THE EMAIL GROWTH SHOW EPISODE 144
Today, I’ve got the incredible Sophia Parra joining me to talk all about how to nurture your email list! Sophia is a marketing coach that is an expert at all things online business – from nurturing, to building key relationships and driving sales. She’s all about genuine connections & relationships, which is totally something we can get behind right?!
Before we get started, here are the links mentioned in this interview with Sophia:
- Join Sophia’s Marketing Mail here: https://www.gotocoach.club/marketingmail
- 12 Strategies To Find & Convert Your Next Client On Social: https://www.gotocoach.club/clients
- Connect with Sophia on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sophiaparra/
Click play to listen to the interview here:
The 3 Pillars of Engaging Your Audience
In our conversation, Sophia emphasised the importance of focusing on 3 main pillars in your marketing strategy: Growing Your Audience, Nurturing Your Audience, and Making Sales. Understanding and implementing these three pillars can significantly enhance your ability to connect with your audience and achieve your business goals.
Let’s break down each one:
- Growing Your Audience: The foundation of a successful business is continuously expanding your audience – I know you understand this! Luckily, this doesn’t mean increasing social media followers; it’s about growing a community actively interested in what you offer. Strategies like collaborations, podcast guesting and leveraging your email list are the key to reaching new potential customers in meaningful, intentional ways.
- Nurturing Your Audience: I think this is where Sophia shines! She explained that nurturing isn’t just about posting content; it’s about fostering genuine conversations and relationships. Whether through social media, email marketing, or direct interactions, the goal is to engage in meaningful dialogues that make your audience feel valued & understood. Sophia pointed out that if your business isn’t regularly sparking conversations, it’s time to reevaluate your nurturing strategies. She also shared some examples on how you can nurture your email list that I just loved!
- Making Sales: The ultimate goal of growing and nurturing your audience is to guide them towards making a purchase. However, Sophia highlighted that sales should feel like a natural step in the customer journey, not a pushy pitch – which I couldn’t agree with more if I wanted to! By building trust and demonstrating value through your nurturing efforts, sales become a byproduct of the relationships you’ve cultivated.
How To Nurture Your Email List for Real Results
Sophia explained that when you’re thinking about how to nurture your email list, you need to keep in mind that it’s all about creating meaningful connections. By focusing on starting real conversations and measuring success based on engagement, rather than superficial numbers on social media, you can cultivate a loyal and invested email list that’s truly connected to your brand.
She shared practical examples of her nurturing events and the importance of personal touches, like exclusive email content or interactive Q&A sessions. These strategies not only elevate your audience’s experience but also solidify their connection to your brand or business, making them more likely to support you when it comes time to make a purchase.
Creating Genuine Connections with Your Audience
We also chatted about creating events that nurture your email list and will genuinely resonate with your audience. Exclusive invitations for email subscribers and personalised interactions through videos can elevate the level of engagement and connection with your audience. This kind of personalisation fosters a deeper, more meaningful relationship with your audience and email list, taking your business to the next level!
So, what I learned from Sophia is that when you’re thinking about how to nurture your email list, it’s more than just business strategy; it’s about transforming the way we connect with others and creating meaningful, long-term success through conversation. I’m excited to put these insights into action myself, and I can’t wait for you to do the same.
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Full Transcript
Sophia Parra [00:00:00]:
Now people think when you nurture your email list it’s just about creating content and getting people warmed up to you. For me, no. That is not measurable. I cannot read people’s minds. I cannot post 10 pieces of content and call myself say that I’m nurturing but haven’t spoken to a soul and I’m just praying to God they see this post. Nurturing is about having conversations. What in your business is actually generating a conversation? If nothing in your business is generating conversations on a weekly basis, you do not have anything in your nurturing pillar, which means that’s the first thing that you have to address. Because without the nurturing pillar being filled, it’s very hard to make the next pillar which is sales.
Kylie Kelly [00:00:43]:
Hey. I’m Kylie Kelly and I’m obsessed with all things business and motherhood, and helping you navigate the messy and magical seasons of both. I’m a boy mama that grew a successful photo biz before hanging up my straps in 2020 to pivot. Yes. We’re allowed to do that. Now I help other CEO moms just like you grow an audience of raving fans fast, but this podcast is way more than that. Think of it as your coffee date or happy hour with your girlfriends as we talk real life. Money, challenges, growth, frustrations, marketing, the messy middle, it’s all welcome here.
Kylie Kelly [00:01:16]:
So get comfy and join us. Welcome to this mama means business. I’m so glad you’re here. Hello, my loves. Welcome back to episode 144 of the podcast, and I have a very special guest to introduce you to today. Now when I decided to bring the podcast back after a little hiatus, I decided to have a guest come in once a month. And the reason that I put boundaries on this is because I realized that for the longest time I was having incredible guests on the podcast to share their stories. But at the end of the day, they were just stories.
Kylie Kelly [00:01:47]:
They might be inspirational stories, but they were stories. And I do believe stories have power, but I really wanted to bring guests in that would share super tangible stuff that could impart some knowledge with you, my listeners, that could actually be taken and implemented straight away and make a difference in your business and your life. So I’m so excited to introduce you to our March guest, Sofia Parra. Now Sofia is a marketing coach. She knows exactly what you, as a business owner, needs to do to grow your email list, to nurture your audience, and to sell your shit. We all need to have an engaged audience that is growing, right, that’s going in the right direction. We all need to know how to serve them and look after them and nurture them and build a relationship and grow that know, like, and trust factor with them, and then need to sell to them. That is our whole goal regardless of what type of business you have.
Kylie Kelly [00:02:35]:
That is our goal as a business owner. Now I know because you listen to this podcast, you’re probably pretty sorted in the growth area. Right? I talk a lot about how to grow your email list fast, mostly through relationship based strategies because I have a love hate relationship with social media. So I actually stay off social, for the most part, quite a lot. So normally, when I’m growing my email list, it’s through collaborations. It’s through bundles and summits and freebie swaps and podcast guesting. And that’s the kind of content that you’ll find on this podcast because that’s what I know inside out. But the nurture piece gets forgotten often.
Kylie Kelly [00:03:05]:
And I will be the first to admit, I’m not the best at nurturing my email list. I could be way better at it. So I’m so excited for you to listen to this conversation because Sofia dropped some real gold nuggets of ways that you can start to nurture your audience so that they feel like they know you before you ever go to promote or sell to them. So grab a pen and paper. You’re gonna wanna take notes. Now as always, there’s some links in the show notes so that you can go over and you can join Sofia’s mailing list so you can see exactly all the marketing tips that she dishes out to her email list. She gives her best shit away for free, so make sure you go and join that. And then she also talked about a cheat sheet of 12 strategies that are gonna help you to find and convert your next client.
Kylie Kelly [00:03:41]:
Now these strategies are spoken through the filter of social, but they do apply to every other single marketing effort that you do. So if you’re like me and you’re like, I don’t really like social media, I would still go and grab those strategies, grab that cheat sheet because I can guarantee you’ll be able to take some of that wisdom, some of that knowledge and apply it to the other marketing areas of your business. So without further ado, let’s welcome Sofia to the podcast. Let’s start. In case anybody doesn’t know you, let’s start with a little bit about how you got into this. Tell me the the down low of how you became to be what you are today.
Sophia Parra [00:04:12]:
Yeah. I’m starting to feel really old in this industry, actually, even though I’m actually really not. When you look at the like, it’s not like that long, but it’s like I feel like there’s been a lot of iterations of me. So I feel like I’ve been around for a while, but then, like, my coach has been doing this for 20 years. So I’m actually haven’t at all. But how did I get here? That’s such a good question. You know, I was an actor in New York City, and I was really I I wouldn’t say that I was struggling. I was actually doing very well.
Sophia Parra [00:04:38]:
But when you get into the acting industry, you realize, wow, there is, it’s really hard to make money in this industry. Like jobs are inconsistent. Everyone, especially New York city, everyone in their dog is, has an agent. Like, it’s kind of hilarious, but also, like, when you’re in it, you’re like, this is the most depressing situation ever. It’s like that movie, Almost Famous. Like, I always said, it’s like it wasn’t Almost Famous. It was Almost Homeless. Like, that’s the line you were, like, juggling. You know? Even though I was working, I had an agent, I had a manager, I had like, most of my friends weren’t even getting to that point. Mhmm. I was out there doing the thing and still really struggling to pay my bills. So I was actually on the set of Blue Bloods. I was, like, playing a trophy wife. It was, like, maybe my second role. I can’t even remember when, it, like, which one it was, but I was playing a trophy wife. I didn’t have a big part, but I had to be on set for, like, a few hours.
Sophia Parra [00:05:31]:
I was dressed up in all this, like, crazy stuff, and then someone was just like, oh my god. You should totally post a picture of that on Instagram or something. And I was like, what’s Instagram? And we started having this conversation about this photo album. I literally thought they meant a photo album. I didn’t realize it was public. So my first picture was actually a picture of my now husband, then boyfriend in his underwear and I was like, this is a funny photo. And then I got their DMs weren’t a thing at the time. So then I got so many, like, text messages.
Sophia Parra [00:05:59]:
I don’t don’t even think people are I don’t think people even knew to comment on pictures at the time because they were, like, old text messages and they were, like, either, LOL, that’s so funny, or did you know this was public? So that’s how I figured out Instagram is a public platform. But my not discovered yet entrepreneur in me was like, How can I use this thing? Because people are freaking watching. Right? So I started going all in on that for my acting career, and it turned into something that a lot of people didn’t have at the time. So when I went to agents, I would tell them I by the way, I also have these followers. I, like, post this, that I promote my jobs here. That episode of Blue Bloods actually was the most watched Blue Blood episode of all time on TV. And while I’m like, it was, like, season, I don’t know, 6, episode 11. It wasn’t, like, a big episode.
Sophia Parra [00:06:49]:
But I was like, oh, I’m not saying I did all that, but, like, clearly, like, something happened and I could just because I have a massive freaking family. Who knows? But the point is, like, it woke something up in me. Whether I had anything do with that or not, I suddenly was like, there’s something here. Let me figure this out. So I used it for my acting and then eventually realized I enjoyed that more than being an actor, so I quit. Started a social media marketing agency where I focused on 6 and 7 figure coaches for years. That turned into a really successful agency before my husband got a job in London. He’s a Peloton instructor, and so we had to move over to London.
Sophia Parra [00:07:28]:
I tried to maintain my agency here, but it was really difficult with the time zone. But, truthfully, it was a great excuse to let it go because it was burning me out. I had so many clients. I was exhausted. It just wasn’t working. And we’d had some crazy life things happen where my husband had a stroke and lost his short short term memory, obviously, before he got the job. And my dad died of cancer, and I moved in to take care of him. And through all of that, I had this agency.
Sophia Parra [00:07:58]:
But really, like, I was waking up to the fact that, like, shit’s hitting the fan right now, and I have to post content. This feels like the most inauthentic way to market my business. And I know if I’m feeling this as the director of peep someone’s social media marketing, they’re feeling that as, like, the person who’s putting themselves out there. So I’d always started to think there’s gotta be a better way. There’s gotta be a better way. But it took shutting down the agency and and focusing on, like, my membership and education to really explore how to teach those better ways that I had discovered. And so that’s how I moved into the education space. So now I still do speak on social media marketing a lot, but what the people who work with me find is even in the social media conversation, I’m really taking a step back and trying to look at the big picture and how we can make it all work together.
Sophia Parra [00:08:47]:
Because if all we’re doing is focusing on social media, we’re probably burning ourselves out just like I was and just like all of my clients. Very long answer.
Kylie Kelly [00:08:55]:
Gosh. No. I love it. I loved everything that you just shared. I knew I would. I just wanna rewind just a tiny bit where you shared with all that craziness going on and life lifing, right? And then still feeling that pressure to have to be posting and showing up. And I think there’s something to said for building a business that, you know, people always talk about flexibility, having a flexible lifestyle. And we think about that as like sitting on the beach with our laptop or like whatever, whatever. But I think real flexibility is like to go, hang on, life is fucking shit right now. I’m going to take a step back to take a breather. I need to withdraw a little bit and your business still keeps going. I I think that is like what we really all want. And to do that, we need to obviously build a business that doesn’t rely on one thing like social media.
Sophia Parra [00:09:38]:
Oh my god. A 100%. And this sometimes I say this to people stresses them out. Right? Because they’re like, the social media is already so much. Like, I don’t know if I can add another thing. Like the amount of people who think that they should be focusing on social media and not their email list, for example, like literally gives me nightmares because it’s like we’re so close I don’t know if closed mind is the right word, but we’re so, like, pigeonholed on this one thing that we’re not really aware of the other places. Not that just that we should be, but that we truly have to be to make the social media thing even work. Right? So for me, yeah, a 100%, I think people should be on other platforms, but not because I’m trying to add more things to their list.
Sophia Parra [00:10:20]:
In fact, I’d rather you scale back on social media and add email to your list, collaborations, other things that serve other purposes like, that everyone’s different. Right? But I have some people that post once a week. SMB led posts nothing. They just literally have, like, pinned posts directing people where else to go. Right? And they just have a presence online that they’re not necessarily maintaining. Right? But what if you scaled back on the social and then were more consistent on your other efforts? Like, that could totally be the answer for someone. It just depends on what their goals are and what their data is saying and what they actually like to do.
Kylie Kelly [00:11:01]:
My goodness. So can I tell you a little secret? But before we and we know each other pretty well. But before we hit record, I was planning on asking you, like, what am I doing wrong? Like, you’ve seen me. Like, what would you suggest? And I thought you would say you need to be posting more regularly on Instagram because I am like the worst. Right? I have my 3 pm posts and I started to do a 9 grid and I just hate it. I show up on stories and I love voice messages in DMs and that’s like it. And I thought that would be your response, but now this is just like broken that wide open.
Sophia Parra [00:11:30]:
Yes. Okay. So, you know, you very well might. Like, I I haven’t I haven’t done a deep dive into your content or something like that, but you very well might be someone that should post more often. Reaction to social media. Right? Something that I really help people consider are, well, 2 things. I always ask them, what are the things you actually enjoy doing? Like, let’s just get that out of the way. Where are the places you actually wanna go? So, for example, if you were saying, where I see myself in 5 years is I wanna be a keynote speaker.
Sophia Parra [00:12:07]:
Wanna be on stages, like, speaking about growing your email list and how to do that, and I really see myself in this, like, public world. Right? I, like, I wanna go, like, you know, I think about writing a book. I want my podcast to be, like, one of the top 10. Like, if those are kind of the places that you’re going, social media can be an incredible asset for you. Right? Because it means people can discover you really easily, and it’s just like a public platform that we can binge. Podcasting and all that stuff is also great, but there is something different about social media. We see your face. We we get these these quick bites multiple times a day from you.
Sophia Parra [00:12:41]:
Like, it can be a very powerful place to build that kind of a brand. So if that’s what’s on your wish list, you very well might need to increase how often you’re posting on social media or at least share the different, like, different kinds of content. Right? I again, I haven’t deep dived into your content. I’ve definitely seen a couple of clips where I was like, oh, that’s great. And they’re like 7 second clips from your podcast and, like, that kind of stuff could be enough to just, like, increase the volume on that. I’m not saying you have to, like, completely redo everything. Right? But then we also have to ask if that’s my ultimate goal. Like, am I sharing the right kinda content for that? Right? So, like, for me, I have some people who come to me and they’re like, do I need to post more on social media? I’m like, well, what are we trying to do with our social media? And she was like, well, I don’t wanna be in the public eye.
Sophia Parra [00:13:21]:
It’s not that, but I’m trying to grow my email list. And I’m like, okay. Then no. Like, you don’t need any social media for that. No offense. Like like, I’m not saying so you can’t grow your emails on social media, but there are so many other more effective ways to grow your freaking email list than post every day on social media. Right? So first things first, like what do you really want and think beyond 1 year from now. Like really think like where are we going? And that right there can give you a lot of information on, is this platform the place I need to be focusing on, or are there other things that I need to be focusing on? The other thing is, like, joy.
Sophia Parra [00:13:55]:
Right? Like, just kinda like what you alluded to. Like, are you freaking enjoying yourself? Right? The amount of times people say, I freaking hate this platform. Like, I get hives every time I log in. Like, that kind of reaction. I, obviously, I have to ask them where are we headed and then sometimes that’s not a conversation about them hating social media. Sometimes that’s a a visibility fear. You know what I mean? It’s actually something else that they need to work on. Like, putting that conversation aside and just asking, do you like it? 9 times out of 10, if people are getting hives on the platform, I’m like, let’s cut this shit out then.
Sophia Parra [00:14:28]:
Like, let’s kinda like what you’re saying. Put do a 9 grid of people where they should be headed. Use, like, a landing page and, like, come in when you feel inspired, but don’t feel like this is on your to do list and let’s focus on other things. Right? So so that’s one conversation that I have with them and then I move into defining the 3 pillars. Do you should I go straight into that or am I, like, jumping?
Kylie Kelly [00:14:49]:
Let’s do it. I’m here for it.
Sophia Parra [00:14:51]:
Okay. So essentially, when you are marketing your business, right, there are really only 3 pillars you need to think about. You need to think about how you’re growing your audience. Right? I know that you’re very good at that and you talk about this all the time. Right? But 1000% growing your audience is so freaking important because when you think about your funnel, right, when you think about making sales, if you’re just selling to the same people again and again and again, eventually your conversion rate is going to dip. So the first pillar is we have to know how we are growing our audience. Now please note, I said audience, not followers. Right? Audience are the people that are actually paying attention to you and without a doubt for me, and I know that you agree, that is your email list.
Sophia Parra [00:15:30]:
So I actually don’t even count my followers when I think like, I don’t actually focus on growth over my over my that that that’s happened. I don’t know what’s going on over there. It grows, it shrinks, who the frick cares? But my email list, I’m checking that. I am looking at that. I am measuring success based off of that growth when I am doing a growth effort. So the first pillar is growing your audience. The second pillar is nurturing your audience. Now, people think nurturing your audience is just about creating content and getting people warmed up to you.
Sophia Parra [00:15:57]:
For me, no. That is not measurable. I cannot read people’s minds. I cannot post 10 pieces of content and call my say that I’m nurturing but haven’t spoken to a soul and I’m just praying to God they see this post. Nurturing is about having conversations. What in your business is actually generating a conversation? If nothing in your business is generating conversations on a weekly basis, you do not have anything in your nurturing pillar, which means that’s the first thing that you have to address. Because without the nurturing pillar being filled, it’s very hard to make the next pillar which is sales. What in your business is actually generating sales? That sometimes that’s a launch, Sometimes that’s a very clear system on how to get people into a discovery call, but whatever it is, you know what you are doing for sales.
Sophia Parra [00:16:47]:
You know the actions you take that lead to sales. It’s not I’m putting up a sales post and I’m hoping someone sees it. There have to be more steps to that. All of these require more steps, which is why content alone doesn’t actually fit into any of these. For me, content is part of my nurturing system. So I use social media to start conversations. Social media does not grow my email list. I do not measure the success of my social media base off my email list.
Sophia Parra [00:17:12]:
And social media has made me sales, but it’s always because of the conversation piece. So for me, if my social media is successful, it’s because it’s creating conversations. That’s the metric I measure. I don’t think about likes, I don’t think about comments, I don’t think about followers. If I’m not having conversations on a weekly basis, I have not fulfilled my nurturing system that week. So now when I look at these pillars, right, I can feel what’s going into this pillar, what’s going into that pillar, what’s going into this pillar, and I know how to measure the success of each so that I can adjust as I go. Anything else that’s not aiding to one of these things is a shiny object. It needs to be removed from your marketing strategy because it is taking way too much time and it’s not adding to the end game.
Sophia Parra [00:17:57]:
And each of these things will drive sales, but without these things, you are not going to be seeing sales. So that’s kind of one of the things that how I split that up. And I’m happy to, like, go deeper into anything in there, but I hope that that makes sense.
Kylie Kelly [00:18:09]:
Oh, yeah. I love that. I would love to dive into the nurture piece. I feel like our listeners, myself included, like, we’re good with the building. Like, I I talk so I’m blue in my face about different ways to grow your email list, right, and how important it is. So if they’re not doing it now, they’re probably never gonna do it. So I feel like that we’re good. The nurture conversation. So you mentioned social media to start conversations. What else do you do? I know you have a little Voxer trick and I can’t remember what it’s called, but I love that. So let’s talk about that a little bit as well.
Sophia Parra [00:18:34]:
Yes. Okay. So like I said, nurturing is all about starting conversations, right? So I have to actually have a system in place for starting conversations. And the truth is, if you were to really spy on me all day, there’s so many little things that I’m doing that are all part of the exact same effort, but that that’s why I’m doing them. They’re can kinda see this. A friend of mine wanted to give my membership as a prize to 3 people. She did, like, a 5 day challenge. She’s like, oh, can I give your membership as a prize to people who want win this challenge? I was like, sure.
Sophia Parra [00:19:10]:
That’s totally fine. Now this particular membership doesn’t have any coaching in it. I have 2 memberships. This one doesn’t have any coaching in it. No contact with me. It’s just, like, templates and, like, things that they can use. Right? Before I said yes to this, because I know even when it’s just a prize and it’s it’s a passive income membership, there’s always a little bit of work involved. I needed to make sure this wasn’t a shiny object thing.
Sophia Parra [00:19:30]:
This wasn’t something I was, like, spreading myself thin around. So I had to consider, okay, love this idea, what pillar does this fit into? And I was like, okay, I’m gonna make this a a nurture pillar because it’s a free thing, but if they enjoy their experience, this could be a sales thing in a few months when their prize expires, right? So I was like, okay, great. So this is going to be a nurture effort. How can I turn this into a conversation? Marketing question so that we can start a conversation about where they are in their marketing. If it feels like a good fit, I will make a note of that so that I can email them well before that they expire and invite them into a next stage of my program, which is actually a paid program. Right now they’re getting it for free, but also it gives them the 1 on 1 access that I’m pretty sure that they need. If I know my audiences that they think they don’t need someone but they always do, right? So that’s exactly what I did. 1 month in, I checked in on them and I said, hey.
Sophia Parra [00:20:29]:
I’m so glad that you’re in the membership. How has it been going? I also know that this isn’t a coaching membership, but I wanted to make sure that you felt supported. So if you wanted to, between now and the end of the week, send in a question about something that’s driving you crazy in your marketing, I’m gonna give you some tools, guidance, and maybe even hop on a video call to walk you through something to help you out. So let me know. Quick reminder, this offer is available until Friday. Again, completely free, but there’s a deadline. Right? If I’m just like, ask me questions, everyone. Like, sure.
Sophia Parra [00:20:59]:
I might get some questions, but it is so like, people might be like, oh, I love that idea, but never actually take action on it. Right? So just like my launch, I’m thinking about my nurture events with, like, a beginning and the end. Right? I’m thinking about it like an event. So I got some questions. We had some great conversations. As I suspected, everyone needed way more support than just social media content, which is what the membership was providing. So I was able to say, ah, great question. Let me help you with that. But quick, just so you are aware, this is a bigger thing. This is not just about posting social media content. So I’m definitely gonna let you know about my other membership which where I think you’d be a better fit once this prize expires. Right? So I was able to seed that so that I could support them, then all of them were like, I can’t wait to hear more about the other membership. Right? So that is an example of making that a nurture event because I created a conversation around it. Do you want me to dive straight into my text text list?
Kylie Kelly [00:21:54]:
Well, at first, I just love that you put boundaries on that because I would be just like, ask me anything anytime. I’m open. Like, sure. Like, I do that all the time. So I love that you put boundaries because you’re right. People need a deadline to go like, oh, yeah. I do have a question and I’m now prompted to actually sit down and ask it. I love that.
Sophia Parra [00:22:09]:
Yeah. The text listing is the same. Right? It’s very, very similar. It’s very much like text your questions today only. Last question comes in at 3 o’clock. I’m gonna go first come, first serve. So they are invited to text me as soon as possible to get to make sure they’re at the top of the list. Right? If I again, if I’m just like, oh, welcome to the text list.
Sophia Parra [00:22:28]:
You can text me whenever you want. Like, sure. PS, they are allowed to text whenever ever they want, but they’re not necessarily gonna get quick responses that way. Do you know what I mean? Because it’s it is a text list. I get a lot of messages. I go through every single one, but, like, I just noticed this morning someone had sent me a text, like, 4 days ago, and I just haven’t it’s that was Friday and it it was a crazy day yesterday. So I haven’t checked my text list for 4 days. So they’re not in an event right now, but I absolutely will get back to this person.
Sophia Parra [00:22:53]:
And in some ways, that’s why the text list is so fantastic because it it does generate conversation even when I’m not creating it. However, because my nurture event, which is my textless q and a party, I have one once a quarter and I essentially offer free coaching on my text list, give them the phone number. They come and they can shoot me a question, and we will go back and forth on a question that they have. I’ll send them voice memos. I’ll send them pictures and circle things to help them do things. I’ll audit their content. Like, I I really put effort into the nurture events because, again, there’s a deadline for both of us. So I know I can really put 6 hours aside and give them my all, and they know that they have to get their question in by a certain point.
Sophia Parra [00:23:33]:
So that entire day is a day full of conversations where I’m I can understand what they’re going through for my own market research. I can let them know of the solutions I have in my community so that that can be a sales driver. I can also know if it’s time for that invitation because I don’t suggest pitching anything if it’s not time. And I know if it’s not the right time, there’s someone that I can make a personal invitation to later when it is the right time. So so much information just from creating an actual nurture event.
Kylie Kelly [00:24:03]:
Oh my goodness. And I think the reason why I thought it was Voxel, I was like, how can I make that work internationally? And Voxel was like the first thing that came to my mind. So I was like, oh, it’s a Voxel thing. But yeah, that makes sense. So the text list q and a party, is that something that you just announced to your email list? Is that a way you nurture the people on your email list? Is that how that kind of works?
Sophia Parra [00:24:20]:
Yes. Very yes. I’m so of course, you’re gonna pick up on that. Yes. Yeah. So it’s one of the things that I’m and I used to put on my social media at times. So maybe in the future, I will, like, every once in a while, if maybe there’s not getting I’m not getting a ton of questions or something, I might, like, add an extra invitation. However, it’s one of the incentives of being on my email list.
Sophia Parra [00:24:38]:
Right? Like there’s lots of invitations that I give to be my email list only and not my social media. So it’s one of the things where I I feel like I give such great content on my email anyway. I call it marketing mail, and I give a lot of marketing tips every single week. I get literally countless emails being like, this is, like, my favorite email list to be on. Like, I get that all the time. So I I value the content I share there. Right? But the other thing that I make sure that I’m doing is I have exclusive invitations. Right? And part of that is also a nurturing strategy.
Sophia Parra [00:25:09]:
Right? I make sure that, like, if you’re here, you’re opening those emails so that you’re aware of the surprises that I have sprinkled around this email list. Right? So, yes, that is an email list thing only and it helps me nurture my relationship with my email list. But I will say I have had people in my community that have wanted to do the textless q and a party and they have done it with their email list. So it was the same invitation, but it was hit reply with a question. And what I suggested they do is reply unless they don’t wanna be visible or anything like that. Everyone’s industry is different. But for a lot of my clients, they want to be visible. They want to make that connection, so I have them reply with BombBomb videos.
Sophia Parra [00:25:48]:
So it’s like if you get a question, I’m like, great. Let me shoot you a quick video, answer the question, and now I’m feeling that they’re feeling that connection with you. They feel like they’re getting to know you, which is why I love the text list because people feel like they’re like, oh, just chatting with my friend. Right? Email doesn’t always feel that way depending. Right? So this kind of gives that extra personal touch in case you feel like your email list is missing that.
Kylie Kelly [00:26:11]:
Oh, I love that. And I mean, that gets your reply analytics up, your click rate, you know, like, that’s just, like, perfect for the Internet gods as well because it means that, yeah, all your email and analytics are gonna be going through the roof. Your e your email that you sent, so it’s a weekly email. I love that you just, like, give your best shit away. Like, It sounds like you don’t hold anything back, right? You’re like, these are my best marketing tips. I get it all. I love that.
Sophia Parra [00:26:31]:
I really don’t.
Kylie Kelly [00:26:32]:
I love that. And I feel like it builds the best relationship then with your email list so that they are open to being nurtured and being looked after by you. And then when you do have an invitation for them, they obviously snap it up if it is the right time for them. That’s just beautiful. It’s how
Sophia Parra [00:26:47]:
it’s meant to work. Yes. A 100%. Like, the core of everything I do is about relation building. Whether I’m building relationship with collaborators to so that we can each support one another and getting in front of new audiences or I’m building relationships with a potential client base and also a current client base who wants to sing my praises and spread the word about me. Right? Relationship is at the core of everything in the work that I do, and especially in that nurturing event. Like, that’s one of the reasons why I’m like, no. I’m going to I’m going to give you what I think that you need in that moment.
Sophia Parra [00:27:19]:
Right? And if that I have had clients say, oh, but they should really be paying for that. I know every industry is different and, like, in some situations that might be the case, but I feel like in the coaching world where a lot of my clients are coaches, there is a lot of good stuff on the Internet, people. Like, let’s just be real here. There’s some very good stuff on the Internet, and I think we have to put our best foot forward. We have to be willing to really try to change their lives even when they are not clients because that is what’s gonna generate trust. That’s what’s gonna generate that relationship because let me tell you the amount of time someone has said to me, man, if this is the stuff that I get just from being in your email list, I can’t even imagine what it’s like to work with you. And let me tell you people, it’s even better.
Kylie Kelly [00:28:00]:
Oh, I love that. Another overdelivery. Yeah. I love that so much. And can I tell you from the minute that our paths crossed, I knew you had greater relationship with Yoni? I felt like I knew you. I feel like we’ve been BFFs forever and we’ve really like we just connected. I think our friend Allison connected us through a bundle or something, right? And it feels like we’ve known each other forever and I think, you know, you would have the same effect on so many other people. I’m not naive to think that you don’t have BFFs all over the place.
Kylie Kelly [00:28:24]:
I think you’re really good at that. You’re really good at building relationships. And it just goes to show when you can put time and effort into building relationships with collaborators like you and I, or with the people in your world, especially the ones that are then looking to be coached by you or to be supported and helped by you. You’re right. They trust you so much faster. And not to be a downer, but I think there’s also a lot of people that have had a shitty coaching experience or a shitty experience with online business. So when you can actually help them before they’re paying you, it’s just like, ah, she means what she says. I am safe here. I can give her my money and expect I’ll get this resolved.
Sophia Parra [00:28:57]:
Yes. It helps people put their guard down. You know what I mean? And obviously, like, I feel very safe saying that with, with the with the community, like, the one that I’m sure that you’ve built and with my community of coaches. Like, there are certain people that I know could take that information and use it in a negative way. Right? Like, in a manipulative way. However, I have never had that experience with, like, the online business course creators and coaches that I work with because their objective is always to help people. And I think the common the common response I sometimes get about relationship building is people feel scared that they’re gonna come off as scammy or they’re scared that they’re gonna come off of, like, fake. Right? And and I have to say, just in case anyone’s thinking that because I get that all the time, if you are having that concern, it is virtually impossible.
Sophia Parra [00:29:49]:
Right? The people that are actually going to come off as scammy and fake, they are scammy and fake, and they’re not worried about it. Right? They’re like, oh, okay. Fine. That didn’t work. Next one. Like, that’s that this is a scam for them. This is a fake thing for them. They are not worried about coming off as scammy or fake.
Kylie Kelly [00:30:07]:
Yeah.
Sophia Parra [00:30:07]:
So they’re going forward and doing it. You, person listening, if you are feeling that concern, it would be so much harder for you to give off that scammy energy than to not. So you truly don’t even have to worry about it. Just come at it from a from a genuine place of wanting to support someone, and that’s the only thing you can do. Right? That’s it. After that, like, you can’t do anything else. Right? So I always say that to people who get a little nervous about, like, yeah, I get it, but I don’t wanna come off weird. Right? If you’re having that concern, you don’t have to worry about it. Like, you’re gonna you’re gonna feel they’re gonna feel that energy and and that’s that’s really all that you have control over.
Kylie Kelly [00:30:44]:
Yes. I love that so much. For anyone that’s listening that is frustrated with their email list. So I have a lot of people that have grown their email list fast, full of their ideal clients through bundle summits, freebie swaps, podcast guesting, all the things. And then they start to serve them and send them consistent emails. And they might just be really bummed that they’re not getting replies yet or that they haven’t made any sales yet. What do you think they should focus on? Is it putting together a nurture event like this? Is it making sure they’re sending them the best shit? Like, what where would they focus first?
Sophia Parra [00:31:13]:
Yeah. Oh, that’s such a great question. So actually, let me just write a few things down because I actually just had a someone in the VIP experience experienced this. And, we made a couple of changes. So there’s a couple of things I would look at. And, of course, I don’t know who this who the this imaginary person is, although whoever’s listening, I’m sure a lot of you might be feeling that because this is a common thing. Right? But without doing a deep dive into your specific thing, I can’t give, like, specific to you information, but these are the areas I would check out. The first thing is yeah. I don’t know if this is the order to look at, but, like, let’s consider this. With the client that I was referring that I was thinking about, the content she was able to admit, was quite surface level. She has a podcast and something. I think she does regular roundtables. I can’t remember, but she she has something that she does on a regular basis, and she said probably 80% of her content is promoting those things. Promoting all the time, which is not a problem. Promotes. Right? However, the email was literally like, hey
Sophia Parra [00:32:11]:
Quick reminder, such and such is happening 3 weeks from now. Make sure that you put it on your calendar, blah blah blah. And it’s like, okay. That’s 3 weeks from now. I love, exceeding that in the PS or or doing a quick reminder somewhere else, but, like, let’s talk about something else. Let’s give back to these people. Let’s let’s put energy into these people. Right? So the first thing that I do think about is considering your content and what actually is creating relationship within your content. Quick example of this. A lot of people think, oh, yeah. Great tips and value. Sure. So much value in that. There’s also value in just starting a friendly conversation. Like, I’m thinking of a different client. She loves to read.
Sophia Parra [00:32:48]:
She loves fantasy books. She read 250 books last year. Can you even freaking imagine? 250 books. And she’s a very organized person. She has a spreadsheet of, like, color coded books so that she can, like, remember what they are and what they’re about and and give referrals and things like that. What we had her do was write an email talking I mean, and she she she’s, like, in healthy eating and and she helps people, like, guide people through their food relationship. And she said she got into books because that’s how she she put all that energy that was obsessing over calories and food into reading and things like that. So she was talking, like, about how this is what she has and this is how she shifted that habit. So I was like, this is a freaking email. Let’s, like, talk about your books. Right? So she gave this tip. It was, like, one sentence, and she’s like, let me tell you what I did. And then she talked about this crazy spreadsheet. And then say, like, something along the lines of, if you’re looking for a book referral, hit reply and I’ll give you one. Or I’m I just actually finished my last fantasy book. If anyone’s read a fantasy book they love, please hit reply and let me know.
Sophia Parra [00:33:51]:
So, again, there is the objective of this email isn’t just value in teaching and education. She does that so much already. This is literally to give them a sense of their her life and to create a call to action that feels social and easy to say yes to. Right? I don’t think people do enough of that. So I think one thing to consider is where can we sprinkle in some just conversation, social fun bits about you, the nerdy quirky bits about you to start a conversation about little things like that. Right? So that’s one thing to kind of, like, break the ice with people. Another thing is to consider your welcome sequence. I feel like right away within the welcome sequence, something that I do in my second email is we have a welcome sequence where we actually the first one is, like, you deliver the lead magnet or whatever it is if they’re signing up for lead magnet.
Sophia Parra [00:34:40]:
But my second email is kind of like what I was saying in the nurture event conversation. I I do something as similar to my second email. I’m like, I want this to be really clear here. This isn’t you’re joining a different kind of an email list here. You’re used to joining an email list, getting some cool tips, and then and then probably never talking to the person. That’s not what we do here. I share a lot of great information. If you are confused, I want you to reply.
Sophia Parra [00:35:05]:
If you have a question, I want you to reply. So if you wanna practice that right now and you join this email list for a specific reason and you’re feeling stuck, hit reply, I will reply. Right? So it’s kind of like right off the bat, we join and we’re already invited into this communication culture that people might might not be aware of. Right? Those are 2 things that I feel like everyone can kind of look at right away to set the tone because I think that’s really the big thing here. It’s not that people maybe don’t wanna reply to you, but they might not be aware of that culture yet. They haven’t been brought into that culture, and that’s up to you to really set the tone there. Those are two places that I would start.
Kylie Kelly [00:35:42]:
I love those. Oh my goodness. The first point about sharing a little bit more of your personality and something quirky and like just opening up that conversation. I feel like so many people are like, it’s so boring. I don’t know what to share. Seriously, we relate to that. Right? We all feel boring. We all don’t know what to share. So just share something about your favorite ice cream flavor, or like, you’ve gotta get people relating to the most, you know, simplest facts about yourself. I love the spreadsheet and the books. I can really get excited to connect with her because I love reading. I wouldn’t send her to fantasy. So I, yeah, look at that, right? Connection points straight away. But I love that. I think don’t overlook even the simplest things about yourself, like the simple facts of life that you can then connect over. Because I think sometimes we just, like, dismiss them.
Sophia Parra [00:36:21]:
We really do. And I actually think boring is great. Like, I think if you feel like you’re boring, that means you’re highly relatable. And actually, like, talk about that. Like, talk about all the things that make you you. Like, literally think about the stuff that makes you boring. Like, for me, like, my favorite thing to do is watch what I mean, I have a lot of favorite things to do, but they’re all lame. And one of them, I did it the other night on a Monday. I ate chocolate and watched Harry Potter for how how long have I like, I literally been doing this for years. I probably watched Harry Potter 17 times. And every time I’m like, all do you really need in life is a Toblerone bar and watching Harry Potter. That is it. I can die happy.
Kylie Kelly [00:37:00]:
I love that so much. I was having a conversation with my dad earlier and he was talking about the Instagram algorithm and dad’s not really on social. So it was a funny conversation, but I was telling he’s sharing with him that on my like home screen, it’s all Taylor Swift, love is blind, or, like, where is Kate Nelson? Yes.
Sophia Parra [00:37:16]:
Oh my god. All of those topics. You see, this is the thing. I could literally talk to you hours about Love is Blind and where the fuck is Kate Middleton. I could talk to you for hours about that. I’m I love Taylor Swift, but I’m not as in on her, like, all of her I mean, I I I’m not in enough, but not, like, the same way whereas, like, I’m, like, literally scouring the Internet for Kate Middleton clues.
Kylie Kelly [00:37:38]:
Oh my goodness. Yes. I’ve gone down a rabbit hole. We won’t get into that because it’s getting late here, but, yes, I’ve gone down a rabbit hole with that as well. Oh, Sophia, I love those tips. Thank you for sharing so much with us. I’m not going to keep us too much later because it’s getting to 9 PM my time time, and this grandma needs a cup of tea to go to bed. What have you got for my listeners? Where should we send them to find out more and to experience that welcome sequence? I feel like that’s something we all need to experience.
Sophia Parra [00:38:01]:
Question. I just I know just a little bit of thought for the for the listeners. I said that we would have the conversation and I’d think about where to send you guys, and now I’m like, oh, shit. Where am I gonna send? Wait. I can think of some great things. Okay. Actually, speaking about the nurture events, I think there’s a couple of things I could share if you don’t mind. One of the things is actually social media specific.
Sophia Parra [00:38:21]:
However, if you pay attention to the social media strategies, you’ll realize these are actually not just social media strategies. I’ve created them with the social media objective in mind, but actually, these are nurturing strategies that you can apply in so many different places. So just be aware of that. If you go to go to go to coach.club/clients, this is really about 12 strategies I highly suggest people do to create clients quickly, and all of them are relationship based. Then the other thing I think would be a helpful thing to share with you is my email list. The like like I said, I do share really great stuff there, but you will kind of get a sense of the invitations I make for my textless and a party. You’ll kind of get a sense about how all of those things play out. And that is go to coach.club/marketing mail.
Kylie Kelly [00:39:11]:
So good. Oh my goodness. I’ll put all of those links in the show notes for everybody. I’m excited. I actually signed up to your list. I don’t think I was on it before and I went like, looking because, like, what’s some cool questions I can ask Sofia? I don’t know. And so we’re looking and I was like, oh, I’m gonna sign up while I’m here. So
Sophia Parra [00:39:24]:
Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’m excited too. I can’t remember if because I do a few different welcome sequences, and I can’t remember. We we recently changed it to something else, but I don’t like it. So I think I’m gonna change it back. So by the side by the time you get a welcome sequence, you might not have the good one. I don’t really know. Yeah. Because I have no idea what’s stuck right now. But either way, I can send you the templates if you wanna see them.
Kylie Kelly [00:39:47]:
That sounds good. I’ll let you know. I’ll let you know how it goes. Either way, thank you so much for being here. I’ll put all the links in the show notes. I just adore you, and I really appreciate you sharing so much with us.
Sophia Parra [00:39:55]:
Oh my gosh. This is such a joy. Thank you so much for your time, and I can’t wait to get to know your listeners better.
Kylie Kelly [00:40:00]:
I pour my heart and soul into this podcast recording and editing them all myself. So there is a really simple way you could return the favor if you will leave me a review. Head on over to Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts and let me know how I’m doing. Leave me a few words. Let me know what content you like best or what you might like to hear in the future. I create this for you, so I would appreciate that so very much.
