You’ve got something fantastic that you do, and you want to reach a lot of people with it. And why not? Reaching a lot of people means that your great thing helps more people. It also means that you probably will end up with more clients.
Of course, you may not. There are lots of people with huge-mongous lists whose sales numbers are dismally small. But that’s another article.
Today I want to talk about reaching a huge number of people in the first place.
First, let’s bust a myth.
The Myth of The Viral Reach
Ideas, articles, websites, people do go viral. By “viral,” I mean the idea seems to take on a life of its own, spreading very rapidly through large numbers of people. It must be mighty fun to watch this happen.
The thing is that many times it doesn’t really translate into sales. A friend with more than 20,000 blog readers told me that over 10,000 of them jumped in once the blog was known as “popular.” But my friend has yet to see those additional numbers translate into additional sales.
Another friend with a video that has been seen by millions of people and generated a huge opt-in email list of tens of thousands of readers has sales that can be described, at best, as “limp.” Meaning not even enough sales to make a mediocre living.
Numbers are great fun, but with numbers like that, who needs enemies?
A More Effective Way to Reach Lots of People
Recently I met Chris Guillebeau, who writes some amazingly insightful stuff at the Art of Nonconformity, for lunch. I was starving; he bought me green tea and a tuna fish sandwich. It had been a long time since we’d had tea together, and in the meantime, his blog’s reach had exploded. Tens of thousands of readers. Major media coverage.
“How did you do that, Chris?” I asked, while munching away, my blood sugar slowly rising.
He said something like, “Oh, you know, bit by bit.” He went on to explain that he took the time to reach out to particular audiences, and once he built up a relationship and readership with one audience, he started to build up a relationship with another.
“Travel, small business, among others,” he explained. Light bulb time.
“So, Chris. You don’t have an audience of thirty thousand. You have six audiences of five thousand.”
Right.
Who Are Your Audiences
In any business you have right clients you’re trying to reach. Those right clients aren’t just one monolithic heap–they fall out into segments or subgroups.
Here at Heart of Business we have a number of subgroups:
- Coaches
- Corporate consultants
- Holistic practitioners
- Service professionals (accountants, bookkeepers, decorative painters, etc.)
- Spiritual teachers/guides
- Craftspeople
- Many others…
Each of those groups has it’s own circle of associations and communities. Instead of trying the big splash, scattergun, viral reach approach, why not just pick one and go for it?
For instance, one year we made some very beautiful connections with people in the world of Reiki. We were featured in the international Reiki magazine, we put out some Reiki-specific content, and we gained a lot of readers and connections with the Reiki-practitioner/teacher community.
I very much treasure those relationships, and several hundred new people started following what we do that year. Thank you!
So, who are your audiences?
Okay Pick One
Yes, just pick one. I know it’s hard.
There seems to be something in the human brain that says, “the way it is now is the way it’s always going to be,” and so we try to do and be everything at once. This leads to strange conclusions like “It snowed extra hard this winter, so global warming is clearly not true.”
My Sufi teacher has often been heard to say, “Don’t eat the apple all in one bite.” What if it was okay to be a little maniacally focused on just one bite of your audience for the next six months or year?
Drop the apple and think about it another way. Let’s say you’ve invited a horde of friends over to your place for a little soirée. Do you stand up on a table and address the crowd for the whole evening? Perhaps it might be more enjoyable to mingle through the crowd hanging out with two or three people at a time.
And how do you engage in conversation? Do you start talking to one person, but constantly glance around the room to see who else is cool? Then when you see someone else who interests you, you drop the other person in the middle of a very touching story they are telling you about their childhood, and run off to make a new connection.
Ouch. Not a good way to build up trust in your relationships.
Ready to Settle In For Awhile?
Pick one of your audience segments, one that your heart is open to. One that feels relatively easy to connect with, meaning you know people, organizations, blogs, coffee klatches, what-have-you where they hang out, where you can easily connect.
Now start connecting. Create content for that audience. When you use examples in your content, use examples from that audience. Offer free things to organizations in that audience.
Stay there for awhile. Build up relationships. Get to know people.
Here’s the thing about relationships: if you put some energy into the beginning of a relationship, then you can maintain it more easily later. I’ve had some very beautiful connections with folks, but then end up through circumstances not speaking to them for a few months, or longer. But the connection is still there, and can be renewed in a moment.
The Big Challenge
For some of us it can be challenging to make new friends and new connections. For me, I’m a homebody. I meet someone, I like them, I want to settle in and hang out there. I’m not a natural at reaching out and meeting new people. I have to gather a bit of an oomph to do it.
That’s what this requires, gathering up that oomph. The good news is that you don’t have to do it every day. You can settle into a groove for a little bit and get to know people, relax into your comfort zone, deepen relationships.
That’s actually what you want to do, because relationships aren’t created in five minutes. It takes real connection and shared experiences to build relationships, and those take time. Taking this time with one audience gives you space to move slowly if you need to. It means you can be sincere, show up with your full heart, and really learn about the people you are wanting to reach.
Each of us desperately wants to be seen and given to in a way that shows we are being witnessed for who we truly are. By taking time with an audience, and the individual people within that audience, you are doing something real, not just “marketing” to them.
And, once you start to feel like you’re in a groove, gather a little oomph, and start to reach out to a new crowd.
Where Could You Be In Three Years?
Listen, I know that internet time speeds things up. Three years seems impossibly far away. Yet, as I look back to the start of Heart of Business in 2001, I see that there are real benefits to patience and playing for the long-term.
If you took this on over the next three years, how many audiences of 3000 people could you expand into? Three? Five? What would it do for your business? What it do for your sense of being able to contribute?
Time to lovingly eat up your audiences, one bite at a time.
56 Responses
Bloody hell- lightbulb!
You could charge for this, you know…
😉
.-= Andrew Lightheart’s lastest post: How to present like Elizabeth Gilbert =-.
Thanks! And awright… I’ll charge you: please pass the link on to as many people as you know who need it. 🙂
Hey Mark – I loved this article. How good it is to take time over what is important in our lives, like building relationships – business or personal.
So many people, and I hold my hand up as having done this as much as anyone, rush around from one task to the next, one person to the next.
We seem to do a lot, maybe even we achieve a lot. But is all this busyness what life is really about? Is our speed-dating culture really giving us more?
I’ve found that making one good business connection, with the right person whom I feel a Heart resonance with, is both more fulfilling and brings more business than collecting a zillion business cards.
my love to you and your family,
Leo
I’m going to take the risk and say that our speed-dating culture is NOT giving us ….. uh… sorry, lost attention, had to look over at Tweetdeck, and then check my email again… 😉
love to you and yours, Leo.
This was a particularly good article! Thank you.
You’re welcome! Glad you liked it.
Super post Mark! You always speak from the “biz” heart. I’ve got a small list, yet I connect with many of the folks on my list. When I’m offering a new life shop (what I call them cause I’m a rebel …), I contact folks one at a time. Either via phone or email. It works well!
Business is like dating. You need to court folks and make them feel special.
We all want to feel like we matter.
Enjoy!
Giulietta, Inspirational Rebel
.-= Giulietta the Muse’s lastest post: Who are your heroes or heroines? =-.
Giulietta- We all do want to feel like we matter- I love how you are putting the effort and love in like that. Thanks for sharing it here. I will enjoy!
Thank you for this post Mark. Since my talents/interests are so diverse, my focus has been all over the place; from parenting to food to sales and beyond. I have decided (just now!) that I have the most momentum and fire in the belly around sales and how to build and maintain solid, fruitful long term relationships with clients. There. I have chosen ONE. Thank you. Now the challenge of focusing solely on that.
Warmly,
Lisa
One! One! Great going, Lisa. I’m jazzed to see where that One takes you. 🙂
This was a great article Mark! I had just been thinking of “branching out” to a new (well, existing) segment of my target market… now it makes it even more natural for me to so. That way I can go build those relationships, and then hop back over to my current peeps and rinse, lather, and repeat. 🙂
Woohoo for renewed motivation and deeper understanding. Thanks, Mark!
.-= Nathalie Lussier’s lastest post: Chronic Fibromyalgia Relief with Raw Food =-.
Indeed, you raw food witch you! 🙂 Rinse, lather, repeat. But no high heat. And it even rhymed, crazy…
wow mark. i love this, it is really what i needed to hear today. thank you.
ps – i just got back from a trip to turkey and egypt. all the sufi stuff reminded me of you. i went to see whirling dirvishes and made plans to go to rumi’s tomb, but then later changed those plans… though i did get to spend several days hanging out where he lived, and i’d brought a book of his poems with me, and it was so amazing!
.-= ABCcreativity’s lastest post: playing in my journal =-.
Wow- I’m jealous of your trip- I’ve never been. I’m glad you got to soak in the good Sufi stuff there. 🙂
Great article!!! your approach to this subject is refreshing! …so will i fan, friend, fallow? Yes i will! 🙂
Thank you, Calmplex!
I haven’t a clue what my audience segments are. The stats tell me I have regular readers and subscribers to my blog: that’s pretty much the most I know.
My blog is pretty diverse and my audience seems pretty diverse. I suppose they are all in the health and self-improvement space but I can’t get much beyond this.
I guess some of this is unique to online stuff.
Hi Evan
It’s a great question. From my perspective it’s less about who is showing up on your blog, but more about who you are trying to reach on your blog. You get to choose and make decisions.
Who we decide we want to reach impacts strongly who shows up. If you don’t make a decision about who you’re trying to reach, then it’s hard to have the impact you want.
And I don’t believe it’s unique to online stuff. My grandfather had clarity about who he was trying to reach back in the 1930s with his retail shop.
I hope this is helpful, my friend.
I LOVED this post. It seems especially relevant for Renaissance souls/polymath types – I don’t have a short attention span/inability to stay on one topic, I’m just exploring and getting to know different communities 😉
.-= Michelle’s lastest post: Developing a Morning Practice =-.
Absolutely, Michelle. It’s not a short attention span at all, it’s just… hold it… gotta run, something looks interesting on tweetdeck…
Ha!! I actually got this link from a tweet on TweetDeck!! But now I have it bookmarked, and plan to dig in over the next few days. I am trying to do something I believe is good and meaningful, but sadly, I am not a touchy feely person at all…I find it incredibly difficult to make connections, especially out of context. I am so very results oriented and goals driven, that if you aren’t the next dot in the chain of dots to be connected from where I am to where I need to be, I find it very difficult to relate well…not justifying, just explaining my challenge. And NO, it is not working well for me, being this way…but, while it may be easy to try and change what I do, how do I change what I am? This is my challenge.
Anyway, very interesting, digging in full force…
David
Dig in, and welcome! I’m glad it’s helpful- and context is so critical to making connections- I hear you, David.
As an Art therapist, artist and jewelry designer i love reaching more people. Thank you for this article! Much appreciated!
.-= Katevandorenstudio’s lastest post: Silver oval hoops =-.
Mark, thanks for the great information. I’m feeling recharged and re-inspired now to continue my quest to find my ‘niche’ customers. Thanks for sharing your insights.
.-= Kathie’s lastest post: Pillow Cover Handpainted Gold Metallic Stiletto Off White =-.
Mark,
Thank you for this very inspirational post. Lately I have been slowly thinking about my business and not really doing much to promote it. But then I read this article and realized that every time I connect with someone about my product, chat with them, find out their interests and needs, I am in some way creating a relationship with a client. I have had sales without promoting at all. It is very true that the real reason I started creating and sharing was to reach out to others in a way I am familiar with. I want other people to be as happy about something as I am. And guess what? I have created relationships that will last for a very long time. I am hoping to tap into my local family here in my city and see what I can build on and this article really helped out. Thank you, I hope I can revamp my blog to catch my audiences attention. Very smart stuff! 🙂 I am a happy reader, thank you.
🙂 Melissa
It’s funny because what I’ve learned is to focus on one niche. But even in one niche there are a lot of different types of people. This article makes a great deal of sense to me. Thanks for the post.
Hi Mark
Thanks for this inspired article. I was slightly losing my way, but your article has put me firmly on back on track :O)
More please!
Thanks for this, it’s perhaps just what I needed to hear right now. My mind runs in so many directions at once sometimes, because I just want to gobble up as much life as possible and take it all in, but to some extent, the only way to really take it all in is to slow down, really connect with people, and experience it. One on one relationships make seem to take more time, but they’ll ultimately be much more beneficial in the long term than fleeting connections.
great insight! taking this great advice!
Great post. Found it through Etsy’s Success Reading List. I was thinking about a deciding on a specific focus and really going for it, and you really confirmed that it is a good idea. Thanks!
Kate, Kathie, Melissa, i-Blogger, Yummybeads, Mallory, Sea Babe, Melissa- I’m touched that the article is so supportive for you all. Please feel free to ask questions and to keep poking around- there’s quite a lot here that’s accumulated over the years. 🙂
Grateful for all this encouraging Info.
i’m so shy that often feel quite unsure how to go about reaching out for the right venue..
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you kindly.
Hi Erika
Shyness! I get it… Maybe this will help? I’m not sure…
The Real Heart-Juice to Social Networking. The key isn’t to reach out to venues, but to make real connections with individuals. And you don’t have to start with big, famous, scary people. You can start with people who you perceive to be approachable, with smaller venues.
The whole point of the article is that you can collect a number of smaller venues and have it build to be something significant. Does that help?
Thanks Mark for reaching out, I realize that making real connections could be the key.
My dilemma has to do with self imposed isolation,
as a painter,I always felt my work was going to help me
connect with humanity,but sadly is not happening
the way I envisioned ..but I thank you for
trying to help me and others with your wonderful insight!
You are so welcome. Your finished art can certainly be a vehicle for connecting, but the act of painting itself- I can see what you mean. Especially if your process as an artist requires a lot of alone time.
I will apply this to my poetry. Thanks! 😀
You’re welcome!
Mark, great article. And so true.
My past experience as a health insurance claims/enrollment agent brought similar success; the small, yet very loyal client base brought consistent account renewals for steady business as well as a few new accounts by word-of-mouth every year. Slow and sure growth.
Nurture and fertilize the roots, prune the dead and diseased wood, and look forward to the season’s fresh new blooms. I think one could relate anything of simple human nature to gardening.
Now, if I could just figure out how to relate all of this to my Etsy shop sales…seems I only make sales in person. Guess I’ll need to do some more garden meditation. 🙂
This is really good advice. I need to utilize my social networking to get in touch with buyers. I’m finding that all of wonderful friends on FB, especially, are creators more so than buyers. We share a common bond, but they aren’t buying. They are also trying to sell.
You’ve opened my eyes.
.-= Sherry Stoll’s lastest post: Vintage Elegant White Rectangle Doily =-.
@GypsyEsque- Nurture and fertilze- indeed! Let me know what insights come in about your Etsy sales shop.
@Sherry- so glad this one landed for you- I’m hoping it leads to great things for you.
Hi There Mark, Thanks for the article, I’m a newbie to etsy and social networking and was finding it all a bit overwhelming and scary, Thinking of it your way makes it less frightening. I have been trying in my business to be all to everyone, I need to narrow down and focus… hey what’s that new idea over there?
Yes, Mark.. I agree with you. Marketing to the “right” and “qualified” people takes time, bit by bit by bit. I guess you can’t build an empire over night and the few that do are just down right lucky.
Hi Mark,
I am new to the HoB tribe so catching up on this post a little late in the year. Working as a psychotherapist, all these 6 teachings zing with me.
Something else that guides and serves me endlessly is that Sufi teaching about when you put your hands into the profane, keep your heart in the sacred.
Isn’t this the tender balance all heart-based businesses are striving to keep?
Peace to you all,
Malachy
HI Malachy- so true! Another way I’ve heard that one is “Stand tall in this world but bow in the next.”
Wonderful! Just retweeted.
I’m always telling my Thriving Artists Project members that building an audience and loyal fan base is all about relationships, and dang if it isn’t true! My numbers are small, but a very high percentage of my tiny list knew, liked and trusted me enough to buy in.
Relationships indeed!
And now I get to deepen those connections! How fun is that?
I think your advice to focus on one audience at a time is so wise. It’s too easy to get distracted by visions of mass appeal, but you’re so perceptive–what it really comes down to is strong appeal to smaller groups.
Thanks for sharing!
Woo-hoo, Melissa- good for you! Sounds like a fantastic base to grow into.
Again, helpful helpful content.
And I laughed outloud when you shared how the human brain wants what we want when we want it…and how we think this is the way things are based on this temporary, fleeting moment.
This article nourished my patience. I love the idea of building relationships and an audience…to take the long view and enjoy the process. A lovely reminder. Thank you.
In love and gratitude, Karly
Woo-hoo, Karly! Music to my ears, everytime someone tells me they are nourishing patience. Such a relief, eh?
I’m a shy person and I really find it hard to approach people. 🙂
I wish I could eventually reached thousand of audience too! When that happens, that would be perfect! 🙂
Mark —
What a delight to come upon you — and this idea of deliberately pacing yourself . . . on building relationships segment by segment. More than this, I appreciate your work here for the sense of gentle rhythm it allows. As if you are saying . . . breathe, focus, do . . . breathe, focus, do . . .
Thank you–
Evan
Your articles are definitely resonating with me. I’ve been resisting the big “product launch email marketing campaign” thing for a while, and recently when I heard some numbers from a well-respected colleague, it confirmed my intuition that numbers don’t necessarily make for an enjoyable business or committed audience.
I tend to focus on authentic connection with the people who *really* resonate with me, and sometimes one client or customer pays me many thousands of dollars (both more satisfying as a coach because I get to help that person a LOT) and better for me financially than thousands of smaller sales to less committed people!
Lately I’ve been drawn to synthesizing all this experience into a new business model unlike anything that conventional internet marketing is providing. In process 😉
Being a technical person like myself, I find it hard to focus on relationships in my business. I guess I was just blessed by having a wife-partner that is better in that department.
Great advice. This is perhaps just what I needed to hear right now. I have been really thinking about my business but not really doing much to promote it. Now that I feel refresh and rejuveneted, I will focus most of my energy on sales and building and maintaining strong, fruitful long-term business relationships with my clients.
My ego clicked the blog title –but then my heart read the post 😉
Aquarius rising –reaching allll of humanity!!!
And six planets in Cancer –oh. Of course. It’s all about each individual *beautiful* soul. One hug at a time.
Thanks for this. You always teach me so much.
Louise- hah! 🙂 Thank you for letting me know- so heart-warming.
As a introvert I also find it hard to reach out the new people but there are definite advantages to slowly growing your 1000 true fans rather than having a 1 time viral post.