Mondays are for Marketing Your Subscription Box Business
In this live session Sarah Williams energizes subscription‑box entrepreneurs for the critical November sales period. She frames Monday as the day to create a concrete weekly marketing plan and walks participants through a four‑part template: (1) a social‑media plan that ties daily posts to the week’s flagship product, (2) a live‑selling plan that leverages “Monday Momentum” live streams and accountability partners, (3) an email plan that mandates at least two weekly campaigns aligned with the same product messaging, and (4) an ad plan that pushes the week’s offers to new audiences. Sarah also shares how she structures a monthly promotional calendar (one weekly promo per week), promotes her upcoming book One Box at a Time and a complimentary masterclass (available to pre‑order customers who submit receipts), and demonstrates how she streams simultaneously to YouTube, Facebook, and two paid membership groups via StreamYard. Throughout she stresses the danger of getting lost in the holiday‑season busyness, encourages participants to write down their weekly plans, and offers templates, scripts, and accountability buddy systems to ensure execution. The session blends motivational coaching, tactical instruction, and promotional announcements, aiming to give box owners a repeatable, rinse‑and‑repeat marketing system for the busiest month of the year.
Chapters
Good morning. Happy Monday. Today we're going to talk about marketing. Monday is for marketing and we're going to dig into it today because if you haven't noticed, today is November 6th and it means that we are fully forced into the middle of the fourth quarter. And typically November is my highest revenue month of the entire year. And it's probably very similar to a lot of you. So we're going to dig into it today. We're going to talk about the 4 parts of your marketing plan that I want you to have locked and loaded on Mondays. So Monday is a great time to sit down and create your marketing plan for the week. So we're going to talk about that today so that you feel like you're in control of what you're working on. You know what you need to do, and it's all about executing. So Monday is to create the plan. Let's create the template for the week. And then all we have to do is show up every single day and implement what we put in our plan. Sound good? Because here's what happens in November, right? Here's what happens in November. We get so busy because it's our highest revenue month of the year. There are so many things that are happening in our businesses. For me, We've got November subscription boxes. We're locking and loading and we're getting thousands of subscription boxes out this week. We also have our promotions, our fourth quarter promotions. We sold out of our holiday boxes last month. You guys know that. So we've got to now prep all of those. So there's all this extra stuff that we have to do. But here's what I don't want to happen for you. I don't want you to get so busy that you're in the busyness of the season that you forget to execute your marketing plan. We have such a short window to really market our business effectively over the next month, and we get so busy shipping, fulfilling, doing the things that we forget to continue to implement our marketing plan. And if we forget to implement our marketing plan, we're going to lose the momentum that we've already been building. So that's what we're going to talk about today. I'm going to jump in the chat and say good morning to everyone. I'm so glad that you're here. Let me know in the chat. Let's just, let's just take a poll. Let me know where you're at. Do you feel like you have a solid weekly marketing plan for this week? Yes or no or kinda? You can tell me kinda. Let me know in the chat. I'm going to come over here and say hi. I can see we have lots of YouTube watchers. Just a little fun fact. We're getting so close to hitting our first 1,000 YouTube subscribers. So I just want to say how much I appreciate all of you. We've been building YouTube. It's slow. We've been building lots of content over there, so I appreciate all of you that have gone over to the YouTube channel and subscribed. Good morning, everybody. I can see our YouTubers are here. Diana's here. Tina's here. Hi, Diane. Hello, everybody. I can see those, those little red logos are our YouTube watchers. And then we've got our Facebook watchers. I see Andrea's here. And here's the cool thing about StreamYard. So I'm streaming on StreamYard today. I am streaming on YouTube. I am streaming on the How to Start a Subscription Box Facebook page. I am streaming inside our paid membership called Launch Your Box, and I'm also streaming inside our paid membership called Scale Your Box. So I am streaming one time into 4 places right now, and I can see all of your comments on the side from wherever you're watching me from. Good morning, Stephanie. Hey, Emily. The team is here in the chat. They're also over on YouTube in the chat, so they'll be answering questions as I get going this morning. Good morning, Rebecca. Hi, Lisa. And these people right here are probably watching from a group and you just need to give StreamYard permission. There's a little link in the description of my video. So give StreamYard permission if you're watching from inside of a group and I'll be able to say good morning to you. Hi, Shanita. Good morning. Hey, Veronica. Hey, Tabitha. Good morning, Cynthia. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Oh my gosh, so many of you are here. Okay. Let's go through. I asked you a little question. Do you feel like you have a solid marketing plan for this week? Yes. No. Kinda. So we've got yes, kinda, kinda, no, kind of, kind of. Yes, I'm on a roll. Don't you love that feeling? Like, just like I'm locked and loaded. I know what I need to do and now I'm going to show up and implement. That's what we're going to talk about today. Jennifer says yes. Some solid, kind of, sort of, no. Okay. So let's talk about it. If you're yes, locked and loaded, I'm excited for you. But I also want you to listen to what I have to talk about this morning because you might, there might be something that you want to add into your marketing plan after we talk about that today. If you're in the kind of, I'm kind of like, I kind of know what I'm doing, I'm working on it. Let's go through the plan today so that you feel solid and you're going to be like, by the time we're done with this call, you're like, yes, I've got a plan. All I have to do is execute. If you're a no, it's okay. If you're a no, that's why I'm here. That's why I'm here this morning, because this is such an important month in our business that I want to make sure that you have a plan that you can execute and you can feel good about it. So let's get into it. Now, there's a couple layers of our marketing plan. So Amber and I sit down and we go through about a month's worth of promotional ideas. So This week it might be cardigans. Next week we're going to be doing our Better Than Black Friday. Black Friday week we're going to be doing our gift subscriptions. And then I forget what we have the last week of the month, but we have basically a monthly promotional calendar. So that's kind of the first step. Like, let's outline what a month looks like. And these are just our one weekly promos that we do. So we do one weekly promo every week. That's our big promo. And we just lay it on the calendar and we really only work about a month out at a time. This isn't something that's preplanned too far in advance because it all depends on what product has shown up at the warehouse, what product is here, what we've ordered, what do we need to order, what is our plan for the next month, what sold well last month, what's trending right now. So we don't want to get too far ahead of our marketing plan because we want to really live in the moment of what's working in the business right now. Okay, so that's kind of the overall— do you have a monthly promotional plan? What are you going to promote every single month? Okay. Or every single week of that month? That's where we start. What I want to talk to you about today is your weekly plan. So what is your weekly marketing plan? And if you don't go into your week with a plan to execute marketing, you're doing yourself a disservice. You're leaving money on the table every single week when you don't have a marketing plan for that week. So that's really 4 categories, and we're going to talk about that today. And you might be like, I don't, I don't know if I have a plan, Sarah. And you might not realize you have a plan once we go through those 4. But if you can look at these 4 things and say, this is how I'm going to do this this week, and then next Monday you're like, this is how I'm going to do this next week, and this is how I'm going to do this the week after, that's a plan that you can rinse and repeat and you can show up and execute. Okay, so number 1 is our social media plan. Do you have a plan for socials this week? And I'm not talking about, yeah, I'm going to post 3 times a day and I'm going to do a reel and I'm going to do all that. That's a great plan. But what are we going to talk about this week? We need to be very intentional with our marketing plan. And so the way we show up this week, what are we going to be promoting this week on socials? There has to be some sort of understanding of what we're selling this week. We are in full sales mode right now. It is November 6th. I want you in full sales mode. So you need to make sure your social media plan follows your sales plan. What do we want to sell? How are we going to sell it? What are we going to pair it with? What are we going to put out there? What is our social media plan for this week? And you can take your template, your social media template, and say, okay, I'm going to have a product post. Okay, well, that's going to be flannels. And then my next product post is going to be the t-shirts that go with the flannels. And then I'm going to post this and it's all going to just coordinate with each other. You're creating a marketing strategy that things are going to be seen over and over again. If I'm wearing a t-shirt and I pair it with a flannel and maybe some earrings and a handbag, I need to see that more than once. So how can I deliver that on social media in my 7-day period more than once, but not the same image and not the same way? What is the social media plan? Okay, I put together an amazing masterclass. I've talked about it a little bit before, but I give you a template on exactly what you should be posting every single day for a 7-day period. I'm giving you a social media plan in this masterclass. And this masterclass is free with the purchase of my brand new book. And I think that my team has the link today. If you haven't purchased my book, it's coming out next week. My book's coming out next week. I think I just realized that my book's coming out next week. I have been so busy, like so busy working on all the things. My book launches next week, and everyone that's pre-ordered it, they're going to have it in their hands next week. So here's what I'm trying to say. I've put together an amazing masterclass around subscription box marketing, and one of those is our social media plan, and it has templates, it has worksheets, and all the things. Okay, with the purchase of the book, you're going to get my subscription box marketing masterclass for free. It is a $97 value. It will be for sale after our book launch next week, but you're going to get it free. You just have to go back to the page and you have to go back to this page, oneboxatatimebook.com, and put your receipt in. That's how you're going to get the masterclass delivered. Okay. Yes. Pre-order on everything. I don't care if you buy the audio version, the Kindle version, the hardback version. Now, for me, only thing that really counts when it comes to the lists are my hardback book. But you guys are my students and I want to give you the masterclass. So I don't care what version you buy for the list that I'm trying to make. The hardback is what matters. So that's important. But I just want you to have the masterclass. So I don't care what version. And I read the book. So you're going to get to— you're going to listen to me read you the book. So anyway, I don't want to get distracted by the book, but I'm talking about your social media plan. Okay, make sure you go get the book this week because once the book launches next week, the masterclass is gone. It's only available for the preorder. Okay, so if you've already preordered it and you've not submitted your receipt on my website, you're not going to get the masterclass until I have your receipt. Okay, I don't know. Books-A-Million doesn't tell me that you bought my book. Amazon doesn't tell me that you bought my book. You know, all the other places don't tell me that you bought my book. I need your receipt so I know you bought my book. Okay, that's how you get the masterclass. Cynthia says, I bought the book and the Audible. Thank you. Thank you. Because here's the awesome thing. If you do this combination, if you buy the book, one, I'm going to get credit on the list for you buying the hardback cover. Two, the Audible version is you get to listen to my voice. And if you listen to my podcast, if you show up for Monday Momentum, you, you understand the way my dynamics of my voice. But you also have the book version. I'm literally reading it line for line. You can follow along, you can make some notes, you can highlight things, use it as a workbook. If you're listening to the audio version and you have the hardback, like pull it out unless you're driving or something or you're walking and listening to it. But this is where you can make some notes. And I haven't mentioned this before, but we have an incredible book bonus that you'll get inside the book no matter what version. It's a whole website of resources for you that's in addition to the book. It's just fabulous all the way around. You're going to get the book, you're going to get the book bonus, you're going to get the free masterclass like you're going to get the trifecta of all the things that I've got going on. So if you did it from Audible, just put your receipt number in. It doesn't matter where it's found. Just go log, go log your confirmation number on the receipt. Okay. I want you guys to get the masterclass. So go give me your receipt number and that's how you'll get the masterclass. And thank you so much for buying both. I'm going to mail my book to you with return postage. I would love to sign it for you. I would love to sign it for you. Um, so yes, please do that. I would love to sign it for you. And here's just one more thing before I continue with our marketing plan today. Um, I'm going to be at Sub Summit this summer. Um, and if you bring your book to Sub Summit, I will be happy to sign it for you. I'm going to do a full-on book signing while I'm there speaking. Um, but pack your book with you. I would love to sign your books for you if you come out to Sub Summit to spend some time with me this summer. We're going to talk about that next month after Christmas a little bit, what that entails. But yes, I would love to sign your book if you're local, if you're nearby. I'll be having a book signing next Thursday from 3 to 6 here at the warehouse. Bring your book if you've pre-ordered it. I'll be happy to sign it. Just bring it into the warehouse. I would love to see you. I would love to sign your book for you. So yes, all the things. I will sign all the books. You see me somewhere, you got your book. I will stop what I'm doing and sign your book for you. I am so excited for it. My book is called Michelle. My book is called One Box at a Time, and it's the story of my subscription box journey. It's also the how-to, how to start your own subscription box. And it is also filled with several of my students' subscription box journeys. So it's a great book. All right, Tara, I can't, I can't remember the date of the masterclass, but I believe it's right after Thanksgiving. That will be delivered to all of you and it is prerecorded so you can watch it at any time. November 28th. Thanks, team. Right after Thanksgiving, you will have the masterclass. All right. Okay. Back, back to— I got distracted by the book. I'm so, I'm so excited about it. Next week my book launches, y'all. It doesn't feel real. Okay, I'm focused. I got to get focused. See, this is what our brain does, right? This is what our entrepreneurial brain does. We'll start something, we'll get distracted by something else, and then we get excited about that, and then we forget what we're doing in the first place. But I'm so excited, and I just want to tell you how much I appreciate all the love and support behind my book launch. I just, I feel it. I feel it at every level, and I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you. For that. All right. Monday is for marketing. Number 1, you've got to have your social media plan. Stop winging it. Stop winging it. Okay. Number 2, I need you to have a live plan. I know there are still some of you that are not going live. I know. I feel it. I understand it. If you are not going live right now and you want a live accountability buddy, I want you to put it in the chat. I need a live accountability buddy. Just put that in the chat. And if you are someone that hasn't gone live and you see someone else, I want you to partner up and I want you to hold each other accountable for going live. Listen, let me tell you what live selling did for me last week. Normally I go live once a week and do that on Thursdays. Okay, well, I've been going live twice a week right now and it's been doubling my weekly sales. The lift that I've been getting from going live twice a week instead of once a week is doubling my weekly sales. I had one of my highest sales weeks last week aside from our, our box preorder the week before. I need you to lean into it and I know it's scary and I know you're going to feel like no one's going to show up. But eventually they will. You have to start. There's no better time than to start right now. I'm going to tell you about Monday Momentum. I knew in my brain that I needed to start going live on my public page, on the coaching page. I've been doing it for years on my retail page and I thought, why am I not doing this on my coaching page? They need to get to know me. They need to know, like, and trust me. They need to understand the knowledge that I have in my business. Why am I not going live? I'm only going live inside the paid group. That means anyone that's not in the group doesn't understand what kind of coach I am. They don't know what they're missing. And so it was December of 2021. I decided I was going to start doing this thing called Monday Momentum, and I have consistently done it every single Monday since December of 2021. And do you think that I had hundreds of people showing up on Monday morning at 9 a.m. watching me the first few times I did it? No, I didn't. I didn't. It was a few people, and then more people came, and then look, I have hundreds of you watching me live right now on 4 different platforms. You have to start, and don't wait till the new year. I didn't wait till the New Year. I started in December. I was crazy busy with my retail business. I'm like, I'm going to do it. I made the decision. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it right now. And I did. And I locked in and I do it every Monday unless I'm traveling. So let's do it. And everybody that's saying I need an accountability buddy, pair up, reach out to each other. Let's go. Don't wait until after the holidays. Let's start right now. Stop waiting. I would love a template for a live script. You know what? I have one and it's inside my free masterclass. If you order my book, it's right in there. I talk about going live. I also give you a template for a live unboxing. I give you lots of good marketing tips in that masterclass. Let's go. Let's make a plan to go live this week. If you consistently go live every week, let's make a plan to add an additional live. Tracy says last week was her largest sales week too. People are buying. People's buying habits are shifting, and we need to capitalize on that. Okay, number 3, gotta have your email plan. Email is one of the most important marketing assets that we have, and we have to use it. We have to have a plan for it. We cannot keep winging it. What's your email plan? What's your email plan? I outline this very clearly in Scale Your Box, and those people in Scale Your Box that are implementing my email strategy are winning. And you don't have to be in Scale Your Box to understand what you need to do. You need to be sending out campaigns on a weekly basis. Right now, I'm sending 2 email campaigns every week. Okay. Some of you are sending daily emails. Some of you are sending an email every other day. We need to be sending emails. We've been spending this whole year talking about list building. Why would we not use it in the busiest month of the year? The most— it's the most like I get— I'm trying to find the word. This is the time. This is the time we've been building it for this moment. Let's use it. Tuesday email went out. I went live Tuesday morning with brand new quarter zips. Email about quarter zips. Posts are about quarter zips for the next 48 hours. Different monograms, different colors, different— me wearing them, flat lays, customer orders, all about the quarter zips. That's the plan. The plan was quarter zips. That goes into my social media plan. That goes in my live plan. That goes in my email plan. Okay, then Thursday I'm talking about Christmas. We launch our Christmas t-shirt collection. That's the live plan. That's the social post over the next 48 hours. That's the email campaign. It all goes together. People have to see it 7 different times before they can make a buying decision. Are you putting it in front of them 7 different ways? That's the strategic aspect of marketing. How are you putting it in front of them? I've been serving my audience all year. I'm selling. I am selling now, and that is serving them in the time when they are buying gifts for people. I am serving up who this gift is for. I am serving up the convenience of how I've packaged it and put it together. That's how I'm serving right now, because it's time to sell. I've been serving all year long. Now it's my time to sell. But that also serves my audience because they need to buy. You're selling convenience. I'm putting together outfits for them. I'm putting together Christmas gifts for them. I'm telling them who these gifts are perfect for. That's how you're serving. I'm getting too animated. My voice can't handle it. I'm sorry, guys. Pop a cough drop. Number 1, social media plan. Number 2, we've got to have our live plan. Grab an accountability buddy. Number 3, number 3, email plan. And here's our number 4. Do you have an ad plan? Do you have an ad plan? I can't talk and have a cough drop in my mouth. You can have a social media plan, you can have a live plan, you can have an email plan. But I'm telling you what, those 3 things are going to hit your existing audience. So how do we get in front of more people? How do we get in front of new people? How do we become more visible? That's number 4. That's getting our ad plan going. It does me no good to show up and sell quarter zips and have this, like, great plan, marketing plan. I got them on social media. I got them in an email. I'm doing a live. Yes, that's great. And I sold thousands of dollars to my existing audience. But what's the possibility of selling more if I could get in front of other people with an ad? And then if they liked my monogram quarter zips, that is a potential Monogram Box subscriber going forward. They get their custom quarter zip, has a beautiful monogram. They wear it, they love the way they feel in it. They're going to come back for more. So that first purchase to someone brand new is a lead-in for a potential subscriber that's going to generate recurring revenue for me. That's where the ad comes in. I can keep selling to my existing audience all day long with social media, with lives, with email. But if I'm never putting myself in front of someone new, I'm never going to have new subscribers. I gotta keep bringing in new traffic into my funnel. And it comes from marketing. We spend a lot of time marketing to our existing audience, but we have to take the time to get ourselves more visible in front of new people. Always, every month of the year. So here's your marketing template for the week. Plan your social media, get it locked and loaded. Know exactly what you're going to post each day. Write it out. Grab a sheet of paper, go old school with me, write it out, and then do it. Number 2, what's our live plan? Do we have a plan or do we just when we feel like it, we go live. Write it on that schedule. I'm going to go live on this day and I'm going to go live on this day. And this is what I'm going to talk about. And this is what I'm going to sell. And this is what I'm going to show. And this is what I'm going to sell. Have a plan. You don't have a plan. You're going to be like, yeah, I don't really know what I'm going to do today, so I'm not going to do it. Email plan. I want you sending at least 2 email campaigns a week right now. If you want to send more, send a third or fourth. Let's go. We built this email list all year. Let's use it. Let's make some cash. And number 4, get visible with your ad plan. Build that into your marketing. What is working right now on your social? That's what you need to convert into ads. I gotta stop. I gotta stop talking now. I need you guys to build your marketing plan today for this week, and then we're going to rinse and repeat it every week going forward. Let's go sell some stuff. All right, have a good day.
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