How to build up an audience fast!
Hey hey hey! And welcome to another episode of the Simplify Your Sales podcast!
A few episodes back we talked about how running a sales promotion in your shop is a FANTASTIC way to get a quick boost in sales when you need it most (and what mistakes to avoid when running a sales promo– it’s episode 27 if you want to check it out)
…but today I want to talk to you about what to do if you need that boost in revenue…but you’re a newer shop and don’t have the audience to market it to? What then?
Obviously you need SOMEONE to market your sale to– but who??? And how?
In this episode, we’re going to go through MY personal favorite way of growing your audience PRIOR to running a sales promotion in your shop so you’ve got a captive audience that’s primed and ready to make the purchase when your sale goes live.
And we’re not talking a 3-6 month lead-up to your sale– you don’t have time for that!– we’re talking a quick 2-3 week blitz strategy that gets you an audience…FAST.
And just as a disclaimer, this strategy isn’t *just* for when you’re prepping to run a sale. You can use it whenever you need to boost your audience or get some new eyes on your stuff. I’ve used this strategy MULTIPLE TIMES with great success each time– it’s the perfect business “pick me up” when things are feeling seasonably slow.
Ready to do this? let’s dive in!
First things first, I need you to step outside of your introverted self and realize that the FASTEST way to grow your audience, and likewise your business, involves collaborating with others.
It takes A LONG time to build a business in a vacuum. When you collaborate with others, you get to leverage audiences that are already built and use them to quickly build up your own. So instead of starting from scratch, you’re essentially “fast-tracking” your growth.
So with that in mind, the quick audience-building strategy we’re going to talk about today is called a VIRAL GIVEAWAY.
Now before we dive into all that that means, know that I KNOW the hesitations you might have right now. When you think “giveaway” your immediate thoughts probably go to the fact that you’ll be giving away product your hard-earned product for free for a little short-lived hype and then it’s done.
And if you’ve approached giveaways in the past that way before, then I TOTALLY get the hesitation in them. Where’s the fun in giving away hand-created product for free?!
And that’s why we need to shift your focus and approach giveaways as a GATE-WAY– they’re just a “tool” to get people in the door and aware of who you are and what you sell.
So first things first: What is a viral giveaway?
A viral giveaway isn’t your ordinary giveaway– it’s a giveaway with a VERY specific end goal in mind– growing your audience as quickly as possible. And I think that’s a lot of the “problem areas” that sellers run into when they host giveaways– they’re not clear on the end goal and so they don’t create a giveaway strategy that can accomplish that.
IT’S KIND OF LIKE THE CHESHIRE CAT IN ALICE IN WONDERLAND WHEN ALICE ASKS HIM WHICH WAY SHE SHOULD GO AND HE RESPONDS “THAT DEPENDS A GREAT DEAL ON WHERE YOU WANT TO GET TO.”
So with that in mind, there are 2 major factors that contribute to making your giveaway “viral”:
1- Using a viral giveaway platform- You’ll want to use a tool like
2- Collaborating with others
1- VIRAL GIVEAWAY PLATFORM
So a viral giveaway platform is a giveaway tool that naturally encourages more entries.
The gist is this: Whenever someone enters your giveaway via these apps, they are encouraged to share via social media with easy click buttons— and with each share they make, they get MORE ENTRIES. So it’s a win-win for both of you– more exposure for you, more winning probability for those who share.
I’ve personally used KingSumo in the past to host my own viral giveaways because it’s free, but I know Rafflecopter and Gleam.io are also really popular options with people, starting at about $10/month.
2- COLLABORATING WITH OTHERS
Alright, and the second part of the equation is to collaborate with others. And this is the part that freaks people out, but it really doesn’t have to be that scary– it just involves initiating a few conversations.
With giveaway collaborations, you want to connect and collaborate with people who share a similar target market to you, but are not directly competing with your products. For example, if you sold wedding invitations and wanted to host a viral giveaway to build your audience, you would want to collaborate with other business owners who DON’T sell wedding invitations, but maybe sell wedding table decor, cake toppers, bridal party favors, or things like that. You always, always, ALWAYS want to make sure that your product is NOT in direct competition with ANYONE from your giveaway collaboration, or really any collaboration you are a part of.
So together– the viral giveaway platform AND the collaboration with others– is what will help your giveaway to go “viral” in your niche and grow your audience quickly and efficiently.
HOW TO GET STARTED HOSTING YOUR OWN VIRAL GIVEAWAY:
So it now begs the question– now that you know WHAT factors contribute to making your giveaway viral, how do you actually get started?
While there are a myriad of nuances that go into running ANY type of marketing strategy (and viral giveaways are no exception), at the very basics, there are 3 main parts you need to nail down:
1- Your giveaway details
2- Your collaboration partners
3- How you’ll turn your giveaway into profit
UP FIRST– #1 – YOUR GIVEAWAY DETAILS
Before you do ANYTHING else, you need to quickly outline your giveaway promotion so that you actually have something to share with people when you ask them to join.
At a minimum, you’re going to want to have figured out:
The dates of your giveaway
The theme of your giveaway (as in, who is the audience? What is the “common theme” that you’ll all be giving away)
What you’re looking at for prizes (specific products? Or a shop gift card? Your collaborators will want to know what you’re expecting from them!)
What’s in it for them?
Come up with a name for it ← important!
Want to make your giveaway REALLY stand out? You need to give it a name! Saying “Bundle giveaway” is fine, but the “Ultimate Party Package” is WAY more fun and memorable when people hear about it. Plus, it educates them on a simple level what your giveaway is generally about– and they’ll know right off the bat if it’s something they’re interested in or not.
Plan out your marketing for it (and what your collaborators should expect to do)
The most important part of all of this is to make sure your collaborators know what is expected of them promotion-wise, too. Do you want them to email their lists? Post it 3x on social media? Be sure to be VERY specific on this step so there is no cause for confusion.
There are plenty of additional details you’ll need to figure out later, but these are the “minimal viable” pieces you must have in place to move forward. Once you’ve got these things figured out, it’s time to move on to Step 2!
STEP 2: PICK YOUR PEOPLE
Here lies the crux of your strategy– you may not have any audience yet, which is why a giveaway or sale promo, or basically anything you’ve tried to do in the past just hasn’t worked. Rest assured it’s not you– it’s just that you’re starting out and we need to pour a little lighter-fluid on the flame, so to speak. Can you guess I just got back from a camping trip?!
Your giveaway needs to be done as a collaboration– which means more than just you.
I know this freaks out the introverts out there, but I PROMISE it doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating— you’re simply going to reach out to a few people via email or Etsy conversations and ask them if they’d like to team up as part of a giveaway bundle.
If you’ve worked with people in the past that you had a positive experience with, reach back out to them. If you’re just getting started, find a few shops in your niche that sell items complementary to yours, and NOT competitively and reach out to them. If you’re working with Etsy sellers, a simple convo is all you need to pitch your collaboration is all you need– letting them know the details and asking for a simple “yes” or “no.”
Insider tip: The easier you can make it for them, the more likely you will receive a positive response. I’ve had people reach out to me saying “hey, want to collaborate?!” but without any sort of idea on what that collaboration looks like and it stresses this already-busy mom out to the max and I usually just discard those inquiries because I DON’T HAVE the TIME or ENERGY to plan something out, no matter how big their audience is!
Contrast that with people who have reached out to me with a VERY specific request in mind, pre-selected dates, and shared why it would be beneficial for me to connect and if the timing is right, 9/10 times I say “yes” to those requests– because it’s EASY and won’t require a ton of additional work on my end, short of supplying some sort of “product” for the giveaway bundle.
For a giveaway to be perceived as “valuable,” I recommend a minimum of no less than $100 worth of prizes, and no less than 2 other collaborators. Truly, here, it’s the more the merrier. If you’re going to put in the work for organizing an awesome giveaway, GO BIG or go home, I say! The more people and more prizes you have, the more “viral” your giveaway will go!
And one final aspect to consider when running your giveaway with collaborators– make it VERY clear what the expectations are and have an agreement in writing that you will all fulfill your end of the bargain. There is nothing worse than partnering with someone who goes MIA and doesn’t share a dang thing with their audience. Make your expectations INCREDIBLY clear and you’ll be thankful for it later.
STEP 3: FOLLOW UP FOR THE SALE IMMEDIATELY.
Once your contest/giveaway ends, you’ll want to immediately pick a winner and announce it within your community + via email.
However. If you stop there, you’re missing out on MEGA profit and sales. And that’s probably why you’ve been burned out by giveaways in the past. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “the fortune is in the followup,” this is a PERFECT example of this in real-life action.
So instead of JUST announcing the winner and thanking everyone for entering, you’re going to use your winner announcement email to offer a “consolation prize” to everyone who entered your contest but didn’t win; this is a PRIME TIME to advertise to your audience because they’ve been thinking about your product, they’ve imagined themselves with it, and then they just found out they didn’t win. Boo. But because you care, you’re letting them know that they’re “still a winner!” and that you care.
This doesn’t have to be a huge consolation prize– something simple like a 15% off coupon code that expires in 48 hours (enough time for them to see and read the email, but not put it off forever) will work wonders.
The main purpose of of this discount is to get your contest entries to take action and visit your shop RIGHT NOW– while they are red-hot and have been thinking about your product. If you wait too long to announce a sale, you risk them turning into “cold” leads– which are essentially people that know your brand but aren’t really interested in purchasing. The “warmer” you can market to your leads, the better.
And there you have it– your quick “get-started” guide to outlining a profitable giveaway in your business and building that audience up so that when you run your sale, your audience is primed and ready!
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Simplify Your Sales podcast (but seriously– thank you or else I’d just be talking to myself!).
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Thanks for tuning in and I’ll see you next week, same time, same place, teaching you how to build a business that supports your lifestyle…and not the other way around!