Audience From Scratch 2021 – Shane Melaugh
The reality lived by 90%+ of online entrepreneurs is different from the dream. VERY different…
When we start building an online business, we dream of how great it will be to have a business that works while we’re sleeping, to be free from a strict work schedule and tyrannical bosses… to be able to work from cozy coffee shops or while sitting on a beach, perhaps.
More importantly: to be free.
To have freedom over our work, over our schedule, over our time. To be free to do meaningful, self-directed work that we actually enjoy doing. To bring something of real value to the world.
It’s a beautiful scenario we paint in our minds, isn’t it?
We don’t dream of staring at a screen all day, every day.
We don’t dream of work that never ends, that creeps into every corner of our lives…
We don’t dream of an endless grind of learning new things, trying new things, putting ourselves out there and being disappointed, over and over again.
But that’s the reality most entrepreneurs face. We didn’t sign up for this, but this is what we got.
If you asked the younger version of yourself, from a few years ago, they’d expect that you should be successful by now. That was the plan, wasn’t it? You should have a thriving online business by now. You should have a website that gets lots of traffic, a growing list of email subscribers, followers, fans…
But somehow, that “figuring things out” phase seems to draw out forever.
Why are you stuck, even though you work so hard?
Why is it that so many online marketers are stuck in a cycle of hard work with disappointing results? Why is it that this same problem is so common, for so many people who try to build a business online?
It’s because most entrepreneurs spend most of their energy chasing the wrong goals.
In the online business space, you’re being shown all these seemingly shining examples and there are all these big, clear targets lined up along the horizon. But they’re a mirage. Paradoxically, moving towards these targets moves you away from your actual goals.
Let me be as clear as possible: most of the things that you care about for your business, most of the goals you’re pursuing… are actually keeping you stuck.
Skeptical?
Keep reading and you’ll see that this isn’t just my opinion. This is fact.
You’ve Been Sold an Illusion Of Success… Quick Wins, Easy Money, Viral Content…
Let me ask you a question: what does online business success look like?
In your mind’s eye, do you see any of the following:
- Social media influencers with massive followings and lucrative sponsorship deals?
- Websites with millions of visitors per month and upward sloping lines in their analytics dashboards?
- Viral marketing campaigns with a single video or content piece reaching millions of people?
- Startups that growth-hack their way to a massive user base and then get bought out by a tech giant (for $$$ millions)?
These, among many others are those “shining examples” that lead millions of wannabe entrepreneurs astray. Trying to emulate these kinds of success stories is a commonly walked path to frustration and failure.
Vanity Metrics: How Big Corporations Get You to Work for them… for Free.
There’s a term for metrics that don’t matter, beyond stroking your ego: vanity metrics.
A vanity metric is data that strokes your ego, but doesn’t actually grow your business.
These metrics are easy to measure. Social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube report these numbers publicly. If you’re a creator on such a platform, they rub the vanity metrics in your face every chance they get.
Vanity Metrics Include:
- The number of likes, shares, upvotes a social post gets.
- The number of views a video gets, the amount of traffic a blog post gets, the number of times a social media post is seen.
- The number of followers or subscribers an account has.
These numbers are like targets that have been lined up for you. They’re the targets most online entrepreneurs frantically scramble towards.
They promise salvation: work hard enough, get enough followers and you too can make lots of money!
To be clear: I’m calling these numbers vanity metrics because they don’t matter.
That’s hard to believe, I know. But you can easily prove it to yourself.
You can have a website with lots of traffic that makes virtually no money.
You can have millions of followers and have a completely failed product launch.
Here’s an tragic/amusing example of this problem:
You can be a “success story” in the online world but suffer from burnout & struggle to make ends meet.
At the end of the day, likes, followers, even traffic won’t pay the bills.
If you think about it, this makes sense. After all, where do the vanity metrics come from? They are prominently displayed by social platforms. They’re used by these platforms as a “carrot” to get users/creators to do what’s good for the platform.
The goal of a social media platform is not to help you, the creator/entrepreneur. Their goal is to make money. And if they have loads of people desperately creating loads of content in the hopes of some far-off reward, that’s great for them! Free labour!
The reason so many online entrepreneurs fail is not because something’s wrong. It’s because the system works! The system does what it’s supposed to do. All the struggling creators are just unaware of the system.
The Holy Grail of Email Marketing (?)
While we’re in the process of slaughtering sacred cows, let’s talk about email marketing. Building an email list is the ultimate non-vanity thing to do, right? The money is in the list! How often have you heard that one?
And yes, I’ve preached the importance of building a mailing list as well.
BUT…
You can have a mailing list full of people who don’t open your emails and don’t want to buy anything from you.
There’s nothing wrong with building a mailing list (I recommend it!) but if you’re just chasing that subscriber number, if you’re just trying to get that number to increase, you’re still stuck on the vanity metrics treadmill.
So, what’s the solution? What’s the alternative to the futile pursuit of vanity metrics?
There is a solution to all the problems described above. There is a way to get unstuck – a better way to do things.
In fact, I’ve been following a set of strategies that are way off the beaten track from typical online marketing advice for years. And I’ve been very successful in doing so.
From my vantage point, I can see all the struggling entrepreneurs flailing and failing as they scramble along the well-trodden highway to frustration. It’s clear as day to me why they’re struggling. It’s clear that doing more of the same isn’t going to get them the results they want.
But there’s a problem: the way I’ve done things is so different, it’s hard for some people to believe. I can show you what I do differently (and I will – just keep reading). The question is: can you open your eyes to it? Or will you return your gaze to the shiny mirages and resume your struggle to chase vanity metrics?
The choice is yours.
What You’ll Discover in the Course
Some of the modules in the course:
The 3 Components of Audience Building
There are 3 components that must be in place for an audience to grow. Miss any one of these and you’ll be perpetually struggling.
The Treadmill & The Power Curve
Discover why most online entrepreneurs are stuck on “the treadmill” and learn how to use power curves to escape this predicament. Once you understand this principle, you’ll see it everywhere!
The Manifesto Method
How exactly can you create something that people will want to rally around – something that generates fans, not just followers? The Manifesto Method is your step-by-step recipe to do it!
The Story Challenge
Looking for a way to kick-start your audience growth? The Story Challenge is a method you can use to generate buzz around your brand and find your first group of fans.
Content Deconstruction
The Internet is full of good content that no one’s ever heard about. In the course, you’ll learn a framework to help you create content that actually gets noticed and gets results.
The 8 Content Dimensions
Develop x-ray vision for online content. Once you go through the module with the 8-dimensions framework, you’ll finally understand why some content succeeds, while most content fails.
Authentic Audience Interaction
Learn why “engagement” is overrated and how you can open an authentic, value-driven dialogue with your audience.
Serial Interactive Content
Discover the most powerful recipe for creating content that boosts your reach, turns people into fans & builds meaningful relationships between a creator and their audience.
Putting it All Together: The Audience Building Master-Plan
The Audience from Scratch course is chock-full of valuable strategies for reaching more people and turning visitors into die-hard fans. But it’s not just a collection of tips or strategies. The course is topped off with a step-by-step system that you can follow. It gives you a clear roadmap, telling you exactly what to do and in what order, to build your audience – even if you’re starting from literally zero!
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