Ep. 286: 🟨AMY PORTERFIELD🟨Drops WEBINAR Secrets! 60 MILLION Podcast Downloads! #1 Marketing Expert in U.S. joins the show!

0:08Welcome to Do This Not That, the podcast for marketers. You'll walk away from each episode with actionable tips you can test immediately. You'll hear from the best minds in marketing who will share tactics, quick wins, and pitfalls to avoid. We'll also dig into life, pop culture, and the chaos that is our everyday. I'm Jay Schwetelson. Let's do this, not that.

0:40we are back for do this not that podcast presented by marigold and today is amy porterfield day what does that even mean listen when you have amy porterfield on your show it's a national holiday it should be a national holiday and if you don't know who amy is i don't know who you are because she is incredible she's literally the number one expert in the world for digital course creation. She's had over 90 ,000 students. That is like six football teams. That's wild. Okay. When she started her business, she started from zero. She built it up to do over a hundred million dollars in revenue. Okay.

1:12And her podcast, which is easily my favorite podcast has had over 60 million downloads. Like what type of number is that now? And she's like, why are you saying this? Because it's true. If you said Jay, you could have anybody on the show, anybody you want, I'm serious. Any celebrity, anybody, it would be Amy. Instant, what I would say, no doubt. I'm an absolute super fan. Amy, I'm so happy to have you on the show. Thanks for being here. Okay. First of all, you give the best intros ever. And also, you're not a super fan. We are friends now. Now we talk about how great your hair is, where your kids are going to school, what your wife does, which is one of the coolest professions ever.

1:49I wish she was my wife. That sounds weird. I know I have a husband, but we are true friends now and I'm so honored to be here. Thank you. I appreciate all that. And I'm not going to do what we normally do on these shows where we're going, what's the story of your life? What's the meaning of life? I want to get into the weeds because you got a lot of good information to share. And what I want to get into right off the bat is webinars. Okay. Tell me, because there's a lot of people out there that think, oh, webinars, they're boring. They're terrible. I hate webinars. They don't work. Why would anybody even think about using a webinar?

2:21But you are on team webinar. What is it? Why do you like webinars? Do they actually work? Okay. So the reason I love webinars so much is because of how much value you get to give before you ever ask for anything in return. So over a 60 to 90 minute period, you are giving immense value. You are increasing your trust, your engagement with your audience, and you're teaching them something new where they walk away with a new idea, new perspective, new strategy, whatever it might be. So I love everything about webinars, but I will tell you, Jay, webinars have changed. I've been in this world for 16 years and I've been teaching them just as long.

3:01And over the last probably two years, I've seen a really big shift. So I'm going to tell you something that I haven't really talked about a lot. And I think that webinars alone are not working as well as they have. Now there's a caveat. If you are brand new and you've never done a webinar before, I want you to start out with just solo webinars, meaning I'm going to tell you a strategy. I don't want you to do this strategy unless you've already done a few webinars on your own. But once you graduate from that, I really do believe that adding a webinar to an experience is what's working. So I'll get to the punchline first.

3:37I converted on a webinar at over 25 % multiple times now, which the average is between like eight and 10%. If you hit 10%, you're doing pretty good. I converted at 25 % multiple times because I have moved my webinars into a bootcamp. So can I take a moment and talk about bootcamps? Yes. I'm all in. So this is how you increase your conversions and your show up rates and your engagement with webinars. So what I started to do a few years back is I started to create a bootcamp. A bootcamp is essentially, let's say a five day experience where people sign up, maybe pay. We'll talk about free and paid in a moment.

4:15They sign up for your bootcamp. They get in with the promise of learning something new over a period of time. And so we do a welcome party. Then we do three days of live training, anywhere from 30 minutes to 45 minutes, teaching on a very specific topic. They are walking away from each of those trainings with something really valuable. You are increasing the engagement of your bootcamp, maybe in a Facebook group or some kind of community. You're getting the conversations going, maybe doing some prizes. I mean, in pure J style, you make it really, really, really fun. And then you do your webinar.

4:49So it's a welcome party, one, two, three days of training, and then your webinar. When you do it that way, your show up rate skyrockets. The engagement on the webinar is incredible. And it converts like gangbusters because they trust you. They know you. They can be on this journey with you now because they know you're going to take care of them. And the way to increase the conversion is to make it paid. So I get the question, well, do you have a paid bootcamp, a free bootcamp? You do it for free. You'll get a lot more people in. You do it for paid. These are people that are paying attention and are more likely to buy.

5:24So I converted at 5 % in the total bootcamp when I did it for free. And then I converted at 25 % in the total bootcamp when I did it for paid. So only the people who go to the bootcamp can go to the webinar? Yes, that's the cool thing. So you have to be in the bootcamp to actually experience the webinar. Now, I'm glad you asked that question. I still invite my general audience who did not sign up for the bootcamp. Once the bootcamp closes and it gets started, I then start promoting to anyone who didn't join the bootcamp. I invite them just to the webinar. That webinar will convert lower, but it's still a lot of people coming in.

6:02So I offer both, but I love the bootcamp into the webinar the best. First of all, that's an amazing strategy. I'm totally stealing that. Please. Let me ask you, are you saying then webinar on its own? I could say, Amy's so great, but I can't do a bootcamp. I still think about this webinar, but should I not do a webinar as a standalone thing anymore? Is that like a dead thing? It's not dead. So I have a good friend, Jenna Kutcher, and Jenna Kutcher kills it with just doing three or four live webinars in let's say a week and a half. Well, actually she doesn't even do that much, maybe three webinars in about a week's time.

6:37And so she still does really, really well. They're not dead. It's just harder to get people to show up and harder to get them to convert on single webinars. But I still think before you move into a bootcamp strategy, you gotta do a few webinars and get them under your belt. They still will convert, but then move up to a bigger strategy. So they still very much work. Again, I still do them. alone, even without bootcamps, but I enjoyed the bootcamp experience so much more. So you, you're one of the unicorns out there that's actually charging for webinars. I mean, does that actually work? Okay. So to be clear, I don't charge for the webinar.

7:13So when I do them for my general audience after the bootcamp closes and they didn't sign up for the bootcamp, those webinars are free, but I do charge for my bootcamp. And, but here's, I'm so glad you asked. it's only$37,$37 for the bootcamp. They get three days of live training. They get a bonus training, which is the webinar and they get PDFs and prizes and all the good stuff I talked about. So it's absolutely worth the$37, but that's the difference. I've done it both ways and I enjoy the paid more, not because of the money, but because of the engagement. So let's talk about engagement for a second.

7:48I think the biggest problem that people have with webinars, I think that we've all turned webinars into like Netflix, like, oh, I'm going to sign up for it. I'm not actually going to go because I'm going to get the on-demand link. And it's like, it's always on whatever. Are you seeing good, put aside converting after the fact. Yes. Are you seeing good show-up rates? Are there tricks to getting people to actually show up live? Yes, absolutely. And you have to put these strategies into place, whether they're the strategies I'm going to share or other strategies, you can't skimp on this part. So whether you're in a bootcamp or not, let's just say you're not doing the bootcamp, you're doing the solo webinars.

8:22Number one, I really do believe that you need to use text messaging. And so we have tried this and different ways, kind of got to get used to what's going to work best for you. But the text messaging before the webinar is what is very powerful. And it might be just sending them quick little tips before, but the morning of they get a text message. Okay. Today's the day, set your timer. You're going to get busy. You're going to forget, set your timer. And then 30 minutes before, 10 minutes before, once it starts, it makes a huge difference. So text messaging to your webinar registrants goes a long way.

8:57Of course, you're going to get their phone number when they opt in for your webinar. The second thing that we always do is a show up live bonus. So in the marketing, before they ever even sign up for the webinar, we're saying, and if you show up live, you get this really cool bonus, something I know that they're going to love that's related to the topic I'm teaching. Usually a PDF, a short video, a short audio, but they are the only ones that get it. So once you show up live, the minute you do, this bonus is yours. And we put it at the top of the chat. So everyone that's there live, they can grab it.

9:29So they're not asking about it when I'm trying to do my webinar. That makes a huge difference. Also reminder ads to registrants. So running any kind of paid ads to just your webinar registrants, the day of that they see it the morning of, the afternoon of, before you go live. So very valuable. Hey, your webinar today is at X time. I'll see you there and go check your email for the link, that kind of thing. And then of course, email marketing. I mean, I'm talking to the king of email marketing. We definitely do a lot of email reminders. And if you can include some kind of personalization or just even a video in the email, like a bomb bomb video, it's a tool we use.

10:10I love a video to remind them, here's what you're going to learn. Here's why you can't, you have to show up live and whatever else you want to add. It is absolute gold that you just talked about, you know, giving that bonus content. We call it a 10 to receive. And we do with everything and it drives, it brings everybody there. There has to be a reason to go. There has to be FOMO. So you can't get that content piece, whatever you're giving out, unless you attend live, right? You can't watch on demand and then get that bonus thing. You have to be there. Is that the play? That's absolutely the play.

10:42And you'll miss the play if you don't use it in your marketing a bunch, reminding them. That's one thing we didn't do enough last time or the first time we did it. And we're like, what did we miss? We realized we didn't even get them excited for it. Also, here's one advanced strategy. Now, remember, I've been doing webinars for 16 years and I have a big audience. So I wouldn't do this if I was just a year or two in. But if you've been doing webinars for a while, I don't do replays. Not always. In the bootcamp, they get the replay because they're special. But for my general webinars last year for my biggest launch, we did not give replays.

11:15And that increased show up as well because here's the cold, hard truth. They say they're going to watch the replay. A tiny, tiny percent actually go watch the replay. So when we took the replay out, now we saw more people show up live. I mean, I agree with everything you're saying. I think on demand equals no demand. I mean, that is just, it crushes performance. All right. I have a question that's off script about webinars. I'm curious your opinion. I believe the word webinar itself is stained. It's boring. So like you call stuff different things. Like you, I see that. Like, are you like, how do you handle that?

11:53Yes. So we have stopped using the word webinar in our external marketing for many, many years now. The word we'd like to use is masterclass. I think it's probably overused and we all need to come up with something different or new. It can't be something so weird that people don't know what you're talking about. So masterclass people know. We've called them workshops before. That tends to be a little bit more interactive when we do so, but I stay far away from the word webinar. It's just been used too much and people know what you're gonna do and they know you're gonna sell to them. But I think people know you're going to sell to them anyway.

12:25That doesn't matter. It's how much value you give from the get-go. Yeah, I hate the word. I mean, no one wants to put a webinar on their calendar. It's like the worst. It's so true. So true. So, all right. I want to do a little bit of a turn here as it turns to events. You know, pre-COVID, you were doing some in-person events. Then COVID hit and you took like, I don't know, like a four-year pause. Yes. Right? On in-person events. But then I saw towards the end of last year, wait a minute, Amy's going and hanging out with people and doing events again. Are you back on the in-person event train?

12:57I am to an extent. So I am an introvert to my core. I am not as fun and exciting as Jay. So like - I don't believe you. You say this all the time. I don't believe you. I asked my husband, I promise. He's like, oh my God, you can't even handle small talk. I can't do it. And, but, so Jay, have you done physical in-person events? Cause you'd be incredible. I've never put a physical one on myself because it's like, I don't know. It feels like such a heavy lift. That's why I'm like, I want to hear how you do it. Well, you're already crushing it with your summits and your virtual. So I don't think you need to, but I used to do really big events and I always dreaded them.

13:31They were so expensive. But then when I was there, I loved it. I'm that kind of introvert. I hate it up to the point that I'm like, why didn't I do this more? So those were incredible. But this time around, because maybe I'm getting a little older and I don't want to do those big, huge things anymore, we've done smaller events. So I have a group called the Millie Club and it's a group of 30 women in a club with me wanting to hit the million dollar mark. So I do two days of live events with them to kick off our six month club. I have a mastermind now and I do three live events with them all in Nashville.

14:02So I live in Nashville and I don't really love to travel that much for business anymore. So they all come to Nashville, but I love it. And it allows me to really connect with people. I did start to miss that, Jay, really connecting with people, learning who they are, what they're about, having real relationships. So I keep them very, very simple. We don't have lots of bells and whistles. We really just focus on the content and the connection in the community. but we do try to wow them with, let's say, nice dinners or fun activities like during the two days, but we do keep it really simple. So tell me, what is like, okay, you've done this one, you know, team building thing or whatever activity at your event and everybody loved it and we became BFFs.

14:46Give me the Amy Porterfield secret little thing to do at an event. Ooh, that's good. Jay, I'm not extremely good at them. You might be, but I think, let me think. So I've done just, I've done three now in the last year. And so I think the thing, well, this is so wild. This is what I mean by keep it simple, but I do have a story of what not to do. I haven't done anything spectacular or over the top, really fun, but I've given them what they want, paying attention to what they're paying for and why they came. All they really love the most from me is my Q and A's. So it's a room of get, it's 25, 30 women that they get to ask me any question they want about how I've built my business and every mistake I've made, the connection and the behind the scenes is what they come back for.

15:32They tell me all the time and that's what they love. Every single event I said, what do you want more of? They want more Q &A. So that feels great to me that I found the right people that truly want to learn from me. But let me tell you about what not to do. So my first mastermind that I did, the first event I did after that four-year hiatus, the first night we all came together, no one knew each other. So it's a high-end mastermind that we worked together for a year. No one has met each other yet. They come to Nashville. They're very nervous. They're very awkward, like I would be. And I do a sit down, like two hour dinner.

16:05It was like crickets. Oh my God. I was mortified. I'm like, what is happening? And I got feedback after don't ever do that again, Amy. Don't do that to us. We didn't know each other. We were nervous. We were out of our comfort zone. A lot of people who join masterminds is their first time and they don't know what to expect. I'm pretty sure most of them hated it. But if I did that on the second night, these women would have been chatty, chatty, chatty. I couldn't have shut them up. It's not, it doesn't take that long to get people to connect in person, especially if you do, these are things I do to get them to connect.

16:39We do of course introductions, but we do small group conversations. We break out and have discussions about different things. We have longer lunches so they can all talk to each other. We do a cocktail hour at the end of the day, lots of just connection points. I should have waited for the two hour sit down like five course meal till they knew each other. Oh my God. See, that's gold though, because I think that people are just doing the dinner and they think that's the way and that's it. So just being able to kind of work through it. I love that. And I'm going to attend, even though I'm not invited, I'm going to attend because I'm breaking in.

17:11I'm going to be the guy. Okay. I want you to be a guest speaker. Would you ever consider it? Of course, I'll be there. You tell me what I'm where. You're on my list, mister. Oh, nice. All right. I want to do a hard turn now. I want to talk about your podcast because I don't understand something. You're the one who inspired me to do this podcast, okay? You've been doing it for a long time. You've done over 700 episodes. That gives me such anxiety. I can't even begin to tell you. And 60 million downloads of things like Top of the Charts. And then you announce on your podcast, hey, everybody, I'm changing my podcast.

17:44Instead of Online Marketing Made Easy, I'm going to be rolling out the Amy Porterfield show. And I need to understand why. You're crushing it. What was the reason? What was the thought process? What do we have to look forward to? Well, when you ask me that way, it makes me very nervous, Jay. I hope I didn't make a mistake. So it literally comes out the day we're filming this. It comes out next week. So funny you should ask this today, because today I recorded just a three and a half minute final little episode for Online Marketing Made Easy. saying goodbye and hello to the new show. Almost bawled my eyes out because you're right.

18:19When I think about that, 2013 is when I created that podcast. I remember Jay, the first time I did my very first episode, I did a keynote and I had it on my computer and I clicked a button and read everything on each of the slides as a podcast episode. That's episode number one. I wouldn't go back and listen to it. And oh, and true fashion for you, it was about list building. So you got to love that. So, uh, the, why I want to, why I decided to transition the podcast. So because I've done this so long, and I think this is really important for everyone to hear. I have grown, I have elevated, I have learned a lot and made a lot of mistakes.

18:57I am a very different person than I was in 2013 or really who I was two or three years ago. The, the, uh, rapid growth of what we can do in online businesses is incredible and you're going to change quickly. And I have. And so, but also my audience has. So I have been known for teaching newbies from the start, how to start an email list, not how to advance an email list, how to start a digital course from scratch versus how to optimize it. So that's what my podcast was. Online marketing made easy. It was very much for people getting started, but then started to evolve a little bit beyond that.

19:33But I'm ready for a higher level conversation. I'm ready to get deeper into topics that just with a title like that kind of puts me in a box. So I want to bring guests on that you might not expect that I could really expand in entrepreneurship, in online marketing, beyond just the basics of what to do. And so I just thought I need a new way to let people know we're going to have new conversations. The great thing though, is I kept it in the same feed. So don't you think I'm letting go of those 60 million downloads or this beautiful audience that I have. And so it's just in the same feed, branded new, new conversations, new energy, but a lot of the same stuff that I'm known for and what has gotten me to where I am today.

20:15Well, I have to tell you, I'm very excited about the new show, not just because I'm staring at you right now. It'd be awkward if I didn't say that. I'm genuinely excited about it because I love all the marketing tips and you share such tactical stuff on your show, your current show. And I love that. But I think my favorite episodes are where the way that you always describe it i love this is that you come on and you'll share scars right things will happen in your life and you wait until you kind of figured them out they're not like open wounds and then you come on the show you say listen this happened and i'm going to share with you how i work through whatever and you're sharing like legit real life stuff and it could be about anxiety it could be about relationships i mean like And I'm always like, I cannot believe she's doing this episode.

21:03So here's the thing I don't understand. And this is for real, because I have a hard time with this. You're very successful, okay? You don't need, like, when celebrities, I mean, not that you're, like, you know, up there with Lady Gaga. But, you know, in my mind, you're getting up there, right? When celebrities get famous, they start to share less and less and less. And now you've had success. Why are you sharing more? Like, I love it. I'm all in. But why? So I have to tell you, it hasn't been easy. So I'm the kind of girl that if I just had to talk about business all day on the platforms and on my podcast, I'd be most comfortable.

21:39It's very uncomfortable sharing my depression, my anxiety, all the mistakes I've made. But here's the thing. I believe that, and I learned this from a woman in my mastermind, and I believe that we are in a trust recession. I think it's really hard right now to earn people's trust with AI and with all the different noise online and the media telling us a million different things. People are not as trusting as they were even five years ago. And so because of that, I know I have to let people in behind or beyond just, I can teach you how to do a webinar. They want to know, well, really, who are you?

22:14Can I trust you? Are you a woman of integrity? Will you share the good, bad, and ugly? Because if you're only sharing the good, something's wrong. And I learned that because I know who I follow. I want to know all the things. Like when we were talking about your family and your wife before we came on, I was like, oh, this is the stuff I live for. I like to know it. And so it just brings people closer. And I finally realized I love when other people do it. Why am I not doing it? So I don't do it tons and tons. It's not like a big fake, like, let me tell you about my sob story. It's just when it fits into what I'm teaching, I will absolutely let people in more so than I ever have before.

22:50You know, I, first of all, the phrase trust recession is, is incredible and it, and it makes you, uh, not that you're not believable, but it makes you more believable. Like I want to listen to you more on the regular marketing stuff because I feel so connected to you about the, about the life stuff. But like, do you sit around and do you have like a filter on yourself? Like, okay, I can't share that. That's like crazy. And then you're like, wait a minute, that's actually what I should share because it is so like, Whoa, like, like, do you have like a meeting with yourself? Because how do you figure out?

23:20Absolutely. I have moments that I think I shouldn't say that. Like I've stopped the recording and I say, that's cringy or that's too much or that's crazy. And then I usually think like I did a podcast episode the other day and I told this story how there was this guy in line and he was telling me about this cool thing and then told me I probably couldn't afford it and I should probably look for another option. The guy didn't even know me. He could afford it, but I probably couldn't. And I said to him, good thing I'm rich. And he was appalled. And I told this story in longer, of course, But that's cringy that I literally told someone, well, good thing I'm rich, but I wanted my audience to embrace making money in a different way and be more open about talking about it.