Marketing Your Business - Marketing Strategies for Business Owners

Stu McLaren

Marketing Your Business is a podcast dedicated to all things marketing. It's a behind-the-scenes look at the marketing tactics and strategies that lead to a loyal following, growing sales, and a business that gives you more freedom in your everyday life. Each episode is packed with takeaways to help you get what you have in front of a lot more people. It's about leveraging your marketing to build a business that's high in profit, low in stress, and one that gives you the ability to have the greatest impact on the world. Join leading online marketing strategist and entrepreneur Stu McLaren as he shares what's working for selling products online with product launches, online communities, email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, and more. This is about the marketing that leads to more sales, more profits, and a high-growth business. But this show isn't just about making money. It's about using the power of marketing to give you more freedom. The freedom to work with who you want, where you want, while having time to travel and do the things that matter. It's about reducing the "go-go-go" stress and redesigning your business so you can be more present in the lives of those who matter most to you. About Stu McLaren: For years, Stu has helped experts transform their knowledge and influence into recurring revenue by launching, growing, and scaling 7 and 8-figure membership sites. In 2008, he co-founded the world's most popular membership platform for WordPress (WishList Member). He then went on to partner with New York Times best-selling author Michael Hyatt, helping his company go from a high 6-figure business (with lots of stress) to a high 7-figure business (with low-stress). Michael's profitability soared, his email list grew from 70,000 to over 500,000 and he gained back over 100 days with his family by not having to travel. Today, he's the Co-Founder of Membership.io, helping creators and entrepreneurs build thriving membership businesses. He's also the author of Predictable Profits, which shows business owners how to create recurring revenue so they can stop chasing new customers and start building real stability. If you've got an established business and you're looking for ideas on how to get your products and services in front of more people OR you're thinking about starting a business and want to see the behind-the-scenes of another entrepreneur doing it in real time, Marketing Your Business is tailor-made for you.

  1. 20h ago

    298: How This Mom Made $700,000 From a $57 PDF

    If you've been posting for years and you've got nothing to show for it, or you still don't know what you'd even sell, listen, I get it. One mom was stuck in that exact spot for 10 years. Then a $57 PDF made her over $700,000, and by the end of this one you'll know where to look for yours. THE QUESTIONS I WANT YOU TO ASK YOURSELF Are you dipping your toe in, or are you locked in? Because locked in means you show up regardless of how it looks. Tyler put it so well. Treat it like a part-time job. You do it these times, these days, no matter what, whether you're feeling it or not. And when you see somebody else win, how do you react? Listen, we are not trying to get a slice of a pie. There are so many pies available for everybody. So be the source of good energy. Cheer them on. Because what you put out, you're gonna get back. And remember, there's somebody out there that will see themselves in your story. So keep moving forward and do your thing. IN THIS EPISODE * What changed for Jessica after 10 years of spinning her wheels * What both moms had in common before either one knew what to sell * Why it bugs people so much when someone else wins, and what we'd say to them * The nasty comment from our very first big launch, and what was really behind it * How Jessica stood up for herself when the hate comments started * What I told our son when he started his dog walking business UP NEXT Now that you've heard what Jessica did with the Yap Challenge, you're going to want to hear what Jessi Jean did first. That's episode 285, Jessi Jean's $7M Launch Had Us Talking, where we got into how she made over $7 million with it. CONNECT WITH STU: * Website: https://stu.me * Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz * Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren * Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me * Membership.io: https://membership.io So be positive, and support the people who are being an inspiration to others. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Why a mom's $57 PDF made people so mad 0:31 - Why we had to talk about Jessica Carter 1:31 - If she can do it, can I do it too? 2:26 - Ten years of posting with nothing to show for it 2:59 - What does locking in actually look like? 4:13 - Still don't know what to sell? Start here 6:36 - Wait, it was just a PDF? 7:33 - Why some people call it a pyramid scheme 9:37 - Is there really only so much to go around? 10:43 - If all you see is people making money 11:42 - Why are you wearing a Kenya bracelet, bro? 13:33 - Is it a scam to teach people to make money? 14:38 - Why we'll keep sharing the wins anyway 17:34 - How Jessica handled the hate comments 18:36 - What happened when I DM'd my worst commenter 19:46 - When the comments feel personal 20:23 - The creator who actually loves the negativity 22:11 - The only thing to focus on when you start

  2. 3d ago

    297: If You're Afraid to Charge More, Watch This

    They won't pay that. What if nobody buys? If that's the voice in your head when you look at your price, listen, I get it. It's scary. Beginners kept telling us even $300 was too much. So we made a choice, and it more than doubled our sales. THE QUESTIONS I WANT YOU TO ASK YOURSELF Here's what I want you to think about when you look at your current offers. Who is this really for? Who might benefit the most from this? Who is this a perfect offer for? And just as important, who is this not for? Where are people in their journey when your offer makes the most sense? Then you look at your pricing, and here's what I want you to ask. Are you afraid of charging more because you think fewer people will buy? What if charging more actually helped you sell more? Now, I'm not saying everyone should 10x their prices tomorrow. But being specific about who you serve and having confidence in your pricing changes a whole lot of things in your business. IN THIS EPISODE * How we more than doubled our best sales day with fewer people on the webinar * Why we rebuilt the whole offer and created a new program at $3,000 * Why the people who invest $3,000 show up completely different than the people who invest $300 * The turquoise jewelry that just sat on the shelf, until a clerk misunderstood the owner (that one's from Robert Cialdini's book Influence) * The biggest mistake I see business owners make, and the fear behind it CONNECT WITH STU: * Website: https://stu.me * Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz * Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren * Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me * Membership.io: https://membership.io And remember, the more money you make, the more impact you can have. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - What we did when beginners said $300 was too much 1:47 - What we were getting wrong at $300 3:27 - The thing we said that felt kind of risky 4:32 - Lesson 1: Why your message falls flat 5:55 - The one sentence that makes me lean in at a party 6:56 - Lesson 2: What a higher price says to your buyer 8:58 - Lesson 3: Why business owners keep trying the same thing 10:30 - The questions I want you to ask yourself

  3. Oct 26

    296: Posts Not Selling? Add These 2 Things - Toni Bache

    If you're pouring value into your content and it's still not turning into sales, Toni Bache says more value won't fix it. She works behind the scenes with some pretty significant online brands, and she's got a smooth process for taking people from a post, to a workshop, to the offer behind it. Back in 2015 she was living in Amsterdam in a really big corporate job, and she wanted to move home to Australia. So she launched a 30-day habit challenge and got "like 300 people" to sign up, with no list and no audience. At the end of the 30 days she asked if they wanted to keep paying her a little bit each month, and "everyone was like, yes, yes, yes." That's how she built her first membership. So I asked her the question so many of us have. What do you do when you're giving great value and it's just not turning into sales? Her answer: "Two things, both starting with B." And then she walks through how one of her clients sells each workshop. He used to be "really heavy on the sales side," and he flipped it. Now at the end of each workshop he asks, "would you like to join me?" And in her words, "people do." In this conversation, Toni and I get into: * The two things your content is missing when it gets likes but no sales * Why people can feel a funnel now, and how to make the next yes easy instead * Why she starts from the paid offer and works backwards * Why nobody wants a 47-page guide anymore, and the tiny tool that works instead * How many posts it takes to sell a workshop, and when they go out * Why "like 30 to 40%" of one client's workshop sign-ups are brand new to him * How one of her clients flipped from selling to marketing FREE RESOURCE: The three plays from this episode, written up for you in the free resource kit. → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH TONI: * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toni.bache/ CONNECT WITH STU: * Website: https://stu.me * Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz * Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren * Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me * Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe if you want your content and your offer working together. That's what we dig into here every week. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Why Great Content Doesn't Sell 0:33 - Meet Toni Bache 0:59 - From Organic Content to a Paid Workshop 2:12 - From Corporate Job to Coach 2:59 - The Blog Post That Started It 3:57 - 300 Sign-Ups With No Audience 5:17 - "You Should Do a Membership" 6:10 - You Don't Need It All Figured Out 6:47 - Built From DMs and a Personal Facebook 7:25 - Five Hours a Week, Still in Corporate 8:31 - The Agency They Shut Down 10:01 - Random Content vs Aligned Content 10:56 - Why Selling Online Got Harder 11:58 - Buyers Can Feel the Funnel 13:02 - Great Value, No Sales: The Missing Piece 14:22 - Why Viral Trends Don't Sell 14:59 - What Your Market Already Thinks 16:08 - Start From the Paid Offer and Work Back 17:15 - Where Your Best Content Ideas Come From 18:02 - Give Away the Best Bits 19:06 - Won't Free Content Hurt Sales? 19:42 - Skip the 47-Page Guide 20:39 - Micro Magnets: A Real Example 22:18 - From Free Tool to Full Offer 22:55 - How Much Content It Takes to Sell a Workshop 24:08 - The CTA on Every Post 24:57 - One Week of Promotion, Not a Month 25:22 - Who Signs Up: Cold vs Warm 26:16 - The Evergreen Version 26:39 - The Old Way vs the New Way 27:07 - A Client's Before and After 28:04 - The Flip: Less Selling, More Marketing 29:04 - More Change in Two Years Than the Last 22 30:41 - The Delivery Changed, Not the Model 31:25 - Why Community Matters More Than Ever 32:12 - What Toni Found Inside Stu's Program 33:34 - Stu's Takeaway: Line Up Content With the Offer 34:05 - Where to Find Toni

    296: Posts Not Selling? Add These 2 Things - Toni Bache
  4. Oct 19

    295: How to Make 6 Weeks' Pay in 2 Hours (Not Higher Rates) - Laura Phillips

    Laura Phillips made the same money in two hours that used to take her six weeks of building websites for clients, and she didn't raise her rates to do it. She expected maybe two or three people to say yes, and 42 did. She's from the UK, and she's been in business for 12 years. She started out designing and building websites, then ran launches for big clients, then built launch software called ProperPlan, and now she's back to teaching. And she says that over 10 years of changing what she sells, she's "never ever been without money." So how did one workshop start all of that? It began with a free Facebook group, and people asking her the same questions over and over. And then we dig into the rest. The first membership she closed, the data from her own course that horrified her, the line she uses so the ask feels like an invitation, and the brand-new membership she decided to start about four weeks before we talked, which got 48 members in its founding launch. In this conversation, Laura and I get into: * How one £49 workshop paid her what six weeks of website work did * Why making something new to sell every month stopped making sense * The first membership she closed, and why it was "too broad, everything for everyone" * What her own course data showed her, and why she couldn't keep selling that course * The one line she uses so the ask feels like an invitation * Why "we've all got bills" led her to start a new membership, and how its founding launch got 48 members in * Whether launches still work right now, and what "show up as you" really means FREE RESOURCE: The three plays from this episode, written up for you in the free resource kit: Sell What They Ask For, Invite, Don't Pitch, and Show Up As You. → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH LAURA: * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraphillipshq/ * Code Anything Club (her new membership): https://codeanything.club/ * ProperPlan (her software): https://www.properplan.com/ CONNECT WITH STU: * Website: https://stu.me * Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz * Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren * Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me * Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe if you want income that doesn't depend on your next launch. That's what we dig into here every week. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Never Without Money 0:28 - Meet Laura Phillips 0:51 - From Websites to Software and Back to Teaching 1:26 - The Thread That Carries Every Pivot 3:02 - Bad Advice Made Her Start a Group 4:17 - How a Free Group Grew to 2,000 5:17 - The Day Her Whole Life Changed 5:58 - Why It Worked 7:16 - She Just Wanted More Ease 8:08 - Why One-Off Products Stopped Making Sense 9:11 - Too Nervous to Go Off Script 10:59 - There's a Human on the Other Side 12:12 - Stu's Nerves Before Brazil 14:25 - The Messy First Membership She Closed 16:11 - What Her Course Data Showed Her 17:19 - When the Tool She Needed Didn't Exist 18:29 - Her First Big Ask 20:23 - Pitching Software That Didn't Exist Yet 21:41 - How She Asks for the Sale 22:41 - Burnt Out, Then Three Weeks to Raise 23:46 - Why Taking Herself Out Was the Mistake 26:08 - Why She Started a New Membership 26:58 - "We've All Got Bills" 28:09 - "I Should Do a Membership" 29:05 - 48 Members in a Founding Launch 29:40 - You Just Need One Happy Member 31:07 - Why She Doesn't Want 10,000 Members 32:28 - Being Open About How She Uses AI 33:03 - Do Launches Still Work? 34:12 - What "Show Up as You" Really Means 35:10 - Why Personality Does Matter 36:35 - Treat the Launch Like a Journey 37:34 - Over 10 Years of Pivots, Never Without Money 39:07 - Where to Find Laura 39:21 - Stu's Key Takeaways

    295: How to Make 6 Weeks' Pay in 2 Hours (Not Higher Rates) - Laura Phillips
  5. Oct 12

    294: If You Have a Business, Start a YouTube Channel - Dr. Ulrich Selz

    If you have a business, Dr. Ulrich Selz thinks you should have a YouTube channel. He's earned the right to say it: 655,000 subscribers, a bestseller, and two years without launching anything new while the income never dipped. He's a physician in Germany. He still has his practice, but when the wait list hit a thousand people, he closed it. He's also built a German-language YouTube channel about gut health with 655,000 subscribers, and most of his focus over those two years went into writing Der Darm-Doc, a SPIEGEL bestseller. So what paid the bills while all his focus was on the book? Recurring revenue, from his channel and his two communities. One is a self-help group for people with gut health problems, and the other is where he teaches therapists how to help those people. He says it "made me comfortable to write this book." Then we dig into how he runs it all, week to week: one long video a week, scripted word for word, the numbers he checks first, and the freebies that turn viewers into leads. In this conversation, Dr. Selz and I get into: * What paid his bills for two years while he wasn't launching * Why he closed the wait list for his practice at a thousand people * Why he calls subscribers "just a prestige number" * Why 60 or 65% of his watch time comes from people who aren't subscribed * The 15 to 20 freebies he pitches inside his videos, and why "Amazon has the email address, not you" * The free online area he built for his readers, and why 30% of book buyers went in * Why he thinks everybody with a business should start a YouTube channel FREE RESOURCE: The three plays from this episode, written up for you in the free resource kit. The 48-Hour Check, A Freebie for Every Topic, and The Pre-Sale Runway. → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH DR. SELZ: * Website: https://doktorselz.de/ * YouTube (German): https://www.youtube.com/@DrUlrichSelz * YouTube (English): https://www.youtube.com/@DrUlrichSelz_english * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_ulrich_selz/ * Podcast (German), Dr. Selz - Dein Gesundheits-Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dr-selz-dein-gesundheits-podcast/id1888730284 CONNECT WITH STU: * Website: https://stu.me * Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz * Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren * Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me * Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe to the show if you want income that doesn't depend on your next launch. That's what we dig into here every week. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Two Years Without a Launch (Cold Open) 0:27 - Meet Dr. Ulrich Selz 0:56 - A Bestseller Built on YouTube 1:18 - The Golf Lesson That Started It 2:40 - 655,000 Subscribers 4:09 - Closing a 1,000-Person Wait List 4:35 - What the Channel Really Changed 5:58 - YouTube Is an Underrated Lead Source 6:38 - 15 to 20 Freebies 7:10 - The Hard Side of Being Visible 8:05 - How to Handle Hateful Comments 9:00 - Title and Thumbnail Before the Script 9:45 - Why He Never Plans Far Ahead 10:56 - Shoot Tuesday, Rewrite Wednesday 11:21 - One Video a Week, Word for Word 12:17 - Watch Your Video While You Write It 13:10 - When the Format Stopped Working 13:44 - Most Creators Are Bad Viewers 15:16 - Your Audience Shifts Without Telling You 16:40 - Core Audience vs New Audience 17:36 - Data-Driven Creativity 18:31 - The Monday Morning Check 19:03 - Why He Ignores His Subscriber Count 20:04 - Most Watch Time Comes From Non-Subscribers 21:23 - A Freebie for Every Video 22:36 - Why the Publisher Said Yes 25:00 - "Not on Instagram" 25:41 - Building Buzz Before Launch Day 27:01 - 11,400 Pre-Sales 27:25 - Turning Readers Into Subscribers 28:30 - A Free Members' Area for Buyers 30:02 - 30% of Buyers Came In 30:32 - Why Every Business Owner Should Start a Channel 31:32 - What an Underperforming Video Teaches You 33:14 - Use AI After You Publish, Not Before 34:43 - What He'd Do With Stu's Channel 35:11 - Launch Syndrome 35:42 - Two Years Without a Launch 37:00 - Where to Find Dr. Selz 37:42 - Stu's Key Takeaways

  6. Oct 5

    293: Over 700 People Paid for What You Give Away Free - Carrie Green

    Most of us wait until we've got the whole thing figured out. Carrie Green opened her doors with one month of content ready, a rough plan for month two and an idea for January. And in her words, "Beyond that, I had no idea." Thousands of people joined over the years, and 13 years later it's still going. Carrie is the founder of the Female Entrepreneur Association and the author of She Means Business. She was also my very first consulting client, so this one goes way back. She had the idea for FEA in 2008. Then for a few years she did what a lot of us do. She bought domain names, set up websites and did nothing with them. In 2011 she finally went for it, and for the next two years she gave everything away: interviews with women building businesses, a weekly email, a weekly video, and a free digital magazine where she interviewed people like Kim Kiyosaki and Gabrielle Bernstein. By the time she opened the doors, she had 18,000 people on her email list and about 50,000 fans on Facebook. And then she started with one month. She'll tell you why, and money wasn't the biggest reason. Today she's building a list of people who actually buy, with small offers she makes herself with AI, and one of them sold to over 700 people in a small promotion. She also opens up about what happened to her community when she pulled back after having kids, and the question every ambitious person gets to eventually: when is enough enough? In this conversation, Carrie and I break down: - The real reason she started with one month of content - What was in that first month, including the printout she says "looked dreadful" - The guilt that kept her from charging anything for two years - Why "ready is not a feeling" - What she learned about why people really stay - What she puts on the thank-you page of every freebie - How one small promotion sold to over 700 people - When is enough enough? FREE RESOURCE: The three frameworks from this episode, one page each. The One-Month Start, The Buyers List, and The Sticky Part → https://podcast.stu.me CONNECT WITH CARRIE: - Female Entrepreneur Association: https://femaleentrepreneurassociation.com/  - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamcarriegreen/  - Instagram (FEA): https://www.instagram.com/femaleentrepreneurassociation/  - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCraEIu_mORQKKo8eV9pk6Cw  - Podcast, She Means Business Show: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/she-means-business-show/id1199101868  - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FemaleEntrepreneurAssociation/  - X: https://x.com/iamcarriegreen  - Planners and stationery, Carrie & Co.: https://carrie.co/  - Book "She Means Business": https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/601650/she-means-business-by-carrie-green/  - TEDx talk "Programming your mind for success": https://youtu.be/MmfikLimeQ8 CONNECT WITH STU: - Website: https://stu.me  - Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz  - Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren  - Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me  - Membership.io: https://membership.io Subscribe if you want to build something that keeps going, even when life gets busy. That's what we work on here every week.

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4.9
out of 5
606 Ratings

About

Marketing Your Business is a podcast dedicated to all things marketing. It's a behind-the-scenes look at the marketing tactics and strategies that lead to a loyal following, growing sales, and a business that gives you more freedom in your everyday life. Each episode is packed with takeaways to help you get what you have in front of a lot more people. It's about leveraging your marketing to build a business that's high in profit, low in stress, and one that gives you the ability to have the greatest impact on the world. Join leading online marketing strategist and entrepreneur Stu McLaren as he shares what's working for selling products online with product launches, online communities, email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, and more. This is about the marketing that leads to more sales, more profits, and a high-growth business. But this show isn't just about making money. It's about using the power of marketing to give you more freedom. The freedom to work with who you want, where you want, while having time to travel and do the things that matter. It's about reducing the "go-go-go" stress and redesigning your business so you can be more present in the lives of those who matter most to you. About Stu McLaren: For years, Stu has helped experts transform their knowledge and influence into recurring revenue by launching, growing, and scaling 7 and 8-figure membership sites. In 2008, he co-founded the world's most popular membership platform for WordPress (WishList Member). He then went on to partner with New York Times best-selling author Michael Hyatt, helping his company go from a high 6-figure business (with lots of stress) to a high 7-figure business (with low-stress). Michael's profitability soared, his email list grew from 70,000 to over 500,000 and he gained back over 100 days with his family by not having to travel. Today, he's the Co-Founder of Membership.io, helping creators and entrepreneurs build thriving membership businesses. He's also the author of Predictable Profits, which shows business owners how to create recurring revenue so they can stop chasing new customers and start building real stability. If you've got an established business and you're looking for ideas on how to get your products and services in front of more people OR you're thinking about starting a business and want to see the behind-the-scenes of another entrepreneur doing it in real time, Marketing Your Business is tailor-made for you.

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