Ep137 Expanding your audience without spending bucket loads of $$ on ads

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I know, I know, Facebook advertising is the go to mechanism for building online courses for building business revenue for getting it all far and wide out there in the world. And I know that I understand that. But I got to my first million dollars in my current business without spending any money on Facebook advertising. And so I'm a massive fan of doing that. Because I think unless you have a low cost, high volume offer, for those, yes, pumping Facebook advertising at them and going through like awesome funnels, that is going to work. But if you're selling something of high value, if you're selling a high ticket premium product, your customer has to know you first they have to trust you, they have to know that you have enough credibility to deliver on that transformation promise that you're telling them you can. And so the way that we do that is through expanding your audience with content marketing, and also proving that you know what you're talking about that you're not just some stranger on the internet that woke up one day and went, you know what I'm going to do this. And so in this episode, today, I'm going to take you through how to expand your audience without spending bucket loads of dollars on ads. And so I guarantee you, if you do these five things that I'm going to tell you about today, you will expand your audience because I think we have to do so much to nurture the audience that we do have in our current customers. But you also got to be constantly widening that net, constantly trying to get more people into your world so that you can expand that audience. And then that's how business grows. And that's how we play the long game. We don't just want to be an overnight success, we don't want to come out with a bang, get burnt out and then disappear. The next week, you know, you want to have this long game going. And to do that you're going to have this beautiful wide audience where you're going to offer value and quality and people are gonna go oh my gosh, she is amazing. She knows what she's talking about, you know what I need to do, I need to do business with that woman. And so that's what we're going to be talking about today. Let's get into it. 

Hello, I'm Tina Tower, and you're listening to her Empire Builder. For my first decade of business, I thought grinding and hustling and working harder than everyone else was my path to success. It was pretty successful by a lot of measures, but it led to burnout and adrenal fatigue. Then when I traveled around the world, on my family gap year, I discovered the simplicity and the reach of online business. And I completely fell in love. You have so much knowledge and expertise that's within, and I want to help you to package that. So you can also help to lift others up. So how do you build a thriving million dollar business based on everything that's in your mind, this is her Empire Builder, the podcast.

All right, now I want to go through with you the top five ways that I use in my business to expand my audience. Now this is expansion stuff. So you'll hear people talking about it in terms of going like opening the funnel, widening the funnel, that sort of thing. I just don't I don't want them love the terminology. So I just talked about like reaching more people, you know, that's essentially what we want to be able to do. It's, you're not putting people I mean, you are putting people through a funnel, but it's more about the customer journey, it's more about being able to go to where your customers are, have massive value for them. So that you can say, Hey, this is what I do. And this is what I'm really good at. And then you say customer over here. And if they're they're going, Well, this is what I'm looking for, this is the problem I have, can you solve it, if it's a match, great. If it's not a match, there's plenty of other fish in the sea, both for them and for you. And so when you're doing really quality content marketing, what I find is you actually don't have to sell because it means that you're so clear on your messaging. And you've got so much out there that people can see what you're good at, they can see exactly what you do. It's very, very clear. And they know that if they're after that you're the person for them. If not, they can find somebody else. And so that's really, what I try and encourage my clients to be able to do is to get really clear on their messaging really clear on their audience really clear on the transformation promise, and then all roads lead back to that. And so we're going to do that with the five things. 

So the first thing is get on other people's podcasts. That is the number one because every podcast so the average podcast downloads, I think last time I checked it, the average was around 100 to 200 downloads a week, which you might be thinking you know what, that's not a lot That's a couple 100 people a week that a listening to. It's not like when say you see me on social media, you know might be 30 seconds before you get bored with what I'm saying you're going to the next thing, but you listening to this episode right now and you're you're probably more than likely committed to listen to a whole lot more of it than social media depends if you're driving in the car and you're about to pull up to your destination and switch it off, then it's been nice, the time that we've had to get. If you're having like a walk or a run, you're gonna stay in listen till the end, because I'm going to be giving you good value. And that's where podcasting really comes into play. And so for me, when I'm doing the podcast on her Empire Builder, it's reaching my audience that I have. But it's a way to nurture my audience to communicate with them to, like, give massive value, but it's not accessing a broader audience unless you share it with your friends. So by me going on other people's podcasts, that's people that aren't already my audience. And so I'm able to be on that podcast and go, Hey, I also have her Empire Builder podcast, they can come over and get to know me through the podcast, before they actually go to do business with me because my products aren't low ticket other than million dollar micro business, which is $29.95. Everything else is $1000 plus. So not really strangers on the internet are going to see that and go, Oh, yeah, okay, I'll throw money at that, they have to know me first, they have to know that they're going to get their money's worth out of it. And to do that we have to build a relationship. So one of the ways to expand your audience, go to your favourite podcasts and get on as a guest. Now, when you email podcast to be on as a guest, I could do a whole episode on this, I might actually let me know if you want a whole episode on that hit me up on Instagram. And tell me if you do that how to get on as a guest on other people's podcasts. Because sometimes people will email a couple and go, you know, I didn't hear back from them. So maybe I'm not good enough to be on their podcast, you know, can you resonate with that. And then you kind of admit defeat and go, Okay, that's not for me. So I'll use my book as an example, when million dollar micro business was coming out, I wanted to be on 50 podcasts. So to do that, we emailed and pitched to 200 of them. That's a lot of podcasts, all personal emails, so we don't copy and paste. We actually listen to the episode, we write something personal, like it's all customised. So it's a lot of effort.

But the book hit the bestseller list, and I have no doubt that that was a massive part of it, is because I only have my audience of which we have about 1000 downloads a week on her Empire Builder. So it's not huge. It's pretty awesome. And I love it. But it's not ginormous. And same with my social media following not ginormous. And so if I wanted to hit that bestseller list, I had to expand that audience. I had to be in front of people that had no idea who I was up until that point. And so guesting on other people's podcast is a great way. But know that for every one you want to get, you're gonna get about four or five noes. Unless you're super famous. I mean, if you're super famous, and you already have a reputation, then you can email most people and you can go Can I be on and they'll be like, Oh my god, yes. But if you're just starting out, or just starting to build your personal brand, or just starting to really solidify them, then you know, it's gonna be hit and miss, you've got to say, this is the value I can bring to your audience and be super relevant to them. Like don't pitch it as, hey, this is how good I am pitch it. As I know, these are the listeners that listen to your audience. And this is how I can add value for them. Because that's going to add value for the podcast as well. And that's going to make them want to have you on. So that's number one. 

Number two, talk to everyone who is your friend. So this is where networking kind of comes into play, and appear as a guest expert inside or your business buddies programs. So depending on what industry you're in, if you have buddies that are in your industry, I call them my business buddies. So people that are in your industry that have your target market that have your audience, but they're not competitive directly with you, then you want to be able to go to them and say, Hey,

can I be on your podcast because your clients are going to love to work with me and I can give you massive value along the way. A podcast swap in that scenario is often really good. But if they've got programs like so, for me, for example, I run her Empire Builder, my mastermind. Now, when we have a guest expert every month and lots of people who run high value programs, bring in guest experts because they're trying to get a different perspective. They're trying to give as much value to their clients as possible. And so for me when I brought in James Wedmore, or when I bought in Brendan was Sarah It was Susie more or Heather Sager, like amazing people that I have greatly admired. But my audience, my members didn't necessarily know them that well. And so when they came in as a guest expert inside my program, all of my members immediately go, oh my gosh, this person's amazing. And then they go tell their friends about it as well. And so it immediately increases their credibility. And so I want you to be that person, I want you to go and appear as the guest expert inside any other program that you know, you can add massive value to. And that's something that I routinely do usually about two or three times a month, is I aim to be on other people's programs. And I say non competitive, but it's amazing actually. Now, how many people I've had on and I've been in with, like, you would probably look at it and go, you know what you're directly competitive. But what I've found is like one out industry is massive collaboration over competition, which I love, because there's plenty of fish in the sea. And if people have a different sort of perspective, that's really highly valuable. So I had someone on who does like high volume, low cost programs, which is great for my members that do high volume, low cost programs, because what I have experienced in running is low quantity, high cost programs, so the opposite. And so it's nice to kind of have that different perspective in that different way of thinking in there as well. So that's number two, be a guest expert in other people's programs. So we've got number one, get on other podcasts. Number two, be a guest expert. 

Number three is participate in Insta rooms on other accounts. So this has been massive in growing our audience, because Instagram and Instagram Stories is such a just a nice casual place to hang out. Like it's not um, it's not like a podcast where you have to, you know, like right now I'm giving you massive value with these five tips that you can actually put into place, add massive value do that often on Instagrams, it's just kind of like having a chat. So what do you think about this? What do you think about that, like, it's very easy,

which I like.

And so with that, you can go on, someone's like someone's running an Instagram Live, and they put you on the screen. So it's that you know, two people at once. Now with Instagram, you can have four people on the screen at once. So you've got some other buddies, this comes back to you business buddies again. And this is why having networks is so important to is so that you can go, Hey, I want to run a live this week, and I'm going to have the topic about bla bla bla bla, whatever it is, I think you'd be really great to contribute to it and bring them on and have this amazing conversation with each other that then your audience can be watching. And that's helping the other people that are in that room as well. So you want to offer that to them, as well as you want to try and get in other people's rooms as well. And that's something I've been doing when I've been having guests on my podcast, I then go on to their Instagram Live to promote them as a guest. But what that does is it also gets their audience to come across to mine. So all of this. Now you may be thinking at this point, this thing seems like a lot of work, Tina. And this is the thing, expanding your audience without spending bucketloads of dollars on ads is effort for marketing. So it's not like you just setting up an ad and just setting and forgetting it is effort. But it's very leveraged effort. And that's what I like about it. And look, I do subscribe to the belief that if you want the benefits, and if you want to run a really pumping business that changes people's lives that he's around for years and years to come. You have to show up to them, you have to provide massive value, you have to be willing to put in the effort. I think if you're not willing to put in the effort, you simply don't deserve the success. And some people would say that's actually a limiting belief. In my mind, I'm not saying you have to hustle and grind and work your ass off to get there. But you do have to show up for people, you do have to give that massive value. And I think that's where a lot of people are kind of missing. The boat is going well, that seems like a lot of work. I don't want to do that. You know what if you want the result, you got to do the work. It's really as simple as that. And for people that are saying that they're getting the result and they're not doing the work. They're either spending a lot of money on advertising, or they're lying. That's really as simple as it is. Sometimes I look at it, and I see people that are going, you know, like I worked two hours a week and I just did a six figure launch unless they've been at it for a really long time and have a stellar reputation, which I know some people in the industry have been doing and so they've earned that right and they can do that. But if they've just come out this year or last year and they're doing that I call bullshit. So don't think that other people are doing it easier than you because you know if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Okay, so That's one two and three one podcasts two guest expert inside other people's programs, three Insta rooms. 

Four is doubling down on video content with all roads leading to your offer. Now video content I love because it forms a connection with people much quicker than anything else when people can see you. And they can like see your inflections they can see your hands and they can see your beautiful face and all of that sort of thing, you can connect with that much quicker. So I would double down on video content in terms of where are your audience, so it's not a one size fits all. If they're on Instagram, do a weekly live on Instagram, if they're on Facebook, do a weekly Facebook Live, if they're on LinkedIn, do a weekly video on there, if they're on YouTube, do a weekly YouTube Live. So whatever it is, and I say live because live gets a whole lot more engagement like next level engagement to just posting a pre recorded videos. So with the live component, you get the benefit of that engagement when it hits and then also the same engagement that you would get if you just pre recorded one. So try and go live if you can, if you're not used to doing lives before start with pre recorded because it's a lot less pressure. So commit to doing one video a week, like just do the best you can pick a topic, go for that. And then when you kind of gone from, you know, I'm ready to get out of my comfort zone into my courage zone, get that courage and go for it and do a live and connect with your audience. Because the more that you can connect with your audience, the more it's going to go up. And what happens with video content is people share it. So that's why I say go video content because then your customers will share it in their networks. And that will expand your audience in there as well. So you want to make sure you're always offering massive, massive value, always. And then the second one is making sure that all roads are leading to your offer. Now what I mean by that is I see a lot of people putting in all the effort on content marketing, but they're not leading people back to their offer. They're not talking about their offer. So you see already in this episode, I have mentioned million dollar micro business. And I've mentioned her Empire Builder mastermind, you guys, that's not an accident.

So it's not um, you know, it's not like I'm trying to pull the wool over your eyes. I tell you, I run this podcast because I love to connect with people. But it's also a business marketing tool. It's sorry that you can listen to these episodes and go You know what, when she opens the doors to her Empire Builder, this is what I can use to decide does she know what she's talking about? Or not? Is it going to be helpful to me or not? Like, is this something that I want to take to the next level. And so I don't want that to be a surprise when I launched when her Empire Builder doors open, which they're doing on the sixth of September. But when those doors open, I don't want people to go work her Empire Builder mastermind, what's that? Like, I want my audience, my customers to already know that. And so that's what I find a lot of people do is they never mentioned the program. So then when they go to launch, people are like, what what is it that you do? And there's all this process that people have to go through in explaining what they have to do, because all roads in that messaging hasn't been clear on that program in the offseason. And I call the offseason when you're not launching, which is more important than launch time. Because launch time is really just when everyone who's been following along then has the chance. But most people have decided by that point or not. You know what next time, I mean, so if you're leaving it until launch time, you've totally missed the boat because it takes people too long to make that decision. So I want you to double down on video content and making sure that you're offering opt ins that you're offering lead magnets that you're offering all different things that are going to lead back to the office that you have. So that's number four. 

Number five, our final one is to host a free masterclass. So this is something that I recommend to my clients about once a month is to go if you can host a free masterclass once a month or every two months that adds massive value and then ask your network to share it with a couple of friends. So say you're doing what am I looking at here on my desk? Say you're doing I've got my book sitting there saying say you're doing how to write a book. No, that's your program, how to write your book, then you may run a masterclass with going here's the 10 things that you need to do before you see a publisher or something like that, or how to get the process of book writing or whatever it is. So you're adding value you're giving something tangible to people that people can walk away with. What you're showing them is the what you're not necessarily showing them all the how this is the main thing or masterclasses is to add value, give things that people are going to enjoy that's going to make a difference but if they want to know the secret sauce, the how to do that. That's available for paying customers, which is how people will join your programs. But you want to make it so that it's not just a sales thing. Definitely, definitely not. It's still going to be tangible. still gonna add massive value. And that way when people register, you can automate the email that goes to them and say you're in this is amazing. I haven't asked of you because I'm giving you all this massive value for free. Can you do one thing for me? Could you share it with two friends? And you may have an Instagram story title there that they can post on their own Instagram stories that says, I'm going to that editor masterclass. Let me know if you want to come with me or whatever it is, the easier you can make it for people, the more likely they are to pick it up. So you do those five things and I guarantee your audience will be expanded and you'll start getting new leads coming in and you'll start getting new people come into your world that you're like, Huh, where did they come from? And it's a combination of doing all of these different things. So being on other people's podcasts, being a guest expert inside other people's programs, participating in Insta rooms on other accounts, doubling down on video content, putting that everywhere with all roads leading to your author, and hosting a free massive value masterclass, asking people to share it with their friends. Those five things will change the game in your business. And that's how you expand your audience without spending a bucketload of dollars on ads. Have fun. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of her Empire Builder. If you loved it, please share it on Instagram and Facebook for your friends. And if you really want to deliver me smile, you can pop a review on iTunes. I'd love to hear from you. So if you have any questions, email me at podcast at Tina tower.com. And if you want to know more about what we do, head over to Tina tower.com. Now I truly hope this podcast gives you so much value and you can use it to dream big, plan well and take massive action in building your very own Empire. That's perfect. Just for you.