3 Things I’d Recommend If I Were Your Marketing Consultant: Growing Your Audience Edition
Welcome back to my little mini-series here on the How I Do Content Podcast where I share what I’d recommend if I were to don the Wizard’s cape and step into your business as a marketing consultant. The real practical messaging + marketing magic that helps you become the obvious choice – the one your dream clients don’t even hesitate to hire.
Last week was Part 1 – the Launching a New Offer Edition. So if you missed it, go back and listen to that one first here
Today is Part 2, and it’s one of my most requested topics – how to grow your audience.
But here’s what I think you actually mean when you say that: you want more clients. You want more sales. You want to feel like your content is working and pulling the right people into your world.
So that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today.
Stop Trying to Grow Your Audience and Start Trying to Attract the Right One
The Biggest Fail Point
The number one mistake I see when it comes to audience growth is that people are playing a numbers game.
They’re obsessing over follower counts, reach stats, how many people watched their Reel. They’re chasing viral moments and trying every trend in the hope that this is the one that finally cracks the algorithm and floods their inbox with dream clients.
But you can grow your audience to 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 people – and still hear crickets when you sell your offer. Because a big audience that isn’t right for your offer means nothing.
You think you need more eyeballs. What you actually need is better eyeballs. And who you attract into your audience is a direct result of your messaging.
The words you use, the angles you lean into, the stories you tell, the problems you talk about – they act like a signal. A very specific signal that either calls in your dream client or pulls in literally everyone else.
If your messaging isn’t specific and relevant to those dream clients, they’re not going to find you – and they’re not going to buy from you. Messaging is the most important lever you have when it comes to how to grow your audience the right way.
My Recommendation
Before you do anything to grow your audience, get ruthlessly clear on who you actually want in it. The specific human, with the specific problem, at the specific moment in their journey where your offer is the most obvious solution.
Then go through your messaging with that person in mind and ask: does every single piece of content I’m creating speak directly to that person? Does it make them feel seen, understood, and like your offer was made specifically for them?
When your messaging is this specific and this intentional, something magical happens. The right people find you and think “this person gets me.”
And equally important – the wrong people self-select out. They realise this isn’t for them and they keep scrolling. That’s not a bad thing. That’s your messaging doing its job.
Your goal isn’t to be for everyone. Your goal is to be unmistakably, undeniably for your person.
If you’re not sure where to start – come back to Desire, Demand and Differentiation. What does your ideal client desperately want? Why do they need it right now? And why should they choose you over every other option?
When your messaging answers all three, you stop attracting everyone and start attracting the right ones. Get that right first, and then the growth will come.
Get Visible in Fewer Places, More Intentionally – and Build a Bridge to Something You Own
The Biggest Fail Point
The second biggest mistake I see business owners make is trying to be everywhere all at once. Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, a podcast, a newsletter, a blog, a Facebook group – and then wondering why they’re exhausted and none of it seems to be working.
This is what happens when you take advice from people whose job it is to be a content creator, or to teach you how to be one. Most people don’t have the time, team, or capacity to maintain that level of output.
So what happens? You start out with the best intentions, you keep it going for a few weeks, and then when life and business get busy, you drop off the face of the earth – never to be seen again until your next launch. When it would have been a whole lot easier, and more effective, to just get visible in fewer places, more intentionally.
Because your business grows through relationships, trust, and the very specific human deciding to invest in working with you. You do not need to be on every platform to make that happen.
What you do need is to be consistently visible in the right place — where your ideal client is actually hanging out — and then to bring them into a space where you own the relationship.
Here’s what a lot of people don’t want to hear: social media is rented land.
Instagram can tank your reach overnight. The algorithm can change. Your account can get hacked. You can lose access to your audience in a heartbeat.
But your email list – that’s yours. No algorithm decides whether your ideal client sees your email. It lands in their inbox, from you, every single time.
My Recommendation
Pick one or two channels where your ideal clients are actively looking for what you offer, and show up there with consistency and intention. Not just showing up for the sake of ticking a box – showing up with content that is specific, relevant, and compelling to the exact person you’re trying to reach.
And then every piece of content you create should have a bridge. A clear, intentional next step that moves someone from that platform onto your email list. A freebie, a mini-training, a waitlist, a quiz – whatever makes sense for your business, but something that gets them off rented land and into a space where you can nurture the relationship properly.
Because knowing how to grow your audience isn’t only about Instagram followers. If that’s the only metric you’re focused on, your growth will always be capped.
Look at how you can also grow your audience outside of social media. Your podcast, SEO, a well-placed lead magnet that lives on Google – these are channels that work for you even when you’re not actively posting. Build those alongside your social presence and you’ll stop feeling like you’re starting from scratch every time the algorithm decides not to play nice.
Borrow Someone Else’s Audience
The Biggest Fail Point
The third thing I’d recommend is something that gets wildly overlooked when people think about audience growth.
Everyone is so fixated on building their own audience from scratch – posting more content, hoping the algorithm will pick them up and put them in front of the right eyeballs. But here’s what the smartest business owners figured out early on: you don’t have to build your audience entirely from zero.
You can borrow someone else’s.
When you show up in someone else’s space (on their podcast, in their newsletter, at their event, inside their community), you’re reaching warm, pre-qualified people who already trust the person vouching for you.
And that trust transfers immediately, which is a whole lot faster than trying to build it from scratch through a cold Instagram post, where they’ve never heard of you, have no context for who you are, and are being served your content between five thousand other people also trying to get their attention.
The difference is significant.
My Recommendation
Identify three to five people or brands who have an audience full of your ideal clients – and who are not direct competitors. Think complementary businesses, people who serve the same person at a different stage of their journey, or people in adjacent niches.
Then reach out with a genuine, specific pitch to collaborate. This could be guest podcasting – still one of the most underused and highest-converting visibility strategies out there. It could be a joint workshop or training, a newsletter mention, a summit, a live event, or a referral relationship.
Some of the most aligned people who’ve found their way into my world came through a single podcast guest spot or a collaboration with someone whose community was already full of my people – not from posting more content on my own channels.
The format matters less than the alignment.
You want to be in front of an audience that is already primed to want what you offer, and introduced to them by someone they already trust.
This is also an incredible positioning move. Showing up as a guest expert on someone else’s platform signals to their audience (and to yours) that you are the authority. You’re not just claiming to know your stuff. You’re being invited to share it.
Stop thinking you have to grow your audience entirely through your own channels. Go find your people where they already are.
Final Thoughts on How to Grow Your Audience
So there you have it – the three things I’d recommend if you came to me as your marketing consultant wanting to know how to grow your audience.
- Get your messaging sharp enough to attract the right people and repel the wrong ones from the jump.
- Get visible in fewer places, more intentionally – and build the bridge from those platforms to your email list, which is the one thing you actually own.
- Borrow someone else’s audience. Find the people who already have your ideal clients in their world, and show up there as the expert you are.
In next week’s episode, I’ll be sharing what I’d recommend if you want to make more sales. Stay tuned.
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