I’ve been posting value content on LinkedIn this week.
I know, I know..
But the thing is.. I could continue to jerk around and post funny memes (I mean, I still will..) or I could take this whole personal brand building thing a bit more seriously.
Because honestly, I turned 40 a few months ago and I decided it was time to get really fucking good. To stop hiding. That it’s ok to be seen trying (and y’know failing).
So I’ve been doing the work, dear reader.
Yesterday I fell down a Jason Fladlien rabbit hole and this idea stuck with me..
Allow me to paraphrase..
10% will buy whatever you put out. If you show up, they're in
10% will never buy. No matter how good you are
80% are sitting on the fence (in your followers, email list etc)
Most people optimise for the first 10% and then look at 90% not converting and think their offer is broken.
It's not broken.
It's that nobody's built anything for the 80% yet.
The 80% don't need a better offer.
They need more time, more evidence, and more 'oh, they actually get it.'
And most businesses aren't giving them any of it.
Not because they're lazy - but because nobody told them those fence sitters need a completely different system to the people who were always going to buy.
That system is simply nurturing. And a surprising amount of people don’t do it..
Here's what that looks like in practice…
A coach I work with has 300k TikTok followers.
Their reliably reachable audience was 210 people.
Not a typo. Two hundred and ten.
300k followers → 7k email subs → 3% opened the emails.
That's a couple of hundred actual readers. No wonder selling their 121 program felt like a grind.
All that attention and they were still scrabbling for buyers.
And this wasn't a them problem. This is what happens when you build on platforms you don't own.
The next algorithm tweak and your moat disappears. Email doesn't do that.
We barely grew the list yet revenue went up 2.5x on the next launch - with a smaller, more active list.
What actually changed:
Pruned inactive subs (lost a third of the list - on purpose)
Re-engaged the rest with personal emails, not broadcasts
Wrote to the 210, not the 7,000
Segmented based on clicks and replies
Was it counter-intuitive? Big time.
But what we actually did was build a nurture system for the first time.
The pruning wasn't the point - it was clearing out the noise so we could finally see who was in the middle 80% and talk to them properly.
Personal emails, not broadcasts. Segmented by what they actually clicked and replied to. Conversations, not content drops.
The list got smaller but the relationships got deeper. And the 80% who'd been sitting on the fence finally had a reason to get off it.
The coaches and creators I see hitting consistent revenue aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest audiences.
They're the ones who know what to do with the audience they already have.
They write to the 210.
So quick question before you forward this email to 10 of your friends..
How much of your marketing is actually built for the maybe?
Cause that's where the money is.
Until next time,
Annabelle
Hat tip to Jason Fladlien, the webinar GOAT. If you fancy a masterclass on live sales, this is well worth your ears.
