Build an audience, launch a product
I’ve heard the story dozens of times.
__________’s business began by creating YouTube videos, building an audience, and then launching a product.
They made $__________ from the launch alone!
And this particular story dated all the way back to 2014. A full 10 years ago.
We live in a world that these types of opportunities are available to most of us.
If you have a computer and an internet connection, the world is your oyster. There truly are very few limits to what is possible with time and dedication.
Let’s walk through a scenario that I strive to achieve, that anyone can use as a framework when creating an online business.
And that is: Build an audience, then launch a product.
The Importance of Building an Audience
Step 1) Share About Your Interests
Step one of launching a new product or building a new business should involve building an audience online.
Of course, there are other ways to go about starting a business, but skipping this step is foolish in today’s media-driven economy.
With an internet connection and the ability to create content (which anyone is able to do if you’re reading this), you have the ability to build an audience.
How does one go about creating a following online?
- Create content from your perspective (audio, visual, video, written)
- Cover your interests (talk about multiple things you care about)
- Do it consistently
- Double down on what resonates with others
Building an audience is simply a matter of creating content around the things you’re interested in.
It may take some time to discover what your “niche” is, but don’t worry about that quite yet.
If you have multiple interests (like I do), creating content around several topics is going to be just fine.
Cover your broad interests and double-down on which topic(s) your viewers resonate with.
This is how you find your niche.
And if you want to be confident in what interests to share about, check out my free course The Content Clarity Crash Course.
Step 2) Providing Value
Once you’re able to do this for an extended period of time, an audience will naturally follow.
If your content is valuable and/or entertaining, those who enjoy the topic(s) you share about will want to see more. They might subscribe, follow, like, or comment on your work.
Better yet – they share it with their followers or friends.
As the word begins to spread about your content, you will (slowly) gain an audience.
I can’t stress this enough: This step takes time.
I’ve been sharing this newsletter, The Stoke Seminar, for nearly 2 years. I’ve been creating YouTube videos for 11 months.
And long before that, I’ve been creating videos and writing online for 10+ years. I’ve tried and failed dozens of times.
This isn’t my first project.
With all this being said – I currently have 6.5k subscribers on YouTube, and have slowly built my email list to ~350 subscribers.
It takes time. And I am still learning with each step of the process!
It’s a rewarding project that allows anyone to learn many valuable skills along the way.
Step 3) Connect With Your Target Market
Building an audience is important for a couple reasons:
- People follow you for you
- Your audience is a curated group of your customer avatar
If you begin creating content around a few specific topics, people who are also interested in those topics are going to follow you. But, it’s necessary that you share valuable information so that others have a reason to follow along.
For example: Let’s say you begin creating YouTube videos about making delicious coffee drinks from your own kitchen.
You might create a few videos about:
- Which espresso machine to use
- The best at-home coffee grinder
- How to make latte art as a beginner
- What accessories will make you a pro barista
- How much money you save making coffee at home
If you cover these topics in great detail with good quality videos, there’s certainly a market out there that would be interested.
With time, it’s inevitable that you’d begin to build a following of other at-home coffee enthusiasts.
This allows you to begin interacting with your target customer.
Your target customer is the type of person who is most likely to purchase your product.
As your audience begins to grow, you can connect with them in various ways:
- You can ask them questions to discover their pain points
- You can poll your audience to discover what product(s) they’d enjoy
- You can survey their interest based on the feedback of specific videos
- You have a following of people who are already top fans of your chosen market
All of this information is invaluable for you and your at-home coffee business.
This is the stage of this framework that I’m currently working on.
Step 4) Launch a Product
Let’s say you spend a year building an audience of 10k people. It took a lot of work and you haven’t made much (if any) money from the project so far.
However… in year 2, you launch your own line of espresso beans.
- They’re affordable which allows your audience to save even more money making coffee at home
- They’re your preferred style of roast that’s perfect for beginner at-home baristas
- And of course, they’re delicious
Your audience of 10k people are stoked about the launch.
You’ve been providing them with free value about making better coffee at home for an entire year, and they happily support you by buying a bag or two of your espresso beans.
And because of your previous market research, you know that a majority of your audience want to begin making coffee from home. Therefore, your product aligns perfectly with their desires.
What may have felt like wasted effort (to some people), the past year ends up paying off with a successful product launch.
But none of these customers would have known anything about you or your business had it not been for your free videos on YouTube.
Thank goodness you provided them with valuable videos first!
Takeaways For You
Most people launch a product or business in the wrong order.
They take time and spend money building a new business.
They perfect it. And finally go public.
But… quickly realize no one knows about it (and therefore have a very small or non-existent customer base).
If you don’t have any audience, marketing is much more difficult.
Each piece of content you share online is free marketing for your brand or business. But most viewers simply see it for the free value that it provides.
It’s a win-win.
When you build an audience first, launching a product is much easier (and typically far more successful).
Build an audience, then launch a product to solve a problem for that audience.
That’s how to leverage the power of the internet to kickstart your next business venture.
–Eric Pfohl