As a horse person, you know the importance of foundation when it comes to training your horse. It's the same for your marketing. The foundation is also how you’re going to attract the right people to your equine business.
Welcome to the show notes! Remember, this is a brief summary from the How to Market Your Horse Business podcast. You'll want to listen to the entire episode for all the good stuff!
As a horse person, you know the importance of foundation when it comes to training your horse. It's the same for your marketing! If you're not starting from a solid foundation, then all of the building blocks you put on top will likely fall flat.
If you jump to advertising or creating and selling programs before you get the foundation in place, they’re not going to be effective at helping you build a sustainable equine business.
The foundation is also how you’re going to attract the right people to your equine business.
In this episode, you’ll learn the 4 elements that are necessary to build a solid foundation for your marketing.
Building a marketing foundation is relevant regardless of the age or stage of your equine business. So, don’t skip this episode if you've been in business for a while.
4 Things You Need to Attract the Right People to Your Equine Business
Clear Messaging
This component has two important parts.
Part 1: Know who you serve.
Marketing is just talking to the right people in a way that speaks to them. That's why your first step is to know who it is you're marketing to. You want to be very specific about your ideal audience, so go deeper than just listing the gender or a specific industry.
Part 2: Clearly communicate what you do and why.
Fill in the blanks for this sentence: I help ___ so that ___
Here’s mine: I help equestrian entrepreneurs ditch the marketing ovwerhelm so they can do more of what they love in the equine industry.
Remember: This will evolve over time, and that’s okay. Revisit as needed as your business grows. The key is to be clear and use the words your best-fit audience would use.
Email Marketing
Surprise! Step 2 isn't social media. (Don't worry, it's next.)
So, why is building your email list Step 2? Your email list is your direct line of communication to the people who are most interested in your services or products.
When you have a list of people that have opted in to your emails and actually want to hear from you, then you don't have to rely solely on social media to hope they see your post and then spread the word and make those sales—you can go straight to their inbox.
How do you get people on your email list? Provide something valuable in exchange for their email. Known as a lead magnet or freebie, this should be something that truly is valuable. Check out my free guide here for help with your lead magnet creation.
The good news is you can get started building your email list even before you have a website. Most email service providers make it easy to create what's called a landing page where you can collect names and email addresses.
Social Media
Now that you have a way to invite your new friends on social media to stay connected to your business via email, it's time to jump in and get social.
Here’s what I want you to remember about social media: it was created to be social. Don't just create content and move on with your day. Instead, engage with your followers and with the people and pages that you follow to create conversations and connections.
Be intentional about your content to serve and sell—both are required for building your equine business online. Also, remember to create content that meets your potential customers where they are on the buyer’s journey. When you do that well, you'll reap the real benefits of using social media to market your horse business.
Website That Converts
Your website is more than just a place for people to get more information on what you do in your equine business.
It's an opportunity for you to guide your potential customers on the journey to working with you.
Your website is a place on the internet where you own the entire experience. Provide clear calls to action, images that convey the quality they can expect, and testimonials that showcase how you are helping people and horses. Ultimately, make your website easy to navigate so they can easily take the next step to work with you.
Of course, you'll want to listen to the full episode to dig into each of the insights shared and discover how you can apply each one in your horse business!
These foundational components are the basic outline of my Saddle Up & Go framework – and I’ll coach you through it step-by-step inside of Take the Reins, my 1:1 coaching program.
Links Mentioned In This Episode
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