#BuildYourChallenge: Why a Challenge WORKS.

On August 20th, I spoke all about list building with challenges at Amy Porterfield's event in San Diego (along with Jen Hansard, James Wedmore, Pat Flynn, and Rick Mulready). So exciting!

Now, when we first launched our Simple Green Smoothies website in November 2012, we offered that good ol’ free eBook (Have you tried that too?!) We experienced some success, growing our list to 2K email subscribers. Not bad, not bad. But then…

We offered our first, free 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge just a few months later in January 2013. And that baby grew our list to 30K subscribers! Huge bump in list growth.

So here’s my best piece of advice…

Make your free opt-in better than someone’s paid offer.

I think of an eBook as a cheap first date. It’s that wham, bam thank you ma’am, good luck with your life sort of thing. Whereas a challenge, in our case a 30-day challenge, gave us the time to nurture and court our community over an extended period of time. So you’re not only establishing that “know – like – trust” factor, you’re also creating a memorable, community-driven experience.

We offered the same free challenge 4 times that first year, and we grew our email list from 2K subscribers to 200K subscribers in one year. Say what?! Rapid fire growth like that shows the power of hosting real time community challenges over and over again to engage your tribe.

So why does a challenge work?

1. A challenge draws new people into your world. They experience a transformation from you and credit you for the results without any financial investment upfront.
2. It allows you to build a foundation of trust and credibility. You are creating a community of people that are getting to know you and trust you as the expert and teacher.
3. It creates accountability and makes it easy to share with friends. Hello word of mouth marketing!
4. It also creates scarcity and urgency. “Sign up now or you’ll miss the challenge.” #FOMO in full effect –– no one wants to miss out! There’s something powerful about having a date where a community starts and ends together.

Doing a challenge, especially a signature challenge for your brand, establishes authority. Simple Green Smoothies consistently does the same challenge over and over again. It’s become something people look forward to and remember. When people think about a free 30-day green smoothie challenge, they think about Simple Green Smoothies.

So, what results can you expect?

The results you’ve always dreamed about…

• Massive community growth. Challenges were THE catalyst that grew our list from 2K to 200K in one year. And today we have over 385,000 subscribers (aka rawkstar fans that we love!)
• An engaged tribe. Imagine having a community that's excited to open up every email you send, knowing that what you're sharing is changing their life. #worldchanger
• You have an eager community asking, “What’s next?” Because you’ve invested time and nurtured your community, it will get them ready to take their next step in transformation. And that next step is to make an investment in your products or services. There's nothing like having people excited to work with you and buy from you.
• Brand ambassadors who do the marketing about your business for you. It’s super easy for people to spread the word when you’re doing a cool event that’s free.

Just picture this convo,
“Hey! Do you want to join me for a 30-day green smoothie challenge? It’s $15.”

And the person says,
“Uh, no thanks. I don’t want to pay to drink grass for 30 days.”

VS

“Hey! Do you wanna join me for a 30-day green smoothie challenge? It’s free.”

That person has nothing to lose to at least give it a try. That word of mouth marketing allowed us to bring in tons of new people.
So those are some rawkstar reasons why challenges help your tribe and your business grow. And just so you know, I’ve got so much more to give and share!

Warm Hugs,