It’s very hard to sell anything if you don’t have an audience, but how can you grow your audience without it costing you the earth?
There are a number of ways you can do this but today we’ll start by looking at the easiest option that you already have at your fingertips!
One of the easiest ways to grow your audience and customer base is to establish yourself as an expert.
It may sound obvious but it’s amazing how many people struggle with calling themselves an expert. They seem to think they need some form of qualification or piece of paper to be an ‘expert’. You don’t! In fact, I have several pieces of paper and qualifications in areas that I’m certainly NOT an expert in. A degree in Psychology is one example … and believe me I’m no Psychologist.
By establishing yourself as the expert in your particular area you become the go-to person for your area of expertise. So let’s get really clear on exactly what you’re the expert at.
First take a look at your story … what drove you to start your business? What are some of the things you could literally talk about for hours? What are you passionate about? What topics could you write about and inspire, educate or empower others with? Start writing these down … this is the beginning of a list of topics to write about.
Next have a think about what your customers are asking … either asking you or asking via other online forums or sites … write these down as well.
Blogs, videos and published articles are a fantastic way to establish yourself as the expert, but when it comes to writing or recording blogs, vlogs and articles, some of us love it and others don’t. If you fall into the latter category you can still publish and share great content, just have someone else write it for you! I do love writing but I tend to be a bit time poor, some months more than others, so I have a team of bloggers, all experts in their field, who are happy to write my blog content for The Baby Diaries. Midwives, sleep consultants, essential moves specialists … you name it … and they are lining up to do this! Why? Because I’m sharing their details … I’m giving them a testimonial of sorts, and they’re giving my customers valuable content … win win.
Blogging is a great way to grow your online followers as long as it’s real, relevant, engaging, and regular.
Don’t forget to encourage your readers to share the content of the blog with friends and family … so make it easily downloadable and shareable.
Remember you’re establishing yourself as a thought leader … you’re creating the content and taking it to the masses rather than waiting for the media to do it for you. You’re the one in control of what’s written, who sees it, and how its distributed.
That blog can then be transformed into content to share with journalists for a potential story; you can use components of it on your social media platforms; you can create webinars and podcasts … you can create cheat-sheets… all from one blog. You can also weave your story into speaking engagements to further establish yourself as the expert in your field.
Creating blogs, webinars, podcasts, cheat-sheets etc will create relationship depth with your ideal customers. They also feel they’re getting something of value for free and they’re now starting to see you (if they didn’t already) as the expert and they feel like they know you.
When they share your content this is a form of testimonial … and sharing online is like word of mouth on steroids … it’s great to tell everyone how great your business is, but when someone else does it for you it’s so much better. So get in the habit of asking your customers to share … give them social share buttons, ask them for testimonials and post them on your website, and social media platforms.
Turning this around you can also ask other bloggers, thought leaders or industry experts to share your content. Just ask them if they have a newsletter and would like some quality content. As long as your audience will benefit, and you’ll attract new audience from it, then do it!
Have a great month ladies!
Tara x
Ps. If you’d like to hear more tips from Tara you can sign up for her Free “Stand Out from the Crowd” training videos here
About our Ausmumpreneur Expert :
Tara O’Connell is creator of the globally successful App “The Baby Diaries”, now downloaded on every Continent in 15 languages; and creator of her signature training program “6 Steps to Shine Online” where she helps female business owners to achieve and enjoy online success. Tara is an award winning entrepreneur, author, speaker and CEO at Tara-OConnell.com where she inspires and empowers female entrepreneurs around the world to take action and achieve business success.
