Imagine that you’re a sun, the center of your very own solar system*.
*Easy there, don’t let your ego run away from you now…
You’ve got a bunch of planets orbiting you that rely on your warmth, light and gravitational pull to keep them functioning. These are your audience, the people who are interested in and engaged with the work you put out.
The closer the orbit, the more engaged they are with you. Mercury is basically the superfan of our solar system…
One of the most common mistakes businesses and creators make when trying to grow their audience is spending all their energy marketing and promoting their work to these people who are already orbiting them at the closest levels.
I’m a big believer that if your work is truly great, it will be worth talking about and your biggest fans will naturally spread the word about what you’re doing.
And while I do believe that it’s essential to continually be sharing your work and engaging with your existing audience, if that’s all you’re doing, your potential to grow and reach new people is going to be limited to a long slow crawl.
Equal to nurturing your existing audience, your goal when it comes to promoting your work should be to continually reach out beyond your existing gravity and pull new people in closer and closer until they reach the inner orbit of your superfans.
Mapping Your Solar System
It’s easy to market to your inner orbit. You might know them by name, they comment on everything you do and you can see the effect that your work is having on their lives. This feels good, so you do more of it.
While you don’t get quite the same feedback from the people in the further reaches of your orbit, they’re still easy enough to get in front of and market to.
You’re already connected on various social media channels, they engage sporadically and make up much of the silent majority of your audience, interested to varying degrees in what you’re doing, but not quite willing to take the next step in their relationship with you and move in closer.
At the root of the problem for many creators who feel stuck when it comes to growing their audience is that while they might understand that there are, in fact, other solar systems, galaxies and even universes outside of their own, they don’t know how to reach them.
Going Interstellar
In order to consistently grow your audience, it’s essential to understand that there are people scattered across the universe who need, and may even be actively looking for exactly what you are offering.
It’s a big universe though, and without your help, they don’t stand a chance of finding you.
If you want your message to spread, it’s your responsibility to consistently send transmissions out past the edges of your own solar system in the hope that someone will hear them and follow the signal back.
The good news is that instead of multi-million dollar NASA probes, your transmissions cost little or nothing to produce, and with a little research, you can be fairly certain that they’ll find a receptive audience that already speaks the same language as you.
You’re in the Space Business Now
These probes might come in the form of content created specifically for new groups of people, audiences you’re not already connected with and who probably don’t know you exist.
They could be guesting on podcasts with audiences that are similar to yours, guest posting on blogs, social media takeovers, speaking engagements or live events.
Or, they could be paid ads on any number of platforms.
With any one of these strategies, it’s important to remember that unlike speaking to your existing audience, there’s no guarantee that your message will land.
Even a small miscalculation can result in your transmission missing the mark, or it might find an audience that speaks a very different language, one that your message needs to be honed and translated into before it will resonate.
When reaching out to new audiences you must be consistent, methodical, and willing to experiment.
It’s unlikely your message will land on your first attempt and whole galaxies worth of people will find themselves pulled back to you. You’ll need to put in the work of experimenting with your messaging, the story you tell about who you serve and how you help them.
But hone your message and send out enough probes consistently, and you’ll soon develop a steady stream of new planets joining your orbit.
Jeremy travels full-time, loves long-distance cycle touring, and will always look back on the day he finally saved up enough money to buy the Millennium Falcon Lego set as one of his proudest achievements. He believes that the way to grow sustainable businesses is by leading with heart, vulnerability, and helping your people be and become their best selves.
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