Episode 413: 10 MORE ways to improve your reach and grow your audience

In today’s episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast, we will continue on from a previous episode (which you can find here) where I will help you improve your reach and grow your audience.

I have ten more ways that you can improve your reach.

Let’s dive in – it’s practical!

EPISODE 413: Listen using the player below, or click the links to your fave platform to subscribe and listen over there:

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SpotifListen on YouTube

Before we dive into today’s episode, I want to mention that a lot of the strategies I’m going to share with you today are more high connection, high conversion, and work best for offline businesses.

Where you might have a brick-and-mortar business or a clinic, or you see people in person, these may be more effective for you.

But I also think that sometimes we discount local connections and in-person connections for our online businesses. Yet that can be a really quick way to fast-track your results and get more sales!

Don’t write these all off! I want you to still dive into this episode. You might find something that you want to play with in your business as well.

To quickly recap, the first ten ways for you to improve your reach and grow your audience are (if you want to dive deeper into these, check out podcast episode 401):

1. Run ads
2. SEO
3. Do a daily content challenge
4. Post in other people’s Facebook groups
5. Invite a guest onto your video/podcast series
6. Be a guest on other people’s platforms
7. Be a prolific commenter
8. Recruit one-at-a-time
9. Talk about your social content in your emails
10. Do a reel on Instagram with a trending audio

Now let’s continue with these ways to grow your audience…

11. Local networking

When I first started my business, I went to as many local networking events as I could. I went to women in business events, I went to breakfast networking events, and I went to half-day workshops where I could network and meet other people.

When I went to networking events that had speakers and there was something to learn while I was there, I found that they were far more engaging and the people there weren’t just trying to thrust their business cards in your face.

It was an opportunity to learn something for my business, as well as connect with other business owners.

I personally found that more helpful… but I think you’ve just got to try a bunch of them.

Something that I say to people when they ask if I think a certain networking event will be good is to just go and see what it’s like.

You won’t know until you’ve been in the room!

12. Online networking

As someone who facilitates online networking opportunities with the Heart-Centred Virtual Business Conference and other events and programs that I run, I am a big fan of online opportunities to grow your network and have conversations with humans.

In the Virtual Conference, we have structured networking sessions. But even inside the group programs that I run, we’ll have our calls where people are getting to know each other and there are lots of conversations happening in the chat box.

Then we also have the wine mixers and random events where people can just introduce themselves, get to know each other and learn about other business owners.

Those networking events can be really helpful.

I even know there are paid online networking opportunities available these days.

For example, people will pay $11 and you can go and do some structured networking with a big bunch of people online.

Sometimes they’re really good because they’re niched down, or they’re for a very specific kind of online business owner.

I find those really interesting and I have been to a couple.

As I mentioned in regards to the in-person events: not all of them are created equal. Not all of them are great, but they are worth trying out – especially if you’re trying to grow your audience with some high-connection leads.

13. Dropping leaflets

This might sound really wild and out there and old school. But there are a lot of businesses that would make far more money and be far more successful if they put the money that they are currently spending on VAs, content makers or social media managers, into printing out some little leaflets and getting them dropped around their neighbourhood.

The local touch makes a big difference to the connection that strangers feel to you when they find out you are there.

Just like how going to local networking events can be really helpful.

Think about how little mail we get in our letterboxes these days. If you were to receive a leaflet from someone who does dog training or massage therapy, you’d take note.

Even if you deliver the service online, just doing some letterbox dropping or paying to have them incorporated into the pamphlets that are distributed locally can make a huge difference to your results.

You may even find that it’s far more effective than some of the online strategies that you use.

14. Attend events

…particularly the kinds of events that your audience would be attending, and the kinds of events where people who know people in your audience would be attending.

I love to go to local events.

Even if it’s just a local business award, and I’m not in the running for any of the awards, I just want to go for the dinner and meet a few business people. That can be really helpful to expand your network. It can be really helpful to even just know who’s around and who does what.

There is a local business magazine that is run here on the Sunshine Coast. They will often run evening events where you can go for a few drinks, and they’ve got a guest speaker or there’s a product demonstration.

A lot of them are free to go to and just meet some people, learn some things and grow your network that way.

When it comes to attending events, consider the fact that the event doesn’t need to have instant ROI. If you go in with that attitude, that means that you’re far more likely to grow your network in a more meaningful way and not put pressure on that network to result in clients for you straightaway.

I do have a previous episode of the podcast about networking and how to network when you have an online business. Make sure you check that out here: tashcorbin.com/341.

15. Have a launch team

If you are launching something specific (like a podcast, course, book, or YouTube channel) where you know people in your audience who would happily share it for you and would want to support you in getting great results for that launch, then use a launch team.

I used a launch team for my first book, for my colouring book, and for conference when I first launched the Heart-Centred Business Conference.

A launch team is just a group of people who, out of the kindness of their heart, will help you to launch your product or service.

I’ve done it in a range of different ways in the past. I think the most effective way is just using a Messenger thread.

Every time I talked to someone who I would consider a business colleague or biz bestie, if I had the opportunity to ask them, I would mention that I was launching my colouring book in a few months and was wondering if they’d be interested in being on the launch team.

People who were on the launch team would be invited to a Messenger thread. There was absolutely no obligation for them to engage with every single thing that we were doing. But I’d just send a link to a post or thread every now and again that was related to the thing I was launching, and if they had a moment to go and contribute, that was spectacular.

Sometimes it would be a matter of everyone sharing the same post on the same day just to get it a little bit of extra reach. It’s a little bit like a wolf pack, but just for one particular launch.

That does give you extra opportunities to get in front of new audiences.

But also, you can ask the launch team for feedback on certain sales posts or the sales page.

I’ve even been part of a book launch team where the launch team were all given a free copy of the book in electronic format, and if they had a chance to read it before the launch, they could do a little one-sentence or two-sentence review, or give some feedback to the person if it was early enough in the publishing process.

There are lots of cool ways that you can create a launch team and rally the people around you who want to see you succeed to help you in a really tangible and practical way.

16. Press release

This is particularly helpful if there is something relevant to your local community.

Maybe you are a local girl who has done good and made it in the Big Smoke. Or maybe there’s something about you having accomplished and you think there’s a human interest story that the press might publish in the media. Or it may be that there’s something about it that will be helpful for people who are watching that particular television show or listening to a radio show.

I rarely do press releases myself, but I have done them a few times.

I’ve been picked up by radio and television a couple of times with those press releases. Generally, I’ll get a little article here and there.

I can’t say that it’s done raging things for my business at this point in time. I haven’t done one in five or six years now. But I do know that they are still a very effective strategy, especially for certain types of businesses or stories.

I have also been on the news about Munchkin (my dog who we rescued in Bali). That didn’t do anything for my business whatsoever, but that’s totally fine – that’s not why we did it.

But there are times when it does make sense to pop a little press release out and see if you get any bites from media who would like to cover it.

17. Run an event

I just had a conversation with someone last week about this.

They were saying to me how I kept recommending going to networking events or local events to meet people, but that no one runs great events in their area.

So I told her to run her own!

Running an event can be really helpful. It puts you in the driver’s seat as to what the tone and agenda for that event is. It allows you to be clear about who you want to attract to that event. You also get the microphone, so you get a chance to speak at that event.

Running your own event can be a really helpful way of getting that extra traction and reach.

It can also be really helpful to invite a biz bestie to come and take some reels, short videos and photos for you because it’s also great content for your socials to support that.

If you do run in-person events, don’t forget to tag as many of the people who were there as possible. Tag the venue and tag the speakers. There are lots of ways that you can use those captured moments of the event to gain even more traction and reach online.

18. Improve your content

When I say improve your content, I mean improve your content so that it’s actually doing its job and you’re not just using random templates or AI to generate content… you’re not writing things like you’re a robot who has been trapped in corporate hell for the last 25 years.

Write content that works on your platform.

If you are creating content for YouTube, take some time to notice what gets good traction on YouTube. What do people look for when it comes to content on YouTube?

I read something the other day about how the different thumbnails that you use on YouTube videos make a significant difference to the watch rates of your YouTube videos.

(I’m not someone who specifically focuses on YouTube so I didn’t take any notes on that or pay any attention to it, but I think you’re supposed to use words on the thumbnail, make it look really interesting and have a funny expression on your face. Don’t quote me on that though.)

Paying attention to that sort of information is applicable for every platform.

Instagram is an image-first platform.

Is your imagery scroll stopping? Or does it just look like everyone else’s?
Is your imagery grabbing people’s attention in the right way? Or does it just look like an ad?

If you are on Instagram, learn how to optimise your content for Instagram.

When I say to optimise your content for Instagram, I do not mean to follow the random illogical advice of people who claim to be making $80,000 a month on Instagram but have no engagement on their posts and nothing to back it up.

Pay attention to what works on Instagram. Not just to get reach or comments, but to grow your specific style of business and what works for you.

The most important numbers that I would be paying attention to and comparing your results with… are your own results.

I collect my reach and engagement numbers for each month. Then every quarter, I look back at the last three to six months and see if there has been a trend of improvement in my reach and engagement, or if it’s been on the decline.

I also have a quick look at what the top few posts of the last few months were, and what the bottom few posts of the last few months were.

This allows me to see if there are any patterns/trends, and I can pay attention to what performs better.

On Facebook, you have a word-first platform.

Pay attention to those first few lines that you use in your content. Is it engaging? Is it getting people’s attention?

And ultimately, the content that performs the best on social media is social. It is conversational. It is human to human.

Finding ways to improve your content creation and create optimised content for your platform is very helpful.

19. Use a yes ladder post

If you use Instagram or Facebook to promote your freebies, products and services, when you first release something, you can use a yes ladder post.

(These are not allowed in the Heart-centred group so please don’t take this as an endorsement of doing them in the Heart-centred group.)

Whenever I create a new webinar, before I’ve even set it up or got a registration link, I post on my socials and say “My next webinar is going to be about [TOPIC], and it’s going to help you to [OUTCOME]. Who wants the link when it’s ready?”

I’ll often have a hundred people comment on a post like that. Every single one of those comments is great engagement, so it’s going to grow my reach.

It also ensures that it gets in front of most of my followers, because if my followers are really engaging with something, then I’m telling the algorithm that the content is valuable for my followers, so it’s going to put that content in front of even more of my warmer audience.

Then when I’ve got the link ready, I’ll DM it to each person who’s asked for it, and reply to their comment letting them know that I’ve sent it to them.

That creates that back-and-forth, which is really good for your reach. It allows your warmest audience to get access to it first. They don’t want to miss out on it so they’re making sure they’re commenting on it. And that also tells the algorithms that you have a highly engaged audience.

It’s a very good strategy to use to give you a little boost of your reach. But use it sparingly.

20. The virtuous cycle of content

This one takes a little bit of explaining, but I think it’s worthwhile in really paying attention to and having a play with in your own business.

If you grow your mailing list from social media or through other strategies, but you want to use that mailing list to grow your audience on socials or get more reach, what you can do is create a virtuous cycle, where when people join your mailing list and get your regular newsletter, you are directing them to a specific piece of content on your social media.

In my newsletters, every now and then I will include a link to a Facebook live or a post that I did about something that is causing a bit of a stir or generating some conversation.

What that does is it sends a bunch of people from a mailing list over to my socials. That bunch of people going over and engaging with that piece of content grows my reach and gets me in front of new audiences. And then those new audiences are getting more of my content, they might see something that invites them to come and join my list, so then it gets people from social media over onto my mailing list.

And then the cycle continues.

The more consistently you’re directing your mailing list to your content on social media, and the more consistently you are getting your social followers onto your mailing list, you can see that it’s creating that virtuous cycle. It’s impacting on each other really beautifully.

They are driving each other up, and it’s going to help you to get more reach and get in front of more of those ideal clients.

That brings us to the end of these ten quickfire ways for you to grow your audience and reach more people.

That is now twenty ways for you to improve your reach and grow your audience that I’ve delivered over the two podcast episodes.

I would love to hear from you if you have found this helpful! If you’ve got any follow-up questions about any of those strategies, feel free to slide into my DMs on Facebook or Instagram.

If you’re going to try something out, I want to know how it goes, so please make sure that you keep me posted!

Once again, if you would like to ensure that the strategies that you’re using and the content that you’re sharing are aligned with your ideal clients, attracting the right people and really speaking to them, then make sure you’ve got your core messaging sorted.

You can grab my free Core Messaging Template at: tashcorbin.com/coremessage

Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast.

Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.