3 Changes My Clients Are Making To Their Content & Messaging To Sell Their Mastermind

In this solo episode, I'm sharing the three specific changes I'm seeing my most successful clients make to their content and messaging when they're selling a mastermind or high-ticket group programme.

I've been learning a lot from other creators this year, and it's made me realise there's a massive difference between content that performs and content that actually sells a high-ticket offer. I walk you through the Maslow's hierarchy analogy I use to think about the mastermind buyer, and the exact three shifts you need to make if you want your content to position you as the authority who can lead them somewhere.

In this episode we cover:
 — Why a mastermind buyer is a fundamentally different type of buyer (and the Maslow's hierarchy analogy I use to explain it)
 — Change 1: why your content needs depth and context, not just quick tips
 — Change 2: why your content needs to show your personal journey, including the pain points
 — The elevated, nuanced pain points your ideal client is actually lying awake with
 — Change 3: why your content needs to demonstrate leadership and an actual point of view
 — The creators I've been learning from this year, including Jun Yuh and Jessi Jean's Yap Challenge

LINKS:

FREE GUIDE: Sell Out & Retain Mastermind Clients in 2026: https://ellieswift.com/mastermind2026

Connect with Ellie on Instagram: https://instagram.com/elliehswift

Subscribe to Inside The Mastermind Newsletter: https://ellieswift.com/newsletter

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@elliehswift

Keen to work together?

1. Sell Out Your Mastermind: The Mastermind Model - https://ellieswift.com/model
2. Be Coached By Ellie to $500k+ : The Scalable Freedom Mastermind - https://ellieswift.com/scalablefreedom

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Scalable Freedom Show. Today I'm going to be talking about the three changes that you need to make to your content and messaging to sell your mastermind. So I've been learning a lot more about content from creators this year. The person I've most been learning from is Jun Yu. We'll pop him in the show notes. I've mentioned him on one or two episodes previously. There are so many amazing content creators out there to learn from right now. There's obviously the Yap challenge that Jesse Dean's done. We've got a lot of people who are doing long form creation. There's a Substack challenge that people are obsessing over. Like there is a lot that you can learn and do around content. Now, the thing that I've been focused on as I've been learning from these creators is that I've noticed that there's a very big difference between creating content and creating content if you are selling a high-ticket mastermind or a high-ticket group program. In fact, there's a very specific type of content that people who are selling high-ticket masterminds and group programs are creating right now. There's some really specific ways that you need to create content if you want to attract people to those higher level programs. If you create content like every other creator online and you're not applying these rules, then you're going to be missing a massive opportunity. You might even be scratching your head and asking yourself, where are my clients? They're probably falling through the cracks because they're not seeing you as the authority, as the person that can lead them and guide them to the type of transformation that they most want. So what I wanted to do was record this episode to take you through some of the things that you might be missing right now or some of the ways that you can enhance your content so that it speaks to a high-ticket mastermind buyer. So before I go in and share the three with you, I wanted to first talk about Maslow's hierarchy of needs and how it specifically relates to your ideal client. So somebody who is purchasing a mastermind or a high-ticket group program, and every time I say high-ticket, I'm really talking about like 2K plus. So there's a massive window here. We could be talking about anything from $2,000 through to $15,000, $30,000, even $100,000 as an offer. And of course, because that's a massive range that I'm speaking to, there's going to be big differences in the sales process, but in the marketing process and the client attraction process, not so much overall. So when I am talking about Maslow's hierarchy, I find that it's a really great analogy or example to give to speak about someone who is a high-level buyer. Because a mastermind buyer is someone who has their base needs covered. So if we think about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we know that as people are moving up the ladder of that hierarchy, they have things like their physiological needs covered first, you know, food, shelter, water, base needs, then safety, then love and belonging, then esteem. Then at the very top, we have self-actualization. That is the top rung that someone can actualize and move into if those base needs are covered. Now, your mastermind buyer is usually someone here. They're someone who has all or the majority of their other needs covered and they can really focus on driving their full potential. So I want you to think about that because for your mastermind buyer, ultimately what it means is that we're still speaking to somebody who has pain, but there is a different level of discernment that that person has if their base needs are covered. And if you're not talking to that person who is self-actualized, then there's likely some language that you get to shift to really speak to that type of a buyer. So now I'm going to take you through three really specific recommendations that I would make for you to change in your content to really meet and speak to that particular type of buyer. So the first one is your content needs depth and context. Depth and context. And that's because your mastermind buyer is someone who's really discerning. They're not looking for a quick hack or a five tips to fix your funnel carousel. They can smell surface level content from a mile off. And it actually repels them because thin content to them signals a thin offer. So the shift that we want to make is to stop creating just for the scroll and start creating for that discerning buyer. Depth means that you're not just telling people what to do, you're showing them why it works, the exceptions, the messy middle. You are showing them your judgment that you have from your lived experience. Context is the thing that most creators will skip because it's harder. However, it's exactly what makes a high-level buyer go, oh, she actually gets it. She's operating on my level. So let's now apply this practically. A few ways to add depth and context. The first is sharing the thinking behind a decision, not just the outcome. So you might frame something as like, here's why I priced it this way, instead of here's my price. Again, that would be if you were doing some sort of hook that relates to price. As a second point, you might bring in second and third layers. So you might say something like, Everyone tells you to do X, but here's what happens at scale, or here's the version of Y that actually works when you've got a real business. You're sharing your judgment, you're sharing your take, you're sharing the reason behind something, you're showing your discernment. The third is that you don't want to dumb it down. You want to talk up to your buyer. You want to make the assumption that they are smart, experienced, and have tried the really obvious stuff already. And this might sound really obvious as I'm saying it to you, but I find that this is really common. I know if you're listening to this, that you are somebody who is very smart and very good at what you do. And it's really easy for us to talk down to people in a way that we absolutely don't mean to, because I know that if you're listening to this, you respect your ideal clients so much. However, remember the person that you're speaking to. Think about your ideal client. I always think about my exact ideal clients and pretend I'm in a conversation with them, or my exact clients and pretend I'm in a conversation with them because it really changes the way that I speak. And then the last is that we want to reference the higher level game. So, for example, for me as a business coach, that's gonna be like strategy positioning, leadership, sustainability, not just quick tactics. Again, if you know that your ideal client is someone who is discerning, they want to see the real stuff. They want to see the behind the scenes, the depth of the stuff that you're actually teaching. So, an example of this might be like three messaging hacks. I might share something like three messaging hacks to sell your mastermind. It's very like cheap thrills, it's very quick and dirty, it's something that ChatGPT or Claude could write. Whereas, I mean, the title of this podcast is like three changes my clients are making to their content and messaging to sell their masterminds. That is more the thing that's actually highlights depth, it highlights judgment, it highlights someone who's in the process. So the reframe of this first point is that if your content could have been written by anyone with a Chat GPT tab open, it's not attracting a mastermind buyer. Depth is 100% your authority signal. It's how they know that you can lead them somewhere that they can't get to on their own. Okay, so the second point is that your content needs a personal journey. And yes, that does include pain points. Your context needs a personal journey. So what that means is that you as the founder, you as the business owner, need to share your own process and examples. There is no greater way to highlight to somebody that you are their person than sharing your own experiences that they themselves are now navigating. For your high-level buyer, however, the struggle just looks different. Your ideal client absolutely still has problems and they're gonna buy to have those problems solved. It's just that those problems might be higher level problems. So, for example, they might not be lying awake over, like, how do I get my first client? They're awake over higher level problems like I've hit a ceiling in my business and I have no idea how to get past it. Um, you know, maybe again, these are business examples. I'm sharing like examples from my own business. It might be I'm making good money, but I'm the bottleneck in everything, or I'm really successful on paper, but I'm really tired all the time. I've outgrown my current model and I don't know what's next. Like, see how the second examples that I shared there are far more discerning and nuanced. And it's the type of language that is actually like considered. It's not just a simple quick fix answer. Your client knows how to get those answers. What they want is more of the answers to their nuanced, layered questions, the judgment things that you can help them to answer. So your content needs to name those very specific elevated pain points because when you articulate the problem that they themselves maybe haven't even been able to put into words, that is when they trust you to solve it. Most creators out there are speaking to beginner pain, which is why sophisticated buyers are going to scroll straight past. And then in terms of the personal journey piece, you need to share your own version of that climb. So this isn't like a polished highlight reel. It's where you were, what broke, what you tried that didn't work, the moments things shifted. Like this ties straight back to your embodiment principle that I shared in last week's episode, where it's not just you teaching the theory, you're showing the path because you've walked it. Okay, so a few ways that you can bring the journey in would be again, using the examples that I've just shared. It might be like talking about your ceilings and how you've moved through them. So for me, it would be when I hit a scaling wall, um, burnout season that I was in with one-to-one, like rebuilding my model around real life where I talk about IVF motherhood, all of it, like that type of context. And then also vulnerability. Sophistication doesn't mean that you have to be sterile. And a lot of people get this wrong. I myself have got this really wrong at times. It's not about being sterile or having to just hold and showcase yourself to a really high standard. In fact, vulnerability is still so key. The depth of your journey is what makes that peer-level buyer really trust you as a facilitator. Okay, and so the third one is that your content needs to demonstrate leadership and points of view. I can tell within three minutes of scrolling someone's Instagram feed if that person, A, knows their shit and B, is a leader. If your content sounds like sanitized, agreeable, you know, everyone's welcome, all parts are valid, kind of crap that fills most feeds, you are going to give a high-level buyer absolutely nothing to follow. Leadership is the product of a mastermind and a group program. So your content has to really demonstrate that, which of course means having an actual opinion. A point of view is you drawing a line of like, this is what I believe, this is the way I do it, this is what I think is nonsense. It's the thing that makes someone go, Yes, you are my person. And it will also make others click away, which is exactly what we want. A point of view that everyone agrees with is not a point of view. So the people who are going to self-select, those people are your buyers. And this is also where you separate yourself from the cowboys. Like anyone can regurgitate best practices, but a leader is going to give you their take. They will share, this is what I actually think, and this is why, you know, the popular advice is wrong. Because that conviction is what a discerning buyer is going to be scanning for. Because they're asking, can this person lead me somewhere that I can't get to alone? So your point of view is the answer to that. Now, a few ways that you can bring leadership into your content is the first is taking a really clear stance, especially against a popular narrative. The second is calling the shots on what matters and what doesn't. So you might say, like, stop obsessing over X, the real lever that you get to pull here is Y, like that type of content. The third is prediction-based content. So predictions around your industry, where things are going. Again, that's leadership. The fourth is being willing to be disagreed with. If you are afraid of losing the wrong people, then you're never going to magnetize the right ones. And last of all, we want to speak with authority. So losing any of the, like this might just be me, but maybe possibly your buyer wants someone who is steady, who is convicted, who is sure of themselves. Okay, I love sharing this with you so, so much. So I really hope this has supported you. I know that for a lot of my clients and for me as well, when I think about content for the second half of this year, I felt so conflicted around it and getting really, really clear on the exact type of content that I want to post that supports my business, my niche, that high-ticket buyer, um, and is also going to really attract the right person. Uh so I know that if that's something that I navigate, that my clients navigate, that it's likely something you are navigating as well. So I really hope this episode supported you to get clearer in the type of content that you're sharing moving forward. Now, if you are running a business right now where you're wanting to move into a group program or high-level mastermind or you're running one already, then I wanted to share with you my private podcast that you can go ahead and access as a next step: the Seven Figure Mastermind Business Podcast. This is a behind the scenes on all things how I've created, built, and now run my mastermind model business. Uh, so it's behind the scenes free, six episodes that take you through exactly how my business runs, what it looks like, the model in practice, and whether it is right for you as well. You can just jump on over to elliswift.com forward slash mastermind business. Have the most amazing day ahead.