Replace Your Marketing Strategies with a Virtual Summit

They're thinking about things like challenges and webinars and things like that. Those strategies are not designed to grow your email list. Those strategies are designed to convert the audience you already have. And if you don't have an audience, those things aren't gonna, they're not going to work, where someone has the audience generation built right in, and it's just really powerful.

This is the entrepreneur school podcast where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under 3am, a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing things that burn you out. On this show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey, and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business, while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to entrepreneur school.

I'm thrilled to bring you another amazing guest episode of entrepreneur school today, where I am chatting with Krista Miller from Summit in a Box. And after re listening to this episode that we recorded some time ago, I am just so reinvigorated about the idea of hosting a virtual Summit, and how this particular strategy can replace the multiple other things that you're already doing for marketing. If you're trying to create leads and build an email list and create income and all of these things, you can do all of that with this one specific strategy. So at Summit In A Box, Krista helps you replace slow growth and costly marketing strategies with a high converting virtual summit that will multiply your revenue and lead to your biggest course membership or group program launch yet, so get ready because she isn't sharing all of the details about what you need, what you don't need, and exactly how to make your summit and your virtual events stand out. And I can't wait for you to connect with Krista, if you want to explore working on building a virtual summit further. Hey there, Krista. Welcome to I live just about to say welcome to seven in a box because I'm reading the box behind you that's know you seven in a box and welcome to entrepreneur school. I'm really excited to chat with you today. All things, virtual summits, and this really amazing strategy that people can use to help boost their visibility and launch their programs.

I am so excited to talk to you about this today. It's gonna be so much fun. I'm excited to talk to you like as someone who really pays attention to visibility, and like when different strategies are right for people at different times. It's gonna be a really great conversation.

Yes. Oh, that's such a good point. We'll make sure we we hit on that, like, when should we use this? I've been thinking about that a lot lately, actually, in terms of, you know, that's a good point that, that there's different strategies that work better at different points in your business because of your own level of awareness of the different parts of what's going on. So you have a program that you've been running, and you know exactly what it is and exactly who it's for and exactly how it helps you heaps of like success stories through it. Like that's one thing if you are launching a brand new thing, and you're still trying to figure out how to talk about it. And we go through this all the time. And I'm putting my hand up because I'm there again, like creating something new trying to figure out how to reverse engineer back into talking about it the right way. So let's talk summits tell me like the southern world definitely took over in I don't know. Well, I think when you said you started like talking this in like 2018. So like 2018 to 2020. And then we all lived on Zoom for a really long time. And so we were used to this format where we would experience education in this way where we would kind of sit on our computer and watching and consume and be part of that. So let's talk about like, the evolution of summits from sort of what they where they started and to like what you're seeing now in terms of trends and what this looks like.

Yeah, I love that question. So I like first started paying attention to summits. I think it was like 2016 And they looked so different than they do now. Back then it was really only like the biggest name business owners out there that were hosting summits or like the big tech companies like whatever teachable used to be called something about Fedora whatever, like they host like they were the kinds of companies that were hosting the summit. There weren't any little guys out there, you know, doing it. And they really I think because Have that tended to feel pretty gross, like they were like, they were cool, like the engagement was cool. It was cool to go. And like hang out with other business owners like that was back when I was still getting started. I remember sitting at my corporate job and like having a tab, kind of hidden behind other tabs where I'd like click over and like watch these people doing, like so many cool things. But they were so pitchy, because it was these big nine business owners who didn't care as much about the relationship and the value add, and they like they were adding a little bit of value. But it was very pitch heavy. And I remember telling some friends like, I will never do this. I hate summits, these are so gross and slimy. And remember, a mastermind friend at one point was like, I think 2017 is going to be the year of virtual summits. And I was like, That sounds terrible. Sounds awful. And they did start coming up more and more than I wanted to do them. Because I knew that was what I would need to grow my email list, hopefully get a little income boost. But for me, really the big focus was connecting with other people, because no one knew who I was. And then I was seeing people in Facebook groups who like had these little cliques and they knew each other and nobody knew me, I was like, I want that. And I think someone gave me that. It's like, I can't do it. But then there was a day I was driving in the car and just like suddenly had the revelation like, I can do this my way. I don't have to host like a general summit where I'm trying to copy all these big players. At the time, I was doing website development for designers, I was like I can do a summit just for designers. That would be really cool. There was no one doing that back then I had never seen a super niche Summit, it was like a summit for all online business owners is what was happening. Yeah. And I don't want to necessarily say that, like I started it. I'm guessing there were quite a few people who started seeing that and moving into it at the same time. But that is when slightly more more niche summits became a thing. And people who weren't necessarily the big names started making their way into summits, I think people were still really timid and scared about it back then. But they were starting to kind of grow. Then 2020 hit and you had no choice in person events weren't a thing. And that's when we really saw them explode. And that actually is right. When we launched our signature summit in a box program. It was literally March 2020. Obviously, I did not plan that that was the plan launch date. It was very good timing from a business standpoint. Oh, good. And now I feel like summits are very accessible to anyone and everyone. We have, you know, huge seven figure business owners coming in and hosting summits, we have people who don't have businesses coming in and hosting summits and being like, Oh, wow, there's something there. I guess I'm gonna start a business around that. You know, from every point people are doing this. And I think the biggest trend we're noticing now is that because there are so many summits, and people have attended a billion summits, the really general ones just do not work. You can't host a summit to help business owners grow their business or get more visible, it has to be really specific. The audience and the topic, there has to be something special there. We're seeing summits for b2c business owners or business to consumer, you don't target business owners. Those are working really well right now. And I'm guessing like eventually, they'll get to the same point, as those of us in the b2b space are at where we have to be real creative, to get people's attention. The b2c space just isn't like that right now. So we're seeing that was just like, absolutely blow up and be like, just incredible. But the more we move into some extent more people that do them, the more creative you have to be with the way you position it and make people want to attend. Oh,

that's, there's so many good tips in there. Wow. Definitely love that idea of being super niche and like really specific. So that because I think the biggest objection that from somebody on the side of wanting to participate as the as a, as a participant as a listener, consumer or whatnot in the summit is time, right? And so what what am I going to spend my time on today? Am I going to sit and watch, you know, multiple hours of presentations on a summit? Yes or No? And why? Because it's something that's absolutely perfectly aligned with what it is I'm thinking about and is a priority for me right now?

Yes, yeah, like your presentations. The topics have to be a priority for your people if they're gonna watch and that when you were talking about that, that led me to something else that has shifted lately and that is like, you can't have a summit that has 10 hour long presentations a day, people are not going to watch those. We've really pushed for a shift and therefore have seen a shift in length of presentations. We're telling our students and clients 15 to 20 minute presentations, keep it at that and some of them can't help themselves, but you will get the best feedback from your attendees. If you have short and sweet 20 minute presentations. They get right into the action and no fluff getting get out, they get what they need. And we're also seeing a shift towards adding more audio aspects, whether that's audio only summits, or having an audio feed available not only in the All Access Pass, so the paid offer, but for free in the summit. So if they have, you know, 24 hour access 24 hours access to the videos, they also have 24 hour access to the podcast feed. That's something we experimented with last year, and I've been pushing people to do and we're seeing that really take off because people people love it. So accessibility make it short and sweet and easy to consume is a must.

And you talked a little bit in there just just so we can dissect a little bit of like the structure of a summit and what's included in like, why a summit is a really good strategy as a business owner, you can pull out some of those pieces like you like there is free access. There's all access, there's it's a lead generator, email list builder, those kinds of things like give us your like why summits are amazing spiel,

I love it. So one thing you can do is think about the reason you would do any strategy for your business. Why would you host a webinar? Or would you host a challenge? Why would you post on social media? Why would you do networking calls? Why would you send emails to your list, as someone does all of it, all of it in one strategy. So you are first going out and connecting with other business owners to bring on speakers for your event. Some of those will, you know, ideally be some people you know and are acquainted with, some of them are going to be called pitches and making brand new connections that can then benefit your business four years down the road when you do it right and nurture them in the right way and give them a really great experience that gets them results. So you're building the connections and nurturing those connections. Because of those connections, you are able to accident lose absolutely explode your visibility and your reach. Because a free event like that when you position it in a way that it's really high value for a specific audience. That is such an easy thing for other people to promote. So easy for them to put something free like that in front of their audience. And most of them will and do. So that like that's the most effective way to grow, your reach is having other people do it for you. And you're not having to spend money on ads or do like one on one JV webinars with each person, it's all happening at one time. So you're bringing in 1000s of leads, you're warming up those leads, then really quickly, like, you know, over the span of the week of your Summit, or however long it is, you're having a lot of touch points with them, you're giving them a lot of value. If you're launching an offer, you can build in mentions of that. So they already know what it is before you even launch. So it's building the know like and trust with the new traffic really quickly. But also, it's a perfect way to engage your existing audience. So if you already have an email list, and you know, you've maybe I have been like sending them emails here and there or whatever, this is a great way to really get them reengaged in what you do. And again, then ready to jump in to your offer. So but so far we have you know, connected with industry experts increase visibility generated leads, reengage your existing audience, then you have the chance to make sales. So the sign on the front end is free. That is what makes it easy for people to share. It's what makes it easy for people to sign up. So many people say oh free, someone's attract freeloaders. Whatever I'm like, Okay, I made an additional $200,000 in sales from people who signed up in my summit eight, like within the 18 months that followed, if they didn't buy before they were sure buying, you know, as we went. So free Summit is what will bring you the 1000s of leads. From there. You added all that

debunking that thank you for because it's true. And yeah, you might not see like sales immediately. They might be like, Oh, this is the exact same thing I need right now. But like there, there's that trust that builds up in the bat, like respect. And I owe that. Yeah, I remember Krista because she put on this amazing event that I attended. And I learned so much. And I like got exposed to all these people. And then I tried some of the things that she said that I learned for free in the event. And then I was like Kate, give me more.

Yes, yes, that's exactly it. And then like you do have the opportunity to generate revenue right away. And that's where the All Access Pass comes in. So the free ticket generally gives people access for 24 or 48 hours, the All Access Pass gives them ongoing access. Some people do like a year access, whatever I always just do ongoing. We like to add in speaker bonuses there because that basically builds a bundle into your Summit, you can add in some like live components or other bonuses if you want. And that is like such a wonderful way to generate revenue. The first time I ever hosted a summit, I was making like three or $4,000 a month at the time, that first summit rather than $16,000 all in one shot through the other access paths. So that was huge for me. Since then, I've created some exams generated up to 121,000 Just in the All Access Pass sales. So you have revenue built in whether you are launching on the back end or not. The All Access Pass in and of itself is wonderful. Typically I say like if you were to plan for like 3000 attendees, let's plan for 30,000 in revenue from the All Access Pass. So that's great. Now we're making money. But then if you have an offer, whether it's a service, product membership, whatever. Now you launch it on the back end, you build it and really strategically You build awareness of it throughout the summer without pitching it, because we don't want to pitch fast like they did back in 2017. But you lead right into a launch of your signature offer. The first time I did it, it brought in 63,000 in sales the second time around and 78,000 in sales. And it's just a really great thing to do. And then there's the 1000s of people still on your list who didn't buy who will, you know, continue to convert through evergreen sales or future launches down the road. So, Summit is a lot of work. But it doesn't all in one it does, it puts together the strategies you will be piecing together for years into one thing with about a 90 120 day timeline. Cool.

I am blown away by those numbers actually, especially just like with all access pass, because when small access paths cost like 100 bucks.

Yeah, depending on the audience we typically see between like 47 and 197. Okay,

and you're you're seeing like 10s of 1000s of dollars in sales just from that. Yes. Because it's like, it's so is that like a pretty high conversion rate then between like the number of actual attendees that are actually buying it?

Yes, I'm glad you asked that. So industry standard, if someone just goes out and host a summit, typically you'll see two to 4% conversion rate. Not worth it. I have like some trainings that break down the math net worth it. Our students and clients b2b Right now we're seeing eight to 10% most often. So you know, that's, that's quadruple our b2c clients, we're seeing around 10 to 15%. Some of them are still up there in like the 20% range, which is wild. But as you'll see, you should see a high conversion rate when it's all you know, done, quote unquote, correctly.

And do you think that's like, what, what do you think the biggest factor is in that?

Yeah, I love that. So it's a positioning. So what specific audience is it for? And are you positioning it in a way that draws them in? are you solving the problem? Are you doing something unique, and then the speaker, the speaker selection is huge. So you want speakers who are promoting to the right audience. And you can also like contribute bonuses that are relevant to that audience. And then just creating like a really engaging event, and a good All Access Pass offers throughout our All Access Pass sales strategy also has a big part to play in it. So we do a three tier pricing approach where like, right after someone registers, I'm sure you've all seen us for like 2030 minutes, they get a special offer to upgrade for like 50% off, then it's a different price before the summit starts, and there's a price increase once the Senate begins, and then you do quite close all of those increased sales. So we typically see 70% of our sales come in, in that fast action offer. Some people don't like that some people don't feel don't feel great about having you know, the timer on things, they see a little bit lower conversion rate, typically, because of that sort of strategy also has a part to play in it.

Whoo, yeah. Okay. I'm like right away ever. No wonder you do podcast because I'd like everybody listening. Because it sounds amazing. Because I actually used to run summits, it was part of a strategy, I learned to help grow my email list. And also, as part of like wanting to be a speaker and engage a speaker, you need to know people who are on stages, you need to create relationships with people who have stages, or platforms like this, and this totally counts. So your ability to practice and be put be put into like a leadership role, positioning yourself as the person who's bringing together all of this fantastic news. But also, it's such a great opportunity to make connections with people who you really want to, you know, connect with, because maybe you want to get in front of their audience. And this is, this is like, it's a no brainer, because you're offering them an opportunity to get this exposure, you're creating the platform for it. And then their job is simply to tell their people about it, and say, Hey, come into this thing that I'm doing and that there's that alignment there. That is such a key to everything quite honestly, Krista, if if anybody listening is not listening to anything, listen to this. It's about your audience. It's about knowing your audience and finding more people like that. And when you said, like, this is a strategy to help lean into other people's audiences that is so powerful, it helps you multiply so much faster into, you know, finding the right people who you could eventually support and work with.

Yeah, and I think that's part of the reason that some people shy away from summits is like, well, these other things I've done, haven't worked for me. They haven't added, you know, people to my email list. And they're thinking about things like challenges and webinars and things like that. Those strategies are not designed to grow your email list, those strategies that are designed to convert the audience you already have. And if you don't have an audience, those things aren't gonna they're not gonna work where somebody has the audience generation. built right in it.

It's just really powerful. Oh, so good. Okay. Let's talk about the hard parts. Because yes, you have a little bit you didn't use directly said, it does a lot of work and it does take like 120 days, maybe 90 days if you're getting polished at it, to pull this off. If so, like, let's just set the expectation bar at the right level for people who are thinking about considering doing this.

Yeah, I love that. So something I tried to make sure is always true is that no one will come into my world, or come into one of my programs, get a couple months and be like, I hate you. I hate you. For it, it was way more work than you said. So hosting a summit is not easy. It's not it is a big project. I like to see people plan 90 days if they're not launching an offer on the back end, 120 days if they are launching an offer on the back end. And, you know, not every one of those 90 120 days is full of you working all day, every day. But it's a big project, like you need to spend a significant amount of time on it. We typically tell our clients and students since they get all of like the templates and stuff they need, which saves them time, 1015 hours a week is what you want to plan for my first summit where I did not have those, I'm guessing it took me four to 500 hours, like a lot of time, if you're putting it on yourself. It's one of those things where you have no idea what all goes into it until you get started. And you're like, oh, I have to do this. And this and Oh, I forgot that. And it's just like a snowball. So you need to give yourself time for that. Something else to keep in mind is just like, is it an emotional roller coaster? I think because of the fact that you're putting yourself out there to so many people, your speakers first and then your attendees. And it's a longer process, you have so much time to get in your own head. And you probably will we have like a lesson in our programs. It's called the summit emotional rollercoaster. Because it happens for almost every single person, it still happens to me. I've hosted 1011 summits, it still happens to me every time. You're like really excited at the beginning. And then you go to pitch speakers, and you're like, This is the worst idea ever. No one's gonna say yes, they're all gonna hate me. And then they start saying yes, and you go back up the roller coaster and you're like, happy, everything's looking good. And then it's time to open registration. You're like, oh, my gosh, no one's gonna sign up for this. And my speakers are gonna hate me for wasting their time. And then you open registration people sign up, you know. So it's like an up and down process. So I want you to know that as well, like, know that it's part of the process. It is normal, when you're putting yourself out there in this way and like getting uncomfortable and getting ready to grow your business. But that's something else I really like to warn warn people about. So give yourself plenty of time. No, it's a big project and know that it's probably going to be a little bit of a roller coaster.

Yeah. And then there's the tech side of things that people get pretty nervous. Yeah, sometimes.

Yeah, I love tech. So that doesn't slow me down at all. If you're someone who are like, you're like, oh my gosh, I do not want to create this page on my website. I do not know how to set up like a webinar or you know, all these different things. I don't know how to integrate email marketing platforms, it can be a lot. I don't recommend hosts are like hosting your summit on a brand new platform. I don't want to see someone go out and like buy a $10,000 event hosting platform or $200 A Month event hosting platform, use what you already have. So if you already have a website, if you're already like, have some kind of digital products, you probably already have most of what you need. So like I have hosted my summits on WordPress and Kajabi in the past, because that's what I already used. We have clients on oh my goodness, Squarespace, show it kartra FBA create, click, some people have used LeadPages, click funnels, whatever the funnel, gorgeous one is, like people use everything. And that's what I recommend, whatever you're already using, already paying for already familiar with. Use that and if you need other tools to supplement, okay, great. Like if maybe your service based business, you don't have a cart or of course platform, go with Thrive cart, one time fee, everything is in there. And it's the best of the best, you know, or maybe you are selling digital products, but you've never used like a countdown timer, deadline funnel or countdown here, always probably the only thing you'll have to add one of those timer tools. So you can make the tech process way easier on yourself by using what you already have. But there are a lot of moving tech pieces for sure.

Okay, there's so much there, people will have to definitely re re listen to this episode multiple times. And I'm trying to think of a great Zinger question for the end. Because I'd love for you to like end with, like your best piece of advice for someone thinking about hosting a summit. Yeah, my

best piece of advice would be not to wait until you think you're ready for it. I hear a lot of people making excuses. Like, I'm gonna go grow my email list. First. I'm gonna go make these connections first, oh, I have a challenge that I want to host in a couple months, I'm going to do that first. I don't have time. I'm too busy on calls and posting on social media and doing all these other things. Because some of you don't need to do those other things. They replace all of those other things that does it much more effectively. So I want you to look at that. Are you putting off a strategy that will grow your business way faster than other things because these other things aren't All right, I did that. That's why I know to look out for it because I did it. And I literally sat down one day listed out a bajillion things I was doing it was ridiculous. It was like, Okay, what's not actually working for me, it was like, weekly YouTube videos posting 10 times a day on Twitter or posting on my Facebook page, like all these silly things, I took so much time that weren't doing a darn thing. I got rid of all those things. And suddenly, I had time for a summit. And then after my summit, I did have the freedom to be like, Okay, do I want to add any of those other things back? Most of them I did not. But But like, that just gives you so much freedom to focus in on the strategies that are working for you. So don't put off a summit, because you are too busy with things that aren't working. And if you are waiting to host us on it until you have an audience until you have the connections, you're doing it backwards, because assignment will get you those things, stop waiting, there's like no requirements, I want you to know who your audience is, and how to speak to them effectively and what they need from you. But that's really all you need. Everything else will probably come as a result of the summit.

Oh, I'm convinced. And when we go back. Chris is gonna hit hear a lot from me. Okay. That's so good. That's amazing. And, and so true. You know, sometimes I feel like we're we're sitting around, we're not sitting around, we're filling our time, with things that we think are important, and that we're supposed to do, to, quote, grow our businesses and get visibility and build an audience and find make connections. And we're piecing it all together, where this truly is capturing all of those pieces into one big effort that's coordinated. And ultimately, I like as somebody from a branded brand and marketing perspective, what you need is a coordinated, cohesive strategy that's going to work to pull all of these pieces together. And we sometimes will just call that a marketing strategy, or we'll call that, you know, a visibility plan or whatever it is, we can also just call it a summit.

There you go, boom.

So good Christian, please let everyone know you have amazing podcast, you are on some social platforms, where can people find you? And we'll make sure that all the links are also in our show notes. Yeah,

so I have a podcast called The Summer hosts hangout podcast, where over 260 episodes at this point. So you can you can go real deep on time. It's real fast if you want to. I'm on Instagram at Summit in a box. I have a training series that I think would be perfect for anyone to dive into if they really kind of want to just like feel out if it's a strategy that's going to be good for them, kind of dip their toes into what the topic could look like and things like that. It's called summon to sales. And that's at Summitinabox.co/series.

Amazing, thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you for having me.

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