I just off the phone with Stephanie, one of my closest friends, a couple of hours ago. We were swapping business stories and she asked me an interesting question: “If Facebook NEVER existed, how would you market your business?” My first thought was “Really Stephanie?”. That's hard for me to imagine because over 60% of my email list was built using Facebook Ads. If Facebook ceased to exist, a big part of my lead generation plan would be gone. As we discussed some options, I started to realize how dependent I was on Facebook. Yikes! After some brain dumping, I came up with the top 5 ways to market your business WITHOUT using Facebook. Interesting-right?
1) Speaking (Online & Offline)
If you can't tell from the video above, I'm a pretty energetic and enthusiastic person and perform well on stage for in-person speaking gigs. Live speaking is what put me on the map as the “go-to” social media person when I lived in Hawaii. As I started getting more speaking gigs in Hawaii, I grew a reputation and was asked to speak in other places across the country. Live speaking is what really got me known and got clients into my business. However, with the military lifestyle of constantly moving, sometimes it's not possible to get live speaking gigs. Lately, I've been pursuing online speaking gigs such as telesummits, podcasts, radio shows, and even weekly Blab shows. Considering that this has worked REALLY well for me in the past year, this is definitely my #1 go-to strategy if Facebook ceased to exist.
2) Look At Who I Have
In other words, is there any “low-hanging” fruit? Simply put, I would go back and contact people that I had previous conversations with that didn't purchase any of my services. It's possible that they were interested but didn't have the money at that time. For this to work, I would reach out personally to those I think would be interested. Please note that I said “I would reach out personally”. My assistant wouldn't send an email and I wouldn't send it through my email marketing system. There's something about a warm, personal touch that makes people listen and read what you have to say and it doesn't come off as “salesy”. This isn't cold calling since these people already know me, so it would be more like warm calling.
3) Create My Own Opportunities
There are times when I don't have a live speaking gig or an online speaking gig. When that happens, I like to create my own opportunities. Thanks to live broadcasting, this is fairly easy to do. You can easily jump on Periscope, Blab (no Facebook remember?), Google Hangouts, YouTube Live and create your own online speaking gig. Also, you could do webinars. Personally, I LOVE delivering webinars. It allows me to teach and get interested people to take it a step further and work with me as clients. The beauty of creating your own opportunities is that it's on YOUR time and what's convenient for you. This could be planned webinars or just jumping on your favorite live broadcasting app and going at it!
4) Have My Own Weekly Show
Sometimes, it's hard to get speaking gigs (live in-person gigs or online gigs) and you have to create your own opportunities (see #3 above). One way to consistently have your own speaking gig is to create a show or podcast. This is a really great way to get out there, meet new people, and expose yourself and your business to people who have never heard of you before. One of the biggest advantages of having your own show is that it makes you an authority in your field or industry. The key to having your own show is to be consistent. It's a lot of work finding guests, scheduling interviews (I know because I used to have my own radio show and I hosted 2 telesummits last year), but it's worth it.
5) Joint Venture Projects and Collaborations
I love group projects and collaborating with others so this is one of my favorite ways to market my business. I would be doing this more if Facebook were to cease to exist. Joint venture projects and collaborations could include giveaways or being a guest expert for someone's Facebook group or mastermind community. Giveaways are lot of fun to participate in and you meet a lot of other entrepreneurs who have the same audience as you. I love being a guest expert because I'm deemed as an expert by the leader of the community and I meet some great potential customers. If you're super creative, don't be afraid to create your own joint venture projects and collaborations!
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