Amy Porterfield’s webinar is kinda of worth it.
Confused?
I know…you have a thousand questions.
Sooo, let’s get to it.
Who is Amy Porterfield?
Amy hosts a weekly podcast Online Marketing Made Easy. She started her business with 600 email subscribers. Fast forward to today and she approximates to have hundreds of thousands on her list. Her mark in marketing is her email list-building strategies.
Porterfield’s course?
If you are going to get your own lists to market to independent of Linked In, Twitter, or Zuckerberg audiences you are going to need Amy’s help or someone like her.
Why Amy Porterfield?
Her results. Look at these numbers. Porterfield went from a 2013 debut of a $30,000 online course launch to a year and a half later (with the same course) a launch with an increase of over 30X the old course’s launch revenue. A $950,000 start.
What you want to know about Porterfield’s Course
How long was her pitch?
Technically, her whole seminar was a pitch. But it wasn’t until thirty-six minutes into the program that I felt pitched to.
Imagine this strategic pitch delivery. Each time steps to build a list are given, the examples are shout-outs to past course graduates. For example, I first saw this in her examples of lead generators. Porterfield used ex-student lead generator products to plug her courses. And this social proof strategy continued throughout the entire video.
What is her pitch?
List Building Society for $495. This includes bonuses of one-on-group monthly Zoom calls and fill in the blank lead generators. This is the hand-holding part of her offer. Time-savers.
Porterfield’s promise? Step-by-step business game plans. Porterfield also gave a short endorsement for one email platform, Convert Kit. Someone’s getting a kickback.
Did the free training have value?
The free training comes with a printable pdf, so you can in theory make your note-taking easier. It didn’t. The training told you what to do but not how to do it. It’s a typical marketing-theory based webinar.
Amy let you take screenshots of her PowerPoints. This is a lifesaver because her fill-in-the-blank notes weren’t not easy to fill in. A great recommendation to help you go through the most important ten minutes of the training would be to sign up for the training twice. Then, you could review your fill-in-the-blanks on the second go-round.
The questions Porterfield asks in the class are thought-provoking. But nothing new. And used to reinforce her handholding offer.
Porterfield’s Marketing Overrides Value
This marketing oversight rests on Porterfield’s design of her presentation. The strategy of social proof was combined into the presentation of strategic information. And the two didn’t mix well.
For example, Porterfield would give you an idea for a lead magnet and then talk about where the idea came from. In this way, she plugged the work of her former students’ lead magnets. But that left little if any value because she went through the procedural information so quickly.
There was a lot of esteem-building and cheerleading moments in this course.
Porterfield Appeal to All Leaves Holes
Reading the Frequently Asked Questions I saw an appeal for Porterfield’s honesty. It would have been easy to say no. But instead, Porterfield abandons her persona. So, let me say it. This course is made for sale to course-makers and coaches.
If you aren’t either, this course is a waste of your time.
Take Aways
Positives
Porterfield had a great deal of information presented that would be good to reflect on when you are ready to position your business.
What unique and valuable content will you offer?
As she says it, what could you give out that someone would say, I can’t believe this is free. My friend Shlomo’s site, has excellent examples of powerful lead magnets. His entire site is one giant lead magnet.
Porterfield believes in finding your ideal audience.
So, her pitch is let me help you answer these questions of differentiation and content strategy.
Porterfield mentioned leaving lead magnet links in social media profiles and giving them love before each podcast.
Negatives
Not a course
It wasn’t a course. It was an infomercial. You didn’t see anything but Porterfield on screen. Porterfield pretended to read questions from the audience. But I felt like she was reading one of Ry Swartz’s FAQ email questions and answers. Unimpressed.
No Tech Help
Plus, Porterfield asked about but didn’t address any personal website tech compatibility issues.
They were mentioned as a part of Porterfield’s hand-holding invitation. She confessed her lack of tech-savviness. And explained if she can figure out the tech, you can too. Another moment to pitch her handholding promise.
Free for Phantoms
It felt as though Porterfield was supporting you to create content for a phantom audience. If you follow her instructions, you’ll be creating content for audiences for free. And let’s hope your persona study was spot on. That’s all the assurance Portfield gives for your success.
Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee
List Builders offers a money-back guarantee only if you prove you did the work. “No tire-kickers!” wanted.
Porterfield hopped on the spend money to make money excuse for unsuccessful business ventures. This tired cliché was the sole bullet she used to shoot down price objections.
Unverifiable Distractions
Porterfield didn’t present information in harmony with marketing research. She used her name and successful reputation to ease her audience’s objections.
For example, Porterfield praised annoying pop-ups for website as efficient for conversions. This is not so according to research.
Statistically, the best way to get email subscribers on your list is a static link click or button on each page of your website. Sign up pop-ups annoy, they don’t convert.
Email grows your business four times faster than social media campaigns.
Hubspot states for every $1 spent businesses receive $36 in revenue. That’s as of 2022 stats. I’ve heard it as high as $44:1 ROI too.
Least Viable Commitment
Porterfield asked for ten minutes. I gave that to her. She ran through her most vital information in about five.
Also, she asked for this LVC on her course itself and set it at an hour a week. She has included a slider on her site that calculates the rate of success based on work inputted. This is crazy. How can you quantify the value of something by the time you put into it? That’s not real world.
Again. Provable method? No.
Other annoying marketing ploys
Price anchoring was clear as she moved her purchase price from thousands in value to $495. The timer tick-down before viewers lose the $495 price.
Sum it Up
Is Porterfield’s class to promote her List Builder class worth it? If you are a coach and course builder absolutely. If you don’t fall into that category, what she offers is an exercise in rethinking the positioning of your business.
Because of the non-research supported advice….I would sit through Muse before I would entertain Porterfield’s workshop again.
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Until next time, be your top-shelf-you.