DOING IT (Marketing marketing)

[ElleMg]

I remember once reading the quote along the lines of 'the best way out of a difficulty is through it'. It definitely helped me a lot in the past.

Sometimes fear stops you doing the most natural thing to do, which combines your purpose, what you're good at, and what there's a demand for.


I love growing audiences and I've built over 15 million likes/followers/fans across platforms in the past 10 years, with the most success being on Facebook. I love Facebook because with almost 3 billion active users, you can reach and engage with almost any group of people - and for free or very cheaply if you do it well!

There are a few subscription 'solutions', such as scheduling software (which is counterproductive as Facebook priorities posts made through Facebook.com), apps that allow you to easily see best selling content, and apps that help you come up with engaging post ideas. There are also some people offering membership groups and paid courses.

I don't believe you need any paid tools as the ones offered by Facebook do the job and in the case of scheduling software, usually perform better, so those don't interest me. I know of one credible person teaching how to grow audiences, and of course there are a number of more affordable courses by people who don't have a lot of experience in the area.

I think I could add value by creating a course in-between the two. I I think a lot of the things offered by the credible person I mentioned increase the perceived value and allow them to charge a high price, add in upsells, etc. but a lot of small business owners and entrepreneur would rather get the information rather than paying extra for features they're not going to use.


In 2019 I didn't have the money or the confidence, in 2020 I didn't have the confidence, and lately I found myself telling myself 'but you've never taught before' or 'you're not an energetic extroverted marketer' to convince myself it was safest to not take action.

I'm now acknowledging that my fear just showed I have high standards and expect a lot of myself, which I can use to my advantage. I love helping people and I love growing audiences, which I also happen to be great at. I know it's like a 'thing' that marketing marketing is a common pursuit of... marketers, but if you are really good at what you do and have a unique offering it makes sense! I'm still pushing through the bad feelings but I'm mostly excited to help people achieve more, and I look forward to how I'm going to grow and all the new skills I'll learn too!


In the past couple of weeks I've created the bare-bones of my methods and knowledge (which is actually quite a lot as there's so many topics) and been reaching out to business owners and entrepreneurs in my audience to set up calls and find out more about them, their needs, and how I could help.

This brings me to the question I'm going to end on...
My audience is quite broad so I'm trying to talk to a spectrum of people to pick out similarities, shared issues and feelings, etc. but of the people I've messaged the two that have agreed so far are both at similar life stages - and it's the total opposite of mine. Plus, it's the #1 target audience for the competitor mentioned above. I'm having trouble getting a response from men, and from people under 40 generally. I don't want to be targeting the narrow/similar group of 'people who agreed to talk to me', the point of this is to target the audience generally more effectively, so I'm looking to have a range of conversations. How can I get more people to be interested in letting me pick their brain?! I expected people to jump on the idea of getting to talk all about themselves and their business

 

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[Marigold]

I remember once reading the quote along the lines of 'the best way out of a difficulty is through it'. It definitely helped me a lot in the past.

Sometimes fear stops you doing the most natural thing to do, which combines your purpose, what you're good at, and what there's a demand for.


I love growing audiences and I've built over 15 million likes/followers/fans across platforms in the past 10 years, with the most success being on Facebook. I love Facebook because with almost 3 billion active users, you can reach and engage with almost any group of people - and for free or very cheaply if you do it well!

There are a few subscription 'solutions', such as scheduling software (which is counterproductive as Facebook priorities posts made through Facebook.com), apps that allow you to easily see best selling content, and apps that help you come up with engaging post ideas. There are also some people offering membership groups and paid courses.

I don't believe you need any paid tools as the ones offered by Facebook do the job and in the case of scheduling software, usually perform better, so those don't interest me. I know of one credible person teaching how to grow audiences, and of course there are a number of more affordable courses by people who don't have a lot of experience in the area.

I think I could add value by creating a course in-between the two. I I think a lot of the things offered by the credible person I mentioned increase the perceived value and allow them to charge a high price, add in upsells, etc. but a lot of small business owners and entrepreneur would rather get the information rather than paying extra for features they're not going to use.


In 2019 I didn't have the money or the confidence, in 2020 I didn't have the confidence, and lately I found myself telling myself 'but you've never taught before' or 'you're not an energetic extroverted marketer' to convince myself it was safest to not take action.

I'm now acknowledging that my fear just showed I have high standards and expect a lot of myself, which I can use to my advantage. I love helping people and I love growing audiences, which I also happen to be great at. I know it's like a 'thing' that marketing marketing is a common pursuit of... marketers, but if you are really good at what you do and have a unique offering it makes sense! I'm still pushing through the bad feelings but I'm mostly excited to help people achieve more, and I look forward to how I'm going to grow and all the new skills I'll learn too!


In the past couple of weeks I've created the bare-bones of my methods and knowledge (which is actually quite a lot as there's so many topics) and been reaching out to business owners and entrepreneurs in my audience to set up calls and find out more about them, their needs, and how I could help.

This brings me to the question I'm going to end on...
My audience is quite broad so I'm trying to talk to a spectrum of people to pick out similarities, shared issues and feelings, etc. but of the people I've messaged the two that have agreed so far are both at similar life stages - and it's the total opposite of mine. Plus, it's the #1 target audience for the competitor mentioned above. I'm having trouble getting a response from men, and from people under 40 generally. I don't want to be targeting the narrow/similar group of 'people who agreed to talk to me', the point of this is to target the audience generally more effectively, so I'm looking to have a range of conversations. How can I get more people to be interested in letting me pick their brain?! I expected people to jump on the idea of getting to talk all about themselves and their business

For me, I'd be happy to talk to you if it was very clear what I was getting out of it. People care about what it's going to do for them and what they're getting.

 

[TheKingOfMadrid]

If you can sell the need you will have '6 figure e-com'/'self published' geeks lining up to give you their money.

You know what would be really awesome is if you started a brand from nothing - told people get in now or miss out - Grow it big time until it's juicy - get your name trending on money twitter and then do the course.

People will clamor over themselves to be affiliated with the woman that grew a brand from nothing.

Right now no one seems to know you and you're giving away your secrets for free. Don't do that. Become a name then sell - you'll find it far easier to scale from that point.

Covet attention
Sell your knowledge
Profit.

I know people making cold figures doing the same thing, but with adult social networks.

 

[ElleMg]

For me, I'd be happy to talk to you if it was very clear what I was getting out of it. People care about what it's going to do for them and what they're getting.

Hmmm, I'm not sure what they're getting out of it though. They're just helping me out as I research their needs to develop a better product. I'm not selling to them right now. What could I offer? I only need about 15-20 minutes of their time.

If you can sell the need you will have '6 figure e-com'/'self published' geeks lining up to give you their money.

You know what would be really awesome is if you started a brand from nothing - told people get in now or miss out - Grow it big time until it's juicy - get your name trending on money twitter and then do the course.

People will clamor over themselves to be affiliated with the woman that grew a brand from nothing.

Right now no one seems to know you and you're giving away your secrets for free. Don't do that. Become a name then sell - you'll find it far easier to scale from that point.

Covet attention
Sell your knowledge
Profit.

I know people making cold figures doing the same thing, but with adult social networks.

Yes I definitely know the skill of audience building is excellent for those types!

I am building a brand from nothing, but I'm not sure what you mean about the Twitter thing?

I'm not giving away the secrets for free at the moment, I'm just trying to reach out to people within my existing Facebook audience who have businesses to understand the audience more and tailor everything to their needs more. The most they're hearing is that I'm growing a business helping people grow their audience on Facebook.

I do want to use other social networks as even if someone doesn't use Facebook personally, they still might be interested in using it for business as I show the potential. I have more pages than friends on mine

Basically are you saying to just create the content/course/website first, sharing the progress on social media, then let the audience find me throughout and after?

--

Had first interview yesterday and although definitely not a main target audience I got some useful info and they are struggling reaching more people on social media/Facebook which is the problem I aim to help with, so at least I'm getting confirmation that there's a problem to be solved.

 

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[Marigold]

Hmmm, I'm not sure what they're getting out of it though. They're just helping me out as I research their needs to develop a better product. I'm not selling to them right now. What could I offer? I only need about 15-20 minutes of their time.

Yes I definitely know the skill of audience building is excellent for those types!

I am building a brand from nothing, but I'm not sure what you mean about the Twitter thing?

I'm not giving away the secrets for free at the moment, I'm just trying to reach out to people within my existing Facebook audience who have businesses to understand the audience more and tailor everything to their needs more. The most they're hearing is that I'm growing a business helping people grow their audience on Facebook.

I do want to use other social networks as even if someone doesn't use Facebook personally, they still might be interested in using it for business as I show the potential. I have more pages than friends on mine

Basically are you saying to just create the content/course/website first, sharing the progress on social media, then let the audience find me throughout and after?

--

Had first interview yesterday and although definitely not a main target audience I got some useful info and they are struggling reaching more people on social media/Facebook which is the problem I aim to help with, so at least I'm getting confirmation that there's a problem to be solved.

If you know how they could reach more clients then tell them that. That's what they're getting out of it. Tailor the advise to their industry.

 

[ElleMg]

So I managed to get some more responses by creating a survey out of the interview questions, yay.

I checked the responses quickly last night and everything was fine. Frustratingly Google forms deleted the emails that were given, I checked the settings and the 'collect email address' box had been unchecked (not by me) - what gives?! I'm glad it was only a small scale thing, but it's frustrating as last night I checked the emails (but didn't save them, because y'know that's what I trusted Google to do) and thought 'great, my plan to require emails rather than asking for names to identify people worked!'.

It's like a double edged sword that the responses I got were GREAT, one person is my IDEAL audience and their responses are so helpful. I wish I had their details so I could email them some free topics from my course as their need is exactly the one I'm solving. Oh well, hopefully they come across the marketing when I launch if they still need help.

Overall the response is positive and people were already thinking about the need to grow their audience for their business or it's something that they would be open to but haven't put much thought or research into yet. I've also learnt more about the identity of my audience which is really useful.

It's my birthday tomorrow too so I'm ending the month on a high and I'm excited for the rest of spring.

I now have a detailed collection of most of my knowledge ordered by topic. Over the next few weeks I'm going to begin creating the actual content (videos, mainly)

 

[ElleMg]

Spent a couple of weeks working precisely on what I want to say in each video, filmed several takes, and edited a couple of videos. Asked a friend for 'brutal advice' and well.. it was brutal

Sooooooo... the main points are that I'm awkward on camera, and don't sound confident or sure of myself. I'm an awkward person generally so I'm not surprised the camera captures (and exasperates that, as it's an even stranger situation than sitting and talking to a person). I'm frustrated I don't sound confident as I'm really happy with my strategy and all of my content (on paper).

At least I'm trying things and taking steps towards where I want to be. I always get doubts about a month into an idea so I'm sure it's normal (for me) but my anxiety is like 'JUST QUIT DO SOMETHING BEHIND THE SCENES'. I just don't feel like that's actually an option for my goals.

Speaking of goals, I noticed I haven't shared them in this thread yet. Mid term I want a systemised business that generates at least £60k a year. In the past even my successes have been stunted by the fact I didn't have a system so limited myself in terms of growth. I think 60k is a good goal as it's something I didn't manage to reach before (not counting the year I sold my publishing business) - but that was before I read TFLM and I've learnt a lot in the past couple of years. 60k would make up for a 2019-20 spent learning.

BACK ON TOPIC, I need to learn how to be a strong, confident, speaker. I wrote in my journal after reading Personality isn't Permanent (thanks for the recommendation @MJ DeMarco it was awesome!) that my future self will be great at speaking, an engaging speaker, good at speeches, etc. so regardless of this business it's something I know I need to work on anyway. And for now I definitely need to get good at speaking to sell a course a day... and sound confident and engaging inside the course.

I've been doing some research but there's a lot of options. Has anybody had experience on improving their speaking ability? What worked best for you? Do you think it's better to have an in-person coach or would something virtually be just as useful?

 

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