filters and sifts and sorts you. Your thinking. You kind of, you can't help but get constrained by the delivery when you're thinking about, okay, I've got this, what can I do with this? Rather than. As a separate exercise, write down all the asset classes that you could possibly imagine for any potential type of content. So when you come back to it, then at a later date you've got on the top half just writing the thing and on the bottom half just flick through all of the different options. And I think that would be a great way of. Yeah, because it removes the constraints. The one job of work you're doing is thinking about, okay, all of the, all of the nuggets, all of the things that you could write or create to amplify the message that you've already made. So that's one job. And your mind can entirely just think about, okay, what are the things that could get created? And then there's a second task and there's a one off but that you can reuse later. Okay, these are all the things that as I'm talking now, my imac's gone to, gone to sleep and the screen's gone into the Apple TV video background. So it's like a flyover of some dock somewhere. So I mean you've either got silly things like skywriting in the sky with a plane or dragging one of those banners that you see dragged along the beach behind a plane, or postcards or flyers or mail letter, actual mail delivery pieces, TV ads, radio commercials, speaking opportunities. All of these. I mean, even now we've just done evidenced in the last kind of 90 seconds. We started off with the list of six or seven, which were the ones that immediately sprang to mind. And then we kind of ran into a pause a little bit. And then in the background, our minds have been continuing, continuing on, and another 10 things have just popped up. So as you're listening to this, do that as an exercise. In fact, how we're 26 minutes in, I'm gonna do something unprecedented and say we're gonna end there. Because that. I think that as an end point for people to stop listening now and take the extra 10 minutes that we might be whittling on for to just go through that. Just write a list of. Don't think about the content. Just think about all the possible asset classes or delivery mechanisms or ways of kind of bundling up this information. And just take the next 10 minutes and write down as many as possible, because that list will be invaluable and serve you for years and years and years to come. And you can always add to it. And then when you're thinking about, okay, I've written this book that talks about the five bullet points to my plan or the eight mindsets of. Of how to write a book. For each of those eight mindsets, what asset class, what thing can I create to amplify that message even more? Having done this exercise, you'll have a list of 10 to 30 possibilities, and then you don't need to worry about it or think about it over time. You can write people's names next to it as the experts, you can do the thing. But that I think, is an invaluable exercise.

Guest: I think that's great. And share on our Facebook. If we haven't said something and you come up with it, please put it on our. On our Facebook for us to look at something, you know, that we may have missed. And we'd love to hear it, but I love you giving exercises, homework for people. I think it helps us think and, you know,

Stuart: just as long as I don't have to work it.

Guest: That's exactly. That's great stuff there. So.

Stuart: Well, as you listen to this as well, in case you haven't visited the Facebook page, we post the show every. As we release it, we post on Facebook as well. So there'll be a post there that's associated with this, this episode and definitely, as Betsy suggested, go and make additional comments there. And I think collectively if this, it's Friday now, this show is going to go up tomorrow on Saturday. So I'll start that list off and, and pull out the transcript that, that list of things that we spoke about. So I think between, between all of us, we can build that into, into.

Guest: I can't wait to see it. Yeah, that would be great. And it'll be valuable for some, for everyone, for everyone listening and everyone who sees that, you know. Yeah, it'll be a great little nugget out there.

Stuart: Yeah, I think we can feed back in a couple of weeks as well and, and I'm sure we'll get some ideas that come from this, that really elaborate into, into extra things that we can do.

Guest: Perfect. That's great. That's a great way to end. You're right.

Stuart: Perfect. Okay, well, thanks for listening everyone, as this is going to be episode number number 70. So head across to 90minutebooks.com podcast and or follow the podcast link on the menu. This is going to be number 70. Check out the Facebook page. There's links to the Facebook page on the website as well, but it's just 90 minute books on Facebook. Shoot us an email if you've got any questions. As always, to either podcast at 90 Minute Books or support a 90 Minute Books and that will come through to Betsy and I will be able to feedback and follow up on those. And as always, the best way, all of these exercises are great, but the best thing you can really do is get your book written. So we're here waiting to help and that's just follow the get started links over@90minutebooks.com There you go.

Guest: That's awesome.

Stuart: Perfect. Yeah. Thanks for your time, Betsy. Thanks everyone for listening and we'll catch you in the next one.

Guest: Sounds good. Take care.

Stuart: Cheers, Betsy. Bye, Sam.