Last week, I was on a meeting with my new marketing team and a huge problem came to light.
I guess I can say I always knew this, but until I actually voiced it, I didn’t realize that YOU may not know that this is a problem, so I felt I had to address it.
I have to say that I am perplexed by the amount of people who do not have an audience or a list and expect to have profitable launches and sold out programs.
Here’s the deal: you need people to sell to.
There’s just no way around it.
If you don’t have an audience of people who are ready and willing to buy your stuff, your stuff won’t sell.
Let’s just say you have a brick and mortar store or a yoga studio. How long do you think it will take before you go out of business if you don’t have members and people actually coming into your store to buy things?
And how much more money do you think you’d have if you had 100 people coming to your store each day versus 10 people?
It’s really simple, but so many people tend to skip this step.
First, let’s talk numbers:
Industry AVERAGE for coaches, consultants, and online service providers, says that about 1-3% of people in your audience will buy from you. That means that 97-99% of people will NEVER buy from you.
So let’s say you have a list of 100 people. That means about 1-3 people will buy from you. Not 20, not 50. One to Three. If you’re lucky and you have a really good relationship with your list and you’ve nurtured them and positioned yourself as an expert, then, of course, you can convert way more. (I tend to convert around 8-10% of my list). Still, with 100 people, that’s only 10 conversions.
You can’t even really rely on your social media stats, because how many of those people are actually seeing your stuff with this wonky algorithm? The answer: Not many.
So let’s say you have a social media audience of 2,000 people. About 1/4 (this is being really generous) will see your content and offers. That’s about 500 people. Now that might bring you up another 5 sales.
This is why it is so pertinent that we 1) HAVE a list and continually build it, and 2) Nurture your list so you can beat out the industry standard statistics
Now, let’s talk about three different ways you can start to build your audience and list:
Organic: This includes any kind of free exposure on any social media platform, your blog, posting articles on LinkedIn or Medium, manually commenting on people’s blog, in forums on other people’s Facebook posts, etc.
Does it work? Sure. This is exactly how I built my business in the beginning. But I worked my butt off. I was a daily and consistent effort.
Pros: Organic works. It’s free.
Cons: It takes a long time and takes a lot of manual effort and time.
Paid: Any kind of paid advertising including Facebook, Google AdWords, LinkedIn Ads, YouTube Ads, banner ads on other websites, print ads, magazines, etc.
Does it work? Of course! Once I started making enough money in my business, I made it a point to have a budget for paid adverting.
Pros: It definitely works. You can target your audience. It works fast if done correctly.
Cons: It costs money and there is always a risk involved with paid marketing.
Partnerships: This is my absolute favorite and another thing so many people just aren’t doing. It’s simple, fun and opportunities are endless. This includes guest posting, guest podcasting, being interviewed on telesummits, being a guest in other people’s Facebook groups or group courses and other JV or affiliate partnerships.
Does it work? You betcha! This is such a great way to position yourself as an expert (even if you’re new) and gives you instant credibility. Essentially, you are leveraging an audience someone else has already built (GENIUS!)
Pros: It’s fast. Builds credibility and instant trust because you are being recommended by someone who already has the audience. It’s FREE.
Cons: Not really any that I can think of. Like anything else, it takes commitment and effort but that’s par for the course.
The problem I see is that sometimes it literally just comes down to logistics and numbers, but people get so discouraged and start to doubt themselves when their launches flop or their offers don’t sell.
It’s not that you aren’t good enough, that your offer isn’t good or that people don’t like what you have to say… It’s just that enough people didn’t see your offer enough times.
I hope this message encourages you to start focusing on building an audience so that you actually have people to sell to when you come up with an amazing offer.
I know you are here to help people, to make an impact on others and of course on your own life as well. The more people that know about you, the more you can make that happen.
P.S. I want to hear from you! If you haven’t focused on building your audience and your list, why not? What’s been stopping you? And/or what have you tried that has worked or has not worked?
