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Episode Transcript:
Are you looking for ways to sell more? Are you looking for ways to get your message or product or service out there, in front of more people?
This episode is for you 🙂
Welcome back to Nº4 of my 7 pet peeves around building your own business.
A while back I spoke to a lady who was starting out as a health coach. When I asked her what she saw as the next step forward in her business she said, “I need to learn about facebook ads.”
I remember I was really surprised and asked her why she thought she needed facebook ads.
“I need to get more out there,” she said.
Ok. So you’ve got a coaching package? Yep.
Have you sold it to people in your family? No.
Friends? No.
Neighbours? No.
Co-workers? No.
That’s why I need facebook ads, I need to reach more people.
Why?
She couldn’t get people to buy her health coaching services. And she was convinced reaching more people would solve her problem.
I disagree.
Now to be clear, I see nothing wrong with facebook ads, and I see nothing wrong with reaching more people.
But I think facebook ads – and any other way of reaching “more people” – are like alcohol .. they simply amplify what’s already there.
If you know exactly who your perfect client is and have an offer that you KNOW works for these people, meaning you’ve actually sold it more than once, fb ads or whatever may well be the perfect next step to scale your business.
But if you think they’ll help when you can’t sell your thing to the people who already know you I think you’ll most likely fall flat on your face.
You can see it everywhere online .. people writing posts or creating videos sharing their story, talking about their work, doing all the right things with very little or no engagement, and ultimately no leads or clients.
If you’ve ever observed yourself scrolling through your Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or whatever feed you already know why that doesn’t work.
People create tons of content every second and it’s no longer about giving or finding information, it’s about filtering out what’s relevant.
There are two filters – two hurdles you have to overcome
1. The infamous algorithm – determines what people get to see to start with. Social media platforms are trying to keep you on the platform, and they do that by showing you what you want to see. In order to figure out what that is they’re looking at what and who you engage with. So, no matter what you put out .. people who haven’t had any interaction with you aren’t likely to see it. If you’ve ever posted something when you joined a new fb group and nobody reacted, even though the group is very active .. that’s the reason why.
FB ads can get around that but there is still the second hurdle, and if anything it gets higher if you go that route .
2. People are scrolling – “scroll stopping” is apparently a word now to describe content that catches people’s attention ..
So what makes you stop and take a closer look at something posted somewhere?
If you’re anything like me there are only two things ..
Something catches your attention because it offers a solution for a problem you’re actively looking to solve. Say, if I’ve been frustrated with the audio editing software I use for my podcast and quietly thought I’ll have to see whether I find something better, a post about the top audio editing software this year will make me take a closer look.
But even in a case like that the very next thing I look at is
Who the heck is this?
Do I know them? Can I trust them?
No matter which way you look at this, Can I trust them? is ALWAYS the key question.
That’s why Amazon’s or TripAdvisor’s review systems are so powerful, that’s why referrals work, that’s why they say “it’s all about relationships”.
It’s about trust.
And broadcasting – that’s what you’re doing when you put your stuff “out there”, in front of more people – doesn’t build trust.
Trust is built through conversation, through genuine curiosity, through getting to know each other
Trust is built through showing up as you are, by letting people see you, not the polished version but the raw, authentic version of you. And not just once, but consistently.
