Sarah Fejfar (00:33.774)
Have you ever felt like you're missing out on something cool, super cool?
Well today we're gonna talk about how to make others feel that way and get them excited about your awesome coaching event. So I put myself in this constant state of FOMO because I'm constantly staring at climbing Mount Everest. But no not actually climbing Mount Everest because that would be crazy.
I'm talking about the 29 029 Everesting event. So it's that event put on by Colin O'Brady and Mark Hodelich and Jesse Itzler, where they have six different mountains that you climb here in the U S or Canada. And you have a 36 hour period to climb the equivalent of Everest. So to climb the 29 029 Everesting.
Oh, 29 feet. And it just gets me so darn excited every time I watch. And now that I have six events, I think it started at six. I feel like I'm constantly being bombarded with marketing materials that are making me have this huge fear of missing out. And not only do I put myself through that watching the event registration marketing.
put out by like Jesse Itzler or by 29 029. I also obsessively watch the accounts of people who go. So people in the online marketing space who have decided to make the trip and then they show it off on their Instagram stories, I watch that too. And I have this huge fear of missing out on this event.
The stuff is so cool. I'm like a moth to a flame. I can't get enough. And it's just the stuff is, they put out is beautiful. It's super clear. All the stories and testimonials of people who've done it are moving and inspirational. And I love the idea of doing hard things to help get us in the mindset of doing other hard things in life and business.
Sarah Fejfar (04:19.622)
I recently watched Stu McLaren take his whole team up there, the searchy team, and that was super exciting to watch. And they're doing one right now as we speak. I think, what is it? Is it Stratton? I'm just so darn excited by the whole thing. And I keep consuming the content that is giving me this fear of missing out. And...
It made me think we have to have a podcast episode on this. We have to talk about how we can explore some strategies and set some techniques that build FOMO around your coaching events. Just like how I'm drawn to climb Mount Everest, which is a totally crazy idea for someone with severe scoliosis like me.
we'll learn how to draw your community in and keep them coming back for more. I mean I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna register for one of these someday. I have to figure out the logistics of having of like being on my feet for that long because my scoliosis makes sense so that I have definitely a limited amount of time that I can be upright. But I
moving is definitely helpful and I'm just thinking that I wonder if I could get strong enough one day that I could do it. So I'm going to keep consuming the content and the FOMO is working on me. So how do we build FOMO? I would say the fear of missing out is such a powerful
I mean, it's motivating me to think through how can I become stronger and more fit and build my endurance so that I can go participate in this event. That's probably not optimal for someone with my physical condition. I'm like, I think I could, if I worked with enough like coaches, trainers, I think I could make this work. It really.
Sarah Fejfar (06:42.894)
You can increase event attendance and participation, building FOMO. And I'd say that a big way that we can do that is content. So sharing content that makes potential guests feel like they can't afford to miss your event, it's all about psychology.
So we're showing people a peek behind the curtain, the backstage pass, if you will, we're showing enough content that we're able to see all these different angles of the event so that we can, like we talked about in that previous episode about removing friction, we're kind of like checking off all of those questions that we have in our head, and it's just getting us more excited.
And I think a way that we can do that is very tactically is with limited time offers. So yes, we can use content on an ongoing basis to drip stuff out that just gets people super flippin excited like the 29-29 example, but another strategy is limited time offers. So
time-limited promotions, early bird pricing, limited slots can generate urgency and a fear of missing out among your potential gas. And because I'm still on my soapbox about this phenomenal event, right now, if you go to the 29.029 event website and to the registration page and...
which I'm on as we speak staring at it. No, I'm not gonna buy a spot for 2024, but I sure am considering it. I'm not sure which year is gonna be my year, but it's coming. But I'm seeing this bar across the top. It says 12 days, 19 hours, 13 minutes until registration opens on November 2nd at 12 p.m. Eastern. That is FOMO building right there.
Sarah Fejfar (09:10.003)
There and I've seen it in my inbox and I've seen it on social media that same information that
Sarah Fejfar (09:19.911)
There's a, there's going to be this rush and I don't want to miss it. And there's limited spots and it's giving me a sense of urgency that I have to make sure that I mark my calendar for that date at that time. I'm not even going and it's giving you this fear of missing out. And it, it makes me want to make sure I've marked my calendar so I don't miss a spot in one of the 2024 ascents. Oh my gosh.
So how could you do that? Brainstorm with your team. What limited time offers, we've always talked about early bird pricing and having four price tiers where you've got like the super early bird, early bird.
regular and last minute. And all of those give you an excuse to generate urgency with your potential guests and a fear of missing out because they are going to miss out on that particular price. Right? Another way to build a FOMO is with teasers that spark
anticipation and this in my mind is really best done with video and I love it for you to have a whole bunch of short form video clips that have it's you know kind of like a sizzle reel if you will and you can play with a whole bunch of different lengths
And I think that's super, super helpful in building FOMO. There's just nothing like the power of video of feeling like you're in the room and a peek behind that curtain to see, well, what's really happening when I'm at that event?
Sarah Fejfar (11:13.29)
All right, so those are a few tips on how to build it. Now let's talk about content a little deeper dive. Every piece of content matters. I want you to be super intentional. So first go do an audit and evaluate all the content that you're putting out leading up to the event from social media to emails and.
Make sure that it's consistent and aligned with your events message. We talked about that in the last episode, in episode 97 on removing friction. So go back and listen to that one if you haven't already.
I got on a soapbox for quite a while on branding. I think it's so important to make sure that all of the pieces of content that you're putting out around the event have the event branding, like the look and the feel and the vibe, and that it's from a page in the same book. And when it's clear that
this is a piece of content about the event, kind of gets stored in a different piece of our place in our brain where we're filing away all of these reasons why it's for us or not for us. And when it all looks and feels sounds the same, it's very easy for us to do that, to go put it in that file store of, oh, that's one more reason why I need to go climb Mount Everest.
Right? So do an audit and make sure that everything seems really consistent and aligned and do that vibe check. The other thing I would say in that kind of content matters intentionality bucket is quality over quantity. I just want I had an instance I had
Sarah Fejfar (13:21.818)
I recently switched Instagram coaches and his first piece of advice for me was basically looks like a dog's breakfast on your feed, like make it stop. And my previous coach's position was it doesn't matter what it looks like, like just like more quantity. And his position was...
the quality over quantity. I could see both camps. I'll see why both are important. But I think that it's important that you're paying attention to the rules of the platform and what the algorithm favors and also making sure that the piece is
something quality that you would be proud of. It struck me as interesting when I heard Alex Hermosy recently say that as much as possible he likes a human on his team being the last thing that touches a piece of content before it is published. Like that they're the person publishing it versus using a publishing...
like piece of software where it auto, like you can schedule it and it goes off for you. And the reason why he said this was he said if a human is touching it last and pressing the publish button, you know, and it's immediately going to go live, there's this sense of this urgency and importance and more value put on that act of pressing publish.
it makes people just make sure everything like double, triple, quadruple, check that it's right and on brand and on message and then it goes. And I thought, wow, so cool. Love that. And let's just, let's just be mindful that if we can't put out good stuff about
Sarah Fejfar (15:47.03)
the event, maybe we should dial back a little bit so we can get the quality up and then go back to ramping up quantity. Because especially when you're doing larger scale conferences, I think people there's an expectation of professionalism and reliability and I think the way the
quality of your stuff, of your content matters more. So as you evolve your event, you may need to be reevaluating doing a content audit of kind of, well, what does all this stuff look like? Let's actually pluck it all off of all the different platforms where it is. Maybe I'm visual, print it off, stick it to the wall and kind of look and like, what story are we telling?
about this event and is it the one we intended?
Then the last thing in this content matters bucket that I wanted to talk about is storytelling. And it's so important. And I think it can really do a fantastic job of creating that emotional connection with our potential guests that really kind of amps up the FOMO. And a few ways that you can use storytelling is always.
preach that we need a few different videos. No matter the size or scale of your event, I would love for you to have a video where the host of the event is talking about what it's like at their events. Another one that is how to prepare to be at their events. Another
Sarah Fejfar (17:49.954)
to events that the host goes to, not their own, but like how they go to other people's events, how they get ready. Another video on how the host personally gets ready for hosting. And another one about why the host loves to go to other events, like why it's important to them to be...
in a constant state of being a lifelong learner. And so those are great stories all in and of itself. So if you've already done all of those videos, check, awesome. Next level of storytelling is capturing those stories of people who have already been to your event in the form of testimonials, extra cookie for you or brownie, whatever. I don't know which one is your preference. I'm happy to...
devour all of them. Big goods are my life. But extra cookie for you if you film those testimonials at the event where you can see behind the person who's filming the testimonial, the buzz of people in the hallway walking around getting ready or leaving the session that amps up the FOMO. Other stories you could tell are
I love, I've told you this before, I love the stories that Russell Brunson tells as he's getting ready for Funnel Hacking Live, where he's direct to camera on his Instagram stories saying, hey, I've just got 10 presentations I'm going to give at the upcoming Funnel Hacking Live and I've got two of them done. Right now I'm working on number three.
see the PowerPoint, look where I'm at, and it's this late at night and I've drank, you know, this much, you know, these beverages, this is what I'm eating while I'm making the PowerPoint, whatever it is, like all these details, the story around, it crafts this big story and brings people along and getting the presentations ready for the event or going shopping for the clothes he's gonna wear.
Sarah Fejfar (20:18.454)
And those stories really kind of make that tie of people in your community being emotionally invested in going to the thing and building the FOMO. And I will say that it would behoove you and your team to have a brainstorming session just on stories.
What are all the stories that even you're telling amongst your event team internally about getting ready for the event and which one of those could be public facing? Like what happened to those boxes of swag that got lost in shipping and you had to jump through these hurdles to get them? That's all fair game. And it gets people excited and invested in the story.
of how is it going to end and the ending is being at the event. And the thing is, they can't see how it ends for themselves unless they go. And then, of course, storytelling during the event, being the backstage pass for everybody who's not there and creating that FOMO and showing all the good and the bad and the ugly that's happening so that they. Can just.
Definitely see more about what they're missing and feel like they need to get in the room next time
Okay, so that was all about content matters, being intentional. Last thing I want to cover today is the bucket of just some creative ways that you could build FOMO. First thing is user generated content. I love this one, especially if you're going to do a pop-up community for your upcoming event. Love for you to have people
Sarah Fejfar (22:19.318)
that give people assignments of what they could post in the group as they're getting ready for the event. And obviously you can approve them before they get posted to make sure it feels kind of vibe check on brand. But stuff like testimonials or experiences or having them, social media posts of them on the checkout screen or the thank you page.
taking a picture of like, hey, I'm in, that all can lead to FOMO by showing people what they're missing. If people are packing, getting ready for the event or at the airport, or I was recently watching Sarah Jakes Roberts event, was it the We, the Women Evolve event? I think it was in Dallas last month. And after the event, they were showing
video that had come out of the airport of spontaneous singing amongst people waiting for their planes home and how the airport was just filled with joy and like that's making me feel like I'm missing out on this amazing experience that's not even just in the room but extends beyond what a community that's created.
Sarah Fejfar (23:46.682)
way to build FOMO is you actively engaging with the community in that lead up to your event, in the registration process with by doing things like Q&A sessions about the upcoming event or live chats on social media or contests, bring a friend contests are great for building a fear of missing out.
and
Engaging in tactics like that can definitely create that excitement, anticipation, fear of missing out. So don't underestimate the power of using your community.
Sarah Fejfar (24:36.814)
and not even just the ones that are already registered like we talked in the last bit, but the ones who aren't because just doing a pop-up Instagram live, Facebook live, TikTok live, to talk Q&A or to even ask people questions.
Like, hey, I'm thinking about doing one of these two presentations, which one feels right to you. People support what they create. That's another great way to engage with your community about the event on the lead up to the event. And then last thing I would cover is surprise elements. So.
I think anything that you can do that is unexpected is going to make things stand out and generate that buzz and create the FOMO. So explore. I encourage you to keep a notepad open on your phone that has.
marketing ideas that have caught your attention and really gotten you excited or surprised you in some way and just keep a running list of things or screenshots so that when you're getting ready for your next event you've already got an initial brainstorming list made and you're ready.
So that is a wrap on FOMO. I hope this is making you leave feeling inspired at trying your hand at increasing FOMO with your event promotional content.
Sarah Fejfar (26:44.374)
I... Okay, quick story. There's an event that's coming up and there is basically zero marketing about it. There was one announcement, hey, the event is gonna be on these days, get your ticket, done. I know it's happening because it's one of my favorite coaches who's putting on the event. And so it's...
burned into my brain, but there is nothing crickets happening that is crossing my field of vision about the event and it's actually making me question whether or not it's a room I should be in even though it's perfect for me.
Logically, I know this, but emotionally, I am not invested because there is zero marketing happening around this event.
Sarah Fejfar (27:54.502)
I just find it interesting how my brain is working because I know, again, logically, I know this would be the perfect room for me to be in. I would get an amazing amount of value. My schedule is open over those days, but there's nothing, there's nothing. I've already gotten extreme amounts of value from this coach. There's absolutely nothing on the marketing side.
that is reminding me that this is something that I want to go to and I can't miss. And so if I was on the fence, there's nothing in the FOMO department that's helping me kind of push me over to go. And in fact, I have not purchased a ticket yet. So, and I do think a big piece of that is because
I just haven't gotten any, like there's no excitement being built. And even though I know it'd be amazing, I think I still need that. I think everybody does. So. Yeah. I challenge you to put an hour on your team's calendar this week, have a brainstorming session, or if that is not in the cards, I know time is tight, then start a folder on your phone or note with the screenshots of
event promotional content that kind of stirred that little fear of missing out in you so that you have the inspiration at hand when your next event promotion cycle starts. Thank you for hanging out with me today. Make it an outstanding rest of the week. Take care.
