Is it possible to have an audience growth strategy and lead generation plan that doesn’t require spending a BUNCH of money on ads? Well, I’m a firm believer that it’s not only possible but kinda fun-in a weird “fit the puzzle pieces together” kind of way. If you are struggling to get your content in front of more people, whether it is growing your Instagram following, your email list, or getting more organic traffic to your website, these 7 tips (and one mindset shift) will help you grow your audience with the right people and ultimately generate more leads!

Mindset shift:

Ask yourself WHY you want to grow your audience and where. No really. Do you just want more followers just because, or is it because you genuinely want to serve more people with what you’re great at? And while I am certain that it’s the latter, just even making that simple shift in your mind from “I need to grow my followers” to “I want to help more people” can help a TON.

7 Tips for Lead Generation and Audience Growth

1. How are you taking care of the people you have?

• No, seriously, before you go and spend a ton of time (which equals money) on growing your audience, ask yourself, how am I really serving the people who are already with me?
• I had to sit down and get serious with serving my email list a while back. I had a goal to grow my email list, but in all reality, I wasn’t serving those already on my list to my full ability.
• So now I make serving my email list a priority with
  • Weekly encouraging, faith-building emails with tips and stories not shared anywhere else
  • Making certain to let them know about helpful content!
  • Engaging in meaningful relationship building back and forth conversations like a real human.

2. Get super clear on your messaging for audience growth

• What problem do you solve
• Ask- what do I really offer- on all three levels.
• Here’s an example for a family photographer:
  • External- I need pics to hang on my wall/ use for Christmas card
  • Internal- want to treasure the time that my kids are little
  • Philosophical- want to be reminded of what really matters to me                         

3. Voice hack your ideal client

• Voice hacking is simply figuring out the language that your ideal client is using to ask the questions that you answer!
• This is slightly different than just straight keyword research because it’s more on a conversational level and psychological level than just “what are they typing in the search bar”

 4. Do in-depth keyword research

• I am constantly amazed at how much of a difference switching out keywords can make.
• Just the other day I was doing keyword research for this particular post and comparing search results.
  • “lead generation” gets 14,000 searches per month
  • “grow your audience” gets like 50.
• Now, before you go making all the keyword mistakes that little baby blogger Faith made, go listen to this podcast and read this blog. Choosing the RIGHT keywords is NOT just about picking the ones with the biggest numbers. Trust me on this one.

5. Build on the right platforms for audience growth

• If you’ve been around here for a minute, then it should be no surprise that I am not a fan of building your whole business on social media. It’s literally a platform that you have zero control over. You NEED a website and a blog or a podcast or both.
• However, instead of just building your secondary marketing (ie your social media) on whatever looks the coolest, honestly evaluate which platform(s) would be most effective to help your people, easiest for your client to consume, and which ones you enjoy the most.

Spending way too much time on content creation? Learn how to turn 1 piece of content into 10 or more pieces of content with my Content Repurposing Cheat Sheet.

6. Create high-value long-form content consistently

• I’ll be honest, I don’t know why it took me so long to start a podcast. I absolutely love it. And it’s amazing for building rapport with your ideal client and MUCH easier for most of my people to consume.
• However, I still believe that blogging in conjunction with podcasting is THE way to go.

Read 6 Reasons Your Need a Blog

• But seriously, no matter WHAT platform you choose for creating long-form content, make sure that whatever you create is valuable, and remember that consistency is KEY!

And if you’re wondering how to start a podcast, here is my affiliate link for my friend Stefanie Gass. I used and LOVED her course Podcast Pro University.

P.S. Yes, that’s an affiliate link. I get a commission for sharing something I genuinely like and used at no additional cost to you.

                

7. Collaborate authentically for the right kind of audience growth

• Listen, I get it that it’s a little bit never wracking to send your people to someone else or to trust someone else with your audience. However, when you truly know YOUR calling and your strengths, then you don’t have to try to be an expert in all the things.
• Additionally, when you build genuine friendships and relationships (in real life and online), collaboration flows really naturally.
• This authentic collaboration piece ALSO eliminates cold, sleazy pitches that feel like a used car salesman.
• Sometimes collaboration looks like being an affiliate for someone; sometimes, it just looks like straight sending people their way.

So take these 7 EASY to apply tips and use them to grow your audience, generate great leads and start really growing your business!

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