Use Your Personality In Marketing To Grow Your Brand, Erin Chase

• You always know people at events

• She reached out before Ontrapalooza to fellow speakers via Twitter

• Started her business in the summer of 2008 when gas prices went up

• You have more control over your grocery bill

• Three phase approach to launching her business

• August 21, 2008 the name “$5 Dinner” just hit her

• She was already blogging on Blogspot

• October 2008 she put ads on her site, which had good traffic due to the topic and she made a few hundred bucks and she knew she was onto something

• Trial and error and a lot of research

• Had a good circle of friends who shared tips

• Consumer behavior has changed around coupons

• Didn’t do any PPC since 2016 and then only for a bit then she started it up in 2019

• Has decent SEO but great domain reputation and good social media platforms that have grown with her site

• Pinterest is #1 for her and Facebook is #2

• You have to feed all of them…”We’re trying to fill the internet with our content.” 

• Be consistent in providing value and serve your community

• “What’s working in Erin’s kitchen?”

• Some of this is personality driven

• It’s relatable

• “The struggle is real.”

• “Email is still #1. It’s where you talk to your people.”

• Signed on with St. Martin’s Press in February 2009 to do three cookbooks

• She had a Yahoo Group and moved them to the next viable platform

• Hired her first contractor in 10 months as soon as she could afford it

• This is a “freight train.”

• Two meal plan memberships were created because people asked for it

• Listen to the needs of your community

• She is fearless and has a great team so she launches quickly

• 2020 slowed down her launches tremendously, but it was a minor launch

• She has eight launches planned for 2021

• Kept the lights on and listened in 2020

• She has to remind herself to stay in her lane, which is food

• Give yourself space and permission to expand your creativity if you have that itch/need

• Still runs everything on Ontraport but augmented it with Shopify, which is integrated

• Any and all technology will break so focus on your offer

• Flip the excuse into an expectation

• “The internet is drunk this week.”

• You have to set aside time to learn your software and tools

• Your software can replace one or more staff members

• If it’s not broke, don’t fix it

• She will “audit” her courses and programs annually to make sure things are as they should be

• Plan. Implement. Evaluate.

• Make video tutorials for her team to train her assistant and staff and to catch what she missed

• Follow a regular promotion schedule

• She’ll do some “hidden” or internal promotions regularly

• “We’ve never done this before.”

Links Mentioned In The Sales Podcast

• Stay in touch with Erin Chase at $5 Dinners

• Follow $5 Dinners on Facebook

• Follow $5 Dinners on Pinterest

Check out Erin Chase’s first appearance on The Sales Podcast back on episode 169.