if you only have one marketing goal in 2022, make this one

If you’re already deeply connected to your audience…if serving them up close and personal is already your priority…and if your email list numbers are all you want them to be, skip  this month’s article. Otherwise, read on!

FACT: Our Message Has No Value Without An Audience

God gifted us to write and speak His truth. But if we don’t spend time in one-on-one engagement with our audience, our message won’t spread far. It may be perfect but few will read it or hear it. Fewer still will apply it, so lives won’t change.

Why? Because a critical element will be missing: our audience won’t know us personally. They won’t know what makes us laugh or what makes our blood boil, so they won’t care about us or our message. We won’t make the impact Christ intended.

Don’t let this travesty happen to you. You are the only one who can prevent it. Here’s how.

Build An Online Community

If you have only one marketing goal in 2022, build a community where your audience can find you, engage with you, be helped by you, and get to know you. The works offline but is easier online. Whatever’s best for you and your audience is the perfect choice.

The Primary Way You’re Connected to Your Audience Even Before Publication

You and I know our audience in ways that others don’t because we are like them; they are like us. That’s God’s Master Plan. We know what makes them tick. Their fears. Their questions. What causes that acrid taste of fear in their mouths or that dream that fills them with anticipation.

Others who also want to serve this specific group create surveys to discover what this group needs, so they can offer it. But you and I don’t need surveys. God’s called  us to serve those who’ve experienced one or more of the traumas we’ve experienced from which He’s delivered us. Or perhaps one or more of the “impossible” goals He’s helped us reach.

Our message is the hope that He can deliver them, too, but we don’t stop there. We go on to share how He helped us, such as the steps we took–that they can also take–and so on. As they apply the principles He first taught us to apply, their lives change, too, and He is glorified.

This creates a deep, common bond between our audience and us. It’s time to solidify that bond in 2022 and build upon it.

Get face-to-face with your audience. Develop a community for them…with them.

It Doesn’t Have to be a Facebook Group

There’s a cornucopia of ways to engage with each other digitally or in real life. The first step is to make the commitment, then invite those audience members you already know to join you at the appointed time–you choose where–and bring their like-minded friends with them.

Serve them. Laugh with them. Connect with them, being your natural self. Create a safe space for them to speak their mind, ask questions, and get to know each other, too. Build a community together.

Some ask about serving online, “What if I say something wrong or my Internet connection goes crazy?” Rest easy! You WILL say something ridiculous and your Internet connection WILL go kablooey! And guess what? The world will keep right on spinning because those things happen.

Learn how to handle the ups and downs of “live” service and get over yourself already!

Before Internet days, I wrote and taught over 1,000 classes combined–each one different–at my job, church, and elsewhere in my local region.

Online, I’ve hosted over 500 (60-minute) Facebook Live interviews and over 200 live trainings on Zoom.

In all, I’ve survived some wacky experiences, and my audience was right there supporting me, eager to learn what I offered. We always made it through together. The snafu that tried to separate drew us closer instead. That’s God’s way.

Your Audience Will Support You, Too

They want the information, solutions, inspiration, or education you offer. Deliver it to them and they’ll be back. The Holy Spirit will draw others hungry for your message, too. You do your part. He’ll do His.

It’s amazing to watch your community transform from a random group of strangers with no apparent commonality into a strong band of followers who are loyal to you and each other.

Intentional fellowship changes everything, increasing both your clarity and passion as you see first this and then that person’s eyes light up and their burdens lifted, sometimes, because they know your story so well, too.

You’ll miss these tangible benefits if you don’t connect with real people in real time, whether online or off, in Jesus’ name and for their sake.

Make COMMUNITY your number one marketing goal for 2022!

Patricia Durgin is an Online Marketing Coach and Facebook Live Expert. She trains Christian writers and speakers exclusively, helping them develop their messaging, marketing funnels, conversational emails, and Facebook Live programs. Patricia hosted 505 (60-minute) Facebook Live programs from 2018-2020. That program is on indefinite hiatus. She’s also a regular faculty member at Christian writers and speakers conferences around the country.

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission