Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway for an Amazon Firestick and Echo Dot bundle. Today, we will answer the following question: “how can I reach more people?”
In business, reaching your target audience can be tricky. Growing your audience can be even trickier. In order to keep growing and expanding, it is important to experiment with different marketing techniques. Ideally, you want to reach people who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. That means you need to find the fine line between casting a wide net and focusing on people like your current customers.
Start by Evaluating Your Current Situation
The first step to reaching more people is understanding how many people you currently reach. It’s a basic tip, but a critical one. If you don’t understand what you are doing and who’s paying attention already, it’s hard to tell what will and won’t work. Knowing what works best for you is key in not only reaching your audience but also in expanding and growing it.
Start by mapping out all customer touchpoints. That is, identify every place where your customer will interact with your brand. That includes social media, ads, email, direct mail, calls with sales staff, your website, your store/office, your billing, and…you get the idea. Once you start mapping out your customer touchpoints, you’ll probably be surprised by how many people you already reach!
Since your goal is to increase reach, think about ways you can easily reach more people. You can do so freely online through social media, blogging, and other forms of content creation. If you really want to turn things up a notch, you can advertise on social media and start sending regular emails.
Try a bunch of different marketing methods and monitor them. See what works. Don’t be afraid to double down on what’s working and to quit what isn’t!
Not every venture will yield the results for which you are looking. For example, let’s say that your Instagram account is thriving. You know that this is a rock-solid marketing channel to keep using. On the flip side, you have a Twitter account that is barely getting any engagement. You’re naturally going to spend more time on the channels that are the most successful. Don’t be afraid to move away from what is not working for you – focus on what does!
Start Changing Up Your Content and Methods of Distribution
Finding your focus is important in business. You have finite resources and you can’t spread them too thin. Even still, when you’re trying to reach more people, you have to experiment.
Don’t be afraid to try some new forms of marketing, particularly content creation. “Content” is a vague word and, in practice, it will look different for everyone. It can mean social media, blogging, podcasting, video, live-streaming, or more. The point is: venture out into uncharted waters and see what works.
A week ago, we said that being different – within reason – is a good thing! It helps you stand out in a crowded market. Being different is a good thing! One great way to attract more people to your site and reach them is to catch their attention with something that they don’t see too often. Seth Godin calls this a “purple cow,” a metaphor for making something remarkable enough that people remember it even when they’re being bombarded with other messages.
Final Thoughts on How To Reach More People
It’s tough to reach more people, at least at first. You may at some point feel like you’ve hit the proverbial wall and that you have exhausted all possible resources. At this time, it’s time to change things up, try something new, and see what works. Experimentation is key to good marketing.
Keep at it and remember: work hard for long enough, and people will notice!
