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Making your marketing feel more fun with a custom quiz
In today’s episode of the podcast, I’m sharing how service-based businesses and creatives can use a custom quiz to make marketing feel more fun, inspire deeper connection with your ideal clients, and increase conversions in the long run! No matter how many times you’ve seen them in action before, a custom quiz can be so effective.
If you’ve ever used an online tool to find your perfect concealer match or to determine which running shoes meet your needs, there’s absolutely a way to take inspiration from e-commerce uses and leverage them to connect with your incredible ideal clients through your own custom quiz. If you love the idea of having more fun with your marketing, engaging your potential clients more intentionally, and ultimately driving more conversions, then this episode may be for you, friend.
Be sure to tune into the full episode above.
Resources to help you make your own custom quiz
- Links to Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
- Bonnie’s Expert Brand Quiz: If you want to see what a custom quiz can look like in action, here’s a link to a self-guided assessment I created for my ideal clients to help them figure out what specific steps they need to take to propel their brand towards success!
- Embed an Interact Quiz on Your Showit Website: For my fellow Showit users who want to utilize a custom quiz on your website, here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to do just that. No complex coding or professional web designer required.
- People-Led Marketing: The main marketing strategy I’ve been using (and loving!) lately. Catch up on this episode of the podcast here.
Try Interact + Create Your Own Custom Quiz
Take this fun quiz to find out what kind of quiz you could create!
Try Interact out for free and, if you love it, use code BSP25 to save 25% off of any plan. Check it out here!
Some of the links above are affiliate links. Thank you for your support!
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE…
Using a Quiz Funnel to Generate Highly Qualified Leads with Jessmyn Solana
Using People-Led Marketing to generate leads
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REVIEW THE TRANSCRIPT:
Please note this transcript has been auto generated and may contain typos.
Bonnie (00:07):
Hi, friend, and welcome to the Brand Strategy Podcast, a show created to equip you with the inspiration, encouragement, and clarity you need to build a brand of your dreams. I’m your host, Bonnie Bakhtiari, brand designer, strategist, and founder of the Illume Retreat. From sustainable Strategy to heartfelt Encouragement. Each episode is designed to equip you with the tools you need to chase after your dreams, because you deserve a brand that empowers you to do what you love, connects with your dream clients, and offers a deep sense of fulfillment along the way. So grab a cup of coffee and join me on this journey, won’t you?
Bonnie (00:45):
Hey, friends. Welcome back to the Brand Strategy podcast, where today we’re talking about some ways to make your marketing a little bit more fun and a little bit more playful in 2024. Now, I don’t know if you can relate, but I am done with the marketing tactics and techniques that kind of feel like just plug and play templates that feel like just carbon copies of each other, or, um, you know, that feel like you’re not actually getting the opportunity to authentically connect with the brands or the business owners behind that content in the first place. I am not really interested in creating content like that, and I’m not interested in engaging with content like that. Now. It’s all about finding ways to market your service based business in a way that feels sustainable and genuine. And dare I say it, fun. Um, I’m, I’m looking back over my career and I’m celebrating my 12th year in business, which is absolutely wild.
Bonnie (01:48):
And the way that I market my business now and the way that I, uh, actually primarily rely on, uh, people led marketing, which I’ve talked about here on the podcast before. Um, it definitely looks different from how I used to market my business way back when I was first getting started. So, you know, if you are giving yourself some permission to experiment, to test things out, to maybe try some different approaches to your marketing this year or even this quarter, I wanna encourage you that that is so worthwhile. And if you’re feeling like your marketing or pieces of your marketing content aren’t really working for you, they’re not really driving the kinds of results you wanna see, let’s kind of use this as an opportunity to explore some other options. Now, one way that I think is just such a fun way to not only spice up the, the content that you’re sharing as a part of your marketing strategy, um, but it’s also something that you’ve probably seen other, um, coaches or, you know, brands, not just in the online business space, but even in, um, e-commerce.
Bonnie (03:06):
Uh, you’ve probably seen them use, uh, a tool like this, and that is an interactive quiz. Now, before you kind of like roll your eyes and say like, okay, Bonnie, like, I’m gonna hear you out, but this has been done before. Yes, it has. And that’s because it works. That’s because when you give your website visitors, whether they are your dreamy ideal couples as a wedding and portrait photographer, or they are your ideal, absolutely incredible, uh, ideal students for your course, your program, or your membership, if you give your ideal clients, whoever those awesome people are, something to engage with, something to interact with, it can actually be a really advantageous way to keep them on your website longer, to keep them engaging with your content on a deeper level, and then it can be an even better way to actually inspire the kind of conversion or connection that you’re wanting to, uh, inspire in the first place.
Bonnie (04:10):
So, I don’t know if you’ve had a similar online shopping experience recently, but you know, when I think about, uh, trying out a new product, um, I love kind of looking outside of the service based industry for inspiration. And I, I find e-commerce offers just a goal mine of ideas, and I love how on a lot of beauty and kind of personal care items, uh, on those websites. If you are a customer and you’re not really sure what your skincare routine would look like, um, using that brand’s product, or if you are, uh, looking for a, you know, a, a color match for a foundation, a concealer, something like that, right? How are you to know what you’re supposed to be looking for? How are you to know what is gonna be the, the, the closest match to your shade? Um, or what is the kind of information, not even information, but the kind of product that you should be looking for that will meet your needs from a skincare standpoint?
Bonnie (05:17):
Well, a lot of brands have utilized quizzes as a way to point you towards the information you need in order to then to the action they want, which is to add to cart and check out. So, for example, if you are, I think that a lot of people who wear makeup might be able to relate to this, but if you are wanting to try a new brand that you saw an influencer talk about or that your best friend recommended, uh, but you don’t have the opportunity to actually go into a store like Sephora and just watch it on the back of your hand and ensure that it’s gonna be a good match for you, then the next best thing we can do is to take one of those color match quizzes that a lot of beauty brands will have on their websites. This is something where they have programmed it to pull swatches from other really popular makeup brands so that they can find what you’re already using, you input that information, and then they point you towards what’s gonna be the best match from their inventory.
Bonnie (06:17):
Kind of a similar thing with skincare. Um, if I go to a skincare brand’s website and I’m interested in figuring out which of their products are gonna be a good fit for my unique needs, then oftentimes I can find a quiz that is going to ask me a couple questions about, you know, like, my areas of concern or, um, my goals for my skincare routine, or, you know, any kind of like specific concerns, or thoughts or, um, information that this AI should be considering. And you answer those questions and then they tell you, okay, based on what little information we have from you, we think that these products are gonna be the best fit and you can include them in your routine. So, okay, right, those two examples, e-commerce maybe are not exactly seeing how you could translate that to your business as a service provider.
Bonnie (07:13):
But hear me out, what if we started doing more self-assessments? What if we started creating more interactive, engaging content on our websites that our ideal clients can click through, can engage with, and they can then leverage that information that you’re sharing with them through that assessment or through that quiz to become an even more qualified lead for you and for your work. So as an example, um, when I think of this, Rachel Rogers and her team at Hello seven have a fantastic example of what this kind of assessment could look like on their website, I believe it is called the, um, I think it is the Hello seven assessment. And it is designed to help you identify based on what stage of business you’re currently in. So what your, uh, monthly revenue, annual revenue look like, what your kind of biggest pain points around growing your business currently are.
Bonnie (08:20):
Based on that information, they will tell you what next steps they believe will propel you towards the next revenue bracket. So, for example, if you are making less than six figures, but like, just barely less than six figures, if you take this assessment, then they are going to send you a, uh, PDF that is going to walk you through the steps that they recommend you take in order to reach that six figure point. And this is something that I think is so genius because with Hello seven, they are of course encouraging you through that process to join their signature group program. We should all be millionaires the club, but I think it is such a valuable gift to give to someone who’s curious about working with Rachel Rogers and her team. It’s such a powerful way for you to get a tiny taste of their signature methodology that they teach without investing and actually joining the program.
Bonnie (09:25):
It’s gonna give you a little preview of like what your next steps are and what you should be focusing on, and then it invites you from there to then join this container where you will have the support you need to implement those steps and to keep growing even beyond that new point of success. So for my service providers, right? Like if I look at my business as a brand designer and strategist, I can utilize a quiz to create some content that my ideal client can engage with. So similarly, taking it, and instead of creating just kind of like a fun cosmo style quiz, turning it into a self-assessment so that my ideal client can click through a couple of quick fun, you know, kind of like very, very low commitment questions, then I can point them towards where I would encourage them to focus their time and energy to reach their desired outcome when it comes to their visual brand and their brand strategy.
Bonnie (10:32):
So on my website, this is actually what I’ve called the expert brand quiz. I’ll be sure to link to that in the show notes if you want to test it out and kind of see what that looks like. But the way that this is set up is it is a really quick quiz that helps my ideal client get clear about what their current goal is for business. It’s asking them to explore really where they are, um, but where they’re wanting to go. Then it’s asking them questions about their level of, of, you know, confidence when it comes to their brand strategy. Like how clear are they on what makes their brand unique, on who their ideal clients are, on what kind of messaging they should use in order to really reach their goals. And then we’re getting into some more nitty gritty things of like, well, okay, based on that information, how consistent are your inquiries from your ideal clients?
Bonnie (11:29):
How often are your clients booking you at your highest price point? So in all these questions, right, I’m getting more and more information from my potential clients about where they currently are and where they’re wanting to go. I’m asking them to be honest about, uh, really what business is looking like so that they can explore a, a different way, a way that, um, you know, by focusing on these individual areas of brand strategy, that they can actually start growing. And of course, there’s the invitation to work with me. The way that this is set up is it is completely automated, and I don’t have to answer a bunch of questions from someone. They don’t have to, you know, scroll through the, like, just dozens and dozens and dozens of pages on my blog archives, and they don’t necessarily have to like binge a whole lot of podcast episodes.
Bonnie (12:28):
I mean, they can, and if they do, that’s amazing, and I’m so honored that they are consuming my, my, you know, content like that. But this is a quick and accessible way for them to find out how their brand is setting them up for success and some simple, easy to implement steps they can actually take right now in order to experience growth. And of course, because this is set up to encourage people if it feels like an aligned fit to get in touch and to work with me on the backend, I have a simple, uh, email sequence set up fit first of all, of course, I’m sharing their quiz results so that they can dive into that. And then over the next couple of days, I am sharing more examples of what this looks like, what the advice I’m giving them has looked like for a former client of mine.
Bonnie (13:21):
I am encouraging them to learn more about ways that they can grow their brand for free. And then on the last day, there’s a, uh, invitation to book a call with me and learn more about working together. And this is of course, such a easy way for me to be connecting with people, right? If you’re creating an interactive space like this on your website, it can be so fun for you to, um, you know, be capturing information from potential clients for your email list. And it can be a really great way for you to be educating people about your signature process and about the transformations that your services provide so that people can actually get excited and, and really see more about what life and business would look like if they chose to work with you. Now, this is something that I am obviously, uh, a big fan of.
Bonnie (14:18):
It’s something that I use for my own business, but it’s important to set this up in a way that feels sustainable, that feels fun. It is, you know, something that I would encourage you to think about. How can this compliment the messaging themes that you’re already utilizing as a part of your overarching marketing strategy? Um, this is something that if you have that information available, if you have a clear idea of, okay, this is the kind of assessment or quiz or interactive process that I would want to guide my ideal client through, and these are the kinds of questions I’d want to answer, I’d want answers for, these are the kinds of responses that I would include in those questions. And then here’s, you know, a simple outline of the emails that I would want to send as a follow-up. You could probably knock this out in I’d say a, a, you know, an afternoon, depending on how focused you are.
Bonnie (15:16):
Definitely a weekend if you have a weekend available. This is not something that needs to be weeks and weeks of, of like design and copywriting on your part. It’s meant to be something that you can put up and test and experiment with and tweak as needed, because right, the goal of this is to make our marketing feel a little bit more fun, a little bit more playful. It doesn’t need to be, you know, the most perfect thing you’ve ever created. Other still tweaks that I make to my quizzes, because my expert brand quiz is actually not the first quiz that I’ve used on my website. And full disclosure, I use for my quizzes on my show at website, a program called Interact. So Interact is a, um, really popular, um, what is the word? I’m trying to, I don’t, I don’t know. It’s a really popular, um, uh, you know, quiz host.
Bonnie (16:15):
So what you can do is you can actually, um, create your own custom quizzes, embed them on your site. I have a tutorial step by step on my blog of how to embed a interact quiz on your show at site, which I will link in the show notes. So shameless blog, you can go to brand strategy podcast.com, click on the latest episode link, and you’ll be able to find all that information there. But, um, I, I share this information about interact, because this is something that I don’t wanna have to figure out the, the tech on the backend on my own. I absolutely want people who specialize in this kind of thing to be doing all of that coding and all of that, that important valuable stuff for me. Um, so with that being said, interact has very graciously given us a link where you can actually check out a quiz.
Bonnie (17:15):
This is like, this is so meta, I, I can’t, I can’t even, okay? But it’s a quiz that you can take to tell you what type of quiz you should make for your business. Like, isn’t that like, if, okay, right, this is the theme is we wanna have more fun with our marketing and like, I think it’s, I don’t know, maybe this is maybe just being a nerd, but I think it’s pretty fun that you can take a quiz to tell you what kind of quiz you should make for your business. Um, I will include that link in the show notes as well, so that you’ll, you’re gonna be able to go and check that out if you want to have an idea of kind of what a, a good quiz idea would be, um, and interact, because they’ve been doing this for years, they are gonna have some fantastic resources that you can utilize as well, so that you’ll be able to get started with this and check it out and, and, you know, get that, get that quiz live before you know it.
Bonnie (18:09):
I do want to share that. I use, I obviously, I use Interact myself. I’ve used them for years. I am an affiliate with them. So if you do end up loving it and you do choose to sign up, I may receive a small, um, commission as a part of that, that in no way, shape, or form changes your investment, um, doesn’t cost you any more money. And I only recommend products and brands that I use, that I love, that I am happy to share with you because I think it’s gonna save you time, energy, money, all of those good things. So, um, with that in mind, of course, all of those things are gonna be in the show notes, but kinda back to what we’re talking about with like ways to make marketing more fun, if a quiz is something that you’re curious about trying out, um, there are some great examples in not just the online business space, but also, um, in e-commerce, in beauty and skincare, um, outdoor brands.
Bonnie (19:16):
Often we’ll have assessments or quizzes that you can take to figure out what kind of backpacking equipment or what kind of hiking equipment is gonna be a good fit for your needs. I think I even, I’m pretty sure that I took a quiz a couple of months ago to try and figure out what running shoes I should be looking at, and obviously I’m a sucker for a quiz. So, you know, if you like me, are the kind of person who likes to engage with something, who likes to have some guidance towards a product or a service without necessarily hopping on a live chat or emailing somebody. Uh, an assessment like this could be a really good fit for, um, a, a service providers that we can play with, and we can think of fun and creative ways to engage with our ideal clients on our websites.
Bonnie (20:08):
This is also a really easy way to create something that you can, um, leverage strategically through multiple channels. And what I mean by that, right, is once you get your quiz up and running, and whether you send like one email after people, uh, take your quiz and that that includes their, their quiz results, and then a, you know, soft pitch to work with you or any other information or links to your, you know, blog content, your services page, anything like that. Once you have that set up, um, you can share this on a lot of different channels. Uh, as an example, I have my quiz. I’ve created some simple graphics that I can kind of ju up by swapping out the featured image or, you know, kind of playing around with a color pairs. But, uh, I can pin those to Pinterest and I can have the destination link go back to that quiz.
Bonnie (21:10):
And so if my ideal client is trying to figure out how to position their service-based brand as a, a, you know, an expert in their industry on Pinterest, and my pin comes up and it catches their eye, they can click over, take that quiz, and it like, instantly start getting information that can help them. And, and while they’re receiving that information, they can start to learn more about who I am and what I do and how I could potentially serve them if we decided to work together. Um, other places, of course, on your social channels. So you could, you know, like include this, uh, when you’re posting content on TikTok or Instagram or Facebook, um, if you are showing up on threads, this would be such a fun way to start a conversation with your followers there. So this is something that, um, has a, a good lifespan to it.
Bonnie (22:03):
Like I created my expert brand quiz back in 2023, and I plan to come up with, you know, some thoughtful ways to include that and other content that I create and push that out on different channels. Like I can, you know, I can encourage even those on my email list to click on over and check it out. You know, it’s something that has more of a lifespan. It can, it can kind of do more for you. And if we wanna have more fun in the way that we’re marketing our businesses, I encourage you to think about some ways that you can really do more without having to manually be behind your computer, pushing some buttons, clicking your mouse to do those things. So I encourage you to think about some ways that, yes, it takes energy up front to create it and to set it up, but once you’ve created it, you can more passively start to market it.
Bonnie (23:03):
And I don’t say fully passively because I don’t really think that anything is fully passive in business, but more passively you can start to, you know, point people to this. And also it can be a really fantastic, um, kind of organic lead generation, lead generation, lead generator. There we go. Words are hard sometimes, y’all, but what you can do is if you’re having a conversation, a conversation with someone, and they are wanting to learn more about, you know, your signature approach to the work that you do, you could say, actually, I’ve got this really fun self-assessment, or this really quick quiz that’ll tell you more about where you currently are, or tell you more about what it’s like working with me and my advice for where you are specifically in that season of life or that season of business and where you could go. So I think it’s also a really simple and fun kind of thing to work into your conversations with people.
Bonnie (24:02):
So if you’re trading messages with someone on social media or you’re chatting with someone at a networking event, don’t be afraid to mention these fun, interactive things. I promise you it’s so much more memorable than like, you know, oh, you can check out my blog, or you can sign up from my email list. Not that those are, you know, bad things to point people to. They’re, they’re fantastic, but it’s a little bit more memorable to be pointing someone towards a quiz or something like that at a networking event or when you’re chatting in the dms, um, versus just another, Hey, you can check out my blog here, , insert you RL here. Um, okay, I have so many more thoughts about making marketing fun again, but I’m gonna leave that here for now. Today we’re talking about, you know, quizzes, assessments, creating more interactive content on your websites so you can leverage across different channels.
Bonnie (24:58):
And I encourage you to utilize a tool like this doesn’t have to be interact. I’m sure there are other fantastic companies out there who can help you set this up, but I encourage you to leverage something like this in order to highlight your signature service, your signature approach, your unique, incredible transformation that you offer through the work that you do to your ideal client. Because then this is not just like a fun thing to create and a fun thing for your ideal client to take, but it’s also a really strategic piece of content that is going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting for you. Okay? So I hope this helps give you some ideas. And as honestly, with everything here on the podcast, if nothing about this really resonates for you right now, if it’s something that you know, you’re like, Hmm, interesting, but I don’t really know if it’s for me, that’s totally great, because ultimately I’m making a suggestion.
Bonnie (25:58):
You’re the one who gets to make the decision about whether this aligns with your definition of success and whether this feels right for you, and it honestly fits into your marketing strategy. So whatever you decide, I’m always gonna be cheering you on from Waco. Thanks again for tuning into the Brand Strategy podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. Friend, before you go, I would be so grateful to receive your feedback on the Brand Strategy podcast. If you enjoyed this episode or the podcast in general has helped you grow your brand, I’d really appreciate it if you left us a review in iTunes. Your positive reviews enable the brand strategy podcast to continue to grow and reach like-minded creatives just like you. Thank you for all your support and encouragement as together we pursue building brands with purpose and intention. Until next time, I’m cheering you on from Waco.
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