In this episode, Tara shares her organic growth strategy that allowed her to build her agency past 7 figures without spending money on Ads. Ads can be a great megaphone for your business or a complete waste of money – this episode will help you so you don’t get stuck with a money pit of a business.

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Transcript
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Hey, everybody, it's Tara, Bryan, and you are listening to

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the course building secrets podcast. Whether you're a coach

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or a CEO, the success of your team and clients is based on

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your ability to deliver a consistent experience and guide

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them on the fastest path to results. This podcast will be

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giving practical real life tips that you can use today to build

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your online experiences that get results and create raving fans.

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Why? So you can monetize your expertise and serve more people

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without adding more time or team to your business? If you're

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looking to uncover your million dollar framework, package it and

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use it to scale you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Hey,

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everyone, welcome to today's episode. In today's episode, I

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want to talk about something that you may not know about me.

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So when I was running my digital learning agency, I actually

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scaled it seven figures without ads. And I want to talk about my

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journey through that and, and why I think that it is a solid

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approach. I don't recommend not doing ads. But I don't recommend

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just doing ads as your only strategy for how to grow your

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business. And I want to talk a little bit about that today. And

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why that is and then how do you actually scale with ads or

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without ads. So when I was building my agency, one of the

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things I knew I needed to do was become visible, I needed to have

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people know that I existed, that we had something to offer, and

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that we could help them. And so the way that I started was to

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just go out and figure out where my ideal customers are hanging

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out, right? Where, where are they gathering? What are they

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doing? And in what conversations are they having. That was a very

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first sort of activity. And again, like if you're looking at

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this through the lens of you want to start ads as quickly as

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possible, you still have to go through some of these mechanics,

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before you get started with ads, you don't just have an idea and

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start with ads. However, some people have more money than

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time. And so if you have more money than time, you can test

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ads earlier, if you have more time than you do more of an

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organic strategy, where you're out, you know, kind of putting

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your shingle up and getting out there and, and building

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relationships. But it's a two prong approach. And so I want to

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talk through that today. And I don't talk about it a lot.

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Actually, I probably should talk about it more. But that's why

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I'm, I'm telling you all about it today, which is that I

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actually did scale without any ads to seven, insert surpassed

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seven figures. Because here's what I understood is that number

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one, I had to be visible. I had people had to know who I was and

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what we offered. And they needed to feel confident that we had

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something that that would help them. And I needed to be where

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people were to bring them towards me, right? So they knew

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that we existed. So let's just break down those two things for

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right now. So when you are in a brick and mortar business,

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right, you're building an agency, you're building a

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business that has an office, where you're in a particular

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location, right, you are serving people in a particular location,

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it makes sense that you would say, okay, you know, I'm, here's

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where my office is, you know, go introduce yourself to your

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neighbors go in or go to maybe the local Chamber of Commerce or

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whatever, and do some networking events and meet people. That

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makes sense if you're starting a local business and looking at it

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from that perspective, there was a little bit of some of what I

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was doing. When I started my digital business is said, Okay,

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well, who do I want to help? And where are they and what are they

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doing and what do they need? Right. And so I went out and

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physically met with people I did networking groups, I went to

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local and national association meetings, I spoke at both local

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national conferences, right, so I was a guest speaker, I, you

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know, was an in charge of a user group. So there's a group of, of

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business executives who were a part of this, we would meet

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weekly, and monthly to talk about tools and different things

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that were going on. So I led that group so kind of grew that

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group organically, and it worked with them. Right? So what starts

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to happen is the sort of snowball effect of you're, you

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know, going out and meeting a lot of different people and

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you're speaking and you're in, you know, you're leading a free

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group and you're drawing people to you, and then And then I got

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to be known as the elearning person, right? Like the, the

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person who you go to, to get all of your, your elearning done

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and, and out the door. And so that was how we started to grow

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was in groups like that. So when you're doing that in a local

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business or even in a you're trying to kind of go national,

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but there's more of a, you know, people are gathering physically,

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then you have to, you know, kind of be out where they are. And

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then, of course, you talk about it, right talk about what you're

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doing, how you're helping people, you know, what were you

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were speaking on, and in all of that, and that helps to sort of

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snowball, I get more people in the door from just having those

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conversations than anything else that I did any other strategy

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that I employed was I went out to speak at a national

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conference, and I could, I could pay to be a sponsor, I could pay

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to, you know, have a booth or have a big thing. And, and that

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was great, I met people, but it was when I was speaking on

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stage. And, and having, you know, kind of having people come

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to me afterwards, where I got nine out of 10, of, you know,

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the business opportunities that came in, because I was on stage,

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they saw what my signature presentation was, they saw what

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I had to offer, they learned about my clients and some of the

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projects we had worked on. And that was the thing that was more

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compelling to them than kind of walking up to somebody in a in a

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paid sponsorship opportunity. So that's the first thing is, is

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your goal, as a digital CEO, as a digital business owner, is to

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reproduce that activity online. So often, when we're working

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with people, they sort of want to build something and then stay

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disconnected to it, right, they want to go off and do their

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other thing. Or maybe they're leading with a side hustle, or

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they want to build a business, but they don't actually want to

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be visible or connect with people. And in to me, that is

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that is a missed opportunity. Because at the end of the day,

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whether you're doing ads, whether you're doing organic

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outreach, it's at the end of all of that is a human that you're

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helping. And so you have to build that relationship with

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that person who says, That's me, they can help me. And, and

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they're drawn to whatever your solution is. So at the end of

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the day, you always have to remember that right? Whether

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it's organic, or its ads, it doesn't really matter. At the

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end of the day, you're helping somebody and you have to solve

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their problem. And you have to get them to raise their hand and

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say, Yes, this is, this is for me, I want to work with this

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person, or buy their course or buy their program or to coaching

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or whatever it is. But at the end of the day, it's a person.

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Most often when people are not successful in ads, it's because

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they're starting too early in there, they've lost sight of the

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fact that there's a person at the end that they actually have

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to be speaking to rates not just about going out and what you

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know, even if you're doing organic, an organic traffic

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strategy, through social media, at the end of the day, you're

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not just out there running around, you are there for very

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strategic intention, which is to help connect with a human at the

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end of whatever that engagement is, whatever that activity is

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right to this podcast, I am speaking directly to you, I am

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not speaking to whoever in the world may be interested in what

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I have to offer, I was speaking directly to you. And hopefully

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serving you and giving you some ideas and some tips and some

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tricks for how you can incorporate various things in

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your digital learning, or digital course digital program

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or whatever kind of digital business you have. So you can

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grow it so you can really help the people that you are serving.

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Right so at the end of the day, that's always what you need to

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remember regardless of what strategy you're working at. So

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so so again, your your goal in an organic strategy is how do

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you get in front of these people? How do you find them?

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How do you build a relationship with them? And, and so in a

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digital space that is still going out and finding groups

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where they're hanging out? networking groups speaking,

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getting in front of other people's audiences, right do you

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have colleagues or other people in your space who are doing

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similar but different things that you can get in front of

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their audience and and serve them? Right, so

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find somebody who has a complementary skill set or

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specialty that you do, and then partner together. That's how you

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grow. That's how you start to gain momentum. I have a client

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right now who is working on becoming visible for the first

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time, outside of his, his job, and, and outside of, you know,

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just sort of trying to do ads, which didn't work for him. And

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it didn't work because he did it too early, it didn't establish a

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relationship didn't start to get out there and make some, some

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connections, if you will, outside of just, you know, kind

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of pushing up his program at people, right. So, again,

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building those, those relationships, okay. So that's

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super important, find where they're hanging out and hang out

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there. Right? When I started that, the user group that I was

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running, we saw a need, we saw something that needed to happen

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in the market, we, we said, you know, what, we're gonna create

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this group, we're gonna meet on a regular basis, anyone can come

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in, and, and connect and learn and get what they need to. And

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it grew from, you know, a couple people, at first to hundreds and

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hundreds of people. And then eventually, we kind of rolled

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into the national, the National version of it. And we had people

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all over the US who are coming to us asking us questions and

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having us help, not only how did you grow up, grow this group,

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but also asking us very specific questions that increased our

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reach even more. And so don't be afraid to do that online, don't

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be afraid to draw people to you. And, and think about how to get

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out there and build relationships and and serve

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people, be it a podcast, be it social media, be it however you

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want to, to get out there and draw people to you, you have to

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have a place where they can find you. And you have to have a

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place where you're able to connect with people. Because

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again, it's all about that relationship. Okay, the only

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other thing I'll say is that as you're doing this, you have to

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be really clear on what your goals are. And so I knew that,

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that when I was going out, I wasn't going to run ads, I

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wasn't going to just do kind of the that I wasn't going to just

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throw it out there, I was gonna grow very strategically, around,

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you know, kind of one relationship at a time. And at

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some point, I grew beyond that, right. So this is when I'm first

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starting, and got to my first seven figures. So at some point,

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I kind of grew beyond that, but it served me so well, because

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you it's a snowball effect, right, you start somewhat small,

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and then all of a sudden, there's referrals, because

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somebody has heard about the work that you've done, or

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somebody's recommended you. And then and then you get on stages,

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and you get in, in different situations where you are in

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front of a broader audience. And then again, you're bringing more

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people to you. And it becomes something that I mean, I was at

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one point getting referrals and, and word of mouth, sort of, you

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know, sales opportunities. And I didn't really have to do much,

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right, because I had planted the seeds because I had been out

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there, building the business. And so for if you're first

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starting in this game like that is where 100%, I recommend that

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you start, you don't necessarily know your voice yet, you don't

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necessarily know exactly the messaging that's going to draw

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somebody to you, you don't know exactly who is out there, and

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where they're gathering and how to find them. I remember I did

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when I first kind of transition more to 100% digital, I did try

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ads, and I tried them too early. Because of course everyone says

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do ads, like all you need to do is do ads, and you put $1 in and

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you get two out and it's it's super easy. But the problem is,

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is that you have to have a compelling message that draws

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people to you, you have to be very clear on who you're

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targeting, and how to find them and where they're hanging out.

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Online, right have to be really clear about all of those things

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before you go out and do ad ads by themselves or not going to

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create customers for you. It's all of the foundation, all of

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the things that you're putting in place both from an organic

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strategy perspective and a paid ad ad perspective that helps to

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to help will help you grow. And so it's so if anyone's

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recommending you just go straight from concept to ads. I

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I would be very careful in how you're working with them because

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really have to be clear on what your goals are. are, who you're

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serving, what results or transformation you're getting

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for them, and how you are clearly articulating that to

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them. So people raise their hand and say I'm in, right. So all

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ads are is a way to amplify your message. So it's like a

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megaphone for your message. So if you don't have your message

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dialed in to the place where you can convert people who are in

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your world already, it's not the time to go to ADS, right. So if

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you have, you know, say you did an organic strategy, or say you

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have some people who are ready to purchase from you already,

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maybe you have an email list, maybe you have some people who

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are kind of in your world who are asking for you to do

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something, you know, package a program, create something for

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them, that will help them. Those are people who are ready to buy,

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right, that's an easy conversion, because they're

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already in your world, they're already ready to go. If you

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can't get them to buy, all the people are kind of swimming

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towards you already, then ads aren't going to help you going

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out and finding people who don't know you who don't trust you who

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don't know what you have to offer, then there that is,

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you're just going out into a sea and yelling, and nobody can hear

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you, right, because you haven't dialed in how to get customers,

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even at a micro level, right. So you've got to do that. First,

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you've got to make sure that you can convert people into buyers,

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when they're swimming towards you. I have a client who has a

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sizable waitlist, and it's great. But she's having trouble

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getting them to pull the trigger to purchase her group coaching

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program. And those are people who have already been swimming

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towards her, they've raised their hand and say I'm ready.

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I'm interested in this, let me know when you open up the

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program, and I want to join. So if you can't get those people to

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join yet, ads is not the direction to go. Because you

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have to work on your messaging, you have to work on how to

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convert people not go out into a sea of people who don't know

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you, that's a much, much heavier lift, right. And so once you

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know that you have something converting you have people who

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are coming in, it's consistent, you can move people through your

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funnels. And thereby, that's the time to start going out and

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looking at more of an ad strategy. And that's, again, for

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conversions, not for awareness, right, you can go out and do it

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an awareness campaign right away to, again, it's the megaphone to

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amplify that you're there. But the expectation that they're

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going to turn into buyers is not going to happen until you can

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convert the people who are already swimming towards you. So

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anyway, so that is a little bit about my kind of my story of how

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I did this, how I got to seven figures. And honestly, it didn't

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even really dawn on me to spend a lot of money and time on ads,

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because this strategy was working so well. But because I I

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knew that I needed to be out there building relationships.

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Sales is a process of planting seeds and helping to, to be

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there when people are ready. A very few times are people out,

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you know, looking actively, right, maybe some maybe they

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have a problem that they know they need solved, but but

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they're not quite sure yet, when or how to do that.

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If they're if they're in a place where they're just seeing that

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they have a problem, they're just seeing that there's that

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they need to find a solution, that is the best place to come

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in and build that relationship with them. It's not actually

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when they're actively looking, because they're actively looking

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at you and a bunch of other people write in. So it becomes

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harder to convert at that point. You want to you want to be there

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and have that relationship built. When they're ready, then

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they they are like that, yes, this is who I want to work with.

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And this is how I can move it forward. So think about that as

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you're going forward. So just to summarize, the goal is to build

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relationships, whether it's a paid ad, or an organic strategy

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is to build relationships at the end of all of that as a human

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that you are helping really have your messaging dialed in at how

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you can help that human what the transformation is, and what

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they're gonna get as they're working with you. That's a very

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first thing to do before you turn on that megaphone and put

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it out there into a broader market. Then know what your

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goals are our goals just to start testing your offers,

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testing what you're doing and and, you know, knowing that you

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can start to convert people in into customers, or are you do

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have that machine going, and now it's ready Need to amplify and

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get out there in to a bigger and broader message because that's

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then when you can go out with ads, because you, you've proven

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that that system works. Okay. So that is my story that is my

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journey for you, your journey may be a little bit different,

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maybe you combine them, maybe you work more with, with

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different partners in different referral people, joint venture

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partners, where you're, you're coming together, and you're both

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promoting each other to each other's audiences. Maybe you're

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offering a referral bonus here, you're doing affiliate

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commissions, there's lots of different strategies outside of

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just an ADS strategy to focus on as you're building your

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business. But I'm going to tell you that you have to actively be

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building your business, there is no such thing as putting

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something out there and throwing ads at it. And and hoping that

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they convert, right, it's that second to happen. And so if

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that's your strategy, if you think that just you know, going

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from concept to ADS, to seven figures is going to work. It's

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not going to, and so this is the time to start building, putting

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those building blocks in place, the people who have those

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programs, that goal, that scene, I'll say, seem to go from zero

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to seven figures very quickly, already have a sizable audience

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that are already very well known in this space. And they already

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have people who they they know they can convert into buyers, it

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is not a new strategy, right, they already have kind of that

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flywheel or that engine, that that they know works to go from

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taking a stranger into being a buyer. They're not starting from

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scratch, and they're not starting this without a strong

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foundation. So so keep that in mind, right, we always have to

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make sure that we're not looking at somebody's, you know, where

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they are today. And when we're first starting, or we have to

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look back at where they were when they first started in the

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game, and then and then apply the strategies that they've

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maybe that they've taken to get there. Right. So look at that

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and apply that as you're, you're building your business, but

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hopefully this serves you today. It gives you a couple of tips as

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to how to start looking at your organic growth strategy. Again,

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combine it with ads when you're ready to turn on that that

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megaphone. But when you're first getting started, get out there,

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start finding where your people are hanging out, start joining

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the conversation, not selling to them, right just go out and

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serve become the person that they count on for whatever it is

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that you are selling. All right. There you go. Hopefully that