Today I want to talk about how there are certain milestones in our businesses that make everything easier… but you gotta get there first! Whether it is listing numbers, social media stats, Youtube views or website hits, at some point things become easier when you have the numbers on your side!
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Why I Wrote This Post
A funny thing happened this week… a gal reached out to me to do a collaboration on a video on my magazine collage, art journaling Youtube channel. This is the first time anyone has offered to help me grow my channel … doing a collab helps both channel owners by exposing each others audiences… criss cross applesauce.
She offered to do this because she has 834 subscribers and I have over 4,000, so me exposing my audience to her benefits her… BUT she is doing all the work… giving me the prompts and arranging the times and dates.
I got this opportunity because I have “large numbers”…. now, 4K subscribers isn't big-big in the grand scheme of things, but is bigger than that gals channel!
And that got me thinking that there are laws of large numbers all over marketing! Here are some to think about as you are growing your business!
1. Growing Your Number of Listings
It is so funny that in my business world I have been focused A LOT on listings… real estate listings or Ebay listings or Etsy listings.
Real Estate Listings
As a Realtor in a buyers market, I carried over 50 listings. Getting that first listing was the toughest… I mean, who wants to work with a Realtor who has never sold a house before!
I marketed the crap out of that listing, doing open houses and walking the neighborhood and got another listing in that area… once you have a fair number of listings, getting more becomes A LOT easier.
If I had to pick a way to start my large numbers in real estate again I would pick a neighborhood to farm do a ton of marketing (social media posts, Youtube neighborhood videos, real estate postcards, etc.)
Etsy or Ebay Listings
I just opened an Etsy store selling my art on Print On Demand products and my Etsy Coach said that I have to have 100 listings… that something magical happens on Etsy when you have 100 (good) listings.
The “magic” is that you have a broad enough catalog that you will rank for search terms. Having one listing makes it hard to get any traction or sales. Having a few is better…. as I write this I have 83 and by the end of the day I will have hit 100!
At 100 listings I will also have the chance to market my listings more, I have been doing Roundup Pins on my Pinterest account to generate traffic.
Once I get more sales (or even views) I will start to have numbers that I can use for analytics purposes to figure out which of my listings are “best”.
A wicked cool podcast that I used to listen to when I did Ebay said that you needed to have 250 listings on Ebay to move the needle…
If you are just starting an Etsy or Ebay store, get your listings to the “right number”. Learn a little bit about what Etsy SEO or Ebay SEO (search engine optimization) tactics are working TODAY!
2. Growing Your Social Media
Getting your first few followers on social media platform is hard, but after a while momentum takes over and you don't have to try anymore, it just happens.
Setting Up Your Accounts
So first off, try and make your social media handle the same or similar across all the social media platforms. “Claim” that name and set up accounts or change your account name to that one main one.
If you have one social media account that is doing better than the rest, model all the other ones off of that. Sign up for all the social medias, whether you are going to grow them or not!
You want to do this because someone will find you on one service and follow you on another service!
Picking Which Social Media Account To Grow
There are two schools of thought about which social media to grow:
- The one your customers are on… this is solid marketing advice and if you aren't married to one you like already, go for it!
- The one you will actually use… you can tell me all day that as an artist I should focus on Instagram, but I like Pinterest better and use it more so I get better results
It doesn't matter which way you choose, just stick with it long enough so that you can see results before moving on to another one!
How To Grow A Following
This is the part that sucks! To get to large numbers you have to be super consistent even when it doesn't seem like it is working!
Oh, AND you have to try lots of things so you know what your “peeps” like to see from you on social media and then make that work for your marketing efforts… let me explain…
Say you a Realtor and you post walkthrough tours of all your listings, “a day in the life of” and funny real estate memes on your Facebook page.
As you s-l-o-w-l-y grow your page, the stats show that no one cares about your day, they will like the memes but not engage, and they comment and share the video walkthroughs.
BAM… you found your “thing”. That Venn Diagram of what you want to share and what your peeps like and will interact with!
Then do more of that until your following grows…. I KNOW, that sounds stupid-simple, but marketing is not hard, it just takes trying things and then consistency to work.
3. Growing Your Email List
Growing your email list works the same way with a few twists.
How To Get People On Your Email List
To get people on your email list you have to do one of two things…
- Give them something cool they want that is related to what you sell (a free ebook, a white paper, etc.)… here is a list of 100 free giveaways if you need inspiration
- Be super interesting so people will following you anyways… I have more people sign up to my Artsy email list than my marketing list just because I do art on Youtube, not because I give them anything
What To Send Your List
We are back to our Venn Diagram of what you want to accomplish with your email newsletter and what your people want from you!
For example, I like when my readers visit my Youtube videos because views help my stats and I want them to read my blog posts and see the ads so I can get paid.
I write AMAZING weekly emails that help them with marketing, time management, product development and happiness. I get a few messages back each week saying how my email helped them… awwww.
Another gal I follow writes a couple of paragraphs EVER DAY about what is going on in her life (I know about her cats, her air conditioner, her health scare) and then posts affiliate links to information products that she gets a commission off of.
Now, you may think getting an email everyday would be sucky, but I love Debbie and want to know what new thing is going on AND have signed up for a couple of the products she has recommended.
How To Grow Your Email List
First find an amazing freebie (or coupon) that your types of people actually want and promote that everywhere you can. Or be super interesting and grow a Youtube channel or big blog… OR get featured on someone else's channel or blog! (check out the speaker tips below… this is a great way to grow your list!)
Now we have to go back to stats! You will want to start checking and seeing which of your email subject lines get opened the most, which links your peeps click and what messages seem to resonate with them the most.
DO NOT worry about un-subscribes. Anyone who leaves your list is just saying that you are not something that provides value to them… NOT that you suck. For example, some people leave my marketing list because they aren't selling on Etsy anymore… no bother!
I KNOW, this seems simple too… it just takes time to build a list of people who love you… patience is the key on this one!
4. Growing Your Speaker Marketing
All of the things that we have talked about up until now have involved YOU growing a large following. Speaker marketing is the only one where you are leveraging someone else's following that we will talk about today!
What Is Speaker Marketing?
If you are charming, pretty and a great public speaker like me (ha) you can help grow a following fast!
Speaker marketing to me is where I talk about a subject that I know a lot about in person, on a podcast or Youtube channel.
Generally at this point I only do it when someone reaches out and asks me to talk, but you can be the “reacher outer” and get lots of great speaking gigs (more about this later!)
Why Should You Do Speaker Marketing?
The great thing about speaker marketing is that you are able to showcase your expertise on a platform that someone else has grown! Here are some example platforms:
- A networking group that needs a weekly or monthly speaker (in person)
- A Youtube channel that does interview style content (online)
- A summit where they gather a bunch of speakers and have a few day training
There are SO MANY ways to get speaking gigs… once you are an established speaker with large numbers of speaking engagements (honestly, people will reach out to you!) So let's talk about…
How To Get Speaking Gigs
Speaking in public is a self perpetuating thing… once you speak, other people will hear you, love your info and ask you to speak on their platform.
But how do you get those first gigs?
You could hire a person on Fiverr to find you podcasts to reach out to an offer to be a guest. Tell them what your speaking topic is and they will find you podcasts that need guests… easy peasy!
Go to networking groups and tell them you are speaker… be charming and witty and some of them will invite you back to speak to them. I did a “death march” of this when I moved to Colorado. I attended two networking events a week until I had a firm foothold as a qualified speaker in the area!
Check out Youtube to find out which Channels have guests on their programs. Email them to let them know you are a speaker and would like to talk on their show.
Law of Large Numbers In Marketing Wrapup
Okay, I made all of those things sound super easy… and they are! I have done all of those things and achieved large numbers at some point in my life.
Honestly, all it ever took was being willing to do the work when there was no payback until I hit a tipping point and things got easier.
Now for you!
Have you ever reached that tipping point where the law of large numbers works in your favor? If so, leave me a comment!
Are you still in the slog? Do you feel like you can never get any traction? Figure out what “large number” you need to hit and spend all your time in the coming months hitting that number. I PROMISE you that will make everything so much easier!