Grow Your Audience, Grow Your Business
As an online business owner, growth and expansion are necessary for your business to survive. If that growth and expansion doesn’t happen then the business will probably fade away. A business can’t begin, grow to a certain point and then simply remain at that point and continue to thrive.
A small internet based company doesn’t have to grow and expand until it becomes a giant multi-national company in order to survive. But as an owner or manager of an internet business you do have to grow your audience so you can build your brand, grow an email marketing list, and make more sales. There are several ways to accomplish this. Let’s look at some of the main ones.
1. Know Your Audience
You’ve probably heard this before, but it’s worth repeating. When deciding what business to start, choose a niche or topic that isn’t too broad or too narrow. You need enough people to sustain your business by buying from you regularly.
The importance of knowing your audience means that you have a viable market out there before you spend time, money and resources starting to grow your audience.
FREE Checklist: Get More Free Website Traffic
2. Make Sure It’s a Paying Market
Do your research to verify that the customers you are targeting in that niche buy books, magazines and a regular supply of items to help them get the most out of their job or hobby. If they’re a dog owner, for example, they’ll regularly buy food, treats, leashes and so on. If they’re a golfer, they will buy balls, clothes, clubs, trips to various courses, and so on.
3. Create High Quality Content Based Around Their Needs
Take the time to learn about the “pain points” or problems people commonly have in relation to your niche. If you know your audience when writing content for your website you can address these issues. In this way, you’ll be able to grow your audience as they’ll feel that you really understand and care about them. They’ll then be willing to visit your website regularly, join your email list – and even better, tell others about it.
4. Spend Time Where Your Target Audience Does
In order to discover their pain points, you need to find out where your audience spend their time and what they talk about. Look for discussion boards, chat rooms, groups, Facebook groups and so on. Read what they say and make notes for content and for product ideas. Gradually start to interact with them in a helpful way. Don’t be pushy or spammy. They’ll start to view you as someone who cares and is not just out to make a fast buck.
5. Create Interesting Social Media Profiles
You should have an interesting, detailed social media profile at each of the main networks you know your audience uses. They should reflect the values of your business, and show clearly why you are worth paying attention to. When people share your social media content with their followers it helps to grow your audience within your niche and drive traffic to your website.
6. Post Interesting Social Media Content
Post a variety of content at the top sites that will inspire your audience and that is in line with what each platform wants. For example, at Facebook, they are encouraging memes and video, but strong images and interesting original content, polls and contests can liven things up too. LinkedIn is more of a business-to-business type of network, so useful articles and PowerPoint presentations can help build your audience. Pinterest and Instagram are driven by images. YouTube is the number one video-sharing site in the world. This is where you can create how-to type content as well as marketing content that your target audience will love.
7. Include a Call to Action (CTA) in Every Piece of Content
Your content is a context for building your audience, and for getting subscribers and sales. Set a goal for each piece of content:
Then include a call to action (CTA) that will help you meet that goal. Here are a few examples:
- Brand building – “Please Like, Comment or Share”
- Traffic – “Visit this link to learn more”
- Subscribers – “Go to this link to download your free checklist”
- Sales – “Want to learn more? Visit this link and discover an effective solution that can transform your life.”
8. Offer Real Value in Everything You Do
People are crunched for time. Make sure your respect theirs. Always provide the best quality content you can. It may be free on your website or blog, but it should always help and hopefully impress them in some way. Similarly, if you give away a free special report in order to get people onto your email marketing list and grow your audience, and then send them emails, be sure these items offer real value and are not just fluff. In this way, you will build a brand and a level of expertise worth paying attention to.
Free Checklist: How Grow Your Audience For Free
You will grow your audience as a result of the marketing strategies and offers you’ve created to specifically to grab their attention. These visitors can turn into leads, which can turn into buyers, then become repeat buyers, and ultimately turn into loyal customers. If you’re a website owner, you probably want more free, targeted traffic from Google and other search engines, rather than having to pay for it. This checklist shows you how to find clients for your business for free so you can lower your reliance on potentially costly paid traffic sources.
