Sure, you started your business to change lives, to make a difference and offer your unique talents to the world … “Do what you love and the money will follow,” right? Absolutely, but let’s face it: the money doesn’t just come running along without some additional effort on your part. Plus, as rewarding and satisfying as touching other lives and following our passions may be, fancy vacations and new wardrobes are pretty good too. So, let’s talk about how to get those dollars rolling in.
Some people call it “list building” or “connecting with your potential customers,” but I think that’s a bit impersonal. I call it, “building a fan base.” Fans are people who feel connected to you and your services whether they’ve used them yet or not, and they’re MUCH more profitable than “potential customers” – you gotta love that. So, how do you build your fan base?
Step 1: Offer Something for Free
Email addresses are VALUABLE and more and more people are taking steps to protect their contact information. As you know, it’s really annoying to have your email harvested and then have to unsubscribe to 50 different mailing lists, so people don’t just give that stuff out anymore. In exchange for your fans’ email addresses you have to give something in return. Something good. Something valuable. Something FREE.
I’m not saying give away the farm, but if you have a 5-step process, for example, give your fans one or two steps they can get value from and that will encourage them to come back for more. Think about it like this: What would entice you more to go to a new restaurant? A tasty bite-sized sample of their cuisine or a menu shoved in your face with a, “Hey! Our food is good. Give us money and we’ll let you try some”?
Here are some ideas for free things you can offer your fans:
- Ebooks
- Audio downloads
- A free report (short ebook)
- Free teleseminars
- Strategy sessions
Step 2: Let People Know About Your Giveaway
You have to let people know about your freebie so they can decide whether they want it and so they can … well … know about it. There’s no use in having your awesome, tempting, free stuff out there if nobody knows they can get it. Get your message out in whatever way possible, but be gentle about it. You can’t just go promoting yourself from the top of every mountain and expect to be well received. It’s important to realize that your fan base is made up of real people and you have to create and nurture relationships with them.
Here are some ways to promote your giveaway:
- Social media
- Free teleseminars – your own or offer to be a guest speaker
- Blogs – write your own, guest blog on someone else’s, or comment on other blog posts in your industry
- Articles – write your own or offer to write one for someone else’s list
- Speak on stage – ask to be featured as a (free) guest speaker at your local chamber or networking group
Step 3 – Efficiently and Effectively Capture Emails
Driving traffic to your site or giveaway is only part of the process of building a fan base. Once you’ve enticed your new fans to share their contact information with you, you need a way to retain and organize it. Online there are a variety of programs that will capture your fans’ information as well as provide other services like sending autoresponders or newsletters to keep growing your new relationship.
Here are some of our favorites:
- iContact (www.icontact.com)
- Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com)
- Mailchimp (www.mailchimp.com)
- Vertical Response (www.verticalresponse.com)
- 1Shoppingcart (www.1shoppingcart.com)
There’s no need to be shy about making money from following your passion. There is plenty of abundance to go around in this world and you deserve it as much anyone. However, just because you’re ready to sell, doesn’t mean that people are always ready to buy. We constantly run into people who don’t need us yet, or want to see what we’re all about before plunking down hard earned cash for our service. This is why having a big fan base is so important to the future of your sales. So, share a little of your talent for free and you’ll be amazed at the response you get in return. As your fan base grows, not only will you be able to widen your reach and share your talent with the world, you’ll increase your profit line as well. The most important thing to remember is to be authentic and have fun … you’ll have a load of fans (and be on your way to that beach vacation) before you know it.