Hi All!

Here is your weekly dose of We Play Full Out with Bart and Sunny!

Playing Full Out in life means: to show up fully (even when it's hard), be present with yourself and others, be willing and able to challenge your core belief structures, live authentically (living authentic means being authentic to who you want to be, not who you currently are), and to perform at your highest level at all times (recognizing that some days are simply higher levels than others).

Learning the Lyrics to Your Target Market’s “Songs”

If you are a business owner or you are simply someone who likes to meet new friends or wants to learn how to network better, there is an obstacle you need to overcome in order to get people to want to like you or listen to you. In the marketing world it’s called reaching a “cold” audience and turning them into a “warm” one. A “cold” audience is an audience of people who are not familiar with you or your products and services. A “warm” audience means your audience is aware of you, your products, or services (and has even engaged with you in some way) but has not bought from you yet. If you are able to bridge the gap from “cold” to “warm,” your chances of selling someone the product or service you have increases exponentially.

For example, when emailing a “cold” audience you can almost plan on a conversion rate of 1-5%. If you email a “warm” audience you could anticipate a conversion rate of up to 15% (of course, there are many different variables to this, it’s just a baseline… and assuming you are selling something and not offering a free opt-in).

Networking and meeting new people that you want to have as friends (not just acquaintances) or people you can engage with works the same way… people want to be seen, heard, and understood.

So - how do we take people who have never heard about us and bring them into our ecosystem to the point they are interested in being friends with us or buying from us?

Twenty-one Pilots

When our daughter Kenya was in middle school, she became obsessed with the band, Twenty-one Pilots. At the time, like many new teenagers, she was struggling with some mental health issues that we didn’t fully understand. When we looked at the band, all we saw were skeleton shirts, black necks and hands, and songs that were called things like “Guns for Hands.” Instead of taking the time to listen to their music we pushed back against them and told her we didn’t think their music was healthy or good (yes, we did learn our lesson here…)

Fast forward many years and Kenya was still listening to the band. We decided to surprise her by taking her to one of their concerts. At the concert we were actually surprised by their ability to put on an amazing show and how they were also able to connect with the parents of the kids at the show - they were thoughtful and aware of their audience.

Fast forward again and a new album came out with a livestream show (COVID year). Kenya, again, encouraged us to watch the show and listen to the album, which we did. But then that didn’t seem like quite enough. Kenya suggested the album “Vessel” as one that she particularly loved and encouraged Sunny to listen to. At the time, Sunny was working hard with bodybuilding and had to put in massive amounts of time doing cardio and needed something to listen to. She put on Vessel… and the rest is really history. She finally listened to the lyrics and they resonated with her so strongly that she felt like Tyler Joseph was not only in her head, but he was articulating a lot of feelings she had much better than she was able to. Song after song after song. She then fully discovered the Twenty-one Pilots lore and became entrenched (nod to Trench - those who know, know) in an incredible hero’s journey storyline because of her deep love of psychology.

The result? A Super Fan was born. Sunny now buys all their albums and we will be going to our 3rd concert this Sunday. Sunny attends all their livestreams (even at 10 PM in the middle of a live three-day event we are hosting) and pretty much buys whatever they put out. And Bart is “just about” right there with her!

How did this happen? How does it usually happen? Sunny isn’t the only one. Recently there was a Facebook post of someone saying they could not understand the Taylor Swift obsession. They were truly just trying to understand why people liked her so much. Comment after comment were all about the lyrics and how Taylor Swift just “got” them.

Jay Abraham, a master marketer, said it best when he said,

Learn the Lyrics

Learning the lyrics is talked about in the book, Super Fans by Pat Flynn. The goal is to learn your audience’s lyrics - what is already playing in your target customer’s head? And then play those “lyrics” back to them. The goal is to use the exact same phrases and words they use when they describe their problems that you have a solution for. You then use those words on your opt-in pages, sales pages, emails, social media, ads… you get the gist.

How To

First, make a spreadsheet to record emotional keywords and phrases and then start to find your customer’s “lyrics” and write them down. You can find your lyrics many different ways, but here are five steps to get you started right now:

Step 1:

Search in Facebook or Reddit for the keyword for your target audience. For example, in Facebook type “entrepreneurs” in the search bar and then click on “groups.” Find the most popular group, join it, and start to see what kinds of discussions people are having in those groups. The goal is to find common words, keywords, and phrases. Type words like “I need help with” in the group’s search bar. Notice the phrases people use when describing what the pain they are experiencing with the challenges they have. Put them on your spreadsheet - you’ll find things like “I was struggling,” or “I felt stuck,” or “I was hopelessly overwhelmed….”

Step 2:

Check out your competitor’s reviews. You can find them on Amazon, on their websites, or wherever a review is left! Read how they felt before they found the solution. Again, record the emotional keywords and phrases.

Step 3:

Search Google for your keyword. If you scroll down the page a little you will see a section that says, “People also ask.” You can click on and expand all of these topics that people are directly asking about your keyword in their words. It’s an absolute gold mine for what people are thinking about your topic. Remember to focus on the words that encompass the pain or the struggle. People want to move away from pain more than they want to simply read a solution.

Step 4:

Have real-life conversations with your audience. Simply send out an email asking someone in your current audience if they have 10 minutes to speak to you. Ask them direct questions and write down exactly what they say.

Step 5:

ASK Method and Surveys. Use a survey in your group or audience to get their thoughts and opinions. You can use something as simple and free to use as a Google Form. This is also a great way to create a product they will buy!

Lyrics are powerful - words are powerful. When you can help your customers understand that you really “get” them and you’ve really “got” them, they will assume you have the best solution for them and will want to be a part of your world 🙂 

Side note: In networking and making friends, it can be a little different in that you don’t really need to go search out what everyone you meet is struggling with. In those types of situations you want to listen and establish rapport on the things that matter most to them. Get them talking to you about them and what they are excited and passionate about instead of the usual “What do you do? Where are you from?” and so on. Again, people want to be seen, hear, and understood.

Life Updates!

• This week we are busy architecting our presentation for FHL International! Oooo, ooooo! It’s gonna’ be GREAT! We are so excited to share some incredible gold nuggets with everyone who attends! If you feel stuck in your life and unable to accomplish your big dreams and goals - and maybe have even just given up on them - this talk is for you! And for those of you who are high-achievers but still aren’t where you want to be and can’t figure out why our how to get there… this talk is for you! We’ll be discussing how to create and live a life that is SO epic that it shocks even you! Come join us 🙂 You can still get your ticket right here!

• What else? We had an epic date night on Saturday night that was just beyond magical. We love to do a major date night at least once a month. We do a theme, photoshoot, and have food or games geared toward our theme. And yes - we throw in all kinds of romance 😉 

• Xander is driving pretty darn good! Sunny is no longer grabbing the car handle every 2 minutes or so - more like every 10 (hehe). So fun to see him progress… he will soon be attending school as a Freshman! Whew! He is also still on track for All State music auditions on his saxophone in about a month!

• Speaking of Twenty-one Pilots… the concert is THIS SUNDAY in Salt Lake City!!! YAY!!!! Gonna’ be a party!!

• Today is our oldest daughter, Mercedes’, birthday! She is an oldie - 27 years today! We want to shout out to her because she is such an amazing human. She is smart, talented, beautiful, hard working, kind, and thoughtful with a little sass to keep us all on our toes. We love you so much Mercedes and can’t wait for little Lila to join our family in two months!