2020 was a year of intense sink-or-swim lessons for many of us. The word “pivot” became a resounding mantra throughout the business world. The visionaries among us truly took up that call, creating fresh solutions, inventing new business models, and doing whatever it took to innovate our way through to 2021. We were all happy to see the year end. But that doesn’t mean we can’t carry some of those great lessons forward with us to ensure the future is robust, resilient, and thriving.
In 2020 at Legacy Creative, we developed a host of new online programs and helped many clients do the same with our Product Creation Bootcamp. From this experience, we’ve curated a list of our own top lessons from 2020 that you can leverage today to make 2021 your best year yet.
- Know Your Avatar.
Your “Avatar” in this case is an extremely detailed conceptualization of your ideal client. This is your ideal target market. Who do you most want to serve? Who are you best suited to serve with your business? What does that ideal client’s life look like? What personality do they have? What are their needs, problems and desires? Knowing who your avatar is can change how you approach everything in your business or program. The more specific you can get, the more time and money you’ll save by avoiding non-ideal clients. It’ll cut your costs when it comes to ad funnels and marketing. And most importantly, it will allow you and your team to serve your clients better by having a deeper understanding of their needs.
- Clarify the Client Journey of Transformation.
What does your client’s journey with you look like? Clarify your beginning, middle and end so your clients understand what to expect from working with you. Being clear on what your program looks like for your client helps them decide if the program is right for them, and it helps you ensure you’re setting them up for success. Get specific.
- Use Powerful Storytelling.
Storytelling is the programming language of the human brain. If you’re delivering cold facts and statistics to your audience, chances are good they’re going to walk away from your program or presentation without remembering much of what you said. If you present your content by leveraging storytelling, and by creating emotion in your audience, you’ll also be creating memories. Your audience will resonate with your storytelling and your presentation will make a lasting impact on them.
- Encourage Community Engagement.
It can be hard to break through the noise of the constant glut of information streaming to us these days in order to cultivate a sense of community with your audience. Hard, but definitely not impossible. Community engagement is one of the most important and fulfilling things you can offer your clients. We all crave connection. So start thinking of ways you can help your clients feel connected (with you, your product or program, and each other), no matter where they are in the world.
- Make it easy to win.
If people feel great about their progress, they’re far more likely to stay engaged. The key here is to make it impossible to “fail” their first interaction with you. Set people up to win as quickly as possible. This could be as simple as giving them a first assignment of introducing themselves to the group, or starting to think about what they will create in your program. Frame something that used to seem like failure as a success. Show them some incremental progress as soon as possible so they can see the results they’re getting from your product.
Bonus Tip: Get help!
We all need a little help sometimes. If you are struggling with setting up your program, or with community engagement, seek out experts and mentors who can help you along the way. Join a mastermind group for inspiration and encouragement. If you’re thinking of creating your own online program but you don’t know where to start or just need some expert guidance, check out our Product Creation Bootcamp as a resource.
What all of these tips come down to is getting extremely clear about your product and your audience, then delivering your best to that audience by setting them (and yourself) up for success. By leveraging these top tips for your products and programs in 2021, you’ll be well on your way to making the biggest possible impact on the world, transforming the lives of your clients, and ensuring your business is robust, resilient and successful for years to come.
