Jessica is a Sales Success Coach and Business Strategist. Jess works with coaches, consultants and service based online entrepreneurs to develop proven sales strategies to attract premium clients on demand, without spending all their time chained to their laptop!
After waving goodbye to her corporate cubicle, Jess made it her mission to help other entrepreneurs embrace a laptop lifestyle and create successfully, sustainable businesses from anywhere that they have their laptop, WiFi and a steady stream of cocktails…
It’s sad to say that I didn’t get to meet Jess whilst I was still in the Uk, but you can be sure we will be meeting up when I go home next year for a friends wedding!
Today Jess is going to talk about the importance of building an email list full of your raving fans. If you love this post then make sure you join her Fabulous Female Entrepreneur Facebook group! 😀
Now it’s time for Jess to do some talking…
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How to Build Your Audience in a Way That Boosts Your Ego AND Your Sales Without Putting You in an Awkward Position.
Size. Something that according to Live Science, 30% of men are pretty concerned about. But there’s some good news ahead gents – it’s not just men that worry about size. Women do too. And of course, we’re all talking about list size here..!
When starting out as an entrepreneur, the first piece of advice (after the inevitable “Are you out of your MIND leaving your cushy job/ nice salary/ stable financial situation, in favour of late nights on the laptop/ eating Cheetos from a bag as you promise yourself that you’ll go food shopping when you get your next client/ to turn into a hermit. Delete as applicable.) is usually,
“Focus on building your list”
And this advice is coming from the internet marketing greats.
Amy Porterfield, Ryan Deiss of Digital Marketer, Jill and Josh Stanton from Screw The 9-5 et al. They all encourage you to build your email list – and with good reason. Statistically email marketing is one of the best ways to generate revenue and customer relationships in your business; in fact Noah Kagan (founder of SumoMe) credits email marketing for 90% of the revenue of Appsumo – and that’s a 7 figure business!
But growing your email list is a tricky one – because it relies on you doing something else that’s also pretty tough.
Building your audience.
And this my friends, is where size comes in.
You see the temptation becomes all too easy to want to be active on every platform and start generating audiences all over the place. Suddenly you’re a ‘tweeter’ with an Instagram account, filled with images of your laptop in the nearest Starbucks, with an addiction to Facebook – and all the while, ‘scoping your results.
And every day, you’re getting in front of new people, hundreds of them, posting your latest updates, offering value and support… and yet you’re still lacking the funds you need to put the down payment on that new Maserati. Facebook Ads made it all look so easy…
Painful but true.
So why wouldn’t this strategy of omnipresence work in favour of you building your audience, your list and your income?
Quite simply, because although being ever-present across social media platforms can get you in front of more people, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re the right audience that you really want to be in front of. In other words, they might not be the prospective buyers that you actually want to pay you.
Now I’m not suggesting that wanting to be across a variety of social media platforms is a pointless exercise; I’m all over Instagram with photos of my laptop on the balcony, wine in hand and, when I started out, was in more Facebook groups than you could shake the proverbial stick at.
However what I am saying is that conventional wisdom has been fibbing to online entrepreneurs when it comes down to how we build that audience.
If you’re a coach, consultant or service based entrepreneur, the likelihood is that at some point, you have been told to;
“Post 3-5 times per day in different Facebook Groups”
or
“Send everyone who ‘liked’ your latest group post a private message to thank them and start up a sales conversation”
That shiz makes me madder than Popeye when his spinach supply goes down.
Why?
Because IT DOESN’T WORK.
(excuse the shouting)
But it’s true. It does not work to build you a large engaged audience of people that actually want to buy from you. In fact, it makes you more repellent than Donald Trump’s latest hairdo during Fashion Week, because in the online world, we’re all in the same groups.
It’s an incestuous world and if you start spamming six groups at the same time with your latest sales post, you’re not going to attract an audience – you’re just going to ensure that your message is diluted and that people skip over it in future.
So with all that said, how can you build an audience of people that know, like and trust you – and who want to pay you?
The key thing to remember here is;
SIZE DOES NOT MATTER.
There. I finally said it.
It’s not about how big your audience or list is… it’s about how engaged they are.
Let’s look at some real life numbers here:
- The size of my email list when I sold out my first ever group programme to over 20 people? 230.
- The number of people in my Facebook group when I sold out a launch programme in just 4 days? 642
Conventional wisdom will tell you that you must have a BIG list. But common sense (and metrics) shows that it’s not about the numbers, it’s about having the right people on there in the first place and communicating with them in the right way to keep them engaged, deliver value and show them why they should buy from you. And to get those people, you need to do three simple things:
- Get Clear: Clarity has become a coaching buzzword of late – but only because it’s so crucial – and not just in terms of building an audience! Having total clarity and understanding exactly who you want to work with and what you want to sell to them will ensure that you’re consistent in your approach and ensure that you don’t attract the people that you don’t feel are your ideal clients.
- Conveying Your Message: Crafting a message that polarises your audience actually really helps when it comes down to building your audience. By communicating your message in a way that shows that you understand the problem that your target client faces and by being able to demonstrate a solution that meets their needs, you attract the audience that you want – and you repel the ones that you don’t want. Your message also gives your audience a really good insight into whether or not they’re the right fit for you – and the language you use, the values you stand for and the way that you communicate your value, all lead into the audience attraction process.
- Traffic: Having clarity and a clear message is great – but if no-one ever sees it, then you’re not able to build your audience or your list! Many online service based businesses focus on social media to generate leads in their business – and you can use both paid and organic to get in front of as many people as possible. Don’t sit on all the platforms however; take time to identify the ones that your ideal clients are spending their time on and focus your efforts there to begin with. Use value based posts in online communities to get your name known and establish yourself as an authority in your industry – and then have somewhere for those people that resonate with your message to get to know you better. Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Communities and even online forums are perfect!
- As your organic traffic starts to plateau, utilise paid traffic to attract new members to your audience – and don’t forget to get yourself established as an expert in other ways. You could pitch to be a guest blogger or a guest podcaster and really demonstrate your value to another audience.
Now these things sound really simple – and that’s because they are. Attracting and building your audience shouldn’t be difficult. It should be an enjoyable process where you get to add genuine value and show your worth – and where you get to know people that you want to build relationships with for the future. Although these steps are simple, they do take practice – so make sure that every day you’re spending time really honing in on being visible and getting known in your space.
Even if you’ve already started to build your audience or you have an audience that you feel may not be filled with ideal clients, start using these techniques to streamline and polarise the audience that you have. This will naturally lead to those who resonate with you becoming die hard raving fans and some naturally unsubscribing. Non-ideal clients leaving your audience isn’t a problem – so please don’t worry if you suddenly start seeing a few people exit your email list initially; they’re just making space for the right people to arrive!
Remember, building the right audience will ultimately lead to more authority, a bigger audience (because people will recommend you to others!) and more sales long term in your business.
And there you have it – the super simple strategy behind building an audience (and an email list!) that is engaged, enthused and ready to buy from you time and time again!
