I heard a story recently that perfectly captures the journey most entrepreneurs face. A young man’s mother looked at him and said something he dreaded hearing: “You are going to have to go back to being a waiter at Red Lobster.”
It's no secret that companies spend a fortune on social media ads—think somewhere in the ballpark of $58 billion a year. But what if you're just getting started or without a massive budget? The good news is, you don't have to spend a dime to start growing your audience.
It’s pretty simple: people who already know you are far more likely to buy something from you than a total stranger. This holds true for your social media audience. Every day, they’re bombarded with messages from people they don’t know, connect with, or care about, and they’ve gotten really good at ignoring the noise. They don’t have time to figure out why your product is worth their attention. That’s not their job—it’s yours.
My marketing agency was losing money, and I was losing the joy of running it. I felt like I was working incredibly hard for free, constantly competing on price in a crowded market of local agencies that promised to do everything for everyone. I was a commodity, and the cheapest commodity always wins. I knew something had to change.
Let’s be honest: trying to use social media for direct-response marketing often feels like trying to use Jell-O as cement. The two just don’t mix well. Social media has its own culture and expectations, while direct response is all about one thing—getting a specific, measurable action. It’s an arranged marriage between two strangers who don’t trust each other.
On social media, the main goal is to connect with your audience in a way that feels native to each platform. When you get it right, you’ll see engagement from customers climb, and you can leverage those relationships to expand your reach far beyond what you could achieve alone.
In the old days of retail, you’d set up shop on a busy street and design an eye-catching window display to draw people in. Today, your website and blog are that window display. You’ve put in the work to create a library of great content, but just like a shop owner waiting for customers, you can’t just sit back and hope people find you. The real growth begins when you start proactively engaging—not just with customers, but with the algorithms that decide who sees your work.
I've often heard from small business owners and people running a side hustle, "If I could just get people to try my product, I know they'd stick around for life." If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. But what if you could get that "try-before-you-buy" effect without actually giving away your core product for free?