Audience Building is The First Step to Effective Marketing
If you create great online marketing materials, write a compelling blog post or tweet breaking industry news, but no one sees them, what has really been accomplished?
About as much as a tree falling in the forest with no one there.
It is no secret that you need an audience to be successful in any online communications effort, but building one can take time and effort. You may even have to make a little noise sometimes.
That was a lesson I learned as a 7-year-old looking for someone outside my immediate family to notice my first drum set. My mom had invited a friend over, and I was determined to draw them away from their coffee with my funky rhythms. But after several minutes without any response, I realized something had to be done. I dragged the drums to the doorway of the bedroom, as close as I could get them to the top of the stairs. Resetting my stool and gripping my sticks with renewed determination, I resumed my relentless banging and clashing, something much more akin to Animal from The Muppets than Neal Peart from Rush.
Finally, when it became apparent that I would not stop until they came up, the ladies relented, and for a few brief seconds, I had the audience I had worked so hard for.
Forty years of drumming later, I have come to appreciate the joy of music for its own sake, but it never hurts to have a nice audience. But to have the privilege of playing for people, both then and now, I have continued to practice, surround myself with great musicians, and take advantage of opportunities to play when invited.
The same goes for business communications. You may be able to bang loud enough to get some attention at first, but even your mom will grow weary if you’re not committed to giving her something worth listening to.
There are some great strategies for attracting an online audience as well as traditional offline methods to build your lists such as face-to-face networking and some traditional public relations and advertising strategies. Just be sure to spend some time building your online audience first, and then you can focus on nurturing those relationships with great content over the long term.
