The need to build an audience starts pretty much just when you start making the product or even before. When you have an audience, you can ask them product questions, understand their needs and analyze if they are interested in your product or not. It also helps to build a solid foundation and make product advocates. To be very honest, building an audience is not just a click away, it requires time and effort to build a loyal community, eager for your launch. However, with our proven strategies, you are sure to have a sincere gang and a boost in your sales just after launch.
1. Social media Marketing
Being active on social media does not require running Facebook ads. You also do not need to have a product to grow your social audience. You can provide useful content value on your social media account and get in touch with your targeted market.
You can also use other people’s content (by giving credit) which helps in solving specific issues in your niche. It will also help you to spread the word about your upcoming launch. By being active on social media, you can build relationships and get in touch with the influencers and other prominent figures of your targeted market and start conversations.
Take time to get engaged with the followers by regularly checking and replying to their comments. Try to communicate with the followers and answer their queries even if they are criticizing your content. Try to be polite and answer them as it makes others realize that you really take care of your community.
You can also use Facebook group discussions and connect with your potential buyers. Another great way is to use Twitter to search for the people who are interested in the problem that you offer a solution to. Then, you contact them and brief them about your product. It helps to provide information about your new product and navigate any misconceptions.
2. Email Marketing
According to Statista, the number of emails sent and received per day will pass 347 billion by 2020. Email marketing is a thing which is used by almost all entrepreneurs and makes a huge difference in subscriptions.
Setting up a landing page with a subscribe now option is not just enough. Most people offer free resources or freebies also known as lead magnets to convince people to subscribe to their mailing list. It also helps to give them a hint of your overall project and its benefits.
Once you have got email addresses, you need to send emails to remain in touch. You can send multiple emails to your subscribers and inform them about the progress of your project. It is also compelling to add some resources in these emails like,
- Blog Posts
- Subscriber-only deals on your other products
- Any rewards or price cuts on the product for early subscribers
- Short tutorials
- Workbooks or Planners
Also, personalized messages work a lot better. When you send personalized messages, it helps to build connections and the person feels like you are talking to him/her. It also converts readers to subscribers. However, it is difficult to send hundreds of personalized messages all by yourself. You can use marketing automation software to do this along with other benefits. Major players in the industry are,
Always make a plan and strategy to send emails and sequence your emails. Provide clear steps for the readers to reach out to you and further engage.
3. Create Blogs and Content Marketing to Build Audience
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Blogs are a great way to help your community and build strong relationships. Blog content helps to set up a loyal community. Blogs are an essential tool to provide information about your upcoming product and share your knowledge and insight with other people. It demonstrates your expertise in your industry and builds trust. You can write blogs about the major issues faced in your niche and how your products offer solutions to such issues.
Create a content calendar to plan out your topics and publishing schedule. Do proper research and find topics in which your readers will be most interested. You can do keyword research with Ubbersuggest or LSI graph. When you publish fresh content regularly with proper research, it will also improve the SEO of your website. Go to the other blog websites in your targeted area and see if they have any highlighted blogs or the most read articles. Figure out the most common problems and write about them. Branding and establishing yourself as an expert and valuable person in your niche helps to promote everything you do including a new product.
4. Use Guest Posts and Forums to Increase Brand Awareness
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You can also use other people’s audiences to promote yourself by guest posting. Do online research with your industry-specific keywords and note down the searches appearing on the first two pages. As these websites have good SEO and these are the most established blogs. Contact the editor and find out if they are accepting guest posts. If they allow you to write on their website, it’s one of the most practical ways to reach out to more people.
Along with writing blogs and offering your knowledge, you can advertise your upcoming product in the author’s bio. With so many products developing each day, it’s difficult to get people’s attention. Guest posting can help you promote your product as well as yourself on already established platforms.
Do not be disappointed if some editors do not allow you to write posts for them or if they do not even reply. Try reaching out to as many websites as you can. Some will be interested and some will not. Keep sending out your pitches until acceptance starts. Guest posting is a great way to create brand awareness even after your launch.
You can also connect to your potential customers using forums where they might be engaging or posting their issues like Quora. You can also join Facebook discussion groups related to your niche and engage with your targeted market. There are many other great forums for all the niched where you can connect to the people and promote your idea and product.
5. Connect to influencers from your Target Market
Networking events are a great way to get in touch with the influencers on a personal level. But if you are not in the same town, there are many other options to connect with them. You can interview them for your blog or podcast, which will also give you new content for your website.
Many people love to give interviews, as it establishes them as an expert in their field. If they do not have time for a long interview, ask their opinion on an issue. Reach out to multiple people and compile all of their opinions. Now publish them on your social media sites and tag the influencers. It will also help to build that first connection and promote communication.
6. Webinars
We are in love with the webinars as they are a great source of direct communication. If you already have social media following or enough blog visitors. Then go for a live webinar. You can directly talk to your community and market your product. It does not need to be a solely promotional activity. Rather than talk about the problem which your product or service is solving. Discuss its possible solutions and offer your genuine advice. In the end, you can pitch your product as a solution. If you do not have your following, you can also talk to the influencers in your industry to offer you their space for the live discussion.
Hosting an “Ask me anything” session on your coming soon page can also boost engagement in the limited time. It can also discover some great ideas to improve your campaign. You can also record the webinar and offer its meaningful parts as a freebie or add it to your website content.
Conclusion:
There are so many options out there to choose from, but our tip is to go for a combination of all of these strategies. You can use social media as well as discussion forums along with blog content to get in touch with the audience. All of these strategies are cost-free but choose which are most suitable to you and your targeted audience. It all takes effort, but building a loyal community is worth the effort. Keep Growing…
