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The Critical Path to Client Conversion | Featuring Lisa Mullis May 8, 2024 • 12 PM ET 11 time-tested steps to attract quality leads Registration link in the comments. You didn’t get into business for yourself to spend your precious time and energy working for clients who are less than ideal. You know—the ones who question your pricing, habitually miss deadlines for getting you project info, and expect a lot more than you’d agreed to in your SOW. Really great clients were once promising prospects who were once a lead that came to you through referral or your own marketing efforts. The question is: How to get more of these right-fit people and more consistently? This workshop will walk you through the steps for client attraction that offer a tried-and-true path no matter your industry, preferred marketing channel, or size of business. You’ll leave knowing: what the best clients really want, how to spot them in any industry, and how to meet them where they are how to ensure your messaging is what your prospects want to hear and need to know and doesn’t come off as boring, smarmy, or overly technical how to map the journey for a potential client so you don’t miss any key steps as you move them into a paid engagement 3 simple systems that will improve your credibility, trust, and leadership with high-value clients even if you’re new in your business the metrics matter the most so you can set realistic goals for conversion and revenue and budget your marketing resources accordingly methods for tracking your efforts, building in accountability, and where you can automate tasks to free up more time ABOUT LISA MULLIS As a brand strategist and copywriter, Lisa helps service-based professionals clarify their messaging and streamline their marketing so they work with better clients, regain their time, and take home more money. Lisa spent 11 years as founder and creative director of a full service design studio. During this time she witnessed many clients struggle with the copy for their websites and other marketing collateral. Armed with her journalism degree and a penchant for creative writing, Lisa began helping clients find the clarity and language they needed to sell their services. Today, through Paraphrase Communications, Lisa brings together 20+ years of messaging, marketing, and small business acumen and a team of tech specialists to help coaches, consultants, and creatives build their businesses. New business owners get clearly defined brand positioning and the words that win clients—online and in real life. Advanced business owners are able to improve profit and predictability within their organization through high-converting marketing funnels. #creativebusiness #criticalpath #conversion #creative

TODAY!!! The Critical Path to Client Conversion | Featuring Lisa Mullis May 8, 2024 • 12 PM ET 11 time-tested steps to attract quality leads REGISTER:https://lnkd.in/e7xtuqXA You didn’t get into business for yourself to spend your precious time and energy working for clients who are less than ideal. You know—the ones who question your pricing, habitually miss deadlines for getting you project info, and expect a lot more than you’d agreed to in your SOW. Really great clients were once promising prospects who were once a lead that came to you through referral or your own marketing efforts. The question is: How to get more of these right-fit people and more consistently? This workshop will walk you through the steps for client attraction that offer a tried-and-true path no matter your industry, preferred marketing channel, or size of business. You’ll leave knowing: what the best clients really want, how to spot them in any industry, and how to meet them where they are how to ensure your messaging is what your prospects want to hear and need to know and doesn’t come off as boring, smarmy, or overly technical how to map the journey for a potential client so you don’t miss any key steps as you move them into a paid engagement 3 simple systems that will improve your credibility, trust, and leadership with high-value clients even if you’re new in your business the metrics matter the most so you can set realistic goals for conversion and revenue and budget your marketing resources accordingly methods for tracking your efforts, building in accountability, and where you can automate tasks to free up more time ABOUT LISA MULLIS As a brand strategist and copywriter, Lisa helps service-based professionals clarify their messaging and streamline their marketing so they work with better clients, regain their time, and take home more money. Lisa spent 11 years as founder and creative director of a full service design studio. During this time she witnessed many clients struggle with the copy for their websites and other marketing collateral. Armed with her journalism degree and a penchant for creative writing, Lisa began helping clients find the clarity and language they needed to sell their services. Today, through Paraphrase Communications, Lisa brings together 20+ years of messaging, marketing, and small business acumen and a team of tech specialists to help coaches, consultants, and creatives build their businesses. New business owners get clearly defined brand positioning and the words that win clients—online and in real life. Advanced business owners are able to improve profit and predictability within their organization through high-converting marketing funnels. #creativebusiness #criticalpath #conversion #creative

The Critical Path to Client Conversion | Featuring Lisa Mullis May 8, 2024 • 12 PM ET 11 time-tested steps to attract quality leads REGISTER:https://lnkd.in/e7xtuqXA You didn’t get into business for yourself to spend your precious time and energy working for clients who are less than ideal. You know—the ones who question your pricing, habitually miss deadlines for getting you project info, and expect a lot more than you’d agreed to in your SOW. Really great clients were once promising prospects who were once a lead that came to you through referral or your own marketing efforts. The question is: How to get more of these right-fit people and more consistently? This workshop will walk you through the steps for client attraction that offer a tried-and-true path no matter your industry, preferred marketing channel, or size of business. You’ll leave knowing: what the best clients really want, how to spot them in any industry, and how to meet them where they are how to ensure your messaging is what your prospects want to hear and need to know and doesn’t come off as boring, smarmy, or overly technical how to map the journey for a potential client so you don’t miss any key steps as you move them into a paid engagement 3 simple systems that will improve your credibility, trust, and leadership with high-value clients even if you’re new in your business the metrics matter the most so you can set realistic goals for conversion and revenue and budget your marketing resources accordingly methods for tracking your efforts, building in accountability, and where you can automate tasks to free up more time ABOUT LISA MULLIS As a brand strategist and copywriter, Lisa helps service-based professionals clarify their messaging and streamline their marketing so they work with better clients, regain their time, and take home more money. Lisa spent 11 years as founder and creative director of a full service design studio. During this time she witnessed many clients struggle with the copy for their websites and other marketing collateral. Armed with her journalism degree and a penchant for creative writing, Lisa began helping clients find the clarity and language they needed to sell their services. Today, through Paraphrase Communications, Lisa brings together 20+ years of messaging, marketing, and small business acumen and a team of tech specialists to help coaches, consultants, and creatives build their businesses. New business owners get clearly defined brand positioning and the words that win clients—online and in real life. Advanced business owners are able to improve profit and predictability within their organization through high-converting marketing funnels. #creativebusiness #criticalpath #conversion #creative

The Critical Path to Client Conversion | Featuring Lisa Mullis May 8, 2024 • 12 PM ET 11 time-tested steps to attract quality leads REGISTER:https://lnkd.in/e7xtuqXA You didn’t get into business for yourself to spend your precious time and energy working for clients who are less than ideal. You know—the ones who question your pricing, habitually miss deadlines for getting you project info, and expect a lot more than you’d agreed to in your SOW. Really great clients were once promising prospects who were once a lead that came to you through referral or your own marketing efforts. The question is: How to get more of these right-fit people and more consistently? This workshop will walk you through the steps for client attraction that offer a tried-and-true path no matter your industry, preferred marketing channel, or size of business. You’ll leave knowing: what the best clients really want, how to spot them in any industry, and how to meet them where they are how to ensure your messaging is what your prospects want to hear and need to know and doesn’t come off as boring, smarmy, or overly technical how to map the journey for a potential client so you don’t miss any key steps as you move them into a paid engagement 3 simple systems that will improve your credibility, trust, and leadership with high-value clients even if you’re new in your business the metrics matter the most so you can set realistic goals for conversion and revenue and budget your marketing resources accordingly methods for tracking your efforts, building in accountability, and where you can automate tasks to free up more time ABOUT LISA MULLIS As a brand strategist and copywriter, Lisa helps service-based professionals clarify their messaging and streamline their marketing so they work with better clients, regain their time, and take home more money. Lisa spent 11 years as founder and creative director of a full service design studio. During this time she witnessed many clients struggle with the copy for their websites and other marketing collateral. Armed with her journalism degree and a penchant for creative writing, Lisa began helping clients find the clarity and language they needed to sell their services. Today, through Paraphrase Communications, Lisa brings together 20+ years of messaging, marketing, and small business acumen and a team of tech specialists to help coaches, consultants, and creatives build their businesses. New business owners get clearly defined brand positioning and the words that win clients—online and in real life. Advanced business owners are able to improve profit and predictability within their organization through high-converting marketing funnels. #creativebusiness #criticalpath #conversion #creative

I've lost count of the number of times I’ve seen marketing departments treated like in-house creative studios—tasked with churning out flashy decks, fancy logos, and slick brochures to support the sales team. But here's the thing: when you think of marketing this way, you’re massively undervaluing its potential. 👉Marketing is not an expense. It's a strategic investment with the power to drive sustainable growth and accelerate your entire business. Let's break down why marketing isn't just a "support function" but a core driver of your growth strategy 📊 Marketing provides insights sales simply do not have. Sure, sales reps hear customer objections on the frontline, but marketing has its ears to the ground on a different level. Marketing knows what’s trending in the market, what competitors are up to, and what’s influencing your buyers before they reach out to sales. The right marketing strategy takes these insights and turns them into opportunities for growth. 🎯 It’s about building demand, not just supporting sales. It’s not just about giving sales a list of leads—it’s about warming up those prospects and nurturing them. Great marketing educates, engages, and builds trust. When marketing is done right, it builds demand, creates urgency, and makes sales a natural conclusion, not an uphill battle. 🛠️ Positioning paves the way for sales success. You’ve heard it before: “People buy from brands they trust.” But that trust doesn’t come from a cold call or a first meeting—it’s built over time. When marketing crafts a clear, consistent message that resonates across all channels, it lays the foundation for the sales team to seal the deal faster and at a higher value. 💡 Driving growth from the inside out. If you want to see real, sustainable growth, marketing needs to be aligned with your overall business goals. It’s not just a department that sits on the side, pushing out shiny content. It’s the driver of innovation, brand positioning, and market differentiation. 🚀 So, stop thinking of Marketing as just “support” Your marketing team should be your business growth partner, your market translator, and the voice that shapes your brand. Don’t reduce it to a creative studio for sales—elevate it to its rightful place as a strategic powerhouse. Because when marketing and sales are truly aligned, that’s where the magic happens! Thoughts Helenor Rogers David Fenton Chris Burton Tim Parrack Colin Jeken Glen Williamson FISM? #StrategicMarketing #GrowthStrategy #BusinessAcceleration

Marketing teams often stop working after generating MQLs. Here's what I see some smaller marketing teams doing instead. Before looking at examples, let's consider "today's buyer." Buyers do their homework. They don’t stop researching just because they’ve reached out. They continue to dive deep during the sales process. The real value from marketing comes in helping sales close these informed buyers, not just in handing off leads. Here’s what a few small, scrappy marketing teams (working across our agencies) have done recently to support sales in a big way: ➡️ Organized Accessible Assets They created centralized deal rooms so the sales team always has the right content at their fingertips. With a single place for the latest assets, there’s no more hunting for the right case study, battle card, or solution sheet. Your team works hard to create the best content possible, so you must ensure it's organized and available for your salespeople. ➡️ Maintaining “Final” Versions When sales shares out-of-date or inconsistent information, it weakens trust with buyers. By keeping a shared folder of final, “approved” assets, these teams made it easier for sales to look professional and accurate. ➡️ Customer-Centric Solution Packages It’s not about how products are organized on the website—it’s about what matters most to the customer during the sales process. Sometimes, you have to reformat/repackage solutions so that they match a buyer's needs. In one specific scenario, a team restructured solution packages in a proposal to fit buyer priorities, adjusting the offerings presented on the website into custom-fit solutions. This came from a brainstorming session between marketing/sales and led to a more effective proposal. This process also led to the creation of targeted ads for specific ICPs that matched this buyer. ➡️ Simple, Professional Proposal Templates Design shouldn’t be a bottleneck for sales. By setting up clean, easy-to-edit templates, marketing empowered sales to build polished proposals quickly, without waiting on a designer. We templated a set of Google Slides so the sales team could remain scrappy, but also have professional materials. ➡️ Feedback-Driven Content Development By coordinating with sales, we uncovered several missing content pieces that could make or break a deal. We analyzed sales calls in Fireflies (highly recommend to use across marketing and sales) and pinpointed several objections where content could help. Building content based on actual needs is what marketing should do. Sometimes it's that easy. It takes a lot of work to generate a lead. But don’t forget—your impact on revenue goes far beyond that initial contact form. What’s your team doing to help sales close more deals?

The Critical Path to Client Conversion | Featuring Lisa Mullis May 8, 2024 • 12 PM ET 11 time-tested steps to attract quality leads REGISTER:https://lnkd.in/e7xtuqXA You didn’t get into business for yourself to spend your precious time and energy working for clients who are less than ideal. You know—the ones who question your pricing, habitually miss deadlines for getting you project info, and expect a lot more than you’d agreed to in your SOW. Really great clients were once promising prospects who were once a lead that came to you through referral or your own marketing efforts. The question is: How to get more of these right-fit people and more consistently? This workshop will walk you through the steps for client attraction that offer a tried-and-true path no matter your industry, preferred marketing channel, or size of business. You’ll leave knowing: what the best clients really want, how to spot them in any industry, and how to meet them where they are how to ensure your messaging is what your prospects want to hear and need to know and doesn’t come off as boring, smarmy, or overly technical how to map the journey for a potential client so you don’t miss any key steps as you move them into a paid engagement 3 simple systems that will improve your credibility, trust, and leadership with high-value clients even if you’re new in your business the metrics matter the most so you can set realistic goals for conversion and revenue and budget your marketing resources accordingly methods for tracking your efforts, building in accountability, and where you can automate tasks to free up more time ABOUT LISA MULLIS As a brand strategist and copywriter, Lisa helps service-based professionals clarify their messaging and streamline their marketing so they work with better clients, regain their time, and take home more money. Lisa spent 11 years as founder and creative director of a full service design studio. During this time she witnessed many clients struggle with the copy for their websites and other marketing collateral. Armed with her journalism degree and a penchant for creative writing, Lisa began helping clients find the clarity and language they needed to sell their services. Today, through Paraphrase Communications, Lisa brings together 20+ years of messaging, marketing, and small business acumen and a team of tech specialists to help coaches, consultants, and creatives build their businesses. New business owners get clearly defined brand positioning and the words that win clients—online and in real life. Advanced business owners are able to improve profit and predictability within their organization through high-converting marketing funnels. #creativebusiness #criticalpath #conversion #creative

35 hard truths I wish I knew before starting in marketing: 1. Anyone selling ‘instant leads’ is a fraud.   2. Focus on what works, not what’s trendy.   3. Positioning matters more than creativity.   4. The best marketers are lifelong learners.   5. Stop trying to please everyone. Niche down.   6. Never plagiarize. Originality builds credibility.   7. You can’t win every campaign. Learn from losses.   8. If you can generate 10 leads, you can generate 100.   9. If you can generate 100 leads, you can create an inbound engine.   10. Marketing isn’t about perfection; it’s about progress.   11. Don’t chase vanity metrics. Chase meaningful results.   12. Consistent content builds trust.   13. Take 100% responsibility of your growth.   14. Pessimists analyze problems. Optimists create solutions.   15. Focus on fundamentals. Trends fade.   16. Great marketing takes patience. Results are rarely instant.   17. Arguing over trends is a waste of energy. Focus on strategy.   18. Stop chasing clout. Deliver value, and recognition will come.   19. Always over-communicate with your team and stakeholders.   20. Systems beat creativity & effort every time. Build processes.   21. Show up for your audience every day. Consistency builds trust.   22. If you don’t know how to measure ROI, you’re going to struggle.   23. Stop copying competitors. Start creating for your own audience.   24. You grow 10x faster by collaborating with others, not competing.   25. Help others in the field. The best networks are built on reciprocity.   26. Experiment often. Marketing is about testing, failing, and iterating.   27. Don’t be arrogant, but believe you can market anything with effort.   28. Be on time for your campaigns. Missed deadlines cost opportunities.   29. Quit obsessing over the latest tools. Use what works and get results.   30. Thick skin is a prerequisite once you start managing a team.   31. You learn 100x more by running a campaign than reading case studies.   32. Stop taking 50+ marketing courses. Build and execute a strategy instead.   33. Write daily for at least 30 minutes. Clear messaging comes from practice.   34. Listen to your customers. Your next campaign comes from feedback.   35. Marketing can either amplify your brand or confuse your audience. Take every piece of advice here with a grain of salt. I’m just one marketer, and your journey might be different than mine. But if I have one core belief, it’s this: "Learn fundamentals and Start executing."