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AMY PORTERFIELD: Well, hey, there. Welcome back to another episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast. I’m your host, Amy Porterfield, and I’m thrilled you’re here. Now, today I’m especially excited that you’re tuning in because I have another one of my talented students here, and she’s going to share her secrets to generating post-webinar revenue.
Now, maybe you've done a webinar before, and you've experienced what I call the post-webinar crickets. Do you know what those are? You pour your blood, sweat, and tears into your webinar launch; you get some sign ups—go, you—and then the sales stop coming in right after the webinar, even though your doors to your program are still open. We've all been there, and it's frustrating, to say the least.
So I always tell my students to get creative after their live webinars are over but while the cart is still open. You've got to take whatever remaining energy you have and run with it for the remainder of the launch, because it's worth it. The key is to plan ahead so you're not scrambling while you're tired after your webinars. So developing a post-webinar strategy before you launch is so important so that you can watch the enrollments continue to roll in after your last webinar.
If you're a Digital Course Academy®️ student of mine, I've got you covered with this post-webinar strategy. We’re going to get into it in module seven. So if you’re currently going through my program with me, hang tight. I’ve got you. We’ll get there soon. But you’re going to love this episode because it’s going to paint a picture of what’s to come. Now, for my guests that are not in Digital Course Academy®️, I'm going to offer immense value for you here so you really understand what you can do after your webinars are over.
So my guest today, Karida Griffith Walker, is one of my Digital Course Academy®️ students. And she took her experience as a professional dancer and used it to create a digital course and online resources for tap-dance teachers. She’s a prime example of why you've got to commit to the post-webinar push and really nurture your audience, even if they didn't purchase from you while on the live webinar.
Karida’s going to dive in and share what she did with her most-recent launch, but I just want to share some of her numbers with you upfront. Karida’s most-recent launch grossed $20,895, with 58 percent of her sales coming in after she did her live webinars, thanks to her post-webinar scrappiness. Fifty-eight percent of the sales came in after.
Now, sit tight because we're going to talk a little bit more about how she did this and what strategies she used. But my favorite part about this whole thing is that Karida jokes that during her live webinars, she was totally on her game. She said she was taking her supplements, getting all the sleep she needed, and she felt great. Then, after her live webinars wrapped up, one of her babies came home with a runny nose, and it took out her whole household, while the cart was still open. So even though she was sick and the last thing she felt like doing was making this post-webinar push, she committed to doing it, and boosted her revenue by over $11,000.
So I can't wait for you to hear Karida’s strategies. You're going to get so many awesome ideas. This episode is going to make you think, “Wait a second. All my sales don't need to come in during the live webinar.” In fact, a lot of the times, people will love your webinar. You'll get done with your webinar, you won't have as many sales as you thought you would, and you'll think, “I must have done a terrible job.” That is not true. Some people need a little extra time to make their decision. And Karida really took advantage of this.
Okay, so, we’re going to get into all the details. But before we dive in, as always, here’s a listener spotlight. Now, this spotlight is from Sarawww. That’s how it’s spelled. So it’s like “awww.” I know some of these are really hard for me to say when I’m actually reading them and then you hear me say them, but that’s what it says. It actually looks really cute when you see it in writing. Okay, so, here’s what Sara says:
“Amy, I’m so grateful for you and your content. I’ve received so much value from your podcast. Amy reminds me so much of myself, in the sense that we’re both so nice. I’m always inspired by her, and I love the ideas I get while I’m listening. Her podcast is so helpful to my business. To listen to every episode is a must. Motivating, inspirational, and actionable.”
So, Sara, thank you so very much. When you said “motivating, inspiration, and actionable,” that’s literally what I aim to deliver in this podcast. I’m so glad that you find my episodes binge worthy. That’s every podcaster’s dream. So, thank you, again, for your sweet review, and thanks for joining me every week. It means so much.
All right, guys. Let’s go ahead and jump into today’s episode.
Karida, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for being here.
KARIDA GRIFFITH WALKER: Thank you. I’m still in shock that I’m here. Super honored.
AMY: Okay, well, I am super honored because I’ve been waiting for this call. I have wanted to talk to you for so long. Now, I know that recently you have had your biggest launch to date, which is amazing, and I want to talk about it. But before we get to all of your brilliant strategies, I'd love for you to tell my listeners a little bit about your story and how a digital course came about. So take me back.
KARIDA: Okay. So I grew up dancing and moved to New York and became a professional dancer. I lived there for almost twenty years. I was a Radio City Rockette for almost five years, and then I left that to pursue more tap dancing. That's really a passion of mine.
AMY: Okay, time out. Let’s just talk about this. That’s a big deal that you were a Rockette.
KARIDA: Yes.
AMY: Oh my gosh. Was that just crazy wild, different kind—does it feel like a lifetime ago?
KARIDA: In some ways. But the choreography is still in my body. Like, I could still get up and do it right now. So in some ways, no. It’s like it’s still there.
AMY: Wait. You’re a mom of how many?
KARIDA: I have two, and a stepdaughter.
AMY: Two, and a stepdaughter. So, you’re a mom, you’re doing the mom things, but at any time you could just bust out some Rockette moves.
KARIDA: I could do it.
AMY: Okay. I’m impressed. I’m impressed already.
KARIDA: It stays with you. It doesn’t leave you. Once a Rockette, always a Rockette. It’s like a long legacy and all that.
AMY: Okay, well, I love that. And promise me, if we ever get together, you’re showing me some moves. And I’m very serious about this.
KARIDA: You got it.
AMY: Okay. Perfect. That’s impressive.
KARIDA: I still teach it. I do. People still want me to teach it, so I still do it.
AMY: I'm not even surprised that they want you to teach it. You’re right. That’s legendary stuff. So very cool.
Okay, so you were a Rockette and then for five years. And then from there, what did you do?
KARIDA: I decided to go back to tap dancing more. There is tap dance inside of Rockettes, but there’s a whole other world of tap dance that I really started to miss being a part of. I had a couple of girlfriends that are like, “You ought to get back into it,” and so I did, and I decided to go that route again.
And so in doing that, I got connected up with some really great tap dancers that were doing really great company work, touring kind of stuff, and also Cirque du Soleil. I got to dance with them through tap dance, believe it or not. And I really started to get into teaching along the way, too. So when I wasn't performing, I was teaching in local dance studios. And then, also, at the college level, I was a professor at Pace University for tap dance, and I taught professionals in New York as well. So I was always kind of back and forth in New York, between teaching in a dance studio and performing on the stage.
And so any time that I left the stage to go back to the studio, I really always wanted to bring whatever world-class information that I had from being out on stage, bring it back to eight-year-olds, bring it back to ten-year-olds, people that were really aspiring. And so it helped to really evolve the way I was teaching, and so I really got passionate about teaching tap dance along the way.
And so when I—gosh, almost five years ago now, my guy came to New York and swept me off my feet and brought me back to Portland, where I’m from. So he and I got married almost five years ago, and I came back to Portland, and we have two more daughters besides my stepdaughter. And that’s a big change. It’s a big life change to move from moving and shaking New York, performing in all the stuff, and come back to Portland and also now have two small children and all of that.
So it was a really big question mark for me of, “What do I do?” I’m raising the children—I’m with them most of the time—but I still wanted to work. I was like, “What do I do with my skill set while I’m here?” I was teaching some private lessons, one to one over here, one to one over there, doing some choreography here and there, but I couldn’t see a way where I could really be more of myself and use more of my expertise that I had gained over almost twenty years. And so when I got back here, people were like, “Oh, gosh. You could get a real job.” I was like, “Never had a real job.” I was like, “What?” So it was like, I’m not getting a real job, even though my degree is in business, but I’d never really used it. That was the plan B that I never used. So I was like, I don’t want to start using it now. I still wanted my dancing. I still want to find a way to do that.
And somehow, I came across one of your ads. I still cannot remember exactly how I got to your Webinars That Convert webinar. I don’t know how I got to it, but I did, and I watched it. And in that, you had a voiceover person—I think her name was Carrie—and you had a woman who worked with dance studios. And that was like [unclear 10:26] Wait. And that was my thing. I was like, “Well, I could teach tap. I could work with tap-dance teachers. I know what I could do.” I saw a real need when I came back to Portland. I knew that there was a need out there for training for tap-dance teachers because there's just—a lot of people become teachers just straight from student to teacher, with no real training, without good support.
AMY: Mm, gotcha.
KARIDA: And so people are doing the best they can. They were working hard at it, but there’s a lot of holes in what they know, and the training can kind of suffer as a result. And so the students aren’t really getting it, so there’s a lot of disconnect happening in tap classes, and it causes enrollments to drop off. And so then it’s, like, a studio-business issue on top of, well, kids aren’t into tap anymore. And it also affects business as a whole when it affects enrollment. And I was always really good at building tap-dance enrollments when I worked at studios. I knew how to build it, and people would add more classes because of the way I was teaching. And so I knew that I could help other studios to do that by really working with the teachers who were in there teaching the tap classes. So that's how I came up with my signature course, which is called the Tap Teachers’ Lounge: Comprehensive Online Tap-Teacher Training That Works. That is the course.
AMY: And to be clear, the tap teaching, you are—I want to make sure I understand. You are teaching tap-dance teachers how to teach their class, or how to run their businesses?
KARIDA: How to teach their classes. So, I—
AMY: So this is different than most. I like this. Tell me more.
KARIDA: Yeah. So what I’m doing is really empowering the tap-dance teachers with the confidence, the strategies and skills that they need to really create tap-dance classes that are really fresh and fun, that really engage each and every student. And that’s the thing that makes more students say, “Tap dance is for me. Tap dance could be for me,” and makes them really want to stick with class over years and years, so it helps with studio-business retention, and it also adds, as the program grows, word of mouth grows, and that’s a huge way that people grow their businesses, as far as dance studios. And so it brings more people to the program. So it is an extra benefit of my program that you can grow your class enrollments and build your business as a result. But I’m doing it from the inside out. I’m working with the teacher at the heart of the program because that’s where the rubber meets the road.
AMY: Okay. I hope so many people are having light–bulb moments right now thinking, just because you know something well doesn't mean you need to teach somebody how to do it in their business. You could go—what did you say?—from the inside out or…?
KARIDA: Yeah.
AMY: Yeah. I like that. Where you're going even deeper than that. And I don't have a lot of students who have done this, so it's really interesting to me.
Now, are you on camera, in your course, dancing? Is it you on camera, showing dance moves?
KARIDA: Yes. So, there are some where I'm doing some lecture things about music theory because the cool thing about tap dance is that it's really the only dance style that is used to create rhythm in music. So you're not just dancing to the music; you're creating rhythm in music. So there's a lot of music-education stuff as the foundation of the training, and some of that is just slides and me talking. And then the rest of the ten weeks is me on camera, with real students.
AMY: Okay, so, I wanted my listeners to hear that as well because a lot of them will say, “Amy, the way you teach is audio and slides, but I need to be on camera. I need to show what I'm doing.” And I tell my students, “You can, for sure.” And Karida, you're a perfect example of this, where you've mixed the slides, audio, and then you on camera, actually moving your body, showing people how to do something.
KARIDA: Yes, yes.
AMY: So good.
KARIDA: And my course is a mix of all of that because there are even some audio tutorials where the teachers have to study rhythm patterns from mp3 files, where they have to just listen to these patterns and try to learn these patterns and really work with that. And then there’s the slides, and then, almost 90 percent of it is me and students on camera, with a few different angles. So I have three cameras that work, so there’s a close-up camera, a full-body camera, and then a feet camera, because it’s tap dance.
AMY: Okay, you’ve got it all in this course. I'm so glad I got to talk to you about this because I feel like it opens the minds of my students who feel like, “I don't know if this would work in a digital course,” and you’re touching all—slides, audio, audio only, three different cameras to show the moves. I mean, so good. How much is your course?
KARIDA: My course is now $597.
AMY: $597, okay, great.
KARIDA: $597. I still feel like I’m undercharging, but I’m working my way up.
AMY: That’s okay.
KARIDA: There's also a coaching component to what I’m doing. So I’m watching some videos that teachers send me, and I’m giving them feedback on what—
AMY: Oh, that’s good.
KARIDA: Yeah. It’s a huge bonus of my program that most people don’t offer, that I’m able to really help people with blind spots in their teaching work. And I look at students, I look at the teachers, because there's a lot that you can see in really short, 30–second videos they send me, and I'm like, “Okay, here's what I see.”
AMY: And that’s part of the $597?
KARIDA: Yes. And that’s why I’m going, I think I should probably change my price. But it is, when I first launched it, I was, like, my kind of beta round, I think I charged $450.
AMY: So you’re increasing. And I’m always for baby steps and moving into what feels right, because if the price is ever way higher than you feel comfortable with, that will show up during your webinars, you'll hear it in people's voices, and they'll know. But I typically don’t offer advice when I’m not asked, but I do want to throw something in, if you don’t mind.
KARIDA: Sure.
AMY: So, down the road, it would be really cool if you still stayed at $597, although the VIP gets those video reviews from you, and that’s just a little bit more. So you could always just stay with that price that feels good to you, but add on a VIP component. Just something to think about.
KARIDA: Yeah, yeah. I’ve definitely thought—I’ve thought about it a million ways, but I am feeling, to your point, as I’ve raised the price, I totally stand by any price that I put out. Like, as I’ve raised it, because I’m improving the delivery, I’m making more PDF support documents that people can take with them into tap class. Like, I am furiously improving the thing, so as I’ve raised the price, it’s not just for the sake of raising the price. I’m like, “No, dude. I stand by this price because there’s really great material in here that’s going to serve you for at least ten years in your business.” So I’m unapologetic about it.
AMY: Yes. And that’s where I want all my students to get. When you do raise the price, it's not just because I'm saying, “You're not charging enough.” It's you stand behind it. You know the blood, sweat, and tears that went into that. You know it's worth this and then some. And so when you sell it on a webinar, your voice is strong, your energy is there. So, yeah, I can hear it in your voice. You're at that price that feels great, and down the road you might want to increase. But, listen, it's working for you, so let's talk about how it's working for you.
So you recently did a launch, and we're going to talk about this post-webinar game that you had going on that's so interesting and we don't talk a lot about on the show, so I'm excited that we get to get into some of the details, especially for my students that are not in any of my courses, or I should say my listeners who are not. They want to know, what's included in this pre–launch strategy that Amy keeps talking about? So, I'm sorry. I totally got that wrong. Post-webinar strategy that I've been talking about.
But before we get there, first of all, congrats on your launch. It was amazing. That’s got to feel great. And with that, can you walk us through the numbers, because I let my audience know in the very beginning the success of your launch—$20,000 plus—but can you break down the numbers for me?
KARIDA: Sure. So for this launch, I had 204 people registered for four webinars. And on top of that, I do this thing—I add it to my registration page—called I can’t attend any of these, but I still really want info. So that group I call, like, my “interested but can’t attend” people. And so that group of people, there’s 105 people additionally, on top of the 204 that were in my funnel at the top, if that makes sense. So I added that component because there were people who would write to me and say, like, “Oh, I can’t sign up for any of these, but when are you going to do it again?” And so I was, like, going—people aren’t into webinar culture know that chances are there’s going to be a replay or anything like that, then people just wouldn’t sign up. These tap teachers are like, “If I can’t sign up, I’m not signing up. If I can’t show up, I’m not signing up.” So I added that component, and it really increased the number of people that were in my funnel. You can see I had 204 people registered, and I had 105 people that said, “I can't attend, but I still really want to show up.”
And so when people show up to the webinars, like, 41 percent of people show up to my webinars because they're like, “I'm showing up.” right now.
AMY: They were serious. They meant it.
KARIDA: Right. And I think about thirty-five of the people who said that they were interested but couldn't attend opened the emails for the recording and all that stuff. And six of those people went on to buy, from the “interested but can't attend” group, if that makes sense.
So over the live webinars, I sold, like, fifteen live products. So live purchases, I had fifteen of those over four webinars. And then I had twenty post-webinar purchases after, and that's my biggest number of post-webinars. I'd never done that well with post-webinar work. And that was where I'd been making slight improvements in the launches over time, but that was my next hill to climb. I was like, “What am I doing with this post-webinar stuff?” I knew I wasn't doing enough before. I was like, “How do I increase that?” So this was definitely my best one. I had thirty-five purchases overall, this time, which resulted in almost $21,000 for this launch.
AMY: So good. Is this your biggest launch to date?
KARIDA: It’s my biggest launch. Every one before this was hovering around $10,000 to maybe $13,000 or $14,000.
AMY: Oh, I’m so excited for you.
Okay. You are such a great example of tweaking what you've already done. You know I tell my students all the time, “Let's not launch one thing one time and move on to the next thing. Keep tweaking, keep making it better.” And I'm going to predict that this gets so much bigger. I feel like you've cracked a code here, and you have the courage to try things that you're like, “I don't know. I'm just going to try things and see how they work.” And that's exactly how you get better in this game.
So I want to point something out. So, as you said, on your webinar registration page, you had an option for people to let you know that they're interested in the content that you're sharing in the webinar but they can't attend. So they let you know, meaning they did not get a webinar invite again. I'm assuming they didn't even get—did they get the replay?
KARIDA: Yes. That’s what I sent them. So what I would send them right away was an auto email that says, “I’m so glad you’re interested,” and a little bit of kind of what they say about you, content for your people who know what that means. Just really building up the excitement around why they were interested in the first place and kind of really digging into that a little bit, and then just telling them that I would send them a recording of the webinar as soon as I recorded one. And so then as soon as I got the first recording, then I sent them that one. As I was sending out the replay to the people who actually signed up for the webinar, I also sent out a set to the people who were interested but couldn’t attend.
AMY: Got it. And what's interesting—I want you guys to really understand this—is that Karida knew her audience. Her audience is different than mine. Mine will sign up for five webinars at one time, knowing they can't make any of them. But they kind of know the game a little bit, so they know the replay’s coming, they know I'll follow up with them. But Karida’s audience is different. And when your audience isn't familiar with online marketing, just remember, they don't know anything about the webinar replay or the followup–email sequence or anything like that. So just because we know that stuff, our audience genuinely is not thinking that way. So they're saying, “Look, I really can't come, but I am interested.” So she does something separate for them. And you said, what, five or six people actually ended up buying from that list of 105?
KARIDA: Yes. Six people from that list.
AMY: Great. Six people. Now, some people might hear that and they’re like, “Only six?” I hear that and think—
KARIDA: Nope, not me.
AMY: Right? Not me, either. I think, “That’s amazing.” That’s six people that would literally have not signed up for the webinar. You never would have had their email, and now you get to nurture 100 other people who didn’t yet sign up for your program, but now they’re paying attention. They’re on your list, and now they’re listening.
And so I thought that was brilliant, for the record. And I love that you take the strategies you learn from my program, but then you make them your own. And more importantly than my strategies, you understand your audience, and you pay attention to what they want. So I wanted my audience to hear that because I really do believe that if you pay attention to how your audience behaves—how they respond, what they need, what they want—you can get so many profitable ideas on how to cater to them and truly show up in a way that they’re like, “Yes, I want to be in your world. I want to buy your programs.” So kudos to you for paying attention, because I would have never thought of that. So I love it.
Okay, so, from there, you didn’t stop. So you did your live webinars, and then you wanted to continue to provide value. So can you tell us a little bit about how you ran your Facebook Lives, and I'm assuming they came after the live webinars, and can you talk about how you decided on what you wanted to address during these Lives so that you could continue to convert your audience into students?
KARIDA: Yes. So I decided, I was like, I knew based on—I mean, do you want me to tell you how I decided to even do the Lives?
AMY: Yes. Give it to me all, or give it all to me.
KARIDA: So I have to say, okay, so I have a very good friend of mine, like a sister from another mister, who joined your program. She just joined DCA.
AMY: Oh, great. What’s her name? Let’s give her a shout out.
KARIDA: Her name is Jen Wilson. Shout out to Jen Wilson.
AMY: Shout out to Jen.
KARIDA: She got married, and so she just got married, so she’s Conley now, Jen Wilson. All right, so, Jenny Jen Jen just signed up for DCA, and she wrote me, and she was asking me about—because she knew I was doing your program, and she said, “Well, tell me about Amy's program compared to some other programs out there.” And I was trying to think of how to answer it for her, and I said, “Well, you know,”— one of the things that stuck out to her that I told her was that I said, I have to say, I don't know what other people do, but the ongoing alumni support that you give is a game changer. It’s worth as much as the course, to me, because had I just gotten Webinars That Convert®️ and gotten that many weeks of support, say, and not gotten to be in the community of the Insider’s Club and not have your Facebook Lives, I don’t know if I could have really gotten it going, because there was so much information to process at the start. But having the ongoing resource at the Insider’s Club, with other people who are doing this work and with you showing up in there, it’s was a game changer for me. I don’t think I could have gotten through the starting point without that. And so that’s what I told her. I was like, “Listen, I don’t know what other people are doing, but I can tell you that in this program, it’s going to be a lot of information in DCA, it’s a lot of information, but you’re going to have ongoing support after the weeks are up that you’re in. You’re going to have ongoing support as you’re tinkering with stuff, and there’ll be plenty of people that will jump in and support, and Amy will jump in and support.”
So with your monthly Facebook Lives, I have it set in my calendar when you do them, and so the day that the Q and A thing goes out, so there’s the day that, it’s like, ask your questions. I have that marked in my calendar. So I’m like, “Okay, do I have any questions for Amy this month?”
AMY; Oh, that’s so smart. Just to kind of jog your memory. Are you stuck on anything? Well, here’s your opportunity. Jump in there.
KARIDA: Exactly. So I do that. And so I’m like, “All right.” So this time, I was like, “I want to figure out what I need to do with my post-webinar game. How do I step it up?” So I wrote in—got my reminder, so I wrote in, and I was like, “What do I do besides post-webinar emails? I’m not sure what to do.” And so in that, you answered my question, and you talked about getting scrappy. You started talking about getting scrappy, and you talked about Jasmine Star and how, like, you know what? If she doesn’t like the numbers that she’s getting at a certain point, she’ll just roll her sleeves up, and be like, all right, time to get scrappy with this and do some more Facebook Lives and run some more retargeting ads; keep getting in front of your audience. And so I was like, “Okay.” And I thought about it, and I was like, “That makes so much sense.”
Before this—I’m new to the whole thing, so I was like, I get up through the webinars, and I’m like, “I did the webinars. I’m sending out four emails, and I’m going to sleep.” But that was as much as I could handle. And so now I’m like, “I can handle more. I can handle this because more stuff is kind of up and running.” And I was like, “Well, I can get scrappy.” I’m like, duh, every person who’s killing it in online marketing is not apologizing for showing up after their webinars, after their video series, or whatever they’re doing. They’re showing up, happily showing up, on Facebook Live every day. You know that their product is available. And I’m, like, I’m whispering after my webinars. I’m on my webinars, and I’m confident. But after my webinars, I was, like, legit whispering. Like, [unclear 28:22].
AMY: I get it.
KARIDA: [unclear 28:25] emails. I have a free Facebook group. I would literally put in a couple of posts, and I don’t even mean going Live. I mean a couple of posts. Like, my thing is for sale. Just really very minimal. And I was like, “What am I doing?”
And so as I thought about that, I was like, of course, of course. This is what the six-figure, seven-figure entrepreneurs are doing online. And if I want to be one of them, then I have to get into that space. I have to be committed after the webinars are over. I have to continue to be committed to see through the rest of my launch. I have to show up unapologetic and feeling really good about what I’m offering. And I do feel good about what I’m offering, so I don’t know why I’m not doing it. Is it just because I’m tired? Give me a break. I can do more than this. I can do more than this. I can show up, and I can just be a little bit scrappy.
And so even if I send out my little retargeting to 240 people, which is how many people I targeted with my retargeting ads, I spent another $170. I was like, this is a scrappy $170 to put in front of 240 people, which I know is not a lot of people and most people wouldn't recommend it. But I got eight purchases—
AMY: Okay.
KARIDA: —off of that. Yes. I'm like, I had eight—I had to check with people in the Insider’s Club because I don't even understand what the numbers meant. I had a couple of people helping me, inside the Insider’s Club, try to figure out how to do the retargeting. And I was like, “Wait. This says eight website purchases. Does that mean that they bought from my retargeting ads?”
AMY: Yes! It's so good.
KARIDA: And I was like, “I’m thinking, if I sell one, that would more than pay my little $170.” My course is $597. I was thinking of spending two hundred bucks; I spent $170. I was like, even if I sell one, I’m like, whatevs and it pays for it, I just want to try it out. But I sold eight through my ads.
AMY: You have such a great attitude around “I just want to try it out,” and I think that is serving you so well, obviously.
Now, talk to me about your numbers because some people—and I get this all the time. You had 204 people register across four webinars. Now, some people will look at that, and they'll say, “I only had 200 people sign up for my webinars,” and they'll kind of almost just give up, like it's not enough, because they'll hear my numbers, and they'll say, “Amy, I heard you had thousands of people on yours, so obviously I'm doing something wrong.” But you knew that your small numbers weren't a deterrent. So how did you look at those numbers and not compare yourself to everybody else? What was your head game there?
KARIDA: Well, because when I started, I stared with nobody. I legit started with—I mean, I don’t know how many people were in my Facebook group the first time I launched last year, maybe a few hundred. I started with almost nobody. So the fact that anybody was showing up, I was like, great. And I sold—
AMY: So you were running your own race.
KARIDA: Yeah. And so I was like, I sold, and I was like, okay. So, I did think that there would be more than 200 people this time around because I had made improvements in the overall funnel number, so I wasn't super thrilled about the number. But I also know that I’m learning that there’s certain rhythms to the teachers’ lives and calendars. And so there’s certain times when they really are looking for training, because teachers, tap-dance teachers, dance teachers, look for training opportunities. And so I knew that there were certain times that they would more look and then other times that maybe they’d be like, “I’m too busy. My head’s down over here,” and wouldn’t be thinking about it.
And so I’m still kind of learning the rhythm of how it works because I’ve only been in business for a year. So I wasn’t really thrilled with the numbers, but I had to take that kind of attitude, what you were talking about on your Facebook Live inside the Insider’s Club. Okay, Jasmine Star will get scrappy if she’s not really thrilled with the numbers. And so I just thought to myself, “Let me see if I can get more of these, this smaller number, to really dig my offer, and if I can really dig in and get a higher percentage of people interested in my training just from this smaller number.” And so that was my focus was seeing if I could get my percentage up because even a higher percentage of this smaller number would still get me—I mean, this got me more sales than any of the ones even when I had 400 or 500, closer to 500, people in my funnel.
AMY: Okay, boom. That's it. You were focused more on converting those that you were attracting instead of worrying that you weren't attracting enough people. And I really do believe that is why you are such a huge success story in the sense of you focused on the right things. And that makes a huge difference. This interview is gold. The nuggets you're giving people are going to change their launches. Just like me sharing that Jasmine Star got scrappy, and then you got scrappy, other people are listening to this right now, and they're going to do one or two of the things that you're suggesting, and you're going to change their launch. So, Karida, I want you to know that you're affecting other people's success, so thank you for taking the time to really explain all of this. It’s really a ripple effect, and I know it, and I’ve seen it so many times.
KARIDA: It’s totally impacted me. I mean, I listen to the podcast. I’m like, “Okay, this is what this person did.”
AMY: Right? Me, too. Yeah, I’m always learning from those stories, even of my students, and thinking, “You did it that way? Okay, I’m going to try it that way.” So we all learn from each other. That’s why I want to do more and more of these episodes.
But I want to come back to your Facebook Lives. When you did your Face—and you might have said this and I missed it somehow—but when you went and did your Facebook Lives after the webinars were over but the cart was still open—and I just want to take a moment. I don’t think I explained that well in the introduction. For those of you who don't yet know this, let me explain something that I should have said a while back.
When I teach how to do launches, I encourage my students to do four live webinars for over a period of ten to fourteen days. So the cart is open from about ten to fourteen days. And while the cart is open, meaning anybody can buy your program during that time, I encourage my students to do four live webinars spread across those dates. And then once their live webinars are done, then they're going to follow up with this post-webinar sequence of activities to do to get those people that didn't yet buy, to get into the program.
And so once your webinars were over but the cart was still open, you decided to do a bunch of Facebook Lives. How did you know what to talk about on those Facebook Lives, because my students get stuck there. They're almost frozen. Like, “I've said everything I can say on this webinar. What the heck do I talk about afterwards?”
KARIDA: I did a couple things. One, I tackled the biggest kind of question or objection that people were having. There were some that I was able to really tackle inside my webinar, so people stopped asking those questions. And so I’m having those objections, so I'm like, knock that out. So that felt really good. But then there's another question about curriculum, because there's some different tap–dance curricula out there, and people kind of want to know, like, “Well, I use this curricula. Does that mean I need to chuck my curricula for your program, or does it mean that I shouldn't be using it? What does it mean? Because I have this curricula, which curricula should I use, or what does it have to do with your training?” And so some people think, “Oh, I'm doing fine because I have this curriculum.” Other people aren't sure how my training would relate to the curriculum that they're using, if they're using one at all.
And so I said, “You know what? That should be a Facebook Live topic,” because I had several people ask that question in my post-webinar Q and A. That one came up across the four webinars. And I was like, if that's an objection for people, then that's something that I can, of course, answer inside of the webinars. But then I'm going to make that a Facebook Live topic because I know that people talk about tap curriculum a lot, out in dance-teacher groups. I see that it's a topic of conversation, something that people bring up. So it could be even more interesting, even for people that aren't in my funnel. So I knew that that would be a way that I could kind of draw people in because it is a topic that people were interested in, and it was an objection, kind of a question mark that people had over their heads about whether or not they should sign up for my program.
And then the other things that I picked were things that would give me a chance to show another feature of my program or show another benefit of my program. And those were things—it’s hard to highlight everything you’ve got in a signature course. You’re trying to keep it narrow. But I wanted to—I was like, there's a couple things I think I could talk about that I think would be really interesting for people. One thing being about preschool/kindergarten tap classes, preschool early tap classes. And those can be a huge theater for the retention of your tap program over years if you do it right in the pre-K classes. Some people treat the pre-K classes, frankly, like babysitting, and they're like, “Oh, it's not much going on in there.” And then so when the students, as they get older, six, seven, eight, as they have a chance to choose things, they want to choose something that's a more serious dance style. They want to work on ballet. They want to work on something that's more serious. And so I'm like, “No, they can learn a lot when they're three, four, or five. They can be sponges at that age. And if you're really maximizing that opportunity, then you could have a tap student for ten years. You could have all these kids in your class. Wouldn't you want these kids in your classes for ten years, or do you want them to drop it and then go somewhere else?” And so for a business, from a business standpoint, from a pedagogy standpoint, I thought it’d be a good topic. So I used that for a topic.
And then just another couple that I knew would feature a couple of things in my program that might show people, “Oh, there is something that I have to learn. I didn't know that.” And I wanted to put out a couple of things where—because sometimes people just don't know what they don't know. That's something that you say. I quote you all the time.
AMY: She's such a star student.
KARIDA: Sometimes people don't know what they don't know, and so I put out a couple those things that might kind of agitate at people's thinking of like, “Do I really need a training? Maybe I do need a training.”
AMY: I love this because not only did you touch on their concerns, their worries or fears or objections just in general, but then you also chose some key areas in your course to highlight and talk about on your Facebook Lives that they might not even be thinking they need until they start hearing you talk about it.
KARIDA: Yes.
AMY: That is really, really smart.
Okay, so in your pre-launch strategy, you sent out emails after the webinar, right?
KARIDA: Post, yeah.
AMY: Why do I keep saying that? Because I’m teaching prelaunch to my current students. Thank you for correcting me. Guys, I'm losing my mind.
And in the post-webinar strategy—literally catch me every time I do it, okay? In the post-webinar strategy, you are sending out emails to those that signed up for the webinar but haven't yet bought. Number two, you are doing Facebook Lives, addressing the things we just talked about. And number three, you are retargeting all the people that signed up for your webinar but haven't yet purchased. You’re retargeting them with Facebook ads, and your ad spend was around 200 bucks.
KARIDA; Yes, $170.
AMY: Okay. Come on. This is all very doable. I didn't actually know the whole story before I got to get on here and read the notes and interview you. But I love to interview people that have had success that didn't spend a lot of money on Facebook ads, because if you spent $5,000, my audience would say, “I can't relate. I don't have that much money yet.” But my students do have $170 to retarget a very small group. And my favorite part of this whole thing is that you never ever let your numbers make you think that you weren't going to have success because they weren't as big as some other people that have talked about their launches in the Facebook group and whatnot.
So you really kept your head in the game, and that‘s where I want to go to next because you said that with this launch, you had a totally different mindset than you have with your other launches. So can you talk about that?
KARIDA: Yes. I think that cue from you about getting scrappy with this process totally put my brain on “Am I going to be a six-figure entrepreneur next or not? Is that going to be my next thing? Or am I going to sit and kind of hover at this place, this plateau, where I’m at?” It was like, $10,000 launches. I was like, “No. I think I’ve got to step into that space and just be in that space.” And so that means that I have to be committed to my process all the way through, not just to the webinars and then go to bed. I got to keep pushing all the way through cart close, and be unapologetic about what I'm doing, and do these little scrappy, itty, bitty retargeting, these things that can really make a difference. And if I show up in these ways and I'm happy and I'm unapologetic about what I'm offering, then people respond to that.
I mean, the ones that I did on my Facebook page, the Facebook Lives where literally ten minutes.
AMY: Oh!
KARIDA: Ten minutes, yes. And then I would jump off of that, and then I would go into my Facebook group. So inside of my Facebook group, where I have about seventeen hundred tap teachers, something like that, in there, I barely sell to them. It’s a really low-pressure environment. I don’t know what I’m doing in there. I’m learning a lot. I’m learning a lot. I offer value every week. I do all of that. But I don’t sell really hard. I’m like, “I’m ridiculous for not selling in here. Why am I not selling?” And so I was like, all right. So beyond just whispering a post, like, “I’m selling. Cart’s open.”
Besides doing that, I decided, in my Facebook group, I would make it a bit more special, and I did slides. I gave them twenty-five minutes on the same topic, and I went deeper into the topic. And so I pulled some things from a webinar slide, so they got a deeper thing inside of my Facebook group. So I went twenty-five, thirty minutes inside of my Facebook group, but literally ten to twelve, maybe, minutes on my Facebook page. And even the ones on my Facebook page, people would comment in, like, “I need this course.” I’m like, “Yes.”
AMY: You’re like, “Yes, you do.”
KARIDA: Yeah. But it just was like that means that somebody’s thinking about it, and it wasn't because I just put an email in there, in their inbox. I was able to get out in front of people, where they are, meet people where they are every day. Monday through Thursday was when I did it. And just show up and be excited about my content and also be excited about the fact that, “The doors are about to close. We're about to start class. Are you coming in or not?” I really had fun with it, even though I wasn’t even feeling well.
I got a cold from my daughter. Like, I might be coughing a little bit. I’m a little bit not great. But I committed to show up. I sent out emails, saying I was going to be live every day at six o’clock. My husband’s taking the kids. I’m like, “Durrell, babe, can you take the kids from six to seven? I got to do these Facebook Lives.” He’s like, “Didn’t you do the webinars? Is that part done?” because he’s used to what I do. He knows I like to do the webinars, and that’s kind of it. He sees me on my computer a little bit, but then, that’s it. I’m like, “No. I’m being scrappy. I’m going to do some more Facebook Lives. I want to step the game up, here.” So he’s like, “Okay.” So he’s got the girls, and I’m in there. He’s like, “Take some cough drops.”
AMY: The fact that you were sick and you still kept going on this says a lot as well. I’ve done many, many webinars where I've been coughing like crazy. In fact, my last webinar that I did live for Digital Course Academy®️, we did direct-to-camera, and then I was doing slides for some of it. And at one point, the coughing was so bad I went to slides, and Chloe came in with cough syrup from the bottle. I'm chugging it while I'm sounding like maybe I'm having some water, just to soothe my throat. And I'm thinking, “If this spills all over me, I'm going to kill you,” because it was really disgusting. And so we do what we got to do, right?
KARIDA: Yes. I was like, it’s just four days. I don’t have a fever. I’m not bedridden. It’s just annoying. It’s just annoying. And one time I did a live like that, and my assistant was watching, and she texted me. She was like, “It’s worse for you than it is for your audience.” And I was like, “Okay.” So that helped me because I’m trying to keep the coughs in. And I’m hiding. But she’s like, “You’re going through way more struggle than anybody who’s watching you.”
And I think because the topics are good, people are going to be like, “Okay, stop coughing and tell me what I’m supposed to know.” It's like people are into the content and not like, “I have to turn this off. I can't deal with the fact that she just coughs.” Nobody’s doing that.
AMY: No one cares. We get into our head. Exactly.
Now, speaking of no one cares, let's actually talk about the people that care a little too much. And what I mean by that is I know you got an email or maybe two where someone told you you're emailing too much; I don't like your marketing approach. Talk to me about that because one email can literally derail some of my aspiring entrepreneurs. They're like, “I'm doing this wrong. I'm annoying people. I can't email as much.” Tell me about the email you got and how you kind of processed it.
KARIDA: It’s so hard because our brains are so tuned into the negative, and I think it is survival. It's like you have to pay attention to the threat or something. And by having this woman take the time to—she didn’t just unsubscribe. She had to take the time to let me know. Like, I do not like—and when I read the email, I'm like, “I do not like your—“ like, I read it with that [unclear 46:03]. “I do not like your marketing approach. This is too much.” I was just like, oh, a little hostility in my inbox. I was like, oh. Like, really don't like it. And I'm going, “Okay.” She’s like, “Take me off your list.” I'm like, “Okay.” And I'm going, well, she could have hit Unsubscribe. That's also me like; why didn’t you just hit Unsubscribe? But she had to let me know. And I'm like, “Okay.”
So I wrote her back, and I said, “You know what?” I really apologized. I'm like, “Nobody wants spam, my goodness. Nobody wants unwanted emails.” But I will tell you that many people are really appreciating the reminders that I'm sending. So that's why I'm sending them. I am sending them because people want to hear from me, and there are people that are wanting and are thanking me for these emails. So I was like, “I’m sorry that you're not one of those people. You've been unsubscribed. Don't worry about it. You won't have to hear from me anymore.” But I also did tell her, “But if you want to hang out and learn some of my stuff, you can join my Facebook group. You can be in my Facebook group. You won't get any emails from me, so you don't have to worry about any extra emails. Nobody wants extra emails that they don't want. So feel free to be in my Facebook group if you want. But also, other people like to have these reminders.” For me myself, I need reminders because I forget. I've got two children climbing around my neck. I don't know what happened. I meant to hit Send on something, and I didn't. I meant to hit Buy, and I didn't, because somebody spilled the crayons, the paint spill. So I appreciate them. And there's so many people who do appreciate the reminders because we're just inundated with information all the time.
The other thing that helped me with that was, actually one time you talked about segmenting on your Facebook Live, I think in Insider’s Club, and you talked about segmenting way down with your post-webinar emails. And so instead of continuing to blast my whole list, I listened to that and I said, “Okay, what can I segment down to?” So I segmented down to the people who were registered for the webinars and the people who signed up for my “interested but can’t attend” thing. So I segmented down to that and then start emailing from there. And then by the time I send the three emails on the last day, I even segment down a little bit more, to people who are opening emails, people haven’t opened any of the last however many emails. And I segmented down some more.
And that really helped, one, I’m not bothering anybody. I’m not irritating anybody who is not interested in my course right now but maybe later. And so they’ll just continue to get weekly content.
Also, it was a better psychological thing for me because my open rates are amazing. All of a sudden, I’ve got a 55 percent open rate on email. I’m like, “Hey, all right.”
AMY: Right? Segmenting makes your ego go up, too, when you start seeing those open rates, for sure. But that’s exactly—
KARIDA: I’m set in the place of people want to hear from me. These people want to hear from me. And so, yeah, I’m sending another email. I’m going to send them this cool thing that they’ll really like. And this will be something that can really interest them in the program, because these are people that are actually thinking about it. So the segmenting really helped, too, as far as the post-webinar stuff that I hadn't done before. So I don't feel like I'm bothering anybody, because all these people signed up for a webinar or they said that they wanted to hear the information. So I don't have to apologize to anybody who's on that list.
AMY: Yes. Okay, that’s the right frame of mind to be in. Guys, we’re all going to get those emails from somebody or a few people that will say, “You're emailing too much. You're too aggressive. I don't like all these reminders.” And then all you need to think is, “Okay. You got it. Unsubscribe. You're not the perfect fit for this,” although I love that you said you can get into my free Facebook group. She'll probably become a student of yours.
KARIDA: Hey, you never know.
AMY: You never know. But you have to shake it off, and you know why you're doing it. And this goes back to what Karida said in the very beginning. She believes in her program. She knows that it’s making a difference. She knows it's great content and quality, and so she's going to stop whispering but instead, letting people know, “This is available, limited time. Here's what it's about. Here's who it's for. Buy now.” I love this whole theme throughout this entire conversation we've had about you stopped whispering when the webinar was over. And I've never looked at it like that, but I bet my brand-new students, maybe 85 percent of them, are still whispering after the webinar because they don't want to be too aggressive. And when you believe in what you're doing and you remember when you speak up, it genuinely works. When you send more emails to the right people, it genuinely does fall into the right hands, that they're like, “Oh, I'm so glad you sent this. I was very curious. I wanted to know more.”
KARIDA: Yes. And I’ve even had a few people buy my program and then write me and say, “I just signed up. Thank you so much for everything that you're doing.” So I've had those emails, too. “Thank you so much for what you're doing for the tap community.” Like, for the tap community, like, “Thank you so much for offering this. I'm so glad you wrote me because I really wanted to sign up.” And so it really helps people, I think, to make a firm decision. I don't know if it was in your sales page tutorial, it's like, you don't want to leave people on the fence. And if I was whispering, I was leaving people on the fence. And so you want people to say yes or no and really be able to make an actual decision. And if I'm in front of people enough, then people can actually say yes, or they can say not right now, no, to what I'm offering. But if I'm not in front of people in that, then they forget that it even exists. And then it ends up being that non–decision that we don't really want.
AMY: Right. The last place you want them is on the fence, and I think that you did a great job of making sure they knew this was available for a limited time; here’s what you get. And obviously, you did a really great job.
But before I wrap this up, you’ve got to tell everybody about what your daughter says. Tell me that part. It’s so good.
KARIDA: Okay, so, from the first time I did launches, I had to figure out, of course, where am I going with the kids, because I usually keep them during the day. And Durrell, my husband, is actually a dance teacher as well. So when he’s at school—he teaches West African dance and drumming, so we’re like this rhythm house. [unclear 52:26]
AMY: Yes, you are.
KARIDA: These children are unbelievably musical [unclear 52:29]
AMY: I’m jealous.
KARIDA: They’re so musical. But I'm like, “Okay, what am I going to do with the kids during the day?” I prefer for them to be out of the house and not be worrying about what’s going on in the house. So I have a friend that takes them, and so I would drop them off at a friend’s house. And I’m like, “Okay, we’re going to Aunty Em’s house.” And she’s like, “Where are you going, Momma?” I was like, “Well, Momma’s going to go back to the house and make some sales.” That’s what I would tell her. I’m like, “Momma’s going to go make some sales.” And she’s like, “Okay.” And so she’d go and play. Her and her sister would go and play, and then I’d come back. And I’d be like, “I made a sale,” even if I had one live purchase. I’d be like, “Nia, I made a sale.” She liked this really growly voice. I’m like, “I made a sale.” And she’s like, “Yeeah.”
AMY: She likes when you get aggressive.
KARIDA: Yeah. Well, she’d been growly since she was a baby. When she was happy to see me, she’s like growl. And I’m like, “Okay.” So I’m high-fiving the kids. She’s two years old, two and a half at the time, and like “Yeeah. Momma made a sale.” So then, when I’d go in to do my webinars, I think one time Durrell did keep them here over that last launch. But I’m like, “Nobody on the Internet.”
AMY: Right? Everyone off.
KARIDA: So no one on anything Internet related. So I’m like, “Keep them away from the backyard,” because I’m by the backyard, so it’s like, oh my gosh, its just like having them here, when I’m doing webinars. But I’m like, “Okay, Momma’s going in the office.” And she’s like, “You going to make some sales?” I’m like, “Yes. I’m going to go make some sales.”
AMY: It’s so sweet when the kids are paying attention and getting involved. And she's so little, and she sees her momma making sales. I mean, that is going to affect her entire life, I can promise you. Twenty years old, she's talking to someone why she became an entrepreneur so young, and “I watched my momma make some sales.”
KARIDA: That's right.
AMY: That is going to be a ripple effect, for sure. And I just love hearing that story, and I could listen to it over and over again, especially I hope I get to meet her and hear her little growly voice. Can't get any cuter than that. So I think it's so great that your children are seeing what you're doing and really taking note and paying attention.
KARIDA: Yeah. And it’s just something that I could do. And it’s just where it’s like, I don’t want to cry, but it’s like the gift that you’ve given to our family is this is how I can make a reasonable living being me still, while raising my children, because I wanted to be with my children more than I was away from them. I didn’t want to take a job where I couldn’t be with them as much as I wanted to. And so now I have some hours that I work, but it’s in the office, at the back of the garage, for the most part, unless I have a video-shoot day or something. But I can be with my children, and I can be who I was in New York to some degree.
I can use my expertise. I don’t have to leave all that behind because I’m a mom now. I can still use that to really help a lot of people, and it’s helped so many teachers and so many students that are feeling good about who they are in dance class, and confidence is growing for the teachers, for the students. But I’m able to do that at home, with a baby in my lap. Even when it’s crazy and I’m trying to get an email out and there’s a kid in my lap and there’s one on my neck, they’re with me. They’re not with somebody else. And it’s starting to really generate income for us, and it’s going to be a real, living business. It’s really going to be a really living business in the years to come, and that is just beyond a gift to my family.
AMY: Okay. You just gave a huge gift to so many listening here. I know you've inspired them. I know they have new ideas, but more importantly, just talking about why you do it and why it means so much to you, that is exactly why I teach people how to create digital courses. So thank you so much for showing up with so much honesty and realness and telling us all the stories that really bring to life what a launch looks like, especially if you are still figuring it out and you're still experimenting and trying all these new things. Your head is in the game, and I just so appreciate you spending the time with us.
KARIDA: Thank you so much, Amy.
AMY: It’s been a lot of fun. I know some people are going to say, “Where do I find out more about this girl?” So where can people go to learn more about you and everything you're doing?
KARIDA: Oh my goodness. My website is karidagriffith.com. My Facebook page is Karida Griffith Dance. And if you’re a tap teacher, you can be in my exclusive Facebook group for tap teachers called Dance Studios On Tap! That is the name of my free Facebook group. So any of those places, I show up there all the time.
AMY: Okay, perfect. We’ll link to it in the show notes as well, guys, just in case you want to make sure you grab that.
So, Karida, thank you so very much. I can’t even wait to see everything you create in the future. You’ve already done amazing things. So thanks for taking the time to talk with us today.
KARIDA: Thank you so much, Amy.
AMY: All right. That’s a wrap. I hope you found so much insight and are walking away with some fresh ideas from Karida’s post-webinar scrappiness. I’m sure you’re feeling inspired, and I want you to take that with you and actually get into action.
So one quick note. When it comes to the post-webinar strategy, I want you to plan out as much as you can beforehand. So my students at Digital Course Academy®️, I'm going to show you in module seven how to really plan this out, because you never know what might happen. Like, Karida’s whole family got sick. And so if she didn't plan ahead, getting the energy up after the live webinar and really delivering after the fact would have been very, very difficult, more so than it already was when she was sick. And so planning ahead will literally become your best friend, with this strategy.
Also, I want you to always think, “How can I continue to add value?” So when you're in a launch, you've done your live webinars, and you're feeling tired, I want you to muster up all the energy you can and say, “How can I continue this momentum until the very, very end?” And if you plan for your post-webinar strategy, you can do that with ease.
Okay, so, switching gears just a bit. I’ve got some exciting news. Next week, I'm going to share something with you that is brand new, and I can't even believe I have access to it. So here's the deal. I got to speak at Stu McLaren's TRIBE live event just recently, and I worked really hard on this presentation. It was all about my top content-creation secrets for rethinking my content and keeping my audience coming back for more. And get this. Stu gave me the permission to share that exact presentation on my podcast. So next week, I'm going to share my favorite secrets all about rethinking content so that you can create inspiring content with ease, give your audience exactly what they want, and create a tribe of thriving fans who are jumping at the bit to sign up for your digital course. So I cannot wait until next week.
Now, before I forget, have you subscribed to my podcast yet? I don't want you to miss a thing. And if you subscribe to the podcast, you’ll be notified each time a new episode airs, and I've got some great bonus episodes lined up that I think you're really going to enjoy. So the only way to know about these bonus episodes is if you subscribe to the podcast, wherever you listen to it, and make sure you get notified. So do that right away before you get busy moving on to the next thing.
Okay, I can’t wait to connect with you next week, same time, same place. Bye for now.
