There is a big difference between a customer and a follower or reader. One is there to see what they can get from you and are there for the free stuff. While a customer is someone who is willing to buy from your business.
Let me also make it clear that you should not be trying to “get” people to buy from you. You are sharing what you love about something or how it can help them and leaving the end decision up to them. You have to give them value first and bring them on a journey so they will start to know, like, and trust you.
After you earn their trust and build a relationship with them, getting them to buy your products will be much easier. They will want to buy your products or the items you recommend because you have given them value and not tried to make a quick buck on them.
This post may contain affiliate links and if you choose to make a purchase through my links I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Why People Buy
People don’t buy things simply because you wave the product under their noses at a low price. You have to offer them something they want and it has to solve a problem for them or give them a result they want and are willing to pay for. Let’s get into the reasons people buy and how to fix some of the main issues people run into.
People Buy From People They Know And Trust
Your potential customers need to feel a connection to you or enjoy being around you. Whether that is through a social media platform, watching your YouTube videos, or reading your blog.
How can you build trust?
Be Your Real Self And Share Life Consistently
It depends on how you are monitoring. If you want to be the “influencer” type of business owner you are going to have to choose one main platform and show up consistently. Producing content that allows people to connect with you as a person.
They have to become “obsessed” with you as a person so they feel a draw to buy something you use or recommend. When people look up to you as a person or someone they admire it’s human nature to want to be like that person.
Now I know that the word obsessed might feel a little over the top. But let me tell you even as a more reserved person I still get attached to a few of my favorite influencers and find myself wanting to buy the things they use and recommend. Why? Because I want to identify with them. I trust them. Right, wrong, or slightly misguided it’s still the truth.
Show Proof Of Concept
If you are selling your own products or educational resources you need to show you know what you are talking about. It can be as simple as sharing your own story. You don’t have to have 100 reviews before showing others how to do something. You just have to be a few steps ahead of them.
If you have reviews or gotten other people’s results you can share these too. But often these reviews don’t come for quite a while down the road in your business journey.
Think about what you like to see from other people and what earns your trust when looking at other people online.
If you struggle to know who you are trying to reach this post will help you out.
How To Fix The Problem Of People Not Buying
First, let’s be clear that you are going to have to test ONE THING AT A TIME. Don’t change all of these things at once. You won’t know which one was the solution which in turn tells you the problem you had.
Share Why You Love It, Not “You Have To Buy It”
Who here likes to walk past people in the grocery store trying to sell satellite TV, or that other amazing thing that will “change your life”? Not me. I avoid those people like the pelage.
This is not the right way to bring someone on a journey with you. Those salespeople will often try to push things on you even after you have said you are not interested. Leaving the word “sales” with a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.
The customer has to know, like, and trust you before they are willing to give you their credit card number. To do that you need to share why you love the product or how it will help them.
Here is what that could look like.
- It does _____ so that____
- It helps with _____
- It helps you do _____ so you can do _____ without ______
Give them the feature but share the benefit of that feature and how it makes their problem or life better.
If you want to learn how to use social media in the right way that gets customers I HIGHLY recomend you learn from That Content Nurd. She is my content and social media coach and has helped me so much in stepping into a content creator who makes money instead of simply attracting eyeballs.
Her course is an investment but if you follow her advice and IMPLEMENT what she teaches you will see a difference.
You Have To Market Yourself Consistently
It’s not something that can be done haphazardly for three months and you’ll have a business full of customers. There are really just four ways to get new customers.
- Ads.
- Reaching out to a cold audience.
- Collaboration.
- Or creating content.
It would be nice to just “be open for business” and people come flocking to you but that’s not how it works. Eventually, you will gain word-of-mouth marketing but you have to attract that first “mouth” before that starts to happen.
Think about how often you share about something you buy or someone you bought from… not super often right? That’s how many people you have to attract before you start to get word of mouth.
And you should NEVER leave the marketing of your business in other people’s hands.
So how often should you post? As much as you can without burning out. For some that looks like once a week on their blog and three times a week on one social platform. If this is your full-time job you should spend 50%+ on your marketing in the beginning, 20ish percent on operations, and as much time on making your product great. <—– because THAT is what gets you the word of mouth.
You Need A Short Term Attraction Platform
This can be a social platform like a Facebook page, Instagram account, or even YouTube. You need to be publishing content on a platform that will help you get in front of more eyes quickly. As I will get to in a second. A website takes a long time to get traffic too. But you can build a customer base quicker on a social platform.
Whichever platform you choose to create content on you should always be hinting or showing in pictures what you sell. It’s called seeding.
- I’m working on xyz.
- Look how this is coming along.
Now don’t give up on me thinking you have to be glued to your phone or create content 24/7 365. You don’t. One of my favorite tools to help me continue publishing on all of my social media platforms is Plann. I batch-create my content and even use their repurpose feature to recreate one piece of content for multiple platforms at once. They are constantly growing and adding more auto-publishing features all the time.
I have used A LOT of different tools over the years and keep coming back to them. If you have little internet or run your business from your phone data like I do they are a great tool to to have in your tool belt. Their desktop site loads well when the internet is slow and their app is inviting and easy to use.
And A Platform You Own
It is important to have a platform you own if you are in it for the long hull. I do recomend you start on a social platform because they are quicker to create and free to use. But a website can take a lot of time and a self-hosted site isn’t free. (Even if you start with a cheap host it still costs you something.)
A Blog
I love my blog but it can take YEARS before you start to see a significant amount of eyes on your content. This falls more into the “pillar platform” side of things and is a way to serve your ideal buyer better. You are also not competing with other people’s content for attention when readers are on your site. Its all eyes on you baby.
If you have stuck with your business for 6 months to a year you can start to think about creating a website if you are committed to the business.
This is a free blogging setup course that I HIGHLY recomend you go through if you are ready to set up your blog.
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Or An Email List
You don’t own the platforms like Facebook. They could close your account (or simply go down which has happened many times over the years) and your business could be gone. That’s why having a website and even an email list is so important.
An email list is one step deeper than even a blog because those people have raised their hands to say “I want to hear from you” and you can reach out to them in their inbox. No matter what happens you can contact that person because they gave you their email address through an email service provider.
You can share new content with them, and give tips and guides to help them do the thing you teach. You can even share sales offers with them when the time is right.
Finding the right email platform can be difficult. But Flodesk is perfect for a business that sells lower-priced products because they charge you one flat price no matter how many email subscribers you have.
If you sell in person or you have a business that is online you can collect email addresses and test out a business idea without fear of being charged money for something that won’t pan out. You can get Flodesk for Just $19 a month for your first year. Then it’s only $38 dollars a month after that. After you grow an email list to over 3000 email subs most platforms charge you as much as $50 a month or more.
Create What Your Ideal Customer Wants to See Over Trends
When it comes to types of content to create you need to think about what your customer wants to see first. Trends are all fine and good but they don’t help you attract people who want to buy from you as well as simply thinking about how your customer wants to see content. Can trends work? Yes. But only if they fit your niche, customer, and type of content.
More and more the trends are becoming people going off rather than building authority in your niche.
Create the content in the medium that the platform is pushing out if you can, and see what your current followers are responding to. Then create more of that.
Dont Market To Broke People
It’s normal to want to help people who are low on funds. While it can be done you have to at least market to people who are willing to spend a little money to find a solution to their problem. Because if they aren’t willing to do that they often aren’t willing to put in the work to make the change you have to offer.
A lot of people like free stuff and not everyone will want to pay for your offer and that’s ok. If they don’t then they are not the right person for you.
All in all you have to create a great product that people want to pay for and take the time to market that product to the right people. If you take the time to find the right version of those three pieces to create your business you will find success over time. But you have to be willing to do the work.
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Starting your own content business is HARD. There are days when you wonder if you can keep going and you need advice on the best move to make in your business or simply need a loving kick in the pants to keep moving.
I am a member of Passive Income Pathways VIP membership and I can honestly say I have never seen a membership with this much help and value. The leader is constantly adding things and truly is there to help you succeed. If a passive business based around a blog and website is your dream job check out P.I.Ps VIPs here.
