Five audience growth strategies

If you're looking to get your work in front of new people, I've identified five strategies to help you.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Creative Companion]( Presented by [For The Interested]( Hello my friend! This week I appeared on the [Danny Miranda Podcast](=). On that show, I shared an almost-ready-for-primetime framework that I've designed to help creators design their content strategy. [On the Danny Miranda Podcast](=)​ ​ ​Listen to the show for a preview, or wait until I share the framework next week! But one piece of that framework I wanted to share today is your Growth Engine. I use the term "engine" because your growth strategy, when taken together, should always be running. And by running all the time, they power the rest of your business activities. I've identified five growth strategies for creators: - Sharing & Virality - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Earned Media - Collaboration - Paid Acquisition They aren't mutually exclusive – you can pursue all five strategies at once, pick and choose, or even experiment and change them with the seasons. But let's talk about each one of them. 1. Sharing & Virality This is the path early-stage creators focus on most. We hope that our work is so good and so loved that our audience will share it with their audience. Whether it's tweeting your article or talking about it over lunch, word of mouth is still powerful and is never going away. But the bar for share-worthy work gets higher every day. We get better tools all the time, so creators are able to make better and better things. And just as social media made us all aware of our "brand" and how we present OURSELVES, we're now becoming increasingly aware of how our reputation is attached to the things we curate and share from OTHERS too. Sharing will happen. And as your audience grows, the numbers play in your favor – the more people who CAN share it, the more people who will, which gets the flywheel of virality turning. Because there is no "viral" without sharing. So if you want to grow through virality...you better make something worth sharing. Something MORE worth sharing than the other work your audience is viewing! 2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) SEO remains an often-undervalued afterthought. There's a mysticism around SEO...we know that if we had SEO it would be a good thing...so how do we get it? Who can we hire to get it for us? Here's the thing – it's hard to take existing stuff and sprinkle some SEO dust on it and have it be a traffic-generating asset. It's possible, but it's unlikely. Things that do well with SEO and capture some of that sweet, sweet constant organic traffic were DESIGNED for SEO. They were constructed with the goal of SEO in mind. That starts with keyword research, your property's reputation in the eyes of the search engine, and more. It's hard to create content that makes both humans AND search robots happy. But when you're able to do it...it's magic. Your work keeps working for you long after you hit publish. 3. Earned Media This is a channel I don't see many creators thinking about – myself included. Earned media is press and media coverage that you don't pay for. It's another blog deciding to highlight your work, a newsletter pointing to your podcast, or a shoutout in another YouTuber's video. Earned media is often thought of in terms of old-school publications. And I catch myself asking, "Does it really matter if I get mentioned in Forbes?" But earned media can be any form of media that organically highlights your work. Podcasts, newsletters, blogs, YouTube, etc. And the key to getting earned media? Making something a.) really good and/or b.) really unique. It's actually similar to sharing & virality, but associated with a platform or publication more than an individual. The bar is still really high. What makes your work newsworthy? What makes it so unique that it begs to be shared? 4. Collaboration A spin that a lot of creators take on earned media is collaboration. Earned media, by definition, is not paid for. But you can get similar exposure (and results) with intentional collaboration. There is "payment" involved in terms of both parties entering into the collaboration with an expectation of reciprocal value. But that's not necessarily through actual cash. Collaborations may look like doing a guest swap with another podcaster. They may look like cross-promoting a newsletter within your own. Or they may be co-creating an entirely unique piece of content! I'm realizing more and more that collaboration is one of the biggest growth levers you can pull and all it costs you is time and effort to build relationships. And isn't that why we're doing all of this anyway? 5. Paid Acquisition Did you gasp and clutch your pearls? For some reason, creators seem to think that paid acquisition is a bad thing. Or that if you pay for new readers, listeners, or viewers that your work must be bad. But paid acquisition is just a lever. Paid acquisition is the ability to say, "I know earned media works...but I'm going to take chance out of the equation and pay for that media exposure." Paid acquisition works and it's how a LOT of companies built their brands. If you had a machine that turned every dollar you made into two dollars, what would you do? If it's me, I'm going out and finding as many dollars as I can to dump into that machine. You should think of your business as a machine. And if you can see how investing in your business turns a profit over time, then investing in your business makes all the sense in the world. And paid acquisition is a way to do just that. I've lined up several paid campaigns in the month of May, and I'm sharing my process inside the [Creative Companion Club](). I'll share the results here as well. Conclusion Once you understand these five routes available to you, you can choose which ones make the most sense for your work. And that may change over time! If you don't have the disposable income for paid acquisition right now (I didn't for years) then maybe you should focus on collaboration for this season. The creators operating at the highest level often have aspects of all of these strategies working simultaneously – whether intentionally or not. But Rome wasn't built in a day, and your creative platform won't be either. Start with one, design an experiment, and try it out. Find one that works and build a process around it so you keep that strategy going all the time. That's how your growth strategy becomes a growth engine. ​ Share This Essay: [Share via facebook]( [Share via twitter]() [Share via whatsapp]( Your personal share link: [ ​ ​ ​ [Sponsor Image]( PRESENTED BY FOR THE INTERESTED Proven Strategies To Grow Your Audience For The Interested is a free newsletter for creative entrepreneurs. If you love Creative Companion, you'll love it too. It features proven strategies to help you grow your audience and business based on how others have done so. Josh Spector, the writer, is really good about testing new ideas using the newsletter and sharing the results with readers. He recently shared [how he earns $48,000/yr](=) with newsletter advertising! It's short, actionable, inspiring, and loved by 18,000+ subscribers. Check it out! [Subscribe]( ​ ​ CLICK WORTHY 🔥 Consume This 🎧 [Dissecting INSIDE by Bo Burnham (PART 1)]( – If you listened to this week's episode of Creative Elements, you heard me say that Bo Burnham is my dream podcast guest. Coincidentally, one of my favorite podcasts is starting a series breaking down his latest special, INSIDE. And it is incredible. (46 minutes) --------------------------------------------------------------- 📖 [LinkTree 2022 Creator Report]( – LinkTree published research based on data from 9,500 creators and the results were surprising to me. Only 12% of creators interviewed earn more than $50K/yr...which shows that 1.) it's hard to be a creator and 2.) we're still in early days. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🎥 [How to Tell Better Stories](=) – Dan Bennett shared his latest YouTube video inside the Creative Companion Club and it's a fantastic, quick watch to get you thinking about how to tell better stories in your own work. (3 minutes) --------------------------------------------------------------- 🔨 [Create better forms with Tally]() – Tally is one of my favorite tools that I've found over the last 6 months. I got sick of the way Typeform's pricing model works, and wanted a better alternative. Not only is Tally a beautiful product, it has one of the most generous free plans I've ever seen. THIS WEEK ON CREATIVE ELEMENTS #100: Jay Clouse My Story and Reflecting on 100 Episodes of Creative Elements [Creative Elements Cover Art]() This week marks the 100th episode of Creative Elements! That's 100 unique interviews (and 87 unique elements) in just over two years. In March of this year, 2022, the show crossed 1,000,000 all-time downloads! And it gets about 40,000 downloads each and every month. It’s been featured in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Castro, and more. The success this show has had and continues to build is all because of YOU. You listening, supporting, and sharing the show. We have nearly 250 five-star reviews on Apple Podcasts and nearly 50 five-star reviews on Spotify! Over the last two years, a lot of listeners have asked to hear more of my story. For 100 episodes, I’ve put the spotlight on other creators. Those interviews have done a LOT to inform the decisions I’m making for my own creator business! And as a result, the last two years have been huge for the growth of my business. So in this episode, we talk about why I love podcasting, where the idea for Creative Elements came from, how I’m structuring my business today, some of the most memorable guests in the first 100 episodes, and a special surprise from YOU at the end. CREATIVE ELEMENTS • EPISODE 100 Jay Clouse My Story and Reflecting on 100 Episodes of Creative Elements [Play episode]() =[Apple Podcasts](=) Spotify]( ​ ​ LAST WORD 👋 Thanks for reading! I've been running at full speed through the first four months of the year, and it's served me well! The business is growing faster than ever before, and I'm also being more intentional about where I'm investing time, attention, and funds. One practice I've adopted this year is a monthly retrospective where each month I break down: - My Profit & Loss Report - Outcomes vs. Goals for the month - Good Things vs. Concerns - Lessons Learned - Decisions & Changes for the next month I spend several hours writing this down into a Notion document and then I actually record a full ~30 minute video walking through it for the [Creative Companion Club](). This monthly reflection has done a lot for helping me identify what's working, what needs to change, and how to better allocate my time. Since adopting this process, I've posted two consecutive record months of revenue. If you aren't already following a similar process, I'd highly recommend it! And if you're interested in looking behind the curtain at my process, I'll be sharing my April Retro inside the community this week. [Join us]()! Cheers, Jay --------------------------------------------------------------- [Photo of Jay Clouse]( Jay Clouse [Say hi 👋 on Twitter]() or [Instagram]( ☎️ [Book a 1:1 call with me]( Thanks for subscribing! You can reply to this email or [contact me]( anytime. Too many emails? [Change your preferences]( or [unsubscribe here](. Want to say thank you? [Buy Me A Coffee]() or send a note to P.O. BOX 797, Worthington, OH 43085 This email was sent with [ConvertKit]() and designed using [Palladio]().