Creative tips and tricks

Imagine in Color 2023"Head of the Table"

Nov 16, 2023

The Think In Color 2023 has officially ended! We're glad and grateful for the opportunity to take in our line-up of amazing women as well as BIPOC makers and pioneers of the field. We hope that, by the end of the event, you felt inspired by our speakers' adventures and learnt how you can build a powerful virtual community, broaden your service offerings and expand your company in addition to other aspects.

Though many different topics were addressed at the event We've tried our best to bring the highlights to the attention of. Learn more about the key points we learned from each speaker.

Skip ahead:

Creating Cozy & Collaborative Virtual Communities

Cicely Blain the Anti-Racism Specialist & Founder of Bakau Consulting

The session's description is that although remote working was a reality prior to COVID-19, the pandemic intensified the necessity for companies to shift to a virtual location. In turn, companies that wanted to maintain a close relationship with their customers set groups of the same-minded customers can benefit from and support each other. It can, however, be hard to make an online community as intimate like a physical one.

In this talk, Cicely Blain shares their experience building their virtual community called Living Room. They discussed how they created a cozy and welcoming vibe in a digital space by creating inclusive and secure communities, and using technology to address the needs of people.

  Key takeaways:  

  Find out who your customer is and what they're looking for.  

Before establishing Living Room, Cicely had identify the audience they wanted to build a digital environment for. Because their work is rooted in anti-racism and anti-oppression Cicely was aware that the community would mostly cater to individuals such as DEI practitioners, consultants, and HR professionals that do similar tasks.

Then, Cicely had to figure out what these people really wanted.

      "I considered"What do these people yearning for, particularly in this moment of change, when many things are shifting and being referred to by different names?    

      People are certainly looking for community, a sense of solidarity, and connection in times of isolation. People are also seeking resources and looking to learn."  

  You should be an audience-friendly website.  

The most effective way to convince individuals to join your online community is to provide them with something they can connect with. For Cicely, that relatable thing was their living area. They were looking to recreate exactly the identical cozy and welcoming feel that their actual living space gave them.

      "I wondered, "What is it that I want people to experience when they come into this space?' And I thought: well I'd like people to feel exactly the as they do when they enter an environment that is comfortable and warm, and inviting. I wanted people to feel comfortable, relaxed as well as supported, connected and understood."  

Cicely imbibes this vibe to the world by:

  • Beginning each meeting with a 10 minute reflection. The facilitators ask one simple questions on the screen in order to encourage participants to do an internal reflection.
  • Soft, R&B-based playlist to help listeners relax and get comfortable with the call.
  • Making each phone call as if you're enjoying a casual conversation with the closest people. Even while making videos for their online course, Cicely might be doing her makeup, or brewing a cup of tea at the table.

  Offer several ways for members of the community to obtain what they require  

Even though members of an online community tend to be people with similar interests, they may have different needs as well as strengths and weaknesses. For your company, you'll have to discover different ways in that you are able to meet the requirements of your community members, despite the differences.

With Living Room, Cicely met the needs of their members with:

  • Engaging in various ways (e.g. chat forums, live discussions, comprehensive online courses, etc. );
  • Defining common values and guidelines for the community;
  • allowing people to dress in their authentic selves;
  • Removing unnecessary stressors, like time limitations and agendas for meetings;
  • Considering accessibility needs (e.g. disability and neurodivergence) and other.

Funds in the Funnel: How To Maximize Revenues Using a Funnel that is focused on customers.

Ellie Diop, Content & Finance Coach for Ellievated Academy

Session description: To build a successful business there are customers who will purchase your products or avail your services. However, many businesses make the mistake of creating content they think their ideal customers would want and not what customers really want. In this presentation, Ellie explains how you can grow your business and maximize sales by creating a funnel that attracts your ideal customers and caters to their desires and requirements.

  Key takeaways:  

  Every single piece of content has a role to play.  

A funnel that is focused on the customer can be described as establishing a connection with your clients. The best way to do that is to create information that is useful, relevant and useful to them. A customer-focused funnel consists of five stages:

  • Awareness
  • Discovery
  • Consideration
  • Conversion
  • Retention + relationship + REPEAT

On the importance of creating content, Ellie declares, "Every piece of content you create is a member of your sales team. Therefore, whatever you published three months ago is still doing the job of moving people down this process... Making sure you show up regularly with the same tone creates something predictable for your customers to understand to help them move along this funnel."

  Define your brand  

If you don't know the people your services or products target, there's no way anyone will purchase from or hire you. Before you create an online funnel, you need to clarify the purpose and mission of your company by starting with your ideal customers. Consider:

  • Who do I serve?
  • What can I do to help them with their problem?
  • What do I need to do?

These answers form the foundation of all your business decisions. Ellie suggests a basic template that can be used to assist the [YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE] achieve meet [YOUR GOAL] with [YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE]

In her own experience in growing her business Ellie declares, "For me, it could be 'I help women to build profitable businesses through providing them with strategy and financial techniques '... In the past, I had this in a post-it note in a corner. So, whenever I decided to create a video, I remembered whom I was speaking with."

  Develop your social media following  

Social media is among the most successful digital channels for building brand awareness and generating leads for your business. It's so effective that most customers will visit your brand's Instagram profile (or your other social media profiles) before they visit your site.

Therefore, it is important to put in the time (and perhaps money) into your social media content to increase its visibility. Some ways you can do that is by:

  • Creating educational, engaging and sharing-friendly video content (especially video)
  • Paying for ads
  • Collaborating with influencers with a similar target audience as you

  Use lead magnets to grow your email list  

As you're creating content, the goal is to pull as many people off of social media to your email list. When people subscribe to your email list, they're giving the opportunity to interact directly with them, this is better than if they happen to stumble upon your content and videos as they scroll through Instagram or X (formerly Twitter). That's where lead magnets can come in.

Ideally, with lead magnets, you're giving out value for free to get people's contact details (usually their name and email address). You can also solicit other information as well. In the start of her business, Ellie offered free 1-on-1 training to clients in exchange for reviews. She used those testimonials to gain her first group of clients who paid.

      "You've got to consider, 'What is an aspect that I could provide great free value that'll inspire people? Make that your primary attraction. (In my own business) I've recently implemented a new strategy where instead of pushing you directly to a item, we instead push customers to take advantage of a complimentary offer such as the free masterclass. Then we sell on the backend. The results have been great."  

  Maintaining customers who are already there is simpler than getting new customers  

Every new lead you acquire each lead you receive, you must have to go through the procedure of pushing them down the sales funnel. This is a lot harder than convincing an existing client to return to you. Thus, focus on retention of customers at the same level, if not more, than acquiring customers.

To keep your clients, here are some tips to follow:

  • Offer high-quality customer support
  • Conduct surveys with customers to gather feedback
  • Get testimonials from happy customers (offer rewards, should it be it is possible)
  • Create a secondary offering that can fill in market gaps

In creating the new offer, Ellie shares, "I made my first credit for business course for just $15. Then I started hearing comments from my customers on what they] need in the future. This led me to create the Business Credit revamped. Later, I came up with an entire Business Credit masterclass, and later the complete bundle. It turned out that the majority of people who purchased the first purchased the second to make up the missing pieces. Then, they purchased the third because they were advancing in their understanding, they required more."

Growing Both B2C and B2B Business to generate multiple revenue streams

Jessica Chen, Global Communication Expert & CEO of Soulcast Media

Description of session: Businesses generally speaking, have three primary revenue and sales determinants: their products/services and the content they produce to explain their products and services as well as the platforms through which they distribute the information. In this session, Jessica discusses the power of LinkedIn in helping businesses connect to both customers (B2C) as well as to other companies (B2B) and how you can make your content appealing to both audiences, and ways to enhance the range of services you offer to suit both groups.

  LinkedIn is an effective way to share content on LinkedIn and boost your profile  

Although many professionals and entrepreneurs have profiles on LinkedIn but they do not consider it as a platform through which they increase your exposure and share contents. Instead, they see it as a platform for updating resumes, finding job opportunities, and making connections with those you already know.

In fact, LinkedIn is a social media platform, similar to Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), and should be treated in the same way. Only difference is the kind of content that you publish.

On LinkedIn's appeal, Jessica says, "The beauty of this platform is this: You're reaching a particular set of audience who is at a point of personal development and an eagerness to grow."

Jessica also explains her journey from speaking about her experience as a journalist in the year 2018 and then becoming a accredited Top Voice and a LinkedIn instructor in just five years. Jessica attributes this to regularly posting on LinkedIn and connecting with a wide array of users who could profit from her services: helping people learn better communicating abilities.

  Tweak your messaging to suit both B2C and B2B audiences  

Many business owners believe that they will only be able to gain attention when their content is targeted to individual consumers. But this isn't the case.

The power of LinkedIn is that it allows you to reframe your messaging so that it can be tailored to B2C and B2B audiences. Your offer doesn't need to change, but changing your language used to describe your business will increase the visibility of your business and draw individual consumers and businesses.

"I am aware that if I want to speak to my audience B2C, I use language like "you," "your," and have you ever thought about ...?'" says Jessica. "My language is direct so the person that reads the material feels as if it's a personal message.

      "[With an audience that is B2B], instead of using 'you' and "your", I'm structuring my presentation by using phrases like 'the team' and 'the organization'. It's more positive-driven and [less personal]."  

  Make yourself known as a thought leader to appeal to B2B audiences  

In contrast to the individual customer who just want a great product, B2B audiences need to know that you're the real deal. To attract the attention of B2B customers, you'll have to position your self as an expert or thought leader in your field, regardless of whether your product is primarily targeted towards B2C audiences.

In the case of a photographer, you can create and sell a photography course to your B2C audience. However, to gain B2B leads, you can create thought-leadership content working in the field of arts or about building a business by being an artist. Also, if you are offering 1-on-1 workshops that teach people how to improve their productivity and efficient, you could appeal to B2B viewers by publishing articles about improving productivity in the workplace.

So, you'll be able to move to selling B2C items like e-courses or 1-on-1 classes to offering talks and workshops.

Crafting a Visible Personal Brand with Video

XayLi Barclay expert and Visual Content Coach for Start Shoot Expand

Session Description If you're the owner of your business you can feel invisible, especially if you sell in a saturated marketplace or in a crowded industry. You can combat that by building an image for yourself through videos, whether it's shorter TikTok clips, Instagram Reels, or long-form YouTube videos. In this session, XayLi explains how you could use videos to advertise your online course, get sales, and solidify your brand within the minds of your customers.

  It doesn't take much in order to begin.  

If you are creating your first video or launching your first livestream, it's not necessary for everything to be perfect. It's okay to start with what you have. In the beginning, viewers forgive your video quality and poor editing skills because they know that, with time, you'll get more proficient.

XayLi herself got started with her laptop, simple white backdrop along with a light bulb that is run-off-the-mill.

"This was where I began and even got approached to become an expert," she declares. "I didn't wait till I was able to set up the newsroom for my first lesson to teach people. I took my resources because I knew what I was trying to impart did not revolve around just how beautiful your setup could be.

      Today I've got a complete integrated studio at home However, this is the place where I started a few years ago."    

  Get more resources as you advance  

As you get more visibility with your videos and begin to earn money, it's possible to begin to build out your set and enhance your equipment for video. You can, for instance, buy a more powerful camera or webcam as well as a tripod stand (worth around $500-$1,000), a green screen and the eCamm Live and a teleprompter application, and a Adobe Premiere subscription for editing.

In a discussion about equipment and set upgrades, XayLi explains, "[At this stage] there are many camera angles and the list goes on. It's time to start investing into these things since you're earning profits. We [often] think that it's important to appear good before we can earn money. No. You must get on the market, and after that you will get the cash."

When you start making enough cash, you may outsource your video recording, editing, and distribution to contractors or an internal team.

  Focus on one thing at a moment  

There's a common misconception that you have to be doing everything you can to increase the size of your business: post across every platform, jump on every trend, and discuss a variety of topics. This isn't necessarily true. It's best to concentrate only on one aspect at a time as you create your own personal image. It not only stops the possibility of burning out and wasting time, it also lets your audience know what to expect from you every whenever you make the video.

In accordance with XayLi Barclay's "Rule of 5 Ones", here are the five elements to consider when defining your digital strategy:

  • One product or service
  • One market to target
  • One lead converter tool
  • One of the main sources for traffic
  • One objective for business

Memberships -- The Good, The Bad The Ugly, and The Ugly

Teri Ijeoma, founder of Trade & Travel

Summary of session: If executed properly, memberships are a great way for businesses to develop deeper connections with their clients, as well as generate extra income. Teri Ijeoma created the membership program that she developed to support Trade & Travel and she now has over 35,000 people in her courses and 185,000 subscribers to her email list. In this talk, Teri shares the benefits of creating a membership program and provides a step-by-step guide on how companies are able to set up and manage members in the best way.

  Learn when it is time to move from a free group to a paid membership model  

If you're not the most famous business, then you'll need to start your membership plan by providing value for free. Teri began her membership program using a group on Facebook that was free. But, as you build your group, you'll need to be aware of the time to move from a no-cost community to a paid membership model.

Below are indicators you should be looking for prior to taking a turn:

  • Your group is growing in size, yet members only pay only one time for the service you offer, as opposed to paying for any additional benefits that your group provides, e.g. year-long customer support, etc.
  • The group members begin their own groups or meetings, which makes it harder to manage the group's administration.
  • Group moderators are hired as coaches to offer consulting to members of the group, but and not generating any additional income from your members.

  Your Membership program is an item in and of itself  

A lot of companies that offer online courses also offer membership plans as an add-on for their classes. While a membership program is an effective method of making your course more attractive however, it should be treated as a complete productand not just an add-on.

In her interview about her Trade & Travel membership, Teri acknowledges "In early on, I thought the membership was an extension of my training. That's not true -- the membership is a service all by itself. It needs its own staff, promotions and marketing plan... it's best to think about it as an actual product."

  Make sure you are aware of your pricing  

In the transition from a no-cost group to a paid-membership model, think about your goal for income and set your price in line with the goal. In this point, it's simple to set your price less to attract more customers. But if you're sure that your program's packed with quality, then don't hesitate to set a higher price for it.

If, for instance, your goal is to make $10,000 each month, it's more beneficial to have 500 people pay $200/month than to get 1,000 customers to pay $100/month. In reality, the more expensive your costs are, the less potential customers are likely to sign up. However, this means you'll hit your income goals quicker, and find it easier to handle the program.

Head of Discussion Panel for the Table

Diandra Marizet, (Host) The Executive Director & Co-founder of Intersectional Environmentalist

Session description: This panel discussion will feature speakers Cicely, Ellie, Jessica, and XayLi sharing their perspectives on the importance of inclusivity and diversity in the entrepreneurial space, the difficulties women as well as BIPOC business owners confront as they take up space in the economy of creators, and how to determine the right price for their goods ethically in the capitalist market.

Here are a few of the poignant questions and the answers to this discussion:

  Women of color who are entrepreneurs are gaining financial stability for the very first time. What challenges, emerging issues and opportunities does this bring?

Ellie Diop: Just like you've experienced poverty trauma There's also wealth trauma also. If you're one of the few in your family to own an e-commerce or a 7-figure business, there aren't any examples for you to emulate. It's not easy to get people used to speaking about money, specifically when you're a person with a different race earning more than the majority of people do throughout their lives.

For example, when I made my first million, I was anxious to get out of my mom's house. I didn't want to spend the money since I didn't know what I'd be doing if I lost it. I was also afraid to inform my family members because I was concerned that they would think differently of me.

One thing I'd like to have more of is collaboration spaces like this that remove this stigma, and state "Hey, what's going on? If you're worried about earning money, and what you should use your earnings, don't be afraid to share your thoughts". This stigma is one reason many people earn lots of money, only to return to the place they started.

  In business environments, often there is a need to blend, code-switch, be silent or set aspects of ourselves aside. There are times when we don't think that we belong to the idea of professionalism. What has that experience taught you about how you serve your community and how do you apply that to your work as DEI professional? DEI professional?

Cicely Blain: In the system we have been raised on, when we see the same type of person represented in media, TV as well as social media and when certain online creators gain traction, while other creators are banned from shadows, it is easy believing that you must to conform to a certain way of being and speaking.

If you can find a place where you are seen for who you truly are, by the people around you and your leaders (even if they don't have the same lived experiences as you) it's a great feeling. However, although there is a growing number of representations and opportunities are more readily accessible, there's a double standard as to the way people show up. It's not uncommon for us to internalize the dual standards (even even though they may not be true) which can hinder us.

For example, on TikTok, many people don't show up polished and put together constantly. Although it's a relief however, I believe that this opportunity is only afforded to some people as there's an elevated expectation of others, and in the manner they appear.

  When do you decide that the direction you're taking does not align with the direction you're able to go and where your passion can be, and make the decision to transition to full-time business ownership?  

Jessica Chen: All of us will reach a point in time reach where we realize the goal we set out to attain is done and we're ready for an entirely new experience. For me, I was in a great career that I was passionate about, but after 10 years of working, I realized that there was something more to offer. I've always been a kind that creates my own career path. So I thought about how I could teach the skills I've learned.

I started out in the field of journalism, which could say is a "proper" profession that doesn't allow you to share your opinions, you aren't able to express yourself, and you're just telling other people's stories. It was an upsetting transition for me to develop my own voice and showing my personal style. That was definitely a learning steeple.

  What is the best way to price your offerings or services in order so that you can attract customers who share your values, are eager to gain knowledge from you and recognize the value of the product or service you offer?

XayLi Barclay Says: Lots times, we set prices low and then we overburden those who are investingwhich is a shame for the investor. It's easy to think you'll attract a lot of customers if you set your price low. However, chances are, you're getting overwhelmed people who aren't ready to act.

I hired a business coach to map out how much I could make as well as to determine my prices based on volumes. There are many creators who launch an online course for $7 and earn 6-figures off of that product and yet they lack enough volume. If you're a less experienced creator, you need be aware of what you want to accomplish as a business so you can price according to your goals.

If I offer 5 online courses for $1,000 each course, I'll be making $5,000 -- versus offering 500 courses at the rate of $10 for each course. Imagine it in this manner. That's the process I had to undergo.

Watch Think In Color 2023 sessions available for on-demand

Here's the scoop an overview of the most important insights from the three-hour-long event created for both budding and experienced entrepreneurs in the creator economy. We urge you to go deeper into any of the topics that piqued your interest.